UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY
X004575442
LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

UNIVERSITY
OF VIRGINIA
1819
GIFT OF
Francis J. Duke

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY
X004575442
|
LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Y
UNIVERSIT
OF
VIRGINIA
1819
GIFT OF
Francis J. Duke

SHAHRAZAD
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS'
ENTERTAINMENTS
or
The Thousand and One Nights
The Complete, Original Translation of
EDWARD WILLIAM LANE
With the Translator's Complete,
Original Notes and Commentaries
on the Text
THE PICKWICK PUBLISHERS, INC.
NEW YORK
MCMXXVII
{0.3MIN6523-INAgI33=lIl62]33Al60032!NS934!IND{93=621332ཎ
PJ
7715
L3
1927
327676
COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY
THE PICKWICK PUBLISHERS, INC.
Printed in the United States of America by
J. J. LITTLE AND IVES COMPANY, NEW YORK
PREFACE
It was more than two hundred years ago that Galland, the French
Orientalist, first discovered The Thousand and One Nights, otherwise known
as The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, and presented to the Western World
this gorgeous collection of Eastern tales. Since then it has been accepted as
one of the most fascinating examples of the story-telling art. The familiar
phrase "like a page from The Arabian Nights" has come to be the ultimate
in praise of romance and adventure fiction.
And surely this is not to be wondered at. Having read these astounding
stories who can forget them with their lion-hearted heroes who conquer
single-handed a hundred foemen, only to be dissolved in tears by the absence
of a madly loved lady and to faint in ecstasy at her return; with their silken
veiled beauties who turn from the murmuring of amorous verses to the
devising of diabolic tortures for erring lovers; with their omnipresent 'Efreets
as ready to uncover a mine of jewels for a poor cobbler as to carry a sleeping
groom from his bridal chamber in Cairo to an amazed awakening in Damas-
cus; with their camel trains and flashing desert riders, their kaleidoscopic
bazaars and insistent calls to prayer, their sorcerers and enchanted princes,
their Sultáns prodigal alike with gold pieces and the impaling stake, their
ingenious thieves and preposterous liars. And their lovers! Where but in
the East could love blossom so tenderly or distill so maddening a perfume!
It took the passion and imagination of the Arab to conjure up the horror
of fire and water, poison and steel, treachery and black magic which love
could face to win the pearl of its desire.
Of the origin of The Arabian Nights we know little. Its stories were for
hundreds of years handed down orally from generation to generation by the
story-tellers of the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Persians, and other Moham-
madan peoples. The nucleus of the collection probably represents mediæval
Cairo in the days of its Memlook Sultáns and the golden age of the Kha-
leefehs of Baghdad from the eighth to the tenth centuries A. D. Gradually
the collection was increased and systematized until it found its framework-
the story of the jealous King Shahriyár who marries a new wife each evening
and puts her to death in the morning, until the lovely Shahrazad wins a re-
prieve for a thousand and one nights by fascinating the King with her stories.
It was probably not until the fifteenth century that The Arabian Nights
was recorded in the original Arabic manuscript. Since that time several
V
vi
PREFACE
scholars have essayed to translate the work, but for nearly a hundred years
the version of Edward William Lane has been universally accepted as
standard.
Recognizing the fact that previous translations were lacking in complete-
ness, accuracy, and understanding of Oriental life, Lane undertook the task
of preparing an English version that would faithfully reproduce the color
and feeling and viewpoint of the original. He had devoted sixteen years to
the study of Arabic, of which five years were spent living almost exclusively
among the Mohammadans- to use his own words "speaking their language,
conforming to their general habits with the most scrupulous exactitude, and
received into their society on terms of perfect equality". He became the
foremost Arabic scholar of Europe and the man best fitted to give the most
accurate and appreciative version of The Arabian Nights to the Western
World. His translation was first published between 1838 and 1840. It has
never been superseded.
It is mainly for two reasons that this original version of Edward William
Lane has maintained its superiority both for general readers and for students
of the Orient. First, Mr. Lane's intimate knowledge of the land and language,
the customs and character of the Arabian Nights folk enabled him to imbue
his translation with all the spirit of the East and the true character of the
Eastern people that color the original Arabic stories. Second, Mr. Lane
supplemented his translation with a wealth of Notes containing explanations
and illustrations of Oriental life and thought that wonderfully illuminate the
strange figures and unique manners woven into the stories. These notes,
which have in the past been published separately as a textbook of Muslim
life, are included complete in this new single-volume edition. They are con-
tained in the Appendix, organized by chapters, and indexed by numbers
corresponding to the reference numbers placed in the text throughout the
entire volume. These commentaries will add much to the satisfaction and
understanding with which the stories may be read. -
On the surface, at least, there is a wide difference between the standards
of morality and good taste of the Orient and Occident. While The Arabian
Nights is not prurient work, it is highly colored with the intense passions of
the Eastern races and the original stories go into many details with a frank-
ness which would be offensive in a work designed for general distribution.
As Lane himself explained "Certain passages which are of an objectionable
nature I have slightly varied; but in doing this, I have been particularly
careful to render them so as to be perfectly agreeable with Arab manners
and customs".
The present single volume includes, complete, Lane's translation of The
Arabian Nights, together with his famous Notes. The original text has been
faithfully reproduced without changes other than the addition of descriptive
PREFACE
vii
titles. The translator's method of spelling Oriental words and of indicating
their pronunciation is designed to insure both ease to the reader and fidelity
to the Arabic original in so far as that is possible in English. To quote
Mr. Lane:
"In writing Arabic and other Oriental words in the present work, I have
employed a system congenial with our language, and of the most simple
kind; and to this system I adhere in every case, for the sake of uniformity
as well as truth. Some persons have objected to my writing in this manner
a few familiar words which are found in our dictionaries; but they will
excuse me for remarking that general usage is not altogether accordant with
their opinion. Almost every author, I believe, now writes 'Koran' or
'Kurán,' and 'Pasha' or 'Pacha' for our dictionary words 'Alcoran' and
'Bashaw'; and most of our best authors on Arabian History, of late, have
written 'Khalif' for 'Caliph'. In a work relating to a people who pronounce
the Arabic w as v, I should write 'Vezeer' for the Arabic word 'Wezeer'; but
to do so when the subject is Arabian I consider inexpedient: and in this
opinion I am upheld by a great majority of literary and other friends whom
I have consulted on the subject. . . . The system which I here employ re-
quires but little explanation; the general reader may be directed to pronounce
a as in our word 'beggar'
á as in 'father'
e as in 'bed'
é as in 'there'
ee as in 'bee'
ei as our word 'eye'
ey as in 'they'
i as in 'bid'
o as in 'obey' (short)
ó as in 'bone'
oo as in 'boot'
ow as in 'down'
u as in 'bull'
y as in 'you'
An apostrophe, when immediately preceding or following a vowel, I em-
ploy to denote the place of a letter which has no equivalent in our alphabet;
it has a guttural sound like that which is heard in the bleating of sheep.
Having avoided as much as possible making use of accents, I must request
the reader to bear in mind that a single vowel, when not marked with an
accent, is always short; and that a double vowel or diphthong at the end of
a word, when not so marked, is not accented: also that the acute accent does
not always denote the principal or only emphasis ('Hároon' being pro-
nounced 'Hároón'); that a vowel with a grave accent is not emphasized,
though it is long; and that dh, gh, kh, sh, and th, when not divided by a
hyphen, represent, each, a single Arabic letter: dh is pronounced as th in
'that'; gh represents a guttural sound like that produced in gargling; kh a
guttural sound like that produced in expelling saliva from the throat, and
approaching nearer to the sound of h than to that of k; sh is pronounced as
in 'shall'; and th as in 'thin'."
viii
PREFACE
This new edition has been prepared to fill the obvious need for the com-
plete work in a form that is more convenient and less costly than the sets
hitherto available a form that will reflect the warmth and beauty of the
stories that have taken their place among the great literary classics of all
mankind.
-
THE PUBLISHERS.
0-
ts
ER
CONTENTS
PREFACE
•
INTRODUCTION
THE STORY OF KING SHAHRIYár, King SháH-Zemán, and
SHAHRAZÁD THE WEZEER'S DAUGHTER.
including
•
The Story of the Ass, the Bull, and the Husbandman
THE TALES OF SHAHRAZÁD
THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE.
including
The First Sheykh and the Gazelle.
The Second Sheykh and the Two Black Hounds
The Third Sheykh and the Mule
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET.
including
·
King Yoonán and the Sage Doobán Who Avenged His
Own Death
including
•
The Husband and the Parrot
The Envious Wezeer, the Prince, and the Female Ghool
The Young King of the Black Islands and the En-
chantress
•
THE PORTER AND the Three Ladies of Baghdád .
including
The First Mendicant's Story of the Royal Lovers.
The Second Mendicant's Story of the 'Efreet's Mis-
tress
including
The Envier and the Envied
PAGE
V
I
·
3
•
8
13
15
17
19
21
24
27
28
37
•
44
52
56
61
ix
K
CONTENTS
The Third Mendicant's Story of King 'Ajeeb .
The Story of the First of the Three Ladies of Baghdad
The Story of the Second of the Three Ladies of Bagh-
dád
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES.
including
Hasan and the Damsel Sitt-el-Hosn: How They Were
Married by the Prank of an 'Efreet, Strangely Sep-
arated, and Reunited after Marvelous Events.
PAGE
68
77
83
89
·
94
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK AND THOSE ACCUSED OF
HIS DEATH.
·
124
including
The Christian Broker's Story of the Young Man
Whose Hands Were Cut Off .
128
The Steward's Story of the Man Whose Thumbs
Were Cut Off .
137
The Physician's Story of the Youth and Governor's
Daughters
144
The Tailor's Story of the Lovers and the Inquisitive
Barber
including
The Tale of the Barber
and the Tales of His Six Brothers
How El-Bakbook Became Lame
How El-Heddár Lost His Beard
•
How Bakbak Was Robbed of His Wealth
·
149
159
160
•
163
•
•
165
168
•
170
175
182
210
·
How El-Kooz Was Confounded by a Sorcerer
How El-Feshshár Cheated the Sharpers.
How Shakálik Tricked the Jester
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL ENEES-EL-JELEES
GHÁNIM THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE.
including
Káfoor, the Liar.
·
212
CONTENTS
xi
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK WHO LOVED THE LADY DUNYÀ AND WON
HER ALTHOUGH SHE WAS A HATER OF MEN
including
The Story of 'Azeez Who Was Beguiled by the Art-
ful Daughter of Deleeleh, and of 'Azeezeh His Be-
trothed
ALEE, THE SON Of Bekkár, anD SHEMS-EN-Nahár, the
SULTAN'S CONCUBINE.
•
PAGE
229
237
282
PRINCE KAMAR-Ez-Zemán AND THE PRINCESS BUDOOR AND
WHAT CAME OF THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST .
including
•
315
The Adventures of the Two Princes, El-Amjad and El-
As'ad .
361
385
406
The Story of the Lovers Neameh and Noam
ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES WITH THE BEAUTI-
FUL ZUBEYDEH, THE SLAVE GIRLS KOOT-EL-KULOOB AND
YÁSEMEEN, AHMAD THE THIEF, AND THE SUltán .
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG: OR THE SLEEPER AWAKENED
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE, the Jeweller: OR THE FALSE SULTAN 462
ABOO-MOHAMMAD THE LAZY AND THE ENCHANTED APE .
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD: THEIR STRANGE
SEPARATION AND STRANGER REUNION
·
•
448
475
487
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
512
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE .
523
THE ROMANCE OF UNS-EL-WUJOOD, DELIGHT OF THE
WORLD, AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD.
541
ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
559
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA.
The First Voyage
The Second Voyage.
The Third Voyage.
574
.
576
582
588
xii
CONTENTS
The Fourth Voyage
The Fifth Voyage
PAGE
596
606
The Sixth Voyage
The Seventh Voyage
THE CITY OF BRASS
•
613
619
624
•
646
678
JOODAR, HIS WICKED BROTHERS, AND THE ENCHANTED
TREASURE
•
·
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
including
688
King Bedr Básim and Queen Jóharah of the Sea.
PRINCE SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND HIS MARVELOUS JOURNEY
IN SEARCH OF BEDEEA-EL-JEMÁL, PRINCESS OF THE JANN 712
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN AND THE AD-
VENTURES THAT CAME AFTER
754
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES AND WHAT FOL-
LOWED WITH THE SULTÁN AND HIS FAVORITE SLAVE
GIRL
845
872
895
.
ABOO-SEER THE FAITHFUL FRIEND AND ABOO-KEer the
DECEIVER
'ABD-ALLAH OF THE LAND AND 'ABD-ALLAH OF THE SEA
AND WHAT CAME OF THEIR MEETING
HOW IBRAHEEM SAW A PICTURE OF THE LADY JEMEELEH:
LOVED HER, SEARCHED FOR Her, and WON HER AFTER
MANY ADVENTURES
·
•
MAAROOF, THE POOR COBBLER, WHO FOUND TREASURE,
GAINED A ROYAL BRIDE, AND BECAME SULTAN WITH
THE HELP OF AN 'EFREET.
THE FORTUNE THAT BEFELL SHAHRAZÁD
APPENDIX.
910
•
925
962
965
Comprising the translator's complete notes on the text.
FABLES AND ANECDOTES IN THE NOTES
The Peacock, The Peahen, etc.
The Fox and the Wolf.
•
1078
. 1082
CONTENTS
xiii
The Liberality of Hátim-Et-Táee after His Death
Maan and the Three Damsels
Adventures of Ibráheem the Rebel.
Irem the Terrestrial Paradise
•
Is-hák, the Maiden Khadeejeh, and the Sultán
The Lover Who Pretended to Be a Thief.
The Token of the Bean .
The Generosity of Yahyà
The Kindness of Yahyà .
•
El-Ma-moon and the Learned Man .
Freaks of Fortune
The Daring Sharper
The Strange Tales of the Three Wálees.
The Robber Who Tricked the Money-Changer
The Girl with the Beautiful Hands .
The Reward of Charity
The Generous Israelite
Aboo-Hassán and the Dream of El-Ma-moon
A Friend in Need .
·
·
The Man Enriched through a Dream
The Arrogant Slave Girl .
The Pauper and His Slave Girl .
Two Victims of Love.
Love in a School.
A Faithless Wife .
•
A Simpleton and a Sharper
.
The King and the Merchant of Cairo
The King and the Village Damsel .
The King and the Clever Fisherman.
The Hospitality of Yahyà
·
Mohammad El-Emeen and the Slave Girl .
El-Fadl and Jaafar, the Generous Barmekees
A Deceitful Wife.
The Slayer Who Was Pardoned.
An Impudent Thief
·
PAGE
. I121
•
II22
I122
1125
•
·
1127
•
1134
1136
·
1137
. 1139
•
1140
1146
1148
. 1148
1150
. 1151
1152
. 1153
•
•
1154
·
1155
1156
•
1156
·
1160
. 1161
1162
. 1162
·
·
1163
·
1163
-
1164
•
1164
1165
·
1165
1166
•
1167
•
1167
1169
xiv
CONTENTS
The Penalty of Greed.
The Devout Prince
•
The Illiterate Schoolmaster
The Quill of the Rukh'
·
Result of Restraint upon Two Lovers
A Distracted Lover
The Converted Prior .
·
Aboo-'Esà and the Girl Kurrat-el-'Eyn
A Townsman and a Bedaweeyeh .
A Tyrannical King and the Angel of Death
Advantages of Piety and Industry
The Muslim Warrior and the Christian Maiden.
The Justice of Providence
The Lovers 'Otbeh and Reiyà
Generosity Rewarded.
.
•
The Lovers of the Benee-'Odhrah
The Lovers Reunited.
The Man of Baghdad and His Slave Girl
·
·
PAGE
·
1170
·
1170
. 1173
1173
1174
. 1174
·
1175
•
1177
·
1179
1181
•
. 1181
1182
•
•
1184
·
1229
. 1231
·
1233
•
•
1236
·
1251
8 O
ت
J
!
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.¹
-
2
Praise be to God, the Beneficent King, the Creator of the uni-
verse, who hath raised the heavens without pillars, and spread out
the earth as a bed; and blessing and peace be on the lord of
apostles, our lord and our master Mohammad, and his Family;
blessing and peace, enduring and constant, unto the day of judgment.
To proceed: The lives of former generations are a lesson to
posterity; that a man may review the remarkable events which have
happened to others, and be admonished; and may consider the his-
tory of people of preceding ages, and of all that hath befallen them,
and be restrained. Extolled be the perfection of Him who hath
thus ordained the history of former generations to be a lesson to
those which follow. Such are the Tales of a Thousand and One
Nights, with their romantic stories and their fables.
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS'
ENTERTAINMENTS-or
The Thousand and One Nights
THE STORY OF KING SHAHRIYÁR, KING SHAH-ZEMÁN, AND
SHAHRAZÁD THE WEZEER'S DAUGHTER
IT
4
T is related (but God alone is all-knowing, as well as all-wise, and
almighty, and all-bountiful,) that there was, in ancient times, a King of
the countries of India and China, possessing numerous troops, and guards,
and servants, and domestic dependents: and he had two sons; one of whom
was a man of mature age; and the other, a youth. Both of these princes were
brave horsemen; but especially the elder, who inherited the kingdom of his
father, and governed his subjects with such justice that the inhabitants of
his country and whole empire loved him. He was called King Shahriyár: 5
his younger brother was named Sháh-Zemán, and was King of Samarkand."
The administration of their governments was conducted with rectitude, each
of them ruling over his subjects with justice during a period of twenty years
with the utmost enjoyment and happiness. After this period, the elder King
felt a strong desire to see his brother, and ordered his Wezeer to repair to
him and bring him.
11
6
8
Having taken the advice of the Wezeer on this subject, he immediately
gave orders to prepare handsome presents, such as horses adorned with gold
and costly jewels, and memlooks, and beautiful virgins, and expensive stuffs.10
He then wrote a letter to his brother, expressive of his great desire to see
him; " and having sealed it, and given it to the Wezeer, together with the
presents above mentioned, he ordered the minister to strain his nerves, and
tuck up his skirts, and use all expedition in returning. The Wezeer answered,
without delay, I hear and obey; and forthwith prepared for the journey:
he packed his baggage, removed the burdens, and made ready all his pro-
visions within three days; and on the fourth day, he took leave of the King
of Shahriyár, and went forth towards the deserts and wastes.
He proceeded night and day; and each of the kings under the authority
of King Shahriyár by whose residence he passed came forth to meet him,¹2
with costly presents, and gifts of gold and silver, and entertained him three
days; 13 after which, on the fourth day, he accompanied him one day's jour-
3
4
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ney, and took leave of him. Thus he continued on his way until he drew
near to the city of Samarkand, when he sent forward a messenger to inform
King Shah-Zemán of his approach. The messenger entered the city, in-
quired the way to the palace, and, introducing himself to the King, kissed
the ground before him,14 and acquainted him with the approach of his
brother's Wezeer; upon which Sháh-Zemán ordered the chief officers of his
court, and the great men of his kingdom, to go forth a day's journey to
meet him; and they did so; and when they met him, they welcomed him,
and walked by his stirrups until they returned to the city.
The Wezeer then presented himself before the King Sháh-Zemán, greeted
him with a prayer for the divine assistance in his favour, kissed the ground
before him, and informed him of his brother's desire to see him; after
which he handed to him the letter. The King took it, read it, and under-
stood its contents; 15 and answered by expressing his readiness to obey the
commands of his brother. But, said he (addressing the Wezeer), I will not
go until I have entertained thee three days. Accordingly, he lodged him
in a palace befitting his rank, accommodated his troops in tents, and appointed
them all things requisite in the way of food and drink: and so they re-
mained three days. On the fourth day, he equipped himself for the journey,
made ready his baggage, and collected together costly presents suitable to
his brother's dignity.
These preparations being completed, he sent forth his tents and camels
and mules and servants and guards, appointed his Wezeer to be governor
of the country during his absence, and set out towards his brother's dominions.
At midnight,16 however, he remembered that he had left in his palace an
article which he should have brought with him; and having returned to the
palace to fetch it, he there beheld his wife sleeping in his bed, and attended
by a male negro slave, who had fallen asleep by her side. On beholding
this scene, the world became black before his eyes; and he said within him-
self, If this is the case when I have not departed from the city, what will
be the conduct of this vile woman while I am sojourning with my brother?
He then drew his sword, and slew them both in the bed: after which he
immediately returned, gave orders for departure, and journeyed to his
brother's capital.
Shahriyár, rejoicing at the tidings of his approach, went forth to meet
him, saluted him, and welcomed him with the utmost delight. He then
ordered that the city should be decorated on the occasion,17 and sat down
to entertain his brother with cheerful conversation: but the mind of King
Shah-Zemán was distracted by reflections upon the conduct of his wife; ex-
cessive grief took possession of him; and his countenance became sallow;
and his frame, emaciated. His brother observed his altered condition, and,
imagining that it was occasioned by his absence from his dominions, abstained
from troubling him or asking respecting the cause, until after the lapse of
some days, when at lengh he said to him, O my brother, I perceive that
thy body is emaciated, and thy countenance is become sallow. He answered,
SHAHRAZÁD THE WEZEER'S DAUGHTER
5
O brother, I have an internal sore: and he informed him not of the
conduct of his wife which he had witnessed. Shahriyár then said, I wish
that thou wouldest go out with me on a hunting excursion; perhaps thy
mind might so be diverted: - but he declined; and Shahriyár went alone
to the chase.18
Now there were some windows in the King's palace commanding a view
of his garden; and while his brother was looking out from one of these, a
door of the palace was opened, and there came forth from it twenty females
and twenty male black slaves; and the King's wife, who was distinguished
by extraordinary beauty and elegance,19 accompanied them to a fountain,
where they all disrobed themselves, and sat down together. The King's
wife then called out, O Mes'ood! 20 and immediately a black slave came to
her, and embraced her; she doing the like. So also did the other slaves
and the women; and all of them continued revelling together until the close
of the day. When Sháh-Zemán beheld this spectacle, he said within him-
self, By Allah! my affliction is lighter than this! His vexation and grief
were alleviated, and he no longer abstained from sufficient food and drink.
When his brother returned from his excursion, and they had saluted each
other, and King Shahriyár observed his brother Sháh-Zemán, that his colour
had returned, that his face had recovered the flush of health, and that he
ate with appetite after his late abstinence, he was surprised, and said, O my
brother, when I saw thee last, thy countenance was sallow, and now thy
colour hath returned to thee: acquaint me with thy state. As to the
change of my natural complexion, answered Sháh-Zemán, I will inform
thee of its cause; but excuse my explaining to thee the return of my colour.
-First, said Shahriyár, relate to me the cause of the change of thy proper
complexion, and of thy weakness: let me hear it.-
-
Know then, O my brother, he answered, that when thou sentest thy
Wezeer to me to invite me to thy presence, I prepared myself for the
journey, and when I had gone forth from the city, I remembered that I had
left behind me the jewel that I have given thee; I therefore returned to my
palace for it, and there I found my wife sleeping in my bed, and attended
by a black male slave; and I killed them both, and came to thee: but my
mind was occupied by reflections upon this affair, and this was the cause
of the change of my complexion, and of my weakness: now, as to the return.
of my colour, excuse my informing thee of its cause. But when his brother
heard these words, he said, I conjure thee by Allah that thou acquaint me
with the cause of the return of thy colour: so he repeated to him all that
he had seen. I would see this, said Shahriyár, with my own eye. — Then,
said Sháh-Zemán, give out that thou art going again to the chase, and con-
ceal thyself here with me, and thou shalt witness this conduct, and obtain
ocular proof of it.
-
Shahriyár, upon this, immediately announced that it was his intention
to make another excursion. The troops went out of the city with the tents,
and the King followed them; and after he had reposed awhile in the camp,
6
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
he said to his servants, Let no one come in to me: and he disguised him-
self, and returned to his brother in the palace, and sat in one of the windows
overlooking the garden; and when he had been there a short time, the
women and their mistress entered the garden with the black slaves, and did
as his brother had described, continuing so until the hour of the afternoon-
prayer.
When King Shahriyár beheld this occurrence, reason fled from his head,
and he said to his brother Sháh-Zemán, Arise, and let us travel whither we
please, and renounce the regal state, until we see whether such a calamity
as this have befallen any other person like unto us; and if not, our death
will be preferable to our life. His brother agreed to his proposal, and they
went out from a private door of the palace, and journeyed continually, days
and nights, until they arrived at a tree in the midst of a meadow, by a
spring of water, on the shore of the sea. They drank of this spring, and sat
down to rest; and when the day had a little advanced, the sea became
troubled before them, and there arose from it a black pillar, ascending
towards the sky, and approaching the meadow. Struck with fear at the
sight, they climbed up into the tree, which was lofty; and thence they
gazed to see what this might be: and behold, it was a Jinnee,21 of gigantic
stature, broad-fronted and bulky, bearing on his head a chest.22
---
He landed, and came to the tree into which the two Kings had climbed,
and, having seated himself beneath it, opened the chest, and took out of it
another box, which he also opened; and there came forth from it a young
woman, fair and beautiful, like the shining sun. When the Jinnee cast his
eyes upon her, he said, O lady of noble race, whom I carried off on thy
wedding-night, I have a desire to sleep a little: and he placed his head
upon her knee, and slept. The damsel then raised her head towards the
tree, and saw there the two Kings; upon which she removed the head of
the Jinnee from her knee, and, having placed it on the ground, stood under
the tree, and made signs to the two Kings, as though she would say, Come
down, and fear not this 'Efreet. They answered her, We conjure thee by
Allah that thou excuse us in this matter. But she said, I conjure you by
same that ye come down; and if ye do not, I will rouse this 'Efreet, and he'
shall put you to a cruel death. So, being afraid, they came down to her;
and, after they had remained with her as long as she required, she took from
her pocket a purse, and drew out from this a string, upon which were ninety-
eight seal-rings; 24 and she said to them, Know ye what are these? They
answered, We know not. The owners of these rings, said she, have, all of
them, been admitted to converse with me, like as ye have, unknown to this
foolish 'Efreet; therefore, give me your two rings,25 ye brothers.
23
So they gave her their two rings from their fingers; and she then said
to them, This 'Efreet carried me off on my wedding-night, and put me in
the box, and placed the box in the chest, and affixed to the chest seven
locks, and deposited me, thus imprisoned, in the bottom of the roaring sea,
beneath the dashing waves; not knowing that, when one of our sex desires
SHAHRAZÁD THE WEZEER'S DAUGHTER
7
to accomplish any object, nothing can prevent her. In accordance with this,
says one of the poets:
-
Never trust in women; nor rely upon their vows;
For their pleasure and displeasure depend upon their passions.
They offer a false affection; for perfidy lurks within their clothing.
By the tale of Yoosuf" be admonished, and guard against their stratagems.
Dost thou not consider that Iblees ejected Adam by means of woman?
And another poet says:
Abstain from censure; for it will strengthen the censured, and increase desire into violent
passion.
If I suffer such passion, my case is but the same as that of many a man before me:
For greatly indeed to be wondered at is he who hath kept himself safe from women's
artifice,"
When the two Kings heard these words from her lips, they were struck
with the utmost astonishment, and said, one to the other, If this is an 'Efreet,
and a greater calamity hath happened unto him than that which hath be-
fallen us, this is a circumstance that should console us: - and immediately
they departed, and returned to the city.
As soon as they had entered the palace, Shahriyár caused his wife to be
beheaded, and in like manner the women and black slaves; and thenceforth
he made it his regular custom, everytime that he took a virgin to his bed,
to kill her at the expiration of the night. Thus he continued to do during a
period of three years; and the people raised an outcry against him, and fled
with their daughters, and their remained not a virgin in the city of a suffi-
cient age for marriage.28 Such was the case when the King ordered the
Wezeer to bring him a virgin according to his custom; and the Wezeer went
forth and searched, and found none; and he went back to his house and
enraged and vexed, fearing what the King might do to him.
Now the Wezeer had two daughters; the elder of whom was named
Shahrazád; the younger, Dunyázád. The former had read various books
of histories, and the lives of preceding kings, and stories of past generations:
it is asserted that she had collected together a thousand books of histories,
relating to preceding generations and kings, and works of the poets: and she
said to her father on this occasion, Why do I see thee thus changed, and
oppressed with solicitude and sorrows? It has been said by one of the
poets:
Tell him who is oppressed with anxiety, that anxiety will not last:
As happiness passeth away, so passeth away anxiety
When the Wezeer heard these words from his daughter, he related to her
all that had happened to him with regard to the King: upon which she
said, By Allah, O my father, give me in marriage to this King: either I
shall die, and be a ransom for one of the daughters of the Muslims, or I shall
8
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
live, and be the cause of their deliverance from him.29
29 —I conjure thee by
Allah, exclaimed he, that thou expose not thyself to such peril: but she
said, It must be so. Then, said he, I fear for thee that the same will befall
thee that happened in the case of the ass and the bull and the husbandman.
-And what, she asked, was that, O my father.
THE STORY of the ass, the bull, and the husbANDMAN
30
32
Know, O my daughter, said the Wezeer, that there was a certain mer-
chant, who possessed wealth and cattle, and had a wife and children; and
God, whose name be exalted, had also endowed him with the knowledge of
the languages of beasts and birds.3 The abode of this merchant was in the
country; and he had, in his house, an ass and a bull.31 When the the bull
came to the place where the ass was tied, he found it swept and sprinkled;
in his manger were sifted barley and sifted cut straw,33 and the ass was lying
at his ease; his master being accustomed only to ride him occasionally, when
business required, and soon to return: and it happened, one day, that the
merchant overheard the bull saying to the ass, May thy food benefit thee! 34
I am oppressed with fatigue, while thou art enjoying repose: thou eatest
sifted barley, and men serve thee; and it is only occasionally that thy master
rides thee, and returns; while I am continually employed in ploughing, and
turning the mill.35 — The ass answered, 30 When thou goest out to the field,
and they place the yoke upon thy neck, lie down, and do not rise again, even
if they beat thee; or, if thou rise, lie down a second time; and when they take
thee back, and place the beans before thee, eat them not, as though thou
wert sick; abstain from eating and drinking a day, or two days, or three; and
so shalt thou find rest from trouble and labour.
36
Accordingly, when the driver came to the bull with his fodder, he ate
scarcely any of it; and on the morrow, when the driver came again to take
him to plough, he found him apparently infirm: so the merchant said,
Take the ass, and make him draw the plough in his stead all the day. The
man did so; and when the ass returned at the close of the day, the bull
thanked him for the favour he had conferred upon him by relieving him of
his trouble on that day; but the ass returned him no answer, for he repented
most grievously.
On the next day, the ploughman came again, and took the ass, and
ploughed with him till evening; and the ass returned with his neck flayed
by the yoke, and reduced to an extreme state of weakness; and the bull
looked upon him, and thanked and praised him. The ass exclaimed, I was
living at ease, and nought but my meddling hath injured me! Then said he
to the bull, Know that I am one who would give thee good advice: I heard
our master say, If the bull rise not from his place, take him to the butcher,
that he may kill him, and make a nata 37 of his skin: —I am therefore in
fear for thee, and so I have given thee advice; and peace be on thee!
When the bull heard these words of the ass, he thanked him, and said, To-
--
SHAHRAZÁD THE WEZEER'S DAUGHTER
9
-
morrow I will go with alacrity: so he ate the whole of his fodder, and
even licked the manger. Their master, meanwhile, was listening to their
conversation.
On the following morning, the merchant and his wife went to the bull's
crib, and sat down there; and the driver came, and took out the bull; and
when the bull saw his master, he shook his tail, and showed his alacrity by
sounds and actions, bounding about in such a manner that the merchant
laughed until he fell backwards. His wife, in surprise, asked him, At
what dost thou laugh? He answered, At a thing that I have heard and seen;
but I cannot reveal it; for if I did, I should die. She said, Thou must in-
form me of the cause of thy laughter, even if thou die. I cannot reveal it,
said he: the fear of death prevents me. Thou laughedst only at me, she
said; and she ceased not to urge and importune him until he was quite
overcome and distracted.
So he called together his children and sent for the Kádee 38 and wit-
nesses, that he might make his will, and reveal the secret to her, and die:
for he loved her excessively, since she was the daughter of his paternal uncle,
and the mother of his children, and he had lived with her to the age of a
hundred and twenty years.39 Having assembled her family and his neigh-
bours, he related to them his story, and told them that as soon as he revealed
his secret he must die; upon which every one present said to her, We con-
jure thee by Allah that thou give up this affair, and let not thy husband,
and the father of thy children, die. But she said, I will not desist until he
tell me, though he die for it. So they ceased to solicit her; and the merchant
left them, and went to the stable to perform the ablution, and then to return,
and tell them the secret, and die.40
-
Now he had a cock, with fifty hens under him, and he had also a dog;
and he heard the dog call to the cock, and reproach him, saying, Art thou
happy when our master is going to die? The cock asked, How so? — and
the dog related to him the story; upon which the cock exclaimed, By Allah!
our master has little sense: I have fifty wives; and I please this, and pro-
voke that; while he has but one wife, and cannot manage this affair with
her: why does he not take some twigs of the mulberry-tree, and enter her
chamber, and beat her until she dies or repents? She would never, after
that, ask him a question respecting anything. And when the merchant
heard the words of the cock, as he addressed the dog, he recovered his reason,
and made up his mind to beat her.
Now, said the Wezeer to his daughter Shahrazád, perhaps I may do to
thee as the merchant did to his wife. She asked, And what did he? He
answered, He entered her chamber, after he had cut off some twigs of the
mulberry-tree and hidden them there; and then said to her, Come into the
chamber, that I may tell thee the secret while no one sees me, and then die:
-and when she had entered, he locked the chamber-door upon her, and
beat her until she became almost senseless and cried out, I repent: - and
she kissed his hands and his feet, and repented, and went out with him;
10
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and all the company, and her own family, rejoiced; and they lived together
in the happiest manner until death.
When the Wezeer's daughter heard the words of her father, she said to
him, It must be as I have requested. So he arrayed her, and went to the
King Shahriyár. Now she had given directions to her young sister, saying
to her, When I have gone to the King, I will send to request thee to come;
and when thou comest to me, and seest a convenient time, do thou say to
me, O my sister, relate to me some strange story to beguile our waking hour: 41
---and I will relate to thee a story that shall, if it be the will of God, be the
means of procuring deliverance.
Her father, the Wezeer, then took her to the King, who, when he saw
him, was rejoiced, and said, Hast thou brought me what I desired?
answered, Yes. When the King, therefore, introduced himself to her, she
wept; and he said to her, What aileth thee? She answered, O King, I have
a young sister, and I wish to take leave of her. So the King sent to her;
and she came to her sister, and embraced her, and sat near the foot of the
bed; and after she had waited for a proper opportunity, she said, By Allah!
O my sister, relate to us a story to beguile the waking hour of our night.
Most willingly, answered Shahrazád, if this virtuous King permit me.
the King, hearing these words, and being restless, was pleased with the idea
of listening to the story; and thus, on the first night of the thousand and
one, Shahrazad commenced her recitations.
THE TALES OF SHAHRAZÁD
I
THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE
T has been related to me, O happy King, said Shahrazád, that there was
La certain merchant who had great wealth, and traded extensively with
surrounding countries; and one day he mounted his horse, and journeyed
to a neighbouring country to collect what was due to him, and, the heat
oppressing him, he sat under a tree, in a garden,¹ and put his hand
into his saddle-bag,2 and ate a morsel of bread and a date which were
among his provisions. Having eaten the date, he threw aside the stone,"
and immediately there appeared before him an 'Efreet, of enormous height,
who, holding a drawn sword in his hand, approached him, and said, Rise, that
I kill thee, as thou hast killed my son. The merchant asked him,
How have I killed thy son? He answered, When thou atest the date, and
threwest aside the stone, it struck my son upon the chest, and, as fate had
decreed against him, he instantly died."
may
4
exclaimed, Verily to God we
There is no strength nor power
The
The merchant, on hearing these words,
belong, and verily to Him we must return!
but in God, the High, the Great! If I killed him, I did it not intentionally,
but without knowing it; and I trust in thee that thou wilt pardon me.
Jinnee answered, Thy death is indispensable, as thou hast killed my son: --
and so saying, he dragged him, and threw him on the ground, and raised
his arm to strike him with the sword. The merchant, upon this, wept bit-
terly, and said to the Jinnee, I commit my affair unto God, for no one can
avoid what He hath decreed: and he continued his lamentation, repeating
the following verses:
--
Time consists of two days; this, bright; and that, gloomy: and life, of two moieties;
this, safe; and that, fearful.
Say to him who hath taunted us on account of misfortunes, Doth fortune oppose any
but the eminent?
Dost thou not observe that corpses float upon the sea, while the precious pearls remain
in its furthest depths?
When the hands of time play with us, misfortune is imparted to us by its protracted kiss.
In the heaven are stars that cannot be numbered; but none is eclipsed save the sun and
the moon.
How many green and dry trees are on the earth; but none is assailed with stones save
that which beareth fruit!
Thou thoughtest well of the days when they went well with thee, and fearedst not the
evil that destiny was bringing.
-When he had finished reciting these verses, the Jinnee said to him, Spare
thy words, for thy death is unavoidable.
13
14
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Then said the merchant, Know, O 'Efreet, that I have debts to pay, and
I have much property, and children, and a wife, and I have pledges also in
my possession: let me, therefore, go back to my house, and give to every
one his due, and then I will return to thee: I bind myself by a vow and
covenant that I will return to thee, and thou shalt do what thou wilt: and
God is witness of what I say. Upon this, the Jinnee accepted his cove-
nant and liberated him; granting him a respite until the expiration of the
year.
-
The merchant, therefore, returned to his town, accomplished all that
was upon his mind to do, paid every one what he owed him, and informed
his wife and children of the event which had befallen him; upon hearing
which, they and all his family and women wept. He appointed a guardian.
over his children, and remained with his family until the end of the year;
when he took his grave-clothes under his arm,' bade farewell to his house-
hold and neighbours, and all his relations, and went forth, in spite of himself;
his family raising cries of lamentation, and shrieking.
He proceeded until he arrived at the garden before mentioned; and it
was the first day of the new year; and as he sat, weeping for the calamity
which he expected soon to befall him, a sheykh," advanced in years, ap-
proached him, leading a gazelle with a chain attached to its neck. This
sheykh saluted the merchant, wishing him a long life, and said to him,
What is the reason of thy sitting alone in this place, seeing that it is a resort
of the Jinn? The merchant therefore informed him of what had befallen
him with the 'Efreet, and of the cause of his sitting there; at which the
sheykh, the owner of the gazelle, was astonished, and said, By Allah, O
my brother, thy faithfulness is great, and thy story is wonderful! if it were
engraved upon the intellect, it would be a lesson to him who would be ad-
monished! And he sat down by his side, and said, By Allah, O my
brother, I will not quit this place until I see what will happen unto thee
with this 'Efreet. So he sat down, and conversed with him. And the mer-
chant became almost senseless; fear entered him, and terror, and violent
grief, and excessive anxiety.
And as the owner of the gazelle sat by his side, lo, a second sheykh ap-
proached them, with two black hounds, and inquired of them, after saluting
them, the reason of their sitting in that place, seeing that it was a resort of
the Jánn: 10 and they told him the story from beginning to end. And he
had hardly sat down when there approached them a third sheykh, with a
dapple mule; and he asked them the same question, which was answered in
the same manner.
Immediately after, the dust was agitated, and became an enormous re-
volving pillar, approaching them from the midst of the desert; and this
dust subsided, and behold, the Jinnee, with a drawn sword in his hand; hist
eyes casting forth sparks of fire. He came to them, and dragged from them
the merchant, and said to him, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou killedst
my son, the vital spirit of my heart. And the merchant waited and wept;
THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE
15
and the three sheykhs also manifested their sorrow by weeping and crying
aloud and wailing; but the first sheykh, who was the owner of the gazelle,
recovered his self-possession, kissed the hand of the 'Efreet, and said to him,
O thou Jinnee, and crown of the kings of the Jánn, if I relate to thee the
story of myself and this gazelle, and thou find it to be wonderful, and more
so than the adventure of this merchant, wilt thou give up to me a third of
thy claim to his blood? He answered, Yes, O sheykh; if thou relate to me
the story, and I find it to be as thou hast said, I will give up to thee a third
of my claim to his blood.
THE FIRST SHEYKH AND THE GAZELLE
Then said the sheykh, Know, O 'Efreet, that this gazelle is the daughter
of my paternal uncle,¹¹ and she is of my flesh and my blood. I took her
as my wife when she was young,12 and lived with her about thirty years;
but I was not blessed with a child by her; so I took to me a concubine slave,13
and by her I was blessed with a male child, like the rising full moon, with
beautiful eyes, and delicately shaped eyebrows, and perfectly-formed limbs;
and he grew up by little and little until he attained the age of fifteen years.
At this period, I unexpectedly had occasion to journey to a certain city,
and went thither with a great stock of merchandise.
Now my cousin,14 this gazelle, had studied enchantment and divination
from her early years; and during my absence, she transformed the youth
above mentioned into a calf; and his mother, into a cow; 15 and committed
them to the care of the herdsman: and when I returned, after a long time,
from my journey, I asked after my son and his mother, and she said, Thy
slave is dead, and thy son hath fled, and I know not whither he is gone.
After hearing this, I remained for the space of a year with mourning heart
and weeping eye, until the Festival of the Sacrifice; 16 when I sent to the
herdsman, and ordered him to choose for me a fat cow; and he brought me
one, and it was my concubine, whom this gazelle had enchanted. I tucked
up my skirts and sleeves, and took the knife 17 in my hand, and prepared
myself to slaughter her; upon which she moaned and cried so violently that
I left her, and ordered the herdsman to kill and skin her; and he did so,
but found in her neither fat nor flesh, nor anything but skin and bone, and
I repented of slaughtering her, when repentance was of no avail. I there-
fore gave her to the herdsman, and said to him, Bring me a fat calf; and
he brought me my son, who was transformed into a calf. And when the
calf saw me, he broke his rope, and came to me, and fawned upon me, and
wailed and cried, so that I was moved with pity for him; and I said to the
herdsman, Bring me a cow, and let this
Here Shahrazad perceived the light of morning, and discontinued the
recitation with which she had been allowed thus far to proceed. Her sister
said to her, How excellent is thy story! and how pretty! and how pleasant!
and how sweet! but she answered, What is this in comparison with that
16
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
desire
marry
which I will relate to thee in the next night, if I live, and the King spare the ca
me. And the King said, By Allah, I will not kill her until I hear the re- shall
mainder of her story. Thus they pleasantly passed the night until the
morning, when the King went forth to his hall of judgment, and the Wezeet
went thither with the grave-clothes under his arm: and the King gave judg
ment, and invested and displaced, until the close of the day, without in-
forming the Wezeer of that which had happened; and the minister was
greatly astonished. The court then dissolved; and the King returned to
the privacy of his palace.
[On the second and each succeeding night, Shahrazád continued so to
interest King Shahriyár by her stories as to induce him to defer putting her
him.
On he
prope
even
S
repea
create
be ex
to death, in expectation that her fund of amusing tales would soon be ex- be en
hausted; and as this is expressed in the original work in nearly the same
words at the close of every night, such repetitions will in the present trans-
lation be omitted.18]
When the sheykh, continued Shahrazád, observed the tears of the calf
his heart sympathized with him, and he said to the herdsman, Let this calf
remain with the cattle. Meanwhile, the Jinnee wondered at this strange
story; and the owner of the gazelle thus proceeded.
upon
my c
happ
to b
herds
ful.
O lord of the kings of the Jánn, while this happened, my cousin, this gaze
gazelle, looked on, and said, Slaughter this calf; for he is fat: but I could asked
not do it; so I ordered the herdsman to take him back; and he took him down
and went away.
And as I was sitting, on the following day, he came to me,
and said, O my master, I have to tell thee something that thou wilt be re-
joiced to hear; and a reward is due to me for bringing good news.19 I I
answered, Well: and he said, O merchant, I have a daughter who learned of
enchantment in her youth from an old woman in our family; and yesterday,
when thou gavest me the calf, I took him to her, and she looked at him, and of m
covered her face, and wept, and then laughed, and said, O my father, hath
my condition become so degraded in thy opinion that thou bringest before merc
me strange men? Where, said I, are any strange men? and wherefore
didst thou weep and laugh? She answered, This calf that is with thee is
the son of our master, the merchant, and the wife of our master hath en-
chanted both him and his mother; and this was the reason of my laughter;
but as to the reason of my weeping, it was on account of his mother, be- thes
cause his father had slaughtered her. And I was excessively astonished tho
at this; and scarcely was I certain that the light of morning had appeared one
when I hastened to inform thee.
abs
20
-
-
When I heard, O Jinnee, the words of the herdsman, I went forth with reti
him, intoxicated without wine, from the excessive joy and happiness that I trav
received, and arrived at his house, where his daughter welcomed me, and all
kissed my hand; and the calf came to me, and fawned upon me. And I int
said to the herdsman's daughter, Is that true which thou hast said respecting the
this calf? She answered, Yes, O my master; he is verily thy son, and the clo
vital spirit of thy heart. O maiden, said I, if thou wilt restore him, all
my
it,
THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE
17
bɔr
na
lov
Go
sav
dro
wha
and
nex
the cattle and other property of mine that thy father hath under his care
shall be thine. Upon this, she smiled, and said, O my master, I have no
desire for the property unless on two conditions: the first is, that thou shalt
marry me to him; and the second, that I shall enchant her who enchanted
him, and so restrain her; otherwise, I shall not be secure from her artifice.
On hearing, O Jinnee, these her words, I said, And thou shalt have all the
property that is under the care of thy father besides; and as to my cousin,
even her blood shall be lawful to thee.
"
So, when she heard this, she took a cup, and filled it with water, and
had repeated a spell over it, and sprinkled with it the calf, saying to him, If God
created thee a calf, remain in this form, and be not changed; but if thou
be enchanted, return to thy original form, by permission of God, whose name
be exalted! - upon which he shook, and became a man; and I threw myself
upon him, and said, I conjure thee by Allah that thou relate to me all that
my cousin did to thee and to thy mother. So he related to me all that had
happened to them both; and I said to him, O my son, God hath given thee one
to liberate thee, and to avenge thee: - and I married to him, O Jinnee, the
herdsman's daughter; after which, she transformed my cousin into this
gazelle. And as I happened to pass this way, I saw this merchant, and
asked him what had happened to him; and when he had informed me, I sat
down to see the result. This is my story.
S2
d
sh
a
t
t
I
The Jinnee said, This is a wonderful tale; and I give up to thee a third
of my claim to his blood. The second sheykh, the owner of the two
hounds, then advanced, and said to the Jinnee, If I relate to thee the story
of myself and these hounds, and thou find it to be in like manner wonder-
ful, wilt thou remit to me, also, a third of thy claim to the blood of this
merchant? The Jinnee answered, Yes.
THE SECOND SHEYKH AND THE TWO BLACK HOUNDS
Then said the sheykh, Know, O lord of the kings of the Jánn, th
these two hounds are my brothers. My father died, and left to us thr
thousand pieces of gold; 21 and I opened a shop 22 to sell and buy. B
one of my brothers made a journey, with a stock of merchandise, and w
absent from us for the space of a year with the caravans; after which,
returned destitute. I said to him, Did I not advise thee to abstain fro
travelling? But he wept, and said, O my brother, God, to whom be ascrib
all might and glory, decreed this event; and there is no longer any pr
in these words: I have nothing left. So I took him up into the shop, a
then went with him to the bath, and clad him in a costly suit of my
clothing; after which, we sat down together to eat; and I said to him
my brother, I will calculate the gain of my shop during the year, and di
it, exclusive of the principal, between me and thee. Accordingly, I made
18
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
• $100k he
bore me
In th
who carr
calculation, and found my gain to amount to two thousand pieces of gold;
and I praised God, to whom be ascribed all might and glory, and rejoiced
exceedingly, and divided the gain in two equal parts between myself and
him. My other brother then set forth on a journey; and after a year, re-
turned in the like condition; and I did unto him as I had done to the former.
After this, when we had lived together for some time, my brothers again
wished to travel, and were desirous that I should accompany them; but I
would not. What, said I, have ye gained in your travels, that I should ex-
pect to gain? They importuned me; but I would not comply with their
request; and we remained selling and buying in our shops a whole year.
Still, however, they persevered in proposing that we should travel and I
still refused, until after the lapse of six entire years, when at last I con-
sented, and said to them, O my brothers, let us calculate what property
we possess. We did so, and found it to be six thousand pieces of gold: and
I then said to them, We will bury half of it in the earth, that it may be
of service to us if any misfortune befall us, in which case each of us shall
take a thousand pieces, with which to traffic.23 Excellent is thy advice,
said they. So I took the money and divided it into two equal portions, and
buried three thousand pieces of gold; and of the other half, I gave to each
of them a thousand pieces. We then prepared merchandise, and hired a
ship, and embarked our goods, and proceeded on our voyage for the space of
a whole month, at the expiration of which we arrived at a city, where we
sold our merchandise; and for every piece of gold we gained ten.
name be
loved the
God bles
sawest D
drowning
- When
had don
what I d
and then
next ni
I conjur
saith, 0
And when we were about to set sail again, we found, on the shore of
the sea, a maiden clad in tattered garments, who kissed my hand, and said
to me, O my master, art thou possessed of charity and kindness? If so, I
will requite thee for them. I answered, Yes, I have those qualities, though
you requite me not. Then said she, O my master, accept me as thy wife,
ind take me to thy country; for I give myself to thee: 24 act kindly towards.
ne; for I am one who requires to be treated with kindness and charity, and
who will requite thee for so doing: and let not my present condition at all
eceive thee. When I heard these words, my heart was moved with tender-
ss towards her, in order to the accomplishment of a purpose of God, to
om be ascribed all might and glory; and I took her, and clothed her, and
rnished for her a place in the ship in a handsome manner, and regarded.
r with kind and respectful attention.
done is
She still
pitiate h
the air,
Havi
after I
shop. A
two dogs
wept, ar
ately my
who, sai
and she
We then set sail; and I became most cordially attached to my wife, so
át, on her account, I neglected the society of my brothers, who, in conse-
ence, became jealous of me, and likewise envied me my wealth, and the
indance of my merchandise; casting the eyes of covetousness upon the
ole of the property. They therefore consulted together to kill me, and
my wealth; saying, Let us kill our brother, and all the property shall
ours: and the devil made these actions to seem fair in their eyes; so
✓ came to me while I was sleeping by the side of my wife, and took both
Is up, and threw us into the sea. But as soon as my wife awoke, she
years.
they ha
informed
I should
story.
Veri
third of
this, the
break
no
The
slave, ar
having
חן
ld:
19
THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE
ced
and
re-
er.
ain
t I
ex-
eir
ar.
I
On-
ty
nd
be
all
ce,
nd
ch
a
of
ve
of
id
I
gh
e.
ds
nd
all me.
-r-
to
nd
ed
pulle
form
it,
OW
ingr
50
e-
ne
the
ne
ad
ال
50
h
ne
shook herself, and became transformed into a Jinneeyeh.25 She immediately
bore me away, and placed me upon an island, and, for a while, disappeared.
In the morning, however, she returned, and said to me, I am thy wife,
who carried thee, and rescued thee from death, by permission of God, whose
name be exalted. Know that I am a Jinneeyeh; I saw thee, and my heart
loved thee for the sake of God; for I am a believer in God and his Apostle,
God bless and save him! 26 I came to thee in the condition in which thou
sawest me, and thou didst marry me; and see, I have rescued thee from
drowning. But I am incensed against thy brothers, and I must kill them.
-When I heard her tale, I was astonished, and thanked her for what she
had done; But, said I, as to the destruction of my brothers, it is not
what I desire. I then related to her all that had happened between myself
and them from first to last; and when she had heard it, she said, I will, this
next night, fly to them, and sink their ship, and destroy them. But I said,
I conjure thee by Allah that thou do it not; for the author of the proverb
saith, O thou benefactor of him who hath done evil, the action that he hath
done is sufficient for him: 27 - besides, they are at all events my brothers.
She still, however, said, They must be killed; and I continued to pro-
pitiate her towards them: and at last she lifted me up, and soared through
the air, and placed me on the roof of my house.28
-
Having opened the doors, I dug up what I had hidden in the earth; and
after I had saluted my neighbours, and bought merchandise, I opened my
shop. And in the following night, when I entered my house, I found these
two dogs tied up in it; and as soon as they saw me, they came to me, and
wept, and clung to me; but I knew not what had happened until immedi-
ately my wife appeared before me, and said, These are thy brothers. And
who, said I, hath done this unto them? She answered, I sent to my sister
and she did it; and they shall not be restored until after the lapse of ten
years. And I was now on my way to her, that she might restore them, as
they have been in this state ten years, when I saw this man, and being
informed of what had befallen him, I determined not to quit the place until
I should have seen what would happen between thee and him. This is my
story.
Verily, said the Jinnee, it is a wonderful tale; and I give up to thee a
third of the claim that I had to his blood on account of his offence. Upon
this, the third sheykh, the owner of the mule, said to the Jinnee,29 As to me,
break not my heart if I relate to thee nothing more than this:
THE THIRD SHEYKH AND the mule
The mule that thou seest was my wife: she became enamoured of a black
slave; and when I discovered her with him, she took a mug of water, and,
having uttered a spell over it, sprinkled me, and transformed me into a dog.
T
20
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
In this state, I ran to the shop of a butcher, whose daughter saw me, and,
being skilled in enchantment, restored me to my original form, and instructed
me to enchant my wife in the manner thou beholdest. And now I hope
that thou wilt remit to me also a third of the merchant's offence. Divinely
was he gifted who said,
-
Sow good, even on an unworthy soil; for it will not be lost wherever it is sown.
When the sheykh had thus finished his story, the Jinnee shook with
delight, and remitted the remaining third of his claim to the merchant's blood.
The merchant then approached the sheykhs, and thanked them, and they
congratulated him on his safety; and each went his way.
But this, said Shahrazád, is not more wonderful than the story of the
fisherman. The King asked her, And what is the story of the fisherman?
And she related it as follows:
hd
que
abu
vho
ak
II
be 4
the
of
II
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
HERE was a certain fisherman, advanced in age, who had a wife and
THER
three children; and though he was in indigent circumstances, it was his
custom to cast his net, every day, no more than four times. One day he
went forth at the hour of noon to the shore of the sea, and put down his
basket, and cast his net, and waited until it was motionless in the water,
when he drew together its strings, and found it to be heavy: he pulled, but
could not draw it up: so he took the end of the cord, and knocked a stake
into the shore, and tied the cord to it. He then stripped himself, and dived
round the net, and continued to pull until he drew it out: whereupon he re-
joiced, and put on his clothes; but when he came to examine the net, he
found in it the carcass of an ass. At the sight of this he mourned, and
exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great!
This is a strange piece of fortune! And he repeated the following
verse:
O thou who occupiest thyself in the darkness of night, and in peril! Spare thy trouble;
for the support of Providence is not obtained by toil!¹
He then disencumbered his net of the dead ass, and wrung it out; after
which he spread it, and descended into the sea, and exclaiming, In the
name of God! cast it again, and waited till it had sunk and was still, when
he pulled it, and found it more heavy and more difficult to raise than on
the former occasion. He therefore concluded that it was full of fish: so he
tied it, and stripped, and plunged and dived, and pulled until he raised it,
and drew it upon the shore; when he found in it only a large jar, full of sand
and mud; on seeing which, he was troubled in his heart, and repeated the
following words of the poet: -
O angry fate, forbear! or, if thou wilt not forbear, relent!
Neither favour from fortune do I gain, nor profit from the work of my hands.
i came forth to seek my sustenance, but have found it to be exhausted.
How many of the ignorant are in splendour! and how many of the wise, in obscurity!
So saying, he threw aside the jar, and wrung out and cleansed his net; and,
begging the forgiveness of God for his impatience, returned to the sea the
third time, and threw the net, and waited till it had sunk and was motion-
less: he then drew it out, and found in it a quantity of broken jars and
pots.
21
22
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Upon this, he raised his head towards heaven, and said, O God, Thou
knowest that I cast not my net more than four times; and I have now cast
it three times! Then - exclaiming, In the name of God! -he cast the
net again into the sea, and waited till it was still; when he attempted to draw
it up, but could not, for it clung to the bottom. And he exclaimed, There
is no strength nor power but in God! and stripped himself again, and
dived round the net, and pulled it until he raised it upon the shore; when
he opened it, and found in it a bottle 2 of brass, filled with something, and
having its mouth closed with a stopper of lead, bearing the impression of
the seal of our lord Suleyman. At the sight of this, the fisherman was re-
joiced, and said, This I will sell in the copper-market; for it is worth ten
pieces of gold. He then shook it, and found it to be heavy, and said, I must
open it, and see what is in it, and store it in my bag; and then I will sell
the bottle in the copper-market.
3
So he took out a knife, and picked at the lead until he extracted it from
the bottle. He then laid the bottle on the ground, and shook it, that its
contents might pour out; but there came forth from it nothing but smoke,
which ascended towards the sky, and spread over the face of the earth;
at which he wondered excessively. And after a little while, the smoke col-
lected together, and was condensed, and then became agitated, and was
converted into an 'Efreet, whose head was in the clouds, while his feet rested
upon the ground: his head was like a dome: his hands were like winnow-
ing forks; and his legs, like masts: his mouth resembled a cavern: his teeth
were like stones; his nostrils, like trumpets; and his eyes, like lamps; and
he had dishevelled and dust-coloured hair.
5
4
When the fisherman beheld this 'Efreet, the muscles of his sides quivered,
his teeth were locked together, his spittle dried up, and he saw not his way.
The 'Efreet, as soon as he perceived him, exclaimed, There is no deity but
God: Suleyman is the Prophet of God. O Prophet of God, slay me not;
for I will never again oppose thee in word, or rebel against thee in deed!
-O Márid,' said the fisherman, dost thou say, Suleyman is the Prophet
of God? Suleymán hath been dead a thousand and eight hundred years;
and we are now in the end of time. What is thy history, and what is thy
tale, and what was the cause of thy entering this bottle? When the Márid
heard these words of the fisherman, he said, There is no deity but God!
Receive news, O fisherman! -- Of what, said the fisherman, dost thou give
me news? He answered, Of thy being instantly put to a most cruel death.
8
The fisherman exclaimed, Thou deservest, for this news, O master of the
'Efreets, the withdrawal of protection from thee, O thou remote! Where-
fore wouldst thou kill me? and what requires thy killing me, when I have.
liberated thee from the bottle, and rescued thee from the bottom of the sea,
and brought thee up upon the dry land? The 'Efreet answered, Choose
what kind of death thou wilt die, and in what manner thou shalt be killed.
What is my offence, said the fisherman, that this should be my recom-
pense from thee? The 'Efreet replied, Hear my story, O fisherman.
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
23
Tell it then, said the fisherman, and be short in thy words; for my soul
hath sunk down to my feet.
Know then, said he, that I am one of the heretical Jinn: I rebelled
against Suleyman the son of Dáood: I and Sakhr the Jinnee;
and he sent
to me his Wezeer, Ásaf the son of Barkhiya, who came upon me forcibly, and
took me to him in bonds, and placed me before him: and when Suleyman
saw me, he offered up a prayer for protection against me, and exhorted me
to embrace the faith, and to submit to his authority; but I refused; upon
which he called for this bottle, and confined me in it, and closed it upon
me with the leaden stopper, which he stamped with the Most Great Name:
he then gave orders to the Jinn, who carried me away, and threw me into
the midst of the sea. There I remained a hundred years; and I said in my
heart, Whoever shall liberate me, I will enrich him for ever: - but the
hundred years passed over me, and no one liberated me; and I entered upon
another hundred years; and I said, Whosoever shall liberate me, I will open
to him the treasures of the earth; but no one did so; and four hundred
years more passed over me, and I said, Whosoever shall liberate me, I will
perform for him three wants; but still no one liberated me. I then fell
into a violent rage, and said within myself, Whosoever shall liberate me
now, I will kill him; and only suffer him to choose in what manner he will
die. And lo, now thou has liberated me, and I have given thee thy choice
of the manner in which thou wilt die.
When the fisherman had heard the story of the 'Efreet, he exclaimed,
O Allah! that I should not have liberated thee but in such a time as this!
Then he said to the 'Efreet, Pardon me, and kill me not, and so may God
pardon thee; and destroy me not, lest God give power over thee to one who
will destroy thee. The Márid answered, I must positively kill thee; there-
fore choose by what manner of death thou wilt die. The fisherman then
felt assured of his death, but he again implored the 'Efreet, saying, Pardon
me by way of gratitude for my liberating thee. Why, answered the 'Efreet,
I am not going to kill thee but for that very reason, because thou hast lib-
erated me. O Sheykh of the 'Efreets, said the fisherman, do I act kindly
towards thee, and dost thou recompense me with baseness? But the proverb
lieth not that saith,
We did good to them, and they returned us the contrary; and such, by my life, is the
conduct of the wicked.
Thus he who acteth kindly to the undeserving is recompensed in the same manner as
the aider of Umm-'Ámir."
The 'Efreet, when he heard these words, answered by saying, Covet not
life, for thy death is unavoidable. Then said the fisherman within himself,
This is a Jinnee, and I am a man; and God hath given me sound reason;
therefore, I will now plot his destruction with my art and reason, like as he
hath plotted with his cunning and perfidy. So he said to the 'Efreet, Hast
thou determined to kill me? He answered, Yes. Then said he, By the
24
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Most Great Name engraved upon the seal of Suleymán, I will ask thee one
question; and wilt thou answer it to me truly? On hearing the mention
of the Most Great Name, the 'Efreet was agitated, and trembled, and re-
plied, Yes; ask, and be brief. The fisherman then said, How was thou
in this bottle? It will not contain thy hand or thy foot; how then can
it contain thy whole body? - Dost thou not believe that I was in it? said.
the 'Efreet. The fisherman answered, I will never believe thee until I see
thee in it.
Upon this, the 'Efreet shook, and became converted again into smoke,
which rose to the sky, and then became condensed, and entered the bottle
by little and little, until it was all enclosed; when the fisherman hastily
snatched the sealed leaden stopper, and, having replaced it in the mouth of
the bottle, called out to the 'Efreet, and said, Choose in what manner of
'death thou wilt die. I will assuredly throw thee here into the sea, and
build me a house on this spot; and whosoever shall come here, I will pre-
vent his fishing in this place, and will say to him, Here is an 'Efreet, who,
to any person that liberates him, will propose various kinds of death, and
then give him his choice of one of them. On hearing these words of the
fisherman, the 'Efreet endeavoured to escape; but could not, finding him-
self restrained by the impression of the seal of Suleymán, and thus imprisoned
by the fisherman as the vilest and filthiest and least of 'Efreets. The fisher-
man then took the bottle to the brink of the sea.
The 'Efreet exclaimed, Nay! nay! to which the fisherman answered,
Yea, without fail; yea, without fail! The Márid then addressing him with
a soft voice and humble manner, said, What dost thou intend to do with
me, O fisherman? He answered, I will throw thee into the sea; and if thou
hast been there a thousand and eight hundred years, I will make thee to
remain there until the hour of judgment. Did I not say to thee, Spare me,
and so may God spare thee; and destroy me.not, lest God destroy thee? But
thou didst reject my petition, and wouldest nothing but treachery; there-
fore God hath caused thee to fall into my hand, and I have betrayed thee.
Open to me, said the 'Efreet, that I may confer benefits upon thee. The fish-
erman replied, Thou liest, thou accursed! I and thou are like the Wezeer of
King Yoonán 11 and the sage Doobán.12- What, said the 'Efreet, was the
case of the Wezeer of King Yoonán and the sage Doobán, and what is their
story? The fisherman answered as follows:
KING YOONÁN and the sage doobán who AVENGED HIS OWN DEATH
Know, O "Efreet, that there was, in former times, in the country of the
Persians,13 a monarch who was called King Yoonán, possessing great treas-
ures and numerous forces, valiant, and having troops of every description;
but he was afflicted with leprosy, which the physicians and sages had failed
to remove; neither their potions, nor powders, nor ointments were of any
benefit to him; and none of the physicians was able to cure him. At length
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
25
there arrived at the city of this king a great sage, stricken in years, who
was called the sage Doobán: he was acquainted with ancient Greek, Persian,
modern Greek, Arabic and Syriac books, and with medicine and astrology,
both with respect to their scientific principles and the rules of their practical
applications for good and evil; as well as the properties of plants, dried
and fresh, the injurious and the useful: he was versed in the wisdom of
the philosophers, and embraced a knowledge of all the medical and other
sciences.
After this sage had arrived in the city, and remained in it a few days,
he heard of the case of the King, of the leprosy with which God had afflicted
him, and that the physicians and men of science had failed to cure him. In
consequence of this information, he passed the next night in deep study;
and when the morning came, and diffused its light, and the sun saluted the
Ornament of the Good,¹ he attired himself in the richest of his apparel,
and presented himself before the King. Having kissed the ground before
him, and offered up a prayer for the continuance of his power and happi-
ness, and greeted him in the best manner he was able, he informed him
who he was, and said, O King, I have heard of the disease which hath
attacked thy person, and that many of the physicians are unacquainted
with the means of removing it; and I will cure thee without giving thee to
drink any potion, or anointing thee with ointment.
15
When King Yoonán heard his words, he wondered, and said to him,
How wilt thou do this? By Allah, if thou cure me, I will enrich thee and
thy children's children, and I will heap favours upon thee, and whatever
thou shalt desire shall be thine, and thou shalt be my companion and
my friend. He then bestowed upon him a robe of honour,¹ and other
presents, and said to him, Wilt thou cure me of this disease without potion
or ointment? He answered, Yes; I will cure thee without any discomfort
to thy person. And the King was extremely astonished, and said, O Sage,
at what time, and on what day, shall that which thou hast proposed to me
be done? Hasten it, O my Son. He answered, I hear and obey.
――
He then went out from the presence of the King, and hired a house, in
which he deposited his books, and medicines, and drugs. Having done this,
he selected certain of his medicines and rugs, and made a goff-stick, with
a hollow handle, into which he introduced them; after which he made a ball
for it, skilfully adapted; and on the following day, after he had finished
these, he went again to the King, kissed the ground before him, and directed
him to repair to the horse-course, and to play with the ball and goff-stick.
The King, attended by his Emeers and Chamberlains and Wezeers, went
thither, and, as soon as he arrived there, the sage Doobán presented him-
self before him, and handed to him the goff-stick, saying, Take this goff-
stick, and grasp it thus, and ride along the horse-course, and strike the ball
with it with all thy force, until the palm of thy hand and thy whole body
become moist with perspiration, when the medicine will penetrate into thy
hand, and pervade thy whole body; and when thou hast done this, and
26
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the medicine remains in thee, return to thy palace, and enter the bath,16
and wash thyself, and sleep: then shalt thou find thyself cured: and peace
be on thee.
So King Yoonán took the goff-stick from the sage, and grasped it in
his hand, and mounted his horse; and the ball was thrown before him, and
he urged his horse after it until he overtook it, when he struck it with all
his force; and when he had continued this exercise as long as was necessary,
and bathed and slept, he looked upon his skin, and not a vestige of the
leprosy remained: it was clear as white silver. Upon this he rejoiced ex-
ceedingly; his heart was dilated, and he was full of happiness.
On the following morning he entered the council-chamber, and sat upon
his throne; and the Chamberlains and great officers of his court came before
him. The sage Doobán also presented himself; and when the King saw
him, he rose to him in haste, and seated him by his side. Services of food
were then spread before them, and the sage ate with the King, and re-
mained as his guest all the day; 17 and when the night approached, the
King gave him two thousand pieces of gold, besides dresses of honour and
other presents, and mounted him on his own horse, and so the sage re-
turned to his house.¹8 And the King was astonished at his skill; say-
ing, This man hath cured me by an external process, without anointing me
with ointment: by Allah, this is consummate science; and it is incumbent
on me to bestow favours and honours upon him, and to make him my
companion and familiar friend as long as I live.
He passed the night happy and joyful on account of his recovery, and
when he arose, he went forth again, and sat upon his throne; the officers
of his court standing before him, and the Emeers and Wezeers sitting on
his right hand and on his left; and he called for the sage Doobán, who
came, and kissed the ground before him; and the King rose, and seated
him by his side, and ate with him, and greeted him with compliments: he
bestowed upon him again a robe of honour and other presents, and, after
conversing with him till the approach of night, gave orders that five other
robes of honour should be given to him, and a thousand pieces of gold;
and the sage departed, and returned to his house.
Again, when the next morning came, the King went as usual to his
council-chamber, and the Emeers and Wezeers and Chamberlains surrounded
him. Now there was, among his Wezeers, one of ill aspect, and of evil
star; 19 sordid, avaricious, and of an envious and malicious disposition; and
when he saw that the King had made the sage Doobán his friend, and be-
stowed upon him these favours, he envied him this distinction, and meditated
evil against him; agreeably with the adage which saith, There is no one
void of envy; 20 and another, which saith, Tyranny lurketh in the soul:
power manifesteth it, and weakness concealeth it. So he approached the
King, and kissed the ground before him, and said, O King of the age, thou
art he whose goodness extendeth to all men, and I have an important piece
of advice to give thee: if I were to conceal it from thee, I should be a base-
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
27
The
born wretch: therefore, if thou order me to impart it, I will do so.
King, disturbed by these words of the Wezeer, said, What is thy advice?
He answered, O glorious King, it hath been said, by the ancients, He who
looketh not to results, fortune will not attend him: - now I have seen the
King in a way that is not right; since he hath bestowed favours upon his
enemy, and upon him who desireth the downfall of his dominion: he hath
treated him with kindness, and honoured him with the highest honours, and
admitted him to the closest intimacy: I therefore fear, for the King, the
consequence of this conduct. At which the King was troubled, and his
countenance changed; and he said, Who is he whom thou regardest as mine
enemy, and to whom I shew kindness? He replied, O King, if thou hast
been asleep, awake! I allude to the sage Doobán. - The King said, He is
my intimate companion, and the dearest of men in my estimation; for he
restored me by a thing that I merely held in my hand, and cured me of
my disease which the physicians were unable to remove, and there is not
now to be found one like to him in the whole world, from west to east.
Wherefore, then, dost thou utter these words against him? I will, from
this day, appoint him a regular salary and maintenance, and give him every
month a thousand pieces of gold; and if I gave him a share of my king-
dom it were but a small thing to do unto him. I do not think that thou
hast said this from any other motive than that of envy. If I did what thou
desirest, I should repent after it, as the man repented who killed his
parrot.
21
The Husband and the Parrot
There was a certain merchant, of an excessively jealous disposition, having
a wife endowed with perfect beauty, who had prevented him from leaving
his home; but an event happened which obliged him to make a journey;
and when he found his doing so to be indispensable, he went to the market
in which birds were sold, and bought a parrot, which he placed in his house
to act as a spy, that, on his return, she might inform him of what passed
during his absence; for this parrot was cunning and intelligent, and remem-
bered whatever she heard.22 So, when he had made his journey, and accom-
plished his business, he returned, and caused the parrot to be brought to
him, and asked her respecting the conduct of his wife. She answered, Thy
wife has a lover, who visited her every night during thy absence: and
when the man heard this, he fell into a violent rage, and went to his wife,
and gave her a severe beating.
----- -
The woman imagined that one of the female slaves had informed him
of what had passed between her and her paramour during his absence: she
therefore called them together, and made them swear; and they all swore
that they had not told their master anything of the matter; but confessed
that they had heard the parrot relate to him what had passed. Having
thus established, on the testimony of the slaves, the fact of the parrot's
having informed her husband of her intrigue, she ordered one of these
28
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
slaves to grind with a hand-mill under the cage, another to sprinkle water
from above, and a third to move a mirror from side to side, during the
next night on which her husband was absent; and on the following morning,
when the man returned from an entertainment at which he had been present,
and inquired again of the parrot what had passed that night during his
absence, the bird answered, O my master, I could neither see nor hear any-
thing, on account of the excessive darkness, and thunder, and lightning,
and rain.
Now this happened during summer: so he said to her, What strange
words are these? It is now summer, when nothing of what thou hast de-
scribed ever happens. The parrot, however, swore by Allah the Great
that what she had said was true; and that it had so happened: upon which
the man, not understanding the case, nor knowing the plot, became vio-
lently enraged, and took out the bird from the cage, and threw her down.
upon the ground with such violence that he killed her.
. But after some days, one of his female slaves informed him of the truth;
yet he would not believe it, until he saw his wife's paramour going out from
his house; when he drew his sword,23 and slew the traitor by a blow on the
back of his neck: so also did he to his treacherous wife; and thus both of
them went, laden with the sin which they had committed, to the fire; and
the merchant discovered that the parrot had informed him truly of what
she had seen; and he mourned grievously for her loss.
When the Wezeer heard these words of King Yoonán, he said, O King
of great dignity, what hath this crafty sage this man from whom nought
but mischief proceedeth-done unto me, that I should be his enemy, and
speak evil of him, and plot with thee to destroy him? I have informed thee
respecting him in compassion for thee, and in fear of his despoiling thee of
thy happiness; and if my words be not true, destroy me, as the Wezeer of
Es-Sindibád was destroyed. - The King asked, How was that? And the
Wezeer thus answered:
The Envious Wezeer, the Prince, and the Female Ghool
The King above mentioned had a son who was ardently fond of the
chase; 24 and he had a Wezeer whom he charged to be always with this son
wherever he went. One day the son went forth to hunt, and his father's
Wezeer was with him; and as they rode together, they saw a great wild
beast; upon which the Wezeer exclaimed to the Prince, Away after this wild
beast! The King's son pursued it until he was out of the sight of his
attendants, and the beast also escaped from before his eyes in the desert;
and while the Prince wandered in perplexity, not knowing whither to direct
his course, he met in his way a damsel, who was weeping. He said to her,
Who art thou? -- and she answered, I am a daughter of one of the kings
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
29
of India; I was in the desert, and slumber overtook me, and I fell from
my horse in a state of insensibility, and being thus separated from my at-
tendants, I lost my way.
The Prince, on hearing this, pitied her forlorn state, and placed her
behind him on his horse; and as they proceeded, they passed by a ruin,25
and the damsel said to him, O my master, I would alight here for a little
while. The Prince therefore lifted her from his horse at this ruin; but she
delayed so long to return, that he wondered wherefore she had loitered so,
and entering after her, without her knowledge, perceived that she was a
Ghooleh,26 and heard her say, My children, I have brought you to-day a fat
young man: on which they exclaimed, Bring him in to us, O mother!
that we may fill our stomachs with his flesh. When the Prince heard their
words, he felt assured of destruction; the muscles of his sides quivered, and
fear overcame him, and he retreated. The Ghooleh then came forth, and,
seeing that he appeared alarmed and fearful, and that he was trembling,
said to him, Wherefore dost thou fear? He answered, I have an enemy of
whom I am in fear. The Ghooleh said, Thou assertest thyself to be the
son of the King. He replied, Yes. Then, said she, wherefore dost thou
not give some money to thine enemy, and so conciliate him? He answered,
He will not be appeased with money, nor with anything but life; and there-
fore do I fear him; I am an injured man. She then said to him, If thou
be an injured man, as thou affirmest, beg aid of God against thine oppressor,
and He will avert from thee his mischievous design, and that of every other
person whom thou fearest. Upon this, therefore, the Prince raised his head
towards heaven, and said, O thou who answerest the distressed when he
prayeth to Thee, and dispellest evil, assist me, and cause mine enemy to
depart from me; for Thou art able to do whatsoever Thou wilt! --and
the Ghooleh no sooner heard his prayer, than she departed from him. The
Prince then returned to his father, and informed him of the conduct of
the Wezeer; upon which the King gave orders that the minister should be
put to death.
Continuation of the Story of King Yoonán and the Sage Doobán
And thou, O King, continued the Wezeer of King Yoonán, if thou trust
in this sage, he will kill thee in the foulest manner. If thou continue to
bestow favours upon him, and to make him thine intimate companion, he
will plot thy destruction. Dost thou not see that he hath cured thee of
the disease by external means, by a thing that thou heldest in thy hand?
Therefore thou art not secure against his killing thee by a thing that thou
shalt hold in the same manner. King Yoonán answered, Thou hast spoken
truth; the case is as thou hast said, O faithful Wezeer: it is probable that
this sage came as a spy to accomplish my death; and if he cured me by a
thing I held in my hand, he may destroy me by a thing that I may smell:
what then, O Wezeer, shall be done respecting him? The Wezeer answered,
-
30
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Send to him immediately, and desire him to come hither; and when he is
come, strike off his head, and so shalt thou avert from thee his evil design,
and be secure from him. Betray him before he betray thee. - The King
said, Thou hast spoken right.
Immediately, therefore, he sent for the sage, who came, full of joy, not
knowing what the Compassionate 27 had decreed against him, and addressed
the King with these words of the poet: -
If I fail any day to render thee due thanks, tell me for whom I have composed my verse
and prose
Thou hast loaded me with favours unsolicited, bestowed without delay on thy part, or
excuse.
How then should I abstain from praising thee as thou deservest, and lauding thee both
with my heart and voice?
Nay, I will thank thee for thy benefits conferred upon me: they are light upon my
tongue, though weighty to my back.
Knowest thou, said the King, wherefore I have summoned thee? The
sage answered, None knoweth what is secret but God, whose name be
exalted! Then said the King, I have summoned thee that I may take away
thy life. The sage, in the utmost astonishment at this announcement, said, O
King, wherefore wouldst thou kill me, and what offence hath been committed
by me? The King answered, It hath been told me that thou art a spy,
and that thou hast come hither to kill me: but I will prevent thee by killing
thee first; and so saying, he called out to the executioner, Strike off the
head of this traitor, and relieve me from his wickedness. Spare me, said
the sage, and so may God spare thee; and destroy me not, lest God destroy
thee. And he repeated these words several times, like as I did, O 'Efreet;
but thou wouldst not let me go, desiring to destroy me.
--
King Yoonan then said to the sage Doobán, I shall not be secure unless
I kill thee; for thou curedst me by a thing that I held in my hand, and I
have no security against thy killing me by a thing that I may smell, or by
some other means. -O King, said the sage, is this my recompense from
thee? Dost thou return evil for good? - The King answered, Thou must
be slain without delay. When the sage, therefore, was convinced that the
King intended to put him to death, and that his fate was inevitable, he
lamented the benefit that he had done to the undeserving. The executioner
then advanced, and bandaged his eyes, and, having drawn his sword, said,
Give permission. Upon this the sage wept, and said again, Spare me,
and so may God spare thee; and destroy me not, lest God destroy thee!
Wouldst thou return me the recompense of the crocodile? What, said the
King is the story of the crocodile? The sage answered, I cannot relate it
while in this condition; 28 but I conjure thee by Allah to spare me, and so
may He spare thee. And he wept bitterly.
--
Then one of the chief officers of the King arose, and said, O King, give
up to me the blood of this sage; for we have not seen him commit any
offence against thee; nor have we seen him do aught but cure thee of thy
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
31
-
disease, which wearied the other physicians and sages. The King answered,
Ye know not the reason wherefore I would kill the sage: it is this, that
if I suffered him to live, I should myself inevitably perish; for he who
cured me of the disease under which I suffered by a thing that I held in
my hand, may kill me by a thing that I may smell; and I fear that he would
do so, and would receive an appointment on account of it; seeing that it is
probable he is a spy who hath come hither to kill me; I must therefore kill
him, and then shall I feel myself safe. The sage then said again, Spare
me, and so may God spare thee; and destroy me not, lest God destroy thee.
But he now felt certain, O 'Efreet, that the King would put him to
death, and that there was no escape for him; so he said, O King, if my
death is indispensable, grant me some respite, that I may return to my house,
and acquit myself of my duties, and give directions to my family and neigh-
bours to bury me, and dispose of my medical books; and among my books
is one of most especial value, which I offer as a present to thee, that thou
mayest treasure it in thy library. And what, said the King, is this book?
He answered, It contains things not to be enumerated; and the smallest of
the secret virtues that it possesses is this; that, when thou hast cut off my
head, if thou open his book, and count three leaves, and then read three lines.
on the page to the left, the head will speak to thee, and answer whatever thou
shalt ask. At this the King was excessively astonished, and shook with
delight, and said to him, O Sage, when I have cut off thy head will it speak?
He answered, Yes, O King; and this is a wonderful thing.
-
The King then sent him in the custody of guards; and the sage
descended to his house, and settled all his affairs on that day; and on the
following day he went up to the court: and the Emeers and Wezeers, and
Chamberlains and Deputies, and all the great officers of the state, went
thither also: and the court resembled a flower-garden.29 And when the sage
had entered, he presented himself before the King, bearing an old book,
and a small pot containing a powder: and he sat down, and said, Bring me
a tray. So they brought him one; and he poured out the powder into it,
and spread it. He then said, O King, take this book, and do nothing with it
until thou hast cut off my head; and when thou hast done so, place it upon
this tray, and order some one to press it down upon the powder; and when
this is done, the blood with be stanched; then open the book. As soon as the
sage had said this, the King gave orders to strike off his head; and it was
done.
The King then opened the book, and found that its leaves were stuck to-
gether; so he put his finger to his mouth, and moistened it with his spittle,
and opened the first leaf, and the second, and the third; but the leaves were
not opened without difficulty. He opened six leaves, and looked at them;
but found upon them no writing. So he said, O Sage, there is nothing written
in it. The head of the sage answered, Turn over more leaves. The King
did so; and in a little while, the poison penetrated into his system; for the
book was poisoned; and the King fell back, and cried out, The poison hath
32
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
penetrated into me! and upon this, the head of the sage Doobán repeated
these verses:
They made use of their power, and used it tyrannically; and soon it became as though
it never had existed.
Had they acted equitably, they had experienced equity; but they oppressed; wherefore
fortune oppressed them with calamities and trials.
Then did the case itself announce to them, This is the reward of your conduct, and for-
tune is blameless.
And when the head of the sage Doobán had uttered these words, the King
immediately fell down dead.30
Continuation of the Story of the Fisherman
Now, O 'Efreet, continued the fisherman, know that if King Yoonán had
spared the sage Doobán, God had spared him; but he refused, and desired
his destruction; therefore God destroyed him: and thou, O 'Efreet, if thou
hadst spared me, God had spared thee, and I had spared thee; but thou
desiredst my death; therefore will I put thee to death imprisoned in this
bottle, and will throw thee here into the sea. The Márid, upon this, cried
out, and said, I conjure thee by Allah, O fisherman, that thou do it not:
spare me in generosity, and be not angry with me for what I did; but if I
have done evil, do thou good, according to the proverb, O thou benefactor
of him who hath done evil, the action that he hath done is sufficient for
him: do not therefore as Umámer did to 'Atikeh.- And what, said the
fisherman, was their case?
-
The 'Efreet answered, This is not a time for telling stories, when I am
in this prison; but when thou liberatest me, I will relate to thee their case.¹
The fisherman said, Thou must be thrown into the sea, and there shall be no
way of escape for thee from it! for I endeavoured to propitiate thee, and
humbled myself before thee, yet thou wouldest nothing but my destruction,
though I had committed no offence to deserve it, and had done no evil to
thee whatever, but only good, delivering thee from thy confinement; and
when thou didst thus unto me, I perceived that thou wast radically corrupt:
and I would have thee know, that my motive for throwing thee into this
sea, is, that I may acquaint with thy story every one that shall take thee
out, and caution him against thee, that he may cast thee in again: thus shalt
thou remain in this sea to the end of time, and experience varieties of tor-
ment. The 'Efreet then said, Liberate me, for this is an opportunity for
thee to display humanity; and I vow to thee that I will never do thee harm;
but, on the contrary, will do thee a service that shall enrich thee for ever.
Upon this the fisherman accepted his covenant that he would not hurt
him, but that he would do him good; and when he had bound him by oaths
and vows, and made him swear by the Most Great Name of God, he opened
to him; and the smoke ascended until it had all come forth, and then collected
together, and became, as before, an 'Efreet of hideous form. The 'Efreet
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
33
then kicked the bottle into the sea.
When the fisherman saw him do this,
he made sure of destruction, and said, This is no sign of good:- but after-
wards he fortified his heart, and said O 'Efreet, God, whose name be exalted,
hath said, Perform the covenant, for the covenant shall be inquired into: 32
-and thou hast covenanted with me, and sworn that thou wilt not act
treacherously towards me; therefore, if thou so act, God will recompense
thee; for He is jealous; He respiteth, but suffereth not to escape; and remem-
ber that I said to thee as said the sage Doobán to King Yoonán, Spare me,
and so may God spare thee.
The 'Efreet laughed, and, walking on before him, said, O fisherman, fol-
low me. The fisherman did so, not believing in his escape, until they had
quitted the neighbourhood of the city, and ascended a mountain, and de-
scended into a wide desert tract, in the midst of which was a lake of water.
Here the 'Efreet stopped and ordered the fisherman to cast his net and take
some fish; and the fisherman, looking into the lake, saw in it fish of different
colours, white and red and blue and yellow; at which he was astonished;
and he cast his net, and drew it in, and found in it four fish, each fish of a
different colour from the others, at the sight of which he rejoiced.
The 'Efreet then said to him, Take them to the Sultán,33 and present them
to him, and he will give thee what will enrich thee; and for the sake of God
accept my excuse, for, at present, I know no other way of rewarding thee,
having been in the sea a thousand and eight hundred years, and not seen
the surface of the earth until now: but take not fish from the lake more than
once each day: and now I commend thee to the care of God. Having thus
said, he struck the earth with his feet, and it clove asunder, and swallowed
him.
The fisherman then went back to the city, wondering at all that had be-
fallen him with the 'Efreet, and carried the fish to his house; and he took
an earthen bowl, and, having filled it with water, put the fish into it; and
they struggled in the water: and when he had done this, he placed the bowl
upon his head, and repaired to the King's palace, as the 'Efreet had com-
manded him, and, going up unto the King, presented to him the fish; and
the King was excessively astonished at them, for he had never seen any like
them in the course of his life; and he said, Give these fish to the slave cook-
maid. This maid had been sent as a present to him by the King of the
Greeks, three days before; and he had not yet tried her skill. The Wezeer,
therefore, ordered her to fry the fish, and said to her, O maid, the King saith
unto thee, I have not reserved my tear but for the time of my difficulty:
to-day, then, gratify us by a specimen of thy excellent cookery, for a person
hath brought these fish as a present to the Sultán. After having thus charged
her, the Weezer returned, and the King ordered him to give the fisherman
four hundred pieces of gold: so the Wezeer gave them to him; and he took
them in his lap, and returned to his home and his wife, joyful and happy,
and bought what was needful for his family.
Such were the events that befell the fisherman: now we must relate what
34
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
34
happened to the maid. She took the fish, and cleaned them, and arranged
them in the frying-pan, and left them until one side was cooked, when she
turned them upon the other side; and lo, the wall of the kitchen clove asunder,
and there came forth from it a damsel of tall stature, smooth-cheeked, of
perfect form, with eyes adorned with kohl, beautiful in countenance, and
with heavy, swelling hips; wearing a koofeeyeh 85 interwoven with blue silk;
with rings in her ears, and bracelets on her wrists, and rings set with precious
jewels on her fingers; and in her hand was a rod of Indian cane: and she
dipped the end of the rod in the frying-pan, and said, O fish, are ye remaining
faithful to your covenant? At the sight of this, the cook-maid fainted. The
damsel then repeated the same words a second and a third time; after which
the fish raised their heads from the frying-pan, and answered, Yes, yes.
They then repeated the following verse: --
If thou return, we return; and if thou come, we come; and if thou forsake, we verily
do the same.
And upon this the damsel overturned the frying-pan, and departed by the
way she had entered, and the wall of the kitchen closed up again. The
cook-maid then arose, and beheld the four fish burnt like charcoal; and she
exclaimed, In his first encounter his staff broke! and as she sat reproach-
ing herself, she beheld the Wezeer standing at her head; and he said to her,
Bring the fish to the Sultán: - and she wept, and informed him of what had
happened.36
The Wezeer was astonished at her words, and exclaimed, This is indeed
a wonderful event; and he sent for the fisherman, and when he was
brought, he said to him, O fisherman, thou must bring to us four fish like
those which thou broughtest before. The fisherman accordingly went forth
to the lake, and threw his net, and when he had drawn it in he found in it
four fish as before; and he took them to the Wezeer, who went with them
to the maid, and said to her, Rise, and fry them in my presence, that I may
witness this occurrence. The maid, therefore, prepared the fish, and put
them in the frying-pan, and they had remained but a little while, when the
wall clove asunder, and the damsel appeared, clad as before, and holding
the rod; and she dipped the end of the rod in the frying-pan, and said, O
fish, O fish, are ye remaining faithful to your old covenant? Upon which
they raised their heads, and answered as before; and the damsel overturned
the frying-pan with the rod, and returned by the way she had entered, and
the wall closed up again.
The Wezeer then said, This is an event which cannot be concealed from
the King: so he went to him, and informed him of what had happened
in his presence; and the King said, I must see this with my own eyes. He
sent, therefore, to the fisherman, and commanded him to bring four fish like
the former; granting him a delay of three days. And the fisherman repaired
to the lake, and brought the fish thence to the King, who ordered again that
four hundred pieces of gold should be given to him; and then, turning to
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
35
the Wezeer, said to him, Cook the fish thyself here before me. The Wezeer
answered, I hear and obey. He brought the frying-pan, and, after he had
cleaned the fish, threw them into it: and as soon as he had turned them, the
wall clove asunder, and there came forth from it a negro, in size like a bull,
or like one of the tribe of 'Ád," having in his hand a branch of a green tree;
and he said, with a clear but terrifying voice, O fish, O fish, are ye remaining
faithful to your old covenant? Upon which they raised their heads, and
answered as before, Yes, yes:
If thou return, we return; and if thou come, we come; and if thou forsake, we verily
do the same.
The black then approached the frying-pan, and overturned it with the branch,
and the fish became like charcoal, and he went away as he had come.
When he had thus disappeared from before their eyes, the King said,
This is an event respecting which it is impossible to keep silence, and there
must, undoubtedly, be some strange circumstance connected with these fish.
He then ordered that the fisherman should be brought before him, and when
he had come, he said to him, Whence came these fish? The fisherman
answered, From a lake between four mountains behind this mountain which
is without thy city. The King said to him, How many days' journey 38
distant? He answered, O our lord the Sultán, a journey of half-an-hour.
And the Sultán was astonished, and ordered his troops to go out immediately
with him and the fisherman, who began to curse the 'Efreet.
They proceeded until they had ascended the mountain, and descended into
a wide desert tract which they had never before seen in their whole lives;
and the Sultán and all the troops wondered at the sight of this desert, which
was between four mountains, and at the fish, which were of four colours,
red and white and yellow and blue. The King paused in astonishment, and
said to the troops, and to the other attendants who were with him, Hath any
one of you before seen this lake in this place? They all answered, No.
Then said the King, By Allah, I will not enter my city, nor will I sit upon
my throne, until I know the true history of this lake, and of its fish. And
upon this he ordered his people to encamp around these mountains; and
they did so. He then called for the Wezeer, who was a well-informed,
sensible, prudent, and learned man; and when he had presented himself
before him, he said to him, I desire to do a thing with which I will acquaint
thee; and it is this: - I have resolved to depart alone this night, to seek
for information respecting this lake and its fish: therefore, sit thou at the door
of my pavilion, and say to the Emeers and Wezeers and Chamberlains, The
Sultán is sick, and hath commanded me not to allow any person to go in into
him: --and acquaint no one with my intention.
-
The Wezeer was unable to oppose his design; so the King disguised him-
self, and slung on his sword, and withdrew himself from the midst of his
troops. He journeyed the whole of the night, until the morning, and pro-
ceeded until the heat became oppressive to him: he then paused to rest;
36
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
after which he again proceeded the remainder of the day and the second night
until the morning, when there appeared before him, in the distance, something
black, at the sight of which he rejoiced, and said, Perhaps I shall there find
some person who will inform me of the history of the lake and its fish.
And when he approached this black object, he found it to be a palace built of
black stones, and overlaid with iron; and one of the leaves of its doors was
open, and the other shut. The King was glad, and he stood at the door, and
knocked gently, but heard no answer; he knocked a second and a third time,
but again heard no answer: then he knocked a fourth time, and with violence;
but no one answered.
So he said, It is doubtless empty: — and he took courage, and entered
from the door into the passage, and cried out, saying, O inhabitants of the
palace, I am a stranger and a traveller! have ye any provision? And he
repeated these words a second and a third time; but heard no answer. And
upon this he fortified his heart, and emboldened himself and proceeded from
the passage into the midst of the palace; but he found no one there, and only
saw that it was furnished, and that there was, in the centre of it, a fountain
with four lions of red gold, which poured forth the water from their mouths,
like pearls and jewels: around this were birds; and over the top of the palace
was extended a net which prevented their flying out. At the sight of these
objects he was astonished, and he was grieved that he saw no person there
whom he could ask for information respecting the lake, and the fish, and the
mountains, and the palace. He then sat down between the doors,39 reflecting
upon these things; and as he thus sat, he heard a voice of lamentation from
a sorrowful heart, chanting these verses:
-
O fortune, thou pitiest me not, nor releasest me! See my heart is straitened between
affliction and peril!
Will not you [O my wife] have compassion on the mighty whom love hath abased, and
the wealthy who is reduced to indigence?
We were jealous even of the zephyr which passed over you: but when the divine decree
is issued, the eye becometh blind!
What resource hath the archer when, in the hour of conflict, he desireth to discharge the
arrow, but findeth his bow-string broken.
And when troubles are multiplied upon the noble-minded, where shall he find refuge from
fate and from destiny?"
When the Sultán heard this lamentation, he sprang upon his feet, and,
seeking the direction whence it proceeded, found a curtain suspended before
the door of a chamber; and he raised it, and beheld behind it a young man
sitting on a couch raised to the height of a cubit from the floor. He was a
handsome youth, well-shaped, and of eloquent speech, with a shining fore-
head, and rosy cheek, marked with a mole resembling ambergris. The King
was rejoiced at seeing him and saluted him; and the young man (who re-
mained sitting, and was clad with a vest of silk, embroidered with gold, but
who exhibited traces of grief) returned his salutation, and said to him, O my
master, excuse my not rising. O youth! said the King, inform me respect-
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
37
ing the lake, and its fish of various colours, and respecting this palace, and
the reason of thy being alone in it, and of thy lamentation.
When the young man heard these words, tears trickled down his cheeks,
and he wept bitterly." And the King was astonished, and said to him,
What causeth thee to weep, O youth? He answered, How can I refrain from
weeping, when this is my fate? — and so saying, he stretched forth his hand,
and lifted up the skirts of his clothing; and lo, half of him, from his waist to
the soles of his feet, was stone; and from his waist to the hair of his head,
he was like other men, He then said, Know, O King, that the story of the
fish is extraordinary; if it were engraved upon the intellect, it would be a
lesson to him who would be admonished: and he related as follows:
THE YOUNG KING OF THE BLACK ISLANDS AND THE ENCHANTRESS
My father was king of the city which was here situate: his name was
Mahmood, and he was lord of the Black Islands, and of the four mountains.
After a reign of seventy years, he died, and I succeeded to his throne; where-
upon I took as my wife the daughter of my uncle; and she loved me ex-
cessively, so that when I absented myself from her, she would neither eat
nor drink till she saw me again. She remained under my protection five
years. After this, she went one day to the bath; and I had commanded the
cook to prepare the supper, and entered this palace, and slept in my usual
place.12 I had ordered two maids to fan me; 43 and one of them sat at my
head, and the other at my feet; but I was restless, because my wife was
not with me; and I could not sleep.
-
My eyes were closed, but my spirit was awake; and I heard the maid at
my head say to her at my feet, O Mes'oodeh," verily our lord is unfortunate
in his youth, and what a pity is it that it should be passed with our depraved,
wicked mistress! Perdition to unfaithful wives! replied the other: but
(added she) such a person as our lord, so endowed by nature, is not suited to
this profligate woman, who passes every night absent from his bed. - Verily,
rejoined she at my head, our lord is careless in not making any inquiry
respecting her. Wo to thee! said the other: hath our lord any knowledge
of her conduct, or doth she leave him to his choice? Nay, on the contrary,
she contriveth to defraud him by means of the cup of wine 45 which he
drinketh every night before he sleepeth, putting benj 46 into it; in consequence
of which he sleepeth so soundly that he knoweth not what happeneth, nor
whither she goeth nor what she doeth; for, after she hath given him the wine
to drink, she dresseth herself, and goeth out from him, and is absent until
daybreak, when she returneth to him, and burneth a perfume under his nose,
upon which he awaketh from his sleep.
When I heard this conversation of the maids, the light became darkness
before my face, and I was hardly conscious of the approach of night, when
my cousin returned from the bath. The table was prepared, and we ate, and
sat a while drinking our wine as usual. I then called for the wine which I
38
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
was accustomed to drink before I lay down to sleep, and she handed to me
the cup; but I turned away, and, pretending to drink it as I was wont to do,
poured it into my bosom, and immediately lay down: upon which she said,
Sleep on; I wish that thou wouldst never wake again! By Allah, I abhor
thee, and abhor thy person, and my soul is weary of thy company! --- She
then arose, and attired herself in the most magnificent of her apparel, and
having perfumed herself, and slung on a sword, opened the door of the palace,
and went out.
I got up immediately, and followed her until she had quitted the palace,
and passed through the streets of the city, and arrived at the city-gates, when
she pronounced some words that I understood not; whereupon the locks fell
off, and the gates opened, and she went out, I still following her, without
her knowledge. Thence she proceeded to a space among the mounds, and
arrived at a strong edifice, in which was a kubbeh 48 constructed of mud,
with a door, which she entered. I then climbed upon the roof of the kubbeh,
and, looking down upon her through an aperture, saw that she was visiting a
black slave, whose large lips, one of which overlapped the other, gathered up
the sand from the pebbly floor, while he lay, in a filthy and wet condition,
upon a few stalks of sugar-cane.
She kissed the ground before this slave; and he raised his head towards.
her, and said, Wo to thee! Wherefore hast thou remained away until this
hour? The other blacks have been here drinking wine, and each of them
has gone away with his mistress; and I refused to drink on thy account.
She answered, O my master, and beloved of my heart, knowest thou not that
I am married to my cousin, and that I abhor every man who resembles him,
and hate myself while I am in his company? If I did not fear to displease
thee, I would reduce the city to ruins, so that the owl and the raven should
cry in it, and would transport its stones beyond Mount Káf.49 Thou liest,
thou infamous woman, replied the slave; and I swear by the generosity of
the blacks (and if I speak not truth, may our valour be as the valour of the
whites), that if thou loiter as thou hast now done till this hour, I will no
longer give thee my company, nor approach thy person, thou faithless one!
Dost thou inconvenience me for the sake of thine own pleasure, thou filthy
wretch, and vilest of the whites? -
When I heard (continued the King) their words, and witnessed what
passed between them, the world became dark before my face, and I knew
not where I was. - My cousin still stood weeping, and abasing herself before
him, and said, O my beloved, and treasure of my heart, there remaineth to
me none but thee for whom I care, and if thou cast me off, alas for me!
O my beloved! O light of mine eye! Thus she continued to weep, and to
humble herself before him, until he became pacified towards her; upon which
she rejoiced, and arose, and, having disrobed herself, said to him, O my
master, hast thou here anything that thy maid may eat? He answered,
Uncover the dough-pan; it contains some cooked rats' bones: 50 eat of them,
and pick them; and take this earthen pot: thou wilt find in it some boozah 51
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
39
to drink. So she arose, and ate and drank, and washed her hands; after
which she lay down by the side of the slave, upon the stalks of sugar-cane,
and covered herself with his tattered clothes and rags.
When I saw her do this, I became unconscious of my existence, and,
descending from the roof of the kubbeh, entered, and took the sword from
the side of my cousin, with the intention of killing them both. I struck
the slave upon his neck, and thought that he was killed; but the blow, which
I gave with the view of severing his head, only cut the gullet and skin and
flesh; and when I thought that I had killed him, he uttered a loud snore,
upon which my cousin started up, and as soon as I had gone, took the sword,
and returned it to its scabbard, and came back to the city and to the palace,
and lay down again in my bed, in which she remained until the morning.
On the following day, I observed that my cousin had cut off her hair, and
put on the apparel of mourning; 52 and she said to me, O my cousin, blame
me not for what I do; for I have received news that my mother is dead, and
that my father hath been slain in a holy war, and that one of my two brothers
hath died of a poisonous sting, and the other by the fall of a horse: it is
natural, therefore, that I should weep and mourn. On hearing these words,
I abstained from upbraiding her, and said, Do what seemeth fit to thee; for
I will not oppose thee. Accordingly, she continued mourning and weeping
and wailing a whole year; after which she said to me, I have a desire to build
for myself, in thy palace, a tomb, with a kubbeh, that I may repair thither
alone to mourn, and I will call it the House of Lamentations." I replied, Do
what thou seest fit.
So she built for herself a house for mourning, with a kubbeh in the middle.
of it, like the tomb of a saint; 54 after which she removed thither the slave,
and there she lodged him. He was in a state of excessive weakness, and
unable to render her any service, though he drank wine; and from the day on
which I had wounded him, he had never spoken; yet he remained alive, be-
cause the appointed term of his life had not expired. My cousin every day
visited him in this tomb early and late, to weep and mourn over him, and took
to him wine to drink, and boiled meats; and thus she continued to do, morn-
ing and evening, until the expiration of the second year, while I patiently
suffered her, till, one day, I entered her apartment unaware, and found her
weeping, and slapping her face, and repeating these verses: -
I have lost my existence among mankind since your absence; for my heart loveth none
but you.
Take my body, then, in mercy, to the place where you are laid; and there bury me by
your side:
And if, at my grave, you utter my name, the moaning of my bones shall answer to your
call.
As soon as she had finished the recitation of these verses, I said to her,
holding my drawn sword in my hand, This is the language of those faithless
women who renounce the ties of affinity, and regard not lawful fellowship!
and I was about to strike her with the sword, and had lifted up my arm to
40
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
do so, when she rose for she knew that it was I who had wounded the slave
--and, standing before me, pronounced some words which I understood not,
and said, May God, by means of my enchantment, make thee to be half of
stone, and half of the substance of man! - whereupon I became as thou seest,
unable to move, neither dead nor alive; and when I had been reduced to this
state, she enchanted the city and its markets and fields. The inhabitants of
our city were of four classes; Muslims, and Christians, and Jews, and
Magians; and she transformed them into fish: the white are the Mus-
lims; the red, the Magians; the blue, the Christians; and the yellow, the
Jews.55
She transformed, also, the four islands into four mountains, and placed
them around the lake; and from that time she has continued every day to
torture me, inflicting upon me a hundred lashes with a leathern whip, until
the blood flows from my wounds; after which she puts on my upper half a
vest of hair-cloth, beneath these garments. Having said thus, the young
man wept, and ejaculated the following verses:
Give me patience, O Allah, to bear what Thou decreest! I will be patient, if so I may
obtain thine approval.
I am straitened, indeed, by the calamity that hath befallen me: but the Family of the
favoured Prophet shall intercede for me!
36
Upon this, the King, looking towards the young man, said to him, O youth,
thou hast increased my anxiety. And where (he added) is this woman? —
The young man answered, She is in the tomb where the slave is lying, in the
kubbeh; and every day, before she visits him, she strips me of my clothing,
and inflicts upon me a hundred lashes with the whip, while I weep and cry
out, unable to move so as to repulse her. After thus torturing me, she re-
pairs early to the slave, with the wine and boiled meat. By Allah, O
youth, said the King, I will do thee an act of kindness for which I shall be
remembered, and a favour which historians shall record in a biography after
me.
He then sat and conversed with him until the approach of night, upon
which he arose, and waited till the first dawn of day, when he took off his
clothes, and slung on his sword, and went to the place where the slave lay.
After remarking the candles and lamps, and perfumes and ointments, he
approached the slave, and with a blow of his sword slew him: he then carried
him on his back, and threw him into a well which he found in the palace, and,
returning to the kubbeh, clad himself with the slave's clothes, and lay down
with the drawn sword by his side. Soon after, the vile enchantress went to
her cousin, and, having pulled off his clothes, took the whip, and beat him,
while he cried, Ah! it is enough for me to be in this state! Have pity on me
then! Didst thou shew pity to me, she exclaimed, and didst thou spare my
lover? She then put on him the hair-cloth vest and his outer garments,
and repaired to the slave with a cup of wine, and a bowl of boiled meat.
Entering the tomb, she wept and wailed, exclaiming, O my master, answer
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
41
-
me! O my master, speak to me! — and poured forth her lamentation in the
words of this verse:
How long shall this aversion and harshness continue, Sufficient is the evil which my
passion hath brought upon me!"
Then, weeping as before, she exclaimed again, O my master, answer me, and
speak to me! Upon this the King, speaking in a low voice, and adapting his
tongue to the pronunciation of the blacks, ejaculated, Ah! Ah! there is no
strength nor power but in God! On hearing these words, she screamed with
joy, and fell down in a swoon; and when she recovered, she exclaimed, Pos-
sibly my master is restored to health! The King, again lowering his voice,
as if from weakness, replied, Thou profligate wretch, thou deservest not that
I should address thee. Wherefore? said she. He answered, Because all
the day long thou tormentest thy husband, while he calleth out, and imploreth
the aid of God, so that thou hast prevented my sleeping from the commence-
ment of darkness until morning: thy husband hath not ceased to humble
himself, and to imprecate vengeance upon thee, till he hath distracted me; and
had it not been for this, I had recovered my strength: this it is which hath
prevented my answering thee. Then, with thy permission, she replied, I
will liberate him from his present sufferings. Liberate him, said the King,
and give us ease.
-
-
She replied, I hear and obey; - and immediately arose, and went out from
the kubbeh to the palace, and, taking a cup, filled it with water, and pro-
nounced certain words over it, upon which it began to boil like a cauldron.
She then sprinkled some of it upon her cousin, saying, By virtue of what
I have uttered, be changed from thy present state to that in which thou wast
at first! and instantly he shook, and stood upon his feet, rejoicing in his
liberation, and exclaimed, I testify that there is no deity but God, and that
Mohammad is God's Apostle; God bless and save him! She then said to
him, Depart, and return not hither, or I will kill thee: and she cried out in
his face: so he departed from before her, and she returned to the kubbeh, and
said, O my master, come forth to me that I may behold thee. He replied,
with a weak voice, What hast thou done? Thou hast relieved me from the
branch, but hast not relieved me from the root. - O my beloved, she said,
and what is the root? He answered, The people of this city, and of the four
islands: every night, at the middle hour, the fish raise their heads, and
imprecate vengeance upon me and upon thee; and this is the cause that pre-
venteth the return of vigour to my body; therefore, liberate them, and come,
and take my hand, and raise me; for vigour hath already in part returned
to me.
On hearing these words of the King, whom she imagined to be the slave,
she said to him with joy, O my master, on my head and my eye! In the
name of Allah! 58 — and she sprang up, full of happiness, and hastened to
the lake, where, taking a little of its water, she pronounced over it some unin-
telligible words, whereupon the fish became agitated, and raised their heads,
42
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and immediately became converted into men as before. Thus was the en-
chantment removed from the inhabitants of the city, and the city became
repeopled, and the market-streets re-erected, and every one returned to his
occupation: the mountains also became changed into islands as they were at
the first. The enchantress then returned immediately to the King, whom she
still imagined to be the slave, and said to him, O my beloved, stretch forth
thy honoured hand, that I may kiss it. Approach me, said the King in a
low voice. So she drew near to him; and he, having his keen-edged sword
ready in his hand, thrust it into her bosom, and the point protruded from
her back: he then struck her again, and clove her in twain, and went forth.
He found the young man who had been enchanted waiting his return, and
congratulated him on his safety; and the young prince kissed his hand, and
thanked him. The King then said to him, Wilt tho: remain in thy city, or
come with me to my capital? O King of the age, said the young man, dost
thou know the distance that is between thee and thy city? The King
answered, Two days and a half. O King, replied the young man, if thou
hast been asleep, awake: between thee and thy city is a distance of a year's
journey to him who travelleth with diligence; and thou camest in two days
and a half only because the city was enchanted: but, O King, I will never
quit thee for the twinkling of an eye. The King rejoiced at his words, and
said, Praise be to God, who hath in his beneficence given thee to me: thou art
my son; for during my whole life, I have never been blest with a son:
and they embraced each other, and rejoiced exceedingly. They then went
together into the palace, where the King who had been enchanted informed
the officers of his court that he was about to perform the holy pilgrimage:
so they prepared for him everything that he required; and he departed with
the Sultán; his heart burning with reflections upon his city, because he had
been deprived of the sight of it for the space of a year.
59
He set forth, accompanied by fifty memlooks, and provided with pres-
ents, and they continued their journey night and day for a whole year, after
which they drew near to the city of the Sultán, and the Wezeer and the troops,
who had lost all hope of his return, came forth to meet him. The troops,
approaching him, kissed the ground before him, and congratulated him on
his safe return; and he entered the city, and sat upon the throne. He then
acquainted the Wezeer with all that had happened to the young King; on
hearing which, the Wezeer congratulated the latter, also, on his safety; and
when all things were restored to order, the Sultán bestowed presents upon a
number of his subjects, and said to the Wezeer, Bring to me the fisherman
who presented to me the fish. So he sent to this fisherman, who had been
the cause of the restoration of the inhabitants of the enchanted city, and
brought him; and the King invested him with a dress of honour, and inquired
of him respecting his circumstances, and whether he had any children. The
fisherman informed him that he had a son and two daughters; and the King,
on hearing this, took as his wife one of the daughters, and the young prince
married the other.60
THE FISHERMAN AND THE 'EFREET
43
The King also conferred upon the son the office of treasurer. He then
sent the Wezeer to the city of the young prince, the capital of the Black
Islands, and invested him with its sovereignty, despatching with him the fifty
memlooks who had accompanied him thence, with numerous robes of honour
to all the Emeers: and the Wezeer kissed his hands, and set forth on his
journey; while the Sultán and the young prince remained. And as to the
fisherman, he became the wealthiest of the people of his age; and his daugh-
ters continued to be the wives of the Kings until they died.
But this (added Shahrazád) is not more wonderful than what happened
to the porter.
A sad to m
T
III
THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
HERE was a man of the city of Baghdad, who was unmarried, and he
was a porter; and one day, as he sat in the market, reclining against his
crate,¹ there accosted him a female wrapped in an izár 2 of the manufacture
of El-Mósil, composed of gold-embroidered silk, with a border of gold lace
at each end, who raised her face-veil, and displayed beneath it a pair of black
eyes, with lids bordered by long lashes, exhibiting a tender expression, and
features of perfect beauty; and she said, with a sweet voice, Bring thy crate,
and follow me.
me.
—
The porter had scarcely heard her words when he took up his crate, and
he followed her until she stopped at the door of a house, and knocked;
whereupon there came down to her a Christian, and she gave him a piece of
gold, and received for it a quantity of olives, and two large vessels of wine,*
which she placed in the crate, saying to the porter, Take it up, and follow
The porter exclaimed, This is, indeed, a fortunate day! and he took
up the crate, and followed her. She next stopped at the shop of a fruiterer,
and bought of him Syrian apples, and 'Othmánee quinces, and peaches of
'Omán, and jasmine of Aleppo, and water-lilies of Damascus, and cucumbers
of the Nile, and Egyptian limes, and Sultánee citrons, and sweet-scented
myrtle, and sprigs of the hennà-tree, and chamomile, and anemones, and
violets, and pomegranate flowers, and eglantine: all these she put into the
porter's crate, and said to him, Take it up.
-
So he took it up, and followed her until she stopped at the shop of a
butcher, to whom she said, Cut off ten pounds of meat; and he cut it off
for her, and she wrapped it in a leaf of a banana-tree, and put it in the crate,
and said again, Take it up, O porter: and he did so, and followed her.
She next stopped at the shop of a seller of dry fruits, and took some of every
kind of these, and desired the porter to take up his burden. Having obeyed,
he followed her until she stopped at the shop of a confectioner, where she
bought a dish, and filled it with sweets of every kind that he had, which
she put into the crate; whereupon the porter ventured to say, If thou hadst
informed me beforehand, I had brought with me a mule to carry all these
things. The lady smiled at his remark, and next stopped at the shop of a
perfumer, of whom she bought ten kinds of scented waters; rose-water, and
orange-flower-water, and willow-flower-water,' &c.; together with some sugar,
and a sprinkling-bottle of rose-water infused with musk, and some frank-
incense, and aloes-wood, and ambergris, and musk, and wax candles; and,
8
44
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
45
placing all these in the crate, she said, Take up thy crate, and follow me.
He, therefore, took it up, and followed her until she came to a handsome
house, before which was a spacious court. It was a lofty structure, with a
door of two leaves, composed of ebony, overlaid with plates of red gold."
The young lady stopped at this door, and knocked gently; whereupon both
its leaves were opened, and the porter, looking to see who opened it, found
it to be a damsel of tall stature, high-bosomed, fair and beautiful, and of
elegant form, with a forehead like the bright new moon, eyes like those of
gazelles, eyebrows like the new moon of Ramadán,10 cheeks resembling
anemones, and a mouth like the seal of Suleymán: 11 her countenance was
like the full moon in its splendour, and the forms of her bosom resembled two
pomegranates of equal size..
When the porter beheld her, she captivated his reason, the crate nearly
fell from his head, and he exclaimed, Never in my life have I seen a more
fortunate day than this! The lady-portress, standing within the door, said
to the cateress and the porter, Ye are welcome: - and they entered, and
proceeded to a spacious saloon,12 decorated with various colours, and beauti-
fully constructed, with carved woodwork, and fountains, and benches of
different kinds, and closets with curtains hanging before them; there was also
in it, at the upper end,13 a couch of alabaster inlaid with large pearls and
jewels, with a musquito-curtain of red satin suspended over it, and within
this was a young lady with eyes possessing the enchantment of Bábil,¹¹ and
a figure like the letter Alif,15 with a face that put to shame the shining sun:
she was like one of the brilliant planets, or rather, one of the most high-born
of the maidens of Arabia. This third lady,16 rising from the couch, advanced
with a slow and elegant gait to the middle of the saloon, where her sisters
were standing, and said to them, Why stand ye still? Lift down the burden.
from the head of this poor porter: - whereupon the cateress placed herself
before him, and the portress behind him, and, the third lady assisting them,
they lifted it down from his head. They then took out the contents of the
crate, and, having put everything in its place, gave to the porter two pieces
of gold, saying to him, Depart, O porter.
The porter, however, stood looking at the ladies, and admiring their
beauty and their agreeable dispositions; for he had never seen any more
handsome; and when he observed that they had not a man among them, and
gazed upon the wine, and fruits, and sweet-scented flowers, which were there,
he was full of astonishment, and hesitated to go out; upon which one of the
ladies said to him, Why dost thou not go? dost thou deem thy hire too little?
Then turning to one of her sisters, she said to her, Give him another piece of
gold. By Allah, O my mistress, exclaimed the porter, my hire is but two
half-dirhems," and I thought not what ye have given me too little; but my
heart and mind were occupied with reflections upon you and your state, ye
being alone, with no man among you, not one to amuse you with his com-
pany; for ye know that the menáreh 18 standeth not firmly but on four walls:
now ye have not a fourth, and the pleasure of women is not complete with-
46
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
out men: ye are three only, and have need of a fourth, who should be a
man, a person of sense, discreet, acute, and a concealer of secrets. We are
maidens, they replied; and fear to impart our secret to him who will not
keep it; for we have read, in a certain history, this verse:
Guard thy secret from another: intrust it not: for he who intrusteth a secret hath lost it.
By your existence, said the porter, I am a man of sense, and trustworthy:
I have read various books, and perused histories: I make known what is fair,
and conceal what is foul, and act in accordance with the saying of the poet: -
None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of mankind it remaineth
concealed.
A secret is with me as in a house with a lock, whose key is lost, and whose door is
sealed.19
When the ladies heard the verses which he quoted, and the words with which
he addressed them, they said to him, Thou knowest that we have expended
here a considerable sum of money: hast thou then wherewith to requite us?
We will not suffer thee to remain with us unless thou contribute a sum of
money; for thou desirest to sit with us, and to be our cup-companion, and to
gaze upon our beautiful faces. - If friendship is without money, said the
mistress of the house, it is not equivalent to the weight of a grain: -- and
the portress added, If thou hast nothing, depart with nothing: - but the
cateress said, O sister, let us suffer him; for, verily, he hath not been deficient
in his services for us this day: another had not been so patient with us:
whatever, therefore, falls to his share of the expense, I will defray for him. ---
At this the porter rejoiced, and exclaimed, By Allah, I obtained my first and
only pay this day from none but thee: and the other ladies said to him, Sit
down: thou art welcome.
The cateress then arose, and, having tightened her girdle, arranged the
bottles, and strained the wine, and prepared the table by the pool of the
fountain. She made ready all that they required, brought the wine, and
sat down with her sisters; the porter also sitting with them, thinking he was
in a dream. And when they had seated themselves, the cateress took a
jar of wine, and filled the first cup, and drank it: 20 she then filled another,
and handed it to one of her sisters; and in like manner she did to her other
sister; after which she filled again, and handed the cup to the porter, who,
having taken it from her hand, repeated this verse:
I will drink the wine, and enjoy health; for, verily, this beverage is a remedy for disease.
The wine continued to circulate among them, and the porter, taking his part
in the revels, dancing and singing with them, and enjoying the fragrant
odours, began to hug and kiss them, while one slapped 21 him, and another
pulled him, and the third beat him with sweet-scented flowers, till, at length,
the wine made sport with their reason; and they threw off all restraint, indulg-
ing their merriment with as much freedom as if no man had been present.2
22
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
47
-
Thus they continued until the approach of night, when they said to the
porter, Depart, and shew us the breadth of thy shoulders; 23 but he replied,
Verily the departure of my soul from my body were more easy to me than
my departure from your company; therefore suffer us to join the night to the
day, and then each of us shall return to his own, or her own, affairs. The
cateress, also, again interceded for him, saying, By my life I conjure you that
ye suffer him to pass the night with us, that we may laugh at his drolleries,
for he is a witty rogue. So they said to him, Thou shalt pass the night with
us on this condition, that thou submit to our authority, and ask not an
explanation of anything that thou shalt see. He replied, Good. Rise then,
said they, and read what is inscribed upon the door. Accordingly, he went
to the door, and found the following inscription upon it in letters of gold,
Speak not of that which doth not concern thee, lest thou hear that which will
not please thee: and he said, Bear witness to my promise that I will not
speak of that which doth not concern me.
-
The cateress then rose, and prepared for them a repast; and, after they
had eaten a little, they lighted the candles and burnt some aloes-wood. This
done, they sat down again to the table; and, while they were eating and
drinking, they heard a knocking at the door; whereupon, without causing any
interruption to their meal, one of them went to the door, and, on her return,
said, Our pleasure this night is now complete, for I have found, at the door,
three foreigners 24 with shaven chins, and each of them is blind in the left
eye: it is an extraordinary coincidence. They are strangers newly arrived,25
and each of them has a ridiculous appearance: if they come in, therefore, we
shall be amused with laughing at them. The lady ceased not with these
words, but continued to persuade her sisters until they consented, and said,
Let them enter; but make it a condition with them that they speak not of
that which doth not concern them, lest they hear that which will not please
them.
Upon this she rejoiced, and, having gone again to the door, brought in
the three men blind of one eye and with shaven chins, and they had thin and
twisted mustaches. Being mendicants, they saluted and drew back; but the
ladies rose to them, and seated them; and when these three men looked at
the porter, they saw that he was intoxicated; and, observing him narrowly,
they thought that he was one of their own class, and said, He is a mendicant
like ourselves, and will amuse us by his conversation:
but the porter, hear-
ing what they said, arose, and rolled his eyes, and explained to them, Sit
quiet, and abstain from impertinent remarks. Have ye not read the inscrip-
tion upon the door? The ladies, laughing, said to each other, Between the
mendicants and the porter we shall find matter for amusement. They then
placed before the former some food, and they ate, and then sat to drink.
The portress handed to them the wine, and, as the cup was circulating among
them, the porter said to them, Brothers, have ye any tale or strange anecdote
wherewith to amuse us?
The mendicants, heated by the wine, asked for musical instruments; and
48
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the portress brought them a tambourine of the manufacture of El-Mósil, with
a lute of El-'Erák, and a Persian harp; 26 whereupon they all arose; and
one took the tambourine; another, the lute; and the third, the harp: and they
played upon these instruments, the ladies accompanying them with loud
songs; and while they were thus diverting themselves, a person knocked at
the door. The portress, therefore, went to see who was there; and the cause
of the knocking was this.
-
The Khaleefeh 27 Hároon Er-Rasheed had gone forth this night to see and
hear what news he could collect, accompanied by Jaafar 28 his Wezeer, and
Mesroor 29 his executioner. It was his custom to disguise himself in the attire
of a merchant; and this night, as he went through the city, he happened to
pass, with his attendants, by the house of these ladies, and hearing the sounds
of the musical instruments, he said to Jaafar, I have a desire to enter this.
house, and to see who is giving this concert. They are a party who have
become intoxicated, replied Jaafar, and I fear that we may experience some
ill usage from them; - but the Khaleefeh said, We must enter, and I would
that thou devise some stratagem by which we may obtain admission to the
inmates. Jaafar therefore answered, I hear and obey: and he advanced,
and knocked at the door; and when the portress came and opened the door,
he said to her, My mistress, we are merchants from Tabareeyeh,30 and have
been in Baghdad ten days; we have brought with us merchandise, and taken
lodgings in a Khán; 31 and a merchant invited us to an entertainment this
night: accordingly, we went to his house, and he placed food before us, and
we ate, and sat awhile drinking together, after which he gave us leave to
depart; and going out in the dark, and being strangers, we missed our way
to the Khán: we trust, therefore, in your generosity that you will admit us to
pass the night in your house; by doing which you will obtain a reward in
heaven.
32
The portress, looking at them, and observing that they were in the garb
of merchants, and that they bore an appearance of respectability, returned,
and consulted her two companions; and they said to her, Admit them: - so
she returned, and opened to them the door. They said to her, Shall we enter
with thy permission? She answered, Come in. The Khaleefeh, therefore,
entered, with Jaafar and Mesroor; and when the ladies saw them, they rose
to them, and served them, saying, Welcome are our guests; but we have a
condition to impose upon you, that ye speak not of that which doth not con-
cern you, lest ye hear that which will not please you. They answered,
Good:- and when they had sat down to drink, the Khaleefeh looked at the
three mendicants, and was surprised at observing that each of them was
blind of the left eye; and he gazed upon the ladies, and was perplexed and
amazed at their fairness and beauty. And when the others proceeded to
drink and converse, the ladies brought wine to the Khaleefeh; but he said,
I am a pilgrim; 33 and drew back from them. Whereupon the portress
spread before him an embroidered cloth, and placed upon it a China bottle,
into which she poured some willow-flower-water, adding to it a lump of ice,
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
49
and sweetening it with sugar, while the Khaleefeh thanked her, and said
within himself, To-morrow I must reward her for this kind action.
The party continued their carousal, and, when the wine took effect upon
them, the mistress of the house arose, and waited upon them; and afterwards,
taking the hand of the cateress, said, Arise, O my sister, that we may fulfil
our debt. She replied, Good. The portress then rose, and, after she had
cleared the middle of the saloon, placed the mendicants at the further end,
beyond the doors; after which, the ladies called to the porter, saying, How
slight is thy friendship! thou art not a stranger, but one of the family. So
the porter arose, and girded himself, and said, What would ye? - to whic
one of the ladies answered, Stand where thou art: - and presently the ca
teress said to him, Assist me: and he saw two black bitches, with chains
attached to their necks, and drew them to the middle of the saloon; where-
upon the mistress of the house arose from her place, and tucked up her
sleeve above her wrist, and, taking a whip, said to the porter, Bring to me one
of them.
Accordingly, he dragged one forward by the chain. The bitch whined,
and shook her head at the lady; but the latter fell to beating her upon the
head, notwithstanding her howling, until her arms were tired, when she threw
the whip from her hand, and pressed the bitch to her bosom, and wiped away
her tears, and kissed her head; after which she said to the porter, Take her
back, and bring the other: and he brought her, and she did to her as she
had done to the first. At the sight of this, the mind of the Khaleefeh was
troubled, and his heart was contracted, and he winked to Jaafar that he
should ask her the reason; but he replied by a sign, Speak not.
-
The mistress of the house then looked towards the portress, and said to
her, Arise to perform what thou hast to do. She replied, Good: - and the
mistress of the house seated herself upon a couch of alabaster, overlaid with
gold and silver, and said to the portress and the cateress, Now perform your
parts. The portress then seated herself upon a couch by her; and the ca-
teress, having entered a closet, brought out from it a bag of satin with gre
fringes, and, placing herself before the lady of the house, shook it, and to
out from it a lute; and she tuned its strings, and sang to it these verses:
Restore to my eyelids the sleep which hath been ravished; and inform me of my reas
whither it hath fled.
I discovered, when I took up my abode with love, that slumber had become an enemy
my eyes.
They said, We saw thee to be one of the upright; what, then, hath seduced thee:
answered, Seek the cause from his glance.
Verily I excuse him for the shedding of my blood, admitting that I urged him to
deed by vexation.
He cast his sun-like image upon the mirror of my mind, and its reflection kindled a flat
in my vitals.
When the portress 35 had heard this song, she exclaimed, Allah approve
thee! — and she rent her clothes, and fell upon the floor in a swoon; and
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
her bosom was thus uncovered, the Khaleefeh saw upon her the marks
iting, as if from mikra'ahs 36 and whips; at which he was greatly sur-
The cateress immediately arose, sprinkled water upon her face,
rought her another dress, which she put on. The Khaleefeh then said
far, Seest thou not this woman, and the marks of beating upon her?
not keep silence respecting this affair, nor be at rest, until I know the
of the history of this damsel, and that of these two bitches. But
replied, O our lord, they have made a covenant with us that we shall
eak excepting of that which concerneth us, lest we hear that which will
ease us. The cateress then took the lute again, and, placing it against
som, touched the chords with the ends of her fingers, and thus sang
ve we complain, what shall we say? Or consuming through desire, how can we
ipe?
e send a messenger to interpret for us, he cannot convey the lover's complaint.
e would be patient, short were our existence after the loss of those we love.
remaineth to us but grief and mourning, and tears streaming down our cheeks.
who are absent from my sight, but constantly dwelling within my heart!
ou kept your faith to an impassioned lover, who, while time endureth, will never
nge?
ibsence, have you forgotten that lover who, on your account, is wasting away?
he day of judgment shall bring us together, I will beg of our Lord a protractive
1.38
-
ring these verses of the cateress, the portress again rent her clothes,
ed out, and fell upon the floor in a swoon; and the cateress, as before,
her another dress, after she had sprinkled some water upon her face.39
e mendicants, when they witnessed this scene, said, Would that we had
ntered this house, but rather had passed the night upon the mounds; 40
· night hath been rendered foul by an event that breaketh the back!
haleefeh, looking towards them, then said, Wherefore is it so with you?
inswered, Our hearts are troubled by this occurrence. Are ye not,
ed, of this house? —No, they answered; nor did we imagine that this
belonged to any but the man who is sitting with you: upon which
ter said, Verily, I have never seen this place before this night; and I
that I had passed the night upon the mounds rather than here. They
bserved, one to another, We are seven men, and they are but three
; we will, therefore, ask them of their history; and if they answer us
lingly they shall do it in spite of themselves: and they all agreed to
cepting Jaafar, who said, This is not a right determination; leave them
nselves, for we are their guests, and they made a covenant with
ch we should fulfil: there remaineth but little of the night, and each of
1 soon go his way. Then, winking to the Khaleefeh, he said, There
eth but an hour; and to-morrow we will bring them before thee, and
halt ask them their story. But the Khaleefeh refused to do so, and
have not patience to wait so long for their history. - Words followed
-
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
51
words, and at last they said, Who shall put the question to them? - and one
answered, The porter.
-
The ladies then said to them, O people, of what are ye talking? --where-
upon the porter approached the mistress of the house, and said to her, O my
mistress, I ask thee, and conjure thee by Allah, to tell us the story of the two
bitches, and for what reason thou didst beat them, and then didst weep, and
kiss them, and that thou acquaint us with the cause of thy sister's having
been beaten with mikra'ahs: that is our question, and peace be on you. - Is
this true that he saith of you? inquired the lady, of the other men; and they
all answered, Yes, excepting Jaafar, who was silent.
excepting Jaafar, who was silent. When the lady heard
their answer, she said, Verily, O our guests, ye have wronged us excessively;
for we made a covenant with you beforehand, that he who should speak of
that which concerned him not should hear that which would not please him.
Is it not enough that we have admitted you into our house, and fed you with
our provisions? But it is not so much your fault as the fault of her who
introduced you to us. She then tucked up her sleeve above her wrist, and
struck the floor three times, saying, Come ye quickly! and immediately
the door of a closet opened, and there came forth from it seven black slaves,
each having in his hand a drawn sword.
--
― -
The lady said to them, Tie behind them the hands of these men of many
words, and bind each of them to another: - and they did so, and said, O
virtuous lady, dost thou permit us to strike off their heads? She answered,
Give them a short respite, until I shall have inquired of them their histories,
before ye behead them. By Allah, O my mistress, exclaimed the porter,
kill me not for the offence of others: for they have all transgressed and com-
mitted an offence, excepting me. Verily our night had been pleasant if we
had been preserved from these mendicants, whose presence is enough to con-
vert a well-peopled city into a heap of ruins! He then repeated this
couplet: -
-
How good is it to pardon one able to resist! and how much more so, one who is helpless!
For the sake of the friendship that subsisted between us, destroy not one for the crime
of another!
41
-
On hearing these words of the porter, the lady laughed after her anger.
Then approaching the men, she said, Acquaint me with your histories, for
there remaineth of your lives no more than an hour. Were ye not persons of
honourable and high condition, or governors, I would hasten your recom-
pense. The Khaleefeh said to Jaafar, Wo to thee, O Jaafar! make known
to her who we are; otherwise she will kill us. It were what we deserve,
replied he. Jesting, said the Khaleefeh, is not befitting in a time for serious-
ness: each has its proper occasion. The lady then approached the mendi-
cants, and said to them, Are ye brothers? They answered, No, indeed; we
are only poor foreigners.12 She said then to one of them, Wast thou born
blind of one eye? No, verily, he answered; but a wonderful event hap-
pened to me when my eye was destroyed, and the story of it, if engraved on
-
53
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the understanding, would serve as a lesson to him who would be admonished.
She asked the second and the third also; and they answered her as the first;
adding, Each of us is from a different country, and our history is wonderful
and extraordinary. The lady then looked towards them and said, Each of
you shall relate his story, and the cause of his coming to our abode, and then
stroke his head,43 and go his way.
The first who advanced was the porter, who said, O my mistress, I am a
porter; and this cateress loaded me, and brought me hither, and what hath
happened to me here in your company ye know. This is my story; and
peace be on you. - Stroke thy head, then, said she, and go: - but he replied,
By Allah, I will not go until I shall have heard the story of my companions.
The first mendicant then advanced, and related as follows:
THE FIRST MENDICANT'S STORY OF THE ROYAL LOVERS
✔
KNOW, O my mistress, that the cause of my having shaved my beard,
and of the loss of my eye was this: - My father was a King, and he had a
brother who was also a King, and who resided in another capital. It hap-
pened that my mother gave birth to me on the same day on which the son of
my uncle was born; and years and days passed away until we attained to
manhood. Now, it was my custom, some years, to visit my uncle, and to
remain with him several months; and on one of these occasions my cousin
paid me great honour; he slaughtered sheep for me, and strained the wine for
me, and we sat down to drink; and when the wine had affected us, he said
to me, O son of my uncle, I have need of thine assistance in an affair of
interest to me, and I beg that thou wilt not oppose me in that which I desire
to do. I replied, I am altogether at thy service: and he made me swear
to him by great oaths, and, rising immediately, absented himself for a little
while, and then returned, followed by a woman decked with ornaments, and
perfumed, and wearing a dress of extraordinary value. He looked towards
me, while the woman stood behind him, and said, Take this woman, and go
before me to the burial-ground which is in such a place: and he described
it to me, and I knew it. He then added, Enter the burial-ground, and there
wait for me.
-
-
I could not oppose him, nor refuse to comply with his request, on account
of the oaths which I had sworn to him; so I took the woman, and went with
her to the burial-ground; and when we had sat there a short time, my cousin
came, bearing a basin of water, and a bag containing some plaster, and a small
adze. Going to a tomb in the midst of the burial-ground, he took the adze,
and disunited the stones, which he placed on one side; he then dug up the
earth with the adze, and uncovered a flat stone of the size of a small door,
under which there appeared a vaulted staircase. Having done this he made
a sign to the woman, and said to her, Do according to thy choice: where-
upon she descended the stairs. He then looked towards me, and said, O son
of my uncle, complete thy kindness when I have descended into this place,
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
53
by replacing the trap-door and the earth above it as they were before: then,
this plaster which is in the bag, and this water which is in the basin, do thou
knead together, and plaster the stones of the tomb as they were, so that no
man may know it, and say, This hath been lately opened, but its interior is
old: for, during the space of a whole year I have been preparing this, and
no one knew it but God: this is what I would have thee do. He then said
to me, May God never deprive thy friends of thy presence, O son of my uncle!
-and, having uttered these words, he descended the stairs.
When he had disappeared from before my eyes, I replaced the trap-door,
and busied myself with doing as he had ordered me, until the tomb was re-
stored to the state in which it was at first; after which I returned to the
palace of my uncle, who was then absent on a hunting excursion. I slept
that night, and when the morning came, I reflected upon what had occurred
between me and my cousin, and repented of what I had done for him, when
repentance was of no avail. I then went out to the burial-ground, and
searched for the tomb; but could not discover it. I ceased not in my search
until the approach of night; and, not finding the way to it, returned again
to the palace; and I neither ate nor drank: my heart was troubled respecting
my cousin, since I knew not what had become of him; and I fell into excessive
grief. I passed the night sorrowful until the morning, and went again to the
burial-ground, reflecting upon the action of my cousin, and repenting of my
compliance with his request; and I searched among all the tombs; but dis-
covered not that for which I looked. Thus I persevered in my search seven
days without success.44
My trouble continued and increased until I was almost mad; and I found
no relief but in departing, and returning to my father; but on my arrival at
his capital, a party at the city-gate sprang upon me and bound me. I was
struck with the utmost astonishment, considering that I was the son of the
Sultán of the city, and that these were the servants of my father and of my-
self: excessive fear of them overcame me, and I said within myself, What
hath happened to my father? I asked, of those who had bound me, the
cause of this conduct; but they returned me no answer, till after a
while, when one of them, who had been my servant, said to me, Fortune
hath betrayed thy father, the troops have been false to him, and the
Wezeer hath killed him; and we were lying in wait to take thee. They
took me, and I was as one dead, by reason of this news which I had heard
respecting my father; and I stood before the Wezeer who had killed my
father.
-
-
Now, there was an old enmity subsisting between me and him; and the
cause of it was this: I was fond of shooting with the crossbow; and it
happened, one day, that as I was standing on the roof of my palace, a bird
alighted on the roof of the palace of the Wezeer, who was standing there at
the time, and I aimed at the bird; but the bullet missed it, and struck the eye
of the Wezeer, and knocked it out, in accordance with the appointment of fate
and destiny, as the poet hath said: --
54
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
We trod the steps appointed for us: and the man whose steps are appointed must tread
them.
He whose death is decreed to take place in one land will not die in any land but that.
--
When I had thus put out the eye of the Wezeer, he could say nothing, because
my father was King of the city. This was the cause of the enmity between
him and me: and when I stood before him, with my hands bound behind me,
he gave the order to strike off my head. I said to him, Wouldst thou kill
me for no offence? What offence, he exclaimed, could be greater than this?
and he pointed to the place of the eye which was put out. I did that,
said I, unintentionally. He replied, If thou didst it unintentionally, I will do
the same to thee purposely: - and immediately he said, Bring him forward
to me: and, when they had done so, he thrust his finger into my left eye,
and pulled it out. Thus I became deprived of one eye, as ye see me. He
then bound me firmly, and placed me in a chest, and said to the executioner,
Take this fellow, and draw thy sword, and convey him without the city; then
put him to death, and let the wild beasts devour him.
Accordingly, he went forth with me from the city, and, having taken me
out from the chest, bound hand and foot, was about to bandage my eye, and
kill me; whereupon I wept, and exclaimed,
How many brothers have I taken as armour! and such they were; but to guard my
enemies.
I thought they would be as piercing arrows: and such they were; but to enter my heart!
The executioner, who had served my father in the same capacity, and to
whom I had shewn kindnesses, said, on hearing these verses, O my master,
what can I do, being a slave under command? - but presently he added, De-
part with thy life, and return not to this country, lest thou perish, and cause
me to perish with thee. The poet saith,
Flee with thy life if thou fearest oppression, and leave the house to tell its builder's fate.
Thou wilt find, for the land that thou quittest, another: but no soul wilt thou find to
replace thine own.
As soon as he had thus said, I kissed his hands, and believed not in my
safety until I had fled from his presence. The loss of my eye appeared light
to me when I considered my escape from death; and I journeyed to my
uncle's capital, and, presenting myself before him, informed him of what had
befallen my father, and of the manner in which I had lost my eye: upon
which he wept bitterly, and said, Thou hast added to my trouble and my
grief; for thy cousin hath been lost for some days, and I know not what hath
happened to him, nor can any one give me information respecting him.
Then he wept again, until he became insensible; and when he recovered, he
said, O my son, the loss of thine eye is better than the loss of thy life.
Upon this I could no longer keep silence respecting his son, my cousin;
so I informed him of all that happened to him; and on hearing this news he
rejoiced exceedingly, and said, Shew me the tomb. - By Allah, O my uncle,
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
55
I replied, I know not where it is; for I went afterwards several times to search
for it, and could not recognise its place. We, however, went together to the
burial-ground, and, looking to the right and left, I discovered it; and both I
and my uncle rejoiced. I then entered the tomb with him, and when we
had removed the earth, and lifted up the trap-door, we descended fifty steps,
and, arriving at the bottom of the stairs, there issued forth upon us a smoke
which blinded our eyes; whereupon my uncle pronounced those words which
relieve from fear him who uttereth them, There is no strength nor power
but in God, the High, the Great!
-
After this, we proceeded, and found ourselves in a saloon, filled with flour.
and grain, and various eatables; and we saw there a curtain suspended over
a couch, upon which my uncle looked, and found there his son and the woman
who had descended with him, lying side by side, and converted into black
charcoal, as if they had been thrown into a pit of fire. And when he beheld
this spectacle, he spat in his son's face, and exclaimed, This is what thou
deservest, O thou wretch! This is the punishment of the present world, and
there remaineth the punishment of the other world, which will be more severe
and lasting! and he struck him with his shoes. Astonished at this action,
and grieved for my cousin, seeing him and the damsel thus converted into
charcoal, I said, By Allah, O my uncle, moderate the trouble of thy heart, for
my mind is perplexed by that which hath happened to thy son, and by think-
ing how it hath come to pass that he and the damsel are converted into black
charcoal. Dost thou not deem it enough for him to be in this state, that
thou beatest him with thy shoes?
45
O son of my brother, he replied, this my son was, from his early years,
inflamed with love for his foster-sister, and I used to forbid him from
entertaining this passion for her, and to say within myself, They are now
children, but when they grow older a base act will be committed by them:
and, indeed, I heard that such had been the case, but I believed it not. I,
however, reprimanded him severely, and said to him, Beware of so foul an
action, which none before thee hath committed, nor will any commit after
thee: otherwise we shall suffer disgrace and disparagement among the Kings
until we die, and our history will spread abroad with the caravans: have a
care for thyself that such an action proceed not from thee; for I should be
incensed against thee, and kill thee. I then separated him from her, and her
from him: but the vile woman loved him excessively; the Devil got posses-
sion of them both; and when my son saw that I had separated him, he
secretly made this place beneath the earth, and, having conveyed hither the
provisions which thou seest, took advantage of my inadvertence when I had
gone out to hunt, and came hither: but the Truth 6 (whose perfection be
extolled, and whose name be exalted!) was jealously vigilant over them, and
consumed them by fire; and the punishment of the world to come will be more
severe and lasting. — He then wept, and I wept with him; and he said to me,
Thou art my son in his stead. — I remained a while reflecting upon the world
and its vicissitudes, upon the murder of my father by the Wezeer, and his
46
56
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
usurping his throne, and the loss of my eye, and the strange events which
had happened to my cousin, and I wept again.
We then ascended, and, having replaced the trap-door and the earth above
it, and restored the tomb to its former state, returned to our abode; but
scarcely had we seated ourselves when we heard the sounds of drums and
trumpets, warriors galloped about, and the air was filled with dust raised by
the horses' hoofs. Our minds were perplexed, not knowing what had hap-
pened, and the King, asking the news, was answered, The Wezeer of thy
brother hath slain him and his soldiers and guards, and come with his army
to assault the city unawares; and the inhabitants, being unable to withstand,
have submitted to him: - whereupon I said within myself, If I fall into his
hand, he will slay me. Griefs overwhelmed me, and I thought of the
calamities which had befallen my father and my mother, and knew not what
to do; for if I appeared, the people of the city would know me, and the troops
of my father would hasten to kill and destroy me.
47
I knew no way of escape but to shave off my beard: so I shaved it,
and, having changed my clothes, departed from the city, and came hither,
to this abode of peace, in the hope that some person would introduce me to
the Prince of the Faithful, the Khaleefeh of the Lord of all creatures, that I
might relate to him my story, and all that had befallen me. I arrived in
this city this night; and as I stood perplexed, not knowing whither to direct
my steps, I saw this mendicant, and saluted him, and said, I am a stranger.
He replied, And I, too, am a stranger: - and while we were thus addressing
each other, our companion, this third person, came up to us, and saluting us,
said, I am a stranger. We replied, And we, also, are strangers. So we
walked on together, and darkness overtook us, and destiny directed us unto
your abode.
- This was the cause of the shaving of my beard, and of the loss
of my eye.
The lady then said to him, Stroke thy head, and depart: - but he replied,
I will not depart until I have heard the stories of the others. And they won-
dered at his tale; and the Khaleefeh said to Jaafar, Verily I have never
known the like of that which hath happened to this mendicant.
The second mendicant then advanced, and, having kissed the ground,
said, -
THE SECOND MENDICANT'S STORY OF THE 'EFREET'S MISTRESS
O my mistress, I was not born with only one eye; but my story is won-
derful, and, if written, would serve as a lesson to him who would be admon-
ished. I am a King, and son of a King: I read the Kurán according to the
seven readings,18 and perused various works under the tuition of different
learned professors of their subjects: I studied the science of the stars, and
the writings of the poets, and made myself proficient in all the sciences; so
that I surpassed the people of my age. My handwriting 50 was extolled
among all the scribes, my fame spread among all countries, and my history
49
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
57
among all Kings; and the King of India, hearing of me, requested my father
to allow me to visit him, sending him various gifts and curious presents, such
as were suitable to Kings.
My father, therefore, prepared for me six ships, and we proceeded by sea
for the space of a whole month, after which we came to land; and, having
disembarked some horses which we had with us in the ship, we loaded ten
camels with presents, and commenced our journey; but soon there appeared
a cloud of dust, which rose and spread until it filled the air before us, and,
after a while, cleared a little, and discovered to us, in the midst of it, sixty
horsemen like fierce lions whom we perceived to be Arab highwaymen; and
when they saw us, that we were a small company with ten loads of presents
for the King of India, they galloped towards us, pointing their spears at us.
We made signs to them with our fingers, and said, We are ambassadors to the
honoured King of India; therefore do us no injury: - but they replied, We
are not in his territories, nor under his government. They slew certain of
the young men, and the rest fled. I also fled, after I had received a severe
wound; the Arabs being employed, without further regard to us, in taking
possession of the treasure and presents which we had with us.
I proceeded without knowing whither to direct my course, reduced from
a mighty to an abject state, and journeyed till I arrived at the summit of a
mountain, where I took shelter in a cavern until the next morning. I then
resumed my journey, and arrived at a flourishing city: the winter, with its
cold, had passed away, and the spring had come, with its flowers; and I re-
joiced at my arrival there, being wearied with my journey, anxious and pallid.
My condition being thus changed, I knew not whither to bend my steps;
and, turning to a tailor sitting in his shop, I saluted him, and he returned
my salutation, and welcomed me, and wished me joy, asking me the reason
of my having come thither. I acquainted him, therefore, with what had be-
fallen me from first to last, and he was grieved for me, and said, O young
man, reveal not thy case, for I fear what the King of this city might do to
thee, since he is the greatest of thy father's enemies, and hath a debt of
blood against him.
-
He then placed some food and drink before me, and we ate together, and
I conversed with him till night, when he lodged me in a place by his shop,
and brought me a bed and coverlet; and, after I had remained with him three
days, he said to me, Dost thou not know any trade by which to make gain? 51
I answered, I am acquainted with the law, a student of sciences, a writer,
and an arithmetician. - Thy occupation, he said, is profitless in our country:
there is no one in our city acquainted with science or writing, but only with
getting money. Verily, I replied, I know nothing but what I have told
thee. — Gird thyself, then, said he, and take an axe and a rope, and cut fire-
wood in the desert, and so obtain thy subsistence until God dispel thy afflic-
tion; but acquaint no one with thy history, else they will kill thee. He then
bought for me an axe and a rope, and sent me with a party of wood-cutters,
giving them a charge respecting me. Accordingly, I went forth with them,
58
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and cut some wood, and brought back a load upon my head, and sold it for
half a piece of gold, part of which I expended in food, laying by the re-
mainder.
Thus I continued for the space of a year, after which I went one day into
the desert, according to my custom, to cut firewood; and finding there a tract
with abundance of wood, I entered it, and came to a tree, around which I
dug; and as I was removing the earth from its roots, the axe struck against a
ring of brass; and I cleared away the earth from it, and found that it was
affixed to a trap-door of wood, which I immediately removed. Beneath it
appeared a staircase, which I descended; and at the bottom of this I entered
a door, and beheld a palace, strongly constructed, where I found a lady, like
a pearl of high price, whose aspect banished from the heart all anxiety and
grief and affliction. At the sight of her I prostrated myself in adoration of
her Creator for the fairness and beauty which He had displayed in her person;
and she, looking towards me, said, Art thou a man or a Jinnee? I answered
her, I am a man. And who, she asked, hath brought thee to this place, in
which I have lived five and twenty years without ever seeing a human being?
- Her words sounded sweetly to me, and I answered her, O my mistress, God
hath brought me to thy abode, and I hope will put an end to my anxiety and
grief and I related to her my story from beginning to end.
She was grieved at my case, and wept, and said, I also will acquaint thee
with my story. Know that I am the daughter of the King of the further
parts of India, the lord of the Ebony Island. My father had married me to
the son of my uncle; but on the night of my bridal festivities, an 'Efreet
named Jarjarees, the son of Rejmoos, the son of Iblees, carried me off, and,
soaring with me through the air, alighted in this place, to which he conveyed
all things necessary for me, such as ornaments, and garments, and linen, and
furniture, and food, and drink; and once in every ten days he cometh to me,
and spendeth a night here; 52 and he hath appointed with me, that, in case of
my wanting any thing by night or day, I should touch with my hand these
two lines which are inscribed upon the kubbeh,53 and as soon as I remove my
hand I see him before me. Four days have now passed since he was last
with me, and there remain, therefore, six days before he will come again; wilt
thou then remain with me five days, and depart one day before his visit?
I answered, Yes; rejoicing at the proposal; and she arose, and taking me
by the hand, conducted me through an arched door to a small and elegant
bath, where I took off my clothes, while she seated herself upon a mattress.
After this, she seated me by her side, and brought me some sherbet of sugar
infused with musk,54 and handed it to me to drink: she then placed some
food before me, and after we had eaten and conversed together, she said to
me, Sleep, and rest thyself; for thou art fatigued.
55
I slept, O my mistress, and forgot all that had befallen me; and when I
awoke, I found her rubbing my feet; upon which I called to her, and we
sat down again and conversed a while; and she said to me, By Allah, I was
straitened in my heart, living here alone, without any person to talk with me
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
59
five and twenty years. Praise be to God who hath sent thee to me. I
thanked her for her kind expressions; and love of her took possession of my
heart, and my anxiety and grief fled away. We then sat down to drink to-
gether; and I remained by her side all the night, delighted with her company,
for I had never seen her like in my whole life; and in the morning, when
we were both full of joy, I said to her, Shall I take thee up from this subter-
ranean place, and release thee from the Jinnee? But she laughed, and re-
plied, Be content, and hold thy peace; for of every ten days, one day shall be
for the 'Efreet, and nine for thee.
I persisted, however, being overcome with passion: and said, I will this
instant demolish this kubbeh upon which the inscription is engraved, and let
the 'Efreet come, that I may slay him: for I am predestined to kill 'Efreets.
She entreated me to refrain; but, paying no attention to her words, I kicked
the kubbeh with violence; upon which she exclaimed, The 'Efreet hath
arrived! Did I not caution thee against this? Verily thou hast brought a
calamity upon me; but save thyself, and ascend by the way that thou camest.
In the excess of my fear I forgot my sandals and my axe, and when I had
ascended two steps, turning round to look for them, I saw that the ground
had opened, and there rose from it an 'Efreet of hideous aspect, who said,
Wherefore is this disturbance with which thou hast alarmed me, and what
misfortune hath befallen thee? She answered, No misfortune hath happened
to me, excepting that my heart was contracted, and I desired to drink some
wine to dilate it, and, rising to perform my purpose, I fell against the kubbeh.
-Thou liest, vile woman, he exclaimed; - and, looking about the palace to
the right and left, he saw the sandals and axe; and said to her, These are
the property of none but a man. Who hath visited thee? I have not seen
them, she answered, until this instant: probably they caught to thee. This
language, said he, is absurd, and will have no effect upon me, thou shameless
woman! and, so saying, he stripped her of her clothing, and tied her down,
with her arms and legs extended, to four stakes, and began to beat her, urging
her to confess what had happened.
-
-
--
For myself, being unable to endure her cries, I ascended the stairs, over-
powered by fear, and, arriving at the top, replaced the trap-door as it was
at first, and covered it over with earth. I repented bitterly of what I had
done, and reflecting upon the lady and her beauty, and how this wretch
was torturing her after she had lived with him five and twenty years, and that
he tortured her only on my account, and reflecting also upon my father and
his kingdom, and how I had been reduced to the condition of a wood-cutter.
I repeated this verse: --
What fortune bringeth thee affliction, console thyself by remembering that one day
thou must see prosperity, and another day, difficulty
Returning to my companion, the tailor, I found him awaiting my return as
if he were placed in a pan upon burning coals. I past last night, said he,
60
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
with anxious heart on thy account, fearing for thee from some wild beast or
other calamity. Praise be to God for thy safe return. I thanked him for
his tender concern for me, and entered my apartment; and as I sat medi-
tating upon that which had befallen me, and blaming myself for having
kicked the kubbeh, my friend the tailor came to me, and said, In the shop is
a foreigner, who asks for thee, and he has thy axe and sandals; he came with
them to the wood-cutters, 56 and said to them, I went out at the time of the
call of the Muëddin to morning-prayer, and stumbled upon these, and know
not to whom they belong; can ye guide me to their owner? The wood-
cutters therefore, directed him to thee: he is sitting in my shop; so go out
to him and thank him, and take thy axe and thy sandals.
-
On hearing these words, my countenance turned pale, and my whole state
became changed; and while I was in this condition, the floor of my chamber
clove asunder, and there rose from it the stranger, and lo, he was the 'Efreet;
he had tortured the lady with the utmost cruelty; but she would confess noth-
ing; so he took the axe and the sandals, and said to her, If I am Jarjarees,
of the descendants of Iblees, I will bring the owner of this axe and these
sandals. Accordingly, he came, with the pretence before mentioned, to the
wood-cutters, and, having entered my chamber, without granting me any de-
lay, seized me, and soared with me through the air; he then descended, and
dived into the earth and brought me up into the palace where I was before.
Here I beheld the lady stripped of her clothing, and with blood flowing
from her sides; and tears trickled from my eyes. The 'Efreet then took
hold of her, and said, Vile woman, this is thy lover: - whereupon she looked
at me, and replied, I know him not, nor have I ever seen him until this in-
stant. The 'Efreet said to her, With all this torture wilt thou not confess?
She answered, Never in my life have I seen him before, and it is not lawful
in the sight of God that I should speak falsely against him. Then, said
he, if thou know him not, take this sword and strike off his head. She took
the sword, and came to me, and stood over my head: but I made a sign to
her with my eyebrow, while tears ran down my cheeks. She replied in a
similar manner, Thou art he who hath done all this to me: I made a sign
to her, however, that this was a time for pardon, conveying my meaning in
the manner thus described by the poet:
58
| Our signal in love is the glance of our eyes; and every intelligent person understandeth
the sign.
Our eyebrows carry on an intercourse between us: we are silent: but love speaketh.
--
And when she understood me, she threw the sword from her hand, O my
mistress, and the 'Efreet handed it to me, saying, Strike off her head, and
I will liberate thee, and do thee no harm. I replied, Good: and, quickly
approaching her, raised my hand; but she made a sign as though she would
say, I did no injury to thee: whereupon my eyes poured with tears, and,
throwing down the sword, I said, O mighty 'Efreet, and valiant hero, if a
woman, deficient in sense and religion,59 seeth it not lawful to strike off my
-
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
61
head, how is it lawful for me to do so to her, and especially when I have
never seen her before in my life? I will never do it, though I should drink
the cup of death and destruction. There is affection between you, said
the 'Efreet, and, taking the sword, he struck off one of the hands of the lady;
then, the other; after this, her right foot; and then, her left foot: thus with
four blows he cut off her four extremities, while I looked on, expecting my
own death. She then made a sign to me with her eye; and the 'Efreet,
observing her, exclaimed, Now thou hast been guilty of incontinence with
thine eye! — and, with a blow of his sword, struck off her head; after which,
he turned towards me, and said, O man, it is allowed us by our law, if a wife
be guilty of incontinence, to put her to death. This woman I carried off on
her wedding-night, when she was twelve years of age, and she was acquainted
with no man but me; and I used to pass one night with her in the course of
every ten days in the garb of a' foreigner; and when I discovered of a cer-
tainty that she had been unfaithful to me, I killed her: but as for thee, I am
not convinced that thou hast wronged me with respect to her; yet I must
not leave thee unpunished: choose, therefore, what injury I shall do to thee.
-
Upon this, O my mistress, I rejoiced exceedingly, and, eager to obtain his
pardon, I said to him, What shall I choose from thy hands? - Choose, he
answered, into what form I shall change thee; either the form of a dog, or
that of an ass, or that of an ape. I replied, in my desire of forgiveness,
Verily, if thou wilt pardon me, God will pardon thee in recompense for thy
shewing mercy to a Muslim who hath done thee no injury: - and I humbled
myself in the most abject manner, and said to him, Pardon me as the envied
man did the envier. And how was that? said he. I answered as fol-
lows: 60
The Envier and the Envied
Know, O my master, that there was a certain man who had a neighbour
that envied him; and the more this person envied him, so much the more
did God increase the prosperity of the former. Thus it continued a long
time; but when the envied man found that his neighbour persisted in troubling
him, he removed to a place where there was a deserted well; and there he
built for himslf an oratory, and occupied himself in the worship of God.
Numerous Fakeers 1 assembled around him, and he acquired great
esteem, people repairing to him from every quarter, placing firm reliance
upon his sanctity; and his fame reached the ears of his envious neighbour,
who mounted his horse, and went to visit him; and when the envied man
saw him, he saluted him, and payed him the utmost civility. The envier
then said to him, I have come hither to inform thee of a matter in which
thou wilt find advantage, and for which I shall obtain a recompense in
heaven. The envied man replied, May God requite thee for me with every
blessing. Then, said the envier, order the Fakeers to retire to their cells,
for the information that I am about to give thee I would have no one over-
hear. So he ordered them to enter their cells; and the envier said to him,
62
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Arise, and let us walk together, and converse; and they walked on until
they came to the deserted well before mentioned, when the envier pushed
the envied man into this well, without the knowledge of any one, and went
his way, imagining that he had killed him.
But this well was inhabited by Jinn, who received him unhurt, and seated
him upon a large stone, and when they had done this, one of them said to
the others, Do ye know this man? They answered, We know him not. -
This, said he, is the envied man who fled from him who envied him, and took
up his abode in this quarter, in the neighbouring oratory, and who enter-
taineth us by his zikr 62 and his readings; and when his envier heard of
him, he came hither to him, and, devising a stratagem against him, threw
him down here. His fame hath this night reached the Sultán of this city,
who hath purposed to visit him to-morrow, on account of the affliction which
hath befallen his daughter. — And what, said they, hath happened to his
daughter? He answered, Madness; for Meymoon, the son of Demdem, hath
become inflamed with love for her; and her cure is the easiest of things.
They asked him, What is it? - and he answered, The black cat that is with
him in the oratory hath at the end of her tail a white spot, of the size of a
piece of silver; and from this white spot should be taken seven hairs, and
with these the damsel should be fumigated, and the Márid would depart
from over her head, and not return to her; so she would be instantly cured.
And now it is our duty to take him out.
-
When the morning came, the Fakeers saw the Sheykh rising out of the
well; and he became magnified in their eyes. And when he entered the
oratory, he took from the white spot at the end of the cat's tail seven hairs
and placed them in a portfolio by him; and at sunrise the King came to him,
and when the Sheykh saw him, he said to him, O King, thou hast come to
visit me in order that I may cure thy daughter. The King replied, Yes, O
virtuous Sheykh. — Then, said the Sheykh, send some person to bring her
hither; and I trust in God, whose name be exalted, that she may be instantly
cured. And when the King had brought his daughter, the Sheykh beheld
her bound, and, seating her, suspended a curtain over her, and took out the
hairs, and fumigated her with them; whereupon the Márid cried out from
over her head, and left her; and the damsel immediately recovered her
reason and, veiling her face, said to her father, What is this, and wherefore
didst thou bring me to this place? He answered her, Thou hast nothing
to fear; and rejoiced greatly. He kissed the hand of the envied Sheykh,
and said to the great men of his court who were with him, What shall be
the recompense of this Sheykh for that which he hath done? They answered,
His recompense should be that thou marry him to her.. Ye have spoken
truly, said the King: and he gave her in marriage to him, and thus the
Sheykh became a connection of the King; and after some days the King
died, and he was made King in his place.
-
And it happened one day that this envied King was riding with his
troops, and he saw his envier approaching; and when this man came before
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
63
him he seated him upon a horse with high distinction and honour, and, taking
him to his palace, gave him a thousand pieces of gold, and a costly dress;
after which he sent him back from the city, with attendants to escort him
to his house, and reproached him for nothing. Consider, then, O 'Efreet,
the pardon of the envied to the envier, and his kindness to him, notwithstand-
ing the injuries he had done him.63
-
Continuation of the Story of the Second Mendicant
The 'Efreet, when he had heard this story, replied, Lengthen not thy
words to me: as to my killing thee, fear it not; and as to my pardoning
thee, covet it not; but as to my enchanting thee, there is no escape from
it; and, so saying, he clove the earth asunder, and soared with me
through the sky to such a height that I beheld the world beneath me as
though it were a bowl of water: then, alighting upon a mountain side, he
took up a little dust, and, having muttered and pronounced certain
words over it, sprinkled me with it, saying, Quit this form, and take the
form of an ape! - whereupon I became like an ape of a hundred years
of age.
When I saw myself changed into this ugly form, I wept for myself, but
determined to be patient under the tyranny of fortune, knowing it to be
constant to no one. I descended from the summit of the mountain, and, after
having journeyed for the space of a month, arrived at the sea-shore; and, when
I had stood there a short time, I saw a vessel in the midst of the sea, with
a favourable wind approaching the land; I therefore hid myself behind a
rock on the beach, and when the ship came close up, I sprang into the midst.
of it. But as soon as the persons on board saw me, one of them cried,
Turn out this unlucky brute from the ship: - another said, Let us kill him:
-- and a third exclaimed, I will kill him with this sword. I, however, caught
hold of the end of the sword, and tears flowed from my eyes; at the sight of
which the captain took compassion on me, and said to the passengers,
merchants, this ape hath sought my aid, and I give it him; he is under my
protection; let no one, therefore, oppose or trouble him. He then treated
me with kindness, and whatever he said to me I understood, and all that
he required to be done I performed as his servant.
We continued our voyage for fifty days with a fair wind, and cast anchor
under a large city containing a population which no one but God, whose
name be exalted, could reckon; and when we had moored our vessel, there
came to us some memlooks from the King of the city, who came on board
the ship, and complimented the merchants on their safe arrival, saying, Our
King greeteth you, rejoicing in your safety, and hath sent to you this roll
of paper, desiring that each of you shall write a line upon it; for the King
had a Wezeer who was an eminent caligraphist, and he is dead, and the King
hath sworn that he will not appoint any person to his office who cannot write
equally well. Though in the form of an ape, I arose and snatched the
64
64
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
paper from their hands; upon which, fearing that I would tear it and throw
it into the sea, they cried out against me, and would have killed me; but I
made signs to them that I would write, and the captain said to them, Suffer
him to write, and if he scribble we will turn him away; but if he write I
will adopt him as my son; for I have never seen a more intelligent ape. So
I took the pen, and demanded the ink, and wrote in an epistolary hand this
couplet: -
Fame hath recorded the virtues of the noble; but no one hath been able to reckon thine.
May God not deprive mankind of such a father; for thou art the parent of every excel-
lence.
Then, in a more formal, large hand, I wrote the following verses:
--
There is no writer that shall not perish; but what his hand hath written endureth ever.
Write, therefore, nothing but what will please thee when thou shalt see it on the day of
resurrection.
Two other specimens I wrote, in two different and smaller hands, and re-
turned the paper to the memlooks, who took it back to the King; and when
he saw what was written upon it, the hand of no one pleased him ex-
cepting mine; and he said to his attendants, Go to the author of this
hand-writing, put upon him this dress, and mount him upon a mule, and
conduct him, with the band of music before him, to my presence. On hear-
ing this order, they smiled; and the King was angry with them, and said,
How is it that I give you an order, and ye laugh at me? They answered,
O King, we laugh not at thy words, but because he who wrote this is
an ape, and not a son of Adam: he is with the captain of the ship newly
arrived.
The King was astonished at their words; he shook with delight, and said,
I would purchase this ape. He then sent some messengers to the ship, with
the mule and the dress of honour, saying to them, Ye must clothe him with
this dress, and mount him upon the mule, and bring him hither. So they
came to the ship, and taking me from the captain, clad me with the dress;
and the people were astonished, and flocked to amuse themselves with the
sight of me. And when they brought me to the King, and I beheld him,
I kissed the ground before him three times, and he ordered me to sit down:
so I sat down upon my knees; 65 and the persons present were surprised at
my polite manners, and especially the King, who presently ordered his people
to retire. They, therefore, did so; none remaining but the King, and a
eunuch, and a young memlook, and myself. The King then commanded that
a repast should be brought; and they placed before him a service of viands,
such as gratified the appetite and delighted the eye; and the King made a
sign to me that I should eat; whereupon I arose, and, having kissed the
ground before him seven times, sat down to eat with him; and when the
table was removed, I washed my hands, and, taking the ink-case, and pen
and paper, I wrote these two verses:
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
65
08
Great is my appetite for thee, O Kunáfeh! I cannot be happy nor endure without thee.
Be thou every day and night my food; and may drops of honey not be wanting to
moisten thee.
Having done this, I arose, and seated myself at a distance; and the King,
looking at what I had written, read it with astonishment, and exclaimed.
Can an ape possess such fluency and such skill in caligraphy? This
is, indeed, a wonder of wonders! Afterwards, a chess-table was brought
to the King, and he said to me, Wilt thou play? By a motion of my head
I answered, Yes: - and I advanced, and arranged the pieces. I played
with him twice, and beat him; and the King was perplexed, and said, Were
this a man, he would surpass all the people of his age.
-
67
He then said to his eunuch, Go to thy mistress, and say to her, Answer
the summons of the King: that she may come and gratify her curiosity
by the sight of this wonderful ape. The eunuch, therefore, went, and re-
turned with his mistress, the King's daughter, who, as soon as she saw me,
veiled her face, and said, O my father, how is it that thou art pleased to
send for me, and suffer strange men to see me? O my daughter, answered
the King, there is no one here but the young memlook, and the eunuch who
brought thee up, and this ape, with myself, thy father: from whom, then
dost thou veil thy face? This ape, said she, is the son of a King, and the
name of his father is Eymár: 68 he is enchanted, and it was the 'Efreet Jar-
jarees, a descendant of Iblees, who transformed him, after having slain his
own wife, the daughter of King Aknámoos. This, whom thou supposedst
to be an ape, is a learned and wise man. The King was amazed at his
daughter's words, and, looking towards me, said, Is it true that she saith of
thee?
-
-
I answered, by a motion of my head, Yes: - and wept. The King then
said to his daughter, By what means didst thou discover that he was en-
chanted? - O my father, she answered, I had with me, in my younger years,
an old woman who was a cunning enchantress, and she taught me the art
of enchantment: I have committed its rules to memory, and know it
thoroughly, being acquainted with a hundred and seventy modes of per-
forming it, by the least of which I could transport the stones of thy city be-
yond Mount Káf, and make its site to be an abyss of the sea, and convert
its inhabitants into fish in the midst of it. I conjure thee, then, by the
name of Allah, said her father, to restore this young man, that I may make
him my Wezeer. Is it possible that thou possessedst this excellence, and I
knew it not? Restore him, that I may make him my Wezeer, for he is a
polite and intelligent youth.
She replied, With pleasure: - and, taking a knife upon which were en-
graved some Hebrew names, marked with it a circle in the midst of the
palace. Within this she wrote certain names and talismans, and then she
pronounced invocations, and uttered unintelligible words; and soon the
palace around us became immersed in gloom to such a degree, that we
thought the whole world was overspread; and lo, the 'Efreet appeared before
66
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
—
us in a most hideous shape, with hands like winnowing-forks, and legs like
masts, and eyes like burning torches; so that we were terrified at him. The
King's daughter exclaimed, No welcome to thee! to which the 'Efreet,
assuming the form of a lion, replied, Thou traitress, how is it that thou hast
broken thine oath? Did we not swear that we would not oppose one an-
other? Thou wretch, said she, when didst thou receive an oath? — The
'Efreet, still in the form of a lion, then exclaimed, Take what awaiteth
thee! and, opening his mouth, rushed upon the lady: but she instantly
plucked a hair from her head and muttered with her lips, whereupon the
hair became converted into a piercing sword, with which she struck the lion,
and he was cleft in twain by the blow; but his head became changed into a
scorpion.
The lady immediately transformed herself into an enormous serpent,
and crept after the execrable wretch in the shape of a scorpion, and a sharp
contest ensued between them; after which, the scorpion became an eagle,
and the serpent, changing to a vulture, pursued the eagle for a length of time.
The latter then transformed himself into a black cat, and the King's
daughter became a wolf, and they fought together long and fiercely, till the
cat, seeing himself overcome, changed himself into a large red pomegranate,
which fell into a pool; but, the wolf pursuing it, it ascended into the air,
and then fell upon the pavement of the palace, and broke in pieces, its
grains becoming scattered, each apart from the others, and all spread about
the whole space of ground enclosed by the palace. The wolf, upon this,
transformed itself into a cock, in order to pick up the grains, and not leave
one of them; but, according to the decree of fate, one grain remained hidden
by the side of the pool of the fountain. The cock began to cry, and flapped
its wings, and made a sign to us with its beak; but we understood not what
it would say. It then uttered at us such a cry, that we thought the palace
had fallen down upon us; and it ran about the whole of the ground, until it
saw the grain that had lain hid by the side of the pool, when it pounced
upon it to pick it up; but it fell into the midst of the water, and became
transformed into a fish, and sank into the water; upon which the cock became
a fish of a larger size, and plunged in after the other.
For a while it was absent from our sight; but, at length, we heard a loud
cry, and trembled at the sound; after which, the 'Efreet rose as a flame of
fire, casting fire from his mouth, and fire and smoke from his eyes and nos-
trils: the King's daughter also became as a vast body of fire; and we would
have plunged into the water from fear of our being burnt and destroyed;
but suddenly the 'Efreet cried out from within the fire, and came towards
us upon the leewán,69 blowing fire at our faces. The lady, however, over-
took him, and blew fire in like manner in his face, and some sparks struck
us both from her and from him: her sparks did us no harm; but one from
him struck me in my eye, and destroyed it, I being still in the form of an
ape; and a spark from him reached the face of the King, and burned the
lower half, with his beard and mouth, and struck out his lower teeth: another
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
67
spark also fell upon the breast of the eunuch; who was burnt, and died im-
mediately. We expected destruction, and gave up all hope of preserving
our lives; but while we were in this state, a voice exclaimed, God is most
great! God is most great! He hath conquered and aided, and abandoned
the denier of the faith of Mohammad, the chief of mankind! 70-The per-
son from whom this voice proceeded was the King's daughter: she had burnt
the 'Efreet; and when we looked towards him, we perceived that he had
become a heap of ashes.
The lady then came to us, and said, Bring me a cup of water: - and
when it was brought to her, she pronounced over it some words which we
understood not, and, sprinkling me with it, said, Be restored, by virtue of
the name of the Truth, and by virtue of the most great name of God, to thy
original form! — whereupon I became a man as I was at first, excepting that
my eye was destroyed. After this, she cried out, The fire! the fire! O my
father, I shall no longer live, for I am predestined to be killed. Had he
been a human being, I had killed him at the first of the encounter. I ex-
perienced no difficulty till the scattering of the grains of the pomegranate,
when I picked them up excepting the one in which was the life of the Jinnee:
had I picked up that, he had instantly died; but I saw it not, as fate and
destiny had appointed; and suddenly he came upon me, and a fierce contest
ensued between us under the earth, and in the air, and in the water; and
every time he tried against me a new mode, I employed against him one
more potent, until he tried against me the mode of fire; and rarely does one
escape against whom the mode of fire is employed. Destiny, however, aided
me, so that I burned him first; but I exhorted him previously to embrace
the faith of El-Islám. Now I die; and may God supply my place to you.
- Having thus said, she ceased not to pray for relief from the fire; and lo,
a spark ascended to her breast, and thence to her face, and when it reached
her face, she wept, and exclaimed, I testify that there is no deity but God,
and I testify that Mohammad is God's Apostle! We then looked towards
her, and saw that she had become a heap of ashes by the side of the ashes
of the 'Efreet.
We were plunged into grief on her account, and I wished that I had been
in her place rather than have seen that sweet-faced creature who had done
me this kindness reduced to a heap of ashes; but the decree of God cannot
be averted. The King, on beholding his daughter in this state, plucked out
what remained of his beard, and slapped his face, and rent his clothes; and
I also did the same, while we both wept for her. Then came the chamber-
lains and other great officers of the court, who, finding the King in a state
of insensibility, with two heaps of ashes before him, were astonished, and
remained encompassing him until he recovered from his fit, when he in-
formed them of what had befallen his daughter with the 'Efreet; and great
was their affliction. The women shrieked, with the female slaves, and
continued their mourning seven days. After this, the King gave orders to
build, over the ashes of his daughter, a great tomb with a dome, and illu-
68
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
minated it with candles and lamps; but the ashes of the 'Efreet they scat-
tered in the wind, exposing them to the curse of God.
The King then fell sick, and was near unto death: his illness lasted a
month; but after this he recovered his health, and, summoning me to his
presence, said to me, O young man, we passed our days in the enjoyment of
the utmost happiness, secure from the vicissitudes of fortune, until thou
camest to us, when troubles overcame us. Would that we had never seen thee,
nor thy ugly form, on account of which we have been reduced to this state
of privation: for, in the first place, I have lost my daughter, who was worth
a hundred men; and, secondly, I have suffered this burning, and lost my
teeth; my eunuch also is dead: but it was not in thy power to prevent these
afflictions: the decree of God hath been fulfilled on us and on thee; and
praise be to God that my daughter restored thee, though she destroyed her-
self. Now, however, depart, O my son, from my city. It is enough that
hath happened on thy account; but as it was decreed against us and thee,
depart in peace.
So I departed, O my mistress, from his presence; but before I quitted
the city, I entered a public bath, and shaved my beard. I traversed
various regions, and passed through great cities, and bent my course to
the Abode of Peace," Baghdád, in the hope of obtaining an interview
with the Prince of the Faithful, that I might relate to him all that had
befallen me.
The third mendicant then advanced, and thus related his story: ---
THE THIRD MENDICANT'S STORY OF KING 'AJEEB
O illustrious lady, my story is not like those of my two companions, but
more wonderful: the course of fate and destiny brought upon them events
against which they could not guard; but as to myself, the shaving of my
beard and the loss of my eye were occasioned by my provoking fate and mis-
fortune; and the cause was this: -
I was a King, and the son of a King; and when my father died, I suc-
ceeded to his throne, and governed my subjects with justice and beneficence.
I took pleasure in sea-voyages; and my capital was on the shore of an ex-
tensive sea, interspersed with fortified and garrisoned islands, which I desired,
for my amusement, to visit; I therefore embarked with a fleet of ten ships,
and took with me provisions sufficient for a whole month. I proceeded
twenty days, after which there arose against us a contrary wind; but at day-
break it ceased, and the sea became calm, and we arrived at an island, where
we landed, and cooked some provisions and ate; after which we remained
there two days. We then continued our voyage; and when twenty days
more had passed, we found ourselves in strange waters, unknown to the
captain, and desired the watch to look out from the mast-head: so he went
aloft, and when he had come down he said to the captain, I saw, on my right
hand, fish floating upon the surface of the water; and looking towards the
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
69
midst of the sea, I perceived something looming in the distance, sometimes
black, and sometimes white.
When the captain heard this report of the watch, he threw his turban
on the deck, and plucked his beard, and said to those who were with him,
Receive warning of our destruction, which will befall all of us: not one will
escape! So saying, he began to weep; and all of us in like manner be-
wailed our lot. I desired him to inform us of that which the watch had
seen. O my lord, he replied, know that we have wandered from our course
since the commencement of the contrary wind that was followed in the morn-
ing by a calm, in consequence of which we remained stationary two days:
from that period we have deviated from our course for twenty-one days, and
we have no wind to carry us back from the fate which awaits us after this
day: to-morrow we shall arrive at a mountain of black stone, called load-
stone: the current is now bearing us violently towards it, and the ships will
fall in pieces, and every nail in them will fly to the mountain, and adhere
to it; for God hath given to the loadstone a secret property by virtue of
which everything of iron is attracted towards it.
On that mountain is such a quantity of iron as no one knoweth but God,
whose name be exalted; for from times of old great numbers of ships have
been destroyed by the influence of that mountain. There is, upon the
summit of the mountain, a cupola of brass supported by ten columns, and
upon the top of this cupola is a horseman upon a horse of brass, having in
his hand a brazen spear, and upon his breast suspended a tablet of lead,
upon which are engraved mysterious names and talismans: and as long, O
King, as this horseman remains upon the horse, so long will every ship that
approaches be destroyed, with every person on board, and all the iron con-
tained in it will cleave to the mountain: no one will be safe until the horse-
man shall have fallen from the horse. The captain then wept bitterly; and
we felt assured that our destruction was inevitable, and every one of us
bade adieu to his friend.
On the following morning we drew near to the mountain; the current
carried us towards it with violence, and when the ships were almost close
to it, they fell asunder, and all the nails, and everything else that was of iron,
flew from them towards the loadstone. It was near the close of day when
the ships fell in pieces. Some of us were drowned, and some escaped; but
the greater number were drowned, and of those who saved their lives none
knew what became of the others, so stupefied were they by the waves and
the boisterous wind.
As for myself, O my mistress, God, whose name be exalted, spared me
on account of the trouble and torment and affliction that He had predestined
to befall me. I placed myself upon a plank, and the wind and waves cast
it upon the mountain; and when I had landed, I found a practicable way to
the summit, resembling steps cut in the rock: so I exclaimed, In the name
of God! and offered up a prayer, and attempted the ascent, holding fast
by the notches; and presently God stilled the wind and assisted me in my
-
70
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
endeavours, so that I arrived in safety at the summit. Rejoicing greatly in
my escape, I immediately entered the cupola, and performed the prayers of
two rek'ahs 73 in gratitude to God for my preservation; after which I slept
beneath the cupola, and heard a voice saying to me, O son of Khaseeb,"
when thou awakest from thy sleep, dig beneath thy feet, and thou wilt find
a bow of brass, and three arrows of lead, whereon are engraved talismans:
then take the bow and arrows and shoot at the horseman that is upon the
top of the cupola, and relieve mankind from this great affliction; for when
thou hast shot at the horseman he will fall into the sea; the bow will also
fall, and do thou bury it in its place; and as soon as thou hast done this, the
sea will swell and rise until it attains the summit of the mountain; and there
will appear upon it a boat bearing a man, different from him whom thou
shalt have cast down, and he will come to thee, having an oar in his hand:
then do thou embark with him; but utter not the name of God; and he will
convey thee in ten days to a safe sea, where, on thy arrival, thou wilt find
one who will take thee to thy city. All this shall be done if thou utter not
the name of God.
Awakening from my sleep, I sprang up, and did as the voice had directed.
I shot at the horseman, and he fell into the sea; and the bow having fallen
from my hand, I buried it: the sea then became troubled, and rose to the
summit of the mountain, and when I had stood waiting there a little while,
I beheld a boat in the midst of the sea, approaching me. I praised God,
whose name be exalted, and when the boat came to me, I found in it a man
of brass, with a tablet of lead upon his breast, engraven with names and
talismans. Without uttering a word, I embarked in the boat, and the man
rowed me ten successive days, after which I beheld the islands of security,
whereupon, in the excess of my joy, I exclaimed, In the name of God! There
is no deity but God! God is most great! — and as soon as I had done this,
he cast me out of the boat, and sank in the sea.
Being able to swim, I swam until night, when my arms and shoulders were
tired, and, in this perilous situation, I repeated the profession of the faith,
and gave myself up as lost; but the sea rose with the violence of the wind,
and a wave like a vast castle threw me upon the land, in order to the accom-
plishment of the purpose of God. I ascended the shore, and after I had wrung
out my clothes, and spread them upon the ground to dry, I slept; and in the
morning I put on my clothes again, looking about to see which way I should
go, I found a tract covered with trees, to which I advanced; and when I had
walked round it, I found that I was upon a small island in the midst of the
sea; upon which I said within myself, Every time that I escape from one
calamity I fall into another that is worse: - but while I was reflecting upon
my unfortunate case, and wishing for death, I beheld a vessel bearing a num-
I arose immediately, and climbed into a tree; and lo, the vessel
came to the shore, and there landed from it ten black slaves bearing axes.
They proceeded to the middle of the island, and, digging up the earth,
uncovered and lifted up a trap-door, after which they returned to the vessel,
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
71
and brought from it bread and flour and clarified butter and honey and sheep
and everything that the wants of an inhabitant would require, continuing to
pass backwards and forwards between the vessel and the trap-door, bringing
loads from the former, and entering the latter, until they had removed all
the stores from the ship. They then came out of the vessel with various
clothes of the most beautiful description, and in the midst of them was an
old sheykh, enfeebled and wasted by extreme age, leading by the hand a
young man cast in the mould of graceful symmetry, and invested with such
perfect beauty as deserved to be a subject for proverbs. He was like a
fresh and slender twig, enchanting and captivating every heart by his ele-
gant form. The party proceeded to the trap-door, and, entering it, became
concealed from my eyes.75
They remained beneath about two hours, or more; after which, the sheykh
and the slaves came out; but the youth came not with them; and they re-
placed the earth, and embarked and set sail. Soon after, I descended from
the tree, and went to the excavation. I removed the earth, and, entering
the aperture, saw a flight of wooden steps, which I descended; and, at the
bottom, I beheld a handsome dwelling-place, furnished with a variety of
silken carpets; and there was the youth, sitting upon a high mattress, with
sweet-smelling flowers and fruits placed before him. On seeing me, his
countenance became pale; but I saluted him, and said, Let thy mind be
composed, O my master: thou hast nothing to fear, O delight of my eye;
for I am a man, and the son of a King, like thyself: fate hath impelled me
to thee, that I may cheer thee in thy solitude. The youth, when he heard
me thus address him, and was convinced that I was one of his own species,
rejoiced exceedingly at my arrival, his colour returned, and, desiring me to
approach him, he said, O my brother, my story is wonderful: my father is
a jeweller; he had slaves who made voyages by his orders, for the purposes
of commerce, and he had dealings with Kings; but he had never been blest
with a son; and he dreamt that he was soon to have a son, but one whose
life would be short; and he awoke sorrowful.76
Shortly after, in accordance with the decrees of God, my mother con-
ceived me, and when her time was complete, she gave birth to me; and my
father was greatly rejoiced: the astrologers, however, came to him, and said,
Thy son will live fifteen years: his fate is intimated by the fact that there
is, in the sea, a mountain called the Mountain of Loadstone, whereon is a
horseman on a horse of brass, on the former of which is a tablet of lead
suspended to his neck; and when the horseman shall be thrown down from
his horse, thy son will be slain: the person who is to slay him is he who will
throw down the horseman, and his name is King 'Ajeeb," the son of King
Khaseeb. My father was greatly afflicted at this announcement; and when
he had reared me until I had nearly attained the age of fifteen years, the
astrologers came again, and informed him that the horseman had fallen into
the sea, and that it had been thrown down by King 'Ajeeb, the son of King
Khaseeb; on hearing which, he prepared for me this dwelling, and here left
72
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
me to remain until the completion of the term, of which there now remain
ten days. All this he did from fear lest King 'Ajeeb should kill me.
When I heard this, I was filled with wonder, and said within myself, I
am King 'Ajeeb, the son of King Khaseeb, and it was I who threw down
the horseman; but, by Allah, I will neither kill him nor do him any injury.
Then said I to the youth, Far from thee be both destruction and harm if
it be the will of God, whose name be exalted: thou hast nothing to fear:
I will remain with thee to serve thee, and will go forth with thee to thy
father, and beg of him to send me back to my country, for the which he
will obtain a reward. The youth rejoiced at my words, and I sat and con-
versed with him until night, when I spread his bed for him, and covered
him, and slept near to his side. And in the morning I brought him water,
and he washed his face, and said to me, May God requite thee for me with
every blessing. If I escape from King 'Ajeeb, I will make my father reward
thee with abundant favours. Never, I replied, may the day arrive that
would bring thee misfortune. I then placed before him some refreshments,
and after we had eaten together, we passed the day conversing with the
utmost cheerfulness.
·
-
I continued to serve him for nine days; and on the tenth day the youth
rejoiced at finding himself in safety, and said to me, O my brother, I wish
that thou wouldst in thy kindness warm for me some water, that I may
wash myself and change my clothes; for I have smelt the odour of escape
from death, in consequence of thy assistance. With pleasure, I replied: --
and I arose, and warmed the water; after which, he entered a place con-
cealed from my view, and, having washed himself and changed his clothes,
laid himself upon the mattress to rest after his bath. He then said to me,
Cut up for me, O my brother, a watermelon, and mix its juice with some
sugar: so I arose, and, taking a melon, brought it upon a plate, and said
to him, Knowest thou, O my master, where is the knife? See, here it is,
he answered, upon the shelf over my head. I sprang up hastily, and took
it from its sheath, and as I was drawing back, my foot slipped, as God had
decreed, and I fell upon the youth, grasping in my hand the knife, which
entered his body, and he died instantly. When I perceived that he was
dead, and that I had killed him, I uttered a loud shriek, and beat my face
and rent my clothes, saying, This is, indeed, a calamity! O what a calamity!
O my Lord, I implore thy pardon, and declare to Thee my innocence of
his death! Would that I had died before him! How long shall I devour
trouble after trouble!
With these reflections I ascended the steps, and, having replaced the
trap-door, returned to my first station, and looked over the sea, where I saw
the vessel that had come before, approaching, and cleaving the waves in its
rapid course. Upon this I said within myself, Now will the men come
forth from the vessel, and find the youth slain, and they will slay me also:
so I climbed into a tree, and concealed myself among its leaves, and sat
there till the vessel arrived and cast anchor, when the slaves landed with
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
73
the old sheykh, the father of the youth, and went to the place, and removed
the earth. They were surprised at finding it moist, and, when they had de-
scended the steps, they discovered the youth lying on his back, exhibiting
a face beaming with beauty, though dead, and clad in white and clean.
clothing, with the knife remaining in his body. They all wept at the sight,
and the father fell down in a swoon, which lasted so long that the slaves
thought he was dead. At length, however, he recovered, and came out with
the slaves, who had wrapped the body of the youth in his clothes. They
then took back all that was in the subterranean dwelling to the vessel, and
departed.
I remained, O my mistress, by day hiding myself in a tree, and at night
walking about the open part of the island. Thus I continued for the space
of two months; and I perceived that, on the western side of the island, the
water of the sea every day retired, until, after three months, the land that
had been beneath it became dry. Rejoicing at this, and feeling confident
now in my escape, I traversed this dry tract, and arrived at an expanse of
sand; whereupon I emboldened myself, and crossed it. I then saw in the
distance an appearance of fire, and, advancing towards it, found it to be
a palace, overlaid with plates of copper, which, reflecting the rays of the
sun, seemed from a distance to be fire: and when I drew near to it, reflect-
ing upon this sight, there approached me an old sheykh, accompanied by
ten young men who were all blind of one eye, at which I was extremely
surprised. As soon as they saw me, they saluted me, and asked me my
story, which I related to them from first to last: and they were filled with
wonder. They then conducted me into the palace, where I saw ten benches,
upon each of which was a mattress covered with a blue stuff; 78 and each
of the young men seated himself upon one of these benches, while the sheykh
took his place upon a smaller one; after which they said to me, Sit down,
O young man, and ask no question respecting our condition, nor respecting
our being blind of one eye. Then the sheykh arose, and brought to each
of them some food, and the same to me also; and next he brought to each
of us some wine: and after we had eaten, we sat drinking together until
the time for sleep, when the young men said to the sheykh, Bring to us
our accustomed supply: upon which the sheykh arose, and entered a
closet, from which he brought, upon his head, ten covered trays. Placing
these upon the floor, he lighted ten candles, and stuck one of them upon each
tray; and, having done this, he removed the covers, and there appeared be-
neath them ashes mixed with pounded charcoal. The young men then
tucked up their sleeves above the elbow, and blackened their faces, and
slapped their cheeks, exclaiming, We were reposing at our ease, and our
impertinent curiosity suffered us not to remain so! Thus they did until
the morning, when the sheykh brought them some hot water, and they washed
their faces, and put on other clothes.
79
On witnessing this conduct, my reason was confounded, my heart was so
troubled that I forgot my own misfortunes, and I asked them the cause of
74
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
their strange behaviour; upon which they looked towards me, and said, Ó
young man, ask not respecting that which doth not concern thee; but be
silent; for in silence is security from error. - I remained with them a whole
month, during which, every night they did the same; and at length I said
to them, I conjure you by Allah to remove this disquiet from my mind, and
to inform me of the cause of your acting in this manner, and of your ex-
claiming, We were reposing at our ease, and our impertinent curiosity suf-
fered us not to remain so! if ye inform me not, I will leave you, and
go my way; for the proverb saith, When the eye seeth not, the heart doth
not grieve. On hearing these words, they replied, We have not concealed
this affair from thee but in our concern for thy welfare, lest thou shouldst
become like us, and the same affliction that hath fallen us happen also to
thee. I said, however, Ye must positively inform me of this matter.-
We give thee good advice, said they, and do thou receive it, and ask us not
respecting our case; otherwise thou wilt become blind of one eye, like us:
but I still persisted in my request; whereupon they said, O young man, if
this befall thee, know that thou wilt be banished from our company.
They then all arose, and, taking a ram, slaughtered and skinned it, and
said to me, Take this knife with thee, and introduce thyself into the skin
of the ram, and we will sew thee up in it, and go away; whereupon a bird
called the rukh 80 will come to thee, and, taking thee up by its talons, will
fly away with thee, and set thee down upon a mountain: then cut open the
skin with this knife, and get out, and the bird will fly away. Thou must
arise, as soon as it hath gone, and journey for half a day, and thou wilt see
before thee a lofty palace, encased with red gold, set with various precious
stones, such as emeralds and rubies, &c.; and if thou enter it thy case will
be as ours; for our entrance into that palace was the cause of our being blind
of one eye; and if one of us would relate to thee all that hath befallen him,
his story would be too long for thee to hear.
They then sewed me up in the skin, and entered their palace; and soon
after, there came an enormous white bird, which seized me, and flew away
with me, and set me down upon the mountain; whereupon I cut open the
skin, and got out; and the bird, as soon as it saw me, flew away. I rose
up quickly, and proceeded towards the palace, which I found to be as they
had described it to me; and when I had entered it, I beheld, at the upper
end of a saloon, forty young damsels, beautiful as so many moons, and mag-
nificently attired, who, as soon as they saw me, exclaimed, Welcome! Wel-
come! O our master and our lord! We have been for a month expecting
thee. Praise be to God who hath blessed us with one who is worthy of us,
and one of whom we are worthy! After having thus greeted me, they seated
me upon a mattress, and said, Thou art from this day our master and prince,
and we are thy handmaids, and entirely under thy authority. They then
brought to me some refreshments, and, when I had eaten and drunk, they
sat and conversed with me, full of joy and happiness. So lovely were these
ladies, that even a devotee, if he saw them, would gladly consent to be their
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
75
servant, and to comply with all that they would desire. At the approach of
night they all assembled around me, and placed before me a table of fresh
and dried fruits, with other delicacies that the tongue cannot describe, and
wine; and one began to sing, while another played upon the lute. The
wine-cups circulated among us, and joy overcame me to such a degree as to
obliterate from my mind every earthly care, and make me exclaim, This is
indeed a delightful life! I passed a night of such enjoyment as I had never
before experienced; and on the morrow I entered the bath; and, after I had
washed myself, they brought me a suit of the richest clothing, and we again
sat down to a repast.
---
In this manner I lived with them a whole year: but on the first day of
the new year, they seated themselves around me, and began to weep, and
bade me farewell, clinging to my skirts. What calamity hath befallen you?
said I. Ye have broken my heart. They answered, Would that we had
never known thee; for we have associated with many men, but have seen
none like thee. May God, therefore, not deprive us of thy company.-
And they wept afresh. I said to them, I wish that you would acquaint me
with the cause of this weeping. Thou, they replied, art the cause; yet now,
if thou wilt attend to what we tell thee, we shall never be parted; but if
thou act contrary to it, we are separated from this time; and our hearts
whisper to us that thou wilt not regard our warning. Inform me, said I.
and I will attend to your directions: and they replied, If then thou wouldst
inquire respecting our history, know that we are the daughters of Kings:
for many years it hath been our custom to assemble here, and every year
we absent ourselves during a period of forty days; then returning, we in-
dulge ourselves for a year in feasting and drinking.
This is our usual practice; and now we fear that thou wilt disregard
our directions when we are absent from thee. We deliver to thee the keys
of the palace, which are a hundred in number, belonging to a hundred closets.
Open each of these, and amuse thyself, and eat and drink, and refresh thy-
self, excepting the closet that hath a door of red gold; for if you open this,
the consequence will be a separation between us and thee. We conjure thee,
therefore, to observe our direction, and to be patient during this period.
Upon hearing this, I swore to them that I would never open the closet to
which they alluded; and they departed, urging me to be faithful to my
promise.
I remained alone in the palace, and at the approach of evening I opened
the first closet, and, entering it, found a mansion like paradise, with a gar-
den containing green trees loaded with ripe fruits, abounding with singing
birds, and watered by copious streams. My heart was soothed by the sight,
and I wandered among the trees, scenting the fragrance of the flowers, and
listening to the warbling of the birds as they sang the praises of the One,
the Almighty.81 After admiring the mingled colours of the apple resembling
the hue upon the cheek of a beloved mistress and the sallow countenance
of the perplexed and timid lover, the sweet-smelling quince diffusing an
76
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
odour like musk and ambergris, and the plum shining as the ruby, I retired
from this place, and, having locked the door, opened that of the next closet,
within which I beheld a spacious tract planted with numerous palm-trees,
and watered by a river flowing among rose-trees, and jasmine, and mar-
joram, and eglantine, and narcissus and gilliflower, the odours of which,
diffused in every direction by the wind, inspired me with the utmost delight.
I locked again the door of the second closet, and opened that of the third.
Within this I found a large saloon, paved with marbles of various colours,
and with costly minerals and precious gems, and containing cages con-
structed of sandal and aloes-wood with singing birds within them, and
others upon the branches of trees which were planted there. My heart was
charmed, my trouble was dissipated, and I slept there until the morning. I
then opened the door of the fourth closet, and within this door I found a
great building in which were forty closets with open doors; and, entering
these, I beheld pearls, and rubies, and chrysolites, and emeralds, and other
precious jewels such as the tongue cannot describe. I was astonished at
the sight, and said, Such things as these, I imagine, are not found in the
treasury of any King. I am now the King of my age, and all these treas-
ures, through the goodness of God, are mine, together with forty damsels
under my authority who have no man to share them with me.
Thus I continued to amuse myself, passing from one place to another,
until thirty-nine days had elapsed, and I had opened the doors of all the
closets excepting that which they had forbidden me to open. My heart was
then disturbed by curiosity respecting this hundredth closet, and the Devil,
in order to plunge me into misery, induced me to open it. I had not pa-
tience to abstain, though there remained of the appointed period only one
day: so I approached the closet, and opened the door; and when I had
entered, I perceived a fragrant odour, such as I had never before smelt,
which intoxicated me so that I fell down insensible, and remained some time
in this state: but at length recovering, I fortified my heart, and proceeded.
I found the floor overspread with saffron, and the place illuminated by
golden lamps and by candles, which diffused the odours of musk and am-
bergris; and two large perfuming-vessels filled with aloes-wood and amber-
gris, and a perfume compounded with honey, spread fragrance through the
whole place.
I saw also a black horse, of the hue of the darkest night, before which
was a manger of white crystal filled with cleansed sesame, and another, simi-
lar to it, containing rose-water infused with musk: he was saddled and
bridled, and his saddle was of red gold. Wondering at the sight of him, I
said within myself, This must be an animal of extraordinary qualities; — and,
seduced by the Devil, I led him out, and mounted him; but he moved not
from his place: I kicked him with my heel; but still he moved not: so I
took a mikra'ah and struck him with it; and as soon as he felt the blow
he uttered a sound like thunder, and, expanding a pair of wings, soared with
me to an immense height through the air, and then alighted upon the roof
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
77
of another palace, where he threw me from his back, and, by a violent blow
with his tail upon my face, as I sat on the roof, struck out my eye, and left
me.82
In this state I descended from the roof, and below I found the one-eyed
young men before mentioned, who, as soon as they beheld me, exclaimed,
No welcome to thee! Receive me, said I, into your company: - but they
replied, By Allah, thou shalt not remain with us: so I departed from
them, with mournful heart and weeping eye, and, God having decreed me
a safe journey hither, I arrived at Baghdád after I had shaved my beard, and
become a mendicant.83.
Continuation of the Story of the Three Ladies of Baghdad
-
The mistress of the house then looked towards the Khaleefeh and Jaafar
and Mesroor, and said to them, Acquaint me with your histories:
upon
which Jaafar advanced towards her, and related to her the same story that
he had told to the portress before they entered; and when she had heard
it, she liberated them all. They accordingly departed, and when they had
gone out into the street, the Khaleefeh inquired of the mendicants whither
they were going. They answered that they knew not whither to go; where-
upon he desired them to accompany his party; and then said to Jaafar,
Take them home with thee, and bring them before me to-morrow,
and we
will see the result. Jaafar, therefore, did as he was commanded, and the
Khaleefeh returned to his palace; but he was unable to sleep during the
remainder of the night.
On the following morning he sat upon his throne, and when his courtiers
had presented themselves before him, and departed, excepting Jaafar, he
said to him, Bring before me the three ladies and the two bitches and the
mendicants. So Jaafar arose, and brought them, and, placing the ladies
behind the curtains, said to them, We have forgiven you on account of your
previous kindness to us, and because ye knew us not; and now I acquaint
you that ye are in the presence of the fifth of the sons of El-'Abbas,
Hároon Er-Rasheed; therefore relate to him nothing but the truth. And
when the ladies heard the words which Jaafar addressed to them on the
part of the Khaleefeh, the eldest of them advanced, and thus related her
story:
THE STORY Of the first of the three ladies of baGHDÁD
O Prince of the Faithful, my story is wonderful; for these two bitches 8+
are my sisters, born to my father, but of another mother; and I am the
youngest of the three. After the death of our father, who left us five
thousand pieces of gold, these my two sisters married, and when they had
resided some time with their husbands, each of the latter prepared a stock
of merchandise, and received from his wife a thousand pieces of gold, and
78
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
they all set forth on a journey together, leaving me here; but after they
had been absent four years, my sisters' husbands lost all their prop-
erty, and abandoned them in a strange land, and they returned to me in the
garb of beggars. When I first saw them in this state, I knew them not;
and, as soon as I recognised them, I exclaimed, How is it that ye are in this
condition? O our sister, they answered, thy inquiry now is of no use: the
Pen hath written what God hath decreed.85 - I sent them, therefore, to
the bath, and, having clad them in new apparel, said to them, O my sisters,
ye are my elders, and I am young; so ye shall be to me in the places of my
father and mother. The inheritance which I shared with you God hath
blessed; partake then of its increase, for my affairs are prosperous; and I
and ye shall fare alike. I treated them with the utmost kindness, and
during a whole year they remained with me, and enriched themselves by
the money that I had given them; but after this period they said to me,
It will be more agreeable to us to marry again, for we can no longer abstain
from doing so.
O my sisters, I replied, ye have seen no happiness in marriage: a good
husband in this age is rarely found, and ye have already had experience of
the marriage-state. They, however, heeded not my words; but married
against my consent: yet I gave them dowries from my own property, and
continued to them my protection. They went to their husbands, and the
latter, after they had resided with them a short time, defrauded them of
all that they possessed, and, setting forth on a journey, left them destitute:
so again they returned to me, and, in a state of nudity, implored my for-
giveness, saying, Be not angry with us; for though thou art younger than
we, thou hast more mature sense; and we promise thee that we will never
again mention the subject of marriage. I replied, Ye are welcome, O my
sisters; for I have no one dearer to me than yourselves: - and I received
them, and treated them with every kindness, and we remained happily to-
gether for the space of a year.
After this I resolved to fit out a vessel for a mercantile voyage:
86 accord-
ingly, I stocked a large ship with various goods and necessary provisions,
and said to my sisters, Will ye rather stay at home during my voyage, or
will ye go with me?-to which they answered, We will accompany thee
during the voyage, for we cannot endure to be separated from thee.
therefore took them with me, and we set sail; but first I divided my property
into two equal portions; one of which I took with me, and the other I con-
cealed, saying within myself, Perhaps some evil accident may happen to
the ship, and our lives may be prolonged; in which case, when we return
we shall find that which will be of service to us.
We continued our voyage by day and night, till at length the vessel
pursued a wrong course, and the captain knew not whither to steer. The
ship had entered a different sea from that which we wished to cross, and
for some time we knew it not; but for ten days we had a pleasant wind, and
after this, a city loomed before us in the distance. We asked the captain
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
79
what was the name of this city; and he answered, I know it not; I have
never seen it till this day, nor have I ever before in the course of my life
navigated this sea: but as we have come hither in safety, ye have nothing
to do but to enter this city and land your goods, and, if ye find opportunity,
sell or exchange there: if not, we will rest there two days, and take in fresh
provisions. So we entered the port of the city, and the captain landed,
and after a while returned to us, saying, Arise, and go up into the city, and
wonder at that which God hath done unto his creatures, and pray to be
preserved from his anger. And when we had entered the city, we found
all its inhabitants converted into black stones. We were amazed at the
sight, and as we walked through the market-streets, finding the merchandise
and the gold and silver remaining in their original state, we rejoiced, and
said, This must have been occasioned by some wonderful circumstance.
We then separated in the streets, each of us attracted from his companions
by the wealth and stuffs in the shops.
As for myself, I ascended to the citadel, which I found to be a building
of admirable construction; and, entering the King's palace, I found all the
vessels of gold and silver remaining in their places, and the King himself
seated in the midst of his Chamberlains and Viceroys and Wezeers, and
clad in apparel of astonishing richness. Drawing nearer to him, I perceived
that he was sitting upon a throne adorned with pearls and jewels, every one
of the pearls shining like a star; his dress was embroidered with gold, and
around him stood fifty memlooks, attired in silks of various descriptions,
and having in their hands drawn swords. Stupefied at this spectacle, I
proceeded, and entered the saloon of the Hareem, upon the walls of which
were hung silken curtains; and here I beheld the Queen, attired in a dress
embroidered with fresh pearls, and having upon her head a diadem adorned
with various jewels, and necklaces of different kinds on her neck. All her
clothing and ornaments remained as they were at first, though she herself
was converted into black stone. Here also I found an open door, and, enter-
ing it, I saw a flight of seven steps, by which I ascended to an apartment
paved with marble, furnished with gold-embroidered carpets, and containing
a couch of alabaster, ornamented with pearls and jewels; but my eyes were
first attracted by a gleam of light, and when I approached the spot whence
it proceeded, I found a brilliant jewel, of the size of an ostrich's egg, placed
upon a small stool, diffusing a light like that of a candle.
candle. The coverings
of the couch above mentioned were of various kinds of silk, the richness of
which would surprise every beholder; and I looked at them with wonder.
In this apartment I likewise observed some lighted candles, and reflected
that there must then have been some person there to light them. I passed
thence to another part of the palace, and continued to explore the different
apartments, forgetting myself in the amazement of my mind at all these.
strange circumstances, and immersed in thoughts respecting what I beheld,
until the commencement of the night, when I would have departed; but
could not find the door: so I returned to the place in which were the lighted
80
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
candles, and there I laid myself upon the couch, and, covering myself with
a quilt, repeated some words of the Kur-án, and endeavoured to compose
myself to sleep; but I could not. I continued restless: and at midnight I
heard a recitation of the Kur-án, performed by a melodious and soft voice;
upon which I arose, and, looking about, saw a closet with an open door, and
I entered it, and found that it was an oratory: lighted lamps were suspended
in it, and upon a prayer-carpet spread on the floor sat a young man of
handsome aspect. Wondering that he had escaped the fate of the other
inhabitants of the city, I saluted him; and he raised his eyes, and returned
my salutation: and I then said to him, I conjure thee by the truth of that
which thou art reading in the Book of God, that thou answer the question
which I am about to ask thee: whereupon he smiled, and replied, Do
thou first acquaint me with the cause of thine entrance into the place, and
then I will answer thy question: so I told him my story, and inquired of him
the history of this city.
-
Wait a little, said he; and he closed the Kur-án, and, having put it in
a bag of satin, seated me by his side. As I now beheld him, his countenance
appeared like the full moon, and his whole person exhibited such perfect
elegance and loveliness, that a single glance at him drew from me a thousand
sighs, and kindled a fire in my heart. I repeated my request that he would
give me an account of the city; and, replying, I hear and obey, he thus ad-
dressed me:
Know that this city belonged to my father and his family and subjects;
and he is the King whom thou hast seen converted into stone; and the
Queen whom thou hast seen is my mother. They were all Magians, wor-
shipping fire in the place of the Almighty King; 87 and they swore by the
fire and the light, and the shade and the heat, and the revolving orb. My
father had no son, till, in his declining years, he was blest with me, whom
he reared until I attained to manhood. But, happily for me, there was
in our family, an old woman, far advanced in age, who was a Muslimeh,
believing in God and His Apostle in her heart, though she conformed with
my family in outward observances; and my father confided in her, on ac--
count of the faithfulness and modesty that he had observed in her character,
and shewed her great favour, firmly believing that she held the same faith.
as himself; therefore, when I had passed my infancy, he committed me to
her care, saying, Take him, and rear him, and instruct him in the ordinances
of our faith, and educate him and serve him in the best manner. The old
woman accordingly received me, but took care to instruct me in the faith
of El-Islám, teaching me the laws of purification, and the divine ordi-
nances of ablution, together with the forms of prayer; after which she made
me commit to memory the whole of the Kur-án. She then charged me to
keep my faith a secret from my father, lest he should kill me; and I did so;
and a few days after, the old woman died.
The inhabitants of the city had now increased in their impiety and
arrogance, and in their dereliction of the truth; and while they were in this
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
81
state, they heard a crier proclaim with a voice like thunder, so as to be
audible to both the near and the distant, O inhabitants of this city, abstain
from the worship of fire, and worship the Almighty King! - The people
were struck with consternation, and, flocking to my father, the King of the
city, said to him, What is this alarming voice which hath astounded us by
its terrible sound?but he answered them, Let not the voice terrify you,
nor let it turn you from your faith: and their hearts inclined to his words;
so they persevered in the worship of fire, and remained obstinate in their
impiety during another year, until the return of the period at which they had
heard the voice the first time. It was then heard a second time; and again,
in the next year, they heard it a third time; but still they persisted in their
evil ways, until, drawing down upon themselves the abhorrence and indig-
nation of Heaven, one morning, shortly after daybreak, they were converted
into black stones, together with their beasts and all their cattle. Not one of
the inhabitants of the city escaped, excepting me; and from the day on
which this catastrophe happened, I have continued occupied as thou seest,
in prayer, and fasting, and reading the Kur-án: but I have become weary
of this solitary state, having no one to cheer me with his company.
On hearing these words, I said to him, Wilt thou go with me to the city.
of Baghdad, and visit its learned men and lawyers, and increase thy knowl-
edge? If so, I will be thy handmaid, though I am the mistress of my family,
and have authority over a household of men. I have here a ship laden with
merchandise, and destiny hath driven us to this city, in order that we might
become acquainted with these events: our meeting was predestined. - In
this manner I continued to persuade him until he gave his consent. I slept
that night at his feet, unconscious of my state through excessive joy; and
in the morning we rose, and, entering the treasuries, took away a quantity
of the lighter and most valuable of the articles that they contained, and
descended from the citadel into the city, where we met the slaves and the
captain, who were searching for me. They were rejoiced at seeing me, and,
to their questions respecting my absence, I replied by informing them of all
that I had seen, and related to them the history of the young man, and the
cause of the transmutation of the people of the city, and of all that had
befallen them, which filled them with wonder. But when my two sisters
saw me with the young man, they envied me on his account, and malevolently
plotted against me.
We embarked again, and I experienced the utmost happiness, chiefly owing
to the company of the young man; and after we had waited a while till the
wind was favourable, we spread our sails, and departed. My sisters sat
with me and the young man; and, in their conversation with me, said, O
our sister, what dost thou purpose to do with this handsome youth? I
answered, I desire to take him as my husband: - and, turning to him, and
approaching him, I said, O my master, I wish to make a proposal to thee, and
do not thou oppose it. He replied, I hear and obey: - and I then looked
towards my sisters, and said to them, This young man is all that I desire,
82
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
and all the wealth that is here is yours. Excellent, they replied, is thy de-
termination: yet still they designed evil against me. - We continued our
voyage with a favourable wind, and, quitting the sea of peril, entered the
sea of security, across which we proceeded for some days, until we drew
near to the city of El-Basrah, the buildings of which loomed before us at
the approach of evening; but as soon as we had fallen asleep, my sisters
took us up in our bed, both myself and the young man, and threw us into
the sea. The youth, being unable to swim, was drowned: God recorded
him among the company of the martyrs; 88 while I was registered among
those whose life was yet to be preserved; and, accordingly, as soon as I
awoke and found myself in the sea, the providence of God supplied me with
a piece of timber, upon which I placed myself, and the waves cast me upon
the shore of an island.
During the remainder of the night I walked along this island, and in
the morning I saw a neck of land, bearing the marks of a man's feet, and
uniting with the mainland. The sun having now risen, I dried my clothes
in its rays, and proceeded along the path that I had discovered until I drew
near to the shore upon which stands the city, when I beheld a snake ap-
proaching me, and followed by a serpent which was endeavouring to destroy
it: the tongue of the snake was hanging from its mouth in consequence of
excessive fatigue, and it excited my compassion; so I took up a stone, and
threw it at the head of the serpent, which instantly died: the snake then
extended a pair of wings, and soared aloft into the sky, leaving me in won-
der at the sight. At the time of this occurrence I had become so fatigued,
that I now laid myself down and slept; but I awoke after a little while,
and found a damsel seated at my feet, and gently rubbing them with her
hands; upon which I immediately sat up, feeling ashamed that she should
perform this service for me, and said to her, Who art thou, and what dost
thou want? How soon hast thou forgotten me! she exclaimed: I am she
to whom thou hast just done a kindness, by killing my enemy: I am the
snake whom thou savedst from the serpent; for I am a Jinneeyeh, and the
serpent was a Jinnee at enmity with me; and none but thou delivered me
from him: therefore, as soon as thou didst this, I flew to the ship from
which thy sisters cast thee, and transported all that it contained to thy
house: I then sunk it; but as to thy sisters, I transformed them by enchant-
ment into two black bitches; for I knew all that they had done to thee:
the young man, however, is drowned.
Having thus said, she took me up, and placed me with the two black
bitches on the roof of my house: and I found all the treasures that the
ship had contained collected in the midst of my house: nothing was lost.
She then said to me, I swear by that which was engraved upon the seal of
Suleyman, that, if thou do not inflict three hundred lashes upon each of
these bitches every day, I will come and transform thee in the like manner:
so I replied, I hear and obey: - and have continued ever since to inflict
upon them these stripes, though pitying them while I do so.
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
83
The Khaleefeh heard this story with astonishment, and then said to the
second lady, And what occasioned the stripes of which thou bearest the
marks? She answered as follows:
the story of the second of the three ladies of baghdÁD
O Prince of the Faithful, my father, at his death, left considerable prop-
erty; and soon after that event I married to one of the wealthiest men of
the age, who, when I had lived with him a year, died, and I inherited from
him eighty thousand pieces of gold, the portion that fell to me according
to the law; 89 with part of which I made for myself ten suits of clothing,
each of the value of a thousand pieces of gold. And as I was sitting one
day, there entered my apartment an old woman, disgustingly ugly, who
saluted me, and said, I have an orphan daughter whose marriage I am to
celebrate this night, and I would have thee obtain a reward and recom-
pense in heaven by thy being present at her nuptial festivity; for she is
broken-hearted, having none to befriend her but God, whose name be ex-
alted. She then wept, and kissed my feet; and, being moved with pity
and compassion, I assented, upon which she desired me to prepare myself,
telling me that she would come at the hour of nightfall and take me; and
so saying, she kissed my hand, and departed.
I arose immediately, and attired myself, and when I had completed my
preparations, the old woman returned, saying, O my mistress, the ladies of
the city have arrived, and I have informed them of thy coming, and they
are waiting with joy to receive thee: so I put on my outer garments,
and, taking my female slaves with me, proceeded until we arrived at a street
in which a soft wind was delightfully playing, where we saw a gateway over-
arched with a marble vault, admirably constructed, forming the entrance
to a palace which rose from the earth to the clouds.90 On our arrival there,
the old woman knocked at the door, and, when it was opened, we entered a
carpeted passage, illuminated by lamps and candles, and decorated with
jewels and precious metals.91 Through this passage we passed into a saloon
of unequalled magnificence, furnished with mattresses covered with silk,
lighted by hanging lamps and by candles, and having, at its upper end, a
couch of alabaster decorated with pearls and jewels, and canopied by cur-
tains of satin, from which there came forth a lady beautiful as the moon,
who exclaimed to me, Most welcome art thou, O my sister: thou delightest
me by thy company, and refreshest my heart. She then sat down again,
and said to me, O my sister, I have a brother who hath seen thee at a fes-
tivity: he is a young man, more handsome than myself, and, his heart
being violently inflamed for love of thee, he hath bribed this old woman to
go to thee, and to employ this artifice in order to obtain for me an inter-
view with thee. He desireth to marry thee according to the ordinance of
God and his Apostle, and in that which is lawful there is no disgrace.
When I heard these words, and saw myself thus confined in the house so
84
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
that I could not escape, I replied, I hear and obey: - and the lady, rejoicing
at my consent, clapped her hands, and opened a door, upon which there
came out from it a young man so surpassingly handsome, that my heart
immediately inclined to him.
No sooner had he sat down than the Kádee and four witnesses entered,
and saluted us, and proceeded to perform the ceremony of the marriage-
contract 92 between me and the young man; which having done, they de-
parted; and when they had retired, the young man looked towards me,
and said, May our night be blessed. He then informed me that he
desired to impose a covenant upon me, and, bringing a copy of the Kur-án,
said, Swear that thou wilt not indulge a preference, nor at all incline, to
any man but me: - and when I had sworn to this effect, he rejoiced exceed-
ingly, and embraced me; and the love of him took entire possession of my
heart.
We lived together in the utmost happiness for the space of a month, after
which I begged that he would allow me to go to the bázár, in order to pur-
chase some stuffs for dress, and, having obtained his permission, went
thither in company with the old woman, and seated myself at the shop of
a young merchant with whom she was acquainted, and whose father, as
she informed me, had died and left him great wealth. She desired him
to shew me his most costly stuffs; and while he was occupied in doing so,
she began to utter various flattering expressions in praise of him; but I
said to her, We have no concern with the praises that thou bestowest upon
him; we desire only to make our purchase, and to return home. Mean-
while he produced to us what we wanted, and we handed him the money:
he refused, however, to take it, saying, It is an offering of hospitality to
you for your visit this day: whereupon I said to the old woman, If he
will not take the money, return to him his stuff. But he would not receive
it again, and exclaimed, By Allah, I will take nothing from you: all this is
a present from me for a single kiss, which I shall value more than the entire
contents of my shop. What will a kiss profit thee? asked the old woman.
Then, turning to me, she said, O my daughter, thou hast heard what the
youth hath said: no harm will befall thee if he give thee a kiss, and thou
shalt take what thou wantest. Dost thou not know, said I, that I have
taken an oath? She answered, Let him kiss thee then without thy speak-
ing, and so it will be of no consequence to thee, and thou shalt take back
thy money.
Thus she continued to palliate the matter until I put my head (as it were)
into the bag, and consented: so I covered my eyes, and held the edge of my
veil in such a manner as to prevent the passengers from seeing me, where-
upon he put his mouth to my cheek beneath the veil, but instead of merely
kissing me, he lacerated my cheek by a violent bite. I fell into a swoon
from the pain, and the old woman laid me on her lap till I recovered, when
I found the shop closed, and the old woman uttering expressions of grief,
and saying, What God hath averted would have been a greater calamity; let
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD
85
us return home, and do thou feign to be ill, and I will come to thee and apply
a remedy that shall cure the wound, and thou wilt quickly be restored.
-
After remaining there some time longer, I rose, and, in a state of great
uneasiness and fear, returned to the house, and professed myself ill, upon
which my husband came in to me, and said, What hath befallen thee, O my
mistress, during this excursion? I answered, I am not well. And what is
this wound, said he, that is upon thy cheek, and in the soft part? I an-
swered, When I asked thy permission, and went out to-day to purchase some
stuff for dress, a camel loaded with firewood drove against me in the crowd,
and tore my veil and wounded my cheek as thou seest, for the streets of this
city are narrow.93 -To-morrow, then, he exclaimed, I will go to the gover-
nor, and make a complaint to him, and he shall hang every seller of firewood
in the city. By Allah, said I, burden not thyself by an injury to any one;
for the truth is, that I was riding upon an ass, which took fright with me,
and I fell upon the ground, and a stick lacerated my cheek. If it be so, then,
he replied, I will go to-morrow to Jaafar El-Barmekee, and relate the matter
to him, and he shall kill every ass-driver in this city.
-
Wilt thou, said I, kill all those men on my account, when this which be-
fell me was decreed by God? - Undoubtedly, he answered; and, so saying,
he seized me violently, and then sprang up, and uttered a loud cry, upon
which the door opened, and there came forth from it seven black slaves, who
dragged me from my bed, and threw me down in the middle of the apart-
ment; whereupon he ordered one of them to hold me by my shoulders and
to sit upon my head; and another, to sit upon my knees and to hold my
feet. A third then came, with a sword in his hand, and said, O my lord,
shall I strike her with the sword, and cleave her in twain, that each of these
may take a half and throw it into the Tigris for the fish to devour? 94 For
such is the punishment of her who is unfaithful to her oath and to the laws
of love. My husband answered, Strike her, O Saad: 95 and the slave,
with the drawn sword in his hand, said, Repeat the profession of the faith,
and reflect what thou wouldst have to be done, that thou mayest give thy
testamentary directions, for this is the end of thy life. Good slave, I re-
plied, release me for a while that I may do so: - and I raised my head, and,
weeping as I spoke, addressed my husband with these verses:
-
-- -
You render me lovelorn, and remain at ease. You make my wounded eyelid to be
restless, and you sleep.
Your abode is between my heart and my eyes; and my heart will not relinquish you,
nor my tears conceal my passion.
You made a covenant with me that you would remain faithful; but when you had
gained possession of my heart you deceived me.
Will you not pity my love for you and my moaning? Have you yourself been secure
from misfortunes?
I conjure you, by Allah, if I die, that you write upon my tombstone, This was a slave
of love.
That, perchance, some mourner who hath felt the same flame may pass by the lover's
grave, and pity her."
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
But on hearing these verses, and witnessing my weeping, he became more
incensed, and replied in the words of this couplet: -
I reject not the beloved of my heart from weariness: her own guilty conduct is the
cause of her punishment.
She desired that another should share with me her love; but the faith of my heart in-
clineth not to partnership."
I continued to weep, and to endeavour to excite his compassion, saying
within myself, I will humble me before him, and address him with soft words,
that he may at least refrain from killing me, though he take all that I
possess; - but he cried out to the slave, Cleave her in twain; for she is no
longer of any value to us. —So the slave approached me, and I now felt
assured of my death, and committed myself to God; but suddenly the old
woman came and threw herself at my husband's feet, and, kissing them, ex-
claimed, O my son, by the care with which I nursed thee, I conjure thee
to pardon this damsel, for she hath committed no offence that deserveth
such a punishment: thou art young, and I fear the effect of the impreca-
tions that she may utter against thee: -- and after she had thus addressed
him, she wept, and continued to importune him, until at length, he said,
I pardon her, but must cause her to bear upon her person such marks
of her offence as shall last for the remainder of her life. So saying, he
commanded the slaves to strip off my vest, and, taking a stick cut from a
quince-tree, he beat me upon my back and sides until I became insensible
from the violence of the blows, and despaired of my life. He then
ordered the slaves to take me away as soon as it was night, accompanied
by the old woman, and to throw me into my house in which I formerly
resided.
They accordingly executed their lord's commands, and when they had
deposited me in my house, I applied myself to the healing of my wounds; but,
after I had cured myself, my sides still bore the appearance of having been
beaten with mikra'ahs. I continued to apply remedies for four months be-
fore I was restored, and then repaired to view the house in which this event
had happened; but I found it reduced to ruin, and the whole street pulled
down; the site of the house I found occupied by mounds of rubbish, and I
knew not the cause.
Under these circumstances, I went to reside with this my sis-
ter, who is of the same father as myself, and I found with her
these two bitches. Having saluted her, I informed her of all that had
befallen me; to which she replied, Who is secure from the afflictions of
fortune? Praise be to God who terminated the affair with safety to thy
life! She then related to me her own story, and that of her two sis-
ters, and I remained with her, and neither of us ever mentioned the sub-
ject of marriage. Afterwards we were joined by this our other sister, the
cateress, who every day goes out to purchase for us whatever we happen to
want.
THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD
87
Conclusion of the Story of the Three Ladies of Baghdad
-
-
The Khaleefeh was astonished at this story, and ordered it to be recorded
in a book, as an authentic history, and deposited the book in his library.
And he said to the first lady, Knowest thou where the Jinneeyeh 98 who
enchanted thy sisters is to be found? She answered, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, she gave me a lock of her hair, and said When thou desirest my presence,
burn a few of these hairs, and I will be with thee quickly, though I should be
beyond Mount Káf. Bring then the hair, said the Khaleefeh. The lady,
therefore, produced it; and the Khaleefeh, taking it, burned a portion of it,
and, when the odour had diffused itself, the palace shook, and they heard a
sound of thunder, and lo, the Jinneeyeh appeared before them. She was a
Muslimeh, and therefore greeted the Khaleefeh by saying, Peace be on thee,
O Khaleefeh of God! to which he replied, On you be peace, and the
mercy of God, and his blessings! 99 She then said, Know that this lady hath
conferred on me a benefit for which I am unable to requite her; for she
rescued me from death, by killing my enemy; and I, having seen what her
sisters had done to her, determined to take vengeance upon them; therefore
I transformed them by enchantment into two bitches; and, indeed, I had
wished rather to kill them, fearing lest they should trouble her; but now, if
thou desire their restoration, O Prince of the Faithful, I will restore them,
as a favour to thee and to her; for I am one of the true believers. - Do
so, said the Khaleefeh; and then we will enter upon the consideration of the
affair of the lady who hath been beaten, and examine her case, and if her
veracity be established, I will take vengeance for her upon him who hath
oppressed her. The Jinneeyeh replied, O Prince of the Faithful, I will guide
thee to the discovery of him who acted thus to this lady, and oppressed her,
and took her property: he is thy nearest relation.
-
She then took a cup of water, and, having pronounced a spell over it,
sprinkled the faces of the two bitches, saying, Be restored to your original
human forms! - whereupon they became again two young ladies. Ex-
tolled be the perfection of their Creator! 100 Having done this, the Jinneeyeh
said, O Prince of the Faithful, he who beat the lady is thy son El-Emeen,
who had heard of her beauty and loveliness: - and she proceeded to relate
what had happened. The Khaleefeh was astonished, and exclaimed, Praise
be to God for the restoration of these two bitches which hath been effected
through my means! - and immediately he summoned before him his son.
El-Emeen, and inquired of him the history of the lady; and he related to him
the truth. He then sent for Kádees and witnesses, and the first lady and her
two sisters who had been transformed into bitches he married to the three
mendicants who had related that they were the sons of Kings; and these he
made chamberlains of his court, appointing them all that they required, and
allotting them apartments in the palace of Baghdad. The lady who had
been beaten he restored to his son El-Emeen, giving her a large property, and
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ordering that the house should be rebuilt in a more handsome style. Lastly,
the lady-cateress he took as his own wife; he admitted her at once to his own
apartment, and, on the following day, he appointed her a separate lodging
for herself, with female slaves to wait upon her: he also allotted to her a
regular income; and afterwards built for her a palace.
IV
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES¹
NE night, after the adventure above described, the Khaleefeh Hároon
Er-Rasheed said to Jaafar, his Wezeer, We will go down to-night into
the city, and inquire respecting the affairs of those who are at present in
authority, and him against whom any one shall complain we will displace.
Jaafar replied, I hear and obey:—and when the Khaleefeh had gone forth
with him and Mesroor, and they had passed through several of the market-
streets, they proceeded along a lane, and saw there an old man, with a net
and basket upon his head, and a staff in his hand, walking at his leisure, and
reciting these verses:
They say to me, Thou shinest among mankind, by thy knowledge, like the moonlight
night:
But I answer, Abstain from thus addressing me, since there is no knowledge without
power:
For if they would pawn me, and my knowledge with me, and all my papers and inkhorn
too,
For one day's food, they would never find the pledge accepted to the day of judgment.
As for the poor, and his condition, and his whole life, how full of trouble!
In the summer he fails to earn his food, and in winter he warms himself over the fire-
pot.❜
The dogs follow him wherever he goes, and any reviler, and he cannot repel him.
If he states his case, and proves himself wronged, the judge will not admit his plea.
Such, then, being the poor man's life, his fittest place is in the burial-ground.
The Khaleefeh, when he heard his recitation, said to Jaafar, Observe
this poor man, and consider these verses; for they indicate his necessity.
Then approaching the man, he said to him, O sheykh, what is thine occupa-
tion? - O my master, answered the old man, I am a fisherman, and have
family to maintain, and I went forth from my house at noon, and have re-
mained until now, but God hath allotted me nothing wherewith to obtain
food for my household; therefore I have hated myself, and wished for death.
-Wilt thou, said the Khaleefeh, return with us to the river, and station
thyself on the bank of the Tigris, and cast thy net for my luck? If thou wilt
do so I will purchase of thee whatever cometh up for a hundred pieces of
gold. The fisherman rejoiced when he heard these words, and said, On
my head be your commands: I will return with you.
-
So he went again to the river, and cast his net, and, having waited till
it sank, drew the cords, and dragged back the net, and there came up in
it a chest, locked and heavy. When the Khaleefeh saw it, he felt its weight,
89
90
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS/
and found it to be heavy; and he gave a hundred pieces of gold to the fisher-
man, who went away, while Mesroor, assisted by Jaafar, took up the chest,
and conveyed it, in company with the Khaleefeh, to the palace, where they
lighted the candles, and placed the chest before the Khaleefeh. Jaafar and
Mesroor then broke it open, and they found in it a basket of palm-leaves
sewed up with red worsted; and they cut the threads, and saw within it a
piece of carpet, and, lifting up this, they found beneath it an izár, and when
they had taken up the izár they discovered under it a damsel like molten
silver, killed, and cut in pieces.
-
When the Khaleefeh beheld this, tears ran down his cheeks, and, looking
towards Jaafar, he exclaimed, O dog of Wezeers, shall people be murdered in
my time, and be thrown into the river, and become burdens upon my respon-
sibility? By Allah, I must retaliate for this damsel upon him who killed
her, and put him to death! Then said he to Jaafar, By the truth of my
descent from the Khaleefehs of the sons of El-'Abbás, if thou do not bring to
me him who killed this woman, that I may avenge her upon him, I will
crucify thee at the gate of my palace, together with forty of thy kinsmen! 5
And the Khaleefeh was enraged. Grant me, said Jaafar, a delay of three
days. I grant thee the delay, replied the Khaleefeh. Jaafar then went
forth from his presence, and took his route through the city, sorrowful, and
saying within himself, How shall I discover him who killed this damsel!,
that I may take him before the Khaleefeh? And if I take to him any other
person, he will become a weight upon my conscience. I know not what to do.
For three days he remained in his house, and on the fourth day the Kha-
leefeh sent to summon him, and, when he had presented himself before him,
said to him, Where is the murderer of the damsel? O Prince of the Faith-
ful, answered Jaafar, am I acquainted with things hidden from the senses,
that I should know who is her murderer? The Khaleefeh, incensed at this
answer, gave orders to crucify him at the gate of his palace, and commanded
a crier to proclaim through the streets of Baghdád, Whosoever desireth to
amuse himself by seeing the crucifixion of Jaafar El-Barmekee, the Wezeer
of the Khaleefeh, and the crucifixion of his kinsmen, at the gate of the Kha-
leefeh's palace, let him come forth and amuse himself. So the people came
forth from every quarter to see the crucifixion of Jaafar and his kinsmen;
and they knew not the cause of this. The Khaleefeh then gave orders to set
up the crosses; and they did so, and placed the Wezeer and his kinsmen be-
neath, to crucify them, and were awaiting the Khaleefeh's permission, while
the people wept for Jaafar and his relatives.
But while they were thus waiting, a handsome and neatly-dressed young
man came forward quickly through the crowd, and, approaching the Wezeer,
said to him, Safety to thee from this predicament, O chief of Emeers, and
refuge of the poor! It was I who killed the woman whom ye found in the
chest: kill me therefore for her, and retaliate her death upon me. When
Jaafar heard these words, he rejoiced for his own deliverance, and grieved
for the young man: but while he was speaking to him, lo, an old sheykh
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
91
pressed hastily through the crowd to him and the young man, and, having
saluted them, said, O Wezeer, believe not the words of this young man, for
no one killed the damsel but myself; therefore retaliate her death upon me.
The young man, however, said, O Wezeer, this is an old man, imbecile through
age; he knoweth not what he saith: it was I who killed her; avenge her there-
fore upon me. O my son, said the sheykh, thou art young, and wilt
find pleasure in the world; and I am old, and satiated with the world: I
will be a ransom for thee and for the Wezeer and his kinsmen; and no one
killed the damsel but myself: by Allah, therefore, hasten to retaliate upon
me.
On witnessing this scene, the Wezeer was astonished; and he took the
young man and the sheykh to the Khaleefeh, and said, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, the murderer of the damsel hath come. Where is he? said the Kha-
leefeh. This young man, answered Jaafar, saith, I am the murderer; -
and this sheykh accuseth him of falsehood, and saith, Nay, but I am the
murderer. -- The Khaleefeh, looking towards the sheykh and the young man,
said, Which of you killed this damsel? The young man answered, No one
killed her but myself: - and the sheykh said also, No one killed her but my-
self. The Khaleefeh therefore said to Jaafar, Take them both and crucify them.
- If the murderer be one, replied Jaafar, to kill the other would be unjust.
The young man then said, By Him who raised the heavens and spread out
the earth, it was I who killed the damsel: and he gave an account of the
manner of his killing of her, and described what the Khaleefeh had found.
The Khaleefeh therefore was convinced that the young man was he who had
killed the damsel; and he was astonished, and said, What was the cause of
thy killing this damsel unjustly, and of thy confessing the murder without
being beaten, and thy saying, Retaliate her death upon me? The young
man answereth as follows:
6
--
Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that this damsel was my wife, and the
daughter of my uncle: this sheykh was her father, and is my uncle. I mar-
ried her when she was a virgin, and God blessed me with three male chil-
dren by her; and she loved me and served me, and I saw in her no evil. At
the commencement of this month she was attacked by a severe illness, and
I brought to her the physicians, who attended her until her health returned
to her; and I desired them to send her to the bath; but she said to me, I want
something before I enter the bath, for I have a longing for it. What is it?
said I. She answered, I have a longing for an apple, to smell it, and take a zn
bite from it. So I went out immediately into the city, and searched for the
apple, and would have bought it had its price been a piece of gold: but I
could not find one. I passed the next night full of thought, and when the
morning came I quitted my house again and went about to all the gardens,
one after another; yet I found none in them.
There met me, however, an old gardener, of whom I inquired for the
apple, and he said to me, O my son, this is a rare thing, and not to be found
here, nor anywhere except in the garden of the Prince of the Faithful at El-
92
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Basrah, and preserved there for the Khaleefeh. I returned therefore to my
wife, and my love for her so constrained me that I prepared myself and
journeyed fifteen days, by night and day, in going and returning, and brought
her three apples which I purchased of the gardener at El-Basrah for three
pieces of gold; and, going in, I handed them to her; but she was not pleased
by them, and left them by her side. She was then suffering from a violent
fever, and she continued ill during a period of ten days.
7
After this she recovered her health, and I went out and repaired to my
shop, and sat there to sell and buy; and while I was thus occupied, at mid-
day there passed by me a black slave, having in his hand an apple, with
which he was playing: so I said to him, Whence didst thou get this apple,
for I would procure one like it? - Upon which he laughed, and answered, I
got it from my sweetheart: I had been absent, and came, and found her ill,
and she had three apples; and she said to me, My unsuspecting husband
journeyed to El-Basrah for them, and bought them for three pieces of gold:
and I took this apple from her. When I heard the words of the slave,
O Prince of the Faithful, the world became black before my face, and I shut
up my shop, and returned to my house, deprived of my reason by excessive
rage. I found not the third apple, and said to her, Where is the apple?
She answered, I know not whither it is gone. I was convinced thus that the
slave had spoken the truth, and I arose, and took a knife, and throwing
myself upon her bosom, plunged the knife into her: I then cut off her head
and limbs, and put them in the basket in haste, and covered them with the
izár, over which I laid a piece of carpet: then I put the basket in the chest,
and, having locked this, conveyed it on my mule, and threw it with my own
hands into the Tigris.8
I
And now, continued the young man, I conjure thee by Allah, O Prince of
the Faithful, to hasten my death in retaliation for her murder, as I dread,
otherwise, her appeal for vengeance upon me on the day of resurrection:
for when I had thrown her into the Tigris without the knowledge of any
one,
I returned to my house, and found my eldest boy crying, though he knew
not what I had done to his mother: so I said to him, What maketh thee
cry? and he answered, I took one of the apples that my mother had, and
went down with it into the street to play with my brothers, and a tall black
slave snatched it from me, and said to me, Whence came this to thee?
answered him, My father made a journey for it, and brought it from El-
Basrah, for the sake of my mother; for she is sick: he bought three apples
for three pieces of gold: but he took it from me and beat me, and went
away with it; and I am afraid that my mother may beat me on account of
the apple. When I heard my son's story, I discovered that the slave had
forged a lie against the daughter of my uncle, and found that she had been
killed unjustly; and as I was weeping bitterly for what I had done, this
sheykh, my uncle and her father, came to me, and I informed him of the
event; and he seated himself by me, and wept. We wept until midnight,
and continued our mourning for her five days, ceasing not to the present day
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
93
to bewail her death. By the honour of thine ancestors, therefore, hasten
my death, to retaliate her murder upon me.
The Khaleefeh wondered at the young man's story, and said, By Allah,
I will not put to death any but the wicked slave; for the young man is ex-
cusable. Then looking towards Jaafar, he said to him, Bring before me this
wicked slave who hath been the cause of the catastrophe; or, if thou bring him
not, thou shalt be put to death in his stead. So the Wezeer departed weep-
ing, and saying, Whence shall I bring him? Not every time that the jar is
struck doth it escape being broken! I have no stratagem to employ in this
affair: but He who delivered me in the first case may deliver me in the
second. By Allah, I will not go out from my house for three days; and the
Truth, whose perfection be extolled, will do what He willeth! So he re-
mained in his house three days, and on the fourth day he caused the Kádee
to be brought, and made his testamentary arrangements; and as he was bid-
ding farewell to his children, and weeping, lo, the messenger of the Khaleefeh
came and said to him, The Prince of the Faithful is in a most violent rage,
and hath sent me to thee; and he hath sworn that this day shall not pass
until thou art put to death if thou do not bring to him the slave.
-
-
-
On hearing this, Jaafar wept, and his children wept with him; and when
he had bidden them all farewell except his youngest daughter, he approached
her for the same purpose. He loved her more than all his other children;
and he pressed her to his bosom, and wept at the thought of his separation
from her; but, in doing this, he felt something round in her pocket, and said
to her, What is in thy pocket? She answered, O my father, it is an apple;
our slave Reyhan 10 brought it, and I have had it four days: he would not
give it me until he had received from me two pieces of gold. At this men-
tion of the slave and the apple, Jaafar rejoiced, and exclaimed, O ready
Dispeller of trouble! 11- and immediately he ordered that the slave should
be brought before him. He was therefore brought in, and he said to him,
Whence came this apple? - O my master, he answered, I went out five days
ago, and, entering one of the by-streets of the city, I saw some children play-
ing, and one of them had this apple; and I snatched it from him, and beat
him; and he cried, and said, That belongs to my mother, and she is sick:
she wanted my father to bring her an apple, and he made a journey to El-
Basrah, and brought back for her three apples which he bought for three
pieces of gold; and I took this to play with it: then he cried again, but,
paying no regard to him, I took it away and brought it hither; and my little
mistress bought it of me for two pieces of gold. When he heard this story,
Jaafar was filled with wonder at discovering that this distressing event, and
the murder of the damsel, had been occasioned by his slave; and he took
the slave and went with him to the Khaleefeh, who ordered that the story
should be committed to writing, and published.
Jaafar then said to him, Wonder not, O Prince of the Faithful, at his
tale, for it is not more extraordinary than the story of the Wezeer Noor-ed-
Deen, and Shems-ed-Deen, his brother. What story, said the Khaleefeh,
94
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
---
can be more wonderful than this? O Prince of the Faithful, replied Jaafar,
I will not relate it to thee unless on the condition that thou exempt my slave
from the punishment of death. The Khaleefeh said, I give thee his blood:
--and Jaafar, thereupon, commenced the relation of the story as follows:-
HASAN AND THE DAMSEL SITT-EL-HOSN: HOW THEY WERE MARRIED BY
THE PRANK OF AN 'EFREET, STRANGELY SEPARATED, AND
REUNITED AFTER MARVELOUS EVENTS
KNOW, O Prince of the Faithful, that there was, in Cairo,12 a Sultán,13
just and beneficent, who had a wise and well-informed Wezeer, possessing a
knowledge of the affairs of the world, and of the art of government. This
minister was an aged man, and he had two sons, like two moons: the name of
the elder was Shems-ed-Deen, and that of the younger, Noor-ed-Deen; 14
and the latter was more distinguished than the former by handsomeness and
comeliness: there was no one in his day more handsome, so that the fame of
his charms spread through the neighbouring regions, and some of the in-
habitants of those parts travelled to his country merely to obtain a sight of
him. And it came to pass that their father died, and the Sultán mourned
for him, and, turning his regards towards the two sons, took them into his
favour, invested them with robes of honour, and said to them, Ye two are
instated in your father's office: at which they rejoiced, and kissed the
ground before him. They observed the ceremonies of mourning 15 for their
father during a period of a whole month, and entered upon the office of
Wezeers, each of them discharging the duties of this station for a week at
a time; and whenever the Sultán had a desire to go forth on a journey, he
took one of them with him.
-
--
-
Now it happened, one night, that the Sultán purposed commencing a
journey on the following morning; and it was the turn of the elder Wezeer
to accompany him; and as the two brothers were conversing together that
night, the elder said, O my brother, it is my wish that we should both marry
on one night. Do, O my brother, as thou desirest, answered the younger;
and I will comply with that which thou shalt say. So they agreed to do
this. The elder then said to his brother, If God so decree that we obtain
the betrothal of two maidens, and accomplish our marriage on the same
night, and they give birth to children on the same day, and God will that
thy wife have a son, and my wife have a daughter, we will marry them to
each other, for they will be cousins. And what, O my brother, said Noor-
ed-Deen, wilt thou require of my son as the dowry of thy daughter? He
answered, I will require of thy son, as the dowry of my daughter, three
thousand pieces of gold, and three gardens, and three farms; for if the young
man make any other contract than this, it will not be proper.
—
But when Noor-ed-Deen heard this proposal, he exclaimed, What is this
dowry that thou imposest upon my son? Dost thou not know that we are
two brothers, and that we are both Wezeers, of one dignity? It were incum-
bent on thee to offer thy daughter to my son as a free gift, without any
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
95
-
dowry; for thou knowest that the male is more honourable than the female,
and my child is a male, and by him shall our memory be preserved: not by
thy daughter. What sayest thou of her? asked his brother. That our
memory will not be preserved by her among the nobles, answered Noor-ed-
Deen. But thou desirest, added he, to act with me according to the opinion
of him who saith, If thou desire to drive away a person who would buy, de-
mand of him a high price. I see thee, replied Shems-ed-Deen, to have com-
mitted a fault, in making thy son more honourable than my daughter: thou
art doubtless deficient in judgment, and destitute of good disposition, seeing
that thou mentionest the partnership in the office of Wezeer, when I admit-
ted thee not to share it with me excepting in my pity for thee, and that thou
mightest assist me: but talk as thou wilt: since thou hast said this, by Allah
I will not marry my daughter to thy son, though thou offer me her weight
in gold.
On hearing these words of his brother, Noor-ed-Deen was enraged, and
said, I will not marry my son to thy daughter. I will not accept him as a
husband for her, replied Shems-ed-Deen; and if I were not purposing a
journey, I would do to thee deeds that should serve as warnings to others:
however, when I return, God will do what He willeth. When Noor-ed-
Deen heard this, he was full of anger, and became unconscious of existence:
but he concealed his feelings; and each of the two brothers passed the night
apart from the other; and in the morning the Sultán set out on his journey,
and, crossing over to the island, proceeded towards the Pyramids, accom-
paned by the Wezeer Shems-ed-Deen.
16
Noor-ed-Deen passed that night in a state of the utmost rage; and when
the morning came he arose, and, having performed the morning-prayers, went
to his closet and took out from it a pair of small saddle-bags, which he filled
with gold; and as he reflected upon the words of his brother, and the con-
tempt which he had shewn him, and the pride that he had manifested to-
wards him, he repeated these verses:
Travel. Thou wilt find a friend in the place of him thou leavest; and fatigue thyself;
for by labour are the sweets of life obtained.
To a man of intelligence and education there is no glory in a constant residence: there-
fore quit thy native place, and go abroad.
I have observed that the stagnation of water corrupteth i; if it floweth, it becometh
sweet; but otherwise, it doth not.
If the full moon never set, the eye of the contemplative would not on every occasion
pay regard to it:
The lions, if they left not the forest, would capture no prey; and the arrow, if it quitted
not the bow, would not strike the mark:
The grains of gold upon their native bed are regarded as mere dust; and the aloes-
wood, where it groweth, is a kind of firewood:
If exported, it becometh an object of high demand; but if not, it attaineth no kind of
distinction.
He then ordered one of his young men to saddle for him a dapple mule, tall,
and of quick pace; and he did so, placing upon her a saddle adorned with
96
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
17
gold, with stirrups of Indian steel, and housing of the velvet of Ispahán; and
she resembled a bride displayed before her husband. He ordered him also
to place upon her a carpet of silk, and a prayer-carpet, and to put the
saddle-bags beneath the latter; and when this was done, he said to the young
man and the slaves, I have a desire to take a ride for my amusement outside
the city, towards the province of Kalyoob, and shall be absent three nights;
and let none of you follow me, for my heart is contracted.
Having thus said, he mounted his mule in haste, and, taking with him a
small supply of food, departed from the city, turning his face towards the
open country. The hour of noon overtook him not until he entered the city
of Bilbeys, where he alighted to repose himself and rest his mule, and ate;
after which he took from this place what he required for himself, and some
provender for his mule, and, having placed these provisions upon her, went
forth again into the plain, and before noon on the second following day,
he entered Jerusalem.18 Here he alighted again, and rested himself and his
beast, and ate: he then placed his saddle-bags under his head, and spread his
carpet, and slept, still overcome by anger. He passed the night in this place;
and in the morning he remounted, and he continued to urge on his mule until
he arrived at Aleppo,19 where he alighted at a Khán, and remained three days
to give rest to himself and his mule, and to enjoy the air of the place: which
having done, he determined to prosecute his journey, and mounted his mule,
and went forth. He knew not whither to direct his course; but travelled on
until he arrived at the city of El-Basrah; and scarcely was he aware that the
night had overtaken him, when he alighted there at a Khán, where he took
off the saddle-bags from the mule, and spread the prayer-carpet, committing
the mule, with her equipage, to the care of the door-keeper, and ordering him
to walk her about a little.
The door-keeper did so; and it happened that the Wezeer of El-Basrah,
sitting at a window of his palace, saw the mule, and, observing her costly
equipage, thought that she must belong to some Wezeer or King; and as he
attentively regarded her he was surprised, and said to one of his pages, Bring
before me that door-keeper. So the page went and brought him; and the
door-keeper, approaching, kissed the ground before him. The Wezeer, who
was an aged person, then said to this man, Who is the owner of this mule,
and what is his appearance? O my lord, answered the door-keeper, her
owner is a young man of elegant person, of the sons of the merchants, and
of a dignified and grave aspect. On hearing this, the Wezeer arose, and,
mounting his horse,20 went to the Khán, and introduced himself to the young
man, who, as soon as he saw him approaching, rose to meet him, and em-
braced him. The Wezeer, after he had alighted from his horse, saluted him
and welcomed him, and, seating him by his side, said to him, Whence, O my
son, hast thou come; and for what purpose? O my lord, answered Noor-
ed-Deen, I have come from the city of Cairo: my father was Wezeer there;
and he hath departed to receive the mercy of God; — and he informed him
of all that had happened to him from first to last, adding, I have determined
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
97
that I will not return until I shall have seen all the cities and countries of the
world.O my son, replied the Wezeer, obey not the suggestions of thy
mind, lest thou expose thyself to destruction; for the countries are waste; and
I fear on thy account the issues of fortune.
So saying, he ordered that the saddle-bags should be placed again on
the mule, together with the carpet of silk and the prayer-carpet, and took
Noor-ed-Deen with him to his house, where he lodged him in an elegant
apartment, and treated him with honour and kindness; and, conceiving a
strong affection for him, said to him, O my son, I have become an old man,
and I have no male child; God, however, hath blessed me with a daughter
who resembleth thee in comeliness, and I have rejected many persons who
have been her suitors: but now, love for thee hath entered my heart; wilt
thou then take my daughter as thy handmaid to serve thee, and be her hus-
band? If thou consent to this, I will go up to the Sultán of El-Basrah, and
will say to him, This is the son of my brother; and I will introduce thee
to him, that I may make thee Wezeer in my place, and I will remain in my
house; for I am now aged. Noor-ed-Deen, on hearing this proposal of the
Wezeer of El-Basrah, hung down his head, and then answered, I hear and
obey.
――
The Wezeer rejoiced at his assent, and ordered his servants to prepare for
him a repast, and to decorate the great saloon 21 which was furnished for
the reception of the chiefs of the Emeers. He then called together his friends,
and invited the great officers of the state, and the merchants of El-Basrah;
and when they had come into his presence, he said to them, I had a brother
who was Wezeer in the land of Egypt, and God blessed him with two sons;
and me, as ye know, He hath blessed with a daughter: now my brother en-
joined me to marry my daughter to one of his sons, and I consented to do
so; and when she attained a fit age for marriage, he sent to me one of his
sons, who is this young man here present. As soon, therefore, as he had
come, I desired to perform the marriage-contract between him and my daugh-
ter, and that he should introduce himself to her here in my house. -Excel-
lently hast thou done! they replied. They then drank sherbet of sugar,
and the pages sprinkled rose-water upon them, and they departed: after
which, the Wezeer ordered his servants to conduct Noor-ed-Deen to the bath,
and gave him a suit of his best clothes,22 and sent to him the napkins and
cups and perfuming-vessels, and everything else that he required. So when
he came out from the bath, he put on the suit of clothes, and appeared like
the full moon; and he mounted his mule, and, returning to the palace, alighted
and presented himself before the Wezeer, and kissed his hand: and the Wezeer
welcomed him, saying, Arise, and introduce thyself this night to thy wife;
and to-morrow I will go up with thee to the Sultán, and I pray that God may
bless thee with every kind of happiness. Noor-ed-Deen therefore arose, and
went to his wife, the daughter of the Wezeer. Thus did it happen to Noor-
ed-Deen.
As to his brother, he continued a while journeying with the Sultán, and
98
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
me:
when he returned, and found not his brother, he inquired of the servants re-
specting him, and they answered, On the day of thy departure with the
Sultán, he mounted his mule, caparisoned as for a procession of state, and
said, I am going towards the province of Kalyoob, and shall be absent a day
or two days; for my heart is contracted; therefore let none of you follow
and from the day on which he went forth, to the present day, we have
heard no tidings of him. Upon this the heart of Shems-ed-Deen was troubled
at the separation of his brother, and he grieved excessively for his loss, say-
ing within himself, The cause of this is nothing else than my having spoken
harshly to him in my conversation on the night before my departure with
the Sultán; and probably his mind was disturbed, and he went on a journey:
I must therefore send after him.
He then went up and related this even to the Sultán, who wrote letters
and sent them to his viceregents in all the provinces: but Noor-ed-Deen had
traversed distant regions during the absence of his brother with the Sultán:
therefore the messengers, when they had gone with the letters, returned with-
out having obtained any information respecting him. So Shems-ed-Deen
despaired of his brother, and said, I have enraged my brother by what I said
to him concerning the marriage of the children. Would that I had not done
so! This was not occasioned but by my want of sense and judgment!
And soon after this, he demanded in marriage the daughter of one of the
merchants of Cairo, and performed the marriage-contract between himself
and her, and introduced himself to her: and it happened that the night when
this event took place was the same night on which Noor-ed-Deen introduced
himself to his wife, the daughter of the Wezeer of El-Basrah: this being in
accordance with the will of God, whose name be exalted, that He might
execute his decree upon his creatures.
The event was as they both had said: for it came to pass that the two
wives conceived by them: the wife of Shems-ed-Deen, the Wezeer of Egypt,
gave birth to a daughter, than whom there was not seen, in that country,
one more beautiful; and the wife of Noor-ed-Deen gave birth to a son, one
more beautiful than whom was not seen in his time: as the poet hath said:
If beauty came to be compared with him, it would hang down its head in shame:
Or if it were said, O beauty, hast thou seen the like?-it would answer, The equal of
this I have not.
So they named him Hasan; 23 and on the seventh day after his birth, they
made entertainments and spread repasts such as were fit for the sons of
Kings: 2 after which the Wezeer of El-Basrah took with him Noor-ed-Deen,
and went up with him to the Sultán; and when he came into his presence
he kissed the ground before him; and Noor-ed-Deen, being eloquent in tongue,
and firm of heart, and comely in person and in actions, recited these words
of the poet:
This is he whose justice extendeth to all men, and who hath overrun and subdued every
region.
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
99.
Be thankful for his benefits; for they are not mere benefits; but they are strings of
jewels on the necks of his people:
And kiss his fingers; for they are not mere fingers; but they are the keys of the supplies
of Providence.
The Sultán treated them both with honour, and, having thanked Noor-
ed-Deen for his address, said to his Wezeer, Who is this young man? The
Wezeer therefore related to him his story from beginning to end, and added,
This is the son of my brother. How is it, said the Sultán, that he is the
son of thy brother, and we have not before heard of him? The Wezeer
answered, O our lord the Sultán, I had a brother who was Wezeer in the land
of Egypt, and he died, leaving two sons: the elder succeeded to his father's
office, as Wezeer, and this his younger son came to me; and I swore that I
would not marry my daughter to any but him: so, when he came, I married
him to her. He is a young man, and I am now aged; my hearing is im-
paired, and my judgment faileth: it is my wish, therefore, that our lord the
Sultan would instate him in my office, seeing that he is the son of my brother
and the husband of my daughter, and a person worthy of the dignity of
Wezeer; for he is endowed with knowledge and judgment. The Sultán,
upon this, looked towards him, and, being pleased with him, approved of the
advice of the Wezeer that he should promote him to that office; so he be-
stowed it upon him, and ordered that a magnificent dress of honour should
be given to him, and one of the best of the mules upon which he was himself
accustomed to ride, allotting him also supplies and salaries; and Noor-ed-
Deen kissed the hand of the Sultán, and descended with his father-in-law to
their house, both in high delight, and saying, Verily the birth of this child.
is fortunate.
-
On the following day Noor-ed-Deen went again to the King, and kissed
the ground, and the Sultán ordered him to sit in the place of the Wezeer:
so he sat, and occupied himself with the affairs of his office, and examined
the cases of the people, and their suits, according to the custom of Wezeers:
and the Sultán, observing him, was surprised at his conduct, and the acute-
ness of his understanding, and his good judgment. He attentively con-
sidered his qualities, and loved him, and advanced him in his favour: and
when the court was dissolved, Noor-ed-Deen returned to his house, and
related what had passed to his father-in-law, who was rejoiced at hear-
ing it.
The old Wezeer ceased not to superintend the rearing of the child, who
was named Hasan, for many days, while Noor-ed-Deen was constantly occu-
pied with the affairs of his office, so that he left not the Sultán by day nor by
night; and the King increased his salaries and supplies until his circumstances
became ample: he had ships which made voyages under his orders with mer-
chandise and other things, and he founded numerous estates, and made water-
wheels 25 and gardens. Thus did he until his son Hasan was four years of
age, when the old Wezeer, the father of his wife, died; and he conveyed his
corpse with great pomp, and decently deposited it in the earth. He then
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
turned his thoughts towards the education of his son; and when the child
had gained strength, he brought him a tutor to teach him in his own house,
charging him to instruct him and educate him well; and the tutor did so,
and taught him various useful sciences, after he had passed some years in
learning the Kur-án.
Hasan meanwhile increased in loveliness and beauty, and elegance of per-
son. The tutor continued to educate him in his father's palace; and from
the time that he arrived at adolescence he went not out of the Wezeer's palace,
until his father took him one day, and, having clad him in one of the richest
of his dresses, mounted him on one of his best mules, and conducted him to
the Sultán, and introduced him. When the King beheld Hasan Bedr-ed-
Deen,26 the son of the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, he was astonished at his beauty;
and the people, when he passed by them for the first time, going up with his
father to the King, were amazed at his surpassing beauty and loveliness, and
elegance of person. The Sultán, as soon as he saw him, loved him, and
bestowed marks of favour upon him, and said to his father, O Wezeer, thou
must bring him with thee every day. The Wezeer answered, I hear and
obey; and returned with his son to his abode; and he continued every day
to go up with him to the Sultán until the youth attained the age of fifteen
years.
-
-
His father, the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, then fell sick, and called him into
his presence, and said to him, O my son, know that this world is a perishable
abode, and the world to come is an everlasting abode. I wish to give thee
some precepts, and do thou understand what I am about to say to thee, and
incline thy heart to it. And he began to counsel him respecting the proper
mode of conducting himself in society, and the due management of his affairs;
and when he had done so, he reflected upon his brother and his native place
and country, and wept at the thought of his separation from those he loved;
his tears flowing: and he said, O my son, hear my words. I have a brother 27
in Cairo, and I quitted him and departed against his will. He then took a
piece of paper,28 and wrote upon it all that had happened to him from first
to last, together with the date of his marriage and introduction to the daugh-
ter of the Wezeer, and the date of his arrival at El-Basrah and his interview
with its Wezeer; and, having added some strict admonition, he said to his son,
Keep this charge, for the paper on which it is written containeth an account
of thine origin and thy rank and lineage; and if any evil accident befall thee,
repair to Cairo, and inquire for thine uncle, and salute him, and inform him
that I died in a strange land, ardently desiring that I could see him. There-
fore Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen took the paper, and, having folded it, and wrapped
it in a piece of waxed cloth,29 sewed it between the lining and the outer cloth
of his cap,30 and wept for his father, that he should be parted from him in his
youth.
Noor-ed-Deen then said to his son, I charge thee that thou be not
familiar with any one; for in retirement is security. Divinely gifted was the
poet who said, -
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
ΙΟΙ
There is none in thy time whose friendship thou shouldst covet; nor any intimate who,
when fortune is treacherous, will be faithful.
Live then apart, and rely upon no man: I have given thee, in these words, good advice,
and sufficient.
Accustom thyself to taciturnity: occupy thyself with thine own affairs, and
use not many words: for the poet saith,
-
Taciturnity is an ornament, and in silence is security: therefore when thou speakest, be
not loquacious:
For if thou repent once of thy silence, thou wilt assuredly repent many times of thy
speech.
Beware of drinking wine; for it is the source of every kind of mischief. The
poet 32 saith on this subject,-
I have abandoned wine and those who drink it; and have become the friend of such
as condemn it.
Wine leadeth astray from the path of rectitude, and openeth the doors to evil.
Hate no man, and oppress none; for oppression is base. The poet saith, —
-
Oppress not if thou hast the power to do so; for oppression will eventually bring thee
repentance:
Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call for vengeance upon thee; and
the eye of God sleepeth not.
Despise thy wealth, but not thyself: yet bestow not wealth save upon him
who deserveth it. If thou keep it, it will keep thee; but if thou squander
it will ruin thee; and then wilt thou need the assistance of the least of man-
kind. It hath been said by the poet,-
-
When my wealth faileth, no friend assisteth me; but when it aboundeth, all men are my
friends.
How many enemies for the sake of wealth have consorted with me! And my companion,
in the time of want, hath abandoned me!
In this manner he continued to admonish his son Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen
until his spirit departed. The house became a scene of mourning, and the
Sultán and all the Emeers grieved for him; and they buried him. They
continued their mourning during a period of two months, and the son of
Noor-ed-Deen rode not out nor went to the court nor presented himself be-
fore the Sultán; and the King instated one of the Chamberlains in his place,
and appointed a new Wezeer in the place of his father, and ordered this
Wezeer to put seals upon all the houses of Noor-ed-Deen, and upon his wealth
and all his buildings and other possessions.33 So the new Wezeer went with
the Chamberlains to the house of the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, to seal its door
and to arrest his son Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and bring him before the Sultán,
that he might do to him what his judgment required. But there was among
the troops one of the memlooks of the deceased Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen; and
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
34
he could not endure that the son of his master should be thus treated: he
therefore repaired to Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, whom he found with downcast
head and mourning heart, on account of the death of his father, and
acquainted him with what had passed. Hasan asked him, Will the execution
of the order be delayed long enough for me to enter my house, and take
somewhat of my worldly possessions by which to obtain support during my
exile? But the memlook answered, Save thyself: and when Hasan heard
these words, he covered his head with the skirt of his robe, and, going forth
on foot, fled out of the city: and he heard the people saying, The Sultán hath
sent the new Wezeer to the house of their deceased Wezeer, to seal his wealth
and other possessions, and to arrest his son Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and bring
him before him that he may put him to death: - and the people were mourn-
ing for him on account of his beauty and loveliness. So when he heard what
they said, he took a course that he had not intended, and, not knowing
whither to go, walked until destiny urged him to the tomb of his father.
Entering the burial-ground, he bent his way among the tombs until he
seated himself at that of his father, where he removed his skirt from over his
head. And as he was sitting there, a Jew of El-Basrah approached, and said
to him, Wherefore, O my master, do I see thee thus changed? He answered,
I was just now sleeping, and I beheld my father reproaching me for having
failed to visit his tomb: wherefore I rose in alarm, fearing that the day
would pass without my visiting it, and so the occurrence would distress me.
The Jew then said to him, O my master, thy father despatched some vessels
with merchandise, and some of them have returned; and it is my wish to pur-
chase of thee the cargo of every vessel that hath arrived for a thousand pieces
of gold; and so saying, he took out a purse filled with gold, and counted
out from it a thousand pieces, which he paid to Hasan the son of the Wezeer,
and said to him, Write me a paper, and seal it.
So Hasan took a paper, and wrote upon it, The writer of this paper,
Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, the son of the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, hath sold to the
Jew such a one the whole cargo of every one of his father's vessels that hath
returned from her voyage, for a thousand pieces of gold, and hath received
the price in advance. And after he had taken a copy 35 of it, the Jew went
away with the paper; and Hasan wept, reflecting upon his former state of
dignity and favour. At length the night closed in upon him, and sleep over-
took him, and he remained asleep at his father's tomb until the moon rose
when his head rolled from the tomb, and he lay and slept on his back, his
face shining in the moonlight.
Now the burial-ground was inhabited by believing Jinn; and a Jinneeyeh,
coming forth, saw the face of Hasan as he lay asleep, and when she beheld
him, was surprised at his beauty and loveliness, and exclaimed, Extolled be
Allah's perfection! This youth is like none but the virgins of paradise! -
She then soared into the air, to perform her accustomed circuits, and saw
an 'Efreet on his flight. She saluted him, and he returned her salutation;
and she said to him, Whence comest thou? He answered from Cairo: - and
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
103
she said to him, Wilt thou go with me to behold the beauty of the youth who
is sleeping in the burial-ground? He replied, Yes. So they went together;
and when they had descended into the burial-ground, she said to him, Hast
thou seen in the course of thy life a person like this? And the 'Efreet
looked upon him, and exclaimed, Extolled be the perfection of Him unto
whom none is to be compared! But, O my sister, he added, if thou desire,
I will relate to thee what I have seen.
Tell me, she replied: so he said, I have seen a person resembling this
youth in the land of Egypt; and that person is the daughter of the Wezeer.
The King had heard of her, and demanded her of her father, the Wezeer
Shems-ed-Deen, in marriage; but he answered him, O our lord the Sultán,
accept my excuse, and pity my grief; for thou knowest that my brother
Noor-ed-Deen departed from us, and we know not where he is; and that he
shared with me the office of Wezeer; and the cause of his departure was this,
that I was sitting conversing with him on the subject of marriage, and he
was angry with me, and in anger went away: - and he related to the King
all that had passed between them; adding, This was the cause of his indigna-
tion, and I have been under an oath that I will not marry my daughter to
any but the son of my brother from the day that her mother gave birth to
her; and that was about fifteen years ago: and lately I heard that my brother
had married the daughter of the Wezeer of El-Basrah, and obtained a son
by her; and I will not marry my daughter to any but him, in honour of my
brother. After I had heard this, I recorded the date of my marriage, and of
my wife's conception, and of the birth of this daughter: she is intended for
the son of her uncle; and of other maidens there are plenty.
But when the Sultán heard these words of the Wezeer, he was violently
enraged, and said, How is it that such a one as myself demandeth in marriage
a daughter from one like thee, and thou withholdest her from him, and ex-
cusest thyself by an absurd pretext? By my head, I will not marry her but
to one of less consideration than myself, in scorn of thy pride! And the
King had a humpbacked groom, with a hump before and a hump behind; and
he ordered him to be brought, and affianced him to the daughter of the
Wezeer, commanding that he should introduce himself to her this night, and
be conducted in pompous procession. I left him in the midst of the memlooks
of the Sultán, who were surrounding him with lighted candles in their hands,
laughing at him and mocking him, at the door of the bath, while the daughter
of the Wezeer was sitting weeping in the midst of the dye-women 36 and tire-
women. She resembles more than any other person this youth. They
have prohibited her father from going to her; and I have never seen, O my
sister, a more ugly wretch than this humpback: but as to the maiden, she is
more beautiful than this youth.
87
To this story of the 'Efreet, the Jinneeyeh answered, Thou liest; for this
youth is the most beautiful of the people of his age. But the 'Efreet replied,
By Allah, O my sister, the maiden is more beautiful than he: however, none
but he is suited to her; for they resemble each other, and probably are
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
brother and sister, or cousins; and how will she be thrown away upon this
humpback! She therefore said to him, O my brother, let us place ourselves
beneath him and lift him up and take him to the maiden of whom thou speak-
est, and see which of the two is more beautiful. The 'Efreet answered, I
hear and obey: this proposal is right, and there can be no better determination
than this which thou hast chosen; therefore I will carry him. So he lifted
him up, and soared into the sky, and the Jinneeyeh flew by his side until he
descended with him in the city of Cairo, where he placed him upon a masta-
bah,38 and roused him from his sleep.39
When, therefore, he awoke, and found that he was not at his father's
tomb in the land of El-Basrah, he looked to the right and left, and perceived
that he was in a city that was not El-Basrah, and would have cried out, but
the 'Efreet winked to him, and, lighting for him a candle, said to him, Know
that I have brought thee hither, and I desire to do thee a service for the
sake of God: take, therefore, this candle, and go with it to yonder bath, and
mix with the people there, and proceed with them until thou arrivest at the
saloon of the bride; then go before, and enter the saloon, and fear no one;
and when thou hast entered, station thyself on the right of the humpbacked
bridegroom; and whenever the tire-women and singing-women and dye-women
come to thee, put thy hand into thy pocket: thou wilt find it full of gold, and
do thou take it by the handful and throw it to them; and imagine not that
thou wilt put thy hand in and not find it filled with gold: give therefore to
every one who cometh to thee by the handful, and fear nothing; but rely
upon Him who created thee; for this will not be through thine own strength
or power, but through the strength of God, and his power.
41
On hearing these words of the 'Efreet, Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen said, What
is this event, and what manner of kindness is this? And he went with his
candle to the bath, where he found the humpback mounted on his horse; and
he joined himself to the party, in the same garb in which he had arrived, and
with the same comely appearance; being attired with a tarboosh 40 and
turban, and a farajeeyeh 1 interwoven with gold. He proceeded with the
pompous train, and every time that the singing-women stopped for the people
to give them money, he put his hand into his pocket, and found it filled with
gold, and took it by the handful and threw it into the tambourine,42 for the
singing-women and tire-women, filling the tambourine with pieces of gold:
and the singing-women were amazed, and the people wondered at his beauty
and loveliness. Thus he continued to do until they arrived at the house of
the Wezeer, when the chamberlains drove back the people, and prevented their
entrance; but the singing-women and tire-women said, By Allah, we will not
enter unless this youth enter with us, for he hath overwhelmed us with his
favours, and the bride shall not be displayed unless he be present: — and
upon this they entered with him into the saloon of the festivity, and seated
him, in spite of the humpbacked bridegroom.
All the ladies of the Emeers and Wezeers and Chamberlains were ranged
in two rows, each lady holding a large lighted candle, and having her head-
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
105
veil drawn across the lower part of her face: thus they stood in two rows, to
the right and the left, from the foot of the couch of the bride to the upper end
of the leewán that adjoined the chamber from which the bride was to come
forth. And when the ladies beheld Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen and his beauty and
loveliness, his face shining like the crescent of the moon, the hearts of all of
them inclined to him, and the female singers said to all the women who were
present, Know that this charming youth hath given us nothing but red gold;
therefore fail not to serve him properly, and obey him in whatever he shall
say. The women crowded round him to gaze at his charms, and their minds
were overpowered by astonishment at his beauty, and each of them wished
that she might be in his bosom for a year or a month or an hour: they re-
moved the veils from their faces, and their hearts were perplexed, and they
said, Joy to the person to whom this youth belongeth, or to the person over
whom he is lord! Then they imprecated evil upon the humpbacked groom
and him who was the cause of his marriage to that lovely maiden; and every
time that they prayed for blessings upon Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, they impre-
cated misfortunes upon the humpback.
The singing-women then beat the tambourines, and the tire-women ap-
proached with the daughter of the Wezeer in the midst of them. They had
perfumed her with sweet scents and essences, and clad her, and adorned her
hair and neck with various ornaments, decking her with garments such as
were worn by the ancient monarchs of Persia. Among these was a loose
gown embroidered with red gold, presenting the forms of wild beasts and
birds, hanging down over her other clothes; and round her neck was a neck-
lace worth thousands, composed of jewels such as neither a King of El-
Yemen nor a Cæsar ever collected: she was like the moon shining in its
fourteenth night, and when she approached she resembled a Hooreeyeh.¹³
Extolled be the perfection of him who created her so splendid a being! The
women encompassed her, and appeared like stars; she, in the midst of them,
being as the moon when the clouds have withdrawn from before it. Mean-
while, Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen remained sitting, with the company gazing at him;
and as the bride approached with a dignified and graceful gait, the hump-
backed groom rose to her, to kiss her; but she turned aside from him, and
went and stood before Hasan, the son of her uncle. The company laughed
at this; and when they beheld her turn towards Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and
saw him put his hand into his pocket and take out handfuls of gold and throw
it into the tambourine of the singing-women, they were delighted, and said,
We wish that this bride were thine: and he smiled.
--
All this time the humpbacked groom was alone, looking like an ape; and
every time that they lighted his candle it went out again, and he was con-
founded, and remained sitting in the dark, full of secret indignation, with all
the company surrounding him, while the lighted candles presented an appear-
ance of beauty that was most admirable, so that every person of reflection
was amazed at their splendour. But as to the bride, she raised her hands
towards heaven, and said, O Allah, make this to be my husband, and relieve
106
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
me from this humpbacked groom! The tire-women then proceeded to dis-
play the bride in different dresses, to the seventh suit, before Hasan Bedr-ed-
Deen of El-Basrah, the humpbacked groom remaining alone; and when
they had finished this ceremony they gave permission to the company
to depart: so all who were present at the festivity, both women and children,
went out, except Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen and the humpbacked groom; after
which the tire-women conducted the bride to an inner chamber, to take
off her ornaments and outer robes, and to prepare her for the bridegroom's
visit.
Upon this, the humpbacked groom approached Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and
said to him, O my master, thou hast made us happy by thy company this
night, and overwhelmed us with thy favours; but now wherefore dost thou
not rise and go to thy house without thy being ejected. He answered, In the
name of Allah; - and rose, and went out from the door: but the 'Efreet met
him, and said unto him, Stay, O Bedr-ed-Deen; and when the humpback
retires into the private closet, enter thou and seat thyself in the bride-cham-
ber; and when the bride cometh, say to her, I am thy husband; and the
King had not recourse to this stratagem from any other motive than his
fearing for thee the effect of the eye; 44 and this whom thou hast seen is one
of our grooms: - then approach her, and uncover her face, and fear no evil
from any one.
-
-
46
While Bedr-ed-Deen was thus conversing with the 'Efreet, lo, the groom
entered the closet, and seated himself; and immediately the 'Efreet rose be-
fore him, from the trough of water that was in the closet,45 in the form of
a mouse, and cried Zeek! What brought thee here? said the humpback.
The mouse then increased in size, and became like a cat; and then increased,
and became a dog, and cried, 'Owh! 'Owh! At the sight of this the groom
was terrified, and exclaimed, Get away, thou unlucky! 6 The dog, however,
still increased and swelled until it became an ass, and brayed in his face,
crying, Hák! Hák! - upon which the groom, in terror, cried out, Come to
my aid, O people of the house! But lo, the ass increased, and became like a
buffalo, and, stopping up the place before him, spoke with the speech of a
son of Adam, and said, Wo be to thee, O humpback! O filthiest of grooms!
Upon this the groom was seized with a colick, and seated himself upon the
slabs, and his teeth knocked together. The 'Efreet then said to him, Hath
the earth become narrow to thee, that thou wouldst marry none but my
mistress? But the groom was silent.
-
Return me an answer, said the 'Efreet, or I will make thine abode to be
in the dust! By Allah, then answered the groom, I am not in fault; for they
compelled me, and I knew not that she had a lover among the buffaloes; but
now I repent before Allah and before thee. Then the 'Efreet said, I swear
by Allah that if thou depart from this place, or utter a word before the sun
hath risen, I will slay thee: and when the sun hath risen go thy way, and
never return to this house. And he seized the humpbacked groom, and,
placing his head upside down upon the slabs, and his feet upwards, said to
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
107
him, Remain here, and I will watch thee until sunrise. Thus did it happen
to the humpback.
—
48
Now, as to Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen of El-Basrah, he left the humpback and
the 'Efreet contending together, and, entering the house, seated himself in
the bride-chamber; and lo, the bride approached, accompanied by an old
woman, who stopped at the door of the chamber, and said, O Aboo-Shihab,47
rise, and take thy bride; and I command thee to the care of Allah. Then
the old woman went away, and the bride, whose name was Sitt-el-Hosn,*
advanced to the upper end of the chamber. Her heart was broken, and she
said within herself, By Allah, I will not suffer him to caress me though my
spirit depart from me! But when she had proceeded to the upper end of
the chamber, she beheld Bedr-ed-Deen, and said, My beloved, until this hour
art thou remaining? I had said within myself, perhaps thou and the hump-
backed groom are to share me between you. What, said he, should give
the groom access to thee, and wherefore should he be my partner in the
possession of thee? - Who, then she asked, is my husband? Thou or he?
-O my mistress, answered Bedr-ed-Deen, we did not this for any other pur-
pose than to make a jest of him, and that we might laugh at him; for when
the tire-women and the singing-women and thy family beheld thine admirable
beauty, they feared for us the effect of the eye, and thy father hired him for
ten pieces of gold, in order that he might divert from us the eye; and now
he hath departed. When Sitt-el-Hosn heard these words of Bedr-ed-Deen,
she smiled, and uttered a gentle laugh, and said, By Allah, thou hast extin-
guished my fire! Take me then, I conjure thee, and press me to thy bosom.
-And they embraced each other.
Not long after this, the 'Efreet said to the Jinneeyeh, Arise, and place
thyself beneath the youth, and let us convey him back, lest the morning over-
take us; for the time is near. So she advanced towards him, and, placing
herself beneath his skirt, as he lay asleep, took him up, and flew away with
him, in the state in which she found him, clad only in his shirt, and pursued
her flight with the 'Efreet by her side. But God gave permission to some
angels to cast at the 'Efreet a shooting-star of fire, and he was burnt. The
Jinneeyeh, however, escaped unhurt, and deposited Bedr-ed-Deen in the place
over which the shooting-star had burnt the 'Efreet. She would not pass be-
yond it, fearing for his safety; and as destiny had appointed, this place was
Damascus: so she placed him by one of the gates of this city, and flew away.
When daylight therefore came, and the gates were opened, the people,
coming forth, beheld a beautiful youth clad in his shirt, and with a cotton
skull-cap without a turban. In consequence of his having been so long wake-
ful, he was now immersed in sleep; and when the people saw him, some said,
Would that he had waited till he had put on his clothes!
another said,
Objects of pity are the children of men of condition! Probably this youth
hath just come forth from his drinking-place, on account of some business,
and intoxication hath overcome him, and he hath wandered from the place to
which he would go until he arrived at the gate of the city, and, finding it
108
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
locked, hath slept there. They had expressed various opinions respecting
him, and were wondering at his case, when Bedr-ed-Deen awoke. Perceiving
that he was at the gate of a city, and surrounded by men, he was astonished,
and said, Where am I, O good people; and what is the cause of your assem-
bling around me, and what hath befallen me among you? They answered,
We saw thee at the call to morning-prayer lying at this gate asleep; and we
know nothing more of thy case. Where wast thou sleeping this night?
By Allah, O people, he replied, I was sleeping this night in Cairo. - On
hearing this, one of them said, Dost thou eat hasheesh? 49 Another said,
Thou art mad. How couldst thou be passing the night in Cairo, and be
sleeping in the morning at the city of Damascus? He said to them, By
Allah, O good people, I will tell you no falsehood: I was last night in the
land of Egypt and the day before I was at El-Basrah. One of them said,
This is a wonderful thing! Another said, This youth is mad. And they
clapped their hands at him, and, conversing together, said, Alas, for his youth!
By Allah, there is no denying his madness! They then said to him, Return
to thy reason. But he replied, I was yesterday a bridegroom in the land of
Egypt. Probably thou hast dreamt, said they, and hast seen this of which
thou speakest in thy sleep.
--
- -
And Hasan was confounded, and said, By Allah, this was not a dream:
and where is the humpbacked groom who was sitting with us, and the purse
of gold that I had? And where are my clothes and my drawers? He then
rose, and entered the city, and proceeded through its great thoroughfare-
streets and market-streets; and the people crowded round him and paraded
him: so he entered the shop of a cook. Now this cook was a robber,50 whom
God had caused to repent of his unlawful actions, and he had opened a cook's
shop; and all the people of Damascus feared him on account of his boldness;
therefore, when they saw that the youth had entered this shop, they left him,
being afraid.
When the cook beheld Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and observed his beauty and
comeliness, love for him entered his heart, and he said to him, Whence art
thou, O young man? Relate to me thy story; for thou art become dearer
to me than my soul. So he related to him all that had happened, from be-
ginning to end: and the cook said to him, O my master Bedr-ed-Deen, know
that this is a wonderful event and an extraordinary story; but, O my son,
conceal thy case until God dispel thy trouble, and remain with me in this
place; and as I have not a son, I will adopt thee as such. Bedr-ed-Deen re-
plied, Let it be as thou desirest, O uncle. And immediately the cook went
out to the mart, and bought for Bedr-ed-Deen costly clothes, and put them
on him: he then went to the Kádee, and made a declaration that he was his
adopted son: 51 so Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen became known throughout the city
of Damascus as the son of the cook; and he sat with him in the shop to re-
ceive the money, and in this situation he remained.
Now as to Sitt-el-Hosn, when daybreak came and she awoke, she found
not Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen remaining with her, and, imagining that he would
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
109
soon return, she sat a while expecting him; and lo, her father came in to her,
troubled at that which had befallen him from the Sultán, and at his having
married his daughter by force to one of his servants, the humpbacked groom;
and he said within himself, I will kill this girl if she have suffered the wretch
to caress her. So he advanced to the bride-chamber, and, stopping at the
door, said, O Sitt-el-Hosn! She answered, Well, O my master! — and came
forth to him, walking with a vacillating gait, through joy, and kissed the
ground before him; and her countenance beamed with increased splendour in
consequence of her union with that gazelle. When her father, therefore, saw
her in this state, he exclaimed to her, O thou base creature! art thou delighted
with this groom? On hearing these words of her father, Sitt-el-Hosn smiled,
and replied, By Allah, it is enough that thou hast done, and that the people
laugh at me, and put me on an equality with this groom, who is not, in my
estimation, of the value of a paring of one of my finger-nails; but as to my
husband - by Allah, I never in the course of my life passed a night more
delightful than that which I have just passed in his company: therefore jest
not with me by mentioning that humpback.
When her father heard what she said he was filled with rage; his eyes
glared so that little appeared of them but the white, and he said to her, Wo
to thee! What are these words that thou sayest? Verily the humpbacked
groom hath passed the night with thee! I conjure thee by Allah, she re-
joined, that thou mention him not. May Allah reject him, and reject his
father! Continue not then to mock me by mentioning him; for the groom
was only hired for ten pieces of gold, and he took his hire and departed; and
I came and entered the bride-chamber, and beheld my husband seated, after
the singing-women had displayed me before him; and he threw them red gold
until he had enriched the poor who were present. I have reclined upon the
bosom of my gentle-hearted husband, with the black eyes and the joined eye-
brows. When her father heard this, the light became darkness before his
face, and he exclaimed to her, O thou abandoned one! What is this that thou
sayest? Where is thy reason? O my father, she replied, thou hast broken.
my heart in pieces! Wherefore dost thou pay no attention? This of whom
I spake is my husband, and he hath retired to his private closet.
-
So her father went thither, in a state of astonishment, and, entering the
closet, found the humpback groom with his head upon the slabs and his feet
turned upwards; and the Wezeer was confounded at the sight, and said, Is
not this the humpback? — and he spoke to him; but the humpback returned
no answer, thinking that it was the 'Efreet who addressed him. The Wezeer,
therefore, cried out at him with a loud voice, and said to him, Speak, or I
will cut off thy head with this sword! Upon which the humpback exclaimed,
By Allah, O sheykh of the 'Efreets, from the time that thou placedst me
here I have not raised my head: I conjure thee therefore that thou shew
favour to me! The Wezeer, on hearing the humpback thus address him,
said to him, What sayest thou? I am the father of the bride, and I am not
an 'Efreet. Then said the humpback, My life is not in thy hand, nor art
-
110
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thou able to take my soul; so go thy way before he come to thee who hath
treated me in this manner. Ye would not marry me to any but the mistress
of buffaloes and the mistress of 'Efreets! May Allah, then, confound him
who married me to her and confound him who was the cause of it!
Then did the humpbacked groom address the Wezeer, the father of the
bride, again, saying, Allah confound him who was the cause of this! - Rise,
said the Wezeer, and depart from this place. Am I mad, he replied, that
I should go with thee without the permission of the 'Efreet? For he said to
me, When the sun shall have risen go thy way. Hath the sun then risen
or not? For I cannot depart from my place until the sun hath risen.
Upon this the Wezeer said to him, Who brought thee to this place? He
answered, I came hither yesterday, and a dust rose from the midst of the
water, and cried out, and increased in bulk until it became the size of a
buffalo, and said to me words that entered my ear. Leave me, there-
fore, and go. Allah confound the bride and him who married me to her! —
The Wezeer then approached him, and dragged him forth, and he went
out running, doubting whether the sun had risen, and went up to the
Sultán, and informed him of that which had happened to him with the
'Efreet.
But as to the Wezeer, the father of the bride, he returned with his reason
perplexed respecting the case of his daughter, and said to her, O my daughter,
reveal to me thy story. She replied, The elegant person before whom I was
displayed remained with me; and if thou believe me not, see this is his turban,
twisted just as it was, upon the chair,52 and his drawers are under the bed,
and in them is something wrapped up: I know not what it is. So, when her
father heard this, he entered the bride-chamber, and found the turban of
Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, the son of his brother; and taking it up, he turned it
over, and said, This is such a turban as is worn by Wezeers, except that it is
of the Mósilee 53 kind. He then observed an amulet sewed in his red cloth
cap; and he unsewed it; and he took the drawers, and found the purse con-
taining the thousand pieces of gold, and, opening this, he discovered in it a
paper, which, when he had read it, he saw to be a copy of the Jew's contract,
with the name of Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen the son of Noor-ed-Deen of Cairo;
and he found also the thousand pieces of gold.
-
But when he read the paper he cried aloud and fell down in a swoon;
and as soon as he recovered, and understood the case, he was astonished,
and exclaimed, There is no deity but God, who is able to do whatsoever He
willeth! Then said he, O my daughter, knowest thou who hath become thy
husband? She answered, no. He is the son of my brother, said he, and
the son of thine uncle; and these thousand pieces of gold are thy dowry.
Extolled be the perfection of God! Would that I knew how this event hath
happened! Then he opened the amulet that was sewed up, and found in
it a paper written by the hand of his brother Noor-ed-Deen of Cairo, the
father of Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen: and when he beheld the hand-writing of his
brother he repeated this couplet: -
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
III
I behold their footsteps, and melt with desire, and pour forth my tears upon the places
they have trodden.
Begging of Him who hath afflicted me by their separation, that He will bless me some
day by a reunion.
So saying, he read the paper, and found in it the date of his marriage to the
daughter of the Wezeer of El-Basrah, and that of his first introduction to her,
and a record of his age at the time of his death, and the date of the birth of
his son Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen; and he wondered, and shook with delight; and,
comparing what had happened to his brother with the events that had hap-
pened to himself, he found that they corresponded exactly: his marriage and
the marriage of his brother agreed in date, and their first visits to their respec-
tive wives in like manner; as also the birth of Bedr-ed-Deen, the son of his
brother, and the birth of his daughter Sitt-el-Hosn. He took the two papers,
and, going up with them to the Sultán, he acquainted him with all that had
happened from the first of the case to the last; and the King was astonished,
and ordered that the case should be immediately recorded.
-
The Wezeer then remained in expectation of the son of his brother; but
he met with no tidings of him: so he said, By Allah, I will do a deed that
none hath done before me: and he took an ink-case and a pen, and wrote
an inventory of the furniture of the house, describing the money-chest as
having been in such a place, and a certain curtain in such another place, and
everything in the house in like manner; and he folded up the paper, and
ordered that all the furniture should be stored up; and he took the turban
with its tarboosh, and also the farajeeyeh and the purse, and kept them him-
self.
54
After this, in due time, the daughter of the Wezeer gave birth to a son
like the moon, resembling his father in beauty and symmetry and splendour
and loveliness. They received him from his mother, and blackened the edges
of his eyes with kohl, and delivered him to the nurses, and named him
'Ajeeb.55 His day was as a month; and his month, as a year; 56 and when
seven years had passed over him, his grandfather committed him to a school-
master, whom he charged to educate him with great care. He continued at
the school four years, and used to fight with his schoolfellows, and abuse
them, saying to them, Who among you is like me? I am the son of the
Wezeer of Cairo. So the boys went together to complain to the monitor of
that which they suffered from 'Ajeeb; and the monitor said to them, I will
teach you something to say to him when he cometh, and he shall repent of his
coming to the school; and it is this: to-morrow, when he is come, seat your-
selves round him, and say to one another, By Allah, none shall play with us
at this game excepting him who shall tell us the name of his mother and that
of his father; and he who knoweth not the name of his mother and that of
his father is illegitimate; therefore he shall not play with us.
-
Accordingly, on the following morning they came to the school, and 'Ajeeb
was there; and the boys surrounded him, and said as the monitor had directed
them, and they all agreed to the proposal; and one said, My name is Májid,
112
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and my mother is 'Alawee, and my father is 'Ezz-ed-Deen: - then another
said after the same manner, and another, and so on, until the turn came to
'Ajeeb; and he said to them, My name is 'Ajeeb, and my mother is Sitt-el-
Hosn, and my father is Shems-ed-Deen, the Wezeer of Cairo: - and they
said to him, By Allah, the Wezeer is not thy father. 'Ajeeb replied, the
Wezeer is my father indeed: - and upon this the boys laughed at him, and
clapped their hands at him, saying Thou knowest not who is thy father:
get away from us, therefore; for none shall play with us excepting him who
knoweth the name of his father: - and immediately the boys dispersed from
around him, and made a jest of him. In consequence of this treatment his
heart became contracted, and he was almost choked with crying; and the
monitor said to him, Dost thou really consider as thy father him who is thy
grandfather, the Wezeer, the father of thy mother Sitt-el-Hosn? Thy father
thou knowest not, nor do we know him; for the Sultán married her to the
humpbacked groom, and the Jinn came and prevented him: so, if thou know
not thy father, they will regard thee among them as illegitimate. Dost thou
not see that the son of the woman who is coveted as a wife knoweth his
father? The Wezeer of Cairo is thy grandfather; and as to thy father, we
know him not, nor dost thou: return therefore to thy reason.
Upon this, 'Ajeeb went immediately to his mother, Sitt-el-Hosn, and com-
plained to her, and wept; and his weeping prevented his speaking: and when
his mother heard his complaint and his crying, her heart was inflamed for
him, and she said to him, O my son, what maketh thee weep? Tell me thy
story. So he told her what he had heard from the boys and from the
monitor, and said to her, O my mother, who is my father? She answered
him, Thy father is the Wezeer of Cairo. But he said, He is not my father:
tell me not, therefore, what is false; for the Wezeer is thy father; not mine:
who then is my father? If thou do not tell me truly, I will kill myself with
this dagger. And when his mother heard the mention of his father, she wept
at the allusion to the son of her uncle, and remembering the amiable qualities
of Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen of El-Basrah, and what had happened to herself and
him, she recited an ode commencing thus: ---
They excited love in my heart, and departed; and far distant hath their abode become!
Reason forsook me when they withdrew, and sleep and patience abandoned me.
And she wept and cried out, and her son did the same; and lo, the Wezeer
entered. His heart burned within him when he beheld their state, and he
said to them, What causeth you to weep? She acquainted him therefore
with the treatment that her son had experienced from the other boys of the
school; and he, also, wept, and called to mind what had happened to his
brother and himself and his daughter, and he knew not the mystery of the
case. Then suddenly he arose, and, going up to the council-chamber, pre-
sented himself before the King, and related to him the story, begging his
permission to travel eastwards to the city of El-Basrah, that he might make
inquiries respecting the son of his brother; and requesting also of the Sultán
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
113
that he would write letters for him to all the countries through which he
might pass, that, if he found the son of his brother in any place, he might
take him away. And he wept before the Sultán, and the heart of the King
was moved with compassion for him, and he wrote for him letters to all the
regions and countries; upon which the Wezeer rejoiced, and, having offered
up a prayer for the Sultán, took leave of him.
He descended immediately and prepared for the journey, and, taking with
him all that he required, together with his daughter and her son 'Ajeeb,
travelled the first day and the second and the third, and proceeded until he
arrived at the city of Damascus, and beheld it with its trees and streams
celebrated by the poets. He alighted in the open space called Meydán el-
Hasbà; and, when he had pitched his tents, said to his servants, We will take
rest here two days. So the servants entered the city to gratify their various
desires; one to sell, another to buy, a third to enter the bath, and a fourth
to visit the mosque of the Benee-Umeiyeh, which hath not in the world its
equal. 'Ajeeb also entered the city, accompanied by his eunuch, in order
to amuse themselves; and the eunuch walked behind 'Ajeeb, having in his
hand a whip that would strike down a camel. And when the people of
Damascus beheld 'Ajeeb, and his elegance of form and perfect beauty, and
observed him to be endowed with admirable loveliness, and with kindness of
manner, more bland than the northern zephyr, sweeter than limpid water to
the thirsty, and more pleasant than health to the diseased, they followed him,
running after him in crowds; and some sat waiting in the streets to see him
pass. Thus did they until the slave, as destiny had ordained, stopped before
the shop of 'Ajeeb's father, Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, in which the cook, who had
acknowledged him as his adopted son in the presence of the Kádees and wit-
nesses had established him; and this cook had died, and left him all his
property, together with his shop.57
When the slave stopped there on this day, the servants also stopped with
him: and Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen beheld his son, and was charmed with him,
observing his extreme beauty: his soul yearned towards him with natural
sympathy, and his heart clung to him. He had just prepared a conserve of
pomegranate-grains, sweetened with sugar; and the affection divinely inspired
increased in him; so he called out in ecstasy, and said, O my master, O thou
who hast captivated my heart and soul, and to whom my affections are drawn.
by sympathy! wilt thou come in to me and refresh my heart and eat of my
food? And when he had said this, his eyes overflowed with involuntary
tears, and he reflected upon his past experience and his condition at the pres-
ent time. When 'Ajeeb heard the address of his father, his heart was in
like manner drawn towards him by sympathy, and he looked towards the
eunuch, and said to him, Verily my heart is moved with sympathy for this
cook: he seemeth to have parted with a son: come in with us, therefore, that
we may refresh his heart and eat his offering of hospitality: perhaps God,
through our so doing, may accomplish our union with our father. But the
eunuch replied, By Allah, O my master, it is not proper. How should we,
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
who are of the family of the Wezeer, eat in the shop of a cook? I will,
however, drive away the people from thee, lest they see thee: otherwise
it will be impossible for thee to enter the shop.
-
On hearing the reply of the eunuch, Bedr-ed-Deen was surprised, and,
looking towards him, while his tears flowed down his cheeks, said to him,
Verily my heart loveth him. Let us hear no more of these words, said the
eunuch: and he desired the youth not to enter: but the father of 'Ajeeb
cast his eyes upon the eunuch, and said, Great sir, wherefore wilt thou not
refresh my heart and come in to me? O thou who resemblest black dust,
but whose heart is white! O thou who hast been described in such and
such terms of praise! so that the eunuch laughed, and said, What wouldst
thou say? Speak, and be brief. And Bedr-ed-Deen recited this couplet:
Were it not for his accomplishments and admirable faithfulness, he had not been in-
vested with authority in the abode of Kings.
What an excellent guardian for the hareem is he! On account of his beauty the angels
of heaven wait upon him!
This address pleased the eunuch so much that he took the hand of 'Ajeeb,
and entered the cook's shop; and Bedr-ed-Deen ladled out a saucerful of
conserve of pomegranate-grains prepared with almonds and sugar, and the
slave and the youth ate together; Bedr-ed-Deen saying to them, Ye have
delighted me by your company: eat, and may it benefit you! 'Ajeeb then
said to his father, Sit down and eat with us; and perhaps God will unite us
to him whom we desire. And Bedr-ed-Deen said, O my son, hast thou been
afflicted in thy tender years by the separation of those whom thou lovest? —
Yes, O uncle, answered 'Ajeeb' my heart is inflamed by the absence of one of
those who are dear to me: the friend who hath withdrawn himself from me
is my father, and I and my grandfather have come abroad to search for him
through the world; and how do I sigh for my union with him! And he wept
bitterly; and his father, moved by his tears, wept with him, reflecting upon
his own desolate state, separated from those he loved, deprived of his father,
and far removed from his mother; and the eunuch was moved with com-
passion for him.
They all ate together until they were satisfied; after which, the youth and
the slave arose, and quitted the shop of Bedr-ed-Deen, who felt as if his
soul had departed from his body and gone with them. He could not endure
their absence for the twinkling of an eye; so he shut up his shop and fol-
lowed them, though ignorant that the youth was his son, and walked quickly.
until he came up to them before they had gone out from the great gate;
whereupon the eunuch, looking back at him, said, What dost thou want, O
cook? Bedr-ed-Deen answered, When ye departed from me, I felt as if my
soul had quitted my body, and, having some business in the suburb, I was
desirous of accompanying you to transact my business, and, after that, to
return. But the eunuch was angry, and said to 'Ajeeb, Verily this repast was
unlucky: respectful treatment hath become incumbent on us; and see, he is
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
115
following us from place to place. 'Ajeeb therefore looked round, and, seeing
the cook, was enraged, and his face became red; but he said to the eunuch,
Suffer him to walk in the public road of the Muslims; but when we shall have
turned from it to our tents, if he do the same, and we know that he is follow-
ing us, we will drive him back.
And he hung down his head and went on, with the eunuch behind him.
Bedr-ed-Deen, however, followed them to the Meydán el-Hasbà, and when
they had drawn near to the tents they looked back and saw him behind them;
and 'Ajeeb was angry, fearing that the eunuch might inform his grandfather,
and lest it should be said that he had entered the cook's shop, and that the
cook had followed him. He looked at him till his eyes met the eye of his
father, who had become as a body without a soul; and he fancied that his eye
bore an expression of deceit, and that he was perhaps a knave: so his anger
increased, and he took up a stone, and threw it at his father, and the stone
struck him on the forehead, and wounded him, and he fell down in a swoon,
the blood flowing over his face. 'Ajeeb went on with the eunuch to the tents;
and Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, when he recovered his senses, wiped off the blood,
and, having cut off a piece of linen from his turban, bound up his head with
it, blaming himself, and saying, I wronged the youth when I shut up my
shop and followed him, so he thought I was a deceiver. He then returned to
his shop, and occupied himself with the sale of his meats; and he yearned with
desire for his mother, who was at El-Basrah.
60
The Wezeer, his uncle, remained at Damascus three days, and then de-
parted to Hems, and having entered this town, proceeded thence, inquiring
at every place where he halted in his journey until he had arrived at Márideen
and El-Môsil and Diyár Bekr. He continued his journey until he arrived
at the city of El-Basrah, and when he had entered it and taken up his quar-
ters, he went and presented himself before the Sultán, who received him with
respect and honour, and inquired the reason of his coming: so he acquainted
him with his story, and informed him that the Wezeer 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen
was his brother. The Sultán ejaculated, God have mercy upon him! 58
and said, O Sáheb,59 he was my Wezeer, and I loved him much: he died
twelve years ago, and left a son; but we have lost him, and have heard
no tidings of him: his mother, however, is with us, for she is the daughter
of my old Wezeer. On hearing from the King that the mother of his
nephew was alive, the Wezeer Shems-ed-Deen rejoiced, and said, I am de-
sirous of having an interview with her. And the King gave him immediate
permission to visit her at his brother's house: so he went thither, and kissed
the threshold, and, entering an open court, found a door over-arched with
hard stone inlaid with various kinds of marble of every colour; and he
walked along by the walls of the house, and as he cast his eyes around upon
them he observed the name of his brother Noor-ed-Deen inscribed on them
in characters of gold; and he went to the name, and kissed it, and wept.
He then advanced to the saloon of his brother's wife, the mother of Hasan
Bedr-ed-Deen of El-Basrah.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
During the absence of her son she had given herself up to weeping and
wailing night and day; and after she had long suffered from his separation
she made for her son a tomb of marble in the midst of the saloon, where she
wept for him night and day, sleeping nowhere but by this tomb. And
when Shems-ed-Deen arrived at her apartment he heard her voice apostro-
phizing the tomb; and while she was thus occupied he entered and saluted
her, and informed her that he was her husband's brother; acquainting her
with what had passed, and revealing to her the particulars of the story. He
told her that her son Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen had passed a whole night with his
daughter, and disappeared in the morning, and that his daughter had borne
him a son, whom he had brought with him: and when she heard this news
of her son, and that he was perhaps still living, and beheld her husband's
brother, she fell at his feet and kissed them, addressing him with this
couplet: -
Divinely is he inspired who acquainteth me with their approach; for he hath brought
information most delightful to be heard.
If he would be satisfied with that which is cast off, I would give him a heart rent in
pieces at the hour of valediction.
The Wezeer then sent to bring 'Ajeeb; and when he came, his grandmother
rose to him and embraced him, and wept; but Shems-ed-Deen said to her,
This is not a time for weeping, but rather a time for preparing thyself to
accompany us on our return to the land of Egypt: and perhaps God may
unite us with thy son, my nephew. She replied, I hear and obey: - and,
arising immediately, collected all her property and treasures, and her female
slaves, and forthwith prepared herself; after which the Wezeer, Shems-ed-
Deen, went up again to the Sultán of El-Basrah, and took leave of him;
and the King sent with him presents and rarities for the Sultán of Egypt.
The Wezeer departed without delay, accompanied by his brother's wife,
and continued his journey until he arrived at the city of Damascus, where
he alighted again, and encamped, and said to his attendants, We will re-
main at Damascus a week, to buy, for the Sultán, presents and rarities.
'Ajeeb then said to the eunuch, Boy,62 I long for a little diversion: arise,
therefore, and let us go to the market of Damascus, and see what is going
on there, and what hath happened to that cook whose confection we ate
and whose head we broke, notwithstanding he had treated us with kindness;
we acted ill towards him. The eunuch replied, I hear and obey: -- and
'Ajeeb went forth with him from the tents, the tie of blood inciting him to
visit his father, and they entered the city, and proceeded to the shop of the
cook, whom they found standing there.
It was then near the time of afternoon-prayers; and it happened that he
had again just prepared a confection of pomegranate-grains; and when
they drew near to him, the heart of 'Ajeeb yearned towards him when he
saw him, and he perceived the scar occasioned by the stone that he had
thrown. He said to him, Peace be on thee! Know that my heart is with
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
117
thee. And when Bedr-ed-Deen beheld him, his affections were engrossed
by him, and his heart throbbed with emotion towards him, and he hung
down his head, desiring to adapt his tongue to speech, and unable to do so:
but presently he raised his head, and, looking towards the youth in an
humble and abject manner, recited these verses:
I wished for my beloved; but when I beheld him I was confounded, and possessed neither
tongue nor eye.
I hung down my head in honour and reverence, and would have hidden what I felt; but
it would not be concealed.
I had prepared a volume of expostulation; but when we met I remembered not a word.
―
He then said to them, Refresh ye my heart, and eat of my food; for, by
Allah, as soon as I beheld thee, my heart yearned towards thee, and I had
not followed thee unless I had been deprived of my reason. By Allah, re-
plied 'Ajeeb, thou dost indeed love us, and we ate a morsel with thee; but
after it thou keptest close behind us and wouldst have disgraced us: we will
not eat again with thee, therefore, but on the condition of thy swearing that
thou wilt not follow us; and otherwise we will not come to thee again hence-
forth; for we are staying at this city a week, in order that my grandfather
may procure presents for the King. I bind myself, said Bedr-ed-Deen,
to do as ye desire. So 'Ajeeb entered the shop with the eunuch, and Bedr-
ed-Deen placed before them a saucer filled with the confection of pome
granate-grains; upon which 'Ajeeb said to him; Eat with us; and may God
dispel our affliction: - and Bedr-ed-Deen was delighted, and he ate with
them; but he turned not his eyes from the youth; for his heart and all his
faculties were captivated by him. 'Ajeeb, observing this, said to him,
Knowest thou not that I told thee thou wast a rude doter? Enough of
this: continue not to gaze at my face. Bedr-ed-Deen, therefore, apologized
to him, and began to put morsels into the mouth of 'Ajeeb, and then did
the same to the eunuch.
Afterwards he poured the water upon their hands, and when they had
washed he loosed a napkin of silk from his waist and wiped them with it.
He next sprinkled rose-water upon them from a bottle that was in his shop,
and went out, and returned with two cups of sherbet prepared with rose-
water infused with musk, and, placing these before them, he said, Complete
your kindness. So 'Ajeeb took a cup and drank; and Bedr-ed-Deen handed
the other to the eunuch; and both drank until their stomachs were full,
and gratified their appetites to a degree beyond their usual habit.
They then departed, and hastened back to the tents, and 'Ajeeb went
in to his grandmother, the mother of his father Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen; and
she kissed him, and said, Where hast thou been? He answered, In the
city. And she arose, and brought him a saucer of confection of pomegranate-
grains, which happened to be somewhat deficient in sweetness; and she said
to the eunuch, Sit down with thy master. The eunuch said within him-
self, By Allah, we have no appetite. He, however, seated himself, and
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
'Ajeeb did the same, though satiated with what he had eaten and drunk,
and dipped a morsel of bread in the confection, and ate it; but it seemed
to him insipid, on account of his being thus cloyed, and he loathed it, and
said, What is this nasty dish? - O my child, said his grandmother, dost thou
find fault with my cookery? It was I who prepared it; and, except thy
father, Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen, there is none who can cook it as well as myself.
- By Allah, O my mistress, replied 'Ajeeb, This thy dish is not well pre-
pared: we have just now seen in the city a cook who had prepared a con-
fection of pomegranate-grains, but its odour was such as to dilate the heart,
and the confection itself, such as to excite appetite in one already satiated:
as to thine, in comparison with his, it is good for nothing.
His grandmother, on hearing this, fell into a violent rage, and turning
towards the eunuch, said to him, Wo to thee! Hast thou corrupted my
child? Thou hast taken him into the shops of the cooks! The eunuch
feared, and denied, saying, We did not enter the shop, but only passed by
it: - but 'Ajeeb said, By Allah, we entered and ate, and what we ate was
better than this mess of thine. And upon this his grandmother arose, and
informed her husband's brother, and incensed him against the eunuch. The
slave was therefore brought before the Wezeer, and he said to him, Where-
fore didst thou take my child into the cook's shop? The eunuch, fearing,
said again, We did not enter. - Nay, said 'Ajeeb, we did enter, and ate of
a confection of pomegranate-grains until we were satiated, and the cook
gave us to drink sherbet with ice and sugar. The Wezeer's anger with the
eunuch now increased, and he asked him again; but still he denied.
Then said the Wezeer, If this assertion be true, sit down and eat before
us. The eunuch therefore advanced, and would have eaten; but he could
not; and he threw down the morsel that was in his hand, and said, O my
master, I am satiated since yesterday. And by this the Wezeer knew that
he had eaten in the shop of the cook: so he ordered the female slaves to
throw him down upon the ground, and they did so, and he gave him a severe
beating, while the slave cried for mercy, but still saying, I am satiated
since yesterday! The Wezeer then interrupted the beating, and said to
him, Declare the truth. And at length the eunuch said, Know that we did
enter the shop of the cook while he was cooking pomegranate-grains, and he
ladled out for us some of the confection, and, by Allah, I never in my life
ate any like it, or any more detestable than this which is before us.
The mother of Bedr-ed-Deen, enraged at this, said, Thou shalt go to this
cook, and bring us a saucerful of his confection and shew it to thy master,
that he may say which of the two is the better and the more delicious.
Well, replied the eunuch: and immediately she gave him a saucer, and half
a piece of gold; and he went to the shop, and said to the cook, We have
laid a wager respecting thy confection at the tent of our master; for there
is a mess of pomegranate-grains cooked by the family: give us, therefore,
for this half-piece of gold, and apply thyself to prepare it perfectly; for
we have received an excruciating beating on account of thy cookery. Laugh-
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
119
ing at these words, Bedr-ed-Deen replied, By Allah, none excelleth in the
preparation of this confection except myself and my mother, and she is now
in a distant country.
And he ladled out as much as filled the saucer, and
perfected it by the addition of some musk and rose-water. The eunuch
then hastened back with it to the family; and the mother of Hasan took it,
and, tasting its delicious flavour, immediately knew who had prepared it,
and shrieked, and fell down in a swoon. The Wezeer was amazed at the
event; and they sprinkled some rose-water upon her, and when she recov-
ered she said, If my son be yet in the world, no one but he cooked this
confection: he is my son Hasan Bedr-ed-Deen without doubt: for none but
he can prepare this, except myself, and it was I who taught him to do it.
When the Wezeer heard these words, he rejoiced exceedingly, and ex-
claimed, Oh, how I long to behold my brother's son! Will fortune, indeed,
unite us with him? But I look not for our union from any but God, whose
name be exalted! - And he instantly arose, and called out to his male at-
tendants, saying, Let twenty men of you go to the shop of the cook, and
demolish it, and bind his hands behind him with his turban, and drag him
hither by force, but without any injury to his person. They replied, Well.
The Wezeer then rode immediately to the palace, and, presenting himself
before the Viceroy of Damascus, shewed him the contents of the letters.
which he had brought from the Sultán; and the Viceroy, after kissing them,
put them to his head, and said, Who is thine offender? He answered, A
man who is by trade a cook. And instantly the Viceroy ordered his Cham-
berlains to repair to his shop; and they went thither; but found it demol-
ished, and everything that had been in it broken; for when the Wezeer went
to the palace, his servants did as he had commanded them. They were then
waiting his return from the palace; and Bedr-ed-Deen was saying within
himself, What can they have discovered in the confection, that such an event
as this should have befallen me?
And when the Wezeer returned from the Viceroy, and had received his
permission to take his offender and to depart with him, he entered the en-
campment, and called for the cook. They brought him, therefore, with his
hands bound behind him with his turban; and when he saw his uncle he
wept bitterly, and said, O my master, what crime have ye found in me?
The Wezeer said to him, Art thou he who cooked the confection of pome-
granate-grains? He answered, Yes: and have ye found in it anything that
requires one's head to be struck off? This, replied the Wezeer, is the small-
est part of thy recompense.-Wilt thou not, said Bedr-ed-Deen, acquaint
me with my crime? The Wezeer answered, Yea, immediately. And forth-
with he called out to the young men, saying, Bring the camels!
They then took Bedr-ed-Deen, and put him in a chest, and, having
locked him up in it, commenced their journey, and continued on their way
till the approach of night, when they halted and ate, and, taking out Bedr-
ed-Deen, fed him; after which they put him again into the chest, and in
like manner proceeded to another station. Here also they took him out;
120
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
64
and the Wezeer said to him, Art thou he who cooked the confection of pome-
granate-grains? He answered, Yes, O my master. And the Wezeer said,
Shackle his feet. And they did so, and restored him to the chest. They
then continued their journey to Cairo; and when they arrived at the quarter
called Er-Reydáneeyeh 6 the Wezeer commanded to take out Bedr-ed-Deen
again from the chest, and to bring him a carpenter, to whom he said, Make,
for this man, a cross. What, said Bedr-ed-Deen, dost thou mean to do
with it? The Wezeer answered, I will crucify thee upon it, and nail thee
to it, and then parade thee about the city. Wherefore, demanded Bedr-
ed-Deen, wilt thou treat me thus? - The Wezeer replied, For thy faulty
preparation of the confection of pomegranate-grains, because thou madest it
deficient in pepper. Because of its deficiency in pepper, exclaimed Bedr-
ed-Deen, wilt thou do all this to me? Art thou not satisfied with having
thus imprisoned me, and fed me every day with only one meal? — The
Wezeer answered, For its deficiency in pepper, thy recompense shall be
nothing less than death.
-
And Bedr-ed-Deen was amazed, and bewailed his lot, and remained a
while absorbed in reflection. The Wezeer, therefore, said to him, Of what
art thou thinking? He answered, Of imbecile minds, such as thine; for
if thou wert a man of sense thou wouldst not have treated me in this manner
on account of the deficiency of pepper. It is incumbent on us, replied
the Wezeer, to punish thee, that thou mayest not do the like again: - to
which Bedr-ed-Deen rejoined, The least of the things thou hast done to
me were a sufficient punishment. The Wezeer, however, said, Thy death
is unavoidable. All this conversation took place while the carpenter was
preparing the cross; and Bedr-ed-Deen was looking on.
Thus they both continued until the approach of night, when Bedr-ed-
Deen's uncle took him and put him again into the chest, saying, To-morrow
shall be thy crucifixion. He then waited until he perceived that he was
asleep; upon which he remounted, and, with the chest borne before him,
entered the city, and repaired to his house: and when he had arrived there
he said to his daughter Sitt-el-Hosn, Praise be to God who hath restored to
thee the son of thine uncle! Arise, and furnish the house as it was on the
night of the bridal display. She therefore ordered her female slaves to do
so; and they arose, and lighted the candles; and the Wezeer brought out the
paper upon which he had written his inventory of the furniture of the house,
and read it, and ordered them to put every thing in its place, so that the
beholder would not doubt that this was the very night of the bridal display.
He directed them to put Bedr-ed-Deen's turban in the place where its owner
had deposited it, and in like manner the trousers, and the purse which was
beneath the mattress, and ordered his daughter to adorn herself as she was
on the bridal night, and to enter the bride-chamber; saying to her, When
the son of thine uncle comes into thy chamber, say to him, Thou hast loitered
since thou withdrewest from me this night: and request him to return
and converse with thee till day. Having thus arranged everything, the
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
121
Wezeer took out Bedr-ed-Deen from the chest, removed the shackles from
his feet, and stripped him of his outer clothes, leaving him in his shirt.
All this was done while he was asleep, unconscious of what was passing;
and when he awoke, and found himself in an illuminated vestibule, he said,
within himself, Am I bewildered by dreams, or am I awake? Then rising,
he advanced a little way to an inner door, and looked, and lo, he was in the
house in which the bride had been displayed, and he beheld the bride-cham-
ber and the couch and his turban and clothes. Confounded at the sight of
these things, he took one step forwards and another backwards, thinking,
Am I asleep or awake? And he began to wipe his forehead, and exclaimed
in his astonishment, By Allah, this is the dwelling of the bride who was
here displayed before me: and yet I was just now in a chest. And while
he was addressing himself, behold Sitt-el-Hosn lifted up the corner of the
musquito curtain, and said, O my master, wilt thou not come in? for thou
hast loitered since thou withdrewest from me this night.
When he heard these words he looked at her face, and laughed, and said,
Verily, these appearances are bewildering illusions of a dream! Then
entering, he sighed; and as he reflected upon what had happened to him,
he was perplexed at his situation, and his case seemed involved in obscurity.
Looking at his turban and trousers, and the purse containing the thousand
pieces of gold, he exclaimed, Allah is all-knowing! - but it seemeth to me
that I am bewildered by dreams! And he was confounded in the excess of
his astonishment. Upon this, therefore, Sitt-el-Hosn said to him, Where-
fore do I behold thee thus astonished and perplexed? Thou wast not so
in the commencement of the night. — And he laughed, and asked her, How
many years have I been absent from thee? Allah preserve thee! she ex-
claimed. The name of Allah encompass thee! 65 Thou hast only withdrawn
mind? - On hearing this
-
to yonder apartment. What hath passed in thy
he smiled, and replied, Thou hast spoken truth; but when I withdrew from
thee, sleep overcame me, and I dreamt that I was a cook in Damascus, and
that I lived there twelve years; 66 and I thought that a youth of the sons
of the great came to me, accompanied by a eunuch- and he proceeded to
relate what had happened to him in consequence of this youth's visit: then
drawing his hand over his forehead, he felt the scar occasioned by the blow,
and exclaimed, By Allah, O my mistress, it seemeth as though it were true;
for he struck me with a stone upon my forehead, and cut it open: it seemeth,
therefore, as though this had really happened when I was awake: but prob-
ably this dream occurred when we were both asleep. I imagined in my
dream that I was transported to Damascus, without tarboosh or turban
or trousers, and that I followed the occupation of a cook. And again, for
a while, he remained utterly confounded. He then said, By Allah, I
imagined that I made a confection of pomegranate-grains containing but
little pepper. Verily I must have been asleep, and in my sleep have seen
all this. I conjure thee by Allah, said Sitt-el-Hosn, tell me what more
thou sawest?
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And he related to her the whole; and added, If I had not awaked, they
would have crucified me upon a wooden cross. -On account of what? said
she. He answered, On account of the deficiency of pepper in the confec-
tion of pomegranate-grains; and I imagined that they demolished my shop,
and broke all my vessels, and put me in a chest, and brought the carpenter
to make a cross of wood; for they intended to crucify me upon it. Praise
be to God, therefore, who caused all this to occur to me in sleep, and caused
it not to happen to me when I was awake! Sitt-el-Hosn, laughing at
his words, pressed him to her bosom, and he in like manner embraced her.
Then, reflecting again, he said, By Allah, it seems as if it had happened when
I was awake; and I knew not the reason, nor the truth of the case.
And he composed himself to sleep, perplexed with his case, and some-
times saying, I saw it in my sleep, and other times, I experienced it
awake.
-
Thus he continued until the morning, when his uncle, the Wezeer Shems-
ed-Deen, came in to him, and saluted him; and Bedr-ed-Deen, as soon as
he beheld him, exclaimed, I conjure thee by Allah, tell me art not thou he
who gave orders to bind my hands behind me, and to nail up my shop, on
account of the confection of pomegranate-grains, because it was deficient
in pepper? The Wezeer answered, Know, O my son, that the truth hath
appeared, and what was hidden hath been manifested. Thou art the son
of my brother; and I did not this but to know if thou wert he who visited
my daughter on that night. I was not convinced of this until I saw that
thou knewest the house, and thy turban and trousers and gold, and the two
papers; namely, the one which thou wrotest, and that which thy father, my
brother, wrote: for I had never seen thee before, and therefore knew thee
not; and as to thy mother, I have brought her with me from El-Basrah.
-Having thus said, he threw himself upon him, and wept; and Bedr-ed-
Deen, full of astonishment at his uncle's words, embraced him, and in like
manner wept from excess of joy. The Wezeer then said to him, O my son,
the cause of all this was what passed between me and thy father. And he
related to him the circumstances of their case, and the cause of his father's
departure to El-Basrah; after which he sent for 'Ajeeb; and when the
father of the youth saw him, he exclaimed, This is he who threw the stone
at me. This, said the Wezeer, is thy son. And Bedr-ed-Deen cast him-
self upon him, and recited the following verses:
Long have I wept on account of our disunion; the tears overflowing from my eyelids;
And I vowed that if Providence should bring us together, I would never again mention
our separation.
Joy hath overcome me to such a degree that by its excess it hath made me weep.
O eye, thou hast become so accustomed to tears that thou weepest from happiness as
from grief."
And when he had uttered these words, his mother, beholding him, threw
herself upon him, and repeated this couplet: -
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES
123
Fortune made a vow to torment me incessantly; but thine oath hath proved false, O
Fortune; therefore expiate it.as
Happiness hath arrived, and the beloved is come to my relief: repair then to the mes-
senger of festivity, and hasten.
She afterwards related to him everything that had happened to her; and he
also acquainted her with all that he had suffered; and they offered up
thanks to God for their union. The Wezeer then went up to the Sultán, and
informed him of these occurrences; and the King was astonished, and or-
dered that a statement of them should be inserted in the records, to be pre-
served to future ages. And the Wezeer resided with his brother's son, and
his own daughter and her son, and with the wife of his brother; and all of
them passed their lives in the enjoyment of the utmost happiness until they
were visited by the terminator of delights, and the separator of com-
panions.69
Conclusion of the Story of the Three Apples
Such, O Prince of the Faithful, said Jaafar, were the events that happened
to the Wezeer Shems-ed-Deen and his brother Noor-ed-Deen. By Allah,
exclaimed the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed, this story is wonderful! And
he gave one of his own concubines to the young man who had killed his wife,
and appointed him a regular maintenance; and the young man became one
of his companions at the table.
TH
V
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK AND THOSE
ACCUSED OF HIS DEATH
HERE was, in ancient times, in the City of El-Basrah,¹ a tailor who
enjoyed an ample income, and was fond of sport and merriment. He
was in the habit of going out occasionally with his wife, that they might
amuse themselves with strange and diverting scenes; and one day they went
forth in the afternoon,2 and, returning home in the evening, met a hump-
backed man, whose aspect was such as to excite laughter in the angry, and
to dispel anxiety and grief: so they approached him to enjoy the pleasure
of gazing at him, and invited him to return with them to their house, and to
join with them in a carousal that night.
He assented to their proposal; and after he had gone with them to the
house, the tailor went out to the market; night having then approached. He
bought some dried fish, and bread and limes and sweetmeat, and, returning
with them, placed the fish before the humpback; and they sat down to eat;
and the tailor's wife took a large piece of fish, and crammed the humpback
with it, and, closing his mouth with her hand, said, By Allah, thou shalt
not swallow it but by gulping it at once, and I will not give thee time to
chew it. He therefore swallowed it; but it contained a large and sharp bone,
which stuck across in his throat, his destiny having so determined, and he
expired. The tailor exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God,
the High, the Great! Alas, that this poor creature should not have died
but in this manner by our hands! - Wherefore this idling? exclaimed the
And what can I do? asked her husband. — Arise, she answered,
and take him in thy bosom, and cover him with a silk napkin: I will go out
first, and do thou follow me, this very night, and say, This is my son, and
this is his mother; and we are going to convey him to the physician, that he
may give him some medicine.
woman.
--
No sooner had the tailor heard these words than he arose, and took the
humpback in his bosom. His wife, accompanying him, exclaimed, O my
child! may Allah preserve thee! Where is the part in which thou feelest
pain; and where hath this smallpox attacked thee? So every one who
saw them said, They are conveying a child smitten with the smallpox. Thus
they proceeded, inquiring as they went, for the abode of the physician; and
the people directed them to the house of a physician who was a Jew; and
they knocked at the door, and there came down to them a black slave-girl,
who opened the door, and beheld a man carrying (as she imagined) a child,
124
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
125
and attended by its mother; and she said, What is your business? - We
have a child here, answered the tailor's wife, and we want the physician
to see him: take, then, this quarter of a piece of gold and give it
to thy master, and let him come down and see my son; for he is ill.
The girl, therefore, went up, and the tailor's wife, entering the vestibule.
said to her husband, Leave the humpback here, and let us take ourselves
away. And the tailor, accordingly, set him up against the wall, and went
out with his wife.
3
-
The slave-girl, meanwhile, went in to the Jew, and said to him, Below, in
the house, is a sick person, with a woman and a man: and they have given
me a quarter of a piece of gold for thee, that thou mayest prescribe for
them what may suit his case. And when the Jew saw the quarter of a piece
of gold, he rejoiced, and, rising in haste, went down in the dark; and in
doing so, his foot struck against the lifeless humpback. O Ezra! he ex-
claimed-O Heavens and the Ten Commandments! O Aaron, and Joshua
son of Nun! It seemeth that I have stumbled against this sick person, and
he hath fallen down the stairs and died! And how shall I go forth with
one killed from my house? O Ezra's ass! ³- He then raised him, and took
him up from the court of the house to his wife, and acquainted her with the
accident. And why sittest thou here idle? said she; for if thou remain
thus until daybreak our lives will be lost: let me and thee, then, take him
up to the terrace, and throw him into the house of our neighbour the Mus-
lim; for he is the steward of the Sultán's kitchen, and often do the cats come
to his house, and eat of the food which they find there; as do the mice too:
and if he remain there for a night, the dogs will come down to him from
the terraces and eat him up entirely. So the Jew and his wife went up,
carrying the humpback, and let him down by his hands and feet to the
pavement; placing him against the wall; which having done, they descended.
Not long had the humpback been thus deposited when the steward re-
turned to his house, and opened the door, and going up with a lighted candle
in his hand, found a son of Adam standing in the corner next the kitchen;
upon which he exclaimed, What is this? By Allah, the thief that hath stolen
our goods is none other than a son of Adam, who taketh what he findeth of
flesh or grease, even though I keep it concealed from the cats and dogs;
and if I killed all the cats and dogs of the quarter it would be of no use;
for he cometh down from the terraces! And so saying, he took up a great
mallet, and struck him with it, and then, drawing close to him, gave him
a second blow with it upon the chest, when the humpback fell down, and
he found that he was dead; whereupon he grieved, and said, There is no
strength nor power but in God! And he feared for himself, and exclaimed,
Curse upon the grease and the flesh, and upon this night, in which the
destiny of this man hath been accomplished by my hand! Then, looking
upon him, and perceiving that he was a humpback, he said, Is it not enough
that thou art humpbacked, but must thou also be a robber, and steal the
flesh and the grease? O Protector, cover me with thy gracious shelter! -
126
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And he lifted him upon his shoulders, and descended, and went forth from
his house, towards the close of the night, and stopped not until he had con-
veyed him to the commencement of the market-street, where he placed him
upon his feet by the side of a shop at the entrance of a lane, and there left
him and retired.
6
Soon after, there came a Christian, the Sultán's broker, who, in a state
of intoxication, had come forth to visit the bath; and he advanced, stagger-
ing, until he drew near to the humpback, when he turned his eyes, and be-
held one standing by him. Now some persons had snatched off his turban
early in the night, and when he saw the humpback standing there, he
concluded that he intended to do the same; so he clenched his fist, and
struck him on the neck. Down fell the humpback upon the ground,
and the Christian called out to the watchman of the market, while,
still in the excess of his intoxication, he continued beating the hump-
back, and attempting to throttle him. As he was thus employed, the
watchman came, and, finding the Christian kneeling upon the Muslim 8
and beating him, said, Arise, and quit him! He arose, therefore, and
the watchman, approaching the humpback, saw that he was dead, and
exclaimed, How is it that the Christian dareth to kill the Muslim? Then
seizing the Christian, he bound his hands behind him, and took him to
the house of the Wálee; the Christian saying within himself, O Heavens!
O Virgin! how have I killed this man? and how quickly did he die
from a blow of the hand! Intoxication had departed, and reflection had
come.
9
The humpback and the Christian passed the remainder of the night in
the house of the Wálee, and the Wálee ordered the executioner to proclaim
the Christian's crime, and he set up a gallows, and stationed him beneath it.
The executioner then came, and threw the rope round his neck, and was
about to hang him, when the Sultán's steward pushed through the crowd,
seeing the Christian standing beneath the gallows, and the people made way
for him, and he said to the executioner, Do it not; for it was I who killed
him. Wherefore didst thou kill him? said the Wálee. He answered, I
went into my house last night, and saw that he had descended from the
terrace and stolen my goods; so I struck him with a mallet upon his chest,
and he died, and I carried him out, and conveyed him to the market-street,
where I set him up in such a place, at the entrance of such a lane. Is it
not enough for me to have killed a Muslim, that a Christian should be
killed on my account? Hang, then, none but me. The Walee, there-
fore, when he heard these words, liberated the Christian broker, and said
to the executioner, Hang this man, on the ground of his confession. And
he took off the rope from the neck of the Christian, and put it around the
neck of the steward, and, having stationed him beneath the gallows, was
about to hang him, when the Jewish physician pushed through the crowd, and
called out to the executioner, saying to him, Do it not: for none killed him
but I; and the case was this: he came to my house to be cured of a disease,
-
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
127
and as I descended to him I struck against him with my foot, and he died:
kill not the steward, therefore; but kill me.
So the Walee gave orders to hang the Jewish physician; and the execu-
tioner took off the rope from the steward's neck, and put it round the neck
of the Jew. But, lo, the tailor came, and, forcing his way among the
people, said to the executioner, Do it not; for none killed him but I; and
it happened thus: I was out amusing myself during the day, and as I was
returning at the commencement of the night, I met this humpback in a state
of intoxication, with a tambourine, and singing merrily; and I stopped to
divert myself by looking at him, and took him to my house. I then bought
some fish, and we sat down to eat, and my wife took a piece of fish and a
morsel of bread, and crammed them into his mouth, and he was choked,
and instantly died. Then I and my wife took him to the house of the Jew,
and the girl came down and opened the door, and while she went up to her
master, I set up the humpback by the stairs, and went away with my wife:
so, when the Jew came down and stumbled against him, he thought that he
had killed him. And he said to the Jew, Is this true? He answered, Yes.
The tailor, then, looking towards the Wálee, said to him, Liberate the Jew,
and hang me. And when the Wálee heard this he was astonished at the
case of the humpback, and said, Verily this is an event that should be re-
corded in books! And he said to the executioner, Liberate the Jew, and
hang the tailor on account of his own confession. So the executioner led
him forward, saying, Dost thou put forward this and take back that; and
shall we not hang one? And he put the rope round the neck of the tailor.
Now the humpback was the Sultán's buffoon, and the Sultán could not
bear him to be out of his sight; and when the humpback had got drunk,
and been absent that night and the next day until noon, the King inquired
respecting him of some of his attendants, and they answered him, O our
lord, the Wálee hath taken him forth dead, and gave orders to hang the
person who killed him, and there came a second and a third person, each
saying, None killed him but I: and describing to the Wálee the cause of
his killing him. When the King, therefore, heard this, he called out to the
Chamberlain, and said to him, Go down to the Wálee, and bring them all
hither before me. So the Chamberlain went down, and found that the
executioner had almost put to death the tailor, and he called out to him,
saying, Do it not: - and informed the Wálee that the case had been re-
ported to the King. And he took him, and the humpback borne with him,
and the tailor and the Jew and the Christian and the steward, and went
up with them all to the King; and when the Wálee came into the presence
of the King, he kissed the ground, and related to him all that had happened.
And the King was astonished, and was moved with merriment, at hearing
this tale; and he commanded that it should be written in letters of gold.
He then said to those who were present, Have ye ever heard anything like
the story of this humpback? And upon this the Christian advanced, and
said, O King of the age, if thou permit me I will relate to thee an event that
128
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hath occurred to me more wonderful and strange and exciting than the story
of the humpback. Tell us then thy story, said the King. And the Christ-
ian related as follows:
—
THE CHRISTIAN BROKER'S STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WHOSE HANDS
WERE CUT OFF
Know, O King of the age, that I came to this country with merchandise,
and destiny stayed me among your people. I was born in Cairo, and am
one of its Copts, and there I was brought up. My father was a broker;
and when I had attained to manhood, he died, and I succeeded to his busi-
ness; and as I was sitting one day, lo, a young man of most handsome aspect,
and clad in a dress of the richest description, came to me, riding upon an
ass, and, when he saw me, saluted me; whereupon I rose to him, to pay him
honour, and he produced a handkerchief containing some sesame, and said,
What is the value of an ardebb 10 of this? I answered him. A hundred
pieces of silver. And he said to me, Take the carriers and the measurers,
and repair to the Khán of El-Jáwalee 11 in the district of Báb en-Nasr: 12
there wilt thou find me. And he left me and went his way, after having
given me the handkerchief with the sample of the sesame. So I went about
to the purchasers; and the prices of each ardebb amounted to a hundred and
twenty pieces of silver; and I took with me four carriers, and went to him.
I found him waiting my arrival; and when he saw me he rose and opened
a magazine, and we measured its contents, and the whole amounted to fifty
ardebbs.
The young man then said, Thou shalt have, for every ardebb, ten pieces
of silver as brokerage; and do thou receive the price and keep it in thy care:
the whole sum will be five thousand; and thy share of it, five hundred: so
there will remain for me four thousand and five hundred; and when I shall
have finished the sale of the goods contained in my store-rooms, I will
come to thee and receive it. I replied, It shall be as thou desirest. And I
kissed his hand, and left him. Thus there accrued to me, on that day, a
thousand pieces of silver, besides my brokerage.13
He was absent from me a month, at the expiration of which he came
and said to me, Where is the money? I answered, Here it is ready. And
he said, Keep it until I come to thee to receive it. And I remained expect-
ing him; but he was absent from me another month; after which he came
again, and said, Where is the money? Whereupon I arose and saluted him,
and said to him, Wilt thou eat something with us? He, however, declined,
and said, Keep the money until I shall have gone and returned to receive it
from thee. He then departed; and I arose, and prepared for him the money,
and sat expecting him; but again he absented himself from me for a month,
and then came and said, After this day I will receive it from thee. And
he departed, and I made ready the money for him as before, and sat waiting
his return.
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
129
Again, however, he remained a month absent from me, and I said within
myself, Verily this young man is endowed with consummate liberality!
After the month he came, attired in rich clothing, and resembling the full
moon, appearing as if he had just come out of the bath, with red cheek
and fair forehead and a mole like a globule of ambergris. When I beheld
him I kissed his hand, and invoked a blessing upon him, and said to him,
O my master, wilt thou not take thy money? - Have patience with me, he
answered, until I shall have transacted all my affairs, after which I will re-
ceive it from thee. And so saying, he departed; and I said within myself,
By Allah, when he cometh I will entertain him as a guest, on account of
the profit which I have derived from his money; for great wealth hath ac-
crued to me from it.
At the close of the year he returned, clad in a dress richer than the
former; and I swore to him that he should alight to be my guest. — On
the condition, he replied, that thou expend nothing of my money that is in
thy possession. I said, Well:- and, having seated him, prepared what
was requisite of meats and drinks and other provisions, and placed them
before him, saying, In the name of Allah! And he drew near to the table,
and put forth his left hand, and thus ate with me: so I was surprised at
him; 14 and when we had finished he washed his hand, and I gave him a
napkin with which to wipe it. We then sat down to converse, and I said,
O my master, dispel a trouble from my mind. Wherefore didst thou eat
with thy left hand? Probably something paineth thee in thy right hand?
-On hearing these words, he stretched forth his arm from his sleeve,15 and
behold, it was maimed an arm without a hand! And I wondered at this;
but he said to me, Wonder not; nor say in thy heart that I ate with thee
with my left hand from a motive of self-conceit; for rather to be wondered
at is the cause of the cutting off of my right hand. And what, said I, was
the cause of it? He answered thus:
--
Know that I am from Baghdád: my father was one of the chief people
of that city; and when I had attained the age of manhood, I heard the
wanderers and travellers and merchants conversing respecting the land of
Egypt, and their words remained in my heart until my father died, when
I took large sums of money, and prepared merchandise consisting of the
stuffs of Baghdad and of El-Môsil, and similar precious goods, and, having
packed them up, journeyed from Baghdád; and God decreed me safety until
I entered this your city. And so saying, he wept, and repeated these
verses:
The blear-eyed escapeth a pit into which the clear-sighted falleth;
And the ignorant, an expression by which the shrewd sage is ruined.
The believer can scarce earn his food, while the impious infidel is favoured.
What art or act can a man devise? It is what the Almighty appointeth!
I entered Cairo, continued the young man, and deposited the stuffs in
the Khan of Mesroor,16 and, having unbound my packages and put them
130
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
17
in the magazines, gave to the servant some money to buy for us something
to eat, after which I slept a little; and when I arose, I went to Beyn el-
Kasreyn. I then returned, and passed the night; and in the morning
following, I opened a bale of stuff, and said within myself, I will arise and
go through some of the market-streets, and see the state of the mart. So I
took some stuff, and made some of my servants carry it, and proceeded until
I arrived at the Keysáreeyeh of Jahárkas,18 where the brokers came to me,
having heard of my arrival, and took from me the stuff, and cried it about
for sale; but the price bidden amounted not to the prime cost. And upon
this the Sheykh of the brokers said to me, O my master, I know a plan by
which thou mayest profit; and it is this: that thou do as other merchants,
and sell thy merchandise upon credit for a certain period, employing a
scrivener and a witness and a money-changer, and receive a portion of the
profits every Thursday and Monday; so shalt thou make of every piece of
silver two; and besides that, thou wilt be able to enjoy the amusements
afforded by Egypt and its Nile. The advice is judicious, I replied: and
accordingly I took the brokers with me to the Khán, and they conveyed the
stuffs to the Keysáreeyeh, where I sold it to the merchants, writing a bond
in their names, which I committed to the money-changer, and taking from
him a corresponding bond. I then returned to the Khán, and remained
there some days; and every day I took for my breakfast a cup of wine, and
had mutton and sweetmeats prepared for me, until the month in which I
became entitled to the receipt of the profits, when I seated myself every
Thursday and Monday at the shops of the merchants, and the money-
changer went with the scrivener and brought me the money.
Thus did I until one day I went to the bath and returned to the Khán,
and, entering my lodging, took for my breakfast a cup of wine, and then
slept; and when I awoke I ate a fowl,¹º and perfumed myself with essence,
and repaired to the shop of a merchant named Bedr-ed-Deen the Gardener,20
who, when he saw me, welcomed me, and conversed with me a while in his
shop; and as we were thus engaged, lo, a female came and seated herself by
my side. She wore a headkerchief inclined on one side, and the odours of
sweet perfumes were diffused from her, and she captivated my reason by
her beauty and loveliness as she raised her izár and I beheld her black eyes.
She saluted Bedr-ed-Deen, and he returned her salutation, and stood con-
versing with her; and when I heard her speech, love for her took entire pos-
session of my heart. She then said to Bedr-ed-Deen, Hast thou a piece of
stuff woven with pure gold thread? And he produced to her a piece; and
she said, May I take it and go, and then send thee the price? But he
answered, It is impossible, O my mistress; for this is the owner of the stuff,
and I owe him a portion of the profit. Wo to thee! said she: it is my cus-
tom to take of thee each piece of stuff for a considerable sum of money,
ing thee a gain beyond thy wish, and then to send thee the price. — Yes, he
rejoined; but I am in absolute want of the price this day. And upon this
she took the piece and threw it back to him upon his breast, saying, Verily
giv-
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
131
your class knows not how to respect any person's rank! And she arose,
and turned away.
I felt then as if my soul went with her, and, rising upon my feet, I said
to her, O my mistress, kindly bestow a look upon me, and retrace thine
honoured steps. And she returned, and smiled and said, For thy sake I
return. And she sat opposite me upon the seat of the shop; and I said to
Bedr-ed-Deen, What is the price that thou hast agreed to give for this piece?
He answered, Eleven hundred pieces of silver. And I said to him, Thy
profit shall be a hundred pieces of silver: give me then a paper, and I will
write for thee the price upon it. I then took the piece of stuff from him,
and wrote the paper with my own hand, and gave the piece of stuff to the
lady, saying to her, take it and go; if thou wilt, bring the price to me in
the market; or, if thou wilt, it shall be my present to thee. She replied,
God recompense thee, and bless thee with my property, and make thee my
husband; and may God accept this prayer! O my mistress, said I, let
this piece of stuff be thine, and another like it, and permit me to see thy
face.
And upon this she raised her veil; and when I beheld her face, the sight
drew from me a thousand sighs, and my heart was entangled by her love, 1
so that I no longer remained master of my reason) She then lowered the
veil again, and took the piece of stuff, saying, O my master, leave me not
desolate. So she departed, while I continued sitting in the market-street
until past the hour of afternoon-prayer, with wandering mind, overpowered
by love. In the excess of my passion, before I rose I asked the merchant
respecting her; and he answered me, She is a rich lady, the daughter of a
deceased Emeer, who left her great property.
I then took leave of him, and returned to the Khán, and the supper was
placed before me; but, reflecting upon her, I could eat nothing. I laid
myself down to rest; but sleep came not to me, and I remained awake until
the morning, when I arose and put on a suit of clothing different from that
which I had worn the day before; and, having drunk a cup of wine, and
eaten a few morsels as my breakfast, repaired again to the shop of the mer-
chant, and saluted him, and sat down with him. The lady soon came,
wearing a dress more rich than the former, and attended by a slave-girl;
and she seated herself, and saluted me instead of Bedr-ed-Deen, and said,
with an eloquent tongue which I had never heard surpassed in softness or
sweetness, Send with me some one to receive the twelve hundred pieces of
silver, the price of the piece of stuff. - Wherefore, said I, this haste? She
replied, May we never lose thee! And she handed to me the price; and I
sat conversing with her, and made a sign to her, which she understood, inti-
mating my wish to visit her: whereupon she rose in haste, expressing dis-
pleasure at my hint.
My heart clung to her, and I followed in the direction of her steps
through the market-street; and lo, a slave-girl came to me, and said, O my
master, answer the summons of my mistress. Wondering at this, I said,
1
132
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
No one here knoweth me. How soon, she rejoined, hast thou forgotten
her! My mistress is she who was to-day at the shop of the merchant Bedr-
ed-Deen. So I went with her until we arrived at the money-changer's; 21
and when her mistress, who was there, beheld me, she drew me to her side,
and said, O my beloved, thou has wounded my heart, and love of thee hath
taken possession of it; and from the time that I first saw thee, neither sleep
nor food nor drink hath been pleasant to me. I replied, And more than that
do I feel; and the state in which I am needs no complaint to testify it.
Then shall I visit thee, O my beloved, she asked, or wilt thou come to me?
For our marriage must be a secret.22 I am a stranger, I answered, and
have no place of reception but the Khán; therefore, if thou wilt kindly permit
me to go to thine abode the pleasure will be perfect. Well, she replied;
but to-night is the eve of Friday, and let nothing be done till to-morrow,
when, after thou hast joined in the prayers, do thou mount thine ass, and
inquire for the Habbáneeyeh; 23 and when thou has arrived there, ask for
the House called the Ká'ah 24 of Barakát the Nakeeb,25 known by the sur-
name of Aboo-Shámeh; for there do I reside; and delay not; for I shall be
anxiously expecting thee.
On hearing this I rejoiced exceedingly, and we parted; and I returned
to the Khán in which I lodged. I passed the whole night sleepless, and
was scarcely sure that the daybreak had appeared when I rose and changed
my clothes, and, having perfumed myself with essences and sweet scents,
took with me fifty pieces of gold in a handkerchief, and walked from the
Khán of Mesroor to Báb Zuweyleh, 26 where I mounted an ass, and said
to its owner, Go with me to the Habbáneeyeh. And in less than the twink-
ling of an eye he set off, and soon he stopped at a by-street called Darb
El-Munakkiree, when I said to him, Enter the street, and inquire for the
Ka'ah of the Nakeeb. He was absent but a little while, and, returning, said,
Alight. Walk on before me, said I, to the Ká'ah. And he went on until
he had led me to the house; whereupon I said to him, To-morrow
come to me hither to convey me back. In the name of Allah, he re-
plied: and I handed to him a quarter of a piece of gold, and he took it and
departed.
-
I then knocked at the door, and there came forth to me two young vir-
gins in whom the forms of womanhood had developed themselves, resembling
two moons, and they said, Enter; for our mistress is expecting thee, and she
hath not slept last night from her excessive love for thee. I entered an
upper saloon with seven doors: around it were latticed windows looking upon
a garden in which were fruits of every kind, and running streams and sing-
ing birds: it was plastered with imperial gypsum, in which a man might see
his face reflected: 27 its roof was ornamented with gilding, and surrounded
by inscriptions in letters of gold upon a ground of ultramarine: it com-
prised a variety of beauties, and shone in the eyes of beholders; the pave-
ment was of coloured marbles, having in the midst of it a fountain, with
four snakes of red gold casting forth water from their mouths like pearls
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
133
and jewels at the corners of the pool; 28 and it was furnished with carpets of
coloured silk, and mattresses.
Having entered, I seated myself: and scarcely had I done so when the
lady approached me. She wore a crown set with pearls and jewels; 29 her'
hands and feet were stained with hennà; and her bosom was ornamented
with gold. As soon as she beheld me she smiled in my face, and embraced me,
saying, Is it true that thou hast come to me, or is this a dream? -- I am thy
slave, I answered; and she said, Thou art welcome. Verily, from the time
when I first saw thee, neither sleep hath been sweet to me, nor hath food
been pleasant! In such case have I been, I replied; and we sat down
to converse; but I hung down my head towards the ground, in bashfulness;
and not long had I thus remained when a repast was placed before me,
consisting of the most exquisite dishes, as fricandoes and hashes and stuffed
fowls. I ate with her until we were satisfied; when they brought the basin
and ewer, and I washed my hands; after which we perfumed ourselves with
rose-water infused with musk, and sat down again to converse; expressing
to each other our mutual passion; and her love took such possession of me
that all the wealth I possessed seemed worthless in comparison.
In this manner we continued to enjoy ourselves until, night approach-
ing, the female slaves brought supper and wine, a complete service; and we
drank until midnight. Never in my life had I passed such a night. And
when morning came I arose, and having thrown to her the handkerchief
containing the pieces of gold,30 I took leave of her and went out; but as I
did so she wept, and said, O my master, when shall I see again this lovely
face?
I answered her, I will be with thee at the commencement of the
night. And when I went forth, I found the owner of the ass, who had
brought me the day before, waiting for me at the door; and I mounted,
and returned with him to the Khán of Mesroor, where I alighted, and gave
to him half a piece of gold, saying to him, Come hither at sunset. He replied,
On the head be thy command.
I entered the Khán, and ate my breakfast, and then went forth to collect
the price of my stuffs; after which I returned. I had prepared for my wife
a roasted lamb, and purchased some sweetmeat; and I now called the porter,
described to him the house, and gave him his hire. Having done this, I
occupied myself again with my business until sunset, when the owner of
the ass came, and I took fifty pieces of gold, and put them into a handker-
chief. Entering the house, I found that they had wiped the marble and
polished the vessels of copper and brass, and filled the lamps and lighted
the candles, and dished the supper and strained the wine; and when my wife
saw me, she threw her arms around my neck, and said, Thou hast made me
desolate by thine absence! The tables were then placed before us, and we
ate until we were satisfied, and the slave-girls took away the first table,
and placed before us the wine; and we sat drinking, and eating of the dried
fruits, and making merry, until midnight. We then slept until morning,
when I handed her the fifty pieces of gold as before, and left her.
134
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Thus I continued to do for a long time, until I passed the night and awoke
possessing not a piece of silver nor one of gold; and I said within myself,
This is the work of the Devil! And I repeated these verses:
Poverty causeth the lustre of a man to grow dim, like the yellowness of the setting sun.
When absent, he is not remembered among mankind; and when present, he shareth not
their pleasures.
In the market-streets he shunneth notice; and in desert places he poureth forth his tears.
By Allah! a man among his own relations, when afflicted with poverty, is as a stranger!
31
With these reflections I walked forth into Beyn el-Kasreyn, and proceeded
thence to Báb Zuweyleh, where I found the people crowding together, so
that the gate was stopped up by their number; and, as destiny willed, I
saw there a trooper, and, unintentionally pressing against him, my hand
came in contact with his pocket, and I felt it, and found that it contained a
purse; and I caught hold of the purse, and took it from his pocket. But
the trooper felt that his pocket was lightened, and, putting his hand into it,
found nothing; upon which he looked aside at me, and raised his hand with
the mace,³¹ and struck me upon my head. I fell to the ground, and the
people surrounded us, and seized the bridle of the trooper's horse, saying,
On account of the crowd dost thou strike this young man such a blow? But
he called out to them and said, This is a robber! On hearing this I feared.
The people around me said, This is a comely young man, and hath taken
nothing. While some, however, believed this, others disbelieved; and after
many words, the people dragged me along, desiring to liberate me: but, as
it was predestined, there came at this moment the Wálee and other magis-
trates entering the gate, and, seeing the people surrounding me and the
trooper, the Wálee said, What is the news? The trooper answered, By
Allah, O Emeer, this is a robber: I had in my pocket a blue purse containing
twenty pieces of gold; and he took it while I was pressed by the crowd. -
Was any one with thee? asked the Wálee. The trooper answered, No.
And the Wálee called out to the chief of his servants, saying, Seize him and
search him. So he seized me; and protection was withdrawn from me; and
the Walee said to him, Strip him of all that is upon him.
And when he did so, they found the purse in my clothes: and the Wálee,
taking it, counted the money, and found it to be twenty pieces of gold, as
the trooper had said; whereupon he was enraged, and called out to his at-
tendants, saying, Bring him forward. They, therefore, brought me before
him, and he said to me, O young man, tell the truth. Didst thou steal this
purse? And I hung down my head towards the ground, saying within
myself, If I answer that I did not steal it, it will be useless, for he hath pro-
duced it from my clothes; and if I say, I stole it, I fall into trouble. I then
raised my head, and said, Yes, I took it. And when the Walee heard these
words, he wondered, and called witnesses, who presented themselves, and
gave their testimony to my confession. All this took place at Báb Zu-
weyleh. - The Walee then ordered the executioner to cut off my hand; and
-
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
135
he cut off my right hand; 32 but the heart of the trooper was moved with
compassion for me, and he interceded for me that I should not be killed 33
so the Wálee left me and departed. The people however continued
around me, and gave me to drink a cup of wine; and the trooper gave me
the purse, saying, Thou art a comely youth, and it is not fit that thou
shouldst be a thief. And I took it from him, and addressed him with these
verses:
By Allah! good sir, I was not a robber; nor was I a thief, O, best of mankind!
But fortune's vicissitudes overthrew me suddenly, and anxiety and trouble and poverty
overpowered me.
I cast it not; but it was the Deity who cast an arrow that threw down the kingly diadem
from my head.³
The trooper then left me and departed, after having given me the purse,
and I went my way; but first I wrapped my hand in a piece of rag,35 and
put it in my bosom. My condition thus altered, and my countenance pallid
in consequence of my sufferings, I walked to the Ká'ah, and, in a disordered.
state of mind, threw myself upon the bed. My wife, seeing my complexion
thus changed, said to me, What hath pained thee, and wherefore do I see thee
thus altered? I answered her, My head acheth, and I am not well.
And on hearing this she was vexed, and became ill on my account, and
said, Burn not my heart, O my master! Sit up, and raise thy head, and
tell me what hath happened to thee this day: for I read a tale in thy face.
- Abstain from speaking to me, I replied. And she wept, and said, It
seemeth that thou art tired of us; for I see thee to be conducting thyself in
a manner contrary to thy usual habit. Then she wept again, and continued
addressing me, though I made her no reply, until the approach of night,
when she placed some food before me; but I abstained from it, fearing that
she should see me eat with my left hand, and said, I have no desire to eat
at present. She then said again Tell me what hath happened to thee this
day, and wherefore I see thee anxious and broken-hearted. I answered, I
will presently tell thee at my leisure. And she put the wine towards me,
saying, Take it; for it will dispel thine anxiety; and thou must drink, and
tell me thy story. I replied, therefore, If it must be so, give me to drink.
with thy hand. And she filled a cup and drank it; and then filled it again
and handed it to me, and I took it from her with my left hand, ard, while
tears ran from my eyes, I repeated these verses:
When God willeth an event to befall a man who is endowed with reason and hearing and
sight,
20
He deafeneth his ears, and blindeth his heart, and draweth his reason from him as a hair.
Till, having fulfilled his purpose against him, He restoreth him his reason that he may be
admonished."
Having thus said, I wept again; and when she saw me do so, she ut-
tered a loud cry, and said, What is the reason of thy weeping? Thou hast
burned my heart! And wherefore didst thou take the cup with thy left
136
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hand?
-
-
I answered her, I have a boil upon my right hand.
Then put
it forth, said she, that I may open it for thee. It is not yet, I replied,
the proper time for opening it; and continue not to ask me; for I will not
put it forth at present. I then drank the contents of the cup, and she con-
tinued to hand me the wine until intoxication overcame me, and I fell asleep
in the place where I was sitting; upon which she discovered that my right
arm was without a hand, and, searching me, saw the purse containing the
gold.
Grief, such as none else experienceth, overcame her at the sight; and she
suffered incessant torment on my account until the morning, when I awoke,
and found that she had prepared for me a dish composed of four boiled
fowls, which she placed before me. She then gave me to drink a cup of
wine; and I ate and drank, and put down the purse, and was about to de-
part; but she said, Whither wouldst thou go? I answered, To such a place,
to dispel somewhat of the anxiety which oppresseth my heart. - Go not,
said she; but rather sit down again. So I sat down, and she said to me,
Hath thy love of me become so excessive that thou hast expended all thy
wealth upon me, and lost thy hand? I take thee, then, as witness against
me, and God also is witness, that I will never desert thee; and thou shalt see
the truth of my words. Immediately, therefore, she sent for witnesses,
who came; and she said to them, Write my contract of marriage to this
young man, and bear witness that I have received the dowry. And they
did as she desired them; after which she said, Bear witness that all my
property which is in this chest, and all my memlooks and female slaves,
belong to this young man. Accordingly, they declared themselves witnesses
of her declaration, and I accepted the property, and they departed after
they had received their fees.
She then took me by my hand, and, having led me to a closet, opened a
large chest, and said to me, See what is contained in this chest. I looked,
therefore; and lo, it was full of handkerchiefs; and she said, This is thy
property; which I have received from thee: for every time that thou gavest
me a handkerchief containing fifty pieces of gold, I wrapped it up, and
threw it into this chest: take, then, thy property; for God hath restored.
it to thee, and thou art now of high estate. Fate hath afflicted thee on my
account so that thou hast lost thy right hand, and I am unable to compen-
sate thee: if I should sacrifice my life, it would be but a small thing, and
thy generosity would still have surpassed mine. She then added, Now
take possession of thy property. So I received it; and she transferred the
contents of her chest to mine, adding her property to mine which I had
given her. My heart rejoiced, my anxiety ceased, and I approached and
kissed her, and made myself merry by drinking with her; after which she
said again, Thou hast sacrificed all thy wealth and thy hand through love
of me, and how can I compensate thee? By Allah, if I gave my life for love
of thee, it were but a small thing, and I should not do justice to thy claims
upon me. She then wrote a deed of gift transferring to me all her apparel,
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
137
and her ornaments of gold and jewels, and her houses and other possessions;
and she passed that night in grief on my account, having heard my relation
of the accident that had befallen me.
Thus we remained less than a month, during which time she became more
and more infirm and disordered; and she endured no more than fifty days
before she was numbered among the people of the other world. So I pre-
pared her funeral, and deposited her body in the earth, and having caused
recitations of the Kur-án to be performed for her, and given a considerable
sum of money in alms for her sake, returned from the tomb. I found that
she had possessed abundant wealth, and houses and lands, and among her
property were the store-rooms of sesame of which I sold to thee the con-
tents of one; and I was not prevented from settling with thee during this
period but by my being busied in selling the remainder, the price of which
I have not yet entirely received. Now I desire of thee that thou wilt not
oppose me in that which I am about to say to thee; since I have eaten of
thy food: I give thee the price of the sesame, which is in thy hands. -
This which I have told thee was the cause of my eating with my left hand.
I replied, Thou hast treated me with kindness and generosity: - and he
then said, Thou must travel with me to my country; for I have bought mer-
chandise of Cairo and Alexandria. Wilt thou accompany me? I answered,
Yes: and promised him that I would be ready by the first day of the
following month. So I sold all that I possessed, and, having bought mer-
chandise with the produce, travelled with the young man to this thy coun-
try, where he sold his merchandise and bought other in its stead, after which
he returned to the land of Egypt: but it was my lot to remain here, and to
experience that which hath befallen me this night during my absence from
my native country. Now is not this, O King of the age, more wonderful
than the story of the humpback?
-
-
The King replied, Ye must be hanged, all of you! And upon this,
the Sultan's steward advanced towards the King, and said, If thou permit
me, I will relate to thee a story that I happened to hear just before I found
this humpback; and if it be more wonderful than the events relating to him,
wilt thou grant us our lives? The King answered, Tell thy story: - and
he began thus:
-
THE STEWARD'S STORY OF THE MAN WHOSE THUMBS WERE CUT OFF
39
38
I was last night with a party who celebrated a recitation of the Kur-án,³
for which purpose they had assembled the professors of religion and law;
and when these reciters had accomplished their task, the servants spread a
repast, comprising among other dishes a zirbájeh. We approached, there-
fore, to eat of the zirbájeh; but one of the company drew back, and refused
to partake of it: we conjured him; yet he swore that he would not eat of it:
and we pressed him again; but he said, Press me not; for I have suffered
enough from eating of this dish. And when we had finished, we said to
138
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
him, By Allah, tell us the reason of thine abstaining from eating of this
zirbájeh. He replied, Because I cannot eat of it unless I wash my hands
forty times with kali, and forty times with cyperus, and forty times with
soap; altogether, a hundred and twenty times. And upon this, the giver of
the entertainment ordered his servants, and they brought water and the
other things which this man required: so he washed his hands as he had
described, and advanced, though with disgust, and, having seated himself,
stretched forth his hand as one in fear, and put it into the zirbájeh, and be-
gan to eat, while we regarded him with the utmost wonder.
His hand trembled, and when he put it forth, we saw that his thumb
was cut off, and that he ate with his four fingers: we therefore said to him,
We conjure thee, by Allah, to tell us how was thy thumb maimed: was it
thus created by God, or hath some accident happened to it? - O my broth-
ers, he answered, not only have I lost this thumb, but also the thumb of
the other hand; and each of my feet is in like manner deprived of the great
toe: but see ye: — and, so, saying, he uncovered the stump of the thumb
of the other hand, and we found it like the right; and so also his feet, desti-
tute of the great toes. At the sight of this, our wonder increased, and we
said to him, We are impatient to hear thy story, and thine account of the
cause of the amputation of thy thumbs and great toes, and the reason of thy
washing thy hands a hundred and twenty times. So he said,-
-
Know that my father was a great merchant, the chief of the merchants
of the city of Baghdad in the time of the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed;
but he was ardently addicted to the drinking of wine, and hearing the lute;
and when he died, he left nothing. I buried him, and caused recitations
of the Kur-án to be performed for him, and after I had mourned for him
days and nights, I opened his shop, and found that he had left in it but
few goods, and that his debts were many: however, I induced his creditors
to wait, and calmed their minds, and betook myself to selling and buying
from week to week, and so paying the creditors.40
Thus I continued to do for a considerable period, until I had discharged
all the debts and increased my capital; and as I was sitting one day, I be-
held a young lady, than whom my eye had never beheld any more beautiful,
decked with magnificent ornaments and apparel, riding on a mule, with
a slave before her and a slave behind her; and she stopped the mule at the
entrance of the market-street, and entered, followed by a eunuch, who said
to her, O my mistress, enter, but inform no one who thou art, lest thou open
the fire of indignation upon us. The eunuch then further cautioned her;
and when she looked at the shops of the merchants, she found none more
handsome than mine; so, when she arrived before me, with the eunuch
following her, she sat down upon the seat of my shop, and saluted me; and
I never heard speech more charming than hers, or words more sweet. She
then drew aside the veil from her face, and I directed at her a glance which
drew from me a sigh; my heart was captivated by her love, and I continued
repeatedly gazing at her face, and recited these two verses:
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
139
Say to the beauty in the dove-coloured veil, Death would indeed be welcome to relieve
me from thy torment.
Favour me with a visit, that so I may live. See, I stretch forth my hand to accept
thy liberality.
And when she had heard my recitation of them, she answered thus:
May I lose my heart if it cease to love you! For verily my heart loveth none but you.
If my eye regard any charms but yours, may the sight of you never rejoice it after
absence!
She then said to me, O youth, hast thou any handsome stuffs?
O my mis-
tress, I answered, thy slave is a poor man; but wait until the other mer-
chants open their shops, and then I will bring thee what thou desirest. So
I conversed with her, drowned in the sea of her love, and bewildered by
my passion for her, until the merchants had opened their shops, when I
arose, and procured all that she wanted, and the price of these stuffs was
five thousand pieces of silver: and she handed them all to the eunuch, who
took them; after which, they both went out from the market-street, and the
slaves brought to her the mule, and she mounted, without telling me whence
she was, and I was ashamed to mention the subject to her: consequently,
I became answerable for the price to the merchants, incurring a debt of five
thousand pieces of silver.
I went home, intoxicated with her love, and they placed before me the
supper, and I ate a morsel; but reflections upon her beauty and loveliness
prevented my eating more. I desired to sleep, but sleep came not to me;
and in this condition I remained for a week. The merchants demanded
of me their money; but I prevailed upon them to wait another week; and
after this week, the lady came again, riding upon a mule, and attended by
a eunuch and two other slaves; and, having saluted me, said, O my master,
we have been tardy in bringing to thee the price of the stuffs: bring now
the money-changer, and receive it.¹¹ So the money-changer came, and the
eunuch gave him the money, and I took it, and sat conversing with her
until the market was replenished, and the merchants opened their shops,
when she said to me, Procure for me such and such things. Accordingly,
I procured for her what she desired of the merchants, and she took the
goods and departed without saying anything to me respecting the price.
-
When she had gone, therefore, I repented of what I had done; for I
had procured for her what she demanded for the price of a thousand pieces,
of gold; and as soon as she had disappeared from my sight, I said within
myself, What kind of love is this? She hath brought me five thousand
pieces of silver, and taken goods for a thousand pieces of gold! I feared
that the result would be my bankruptcy, and the loss of the property of
others, and said, The merchants know none but me, and this woman is no
other than a cheat, who hath imposed upon me by her beauty and loveli-
ness: seeing me to be young, she hath laughed at me, and I asked her not
where was her residence.
140
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I remained in a state of perplexity, and her absence was prolonged more
than a month. Meanwhile the merchants demanded of me their money,
and so pressed me that I offered my possessions for sale, and was on the
brink of ruin; but as I was sitting absorbed in reflection, suddenly she
alighted at the gate of the market-street, and came in to me. As soon as I
beheld her, my solicitude ceased, and I forgot the trouble which I had suf-
fered. She approached, and addressed me with her agreeable conversation,
and said, Produce the scales, and weigh thy money: - and she gave me
the price of the goods which she had taken, with a surplus; after which, she
amused herself by talking with me, and I almost died with joy and happi-
ness.
—
She then said to me, Hast thou a wife? I answered, No; for I am not
acquainted with any woman: - and wept. So she asked me, What causeth
thee to weep? And I answered, A thought that hath come into my mind;
--and, taking some pieces of gold, gave them to the eunuch, requesting him
to grant me his mediation in the affair; upon which he laughed, and said, She
is in love with thee more than thou art with her, and hath no want of the
stuffs, but hath done this only from her love of thee: propose to her, there-
fore, what thou wilt; for she will not oppose thee in that which thou wilt
say. Now she observed me giving the pieces of gold to the eunuch,
and returned, and resumed her seat; and I said to her, Shew favour
to thy slave, and pardon me for that which I am about to say. I then
acquainted her with the feelings of my heart, and my declaration pleased
her, and she consented to my proposal, saying, This eunuch will come
with my letter; and do thou what he shall tell thee; - and she arose, and
departed.
I went to the merchants, and delivered to them their money, and all
profited except myself; for when she left me I mourned for the interruption
of our intercourse, and I slept not during the whole of the next night: but a
few days after, her eunuch came to me, and I received him with honour,
and asked him respecting his mistress. He answered, She is sick: -- and I
said to him, Disclose to me her history. He replied, The lady Zubeydeh,
the wife of Hároon Er-Rasheed, brought up this damsel, and she is one of
her slaves: she had desired of her mistress to be allowed the liberty of going
out and returning at pleasure, and the latter gave her permission: she con-
tinued, therefore, to do so until she became a chief confidant; after which,
she spoke of thee to her mistress, and begged that she would marry her to
thee; but her mistress said, I will not do it until I see this young man, and
if he have a desire for thee, I will marry thee to him. We therefore wish to
introduce thee immediately into the palace; and if thou enter without any
one's having knowledge of thy presence, thou wilt succeed in accomplishing
thy marriage with her but if thy plot be discovered, thy head will be struck
off. What, then, sayest thou? I answered, Good: I will go with thee, and
await the event that shall befall me there.- As soon, then, as this next
night shall have closed in, said the eunuch, repair to the mosque which the
-
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
141
lady Zubeydeh hath built on the bank of the Tigris and there say thy prayers,
and pass the night.42 Most willingly, I replied.
-
Accordingly, when the time of nightfall arrived, I went to the mosque,
and said my prayers there, and passed the night; and as soon as the morn-
ing began to dawn, I saw two eunuchs approaching in a small boat, con-
veying some empty chests, which they brought into the mosque. One of
them then departed, and the other remained; and I looked attentively at
him, and lo, it was he who had been our intermediary: and soon after, the
damsel, my companion, came up to us. I rose to her when she approached,
and embraced her; and she kissed me, and wept; and after we had con-
versed together for a little while, she took me and placed me in a chest,
and locked it upon me.43 The slaves then brought a quantity of stuffs, and
filled with them the other chests which they locked and conveyed, together
with the chest in which I was enclosed, to the boat, accompanied by the
damsel; and having embarked them, they plied the oars, and proceeded to
the palace of the honoured lady Zubeydeh. The intoxication of love now
ceased in me, and reflection came in its place: I repented of what I had done,
and prayed God to deliver me from my dangerous predicament.
Meanwhile, they arrived at the gate of the Khaleefeh, where they landed,
and took out all the chests, and conveyed them into the palace: but the
chief of the door-keepers, who had been asleep when they arrived, was
awakened by the sounds of their voices, and cried out to the damsel, saying,
The chests must be opened, that I may see what is in them: - and he arose,
and placed his hand upon the chest in which I was hidden. My reason
abandoned me, my heart almost burst from my body, and my limbs trembled;
but the damsel said, These are the chests of the lady Zubeydeh, and if thou
open them and turn them over, she will be incensed against thee, and we
shall all perish. They contain nothing but clothes dyed of various colours,
except this chest upon which thou hast put thy hand, in which there are
also some bottles filled with the water of Zemzem, and if any of the water
run out upon the clothes it will spoil their colours. Now I have advised thee,
and it is for thee to decide: so do what thou wilt. When he heard, there-
fore, these words, he said to her, Take the chests, and pass on:- and the
eunuchs immediately took them up, and, with the damsel, conveyed them
into the palace: but in an instant, I heard a person crying out, and saying,
The Khaleefeh! The Khaleefeh!
44
-
I was bereft of my reason, and seized with a colick from excessive fear;
I almost died, and my limbs were affected with a violent shaking. The Kha-
leefeh cried out to the damsel, saying to her, What are these chests? She
answered, O my lord (may God exalt thy dominion!), these chests contain.
clothes of my mistress Zubeydeh. Open them, said the Khaleefeh, that I
may see the clothes. When I heard this, I felt sure of my destruction.
The damsel could not disobey his command; but she replied, O Prince of the
Faithful, there is nothing in these chests but clothes of the lady Zubeydeh,
and she hath commanded me not to open them to any one.
The Khaleefeh,
142
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
however, said, The chests must be opened, all of them, that I may see their
contents: and immediately he called out to the eunuchs to bring them
before him. I therefore felt certain that I was on the point of destruction.
-
They then brought before him chest after chest, and opened each to
him, and he examined the contents; and when they brought forward the
chest in which I was enclosed, I bade adieu to life, and prepared myself for
death; but as the eunuchs were about to open it, the damsel said, O Prince
of the Faithful, verily this chest containeth things especially appertaining
to women; and it is proper, therefore, that it should be opened before the lady
Zubeydeh: and when the Khaleefeh heard her words, he ordered the
eunuchs to convey all the chests into the interior of the palace. The damsel
then hastened, and ordered two eunuchs to carry away the chest in which
I was hidden, and they took it to an inner chamber, and went their way:
whereupon she quickly opened it, and made a sign to me to come out: so I
did as she desired, and entered a closet that was before me, and she locked
the door upon me, and closed the chest: and when the eunuchs had brought
in all the chests, and had gone back, she opened the door of the closet, and
said, Thou hast nothing to fear! May God refresh thine eye! Come forth
now, and go up with me, that thou mayest have the happiness of kissing the
ground before the lady Zubeydeh.
I therefore went with her, and beheld twenty other female slaves, high-
bosomed virgins, and among them was the lady Zubeydeh, who was scarcely
able to walk from the weight of the robes and ornaments with which she was
decked. As she approached, the female slaves dispersed from around her,
and I advanced to her, and kissed the ground before her. She made a sign.
to me to sit down: so I seated myself before her; and she began to ask me
questions respecting my condition and lineage; to all of which I gave such.
answers that she was pleased, and said, By Allah, the care which we have
bestowed on the education of this damsel hath not been in vain. She then
said to me, Know that this damsel is esteemed by us as though she were really
our child, and she is a trust committed to thy care by God. Upon this,
therefore, I again kissed the ground before her, well pleased to marry the
damsel; after which, she commanded me to remain with them ten days.
Accordingly, I continued with them during this period; but I knew nothing
meanwhile of the damsel; certain of the maids only bringing me my dinner
and supper, as my servants. After this, however, the lady Zubeydeh asked
permission of her husband, the Prince of the Faithful, to marry her maid,
and he granted her request, and ordered that ten thousand pieces of gold
should be given to her.
The lady Zubeydeh, therefore, sent for the Kádee and witnesses, and they
wrote my contract of marriage to the damsel; and the maids then prepared
sweetmeats and exquisite dishes, and distributed them in all the apartments.
Thus they continued to do for a period of ten more days; and after the twenty
days had passed, they conducted the damsel into the bath, preparatively to
my being introduced to her as her husband. They then brought to me a
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
143
ther
them |
Etic
the
lady
hich
repast comprising a basin of zirbájeh sweetened with sugar, perfumed with
rose-water, infused with musk, and containing different kinds of fricandoed
fowls and a variety of other ingredients, such as astonished the mind; and,
by Allah, when this repast was brought, I instantly commenced upon the zir-
bájeh, and ate of it as much as satisfied me, and wiped my hand, but forgot
to wash it. I remained sitting until it became dark; when the maids lighted
the candles, and the singing-girls approached with the tambourines, and they
continued to display the bride, and to give presents of gold, until she had
perambulated the whole of the palace; after which, they brought her to me,
and disrobed her; and as soon as I was left alone with her, I threw my arms
around her neck, scarcely believing in our union: but as I did so, she per-
ceived the smell of the zirbájeh from my hand, and immediately uttered a
loud cry: whereupon the female slaves ran in to her from every quarter.
-
I was violently agitated, not knowing what was the matter; and the slaves
who had come in said to her, What hath happened to thee, O our sister?
Take away from me, she exclaimed to them, this madman, whom I imagined
to be a man of sense! What indication of my insanity hath appeared to
thee? I asked. Thou madman, said she, wherefore hast thou eaten of the
zirbájeh, and not washed thy hand? By Allah, I will not accept thee for
thy want of sense, and thy disgusting conduct! And so saying, she took
from her side a whip,45 and beat me with it upon my back until I became
insensible from the number of the stripes. She then said to the other maids,
Take him to the magistrate of the city police, that they may cut off his hand
with which he ate the zirbájeh without washing it afterwards. On hearing
this, I exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God!
-
-
cut off my hand on account of my eating zirbájeh and neglecting to wash
it? — And the maids who were present entreated her, saying to her, O our
sister, be not angry with him for what he hath done this time. But she
replied, By Allah, I must cut off something from his extremities! And imme-
diately she departed, and was absent from me ten days: after which, she
came again, and said to me, O thou black-faced! Am I not worthy of thee?
How didst thou dare to eat the zirbájeh and not wash thy hand? And she
called to the maids, who bound my hands behind me, and she took a sharp
razor, and cut off both my thumbs and both my great toes, as ye see, O com-
panions; and I swooned away. She then sprinkled upon my wounds some
powder, by means of which the blood was stanched; and I said, I will not eat
of a zirbájeh as long as I live unless I wash my hands forty times with kali
and forty times with cyperus and forty times with soap: and she exacted
of me an oath that I would not eat of this dish unless I washed my hands as
I have described to you. Therefore, when this zirbájeh was brought, my
colour changed, and I said within myself, This was the cause of the cutting
off of my thumbs and great toes: so, when ye compelled me, I said, I must
fulfil the oath which I have sworn.
I then said to him (continued the Sultán's steward), And what happened
to thee after that? He answered, When I had thus sworn to her, she was
144
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
appeased, and I was admitted into her favour; and we lived happily together
for a considerable time: after which she said, The people of the Khaleefeh's
palace know not that thou hast resided here with me, and no strange man
beside thee hath entered it; nor didst thou enter but through the assistance
of the lady Zubeydeh. She then gave me fifty thousand pieces of gold, and
said to me, Take these pieces of gold, and go forth and buy for us a spacious
house. So I went forth, and purchased a handsome and spacious house, and
removed thither all the riches that she possessed, and all that she had treas-
ured up, and her dresses and rarities. This was the cause of the amputation
of my thumbs and great toes. So we ate (said the Sultán's steward), and
departed; and after this, the accident with the humpback happened to me:
this is all my story; and peace be on thee.
The King said, This is not more pleasant than the story of the humpback:
nay, the story of the humpback is more pleasant than this; and ye must all
of you be crucified. The Jew, however, then came forward, and, having
kissed the ground, said, O King of the age, I will relate to thee a story more
wonderful than that of the humpback: - and the King said, Relate thy
story. So he commenced thus:
THE PHYSICIAN'S STORY OF THE YOUTH
AND THE GOVERNOR'S DAUGHTERS
THE most wonderful of the events that happened to me in my younger
days was this: I was residing in Damascus, where I learnt and practised
my art; and while I was thus occupied, one day there came to me a memlook
from the house of the governor of the city: so I went forth with him, and
accompanied him to the abode of the governor. I entered, and beheld, at
the upper end of a saloon, a couch of alabaster overlaid with plates of gold,
upon which was reclining a sick man: he was young; and a person more
comely had not been seen in his age. Seating myself at his head, I ejacu-
lated a prayer for his restoration; 16 and he made a sign to me with his eye.
I then said to him, O my master, stretch forth to me thy hand: - whereupon
he put forth to me his left hand; and I was surprised at this, and said within
myself, What self-conceit! I felt his pulse, however, and wrote a prescrip-
tion for him, and continued to visit him for a period of ten days, until he
recovered his strength; when he entered the bath, and washed himself, and
came forth: and the governor conferred upon me a handsome dress of honour,
and appointed me superintendent of the hospital of Damascus.47
But when I went with him into the bath, which they had cleared of all
other visitors for us alone, and the servants had brought the clothes, and
taken away those which he had pulled off within, I perceived that his right
hand had been cruelly amputated; at the sight of which I wondered, and
grieved for him; and looking at his skin, I observed upon him marks of beat-
ing with mikra'ahs, which caused me to wonder more. The young man then
turned towards me, and said, O doctor of the age, wonder not at my case;
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
145
for I will relate to thee my story when we have gone out from the bath:
and when we had gone forth, and arrived at the house, and had eaten some
food, and rested, he said to me, Hast thou a desire to divert thyself in the
supper-room? I answered, Yes: - and immediately he ordered the slaves
to take up thither the furniture, and to roast a lamb and bring us some fruit.
So the slaves did as he commanded them: and when they had brought the
fruit, and we had eaten, I said to him, Relate to me thy story: - and he
replied, O doctor of the age, listen to the relation of the events which have
befallen me.
-
Know that I am of the children of El-Mósil. My paternal grandfather
died leaving ten male children, one of whom was my father: he was the eldest
of them; and they all grew up and married; and my father was blest with
me; but none of his nine brothers was blest with children. So I grew up
among my uncles, who delighted in me exceedingly; and when I had attained
to manhood, I was one day with my father in the chief mosque of El-Mósil.
The day was Friday; and we performed the congregational prayers, and all
the people went out, except my father and my uncles, who sat conversing
together respecting the wonders of various countries, and the strange sights
of different cities, until they mentioned Egypt; when one of my uncles said,
The travellers assert, that there is not on the face of the earth a more agree-
able country than Egypt with its Nile: 48- and my father added, He who
hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world: its soil is gold! its Nile is a
wonder; its women are like the black-eyed virgins of Paradise; its houses are
palaces; and its air is temperate; its odour surpassing that of aloes-wood, and
cheering the heart: and how can Cairo be otherwise when it is the metropolis
of the world? 49 Did ye see its gardens in the evening (he continued), with
the shade obliquely extending over them, ye would behold a wonder, and
yield with ecstasy to their attractions.50
When I heard these descriptions of Egypt, my mind became wholly
engaged by reflections upon that country; and after they had departed
to their homes, I passed the night sleepless from my excessive longing
towards it, and neither food nor drink was pleasant to me. A few days
after, my uncles prepared to journey thither, and I wept before my father
that I might go with them, so that he prepared a stock of merchandise
for me, and I departed in their company; but he said to them, Suffer him
not to enter Egypt, but leave him at Damascus, that he may there sell his
merchandise.
I took leave of my father, and we set forth from El-Mósil, and continued
our journey until we arrived at Aleppo, where we remained some days; after
which we proceeded thence until we came to Damascus; and we beheld it to
be a city with trees and rivers and fruits and birds, as though it were a
paradise, containing fruits of every kind. We took lodgings in one of the
Kháns, and my uncles remained there until they had sold and bought; and
they also sold my merchandise, gaining, for every piece of silver, five, so that
I rejoiced at my profit. My uncles then left me, and repaired to Egypt, and
146
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I remained, and took up my abode in a handsome Ká'ah, such as the tongue
cannot describe; the monthly rent of which was two pieces of gold.51
Here I indulged myself with eating and drinking, squandering away the
money that was in my possession; and as I was sitting one day at the door
of the Ka'ah, a damsel approached me, attired in clothing of the richest
description, such as I had never seen surpassed in costliness, and I invited her
to come in; whereupon, without hesitation, she entered; and I was delighted
at her compliance, and closed the door upon us both. She then uncovered
her face, and took off her izár, and I found her to be so surprisingly beautiful
that love for her took possession of my heart: so I went and brought a repast
consisting of the most delicious viands and fruit and everything else that was
requisite for her entertainment, and we ate and sported together; after which,
we drank till we were intoxicated, and fell asleep, and so we remained until
the morning, when I handed her ten pieces of gold; but she swore that she
would not accept them from me, and said, Expect me again, O my beloved,
after three days: at the hour of sunset I will be with thee: and do thou pre-
pare for us, with these pieces of gold, a repast similar to this which we have
just enjoyed. She then gave me ten pieces of gold, and took leave of me,
and departed, taking my reason with her.
And after the three days had expired, she came again, decked with em-
broidered stuffs and ornaments and other attire more magnificent than those
which she wore on the former occasion. I had prepared for her what was
required previously to her arrival; so we now ate and drank and fell asleep
as before; and in the morning she gave me again ten pieces of gold promising
to return to me after three more days. I therefore made ready what was
requisite, and after the three days she came attired in a dress still more
magnificent than the first and second, and said to me, O my master, am I
beautiful? Yea, verily, I answered. - Wilt thou give me leave, she rejoined,
to bring with me a damsel more beautiful than myself, and younger than I,
that she may sport with us, and we may make merry with her? For she
hath requested that she may accompany me, and pass the night in frolicking
with us. And so saying, she gave me twenty pieces of gold, desiring me to
prepare a more plentiful repast, on account of the lady who was to come
with her; after which, she bade me farewell, and departed.
Accordingly, on the fourth day, I procured what was requisite, as usual,
and soon after sunset she came, accompanied by a female wrapped in an
izár, and they entered, and seated themselves. I was rejoiced, and I lighted
the candles, and welcomed them with joy and exultation. They then took off
their outer garments, and when the new damsel uncovered her face, I per-
ceived that she was like the full moon: I had never beheld a person more
beautiful. I arose immediately, and placed before them the food and drink,
and we ate and drank, while I continued caressing the new damsel, and filling
the wine-cup for her, and drinking with her: but the first lady was affected
with a secret jealousy. By Allah, she said, verily this girl is beautiful! Is
she not more charming than I? Yea, indeed, I answered. Soon after
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
147
this, I fell asleep, and when I awoke in the morning, I found my hand defiled
with blood, and, opening my eyes, perceived that the sun had risen; so I
attempted to rouse the damsel, my new companion, whereupon her head
rolled from her body. The other damsel was gone, and I concluded, there-
fore, that she had done this from her jealousy; and after reflecting a while,
I arose, and took off my clothes, and dug a hole in the Ká'ah, in which I
deposited the murdered damsel, afterwards covering her remains with earth,
and replacing the marble pavement as it was before. I then dressed myself
again, and, taking the remainder of my money, went forth, and repaired to
the owner of the Ká'ah, and paid him a year's rent, saying to him, I am
about to journey to my uncles in Egypt.
So I departed to Egypt, where I met with my uncles, and they were re-
joiced to see me. I found that they had concluded the sale of their mer-
chandise, and they said to me, What is the cause of thy coming? I answered,
I had a longing desire to be with you, and feared that my money would not
suffice me. For a year I remained with them, enjoying the pleasures of
Egypt and its Nile; and I dipped my hand into the residue of my money,
and expended it prodigally in eating and drinking until near the time of my
uncles' departure, when I fled from them: so they said, Probably, he hath
gone before us, and returned to Damascus: and they departed. I then
came forth from my concealment, and remained in Cairo three years, squan-
dering away my money until scarcely any of it remained: but meanwhile I
sent every year the rent of the Ká'ah at Damascus to its owner: and after
the three years my heart became contracted, for nothing remained in my
possession but the rent for the year.
I therefore journeyed back to Damascus, and alighted at the Ka'ah. The
owner was rejoiced to see me, and I entered it, and cleansed it of the blood of
the murdered damsel, and, removing a cushion, I found, beneath this, the
necklace that she had worn that night. I took it up and examined it, and
wept a while. After this I remained in the house two days, and on the third
day I entered the bath, and changed my clothes. I now had no money left;
and I went one day to the market where (the Devil suggesting it to me, in
order to accomplish the purpose of destiny) I handed the necklace of jewels
to a broker; and he rose to me, and seated me by his side: then having waited
until the market was replenished, he took it, and announced it for sale
secretly, without my knowledge. The price bidden for it amounted to two
thousand pieces of gold; but he came to me and said, This necklace is of
brass, of the counterfeit manufacture of the Franks, and its price hath
amounted to a thousand pieces of silver. I answered him, Yes: we had made
it for a woman, merely to laugh at her, and my wife has inherited it, and we
desire to sell it: go, therefore, and receive the thousand pieces of silver. Now
when the broker heard this, he perceived that the affair was suspicious, and
went and gave the necklace to the chief of the market, who took it to the
Walee, and said to him, This necklace was stolen from me, and we have found
the thief, clad in the dress of the sons of the merchants.
148
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
And before I knew what had happened, the officers had surrounded me,
and they took me to the Wálee, who questioned me respecting the necklace.
I told him, therefore, the same story that I had told to the broker; but he
laughed, and said, This is not the truth: - and instantly his people stripped
me of my outer clothing, and beat me with mikra'ahs all over my body, until,
through the torture that I suffered from the blows, I said, I stole it; — re-
flecting that it was better I should say I stole it, than confess that its owner
was murdered in my abode; for then they would kill me to avenge her: and
as soon as I had said so, they cut off my hand, and scalded the stump with
boiling oil,52 and I swooned away. They then gave me to drink some wine,
by swallowing which I recovered my senses; and I took my amputated hand,
and returned to the Ka'ah; but its owner said to me, Since this hath hap-
pened to thee, leave the Ká'ah, and look for another abode; for thou art
accused of an unlawful act. - O my master, I replied, give me two or three
days' delay that I may seek for a lodging: - and he assented to this, and
departed and left me. So I remained alone, and sat weeping, and saying,
How can I return to my family with my hand cut off? He who cut it off
knoweth not that I am innocent: perhaps, then, God will bring about some
event for my relief.
I sat weeping violently; and when the owner of the Ka'ah had departed
from me, excessive grief overcame me, and I was sick for two days; and on
the third day, suddenly the owner of the Ká'ah came to me, with some officers
of the police, and the chief of the market, and accused me again of stealing
the necklace. So I went out to them, and said, What is the news? — where-
upon, without granting me a moment's delay, they bound my arms behind.
me, and put a chain around my neck, saying to me, The necklace which was
in thy possession hath proved to be the property of the governor of Damascus,
its Wezeer and its Ruler: it hath been lost from the governor's house for a
period of three years, and with it was his daughter. When I heard these
words from them, my limbs trembled, and I said within myself, They will
kill me! My death is inevitable! By Allah, I must relate my story to the
governor; and if he please he will kill me, or if he please he will pardon me.
And when we arrived at the governor's abode, and they had placed me.
before him, and he beheld me, he said, Is this he who stole the necklace and
went out to sell it? Verily ye have cut off his hand wrongfully. He then
ordered that the chief of the market should be imprisoned, and said to him,
Give to this person the compensatory fine for his hand,58 or I will hang thee
and seize all thy property. And he called out to his attendants, who took him
and dragged him away.
I was now left with the governor alone, after they had, by his permission,
loosed the chain from my neck, and untied the cords which bound my arms;
and the governor, looking towards me, said to me, O my son, tell me thy
story, and speak truth. How did this necklace come into thy possession?
So I replied, O my lord, I will tell thee the truth: - and I related to him
all that had happened to me with the first damsel, and how she had brought
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
149
me the second, and murdered her from jealousy; on hearing which, he shook
his head, and covered his face with his handkerchief, and wept. Then look-
ing towards me, he said, Know, O my son, that the elder damsel was my
daughter: I kept her closely; and when she had attained a fit age for marriage,
I sent her to the son of her uncle in Cairo; but he died, and she returned to
me, having learnt habits of profligacy from the inhabitants of that city: 54
so she visited thee four times; and on the fourth occasion, she brought to thee
her younger sister. They were sisters by the same mother, and much attached
to each other; and when the event which thou hast related occurred to the
elder, she imparted her secret to her sister, who asked my permission to go
out with her; after which the elder returned alone; and when I questioned
her respecting her sister, I found her weeping for her, and she answered, I
know no tidings of her: - but she afterwards informed her mother, secretly,
of the murder which she had committed; and her mother privately related
the affair to me; and she continued to weep for her incessantly, saying, By
Allah, I will not cease to weep for her until I die. Thy account, O my son,
is true; for I knew the affair before thou toldest it me. See then, O my son,
what hath happened: and now I request of thee that thou wilt not oppose
me in that which I am about to say; and it is this:
-I desire to marry
thee to my youngest daughter; for she is not of the same mother as they
were: 55 she is a virgin, and I will receive from thee no dowry, but will assign
to you both an allowance; and thou shalt be to me as an own son.
- I re-
plied, Let it be as thou desirest, O my master. How could I expect to attain
unto such happiness? - The governor then sent immediately a courier to
bring the property which my father had left me (for he had died since my
departure from him), and now I am living in the utmost affluence.
--
--
I wondered, said the Jew, at his history; and after I had remained with
him three days, he gave me a large sum of money; and I left him, to set
forth on a journey; and, arriving in this your country, my residence here
pleased me, and I experienced this which hath happen to me with the hump-
back.
The King, when he had heard this story, said, This is not more wonder-
ful than the story of the humpback, and ye must all of you be hanged, and
especially the tailor, who is the source of all the mischief. But he afterwards
added, O tailor, if thou tell me a story more wonderful than that of the
humpback, I will forgive you your offences. So the tailor advanced, and
said, -
THE TAILOR'S STORY OF the lovers AND THE INQUISITIVE BARBER
Know, O King of the age, that what hath happened to me is more won-
derful than the events which have happened to all the others. Before I met
the humpback, I was, early in the morning, at an entertainment given to cer-
tain tradesmen of my acquaintance, consisting of tailors and linen-
drapers and carpenters and others; and when the sun had risen, the
150
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
repast was brought for us to eat; and lo, the master of the house came
in to us, accompanied by a strange and handsome young man, of the
inhabitants of Baghdad. He was attired in clothes of the handsomest
description, and was a most comely person, except that he was lame;
and as soon as he had entered and saluted us, we rose to him; but when
he was about to seat himself, he observed among us a man who was
a barber, whereupon he refused to sit down, and desired to depart from
us.
--
We and the master of the house, however, prevented him, and urged him.
to seat himself; and the host conjured him, saying, What is the reason of
thy entering, and then immediately departing? By Allah, O my master,
replied he, offer me no opposition; for the cause of my departure is this bar-
ber, who is sitting with you. And when the host heard this, he was exceed-
ingly surprised, and said, How is it that the heart of this young man, who is
from Baghdad, is troubled by the presence of this barber? We then looked
towards him, and said, Relate to us the cause of thy displeasure against this
barber; and the young man replied, O company, a surprising adventure hap-
pened to me with this barber in Baghdad, my city; and he was the cause
of my lameness, and of the breaking of my leg; and I have sworn that I will
not sit in any place where he is present, nor dwell in any town where he re-
sides: I quitted Baghdad and took up my abode in this city, and I will not
pass the next night without departing from it. Upon this we said to him,
We conjure thee, by Allah, to relate to us thy adventure with him. And
the countenance of the barber turned pale when he heard us make this request.
The young man then said,
Know, O good people, that my father was one of the chief merchants of
Baghdad; and God (whose name be exalted!) blessed him with no son but
myself; and when I grew up, and had attained to manhood, my father was
admitted to the mercy of God, leaving me wealth and servants and other de-
pendants; whereupon I began to attire myself in clothes of the handsomest
description, and to feed upon the most delicious meats. Now God (whose
perfection be extolled!) made me to be a hater of women; and so I continued,
until, one day, I was walking through the streets of Baghdad, when a party
of them stopped my way: I therefore fled from them, and, entering a by-
street which was not a thoroughfare, I reclined upon a mastabah at its fur-
ther extremity.
Here I had been seated but a short time when, lo, a window opposite the
place where I sat was opened, and there looked out from it a damsel like the
full moon, such as I have never in my life beheld. She had some flowers,
which she was watering, beneath the window; and she looked to the right and
left, and then shut the window, and disappeared from before me. Fire had
been shot into my heart, and my mind was absorbed by her; my hatred of
women was turned into love, and I continued sitting in the same place until
sunset, in a state of distraction from the violence of my passion, when, lo, the
Kadee of the city came riding along, with slaves before him and servants be-
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
151
hind him, and alighted, and entered the house from which the damsel had
looked out: so I knew that he must be her father.
I then returned to my house, sorrowful; and fell upon my bed, full of
anxious thoughts; and my female slaves came in to me, and seated them-
selves around me, not knowing what was the matter with me; and I
acquainted them not with my case, nor returned any answers to their ques-
tions; and my disorder increased. The neighbours, therefore, came to cheer
me with their visits; and among those who visited me was an old woman,
who, as soon as she saw me, discovered my state; whereupon she seated her-
self at my head, and, addressing me in a kind manner, said, O my son, tell
me what hath happened to thee? So I related to her my story, and she said,
O my son, this is the daughter of the Kádee of Baghdad, and she is kept in
close confinement: the place where thou sawest her is her apartment, and
her father occupies a large saloon below, leaving her alone; and often do I
visit her: thou canst obtain an interview with her only through me: so brace
up thy nerves. When I heard, therefore, what she said, I took courage, and
fortified my heart; and my family rejoiced that day. I rose up firm in limb,
and hoping for complete restoration; and the old woman departed; but she
returned with her countenance changed, and said, O my son, ask not what
she did when I told her of thy case; for she said, If thou abstain not, O ill-
omened old woman, from this discourse, I will treat thee as thou deservest:
- but I must go to her a second time.
---
On hearing this, my disorder increased: after some days, however, the
old woman came again, and said, O my son, I desire of thee a reward for
good tidings. My soul returned to my body at these words, and I replied,
Thou shalt receive from me everything that thou canst wish. She then said,
I went yesterday to the damsel, and when she beheld me with broken heart
and weeping eye, she said to me, O my aunt, wherefore do I see thee with
contracted heart? and when she had thus said, I wept, and answered, O
my daughter and mistress, I came to thee yesterday from visiting a youth
who loveth thee, and he is at the point of death on thy account:
and, her
heart being moved with compassion, she asked, Who is this youth of whom
thou speakest? I answered, He is my son, and the child that is dear to my
soul: he saw thee at the window some days ago, while thou wast watering
thy flowers; and when he beheld thy face, he became distracted with love
for thee: I informed him of the conversation that I had with thee the first
time; upon which his disorder increased, and he took to his pillow: he is now
dying, and there is no doubt of his fate. And upon this, her countenance
became pale, and she said, Is this all on my account? Yea, by Allah, I
answered; and what dost thou order me to do? Go to him, said she; con-
vey to him my salutation, and tell him that my love is greater than his; and
on Friday next, before the congregational prayers, let him come hither: I
will give orders to open the door to him, and to bring him up to me, and
I will have a short interview with him, and he shall return before my father
comes back from the prayers.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
When I heard these words of the old woman, the anguish which I had
suffered ceased; my heart was set at rest, and I gave her the suit of clothes
which I was then wearing, and she departed, saying to me, Cheer up thy
heart. I replied, I have no longer any pain. The people of my house, and
my friends, communicated, one to another, the good news of my restoration
to health, and I remained thus until the Friday, when the old woman came
in to me, and asked me respecting my state: so I informed her that I was
happy and well. I then dressed and perfumed myself and sat waiting for
the people to go to prayers, that I might repair to the damsel; but the old
woman said to me, Thou hast yet more than ample time, and if thou go to
the bath and shave, especially for the sake of obliterating the traces of thy
disorder, it will be more becoming. — It is a judicious piece of advice, replied
I; but I will shave my head first, and then go into the bath.
So I sent for a barber to shave my head, saying to the boy, Go to the
market, and bring me a barber, one who is a man of sense, little inclined to
impertinence, that he may not make my head ache by his chattering. And
the boy went, and brought this sheykh, who, on entering, saluted me; and
when I had returned his salutation, he said to me, May God dispel thy grief
and thine anxiety, and misfortunes and sorrows! I responded, May God ac-
cept thy prayer! He then said, Be cheerful, O my master, for health hath
returned to thee. Dost thou desire to be shaved or to be bled? For it
hath been handed down, on the authority of Ibn-'Abbás,56 that the Prophet
said, Whoso shorteneth his hair on Friday, God will avert from him seventy
diseases; and it hath been handed down also, on the same authority, that
the Prophet said, Whoso is cupped on Friday will not be secure from the
loss of sight and from frequent disease. -Abstain, said I, from this useless
discourse, and come immediately, shave my head, for I am weak.
--
And he arose, and, stretching forth his hand, took out a handkerchief, and
opened it; and lo, there was in it an astrolabe, consisting of seven plates; 57
and he took it, and went into the middle of the court, where he raised his
head towards the sun, and looked for a considerable time; after which he
said to me, Know that there have passed, of this our day, which is Friday,
and which is the tenth of Safar,58 of the year 263 59 of the Flight of the
Prophet, upon whom be the most excellent of blessings and peace! - and
the ascendant star of which, according to the required rules of the science
of computation, is the planet Mars, - seven degrees 60 and six minutes; and
it happeneth that Mercury hath come in conjunction with that planet; and
this indicateth that the shaving of hair is now a most excellent operation:
and it hath indicated to me, also, that thou desirest to confer a benefit upon
a person and fortunate is he! - but after that, there is an announcement
that presenteth itself to me respecting a matter which I will not mention to
thee.
By Allah, I exclaimed, thou hast wearied me, and dissipated my mind,
and augured against me, when I required thee only to shave my head: arise,
then, and shave it; and prolong not thy discourse to me.
But he replied,
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
153
By Allah, if thou knewest the truth of the case, thou wouldst demand of
me a further explication; and I counsel thee to do this day as I direct thee,
according to the calculations deduced from the stars: it is thy duty to praise
God, and not to oppose me; for I am one who giveth thee good advice, and
who regardeth thee with compassion: I would that I were in thy service for
a whole year, that thou mightest do me justice; and I desire not any pay from
thee for so doing. When I heard this, I said to him, Verily thou art killing
me this day, and there is no escape for me. O my master, he replied, I am
he whom the people call Es-Sámit, 61 on account of the paucity of my speech,
by which I am distinguished above my brothers: for my eldest brother is
named El-Bakbook; 62 and the second, El-Heddár; and the third, Bakbak;
and the fourth is named El-Kooz el-Aswánee; and the fifth, El-Feshshár;
and the sixth is named Shakálik; and the seventh brother is named Es-
Sámit; and he is myself.
Now when this barber thus overwhelmed me with his talk, I felt as if
my gall-bladder had burst, and said to the boy, Give him a quarter of a
piece of gold, and let him depart from me for the sake of Allah: for I have
no need to shave my head. But the barber on hearing what I said to the
boy, exclaimed, What is this that thou hast said, O my lord? By Allah, I
will accept from thee no pay unless I serve thee; and serve thee I must; for
to do so is incumbent on me, and to perform what thou requirest; and I care
not if I receive from thee no money. If thou knowest not my worth, I
know thine; and thy father -
treated
may Allah have mercy upon him!
us with beneficence; for he was a man of generosity. By Allah, thy father
sent for me one day, like this blessed day, and when I went to him, he had
a number of his friends with him, and he said to me, Take some blood from
me. So I took the astrolabe, and observed the altitude for him, and found
the ascendant of the hour to be of evil omen, and that the letting of blood
would be attended with trouble: I therefore acquainted him with this, and
he conformed to my wish, and waited until the arrival of the approved hour,
when I took the blood from him.
-
-
He did not oppose me; but, on the contrary, thanked me; and in like
manner all the company present thanked me; and thy father gave me a
hundred pieces of gold for services similar to the letting of blood. — May
God, said I, shew no mercy to my father for knowing such a man as thou!
-and the barber laughed, and exclaimed, There is no deity but God!
hammad is God's Apostle! Extolled be the perfection of Him who changeth
others, but is not changed! I did not imagine thee to be otherwise than
a man of sense; but thou hast talked nonsense in consequence of thine ill-
ness. God hath mentioned, in his Excellent Book those who restrain their
anger, and who forgive men: - but thou art excused in every case. I am
unacquainted, however, with the cause of thy haste; and thou knowest that
thy father used to do nothing without consulting me; and it hath been said,
that the person to whom one applies for advice should be trusted: now thou
wilt find no one better acquainted with the affairs of the world than myself,
63
154
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and I am standing on my feet to serve thee. I am not displeased with thee,
and how then art thou displeased with me? But I will have patience with
thee on account of the favours which I have received from thy father. By
Allah, said I, thou hast wearied me with thy discourse, and overcome me
with thy speech! I desire that thou shave my head and depart from
me.
64
I gave vent to my rage; and would have risen, even if he had wetted my
head, when he said, I knew that displeasure with me had overcome thee; but
I will not be angry with thee, for thy sense is weak and thou art a youth:
a short time ago I used to carry thee on my shoulder, and take thee to the
school. Upon this, I said to him, O my brother, I conjure thee by Allah,
depart from me that I may perform my business, and go thou thy way. Then
I rent my clothes; and when he saw me do this, he took the razor, and
sharpened it, and continued to do so until my soul almost parted from my
body; then advancing to my head, he shaved a small portion of it; after
which he raised his hand, and said, O my lord, haste is from the Devil;
and he repeated this couplet: -
Deliberate, and haste not to accomplish the desire; and be merciful, so shalt thou meet
with one merciful:
65
For there is no hand but God's hand is above it; nor oppressor that shall not meet
with an oppressor.
O my lord (he then continued), I do not imagine that thou knowest my con-
dition in society; for my hand lighteth upon the heads of kings and emeers
and wezeers and sages and learned men; and of such a one as myself hath
the poet said,
The trades altogether are like a necklace, and this barber is the chief pearl of the strings.
He excelleth all that are endowed with skill, and under his hands are the heads of Kings.
66
Leave, said I, that which doth not concern thee! Thou hast contracted
my heart, and troubled my mind. I fancy that thou art in haste, he rejoined.
I replied, Yes! Yes! Yes! Proceed slowly, said he; for verily haste is from
the Devil, and it giveth occasion to repentance and disappointment; and
he upon whom be blessing and peace 6 hath said, The best of affairs
is that which is commenced with deliberation: and, by Allah, I am in
doubt as to thine affair: I wish, therefore, that thou wouldst make known.
to me what thou art hasting to do; and may it be good; for I fear it is
otherwise.
There now remained, to the appointed time, three hours; and he threw
the razor from his hand in anger, and, taking the astrolabe, went again to
observe the sun; then after he had waited a long time, he returned, saying,
There remain, to the hour of prayer, three hours, neither more nor less. For
the sake of Allah, said I, be silent; for thou hast crumbled my liver! and
thereupon, he took the razor, and sharpened it as he had done the first time,
and shaved another portion of my head. Then stopping again, he said, I
-
THE STORY, OF THE HUMPBACK
155
am in anxiety on account of thy hurry: if thou wouldst acquaint me with
the cause of it, it would be better for thee; for thou knowest that thy father
used to do nothing without consulting me.
I perceived now that I could not avoid his importunity, and said within
myself, The time of prayer is almost come, and I desire to go before the
people come out from the service: if I delay a little longer, I know not how
to gain admission to her. I therefore said to him, Be quick, and cease from
this chattering and impertinence; for I desire to repair to an entertainment
with my friends. But when he heard the mention of the entertainment, he
exclaimed, The day is a blessed day for me! I yesterday conjured a party
of my intimate friends to come and feast with me, and forgot to prepare for
them anything to eat; and now I have remembered it. Alas for the dis-
grace that I shall experience from them! So I said to him, Be in no
anxiety on this account, since thou hast been told that I am going to-day to
an entertainment; for all the food and drink that is in my house shall be
thine if thou use expedition in my affair, and quickly finish shaving my
head. May God recompense thee with every blessing! he replied: describe
to me what thou hast for my guests, that I may know it.
five dishes of meat, and ten fowls fricandoed, and a roasted
them to be brought before me, he said, that I may see them.
brought to him, and he exclaimed, Divinely art thou gifted!
is thy soul! But the incense and perfumes are wanting.
therefore, a box containing nedd 67 and aloes-wood and ambergris and musk,
worth fifty pieces of gold. The time had now become contracted, like my
own heart; so I said to him, Receive this, and shave the whole of my head,
by the existence of Mohammad, God bless and save him! But he replied,
By Allah, I will not take it until I see all that it contains. I therefore
ordered the boy, and he opened the box to him; whereupon the barber threw
down the astrolabe from his hand, and, seating himself upon the ground,
turned over the perfumes and incense and aloes-wood in the box until my
soul almost quitted my body.
I have, said I,
lamb. - Cause
So I had them
How generous
I brought him,
He then advanced, and took the razor, and shaved another small por-
tion of my head; after which he said, By Allah, O my son, I know not whether
I should thank thee or thank thy father; for my entertainment to-day is en-
tirely derived from thy bounty and kindness, and I have no one among my
visitors deserving of it; for my guests are, Zeytoon the bath-keeper, and
Saleea the wheat-seller, and 'Owkal the bean-seller, and 'Akresheh the grocer,
and Homeyd the dustman, and 'Akárish the milk-seller, and each of these
hath a peculiar dance which he performeth, and peculiar verses which he
reciteth; and the best of their qualities is, that they are like thy servant, the
memlook who is before thee; and I, thy slave, know neither loquacity nor im-
pertinence. As to the bath-keeper, he saith, If I go not to the feast, it cometh
to my house! and as to the dustman, he is witty, and full of frolick: often
doth he dance, and say, News, with my wife, is not kept in a chest! - and
each of my friends hath jests that another hath not: but the description is
156
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
not like the actual observation, If thou choose, therefore, to come to us, it
will be more pleasant both to thee and to us: relinquish, then, thy visit to
thy friends of whom thou hast told us that thou desirest to go to them; for
the traces of disease are yet upon thee, and probably thou art going to a
people of many words, who will talk of that which concerneth them not;
or probably there will be among them one impertinent person; and thy soul
is already disquieted by disease. I replied, If it be the will of God, that
shall be on some other day: - but he said, It will be more proper that thou
first join my party of friends, that thou mayest enjoy their conviviality, and
delight thyself with their salt. Act in accordance with the saying of the
poet:
-
-
Defer not a pleasure when it can be had; for fortune often destroyeth our plans.
Upon this I laughed from a heart laden with anger, and said to him, Do
what I require, that I may go in the care of God, whose name be exalted!
and do thou go to thy friends, for they are waiting thine arrival. He re-
plied, I desire nothing but to introduce thee into the society of these people;
for verily they are of the sons of that class among which is no impertinent
person; and if thou didst but behold them once, thou wouldst leave all thine
own companions. May God, said I, give thee abundant joy with them, and
I must bring them together here some day. If that be thy wish, he re-
joined, and thou wilt first attend the entertainment of thy friends this day,
wait until I take this present with which thou hast honoured me, and place
it before my friends, that they may eat and drink without waiting for me,
and then I will return to thee, and go with thee to thy companions; for there
is no false delicacy between me and my companions that should prevent
my leaving them: so I will return to thee quickly, and repair with thee
whithersoever thou goest. Upon this I exclaimed, There is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great! Go thou to thy companions, and
delight thy heart with them, and leave me to repair to mine, and to remain
with them this day, for they are waiting my arrival. But he said, I will
not leave thee to go alone. The place to which I am going, said I, none
can enter except myself. I suppose then, he rejoined, that thou hast an
appointment to-day with some female: otherwise, thou wouldst take me with
thee; for I am more deserving than all other men, and will assist thee to
attain what thou desirest. I fear that thou art going to visit some strange
woman, and that thy life will be lost; for in this city of Baghdad no one
can do anything of this kind, especially on such a day as this; seeing that
the Walee of Baghdad is a terrible, sharp, sword. Wo to thee, O wicked
old man! I exclaimed, what are these words with which thou addressest
me? - And upon this, he kept a long silence.
-
68
was
The time of prayer had now arrived, and the time of the Khutbeh
near, when he had finished shaving my head: so I said to him, Go with this
food and drink to thy friends, and I will wait for thee until thou return, and
thou shalt accompany me: and I continued my endeavours to deceive him,
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
157
―
that he might go away; but he said to me, Verily thou art deceiving me,
and wilt go alone, and precipitate thyself into a calamity from which there
will be no escape for thee: by Allah! by Allah! then, quit not this spot until
I return to thee and accompany thee, that I may know what will be the result
of thine affair. I replied, Well: prolong not thine absence from me. And
he took the food and drink and other things which I had given him, but
intrusted them to a porter to convey them to his abode, and concealed him-
self in one of the by-streets. I then immediately arose. The muëddins on
the menárehs had chanted the Selám of Friday; 69 and I put on my clothes,
and went forth alone, and, arriving at the by-street, stopped at the door of
the house where I had seen the damsel: and lo, the barber was behind me,
and I knew it not. I found the door open, and entered; and immediately
the master of the house returned from the prayers, and entered the saloon
and closed the door; and I said within myself, How did this devil discover
me?
Now it happened, just at this time, for the fulfilment of God's purpose
to rend the veil of protection before me, that a female slave belonging to
the master of the house committed some offence, in consequence of which
he beat her, and she cried out; whereupon a male slave came in to him to
liberate her; but he beat him also, and he likewise cried out; and the barber
concluded that he was beating me; so he cried, and rent his clothes, and
sprinkled dust upon his head, shrieking, and calling for assistance. He was
surrounded by people, and said to them, My master hath been killed in the
house of the Kádee! Then running to my house, crying out all the while,
and with a crowd behind him, he gave the news to my family; and I knew
not what he had done when they approached, crying, Alas for our master!
-the barber all the while being before them, with his clothes rent, and a
number of the people of the city with them. They continued shrieking,
the barber shrieking at their head, and all of them exclaiming, Alas for our
slain!
Thus they advanced to the house in which I was confined; and when the
Kádee heard of this occurrence, the event troubled him, and he arose, and
opened the door, and seeing a great crowd, he was confounded, and said, O
people, what is the news? The servants replied, Thou hast killed our mas-
ter. O people, rejoined he, what hath your master done unto me that I
should kill him; and wherefore do I see this barber before you? - Thou
hast just now beaten him with mikra'ahs, said the barber; and I heard
his cries. What hath he done that I should kill him? repeated the Ká-
dee. And whence, he added, came he; and whither would he go? - Be not
an old man of malevolence, exclaimed the barber; for I know the story, and
the reason of his entering thy house, and the truth of the whole affair; thy
daughter is in love with him, and he is in love with her; and thou hast dis-
covered that he had entered thy house, and hast ordered thy young men, and
they have beaten him. By Allah, none shall decide between us and thee
except the Khaleefeh, or thou shalt bring forth to us our master that his
-
158
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
family may take him; and oblige me not to enter and take him forth from
you: haste then thyself to produce him.
Upon this, the Kádee was withheld from speaking, and became utterly
abashed before the people: but presently he said to the barber, If thou speak
truth, enter thyself, and bring him forth. So the barber advanced, and
entered the house: and when I saw him do so, I sought for a way to escape;
but I found no place of refuge except a large chest which I observed in the
same apartment in which I then was: I therefore entered this, and shut down
the lid, and held in my breath. Immediately after, the barber ran into the
saloon, and, without looking in any other direction than that in which I had
concealed myself, came thither: then turning his eyes to the right and left,
and seeing nothing but the chest, he raised it upon his head; whereupon my
reason forsook me. He quickly descended with it; and I, being not certain
that he would not quit me, opened the chest, and threw myself upon the
ground.
My leg was broken by the fall; and when I came to the door of the house,
I found a multitude of people: I had never seen such a crowd as was there
collected on that day; so I began to scatter gold among them, to divert
them; and while they were busied in picking it up, I hastened through the
by-streets of Baghdad, followed by this barber; and wherever I entered, he
entered after me, crying, They would have plunged me into affliction on ac-
count of my master! Praise be to God who aided me against them, and
delivered my master from their hands! Thou continuedst, O my master,
to be excited by haste for the accomplishment of thine evil design until thou
broughtest upon thyself this event; and if God had not blessed thee with me,
thou hadst not escaped from this calamity into which thou hast fallen; and
they might have involved thee in a calamity from which thou wouldst never
have escaped. Beg, therefore, of God, that I may live for thy sake, to lib-
erate thee in future. By Allah, thou hast almost destroyed me by thine
evil design, desiring to go alone: but we will not be angry with thee for thine
ignorance, for thou art endowed with little sense, and of a hasty disposition.
-Art thou not satified, replied I, with that which thou hast done, but wilt
thou run after me through the market-streets? And I desired for death to
liberate me from him; but found it not; and in the excess of my rage I ran
from him, and, entering a shop in the midst of the market, implored the
protection of its owner; and he drove away the barber from me.
I then seated myself in a magazine belonging to him, and said within.
myself, I cannot now rid myself of this barber; but he will be with me night
and day, and I cannot endure the sight of his face. So I immediately sum-
moned witnesses, and wrote a document, dividing my property among my
family, and appointing a guardian over them, and I ordered him to sell the
house and all the immoveable possessions, charging him with the care of the
old and young, and set forth at once on a journey in order to escape from
this wretch. I then arrived in your country, where I took up my abode,
and have remained a considerable time; and when he invited me, and I came
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
159
unto you, I saw this vile wretch among you, seated at the upper end of the
room. How, then, can my heart be at ease, or my sitting in your company
be pleasant to me, with this fellow, who hath brought these events upon
me, and been the cause of the breaking of my leg?
-
The young man still persevered in his refusal to remain with us; and when
we had heard his story, we said to the barber, Is this true which the young
man hath said of thee? By Allah, he answered, it was through my intelli-
gence that I acted thus towards him; and had I not done so, he had perished:
myself only was the cause of his escape; and it was through the goodness of
God, by my means, that he was afflicted by the breaking of his leg instead
of being punished by the loss of his life. Were I a person of many words,
I had not done him this kindness; and now I will relate to you an event that
happened to me, that ye may believe me to be a man of few words, and less
of an impertinent than my brothers; and it was this: -
The Tale of the Barber
71
I was living in Baghdád, in the reign of the Prince of the Faithful El-
Muntasir bi-lláh,70 who loved the poor and indigent, and associated with
the learned and virtuous; and it happened, one day, that he was incensed
against ten persons, in consequence of which, he ordered the chief magistrate
of Baghdad to bring them to him in a boat. I saw them, and I said within
myself, These persons have assembled for nothing but an entertainment, and,
I suppose, will pass their day in this boat eating and drinking; and none shall
be their companion but myself: "so I embarked and mixed myself among
them; and when they had landed on the opposite bank, the guards of the
Walee came with chains, and put them upon their necks, and put a chain
upon my neck also. Now this, O people, is it not a proof of my generosity,
and of my paucity of speech? For I determined not to speak. They took
us, therefore, all together, in chains, and placed us before El-Muntasir
bi-lláh, the Prince of the Faithful; whereupon he gave orders to strike off
the heads of the ten; and the executioner struck off the heads of the ten,
and I remained. The Khaleefeh then turning his eyes, and beholding me,
said to the executioner, Wherefore dost thou not strike off the heads of all
the ten? He answered, I have beheaded every one of the ten. I do not
think, rejoined the Khaleefeh, that thou hast beheaded more than nine;
and this who is before me is the tenth. But the executioner replied, By thy
beneficence, they are ten. Count them, said the Khaleefeh. And they
counted them; and lo, they were ten.
The Khaleefeh then looked towards me, and said, What hath induced
thee to be silent on this occasion; and how hast thou become included among
the men of blood? - And when I heard the address of the Prince of the
Faithful, I said to him, Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that I am the sheykh
Es-Sámit (the silent): I possess, of science, a large stock; and as to the grav-
ity of my understanding, and the quickness of my apprehension, and the
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paucity of my speech, they are unbounded: my trade is that of a barber; and
yesterday, early in the morning, I saw these ten men proceeding to the boat;
whereupon I mixed myself with them, and embarked with them, thinking that
they had met together for an entertainment; but soon it appeared that they
were criminals; and the guards came to them, and put chains upon their
necks, and upon my neck also they put a chain; and from the excess of my
generosity I was silent, and spoke not; my speech was not heard on that occa-
sion, on account of the excess of my generosity; and they proceeded with us
until they stationed us before thee, and thou gavest the order to strike off
the heads of the ten, and I remained before the executioner, and acquainted
you not with my case. Was not this great generosity which compelled me
to accompany them to slaughter? But throughout my life I have acted in
this excellent manner.
When the Khaleefeh heard my words, and knew that I was of a very
generous character, and of few words, and not inclined to impertinence as
this young man, whom I delivered from horrors, asserteth, he said, Hast
thou brothers? I answered, Yes: six. And are thy six brothers, said he,
like thyself, distinguished by science and knowledge, and paucity of speech?
I answered, They lived not so as to be like me: thou hast disparaged me
by thy supposition, O Prince of the Faithful, and it is not proper that thou
shouldst compare my brothers to me; for through the abundance of their
speech, and the smallness of their generous qualities, each of them experi-
enced a defect: the first was lame, the second, deprived of many of his teeth;
the third, blind; the fourth, one-eyed; the fifth, cropped of his ears; and
the sixth had both his lips cut off: 72 and think not, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, that I am a man of many words: nay, I must prove to thee that I am
of a more generous character than they; and each of them met with a par-
ticular adventure, in consequence of which he experienced a defect: if thou
please, I will relate their stories to thee.
How El-Bakbook Became Lame
Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that the first (who was named El-Bak-
book) was the lame one. He practised the art of a tailor in Baghdád, and
used to sew in a shop which he hired of a man possessing great wealth, who
lived over the shop, and who had, in the lower part of his house, a mill.
And as my lame brother was sitting in his shop one day, sewing, he raised
his head, and saw a woman like the rising full moon, at a projecting window
of the house, looking at the people passing by; and as soon as he beheld her,
his heart was entangled by her love. He passed that day gazing at her, and
neglecting his occupation, until the evening, and on the following morning
he opened his shop, and sat down to sew; but every time that he sewed a
stitch, he looked towards the window; and in this state he continued, sewing
nothing sufficient to earn a piece of silver.73
On the third day he seated himself again in his place, looking towards the
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
161
woman; and she saw him, and, perceiving that he had became enslaved by
her love, laughed in his face, and he, in like manner, laughed in her face.
She then disappeared from before him, and sent to him her slave-girl, with
a wrapper containing a piece of red flowered silk; and the girl, coming to
him, said to him, My mistress saluteth thee, and desireth thee to cut out
for her, with the hand of skill, a shirt of this piece, and to sew it beauti-
fully. So he answered, I hear and obey: - and he cut out for her the shirt,
and finished the sewing of it on that day; and on the following day the slave-
girl came to him again, and said to him, My mistress saluteth thee, and saith
to thee, How didst thou pass last night? - for she tasted not sleep, from
her passion for thee. She then placed before him a piece of yellow satin,
and said to him, My mistress desireth thee to cut out for her, of this piece,
two pairs of trousers, and to make them this day. He replied, I hear and
obey. Salute her with abundant salutations, and say to her, Thy slave is
submissive to thine order, and command him to do whatsoever thou wilt.
He then busied himself with the cutting out, and used all diligence in
sewing the two pairs of trousers; and presently the woman looked out at
him from the window, and saluted him by a sign, now casting down her eyes.
and now smiling in his face, so that he imagined he should soon obtain pos-
session of her. After this, she disappeared from before him, and the slave-
girl came to him; so he delivered to her the two pairs of trousers, and she
took them and departed: and when the night came, he threw himself upon
his bed, and remained turning himself over in restlessness until the morning.
On the following day, the master of the house came to my brother, bring-
ing some linen, and said to him, Cut out and make this into shirts for me.
He replied, I hear and obey: - and ceased not from his work until he had
cut out twenty shirts by the time of nightfall, without having tasted food.
The man then said to him, How much is thy hire for this? but my brother
answered not; and the damsel made a sign to him that he should receive
nothing, though he was absolutely in want of a single copper coin. For
three days he continued scarcely eating or drinking anything, in his diligence
to accomplish his work, and when he had finished it, he went to deliver the
shirts.
Now the young woman had acquainted her husband with the state of my
brother's mind, but my brother knew not this; and she planned with her
husband to employ him in sewing without remuneration, and moreover to
amuse themselves by laughing at him: so, when he had finished all the work
that they gave him, they contrived a plot against him, and married him to
their slave-girl; and on the night when he desired to introduce himself to
her, they said to him, Pass this night in the mill, and to-morrow thou shalt
enjoy happiness. My brother, therefore, thinking that their intention was
good, passed the night in the mill alone. Meanwhile, the husband of the
young woman went to the miller, and instigated him by signs to make my
brother turn the mill. The miller, accordingly, went in to him at midnight,
and began to exclaim, Verily this bull is lazy, while there is a great quantity
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of wheat, and the owners of the flour are demanding it: I will therefore yoke
him in the mill, that he may finish the grinding of the flour: - and so say-
ing, he yoked my brother, and thus he kept him until near morning, when
the owner of the house came, and saw him yoked in the mill, and the miller
flogging him with the whip; and he left him, and retired.
After this, the slave-girl to whom he had been contracted in marriage came
to him early in the morning, and, having unbound him from the mill, said
to him, Both I and my mistress have been distressed by this which hath be-
fallen thee, and we have participated in the burden of thy sorrow. But he
had no tongue wherewith to answer, by reason of the severity of the flogging.
He then returned to his house; and lo, the sheykh who had performed the
marriage-contract came and saluted him, saying, May God prolong thy
May thy marriage be blessed! May God not preserve the liar! re-
turned my brother: thou thousandfold villain! By Allah, I went only to
turn the mill in the place of the bull until the morning. Tell me thy story,
said the sheykh: and my brother told him what had happened to him:
upon which the sheykh said, Thy star agreeth not with hers: but if thou
desire that I should change for thee the mode of the contract, I will change
it for another better than it, that thy star may agree with hers. See then,
replied my brother, if thou hast any other contrivance to employ.
--
My brother then left him, and repaired again to his shop, hoping that
somebody might give him some work, with the profit of which he might
obtain his food; and lo, the slave-girl came to him. She had conspired with
her mistress to play him this trick, and said to him, Verily, my mistress is
longing for thee, and she hath gone up to look at thy face from the win-
dow. And my brother had scarcely heard these words when she looked
out at him from the window, and, weeping, said, Wherefore hast thou cut
short the intercourse between us and thee? But he returned her no answer:
so she swore to him that all that had happened to him in the mill was not
with her consent; and when my brother beheld her beauty and loveliness,
the troubles that had befallen him became effaced from his memory, and
he accepted her excuse, and rejoiced at the sight of her. He saluted her,
therefore, and conversed with her, and then sat a while at his work; after
which the slave-girl came to him, and said, My mistress saluteth thee, and
informeth thee that her husband hath determined to pass this next night in
the house of one of his intimate friends; wherefore, when he hath gone.
thither, do thou come to her.
Now the husband of the young woman had said to her, How shall we
contrive when he cometh to thee that I may take him and drag him before
the Walee? She replied, Let me then play him a trick, and involve him in
a disgrace for which he shall be paraded throughout this city as an example
to others: - and my brother knew nothing of the craftiness of women.
Accordingly, at the approach of evening, the slave-girl came to him, and,
taking him by the hand, returned with him to her mistress, who said to
him, Verily, O my master, I have been longing for thee. Hasten then,
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163
said he, to give me a kiss, first of all. And his words were not finished,
when the young woman's husband came in from his neighbour's house, and,
seizing my brother, exclaimed to him, By Allah, I will not loose thee but in
the presence of the chief magistrate of the police. My brother humbled
himself before him; but, without listening to him, he took him to the house
of the Wálee, who flogged him with whips, and mounted him upon a camel,
and conveyed him through the streets of the city, the people crying out,
This is the recompense of him who breaketh into the hareems of others!
and he fell from the camel, and his leg broke: so he became lame. The
Walee then banished him from the city; and he went forth, not knowing
whither to turn his steps: but I, though enraged, overtook him, and
brought him back; and I have taken upon myself to provide him with meat
and drink unto the present day.
The Khaleefeh laughed at my story, and exclaimed, Thou hast spoken
well: - but I replied, I will not accept this honour until thou hast listened
to me while I relate to thee what happened to the rest of my brothers; and
think me not a man of many words. Tell me, said the Khaleefeh, what hap-
pened to all thy brothers, and grace my ears with these nice particulars: I
beg thee to employ exuberance of diction in thy relation of these pleasant
tales.
---
How El-Heddár Lost His Beard
So I said, Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that my second brother,"
whose name was El-Heddár,75 was going one day to transact some business,
when an old woman met him, and said to him, O man, stop a little, that
I may propose to thee a thing, which, if it please thee, thou shalt do for me.
My brother, therefore, stopped; and she said to him, I will guide thee to
a thing, and rightly direct thee to it, on the condition that thy words be
not many. So he said, Communicate what thou hast to tell me: - and
she proceeded thus: - What sayest thou of a handsome house, with run-
ning water, and fruit and wine, and a beautiful face to behold, and a smooth
cheek to kiss, and an elegant form to embrace; and to enjoy all these
pleasures without interruption? Now, if thou wilt act agreeably with the
condition that I have imposed upon thee, thou wilt see prosperity. When
my brother had heard her words, he said to her, O my mistress, how is it
that thou hast sought me out in preference to all the rest of the creation for
this affair; and what is there in me that hath pleased thee? She replied,
Did I not say to thee that thou must not be a person of many words? Be
silent then, and come with me.
The old woman then went her way, my brother following her, eager to
enjoy the pleasures which she had described to him, until they had entered
a spacious house, when she went up with him to an upper story, and my
brother perceived that he was in a beautiful palace, in which he beheld
four damsels, than whom none more lovely had ever been seen, singing with
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voices that would charm a heart as insensible as stone. One of these
damsels drank a cup of wine; and my brother said to her, May it be at-
tended with health and vigour! and advanced to wait upon her; but she
prevented his doing so, giving him to drink a cup of wine; and as soon as
he had drunk it, she slapped him on his neck. When he found that she
treated him thus, he went out from the chamber in anger, and with many
words; but the old woman, following him, made a sign to him with her eye
that he should return: so he returned, and seated himself, without speaking;
and upon this, the damsel slapped him again upon the back of his neck until
he became senseless; after which, recovering, he withdrew again.
The old woman, however, overtook him, and said to him, Wait a little,
and thou shalt attain thy wish. - How many times, said he, shall I wait a
little before I attain it? The old woman answered, When she hath become
exhilarated with wine thou shalt obtain her favour. He therefore returned
to his place, and resumed his seat. All the four damsels then arose, and
the old woman directed them to divest my brother of his outer clothes, and
to sprinkle some rose-water upon his face; and when they had done so, the
most beautiful one among them said to him, May Allah exalt thee to
honour! Thou hast entered my abode, and if thou have patience to sub-
mit to my requisitions, thou wilt attain thy wish. - O my mistress, he re-
plied, I am thy slave, and under thy authority. Know then, said she, that
I am devotedly fond of frolic and he who complieth with my demands will
obtain my favour. Then she ordered the other damsels to sing and they sang
so that their hearts were in an ecstasy; after which the chief lady said to
one of the other damsels, Take thy master, and do what is required, and
bring him back to me immediately.
Accordingly, she took him away, ignorant of that which she was about
to do; and the old woman came to him, and said, Be patient; for there re-
maineth but little to do. He then turned towards the damsel, and the old
woman said to him, Be patient: thou hast almost succeeded, and there re-
maineth but one thing, which is, to shave thy beard. - How, said he, shall
I do that which will disgrace me among the people? The old woman an-
swered, She desireth this only to make thee like a beardless youth, that there
may be nothing on thy face to prick her; for her heart is affected with a
violent love for thee. Be patient, therefore, and thou shalt attain thy de-
sire. So my brother patiently submitted to the damsel's directions: his
beard was shaven, and he was shorn also of his eyebrows and mustaches,
and his face was painted red, before the damsel took him back to the chief
lady, who, when she saw him, was at first frightened at him, and then
laughed until she fell backwards, and exclaimed, O my master, thou hast
gained me by these proofs of thine amiable manners! She then conjured.
him by her life to arise and dance; and he did so; and there was not a single
cushion in the chamber that she did not throw at him.
-
In like manner also the other damsels threw at him various things, such
as oranges, and limes, and citrons, until he fell down senseless from the
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
165
pelting, while they slapped him incessantly upon the back of his neck, and
cast things in his face. But at length the old woman said to him, Now
thou hast attained thy wish. Know that there remaineth to thee no more
beating, nor doth there remain for thee to do more than one thing, namely,
this: it is her custom, when she is under the influence of wine, to suffer no
one to come near her until she hath taken off her outer clothes; thou, being
prepared in like manner, must run after her, and she will run before thee
as though she were flying from thee; but cease not to follow her from place
to place until thou overtake her. He arose, therefore, and did so: the lady
ran before, and as he followed her, she passed from chamber to chamber, and
he still ran after her. At last he heard her utter a slight sound as she ran
before him, and, continuing his pursuit, he suddenly found himself in the
midst of the street.
This street was in the market of the leather-sellers, who were then cry-
ing skins for sale; and when the people there collected saw him in this condi-
tion, almost naked, with shaven beard and eyebrows and mustaches, and
with his face painted red, they shouted at him, and raised a loud laugh, and
some of them beat him with the skins until he became insensible. They
then placed him upon an ass, and conducted him to the Wálee, who ex-
claimed, What is this? They answered, This descended upon us from
the house of the Wezeer, in this condition. And the Wálee inflicted upon
him a hundred lashes, and banished him from the city; but I went out after
him, and brought him back privately into the city, and allowed him a main-
tenance. Had it not been for my generous disposition, I had not borne with
such a person.
How Bakbak Was Robbed of His Wealth
As to my third brother (the blind man, Bakbak), who was also sur-
named Kuffeh,76 fate and destiny impelled him one day to a large house,
and he knocked at the door, hoping that its master would answer him, and
that he might beg of him a trifle. The owner called out, Who is at the
door? - but my brother answered not; and then heard him call with a loud
voice, Who is this? Still, however, he returned him no answer; and he
heard the sounds of his footsteps approaching until he came to the door and
opened it, when he said to him, What dost thou desire? My brother an-
swered, Something for the sake of God, whose name be exalted!
Art thou blind? said the man; and my brother answered, Yes. - Then
give me thy hand, rejoined the master of the house; so my brother
stretched forth to him his hand, and the man took him into the house, and
led him up from stair-case to stair-case until he had ascended to the highest
platform of the roof: my brother thinking that he was going to give him
some food or money; and when he had arrived at this highest terrace of
his house, the owner said, What dost thou desire, O blind man! — I desire
something, he answered again, for the sake of God, whose name be exalted!
-May God, replied the man, open to thee some other way! - What is this!
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
exclaimed my brother: couldst thou not tell me so when I was below?
Thou vilest of the vile! retorted the other: why didst thou not ask of me
something for the sake of God when thou heardest my voice the first time,
when thou wast knocking at the door? What then, said my brother, dost
thou mean to do to me? - The man of the house answered, I have nothing
to give thee. Then take me down the stairs, said my brother. The man
replied, The way is before thee. So my brother made his way to the stairs,
and continued descending until there ren.ained, between him and the door,
twenty steps, when his foot slipped and he fell, and, rolling down, broke his
head."
--
He went forth, not knowing whither to direct his steps, and presently
there met him two blind men, his companions, who said to him, What hath
happened to thee this day? My brother, therefore, related to them the
event that had just befallen him: and then said to them, O my brothers, I
desire to take a portion of the money now in our possession, to expend it
upon myself. Now the owner of the house which he had just before
entered had followed him to acquaint himself with his proceedings, and
without my brother's knowledge he walked behind him until the latter
entered his abode; when he went in after him, still unknown. My brother
then sat waiting for his companions; and when they came in to him, he said
to them, Shut the door, and search the room, lest any stranger have followed
us. When the intruder, therefore, heard what he said, he arose, and clung
to a rope that was attached to the ceiling; and the blind men went feeling
about the whole of the chamber, and, finding no one, returned and seated
themselves by my brother, and brought forth their money, and counted it;
and lo, it was more than ten thousand pieces of silver.
Having done this, they laid it in a corner of the room, and each of them
took of the surplus of that sum as much as he wanted, and they buried the
ten thousand pieces of silver in the earth; after which, they placed before
themselves some food, and sat eating; but my brother heard the sound of a
stranger by his side, and said to his friends, Is there a stranger among us?
Then stretching forth his hand, it grasped the hand of the intruder;
whereupon he cried out to his companions, saying, Here is a stranger! -
and they fell upon him with blows until they were tired, when they
shouted out, O Muslims! 78 a thief hath come in upon us, and desireth to
take our property! -- and immediately a number of persons collected around
them.
Upon this, the stranger whom they accused of being a thief shut his eyes,
feigned to be blind like themselves, so that no one who saw him doubted
him to be so; and shouted, O Muslims! I demand protection of Allah and
the Sultán! I demand protection of Allah and the Wálee! I demand
protection of Allah and the Emeer! for I have important information to give
to the Emeer! and before they could collect their thoughts, the officers
of the Walee surrounded them and took them all, including my brother, and
conducted them before their master. The Walee said, What is your story?
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167
and the stranger replied, Hear my words, O Wálee; the truth of our case
will not become known to thee but by means of beating; 79 and if thou wilt,
begin by beating me before my companions.
-
The Walee therefore said, Throw down this man, and flog him with
whips: and accordingly they threw him down and flogged him; and when
the stripes tortured him, he opened one of his eyes; and after they had con-
tinued the flogging a little longer, he opened his other eye; upon which the
Walee exclaimed, What meaneth this conduct, O thou villain? - Grant me
indemnity, replied the man, and I will acquaint thee: and the Wálee hav-
ing granted this request, he said, We four pretend that we are blind, and,
intruding among other people, enter their houses, and see their women, and
employ stratagems to corrupt them, and to obtain money from them. We
have acquired, by these means, vast gain, amounting to ten thousand pieces
of silver; and I said to my companions, Give me my due, two thousand and
five hundred; and they rose against me and beat me, and took my property.
I beg protection, therefore, of Allah and of thee; and thou art more de-
serving of my share than they. If thou desire to know the truth of that
which I have said, flog each of them more than thou hast flogged me, and
he will open his eyes.
So the Wálee immediately gave orders to flog them, and the first of them
who suffered was my brother. They continued beating him until he almost
died; when the Wálee said to them, O ye scoundrels! do ye deny the gra-
cious gift of God, feigning yourselves to be blind? My brother exclaimed,
Alláh! Alláh! Alláh! there is none among us who seeth! - They then
threw him down again, and ceased not to beat him until he became in-
sensible, when the Wálee said, Leave him until he shall have recovered, and
then give him a third flogging: - and in the meantime, he gave orders to
flog his companions, to give each of them more than three hundred stripes;
while the seeing man said to them, Open your eyes, or they will flog you
again after this time. Then addressing himself to the Wálee, he said, Send
with me some person to bring thee the property; for these men will not open
their eyes, fearing to be disgraced before the spectators.
And the Wálee sent with him a man, who brought him the money; and
he took it, and gave to the informer, out of it, two thousand and five hundred
pieces of silver, according to the share which he claimed, in spite of the
others (retaining the rest), and banished from the city my brother and the
two other men; but I went forth, O Prince of the Faithful, and, having
overtaken my brother, asked him respecting his sufferings; and he acquainted
me with that which I have related unto thee. I then brought him back
secretly into the city, and allotted him a supply of food and drink as long as
he lived.
The Khaleefeh laughed at my story, and said, Give him a present, and
let him go: but I replied, I will receive nothing until I have declared to
the Prince of the Faithful what happened to the rest of my brothers, and
made it manifest to him that I am a man of few words: whereupon the
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Khaleefeh said, Crack our ears, then, with thy ridiculous stories, and con-
tinue to us thy disclosure of vices and misdeeds. So I proceeded thus:
How El-Kooz Was Confounded by a Sorcerer
My fourth brother, O Prince of the Faithful, was the one-eyed (named
El-Kooz el-Aswánee): he was a butcher in Baghdád, and both sold meat
and reared lambs; and the great and the rich had recourse to him to purchase
of him their meat; so that he amassed great wealth, and became possessor
of cattle and houses. Thus he continued to prosper for a long time; and as
he was in his shop, one day, there accosted him an old man with a long
beard, who handed to him some money, saying, Give me some meat for it.
So he took the money, and gave him the meat; and when the old man had
gone away, my brother looked at the money which he had paid him, and,
seeing that it was of a brilliant whiteness, put it aside by itself. This old
man continued to repair to him during a period of five months, and my
brother always threw his money into a chest by itself; after which period
he desired to take it out for the purpose of buying some sheep; but on
opening the chest, he found all the contents converted into white paper,
clipped round; and he slapped his face, and cried out; whereupon a number
of people collected around him, and he related to them his story, at which
they were astonished.
He then went again, as usual, into his shop, and, having killed a ram,
and hung it up within the shop, he cut off some of the meat, and suspended
it outside, saying within himself, Perhaps now this old man will come again,
and if so, I will seize him: - and very soon after, the old man approached
with his money; upon which my brother arose, and, laying hold upon him,
began to cry out, O Muslims, come to my aid, and hear what this scoundrel
hath done unto me! But when the old man heard his words, he said to
him, Which will be more agreeable to thee that thou abstain from dis-
gracing me, or that I disgrace thee, before the people? For what wilt thou
disgrace me? said my brother. The old man answered, For thy selling human
flesh for mutton. Thou liest, thou accursed! exclaimed my brother.
None is accursed, rejoined the old man, but he who hath a man suspended
in his shop. My brother said, If it be as thou hast asserted, my property and
blood shall be lawful to thee: - and immediately the old man exclaimed,
O ye people here assembled; verily this butcher slaughtereth human beings,
and selleth their flesh for mutton; and if ye desire to know the truth of my
assertion, enter his shop!
---
So the people rushed upon his shop, and beheld the ram converted into
a man, hung up; and they laid hold upon my brother, crying out against him,
Thou infidel! Thou scoundrel! - and those who had been his dearest
friends turned upon him and beat him; and the old man gave him a blow
upon his eye, and knocked it out. The people then carried the carcass, and
took with them my brother, to the chief magistrate of the police; and the
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169
old man said to him, O Emeer, this man slaughtereth human beings, and
selleth their flesh for mutton; and we have therefore brought him to thee:
arise, then, and perform the requisition of God, whose might and glory be
extolled! Upon this, the magistrate thrust back my brother from him,
and, refusing to listen to what he would have said, ordered that five hundred
blows of a staff should be inflicted upon him, and took all his property.
Had it not been for the great amount of his wealth, he had put him to
death.s⁰ He then banished him from the city.
My brother, therefore, went forth in a state of distraction, not knowing
what course to pursue; but he journeyed onwards until he arrived at a great
city, where he thought fit to settle as a shoe-maker: so he opened a shop, and
sat there working for his subsistence. And one day he went forth on some
business, and, hearing the neighing of horses, he inquired respecting the
cause, and was told that the King was going forth to hunt; whereupon he
went to amuse himself with the sight of the procession: but the King hap-
pening to look on one side, his eye met that of my brother, and immediately
he hung down his head, and exclaimed, I seek refuge with God from the evil
of this day! He then turned aside the bridle of his horse, and rode back,
and all his troops returned with him; after which, he ordered his pages to
run after my brother, and to beat him; and they did so; giving him so severe
a beating that he almost died; and he knew not the cause. He returned
to his abode in a miserable plight, and afterwards went and related his mis-
fortune to one of the King's attendants, who laughed at the recital until
he fell backwards, and said to him, O my brother, the King cannot endure
the sight of a one-eyed person, and especially when the defect is that of
the left eye; 81 for in this case, he faileth not to put the person to death.
When my brother heard these words, he determined to fly from that
city; and forthwith departed from it, and repaired to another city, where
there was no King. Here he remained a long time; and after this, as he
was meditating upon his adventure in the former city, he went out one day to
amuse himself, and heard again the neighing of horses behind him; upon
which he exclaimed, The decree of God hath come to pass! and ran away
seeking for a place in which to conceal himself; but he found none, until,
continuing his search, he saw a door set up as a barricade: so he pushed this,
and it fell down; and entering the doorway, he beheld a long passage, into
which he advanced. Suddenly, however, two men laid hold upon him, and
exclaimed, Praise be to God who hath enabled us to take thee, O thou enemy
of God! For these three nights thou hast suffered us to enjoy neither quiet.
nor sleep, and we have found no repose: nay, thou hast given us a foretaste
of death! - O men, said my brother, what hath happened unto you? They
answered, Thou keepest a watch upon us, and desirest to disgrace us, and
to disgrace the master of the house! Is it not enough for thee that thou
hast reduced him to poverty, thou and thy companion? Produce now the
knife wherewith thou threatenest us every night. And so saying, they
searched him, and found upon his waist the knife with which he cut the
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
shoe-leather. O men, he exclaimed, fear God in your treatment of me
and know that my story is wonderful. They said, What then is thy story?
11
So he related it to them, in the hope that they would liberate him: but they i
believed not what he said; and, instead of shewing him any regard, they
beat him, and tore his clothes; whereupon, his body becoming exposed to
their view, they discovered upon his sides the marks of beating with mik-
ra'ahs, and exclaimed, O wretch! these scars bear testimony to thy guilt.
They then conducted him before the Wálee, while he said within himself,
I am undone for my transgressions, and none can deliver me but God, whose
name be exalted! And when he was brought before the Wálee, the magis-
trate said to him, O thou scoundrel! nothing but a heinous crime hath occa-
sioned thy having been beaten with mikra'ahs: and he caused a hundred
lashes to be inflicted upon him; after which, they mounted him upon a camel,
and proclaimed before him, This is the recompense of him who breaketh into
men's houses! But I had already heard of his misfortunes, and gone forth,
and found him; and I accompanied him about the city while they were
making this proclamation, until they left him; when I took him, and brought
him back secretly into Baghdad and apportioned him a daily allowance of
food and drink.
How El-Feshshár Cheated the Sharpers 82
My fifth brother (El Feshshár 83) was cropped of his ears, O Prince of
the Faithful. He was a pauper, who begged alms by night, and subsisted
upon what he thus acquired by day: and our father was a very old man,
and he fell sick and died, leaving to us seven hundred pieces of silver, of
which each of us took his portion; namely, a hundred pieces. Now my
fifth brother, when he had received his share, was perplexed, not knowing
what to do with it; but while he was in this state, it occurred to his mind
to buy with it all kinds of articles of glass, and to sell them and make profit;
so he bought glass with his hundred pieces of silver, and put it in a large
tray, and sat upon an elevated place, to sell it, leaning his back against a
wall.
And as he sat, he meditated, and said with himself, Verily my whole
stock consisteth of this glass: I will sell it for two hundred pieces of silver;
and with the two hundred I will buy other glass, which I will sell for four
hundred; and thus I will continue buying and selling until I have acquired
great wealth. Then with this I will purchase all kinds of merchandise and
essences and jewels, and so obtain vast gain. After that, I will buy a hand-
some house, and memlooks, and horses, and gilded saddles; and I will eat
and drink; and I will not leave in the city a single female singer but I will
have her brought to my house that I may hear her songs. - All this he
calculated with the tray of glass lying before him. Then, said he, I will
send all the female betrothers to seek in marriage for me the daughters of
Kings and Wezeers; and I will demand as my wife the daughter of the chief
Wezeer; $4 for I have heard that she is endowed with perfect beauty and
84
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
171
surprising loveliness: and I will give as her dowry a thousand pieces of
gold. If her father consent, my wish is attained; and if he consent not, I
will take her by force, in spite of him: and when I have come back to my
house, I will buy ten young eunuchs, and I will purchase the apparel of
Kings and Sultáns, and cause to be made for me a saddle of gold set with
jewels: after which I will ride every day upon a horse, with slaves behind
me and before me, 85 and go about through the streets and markets to amuse
myself, while the people will salute me and pray for me.86
Then I will pay a visit to the Wezeer, who is the father of the maiden,
with memlooks behind me and before me, and on my right hand and on
my left; and when he seeth me, he will rise to me, in humility, and seat me
in his own place; and he himself will sit down below me,87 because I am his
son-in-law. I will then order one of the servants to bring a purse containing
the pieces of gold which compose the dowry; and he will place it before the
Wezeer; and I will add to it another purse, that he may know my manly
spirit and excessive generosity, and that the world is contemptible in my
eye: and when he addresseth me with ten words, I will answer him with two.
And I will return to my house; and when any person cometh to me from
the house of the Wezeer, I will clothe him with a rich dress: but if any
come with a present, I will return it: I will certainly not accept it.88
Then, on the night of the bridal display, I will attire myself in the most
magnificent of my dresses, and sit upon a mattress covered with silk; and
when my wife cometh to me, like the full moon, decked with her ornaments
and apparel, I will command her to stand before me as stands the timid and
the abject; and I will not look at her, on account of the haughtiness of my
spirit and the gravity of my wisdom; so that the maids will say, O our
master and our lord, may we be thy sacrifice! This thy wife, or rather thy
handmaid, awaiteth thy kind regard, and is standing before thee: then gra-
ciously bestow on her one glance; for the posture hath become painful to
her.89 - Upon this, I will raise my head, and look at her with one glance,
and again incline my head downwards; and thus I will do until the cere-
mony of displaying her is finished; whereupon they will conduct her to the
sleeping-chamber; and I will rise from my place, and go to another apart-
ment, and put on my night-dress, and go to the chamber in which she is
sitting, where I will seat myself upon the deewán; but I will not look towards
her. The tire-women will urge me to approach her; but I will not hear their
words, and will order some of the attendants to bring a purse containing five
hundred pieces of gold for them, and command them to retire from the
chamber.99 And when they have gone, I will seat myself by the side of the
bride; but with averted countenance, that she may say, Verily this is a man.
of a haughty spirit.
Then her mother will come to me, and will kiss my hands, and say to
me, O my master, look upon thy handmaid with the eye of mercy; for she
is submissively standing before thee. But I will return her no answer. And
she will kiss my feet, again and again, and will say, O my master, my
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
daughter is young, and hath seen no man but thee; and if she experience
from thee repugnance, her heart will break: incline to her, therefore, and
speak to her, and calm her mind. And upon this I will look at her through
the corner of my eye, and command her to remain standing before me, that
she may taste the savour of humiliation, and know that I am the Sultán
of the age. Then her mother will say to me, O my master, this is thy hand-
maid: have compassion upon her, and be gracious to her: - and she will
order her to fill a cup with wine, and to put it to my mouth. So her daugh-
ter will say, O my lord, I conjure thee by Allah that thou reject not the cup
from thy slave; for verily I am thy slave. But I will make her no reply;
and she will urge me to take it, and will say, It must be drunk: and will
put it to my mouth: and upon this, I will shake my hand in her face, and
spurn her with my foot, and do thus. So saying, he kicked the tray of
glass, which, being upon a place elevated above the ground, fell, and all that
was in it broke: there escaped nothing: and he cried out and said, All this is
the result of my pride! And he slapped his face, and tore his clothes; the
passengers gazing at him, while he wept, and exclaimed, Ah! O my grief!
-
The people were now repairing to perform the Friday-prayers; and
some merely cast their eyes at him, while others noticed him not: but while
he was in this state, deprived of his whole property, and weeping without in-
termission, a female approached him, on her way to attend the Friday-pray-
ers: she was of admirable loveliness; the odour of musk was diffused from
her; under her was a mule with a stuffed saddle covered with gold-embroid-
ered silk; and with her was a number of servants; and when she saw the
broken glass, and my brother's state and his tears, she was moved with pity
for him, and asked respecting his case. She was answered, He had a tray
of glass, by the sale of which to obtain his subsistence, and it is broken,
and he is afflicted as thou seest: - and upon this, she called to one of the
servants, saying, Give what thou hast with thee to this poor man. So he
gave him a purse, and he took it, and when he had opened it, he found in it
five hundred pieces of gold, whereupon he almost died from excessive joy,
and offered up prayers for his benefactress.
He returned to his house a rich man, and sat reflecting, and lò, a person
knocked at the door: he rose, therefore, and opened it; and beheld an old
woman whom he knew not, and she said to him, O my son, know that the
time of prayer hath almost expired, and I am not prepared by ablution;
wherefore I beg that thou wilt admit me into thy house, that I may perform
it. He replied, I hear and obey; and, retiring within, gave her permission
to enter; his mind still wondering from joy on account of the gold; and when
she had finished the ablution, she approached the spot where he was sitting,
and there performed the prayers of two rek'ahs. She then offered up a
supplication for my brother; and he thanked her, and offered her two pieces
of gold; but when she saw this, she exclaimed, Extolled be God's perfec-
tion! Verily I wonder at the person who fell in love with thee in thy beg-
garly condition!
Take back thy money from me, and if thou want it not,
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
173
-
return it to her who gave it thee when thy glass broke. O my mother,
said he, how can I contrive to obtain access to her? She answered, O my
son, she hath an affection for thee; but she is the wife of an affluent man;
take then with thee all thy money, and when thou art with her be not de-
ficient in courteousness and agreeable words; so shalt thou obtain of her
favours and her wealth whatever thou shalt desire.
My brother, therefore, took all the gold, and arose and went with the
old woman, hardly believing what she had told him; and she proceeded, and
my brother behind her, until they arrived at a great door, at which she
knocked; whereupon a Greek damsel came and opened the door, and the old
woman entered, ordering my brother to do the same. He did so, and found
himself in a large house, where he beheld a great furnished chamber, with
curtains hung in it; and, seating himself there, he put down the gold before
him, and placed his turban on his knees; 91 and scarcely had he done so,
when there came to him a damsel, the like of whom had never been seen,
attired in most magnificent apparel. My brother stood up at her approach;
and when she beheld him, she laughed in his face, and rejoiced at his visit:
then going to the door, she locked it; after which she returned to my brother,
and took his hand, and both of them went together into a private chamber,
carpeted with various kinds of silk, where my brother sat down, and she
seated herself by his side, and toyed with him for a considerable time.
She then rose, saying to him, Move not from this place until I return to
thee;
and was absent from him for a short period; and as my brother
was waiting for her, there came in to him a black slave, of gigantic stature,
with a drawn sword, the brightness of which dazzled the sight; and he ex-
claimed to my brother, Wo to thee! Who brought thee to this place? Thou
vilest of men! Thou misbegotten wretch, and nursling of impurity! - My
brother was unable to make any reply; his tongue was instantly tied; and
the slave laid hold upon him, and stripped him, and struck him more than
eighty blows with the flat of his sword, until he fell sprawling upon the floor;
when he retired from him, concluding that he was dead, and uttered a great
cry, so that the earth trembled, and the place resounded at his voice, saying,
Where is El-Meleehah? 92 upon which a girl came to him, holding a hand-
some tray containing salt; and with this she forthwith stuffed the flesh-
wounds with which my brother's skin was gashed until they gaped open;
but he moved not, fearing the slave would discover that he was alive, and
kill him. The girl then went away, and the slave uttered another cry, like
the first, whereupon the old woman came to my brother, and, dragging him
by the feet to a deep and dark vault, threw him into it upon a heap of slain.93
In this place he remained for two whole days; and God (whose perfection
be extolled!) made the salt to be the means of preserving his life, by stanch-
ing the flow of blood from his veins; so, when he found that he had strength
sufficient to move, he arose, and, opening a shutter in the wall, emerged from
the place of the slain; and God (to whom be ascribed all might and glory!)
granted him his protection. He therefore proceeded in the darkness, and
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
concealed himself in the passage until the morning, when the old woman
went forth to seek another victim, and my brother, going out after her, with-
out her knowledge, returned to his house.
He now occupied himself with the treatment of his wounds until he was
restored; and continued to watch for the old woman, and constantly saw her
taking men, one after another, and conducting them to the same house. But
he uttered not a word on the subject; and when his health returned, and his
strength was completely renewed, he took a piece of rag, and made of it a
purse, which he filled with pieces of glass: he then tied it to his waist, and
disguised himself so that no one would know him, in the dress of a foreigner;
and, taking a sword, placed it within his clothes; and as soon as he saw the
old woman, he said to her, in the dialect of a foreigner, Old woman, hast
thou a pair of scales fit for weighing nine hundred pieces of gold? The old
woman answered, I have a young son, a money-changer, and he hath all
kinds of scales; therefore accompany me to him before he go forth from his
abode, that he may weigh for thee thy gold.
-
So my brother said, Walk on before me: and she went, and my brother
followed her until she arrived at the door, and knocked; upon which the
girl came out, and laughed in his face; and the old woman said to her, I
have brought you to-day some fat meat. The girl then took my brother's
hand, and conducted him into the house (the same which he had entered
before), and after she had sat with him a short time, she rose, saying to him,
Quit not this place until I return to thee: - and she retired; and my brother
had remained not long after when the slave came to him with the drawn
sword, and said to him, Rise, thou unlucky! So my brother rose, and, as
the slave walked before him, he put his hand to the sword which was con-
cealed beneath his clothes, and struck the slave with it, and cut off his head;
after which he dragged him by his feet to the vault, and called out, Where
is El-Meleehah? The slave-girl, therefore, came, having in her hand the
tray containing the salt; but when she saw my brother with the sword in
his hand, she turned back and fled: my brother, however, overtook her, and
struck off her head.
-
He then called out, Where is the old woman? and she came; and he said
to her, Dost thou know me, O malevolent hag? She answered, No, O my
lord. I am, said he, the man who had the pieces of gold, and in whose
house thou performedst the ablution and prayedst; after which, devising a
stratagem against me, thou betrayedst me into this place. The old woman
exclaimed, Fear God in thy treatment of me! - but my brother, turning to-
wards her, struck her with the sword, and clove her in twain. He then went
to search for the chief damsel, and when she saw him, her reason fled, and
she implored his pardon; whereupon he granted her his pardon, and said to
her, What occasioned thy falling into the hands of this black? She an-
swered, I was a slave to one of the merchants, and this old woman used to
visit me; and one day she said to me, We are celebrating a festivity, the like
of which no one hath seen, and I have a desire that thou shouldst witness
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
175
---
it. I replied, I hear and obey: - and arose, and clad myself in the best of
my attire, and, taking with me a purse containing a hundred pieces of gold,"4
proceeded with her until she entered this house, when suddenly this black took
me, and I have continued with him in this state three years, through the
stratagem of the old witch. My brother then said to her, Is there any
property of his in the house? - Abundance, she answered; and if thou canst.
remove it, do so: and upon this, he arose and went with her, when she
opened to him chests filled with purses, at the sight of which he was con-
founded; and she said to him, Go now, and leave me here, and bring some
person to remove the property. So he went out, and, having hired ten men,
returned; but on his arrival at the door, he found it open, and saw neither
the damsel nor the purses; he found, however, some little money remaining,
and the stuffs. He discovered, therefore, that she had eluded him; and he
took the money that remained, and, opening the closets, took all the stuffs
which they contained, leaving nothing in the house.
He passed the next night full of happiness; but when the morning came,
he found at the door twenty soldiers, and on his going forth to them, they
laid hold upon him, saying, The Walee summoneth thee. So they took him,
and conducted him to the Wálee, who, when he saw him, said to him, Whence
obtainedst thou these stuffs? - Grant me indemnity, said my brother: -
and the Walee gave him the handkerchief of indemnity: 95 and my brother
related to him all that had befallen him with the old woman from first to
last, and the flight of the damsel; adding, — and of that which I have taken,
take thou what thou wilt; but leave me wherewith to procure my food. The
Walee thereupon demanded the whole of the money and the stuffs; but fear-
ing that the Sultán 96 might become acquainted with the matter, he retained
a portion only, and gave the rest to my brother, saying to him, Quit this
city, or I will hang thee. My brother replied, I hear and obey: - and
went forth to one of the surrounding cities. Some robbers, however, came
upon him, and stripped and beat him, and cut off his ears; and I, having
heard of his situation, went forth to him, taking to him some clothes; and
brought him back privily into the city, and supplied him with daily food and
drink.
How Shakálik Tricked the Jester
My sixth brother (Shakálik), O Prince of the Faithful, had his lips cut
off. He was in a state of extreme poverty, possessing nothing of the goods
of this perishable world; and he went forth one day to speak for something
with which to stay his departing spirit, and on his way he beheld a handsome
house, with a wide and lofty vestibule, at the door of which were servants,
commanding and forbidding; whereupon he inquired of one of the persons
standing there, who answered, This house belongeth to a man of the sons
of the Barmekees.97 My brother, therefore, advanced to the door-keepers,
and begged them to give him something; and they said, Enter the door of
the house, and thou wilt obtain what thou desirest of its master.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
So he entered the vestibule, and proceeded through it a while until he
arrived at a mansion of the utmost beauty and elegance, having a garden in
the midst of it, unsurpassed in beauty by anything that had ever been seen:
its floors were paved with marble, and its curtains were hanging around.
knew not in which direction to go; but advanced to the upper extremity;
and there he beheld a man of handsome countenance and beard, who, on
seeing my brother, rose to him, and welcomed him, inquiring respecting his
circumstances. He accordingly informed him that he was in want; and when
the master of the house heard his words, he manifested excessive grief, and,
taking hold of his own clothes, rent them, and exclaimed, Am I in the city,
and thou in it hungry? It is a thing that I cannot endure! Then promis-
ing him every kind of happiness, he said, Thou must stay and partake of my
salt. But my brother replied, O my master, I have not patience to wait;
for I am in a state of extreme hunger.
-
Upon this, the master of the house called out, Boy, bring the basin and
ewer! — and he said, O my guest, advance, and wash thy hand. He then
performed the same motions as if he were washing his hand; and called to
his attendants to bring the table; whereupon they began to come and go as though
they were preparing it; after which the master of the house took my brother,
and sat down with him at this imaginary table and proceeded to move his hands and
lips as if he were eating; saying to my brother, Eat, and be not ashamed,
for thou art hungry, and I know how thou art suffering from the violence of
thy hunger. My brother, therefore, made the same motions, as if he also were
eating, while his host said to him, Eat, and observe this bread and its white-
ness. To this, my brother at first made no reply; but observed in his own
mind, Verily this is a man who loveth to jest with others: - so he said to him,
O my master, in my life I have never seen bread more beautifully white than
this, or any of sweeter taste: on which the host rejoined, This was made
by a female slave of mine whom I purchased for five hundred pieces of gold.
He then called out, Boy, bring to us the sikbáj,98 the like of which is not
found among the dishes of Kings! - and, addressing my brother, he said,
Eat, O my guest; for thou art hungry, vehemently so, and in absolute want of
food. So my brother began to twist about his mouth, and to chew, as in eat-
ing. The master of the house now proceeded to demand different kinds of
viands, one after another; and, though nothing was brought, he continued
ordering my brother to eat. Next he called out, Boy, place before us the
chickens stuffed with pistachio-nuts: and said to his guest, Eat of that
which thou hast never tasted the like. O my master, replied my brother,
verily this dish hath not its equal in sweetness of flavour: - and the host,
thereupon, began to put his hand to my brother's mouth as though he were
feeding him with morsels; and proceeded to enumerate to him the various
different kinds of viands, and to describe their several excellencies; while his
hunger so increased that he longed for a cake of barley-bread. The master
of the house then said to him, Hast thou tasted anything more delicious than
the spices in these dishes?—No, O my master, answered my brother. — Eat
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
177
more then, resumed the host; and be not ashamed. I have eaten enough
of the meats, replied the guest.
-
---
―
So the man of the house called to his attendants to bring the sweets; and
they moved their hands about in the air as if they were bringing them;
whereupon the host said to my brother, Eat of this dish; for it is excellent;
and of these katáïf,99 by my life! and take this one before the sirup runs
from it. May I never be deprived of thee, O my master! exclaimed my
brother, proceeding to inquire of him respecting the abundance of musk in
the katáïf. — This, answered the host, is my usual custom in my house:
they always put for me, in each of the katáïf, a mithkál 100 of musk, and half
a mithkál of ambergris. All this time my brother was moving his head and
mouth, and rolling about his tongue between his cheeks, as if he were enjoy-
ing the sweets. After this, the master of the house called out to his atten-
dants, Bring the dried fruits! - and again they moved about their hands in
the air as though they were doing what he ordered; when he said to my
brother, Eat of these almonds, and of these walnuts, and of these raisins;
and so on; enumerating the various kinds of dried fruits; and added again,
Eat, and be not ashamed. - O my master, replied my brother, I have had
enough, and have not power to eat anything more: - but the host rejoined,
If thou desire, O my guest, to eat more, and to delight thyself with extraordi-
nary dainties, by Allah! by Allah! remain not hungry.
My brother now reflected upon his situation, and upon the manner in
which this man was jesting with him, and said within himself, By Allah, I
will do to him a deed that shall make him repent before God of these actions!
The man of the house next said to his attendants, Bring us the wine: — and,
as before, they made the same motions with their hands in the air as if they
were doing what he commanded; after which he pretended to hand to my
brother a cup, saying, Take this cup, for it will delight thee: — and his guest
replied, O my master, this is of thy bounty: - and he acted with his hand as
though he were drinking it. Hath it pleased thee? said the host. O my
master, answered my brother, I have never seen anything more delicious than
this wine.
-
-
Drink then, rejoined the master of the house, and may it be attended
with benefit and health: and he himself pretended to drink, and to hand
a second cup to my brother, who, after he had affected to drink it, feigned
himself intoxicated, and, taking his host unawares, raised his hand until the
whiteness of his arm-pit appeared, and struck him such a slap upon his neck
that the chamber rang at the blow; and this he followed by a second blow;
whereupon the man exclaimed, What is this, thou vilest of the creation? —
O my master, answered my brother, I am thy slave, whom thou hast
graciously admitted into thine abode, and thou hast fed him with thy pro-
visions, and treated him with old wine, and he hath become intoxicated, and
committed an outrage upon thee; but thou art of too exalted dignity to be
angry with him for his ignorance.
When the master of the house heard these words of my brother, he uttered
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
He
a loud laugh, and said to him, Verily for a long time have I made a game of
men, and jested with all persons accustomed to joking and rudeness, but I
have not seen among them any who could endure this trick, nor any who had
sagacity to conform to all my actions, except thee: now, therefore, I pardon
thee; and be thou my companion in reality, and never relinquish me.
then gave orders to bring a number of the dishes above mentioned, and he
and my brother ate together to satisfaction; after which they removed to the
drinking-chamber, where female slaves like so many moons sang all kinds
of melodies, and played on all kinds of musical instruments. There they
drank until intoxication overcame them: the master of the house treated my
brother as a familiar friend, became greatly attached to him, and clad him
with a costly dress; and on the following morning they resumed their feasting
and drinking. Thus they continued to live for a period of twenty years: the
man then died, and the Sultán 101 seized upon his property, and took posses-
sion of it.
My brother, upon this, went forth from the city, a fugitive; and upon his
way, a party of Arabs 102 came upon him. They made him a captive; and
the man who captured him tortured him with beating, and said to him, By
Allah, purchase thyself of me by wealth, or I will kill thee: - but my
brother, weeping, replied, By Allah, I possess nothing, O Sheykh of the
Arabs; nor do I know the means of obtaining any property: I am thy cap-
tive; I have fallen into thy hands, and do with me what thou wilt. And
immediately the tyrannical Bedawee drew forth from his girdle a broad-
bladed knife (such as, if plunged into the neck of a camel, would cut it
across from one jugular vein to the other), and, taking it in his right hand,
approached my poor brother, and cut off with it his lips; still urging his
demand.
Now this Bedawee had a handsome wife, who, when he was absent, used
to manifest a strong affection for my brother; though he observed a proper
decorum towards her, fearing God (whose name be exalted!); and it hap-
pened, one day, that she had called him, and seated him with her; but while.
they were together, lo, her husband came in upon them; and when he beheld
my brother, he exclaimed, Wo to thee, thou base wretch! Dost thou desire
now to corrupt my wife? Then drawing his knife, he inflicted upon him
another cruel wound; after which he mounted him upon a camel, and, having
cast him upon a mountain, left him there, and went his way. Some trav-
ellers, however, passed by him, and when they discovered him, they gave him
food and drink, and acquainted me with his case: so I went forth to him,
and conveyed him back into the city, and allotted him a sufficient mainte-
nance.
Now I have come unto thee, O Prince of the Faithful, continued the
barber, and feared to return to my house without relating to thee these facts;
for to neglect doing so had been an error. Thus thou hast seen that, although
having six brothers, I am of a more upright character than they. But when
the Prince of the Faithful had heard my story, and all that I had related to
-
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
179
him respecting my brothers, he laughed, and said, Thou hast spoken truth,
0 Sámit (O silent man); thou art a person of few words, and devoid of im-
pertinence; now, however, depart from this city, and take up thine abode in
another. So he banished me from Baghdad; and I journeyed through various
countries, and traversed many regions, until I heard of his death, and of the
succession of another Khaleefeh; when, returning to my city, I met with this
young man, unto whom I did the best of deeds, and who, had it not been
for me, had been slain: yet he hath accused me of that which is not in my
character; for all that he hath related to me, with respect to impertinence,
and loquacity, and dullness, and want of taste, is false, O people.
Continuation of the Tailor's Story
The tailor then proceeded thus: - When we heard the story of the barber,
and were convinced of his impertinence and loquacity, and that the young
man had been treated unjustly by him, we seized hold upon him, and put
him in confinement, and, seating ourselves to keep watch over him, ate and
drank; and the feast was finished in the most agreeable manner.
We re-
mained sitting together until the call to afternoon-prayers, when I went forth,
and returned to my house; but my wife looked angrily at me, and said, Thou
hast been all the day enjoying thy pleasure while I have been sitting at home
sorrowful; now if thou go not forth with me and amuse me for the remainder
of the day, thy refusal will be the cause of my separation from thee. So I
took her and went out with her, and we amused ourselves until nightfall,
when, returning home, we met this humpback, full of drink, and repeating
verses; upon which I invited him to come home with us, and he consented.
I then went forth to buy some fried fish, and having bought it and returned,
we sat down to eat; and my wife took a morsel of bread and a piece of fish,
and put them into his mouth, and choked him, so that he died; whereupon
I took him up, and contrived to throw him into the house of this physician,
and he contrived to throw him into the house of the steward, and the steward
contrived to throw him in the way of the broker. - This is the story of what
happened to me yesterday. Is it not more wonderful than that of the
humpback?
Continuation of the Story of the Humpback
When the King had heard this story, he ordered certain of his chamber-
lains to go with the tailor, and to bring the barber; saying to them, His pres-
ence is indispensable, that I may hear his talk, and it may be the cause of the
deliverance of you all: then we will bury this humpback decently in the earth,
for he hath been dead since yesterday; and we will make him a monument
around his grave, since he hath been the occasion of our acquaintance with
these wonderful stories.
The chamberlains and the tailor soon came back, after having gone to
the place of confinement and brought the barber, whom they placed before
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the King; and when the King beheld him, he saw him to be an old man,
passed his ninetieth year, of dark countenance, and white beard and eye-
brows, with small ears, and long nose, and a haughty aspect. The King
laughed at the sight of him, and said to him, O silent man, I desire that thou
relate to me somewhat of thy stories. —O King of the age, replied the bar-
ber, what is the occasion of the presence of this Christian and this Jew and
this Muslim, and this humpback lying dead among you; and what is the
reason of this assembly? - Wherefore dost thou ask this? said the King.
The barber answered, I ask it in order that the King may know me to be no
impertinent person, nor one who meddleth with that which doth not concern
him, and that I am free from the loquacity of which they accuse me: for I am
fortunate in my characteristic appellation, since they have surnamed me Es-
Sámit; and, as the poet hath said, -
-
Seldom hast thou seen a person honoured with a surname, but thou wilt find, if thou
search, that his character is expressed by it.
The King therefore said, Explain to the barber the case of this humpback,
and what happened to him yesterday evening, and explain to him also what
the Christian hath related, and the Jew and the steward and the tailor. So
they repeated to him the stories of all these persons.
The barber, thereupon, shook his head, saying, By Allah, this is a won-
derful thing! Uncover this humpback, that I may examine him. And
they did so. He then seated himself at his head, and, taking it up, placed
it upon his lap, and looked at his face, and laughed so violently that he fell
backwards, exclaiming, For every death there is a cause; and the death of
this humpback is most wonderful: it is worthy of being registered in the
records, that posterity may be instructed by this event! - The King, aston-
ished at his words, said, O Sámit, explain to us the reason of thy saying this.
-O King, replied the barber, by thy beneficence, life is yet in the hump-
back! He then drew forth from his bosom a pot containing some ointment,
and with this he anointed the neck of the humpback; after which he covered
it up until it perspired; when he took forth an iron forceps, and put it down
his throat, and extracted the piece of fish with its bone, and all the people
saw them. The humpback now sprang upon his feet, and sneezed, and,
recovering his consciousness, drew his hands over his face, and exclaimed,
There is no Deity but God! Mohammad is God's Apostle! God bless and
save him!
and all who were present were astonished at the sight and the
King laughed until he became insensible; as did also the other spectators.
The King exclaimed, By Allah, this accident is wonderful! I have never wit-
nessed anything more strange! - and added, O Muslims! O assembly of
soldiers! have ye ever in the course of your lives seen any one die and after
that come to life? But had not God blessed him with this barber, the hump-
back had been to-day numbered among the people of the other world; for
the barber hath been the means of restoring him to life. They replied,
This is indeed a wonderful thing!
THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK
181
The King then gave orders to record this event; and when they had done
so, he placed the record in the royal library; and he bestowed dresses of
honour upon the Jew and the Christian and the steward; upon each of them,
a costly dress: the tailor he appointed to be his own tailor, granting him
regular allowances, and reconciling him and the humpback with each other:
the humpback he honoured with a rich and beautiful dress, and with similar
allowances, and appointed him his cup-companion; and upon the barber also
he conferred the like favours, rewarding him with a costly dress of honour,
regular allowances, and a fixed salary, and appointing him state-barber, and
his own cup-companion: so they all lived in the utmost happiness and com-
fort until they were visited by the terminator of delights and the separator of
friends.
VI
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL ENEES-EL-JELEES¹
TH
HERE was, in El-Basrah, a certain King who loved the poor and indi-
gent, and regarded his subjects with benevolence; he bestowed of his
wealth upon him who believed in Mohammad (God bless and save him!) and
was such as one of the poets who have written of him hath thus described:
He used his lances as pens; and the hearts of his enemies, as paper; their blood being
his ink:
And hence, I imagine, our forefathers applied to the lance the term Khatteeyeh.❜
4
The name of this King was Mohammad the son of Suleymán Ez-Zeynee;
and he had two Wezeers; one of whom was named El-Mo'een the son of
Sáwee; and the other, El-Fadl the son of Khákán. El-Fadl the son of
Khákán was the most generous of the people of his age, upright in conduct,
so that all hearts agreed in loving him, and the wise complied with his coun-
sel, and all the people supplicated for him length of life; for he was a person.
of auspicious aspect," a preventer of evil and mischief: but the Wezeer El-
Mo'een the son of Sáwee hated others, and loved not good; he was a man
of inauspicious aspect; and in the same degree that the people loved Fadl-ed-
Deen the son of Khákán, so did they abhor El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee, in
accordance with the decree of the Almighty.
Now the King Mohammad the son of Suleymán Ez-Zeynee was sitting one
day upon his throne, surrounded by the officers of his court, and he called to
his Wezeer El-Fadl the son of Khákán, and said to him, I desire a female slave
unsurpassed in beauty by any in her age, of perfect loveliness, and exquisite
symmetry, and endowed with all praiseworthy qualities. Such as this, re-
plied his courtiers, is not to be found for less than ten thousand pieces of gold.
And the Sultan thereupon called out to the treasurer, saying, Carry ten thou-
sand pieces of gold to the house of El-Fadl the son of Khákán. So the
treasurer did as he commanded, and the Wezeer departed, after the Sultán
had ordered him to repair every day to the market, and to commission the
brokers to procure what he had described, and had commanded also that no
female slave of a greater price than one thousand pieces of gold should be
sold without having been shewn to the Wezeer.
The brokers, therefore, sold no female slave without shewing her to him,
and he complied with the King's command, and thus he continued to do for
a considerable time, no slave pleasing him: but on a certain day, one of the
brokers came to the mansion of the Wezeer El-Fadl, and found that he had
182
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
183
mounted to repair to the palace of the King; and he laid hold upon his stir-
rup, and repeated these two verses:
O thou who hast reanimated what was rotten in the state! Thou art the Wezeer ever
aided by Heaven.
Thou hast revived the noble qualities that were extinct among men. May thy conduct
never cease to be approved by God!
He then said, O my master, the female slave for the procuring of whom the
noble mandate was issued hath arrived. The Wezeer replied, Bring her
hither to me. So the man returned, and, after a short absence, came again,
accompanied by a damsel of elegant stature, high-bosomed, with black eye-
lashes, and smooth cheek, and slender waist, and large hips, clad in the
handsomest apparel; the moisture of her lips was sweeter than sirup; her
figure put to shame the branches of the Oriental willow; and her speech was
more soft than the zephyr passing over the flowers of the garden; as one of
her describers hath thus expressed:
Her skin is like silk, and her speech is soft, neither redundant nor deficient:
Her eyes, God said to them, Be
potency of wine.
-
and they were, affecting men's hearts with the
May my love for her grow more warm each night, and cease not until the day of
judgment !
The locks on her brow are dark as night, while her forehead shines like the gleam of
morning.
When the Wezeer beheld her, she pleased him extremely, and he looked
towards the broker, and said to him, What is the price of this damsel?
The broker answered, The price bidden for her hath amounted to ten thou-
sand pieces of gold, and her owner hath sworn that this sum doth not equal
the cost of the chickens which she hath eaten, nor the cost of the dresses
which she hath bestowed upon her teachers; for she hath learnt writing and
grammar and lexicology, and the interpretation of the Kur-án, and the funda-
mentals of law and religion, and medicine, and the computation of the calen-
dar, and the art of playing upon musical instruments. The Wezeer then said,
Bring to me her master:- and the broker immediately brought him; and
lo, he was a foreigner, who had lived so long that time had reduced him to
bones and skin, as the poet hath said, -
How hath time made me to tremble! For time is powerful and severe.
I used to walk without being weary; but now I am weary and do not walk.
And the Wezeer said to him, Art thou content to receive for this damsel
ten thousand pieces of gold from the Sultán Mohammad the son of Suley-
mán Ez-Zeynee? The foreigner answered, As she is for the Sultán, it is in-
cumbent on me to give her as a present to him, without price. So the
Wezeer, upon this, ordered that the money should be brought, and then
weighed the pieces of gold for the foreigner; after which, the slave-broker
addressed the Wezeer, and said, With the permission of our lord the Wezeer,
184
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
---
I will speak. Impart what thou hast to say, replied the Wezeer. It is
my opinion, then, said the broker, that thou shouldst not take up this damsel
to the Sultán to-day; for she hath just arrived from her journey, and the
change of air hath affected her, and the journey hath fatigued her; but rather
let her remain with thee in thy palace ten days, that she may take rest, and
her beauty will improve: then cause her to be taken into the bath, and attire
her in clothes of the handsomest description, and go up with her to the
Sultán: so shalt thou experience more abundant good fortune. And the
Wezeer considered the advice of the slave-broker, and approved it. He there-
fore took her into his palace, and gave her a private apartment to herself,
allotting her every day what she required of food and drink and other sup-
plies, and she continued a while in this state of enjoyment.
Now the Wezeer El-Fadl had a son like the shining full moon, with bril-
liant countenance, and red cheek, marked with a mole like a globule of amber-
gris, and with grey down. The youth knew not of this damsel, and his father
had charged her, saying, Know that I have purchased thee for the King
Mohammad the son of Suleymán Ez-Zeynee, and that I have a son who hath
not left a girl in the quarter without making love to her: therefore keep thy-
self concealed from him, and beware of shewing him thy face, or suffering
him to hear thy voice. The damsel replied, I hear and obey: - and he
left her and departed. And it happened, as fate had ordained, that she went
one day into the bath which was in the house, and, after certain of the female
slaves had bathed her, she attired herself in rich apparel, and her beauty and
loveliness increased in consequence.
She then went in to the Wezeer's wife, and kissed her hand, and she said
to her, May it be favourable, O Enees-el-Jelees! How didst thou find this
bath? - O my mistress, she answered, I wanted nothing but thy presence
there. And upon this, the mistress of the house said to the female slaves,
Arise, and let us go into the bath. And they complied with her command,
and went, accompanied by their mistress, who first charged two young slave-
girls to keep the door of the private apartment in which was Enees-el-Jelees,
saying to them, Suffer no one to go in to the damsel: - and they replied,
We hear and obey. But while Enees-el-Jelees was sitting in her chamber, lo,
the Wezeer's son, whose name was 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, came in, and asked
after his mother and the family. The two girls answered, They are gone
into the bath.
Now the damsel Enees-el-Jelees heard the speech of 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen
as she sat in her chamber, and she said within herself, I wonder what this
youth is like, of whom the Wezeer hath told me that he hath not left a girl
in the quarter without making love to her: by Allah, I have a desire to see
him. She then rose upon her feet, fresh as she was from the bath, and,
approaching the door of the chamber, looked at 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and
beheld him to be a youth like the full moon. The sight of him occasioned
her a thousand sighs; and a look from the youth, at her, affected him also in
the same manner. Each was caught in the snare of the other's love, and the
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
185
youth approached the two slave-girls, and cried out at them; whereupon they
fled from before him, and stopped at a distance, looking to see what he would
do. He then advanced to the door of the chamber, and, opening it, went in,
and said to the damsel, Art thou she whom my father hath purchased for
me? She answered, Yes.
And upon this, the youth, who was in a state of intoxication, went up to
her, and embraced her, while she, in like manner, threw her arms around his
neck, and kissed him. But the two slave-girls, having seen their young
master enter the chamber of the damsel Enees-el-Jelees, cried out. The
youth, therefore, soon ran forth, and fled for safety, fearing the consequence
of his intrusion; and when the mistress of the house heard the cry of the two
slave-girls, she came out dripping from the bath, saying, What is the cause.
of this cry in the house? And when she drew near to the two slave-girls
whom she had placed at the door of the private chamber, she said to them,
Wo to you! What is the matter? They answered, as soon as they beheld
her, Our master, 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen came to us and beat us, and we fled
from him, and he went into the chamber of Enees-el-Jelees, and when we cried
out to thee he fled. The mistress of the house then went to Enees-el-Jelees,
and said to her, What is the news? - O my mistress, she answered, as I was
sitting here, a youth of handsome person came in to me, and said to me, Art
thou she whom my father hath purchased for me? And I answered, Yes. ———
By Allah, O my mistress, I believed that what he said was true; and he came
up to me and embraced me, and kissed me three times, and he left me over-
come by his love.
Upon this, the mistress of the house wept, and slapped her face, and her
female slaves did the like, fearing for 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, lest his father
should slay him; and while they were in this state, lo, the Wezeer came in, and
inquired what had happened. His wife said to him, Swear that thou wilt
listen to that which I shall say. He replied, Well. So she told him what his
son had done; and he mourned, and rent his clothes, and slapped his face,
and plucked his beard. His wife then said to him, Kill not thyself. I will
give thee, of my own property, ten thousand pieces of gold, her price.
But upon this, he raised his head towards her, and said to her, Wo to thee!
I want not her price; but I fear the loss of my life and my property. -
Wherefore, O my master? she asked. - Knowest thou not, said he, that we
have this enemy El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee? When he heareth of this
event, he will repair to the Sultán, and say to him, Thy Wezeer whom thou
imaginest to love thee hath received from thee ten thousand pieces of gold,
and purchased therewith a female slave such as no one hath seen equalled,
and when she pleased him, he said to his son, Take her! for thou art more
worthy of her than the Sultán: and he took her; and the damsel is now
with him. Then the King will say, Thou liest. And he will say to the
King, With thy permision, I will break in upon him suddenly, and bring her
to thee. And he will give him permission to do so: he will therefore make a
sudden attack upon the house, and take the damsel, and conduct her into
186
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
--
- -
the presence of the Sultán, and he will question her, and she will not be able
to deny: he will then say, O my lord, I give thee good counsel, but I am not
in favour with thee: and the Sultán will make an example of me, and all
the people will make me a gazing-stock, and my life will be lost. His wife,
however, replied, Acquaint no one; for this thing hath happened privily:
commit, therefore, thine affair unto God, in this extremity. And upon this,
the heart of the Wezeer was quieted, and his mind was relieved.
Such was the case of the Wezeer. Now as to Noor-ed-Deen, he feared
the result of his conduct, and so passed each day in the gardens, not return-
ing to his mother until towards the close of the night: he then slept in her
apartment, and rose before morning without being seen by any one else.
Thus he continued to do so for the space of a month, not seeing the face of his
father; and at length his mother said to his father, O my master, wilt thou
lose the damsel and lose the child? For if it long continue thus with the
youth, he will flee his country. And what is to be done? said he. She
answered, Sit up this night, and when he cometh, lay hold upon him, and be
reconciled to him, and give him the damsel; for she loveth him, and he loveth
her; and I will give thee her price. So the Wezeer sat up the whole night,
and when his son came, he laid hold upon him, and would have cut his
throat; but his mother came to his succour, and said to her husband, What
dost thou desire to do unto him? He answered her, I desire to slay him.
The youth then said to his father, Am I of so small account in thy estimation?
And upon this, the eyes of his father filled with tears, and he said to him, O
my son, is the loss of my property and my life of small account with thee?
Listen, O my father, rejoined the youth: —and he implored his forgiveness.
So the Wezeer rose from the breast of his son, and was moved with com-
passion for him; and the youth rose, and kissed his father's hand; and the
Wezeer said, O my son, if I knew that thou wouldst act equitably to Enees-
el-Jelees, I would give her to thee. O my father, replied the youth, where-
fore should I not act equitably towards her? And his father said, I charge
thee, O my son, that thou take not a wife to share her place, and that thou
do her no injury, nor sell her. He replied, O my father, I swear to thee that
I will neither take a wife to share her place, nor sell her: and he promised
him by oaths to act as he had said, and took up his abode with the damsel,
and remained with her a year; and God (whose name be exalted!) caused
the King to forget the affair of the female slave; but the matter became
known to El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee; yet he could not speak of it, on
account of the high estimation in which the other Wezeer was held by the
Sultán.
After this year had expired, the Wezeer Fadl-ed-Deen the son of Khákán
entered the bath, and came out in a state of excessive perspiration, in conse-
quence of which the external air smote him, so that he became confined to his
bed, and long remained sleepless; and his malady continued unremittingly;
so he called, thereupon, his son 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and when he came before
him, said to him, O my son, verily the means of life are apportioned, and its
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
187
-
period is decreed, and every soul must drink the cup of death. I have noth-
ing with which to charge thee but the fear of God, and forethought with re-
gard to the results of thine actions, and that thou conduct thyself kindly to
the damsel Enees-el-Jelees. O my father, said the youth, who is like unto
thee? Thou hast been celebrated for virtuous actions, and the praying of the
preachers for thee on the pulpits. O my son, rejoined the Wezeer, I hope
for the approbation of God, whose name be exalted! And then he pro-
nounced the two professions of the faith, and uttered a sigh, and was recorded
among the company of the blest.
And upon this, the palace was filled with shrieking, and the news reached
the ears of the Sultán and the people of the city heard of the death of El-
Fadl the son of Khákán, and even the boys in the schools wept for him.10
His son 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen arose, and prepared his funeral, and the Emeers
and Wezeers and other officers of the state attended it, and among them was
the Wezeer El-Mo'een the Son of Sáwee; and as the procession passed out
from the mansion, one of the mourners recited these verses:
I said to the man who was appointed to wash him, -Would that he had yielded
obedience to my counsel, -
Put away from him the water and wash him with the tears of honour, shed in lamen-
tation for him:
And remove these fragrant substances collected for his corpse, and perfume him rather
with the odours of his praise:
And order the noble angels to carry him, in honour. Dost thou not behold them at-
tending him?
Cause not men's necks to be strained by bearing him: enough are they laden already
by his benefits."
-
'Alee Noor-ed-Deen for a long time remained in a state of violent grief.
for the loss of his father; but as he was sitting one day in his father's house,
a person knocked at the door, and he rose up and opened it, and lo, there
was a man who was one of his father's intimate companions, and he kissed the
band of Noor-ed-Deen, and said to him, O my master, he who hath left a
son like thee hath not died. This is the destination of the lord of the first
and the last among mankind. 12 O my master, cheer up thy heart, and give
over mourning. And upon this, 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen arose, and went to the
guest-chamber, and removed thither all that he required, and his companions
came together to him, and he took again his slave. Ten of the sons of the
merchants became his associates, and he gave entertainment after entertain-
ment, and began to be lavish with presents. His steward, therefore,
came to him, and said to him, O my master Noor-ed-Deen, hast
thou not heard the saying, He who expendeth and doth not calculate is re-
duced to poverty? This profuse expenditure, and these magnificent presents,
will annihilate the property. But when 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen heard these
words of his steward, he looked at him, and replied, Of all that thou hast said
to me, I will not attend to one word. How excellent is the saying of the
poet:
-
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
If I be possessed of wealth and be not liberal, may my hand never be extended, nor my
foot raised!
Shew me the avaricious who hath attained glory by his avarice, and the munificent
who hath died through his munificence.¹
Know, O Steward, he continued, that if there remain in thy hands what will
suffice for my dinner, thou shalt not burden me with anxiety respecting my
supper. So the steward left him, and went his way; and 'Alee Noor-ed-
Deen resumed his habits of extravagant generosity: whenever any one of his
companions said, Verily this thing is beautiful! he would reply, It is a
present to thee: and if any said, O my master, verily such a house is de-
lightful! he would reply, It is a present to thee.
-
He ceased not to give entertainments to his companions from the com-
mencement of day, one after another, until he passed in this manner a whole
year; after which, as he was sitting with them, he heard the slave-girl recite
these two verses:
Thou thoughtest well of the days when they went well with thee, and fearedst not the
evil that destiny was bringing.
Thy nights were peaceful, and thou wast deceived by them: in the midst of their bright-
ness there cometh gloom.
And immediately after, a person knocked at the door: so Noor-ed-Deen rose,
and one of his companions followed him without his knowledge; and when
he opened the door, he beheld his steward, and said to him, What is the news?
- O my master, answered the steward, that which I feared on thy account
hath happened to thee. How is that? asked Noor-ed-Deen. The steward
answered, Know that there remaineth not of thy property in my hands, any-
thing equivalent to a piece of silver, or less than a piece of silver; and these
are the accounts of thy expenses, and of thy original property. When 'Alee
Noor-ed-Deen heard these words, he hung down his head towards the ground,
and exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God! And the man who
had followed him secretly to pry into his case, as soon as he heard what
the steward told him, returned to his companions, and said to them, See what
ye will do; for 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen hath become a bankrupt.
So when Noor-ed-Deen returned to them, grief appeared to them in his
countenance, and immediately one of them rose, and, looking towards him,
said to him, O my master, I desire that thou wouldst permit me to depart.
Why thus depart to-day? said Noor-ed-Deen. His guest answered, My wife
is to give birth to a child this night, and it is impossible for me to be absent
from her: I desire, therefore, to go and see her. And he gave him leave.
Then another rose, and said to him, O my master Noor-ed-Deen, I desire to-
day to visit my brother; for he celebrateth the circumcision of his son. Thus
each of them asked leave of him deceitfully, and went his way, until all had
departed.
So 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen remained alone; and he called his slave-girl, and
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
189
said to her, O Enees-el-Jelees, seest thou not what hath befallen me? And he
related to her what the steward had told him. She replied, O my master, for
some nights past, I have been anxious to speak to thee of this affair; but I
heard thee reciting these two verses:
When fortune is liberal to thee, be thou liberal to all others before she escape from thee:
For liberality will not annihilate thy wealth when she is favourable; nor avarice preserve
it when she deserteth thee.
-
And when I heard thee repeat these words, I was silent, and would not make
any remark to thee. O Enees-el-Jelees, he rejoined, thou knowest that I
have not expended my wealth but on my companions; and I do not think that
they will abandon me without relief. By Allah, said she, they will be of no
use to thee. But he said, I will immediately arise and go to them, and knock
at their doors: perhaps I shall obtain from them something which I will
employ as capital wherewith to trade, and I will cease from diversion and
sport. So he arose instantly, and proceeded without stopping until he arrived
at the by-street in which his ten companions resided; for they all lived in
that same street: and he advanced to the first door, and knocked; and there
came forth to him a slave-girl, who said to him, Who art thou? He answered,
Say to thy master, - 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen is standing at the door, and saith
to thee, Thy slave kisseth thy hands, looking for a favour from thee. And
the girl entered, and acquainted her master; but he called out to her, saying,
Return, and tell him, He is not here. The girl, therefore, returned to Noor-
ed-Deen, and said to him, My master, Sir, is not here. And he went on, say-
ing within himself, If this is a knave, and hath denieth himself, another is
not. He then advanced to the next door, and said as he had before; and
the second also denied himself; and Noor-ed-Deen exclaimed, -
-
They are gone, who, if thou stoodest at their door, would bestow upon thee the bounty
thou desirest.
By Allah, he added, I must try all of them: perchance one of them may
stand me in the place of all the others. And he went round to all the ten;
but found not that one of them would open the door, or shew himself, or
even order him a cake of bread; and he recited the following verses:
A man in prosperity resembleth a tree, around which people flock as long as it hath
fruit;
But as soon as it hath dropped all that it bore, they disperse from beneath it, and seek
another.
Perdition to all the people of this age! for I find not one man of integrity among ten.
He then returned to his slave: his anxiety had increased, and she said to
him, O my master, said I not unto thee that they would not profit thee?
By Allah, he replied, not one of them shewed me his face. O my master,
rejoined she, sell of the moveables of the house a little at a time, and expend
the produce. And he did so until he had sold all that was in the house,
-
190
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
—
and there remained nothing in his possession; and upon this he looked to-
wards Enees-el-Jelees, and said to her, What shall we do now? It is my
advice, O my master, she answered, that thou arise immediately, and take me
to the market, and sell me; for thou knowest that thy father purchased me
for ten thousand pieces of gold, and perhaps God may open to thee a way
to obtain a part of this price; and if God have decreed our reunion, we shall
meet again. But he replied, O Enees-el-Jelees, it is not easy for me to
endure thy separation for one hour. Nor is the like easy to me, said she:
but necessity is imperious.
-
-
And upon this, he took Enees-el-Jelees, his tears flowing down his cheeks,
and went and delivered her to the broker, saying to him, Know the value of
that which thou art to cry for sale. O my master Noor-ed-Deen, replied
the broker, noble qualities are held in remembrance. Is she not Enees-el-
Jelees, whom thy father purchased of me for ten thousand pieces of gold?
-He answered yes. And the broker thereupon went to the merchants;
but he found that they had not all yet assembled; so he waited until the rest
had come, and the market was filled with all varieties of female slaves,
Turkish and Greek and Circassian and Georgian and Abyssinian; and when
he beheld its crowded state, he arose and exclaimed, O merchants!
O posses-
sors of wealth! everything that is round is not a nut; nor is everything long a
banana, nor is everything that is red, meat; nor is everything white, fat; nor
is everything that is ruddy, wine; nor is everything tawny, a date! O mer-
chants! this precious pearl, whose value no money can equal, with what
sum will ye open the bidding for her? And one of the merchants answered,
With four thousand and five hundred pieces of gold.¹4
But, lo, the Wezeer El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee was in the market, and,
seeing 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen standing there, he said within himself, What doth
he want here, having nothing left wherewith to purchase female slaves?
Then casting his eyes around, and hearing the broker as he stood crying
in the market with the merchants around him, he said within himself, I do
not imagine anything else than that he hath become bankrupt, and come forth
with the slave-girl to sell her; and if this be the case, how pleasant to my
heart! He then called the crier, who approached him, and kissed the ground
before him; 15 and the Wezeer said to him, I desire this female slave whom.
thou art crying for sale. The broker, therefore, being unable to oppose his
wish, brought the slave and placed her before him; and when he beheld her,
and considered her charms, her elegant figure and her soft speech, he was
delighted with her, and said to the broker, To what has the bidding for her
amounted? The broker answered, Four thousand and five hundred pieces of
gold. And as soon as the merchants heard this, not one of them could bid
another piece of silver or of gold; but all of them drew back, knowing the
tyrannical conduct of that Wezeer. El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee then looked
towards the broker, and said to him, Why standest thou still? Take away
the slave-girl for me at the price of four thousand and five hundred pieces
of gold, and thou wilt have five hundred for thyself.
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
191
----
So the broker went to 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and said to him, O my master,
the slave-girl is lost to thee without price. How so? said Noor-ed-Deen.
The broker answered, We opened the bidding for her at four thousand and
five hundred pieces of gold; but this tyrant El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee
came into the market, and when he beheld the damsel she pleased him, and
he said to me, Ask her owner if he will agree for four thousand pieces of gold,
and five hundred for thee: and I doubt not but he knoweth that the slave
belongeth to thee; and if he give thee her price immediately, it will be through
the goodness of God; but I know, from his injustice, that he will write thee
an order upon some of his agents for the money, and then send to them and
desire them to give thee nothing; and every time that thou shalt go to demand
it of them, they will say to thee, To-morrow we will pay thee: - and they
will not cease to promise thee, and to defer from day to day, notwithstanding
thy pride; and when they are overcome by thy importunity they will say,
Give us the written order: and as soon as they have received the paper
from thee they will tear it in pieces: so thou wilt lose the price of the slave.
When Noor-ed-Deen, therefore, heard these words of the broker, he said
to him, What is to be done? The broker answered, I will give thee a piece
of advice, and if thou receive it from me, thou wilt have better fortune.
What is it? asked Noor-ed-Deen. That thou come to me immediately,
answered the broker, while I am standing in the midst of the market, and take
the slave-girl from me, and give her a blow with thy hand, and say to her,
Wo to thee! I have expiated my oath that I swore, and brought thee to the
market, because I swore to thee that thou shouldst be exposed in the market,
and that the broker should cry thee for sale. If thou do this, perhaps the
trick will deceive him and the people, and they will believe that thou tookest
her not to the market but to expiate the oath. This, replied Noor-ed-Deen,
is the right counsel.
-
―
So the broker returned into the midst of the market, and, taking hold of
the hand of the slave-girl, made a sign to the Wezeer El-Mo'een the son of
Sáwee, saying, O my lord, this is her owner who hath just come. Then 'Alee
Noor-ed-Deen advanced to the broker, and tore the damsel from him, and
struck her with his hand, saying to her, Wo to thee! I have brought thee to
the market for the sake of expiating my oath. Go home, and disobey me not
again. I want not thy price, that I should sell thee; and if I sold the fur-
niture of the house and everything else of the kind over and over again, their
produce would not amount to thy price. - But when El Mo'een the son of
Sáwee beheld Noor-ed-Deen, he said to him, Wo to thee!
Hast thou any-
thing left to be sold or bought? And he would have laid violent hands upon
him. The merchants then looked towards Noor-ed-Deen (and they all loved
him), and he said to them, Here am I before you, and ye have all known his
tyranny. By Allah, exclaimed the Wezeer, were it not for you, I had killed
him!
Then all of them made signs, one to another, with the eye, and said, Not
one of us will interfere between thee and him. And upon this, 'Alee Noor-
192
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' .ENTERTAINMENTS
ed-Deen went up to the Wezeer, the son of Sáwee (and Noor-ed-Deen was a
man of courage), and he dragged the Wezeer from his saddle, and threw
him upon the ground. There was at that spot a kneading-place for mud,16
and the Wezeer fell into the midst of it, and Noor-ed-Deen beat him with
his fist, and a blow fell upon his teeth, by which his beard became dyed with
his blood. Now there were with the Wezeer ten memlooks, and when they
saw Noor-ed-Deen treat their master in this manner, they put their hands
upon the hilts of their swords, and would have fallen upon him and cut him
in pieces; but the people said to them, This is a Wezeer, and this is the son of
a Wezeer, and perhaps they may make peace with each other, and ye will
incur the anger of both of them; or perhaps a blow may fall upon your
master, and ye will all of you die the most ignominious of deaths: it is
advisable, therefore, that ye interfere not between them. And when 'Alee
Noor-ed-Deen had ceased from beating the Wezeer, he took his slave-girl, and
returned to his house.
The Wezeer, the son of Sáwee, then immediately arose, and his dress,
which before was white, was now dyed with three colours, the colour of mud,
and the colour of blood, and the colour of ashes; 17 and when he beheld him-
self in this condition, he took a round mat,18 and hung it to his neck, and
took in his hand two bundles of coarse grass, 19 and went and stood beneath
the palace of the Sultán, and cried out, O King of the age! I am oppressed!
-So they brought him before the King, who looked at him attentively, and
saw that he was his Wezeer, El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee. He said, there-
fore, Who hath done thus unto thee? and the Wezeer cried and moaned,
and repeated these two verses:
Shall fortune oppress me while thou existest; and the dogs devour me when thou art a
lion?
Shall all else who are dry drink freely from thy tanks, and I thirst in thine asylum when
thou art as rain?
-
-O my lord, he continued, thus is every one who loveth thee and serveth
thee: these afflictions always befall him. And who, said the King again,
hath done thus unto thee? Know, answered the Wezeer, that I went forth
to-day to the market of the female slaves with the idea of buying a cook-
maid, and saw in the market a slave-girl the like of whom I had never in my
life beheld, and the broker said that she belonged to 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen.
Now our lord the Sultán had given his father ten thousand pieces of gold to
buy for him with it a beautiful female slave, and he bought that girl, and she
pleased him; so he gave her to his son; and when his father died, the son
pursued the path of prodigality, until he sold all his houses and gardens and
utensils; and when he had become a bankrupt, nothing else remaining in his
possession, he took the slave-girl to the market to sell her, and delivered her
to the broker: so he cried her for sale, and the merchants continued bid-
ding for her until her price amounted to four thousand pieces of gold; where-
upon I said to myself, I will buy this for our lord the Sultán; for her original
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
193
—
price was from him. I therefore said, O my son, receive her price, four thou-
sand pieces of gold. But when he heard my words, he looked at me, and
replied, O ill-omened old man! I will sell her to the Jews and the Christians
rather than to thee. I then said to him, I would not buy her for myself,
but for our lord the Sultán, who is our benefactor. As soon, however, as he
had heard these words from me, he was filled with rage, and dragged me and
threw me down from the horse, notwithstanding my advanced age, and beat
me, and ceased not to do so until he left me in the state in which thou seest
me. Nothing exposed me to all this ill treatment but my coming to pur-
chase this slave-girl for your majesty. - The Wezeer then threw himself upon
the ground, and lay weeping and trembling.
Now when the Sultán beheld his condition, and had heard his speech,
the vein of anger swelled between his eyes, and he looked towards the mem-
bers of his court who were attending him; whereupon forty swordsmen stood
before him, and he said to them, Descend immediately to the house of 'Alee
the son of El-Fadl the son of Khákán, and plunder it and demolish it, and
bring hither him and the slave-girl with their hands bound behind them: drag
them along upon their faces, and so bring them before me. They replied,
We hear and obey: — and went forth to repair to the house of 'Alee Noor-
ed-Deen.
But there was in the court of the Sultán a chamberlain named 'Alam-ed-
Deen Senjer, who had been one of the memlooks of El-Fadl the son of
Khákán, the father of 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen; and when he heard the order of
the Sultán, and saw the enemies prepared to slay his master's son, it was
insupportable to him; so he mounted his horse, and proceeded to the house of
'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and knocked at the door. Noor-ed-Deen came forth to
him, and, when he saw him, knew him, and would have saluted him; but he
said, O my master, this is not a time for salutation, nor for talking. Noor-ed-
Deen said, O 'Alam-ed-Deen, what is the news? He replied, Save thyself
by flight, thou and the slave-girl; for El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee hath set
up a snare for you, and if ye fall into his hands he will slay you: the Sultán
hath sent to you forty swordsmen, and it is my advice that ye fly before the
evil fall upon you. Then Senjer stretched forth his hand to Noor-ed-Deen
with some pieces of gold, and he counted them, and found them to be forty
pieces; and he said, O my master, receive these, and if I had with me more,
I would give it thee: but this is not a time for expostulating. And upon this,
Noor-ed-Deen went in to the damsel, and acquainted her with the occurrence,
and she was confounded.
The two then went forth immediately from the city, and God let down the
veil of his protection upon them, and they proceeded to the bank of the river,
where they found a vessel ready to sail: the master was standing in the midst
of it, and saying, He who hath anything to do, whether leave-taking or pro-
curing provisions, or who hath forgotten aught, let him do what he desireth
and return; for we are going. And they all replied, We have nothing re-
maining to do, O master. So, upon this, the master said to his crew, Quick!
194
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Loose the rope's end, and pull up the stake.20 - And 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen
exclaimed, Whither, O master? He answered, To the Abode of Peace,
Baghdad. And Noor-ed-Deen embarked, and the damsel with him, and they
set the vessel afloat, and spread the sails, and it shot along like a bird with
its pair of wings, carrying them forward with a favourable wind.
Meanwhile, the forty men whom the Sultán had sent came to the house of
'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and broke open the doors and entered, and searched
all the chambers, but without success; so they demolished the house, and
returned, and acquainted the Sultán, who said, Search for them in every
place where they may be:- and they replied, We hear and obey. The
Wezeer El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee then descended to his house, after the
Sultán had invested him with a robe of honour, and had said to him, None
shall take vengeance for thee but myself. And he greeted the King with a
prayer for long life, and his heart was set at ease: and the Sultán gave orders
to proclaim throughout the city, O all ye people! our lord the Sultán hath
commanded that whoever shall meet with 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and bring him
to the Sultán, shall be invested with a robe of honour, and he will give him
a thousand pieces of gold; and he who shall conceal him, or know where he
is, and not give information thereof, will merit the exemplary punishment
that shall befall him! So all the people began to search for him; but could
not trace him. Such was the case with these people.
Now as to 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen and his slave, they arrived in safety at
Baghdad, and the master of the vessel said to them, This is Baghdad, and
it is a city of security: winter with its cold hath departed from it, and the
spring-quarter hath come with its roses, and its trees are in blossom, and its
waters are flowing. And upon this, 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen landed with his
slave-girl, and gave the master five pieces of gold. They then walked a little
way, and destiny cast them among the gardens, and they came to a place
which they found swept and sprinkled, with long mastabahs, and pots sus-
pended filled with water, and over it was a covering of trellis-work of canes
extending along the whole length of a lane, at the upper end of which was
the gate of a garden; but this was shut. And Noor-ed-Deen said to the dam-
sel, By Allah, this is a pleasant place! — and she replied, O my master, let
us sit down a while upon one of these mastabahs. So they mounted and
seated themselves there, and they washed their faces and hands, and enjoyed
the current of the zephyr, and slept. Glory be to Him who sleepeth not!
This garden was called the Garden of Delight, and in it was a palace called
the Palace of Diversion, and it belonged to the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed,
who, when his heart was contracted, used to come to this garden, and enter
the palace above mentioned, and there sit. The palace had eighty latticed
windows, and eighty lamps were suspended in it, and in the midst of it was
a great candlestick of gold; and when the Khaleefeh entered it, he commanded
the female slaves to open the windows, and ordered Is-hák the cup-companion
to sing with them: so his heart became dilated, and his anxiety ceased.
There was a superintendent to the garden, an old man, named the shekyh
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
195
Ibraheem; and it happened that he went forth once to transact some business,
and found there persons diverting themselves with women of suspicious char-
acter, whereupon he was violently enraged, and having waited until the
Khaleefeh came thither some days after, he acquainted him with this occur-
rence, and the Khaleefeh said, Whomsoever thou shalt find at the gate of the
garden, do with him what thou wilt.
Now on this day the sheykh Ibráheem went out to transact an affair of
business, and found the two sleeping at the garden-gate covered with a single
izár; and he said, Do not these two persons know that the Khaleefeh hath
given me permission to kill every one whom I find here? But I will only
give these two a slight beating, that no one may again approach the gate
of the garden. He then cut a green palm-stick, and went forth to them, and
raised his hand until the whiteness of his arm-pit appeared, and was about to
beat them; but he reflected in his mind, and said, O Ibráheem, how shouldst
thou beat them when thou knowest not their case? They may be two
strangers, or of the children of the road,21 whom destiny hath cast here. I
will therefore uncover their faces, and look at them. So he lifted up the
izár from their faces, and said, These are two handsome persons, and it is not
proper that I should beat them. And he covered their faces again, and, ap-
proaching the foot of 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, began to rub it gently; 22 where-
upon Noor-ed-Deen opened his eyes, and saw that he was an old man; and
he blushed, and drew in his feet, and, sitting up, took the hand of the sheykh
Ibraheem and kissed it; and the sheykh said to him, O my son, whence are
ye? O my master, he answered, we are strangers. And a tear gushed
from his eye.
-
The sheykh Ibraheem then said to him, O my son, know that the Prophet
(God bless and save him!) hath enjoined generosity to the stranger. Wilt
thou not arise, O my son, and enter the garden, and divert thyself in it,
that thy heart may be dilated? - O my master, said Noor-ed-Deen, to whom
doth this garden belong? The sheykh answered, O my son, this garden
I inherited from my family. And his design in saying this was only that
they might feel themselves at ease, and enter the garden. And when Noor-
ed-Deen heard his words, he thanked him, and arose, together with his
slave, and, the sheykh Ibráheem preceding them, they entered the garden.
The gate was arched, and over it were vines with grapes of different
colours; the red, like rubies; and the black, like ebony. They entered a
bower, and found within it fruits growing in clusters and singly, and the birds
were warbling their various notes upon the branches: the nightingale was
pouring forth its melodious sounds; and the turtle-dove filled the place with
its cooing; and the blackbird, in its singing, resembled a human being; and
the ring-dove, a person exhilarated by wine. The fruits upon the trees, com-
prising every description that was good to eat, had ripened; and there were
two of each kind: there were the camphor-apricot, and the almond-apricot,
and the apricot of Khurásán; the plum of a colour like the complexion of
beauties; the cherry delighting the sense of every man; the red, the white,
196
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and the green fig, of the most beautiful colours; and flowers like pearls and
coral; the rose, whose redness put to shame the cheeks of the lovely; the
violet, like sulphur in contact with fire; the myrtle, the gilliflower, the laven-
der, and the anemone; and their leaves were bespangled with the tears of the
clouds; the chamomile smiled, displaying its teeth, and the narcissus looked
at the rose with its negroes' eyes; the citrons resembled round cups; the
limes were like bullets of gold; the ground was carpeted with flowers of every
colour, and the place beamed with the charms of spring; the river murmured
by while the birds sang, and the wind whistled among the trees; the season
was temperate, and the zephyr was languishing.
-
The sheykh Ibraheem conducted them into the elevated saloon,23 and they
were charmed with its beauty and the extraordinary elegances which it dis-
played, and seated themselves in one of the windows; and Noor-ed-Deen,
reflecting upon his past entertainments, exclaimed, By Allah, this place is
most delightful! It hath reminded me of past events, and quenched in me
an anguish like the fire of the ghadà.24 The sheykh Ibráheem then brought
to them some food, and they ate to satisfaction, and washed their hands, and
Noor-ed-Deen, seating himself again in one of the windows, called to his slave,
and she came to him; and they sat gazing at the trees laden with all kinds
of fruits; after which, Noor-ed-Deen looked towards the sheykh, and said to
him, O sheykh Ibráheem, hast thou not any beverage? For people drink
after eating. So the sheykh brought him some sweet and cold water: but
Noor-ed-Deen said, This is not the beverage I desire. Dost thou want
wine? asked the sheykh. Yes, answered Noor-ed-Deen. The sheykh ex-
claimed, I seek refuge with Allah from it! Verily, for thirteen years I have
done nothing of that kind; for the Prophet (God bless and save him!) cursed
its drinker and its presser and its carrier.
-
Hear from me two words, said Noor-ed-Deen. The sheykh replied, Say
what thou wilt. So he said, If thou be neither the presser of the wine, nor
the drinker, nor its carrier, will aught of the curse fall upon thee? The
sheykh answered, No. Then take this piece of gold, rejoined Noor-ed-Deen,
and these two pieces of silver, and mount the ass, and halt at a distance from
the place, and whatsoever man thou findest to buy it, call to him, and say to
him, take these two pieces of silver, and with this piece of gold buy some
wine, and place it upon the ass: so, in this case, thou wilt be neither the
carrier, nor the presser, nor the buyer; and nothing will befall thee of that
which befalleth the rest.
The sheykh Ibráheem, after laughing at his words, replied, By Allah, I
have never seen one more witty than thou, nor heard speech more sweet.
And Noor-ed-Deen said to him, We have become dependent upon thee, and
thou hast nothing to do but to comply with our wishes: bring us, therefore,
all that we require. O my son, said the sheykh, my buttery here is before
thee (and it was the store-room furnished for the Prince of the Faithful):
enter it then, and take from it what thou wilt; for it containeth more than
thou desirest. So Noor-ed-Deen entered the store-room, and beheld in it
-
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
197
vessels of gold and silver and crystal, adorned with a variety of jewels; and
he took out such of them as he desired, and poured the wine into the vessels
of earthenware and bottles of glass; and he and the damsel began to drink,
astonished at the beauty of the things which they beheld. The sheykh Ibrá-
heem then brought to them sweet-scented flowers, and seated himself at a
distance from them; and they continued drinking, in a state of the utmost
delight, until the wine took effect upon them, and their cheeks reddened,
and their eyes wantoned like those of the gazelle, and their hair hung down: 25
whereupon the sheykh Ibráheem said, What aileth me that I am sitting at a
distance from them? Why should I not sit by them? And when shall I be
in the company of such as these two, who are like two moons?
He then advanced, and seated himself at the edge of the raised portion of
the floor; and Noor-ed-Deen said to him, O my master, by my life I con-
jure thee to approach and join us. So he went to them; and Noor-ed-Deen
filled a cup, and, looking at the sheykh, said to him, Drink, that thou mayest
know how delicious is its flavour. But the sheykh Ibráheem exclaimed, I
seek refuge with Allah! Verily, for thirteen years I have done nothing of
that kind. And Noor-ed-Deen, feigning to pay no attention to him, drank
the cup, and threw himself upon the ground, pretending that intoxication had
overcome him.
Upon this, Enees-el-Jelees looked towards the sheykh, and said to him, O
sheykh Ibraheem, see how this man hath treated me.- O my mistress, said
he, what aileth him? She rejoined, Always doth he treat me thus: he
drinketh a while, and then sleepeth, and I remain alone, and find no one to
keep me company over my cup. If I drink, who will serve me? And if I
sing, who will hear me? - The sheykh, moved with tenderness and affection
for her words, replied, It is not proper that a cup-companion be thus. The
damsel then filled a cup, and, looking at the sheykh Ibráheem, said to him,
I conjure thee, by my life that thou take it and drink it; reject it not, but
accept it, and refresh my heart. So he stretched forth his hand, and took
the cup, and drank it; and she filled for him a second time, and handed it to
him, saying, O my master, this remaineth for thee. He replied, By Allah,
I cannot drink it; that which I have drunk is enough for me. But she said,
By Allah, it is indispensable: - and he took the cup, and drank it. She
then gave him the third; and he took it, and was about to drink it, when, lo,
Noor-ed-Deen raised himself, and said to him, O sheykh Ibráheem, what is
this? Did I not conjure thee a while ago, and thou refusedest, and saidst,
Verily, for thirteen years I have not done it? The sheykh Ibraheem,
touched with shame, replied, By Allah, I am not in fault; for she pressed me.
And Noor-ed-Deen laughed, and they resumed their carousal, and the
damsel, turning her eyes towards her master, said to him, O my master,
drink thou, and do not urge the sheykh Ibráheem; that I may divert thee
with the sight of him. So she began to fill and to hand to her master, and
her master filled and gave to her, and thus they continued to do, time after
time; till at length the sheykh Ibraheem looked towards them and said, What
198
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
meaneth this? And what sort of carousal is this? Wherefore do ye not
give me to drink, since I have become your cup-companion? -- At this they
both laughed until they became almost senseless; and then drank, and gave
him to drink; and they continued thus until the expiration of a third of the
night, when the damsel said, O sheykh Ibráheem, with thy permission shall
I rise and light one of the candles which are arranged here? Rise, he an-
swered; but light not more than one candle.
But she sprang upon her feet, and, beginning with the first candle, pro-
ceeded until she had lighted eighty. She then sat down again; and presently
Noor-ed-Deen said, O sheykh Ibráheem, in what favour am I held with thee?
Wilt thou not allow me to light one of these lamps? The sheykh answered,
Arise, and light one lamp, and be not thou also troublesome. So he arose,
and, beginning with the first lamp, lighted all the eighty; and the saloon
seemed to dance. And after this, the sheykh Ibráheem, overcome by intoxi-
cation, said to them, Ye are more frolicksome than I: and he sprang upon
his feet, and opened all the windows, and sat down again with them, and they
continued carousing and reciting verses; and the place rang with their merri-
ment.
Now God, the All-seeing and All-knowing, who hath appointed a cause
to every event, had decreed that the Khaleefeh should be sitting that night
at one of the windows looking towards the Tigris, by moonlight; and he
looked in that direction, and saw the light of lamps and candles reflected in
the river, and, turning his eyes up towards the palace in the garden, he beheld
it beaming with those candles and lamps, and exclaimed, Bring hither to me.
Jaafar El-Barmekee! In the twinkling of an eye, Jaafar stood before the
Prince of the Faithful; and the Khaleefeh said to him, O dog of Wezeers,
dost thou serve me and not acquaint me with what happeneth in the city of
Baghdad? - What, asked Jaafar, is the occasion of these words? The Kha-
leefeh answered, If the city of Baghdad were not taken from me, the Palace of
Diversion were not enlivened with the light of the lamps and candles, and
its windows were not opened. Wo to thee! Who could do these things
unless the office of Khaleefeh were taken from me? Who, said Jaafar (the
muscles of his side quivering from fear), informed thee that the lamps and
candles were lighted in the Palace of Diversion, and that its windows were
opened? The Khaleefeh replied, Advance hither to me, and look.
-
So Jaafar approached the Khaleefeh, and, looking towards the garden, be-
held the palace as it were a flame of fire, its light surpassing that of the moon.
He desired, therefore, to make an excuse for the sheykh Ibráheem, the super-
intendent, thinking, from what he beheld, that the event might have occurred
through his permission: and accordingly he said, O Prince of the Faithful, the
sheykh Ibraheem last week said to me, O my master Jaafar, I am desirous of
entertaining my children during my life and the life of the Prince of the
Faithful. And what, said I, is thy design in saying this? He answered,
It is my wish that thou wouldst obtain for me permission from the Khaleefeh
that I may celebrate the circumcision of my sons in the palace. So I said,
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
199
Do what thou wilt with respect to the entertainment of thy sons, and, if God
will, I shall have an interview with the Khaleefeh, and will acquaint him with
it. And he left me thus; and I forgot to acquaint thee.
O Jaafar, said the Khaleefeh, thou wast guilty of one offence against me,
and then thine offence became two: for thou hast erred in two points: the
first, thy not acquainting me with this affair; and the second, thy not accom-
plishing the desire of the sheykh Ibráheem; for he did not come to thee and
address thee with these words but to hint a request for some money by the
aid of which to effect his design, and thou neither gavest him anything nor
acquaintedst me that I might give him. O Prince of the Faithful, replied,
Jaafar, I forgot.
-
The Khaleefeh then said, By my forefathers, I will not pass the remainder
of my night but with him, for he is a just man, who frequenteth the sheykhs,20
and attendeth to the poor, and favoureth the indigent; and I imagine all his
acquaintances are with him this night; so I must repair to him: perhaps one
of them may offer up for us a prayer productive of good to us in this world
and the next; and probably some advantage may accrue to him from my
presence, and he will receive pleasure from this, together with his friends.
O Prince of the Faithful, replied Jaafar, the greater part of the night hath
passed, and they are now about to disperse. But the Khaleefeh said, We
must go to them. And Jaafar was silent, and was perplexed in his mind, not
knowing what to do. So the Khaleefeh rose upon his feet, and Jaafar rose
and preceded him, and Mesroor the eunuch went with them.
The three walked on reflecting, and, departing from the palace, pro-
ceeded through the streets, in the attire of merchants, until they arrived at
the gate of the garden above mentioned; and the Khaleefeh, approaching it,
found it open; and he was surprised, and said, See, O Jaafar, how the sheykh
Ibraheem hath left the gate open until this hour, which is not his usual
custom. They then entered, and came to the end of the garden, where they
stopped beneath the palace; and the Khaleefeh said, O Jaafar, I desire to take
a view of them secretly before I go up to them, that I may see how the
sheykhs are occupied in the dispensing of their blessings and the employment
of their miraculous powers; for they have qualities which distinguish them
both in their private retirements and in their public exercises; and now we
hear not their voices, nor discover any indication of their presence. Having
thus said, he looked around, and, seeing a tall walnut-tree, he said, O Jaafar,
I would climb this tree (for its branches are near to the windows) and look
at them. And accordingly he ascended the tree, and climbed from branch to
branch, until he came to that which was opposite to one of the windows, and
there he sat, and, looking in through this window of the palace, beheld a
damsel and a young man, like two moons (extolled be the perfection of Him
who created them!); and he saw the sheykh Ibráheem sitting with a
cup in his hand, and saying, O mistress of beauties, drinking unaccom-
panied by merry sounds is not pleasant. Hast thou not heard the saying of
the poet? -
200
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
27
Circulate it in the large cup, and in the small; and receive it from the hand of the
shining moon:
And drink not without merry sounds; for I have observed that horses drink to the
sound of whistling.
When the Khaleefeh witnessed this conduct of the sheykh Ibraheem, the
vein of anger swelled between his eyes, and he descended, and said, O Jaafar,
I have never seen anything of the miraculous performances of the just such
as I have beheld this night: ascend, therefore, thyself also, into this tree, and
look, lest the blessings of the just escape thee.28-On hearing the words of
the Prince of the Faithful, Jaafar was perplexed at his situation; and he
climbed up into the tree, and looked, and saw Noor-ed-Deen and the sheykh
Ibraheem and the damsel, and the sheykh Ibráheem had the cup in his hand.
As soon as he beheld this, he made sure of destruction; and he descended,
and stood before the Prince of the Faithful, and the Khaleefeh said, O Jaafar,
praise be to God who hath made us to be of the number of those who follow
the external ordinances of the holy law, and averted from us the sin of dis-
guising ourselves by the practice of hypocrisy! But Jaafar was unable to
reply, from his excessive confusion.
The Khaleefeh then looked towards him, and said, Who can have brought
these persons hither, and admitted them into my palace? But the like of
this young man and this damsel, in beauty and loveliness and symmetry of
form, mine eye hath never beheld. - Jaafar, now conceiving a hope that the
Khaleefeh might be propitiated, replied, Thou hast spoken truly, O Prince of
the Faithful. And the Khaleefeh said, O Jaafar, climb up with us upon this
branch which is opposite them, that we may amuse ourselves by observing
them. So they both climbed up into the tree, and, looking at them, heard the
sheykh Ibraheem say, O mistress, I have relinquished decorum by the drink-
ing of wine; but the pleasure of this is not complete without the melodious
sounds of stringed instruments. - O sheykh Ibraheem, replied Enees-el-Jelees,
by Allah, if we had any musical instrument, our happiness were perfect.
And when the sheykh Ibráheem heard her words, he rose upon his feet.
The Khaleefeh said to Jaafar, What may he be going to do? Jaafar replied,
I know not. And the sheykh Ibraheem went away, and returned with a
lute; and the Khaleefeh, looking attentively at it, saw that it was the lute of
Is-hák, the cup-companion; and said, By Allah, if this damsel sing not well,
I will crucify you all; but if she sing well, I will pardon them, and crucify
thee. So Jaafar said, O Allah, let her not sing well! - Why? asked the Kha-
leefeh. That thou mayest crucify all of us, answered Jaafar; and then we
shall cheer one another by conversation. And the Khaleefeh laughed: and
the damsel took the lute, and tuned its strings, and played upon it in a man-
ner that would melt iron, and inspire an idiot with intellect; after which she
sang with such sweetness that the Khaleefeh exclaimed, O Jaafar, never in my
life have I heard so enchanting a voice as this! - Perhaps, said Jaafar, the
anger of the Khaleefeh hath departed from him? - Yea, he answered: it
hath departed.
----
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
201
He then descended with Jaafar from the tree, and, looking towards him,
said, I am desirous of going up to them, to sit with them, and to hear the
damsel sing before me. -O Prince of the Faithful, replied Jaafar, if thou go
up to them, probably they will be troubled by thy presence; and as to the
sheykh Ibráheem, he will assuredly die of fear. The Khaleefeh therefore
said, O Jaafar, thou must acquaint me with some stratagem by means of
which I may learn the truth of the affair without their knowing that I have
discovered them. And he and Jaafar walked towards the Tigris, reflecting
upon this matter; and lo, a fisherman stood beneath the windows of the
palace, and he threw his net, hoping to catch something by means of which
to obtain his subsistence. Now the Khaleefeh had, on a former occasion,
called to the sheykh Ibráheem, and said to him, What was that noise that I
heard beneath the windows of the palace? - and he answered, The voices
of the fishermen, who are fishing: so he said, Go down and forbid them
from coming to this place. They were therefore forbidden to come thither;
but this night there came a fisherman named Kereem, and, seeing the garden-
gate open, he said within himself, This is a time of inadvertence, and
perhaps I may catch some fish on this occasion: so he took his net,
and threw it into the river, and then recited some verses, contrasting the
condition of the poor fisherman, toiling throughout the night, with that
of the lord of the palace, who, awaking from a pleasant slumber, findeth
the fawn in his possession; and as soon as he had finished his recitation,
lo, the Khaleefeh, unattended, stood at his head. The Khaleefeh knew
him, and exclaimed, O Kereem! and the fisherman, hearing him call
him by his name, turned towards him; and when he beheld the Khaleefeh,
the muscles of his side quivered, and he said, By Allah, O Prince of
the Faithful, I did not this in mockery of the mandate; but poverty
and the wants of my family impelled me to the act of which thou art wit-
ness. The Khaleefeh replied, Throw thy net for my luck. And the fisher-
man advanced, rejoicing exceedingly, and cast the net, and, having waited
until it had attained its limit and become steady at the bottom, drew
it in again, and there came up in it a variety of fish that could not be
numbered.
-
The Khaleefeh was delighted at this, and said, O Kereem, strip off thy
clothes: and he did so. He was clad in a jubbeh 29 in which were a hun-
dred patches of coarse woollen stuff, containing vermin of the most abomin-
able kind, and among them fleas in such numbers that he might almost have
been transported by their means over the face of the earth; and he took from
his head a turban which for three years he had never unwound; but when he
happened to find a piece of rag he twisted it around it: and when he had
taken off the jubbeh and turban, the Khaleefeh pulled off from his own per-
son two vests of silk of Alexandria and Baalabekk, and a melwatah 3º and a
farajeeyeh,³¹ and said to the fisherman, Take these, and put them on. The
Khaleefeh then put on himself the fisherman's jubbeh and turban, and, having
drawn a lithám over his face, said to the fisherman, Go about thy business:
32
202
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-and he kissed the feet of the Khaleefeh, and thanked him, reciting these
two verses:
Thou hast granted me favours beyond my power to acknowledge, and completely satis-
fied all my wants.
I will thank thee, therefore, as long as I live; and when I die, my bones will thank thee
in their grave.a
But scarcely had he finished his verses, when the vermin overran the person
of the Khaleefeh, and he began to seize them with his right hand and his
left from his neck, and to throw them down; and he exclaimed, O fisherman,
wo to thee! What are these abundant vermin in this jubbeh? - O my lord,
he answered, at present they torment thee; but when a week shall have
passed over thee, thou wilt not feel them, nor think of them. The Khaleefeh
laughed, and said to him, How can I suffer this jubbeh to remain upon me?
The fisherman replied, I wish to tell thee something; but I am ashamed,
through my awe of the Khaleefeh. Impart, said the Khaleefeh, what thou
hast to tell me. So he said to him, It hath occurred to my mind, O Prince
of the Faithful, that thou desirest to learn the art of fishing, in order that
thou mayest be master of a trade that may profit thee; and if such be thy
desire, this jubbeh is suitable to thee. And the Khaleefeh laughed at his
words.
The fisherman then went his way, and the Khaleefeh took the basket of
fish, and, having put upon it a little grass, went with it to Jaafar, and stood
before him; and Jaafar, thinking that he was Kereem the fisherman, feared
for him, and said, O Kereem, what brought thee hither? Save thyself by
flight; for the Khaleefeh is here this night. And when the Khaleefeh heard
the words of Jaafar, he laughed until he fell down upon his back. So Jaafar
said, Perhaps thou art our lord the Prince of the Faithful? Yes, O Jaafar,
answered the Khaleefeh, and thou art my Wezeer, and I came with thee
hither, and thou knowest me not. How then should the sheykh Ibraheem
know me when he is drunk? Remain where thou art until I return to thee.
-Jaafar replied, I hear and obey: and the Khaleefeh advanced to the door
of the palace, and knocked. The sheykh Ibraheem arose, therefore, and said,
Who is at the door? He answered, I, O sheykh Ibráheem. The sheykh said,
Who art thou? — and the Khaleefeh answered, I am Kereem the fisherman:
I heard that there were guests with thee, and have therefore brought thee
some fish; for it is excellent.
-
Now Noor-ed-Deen and the damsel were both fond of fish, and when they
heard the mention of it they rejoiced exceedingly, and said, O my master, open
to him, and let him come in to us with the fish which he hath brought. So the
sheykh Ibraheem opened the door, and the Khaleefeh, in his fisherman's dis-
guise, entered, and began by salutation; and the sheykh Ibraheem said to him,
Welcome to the robber, the thief, the gambler! Come hither, and shew us
the fish which thou hast brought. He therefore shewed it to them; and lo,
it was alive, and moving; and the damsel exclaimed, By Allah, O my master,
---
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
203
this fish is excellent!
I wish it were fried! By Allah, said the sheykh Ibrá-
heem, thou hast spoken truth. Then, addressing the Khaleefeh, he said, O
fisherman, I wish thou hadst brought this fish fried. Arise, and fry it for us,
and bring it. On the head be thy commands, replied the Khaleefeh: I will
fry it, and bring it. Be quick, said they, in doing it.
-
The Khaleefeh therefore arose and ran back to Jaafar, and said, O Jaafar,
they want the fish fried. O Prince of the Faithful, replied he, give it me,
and I will fry it. But the Khaleefeh said, By the tombs of my ancestors,
none shall fry it but myself; with my own hand will I do it! He then re-
paired to the hut of the superintendent, and, searching there, found in it
everything that he required, the frying-pan, and even the salt, and wild mar-
joram, and other things. So he approached the fireplace, and put on the
frying-pan, and fried it nicely; and when it was done, he put it upon a
banana-leaf, and having taken from the garden some limes, he went up with
the fish, and placed it before them. The young man, therefore, and the
damsel and the sheykh Ibráheem advanced and ate; and when they had
finished, they washed their hands, and Noor-ed-Deen said, By Allah, O fish-
erman, thou hast done us a kindness this night.
Then putting his hand into his pocket, he took forth for him three pieces
of gold, of those which Senjer had presented to him when he was setting
forth on his journey, and said, O fisherman, excuse me; for, by Allah, if I
had known thee before the events that have lately happened to me, I would
have extracted the bitterness of poverty from thy heart: but take this as
accordant with my present circumstances. So saying, he threw the pieces of
gold to the Khaleefeh, who took them, and kissed them,34 and put them in
his pocket. The object of the Khaleefeh in doing this was only that he
might hear the damsel sing: so he said to him, Thou hast treated me with
beneficence, and abundantly recompensed me; but I beg of thy unbounded
indulgence that this damsel may sing an air, that I may hear her. Noor-
ed-Deen therefore said, O Enees-el-Jelees! She replied, Yes. By my life,
said he, sing to us something for the gratification of this fisherman; for he
desireth to hear thee. And when she had heard what her master said, she
took the lute, and tried it with her fingers, after she had twisted its pegs,
and sang to it these two verses:
The fingers of many a fawn-like damsel have played upon the lute, and the soul hath
been ravished by the touch.
She hath made the deaf to hear her songs; and the dumb hath exclaimed, Thou hast
excelled in thy singing!
Then she played again, in an extraordinary manner, so as to charm the minds
of her hearers, and sang the following couplet: -
We are honoured by your visiting our abode, and your splendour hath dispelled the
darkness of the moonless night:
It is therefore incumbent upon me to perfume my dwelling with musk and rose-water
and camphor.
204
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
Upon this, the Khaleefeh was affected with violent emotion, and overcome
by ecstasy, so that he was no longer master of himself from excessive delight;
and he began to exclaim, Allah approve thee! Allah approve thee! Allah
approve thee! So Noor-ed-Deen said to him, O fisherman, have the damsel
and her art in striking the chords pleased thee? Yea, by Allah! exclaimed
the Khaleefeh. And Noor-ed-Deen immediately said, She is bestowed upon
thee as a present from me, the present of a generous man who will not revoke
his gift. And he rose upon his feet, and took a melwatah, and threw it
upon the Khaleefeh in the fisherman's disguise, ordering him to depart with
the damsel. But she looked towards him, and said, O my master, wilt thou
part from me without bidding me farewell? If we must be separated, pause
while I take leave of thee. And she recited the following couplet: -
If you depart from me, still your abode will be in my heart, in the recess of my bosom.
I implore the Compassionate to grant our reunion; and a boon such as this, God will
grant to whom He pleaseth.
And when she had finished, Noor-ed-Deen thus replied to her: --
She bade me farewell on the day of separation, saying, while she wept from the pain
that it occasioned,
What wilt thou do after my departure? -Say this, I replied, unto him who will
survive it.
-
The Khaleefeh, when he heard this, was distressed at the thought of
separating them, and looking towards the young man, he said to him, O my
master, art thou in fear on account of any crime, or art thou in debt to any
one? Noor-ed-Deen answered, By Allah, O fisherman, a wonderful event,
and an extraordinary adventure, happened to me and this damsel: if it were
engraved on the understanding, it would be a lesson to him who would be
admonished. Wilt thou not, rejoined the Khaleefeh, relate to us thy story,
and acquaint us with thy case? Perhaps thy doing so may be productive of
relief; for the relief of God is near. So Noor-ed-Deen said, Wilt thou hear
our story in poetry or in prose? - Prose, answered the Khaleefeh, is mere
talk; and verse, words put together like pearls. And Noor-ed-Deen hung
down his head towards the ground, and then related his story in a series of
verses: but when he had finished, the Khaleefeh begged him to explain his
case more fully.
-
He therefore acquainted him with the whole of his circumstances from be-
ginning to end; and when the Khaleefeh understood the affair, he said to him,
Whither wouldst thou now repair? He answered, God's earth is wide. The
Khaleefeh then said to him, I will write for thee a letter which thou shalt
convey to the Sultán Mohammad the son of Suleymán Ez-Zeynee, and when
he shall have read it he will do thee no injury. Is there in the world, said
Noor-ed-Deen, a fisherman who correspondeth with Kings? Verily this is a
thing that can never be. Thou hast spoken truly, rejoined the Khaleefeh;
but I will acquaint thee with the cause. Know that I read in the same school
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
205
with him, under a master, and I was his monitor; and after that, prosperity
was his lot, and he became a Sultán, while God made me to be a fisherman:
yet I have never sent to request anything of him, but he hath performed my
wish; and if I sent to him every day to request a thousand things of him, he
would do what I asked.
----
When Noor-ed-Deen, therefore, heard his words, he said to him, Write,
that I may see. And he took an inkhorn and a pen, and wrote (after the
phrase, In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful). To pro-
ceed. This letter is from Hároon Er-Rasheed the son of El-Mahdee, to his
highness Mohammad the son of Suleymán Ez-Zeynee, who hath been encom-
passed by my beneficence, and whom I constituted my viceroy of a portion
of my dominions. I acquaint thee that the bearer of this letter is Noor-ed-
Deen the son of El-Fadl the son of Khákán the Wezeer, and on his arrival in
thy presence thou shalt divest thyself of the regal authority, and seat him in
thy place; for I have appointed him to the office to which I formerly
appointed thee: so disobey not my commands: and peace be on thee. He
then gave the letter to 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, who took it and kissed it and put
it in his turban, and immediately set forth on his journey.
The sheykh Ibraheem now looked towards the Khaleefeh in his fisher-
man's disguise, and said to him, O most contemptible of fishermen, thou hast
brought us two fish worth twenty half-dirhems,35 and received three pieces of
gold, and desirest to take the slave also. But when the Khaleefeh heard
these words, he cried out at him, and made a sign to Mesroor, who immedi-
ately discovered himself, and rushed in upon him. Jaafar, meanwhile, had
sent one of the attendants of the garden to the porter of the palace to demand
a suit of clothing of him for the Prince of the Faithful; and the man went,
and brought the dress, and kissed the ground before the Khaleefeh, who took
off and gave to him that with which he was clad, and put on this suit.
The sheykh Ibraheem was sitting on a chair: the Khaleefeh paused to
see the result: and the sheykh was astounded, and began to bite the ends of
his fingers through his confusion, saying, Am I asleep or awake? The Kha-
leefeh then looked at him, and said, O sheykh Ibraheem, what is this predica-
ment in which thou art placed? And upon this, the sheykh recovered from
his intoxication, and, throwing himself upon the ground, implored forgiveness:
and the Khaleefeh pardoned him; after which he gave orders that the damsel
should be conveyed to the palace where he resided; and when she had arrived
there, he appropriated to her a separate lodging, and appointed persons to
wait upon her, and said to her, Know that I have sent thy master as Sultán
of El-Basrah, and, if God please, I will despatch him a dress of honour, and
send thee also to him with it.
As to Noor-ed-Deen, he continued his journey until he entered El-Basrah,
and went up to the palace of the Sultán, when he uttered a loud cry, where-
upon the Sultán desired him to approach; and when he came into the presence
of the King, he kissed the ground before him, and produced the letter, and
handed it to him. As soon as the Sultán saw the superscription in the hand-
206
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
writing of the Prince of the Faithful, he rose upon his feet, and, having kissed
it three times, said, I hear and pay obedience to God (whose name be ex-
alted!) and to the Prince of the Faithful. He then summoned before him
the four Kádees, 36 and the Emeers, and was about to divest himself of the
regal office: but, lo, the Wezeer El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee was before him,
and the Sultán gave him the letter of the Prince of the Faithful, and when he
saw it, he rent it in pieces, and put it into his mouth, and chewed it, and
threw it down.
-
The Sultán, enraged, cried, Wo to thee! What hath induced thee to act
thus? - He answered, This man hath had no interview with the Khaleefeh
nor with his Wezeer; but is a young wretch, an artful devil, who, having met
with a paper containing the handwriting of the Khaleefeh hath counterfeited
it, and written what he desired: wherefore then shouldst thou abdicate the
sovereignty, when the Khaleefeh, hath not sent to thee an envoy with a royal
autographical mandate; for if this affair were true, he had sent with him a
Chamberlain or a Weezer; but he came alone. What then is to be done?
said the Sultán. The Wezeer answered, Send away this young man with me,
and I will take charge of him, and despatch him in company with a Chamber-
lain to the city of Baghdad; and if his words be true, he will bring us a royal
autographical mandate and diploma of investiture; and if not true, they will
send him back to us with the Chamberlain, and I will take my revenge upon
my
offender.
-
When the Sultán heard what the Wezeer said, it pleased him; and the
Wezeer took him away,37 and cried out to the pages, who threw down Noor-
ed-Deen, and beat him until he became insensible. He then ordered to put a
chain upon
his feet, and called to the jailer; and when he came, he kissed the
ground before him. This jailer was named Kuteyt; 38 and the Wezeer said
to him, O Kuteyt, I desire that thou take this person, and cast him into one
of the subterranean cells which are in thy prison, and torture him night and
day. The jailer replied, I hear and obey: - and he put Noor-ed-Deen into
the prison, and locked the door upon him; but after having done this, he
gave orders to sweep a mastabah within the door, and furnished it with a
prayer-carpet and a pillow, and seated Noor-ed-Deen upon it, and loosed his
chain, and treated him with kindness. The Wezeer every day sent to him,
commanding him to beat him; and the jailer pretended that he tortured him,
while, on the contrary, he treated him with benignity.
Thus he continued to do for forty days; and on the forty-first day, there
came a present from the Khaleefeh, and when the Sultán saw it, it pleased
him, and he conferred with the Wezeers upon the subject; but one said,
Perhaps this present was designed for the new Sultán. Upon this, the Wezeer
El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee remarked, It were proper to have slain him on
his arrival: -- and the Sultán exclaimed, Now thou hast reminded me of him,
go down and bring him, and I will strike off his head. The Wezeer replied,
I hear and obey: and arose, saying, I desire to proclaim throughout the
city, He who wisheth to witness the decapitation of Noor-ed-Deen 'Alee the
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
207
so that all
son of El-Fadl the son of Khákán, let him come to the palace:
the people may come to behold it, and I may gratify my heart, and mortify
my enviers. The Sultán said, Do what thou wilt.
So the Wezeer descended, full of joy and happiness, and went to the
Walee, and ordered him to make this proclamation; and when the people
heard the crier, they all grieved and wept, even the boys in the schools, and
the tradesmen in their shops; and numbers of the people strove together to
take for themselves places where they might behold the spectacle, while others
repaired to the prison, to accompany him thence. The Wezeer then went
forth, attended by ten memlooks, to the prison and Kuteyt the jailer said to
him, what dost thou desire, O our lord the Wezeer? - Bring forth to me, said
the Wezeer, this young wretch. The jailer replied, He is in a most miserable
state from the excessive beating that I have inflicted upon him. And he
entered, and found him reciting some verses, commencing thus: -
Who is there to aid me in my affliction? For my pain hath become intense, and my
remedy is scarce procurable!
And the jailer pulled off from him his clean clothes, and, having clad him in
two dirty garments, brought him out to the Wezeer. Noor-ed-Deen then
looked at him, and saw that he was his enemy who had incessantly desired his
destruction; and when he beheld him, he wept, and said to him, Art thou
secure from misfortune? Hast thou not heard the saying of the poet? -
They made use of their power, and used it tyrannically; and soon it became as though
it never had existed.
O Wezeer, know that God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name
be exalted!) is the doer of whatsoever He willeth. O 'Alee, replied the
Wezeer, wouldst thou frighten me by these words? I am now going to strike
off thy head, in spite of the people of El-Basrah; and I will pay no regard
to thy counsel; but I will rather attend to the saying of the poet:
-
Let fortune do whatever it willeth, and bear with cheerful mind the effects of fate.
How excellent also is the saying of another poet:
He who liveth after his enemy a single day, hath attained his desire.
The Wezeer then ordered his pages to convey him on the back of a mule;
whereupon they said to him (being distressed to obey), Suffer us to stone him
and cut him in pieces, though our lives should be sacrificed in consequence.
But he replied, Never do it. Have ye not heard what the poet hath said: —
A decreed term is my inevitable lot; and as soon as its days have expired, I die.
If the lions dragged me into their forest, they could not close it while aught of it re-
mained.
So they proceeded to proclaim before Noor-ed-Deen, This is the smallest
recompense of him who forgeth a letter from the Khaleefeh to the Sultán.
And they continued to parade him throughout El-Basrah until they stationed
208
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
him beneath the window of the palace, and in the place of blood,29 when
the executioner approached him, and said to him, I am a slave under com-
mand; and if thou hast any want, acquaint me with it, that I may perform
it for thee; for there remaineth not of thy life any more than the period until
the Sultán shall put forth his face from the window. And upon this, Noor-
ed-Deen looked to the right and left, and recited these verses:
Is there among you a merciful friend, who will aid me? I conjure you by Allah to
answer me!
My life hath passed, and my death is at hand! Is there any who will pity me, to obtain
my recompense,"
40
And consider my state, and relieve my anguish, by a draught of water that my torment
may be lightened?
And the people were excited to tears for him; and the executioner took some
water to hand it to him; but the Wezeer arose from his place, and struck the
kulleh ¹¹ of water with his hand, and broke it, and called to the executioner,
commanding him to strike off his head; whereupon he bound Noor-ed-Deen's
eyes. The people, however, called out against the Wezeer, and raised a
tumultuous cry against him, and many words passed between them; and while
they were in this state, lo, a dust rose, and filled the sky and the open tracts;
and when the Sultán beheld it, as he sat in the palace, he said to his atten-
dants, See what is the news. The Wezeer said, After thou shalt first have
beheaded this man. But the Sultán replied, Wait thou until we see what is
the news.
―
Now this dust was the dust of Jaafar, the Wezeer of the Khaleefeh, and
of his attendants; and the cause of their coming was this: The Khaleefeh
had passed thirty days without remembering the affair of 'Alee the son of
El-Fadl the son of Khákán, and no one mentioned it to him, until he came
one night to the private apartment of Enees-el-Jelees, and heard her lament-
ing, as she recited, with a soft voice, the saying of the poet: -
Thine image [is before me] whether distant or near, and my tongue never ceaseth to
mention thee.
Her lamentation increased, and lo, the Khaleefeh opened the door, and entered
the chamber, and saw Enees-el-Jelees weeping. On beholding the Khaleefeh,
she fell at his feet, and, having kissed them three times, recited these two
verses:
O thou of pure origin, and of excellent birth; of ripe-fruitful branch, and of unsullied
race!
I remind thee of the promise thy beneficence granted, and far be it from thee that thou
shouldst forget it.
The Khaleefeh said to her, Who art thou? She answered, I am the present
given to thee by 'Alee the son of El-Fadl the son of Khákán; and I request
the fulfilment of the promise which thou gavest me, that thou wouldst send
me to him with the honorary gift; for I have now been here thirty days, and
have not tasted sleep. And upon this, the Khaleefeh summoned Jaafar El-
NOOR-ED-DEEN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
209
Barmekee, and said to him, For thirty days I have heard no news of 'Alee
the son of El-Fadl the son of Khákán, and I imagine nothing less than that
the Sultán hath killed him: but, by my head! by the tombs of my ancestors!
if any evil event hath happened to him, I will destroy him who hath been
the cause of it, though he be the dearest of men in my estimation! I desire,
therefore, that thou journey immediately to El-Basrah, and bring me an ac-
count of the conduct of the King Mohammad the son of Suleymán Ez-Zeynee
to 'Alee the son of El-Fadl the son of Khákán.
So Jaafar obeyed his commands, and set forth on his journey, and when
he approached, and saw this tumult and crowd, he said, What is the occasion
of this crowd? They related to him, therefore, the situation in which they
were with regard to Noor-ed-Deen; and when he heard their words, he
hastened to go up to the Sultán, and, having saluted him, acquainted him
with the cause of his coming, and told him, that if any evil event had hap-
pened to 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, the Khaleefeh would destroy him who was the
cause of it. He then arrested the Sultán, and the Wezeer El-Mo'een the
son of Sáwee, and gave orders to liberate 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, and enthroned
him as Sultán in the place of the Sultán Mohammad the son of Suleyman
Ez-Zeynee; after which he remained in El-Basrah three days, the usual period
of entertainment; and on the morning of the fourth day, 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen
said to Jaafar, I have a longing desire to see the Prince of the Faithful. So
Jaafar said to the King Mohammad the son of Suleymán, Prepare thyself for
travelling; for we will perform the morning-prayers, and depart to Baghdad.
He replied, I hear and obey: - and they performed the morning-prayers, and
mounted all together, with the Wezeer El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee, who now
repented of what he had done. As to 'Alee Noor-ed-Deen, he rode by the side
of Jaafar: and they continued their journey until they arrived at Baghdad,
the Abode of Peace.
and he said to Mesroor, O
Mesroor, therefore, did so:
son of El-Fadl the son of
They then presented themselves before the Khaleefeh, and related to
him the case of Noor-ed-Deen; whereupon the Khaleefeh addressed him, say-
ing, Take this sword, and strike off with it the head of thine enemy. And
he took it, and approached El-Mo'een the son of Sáwee; but he looked at him,
and said to him, I did according to my nature, and do thou according to
thine. And Noor-ed-Deen threw down the sword from his hand, and, looking
towards the Khaleefeh, said, O Prince of the Faithful, he hath beguiled me.
So the Khaleefeh said, Do thou leave him:
Mesroor, advance thou, and strike off his head.
and upon this, the Khaleefeh said to 'Alee the
Khákán, Request of me what thou wilt. He replied, O my lord, I have no
want of the sovereignty of El-Basrah, and desire nothing but to have the
honour of serving thee. Most willingly I assent, said the Khaleefeh:-
and he summoned the damsel, and when she had come before him, he be-
stowed favours upon them both: he gave to them one of the palaces of Bagh-
dád, and assigned to them regular allowances, and made Noor-ed-Deen one of
his companions at the table; and he remained with him until death overtook
him.
VII
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
IT
Iancient times, a certain merchant of of wealth, who
T hath been told me, O happy King, said Shahrazád, that there was, in
ancient times, a certain merchant of Damascus,' possessed of wealth, who
had a son like the moon at the full, of eloquent tongue, called Ghánim the
son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of Love; and this son had a sister, named
Fitneh, on account of her excessive beauty and loveliness. Their father died,
leaving them large property, among which were a hundred loads of silk and
brocade, and bags of musk, and upon these loads was written, This is in-
tended for Baghdád: it having been his desire to journey to that city.
5
-
So, when God (whose name be exalted!) had taken his soul, and some
time had elapsed, his son took these loads, and journeyed with them to Bagh-
dád. This was in the time of Hároon Er-Rasheed. He took leave of his
mother and relations and townspeople before his departure, and went forth,
placing his dependence upon God (whose name be exalted!), and God decreed
him safety, so that he arrived at Baghdád, whither there travelled in his com-
pany a party of merchants. He hired for himself a handsome house, and fur-
nished it with carpets and cushions, and suspended curtains in it; and there
he deposited those loads, together with the mules and camels, and remained
until he had rested himself; and the merchants of Baghdád, and his great
men, came and saluted him. He then took a wrapper containing ten pieces
of costly stuff, with the prices written upon them, and went forth with them
to the market of the merchants, who met him and saluted him, treated him
with honour and welcomed him, and seated him at the shop of the Sheykh of
the market; and he sold the pieces, gaining, for every piece of gold, two.
So Ghánim rejoiced; and he proceeded to sell the stuffs by little and little,
and continued to do so for a whole year.
6
-
After this, on the first day of the following year, he came to the same
market, but found its gate shut, and, inquiring the cause of this, he was an-
swered, One of the merchants hath died, and all the rest of them have gone
to walk in his funeral-procession. Wilt thou then, added his informant, gain
a recompense by walking with them? He replied, Yes; and he asked
respecting the place of the funeral. So they guided him thither; and he per-
formed the ablution, and walked with the other merchants until they arrived
at the place of prayer, where they prayed over the dead. The merchants
then walked all together before the corpse to the burial-ground, Ghánim fol-
lowing them, until the procession arrived at the burial-ground outside the
city, and they proceeded among the tombs until they came to that in which
7
210
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
211
the corpse was to be deposited. They found that the family of the deceased
had pitched a tent over the tomb, and placed there the candles and lamps;
and they buried the dead, and the readers sat reciting the Kur-án at the
tomb. The merchants sat with them; and so also did Ghánim the son of
Eiyoob; but he was overcome by bashfulness, saying within himself, I can-
not quit them until I have departed with them. They sat listening to the
recitation of the Kur-án until the period of nightfall, when the servants.
placed before them the supper and sweetmeats, and they ate till they were
satisfied, and washed their hands, and resumed their seats.
The heart of Ghánim was now troubled with reflections upon his merchan-
dise, and he was fearful of the thieves, and said within himself, I am a
stranger, and suspected of possessing wealth, and if I pass the night far away
from my abode, the thieves will steal the money and the loads. So, fear-
ing for his property, he arose and went forth from among the company, ask-
ing their leave to depart on account of some business that he had to transact,
and followed the beaten track until he came to the gate of the city: but it
was then midnight, and he found the gate of the city shut, and saw no one
coming or going, and heard not a sound save the barking of the dogs, and the
howling of the wolves; whereupon he exclaimed, There is no strength nor
power but in God! I was in fear for my property, and came hither on ac-
count of it, and have found the gate shut, and now I have become in fear
of my life!
He then returned to seek for himself a place in which to sleep
until the morning: and, finding a private burial-place enclosed by four walls,
with a palm-tree within it, and a gate-way of hard stone, open, he entered
it, and desired to sleep; but sleep came not to him.
Tremour and gloom overcame him, thus lying among the tombs, and he
rose upon his feet, and, opening the door, looked out, and beheld a light
gleaming in the distance in the direction of the city-gate. He advanced a
few steps, and saw the light approaching in the way which led to the burial-
place in which he was taking refuge; whereupon Ghánim feared for himself,
and hastily closed the door, and climbed up into the palm-tree, and concealed
himself in the midst of its branches. The light continued to approach the
tomb by little and little until it came very near; and as he looked attentively
at it, he perceived three black slaves, two of whom were bearing a chest, the
other having in his hand an adze and a lantern; and as they drew near,
one of the two slaves who were bearing the chest said, What aileth
thee, O Sawáb? 8 to which the other of the two replied, What aileth
thee, O Káfoor? The former rejoined, Were we not here at the hour
of nightfall, and did we not leave the door open? Yes, answered the
other, what thou sayest is true. See, then, resumed the first speaker, it is
shut and barred.
Upon this the third, who was carrying the adze and light, and whose name
was Bakheet,10 said, How small is your sense! Know ye not that the own-
ers of the gardens go forth from Baghdad and repair hither, and, evening over-
taking them, enter this place, and shut the door upon themselves, through
212
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
fear, lest the blacks, like ourselves, should take them and roast them
and eat them?¹¹-Thou hast spoken truth, they answered; but there is none
among us of less sense than thyself. - Verily, he replied, ye will not believe
me until we enter the burial-place and find some one in it and I imagine
that, if any one be in it, and have seen the light, he hath betaken himself to
the top of the palm-tree.
When the Ghánim heard these words of the slave, he said within himself,
How cunning is this slave! May Allah disgrace the blacks for their malice
and villainy! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the
Great! What will deliver me from this difficulty? - The two who were
bearing the chest then said to him who had the adze, Climb over the wall,
and open to us the door, O Bakheet; for we are fatigued with carrying the
chest upon our necks; and if thou open to us the door, we will give thee one
of the persons whom we take, and we will fry him for thee excellently, so
that not a drop of his fat shall be lost. But he replied, I am afraid of a
thing that my little sense hath suggested to me: let us throw over the chest
behind the door; for it is our deposit. They said to him, If we throw it,
it will break. I am afraid, he rejoined, that there may be, within the tomb,
robbers who slay men and steal their property; for when evening overtaketh
them they enter these places to divide what they have taken. - O thou of
little sense, exclaimed the two others; can they enter here? - They then put
down the chest, and climbed up the wall, and descended, and opened the
door, while the third slave, Bakheet, stood waiting for them with the light,
and a basket containing some plaster: after which they seated themselves,
having closed the door; and one of them said, O my brother, we are tired
with walking and taking up and putting down, and opening the door and
shutting it, and it is now midnight, and we have not strength remaining to
open the tomb and to bury the chest; wherefore we will sit here three hours
to rest ourselves, and then rise and accomplish our business; but each of us
shall in the mean time tell his story, and relate all that hath happened to him
from beginning to end. So the first, who carried the light, told his story;
but it was of a nature unfit to be here repeated; 12 after which, another of
the slaves thus began.
KÁFOOR THE LIAR"
Know, O my brothers, that I was, at the commencement of my career, a
boy of eight years, and I used to tell one lie to the slave-merchants every
year, so that they fell out with each other in consequence, and the slave-
merchant my master, becoming impatient of me, committed me to the broker,
desiring him to cry, Who will buy this slave with his fault? He was there-
fore asked, What is his fault? - and answered, He telleth one lie every year.
And a merchant approached the broker, and said to him, How much have
they bidden for this slave with his fault? He answered, They have bidden
six hundred pieces of silver.
- Then thou shalt have twenty for thyself,
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
213
replied the merchant. So the broker introduced him to the slave-merchant,
who received from him the money, and the broker conveyed me to the dwell-
ing of the merchant, and took his brokerage.
The merchant clad me in a dress suitable to my condition, and I continued
with him for the remainder of the year, until the new year commenced with
prosperity. It was a blessed year, plenteous in the produce of the earth, and
the merchants began to give entertainments, every day one taking his turn
to do so, until it was my master's turn to give an entertainment in a garden
within the city. So he went, and the other merchants also, and he took for
them what they required of food and other provisions, and they sat eating
and drinking and carousing till noon, when my master wanted something
from the house, and said, O slave, mount the mule, and go to the house, and
bring, from thy mistress, such a thing, and return quickly.
I obeyed, therefore, and went to the house; but when I approached it,
I shrieked out, and shed tears; whereupon the people of the quarter assembled
together, old and young; and my master's wife and daughters, hearing my
cry, opened the door, and asked me what was the matter. I answered them,
My master was sitting beneath an old wall, he and his friends, and it fell
upon them; and when I beheld what happened to them, I mounted the mule,
and came in haste to inform you. And when his children and wife heard
these words, they shrieked, and tore their clothes, and slapped their faces,
and the neighbours came to them. Then my master's wife overturned the
furniture of the house, one thing upon another, and pulled down its shelves,
and broke its shutters and its windows, and smeared its walls with mud and
indigo, and said to me, Wo to thee, O Káfoor! Come hither and help me,
and demolish these cupboards, and smash these vessels and this Chinaware.
-So I went to her, and destroyed with her the shelves of the house and all
that was upon them, and its cupboards and what they contained, and went
about over the terraces and through every place until I had laid waste the
whole, crying all the while, O my master!
14
My mistress then went forth, with her face uncovered, and only with her
head-veil, and the girls and boys went with her, saying to me, O Káfoor, walk
on before us, and shew us the place where thy master lieth dead beneath the
wall, that we make take him forth from under the ruins, and carry him in
a bier, and bring him to the house, and convey his corpse in a handsome
manner to the burial. So I walked before them, crying, O my master!
and they followed me with their faces and heads uncovered, crying, O our
misfortune! O our calamity! - and there was none among the men, nor
among the women, nor among the children, nor a maiden, nor an old woman,
[in the quarter,] who did not accompany us; and all of them slapped them-
selves in the excess of their lamentation. Thus I went with them through
the city; and the people asking the news, they informed them of that which
they had heard from me; and the people exclaimed, There is no strength
nor power but in God, the High, the Great! We will go to the Wálee, and
acquaint him. And when they arrived before the Walee, they informed
214
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
him; and he mounted, and took with him labourers with axes and baskets,
and they followed my footsteps, accompanied by a crowd of people.
I preceded them, weeping and crying out, and throwing dust upon my
head, and slapping my face; and when I came to the party in the garden,
and my master beheld me, I slapped my face, and exclaimed, O my mistress!
who will have pity upon me after my mistress? Would that I had been her
sacrifice! When my master, therefore, saw me, he was confounded, his
countenance became pale, and he said, What aileth thee, O Káfoor, and what
is this predicament, and what is the news? I answered him, When thou
sentest me to the house to bring thee what thou wantedst, I went thither and
entered the house, and found that the wall of the saloon had fallen, and
that the whole saloon had tumbled down upon my mistress and her children.
-And did not thy mistress, said he, escape? I answered, No: not one of
them escaped; and the first of them that died was my mistress the elder.
-But did my youngest daughter escape? he asked. I answered, No. —
And what, said he, hath become of the mule that I ride: is she safe? No,
O my master, I answered: for the walls of the house and the walls of the
stable tumbled down upon all that was in the house; even upon the sheep
and the geese and the hens, and all of them became a mass of flesh beneath
the ruins; not one of them escaped, He then said to me, And thy master the
elder? I answered, No; not one escaped; and now there remains neither
house nor inhabitant, nor any trace of them; and as to the sheep and the
geese and the hens, the cats and the dogs have now eaten them.
--
And when my master heard my words, the light became darkness before
his face, and he was no longer master of his senses nor of his reason, and was
unable to stand upon his feet: he was paralyzed, and the strength of his back
failed him, and he rent his clothes and plucked his beard and slapped his face
and threw his turban from his head, and ceased not to slap his face until the
blood flowed from it: and he began to cry, Ah! O my children! Ah! O my
wife! Ah! O my misfortune! Unto whom hath happened the like of that
which hath happened to me? The merchants, also, his companions, joined
with him in cries and lamentations, and were moved with pity for his case,
and rent their clothes; and my master went forth from the garden, beating
himself for the calamity that had [as he supposed] befallen him, and re-
doubled the blows upon his face, seeming as though he were drunk.
―
And as the party thus went out from the gate of the garden, they beheld
a great dust, and heard tumultuous cries, and, looking in that direction, saw
the crowd approaching them. This crowd was the Wálee and his attendants,
and a concourse of people who had come to gratify their curiosity, with the
merchant's family behind them, shrieking and crying with violent lamenta-
tion and excessive grief; and the first who accosted my master were his wife
and children. On beholding these, he was confounded, and laughed, and
said to them, How are ye; and what hath happened to you in the house, and
what hath befallen you? And when they saw him, they exclaimed, Praise
be to God for thy safety! And they threw themselves upon him, and his
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
215
-
-
children clung to him, crying out, O our father! Praise be to God for thy
safety, O our father! - and his wife said to him, Praise be to God who hath
shewn us thy face in safety! — and she was stupefied, and her reason fled
from her at that which she beheld. She then said to him, How didst thou
escape with thy friends? And how, said he, were ye in the house? - We
were all well, they answered, in prosperity and health, and no evil hath be-
fallen our house, save that thy slave Káfoor came to us with his head un-
covered and his clothes rent, crying out, O my master! O my master!
and we said to him, What is the matter, O Káfoor? - and he answered, My
master was sitting under a wall in the garden, and it fell upon him, and he
died. By Allah, replied my master, he came to me just now, crying, O my
mistress! O the children of my mistress! and said, My mistress and her
children are all dead.
-
-
-
By Allah, I
year be com-
He then looked aside, and, seeing me with my turban falling from my
head, while I still cried out and wept violently and threw dust upon my
head, he called out to me: so I approached him, and he said to me, Wo to
thee! O malevolent slave! O misbegotten wretch! O thou of accursed
race! What events hast thou brought about! But, by Allah, I will strip
off thy skin from thy flesh, and cut thy flesh from thy bones! By Allah,
replied I, thou canst not do to me anything; for thou boughtest me with my
fault, on this condition, the witnesses testifying that thou boughtest me
with my fault, thou knowing it, and it was, that I was accustomed to tell one
lie every year; and this is but half a lie, and when the year is complete I will
tell the other half of it; so it will be an entire lie. But upon this, he cried
out at me, O most accursed of slaves! is this but half a lie? Nay, it is an
exceeding calamity! Depart from me; for thou art free! 15
replied, if thou liberate me, I will not liberate thee until the
plete, and I tell the remaining half of the lie; and when I have completed it,
then take me to the market, and sell me as thou boughtest me with my fault,
and liberate me not; for I have no trade by means of which to procure my
subsistence: this is a legal proposition that I have stated to thee, laid down.
by the lawyers in the Chapter of Emancipation.16 While we were thus
talking, the crowd approached, with the people of the quarter, women and
men, come to mourn, and the Wálee with his attendants: and my master
and the other merchants went to the Wálee, and acquainted him with the
case, and that this was but half a lie; and when the people who were present
heard this, they were astonished at this lie, and struck with the utmost won-
der; and they cursed and reviled me; while I stood laughing, and saying,
How can my master kill me when he bought me with this fault?
So when my master went to the house, he found it in a state of ruin (and
it was I who destroyed the greater part, and broke in it things worth a large
sum of money); and his wife said to him, It was Káfoor who broke the ves-
sels and the China-ware. Upon this, his rage increased, and he exclaimed,
By Allah! in my life I have never seen such a misbegotten wretch as this
slave; yet he calleth it half a lie! What then would have been the result
216
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
had it been a whole lie! In that case he had destroyed a city, or two cities!
Then, in the excess of his rage, he went to the Wálee, who inflicted upon
me a severe beating, so that I became insensible, and swooned away; after
which, my master contrived means of obtaining for me a high price, and I
ceased not to excite disturbances in the places into which I was sold, and
was transferred from Emeer to Emeer and from Grandee to Grandee, by sale
and purchase, until I entered the palace of the Prince of the Faithful, and
now my spirit is broken, and my strength hath failed.
-
Continuation of the Story of Ghánim, the Distracted Slave of Love
When the other slaves had heard his story, they laughed at it, and said
to him, Verily thou art a villain: thou hast told an abominable lie. The
first and second then said to the third slave, Relate to us thy story. - - O
sons of my uncle, he replied, all that hath just been related is nonsense;
but my story is long, and this is not a time to tell it; for the morning, O
sons of my uncle, is near, and perhaps it may overtake us with this chest still
before us, and we shall be disgraced among the public, and our lives will be
lost; haste then to work, and when we have finished, and returned home, I
will relate to you my story. So they put down the light, and dug a trench
of the size of the chest between four tombs; Káfoor digging, and Sawáb re-
moving the earth in baskets, until they had dug to the depth of half a fathom,
when they put the chest into the trench, and replaced the earth over it, and
went forth from the enclosure, and, having closed, the gate, disappeared from
before the eyes of Ghánim the son of Eiyoob.
When, therefore, they had left the place vacant unto Ghánim, and he
knew that he was alone, his mind became busied respecting the contents of
the chest, and he said within himself, What can this chest contain? He
waited until daybreak gleamed and shone forth, and then descended from
the palm-tree, and removed the earth with his hand until he had uncovered
the chest and disengaged it, when he took a stone, and struck with it the lock,
and broke it; and lifting up the cover, he looked in, and beheld a sleeping
damsel, stupefied with benj," but still breathing: she was of beautiful and
lovely person, and decked with ornaments of gold, and necklaces of jewels,
worth a kingdom, and of a value that no money would equal. When Ghánim
the son of Eiyoob beheld her, he knew that she had been the object of a plot,
and, being convinced of this, he pulled her up until he had lifted her out
of the chest, and laid her upon her back; and as soon as she scented the
breeze, and the air entered her nostrils and her mouth and throat, she
sneezed and then was choked and coughed, whereupon there fell from her
throat a round piece of benj, of such potency that if an elephant smelt it
he would sleep from one night to another.
She then opened her eyes, and, looking round, said, with an eloquent.
voice, Wo to thee, O wind! Thou neither satisfiest the thirsty, nor cheerest
by thy presence the satisfied with drink! Where is Zahr-el-Bustán? - But
no one answered her. Then looking aside, she exclaimed, Sabeehah! She-
jeret-ed-Durr! Noor-el-Hudá! Nejmet-es-Subh! Art thou awake? 18 Nuz-
GHANIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
217
heh! Hulweh! Zareefeh! Speak ye!
But no one answered her. And
she looked round about her, and exclaimed, Alas for me, that I am trans-
ported to the tombs! O Thou who knowest the secrets of the breasts, and
recompensest on the day of resurrection! who hath brought me from among
the curtains and the veils, and placed me amid four tombs?
While she was saying all this, Ghánim stood still; but he now said to
her, O my mistress, there are neither veils nor palaces nor tombs for thee
here: this is none other than thy slave Ghánim the son of Eiycob, whom the
King who is omniscient with respect to hidden things hath impelled hither
that he may deliver thee from these troubles, and that the utmost of thy
desires may be accomplished unto thee. And he was silent; and when
she became convinced of the truth of the case, she exclaimed, I testify that
there is no deity but God, and I testify that Mohammad is God's Apostle!
Then looking towards Ghánim, with her hands placed upon her breast, she
said to him, with a sweet voice, O auspicious youth, who brought me unto
this place? For now I have recovered my senses. -O my mistress, he
answered, three eunuchs came bearing this chest: - and he related to her
all that had happened, and how the evening had overtaken him, so that he
became the means of her preservation, and that otherwise she had died of
suffocation; and he inquired of her respecting her history.
O youth, she replied, praise be to God who hath cast me into the hands
of one like thee! Rise therefore now, and put me into the chest, and go
forth to the road, and as soon as thou shalt find any one who lets out asses
or other beasts, or a muleteer, hire him to transport this chest, and convey
me to thy house; and when I am in thy abode it will be well, and I will re-
late to thee my story, and acquaint thee with my tale, and good fortune will
accrue to thee through my means. So Ghánim rejoiced, and he went forth
into the desert tract.
The day had begun to gleam, the sun rose in splendour, and the people
come walking forth; and Ghánim hired a man with a mule, and brought
him to the burial-place. He then lifted the chest, after he had put the
damsel into it, and, with his heart smitten by love for her, proceeded with
her, full of joy, for she was a damsel worth ten thousand pieces of gold, and
was decked with ornaments and apparel of enormous value. Scarcely had
he found himself at his house when he put down the chest, and opened, and
took forth from it the damsel, who looked, and saw that the place was a
handsome dwelling furnished with variegated carpets, and she observed the
gay colours and various embellishments, and beheld stuffs packed up, and
loads of goods, and other property: so she knew that he was a great mer-
chant, and a man of wealth. She then uncovered her face, and looked at
him, and observed him to be a handsome young man, and loved him; and
she said to him, Bring us something to eat. He answered her, On the head
and the eye be thy commands: and went to the market, and bought a
roasted lamb, and a dish of sweetmeat, and procured some dried fruits, and
candles and wine, and the requisite apparatus for perfumes.
218
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Then returning to the house, he took in the things, and when the damsel
saw him, she laughed, and kissed him, and embraced him, and began to caress
him, so that the love which he felt increased, and took entire possession of
his heart. They then ate and drank until the approach of night, and their
love was mutual: for they were both of the same age, and both equal in
comeliness; and when the night approached, the Distracted Slave of Love,
Ghánim the son of Eiyoob, rose and lighted the candles and lamps, and the
chamber glistened: he then brought forth the wine-service, and prepared the
table, and sat down with her; he filling and handing to her, and she filling
and handing to him, while they both toyed and laughed and recited verses:
their gaiety increased, and they were engrossed by mutual love. — Extolled
be the perfection of the Uniter of Hearts! Thus they continued until it
was near morning, when sleep overcame them, and each of them slept apart
from the other till morning came.
-
-
Ghánim the son of Eiyoob then arose, and went forth to the market, and
bought what was requisite of vegetables and meat and wine and other pro-
visions, and brought them to the house; and he again sat with her to eat, and
they ate until they were satisfied; after which he brought the wine, and
they drank and toyed together till their cheeks reddened and their eyes be-
came more intensely black; 19 and Ghánim said, O my mistress, have com-
passion on the captive of thy love, and him whom thine eyes have slain. I
had remained sound of heart but for thee. Then he wept a while; and she
replied, O my master, and light of mine eye, By Allah, I love thee and con-
fide in thee; but I know that thou canst not be united to me. -And what
hindereth? said he. She answered, I will this night relate to thee my story,
that thou mayest accept my excuse.
--
But they continued thus a whole month; and after this, one night, when
Ghánim was complaining to her of his passion, she said to him, I will now
explain to thee my case, that thou mayest know my dignity, and that my
secret may be revealed to thee, and my excuse become manifest to thee. He
replied, Well.
And she took hold of a band which confined a part of her
dress, and said to him, O my master, read what is on this border. So he took
the border in his hand, and looked at it, and found work upon it in gold, I
am thine, and thou art mine, O descendant of the Prophet's Uncle.20 And
when he had read this, he let fall his hand, and said to her, Reveal to me
thy history. She answered, Well:- and thus began:-
Know that I am a favourite slave of the Prince of the Faithful, and my
name is Koot-el-Kuloob.21 The Prince of the Faithful, after he had reared
me in his palace, and I had grown up, observed my qualities, and the beauty
and loveliness with which my Lord had endowed me, and loved me exces-
sively: he took me and lodged me in a private apartment, and appointed me
ten female slaves to serve me, and then gave me those ornaments which
thou seest with me. After this, the Khaleefeh went forth one day on a
journey to one of the surrounding provinces, and the lady Zubeydeh came
to one of the female slaves who were in my service, and said, When thy mis-
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
219
tress Koot-el-Kuloob sleepeth, put this piece of benj into her nose and her
drink, and thou shalt receive from me a sum of money that will satisfy
thee.
The slave replied, Most willingly: — and she received the benj
from her, rejoicing on account of the money, and because she had been
originally Zubeydeh's slave; and she insinuated the benj into me, where-
upon I fell upon the floor, with my head bent down to my feet, and
seemed to be in another world. And when she could devise no other
stratagem, she put me into that chest, and privily summoned the black
slaves, and, after having given presents to them and to the doorkeepers,
sent me with the black slaves on the night when thou wast reposing at
the top of the palm-tree: and they did with me as thou sawest, and
my deliverance was effected through thy means. Then thou broughtest
me unto this place, where thou hast treated me with the utmost kindness.
This is my story; and I know not what hath happened to the Khaleefeh
during my absence. Know, therefore, my dignity; and divulge not my
case.
-
When Ghánim the son of Eiyoob heard these words of Koot-el-Kuloob,
and discovered that she was the favourite of the Khaleefeh, he drew back,
in his awe of the Khaleefeh, and sat alone at one end of the chamber,
blaming himself, and reflecting upon his situation, perplexed by love of
her to whom he could not be united; and he wept from the violence of
his desire, and the fierceness of his passion and distraction, and began to
complain of fortune and its injustice. Extolled be the perfection of Him
who causeth the hearts of the generous to be troubled with love, and
endueth not the mean with so much of it as equalleth the weight of the
grain! And upon this, Koot-el-Kuloob rose to him, and embraced and
kissed him, and, her heart being entirely captivated by his love, she re-
vealed what she had hidden of the extent of her passion, and encircled his
neck with her arms, and kissed him again; but he withdrew from her em-
brace, in his fear of the Khaleefeh.
They then conversed a while, drowned in the sea of mutual love, and
so remained until day, when Ghánim arose, and went forth to the market
as usual, and procured what was requisite, and, returning to the house, found
Koot-el-Kuloob weeping: but as soon as she beheld him, she ceased from
her tears, and smiled, and said to him, Thou hast made me desolate by thine
absence, O beloved of my heart! By Allah, this hour during which thou
hast been away from me hath appeared as a year; for I cannot endure thy
separation; and see, I have thus shewn thee my state, through the violence
of my passion. Arise therefore now, and mind not what hath happened,
but take me as thy wife. But he replied, I seek refuge with Allah. This
is a thing that cannot be. How should the dog sit in the place of the lion?
What belongeth to my lord is forbidden me to approach. He then tore
himself from her, and sat apart; and she increased in love through his re-
fusal. — In this manner they passed three long months; and whenever she
made any advances to him he withdrew from her, and said, Whatever be-
220
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
longeth to the master is forbidden to the slave. Such was the case of
the Distracted Slave of Love, Ghánim the son of Eiyoob.
Meanwhile, Zubeydeh, during the absence of the Khaleefeh, having acted
thus with Koot-el-Kuloob, became perplexed, saying within herself, What
shall I say to the Khaleefeh when he cometh and inquireth respecting her;
and what shall be my answer to him? She then called for an old woman
who resided with her, and acquainted her with her secret, and said to her,
What shall I do, now that Koot-el-Kuloob is no more? The old woman
answered, when she understood the affair, Know, O my mistress, that the
return of the Khaleefeh is near; but I will send to a carpenter, and desire
him to make a wooden image of a corpse, and they shall dig for it a grave,
and thou shalt light candles and lamps around it, and command every one
who is in the palace to wear black,22 and order thy female slaves and
eunuchs, as soon as they know of the Khaleefeh's return from his journey,
to raise lamentations in the vestibules, and when he enters and asks the
news, they shall answer him, Koot-el-Kuloob is dead; and may God abund-
antly compensate thee for the loss of her! and from the esteem with
which she was regarded by our mistress, she hath buried her in her own
palace. So when he heareth this, he will weep, and the event will distress
him. Then he will cause the readers to sit up by night at her tomb to per-
form recitations of the Kur-án: and if he say within himself, Surely the
daughter of my uncle, through her jealousy, hath been led to destroy Koot-
el-Kuloob, or the distraction of love overpower him, and he give orders
to take her forth from the tomb, fear not from that; for if they dig down
to the image in the form of a human being, and take it forth, shrouded in
costly grave-clothes, and the Khaleefeh desire to remove the grave-clothes
from it, to behold her, do thou prevent him, and the fear of the world to
come will withhold him; and do thou say to him, to behold her corpse un-
covered is unlawful. Then he will believe her death, and will return her
image to its place, and thank thee for thy conduct, and thou shalt escape, if
it please God, from this difficulty.
-
When the lady Zubeydeh, therefore, heard what she said, she approved
it, and bestowed upon her a dress of honour, and commanded her to do
this, having given her a sum of money. So the old woman set about the
business immediately, and ordered the carpenter to make for her an image
as above described; and when it was finished, she brought it to the lady
Zubeydeh, and she shrouded it, and lighted the candles and lamps, and
spread the carpets around the tomb, and clad herself in black, ordering
the female slaves to do the same; and the news was spread through the
palace, that Koot-el-Kuloob had died.
Some time after this, the Khaleefeh returned from his journey, and went
up to his palace; but his mind was occupied only with Koot-el-Kuloob; and
seeing the pages and eunuchs and female slaves all clad in black, his heart
was agitated; and when he entered the palace of the lady Zubeydeh, and
beheld her also clad in black, he inquired the reason of it, and they informed
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
221
him of the death of Koot-el-Kuloob. Upon hearing this, he fell down in
a swoon; and when he recovered, he asked where was her tomb; and the
lady Zubeydeh answered, Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that, on account
of the esteem in which she was held by me, I buried her in my palace. So
the Khaleefeh, entering the palace in his travelling-dress, proceeded to visit.
the tomb of the Koot-el-Kuloob, and found the carpets spread, and the
candles and lamps lighted; and when he beheld this, he thanked her for what
she had done.
But afterwards he became perplexed, and wavered a while between be-
lief and disbelief, until suspicion overcame him, and he gave orders to open
the tomb and to take her out; when, however, he saw the grave-clothes, and
was about to remove them that he might behold her, he feared God (whose
name be exalted!), and the old woman said, Restore her to her place.
Then immediately the Khaleefeh commanded to bring the professors of
religion and law, and the readers, and they performed recitations of the
whole of the Kur-án at her tomb, while he sat by the side of it weeping
until he became insensible.
-
He continued to frequent the tomb for the space of a month; after
which it happened that he entered the Hareem, after the emeers and
wezeers had dispersed from before him to their houses, and he slept a while,
and a female slave sat at his head, and another at his feet; and after sleep
had overcome him he awoke, and opened his eyes, and heard the damsel
who was at his head say to her who was at his feet, Wo to thee, O
Kheyzurán! - Wherefore, O Kadeeb? 23 said the other. Our lord, re-
joined the first, is ignorant of what hath happened; so he sitteth up by
night at a tomb in which there is nothing but a carved image, the work of
the carpenter. And what then, asked the other damsel, hath befallen
Koot-el-Kuloob? Her companion answered, Know that our mistress Zu-
beydeh sent some benj by a female slave, and she stupefied her with it, and
when the benj had taken effect upon her, she put her in a chest, and sent
her away with Sawáb and Káfoor, commanding them to throw her into the
tomb. Upon this, Kheyzurán said, Wo to thee, O Kadeeb! Is not the lady
Koot-el-Kuloob dead? Heaven preserve her youth from death! answered
Kadeeb: I heard the lady Zubeydeh say that Koot-el-Kuloob was with a
young merchant named Ghánim of Damascus, and that she had been with
him, including this day, four months; and our lord here weepeth and passeth
sleepless nights at a tomb in which there is no corpse. - Thus they conversed
together, while the Khaleefeh heard their words; and when they had fin-
ished their conversation, and he had become acquainted with the event, that
this tomb was a false one, and that Koot-el-Kuloob had been with Ghánim
the son of Eiyoob for the space of four months, he was violently incensed,
and arose, and summoned the emeers of his court; whereupon the Wezeer
Jaafar El-Barmekee presented himself and kissed the ground before him,
and the Khaleefeh said to him, in anger, Descend, O Jaafar, with a body
men, and inquire for the house of Ghánim the son of Eiyoob, and assault
of
www.
-
222
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
it suddenly, and bring him hither with my female slave Koot-el-Kuloob; and
I will assuredly torture him.
Jaafar replied, I hear and obey; - and he went forth with his attendants,
the Wálee also accompanying him, and they proceeded until they arrived
at Ghánim's house. Ghánim had just before gone out and brought a pot
of meat, and was about to stretch forth his hand to eat of it with Koot-el-
Kuloob, when she looked out and found that the house was beset on all sides,
and the Wezeer and the Wálee and the officers of violence and the mem-
looks with drawn swords were surrounding it as the black surrounds the
pupil of the eye; and upon this she knew that tidings of her situation had
reached the ears of the Khaleefeh her lord, and she made sure of destruc-
tion; her countenance became pale, and her beauty changed, and, looking
towards Ghánim, she said to him, O my beloved, save thyself! How shall
I do, said he, and whither shall I flee, when my wealth and means of sub-
sistence are in this house? But she answered, Delay not, lest thou perish,
and thy wealth also be lost. O my mistress, and light of mine eye, re-
joined he, how can I contrive to go forth when they are surrounding the
house. Fear not, she answered: - and she pulled off his clothes, and
clad him in worn-out, ragged garments, and taking the pot that had con-
tained the meat, placed it upon his head, and put in it a little bread and
a saucer of meat, and said to him, Go forth by the help of this stratagem, and
thou hast nothing to fear with respect to me, for I know what I am able
to do with the Khaleefeh. When Ghánim, therefore, heard the words of
Koot-el-Kuloob, and the advice which she gave him, he went forth through
the midst of them, bearing the pot, and Providence protected him so that
he escaped from the snares and injuries which menaced him, by the blessing
of his good conscience.
—
And when the Wezeer Jaafar arrived at the house, he dismounted from
his horse, and entered, and looked at Koot-el-Kuloob, who had adorned her-
self, and filled a chest with gold and ornaments and jewels and rarities,
such as were light to carry and of great value; and when Jaafar came in to
her, she rose upon her feet, and kissed the ground before him, saying to
him, O my master, the Pen hath written what God hath decreed.2+ But
Jaafar, when he beheld her situation, replied, By Allah, O my mistress, he
gave me no order but to arrest Ghánim the son of Eiyoob. And she said,
Know that he hath packed up some bales of merchandise, and gone with
them to Damascus, and I know nothing more than this; and I request thee
to take care of this chest for me, and to convey it to the palace of the
Prince of the Faithful. So Jaafar answered, I hear and obey: - and he
took the chest, and gave orders that it should be conveyed, together with
Koot-el-Kuloob, to the palace of the Khaleefeh, treating her with honour
and respect. This took place after they had plundered the house of Ghá-
nim; and they went to the Khaleefeh, and Jaafar related to him all that
had happened; whereupon the Khaleefeh appointed to Koot-el-Kuloob a
dark chamber, and there lodged her, commissioning an old woman to
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
223
serve her; for he imagined that Ghánim had acted dishonestly towards
her.
He then wrote a letter to the Emeer Mohammad the son of Suleyman
Ez-Zeynee, who was viceroy of Damascus, containing as follows: - As
soon as this letter cometh to thy hands, thou shalt arrest Ghánim the son
of Eiyoob, and send him unto me. So when the mandate was brought
to him, he kissed it, and put it upon his head, and caused it to be proclaimed
through the market-street, Whosoever desireth to plunder, let him repair to
the house of Ghánim the son of Eiyoob. And they came to the house,
and found that the mother of Ghánim, and his sister, had made for them a
tomb, and sat by it weeping; and they laid hold upon them, and plundered
the house, and the mother and sister knew not the cause: and when they
brought them before the Sultán,25 he inquired of them respecting Ghánim
the son of Eiyoob; and they answered him, For the space of a year we
have obtained no tidings of him. And they restored them to their place.20
In the mean time, Ghánim the son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of
Love, when his wealth had been seized, was perplexed, and began to weep
for himself so as to break his heart. He walked on, and ceased not on his
way to the close of day, suffering from excessive hunger and fatigue, until
he arrived at a village, where he entered a mosque, and seated himself upon
a round mat,27 and he leaned his back against one of the walls of the build-
ing, and then threw himself down, under the influence of extreme hunger
and weariness. There he remained until the morning, his heart palpitating
from want of food; vermin attacked his body, his breath became fetid, and
he was altogether changed; and the people of that village, coming to per-
form the morning-prayers, found him lying there sick through want of
food, yet exhibiting evident traces of former affluence; and when they ap-
proached him, they found him cold and hungry. They clad him, therefore,
with an old garment having ragged sleeves, and said to him, Whence art
thou, O stranger, and what is the cause of thine infirmity? And Ghánim
opened his eyes and looked at them and wept; but he returned them no
answer. Then one of them, knowing the violence of his hunger, went and
brought him a saucer of honey and two cakes of bread, and he ate, while
they sat around him until the sun rose, when they departed to their several
occupations. In this state he remained among them for a month, and his
infirmity and disease increased; so the people, commiserating him, con-
sulted together respecting his case, and agreed to transport him to the hospital
at Baghdád.
Now while they were thus conversing, lo, two women, beggars, came
in to him; and they were his mother and sister; and when he beheld them,
he gave them the bread that was at his head, and they slept by him the
next night; but he knew them not. And on the following day, the people of
the village came to him, bringing a camel, and said to its owner, Convey
this sick person on the camel, and when thou has arrived at Baghdad,
put him down at the door of the hospital; perhaps he may recover his
224
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
health, and thou wilt receive a recompense. He answered them, I hear
and obey. So they brought forth Ghánim the son of Eiyoob from the mosque,
and placed him, with the round mat upon which he was sleeping, on the
camel; and his mother and sister came to look at him among the other
people; but they knew him not. Then observing him attentively, they said,
Verily he resembleth our Ghánim! Can he be this sick person or not?
But as to Ghánim, he awoke not until he was mounted on the camel, and
he began to weep and moan; and the people of the village saw his mother
and sister weeping for him, though they did not know him. Then his
mother and sister journeyed onwards to Baghdad, while the camel-driver also
proceeded without stopping until he had deposited Ghánim at the door of
the hospital, when he took his camel, and returned.
Ghánim remained lying there until the morning; and when the people
began to pass along the street, they beheld him. He had become so
emaciated that his form resembled that of a toothpick, and the people.
ceased not to gaze at him until the Sheykh of the market came and repelled
them from him, and said, I will gain Paradise by means of this poor per-
son; for if they take him into the hospital they will kill him in one day.
He then ordered his young men to carry him, and they conveyed him to
his house, where he spread for him a new bed, and put for him a new
cushion, and said to his wife, Serve him faithfully. She replied, On the
head: — and she tucked up her sleeves, and, having heated for him some
water, washed his hands and feet and body, and clothed him in a vest of
one of her female slaves. She then gave him to drink a cup of wine, and
sprinkled rose-water upon him: so he recovered his senses; and he remem-
bered his beloved, Koot-el-Kuloob, and his anguish increased. Thus did it
happen to Ghánim.
Now as to Koot-el-Kuloob,
when the Khaleefeh, incensed against
her, had lodged her in the dark chamber, she remained there in the same
state for eighty days; and it happened that the Khaleefeh passed one day
by that place, and heard her reciting verses; and when she had finished
her recitation of them, she exclaimed, O my beloved! O Ghánim! How
kind art thou, and how chaste is thy disposition! Thou hast acted with
kindness unto him who hath injured thee, and hast guarded the honour
of him who hath violated thine, and hast protected his hareem and he
hath enslaved both thee and thy family; but thou wilt assuredly stand, with
the Prince of the Faithful, before a Just Judge, and thou wilt obtain justice
against him on the day when the judge shall be God; and the witnesses
the angels!
And when the Khaleefeh heard her words, and understood her com-
plaint, he knew that she was injured; and he entered his palace, and sent
the eunuch to her, and when she came before him she hung down her head,
with weeping eye, and sorrowful heart; and he said to her, O Koot-el-Ku-
loob, I see that thou complainest of my oppression, and accusest me of
tyranny, and thinkest that I have injured him who hath acted kindly unto
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
225
me. Who then is he who hath guarded my honour and I have violated his;
and who hath protected my hareem and I have enslaved his? 28 She
answered him, Ghánim the son of Eiyoob; for he hath not attempted any
dishonest action towards me, by thy beneficence, O Prince of the Faith-
ful! Upon this the Khaleefeh exclaimed, There is no strength nor power
but in God! and then added, O Koot-el-Kuloob, desire of me what thou
wilt, and I will grant thy wish. So she replied, I desire of thee my be-
loved, Ghánim the son of Eiyoob. And when he heard her words, he said,
I will cause him to be brought hither, if it be the will of God, in honour.
O Prince of the Faithful, she rejoined, when thou shalt have caused him
to be brought, wilt thou present me to him? He answered, When I have
had him brought, I will present thee to him, the present of a generous man
who will not revoke his gift. So she said, O Prince of the Faithful, permit
me to search about for him: perhaps God may unite me with him. And
he replied, Do as thou wilt.
Upon this she rejoiced, and went forth, taking with her a thousand
pieces of gold and visited the sheykhs, and gave alms for the sake of
Ghánim: 29 and on the following day she went to the market of the mer-
chants, and gave to the chief of the market some money, saying to him,
Bestow it in alms upon the strangers. Then again, in the following week,
she went forth, taking with her a thousand pieces of gold, and, entering
the market of the goldsmiths and jewellers, summoned the chief of the
market, and he came, and she gave him the thousand pieces of gold, and
said to him, Bestow it in alms upon the strangers: whereupon the chief,
who was the Sheykh of the market before mentioned, looked at her, and
said to her, Wilt thou go with me to my house, to look at a young stranger
there, and see how elegant he is, and how perfectly charming? For it is
probable that he is Ghánim the son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of
Love. But the chief had no knowledge of him, and imagined that he
was a poor person involved in debt, whose wealth had been taken from him,
or a lover parted from his beloved. And when she heard his words, her
heart beat, and her affections were engrossed by him, and she answered,
Send with me some one to conduct me to thy house. So he sent with her
a young boy, who conducted her to the house where the stranger was
lodged, and she thanked him for doing so; and when she entered the house,
and saluted the chief's wife, the latter arose, and kissed the ground before
her; for she knew her.
Then Koot-el-Kuloob said to her, Where is the sick person who is with
you? And she wept, and answered, Here he is, O my mistress: but he is of
a respectable family, and exhibiteth traces of former affluence. And Koot-
el-Kuloob looked towards the bed upon which he was lying, and, regarding
him narrowly, beheld him as though he were Ghánim himself; but his
condition was changed, and he had become so emaciated that he resembled
a toothpick, and the truth of his case was disguised from her, so that she
did not discover him to be the person whom she sought; but she was
226
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
moved with compassion for him, and she wept, and exclaimed, Verily,
strangers are objects of pity, though they be emeers in their own coun-
tries! She then ordered for him supplies of wine and medicines, and sat
at his head a while, and mounted, and returned to her palace; and she con-
tinued to go forth to every market for the purpose of searching for
Ghánim.
Soon after, the chief of the market brought the mother of Ghánim,
and his sister Fitneh, and went with them to Koot-el-Kuloob, and said to
her, O most charitable lady, there have entered our city this day a woman
and a girl of respectable origin, bearing evident traces of former affluence,
but they are clad in garments of haircloth, and each of them hath a wallet.
hung to her neck, and their eyes are weeping, and their hearts sorrowful: so
I have brought them unto thee, that thou mayst give them refuge, and
preserve them from the disgrace of beggary; for they are not persons suited
to ask alms of the sordid; and if it please God, we shall enter Paradise by
their means. By Allah, O my master, she replied, thou hast made me
long to behold them! Where are they? Order them to come in. — So,
upon this, Fitneh and her mother came in to Koot-el-Kuloob, who, when
she saw them, and observed that they were both distinguished by beauty,
wept for them, and said, By Allah, they are persons of an affluent family,
and traces of wealth are conspicuous in their appearance. O my mistress,
replied the chief of the market, we love the poor and indigent for the sake
of future recompense; 30 and probably the extortioners have oppressed
these two persons, and plundered them of their wealth, and ruined their
houses.
-
-
-
Then these two females wept violently, and, remembering Ghánim the
son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of Love, their wailing increased, and
Koot-el-Kuloob wept with them; and the mother of Ghánim exclaimed, We
pray God to unite us with him whom we seek, and he is my son Ghánim
the son of Eiyoob. When Koot-el-Kuloob, therefore, heard these words,
she knew that this woman was the mother of her beloved, and that the
other was his sister, and she wept until she fell down in a swoon; and when
she recovered, she approached them, and said to them, Ye have nothing
to fear; for this day is the first of your prosperity, and the last of your
adversity: therefore grieve not. She then ordered the chief of the market
to take them to his house, and to let his wife conduct them into the bath,
and attire them in handsome clothing, and take care of them, and treat them
with the utmost honour; and she gave him a sum of money.
Then, on the following day, Koot-el-Kuloob mounted and went again
to the house of the chief of the market, and went in to visit his wife, who
rose to her and kissed the ground before her, and thanked her for her
charity; and she saw that his wife had conducted the mother of Ghánim,
and his sister, to the bath, and taken off their former clothes, and that the
traces of their original affluence had become more conspicuous in conse-
quence; and she sat a while conversing with them; after which she asked
GHÁNIM, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE
227
the wife of the chief of the market respecting the sick person who was with
her. She answered, He is in the same state. And Koot-el-Kuloob said,
Arise, and let us look at him and visit him.
So they both arose, with Ghánim's mother and sister, and went in to
him, and seated themselves by him; and when Ghánim the son of Eiyoob,
the Distracted Slave of Love, heard one of them mention Koot-el-Kuloob,
emaciated as he was in body and limbs, his soul returned to him, and he
raised his head from the pillow, and called out, O Koot-el-Kuloob! She
looked at him, therefore, and knew him, and cried, saying, Yes, O my be-
loved! He then said to her, Draw near to me. And she asked him, Art
thou Ghánim the son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of Love? He an-
swered her, Yes: I am he. And upon this, she fell down in a swoon; and
when his sister and his mother heard their words, they cried out, O, our
joy! and in like manner fainted. And when they recovered, Koot-el-
Kuloob said to Ghánim, Praise be to God who hath united us with thee
and with thy mother and sister! Then, approaching him, she related to
him all that had happened to her with the Khaleefeh, adding, I said to
him, I have declared to thee the truth, O Prince of the Faithful: - and he
believed my words, and approved thee; and he is now desiring to see thee.
And she said to him, The Khaleefeh hath given me to thee: -- whereupon
he was filled with the utmost joy: and Koot-el-Kuloob said to them all,
Quit not this place until I come again.
She then arose immediately, and departed to her palace, and removed
thence the chest that she had brought from Ghánim's house, and took
forth from it some pieces of gold, which she gave to the chief of the market,
saying to him, Take these pieces of gold, and buy for each of them four com-
plete suits of dress of the best kinds of stuff, and twenty handkerchiefs,
and whatever else they require. And after this, she conducted them to
the bath, and gave orders to wash them, and prepared for them boiled
meats, and infusion of galangal, and apple-water, after they had come forth
from the bath and dressed themselves. For three days she remained with
them, feeding them with fowls and with boiled meats, and giving them
sherbet of refined sugar to drink; and after the three days their spirits
returned to them. Then she conducted them again to the bath, and they
came forth, and she changed their clothes, and, leaving them in the house
of the chief of the market, went to the Khaleefeh, and kissed the ground
before him, and related to him the story, telling him that her master,
Ghánim the son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of Love, had come, and
that his mother and sister also had arrived.
When the Khaleefeh, therefore, heard these words of Koot-el-Kuloob,
he said to the eunuchs, Bring hither to me Ghánim. And Jaafar went
down with them to bring him: but Koot-el-Kuloob had gone before him;
and she went in unto Ghánim, and said to him, The Khaleefeh hath sent
to thee to bring thee before him: have a care then to display eloquence
of tongue, and firmness of heart, and sweetness of speech. And she at-
228
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
tired him in a magnificent dress, and gave him pieces of gold in abundance,
saying to him, Bestow plentifully upon the domestics of the Khaleefeh as
thou goest in to him. And lo, Jaafar approached him, mounted upon his
mule, and Ghánim advanced to meet him, and greeted him with a prayer
for long life, kissing the ground before him.
The planet of his prosperity had appeared, and the star of his glory
had risen aloft, and Jaafar took him, and they proceeded until they
entered into the presence of the Prince of the Faithful; and when Ghanim
came before him, he looked towards the wezeers and emeers and cham-
berlains and lieutenants and the other officers of the court, and the warriors,
and, being eloquent of tongue, firm of heart, delicate in the style of his
language, and pleasing in the allusions it conveyed, he hung down his head
towards the ground, and then looked towards the Khaleefeh, and addressed
him in a series of complimentary verses. And when he had finished his
recitations, the Khaleefeh was delighted with the graces of his person, and
pleased with the eloquence of his tongue and the sweetness of his speech;
and he said to him, Approach me. He therefore approached him, and the
Khaleefeh said to him, Explain to me thy tale, and acquaint me with the
truth of thy history. So Ghánim sat, and related to the Khaleefeh all
that had happened to him from beginning to end; and when the Khaleefeh
knew that he spoke truth, he bestowed upon him a dress of honour, and
admitted him into his favour, and said to him, Acquit me of responsibility.
And he did so, and said to him, O Prince of the Faithful, the slave and
all that his hands possess belong to his master: and the Khaleefeh
rejoiced. He then gave orders to appropriate a palace to him exclusively,
and appointed him abundant pensions and allowances, and removed to
him his mother and his sister. And the Khaleefeh, hearing that his sister
Fitneh was, in beauty (as her name imported), a temptation, demanded
her of him in marriage. Ghánim therefore replied, She is thy handmaid,32
and I am thy memlook.
31
And the Khaleefeh thanked him, and gave him a hundred thousand
pieces of gold,33 and summoned the Kádee and witnesses, and they per-
formed the marriage-contract. Then he and Ghánim visited their wives on
the same day, the Khaleefeh going to Fitneh, and Ghánim the son of Eiyoob
to Koot-el-Kuloob; and on the following morning, the Khaleefeh ordered
that all that had happened to Ghánim, from first to last, should be com-
mitted to writing and inserted in the records, that his posterity might con-
sider it, and wonder at the disposals of destiny, and commit their affairs
unto the Creator of the night and the day.34
VIII¹
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK WHO LOVED THE LADY DUNYÀ AND WON
THE
HER ALTHOUGH SHE WAS A HATER OF MEN
HERE was, in former times, a city behind the mountains of Ispahán,
called El-Medeeneh el-Khadrà,2 and in it resided a King called the
King Suleyman. He was a person of liberality and beneficence, and justice
and integrity, and of a generous and obliging disposition: travellers repaired
to him from every quarter, and his fame spread throughout all the regions
and countries; and he reigned a long time in glory and security; but he
was destitute of children and of wives.
He had a Wezeer who nearly resembled him in his qualities, in liberality
and other endowments; and it came to pass that he sent to this Wezeer
one day, and having summoned him into his presence, said to him, O
Wezeer, my heart is contracted, and my patience is overcome, and my
strength is impaired, because I have neither a wife nor a child: this is not the
usual way of Kings who rule over lords and poor men; for they rejoice in
leaving children, and multiplying by them the number of their posterity;
and the Prophet (God bless and save him!) hath said, Intermarry, and
beget offspring, that ye may increase in number; for I shall contend for
your superiority with the other nations on the day of resurrection. What,
then, is thy counsel, O Wezeer? Point out to me what is advisable.
But when the Wezeer heard these words, tears poured from his eyes, and
he replied, Far be it from me, O King of the age, that I should speak of
that which belongeth unto the Compassionate to decide! 3 Dost thou de-
sire that I should enter the fire of Hell, through the anger of the Almighty
King? Know, O Wezeer, rejoined his sovereign, that, if the King pur-
chase a female slave whose rank and lineage are unknown, he will not be
acquainted with her ignoble origin that he may abstain from her, or the
nobility of her extraction that he may make her his companion: so, if he
do this, she may perhaps bear him a son who may be a hypocrite, a tyrant,
and shedder of blood; and she may resemble a marshy land, the produce
of which is worthless, and attaineth no excellence: her child may be ob-
noxious to the indignation of his Lord, not doing what He commandeth him,
nor refraining from that which He forbiddeth him to do. I will never,
therefore, be the means of such an event by purchasing a female slave.
I desire, rather, that thou demand in marriage for me one of the daughters
of the Kings, whose lineage is known, and whose loveliness is celebrated.
If, then, thou wilt point out to me one of good birth and of religion.
229
230
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
among the daughters of the Muslim Kings, I will demand her as my wife,
and marry her in the presence of witnesses, that I may thereby obtain the
approval of the Lord of mankind.
-
The Wezeer replied, Verily God hath accomplished thy want and given
thee thy desire. How so? asked the King. Know, O King, answered
the Wezeer, that it hath been told me that the King Zahr Shah, the sov-
ereign of El-Ard el-Beydà, hath a daughter of astonishing loveliness, whom
words cannot describe, whose equal existeth not in this age, for she is en-
dowed with the most perfect beauty and symmetry, with black eye, and
long hair, and slender waist, and large hips; when she approacheth she se-
duceth, and when she turneth her back she killeth, ravishing the heart and
the eye. It is my opinion, therefore, O King, that thou shouldst send to
her father an intelligent messenger, well informed, and experienced in the
course of events, that he may courteously ask her in marriage for thee of
her father; for she hath no equal in the distant parts of the earth, nor in
the near; so shalt thou enjoy her lovely face, and the Glorious King shall
approve thy conduct; since it hath been handed down from the Prophet
(God bless and save him!) that he said, There is no monkery in El-
Islám.
Upon this, the King was perfectly delighted, his bosom expanded with
joy, and anxiety and grief departed from him; and, addressing his Wezeer,
he said to him, Know, O Wezeer, that no one shall go on this business but
thou, on account of thy consummate wisdom and politeness: depart, there-
fore, to thy house, and accomplish what thou hast to do, and prepare thy-
self by the morrow, and demand for me in marriage this damsel with whom
thou hast caused my heart to be engrossed, and return not to me without
her. The Wezeer replied, I hear and obey: and he went to his house,
and gave orders to bring presents suitable to Kings, consisting of costly
jewels and precious rarities, such as were light to carry and of great value,
together with Arab horses, and Davidean coats of mail, and chests of
wealth such as language would fail to describe. These they placed upon
the mules and camels, and the Wezeer departed, accompanied by a hundred
memlooks and a hundred male black slaves and a hundred female slaves,
and the flags and banners were unfurled over his head. The King charged
him to return soon; and after his departure, the King Suleyman Shah
burned with desire, and became engrossed with love of the damsel night and
day.
Meanwhile, the Wezeer by night and by day traversed the deserts and
wastes until there remained between him and the city to which he was
repairing one day's journey, when he alighted at the bank of a river, and,
having summoned one of his chief officers, ordered him to go quickly to
the King Zahr Sháh, and to acquaint him with his approach. He answered,
I hear and obey: - and went quickly to the city; and when he arrived
there, it happened that the King Zahr Sháh was sitting in one of the places
of recreation before the gate of the city, and, seeing him as he entered,
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
231
knew him to be a stranger, and summoned him before him. So when the
messenger came to him, he informed him of the approach of the Wezeer of
the supreme King Suleymán Sháh, the King of El-Ard el-Khadrà and of
the mountains of Ispahán; and the King Zahr Sháh rejoiced, and welcomed
the messenger, and, having conducted him to his palace, said to him, Where
didst thou part from the Wezeer? He answered, I parted from him in the
morning at the bank of such a river, and to-morrow he will arrive and visit
thee: may God continue his favours unto thee, and show mercy unto thy
parents! Zahr Sháh then ordered one of his wezeers to take with him
the greater number of his chief officers and chamberlains and lieutenants
and the lords of his court, and to go forth with them to meet him, in honour
of the King Suleymán Sháh; for his dominion extended through the land.
6
In the mean time, the Wezeer of Suleymán Sháh remained where he had
halted until midnight, and then proceeded towards the city; and when the
morning gleamed, and the sun shone upon the hills and the lowlands, sud-
denly the Wezeer of the King Zahr Sháh, and his chamberlains and the
lords of his court and the chief officers of his kingdom approached and joined
him at the distance of some leagues from the city. So the Wezeer of
Suleymán Sháh felt sure of the accomplishment of his business, and saluted
those who met him; and the latter preceded him until they arrived at the
palace of the King, and passed in before him through the entrance to the
seventh vestibule. This was the place which no one entered on horseback;
for it was near to the King; therefore here the Wezeer alighted, and he
proceeded on foot until he came to a lofty saloon, at the upper end of which
was a couch of alabaster set with pearls and jewels, having four legs of
elephants' tusks, and upon it was a mattress covered with green satin em-
broidered with red gold, and over it was a canopy adorned with pearls and
jewels. Upon this couch sat the King Zahr Sháh, and the lords of his court
stood in attendance upon him. And when the Wezeer went in unto him,
and stood before him, he composed his heart, and gave liberty to his tongue,
and, displaying the oratory of wezeers, and uttering the language of the elo-
quent, addressed the King with courtesy of manner, and recited a series of
complimentary verses; and when he had finished, the King caused him to
draw near, treated him with the utmost respect, and, seating him by his side.
smiled in his face, and honoured him with a gracious reply.
After this, the attendants brought forward the table in that saloon, and
they ate until they were satisfied, when the attendants removed the table,
and every one who was present went forth, except the chief officers. When
the Wezeer, therefore, saw that they had quitted the hall, he rose and stood
on his feet, complimenting the King, kissed the ground before him, and said,
O great King, and dignified sovereign, I have come unto thee and visited thee
on an affair productive of peace and prosperity and happiness unto thee;
and it is this: I have come unto thee as an ambassador to desire in marriage
thy daughter, the distinguished by rank and lineage, from the King Suley-
mán Sháh, who is endowed with justice and integrity, and graciousness and
232
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
---
beneficence, the King of El-Ard el-Khadrà and of the mountains of Ispahán,
and he hath sent unto thee many presents and numerous rarities, desiring
thine alliance. Dost thou then wish the same of him? - He then stood
silent, waiting for the answer; and when the King Zahr Sháh heard these
words, he rose upon his feet, and modestly kissed the ground; and the per-
sons who were present wondered at the King's condescension to the ambas-
sador, and their minds were amazed. The King then offered up praises
unto Him who is possessed of glory and honour, and said, still standing, O
exalted Wezeer, and illustrious lord, hear what I say: we are, unto the King
Suleyman Sháh, among the number of his subjects, and shall be ennobled
by his affinity: we covet this distinction; and my daughter is one of his
handmaids. This is my greatest desire; that he may be a means of support
to me, and my reliance.
they bore witness that the King Suleymán Sháh had appointed his Wezeer
as his deputy to effect the marriage, and the King Zahr Sháh joyfully offi-
ciated for his daughter in performing the contract; so the Kádees concluded
the marriage-contract, and offered up a prayer for the happiness and pros-
perity of both parties: after which, the Wezeer arose, and produced the pres-
ents and precious rarities, and all the gifts that he had brought, and offered
the whole to the King Zahr Sháh.
And he summoned the Kádees and witnesses, and
The King then occupied himself in fitting out his daughter, and in hon-
ourably entertaining the Wezeer; and he feasted at his banquets the great
and the abject, and continued the festivity for a period of two months,
omitting in it nothing that would rejoice the heart and the eye. And
when everything that the bride required was completed, the King gave
orders to carry forth the tents, and they were pitched outside the city. They
packed the stuffs in the chest, and made ready the Greek and Turkish fe-
male slaves; and the King provided the bride with precious treasures and
costly jewels, and made for her a litter of red gold adorned with pearls
and jewels, appropriating to her use ten mules for the journey. The litter
appeared like a private chamber, and its occupant like one of the beautiful
Hooreeyehs, her canopy resembling one of the pavilions of Paradise. They
packed up the treasures and wealth, and placed them upon the mules and
camels, and the King Zahr Shah went with them to the distance of three
leagues, and then bade farewell to his daughter and the Wezeer and his
attendants, and returned home in joy and safety.
The Wezeer proceeded with the King's daughter, and continued his days'
journeys and his route over the wastes, travelling with diligence by night
and day, until there remained between him and his country a journey of
three days; whereupon he sent forward a messenger to the King Suleymán
Sháh to inform him of the approach of the bride. So the messenger hasted
in his journey till he arrived in the presence of the King, and acquainted
him with the approach of the bride; and the King was rejoiced, and bestowed
a robe of honour upon the messenger, and ordered his troops to go forth in
grand procession to meet the bride and her attendants with honour, desir-
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
233
ing them to equip themselves in the gayest manner, and to unfurl the stand-
ards over their heads. And they complied with his commands; and a crier
proclaimed through the city, that no curtained damsel nor honoured lady
nor infirm old woman should fail to go forth to meet the bride. So they
all went forth to meet her, and the chief among them accompanied her to
serve her. They decided together to conduct her towards night to the King's
palace, and the chief officers of the court agreed to decorate the streets, and
to stand while the bride passed by them with the eunuchs and female slaves
before her, she herself being clad in the dress which her father gave her.
And when she approached, the troops surrounded her, ranged on the right
and left, and the litter advanced with her until it drew near to the palace;
and there was no one who did not come forth to see it: the drums were
beaten, and the spears brandished, and the trumpets sounded, and sweet
odours were diffused around, and the standards flapped, and the horses
raced with each other, until they arrived at the gate of the palace, when
the pages advanced with the litter to the entrance of the Hareem: the palace
was illuminated by its splendour, and its walls shone with the lustre of its
ornaments; and at night the eunuchs opened the doors of the inner apart-
ment, and stood surrounding the chief entrance. The bride then came for-
ward among the female slaves, like the moon among the stars, or the chief
pearl among the minor pearls of the string, and she entered the apartment,
where they had placed for her a couch of alabaster set with pearls and
jewels. Upon this she seated herself and, the King came in to visit her,
and God inspired his heart with love for her, so that his disquietude and
trouble ceased.
He remained with her about a month, after which he went forth and sat
upon his throne, and administered justice to his subjects; and towards day-
break on the morning after the expiration of the ninth month, his wife
gave birth to a male child of an auspicious appearance. When the King
heard of it, he rejoiced exceedingly, and gave a large sum of money to the
bearer of the good tidings; and in his joy he went to the child, and kissed
him between the eyes, wondering at his surpassing beauty. The midwives
took him, and blackened the edges of his eyelids with kohl; 10 and they
named him Táj-el-Mulook Khárán.11 He was nourished on the bosom of
indulgence, and reared in the lap of prosperity, and days and years passed
until he attained the age of seven years; whereupon the King Suleymán
Sháh summoned the men of learning and science, and ordered them to in-
struct his son in writing and science and polite literature, and they continued
to do so for some years, until he had learnt what was requisite; and when
he was acquainted with all that the King desired, he caused him to be
brought from the professors and teachers, and engaged for him a master to
instruct him in horsemanship, who continued to teach him until his pupil
was fourteen years of age.
Whenever the youth went forth on any business, every one who beheld
him was ravished by his beauty, so that they composed verses in his praise,
234
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and even the women of virtue were overcome by love for him, through the
surpassing beauty with which he was endowed. And when he had attained
the age of eighteen years, the grey down appeared upon a mole on his red
cheek, while another mole, like a globule of ambergris, added to these charms,
and he captivated the minds and eyes of his beholders. His comeliness in-
creased as he became a man, and he had companions and friends, and
every one who enjoyed access to him wished that Táj-el-Mulook might be
Sultán after the death of his father, and that he might himself be one of his
emeers.
Now Táj-el-Mulook became addicted to hunting, and would not desist
from it for a single hour. His father, the King, used to forbid him this
pursuit, fearing, on his account, the perils of the desert and the wild beasts;
but he would not receive his warnings. And it came to pass that he said to
his servants, Take with you provender for ten days. And they complied
with his order; and when he went forth with his followers to the chase,
they proceeded over the desert, and continued their course for four days,
until they came in sight of a verdant tract, where they beheld wild beasts
ranging at large, and trees with ripe fruit, and springs gushing forth; so he
said to his followers, Set here the nets, and enlarge their circle, and our place
of meeting shall be at the extremity of the circle, at such a spot. They
therefore obeyed his commands; they set the nets, and enlarged their circle,
and there collected within them an abundance and a variety of wild
beasts and gazelles, in such numbers that the wild beasts cried out in fear
of them, and threw themselves in the faces of the horses in their attempts
to escape. So he urged the dogs and the lynxes 12 and the hawks at them;
and they shot the wild beasts with arrows, striking them in mortal places,
and they arrived not at the further extremity of the circle without having
taken, of the wild beasts, a great number; the rest having fled away. Táj-
el-Mulook then alighted at some water, and, having caused the game to be
brought before him, divided it: he appropriated to his father, Suleymán
Sháh, the best of the beasts, and despatched the portion to him; and some
he distributed among the officers of his court.
They passed the night at that place; and in the morning there approached
them a great caravan, comprising black slaves and servants and merchants.
The caravan halted at the water and the verdant tract; and when Táj-el-
Mulook beheld them, he said to one of his companions, Bring me an account
of these people, and ask them wherefore they have halted in this place.
And when the messenger went to them, he said to them, Inform us who ye
are, and return an answer quickly. So they replied, We are merchants, and
have halted here for the sake of rest, for the next station is distant from
us; and we have halted in this place because we here enjoy tranquillity
under the protection of King Suleymán Sháh and his son; for we know that
every one who alighteth in his dominions is in safety and peace; and we
have some precious stuffs which we have brought on account of his son
Táj-el-Mulook. The messenger, therefore, returned to the King's son, and
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
235
acquainted him with the truth of the matter, informing him of what he had
heard from the merchants; and the King's son said, If they have anything
which they have brought on my account, I will not enter the city nor remove
from this place until I cause it to be displayed before me.
He then mounted his horse, and proceeded, his memlooks following him,
until he drew near to the caravan; and the merchants rose to him, and
greeted him with prayers for the divine aid and favour, and the continuance
of his glory and his excellencies. A tent of red satin embroidered with
pearls and jewels was pitched for him, and they spread for him, over a carpet
of silk, a royal carpet, the upper end of which was adorned with emeralds:
and Táj-el-Mulook seated himself, and the memlooks stood waiting upon
him; and he sent to the merchants, commanding them to bring everything
that they had with them. So they approached him with their merchandise,
and he caused all of it to be displayed before him, and took of it what
suited him, and gave them the price.
After this, he mounted, and was about to depart; when, casting a glance
at the caravan, he saw a young man, a comely youth, attired in clean
clothes, of elegant person, with shining forehead and brilliant countenance;
but the charms of this youth had suffered a change, and paleness had over-
spread him, in consequence of his separation from the objects of his affec-
tion; great was his groaning and lamentation, and, with tears flowing from
his eyes, he recited these verses:
Our separation is protracted, and anxiety and fear are prolonged; and tears from my
eye, O my friend, are flowing.
I bade farewell to my heart on the day of parting, and now I am alone, without heart,
and without hope.
O my friend, pause with me while I bid her farewell by whose voice diseases and in-
firmities would be cured.
Having thus said, he wept a while, and fell down in a swoon, while Táj-el-
Mulook looked at him, wondering at his case; and when he recovered,
he stared with a bold look, and again recited some verses, commencing
thus:
Beware of her eye; for it is enchanting, and none escapeth upon whom it is cast.
He then uttered a loud sigh, and a second time swooned; and when Táj-el-
Mulook beheld him in this state, he was perplexed at his case, and walked
towards him; and as soon as he recovered from his fit, he saw the King's
son standing at his head; whereupon he rose upon his feet, and kissed the
ground before him; and Táj-el-Mulook said to him, Wherefore hast thou
not displayed thy merchandise to us? O my lord, he answered, my mer-
chandise compriseth nothing suitable to thy highness. But the King's son
said, Thou must positively shew me what thou hast, and acquaint me with
thy circumstances; for I see thee with weeping eye and mourning heart; and
if thou be oppressed, we will put an end to the oppression that thou sufferest;
-
236
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and if thou be in debt, we will discharge thy debt; for my heart hath been
tormented on thine account since I first beheld thee.
Then Táj-el-Mulook gave orders to place a chair; and they set for him
a chair of ivory and ebony ornamented with reticulated work of gold and
silk, and they spread for him a silken carpet; and Táj-el-Mulook seated
himself upon the chair, and commanded the young man to sit upon the car-
pet, and said to him, Display to me thy merchandise. The young man re-
plied, O my lord, mention it not unto me; for my merchandise is not suitable
to thee. But Táj-el-Mulook said to him, It must be done: - and ordered
some of his pages to bring it: so they brought it in spite of him; and when
the young man beheld it, his tears flowed, and he wept and sighed and
lamented, and groans rose from his throat. After again repeating some
verses, he opened his merchandise, and displayed it before Táj-el-Mulook,
portion by portion and piece by piece, and took forth from among it a gar-
ment of satin interwoven with gold, worth two thousand pieces of gold; and
when he opened this, there fell from the midst of it a piece of linen, and
the young man, snatching it hastily, put it beneath him, his reason wander-
ing, and thus exclaimed, -
When will the tortured heart be healed by thee? The constellation of the Pleiades is
nearer to me than thou!
Táj-el-Mulook was struck with the utmost wonder at his words, not knowing
the cause of them, and when the young man took the piece of linen, and put
it beneath him, Táj-el-Mulook said to him, What is this piece of linen? He
answered, O my lord, thou hast no interest in this. But the King's son said,
Shew it to me. - O my lord, he replied, I refrained not from exposing to thee
my merchandise but on account of this; for I cannot allow thee to see it.
Táj-el-Mulook, however, said, I must see it: and he urged him, and was
angry. The young man, therefore, took it from beneath his knee, and wept
and sighed and lamented exceedingly: so Táj-el-Mulook said to him, I re-
gard thy conduct as not right: acquaint me then with the cause of thy weep-
ing at beholding this piece of linen. And when the young man heard the
mention of the piece of linen, he sighed, and said, O my lord, my story is
wonderful, and my case is strange with respect to this piece of linen and her
to whom it belonged, and her who designed these figures and emblems. He
then unfolded the piece of linen; and lo, in it was the figure of a gazelle
worked with silk, and embroidered with red gold, and facing it was the figure
of another gazelle worked with silver, and having upon its neck a ring of red.
gold and three kasabehs 13 of chrysolite. When Táj-el-Mulook beheld this,
and observed the beauty of its execution, he exclaimed, Extolled be the per-
fection of God, who hath taught man that which he knew not! 14 And his
heart was engrossed with desire to hear the story of this young man; so he
said to him, Relate to me the story of thyself and of her who was the owner
of these gazelles. The young man, therefore, replied,
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
237
THE STORY OF 'AZEEZ WHO WAS BEGUILED BY THE ARTFUL DAUGHTER
OF DELEELEH, AND OF 'AZEEZEH HIS BETROTHED
KNOW, O my lord, that my father was a great merchant, and he was
blest with no child but me. I had a cousin (the daughter of a paternal
uncle) with whom I was brought up in my father's house; for her father had
died, and before his death he had made an agreement with my father that
they should marry me to her: so, when I had attained to manhood, and she
to womanhood, they did not exclude her from me, nor me from her. My
father then spoke to my mother, and said to her, This year we will perform
the marriage-contract of 'Azeez and 'Azeezeh.15 And having agreed with
my mother to do this, he began to make ready the provisions for the enter-
tainments.
All this was done while I and my cousin were living together without the
slightest restraint, and ignorant of the circumstance; and she was more in-
telligent and more knowing than I. And when my father had made the
preparations for the festivity, and nothing remained but the performance
of the contract, and my union to my cousin, my father proposed that they
should perform the contract after the Friday-prayers: so he repaired to his
friends, the merchants and others, and acquainted them with his intention;
and my mother went and invited her female friends and relations. And
when the Friday came, they washed the saloon which was appropriated to
the guests, and cleansed its marble pavement, and spread the carpets in our
house, and furnished it with everything that was requisite, after they had
decorated its walls with stuffs interwoven with gold; the people having agreed
to pay their compliments to our family after the Friday-prayers. My father
then went and caused sweetmeats and dishes of sugar to be prepared; and
there remained nothing but the performance of the contract. My mother
had sent me to the bath, and sent after me a new suit of clothes of the richest
description; and on my coming out from the bath, I put on this handsome.
suit, which was perfumed; and when I put it on, a delicious odour was
diffused from it, and left a fragrance in the way.
I desired now to repair to the mosque; but, remembering one of my
friends, I returned to search for him, that he might be present at the cere-
mony of the contract, saying within myself, I will busy me with this affair
until the time of prayer draws near. I then entered a by-street which I had
never entered before. I was perspiring from the effect of the bath and the
new clothes which I wore, and the moisture dropped from me while my per-
fumes diffused their odour; so I seated myself at the upper end of the street
to take rest upon a mastabah, and spread beneath me an embroidered hand-
kerchief that I had with me. The heat became oppressive to me, and my
forehead perspired, and the drops ran down my face, and I could not wipe
the moisture from it with my handkerchief because it was spread beneath me:
I was therefore about to take the skirt of my farajeeyeh to wipe with it my
cheek, when suddenly a white handkerchief fell upon me from above. This
238
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
handkerchief was more delicate to the feel than the zephyr, and the sight of
it was more pleasant than restoration to the diseased; and I took it in my
hand, and, raising my head to see whence it had fallen, my eye met the eye
of the female who owned these gazelles; and lo, she was looking out from
a lattice in a window of brass. My eye never beheld a person more lovely,
and altogether her charms were such as the tongue cannot describe; and when
she saw me looking at her, she put her finger in her mouth, and then united
her middle finger and her fore finger, and placed them upon her bosom;
after which, she drew in her head from the window, and shut the lattice and
withdrew.
A fire had been darted into my heart, and the flame increased; the sight
drew from me a thousand sighs, and I was perplexed; for I heard not any-
thing from her, and understood not what she meant by her signs. I looked
again towards the window; but found it closed: and I waited until sunset;
but heard no sound, nor saw any person; so, despairing of seeing her again,
I rose from my place, and took the handkerchief with me. I opened it, and
the odour of musk was diffused from it, and I was so exhilarated by the scent
that I seemed as if I were in paradise. I then spread it before me; where-
upon there fell from it a piece of delicate paper, and, opening this, I found it
richly perfumed with exquisite scents, and inscribed with these verses: --
I sent a letter to complain to him of the pain of my passion, in a delicate handwriting
(for handwritings are various);
So my beloved said, Wherefore is thy writing thus delicate and minute, so as scarce
to be discernible?
I answered, Because I am wasted and attenuated: so, therefore, should the writing of
lovers be.
After this, I cast a glance at the beauty of the handkerchief, and beheld an
amatory couplet worked upon one of its two borders, 16 and another, of a
similar kind, on its other border.
When I saw these verses upon the handkerchief, a flame of fire shot into
my heart, and my desire and perplexity increased; and I took the handker-
chief and the paper, and went with them to the house, not knowing any means
of obtaining what I desired, and incapable of discovering how to proceed
properly in my love. I arrived not at the house until a considerable portion
of the night had elapsed, and beheld my cousin sitting weeping; but when
she saw me, she wiped away her tears, and approached me, and took off from
me my outer clothes, and asked me the cause of my absence. She told me
that all the people, the emeers and grandees, and merchants and others, had
assembled in our house, and the Kádee and the witnesses had come, and they
ate the repast, and remained a considerable while sitting in expectation of
my presence for the purpose of performing the marriage-contract, and when
they despaired of my coming, they dispersed and went their ways. Thy
father, said she, was violently enraged on account of this, and swore that he
would not perform our marriage-contract until next year; for he hath ex-
-
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
239
pended upon this festivity a large sum of money. What, she added, hath
happened unto thee this day, that thou hast delayed thy return until now,
and that this hath happened on account of thine absence?
I answered her, Such and such things have happened to me: - and men-
tioned to her the handkerchief, acquainting her with the affair from first to
last: and she took the paper and the handkerchief, and read what was upon
them, and her tears ran down upon her cheeks; and she asked me, What did
she say to thee, and of what did she make signs to thee? I answered, She
uttered not a word; but put her finger in her mouth, and then united it with
the middle finger, and placed both fingers upon her bosom, and pointed to
the ground: then she drew in her head, and closed the lattice, and I saw
her not afterwards. She carried off my heart with her, and I sat until sun-
set in expectation of her looking out from the lattice a second time; but she
did it not; and when I despaired of seeing her again, I rose from the place.
This is my story; and I beg of thee to aid me in the trouble in which I am
involved.
-
Upon this, she raised her head towards me, and said, O son of my uncle,
if thou requiredst mine eye, I would pull it out for thee from my eyelids;
and I must assist thee in the accomplishment of thy desire, and assist her in
like manner; for she is overwhelmed by love for thee, as thou art by love
for her. And what, said I, is the interpretation of the signs which she
made? Her putting her finger in her mouth, she answered, indicateth that
thou art in her estimation as her soul to her body,¹7 and that she longeth for
thy union with her; and as to the handkerchief, it is a signal of the lover's
salutation to the beloved; and the paper denoteth that her soul is captivated
by thee; and as to her putting her two fingers upon her bosom, the meaning
of it is as though she said to thee, After two days come hither that my
affliction may be dissipated by thy countenance.18 And know, O son of my
uncle, she continued, that she loveth thee and confideth in thee. This is my
interpretation of her signs; and if I had liberty to go in and out at pleasure,
I would effect thy union with her in the shortest time, and protect you both
with my skirt. When I heard these words from her, said the young man,
I thanked her for what she had said, and I said within myself, I will wait
two days. I then remained two days in the house, neither going out nor
coming in, nor eating nor drinking. I put my head in the lap of my cousin;
and she cheered me by her conversation, and said to me, Be resolute and of
good heart, and dress thyself, and repair to her at the time appointed. And
she arose, and changed my clothes, and perfumed me with incense.
-
I then braced up my nerves, and fortified my heart, and went forth, and
proceeded until I entered the by-street, and after I had sat awhile upon the
mastabah, lo, the lattice opened. I looked towards the damsel, and when I
saw her I fell down in a swoon: then recovering, I summoned resolution, and
took heart, and looked at her a second time; but again I became insensible;
and when I recovered, I saw with her a mirror and a red handkerchief.
Observing me now, she tucked up her sleeves from her fore arms, and, open-
240
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ing her five fingers, struck her bosom with them (with the palm and the
five fingers): next she raised her hands, and held forth the mirror from the
lattice, and took the red handkerchief, and retired with it; after which she
returned, and let it down from the lattice towards the street three times,
letting it down and raising it, and then wringing it and twisting it with her
hand, and bending down her head: she then drew it in through the lattice,
and closed the lattice, and departed, without speaking to me one word, but
leaving me in perplexity, not knowing to what she alluded. I remained sit-
ting there until the hour of nightfall, and went home near midnight.
I found my cousin with her hand placed to her cheek, and her eyelids
pouring forth tears; and upon this, my anxieties and griefs increased, and
I fell down in a corner of the chamber; but she sprang towards me, and
lifted me up, and having taken off from me my outer clothes, wiped my face
with her sleeve, and asked me what had happened to me. I related to her,
therefore, all that had happened on the part of the damsel: and she said to
me, O son of my uncle, as to her sign with her hand and five fingers, its
interpretation is, Come hither after five days: and as to her sign with
the mirror, and her putting forth her head from the lattice [and her actions
with the red handkerchief],19 the meaning is, Seat thyself at the shop of the
dyer until my messenger shall come to thee. - When I heard her words, fire
burned in my heart, and I replied, By Allah, O daughter of my uncle, thou
sayest truly in this interpretation; for I saw in the by-street a Jewish dyer.
---
I then wept, and my cousin said, Be resolute, and firm of heart; for
others than thou are troubled with love for a period of years, and contend
with the fierceness of passion, while thou hast but a week to endure: where-
fore then should this impatience overcome thee? And she proceeded to
cheer me with her conversation, and brought me food; and I took a morsel,
and would have eaten it; but I could not. I abstained from drink and food,
and renounced the delights of sleep, and my complexion became pallid, and
my charms became changed; for I had never known love before that, nor
tasted the fervency of that passion before; and I fell sick, and my cousin
became sick on my account. She occupied herself in relating to me the
sufferings of lovers, in order to enliven me, until I fell asleep; and I used to
awake, and find her sleepless on my account, with her tears flowing upon
her cheeks; and thus I remained until the five days had passed, when my
cousin arose, and heated some water for me, and bathed me with it, and
dressed me, and said to me, Repair to her, and may Allah accomplish thy
wish, and grant thee what thou desirest of thy beloved.
•
So I went, and walked on until I came to the upper end of the by-street,
and that day was Saturday; so I found the shop of the dyer shut: and I
sat there till the call to afternoon-prayers; and the sun became yellow, and
the call to evening-prayers was chanted; and night commenced, and I saw
no trace of her, nor heard a voice, nor received any message: I therefore
feared for myself, sitting alone; and I rose and walked away, like one in-
toxicated, until I entered the house.
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
241
There, on going in, I beheld my cousin 'Azeezeh with one of her hands
holding a peg knocked into the wall, and her other hand upon her bosom;
and she was groaning, and reciting verses; but when she had finished her
recitation, she turned her eyes towards me, and beheld me; whereupon she
wiped away her tears and mine with her sleeve, and, smiling in my face, said
to me, O son of my uncle, Allah grant thee enjoyment of that which He hath
given thee! Wherefore hast thou not visited thy beloved this night? -
And when I heard her words, I kicked her with my foot upon her bosom,
and she fell down upon the raised floor, and there was a peg there, and it
wounded her forehead. On looking at her I saw that her forehead was cut
open, and her blood was flowing; yet she was silent, and uttered not a single
letter; but rose immediately, and burned some tinder of rags, and, having
closed with it the wound, tied a bandage round her head, and wiped away
the blood that had flowed upon the carpet; and it was as though this accident
had not occurred. She then came to me, and, smiling in my face, said to,
me with a gentle voice, By Allah, O son of my uncle, I said not this to make
a jest of thee or of her. I was troubled just now by the aching of my head,
and with wiping away that blood: but at the present moment the pain of
my head is alleviated, and that of my forehead: tell me therefore what
hath happened to thee this day.
So I related to her all that had befallen me through the conduct of that
damsel on this day; and after I had done so I wept; but she said to me,
Rejoice at the announcement of the success of thy desire, and the accom-
plishment of thy hope. Verily this is a sign of acceptance: for she absented
herself from thee because she desireth to try thee, and to know whether thou
art patient or not, and whether thou art sincere in thy love of her or not.
To-morrow go to her, and station thyself at thy first place, and see what
sign she will make to thee; for thy happiness is near, and thy sorrow is
dissipated. And she proceeded to console me; but I ceased not to increase.
in anxiety and grief. She then placed the food before me; but I kicked it
with my foot, and the contents of each saucer were scattered about; and I
said, Every one who is in love is insane, and inclineth not to food, nor findeth
pleasure in sleep. By Allah, O son of my uncle, exclaimed my cousin.
'Azeezeh, these are indeed symptoms of love! And her tears flowed, and
she gathered together the fragments of the saucers, and wiped up the food
that was spilt, and sat chatting to me, while I prayed to God that He would
hasten the morning.
-
And when the morning came, and diffused its light, I repaired to the
damsel, and entered hastily the by-street, where I seated myself upon the
mastabah before mentioned; and lo, the window was opened, and she put
forth her head from it, laughing. She then retired, and returned bringing
a mirror, and a bag, and a pot filled with green plants, and having also in
her hand a lamp: and the first thing that she did was this: she took the
mirror in her hand, and put it into the bag: then she tied it up and threw
it back into the chamber. After this, she let down her hair over her face,
242
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and put the lamp upon the top of the green plants for a moment, and then
took all these things and departed with them, and closed the lattice. My
heart was riven by her secret signs and her obscure intimations, for she
addressed me not with a single word, and my passion grew more violent
thereat, and my excitement and distraction increased.
I retraced my steps with weeping eye and sorrowful heart until I entered
the house, where I saw my cousin sitting with her face to the wall: her
heart was burning with anxiety and grief and jealousy; but her affection
prevented her from acquainting me at all with the passion which she felt
on witnessing my excessive love and distraction. I then looked at her again,
and saw that she had, on her head, two bandages: one of them was on
account of the accident that had happened to her forehead, and the other
was upon her eye, on account of a pain that she suffered in consequence of
the violence of her weeping. She was in a most miserable case, weeping,
and reciting these verses:
Wherever thou be, mayst thou be in safety, O thou who departest, and yet dwellest in
my heart!
May God be near thee wherever thou goest, to deliver thee from vicissitudes and from
misfortunes!
Thou hast gone, and mine eye is cheerless through thine absence, and my tears are
flowing O how abundantly!
And when she had ended her recitation, she looked towards me and saw me
as she wept, and she wiped away her tears, and rose to me; but she could
not speak, from the excessive love with which she was affected, and she
remained for some time silent; after which, she said to me, O son of my
uncle, tell me what thou hast experienced from her on this occasion. And I
told her all that had happened to me; whereupon she said to me, Be
patient; for the time of thy union is come, and thou hast attained the object
of thy hopes. As to the sign that she made to thee with the mirror, and her
putting it into the bag, it is equivalent to her saying to thee, Wait until the
sun shall have set: - and as to her letting fall her hair over her face, it
implieth her saying to thee, When night cometh, and letteth fall its black
shade over the light of day, come hither: and the sign that she made to
thee with the pot containing the plants meant that she would say to thee,
When thou comest, enter the garden that is behind the by-street: - and the
sign which she made to thee with the lamp denoted her saying to thee, When
thou enterest the garden, to the place where thou findest the lighted lamp
do thou repair, and seat thyself beneath it, and there wait for me; for the
love of thee destroyeth me. But when I heard these words of my cousin,
I cried out from the excess of my passion, and said, How many times dost
thou promise me, and I go to her and attain not my desire, nor find a true
meaning to thine interpretation? And upon this, my cousin laughed, and
replied, It remaineth for thee to have patience during the rest of this day.
until the daylight is gone, and the night cometh with its deep darkness, and
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
243
then shalt thou enjoy thy union and the accomplishment of thy hopes; and
these words are true, without any falsehood.
She then drew near to me, and comforted me with soft words, but dared
not bring me any food, fearing that I should be angry with her, and hoping
that I might incline to her with favour: she only came to me, and took off
my outer clothes: after which she said to me, O son of my uncle, sit with me
that I may converse with thee to amuse thee until the close of the day, and,
if it be the will of God, the night shall not come without thy being in the
company of thy beloved. But I took no notice of her, waiting for the night,
and saying, O Allah, hasten the coming of the night! And when it arrived,
my cousin wept violently, and gave me a grain of pure musk, saying to me,
O son of my uncle, put this grain in thy mouth, and when thou hast met
thy beloved, and she hath accepted thy suit, recite to her this verse:
O ye lovers, by Allah, inform me, how a youth should act when his love is intense.
She then kissed me, and desired me to swear that I would not recite this verse
until my departure from the damsel; and I replied, I hear and obey.
I went forth at the hour of nightfall, and proceeded until I came to the
garden. I found its gate open, and entered, and beheld a light in the dis-
tance; so I advanced towards it, and when I arrived at it, I found there a
large mak'ad,20 over which was constructed a dome of ivory and ebony,
and the lamp was suspended in the midst of the dome. The mak'ad was
furnished with silken carpets embroidered with gold and silver; and there
was a great lighted candle in a candlestick of gold beneath the lamp: in the
midst of the chamber was a fountain ornamented with various designs: 21
by the side of this fountain was a table of viands covered with a silk napkin,
near which was a large china bottle full of wine, with a cup of crystal
adorned with gilding; and by the side of all these things was a great tray of
silver, covered over. I uncovered it, and beheld in it a variety of fruits,
such as figs and pomegranates and grapes and oranges and citrons of differ-
ent kinds, together with various flowers, as roses and jasmine and myrtle and
eglantine and narcissus, and all kinds of sweet scents. I was astonished at
this place, and affected with the utmost delight, and my anxiety and grief
were dissipated; but I found not in this abode any being of the creatures
of God (whose name be exalted!); not even a male or female slave did I see,
nor the person who thus neglected these things.
I sat in this chamber, waiting for the coming of the beloved of my heart,
until the first hour of the night had passed, and the second hour, and the
third; but she came not; and hunger began to torment me violently, for a
long time had elapsed without my eating food, through the excess of my
passion; but when I beheld this place, and my cousin's correct understand-
ing of the signs made by my beloved became manifest to me, I felt at ease;
yet I still experienced the torment of hunger, and the savoury odours of the
food upon the table had excited my desire on my arrival there. Feeling
244
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
secure, therefore, of the attainment of my object, and longing to eat, I
approached the table, and took off the cover, and found in the midst of it a
dish of china containing four fricandoed fowls seasoned with spices, around
which were four saucers; one containing sweetmeats; and another, conserve
of pomegranate grains; and a third, bakláweh; 22 and the fourth, katáïf: 23
the contents of these saucers consisting both of sweet and acid. So I ate of
the katáïf, and a piece of the meat, and I put my hand to the bakláweh
and ate of it as much as was agreeable, and then turned to the sweetmeat
and ate a spoonful, or two, or three, or four, and I ate a portion of a fowl,
and a morsel of another dish: and when I had done this, my stomach was
full, and my joints became loose, and I was too lazy to remain awake; so I
laid my head upon a cushion, after I had washed my hands, and sleep over-
came me, and I knew not what happened to me after this. I awoke not
until the sun scorched me (for some days had passed without my having
tasted sleep); and when I awoke, I found upon my stomach some salt and
charcoal; and I stood up and shook my clothes, and looked to the right and
left, but found no one: I discovered that I had been sleeping upon the marble
pavement without anything spread beneath me, and I was perplexed in my
mind, and mourned greatly; my tears ran down upon my cheeks, and I
lamented for myself.
I then returned to the house, and when I arrived there I found my cousin
striking her hand upon her bosom, and weeping with tears like raining
clouds; but when she beheld me she arose quickly, and wiped away her tears,
and, addressing me with her soft speech, said to me, O son of my uncle,
God hath been gracious to thee in thy passion, since the person whom thou
lovest loveth thee, while I remain weeping and mourning for the separation
of thee who findest fault with me; but may God not chastise thee on my
account! She then smiled in my face with the smile of one in anger, and
caressed me, and took off my outer clothes, and spread them out, and said,
By Allah, these are not the odours of one who hath enjoyed the company
of his beloved! Tell me, then, what hath happened to thee, O son of my
uncle. And I told her all that had befallen me; whereupon she smiled a
second time with the smile of one in anger, and said, Verily, my heart is full
and in pain! But may the person who paineth thy heart cease to exist!
This woman maketh herself extravagantly difficult to thee. By Allah, O
son of my uncle, I fear what she may do to thee. Know that the meaning
of the salt is, Thou art drowned in sleep, and seemest insipid, so that the
soul regardeth thee with loathing, and thou requirest to be salted, that the
stomach may not eject thee: thou pretendest that thou art of the number of
generous lovers; but sleep, unto lovers, is forbidden; and thy pretension to
love is false. — Such, however, is her pretension: her love for thee is false,
for when she saw thee weeping she did not rouse thee; and had her love for
thee been true she would have roused thee. And as to the charcoal, the
meaning indicated by it is, May God blacken thy face,24 since thou hast
made false pretensions to love, when thou art only a child, and hast no care
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
245
but for eating and drinking and sleeping. This is the interpretation of her
sign; and may Allah (whose name be exalted!) deliver thee from her.
Now when I heard what she said, I struck my hand upon my breast, and
exclaimed, By Allah, this is the truth; for I slept; and lovers sleep not: so
I have wronged mine own self. What could have been more injurious to
me than eating and sleeping? And what is to be done? I then wept
exceedingly, and said to my cousin, Direct me what to do, and have mercy
upon me; so may God have mercy upon thee; otherwise I shall die. My
cousin, therefore, having a very great love for me, replied, On my head and
my eye! But, O son of my uncle, I have told thee several times, that, if I
had the privilege of coming in and going out when I pleased, I would accom-
plish thy union with her in the shortest time, and cover you both with my
skirt; and this I would not do but from the desire of obtaining thine ap-
proval. If God permit, I will employ my utmost endeavours to bring you
together; but hear my words, and comply with my directions, and go to that
same place, and seat thyself there: when the hour nightfall is come, seat
thyself in the place where thou wast, and beware of eating anything; for
eating induceth sleep: have a care then that thou sleep not; for she will not
come to thee until a quarter of the night hath passed: and may God avert
from thee her wickedness! So, when I heard her words, I rejoiced, and
prayed God, to hasten the night; and when night came, I desired to depart;
and my cousin said to me, When thou hast met her, repeat to her the verse
before mentioned, at the time of thy departure. I replied, On the head
and the eye.
And when I went forth and repaired to the garden, I found the place
prepared, in the same state in which I had seen it before; in it was everything
requisite, of food and drink and dried fruits and sweet scents and other
things; and I went up into the mak'ad, and smelling the odour of the food,
I longed for it. I refrained from it several times; but at length I could not
withstand it: so I arose and went to the table, and took off its cover, and
found a dish of fowls, around which were four saucers of food of four
different kinds; and I ate of each kind a morsel, and as much as was agree-
able of the sweetmeat, and a piece of meat, and drank some zardeh,25 and,
finding it pleasant to me, I drank again of it plentifully by the spoonful
until I was satiated and my stomach was full. And after this, my eyelids
closed; so I took a pillow and put it beneath my head, saying, Perhaps I
may recline upon it without sleeping. But I closed my eyes and slept, and
awoke not until the sun had risen, when I found upon my stomach a play-
bone and a táb-stick 26 and a date-stone and a locust-seed, and there was no
furniture nor anything else in the place and it seemed as if nothing had been
there on the preceding night.
I rose, and shook off all these things from me, and went forth enraged,
and, arriving at the house, I found my cousin groaning; and I chid her and
abused her; whereupon she wept, and, having wiped away her tears, ap-
proached and kissed me, and pressed me to her bosom; but I drew back
246
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
from her, blaming myself. She then said to me, O son of my uncle, it
seemeth that thou hast slept again this last night. I replied, Yes; and
when I awoke I found a play-bone laid upon my stomach, and a táb-stick
and a date-stone and a locust-seed; and I know not wherefore she did this.
Then I wept, and approached her, and said to her, Explain to me the mean-
ing of her doing this, and tell me how I shall act, and assist me in my
trouble. She replied, On the head and the eye. As to the táb-stick [and
the play-bone], which she placed upon thy stomach, she meaneth thereby,
that thou camest there and thy heart was absent; as though she would say
to thee, Love is not thus; therefore reckon not thyself among lovers.27
And as to the date-stone, she indicated by it, that, if thou wert a lover, thy
heart had been burning with passion, and thou wouldst not taste the delight
of sleep; for the sweetness of love is like a date, which kindleth a fire in
the heart.28 And as to the locust-seed, she intimated to thee by it, that
the heart of the lover is fatigued; and she would say to thee thereby, Endure
our separation with the patience of Job.29
When I heard this interpretation, fire darted into my heart, and my grief
increased, and I cried out and exclaimed, God had decreed that I should
sleep, on account of my little fortune! I then said to her, O daughter of
my uncle, by my life I conjure thee to contrive for me some stratagem by
means of which I may obtain an interview with her. And I wept. — O
'Azeez, O son of my uncle, she replied, verily my heart is full of thoughts,
and I cannot talk; but go thou to-night to that place, and beware of sleep-
ing, and so shalt thou attain thy desire. This is my counsel, and peace be
on thee. I said, If it please God, I will not sleep; but I will do as thou
chargest me. And my cousin arose, and brought me food, saying to me, Eat
now what will satisfy thee, that thou mayest have no desire remaining. So
I ate what satisfied me: and when night came, my cousin arose, and brought
me a superb suit of clothing, and clad me with it, and conjured me to repeat
to the damsel the verse before mentioned, and cautioned me against sleeping.
-
I then departed from her, and, having repaired to the garden, went up
into the mak'ad; and I gazed at the garden, and kept opening my eyes with
my fingers, and shaking my head, as the night grew dark. But I became
hungry from watching, and the odours of the food were wafted toward me,
and my hunger in consequence increased: so I went to the table, and re-
moved its cover, and ate a morsel of every dish, and a piece of meat, and I
went to the bottle of wine, saying within myself, I will drink a cup: - and
I drank it, and then drank the second, and the third, and so on to the num-
ber of ten; and being already stricken by love, I fell upon the floor as one
slain. Thus I remained until day came, and I awoke, and found myself out-
side the garden, with a large sharp knife upon my stomach, and an iron
dirhem; and I trembled with fear, and took them with me and returned
to the house.
30
I found my cousin saying, I am in this house wretched and sorrowful,
with no relief but weeping. And as I entered, I fell down prostrate, throw-
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
247
ཤ་གནོམ ་22་ཅི་ཐགས་ཁ་ཅིན་སྟོནས་ཁ་རྩ་བཞེང་
ing the knife and dirhem from my hand, and fainted; and when I recovered,
I acquainted her with that which had befallen me, and said to her, I shall
not attain my desire. Her grief increased at witnessing my weeping and my
excessive passion, and she said to me, I have failed of success in cautioning
thee against sleeping; for thou wouldst not attend to my advice: my words
profit thee nothing. But I replied, I conjure thee by Allah that thou ex-
plain to me the meaning of the knife and the iron dirhem. So she said,
As to the dirhem, she alluded by it to her right eye,31 and intimated that she
swore by it, and said, By the Lord of all creatures, and by my right eye,32
if thou come again and sleep I will assuredly slaughter thee with this knife!
-I fear for thee, therefore, O son of my uncle, from her malice; and my
heart is full of grief on thine account, and I cannot talk. If, then, thou art
confident in thyself that, if thou return to her, thou wilt not sleep, return
to her, and beware of sleeping, and so shalt thou attain thy desire; but if
thou know that, shouldst thou go to her again, thou wilt sleep as usual, and
so go to her and sleep, she will slaughter thee. What then, said I, is to be
done, O daughter of my uncle? I conjure thee by Allah to help me in this
affliction. She replied, On my head and my eye: and if thou attend to my
words and comply with my directions thou wilt accomplish thy desire. I
said, I will do so. And she rejoined, When the time of departure cometh
I will tell thee.
--
She then pressed me to her bosom, and laid me on the bed, and con-
tinued gently kneading my limbs until slumber overcame me, and I sank into
sleep; 33 and she took a fan, and, seating herself at my head, fanned my
face until the close of day, when she roused me; and on my awaking, I found
her at my head with the fan in her hand, and weeping so that her tears had
wetted her clothes. But when she saw me that I had awoke, she wiped
away her tears, and brought me some food. I refrained from it; but she
said to me, Did I not tell thee that thou must attend to my directions? Eat,
therefore. So I ate, and would not oppose her; and she proceeded to put
the food into my mouth, while I chewed it, until my stomach was full. She
then gave me to drink some infusion of jujubes 34 with sugar, and washed
my hands, and dried them with a handkerchief, and sprinkled some rose-
water upon me; after which I sat with her, in healthy frame; and when the
night became dark, she put on me my clothes, and said, O son of my uncle,
watch all night, and sleep not; for she will not come to thee this night un-
til near its close; and, if it be the will of God, thou shalt meet her this night;
but forget not my charge. Then she wept, and my heart was pained for
her, on account of her excessive weeping; and I said to her, What is the
charge which thou gavest me? She answered, When thou departest from
her, repeat to her the verse before mentioned.
I then went forth from her full of joy, and proceeded to the garden,
and went up to the mak'ad, satiated with food. I remained sleepless a
quarter of the night, and the night seemed as long to me as though it were
a year; and I continued watching until two thirds of it had passed, and the
248
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
cocks crew, and I became violently hungry from watching: so I went up to
the table, and ate until I was satisfied; and my head became heavy, and
I desired to sleep; but suddenly I heard a noise in the distance; whereupon
I arose, and washed my hands and mouth, and roused myself; and soon after,
she came.
She was accompanied by ten female slaves, and she appeared
among them like the full moon among the planets: she was attired in a gar-
ment of green satin embroidered with red gold; and when she saw me, she
laughed, and said, How is it that thou hast remained awake, and that sleep
hath not overcome thee? Now that thou hast passed the night sleepless I
am convinced that thou art a lover; for among the characteristics of lovers
is the watching by night in the resolute endurance of desire.
She then turned towards her female slaves, and made a sign to them;
whereupon they departed from her; and she approached me, and pressed me
to her bosom, and kissed me, and we conversed together until the morning,
when I desired to depart; but she held me, and said to me, Stop, that I may
acquaint thee with something, and give thee a charge. So I stopped;
and she unfolded a handkerchief, and, taking forth from it this piece of
linen, spread it open before me; and I found in it the design of the gazelles,
as thou seest, and I admired it exceedingly, and took it; after which I made
a promise to her that I would pay her a visit every night in that garden,
and departed from her, full of joy; but in my joy I forgot the verse which
my cousin had charged me to repeat. And when she gave me the piece of
linen containing the design of the gazelles, she said to me, This is the work
of my sister. And what, said I, is the name of thy sister? She answered,
Her name is Noor-el-Hudà: 35 and do thou take care of this piece of
linen.
After this, when I had taken leave of her and departed, full of joy, I re-
turned and went in to my cousin, and found her lying down, and when she
saw me she rose, her tears dropping, and approached me, and, kissing my
bosom, said, Hast thou recited the verse as I charged thee? I answered,
I forgot it; and nothing drove it from my mind but the design of these ga-
zelles. And I threw down the piece of linen before her. She arose, and
then seated herself again, and, in her impatience, shed tears, and said, O
son of my uncle, make a present to me of this piece of linen. So I gave
it her, and she took it and spread it open, and saw what was in it. And
when the time of my departure came, she said, Go, and may safety attend
thee; but when thou retirest from her, recite to her the verse that I taught
thee before, and which thou didst forget. - Repeat it to me, said I. And
she did so.
I then repaired to the garden, and entered the mak'ad. I found the
damsel waiting for me, and when she beheld me she arose and kissed me and
seated me, and we ate and drank, and in the morning I repeated to her the
verse, which was this:
O ye lovers, by Allah, inform me, how a youth should act when his love is intense.
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
249
And when she heard it, her eyes filled with tears, and thus she replied: -
He should hide his love, and conceal his secret, and be patient under every event, and
submissive.
I committed this to memory, and, glad at having done what my cousin
desired, went forth and returned to her. I found her lying down, with my
mother, at her head, weeping for her unhappy state; and when I went in
to her, my mother said to me, Perdition to such a cousin as thou! How
canst thou leave the daughter of thine uncle indisposed and not inquire re-
specting her disease? But my cousin, on beholding me, raised her head,
and sat up, and said to me, O 'Azeez, hast thou repeated to her the verse
that I taught thee? I answered, Yes: and when she heard it, she wept,
and recited to me another verse, which I retain in my memory. Let me
hear it, said my cousin. And when I had repeated it to her she wept vio-
lently, and recited this other verse:
He hath sought to attain a becoming patience; but found nought save a heart pining
with desire.
She then said to me, When thou goest to her as usual, repeat to her this
verse which thou hast heard. I replied, I hear and obey.
So I went to the garden according to my custom, and when I was about
to return, I recited to the damsel that verse; and when she heard it, tears
poured from her eyes, and she replied,
-
Then, if he have not the patience to conceal his secret, I know nothing better for him
than death.
Retaining this in my memory, I returned to the house; and when I went
in to my cousin, I found her fallen down in a fit, and my mother sitting at
her head; and when my cousin heard my voice, she opened her eyes, and
said, O 'Azeez, hast thou repeated to her the verse? I answered, Yes: and
when she heard it, she wept, and recited to me this other verse. And I re-
peated it to her; and as soon as she heard it she fainted again, and, on her
recovery, recited another verse, which was this:
We hear and obey, and we die; then convey my salutation to the person who hath
prevented our union.
30
At the approach of the following night I went again to the garden as
usual, and found the damsel expecting me; and we ate and drank; and in
the morning, when I was about to depart, I repeated to her what my cousin.
had said; whereupon she uttered a loud cry, and was agitated, and exclaimed,
By Allah, she who uttered this verse hath died! She then wept, and said
to me, Wo to thee! Is not she who uttered this verse related to thee? —-
I answered, She is the daughter of my paternal uncle. — Thou liest, replied
she: By Allah, if she were the daughter of thy uncle thou hadst borne her
250
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the same love that she bore thee. Thou art he who hath destroyed her,
and may God destroy thee in like manner! By Allah, if thou hadst told
me of thy having a cousin, I had not admitted thee into my favour. —
Verily, said I, she is my cousin, and she explained to me the signs that thou
madest me, and it was she who taught me how to proceed with thee: I had
not obtained access to thee but through her good management. And did
she know of our affair? said she. I answered, Yes. May Allah, she ex-
claimed, cause thee to bewail thy youth, as thou hast caused her to bewail
hers! She then said to me, Go and see her.
-
-
I departed, therefore, troubled in mind, and proceeded until I came to
our street, when I heard a wailing, and, asking respecting it, was answered,
We found 'Azeezeh lying behind the door, dead. I entered the house, and
when my mother beheld me, she exclaimed, The crime of destroying her is
on thy neck, and may God not pardon thee her blood! Perdition to such a
cousin as thou! My father then came, and we prepared her body for
interment, and performed the funeral-ceremonies, and buried her; and we
caused recitations of the whole of the Kur-án to be performed at her tomb,
and remained there three days, after which I returned to the house, sorrow-
ing for her. And my mother addressed me, and said, I desire to know what
thou didst to her, so that thou brokest her heart. I asked her continually,
O my son, respecting the cause of her disorder; but she would not acquaint
me with it. I conjure thee, therefore, by Allah, that thou inform me what
thou didst unto her, to cause her death. I replied, I did nothing. But
she said, May God avenge her upon thee! for she mentioned to me noth-
ing, but concealed the truth of her case until she died, still preserving her
affection for thee; and when she died I was with her, and she opened her
eyes, and said to me, O wife of my uncle, may God hold thy son guiltless
of my blood, and not punish him for that which he hath done unto me;
and now God transporteth me from the perishable world to the world of
eternity. And I replied, O my daughter, may God preserve thee, and pre-
serve thy youth! And I asked her respecting the cause of her disorder:
but she answered not. Then she smiled, and said, O wife of my uncle, if
thy son desire to go to the place which he is accustomed to frequent, tell
him to repeat these two phrases on departing from it. - Fidelity is good,
and treachery is base: and this I desire in my compassion for him, that
I may shew him compassion in my life and after my death. She then gave
me something for thee, and took an oath of me that I would not give it
to thee until I should see thee weeping for her and lamenting: this thing I
have, and when I see thee in the state that she hath described I will give it
to thee. I said to her, Shew it me. But she would not.
I then gave myself up to my pleasures, and thought not of the death of
my cousin; for I was unsettled in mind, and wished that I were passing the
whole of every night and day with my beloved; and scarcely had the next
night approached when I repaired again to the garden. I found the damsel
sitting there, burning with impatience to see me; and as soon as she beheld
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
251
me, she hastened to me and clung to my neck, and asked me respecting my
cousin. I answered her, She is dead, and we have performed zikrs 37 and
recitations of the Kur-án for her, and four nights have passed since her
death, and this is the fifth. When she heard this, she cried out and wept,
and said, Did I not tell thee that thou hadst killed her? Hadst thou in-
formed me of her, before her death, I had requited her for the kindness that
she hath shewn me; for she hath been of service to me in giving thee access
to me: had it not been for her, I should not have had an interview with
thee, and I fear thou wilt fall into a calamity on account of her disaster.
I replied, She acquitted me before her death. And I related to her
what my mother had told me; upon which she exclaimed, By Allah,
I conjure thee, when thou goest to thy mother, learn what it is
that she hath. My mother, said I, told me, Thy cousin, before she died,
charged me saying, If thy son desire to go to the place which he is accus-
tomed to frequent, tell him to repeat these two phrases: Fidelity is good,
and treachery is base. And when the damsel heard this, she exclaimed,
The mercy of God (whose name be exalted!) be upon her, for she hath
saved thee from me: I was meditating an injury to thee; but now I will not
hurt thee nor trouble thee.
-
-
And I wondered at this, and said to her, What didst thou purpose be-
fore this to do to me, after mutual love had taken place between us? She
answered, Thou art devoted to me; but thou art young, and thy mind is free
from deceit, and thou knowest not our malice nor our deceit: were she still
in the bonds of life, she would assist thee; for she is the cause of thy safety,
and hath delivered thee from destruction: and now I charge thee that thou
speak not with any female, nor answer any of our sex, young or old. Be-
ware, beware; for thou art ignorant of the deceit of women, and their malice:
she who used to interpret the signs to thee is dead; and I fear for thee lest
thou fall into a calamity and find none to deliver thee from it after the death
of thy cousin. O my sorrow for the daughter of thy uncle! Would that I
had known her before her death, that I might have requited her for the
kindness that she hath done me! The mercy of God (whose name be ex-
alted!) be upon her, for she concealed her secret, and revealed not what
she felt; and but for her, thou wouldst never have had access to me. And
now I have a service to demand of thee. What is it? said I. She an-
swered, That thou conduct me to her tomb, that I may visit her at her grave,
and inscribe some verses upon it. I replied, To-morrow, if it be the will of
God, whose name be exalted! - So I remained with her that night, and
frequently she said to me, Would that thou hadst told me of thy cousin before
her death! And I asked her, What is the meaning of these words which
she said -Fidelity is good and treachery is base? But she answered me
not.
-―
In the morning, therefore, she arose, and, taking a purse containing
some pieces of gold, said to me, Arise, and shew me the tomb, that I may
visit it, and inscribe upon it some verses, and build over it a cupola, and pray
252
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
for mercy upon her, and bestow these pieces of gold in alms for her soul.
I replied, I hear and obey. And I walked before her, and she followed me,
and employed herself in giving alms on the way as she went, and every time
that she did so she said, This is an alms for the soul of 'Azeezeh, who con-
cealed her secret until she drank the cup of death, and revealed not her
love. Thus she continued to give of the contents of the purse, and to say,
For the soul of 'Azeezeh, until we arrived at the tomb, and the contents
of the purse were exhausted; and when she beheld the tomb, she threw
herself upon it, and wept violently. She then took forth a pointed instru-
ment of steel, and a small mallet, and engraved upon the stone at the head
of the tomb, in small characters, these verses:
I passed by an undistinguished tomb in the midst of a garden, with seven anemones upon
it;
33
And I said, Whose tomb is this? The soil answered, Be respectful, for this is the resting-
place of a lover.
So I said, God keep thee, O victim of love, and lodge thee in the highest stage of Para-
dise!
How miserable are lovers among the creation, when even their tombs are covered with
vile dust!
Were I able [O tomb], I would make of thee a garden, and water it with my streaming
tears!
She then again wept violently, and arose, and I arose with her; and after
we had returned to the garden, she said to me, I conjure thee by Allah that
thou never forsake me. And I replied, I hear and obey. So I resumed
my visits to her as before, and she treated me with kindness and honour,
and used to ask me respecting the two phrases which my cousin 'Azeezeh
had mentioned to my mother, and I repeated them to her. Thus I remained,
eating and drinking, and enjoying her conversation, and attiring myself in
changes of delicate clothing, until I became stout and fat, and I experienced
neither anxiety nor grief nor sorrow, and forgot my cousin.
I continued drowned in these pleasures for a whole year; and at the
commencement of the new year, I entered the bath, and refreshed myself,
and put on a handsome suit; and after I had gone forth from the bath, I
drank a cup of wine, and smelt the odours of my clothes, which were richly
perfumed with various scents. My heart was unoppressed by calamities or
misfortunes; and when the hour of nightfall came, I desired to repair to
the damsel; but I was intoxicated, and knew not my way; and, in going to
her, intoxication led me aside into a by-street called the street of the Na-
keeb: 39 and as I was proceeding along it, lo, an old woman came, with a
lighted candle in one of her hands, and in her other hand a folded letter.
I advanced towards her, and she, with weeping eye, said to me, O my son,
art thou able to read? I answered her, Yes, my old aunt. And she said,
Take this letter, and read it to me. And she handed me the letter; so I
took it from her and opened it, and read to her its contents, informing her
that it was a letter from the absent, with salutations to the beloved. And
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
253
when she heard this, she rejoiced at the good news, and ejaculated a prayer
for me, saying, May God dispel thine anxiety as thou hast dispelled mine!
She then took the letter, and proceeded a few steps; but presently she re-
turned to me, and, kissing my hand, said, O my lord, may God (whose
name be exalted!) give thee enjoyment of thy youth, and not disgrace thee.
I beg that thou wilt walk with me a few paces, to that door; for I have
told them what thou hast read to me of the letter, and they do not believe
me: come with me, therefore, two steps, and read to them the letter outside
the door, and accept my prayer for thee.
And what, said I, is the history of this letter? She answered, O my
son, this letter hath come from my son, who hath been absent from us for
the space of ten years; for he journeyed with merchandise, and hath remained
abroad during that period, and we relinquished all hope of his return, think-
ing that he was dead: then came to us this letter from him; and he hath a
sister who hath wept for him during his absence night and day; and I told
her that he was in health and prosperity; but she believed me not, and said
to me, Thou must bring me a person to read this letter and to acquaint me
with its contents, that my heart may be set at ease and my mind comforted.
- Thou knowest, O my son, that the loving is prepossessed with evil antici-
pations: favour me, therefore, by reading this letter while thou shalt stand
outside the curtain, and his sister shall hear it within the door, that the
recompense of him who accomplisheth a want for a Muslim, and dispelleth
from his mind a trouble, may be thine: for the Apostle of God (may God
bless and save him!) hath said, Whoso dispelleth from the mind of a sorrow-
ful person one of the troubles of this world, God will dispell from his mind
one of the troubles of the world to come: - and in another tradition, Whoso
dispelleth from the mind of his brother one of the troubles of this world,
God will dispel from his mind seventy-two of the troubles of the day of
resurrection: and now I have desired thee, do not disappoint me. So
I replied, I hear and obey: proceed before me.
---
She therefore walked before me, and I followed her a little way, until
she arrived at a great door overlaid with copper; and she stopped at this
door, and called out in Persian, and immediately a damsel approached, with
light and nimble step. Her trousers were tucked up to her knees, and I
beheld a pair of legs that confounded the mind and the eye by their beauty:
they were like two columns of alabaster, and ornamented with anklets of
gold set with jewels. The skirts of her outer clothes were tucked up under
her arms, and her sleeves were turned up from her arms, and I looked at
her white wrists, and upon them were two pairs of bracelets: in her ears
were two ear-rings of pearls; and upon her neck was a necklace of costly
jewels; and on her head a koofeeyeh,10 quite new, adorned with precious
gems. She had tucked the skirt of her inner tunic within the band of her
trousers, and appeared as though she had been employed in some active
work. And when she beheld me, she said, with an eloquent and sweet
tongue that I had never heard surpassed in sweetness, O my mother, is this
254
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
he who hath come to read the letter? She answered, Yes. And the damsel
stretched forth her hand to me with the letter. There was, between her
and the door, a distance of about half a rod; 41 and I extended my hand to
take the letter from her, and put my head and shoulders within the door
to draw near to her; but before I knew what she was about to do, the old
woman placed her head against my back, and pushed me forward, while
my hand was holding the letter, and I looked around, and found myselt
in the midst of the house; that is, within the vestibule.
42
The old woman entered more quickly than the blinding lightning, and had
nothing to do but to shut the door: and when the damsel beheld me within
the vestibule, she approached me, and pressed me to her bosom, and taking
me by the hand, unable to extricate myself from her grasp, led me, pre-
ceded by the old woman with the lighted candle, until she had passed
through seven vestibules, after which she conducted me into a large saloon,
with four leewáns, 12 in which a horseman might play at goff.43 She then
seated me, and said to me, Open thine eye. And I did so, giddy from the
violence that I had experienced, and saw that the whole construction of the
saloon was of the most beautiful alabaster, and all its furniture, including
the cushions and mattresses, of brocade. In it were also two benches of
brass, and a couch of red gold set with pearls and jewels, not suitable to
any but a King like thee.
After this, she said to me, O 'Azeez, which of the two states is the more
agreeable to thee, life or death? I answered her, Life. And she said,
Then if life is more agreeable to thee, marry me. I dislike, I replied,
marrying such a person as thou. She rejoined, If thou marry me, thou wilt
be secure from the daughter of the crafty Deleeleh.** And who, said I,
is the daughter of the crafty Deleeleh? She laughed, and answered, How
is it that thou knowest her not, when thou hast now been in her company
year and four months? May Allah (whose name be exalted!) destroy
her. Verily there existeth not any one more treacherous than she. How
many persons hath she killed before thee, and what deeds hath she done!
And how hast thou escaped from her, without her killing thee, when thou
hast been in her company all this time? - When I heard her words I won-
dered extremely, and said to her, O my mistress, who acquainted thee with
her? She answered, I know her as the age knoweth its calamities; but I
desire that thou inform me of all that thou hast experienced from her, that
I may know the cause of thy safety from her. So I related to her all that
had happened to me with her and with my cousin 'Azeezeh; and she ex-
claimed, Allah have mercy upon her! —and her eyes shed tears, and she
struck her hands together, when she heard of the death of my cousin
'Azeezeh, and said, May Allah compensate thee abundantly for the loss of
her, O 'Azeez; for she hath been the cause of thy safety from the daughter
of the crafty Deleeleh; and had it not been for her, thou hadst perished.45
After this, she clapped her hands, and said, O my mother, bring in those
who are with thee. And lo, the old woman approached with four lawful
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
255
witnesses; and she lighted four candles; and when the witnesses entered,
they saluted me, and seated themselves; and the damsel covered herself
with an izár, and appointed one of the witnesses to be her deputy in mak-
ing her contract. So they performed the marriage-contract, and she af-
firmed of herself that she had received the whole of the dowry, both the
portion usually paid in advance and the arrears, and that she was indebted
to me in the sum of ten thousand pieces of silver; after which she gave to
the witnesses their fees, and they departed.
On the following day, I desired to go out; but she approached me laugh-
ing, and said, Dost thou think that going out from the bath is like entering
it? 4 I imagine thou thinkest me to be like the daughter of the crafty
Deleeleh. Beware of entertaining such an idea. Thou art no other than
my husband, according to the Kur-án and the Sunneh; and if thou hast
been intoxicated, return to thy reason. Verily this house in which thou
art is not opened but on one day in every year. Go to the street-door and
look. So I went and looked, and found it closed and nailed, and returned
and told her so; and she said to me, O'Azeez, we have of flour and grain
and fruits and pomegranates and sugar and meat and sheep and fowls and
other provisions what will suffice us for many years, and from this last night,
our door will not be opened until after a year, and I know that thou wilt
not behold thyself outside this house until after a year hath expired. Upon
this I exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God! And she
laughed, and I laughed also, and complied with her orders, and remained
with her until the twelve months of the year had expired, when I was blest
with a son by her.
And on the first day of the following year, I heard the opening of the
door, and lo, men came in with kaaks and flour and sugar; and I desired
to go out; but she said to me, Wait until nightfall, and as thou camest in,
so go forth. I therefore waited until that hour, and was on the point of
going out, in fear and trembling, when she said to me, By Allah, I will not let
thee go until I have made thee swear to me that thou wilt return this night be-
fore the door is closed. So I promised her to do it; and she made me swear by
binding oaths upon the sword and the Kur-án, and by the oath of divorce, that
I would return to her.48
I then went forth from her, and repaired to the garden. I found it
open as usual, and was angry, saying within myself, I have been absent from
this place a whole year, and, coming unawares, have found it open as usual.
I wonder if the damsel be still there as heretofore, and I must enter and
see before I go to my mother. It was then nightfall, and I entered the
garden, and, proceeding to the mak'ad, found the daughter of the crafty
Deleeleh sitting with her head upon her knee and her hand upon her cheek.
Her complexion was changed, and her eyes were sunk, and when she beheld
me she exclaimed, Praise be to God for thy safety! and she endeavoured
to rise, but fell down through her joy. I was ashamed at seeing her, and
hung down my head; but presently I advanced to her and kissed her, and
256
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
said to her, How didst thou know that I was coming to thee at this time?
She answered, I knew it not. By Allah, for a year I have not tasted sleep;
but have sat up every night expecting thee, and in this state have I been
from the day when thou wentest forth from me and I gave thee the new
suit of clothing and thou promisedst me that thou wouldst return to me.
I remained expecting thee, and thou camest not the first night, nor the sec-
ond, nor the third: so I still waited in expectation of thy coming; for such
is the way of the lover: and I would now that thou tell me what hath been
the cause of thine absence from me this year. I therefore told her; and
when she knew that I had married, her countenance became pale. I then
said to her, I have come to thee this night, but must go before the morning.
But she exclaimed, Is it not enough for her to have married thee, and to
have employed this stratagem against thee, and imprisoned thee with her
a whole year, that she hath made thee swear by the oath of divorce that
thou wilt return to her before the morning, and wilt not allow thee to divert
thyself with thy mother nor with me, and cannot endure thy passing one
night with either of us? What then must be the state of her from whom
thou hast been absent a whole year, though I knew thee before she did!
But may Allah have mercy on 'Azeezeh; for she suffered what none other
hath suffered, and endured with patience that of which none else hath en-
dured the like, and died through thy oppression. It was she who pro-
tected thee from me. I thought that thou wouldst return, and gave thee
liberty, though I was able to imprison thee, and to destroy thee.
Having thus said, she wept, and became enraged, and looked at me
with the eye of anger; and when I beheld her in this state, the muscles
of my side quivered, and I feared her, and became as the bean upon the
fire. She then cried out, and suddenly ten female slaves came to me, and
threw me upon the floor; and when I fell under their hands, she arose, and,
taking a knife, said, I will slaughter thee as the goats are slaughtered and this
shall be thy least recompense for that which thou hast done unto thy
cousin. When I beheld myself, therefore, beneath her female slaves, and
my cheek was soiled with the dust, and I saw the knife in her hand, I looked
upon death as inevitable. I implored her mercy; but she only increased
in hardness, and ordered the female slaves to bind my hands behind me;
and they did so, and, throwing me upon my back, seated themselves upon
my body, and held my head.
Then two of them arose and took hold of my toes, and two others
seated themselves upon my legs; after which, their mistress arose, with
two others of them, and she ordered them to beat me; whereupon they
beat me until I fainted, and my voice became inaudible; and when I recov-
ered, I said within myself, Verily my being slaughtered were easier to me
than this beating! I bethought myself of the words of my cousin, when
she said, May God avert from thee her wickedness! and I cried out and
wept until my voice failed. She then sharpened the knife, and said to the
female slaves, Uncover his throat. But God inspired me to repeat the two
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
257
-
phrases which my cousin had charged me to utter, namely, Fidelity is good,
and treachery is base; and when she heard this, she cried out and said,
Allah have mercy upon thee, O 'Azeezeh! Would that thy youth had been
spared! Thou hast profited thy cousin during thy life and after thy death!
-Then addressing me, she added, By Allah, thou hast saved thy life from
me by means of these two phrases; but I must cause thee to bear a mark
of my resentment. So saying, she inflicted upon me a cruel wound, and I
fainted; but when I recovered, the blood had stopped, and she gave me to
drink a cup of wine, and spurned me with her foot.
I rose; but was unable at first to walk; presently, however, I proceeded
by little and little until I arrived at the door of my wife's house. I found
it open, and threw myself within it, in a state of distraction; and my wife.
came and took me up and conveyed me to the saloon, where I fell into
a deep sleep; but when I awoke, I found myself laid at the gate of the
garden.
In anguish I rose, and went to my home, and, entering the house, found
my mother weeping for me, and exclaiming, Would that I knew, O my son,
in what land thou art! So I approached her, and threw myself upon her,
and when she beheld me, she saw that I was unwell. Yellowness and
blackness were mingled upon my face; and I remembered my cousin, and
the kindness she had shewn me, and was convinced that she loved me. I
wept for her, and my mother also wept, and then said to me, O my son,
thy father is dead. And upon this, my rage increased, and I wept until I
became insensible; and when I recovered, I looked towards the place where
my cousin was accustomed to sit, and wept again till I fainted from the
violence of my lamentation. I ceased not to weep and wail until midnight,
when my mother said to me, Thy father hath been dead ten days. But I
replied, I think of no one but my cousin; for I deserve what hath happened
to me, because I neglected her when she loved me. She asked me, there-
fore, And what hath happened to thee? So I related to her that which had
befallen me; to which she replied, Praise be to God that this happened to
thee and that she did not slaughter thee! She then applied remedies to
my wound until I recovered, and regained my usual strength; and she said
to me, O my son, I will now produce to thee the deposite with which thy
cousin intrusted me; for it is thine, and she made me swear that I would
not produce it to thee until I saw that thou rememberedst her and
mournedst for her, and that thine affections for another were severed; and
now I hope that I find in thee these dispositions. She therefore arose, and,
opening a chest, took forth from it this piece of linen containing the design
of the gazelles, which I had originally given to her; and when I took it,
I found written upon it some verses complaining of her unrequited love
for me, and there fell from it a paper containing some words of consolation
and counsel.49
As soon as I had read and understood this paper, I wept again, and
my mother did the same, and I continued looking at it and weeping until
258
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the approach of night; and in this state I remained for the space of a year;
after which, some merchants of my city, the same whom I am accompany-
ing in this caravan, prepared for a journey; and my mother suggested to me.
that I should fit myself out and go with them, saying to me, Perhaps the
journey will dispel this sorrow which thou sufferest and thou wilt be absent
a year, or two years, or three, until the caravan returneth, and thy heart
may become dilated. Thus she continued to persuade me, so that I pre-
pared some merchandise, and journeyed with them; but my tears have not
dried up during my travels; for at every station where we halt I spread
this piece of linen before me, and look at this design, and think of my
cousin, and weep for her as thou seest, since she loved me excessively, and
died through my unkindness; I doing nothing but evil to her, while she
did nothing to me but what was good. When the merchants return from
their journey, I shall return with them, and the period of my absence will
be a complete year; but I still suffer increasing sorrow; and my sorrow
hath been only augmented in consequence of my passing by the Islands of
Camphor and the Castle of Crystal.50
These Islands are seven in number, and the sovereign of them is a
King named Sháh-Zemán.51 He hath a daughter named Dunyà; 52 and it
was told me that it was she who worked the designs of the gazelles, and
that this design which is in my possession was one of her work; and when
I knew this, I became excessively desirous of seeing her: so, when the
caravan entered her country, I went forth and wandered about the gardens,
which contained a profusion of trees. The superintendent of the gardens
was a sheykh advanced in age; and I said to him, O sheykh, to whom doth
this garden belong? He answered, To the King's daughter, the lady Dunyà,
and we are beneath her palace; and if thou desire to amuse thyself, open
the private door, and take a view of the garden and smell the odours of
the flowers. So I said to him, Have the kindness to allow me to sit in this
garden until she passeth by, that I may enjoy a glance at her. The sheykh
replied, There will be no harm in thy doing so. When he said this, there-
fore, I gave him some money, saying to him, Buy for us something to eat.
And he rejoiced at receiving the money, and, opening the door, conducted
me within; and we proceeded until we came to a pleasant spot, where he
brought me some delicate fruits, and said to me, Sit here while I go and
return to thee. And he left me and departed, and, after he had been absent
a while, returned bringing a roasted lamb; and we ate until we were satis-
fied, my heart longing to behold the lady, and while we were sitting, lo, the
door opened; whereupon he said to me, Rise, and conceal thyself. So I
rose, and hid myself; and a black eunuch put forth his head from the door,
and said, O sheykh, is any one with thee? He answered, No. Then
close the door, said the eunuch. The sheykh, therefore, closed the door of
the garden; and lo, the lady Dunyà came forth. When I beheld her, I
thought that the moon had descended upon the earth; my mind was con-
founded, and I desired her as the thirsty longeth for water; and after a
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
259
while, she closed the door and departed. I then went forth from the garden,
and repaired to my lodging, knowing that I could not obtain access to her;
and when my companions prepared for departure, I also prepared myself,
and travelled with them towards thy city; and on our arrival here, we met
with thee. — This is my story, and this is what hath happened unto me;
and peace be on thee.
Continuation of the Story of Táj-el-Mulook and the Lady Dunyà.
When Táj-el-Mulook heard this story, his heart became troubled with
love for the lady Dunyà. He then mounted his horse, and, taking with
him 'Azeez, returned to his father's city, where he assigned to him a house,
and furnished it with everything that he required; after which he left him,
and repaired to his palace. His tears ran down upon his cheeks (for hearing
affecteth as sight and union), and in this state he remained until his father
came in to him, and, finding that his colour was changed, knew that he was
oppressed by anxiety and grief: so he said to him, O my son, acquaint me
with thy case, and tell me what hath happened to thee to change thy colour.
He therefore related to him all that he had heard of the story of Dunyà,
and how he had fallen in love with her from hearsay, without having seen
her; whereupon his father said to him, O my son, her father is a King,
and his country.is distant from us: abandon, therefore, this idea, and enter
the palace of thy mother; for in it are five hundred female slaves like so
many moons, and whoever of them pleaseth thee do thou take her; or, if
none of them please thee, we will demand in marriage for thee one of the
daughters of the Kings, more beautiful than the lady Dunyà. But he
replied, O my father, I desire not any but her: it was she who worked the
design of the gazelles that I saw, and I must have her, or I will flee into
the deserts, and kill myself on her account.
----
So his father said, Have patience with me, O my son, that I may send
to her father and demand her of him in marriage, and accomplish for thee
thy wish, like as I did for myself in the case of thy mother; and if he con-
sent not, I will convulse his kingdom around him, and send against him an
army of which the rear shall be with me when the van is with him. He
then called for the young man 'Azeez, and said to him, O my son, knowest
thou the way? He answered, Yes. Then I desire of thee, said the King,
that thou journey with my Wezeer. And 'Azeez replied, I hear and obey,
O King of the age. The King, therefore, summoned his Wezeer, and said
to him. Manage for me the affair of my son according to thy knowledge,
and repair to the Islands of Camphor, and demand in marriage the daugh-
ter of their King. He replied, I hear and obey. And Táj-el-Mulook re-
turned to his apartments, and his malady and impatience increased: he
fell down in a swoon, and recovered not until the morning; and when the
morning arrived, his father came to him, and saw his complexion more
changed, and his sallowness increased; and he exhorted him to patience,
and promised him the accomplishment of his union.
260
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
.
The King then equipped 'Azeez, with his Wezeer, and supplied them with
the presents; and they journeyed days and nights until they beheld the Islands
of Camphor, when they halted on the bank of a river, and the Wezeer sent
forward a messenger from his party to the King, to acquaint him with their
approach; and half a day after the departure of the messenger, suddenly
they saw that the chamberlains of the King, and his emeers, had advanced
to meet them from the distance of a league; and they met him, and attended
them until they went in with them to the King. They placed before the
King the presents, and remained in his palace four days; and on the fifth
day the Wezeer arose and went in to the King, and, standing before him,
delivered to him his message, and acquainted him with the cause of his com-
ing; but the King was perplexed how to answer, for his daughter liked not
marriage; and he hung down his head for a while towards the floor; and
after this he raised it, and, looking towards one of the eunuchs, said to him,
Go to thy mistress Dunyà and acquaint her with what thou hast heard, and
with the purpose of the visit of this Wezeer.
So the eunuch went, and, after a short absence, returned to the King,
and said to him, O King of the age, when I went in to the lady Dunyà,
and acquainted her with what I had heard, she was violently enraged, and
rose against me with a stick, and would have broken my head; wherefore
I fled from her; and she said to me, If my father force me to marry, him
whom I marry I will kill. Her father, therefore, said to the Wezeer and
'Azeez, Salute ye the King, and inform him of this, and that my daughter
liketh not marriage. Accordingly the Wezeer returned with his attendants
unsuccessful, and they continued their journey until they went in unto the
King, and acquainted him with what had happened; and upon this he
ordered the chiefs to call together the troops that they might march to war;
but the Wezeer said to him, Do not this; for the King is not in fault: the
refusal is on the part of his daughter, who, when she knew of this proposal,
sent to say, If my father force me to marry, I will kill him whom I marry,
and kill myself after him.
And when the King heard the words of the Wezeer, he feared for his
son Táj-el-Mulook, and said, If I make war upon her father, and obtain
possession of his daughter, she will kill herself. He then acquainted his son
Táj-el-Mulook with the truth of the case; and when the prince heard it, he
said to his father, O my father, I cannot exist without her: I will therefore
go to her, and seek means of obtaining an interview with her, though I die.
in the attempt: and I will do nothing but this. His father said, How wilt.
thou go to her? He answered, I will go in the disguise of a merchant. —
Then if it must be so, rejoined the King, take with thee the Wezeer and
'Azeez. He then took forth for him some money from his treasuries, and
prepared for him merchandise at the price of a hundred thousand pieces
of gold, and they both agreed as to this course; and when night came,
Táj-el-Mulook and 'Azeez went to the abode of the latter, and there passed
that night. But the heart of Táj-el-Mulook was captivated, and neither
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
261
eating nor rest pleased him: reflections overwhelmed him, and he was drowned
in them; and, longing for his beloved, he poured forth his tears, and wept
violently; and 'Azeez wept with him, reflecting upon his cousin; and they
both continued thus until the morning, when Táj-el-Mulook arose and went
in to his mother. He was equipped for the journey; and she asked him
respecting his state: so he acquainted her with the whole truth; and she
gave him fifty thousand pieces of gold, and bade him farewell, and he went
forth from her, while she offered up prayers for his safety, and for his union
with the object of his love. He then went in to his father, and asked his
permission to depart; and the King granted him permission, and gave him
fifty thousand pieces of gold, and ordered that a tent should be pitched for
him outside the city.
A large tent was therefore pitched for him; and after they had remained
in it two days, they commenced their journey; and Táj-el-Mulook treated
'Azeez with familiar kindness, and said to him, O my brother, I cannot
henceforth part with thee. And I, replied 'Azeez, am of the like mind,
and desire to die at thy feet; but, O my brother, my heart is troubled with
thoughts of my mother. So Táj-el-Mulook said, When we have attained
our wish, all will be well. Now the Wezeer had charged Táj-el-Mulook
to display an air of patience, and 'Azeez occupied himself with reciting to
him verses, and narrating to him histories and tales; and they continued on
their way by night and day for the space of two months. The length of
the journey became wearisome to Táj-el-Mulook; and the violence of his
desire, and his passion and distraction, increased: so when they drew near
to the city, he rejoiced excessively, and his anxiety and grief ceased.
They entered it in the garb of merchants, the King's son being also
clad in the same manner, and, coming to a place known as the abode of
merchants, which was a large Khán, Táj-el-Mulook said to 'Azeez, Is this
the abode of the merchants? 'Azeez answered, Yes: it is not, however,
the Khán in which I lodged with the caravan that I accompanied; but it is
better than that. So they made their camels lie down, and unloaded, and,
having deposited their goods in the magazines, remained there to take rest four
days. The Wezeer then suggested to them that they should hire for them-
selves a large house; to which they assented; and they hired a spacious
house, fitted for festivities. There they took up their abode; and the
Wezeer and 'Azeez studied to devise some stratagem for the sake of Táj-el-
Mulook, who was perplexed, not knowing what to do.
The Wezeer could contrive no other plan than that of his opening for
himself a shop to carry on the trade of a merchant in the market of fine
stuffs: he therefore addressed Táj-el-Mulook and 'Azeez, and said to them,
Know that if we remain in this state we shall not attain our wish; and a
thing hath occurred to my mind which probably may be advisable, if it be
the will of God. So they replied, Do what seemeth fit to thee; for a bless-
ing attendeth the aged, and especially in thy case, since thou hast devoted
thyself to the management of affairs: therefore give us the advice which
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hath suggested itself to thy mind. And he said to Táj-el-Mulook, It is my
opinion that we should hire for thee a shop in the market of fine stuffs, and
that thou shouldst sit in it to sell and buy; for every person of the higher
rank and of the people in general standeth in need of such stuffs, and if
thou sit in that shop thy affair will be arranged, if it be the will of God
(whose name be exalted!), especially because of thy comely person; but
make 'Azeez thy trusty attendant, and seat him in the shop to hand to thee
the stuffs. And when Táj-el-Mulook heard these words, he said, This is
a judicious opinion: - and immediately he took forth a suit of merchant's
attire, and clad himself in it, and arose and went forth, followed by his
young men, and gave to one of them a thousand pieces of gold to fit up
the shop.
They proceeded until they arrived at the market of fine stuffs, and
when the merchants saw Táj-el-Mulook, and observed his handsome and
comely person, they were confounded, and began to say, Hath Ridwan 53
opened the gates of Paradise and neglected them, so that this youth of
surprising beauty hath come forth? and one said, This is probably one
of the angels. And when they went in among the merchants, they in-
quired for the shop of the Sheykh of the market. The merchants, there-
fore, guided them thither, and they went to him; and as they approached
him, he and the merchants who were with him rose to them, and received
them with honour, especially the excellent Wezeer; for they saw him to
be an aged and venerable man; and observing that he was accompanied
by Táj-el-Mulook and 'Azeez, they said, No doubt this sheykh is the father
of these two young men. The Wezeer then said to them, Who among you
is the Sheykh of the market? They answered, This is he. And the
Wezeer, looking at him and observing him, saw that he was an old man.
of grave and respectable aspect, and possessing servants and young men.
The Sheykh of the market greeted them with friendly compliments, and
treated them with great honour, and, having seated them by his side, said.
to them, Have ye any business, which we may have the happiness of
transacting? The Wezeer answered, Yes: I am an old man, advanced in
age, and I have these two young men: I have travelled with them through
all regions and countries, and have not entered a town without remaining
in it a whole year, that they might amuse themselves with the sight of it
and become acquainted with its inhabitants; and now I have come to this
your town, and have chosen to make a stay in it: I therefore desire of thee
one of the best shops, that I may seat them in it to traffic, and that they
may amuse themselves with the sight of this city, and acquire the manners
of its people, and obtain an experience in buying and selling and other
commercial transactions.
So:
So the Sheykh of the market replied, There will be no harm in doing
and, looking at the two young men, he was delighted with them,
and he arose and stood like a servant before them to wait upon them. And
afterwards he went and prepared for them the shop: it was in the midst
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
263
of the market, and there was none larger than it, nor any more handsome
there; for it was spacious and decorated, and contained shelves of ivory
and ebony. He then delivered the keys to the Wezeer (who was also in
the garb of a merchant), and said, God grant that it may be attended with
blessings to thy two sons! 54 And when the Wezeer had taken the keys
of the shop, he went to it, together with the servants, who deposited in it
their goods; and they ordered the servants to remove thither all the mer-
chandise and stuffs and rarities that they had. These things were worth
treasuries of wealth; and they transported the whole of them to the shop.
They then passed the night, and in the morning the Wezeer conducted the
two young men to the bath, where they washed and enjoyed themselves to
the utmost, after which they returned to their abode to rest from the fatigue
of bathing, and ate and drank; and they passed the next night in their
abode in the most perfect joy and happiness.
And on the following morning they rose from their sleep, and, having per-
formed the ablution, recited the divinely-ordained prayers, and drank their
morning-beverage; 55 and when daylight came, and the shops and markets
were opened, they went forth from their abode, and repaired to the market,
and opened the shop. The servants had prepared it for them in the hand-
somest manner, and spread it with carpets of silk, and placed in it two
mattresses, each of which was worth a hundred pieces of gold; and upon
each mattress they spread a skin such as Kings sit upon, surrounded with
an edge of gold: so Táj-el-Mulook seated himself upon one mattress, and
'Azeez upon the other, and the Wezeer sat in the midst of the shop, while
the servants stood before them. The people heard of them, and crowded
about them, and they sold of their merchandise; and the fame of Táj-el-
Mulook was spread through the city, and the report of his handsomeness
and comeliness was blazed throughout it. They continued this life for
several days, the people pressing to them; after which the Wezeer addressed
Táj-el-Mulook, and enjoined him to conceal his case, and, having charged
'Azeez to keep watch over him, repaired to the house to plan some mode
of proceeding that might be of advantage to them. Meanwhile, Táj-el-
Mulook and 'Azeez sat conversing together; and the former said, Perhaps
some one may come from the lady Dunyà.
Thus Táj-el-Mulook passed his time days and nights, and slept not;
desire overpowered him, and he became more and more emaciated and
infirm, renouncing the delight of sleep, and abstaining from drink and food;
but still he was like the full moon: and as he was sitting one day, lo, an
old woman approached and advanced towards him, followed by two female
slaves, and she continued to draw near until she stopped at his shop. Be-
holding his graceful person, and his handsome and lovely aspect, she won-
dered at his beauty, and said, Extolled be the perfection of Him who
created thee! Extolled be the perfection of Him who hath made thee a
temptation to all creatures! She ceased not to gaze at him, and said,
This is not a mortal: this is no other then a noble angel.56 Then drawing
264
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
close to him, she saluted him, and he returned her salutation, and rose to
her, standing upon his feet,57 and smiled in her face. All this he did at
the hinting of 'Azeez; after which he seated her by his side, and occupied
himself with fanning her until she had rested herself; when she said to him,
O my son! O thou of perfect qualities and graces! art thou of this coun-
try? Táj-el-Mulook answered her, with an eloquent and sweet and charm-
ing voice, By Allah, O my mistress, in my life I never entered this country
until now; and I have not taken up my abode in it but for the sake of
amusement. And she wished him honour, and welcomed him, and said,
What stuffs hast thou brought with thee? Show me something beautiful;
for the beautiful bringeth not anything but what is beautiful. — And when
Táj-el-Mulook heard her words his heart palpitated; but he understood not
their meaning: so 'Azeez made a sign to him; and Táj-el-Mulook said to
her, I have everything that thou desirest of stuffs suitable only to Kings
and the daughters of Kings. For whom, then, wouldst thou purchase,
that I may display to thee what will be appropriate? He desired by this
question to learn the meaning of her words; and she answered, I want
some stuff suitable to the lady Dunyà, the daughter of King Sháh-Zemán.
-
-
On hearing the mention of his beloved, Táj-el-Mulook rejoiced exceed-
ingly, and said to 'Azeez, Bring me the most magnificent of the goods.
that are by thee. And 'Azeez gave him a wrapper, and untied it before
her, and Táj-el-Mulook said to her, Choose what will suit her; for this is
such as is not found with any but me. So the old woman chose some
stuff that was worth a thousand pieces of gold; and said, What is the price
of this? What! said he, shall I bargain with a person like thee respect-
ing this contemptible thing? Praise be to God who hath made me acquainted
with thee. And the old woman exclaimed, I invoke, for thy comely face,
the protection of the Lord of the Daybreak! 58 for verily thy face is comely,
and so are thine actions. Joy be to her who possesseth thee, and especially
if she be endowed with beauty like thee! Upon this, Táj-el-Mulook
laughed until he fell backwards, and said [within himself], O Accomplisher
of desires by the means of wicked old women! And she said to him, O
my son, what is thy name? He answered, My name is Táj-el-Mulook. ·
This, she replied, is one of the names of Kings; but thou art in the garb
of the merchants. So 'Azeez said, From the affection of his family for
him, and the high estimation in which they held him, they gave him this
name. And the old woman replied, Thou hast spoken truth. May God
avert from you the evil of the envious, though hearts be broken by your
charms!
-
59
She then took the stuff, and departed, confounded by his handsomeness
and loveliness and elegant form; and she proceeded until she went in to
the lady Dunyà, when she said to her, O my mistress, I have brought thee
some beautiful stuff. Shew it me, said the lady. And she replied, O my
mistress, here it is: turn it over, and behold it. And when the lady
Dunyà saw it, she said to her, O my nurse, verily this is beautiful stuff:
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
265
―
I have not seen such in our city! - O my mistress, replied the old woman,
the seller of it surpasseth it in beauty. It seemeth as though Ridwan had
opened the gates of Paradise and neglected them, and so the merchant
who selleth this stuff had come forth from it. I wish he were with thee;
for he is a temptation to every one who beholdeth him. He hath come
to our city with these stuffs for the sake of amusement. At these words
of the old woman the lady Dunyà laughed, and said, Allah afflict thee, thou
ill-omened old woman! Thou hast spoken nonsense, and art become in-
sane. She then added, Give me the stuff that I may examine it closely.
So the old woman handed it to her, and she looked at it again, and saw
that it was but little, and that its price was great; and she wondered at
its beauty; for she had never in her life seen anything like it. The old
woman then said to her, O my mistress, if thou didst behold its owner, thou
wouldst know that he is the handsomest person on the face of the earth.
And the lady Dunyà said to her, Didst thou ask him if he had any want
to be performed, that he might acquaint us with it, and thou mightest ac-
complish it for him? The old woman, shaking her head, replied, Allah
preserve thy sagacity! By Allah, he hath a want. And is any person
without one? Go to him, then, said the lady Dunyà, and salute him,
and say to him, I have been honoured by thine arrival in our city, and
whatever want thou hast, we will perform it for thee on the head and the
eye.
The old woman, therefore, returned immediately to Táj-el-Mulook, and
when he saw her, his heart leaped with joy, and he rose to her, standing
upon his feet, and, taking her hand, seated her by his side. So when she
had sat and rested herself, she informed him of that which the lady Dunyà
had said. On hearing this, he was filled with the utmost joy; his bosom
expanded, and he said within himself, I have accomplished my wish! He
then said to the old woman, Perhaps thou wilt convey to her a letter from
me, and bring me back the answer. She replied, I hear and obey. And
when he heard her reply, he said to 'Azeez, Give me an inkhorn and paper,
and a pen of brass. And 'Azeez having given him these things, he wrote
the following verses:
I write to thee a letter, O object of my petition, expressive of the torment that I suffer
from separation;
And first, I make known to thee the ardour of my heart; and secondly, my desire and
eager longing;
And thirdly, the expiring of my life and patience; and fourthly, that all the violence
of my love remaineth;
And fifthly, I ask, When shall I behold thee? and sixthly, When shall be the day of our
union?
He then added beneath, This letter is from the captive of desire, incarcerated
in the prison of longing expectation, to whom there can be no liberation.
but by enjoying an interview, even were it with the phantom of the object
266
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of his hope; for he is enduring a painful torment from the separation of
his beloved. Then his tears flowed, and he wrote these two verses:
I write unto thee with my tears flowing, and the drops from my eyes descending inces-
santly;
But I am not despairing of the favour of my Lord: perhaps some day our union may
take place.
He then folded the letter, and sealed it, and gave it to the old woman,
saying, Convey it to the lady Dunyà. She replied, I hear and obey. And
he gave her a thousand pieces of gold, and said, Receive this as a present
from me. So the old woman took it and departed, praying for him.
-
She stopped not until she went to the lady Dunyà, who, when she beheld
her, said to her, O my nurse, what hath he demanded that we should do for
him? O my mistress, she answered, he hath sent with me a letter, and
I know not its contents. And she handed the letter to her. So the lady
Dunyà took it and read it, and understood its meaning, Whence is he, and
to what doth he aspire, that this merchant openeth a correspondence with
me? Then slapping her face, she said, Were it not for my fear of God
(whose name be exalted!) I would crucify him upon his shop. So the old
woman said to her, What is in this letter, that it hath disturbed thy heart?
Doth it contain a complaint of oppression, or a demand for the price of
the stuff? Wo to thee! she answered: it containeth not that, nor any-
thing but love and affection; and all this is through thee. Or, if not, how
should this devil presume to employ these words? - O my mistress, replied
the old woman, thou art residing in thy lofty palace, and no one can obtain
access to thee; not even the flying bird. Allah preserve thee from blame
and censure! Thou hast nothing to fear from the barking of dogs. Be
not angry with me for my bringing thee this letter when I knew not its con-
tents: but it is my opinion that thou shouldst return him an answer, and
threaten him in it with slaughter, and forbid him from employing these
vain words; for he will abstain, and not do so again. The lady Dunyà
said, I fear to write to him, lest he covet me more. But the old woman
replied, When he heareth the threatening, and promise of punishment, he
will desist from his present conduct. So she said, Bring me an inkhorn
and paper, and a pen of brass. And when they had brought them to her,
she wrote these verses:
O pretender to love and affliction and sleeplessness, and feelings of rapturous passion, and
anxiety!
Dost thou seek for a meeting, O deceived, from a moon? Doth any attain from a moon
his wish?
I advise thine abstaining from thy desire: forbear then; for thou art exposed to peril.
If thou again make use of these words, I will visit thee with a punishment of the utmost
severity.
By Him who created mankind of clotted blood," and who gave light to the sun and
the moon!
If thou repeat the proposal thou hast made, I will assuredly crucify thee on the trunk
of a tree.
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
267
She then folded up the letter, and gave it to the old woman, saying to
her, Deliver it to him, and say to him, Abstain from these words. And she
replied, I hear and obey.
She took the letter, full of joy,61 and went with it to her house, where
she passed the night; and in the morning she repaired to the shop of Táj-
el-Mulook, whom she found expecting her. As soon as he beheld her, he
almost flew with joy, and when she drew near to him he rose to her, stand-
ing upon his feet, and seated her by his side; and she took forth the letter,
and handed it to him, saying, Read its contents. She then said to him,
The lady Dunyà, when she read thy letter, was enraged; but I coaxed her
and jested with her until I made her laugh, and she was moved with pity
for thee, and returned thee an answer. So Táj-el-Mulook thanked her
for this, and, having ordered 'Azeez to give her a thousand pieces of gold,
read the letter, and understood, it; and he wept violently, so that the heart
of the old woman was moved with compassion for him, and his weeping
and complaining grieved her. She said to him, O my son, and what is in
this paper, that it hath made thee weep? He answered, She threatened
me with slaughter and crucifixion, and forbiddeth my writing to her; but
if I write not to her, my death will be preferable to my life; therefore take
a reply to her letter, and let her do what she will. By thy youth, replied
the old woman, I must risk my life for thee, and enable thee to attain thy
desire, and accomplish for thee that which is in thy heart. And Táj-el-
Mulook said, Whatsoever thou dost I will requite thee for it; and it shall
be determined by thee; for thou art experienced in the management of af-
fairs, and skilled in the modes of intrigue, and everything that is difficult
becometh easy to thee; and God is able to accomplish all things. So he took
a paper, and wrote in it these verses:
-
She threatened me with slaughter. O my bereavement! Slaughter would be ease to
me, and death is decreed.
Death is better than life prolonged to the love-smitten who is debarred from enjoyment
and treated with oppression.
By Allah, visit a helpless lover; for I am your slave, and the slave is in captivity.
O my mistress, have mercy on me for my passion; for every one who loveth the virtuous
is excusable.
Having done this, he sighed heavily, and wept until the old woman wept
with him; after which she took the letter from him, and said to him,
Be happy and cheerful; for I must accomplish for thee thy wish.
She then arose, and left him as though he were upon the fire, and
repaired to the lady Dunyà, whom she found with a countenance changed
by her anger in consequence of the former epistle of Táj-el-Mulook; and
she handed her the second letter; whereupon her rage increased, and she
said to the old woman, Did I not tell thee that he would covet us more?
And what is this dog, said the old woman, that he should aspire to
thee? The lady Dunyà replied, Go to him, and say to him, If thou write
to her again she will strike off thy head. But the old woman said, Do
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thou write this to him in a letter, and I will take it with me, that his fear
may be greater. So she took a paper, and wrote in it the following
verses:
O thou who art heedless of the course of misfortune, and who canst not accomplish thy
desired union!
Dost thou think, O deceived, to attain to Es-Suhà," when thou canst not reach to the
shining moon?
How then dost thou venture to hope for our union, and to hold in thine embrace my
javelin-like form?
Quit, therefore, this project, in fear of my assault on a day of adversity when hair shall
become gray.
Having folded this letter, she handed it to the old woman, who took
it and repaired with it to Táj-el-Mulook. At the sight of her he rose, and
said, May God never deprive me of the blessing of thy coming! And the
old woman replied, Receive the answer to thy letter. So he took the paper
and read it, and wept violently, and said, I desire now some one to kill me;
for slaughter would be easier to me than this my present state of suffering.
He then took an inkhorn and a pen and paper, and wrote a letter expressed
in these two verses:
O my hope, persist not in abandonment and cruelty; but visit a lover drowned in desire.
Think not that I can survive this oppression; for my soul departeth at the loss of my
beloved.
And he folded the letter, and give it to the old woman, saying to her, I
have wearied thee to no purpose. And again he ordered 'Azeez to give her
a thousand pieces of gold, and said to her, O my mother, this paper must
be followed by complete union or complete separation. O my son, she
replied, By Allah, I desire for thee nothing but good fortune; and I wish she
may be with thee; for thou art the shining moon, and she is the rising sun;
and if I do not bring you together, no profit will remain to me in my life.
I have passed my life in the practice of artifice and deceit, until I have
attained the age of ninety years; and how then should I fail of uniting two
persons in opposition to all law?
Then, having bidden him farewell, and soothed his mind, she departed,
and proceeded without stopping to the lady Dunyà, but she had hidden
the paper in her hair; and when she sat down with her mistress, she
scratched her head, and said, O my mistress, perhaps thou wilt untwist my
hair; for it is a long time since I have entered the bath. So the lady
Dunyà made bare her arms to the elbows, and untwisted the old woman's
hair; whereupon the paper fell from her head; and the lady Dunyà, see-
ing it, said, What is this paper? The old woman answered, It seemeth
that, when I was sitting at the shop of the merchant, this paper caught to
me: give it me, therefore, that I may return it to him. But the lady
Dunyà opened it and read it, and understood its contents, and exclaimed,
This is a trick of thine, and were it not for the fact of thy having reared
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
269
-
me, I would lay violent hands upon thee this moment. God hath afflicted
me by this merchant, and all that I have experienced from him hath been
through thy means. I know not from what country this man hath come.
No one but he could ever use such boldness towards me. I fear that this
affair which hath happened to me may be discovered, and especially since
it relateth to a man who is neither of my family nor of my equals. - The
old woman then addressed her, and said, No one can utter a word on this
subject, through fear of thy power, and of the dignity of thy father: and
there will be no harm in thy returning him an answer. O my nurse, re-
plied the lady Dunyà, this is a devil. How hath he dared to use these words,
and feared not the power of the Sultán? I am perplexed respecting his
case; for if I give orders to kill him; it will not be right: and if I leave him,
he will increase in his boldness. Write to him a letter, rejoined the old
woman; and perhaps he will be restrained. She therefore demanded a
paper and an inkhorn and a pen, and wrote to him the following verses:
--
Though repeatedly rebuked, still gross ignorance inciteth thee. How oft shall my hand
write verses to forbid thee?
Thou increasest in eagerness after each prohibition; but I will only permit thee to con-
ceal thy secret.
Conceal then thy love, and never more utter it; for if thou utter it, I will not regard
thee.
If thou repeat what thou hast said, the raven of separation will announce thy fate:
In a little time will death overtake thee, and thy resting-place be beneath the earth:
Thou shalt leave thy family, O deceived, in sorrow, when the swords of love have
prevented thine escape.
Having then folded the paper, she gave it to the old woman, who took
it, and went with it to Táj-el-Mulook, and gave it to him; and when he
had read it, and was convinced that she was hard-hearted, and that he could
not gain access to her, he complained of his case to the Wezeer, and desired
his prudent counsel. The Wezeer replied, Know that there remaineth for
thee nothing that can be of avail, except thy writing to her another letter,
and invoking retribution upon her. So he said, O my brother, O 'Azeez,
write in my stead, according to thy knowledge. And 'Azeez took the paper,
and wrote these verses:
O my Lord, by the Five Elders, deliver me; and to her who hath afflicted me transfer
my anguish!
For Thou knowest that I am suffering a tormenting flame, and my beloved hath op-
pressed me, and will not pity me.
How long shall I feel tenderly to her in my affliction! And how long shall she tyrannize
over my weakness!
I wander in agonies never ending, and find not a person, O my Lord, to assist me.
'Azeez then folded the letter, and handed it to Táj-el-Mulook; and when
he had read it, it pleased him, and he gave it to the old woman.
So she took it, and repaired with it to the lady Dunyà, who, as soon
as she had read it, and understood its contents, fell into a violent rage,
270
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
and exclaimed, All that hath befallen me hath been through the means
of this ill-omened old woman! And she called out to the female slaves
and eunuchs, and said, Seize this artful old woman, and beat her with
your slippers. So they fell to beating her with their slippers until she
fainted; and when she recovered, the lady Dunyà said to her, O wicked
old woman, were it not for my fear of God (whose name be exalted!) I had
killed thee. She then said to her attendants, Beat her again. And they
beat her again until she fainted; after which she ordered them to throw
her outside the door; and they dragged her along upon her face and threw
her down before the door.
When she recovered, therefore, she rose, and, walking and resting now
and then, arrived at her abode. She waited until the morning, and then.
rose and proceeded to Táj-el-Mulook, whom she acquainted with all that
had befallen her; and it vexed him, and he said to her, We are grieved, O
my mother, for that which hath happened to thee: but everything is in ac-
cordance with fate and destiny. She replied, Be happy and cheerful; for
I will not cease my endeavours until I procure thee an interview with her,
and obtain for thee access to this vile woman who hath tortured me with
beating. Táj-el-Mulook then said to her, Acquaint me with the cause of
her hatred of men. She replied, It is in consequence of her having had a
dream. — And what was that dream? he asked. She answered, She was
sleeping one night, and saw a fowler who set his snare upon the ground,
and sprinkled around it some wheat, and then seated himself near it; and
there was not a single bird near it but it came to that snare. And she saw,
among the birds, two pigeons, a male and a female; and while she was
looking at the snare, the foot of the male bird became entangled in it, and
he began to struggle; whereupon all the other birds flew away from him in.
alarm; but his mate returned to him, and flew around over him, and then,
alighting upon the snare, while the fowler was inadvertent, began to peck
at the mesh in which was the foot of the male, and pulled it with her beak,
until she liberated his foot; and she flew away with him.
-
Then, after this, the fowler came and readjusted the snare, and seated
himself at a distance from it; and but a little while had elapsed when the
birds descended, and the snare caught the female pigeon; upon which all
the other birds flew away in alarm and among them the male pigeon, who
returned not to his mate: so the fowler came and took the female bird,
and killed her. And the lady Dunyà awoke terrified by her dream, and
said, Every male is like this, destitute of good; and men universally are
devoid of goodness to women. And when the old woman had finished her
story to Táj-el-Mulook, he said to her, O my mother, I wish to obtain.
one glance at her, though my death be the consequence: contrive, there-
fore, some stratagem for me, that I may see her. Know, then, said she,
that she hath a garden adjacent to her palace, for her diversion, and she
goeth out into it once in every month, from the private door, and remaineth
in it ten days. The time of her thus going forth to divert herself hath
-
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
271
20 now arrived, and when she is about to do so I will come to thee and inform
thee, that thou mayest go thither and meet her; and do thou take care
not to quit the garden: for probably, if she behold thy handsome and comely
aspect, her heart will be captivated by love of thee; since love is the most
powerful means of effecting union.
He replied, I hear and obey: - and he arose, and quitted the shop
with 'Azeez, and they both, taking with them the old woman, repaired to
their abode, and acquainted her with it; after which, Táj-el-Mulook said
to 'Azeez, O my brother, I have no further want of the shop; for I have
accomplished the purpose for which I took it; and I give it to thee, with
all that it containeth, because thou hast come abroad with me, and absented
thyself from thy country. And 'Azeez accepted his present, and they sat
conversing together; Táj-el-Mulook asking him respecting his strange ad-
ventures, and 'Azeez relating what had happened to him. Then, addressing
the Wezeer, they acquainted him with the purpose of Táj-el-Mulook, and
asked him, What is to be done? He answered, Let us go to the garden.
So each of them clad himself in the richest of his apparel and they went
forth, followed by three memlooks, and repaired to the garden. They
beheld it abounding with trees, and with many rivulets, and saw the
superintendent sitting at the gate. They saluted him, therefore, and he re-
turned their salutation, and the Wezeer handed to him a hundred pieces of
CU gold, saying to him, I beg thee to receive this money, and to buy for us
something to eat; for we are strangers, and I have with me these children
whom I wish to divert. So the gardener took the pieces of gold, and re-
plied, Enter, and divert yourselves; for the whole of it is your property:
and sit down until I return to you with something for you to eat.
な
​He then went to the market, and the Wezeer and Táj-el-Mulook and
'Azeez entered the garden after the gardener had departed to the market;
and soon the latter returned, bringing a roasted lamb, which he placed
before them. And they ate, and washed their hands, and sat conversing
together; and the Wezeer said, Inform me respecting this garden: doth it
belong to thee, or dost thou rent it? The sheykh replied, It is not mine,
but belongeth to the King's daughter, the lady Dunyà. And what, said
the Wezeer, is thy monthly salary? He answered, One piece of gold, and
no more. And the Wezeer, taking a view of the garden, beheld there a
lofty but old pavilion; and he said, O sheykh, I desire to perform here a
good work by which thou wilt be reminded of me. And what good thing
dost thou desire to do? asked the sheykh. The Wezeer said, Take these
three hundred pieces of gold. And when the superintendent heard the men-
tion of the gold, he replied, O my master, do whatsoever thou wilt. So
he took the pieces of gold; and the Wezeer said to him, If it be the will
of God (whose name be exalted!), we will execute in this place a good
work.
They then went forth from him, and returned to their abode, and passed
the next night; and on the morrow, the Wezeer caused a whitewasher to be
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
brought, and a painter, and an excellent goldsmith; and, having provided
them with all the implements that they required, introduced them into the
garden, and ordered them to whitewash that pavilion and to decorate it
with various kinds of paintings. After which he gave orders to bring the
gold, and the ultramarine pigment, and said to the painter, Delineate, at the
upper end of this saloon, the figure of a fowler, as though he had set his
snare, and a female pigeon had fallen into it, and had become entangled in
it by her bill. And when the painter had finished his picture on one por-
tion, the Wezeer said to him, Now paint, on this other portion, as before,
and represent the female pigeon in the snare, and shew that the fowler
hath taken her, and put the knife in her neck; and on the other side paint
the figure of a great bird of prey, that hath captured the male pigeon, and
fixed his talons into him. So he did this; and when he had finished these
designs which the Wezeer had described to him, they took leave of the
gardener, and returned to their abode.
There they sat conversing together; and Táj-el-Mulook said to 'Azeez,
O brother, recite to me some verses: perhaps my heart may thereby be
dilated, and these troubling reflections may be dispelled, and the flame
that is in my heart be quenched. And upon this, 'Azeez, with charming
modulations, chanted these verses:
64
Ibn-Seenà hath asserted that the lover's remedy consisteth in melodious sounds,
And the company of one like his beloved, and the pleasures of a dessert and wine and a
garden:
But I have taken another in thy stead to cure myself, and fate and contingency aided
me:
Yet I found that love was a mortal disease, for which Ibn-Seenà's medicine was vain.
-
Meanwhile, the old woman remained alone in her house; and the lady
Dunyà longed to divert herself in the garden; but she used not to go forth
save with the old woman; so she went to her, and conciliated her, and
soothed her mind, and said to her, I desire to go out into the garden, to
amuse myself with the sight of its trees and fruits, and that my heart may
be dilated by its flowers. The old woman replied, I hear and obey; but I
would first go to my house and dress myself, and I will be with thee again.
Go, then, to thy house, rejoined the lady Dunyà; but be not long absent
from me.
The old woman, therefore, went forth from her, and repaired to
Táj-el-Mulook, and said to him, Make ready, and clothe thyself in the
richest of thine apparel, and betake thyself to the garden, and go in to the
gardener and salute him, and then conceal thyself in the garden. He
replied, I hear and obey. And she agreed with him respecting a sign to
be made; after which she returned to the lady Dunyà. And when she had
gone, the Wezeer arose, and clad Táj-el-Mulook in a suit of the most
magnificent of the apparel of Kings, worth five thousand pieces of gold,
and girded him with a girdle of gold set with jewels, and repaired to the
garden.
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
273
On arriving at its gate, they found the superintendent sitting there; and
when he saw Táj-el-Mulook, he rose to him, standing upon his feet, and,
receiving him with reverence and honour, opened to him the gate, and
said to him, Enter, and divert thyself in the garden. But the gardener
knew not that the King's daughter would enter the garden that day. And
when Táj-el-Mulook had gone in, he waited but a short time, and heard
a noise; and before he knew the cause, the eunuchs and female slaves
came forth from the private door; and as soon as the superintendent beheld
them, he went and acquainted Táj-el-Mulook with their coming, saying to
him, O my lord, what is to be done, now that the King's daughter, the
lady Dunyà, hath come? "He answered, No harm will befall thee; for I will
conceal myself in some place in the garden. So the gardener charged him
to use the utmost caution in concealing himself, and left him, and departed.
And when the King's daughter, with her female slaves and the old
woman, entered the garden, the old woman said within herself, If the eunuchs
be with us, we shall not attain our wish. So she said to the King's daughter,
O my mistress, I would propose to thee a thing productive of ease to thy
heart. And the lady Dunyà replied, Propose what thou wilt. The old
woman therefore said, O my mistress, thou hast no need of these eunuchs
at the present time; nor will thy heart be dilated as long as they are with
us: so dismiss them from us. Thou hast spoken truly, replied the lady
Dunyà - and she dismissed them; and a little while after, as she was walk-
ing, Táj-el-Mulook beheld her, and gazed at her beauty and loveliness, while
she knew it not; and every time that he looked at her he fainted, by reason
of her surpassing beauty. The old woman in the meantime led her on by
conversation to the pavilion which the Wezeer had ordered to be painted;
and, entering this pavilion, the lady Dunyà took a view of its paintings,
and saw the birds and the fowler and the pigeons; whereupon she exclaimed,
Extolled be the perfection of God! Verily this is the representation of what
I beheld in my dream! And she continued gazing at the figures of the,
birds and the fowler and the snare, full of wonder; and said, O my nurse, I
used to censure men, and hate them; but see the fowler, how he hath killed
the female bird, and the male hath escaped, and desired to return to the
female to liberate her, but the bird of prey hath met him and captured him.
-
The old woman, however, affected ignorance to her, and proceeded to
divert her with talk until they both approached the place where Táj-el-
Mulook was concealed; upon which she made a sign to him that he should
walk beneath the windows of the pavilion; and while the lady Dunyà stood
there, she looked aside, and saw him, and, observing the beauty of his face,
and his elegant form, she said, O my nurse, whence is this handsome youth?
The old woman answered, I know him not; but I imagine that he is the son
of a great King; for he is of the utmost beauty and loveliness. And the
lady Dunyà was enraptured with him. The spells that bound her were
dissolved, her reason was overcome by his beauty and loveliness and his
elegant person, and she was affected by violent love: so she said to the old
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
woman, O my nurse, verily this young man is handsome. The old woman
replied, Thou hast spoken truth, O my mistress. And she made a sign to
the King's son to return to his house. The fire of desire flamed within him,
and his rapture and distraction became excessive; but he went and bade
farewell to the superintendent, and departed to his abode, that he might not
disobey the old woman, and acquainted the Wezeer and 'Azeez that she had
made a sign to him to depart. And they both exhorted him to be patient,
saying to him, If the old woman did not know that there was an object to
be attained by thy return, she had not made a sign to thee to do so.
Now to return to the lady Dunyà. Desire overcame her, and her
rapture and distraction increased; so she said to the old woman, I know not
how to obtain an interview with this young man but through thy means.
The old woman exclaimed, I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the accursed!
Thou hast no desire for men; and how, then, have fears affected thee in
consequence of the love of him? But, by Allah, none other than he is suited
to thy youth. O my nurse, rejoined the lady Dunyà, assist me to obtain
an interview with him, and thou shalt receive from me a thousand pieces of
gold, and a dress of the same value: if thou assist me not to gain him, I
shall die inevitably. So the old woman replied, Go thou to thy palace, and
I will devise means to bring you together, and give my life to satisfy you
both. The lady Dunyà then returned to her palace, while the old woman
repaired to Táj-el-Mulook; and when he saw her, he rose to her, and stood,
and received her with respect and honour, seating her by his side; and she
said to him, The stratagem hath succeeded. She then related to him what
had occurred between her and the lady Dunyà; and he said to her, When
shall be the interview? She answered, To-morrow. And he gave her a
thousand pieces of gold, and a garment of the same value: and she took
them, and departed, and stopped not until she went in to the lady Dunyà,
who said to her, O my nurse, what news hast thou brought from the beloved?
I have discovered his abode, she answered; and to-morrow I will bring
him to thee. And at this the lady Dunyà rejoiced, and gave her a thousand
pieces of gold, and a garment of the same value; and she took them, and
returned to her house.
65
She passed the next night, and in the morning she went forth and
repaired to Táj-el-Mulook, and, having clad him in women's apparel, said
to him, Walk behind me, and incline thy body from side to side as thou
steppest, and proceed not with a hasty pace, nor take notice of any one
who may speak to thee. And after she had thus charged him, she went
forth, and he behind her in his female attire; and she proceeded to instruct
him, on the way, how to act, that he might not fear. She continued on her
way, he following her, until they arrived at the entrance of the palace, when
she entered, and he also after her and she passed through successive doors
and antechambers until she had conducted him through seven doors. And
when she arrived at the seventh door, she said to Táj-el-Mulook, Fortify thy
heart, and if I call out to thee, and say to thee, O slave-girl, advance! - be
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
275
not tardy in thy pace, but hasten on, and when thou hast entered the ante-
chamber beyond, look to thy left thou wilt see a saloon with seven doors; and
do thou count five doors, and enter the sixth; for within it is the object of
thy desire. And whither goest thou? said Táj-el-Mulook. She answered, I
have no place to go to; but perhaps I may wait after thee and speak with
the chief eunuch.
She then proceeded, and he followed her, until they arrived at the door
where was the chief eunuch; and he saw with her Táj-el-Mulook in the
attire of a female slave, and said to her, What is the business of this slave-
girl who is with thee? She answered him, The lady Dunyà hath heard that
this girl is skilled in different kinds of work, and she desireth to purchase
her. But the eunuch replied, I know neither slave-girl nor any other person;
and no one shall enter without being searched by me, as the King hath
commanded me. Upon this, the old woman, manifesting anger, said to him,
I knew that thou wast a man of sense and of good manners; and if thou
art changed I will acquaint her with this, and inform her that thou hast
offered opposition to her female slave. She then called out to Táj-el-Mulook,
and said to him, Advance, O slave-girl! And immediately he entered the
antechamber, as she had commanded him, and the eunuch was silent, and
said no more. So Táj-el-Mulook counted five doors, and entered the sixth,
and found the lady Dunyà standing expecting him.
As soon as she beheld him, she knew him, and pressed him to her bosom,
and he embraced her in like manner; and the old woman, coming in to them,
contrived a pretext to dismiss the female slaves; after which the lady Dunyà
said to her, Be thou keeper of the door. She then remained alone with
Táj-el-Mulook, and they passed the whole night in innocent dalliance."
And on the following morning she closed the door upon him and the old
woman, and entering another apartment, sat there according to her custom;
and her female slaves came to her, and she transacted their affairs and
conversed with them, and then said to them, Go forth from me now; for I
desire to amuse myself in solitude. So they left her, and she returned to
Táj-el-Mulook and the old woman, taking with her some food for them; and
thus they ceased not to do for a whole month.
As to the Wezeer, however, and 'Azeez, when Táj-el-Mulook had gone to
the palace of the King's daughter and remained all this time, they concluded
that he would never return from it, and that he was inevitably lost; and
'Azeez said to the Wezeer, O my father, what wilt thou do? The Wezeer
answered, O my son, this affair is one of difficulty, and if we return not to
his father to acquaint him, he will blame us for our negligence. So they
prepared themselves immediately, and journeyed towards El-Ard el-Khadrà
and El-'Amoodeyn 67 and the royal residence of the King Suleyman Shah,
and traversed the valleys night and day until they went in and presented
themselves before the King Suleymán Sháh; and they informed him of that
which had happened to his son, and that they had learnt no news of him
since he had entered the palace of the King's daughter. On hearing this, he
276
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
was as though the day of resurrection had surprised him: his sorrow was
intense, and he gave orders to make a proclamation of war throughout his
dominions. He then sent forth his troops outside the city, and caused the
tents to be pitched for them, and remained in his pavilion until the forces
had assembled from all the quarters of his kingdom. His subjects loved him
for his great justice and beneficence, and he departed with an army that
covered the earth as far as the eye could reach, for the purpose of demand-
ing his son Táj-el-Mulook.
In the meantime, Táj-el-Mulook and the lady Dunyà continued together
for half a year, every day increasing in mutual love; and the love and dis-
traction and rapture of Táj-el-Mulook so augmented that he opened to her
his mind, and said to her, Know, O beloved of my heart, that the longer I
remain with thee, the more do my distraction and ecstasy and desire increase;
for I have not altogether attained my wish. So she said, What dost thou
wish, O light of my eye, and delight of my heart? He answered, I desire to
acquaint thee with my true history: know, then, that I am not a merchant,
but a King, son of a King, and the name of my father is the Supreme King
Suleyman Shah, who sent the Wezeer as ambassador to thy father to demand
thee for me in marriage; and when the news came to thee thou refusedst to
consent. He then related to her his story from first to last; and added, I
desire now to repair to my father, that he may send an ambassador again to
thy father, to demand thee in marriage from him, and so we shall remain at
ease. And when she heard this, she rejoiced exceedingly: for it coincided
with her wish; and they passed the next night determined upon this
proceeding.
But it happened, in accordance with destiny that sleep overcame them
unusually that night, and they remained until the sun had risen. The King
Sháh-Zemán was then upon his royal seat, with the emeers of his empire
before him, and the chief of the goldsmiths presented himself, having in his
hand a large round casket: and he advanced, and, opening it before the
King, took forth from it an elegant box worth a hundred thousand pieces
of gold for the jewels it contained, and rubies and emeralds, such as no King
of the earth could procure. And when the King saw it, he wondered at its
beauty; and he looked towards the chief eunuch, to whom the affair with
the old woman had happened (as above described), and said to him, C
Káfoor,68 take this box, and go with it to the lady Dunyà. So the eunuch
took it, and proceeded until he arrived at the chamber of the King's daugh
ter, when he found its door closed, and the old woman sleeping at it
threshold, and he exclaimed, Until this hour are ye sleeping? And when the
old woman heard what he said, she awoke from her sleep, and, in her fea
of him, said, Wait until I bring the key. She then went forth and fled
The eunuch, therefore, knew that she was alarmed, and he displaced th
door, and, entering the chamber, found the lady Dunyà asleep with Táj
el-Mulook.
69
At the sight of this, he was perplexed at his case, and was meditating t
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
277
return to the King, when the lady Dunyà awoke, and found him by her; and
she was troubled, and her countenance became pale, and she said, O Káfoor,
veil what God hath veiled. But he replied, I cannot conceal anything from
the King. And he closed the door upon them, and returned to the King.
So the King said to him, Hast thou given the box to thy mistress? The
eunuch answered, Take the box: here it is. I cannot conceal from thee
anything. Know that I beheld, with the lady Dunyà, a handsome young
man, sleeping in the same chamber. The King therefore ordered that they
should be both brought before him; and when they had come into his pres-
ence, he said to them, What are these deeds? And he was violently enraged,
and, seizing a dagger,70 was about to strike with it Táj-el-Mulook; but the
lady Dunyà threw her head upon him, and said to her father, Slay me before
him. The King, however, chid her, and ordered them to convey her back to
her chamber. Then looking towards Táj-el-Mulook, he said to him, Wo to
thee! Whence art thou, and who is thy father, and what hath emboldened
thee to act thus towards my daughter?- Know, O King, answered Táj-el-
Mulook, that, if thou put me to death, thou wilt perish, and thou and all in
thy dominions will repent. And why so? said the King. He answered,
Know that I am the son of the King Suleymán Sháh, and thou wilt not be
aware of the consequence when he will approach thee with his horsemen and
his infantry.
And when King Sháh-Zemán heard this, he desired to defer putting him
to death; and to imprison him until he should see whether his assertion were
true; but his Wezeer said to him, O King of the age, it is my advice that
thou hasten the execution of this young wretch, since he hath been guilty of
presumption towards the daughters of Kings. So he said to the executioner,
Strike off his head; for he is a traitor. And the executioner took him, and,
having bound him firmly, raised his hand, and made a sign of consultation
to the emeers a first and a second time, desiring by this that some delay
might take place; but the King called out to him, How long wilt thou
consult? If thou do so again I will strike off thy head.
The executioner, therefore, raised his hand until his arm-pit appeared,
and was about to strike off his head, when loud cries were heard, and the
people closed their shops. So the King said to the executioner, Hasten not.
And he sent a person to learn the news for him; and the messenger went,
and, soon returning, said to the King, I beheld an army like the roaring sea
agitated with waves; their horses are prancing, and the earth trembleth
beneath them, and I know not wherefore they are come. And the King was
amazed, and feared lest he should be deposed from his throne. He then
said to his Wezeer, Have none of our troops gone forth to meet this army?
But his words were not finished when his chamberlains came in to him
accompanied by the messengers of the approaching King, and among them
was the Wezeer who had been with Táj-el-Mulook. He commenced by
salutation; and the King rose to him, and, calling them near to him, asked
them respecting the cause of their coming: whereupon the Wezeer advanced
278
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
from among them, and approached the King, and said to him, Know that he
who hath alighted in thy territories is a King not like the Kings who have
preceded him, nor like the Sultáns of former times. And who is he? said
the King. The Wezeer answered, He is the lord of justice and security, the
fame of whose magnanimity the caravans have spread abroad, the Sultán
Suleyman Sháh, the lord of El-Ard el-Khadrà and El-'Amoodeyn and the
mountains of Ispahán, who loveth justice and equity, and hateth tyranny
and oppression; and he saith to thee, that his son is in thy dominions and in
thy city, and he is the vital spirit of his heart, and its delight; and if he
find him in safety, it is what he desireth, and thou wilt be thanked and
praised; but if he be not found in thy country, or if any evil hath befallen
him, receive tidings of destruction and of the ruin of thy territories; for thy
country shall become a desert in which the raven shall croak. Thus I have
delivered to thee the message; and peace be on thee.
When the King Sháh-Zemán heard these words of the envoy, his heart
was troubled, and he feared for his kingdom, and called out to the lords of
his empire, and his wezeers and chamberlains and lieutenants; and when
they had come before him he said to them, Wo unto you! Go down and
search for this young man. But he was under the hand of the executioner,
and his appearance was changed through the fear that he suffered. The
Wezeer then, looking aside, found the King's son upon the skin of blood,71
and he recognized him, and arose, and threw himself upon him. So also did
the other messengers: they then unbound him, and kissed his hands and his
feet; whereupon Táj-el-Mulook opened his eyes, and, recognizing the Wezeer
and his companion 'Azeez, fell down in a swoon through the excess of his
joy at their presence.
The King Sháh-Zemán was perplexed at his situation, and in great fear,
on discovering that the coming of the army was on account of this young
man; and he arose and walked forward to Táj-el-Mulook, and kissed his
head, and, with weeping eyes, said to him, O my son, be not angry with me:
be not angry with the evil-doer for his deed; but have compassion on my
gray hairs, and lay not waste my dominions. And Táj-el-Mulook approached
him, and kissed his hand, saying to him, No harm shall befall thee; for thou
art in my estimation as my father; but beware that no evil befall my
beloved, the lady Dunyà. — O my lord, rejoined the King, fear not for her;
for nought but happiness awaiteth her. And he proceeded to excuse himself
to him, and to soothe the mind of the Wezeer of the King Suleymán Sháh,
promising him a large sum of money that he might conceal from the King
what he had seen, after which he ordered the grandees of his empire to take
Táj-el-Mulook and to conduct him to the bath, to clothe him in a suit of
the best of royal apparel, and bring him back quickly. So they did this:
they conducted him into the bath, and, having clad him in the suit which
the King Shah-Zemán had allotted him, brought him back to the hall of
audience; and when he came in, the King rose to him, he and all the lords.
of his empire, and they all stood to wait upon him. Then Táj-el-Mulook
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
279
sat and conversed with his father's Wezeer and with 'Azeez respecting the
events which had happened to him; and they replied, During that period
we went to thy father, and informed him that thou hadst entered the palace
of the King's daughter, and not come forth from it, and that thy case
appeared doubtful to us; and when he heard this, he made ready the troops,
and we came to this country, and on our arrival have experienced joy and
happiness. So he said to them, Good fortune hath attended your actions,
first and last.
The King, in the meantime, had gone in to his daughter, the lady Dunyà,
and found her weeping for Táj-el-Mulook. She had taken a sword, and
put its hilt to the floor, and its point to the middle of her bosom, and was
leaning over it, saying, I must kill myself, and not live after my beloved.
When her father, therefore, went in to her, and beheld her in this state, he
called out to her, and said, O mistress of the daughters of Kings, do it not;
but have mercy upon thy father and the people of thy country! Then
advancing to her, he said to her, I conjure thee to abstain, lest evil befall
thy father on thy account. And he acquainted her with the case, telling her
that her beloved, the son of the King Suleymán Sháh, desired to celebrate
his marriage with her, and adding, The affair of the betrothal and marriage
is committed to thy judgment. And she smiled, and said to him, Did I not
tell thee that he was the son of a Sultán? I will make him crucify thee
upon a piece of wood worth a couple of pieces of silver. I conjure thee
by Allah, he exclaimed, that thou have mercy upon thy father! Go to him,
she rejoined, and bring him to me. He replied On the head and the eye.
And he returned from her quickly, and, going in to Táj-el-Mulook, rejoiced
him by what he said.
--
-
He then arose with him, and went to her again; and when she beheld
Táj-el-Mulook, she embraced him in the presence of her father, and clung to
him, and said to him, Thou hast made me desolate by thine absence. Then
looking at her father, she said, Can any one act injuriously towards such a
person as this handsome youth, and he a King, a son of a King? And upon
this the King Sháh-Zemán went forth, and closed the door upon them, and,
repairing to the Wezeer and the other messengers of the father of Táj-el-
Mulook, ordered them to inform the Sultán Suleymán-Sháh that his son was
in prosperity and health, and enjoying a life of the utmost delight. He gave
orders also to carry forth provisions and pay to the troops of the Sultán
Suleymán-Sháh; and after they had conveyed all that he commanded them
to take forth, he brought out a hundred coursers, and a hundred dromedaries,
and a hundred memlooks, and a hundred concubine slaves, and a hundred
male black slaves, and a hundred female slaves, and sent them all to him as
a present.
He then repaired to him, with the lords of his empire, and his chief
attendants, and they proceeded until they arrived outside the city; and when
the Sultán Suleymán Sháh became acquainted with this he advanced some
paces to meet him. The Wezeer and 'Azeez had informed him of the news,
280
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and he rejoiced, and exclaimed, Praise be to God who hath granted my son
the accomplishment of his wish! And he embraced the King Sháh-Zemán,
and seated him by his side upon the couch, and they conversed together;
after which the attendants placed before them the food, and when they had
eaten to satisfaction they brought them the sweetmeats. Soon after, Táj-el-
Mulook came, approaching in his rich and ornamented dress; and when his
father beheld him, he rose to him and kissed him, and all who were present
rose to him; and after he had sat with them a while conversing, the King
Suleymán Sháh said, I desire to perform my son's contract of marriage to
thy daughter in the presence of witnesses. And King Sháh-Zemán replied, I
hear and obey. So he summoned the Kádee and witnesses, and they came,
and wrote the marriage-contract; and the troops rejoiced at this. And King
Sháh-Zemán began to fit out his daughter.
Then Táj-el-Mulook said to his father, Verily, 'Azeez is a generous
person; he hath performed for me a great service, and wearied himself, and
journeyed with me, and enabled me to attain the object of my search, ceasing
not to exhort me to patience until I accomplished my wish, and he hath been
with us two years separated from his country: it is my desire, therefore, that
we should prepare for him merchandise; for his country is near. His father
replied, Thy opinion is excellent. So they prepared for him a hundred loads
of the most costly stuffs; and Táj-el-Mulook bade him farewell, saying to
him, O my brother, accept this as a present. And he accepted it, and
kissed the ground before him and before his father. Táj-el-Mulook then
mounted his horse, and proceeded with 'Azeez for the space of three miles;
after which, 'Azeez conjured him to return, and said, Were it not for my
mother, I could not endure thy separation; and by Allah, I entreat thee not
to cease acquainting me with thy state. Having thus said, he bade him
farewell, and repaired to his city. He found that his mother had built for
him a tomb in the midst of the house, and she frequently visited it; and when
he entered the house, he found that she had dishevelled her hair and spread
it upon the tomb, and, with streaming eyes, was reciting these verses:-
By Allah, O tomb, have his charms perished; and hath that brilliant countenance changed?
O tomb, thou art neither a garden nor a firmament: how then can the full moon and
flowers be united in thee?
She then groaned, and recited some other verses; but before she had finished,
'Azeez went in to her: and when she beheld him, she rose to him and
embraced him, and asked him respecting his long absence: so he acquainted
her with all the events that had happened to him from first to last, and told
her that Táj-el-Mulook had given him, of wealth and stuffs, a hundred
loads; and she rejoiced at this. Such was the history of 'Azeez.
-
Now as to Táj-el-Mulook, he returned to his beloved, the lady Dunyà,
and King Shah-Zemán fitted her out for the journey with her husband and
her father-in-law: he sent to them provisions and presents and rarities, and
TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ
281
they loaded their beasts and departed; and King Sháh-Zemán accompanied
them three days' journey to bid them farewell. The King Suleyman Sháh
then conjured him to return: so he returned, and Táj-el-Mulook and his
father and his wife continued their journey night and day until they came in
sight of their country. The city was decorated for them, and they entered
it; and the King Suleymán Sháh sat upon his throne with his son Táj-el-
Mulook by his side; and he gave presents, and liberated the persons confined
in the prisons; after which he celebrated for his son a second wedding-
festivity: the songs and instrumental music were continued for a whole
month, and the tire-women crowded around the lady Dunyà, and she was
not tired with the display, nor were they with gazing at her. Táj-el-Mulook
then took up his abode with her, after an interview with his father and mother
together; and they passed a life of the utmost delight and enjoyment.
IX 1
'ALEE THE SON OF BEKKÁR, AND SHEMS-EN-NAHAR, THE
SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
THE
HERE was, in ancient times, in the reign of the Khaleefeh Hároon
Er-Rasheed, a merchant who had a son named Abu-l-Hasan 'Alee the
son of Táhir, possessing abundant property, of handsome person, beloved by
every one who beheld him; and he used to enter the palace of the Khaleefeh
without permission; and all the concubines of the Khaleefeh, and his other
female slaves, loved him; and he used to keep company with the King, and
recite verses to him, and relate to him strange anecdotes. But still he sold
and bought in the market of the merchants; and there used to sit at his shop
a young man of the sons of the Kings of the Persians, called 'Alee the son
of Bekkár.¹
3
This young man was of handsome stature, of elegant shape, of perfect
figure, with rosy cheeks, with joined eyebrows, sweet in speech, with laugh-
ing mouth, a lover of merriment and gaiety. And it happened that they
were both sitting talking together and laughing, when, lo, there came ten.
female slaves, like moons, and each of them was endowed with beauty and
loveliness, and justness of stature; and among them was a damsel riding
upon a mule with an embroidered saddle, the stirrups of which were of gold,
and she was covered with an izár of delicate fabric, and round her waist was
a girdle of gold-embroidered silk: and when they arrived at the shop of
Abu-l-Hasan, she alighted, and, seating herself at his shop, saluted him, and
he returned her salutation. And when 'Alee the son of Bekkár beheld her,
his reason was captivated, and he desired to rise; but she said to him, Sit
in thy place. Wherefore wouldst thou depart on our arrival? This is not
just conduct. So he replied, By Allah, O my mistress, I flee from that
which I have beheld. And how excellent is the saying of the poet:-
She is the sun: her place is in heaven: comfort then the heart with a becoming patience:
For thou art not able to ascend unto her; nor is she able to descend unto thee.
And when she heard this reply, she smiled, and said to Abu-l-Hasan, What
is the name of this young man, and whence is he? He answered her, He is
a stranger: his name is 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and he is son of the King
of the Persians; and the stranger should be honoured. And thereupon she
said to him, When my slave-girl cometh to thee, do thou bring him to me.
To which Abu-l-Hasan replied, On the head. She then rose, and went her
way.
282
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
283
Now as to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, he became in such a state, that he knew
not what to say; and after a while, the slave-girl came to Abu-l-Hasan, and
said to him, My mistress summoneth thee, together with thy companion. So
Abu-l-Hasan rose, and taking with him 'Alee the son of Bekkár, they both
went to the palace of Hároon Er-Rasheed, and she introduced them into a
private chamber, and seated them; and the tables were placed before them,
and they ate, and washed their hands. She then brought to them the wine,
and they made themselves merry with it; after which, she desired them to
rise. They therefore rose and went with her, and she conducted them into
another private chamber, raised upon four columns, decked with a variety of
furniture, and decorated in the most beautiful manner, as though it were one
of the palaces of Paradise, so that they were astonished at the rarities which
they beheld.
And while they were amusing themselves with the sight of these extraor-
dinary objects, lo, ten female slaves approached with a graceful and conceited
gait, resembling moons, dazzling the sight, and confounding the imagination.
They stood in ranks, looking like the black-eyed damsels of Paradise; and
after them came ten other female slaves, with lutes in their hands, and other
instruments of diversion and mirth; and they saluted the two guests and
played upon the lutes, and sang verses; and every one of them was a
temptation to the servants of God. After these, came ten more female slaves,
like them, high-bosomed, and of equal age, with black eyes, and red cheeks,
with joined eyebrows, and languishing looks, a temptation to God's servants,
and a delight to beholders; and they were clad in various kinds of coloured
silks, such as astonished the mind. They stationed themselves at the door;
and after them came ten female slaves more beautiful than they, attired in
magnificent apparel; and these, also, stationed themselves at the door.
At last there came forth from the door twenty female slaves, and among
them was one named Shems-en-Nahár, like the moon among the stars. She
was encircled by the exuberant locks of her hair, disposed like necklaces
upon her; and wore blue trousers, and an izár of silk embroidered with gold,
and round her waist was a girdle adorned with a variety of jewels. She
continued advancing with a dignified gait until she seated herself upon the
couch; and when 'Alee the son of Bekkár beheld her, he recited these
verses:-
Verily this is she who is the source of my malady, and of the protraction of my transport,
and prolonging of my passion!
In her presence I find that my soul hath melted, through my eagerness for her and the
wasting of my bones.
He then said to Abu-l-Hasan, Hadst thou acted well towards me, thou hadst
informed me of these things before I came in hither, in order that I might
have applied my mind to consider the case, and fortified it by patience to
endure the affliction that hath befallen it. And he wept and groaned and
lamented. So Abu-l-Hasan said to him, O my brother, I desired nothing for
284
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thee but good; but I feared to acquaint thee with this, lest such transport
should affect thee as would prevent thy meeting her, and would interpose
an obstacle between thee and thy union with her. Be cheerful, then, and
happy; for she offereth thee good fortune, and receiveth thee with favour. —
And 'Alee the son of Bekkár said, What is the name of this damsel? Abu-l-
Hasan answered, She is named Shems-en-Nahár, and is one of the concubines
of the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, and this place is the
palace of the Khaleefeh.
Then Shems-en-Nahár sat contemplating the charms of 'Alee the son of
Bekkár, and he gazed at her beauty, and they were engrossed with mutual
love; and she ordered the female slaves to seat themselves, each of them in
her proper place, upon a couch: so each sat before a window; and she com-
manded them to sing; whereupon one of them took her lute, and sang thus:-
Repeat the message a second time, and receive the answer aloud.
Unto thee, O Prince of the comely, I stand to complain of my case!
O my master! O dear as my heart, and precious to me as my life!
Bestow upon me a kiss, as a gift, or else as a loan.
I will pay it thee back (may thy life be prolonged!) exactly as I took it;
And if thou desire an addition, receive it, and be content.
O thou who clothest me with the garment of sickness, may the garment of health delight
thee!
And 'Alee the son of Bekkár was charmed, and said to her, Sing to me some
more verses of the same kind. She therefore touched the strings, and sang
these lines:-
By excessive distance, O my beloved, thou hast caused mine eyelids long to weep.
O delight of mine eye, and its desire, and goal of my utmost wishes and my worship!
Have pity upon him whose eye is drowned in the tears of the distracted and sorrowful
lover!
Shems-en-Nahár then ordered another slave-girl to sing; and after her,
another: and 'Alee the son of Bekkár next desired one who was near him to
do the same; and when she had finished her song, he sighed, and shed
abundant tears; and Shems-en-Nahár, seeing him weeping and groaning and
lamenting, burned with transport and passion, and was consumed by excessive
love and distraction. So she rose from the couch, and advanced to the door
of the chamber; and 'Alee the son of Bekkár rose also, and met her; and
they embraced each other, and fell down fainting at the door. The female
slaves therefore came to them, and, lifting them up, brought them back into
the chamber, and sprinkled upon them some rose-water; and when they
recovered, they found not Abu-l-Hasan; for he had hidden himself by the
side of a couch: and the damsel said, Where is Abu-l-Hasan?
So he came
forth to her from the side of the couch; and she saluted him, and said, I
beg of God that He will enable me to recompense thee, O thou of kind
conduct! Then addressing 'Alee the son of Bekkár, she said, O my master,
thy love hath not become extreme without my experiencing the like; and
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
285
we have no resource but to bear with patience that which hath befallen us.
By Allah, O my mistress, replied 'Alee the son of Bekkár, my union with
thee will not content me, nor will the flame that I feel for thee be
extinguished, nor the love for thee that hath taken possession of my heart
quit me, until my soul departeth! Having said this, he wept, and his tears
descended upon his cheek like rain; and when Shems-en-Nahár beheld him
thus weeping, she wept with him, whereupon Abu-l-Hasan said, By Allah,
I am in wonder at your case, and am perplexed by your condition; for your
state is wonderful, and your case is extraordinary! If ye weep thus when
ye are together, how will it be after ye are separated! This is not a time
for lamentation and weeping, but a time for joy and gladness.
So Shems-en-Nahár made a sign to a female slave, who arose and returned
with some maids carrying a table, the dishes of which were of silver, contain-
ing a variety of viands. The slave-girl then placed the table before them;
and Shems-en-Nahár began to eat, and to feed 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
until they were satisfied, when the table was removed, and they washed their
hands, and the perfuming-vessels were brought with various kinds of aloes-
wood, and the sprinkling-bottles with rose-water, and they were perfumed
and scented; after which, vessels of graven gold were presented to them,
containing varieties of drinks, and fresh and dried fruits, such as the
appetite desired, and such as delighted the eyes; and next, a slave-girl
brought them a basin of carnelion full of wine. Shems-en-Nahár then chose
ten maids, whom she stationed by them, and ten female slaves from among
the singing-girls, and, having dismissed all the rest of the slave-girls to their
apartments, ordered some of those who remained present to play upon the
lute; and they did as she commanded them. One of them sang; and when
she had finished her song, Shems-en-Nahár filled a cup, and drank it, and
then filled it again and gave it to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and ordered
another slave-girl to sing; after which, 'Alee the son of Bekkár drank his
cup, and returned it to Shems-en-Nahár, who filled it, and handed it to
Abu-l-Hasan. She then took a lute, and said, No one shall sing over my
cup but myself: - and, having tightened the strings, she sang these verses:--
The tears fall confusedly upon his cheeks, through transport; the fire of love flaming
in his breast.
He weepeth when united, fearing their separation; his tears flowing when they are near,
and when distant.
She then sang the following words of the poet:-
Our life be thy ransom, O cup-bearer, whom beauty hath clad from the bright parting
of thy hair unto thy feet!"
The sun beameth from thy hands, and from thy mouth shine the Pleiades, and the full
moon riseth from the upper border of thy vest.
Verily thy cups which have rendered us intoxicated are those which are distributed around
by thine eyes.
Is it not wonderful that thou art a full moon, when waning is experienced not by thee,
but by thy lovers?
286
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Art thou a deity, that thou killest and reanimatest, by receiving whom thou wilt, and
withdrawing from others?
From the model of thy form hath God originated beauty, and the fragrance of the
zephyr from thy disposition.
Thou art not of this order of created beings; but thou art an angel sent by thy Maker.
9
When 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and Abu-l-Hasan, and the rest of those
who were present, heard these verses sung by Shems-en-Nahár, they almost
flew with delight, and they sported and laughed; but while they were thus
enjoying themselves, lo, a female slave came, trembling with fear, and said,
O my mistress, the Prince of the Faithful hath come, and he is at the door
with 'Afeef and Mesroor and others. And when they heard her words, they
nearly died with fright; but Shems-en-Nahár laughed, and said, Fear not.
And she said to the female slave, Return them an answer while we remove
from this place. She then gave orders to shut the doors of the apartment,
and to let down the curtains over them, while they remained in it, and she
closed the door of the adjoining saloon, and then went forth into the garden,
and, seating herself upon her couch, ordered a slave-girl to rub her feet,¹º
commanding the rest of the female slaves to go to their apartments, and
desiring the girl who remained with her to leave the gate open, that the
Khaleefeh might enter. And Mesroor came in, and those who were with
him, twenty in number, with swords in their hands; and they saluted Shems-
en-Nahár, and she said to them, Wherefore have ye come? They answered,
The Prince of the Faithful saluteth thee: he hath become cheerless through
desire of seeing thee, and informeth thee that he hath experienced this day
unusual joy and happiness, and wisheth now to complete it by thy presence.
Wilt thou, then, come to him, or shall he come to thee?
- And she rose,
and, kissing the ground, replied, I hear and obey the commands of the Prince
of the Faithful.
-
She then gave orders to bring her chief female attendants and the other
slaves, and they came in, and she intimated to them that she was going to
comply with the commands of the Khaleefeh. The place was completely
prepared; but she said to the eunuchs, Go to the Prince of the Faithful, and
inform him that I shall soon be waiting for him, when I shall have prepared
the place for him with the carpets and other things. So the eunuchs repaired
quickly to the Prince of the Faithful, and Shems-en-Nahár arose and went
to her beloved 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and pressed him to her bosom, and
took leave of him. And he wept violently, and said, O my mistress, prolong
to me this leave-taking: perhaps it may help to hasten the termination of my
life through my love of thee: but I beg of God that He will bestow upon me
patience to endure the passion with which He hath afflicted me. By Allah,
replied Shems-en-Nahár, none will fall into a state of dissolution but myself;
for thou wilt go forth into the market-street, and will enjoy the company of
such as will amuse thee, and thou wilt be preserved from danger, and thy
passion will be kept concealed. But as to me, I shall fall into trouble,
especially since I have made an appointment with the Khaleefeh; for
-
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
287
probably great danger will await me in consequence, on account of my desire
and love and passion for thee, and my grief at having parted with thee.
With what tongue shall I sing, and with what heart shall I present myself
before the Khaleefeh, and with what language shall I converse with the
Prince of the Faithful, and with what look shall I behold a place where
thou art not, and how shall I be in an assembly in which thou art not
included, and with what taste shall I drink wine of which thou art not
present to partake? - Abu-l-Hasan said to her, Be not perplexed; but be
patient; and be not remiss in conversing with the Prince of the Faithful this
night, nor shew him any neglect.
And while they were thus talking, a slave-girl came, and said, O my
mistress, the pages of the Prince of the Faithful are come. Whereupon she
arose, and said to the slave-girl, Take Abu-l-Hasan and his companion and
conduct them to the upper projecting window that overlooketh the garden,
and leave them there till it is dark: then contrive means of leading them
forth. So the slave-girl took them, and ascended with them to the projecting
window, and, having closed the door upon them, went her way; and they
remained looking into the garden. And lo, the Khaleefeh arrived, preceded
by about a hundred eunuchs with swords in their hands, and around him
were twenty female slaves, like moons, clad in the richest apparel, and each
having upon her head a crown set with rubies and other jewels, and in her
hand a lighted candle. The Khaleefeh walked in the midst of them, while
they surrounded him on every side, and Mesroor and 'Afeef and Waseef ¹¹
preceded him; and he advanced among them with a graceful carriage.¹2
Shems-en-Nahár and all the female slaves who were with her rose to him,
and met him at the gate of the garden, and, having kissed the ground before
him, preceded him until he seated himself upon the couch, when all the
female slaves and the eunuchs who were in the garden stationed themselves
around him, and the candles were lighted, and the instruments of music were
played upon until he commanded his attendants to disperse, and to seat
themselves upon the couches; whereupon Shems-en-Nahár took her seat upon
a couch by the side of that of the Khaleefeh, and began to converse with him.
All this time, Abu-l-Hasan and 'Alee the son of Bekkár were looking on
and hearing; the Khaleefeh not seeing them. The Khaleefeh then began
to toy with Shems-en-Nahár, and gave orders to open the apartment where
she had been sitting; and they opened its door and its windows, and lighted
the candles, so that the place, in the hour of darkness, shone like the day;
after which, the eunuchs removed thither the drinking-vessels. At the sight
of these things, Abu-l-Hasan exclaimed, Verily, I have never beheld the like
of these vessels and beverages and rarities, nor have I ever heard of anything
to be compared with these varieties of jewels! It seemeth to me as though I
were dreaming! My reason is confounded, and my heart palpitateth! — But
as to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, after Shems-en-Nahár had quitted him, he
remained a while stretched upon the floor, through the violence of his passion;
and when he recovered, he began to gaze at this unparalleled scene, and said
-
288
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to Abu-l-Hasan, O my brother, I fear that the Khaleefeh will see us, or
become acquainted with our case; and my fear is chiefly on thine account;
for as to myself, I know that I am of the number of those who are about
to perish; and the cause of my death is nothing else than my love and desire,
and the excess of my transport and distraction; and I beg deliverance of God
from the affliction that I suffer.
'Alee the son of Bekkár, and Abu-l-Hasan, continued gazing from the
projecting window at the Khaleefeh and the scene around him until the feast
was entirely prepared before him, when the Khaleefeh looked towards one of
the female slaves, and said, Let us hear, O Gharám,13 some of thy delightful
singing: whereupon, with charming modulations, she sang these verses: -
The transport of a Bedaweeyeh" whose family are parted from her, and who yearneth
towards the willow of the Hejáz, and its laurel,15
Whose ardour and tears at beholding a company of travellers are as the fire and the
water for their entertainment,
Is not greater than the transport that I feel for my beloved, who regardeth me as guilty
of an offence in loving him.
And when Shems-en-Nahár heard this song, she fell down in a swoon from
the couch upon which she was sitting, and became unconscious. The female
slaves, therefore, arose and lifted her up. And as soon as 'Alee the son of
Bekkár beheld her from the window, he also fell down in a fit; and Abu-l-
Hasan exclaimed, Verily, fate hath divided desire between you with equality!
But while they were conversing, lo, the slave-girl who had brought them up
to the window came to them, and said, O Abu-l-Hasan, arise, thou and thy
companion, and descend; for the world hath become narrow unto us, and I
fear that our affair will be exposed: arise, therefore, immediately, or we die.
Abu-l-Hasan replied, How shall this young man arise with me? He hath
not strength to raise himself. So the slave-girl sprinkled rose-water upon
his face until he recovered, and Abu-l-Hasan and the slave-girl lifted him up,
and carried him down from the window, and proceeded a little way, when the
slave-girl opened a small door of iron, and placed Abu-l-Hasan and 'Alee the
son of Bekkár upon a mastabah outside. She then clapped her hands,16 and
there came a boat with a rower in it, and she led them on board of it, and
said to the boatman, Land them on the opposite bank. And when they had
embarked, and quitted the garden, 'Alee the son of Bekkár looked back
towards the apartment and the garden, and bade them farewell in the words
of these verses:
I stretch forth a feeble hand to take leave, with the other upon my burning bosom, be-
neath my heart.
O let not this be the end of our union; nor let this be the last refreshment that I enjoy!
The slave-girl then said to the boatman, Make haste with them. So he plied
his oars to make all haste, and, accompanied by the slave-girl, they crossed
over to the opposite bank, when she departed, taking leave of them, as they
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
289
landed, and saying to them, It had been my desire not to part from you;
but I cannot proceed further than this spot. And she returned.
'Alee the son of Bekkár lay prostrate before Abu-l-Hasan, unable to rise;
so Abu-l-Hasan said to him, This is not a place of safety, and we are here
in fear for our lives, on account of the robbers and the sons of wickedness.
And upon this, 'Alee the son of Bekkár rose, and advanced a little way; but
he was unable to walk on. Now Abu-l-Hasan had friends in that quarter;
and he repaired to one of them in whom he confided, and knocked at his
door; upon which the man came forth to him quickly; and when he beheld
him and his companion, he welcomed them, and conducted them into his
house, and, having seated them, conversed with them, and asked them where
they had been. Abu-l-Hasan answered, We came forth this evening, obliged
to do so by a man with whom I had some pecuniary transactions, it having
been told me that he was about to set forth on a journey with my property.
So I went out this night and repaired to him, taking, to cheer me, this my
companion, 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and we came hoping to see him; but
he hid himself from us, and we saw him not. We therefore returned with
nothing, and, finding it difficult to get back this night, and seeing no other
lodging for us but thine abode, we came unto thee, depending on thy usual
kindness. The man of the house then welcomed them again, and studied
to shew them honour; so they remained with him during the rest of the
night; and when the morning came, they went forth from him, and pro-
ceeded until they arrived at the city, and entered it; and as they passed by
the house of Abu-l-Hasan, he conjured his companion 'Alee the son of Bekkár
to enter, and took him in. They then laid themselves down on beds for a
little while, after which they awoke; and Abu-l-Hasan ordered his servants
to furnish the house handsomely; and they did so; Abu-l-Hasan saying
within himself, I must cheer this young man, and divert him from his present
thoughts; for I know his case.
And when 'Alee the son of Bekkár recovered, he called for water, and
they brought it him, and he arose and performed the ablution, and recited
the divinely-ordained prayers which he had omitted during the preceding
day and night, and began to console himself by conversation. When Abu-l-
Hasan, therefore, saw him do thus, he approached him and said, O my master
'Alee, it will be most suitable to thy present case that thou remain with me
this next night, in order that thy heart may become dilated, and the anguish
of desire that thou sufferest be dispelled, and that thou mayest beguile the
time with us. He replied, Do what seemeth fit unto thee; for at all events I
cannot escape from that which hath befallen me; so do as thou wilt. And
Abu-l-Hasan arose and summoned his servants and brought his friends, and
sent to the singers and instrumental performers, who came; and they
remained eating and drinking and making merry during the rest of the day,
until the evening, when they lighted the candles, and the wine-cups circulated
among them, and the time passed with them pleasantly. Then a female
singer took a lute, and thus sang: -
290
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I have been shot at by fortune with the arrow of an eye, which hath struck me down,
and I have parted from the beloved.
Fortune hath been hostile to me, and my patience hath failed; but I expected before that
this would come to pass.
And when 'Alee the son of Bekkár heard these words, he fell down in a fit,
and he remained in it until daybreak; and Abu-l-Hasan despaired of him;
but when daylight came, he recovered, and desired to return to his house.
Abu-l-Hasan could not prevent him, fearing what might be the result of his
case; and his servants brought him a mule, and mounted him upon it, and
Abu-l-Hasan accompanied him until he took him into his house; and when
he was safe there, Abu-l-Hasan praised God for his escape from this calamity,
and began to console him; but he had no power over himself, through the
violence of his passion. Abu-l-Hasan then bade him farewell; and 'Alee the
son of Bekkár said to him, O my brother, cease not to impart to me what-
ever information thou mayest have to give. He replied, I hear and obey.
So Abu-l-Hasan arose and departed from him to his shop, and opened it,
and sat expecting some tidings from the damsel; but no one brought him any
news. He passed the next night in his house, and when the morning came,
he arose and proceeded to the house of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and, going
in to him, found him laid upon his bed, with his friends around him, and the
physicians with him, each of them prescribing for him something, and feeling
his pulse. And when Abu-l-Hasan entered, and beheld him, he smiled; and
Abu-l-Hasan saluted him, and inquired respecting his state; after which, he
sat by him until all the rest of the people had gone forth, when he said to
him, What is this state in which I find thee? 'Alee the son of Bekkár
answered It hath been spread about that I am sick, and my friends have
heard this report, and I have no strength to rise and walk that I might give
the lie unto him who asserteth me to be ill; so I remain prostrated here as
thou seest me, and my friends have come to visit me; but, O my brother,
hast thou seen the slave-girl, or heard any news from her? Abu-l-Hasan
replied, She hath not come to me since she parted from us on the bank of the
Tigris: and he added, O my brother, beware of disgrace, and abstain
from this weeping. But 'Alee the son of Bekkár said, O my brother, I have
no control over myself: - and he sighed, and recited some verses, and added,
I am afflicted by a calamity from which I was lately exempt, and can hope
for no greater ease than death. Abu-l-Hasan said, Perhaps God will restore
thee.
And he went down from him, and repaired to his shop, and opened it;
and he had not long sat there when the slave-girl came, and saluted him;
and he returned her salutation, and, looking at her, observed that her heart
was throbbing, and that she bore an aspect of sadness. He said to her, Thou
art welcome? How is Shems-en-Nahár? She answered, I will presently
acquaint thee with her case: - and asked, How is 'Alee the son of Bekkár?
Abu-l-Hasan, therefore, informed her of everything that he had experienced;
and she lamented and sighed, and wondered at his case. She then said, The
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
291
state of my mistress is more wonderful than that; for when ye went away, I
returned with my heart throbbing on your account, scarcely believing in your
escape; and on my return, I found my mistress lying prostrate in the
chamber, speaking not nor answering any one.
The Prince of the Faithful was sitting at her head, finding no one to
acquaint him with her case, and not knowing what she suffered; and she
continued in her fit until midnight, when she recovered, and the Prince of
the Faithful said to her, What hath befallen thee, O Shems-en-Nahár, and
what hath happened to thee this night? And when she heard the words of
the Khaleefeh, she kissed his feet, and answered him, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, may God make me to be thy ransom! A derangement of the stomach
hath given me a head-ache, and excited a heat in my body, so I fell down in
a fit from the violence of my suffering, and I know not what happened to me
afterwards. The Khaleefeh, therefore, asked her, What hast thou taken
this day? And she answered, I breakfasted upon a dish that I had never
eaten before. She then feigned that she had recovered strength, and called
for some wine, and, having drunk it, begged the Prince of the Faithful to
return to his diversion. So he resumed his seat in the chamber; and when I
came to her, she asked me respecting thee and thy companion, and I
informed her what I had done with you, and acquainted her with the verses
which 'Alee the son of Bekkár had recited: whereupon she was silent. The
Khaleefeh then sat, and ordered the same female slave to sing; and she sang
these two verses:
There hath been to me no pleasure in my life since your departure; and would that I
knew your state since you left me!
It were fit that my tears should be of blood, when ye are weeping on account of my
absence.
And when Shems-en-Nahár heard these words, she fell down again in a
swoon: and I laid hold of her hand, and sprinkled some rose-water upon her
face, and she recovered; upon which I said to her, O my mistress, expose not
thyself and those whom thy palace containeth! By the existence of thy
beloved I conjure thee to have patience! But she replied, Can anything
worse than death befall me? I desire it; for it will bring me ease. - And
while we were thus conversing, a slave-girl sang these words of the poet:
They said, Perhaps patience may be followed by ease. But I replied, How is patience to
be found since his departure?
For he made a settled compact with me, to cut the cords of patience, at the time of his
embracing me.
And as soon as she had finished, Shems-en-Nahár again fell down in a fit.
The Khaleefeh saw her, and, coming to her quickly gave orders to remove
the wine, and commanded each of the female slaves to return to her apart-
ment. He then sat with her during the remainder of the night, until the
morning, when he summoned the physicians, and desired them to employ
292
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
means for her restoration, not knowing that she was suffering from love and
desire. I remained with her till I thought her recovered, and this it was
which prevented my coming unto you before. I left with her a number of
her special attendants, when she ordered me to repair to you that I might
obtain news of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and return to her. And when
Abu-l-Hasan heard her words, he wondered, and said to her, By Allah, I
have acquainted thee with his whole case. Return, therefore, to thy mistress,
and salute her, and exhort her to have patience, and say to her, Conceal thy
secret: and tell her that I am acquainted with her case, and know it to
be one of difficulty, requiring prudent management. And the slave-girl
thanked him, and bade him farewell, and returned to her mistress.
___
Abu-l-Hasan then remained in his shop until the close of the day; and
when the day had passed, he arose, and locked up his shop, and went to
the house of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and knocked at the door; upon which
there came forth to him one of his servants, who conducted him within.
And when he went in to his friend, the latter smiled, and drew a good omen
from his coming, and said to him, O Abu-l-Hasan, thou hast made me
desolate by thy remaining away from me this day, and my soul is attached
to thee for the rest of my life. Abstain from these words, replied Abu-l-
Hasan; for, if it were possible to ransom thee, I would give my life as thy
ransom. This day the slave-girl of Shems-en-Nahár came, and informed me
that she had been prevented from coming before only by the Khaleefeh's
sitting with her mistress, and acquainted me with what had happened to
her mistress. - And he related to him all that he had heard from the slave-
girl; whereupon 'Alee the son of Bekkár lamented violently, and wept, and
then, looking towards Abu-l-Hasan, said to him, By Allah, I conjure thee
to assist me in my affliction, and tell me what plan is to be pursued; and I
beg of thy goodness that thou wilt pass the night here with me, in order that
I may be cheered by thy conversation. So Abu-l-Hasan complied with his
desire, replying that he would stay with him that night; and they passed the
night conversing together, till 'Alee the son of Bekkár, after weeping, and
shedding copious tears, recited some verses, and uttered a great cry, and
fell down in a swoon. Abu-l-Hasan thought that his soul had quitted his
body: and he remained in his fit until daylight came, when he recovered,
and conversed again with Abu-l-Hasan; and Abu-l-Hasan continued sitting
with him till near the mid-time between sunrise and noon.
He then departed from him, and repaired to his shop, and opened it; and
lo, the slave-girl came and stood before him; and when he looked towards
her, she made a sign of salutation to him, and he returned her greeting, and
she delivered to him the salutation of her mistress, and said to him, How is
'Alee the son of Bekkár?-O slave-girl, he replied, ask not respecting his
state, and the violence of desire that he suffereth; for he sleepeth not by
night, nor findeth rest by day; watching hath emaciated him, and anguish
hath overcome him, and he is in a condition by no means pleasing to a friend.
She then said to him, My mistress saluteth thee and him, and hath written
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
293
to him a letter, and she is in a state more afflicting than his; she hath in-
trusted to me the letter, and said, Return not to me without an answer to
it, and do as I have commanded thee. Here is the letter with me. Wilt
thou, then, go with me to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, that we may receive the
answer from him? - Abu-l-Hasan answered her, I hear and obey.
And he locked up his shop, and, taking with him the slave-girl, repaired
with her by a way different from that by which he had come, and they pro-
ceeded until they arrived at the house of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, when he
stationed her at the door, and entered the house. And as soon as 'Alee the
son of Bekkár beheld him he rejoiced at his coming, and Abu-l-Hasan said
to him, The cause of my coming is, that such a man hath sent to thee his
slave-girl with a note conveying his salutation to thee, and hath mentioned in
it that the reason of his failing to visit thee is an event that hath happened
to him which excuseth him. The slave-girl is standing at the door. Wilt
thou give her permission to enter? - 'Alee replied, Bring her in. And Abu-
1-Hasan made a sign to him that she was the slave-girl of Shems-en-Nahár;
and he understood the sign; and when he beheld her, he was moved, and
rejoiced, and said to her, with a sign, How is the master? May God grant
him restoration and health! She answered, Well:- and she produced the
letter, and gave it to him; and he took it and kissed it and read it, and then
handed it to Abu-l-Hasan, who found written in it as follows:-
-
This messenger will acquaint thee with my news: so be content with his tidings instead
of beholding me.
Thou hast left a lover in severe affliction on thine account, and his eye is incessantly
sleepless.
I suffer the pangs of patience in my trouble; for no creature can ward off the blows of
destiny.
To proceed: -I have written to thee a letter without fingers,¹7 and spoken
to thee without a tongue, and the complete exposition of my state is this,
that I have an eye which sleeplessness never quitteth, and a heart from which
solicitudes are never absent; and I am as though I had never known health
or happiness, nor beheld a comely countenance, nor passed a pleasant life:
I am as if my nature were made up of passion, and of the torment of ex-
cessive love and melancholy; and sickness hath become uninterrupted to me;
and desire, augmented; and longing expectation, increased.18 I beg of God
to hasten our union, that the trouble of my mind may be dispelled; and I
desire that thou send me some words from thee, that I may cheer myself by
them; and do thou assume a becoming patience until God give relief. And
peace be on thee.
When 'Alee the son of Bekkár had read this letter from beginning to
end, he said, With what hand shall I write, and with what tongue shall I
complain and lament? He then drew himself up with difficulty, and sat,
and took a paper in his hand, and thus wrote:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Thy letter, O
294
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
my mistress, hath arrived, and given ease to a soul wearied by transport and
desire, and conveyed restoration to a wounded heart ulcerated by disease;
and thine emaciated slave hath understood all the gracious words contained
in it; and by thy head, O my mistress, I am in the state described by the
poet:
The heart is contracted; and solicitude, extended; and the eye, sleepless; and the body,
wearied;
And patience, cut short; and disjunction, continued; and reason, deranged; and the
heart, snatched away.
And know that complaint extinguisheth not the fire of affliction; but it ap-
peaseth him whom longing desire hath disordered, and whom separation
destroyeth; and I will comfort myself by the mention of the word "union: "
and how excellent is the saying of the poet:
If there were not, in love, displeasure and content, where were the sweetnesses of notes
and epistles?
On Abu-l-Hasan's reading this letter, it excited painful feelings in him,
and its purport wounded his vitals; and he gave it to the slave-girl, and when
she had taken it, 'Alee the son of Bekkár said to her, Convey to thy mistress
my salutation, and acquaint her with my transport and desire, and how love
pervadeth my flesh and my bones; and tell her that I want a person to
deliver me from the sea of destruction, and to liberate me from this per-
plexity. He then wept, and the slave-girl wept with him, and took leave of
him, and departed from him.
Abu-l-Hasan went forth with her, and bade her farewell, and repaired to
his shop; and as he sat there, he found his heart compressed and his bosom
contracted, and he was perplexed at his case. He remained immersed in
thought during the rest of the day, and the ensuing night; and on the follow-
ing day he went to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and sat with him until the other
persons had departed, when he asked him respecting his state; and he began
to complain of his desire, and his excessive love and distraction, and recited
these words of the poet:
Persons, before me, have complained of love's torment, and living and dead have been
terrified by estrangement;
But an instance of feelings like those in my bosom I have never heard of nor beheld.
And Abu-l-Hasan. said to him, I have never beheld nor heard of any lover
like thee. Wherefore this transport and infirmity and agitation when thou
art attached to a complying object of love? How would it be if thou wert
attached to one who was adverse and deceitful, and if thy affair were ex-
posed? And 'Alee the son of Bekkár, says Abu-l-Hasan, inclined to my
words, and thanked me for them. Now I had (he continues) a friend
who was acquainted with my case, and the case of 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
and knew that we were leagued together; but no one else was informed of
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
295
-
what passed between us; and he used to come to me and ask me respecting
the state of 'Alee the son of Bekkár; and soon after, he questioned me with
respect to the damsel. I answered him, She invited him to her, and more
than hath already happened between them cannot take place; and this is
the last of their case; but I have devised for myself a plan of proceeding
which I desire to lay before thee. His friend asked, What is it? And
Abu-l-Hasan answered, I am a man known to have extensive dealings with
men and women, and I fear that the affair of these two persons may be dis-
covered, and that such an event will be the cause of my destruction, and
of the seizure of my property, and the ruin of my family. It is my opinion
that I should collect together my property, and fit myself out, and repair to
the city of El-Basrah, and there remain until I see what will be the result
of their case, that no one may know my situation; for love hath gained entire
possession of them, and letters have passed between them. Their inter-
mediary is a slave-girl, who at present keepeth their secrets; but I fear that
anxiety may overcome her, and she may reveal their case to some one, and
so the news of their affair may spread, and occasion my destruction; since
I have no excuse to offer to my accusers. His friend replied, Thou hast
acquainted me with a perilous affair, such as the wise and knowing must
regard with fear. May God avert from thee the evil that thou apprehendest,
and save thee from the result which thou dreadest! This opinion is right.
-So Abu-l-Hasan departed to his house, and occupied himself in settling
his affairs, and preparing himself for the journey to the city of El-Basrah,
and three days had not passed before he had finished his affairs and set forth
to El-Basrah.
-
Three days after this, his friend came to visit him, and, finding him not,
asked his neighbours respecting him, and they answered him, He departed
three days ago to El-Basrah; for he had pecuniary dealings with the mer-
chants of that city, and therefore went to demand the money of his debtors,
and he will soon return. And the man was perplexed at his case, and knew
not whither to go, saying, Would that I had not parted with Abu-l-Hasan!
He then devised a stratagem by means of which to obtain access to 'Alee the
son of Bekkár; and he repaired to his house, and said to one of his young
men, Beg permission for me of thy master that I may enter and salute him.
So the servant entered, and acquainted his master with the request, and then
returned to him, and gave him permission to enter. He therefore went in
to him, and found him reclining upon the cushion, and he saluted him, and
'Alee the son of Bekkár returned his salutation, and welcomed him; where-
upon the man apologized to him for having failed to visit him before during
the period of his illness, and said to him, O my master, an intimate friend-
ship subsisteth between me and Abu-l-Hasan, and I used to intrust to him my
secrets, and never relinquish him for an hour; and I was absent on some
business with a number of my friends for the space of three days, and then,
going to him, found his shop closed; wherefore I asked the neighbours re-
specting him, and they said, He hath gone to El-Basrah. Now I know no
---
296
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
friend of his more true than thou: by Allah, then, acquaint me with his
case. And when 'Alee the son of Bekkár heard his words, his colour
changed, and he was agitated, and replied, I have not heard the news of
his departure before this day; and if the case be as thou hast said, trouble
hath befallen me. He then shed tears and recited these two verses:
I was weeping on account of joy that had passed, while my friends were yet unsevered
from me;
But now my adverse fortune hath parted us, and I have to weep also for my friends.
And he hung down his head towards the ground, in thought; and after a
while, he raised it, and, looking towards a servant belonging to him, said to
him, Go to the house of Abu-l-Hasan, and ask respecting him, whether he
be still there or on a journey; and if they answer, He hath gone on a jour-
ney, ask whither he hath gone. So the servant went, and after a short
absence came back to his master, and said, When I inquired respecting Abu-
1-Hasan his dependants informed me that he had gone on a journey to El-
Basrah; but I found a slave-girl waiting at the door, and when she beheld
me she knew me; but I knew her not; and she said to me, Art thou the
servant of 'Alee the son of Bekkár? And I answered her, Yes. And she
said, I have a letter for him from the dearest of his friends. So she came
with me, and she is standing at the door. Upon this, 'Alee the son of
Bekkár said, Bring her in. And the servant went forth to her, and brought
her in; and the man who was sitting with the Son of Bekkár looked at the
slave-girl, and saw that she was an elegant person. The slave-girl then
advanced to the Son of Bekkár, and saluted him, and talked with him in a
low voice; and he uttered oaths during the conversation, swearing that he
had not mentioned a thing which she spoke of; after which, she bade him
farewell, and departed.
Now the man, the friend of Abu-l-Hasan, was a jeweller; and when the
slave-girl had departed, he found an opportunity to speak, and said to 'Alee
the son of Bekkár, There is no doubt whatever but that the palace of the Kha-
leefeh hath some demand upon thee, or that thou hast dealings with it.19
And who, said 'Alee the son of Bekkár, acquainted thee with that? The
jeweller answered, My knowledge of it is through this slave-girl; for she is
the slave-girl of Shems-en-Nahár; and she came to me some time ago with
a note in which was written that she desired a necklace of jewels; so I sent
to her a costly necklace. And when 'Alee the son of Bekkár heard his words,
he was so agitated that the jeweller feared his dissolution; but presently he
recovered himself, and said, O my brother, I conjure thee by Allah to tell
me how thou knowest her. The jeweller replied, Abstain from urging the
inquiry. But 'Alee the son of Bekkár said to him, I will not desist from
pressing thee until thou acquaint me with the truth.
So the jeweller said, I will inform thee, provided that no suspicion re-
specting me enter thy mind, nor any restraint be imposed upon thee by my
words, and I will not conceal from thee any secret, but will explain to thee
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
297
th the truth of the affair; on the condition, however, that thou acquaint me with
thy true case, and the cause of thy sickness. He therefore told him his
WS story, and then said, By Allah, O my brother, nothing induced me to con-
ocke
ceal my affair from others than thyself except my fear that people might
remove the veils of protection from others. And the jeweller said to him, I
desire not an interview with thee but on account of my great affection for
thee, and my zeal for thee, and my compassion for thy heart in consideration
of the torment that it suffereth from separation. Perhaps I may be a com-
forter to thee in the place of my friend Abu-l-Hasan during the period of
his absence. Be happy, then, and cheerful. And, 'Alee the son of Bekkár
ever
ter
Jou
shr
E
-
thanked him for his speech, and recited these two verses:
If I said that I was patient after his estrangement, my tears and the excess of my
lamentation would belie me.
And how can I conceal the tears that are flowing down my cheek in consequence of the
separation of my friend?
He then, for a while, remained silent; after which he said to the jeweller,
Knowest thou what the slave-girl told me secretly? He answered, No, by
Allah, O my master. And 'Alee the son of Bekkár said, She supposed that
I had advised Abu-l-Hasan to depart to the city of El-Basrah, and that I
thus devised a stratagem that there might be no more correspondence and
intercourse; and I swore to her that such had not been the case; but she
believed me not, and departed to her mistress retaining her evil opinion;
for she inclined to Abu-l-Hasan. The jeweller replied, O my brother, I
understood from the state of the slave-girl this affair; but, if it be the will
of God (whose name be exalted!), I will aid thee to attain thy desire.
And how, said 'Alee the son of Bekkár, wilt thou manage with her when
she taketh fright like a wild animal of the desert? The jeweller answered,
I must employ all my endeavours to assist thee, and my contrivance to obtain
acquaintance with her, without making any exposure, or occasioning any
mischief. He then begged leave to depart; and 'Alee the son of Bekkár
said to him, O my brother, be mindful to conceal the secret. And he looked
at him, and wept.
The jeweller bade him farewell, and departed, not knowing what to do
in order to promote the affair of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and he continued
on his way meditating upon his case, and beheld a paper lying in the street:
so he took it up, and looked at its direction, and lo, it was, From the most
humble friend to the most excellent object of affection. And he opened the
paper, and saw written in it as follows:
-
The messenger came from thee to give me hopes of union; but I rather imagined that he
had misconceived:
I rejoiced not, therefore; but my grief increased, through my knowledge that my mes-
senger had not rightly understood.
-
To proceed: Know, O my master, that I am unacquainted with the cause
of the interruption of the correspondence between me and thee; but if cruelty
298
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
have originated from thee, I will requite it with fidelity; and if affection
have departed from thee, I will preserve affection during estrangement; for
I will act towards thee as saith the poet:
Be haughty: I will endure:—and tyrannize: I will be patient: - and be difficult: I
will be abject: - and depart: I will approach: and say: I will hear: - and
command: I will obey.
And when he had read it, lo, the slave-girl approached, looking to the
right and left, and saw the paper in his hand; so she said to him, O my
master, verily this paper dropped from me. But he returned her not an
answer, walking on: and the slave-girl followed him until he approached his
house; and he entered, and the slave-girl behind him. She then said to him,
O my master, return to me this paper; for it dropped from me. And he
looked at her, and said, O slave-girl, fear not, nor be grieved, but tell me the
story with truth; for I am a concealer of secrets; and I conjure thee by an
oath that thou hide from me nothing of the affair of thy mistress: perhaps
God may assist me to accomplish her desires, and make easy by my means
things that now are difficult. And when the slave-girl heard his words, she
replied, O my master, a secret will not be lost when thou art its depositary,
nor will an affair be unsuccessful when thou strivest to accomplish it. Know
that my heart hath inclined to thee, and I will acquaint thee with the truth.
of the affair, and do thou give me the letter. She then told him the whole
story, and added, God is witness of the truth of what I say. He replied,
Thou hast spoken truth; for I am acquainted with the foundation of the
story. And he proceeded to relate to her the case of 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
and how he had become acquainted with the state of his mind, telling her
the story from first to last. And when she had heard this, she rejoiced;
and they agreed together that she should take the paper and give it to 'Alee
the son of Bekkár, and of all that should happen she should return and
inform him. So he gave her the paper, and she took it and sealed it as it
was before, saying, My mistress Shems-en-Nahár gave it to me sealed; and
when he hath read it and given me an answer, I will bring it to thee.
The slave-girl then bade him farewell, and repaired to 'Alee the son of
Bekkár, whom she found expecting her coming; and she gave him the paper
and he read it, and then wrote to her an answer, and gave it to her. She
therefore took it, and returned with it to the jeweller, according to the agree-
ment; and he broke open its seal and read it, and saw written in it, -
Verily the messenger by whom our correspondence was kept concealed hath failed, having
conceived displeasure:
20
Choose for me, therefore, a faithful messenger from among you, who approveth truth,
and approveth not falsehood.
To proceed: - Verily cruelty hath not originated from me, nor have I aban-
doned fidelity, nor have I broken a covenant, nor have I cut short affection,
nor have I ceased from grief, nor have I found after separation aught but
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
299
destruction, nor have I had any knowledge of that which ye have mentioned,
nor do I love anything but what ye love: by Him, who knoweth every secret
and hidden action, my wish is only for union with the person whom I love;
and my business, the concealment of the desire that I suffer, though disease
afflict me in consequence. This is the exposition of my state: and peace be
on you.
-
-
When the jeweller read this paper, and knew its contents, he wept
violently. The slave-girl then said to him, Go not forth from this place
until I return to thee; for he hath made an accusation against me; but he is
excused; and I desire to effect an interview between thee and my mistress
Shems-en-Nahár, by whatever stratagem it may be accomplished. I left her
prostrate, waiting for my bringing her the answer. Then the slave-girl re-
paired to her mistress, and the jeweller passed the night troubled in heart;
and when the morning came, he performed the prayers of that period, and
sat expecting her arrival; and lo, she approached, and with joy came in to
him, and he said to her, What is the news, O slave-girl? She answered, I
went from thee to my mistress, and gave to her the paper which 'Alee the son
of Bekkár wrote; and when she had read it and understood its meaning,
her mind was perplexed; so I said to her, O my mistress, fear not for the
frustration of the affair between you in consequence of the absence of Abu-
l-Hasan; for I have found one who will take his place, and who is better
than he, and of higher rank, and one who will keep secrets. And I related
to her what had passed between thee and Abu-l-Hasan, and how thou
obtainedst his confidence and that of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and how that
note dropped from me and thou foundest it, and I acquainted her with the
determination made between me and thee.
And the jeweller wondered extremely. She then said to him, She de-
sireth to hear thy words, that she may be confirmed by them in her belief
of the covenants made between thee and him: make up thy mind, then,
immediately to repair with me to her. But when the jeweller heard these
words of the slave-girl, he considered that the visiting her was a momentous
affair, and of great peril, not to be undertaken, nor suddenly attempted: so
he replied, O my sister, I am of the sons of the common class, and not like
Abu-l-Hasan; for Abu-l-Hasan was of high rank, of known reputation, in
the habit of frequenting the palace of the Khaleefeh because its inmates re-
quired his merchandise; but as for me, Abu-l-Hasan used to converse with
me and I trembled before him. If thy mistress, therefore, desireth my con-
versation with her, it will be requisite that it be in some other place than
the palace of the Khaleefeh, distant from the abode of the Prince of the
Faithful; for my heart will not consent to that which thou proposest. So
he refused to go with her. She proceeded to tell him that she would be
surety for his safety, and said to him, Be not apprehensive nor fearful. But
while they were thus talking, lo, his legs shook, and his hands trembled; and
the slave-girl therefore said to him, If it will be painful to thee to go to the
palace of the Khaleefeh, and thou canst not accompany me, I will persuade
300
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
her to come to thee: therefore move not from thy place until I return to
thee with her. She then departed; but soon returned to the jeweller, and
said to him, Take care lest there be with thee a slave-girl or man-servant.
He replied, There is no one with me but a black female servant advanced in
age, who serveth me. And the slave-girl arose, and closed the doors be-
tween the jeweller's female slave and himself, and sent his young men out
from the house.
After this, the slave-girl went forth, and returned with a damsel behind
her, and the latter entered the jeweller's abode with her, imparting a sweet
odour to the house; and when the jeweller saw her, he rose and stood up,
and placed a cushion for her, and seated himself before her. She remained a
while without speaking, until she had rested herself, when she uncovered her
face, and it appeared to the jeweller as though the sun had risen in his
abode. She then said to her slave-girl, Is this the man of whom thou
spakest to me? The slave-girl answered, Yes. And she looked towards the
jeweller, and said to him, How art thou? He answered, In prosperity: -
and prayed for her.21 And she said to him, Thou hast induced us to come
to thee, and to acquaint thee with our secret. And she asked him respecting
his family and his children; and he acquainted her with all his circum-
stances, and said to her, I have a house beside this, which I have devoted to
the purpose of assembling there with my friends and brethren, and I have in
it nothing but what I have mentioned to thy slave-girl.
After this, she asked him how he had become acquainted with the founda-
tion of the story; and he informed her of the particulars which she demanded,
from the first of the affair to the last: whereupon she sighed for the separa-
tion of Abu-l-Hasan, and said, O such a one, know that the souls of man-
kind accord in their desires, and persons stand in need, one of another; an
action is not accomplished without words; nor a wish, without exertion; nor
does ease come unless after fatigue; nor doth success ensue but through the
means of the generous. And now I have acquainted thee with our affair,
and it is in thy power to expose or protect us; but thy generous disposition
requireth nothing to be added; for thou already knowest that this my slave-
girl concealeth my secret, and on that account occupieth a high place with
me; and I have chosen her for the transaction of my affairs. Let none, then,
be more worthy in thy sight than she, and do thou acquaint her with thy pro-
ceedings; and be of good heart; for thou art secure from what thou fearest
on our account, and no place shall be closed from thee but she shall open
it unto thee, and she shall convey to thee my messages for 'Alee the son of
Bekkár, and thou shalt be the intermediary in the transmittal of communica-
tions between me and him.
Shems-en-Nahár then arose, scarcely able to do so, and departed, and the
jeweller walked before her until she arrived at the gate of the palace, after
which he returned, and sat in his place, having beheld, of her beauty, what
astonished him, and heard, of her words, what confounded his reason, and
witnessed, of her elegance and politeness, what amazed him. He remained
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
301
reflecting upon her endowments until his mind became tranquillized; when
he demanded food, and ate as much as would stay his spirit. He then
changed his clothes, and went forth from his house, and repaired to 'Alee
the son of Bekkár, whose servants came and met him, and walked before him
until they introduced him to their master, and he found him laid upon his
bed; and when he beheld the jeweller, he said to him, Thou hast been tardy
in coming to me, and increased my anxiety. Having thus said, he dismissed
his servants, and gave orders to shut his doors, and said to the jeweller, I
have not closed my eye since thou quittedst me; for the slave-girl came to me
yesterday, bringing a sealed letter from her mistress Shems-en-Nahár. ·
And he proceeded to relate to him all that had passed between him and her;
after which he said, I have become perplexed in my affair, and my patience
hath failed; for Abu-l-Hasan was a cheering companion unto me, as he knew
the slave-girl. And when the jeweller heard his words, he laughed: so 'Alee
the son of Bekkár said to him, Wherefore dost thou laugh at my words,
when I have augured well of thy coming, and taken thee as a provision.
against misfortunes? He then wept, and recited these verses:
Many a one laugheth at my tears on beholding me; but had he suffered as I have, it had
made him weep.
None pitieth the afflicted for what he endureth, but one alike anxious, whose affliction
hath been protracted.
My transport, yearning, sighing, thought, and distraction, are for a friend whose habita-
tion is in the recesses of my heart:
He hath made his abode there, and never quitteth it; yet seldom can I enjoy an inter-
view with him:
I have no intimate whom I approve in his stead; and I have chosen no friend whatever
but him.
And when the jeweller heard these words from him, and understood the
verses which he recited, he wept at his weeping, and acquainted him with all
that had happened to him with the slave-girl since he had quitted him.
'Alee the son of Bekkár listened to his speech; and at every word of his that
he heard, the colour of his face continued to change from yellowness to red-
ness, and his body became at one time stronger, and at another weaker.
And when he had ended his account, the son of Bekkár wept, and said to
him, O my brother, I am at all events perishing, and would that my end
were near! I beg of thee, in thy kindness, to shew favour to me in all my
affairs until God shall please to bring about what seemeth fit unto Him, and
I will not oppose thee in word. The jeweller replied, Nothing will quench
this fire in thee except an interview with the person with whom thou art
enamoured; but it should be in some other place than this, which is one of
danger: it should be in a house of mine next to my own abode. The slave-
girl came to me there, together with her mistress, and it is the place that she
chose for herself: I desire, therefore, your interview with each other, and
there shall ye complain one to another of what ye have suffered. So 'Alee
the son of Bekkár said, Do as thou desirest, and what thou seest fit is right.
302
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I remained with him, says the jeweller, that night, conversing with him
until the morning came, when I performed the morning-prayers, and went
forth from him, and repaired to my abode. And I had not long remained
there when the slave-girl came and saluted me, and I returned her saluta-
tion, and acquainted her with the plan decided upon between me and 'Alee
the son of Bekkár; whereupon she said, Know that the Khaleefeh hath gone
away from us, and that there is no one in our abode, and it is more safe
for us, and better. I replied, What thou sayest is true; but it is not like this
my house; for this is safer, and more suited to us. The slave-girl therefore
said, It shall be as thou seest fit; and I go to my mistress to acquaint her
with that which thou hast mentioned, and to propose to her what thou hast
said.
She then repaired to her mistress, and made the proposal to her, and
returned to my house, and said to me, My mistress acquiesceth in that which
thou hast said. And she took forth from her pocket a purse containing
some pieces of gold, saying to me, My mistress saluteth thee, and saith to
thee, Take this, and procure for us with it what we require. But I swore
that I would not expend anything of it. So she took it again, and returned
to her mistress, and said to her, He hath not accepted the money; but re-
turned it to me. And after the slave-girl had gone, I repaired to my other
house, and removed thither, of the utensils and furniture, what the case re-
quired, and transported thither the vessels of silver and of china-ware, and
prepared all that we required of food and drink; and when the slave-girl
came again, and beheld what I had done, it pleased her; and she ordered me
to bring 'Alee the son of Bekkár; but I replied, None shall bring him but
thou.
Accordingly she went to him and brought him, attired in the most per-
fect manner, and with a brightened aspect; and when he came, I met him.
and welcomed him, and seated him upon a mattress suitable to his condition,
and placed before him some sweet-scented flowers in vessels of china-ware
and crystal, and conversed with him about an hour; after which, the slave-
girl departed, and was absent until after the sunset-prayers, when she re-
turned, accompanied by Shems-en-Nahár with two maids and none else. As
soon as she beheld 'Alee the son of Bekkár and he beheld her, they both fell
down fainting upon the floor, and remained so for an hour; and when they
recovered, they drew near to each other, and sat conversing tenderly; and
after this, they made use of some perfumes, and began to thank me for my
conduct to them. I then said to them, Have ye any desire for food? And
they answered, Yes. So I brought to them some food, and they ate until
they were satisfied, and washed their hands; and I conducted them to an-
other chamber, where I brought them the wine; and they drank it, and
became merry: whereupon Shems-en-Nahár said to me, O my master, com-
plete thy kindness, and bring to us a lute or some other musical instrument,
that we may now perfect our enjoyment. I replied, On my head and my
eye. And I arose, and brought a lute, and she took it and tuned it, and,
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
303
placing it in her lap, played upon it in an admirable manner, and sang these
two verses:
I have been so sleepless that it would seem as though I loved sleeplessness; and so
emaciated that disease appears to be natural to me;
And my tears have flowed upon my cheek, burning it. Would that I knew if we shall
meet after our separation!
She proceeded to sing verses so as to confound the mind, with various
modulations and with pleasing allusions, and the hearers almost flew with
delight at her admirable singing; and when we had remained seated some
time, and the cups circulated among us, the damsel, in charming tones, sang
some verses commencing thus:
The beloved gave me a promise to meet me, and performed it on a night that I shall
count as worth many.
-
After this, I left them in that house, and departed to the house in which
I resided, and there passed the night, until the morning. And when the
morning came, I performed my divinely-ordained prayers, and drank some
wine, 22 and sat thinking of going to them at my other house; and as I was
sitting, lo, my neighbour came in to me, terrified, and said to me, O my
brother, it was no light matter to me that befell thee this last night in thy
other house. So I said to him, O my brother, and what hath happened?
Acquaint me with that which hath occurred in my house. He answered,
The robbers who came to our neighbours yesterday, and murdered such a
one and took his property saw thee yesterday removing thy things to thy
other house, and came thither in the night, and took what thou hadst there,
and murdered thy guests. I arose, therefore, I and my neighbour, and we
went to that house, and found it empty: nothing remained in it; and I was
perplexed at my case, and said, As to the things, I care not for their loss;
and if I borrowed some of them from my friends and they are lost, there is
no harm in that; for they know my excuse in the disappearance of my prop-
erty and the plundering of my house; but as to 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
and the concubine of the Prince of the Faithful, I fear that their affair will
be rumoured abroad, and it will be the cause of the loss of my life.
The jeweller then looked towards his companion, and said to him, Thou
art my brother and my neighbour, and wilt conceal what I should not expose:
what course of conduct, then, dost thou advise me to pursue? The man
answered him, That which I advise thee to do is, that thou be on thy guard;
for they who entered thy house and took thy property have murdered a most
distinguished party from the palace of the Khaleefeh, and have murdered
also a party from the house of the chief magistrate of the police, and the
guards of the court search for them everywhere, and perhaps they will find
them, and thy wish will be attained without any effort of thine.
the jeweller heard these words, he returned to his house in which he resided,
and said within himself, Verily that which hath happened to me is what Abu-
304
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
1-Hasan feared, and on account of which he departed to El-Basrah, and I
have fallen into it.
The plunder of his house became publicly known among the people, and
they came to him from every quarter; and some of them rejoiced at his mis-
fortune, and some participated in his anxiety, while he uttered his com-
plaints to them, and neither ate nor drank. And as he sat repenting, lo, one
of his servants came in to him, and said to him, There is a person at the door
who asketh for thee, whom I know not. So the jeweller went forth to him
and saluted him, and found him to be a man whom he knew not; and the
man said, I have something to say to thee. He therefore conducted him into
his house, and asked him, What hast thou to say to me? The man an-
swered, Go with me to thy other house. The jeweller said, And dost thou
know my other house? And he answered, Thy whole case is known to me,
and I know also that by which God will dispel thine anxiety. - So I said
within myself (continues the jeweller), I will go with him whither he de-
sireth. I then repaired with him to the house, and when the man saw the
house, he said, It is without a door-keeper, and we cannot sit in it: come
with me, therefore, to another house. And the man continued going about
from place to place, and I with him, until the night overtook us; and I put
no question to him. He ceased not on his way, and I with him, till we went
forth into the open plain, saying, Follow me. And he hurried on, and I
hurried behind him, until we arrived at the river, when he embarked with me
in a boat, and the boatmen rowed with us, till we had crossed over to the
other bank; whereupon he landed from the boat, and I landed after him, and
he took my hand, and conducted me into a street which I had never entered
before in the whole course of my life, and I knew not in what quarter it was.
He then stopped at the door of a house, and opened it, and entered, taking
me in with him, and locked the door with a lock of iron; after which, he
led me along its passage till we came into the presence of ten men, who were
as though they were one and the same man, and they were brothers.
When we went in to them, the man first mentioned saluted them, and they
returned his salutation, and ordered me to sit down. So I seated myself,
feeble from excessive fatigue; and they brought me some rose-water, and
sprinkled it upon my face, and gave me to drink some wine, and placed be-
fore me some food. I therefore said [within myself], If there were anything
injurious in the food, they would not eat with me. And when we had washed
our hands, each of us returned to his place, and they said, Dost thou know
us? I answered, No: nor in my life have I known your abode: nay, I know
not him who brought me unto you. They then said, Acquaint us with thy
story, and utter no falsehood. So I said, Know that my case is wonderful,
and my affair is extraordinary. And are ye, I added, acquainted with aught
of my story? They answered, Yes: we are the persons who took thy things
last night, and we took thy friend, and her who was singing. And upon this
I said, May God let down the curtain of his protection over you! Where
are my friend and she who was singing? And they made a sign to me with
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
305
their hands, pointing to one side, and answered, Here: but by Allah, O our
brother, none of us hath learnt their secret, and since we brought them we
have had no interview with them, nor asked them respecting their condition,
on account of the appearance of dignity and respectability which we have
observed in them; and it was this which prevented our killing them. Ac-
quaint us, therefore, with their true history, and thou shalt be secure of thine
own safety and of theirs.
When I heard these words, says the jeweller, I almost died with fear
and terror, and said to them, Know that, if generosity be lost, it is to be
found only with you; and if I have a secret which I fear to reveal, none but
your breasts will conceal it. And I proceeded to expatiate in this manner,
and found that readiness in making the communication to them would be
more advantageous than concealing it; so I acquainted them with all that
had befallen me until I arrived at the end of the story. And when they
heard my tale, they said, And is this young man 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
and this female Shems-en-Nahár? And they excused themselves to both of
them, and afterwards said to me, Verily, of that which we took from thy
house, part is gone; and this is what hath remained of it. They then re-
stored to me most of the things, and bound themselves to convey them back
to their place in my house, promising also that they would restore to me
the rest: but they became divided into two parties; one party on my side,
and the other against me. After this, we went forth from that house.
Such was my case.
Now as to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and Shems-en-Nahár, they were at
the point of death through fear. I approached them and saluted them, and
said to them, What can have happened to the slave-girl and the two maids,
and whither have they gone? They answered, We have no knowledge of
them. And we continued on our way until we arrived at the place where
was the boat, when they put us into it; and it was the boat in which we
had crossed over in the preceding evening. The boatman rowed with us
until he had conveyed us to the opposite bank, and they landed us. But
we had scarcely seated ourselves on the bank, when a troop of horsemen
came and surrounded us on every side; whereupon the men who were with
us sprang up in haste like eagles, and the boat returned to them, and they
embarked in it, and it proceeded with them over the river, while I remained
with 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and Shems-en-Nahár, upon the bank of the
river, we being unable either to move or to remain at rest. The horsemen
said to us, Whence are ye? And we were perplexed for the answer; and I
said to them, Verily those whom ye beheld with us we know not; but we saw
them here; and as to ourselves, we are singers, and they desired to take us to
sing to them, and we escaped not from them save by stratagem and soft
words: therefore liberate us on this occasion, since ye have witnessed their
conduct.
The horsemen, however, looked towards Shems-en-Nahár and 'Alee the
son of Bekkár, and said to me, Thou hast not spoken truth: if thou be a
306
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
person of veracity inform us who ye are, and whence ye are, and in which
of the quarters of the city ye reside. And I knew not what to say; but
Shems-en-Nahár arose and approached the chief of the horsemen, and spoke
to him privately; whereupon he descended from his horse, and mounted her
upon it, and, taking the bridle in his hand, led her along; and in like man-
ner he did to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and to me also. The chief of the
horsemen then proceeded with us to a place on the bank of the river, and
called out in his foreign language,23 upon which there approached him a
number of men, and he embarked us on board a boat, his companions em-
barking in another boat, and they rowed us on until we arrived at the palace
of the Khaleefeh, while we suffered death from the excess of our fear.
[Shems-en-Nahár having there landed,] we proceeded until we came to the
place from which there was a way leading to our quarter, and there we
landed, and we walked on, with a party of the horsemen cheering us by their
company, till we entered the house [of 'Alee the son of Bekkár], when the
horsemen who were with us bade us farewell, and went their way.
As to ourselves, we entered the house, and were unable to move from
our place, not knowing morning from evening, and we continued thus until
the morning came. And at the close of the day, 'Alee the son of Bekkár
fell down in a fit, and the women and the men wept over him, as he lay
prostrate and motionless; and some persons of his family came to me, and
said, Tell us what hath happened to our son, and acquaint us with the cause
of the state in which he is. I replied, O people, hear my words, and do noth-
ing unpleasant to me; but be patient, and he will recover, and will acquaint
you himself with his story. I then urged them, and impressed them with
the fear of occasioning what would disgrace me with them, and while we were
thus talking, lo, 'Alee the son of Bekkár moved in his bed, and his family
rejoiced, and the people dispersed from him, and his family forbade me from
quitting him. They sprinkled some rose-water upon his face, and when he
recovered, and scented the air, they began to ask him respecting his state,
and he commenced acquainting them; but his tongue would not turn an
answer quickly. After this, he made a sign to them that they should give
me liberty to repair to my abode.
Accordingly, they suffered me to go, and I went forth, scarcely believing
in my escape, and proceeded to my house, between two men, until I arrived
and went in to my family; and when they beheld me in that state, they
slapped their faces; but I made a sign to them with my hands that they
should be silent, and they were silent. Then the two men went their way;
and I rolled about in my bed the rest of the night, and awoke not till the
mid-hour between sunrise and noon, when I found my family surrounding
me, and saying, Who hath brought misfortune upon thee, and by his wicked-
ness smitten thee? And I said to them, Bring me some wine. So they
brought it, and I drank of it until I was satisfied, and then said to them,
There hath happened what hath happened. And they went their way.
And after this, I excused myself to my companions, and inquired of them
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
307
respecting the things that had gone from my house, asking if any of the
property had returned. They answered, A portion hath returned; for a
man came and threw it down within the door of the house, and we saw him
So I comforted myself, and remained in my house two days, unable to
rise from my place; after which I fortified myself, and walked to the bath,
with my heart troubled respecting the Son of Bekkár, and Shems-en-Nahár,
having heard no tidings of them during that period, and having been unable
to go to the house of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and unable to rest in my place
through my fear for myself. I then repented before God (whose name be
exalted!) of the actions that had been committed by me, and praised Him
for my safety.
And after a while, my mind suggested to me to repair to that place, and
to return immediately; and when I was about to go, I beheld a woman stand-
ing, and looked attentively at her, and lo, she was the slave-girl of Shems-
en-Nahár; and when I knew her, I went on, and hastened in my pace; but
she followed me, and I was alarmed at her: and every time that I looked
at her, fear of her overcame me, while she continued saying, Stop, that I
may tell thee something. I, however, paid no regard to her, and stopped not
until I came to a mosque in a place where there were no people; whereupon
she said to me, Enter this mosque, that I may say a word to thee, and fear
nothing. And she conjured me; so I entered the mosque, and she entered
after me; and I performed the prayers of two rek'ahs; after which I ap-
proached her, sighing, and said to her, What dost thou desire? And she
asked me respecting my state, and I told her what had happened to me and
to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and said to her, What is thy story? She an-
swered, Know that when I saw that the men had broken open the door of
thy house, and entered, I feared them, apprehending that they were from
the Khaleefeh, and that they would take me and my mistress, and we should
perish immediately; so I fled over the terraces, together with the two maids,
and we cast ourselves down from a high place among a party of people, and
fled thence until we arrived at the palace of the Khaleefeh, in a most
ignominious plight.
We kept our affair secret, and remained in a state of torture as on hot
embers until the next night became dark, when I opened the river-gate, and
summoned the boatman who conveyed us away on the former night, and said
to him, We know not what is become of my mistress; therefore take me in
the boat that I may search for her upon the river: perhaps I may obtain some
tidings of her. So he conveyed me in the boat, and proceeded with me along
the river until midnight, when I saw a boat approaching the gate, with a man
rowing in it, and other men,24 and a woman lying prostrate among them;
and the boatman continued rowing on until he arrived at the shore; and when
the woman landed, I looked attentively at her, and lo, she was Shems-en-
Nahár. I therefore landed and went to her, stupefied with joy at beholding
her after I had despaired of seeing her again; and when I came before her,
she ordered me to give to the man who had brought her a thousand pieces of
308
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
gold. Then I and the two maids carried her and laid her upon her bed,
and she continued during the rest of that night in a troubled state; and when
the morning came, she forbade the female slaves and eunuchs to come in to
her or to approach her that day. But on the following day she recovered,
and I found her as though she had come forth from a burial-ground; so I
sprinkled some rose-water upon her face, and changed her clothes, and
washed her hands and her feet, and ceased not to persuade her until I excited
in her a desire for some food; and I gave her some wine to drink, though
she had no appetite for it.
-
And when she took the air, and strength returned to her, I said to her, O
my mistress, have a regard for thyself, for thou hast suffered difficulties
enough, and hast been at the point of destruction. But she replied, O good
slave-girl, death were easier to me than that which hath befallen me; for it
seemed that I should be killed, and that no stratagem could save me; be-
cause the robbers, when they took us from the house of the jeweller, asked
us and said, Who art thou, and what is thy condition? — but I answered, I
am a singing girl: - and they believed me: then they asked 'Alee the son
of Bekkár respecting himself, and said to him, Who art thou, and what is
thy condition? and he answered, I am of the common people. And they
took us, and we proceeded with them until they brought us to their abode,
and we hastened with them, through the excess of our fear; and when they
had rested with us at their dwelling, they looked at me, and, seeing the
apparel and necklaces and jewels with which I was decked, they disbelieved
my assertion, and said, These necklaces belong not to one of the female
singers. They then said to me, Be veracious to us, and tell us the truth.
What is thy history? But I returned them no answer, saying within my-
self, Now will they kill me for the ornaments and apparel that are upon
me: and I uttered not a word.
And they looked towards 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and said to him, And
whence art thou; for thine appearance is not that of the common people?
But he was silent. We concealed our affair, and wept. And God inclined
the hearts of the robbers towards us; and they said to us, Who is the owner
of the house in which ye were? We answered them, Its owner is such a one,
the jeweller. And one of them said, I know him well, and I know that he is
residing in his other house, and I will take upon myself to bring him to you
immediately. And they agreed together to put me in a place by myself, and
'Alee the son of Bekkár in a place by himself, and said to us, Rest ye, and
fear not that your affair will be revealed, for ye are secure from us. Then
their companion went to the jeweller, and brought him, and he revealed our
case to them, and we went in to him; after which, one of the men provided
for us a boat, and they placed us in it, and crossed over with us to the
opposite bank, and, having landed us there, departed. And a troop of horse,
of the patrol, came, and said, Who are ye? So I spoke with the chief of the
patrol, and said to him, I am Shems-en-Nahár, the concubine of the Kha-
leefeh: I made myself merry with wine, and went forth to visit some of my
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
309
acquaintances among the wives of the wezeers, and the robbers came upon
me, and took me, and brought me to this place, and when they beheld you
they fled; and I am able to requite thee. And when the chief of the horse-
men heard my words, he knew me, and, descending from his horse, mounted
me upon it, and in like manner he did to 'Alee the son of Bekkár and to the
jeweller; and in my heart now burneth a flame of fire on their account,
especially for the jeweller, the companion of the Son of Bekkár: repair,
therefore, unto him, and salute him, and inquire of him respecting 'Alee the
son of Bekkár.
I blamed her (said the slave-girl) for what she had done, and cautioned
her, saying to her, O my mistress, fear for thyself: — but she cried out at
me, and was angry at my words. I then arose and departed from her, and
came unto thee; but found thee not; and I feared to go to the Son of Bek-
25 so I stood looking out for thee, that I might ask thee respecting him,
and know in what state he is. And I beg of thy goodness that thou wilt
receive from me some money; for probably thou borrowedst some things of
thy friends and thou hast lost them, and it is necessary that thou make a
compensation to them for such of their things as have been lost in thy
house. So I replied, says the jeweller, I hear and obey. I then walked
with her until we came near to my house, when she said to me, Stop here
until I return to thee. And she departed, and returned bringing the money,
and gave it to me, saying, O my master, in what place shall we meet thee?
I answered her, I will go to my house immediately, and will endure hard-
ship for thy sake, and devise some means of procuring thee access to him;
for access to him is difficult at the present time.
She then bade me farewell, and departed, and I carried the money to
my abode, and, counting it found it to be five thousand pieces of gold; and
I gave some of it to my family, and to every one who had anything in my
possession I gave a compensation. After this, I took my young men, and
repaired to the house from which the things had been lost, and brought the
carpenters and the builders, and they restored it to its former state; and I
placed my female slave in it, and forgot what had happened to me. I then
went to the house of 'Alee the son of Bekkár, and when I arrived there, his
slaves accosted me, and one of them said to me, The slaves of our master
have been seeking thee night and day, and he hath promised them that who-
soever of them bringeth thee to him he will emancipate him; so they are
searching for thee, but know not where thou art. Vigour hath returned to
my master; but he recovereth and relapseth frequently: and when he re-
covereth, he mentioneth thee, and saith, Ye must bring him unto me for a
moment, and he shall return and go his way. So I went with the young
man to his master, and found him unable to speak; and when I beheld him,
I seated myself at his head, and he opened his eyes, and, seeing me, he wept,
and said to me, Thou art welcome. I then raised him, and seated him, and
pressed him to my bosom; and he said to me, Know, O my brother, that
since I laid myself down I have not sat up until now; and praise be to God
310
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
-
for my beholding thee! I continued raising him, says the jeweller, until I
placed him upon his feet, and made him walk some paces, and changed his
clothes, and he drank some wine; and when I saw in him signs of vigour,
I related to him what had happened with the slave-girl; no one else hearing
me; after which I said to him, Brace up thy nerves, for I know what thou
sufferest. And he smiled, and I said to him, Thou wilt experience nothing
but what will rejoice thee and cure thee.
Then 'Alee the son of Bekkár gave orders to bring a repast; and they
brought it; and he made a sign to his young men, whereupon they dispersed;
and he said to me, O my brother, hast thou seen what hath befallen us?
And he excused himself to me, and asked me how I had been during the late
period. So I acquainted him with all that had happened to me from first
to last; and he wondered, and said to the servants, Bring me such and such
things. And they brought him costly furniture, and articles of gold and
silver, more than I had lost, and gave to me all of them; and I sent them to
my house, and remained with him the next night. And when the morning
broke, he said to me, Know that to everything there is an end; and the end
of love is death or union; and I am nearer unto death: would that I had
died, then, before that which hath happened to me! Had not God been pro-
pitious to us, we had been disgraced; and I know not what will effect my
deliverance from my present state. Were it not for my fear of God, I
would hasten my own destruction. And know, O my brother, that I am like
the bird in the cage, and that my life is expiring in consequence of my dis-
tresses; but it hath a known period, and a decreed end. And he poured
forth his tears; and I said to him, O my master, know that I purpose re-
pairing to my house: for perhaps the slave-girl will return to me with news.
He replied, There will be no harm in thy doing so; but return quickly to
acquaint me.
I therefore took leave of him, and departed to my house; and I had
scarcely sat down when I beheld the slave-girl approaching, weeping and
wailing; and I said to her, What is the cause of this? O my master, she
answered, know that an event hath happened to us from which we are in
fear; for when I went away from thee yesterday, I found my mistress in-
censed against one of the two maids who were with us that night, and she
gave orders to beat her; and she feared her mistress, and fled; and one of
the officers charged to keep the door met her, and took her, and desired to
send her back to her mistress. But she gave him a hint, and he coaxed
her, and desired her to make known her case, upon which she acquainted him
with our proceedings; and the news reached the Khaleefeh, and immediately
he gave orders to remove my mistress Shems-en-Nahár and all her property
to his own palace, and appointed twenty eunuchs to guard her. I have not
yet had an interview with her, nor acquainted her with the cause; but I
suspect it is on that account, and therefore am in fear for myself, and am
perplexed, O my master, not knowing what stratagem to employ in my
affairs and hers, and she hath no one more faithful in keeping a secret than
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
311
--
myself. Go thou, therefore, O my master, to 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
quickly, and acquaint him with this, in order that he may be prepared; and
if the affair be exposed, we will contrive some means for our own escape.
Upon this, says the jeweller, excessive anxiety overcame me, and the universe
became dark before my face at the words of the slave-girl. She proposed
her departure, and I said to her, What is thy advice? It is my advice,
she answered, that thou hasten to 'Alee the son of Bekkár, if he be thy friend,
and thou desire his escape: thine be it to communicate this news to him
quickly; and be it mine to apply myself to learn further news. She then
bade me farewell, and went forth.
And when the slave-girl had gone away, I arose and went forth after
her, and repaired to 'Alee the son of Bekkár. I found him holding forth
to himself expectations of union, and soothing himself with impossibilities;
and when he saw that I had returned to him quickly, he said to me, I see
thee to have come back to me immediately. I replied, Cease to indulge
thine attachment and to promise thyself success, and abstain from thus
busying thy mind; for an event hath occurred that may occasion the loss
of thy life and thy property. And when he heard these words, his condition
became changed, and he was agitated, and said, O my brother, acquaint me
with that which hath happened. O my master, I replied, know that such
and such things have happened, and if thou remain in this thy house till
the close of the day, thou wilt inevitably perish. And 'Alee the son of Bek-
kár was confounded, and his soul almost quitted his body, and he exclaimed,
Verily to God we belong, and verily to Him we return! - and said, What
shall I do, O my brother; and what is thy advice? I answered, My advice
is, that thou take with thee as much of thy property as thou canst, and of
thy young men such as thou confidest in, and that thou repair with us to
another country before this day shall have expired. And he said to me, I
hear and obey.
He then arose, perplexed at his case, now walking, and now falling down,
and took what he could, and made an excuse to his family, charging them
with such orders as he desired, and, taking with him three loaded camels,
mounted his horse. I also had done the same, and we went forth privately,
and stopped not in our journey during the rest of the day and the next
night, until the close of the night, when we put down our loads, and tied
up our camels' feet, and slept; and, being overcome by fatigue, we were
neglectful of ourselves; and lo, robbers surrounded us, and took all that we
had with us, and slew the young men on their attempting to defend us.
They then left us in our place, in a miserable condition, after they had taken
away the property; and when we had arisen, we proceeded until morning,
and arrived at a town, and, entering it, repaired to its mosque, stripped of
our clothing.
We sat in one side of the mosque the remainder of the day, and passed
the next night in it, without food or drink; and at daybreak we performed
the morning-prayers, and sat down again; and lo, a man entered, and
312
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
saluted us, and, after performing the prayers of two rek'ahs, looked towards
us and said, O men, are ye strangers? We answered, Yes: robbers have in-
tercepted us and stripped us, and we entered this town, but know not in it
any one with whom to lodge. So the man said to us, Will ye arise and ac-
company me to my house? I said, therefore, to 'Alee the son of Bekkár,
Arise and let us go with him, and save ourselves from two troubles: the first
is, that we fear some one may come in to us who knoweth us in this mosque,
and so we may be disgraced: and the second, that we are strangers, and have
no place in which to lodge. And 'Alee the son of Bekkár replied, Do what
thou wilt. The man then said to us a second time, O poor men, comply with
my desire, and come with me to my abode. I therefore replied, We hear
and obey. And the man took off, and gave to us, part of his own clothing,
and clad us, and spoke kindly to us; and we arose and went with him to
his house; and he knocked at the door, and there came forth to us a young
eunuch, who opened the door; and the man, the owner of the house, entered,
and we entered after him. He then gave orders to bring a wrapper, con-
taining clothes, and pieces of muslin for turbans, and clad us with two suits,
and gave us two pieces of muslin, and we turbaned ourselves, and sat down;
and lo, a slave-girl approached us with a table, and placed it before us, and
we ate a little; after which, the table was removed, and we remained with
him until night.
And 'Alee the son of Bekkár sighed, and said to me, O my brother, know
that I am inevitably perishing, and I desire to give thee a charge, which is
this: that when thou seest me to have died, thou repair to my mother, and
acquaint her, that she may come to this place for the sake of receiving the
visits of condolence for me, and be present at the washing of my corpse; and
exhort her to bear my loss with patience. He then fell down in a fit; and
when he recovered, he heard a damsel singing at a distance, and reciting
verses: and he listened to her and heard her voice; one moment becoming
insensible; and another, recovering; and another, weeping in his anguish.
and grief at that which had befallen him: and he heard the damsel sing,
with charming modulations, these verses:
Separation hath quickly intervened between us, after intimate intercourse and friend-
ship and concord.
The vicissitudes of fortune have disunited us. Would that I knew when would be our
meeting!
How bitter is separation after union! Would that it never gave pain unto lovers!
The strangulation of death is short, and ceaseth; but the disjunction of the beloved
ever tortureth the heart.
And as soon as 'Alee the son of Bekkár had heard her song, he uttered a
groan, and his soul quitted his body.
When I saw that he was dead, says the jeweller, I gave a charge respect-
ing him to the master of the house, and said to him, Know that I am going
to Baghdad to acquaint his mother and his other relations, that they may
'ALEE AND THE SULTAN'S CONCUBINE
313
come to prepare his funeral. I then repaired to Baghdad, and entered my
house, and changed my clothes; after which, I went to the house of 'Alee
the son of Bekkár. And when his young men saw me, they came to me and
inquired of me respecting him; and I asked them to beg permission for me
to have an interview with his mother; and she gave me permission. So
I entered and saluted her, and said, Verily, when God decreeth an event,
there is no escaping from it; and a soul cannot depart but by the permission
of God, according to the decree which prescribeth its terms. And from
these words, the mother of 'Alee the son of Bekkár inferred that her son had
died; and she wept violently, and then said to me, By Allah, I conjure thee
to tell me: hath the soul of my son been taken? But I could not return
her an answer, through the excess of my grief: and when she saw me in
this state, she was suffocated with weeping, and fell upon the floor in a fit;
and as soon as she recovered, she said, How did it happen to my son? I
replied, May God abundantly compensate thee for his loss! - and then
acquainted her with all that had happened to him, from beginning to end.
She said, Did he give thee any charge? And I answered her, Yes: and
informed her of that with which he had charged me, and said to her, Hasten
to perform his funeral. But on hearing my words, she fell down again in
a swoon: and when she recovered, she resolved to do as I had charged
her.
-
I then returned to my house, thinking, on my way, upon the charms of
his youth; and while I was thus proceeding, lo, a woman laid hold upon
my hand, and, looking at her, I saw her to be the slave-girl who used to
come from Shems-en-Nahár. Despondency had overcome her; and when
we recognised each other, we wept together until we arrived at the house,
when I said to her, Hast thou become acquainted with the case of 'Alee the
son of Bekkár? She answered, No, by Allah. And I related to her what
had happened to him, and then said to her, And in what state is thy mis-
tress? The Prince of the Faithful, she answered, would not listen to what
any one said against her, in consequence of the violence of his love for her;
but regarded all her actions in a favourable light, and said to her, O Shems-
en-Nahár, thou art dear in my estimation, and I will endure with thee in
spite of thine enemies. He then gave orders to furnish a gilded apartment,
and an elegant closet; and she became in high favour with him in consequence
of that event. And it happened that he was sitting to take his usual bever-
age, and the concubines were before him, and he ordered them to sit in
their places, and seated Shems-en-Nahár by his side (but her patience had
failed, and her disorder had increased); and he then commanded one of
the female slaves to sing: so, she took the lute and struck its chords and
sang thus:
Many a one hath invited me to love, and I have yielded; and my tears write the tale
of my transport upon my cheek;
As if the drops from the eye were acquainted with our case, and revealed what I hid,
and hid what I revealed.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Why, then, desire I secrecy, or the concealment of my love, when the violence of my
passion for thee sheweth what I feel?
Death hath become pleasant to me since the loss of those I love; but would that I
knew what would please them after me!
And when Shems-en-Nahár heard that slave-girl's song, she was unable to
keep her seat, and fell down in a fit. The Khaleefeh threw down the cup,
and drew her towards him, and cried out, and the female slaves raised a
clamour, and the Prince of the Faithful, turning her over, found that she was
dead. He lamented for her death, and gave orders to break all the
kánoons and other instruments of music that were there, and removed her
corpse to a closet, where he remained with it for the rest of the night; 27 and
when the day broke, he made preparations for her funeral, and commanded
to wash and shroud and bury her, and mourned for her greatly, asking no
questions respecting her condition, or her past conduct.
26
The slave-girl then said, I conjure thee by Allah that thou acquaint me
with the period when the funeral-procession of 'Alee the son of Bekkár is to
set forth, and that thou let me be present at his burial. So I replied, As for
myself, in whatsoever place thou desirest, thou shalt find me; but as for thee,
who can obtain access to thee in the place where thou residest? She said,
however, The Prince of the Faithful, when Shems-en-Nahár died, emanci-
pated her female slaves, on the same day, and I am one of them, and we
are staying at her tomb, in such a place.28 I therefore arose and went with
her, and, arriving at the burial-ground, visited the tomb of Shems-en-Nahár,
and then went my way, and remained waiting for the funeral-procession of
'Alee the son of Bekkár until it arrived, when the people of Baghdad went
forth to join it, and I went with them: and I found the slave-girl among the
women, and she was the most violent of them in lamentation; and I never
witnessed in Baghdád a greater funeral-procession than this. We pursued
our way, densely crowding together, until we came to his tomb, and buried
him; and I have not discontinued my visits to his tomb, nor to that of
Shems-en-Nahár.
X
THE PRINCE KAMAR-EZ-ZEMÁN AND THE PRINCESS BUDOOR
AND WHAT CAME OF THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST¹
THERE
2
4
HERE was, in ancient times, a King named Sháh-Zemán, possessing
numerous troops and attendants and guards. He dwelt in the Islands
of Khálidán,³ which are adjacent to the country of the Persians; and had
married four daughters of Kings, besides whom he had among his female
slaves sixty concubines. His age, however, was advanced, and his bones
were wasted, and he had not been blessed with a son: so he meditated in his
mind, and mourned and was disquieted, and complained of this to one of his
wezeers, saying, I fear that, when I die, my kingdom will be lost; for I have
no son to succeed to it after me. But the Wezeer replied, Perhaps God
will yet bring to pass some event: therefore place thy reliance upon God, O
King, and perform the ablution, and recite the prayers of two rek'ahs. It
is also my advice that thou give a banquet, and invite to it the poor and
the needy, and let them eat of it and pray to God (whose name be exalted!)
that He may bless thee with a son: perchance there may be among them a
pure soul, whose prayer, being righteous, will be answered: After that
thou wilt probably obtain thy desire. The King complied with his advice,
and his wife conceived, and when she had completed her months she gave
birth to a male child like the unclouded full moon in the dark night: so he
named him Kamar-ez-Zemán. He rejoiced at his birth with the utmost
joy, and they decorated the city for seven days; the drums were beaten, and
the messengers imparted the glad tidings; the nurses and the midwives
carried him, and he was reared with magnificence and fondness until he at-
tained the age of fifteen years.
He was of surpassing beauty and comeliness, and justness of stature and
form, and his father loved him so that he could not be absent from him by
night nor by day; and the King Sháh-Zemán complained to one of his
wezeers of the excess of his love for his son, saying, O Wezeer, I fear for my
son Kamar-ez-Zemán from the calamities and accidents of fortune, and desire
to marry him during my life. The Wezeer therefore replied, Know, O King,
that marriage is laudable, and there will be no harm in thy marrying thy son
during thy life. So upon this the King Sháh-Zemán said, Bring hither to me
my son Kamar-ez-Zemán. And he came, and hung down his head towards
the ground in modesty before his father. His father then said to him, O
Kamar-ez-Zemán, know that I desire to marry thee and to rejoice in thee
during my life. But he replied, Know, O my father, that I have no need of
315
316
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
marriage, and my soul inclineth not to women; for I have found books with
narratives of their fraudulence, and miracles have been occasioned by their
cunning. The poet hath said, -
If ye ask my opinion of women, I will tell you that I am a physician acquainted with
their affairs:
When the head of a man hath become gray, or his wealth is diminished, he hath no share
of their affection.
And another hath said,
-
Oppose women; for so wilt thou obey [God] becomingly since the youth will not prosper
who giveth them his rein
They will hinder him from attaining perfection in his excellencies though he pass a
thousand years in the study of science.
-After reciting these verses he added, O my father, marriage is a thing that
I will never do, though I be made to drink the cup of perdition. And when
the King Shah-Zemán heard these words of his son, the light became dark-
ness before his face, and he was grieved excessively at the want of obedience
which his son Kamar-ez-Zemán manifested towards him: yet, from the love
that he bore him, he repeated not what he had said, nor provoked him to
anger: on the contrary, he shewed favour and regard towards him, and
treated him with every kind of fondness that could draw affection to the
heart.
Meanwhile, Kamar-ez-Zemán increased every day in beauty and comeli-
ness, and in elegance and tenderness of manner. The King Shah-Zemán bore
with him patiently for a whole year, until he became perfect in eloquence
and grace: mankind were ravished by his beauty, and every zephyr that
blew wafted the praises of his loveliness: he became a temptation unto lovers,
and as a paradise to the desirous; sweet in his speech; his face put to shame
the full moon; he was endowed with justness of stature and form, and with
graceful and engaging manners, resembling a twig of the Oriental willow or
an Indian cane, and his cheek supplied the place of the anemone, as his
figure did that of the willow-branch. He was graceful as the poet hath
said in thus describing him: -
He appeared, and they said, Blessed be Allah! Glory be to Him who moulded and per-
fected him!
He is King of the comely universally; for all of them have become subjects unto him.
The moisture of his mouth is like melted honey; and his teeth are like pearls joined
together.
All charms are united in him alone, and all mankind are confounded at his loveliness.
Beauty hath written upon his cheek, I acknowledge that no one is comely but he.
Now when he had completed another year, his father called him and said
to him, O my son, wilt thou not listen to my words? And upon this Kamar-
ez-Zemán fell down upon the floor before his father, through awe and shame,
and said to him, O my father, how should I refuse to attend to thy words,
when God hath commanded me to obey thee, and to abstain from opposing
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
317
thee? So the King Sháh-Zemán continued, Know, O my son, that I desire
to marry thee and to rejoice in thee during my life, and to make thee Sultán
over my dominions before my death. But when Kamar-ez-Zemán heard
these words of his father, he hung down his head for a while; after which
he raised it, and replied, O my father, this is a thing that I will never do,
though I be made to drink the cup of perdition. I know that God hath
imposed on me the obligation of yielding obedience unto thee; but by his
claims upon thee I conjure thee that thou constrain me not to marry: and
think not that I will marry during the whole course of my life; for I have
perused the books of the former and the later generations, and known all
the calamities and misfortunes that have happened to them through the
disturbances occasioned by women, and their endless artifice, and the dis-
asters that have proceeded from them. How excellent is the saying of the
│poet: -
He whom shameless women have entrapped will never see deliverance,
Though he build a thousand castles encrusted over with lead;
For their construction will not avail: the fortresses will not profit.
Verily women are treacherous to every one near and distant:
With their fingers dyed with hennà; with their hair arranged in plaits;
With their eyelids painted with kohl; they make one to drink of sorrows.*
-And when the King Sháh-Zemán heard these words from his son Kamar-
ez-Zemán, and understood the verses that he quoted, he returned him not an
answer, from the excess of his affection for him; but treated him with in-
creased favours and consideration.
The assembly broke up immediately; and after it was dissolved, the King
Shah-Zemán summoned his Wezeer, and in private said to him, O Wezeer,
tell me what I shall do in the affair of my son Kamar-ez-Zemán; for I con-
sulted thee on the subject of marrying him as preparatory to making him
Sultán, and thou advisedst me to do so, and to mention the matter of mar-
riage to him: so I proposed it to him, and he disobeyed me: acquaint me,
therefore, now, with that which thou seest to be best. The Wezeer replied,
That which I advise thee to do, O King, is, that thou have patience with him
for another year; and when thou desirest to speak to him after that on the
subject of marriage, speak not to him privately, but address him on a judg-
ment-day, when all the emeers and wezeers are present, and all the troops
are standing before thee. Then, when all these are assembled, send to thy
son Kamar-ez-Zemán, and summon him to thy presence; and when he hath
come, address him on the subject of marriage in the presence of all the
emeers and wezeers, and the chamberlains and lieutenants, and other lords
of the empire, and the soldiers and the impetuous warriors; for he will be
bashful before them, and will not be able to oppose thee in their presence.
And when the King Sháh-Zemán heard these words of his Wezeer, he rejoiced
exceedingly; he approved of the Wezeer's advice, and bestowed upon him a
magnificent robe of honour."
318
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The King Sháh-Zemán had patience with his son Kamar-ez-Zemán an-
other year; and every day that passed over him, the latter increased in
beauty and loveliness, and in elegance and consummate grace, until he had
nearly attained the age of twenty years. God clad him with the apparel of
comeliness, and crowned him with the crown of perfection: his eye was
more enchanting than Hároot; 10 and the play of his glance, more seductive
than Et-Tághoot: 11 his cheeks shone with redness; and his eyelashes scorned
the sharp, piercing sword: 12 the whiteness of his forehead resembled the
shining moon; and the blackness of his hair was like the dark night. — The
King Sháh-Zemán, having attended to the words of the Wezeer, waited an-
other year until a festival-day, when the King's court was attended by all
the emeers and wezeers, and the chamberlains and other lords of the empire,
and the soldiers and impetuous warriors. He then sent for his son Kamar-
ez-Zemán, who, when he came, kissed the ground before him three times, and
stood before his father with his hands placed together behind his back.¹³
13
And his father said to him, Know, O my son, that I have summoned thee
on this occasion before the present assembly, with all the troops before me,
for the purpose of giving thee a command, and do not thou oppose me in that
which I say. It is, that thou marry; for I desire to marry thee to a daughter
of one of the Kings, and to rejoice in thee before my death. - But when
Kamar-ez-Zemán heard these words of his father, he hung down his head
for a while towards the ground; and afterwards, raising it towards his father,
the madness of youth affected him, and the ignorance of a stripling's age,
and he replied, As to myself, I will never marry, though I be made to drink
the cups of perdition: and as to thee, thou art a man of great age and of
little sense. Hast thou not asked me before this day, twice before the pres-
ent occasion, on the subject of marriage, and I would not consent to the
proposal? ¹¹ Then Kamar-ez-Zemán unclasped his hands from behind his
back, and tucked up his sleeves from his arms, before his father, in his anger.
His father was abashed and ashamed, because this had happened before
the lords of his empire, and the soldiers who were present at the festival:
but presently the royal energy returned to him, and he cried out at his son,
and terrified him; and, calling to the memlooks, commanded them to seize
him. They therefore laid hold upon him; and he ordered them to bind his
hands behind him, and they did so, and led him forward before his father.
He hung down his head in fear and timidity, his face and his forehead were
bespangled with moisture, and his shame and confusion were excessive, while
his father abused him and reviled him, saying to him, Wo to thee, O base-
born, and nursling of impurity! 15 How couldst thou presume to make me
this reply before my soldiers and armies? But hitherto no one hath chas-
tised thee. Knowest thou not that this which thou hast done, had it pro-
ceeded from any one of the common people, it had been disgraceful in him?
He then commanded the memlooks to loose the cords that bound his
hands behind him, and to imprison him in one of the towers of the castle.
The farráshes,16 therefore, immediately went into the saloon that was in
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
319
the tower, and swept it, and wiped its pavement; and they placed in it a
couch for Kamar-ez-Zemán, upon which they spread a mattress and a
leathern covering; and they put for him a cushion, and a large lantern and
a candle; for the place was dark in the daytime. Then the memlooks con-
ducted Kamar-ez-Zemán into this saloon, and stationed a eunuch at its door.
And when they had done this, Kamar-ez-Zemán ascended the couch, with
broken spirit and mourning heart. He had already blamed himself, and re-
pented of his injurious conduct to his father, when repentance availed him
not, and he exclaimed, Malediction upon marriage and girls and deceitful
women! Would that I had attended to my father's command and married;
for if I had done so, it had been better for me than being in this prison!
Thus did it befall Kamar-ez-Zemán.
Now as to his father, he remained upon his throne during the rest of the
day until sunset, when he retired with the Wezeer, and said to him, Know,
O Wezeer, that thou hast been the cause of all this which hath happened be-
tween me and my son, by the advice that thou gavest me; and what dost
thou counsel me to do now? O King, answered the Wezeer, leave thy son
in the prison for a period of fifteen days: then summon him before thee,
and command him to marry; for he will never oppose thee again. And
the King received this advice of the Wezeer, and slept that night with a heart
troubled on account of his son; for he loved him excessively, because he had
no son beside him. The King Sháh-Zemán used to remain without sleep
every night until he put his arm under the neck of Kamar-ez-Zemán, and
then he slept. So he passed that night with a heart disordered on his ac-
count, and remained turning over from side to side as though he were lying
upon the burning embers of Hell: uneasiness overcame him, and sleep visited
him not all that night: his eyes poured forth tears, and he repeated the
words of the poet:
My night is tedious, while the slanderers sleep. It is enough that thy heart is terrified
by separation.
I exclaimed, while my night was prolonged by anxiety, O light of the morning, wilt thou
not return?
But as to Kamar-ez-Zemán, when night came, the eunuch placed before
him the lantern, and lighted the candle, which he placed in a candle-stick;
and after this he brought him some food. So he ate a little, and sat ex-
postulating with himself for his ill manners towards his father the King
Sháh-Zemán, saying, Knowest thou not that the son of Adam is a dependant
of his tongue, and that the tongue of a man is that which betrayeth him into
perils? Thus he continued to expostulate with, himself, and to blame him-
self, until tears overcame him; his aching heart was tortured, and he re-
pented extremely of that which his tongue had uttered against his father.
And when he had finished his repast, he demanded water to wash his hands,
and cleansed them of what adhered to them from the food. He then per-
formed the ablution preparatory to prayer, and recited the prayers of sun-
320
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
set and nightfall; after which he sat upon the couch, reciting the Kur-án.¹7
He recited the Chapters of "The Cow" and "The Family of 'Emrán "
and "Yá-Seen" and "The Compassionate " and " Blessed be He in Whose
hand is the Kingdom" and the "Two Preventives," and finished by suppli-
cation, and seeking refuge with God.18
Having done this, he laid himself on the couch, upon a mattress covered
with Maadinee satin,19 and when he desired to sleep, he took off his outer
clothes, and slept in a shirt of delicate waxed stuff, having upon his head
a blue kerchief of the fabric of Marw,20 and appearing like the moon in its
fourteenth night. He then covered himself with a sheet of silk, and slept
with the lighted lantern at his feet, and the lighted candle at his head; and
he continued asleep until the first third of the night had expired, not know-
ing the hidden event that awaited him, and what God, who knoweth all
secrets, had decreed to befall him.
Now the saloon and the tower were ancient, and had been deserted for
many years; and in the tower 21 was a Roman 22 well, inhabited by a Jin-
neeyeh of the posterity of Iblees the accursed. The name of that Jinneeyeh
was Meymooneh 23 the daughter of Ed-Dimiryát, one of the celebrated
Kings of the Jánn.24 And when Kamar-ez-Zemán had remained asleep until
the first third of the night had passed, this 'Efreeteh ascended from the
Roman well to repair towards heaven for the purpose of listening by
stealth; 25 and on reaching the upper part of the well, she saw a light
shining in the tower, contrary to what was usual. She had resided in that
place for a long period of years, and said within herself, I have never wit-
nessed anything like this before. And she wondered at this thing ex-
tremely, inferring that some strange cause had occasioned it. She then pro-
ceeded in the direction of the light, and found that it issued from the
saloon: so she entered it, and saw the eunuch sleeping at its door; and when
she entered the saloon,26 she found a couch placed there, with the form
of a man sleeping upon it, and a lighted candle at his head, and a lighted
lantern at his feet; and the 'Efreeteh wondered at this sight.
She advanced towards it by little and little, and, relaxing her wings,
stood over the couch, and removed the sheet from his face, and looked at
him. She remained for an hour in a state of astonishment at his beauty
and loveliness, and found that the light of his face surpassed that of the
candle: it gleamed with splendour: his eyes had been wantoning like those
of the gazelle, and were intensely black; his cheeks were brilliantly red,
and his eyelids were languishing; his eyebrows were arched; and his odour
diffused itself like fragrant musk. At the sight of him, Meymooneh the
daughter of Ed-Dimiryát extolled the perfection of God, and exclaimed,
Blessed be Allah, the best of creators! - for this 'Efreeteh was of the
believing Jinn. So she continued a while gazing at the face of Kamar-
ez-Zemán, exclaiming, there is no deity but God! - and wishing, but with-
out envy, that she were like him in beauty and loveliness. She said within
herself, By Allah, I will not injure him, nor suffer any one to hurt him,
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
321
but from every evil I will ransom him; for this comely face deserveth noth-
ing save that people should gaze at it and extol the perfection of God: but
how could his family leave him neglected in this ruinous place! If any of
our Márids came up unto him now they would destroy him. The 'Efreeteh
then bent over him, and kissed him between his eyes; after which she let
down the sheet over his face, and covered him with it.
Having done this, she spread her wings, and soared aloft towards
heaven. She rose from the precincts of the saloon, and continued her up-
ward flight through the sky until she drew near to the lowest heaven,
when she heard the flapping of wings flying through the air. So she pro-
ceeded in the direction of their sound, and when she approached the being
to whom they belonged, she found him to be an 'Efreet, named Dahnash,
whereupon she pounced upon him like a hawk. When Dahnash, therefore,
perceived her, and knew that she was Meymooneh, the daughter of the
King of the Jinn, he feared her; the muscles of his side quivered, and he
implored her favour, saying to her, I conjure thee by the Most Great Name,
and by the most noble talisman,27 engraved upon the seal of Suleyman,
that thou treat me with benevolence, and hurt me not! And when Mey-
mooneh heard these words of Dahnash, her heart was moved with tender-
ness towards him, and she said to him, Thou hast conjured me by a mighty
oath; but I will not liberate thee until thou hast informed me whence thou
art now come. - O mistress, he replied, know that I come from the
further extremity of the country of China, and from among the islands,
and I will acquaint thee with a wonder that I have beheld this night; and
if thou find my words to be true, do thou suffer me to go my way, and
write me a document in thine own hand declaring that I am thine emanci-
pated slave, so that no one of the bands of the Jinn, either of the upper
who fly or of the lower or those who dive,28 may oppose me. Meymooneh
said to him, And what hast thou seen this night, O Dahnash? Acquaint
me, and tell me no falsehood, desiring by thy lie to escape from my hand;
for I swear by the inscription engraved upon the stone of the seal of Suley-
mán the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!), that, if thy words be
not true, I will pluck out thy feathers with my hand, and tear thy skin,
and break thy bones. Then the 'Efreet Dahnash the son of Shemhoorish 29
the Flyer said to her, If my words be not true, do with me what thou wilt,
O my mistress. And he proceeded thus.
-
I came forth this night from the Interior Islands in the region of
China,30 which are the dominions of the King El-Ghayoor,31 the monarchs
of the Islands and the Seas, and the Seven Palaces, and have seen a daughter
of that King, than whom God hath created none in her age more beautiful.
I know not how to describe her to thee; for my tongue would fail to do so;
but I will mention to thee some of her characteristics as nearly as I can.
As to her hair, it is like the nights of emigration and separation; and as to
her face, it is like the days of union. Well hath the poet said in describing
her,-
322
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
She spread forth three locks of her hair one night, and exhibited four nights together;
And she turned up her face towards the moon of heaven, and shewed me two moons in
the same instant.
She hath a nose like the edge of the polished sword, and cheeks like deep-
red wine, or like anemones; her lips resemble coral and carnelion, and the
moisture of her mouth is more delicious than the best wine, and would
quench the fire of the inflamed; her tongue is put in motion by ample
intelligence and a ready reply; she hath a bosom that is a temptation to
him who beholdeth it extolled be the perfection of Him who created and
finished it! by the side of which are two smooth and round arms; and,
as the poet hath said, -
--
She hath hips, connected with a slender waist, which tyrannize both over me and her:
They confound me when I think upon them, and weigh her down when she would rise.
Her other charms, the describer cannot reckon; but all that I have men-
tioned, two delicate feet, the work of the protecting and recompensing
Creator, support; and I wondered how they could sustain what was above
them.32 Other particulars I omit; for language would fail to describe
them, and no sign would convey a just idea of them.
The father of this damsel (continued Dahnash) is a mighty King, an
impetuous horseman, who crosseth the seas of the surrounding regions by
night and day, dreading not death, nor fearing the escape of his foe, for
he is a despotic tyrant, and an oppressive conqueror; he is lord of numer-
ous armies and regions and islands and cities and habitations. His name
is the King El-Ghayoor, and he is monarch of the Islands and the Seas
and the Seven Palaces. He loved this his daughter, whom I have de-
scribed unto thee, with exceeding love, so that he collected the treasures of
all the other Kings, and with them built for her seven palaces, each of a
particular kind. The first palace is of crystal; the second of marble; the third,
of the iron of China; the fourth, of onyx and other precious stones; the fifth,
of silver; the sixth, of gold; and the seventh, of jewels. He filled the seven
palaces with varieties of magnificent furniture, and vessels of gold and
silver, and utensils of every kind that Kings could require, and commanded
his daughter to reside in each of them for a certain period of the year, and
then to remove to another of them. Her name is the Queen Budoor.**
When her beauty became celebrated, and her fame spread throughout the
surrounding countries, all the Kings sent to her father to request her of
him in marriage; and he mentioned the subject of marriage to her; but she
disliked it, and said to her father, O my father, I have no wish at all to
marry; for I am a princess, and a queen, ruling over men, and I desire not
a man to rule over me.
Yet the more she shewed reluctance to marry, so much the more did her
suitors increase in eagerness to possess her. All the Kings of the Interior
Islands of China sent presents and rarities to her father with letters re-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
323
questing her as a wife, and he repeated the proposals to her many times;
but she opposed his wish, and was angry with him, and said to him, If
thou mention the subject of marriage to me again, I will take a sword, and
put its hilt upon the floor and its point to my bosom, and lean upon it
until it protrude from my back, and thus kill myself. So when her father
heard these words from her, the light became darkness before his face, and
his heart was tortured excessively on her account; for he feared that she
would kill herself. He was perplexed respecting both her and the Kings
who sought her in marriage from him, and said to her, If thou art deter-
mined not to marry, abstain from going out and coming in. He then con-
veyed her into an apartment, and there confined her, commissioning ten
old women, kahramanehs,35 to guard her, and forbidding her to behold the
seven palaces; after which, he made it appear that he was incensed against
her, and sent letters to all the Kings, informing them that she was afflicted
with insanity, and that she had been confined for a year.
The 'Efreet Dahnash, having related these facts to the 'Efreeteh, said,
I go to her, O my mistress, every night, and gaze at her, and enjoy for a
long time the sight of her face, and kiss her between her eyes while she lieth
asleep; but from my love for her I do her no injury; for her loveliness is
surpassing: every one who seeth her is jealous of her with respect to his own
self. I conjure thee, O my mistress, that thou come with me and behold
her beauty and loveliness, and justness of form and proportion; and
afterwards, if thou desire to chastise me or to enslave me, do it; for it is
thine to command, and thine to forbid. Then the 'Efreet Dahnash hung
down his head towards the earth, and lowered his wings. But the 'Efreeteh
Meymooneh, after laughing at his words, and spitting in his face, said to him,
What is this damsel of whom thou speakest? She is of no more value
than a fragment of base pottery! What wouldst thou say if thou sawest
my beloved? By Allah, I thought thou hadst some wonderful tale, or
extraordinary story, O accursed! I have seen a man this night, such that
if thou beheldest him even in a dream, thou wouldst be paralyzed with
astonishment at him. And what, said Dahnash, is the story of this young
man?
---
She answered, Know, O Dahnash, that this young man hath experienced
the like of that which hath happened to thy beloved, whom thou hast men-
tioned.30 His father commanded him many times to marry; but he re-
fused; and his father, when he had thus oppressed him, was incensed against
him, and imprisoned him in the tower in which I reside; and as I came
forth this night, I beheld him. O my mistress, replied Dahnash, shew me
this young man, that I may see whether he be more beautiful than my be-
loved, the Queen Budoor, or not; for I do not imagine there existeth in
this age the like of my beloved. Thou liest, rejoined the 'Efreeteh, O
accursed! O most unlucky of Márids, and most contemptible of devils!
for I am certain that there existeth not the equal of my beloved in these
countries. Art thou mad, then, that thou comparest thy beloved unto
324
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
—
mine? I conjure thee by Allah, O my mistress, resumed Dahnash, that
thou come with me to see my beloved, and I will return with thee and
behold thine. It must be so, O accursed, said Meymooneh; for thou art
a knavish devil; but I will not accompany thee, nor shalt thou go with me,
except on the condition of a bet: if thy beloved, whom thou beholdest to
be superior, prove more beautiful than mine, whom I regard as superior,
the bet shall be thine and against me; but if my beloved prove to be the
more beautiful, the bet shall be mine and against thee. The 'Efreet Dah-
nash replied, O my mistress, I consent to this condition willingly: come then
with me to the islands. But Meymooneh said, The place of my beloved
is nearer than that of thine: here it is beneath us: so descend with me
to see my beloved; and after that, we will repair to thine. And Dahnash
replied, I hear and obey.
They then descended, and alighted within the precincts of the saloon
in the tower, and Meymooneh, having stationed Dahnash by the side of
the couch, put forth her hand, and raised the sheet from the face of
Kamar-ez-Zemán, the son of the King Sháh-Zemán; whereupon his face
beamed and shone, and glistened and glittered. Meymooneh beheld him,
and then, turning her eyes immediately towards Dahnash, said to him,
Look, O accursed, and be not the basest of fools: for I am a maiden, and
am fascinated by him. So Dahnash looked towards him, and remained
a while contemplating him; after which, he shook his head, and said to
Meymooneh, By Allah, O my mistress, thou art excused; but it remaineth
to be shewn that the female is different from the male: yet, by Allah, this
thy beloved is, of all men, he who beareth the nearest resemblance to my
beloved, in beauty and loveliness and elegance and all perfection: both of
them have been formed alike in the mould of beauty. But when Mey-
mooneh heard these words of Dahnash, the light became darkness before
her eyes, and she struck him with her wing upon his head with such force
that he almost experienced his predestined end from the violence of the
blow; and she said to him, I swear by the brightness of his glorious
aspect that thou shalt go, O accursed, this instant, and lift up thy beloved,
and bring her quickly unto this place, that we may put them together, and
see them both while they lie asleep side by side: then it will be manifest
unto us which of them is the more beautiful. If thou do not what I have
commanded thee forthwith, O accursed, I will burn thee with my fire, and
dart at thee my destructive sparks, and scatter thee, torn in pieces, over
the deserts, making thee an example to the stationary and the night-traveller.
-So Dahnash replied, O my mistress, thy command shall be obeyed; but
I know that my beloved is more beautiful, and sweeter.
37
Then the 'Efreet Dahnash flew away immediately, and Meymooneh
flew with him to guard him; and after they had been absent an hour, they
returned conveying the damsel, who was clad in a shirt of delicate Venetian
stuff, with two borders of gold embroidered in the most admirable manner,
presenting the following verses worked upon the extremity of each sleeve: -
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
325
Three things have prevented her from paying us a visit, through fear of the spy and the
angry envier;
The light of her forehead, and the sound of her ornaments, and the constant scent of
ambergris inherent in her.
Suppose she hide her forehead with the end of her sleeve, and pull off her jewels; how
can she divest her of her odour? *
38
The 'Efreet and 'Efreeteh descended with this damsel, and, having ex-
tended her by the side of the young man, uncovered the faces of both, and
they bore the strongest resemblance to each other, as though they were twins,
or an only brother and sister: they were a temptation to the abstinent.
Dahnash and Meymooneh began to gaze upon them, and the former said,
Verily my beloved is the more beautiful. — Nay, replied Meymooneh, my
beloved is the more beautiful. Woe to thee, O Dahnash! Art thou blind?
Dost thou not behold his beauty and loveliness, and justness of stature
and form? But hear what I say of my beloved, and if thou be a true lover
of her with whom thou art enamoured, say of her as I shall say of my
beloved. — She then kissed Kamar-ez-Zemán several times, and recited an
ode in his praise. And when Dahnash heard it, he was extremely delighted,
and full of admiration; but he said, Thou hast recited these tender verses
on thy beloved with thy mind engrossed by him: I will now endeavour to
recite some, the best that I can think of. So he approached his beloved,
Budoor, and, having kissed her between the eyes, looked towards the
'Efreeteh Meymooneh, and towards his beloved, and recited an ode; but
with a wandering mind. And when he had finished, the 'Efreeteh said,
Thou hast done well, O Dahnash: but which of these two is the more beau-
tiful? He answered, My beloved, Budoor, is more beautiful than thine.
- Thou liest, O accursed! she replied, for my beloved is more beautiful
than thine.
Thus they continued contradicting each other, until Meymooneh cried
out at Dahnash, and would have laid violent hands upon him; but he
abased himself before her, and, softening his speech, said to her, Let not
the truth be grievous unto thee: annul thy assertion and mine; for we each
pronounce in favour of our beloved: let each of us, therefore, reject both
the opinions, and let us seek one to judge between us with equity, and by
his sentence we will abide. Meymooneh replied, So shall it be. She then
struck the floor with her foot, and there arose from it an 'Efreet, blind of one
eye, and with a diseased skin; his eyes were slit upwards in his face; upon
his head were seven horns, and he had four locks of hair hanging down to
the ground; his hands were like those of the Kutrub,39 with claws like the
claws of the lion; and his feet were like the elephant's, with hoofs like those.
of the ass.
As soon as this 'Efreet arose, and beheld Meymooneh, he kissed the
ground before her, and, placing his hands together behind his back, said.
to her, What dost thou require, O my mistress, O daughter of the King?
She answered, O Kashkash, I desire that thou judge between me and this
326
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
accursed Dahnash. She then acquainted him with the case from first to
last; and upon this, the 'Efreet Kashkash looked upon the face of the young
man, and upon that of the damsel and beheld them embracing each other
as they lay asleep, the arm of each being under the neck of the other, re-
sembling each other in beauty and loveliness, and equal in charms. The
Márid Kashkash gazed, and wondered at their beauty, and, after he had
long kept his eyes upon them, looked towards Meymooneh and Dahnash,
and recited some amatory verses, and then added, By Allah, neither of
them is more or less beautiful than the other; but they bear the strongest
resemblance to each other in beauty and loveliness, and elegance and per-
fection; and they are not to be pronounced different from each other in
these respects because they are of different sexes. I have to propose, how-
ever, another mode of determining the question; and it is this: that we
awake each of them without the knowledge of the other; and the one who
shall be most inflamed with love for the other shall be confessed to be the
inferior in beauty and loveliness. Excellent, said Meymooneh, is this ad-
vice that thou hast given, and I approve of it. And I also, said Dahnash,
approve of it.
-
—
Upon this, therefore, Dahnash transformed himself into a flea, and bit
Kamar-ez-Zemán upon his neck, in a soft place: so Kamar-ez-Zemán put
his hand to his neck, and scratched the place of the bite, on account of the
violence of the smarting that it occasioned, and, moving sideways, found
something lying by him, from which proceeded a breath more fragrant
than musk, with a body softer than butter. Kamar-ez-Zemán wondered at
this exceedingly, and immediately raised himself. Looking at this person
lying by his side, he found it to be a damsel like a precious pearl, or like
a shining sun,40 with a form like the letter Alif," of quinary 42 stature, high-
bosomed, and with red cheeks. And when Kamar-ez-Zemán thus beheld
the lady Budoor, the daughter of the King El-Ghayoor, and observed her
beauty and loveliness as she lay asleep by his side, he saw upon her body a
shirt of Venetian stuff, and upon her head a koofeeyeh of cloth of gold adorned
with jewels, and on her neck a long necklace of precious gems such as
none of the Kings could procure. His reason was confounded at the sight,
and he said within himself, What God desireth will come to pass, and what
He desireth not will not happen! He then turned her over with his hand,
and attempted to rouse her; but she awoke not; for Dahnash had made
her sleep heavy: so Kamar-ez-Zemán squeezed her with his hand, and shook
her, saying, O my beloved, awake, and see whom I am; for I am Kamar-
ez-Zemán. But she awoke not, nor moved her head.
And he remained for an hour reflecting upon her case, and said within
himself, If my conjecture be true, this damsel is she to whom my father
desireth to marry me, and for three years I have refused to do it: but,
please God, when morning cometh, I will say to my father, Marry me to
her: and I will not suffer mid-day to pass before I possess her and delight
myself with her beauty and loveliness. - He then inclined towards Budoor
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
327
to kiss her: whereupon Meymooneh the Jinneeyeh trembled and was con-
founded: but as to the 'Efreet Dahnash, he leaped for joy. When Kamar-
ez-Zemán, however, was about to kiss her upon the mouth, he feared God,
and turned away his face, saying within himself, I will have patience; for
perhaps my father, when he was incensed against me, and imprisoned me
in this place, brought unto me this bride, and commanded her to sleep by
my side, to prove me by her, and charged her not to appear awake on my
attempting to rouse her, and said to her, Whatsoever Kamar-ez-Zemán do
to thee, acquaint me with it. And probably my father is standing con-
cealed in some place to observe me, while I see him not, and he will wit-
ness all that I do with this damsel, and in the morning will reproach me,
and say to me, How dost thou say, I have no need of marriage, — and
kiss that damsel, and embrace her! So I will withhold myself from her,
lest I be exposed before my father. I will not touch this damsel from the
present moment, nor look towards her; but will only take from her some-
thing that may be a token in my keeping and a memorial of her, that there
may be a sign between me and her. Then Kamar-ez-Zemán raised the
hand of the damsel, and took her ring from her little finger. It was worth
a large sum of money; for its stone was a precious jewel; and around it
were engraved these verses:
-
Think not that I have forgotten your promises, notwithstanding the length of your
alienation.
O my lord, be generous and propitious towards me! Perhaps I may kiss your mouth
and your cheeks.
By Allah, I will never relinquish you, though you should transgress the bounds of love.
So Kamar-ez-Zemán took off this ring from the little finger of the Queen
Budoor, and, having put it on his own little finger, turned his back towards
her, and slept.
The Jinneeyeh Meymooneh, when she saw this, rejoiced, and said to
Dahnash and Kashkash, Have ye seen my beloved, Kamar-ez-Zemán, how
he hath abstained from this damsel? This is the result of the perfection of
his excellencies. Consider how he beheld this damsel and her beauty and
loveliness, and yet embraced her not, nor passed his hand over her; but
turned his back to her, and slept. They answered her, We have witnessed
his perfect conduct.
Meymooneh then transformed herself into a flea, and, entering beneath
the clothes of Budoor, the beloved of Dahnash, bit her; whereupon she
opened her eyes, and sat up, and beheld a young man sleeping by her side,
and snoring in his sleep, with cheeks like anemones, and eyes that put to
shame the beautiful Hooreeyehs, and a mouth like the seal of Suleymán.43
When she beheld him, distraction and ecstasy and desire overcame her,
and she said within herself, O my disgrace! This young man is a stranger:
I know him not; and wherefore is he lying by my side in the same bed?
- Then looking at him again, and contemplating his elegance and his amor-
328
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ous aspect, and his beauty and loveliness, she said, By Allah, he is a youth
comely as the moon, and my heart is almost rent by ecstasy of love for him,
and by the violence of passion excited by his beauty and loveliness! But
how am I disgraced by his means! By Allah, if I had known that this
handsome youth was the person who demanded me in marriage of my
father, I had not rejected him, but had married him, and delighted myself
with his loveliness. Then the Queen Budoor immediately looked in the
face of Kamar-ez-Zemán, and said to him, O my lord, and beloved of my
heart, and light of mine eye, awake from thy sleep. And she shook him
with her hand.
But Meymooneh the Jinneeyeh immersed him in sleep, and pressed down
his head with her wing: so he awoke not. The Queen Budoor shook him
again with her hand, and said to him, By my life I conjure thee to comply
with my desire and. awake from thy sleep! Arise, O my master, and recline
upon the cushion, and sleep not! But Kamar-ez-Zemán returned her no
reply, nor addressed her with a word; still snoring in his sleep. So the
Queen Budoor said, Wherefore art thou so proud, with thy beauty and
loveliness and elegance and amorous aspect? As thou art comely, so am I
also. Why then dost thou act thus? Have they instructed thee to manifest
aversion towards me, or hath my father, that ill-omened old man, forbidden
thee to speak to me this night? - Kamar-ez-Zemán then opened his eyes;
whereupon her love for him increased. God instilled into her heart a pas-
sion for him, and she cast at him a glance which occasioned her a thousand
sighs; her heart throbbed, and she said to Kamar-ez-Zemán, O my master,
speak to me! O my beloved, converse with me! O object of my passion,
return me a reply, and tell me what is thy name; for thou hast captivated
my reason! But all this while, Kamar-ez-Zemán remained immersed in
sleep, and replied not a word. And the Queen Budoor sighed, and said,
Wherefore art thou so self-satisfied? Then she shook him again, and turned
over his hand, and seeing her ring upon his little finger, she uttered a cry
of astonishment, and said with an amorous manner, Alas! Alas! By Allah,
thou art my beloved, and thou lovest me; but thou seemest to affect an
aversion towards me, though thou camest to me while I was asleep, and
I know not what thou hast done unto me; yet I will not pull off my ring
from thy little finger. And she searched for something to take from him,
and, taking off his ring from his finger, put in on hers, instead of her
own ring; after which she kissed his mouth and his hands, and placed one
of her hands beneath his neck, and the other under his arm, and fell asleep
again by his side.
When Meymooneh beheld this, she rejoiced exceedingly, and said to
Dahnash, Hast thou seen, O accursed, how thy beloved hath acted in the
distraction of her passion for my beloved, and how he hath acted in his
pride and dissimulation? There is no doubt, then, that my beloved is more
beautiful than thine: but I pardon thee. She then wrote for him a paper
of manumission, and, looking towards Kashkash, said to him, Do thou
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
329
insinuate thyself with him beneath his beloved, and assist him to convey
her back to her place; for the night is gone, and the opportunity for the
accomplishment of my intention is past. So Dahnash and Kashkash ad-
vanced towards the Queen Budoor, and insinuated themselves beneath her,
and, having flown away with her and conveyed her back to her place, re-
stored her to her bed, while Meymooneh remained alone, gazing at Kamar-ez-
Zemán as he lay asleep, until but little of the night remained, when she
went her way.
Now when daybreak came, Kamar-ez-Zemán awoke from his sleep,
and looked to the right and left; but found not the damsel with him. So
he said within himself, What meaneth this affair? It seemeth that my
father would excite in me a desire to marry the damsel who was with
me, and, having done this, hath taken her away secretly, that my desire
for her may increase. He then called out to the eunuch who was sleeping
at the door, and said to him, Wo to thee, O accursed! Rise! The eunuch,
therefore, rose, his reason wandering from sleep, and brought to him the
basin and ewer. And Kamar-ez-Zemán rose, and performed the ablution,
recited the morning-prayers, and sat repeating the praises of God.44 Then
looking towards the eunuch, he saw him standing in attendance before him,
and he said to him, Wo to thee, O Sawáb! Who hath come hither, and
taken away the damsel from my side while I was asleep? - The eunuch
said, O my master, what damsel? - The damsel who was sleeping with me
this night, answered Kamar-ez-Zemán. And the eunuch was disturbed at
his words, and replied, There was no damsel with thee, nor any one else:
and how could a damsel come in when I was sleeping behind the door and
it was locked? By Allah, O my master, neither male nor female came in
to thee. But Kamar-ez-Zemán exclaimed, Thou liest, O ill-omened slave!
Art thou also of sufficient rank to presume to deceive me, and wilt thou not
acquaint me whither hath gone the damsel who was sleeping with me this
night, nor inform me who took her away from me? The eunuch, agitated
by what he said, answered, By Allah, O my master, I have neither seen
a young woman nor a young man. And Kamar-ez-Zemán was enraged
at the words of the eunuch, and said to him, They have taught thee deceit,
O accursed! Come hither then to me.
So the eunuch approached him, and Kamar-ez-Zemán took him by
the collar, and threw him down upon the floor, and then, kneeling upon
him, kicked him and squeezed his throat until he became insensible; after
which, he tied him to the well-rope, and lowered him into the well till he
reached the water, and let him down into it; and it was in the cold season
of a severe winter. He plunged the eunuch in the water, and then drew
him up, and let him down again; and thus he continued to do. The eunuch
all the while cried for help, and shrieked and called; but Kamar-ez-Zemán
replied, By Allah, O accursed, I will not draw thee out from this well until
thou acquaint me with the story of that damsel and tell me who took her
away while I slept. So the eunuch said, Deliver me from the well, O my
330
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
master, and I will acquaint thee with the truth. Kamar-ez-Zemán, there-
fore, drew him up from the well, and took him out, stupefied with what he
had suffered from the dipping and plunging and cold and beating and tor-
ture. He trembled like the reed in the tempestuous wind, his teeth were
locked together, and his clothes were dripping. And when he found him-
self upon the floor, he said, Suffer me, O my master, to go and take off
my clothes, and wring them, and spread them in the sun, and put on others:
then I will return to thee quickly, and acquaint thee with the affair of that
damsel, and relate to thee her story. By Allah, O ill-omened slave, re-
plied Kamar-ez-Zemán, if thou hadst not experienced the pains of death,
thou hadst not confessed the truth! Go out then to do what thou desirest,
and return to me quickly and relate to me the story of the damsel.
The eunuch, upon this, went forth, scarcely believing in his escape, and
ran without stopping until he went in to the King Sháh-Zemán, the father
of Kamar-ez-Zemán, when he found the Wezeer by his side, and they were
conversing on the affair of Kamar-ez-Zemán. He heard the King say to
the Wezeer, Verily I have not slept this last night from the trouble of my
heart respecting Kamar-ez-Zemán, and I fear that some evil will befall him
from his confinement in that ancient tower: it was not at all fit to imprison
him. But the Wezeer replied, Fear not for him: By Allah, no harm will
happen unto him. Leave him imprisoned for a month, that his temper
may become softened. And while they were thus talking, the eunuch
came in to them, in the condition above described, and said to the King, O
our lord the Sultán, insanity hath befallen thy son, and thus hath he done
unto me; and he said to me, A damsel passed this night with me, and went
away secretly: acquaint me, therefore, with her history. But I know not
the affair of this damsel. And when the Sultán Sháh-Zemán heard these
words respecting his son Kamar-ez-Zemán, he cried out, saying, O my
son! and was violently enraged against the Wezeer who had been the
cause of these events, and said to him, Arise, and ascertain for me the state
of my son.
The Wezeer, therefore, went, treading upon the skirts of his dress through
his fear of the King, and proceeded with the eunuch to the tower. The
sun had risen, and the Wezeer went in to Kamar-ez-Zemán, and found him
sitting upon the couch, reciting the Kur-án; and he saluted him, and seat-
ing himself by his side, said to him, O my master, this ill-omened slave
hath brought us information that hath troubled and agitated us, and the
King was incensed at it. So Kamar-ez-Zemán said, O Wezeer, and what
hath he told you concerning me to trouble my father? In truth he hath
troubled none but me. The Wezeer answered, He came to us in a miser-
able plight, and told us a thing God forbid that it should be true of thee!
he uttered a lie respecting thee such as is not proper to be mentioned.
Allah preserve thy youth,15 and thy sound reason and thine eloquent
tongue, and far be it from thee that anything base should proceed from
thee! Kamar-ez-Zemán, therefore, said to him, O Wezeer, and what hath
-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
331
--
that
this ill-omened slave said? He informed us, answered the Wezeer,
thou hadst become mad, and hadst said to him, There was a damsel with
me last night. Didst thou then say to the eunuch these words?
-
And when Kamar-ez-Zemán heard this, he was violently enraged, and
said to the Wezeer, It is evident to me that ye taught the eunuch to act as
he did, and forbade him to acquaint me with the affair of the damsel who
was sleeping with me this last night: but thou, O Wezeer, art more sensible
than the eunuch; tell me therefore immediately whither is gone the beau-
tiful damsel who was sleeping in my bosom last night; for ye are they
who sent her to me and commanded her to pass the night in my bosom;
and I slept with her until the morning, when I awoke and found her not.
Where, therefore, is she now?-O my master Kamar-ez-Zemán, replied
the Wezeer, may the name of Allah encompass thee! 46 By Allah, we sent
not any one to thee this last night, and thou sleepedst alone, with the door
locked upon thee, and the eunuch sleeping behind it; and neither damsel
nor any one else came to thee. Return then to thy reason, O my master,
and no longer trouble thy heart. But Kamar-ez-Zemán, enraged at his
words, said to him, O Wezeer, that damsel is my beloved, and she is the
beautiful creature with the black eyes and the red cheeks whom I embraced
last night. And the Wezeer wondered at his words, and asked him, Didst
thou see that damsel this night with thine eye and awake, or in sleep?
O ill-omened old man, said Kamar-ez-Zemán, dost thou imagine that I saw
her with my ear? Nay, I saw her with my eyes, and awake, and turned
her over with my hand, and remained awake by her half of the entire night,
enjoying the contemplation of her beauty and loveliness, and elegance and
amorous aspect: but ye charged her that she should not speak to me; so
she pretended to be asleep, and I slept by her side until the morning, when
I awoke from my sleep, and found her not. The Wezeer replied, O my
master Kamar-ez-Zemán, perhaps thou sawest this in thy sleep, and it is
the result of confused dreams or vain fancies occasioned by eating a mix-
ture of different kinds of food, or an idea inspired by the wicked devils. —
O ill-omened old man, exclaimed Kamar-ez-Zemán, wherefore dost thou
too make a jest of me, and tell me that perhaps this is the result of con-
fused dreams, when the eunuch hath confessed to me that the damsel was
here, and said to me, I will immediately return to thee and relate to thee
her story?
He then instantly arose, and, drawing near to the Wezeer, grasped his
beard in his hand. It was a long beard, and Kamar-ez-Zemán took it and
twisted it round his hand, and pulled him by it so that he threw him down
from the couch upon the floor; and the Wezeer felt as if his soul had de-
parted, from the violence with which his beard was pulled. Kamar-ez-
Zeman then continued kicking the Wezeer with his feet, and beating him
upon the back of his neck with his hands, until he had almost put an end
to him. So the Wezeer said within himself, If the slave, the eunuch, saved
himself from this mad youth by his lie, it is more fit that I also should
332
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
save myself by a lie; else he will destroy me: therefore now will I lie, and
save my life from him; for he is mad: of his madness there is no doubt.
Accordingly, he looked towards Kamar-ez-Zemán, and said to him, O my
master, be not angry with me; for thy father charged me to conceal from
thee the affair of this damsel; but now I am weak and wearied by the beat-
ing; for I am become an old man, and have not strength to endure blows:
grant me then a short delay, that I may relate to thee the story of the
damsel.
Upon this, therefore, he ceased from beating him, and said to him,
Why wouldst thou not acquaint me with her history until after beating
and disgrace? Arise now, O ill-omened old man, and tell me her story.
-The Wezeer then said to him, Dost thou ask respecting the damsel with
the beautiful face and consummate form? - Yes, said Kamar-ez-Zemán;
inform me, O Wezeer, who brought her to me and put her to sleep with
me, and where is she now, that I may myself go to her. And if my father,
the King Shah-Zemán, hath done thus unto me to prove me by that beau-
tiful damsel, with the view of my marrying her, I consent to do so.
did all this to me, and inflamed my heart with love for that damsel, and
afterwards separated her from me, only because of my refusal to marry.
But now I consent to marry. I say again, I consent to marry. So acquaint
my father with this, O Wezeer, and advise him to marry me to that
damsel; for I desire none but her, and my heart hath loved none other.
Arise then, and hasten to my father, and advise him to be quick in marry-
ing me: then return to me soon immediately.
The Wezeer believed not in his escape from Kamar-ez-Zemán until he
had gone forth from the tower; and he ran on until he came into the
presence of the King Sháh-Zemán; when the King said to him, O Wezeer,
wherefore do I behold thee in a state of confusion, and who hath by his
wickedness injured thee, so that thou hast come in terror? He answered,
I have brought thee news.47 And what is it? asked the King. — Know,
answered the Wezeer, that madness hath befallen thy son Kamar-ez-Zemán.
And when the King heard these words, the light became darkness be-
fore his face, and he said, O Wezeer, explain to me the nature of the mad-
ness of my son. The Wezeer replied, I hear and obey: and he acquainted
him with that which his son had done: whereupon the King said to him,
Be informed, O Wezeer, that I will grant thee, in return for the news
which thou hast brought me of the madness of my son, the striking off of
thy head, and the cessation of my favour to thee, O most ill-omened of
Wezeers, and basest of Emeers! For I know that thou hast been the
cause of the madness of my son by the wicked advice which thou gavest
me first and last. By Allah, if any mischief or madness have befallen my
son, I will nail thee upon the kubbeh,18 and make thee to taste affliction.
The King then rose upon his feet, and, taking the Wezeer with him,
entered the tower in which was Kamar-ez-Zemán; and when they came
to him, he stood up to his father, descending quickly from the couch upon
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
333
which he was sitting; and having kissed his father's hands, drew backwards,
and hung down his head towards the ground, and stood before his father
with his hands joined behind his back. Thus he remained a while; after
which, he raised his head towards his father, and, with tears flowing from
his eyes down his cheeks, recited the words of the poet:
If I have been guilty of a fault against you, and committed a deed of a shameful nature,
I repent of my offence, and your clemency will extend to the evil-doer who craveth for-
giveness.
And upon this, the King arose, and embraced his son Kamar-ez-Zemán,
kissing him between the eyes, and seated him by his side upon the couch.
Then looking towards the Wezeer with the eye of anger, he said to him, O
dog of Wezeers, wherefore dost thou say of my son such and such things,
and terrify my heart on his account? And he turned towards his son, and
said to him, O my son, what is the name of this day? O my father, he
answered, to-day is Saturday, and to-morrow is Sunday, and next after it
is Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday, and then Fri-
day. And the King said to him, O my son, O Kamar-ez-Zemán, praise
be to God for thy safety! What is the name of this month, in Arabic?
Its name, he answered, is Zu-l-Kaadeh, and it is followed by Zu-l-Hejjeh,
and Moharram, and Safar, and Rabeea el-Owwal, and Rabeea eth-Thánee,
and Jumáda-l-Oolà, and Jumada-th-Thániyeh, and Rejeb, and Shaabán,
and Ramadán, and Showwál.19 So the King rejoiced at this answer exceed-
ingly, and spat in the face of the Wezeer, and said to him, O wicked old man,
how dost thou assert that my son Kamar-ez-Zemán hath become insane,
when the case is that none hath become insane but thyself? The Wezeer
shook his head, and was about to speak; but it occurred to his mind that
he should rather wait a little, to see what would happen.
The King then said to his son, O my son, what were those words that
thou spakest to the eunuch and the Wezeer, when thou saidst to them, I
was sleeping with a beautiful damsel this last night? And what is the
affair of this damsel whom thou hast mentioned? And Kamar-ez-Zemán
laughed at the words of his father, and answered him, O my father, know
that I have not strength to endure jesting; therefore add not to me another
word of it; for my temper is straitened by that which ye have done unto
me.
Know, O my father, that I consent to marriage; but on the condition
that thou marry me to that damsel who was sleeping with me this last
night; for I am certain that it was thou who sentest her to me and causedst
me to be enamoured of her, and that thou sentest to her before the morn-
ing, and tookest her away from me. At this the King exclaimed, The
name of Allah encompass thee, O my son! Allah preserve thy reason
from derangement! What is this damsel of whom thou assertest that I
sent her to thee this last night and then sent to take her away from thee
before the morning? By Allah, O my son, I have no knowledge of this
affair. I conjure thee, then, to inform me is not this a confused dream,
334
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
or a fancy resulting from food? For thou passedst this last night with
a heart troubled on the subject of marriage, and inspired with fancies by
the mention of that subject. Malediction upon marriage and its hour,
and upon him who. advised me on that matter! There is no doubt but
that thy temperament is disturbed on that account, so that thou hast dreamt
that a beautiful damsel was embracing thee, and thou believedest in thine
own mind that thou sawest this awake, when all this, O my son, was a
confused dream. But Kamar-ez-Zemán replied, Abstain from these words,
and swear to me by Allah, the Creator, the Omniscient, the Destroyer of
the mighty, and the Annihilator of the Kisràs,50 that thou hast had no
knowledge of the damsel or her abode. So the King said, By Allah the
Great, the God of Moosà and Ibraheem, I have had no knowledge of that
which thou mentionest, and probably it was a confused dream that thou
sawest in sleep.
Then Kamar-ez-Zemán said, I will propose to thee a parable, to prove
to thee that this happened when I was awake, by asking thee if it have
ever happened that any person dreamt that he was fighting, and, after a
severe contest, awoke from his sleep and found in his hand a sword stained
with blood? His father answered, No, by Allah, O my son; such a thing
hath never occurred. Then, said Kamar-ez-Zemán, I will acquaint thee
with that which hath happened unto me; and it was this: I seemed as
though I awoke this last night from my sleep at midnight, and found a
damsel sleeping by my side, whose figure and form were as mine, and I
embraced her, and touched her with my hand, and took her ring, which I
put on my finger, and she pulled off my ring and put it on her finger. But
I regarded her with reserve, from a feeling of bashfulness towards thee;
for I imagined that thou hadst sent her, and hadst concealed thyself in
some place to observe my actions. So I was ashamed to kiss her upon
her mouth on thy account, as it occurred to my mind that thou desiredst
to tempt me by her, to excite me to marry. Afterwards I awoke from my
sleep at the commencement of the dawn, and found no trace of the damsel,
nor obtained any tidings of her; and what happened between me and the
eunuch and the Wezeer was in consequence of this. Now how could this
affair be as thou supposest, when the incident of the ring is true? Were
it not for the ring I should imagine that it was a dream; but this is her
ring which is upon my little finger at the present moment. See, O King,
what is its value.
Kamar-ez-Zemán then handed the ring to his father, who, having
taken it, and turned it round, looked towards his son, and said to him,
Verily some great and important revelation dependeth upon this ring, and
that which happened to thee last night with this damsel is a mysterious
affair. I know not how this visitor came in among us, and no one was
the cause of all this but the Wezeer. I conjure thee, however, by Allah, O
my son, that thou be patient; for probably God will dispel this affliction
from thee, and send thee complete relief; as the poet hath said: -
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
335
Probably Fortune will turn its rein, and bring prosperity; for Fortune is changeable.
My desires may be blest, and my wants performed, and happy events may follow adverse.
O my son, he continued, I have now convinced myself that thou art not
insane; but no one can clear up thy affair save God. - Kamar-ez-Zemán
replied, By Allah, O my father, search after this damsel for me, and hasten
her coming; else I shall die of anguish. Then, with an expression of trans-
port, he looked towards his father, and recited these two verses:
If your promise of an actual interview be false, grant the lover an interview or a visit
in sleep.
But how, they replied, can the phantom present itself to the eye of a youth from whom
sleep is banished?
O my father, he added,51 I have not patience to wait for her even an hour.
And upon this, the King smote his hands together, and exclaimed. There
is no power but in God, the High, the Great! No stratagem will avail in
this affair! He then took the hand of his son, and led him to the palace,
where Kamar-ez-Zemán laid himself upon the bed of sickness, and his father
seated himself at his head, mourning and weeping for his son, and leaving
him neither by night nor day.
At length the Wezeer said to the King, O King of the age, how long
wilt thou remain shut up from the troops with thy son Kamar-ez-Zemán?
Probably the order of the realm may be corrupted by thy estrangement from
the lords of thy empire. It is incumbent on the wise, when various diseases
afflict his body, to apply himself to restoratives for his bones; and it is my
advice that thou remove thy son from this place to the pavilion in the
palace overlooking the sea, and pass thy time in retirement there with thy
son, appointing two days in every week, namely, Thursday and Monday,
for the procession of state and for holding the court. So, on those two
days, the emeers and wezeers, and chamberlains and lieutenants, and other
lords of the empire and chief men of the state, and the impetuous warriors
and the rest of the soldiers and subjects, shall come in unto thee and submit
to thee their cases, and thou shalt perform their wants and judge between
them, and take from them and give to them, and command and forbid;
and the rest of the week thou shalt pass with thy son Kamar-ez-Zemán.
Thus thou shalt continue to do until God dispel thy grief and his: and be
not confident, O King, of thy safety from the vicissitudes of fortune and
the calamities of time; for the wise is always cautious.
And when the Sultán heard these words of the Wezeer, he approved
his advice, and saw that it was suitable to his case: it made an impres-
sion upon him, and he feared that the order of his realm would be dis-
turbed around him; so he arose immediately, and gave orders to remove
his son from that place to the pavilion in the palace overlooking the sea.
The access to it was over a causeway in the midst of the sea, the width
of which was twenty cubits. Around the pavilion were windows overlooking
336
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the sea, its floor was paved with coloured marbles, and its ceiling was
painted with the finest pigments of every colour and decorated with gold
and ultramarine; and they spread in it for Kamar-ez-Zemán silken carpets,
hung its walls with brocade, and suspended in it curtains adorned with jew-
els. Kamar-ez-Zemán entered it, and from the excess of his passion he
became extremely restless, his heart was troubled, his complexion became
pallid, and his body wasted. His father sat at his head mourning for him;
and every Thursday and Monday the King gave permission to every one
of the emeers and wezeers, and chamberlains and lieutenants, and other
lords of the empire, and all the soldiers and subjects who desired, to come
in to him in that pavilion. So they entered, and performed their several
services, and remained with him until the close of the day, when they dis-
persed and went their way; after which, the King went in to his son Kamar-
ez-Zemán in that place, and left him not night nor day; and thus he con-
tinued to do for many days and nights. Thus did it happen unto Kamar-
ez-Zemán.
Now I must relate what took place with the Queen Budoor, the
daughter of the King El-Ghayoor, the lord of the Islands and the Seven
Palaces. When the Jinn had carried her back and laid her again in her
bed, there remained of the night no more than three hours; and when day-
break came she awoke from her sleep, and sat up, and looked to the right
and left; but saw not her beloved who had been lying in her bosom. Upon
this, her heart was agitated, her reason quitted her, and she uttered a great
cry. So all her female slaves and nurses and kahramanehs awoke and came
in to her, and the chief of them, advancing towards her, said to her, O
my mistress, what hath befallen thee? - O ill-omened old woman, said the
lady Budoor, where is my beloved, the beautiful youth who was sleep-
ing this night in my bosom? Inform me whither he hath gone. And
when the kahramaneh heard these words, the light became darkness.
before her face, and, fearing greatly from her power, she said, O my
mistress Budoor, what mean these disgraceful words?
But the lady
Budoor exclaimed, Wo to thee, O ill-omened old woman! Where is my
beloved, the beautiful youth with the lovely face and the black eyes
and the joined eyebrows who was with me from nightfall until near
daybreak?
By Allah, answered the old woman, I have seen neither a young man.
nor any other person, and I conjure thee by Allah, O my mistress, that thou
jest not in this unreasonable manner, lest our lives be lost; for perhaps
this jest may come to the knowledge of thy father, and who will deliver
us from his hand? The Queen Budoor said to her, There was a young man
passing this last night with me, in countenance the most comely of men.
Heaven preserve thy reason! exclaimed the kahramaneh: there was no
one passing the night with thee. And upon this, Budoor looked at her
hand, and found the ring of Kamar-ez-Zemán upon her finger, and found
not her own ring. So she said to the kahramaneh, Wo to thee, O deceit-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
337
-
ful! Dost thou tell a lie, and say to me, There was no one passing the
night with thee, and swear to me by Allah falsely? - By Allah, re-
plied the kahramáneh, I have not told thee a lie, nor sworn falsely. And
the lady Budoor was enraged at her; and, drawing a sword that was by
her, struck the kahramáneh, and would have killed her.52 But the eunuch
and the female slaves cried out at her, and went and acquainted her father
with her state.
The King, therefore, came immediately to his daughter, the lady Bu-
door, and said to her, O my daughter, what is the matter with thee? —O
my father, said she, where is the young man who was sleeping by my side
this last night? - Her reason fled from her head, and she began to look
to the right and left, and then rent her vest to its skirt. So when her
father saw her do thus, he ordered the female slaves and eunuchs to seize
her; and they laid hold upon her, and bound her, and put a chain of iron
upon her neck, and attached her to a window of the palace.53
Now as
to her father, the world became strait unto him; for he loved her, and
her state was grievous to him. He therefore summoned the astrologers
and sages, and those skilled in [magic] characters, and said to them,
Whosoever cureth my daughter of her present disorder, I will marry him
to her, and will give him half of my kingdom; and whoso faileth to cure
her, I will strike off his head, and hang it over the palace-gate. And so
he continued to do until he had cut off, on her account, forty heads. He
sought all the sages; but all the people held back from attempting her cure,
and all the sages were unable to restore her; her case perplexed the men
of science, and those skilled in [magic] character.
The lady Budoor remained in the same state for three years. Now
she had a foster-brother Marzawán, who had travelled to the most remote
countries and been absent from her during all that period. He loved her
with an excessive love, greater than the love of brothers; and when he
came back, he went in to his mother, and inquired of her respecting his
sister, the lady Budoor. So she said to him, O my son, insanity hath
befallen thy sister; she hath been in this state for three years, with a
chain of iron upon her neck, and the physicians have been unable to cure
her. And when Marzawán heard these words, he said, I must visit her:
perhaps I may discover her ailment, and be able to cure her. His mother,
therefore, when she heard him say this, replied Thou must visit her;
but wait until to-morrow, that I may devise some stratagem to forward
thy purpose. She then walked to the palace of the lady Budoor, and,
accosting the eunuch who was charged to keep the door, gave him a pres-
ent, and said, I have a daughter who was brought up with the lady
Budoor, and I have married her; and in consequence of that which hap-
pened to thy mistress, her heart became greatly concerned for her
state. I therefore beg of thy goodness that my daughter may pay her
a short visit, to see her, and then return by the way that she came
without any person's knowing of her visit. The eunuch replied, That
-
338
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
will be impossible, except at night: so after the Sultán shall have
come to see his daughter, and gone forth, enter thou with thy daugh-
ter.
The old woman then kissed the hand of the eunuch, and went forth to
her house; and at the commencement of the next night she arose imme-
diately, and taking her son Marzawán, clad him in a suit of women's
attire, after which she placed his hand in her own, and conducted him
into the palace. She advanced with him until she brought him to the
eunuch, after the departure of the Sultán from his daughter, and when
the eunuch saw her, he arose, and said to her, Enter; but prolong not thy
stay. So when the old woman entered with her son Marzawán, he saw
the lady Budoor in the state already described, and he saluted her, after
his mother had taken off his women's apparel. Marzawán then took forth
his books that he had brought with him, and lighted his candle. But the
lady Budoor, looking at him, recognised him, and said to him, O my
brother, thou hast been travelling, and tidings of thee have been sus-
pended. True, he replied; but God hath restored me in safety, and I
desired to travel again, and nothing prevented me from doing so except
this news that I have heard respecting thee; in consequence of which my
heart hath been tormented on thine account; wherefore I have come to
thee in the hope that I may discover thy disorder and be able to cure thee.
-But she said, O my brother, dost thou imagine it to be madness that
hath befallen me? Then, making a sign to him, she recited these two
verses:
They said, Thou ravest upon him whom thou lovest. And I replied, The sweets of life
are only for the mad.
Well: I am mad: then bring me him upon whom I rave; and if he cure my madness, do
not blame me.
So Marzawán perceived that she was in love; and he said to her,
Acquaint me with thy story, and with all that hath happened to thee:
perhaps God may discover to me that which may bring thee deliverance.
The lady Budoor therefore replied, O my brother, hear my story. It is
this: I awoke from my sleep one night, in the last third of the night,
and sitting up, beheld by my side a young man, the most beautiful of
youths, such as the tongue cannot describe, like a twig of the Oriental wil-
low, or an Indian cane. So I thought that my father had ordered him to
act thus, to tempt me by him; for he had required me to marry, when
the Kings demanded me of him to wife, and I refused; and this idea pre-
vented my rousing him. I feared that, if I embraced him, he would per-
haps acquaint my father with it. And when I awoke in the morning, I
found his ring in the place of my own. This is my story; and, O my
brother, my heart hath been devoted to him ever since I beheld him; from
the excess of my passion and desire I taste not the savour of sleep, and
have no occupation but that of pouring forth floods of tears, and reciting
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
339
verses, night and day. See, then, O my brother, how thou canst assist me
in my affliction.
Upon this, Marzawán hung down his head towards the ground for
a while, wondering, and knowing not what to do. He then raised his head,
and said to her, All that hath occurred to thee is true; and verily the story
of this young man hath wearied my imagination; but I will travel about
through all the countries, and search for the means of thy restoration.
Perhaps God will accomplish it by my hand. Have patience, therefore,
and be not disquieted. — Having thus said, he bade her farewell, praying
-
that she might be endowed with patience, and departed from her.
He returned to the house of his mother, and slept that night, and when
the morning came he prepared for travelling. So he went forth, and
continued journeying from city to city and from island to island, for the
space of a whole month, after which he entered a city called Et-Tarf,54
and inquired the news of the people, hoping to find the remedy of the Queen
Budoor. Whenever he had entered a city or passed by it, he had heard
it said that the Queen Budoor, the daughter of the King El-Ghayoor, had
been afflicted by insanity; and he ceased not to inquire the news until
he arrived at the city of Et-Tarf, when he heard that Kamar-ez-Zemán,
the son of the King Sháh-Zemán, was sick, and that distraction and in-
sanity had afflicted him. When Marzawán, therefore, heard his story, he
asked some of the people of that city respecting his country and capital;
and they answered him, The Islands of Khálidán; and between us and
them is a voyage of a whole month by sea; but by land, the journey is six
months.
So Marzawán embarked in a ship bound for the Islands of Khálidán.
The ship was fitted for the voyage, and the wind was favourable to her
for the space of a month, when the city appeared before them; but when
they had come in sight of it, and had almost gained the shore, there arose
against them a tempestuous wind, which carried away the yard, and the
sails fell into the sea, and the vessel was capsized with all that it con-
tained. Every one sought his own safety; but as to Marzawán, the force
of the current bore him along until it conveyed him beneath the King's
pavilion, in which was Kamar-ez-Zemán. It happened, in accordance with
destiny, that the emeers and wezeers had assembled in attendance upon
him, and the King Sháh-Zemán was sitting with the head of his son Kamar-
ez-Zemán in his lap, and a eunuch was whisking the flies from him. Kamar-
ez-Zemán for two days had neither eaten nor drunk, nor had he spoken; and
the Wezeer, standing at his feet, near the window looking over the sea,
raised his eyes, and beheld Marzawán about to be destroyed by the cur-
rent, and at his last gasp: whereupon his heart was moved with pity for
him, and, approaching the Sultán, he stretched forth his head towards him,
and said, I beg thy permission that I may descend to the court of the
pavilion, and open its gate, that I may save a man who is at the point of
drowning in the sea, and turn his anguish into joy. Perhaps God, on that
340
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
account, may deliver thy son from his present affliction. - The Sultán re-
plied, All that hath befallen my son hath been caused by thee, and probably
if thou deliver this drowning man, he will discover our affairs, and behold
my son in this state, and exult over me. But I swear, by Allah, that if
this drowning man come up and see my son and then go forth and divulge
any of our secrets, I will assuredly strike off thy head before his; for thou,
O Wezeer, art the cause of all that hath befallen us, first and last. Then
do as thou desirest.
The Wezeer accordingly arose, and, opening the door of the court,
went down upon the causeway, and proceeded twenty steps until he came
to the sea, when he beheld Marzawán at the point of death. He therefore
stretched forth his hand to him, and seized him by the hair of his head,
and drew him up; and Marzawán came forth from the sea in a state of
insensibility, with his stomach filled with water, and his eyes protruding.
The Wezeer waited until his spirit returned to him, and then took off
from him his clothes, and clad him with others, putting on his head one
of the turbans of his young men; after which he said to him, Know that
I have been the means of thy deliverance from drowning, and be not thou
the means of my death and of thine own. - How so? said Marzawán.
The Wezeer answered, Because thou wilt now come up and pass among
emeers and wezeers, all of them silent, speaking not, on account of Kamar-
ez-Zemán, the son of the Sultán. And when Marzawán heard the mention
of Kamar-ez-Zemán, he knew him, having heard his story in the countries
whence he had come; but he said, Who is Kamar-ez-Zemán? The Wezeer
answered, He is the son of the Sultán Sháh-Zemán, and is sick, laid upon
his bed, without rest, knowing not night from day. He hath almost parted
with life, from the wasting of his body, and become numbered among the
dead; he passeth the day in burning, and the night in torment, and we
have despaired of his life, and made sure of his dissolution. Beware of
looking at him, or at any place but that whereon thou puttest thy foot;
else thy life and mine will be sacrificed.
Marzawan then said, I conjure thee by Allah to inform me respecting
this youth whom thou hast described to me, and to tell me what is the
cause of this state in which he is. So the Wezeer replied, I know no cause
of it, save that his father, three years ago, required him to marry, and he
refused; and he awoke in the morning and asserted that he had been
sleeping and saw by his side a damsel of surpassing beauty, such as con-
founded the reason and baffled description, and he told us that he had
taken off her ring from her finger and put it on his own finger, and put
his ring on her finger; and we know not the mystery of this affair. By
Allah, then, O my son, come up with me into the pavilion, and look not
at the King's son. After that, go thy way. For the heart of the Sultán
is filled with rage against me. So Marzawán said within himself, By
Allah, this is what I sought! He then followed the Wezeer until he came
to the pavilion; and the Wezeer seated himself at the feet of Kamar-ez-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
341
Zemán. But as to Marzawán he forthwith advanced until he stationed
himself before Kamar-ez-Zemán, and looked at him; whereupon the Wezeer
became as one dead, and, looking at Marzawán, made signs to him that
he should go his way; but Marzawán feigned to take no notice. He con-
tinued gazing at Kamar-ez-Zemán, and, knowing that he was the object
of his search, said, Extolled be the perfection of Him who hath made his
stature like hers, and his complexion like hers, and his cheek like hers!
So Kamar-ez-Zemán opened his eyes, and listened; and when Marzawán
saw that he was listening to his words, he recited these verses:
I see thee full of ecstasy and anxiety and melody, delighting in describing the charms of
beauty.
Art thou smitten by love, or struck by arrows? For this is the habit of none but the
wounded.
Give me cups of wine then to drink, and sing to me the praises of Suleymà and Er-
Rabáb and Ten'om."
55
I am jealous of the garments upon her sides, when she covereth with them her delicate
body;
And I envy the cups that touch her mouth, when she putteth them upon the kissing-
place.
Think me not killed by a keen-edged sword; for I have been wounded with the arrows of
eyes.
When we met each other I found her fingers dyed red as though stained with the juice
of 'andam;
56
And she said, while she kindled a flame in my vitals, speaking as one who concealeth
not love,
Have patience: this is not a dye that I have used; and do not accuse me of falsehood
and deceit;
But when I had seen thee lying asleep, with my hand and my arm and my wrist un-
covered,
I shed tears of blood at parting, and wiped them with my hand; so my fingers were
stained with the blood.
Had I wept before her, in my passion for her, I had eased my soul before repentance
came;
But she wept before me: her tears drew mine; and I said, The merit belongs to the
precedent.
Blame me not for loving her; for I swear by love that I am full of torment on her
account.
I weep for one whose face beauty hath adorned, and like whom there is none among
the Arabs or foreigners:
She hath Lukman's wisdom, and Yoosuf's form, and Dáood's sweet voice, and Maryam's
chastity;
While I have Yaakoob's grief, and Yoonus's regret, and Eiyoob's affliction, and Adam's
condition.
Yet kill her not, though I die of my passion for her; but ask her why she held my
blood as lawful to her.
When Marzawán recited these verses, the words descended upon the
heart of Kamar-ez-Zemán as coolness and health, and, turning his tongue
in his mouth, he made a sign to the Sultán with his hand, as though he
would say, Let this young man sit by my side. And when the Sultán
conceived these words of his son Kamar-ez-Zemán, after he had been en-
342
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
raged against the young man, and determined to strike off his head, he
rejoiced exceedingly. He arose, and seated Marzawán by the side of his
son, and, accosting him with kindness, said to him, From what country art
thou? He answered, From the Interior Islands, from the dominions of
the King El-Ghayoor, the lord of the Islands and Seas, and of the Seven
Palaces. And the King Shah-Zemán said, Perhaps relief may come to my
son Kamar-ez-Zemán through thy means. Then Marzawán addressed
Kamar-ez-Zemán, and said to him in his ear, Strengthen thy heart, and
be cheerful and happy; for as to her on whose account thou hast been re-
duced to this condition, ask not respecting her state. Thou hast con-
cealed thy affair,61 and fallen sick; but she made known her feelings, and
became distracted, and is now imprisoned in a most miserable condition,
with a collar of iron upon her neck. But, if it be the will of God, the
restoration of you both shall be effected by my means.
60
And when Kamar-ez-Zemán heard these words, his soul returned to
him, and he recovered his senses, and made a sign to the King his father
that he should raise him in a sitting posture. So the King rejoiced exces-
sively, and seated his son. He then dismissed all the wezeers and emeers,
and Kamar-ez-Zemán sat reclining between two cushions. The King gave
orders to perfume the pavilion with saffron, and to decorate the city, and
said to Marzawán, By Allah, O my son, this is an auspicious event. He
treated him with the utmost favour, and called for food for him. So they
placed it before him, and he ate, and Kamar-ez-Zemán ate with him. He
passed the next night with him, and the King also remained with them
both that night, in the excess of his joy at the restoration of his son.
On the following morning, Marzawán began to tell his story to Kamar-
ez-Zemán, saying to him, Know that I am acquainted with her in whose
company thou wast, and her name is the lady Budoor, the daughter of the
King El-Ghayoor. He then related to him all that had happened to the
lady Budoor, from beginning to end, and acquainted him with the excess
of her love for him. All that hath happened unto thee with thy father,
said he, hath happened to her with her father: thou art without doubt
her lover, and she is thine: so strengthen thy heart and thy resolution; for
I will conduct thee unto her, and unite you both, and act with you as saith
one of the poets:
If the object of love be adverse to its sufferer, and persist in shewing excessive aversion,
Yet will I effect the union of their persons, as though I were the pivot of a pair of
scissors.
He continued to encourage Kamar-ez-Zemán until he ate and drank and his
soul returned to him and he recovered from his disorder; and he ceased
not to converse with him and cheer and amuse him, and recite to him verses,
until he entered the bath, when his father gave orders again to decorate
the city, in his joy at this event, and bestowed robes of honour, and gave
alms, and liberated those who were confined in the prisons.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
343
Marzawan then said to Kamar-ez-Zemán, Know that I came not from
the lady Budoor but for this purpose: it was the object of my journey
to deliver her from her present sufferings; and it only remaineth for us
to devise some stratagem that we may go to her; for thy father cannot
endure the idea of thy separation. But to-morrow do thou ask him to
permit thee to go forth to hunt in the desert, and take with thee a pair
of saddle-bags full of money, mount upon a swift horse, and take with
thee a spare horse. I also will do the like; and say thou to thy father, I
desire to amuse myself in the desert, and to hunt, and see the open coun-
try, and to pass there one night; therefore trouble not thy heart at all on
my account. And Kamar-ez-Zemán rejoiced at the words of Marzawán,
and, going in to his father, asked his permission to go forth to hunt, say-
ing as Marzawán desired him. And his father granted him permission, but
said to him, Pass no more than one night away, and on the morrow be with
me again; for thou knowest that life hath no pleasure unto me without
thee, and that I do not believe thee to have entirely recovered from thy
disorder. Then the King Sháh-Zemán recited to his son these two verses:
-
If I found myself possessed of every delight, and the world were mine with the empire
of Kisràs. 62
It were less unto me than the wing of a gnat if mine eye did not also behold thy form.
Having thus said, he equipped Kamar-ez-Zemán, together with Marzawán,
giving orders that they should be furnished with six horses, and a drome-
dary to carry the money, and a camel to carry the water and food; and
Kamar-ez-Zemán forbade that any one should go forth with him to attend
upon him. So his father bade him farewell, and pressed him to his bosom,
saying to him, I request thee, by Allah, do not be absent from me more
than one night; and during that night, sleep will be forbidden unto me.
Kamar-ez-Zemán and Marzawán then went forth and mounted two
horses, having with them the dromedary bearing the money, and the camel
laden with the water and the food, and, turning their faces towards the
open country, proceeded the first day until evening, when they alighted
and ate and drank, and fed their beasts and rested a while. After this
they mounted again and journeyed on, and continued on their way for
the space of three days; and on the fourth day they came to a spacious
tract in which was a forest, where they alighted. Marzawan then took
the camel and one of the horses, and slaughtered them, cut off their
flesh, and stripped their bones, and taking from Kamar-ez-Zemán his shirt
and drawers, rent them in pieces, and daubed them with the blood of the
horse. He also took Kamar-ez-Zemán's melwatah, and tore it, and daubed
it with the blood, and threw it in a spot where the road divided; after
which, they ate and drank and proceeded. So Kamar-ez-Zemán asked
Marzawán the reason of this which he had done; and Marzawán answered,
Know that thy father, the King Sháh-Zemán, after thou hast been absent
from him one night and not returned to him on the second, will mount,
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and follow our track until he cometh to this, blood which I have spilled,
when he will see thy clothes torn and bloody, and will imagine that some
accident hath befallen thee from robbers who obstruct the roads, or from
a wild beast of the desert; whereupon he will abandon all hope of thee, and
return to the city; and by this stratagem we shall attain our desire.
Kamar-ez-Zemán therefore replied, Excellently hast thou done. They con-
tinued their journey days and nights, Kamar-ez-Zemán weeping all the
while, until he rejoiced at drawing near to the country which they sought,
when he recited these verses:
Wilt thou tyrannise over a lover who hath never been unmindful of thee, and be indif-
ferent to him after thy desiring him?
May I forfeit thy consent if in love I have deceived thee, and be recompensed by aban-
donment if I have been false!
I have been guilty of no fault to deserve harsh conduct; or if I have offended, I come
repentant.
Thine abandonment of me is a wonderful misfortune; but fortune is always giving rise
to wonders.
63
When he had finished reciting these verses, the Islands of the King El-
Ghayoor appeared before him, and Kamar-ez-Zemán rejoiced exceedingly,
and thanked Marzawán for what he had done. They entered the city,
and Marzawán lodged Kamar-ez-Zemán in a Khán, where they rested three
days from the fatigues of the journey. After this, Marzawán conducted
Kamar-ez-Zemán into the bath, and clad him in the attire of a merchant,
and made for him a geomantic tablet of gold, with a set of instruments,
and as astrolabe of gold. He then said to him, Arise, O my lord; station
thyself beneath the King's palace, and call out, I am the calculator, the
writer, the astrologer! Where then is he who desireth to consult me?
For the King, as soon as he heareth thee, will send for thee, and introduce
thee to his daughter, thy beloved; and when she beholdeth thee, the mad-
ness that she suffereth will cease; and her father, rejoicing in her safety,
will marry her to thee, and divide his kingdom with thee; for he hath im-
posed this condition on himself.
So Kamar-ez-Zemán took the advice of Marzawán, and went forth from
the Khán, wearing the dress, and having with him the set of instruments
which we have described, and walked on until he stationed himself beneath
the palace of the King El-Ghayoor, when he called out, I am the writer,
the calculator, the astrologer! I perform the ceremonies of marriage con-
tracts, and write sure charms, and make calculations, and write the geo-
mantic characters by which the hidden treasures are discovered! Where
then is the seeker? And when the people of the city heard these words,
as they had not for a long time seen a calculator or an astrologer, they stood
around him and gazed at him, and, wondering at the beauty of his form
and the elegance of his youth, they said to him, We conjure thee by Allah,
O our lord, expose not thyself in this manner through thine ambition to
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
-
---
345
marry the daughter of the King El-Ghayoor; but turn thine eyes towards
these heads that are hung up; for their owners have all of them been killed
on this account, and their ambition led them to perdition. But Kamar-
ez-Zemán regarded not their words.
and cried again, I am the writer, the calculator! I bring near the hidden
On the contrary, he raised his voice,
treasures to the seeker! - The people still besought and forbade him; but
instead of hearing their words, he again raised his voice, and cried as
before. Whereupon they were all angry with him, and said to him, Thou
art none other than a proud and foolish young man.
upon thy youth and tender years, and thy beauty and loveliness. But
Have compassion
he cried out, and said, I am the astrologer, the calculator! Is there, then,
any seeker?
-
And while the people were attempting to dissuade him from doing thus,
the King El-Ghayoor heard the crying, and the clamour of the people,
and said to the Wezcer, Bring to us this astrologer. So the Wezeer de-
scended, and took Kamar-ez-Zemán, who, when he went in unto the King,
kissed the ground before him, and recited these two verses:
Eight glorious qualities are united in thee; - by their means may fortune continue thy
servant; -
Sure knowledge, and piety, and nobility, and munificence, and fluency, and eloquence,
and preeminence, and conquest.
And when the King El-Ghayoor beheld him, he seated him by his side,
and accosted him graciously, saying, O my son, by Allah call not thyself
an astrologer, or comply with my condition; for I have bound myself, that,
whosoever visiteth my daughter and doth not cure her of that which hath
befallen her, I will strike off his head; and that, whosoever cureth her, I
will marry her to him. Let not then thy beauty and loveliness and just-
ness of form deceive thee. By Allah! by Allah! if thou cure her not, I
will strike off thy head! - Kamar-ez-Zemán replied, I agree to this condi-
tion. So the King El-Ghayoor desired the kádees to bear witness against
him, and delivered him to the eunuch, saying to him, Conduct this person
to the lady Budoor.
The eunuch, therefore, took him by the hand, and proceeded with him.
along the passage; but Kamar-ez-Zemán went on before him; and the
eunuch began to say to him, Wo to thee! Hasten not to thine own de-
struction. By Allah, I never knew any astrologer but thee hasten to his
own destruction! But thou knowest not the calamities that are before
thee. The eunuch then stationed Kamar-ez-Zemán behind the curtain
which was over the door; and Kamar-ez-Zemán said to him, Which
of the two modes will be more agreeable to thee: my treating and cur-
ing thy mistress here, or my going in to her, and curing her within
the curtain? And the eunuch wondered at his words, and answered him,
If thou cure her here, it will be a greater proof of thy excellent skill.
Upon this, therefore, Kamar-ez-Zemán seated himself behind the cur-
346
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
tain, and, taking forth the inkhorn and pen, wrote upon a paper these
words:
He whom estrangement hath afflicted is to be cured by the performance
of the engagement of his beloved: but misery is the lot of him who hath
despaired of his life, and made sure of his dissolution; for whose sorrow-
ful heart there is no supporter or helper, and for whose sleepless eye there
is no reliever from anxiety; who passeth his day in burning, and his night
in torture; whose body hath suffered continual wasting; and to whom no
messenger hath come from his beloved.. He then wrote these verses:
I write with a heart devoted to thinking of thee, and with a wounded eyelid shedding
tears of blood,
And a body clad by ardent longing and grief with the garment of leanness, and brought
into subjection.
I complain unto thee of the torment of my love, and the utter exhaustion of my patience.
Be favourable, then, and merciful and indulgent; for my heart is breaking through the
violence of my passion.
--
And beneath these verses he wrote: The restoration of the heart is
effected by the union with the beloved; and God is the only physician who
can cure him whom the object of his affection hath oppressed. If you or
we have been deceitful, may the deceiver be disappointed. There is nothing
more charming than a lover who is faithful to an unfeeling object of
affection. Then, at the foot of his letter, he wrote thus: From the dis-
tracted and distressed, the passionate and perplexed, whom longing and
ardent desire have disquieted, the captive of transport and distraction,
Kamar-ez-Zemán the son of Sháh-Zemán to the peerless one of her age,
and the pre-eminent among the beautiful Hooreeyehs, the lady Budoor,
the daughter of the King El-Ghayoor: Know that I passed my night in
sleeplessness, and my day in perplexity, suffering from excessive wasting
and sickness, and love and desire, utterly abundant sighs, and pouring forth
torrents of tears, the slave of love, the victim of passion, persecuted by
desire, the companion of disease. I am that restless one whose eye never
sleepeth, the slave of love whose tears are never interrupted: the fire of
my heart is never extinguished; and the flame of my desire never disap-
peareth. After this, he wrote upon the margin of the letter this admired
verse:
-
Peace from the treasures of the grace of my Lord be on her who possesseth my soul and
my heart.
And he added:
Grant me some words of your conversation, that you may shew me pity, or that my
heart may be at rest.
From the excess of my love for you, and my transport, I make light of that which
rendereth me abject.
God guard a people whose abode was distant from me, and whose secret I kept in every
situation!
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
347
But now fortune, in its kindness hath favoured me, and brought me to the threshold of
the beloved.
I beheld Budoor in the bed by my side; and by her sun, the moon of my fortune was
brightened.
Then, having sealed the letter, he wrote these verses in the place of the
address:
Inquire of my letter what my pen hath written, and the characters will acquaint thee
with my transport and anguish.
My hand is writing while my tears are flowing, and my desire complaineth of my dis-
order to the paper.
My tears cease not to pour upon the paper. If they stopped,
I would cause them to be followed by my blood.
And he added this other line:
--
I have sent thy ring which I took in exchange when we were together: then send me mine.
(For he had enclosed the ring of the lady Budoor in the letter.)
He then handed the letter to the eunuch, who took it and went in with it to
the lady Budoor; and she received it from his hand, and found in it her
ring. And when she read it, and understood its object, she knew that her
beloved was Kamar-ez-Zemán, and that it was he who was standing outside
the curtain; whereupon her reason fled through the joy that she experienced.
She arose immediately, and, pressing her feet against the wall, strained with
all her might against the iron collar, and broke it from her neck, together with
the chains, and went forth, and threw herself upon Kamar-ez-Zemán kissing
his mouth like a pigeon feeding its young. She embraced him in the violence
of her passion, and said to him, O my master, do I see this awake or in sleep;
and hath God indeed graciously granted us our reunion? She then praised
God, and thanked Him, for reuniting her after her despair. And when the
eunuch saw her in this state, he went running to the King El-Ghayoor, and,
kissing the ground before him, said to him, O my Lord, know that this
astrologer is the wisest of all the astrologers; for he cured thy daughter
while he stood behind the curtain, and went not in to her.
Is this news
true? said the King. O my lord, answered the eunuch, arise and see her,
how she hath broken the chains of iron and come forth to the astrologer,
kissing and embracing him.
So the King El-Ghayoor arose and went in to his daughter; and when
she beheld him, she arose, and covered her head. The King, rejoicing at her
restoration, kissed her between her eyes; for he loved her excessively; and
then graciously addressed Kamar-ez-Zemán, asking him respecting his con-
dition, and saying, From what country art thou? Therefore Kamar-ez-Zemán
acquainted him with his rank, and informed him that his father was the
King Shah-Zemán, relating to him the whole story from beginning to end,
and acquainting him with all that had happened to him with the lady
Budoor, and how he had taken her ring from her finger and she had put on
348
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
his ring. At this the King El-Ghayoor wondered, and said, Your story
must be recorded in books, and read after you, age after age. Then imme-
diately he summoned the kádees and witnesses, and performed the lady
Budoor's contract of marriage to Kamar-ez-Zemán, and gave orders to
decorate the city for seven days. A banquet was prepared, the city was
decorated, and the people praised God for his having caused the lady Budoor
to fall in love with a handsome young man of the sons of the Kings. The
women displayed her before him, and the marriage was concluded; and on
the following day the King made a feast, to which all [who desired], of the
inhabitants of the Interior and Exterior Islands, were admitted, and the
feast was continued during a whole month.
After this Kamar-ez-Zemán thought upon his father, and dreamt that
he saw him, and that he heard him say, O my son, dost thou act thus towards
me? He therefore awoke sorrowful, and acquainted his wife with the
dream. So she went in with him to her father, and, having informed him
of this, they begged his permission to set forth on the journey; and he gave
permission to Kamar-ez-Zemán: but the lady Budoor said, O my father, I
cannot endure this separation. Wherefore, he replied, Journey thou with
him. He granted her permission to remain with Kamar-ez-Zemán a whole
year, and desired her after that to pay him, her father, an annual visit;
whereupon she kissed her father's hand, and Kamar-ez-Zemán did the same.
The King El-Ghayoor then fitted out his daughter and her husband:
he prepared for them the furniture for the journey, sent forth for them the
horses and dromedaries, together with a litter for his daughter, loaded for
them the mules and dromedaries, and provided them with all that they
required for the journey. And on the day of departure, he bade farewell to
Kamar-ez-Zemán, and bestowed upon him a magnificent dress of gold stuff
adorned with jewels, presenting him also with a treasure of wealth, and
giving him a charge respecting his daughter Budoor. After which he went
forth with them both to the limits of the Islands, where he bade farewell
again to Kamar-ez-Zemán, and, going in to his daughter Budoor as she
reposed in the litter, embraced her and wept. Then coming out from her,
he went to her husband, and again bade him farewell, and kissed him; and
having done this, he parted from them, and returned to his islands with his
troops, after he had ordered Kamar-ez-Zemán and his wife to continue their
journey.
So Kamar-ez-Zemán and the lady Budoor proceeded with their attendants.
the first day and the second and the third and the fourth, and continued for
the space of a month. They then alighted in a spacious meadow, abounding
with herbage; and in it they pitched their tents, and ate and drank and
rested. And when the lady Budoor slept, Kamar-ez-Zemán went in and
found her asleep, clad in a silken shirt of apricot-colour, and with a
koofeeyeh of good stuff adorned with jewels upon her head; and he observed
a precious stone, red like 'andam,65 tied to the band of her trowsers, with
two lines of writing, in characters not to be read, engraved upon it.
66
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
349
Kamar-ez-Zemán wondering at this, said within himself, If this precious
stone were not a thing of great importance to her she would not have tied
it thus upon the band of her trowsers, and so concealed it, that she might
not suffer it to be away from her. What then can she do with this; and what
can be the secret property that it possesseth? He then took it and went
forth with it from the tent, to look at it in the light; but as he was examining
it, lo, a bird pounced upon it, and, having seized it from his hand, flew
away with it, and then alighted with it upon the ground."7
Kamar-ez-Zemán, fearing to lose the precious stone, ran after the bird;
but the bird proceeded at the same rate as Kamar-ez-Zemán, who continued
running after it from valley to valley and from hill to hill until night came
and darkness commenced, when the bird went to roost upon a high tree,
while Kamar-ez-Zemán stood beneath it, confounded, and faint with hunger
and fatigue. He thought himself lost, and desired to return; but knew not
the place from which he had come; and, night overtaking him, he exclaimed,
There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! He then
slept beneath the tree upon which the bird was roosting until the morning,
when he awoke from his sleep, and found that the bird had just risen and
flown from the tree. So he walked after it; and the bird continued flying
by little and little at the same rate as that at which Kamar-ez-Zemán
walked; upon seeing which, he smiled, and said, Allah! it is wonderful that
this bird yesterday flew at the same rate as I ran, and to-day, knowing that
I am tired, and cannot run, flieth at the same rate as I walk! Verily this
is wonderful! But I must follow this bird, and it will lead me either to the
preservation of my life or to my death. So I will follow it whither it goeth;
for at all events it will not stay but in an inhabited country. - He then
continued following the bird, which passed every night upon a tree; and he
followed it for the space of ten days, feeding upon the plants of the earth,
and drinking of the rivers; after which he came in sight of a city, and the
bird darted into this city as rapidly as a glance, and disappeared from
Kamar-ez-Zemán, who knew not whither it had gone. Upon this he won-
dered, and exclaimed, Praise be to God who hath preserved me, so that I
have arrived at this city! Then seating himself by some water, he washed
his hands and feet and face, and rested a while, reflecting upon his former
life of ease, and considering his present state of distance from his country
and his friends, and of hunger and weariness.
Having thus rested, he entered the gate of the city, not knowing whither
to go, and walked through the whole of the city. He had entered by the
land-gate, and he walked on till he went forth from the sea-gate, without
meeting any one of its inhabitants. The city was on the shore of the sea;
and when he had gone forth from the sea-gate, he walked on until he came
to the gardens of the city; and he entered among the trees, and went and
stood by the gate of one of the gardens; whereupon the gardener came
forth to him and welcomed him, saying to him, Praise be to God that thou
hast escaped the people of this city! Enter then this garden quickly, before
350
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
any one of its inhabitants shall see thee. So, upon this, Kamar-ez-Zemán
entered the garden, with a wondering mind, and said to the gardener, What
is the history of the inhabitants of this city? The gardener answered,
Know that the people of this city are all of them Magians; and I conjure
thee by Allah to tell me how thou camest to this place, and what was the
reason of thy entering our country.68
69
Kamar-ez-Zeman therefore acquainted him with all that had happened
to him; and the gardener wondered at it extremely, and said to him, Know,
O my son, that the countries of El-Islám " are distant from hence: between
them and this place is a distance of four months' voyage by sea; and by
land, a journey of a whole year. We have a ship that saileth every year
with merchandise to the nearest of the countries of El-Islám, proceeding
hence to the sea of Ebony Islands,70 and thence to the Islands of Khálidán,
whose King is the Sultán Sháh-Zemán. And upon this, Kamar-ez-Zemán
meditated within himself a while, and knew that there was no plan more
suitable for him than that of his remaining there with the gardener, and
becoming his assistant for a fourth of the produce." So he said to him,
Wilt thou take me as thy assistant on the condition of my receiving the
fourth of the produce of this garden? And the gardener answered, I hear
and obey. He then instructed him in the conducting of the water among
the trees; 72 and Kamar-ez-Zemán occupied himself in doing this, and in
hoeing up the grass: the gardener clad him with a blue vest reaching to his
knees; and he betook himself to watering the trees, pouring forth floods of
tears and reciting verses by night and day on the subject of his beloved
Budoor.
-
But as to his wife, the lady Budoor, she awoke from her sleep and asked
for her husband, Kamar-ez-Zemán; but found him not; and feeling the
knot of the band of her trowsers, she found that it was untied, and that the
precious stone was lost; whereupon she said within herself, O Allah! this is
wonderful! Where is my beloved? It seemeth that he hath taken the
stone, and gone, and knoweth not the secret virtue that it possesseth.
Whither can he have gone? Some wonderful event must have occasioned
his departure; for he cannot willingly part from me for an hour. Accursed
be the stone, and the hour when it brought this mischief! She then
reflected, and said within herself, If I go forth to the attendants and acquaint
them with the loss of my husband they will covet me: I must therefore have
recourse to stratagem. So she put on some clothes of Kamar-ez-Zemán, and
a turban like his, and, having thrown a lithám 73 over part of her face, put
into her litter a slave-girl; after which she went forth from her tent, and
called out to the young men, who immediately brought her the horse, and
she mounted, giving orders to bind on the burdens. They accordingly did
this, and proceeded; and she concealed her case; for she resembled Kamar-
ez-Zemán, so that no one doubted her to be really him. She continued her
journey, together with her attendants, days and nights, until she came in
sight of a city overlooking the sea, and by it she alighted, and there she
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
351
pitched her tents, for the sake of taking rest. She then asked the name of
this city, and was answered, This is the City of Ebony, and its King is the
King Armánoos, who hath a daughter named Hayát-en-Nufoos.74
Now when the lady Budoor had alighted here to rest, the King Armánoos
sent a messenger from his palace to learn for him the tidings of this
(supposed) King who had encamped outside the city. So the messenger,
on coming to the party, inquired of them, and they informed him that this
was a King's son who had wandered from his way, and who was journeying
to the Islands of Khálidán, to the King Sháh-Zemán. The messenger,
therefore, returned to the King Armánoos, and acquainted him with the
news; and as soon as the King heard it, he descended with the lords of his
empire to visit the stranger. As he approached the tents, the lady Budoor
advanced towards him on foot, and the King Armánoos alighted, and they
saluted each other. He then took her and conducted her into the city, and
went up with her into his palace, where he gave orders to prepare a banquet,
and to convey her to the mansion of entertainment; and there she remained
three days.
After this, it happened that the lady Budoor had entered the bath, and
she displayed a face shining like the full moon, so that all who beheld her
were filled with admiration of her beauty, and she was clad in a vest of silk
embroidered with gold, and adorned with jewels. The King Armánoos then
accosted her graciously, and said to her, Know, O my son, that I am now a
very old man, and in my life I have never been blest with a child, except a
daughter, who resembleth thee in form and stature, and in beauty and
loveliness. I am unable any longer to fulfil the duties of a King. Wilt
thou, then, O my son, reside in my land, and dwell in my country? If so, I
will marry thee to my daughter, and give thee my kingdom. - Upon this,
the lady Budoor hung down her head and her forehead became moistened by
bashfulness. She said within herself, What can be done, seeing that I am a
woman? If I disobey his command, and depart probably he will send after
me an army, and kill me; and if I obey him, probably I shall be disgraced:
I have lost my beloved Kamar-ez-Zemán, and know not what is become of
him; and I have no means of preserving myself, unless by assenting to his
desire, and residing with him until God accomplish what must come to pass.
She then raised her head, and paid submission to the King by saying, I
hear and obey; whereupon the King rejoiced, and gave orders to proclaim
throughout the Ebony Islands that rejoicings should be celebrated and the
houses decorated. He assembled the chamberlains and lieutenants, and
emeers and wezeers, and the other lords of his empire, and the kádees of
his city, and, having abdicated the throne, appointed the lady Budoor
Sultán in his stead, and clad her with the royal vestments. All the emeers
presented themselves before her, complaining not of her youth; and every
one of them who looked at her was astonished at her extreme beauty and
loveliness.
So when the lady Budoor had been created Sultán, and the drums had
352
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
been beaten to announce the joyful event, the King Armánoos prepared his
daughter Hayát-en-Nufoos for her marriage; and after a few days, they
introduced the lady Budoor to the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos. They resembled
two full moons by the side of each other, or two suns that had risen
together; and when the attendants had closed the doors upon them, and let
down the curtains, after they had lighted the candles for them, and spread
the bed, the lady Budoor sat with the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos, and reflecting
upon her beloved Kamar-ez-Zemán, her grief became violent, and she poured
forth tears, and recited some verses commencing thus:
O ye who have quitted me, with my heart full of trouble, your absence hath left no
life in my body!
Then sitting by the side of the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos, she kissed her upon
the mouth, and, arising abruptly, performed the ablution, and continued
praying until the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos had fallen asleep, when she entered
the bed, and turned her back to her till the morning. And when the morning
arrived, the old King and his wife came in to their daughter, and asked her
how she was. So she acquainted them with what had happened, and with
the verses that she had heard.
But the Queen Budoor, having gone forth, seated herself on the throne,
and the emeers and other lords of the empire, and all the chiefs and soldiers,
went up to her, and congratulated her on her accession to the throne, kissed
the ground before her and prayed for her, while she accosted them with
smiles, bestowed upon them robes of honour, and increased the fiefs of the
emeers. So all the soldiers and people loved her, and prayed for the
continuance of her reign, having no doubt that she was a man; and she
commanded and forbade, and dispensed justice and equity, liberated the
persons who were confined in the prisons, and remitted the custom-taxes.
She continued sitting in the hall of judgment until night, and then, entering
the chamber that was prepared for her, found the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos
sitting there. She therefore seated herself by her side, and patted her on the
back, caressed her, and kissed her between the eyes, and then, as before, recited
some verses deploring the absence of her husband; after which, she rose upon
her feet, and, having wiped away her tears, performed the ablution, and
prayed, and continued praying until sleep overcame the lady Hayát-en-
Nufoos.
The Queen Budoor then laid herself by her side, and so remained until
the morning; when she rose, and performed the morning-prayers, seated
herself upon the throne, commanded and forbade, and administered justice
and equity. In the meantime, the King Armánoos went in to his daughter,
and she informed him of all that had happened to her, repeating to him the
verses which the Queen Budoor had recited, and said to him, O my father,
I have never beheld any one more sensible or more bashful than my husband;
but he only weepeth and sigheth. Her father, therefore, replied, O my
daughter, have patience with him yet this third night only; and if he treat
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
353
thee not with the respect that is due to thee, we shall know what course to
pursue with him: I will divest him of the regal authority, and banish him
from our country. Thus he agreed with his daughter to do, and thus he
resolved in his mind.
Now when the next night came, the Queen Budoor arose from the throne,
and, returning to the chamber prepared for her in the palace, saw the candles
lighted, and the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos sitting there; whereupon she thought
of her husband, and of the events that had happened to herself and him
during the last few days; and she wept, and continued groaning and again
recited some verses expressive of her unhappy state. She then desired to
arise to prayer; but Hayát-en-Nufoos clung to her skirts, and said to her,
O my master, art thou not ashamed to act thus towards my father who hath
treated thee with so much kindness, and to regard me with this protracted
indifference? And when the Queen Budoor heard this, she sat down, and
replied, O my beloved, what sayest thou? What I say, rejoined Hayat-en-
Nufoos, is this; that I have beheld no one so self-satisfied as thou. Is then
every one who is lovely thus selfish? But I say not this on my own
account: I do so only in my fear for thee from the King Armánoos; for he
hath resolved, if thou pay me not proper respect, to depose thee from the
sovereignty to-morrow, and to banish thee from his country; and probably
his rage may so increase that he may kill thee. I therefore am moved with
compassion with thee, and have given thee good advice; and it is thine to
decide how thou wilt act.
On hearing these words, the Queen Budoor hung down her head towards
the ground, and was perplexed at her case, saying within herself, If I oppose
his wish, I perish; and if I obey him, I am disgraced; but I am now Queen
of all the Ebony Islands, and they are under my rule, and I cannot meet
again with Kamar-ez-Zemán unless in this place; for there is no way by
which he can return to his country but by the Ebony Islands. I will therefore
commit my case unto God, who is the Best Director. She then said to
Hayat-en-Nufoos, O my beloved, my neglect of thee hath been involuntary.
And she related to her all that had befallen her from beginning to end,
adding, I conjure thee by Allah to conceal my case and to keep my secret
until God reunite me with my beloved Kamar-ez-Zemán, and after that we
shall see what will happen. Upon this, Hayát-en-Nufoos was filled with
the utmost wonder, and, being moved with pity for her, prayed for her
reunion with her beloved, and said to her, O my sister, fear not nor be
alarmed; but have patience until God accomplish that which must come to
pass. The bosoms of the ingenuous are the sepulchres of secrets; and thy
secret I will not reveal. Then they toyed together, and embraced each
other, and slept until near the call to morning-prayers, when the mother of
Hayat-en-Nufoos came in to her, and was satisfied with her report. The
Queen Budoor, after performing the morning-prayers, repaired to the hall of
judgment, and there, seated upon the throne, judged the people; and the
King Armánoos was rejoiced at what he heard: his bosom expanded, and he
-
-
354
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
gave banquets: and thus they continued for a length of time. Such were
the adventures of Kamar-ez-Zemán and the Queen Budoor.
But as to the King Sháh-Zemán, - after the departure of his son to the
chase, accompanied by Marzawán, as already related, he waited until the
second night; and when his son came not, his reason was perplexed, and he
slept not that night. He became in a state of the utmost disquiet: his
excitement was excessive, and he burned with anxiety; and scarcely had
the day broke when he rose. He sat expecting his son until midday; but he
came not; and his heart became impressed with a dread of separation, and
he burned with fears for his son. He wept until he wetted his clothes with
his tears, and then, wiping away the tears, he issued a proclamation com-
manding his forces to march, and urging them to undertake a long expedition.
So all the troops mounted, and the Sultán went forth, with a heart tortured
for his son, and full of grief. He disposed his army in six divisions, on the
right and left, and before and behind, and said to them, To-morrow ye shall
meet at the parting of the road. The troops, therefore, being thus divided,
the horsemen set forth, and proceeded the rest of that day until the hour of
darkness; and they continued on their way the whole of the night, and the
next day till noon, when they arrived at a spot where the road divided into
four branches; so that they knew not which way to go. But here they beheld
torn clothes, and mangled flesh, and they looked at the traces of the blood,
and observed every piece of the clothes.
So when the King Sháh-Zemán saw this, he uttered a great cry from the
bottom of his bosom, and exclaimed, O my son! He slapped his face, and
plucked his beard, and rent his clothes, feeling convinced of the death of
his son. His weeping and wailing were excessive, and the troops wept with
him, all of them regarding as certain the destruction of Kamar-ez-Zemán:
they threw dust upon their heads, and the night overtook them while they
wept and wailed so that they were at the point of death. The King Sháh-
Zeman then returned with his troops to his city, convinced of the death of
his son, and concluding that either a wild beast or a robber had attacked
him and torn him in pieces. He issued a proclamation throughout the
Islands of Khalidán that the people should wear black in token of mourning
for his son Kamar-ez-Zemán, and built for himself an edifice which he named
the House of Lamentations; and every Thursday and Monday he decided
the affairs of his troops and people; passing the rest of the week in the
House of Lamentations, mourning for his son, and bewailing him with
elegies.
Meanwhile, the Queen Budoor remained monarch of the Land of Ebony,
the people pointing at her with the finger, and saying, That is the son-in-law
of the King Armánoos; and every night she slept with the lady Hayát-en-
Nufoos, complaining of the absence of her husband Kamar-ez-Zemán, and
describing to her his beauty and loveliness, desiring an interview with him
were it only in her sleep.
Now Kamar-ez-Zemán continued residing in the garden, with its owner,
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
355
for a length of time weeping night and day, and sighing, and lamenting in
verses the past times of enjoyment and happiness, while the gardener, to
console him, told him that the ship would sail at the end of the year to the
countries of the Muslims. Thus he remained until, one day, he saw the
people assembling together, at which he wondered; and the gardener came
in to him and said to him, O my son, cease from work this day, and water
not the trees; for this day is a festival of the people, whereon they visit one
another. Therefore rest, and only keep thine eye upon the garden; for I
desire to look out for the vessel for thee, since there remaineth but a short
time, and to send thee to the country of the Muslims. The gardener then
went forth; and Kamar-ez-Zemán remained alone in the garden. His heart
was broken, his tears flowed, and he continued weeping until he fell down
in a swoon; and when he recovered, he rose, and walked about the garden
reflecting upon his misfortunes and upon his protracted estrangement and
separation. His reason being thus disturbed, he stumbled, and fell upon
his face, and his forehead struck against the root of a tree with such violence
that his blood flowed, and mingled with his tears. He, however, wiped away
the blood, and dried up his tears, and, having bound his forehead with a
piece of rag, arose, and continued his walk about the garden.
-
And he turned up his eyes towards a tree upon which were two birds
contending together; and one of them overcame the other, it pecked at its
neck, and severed its head from its body, and, taking the head, flew away
with it. The body of the bird thus killed then fell upon the ground before
Kamar-ez-Zemán, and as it lay there, lo, two great birds pounced down upon
it, and, one of them placing itself at its upper extremity and the other at its
tail, they depressed their wings over it, and stretched forth their necks
towards it, and moaned. So Kamar-ez-Zemán wept for his separation from
his wife when he beheld the two birds moaning over their companion. After
this, he saw the two birds make a hollow, and bury in it the slaughtered
bird; and having done so, they soared aloft into the sky; but after they had
been absent a while, they returned bringing with them the bird that had
committed the murder. They alighted with it upon the grave of the
slaughtered bird, and there crouched upon it and killed it: they rent open
its body, tore out its bowels, and poured its blood upon the grave of the
slaughtered bird: then they strewed about its flesh, and tore its skin, and
pulling out all that was within it, they scattered it in different places.
All this took place while Kamar-ez-Zemán looked on in wonder; and as
he happened to cast a glance towards the place where the two great birds.
had killed the other, he observed something shining. So he approached it,
and saw it to be the bird's crop; and he took it and opened it, and found in
it the stone that had been the cause of his separation from his wife. As
soon as he beheld it he knew it, and fell upon the ground in a fit, through
his joy; and when he recovered he said within himself, This is a good sign,
and an omen of my reunion with my beloved! He then examined it, drew
it over his eye,75 and tied it upon his arm, anticipating from it a happy
356
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
result; after which he rose and walked about, waiting for the gardener. He
continued searching for him until night; but he came not. So Kamar-ez-
Zemán slept in his usual place until the morning, when he arose to his work.
Having girded himself with a rope of the fibres of the palm-tree, he took
the hoe and the basket, and went into the midst of the garden till he came
to a locust-tree, and he struck at its root with the hoe, whereupon the blow
loudly resounded. So he removed the earth from its place; and having
done this, he discovered a trap-door, on opening which he found an aperture;
and he descended into it, and beheld an old saloon, of the age of Thamood
and 'Ád, spacious, and [containing a number of jars] filled with red gold;
upon which he said within himself, Fatigue is past, and joy and happiness
have come! He then ascended from this place into the garden, and, having
replaced the trap-door, resumed his occupation of conducting the water to
the trees in the garden.
76
Thus he continued to busy himself until the close of the day, when the
gardener came to him, and said, O my son, receive glad tidings of thy
speedy return to thy native land; for the merchants have prepared for the
voyage, and the ship after three days is to set sail for the City of Ebony,
which is the first of the cities of the Muslims; and when thou hast arrived
there, thou wilt travel by land six months to the Islands of Khálidán and
the King Shah-Zemán. So Kamar-ez-Zemán rejoiced at this, and kissing the
hand of the gardener, said to him, O my father, like as thou hast given me
good tidings, I too give good tidings unto thee. And he acquainted him with
the affair of the saloon; whereat the gardener also rejoiced, and replied, I
have been eighty years in this garden without finding any thing, and thou
hast been with me less than a year and hast discovered this: it is therefore
thy prize, and a means of terminating thy grief; and will assist thee to
accomplish thy return to thy family and thy reunion with thy beloved. But
Kamar-ez-Zemán said, It must positively be divided between me and thee.
He then took the gardener and conducted him into that saloon, and
showed him the gold, which was in twenty jars: so he took ten and the
gardener took ten. And the gardener said to him, O my son, fill for thyself
large jars with the 'asáfeeree olives 78 which are in this garden; for they
exist not in any country but ours, and the merchants export them to all
other parts: and place thou the gold in the jars, and the olives over the gold:
then close them and take them to the ship. So Kamar-ez-Zemán arose
immediately, and filled fifty large jars, putting the gold in them, and closing
each after he had put the olives over the gold; 79 and the precious stone he
put into one of the jars: after which he sat conversing with the gardener,
and felt confident of his speedy reunion with his family, saying within
himself, When I have arrived at the Ebony Island, I will journey thence
to the country of my father, and inquire for my beloved Budoor: but I
wonder whether she have returned to her own country, or journeyed on to
the country of my father, or whether any accident have happened to her on
the way.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
357
He then sat waiting for the expiration of the days, and related to the
gardener the story of the birds, and of what passed between them, whereat
the gardener wondered. After this, both of them slept until the morning,
and the gardener awoke ill, and remained so two days: and on the third
day his illness so increased that they despaired of his life. Kamar-ez-
Zemán, therefore, grieved for the gardener; and while he was in this state,
lo, the master of the ship, with the sailors, came and inquired for the
gardener: so he acquainted them with his illness. They then said, Where
is the young man who desireth to go with us to the Island of Ebony? And
Kamar-ez-Zemán answered, He is the memlook who is before you.80 And
he desired them to transport the jars to the ship. They therefore removed
them to the ship, and said to Kamar-ez-Zemán, Hasten; for the wind hath
become fair. And he replied, I hear and obey. He then conveyed his
provisions to the ship, and returned to the gardener to bid him farewell; but
he found him in the agonies of death: so he seated himself at his head till
he died; and he closed his eyes, and prepared his body for burial, and
interred it.
Having done this, he repaired to the ship. He found, however, that it
had spread its sails and departed; and it continued cleaving the sea until it
disappeared from before his eyes. He was confounded and perplexed, and he
returned to the garden anxious and sorrowful, and threw dust upon his head.
He hired the garden from its proprietor, and employed a man to assist him
in watering the trees; and going to the trap-door he descended into the
saloon, and stowed the remaining gold in fifty other large jars, putting olives
over it.81
He then made inquiries respecting the ship, and the people
answered him, that it sailed not more than once in every year. His trouble
of mind increased, and he mourned for that which had befallen him,
especially for the loss of the precious stone of the lady Budoor. He passed
night and day in weeping and reciting verses.
In the mean time, the wind was favourable to the ship, and it arrived
at the Island of Ebony. And it happened in accordance with destiny, that
the Queen Budoor was sitting at a window, and beheld the vessel when it
cast anchor by the shore. Her heart throbbed at the sight, and she mounted
with the emeers and chamberlains, and, repairing to the shore, stopped near
the ship as the crew were transporting the merchandise to the magazines.
She forthwith summoned the master of the vessel, and asked him what he
had brought; and he answered her, O King, I have, in this vessel, aromatics
and medicinal powders, and collyriums and plasters and ointments, and
wealth and magnificent stuffs and costly merchandise, such as camels and
mules cannot carry; among which are various kinds of essences and spices
and aloes-wood, and tamarind 82 and 'asáfeeree olives, such as are scarcely
to be found in this country. On hearing this, she felt a desire for the olives,
and said to the owner of the ship, What is the quantity of the olives that
thou hast brought? He answered, I have fifty large jars full; but their
owner came not with us; and the King shall take of them what he desireth.
358
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
So she said, Land them, that I may look at them. And the master called
out to his crew, whereupon they brought out the fifty jars; and she opened
one, and, having looked at the olives, said, I will take these fifty jars and
give you their price, whatever it be. The master of the ship replied, These
have no value in our country but their owner remained behind us, and he
is a poor man. But she said, What is their price? And he answered, A
thousand pieces of silver. I will take them, replied she, for a thousand
pieces of silver.
She then commanded that they should be conveyed to the palace; and
when night came, she gave orders to bring to her one of the jars; and she
opened it. There was no one in the chamber but herself and Hayat-en-
Nufoos; and she placed a dish before her, and on her pouring into it some
of the contents of the jar, there fell into the dish a heap of red gold;
whereupon she said to the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos, This is nothing but gold!
She therefore examined the whole, and found that all the jars contained
gold, and that the olives altogether would not fill one of the jars; and
searching among the gold, she discovered the precious stone with it. So she
took it and examined it, and found that it was the stone which was attached
to the band of her trowsers, and which Kamar-ez-Zemán had taken. As
soon as she recognized it, she cried out in her joy, and fell down in a swoon:
and when she recovered, she said within herself, This precious stone was the
cause of the separation of my beloved Kamar-ez-Zemán; but it is an omen
of good fortune! She then told the lady Hayát-en-Nufoos that its recovery
was a prognostic of her reunion. And when the morning came, she seated
herself upon the throne, and summoned the master of the ship, who, when he
came, kissed the ground before her; and she said to him, Where did ye
leave the owner of these olives? He answered, O King of the age, we left
him in the country of the Magians; and he is a gardener. And she said,
If thou bring him not, thou knowest not the misfortune that will happen unto
thee and to thy ship. She immediately gave orders to affix seals upon the
magazines of the merchants, and said to them, The owner of these olives is
an offender against me, and is my debtor; and if he come not, I will
assuredly slay you all, and seize your merchandise. So they applied to the
master of the ship, promising to pay him the hire of the vessel if he would
return, and said to him, Deliver us from this tyrant.
The master therefore embarked, and loosed the sails, and God decreed
him safety, so that he arrived at the Island of the Magians; and, landing
by night, he went up to the garden. The night had become tedious to
Kamar-ez-Zemán, and he was thinking upon his beloved, as he sat in the
garden weeping for the misfortunes that had befallen him; and the master
of the ship knocked at the gate of his garden. He therefore opened the
gate and went forth to him, and immediately the sailors carried him off.
and, embarking with him, loosed the sails, and departed. They continued
their voyage days and nights while Kamar-ez-Zemán knew not the occa-
sion of this conduct. He asked them the cause, and they answered him.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
359
Thou art an offender against the King of the Ebony Islands, the son
of the King Armánoos, and hast stolen his wealth, O thou unlucky! But
he replied, By Allah, in my life I never entered that country, nor do I
know it.
They continued their voyage with him until they came in sight of the
Ebony Islands, and took him up to the lady Budoor, who, as soon as she
saw him, knew him, and said, Commit him to the eunuchs, that they may
conduct him into the bath. She then dispelled the fears of the merchants,
and bestowed upon the master of the ship a robe of honour worth ten
thousand pieces of gold; after which, she went in to the lady Hayat-en-
Nufoos, and acquainted her with the event, saying to her, Conceal the news
until I have attained my desire, and done a deed which shall be recorded,
and read after us to Kings and subjects. And when she gave orders to
conduct Kamar-ez-Zemán into the bath, they did so, and clad him in the
apparel of Kings; and when he came forth from the bath, he appeared like
a branch of the Oriental willow, or a planet at whose appearance the sun
and moon were abashed; and his soul returned to him. He then repaired to
her, and entered the palace; but when she beheld him, she restrained her
heart, that her purpose might be accomplished. She bestowed upon him.
memlooks and servants, and camels and mules, gave him a treasury of
wealth, and ceased not to promote him from grade to grade until she made
him treasurer, delivering all the treasures to his care. She admitted him
into high favour, and acquainted the emeers with his station, and they all
loved him. Every day the Queen Budoor increased his appointments, and
Kamar-ez-Zemán knew not the cause of her thus honouring him. From
the abundance of his wealth he gave liberal presents; and he served
the King Armánoos with such zeal that he loved him, as did the emeers
and other great men, and the common people, so that they swore by his
life.83
But all this time Kamar-ez-Zemán wondered at the honours which the
Queen Budoor shewed him, and said within himself, By Allah, this love
must have some cause; or perhaps this King thus favoureth me from some
evil intention: I must therefore ask his permission to depart from his
country. Accordingly, he went to the Queen Budoor, and said to her, O
King, thou hast bestowed on me great favours, and thy favours will be
complete if thou permit me to depart, and take from me all that thou hast
bestowed upon me. And the Queen Budoor smiled, and said, What induceth
thee to desire to travel, and to rush headlong into perils, when thou art
enjoying the highest favour, and extraordinary beneficence?-O King,
answered Kamar-ez-Zemán, if this favour be without cause, it is most
wonderful, especially as thou hast conferred upon me dignities such as are
proper for the aged, when I am but a child. The Queen Budoor then took
him into a private apartment, and made herself known to him: and he
discovered that she was his wife, the Queen Budoor, the daughter of the
King El-Ghayoor, lord of the Islands and the Seas; whereupon they embraced
360
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and kissed each other. She related to him all that had happened to her from
first to last; and he in like manner acquainted her with all that had befallen
him.
-
And when the next morning came, and diffused its light, the Queen
Budoor sent to the King Armánoos, and informed him of the truth of her
case, that she was the wife of Kamar-ez-Zemán, relating to him their story
and the cause of their separation; and the King Armánoos, on hearing her
tale, wondered at it extremely. He gave orders to write it in letters of gold,
and then, looking towards Kamar-ez-Zemán, said to him, O son of the King,
wilt thou form an alliance with me by marrying my daughter Hayát-en-
Nufoos? He answered, I must consult the Queen Budoor; for I owe her
unlimited gratitude. But when he consulted her, she replied, Excellent is
this proposal! Marry her, therefore, and I will be a handmaid to her; for
I owe her a debt of kindness and beneficence, and favour and obligation,
especially as we are in her abode, and since we have been loaded with the
benefits of her father.84 So when Kamar-ez-Zemán saw that the Queen
Budoor inclined to this, and was not jealous of Hayát-en-Nufoos, he agreed
with her on this subject, and acquainted the King Armánoos with that
which the Queen Budoor had said, that she approved of the marriage, and
would be a handmaid to Hayát-en-Nufoos. And on hearing these words
from Kamar-ez-Zemán, the King Armánoos rejoiced exceedingly. He went
forth immediately, and seated himself upon his throne, and, having sum-
moned all the emeers and wezeers and chamberlains, and the other lords of
the empire, acquainted them with the story of Kamar-ez-Zemán, and his
wife the Queen Budoor from first to last, telling them that he desired to
marry his daughter Hayát-en-Nufoos to Kamar-ez-Zemán, and to appoint
him Sultán over them in the place of his wife the Queen Budoor. Upon
which all of them said, Since Kamar-ez-Zemán is the husband of the Queen
Budoor, who was our sovereign before him when we thought her the son-in-
law of our King Armánoos, we are all content to have him as our Sultán,
and we will be servants unto him, and never swerve from our allegiance to
him.
The King Armánoos, therefore, rejoiced at this exceedingly: he sum-
moned the kádees and witnesses, and the chief officers of the empire, and
performed Kamar-ez-Zemán's contract of marriage to his daughter, the
Queen Hayát-en-Nufoos. He celebrated festivities, gave sumptuous
banquets, conferred costly robes of honour upon all the emeers and chiefs
and soldiers, bestowed alms upon the poor and the needy, and liberated all
the prisoners; and the people rejoiced at the accession of the King Kamar-
ez-Zemán, praying for the continuance of his glory and prosperity, and
felicity and honour. As soon as he had become Sultán over them, Kamar-
ez-Zemán remitted the custom-taxes; he conducted himself in a praise-
worthy manner towards his people, and resided with his wives in enjoyment
and happiness, and fidelity and cheerfulness, behaving towards both of them
with impartiality. Thus he remained for a length of time; his anxieties and
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
361
sorrows were obliterated; and he forgot his father, the King Sháh-Zemán,
and the glory and power that he had enjoyed under him.
THE ADVENTURES OF THE TWO PRINCES EL-AMJAD AND EL-AS'AD
AFTER this, God (whose name he exalted!) blessed Kamar-ez-Zemán
with two male children by his two wives. They were like two shining
moons: the elder of them was the son of the Queen Budoor, and his name
was the Prince El-Amjad; 85 and the younger was the son of Hayát-en-
Nufoos, and his name was the Prince El-As'ad; 86 and El-As'ad was more
lovely than his brother El-Amjad. They were reared with magnificence and
tenderness, and instructed in polite arts and accomplishments: they learned
caligraphy and general science, and the arts of government and horsemanship,
until they attained the utmost perfection, and became distinguished by
consummate beauty and loveliness, so that the women were ravished by their
charms. They grew up to the age of seventeen years, always in each other's
company, eating and drinking together, and never separated; and all the
people envied them on this account. And when they had attained to
manhood, and were both endowed with every accomplishment, their father,
whenever he made a journey, seated them by turns in the hall of judgment,
and each of them judged the people for one day at a time.
Now it happened, in accordance with confirmed destiny and determined
fate, that two ladies in the King's palace,87 on whom he had set his affections,
became enamoured of the two princes, El-Amjad and El-As'ad. Each of
these two women used to toy with the object of her love, and kiss him, and
press him to her bosom; and when his mother beheld this, she imagined that
it was only an affection like that of a parent. Love took entire possession
of the hearts of the two women, and when they had waited long without
finding any way of accomplishing their union, they abstained from drink
and food, and relinquished the delight of sleep.
The King then went forth to the chase, and ordered his two sons to sit
in his place to administer justice, each of them for one day at a time,
according to their custom. So on the first day, El-Amjad, the son of the
Queen Budoor, sat for judgment, and commanded and forbade, and invested
and deposed, and gave and denied. And his enamoured wrote him a letter,
endeavouring to conciliate his affection, and declaring that she was wholly
devoted to him, and transported with love for him, exposing her whole case
to him, and telling him that she desired to be united to him. She took a
paper, and wrote in it these words: -
From the poor, the love-sick female; the mourning, the estranged; whose
youth is consumed by love for thee, and whose torment on thine account hath
been protracted. - If I described to thee the extent of my sorrow, and the
sadness that I suffered, the violent love that is in my heart, and how I weep
and moan, and how my mourning heart is cut in pieces, and my constant
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
grief, and continual anxieties, and the pain that I endure from separation,
and from sadness and ardent desire, the exposition of my case would be too
long for a letter, and none could calculate its extent. The earth and heaven
have become strait unto me, and I have no hope nor trust but in thee; for I
have arrived at the point of death, and suffered the horrors of destruction.
My ardour hath become excessive, with my disjunction and estrangement,
and if I described the longing desire that I feel, papers would be insufficient
for it. And after this, she wrote these two verses:
If I would explain the burnings I experience, and the sickness, and ecstasy of love, and
agitation,
Neither paper nor pen would remain upon the earth, nor ink, nor a scrap upon which
to write.
She then wrapped up the letter in a piece of costly sick, richly perfumed
with musk and ambergris, and put with it the silk strings of her hair,ss for
the price of which, treasures would be consumed; after which, she wrapped
the whole in a handkerchief, and gave it to a eunuch, commanding him to
convey it to the Prince El-Amjad.
-
So the eunuch went, not knowing the secret destiny that awaited him
(for He who is acquainted with all the secrets of futurity ordereth events as
He willeth); and when he went into the Prince El-Amjad, he kissed the
ground before him, and handed to him the kerchief with the letter. The
Prince El-Amjad, therefore, took the handkerchief from him, and, unfolding
it, saw the letter, and opened and read it; and when he understood its
meaning, he perceived that the woman contemplated deceit, and had acted
disloyally towards his father, the King Kamar-ez-Zemán. And upon this he
was violently enraged, and abused womankind for their conduct, exclaiming,
Execration upon treacherous women, deficient in sense and religion! He
then drew his sword, and said to the eunuch, Wo to thee, O wicked slave!
Dost thou bear a letter expressive of disloyalty from a woman belonging to
thy master? By Allah, there is no good in thee, O thou of black complexion!
O detestable in aspect, and irresolute in character! And he struck him
with the sword upon his neck, severing his head from his body: after which,
he folded up the handkerchief upon its contents, and, having put it into his
pocket, went in to his mother, and acquainted her with what had happened,
abusing and reviling her also, and saying, Every one of you is worse [in
some respect] than another. By Allah the Great, he added, did I not fear to
commit a breach of good manners, injurious to my father Kamar-ez-Zemán,
I would go in to her and strike off her head, as I struck off the head of the
eunuch. Then he went forth from his mother, the Queen Budoor, in a
state of excessive rage. And when the news of what he had done to the
eunuch reached his enamoured, she reviled him and cursed him, and devised
a malicious stratagem against him. The Prince El-Amjad passed the next
night enfeebled by rage and indignation, and trouble of mind, and neither
food nor drink was pleasant to him, nor was sleep.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
363
And on the following morning, his brother, the Prince El-As'ad, went
forth and seated himself in the place of his father, the King Kamar-ez-
Zemán, to judge the people; and he judged, and administered justice, and
invested and deposed, and commanded and forbade, and gave and bestowed;
and he continued sitting in the judgment-hall until near the time of afternoon-
prayers. Then his enamoured sent to a deceitful old woman, and, having
revealed to her the feelings of her heart, took a paper to write upon it a
letter to the Prince El-As'ad, and to complain to him of the excess of her
affection, and of the ecstasy of her love for him. And she wrote to him
these words: -
From her who is perishing through the ecstasy of love and desire, to the
most charming of mankind in disposition and in form, the self-complacent
with his loveliness, the haughty with his amorous aspect, who turneth with
aversion from the desirer of union with him, who is reluctant to shew favour
unto the submissive and abject, to the cruel and disdainful, the Prince
El-As'ad, who is endowed with surpassing beauty, and with admirable lovei-
ness, with the brilliant countenance, and the splendid forehead, and over-
powering brightness. This is my letter unto him the love of whom hath
dissolved my body, and mangled my skin and my bones.
--
Know that my
patience hath failed, and I am perplexed in my case: desire and sleeplessness.
have disquieted me, and patience and sleep have denied themselves to me:
mourning and watching have been inseparable from me, and violent love.
and desire have afflicted me, together with disease and infirmity. But may
my life be a ransom for thee; and if the slaughter of the love-smitten please
thee, may Allah prolong thy life, and from every evil preserve thee! - And
she added these verses:
Fortune hath decreed that I should be thy lover, O thou whose charms shine like the full
moon!
Thou possessest consummate comeliness and eloquence; and surpassest all the creation in
elegance.
I am willing for thee to be my tormenter. Wilt thou, then, bestow upon me one glance?
Happy is the person who dieth for love of thee. Worthless is the one who doth not
like and love thee.
Then she richly perfumed the letter with strong-scented musk, and
wound it round with the silken strings of her hair, which were of the silk of
El-Erák, having oblong emeralds for pendants, adorned with pearls and
jewels.89 Having done this, she delivered it to the old woman, and ordered
her to give it to the Prince El-As'ad.
"
The old woman therefore departed in order to please her, and immediately
went into the Prince El-As'ad, who was alone when she entered; and she
handed him the paper, with what was enclosed with it, and waited a long
time for the answer. Meanwhile the Prince El-As'ad read the paper, and
understood its contents; and having wrapped it up again in the silk strings,
he put it in his pocket. He was enraged to the utmost degree, and cursed
364
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
deceitful women: then rising, he drew his sword from its scabbard, and,
striking the neck of the old woman, severed her head from her body; after
which, he arose and proceeded until he went in to his mother, and he reviled
her too, in his anger with the sex. He then went forth from her, and repaired
to his brother, the Prince El-Amjad, to whom he related all that had hap-
pened to him, telling him that he had killed the old woman who had brought
him the letter. And the Prince El-Amjad replied, By Allah, O my brother,
yesterday, while I was sitting on the throne, the like of that which hath
happened to thee this day happened to me also. And he acquainted him
with the whole occurrence. They remained conversing together that night,
and cursing the deceitful women, and charged each other to conceal this
affair, lest their father, the King, should hear of it, and kill the two women.
So they passed the night in incessant grief until the morning.
And when the next morning came, the King arrived with his troops from
the chase and went up to his palace; and having dismissed the emeers, he
arose, and entered the palace, whereupon he beheld the two women who had
acted thus towards his sons, lying on their bed, in a state of extreme weak-
ness. They had contrived a plot against the two Princes, and agreed to
destroy them; for they had disgraced themselves in their eyes, and dreaded
the consequence of their being so known to have offended. When the King,
therefore, saw them in this condition, he said to them, What is the matter
with you? And they rose to him, and kissed his hands, and reversing the
true state of the case, answered him, Know, O King, that thy two sons, who
have been reared in the enjoyment of thy beneficence, have acted disloyally
towards thee by their conduct to us, and have dishonoured thee. And when
Kamar-ez-Zemán heard these words, the light became darkness before his
face, and he was violently incensed, so that his reason fled through the
excess of his rage, and he said, Explain to me this occurrence. So each of
them told the story that she had framed, and both of them wept violently
before the King.
When the King, therefore, witnessed their weeping, and heard their
words, he felt convinced of their truth; and, being enraged to the utmost
degree, he arose with the desire of falling upon his two sons and killing them.
But his father-in-law, the King Armánoos, met him. He was just then
entering to salute him, having heard of his return from the chase; and he
beheld him with the drawn sword in his hand, and with blood dropping from
his nostrils, by reason of the violence of his rage. So he asked him what
troubled him, and Kamar-ez-Zemán acquainted him with all that had been
done (as he supposed) by his sons El-Amjad and El-As'ad, and said to him,
I am now going in to them to kill them in a most ignominious manner, and
make them a most shameful example. His father-in-law, the King Armá-
noos, being alike incensed against them, said to him, And excellent would be
the deed that thou wouldst do, O my son; and may God grant no blessing
unto them, nor to any sons who commit such actions against the honour of
their father: but, O my son, the author of the proverb saith, He who looketh
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
365
not to results, fortune will not attend him: — and they are at all events thy
sons. It will be proper that thou kill them not with thine own hand; for in
doing so thou wouldst drink of their anguish,90 and repent afterwards of
having put them to death, when repentance would not avail. But send them
with one of the memlooks, that he may kill them in the desert, when they are
absent from thine eye.
So when the King Kamar-ez-Zemán heard these words of his father-in-
law, the King Armánoos, he saw them to be just. He therefore sheathed
his sword, and, returning, seated himself upon his throne, and summoned
his Treasurer, who was a very old man, experienced in the management of
affairs, and the vicissitudes of fortune. And he said to him, Go in to my
two sons El-Amjad and El-As'ad, bind their hands firmly behind them, and
put them in two chests, and place them upon a mule: then mount thou, and
go forth with them into the midst of the desert, and slaughter them; after
which fill for me two glass bottles with their blood, and bring them to me
quickly.
The Treasurer answered, I hear and obey. He then arose immediately,
and, repairing to El-Amjad and El-As'ad, met them on the way, coming
forth from the vestibule of the palace. They had clad themselves in the
richest of their apparel for the purpose of visiting their father, to salute him,
and compliment him on his safe arrival from his hunting-expedition. And
when the Treasurer saw them, he laid hold upon them, saying, O my two
sons, know that I am a slave under command, and your father hath given
me an order: will ye then obey his command? They answered, Yes. And
upon this, the Treasurer bound their hands behind them, put them in two
chests, and, having placed them on the back of a mule, went forth with
them from the city. He proceeded with them over the desert until near
noon, when he halted with them in a waste and desolate place, and, alighting
from his horse, put down the two chests from the back of the mule, and
opened them, and took forth from them El-Amjad and El-As'ad. When he
looked at them, he wept violently on contemplating their beauty and loveli-
ness, and afterwards drew his sword, and said to them, By Allah, O my
lords, it is painful to me to do an abominable deed unto you; but I am
excusable in this case; for I am a slave under command, and your father
the King Kamar-ez-Zemán hath ordered me to strike off your heads. And
they replied, O Emeer, do what the King hath commanded thee; for we
patiently submit to that which God (to whom be ascribed all might and
glory!) hath decreed to befall us; and thou art absolved of the guilt of
shedding our blood.
They then embraced each other, and bade each other farewell; and
El-As'ad said to the Treasurer, By Allah I conjure thee, O uncle, that thou
make me not to drink the anguish of my brother, nor his sighing; but kill
me before him, that so my fate may be more easy to me. El-Amjad also
said to the Treasurer as El-As'ad had said, and made use of blandishment
to him that he might kill him before his brother, saying to him, My brother
366
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
is younger than I; therefore make me not to taste his affliction. Then each
of them wept most violently, and the Treasurer wept also at witnessing their
lamentation; and the two brothers again embraced each other, and bade
each other farewell, one of them saying to the other, Verily, all this is owing
to the artifice of those two deceitful women; and there is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great! Verily to God we belong, and
verily unto Him we return! — And El-As'ad, embracing his brother, uttered
groans, and afterwards recited these verses:
O Refuge of the complainer, and Asylum of the fearful!" Thou art ready to attend to
every request!
I have no resource but to knock at thy door; and if I be rejected, at whose door shall I
knock?
O Thou whose treasures of bounty are imparted by the word Be, shew favour; for all
good is in Thee!
And when El-Amjad heard the weeping of his brother, he likewise wept, and
pressed him to his bosom, reciting these two verses:
O Thou whose favours to me have been many, and whose gifts have been more than can
be numbered!
No misfortune hath ever yet befallen me but I have found Thee ready to help me in it!
Then El-Amjad said to the Treasurer, I implore thee by the One, the
Omnipotent, the King, the Protector, that thou kill me before my brother
El-As'ad: perhaps the fire of my heart may so be assuaged; and let it not
burn more. But El-As'ad, weeping, said, None shall be killed first but
myself. So El-Amjad said, The best plan will be this, that thou embrace
me, and I embrace thee, so that the sword may fall upon us and kill us with
one blow.
And when they both embraced, face to face, and clung together, the
Treasurer bound them, and tied them with ropes, weeping while he did so.
He then drew his sword, and said, By Allah, O my lords, it is indeed hard
to me to kill you. Have ye any want? If so, I will perform it. Or any
commission? If so, I will execute it. Or any message? If so, I will convey
it. And El-Amjad answered, We have no want to be performed; but as
to commission, I charge thee to place my brother El-As'ad beneath, and
myself above, that the blow may fall upon me first; and when thou hast
killed us, and returned unto the King, and he saith to thee, What didst
thou hear from them before their death? - that thou answer him, Verily
thy two sons send thee their salutation, and say to thee, Thou knowest not
whether they were innocent or guilty, and thou hast killed them, and not
assured thyself of their guilt, nor considered their case. Then recite to
him these two verses:
Verily women are devils created for us. I seek refuge with God from the artifice of the
devils.
They are the source of all the misfortunes that have appeared among mankind in the
affairs of the world and of religion.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
367
Then said El-Amjad, We desire of thee nothing but that thou repeat to him
these two verses which thou hast heard, and also, I beseech thee by Allah
that thou have patience with us while I repeat to my brother these two other
verses. And, weeping violently, he said, -
-
-
We have examples in the Kings who have gone before us.
How many, great and small, have travelled in this road!
And when the Treasurer heard these words of El-Amjad, he wept violently,
so that he wetted his beard; and as to El-As'ad, his eyes filled with tears, and
he recited these verses:
94
Fortune is disposed, by its very constitution, to guile, and is full of fraudulence and of
stratagems.
The saráb of the desert is to her like shining teeth; and the horror of darkness, like
the black-edged eyelid.
My offence against her (hateful is her nature) is as that of the sword when the warrior
draweth back.
When El-As'ad had finished reciting his verses, he embraced his brother
El-Amjad, so that they appeared together like a single person, and the
Treasurer drew his sword, and was about to strike him. But, lo, his horse
started away in fright over the desert. He was worth a thousand pieces of
gold, and upon him was a magnificent saddle, worth a great sum of money.
So the Treasurer threw the sword from his hand, and went after his horse.
His heart was inflamed, and he continued running after the horse, to take
him, until he entered a forest; and he entered after him; but the horse
pursued his way into the midst of the forest, striking the ground with his
hoofs, and the dust rose high, while the horse snorted and neighed in his
fury. Now there was in that forest a formidable lion, of hideous aspect,
his eyes casting forth sparks; his face was grim, and his form struck the
soul with terror: and the Treasurer, looking towards him, beheld this lion
approaching him, and he found no way of escape from him, not having with
him a sword. So he said within himself, There is no strength nor power
but in God, the High, the Great! This calamity hath not befallen me but
on account of the crime committed against El-Amjad and El-As'ad, and
verily this journey hath been unfortunate from its commencement!
Meanwhile, the heat became intense to El-Amjad and El-As'ad, and they
were affected with a violent thirst, so that their tongues hung out; and they
prayed for relief from the thirst. But none relieved them; and they said,
Would that we were killed and were at ease from this; but we know not
whither the horse hath run away that the Treasurer hath gone after it and
left us bound. Had he come to us and killed us, it had been easier to us
than our enduring this torment. But afterwards El-As'ad said, O my
brother, have patience, and the relief of God (whose perfection be extolled,
and whose name be exalted!) will come to us; for the horse ran not away but
because God is propitious towards us, and nothing afflicteth us but this
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thirst. He then shook himself, and struggled to the right and left; where-
upon his bonds became loosed; and he arose, and loosed the bonds of his
brother; after which he took the Emeer's sword, and said to his brother, By
Allah, we will not depart hence until we investigate his case, and know what
hath happened to him. So they began to follow the footsteps, and they led
them to the forest. Therefore one of them said to the other, Verily the
horse and the Treasurer have not passed beyond this forest. And El-As'ad
said to his brother, Stay here while I enter the forest and examine it. But
El-Amjad replied, I will not suffer thee to enter it alone, and we will not
enter unless together; so if we escape we shall escape together, and if we
perish we shall perish together. Accordingly they both entered, and they
found that the lion had sprung upon the Treasurer, who was lying beneath
him like a sparrow, but supplicating God, and making a sign towards heaven.
So when El-Amjad saw him, he took the sword, and, rushing upon the lion,
struck him with the sword between his eyes, and killed him.
The lion fell down prostrate upon the ground, and the Emeer arose,
wondering at the event, and saw El-Amjad and El-As'ad, the sons of his lord.
standing there; and he threw himself upon their feet, saying to them, By
Allah, O my lords, it were not just that I should act so extravagantly with
you as to kill you. May he who would kill you cease to exist! With my
soul I would ransom you. Then rising immediately, he embraced them,
and inquired of them the cause of the loosing of their bonds, and of their
coming to him. They therefore informed him that they had thirsted, and
that the bonds of one of them became loosed, so that he loosed the other,
because of the purity of their intentions; after which they followed the
footsteps until they came to him. And when he heard their words, he
thanked them for that which they had done, and went out from the forest
with them; and when they were without the forest they said to him, O uncle,
do what our father hath commanded thee. But he replied, Allah forbid that
I should attempt any injury to you! Know, however, that I desire to take
off your clothes, and to clothe you with mine, and to fill two glass bottles
with the blood of the lion. After which, I will go to the King, and tell him
that I have killed you. Then do ye travel into other countries; for God's
wide. And know, O my lords, that your separation from me will be
painful to me. Having said this, he and the two young men all wept. The
latter pulled off their clothes, and the Treasurer clad them with his own, and
went to the King.
He had taken the things, and tied up the linen of each of the youths in
a wrapper that he had with him, and filled the two glass bottles with the
blood of the lion; and he put the two wrappers before him on the back of the
horse. Then he bade the youths farewell, and, departing towards the city,
proceeded until he went in to the King, and he kissed the ground before
him. And the King saw him with a changed countenance (for this change
was occasioned by what he had suffered from his adventure with the lion),
and he imagined that it was the consequence of the slaughter of his sons:
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
369
so he was glad, and said to him, Hast thou accomplished the business? The
Treasurer answered, Yes, O our lord. And he handed to him the two wrap-
pers containing the clothes, and the two glass bottles filled with the blood.
And the King said to him, What didst thou observe in their conduct, and
have they charged thee with aught? He answered, I found them patient,
contented to endure their fate, and they said to me, Verily our father is ex-
cusable; so convey to him our salutations, and say to him, Thou art absolved
of the guilt of our slaughter and of our blood: - but we charge thee to re-
peat to him these two verses:
Verily women are devils created for us. We seek refuge with God from the artifice of
the devils.
They are the source of all the misfortunes that have appeared among mankind in the
affairs of the world and of religion.
And when the King heard these words from the Treasurer, he hung down
his head towards the ground for a long time, and knew that these words of
his two sons indicated that they had been killed unjustly. Then reflecting
upon the fraudulence of women, and the calamities occasioned by them, he
took the two wrappers and opened them, and began to turn over the clothes
of his sons, and to weep. And when he opened the clothes of his son El-
As'ad, he found in his pocket a paper written in the hand of the woman who
had accused him, together with the silk strings of her hair. So he unfolded
the paper and read it, and understood its meaning, and knew that his son El-
As'ad had been an object of injustice. And when he turned over the clothes
of El-Amjad, he found in his pocket a paper written in the hand of the other
woman, his accuser, with the silk strings of her hair enclosed in it; and he
opened this paper and read it, and knew that he, also, had been an object
of injustice. He struck his hands together, and exclaimed, There is no
strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! I have slain my sons.
unjustly! Then he began to slap his face, exclaiming, O my sons! O the
length of my grief! - And he gave orders to build two tombs in a house,
which he named the House of Lamentations, and inscribed upon the two
tombs the names of his two sons; and he threw himself upon the tomb of
El-Amjad, weeping and sighing and lamenting, and reciting verses; and then
in like manner upon that of El-As'ad. He relinquished the society of his
friends and intimates, secluding himself in the House of Lamentations, weep-
ing for his sons, and forsook his women and associates and familiar ac-
quaintances. Such was his case.
-
Now as to El-Amjad and El-As'ad, they proceeded over the desert, eat-
ing of the herbs of the earth, and drinking of the remains of the rain. At
night, one slept while the other watched, till midnight: then the latter slept
and the former watched.96 Thus they continued for the space of a whole
month, until their course brought them to a mountain of black flint, the
further extremity of which was unknown. At this mountain the road divided
into two: one road passed through the midst of it, and the other ascended
370
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to its summit. And they pursued the way to the summit of the mountain
and continued ascending it five days; but saw no end to it. Fatigue ha
overcome them; for they were not accustomed to walking upon the moun
tains nor elsewhere; and when they despaired of reaching its end, the
returned, and pursued the way through the midst of the mountain. Alon
this they proceeded the whole of the same day, until night; but El-As'ad wa
fatigued with the length of his journeying, and he said to his brother, O my
brother, I can walk no further; for I am reduced to excessive weakness
El-Amjad, however, replied, O my brother, brace up thy nerves: perhaps
God may dispel our affliction.
They then proceeded for an hour of the night; but El-As'ad was in a
state of the utmost fatigue, and he said, O my brother, I am tired and weary
with walking. And he fell upon the ground, and wept. His brother El-
Amjad, therefore, carried him and walked on with him, walking a while, and
sitting a while to rest, until daybreak gleamed. Thus he ascended the moun-
tain with him, and they found a spring gushing forth, with a stream running
from it; and by it was a pomegranate-tree, and a niche for prayer; 97 and
they scarcely believed the sight. They then seated themselves by this foun-
tain, and, having drunk of its water, and eaten of the pomegranates of that
tree, slept there until the sun rose; when they sat and washed themselves at
the spring, and ate again of the pomegranates on the tree, and slept until the
time of afternoon-prayers. After this they desired to continue their jour-
ney; but El-As'ad was unable to proceed; his feet were swollen.
So they
remained there three days, until he had rested himself, when they proceeded,
and continued many days their journey over the mountain, wearied with
thirst, until a city appeared before them at a distance.
Upon this they rejoiced; and they advanced towards it; and when they
drew near to it, they offered up thanks to God, whose name be exalted!
El-Amjad then said to El-As'ad, O my brother, sit here while I go to this
city, and see what kind of place it is and inquire respecting its affairs, that
we may know where we are in God's wide earth, and know what countries
we have traversed in crossing this mountain-range. Had we not journeyed
through the midst of it, we had not arrived at this city in a whole year.
Praise be to God, then, for our safety! But El-As'ad replied, By Allah,
O my brother, none shall go to the city but myself; and may I be thy ran-
som; for if thou leave me and descend and be absent from me, thou wilt
drown me in anxious thoughts respecting thee, and I have not strength to
endure thine absence from me. So El-Amjad said to him, Go, and loiter
not.
El-As'ad, therefore, descended from the mountain, taking with him some
pieces of gold; and left his brother to wait for his return. He went, and
walked on without stopping, at the foot of the mountain, until he entered the
city; and as he passed through its streets, there met him in his way an old
man, far advanced in age; his beard descended over his breast, and was
parted in twain, in his hand was a walking-staff, he was clad in rich gar-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
371
ments, and on his head was a large red turban.98 So when El-As'ad saw
him, he wondered at his dress and his appearance; and, advancing towards
him, he saluted him, and said to him, Which is the way to the market, O
my master? The old man, on hearing his words, smiled in his face, and said
to him, O my son, thou seemest to be a stranger. El-As'ad therefore replied,
Yes, I am a stranger, O uncle. And the old man said, Thou hast cheered
our country by thy presence, O my son, and thou hast made the country of
thy family desolate by thine absence. And what dost thou desire from the
market? - O uncle, answered El-As'ad, I have a brother whom I have left
on the mountain, and we are journeying from a distant country: We have
been on the way a period of three months, and arrived in sight of this city:
so I came hither to buy some food and to return with it to my brother that
we may nourish ourselves with it. And the old man replied, O my son,
receive tidings of every happiness, and know that I have made a banquet,
and have with me many guests, and have prepared for it a collection of the
best and the most agreeable of dishes, such as the appetite desireth. Wilt
thou, then, accompany me to my abode? If so I will give thee what thou re-
quirest, and will not take from thee any money for it. I will also acquaint
thee with the affairs of this city. And praise be to God, O my son, that I
have met with thee, and that none but myself hath met with thee!
-
So El-As'ad said, Do as thou art disposed, and hasten; for my brother is
waiting for me, and his heart is intent upon me. The old man, therefore,
took the hand of El-As'ad, and returned with him to a narrow by-street,
smiling in his face, and saying to him, Extolled be the perfection of Him
who hath saved thee from the people of this city! He walked on with him
until he entered a spacious house, in which was a saloon, and in this saloon
were sitting forty old men, far advanced in age, arranged in a ring, with a
lighted fire in the midst of them. The old men were sitting around it wor-
shipping it and prostrating themselves to it. And when El-As'ad saw this,
his flesh quaked, though he knew not their history. Then the old man first
mentioned said to this company, O sheykhs of the Fire, how blessed a day
is this! And he called out, saying, O Ghadbán! 99 Whereupon there came
forth to him a black slave, of a most grim visage, flat-nosed, of bending fig-
ure, and horrible shape. And the old man made a sign to this slave; upon
which he bound El-As'ad; and after he had done so, the old man said to him,
Take him down into the subterranean chamber, and there leave him, and say
to the slave-girl, such-a-one, Undertake the office of torturing him by night
and day,100 and give him to eat a cake of bread by night and a cake of bread
by day, until the period of the voyage to the Blue Sea and the Mountain of
Fire, when we will slaughter him upon the mountain as a sacrifice."
101
Accordingly the slave took him down into that chamber, and delivered
him to the girl, who entered upon her office of torturing him, and giving him
one cake of bread at the commencement of the day, and one at the com-
mencement of the night, with a mug of salt water between daybreak and
sunrise, and the same between sunset and nightfall. Then the old men said,
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
one to another, When the period of the Festival of the Fire arriveth, we will
sacrifice him upon the mountain, and by offering him propitiate the Fire.
The slave-girl went down to him, and inflicted upon him a painful beating,
so that the blood flowed from his limbs, and he fainted; after which she
placed at his head a cake of bread and a mug of salt water, and went away
and left him. And El-As'ad recovered his senses at midnight, when he found
himself chained, and the beating tortured him. So he wept violently, and,
reflecting upon his former state of grandeur and prosperity, and dominion.
and lordship, he lamented and groaned, and recited these verses:
Pause at the ruins of the house and inquire respecting us, and think not we are there as
formerly.
Fortune, the separator, hath disunited us; yet the hearts of our foes are not appeased by
our fate,
A base female is employed to torture me with whips, and her breast is filled with hatred
against me.
Yet still, perhaps, God may reunite us, and, by punishing them, repel from us our
enemies.
Then extending his hand towards his head, he found a cake of bread, and a
mug of salt water. So he ate a morsel to stay his departing spirit, and drank
a little of the water, and remained sleepless until the morning, from the
abundance of bugs and other vermin.
And when the morning arrived, the slave-girl came down to him again,
and pulled off his clothes. They were covered with blood, and stuck to his
skin, so that the skin came off with the shirt; and he shrieked, and cried
Ah! - and said, O my Lord, if Thou approve of this, increase it upon
me; 102 for Thou art not unmindful of him who hath oppressed me!
Avenge me, therefore, upon him! Then he groaned, and recited these
verses:
Be disregardful of thine affairs, and commit them to the course of fate;
For often a thing that enrages thee may eventually be to thee pleasing;
And sometimes what is strait may expand; and what is open, become contracted.
God will do whatsoever He willeth: therefore be not thou repugnant;
But rejoice at the prospect of speedy good that shall make thee forget what hath passed.
And as soon as he had finished reciting these verses, the slave-girl betook
herself to beating him until he fainted, when she threw to him a cake of
bread, and put a mug of salt water; after which she went up from him and
left him in solitude, with the blood flowing from his limbs; and he lay
chained, far from his friends, thinking of his brother, and of the glory in
which he was before living; yearning and lamenting, sighing and complaining,
pouring forth tears, and reciting verses.
Meanwhile, his brother El-Amjad remained expecting him till mid-day;
and when he returned not, his heart palpitated, the pain of separation be-
came intense in him, and he shed copious tears, crying out, O my grief!
How fearful I was of separation! Then descending from the mountain,
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
373
with his tears flowing over his cheeks, he entered the city, and walked on
in it until he arrived at the market, when he inquired of some of the people
respecting the name of the city, and respecting its inhabitants; and they an-
swered him, This is called the City of the Magians, and its inhabitants.
[mostly] worship fire, instead of the Almighty King. He then asked them
respecting the City of Ebony, and they said, The distance between us and
it, by land, is a journey of a year; and by sea, a voyage of four months: 103
its King is called Armánoos, and he hath taken a King as his son-in-law, and
put him in his place, and this King is called Kamar-ez-Zemán: he is a person
of equity and beneficence, and liberality and peace. And when El-Amjad
heard the mention of his father, he yearned and wept, and sighed and la-
mented; and he knew not whither to repair.
He had bought and taken with him something to eat, and he went to a
place to conceal himself there,104 and sat down to eat; but, remembering his
brother, he wept, and ate no more than enough to stay his departing spirit;
after which he arose, and walked through the city, to obtain tidings of his
brother. And he found a Muslim,105 a tailor, in his shop; so he seated him-
self by him, and related to him his story; and the tailor said to him, If he
have fallen into the hand of any of the Magians, thou wilt not see him again
without difficulty; but perhaps God will reunite thee with him. Then he
added, Wilt thou, O my brother, lodge with me? He answered, Yes. And
the tailor rejoiced at this. El-Amjad remained with him many days, and the
tailor consoled him, and exhorted him to be patient, and taught him the art
of sewing so that he became an adept.
After this, he went forth one day to the shore of the sea, and washed his
clothes. He then entered the bath, and, having put on clean clothes, went
forth from the bath to amuse himself in the city. And he met in his way a
woman endowed with beauty and loveliness, and justness of stature, un-
equalled in beauty, who, when she beheld him, raised the veil from her face,
and made signs to him with her eyebrows and her eyes, and ogled him, and
recited these verses:
I beheld thee approaching, and cast down my eyes, as though, O slender-formed, thou
wert the beaming sun;
For thou art the handsomest person that hath appeared, and more handsome to-day
than thou wert yesterday.106
If beauty were divided, a fifth part of it, or part of a fifth, would belong to Yoosuf:
And the rest would be thine exclusively. May every soul, then, be sacrificed for thine!
107
And when El-Amjad heard her words, his heart was gladdened by her, and
moved with affection for her; the hands of love sported with him, and, mak-
ing a sign to her, he recited these verses in reply:
Above the rose of the cheeks are the thorns of lances.108 Who then will propose to him-
self to gather?
Extend not the hands towards it; for long have those lances spread wars because of our
directing looks at it.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Say to her who hath tyrannised and been a temptation, and who had been more tempting
had she acted equitably,
Thy face would increase our perplexity were it veiled, and I see exposure best guardeth
beauty such as thine;
As the sun's bare face thou canst not look upon; but when it is veiled by a thin mist
thou mayest.
The niggardly female is protected by her niggardness: then ask the guards of the tribe
why they would prevent us:
If they wish my slaughter, let them put an end to all their animosity, and leave us at
liberty;
For if they attack, they are not more murderous than the eye of her with the mole,
when she encountereth us.
She then begged to have some conversation with him: so he said to her, Wilt
thou pay me a visit, or shall I repair to thine abode? Whereupon she hung
down her head in bashfulness towards the ground, and repeated the words
of Him whose name be exalted, - Men shall have the preeminence over
women, because of the advantages which God hath given to the one of them
over the other.109
So El-Amjad understood her intimation, and knew that she desired to
accompany him whither he was going. He was therefore obliged to find the
place for her; and, being ashamed to take her to the house of the tailor with
whom he lodged, he walked on before her. She followed him, and he con-
tinued walking on with her from by-street to by-street, and from place to
place, until the damsel was tired, and she said to him, O my master, where
is thy house? He answered, Before us, and there remaineth but a short dis-
tance to it. Then he turned aside with her into a handsome by-street, and
continued walking along it, she following him, until he arrived at the end of
it, when he found that it was not a thoroughfare. So he said, There is no
strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! And looking towards
the upper end of the street, he saw there a great door with two mastabahs;
but it was locked. El-Amjad therefore seated himself upon one mastabah,
and the damsel seated herself on the other, and said to him, O my master,
for what art thou waiting? Upon this, he hung down his head for a long
time towards the ground; after which he raised it, and answered her, I am
waiting for my memlook; for he hath the key, and I said to him, Prepare for
us the food and beverage, and the flowers 110 for the wine, by the time that
I come forth from the bath. He then said within himself, Probably the
time would become tedious to her, and so she will go her way and leave me
here.
But when the time seemed long to her, she said to him, O my master, thy
memlook hath been slow in returning to us, while we have been sitting in the
street. And she rose and approached the wooden lock 111 with a stone. So
El-Amjad said to her, Hasten not; but be patient until the memlook cometh,
Paying no attention, however, to his words, she struck the wooden lock with
the stone, and split it in two; so that the door opened. He therefore said to
her, What possesseth thee, that thou didst thus? O my master, said she,
—
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
375
what hath happened? Is this not thy house? He answered, Yes: but there
was no necessity for breaking the lock. The damsel then entered the house;
and El-Amjad was perplexed in his mind, fearing the people of the house,
and knew not what to do. The damsel said to him, Wherefore dost thou
not enter, O my master, O light of mine eye, and vital spirit of my heart?
He answered her, I hear and obey: but the memlook hath been slow in re-
turning to me, and I know not whether he have done anything of what I
ordered him, or not. He then entered with her, in a state of the utmost
anxiety, fearing the people of the house. And when he entered the house,
he found in it a handsome saloon, with four leewáns,112 facing one another,
and with closets and sidillehs 113 furnished with stuffs of silk and brocade,
and in the midst of it was a fountain of costly construction, by which were
arranged dishes set with jewels and filled with fruits and sweet-scented flow-
ers; by the side of it were the drinking-vessels, and there was a candlestick
with a candle stuck in it. The place was full of precious stuffs; in it were
chests, and chairs were set in it, and on each chair was a wrapper of
clothes,¹
,114 and upon each of these was a purse full of pieces of gold. The
house attested the prosperity of its owner, for its floor was paved with
marble.
El-
When El-Amjad beheld this, he was perplexed at his case, and said within
himself, My life is lost! Verily to God we belong, and verily unto Him we
return! But as to the damsel, when she saw this place, she was filled with
the utmost joy, and said, By Allah, O my master, thy memlook hath not
failed in the performance of his task; for he hath swept the place, and cooked
the food, and prepared the fruit; and I have come at the best of times.
Amjad, however, looked not towards her; his mind being engrossed by fear
of the people of the house. So she said, O my master, why art thou stand-
ing thus? Then heaving a loud sigh, she gave El-Amjad a kiss that sounded
like the cracking of a walnut, and said to him, O my master, if thou have
made an appointment with some other than myself, I will exert my skill to
serve her. At this, El-Amjad laughed from a bosom filled with rage; and
advanced and seated himself, panting, and saying within himself, O the
ignominious slaughter that I shall suffer when the master of the house
cometh!
The damsel had seated herself by his side, and began to sport and laugh,
while El-Amjad, anxious and frowning, revolved a thousand things in his
mind, saying within himself, The owner of this saloon will certainly come;
and what shall I say to him? He will kill me without doubt! - The damsel
then rose, tucked up her sleeves, and, taking a table, put upon it the
sufreh,115 and ate, saying to El-Amjad, Eat, O my master. So he advanced
to eat; but the doing so gave him no pleasure: on the contrary, he sat look-
ing in the direction of the door until the damsel had eaten and satisfied her-
self, and removed the table and brought the dessert; whereupon she com-
menced eating of the dried fruits. Then she brought forward the beverage,
and opened the amphora, and filled a cup, which she handed to El-Amjad;
376
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and he took it from her, saying within himself, Ah, Ah! What shall I ex-
perience from the owner of this house when he cometh and seeth me?
His eyes were directed towards the vestibule, and the cup was in his
hand, and while he was in this state, lo, the owner of the house came. He
was a memlook, one of the grandees of the city: for he was the King's Chief
Equerry; and he had fitted up that saloon for his pleasure, that his bosom
might expand in it, and that he might there enjoy in private the society of
such as he desired; and on that day he had sent to a favourite to come to
him, and had prepared the apartment for him. The name of this memlook
was Bahádir.110 He was liberal-handed, a person of generosity and benefi-
cence, and charity and obligingness. When he drew near to the saloon, he
found the door open: so he entered by little and little, and, looking with
stretched-forth head, beheld El-Amjad and the damsel, with the dish of fruit
before them, and the wine-service.
At that moment, El-Amjad was holding the wine-cup, with his eye
directed towards the door; and as soon as his eye met that of the owner of
the house, his countenance turned sallow, and the muscles of his side quiv-
ered. But when Bahadir saw that his countenance turned sallow, and his
condition became changed, he made a sign to him with his finger upon his
mouth, as though he would say to him, Be silent, and come hither to me. So
El-Amjad put down the cup from his hand, and arose to go to him. The
damsel said to him, Whither goest thou? And he shook his head, and made
a sign to her that he would be absent but a minute. He then went forth to
the vestibule, barefooted: 117 and when he saw Bahadir, he knew that he was
the master of the house. He therefore hastened to him, and, having kissed
his hand, said to him, I conjure thee by Allah, O my master, before thou do
me any injury, that thou hear my words. Then he told him his story from
beginning to end, acquainting him with the cause of his having left his coun-
try and royal state, and assuring him that he had not entered the saloon by
his own choice, but that the damsel was the person who had broken the
wooden lock and opened the door and done all these deeds.
When Bahadir, therefore, heard his words, and knew that he was the
son of a king, he was moved with sympathy for him, and pitied him, and
said, Hear, O Amjad, my words, and obey me, and I will guarantee thy
safety from that which thou fearest; but if thou disobey me, I will kill thee.
So El-Amjad replied, Command me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will never
disobey thee; for I owe my deliverance to thy humanity. And Bahadir
said to him, Enter this saloon again, and seat thyself in the place where thou
wast, and be at peace. I will presently come in to thee. My name is
Bahadir. And when I have come in to thee, abuse me and revile me, and
say to me, What is the cause of thy remaining away until this hour? And
accept no excuse from me; but arise and beat me; and if thou shew pity for
me, I will take away thy life. Enter, then, and enjoy thyself; and whatso-
ever thou desirest of me, thou wilt find it ready before thee immediately.
So pass this night as thou wilt, and to-morrow go thy way. Thus I do to
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
377
-
-
shew respect to thee as being a stranger; for I love the stranger, and to re-
spect him is incumbent on me. - El-Amjad, therefore, kissed his hand, and
entered again. His face was now clothed with red and white; and as soon
as he entered, he said to the damsel, O my mistress, thou hast gladdened
by thy company the place of thy visitation, and this is a blessed night. The
damsel replied, Verily this is wonderful from thee, thy now displaying this
sociableness to me. So he said, By Allah, O my mistress, I believed that my
memlook Bahádir had taken from me some necklaces of jewels, each of which
was worth ten thousand pieces of gold: wherefore, I went out just now, re-
flecting upon this, and searched for them, and found them in their place;
but I know not why the memlook hath remained away until this hour, and I
must punish him. And the damsel became appeased by these words of El-
Amjad, and they sported together, and drank and enjoyed themselves, and
continued making merry until near sunset.
-
-
Bahadir then came in to them. He had changed his clothes, girded him-
self, and put on his feet a pair of shoes of the kind worn by memlooks; and,
having saluted, and kissed the ground, he placed his hands across, and hung
down his head towards the ground, as one acknowledging his guilt. So
El-Amjad looked at him with the eye of anger, and said to him, What is the
reason of thy delay, O most ill-omened of memlooks? O my master, he
answered, I was busied in washing my clothes, and knew not that thou wast
here; for my appointed time, and thine, is nightfall, and not in the day-
time. And upon this, El-Amjad cried out at him, and said to him, Thou liest,
O most ill-omened of memlooks! By Allah, I must beat thee! Then
rising, he extended Bahádir upon the floor, and took a stick, and beat him
gently. But the damsel arose, and, having taken the stick from his hand,
inflicted upon Bahádir so severe a beating that his tears flowed; and he
prayed for relief, and locked his teeth together. El-Amjad called out to her,
Do not thus! But she replied, Let me satisfy my anger with him. Then
El-Amjad snatched the stick from her, and pushed her away. So Bahadir
arose, and wiped away the tears from his face, and stood a while waiting
upon them: after which he swept the saloon, and lighted the lamps. Mean-
while, the damsel, every time that Bahádir came in or went out, reviled and
cursed him; and El-Amjad was angry with her, and said to her, By Allah
(whose name be exalted!), leave my memlook; for he is not accustomed to
this.
They continued eating and drinking, and Bahádir remained waiting upon
them until midnight, when he became fatigued with waiting, and by the beat-
ing he had suffered, and slept in the middle of the saloon, and snored. The
damsel then, having become intoxicated, said to El-Amjad, Arise; take this
sword that is hung up here, and strike off the head of this memlook. If
thou do it not, I will employ means for thine own destruction. What hath
possessed thee, said El-Amjad, that thou wouldst kill my memlook? She
answered, The pleasure will not be complete without putting him to death;
and if thou arise not, I will myself arise and kill him. So El-Amjad said,
378
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
By Allah, I conjure thee that thou do it not. But she replied, I must do
it. And she took the sword and drew it, and was determined to kill him.
El-Amjad, therefore, said within himself, This is a man who hath acted
kindly to us, and protected us, and treated us with beneficence, and hath
made himself as a memlook to me. How should we recompense him by
slaughter? Never shall that be done! He then said to the damsel, If the
killing of my memlook is indispensable, I am more fit to kill him than thou.
And, having taken the sword from her, he raised his hand and struck the
damsel on her neck, severing her head from her body; and her head fell upon
the owner of the house: so he awoke and sat up, and opened his eyes, and
found El-Amjad standing with the blood-stained sword in his hand. Then
looking towards the damsel, he found her slain. He therefore inquired of
him respecting her case; and El-Amjad repeated her words, and said to him,
She refused to do anything but to kill thee; and this is her recompense.
Upon this, Bahádir arose, and, kissing the head of El-Amjad, said to him.
O my master, would that thou hadst pardoned her! It now remaineth only
to take her forth immediately, before morning.
Bahadir then girded himself, and took the damsel, wrapped her in a
cloak, put her in a large basket of palm-leaves, and carried her away, saying
to El-Amjad, Thou art a stranger, and knowest not any one; therefore sit
in thy place, and expect me back at sunrise. If I return to thee, I must do
thee great favours, and strive to obtain intelligence of thy brother; but if
the sun rise and I have not returned to thee, know that God's decree hath
been executed upon me: and peace be on thee; and this house shall be thine,
with the wealth and stuffs that it containeth. Having said this, he carried
away the basket, and, going forth from the saloon, passed with it through the
market-streets, and went with it by the way that led to the sea. But when
he had nearly arrived at the sea, he looked aside, and saw that the Walee
and his chief officers had surrounded him. On their recognizing him they
wondered; and they opened the basket, and found in it a murdered woman.
So they seized him, and put him in chains for the rest of the night, until the
morning, when they went up with him, taking with them the basket, to the
King, and acquainted him with the case. And when the King knew it, he
was violently enraged, and said to him, Wo to thee! Thus dost thou ever!
Thou killest persons and throwest them into the sea, and takest all their
property! How many murders hast thou committed before this? But
Bahádir hung down his head towards the ground before the King.
King cried out at him, and said to him, Wo to thee! Who killed this dam-
sel? O my lord, answered Bahádir, I killed her, and there is no strength
nor power but in God, the High, the Great! And the King was enraged.
and gave orders to hang him. So the executioner descended with him at the
King's command, and the Wálee went down with a crier, who proclaimed
through the streets of the city that the people should come to behold the
spectacle of Bahádir, the King's Chief Equerry; and he conducted him about
through the by-streets and market-streets.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
379
But as to El-Amjad, when daylight came and the sun had risen and
Bahádir had not returned to him, he exclaimed, There is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great! I wonder what hath happened to
him! And while he was thus meditating, lo, the crier proclaimed that the
people should come to behold the spectacle of Bahádir; for they were to
hang him at mid-day. So when El-Amjad heard this he wept, and exclaimed,
Verily to God we belong, and verily unto Him we return! He hath desired
his own destruction on my account, when I am the person that killed her!
By Allah, never shall this be! He then went forth from the saloon, and
closed it, and passed through the midst of the city until he came to Bahadir;
whereupon standing before the Wálee, he said to him, O my lord, slay not
Bahádir; for he is innocent. By Allah, none killed her but myself.
But, O
When the Walee, therefore, heard his words, he took him, together with
Bahadir, and, going up with them both to the King, acquainted him with that
which he had heard from El-Amjad. So the King looked at El-Amjad, and
said to him, Didst thou kill the damsel? He answered, Yes.
He answered, Yes. And the King
said to him, Tell me the cause of thy killing her, and inform me truly. He
replied, O King, a wonderful event and an extraordinary occurrence hath
happened unto me: if it were engraved on the understanding, it would be
a lesson to him who would be admonished. He then related to the King his
story, acquainting him with all that had happened to him and his brother
from beginning to end. And the King was filled with the utmost wonder
at hearing it, and said to him, I know thee now to be excusable.
young man, he added, wilt thou be to me a Wezeer? He answered him, I
hear and obey. And the King bestowed upon him and upon Bahádir mag-
nificent robes of honour, and gave to El-Amjad a handsome mansion, with
servants and officers, conferred upon him all that he required, appointed
him pensions and supplies, and ordered him to search for his brother El-
As'ad. So El-Amjad took his seat as Wezeer, and exercised authority and
administered equity, and invested and deposed, and took and gave. He also
sent the crier through the streets of the city to cry his brother; and for many
days the crier repeated his proclamation in the great thoroughfare-streets
and market-streets; but heard no tidings of him, nor discovered any trace of
him. Such was the case of El-Amjad.
As to El-As'ad, the Magians continued to torture him night and day,
and evening and morning for the space of a whole year, until the Festival of
the Magians drew near. Then Bahrám 118 the Magian, [the old man who
had inveigled El-As'ad into his house,] 119 prepared himself for his voyage,
and fitted out for himself a ship, and, having put El-As'ad into a chest, and
locked it upon him, transported him to the vessel. It happened, at the time
of his conveying the chest to the ship, that El-Amjad, in accordance with
fate and destiny, was standing amusing himself by gazing at the sea; and he
looked at the things as the men were transporting them to the ship. His
heart throbbed at the sight, and he ordered his young men to bring him his
horse, and, mounting in the midst of a company of his attendants, repaired
380
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to the sea. There stopping by the ship of the Magian, he commanded those
who were with him to go on board of it and to search it. So they went on
board, and searched the whole of the vessel; but found in it nothing, and
they landed from it, and told this to El-Amjad. He therefore mounted
again, and returned to his abode; and when he arrived there, and entered
the palace, his heart was contracted, and, turning his eyes towards a part
of the mansion, he saw two lines inscribed upon a wall; and they were these
two verses:
O my friends, if ye are absent from mine eye, from my heart and my mind ye are not.
But ye have left. me in severe affliction and have banished repose from mine eyelid,
while ye sleep.
And when El-Amjad read them, he thought upon his brother, and wept.
Bahram the Magian went on board the ship, and called out to the seamen,
ordering them to make haste in loosing the sails. So they loosed the sails
and departed. They continued their voyage days and nights, every two days
taking forth El-As'ad, and giving him a scanty supply of food and a little
water, until they drew near to the Mountain of Fire. But a storm of wind
then arose against them, and the sea became boisterous to them, so that the
vessel wandered from her course, and, pursuing a wrong direction, they came
to a city built upon the sea-shore, having a castle with windows looking over
the sea. The ruler of this city was a woman, called the Queen Marjáneh.120
And the captain of the ship said to Bahrám, O my master, we have wandered
from our course, and we must enter the port of this city to take rest, and after
that, let God do what He willeth. Bahrám replied, Excellent is thy counsel,
and according to it I will act. Then the captain said to him, If the Queen
send to put questions to us, what shall be our answer? The Queen Mar-
jáneh is a faithful Muslimeh; and if she know that we are Magians, she will
seize our vessel and kill us all.12 Bahram answered, I have this Muslim
with us: so we will clothe him in the attire of memlooks, and take him forth
with us; and if the Queen see him, she will imagine him to be a memlook;
and I will say to her, I am an importer of memlooks, a seller and buyer of
them; and I had with me many memlooks; but I have sold them, and this
one only remaineth. And the captain replied, This proposal is good.
They then arrived at the city, and slackened the sails, and cast the
anchors; and when the vessel had stayed, lo, the Queen Marjáneh came down
to them, attended by her troops, and, halting by the ship, called out to the
captain. He therefore went on shore to her, and kissed the ground before
her, and she said to him, What is in this thy vessel, and who is with thee?—
O Queen of the age, he answered, I have with me a merchant who selleth
memlooks. And she said to him, Bring him hither to me. And lo, Bahrám
came forth, with El-As'ad walking behind him in the garb of a memlook;
and when Bahrám came up to her, he kissed the ground before her. She
said to him, What is thy business? And he answered her, I am a slave-
merchant. She then looked at El-As'ad, imagining him to be a memlook, and
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
381
said to him, What is thy name? And, almost suffocated with weeping, he
said,122 My name now, or that which I had formerly? Then hast thou two
names? she asked. He answered, Yes: formerly, my name was El-As'ad;
but now, my name is El-Moatarr.123 And her heart was moved with affec-
tion for him, and she said to him, Art thou able to write? He answered,
Yes. So she handed him an inkhorn and a pen and paper, saying to him,
Write something, that I may see it. Accordingly, he wrote these two
verses:
What resource hath God's servant when destiny pursueth him under every circumstance,
O thou judger;
When God casteth him into the deep, hand-bound, and said to him, Beware, beware,
that thou be not wetted.124
And when she saw the paper, she had compassion upon him, and said to
Bahrám, Sell to me this memlook. He replied, O my mistress, I cannot sell
him; for I have sold all my memlooks except this one. But the Queen Mar-
jáneh said, I will positively take him from thee, either by sale or as a gift.
He said to her, I will not sell him nor give him. She, however, seized him
and took him, and, having gone up with him to the castle, sent to Bahrám,
saying to him, If thou do not set sail this night from our city, I will take all
thy property, and destroy thy ship. When the message, therefore, was
brought to him, he was grieved excessively, and said, Verily this voyage
hath been unfortunate! He then arose, and prepared himself, and, having
taken all that he desired, waited for the night, to proceed on his voyage, and
said to the seamen, Take your things, and fill your water-skins with water,
and set sail with us at the close of the night. So the seamen betook them-
selves to perform their business.
Meanwhile, the Queen Marjáneh, when she had taken El-As'ad and con-
ducted him into the castle, opened the windows looking over the sea, and
ordered the female slaves to bring the food. They therefore brought it to
her and El-As'ad, and they both ate. She then ordered them to bring the
wine; and they brought it, and she drank with El-As'ad. And God (whose
perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!) inspired her with love
for El-As'ad; and she began to fill the cup and to give it to him to drink
until his reason quitted him. After this, he arose, and descended from the
saloon, and, seeing a door open, he went through it and walked on till he
came to a great garden in which were all kinds of fruits and flowers; and he
approached a fountain that was in the garden, and, laying himself down there
upon his back, he slept, and night overcame him. — Bahrám, in the mean-
time, when the night arrived, called out to the sailors of the vessel, saying to
them, Loose your sails, and proceed with us on our voyage. They replied,
We hear and obey: but wait until we have filled our water-skins, and then
we will loose.
The seamen then landed with the water-skins, and went round about the
castle, and finding nothing but the walls of the garden, they climbed over
382
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
them, and descended into the garden, and followed the track that led t
the fountain; and on their arriving at it, they found El-As'ad lying on hi
back. The immediately recognised him, and rejoiced at finding him. S
they carried him away, after they had filled their water-skins, and leaped
down from the wall, and conveyed him quickly to Bahram the Magian, say
ing to him, Receive glad tidings of the accomplishment of thy desire, and of
the satisfaction of thy heart, thy drum hath been beaten, and thy pipe hath
been sounded: 125 for thy captive, whom the Queen Marjáneh took from thee
by force, we have found and brought with us. They then threw him down
before him. And when Bahrám beheld him his heart leaped with joy and
his bosom expanded. He bestowed dresses upon them, and ordered them to
loose the sails quickly. They therefore loosed them, and proceeded on their
voyage to the Mountain of Fire, and continued their course until the morn-
ing.
Now as to the Queen Marjáneh, after El-As'ad had gone down from her,
she remained a while expecting his return; and when he came not back to
her, she arose and searched for him, but found him not. So she lighted the
candles, and ordered the female slaves to seek for him. Then she herself
descended, and, seeing the garden open, she knew that he must have entered
it. She therefore went into it, and found his shoes by the side of the foun-
tain; and she proceeded to search for him throughout the whole of the
garden; but saw nothing of him. She continued to search for him about
the borders of the garden until the morning, when she inquired respecting the
ship, and they told her that it had set sail in the first third of the night.
So she knew that the crew had taken him with them, and the event grieved
her; she was violently enraged, and gave orders to fit out immediately ten
great ships. She prepared herself, also, for war, and embarked in one of
the ten ships; her troops embarking with her, equipped with magnificent ac-
coutrements and weapons of war. They loosed the sails; and she said to the
captains of the ships, When ye have overtaken the ship of the Magian, ye
shall receive from me robes of honour, and wealth; or, if ye overtake her not,
I will kill you every one. The seamen, therefore, were inspired with great
fear and hope.
They proceeded in the ships that day and the next night, and the second
day and the third; and on the fourth day, the vessel of Bahram the Magian
appeared to them; and that day passed not until the Queen's ships had
surrounded the ship of the Magian. Bahrám had just then taken forth
El-As'ad, and beaten him, and was tormenting him, while El-As'ad
cried for relief and deliverance. But he found no creature to relieve
or deliver him, and the violent beating tortured him. And the Magian,
while he was tormenting him, looked aside, and found that the Queen's
ships had surrounded his vessel, and encompassed her as the white of
the eye surrounds its black. He made sure of his destruction, and sighed,
and exclaimed, Wo to thee, O As'ad! all this hath been occasioned by
thee! Then taking him by his hand, he ordered the sailors to throw
-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
383
him into the sea, saying, By Allah, I will kill thee before mine own
death!
Accordingly, the sailors took him up by his hands and feet, and threw
him into the midst of the sea. But God (whose perfection be extolled, and
whose name be exalted!), desiring his safety and the prolongation of his term
of life, permitted that he should sink, and then rise again; and he beat about
with his hands and feet until God smoothed his difficulties. Relief came to
him, and the waves, striking him, bore him to a distance from the ship of
the Magian, and he reached the shore. So he landed, scarcely believing in
his escape, and when he was upon the shore he took off his clothes and wrung
them, and, having spread them out to dry, sat down naked, weeping for the
calamities and captivity that had befallen him, and recited these two
verses:
O Allah, my patience and resources have failed, and my bosom is contracted and my
means are cut off!
To whom shall the wretched complain of his case unless unto the Lord, O thou Lord
of lords?
After this he arose, and put on his clothes; but knew not whither to go.
He ate of the herbs of the earth and of the fruits of the trees, and drank of
the water of the rivers, journeying by night and day, until he came in sight
of a city. And upon this he rejoiced, and quickened his pace towards the
city; but when he arrived at it, the evening had overtaken him, and its gate
was shut. It was the same city in which he had been a captive, and to whose
King his brother was Wezeer. And when El-As'ad saw that its gate was
closed, he returned towards the burial-grounds, where, on arriving, he found
a tomb without a door. So he entered it, and laid himself down to sleep in
it, putting his face into his bosom.126
Now Bahram the Magian, when the Queen Marjáneh with her ships over-
took him, defeated her by his artifice and subtlety. He returned in safety
towards his city, and proceeded thither forthwith, full of joy. And passing
by the burial-grounds, he landed from the ship, in accordance with fate and
destiny, and walked through the burial-grounds, and saw that the tomb in
which El-As'ad was lying was open. So he wondered, and said, I must look
into this tomb. And when he looked into it, he saw El-As'ad sleeping there,
with his head in his bosom. He therefore looked in his face, and recognised
him, whereupon he said to him, Art thou still living? Then he took him up,
and conveyed him to his house. He had in his house a subterranean cell,
[before mentioned,] prepared for the torture of Muslims, and he had a
daughter named Bustán; 127 and he put heavy irons upon the feet of El-
As'ad, and put him down into that cell, commissioning his daughter to torture
him night and day until he should die. Having done this, he inflicted upon
him a painful beating, and closed the cell upon him, and gave the keys to his
daughter.
So his daughter Bustán went down to beat him; but finding him to be an
384
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
elegant young man, of sweet countenance, with arched eyebrows and black
eyes, affection for him entered her heart, and she said to him, What is thy
name? He answered her, My name is El-As'ad. And she said to him,
Mayest thou be fortunate, and may thy days be fortunate! 128 Thou art
not deserving of torment, and I know that thou hast been treated unjustly.
-And she proceeded to cheer him by conversation, and unfastened his irons.
Then she asked him respecting the religion of El-Islám. And he informed
her that it was the true and right religion, and that our lord Mohammad
was the author of surpassing miracles and manifest signs, and that [the
worship of] Fire injured, instead of benefiting: he acquainted her also with
the fundamentals of El-Islám; and she yielded to his words. The love of
the faith entered her heart, and God (whose name be exalted!) infused into
her bosom an affection for El-As'ad; so she pronounced the two professions
of the faith,129 and became one among the people of felicity. She occupied
herself in giving him food and drink, conversed and prayed with him, and
prepared for him pottages of fowls, until he gained strength, and his disorders
ceased, and he was restored to his former health.
After this, the daughter of Bahrám went forth from El-As'ad, and stood
at the door; and lo, the crier proclaimed and said, Whosoever hath with him
a handsome young man, of such and such a description, and produceth him,
he shall have whatever he demandeth of wealth; and whosoever hath him in
his keeping and denieth it, he shall be hanged at the door of his house, and
his property shall be plundered, and his dwelling shall be demolished. Now
El-As'ad had acquainted Bustán the daughter of Bahram with all that had
happened unto him: so when she heard this, she knew that he was the person
sought. She therefore went in to him, and related to him the news; and he
came forth and repaired to the mansion of the Wezeer; and as soon as he saw
the Wezeer, he exclaimed, By Allah, verily this Wezeer is my brother El-
Amjad! He went up with the damsel behind him to the palace; and on see-
ing his brother El-Amjad, he threw himself upon him; whereupon El-Amjad
recognised him, and in like manner threw himself upon him, and they em-
braced each other. The memlooks came around them, and El-As'ad and El-
Amjad were, for a while, senseless; and when they recovered from their fit,
El-Amjad took his brother and went up with him to the Sultán, and related
to him his story; upon which, the Sultán ordered him to plunder the house
of Bahrám. So the Wezeer sent company of men to do this; and they re-
paired to Bahram's house, and plundered it, and brought up his daughter to
the Wezeer, who received her with honour. El-As'ad then described to his
brother all the torture that he had suffered, and the acts of kindness that the
daughter of Bahrám had done him. El-Amjad, therefore, treated her with
increased honour. And after this he related to El-As'ad all that had hap-
pened to him with the damsel, and how he had escaped from being hanged,
and had become Wezeer. And each of them then complained to the other
of the distress that he had suffered from the separation of his brother.
The Sultán next caused the Magian to be brought, and commanded to
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
385
strike off his head.
Bahrám said, O most excellent King, hast thou deter-
mined to kill me? He answered, Yes. Then said Bahrám, Have patience
with me a little, O King. And he hung down his head towards the ground,
and presently, raising it, made profession of the faith, and vowed himself
a Muslim to the Sultán. So they rejoiced at his embracing El-Islám. Then
El-Amjad and El-As'ad related to him all that had happened to them; and he
said to them, O my lords, prepare yourselves to journey, and I will journey
with you. And they rejoiced at this, as they did also at his conversion to
El-Islám; but they wept violently. Bahrám, therefore, said to them, O my
lords, weep not; for ye shall eventually be united [with your family], as
Neameh and Noam were united. And what, they asked him, happened to
Neameh and Noam? He replied as follows
-
The Story of the Lovers Neameh and Noam 130
PERSONS have related (but God is all knowing), that there was, in the city
of El-Koofeh,¹
131
a man who was one of the chiefs of its inhabitants, called
Er-Rabeea the son of Hátim. He was a man of great wealth, and of pros-
perous circumstances, and had been blessed with a son whom he named
Neamet-Allah.132 And while he was one day at the mart of the slave-
brokers, he beheld a female slave offered for sale, with a little girl of sur-
prising beauty and loveliness on her arm. So Er-Rabeea made a sign to the
slave-broker, and said to him. For how much are this female slave and her
daughter to be sold? He answered, For fifty pieces of gold. And Er-
Rabeea said, Write the contract, and receive the money, and deliver it to her
master. He then paid to the slave-broker the price of the slave, and gave him
his brokerage; and, having received the female slave and her daughter, went
home with them.
And when his uncle's daughter [who was his wife] beheld the female
slave, she said to him, O son of my uncle, what is this female slave? He an-
swered, I bought her from a desire of possessing this little-one that is on her
arm; and know thou that, when she hath grown up, there will be none like
her in the countries of the Arabs or foreigners, and none more lovely than
she. And the daughter of his uncle said to her, What is thy name, O slave-
girl? She answered, O my mistress, my name is Towfeek.133
And what,
she asked, is the name of thy daughter? She answered, Saad.134 And she
replied, Thou hast spoken truly. Thou art fortunate, and fortunate is he
who hath purchased thee. She then said, O son of my uncle, what name
wilt thou give her? What thou choosest, he answered. She replied, We
will name her Noam.¹ And Er-Rabeea said, There will be no harm in so
naming her.
135
-
The little Noam was brought up with Neameh 136 the son of Er-Rabeea in
one cradle, and in the same manner they were reared until they attained
the age of ten years; and each of them was more beautiful than the other.13
The boy used to say to her, O my sister. And she used to say to him, O my
137
386
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
brother. Then Er-Rabeea addressed his son Neameh, when they had at-
tained to this age, and said to him, O my son, Noam is not thy sister; but
she is thy slave; and I bought her for thee when thou wast in the cradle:
so call her not thy sister from this day. Then if it is so, replied Neameh
to his father, I will marry her. He then went in to his mother, and ac-
quainted her with this; and she said, O my son, she is thy slave. Therefore
Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea took her as a wife, and loved her. Four 138
years passed over them while they thus lived, and there was not in El-Koofeh
a maid more beautiful than Noam, nor any sweeter or more elegant. She
had grown up, and read the Kur-án and works of science, and become skilled
in various modes of playing upon sundry instruments: she was distinguished
by perfection both in singing and in instrumental music, so that she surpassed
all the people of her age. And while she was sitting one day with her hus-
band Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea in the drinking-chamber, she took the
lute, and tightened its chords, and sang these two verses:
While thou art my lord, on whose bounty I live, and a sword by which I may annihilate
adversities,
139
I shall never need recourse to Zeyd nor to 'Amr,' nor any but thee, if my ways become
strait to me.
And Neameh was greatly delighted. He desired her to sing again; and when
she had done so, the youth exclaimed, Divinely art thou gifted, O Noam.
But while they were passing the most agreeable life, El-Hajjáj,140 in his
viceregal mansion, was saying, I must contrive to take away this damsel
whose whose name is Noam, and send her to the Prince of the Faithful,
'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán; for there existeth not in his palace her
equal, nor is sweeter singing than hers there heard. He then called for an
old woman, a kahramaneh, and said to her, Go to the house of Er-Rabeea,
and obtain an interview with the damsel Noam, and contrive means to take
her away; for there existeth not upon the face of the earth her equal.
The old woman assented to the words of El-Hajjáj; and when she arose
on the following morning, she put on her apparel of wool,141 hung to her neck
a rosary of thousands of beads,142 and, taking in her hand a walking-staff,
and a leathern water-bottle of the manufacture of El-Yemen, proceeded
thither, exclaiming, as she went, Extolled be the perfection of God, and praise
be to God, and there is no deity but God, and God is most Great, and there
is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! She ceased not
her ejaculations in praise of God, and her supplications, while her heart was
full of artifice and fraud, until she arrived at the house of Neameh the son
of Er-Rabeea at the time of noon-prayers; and she knocked at the door;
whereupon the doorkeeper opened to her, and said to her, What dost thou
desire? She answered, I am a poor woman, one of those who devote them-
selves to the service of God, and the time of noon-prayer hath overtaken me;
I desire, therefore, to pray in this blessed place. The doorkeeper replied, O
old woman, this is the house of Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea, and it is not
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
387
I know, she rejoined, that
ata congregational mosque nor a place of worship.
be there is not a congregational mosque nor a place of worship like the house.
leof Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea, and I am a kahramaneh from the palace
of the Prince of the Faithful, who have come forth to worship and to travel.
ac- The doorkeeper, however, said to her, It is impossible for thee to enter.
CreMany words passed between them, till the old woman clung to him, and said
to him, shall such a person as myself be forbidden to enter the house of
Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea, when I go to the houses of emeers and
grandees? And Neameh came forth, and, hearing their words, laughed, and
ordered her to come in after him.
So Neameh entered, and the old woman followed him until he went in
with her to Noam; whereupon the old woman saluted her with the best saluta-
tion. And when she beheld Noam, she wondered at her excessive loveliness,
and said to her, O my mistress, I commend thee to the protection of God,
who hath made thee and thy lord to agree in beauty and loveliness. Then
the old woman placed herself at the niche,143 and betook herself to inclina-
tion and prostration and supplication until the day had passed and the
night had come with its thick darkness, when the damsel said, O my mother,
give rest to thy feet a while. But the old woman replied, O my mistress,
whoso seeketh the world to come wearieth himself in the present world; and
whoso wearieth not himself in the present world will not attain to the man-
sions of the just in the world to come. Then Noam brought the food to
the old woman, and said to her, Eat of my food, and beg propitiousness and
mercy for me. The old woman, however, replied, Verily I am fasting; but
as to thee, thou art a young woman, and eating and drinking and mirth are
suitable to thee. God be propitious to thee! God (whose name be ex-
alted!) hath said, Except him who shall repent, and believe, and shall work
a righteous work.144
The damsel continued sitting a while with the old woman, conversing
with her; after which she said to her master, O my master, conjure this old
Woman to lodge with us for some time; for the impress of devotion is on her
countenance. So he replied, Appropriate to her alone a chamber for devo-
tion, and let not any one go in to her; and perhaps God (whose perfection be
extolled, and whose name be exalted!) may grant us benefit from the bless-
ing that attendeth her, and not separate us. And the old woman passed that
night praying, and reciting [the Kur-án], until the morning, when she came
to Neameh and Noam, and, having wished them good morning, said to them,
I commend you both to the care of God. But Noam said to her, Whither
goest thou, O my mother? My master hath ordered me to appropriate to thee
alone a chamber in which thou mayest seclude thyself for devotion. The
old woman replied, May God preserve him, and continue his favours to you
both: but I desire of you that ye charge the doorkeeper not to prevent my
ingress to you; and if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), I will
go about to the holy places, and supplicate for both of you at the close of my
prayer and devotion every day and night. She then went forth from the
—
388
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
house, while the damsel Noam wept for her separation, not knowing the
reason for which she had come to her.
The old woman repaired to El-Hajjáj; and he said to her, What hast thou
done? She answered him, Verily I have beheld the damsel, and seen her to
be such that women have not given birth to any more beautiful in her age.
And El-Hajjáj said to her, If thou accomplish that which I have commanded
thee, abundant good fortune will result to thee from me. She replied, I de-
sire of thee a delay of a whole month. And he said to her, I grant thee a
month's delay. The old woman then accustomed herself to frequent the
house of Neameh and Noam, who treated her with increased respect. She
continued to pass the morning and evening with them, every one in the house
welcoming her, until, one day, being with the damsel alone, she said, O my
mistress, by Allah, when I visit the holy places, I will pray for thee; and I
wish that thou wouldst accompany me, that thou mightest see the
sheykhs 145 that come thither, and they would pray for any blessing for thee
that thou desirest. And the damsel Noam replied, By Allah, O my mother,
take me with thee.
So the old woman said to her, Ask leave of thy mother-in-law, and I
will take thee with me. The damsel, therefore, said to her mother-in-law,
the mother of Neameh, O my mistress, ask my master to let me and. thee
go one day with my mother, the old woman, to prayer and supplication with
the poor devotees in the holy places. And when Neameh came, and sat
down, the old woman went to him and kissed his hand; but he forbade her
doing so and she prayed for him, and went forth from the house. And on
the following day she came again, when Neameh was not in the house, and,
accosting the damsel Noam, said to her, We prayed for you yesterday; but
arise now and amuse thyself, and return before thy master cometh. So the
damsel said to her mother-in-law, I conjure thee by Allah that thou give me
permission to go out with this just woman to enjoy the sight of the saints of
God in the holy places, and I will return quickly, before my master cometh.
The mother of Neameh replied, I fear lest thy master know of it. But the
old woman said, By Allah, I will not let her seat herself upon the ground;
but she shall look while she standeth upon her feet, and shall not loiter.
She then took the damsel, by this stratagem, and repaired with her to the
palace of El-Hajjáj, and acquainted him with her arrival, after she had put
her in a private apartment. So El-Hajjáj came and looked at her, and saw
her to be the most lovely of the people of her age, and such as he had never
seen equalled: but when Noam beheld him, she covered her face. He left
her not until he had summoned his chamberlain; and he mounted with him
fifty horsemen, and commanded him to take the damsel upon an excellent
and swift dromedary, to repair with her to Damascus, and to deliver her to
the Prince of the Faithful, 'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán, to whom he
wrote a letter. And he said to the chamberlain, Give him this letter, and
bring from him an answer, and make haste in returning. The chamberlain,
therefore, went, and took the damsel upon a dromedary, and journeyed with
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
389
her, she remaining all the while with tearful eye on account of the separation
of her master, until they arrived at Damascus. He begged permission to
present himself to the Prince of the Faithful, who gave him permission, and
he went in to him, and acquainted him with the affair of the damsel; where-
upon the Khaleefeh appropriated to her exclusively a private apartment.
The Khaleefeh then went into his Hareem, and, seeing his wife, he said
to her, El-Hajjáj hath purchased for me a slave-girl from among the daugh-
ters of the Kings of El-Koofeh,146 for ten thousand pieces of gold, and hath
sent to me this letter, and her with the letter. His wife replied, May God
increase to thee his bounty! And after this, the sister of the Khaleefeh went
in to the damsel; and when she beheld her, she said, By Allah, he is not
disappointed in whose abode thou art, were thy price a hundred thousand
pieces of gold! And the damsel Noam said to her, O lovely-faced, to whom
among the Kings belongeth this palace, and what city is this? She answered
her, This is the city of Damascus, and this is the palace of my brother, the
Prince of the Faithful, 'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán. Then she said.
to the damsel, It seemeth that thou knewest not this. By Allah, O my mis-
tress, replied Noam, I had no knowledge of it. The sister of the Khaleefeh
said, And did not he who sold thee and took thy price inform thee that
the Khaleefeh had bought thee? And when the damsel heard these words,
her tears flowed, and she lamented, and said within herself, The stratagem
hath been accomplished against me. Then she said within herself, If I
speak, no one will believe me: so I will be silent and be patient; for I know
that the relief of God is near at hand. And she hung down her head in bash-
fulness, and her cheeks were reddened by her late travelling and by the sun.
The sister of the Khaleefeh left her that day, and came to her on the follow-
ing day with linen and with necklaces of jewels, and attired her.
-
After this, the Prince of the Faithful came in to her, and seated himself
by her side, and his sister said to him, Look at this damsel in whom God
hath united every charm of beauty and loveliness. So the Khaleefeh said
to Noam, Remove the veil from thy face. But she removed it not, and he
saw not her face. He beheld, however, her wrists, and love for her pene-
trated into his heart, and he said to his sister, I will not visit her again
until after three days, that she may in the mean time be cheered by thy con-
versation. He then arose and went forth from her. And the damsel re-
mained reflecting upon her case, and sighing for her separation from her
master Neameh. And when the next night came, she fell sick of a fever, and
ate not nor drank, and her countenance and her charms became changed.
So they acquainted the Khaleefeh with this, and her case distressed him, and
he brought in to her the physicians and men of penetration; but no one could
discover a remedy for her.
Meanwhile, her master Neameh came to his house, and, seating himself
upon his bed, called out, O Noam! But she answered him not. So he arose
quickly, and called out again; but no one came in to him; for every female
slave in the house hid herself, in her fear of him. He therefore went to his
390
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
--
mother, and found her sitting with her hand upon her cheek; and he said to
her, O my mother, where is Noam? O my son, she answered, with one
who is more trustworthy than myself respecting her; namely, the just old
woman; for she went forth with her to visit the poor devotees, and to return.
And when, said he, was she accustomed to do this? And at what hour
did she go forth? She answered, She went forth early in the morning.-
And how didst thou give her permission to do so? he asked. — O my son, she
answered, it was she who persuaded me to it. And Neameh exclaimed, There
is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! He then went
forth from his house, in a state of distraction, and, repairing to the chief of
the police, said to him, Dost thou employ stratagems against me, and take
my slave-girl from my house? I will assuredly journey and complain against
thee to the Prince of the Faithful. So the chief of the police said, And who
took her? He answered, An old woman, of such and such a description.
clad in garments of wool, and having in her hand a rosary, the beads of
which were thousands in number. And the chief of the police replied,
Acquaint me with the old woman, and I will deliver to thee thy slave-girl.
-
And who knoweth the old woman? said Neameh. And who, said the
chief of the police, knoweth what is hidden from the senses, except God,
whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted? But he knew
that she was an artful woman employed by El-Hajjáj. Neameh then said
to him, I look for my slave-girl from none but thee, and El-Hajjáj shall de-
cide between me and thee. And he replied, Go unto whom thou wilt.
So Neameh went to the palace of El-Hajjáj. His father was one of the
chief people of El-Koofeh: therefore when he arrived at the residence
of El-Hajjáj, the chamberlain went in and informed him of the case, and
El-Hajjáj said, Bring him in unto me. And when he stood before him,
El-Hajjáj said to him, What is thy business? Neameh answered him, Such
and such things have happened unto me. And El-Hajjáj said, Bring ye to
me the chief of the police, and we will order him to search for the old
woman. Accordingly, when the chief of the police came, he said to him, I
desire of thee that thou search for the slave-girl of Neameh the son of
Er-Rabeea. The chief of the police replied, None knoweth what is hidden
from the senses, except God, whose name be exalted! But El-Hajjáj said
to him, Thou must take with thee horsemen, and seek for the damsel in
the roads, and look in the towns. Then looking towards Neameh, he said
to him, If thy slave-girl return not, I will give to thee ten slave-girls from
my own mansion, and ten from the mansion of the chief of the police. And
he said to the chief of the police, Go forth to search for the damsel. So he
went forth.
Neameh was full of grief, and despaired of life. He had attained the age
of fourteen years, and there was no hair upon the sides of his face. He
wept and lamented, and separated himself from his house, and ceased not
to weep until the morning. And his father came and said to him, O my
son, verily El-Hajjáj hath employed a stratagem against the damsel, and
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
391
taken her; but from hour to hour God giveth relief. Still anxieties increased
upon Neameh, and he knew not what to say, nor recognised any who came
in to him. He remained in a state of infirmity three months, so that his
whole condition became changed, and his father despaired of him; and the
physicians visited him, and said, There is no cure for him except the
damsel.
But while his father was sitting one day, he heard of a skilful physician,
a Persian, whom the people described as possessing a sure knowledge of
medicine and astrology and geomancy. So Er-Rabeea called for him; and
when he came, he seated him by his side, treated him with honour, and
said to him, See the state of my son.
And he said to Neameh, Give me
thy hand. He therefore gave him his hand, and the physician felt his joints,
and looked in his face, and laughed. Then turning his eyes towards his
father, he said, Thy son hath nothing else than a disease in his heart. And
Er-Rabeea replied, Thou hast spoken truly, O sage: consider, then, the
case of my son with thy science, and acquaint me with all his circum-
stances, and hide from me nothing of his case. So the Persian said, He is
engrossed by love for a damsel, and this damsel is in El-Basrah or in
Damascus, and there is no cure for thy son but his union with her. And
Er-Rabeea said, If thou bring them together, thou shalt receive from me
what will make thee happy, and shalt live all thy life in wealth and delight.
- Verily, replied the Persian, this affair is soon managed, and easy. Then
looking towards Neameh, he said to him, No harm will befall thee; there-
fore be of good heart and cheerful eye. And he said to Er-Rabeea, Take
forth from thy property four thousand pieces of gold. He therefore took
them forth, and delivered them to the Persian, who said to him, I desire
that thy son journey with me to Damascus, and, if it be the will of God.
(whose name be exalted!), I will not return but with the damsel. Then
he looked towards the youth, and said to him, What is thy name? He
answered, Neameh. And he said, O Neameh, sit, and be in the care of God
whose name be exalted!): God hath united thee with the damsel. And
upon this he sat up. And the Persian said to him, Fortify thy heart; for
we will set forth on our journey as on this day: eat, therefore, and drink,
and enjoy thyself, that thou mayest acquire strength for the journey.
The Persian then applied himself to the accomplishment of all that he
required, and received from the father of Neameh as much as made up the
Sum of ten thousand pieces of gold, with the horses and camels and other
beasts that he required to carry the burdens on the way. After this, Nea-
meh bade farewell to his father and his mother, and journeyed with the
Sage to Aleppo. But he learnt no tidings of the damsel. Then they ar-
rived at Damascus; and after they had remained there three days, the
Persian took a shop, and stocked its shelves with precious China-ware and
Covers, decorated the shelves with gold and costly materials, placed before
him glass bottles containing all kinds of ointments and all kinds of syrups,
put round the bottles cups of crystal, and placed the astrolabe before him.
392
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
He clad himself in the apparel of sages and physicians, and stationed Nea-
meh before him, having clad him in a shirt and a melwatah of silk, and
girded him with a silken kerchief embroidered with gold. He then said
to him, O Neameh, thou art from this day my son; therefore call me not
otherwise than thy father, and I will not call thee but as son. So Neameh
replied, I hear and obey. The people of Damascus now assembled before
the shop of the Persian, gazing at the beauty of Neameh and at the beauty
of the shop and the goods that it contained; and the Persian conversed
with Neameh in the Persian language; Neameh doing the same with him;
for he knew that language, as was usually the case with the sons of the
great. The Persian became celebrated among the people of Damascus,
and they began to describe to him their pains, and he gave them the reme-
dies. He continued to perform the wants of the people, and the inhabi-
tants of Damascus flocked to him, his fame spreading through the city and
into the houses of the great.
And while he was sitting one day, lo, an old woman approached him,
riding upon an ass with a stuffed saddle of brocade adorned with jewels;
and she stopped at the Persian's shop, and, pulling the ass's bridle, made
a sign to the Persian, and said to him, Hold my hand. So he took her
hand, and she alighted from the ass, and said, Art thou the Persian phy-
sician who camest from El-'Erák? He answered, Yes. And she said, Know
that I have a daughter, and she is suffering from a disease. She then
acquainted him with the symptoms, and he said to her, O my mistress, what
is the name of this damsel, that I may calculate her star,147 and know at
what hour the drinking of the medicine will be suitable to her. - O brother
of the Persians,148 she answered, her name is Noam. And when the Persian
heard the name of Noam, he began to calculate, and to write upon his
hand; 149 and said to her, O my mistress, I will not prescribe for her a
remedy until I know from what country she is, on account of the difference
of air: acquaint me, therefore, in what country she was brought up, and
how many years is her age. So the old woman replied, Her age is four-
teen years, and the place where she was reared is in the province of El-
Koofeh, in El-Erák. And how many months, said the Persian, hath she
been in this country? The old woman answered him, She hath resided in
this country but a few months.
And when Neameh heard the words of the old woman, and the name of
his slave-girl, his heart palpitated. The Persian then said to her, Such and
such remedies will be suitable to her. The old woman, therefore, said to
him, Give me what thou hast prescribed, and may the blessing of God (whose
name be exalted!) attend it. And she threw to him ten pieces of gold upon
the seat of the shop. So the sage looked towards Neameh, and ordered him
to prepare for her the drugs of which the remedy was to be composed;
and the old woman began to look at Neameh, and to say, I invoke God's
protection for thee, O my son! Verily her form is like thine- Then she
said to the Persian, O brother of the Persians, is this thy memlook or thy
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
393
son? He answered her, He is my son. Neameh then put the things for
her into a small box, and taking a paper, wrote upon it these two verses:
If Noam bestow on me a glance I care not if Soadà grant favours, or Juml 150 confer
benefits.
They said to me, Relinquish her, and receive twenty like her. But there is none like
her, and I will not relinquish her.
He put the paper into the little box, and sealed it, and wrote upon its cover,
in the Koofee character,151 I am Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea of El-
Koofeh. Then he placed the little box before the old woman.
She therefore took it, and, having bidden them farewell, departed to the
palace of Khaleefeh. And when she went up with the things to the damsel,
she placed the little box of medicine before her, saying to her, O my mistress,
know that there hath come unto our city a Persian physician, than whom
I have not seen one more acquainted with matters relating to diseases. And
I mentioned to him thy name, after I had informed him of the symptoms
of thy complaint; whereupon he knew thy disease, and prescribed the rem-
edy. Then he gave orders to his son, who packed up for thee this medi-
cine. And there is not in Damascus any one more lovely or more elegant
than his son, nor any more comely than he in apparel. Nor hath any one
a shop like his shop. So she took the little box, and saw, written upon
its cover, the name of her master and the name of his father. And when
she saw this, her complexion changed, and she said, There is no doubt but
that the owner of the shop hath come on my account. Then she said to
the old woman, Describe to me this young man. And she replied, His
name is Neameh, and upon his right eyebrow is a scar; he is clad in costly
apparel, and is endowed with consummate beauty. The damsel then said,
Hand me the medicine, and may it be attended with the blessing of God
(whose name be exalted!), and his aid. And she took the medicine, and
swallowed it, laughing, and said to the old woman. Verily it is blessed
medicine.
And after this, she searched in the little box, and saw the paper. She
therefore opened it and read it; and when she understood its meaning, she
felt assured that the writer was her master: so her soul was cheered, and
she rejoiced; and when the old woman saw that she laughed, she said to
her, Verily this is a blessed day. Noam then said, O kahramáneh, I desire
food and beverage. And the old woman said to the female slaves, Bring
the tables and the dainty viands to your mistress. Accordingly they brought
to her the viands, and she sat to eat. And lo, 'Abd-El-Melik the son of
Marwán came in to them, and, seeing the damsel sitting and eating the
repast, he rejoiced. And the kahramáneh said, O Prince of the Faithful,
may the health of thy slave-girl Noam rejoice thee: for there hath arrived
at this city a physician, than whom I have seen none more acquainted with
diseases and their remedies; and I brought her some medicine from him,
and after she had taken of it once, health returned to her, O Prince of the
394
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Faithful. Upon this, the Prince of the Faithful said, Take a thousand pieces
of gold, and apply thyself to means for her complete restoration.
He then went forth, rejoicing at the damsel's recovery, and the old
woman repaired to the shop of the Persian with the thousand pieces of
gold, and gave them to him, telling him that she was a female slave of
the Khaleefeh. And she handed to him a paper which Noam had writ-
ten. So the Persian took it, and handed it to Neameh, who, as soon as
he saw it, knew her handwriting, and fell down in a swoon; and when
he recovered, he opened the paper, and found written in it,-
----
From the slave-girl despoiled of her happiness, the infatuated in her
mind, the separated from the beloved of her heart. To proceed. Your
letter hath reached me, and expanded the bosom, and rejoiced the heart;
and it was as the poet hath said,
The letter arrived, and may the fingers that wrote it be spared to me till they are
made to drip with sweet scents.
It was as when Moosà was restored to his mother; or when the garment of Yoosuf was
brought to Yaakoob.12
When Neameh read this couplet, his eyes poured forth tears. So the
kahramaneh said to him, What maketh thee weep, O my son? May God
never make thine eye to shed tears! - And the Persian said, O my mistress,
how can my son refrain from weeping, when he is the master of this slave-
girl, Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea of El-Koofeh, and when the health of
this damsel dependeth upon seeing him, and she hath no disease but the
love that she beareth him? Take thou then, O my mistress (he continued),
these thousand pieces of gold for thyself, and thou shalt receive from me
more than that; and look upon us with the eye of mercy; for we know
not any means of rectifying this affair but through thee. So she said to
Neameh, Art thou her master? He answered, Yes. And she said, Thou
hast spoken truth; for she ceaseth not to mention thee. Neameh therefore
acquainted her with what had happened to him from first to last; and the
old woman said, O youth, thou canst not obtain an interview with her but
through my means.
She then mounted, and returned immediately, and, going to the dam-
sel, looked in her face, and laughed, and said to her, It becometh thee, O
my daughter, to weep and to fall sick on account of the separation of thy
master, Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea of El-Koofeh. So Noam said, The
veil hath been removed unto thee, and the truth hath been revealed to
thee. And the old woman replied, Let thy soul be happy and thy bosom
dilate; for, by Allah, I will unite you both, though the loss of my life be
the consequence of it.
Then returning to Neameh, she said to him, I went back to the damsel,
and had an interview with her, and found her to have a longing desire for
thee, greater than that which thou feelest for her; for the Prince of the
Faithful desireth to visit her, and she refuseth to receive him. Now if
thou have a firm heart, and strength of mind, I will bring you together, and
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
395
apose myself to peril in your cause, and contrive a stratagem and employ
an artifice by which to introduce thee unto the palace of the Prince of the
Faithful, that thou mayest have an interview with the damsel; for she
cannot go forth.-So Neameh replied, May Allah recompense thee well!
Then she bade him farewell, and repaired to the damsel, and said to her,
Verily the soul of thy master departeth by reason of his love for thee, and
he desireth an interview with thee. What, then, sayest thou on this mat-
ter? - Noam answered, And I am in the same state: my soul departeth,
and I desire an interview with him. Upon this, therefore, the old woman
took a wrapper containing female ornaments and a suit of women's apparel,
and, repairing again to Neameh, said to him, Come into some place with
me alone.
So he went with her into an apartment behind the shop; and she dyed
the ends of his fingers with hennà, decked his wrists [with bracelets], deco-
rated his hair [with the ornamented strings of silk],153 and clad him in
the apparel of a slave-girl, adorning him with the best of the things with
which female slaves are decked, so that he appeared like one of the black-
eyed virgins of Paradise. And when the kahramáneh beheld him in this
state, she exclaimed, Blessed be Allah, the best of Creators! By Allah,
thou art handsomer than the damsel! She then said to him, Walk, and
incline the left shoulder forward, and the right backward, and move thy
hips from side to side."
154 So he walked before her as she directed him;
and when she saw that he knew the gait of women, she said to him, Wait
until I come to thee next night, if it be the will of God (whose name be
exalted!), and then I will take thee and conduct thee into the palace; and
when thou seest the chamberlains and servants, be bold, and stoop thy head,
and speak not with any one. I will prevent their speaking to thee; and in
God I trust for success.
Accordingly, when the following morning came, the kahramaneh re-
turned to him, and took him and went up with him to the palace. She
entered before him, and he followed her steps; but the chamberlain would
have prevented his entering; so she said to him, O most ill-omened of slaves,
she is the slave-girl of Noam, the concubine of the Prince of the Faithful,
and how dost thou presume to prevent her entering? She then said, Enter,
O slave-girl. He therefore entered with the old woman; and they proceeded
without stopping to the door which opened into the court of the palace, when
the old woman said to him, O Neameh, strengthen thyself and fortify thy
heart, and enter the palace; then turn to thy left, and count five doors, and
enter the sixth door; for that is the door of the place prepared for thee; and
fear not if any one address thee; but do not speak with him. And she pro-
ceeded with him until they arrived at the doors, when the chamberlain who
was commissioned to guard those doors accosted her and said to her, Who is
this slave-girl? The old woman answered him, Our mistress desireth to pur-
chase her. The eunuch replied, No one entereth without the permission of
the Prince of the Faithful: return with her, therefore; for I will not suffer
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
her to enter, as I have been commanded to do thus. O great chamberlain,
rejoined the kahramaneh, where is thy reason? Verily Noam, the Kha-
leefeh's slave-girl, to whom his heart is devoted, hath recovered her health,
and the Prince of the Faithful scarce believeth her recovery, and she desireth
to purchase this damsel; therefore prevent not her entering, lest it be told her
that thou hast done so, and she be enraged against thee; for if she be incensed
against thee she will cause thy head to be struck off. Then she said, Enter,
O slave-girl, and attend not to his words, and inform not thy mistress that
the chamberlain opposed thine entering.
So Neameh stooped his head, and entered, and designed to turn to his
left; but he mistook, and turned to his right; and he meant to count five
doors, and to enter the sixth; but he counted six, and entered the seventh.
And when he had entered this door, he saw a place furnished with bro-
cade; its walls were hung with curtains of silk worked with gold; and in
it were perfuming-vessels with aloes-wood and ambergris and strong-scented
musk; and he saw a couch at the upper end, furnished with brocade. Nea-
meh, therefore, seated himself upon it, not knowing what was decreed him
in the secret purpose of God; and as he was sitting reflecting upon his case,
lo, the sister of the Prince of the Faithful came in to him, attended by her
maid. Seeing the youth sitting there she imagined him to be a slave-
girl: so she advanced to him, and said to him, Who art thou, O slave-
girl, and what is thy story, and what is the reason of thine entering this
place? But Neameh spoke not, nor returned her any answer. She then
said, O slave-girl, if thou be one of the concubines of my brother, and
he hath been incensed against thee, I will conciliate his favour towards
thee. But Neameh still returned her no answer. And upon this she
said to her maid, Stand at the door of the chamber, and suffer no one to
enter.
Then she approached him, and, observing his loveliness, said, O damsel,
inform me who thou art, and what is thy name, and what is the reason of
thine entering hither; for I have never before seen thee in our palace.
Neameh, however, returned her no answer. And thereupon the sister of
the King was angry, and put her hand upon Neameh's bosom; and, finding
that it was not formed like that of a female, she was about to take off his
outer clothes, that she might discover who he was. So Neameh said to
her, O my mistress, I am a memlook, and do thou purchase me: I implore
thy protection; then grant it me. And she said, No harm shall befall thee.
Who, then, art thou, and who admitted thee into this my chamber? -
Neameh answered her, I, O Queen, am known by the name of Neameh the
son of Er-Rabeea of El-Koofeh, and I have exposed my life to peril for
the sake of my slave-girl Noam, whom El-Hajjáj, having employed a
stratagem against her, hath taken and sent hither. And she said to him
again, No harm shall befall thee. Then calling to her maid, she said to
her, Go to the private chamber of Noam.
Now the kahramáneh had gone to the chamber of Noam, and said to
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
397
her, Hath thy master come to thee? She answered, No, by Allah. So the
kahramaneh said, Probably he hath made a mistake, and entered some
other chamber than thine, and missed his way to thine apartment.
And
Noam exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High,
the Great! Our appointed term hath expired, and we perish! - They then
sat together reflecting, and while they were in this state, lo, the maid of
the Khaleefeh's sister came in to them, and, having saluted Noam, said to
her, My mistress summoneth thee to her entertainment. Noam therefore
replied, I hear and obey. And the kahramaneh said, Perhaps thy master is
with the sister of the Khaleefeh, and the veil hath been removed. So Noam
rose immediately, and proceeded until she went in to the Khaleefeh's sister,
whereupon the latter said to her, This is thy master who is sitting with me,
and it seemeth that he hath mistaken the place; but thou hast nothing to
fear, nor hath he, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! And
when Noam heard these words from the sister of the Khaleefeh, her soul
became tranquillized. She advanced to her master, Neameh, and when he
beheld her he rose to her. Each of them pressed the other to the bosom,
and they both fell down senseless.
And when they recovered, the sister of the Khaleefeh said to them, Seat
yourselves, that we may contrive means of deliverance from this predicament
into which we have fallen. So they both replied, We hear and obey; and
it is thine to command. And she said, By Allah, no evil shall ever befall
you from us. Then she said to her maid, Bring the repast and beverage.
She therefore brought them. And they ate as much as sufficed them; after
which, they sat drinking. The cups circulated among them, and their sor-
rows quitted them; but Neameh said, Would that I knew what will happen
after this! The sister of the Khaleefeh then said to him, O Neameh, dost
thou love thy slave-girl Noam? He answered her, O my mistress, verily
it is the love of her that hath placed me in the state of peril of my life
in which I now am. And she said to Noam, O Noam, dost thou love
thy master Neameh? O my mistress, she answered, verily it is the
love of him that hath wasted my body and changed my whole con-
dition. And the Khaleefeh's sister replied, By Allah, ye love each other,
and may the person who would separate you cease to exist!
Let your
eyes, then, be cheerful, and your souls be happy! So at this they
rejoiced.
Then Noam demanded a lute, and they brought it to her, and she took
it and tuned it, and, delighting her hearers with the sounds that she pro-
duced, she sang these verses:
When the slanderers were not content with aught but our separation, though neither of
us owed a debt of blood to them,
And they poured upon our ears all the din of war, and my protectors and helpers at the
time failed,
I fought them with thine eyes and my tears and my breath, - with the sword and with
the torrent and with fire.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And she handed the lute to her master Neameh, saying to him, Sing to us
some verses. So he took the lute and tuned it, and, having struck some
joy-exciting notes, sang these verses:
The full moon would resemble thee, were it not freckled; and the sun would be like
thee, were it not eclipsed.
Verily I wonder - but how full is love of wonders: accompanied by anxieties and ardour
and passion!
-
That I see the way short when I go to the beloved, and long when I journey away from
her.
And when he had finished his song, Noam filled for him a cup, and handed
it to him. He therefore took it and drank it; and then filled another cup,
which he handed to the sister of the Khaleefeh, who drank it, and took the
lute, and, having tuned its strings, sang this couplet: ---
Sorrow and mourning reside in my heart, and violent ardour frequenteth my bosom:
The wasting of my body hath become conspicuous, and my frame is rendered infirm by
desire.
She then handed the lute to Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea, who took it and
tuned its strings, and sang this other couplet: --
O thou to whom I gave my soul, and who hast tortured it, and from whom I would
liberate it, but could not!
Grant the lover a remedy to save him from destruction, before he dieth; for this is his
last breath!
They continued singing verses, and drinking to the melodious sounds
of the chords, full of delight and cheerfulness, and joy and happiness; and
while they were in this state, lo, the Prince of the Faithful came in to them.
As soon as they beheld him, they rose to him, and kissed the ground before
him; and he looked at Noam, who had the lute in her hand, and said, O
Noam, praise be to God who hath dispelled from thee thy affliction and pain!
Then looking towards Neameh, who was still in the state already described,
he said [to his sister], O my sister, who is this damsel that is by the side
of Noam? His sister answered him, O Prince of the Faithful, thou hast
a female slave among those designed for thy concubines, who is a cheering
companion, and Noam doth not eat nor drink unless she is with her. And
she recited the saying of the poet: -
They are two opposites, and together display different charms; and the beauty of one
opposite appears from contrast with the other.
- By Allah, the Great, said the Khaleefeh, verily she is comely as Noam,
and to-morrow I will appoint her a separate apartment by the side of
Noam's, and send forth for her the furniture and linen, and I will send
to her everything that is suitable to her, in honour to Noam. And the
sister of the Khaleefeh demanded the food, and she placed it before her
brother, who ate, and remained sitting in their company. He then filled
a cup, and made a sign to Noam that she should sing him some verses;
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
399
whereupon she took the lute, after she had drunk two cups, and sang this
couplet: -
When my cup-companion hath given me to drink again and again, three fermenting cups,
I drag my skirts all the night in pride, as though I were thy prince, O Prince of the
Faithful.
And the Prince of the Faithful was delighted, and he filled another cup,
and handed it to Noam, commanding her to sing again. Accordingly, after
she had drunk the cup, she touched the strings and sang these verses:
O most noble of men in the present age, of whom none can boast that he is the equal!
O matchless in dignity and liberality! O Chief and King, in everything renowned!
O Sovereign of all the Kings of the earth, who givest largely, yet imposest not obligation
nor pain!
May my Lord preserve thee, mortifying thine enemies, and success and victory brighten
thy fortune!
And when the Khaleefeh heard these verses from Noam, he said to her,
Divinely art thou gifted, O Noam! How eloquent is thy tongue, and how
manifest is the perspicuity of thy language!
They thus passed their time in joy and happiness until midnight, when
the sister of the Khaleefeh said, Hear, O Prince of the Faithful, I have
seen, in books, a story of a certain person of rank. And what is that
story? said the Khaleefeh. His sister answered him, Know, O Prince of
the Faithful, that there was, in the city of El-Koofeh, a youth named
Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea; and he had a slave-girl whom he loved, and
who loved him. She had been brought up with him in the same bed; and
when they both grew up, and mutual love took possession of them, fortune
smote them with its adversities, and afflicted them with its calamities, and
decreed their separation. The slanderers employed a stratagem against
her, until she came forth from his house, and they took her by stealth from
the place of his residence. Then the person who stole her sold her to one
of the Kings for ten thousand pieces of gold.
Now the slave-girl had the same love for her master as he had for her:
so he quitted his family and his house, and journeyed to seek for her, and
devised means of obtaining a meeting with her. He continued separated
from his family and his home, and exposed himself to peril, devoting his soul
to the cause, until he obtained an interview with his slave-girl.155 But when
he had come to her, they had scarcely sat down, when the King who had pur-
chased her from the person who stole her came in to them, and hastily
ordered that they should be put to death; not acting equitably, nor granting
them any delay in his sentence. What, then, sayest thou, O Prince of the
Faithful, respecting the want of equity in this King? - The Prince of the
Faithful answered, Verily this was a wonderful thing, and it was fit that this
King should pardon when he was able to punish; for it was incumbent on him-
to regard, in his conduct to them, three things: the first, that they were bound
400
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
by mutual love; and the second, that they were in his abode, and in his
power; and the third, that it becometh the King to be deliberate in judging
other people; and how much more so, then, in the case in which he is himself
concerned? This King, therefore, did a deed not like the actions of
Kings. Then his sister said to him, O my brother, by the Kings of the
heavens and the earth, I beg that thou order Noam to sing, and that thou
listen to that which she shall sing. So he said, O Noam, sing to me. And
with charming modulations, she sang these verses: -
-
Fortune was treacherous, and ever hath it been so, smiting down hearts, and kindling
solicitudes,
And separating lovers after their union, so that thou seest the tears flow in torrents down.
their cheeks.
They were, and I was with them, and my life was delightful, and fortune frequently
brought us together.
I will therefore pour forth blood with my tears in my grief for thy loss nights and days.
And when the Prince of the Faithful heard these verses, he was moved with
excessive delight.
His sister then said to him, O my brother, he who passeth a sentence
upon himself must fulfil it, and act as he hath said; and thou hast passed
a sentence upon thyself by this decision. And she said, O Neameh, stand
upon thy feet; and so stand thou, O Noam. So they both stood up. And
the sister of the Khaleefeh said, O Prince of the Faithful, this person who
is standing here is the stolen Noam, whom El-Hajjáj the son of Yoosuf
Eth-Thakafee stole, and sent to thee, lying in that which he asserted in
his letter; namely, that he had purchased her for ten thousand pieces of
gold. And this person standing here is Neameh the son of Er-Rabeea, her
master. And I beseech thee by the honour of thy pure forefathers that
thou forgive them, and restore them to each other, that thou mayest acquire
a recompense on their account; for they are in thy power, and have eaten
of thy food and drunk of thy beverage. I am the intercessor for them,
and beg of thee the gift of their lives.
And upon this the Khaleefeh said, Thou hast spoken truly: I passed
that sentence, and I pass not a sentence and revoke it. He then said, O
Noam, is this thy master? She answered him, Yes, O Prince of the Faith-
ful. And he said, No harm shall befall either of you; for I yield you up
to each other. Then he said, O Neameh, and how knewest thou her situa-
tion, and who described to thee this place? -O Prince of the Faithful, he
answered, hear my story, and listen to my tale; for by thy pure fore-
fathers I will not conceal from thee anything. And he related to him the
whole of his affair, telling him how the Persian sage had acted with him,
and what the kahramaneh had done, and how she had brought him into
the palace, and he had mistaken the doors. And the Khaleefeh wondered
at this extremely. He then said, Bring hither to me the Persian. So
they brought him before him; and he appointed him to be one of his chief
officers, bestowed upon him robes of honour, and commanded that a hand-
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
401
some present should be given to him, saying, Him who hath thus managed
it is incumbent on us to make one of our chief officers. The Khaleefeh
also treated with beneficence Neameh and Noam, bestowing favours upon
them and upon the kahramáneh; and Neameh and Noam remained with
him seven days in happiness and delight, living a most pleasant life. Then
Neameh begged permission of him to depart with his slave-girl, and he
gave them permission to depart to El-Koofeh. Accordingly they set forth.
on their journey, and Neameh was united again with his father and his
mother, and they enjoyed the most happy life, until they were visited by
the terminator of delights and the separator of companions.
Conclusion of the Adventures of the Two Princes
When El-Amjad and El-As'ad heard this story from Bahrám, they
wondered at it extremely. They passed the next night, and when the
following morning came, they mounted, and desired to go to the King. So
they asked permission to enter, and he gave it them: and when they went
in, he received them with honour, and they sat conversing.
But while they were thus sitting, lo, the people of the city cried out,
and vociferated one to another, calling for help; and the chamberlain
came in to the King, and said to him, Some King hath alighted with his
troops before our city, and they are with drawn swords, and we know not
what is their purpose. The King therefore acquainted his Wezeer El-Amjad
and his brother El-As'ad with that which he had heard from the chamber-
lain, and El-Amjad said, I will go forth to him, and ascertain the cause of
his coming. So El-Amjad went out from the city, and found the King
attended by numerous troops and mounted memlooks. And when they
saw him, they knew that he was an envoy from the King of the city. They
therefore took him and brought him before the Sultán; and when he came
into his presence, he kissed the ground before him; and lo, the [supposed]
King was a woman, with her face covered with a lithám. And she said,
Know that I have nothing to demand of you in this city but a beardless
memlook, and if I find him with you, no harm shall befall you; but if I
find him not, a fierce slaughter shall ensue between me and you; for I
have come for no other purpose than to seek him.
El-Amjad therefore said, O Queen, what is the description of this mem-
look, and what is his story, and what is his name? She answered, His
name is El-As'ad, and my name is Marjáneh; and this memlook came to
me in the company of Bahrám the Magian, who refused to sell him; so I
took him from him by force; but he fell upon him and took him away
from me in the night by stealth; and as to the description of his person,
it is of such and such kind. And when El-Amjad heard this, he knew that
he was his brother El-As'ad. He therefore said to her, O Queen of the
age, praise be to God who hath brought us relief! Verily this memlook is
my brother. He then related to her his story, and told her what had
402
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
happened to them in the land of exile, acquainting her also with the cause
of their departure from the Ebony Islands; whereat the Queen Marjáneh
wondered; and she rejoiced at finding El-As'ad, and bestowed a robe of
honour upon his brother El-Amjad. After this, El-Amjad returned to the
King, and informed him of what had occurred: whereupon they all rejoiced.
The King then descended with El-Amjad and El-As'ad, to repair to the
Queen; and when they went in to her they sat and conversed.
And as they were so engaged, lo, the dust rose until it covered the sur-
rounding tracts, and after a while it subsided, and discovered numerous
forces, like the swelling sea, equipped with accoutrements and arms; and
they approached the city, and then surrounded it as the ring surrounds
the little finger, and drew their swords. Upon this, El-Amjad and El-As'ad
said, Verily unto God we belong, and verily unto Him we return! What is
this great army? Doubtless it is an enemy; and if we make not an alliance
with this Queen Marjáneh to contend with them, they take the city from
us and slay us; and we have no resource but to go forth to them and ascer-
tain wherefore they have come. — Then El-Amjad arose, and passed from
the gate of the city by the army of the Queen Marjáneh; and when he
came to the second army, he found it to be that of his grandfather the
King El-Ghayoor, the father of his mother the Queen Budoor. So when
he entered into his presence, he kissed the ground before him, and de-
livered to him the message; whereupon the King said, My name is the
King El-Ghayoor, and I have come journeying forth, fortune having afflicted
me by the loss of my daughter Budoor; for she quitted me, and returned
not to me, and I have heard no tidings of her nor of her husband Kamar-
ez-Zemán. Have ye, then, any tidings of them?-And El-Amjad, on
hearing this, hung down his head for a while towards the ground, reflect-
ing, until he felt convinced that this was his grandfather, the father of his
mother. Then raising his head, he kissed the ground before him, and in-
formed him that he was the son of his daughter Budoor.
And as soon as the King heard that he was the son of his daughter,
he threw himself upon him, and they both began to weep. The King El-
Ghayoor exclaimed, Praise be to God, O my son, that He hath preserved
thee, and that I have met with thee! And El-Amjad informed him that
his daughter Budoor was well, and also his own father Kamar-ez-Zemán,
telling him that they were in a city called the City of the Ebony Islands.
He informed him, also, that Kamar-ez-Zemán, his father, had been incensed
against him and his brother, and had given orders to slay them, and that
the Treasurer had been moved with pity for them, and left them without
putting them to death. And upon this, the King El-Ghayoor said, I will
return with thee and thy brother to thy father, and reconcile you, and
remain with you. So El-Amjad kissed the ground before him. Then the
King El-Ghayoor bestowed a robe of honour upon El-Amjad, his daughter's
son; and he returned smiling to the King of the city, and acquainted him
with the affair of the King El-Ghayoor. And he wondered at this extremely.
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
403
He sent to the King El-Ghayoor the offerings of hospitality, horses and
camels and sheep and provender and other things; and the like he sent
forth to the Queen Marjáneh, informing her of what had happened: where-
upon she said, I will accompany you with my troops, and will endeavour
to maintain peace.
--
And while they were thus circumstanced, lo, again a dust rose until
it overspread the surrounding tracts, and the day became black from it.
They heard beneath it cries and vociferations, and the neighing of horses,
and beheld swords glittering, and lances uplifted. And when this army
approached the city, and saw two other armies, they beat the drums. At
the sight of this, the King of the city exclaimed, This is none other than
a blessed day! Praise be to God who hath caused us to make peace with
these two armies; and if it be the will of God, He will give us peace with
this other army also. He then said, O Amjad, go forth, thou and thy
brother El-As'ad, and learn ye for us the occasion of the coming of
these troops; for they are a vast army: I have never seen any more so.
Accordingly El-Amjad and his brother El-As'ad went forth. The King
having closed the gate of the city, in his fear of the troops that surrounded
it, they opened it, and the two brothers proceeded till they arrived at the
army that had just come, when they found it to be the army of the King of
the Ebony Islands, and with it was their father Kamar-ez-Zemán. [For
he had been informed that they had not been put to death.] As soon as
they saw him, they kissed the ground before him, and wept; and when
Kamar-ez-Zemán beheld them, he threw himself upon them, weeping vio-
lently, and excused himself to them, and pressed them to his bosom. He
then acquainted them with the terrible desolation that he had suffered from
their separation; and El-Amjad and El-As'ad informed him that the King
El-Ghayoor had come to them.
So Kamar-ez-Zemán mounted with his chief officers, and, taking his two
sons with him, they proceeded until they came near to the army of the
King El-Ghayoor; when one of them went forward to that King, and in-
formed him that Kamar-ez-Zemán had arrived. He therefore came forth
to receive him, and they met, and wondered at these events, how they had
met in that place. The people of the city prepared for them banquets,
with varieties of viands and sweetmeats, and presented to them the horses.
and camels and other offerings of hospitality, together with the provender,
and whatever else the troops required.
And again, while they were thus occupied, a dust rose until it over-
spread the surrounding tracts, and the earth shook under the horses; the
drums sounded like stormy winds, and the whole army was equipped with
weapons and coats of mail: all the soldiers were clad in black, and in the
midst of them was a very old man, whose chin was depressed to his bosom,
and who was attired in black clothing. When the people of the city be-
held these prodigious forces, the sovereign of the city said to the other
Kings, Praise be to God that ye assembled, by the permission of God
404
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
(whose name be exalted!), in one day, and proved to be all friends!
What is this numerous army that hath covered the tracts before us? -
The other Kings replied, Fear it not; for we are three monarchs, and each
of us hath numerous troops; so, if they be enemies, we will unite with thee
and engage them; and so would we if they were augmented by three times
as many as they are. And while they were thus conversing, lo, an envoy
from those forces approached on his way to the city. So they brought
him before Kamar-ez-Zemán and the King El-Ghayoor and the Queen
Marjáneh and the King of the city; and he kissed the ground, and said,
This King is from the regions of El-'Ajam: he hath lost his son for a
period of years, and is searching about for him in the countries: if, then,
he find him among you, no harm shall befall you; but if he find him not,
war ensueth between him and you, and he layeth waste your city. Kamar-
ez-Zemán replied, He will not attain to this object. But what, he asked,
is he called in the regions of El-'Ajam? The envoy answered, He is called
the King Shah-Zemán, the lord of the Islands of Khálidán; and he hath
collected this army in the tracts through which he hath passed in searching
about for his son.
And when Kamar-ez-Zemán heard the words of the envoy, he uttered
a loud cry, and fell down in a swoon, and he remained a long time in his
fit. Then recovering, he wept violently and said to El-Amjad and El-As'ad
and their chief officers, Go, my sons, with the envoy, and salute your
grandfather, my father the King Sháh-Zemán, and give him the glad tidings
of my being here; for he is mourning for my loss, and to the present time
wearing black raiment for my sake. He then related to the Kings who
were present all that had happened to him in the days of his youth; and
they all wondered at it. After this, they went down with Kamar-ez-Ze-
mán, and repaired to his father. Kamar-ez-Zemán saluted his father, and
they embraced each other and fell down senseless from the excess of their
joy; and when they recovered, the King Sháh-Zemán related to his son all
that had happened to him. Then the other Kings saluted him.
They restored Marjáneh to her country; after they had married her
to El-As'ad, and charged her that she should not cease to correspond with
them. They married El-Amjad to Bustán the daughter of Bahrám; and all
of them journeyed to the City of Ebony, where Kamar-ez-Zemán had a
private interview with his father-in-law [Armánoos], and acquainted him
with all that had happened to him, and how he had met with his sons; at
which he rejoiced, and congratulated him on his safety. Then the King
El-Ghayoor, the father of the Queen Budoor, went in to his daughter,
and saluted her, and quenched the ardour of his longing desire by her so-
ciety, and they remained in the City of Ebony a whole month; after
which, the King El-Ghayoor journeyed with his daughter and attendants
to his own country, taking El-Amjad with them. And when he had become
settled again in his kingdom, he seated El-Amjad to govern in the place of
his grandfather. As to Kamar-ez-Zemán, he seated his son El-As'ad to
THE 'EFREET'S BEAUTY CONTEST
405
govern in his stead in the city of his grandfather Armánoos; his grand-
father approving it.156 Then Kamar-ez-Zemán prepared himself, and jour-
neyed with his father the King Sháh-Zemán until he arrived at the Islands
of Khálidán. The city was decorated for him, and the drums continued to
beat for a whole month in celebration of the happy event, and Kamar-ez-
Zemán sat governing in the place of his father, until they were visited by
the terminator of delights and the separator of companions. And God
is all-knowing.157
-
When Shahrazád had finished this tale, the King Shahriyár exclaimed,
O Shahrazád, verily this story is exceedingly wonderful! O King, she
replied, it is not more wonderful than the story of 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-
Shámát. The King said, And what is that story? And she related it
thus:
XI
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES WITH THE BEAUTIFUL
ZUBEYDEH, THE SLAVE-GIRLS KOOT-EL-KULOOB AND
YÁSEMEEN, AHMAD THE THIEF, AND THE SULTÁN ¹
IT
3
T hath been told me, O happy King, that there was, in ancient times, a
merchant in Cairo, named Shems-ed-Deen. He was one of the best
and the most veracious in speech of all the merchants, and was possessor
of servants and other dependents, and male black slaves, and female slaves,
and memlooks, and of great wealth, and was Sháh-Bandar ³ of the mer-
chants in Cairo. And there resided with him a wife whom he loved, and
who loved him: but he had lived with her forty years, and had not been
blessed with a daughter nor with a son by her. And he sat one day in
his shop, and saw the other merchants, every one of them having a son,
or two sons, and the greater number of these sons were sitting in shops like
their fathers. That day was Friday: so this merchant entered the bath,
and performed the ablution of Friday; and when he came forth [from
the inner apartment], he took the barber's looking-glass, and, looking at
his face in it, said, I testify that there is no deity but God, and I testify
that Mohammad is God's Apostle! He then looked at his beard, and
saw that the white eclipsed the black; and he reflected that hoariness was
the monitor of death.
5
4
-
Now his wife knew the time of his coming, and she used to wash and
prepare herself to receive him; and when he came home to her that day,
she said to him, Good evening: but he replied, I have seen no good. She
had said to the slave-girl, Bring the supper-table. So she brought the
repast; and the merchant's wife said to him, Sup, O my master. I will
not eat anything, he replied. And he turned away his face from the table.
She therefore said to him, What is the reason of this, and what hath grieved
thee? He answered her, Thou art the cause of my grief. Wherefore? she
asked. And he answered her, When I opened my shop this day, I saw
that every one of the merchants had a son, or two sons, and most of the
sons were sitting in the shop like their fathers; whereupon I said within
myself, Verily he who took thy father will not leave thee. And when I
first visited thee (he continued), thou madest me swear that I would not
take another wife in addition to thee, nor take an Abyssinian nor a Greek
nor any other slave-girl as a concubine; and thou art barren. But his
wife reproved him in such a manner that he passed the night and rose in
the morning repenting that he had reproached her, and she also repented
406
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
407
that she had reproached him. And soon after this, his wife informed him
that his wish was likely to be accomplished.
The son was born, and the midwife charmed him by repeating the names
of Mohammad and 'Alee, and she pronounced in his ear the tekbeer and
the adán, and wrapped him up and gave him to his mother who nursed
him, and he took his nourishment until he was satiated, and slept. The
midwife remained with them three days, until they had made the sweetmeat
to distribute on the seventh day; and then they sprinkled the salt for the
infant. And the merchant went in and congratulated his wife on her
safety, and said to her, Where is God's deposite?10 Whereupon she pre-
sented to him an infant of surprising loveliness, the work of the Ever-
present Governor. He was an infant of seven days; but he who beheld
him would say that he was a child a year old; and the merchant looked
in his face, and saw that it was like a shining full moon, with moles upon
the cheeks. He said to his wife, What hast thou named him? And she
answered, Were it a girl, I had named her; but this is a boy; so no one
shall name him but thyself.¹¹
The people of that age used to name their children from an omen;
and while they were consulting upon the name of the merchant's son, lo,
one said to his companion, O my master 'Alá-ed-Deen. So the merchant
said to his wife, We will name him 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát.¹2 He
commissioned the nurses to rear him, and the child drank the milk for two
years; after which they weaned him, and he grew up, and walked upon the
floor. And when he had attained the age of seven years, they put him
in a chamber beneath a trap-door,13 fearing the influence of the eye upon
him, and his father said, This boy shall not come forth from beneath the
trap-door until his beard groweth.14 The merchant appointed a slave-girl
and a male black slave to attend upon him: the slave-girl prepared the table
for him, and the black slave carried it to him. Then his father circum-
cised him, and made for him a magnificent banquet; and after this he
brought to him a professor of religion and law to teach him; and the pro-
fessor taught him writing and the Kur-án and science until he became skil-
ful and learned.
But it happened that the black slave took to him the table one day,
and inadvertently left the trap-door open; whereupon 'Alá-ed-Deen came
forth from it, and went in to his mother. There was with her a party of
women of rank, and while they were conversing with her, lo, he came in to
them, resembling an intoxicated memlook, in the excess of his beauty. So
when the women saw him, they covered their faces, and said to his mother,
Allah requite thee. O such-a-one! How dost thou cause this strange mem-
look to come in to us? Dost thou not know that modesty is one of the points
of the faith? But she said to them, Pronounce the name of Allah! 15
Verily this is my son, and the darling of my heart, the son of the Shah-
Bandar of the merchants, and the child of the nurse and the necklace and
the crush and the crumb! 16 They replied, In our lives we never saw
--
408
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
a son of thine. So she said, Verily his father feared for him from the in-
fluence of the eye, and therefore made as his nursery a subterranean cham-
ber under a trap-door; and probably the eunuch hath inadvertently left
the trap-door open, and he hath in consequence come up from it; but it
was not our desire that he should come out from it until his beard should
grow. The women therefore congratulated her upon this. And the youth
went forth from them into the court of the house, and then ascended into
the mak'ad, and there seated himself; and while he was sitting there,
the slaves entered the house with the mule of his father; whereupon 'Alá-
ed-Deen said to them, Where hath this mule been? They answered him,
We have conducted thy father to the shop, mounted upon her, and brought
her back. And he asked them, What is the trade of my father?
Thy
father, they answered him, is Sháh-Bandar of the merchants in the land of
Egypt, and he is Sultán of the Sons of the Arabs.18
-
-
17
-
And upon this, 'Alá-ed-Deen went in to his mother, and said to her, O
my mother, what is the trade of my father? She answered him, O my
son, thy father is a merchant, and he is Sháh-Bandar of the merchants in
the land of Egypt, and Sultán of the Sons of the Arabs. His slaves con-
sult him not respecting the sale of anything except that of which the smallest
price is a thousand pieces of gold. As to the sale of a thing for nine hun-
dred pieces of gold or less, they consult him not respecting it, but sell it
of their own free will. And there cometh not merchandise from other
parts, little or much, but it is submitted to him, and he disposeth of it as
he willeth; and no merchandise is packed up and goeth to other parts,
but it is under the disposal of thy father. God (whose name be exalted!)
hath given to thy father, O my son, great wealth, that cannot be calcu-
lated. So he said to her, O my mother, praise be to God that I am the
son of the Sultán of the Sons of the Arabs, and that my father is Shah-
Bandar of the merchants! But for what reason, O my mother, do ye put
me in a chamber beneath a trap-door, and leave me there imprisoned?
She answered him, O my son, we put thee not in the chamber beneath the
trap-door but in our fear for thee from the influence of the eyes of men;
for the influence of the eye is true,19 and most of the inhabitants of the
graves are victims of the eye. But he said to her, O my mother, and where
is a place of refuge from destiny? Caution preventeth not fate, and from
that which is written there is no escape. Verily he who took my grand-
father will not leave my father: so if he is alive to-day, he will not be
alive to-morrow; and when my father dieth, and I go forth and say, I am
'Alá-ed-Deen the son of the merchant Shems-ed-Deen, not one of the
people will believe me, and the aged will say, In our lives we never saw
a son nor a daughter of Shems-ed-Deen; then the officers of the gov-
ernment-treasury will come down and take my father's wealth. Allah have
mercy upon him who said, The liberal-minded man dieth, and his wealth
departeth, and the meanest of men taketh his women. Do thou, then, O
my mother, speak to my father, that he may take me with him to the
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
409
market-street and open for me a shop, and I will sit in it with merchan-
dise, and he shall teach me the art of selling and buying, and taking and
giving. She replied, O my son, when thy father cometh I will acquaint
him with thy wish.
And when the merchant returned to his house, he found his son 'Alá-
ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát sitting with his mother: so he said to her, Where-
fore hast thou taken him forth from beneath the trap-door? - O son
of my uncle, she answered, I did not take him forth; but the servants in-
advertently left the trap-door open, and while I was sitting with a party
of women of rank, lo, he came in to us. And she acquainted him with that
which his son had said; whereupon the merchant said to him, O my son,
to-morrow, if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), I will take
thee with me to the market-street; but, O my son, sitting in the market-
streets and shops requireth polite and accomplished manners under every
circumstance.
So 'Alá-ed-Deen passed the next night full of joy at the words of his
father; and when the morning came, his father took him into the bath,
and clad him in a suit worth a large sum of money. And after they had
breakfasted, and drunk the sherbet, the merchant mounted his mule, and
put his son upon another mule, and taking him behind him, repaired with
him to the market-street; and the people of the market-street saw the
Sháh-Bandar of the merchants approaching, followed by the youth whose
face was like the moon in its fourteenth night. It was customary, when
the Shah-Bandar came from his house in the morning and sat in his shop,
for the Nakeeb 20 of the market to approach the merchants and recite the
Fátehah to them, whereupon they arose and came with him to the Shah-
Bandar of the merchants and recited the Fátehah to him,21 and wished
him good morning: then each of them departed to his shop. But when
the Shah-Bandar of the merchants seated himself in his shop on that day
according to his custom, the merchants came not to him as they were
wont to do.
So he called the Nakeeb (who was named the sheykh Mohammad
Simsim,22 and who was a poor man), and said to him, Wherefore have
not the merchants come together according to their custom? The Nakeeb
answered him, that they were disputing on the subject of the youth who
was with him, wondering who he could be, and he said, Is he thy memlook,
or is he related to thy wife? He is my son, said the Shah-Bandar.
The Nakeeb replied, In our lives we have never seen a son of thine. The
Sháh-Bandar therefore said, In my fear for him from the influence of the
eye, I reared him in a subterranean chamber beneath a trap-door, and it
was my desire that he should not come up from it until he could hold his
beard with his hand; but his mother would not consent; and he requested
me to open a shop, and to give him merchandise, and teach him the art
of selling and buying. So the Nakeeb went to the merchants and ac-
quainted them with the true state of the case; upon which all of them arose
410
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
•
and went with him to the Sháh-Bandar, and, standing before him, recited
the Fátehah, and congratulated him on his having this youth for a son, and
said to him, May our Lord preserve the root and the branch! But (they
added) the poor among us, when a son or a daughter is born to him, is
required to make for his brothers a saucepan of 'aseedeh,23 and to invite
his acquaintances and relations, and yet thou hast not done this. So he
said to them, I will give you the entertainment, and our meeting shall be in
the garden.
Accordingly when the next morning came, he sent the farrásh 2 to
the saloon and the pavilion 25 which were in the garden, and desired him
to spread the furniture in them. He sent also the necessaries for cooking,
as lambs and clarified butter, and such other things as the case required,
⚫ and prepared two tables, one in the pavilion and one in the saloon. The
merchant Shems-ed-Deen girded himself, and so did his son 'Alá-ed-Deen,
and the former said to the latter, O my son, when the hoary man cometh
in, I will meet him, and seat him at the table which is in the pavilion; and
thou, O my son, when the beardless youth cometh in shalt take him and
conduct him into the saloon, and seat him at the table there. His son
said to him, Wherefore, O my father? What is the reason of thy prepar
ing two tables, one for the men and one for the youths? O my son,
answered the merchant, the beardless youth is ashamed to eat in the pres-
ence of men.26 So his son approved of this. And when the merchants
came, Shems-ed-Deen met the men, and seated them in the pavilion; and
his son 'Alá-ed-Deen met the youths, and seated them in the saloon. Then
the servants placed the food, and the party ate and drank, and enjoyed
themselves and were delighted, and they drank the sherbet, and the servants
gave vent to the smoke of the perfume; after which, the aged men sat con-
versing upon science and tradition.27
Meanwhile, the youths had seated 'Alá-ed-Deen among them at the
upper end of the chamber, and one of them said to his companion, O my
master Hasan, acquaint me respecting the capital in thy possession, by
means of which thou sellest and buyest, how it came to thee. He replied,
When I grew up, and attained to manhood, I said to my father, O my
father, give me some merchandise: - but he replied, O my son, I have none;
go, however, and procure money from some merchant, and traffic with it,
and learn the art of selling and buying, and taking and giving. So I re-
paired to one of the merchants, and borrowed of him a thousand pieces of
gold, and, having bought some stuffs with it, I journeyed with them to
Syria, where I obtained double the cost-price. Then I took merchandise
from Syria, and journeyed with it to Baghdad, where I sold it, and again
obtained double the cost-price; and I ceased not to traffic until my capital
became about ten thousand pieces of gold. And each of the youths said
to his companion the like of this until the turn to speak came round to
'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát; when they said to him, And thou, O our mas-
ter 'Alá-ed-Deen. So he replied, I was reared in a subterranean chamber
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
411
beneath a trap-door, and came forth from it this week, and I go to the shop
and return from it to the house. And upon this they said to him, Thou
art accustomed to remain in the house, and knowest not the delight of
travel, and travel is for none but men. He replied, I have no need to
travel; and ease is invaluable. And one of them said to his companion,
This is like the fish: when he quitteth the water he dieth. They then said
to him, O 'Alá-ed-Deen, the glory of the sons of the merchants consisteth
in nothing but travel for the sake of gain.
At these words, 'Alá-ed-Deen became enraged, and he went forth from
among the youths, with weeping eye and sorrowful heart, and, having
mounted his mule, repaired to the house. And his mother saw him in a
state of excessive rage, and weeping; so she said to him, What maketh
thee weep, O my son? He therefore answered her, All the sons of the mer-
chants have reproached me, and said to me, The glory of the sons of the
merchants consisteth in nothing but travel for the sake of gaining pieces of
silver and gold. His mother said to him, O my son, dost thou desire to
travel? He answered, Yes. And she asked him, To what country wouldst
thou travel? To the city of Baghdad, he answered; for there a man
gaineth the cost-price of his merchandise. His mother then said to him,
O my son, thy father hath great wealth; but if he prepare not merchandise
for thee with his wealth, I will prepare for thee some with mine. And he
replied, The best of favours is that which is promptly bestowed; and
if there be kindness to be shewn, this is the time for it. She therefore
summoned the slaves, and sent them to the persons who packed up stuffs,
and, having opened a magazine, took from it some stuffs for him, and they
packed up for him ten loads.
His father, in the mean time, looked around, and found not his son
'Alá-ed-Deen in the garden. So he inquired respecting him, and they told
him that he had mounted his mule and gone to the house; whereupon he
mounted and went after him; and when he entered his abode, seeing the
loads packed up, he asked concerning them. His wife therefore informed
him of the manner in which the sons of the merchants had acted towards
his son 'Alá-ed-Deen. And upon this he said to him, O my son, malediction
be upon foreign travel! for the Apostle of God (may God bless and save
him!) hath said, It is of a man's good fortune that he be sustained in his
own country; and the ancients have said, Abstain from travel, though
it be but a mile's journey. Then he said to his son, Hast thou determined
to travel, and wilt thou not relinquish thy purpose? His son answered
him, I must travel to Baghdad with merchandise, or I will pull off my
clothes, and put on the habit of the darweeshes, and go forth a wanderer
through the countries. So his father said to him, I am not in need, nor
destitute: but, on the contrary, I have great wealth. And he shewed him.
-
all the wealth and merchandise and stuffs that he possessed, and said to him,
I have stuffs and other merchandise suitable for every country. And he
shewed him of such goods, forty loads packed up, upon each of which was
412
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
written its price, a thousand pieces of gold. He then said to him, O my son,
take the forty loads, and the ten loads which are given thee by thy mother,
and journey under the protection of God, whose name be exalted! But, 0
my son, I fear for thee on account of a forest on thy way, called the Forest of
the Lion, and a valley there called the Valley of the Dogs; for lives are sac-
rificed in those two places without pity. How so, O my father? said
his son.
The merchant answered, By a Bedawee, and interceptor of the
way, who is named 'Ejlán. But his son replied, The means of preservation
are from God, and if I have any share in them left, no harm will happen
to me.
-
Then he mounted with his father, and went to the market of the beasts
of burden; and lo, an 'Akkám 28 dismounted from his mule, and kissing the
hand of the Sháh-Bandar of the merchants, said to him, By Allah, for a
long time, O my master, thou hast not employed us in the transaction of
mercantile business. The Sháh-Bandar replied, Every time hath its fortune
and its men.29 O Mukaddam,3
,30 it is none but this my son who desireth to
travel. And the 'Akkám said, God preserve him to thee! The Shah-
Bandar then made a covenant between his son and the 'Akkám, that the
former should be as a son of the latter, and gave the 'Akkám a charge re-
specting 'Alá-ed-Deen, and said to him, Take these hundred pieces of gold
for thy young men. After which he bought sixty mules, and a covering
for Seyyidee 'Abd-El-Kádir El-Geelánee, and said to his son, O my son,
while I am absent, this 'Akkám shall be thy father in my stead, and with
whatever he saith to thee do thou comply. Then he returned, with the
mules and the young men, and the next night they caused a recitation of
the whole of the Kur-án to be performed, and celebrated a festival in honour
of the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kádir El-Geelánee. And when the following morn-
ing came, the Sháh-Bandar of the merchants gave to his son ten thousand
pieces of gold, saying to him, When thou enterest Baghdad, if thou find the
stuffs of easy sale, sell them; but if thou find them not in request, expend
of these pieces of gold.
31
32
They then loaded the mules, and bade one another farewell, and the
party went forth from the city. They continued their way over the deserts
and wastes until they came in sight of Damascus, and from Damascus they
proceeded until they entered Aleppo, and thence they continued their route
until there remained between them and Baghdad one day's journey.
Still they advanced till they descended into a valley, and 'Alá-ed-Deen
desired that they should halt there; but the 'Akkám said, Halt ye not
here: continue on your way and hasten in your pace: perhaps we may reach
Baghdad before its gates be closed; for the people open them not nor close
them but when the sun is up, in their fear lest the Ráfidees 33 should take
the city and throw the books of science into the Tigris. 'Alá-ed-Deen,
however, replied, O my father, I came not with this merchandise unto this
town for the sake of traffic, but for the sake of amusing myself by the
sight of foreign countries. O my son, rejoined the 'Akkám, we fear for
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
413
----
thee and for thy property on account of the Arabs. But 'Alà-ed-Deen
| said, O man, art thou a servant or a person served? I will not enter
Baghdad but in the morning, that the sons of Baghdád may see my
merchandise, and may know me. So the 'Akkám replied, Do what thou
wilt; for I have advised thee, and thou canst judge for thyself.
'Alá-ed-Deen ordered them to take down the burdens from the backs of
the mules; and they did so, and pitched the pavilion, and remained until
midnight.
'Alá-ed-Deen then went forth from the pavilion, and saw something
glittering in the distance. So he said to the 'Akkám, O Mukaddam, what
is this thing that is glittering? And the 'Akkám, looking attentively and
with a scrutinizing eye, saw that what glittered was the points of spears and
the iron of Bedawee weapons and swords. And lo, they were Arabs, whose
chief was named the Sheykh of the Arabs 'Ejlán Aboo-Náïb; and when
these Arabs drew near them and saw their packages, they said, one to an-
other, O night of spoil! As soon as the travellers heard them say this, the
Mukaddam Kemál-ed-Deen, the 'Akkám, exclaimed, Avaunt, O least of
Arabs! But Aboo-Náïb smote him with his spear upon his breast, and it
protruded glittering from his back; whereupon he fell at the door of the
tent, slain. Then the Sakkà 34 exclaimed, Avaunt, O basest of Arabs!
And one of them struck him upon his shoulder with a sword, and it passed
forth glittering from his vitals, and he, also, fell down slain. All this took
place while 'Alá-ed-Deen stood looking on. The Arabs surrounded and
fiercely assaulted the caravan, and killed the attendants of 'Alá-ed-Deen,
not sparing one of them; after which, they placed the loads upon the backs
of the mules, and retired. 'Alá-ed-Deen then said to himself, Nothing will
occasion thy slaughter but thy mule and this thy dress. So he arose, and
pulled off the dress, and threw it upon the back of his mule, remaining in
the shirt and drawers alone; and, looking before him, towards the door
of the tent, he found a pool of blood, flowing from the slain; and he rolled
himself in it with the shirt and the drawers, so that he appeared like one
slain, drowned in his blood.
Meanwhile, the Sheykh of the Arabs, 'Ejlán, said to his troops, O
Arabs, was this caravan entering from Egypt, or going forth from Bagh-
dád? They answered him, Coming from Egypt in to Baghdad. And he
said to them, Return to the slain; for I imagine that the proprietor of this
caravan hath not died. So the Arabs returned to the slain, and proceeded
to pierce and strike them again until they came to 'Alá-ed-Deen. He had
thrown himself among the slain; and when they came to him they said, Thou
hast feigned thyself to be dead; so we will complete thy slaughter. And a
Bedawee took his spear, and was about to thrust it into the breast of 'Alá-
ed-Deen; whereupon 'Alá-ed-Deen said, O thy blessing,35 O my lord 'Abd-El-
Kádir, O Geelánee! And he saw a hand turn away the spear from his
breast to the breast of the Mukaddam Kemál-ed-Deen, the 'Akkám; so that
the Bedawee pierced the latter with it, and left 'Alá-ed-Deen; after which,
414
NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
THE ARABIAN RABIAN
the Arabs replaced the burdens on the backs of the mules, and departed
with them.
'Alá-ed-Deen then looked, and, seeing that the birds had flown with
their spoils, rose and ran away. But, lo, the Bedawee Aboo-Náïb said to
his companions, I saw a faint appearance of an object in the distance, O
Arabs. One of them, therefore, came forth, and beheld 'Alá-ed-Deen run-
ning; upon which he said to him, Flight will not profit thee while we are
behind thee. And he struck his mare with his fist, and she hastened after
him. Now 'Alá-ed-Deen had seen before him a tank containing water,
and by the side of it was a cistern: so he ascended to a window of the cistern,
and there stretching himself along, feigned himself asleep, and said, O kind
Protector, cover me with the veil of thy protection that cannot be removed! 36
And behold, the Bedawee stopped beneath the cistern, and stretched forth
his hand to seize 'Alá-ed-Deen; whereupon the latter said, O thy blessing,
O my lady Nefeeseh! This is thy time! And lo, a scorpion stung
the Bedawee in the palm of his hand; and he cried out and said, O Arabs,
come to me, for I am stung! And he alighted from the back of his mare,
and his companions, coming to him, mounted him again, and said to him,
What hath befallen thee? He answered them, A scorpion hath stung me.
And they then took the property of the caravan, and departed.
37
Alá-ed-Deen remained a while sleeping in the window of the cistern.
Then arising, he proceeded, and entered Baghdad. The dogs barked be-
hind him as he passed through the streets, and in the evening, while he was
walking on in the dark, he saw the door of a mosque, and entering its vesti-
bule, he concealed himself in it. And lo, a light approached him, and as
he looked attentively at it, he perceived two lanterns in the hands of two
black slaves, who were walking before two merchants. One of these was
an old man of comely countenance, and the other was a young man; and
he heard the latter say to the former, By Allah, O my uncle, I conjure
thee to restore to me my cousin, thy daughter. To which the old man re-
plied, Did I not forbid thee many times, when thou wast making divorce thy
mushaf? 38
Then the old man looked to the right, and saw 'Alá-ed-Deen,
appearing like a piece of the moon; and he said to him, Peace be on thee!
'Alá-ed-Deen, therefore, returned his salutation, and the old man said to
him, O youth, who art thou? He answered him, I am 'Alá-ed-Deen, the
son of Shems-ed-Deen the Sháh-Bandar of the merchants in Cairo. I re-
quested my father to give me merchandise, and he prepared for me fifty
loads of goods, and gave me ten thousand pieces of gold; and I journeyed
until I arrived at the Forest of the Lion, when the Arabs came upon me and
took my wealth and my packages; and I entered this city, not knowing
where to pass the night: so, seeing this place, I concealed myself in it.—
The old man then said to him, O my son, what sayest thou of my giving
thee a thousand pieces of gold, and a suit of clothing of the price of a
thousand pieces of gold? For what purpose, said 'Alá-ed-Deen, wilt thou
give me these things, O my uncle? He answered him, This young man who
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
415
is with me is the son of my brother, and his father hath no son but him;
and I have a daughter, and have none but her, who is named Zubeydeh
El-'Oodeeyeh.39 She is endowed with beauty and loveliness, and I married
her to him, and he loveth her; but she hateth him; and he swore an oath
of triple divorcement, and scarcely had his wife heard it when she separated
herself from him. And he employed all the people of his acquaintance to
intercede with me, that I should restore her to him: so I said to him, This
will not be right unless by means of a mustahall: 40 and I agreed with
him that we should employ some foreigner as a mustahall, in order that
no one might reproach him on account of this affair. Since, then, thou art
a foreigner, come with us, that we may write thy contract of marriage to
her, and to-morrow thou shalt divorce her, and we will give thee what I have
mentioned. So 'Alá-ed-Deen said within himself, To do what he proposeth
will be better than passing the nights in the by-streets and vestibules.
Accordingly he went with the two men to the Kádee. And when the
Kádee saw him, his heart was moved with affection for him, and he said
to the father of the damsel, What is your desire? The old man answered,
It is our desire to employ this person as a mustahall for our daughter; but
we will write a bond against him, stating that the portion of the dowry to
be paid in advance is ten thousand pieces of gold; and if he divorce her
to-morrow morning, we will give him a dress of the price of a thousand
pieces of gold, and a mule of the same price, and a thousand pieces of gold
besides; but if he divorce her not, he will pay ten thousand pieces of gold.¹¹
So they settled the contract on this condition, and the father of the damsel
received a bond to this effect. He then took 'Alá-ed-Deen with him, clad
him with the suit, and proceeded with him until they came to the house of
his daughter, when he stationed him at the door of the house, and, going in
to his daughter, said to her, Receive the bond of thy dowry; for I have
written thy contract of marriage to a comely young man, named 'Alá-ed-Deen
Abu-sh-Shámát: so consider thyself under a most strict charge respecting
him. And he gave her the bond, and repaired to his house.
Now the damsel's cousin (her former husband) had a kahramaneh who
frequently visited Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh, and he used to treat her with
beneficence; and he said to her, O my mother, if Zubeydeh, the daughter of
my uncle, see this comely young man, she will not accept me after; so I desire
of thee that thou contrive a stratagem to restrain the damsel from him. -
By thy youth, she replied, I will not suffer him to go near her. She then
went to 'Alá-ed-Deen, and said to him, O my son, I give thee good advice
for the sake of God (whose name be exalted!); therefore do thou accept
my advice, and approach not that damsel, but let her remain alone, and
neither touch her nor draw near to her. Wherefore? said he. And she
answered him, Verily her whole skin is affected with elephantiasis, and I
fear for thee lest she communicate the disease to thy comely, youthful
person.42 So he replied, I have no need of her. Then she went to the
damsel, and said to her as she had said to 'Alá-ed-Deen; and the damsel
-
416
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
replied, I have no need of him: on the contrary, I will leave him to remain
alone, and in the morning he shall go his way. And she called a slave-girl,
and said to her, Take the table with the food, and give it to him that he
may sup. The slave-girl, therefore, carried to him the table with the food,
and placed it before him, and he ate until he was satisfied, and then sat
reciting the chapter of Yá-seen,13 with a charming voice; and the damsel,
listening to him, found that his voice was like the sounds of the Psalms sung
by the family of Dáood. So she said within herself, Allah send trouble
upon this old woman who told me that he was afflicted with elephantiasis!
for he who is in such a state hath not a voice of this kind. Surely this
assertion is a lie against him. Then taking in her hands a lute of Indian
manufacture, she tuned its chords, and sang to it, with a voice that would
stay the birds in the midst of the sky, these two verses:
44
I am enamoured of a fawn with languishing black eyes: the willow-branches envy him
when he walketh.
He rejecteth me, and another enjoyeth his society, which is a boon that God will grant
to whom He pleaseth.
And when he heard her words, after he had finished his recitation of the
Chapter he sang this verse in reply:
My salutation to the form concealed within the garments, and to the roses in the gardens
of the cheeks.
And upon this, the damsel's love for him increased, and she lifted up the
curtain; and when 'Alá-ed-Deen beheld her, he recited these two verses:
She appeared as a moon, and inclined as a willow-branch; diffused an odour like am-
bergris, and looked with eyes like a gazelle's.
It seemed as though grief were enamoured of my heart, and when she should depart,
would obtain possession of it.
She then advanced with a graceful gait; but as she approached him he said.
to her, Retire from me, lest thou communicate thy disease to me. So she
uncovered her wrist, which was bipartite, and its whiteness was like that
of silver; after which she said to him, Retire from me; for thou art
afflicted with elephantiasis, and perhaps thou wilt communicate the disease
to me. He therefore asked her, Who informed thee that I was afflicted
with elephantiasis? She answered him, The old woman acquainted me with
it. And he replied, The old women also informed me that thou wast afflicted
with leprosy. Then he uncovered to her his arms, and she found that his
skin was like pure silver. So she accepted him as her husband.
46
And on the following morning he said to her, Alas for joy that is not
complete! The raven hath taken it and flown away! She therefore said,
What is the meaning of these words? And he answered her, O my mistress,
I have only this hour to remain with thee. - Who saith so? she asked.
Thy father, he answered her, wrote a bond against me, obliging me to pay
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
417
ten thousand pieces of gold towards thy dowry; and if I produce it not this
day, they imprison me for it in the house of the Kádee; and now my hand
is unable to advance a single half-dirhem 47 of the sum of ten thousand
pieces of gold. But she said to him, O my master, is the matrimonial tie in
thy hand, or in their hands? He answered her, The tie is in my hand; but
I have nothing in my possession. The affair, she rejoined, is easy; and
fear nothing; but take these hundred pieces of gold. Had I more, I would
give thee what thou desirest. This, however, I cannot do; for my father,
from the affection that he beareth for the son of his brother, hath trans-
ferred all his property from my hands to his house: even all my ornaments
he took. But when they send to thee a sergeant from the court of justice,
this morning, and the Kádee and my father say to thee, Divorce, - do thou
say to them, By what code is it ordained as proper that I should marry at
nightfall and divorce in the morning? Then thou shalt kiss the hand of
the Kádee, and give him a present; and in like manner thou shalt kiss the
hand of each Shahid,48 and give him ten pieces of gold. And all of them
will speak with thee: and if they say to thee, Wherefore wilt thou not
divorce, and receive a thousand pieces of gold, and the mule and the dress,
according to the condition which we imposed upon thee? do thou answer
them, Every hair of her head is in my estimation worth a thousand pieces of
gold, and I will never divorce her nor will I receive a dress or anything else.
If the Kádee then say to thee, Pay the dowry, reply, I am at present
unable to pay. And thereupon the Kádee and the Sháhids will treat thee
with benevolence, and will grant thee a delay.
-
Now while they were thus conversing, the sergeant of the Kádee knocked
at the door. So he went forth to him, and the sergeant said to him, Answer
the summons of the Efendee; 49 for thy father-in-law citeth thee. And
'Alá-ed-Deen gave to him five pieces of gold, saying, O sergeant, by what
code am I required to marry at nightfall and to divorce in the morning? He
answered him, To do so is not held proper by us in any case; and if thou be
ignorant of the law, I will act as thy deputy. And they proceeded to the
court of justice, and the Kádee said to 'Alá-ed-Deen, Wherefore dost thou
not divorce the woman, and receive what the contract hath prescribed for
thee? And upon this he advanced to the Kádee, and, kissing his hand, put
into it fifty pieces of gold, and said to him, O our lord the Kádee, by what
code is it allowable that I should marry at nightfall and divorce in the
morning by compulsion? The Kádee therefore answered, Divorce by com-
pulsion is not allowable by any of the codes of the Muslims. Then the
father of the damsel said, If thou divorce not, pay me the dowry, ten
thousand pieces of gold. 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, Give me three days' delay.
But the Kádee said, Three days will not be a sufficient period of delay: he
shall grant thee ten days. And to this they agreed, binding him, after the
ten days, either to pay the dowry or to divorce.
On this condition, therefore, he went forth from them, and, having
procured the meat and rice and clarified butter and other eatables that the
418
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
case required, returned to the house and went in to the damsel and related to
her all that had happened to him. She replied, Between night and day,
wonders take place; and divinely gifted was he who said, -
Be mild when thou art troubled by rage, and be patient when calamity befalleth thee;
For the nights are pregnant with events, and give birth to every kind of wonder.
She then arose, prepared the food, and brought the table, and they ate and
drank, and enjoyed themselves, and were moved with merriment; and he
requested her to perform a piece of music. So she took the lute, and per-
formed a piece in such a manner that a rock would have danced at it as if
with joy, the sounds of the chords vying with the voice of Dáood; and
she began the more rapid part of the performance.51
50
But while they were full of delight and jesting, and mirth and gladness,
the door was knocked. She therefore said to him, Arise, and see who is at
the door. Accordingly, he went down, and, opening the door, found four
darweeshes standing there, and he said to them, What do ye desire? — O
my master, answered one of them, we are foreign darweeshes: the food of
our souls consisteth in music and in the delicacies of poetry, and we desire
to recreate ourselves with thee this night, until the morning, when we will go
our way; and thou wilt receive thy recompense from God (whose name be
exalted!); for we are passionately fond of music, and there is not one among
us who doth not retain in his memory odes and other pieces of poetry and
lyric songs.52 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, I must consult. And he went up, and
informed the damsel; and she said to him, Open the door to them. So he
opened the door, and, having conducted them up, seated them and welcomed.
them, and brought them food. But they declined eating, and one of them
said to him, O my master, verily our victuals are the commemoration of
God with our hearts, and the hearing of songs with our ears; and divinely
was he gifted who said, -
Our desire is for nought but the enjoyment of society; and eating is nought but a char-
acteristic of the brutes.
We just now heard some pleasant music in thine abode; but when we came
up, it ceased; and we would that we knew whether she who was performing
is a white or a black slave-girl, or a lady. - 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, She is
my wife. And he related to them all that had happened to him, and said
to them, My father-in-law hath bound me to pay ten thousand pieces of
gold as her dowry, and they have given me ten days' delay. Upon this, one
of the darweeshes said to him, Grieve not, nor anticipate anything but good
fortune; for I am the Sheykh of the Convent, having under me forty
darweeshes over whom I exercise authority, and I will collect for thee the
ten thousand pieces of gold from them, and thou shalt discharge the dowry
that thou owest to thy father-in-law. But desire her (he added) to perform
a piece of music for us, that we may be rejoiced and enlivened; for music is
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
419
to some people like food; and to some like a remedy; and to some, like a
fan. Now these four darweeshes were the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed,
and the Wezeer Jaafar El-Barmekee, and Aboo-Nuwás El-Hasan the son of
Hánee,53 and Mesroor the Executioner. And the reason of their passing by
this house was that the bosom of the Khaleefeh was contracted; so he said
to the Wezeer, O Wezeer, it is our desire to descend and to go about through
the city; for I experience a contraction of the bosom. They therefore clad
themselves in the apparel of darweeshes, and went down into the city, and,
passing by this house, they heard the music, and desired to ascertain the
cause. They passed the night there in happiness and good order, and in
relating stories one after another, until the morning came, when the
Khaleefeh put a hundred pieces of gold beneath the prayer-carpet, and he
and his companions took leave of 'Alá-ed-Deen, and went their way.
When the damsel, therefore, lifted up the prayer-carpet, she saw the
hundred pieces of gold beneath it. And she said to her husband, Take these
hundred pieces of gold that I have found under the prayer-carpet; for the
darweeshes put them before they went, without our knowledge. So 'Alá-ed-
Deen took them, and, repairing to the market, bought the meat and the rice
and the clarified butter, and all that he required. And on the following night
he lighted the candles and said to his wife, The darweeshes have not brought
the ten thousand pieces of gold which they promised me; but they are poor
men. While they were talking, however, the darweeshes knocked at the
door; and she said to him, Go down, and open to them. He therefore did
so, and they came up, and he said to them, Have ye brought the ten thousand
pieces of gold that ye promised me? They answered him, Nothing of the
sum hath been provided; but fear no evil: if it be the will of God (whose
name be exalted!), to-morrow we will perform an alchymical process for
thee; and now do thou desire thy wife to gratify our ears by an excellent
performance of music, that our hearts may be enlivened by it; for we love
music. So she performed a piece for them upon the lute, such as would
make a rock to dance. And they passed the night in enjoyment and happi-
ness, and conversation and cheerfulness, until the morning came and diffused
its light; whereupon the Khaleefeh again put a hundred pieces of gold
beneath the prayer-carpet, and he and his companions took leave of 'Alá-ed-
Deen, and departed from him and went their way.
Thus they continued to do for a period of nine nights; the Khaleefeh
every night putting beneath the prayer-carpet a hundred pieces of gold,
until the tenth night, when they came not; and the cause of their ceasing
their visits was this. The Khaleefeh sent to a great merchant, saying to him,
Make ready for me fifty loads of stuffs, such as come from Cairo, each
load of the price of a thousand pieces of gold, and write upon each the
amount of its price; and provide for me a male Abyssinian slave. So the
merchant made ready for him all that he ordered him to provide, after which
the Khaleefeh committed to the slave a basin and ewer of gold, and another
present, and the fifty loads, and wrote a letter as from Shems-ed-Deen the
420
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Sháh-Bandar of the merchants in Cairo, the father of 'Alá-ed-Deen, and
said to the slave, Take these loads and the things that are with them, and
repair with them to such a quarter, in which is the house of the Shah-Bandar
of the merchants, and say, Where is my master 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-
Shámát? Then the people will direct thee to the quarter and to the house.
The slave therefore took the loads and what was with them, and went as
the Khaleefeh commanded him.
In the mean time, the damsel's cousin repaired to her father, and said
to him, Come, let us go to 'Alá-ed-Deen, that we may effect the divorce of
my cousin. So the father descended and went with him to 'Alá-ed-Deen;
but when they arrived at the house, they found fifty mules, upon which
were fifty loads of stuffs, attended by a black slave upon a mule; and they
said to him, To whom belong these loads? He answered, To my master
'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát; for his father prepared for him merchandise,
and despatched him on a journey to the city of Baghdád, and the Arabs
came upon him, and took his wealth and his loads; and the news reached
his father; wherefore he sent me to him with loads in their stead. He sent
with me also a mule laden with fifty thousand pieces of gold, and a wrapper
of clothes worth a large sum of money, and a furred robe of sable, and a
basin and ewer of gold. Upon this, the father of the damsel said, This
person is my son-in-law, and I will shew thee the way to the house.
And while 'Alá-ed-Deen was sitting in the house in a state of violent
grief, the door was knocked; and he said, O Zubeydeh, God is all-knowing;
but it seemeth that thy father hath sent to me a sergeant from the Kádee
or from the Wálee. She replied, Go down and see what is the case. So he
went down and opened the door, and beheld his father-in-law, who was the
Sháh-Bandar of the merchants, the father of Zubeydeh; and he found there
an Abyssinian slave of dark complexion and of pleasant countenance, mounted
upon a mule. And the slave, having descended from the mule, kissed his
hands; and he said to him, What dost thou desire? He answered, I am the
slave of my master 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, the son of Shems-ed-Deen
the Shah-Bandar of the merchants in the land of Egypt; and his father hath
sent me to him with this deposite. He then gave him the letter; and Alá-
ed-Deen took it and opened it and read it, and found written in it these
words:
After perfect salutations, and compliments and respectful greetings, from
Shems-ed-Deen to his son 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. Know, O my son,
that the news of the slaughter of thy men, and of the plunder of thy
wealth and thy loads, hath reached me; and I have therefore sent to thee,
in their stead, these fifty loads of Egyptian stuffs, and the suit of dress, and
the furred robe of sable, and the basin and ewer of gold. And fear no evil;
for the wealth is thy ransom, O my son; and may grief never affect thee.
Thy mother and the people of the house are well, in prosperity and health;
and they greet thee with abundant salutations. Moreover, O my son, news
hath reached me that they have employed thee as a mustahall for the
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
421
damsel Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh, and have imposed upon thee the payment
of ten thousand 5 pieces of gold as her dowry. Therefore fifty thousand
pieces of gold will be brought to thee with the loads, attended by the slave
Seleem.55
As soon as 'Alá-ed-Deen had finished reading the letter, he took possession
of the loads, and, looking towards his father-in-law, said to him, O my
father-in-law, receive the ten thousand pieces of gold, the amount of the
dowry of thy daughter Zubeydeh: receive also the loads, and dispose of
them, and the profits shall be thine; only do thou restore to me the cost-
price. But he replied, Nay, by Allah, I will take nothing; and as to the
dowry of thy wife, do thou make an agreement with her respecting it. So
'Alá-ed-Deen arose, together with his father-in-law, and they went into the
house, after the loads had been brought in. And Zubeydeh said to her
father, O my father, to whom belong these loads? He answered her, These
loads belong to 'Alá-ed-Deen, thy husband. His father hath sent them to
him in the place of those which the Arabs took from him; and he hath sent
to him fifty thousand pieces of gold, and a wrapper of clothes, and a furred
robe of sable, and a mule, and a basin and ewer of gold: and as to thy dowry,
it is for thee to decide respecting it. Then 'Alá-ed-Deen arose, and, having
opened the chest, gave her her dowry. The damsel's cousin said, O my uncle,
let 'Alá-ed-Deen divorce my wife for me. But the father of the damsel
replied, This is a thing that now can by no means be, as the matrimonial
tie is in his hand. And upon this the young man went away, grieved and
afflicted, and laid himself down sick in his house, and there he died.
As to 'Alá-ed-Deen, he went forth to the market, after he had received
the loads, and, having procured what he desired of food and drink and
clarified butter, made the same regular preparations as on each preceding
night, and said to Zubeydeh, See, these lying darweeshes gave us a promise
and broke it. She replied, Thou art the son of a Sháh-Bandar of the
merchants, and yet thy hand was unable to produce a half-dirhem. What
then is the case of the poor darweeshes? God (whose name be exalted!),
he rejoined, hath rendered us independent of them, and I will not again open
the door to them if they come to us. But she said to him, Wherefore, seeing
that good fortune happened not unto us but in consequence of their coming;
for every night they put for us beneath the prayer-carpet a hundred pieces
of gold? It is absolutely necessary, then, that thou open the door to them
if they come. And when the day departed with its brightness, and the
night came, they lighted the candles, and 'Alá-ed-Deen said to his wife, O
Zubeydeh, arise, and perform a piece of music for us. And immediately the
door was knocked: so she said to him, Arise, and see who is there. He
descended, therefore, and opened the door, and seeing the darweeshes, he
said, Oh! Welcome to the liars!
Come up.
Accordingly they went up with him, and he seated them, and brought the
table of food to them; and they ate and drank, and enjoyed themselves and
were merry. They then said to him, O my master, verily our hearts have
422
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
·
been troubled respecting thee. What hath happened to thee with thy father-
in-law? God, he answered them, hath granted us a recompense above our
desires. And they said to him, By Allah, we were in fear for thee, and
nothing prevented our coming to thee again but the inadequacy of our means
to procure the money. He replied, Speedy relief hath come to me from my
Lord, and my father hath sent to me fifty thousand pieces of gold, and fifty
loads of stuffs, each load of the price of a thousand pieces of gold, and a
suit of dress, and a furred robe of sable, and a mule and a slave, and a basin
and ewer of gold: a reconciliation hath taken place between me and my
father-in-law, and my wife hath become lawful to me; 56 and praise be to
God for this!
The Khaleefeh then arose and withdrew; and the Wezeer Jaafar, inclining
towards 'Alá-ed-Deen, said to him, Impose upon thyself the obligation of
good manners; for thou art in the company of the Prince of the Faithful. ———
What have I done, asked 'Alá-ed-Deen, inconsistently with good manners
in the company of the Prince of the Faithful, and which of you is the Prince
of the Faithful? The Wezeer answered him, He who was speaking to you,
and who hath just now retired, is the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon
Er-Rasheed, and I am the Wezeer Jaafar, and this is Mesroor, the Khaleefeh's
executioner, and this is Aboo-Nuwás El-Hásan the son of Hánee. Reflect
then with thy reason, O 'Alá-ed-Deen, and consider how many days are
required for the journey from Cairo to Baghdád. He replied, Five and forty
days. Then said Jaafar, Thy loads were carried off only ten days ago; and
how could the news reach thy father, and how could he pack up the other
loads for thee, and these loads traverse a space of five and forty days' journey
in ten days? O my master, said 'Alá-ed-Deen, and whence came they
unto me? The Wezeer answered him, From the Khaleefeh, the Prince of
the Faithful, on account of his excessive affection for thee.
-
-
And while they were thus conversing, lo, the Khaleefeh approached. So
'Alá-ed-Deen arose, and kissed the ground before him, and said to him,
God preserve thee, O Prince of the Faithful, and prolong thy life, and may
mankind never be deprived of thy bounty and beneficence! And the
Khaleefeh said, O 'Alá-ed-Deen, let Zubeydeh perform for us a piece of
music, as a gratuity for thy safety. She therefore performed a piece on
the lute, of the most admirable kind, such as would make a rock to shake
as with joy, and the sounds of the lute vied with the voice of Dáood.58
They passed the night in the happiest manner until the morning, when the
Khaleefeh said to 'Alá-ed-Deen, To-morrow come up to the court. And
'Alá-ed-Deen replied, I hear and obey, O Prince of the Faithful, if it be the
will of God, (whose name be exalted!), and mayest thou continue in
prosperity.
Then 'Alá-ed-Deen took ten trays, and put on them a costly present; and
on the following day he went up with them to the court. And while the
Khaleefeh was sitting upon the throne in the council-chamber, lo, 'Alá-ed-
Deen advanced from the door, reciting these two verses:
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
423
May prosperity and glory attend thee each morning, and the nose of thine envier be
rubbed in the dust;
And may the days never cease to be white unto thee, and the days of him who is thine
enemy be black!
The Khaleefeh replied, Welcome, O 'Alá-ed-Deen. And 'Alá-ed-Deen said,
O Prince of the Faithful, verily the Prophet (God bless and save him!)
accepted a present; and these ten trays with what is upon them are a present
from me unto thee. And the Prince of the Faithful accepted them from
him. He gave orders also to invest him with a robe of honour, appointed
him Shah-Bandar of the merchants, and seated him in the council-chamber.
and while Alá-ed-Deen was siting there, lo, his father-in-law, the father
of Zubeydeh, approached, and, finding him sitting in his place, and wearing
the robe of honour, said to the Prince of the Faithful, O King of the age,
wherefore is this person sitting in my place, and wearing this robe of honour?
The Khaleefeh answered him, I have appointed him Sháh-Bandar of the
merchants; and offices are conferred by investiture, not granted for per-
petuity; and thou art displaced. And he replied, He is of our family and
our connexions, and excellent is that which thou hast done, O Prince of the
Faithful. May God always make the best of us to preside over our affairs!
And how many a small person hath become great! The Khaleefeh then
wrote a diploma for 'Alá-ed-Deen, and gave it to the Wálee, and the Walee
gave it to the executioner, and he proclaimed in the court, None is Shah-
Bandar of the merchants but 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát; and his word
is to be heard, and respect is to be paid to him: he is entitled to honour and
reverence and exaltation! And when the court was dissolved, the Walee
descended with the crier before 'Alá-ed-Deen, and the crier proclaimed,
None is Sháh-Bandar of the merchants but my master 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-
Shámát! And they went about with him through the great thoroughfare-
streets of Baghdad, the crier repeating the same proclamation.
On the following morning, therefore, 'Alá-ed-Deen opened a shop for
the slave, and seated him in it to sell and buy, while he rode, and took his
place in the court of the Khaleefeh. And it happened that he was sitting
in his place one day according to his custom, and as he sat, lo, a person said
to the Khaleefeh, O Prince of the Faithful, may thy head long survive
such-a-one, the boon-companion; 59 for he hath been admitted to the mercy
of God (whose name be exalted!), and may thy life be prolonged! And the
Khaleefeh said, Where is 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát? So he presented
himself before the Khaleefeh, who, when he saw him, bestowed upon him a
magnificent robe of honour, appointed him his boon-companion, and assigned
him a monthly salary of a thousand pieces of gold; and 'Alá-ed-Deen
continued with him as his boon-companion. And it happened again that
he was sitting one day in his place according to his custom, in the service of
the Khaleefeh, when an Emeer came up into the court with a sword and
shield, and said, O Prince of the Faithful, may thy head long survive the
Raees es-Sitteen; 60 for he hath died this day.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
61
And the Khaleefeh gave orders to bring him a robe of honour for 'Alá-
ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, and appointed him Raees es-Sitteen in the place
of the deceased. The latter had no son nor daughter nor wife: so 'Alá-ed-
Deen went down and put his hand upon his wealth; and the Khaleefeh said
to him, Inter him, and take all that he hath left of wealth and male slaves
and female slaves and eunuchs. Then the Khaleefeh shook the handker-
chief, and the court dispersed; and 'Alá-ed-Deen departed, with the
Mukaddam Ahmad Ed-Denef, the Mukaddam of the right division of the
Khaleefeh's guard, attended by his forty followers, by his stirrup, on the
right; and on his left, the Mukaddam Hasan Shoomán, the Mukaddam of
the left division of the Khaleefeh's guard, together with his forty followers.
And 'Alá-ed-Deen looked towards the Mukaddam Hasan Shoomán and his
followers, and said to them, Be ye intercessors with the Mukaddam Ahmad
Ed-Denef, that he may accept me as his son by a covenant before God.
And he accepted him, and said to him, I and my forty followers will walk
before thee to the court every day.
After this, 'Alá-ed-Deen continued in the service of the Khaleefeh for
many days. And it happened that he descended from the court one day,
and went to his house, and, having dismissed Ahmad Ed-Denef and his
attendants, seated himself with his wife Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh, who, after
she had lighted the candles, went into an adjoining chamber; and while he
was sitting in his place, he heard a great cry. He therefore arose quickly to
see who it was that cried, and beheld, in the person from whom the sound
proceeded, the form of his wife Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh, lying extended upon
the floor; and he put his hand upon the bosom of the prostrate damsel, and
found her dead. Her father's house was opposite to that of 'Alá-ed-Deen,
and he (the father) also heard her cry; so he came, and said to her husband,
What is the matter, O my master 'Alá-ed-Deen? The latter replied, May
thy head, O my father, long survive thy daughter Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh:
but now, O my father, we must pay respect to the dead by its burial. And
when the following morning came, they interred the damsel's body; and
'Alá-ed-Deen and the father of Zubeydeh consoled each other. 'Alá-ed-
Deen put on the apparel of mourning, separated himself from the court,
and continued with weeping eye and mourning heart.
So the Khaleefeh said to Jaafar, O Wezeer, what is the reason of
'Alá-ed-Deen's absenting himself from the court? The Wezeer answered
him, O Prince of the Faithful, he is mourning for his wife Zubeydeh, and
engaged in receiving the visits of consolation for her loss. Upon this the
Khaleefeh said, It is incumbent on us to console him. And the Wezeer
replied, I hear and obey. The Khaleefeh therefore descended with Jaafar
and some of the household attendants, and they mounted, and repaired to
the house of 'Alá-ed-Deen. And as he was sitting, lo, the Khaleefeh and the
Wezeer and their attendants approached him; whereupon he rose to meet
them, and kissed the ground before the Khaleefeh, who said to him, May
God compensate thee happily! 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, May God prolong
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
425
thy life to us, O Prince of the Faithful! And the Khaleefeh said, O 'Alá-ed-
Deen, what is the reason of thy separating thyself from the court? He
answered, My mourning for my wife Zubeydeh, O Prince of the Faithful.
The Khaleefeh replied, Dispel anxiety from thy mind; for she hath departed
to receive the mercy of God (whose name be exalted!), and mourning will
never avail thee aught. But 'Alá-ed-Deen said, I will not cease to mourn
for her until I die and they bury me by her. The Khaleefeh rejoined, Verily
with God is a compensation for every loss, and neither stratagem nor wealth
will save one from death. Divinely gifted was he who said, -
Every son of woman, though he be long preserved, must one day be carried upon the
curving bier.
How then shall he on whose cheeks the dust is to be placed find diversion.or delight
in life?
-And when he had made an end of consoling him, he charged him that
he should not separate himself from the court, and returned.
64
'Alá-ed-Deen then passed the night, and when the morning came, he
mounted, and repaired to the court, and, going in to the Khaleefeh, kissed
the ground before him. And the Khaleefeh raised himself to him slightly
from the throne,63 welcoming him and saluting him; and after he had
desired him to take the place belonging to him, he said to him, O 'Alá-ed-
Deen, thou art my guest this night. Then the Khaleefeh took him into his
palace, and called a slave-girl named Koot-el-Kuloob, and said to her,
'Alá-ed-Deen had a wife whose name was Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh, and she
used to divert him from anxiety and grief; but she hath departed to receive
the mercy of God (whose name be exalted!), and I desire that thou gratify
his ears by a performance on the lute, of the most admirable kind, in order
that he may be diverted from anxiety and sorrows. So the damsel performed
an admirable piece of music; and the Khaleefeh said, What sayest thou, O
'Alá-ed-Deen, of the voice of this slave-girl? - Verily, he answered, Zubeydeh
had a better voice than hers; but she is eminently skilled in playing on the
lute; for she would make a rock to dance. And the Khaleefeh said to him,
Hath she pleased thee? He answered him, She hath pleased me, O Prince of
the Faithful. Then said the Khaleefeh, By my head, and by the tombs of
my ancestors, verily she is a present from me unto thee, with her female
slaves also. And 'Alá-ed-Deen imagined that the Khaleefeh was jesting
with him. But when the Khaleefeh arose in the morning, he went to his
slave-girl Koot-el-Kuloob, and said to her, I have made thee a present to
'Alá-ed-Deen. And she rejoiced at this; for she had seen him and loved him.
He then went from the pavilion of the palace to the council-chamber, and,
having summoned the porters, said to them, Remove the goods of Koot-el-
Kuloob, and put her in the litter,65 and convey her together with her female
slaves to the house of 'Alá-ed-Deen. So they conveyed her with her female
slaves and her goods to the house, and conducted her into the pavilion. And
426
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the Khaleefeh remained sitting in the hall of judgment until the close of the
day, when the court broke up, and he retired to his pavilion.
So
Now as to Koot-el-Kuloob, when she had entered the pavilion of
'Alá-ed-Deen, with her female slaves, who were forty in number, and the
eunuchs also, she said to two of the eunuchs, One of you two shall sit on a
chair on the right of the door, and the other shall sit on a chair on the left
of it; and when 'Alá-ed-Deen cometh, kiss his hands, and say to him, Our
mistress Koot-el-Kuloob requesteth thy presence in the pavilion; for the
Khaleefeh hath given her to thee, together with her female slaves. And they
replied, We hear and obey. Then they did as she commanded them.
when 'Alá-ed-Deen arrived, he found the two eunuchs of the Khaleefeh
sitting at the door, and he wondered at the event, saying within himself,
Perhaps this is not my house; or if it be, what hath occurred? And when
the eunuchs saw him, they rose to him, and kissed his hands, and said, We
are of the defendants of the Khaleefeh, and the slaves of Koot-el-Kuloob,
and she saluteth thee, and saith to thee, that the Khaleefeh hath given her
to thee, together with her female slaves, and she requesteth thy company.
'Alá-ed-Deen, however, replied, Say to her, Thou art welcome; but as long
as thou art in his abode, he will not enter the pavilion in which thou
residest; for it is not fit that what hath belonged to the master should become
the property of the servant: — and say to her, What was the amount of thy
daily expenditure with the Khaleefeh? They therefore went up to her, and
said to her as he desired them; and she replied, A hundred pieces of gold each
day. So he said to himself, I have no need of the Khaleefeh's giving to me
Koot-el-Kuloob, that I should expend in this manner upon her; but I have
no means of avoiding this.
She then remained in his abode many days, he assigning to her daily a
hundred pieces of gold, until he absented himself one day from the court;
whereupon the Khaleefeh said, O Wezeer Jaafar, I gave not Koot-el-Kuloob
to 'Alá-ed-Deen but that she might divert him from mourning for his wife;
and what is the cause of his absenting himself from us? The Wezeer
answered, O Prince of the Faithful, he hath spoken truth who hath said,
Whoso findeth his friends, forgetteth his mere acquaintances. The Khaleefeh,
however, replied, Probably nothing hath caused him to absent himself from
us save some event that rendereth him excusable; but we will visit him.
Now, some days before this, 'Alá-ed-Deen had said to the Wezeer, I com-
plained to the Khaleefeh of the grief that I suffered for the loss of my wife
Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh, and he gave to me Koot-el-Kuloob. And the
Wezeer said, If he did not love thee, he had not given her to thee. And
hast thou visited her, O 'Alá-ed-Deen? He answered, No, by Allah; nor
do I know the difference between her height and breadth.66 And why so?
said the Wezeer. 'Alá-ed-Deen answered, O Wezeer, what is suited to the
master is not suited to the servant. Then the Khaleefeh and Jaafar dis-
guised themselves, and went to visit 'Alá-ed-Deen; and they proceeded with-
out stopping until they went in to him; whereupon he recognized them, and
-- -
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
427
arose, and kissed the Khaleefeh's hands. And when the Khaleefeh saw
him, he found the impress of mourning upon his countenance: so he said
to him, O 'Alá-ed-Deen, what is the cause of this mourning which thou
sufferest? Hast thou not visited Koot-el-Kuloob? - O Prince of the
Faithful, he answered, what is suited to the master is not suited to the
servant; and verily to the present time I have not visited her, nor do
I know the difference between her height and her breadth: therefore quit
me of her. The Khaleefeh said, I desire an interview with her, that I
may ask her respecting her state. And 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, I hear and
obey, O Prince of the Faithful. The Khaleefeh therefore went in to her;
and when she beheld him, she arose, and kissed the ground before him;
and he said to her, Hath 'Alá-ed-Deen visited thee? She answered,
No, O Prince of the Faithful: I sent to invite him; but he would not.
And the Khaleefeh gave orders for her return to the palace, and said to
'Alá-ed-Deen, Absent not thyself from us. And he then went back to his
palace.
So 'Alá-ed-Deen passed that night, and in the morning mounted and
repaired to the court, and seated himself in the place of the Raees es-Sitteen.
And the Khaleefeh ordered the Treasurer to give to the Wezeer Jaafar ten
thousand pieces of gold. He therefore gave him that sum; and the Khaleefeh
said to the Wezeer, I require of thee that thou go down to the market of the
female slaves, and that thou purchase a slave-girl for 'Alá-ed-Deen with the
ten thousand pieces of gold. And the Wezeer obeyed the command of the
Khaleefeh. He went down, taking with him 'Alá-ed-Deen, and proceeded
with him to the market of the female slaves.
69
67
Now it happened this day, that the Wálee of Baghdad, who held his
office by the appointment of the Khaleefeh, and whose name was the Emeer
Khalid, went down to the market for the purpose of buying a slave-girl for
his son; and the cause was this. He had a wife named Khatoon, and he
had, by her, a son of foul aspect, named Habazlam Bazázah,68 who had
attained to the age of twenty years and knew not how to ride on horseback.
But his father was bold, valiant, stout in defence, one who was practised in
horsemanship, and who waded through the seas of night. And his mother
said to his father, I desire that we marry him; for he is now of a fit age.
The Emeer, however, replied, He is of foul aspect, of disgusting odour, filthy,
hideous: no woman will accept him. So she said, We will buy for him a
slave-girl. And it happened, in order to the accomplishment of an event
which God (whose name be exalted!) had decreed, that on the same day
on which the Wezeer and 'Alá-ed-Deen went down to the market, the Emeer
Khalid, the Wálee, went thither also, with his son Habazlam Bazázah. And
while they were in the market, lo, there was a slave-girl endowed with beauty
and loveliness, and justness of stature, in the charge of a broker; and the
Wezeer said, Consult, O broker, respecting a thousand pieces of gold for her.
But the broker passed with her by the Wálee, and Habazlam Bazázah behold-
ing her, the sight drew from him a thousand sighs, and he was enamoured of
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
her, and love of her took entire possession of him: so he said, O my father,
buy for me this slave-girl.
70
The Walee therefore called the broker, and asked the slave-girl her name.
She answered him, My name is Yásemeen." And the Wálee said to his son,
O my son, if she please thee, bid higher for her. Accordingly he said, O
broker, what price hath been offered thee? The broker answered, A
thousand pieces of gold. And Habazlam Bazázah said, Let her be mine for
a thousand and one pieces of gold. So the broker went to 'Alá-ed-Deen,
and he bid for her two thousand, and every time that the son of the Walee
bid one piece of gold more, 'Alá-ed-Deen bid a thousand. And the son of
the Walee was enraged at this, and said, O broker, who outbiddeth me in the
price of the slave-girl? The broker answered him, The Wezeer Jaafar de-
sireth to buy her for 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. And at last 'Alá-ed-Deen
bid for her ten thousand pieces of gold; whereupon her master gave him his
assent, and received her price; and 'Alá-ed-Deen took her, and said to her, I
emancipate thee for the sake of God, whose name be exalted!
wrote his contract of marriage to her, and repaired with her to the house.
He then
The broker returned with his brokerage; and the son of the Wálee called
him, and said to him, Where is the slave-girl? He answered him, 'Alá-ed-
Deen hath purchased her for ten thousand pieces of gold, and hath emanci-
pated her, and written his contract of marriage to her. And upon this, the
young man was incensed; his sighs were many, and he returned to the house
in a state of infirmity in consequence of his love for the damsel, and threw
himself upon the bed. He abstained from food, and his love and desire
were excessive. So when his mother saw him in this state of debility, she
said to him, Allah preserve thee, O my son! What is the cause of thine
infirmity? He answered, Buy me Yásemeen, O my mother. And his
mother said, When the seller of sweet-scented flowers passeth by, I will
buy for thee a pannier full of jasmine. He replied, What I mean is not the
jasmine that people smell; but a slave-girl whose name is Yásemeen, whom
my father would not buy for me. So she said to her husband, Why didst
thou not buy for him this slave-girl? He answered her, What is suited to
the master is not suited to the servant; and I have no power to take her;
for none purchased her but 'Alá-ed-Deen, the Raees es-Sitteen.
71
72
In consequence of this, the illness of the young man so increased that he
abandoned sleep and food; and his mother bound her head with the
kerchiefs of mourning. And while she was sitting in her house, mourning
for her son, lo, an old woman came in to her. She was the mother of Ahmad
Kamákim the arch thief; and this arch thief used to break through a middle-
wall, and to scale an upper one, and steal the kohl from the eye. He was
distinguished by these abominable practices in the beginning of his career.
Then they made him chief of the watch, and he stole a sum of money,
and was discovered in consequence: the Wálee came upon him suddenly, and
took him and led him before the Khaleefeh, who gave orders to slay him in
the place of blood.73 But he implored the protection of the Wezeer, whose
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
429
intercession the Khaleefeh never rejected; and he interceded for him. The
Khaleefeh said to him, How is it that thou intercedest for a viper, noxious
to mankind? But he replied, O Prince of the Faithful, imprison him; for
he who built the first prison was a wise man, since the prison is the sepulchre
of the living, and a cause of the exultation of the enemies over those who
are confined in it. And upon this the Khaleefeh gave orders to put him in
chains, and engraved upon his chains, Appointed to remain until death:
they shall not be loosed but on the bench of the washer of the dead. And
they put him chained in the prison.
Now his mother used to frequent the house of the Emeer Khalid, the
Wálee, and to go in to her son in the prison, and say to him, Did I not say
to thee, Repent of unlawful deeds? And he used to reply, God decreed this
to befall me: but, O my mother, when thou goest in to the wife of the
Wálee, induce her to intercede for me with him. And when the old woman
went in to the Wálee's wife, and found her with her head bound with the
kerchiefs of mourning, she said to her, Wherefore art thou mourning? She
answered, For the loss of my son Habazlam Bazázah. And the old woman
said, Allah preserve thy son! What hath befallen him? - The wife of the
Wálee, therefore, related to her the story. And upon this the old woman
said, What sayest thou of him who will achieve an extraordinary feat by
which thy son shall be preserved? And what wouldst thou do? said the
Wálee's wife. The old woman answered, I have a son named Ahmad
Kamákim the arch thief, and he is chained in the prison, and on his chains
are engraved the words, Appointed to remain until death. Do thou, therefore,
attire thyself in the most magnificent apparel that thou hast, and adorn
thyself in the best manner: then present thyself before thy husband with a
cheerful and smiling countenance, and say to him, When a man requireth
aught of his wife, he importuneth her until he obtaineth it from her; but
if the wife require aught of her husband, he will not perform it for her. And
he will say to thee, What is it that thou wantest? And do thou answer,
When thou hast sworn, I will tell thee. But if he swear to thee by his head,
or by Allah, say to him, Swear by thy divorce from me. And when he hath
sworn to thee by divorce, do thou say to him, Thou hast, in the prison, a
Mukaddam named Ahmad Kamákim, and he hath a poor mother who hath
had recourse to me, and urged me to conciliate thee, saying to me, Induce
him to intercede for my son with the Khaleefeh, that my son may repent,
and thy husband will be recompensed. And the Walee's wife replied, I hear
and obey.
--
Accordingly, when the Wálee came to his wife, she addressed him with
the words which the old woman had dictated; and he swore to her by the
oath of divorce. And on the following morning he performed the morning-
prayers, and, going to the prison, said, O Ahmad Kamákim, O arch thief,
wilt thou repent of thy conduct? He answered, Verily I do turn unto God
with repentance, and forsake my sins, and say from my heart and with my
tongue, I beg forgiveness of God. So the Wálee released him from the
-
430
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
prison, and took him with him to the court, still in his chains. Then
advancing towards the Khaleefeh, he kissed the ground before him; where-
upon the Khaleefeh said to him, O Emeer Khálid, what dost thou desire?
And he led forward Ahmad Kamákim, swinging his arms in the chains as he
advanced, before the Khaleefeh, who, on seeing him, said, O Kamákim,
art thou still alive? - O Prince of the Faithful, he answered, verily the life
of the wretch is protracted. And the Khaleefeh said, O Emeer Khálid, for
what purpose hast thou brought him hither? The Wálee answered him,
Verily he hath a poor, desolate mother, who hath no son but him, and she
hath had recourse to thy slave, that he should intercede with thee, O Prince
of the Faithful, and beg thee to release him from the chains, and he will
repent of his former conduct; and do thou appoint him Mukaddam of the
watch, as he was at first. Upon this the Khaleefeh said to Ahmad Kamákim,
Dost thou repent of thy former conduct? And he answered him, I do turn
unto God with repentance, O Prince of the Faithful. And the Khaleefeh gave
orders to bring the blacksmith, and he unfastened his chains upon the bench
of the washer of the dead.75 The Khaleefeh then appointed him again
Mukaddam of the watch, and charged him to conduct himself well and
uprightly. So he kissed the hands of the Khaleefeh, and descended with the
robe of his investiture as Mukaddam of the watch, and they proclaimed his
appointment.
After this, when he had remained some time in his office, his mother
went in to the wife of the Wálee, and the latter said to her, Praise be to God
who hath released thy son from the prison, and that he is at present in health
and safety! But now, she added, why dost thou not tell him to contrive
some means of bringing the damsel Yásemeen to my son Habazlam Bazázah?
The old woman answered, I will tell him. So she departed from her
and went in to her son, whom she found intoxicated; and she said to him,
O my son, no one was the cause of thy release from the prison but the wife
of the Walee, and she desireth of thee that thou contrive some means of
killing 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, and that thou bring the damsel Yáse-
meen to her son Habazlam Bazázah. He replied, This will be the easiest of
things. I must contrive some means this night. Now that night was the
first of the new month, and it was the custom of the Prince of the Faithful
to pass it with the lady Zubeydeh, for the purpose of emancipating a female
slave or a memlook, or with some similar intention. And it was his habit to
take off the royal apparel, and to leave the rosary and the dagger and the
royal signet, putting them all upon the chair in the sitting-room. The
Khaleefeh had also a lamp of gold, to which were attached three jewels
disposed upon a gold wire; and that lamp was dear in his estimation. He
charged the eunuchs with the care of the suit of apparel, and the lamp and
the rest of the things, and entered the private apartment of the lady
Zubeydeh.
Then Ahmad Kamákim waited until the night was half spent, and
Canopus shone, and mankind slept, and the Creator covered them with the
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
431
curtain of darkness; when he drew his sword and took it in his right hand,
and took his grappling-instrument in his left, and, approaching the Kha-
leefeh's sitting-room, fixed his scaling-ladder. He threw his grappling-
instrument upon the sitting-room, and it caught hold upon it, and he
mounted the ladder, ascended to the roof, lifted up the trap-door of the
saloon, and descended into it, and found the eunuchs sleeping; and he
administered some benj 76 to them, took the Khaleefeh's suit of apparel,
with the rosary and the dagger, and the handkerchief and the signet, and the
lamp that was adorned with jewels, and descended by the same way by
which he had made his ascent. He then repaired to the house of 'Alá-ed-
Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, who was this night occupied with the damsel's
wedding-festivities, and who had retired to her. And Ahmad Kamákim the
arch thief descended into 'Alá-ed-Deen's saloon, pulled up a slab of marble
in its durká'ah," and, having dug a hole beneath it, deposited there some
of the things that he had stolen, retaining the rest in his possession. After
this, he cemented the marble slab with gypsum as it was before, and
descended by the way he had ascended, and said within himself, I will sit
and get drunk, and put the lamp before me, and drink the cup by its light.
He then returned to his house.
Now when the morning came, the Khaleefeh went into the saloon (his
sitting-room), and found the eunuchs stupefied with benj. So he awoke
them, and, putting his hand upon the chair, he found not the suit of apparel
nor the signet, nor the rosary nor the dagger, nor the handkerchief nor the
lamp; whereupon he was violently enraged, and put on the apparel of anger,
which was a suit of red,78 and seated himself in the council-chamber. And
the Wezeer advanced, and, having kissed the ground before him said, May
God avert evil from the Prince of the Faithful! O Wezeer, replied the
Khaleefeh, the evil is enormous. And the Wezeer said to him, What hath
occurred? The Khaleefeh therefore related to him all that had happened.
And lo, the Wálee came up, with Ahmad Kamákim the arch thief by his
stirrup, and found the Khaleefeh in an excessive rage. And when the
Khaleefeh saw the Wálee he said to him, O Emeer Khálid, what is the state
of Baghdad? He answered, Safe and secure. The Khaleefeh replied, Thou
liest. How so, O Prince of the Faithful? said the Walee. And the
Khaleefeh explained to him the affair, and said to him, I require thee to bring
to me all those things.
The Walee replied, O Prince of the Faithful, the worms of the vinegar
are of it and in it; and a stranger can never obtain access to this place.
But the Khaleefeh said, If thou bring me not these things, I will put thee to
death. So the Walee replied, Before thou slay me, slay Ahmad Kamákim
the arch thief; for none knoweth the robber and the traitor but the Muk-
addam of the watch. And upon this, Ahmad Kamákim said to the Khaleefeh,
Accept my intercession for the Wálee, and I will be responsible to thee for
the thief and I will trace him until I discover him: but give me two persons
on the part of the Kádee, and two on the part of the Wálee,; for he who
432
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
did this deed feareth not thee, nor doth he fear the Wálee nor anyone else.
And the Khaleefeh replied, Thou shalt have what thou hast desired; but the
search shall be first made in my palace, and then in the palace of the
Wezeer, and in that of the Raees es-Sitteen. Thou hast spoken rightly,
O Prince of the Faithful, said Ahmad Kamákim: probably he who did this
deed is one who hath been brought up in the palace of the Prince of the
Faithful, or in the palace of one of his chief officers. And the Khaleefeh
said, By my head, whosoever shall appear to have done this deed shall surely
be slain though he be my son!
Then Ahmad Kamákim took what he desired, and received a written
order authorizing him to force his entrance into the houses, and to search
them. Accordingly he went down, having in his hand a rod, one third of
which was of bronze, and one third of copper, and one third of iron;
79 and
he searched the palace of the Khaleefeh, and that of the Wezeer Jaafar,
and went about to the houses of the chamberlains and lieutenants, until he
passd by the house of 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. And when 'Alá-ed-Deen
heard the clamour before his house, he arose from the presence of Yásemeen
his wife, and, descending, opened the door; whereupon he found the Walee
in the midst of a tumult. So he said to him, What is the matter, O Emeer
Khalid? The Wálee therefore related to him the whole affair; and 'Alá-ed-
Deen said, Enter my house and search it. The Wálee replied, Pardon, O
my master: thou art surnamed 80 Faithful; and God forbid that the Faithful
should become treacherous. But 'Alá-ed-Deen said, My house must be
searched. The Wálee therefore entered, and the Kádees and the witnesses;
and Ahmad Kamákim, advancing to the durká'ah of the saloon, came to
the slab of marble beneath which he had buried the stolen things; when he
let fall the rod upon the slab with violence, and the marble broke, and lo,
something shone beneath it; whereupon the Mukaddam exclaimed, In the
name of Allah! Wonderful is Allah's will! 81 Through the blessing attendant
upon our coming, a treasure hath opened unto us! Let me descend into this
hoarding-place, and see what is in it. And the Kádee and witnesses looked
into this place, and found the stolen things. So they wrote a paper stating
that they had found the things in the house of 'Alá-ed-Deen, and, after they
had put their seals upon the paper, commanded to seize 'Alá-ed-Deen; and
they took his turban from his head, and registered all his wealth and
property.
-
Ahmad Kamákim the arch thief then seized the damsel Yásemeen, and
gave her to his mother, saying to her, Deliver her to Khátoon, the wife of
the Walee. The old woman therefore took Yásemeen, and went in with her
to the Walee's wife; and when Habazlam Bazázah saw her, vigour returned
to him, and he arose instantly, rejoicing excessively, and approached her.
But she drew a dagger from her girdle, and said to him, Retire from me, or
I will kill thee and kill myself! His mother Khátoon exclaimed, O impudent
wench, suffer my son to take thee as his wife! O brutish woman, said
Yasemeen, by what code is it allowed a woman to marry two husbands;
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
433
-
and what shall admit the dogs to the abode of the lions? So the young
man's desire increased, passion and distraction enfeebled him, and he again
relinquished food, and took to the pillow. The wife of the Wálee said to
Yasemeen, O impudent wench, how is it that thou causest me to sorrow for
my son? Thou shalt surely be punished, and as to 'Alá-ed-Deen, he will
inevitably be hanged. But Yásemeen replied, I will die in my love for
him. And upon this, the wife of the Wálee arose, and pulled off from her
the ornaments and silken apparel that were upon her, and, having clad her
in drawers of canvas and a shirt of hair-cloth, sent her down into the kitchen,
and made her one of the menial slave-girls, and said to her, Thy recompense
shall be that thou break up the wood and peel the onions and put the fire
under the cooking-pots. Yásemeen replied, I will consent to every kind of
torment, but I will not consent to see thy son. God, however, moved the
hearts of the female slaves with sympathy for her, and they worked in her
stead in the kitchen. — Such was the case of Yásemeen.
As to 'Alá-ed-Deen, they took him, together with the articles belonging
to the Khaleefeh, and proceeded with him until they arrived at the council-
chamber; and while the Khaleefeh was sitting upon the throne, lo, they
came up with 'Alá-ed-Deen and the stolen things, and the Khaleefeh said,
Where did ye find them? They answered him, In the midst of the house
of 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. And upon this the Khaleefeh was en-
raged, and he took the things, but found not among them the lamp: so he
said, O 'Alá-ed-Deen, where is the lamp? He answered, I have not stolen
nor known nor seen, nor have I any information. But the Khaleefeh said to
him, O traitor, how is it that I draw thee near unto me and thou rejectest
me, and that I confide in thee and thou actest towards me with treachery?
And he gave orders to hang him. The Wálee therefore descended with him,
and the crier proclaimed before him, This is the recompense, and the smallest
recompense, of him who acteth treacherously towards the orthodox Kha-
leefeh! And the populace collected at the gallows.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Ed-Denef, the chief of 'Alá-ed-Deen, was sitting
with his followers in a garden. And as they were seated there in joy and
happiness, lo, a water-carrier, one of those belonging to the court, came
in to them, and, kissing the hand of Ahmad Ed-Denef, said, O Mukaddam
Ahmad, O Denef, thou art sitting in enjoyment, with the water running
beneath thy feet, and hast thou no knowledge of that which hath happened?
So Ahmad Ed-Denef said to him, What is the news? The water-carrier
answered, Verily thy son by a covenant before God, 'Alá-ed-Deen, they have
taken down to the gallows. Upon this, Ahmad Ed-Denef said, What strata-
gem hast thou to propose, O Hasan, O Shoomán? He answered, Verily,
'Alá-ed-Deen is innocent, and this is a plot that hath been practised against
him by some enemy. - And what is thy advice? said Ahmad Ed-Denef. ·
His deliverance, he answered, shall be accomplished by us, if the Lord will.
Then Hasan Shoomán repaired to the prison, and said to the jailer, Give
us some one who is deserving of being put to death. And he gave him
-
434
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
who was the nearest of men in resemblance to 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát.
And he covered his head, and Ahmad Ed-Denef took him, between him and
'Alee Ez-Zeebak 82 of Cairo. They had then brought forward 'Alá-ed-Deen
to hang him; and Ahmad Ed-Denef advanced, and put his foot upon the
foot of the executioner. The latter therefore said to him, Give me room,
that I may perform my office. And Ahmad Ed-Denef replied, O accursed,
take this man, and hang him in the place of 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh Shámát;
for he is unjustly accused, and we will ransom Ismá'eel with the ram.3
So the executioner took that man, and hanged him instead of 'Alá-ed-Deen.
Then Ahmad Ed-Denef, and 'Alee Ez-Zeebak of Cairo, took 'Alá-ed-
Deen and repaired with him to the saloon of Ahmad Ed-Denef, and 'Alá-ed-
Deen said to Ahmad, May God recompense thee well, O my chief. But
Ahmad Ed-Denef said, O 'Alá-ed-Deen, what is this deed that thou hast
committed? God have mercy upon him who hath said, Whoso confideth in
thee, act not treacherously towards him, though thou be a traitor. The
Khaleefeh established thee in his court, and surnamed thee the Trusty and
the Faithful. How then couldst thou act towards him in this manner, and
take his goods?'Alá-ed-Deen replied, By the Most Great Name, O my
chief, it was not my deed: I am not guilty of it; nor do I know who did it.
So Ahmad Ed-Denef said, Verily none committed this deed except a manifest
enemy, and he who committeth a deed will be requited for it: but, O 'Alá-
ed-Deen, thou canst no longer reside in Baghdad; for Kings do not relinquish
one object for another, and great is the fatigue of him of whom they are.
in quest! - Whither shall I go, O my chief? said 'Alá-ed-Deen. — I will
conduct thee, answered Ahmad Ed-Denef, to Alexandria; for it is a blessed
place, and its threshold is green,84 and life there is agreeable. To this, 'Alá-
ed-Deen replied, I hear and obey, O my chief. And Ahmad Ed-Denef said
to Hasan Shoomán, Be mindful, and if the Khaleefeh inquire respecting me,
answer, He is gone to make a circuit through the provinces.
-
He then took 'Alá-ed-Deen, and went forth from Baghdad, and they
proceeded without stopping until they arrived at the vineyards and gardens,
where they found two Jews, of the Khaleefeh's collectors of the revenue,
mounted on two mules; and Ahmad Ed-Denef said to them, Give me the
fee for watching. On what account, said they, shall we give thee the fee
for watching? He answered them, I am the watchman of this valley. And
upon this, each of them gave him a hundred pieces of gold. After which,
Ahmad Ed-Denef slew them,85 and, having taken the two mules, he mounted
one of them, and 'Alá-ed-Deen mounted the other, and they proceeded to the
city of Ayás. There they put the mules in a Khán, and passed the night
in it; and when the morning came, 'Alá-ed-Deen sold his mule, and charged
the door-keeper with the care of the mule of Ahmad Ed-Denef. Then em-
barking in a ship in the harbour of Ayás, they proceeded to Alexandria.
And Ahmad Ed-Denef landed with 'Alá-ed-Deen, and they walked to the
market; and lo, a broker was crying for sale a shop, within which was a suite
of rooms, announcing the sum bidden to be nine hundred and fifty;
86
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
435
whereupon 'Alá-ed-Deen said, Let them be mine for a thousand. And the
seller assented to his offer for the property, which belonged to the govern-
ment-treasury; and 'Alá-ed-Deen received the keys, and, opening the shop
and the suite of rooms, found the latter spread with carpets, &c., and fur-
nished with cushions. He saw there also a magazine containing sails and
masts and ropes, and chests, and leathern bags full of beads and shells, and
stirrups and battle-axes and maces and knives and scissors, and other things;
for its owner was a dealer in second-hand goods.88
So 'Alá-ed-Deen seated himself in the shop, and Ahmad Ed-Denef said to
him, O my son, the shop and the suite of rooms and what they contain have
become thy property: sit therefore in the shop, and sell and buy; and be
not displeased; for God (whose name be exalted!) hath blessed commerce.
And he remained with him three days, and on the fourth day he took leave
of him, saying to him, Continue in this place until I shall have gone and
returned to thee with news of thy safety from the Khaleefeh, and seen who
hath practised this plot against thee. He then set forth on his voyage, and
proceeded until he arrived at Ayás, when he took the mule from the Khán,
and went on to Baghdad, and, meeting with Hasan Shoomán and his fol-
lowers, he said to him, O Hasan, hath the Khaleefeh inquired respecting me?
- No, answered Hasan; nor hast thou occurred to his mind.
89
After this, Ahmad Ed-Denef continued in the service of the Khaleefeh,
and endeavoured to learn news [respecting the case of 'Alá-ed-Deen]. And
he saw the Khaleefeh look towards the Wezeer Jaafar one day, saying to
him, See, O Wezeer, how 'Alá-ed-Deen hath acted towards me. The Wezeer
replied, O Prince of the Faithful, thou hast recompensed him with hanging,
and hath not his recompense been accomplished upon him? - Wezeer,
rejoined the Khaleefeh, I desire to go down and see him hanging. And the
Wezeer said, Do as thou wilt, O Prince of the Faithful. And the Khaleefeh
went down, accompanied by the Wezeer Jaafar, and proceeded to the gal-
lows, and raising his eyes, he saw that the body which was hanging there
was not that of 'Alá-ed-Deen, the Trusty and the Faithful. He said there-
fore, O Wezeer, this is not 'Alá-ed-Deen. How knowest thou, said the
Wezeer, that it is not he? The Khaleefeh answered, 'Alá-ed-Deen was short,
and this is tall. The Wezeer replied, A person when hanged becomes length-
ened. The Khaleefeh then said, 'Alá-ed-Deen was fair, and the face of this
person is black. But the Wezeer replied, Knowest thou not, O Prince of the
Faithful, that death is followed by blackness? And the Khaleefeh gave
orders to take down the body from the gallows; and when they had done
so, he found written upon the heels of the corpse the names of the two
Sheykhs; 90 whereupon he said, O Wezeer, 'Alá-ed-Deen was a Sunnee, and
this was a Ráfidee. So the Wezeer replied, Extolled be the perfection of
God, who is omniscient with respect to the things that are hidden from the
senses! We know not whether this be 'Alá-ed-Deen or some other person.
The Khaleefeh then gave orders to bury the body, and they buried it;
and 'Alá-ed-Deen became utterly forgotten.
436
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Now as to Habazlam Bazázah, the son of the Wálee, his passion and
desire were protracted until he died; and they interred him. And as to
the damsel Yásemeen, when she had accomplished her time of nine months
after her marriage to 'Alá-ed-Deen, she gave birth to a male child, like the
moon. The female slaves said to her, What wilt thou name him? And she
answered, Were his father living, he had named him, but I will name him
Aslán.91 She nursed him two successive years, and weaned him; and he
crawled and walked. And it happened that his mother was occupied with
the service of the kitchen one day, and the boy walked forth, and, seeing the
stairs of the mak'ad, he went up them. The Emeer Khálid, the Wálee, was
sitting there; and he took him and seated him in his lap, extolling the per-
fection of his Lord in respect of that which He had created and formed;
and he looked at his face, and saw that he was the nearest of beings in re-
semblance to 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. Then his mother Yasemeen
searched for him, but found him not: so she went up into the mak’ad, and
beheld the Emeer Khálid sitting, with the child playing in his lap; God hav-
ing instilled an affection for the boy into the heart of the Emeer.
son.
And the child looked aside, and, seeing his mother, would have thrown
himself upon her; but the Emeer Khálid held him tightly in his lap, and
said to his mother, Come hither, O slave-girl. And when she had come, he
said to her, Whose son is this child? She answered him, This is my son, and
the darling of my heart. And who, said he, is his father? She answered,
His father was 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát; but now he hath become thy
The Emeer replied, 'Alá-ed-Deen was a traitor. But she said, Allah
preserve him from the imputation of treachery! Allah forbid it should
ever be said that the Faithful was a traitor! — And he said to her, When this
boy groweth up, and saith to thee, Who is my father? - do thou answer
him, Thou art the son of the Emeer Khálid, the Wálee, the Chief of the
Police. So she replied, I hear and obey. Then the Emeer Khalid circum-
cised the boy, and educated him carefully, and brought him a professor of
religion and law, skilled in caligraphy, who taught him the arts of writing
and reading; and he read the Kur-án the first and second times, and recited
the whole of it; and as he grew up he used to say to the Emeer Khálid, O
my father. The Wálee also used to exercise his followers in the horse-
course, collect the horsemen, and descend and teach the youth the different
modes of battle, and thrusting and striking, until he became accomplished in
horsemanship, acquired courage, attained the age of fourteen years, and
gained the rank of an Emeer.
---
After this it happened that Aslán met one day with Ahmad Kamákim the
arch thief, and they became companions. And Aslán followed him to the
vintner's; and lo, Ahmad Kamákim took forth the lamp ornamented with
jewels, which he had taken from the things belonging to the Khaleefeh, and,
placing it before him, drank the cup by its light, and intoxicated himself;
and Aslán said to him, O Mukaddam, give me this lamp. He replied, I
cannot give it thee. Why so? said Aslán. He answered, Because lives
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
437
have been lost on account of it. Aslan therefore said, What life hath been
lost on account of it? And Ahmad Kamákim answered him, There was a
person who came to us here and was made Raees es-Sitteen, named 'Alá-ed-
Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, and he died on account of this lamp. — And what is
his story? said Aslán, and what was the cause of his death? Thou hadst a
brother, answered Ahmad Kamákim, named Habazlam Bazázah, and when he
attained a fit age for marriage, his father desired to purchase for him a slave-
girl. — Then Ahmad Kamákim proceeded, and acquainted him with the story
from beginning to end, informing him of the illness of Habazlam Bazázah,
and of the unmerited fate of 'Alá-ed-Deen. So Aslán said within himself,
Probably that damsel is Yásemeen, my mother, and none was my father but
'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát.
And the youth Aslán went forth from him sorrowful, and he met the
Mukaddam Ahmad Ed-Denef, who, when he saw him, exclaimed, Extolled
be the perfection of Him unto whom none is like! Upon this, Hasan Shoo-
mán (being with him) said to him, O my chief, at what dost thou wonder?
He answered, At the form of this youth Aslán; for he is the nearest of man-
kind in resemblance to 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. And he called him,
saying, O Aslán! And Aslán having answered him, he said, What is the
name of thy mother? He answered, She is named the slave-girl Yásemeen.
So Ahmad Ed-Denef said to him, O Aslán, be of good heart and cheerful
eye; for none was thy father but 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát: but, O my
son, go in to thy mother and ask her respecting thy father. And he replied,
I hear and obey. Accordingly he went in to his mother and asked her, and
she answered him, Thy father is the Emeer Khálid. But he replied, None
was my father but 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. And his mother wept, and
said to him, Who acquainted thee with this, O my son? He answered, The
Mukaddam Ahmad Ed-Denef. She therefore related to him all that had
happened, and said to him, O my son, the truth hath appeared, and falsity
is withdrawn; and know that thy father was 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát.
None, however, reared thee but the Emeer Khálid, and he adopted thee.
And now, O my son, when thou meetest with the Mukaddam Ahmad Ed-
Denef, say to him, O my chief, I conjure thee by Allah that thou take my
revenge for me upon him who killed my father 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát.
-
So he went forth from her to the 'Mukaddam Ahmad Ed-Denef, and
kissed his hand; and Ahmad Ed-Denef said, What dost thou want, O Aslán?
He answered, I have known of a certainty that my father was 'Alá-ed-Deen
Abu-sh-Shámát, and I request of thee that thou take my revenge for me
upon him who killed him. Ahmad Ed-Denef said, Who killed thy father?
And Aslán answered him, Ahmad Kamákim the arch thief. And who, said
Ahmad Ed-Denef, acquainted thee with this? The youth answered, I saw
in his possession the lamp ornamented with jewels that was lost with the
other things belonging to the Khaleefeh, and I said to him, Give me this
lamp: but he would not; and he replied, Lives have been lost on account
of this. He told me also that he was the person who descended into the
-
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
chamber of the Khaleefeh and stole the things, and that he deposited them
in the house of my father. Upon this, Ahmad Ed-Denef said to him, When
thou seest the Emeer Khálid attiring himself in the apparel of war, say to
him, Clothe me like thyself. And when thou goest up with him, and per-
formest some feat of valour before the Prince of the Faithful, the Khaleefeh
will say to thee, Request of me what thou desirest, O Aslán. Thou shalt then
reply, I request of thee that thou avenge my father for me upon him who
killed him. The Khaleefeh thereupon will say to thee, Thy father is living,
and he is the Emeer Khálid, the Wálee. And thou shalt reply, Verily my
father was 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát; and Khálid, the Wálee, hath a
claim upon me only for his having reared me. Acquaint him also with all
that hath happened between thee and Ahmad Kamákim the arch thief; and
say to him, O Prince of the Faithful, give orders to search him, and I will
produce the lamp from his pocket. So Aslán replied, I hear and obey.
-
He then went forth, and found the Emeer Khálid preparing himself to
go up to the court of the Khaleefeh, and he said to him, I would that thou
clothe me with the apparel of war like thyself, and take me with thee to the
Khaleefeh's court. And he clad him, and took him to the court. The Kha-
leefeh then went down with the troops, without the city, and they pitched
the pavilions and tents, and the ranks were formed, and they proceeded to
play with the ball and the goff-stick, one of the horsemen striking the ball
with the goff-stick, and another striking it back to him. Now there was
among the troops a spy, who had been incited to kill the Khaleefeh; and he
took the ball and struck it with the goff-stick, aiming it at the face of the
Khaleefeh. But, lo, Aslán warded it off from the Khaleefeh, and smote with
it him who had impelled it, and it struck him between the shoulders, where-
upon he fell on the ground; and the Khaleefeh exclaimed, God bless thee, O
Aslán! They then alighted from the backs of their horses, and seated them-
selves upon the chairs, and the Khaleefeh gave orders to bring the man who
had struck the ball at him. And when he was brought before him, he said
to him, Who incited thee to do this deed; and art thou an enemy or a friend?
He answered, I am an enemy, and I was purposing to kill thee. For what
reason? said the Khaleefeh. Art thou not a Muslim? - - No, he answered;
but I am a Ráfidee.92 So the Khaleefeh gave the order to put him to death.
--
And he said to Aslán, Request of me what thou desirest. He therefore
replied, I request of thee that thou avenge my father for me upon him who
killed him. The Khaleefeh said to him, Thy father is living, and he is
standing upon his feet. Who is my father? said Aslán. The Khaleefeh
answered him, The Emeer Khálid, the Wálee. O Prince of the Faithful,
replied Aslán, he is not my father save in having reared me; and none was
my father but 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. The Khaleefeh said, Thy
father was a traitor. But Aslán replied, O Prince of the Faithful, God forbid
it should be said that the Faithful was a traitor! And in what, said he, did
he act treacherously towards thee? The Khaleefeh answered, He stole my
suit of apparel, and the things that were with it. - O Prince of the Faithful,
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
439
replied Aslán, God forbid it should be said that my father was a traitor!
But, O my lord, he added, when thy suit of apparel was lost and returned
to thee, didst thou see the lamp brought back to thee also? The Khaleefeh
answered, We found it not. Then said Aslán, I saw it in the possession of
Ahmad Kamákim, and begged it of him; but he would not give it me; and
he said, Lives have been lost on account of this. And he told me of the
illness of Habazlam Bazázah, the son of the Emeer Khálid, and his passion
for the damsel Yásemeen, and his own release from the chains, and in-
formed me that he was the person who stole the suit of apparel, and the
lamp. Do thou, therefore, O Prince of the Faithful, avenge my father for
me upon him who killed him.
-
So the Khaleefeh said, Seize Ahmad Kamákim. And they did so. And
he said, Where is the Mukaddam Ahmad Ed-Denef? He therefore came be-
fore him; and the Khaleefeh said to him, Search Kamákim. And he put his
hands into his pocket, and took forth from it the lamp ornamented with
jewels: whereupon the Khaleefeh said, Come hither, O traitor. Whence came
to thee this lamp? He answered, I bought it, O Prince of the Faithful.
But the Khaleefeh said to him, Whence didst thou buy it; and who could
possess himself of such a thing, that he should sell it to thee? They then
beat him; and he confessed that he was the person who stole the suit of
apparel, and the lamp. And the Khaleefeh said to him, Wherefore didst thou
these deeds, to destroy 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, who was the Trusty
and Faithful? And he commanded to seize him, and the Wálee also. But
the Walee said, O Prince of the Faithful, I am injured. Thou gavest me the
order to hang him, and I had no knowledge of this plot; for the thing was
contrived by the old woman and Ahmad Kamákim and my wife, and I had
no information of it. I implore thy protection, O Aslán! So Aslán inter-
ceded for him with the Khaleefeh. The Prince of the Faithful then said,
What hath God done with the mother of this youth? The Walee answered,
She is in my house. And the Khaleefeh said, I command that thou order
thy wife to attire her in her apparel and ornaments, and to restore her to her
rank of a lady, and that thou take off the seals that are upon the house of
'Alá-ed-Deen, and give to his son his possessions and wealth. The Walee
replied, I hear and obey. And he descended, and gave the orders to his
wife, who attired Yásemeen in her apparel; and he took off the seals from
the house of 'Alá-ed-Deen, and gave Aslán the keys.
The Khaleefeh then said, Request of me what thou desirest, O Aslán.
Aslán replied, I request that thou unite me with my father. And the Kha-
leefeh wept and said, It is most probable that thy father was the person who
was hanged, and died; but, by my ancestors, whosoever bringeth me the
good news of his being alive, I will give him all that he shall require. So
upon this, Ahmad Ed-Denef advanced, and, having kissed the ground before
him, said to him, Grant me indemnity, O Prince of the Faithful. The Kha-
leefeh replied, Thou hast indemnity. And Ahmad Ed-Denef said, I give
thee the good news that 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, the Trusty and Faith-
440
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ful, is well, and still living. The Khaleefeh said to him, What is it thou
assertest? He answered, By thy head, my words are true; for I ransomed
him by substituting another, from among such as deserved to be put to death,
and conducted him to Alexandria, where I opened for him a shop of a dealer
in second-hand goods. So the Khaleefeh said, I require thee to bring him.
He replied, I hear and obey. And the Khaleefeh commanded to give him
ten thousand pieces of gold, and he departed on his way to Alexandria.
But as to 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, he sold all that he had in the
shop, except a few articles, and a leathern bag. And he shook this bag,
and there dropped from it a bead, large enough to fill the hand, attached to
a chain of gold, and having five faces, whereon were names and talismans
like the tracks made by the creeping of ants. And he rubbed the five faces;
but no one answered him.93 So he said within himself, Probably it is a bead
of onyx.94 He then hung it up in the shop. And lo, a Consul95 passed
along the street, and, raising his eyes, saw the bead hung up; whereupon he
seated himself at 'Alá-ed-Deen's shop, and said to him, O my master, is this
bead for sale? 'Alá-ed-Deen answered him, All that I have is for sale. And
the Consul said to him, Wilt thou sell it to me for eighty thousand pieces of
gold? 'Alá-ed-Deen answered, May God open a better way to dispose of
it.96 The Consul then said, Wilt thou sell it for a hundred thousand pieces
of gold? And he answered, I sell it thee for a hundred thousand pieces of
gold: so pay me the coin. But the Consul replied, I cannot carry the sum;
and in Alexandria are robbers and sharpers: do thou therefore come with me
to my ship, and I will give thee the price, together with a bale of Angora
wool, and a bale of satin, and a bale of velvet, and a bale of broadcloth. So
'Alá-ed-Deen arose, and closed the shop, after he had delivered to him the
bead; and he gave the keys to his neighbour, saying to him, Keep these
keys in thy charge while I go to the ship with this Consul and bring the price
of my bead: but if I remain long away from thee, and the Mukaddam Ahmad
Ed-Denef who established me in this place come to thee, give him the keys,
and acquaint him with this circumstance.
97
He then repaired with the Consul to the ship; and when he went on
board with him, the Consul put him a chair, and seated him upon it, and said,
Bring the money. And having paid him the price, and given him the four
bales which he had promised him, he said to him, O my master, I desire that
thou refresh my heart by taking a mouthful of food, or a draught of water.
'Alá-ed-Deen replied, If thou have water, give me to drink. And the Consul
gave orders to bring sherbet; and there was benj in it. So when he had
drunk he fell down on his back. And they took away the chairs, and put
by the poles, and loosed the sails, and the wind favoured them until they
advanced into the midst of the sea. The Captain then gave orders to bring
up 'Alá-ed-Deen from the cabin; and they brought him up, and made him
smell the antidote of benj: so he opened his eyes, and said, Where am I?
The Captain answered, Thou art here with me, bound and in custody; and
hadst thou said again, May God open a better way to dispose of it, — I had
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
441
-
increased my offer to thee. And what, said 'Alá-ed-Deen, is thy occupa-
tion? He answered, I am a Captain, and I desire to take thee to the beloved
of my heart.
100
99
Now while they were talking, there appeared a ship, on board of which
were forty Muslim merchants; and the Captain attacked them, fixed the
grappling-irons in their ship, and, boarding her with his men, they plundered
her and took her, and proceeded with her to the city of Genoa. The Cap-
tain with whom 'Alá-ed-Deen was a prisoner then went to a door of a palace,
opening upon the sea; " and lo, a damsel came down, drawing a lithám before
her face, and said to him, Hast thou brought the bead and its owner? He
answered her, I have brought both. And she said to him, Give me the bead.
So he gave it to her. And after this, he returned to the port, and fired the
guns
to announce his safe return; and the King of the city, becoming
acquainted with his arrival, came forth to welcome him, and said to him,
How hath been thy voyage? He answered, It hath been very prosperous,
and I have captured, in the course of it, a ship containing forty-one Muslim
merchants. The King then said to him, Bring them forth into the port.
And he brought them forth in irons, with 'Alá-ed-Deen among them; and
the King and the Captain mounted and made the prisoners walk before them
until they arrived at the council-chamber, when they seated themselves, and
caused the first of the prisoners to be led forward; and the King said to him,
Whence art thou, O Muslim? He answered, From Alexandria. And the
King said, O executioner, slay him. The executioner therefore struck him.
with the sword, and severed his head from his body. Thus was done to the
second also, and the third, and to their companions successively until forty
had been put to death. 'Alá-ed-Deen remained to the last: so he drank their
sighs, and he said to himself, The mercy of God be on thee, O 'Alá-ed-Deen!
Thy life hath expired! Then the King said, And from what country art
thou? He answered, from Alexandria. And the King said, O executioner,
strike off his head!
-
The executioner accordingly raised his hand with the sword, and was
about to strike off the head of 'Alá-ed-Deen; but lo, an old woman, of ven-
erable appearance, advanced before the King; whereupon he rose to her, to
shew her honour; and she said, O King, did I not say to thee, When the
Captain cometh with the captives remember to supply the convent with a
captive or two to serve in the church? - O my mother, he answered, would
that thou hadst come a little earlier: but take this captive that remaineth.
And the old woman, looking towards 'Alá-ed-Deen, said to him, Wilt thou
serve in the church, or shall I suffer the King to slay thee? He answered her,
I will serve in the church. So she took him, and, going forth with him from
the council-chamber, repaired to the church; and 'Alá-ed-Deen said to her,
What service am I to perform? She answered, Thou shalt arise early in
the morning, and take five mules and repair with them to the forest, cut dry
firewood, and break it up, and bring it to the kitchen of the convent. After
that, thou shalt take up the carpets, and sweep and wipe the stone and marble
442
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
pavements, and spread the carpets again as they were. And thou shalt take
halt an ardebb 101 of wheat, and sift it, and grind it, and knead it, and make
it into mineenehs 102 for the convent; and thou shalt take a weybeh 103 of
lentils, and grind them with the hand-mill, and cook them. Then thou shalt
fill the tanks of the four fountains with water, and convey it in barrels, and
fill three hundred and sixty-six wooden bowls, and crumble the mineenehs
into them, and pour into them some of the lentil-porridge, and take in to each
monk or patriarch his bowl. To this, 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, Return me to
the King, and let him slay me; for death will be easier to me than this work.
She said to him, If thou work, and perform the service that is required of
thee, thou wilt escape slaughter; and if thou perform it not, I will cause the
King to put thee to death.
So 'Alá-ed-Deen sat, full of trouble. And there were in the church ten
blind and impotent men, who employed him in the most degraded of serv-
ices. Then the old woman came, and said to him, Wherefore hast thou not
done the work in the church? - How many hands have I, said he, that I
should be able to accomplish this work? - Thou fool, she replied, I brought
thee not but to work. She then said, Take, O my son, this rod (and it was
of brass, with a cross at the top), and go forth into the great thoroughfare-
street; and when the Walee of the town approaches thee, say to him, I sum-
mon thee to the service of the church. And he will not disobey thee. So
make him take the wheat, and sift it and grind it, and pass it through the
second sieve, and knead it and bake mineenehs of it; and whoever shall
disobey thee beat him, and fear not anyone. So he replied, I hear and
obey. He did as she had told him, and ceased not to compel great and small
to work, gratuitously, for the space of seventeen years.
-
After this, as he was sitting in the church, lo, the old woman came in to
him, and said to him, Go without the convent. - Whither shall I go? said
he. She answered him, Pass this night in a tavern, or in the house of one
of thy companions. He said, Wherefore dost thou send me away from the
church? And she answered, Hosn-Maryam,104 the daughter of the King
Yoohannà,105 the King of this city, desireth to pay a visit to the church, and
it is not proper that any one should be in her way. So he professed his
assent to her order, and rose, pretending to her that he was going out from
the church; but he said within himself, I wonder whether the daughter of
the King is like our women, or more beautiful than they. I will not go,
therefore, until I have gratified myself by the sight of her. Accordingly
he concealed himself in a closet which had a window looking into the church.
And while he was looking thence into the church, lo, the daughter of the
King approached, and he directed at her a glance which occasioned him a
thousand sighs; for he found her to be like the full moon when it appeareth
from behind the clouds; and with her was a damsel, to whom she was saying,
Thou hast cheered me by thy society, O Zubeydeh. And 'Alá-ed-Deen, look-
ing intently at that damsel, saw that she was his wife Zubeydeh El-
'Oodeeyeh, who (as he supposed) had died. The King's daughter then said
'ALÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
443
to Zubeydeh, Perform for us now a piece of music on the lute. But Zubey-
deh replied, I will not perform it for thee until thou accomplish for me my
desire, and fulfil thy promise to me. - What have I promised thee? said the
daughter of the King. Zubeydeh answered her, Thou promisedst me to re-
unite me with my husband 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, the Trusty and the
Faithful. And the King's daughter said to her, O Zubeydeh, be of good
heart and cheerful eye, and perform for us a piece of music as a gratuity for
our union with thy husband 'Alá-ed-Deen. So Zubeydeh said, And where is
he? Verily, answered the King's daughter, he is in this closet, hearing our
words. And upon this Zubeydeh performed a piece of music upon the lute,
such as would make a rock to dance; and when 'Alá-ed-Deen heard it, long-
ing desires were excited in his heart, and he went forth from the closet, and,
rushing upon them, took his wife Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh in his bosom, and
she recognised him.
They embraced each other, and fell down upon the floor senseless; and
the Princess Hosn-Maryam came, and sprinkled some rose-water upon them,
and recovered them, and said, God hath united you! 'Alá-ed-Deen replied,
Through thy kindness, O my mistress. Then looking towards his wife, he
said to her, Thou wast dead, O Zubeydeh, and we buried thee in the grave.
How then didst thou return to life and come unto this palace? - O my
master she answered, I died not; but one of the 'Óns 106 of the Jánn carried
me off, and flew with me to this place; and as to her whom ye buried, she
was a Jinneeyeh, who assumed my form and feigned herself dead, and after
ye had buried her she clove open the grave and came forth from it, and
betook herself to the service of her mistress Hosn-Maryam, the daughter of
the King.
But as to myself, I was possessed,107 and, opening my eyes, I saw
that I was with Hosn-Maryam, the King's daughter, who is this lady; and
I said to her, Wherefore hast thou brought me hither? She answered me, I
am predestined to marry thy husband, 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát. And
she said, Wilt thou accept me, O Zubeydeh, as thy fellow-wife? I answered
her, I hear and obey, O my mistress: but where, said I, is my husband? And
she said, Upon his forehead is written what God hath decreed to happen unto
him,108 and when he hath experienced the accomplishment of events that are
written upon his forehead, he cannot fail to come unto this place; but thou
shalt console thyself for his separation by melodious sounds, and playing
upon musical instruments, until God unite us with him. So I remained with
her during this period, till God united me with thee in this church.109
Then Hosn-Maryam looked towards him and said to him, O my master
'Alá-ed-Deen, wilt thou accept me as a wife, and be to me a husband?
O my mistress, said he, I am a Muslim, and thou art a Christian: how then
should I marry thee? 110 But she replied, God forbid that I should be an
infidel! Nay, I am a Muslimeh, and for eighteen years I have held fast
the religion of El-Islám, and I am guiltless of following any religion that is
at variance with that of El-Islám. He then said to her, O my mistress, I
desire to return to my country. And she replied, Know that I have seen
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
written upon thy forehead events of which thou must experience the accom-
plishment, and thou shalt attain thy wish. Be rejoiced also, O 'Alá-ed-
Deen, by the information that a son of thine hath made his appearance, whose
name is Aslán, and he is now sitting in thy place in the court of the Kha-
leefeh, and hath attained the age of eighteen years. Know, too, that the
truth hath appeared, and falsity is withdrawn, and our Lord hath removed
the veil of his protection from him who stole the goods of the Khaleefeh: he
is Ahmad Kamákim the arch thief and traitor; and he is now in prison, con-
fined and chained. Know, moreover, that I am the person that sent to
thee the bead, and caused it to be put for thee in the leathern bag in the
shop; and I am the person who sent to thee the Captain who brought thee
and the bead. And know that this Captain is enamoured of me, and de-
sireth to possess me; but I would not yield to him, and I said to him, I
will not grant thy request unless thou bring to me the bead and its owner.
And I gave him a hundred purses,111 and sent him in the garb of a merchant,
though he was a Captain. Then, when they had brought thee forward to
slay thee, after the slaughter of the forty captives with whom thou wast, I
sent unto thee the old woman. So 'Alá-ed-Deen said to her, May God
recompense thee for me with every blessing! Then Hosn-Maryam renewed
to him her profession of conversion to El-Islám; and when he was convinced
of the truth of her avowal, he said to her, Acquaint me with the virtue of this
bead, and tell me whence it came.
She replied, This bead is from a charmed treasure, and possesseth five
virtues, which will profit us in the time when we need them. My grand-
mother, the mother of my father, was an enchantress, who solved mysteries,
and carried off treasures, and from a treasure this bead came into her posses-
sion. And when I had grown up, and attained the age of fourteen years, I
read the Gospels and other books, and saw the name of Mohammad (God
bless and save him!) in the four books, the Pentateuch and the Gospels and
the Psalms and the Furkán: 112 so I believed in Mohammad, and became a
Muslimeh, and was convinced in my mind that none is to be worshipped in
truth but God (whose name be exalted!) and that the Lord of mankind
approveth of no faith but that of El-Islám. My grandmother, when she
fell sick, made me a present of this bead, and acquainted me with the five
virtues that it possesseth. And before my grandmother died, my father said
to her, Perform for me an operation of geomancy and see the end of my
history, and what will happen to me. And she said to him, Verily the re-a
mote 113 will die slain by a captive who will come from Alexandria. So my i
father swore that he would put to death every captive that should come from
that city, and acquainted the Captain with his vow, and said to him, Thou
must attack the vessels of the Muslims, and whomsoever thou seest from
Alexandria, thou must kill him, or bring him unto me. The Captain there-
fore complied with his command until he had slain a number as many as the
hairs of his head. Then my grandmother perished; and I performed an
operation of geomancy, considering in my mind and saying, I would know
'ÁLÁ-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
445
who will marry me.
And it was revealed to me that none would marry me
but one named 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát, the Trusty and Faithful;
whereat I wondered; and I waited until the time came, and I met with thee.
'Alá-ed-Deen then married her,114 and said to her, I desire to return to
my country. She replied, if the case is so, come with me. And she took him
and concealed him in a closet in her palace, and went in to her father, who
said to her, O my daughter, I am to-day suffering from excessive oppression
of spirits: sit therefore that I may intoxicate myself with thee. So she sat;
and he called for the wine-table; and she proceeded to fill and to hand to him
until he became insensible, when she put some benj into his cup, and he
drank the cup, and fell down upon his back. She then came to 'Alá-ed-Deen,
and, taking him forth from the closet, said to him, Thine adversary is laid
prostrate upon his back; so do with him what thou wilt; for I have intoxi-
cated him, and stupefied him with benj. 'Alá-ed-Deen therefore went in,
and beheld him stupefied with benj; and he bound his hands tightly behind
him, and chained him; after which he gave him the antidote of benj, and he
recovered his senses, and found 'Alá-ed-Deen and his daughter sitting on his
bosom. So he said, O my daughter, dost thou act thus towards me? She
replied, If I am thy daughter, embrace El-Islám; for I have done so. The
truth hath become manifest to me, and I have followed it, and falsity I have
abandoned; and I have humbled my face unto God, the Lord of all creatures,
and am guiltless of following any religion that is at variance with the religion
of El-Islám in this world and in that which is to come. If then thou become
a Muslim, we will treat thee with affection and honour; but if not, thy
slaughter will be better than thy life. Then 'Alá-ed-Deen also admonished
him. But he refused and was obstinate: so 'Alá-ed-Deen drew forth a dag-
ger, and cut his throat from one jugular vein to the other, and, having writ-
ten a paper stating what had happened, put it upon his forehead.
After this, they took what was light to carry and great in value, and
went forth from the palace, and repaired to the church. She then brought
out the bead, and, putting her hand upon one of the faces of it, whereon.
was engraved a couch, she rubbed it: and lo, a couch was placed before her.
And she mounted with 'Alá-ed-Deen and his wife Zubeydeh El-'Oodeeyeh
upon this couch, and said, By virtue of the names and talismans and scien-
tific characters that are inscribed upon this bead, rise with us, O couch!
And the couch rose with them, and conveyed them to a valley wherein was
no vegetation.115 Then she turned up the other four faces of the bead to-
wards the sky, turning downwards the face whereon the couch was figured,
and it descended with them to the earth. And she turned round
which was figured the form of a pavilion, and rubbed it, saying, Let a pavilion
be set up in this valley. Whereupon the pavilion was set up, and they seated
themselves in it. Now that valley was a waste, destitute alike of vegetation
and water: so she turned four faces of the bead towards the sky, and said,
By virtue of the names of God, let trees spring up here, with a large river by
their side! And the trees sprang up immediately, and by them ran a large
face upon
446
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
murmuring river, agitated with waves; and they performed the ablution with
its water, and prayed and drank. The King's daughter then turned round
the three faces yet undescribed, until she came to a face upon which was
represented a table of viands, and said, By virtue of the names of God, let
the table be spread! And lo, a table was spread, whereon were all kinds of
rich viands; and they ate and drank, and were full of joy and merriment.
Meanwhile, the King's son went in to wake his father, and found him
slain; and he found also the paper which 'Alá-ed-Deen had written: so he
read it, and became acquainted with its contents. He then searched for his
sister, and, not finding her, he repaired to the old woman in the church, and
inquired of her respecting her; and she answered, Since yesterday I have
not seen her. He therefore returned and betook himself to the troops, and
said to them, To horse, O riders! And he acquainted them with that which
had happened: whereupon they mounted their horses, and proceeded until
they drew near to the pavilion, when Hosn-Maryam turned her eyes, and
saw that the dust had obstructed the view of the adjacent tracts; and after
it had risen high and spread, it dispersed, and there appeared beneath it her
brother and the troops, who, were calling out, Whither will ye go when we
are behind you? So the damsel said to 'Alá-ed-Deen, How is thy stability
in war and combat? And he answered her, As that of the stake in bran;
for I am not acquainted with war and battle, nor with swords and spears.
She therefore took forth the bead, and rubbed a face upon which were fig-
ured a horse and rider; and lo, a horseman appeared from the desert, and
ceased not to smite with the sword among them until he had routed and
repelled them.
The King's daughter then said to 'Alá-ed-Deen, Wilt thou journey to
Cairo or to Alexandria? He answered, To Alexandria. So they mounted
the couch, and after she had pronounced a spell upon it, it conveyed them
to Alexandria in the twinkling of an eye; and 'Alá-ed-Deen, having taken
them into a cavern, went to the city, and brought them thence apparel, with
which he clad them. He then conducted them to the shop and the suite of
rooms, and went forth to procure dinner for them; and, lo, the Mukaddam
Ahmad Ed-Denef approached, arriving from Baghdad. 'Alá-ed-Deen saw
him in the street, and he met him with open arms, saluting him and welcom-
ing him; and Ahmad Ed-Denef gave him good news of his son Aslán, tell-
ing him that he had attained the age of twenty years; after which, 'Alá-
ed-Deen related to the Mukaddam all that had happened to him from first
to last, and took him to the shop and the suite of rooms; and Ahmad Ed-
Denef wondered extremely at his story. They passed the next night, and
when they arose in the morning, 'Alá-ed-Deen sold the shop, and put its
price with the rest of his money. Then Ahmad Ed-Denef informed him that
the Khaleefeh desired his presence. But 'Alá-ed-Deen replied, I am going
to Cairo, to salute my father and mother and the other members of my
family. So they mounted the couch, all together, and repaired to the for-
tunate city of Cairo, and alighted in the Darb el-Asfar; 116 for the house of
'ALA-ED-DEEN AND HIS ADVENTURES
447
'Alá-ed-Deen's family was in that quarter; and he knocked at the door;
whereupon his mother said, Who is at the door after the loss of the beloved?
He answered her, I am 'Alá-ed-Deen. And on hearing this, the family came
down and embraced him. He then sent his two wives, and the property
that he had brought with him, into the house, and entered himself, accom-
panied by Ahmad Ed-Denef, and they rested three days; after which, he
desired to depart to Baghdad. His father said to him, O my son, remain with
me. But he replied, I cannot endure the separation from my son Aslán.
And he took his father and his mother with him, and they journeyed to
Baghdad.
Then Ahmad Ed-Denef went in to the Khaleefeh, and imparted to him
the happy news of the arrival of 'Alá-ed-Deen; on hearing which, the Kha-
leefeh went forth to meet him, taking with him his son Aslán, and they met
and embraced him. And the Khaleefeh gave orders to bring Ahmad Ka-
mákim, the arch thief, and, when he came before him, said, O 'Alá-ed-Deen,
avenge thyself upon thine adversary. So 'Alá-ed-Deen drew his sword, and,
smiting Ahmad Kamákim, severed his head. The Khaleefeh then made a
magnificent entertainment for 'Alá-ed-Deen, after he had summoned the
Kádees and witnesses, and written 'Alá-ed-Deen's contract of marriage to
Hosn-Maryam. He also appointed his son Aslán to the office of Raees es-
Sitteen, and bestowed upon both of them sumptuous robes of honour; and
they passed a most comfortable and agreeable life until they were visited
by the terminator of delights, and the separator of companions.117
XII
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG, OR THE SLEEPER AWAKENED ¹
HERE was a merchant in Baghdád, in the reign of the Khaleefeh
And this merchant died, leaving to his son vast wealth: whereupon Abu-l-
Hasan divided his property into two equal portions, one of which he laid
aside, and of the other he expended. He took as his familiar friends a num-
ber of the sons of the merchants, and others, and gave himself up to the
delights of good drinking and good eating, until all the wealth that he had
appropriated to this purpose was consumed. And upon this he repaired to
his associates and relations and boon-companions, and exposed to them his
case, shewing them how little property remained in his possession; but none
of them paid any regard to him or uttered a word in reply. So he returned
to his mother, with a broken heart, and told her of the treatment that he had
experienced from his associates, that they would neither do him justice nor
even reply to him. But she said, O Abu-l-Hasan, thus are the sons of this
age: as long as thou hast any thing, they draw thee near to them; and when
thou hast nothing, they cast thee off. She was grieved for him and he sighed
and wept.
He then sprang up, and went to the place in which was deposited the
other half of his wealth, and upon this he lived agreeably. He took an oath
that he would not thenceforth associate with any one of those whom he knew,
but only with the stranger, and that he would not associate with any person
but for one night, and on the following morning would not recognise him.
Accordingly, every night, he went forth and seated himself on the bridge, and
when a stranger passed by him, he invited him to an entertainment, and
took him to his house, where he caroused with him that night, until the
morning: he then dismissed him; and after that, he would not salute him if
he saw him.
Thus he continued to do for a whole year; after which, as he was sitting
one day upon the bridge as usual, to see who might come towards him, Er-
Rasheed and certain of his domestics passed by in disguise; for the Kha-
leefeh had experienced a contraction of the bosom, and come forth to amuse
himself among the people. So Abu-l-Hasan laid hold upon him, and said
to him, O my master, hast thou any desire for a repast and beverage? And
Er-Rasheed complied with his request, saying to him, Conduct us. And Abu-
1-Hasan knew not who was his guest. The Khaleefeh proceeded with him
until they arrived at Abu-l-Hasan's house: and when Er-Rasheed entered,
448
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
449
he found in it a saloon, such that if thou beheldest it, and lookedst towards
its walls, thou wouldst behold wonders; and if thou observedst its conduits
of water, thou wouldst see a fountain encased with gold. And after he had
seated himself there, Abu-l-Hasan called for a slave-girl, like a twig of the
Oriental willow, who took a lute, and extemporized and sang these verses: -
O thou who ever dwellest in my heart, while thy person is distant from my sight!
Thou art my soul; though I see it not, it is nearer to me than anything beside.
And when Er-Rasheed heard these verses, he said, to her, Thou hast per-
formed well. God bless thee! Her eloquence pleased him, and he won-
dered at Abu-l-Hasan and his entertainment.
-
4
3
-
-
He then said to Abu-l-Hasan, O young man, who art thou? Acquaint
me with thy history, that I may requite thee for thy kindness. But Abu-l-
Hasan smiled, and replied, O my master, far be it from me that what hath
happened should recur, and that I should be in thy company again after this
time! And why so? said the Khaleefeh, and why wilt thou not acquaint
me with thy case? So Abu-l-Hasan told him his story, and when the Kha-
leefeh heard it, he laughed violently, and said, By Allah, O my brother, thou
art excusable in this matter. Then a dish of roast goose was placed before
him, and a cake of fine bread; ³ and Abu-l-Hasan sat, and cut off the meat,
and put morsels into the mouth of the Khaleefeh, and they continued eating
until they were satisfied; when the basin and ewer were brought, with the
potash; and they washed their hands. After this, Abu-l-Hasan lighted for
his guest three candles and three lamps, spread the wine-cloth, and brought
clear strained, old, perfumed wine, the odour of which was like fragrant
musk, and, having filled the first cup, said, O my boon-companion, bashful-
ness is dismissed from us, with thy permission. Thy slave is by thee, may
I never be afflicted by the loss of thee! - And he drank the cup, and filled
the second, which he handed to the Khaleefeh, waiting upon him as a servant.
And the Khaleefeh was pleased with his actions, and the politeness of his
words, and said within himself, By Allah, I will certainly requite him for
this! Abu-l-Hasan then, after he had kissed the cup, handed it to the Kha-
leefeh, who accepted it from his hand, kissed it and drank it, and handed it
back to him. Abu-l-Hasan still continued serving him. He filled and drank,
and filled again and handed the cup to the Khaleefeh, after he had kissed it
three times, reciting these verses:
-
Thy presence with us is an honour, and we confess it to be so;
And if thou absent thyself from us, we have none to fill thy place.
Drink, he added, and may it be attended with health and vigour. — And they
drank and caroused until midnight."
After this, the Khaleefeh said to his host, O Abu-l-Hasan, is there any
service that thou wouldst have performed, or any desire that thou wouldst
have accomplished? And Abu-l-Hasan answered, In our neighbourhood is
450
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
a mosque, to which belong an Imám and four sheykhs, and whenever they
hear music or any sport, they incite the Wálee against me, and impose fines
upon me, and trouble my life, so that I suffer torment from them. If I had
them in my power, therefore, I would give each of them a thousand lashes,
that I might be relieved from their excessive annoyance.
Er-Rasheed replied, May Allah grant thee the accomplishment of thy
wish! And without his being aware of it, he put into a cup a lozenge of
benj, and handed it to him; and as soon as it had settled in his stomach,
he fell asleep immediately. Er-Rasheed then arose and went to the door,
where he found his young men waiting for him, and he ordered them to con-
vey Abu-l-Hasan upon a mule, and returned to the palace; Abu-l-Hasan
being intoxicated and insensible. And when the Khaleefeh had rested him-
self in the palace, he called for his Wezeer Jaafar, and 'Abd-Allah the son
of Tahir, the Wálee of Baghdad, and certain of his chief attendants, and said
to them all, In the morning, when ye see this young man (pointing to Abu-l-
Hasan) seated on the royal couch, pay obedience to him, and salute him as
Khaleefeh, and whatsoever he commandeth you, do it. Then going in to his
female slaves, he directed them to wait upon Abu-l-Hasan, and to address
him as Prince of the Faithful; after which he entered a private-closet, and,
having let down a curtain over the entrance, slept.
So when Abu-l-Hasan awoke, he found himself upon the royal couch,
with the attendants standing around, and kissing the ground before him;
and a maid said to him, O our lord, it is the time for morning-prayer: -
upon which he laughed, and, looking round about him, he beheld a pavilion
whose walls were adorned with gold and ultramarine, and the roof bespotted
with red gold, surrounded by chambers with curtains of embroidered silk
hanging before their doors; and he saw vessels of gold and China-ware and
crystal, and furniture and carpets spread, and lighted lamps, and female
slaves, and eunuchs and other attendants; whereat he was perplexed in his
mind, and said, By Allah, either I am dreaming, or this is Paradise, and the
Abode of Peace. And he closed his eyes. So a eunuch said to him, O my
lord, this is not thy usual custom, O Prince of the Faithful. And he was
perplexed at his case, and put his head into his bosom, and then began to
open his eyes by little and little, laughing, and saying, What is this state in
which I find myself? And he bit his finger; and when he found that the bite
pained him, he cried, Ah! — and was angry. Then raising his head, he
called one of the female slaves, who answered him, At thy service, O Prince
of the Faithful! And he said to her, What is thy name? She answered,
Shejeret-ed-Durr. And he said, Knowest thou in what place I am, and who
I am? Thou art the Prince of the Faithful, she answered, sitting in thy
palace, upon the royal couch. He replied, I am perplexed at my case, my
reason hath departed, and it seemeth that I am asleep; but what shall I
say of my yesterday's guest? I imagine nothing but that he is a devil or
an enchanter, who hath sported with my reason.
-
All this time, the Khaleefeh was observing him, from a place where Abu-
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
451
----
-Hasan could not see him. And Abu-l-Hasan looked towards the chief
eunuch, and called to him. So he came, and kissed the ground before him,
saying to him, Yes, O Prince of the Faithful. And Abu-l-Hasan said to him,
Who is the Prince of the Faithful? Thou, he answered. Abu-l-Hasan
replied, Thou liest. And addressing another eunuch, he said to him, O my
chief, as thou hopest for Allah's protection, tell me, am I the Prince of the
Faithful? Yea, by Allah, answered the eunuch: thou art at this present time
the Prince of the Faithful, and the Khaleefeh of the Lord of all creatures.
And Abu-l-Hasan, perplexed at all that he beheld, said, In one night do I
become Prince of the Faithful? Was I not yesterday Abu-l-Hasan; and to-
day am I Prince of the Faithful? He remained perplexed and confounded
until the morning, when a eunuch advanced to him and said to him, May
Allah grant a happy morning to the Prince of the Faithful! And he handed
to him a pair of shoes of gold stuff, reticulated with precious stones and
rubies; and Abu-l-Hasan took them, and, after examining them a long time,
put them into his sleeve. So the eunuch said to him, These are shoes to
walk in. And Abu-l-Hasan replied, Thou hast spoken truth. I put them
not into my sleeve but in my fear lest they should be soiled.
took them forth, and put them on his feet.
7
He therefore
And shortly after, the female slaves brought him a basin of gold and a
ewer of silver, and poured the water upon his hands; and when he had per-
formed the ablution, they spread for him a prayer-carpet; and he prayed;
but knew not how to do so. He continued his inclinations and prostrations
until he had performed twenty rek'ahs; meditating, and saying within him-
self, By Allah, I am none other than the Prince of the Faithful, in truth,
or else this is a dream and all these things occur not in a dream. He there-
fore convinced himself, and determined in his mind, that he was the Prince
of the Faithful; and he pronounced the salutations, and finished his prayers.
They then brought him a magnificent dress; and looking at himself, as he sat
upon the couch, he retracted, and said, All this is an illusion, and a machina-
tion of the Jánn.
And while he was in this state, lo, one of the memlooks came in, and said
to him, O Prince of the Faithful, the chamberlain is at the door, requesting
permission to enter. - Let him enter, replied Abu-l-Hasan. So he came in,
and, having kissed the ground before him, said, Peace be on thee, O Prince of
the Faithful! And Abu-l-Hasan rose, and descended from the couch to the
floor; whereupon the chamberlain exclaimed, Allah! Allah! O Prince of
the Faithful! Knowest thou not that all men are thy servants, and under
thy authority, and that it is not proper for the Prince of the Faithful to rise
to any one? Abu-l-Hasan was then told that Jaafar El-Barmekee, and
Abd-Allah the son of Táhir, and the chiefs of the memlooks, begged permis-
sion to enter. And he gave them permission. So they entered, and kissed
the ground before him, each of them addressing him as Prince of the Faith-
ful. And he was delighted at this, and returned their salutation; after which,
he called the Wálee, who approached him, and said, At thy service, O Prince
-
452
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
9
of the Faithful! And Abu-l-Hasan said to him, Repair immediately to such
a street, and give a hundred pieces of gold to the mother of Abu-l-Hasan
the Wag, with my salutation: then take the Imám of the mosque, and the
four sheykhs, and inflict upon each of them a thousand lashes; and when
thou hast done that, write a bond against them, confirmed by oath, that they
shall not reside in the street, after thou shalt have paraded them through the
city, mounted on beasts with their faces to the tails, and hast proclaimed
before them, This is the recompense of those who annoy their neighbours!
-And beware of neglecting that which I have commanded thee to do. So
the Wálee did as he was ordered. And when Abu-l-Hasan had exercised his
authority until the close of the day, he looked towards the chamberlain and
the rest of the attendants, and said to them, Depart.
He then called for a eunuch who was near at hand, and said to him, I am
hungry, and desire something to eat. And he replied, I hear and obey: —
and led him by the hand into the eating-chamber, where the attendants
placed before him a table of rich viands; and ten slave-girls, high bosomed
virgins, stood behind his head. Abu-l-Hasan, looking at one of these, said
to her, What is thy name? She answered, Kadeeb-el-Bán.10 And he said
to her, O Kadeeb-el-Bán, who am I? - Thou art the Prince of the Faithful,
she answered. But he replied, Thou liest, by Allah, thou slut! Ye girls
are laughing at me. So she said, Fear Allah, O Prince of the Faithful: this
is thy palace, and the female slaves are thine. And upon this he said within
himself, It is no great matter to be effected by God, to whom be ascribed
might and glory! Then the slave-girls led him by the hand to the drinking-
chamber, where he saw what astonished the mind; and he continued to say
within himself, No doubt these are of the Jánn, and this person who was my
guest is one of the Kings of the Jánn, who saw no way of requiting and com-
pensating me for my kindness to him but by ordering his 'Óns to address
me as Prince of the Faithful. All these are of the Jánn. May Allah then
deliver me from them happily! And while he was thus talking to himself,
lo, one of the slave-girls filled for him a cup of wine; and he took it from her
hand and drank it; after which, the slave-girls plied him with wine in
abundance; and one of them threw into his cup a lozenge of benj; and when
it had settled in his stomach, he fell down senseless.
Er-Rasheed then gave orders to convey him to his house; and the
servants did so, and laid him on his bed, still in a state of insensibility. So
when he recovered from his intoxication, in the latter part of the night, he
found himself in the dark; and he called out, Kadeeb-el-Bán! Shejeret-ed-
Durr! But no one answered him. His mother, however, heard him shout-
ing these names, and arose and came, and said to him, What hath happened
to thee, O my son, and what hath befallen thee? Art thou mad? - And
when he heard the words of his mother, he said to her, Who art thou, O
ill-omened old woman, that thou addressest the Prince of the Faithful with
these expressions? She answered, I am thy mother, O my son. But he
replied, Thou liest: I am the Prince of the Faithful, the lord of the countries
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
453
―
-
and the people. Be silent, she said, or else thy life will be lost. And she
began to pronounce spells and to recite charms over him, and said to him,
It seemeth, O my son, that thou hast seen this in a dream, and all this is one
of the ideas suggested by the Devil. She then said to him, I give thee good
news, at which thou wilt be rejoiced. — And what is it? said he. She an-
swered, The Khaleefeh gave orders yesterday to beat the Imám and the four
sheykhs, and caused a bond to be written against them, confirmed by oath,
that they shall not transgress henceforth against any one by their impertinent
meddling; and he sent me a hundred pieces of gold, with his salutation.
And when Abu-l-Hasan heard these words from his mother, he uttered a
loud cry, with which his soul almost quitted the world; and he exclaimed, I
am he who gave orders to beat the sheykhs, and who sent thee the hundred
pieces of gold, with my salutation, and I am the Prince of the Faithful.
Having said this, he rose up against his mother, and beat her with an
almond-stick, until she cried out, O Muslims! ¹¹ And he beat her with in-
creased violence, until the neighbours heard her cries, and came to her relief.
He was still beating her and saying to her, O ill-omened old woman, am I not
the Prince of the Faithful? Thou hast enchanted me! And when the
people heard his words, they said, This man hath become mad. And not
doubting his insanity, they came in and laid hold upon him, bound his hands
behind him, and conveyed him to the madhouse.12 There every day they
punished him, dosing him with abominable medicines, and flogging him with
whips, making him a madman in spite of himself. Thus he continued,
stripped of his clothing, and chained by the neck to a high window, for the
space of ten days; after which, his mother came to salute him. And he com-
plained to her of his case. So she said to him, O my son, fear God in thy
conduct: if thou wert Prince of the Faithful, thou wouldst not be in this
predicament. And when he heard what his mother said, he replied, By
Allah, thou hast spoken truth. It seemeth that I was only asleep, and
dreamt that they made me Khaleefeh and assigned me servants and female
slaves. So his mother said to him, O my son, verily Satan doeth more than
this. And he replied, Thou hast spoken truth, and I beg forgiveness of God
for the actions committed by me.
-
They therefore took him forth from the madhouse, and conducted him
into the bath; and when he recovered his health, he prepared food and drink,
and began to eat. But eating by himself was not pleasant to him; and he
said to his mother, O my mother, neither life nor eating, by myself, is
pleasant to me. She replied, If thou desire to do according to thy will, thy
return to the madhouse is most probable. Paying no attention, however, to
her advice, he walked to the bridge, to see for himself a cup-companion.
And while he was sitting there, lo, Er-Rasheed came to him, in the garb of
a merchant; for, from the time of his parting with him, he came every day
to the bridge, but found him not till now. As soon as Abu-l-Hasan saw
him, he said to him, A friendly welcome to thee, O King of the Jánn! So
Er-Rasheed said, What have I done to thee? What more couldst thou do,
--
454
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
said Abu-l-Hasan, than thou hast done unto me, O filthiest of the Jánn? I
have suffered beating, and entered the madhouse, and they pronounced me a
madman. All this was occasioned by thee. I brought thee to my abode, and
fed thee with the best of my food; and after that, thou gavest thy Devils and
thy 'Óns entire power over me, to make sport with my reason from morning
to evening. Depart from me, therefore, and go thy way.
The Khaleefeh smiled at this, and, seating himself by his side, addressed
him in courteous language, and said to him, O my brother, when I went forth
from thee, I inadvertently left the door open, and probably the Devil went
in to thee.13 Abu-l-Hasan replied, Inquire not respecting that which hap-
pened to me. And what possessed thee, he added, that thou leftest the
door open, so that the Devil came in to me, and that such and such things
befell me? And he related to the Khaleefeh all that had happened to him
from first to last, while Er-Rasheed laughed, but concealed his laughter:
after which, the Khaleefeh said to him, Praise be to God that He hath dis-
pelled from thee that which thou hatest, and that I have seen thee again in
prosperity! But Abu-l-Hasan replied, I will not again take thee as my
boon-companion, nor as an associate to sit with me; for the proverb saith,
He who stumbleth against a stone and returneth to it is to be blamed and
reproached: and with thee, O my brother, I will not carouse, nor will I
keep company with thee; since I have not found thy visit to be followed by
good fortune to me.¹¹- The Khaleefeh, however, said, I have been the means
of the accomplishment of thy desire with regard to the Imám and the
sheykhs. Yes, replied Abu-l-Hasan. And Er-Rasheed added, Perhaps
something will happen to thee that will rejoice thy heart more than that. -
Then what dost thou desire of me? said Abu-l-Hasan. My desire, an-
swered Er-Rasheed, is to be thy guest this night. And at length Abu-l-Hasan
said, On the condition that thou swear to me by the inscription on the seal
of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!) that thou wilt
not suffer thy 'Efreets to make sport with me. And Er-Rasheed replied, I
hear and obey.
-
14
So Abu-l-Hasan took him to his abode, and put the food before him and
his attendants, and they ate as much as satisfied them; and when they had
finished eating, the servants placed before them the wine and exhilarating
beverages, and they continued drinking and carousing until the wine rose into
their heads. Abu-l-Hasan then said to the Khaleefeh, O my boon-com-
panion, in truth I am perplexed respecting my case. It seemeth that I was
Prince of the Faithful, and that I exercised authority and gave and bestowed:
and truly, O my brother, it was not a vision of sleep. But the Khaleefeh
replied, This was a result of confused dreams. And having said this, he put
a piece of benj into the cup, and said, By my life, drink this cup. — Verily
I will drink it from thy hand, replied Abu-l-Hasan. So he took the cup,
and when he had drunk it, his head fell before his feet. The Khaleefeh
then arose immediately, and ordered his young men to convey Abu-l-Hasan
to the palace, and to lay him upon his couch, and commanded the female
-----
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
455
slaves to stand around him; after which he concealed himself in a place
where Abu-l-Hasan could not see him, and ordered a slave-girl to take her
lute and strike its chords over Abu-l-Hasan's head, and desired the other
slave-girls to play upon their instruments.
It was then the close of the night, and Abu-l-Hasan, awaking, and hearing
the sounds of the lutes and tambourines and flutes, and the singing of the
slave-girls, cried out, O my mother! Whereupon the slave-girls answered,
At thy service, O Prince of the Faithful! And when he heard this, he ex-
claimed, There is no strength nor power, but in God, the High, the Great!
Come to my help this night; for this night is more unlucky than the former!
- He reflected upon all that had happened to him with his mother, and how
he had beaten her, and how he had been taken into the madhouse, and he
saw the marks of the beating that he had suffered there. Then looking at
the scene that surrounded him, he said, These are all of them of the Jánn,
in the shapes of human beings! I commit my affair unto Allah! - And
looking towards a memlook by his side, he said to him, Bite my ear, that
I may know if I be asleep or awake. The memlook said, How shall I bite
thine ear, when thou art the Prince of the Faithful? But Abu-l-Hasan an-
swered, Do as I have commanded thee, or I will strike off thy head. So
he bit it until his teeth met together, and Abu-l-Hasan uttered a loud shriek.
-Er-Rasheed (who was behind a curtain in a closet), and all who were
present, fell down with laughter, and they said to the memlook, Art thou mad,
that thou bitest the ear of the Khaleefeh? And Abu-l-Hasan said to them,
Is it not enough that hath befallen me, O ye wretches of Jinn? But ye are
not in fault: the fault is your chief's, who transformed you from the shapes
of Jinn into the shapes of human beings. I implore help against you this
night by the Verse of the Throne, and the Chapter of Sincerity, and the
Two Preventives! 15 Upon this Er-Rasheed exclaimed from behind the
curtain, Thou hast killed us, O Abu-l-Hasan! And Abu-l-Hasan recognised
him, and kissed the ground before him, greeting him with a prayer for the
increase of his glory, and the prolongation of his life. Er-Rasheed then clad
him in a rich dress, gave him a thousand pieces of gold, and made him one
of his chief boon-companions.
-
Abu-l-Hasan, after this, became a greater favourite with the Khaleefeh
than all the other boon-companions, so that he sat with the Khaleefeh and
his wife the lady Zubeydeh, the daughter of El-Kásim, and he married her
female Treasurer, whose name was Nuzhet-el-Fuád.16 With this wife he
resided, eating and drinking, and enjoying a delightful life, until all the
money that they possessed had gone; whereupon he said to her, O Nuzhet-
-el-Fuád! And she answered, At thy service. I desire, said he, to practise
a trick upon the Khaleefeh, and thou shalt practise a trick upon the lady
Zubeydeh, and we will obtain from them immediately two hundred pieces of
gold, and two pieces of silk. Do what thou desirest, replied she: and what,
she asked, is it? He answered, We will feign ourselves dead. I will die
before thee, and lay myself out: then do thou spread over me a napkin of
456
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
silk, and unfold my turban over me, and tie my toes, and put upon my
stomach a knife and a little salt: 17 after which, dishevel thy hair, and go to
thy lady Zubeydeh, and tear thy vest and slap thy face, and shriek. So
she will say to thee, What is the matter with thee? And do thou answer her,
May thy head long survive Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; for he is dead! Where-
upon she will mourn for me, and weep, and will order her female Treas-
urer 18 to give thee a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk,19 and will
say to thee, Go, prepare his corpse for burial, and convey it forth to the
grave. So thou shalt receive from her the hundred pieces of gold, and the
piece of silk, and come hither. And when thou comest to me, I will rise,
and thou shalt lay thyself down in my place, and I will go to the Khaleefeh,
and say to him, May thy head long survive Nuzhet-el-Fuád! And I will
tear my vest, and pluck my beard; upon which he will mourn for thee, and
will say to his Treasurer, Give to Abu-l-Hasan a hundred pieces of gold, and
a piece of silk:- and he will say to me, Go, prepare her corpse for burial,
and convey it forth to the grave. So I will come to thee. - And Nuzhet-el-
Fuad was delighted with this, and replied, Truly this is an excellent strata-
gem!
She forthwith closed his eyes, and tied his feet, covered him with the
napkin, and did all that her master told her; after which, she tore her vest,
uncovered her head, and dishevelled her hair, and went in to the lady Zu-
beydeh, shrieking and weeping. When the lady Zubeydeh, therefore, be-
held her in this condition, she said to her, What is this state in which I see
thee, and what hath happened unto thee, and what hath caused thee to
weep? And Nuzhet-el-Fuád wept and shrieked, and said, O my mistress,
may thy head long survive Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; for he is dead! And the
lady Zubeydeh mourned for him, and said, Poor Abu-l-Hasan the Wag!
Then, after weeping for him a while, she ordered the female Treasurer to give
to Nuzhet-el-Fuád a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk, and said,
O Nuzhet-el-Fuád, go, prepare his body for burial, and convey it forth.
So she took the hundred pieces of gold, and the piece of silk, and, returning
to her abode, full of joy, went in to Abu-l-Hasan, and acquainted him with
what had happened to her; upon which he arose and rejoiced, and girded his
waist and danced, and took the hundred pieces of gold, with the piece of
silk, and laid them up.
He then extended Nuzhet-el-Fuád, and did with her as she had done
with him; after which, he tore his vest and plucked his beard and disordered
his turban, and ran without stopping until he went in to the Khaleefeh, who
was in his hall of judgment; and in the condition above described, he beat
his bosom. So the Khaleefeh said to him, What hath befallen thee, O Abu-
1-Hasan? And he wept, and said, Would that thy boon-companion had never
been, nor his hour come to pass! The Khaleefeh therefore said to him,
Tell me.
He replied, May thy head long survive, O my lord, Nuzhet-el-
Fuád! And the Khaleefeh exclaimed, There is no deity but God! - and
struck his hands together. He then consoled Abu-l-Hasan, and said to him.
20
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
457
Mourn not: I will give thee a concubine in her stead. And he ordered his
Treasurer to give him a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk. The
Treasurer therefore did as he was commanded, and the Khaleefeh said to
Abu-l-Hasan, Go, prepare her corpse for burial, and convey it forth, and
make a handsome funeral for her. And he took what the Khaleefeh gave
him, and went to his abode joyful, and, going in to Nuzhet-el-Fuád, said to
ber, Arise; for our desire is accomplished. She therefore arose, and he put
before her the hundred pieces of gold, and the piece of silk. So she re-
jciced; and they put these pieces of gold on the other pieces, and the piece
of silk on the former one, and sat conversing, and laughing at each other.
But as to the Khaleefeh, when Abu-l-Hasan departed from him, and went
with the pretence of preparing the corpse of Nuzhet-el-Fuád for burial, he
mourned for her, and having dismissed the council, arose and went in, lean-
ing upon Mesroor his executioner, to console the lady Zubeydeh for the loss
of her slave-girl. He found her, however, sitting weeping, and waiting for
his arrival, that she might console him for the loss of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag.
The Khaleefeh said, May thy head long survive thy slave-girl Nuzhet-el-
Fuád! But she replied, O my lord, Allah preserve my slave-girl! Mayest
thou long survive thy boon-companion Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; for he is dead!
-And the Khaleefeh smiled, and said to his eunuch, O Mesroor, verily
women are of little sense. By Allah, was not Abu-l-Hasan just now with me?
- Upon this, the lady Zubeydeh said, after uttering a laugh from an angry
bosom, Wilt thou not give over thy jesting? Is not the death of Abu-l-
Hasan enough, but thou must make my slave-girl to be dead, as though we
had lost them both, and thou must pronounce me of little sense?
The Khaleefeh replied, Verily Nuzhet-el-Fuád is the person who is dead.
And the lady Zubeydeh rejoined, In truth he was not with thee, nor didst
thou see him; and none was with me just now but Nuzhet-el-Fuád, who was
mourning and weeping, with her clothes rent in pieces; and I exhorted her to
have patience, and gave her a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk;
and I was waiting for thee, that I might console thee for the loss of thy
boon-companion, Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; and I was going to send for thee.
On hearing this, the Khaleefeh laughed, and said, None is dead but Nuzhet-
el-Fuád. And the lady Zubeydeh said, No, no, O my lord: none is dead but
Abu-l-Hasan. But the Khaleefeh now became enraged; the vein between
his eyes, which was remarkable in members of the family of Háshim,21
throbbed, and he called out to Mesroor the Executioner, saying to him, Go
forth and repair to the house of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag, and see which of the
two is dead.
-
Mesroor, therefore, went forth running. And the Khaleefeh said to the
lady Zubeydeh, Wilt thou lay me a wager? She answered, Yes, I will, and
I say that Abu-l-Hasan is dead. — And I, replied the Khaleefeh, lay a wager,
and say that none is dead but Nuzhet-el-Fuád; and our wager shall be, that
I stake the Garden of Delight against thy pavilion, the Pavilion of the Pic-
tures.22 And they sat waiting for Mesroor to return with the information.
458
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Now as to Mesroor, he ran without ceasing until he entered the by-street
in which was the house of Abu-l-Hasan the. Wag. Abu-l-Hasan was sitting
reclining against the window, and turning his eyes, he saw Mesroor running
along the street. So he said to Nuzhet-el-Fuád, It seemeth that the Kha-
leefeh, after I went forth from him, dismissed the court, and hath gone in to
the lady Zubeydeh to console her, and that she, on his arrival, hath arisen
and consoled him, and said to him, May God largely compensate thee for the
loss of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag! whereupon the Khaleefeh hath said to her,
None is dead but Nuzhet-el-Fuád. May thy head long survive her!
And she hath replied, None is dead but Abu-l-Hasan the Wag, thy boon-
companion. And he hath said again to her, None is dead but Nuzhet-el-
Fuád. So they have become obstinate, and the Khaleefeh hath been enraged,
and they have laid a wager, in consequence of which, Mesroor the Execu-
tioner hath been sent to see who is dead. It is therefore the more proper
that thou lay thyself down, that he may see thee, and go and inform the
Khaleefeh, who will thereupon believe my assertion.
—
Accordingly, Nuzhet-el-Fuád extended herself, and Abu-l-Hasan covered
her with her izár, and seated himself at her head, weeping. And lo, Mes-
roor the eunuch came up into the house of Abu-l-Hasan, and saluted him, and
saw Nuzhet-el-Fuád stretched out; upon which he uncovered her face, and
exclaimed, There is no deity but God! Our sister Nuzhet-el-Fuád is dead!
How speedy was the stroke of fate! May Allah have mercy upon her, and
acquit thee of responsibility! He then returned, and related what had hap-
pened before the Khaleefeh and the lady Zubeydeh, laughing as he spoke.
So the Khaleefeh said to him, O thou accursed, this is not a time for laugh-
ing. Tell us which of them is dead. He therefore replied, By Allah, O my
Lord, Verily Abu-l-Hasan is well, and none is dead but Nuzhet-el-Fuád.
And upon this the Khaleefeh said to Zubeydeh, Thou hast lost thy pavilion
in thy play. And he laughed at her, and said, O Mesroor, relate to her what
thou sawest. So Mesroor said to her, In truth, O my mistress, I ran inces-
santly until I went in to Abu-l-Hasan in his house; whereupon I found
Nuzhet-el-Fuád lying dead, and Abu-l-Hasan sitting at her head, weeping;
and I saluted him and consoled him, and seated myself by his side; and
uncovering the face of Nuzhet-el-Fuád, I beheld her dead, with her face
swollen. I therefore said to him, Convey her forth presently to the grave,
that we may pray over her. And he replied, Yes. And I came, leaving him
to prepare her corpse for burial, in order to inform you. Upon this, the
Khaleefeh laughed, and said, Tell it again and again to thy mistress, the
person of little sense. But when the lady Zubeydeh heard the words of
Mesroor, she was enraged, and said, None is deficient in sense but he who
believeth a slave. And she abused Mesroor, while the Khaleefeh continued
laughing; and Mesroor was displeased, and said to the Khaleefeh, He spoke
truth who said, that women are deficient in sense and religion.23
--
The lady Zubeydeh then said, O Prince of the Faithful, thou sportest and
jesteth with me, and this slave deceiveth me for the purpose of pleasing thee;
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
459
but I will send, and see which of them is dead. The Khaleefeh replied, Do
50. And she called to an old woman, a kahramaneh, and said to her, Repair
quickly to the house of Nuzhet-el-Fuád, and see who is dead, and delay not
thy return. And she threw money to her. So the old woman went forth
running; the Khaleefeh and Mesroor laughing. The old woman ran with-
out ceasing until she entered the street, when Abu-l-Hasan saw her and knew
her; and he said to his wife, O Nuzhet-el-Fuád, it seemeth that the lady
er Zubeydeh hath sent to us to see who is dead, and hath not believed what
Mesroor hath said respecting thy death: wherefore she hath sent the old
woman the kahramaneh, to ascertain the truth of the matter. It is there-
jore more proper now for me to be dead, that the lady Zubeydeh may believe
thee.
C-
e
Then Abu-l-Hasan laid himself along, and Nuzhet-el-Fuád covered him,
and bound his eyes and his feet, and seated herself at his head, weeping.
And the old woman came in to Nuzhet-el-Fuád, and saw her sitting at the
head of Abu-l-Hasan, weeping, and enumerating his merits; and when
Nuzhet-el-Fuád saw the old woman, she shrieked, and said to her, See what
hath befallen me! Abu-l-Hasan hath died, and left me single and solitary!
-Then she shrieked again, and tore her clothes in pieces, and said to
the old woman, O my mother, how good he was! The old woman re-
plied, Truly thou art excusable; for thou hadst become habituated to
him, and he had become habituated to thee. And knowing how Mesroor
had acted to the Khaleefeh and the lady Zubeydeh, she said to Nuzhet-
el-Fuád, Mesroor is about to cause a quarrel between the Khaleefeh and
the lady Zubeydeh. And what is this cause of quarrel, O my mother?
said Nuzhet-el-Fuád. The old woman answered, O my daughter, Mesroor
hath come to them and told them that thou wast dead, and that Abu-l-
Hasan was well. O my aunt, replied Nuzhet-el-Fuád, I was just now
with my
lady, and she gave me a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk:
and see thou my condition, and what hath befallen me. I am perplexed; and
what shall I do, single and solitary? Would that I had died, and that he had
lived!
―
Then she wept, and the old woman wept with her, and advancing, and
uncovering the face of Abu-l-Hasan, saw his eyes bound, and swollen from
the bandage. And she covered him, and said, Truly, O Nuzhet-el-Fuád,
thou hast been afflicted for Abu-l-Hasan. And she consoled her, and went
forth from her running until she went in to the lady Zubeydeh, when she
related to her the story; on hearing which, the lady Zubeydeh laughed, and
said, Tell it to the Khaleefeh, who hath pronounced me of little sense, and
caused this ill-omened, lying slave to behave arrogantly towards me. But
Mesroor said, Verily this old woman lieth; for I saw Abu-l-Hasan in good
health, and it was Nuzhet-el-Fuad who was lying dead. The old woman re-
plied, It is thou who liest, and thou desirest to excite a quarrel between the
Khaleefeh and the lady Zubeydeh. Mesroor rejoined, None lieth but thou,
O ill-omened old woman, and thy lady believeth thee, for she is disordered
460
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
in mind. And upon this, the lady Zubeydeh cried out at him, enraged at
him and at his words; and she wept.
At length the Khaleefeh said to her, I lie, and my eunuch lieth, and thou
liest, and thy female slave lieth. The right course, in my opinion, is this,
that we four go together to see who among us speaketh truth. So Mesroor
said, Arise with us, that I may bring misfortunes upon this ill-omened old
woman, and bastinate her for her lying. O thou imbecile in mind! ex-
claimed the old woman: is thy sense like mine? Nay, thy sense is like that
of the hen. And Mesroor was enraged at her words, and would have laid
violent hands upon her; but the lady Zubeydeh, having pushed him away
from her, said to him, Immediately will her veracity be distinguished from
thine, and her lying from thine.
-
They all four arose, laying wagers one with another, and went forth and
walked from the gate of the palace until they entered the gate of the street
in which dwelt Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; when Abu-l-Hasan saw them, and
said to his wife Nuzhet-el-Fuád, In truth, every thing that is slippery is
not a pancake, and not every time that the jar is struck doth it escape un-
broken.24 It seemeth that the old woman hath gone and related the story
to her lady, and acquainted her with our case, and that she hath contended
with Mesroor the eunuch, and they have laid wagers respecting our death:
so the Khaleefeh and the eunuch and the lady Zubeydeh and the old woman
have all four come to us. - And upon this, Nuzhet-el-Fuád rose from her
extended position, and said, What is to be done? Abu-l-Hasan answered
her, We will both feign ourselves dead, and lay ourselves out, and hold in
our breath. And she assented to his proposal.
They both stretched themselves along, bound their feet, closed their
eyes, and held in their breath, lying with their heads in the direction of the
Kibleh,25 and covered themselves with the izár. Then the Khaleefeh and
Zubeydeh and Mesroor and the old woman entered the house of Abu-l-Hasan
the Wag, and found him and his wife extended as if they were dead. And
when the lady Zubeydeh saw them, she wept, and said, They continued
to assert the death of my female slave 26 until she actually died; but I
imagine that the death of Abu-l-Hasan so grieved her that she died after
him in consequence of it. The Khaleefeh, however, said, Do not prevent
me with thy talk and assertions; for she died before Abu-l-Hasan, because
Abu-l-Hasan came to me with his clothes torn in pieces, and with his beard
plucked, and striking his bosom with two clods; 27 and I gave him a hun-
dred pieces of gold, with a piece of silk, and said to him, Go, prepare her
body for burial, and I will give thee a concubine better than she, and she
shall serve in her stead: - and it appears that her loss was insupportable
to him; so he died after her. I have therefore overcome thee, and gained
thy stake. But the lady Zubeydeh replied in many words, and a long dis-
pute ensued between them.
-
-
The Khaleefeh then seated himself at the heads of the two pretended
corpses, and said, By the tomb of the Apostle of Allah (God bless and save
ABU-L-HASAN THE WAG
461
-
him!), and by the tombs of my ancestors, if any one would tell me which
of them died before the other, I would give him a thousand pieces of gold.
And when Abu-l-Hasan heard these words of the Khaleefeh, he quickly rose
and sprang up, and said, It was I who died first, O Prince of the Faithful.
Give me the thousand pieces of gold, and so acquit thyself of the oath that
thou hast sworn. Then Nuzhet-el-Fuád rose and sat up before the Kha-
leefeh and the lady Zubeydeh, who rejoiced at their safety. But Zubey-
deh chid her female slave. The Khaleefeh and the lady Zubeydeh congratu-
lated them both on their safety, and knew that this pretended death was
a stratagem for the purpose of obtaining the gold: so the lady Zubeydeh
said to Nuzhet-el-Fuád, Thou shouldst have asked of me what thou de-
siredst without this proceeding, and not have tortured my heart on thine
account. I was ashamed, O my mistress, replied Nuzhet-el-Fuád. - But
as to the Khaleefeh, he was almost senseless from laughing, and said, O
Abu-l-Hasan, thou hast not ceased to be a wag, and to do wonders and
strange acts. Abu-l-Hasan replied, O Prince of the Faithful, this stratagem
I practised in consequence of the dissipation of the wealth that I received
from thy hand; for I was ashamed to ask of thee a second time. When I
was alone, I was not tenacious of wealth; but since thou hast married me
to this female slave who is with me, if I possessed all thy wealth I should
make an end of it. And when all that was in my possession was exhausted,
I practised this stratagem, by means of which I obtained from thee these
hundred pieces of gold, and the piece of silk, all of which are an alms of
our lord. And now make haste in giving me the thousand pieces of gold,
and acquit thyself of thine oath.
At this, the Khaleefeh and the lady Zubeydeh both laughed; and after
they had returned to the palace, the Khaleefeh gave to Abu-l-Hasan the
thousand pieces of gold, saying to him, Receive them as a gratuity on ac-
count of thy safety from death. In like manner also the lady Zubeydeh
gave to Nuzhet-el-Fuád a thousand pieces of gold, saying to her the same
words. Then the Khaleefeh allotted to Abu-l-Hasan an ample salary and
ample supplies, and he ceased not to live with his wife in joy and happi-
ness, until they were visited by the terminator of delights, and the separator
of companions, the devastator of palaces and houses, and the replenisher of
the graves.
XIII
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER, OR THE FALSE SULTÁN¹
IT
T is related that the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed was troubled one
night with an exceeding restlessness, in consequence of which he sum-
moned his Wezeer Jaafar El-Barmekee, and said to him, My bosom is
contracted, and I desire this night to amuse myself in the streets of Bagh-
dád, and to observe the employments of the people; but on the condition
that we disguise ourselves in the garbs of merchants, so that no one may
know us. And the Wezeer replied, I hear and obey. They arose imme-
diately, and, having pulled off the magnificent apparel with which they
were then clad, put on the attire of merchants. And they were three; the
Khaleefeh, and Jaafar, and Mesroor the Executioner.
--
They walked from place to place until they arrived at the Tigris, when
they saw an old man sitting in a boat; and approaching him, they saluted
him and said to him, O sheykh, we desire of thy favour and kindness that
thou wouldst amuse us in this thy boat, and take this piece of gold as thy
hire. But the sheykh said, Who is he that can amuse himself here? For
the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed embarketh every night on the river
Tigris on board a small vessel, attended by a crier who proclaimeth and
saith, O all ye companies of men, great and small, noble and plebeian, young
men and youths, whosoever embarketh in a vessel and traverseth the Tigris,
I will strike off his head, or hang him upon the mast of his vessel! - Ye
have now almost encountered him; for his bark is approaching. — So the
Khaleefeh and Jaafar said, O sheykh, take these two pieces of gold, and
convey us into one of those arches, that we may remain there until the bark
of the Khaleefeh hath passed. And the sheykh replied, Give me the gold,
and our reliance be upon God, whose name be exalted! He took the gold,
set his boat afloat with them, and proceeded a little way; and, lo, the
bark approached from the bosom of the Tigris, and in it were lighted
candles and cressets.2 The sheykh therefore said to them, Did I not tell
you that the Khaleefeh passed along the river every night? Then he began
to say, O excellent Protector, remove not the veils of thy protection! He
conveyed them into an arch, and spread a black meezer 3 over them; and
they gratified their curiosity by gazing at the spectacle from beneath the
meezer.
They beheld at the head of the bark a man having in his hand a cresset
of red gold, in which he was burning aloes-wood: he wore a vest of red
satin; upon one of his shoulders was a piece of yellow embroidered stuff; *
upon his head a muslin turban; and upon his other shoulder, a bag of
462
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER
463
green silk full of aloes-wood, from which he supplied the cresset with fuel
instead of using common firewood. They saw likewise another man, at the
stern of the bark, clad as the former one, and having in his hand a similar
cresset. And there were also in the bark two hundred memlooks, stand-
ing on the right and left; and in it was placed a throne of red gold, upon
which was sitting a handsome young man, like the moon, clad in a dress
of black, with embroidery of yellow gold. Before him was a man resem-
bling the Wezeer Jaafar, and at his head stood a eunuch like Mesroor,
with a drawn sword in his hand. And they saw moreover twenty boon-
companions.
Now when the Khaleefeh beheld this, he said, O Jaafar. The Wezeer
replied, At thy service, O Prince of the Faithful. And the Khaleefeh said,
Probably this is one of my sons; either El-Mamoon, or El-Emeen. Then
gazing at the young man as he sat on the throne, he beheld him to be of
consummate beauty and loveliness, and justness of stature; and after at-
tentively observing him, he looked towards the Wezeer, and said, O Wezeer.
-At thy service, replied Jaafar. And the Khaleefeh said, By Allah, this
person sitting on the throne hath not omitted anything appertaining to
the distinctions of the Khaleefeh; and he who is before him is as though
he were thyself, O Jaafar; and the eunuch who is standing at his head,
as though he were Mesroor; and these boon-companions are as though they
were my boon-companions. My reason is confounded at this affair! By
Allah, I am full of wonder at this event, O Jaafar! - And I also, by Allah,
O Prince of the Faithful, replied the Wezeer. The bark then passed on
until it disappeared from before their eyes; whereupon the sheykh put
forth with his boat, and said, Praise be to God for our safety, and that no
one hath fallen in with us! And the Khaleefeh said, O sheykh, doth the
Khaleefeh every night embark on the Tigris? The sheykh answered, Yes,
O my master; and for a whole year he hath continued to do so. And
the Khaleefeh said, O sheykh, we desire of thy favour that thou wouldst
wait for us here next night, and we will give thee five pieces of gold; for
we are strangers, and wish to amuse ourselves, and we are lodging in [the
quarter of] El-Khandak. The sheykh replied, I am entirely at your
service.
Then the Khaleefeh and Jaafar and Mesroor departed from the sheykh
and returned to the palace, and having taken off their merchants' attire,
and put on the apparel of state, each seated himself in his place. The
emeers and wezeers came in, and the chamberlains and lieutenants, and the
council was fully attended. And when the day closed, and all ranks of
the people had dispersed, each having gone his way, the Khaleefeh Hároon
Er-Rasheed said, O Jaafar, arise with us that we may amuse ourselves
with the sight of the other Khaleefeh. Whereupon Jaafar and Mesroor
laughed.
They clad themselves again in the attire of merchants, and went forth.
and pursued their way through the city, in a state of the utmost hilarity.
464
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
.
They went out from a private door; and when they arrived at the Tigris,
they found the sheykh, the owner of the boat, sitting waiting for them.
So they embarked with him in the boat; and they had not long sat with
him when the bark of the False Khaleefeh" approached them; and looking
attentively at it, they saw in it two hundred memlooks, different from those
of the preceding night, and the bearers of the cressets proclaiming as usual.
And the Khaleefeh said, O Wezeer, this is such a thing that if I heard of it
I could not believe it; but I have beheld it with my eyes. He then said
to the owner of the boat in which they were sitting, Take, O sheykh, these
ten pieces of gold, and convey us towards them; for they are in the light,
and we are in the dark; so we shall see them, and amuse ourselves by
observing them, and they will not see us. The sheykh therefore took the
ten pieces of gold, and, steering his boat towards them, proceeded in the
gloom that surrounded the bark of the False Khaleefeh, until they arrived
at the gardens, where they beheld a walled enclosure. At this enclosure
the bark of the False Khaleefeh anchored; and, lo, young men were stand-
ing there, with a mule saddled and bridled; and the False Khaleefeh, having
landed, mounted the mule, and proceeded in the midst of the boon-com-
panions; the cresset-bearers vociferating, and the household-attendants busy-
ing themselves in performing their several services for the False Kha-
leefeh.
-
Hároon Er-Rasheed then landed, together with Jaafar and Mesroor, and
made their way through the midst of the memlooks, and walked on before
them. But the cresset-bearers, looking towards them, and beholding three
persons whose dress was that of the merchants, and who appeared to be
strangers, were displeased with them, and they made a sign, and caused
them to be brought before the False Khaleefeh, who, when he saw them,
said to them, How came ye to this place, and what brought you at this
time? So they answered, O our lord, we are a party of foreign merchants:
we arrived this day, and came forth to-night to walk, and, lo, ye ap-
proached, and these persons came and laid hold upon us, and placed us
before thee. This is our story. And the False Khaleefeh replied, No
harm shall befall you, as ye are strangers; but had ye been of Baghdad,
I had struck off your heads. Then looking towards his Wezeer, he said to
him, Take these persons with thee; for they are our guests this night. And
the Wezeer replied, I hear and obey, O our lord. After this, the False
Khaleefeh proceeded, and they with him, until they arrived at a lofty and
grand palace, strongly constructed, such as no Sultán hath possessed, rising
from the dust and reaching to the skirts of the clouds. Its door was of
sáj, adorned with brilliant gold; and through this door one passed into a
saloon with a fountain and a slightly-elevated platform, and carpets, and
cushions covered with brocade, and small pillows, and long mattresses; in
it a curtain was hung; and there was furniture that astonished the minds
of the spectators, and that one would fail to describe; and upon the door
were inscribed these two verses:
8
9
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER
465
This palace on which be blessing and peace! - fortune hath invested with its love-
liness:
In it are varieties of wonders and rarities, so that the penmen are perplexed in describ-
ing it.
The False Khaleefeh, having entered, together with the company, pro-
ceeded and seated himself upon a throne of jewelled gold, upon which
was a prayer-carpet of yellow silk; and when the boon-companions had
taken their seats, and the executioner had stationed himself before his mas-
ter, the servants spread the table, and the party ate. The dishes were then
removed, and the hands were washed, and the attendants brought the wine-
service. The bottles and the cups were arranged, and the wine circulated
until it came to the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed; but he refused to
drink; whereupon the False Khaleefeh said to Jaafar, Wherefore doth not
thy companion drink? O my lord, answered the Wezeer, for a long time
he hath not drunk of this beverage. The False Khaleefeh therefore said,
I have another beverage, suitable to thy companion, and it is a kind of
cider. And he gave orders to bring it. So they brought it immediately;
and the False Khaleefeh advanced towards Hároon Er-Rasheed, and stand-
ing before him, said to him, Whenever the turn cometh round to thee,
drink of this beverage. They then continued merrily taking the cups
of wine, until it rose into their heads and overpowered their reason;
when the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed said to his Wezeer, O Jaafar,
by Allah, we have not vessels like these. Would, then, that I knew the
history of this young man! But while they were talking together pri-
vately, the young man cast a glance towards them, and found the Wezeer
whispering to the Khaleefeh: so he said, Whispering is an act of rude-
ness. The Wezeer therefore replied, No rudeness is committed here:
but this my companion saith, Verily I have travelled into most coun-
tries, and caroused with the greatest of Kings, and associated with the
warriors, yet I have not witnessed an entertainment better conducted than
this, nor experienced a more joyous night than the present; save that the
people of Baghdád say, Drink without music sometimes occasioneth the
headache.
And when the False Khaleefeh heard these words, he smiled, and be-
came cheerful. He had in his hand a rod, and he struck a round
cushion 10 with it; whereupon a door opened, and there came forth from
it a eunuch bearing a throne of ivory inlaid with brilliant gold, and fol-
lowed by a damsel of surpassing beauty and loveliness and elegance and
consummate grace. The eunuch placed the throne, and the damsel seated
herself upon it, resembling the sun shining forth in the clear sky. In her
hand was a lute of Indian manufacture, and she placed it in her lap, and,
leaning over it as the mother leaneth over her child, sang to it. But first,
with emotion, she played over four and twenty airs, so that she astonished.
the minds of her hearers. Then returning to her first air, with exhilarating
modulations she sang these verses:
466
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The tongue of love in my heart addresseth thee, informing thee that I am enamoured
of thee;
And I have evidence in the burning of a tortured heart, and a wounded eye, and incessant
tears.
I knew not love until I loved thee; but God's decree overtaketh his creatures.
And when the False Khaleefeh heard these verses sung by the damsel, he
uttered a great cry, and rent the dress that was upon him to the skirt;
whereupon a curtain was let down over him, and the attendant brought
him another dress, more handsome than the former one, and he put it on.
He then sat as before; and when the cup came to him, he again struck
the rod upon the round cushion; and, lo, a door opened, and there came
forth from it a eunuch bearing a throne of gold, and behind him was a
damsel more beautiful than the first damsel. And she seated herself upon
the throne, having in her hand a lute that would sadden the heart of the
envious; and she sang to it these two verses:
How can I be patient, with the fire of love in my heart, and the tears ever pouring in a
flood from my eye?
By Allah, life hath no sweetness to rejoice me. And how can a heart filled with grief
be happy?
And the young man, on hearing these verses, again uttered a great cry,
and tore the clothes that were upon him to the skirt; and the curtain was
let down over him, and they brought him another suit, which he put on.
Then composing himself upon his seat, he resumed his former state,
entering cheerfully into conversation; and when the cup came to him, he
struck the round cushion, and there came forth a eunuch followed by a
damsel handsomer than the one who had just preceded her. The eunuch
had with him a throne, and the damsel seated herself upon it, with a lute
in her hand, and sang to it these verses:
Cease from your abandonment, and abate your cruelty; for my heart, by your existence,
hath not relinquished you!
Have mercy on a disordered, sad, mourning, lover, full of desire, and enslaved by his
passion for you!
Sickness hath wasted him, through the excess of his ecstasy, and he hath supplicated the
Deity for thine approval.
O full moon," whose place is in my heart! how can I prefer any mortal to you?
And again, when the young man heard these verses, he uttered a great cry,
rending the clothes that were upon him, and they let down the curtain over
him, and brought him other clothes.
After this, he resumed his former state with his boon-companions, and
the cups circulated; and when the cup came to him, he struck the round
cushion as before; whereupon the door opened, and a page came forth from
it with a throne, and behind him was a damsel. He set the throne for
her, and she seated herself upon it, and, taking the lute, tuned it, and thus
sang to it:
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER
467
When will disjunction and hatred cease, and the pleasures that have passed return unto
me?
Yesterday we were united in the same abode, in happy converse, and saw the enviers
heedless;
But fortune hath betrayed us and disunited us, having left our residence like the desert.
Wouldst thou have me relinquish the beloved, O my censurer? I find my heart would
not comply with the censurer's wish.
Cease then to blame me, and leave me in my passion; for my mind hath not been void
of cheering thoughts of the beloved.
O my lord," who hast been faithless and changing, think not that my heart on account
of thine estrangement hath relinquished thee.
And the False Khaleefeh, when he had heard the damsel's song, again
uttered a great cry, tore the clothes that were upon him, and fell down
in a fit; upon which the attendants would have let fall the curtain over
him as usual; but its cords were immoveable; and Hároon Er-Rasheed, look-
ing towards the young man, beheld upon his body the marks of beating with
mikra'ahs. So after he had looked, and certified himself of the fact, he
said to his Wezeer, O Jaafar, by Allah, he is a comely young man, but an
abominable thief. How, said Jaafar, hast thou discovered that, O Prince
of the Faithful? The Khaleefeh rejoined, Didst thou not see upon his sides
the scars occasioned by whips?
13
Then the attendants let down the curtain over their master, and brought
him another suit of clothing; and after he had put it on, he composed him-
self on his seat as at first, with his boon-companions; but looking towards
the Khaleefeh and Jaafar, he saw them conversing together privately; where-
upon he said to them, What is the news, O ye two young men? So Jaafar
answered, O our lord, good news; save that it is a fact not concealed
from thee that this my companion is of the merchants, and he hath jour-
neyed to all the great cities and the regions of the earth, and hath asso-
ciated with the Kings and with the best of men, and he saith to me, Verily
that which hath been done by our lord the Khaleefeh this night is exces-
sive extravagance, and I have not seen any one do as he hath done in all
the countries of the earth; for he hath rent such and such suits of apparel;
each suit, of the value of a thousand pieces of gold; and this is exceeding
extravagance. But the False Khaleefeh replied, What is this! Verily the
wealth is mine, and the stuff is mine; and this is one of the means of be-
stowing presents upon the servants and other attendants; for every suit
of apparel that I have rent is for one of the boon-companions who are
present, and I have assigned to them, with each suit of apparel, five hundred
pieces of gold. The Wezeer therefore said, Excellently hast thou done, O
our lord. And he recited these two verses:
-
The virtues have built a mansion in the midst of thy hand, and thou hast made thy
wealth common to all men.
If the virtues should ever close their doors, thy hands would be a key that would open
their lock.
468
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And when the young man heard these verses from the mouth of the
Wezeer Jaafar, he gave orders to present him with a thousand pieces of
gold, and a suit of apparel.
The cups then circulated, among them again, and the wine was pleasant
to them, and Er-Rasheed, addressing his Wezeer, said, O Jaafar, inquire
of him respecting the marks of the beating upon his sides, that we may see
what he will say in his answer. Jaafar replied, Hasten not, O our lord,
but soothe thy mind; for patience is more becoming. The Khaleefeh, how-
ever, said, By my head, and by the tomb of El-'Abbas, if thou ask
him not, I will assuredly stop thy breath. And upon this, the young man
looked towards the Wezeer and said, What is the matter with thee and thy
companion, that ye are whispering together? Acquaint me with the sub-
ject of your conversation. — Jaafar answered, It is good. But the young
man replied, I conjure thee by Allah that thou tell me your story, and con-
ceal from me nothing of your affair. So the Wezeer said, O my lord, he
saw upon thy sides the marks occasioned by whips and mikra'ahs, and he
wondered thereat extremely, and said, How can the Khaleefeh be beaten?
and he desireth to know the cause. And when the young man heard this,
he smiled, and said, Know that my story is extraordinary, and my case is
wonderful: if it were engraven upon the understanding, it would be a lesson
to him who would be admonished. Then he groaned, and recited these
verses:
My story is wonderful, surpassing all wonders. I swear by love that my ways have
become strait to me.
If then ye desire to hear me, listen; and let every one in this assembly be silent.
Attend to my words; for they are significant, and my speech is true: it is not false.
I am a victim of desire, and of ardent passion, and my murderess surpasseth all the
high-bosomed damsels.
She hath a deep black eye, like an Indian sword, and she shooteth arrows from the bows
of her eyebrows.
Now my heart feeleth that among you is our Imám, the Khaleefeh of this age, and of
excellent descent;
And that the second of you is he who is called Jaafar, his Wezeer, a Sáheb 15 and the son
of a Sáheb;
And that the third of you is Mesroor, his Executioner: then if this my assertion be not
false,
I have attained the whole of what I wish by this occurrence; and in every respect my
heart is rejoiced.
But when they heard these words from his mouth, Jaafar swore to him,
making use of an ambiguous oath, that they were not the persons whom he
had mentioned. And upon this, the young man laughed, and said, —
Know, O my lords, that I am not the Prince of the Faithful, but that
I have only called myself by this title to obtain what I desire from the
sons of the city. In truth, my name is Mohammad 'Alee, the son of 'Alee
the Jeweller. My father was of the higher order of society, and he died.
and left to me great wealth, in gold and silver, and pearls and coral, and
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER
469
the
of
art
rd.
ask
-
rubies and chrysolites and other jewels, as well as landed property, baths
and fields and gardens, and shops and ovens, and male black slaves and
female slaves, and pages. And it happened one day, that I was sitting in
my shop, with my servants and dependants around me, and, lo, a damsel
approached, mounted upon a mule, and attended by three other damsels,
like moons; and when she came up to me, she alighted at my shop, and,
seating herself with me, said to me, Art thou Mohammad the Jeweller? I
answered her, Yes, I am he, thy memlook and thy slave. And she said,
Hast thou a necklace of jewels suitable to me? O my mistress, I answered,
what I have I will exhibit to thee and place before thee; and if any of
them please thee, it will be of the good fortune of the memlook; and if none
of them please thee, of his ill luck. I had a hundred necklaces of jewels,
and I exhibited to her all of them; but none of those pleased her, and she
said, I desire better than I have seen.
Now I had a small necklace which my father had bought for a hundred
thousand pieces of gold, and the like of it existed not in the possession of
any one among the great Sultáns: so I said to her, I have yet a necklace
of fine stones and jewels, the like of which no one of the great or of the
small possesseth. And she replied, Shew it to me. And when she saw it,
she said, This is the thing that I desire, and it is what I have wished for
all my life. Then she said to me, What is its price? I answered her, Its
price to my father was a hundred thousand pieces of gold. And she replied,
And thou shalt have five thousand pieces of gold as profit. I said, O my
mistress, the necklace and its owner are at thy service, and there is no oppo-
sition on my part. But she replied, Thou must receive a profit, and thou
wilt still be entitled to abundant thanks. She then immediately arose,
quickly mounted the mule, and said to me, O my master, in the name of
Allah, do me the favour to accompany us that thou mayest receive the
price; for this thy day is to us like milk.16
I therefore arose, and, having closed the shop, proceeded with her in
security until we arrived at the house; and I found it to be a mansion dis-
playing evident signs of prosperity: its door was adorned with gold and
silver and ultramarine, and upon it were inscribed these two verses:
O mansion, may mourning never enter thee, nor fortune act treacherously to thine
owner!
An excellent mansion to every guest art thou when other places are strait unto him.
So
The damsel alighted, and entered the house, ordering me to seat myself
upon the mastabah of the door until the money-changer should come.¹
I sat awhile at the door; and, lo, a damsel came forth to me and said to
me, O my master, enter the vestibule; for thy sitting at the door is dis-
honourable. I rose, therefore, and entered the vestibule, where I seated
myself upon the wooden sofa; 18 and while I was sitting there, a damsel
came forth and said to me, O my master, my mistress saith to thee, Enter,
and seat thyself at the door of the saloon, to receive thy money. Accord-
470
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ingly I rose, and entered the house, and when I had sat a moment, I beheld
a throne of gold, with a silken curtain over it, and the curtain was raised,
and there appeared beneath it the damsel who had purchased of me the
necklace. She had displayed a face like the disk of the moon, and the neck-
lace was upon her neck. My reason was disturbed, and my mind was
confounded at the sight of that damsel, by reason of her excessive beauty
and loveliness. And when she beheld me, she rose from the throne, and
came towards me, saying to me, O light of my eye, is every one who is
comely like thee, without sympathy for his beloved? - O my mistress, I
replied, all beauty is centred in thee, and is one of thy charms. And she
said, O Jeweller, know that I love thee, and I did not believe that I could
bring thee into my abode.
-
Then she bent over me, and I kissed her, and she kissed me; after which
she said to me, I am a virgin whom no man hath approached, and I am
not unknown in the city. Knowest thou who I am? I answered, No, by
Allah, O my mistress. And she rejoined, I am the lady Dunyà, the daughter
of Yahyà the son of Khálid El-Barmekee, and my brother is Jaafar, the
Wezeer of the Khaleefeh. So when I heard these her words, I drew back
from her, saying to her, O my mistress, I am not in fault in making advances
towards thee. Thou excitedst my love. But she replied, No harm shall
befall thee; and thou must attain thy wish by the means that God ap-
proveth; for the disposal of myself is in my own power, and the Kadee shall
officiate for me in performing the ceremony of my contract. I desire to be
to thee a wife, and that thou be to me a husband.
She then summoned the Kádee and the witnesses, and busily occupied
herself in preparing; and when they came, she said to them, Mohammad
'Alee the son of 'Alee the Jeweller hath demanded me in marriage, and
given me this necklace as my dowry; and I have accepted his proposal, and
consented. So they performed the contract of my marriage to her, and I
took her as my wife. And after this, she caused the wine-vessels to be
brought, and the cups circulated in the most agreeable and perfect order;
and when the wine penetrated into our heads, she ordered a damsel, a lute-
player, to sing. She therefore did so, and others sang after her, one after
another, until ten damsels had sung. Then the lady Dunyà took the lute,
and, with delightful modulations, sang these verses: -
I swear by the pliancy of thy gracefully-moving figure, that I am suffering the torture
of thine estrangement.
Pity then a heart that is burning with thy love, O bright as the full moon in the darkness
of night!
And when she had finished, I took the lute from her, and, playing in an
extraordinary manner, sang thus:
Extolled be the perfection of my Lord who hath given thee all beauty, so that I have
become thy captive!
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER
471
O thou who hast an eye by which thou captivatest mankind, pray that I may be safe
from the arrows that thou shootest!
And on hearing my song, she rejoiced exceedingly.
I resided with her a whole month, abandoning my shop and family and
home; and she said to me one day, O light of the eye, O my master Mo-
hammad, I have determined to-day to visit the bath, and do thou remain
upon this couch, and not move from thy place until I return to thee. She
conjured me to do so, and I replied, I hear and obey. Then she made me
swear that I would not move from my place, and, taking her female slaves
with her, went to the bath. And by Allah, O my brothers, she had not
arrived at the end of the street when the door was opened and there came
in through it an old woman, who said, O my master Mohammad, the lady
Zubeydeh summoneth thee; for she hath heard of thy polite accomplish-
ments, and elegance, and of the excellence of thy singing. I replied, By
Allah, I will not rise from my place until the lady Dunyà cometh. But
the old woman rejoined, O my master, cause not the lady Zubeydeh to be
incensed against thee, and to become thine enemy. Arise then, and answer
her summons, and return to thy place. So I arose immediately and re-
paired to her, the old woman preceding me, until she conducted me to the
lady Zubeydeh; and when I came to her, she said to me, O light of the
eye, art thou the beloved of the lady Dunyà? I answered, I am thy mem-
look and thy slave. And she said, He hath spoken truth who hath described
thee as distinguished by beauty and loveliness and good breeding and every
charming quality; for thou surpassest the description: but sing to me,
that I may hear thee. So I replied, I hear and obey. And she gave me
the lute, and I sang to it these verses:
The heart of the lover is wearied in his suit, and his body becometh the spoil of diseases.
Among the riders of these haltered camels is none other than a lover whose beloved is
among the caravan.
I commit to God's care a moonlike beauty in your tents, whom my heart loveth, but
who is veiled from my eye;
Now consenting, now angry: how sweet is her feigned coyness! for everything that the
loved-one doth is loved.
And when I had finished the song, she said to me, Allah give health to thy
body, and sweetness to thy voice! for thou art perfect in comeliness and
polite accomplishments and in singing. And now arise and repair to thy
place before the lady Dunyà cometh; lest she find thee not, and be incensed
against thee.
So I kissed the ground before her, and went forth, and proceeded with.
the old woman before me until I arrived at the door from which I had
come out. But when I entered, and came to the couch, I found that the
lady Dunyà had returned from the bath, and she was sleeping upon the
couch. I therefore seated myself at her feet, and pressed them with my
hands; 19 whereupon she opened her eyes, and seeing me, drew up her feet,
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
and kicked me down from the couch, and said, O traitor, thou hast violated
thine oath, and perjured thyself. Thou gavest me a promise that thou
wouldst not move from thy place, and thou hast broken thy promise, and
gone to the lady Zubeydeh. By Allah, were it not for my fear of disgracing
myself, I would demolish her palace over her head! She then said to
her black slave, O Sawáb, arise, and strike off the head of this lying traitor;
for we have no further need of him. So the slave advanced, and having
torn a strip from his skirt, bound my eyes with it, and was about to strike
off my head. But the female slaves, great and small, came to her, and said,
O our mistress, this is not the first who hath been guilty of a fault, and
he knoweth not thy temper, nor hath he committed an offence that re-
quireth his slaughter. And upon this she said, By Allah, I must cause
him to bear some mark of my resentment. Accordingly she gave orders to
beat me, whereupon they beat me on my sides, and these scars which ye
have beheld are the result. After that she commanded that I should be
turned out; and they took me forth to a distance from the mansion, and
threw me down.
•
I raised myself, and walked on by a few steps at a time until I arrived
at my abode, when I caused a surgeon to be brought, and shewed him the
wounds occasioned by the beating; and he treated me with kindness, and
applied himself to my cure. And when I had recovered, and had entered
the bath, and my pains and disorders had ceased, I went to the shop, and,
taking all the goods that it contained, sold them, and with their united
price I bought for myself four hundred memlooks, such as no King ever
collected; and every day two hundred of them rode forth with me. I also
made this bark, for the construction of which I expended five thousand
pieces of gold; and I called myself the Khaleefeh, appointing each of my
servants to the office of some one of the dependants of the Khaleefeh, and
equipping him in his costume, and proclaimed, Whosoever amuseth him-
self upon the Tigris, I will strike off his head without delay. Thus I have
continued to do for a whole year; but I have heard no tidings of the damsel,
nor seen any trace of her.
Then the young man lamented, and poured forth tears, and recited these
verses:
By Allah, I shall never forget her, nor draw near to any but such as may draw her
to me.
She is like the full moon in her aspect. Extolled be the perfection of her Maker!
Extolled be her Creator!
She hath made me full of mourning, sleepless, love-sick; and my mind is confounded by
her charms.
-And when Hároon Er-Rasheed heard his words, and knew his transport
and ardour and desire, his mind was disturbed with sorrow for him, he was
lost in wonder, and he said, Extolled be the perfection of God, who ap-
pointeth for every thing a cause! Then they begged leave of the young
MOHAMMAD 'ALEE THE JEWELLER
473
man to depart; and he gave them permission; Er-Rasheed determining to
do him justice, and to treat him with the utmost munificence.
They departed from him, proceeding to the palace; and when they had
remained sitting there a while, and changed their clothes, and put on the
robes of state, Mesroor the Executioner stood before the Khaleefeh and
Jaafar, and the Khaleefeh said to Jaafar, O Wezeer, bring hither to me
the young man with whom we were last night. The Wezeer replied, I hear
and obey. And he repaired to him, and saluted him, and said to him,
Answer the summons of the Prince of the Faithful, the Khaleefeh Hároon
Er-Rasheed. So the young man went with him to the palace, with a heart
contracted in consequence of the summons; and when he went in to the
Khaleefeh, he kissed the ground before him, greeted him with a prayer
for the endurance of his glory and prosperity, and for the attainment of
his desires, the continuance of his beneficence, and the cessation of evil
and punishments, and, addressing him in the best manner he was able,
said, Peace be on thee, O Prince of the Faithful, and Protector of the
congregation of the believers! Then he recited these two verses:
May thy gate never cease to be repaired to as a Kaabeh, and may its dust ever mark
the foreheads of men!
That throughout all countries it may be proclaimed, This is the Makám, and thou art
Ibraheem."
And the Khaleefeh smiled in his face, returned his salutation, and looking
at him with the eye of respect, caused him to draw near and to seat him-
self before him, and said to him, O Mohammad 'Alee, I desire of thee that
thou relate to me what happened to thee this last night; for it was of a
wonderful and surprising kind. The young man replied, Pardon, O Prince
of the Faithful! Give me the handkerchief of indemnity,21 that my terror
may subside, and my heart be appeased. And the Khaleefeh said, Thou
hast security from fear and sorrows.
So the young man began to relate to him the events which had happened
to him from first to last. And the Khaleefeh, knowing that the young man
was enamoured, and parted from the object of his passion, said to him,
Dost thou desire me to restore her to thee? This, answered the young
man, will be an instance of the abundant beneficence of the Prince of the
Faithful. And thereupon the Khaleefeh, looking towards the Wezeer, said
to him, O Jaafar, bring to me thy sister, the lady Dunyà, the daughter of
the Wezeer Yahyà the son of Khálid. So Jaafar replied, I hear and obey.
He brought her immediately; and when she stood before him, the Kha-
leefeh said to her, Knowest thou who is this? -O Prince of the Faithful,
she said, how should women have knowledge of men? And the Khaleefeh
smiled, and said to her, O Dunyà, this is thy lover, Mohammad 'Alee the
son of the Jeweller: we have become acquainted with the case, and heard
the story from its beginning to its end, and understood what was public
and what was private of it; and the thing is not concealed, though it was
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-
veiled O Prince of the Faithful, she replied, it was written in the Book
[of God's decrees], and I beg forgiveness of God the Great for the actions
committed by me, and request of thy goodness that thou wilt pardon me.
And upon this the Khaleefeh laughed, and, having summoned the Kádee and
the witnesses, renewed the contract of her marriage to her husband Mo-
hammad 'Alee the son of the Jeweller; and there resulted to them the
utmost felicity; and to the envious, mortification. The Khaleefeh also
made the young man one of his boon-companions; and he and his wife
continued in happiness and delight and cheerfulness until they were visited
by the terminator of delights, and the separator of companions.22
XIV
ABOO-MOHAMMAD THE LAZY AND THE ENCHANTED APE¹
HAROON ER-RASHEED was sitting one day upon the imperial throne, when
there came in to him a young man of the eunuchs, with a crown of red
gold set with pearls and jewels, comprising all kinds of jacinths and jewels
such as no money would suffice to procure. This young man kissed the
ground before the Khaleefeh, and said to him, O Prince of the Faithful, the
lady Zubeydeh kisseth the ground before thee, and saith to thee, Thou
knowest that she hath made this crown, and it wanteth a large jewel to be
affixed to its summit; and she hath searched among her treasures, but found
not among them a large jewel such as she desireth. So the Khaleefeh said
to the chamberlains and lieutenants, Search for a large jewel such as Zubey-
deh desireth. They therefore searched, but found nothing that suited her;
and they acquainted the Khaleefeh with this; in consequence of which his
bosom became contracted, and he said, How is it that I am Khaleefeh, and
King of the Kings of the earth, and am unable to procure a jewel? Wo
unto you! Inquire of the merchants. And they inquired of the merchants;
but they answered them, Our lord the Khaleefeh will not find the jewel save
with a man of El-Basrah, named Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy. So they
informed the Khaleefeh of this; and he ordered his Wezeer Jaafar to send
a note to the Emeer Mohammad Ez-Zubeydee, the Governor of El-Basrah,
desiring him to fit out Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy, and to bring him before
the Prince of the Faithful. The Wezeer, therefore, wrote a note to that
effect, and sent it by Mesroor.
Mesroor immediately repaired with it to the city of El-Basrah, and went
in to the Emeer Mohammad Ez-Zubeydee, who rejoiced at seeing him, and
treated him with the utmost honour. He then read to him the note of the
Prince of the Faithful Hároon Er-Rasheed, and he said, I hear and obey.
He forthwith sent Mesroor with a number of his retinue to Aboo-Mohammad
the Lazy, and they repaired to him, and knocked at his door; whereupon
one of the pages came forth to them, and Mesroor said to him, Say to thy
master, The Prince of the Faithful summoneth thee. So the page went in
and acquainted him with this; and he came forth, and found Mesroor, the
chamberlain of the Khaleefeh, attended by the retinue of the Emeer Moham-
mad Ez-Zubeydee; upon which he kissed the ground before him, and said,
I hear and obey the command of the Prince of the Faithful: but enter ye our
abode. They replied, We cannot do so, unless to pay a hasty visit, as the
Prince of the Faithful hath commanded us; for he is expecting thine arrival.
475
476
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
But he said, Have patience with me a little, that I may arrange my business.
And they entered the house with him, after excessive persuasion; and they
beheld, in the passage, curtains of blue brocade embroidered with red gold.
Then Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy ordered some of his pages to conduct
Mesroor into the bath which was in the house; and they did so. And he
saw its walls and its marble pavements to be of extraordinary construction:
it was decorated with gold and silver, and its water was mixed with rose-
water.
The pages paid all attention to Mesroor and those who were with him,
and served them in the most perfect manner; and when they came forth
from the bath, they clad them with honorary dresses of brocade interwoven
with gold; after which, Mesroor and his companions entered, and found
Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy sitting in his pavilion. Over his head were hung
curtains of brocade interwoven with gold, and adorned with pearls and
jewels; the pavilion was furnished with cushions embroidered with red gold;
and he was sitting upon his mattress, which was upon a couch set with
jewels. When Mesroor came in to him, he welcomed him and met him, and,
having seated him by his side, gave orders to bring the table; and when
Mesroor beheld that table, he said, By Allah, I have never seen the like of
this in the palace of the Prince of the Faithful! It comprised varieties of
viands, all placed in dishes of gilt China-ware. We ate, says Mesroor,
and drank, and enjoyed ourselves until the close of the day, when he gave to
each of us five thousand pieces of gold. And on the following day, they clad
us in green dresses of honour, embroidered with gold, and treated us with
the utmost honour. Mesroor then said to Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy, It
is impossible for us to remain longer than this period, from our fear of the
Khaleefeh. But Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy replied, O our lord, have
patience with us until to-morrow, that we may prepare ourselves, and then
we will proceed with you. So they remained that day, and passed the night
until the morning; when the pages equipped a mule for Aboo-Mohammad
the Lazy, with a saddle of gold adorned with varieties of pearls and jewels;
whereupon Mesroor said within himself, When Aboo-Mohammad presenteth
himself before the Khaleefeh with this equipage, I wonder whether he will
ask him how he obtained such wealth.
After that, they took leave of Mohammad Ez-Zubeydee, and, going forth
from El-Basrah, journeyed on until they arrived at the city of Baghdad;
and when they went in to the Khaleefeh, and stood before him, he ordered
Aboo-Mohammad to seat himself. So he sat, and, addressing the Kha-
leefeh with politeness, said, O Prince of the Faithful, I have brought with
me a present in token of service: then may I produce it, with thy permission?
Er-Rasheed answered, There will be no harm in that. Accordingly Aboo-
Mohammad gave orders to bring a chest, which he opened, and he took forth
from it some rarities, among which were trees of gold, the leaves whereof
were formed of white 2 emeralds, and its fruits of red and yellow jacinths,
and white pearls; whereat the Khaleefeh wondered. Then he caused a sec-1
ABOO-MOHAMMAD AND THE ENCHANTED APE
477
and chest to be brought, and took forth from it a tent of brocade, adorned
with pearls and jacinths, and emeralds and chrysolites, and varieties of other
jewels: its poles were of new Indian aloes-wood; its skirts were adorned
with emeralds; and upon it were represented the forms of all living creatures,
as birds and wild beasts; all these designs being adorned with jewels,
acinths and emeralds, and chrysolites and balass rubies, and all kinds of
minerals.
3
And when Er-Rasheed beheld it, he rejoiced exceedingly. Aboo-Moham-
mad the Lazy then said, O Prince of the Faithful, imagine not that I have
brought to thee this, fearing any thing or coveting aught; for the truth is,
that I saw myself to be a man of the common people, and saw that this was
not suitable to any one but the Prince of the Faithful; and if thou give me
permission, I will gratify thee with the sight of some of the feats that I
am able to accomplish. To this Er-Rasheed replied, Do what thou wilt,
that we may see. And Aboo-Mohammad said, I hear and obey. Then he
moved his lips, and made a sign to the battlements of the palace; whereupon
they inclined towards him; and he made another sign to them, and they
resumed their proper position. After this, he made a sign with his eye, and
there appeared before him private chambers with closed doors; and he
addressed some words towards them, whereat the voices of birds replied to
him. And Er-Rasheed wondered at this extremely, and said to him, Whence
obtainedst thou all this power, when thou art not known otherwise than by
the appellation of Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy, and they have informed me
that thy father was a cupper serving in a public bath, and that he left thee
nothing?-O Prince of the Faithful, he answered, hear my story; for it is
wonderful and extraordinary: if it were engraven on the understanding, it
would be a lesson to him who would be admonished. Er-Rasheed said,
Relate what thou hast to tell, and acquaint me with it, Ò Aboo-Mohammad.
So he said, -
---
Know, O Prince of the Faithful (may God continue thy glory and
power!), that the account of the people, that I am known by the surname
of the Lazy, and that my father left me not any property, is true; for my
father was no other than thou hast said: he was a cupper in a public bath.
In my youth I was the laziest of all beings existing upon the face of the
earth. My laziness was so great that when I was sleeping in the hot season
and the sun came upon me, I was too sluggish to rise and remove from the
sun to the shade. Thus I remained fifteen years, at the expiration of which
period my father was admitted to the mercy of God (whose name be
exalted!), and left me nothing. But my mother used to act as a servant
to some people, and feed me and give me drink, while I lay upon my side.
And it happened that my mother came in to me one day, bringing five pieces
of silver; and she said to me, O my son, I have been told that the sheykh
Abu-l-Muzaffar hath determined to make a voyage to China. This sheykh
loved the poor, and was one of the virtuous. And my mother said, O my son,
take these five pieces of silver, and repair with us to him, and we will request
478
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
him to buy for thee with it something from the land of China: perhaps a
profit may thence accrue to thee, of the bounty of God, whose name be
exalted! But I was too lazy to rise and go with her. And upon this she
swore by Allah, that if I did not rise and accompany her she would not feed
me nor give me to drink nor come in to me, but would leave me to die of
hunger and thirst.
So when I heard her words, O Prince of the Faithful, I knew that she
would do so, on account of her knowledge of my laziness. I therefore said
to her, Seat me. And she did so, while I wept.- Bring me my shoes, said I.
And she brought them; and I said, Put them on my feet. And she put them
I then said, Lift me up from the ground. And when she had done this,
I said, Support me, that I may walk. So she supported me, and I continued
walking, and stumbling upon my skirts, until we arrived at the bank of the
river, when we saluted the sheykh, and I said to him, O uncle, art thou
El-Muzaffar? He answered, At thy service. And I said, Take these pieces
of silver, and buy with them for me something from the land of China:
perhaps God may give me a profit from it. And the sheykh Abu-l-Muzaffar
said to his companions, Do ye know this young man? They answered, Yes:
this person is known by the name of Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy; and we
have never seen him to have come forth from his house except on this occa-
sion. The sheykh Abu-l-Muzaffar then said, O my son, give me the money,
and may the blessing of God (whose name be exalted!) attend it. And he
received the money from me, saying, In the name of God. After which, I
returned with my mother to the house.
The sheykh Abu-l-Muzaffar set forth on the voyage, and with him a
company of merchants, and they proceeded without interruption until they
arrived at the land of China; when the sheykh sold and bought, and set forth
to return, he and those who were with him, after they had accomplished their
desires. But when they had continued out at sea for three days, the sheykh
said to his companions, Stay the vessel! The merchants asked, What dost
thou want? And he answered, Know that the deposite committed to me,
belonging to Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy, I have forgotten: so return with
us, that we may buy for him with it something by which he may profit. But
they replied, We conjure thee by Allah (whose name be exalted!) that thou
take us not back; for we have traversed a very long distance, and in doing
so we have experienced great terrors, and exceeding trouble. Still he said.
We must return. They therefore said, Receive from us several times as
much as the profit of the five pieces of silver, and take us not back. So he
assented to their proposal; and they collected for him a large sum of money.
Then they proceeded until they came in sight of an island containing a
numerous population, where they cast anchor; and the merchants landed to
purchase thence merchandise consisting of minerals and jewels and pearls
and other things. And Abu-l-Muzaffar saw a man sitting, with a great
number of apes before him; and among these was an ape whose hair was
plucked off. The other apes, whenever their master was inadvertent, laid
ABOO-MOHAMMAD AND THE ENCHANTED APE
479
hold upon this plucked ape, and beat him, and threw him upon their master;
who arose thereat, and beat them, and chained and tormented them, for
doing this; and all these apes became enraged in consequence against the
other, and beat him again. Now when the sheykh Abu-l-Muzaffar saw this
åpe, he grieved for him, and shewed kindness to him, and said to his owner,
Wilt thou sell me this ape? The man answered, Buy. And the sheykh said,
I have with me, belonging to a lad who is an orphan, five pieces of silver.
Wilt thou sell him to me for that sum? He answered, I sell him to thee.
May God bless thee in him! Then the sheykh took possession of him,
and paid the money to his owner; and the slaves of the sheykh took the
ape, and tied him in the ship.
-
After this, they loosed the sails, and proceeded to another island, where
they cast anchor. And the divers who dived for minerals and pearls and
jewels and other things came down; and the merchants gave them money
as their hire for diving. So they dived; and the ape, seeing them do this,
loosed himself from his cord, leaped from the vessel, and dived with them;
whereupon Abu-l-Muzaffar exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but
in God, the High, the Great! We have lost the ape, with the luck of this
poor youth for whom we bought him! They despaired of the ape; but
when the party of divers came up, lo, the ape came up with them, having
in his hands precious jewels; and he threw them down before Abu-l-Muzaf-
far, who wondered at this, and said, Verily, there is a great mystery in this
ape!
Then they loosed, and proceeded to an island called the Island of the
Zunooj, who are a people of the blacks, that eat the flesh of the sons of
Adam. And when the blacks beheld them, they came to them in boats, and,
taking all that were in the ship, bound their hands behind them, and con-
ducted them to the King, who ordered them to slaughter a number of the
merchants. So they slaughtered them, and ate their flesh. The rest of the
merchants passed the night imprisoned, in great misery; but in the night
the ape arose and came to Abu-l-Muzaffar, and loosed his chains. And when
the merchants beheld Abu-l-Muzaffar loosed, they said, God grant that our
liberation may be effected by thy hands, O Abu-l-Muzaffar! But he replied,
Know ye that none liberated me, by the will of God (whose name be
exalted!), but this ape; and I have bought my liberty of him for a thousand
pieces of gold. So the merchants said, And we in like manner: each of us
buyeth his liberty of him for a thousand pieces of gold, if he release us.
The ape therefore arose and went to them, and began to loose one after
another, until he had loosed them all from their chains; and they repaired
to the ship, and embarked in it, and found it safe; nothing being lost from it.
They loosed immediately, and continued their voyage, and Abu-l-Muzaf-
far said, O merchants, fulfil the promise that ye have given to the ape. They
replied, We hear and obey. And each of them paid him a thousand pieces.
of gold. Abu-l-Muzaffar also took forth from his property a thousand pieces
of gold; and a great sum of money was thus collected for the ape. They
480
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
then continued their voyage until they arrived at the city of El-Basrah;
whereupon their companions came to meet them; and when they had landed,
Abu-l-Muzaffar said, Where is Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy? The news there-
fore reached my mother, and while I was lying asleep, my mother came
to me and said, O my son, the sheykh Abu-l-Muzaffar hath arrived, and
come to the city: rise then, and repair to him and salute him, and ask him
what he hath brought for thee: perhaps God (whose name be exalted!) hath
blessed thee with something. So I replied, Lift me from the ground, and
support me, that I may go forth and walk to the bank of the river. I walked
on, stumbling upon my skirts, until I came to the sheykh Abu-l-Muzaffar;
and when he beheld me, he said to me, Welcome to him whose money was
the means of my liberation and the liberation of these merchants, by the will
of God, whose name be exalted! He then said to me, Take this ape; for I
bought him for thee; go with him to thy house, and wait until I come to thee.
I therefore took the ape before me, and went, saying within myself, By
Allah, this is none other than magnificent merchandise! I entered my house,
and said to my mother, Every time that I lie down to sleep, thou desirest me
to arise to traffic: see then with thine eye this merchandise. Then I sat
down; and while I was sitting, lo, the slaves of Abu-l-Muzaffar approached
me, and said to me, Art thou Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy? I answered them,
Yes. And behold, Abu-l-Muzaffar approached, following them. I rose to
him, and kissed his hands, and he said to me, Come with me to my house.
So I replied, I hear and obey. I proceeded with him until I entered the
house, when he ordered his slaves to bring the money; and they brought it,
and he said, O my son, God hath blessed thee this wealth as the profit of
the five pieces of silver. They then carried it in the chests upon their heads,
and he gave me the keys of those chests, saying to me, Walk before the slaves
to thy house; for all this wealth is thine.
I therefore went to my mother, and she rejoiced at this, and said, O my
son, God hath blessed thee with this abundant wealth; so give over this
laziness, and go down into the market-street, and sell and buy. Accordingly,
I relinquished my lazy habits, and opened a shop in the market-street, and
the ape sat with me upon my mattress: when I ate, he ate with me; and when
I drank, he drank with me; and every day he absented himself from me
from morning until noon, when he came, bringing with him a purse con-
taining a thousand pieces of gold, and he put it by my side, and sat down.
Thus he ceased not to do for a long time, until abundant wealth had accrued
to me; whereupon I bought, O Prince of the Faithful, possessions and rabas,
and planted gardens, and purchased memlooks and male black slaves and
female slaves.
And it happened one day that I was sitting, and the ape was sitting with
me upon the mattress, and, lo, he looked to the right and left; whereat I
said within myself, What is the matter with this ape? And God caused the
ape to speak, with an eloquent tongue, and he said, O Aboo-Mohammad! On
hearing this, I was violently terrified; but he said, Fear not. I will acquaint
ABOO-MOHAMMAD AND THE ENCHANTED APE
481
-
thee with my condition. I am a Márid of the Jinn; but I came to thee on
account of thy poverty, and now thou knowest not the amount of thy wealth;
and I have a want for thee to perform, the accomplishment of which will be
productive of good to thee. What is it? I asked. He answered, I desire
to marry thee to a damsel like the full moon. -And how so? said I. —
To-morrow, he answered, attire thyself in thy rich clothing, mount thy mule
with the saddle of gold, and repair with me to the market of the sellers of
fodder: there inquire for the shop of the Shereef," and seat thyself by him,
and say to him, I have come to thee as a suitor, desiring thy daughter. And
if he say to thee, Thou hast not wealth nor rank nor descent, - give him a
thousand pieces of gold: and if he say to thee, Give me more, do so, and
excite his cupidity for money. So I replied, I hear and obey: to-morrow I
will do this, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted!
-
Accordingly, when I arose in the morning, I put on the richest of my
apparel, mounted the mule with the saddle of gold, and, having gone to the
market of the sellers of fodder, inquired for the shop of the Shereef, and
found him sitting in his shop. I therefore alighted and saluted him, and
seated myself with him. I had with me ten of my black slaves, and mem-
looks; and the Shereef said, Perhaps thou hast some business with us which
we may have the pleasure of performing. So I replied, Yes: I have some
business with thee. — And what is it? He asked. I answered, I have come
unto thee as a suitor, desiring thy daughter. He replied, Thou hast not
wealth nor rank nor descent. And upon this I took forth and presented to
him a purse containing a thousand pieces of red gold, saying to him, This
is my rank and descent; and he whom may God bless and save hath said,
An excellent rank is [that conferred by] wealth. How good also is the
saying of the poet! --
-
Whoso possesseth two dirhems, his lips have learned varieties of speech, which he
uttereth:
His brethren draw near and listen to him, and thou seest him haughty among mankind.
Were it not for his money, in which he glorieth, thou wouldst find him in a most igno-
minious state.
When the rich man erreth in speech, they reply, Thou hast spoken truly, and not
uttered vanity:
But when the poor man speaketh truly, they reply, Thou hast lied, - and make void
what he hath asserted."
Verily money, in every habitation, investeth men with dignity and with comeliness:
It is the tongue for him who would be eloquent, it is the weapon for him who would
fight.
And when the Shereef heard these words, and understood the verses, he
hung down his head for a while towards the ground; after which, he raised
his head, and said to me, If it must be, I desire of thee three thousand pieces
of gold besides. So I replied, I hear and obey. I immediately sent one of
the memlooks to my house, and he brought me the money that the Shereef
had demanded; and when the Shereef saw this come to him, he arose from
the shop, and said to his young men, Close it. Then he invited his com-
482
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
panions from the market to his house, and, having performed the contract of
my marriage to his daughter, said to me, After ten days I will introduce
thee to her.
-
I returned to my house, full of joy, and in privacy informed the ape
of that which had happened to me; whereupon he said, Excellently hast
thou done. And when the time appointed by the Shereef approached, the
ape said to me, I have a want for thee to perform: if thou accomplish it
for me, thou shalt obtain of me what thou wilt. And what is thy want?
said I. He answered, At the upper end of the saloon in which thou wilt
pay thy first visit to the daughter of the Shereef is a closet, upon the door
of which is a ring of brass, and the keys are beneath the ring. Take them,
and open the door. Thou wilt find a chest of iron, at the corners of which
are four talismanic flags; in the midst is a basin filled with money, and by
its side are eleven serpents, and in the basin is tied a white cock with a
cleft comb; and there is also a knife by the side of the chest. Take the
knife, and kill with it the cock, tear in pieces the flags, and empty the chest;
and after that, go forth to the bride. This is what I require of thee.--
And I replied, I hear and obey.
I then went to the house of the Shereef, and, entering the saloon, I looked
towards the closet which the ape had described to me. And when I was left
alone with the bride, I wondered at her beauty and loveliness, and her just-
ness of stature and form; for she was such that the tongue cannot describe
her beauty and loveliness. I was exceedingly delighted with her; and when
midnight came, and the bride slept, I arose, took the keys, and opened the
closet, and, taking the knife, I killed the cock, threw down the flags, and
overturned the chest; whereupon the damsel awoke, and saw that the closet
was opened, and the cock killed; and she exclaimed, There is no strength
nor power but in God, the High, the Great! The Márid hath taken me!
And her words were not ended when the Márid encompassed the house,
and snatched away the bride. Upon this, a clamour ensued; and, lo, the
Shereef approached, slapping his face, and said, O Aboo-Mohammad, what
is this deed that thou hast done unto us? Is this the recompense we receive
from thee? I made this talisman in this closet through my fear for my
daughter from this accursed wretch; for he was desirous of taking this
damsel during a period of six years, and could not do so. But thou shalt
no longer remain with us: so go thy way.
I therefore went forth from the house of the Shereef, and, having returned
to my own abode, searched for the ape; but I found him not, nor saw any
trace of him: so I knew that he was the Márid who had taken my wife, and
that he had practised a stratagem against me so that I had acted thus with
the talisman and the cock which prevented his taking her. I repented, and
tore my clothes in pieces, and slapped my face. No region was wide enough
for me; so I went forth immediately, seeking the desert, and stopped not
until the evening overtook me; and I knew not whither to go. But while
I was absorbed in meditation, lo, two serpents approached me; one, tawny
ABOO-MOHAMMAD AND THE ENCHANTED APE
483
coloured; and the other, white; and they were contending together. I there-
fore took up a stone from the ground, and struck with it the tawny serpent,
and killed it; for it was oppressing the white one. Then the white serpent
departed, and was absent for a while; after which it returned, accompanied
by ten other white serpents; and they came to the dead serpent, and tore it
in pieces, so that there remained only his head; which having done, they
went their way.
Thereupon I laid myself prostrate on my bosom in that place, through
weariness; and while I was so lying, meditating upon my case, a being
whose voice I heard, but whose form I saw not, uttered these two verses:
Let destiny run with slackened reins, and pass not the night but with careless mind;
For between the closing of an eye and its opening, God effecteth a change in the state of
affairs.
On hearing this, O Prince of the Faithful, I was vehemently affected, and
inspired with the utmost trouble of mind; and I heard a voice behind me
reciting this couplet:
O Muslim, whose guide is the Kur-án, rejoice in it; for safety hath come to thee;
And fear not what Satan hath suggested; for we are people whose religion is the true one.
So I said to the person who addressed me, By the Object of thy worship,
inform me who thou art! Whereupon the invisible speaker assumed the
form of a man, and replied, Fear not; for thy kind conduct hath become
known to us, and we are a tribe of the believing Jinn; if then thou hast any
want, acquaint us with it, that we may have the pleasure of performing it.
I therefore said to him, Verily I have a great want; for I have been afflicted
with a heavy calamity. And unto whom hath happened the like of my
calamity? And he said, Perhaps thou art Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy. I
replied, Yes. And he said, O Aboo-Mohammad, I am a brother of the white
serpent, whose enemy thou killedst. We are four brothers by the same father
and mother, and we are all thankful for your kindness. And know that he
who was in the form of an ape, and who practised this artifice with thee, is
one of the Márids of the Jinn; and had he not employed this stratagem,
he had never been able to take the damsel; for of a long time he hath been
desirous of taking her, and this talisman prevented him; and had the talis-
man remained, he could not have obtained access to her. But fear not on
account of this affair: we will convey thee to her, and we will slay the
Márid; for thy kindness is not lost upon us.
He then uttered a great cry, with a terrible voice; and, lo, a troop
approached him, and he inquired of them respecting the ape; upon which
one of them answered, I know his abode. He said, Where is his abode?
And he answered, In the City of Brass, upon which the sun riseth not. And
he said, O Aboo-Mohammad, take one of our slaves, and he will carry thee
on his back, and will instruct thee how thou shalt take the damsel.
But
484
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
know that the slave is one of the Márids; and when he carrieth thee, men-
tion not the name of God while he beareth thee; for if thou mention it, he
will fly from thee, and thou wilt fall and perish. So I replied, I hear and
obey.
I took one of their slaves, and he stooped, and said, Mount. And I
mounted. He then soared with me into the sky until he had ascended out
of sight of the world; and I saw the stars resembling the firm mountains,
and heard the Angels extolling the perfection of God in Heaven. All this
while the Márid was conversing with me and amusing me, and diverting me
from mentioning God, whose name be exalted! But while I was in this
state, lo, a person clad in green garments, and having long locks of hair,
and a resplendent countenance, and in his hand a spear from which sparks
flew forth, approached and said to me, O Aboo-Mohammad, say, There is no
deity but God: Mohammad is God's Apostle- or I will smite thee with
this spear. My heart was already rent in pieces by my abstaining from
mentioning God (whose name be exalted!): so I said, There is no deity but
God: Mohammad is God's Apostle. And immediately that person smote the
Márid with the spear; whereupon he dissolved, and became ashes; and I
fell from his back, and continued descending to the earth until I dropped
into a roaring sea, agitated with waves.
But, lo, there was a ship, containing five sailors; and when they saw me,
they came to me, and took me up into the vessel, and began to speak to
me in a language which I knew not. I therefore made a sign to them that I
knew not their language. And they proceeded on their voyage until the
close of the day, when they cast a net, and caught a large fish, which they
broiled; and they gave me to eat. They continued their voyage until they
had conveyed me to their city; upon which they took me in to their King,
and placed me before him; and I kissed the ground, and he bestowed upon
me a dress of honour. Now this King was acquainted with Arabic, and he
said, I appoint thee to be one of my guards. And I said to him, What is the
name of this city? He answered, Its name is Henád,10 and it is in the land
of China. Then the King delivered me to the Wezeer of the city, command-
ing him to shew me the city. The inhabitants of this city were originally
infidels; in consequence of which, God (whose name be exalted!) had turned
them into stones. I amused myself by taking a view of it; and have beheld
nowhere a greater abundance of trees and fruits than it possessed.
I resided there for the space of a month, after which I went to a river,
and seated myself upon its banks; and while I was sitting, lo, a horseman
came and said, Art thou Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy? I answered him, Yes.
And he said, Fear not; for thy kind conduct hath become known unto us.
So I asked him, Who art thou? And he answered, I am a brother of the
serpent, and thou art near unto the place of the damsel to whom thou desirest
to obtain access. Then he took off his clothes, and, having clad me with
them, said to me, Fear not; for the slave who perished beneath thee was one
of our slaves. And after this, the horseman took me up behind him, and
ABOO-MOHAMMAD AND THE ENCHANTED APE 485
conveyed me to a desert, where he said to me, Alight from behind me, and
proceed between these two mountains until thou seest the City of Brass:
then stop at a distance from it, and enter it not till I return to thee, and
struct thee how to act. So I replied, I hear and obey. I alighted from
behind him, and walked on until I arrived at the city, when I saw that its
wall was of brass; and I went round about, hoping to find a gate to it:
but I found none. And while I was going round it, lo, the brother of the
serpent approached me, and gave me a talismanic sword that would prevent
any one from seeing me. He then went his way; and he had been but a
short time absent from me when cries rose, and Ì beheld a number of
persons whose eyes were in their breasts; and when they saw me, they said,
Who art thou, and what cast thee into this place? So I acquainted them
with the occurrence; and they replied, The damsel whom thou hast men-
toned is with the Márid in this city, and we know not what he hath done
ith her; and we are brothers of the serpent. Then they added, Go to
at spring, see by what channel the water entereth, and enter thou with
for it will convey thee into the city.
I therefore did so. I entered with the water into a grotto beneath the
earth, and, rising thence, beheld myself in the midst of the city, and found
the damsel sitting upon a couch of gold, with a canopy of brocade over her,
and round the canopy was a garden containing trees of gold, the fruits of
hich were of precious jewels, such as rubies and chrysolites, and pearls and
Coral. And when the damsel saw me, she knew me; and, having saluted me
st, she said to me, O my master, who brought thee to this place? So I
formed her of the events that had happened; and she replied, Know that this
accursed wretch, from the excess of his affection for me, hath acquainted
e with that which will injure him and that which will benefit him, and hath
informed me that there is in this city a talisman with which, if he desired to
stroy all who are in the city, he could destroy them; and whatsoever he
should order his 'Efreets to do, they would comply with his command; and
that talisman is upon a pillar. -
And where, said I, is the pillar? She an-
ered, in such a place. And what is that talisman? I asked. She answered,
It is the figure of an eagle, and upon it is an inscription which I know not.
Take it, and place it before thee, and take a censer with fire, and throw
to it a little musk, whereupon there will rise from it a smoke which will
tract the 'Efreets. If thou do so, they will all present themselves before
-
-
thee; not one of them will remain absent and they will obey thy command,
and do whatsoever thou shalt order them. Arise, therefore, and do that,
and may the blessing of God (whose name be exalted!) attend the act. -
So I replied, I hear and obey.
and the 'Efreets came and presented themselves before me, each of them
I arose, and went to that pillar, and did all that she desired me to do,
saying, At thy service, O my master! Whatsoever thou commandest us to
-
-
do, we will do it. I therefore said to them, Chain the Márid who brought
is damsel from her abode. And they replied, We hear and obey.
486
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
They repaired immediately to that Márid, and chained him, making his
bonds tight; and returned to me, saying, We have done what thou hast
commanded us. And I ordered them to return. I then went back to the
damsel, and, having acquainted her with what had happened, said, O
my wife, wilt thou go with me? She answered, Yes. And I went forth
with her by the subterranean grotto by which I had entered; and we pro-
ceeded until we came to the party who had directed me to her; when I said
to them, Direct me to a route that shall lead me to my country.
Accordingly they guided me and walked with me to the shore of the sea,
and placed us on board a ship; and the wind was favourable, and the ship
conveyed us on until we arrived at the city of El-Basrah. And when the
damsel entered the house of her father, her family saw her, and rejoiced
exceedingly at her return. I then fumigated the eagle with musk, and, lo,
the 'Efreets approached me from every quarter, saying, At thy service, and
what dost thou desire us to do? And I commanded them to transport all
that was in the City of Brass, of money and minerals and jewels, to my
house which was in El-Basrah; and they did so. After that, I commanded
them to bring the ape; and they brought him in an abject and despicable
state; whereupon I said to him, O accursed, why didst thou act perfidiously
to me? And I ordered them to put him into a bottle of brass. So they put
him into a narrow bottle of brass, and stopped it over him with lead. And
I resided with my wife in joy and happiness. I have now, O Prince of the
Faithful, of precious treasures, and extraordinary jewels, and abundant
wealth, what cannot be expressed by numbers, nor confined by limits; and
if thou desire any thing, of wealth or aught else, I will command the Jinn
to bring it to thee immediately. All this I have received from the bounty
of God, whose name be exalted!
And the Prince of the Faithful wondered at this story extremely. He
gave him imperial presents in return for his gift, and treated him with
the favour that was suitable to him.¹¹
11
XV
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD: THEIR STRANGE
SEPARATION AND STRANGER REUNION
THE
`HERE was, in ancient times, a certain merchant in the land of Khurá-
sán,' whose name was Mejd-ed-Deen,² and he had great wealth, and
black slaves, and memlooks and pages; but he had attained to the age of
sixty years, and had not been blessed with a son. After this, however, God
(whose name be exalted!) blessed him with a son, and he named him 'Alee
Shér.3
-
When this boy grew up, he became like the full moon; and when he had
attained to manhood, and was endowed with every charm, his father fell
sick of a fatal disease. So he called his son, and said to him, O my son, the
period of death hath drawn near, and I desire to give thee a charge. And
what is it, O my father? said the young man. He answered, I charge thee
that thou be not familiar with any one among mankind, and that thou shun
what may bring injury and misfortune. Beware of the evil associate; for
he is like the blacksmith; if his fire burn thee not, his smoke will annoy thee.
How excellent is the saying of the poet! -
There is none in thy time whose friendship thou shouldst covet; nor any intimate who,
when fortune is treacherous, will be faithful.
Live then apart, and rely upon no man: I have given thee, in these words, good advice,
and sufficient.*
And the saying of another:
-
Men are as a latent disease: rely not therefore upon them.
Thou wilt find guile and artifice in them if thou examine them.
And that of another:
Intercourse with men profiteth nothing, unless to pass time in idle conversation.
Then converse with them little, except for the purpose of acquiring knowledge or recti-
fying an affair.
And the saying of another: -
If a person of sagacity hath tried mankind, I have eaten them, when he hath but
tasted; *
And I have seen their affection to be nought but deceit, and their religion I have seen
to be nought but hypocrisy.
487
488
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The young man replied, O my father, I hear and obey. Then what next dost
thou counsel me to do? - His father answered, Do good when thou art able;
persevere in comely conduct towards men, and avail thyself of opportunities
to dispense kind actions; for a wish is not always of easy accomplishment;
and how good is the saying of the poet!
It is not at every time and season that acts of beneficence are easily performed.
When thou art able, then, hasten to do them, lest they should become difficult to
execute.
Then what more? - O my son, an-
He will then be mindful of thee.
And the son replied, I hear and obey.
swered the father, Be mindful of God:
Guard also thy wealth, and be not prodigal of it; for if thou be prodigal of
it, thou wilt become in need of the assistance of the least of mankind: and
know that the estimation in which a man is held is according to that which
his right hand possesseth. How excellent is the saying of the poet! -
When my wealth becometh little, no friend consorteth with me; but when it increaseth,
all men are my friends.
How many enemies for the sake of wealth have borne me company! And how many
friends for its loss have become my enemies.
And what besides? said the young man. His father answered, O my son,
consult him who is older than thyself, and hasten not to perform a thing
that thou desirest to do: have compassion also upon him who is thine inferior;
then he who is thy superior will have compassion upon thee; and oppress
not any, lest God give power over thee to one who will oppress thee. How
excellent is the saying of the poet! -
Add to thy judgment another's, and ask counsel; for the truth is not concealed from
the minds of two.
A man's mind is a mirror, which sheweth him his face; but by means of two mirrors
he will see his back.
And that of another:
Deliberate, and haste not to accomplish thy desire; and be merciful, so shalt thou meet
with one merciful:
For there is no hand but God's hand is above it; nor oppressor that shall not meet with
an oppressor.
Beware of drinking wine; for it is the chief of every evil: it dispelleth the
reason, and bringeth contempt upon the drinker: and how good is the
saying of the poet! -
By Allah, wine shall not disturb me while my soul is united with my body, and while
words explain my thoughts;
Nor ever will I childishly attach myself to it, nor choose any one as my associate but
the sober.
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
489
-
-
This is my charge to thee, and do thou keep it before thine eyes; and may
God supply my place to thee! Then he fainted, and remained a while
silent; after which he recovered his senses, and begged forgiveness of God,
pronounced the professions of the faith, and was admitted to the mercy of
God, whose name be exalted!
His son wept for him and lamented. He made becoming preparations for
his burial; great and small walked in his funeral-procession, the reciters of
the Kur-án recited around his bier, and his son omitted not the performance
of any honour that was due to the deceased. They then prayed over him
and interred him, and inscribed upon his tomb these two verses:
Thou wast formed of dust, and camest to life, and learnedst eloquence of discourse;
And to dust thou returnedst, and becamest a corpse, as though from the dust thou hadst
never issued.
His son 'Alee Shér grieved for him violently, and observed the ceremonies of
mourning for him in the manner usual at the death of persons of distinc-
tion. He remained mourning for his father until his mother died a short time.
after him; when he did with the corpse of his mother as he had done with
that of his father. And after this, he sat in the shop to sell and buy, and
associated with no one of the creatures of God (whose name be exalted!),
conforming to the charge of his father.
Thus he continued to do for the space of a year; but after the expira-
tion of the year, the sons of the licentious women obtained access to him by
stratagems, and became his companions, so that he inclined with them unto
wickedness, and declined from the path of rectitude; he drank wine by
cupfuls, and to the beauties morning and evening he repaired; and he said
within himself, My father hath amassed for me this wealth, and if I dispose
not of it, to whom shall I leave it? By Allah, I will not do but as the poet
hath said:
If during the whole of thy life thou collectest and amassest property,
When wilt thou enjoy the wealth which thou hast thus acquired?
He ceased not to squander his wealth night and day until he had expended
the whole of it and was reduced to poverty. Evil was his condition, and dis-
turbed was his mind, and he sold the shop and the dwellings and other pos-
sessions; and after that, he sold his clothes, not leaving for himself more
than one suit.
Now when intoxication had quitted him and reflection had come, he fell
into grief; and he sat one day from dawn until the time of afternoon-prayers
without breaking fast; whereupon he said within himself, I will go round to
those upon whom I spent my wealth: perhaps one of them will feed me this
day. He therefore went round to all of them; but on each occasion of his
knocking at the door of one of them, the man denied himself, and hid himself
from him; so hunger tortured him. And he went to the market of the mer-
490
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
6
chants, and found there a ring of persons crowding together, and the people
flocking thither; upon which he said within himself, What can be the reason
of the assembling of these people? By Allah, I will not remove from this
place until I have gratified myself with a sight of this ring. --- Then
advancing to it, he found there a damsel of quinary stature, of just figure,
rosy-cheeked, high-bosomed; she surpassed the people of her age in beauty
and loveliness, and in elegance and every charm. The name of this damsel
was Zumurrud; and when 'Alee Shér beheld her, he wondered at her beauty
and loveliness, and said, By Allah, I will not depart until I see to what sum
the price of this damsel will amount, and know who will purchase her. So
he stood among the merchants, and they imagined that he would buy, as
they knew the abundance of wealth that he had inherited from his parents.
8
-
7
The broker, having stationed himself at the head of the damsel, then said.
O merchants! O possessors of wealth! who will open the bidding for this
damsel, the mistress of moon-like beauties, the precious pearl, Zumurrud the
curtain-maker, the object of the seeker's wishes, and the delight of the
desirer? Open the bidding; for the opener is not obnoxious to blame or
reproach! And one of the merchants said, Let her be mine for five hundred
pieces of gold. Another said, And ten. And a sheykh, named Rasheed-ed-
Deen, who had blue eyes, and a foul aspect, said, And a hundred. Another
then said, And ten. And the sheykh said, For a thousand pieces of gold.
And upon this, the tongues of the merchants were tied, and they were silent.
The broker therefore consulted the damsel's owner; but he said, I am under an
oath that I will not sell her save unto whom she will choose: so consult her.
The broker accordingly came to her and said, O mistress of moon-light beau-
ties, this merchant desireth to purchase thee. And she looked at him, and,
seeing him to be as we have described, she said to the broker, I will not be
sold to a sheykh whom old age hath reduced to a most evil condition.
Divinely gifted was he who said,-
I asked her for a kiss, one day; and she beheld my hoariness (but I was possessed of
wealth and affluence),
And she turned away from me, saying, Nay: by Him who created mankind out of
nothing,
I have no desire for hoary hairs. Shall my mouth while I am living be stuffed with
cotton ? 10
And when the broker heard her words, he said to her, By Allah, thou art
excused, and thy value is ten thousand pieces of gold. Then he informed
her owner that she approved not of that sheykh; and he replied, Consult
her respecting another. And another man advanced and said, Let her be
mine for the sum that the sheykh of whom she approved not offered for
her. But the damsel, looking at that man, found that he had a dyed beard;
whereupon she said, What is this disgrace, and this dubious conduct, and
blackening of hoary hairs! And after expressing great wonder, she recited
these verses:
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
491
A spectacle indeed did such-a-one present to me, -a neck, by Allah, to be beaten with
shoes! "
0 thou who art fascinated by my cheek and my figure, dost thou thus disguise thyself,
and care not;
12
Dyeing disgracefully thy hoary hairs, and concealing them for fraudulent purposes?
Thou goest with one beard and returnest with another, as though thou wert one of
the puppetmen.¹³
And the broker, when he heard her verses, said to her, By Allah, thou hast
spoken truth. The merchant who had bidden for her asked, What was it
that she said? So the broker repeated the verses to him; and he knew that
he was in fault, and gave up the idea of purchasing her. Then another mer-
chant advanced and said, Ask her if she will consent to be mine for the sum
that thou hast heard. He therefore consulted her for him; and she looked
at him, and saw that he was one-eyed, and replied, This man is one-eyed,
and the poet hath said of such a person,
-
Keep not company with the one-eyed for a single day; but beware of his malignity and
falsehood;
For had there been any good in him, God had not caused the blindness in his eye."
The broker then [pointing to another] said to her, Wilt thou be sold to that
merchant? And she looked at him, and, seeing that he was a short man,
with a beard descending to his girdle, she answered, This is he of whom
the poet hath said, -
I have a friend with a beard which God hath made to grow to a useless length.
It is like unto one of the nights of winter, long and dark and cold.
The broker therefore said to her, O my mistress, see who among the per-
sons present pleaseth thee, and say which he is, that I may sell thee to him.
So she looked at the ring of merchants, and as she examined their physiogno-
mies, one after another, her eye fell upon 'Alee Shér. The sight of him oc-
casioned her a thousand sighs, and her heart became enamoured of him;
for he was of surprising loveliness, and more bland than the northern
zephyr; and she said, O broker, I will not be sold to any but to this my
master, with the comely face and surpassing figure, of whom one of his
describers hath thus said:
They displayed thy lovely face, and then blamed the person who was tempted.
If they had desired to protect me, they had veiled thy beautiful countenance.
None then shall possess me but he; for his cheek is smooth, and the mois-
ture of his mouth is like Selsebeel,15 a cure for the sick, and his charms
perplex the poet and the prose-writer. He is as the poet hath said of him,
His saliva is like wine; and his breath, like musk; and those his fore-teeth resemble
camphor.
492
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Ridwán hath sent him forth from his abode in his fear that the Hooreeyehs might be
tempted.¹º
Mankind reproach him for his pride; but for pride the full moon is to be excused.
The person with the curling hair, and the rosy cheek, and the enchanting
glance, of whom the poet hath said, —
Oft a fawn-like person hath promised me a meeting, and my heart hath been restless
and mine eye expectant.
His eyelids assured me of the truth of his promise; but how can they, languishing as
they are, fulfil it?
17
And when the broker heard the verses that she recited on the charms of
'Alee Shér, he wondered at her eloquence, as well as at the splendour of her
beauty. But her owner said to him, Wonder not at her beauty, that put-
teth to shame the sun of day, nor at her having her memory stored with the
elegant effusions of the poets; for she also reciteth the glorious Kur-án accord-
ing to the seven readings, and relateth the noble traditions as authentically
transmitted, and writeth the seven different hands, 18 and knoweth of the
sciences what the very learned sage knoweth not, and her hands are better
than gold and silver; for she maketh curtains of silk, and selleth them, gain-
ing, by every one, fifty pieces of gold; and she worketh a curtain in eight
days.19 So the broker said, O the good fortune of him in whose house
this damsel shall be, and who includeth her among his choice treasures! Her
owner then said to him, Sell her to whomsoever she chooseth.
Accordingly the broker returned to 'Alee Shér, and, having kissed his
hands, said, O my master, purchase this damsel; for she hath made choice
of thee. And he described her to him, telling him what she knew, and said
to him, Happy will be thy lot if thou purchase her; for He who is not sparing
of his gifts hath bestowed her upon thee. So 'Alee Shér hung down his head
for a while towards the ground, laughing at his case, and saying within him-
self, I am to the present hour without breakfast; but I am ashamed before
the merchants to say that I have no money wherewith to purchase her. And
the damsel, seeing him hanging down his head, said to the broker, Take me
by the hand and lead me to him, that I may display myself to him, and
excite his desire to possess me; for I will not be sold to any but him. The
broker therefore took her and stationed her before 'Alee Shér, saying to
him, What is thy good pleasure, O my master? But he returned him no
answer. So the damsel said, O my master, and beloved of my heart, where-
fore wilt thou not purchase me? Purchase me for what thou wilt, and I will
bé a means of good fortune to thee. And he raised his head towards her,
and said, Is a person to be made by force to purchase? Thou art dear at
the price of a thousand pieces of gold. She replied, O my master, purchase
me for nine hundred. He said, No.- For eight hundred, she rejoined. He
said, No.
And she ceased not to abate the price until she said to him, For
one hundred pieces of gold. But he said, I have not a hundred complete.
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
493
And she laughed, and said to him, How much dost thou want of a hundred?
He answered, I have not a hundred nor less than a hundred. By Allah, I
possess not either white or red, either a piece of silver or a piece of gold.
So see for thyself some other desirous customer. - And when she knew that
he had nothing, she said to him, Take my hand, as though thou wouldst
examine me in a by-lane. He therefore did so; and she took forth from
her pocket a purse containing a thousand pieces of gold, and said to him,
Weigh out from it nine hundred as my price, and retain the remaining hun-
dred in thy possession, as it will be of use to us.
So he did as she desired him. He purchased her for nine hundred pieces
of gold, and, having paid her price from that purse, repaired with her to the
house. And when she arrived there, she found that the house presented
plain, clear floors; having neither furniture nor utensils in it. She therefore
gave him a thousand pieces of gold, saying to him, Go to the market, and buy
for us, with three hundred pieces of gold, furniture and utensils for the house.
And he did so. Then she said to him, Buy for us food and beverage with
three pieces of gold. And he did this. Next she said to him, Buy for us a
piece of silk, as much as will suffice for a curtain, and buy gold and silver
thread, and silk thread of seven different colours. And this also he did. She
then spread the furniture in the house, and lighted the candles, and sat
eating and drinking with him; after which, they embraced each other, and
presented the spectacle thus described by the poet:-
Eyes have not beheld a more beautiful sight than that of two lovers side by side,
Embracing each other, in the garments of content, pillowing themselves with wrist
and arm.
When hearts have become united together, the censurers beat upon cold iron.
O thou who reproachest the lovers for their passion, canst thou reform a heart that
is spoiled?
If in thy life one person delight thee, thou hast thy desire; then live with that one.
The love of each became fixed in the heart of the other; and on the fol-
lowing morning the damsel took the curtain, and embroidered it with the
coloured silks, and ornamented it with the gold and silver thread. She
worked a border to it, with the figures of birds, and represented around it
the figures of wild beasts, and there was not a wild beast in the world that
she omitted to portray upon it. She continued working upon it for eight
days; and when it was finished, she cut it and glazed it, and then gave it
to her master, saying to him, Repair with it to the market, and sell it for
fifty pieces of gold to a merchant, and beware of selling it to any one pass-
ing along the street, because that would be the cause of separation between
me and thee; for we have enemies who are not unmindful of us. And he
replied, I hear and obey. He repaired with it to the market, and sold it to
a merchant as she had desired him; after which he bought another piece of
silk, together with the silk thread, and the gold and silver thread, as before,
and what they required of food, and having brought these things to her,
494
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
gave her the rest of the money. And every eight days she gave him a cur-
tain to sell for fifty pieces of gold.
Thus she continued to do for the space of a whole year. And after the
expiration of the year, he went to the market with the curtain as usual,
and gave it to the broker; and there met him a Christian, who offered him
sixty pieces of gold. He refused to sell it to him; but the Christian ceased not
to increase the sum until he offered him a hundred pieces of gold, and he
bribed the broker with ten pieces of gold. So the broker returned to 'Alee
Shér, informed him of the price that had been offered, and made use of arti-
fice to induce him to sell the curtain to the Christian for that sum, saying
to him, O my master, fear not this Christian; for no harm shall befall thee
from him. The merchants also arose and urged him. So he sold it to the
Christian, though his heart was full of fear, and, having taken the price,
returned to the house. But he found the Christian walking behind him;
and he said, O Christian, wherefore art thou walking behind me? O my
master, he answered, I have a want to accomplish at the upper end of the
street: may God never cause thee to have any want! And 'Alee Shér
arrived not at his abode without the Christian's overtaking him: so he said
to him, O accursed, wherefore dost thou follow me whithersoever I go? The
Christian replied, O my master, give me a draught of water, for I am thirsty,
and thou wilt receive thy recompense from God, whose name be exalted!
'Alee Shér therefore said within himself, This is a tributary,20 and he hath
demanded of me a draught of water: so by Allah I will not disappoint him.
Then he entered the house, and took a mug of water; and his slave-girl
Zumurrud, seeing him, said to him, O my beloved, hast thou sold the curtain?
He answered, Yes. And she said, To a merchant or a passenger? For my
heart is impressed with a presentiment of separation. He answered, I sold
---
it not but to a merchant. But she said, Acquaint me with the truth of the
matter, that I may provide against my case. And wherefore, she added,
tookest thou the mug of water? - To give drink to the broker, he answered.
And she exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the
Great! and recited these two verses:
O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the embrace of the beloved
deceive thee!
Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the end of every union is
disjunction.
He then went forth with the mug, and found the Christian within the
passage of the house. So he said, Hast thou come in hither, O dog? How
is it that thou enterest my abode without my permission? O my master,
he answered, there is no difference between the door and the passage; and
I shall not move from this my place but to go forth; yet thanks are due to
thee for bounty and kindness, and liberality and obliging conduct. Then he
took the mug of water, and drank what it contained; after which he handed
it to 'Alee Shér, who took it, and expected that he would rise: but he rose
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
495
not. So 'Alee Shér said to him, Wherefore dost thou not rise and go thy
way? The Christian answered, O my lord, be not of those who confer
favour and then make it a subject of reproach, nor of those of whom the
poet hath said,—
They are gone who, if thou stoodest at the door, would give the most generous aid at
thy petition;
And if thou stoodest at the door of any after them, they would reproach thee for å
draught of water bestowed on thee.
-
O my lord, he added, I have drunk; but I desire of thee that thou give me
to eat of any thing that is in the house: it will be equal to me if it be a mor-
sel of bread or a biscuit and an onion. - 'Alee Shér replied, Rise, without
contention. There is nothing in the house. But the Christian rejoined, O
my lord, if there be nothing in the house, take these hundred pieces of
gold, and bring us something from the market, though it be but a single
cake of bread, that the bond of bread and salt may be established between
me and thee.21 So 'Alee Shér said within himself, Verily this Christian is
mad: I will therefore take of him the hundred pieces of gold, and bring
him something worth two pieces of silver, and laugh at him. And the Chris-
tion said to him, O my master, I only desire something that will banish
hunger, though it be but a stale cake of bread and an onion; for the best
of provision is that which dispelleth hunger; not rich food; and how excellent
is the saying of the poet!
Hunger is banished by a stale cake of bread. Why then are my grief and troubles so
great?
Death is most just, since it acteth impartially both to the Khaleefeh and the miserable
pauper.
'Alee Shér therefore said to him, Wait here while I lock the saloon and
bring thee something from the market. And the Christian replied. I hear
and obey. Then 'Alee Shér went away from him, and locked the saloon,
putting a padlock upon it; and, taking the key with him, he repaired to
the market, bought some dried cheese, and honey and bananas and bread,
and brought them to him. And when the Christian saw this, he said, O
my lord, this is a great quantity, sufficient for ten men, and I am alone:
perhaps then thou wilt eat with me. 'Alee Shér replied, Eat thou alone;
for I am satiated. But the Christian rejoined, O my lord, the sages have
said, He who eateth not with his guest is baseborn. So when 'Alee Shér
heard these words, he sat and ate with him a little; and was about to with-
draw his hand, when the Christian took a banana, peeled it, and divided it
in two, and put into one half of it some refined benj, mixed with opium, a
dram of which would make an elephant to fall down. Then he dipped this
half of the banana into the honey, and said to 'Alee Shér, O my lord, by thy
religion thou shalt take this. And 'Alee Shér was ashamed to make him
496
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
swear falsely: he therefore took it from him, and swallowed it, and scarcely
had it settled in his stomach when his head fell before his feet, and he
became as though he had been a year asleep.
So when the Christian beheld this, he rose upon his feet, as though he were
a bald wolf, or empowered fate; he took with him the key of the saloon, and,
leaving 'Alee Shér prostrate, went running to his brother, and acquainted
him with what he had done. And the cause of his conduct was this: - The
brother of this Christian was the decrepit old man who had desired to pur-
chase Zumurrud for a thousand pieces of gold, and she accepted him not,
but lampooned him with verses. He was an infidel in his heart, but a Muslim
externally, and he named himself Rasheed-ed-Deen. And when Zumurrud
lampooned him, and accepted him not as her master, he complained to his
brother, the Christian who employed this stratagem to take her from her
master 'Alee Shér, and whose name was Barsoom; and he replied, Grieve not
on account of this affair; for I will employ a stratagem to take her without a
piece of silver or of gold: - because he was a skilful, crafty, wicked magi-
cian. Then he ceased not to devise plots and stratagems until he practised
the stratagem which we have described; and having taken the key, he repaired
to his brother and acquainted him with what had happened.
Upon this, Rasheed-ed-Deen mounted his mule, took his young men,
and repaired with his brother to the house of 'Alee Shér, taking with him
also a purse containing a thousand pieces of gold, that, if the Wálee met him,
he might give it to him. He opened the saloon, and the men who were
with him rushed upon Zumurrud, and took her by force, threatening her
with slaughter if she should speak; but the house they left as they found
it, taking nothing from it, and they left 'Alee Shér lying in the passage.
Then they closed the door upon him, having put the key of the saloon
by his side; and the Christian Rasheed-ed-Deen took the damsel to his
pavilion, where he put her among his female slaves and concubines, and
said to her, O impudent wench, I am the sheykh whom thou wouldst not
accept as thy master, and whom thou lampoonedst, and I have taken thee
without expending a piece of silver or of gold. She replied, with her eyes
filled with tears, God will sufficiently requite thee, O wicked old man, for
thy separating me from my master. O impudent wench! he rejoined, O
thou inflamed with love! thou shalt see what torture I will inflict upon thee.
By my faith, if thou do not comply with my command, and adopt my re-
ligion, I will inflict upon thee varieties of torture! But she said, If thou
cut my flesh in pieces I will not abandon the faith of El-Islám; and perhaps
God (whose name be exalted!) will send me speedy relief; for He is able
to do whatsoever He willeth; and the wise have said, An evil in the body
rather than an evil in religion.
And upon this he called out to the eunuchs and female slaves, saying to
them, Throw her down! So they threw her down. And he ceased not to
inflict upon her cruel blows, while she called for aid; but she was not aided.
Then she abstained from imploring aid, and began to say, God is my suffi-
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
497
ciency, and He is indeed sufficient! until her voice failed, and her groan-
ing became inaudible. And when his heart was satisfied with punishing her,
he said to the eunuchs, Drag her by her feet, and throw her into the kitchen,
and give her nothing to eat. The accursed wretch then passed that night,
and on the following morning he desired that she should be brought, and he
repeated the beating; after which he ordered the eunuchs to throw her in
her place; and they did so. And when the pain occasioned by the beating
became alleviated, she said, There is no deity but God: Mohammad is God's
Apostle! God is my sufficiency, and excellent is the Guardian! Then she
implored aid of our lord Mohammad,22 may God bless and save him! -
Such was her case.
Now as to 'Alee Shér, he continued lying asleep until the following day,
when the intoxication occasioned by the benj quitted his head, and he opened
his eyes, and called out, saying, O Zumurrud! But no one answered him.
He therefore entered the saloon, and found the interior desolate, and the
place of visitation distant: so he knew that this event had not happened
unto him but through the Christian; and he yearned and wept, and sighed
and complained, and recited verses. He repented when repentance was of
no avail, weeping, and tearing his clothes; and he took two stones, and went
round about the city, beating his bosom with them, and crying, O Zumurrud!
The children therefore surrounded him, and said, A madman! A madman!
-And every one who knew him wept for him, and said, This is such-a-one.
What hath befallen him? - - Thus he continued to do until the close of the
day: and when the darkness of night came over him, he slept in one of
the by-streets until the morning. And he went round about the city again
with the stones till evening, when he returned to his saloon to pass the night
there.
-
Then a female neighbour of his, who was an old woman, one of the vir-
tuous, said to him, O my son, may God preserve thee! When becamest thou
mad? And he answered her with these two verses:
They said, Thou ravest upon the person thou lovest. And I replied, The sweets of life
are only for the mad.
Drop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave.
madness, do not blame me."
23
If she cure my
So his neighbour, the old woman, knew that he was a lover separated from
his beloved; and she said, There is no strength nor power but in God, the
High, the Great! O my son, I desire of thee that thou relate to me the story
of thy calamity. Perhaps God may enable me to assist thee to overcome it,
with his good pleasure. He therefore told her all that had befallen him with
Barsoom the Christian, the brother of the magician who called himself
Rasheed-ed-Deen; and when she knew that, she said to him, O my son,
verily thou art excused. Then she poured forth tears, and recited these two
verses:
498
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Sufficient is the torment of lovers in this world. By Allah, Hell shall not torment them
after it!
For they have perished of their passion, and chastely concealed it: and the truth of
this the tradition attesteth.24
And after she had finished these verses, she said to him, O my son, arise now,
and buy a crate, like the crates used by the goldsmiths, and buy bracelets
and seal-rings and ear-rings, and other ornaments suited to women; and be
not sparing of money. Put all those things into the crate; then bring the crate,
and I will put it on my head, as a female broker, and I will go about and
search for her in the houses until I obtain tidings of her, if it be the will of
God, whose name be exalted!
'Alee Shér rejoiced at her words, and kissed her hands. He then went
quickly, and brought her what she desired; and when the things were made
ready for her, she arose and attired herself in a patched gown, put over her
head a honey-coloured izár, and, taking in her hand a walking-staff, bore the
crate about through the by-lanes and to the houses, and ceased not to go
about from place to place, and from quarter to quarter, and from by-street
to by-street, until God (whose name be exalted!) guided her to the pavilion
of the accursed Rasheed-ed-Deen the Christian, within which she heard a
groaning. So she knocked at the door; whereupon a slave-girl came down
and opened to her the door, and saluted her. And the old woman said to
her, I have with me these trifles for sale. Is there among you any one who
will buy aught of them? The girl answered her, Yes: - and she took her
into the house, and seated her. The female slaves then seated themselves
around her, and each of them took something from her; and the old woman
began to address them with courtesy, and to make the prices of the goods
easy to them; so that they were delighted with her, on account of her kind-
ness, and the gentleness of her speech. Meanwhile, she looked around
narrowly at the different quarters of the place, to discover the female whose
groaning she had heard, and her eye fell upon her; so she treated the female
slaves with additional favour and kindness; and, looking at the damsel whom
she had heard groaning, she found her to be Zumurrud, laid prostrate. She
recognised her, and wept, and said to the female slaves, O my children,
wherefore is this damsel in this condition?
And they related to her the whole story, adding, This affair is not of
our choice; but our master commanded us to do thus; and he is now on a
journey. And she said, O my children, I desire of you a favour, which is,
that ye loose this poor damsel from her bonds, and leave her so until ye
know of the return of your master, when ye shall bind her again as she was;
and ye will gain a recompense from the Lord of all creatures, They replied,
We hear and obey. And they loosed her and fed her and gave her to drink.
The old woman then said, Would that my leg had broken and that I had not
entered your abode! And after that, she went to Zumurrud, and said
to her, O my daughter, God preserve thee! God will dispel from thee thine
affliction. And she told her that she had come from her master 'Alee Shér,
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
499
and made an agreement with her, that she (Zumurrud) should, in the follow-
ing night, listen for a sound; saying, Thy master will come to thee and
stand by the mastabah of the pavilion, and will whistle to thee; and when
thou hearest him, do thou whistle to him, and let thyself down to him by
a rope, and he will take thee and go. So the damsel thanked her for this.
The old woman then went forth, and, returning to 'Alee Shér, informed
him of what she had done, and said to him, Repair this next night, at mid-
night, to such a quarter; for the house of the accursed is there, and its appear-
ance is of such and such a description. Station thyself beneath his pavilion,
and whistle: she will thereupon let herself down to thee, and do thou take
her and depart whither thou wilt. He therefore thanked her for this; and
having waited till the night became dark, and the appointed time arrived,
he went to that quarter which she had described to him, where he saw the
pavilion, and he knew it. And he seated himself upon a mastabah beneath
it; but sleep overcame him, and he slept. Glory be to Him who sleepeth
not! For a long time he had not slept, from the ecstasy of his passion: so
he became like one intoxicated.
-
And while he was asleep, lo, a certain robber came forth that night, and
went about the skirts of the city, to steal something; and destiny cast him
beneath the pavilion of that Christian. So he went around it; but found no
way of ascending and entering it; and he continued walking round it until
he came to the mastabah, when he beheld 'Alee Shér asleep. And he took
his turban; and when he had done so, immediately Zumurrud looked forth,
and, seeing him standing in the dark, imagined him to be her master. She
therefore whistled to him, and the robber whistled to her; and she let her-
self down to him by the rope, having with her a pair of saddle-bags full of
gold. So when the robber saw this, he said within himself, This is no other
than a wonderful thing, occasioned by an extraordinary cause. He then
took up the saddle-bags, and took Zumurrud upon his shoulders, and went
away with both like the blinding lightning; whereupon the damsel said to
him, The old woman told me that thou wast infirm on my account; but lo,
thou art stronger than the horse. And he returned her no answer.
So she felt his face, and found that his beard was like the broom of the
public bath; 25 as though he were a hog that had swallowed feathers, and
their down had come forth from his throat. And she was terrified at him,
and said to him, What art thou? 26 He answered her, O wench, I am the
sharper Jawan the Kurdee,27 of the gang of Ahmad Ed-Denef: we are forty
sharpers, all of whom will this night receive thee as their slave. And when
she heard his words, she wept, and slapped her face, knowing that fate had
overcome her, and that she had no resource but that of resignation to the will
of God, whose name be exalted! She therefore endured with patience, and
committed herself to the disposal of God (whose name be exalted!),
and said There is no deity but God! Each time that we are delivered from
anxiety we fall into greater anxiety!
Now the cause of Jawán's coming to the place above mentioned was
500
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
this: He had said to Ahmad Ed-Denef, O sharper, I entered this place
before the present time, and know a cavern without the town, affording room
for forty persons; and I desire to go before you to it, and to place my mother
in that cavern. Then I will return to the city, and steal from it something
for your luck, and keep it for you until ye come; so your entertainment on
that day shall be of my supplying. - And Ahmad Ed-Denef replied, Do what
thou desirest. Accordingly he went before them to that place, and put his
mother in the cavern; and when he went forth from it, he found a trooper
lying asleep, with a horse tethered by him: so he slaughtered him, and took
his clothes, and his horse and arms, and hid them in the cavern with his
mother, tethering the horse there. He then returned to the city, and walked
on till he came to the pavilion of the Christian, where he did what we have
described.
-
―
He ran on with the damsel without stopping until he deposited her with
his mother, to whom he said, Take care of her till I return to thee in the
morning. And having said this, he departed. So Zumurrud said within
herself, Why am I thus careless about liberating myself by some stratagem?
Wherefore should I wait until these forty men arrive? Then she looked
toward the old woman, the mother of Jawán the Kurdee, and said to her,
O my aunt, wilt thou not arise and go with me without the cavern, that I
may dress thy hair in the sun? — Yea, by Allah, O my daughter, answered
the old woman; for of a long time I have been far from the public bath;
these hogs incessantly taking me about from place to place. So Zumurrud
went forth with her, and continued the operation until the old woman fell
asleep; whereupon Zumurrud arose, and clad herself in the clothes of the
trooper whom Jawán the Kurdee had killed, and, having bound his sword
at her waist, and put on his turban, so that she appeared like a man, mounted
the horse, and took the saddle-bags full of gold with her, saying, O kind
Protector, protect me, I conjure Thee by the dignity of Mohammad; God
bless and save him! Then she said within herself, If I go to the city, per-
haps some one of the family of the trooper may see me; and no good will
happen unto me. So she refrained from entering the city, and proceeded
over the bare desert, with the saddle-bags and the horse, eating of the
herbs of the earth, and feeding the horse of the same, and drinking and giving
him to drink of the waters of the rivers, for the space of ten days.
And on the eleventh day, she approached a pleasant and secure city,
established in prosperity: the winter had departed from it with its cold, and
the spring had come with its flowers and its roses; its flowers were gay and
charming to the sight, its rivers were flowing, and its birds were warbling.
Now when she came to this city, and approached its gate, she found there
the troops and the emeers and the chiefs of its inhabitants; and she won-
dered when she saw them thus collected, and said within herself, The people
of this city are all assembled at its gate, and there must be some cause for
this. She then proceeded towards them; and when she drew near to them,
the troops hastened forward to meet her and, having alighted, kissed the
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
501
ground before her, and said, God aid thee, O our lord the Sultán! The great
officers arranged themselves in ranks before her, and the troops ranged the
people in order, and exclaimed, God aid thee, and make thine arrival a bless-
ing to the Muslims, O Sultán of all creatures! God establish thee, O King
of the age, and incomparable one of the age and time! So Zumurrud said
to them, What is your story, O ye people of this city? The chamberlain
answered, Verily He who is not sparing of his benefits hath bestowed favour
upon thee, and made thee Sultán over this city, and ruler over the necks of
all whom it containeth. Know that it is the custom of the inhabitants of
this city, when their King dieth, and hath left no son, for the troops to go
forth without the city, and to remain three days; and whatsoever man
arriveth by the way by which thou hast come, they make him Sultán over
them. And praise be to God who hath directed unto us a man of the sons of
the Turks, of comely countenance; for had one of less consideration than
thyself come unto us, he had been Sultán.
Now Zumurrud was a person of judgment in all her actions; so she said,
Think me not one of the common people among the Turks: nay, I am of the
sons of the great; but I was incensed against my family, and went forth from
them and left them; and look ye at this pair of saddle-bags full of gold that
I have brought beneath me, to give alms out of it to the poor and needy all
the way. And on hearing this, they prayed for her, and were extremely re-
joiced at her arrival; and she was also pleased with them. She then said
within herself, Since I have attained to this, perhaps God will unite me with
my master in this place; for He is able to do whatsoever He willeth. And
she proceeded, accompanied by the troops, until they entered the city, when
the troops alighted and walked before her till they had conducted her into
the palace. She there alighted, and the emeers and grandees conveyed her
with their hands beneath her arm-pits, and seated her upon the throne. Then
all of them kissed the ground before her. And when she was seated on the
throne, she gave orders to open the treasuries; and they were opened; and she
bestowed presents upon all the troops; whereupon they offered up prayers
for the continuance of her reign; and the people, and all the inhabitants of
the provinces, acknowledged her authority.
She remained thus for some time, commanding and forbidding, and the
hearts of the people were impressed with exceeding respect for her, on account
of her generosity, and her abstinence from what is forbidden. She remitted
the custom-taxes, liberated the persons confined in the prisons, and redressed
the grievances of her subjects; so that all the people loved her. But when-
ever she thought upon her master, she wept, and supplicated God to effect
her union with him. And thinking upon him one night, and upon her days
that had passed, she poured forth tears, and recited these two verses:
My desire for thee, though protracted, is fresh; and the tears have wounded my eye,
and increase.
When I weep, I weep from the pain of ardent love; for separation, to the lover, is a
fierce affliction.
502
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And when she had ended these verses, she wiped away her tears, and went
up into the pavilion. Then she entered the Hareem, and assigned separate
apartments for the female slaves and concubines, appointing them allowances
and supplies, and asserted that she desired to remain in a place alone, for
the purpose of assiduously employing herself in devotion; and she betook
herself to fasting and praying, so that the emeers said, Verily this Sultán is
of exceeding piety. She retained of the eunuchs only two lads to serve her.
For a year she sat upon the throne of her kingdom, and heard no tidings
of her master, nor discovered any trace of him. And upon this she was
disquieted, and, her disquietude becoming excessive, she summoned the
wezeers and chamberlains, and commanded them to bring to her the
geometricians and builders, and gave orders that they should make for her,
beneath the palace, a horse-course a league in length and a league in breadth.
So they did as she commanded them in the shortest time, and the horse-
course was agreeable to her desire. And when it was finished, she descended
into it. A great pavilion was pitched for her in it, chairs were arranged for
the emeers, and she gave orders to spread in that horse-course a long table
covered with all kinds of rich viands; and they did as she commanded.
Then she ordered the lords of the empire to eat; and they ate; after which
she said to the emeers, I desire, when the new month commenceth, that ye do
thus, and proclaim in the city, that no one shall open his shop, but that all
the people shall come and eat of the King's banquet; and that whosoever
of them acteth contrary to this order shall be hanged at the door of his
house. 28
So when the new month commenced, they did as she commanded them;
and they continued to observe this custom until the commencement of the
first month of the second year; when Zumurrud descended into the horse-
course, and the crier proclaimed, O all ye companies of men, whosoever
openeth his shop or his magazine or his house shall be hanged immediately
at the door of his abode: for it is incumbent on you that ye all come to eat
of the King's banquet! And when the proclamation was ended, the table
having been prepared, the people came in companies, and she ordered them
to seat themselves at the table, to eat until they were satisfied, of all the
dishes. Accordingly, they sat and ate as she had commanded them, while
she sat upon the throne of her kingdom looking at them; and every one at
the table said within himself, The King is looking at none but me. They
continued eating, and the emeers said to the people, Eat ye, and be not
ashamed; for the King liketh your doing so. They therefore ate until they
were satisfied, and departed praying for the King; and some of them said
to others, In our lives we have not seen a Sultán that loveth the poor like
this Sultán. They prayed for length of life for her; and she returned to her
palace, full of joy at the plan which she had devised, and said within herself,
If it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), by this means I shall
obtain tidings of my master, 'Alee Shér.
And when the second month commenced, she did the same, as usual.
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
503
They prepared the table, and Zumurtud descended, and seated herself upon
her throne, and ordered the people to sit and eat. And while she was sitting
at the head of the table, and the people were seating themselves at it,
company after company, and person after person, her eye fell upon Barsoom
the Christian, who had bought the curtain of her master; and she knew him,
and said, This is the commencement of the dispelling of my affliction, and
the attainment of my desire. Then Barsoom advanced, and seated himself
among the people to eat; and he looked at a dish of rice sweetened with
sugar sprinkled over it; but it was far from him; so he pressed towards it,
and, stretching forth his hand to it, reached it and put it before him. Upon
this, a man by his side said to him, Why dost thou not eat of that which is
before thee? Is not this a disgrace to thee? How is it that thou stretchest
forth thy hand to a thing that is distant from thee? Art thou not ashamed?
- But Barsoom replied, I will eat of none but it. So the man rejoined,
Eat: may God not give thee enjoyment in it! And a man who was a
hashshásh 29 said, Let him eat of it, that I too may eat with him. The man
before mentioned, however, said to him, O most ill-omened of hashsháshes,
this is not your food, but it is the food of the emeers; therefore leave it that
it may return to those to whom it belongeth, that they may eat it.
-
But Barsoom disobeyed him: he took from it a mouthful, and put it
into his mouth, and was about to take the second, when Zumurrud, observing
him, called out to certain of the soldiers, and said to them, Bring this man
before whom is the dish of sweet rice, and let him not eat the mouthful that
is in his hand; but throw it down from his hand. So four of the soldiers
came to him and dragged him along upon his face, after they had thrown
down the mouthful from his hånd; and they stationed him before Zumurrud.
Upon this, the people refrained from eating; one of them saying to another,
By Allah, he was unjust; for he would not eat of the food suited to persons
of his own class. Another said, I was content with this kishk 30 that is
before me. And the hashshásh said, Praise be to God, who prevented my
eating aught of this dish of sweet rice; for I was waiting for it to stop before
him and for him to enjoy it, when I would have eaten with him; but what
we have witnessed befell him. And the people said, one to another, Wait
that we may see what will happen to him.
Now when they brought him before the Queen Zumurrud, she said to
him, Wo to thee, O blue-eyed! What is thy name, and what is the reason
of thy coming to our country? And the accursed refused to give his true
name, and, having a white turban,31 he answered, O King, my name is
'Alee, and my business is that of a weaver, and I have come to this city for
the sake of traffic. Zumurrud said, Bring ye to me a geomantic tablet, and
a pen of brass. And they brought her what she demanded immediately;
and she took the geomantic tablet and the pen, and performed an operation
of geomancy, designing with the pen a figure like that of an ape; after which
she raised her head, and looked attentively at Barsoom for a long time, and
said to him, O dog, how is it that thou liest unto Kings? Art thou not a
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Christian, and is not thy name Barsoom, and hast thou not come to search
for something? Tell me then the truth, or, by the Glory of the Deity, I will
strike off thy head! - And the Christian was agitated; and the emeers and
others who were present said, This King is acquainted with geomancy.
Extolled be the perfection of Him who hath endowed him with this knowl-
edge! Then she called out to the Christian, saying to him, Tell me the
truth, or I destroy thee! And the Christian replied, Pardon, O King of the
age! Thou art right in thy geomantic divination; for the most remote 32
is a Christian. So the emeers and others who were present wondered at the
King's exactness in discovering the truth by geomancy, saying, Verily this
King is an astrologer of whom there is not the like in the world!
The Queen then ordered that the Christian should be flayed, that his
skin should be stuffed with straw, and hung over the gate of the horse-
course, and that a pit should be dug without the city, and his flesh and his
bones should be burnt in it, and dirt and filth thrown upon his ashes. They
replied, We hear and obey: and did all that she had commanded them. And
when the people saw what had befallen the Christian, they said, His recom-
pense was that which hath befallen him; and what an unlucky mouthful
was that unto him! One of them said, Divorcement shall be incumbent on
the remote [if I break this vow]: in my life henceforth I will never eat of
sweet rice! 33 And the hashshásh said, Praise be to God who hath saved me
from that which hath befallen this man, by his preserving me from eating
that rice! Then all the people went forth; and they had become prohibited
from sitting opposite to the sweet rice, in the place of that Christian.
Again, when the third month commenced, they spread the table as usual,
and covered it with the dishes, and the Queen Zumurrud sat upon the
throne, the troops standing in the customary manner, but fearing her awful
power. The people of the city then entered as they were wont, and went
around the table, looking for the place of the dish of rice; and one of them
said to another, O hájj 34 Khalaf! The other replied, At thy service, O
hájj Khalid! And the former said, Avoid the dish of sweet rice, and beware
of eating of it; for if thou eat of it thou wilt be hanged. Then they seated
themselves around the table to eat; and while they were eating, and the
Queen Zumurrud was sitting on the throne, a glance of her eye fell upon a
man entering with a hurried 'pace from the gate of the horse-course, and,
looking attentively at him, she found that he was Jawán the Kurdee, the
robber who murdered the trooper: and the cause of his coming was this:
He had left his mother, and gone to his companions, and said to them, I
obtained yesterday excellent booty: I murdered a trooper, and took his
horse; and there fell to my lot the same night a pair of saddle-bags full of
gold, and a damsel whose value is greater than the gold in the saddle-bags;
and I have put all this booty in the cavern, with my mother. So they
rejoiced at this, and repaired to the cavern at the close of the day.
Jawan the Kurdee entered before them, and they followed him; and he
desired to bring to them the things of which he had told them; but he found
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
505
the place desolate. He therefore inquired of his mother the truth of the
matter, and she acquainted him with all that had happened; on hearing
which, he bit his hands in repentance,35 and said, By Allah, I will search
about for this impudent wench, and take her from the place in which she is,
though she be within the shell of a pistachio-nut, and I will satisfy my
malice upon her! Accordingly, he went forth to search for her, and ceased
not to go about the surrounding districts until he came to the city of the
Queen Zumurrud. And when he entered the city, he found no man in it:
he therefore inquired of some of the women who were looking out from the
windows, 36 and they informed him that on the first day of every month the
Sultán made a banquet, and the people went and ate of it; and they directed
him to the horse-course in which the table was spread.
So he came hurrying on, and, not finding a vacant place in which to seat
himself except one opposite the dish above mentioned, he seated himself
there, and, as the dish was before him, stretched forth his hand to it. Upon
this, the people called to him, saying, O our brother, what dost thou desire
to do? He answered, I desire to eat of this dish until I am satiated. And
one of them said to him, If thou eat of it thou wilt be hanged. But he
replied, Be silent, and utter not these words. Then he stretched forth his
hand to the dish, and drew it before him. The hashshásh before mentioned
was sitting by his side, and when he saw Jawán draw the dish before him,
he fled from his place; the effect of the hasheesheh 37 instantly passed away
from his head, and he seated himself afar off, saying, I have nothing to do
with this dish. Jawán the Kurdee stretched forth his hand to the dish, and
it resembled the foot of a raven; and he ladled the rice with it, and took
it forth resembling the foot of a camel.38 Then he compressed the handful
into the form of a ball, so that it was like a great orange; he threw it
rapidly into his mouth, and it descended into his throat, making a noise
like thunder; and the bottom of the dish appeared in the place from which
it was taken.
So a man by his side said to him, Praise be to God, who hath not made
me to be a dish of meat before thee; for thou hast exhausted the dish by a
single mouthful! And the hashshásh said, Let him eat; for I imagine that
I behold in him the figure of the hanged. Then looking towards him, he
said to him, Eat; may God not give thee enjoyment! And Jawán stretched
forth his hand to take the second mouthful, and was about to press it into
the form of a ball like the first mouthful, when the Queen called to some of
the soldiers, saying to them, Bring that man quickly, and suffer him not to
eat the mouthful that is in his hand.
The soldiers therefore ran to him, while he was bending his head over
the dish, and they seized him and took him and placed him before the
Queen Zumurrud. Upon this, the people exulted over him, saying, one to
another, Verily he deserveth it; for we gave him good advice, and he would
not follow it. This place is predestined to occasion the slaughter of him who
sitteth in it, and that rice is unfortunate to every one who eateth of it. —
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Then the Queen Zumurrud said to him, What is thy name, and what is thine
occupation, and what is the reason of thy coming to our city? - O our lord
the Sultán, he answered, my name is 'Osmán, and my occupation is that of
a gardener, and the reason of my coming to this city is, that I am going
about searching for a thing that I have lost. And the Queen said, Bring me
the geomantic tablet. So they placed it before her; and she took the pen,
and, having performed an operation of geomancy, meditated upon it a while;
after which she raised her head, and said to him, Wo to thee, O wicked
wretch! How is it that thou liest unto Kings? This geomantic experiment
informeth me that thy name is Jawán the Kurdee, and thine occupation is
that of a robber, that thou takest the property of men by iniquitous means,
and slayest the soul that God hath forbidden to be slain unless for a just
cause, Then she called out to him and said, O hog, tell me thy true story,
or I will cut off thy head! And when he heard her words, his complexion
became sallow, and his teeth appeared, and, imagining that if he spoke the
truth he would save himself, he replied, Thou hast spoken truth, O King;
but I vow repentance unto thee from this time, and return unto God whose
name be exalted! The Queen, however, said to him, It is not lawful unto
me to leave a viper in the path of the Muslims. And she said to some of
her attendants, Take him and flay him, and do unto him as ye did unto the
like of him last month. So they did as she commanded them. And when
the hashshásh saw the soldiers seize that man, he turned his back to the
dish of rice, and said, Verily, to present my face unto thee is unlawful! And
as soon as they had finished eating, they dispersed, and went to their abodes:
the Queen also went up into her palace, and gave permission to the mem-
looks to disperse.
And when the fourth month commenced, they descended into the horse-
course as usual, and made ready the banquet, and the people sat waiting
for permission. The Queen then approached, and sat upon the throne,
looking at them; and she observed that the place opposite the dish of rice,
affording room for four persons, was vacant; whereat she wondered. And
while she was looking about, she beheld a man entering from the gate of
the horse-course, with a quick pace, and he ceased not to hurry on until he
stopped over the table, where he found no place vacant but that opposite
the dish of rice. So he seated himself there; and she looked at him atten-
tively, and found that he was the Christian who had named himself Rasheed-
ed-Deen; whereupon she said within herself, How fortunate is this repast,
by which this infidel hath been ensnared! Now the cause of his coming was
wonderful; and it was this. When he returned from his journey, the people
of his house informed him that Zumurrud was lost, together with a pair of
saddle-bags full of money; on hearing which, he rent his clothes, and slapped
his face, and plucked his beard. Then he sent his brother Barsoom to search
for her through the surrounding districts; and when he was tired of waiting
for news of him, he went forth himself to search through the provinces for
his brother and Zumurrud, and destiny impelled him to Zumurrud's city.
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
507
He entered that city on the first day of the month, and when he walked
along its great thoroughfare-streets, he found them desolate, and saw the
shops closed, and the women at the windows; so he inquired of some of
them respecting this circumstance, and they told him that the King made
a banquet for all the people on the first of every month, and all ate of it;
none being able to sit in his house or in his shop; and they directed him to
the horse-course.
On his entering the horse-course, he found the people crowding around
the food, and found no place vacant except that opposite the well-known
dish of rice. So he seated himself in it, and stretched forth his hand to eat
of that dish; whereupon the Queen called to some of the soldiers, saying,
Bring ye him who hath seated himself opposite the dish of rice. And they
knew him from the former occurrences of the same kind, and seized him,
and stationed him before the Queen Zumurrud, who said to him, Wo to thee!
What is thy name, and what is thine occupation, and what is the reason of
thy coming into our city? He answered, O King of the age, my name is
Rustum,39 and I have no occupation, for I am a poor darweesh. And she
said to her attendants, Bring me the geomantic tablet, and the pen of brass.
So they brought her what she demanded as usual: and she took the pen,
and made some marks with it upon the tablet, and remained a while con-
templating it: then raising her head and looking towards him, she said,
O dog, how is it that thou liest unto the Kings? Thy name is Rasheed-ed-
Deen the Christian, and thine occupation is, to practise stratagems against
the female slaves of the Muslims, and to take them; and thou art a Muslim
externally, but in heart a Christian. Declare then the truth; for if thou do
not, I will strike off thy head. And he hesitated to reply; but afterwards
said, Thou hast spoken truth, O King of the age. So she gave orders
that he should be stretched upon the ground, and receive upon each
foot a hundred lashes, and upon his body a thousand lashes; and after
that, that he should be flayed, and his skin stuffed with hards of flax;
then, that a pit should be dug without the city, and his body be burnt in it,
and dirt and filth thrown upon his ashes. And they did as she commanded
them.
-
After this, she gave leave to the people to eat, and when they had
finished, and gone their ways, the Queen Zumurrud went up into her palace,
and said, Praise be to God who hath appeased my heart by the punishment
of those who wronged me! And she thanked the Creator of the earth and
the heavens. Then her master 'Alee Shér occurred to her mind, and she
shed copious tears; after which, returning to her reason, she said within
herself, Perhaps God, who hath given me power over mine enemies, may
grant me the return of my beloved. She begged forgiveness of God (to whom
be ascribed might and glory!), and said, Perhaps God will soon reunite me
with my beloved 'Alee Shér; for He is able to do whatsoever He willeth, and
is gracious unto his servants, and acquainted with their states. She praised
God again, continued her prayers for forgiveness, and resigned herself to
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the course of destiny, assured that everything which hath a beginning must
come to an end; and recited the saying of the poet:
-
Endure thy state with an easy mind; for in the hand of God are the destinies of things;
And what is forbidden will not happen unto thee, nor will that which is appointed fail
to befall thee.
She continued for the whole of that month occupying herself by day in
judging the people, and commanding and forbidding, and by night weeping
and lamenting for the separation of her beloved 'Alee Shér; and when the
next month commenced, she gave orders to spread the table in the horse-
course as usual, and sat at the head of the people. They were waiting for
her permission to eat, and the place before the dish of 'rice was vacant; and
as she sat at the head of the table, she kept her eye fixed upon the gate of
the horse-course, to see every one who entered it. And she said within
herself, O Thou who restoredst Yoosuf to Yaakoob, and removedst the
affliction from Eiyoob, favour me by the restoration of my master, 'Alee
Shér, by thy power and greatness; for Thou art able to accomplish every
thing! O Lord of all creatures! O Guide of those who go astray! 0
Hearer of cries! O Answerer of prayers! Hear my prayer, O Lord of all
creatures!
And her supplication was not ended when there entered from the gate of
the horse-course a person whose figure was like a branch of the Oriental
willow; but he was of emaciated frame, and sallowness appeared in his
countenance: he was the handsomest of young men, perfect in judgment and
in polite accomplishments. When he entered, he found no place vacant but
that which was before the dish of rice: he therefore sat in that place; and
when Zumurrud beheld him, her heart palpitated. She looked at him with
a scrutinizing glance, and it was evident to her that he was her master
Alee Shér, and she was inclined to cry aloud for joy; but she stilled her
mind, fearing to disgrace herself among the people: her bowels were moved
with compassion, and her heart throbbed; yet she concealed what she felt.-
And the cause of 'Alee Shér's coming was this:
—
When he lay asleep upon the mastabah, and Zumurrud descended, and
Jawan the Kurdee took her, he awoke afterwards, and found himself with
uncovered head; so he knew that some man had come upon him wrongfully,
and taken his turban while he was asleep. He uttered the sentence which
preserveth the person who pronounceth it from being confounded; that is,
Verily to God we belong, and verily unto Him we return! Then he went
back to the old woman who had acquainted him with the situation of
Zumurrud, and knocked at her door; whereupon she came forth to him;
and he wept before her until he fell down in a fit. And when he recovered
he informed her of all that had befallen him; on hearing which, she blamed
him, and severely reproved him for that which he had done, and said to him,
Verily thy calamity and misfortune have arisen from thyself. She ceased
not to blame him until blood ran from his nostrils, and he fell down again.
'ALEE SHER AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
509
in a fit; and on his recovering from his fit he beheld the old woman weeping
on his account, pouring forth tears, and in a state of anguish; and he recited
these two verses:
How bitter unto lovers is separation, and how sweet unto them is union!
May God unite every separated lover, and preserve me, for I am of their number!
40
The old woman mourned for him, and said to him, Sit here while I ascertain
the news for thee, and I will return quickly. And he replied, I hear and
obey. Then she left him and went away, and was absent from him until
midday, when she returned to him, and said, O 'Alee, I imagine nothing but
that thou wilt die in thy grief; for thou wilt not again see thy beloved save
on the Sirát; for the people of the pavilion, when they arose in the
morning, found the window that overlooketh the garden displaced, and
Zumurrud lost, and with her a pair of saddle-bags full of money belonging
to the Christian; and when I arrived there, I found the Wálee standing at the
door of the pavilion, together with his officers; and there is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great! Now when 'Alee Shér heard these
words from her, the light before his face became converted into darkness;
he despaired of life, and made sure of death, and ceased not to weep until
again he fell down in a fit; and after he recovered from his fit, love and
separation so afflicted him that he was attacked by a severe sickness, and
was confined to his house. The old woman, however, continued to bring the
physicians to him, and to give him beverages, and make pottages for him,
during the space of a whole year, until his soul returned to him. And when
the second year commenced, the old woman said to him, O my son, this
sadness and grief that thou sufferest will not restore to thee thy beloved: arise
then, brace up thy nerves, and search for her through the surrounding
districts; perhaps thou mayest meet with tidings of her. And she ceased not
to encourage him and to strengthen his mind until she cheered him; and she
conducted him into the bath, gave him wine to drink, and fed him with
fowls. Thus she did every day for the space of a month, till he gained
strength, and set forth on his journey, and he ceased not to travel until he
arrived at the city of Zumurrud.
Having entered the horse-course, he seated himself at the table, and
stretched forth his hand to eat; and upon this, the people grieved for him,
and said to him, O young man, eat not of this dish; for affliction will befall
him who eateth of it. But he replied, Suffer me to eat of it, and let them
do unto me what they desire: perhaps I may be relieved from this wearying
life. Then he ate the first morsel; and Zumurrud desired to have him
brought before her; but it occurred to her mind that he might be hungry:
so she said within herself, It is proper that I suffer him to eat until he
satisfy himself. He therefore continued eating; and the people were con-
founded at his case, looking to see what would happen unto him. And when
he had eaten and satisfied himself, she said to certain of the eunuchs, Go to
that young man who eateth of the rice, and bring him courteously, and say
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to him, Answer the summons of the King, to reply to a little question. So
they said, We hear and obey: - and they went to him, and, standing over
his head, said to him, O our master, have the goodness to answer the sum-
mons of the King, and let thy heart be dilated. He replied, I hear and
obey: - and he went with the eunuchs; while the people said, one to another,
There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! What will
the King do with him? But some of them said, He will do nought but
good with him; for if he meant to do him harm, he had not suffered him to
eat until he was satisfied.
And when he stood before Zumurrud, he saluted, and kissed the ground
before her; and she returned his salutation, receiving him with honour, and
said to him, What is thy name, and what is thine occupation, and what is
the reason of thy coming unto this city? So he answered her, O King, my
name is 'Alee Shér, I am of the sons of the merchants, and my country is
Khurásán, and the reason of my coming unto this city is to search for a
slave-girl whom I have lost: she was dearer to me than my hearing and my
sight, and my soul hath been devoted to her ever since I lost her. This is
my story. Then he wept until he fainted; whereupon she gave orders to
sprinkle some rose-water upon his face; and they did so until he recovered,
when the Queen said, Bring to me the geomantic tablet, and the pen of
brass. They therefore brought them; and she took the pen, and, having
performed an operation of geomancy, considered it a while, after which she
said to him, Thou hast spoken truly. God will unite thee with her soon: so
be not uneasy.
She then ordered the chamberlain to take him to the bath,
and to attire him in a handsome suit of the apparel of Kings, to mount him
upon one of the most excellent of her horses, and after that, to bring him
to the palace at the close of the day. The chamberlain replied, I hear and
obey:- and led him away from before her, and departed. And the people
said, one to another, Wherefore hath the King treated the young man with
this courtesy? One said, Did I not tell you that he would do him no harm?
for his appearance is comely; and from the King's waiting until he had
satisfied himself, I knew that. And every one of them said something.
Then the people dispersed, and went their ways.
Zumurrud scarcely believed that the night was approaching when she
should be alone with the beloved of her heart; and as soon as the night came,
she entered her chamber, and sent to her beloved 'Alee Shér. And when they
brought him, he kissed the ground before her, and prayed for her; and she
said within herself, I must jest with him a while, without making myself
known to him. So she said, O 'Alee, hast thou gone to the bath?
answered, Yes, O my lord. And she said, Arise, eat of this fowl and meat,
and drink of this sherbet of sugar, and wine; for thou art tired; and after
that, come hither. He replied, I hear and obey: — and he did as she com-
manded him; and when he had finished eating and drinking, she said to him,
Come up unto me, and rub my feet.42 He therefore began to rub her feet
and her legs, and found them softer than silk. And after she had continued
'ALEE SHÉR AND THE DAMSEL ZUMURRUD
511
a while jesting with him, she said, O my master, hath all this happened, and
dost thou not know me? He asked, And who art thou, O King? And she
answered, I am thy slave-girl Zumurrud. So when he knew this, he kissed
her, and embraced her, throwing himself upon her like the lion upon the
sheep.
-
And on the following morning Zumurrud sent to all the troops, and the
lords of the empire, and summoned them, and said to them, I desire to
journey to the city of this man. Choose for you therefore a viceroy to
exercise authority among you until I return to you. And they replied, We
hear and obey. She then betook herself to preparing the necessaries for the
journey, as food and money and other supplies, and rarities, and camels,
and mules, and set forth from the city; and she continued her journey with
him until she arrived at the city of 'Alee Shér, when he entered his abode,
and gave gifts and alms and presents. He was blessed with children by her,
and they both lived in the utmost happiness until they were visited by the
terminator of delights and the separator of companions. - Extolled be the
perfection of the Eternal; and praise be to God in every case!
IT
XVI
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
T is related that the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, was
restless one night, and sleep was difficult unto him: he ceased not to turn
over from side to side, through the excess of his restlessness; and when
this state wearied him, he summoned Mesroor, and said to him, O Mesroor,
seek for me some one who will divert me from this restlessness.¹ Mesroor
said, O my lord, wilt thou enter the garden in the palace, and amuse thyself
with the sight of the flowers it containeth, and look at the planets, and the
beauty of their disposition, and the moon among them shining upon the
water? He answered, O Mesroor, verily my soul inclineth not to any thing
of that kind. O my lord, rejoined Mesroor, there are in thy palace three
hundred concubines, each of whom hath a separate apartment. Order, then,
every one of them to retire into her apartment, and, go thou about and
amuse thyself by the sight of them while they know not. - The Khaleefeh
replied, O Mesroor, the palace is mine, and the female slaves are my prop-
erty; yet my soul inclineth not to any thing of that kind. Mesroor
then said, O my lord, order the learned men and the sages and the poets to
come before thee, and to enter into discussions, and recite verses to thee,
and relate to thee tales and histories. My soul, replied the Khaleefeh,
inclineth not to any thing of that kind. Mesroor said, O my lord, order
the pages and the boon-companions and the men of politeness to come
before thee, and to entertain thee with strange witticisms. But the Kha-
leefeh replied, O Mesroor, my soul inclineth not to aught of that kind.
Then, said Mesroor, O my lord, strike off my head: perhaps that will
put an end to thy restlessness, and dispel the uneasiness which thou sufferest.
And Er-Rasheed laughed at his words, and said to him, O Mesroor, see
who of the boon-companions is at the door. So Mesroor went forth, and
returned, saying, O my lord, he who is at the door is 'Alee the son of Man-
soor, the Wag, of Damascus. The Khaleefeh said, Bring him unto me.
Mesroor therefore went and brought him; and when Ibn 2-Mansoor entered,
he said, Peace be on thee, O Prince of the Faithful! And the Khaleefeh
returned his salutation, and said, O Ibn-Mansoor, relate to us somewhat
of thy stories. -O Prince of the Faithful, said he, shall I relate to thee
a thing that I have actually witnessed, or a thing of which I have heard?
The Prince of the Faithful answered, If thou have witnessed any thing
extraordinary, relate it to us; for hearing a thing as reported by others
is not like witnessing. So Ibn-Mansoor said. O Prince of the Faithful, give
512
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
513
up to me exclusively thy hearing and thy mind. Er-Rasheed replied, O
Ibn-Mansoor, see, I hear with mine ear, and look at thee with mine eye,
and attend to thee with my mind. And Ibn-Mansoor said, -
O Prince of the Faithful, know that I have an appointment every year
from Mohammad the son of Suleymán El-Háshimee, the Sultán of El-Bas-
rah; and I went to him as I was wont, and when I came to him, I found
him prepared to mount for the chase. I saluted him, and he saluted me,
and said to me, O Ibn-Mansoor, mount, and accompany us to the chase.
But I replied, O my lord, I have not power to ride: seat me therefore in
the mansion of entertainment, and give a charge respecting me to the
chamberlains and lieutenants. And he did so; and then went to hunt.
And they paid me the utmost honour, and entertained me in the best man-
ner. And I said within myself, Allah! it is wonderful that for a long time
I have been in the habit of coming from Baghdád to El-Basrah, and know
not in this place aught but the way from the palace to the garden, and
from the garden to the palace; and when shall I find such an opportunity
to amuse myself with a sight of the quarters of El-Basrah as on this occa-
sion? I will therefore arise immediately, and walk out alone to amuse my-
self, and let the food that I have eaten digest.
Accordingly I attired myself in the richest of my apparel, and walked
through a part of El-Basrah. Now thou knowest, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, that there are in it seventy streets, the length of each of which is
seventy leagues by the measure of El-'Erák. So I lost my way in its by-
streets, and thirst overcame me; and while I was walking, O Prince of the
Faithful, lo, a great door, with two rings of yellow brass, and with cur-
tains of red brocade hung over it, and by the two sides of it were two masta-
bahs, and above it was a trellis for grape-vines, which overshadowed that
door. I stopped to divert myself with a sight of this mansion; and while
I stood, I heard a voice of lamentation, proceeding from a sorrowful heart,
warbling melodious sounds, and singing these verses:
My body hath become the dwelling-place of diseases and afflictions,
On account of a fawn whose abode and home are distant.
O two zephyrs of the desert that have stirred up my anguish !
By Allah, your Lord, turn to my [heart's] abode,
And reproach him; perhaps reproach will change his conduct.
Five more stanzas like the above followed, and I said within myself, The
person from whom these melodious sounds have proceeded, if comely, pos-
sesseth the united charms of comeliness and eloquence and sweetness of
voice. I then approached the door, and began to raise the curtain by little
and little; and, lo, I beheld a fair damsel like the moon when it appeareth
in its fourteenth night, with joined eyebrows, and languishing eyelids, and
a bosom like two pomegranates; she had thin lips, like two pieces of
carnelion, a mouth like the seal of Suleymán," and a set of teeth that would
sport with the reason of the poet and the prose-writer. Altogether she
514
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
comprised all the charms of loveliness, and was a source of disturbance
unto women and men. The beholder could not satisfy himself with gazing
at her beauty; and she was as the poet hath said, -
When she approacheth, she killeth; and when she turneth her back, she maketh all men
to be enamoured of her.
She is like the sun, and like the full moon; but oppression and aversion are not in her
nature.
Paradise is opened when she exhibiteth herself, and the full moon is seen above her
neck-rings.
Now while I was looking at her through the interstice of the curtains,
lo, she cast a glance, and beheld me standing at the door; whereupon she
said to her slave-girl, See who is at the door. The slave-girl therefore arose
and came to me, and said, O sheykh, hast thou no modesty; and do hoari-
ness and disgraceful conduct exist together? I answered her, O my mis-
tress, as to hoariness, we have experienced it; but as to disgraceful con-
duct, I do not think that I have been guilty of it. But her mistress said,
And what conduct can be more disgraceful than thine intrusion upon a
house that is not thine own, and thy looking at a hareem that is not thine?
So I answered her, O my mistress, I have an excuse for doing so. — And
what is thine excuse? she asked. I answered her, Verily I am a stranger,
and thirsty; and thirst hath almost killed me. And upon this she said,
We accept thine excuse. Then calling one of her female slaves, she said, O
Lutf, give him a draught in the mug of gold. Whereupon she brought
me a mug of red gold set with pearls and jewels, full of water perfumed
with strong-scented musk, and covered with a napkin of green silk; and I
began to drink, and prolonged my drinking, stealing glances at her in the
meanwhile, until I had stood a length of time. I then returned the mug
to the slave-girl, and remained standing.
So she [the lady] said, O sheykh, go thy way. But I replied, O my
mistress, I am troubled in mind. - Respecting what? said she. And I
answered, Respecting the changes of fortune, and the vicissitudes of events.
She replied, It becometh thee; for fortune giveth rise to wonders.
what (she added) hast thou witnessed of its wonders, that thou reflectest
upon it? I am reflecting, I answered, upon the owner of this house;
for he was my sincere friend in his life-time. And she said to me, What
was his name?
I answered, Mohammad the son of 'Alee the Jeweller;
and he was possessed of great wealth. But hath he, I asked, left chil-
dren? Yes, said she; he hath left a daughter who is named Budoor,
and she hath inherited all his riches. So I said to her, It seemeth that
thou art his daughter. She replied, Yes: - and laughed. Then she said,
O sheykh, thou hast prolonged the discourse; therefore go thy way.
replied, I must go; but I see that thy charms are changed: acquaint me
then with thy case: perhaps God may grant thee relief by means of me.
And she said to me, O sheykh, if thou be of the number of those who are
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
515
worthy of being intrusted with secrets, we will reveal to thee our secret.
Inform me therefore who thou art, that I may know whether thou art a
fit depositary for a secret, or not; for the poet hath said, -
None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of mankind it remaineth
concealed.
I have kept my secret in a house with a lock, whose key is lost, and whose door is
sealed."
So I said to her, O my mistress, if thou desirest to know who I am, I am
'Alee the son of Mansoor, the Wag, of Damascus, the boon-companion of
the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed.
And when she heard my name, she descended from her chair, and sa-
luted me, and said to me, Thou art welcome, O Ibn-Mansoor. Now I
will acquaint thee with my state, and intrust thee with my secret. I am
a separated lover. O my mistress, said I, thou art comely, and lovest none
but whomsoever is comely. Who then is he that thou lovest? - She
answered, I love Jubeyr the son of 'Omeyr Esh-Sheybánee, the Emeer of
the Benee-Sheybán.10 And she described to me a young man than whom
there was none more handsome in El-Basrah. I said to her, O my mistress,
hath any interview or correspondence taken place between you? - Yes,
she answered; but we have loved with the tongue; not with the heart and
soul; since he hath not fulfilled a promise, nor performed a covenant. So
I said to her, O my mistress, and what hath been the cause of the separa-
tion that hath occurred between you? She answered, The cause was this:
I was sitting one day, and this my slave-girl was combing my hair; and
when she had finished combing it, she plaited my tresses, and my beauty
and loveliness charmed her; so she bent over me, and kissed my cheek;
and just at that time he came in suddenly, and, seeing the slave-girl kiss
my cheek, he drew back instantly in anger, determining upon a lasting
separation, and recited these two verses:
If another have a share in the object of my love, I abandon my beloved, and live alone.
My beloved is worthless if she desire aught of which her lover doth not approve.
And from the time of his withdrawing in aversion from me to the present
day, neither letter nor reply hath come to us from him, O Ibn-Mansoor.
And what, said I, dost thou desire? She answered, I desire to send to him
a letter by thee; and if thou bring me his answer, thou shalt receive from
me five hundred pieces of gold; and if thou bring me not his answer, thou
shalt receive, as a compensation for thy walk, one hundred pieces of gold.
So I replied, Do what seemeth fit unto thee. And she said, I hear and obey.
Then she called one of her female slaves, and said, Bring to me an ink-
horn, and a piece of paper. And she brought them to her: and she wrote
these verses:
516
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
My beloved, wherefore this estrangement and hatred? And when shall forgiveness and
indulgence be granted?
Why dost thou abandon me in aversion? Thy face is not the face that I was wont to
know.
Yes: the slanderers have falsified my words, and thou hast leaned to their report; so
they have increased in their excesses.
If thou hast believed their tale, God forbid thou shouldst continue to do so; for thou
knowest better."
By thy life inform me what is it thou hast heard; for thou knowest what hath been
said, and wilt act justly.
If it be true that I have uttered the words, words admit of interpretation, and they
admit of change.
Suppose that the words were revealed by God: people have changed and corrupted the
Pentateuch.11
What falsehoods have been told of persons before us! Even Yoosuf was blamed in the
presence of Yaakoob!
For myself and the slanderer and thee together there shall be an awful day of judgment.
She then sealed the letter, and handed it to me; and I took it and
went to the house of Jubeyr the son of 'Omeyr Esh-Sheybánee. I found
that he was hunting; so I seated myself to wait for him; and while I sat,
lo, he approached, returning from the chase; and when I beheld him, O
Prince of the Faithful, upon his horse my reason was confounded by his
beauty and loveliness. Looking aside, he beheld me sitting at the door
of his house; and as soon as he saw me, he alighted from his horse, and
came to me and embraced and saluted me; and it seemed to me as though
I held in my embrace the world and all that it containeth. Then he
conducted me into his house, and seated me upon his couch, and gave
orders to bring the table; whereupon they brought forward a table of
khoolenj 12 of Khurásán, the feet of which were of gold; and upon it were
all kinds of viands, varieties of meats, fried and roasted, and such like;
and when I seated myself at the table, I looked at it, and found inscribed
upon it these verses:
Stay by the cranes that are lodged in the porringers, and alight among the tribe of
fried meats and sikbájes;
-
And mourn over the daughters of the katà - I have done so continually and over the
browned meat amid the chickens.13
Then Jubeyr the son of 'Omeyr said, Stretch forth thy hand to our food,
and comfort our heart by eating of our provision. But I replied, By Allah
I will not eat of thy food a single mouthful until thou perform my want.
He said, And what is thy want? And I handed forth to him a letter;
and when he had read it and understood its contents, he tore it in pieces
and threw it upon the floor, saying to me, O Ibn-Mansoor, whatsoever
want thou hast, we will perform it, except this thing which concerneth the
writer of this letter; for to her letter I have no reply to give.
So I rose
from his side in anger; but he laid hold upon my skirts, and said to me,
O Ibn-Mansoor, I will tell thee what she said to thee, though I was not
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
517
present with you two. I asked him, What was it that she said to me? And
he replied, Did not the writer of this letter say to thee, If thou bring me
his answer, thou shalt receive from me five hundred pieces of gold; and if
thou bring me not his answer, thou shalt receive from me, as a compensa-
tion for thy walk, one hundred pieces of gold? I answered, Yes. And
he said, Sit with me this day, and eat and drink, and enjoy thyself and
be merry, and receive five hundred pieces of gold.
-
So I sat with him, and ate and drank, and enjoyed myself and was
merry, and entertained him in the night by conversation; and afterwards
I said, O my master, there is no music in thy house. He replied, Verily
for a long time we have drunk without music. Then calling one of his
female slaves, he said, O Shejeret-ed-Durr! Whereupon a slave-girl
answered him from her private chamber, bringing a lute of Indian manu-
facture enclosed in a bag of silk; and she came, and seated herself, and,
having placed the lute in her lap, played upon it one and twenty airs;
after which she returned to the first air, and, with exciting modulations, sang
these verses:
Whoso hath not tasted love's sweetness and its bitterness doth not distinguish between
the company and the absence of the beloved:
And he who hath declined from love's right road doth not distinguish between the
smoothness and the ruggedness of his path.
I ceased not to oppose the votaries of love until I experienced both its sweetness and its
bitterness;
And I have drunk up the cup of its bitterness until I have abased myself both to the
slave and the free.
How many a night hath the beloved caroused with me, and I have sipped the sweet
draught that issued from her lips!
How short was each night when we were together! The nightfall and daybreak were
simultaneous!
Fortune made a vow that she would disunite us; and now hath Fortune accomplished
her vow.
Fate decreed, and the sentence cannot be reversed. Who is he that can oppose his
Lord's command?
-
And when the slave-girl had finished her song, her master uttered a great
cry, and fell down in a fit; upon which the slave-girl said, May God not
punish thee, O sheykh; for of a long time we have drunk without music,
fearing for our master, lest he should experience the like of this fit. But
go to yon private chamber, and sleep there. So I went to the private
chamber, to which she directed me, and slept there until the morning;
when, lo, a page came to me, bringing a purse in which were five hundred
pieces of gold; and he said, This is what my master promised thee; but
return thou not to the damsel who sent thee, and let it be as though thou
hadst not heard of this affair, and as though we had not heard. So I
replied, I hear and obey.
I then took the purse, and went my way; but I said within myself,
Verily the damsel hath been expecting me since yesterday. By Allah I
518
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
must return to her, and acquaint her with that which hath taken place be
tween me and him; for, if I return not to her, probably she will revile me,
and will revile every one who cometh from my country.14 Accordingly,
I went to her, and found her standing behind the door; and when she beheld
me, she said, O Ibn-Mansoor, thou hast not accomplished for me any
thing. Who, said I, informed thee of this? She answered, O Ibn-Man-
soor, I have a further intuition; that, when thou handedst him the paper, he
tore it in pieces and threw it down, and said to thee, O Ibn-Mansoor, what-
soever want thou hast, we will perform it for thee, except the affair of her
who wrote this letter; for to her I have no reply to give. Whereupon thou
rosest from his side in anger; but he laid hold upon thy skirts, and said
to thee, O Ibn-Mansoor, sit with me this day; for thou art my guest, and
eat and drink, and enjoy thyself and be merry, and receive five hundred
pieces of gold. So thou sattest with him, and atest and drankest, and
enjoyedst thyself and wast merry, and entertainedst him by night with con-
versation; and the slave-girl sang such an air and such verses; upon which
he fell down in a fit. So, O Prince of the Faithful, I said to her, Wast
thou with us? She replied, O Ibn-Mansoor, hast thou not heard the saying
of the poet? -
The hearts of lovers have eyes, which see what spectators see not.
But, O Ibn-Mansoor, she added, night and day succeed not one another
during the course of an event without changing it. Then she raised her
eyes towards heaven, and said, O Object of my worship, and my Master,
and my Lord, as Thou hast afflicted me by the love of Jubeyr the son of
'Omeyr, so do Thou afflict him by the love of me, and transfer the affec
tion from my heart to his! After this, she gave me a hundred pieces of
gold, as a compensation for my walk, and I took it, and repaired to the
Sultán of El-Basrah, whom I found returned from the chase; and I re-
ceived from him my appointment and returned to Baghdad.
And when the next year arrived, I went to the city of El-Basrah, to
demand my appointment as usual, and the Sultan paid it to me; and when
I was about to return to Baghdad, I reflected in my mind upon the case
of the damsel Budoor, and said, By Allah I must repair to her, and see
what hath taken place between her and her beloved. So I went to her
house; and I found the ground before her door swept and sprinkled, and
servants and dependants and pages there; whereupon I said, Probably
anxiety hath overwhelmed the damsel's heart, and she hath died, and
some one of the emeers hath taken up his abode in her house. I therefore
left her house, and repaired to that of Jubeyr the son of 'Omeyr Esh-Shey-
bánee; and I found its mastabahs demolished, and found not pages at
its door as usual; so I said within myself, Probably he hath died. Then
I stood before the door of his house, and, pouring forth tears, bewailed its
condition in these verses:
---
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
519
O my lord, who hast departed, and whom my heart followeth, return, and so my
festive days shall be renewed to me!
I pause at your house, bewailing your abode, with pouring tears, and with convulsed eye-
lids.
I ask the house with its mourning remains, Where is the dispenser of beneficence and
favours?
Go thy way [it answereth]; for the friends have departed from the dwelling, and beneath
the dust are buried.
May God not deprive us of the view of their merits in all their extent, and be their
virtues never hidden!
And while I was bewailing the people of the house in these verses, O
Prince of the Faithful, lo, a black slave came forth to me from the house,
and said, O sheykh, be silent! May thy mother be bereft of thee! Where-
fore do I behold thee bewailing this house in these verses? So I an-
swered him, I used to know it as the abode of one of my sincere friends.
He said, And what was his name? I answered, Jubeyr the son of 'Omeyr
Esh-Sheybánee. And he said, And what hath happened unto him? Praise
be to God, he is still blest with his riches and prosperity and property;
but God hath afflicted him with the love of a damsel named the lady Bu-
door, and he is overwhelmed by his love of her, and by the violence of hist
transport and torment, so that he is like a great rock overthrown: for when
he is hungry, he saith not to his servants, Give me food; and when he
is thirsty, he saith not, Give me drink. And I said, Ask permission for
me to go in to him. O my master, he asked, wouldst thou go in to him
who understandeth, or to him who understandeth not? I answered, I
must go in to him whatever be the case. So he entered the house and asked
permission, and then returned giving it to me.
--
-
I therefore went in to him, and I found him like a mass of stone thrown
down, understanding neither sign nor open speech. I spoke to him; but
he answered me not; and one of his attendants said to me, O my master, if
thou knowest any poetry, recite it to him, and raise thy voice in doing so;
for thereupon he will be aroused. Accordingly, I recited these two verses:
Hast thou relinquished the love of Budoor, or art thou stubborn? And dost thou pass
the night wakeful, or do thine eyelids sleep?
If thy tears continue to flow in torrents, then know that thou wilt pass eternity in
Paradise.15
-
And when he heard these verses he opened his eye, and said to me, Wel-
come, O Ibn-Mansoor. My emaciation hath become excessive. And I
asked him, saying, O my master, is there any thing that thou wouldst have
me do for thee? He answered, Yes: I desire to write a letter to her, and
send it to her by thee; and if thou bring me her answer thou shalt receive
from me a thousand pieces of gold; and if thou bring me not her answer,
thou shalt receive from me, as a compensation for thy walk, two hundred
pieces of gold. So I replied, Do what seemeth fit to thee. And he called
520
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
one of his female slaves, and said, Bring me an inkhorn and a paper. She
therefore brought him what he demanded; and he wrote these verses:
-
I conjure you by Allah, O my mistress, act gently towards me; for love hath deprived
me of my reason!
My passion for you hath enslaved me, and clad me with the garment of sickness, and
rendered me abject.
I was wont, before this, to think lightly of love, and regard it, O my mistress, as an
easy matter;
But when it had shewn me the waves of its sea, I submitted to God's judgment, and
excused the afflicted,
If you will, have mercy, and grant me a meeting; and if you will kill me, still forget not
to shew favour.16
He then sealed the letter, and handed it to me, and I took it and repaired
with it to the house of Budoor. I began to raise the curtain by little and
little as before; and, lo, ten slave-girls, high-bosomed virgins, resembling
moons; and the lady Budoor was sitting in the midst of them, like the
full moon in the midst of the stars, or like the sun unobscured by clouds;
and she was free from grief and pain. And while I was looking at her, and
wondering at her being in this state, she cast a glance towards me, and
saw me standing at the door; whereupon she said to me, A friendly and
free and an ample welcome to thee, O Ibn-Mansoor! Enter. So I
entered, and, having saluted her, handed to her the paper; and when she
had read it, and understood its contents, she laughed, and said to me, O
Ibn-Mansoor, the poet lied not when he said,
I will brook my love for thee resolutely till a messenger from thee come unto me.
-
O Ibn-Mansoor, she added, I will now write for thee an answer, that he may
give thee what he hath promised thee. And I replied, May God compensate
thee well! Then she called one of her female slaves, and said, Bring me
an inkhorn and a paper. And when she had brought her what she de-
manded, she wrote to him some harsh verses. I therefore said to her, By
Allah, O my mistress, there remaineth not unto him before his death any
more than the period that will expire on his reading this paper. I then
tore it, and said to her, Write to him something different from these verses.
And she replied, I hear and obey: but she wrote to him some verses
more severe than the former ones. So I said to her, By Allah, O my mis-
tress, he will not read these verses without his soul's quitting his body. She
replied, O Ibn-Mansoor, my transport hath attained to such a pitch that
I have said what I have said. I rejoined, Hadst thou said more than
that, it had been just in thee; but a disposition to pardon is one of the
qualities of the generous. And when she heard my words, her eyes filled
with tears, and she wrote to him a note - by Allah, O Prince of the Faithful,
there is not in thine assembly any one who can write the like of it. She
wrote in it these verses:
IBN-MANSOOR AND THE LADY BUDOOR
521
How long shall this coyness and aversion continue? Thou hast satisfied the malice which
the enviers bore me.
Perhaps I did wrong, and was not aware of it: then inform me what thou hast been
told concerning me.
I desire to welcome thee, O my beloved, as I welcome sleep to my eye and my eyelid:
And since thou hast drunk the pure cup of love, if thou see me intoxicated, do not blame
me.
And when she had finished writing the letter, and sealed it, she handed it
to me; and I said to her, O my mistress, verily this note will cure the sick,
and satisfy the thirsty.
-
I took the letter, and went forth; and she called me after I had gone
forth from her, and said to me, O Ibn-Mansoor, say to him, She will be
this night thy guest. So I rejoiced at this exceedingly. I repaired with
the letter to Jubeyr the son of 'Omeyr; and when I went in to him, I found
him with his eye fixed upon the door, waiting for the answer; and as soon
as I handed to him the paper, he opened it and read it, and understood its
meaning, and, uttering a great cry, fell down in a fit. And when he recov-
ered, he said, O Ibn-Mansoor, did she write this note with her hand, and
did she touch it with her fingers? O my master, said I, and do people
write with their feet? And by Allah, O Prince of the Faithful, my words
to him were not ended when we heard the clinking of her anklets in the
passage, as she entered. On beholding her, he rose upon his feet, as though
he no longer felt any pain, and embraced her as the letter Lâm embraces
Alif,¹ and the disease of him who cannot escape from his ailment quitted
him.18
Then he seated himself; but she sat not: so I said to her, O my
mistress, wherefore hast thou not sat down? She answered, O Ibn-Mansoor,
I will not sit down save on the condition that hath been made between us.
-And what, I asked, is that condition between you two?—No one, she
answered, knoweth the secrets of lovers.
She then put her mouth to his ear, and said something privately to
him; to which he replied, I hear and obey. And he arose, and whispered
to one of his slaves; whereupon the slave absented himself for a while, after
which he came back, accompanied by a Kádee and two witnesses.
Jubeyr arose, and, having brought a purse containing a hundred thousand
pieces of gold, said, O Kádee, perform the ceremony of my contract of
marriage to this damsel for this sum as a dowry. The Kádee therefore
said to her, Say, I consent to that. And she said so. So they performed
the ceremony of, the contract; and after that, the damsel opened the purse,
filled her hand with part of its contents, and gave to the Kádee and the
witnesses. Then she handed to him [Jubeyr] what remained in the purse,
and the Kádee and witnesses departed.
—
I sat with them in joy and gladness until the greater part of the night
had passed, when I said within myself, They are two lovers, and during a long
period they have been separated, so I will arise immediately, that I may
sleep in a place remote from them, and leave them together alone. Ac-
522
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
cordingly I arose; but the damsel laid hold upon my skirts, and said to me
What hath thy mind suggested to thee? I answered, Such and such things
And she replied, Sit, and when we desire thy departure, we will dismiss thee
I therefore remained sitting with them until the approach of the dawn
when she said, O Ibn-Mansoor, go to yon private chamber; for we have
furnished it for thee, and it is thy sleeping-place.
And I arose, and slept in it until the morning; and when I got up
there came to me a page with a basin and ewer, and I performed the ablution
and recited the morning-prayers; after which I sat. And while I was sit-
ting, lo, Jubeyr and his beloved came forth from a bath that was in the
house, wringing their locks; and I bade them good morning, congratulating
them on their safety and their reunion, and said to Jubeyr, What beginneth
with stipulation endeth with content. He replied, Thou hast spoken truth,
and thou art entitled to liberal treatment. Then calling his treasurer, he
said to him, Bring to me three thousand pieces of gold. So he brought
him a purse containing that sum, and Jubeyr said to me, Do us the favour
to accept this. But I replied, I will not accept it until thou inform me
what was the cause of the transition of the love from her to thee, after
that excessive repulsion. And he said, I hear and obey. Know that we
have a festival called the Festival of the New-year's-days, when the people
go forth and embark in boats, and amuse themselves upon the river.¹º And
I went forth to amuse myself with my companions, and saw a boat wherein
were ten slave-girls like moons, and this lady Budoor was in the midst of
them, having her lute with her; and she played upon it eleven airs; after
which she returned to the first air, and sang these verses:
Fire is cooler than the fires of my bosom; and rock is softer than the heart of my lord.
Verily I wonder at his composition, with a heart of rock in a body soft as water.
And I said to her, Repeat the two verses and the air. But she would not.
So I ordered the boatmen to pelt her; and they pelted her with oranges
until we feared that the boat in which she was would sink. Then she went
her way: and this was the cause of the transition of the love from her heart
to mine. I therefore, says Ibn-Mansoor, congratulated them on their
reunion, and, taking the purse with its contents, repaired to Baghdád.
-
And the bosom of the Khaleefeh was dilated, and the restlessness, and
the contraction of the heart that he suffered, ceased to trouble him.20
XVII
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
HERE was, in ancient times, in the country of the Persians,' a mighty
King, of great dignity, who had three daughters, like shining full moons
and flowery gardens; and he had a male child, like the moon. He ob-
served two annual festivals, that of the New-year's-day, and that of the
Autumnal Equinox; 2 and it was his custom, on these occasions, to open
his palaces, and give his gifts, and make proclamation of safety and security,
and promote the chamberlains and lieutenants: the people of his dominions
also used to go in to him and salute him, and congratulate him on the
festival, offering him presents and servants: and he loved philosophy and
geometry.
5
And while the King was sitting on the throne of his dominions, on a
certain day, during one of these festivals, there came in to him three sages:
with one of them was a peacock of gold; and with the second, a trumpet
of brass; and with the third, a horse of ivory and ebony: whereupon the
King said to them, What are these things, and what is their use? The
owner of the peacock answered, The use of this peacock is, that whenever
an hour of the night or day passeth, it will flap its wings, and utter a cry.¹
And the owner of the trumpet said, If this trumpet be placed at the gate
of the city, it will be as a defender of it; for if an enemy enter the city, this
trumpet will send forth a sound against him; so he will be known and
arrested. And the owner of the horse said, O my lord, the use of this horse
is, that if a man mount it, it will convey him to whatever country he de-
sireth. Upon this the King said, I will not bestow any favour upon you
until I make trial of the uses of these things. Then he made trial of the
peacock, and found it to be as its owner had said. And he made trial of
the trumpet, and found it as its owner had said. He therefore said to the
two sages (the owners of the peacock and the trumpet), Request of me
what ye will. And they replied, We request of thee that thou marry to
each of us one of thy daughters. Whereupon the King bestowed upon them
two of his daughters. Then the third sage, the owner of the horse, advanced,
and, having kissed the ground before the King, said to him, O King of
the age, bestow upon me like as thou hast bestowed upon my companions.
The King replied, When I shall have made trial of that which thou hast
brought. And upon this, the King's son advanced and said, O my father,
I will mount this horse, and make trial of it, and obtain proof of its use."
So the King replied, O my son, try it as thou desirest.
523
524
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The King's son accordingly arose, and mounted the horse, and urged it
with his feet; but it moved not from its place. He therefore said, O sage
where is the rapidity of pace of which thou boastedst? And on hearing
this, the sage came to him, and showed him a turning-pin, by which to
make it ascend; saying to him, Turn this pin. And the King's son turned
it, and, lo, the horse moved, and soared with him towards the upper region
of the sky, and ceased not its flight with him until he was out of sight of
the people; whereupon the prince was perplexed at his case, and repented
of his having mounted the horse. He said, The sage hath made use of a
stratagem to destroy me, and there is no strength nor power but in God,
the High, the Great! Then he began to examine all the members of the
horse; and while he was doing so he saw a thing like the head of a cock on
the horse's right shoulder, and the like on the left shoulder: so he said, I
see not any indication except these two buttons. And he turned the button
that was on the right shoulder; upon which the horse bore him upwards with
increased velocity into the sky: so he took off his hand from that button,
and, looking at the left shoulder, and seeing the button that was there, he
turned it; and the movements of the horse became lessened in velocity, and
changed from ascending to descending. It ceased not to descend with him
towards the earth by little and little, while he continued to exercise caution
for his safety; and when he saw this, and knew the uses of the horse, his
heart was filled with joy and happiness, and he thanked God (whose name
be exalted!) for the favour that He had shown him in saving him from de-
struction. He ceased not to descend for the whole of the remainder of
the day; for in his ascent the earth had become distant from him; and he
turned about the face of the horse as he desired, while it descended with
him; when he would, he was carried downwards by it: and when he would,
he was borne by it upwards.
Now when he had obtained what he desired with respect to the horse,
he proceeded on it towards the earth, and began to look at its countries
and cities, which he knew not; for he had never seen them before during
the whole of his life. And among the objects that he beheld was a city
constructed in the most excellent manner, in the midst of a land beautifully
verdant, with trees and rivers: upon which he meditated in his mind, and
said, Would that I knew what is the name of this city, and in what region
it is. He then made a circuit around the city, viewing it attentively, right
and left. The day had nearly departed, and the sun was about to set; so
he said within himself, I have not found any place in which to pass the
night better than this city: I will therefore pass this night in it, and in
the morning I will return to my family and my royal residence, and acquaint
my family and my father with that which hath happened to me, and inform
him of the things that mine eyes have seen. Accordingly he began to
search for a place in which he might feel secure of the safety of himself and
his horse, and where no one might see him; and while he was thus engaged,
lo, he beheld, in the midst of the city, a palace rising high into the air, sur-
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
525
munded by a large wall with high battlements; whereupon he said within
himself, This place is agreeable.
He turned the button that caused the horse to descend, and ceased not
to be carried downwards on it until he descended steadily on the flat roof
of the palace, when he alighted from the horse praising God (whose name
be exalted!), and began to go round about the horse, and to examine it, and
said, By Allah, he who made thee thus was an expert sage; and if God (whose
name be exalted!) extend the term of my life, and restore me to my country
and my family in safety, and reunite me with my father, I will assuredly
bestow every favour upon this sage, and treat him with the utmost benefi-
cence. He then sat upon the roof of the palace until he knew that the in-
mates had betaken themselves to sleep. Hunger and thirst pained him; for
since he had parted from his father he had not eaten food; and he said
within himself, Verily such a palace as this is not devoid of the necessaries
of life. He therefore left the horse in a place alone, and walked down to
seek for something to eat; and finding a flight of steps, he descended by
them to the lower part of the building, where he found a court paved with
marble; and he wondered at this place, and at the beauty of its construc-
tion; but he heard not in the palace any sound, nor the cheering voice of
an inhabitant. So he paused in perplexity, and looked to the right and
left, not knowing whither to go. Then he said within himself, there is no
better course for me than to return to the place in which is my horse, and to
pass the night by it; and when the morning cometh, I will mount and depart.
But while he was addressing himself with these words, he beheld a light
approaching the place where he stood, and, looking attentively at that light,
be found that it was with a party of female slaves, among whom was a
beautiful damsel, of a stature like the letter Alif,' resembling the splendid
full moon, as the poet hath said:
She came without appointment, in the gloom of nightfall, like the full moon in the dark
horizon;
Slender-formed; there is none among the creation like her in excellence of beauty or the
charms of disposition.
I exclaimed, when my eye beheld her beauty, Extolled be the perfection of the creator of
mankind!
I guard her from the eyes of every person by seeking refuge with the Lord of Men and
of the Daybreak."
That damsel was the daughter of the King of this city; and her father loved
her with so great an affection that he built for her this palace; and whenever
her heart was contracted, she used to come hither, together with her female
slaves, and to remain here a day, or two days, or more; after which she
returned to the palace where she generally resided. It happened that she
came that night for the sake of diversion and dilatation of the mind, and she
walked among the female slaves, attended by a eunuch armed with a sword;
and when they entered the palace, they spread the furniture, and gave vent
to the odours from the perfuming-vessels, and sported and rejoiced. Now
526
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
while they were thus engaged, the King's son rushed upon that eunuch
struck him a blow which laid him prostrate, and, taking the sword from hi
hand, ran upon the female slaves who were with the King's daughter, and
dispersed them to the right and left. And when the King's daughter sav
his beauty and loveliness, she said, Perhaps thou art he who demanded m
in marriage yesterday of my father, and whom he rejected, and whom he
asserted to be of hideous aspect. By Allah, my father lied in saying those
words; for thou art none other than a handsome person.
Now the son of the King of India had requested her of her father and
he had rejected him, because he was disagreeable in aspect; and she imagined
that the prince now before her was he who had demanded her in marriage.
She then came to him, and embraced and kissed him, and seated herself
with him. The female slaves, however, said to her, O our mistress, this is
not the person who demanded thee in marriage of thy father; for that per-
son was hideous, and this is handsome; and he who demanded thee of thy
father, and whom he rejected, is not fit to be a servant to this person: but,
O our mistress, verily this young man is one of high dignity. And after
this, the female slaves went to the prostrated eunuch, and roused him; where-
upon he sprang up in alarm, and searched for his sword, not finding it in
his hand. So the female slaves said to him, He who took thy sword, and
laid thee prostrate, is sitting with the King's daughter. Now the King
had charged this eunuch with the office of guarding his daughter, in his
fear for her from misfortunes and evil accidents.
-
The eunuch therefore arose, and went to the curtain, and when he raised
it, he saw the King's daughter sitting with the King's son, and they were
conversing together; and as soon as he beheld them, he said to the King's
son, O my master, art thou a human being or a Jinnee? To which the
King's son replied, Wo to thee, O most ill-omened of slaves!
9
that thou regardest the sons of the royal Kisràs as of the unbelieving
devils? Then, taking the sword in his hand, he said to him, I am the
son-in-law of the King, and he hath married me to his daughter, and com-
manded me to introduce myself to her. So when the eunuch heard these
words from him, he said to him, O my master, if thou be of the human
species, as thou hast asserted, she is suited to none but thee, and thou art
more worthy of her than any other.
The eunuch then went shrieking to the King; and he had rent his clothes,
and thrown dust upon his head. And when the King heard his crying, he
said to him, What hath befallen thee; for thou hast agitated my heart?
Acquaint me quickly, and be brief in thy words. He therefore answered
him, O King, go to the assistance of thy daughter; for a devil of the Jinn,
in the garb of human beings, and having the form of the sons of the Kings,
hath got possession of her; therefore seize him. And when the King heard
these words from him, he thought to slay him, and said to him, How came
it to pass that thou wast neglectful of my daughter, so that this event befell
her? He then went to the palace wherein was his daughter, and on his
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
527
arrival he found the female slaves standing there, and said to them, What
is it that hath happened to my daughter? They answered him, O King,
while we were sitting with her, suddenly there rushed upon us this young
man, who resembleth the full moon, and than whom we have never seen
any one more handsome in countenance, with a drawn sword in his hand;
and we inquired of him respecting his business, and he asserted that thou
hadst married to him thy daughter: we know nothing more than this; and
we know not whether he be a human being or a Jinnee; but he is chaste and
well bred, and doth not addict himself to that which is disgraceful. So
when the King heard their words, his rage was cooled. He then raised the
curtain by little and little, and looked, and beheld the King's son sitting
with his daughter, conversing; and he was of most comely form, with a
face like the shining full moon.
The King could not control himself, through his jealousy for his
daughter. He therefore raised the curtain and entered, with a drawn sword
in his hand, and rushed upon them as though he were a Ghool.10 The
King's son, on seeing him, said to her, Is this thy father? She answered,
Yes. And upon this, he sprang upon his feet, and, taking his sword in his
hand, shouted at the King with an amazing cry which terrified him, and was
about to attack him with the sword; but the King, perceiving that the prince
was stronger than he, sheathed his sword, and stood until the King's son
came up to him, when he met him with courtesy, and said to him, O young
man, art thou a human being or a Jinnee? The King's son replied, Were it
not that I respect thy right and the honour of thy daughter, I had shed thy
blood. How is it that thou derivest me from the devils, when I am of the
sons of the royal Kisràs, who, if they desired to take thy kingdom, would
make thee totter from thy glory and dominion, and despoil thee of all that
is in thy dwellings? So the King," on hearing his words, dreaded and
feared him; but said to him, If thou be of the sons of the Kings, as thou
hast asserted, how is it that thou hast entered my palace without my permis-
sion, and dishonoured me, and come unto my daughter, asserting that thou
art her husband, and pretending that I had married thee to her, when I have
killed the Kings and the sons of the Kings on their demanding her of me in
marriage? And who will save thee from my power, when, if I cried out unto
my slaves and my young men, and commanded them to slay thee, they would
slay thee immediately? Who then can deliver thee from my hand?
-
The King's son, however, when he heard these words from him, said to
the King, Verily I wonder at thee, and at the smallness of thy penetration.
Dost thou covet for thy daughter a husband better than myself; and hast
thou seen any one more firm of heart, and superior in requital, and more
glorious in authority and troops and guards than I am? The King
answered him, No, by Allah: but I would, O young man, that thou demand
her in marriage publicly, that I may marry her to thee; for if I marry her
to thee privately, thou wilt disgrace me by so taking her. And the King's
son replied, Thou hast said well: but, O King, if thy slaves and servants and
-
528
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
troops were to assemble against me and slay me, as thou hast imagined, thou
wouldst disgrace thyself, and the people would be divided with respect to
thee, some believing, and others accusing thee of falsehood. It is my opinion
that thou shouldst relinquish this idea, and adopt the course that I will point
out to thee. So the King said, Propose what thou wilt.
--
And the King's son rejoined, What I propose to thee is this: either that
thou meet me in single combat, and he who killeth the other shall be more
deserving and worthy of the kingdom; or else, that thou leave me this night,
and when the morning cometh, that thou send forth to me thy soldiers and
troops and young men; and acquaint me with their number. The King
replied, Their number is forty thousand horsemen, besides the slaves belong-
ing to me, and their followers, who are equal in number. And the King's
son said, When the day beginneth, send them forth to me, and say to them,
This person hath demanded of me my daughter in marriage on the condition
that he will meet you all in combat; and he hath pretended that he will
overcome and subdue you, and that ye cannot prevail against him. Then
leave me with them to combat them; and if they kill me, the result will be
more proper for the concealment of thy secret and the preserving of thine
honour; but if I overcome and subdue them, then am I such a person as the
King should desire for his son-in-law. And when the King heard his words,
he approved of his advice and accepted it, notwithstanding that he wondered
at his saying, and was struck with terror at his determination to meet in
combat all his army that he had described unto him. Then they sat
conversing.
And after this, the King called the eunuch, and commanded him to go.
forth immediately to his Wezeer, and to desire him to collect all the troops,
and order them to equip themselves with their arms, and to mount their
horses. So the eunuch went to the Wezeer, and acquainted him with that
which the King had commanded. And upon this the Wezeer summoned the
chiefs of the army, and the grandees of the empire, and ordered them to
mount their horses, and to go forth equipped with the weapons of war.-
Meanwhile, the King continued to converse with the young man, being
pleased with his conversation and sense and good breeding; and as they
were talking together, the morning arrived. The King therefore arose, and
went to his throne, ordered his troops to mount, and caused an excellent
horse, one of the best that he possessed, to be brought before the King's
son, commanding that it should be equipped for him with handsome saddle
and trappings. But the young man said to him, O King, I will not mount
until I take a view of the troops, and observe them. And the King replied,
It shall be as thou desirest. Then the King proceeded, with the young man
before him, until they arrived at the horse-course, when the young man
looked at the troops and their number. And the King called out, O com-
panies of men, a young man hath come unto me demanding in marriage my
daughter, and I have never beheld any handsomer than he, nor any stronger
in heart, nor any greater in intrepidity than he: and he hath asserted that
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
529
+
he alone will overcome you and subdue you, and pretendeth that ye, even
if your number amounted to a hundred thousand, would be in his estimation
but few. But when he cometh forth to combat you, receive him upon the
points of your spears, and the edges of your swords; for he hath undertaken
a great enterprise.
-
The King then said to the young man, O my son, do as thou desirest
with them. But he replied, O King, thou hast not treated me equitably.
How shall I go forth to combat them when I am on foot and thy people are
mounted on horses? — So the King said to him, I desired thee to mount, and
tbou refusedst. Take then of the horses and choose of them that which thou
wilt. He replied, None of thy horses pleaseth me, and I will mount none
but the horse on which I came. The King therefore said to him, And where
is thy horse? He answered him, It is on the top of thy palace. In what
place in my palace? asked the King. He answered, On the roof of the
palace. And when the King heard his words, he said to him, This is the
first instance that hath appeared of thine insanity. O, wo to thee! How
can the horse be upon the roof? But now will thy veracity be distinguished
from thy lying. Then the King looked towards one of his chief officers,
and said to him, Go to my palace, and bring what thou shalt find upon the
roof. And the people wondered at the words of the young man; one saying
to another, How can this horse descend the stairs from the roof? Verily
this is a thing the like of which we have never heard!
Now the person whom the King had sent to the palace ascended to its
roof, and beheld the horse standing there; and he had seen none more hand-
some than it; and he approached it and examined it, and found it to be of
ebony and ivory. Some others of the chief officers of the King also went up
with this person; and when they beheld the horse, they laughed together,
and said, Did the young man speak of such a horse as this? We imagine
that he is no other than a madman: but his case will soon appear to us; and
perhaps he may be a person of great importance. They then raised the
horse upon their hands, and carried it without stopping until they came
before the King, when they placed it before him; and the people assembled
around it, gazing at it, and wondering at the beauty of its make, and at the
beauty of its saddle and bridle. The King also admired it, and wondered
at it extremely; and he said to the King's son, O young man, is this thy
horse? He answered, Yes, O King, this is my horse, and thou shalt see a
Wonder performed by it. The King said to him, Take thy horse and mount
it. But he replied, I will not mount it unless the troops retire to a distance
from it. So the King commanded the troops that were around him to retire
from it as far as an arrow might be shot.
Then said the young man, O King, I am going to mount my horse, and
charge upon thine army, and disperse them to the right and left, and split
their hearts. The King replied, Do what thou desirest, and pity them not;
for they will not pity thee. And the King's son went to the horse and
mounted it. The troops were arranged in ranks before him; and one said to
530
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
—
another, When the young man arriveth between the ranks, we will receive
him with the points of the spears, and the edges of the swords. But one of
them said, By Allah, it is a calamity! How shall we kill this young man
with the comely face and the surpassing figure? And another said, By
Allah, ye shall by no means reach him unless after a great event; and the
young man hath not done these deeds but from his knowledge of his own
valour and preeminence. And when the King's son had seated himself
firmly upon his horse, he turned the pin of ascent. The eyes of the spectators
were strained to see what he would do; and his horse bestirred itself, and
moved about with violent action, until it had performed the most extraor-
dinary of the motions of horses, and its body became filled with air. Then
it rose, and ascended into the sky. So when the King saw that he had risen,
and ascended aloft, he called out to his troops, and said, Wo to you! Take
him before he escape from you. But his Wezeer and lieutenants replied,
O King, can any one catch the flying bird? This is none other than a great
enchanter. God hath saved thee from him: therefore praise God (whose
name be exalted!) for thine escape from his hand.
-
The King therefore returned to his palace, after he had witnessed these
acts of the King's son; and when he arrived at his palace, he went to his
daughter, and acquainted her with that which had happened to him with
the King's son in the horse-course; but he found her greatly lamenting for
him, and for her separation from him; and she fell into a violent sickness.
and took to the pillow. So when her father saw her in this state he pressed
her to his bosom, kissed her between the eyes, and said to her, O my daughter,
praise God (whose name be exalted!) and thank Him for our escape from
this crafty enchanter. He began to repeat to her the account of the deeds
of the King's son that he had witnessed, describing to her how he had
ascended into the air. But she listened to nought of her father's words;
her weeping and wailing increased in violence, and afterwards she said within
herself, By Allah, I will not eat food, nor drink any beverage, until God
reunite me with him. Therefore exceeding anxiety overcame her father the
King on account of this; the state of his daughter afflicted him, and he
mourned in heart for her; and every time that he addressed her with soothing
words, she only increased in her passion for the young man. - Such was
her case.¹ 12
Now, as to the King's son, when he had ascended into the sky, being
alone, he reflected upon the beauty of the damsel, and her loveliness. He
had inquired of the King's people respecting the name of the city, and the
name of the King, and that of his daughter; and that city was the city of
San'à.13 He then prosecuted his journey with diligence until he came in sight
of the city of his father; and after he had made a circuit around the city,
he bent his course to his father's palace, and descended upon the roof.
Having left his horse there, he descended to his father, and went in to him;
and he found him mourning and afflicted on account of his separation: there-
fore, when his father saw him, he rose to him and embraced him, pressing
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORS
531
HORSE
him to his bosom, and rejoicing exceedingly at his return. And the Prince
inquired of his father respecting the sage who made the horse, saying, O my
father, what hath fortune done with him? His father answered him, May
God not bless the sage nor the hour in which I beheld him; for he was the
cause of thy separation from us, and he hath been imprisoned, O my son,
since thou absentedst thyself from us. He gave orders, however, to relieve
him, and take him forth from the prison, and bring him before him; and
when he came before him, he invested him with an honorary dress in token
of satisfaction, and treated him with the utmost beneficence; but would not
marry his daughter to him. So the sage was violently enraged at this, and
repented of that which he had done, knowing that the King's son had become
acquainted with the secret of the horse and the mode of its motion. Then
the King said to his son, It is my opinion that thou shouldst not approach
this horse henceforth, nor mount it after this day; for thou knowest not its
properties, and thou art deceived respecting it. The King's son had related
to his father what had happened to him with the daughter of the King, the
lord of the city, and what had happened to him with her father; and his
father said to him, Had the King desired to slay thee, he had slain thee; but
the end of thy life was delayed.
After this,¹ they ate and drank and were merry; and there was with the
King a handsome slave-girl, who played upon the lute; and she took the
lute, and began to play upon it, singing of absence, before the King and his
son; and she sang these verses:
Think not that absence hath made me forget: for if I forget you, what shall I remember?
Time passeth; but never shall our love for you end: in our love for you we will die and
be raised.
Then anxious thoughts were aroused in the mind,of the King's son by his
love of the damsel, the daughter of the King of San'à: so he rose and went
to the horse and mounted it, and turned the pin of ascent; whereupon it
soared with him into the air, and rose with him towards the upper region
of the sky. And in the morning, his father missed him, and found him not:
he therefore went up to the top of the palace, in a state of affliction, and he
beheld his son mounting into the air: and upon this he grieved for his
separation, and repented extremely that he had not taken the horse and con-
cealed it. He said within himself, By Allah, if my son return to me, I will
not preserve this horse, that my heart may be at rest respecting my son.
And he resumed his weeping and wailing. But as to his son, he ceased not
his course through the sky until he came to the city of San'à, when he de-
scended in the place where he descended the first time, and he walked down
stealthily until he came to the chamber of the King's daughter; but he found
neither her nor her female slaves, nor the eunuch who was her guard; and
the event greatly afflicted him. Then he went about searching for her
through the palace, and at last he found her in a different chamber from
that in which he had been with her.
--
532
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
She had taken to the pillow, and around her were the female slaves and
nurses. And he went in to them and saluted them; and when the damsel
heard his speech, she rose to him and embraced him, and began to kiss him
between his eyes, and to press him to her bosom. He said to her, O my mis-
tress, thou hast rendered me desolate during this period. And she replied,
Thou hast rendered me desolate, and had thine absence from me continued
longer, I had perished without doubt. O my mistress, he rejoined, what
thoughtest thou of my conduct with thy father, and his actions to me?
Were it not for my love of thee, O temptation to all creatures, I had slain
him, and made him an example to beholders: but I love him for thy sake.
And she said to him, How couldst thou absent thyself from me? Can
my life be pleasant after thy departure? He then said to her, Wilt thou
comply with my desire, and listen to my words? She answered him, Say
what thou wilt: for I will consent to that which thou requirest me to do,
and will not oppose thee in any thing. And he said to her, Journey with
me to my country and my kingdom. She replied, Most willingly.
So when the King's son heard her words, he rejoiced exceedingly, and,
taking her by her hand, he made her swear by God (whose name be exalted!)
that she would do so. Then he led her up to the roof of the palace, mounted
his horse, and placed her on it behind him, and after he had bound her
firmly, turned the pin of ascent in the shoulder of the horse, and it ascended
with them into the sky. Upon this the female slaves cried out, and informed
the King her father, and her mother, who thereupon came up in haste to
the roof of the palace; and the King, looking up into the sky, beheld the
ebony horse soaring with them in the air. The King was agitated, and his
agitation increased, and he called out and said, O son of the King, I con-
jure thee by Allah that thou have mercy upon me, and have mercy upon
my wife, and that thou make not a separation between us, and our daughter!
The King's son, however, answered him not; but he imagined that the dam-
sel repented of parting from her mother and her father; so he said to her,
O temptation of the age, dost thou desire that I restore thee to thy mother
and thy father? O my master, she answered, by Allah that is not my
desire: my desire is rather to be with thee wherever thou shalt be; for I am
drawn off by my love of thee from every thing else, even from my father
and my mother. And when the King's son heard her reply, he rejoiced
exceedingly, and began to make the horse proceed gently with them, that it
might not disquiet her; and he ceased not to journey on with her until he
beheld a green meadow, in which was a spring of water.
There they alighted, and ate and drank; after which, the King's son
mounted his horse again, took her up behind him, and bound her, in his
fear for her. He then proceeded with her, and ceased not in his course
through the air until he arrived at the city of his father. His joy thereat
was great; and he desired to shew to the damsel the seat of his power and
the dominion of his father, and to inform her that the dominion of his father
was greater than that of her father. He therefore deposited her in one of
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
533
the gardens in which his father diverted himself, put her in a private cham-
ber that was furnished for her father, and placed the ebony horse at the
door of that chamber, charging the damsel to guard it, and saying to her,
Sit here until I send to thee my messenger; for I am going to my father, to
prepare for thee a palace, and to display to thee my dominion. And the
damsel rejoiced when she heard from him these words, and replied, Do what
thou desirest. Then it occurred to her mind that she was not to enter [the
city] but with respect and honor, as was suitable to persons of her rank.
So the King's son left her, and proceeded until he arrived at the city,
and went in to his father; and when his father saw him, he rejoiced at his
coming, and met him and welcomed him; and the King's son said to his
father, Know that I have brought the King's daughter of whom I informed
thee, and I have left her without the city, in one of the gardens, and come
to acquaint thee with her arrival, that thou mayest prepare the procession
of state, and go forth to meet her, and display to her thy dominion and thy
troops and guards. The King replied, Most willingly. And immediately
he commanded the people of the city to decorate the city in the most hand-
some manner, and rode forth in a procession equipped in the most perfect
manner and with the most magnificent decorations, with all his soldiers and
the grandees of his empire, and all his memlooks and servants. The King's
son also took forth, from his palace, ornaments and apparel and such things
as Kings treasure up, and prepared for the damsel a camel-litter of green
and red and yellow brocade, in which he seated Indian and Greek and
Abyssinian female slaves, and he displayed wonderful treasures.
Then he left the camel-litter with the persons that were in it, and went
on before to the garden; and he entered the private chamber in which he
had left the damsel, and searched for her; but found her not, nor did he find
the horse. Upon this he slapped his face and rent his clothes, and began
to go round about through the garden, with a mind confounded; after
which, he returned to his reason, and said within himself, How did she learn
the secret of this horse when I did not acquaint her with aught of it? But
perhaps the Persian sage who made the horse hath found her, and taken
her, as a requital for that which my father hath done unto him. — Then
the King's son sought the keepers of the garden, and asked them who had
passed by them, saying, Have ye seen any one pass by you and enter this
garden? And they answered, We have not seen any one enter this garden
except the Persian sage; for he entered to collect useful herbs. So when
he heard their words, he was convinced that the person who had taken the
damsel was that sage.
Now it happened, in accordance with destiny, that, when the King's son
left the damsel in the private chamber that was in the garden, and repaired
to the palace of his father to make his preparations, the Persian sage entered
the garden to collect some useful herbs, and smelt the odour of musk and
other perfumes with which the air was impregnated; and this sweet scent was
from the odour of the King's daughter. The sage therefore proceeded in the
534
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
direction of this odour until he came to the private chamber, when he saw
the horse that he had made with his hand standing at the door of the cham-
ber. So when the sage saw the horse, his heart was filled with joy and
happiness; for he had mourned after it greatly since it had gone from his
possession. He approached it, and examined all its members, and found it
sound; but when he was about to mount it and depart, he said within him-
self, I must see what the King's son hath brought and left here with the
horse. Accordingly he entered the private chamber, and found the damsel
sitting there, resembling the shining sun in the clear sky. As soon as he
beheld her, he knew that she was a damsel of high dignity, and that the
King's son had taken her, and brought her upon the horse, and left her
in that private chamber while he repaired to the city to prepare for her a
stately procession, and to conduct her into the city with respect and honour.
The sage therefore went in to her, and kissed the ground before her;
and she raised her eyes towards him, and, looking at him, found him to be
of most hideous aspect and disagreeable form; and she said to him, Who art
thou? He answered her, O my mistress, I am the messenger of the King's
son, who hath sent me to thee, and commanded me to remove thee to another
garden, near unto the city. And when the damsel heard from him these
words, she said to him, And where is the King's son? He answered her,
He is in the city, with his father, and he will come to thee immediately
with a grand procession. But she said to him, O thou! could not the King's
son find any one to send to me but thee? And the sage laughed at her
words, and replied, O my mistress, let not the hideousness of my face and
the disagreeableness of my aspect deceive thee; for hadst thou experienced
of me what the King's son hath, thou wouldst approve of me. Verily the
King's son hath especially chosen me to send to thee on account of the
hideousness of my aspect and the horrible nature of my form, through his
jealousy of thee, and his love of thee; for were it otherwise, he hath of
memlooks and black slaves, and pages and servants and dependants, an
abundance that cannot be calculated.
So when the damsel heard his reply, it appeared reasonable to her, and
she believed it, and arose and went with him, putting her hand in his. She
then said to him, O my father, what hast thou brought with thee for me to
ride? O my mistress, he answered, the horse on which thou camest thou
shalt ride. She replied, I cannot ride it by myself. And when he heard
this reply from her, the sage smiled, and knew that he had got possession of
her; and he said to her, I myself will ride with thee. Then he mounted,
and mounted the damsel behind him, and pressing her to him, bound her
tightly, while she knew not what he desired to do with her. And after this,
he turned the pin of ascent, whereupon the body of the horse became filled
with air, and it moved and bestirred itself, and ascended into the sky, and
continued incessantly bearing them along until it. was out of sight of the
city. So the damsel said to him, O thou! what meant that which thou
saidst respecting the King's son, when thou assertedst that he sent thee
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
535
-
to me? The sage replied, May Allah keep the King's son from every thing
good; for he is base and vile! -O, wo to thee! she exclaimed; how is it
that thou disobeyest thy lord in that which. he hath commanded thee to
do? He replied, He is not my lord. And knowest thou, he added, who I
am? She answered him, I know thee not but as thou hast informed me of
thyself. And he said to her, Verily my telling thee this was a stratagem
that I made use of against thee and against the King's son. I was lament-
ing constantly for this horse that is beneath thee, for it is of my making, and
he had made himself master of it; but now I have obtained possession of it
and of thee also, and have tortured his heart as he hath tortured mine, and
he will never have it in his power henceforth. But be of good heart and
cheerful eye; for I shall be more useful to thee than he. And when the
damsel heard his words, she slapped her face, and cried out, O my grief!
I have neither obtained my beloved nor remained with my father and my
mother! And she wept violently for that which had befallen her, while
the sage incessantly proceeded with her to the country of the Greeks,15
until he descended with her in a verdant meadow with rivers and trees.
---
-
This meadow was near unto a city, in which was a King of great dignity;
and it happened on that day that the King of the city went forth to hunt,
and to divert himself, and, passing by that meadow, he saw the sage stand-
ing there, with the horse and the damsel by his side. And the sage was not
aware of their approach when the slaves of the King rushed upon him, and
took him, together with the damsel and the horse, and placed all before the
King, who, when he beheld the hideousness of his aspect, and the disagree-
ableness of his appearance, and beheld the beauty of the damsel, and her
loveliness, said to her, O my mistress, what relation is this sheykh to thee?
The sage hastily answered and said, She is my wife, and the daughter of
my paternal uncle. But the damsel declared that he was a liar, as soon as
she heard his words, and said, O King, by Allah I know him not, and he is
not my husband: but he took me away by force and stratagem. And when
the King heard what she said, he gave orders to beat the sage; and they
beat him until he almost died. Then the King commanded that they should
carry him to the city, and cast him into the prison; and so they did with
him; and the King took the damsel and the horse from him; but he knew
not the property of the horse, nor the mode of its motion.
befall the sage and the damsel.
Thus did it
As to the King's son, he put on the apparel of travel, and, having taken
what money he required, journeyed forth in a most evil state, and quickly
endeavoured to trace them, seeking them from town to town and from city
to city, and inquiring respecting the ebony horse; and every one who heard
his mention of the ebony horse wondered at it, and was greatly astonished
at his words. Thus he continued to do for a long period; but notwithstand-
ing his frequent questions and his searching for them, he met with no tid-
ings of them. Then he journeyed to the city of the damsel's father, and
there inquired for her, but he heard no tidings of her, and he found her father
536
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
mourning for her loss
So he returned, and repaired to the country of the
Greeks, endeavouring to trace them, and inquiring respecting them.
And it happened that he alighted at one of the Kháns, and saw a party
of the merchants sitting conversing; and he seated himself near them, and
heard one of them say, O my companions, I have met with a wonderful
thing - And what was it? they asked He answered, I was in a certain
district, in such a city (and he mentioned the name of the city in which was
the damsel) and I heard its inhabitants talking of a strange story, which
was this:
The King of the city went forth one day to hunt, attended by
a party of his associates and the grandees of his empire, and when they went
forth into the desert, they passed by a verdant meadow, and found there a
man standing, and by his side a woman sitting, and with him a horse of
ebony. As to the man, he was of hideous aspect, very horrible in form; and
as tc the woman, she was a damsel endowed with beauty and loveliness, and
elegance and perfect grace, and justness of stature; and as to the ebony
horse, it was a wonderful thing: eyes have not beheld its superior in beauty
or in comeliness of make. The persons present said to him, And what did
the King with them? He answered, As to the man, the King took him, and
asked him respecting the damsel, and he pretended that she was his wife,
and the daughter of his paternal uncle. But as to the damsel, she declared
that he lied in his assertion. So the King took her from him, and gave
orders to beat him, and to cast him into the prison. And as to the ebony
horse, I know not what became of it. When the King's son therefore heard
these words from the merchant, he approached him, and proceeded to ques-
tion him with mildness and courtesy until he acquainted him with the
name of the city and the name of its King; and when he knew the name of
the city and that of its King, he passed the night happy; and in the morn-
ing he went forth on his journey.
He ceased not to prosecute his journey until he arrived at that city;
but when he desired to enter it, the gate-keepers took him, and would have
conducted him into the presence of the King, that he might inquire of him
respecting his condition, and of the cause of his coming into that city, and
as to what art or trade he was skilled in; for so was the King's custom to
question the strangers respecting their conditions and their arts or trades.
But the arrival of the King's son at that city happened to be at eventide;
and that was a time at which it was not possible to go in to the King or to
consult respecting him. So the gatekeepers took him and conducted him
to the prison, to put him in it. When the jailers, however, saw his beauty
and loveliness, they could not bear to put him in the prison: on the con-
trary, they seated him with themselves, outside the prison; and when the
food was brought to them, he ate with them until he was satisfied; and after
they had finished eating, they sat conversing, and, addressing the King's son,
they said to him, From what country art thou? He answered, I am from the
country of Persia, the country of the Kisràs. And when they heard his an-
swer, they laughed, and one of them said to him, O Kisrawee,16 I have heard
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HORSE
537
the sayings of men, and their histories, and have observed their conditions;
but I have neither seen, nor heard of, a greater liar than this Kisrawee who
is with us in the prison. And another said, Nor have I seen any one more
hideous than he in person, or more disagreeable than he in form.
So the King's son said to them, What instance of his lying hath appeared
unto you? They answered, He pretendeth that he is a sage, and the King
saw him as he was going to hunt, and with him a woman of surprising beauty
and loveliness, and elegance and perfect grace, and justness of stature, and
there was with him also a horse of black ebony, than which we have never
seen any more handsome. As to the damsel, she is with the King, and he
loveth her; but the woman is mad; and if that man were a sage as he
pretendeth, he had cured her; for the King is striving to find her remedy,
desiring to recover her of her malady. As to the ebony horse, it is in the
King's treasury; and as to the man of hideous aspect, who was with it, he
is with us in the prison; and when the night overshadoweth him, he weepeth
and waileth in his grief for himself, and suffereth us not to sleep.
Now when the keepers of the prison acquainted the King's son with
these circumstances, it occurred to his mind that he might contrive a plan by
means of which to attain his desire. And when the gate-keepers desired to
sleep, they put him into the prison, and closed the door upon him; and he
heard the sage weeping and lamenting for himself in the Persian language,
and saying in his lamentation, Wo unto me for the injustice that I have
committed against myself and against the King's son, and for that which I
did unto the damsel, since I neither left her nor accomplished my desire.
All this arose from my ill management; for I sought for myself that which
I deserved not, and which was not suited to me; and he who seeketh that
which is not suited to him falleth into a calamity like that into which I have
fallen. — And when the King's son heard these words of the sage, he spoke
to him in the Persian language, saying, How long wilt thou continue this
weeping and lamentation? Dost thou think that such a misfortune hath
befallen thee as hath not befallen any beside thee? — And the sage, on hear-
ing his words, was cheered by him, and complained to him of his case, and
of the distress he experienced.
Then, when the morning came, the gate-keepers took the King's son,
and conducted him to the King, and informed him that he had arrived at the
city on the preceding day, at a time when it was impossible to go in unto
the King. So the King questioned him, and said to him, From what country
art thou, and what is thy name, and what thy art or trade, and what the
reason of thy coming unto this city? And the King's son answered, As to
my name, it is, in the Persian language, Harjeh; 17 and as to my country, it
is the country of Persia; and I am of the men of science, especially the
science of medicine; for I cure the sick and the mad; and for this purpose
I travel about through the regions and cities, to profit myself by adding
science to my science; and when I see a sick person I cure him. This is
my occupation. And when the King heard his words, he rejoiced at them.
538
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
exceedingly, and said to him, O excellent sage, thou hast come to us at a
time when we need thee. Then he acquainted him with the case of the
damsel, and said to him, If thou cure her, and recover her of her madness,
thou shalt receive from me all that thou shalt desire. And the King's son,
on hearing this, replied, May God confirm the power of the King! Describe
to me every thing that thou hast observed of her madness, and inform me
how many days ago this madness attacked her, and how thou tookest her
and the horse and the sage. He therefore acquainted him with the matter
from beginning to end, and said to him, The sage is in the prison. And the
King's son said, O happy King, and what hast thou done with the horse
that was with them? The King answered him, It remaineth with me to the
present time, preserved in one of the private chambers.
-
--
So the King's son said within himself, It is my opinion that I should
examine the horse before every thing else, and if it be sound, and no acci-
dent have happened to it, all that I desire is accomplished; but if I see
that its motions are destroyed, I will yet devise some stratagem to save my
life. Then looking towards the King, he said to him, O King, it is requisite
that I see the horse which thou hast mentioned. Perhaps I may find in it
something that will aid me to recover the damsel. The King replied, Most
willingly. And he arose, and, taking him by the hand, led him in to the
horse; whereupon the King's son began to go round about the horse, and
to examine it and observe its condition; and he found it sound, without any
defect. He therefore rejoiced at it exceedingly, and said, May God confirm
the power of the King! I desire to go in to the damsel, that I may see how
she will act; and I beg of God that her recovery may be effected by me, by
means of the horse, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted!
He gave orders to take care of the horse, and the King conducted him
to the chamber in which was the damsel. And when the King's son went
in to her, he found her beating herself, and falling down prostrate as usual;
but she was affected by no madness, and only did thus that no one might
approach her. So the King's son, on seeing her in this state, said to her,
No harm shall befall thee, O temptation to all creatures! Then he began
to address her gently and courteously until he acquainted her with himself;
and when she knew him, she uttered a great cry, and fell down in a fit
through the violence of the joy that she experienced; and the King imagined
that this fit was occasioned by her fear of him. And the King's son put
his mouth to her ear, and said to her, O temptation to all creatures, spare
my life and thine, and be patient and firm; for this is a place wherein we
stand in need of patience and good management in devising stratagems to
make our escape from this tyrannical King. A part of my stratagem shall
be, that I go forth to him and say to him, The disease that she suffereth
ariseth from her being possessed by a Jinnee,18 and I promise thee her re-
covery. And I will make a condition with him that he shall loose thy
bonds, and will assure him that this Jinnee which hath afflicted thee 19 will
be dispelled from thee. Therefore if he come in to thee, address him with
THE STORY OF THE MAGIC HOR
539
HORSE
pleasant words, that he may see that thou hast recovered through my means,
and so shall all that we desire be accomplished.
and obey.
--
And she replied, I hear
He then went forth from her, and, returning to the King, full of joy
and happiness, said, O fortunate King, I have discovered, through thy good
fortune, her remedy and cure, and I have cured her for thee. Arise then
and go in to her, and speak gently and mildly to her, and promise her that
which will rejoice her; for all that thou desirest of her shall be accomplished
for thee. The King therefore arose and went in to her; and when she saw
him, she rose to him, and kissed the ground before him, and welcomed him;
whereat the King rejoiced exceedingly. He ordered the female slaves and
eunuchs to betake themselves to serve her, to conduct her into the bath, and
to prepare for her the ornaments and apparel. So they went in to her and
saluted her, and she returned their salutation with the most courteous utter-
ance and the most pleasant words. Then they attired her in royal apparel,
put upon her neck a necklace of jewels, conducted her to the bath, served
her, and brought her out from the bath, resembling the full moon. And
when she came to the King, she saluted him, and kissed the ground before
him.
The King therefore was greatly rejoiced at seeing her thus, and said to
the King's son, All this is occasioned by the blessings attendant upon thee!
May God increase to us thy benefactions! And the King's son replied,
O King, the perfection of her recovery and the completion of her affair must
be effected by thy going forth with all thy guards and thy soldiers to the
place where thou foundest her, and the ebony horse that was with her must
be taken with thee, that I may there confine from her the Jinnee that hath
afflicted her, and imprison him and kill him, so that he may never return to
her. The King said, Most willingly. Accordingly he sent forth the ebony
horse to the meadow in which he had found the damsel with the horse and
the Persian sage, and the King mounted with his troops, taking the damsel
with him; and they knew not what he desired to do.
And when they arrived at that meadow, the King's son who feigned him-
self a sage ordered that the damsel and the horse should be placed as far
from the King and the troops as the eye could reach, and said to the King,
With thy permission and leave, I desire to burn perfumes, and to recite a
form of exorcism, and imprison the Jinnee here, that he may never return
to her. After which I will mount the ebony horse, and mount the damsel
behind me; and when I have done that, the horse will move about with
violent action, and walk forward until it cometh to thee, when the affair will
be finished, and thou shalt do with her what thou wilt. And when the King
heard his words, he rejoiced exceedingly. Then the King's son mounted
the horse, and placed the damsel behind him, while the King and all his
troops looked at him. And he pressed her to him, and bound her firmly,
and turned the pin of ascent; whereupon the horse rose with them into the
air. The troops continued gazing at him until he disappeared from before
540
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
their eyes; and the King remained half a day expecting his return to him;
but he returned not: so he despaired of him, and repented greatly, and grieved
for the separation of the damsel. Then he took his troops, and returned to
his city.
-
But as to the King's son, he bent his course to the city of his father, full
of joy and happiness, and ceased not in his journey until he descended upon
his palace, when he took down the damsel into the palace, and feit secure
of her. He then repaired to his father and his mother, and saluted them,
and acquainted them with the arrival of the damsel; whereat they rejoiced
exceedingly. Meanwhile the King of the Greeks, when he returned to his
city, secluded himself in his palace, mourning and afflicted. So his wezeers
went in to him, and began to console him, saying to him, Verily he who took
the damsel is an enchanter; and praise be to God who hath saved thee from
his enchantment and craftiness. And they ceased not until he was con-
soled for the loss of her. And as to the King's son, he made magnificent
banquets for the people of the city, and they continued the rejoicings for a
whole month; after which, he took the damsel as his wife, and they were
delighted with each other exceedingly. And his father broke the ebony
horse, and destroyed its motions. Then the King's son wrote a letter to the
father of the damsel, and in it described to him his state, informing him
that he had married the damsel, and that she was with him in the most happy
condition. He sent it to him by a messenger, bearing precious presents and
rarities; and when the messenger arrived at the city of the damsel's father,
which was San'à of El-Yemen, he transmitted the letter, with the presents,
to that King, who, on reading the letter, rejoiced exceedingly, accepted the
presents, and treated the messenger with honour. He then prepared a mag-
nificent present for his son-in-law, the King's son, and sent it to him by
that messenger, who returned with it to the King's son, and informed him
of the joy which the King, the father of the damsel, experienced when he
brought him the news of his daughter. At this the King's son was affected
with great happiness: and every year he wrote to his father-in-law, and sent
him a present.
Thus they continued until the King, the father of the young man, was
taken from this world; and the young man reigned after him over his
dominions. He ruled his subjects with equity, and conducted himself among
them in a laudable manner; the country was subject to him, and the people
obeyed him; and thus they remained, passing the most delightful and most
agreeable and most comfortable and most pleasant life, until they were visited
by the terminator of delights and the separator of companions, the devasta-
tor of palaces and the replenisher of the graves. Extolled then be the per-
fection of the Living, who dieth not, and in whose hand is the dominion that
is apparent and the dominion that is hidden.20
XVIII
THE ROMANCE OF UNS-EL-WUJOOD, DELIGHT OF THE WORLD,
AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD¹
THER
HERE was, in ancient times, a King of great dignity, possessed of glory
and absolute power, and he had a Wezeer named Ibráheem, who had
a daughter of surprising beauty and loveliness, surpassing in elegance and in
every grace, endowed with abundant sense and eminent polite accomplish-
ments; but she loved carousing and wine, and comely faces, and pretty
verses, and strange histories. The delicacy of her charms enticed the minds
of mankind to love. Her name was El-Ward fi-l-Akmám; 2 and the reason
of her being so named was her excessive delicacy of beauty, and her perfect
elegance; and the King was fond of carousing with her, on account of her
accomplished manners.
Now it was the custom of the King, every year, to collect the chief men
of his dominions, and to play with the ball. And on one of those days.
when he did so, the daughter of the Wezeer sat at a lattice-window to amuse
herself; and while they were engaged in the game, she cast a glance, and
beheld among the soldiers a young man, than whom there was none more
handsome in aspect, nor any more beautiful in appearance; bright in counte-
nance, with laughing teeth, generous, wide-shouldered. She looked at him
again and again, and was not satiated with gazing at him; and she said to
her nurse, What is the name of this young man of comely qualities, who is
among the soldiers? The nurse replied, O my daughter, all of them are
comely. Who then among them? — Wait, rejoined the damsel, until I point
him out to thee. And she took an apple, and threw it upon him. So he
raised his head, and beheld the Wezeer's daughter at the window, resem-
bling the full moon in the darkness of night; and he withdrew not his eye
without his heart's being engrossed by love for her; and he recited the say-
ing of the poet:
-
Hath the archer shot me, or have thine eyes? Thou hast destroyed the heart of the
enamoured on his looking at thee.
5
Hath the notched arrow been suddenly lanced at me from the midst of an army or from
a window?
And when the game was ended, the damsel said to her nurse, What is the
name of this young man whom I have shewn to thee? She answered, His
name is Uns-el-Wujood, And upon this, she shook her head, and laid
herself down upon her mattress; her mind was fired, and she uttered groans,
and recited these verses:
541
542
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
He hath missed not who named thee the Delight of the World, O thou who impartest
both delight and liberality!
T
O thou whose countenance resembleth the full moon, and whose face diffuseth light over
all the creation!
Thou art without an equal among mankind, the sovereign of beauty, and I have wit-
nesses to prove it.
Thine eyebrow is like a well-formed Noon; and thine eye, like Sád, the work of the
Benevolent.
Thy figure resembleth a fresh, slender branch; and if asked, thou givest every thing
liberally.
Thou surpassest the horsemen of the world in assault, and in imparting delight, and in
beauty and beneficence.
She then wrote these verses on a paper, which she wrapped in a piece
of silk embroidered with gold, and put beneath the pillow. And one of
her nurses was looking at her; so this nurse came to her, and proceeded to
engaged her with conversation until she slept, when she stole the paper from
beneath the pillow, and read it. She therefore knew that she was affected
with a violent passion for Uns-el-Wujood; and after she had read the paper,
she put it again in its place. And when her mistress awoke, she said to her,
O my mistress, I am an admonisher unto thee, and one who pitieth thee.
Know that love is difficult, and the concealment of it would melt iron, and
occasioneth diseases and infirmities; and the person who revealeth love is
not obnoxious to reproach. Upon this, El-Ward fi-l-Akmám said to her,
O my nurse, and what is the remedy for desire?—Its remedy, answered the
nurse, is an interview. And how can that be obtained? said the damsel.
The nurse answered, O my mistress, it may be obtained by means of letters,
and gentle words, and by many compliments and salutations; for this mode
of proceeding bringeth lovers together, and by it things that are difficult are
rendered easy; and if thou have any affair to be performed, O my lady, I
am most fit to conceal thy secret, and to accomplish thy business, and bear
thy letter.
--
And when El-Ward fi-l-Akmám heard these words from her, her reason
fled, through joy; but she withheld herself from replying, that she might see
the result of her affair, and said within herself, Verily this thing no one hath
known from me, and I will not reveal it to this woman until after I shall
have tried her. Then the woman said to her, O my mistress, I saw in my
sleep as though a man came to me and said to me, Thy mistress and Uns-
el-Wujood love each other: therefore manage their affair, and carry their
letters, and accomplish their wants, and conceal their case and their secrets:
so wilt thou experience abundant good fortune. Now I have related to thee
what I saw, and it is thine to decide. — and El-Ward fi-l-Akmám said to
her nurse, when she had thus informed her of the dream that she had (as
she pretended) seen, Wilt thou conceal secrets, O my nurse? The nurse
replied, How should I not conceal secrets when I am of the choicest of the
ingenuous?
Upon this, therefore, the damsel produced to her the paper upon which
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
543
she had written the verses, saying to her, Repair with this my note to Uns-
el-Wujood, and bring me an answer to it. So she took it, and went with it
to Uns-el-Wujood; and when she went in to him, she kissed his hands, com-
plimented him with the most courteous words, and gave him the paper; and
after he had read it, and understood its meaning, he wrote upon the back of
it these verses:
-
I soothe my heart in my passion, and conceal it; but my state interpreteth and sheweth
my love.
When my tears flow, I say, My eye is sore - lest the censurer should see and under-
stand my condition.
I was free from care, and knew not what was love; but have become enamoured, and with
enslaved heart.
I submit to you my case, complaining of my passion and my ecstasy, in the hope that
that you will pity, and shew mercy:
I have written it with the tears of my eye, that perchance it may explain to you the
love with which you have affected me.
God guard a face that is veiled with loveliness! The full moon is its slave, and the
stars are its servants.
In beauty, I have never beheld her equal; and from her motions, the branches might
learn to wave.
I beg, without imposing on yourself a trouble, that you will pay us a visit; for we
should highly esteem it.
I give you my soul—perhaps you will accept it-
aversion will be Hell.
-
- for to me, union will be Paradise, and
Then he folded the letter, kissed it, and gave it to her, saying to her, O
nurse, conciliate the favour of thy mistress. She replied, I hear and obey.
And she took from him the letter, and returned to her mistress, and gave it
to her; and she kissed it, and put it on her head; after which, she opened
it and read it, and understood its meaning; and she wrote beneath it these
verses:
-
0 thou whose heart is enamoured by our beauty, have patience in thy love, and per-
haps thou wilt obtain us.
When we knew that thine affection was true, and that the passion that hath afflicted
our heart had afflicted thine,
We would have granted thee the union thou desirest, and more; but were prevented
doing so by our chamberlains.
When the night becometh dark, through the excess of our love, fires are kindled within
our bosoms,
And sleep is driven away from our beds, and often are our bodies afflicted by our
passion.
An imperative law in love's code is concealment. Raise not the curtains that are lowered
over us.
My bosom is filled with love of the gazelle. Would that he were never distant from
our home!
And when she had finished her verses, she folded the paper, and gave
it to the nurse, who took it, and went forth from her; but the chamberlain
met her, and said to her, Whither art thou going? She answered, To the
544
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
bath. And she was alarmed at him, and the paper fell from her as she
went forth from the door in her alarm, and one of the eunuchs, seeing it
lying in the way, took it. Then the Wezeer came forth from the Hareem,
and seated himself upon his couch, and the eunuch who had picked up the
paper repaired to him. So while the Wezeer was sitting upon his couch,
lo, that eunuch approached him, with the paper in his hand, and said to him,
O my lord, I found this paper thrown down in the house, and I took it.
The Wezeer therefore took it from his hand, folded as it was, and opened
it, and saw written upon it the verses above mentioned. He read them, and
understood their meaning; and then, examining the writing, he found it to
be that of his daughter; whereupon he went in to her mother, weeping
violently, so that his beard was wetted. His wife said to him, What hath
caused thee to weep, O my lord? And he replied, Take this paper, and
see its contents. So she took the paper, and read it, and found it to be a
letter from her daughter El-Ward fi-l-Akmám to Uns-el-Wujood; upon
which she was affected with an inclination to weep; but she subdued her
mind, and restrained her tears, and said to the Wezeer, O my lord, there is
no profit in weeping. The right opinion is this: that we consider a plan by
which to protect thy honour, and to conceal the affair of thy daughter.—
And she proceeded to console him, and to alleviate his sorrows.
-
But he said to her, Verily I am in fear for my daughter on account of
her passion. Knowest thou not that the Sultán loveth Uns-el-Wujood with
a great affection? There are two causes for my fear. The first is, with
respect to myself; she being my daughter. And the second is, with respect
to the Sultán; Uns-el-Wujood being a favourite with the Sultán; and
probably an affair of great moment may hence ensue. What then dost thou
see fit to be done in this case?
She replied, Have patience with me until
I shall have performed the prayer for direction in the right course. Then
she performed the prayers of two rek'ahs, the prophetic ordinance for seek-
ing to be directed aright; and when she had finished her prayers, she said
to her husband, In the midst of the Sea of the Kunooz 10 is a mountain called
the Mountain of the Bereft Mother (and the cause of its being so named will
be mentioned hereafter), and to that mountain none can obtain access,
unless with difficulty: therefore make for her a place there.
9
So the Wezeer agreed with his wife that he should build there an im-
pregnable palace, and place her in it, and put with her the provisions neces-
sary for her year after year, and place with her such attendants as should
cheer her and serve her. He collected the carpenters and builders and
architects, and sent them to that mountain; and they built for her an im-
pregnable palace, such as eyes had never beheld. Then he prepared the
provisions for the journey, and the caravan to accompany her; and, going
in to his daughter at night, commanded her to set forth on the journey.
So her heart felt the pangs of separation, and when she went forth, and saw
the preparation for travel, she wept violently, and wrote some words on
the door to acquaint Uns-el-Wujood with the transport of passion that she
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
545
experienced, which was such as would make the flesh to quake, and melt
the heart of rock, and make tears to flow: and what she wrote consisted of
these verses:
By Allah, O house, if the beloved pass by, in the morning, saluting with the signals of
lovers,
Give him from us a pure and fragrant greeting; for he knoweth not where we pass
the evening;
And I know not whither they have journeyed with us, proceeding quickly, and lightly
equipped,
By night, when the birds of the thicket, perched upon the branches, bewail us and an-
nounce our fate;
The tongue of their condition saying, Alas, for the bereavement effected by the dis-
junction of the lovers!
When I saw that the cups of separation were filled, and fate would by force make us
drink them undiluted,
I mixed them with becoming patience, to excuse myself, but now patience consoleth
us not for the loss of you.
And when she had finished her verses, she mounted, and they journeyed
with her, crossing the deserts and wastes, and the plain and rugged tracts,
until they arrived in the Sea of the Kunooz, when they pitched the tents
upon the shore, and built for her a great vessel, in which they embarked the
damsel and her household. The Wezeer had commanded them, that when
they had arrived at the mountain, and had taken her into the palace, to-
gether with her household, they should return with the vessel, and, after they
had landed, that they should break it up. So they went and did all that he
had commanded them, and returned weeping for that which had happened
- Such was their case.
But as to Uns-el-Wujood, he rose from his sleep, and, having performed
the morning-prayers, mounted, and repaired to attend upon the Sultán. And
he passed in his way by the door of the Wezeer, as he was wont to do, in
the hope that perhaps he might see some one of the Wezeer's dependants
whom he was accustomed to see; and he looked at the door, and beheld the
verses above-mentioned written upon it. On seeing them he became un-
conscious of his existence; a fire was kindled in his vitals, and he returned
to his house. He could not rest, nor be patient, and he ceased not to suffer
agitation of mind, and transport, until the night came; when he concealed
his case, and disguised himself; and he went forth in the middle of the night,
wandering at random, and not knowing whither to go. He journeyed on dur-
ing the whole of the remainder of that night, and the next day until the heat
of the sun became fierce, and the mountains were of a burning heat, and
thirst violently oppressed him; but he beheld a tree, and found by the side.
of it a stream of water. So he went to that tree, and seated himself in its
shade, on the bank of that stream, and desired to drink; but he found that
the water had no taste in his mouth. His complexion had changed, his face
had become sallow, and his feet were swollen by walking and toil; and he
wept violently, pouring forth tears, and recited these verses: --
546
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The lover is intoxicated by his passion; but when his desire increaseth, he recovereth.
Distracted in his love, ardent, bewildered, he findeth no abode, nor food that pleaseth
him.
How can life be agreeable to the enamoured who is parted from the object of his love?
Were it so, it were wonderful.
I melt when I burn with transport for her, my tears flowing down upon my cheek in
torrents.
Shall I see her or see any one from her abode by whom the afflicted heart may be
cured?
And when he had ended his verses, he wept until he wetted the ground.
Then rising forthwith he proceeded from that place; and as he journeyed
on through the deserts and wastes, there came forth upon him a lion, whose
neck was closely covered with his hair, and his head was a large as a cupola,
and his mouth wider than a door, with teeth like the tusks of the elephant.
When Uns-el-Wujood beheld him, he made sure of destruction, and, turning
his face towards the Kibleh," he pronounced the two professions of the
faith, and prepared for death. But he had read in books, that, if any one
attempt to beguile the lion, he may be beguiled by him with kind words,
and be rendered gentle by praise. So he began to say to him, O lion of
the forest and the plain! O bold lion! O father of the generous! O Sul-
tán of the wild beasts! verily I am a longing lover, whom passion and separa-
tion have consumed, and when I became severed from the beloved I lost
my reason: hear then my words, and pity my ardour and desire. And
when the lion heard what he said, he drew back from him, and sat upon his
tail; then raising his head towards him, he began to make playful motions
to him with his tail and fore-paws; and Uns-el-Wujood, on seeing him do
thus, recited these verses:
-
Lion of the desert, wilt thou kill me before I meet with her who hath enslaved me?
I am not game; nor am I fat: the loss of my beloved hath wasted me away,
And estrangement from her hath so consumed me that I am like a phantom wrapped in
grave-clothes.
12
O Abu-l-Hárith! O lion of strife! make not the censurers to rejoice at my anguish.
I am burning with love, my tears have drowned me, and the absence of the beloved
hath troubled my mind,
And my thoughts of her in the darkness of night have made me unconscious of my
existence.
And as soon as he had finished his verses, the lion arose and walked gently
towards him, with his eyes filled with tears; and when he came to him he
licked him with his tongue, and then walked before him, making a sign to
him, as though he would say, Follow me. So he followed him, and the lion
proceeded, with Uns-el-Wujood behind him, for some time, until he had
ascended to the summit of a mountain. Then he descended from that moun-
tain, and Uns-el-Wujood beheld the track of travellers in the desert, and
knew it to be that of the people who accompanied El-Ward fi-l-Akmám. He
therefore followed this track; and when the lion saw that he did so, and that
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
547
he knew it to be the track of the attendants of his beloved, he returned, and
went his way.
Uns-el-Wujood proceeded along the track for days and nights, until he
approached a roaring sea, agitated with waves; and the foot-marks reached
to the shore of the sea, and there ended. So he knew that the people had
embarked in a vessel on the sea and pursued their course over it; in con-
sequence of which, his hope of finding them was then cut off, and he poured
forth tears, and recited these verses:
Distant is the place I seek, and my patience hath failed. How can I advance to her
over the abyss of the sea?
Or how can I be patient when my vitals are consumed by love of her, and I have
exchanged sleep for wakefulness?
Since the day when she journeyed forth from her home, my heart hath been inflamed
with a vehement fire.
13
Like Seyhoon and Jeyhoon and Euphrates are my tears: they form a flood more
copious than deluge and rain.
My eyelids are sore from continual weeping, and my heart is tortured with fire and
sparks.
And after reciting some more verses he fell down in a fit, and he remained
in it a long time. Then, recovering, he looked to the right and left; but
saw no one in the desert; and he feared for himself on account of the wild
beasts.
So he ascended a high mountain, and while he was upon it, he heard the
voice of a human being, speaking in a cave; and he listened to him, and,
lo, he was a devotee, who had forsaken the world, and occupied himself with
devotion. He knocked at the door of the cave three times; but the devotee
answered him not, nor came forth to him; and upon this, he uttered groans,
and recited these verses:
How can I find means to attain my desire, and be relieved from anxiety and trouble and
weariness?
All terrors have united to render me aged in heart and head in the time of my youth,
And I find not any to aid me in my passion, nor a friend to alleviate my transport and
toil.
How great are the troubles that I have suffered! Fortune seems turned entirely against
me.
O, for mercy on the ardent and agitated lover, who hath drunk the cup of separa-
tion and abandonment!
Fire is in his heart, and his bowels are destroyed, and the pain of disjunction hath de-
prived him of reason.
How terrible was the day when I came to her abode, and beheld what was written upon
the door!
I wept in my anguish till I wetted the ground; but concealed my case from the near
and the distant.
O thou devotee who art idle in thy cave, as though thou hadst tasted and been capti-
vated by love!
After all that I have suffered, if I gain my object, I shall not remember anxiety or
fatigue.
548
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And when he had ended his verses, lo, the door of the cave was opened,
and he heard a person saying, Alas! Mercy! So he entered the door, and
saluted the devotee, who returned his salutation, and said to him, What is
thy name? He answered, My name is Uns-el-Wujood. And the devotee
said to him, What is the cause of thy coming unto this place? He therefore
related to him his story from beginning to end, acquainting him with all that
had befallen him. And on hearing it, the devotee wept, and said to him,
O Uns-el-Wujood, verily I have been in this place twenty years without
seeing in it any one, until lately, when I heard weeping and clamour, and,
looking in the direction of the sounds, I saw many people, and tents pitched
on the shore of the sea, and they built a vessel, in which a party of them
embarked, and they proceeded in it over the sea. Then some of those who
had embarked in the vessel returned with it, and broke it up, and went their
way and I imagine that those who passed over the sea and returned not
are the people whom thou seekest, O Uns-el-Wujood. In that case, thine
anxiety must be great, and thou art excused: but there existeth no lover
who hath not endured griefs. Then the devotee recited these verses:
Uns-el-Wujood, dost thou think me free from care, when desire and transport kill me
and resuscitate me?
I have known love and passion from my early years, since I was an infant nourished
by milk.
Long I struggled with Love, till I became notorious: if thou ask respecting me, he will
know me.
Lovesick and pining, I drank the cup of passion, and well nigh perished by the wasting
of my body.
I was strong: but my strength became impaired, and the army of my patience fell be-
neath the swords of the eyes.
Hope not for union with the beloved without torment; for opposites are ever leagued
together.
Love hath decreed against all its votaries, that relinquishment is forbidden as a wicked
heresy.
Then the devotee arose and came to Uns-el-Wujood, and embraced him,
and they both wept so that the mountains resounded with their cries. They
ceased not to weep until they both fell down senseless; and when they re-
covered, they made a vow to be brothers in God (whose name be exalted!);
after which, the devotee said to Uns-el-Wujood, I will this night pray, and
beg of God to be rightly directed as to the course which thou shouldst pursue.
And Uns-el-Wujood replied, I hear and obey.
Meanwhile, when the people had arrived with El-Ward fi-l-Akmám at the
mountain, and taken her into the palace, and she beheld it, and beheld its
order, she wept, and said, By Allah, thou art a beautiful place; but thou
wantest the presence of the beloved in thee. And she saw birds in that
island: so she ordered one of her attendants to set a snare for them, and
catch some of them, and whenever he caught any, to put them in cages
within the palace: and he did as she commanded him. Then she sat at a
lattice-window of the palace, and, reflecting upon the events that had be-
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
549
fallen her, her desire and transport and distraction increased; and she shed
tears, and recited these verses:
O, to whom shall I complain of the desire that I suffer, and my grief, and my disjunc-
tion from my beloved,
And the flame that rageth within my bosom; but which I shew not, in my fear of the
watcher?
I have become extenuated like a tooth-pick, by estrangement and ardour and lamenta-
tion.
Where is the eye of the beloved to see how my state hath become like that of the dis-
tracted?
They tyrannized over me when they confined me in a place to which he can never come.
I beg the sun to give a thousand salutations, at the time of its rising, and again at its
setting,
To the loved-one who shameth the full moon in beauty, and surpasseth in figure the
slender branch.
If the rose be compared to his cheek, I say of it, Thou resemblest it not if thou be not
of my portion.**
The moisture of his mouth is like pleasant wine that would cool me when a fire flameth
within me.
How can I give him up who is my heart and my soul, a cause of wasting and sickness
to me, but my beloved and my physician!
And when the darkness of night overshadowed her, her desire became more
violent, and again she reflected upon past events, and recited some verses
commencing thus: --
It is dark, and my transport and disease are excited, and desire provoketh my usual
pain.
The torment of separation is constant in my bosom, and trouble of mind hath rendered
me destitute.
Now to return to Uns-el-Wujood: - the devotee said to him, Descend
into the valley, and bring me, from the palm-trees, some of their fibres.15
So he descended, and brought him some of the fibres of the palm-trees; and
the devotee took them and twisted them, and made of them a kind of net,¹º
like those used for carrying straw; after which he said, O Uns-el-Wujood,
in the midst of the valley is a kind of gourd 17 that groweth up and drieth
upon its roots: go down then to it, fill this net with the gourds, and tie it,
and throw it into the sea: then place thyself upon it, and proceed upon it
into the midst of the sea: perhaps thou wilt attain thy desire; for he who
risketh not himself will not gain his object. To this, Uns-el-Wujood replied,
I hear and obey. And he bade him farewell, and departed from him to do
as he had directed him, after the devotee had prayed for him. He proceeded,
without stopping, to the midst of the valley, and did as the devotee had said
to him; and when he arrived, upon the net, in the midst of the sea, there
came upon him a wind which propelled him with the net until he disappeared
from before the eyes of the devotee. He ceased not to traverse the surface
of the deep, one wave raising him and another depressing him, while he
550
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
beheld the wonders and terrors of the sea, until destiny cast him upon the
Mountain of the Bereft Mother, after three days. He landed like a giddy
young bird, distressed by hunger and thirst; but he found, in that place,
rivers flowing and birds warbling upon the branches, and fruit-bearing trees
of the same and of different kinds; and he ate of the fruits, and drank of
the water of the rivers.
Then he arose and walked; and he beheld something white in the dis-
tance; so he proceeded thither until he arrived at it, when he found it to
be an impregnable palace. He came to its gate, and found it closed; and
he sat at it for three days: but at length, as he was sitting there, the gate
of the palace was opened, and there came forth from it one of the eunuchs,
who, seeing Uns-el-Wujood sitting, said to him, Whence hast thou come, and
who brought thee hither? He answered, From Ispahán, and I was on a
voyage with merchandise, and the vessel that I was in was wrecked, and the
waves threw me upon this island. And the eunuch wept, and embraced him,
saying, God prolong thy life, O chief of friends! Verily, Ispahán is my
native place, and I have there a cousin, the daughter of a paternal uncle,
whom I loved in my youth, and I was passionately attached to her; but a
people stronger than we made war upon us, and took me with their spoil,
while I was yet a youth, and sold me: thus have I become reduced to my
present condition. And after he had saluted him and wished him a long
life, he led him into the court of the palace, where, when he entered, he
beheld a great pool surrounded by trees with spreading branches, and in it
were birds in cages of silver with doors of gold: these cages were hung to the
branches, and the birds within them were warbling, and singing the praises
of the Requiting King. On his coming to the first of them, he looked at it;
and, lo, it was a turtle-dove; and when it saw him, it raised its voice, crying,
O Bountiful! 18 Whereupon Uns-el-Wujood fell down in a fit; and on his
recovering, he uttered groans, and recited these verses:
-
O turtle dove, art thou enamoured like me? Pray then to the Lord, and warble, O
Bountiful!
Is this thy cry occasioned by merriment, or is it by desire dwelling in the heart?
If thou moanest from transport on account of the beloved that hath gone, and left thee
wasted and pining,
And like me thou hast lost the object of affection, disjunction must manifest long-felt
rapture.
O, may Allah guard a faithful lover! I will not relinquish her though my bones decay.
And when he had finished these verses, he wept until again he fell down in
a fit; and after he had recovered, he went on to other cages, and addressed,
in a similar manner, a ring-dove, a hezár,19 a nightingale, and a wood-pigeon,
which last appeared as though it would utter these verses in reply:
O thou lover, thou hast brought to my remembrance the time when my early strength
failed,
And an object of love, of whose form I was enamoured, endowed with surpassing and
tempting beauty,
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
551
Whose voice, as he sat upon the branches on the sand-hill, diverted me from listening
to the sounds of the flute.
A fowler set for him a snare, and took him, while he cried, O, that he would leave me
at large!
I hoped that he might be a man of compassion; or that, seeing me to be a lover, he
would pity me.
But God overthrew him after he had thus with cruelty parted me from my beloved.
My desire for him hath become excessive, and hath tortured me with the fire of dis-
junction.
May Allah guard an impassioned lover, who hath struggled with love and hath known
my sadness,
And seeing me so long imprisoned in my cage, will in mercy loose me that I may fly
to my beloved.
He then looked toward his friend, the man of Ispahán, and said to him,
What is this palace, and what doth it contain, and who built it? The man
answered him, The Wezeer of such a King built it for his daughter, fearing
for her from misfortunes and calamities, and hath lodged her in it, together
with her dependants, and it is not opened save once in every year, when their
provisions are brought to them. So he said within himself, My desire is
accomplished; but the time to wait is long.
Now during this period, El-Ward fi-l-Akmám found neither drink nor
food agreeable to her, nor sitting nor sleeping. Her desire and transport
and distraction of love had increased; and she searched about in the corners
of the palace, but found no way of escape for her; and she poured forth tears,
and recited these verses:
They have cruelly confined me from my beloved, and made me to taste of anguish in
my prison.
They have tortured my heart with the fires of love, by preventing my beholding him.
In a lofty palace have they imprisoned me, on a mountain placed in the midst of the
sea.
If they would have me forsake him, their wish is vain, for my love is become more
trying.
How can I forsake him, when the origin of all that I.suffer hath been the beholding his
face?
The whole of my day is passed in sorrow, and the night I spend in thinking upon him.
Remembrance of him cheereth me in my solitude, while I find myself destitute of his
presence.
Would that I knew if, after all this, fortune will consent to my heart's desire!
She then went up to the roof of the palace, and, taking some garments of
the stuff of Baala-bekk, tied herself by them, and let herself down until
she came to the ground. She was attired in the most magnificent of her
apparel, and on her neck was a necklace of jewels. And she proceeded over
the adjacent deserts and wastes until she came to the shore of the sea, when
she saw a fisherman going about in his vessel upon the sea to fish. The wind
had cast him towards that island, and he looked, and saw there El-Ward
fi-l-Akmám; but when he beheld her, he was frightened at her, and steered
away his boat in flight. So she called him, making many signs to him, and
552
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
recited some verses, informing him that she was a human being (not a
Jinneeyeh, as he feared), and explaining her case; on hearing which, the
fisherman wept and sighed and lamented, remembering what had happened
to himself in the days of his youth, when love overpowered him, and his
desire was violent, and his transport and distraction were excessive, the fires
of passion burning him; and he replied to her in verse, telling her that he
had been afflicted by love from his youth. He then made fast his vessel to
the land, and said to her, Embark in the vessel, that I may transport thee
to whatsoever place thou desirest.
So she embarked in the vessel, and he set it afloat with her, and when it
had proceeded a little way from the land, there blew upon it a favourable
wind, and the vessel advanced rapidly until the land disappeared before their
eyes. The fisherman then knew not whither to steer; and the wind continued
violent for the space of three days; after which it subsided by the permission
of God (whose name be exalted!), and the vessel bore them on until it came
to a city on the shore of the sea, where the fisherman desired to make it
fast.
In this city was a King of great power, named Dirbás.20 He was at that
time sitting with his son in his palace, and they were looking from a window,
and, casting their eyes towards the sea, they saw that vessel; and on their
observing it attentively, they found that there was in it a damsel like the full
moon in the sky, having, in her ears, earrings of costly balass rubies, and on
her neck, a necklace of precious jewels. The King therefore knew that she
was of the daughters of the grandees or of the Kings, and he descended from
his palace, and went forth from a door opening upon the sea; whereupon he
saw the vessel made fast to the shore; and the damsel was sleeping, while
the fisherman was busy in attaching the vessel. The King roused her from
her sleep, and she awoke weeping; and the King said to her, Whence comest
thou, and whose daughter art thou and what is the cause of thy coming
hither? So she answered him, I am the daughter of Ibraheem, the Wezeer
of the King Shámikh,21 and the cause of my coming hither is a wonderful
event and an extraordinary affair. And she related to him her whole story,
from beginning to end, hiding from him nothing; after which, she uttered
groans, and recited some verses; and the King, on hearing them, was con-
vinced of her transport and desire, and was moved with compassion for her;
and he said to her, Thou hast no cause of fear nor of terror. Thou hast
attained thy wish; for I must accomplish for thee what thou desirest, and
procure for thee what thou seekest: and hear from me these words. Then
he recited these verses:
Daughter of the noble, thou hast gained thine object. Receive good tidings, and fear
not here fatigue.
This day will I collect wealth, and I will send it to Shámikh, attended by horsemen
and heroes:
I will send to him bags of musk, and brocade, and white silver also will I send, and gold.
Yea; and my letters shall inform him for me that I am desirous of alliance with him;
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
553
And to-day will I use endeavours to aid thee, that what thou wishest for may be has-
tened.
I have tasted of love long, and known it, and excuse the person who hath drunk the
same cup.
And when he had ended his verses, he went forth to his troops, and, having
summoned his Wezeer, caused wealth incalculable to be packed up for him,
and commanded him to repair with it to the King Shámikh, saying to him,
Thou must without fail bring to me a person who is with him, named Uns-el-
Wujood; and do thou say to him, The King desireth to form an alliance
with thee by marrying his daughter to Uns-el-Wujood, thy dependant,22
and he must be sent with me, that the ceremony of the contract of his
marriage to her may be performed in the kingdom of her father. Then
the King Dirbás wrote a letter to the King Shámikh, to the effect above
mentioned, and gave it to his Wezeer, strictly charging him to bring Uns-el-
Wujood, and saying to him, If thou bring him not to me, thou shalt be
displaced from thy station.
The Wezeer therefore replied, I hear and obey, and repaired with
the present to the King Shámikh. And when he came to him, he delivered
to him the salutation of the King Dirbás, and gave him the letter and the
present that he had brought. But when the King Shámikh saw them, and
read the letter, and saw the name of Uns-el-Wujood, he wept violently, and
said to the Wezeer who was sent to him, And where is Uns-el-Wujood?
For he hath gone away, and we know not where he is. Bring him then
to me, and I will give to thee double the presents thou hast brought.
Then he wept and sighed and lamented, poured forth tears, and recited
these verses:
Restore unto me my favourite: I am not in want of wealth;
Nor do I wish for presents of jewels or of pearls.
I brought him up an infant, upon the bed of fondness,
And verily I am mourning and troubled for him in mind.
And after this, he looked towards the Wezeer who had brought the present
and the letter, and said to him, Repair to thy lord, and inform him that
Uns-el-Wujood hath been absent for a year, and his lord knoweth not whither
he hath gone, nor hath he any tidings of him. But the Wezeer replied, O my
lord, verily my sovereign said to me, If thou bring him not to me, thou shalt
be displaced from the post of Wezeer, and shalt not enter my city. How
then can I go to him without him? So the King Shámikh said to his
Wezeer Ibraheem, Go thou with him, accompanied by a party of men, and
search for Uns-el-Wujood in every quarter. And he replied, I hear and obey.
Accordingly he took a party of his dependants, and, accompanied by the
Wezeer of the King Dirbás, they proceeded in search of Uns-el-Wujood;
and whenever they passed by Arabs 23 or any people, they inquired of them
respecting Uns-el-Wujood, saying to them, Hath there passed by you a
person of such a name, and of such and such a description? To which they
554
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
answered, We know him not. They ceased not to inquire in the cities and
villages, and to search in the plain and rugged tracts, and the deserts and
wastes, until they arrived at the shores of the sea; when they sought a
vessel, and embarked in one, and proceeded in it until they approached the
Mountain of the Bereft Mother. Upon this, the Wezeer of the King Dirbás
said to the Wezeer of the King Shámikh, On what account is this mountain
And the latter answered, For this reason: - A Jinneeyeh
sojourned upon it in ancient times, and that Jinneeyeh was of the Jinn of
China. She loved a man, and became passionately attached to him; but
she was in fear of her family; and, her desire becoming excessive, she
searched in the earth for a place wherein to conceal him from them, and
found this mountain to be cut off from mankind and from the Jinn, so that
no one of either of these races (herself excepted) found the way to it. She
therefore carried off her beloved, and placed him there, and used to repair
to her family, and to come to him privately; and thus she ceased not to do
for a long time, until she bore him, on that mountain, a number of children.
And those merchants who passed by this mountain in their voyages over
the sea used to hear the weeping of the infants, like the weeping of a woman
bereft of her children; whereupon they said, Is there here a bereft mother? -
And the Wezeer of the King Dirbás wondered at these words.
Then they proceeded until they came to the palace, and they knocked
at the door; upon which the door was opened, and there came forth to them
a eunuch, who, knowing Ibráheem, the Wezeer of the King Shámikh,
kissed his hands. And the Wezeer Ibráheem entered the palace, and found
in its court a poor man among the servants; and he was Uns-el-Wujood.
So he said to them, Whence this man? And they answered him, He is a
merchant: his property was lost at sea, and he saved himself; and he is
a person abstracted from the world.24 He therefore left him, and went on
into the interior of the palace; but found no trace of his daughter; and he
inquired of the female slaves who were there, and they answered him, We
know not how she went, and she stayed not with us save for a short time.
And upon this, he poured forth tears, and recited these verses:
O thou mansion, the birds of which were singing, and the thresholds whereof were for-
tunate.
25
Until the enamoured came to thee bewailing his desire, and beheld the doors opened!
Would that I knew where my soul is gone, that was lately in a mansion whose mistress
now is distant!
It was stored with everything magnificent, and its chamberlains were happy and ex-
alted,
And they clothed it with draperies of brocade. O, whither hath its mistress departed?
Then he wept and sighed and lamented, and said, There is no resource
against that which God hath ordained, nor any escape from that which He
hath predestined and decreed! And he ascended to the roof of the palace,
and found the garments of the stuff of Baala-bekk tied to the battlements
and reaching to the ground. So he knew that she had descended from that
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
555
place, and gone like one distracted and confounded. And he looked aside,
and saw there two birds, a raven and an owl, from the sight of which he
augured evil; and he uttered groans, and recited these verses: -
I came to the abode of the beloved, hoping, by beholding her, to assuage my trans-
port and affliction;
But I found her not in it, nor found I there aught save an ill-omened raven and owl;
And the scene seemed to tell me, Thou hast acted cruelly, in severing the two desirous
lovers:
So taste thou the grief which they have tasted, and live in sorrow, weeping and burning.
He then descended, weeping, from the roof of the palace, and ordered the
servants to go forth upon the mountain to search for their mistress; and
they did so; but found her not. Meanwhile, Uns-el-Wujood, when he was
assured that El-Ward fi-l-Akmám had gone, uttered a great cry, and fell
down in a fit, in which he remained long; and they imagined that a state
of abstraction from the world had overcome him, and that he was drowned
in the contemplation of the beauty of the majesty of the Requiter.26
Now when they despaired of finding Uns-el-Wujood, and the heart of
the Wezeer Ibráheem was troubled by the loss of his daughter El-Ward
fi-l-Akmám, the Wezeer of the King Dirbás desired to return to his country,
though he had not attained his desire by his journeys. So the Wezeer
Ibraheem began to bid him farewell; and the Wezeer of the King Dirbás
said to him, I desire to take this poor man with me: perhaps God (whose
name be exalted!) may incline the heart of the King to me by the blessing
attendant upon him; for he is a person abstracted from the world; and after
that, I will send him to Ispahán, since it is near unto our country The
Wezeer Ibraheem replied, Do as thou desirest. And each of the Wezeers
departed to his own country. The Wezeer of the King Dirbás took with.
him Uns-el-Wujood, still insensible, and proceeded with him three days,
during which he continued in his fit, carried on mules, and not knowing
whether he was carried or not. So when he recovered from his fit, he said,
In what place am I? And they answered him, Thou art with the Wezeer
of the King Dirbás. Then they went to the Wezeer, and informed him that
he had recovered; whereupon he sent to him rose-water, and sherbet of
sugar, and they gave him to drink, and revived him.
And they continued their journey until they approached the city of the
King Dirbás, when the King sent to the Wezeer, saying to him, If Uns-el-
Wujood be not with thee, come not to me ever. When, therefore, he read
the order of the King, it afflicted him. Now the Wezeer knew not that
El-Ward fi-l-Akmám was with the King, nor did he know the reason of the
King's sending him to Uns-el-Wujood, nor the reason of his desiring the
alliance with him; and Uns-el-Wujood knew not whither they were going
with him, nor that the Wezeer was sent to seek for him; nor did the Wezeer
know that this was Uns-el-Wujood. And when the Wezeer saw that he
was recovered, he said to him, Verily the King hath sent me on a business,
556
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and it is not accomplished; and when he knew of my approach, he sent to
me a letter, saying to me in it, If the business be not accomplished, enter
not my city. And what, said Uns-el-Wujood, is the business of the King?
The Wezeer therefore related to him the whole story; and Uns-el-Wujood
said to him, Fear not; but go to the King, and take me with thee; and I
will be surety to thee for the coming of Uns-el-Wujood.
So the Wezeer rejoiced at this, and said to him, Is it true that thou sayest?
He answered, Yes. And thereupon he mounted, taking him with him, and
conducted him to the King; who, when they came to him, said to the Wezeer,
Where is Uns-el-Wujood? To which Uns-el-Wujood replied, O King, I know
where Uns-el-Wujood is. And the King called him near to him, and said,
In what place is he? He answered, In a place very near; but inform me
what thou desirest of him, and then I will bring him before thee. The King
replied, Most willingly: but this affair requireth privacy. Then he com-
manded the people to retire, and, having gone with him into a closet,
acquainted him with the story from first to last; whereupon Uns-el-Wujood
said to him, Supply me with rich apparel, and cause me to be clad in it, and
I will bring thee Uns-el-Wujood quickly. The King therefore brought him
a rich suit, and he put it on, and said, I am Uns-el-Wujood, and a cause of
grief to the envious. Then he smote the hearts of beholders by his glances,
and recited these verses:
The mention of the beloved cheereth me in my solitude, and dispelleth my desolate
feelings in estrangement.
I know no fountain but that of tears, which, flowing from mine eye, assuage my
anguish.
My longing is violent: none like it existeth; and the story of my love and affection
is wonderful.
I pass my night with sleepless eyelid, and walk in my passion between Hell and Para-
dise.
I possessed becoming patience; but have lost it; and love's only gift to me is affliction,
I am wasted by the pain of separation from her, and longing hath changed my aspect
and form,
And mine eyelids are wounded by my tears, the flowing of which I cannot prevent.
My strength is impaired, and I have lost my heart; and how many griefs in succession
have I suffered?
And my heart and my head are alike aged by the loss of a mistress, the most beautiful
of mistresses.
In spite of her our disjunction took place, and her only desire is to find and meet me.
Will fortune, after separation and distance, grant me the enjoyment of union with my
beloved,
Close the book of estrangement after opening it, and efface my trouble by the comforts
of meeting?
And shall my beloved be my cup-companion, and my griefs be exchanged for pure
delights?
And when he had finished his verses, the King said to him, By Allah, ye
are two sincere lovers, and in the heaven of beauty two shining stars; and
your case is wonderful, and your affair extraordinary. Uns-el-Wujood then
UNS-EL-WUJOOD AND THE MAIDEN ROSE-IN-BUD
557
said to the King, Where is El-Ward fi-l-Akmám, O King of the age? He
answered, She is now with me. And he summoned the Kádee and witnesses,
performed the ceremony of the contract of her marriage to him, and treated
him with honour and beneficence; and he sent to the King Shámikh,
informing him of all that had happened to him with respect to Uns-el-
Wujood and El-Ward fi-l-Akmám.
On hearing this, the King Shámikh rejoiced exceedingly, and sent to the
King Dirbás a letter, the purport of which was this: - Since the ceremony
of the contract hath taken place at thy residence, it is fit that the festival
and the conclusion of the marriage be at mine. He prepared the camels
and horses and men, and sent for them; and when his letter was brought
to the King Dirbás, he aided them with a great sum of money, and sent
them with a party of his soldiers, who proceeded with them until they entered
their city; and it was a noted day: none more remarkable had ever been
witnessed. The King Shámikh collected all the mirth-exciting instruments
of music, and made banquets; and thus they continued seven days; on each
of which the King conferred upon the people costly robes of honour, and
bestowed favours upon them. And after this, Uns-el-Wujood went to
El-Ward fi-l-Akmám, and embraced her; and they sat weeping from the
excess of joy and happiness; and El-Ward fi-l-Akmám recited these verses:
Happiness hath come, dispelling care and grief. We are united, and have mortified our
enviers.
The fragrant zephyr of union hath blown, and revived the heart and the bowels and the
body;
And the beauty of delight hath appeared with perfumes, and our drums of glad tidings
have been beaten around us."
27
Do not imagine that we are weeping from grief; for it is from joy that our tears have
flowed.
How many terrors have we seen! but they have passed; and we have borne with pa-
tience what roused up anguish.
One hour of union hath made me forget what rendered us gray from excess of terror.
Then they embraced each other, and continued to do so until they fell down
senseless from the delight of finding themselves together; and when they
recovered, Uns-el-Wujood recited these verses: -
O how sweet are the nights of the fulfilment of promise, when the beloved is just to me,
And when we are uninterruptedly united, and an end is put to our estrangement,
And fortune cometh with favours to us, after turning away from us in aversion!
Prosperity hath set up her standards for us, and we have drunk from her hand a cup
of pleasure;
And we have met, and complained to each other of sorrow, and of nights during which
we have suffered oppression;
But now we have forgotten our griefs, O my mistress; and may the Compassionate
pardon what is passed!
How delightful is life, and how sweet is it! Union hath only increased my passion.
And after this, they embraced again, and continued carousing, and reciting
verses and pleasant tales and histories, until they were drowned in the sea
558
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of love; and there passed over them seven days while they knew not night
from day, through the excess of their delight and happiness and pleasure and
joy. It was as though the seven days were one day not succeeded by
another; and they knew not the seventh day but by the coming of the
musical instruments.28 They then went forth from their chamber, and
bestowed upon the people money and dresses. And they continued together
in the most delightful of joys until they were visited by the terminator of
delights and the separator of companions. Extolled be the perfection of
Him who changeth not nor ceaseth, and to whom every thing returneth!
—
29
XIX
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
HERE was, in the city of Cairo, a merchant who had abundance of
THER
wealth and ready money, and jewels and minerals, and possessions incal-
culable, and his name was Hasan the Jeweller of Baghdád. God had also
blessed him with a son, of handsome countenance, of just stature, rosy-
cheeked, endowed with elegance and perfection, and beauty and loveliness;
and he named him 'Alee of Cairo. He had taught him the Kur-án and
science, and eloquence and polite literature; and he became excellent in all
the sciences, and was employed by his father in commerce.
---
Now a disease attacked his father, and so increased that he felt sure
of death. So he summoned his son 'Alee of Cairo, and said to him, O my son,
verily this world is transitory, and the world to come is everlasting; every
soul must taste of death, and now, O my son, my decease hath drawn near,
and I desire to give thee a charge. If thou act according to it, thou wilt
not cease to be safe and prosperous until thou shalt meet God (whose
name be exalted!); but if thou act not according to it, excessive trouble will
befall thee, and thou wilt repent of thy neglecting my charge. O my father,
said 'Alee, how should I refuse to attend, or to act according to thy charge,
when obedience to thee is an obligation divinely imposed upon me, and the
attending to thy words is absolutely incumbent upon me? And his father
rejoined, O my son, I leave to thee dwelling-places and mansions and goods
and wealth incalculable; so that if thou expend of that wealth every day
five hundred pieces of gold, nought of it will be missed by thee. But, O my
son, be mindful of holding the fear of God, and obeying the ordinances
which He hath appointed thee, and following the precepts of El-Mustafà¹
(may God bless and save him!) in the things that he is related to have
commanded and forbidden in his traditional laws. Be assiduous in the
performance of acts of beneficence, and the dispensing of kindness, and
associating with the good and just and learned; and mind that thou care for
the poor and the needy, and shun avarice and niggardness, and the company
of the wicked, and those who are objects of suspicion. Regard thy servants
and thy family with benignity, and thy wife also; for she is of the daughters
of the great, and she is now likely to bear thee issue: perhaps God will bless
thee with virtuous offspring by her.
He ceased not to admonish him, and to weep, and say to him, O my son,
I beg of God, the Bountiful, the Lord of the magnificent throne, that He
save thee from every difficulty that may befall thee, and grant thee his ready
559
560
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
relief. And his son wept violently, and said, O my father, by Allah I am
dissolved by these words: it seemeth that thou utterest the language of him
who biddeth farewell. His father replied, Yes, O my son; I know my state;
and forget not thou my charge. Then the man began to repeat the two
professions of the faith, and to recite [portions of the Kur-án], until the
known period arrived; when he said to his son, Draw near to me, O my son.
So he drew near to him, and his father kissed him, and uttered a groan,
whereupon his soul quitted his body, and he was admitted to the mercy of
God, whose name be exalted!
2
His son was affected with extreme grief, a clamour arose in his house.
and the companions of his father came together to him. He betook himself
to preparing his corpse for burial, and expediting the funeral, and conveyed
forth the body in a magnificent manner. They bore the corpse to the place
of prayer, and prayed over it; after which they departed with it to the burial-
ground, and buried it, and recited over it what was easy of the sublime
Kur-án. Then they returned to the house, and consoled the son of the
deceased and each of them went his way; and the son of the deceased per-
formed for him the ceremonies of the Fridays, and recitations of the whole
of the Kur-án, to the end of forty days. He remained in the house, and went
not forth save to the place of prayer; and Friday after Friday he visited
his father's tomb.
He ceased not to persevere in his prayer, and his recitation [of the
Kur-án], and his devotion, for a length of time, until his fellows, of the sons
of the merchants, came in to him and saluted him, and said to him, How long
shall continue this mourning of thine, and the relinquishment of thine occu-
pation and thy traffic, and of thine assembling with thy companions? This
conduct will weary thee, and excessive injury will result from it unto thy
body. And when they came in to him, Iblees the accursed was with them,
suggesting evil to them. So they proceeded to recommend to him that he
should go forth with them to the market, and Iblees seduced him to comply
with their request until he consented to go forth with them from the house,
in order to the accomplishment of an event which God (whose perfection
be extolled, and whose name be exalted!) would bring to pass. They then
said to him, Mount thy mule, and repair with us to such a garden, that we
may amuse ourselves there, and that thy grief and trouble of mind may
be dispelled.
He therefore mounted his mule, took his slave with him, and accompanied
them to the garden which they desired to visit. And when they came into
the garden, one of them went and prepared for them the dinner, and caused
it to be brought thither. So they ate, and enjoyed themselves, and sat
conversing until the close of the day, when they mounted and departed,
each of them returning to his abode. And they passed the night; and when
the morning arrived, they came to him again, and said to him, Arise, and
accompany us. Whither? he asked. They answered, To such a garden;
for it is better than that to which we went first, and more pleasant. And
-
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
561
he mounted and went with them to that garden; and when they had arrived
there, one of them went and made ready their dinner, and brought it to the
garden, together with intoxicating wine; and they ate. Then they brought
the wine; and he said to them, What is this? They answered him, This is
what dispelleth grief, and manifesteth happiness. And they ceased not to
recommend it to him until they overcame him, and he drank with them;
and they continued conversing and drinking till the close of the day, when
they returned to their abodes. But 'Alee of Cairo was affected with a giddi-
ness from drinking, and he went to his wife in this state: so she said to him,
How is it that thou art changed? He answered, We were to-day making
merry and enjoying ourselves; but one of our companions brought us some
liquor, which my companions drank, and I with them, and this giddiness
came upon me. His wife therefore said to him, O my master, hast thou
forgotten the charge of thy father, and done that which he forbade thee
to do, in associating with people who are objects of suspicion? But he
answered her, Verily these are the sons of the merchants, and are not persons.
who are objects of suspicion: they are only people of pleasure and enjoyment.
He continued incessantly every day with his companions in this manner.
They went from place to place, eating and drinking, until they said to him,
Our turns are ended, and the turn is come to thee. And he replied, A
friendly and free and an ample welcome to you! And when he arose in
the morning, he made ready all that the case required, of food and drink,
much more than they had done, and took with him the cooks and the
farráshes and the coffee-makers, and they repaired to Er-Rôdah and the
Nilometer. There they remained a whole month, eating and drinking, and
hearing music, and enjoying themselves; and when the month had passed,
'Alee saw that he had expended a sum of money of large amount; but Iblees
the accursed deceived him, and said to him, If thou shouldst expend every
day as much as thou hast already, thy wealth would not fail thee. So he
cared not for expending his wealth. He continued to do thus for the space
of three years; his wife admonishing him, and reminding him of the charge
of his father; but he attended not to her words until all the ready money
that he had was exhausted. Then he began to take of the jewels, and to
sell them, and expend their prices, till he exhausted them also. After this,
he betook himself to selling the houses and other immoveable possessions
until none of them remained. And when they were gone, he proceeded to
sell the fields and gardens, one after another, till all of them were gone, and
there remained nothing in his possession but the house in which he resided.
He therefore wrenched out its marbles and its wood-work, and expended
of the money which they produced, till he made an end of them all; and
he considered in his mind, and found that he had nothing to expend: so
he sold the house, and expended its price. Then, after that, the person who
had bought of him the house came and said to him, Seek for thyself a lodging;
for I am in want of my house.
He now considered in his mind, and found that he had nothing requiring
562
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
a house except his wife, who had borne him a son and a daughter; and there
remained not with him any servants; but there were only himself and his
family. So he took for himself an apartment in one of the Hóshes, and
there he resided, after grandeur and delicacy, and abundance of servants and
wealth; and he became destitute of one day's food. His wife therefore said
to him, Of this I used to caution thee, saying to thee, Keep the charge of
thy father. But thou wouldst not attend to my words; and there is no
strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! Whence shall the
little children obtain food? Arise then, and go round to thy companions,
the sons of the merchants. Perhaps they will give thee something wherewith
we may sustain ourselves this day. - Accordingly he arose and repaired to
his companions, one after another; but every one of them unto whom he
went hid his face from him, and made him to hear painful words, such as
he abhorred, and not one of them gave him any thing. So he returned to
his wife, and said to her, They have not given me any thing.
And upon this, she arose and went to her neighbours, to demand of
them something wherewith they might sustain themselves that day. She
repaired to a woman whom she knew in the former days, and when she
went in to her, and her friend saw her state, she arose and received her kindly,
weeping, and saying to her, What hath befallen you? She therefore related
to her all that her husband had done; and her friend said to her, An ample
and a friendly and free welcome to thee! Whatsoever thou requirest, demand
it of me, without compensation. - And she replied, May God requite thee
well! Then her friend gave her as much provision as would suffice her and
her family for a whole month; and she took it, and returned to her abode.
And when her husband saw her, he wept, and said to her, Whence obtainedst
thou that? She answered him, From such a woman; for when I informed
her of that which hath happened, she failed not in aught; but said to me,
All that thou requirest, demand of me. And upon this, her husband said
to her, Since thou hast this, I will repair to a place that I desire to visit.
Perhaps God (whose name be exalted!) will dispel our trouble.
8
He took leave of her, and kissed his children, and went forth, not knowing
whither to go. He walked on without stopping until he arrived at Boolák,'
where he beheld a vessel about to depart to Dimyát; and a man who
had been a companion of his father saw him; so he saluted him, and said
to him, Whither desirest thou to go? He answered, I desire to go to Dimyat;
for I have companions respecting whom I would inquire, and whom I would
visit: then I will return. And the man took him to his house, treated him
honourably, made for him provisions for the voyage, and, having given him
some pieces of gold, embarked him in the vessel that was going to Dimyát.
And when they arrived at that place, he landed, but knew not whither to go.
While he was walking, however, a man of the merchants saw him, and was
moved with sympathy for him, and he took him with him to his abode.
He therefore remained with him some time; after which he said within
himself, How long shall I thus reside in other men's houses? Then he went
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
563
་
forth from the house of that merchant, and beheld a vessel about to sail to
Syria; and the man with whom he was lodging prepared for him provisions
for the voyage, and embarked him in that vessel, and it proceeded with its
passengers until they arrived at the coast of Syria. 'Alee of Cairo there
landed, and he journeyed until he entered Damascus; and as he was walking
in its great thoroughfare-streets, a man of the benevolent saw him, and took
him to his abode, where he remained some time. And after that, he went
forth, and beheld a caravan about to journey to Baghdad; upon which it
Occurred to his mind that he should journey with it. So he returned to
the merchant in whose abode he was residing, took leave of him, and went
forth with the caravan; and God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose
came be exalted!) moved a man of the merchants with sympathy for him;
be therefore took him as his guest, and 'Alee ate and drank with him until
there remained between them and Baghdad one day's journey. Then there
Came upon the caravan a party of robbers who were intercepters of the way,
and they took all that was with them, and only a few escaped.
Every person of the caravan went to seek for a place of refuge. But
s to 'Alee of Cairo, he repaired to Baghdad, and he arrived there at sunset:
he reached not, however, the gate of the city until he beheld the gate-keepers
about to close it. So he said to them, Let me come in to you. And they
admitted him among them, and said to him, Whence hast thou come, and
hither dost thou go? He answered, I am a man of the city of Cairo, and
brought with me merchandise and mules and loads, and slaves and young
men, and I came on before them to see for me a place in which to deposit
my merchandise; but as I preceded them, mounted on my mule, there met
The a party of the intercepters of the way, who took my mule and my things,
and I escaped not from them till I was about to yield my last breath.
And they treated him with honour, and said to him, Thou art welcome.
Pass the night with us until the morning, and then we will see for thee a
place suitable to thee. And he searched in his pocket and found a piece
of gold remaining of those which the merchant at Boolák had given him:
gave that piece of gold to one of the gate-keepers, saying to him,
Take this and change it, and bring us something to eat. He therefore took
It, and repaired to the market, where he changed it, and brought to 'Alee
Some bread and cooked meat; and he ate with them, and slept with them
till the morning.
he
Then one of the gate-keepers took him and conducted him to a man of
the merchants of Baghdad, to whom he related his story; and that man
believed him, imagining that he was a merchant, and that he had brought
with him loads of goods. So he took him up into his shop, treated him with
honour, and sent to his abode, whence he caused to be brought for him a
magnificent suit of his own clothing; and he conducted him into the bath. -
I went with him, says 'Alee of Cairo, into the bath, and when we came forth,
he took me and conducted me to his abode, where dinner was brought to us,
and we ate, and enjoyed ourselves. He then said to one of his slaves, O
564
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Mes'ood, take thy master, and show him the two houses that are in such a
place, and whichever of them pleaseth him, give him the key of it, and
come back. I therefore went with the slave until we came to a by-street
wherein were three houses adjacent to each other, new and closed; and he
opened the first house, and I looked over it, and we came forth, and went
to the second, which he opened, and I looked over it. And he said to me
Of which of the two shall I give thee the key? I said to him, And to whom
belongeth this great house? He answered, To us. So I said to him, Open it
that we may look over it. He replied, Thou hast no need of it. Why so?
I asked. He answered, Because it is haunted, and no one lodgeth in it but
in the morning he is a corpse; and we open not its door to take forth the
dead from it; but go up on the roof of one of the two other houses, and
thence take it up; and on that account my master hath abandoned it, and
said, I will not henceforth give it to any one. - But I said to him, Open it
to me, that I may look over it. And I said within myself, This is what I
desire. I will pass the night in it, and in the morning be a corpse, and be
relieved from this state in which I now am.
-
—
-
So he opened it, and I entered it, and saw it to be a magnificent house,
of which there existed not the like; and I said to the slave, I choose none
but this house; therefore give me its key. But he replied, I will not give
thee the key till I consult my master. - Then he went to his master, and
said to him, The merchant of Cairo saith, I will not lodge but in the great
house. He therefore arose, and came to 'Alee of Cairo, and said to him,
O my master, thou hast no need of this house. 'Alee however replied, I
will not lodge in any but it, and I care not for those words. So the man
said to him, Write a voucher agreed upon between me and thee, that, if any
thing happen to thee, I am not implicated with thee. 'Alee replied, So be it.
And the merchant brought a Shahid from the Kádee's court, and wrote a
voucher testifying against him, and, having taken it into his keeping, gave
him the key. He therefore took it, and entered the house; and the merchant
sent furniture to him with a slave, who spread it for him upon the mastabah
that was behind the door, and returned.
After that, 'Alee of Cairo arose and went within, and he saw a well in
the court of the house, with a bucket over it: so he let it down into the well,
and filled it, and performed the ablution with its contents, and recited his
divinely-ordained prayers. Then he sat a little; and the slave came to him
with the supper from the house of his master, bringing for him also a lamp
and a candle and a candle-stick, and a basin and ewer, and a water-bottle;
and he left him, and returned to his master's house. So 'Alee lighted the
candle, and supped, and enjoyed himself, and performed the prayers of
nightfall; after which he said within himself, Arise, go up-stairs, and take
the bed, and sleep there, rather than here. Accordingly he arose, and took
the bed, and carried it upstairs; and he beheld a magnificent saloon, the
ceiling of which was gilded, and its floor and its walls were cased with
coloured marbles. He spread his bed, and sat reciting somewhat of the
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
565
-
sublime Kur-án; and suddenly a person called to him and said to him,
O 'Alee, O son of Hasan! shall I send down upon thee the gold? And
where, said 'Alee, is the gold that thou wilt send down? And he had not
finished saying so when he poured down upon him gold as from a catapult;
and the gold ceased not to pour down until it had filled the saloon. And
when it was finished, the person said, Liberate me, that I may go my way;
for my service is finished.
Upon this, 'Alee of Cairo said to him, I conjure thee by Allah the Great
that thou inform me of the cause of [the descent of] this gold. And he
replied, This gold was preserved for thee by a talisman from ancient times,
and we used to come to every one who entered this house, and say to him,
O'Alee! O son of Hasan! shall we send down the gold? And he would fear
at our words, and cry out; whereupon we would descend to him and break
his neck, and depart. But when thou camest, and we called thee by thy
name and the name of thy father, and said to thee, Shall we send down the
gold? — thou saidst to us, And where is the gold? — so we knew that thou
wast its owner, and we sent it down. There remaineth also for thee a treasure
in the land of El-Yemen; and if thou wilt journey and take it and bring it
hither, it will be better for thee. And I desire of thee that thou liberate me,
that I may go my way. But 'Alee said, By Allah I will not liberate thee
until thou shalt have brought hither to me that which is in the land of
El-Yemen. He said, If I bring it to thee, wilt thou liberate me, and wilt
thou liberate the servant of that treasure? - Yes, answered 'Alee. And he
said to him, Swear to me. So he swore to him. And he was about to go;
but 'Alee of Cairo said to him, I have yet one thing for thee to perform.
And what is it? he asked. 'Alee answered, I have a wife and children in
Cairo, in such a place; and it is requisite that thou bring them to me, easily,
without injury. And he replied, I will bring them to thee in a stately pro-
cession, and in a litter,10 and with servants and other attendants, together
with the treasure that we will bring thee from the land of El-Yemen, if it
be the will of God, whose name be exalted! Then he obtained permission
of him to be absent three days, after which period he promised him that all
that treasure should be in his possession; and he departed.
--
And in the morning, 'Alee searched about the saloon for a place in which
to deposit the gold; and he saw a slab of marble at the edge of the leewan
of the saloon, in which was a turning-pin. So he turned the pin, and the
slab removed, and there appeared to him a door, which he opened, and
beheld a large treasury, in which were bags of linen, sewed. He therefore
proceeded to take the bags and to fill them with the gold and put them into
the treasury until he had removed all the gold and put it into the treasury,
when he closed the door, and turned the pin; whereupon the slab of marble
returned to its place. Then he arose and descended, and seated himself
upon the mastabah that was behind the door. And while he was sitting, a
person knocked at his door; and he rose and opened it, and saw that this
person was the slave of the owner of the house; and when the slave saw
566
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
him there, he returned quickly to his master, to give him the good tidings.
And on his coming to his master, he said to him, O my master, verily
the merchant who hath taken up his lodging in the house that is haunted
by the Jinn is well, in prosperity, and he is sitting upon the mastabah that
is behind the door. So his master arose, full of joy, and repaired to that
house, taking with him the breakfast; and when he saw 'Alee of Cairo he
embraced him, and kissed him between the eyes, and said to him, What hath
God done unto thee? He answered, Well; and I slept not but upstairs,
in the saloon that is cased with marble. And the merchant said to him,
Did any thing come to thee, or didst thou see aught? No, answered 'Alee;
I only recited as much as was easy to me of the sublime Kur-án, and slept
until the morning, when I rose, and performed the ablution, and prayed, and
descended and seated myself upon this mastabah. And the merchant said,
Praise be to God for thy safety! Then he arose and left him, and sent to
him black slaves and memlooks, and female slaves, and furniture, and they
swept the house, above and below, and spread for him magnificent furniture;
and there remained with him three memlooks and three male black slaves
and four female slaves to serve him: the rest returned to the house of their
master. And when the merchants heard of him, they sent to him presents
of every precious thing, even of eatables and beverages and clothes, and
took him with them into the market, and said to him, When will thy mer-
chandise come? He answered them, After three days it will enter.
Then, when the three days had passed, the servant of the first treasure,
who poured down to him the gold from the house, came to him and said
to him, Arise, meet the treasure that I have brought thee from El-Yemen,
and thy hareem, with whom is a portion of the treasure in the form of mag-
nificent merchandise; and all who are with it, of mules and horses and
camels, and servants and memlooks, all of them are of the Jánn. Now that
servant had repaired to Cairo, where he found that the wife of 'Alee, and his
children, during this period had become reduced to excessive nakedness and
hunger; and he conveyed them from their place in a litter to the exterior of
Cairo, and clad them in magnificent apparel, of the apparel that formed
part of the treasure of El-Yemen. And when he came to 'Alee, and in-
formed him of that news, he arose and repaired to the merchants, and said
to them, Arise, and go forth with us from the city to meet the caravan with
which is our merchandise, and honour us by taking with you your hareems
to meet our hareem. So they answered him, We hear and obey. They sent
and caused their hareems to be brought, went forth all together, and alighted
in one of the gardens of the city, where they sat conversing.
And while they were thus engaged, lo, a dust rose in the midst of the
desert. They therefore arose to see what was the cause of that dust; and
it dispersed, and discovered mules and 'akkáms and farráshes and light-
bearers, who approached singing and dancing until they drew near; when
the chief of the 'akkáms advanced to 'Alee of Cairo, kissed his hand, and
said to him, O my master, we have been tardy in the way; for we desired to
11
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
567
enter yesterday; but we feared the intercepters of the way; so we remained
four days at our station until God (whose name be exalted!) dispelled them
from us. And the merchants arose and mounted their mules, and proceeded
with the caravan; the hareems remaining behind with the hareem of 'Alee
of Cairo until they mounted with them; and they entered in magnificent pro-
cession. The merchants wondered at the mules loaded with chests, and the
women of the merchants wondered at the apparel of the wife of the merchant
'Alee, and at the apparel of her children, saying, Verily the like of this apparel
existeth not in the possession of the King of Baghdád or any other person
of all the Kings and great men and merchants.
They ceased not to advance in their stately procession, the men with the
merchant 'Alee of Cairo, and the women with his hareem, until they entered
the house and alighted, and brought the mules with their loads into the midst.
of the court. Then they put down the loads, and stowed them in the maga-
zines, and the hareems went up with the hareem of 'Alee to the saloon, and
they saw it to be like a garden abounding with trees, spread with magnificent
furniture. They sat in joy and happiness, and remained sitting until noon,
when dinner was brought up to them, consisting of the best of viands and
sweetmeats; and they ate, and drank excellent sherbet, and scented them-
selves after it with rose-water and perfume.12 Then they took leave of him,
and departed to their abodes, men and women. And when the merchants
had returned to their dwellings, they sent to him presents according to their
conditions. Their hareems also sent gifts to his hareem, until there had been
brought to them an abundance of female slaves, and male black slaves, and
memlooks, and of all kinds of things, such as grains, and sugar, and other
goods incalculable. And as to the merchant of Baghdad, the owner of the
house in which 'Alee was residing, he remained with him, and quitted him
not; and he said to him, Let the slaves and the servants take the mules and
other beasts into one of the houses, for the sake of rest. But 'Alee replied,
They will set forth on their journey this night to such a place. And he
gave them permission to go out from the city, that when the night should
come they might set forth on their journey; and they scarcely believed his
giving them permission to do so when they took leave of him and departed
to the exterior of the city, and soared through the air to their abodes.
The merchant 'Alee sat with the owner of the house in which he resided
until the expiration of a third of the night, when they separated, and the
owner of the house repaired to his abode. Then the merchant 'Alee went
up to his hareem, and saluted them, and said to them, What happened unto
you after my departure, during this period? So his wife informed him of
what they had suffered from hunger and nakedness and fatigue; and he said
to her, Praise be to God for safety! And how came you? O my master,
she answered, I was sleeping with my children last night, and suddenly one
raised me from the ground, together with my children, and we soared through
the air; but no injury befell us; and we ceased not to soar along until we
alighted upon the ground in a place like an encampment of Arabs, where we
568
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
saw loaded mules, and a litter borne by two great mules, surrounded by
servants consisting of pages and men. So I said to them, Who are ye, and
what are these loads, and in what place are we? And they answered, We
are the servants of the merchant 'Alee of Cairo, the son of the merchant
Hasan the Jeweller, and he hath sent us to take you and to convey you to
him in the city of Baghdad. I said to them, Is the distance between us
and Baghdad long or short? And they answered me, Short; for between
us and it is no more than the space to be traversed during the darkness of
night.
-
Then they placed us in the litter, and the morning came not before we
were with you, no injury having befallen us. And who, said 'Alee, gave you
this apparel? She answered, The chief of the caravan opened one of the
chests that were upon the mules, took forth from it these garments, and
attired me in a suit, and each of thy children in a suit; after which he locked.
the chest from which he took forth the dresses, and gave me its key, saying
to me, Take care of it until thou give it to thy husband: — and here it is,
carefully kept in my possession. Then she produced it to him; and he said
to her, Knowest thou the chest? She answered, Yes, I know it. So he arose
and descended with her to the magazines, and shewed her the chests; and
she said to him, This is the chest from which he took forth the dresses. He
therefore took the key from her, and put it into the lock, and opened the
chest; and he saw in it many dresses, together with the keys of all the other
chests: so he took them forth, and proceeded to open the chests, one after
another, and to amuse himself with a sight of their contents, consisting of
treasured jewels and minerals, the like of which existed not in the possession
of any of the Kings.
He then locked the chests, took their keys, and went up with his wife
to the saloon, saying to her, This is of the bounty of God, whose name be
exalted! And after this, he took her and led her to the marble slab in which
was the turning pin, and he turned it, and opened the door of the treasury,
and entering with her shewed her the gold that he had deposited in it;
whereupon she said to him, Whence came to thee all this? He answered her,
It came to me through the bounty of my Lord. And he related to her what
had happened to him from first to last; on hearing which, she said to him,
O my master, all this is through the blessing attendant upon the prayer of
thy father, when he prayed for thee before his death, and said, I beg God
that He cast thee not into affliction without granting thee speedy relief. So
praise be to God (whose name be exalted!) for his giving thee relief, and
making amends to thee by bestowing on thee more than hath been lost by
thee! I conjure thee then by Allah, O my master, that thou return not to
thy former ways of associating with those who are objects of suspicion.
Be mindful of preserving the fear of God (whose name be exalted!) in pri-
vate and in public. She continued to admonish him, and he replied, I
accept thine admonition, and beg God (whose name be exalted!) to remove
far from us the wicked, and to adapt us to the obedience of Him, and to
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
569
the compliance with the precepts of his Prophet; may God bless and save
him!
-
He lived with his wife and children a most comfortable life, and he took
for himself a shop in the market of the merchants, placed in it some of the
jewels and precious minerals, and sat in it, attended by his children and his
memlooks, and became the greatest of the merchants in the city of Baghdad.
So the King of Baghdad heard of him, and sent a messenger to him, desiring
his presence; and when the messenger came to him, he said to him, Answer
the summons of the King; for he desireth thee. And he replied, I hear and
obey; and prepared a present for the King. He took four trays of red
gold, and filled them with jewels and minerals, such as existed not in the
possession of the Kings; and he took the trays, and went up with them to
the King; and when he went in to him, he kissed the ground before him, and
greeted him with a prayer for the continuance of his glory and blessings,
addressing him in the best manner he could. The King said to him, O
merchant, thou hast cheered our country by thy presence. And he replied,
O King of the age, the slave hath brought thee a present, and hopeth that
thou wilt in thy favour accept it. Then he placed the four trays before him;
and the King uncovered them and examined them, and saw that the contents
were jewels such as he possessed not, their value being equal to treasuries of
wealth. He therefore said to him, Thy present is accepted, O merchant;
and if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), we will recompense
thee with the like of it. And 'Alee kissed the King's hands, and departed
from him.
-
Then the King summoned his grandees, and said to them, How many of
the Kings have demanded my daughter in marriage? They answered him,
Many. And he said to them, Hath any one of them presented me with the
like of this present? And they all answered, No; for there existeth not in
the possession of any of them its like. And the King said, I beg to God
(whose name be exalted!) that I may have the happiness of marrying my
daughter to this merchant. Then what say ye? They answered him, The
thing should be as thou judgest. And he ordered the eunuchs to carry the
four trays with their contents into his palace. He then had an interview
with his wife, and put the trays before her; and she uncovered them, and saw
in them things like which she possessed not a single piece. So she said to
him, From which of the Kings is this? Probably it is from one of the Kings
who have demanded my daughter in marriage. He answered, No: but it
is from a merchant of Cairo, who hath come unto us in this city; and when
I heard of his coming, I sent to him a messenger to bring him to us that we
might become acquainted with him, as we might probably find in his posses-
sion some jewels which we might purchase of him to fit out our daughter.
He therefore obeyed our command, and brought us these four trays, which
he offered as a present; and I saw him to be a handsome young man,
of dig-
nified appearance, and perfect intelligence, and elegant form, almost like
one of the sons of the Kings. And on my seeing him, my heart inclined to
570
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
--
him, and my bosom became dilated at beholding him, and I desired to marry
my daughter to him. I displayed the present to the great men of my king-
dom, and said to them, How many of the Kings have demanded my daughter
in marriage. And they answered, Many. And hath any one of them, said
I, brought me the like of that? To which they all answered, No, by Allah,
O King of the age; for there existeth not in the possession of any of them
the like of that. And I said to them, I beg of God (whose name be exalted!)
that I may have the happiness of marrying to him my daughter. What then
say ye? They answered, The thing should be as thou judgest. Now what
sayest thou? She answered him, The affair is for God to decide, and thee.
O King of the age; and what God willeth is that which will be. And he
replied, If it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), we will not marry
her but to this young man.
He passed the next night, and when the morning came, he went up to
his court, and gave orders to bring the merchant 'Alee of Cairo, and all the
merchants of Baghdad. So they all came, and when they presented them-
selves before the King, he commanded them to sit. They therefore seated
themselves. He then said, Bring the Kádee of the court. And he came be-
fore him; and the King said to him, O Kádee, write the contract of my
daughter's marriage to the merchant 'Alee of Cairo. But 'Alee of Cairo said,
Pardon, O our lord the Sultán. It is not fit that a merchant like me be son-
in-law of the King. - The King however replied, I have bestowed upon thee
that favour, together with the office of Wezeer. Then he invested him with
the robe of a Wezeer immediately; whereupon he seated himself on the chair
of the Wezeer, and said, O King of the age, thou hast bestowed upon me this
favour, and I am honoured by thy beneficence; but hear a word that I would
say to thee. He replied, Say, and fear not. And he said, Since thy noble
command hath been given to marry thy daughter, it is fit that she be married
to my son. Hast thou a son? asked the King. Yes, answered 'Alee.
And the King said, Send to him immediately. He replied, I hear and obey;
-
and he sent one of his memlooks to his son, and caused him to be brought;
and when he came into the presence of the King, he kissed the ground before
him, and stood respectfully.
And the King, looking at him, saw him to be more lovely than his daugh-
ter, and more beautiful than she in stature, and justness of form, and in
elegance and in every charm. He said to him, What is thy name, O my
son? And he answered, O our lord the Sultán, my name is Hasan. And
his age at that time was fourteen years. Then the King said to the Kadee,
Write the contract of the marriage of my daughter Hosn-el-Wujood 13 to
Hasan the son of the merchant 'Alee of Cairo. So he wrote the contract of
their marriage, and the affair was finished in the most agreeable manner;
after which, every one who was in the court went his way, and the merchants
went down behind the Wezeer 'Alee of Cairo until he arrived at his house,
instated in the office of Wezeer; and they congratulated him on that event,
and went their ways. He then entered the apartment of his wife, who, seeing
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
571
him clad in the robe of a Wezeer, said to him, What is this? He therefore
related to her the case from beginning to end, and said to her, The King
hath married his daughter to Hasan my son. And she rejoiced at this ex-
ceedingly.
Then 'Alee of Cairo passed the night, and when the morning arrived he
went up to the court, and the King met him graciously, and seated him by
his side, treating him with especial favour, and said to him, O Wezeer, we
desire to celebrate the festivity, and to introduce thy son to my daughter.
'Alee replied, O our lord' the Sultán, what thou judgest to be well is well.
And the King gave orders to celebrate the festivity. They decorated the
city, and continued the festivity thirty days, in joy and happiness; and after
the thirty days were ended, Hasan, the son of the Wezeer 'Alee, took the
King's daughter as his wife, and was delighted with her beauty and loveli-
ness. The King's wife, too, when she saw her daughter's husband, loved
him greatly; and in like manner, she was exceedingly pleased with his mother.
Then the King gave orders to build a palace for Hasan, the son of the
Wezeer; and they built for him quickly a magnificent palace, in which he
resided; and his mother used to remain with him some days, and then descend
to her house. So the King's wife said to her husband, O King of the age,
the mother of Hasan cannot reside with her son and leave the Wezeer, nor
can she reside with the Wezeer and leave her son. He replied, Thou hast
spoken truth. And he gave orders to build a third palace, by that of Hasan,
the son of the Wezeer; and they built it in a few days; after which the King
commanded to remove the goods of the Wezeer to that palace; and they did
so; and the Wezeer took up his abode in it. The three palaces communi-
cated, one with another: so when the King desired to speak with the Wezeer,
he walked to him in the night, or sent to bring him; and in like manner did
Hasan and his mother and his father. They ceased not to live together in
an agreeable manner, and to pass a pleasant life, for a length of time.
After this, an illness attacked the King, and his malady increased: so he
summoned the grandees of his kingdom, and said to them, A violent disease
hath attacked me, and perhaps it is that which will occasion my death: I
have therefore summoned you to consult you respecting an affair, and do ye
give me the advice that ye judge to be good. They said, Respecting what
wouldst thou consult us, O King? And he answered, I have become old, and
have fallen sick, and am in fear for my kingdom after me, on account of the
enemies; wherefore I desire that ye all agree in the choice of one,
that I may
inaugurate him as King during my life, and that ye may be at ease.
this they all replied, We all approve of the husband of thy daughter, Hasan,
the son of the Wezeer 'Alee; for we have observed his good sense, and per-
fection and intelligence, and he knoweth the rank of the great and the
small. The King said to them, And do ye approve of that? They answered,
Yes. He said to them, Perhaps ye say that before me through a modest
respect for me, and behind my back ye will say otherwise. But they all re-
plied, By Allah our words are the same in public and in secret; they change
To
572
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
not; and we approve of him with joyful hearts and dilated bosoms. He
therefore said to them, If the affair be so, bring the Kádee of the holy law,
and all the chamberlains and lieutenants and chief men of the kingdom, be-
fore me to-morrow, and we will finish the affair in the most agreeable man-
ner. And they replied, We hear and obey.
me.
-
They departed from him, and summoned all the 'Ulamà,14 and the chief
persons among the Emeers, and when the morning came, they went up to
the court, and sent to the King, begging permission to come in to him; and
he gave them permission. So they entered, and saluted him, and said, We
have all come before thee. And the King said to them, O Emeers of Bagh-
dád, whom do ye like to be King over you after me, that I may inaugurate
him during my life in the presence of you all? They all answered, We have
agreed to accept Hasan, the son of the Wezeer 'Alee, and husband of thy
daughter. And he said, If the case be so, arise ye all, and bring him before
So they all arose, and entered his palace, and said to him, Come with
us to the King. For what purpose? said he. And they answered him, For
an affair advantageous to us and to thee. He therefore arose and proceeded
with them until they went in to the King, when Hasan kissed the ground
before him; and the King said to him, Sit, O my son. So he sat; and the
King said to him, O Hasan, all the Emeers have petitioned in thy favour,
and agreed to make thee King over them after me, and I desire to inaugurate
thee during my life, in order to conclude the affair. But upon this, Hasan
arose, and kissed the ground before the King, and said to him, O our lord
the King, verily among the Emeers is he who is older than I, and of higher
dignity: therefore release me from that affair. All the Emeers however said,
We do not choose but that thou be King over us. He said to them, My
father is older than I, and I and my father are the same, and it is not right
to advance me above him. But his father replied, I do not approve of
aught but that of which my brethren approve, and they have approved of
thee, and agreed to have thee: oppose thou not the command of the King,
nor the command of thy brethren.
And Hasan hung down his head towards the ground, in modest respect
for the King, and for his father. So the King said to them, Do ye approve
of him? They answered, We do approve of him. And they all recited, in
testimony thereof, seven times, the Opening Chapter of the Kur-án. Then
the King said, O Kádee, write a legal voucher testifying of these Emeers,
that they have agreed to acknowledge, as Sultán, Hasan, the husband of my
daughter, and that he shall be King over them. He therefore wrote the
voucher to that effect, and signed it, after they had all inaugurated him as
King. The King did so likewise, and ordered him to sit upon the throne
of the kingdom. After this, all arose, and kissed the hands of the King
Hasan, the son of the Wezeer, and paid homage to him; and he exercised
authority that day in an admirable manner, and conferred magnificent dresses
of honour upon the grandees of the kingdom.
Then the court broke up, and Hasan went in to the father of his wife,
'ALEE OF CAIRO AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
573
and kissed his hands; and he said to him, O Hasan, be mindful to preserve
the fear of God in thy conduct towards thy subjects. Hasan replied,
Through thy prayer for me, O my father, God's guidance will be given me.
He then entered his own palace, and his wife met him, with her mother and
their dependants, and they kissed his hands, and said to him, May the day
be blessed! - and they congratulated him on the dignity to which he had
been raised. Then he arose and went from his palace into that of his father;
and they rejoiced exceedingly at the favour which God had granted him in
conferring upon him the sovereignty; and his father charged him to preserve
the fear of God, and to act with clemency to his subjects. He passed the
next night in joy and happiness until the morning; when he performed his
divinely-ordained prayers, and finished his concluding supplication,¹5 and
went up to the court. All the troops also went up thither, and the dig-
nitaries; and he judged among the people, commanding to act kindly, and
forbidding iniquity, and he invested and displaced, and ceased not to exercise
authority until the close of the day; whereupon the court broke up in the
most agreeable manner, and the troops dispersed, each person going his way.
Then Hasan arose and entered the palace; and he saw that the illness of
his wife's father had become heavy upon him: so he said to him, No harm
betide thee! And the old King opened his eyes, and said to him, O Hasan!
He replied, At thy service, O my lord. And the old King said to him, Now
hath the end of my life drawn near; therefore take care of thy wife and
her mother, and preserve the fear of God, and an affectionate obedience to
thy parents; stand in awe of the majesty of the Requiting King, and know
that God commandeth justice and the doing of good. The King Hasan re-
plied, I hear and obey. — Then the old King remained three days after that,
and was admitted to the mercy of God, whose name be exalted!
So they
prepared his body for burial, and shrouded it, and performed for him recita-
tions of portions and of the whole of the Kur-án until the end of the forty
days; — and the King Hasan, the son of the Wezeer, became absolute mon-
arch. His subjects rejoiced in him, and all his days were happy, and his
father ceased not to be chief Wezeer on his right hand, and he took another
Wezeer on his left. His affairs were well ordered, and he remained King in
Baghdád a long time; he was also blessed with three male children by the
daughter of the old King, and they inherited the kingdom after him; and
they passed a most comfortable and happy life, until they were visited by
the terminator of delights and the separator of companions. Extolled be
the perfection of Him who is eternal, and in whose power it lieth to annul
and to confirm! 16
2
XX
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA¹
HERE was, in the time of the Khaleefeh, the Prince of the Faithful
Hároon Er-Rasheed, in the city of Baghdad, a man called Es-Sindi-
bád the Porter. He was a man in poor circumstances, who bore burdens
for hire upon his head. And it happened to him that he bore one day a
heavy burden, and that day was excessively hot; so he was wearied by the
load, and perspired profusely, the heat violently oppressing him. In this
state he passed by the door of a merchant, the ground before which was
swept and sprinkled, and there the air was temperate; and by the side of the
door was a wide mastabah.
The porter therefore put down his burden upon that mastabah, to rest
himself, and to scent the air; and when he had done so, there came forth
upon him, from the door, a pleasant, gentle gale, and an exquisite odour,
wherewith the porter was delighted. He seated himself upon the edge of the
mastabah, and heard in that place the melodious sounds of stringed instru-
ments, with the lute among them, and mirth-exciting voices, and varieties of
distinct recitations. He heard also the voices of birds, warbling, and prais-
ing God (whose name be exalted!) with diverse tones and with all dialects; a
consisting of turtle-doves and hezárs and blackbirds and nightingales and
ring-doves and keerawáns; 5 whereupon he wondered in his mind, and was
moved with great delight. He then advanced to that door, and found within
the house a great garden, wherein he beheld pages and slaves and servants
and other dependants, and such things as existed not elsewhere save in the
abodes of Kings and Sultáns; and after that, there blew upon him the odour
of delicious, exquisite viands, of all different kinds, and of delicious wine.
Upon this he raised his eyes towards heaven, and said, Extolled be Thy
perfection, O Lord! O Creator! O Supplier of the conveniences of life!
Thou suppliest whom Thou wilt without reckoning! O Allah, I implore Thy
forgiveness of all offences, and turn to Thee repenting of all faults! O
Lord, there is no animadverting upon Thee with respect to Thy judgment and
Thy power; for Thou art not to be questioned regarding that which Thou
doest, and Thou art able to do whatsoever Thou wilt! Extolled be Thy per-
fection! Thou enrichest whom Thou wilt, and whom Thou wilt Thou im-
poverishest! Thou magnifiest whom Thou wilt, and whom Thou wilt Thou
abasest! There is no deity but Thou! How great is Thy dignity! and how
mighty is Thy dominion! and how excellent is Thy government! Thou hast
bestowed favours upon him whom Thou choosest among Thy servants,
and
574
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
575
the owner of this place is in the utmost affluence, delighting himself with
pleasant odours and delicious meats and exquisite beverages of all descrip-
tions. And Thou hast appointed unto Thy creatures what Thou wilt, and
what Thou hast predestined for them; so that among them one is weary, and
another is at ease; and one of them is prosperous, and another is like me,
- And he recited thus:
in the extreme of fatigue and abjection!
-
--
How many wretched persons are destitute of ease! and how many are in luxury, reposing
in the shade!"
I find myself afflicted by trouble beyond measure; and strange is my condition, and
heavy is my load!
Others are in prosperity, and from wretchedness are free, and never for a single day
have borne a load like mine;
Incessantly and amply blest, throughout the course of life, with happiness and grandeur,
as well as drink and meat.
All men whom God hath made are in origin alike; and I resemble this man, and he
resembleth me;
But otherwise, between us is a difference as great as the difference that we find between
wine and vinegar.
Yet in saying this, I utter no falsehood against Thee [O my Lord;] for Thou art wise,
and with justice Thou hast judged.
And when Es-Sindibád the Porter had finished the recitation of his verses,
he desired to take up his burden and to depart. But, lo, there came forth
to him from that door a young page, handsome in countenance, comely in
stature, magnificent in apparel; and he laid hold upon the porter's hand,
saying to him, Enter: answer the summons of my master; for he calleth for
thee. And the porter would have refused to enter with the page; but he
could not. He therefore deposited his burden with the door-keeper in the
entrance-passage, and, entering the house with the page, he found it to be
a handsome mansion, presenting an appearance of joy and majesty. And
he looked towards a grand chamber, in which he beheld noblemen and great
lords; and in it were all kinds of flowers, and all kinds of sweet scents, and
varieties of dried and fresh fruits, together with abundance of various kinds
of exquisite viands, and beverage prepared from the fruit of the choicest
grape-vines. In it were also instruments of music and mirth, and varieties.
of beautiful slave-girls, all ranged in proper order.
And at the upper end of that chamber was a great and venerable man,
He was of
in the sides of whose beard grey hairs had begun to appear.
handsome form, comely in countenance, with an aspect of gravity and dignity
and majesty and stateliness. So, upon this, Es-Sindibád the Porter was con-
founded, and he said within himself, By Allah, this place is a portion of
Paradise, or it is the palace of a King or Sultán! Then, putting himself in
a respectful posture, he saluted the assembly, prayed for them, and kissed
the ground before them; after which he stood, hanging down his head in
humility. But the master of the house gave him permission to seat himself.
And the master of the house had caused him to draw
He therefore sat.
near unto him, and now began to cheer him with conversation, and to wel-
576
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
come him; and he put before him some of the various excellent, delicious,
exquisite viands. So Es-Sindibád the Porter advanced, and having said, In
the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, ate until he was satis-
fied and satiated, when he said, Praise be to God in every case!
washed his hands, and thanked them for this.
and
The master of the house then said, Thou art welcome, and thy day is
blessed. What is thy name, and what trade dost thou follow? O my
master, he answered, my name is Es-Sindibád the Porter, and I bear upon my
head men's merchandise for hire. And at this, the master of the house
smiled, and he said to him, Know, O porter, that thy name is like mine;
for I am Es-Sindibád of the sea; but, O porter, I desire that thou let me hear
the verses that thou wast reciting when thou wast at the door. The porter
therefore was ashamed, and said to him, I conjure thee by Allah that thou
be not angry with me; for fatigue and trouble, and paucity of what the
hand possesseth, teach a man ill manners, and impertinence. His host, how-
ever, replied, Be not ashamed; for thou hast become my brother: recite then
the verses, since they pleased me when I heard them from thee as thou re-
citedst them at the door. So upon this the porter recited to him those verses,
and they pleased him, and he was moved with delight on hearing them. He
then said to him, O porter, know that my story is wonderful, and I will in-
form thee of all that happened to me and befell me before I attained this
prosperity and sat in this place wherein thou seest me. For I attained not
this prosperity and this place save after severe fatigue and great trouble and
many terrors. How often have I endured fatigue and toil in my early years!
I have performed seven voyages, and connected with each voyage is a won-
derful tale, that would confound the mind. All that which I endured hap-
pened by fate and destiny, and from that which is written there is no escape
nor flight.
the first voyAGE OF ES-SINDibád of the sEA
Know, O masters, O noble persons, that I had a father, a merchant, who
was one of the first in rank among the people and the merchants, and who
possessed abundant wealth and ample fortune. He died when I was a young
child, leaving to me wealth and buildings and fields; and when I grew up, I
put my hand upon the whole of the property, ate well and drank well, associ-
ated with the young men, wore handsome apparel, and passed my life with
my friends and companions, feeling confident that this course would continue
and profit me; and I ceased not to live in this manner for a length of time.
I then returned to my reason, and recovered from my heedlessness. and
found that my wealth had passed away, and my condition had changed, are
all the [money] that I had possessed had gone. I recovered
situation but in a state of fear and confusion of mind, and recalled a tale
that I had heard before, the tale of our lord Sulevman Dases (on.
both of whom be peace!), respecting his saying that's are better than-
V
my
1
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
577
three: the day of death is better than the day of birth; and a living dog is
better than a dead lion; and the grave is better than the palace. Then I
arose, and collected what I had, of effects and apparel, and sold them; after
which I sold my buildings and all that my hand possessed, and amassed three
thousand pieces of silver; and it occurred to my mind to travel to the coun-
tries of other people; and I remembered one of the sayings of the poets,
which was this:
In proportion to one's labour, eminences are gained; and he who seeketh eminence
passeth sleepless nights.
He diveth in the sea who seeketh for pearls, and succeedeth in acquiring lordship and
good fortune.
Whoso seeketh eminence without labouring for it, loseth his life in the search of vanity.
Upon this, I resolved, and arose, and bought for myself goods and com-
modities and merchandise, with such other things as were required for travel;
and my mind had consented to my performing a sea-voyage. So I embarked
in a ship, and it descended to the city of El-Basrah, with a company of mer-
chants; and we traversed the sea for many days and nights. We had passed
by island after island, and from sea to sea, and from land to land; and in
every place by which we passed we sold and bought, and exchanged merchan-
dise. We continued our voyage until we arrived at an island like one of the
gardens of Paradise, and at that island the master of the ship brought her
to anchor with us. He cast the anchor, and put forth the landing-plank,
and all who were in the ship landed upon that island. They had prepared
for themselves fire-pots, and they lighted fires in them; and their occupations
were various: some cooked; others washed; and others amused themselves.
I was among those who were amusing themselves upon the shores of the
island, and the passengers were assembled to eat and drink and play and
sport.
But while we were thus engaged, lo, the master of the ship, standing upon
its side, called out with his loudest voice, O ye passengers, whom may God
preserve! come up quickly into the ship, hasten to embark, and leave your
merchandise, and flee with your lives, and save yourselves from destruction;
for this apparent island, upon which ye are, is not really an island, but it is
a great fish that hath become stationary in the midst of the sea, and the sand
hath accumulated upon it, so that it hath. become like an island, and trees
have grown upon it since times of old; and when ye lighted upon it the fire,
it felt the heat, and put itself in motion, and now it will descend with you into
the sea, and ye will all be drowned: then seek for yourselves escape before.
destruction, and leave the merchandise! The passengers, therefore, hear-
ing the words of the master of the ship, hastened to go up into the vessel,
leaving the merchandise, and their other goods, and their copper cooking-
pots, and their fire-pots; and some reached the ship, and others reached it
not. The island had moved, and descended to the bottom of the sea, with
all that were upon it, and the roaring sea, agitated with waves, closed over it.8
578
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I was among the number of those who remained behind upon the island;
so I sank in the sea with the rest who sank. But God (whose name be ex-
alted!) delivered me and saved me from drowning, and supplied me with a
great wooden bowl, of the bowls in which the passengers had been washing,
and I laid hold upon it and got into it, induced by the sweetness of life, and
beat the water with my feet as with oars, while the waves sported with me,
tossing me to the right and left. The master of the vessel had caused her
sails to be spread, and pursued his voyage with those who had embarked,
not regarding such as had been submerged; and I ceased not to look at that
vessel until it was concealed from my eye. I made sure of destruction, and
night came upon me while I was in this state; but I remained so a day and a
night, and the wind and the waves aided me until the bowl came to a stop-
page with me under a high island, whereon were trees overhanging the sea.
So I laid hold upon a branch of a lofty tree, and clung to it, after I had
been at the point of destruction; and I kept hold upon it until I landed on
the island, when I found my legs benumbed, and saw marks of the nibbling
of fish upon their hams, of which I had been insensible by reason of the
violence of the anguish and fatigue that I was suffering.
I threw myself upon the island like one dead, and was unconscious of my
existence, and drowned in my stupefaction; and I ceased not to remain in
this condition until the next day. The sun having then risen upon me, I
awoke upon the island, and found that my feet were swollen, and that I had
become reduced to the state in which I then was. Awhile I dragged myself
along in a sitting posture, and then I crawled upon my knees. And there
were in the island fruits in abundance, and springs of sweet water: therefore
I ate of those fruits; and I ceased not to continue in this state for many days
and nights. My spirit had then revived, my soul had returned to me, and
my power of motion was renewed; and I began to meditate, and to walk along
the shore of the island, amusing myself among the trees with the sight of the
things that God (whose name be exalted!) had created; and I had made for
myself a staff from those trees, to lean upon it.
Thus I remained until I walked, one day, upon the shore of the island,
and there appeared unto me an indistinct object in the distance. I imagined
that it was a wild beast, or one of the beasts of the sea; and I walked towards
it, ceasing not to gaze at it; and, lo, it was a mare, of superb appearance,
tethered in a part of the island by the sea-shore. I approached her; but
she cried out against me with a great cry, and I trembled with fear of her,
and was about to return, when, behold, a man came forth from beneath the
earth, and he called to me and pursued me, saying to me, Who art thou, and
whence hast thou come, and what is the cause of thine arrival in this place?
So I answered him, O my master, know that I am a stranger, and I was in
a ship, and was submerged in the sea with certain others of the passengers;
but God supplied me with a wooden bowl, and I got into it, and it bore me
along until the waves cast me upon this island. And when he heard my
words, he laid hold of my hand and said to me, Come with me. I therefore
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
579
went with him, and he descended with me into a grotto beneath the earth,
and conducted me into a large subterranean chamber, and, having seated me
at the upper end of that chamber, brought me some food. I was hungry;
so I ate until I was satiated and contented, and my soul became at ease.
Then he asked me respecting my case, and what had happened to me; where-
fore I acquainted him with my whole affair from beginning to end; and he
wondered at my story.
And when I had finished my tale, I said, I conjure thee by Allah, O my
master, that thou be not displeased with me: I have acquainted thee with
the truth of my case and of what hath happened to me, and I desire of thee
that thou inform me who thou art, and what is the cause of thy dwelling in
this chamber that is beneath the earth, and what is the reason of thy teth-
ering this mare by the sea-side. So he replied, Know that we are a party
dispersed in this island, upon its shores, and we are the grooms of the King
El-Mihráj, having under our care all his horses; and every month, when
moonlight commenceth, we bring the swift mares, and tether them in this
island, every mare that has not foaled, and conceal ourselves in this chamber
beneath the earth, that they may attract the sea-horses.10 This is the time
of the coming forth of the sea-horse; and afterwards, if it be the will of
God (whose name be exalted!), I will take thee with me to the King El-
Mihráj, and divert thee with a sight of our country. Know, moreover, that
if thou hadst not met with us, thou hadst not seen any one in this place,
and wouldst have died in misery, none knowing of thee. But I will be the
means of the preservation of thy life, and of thy return to thy country. I
therefore prayed for him, and thanked him for his kindness and beneficence;
and while we were thus talking, the horse came forth from the sea, as he had
said." And shortly after, his companions came, each leading a mare; and,
seeing me with him, they inquired of me my story, and I told them what I
had related to him. They then drew near to me, and spread the table, and
ate, and invited me: so I ate with them; after which, they arose, and mounted
the horses, taking me with them, having mounted me on a mare.¹2
---
We commenced our journey, and proceeded without ceasing until we
arrived at the city of the King El-Mihráj, and they went in to him and
acquainted him with my story. He therefore desired my presence, and they
took me in to him, and stationed me before him; whereupon I saluted him,
and he returned my salutation and welcomed me, greeting me in an honour-
able manner, and inquired of me respecting my case. So I informed him of
all that had happened to me, and of all that I had seen, from beginning to
end; and he wondered at that which had befallen me and happened to me,
and said to me, O my son, by Allah thou hast experienced an extraordinary
preservation, and had it not been for the predestined length of thy life, thou
hadst not escaped from these difficulties; but praise be to God for thy safety!
Then he treated me with beneficence and honour, caused me to draw near to
him, and began to cheer me with conversation and courtesy; and he made me
his superintendent of the sea-port, and registrar of every vessel that came to
580
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the coast. I stood in his presence to transact his affairs, and he favoured me
and benefited me in every respect; he invested me with a handsome and costly
dress, and I became a person high in credit with him in intercessions, and in
accomplishing the affairs of the people.
I ceased not to remain in his service for a long time; and whenever I went
to the shore of the sea, I used to inquire of the merchants and travellers and
sailors respecting the direction of the city of Baghdád, that perchance some
one might inform me of it, and I might go with him thither and return to my
country; but none knew it, nor knew any one who went to it. At this I
was perplexed, and I was weary of the length of my absence from home;
and in this state I continued for a length of time, until I went in one day to
the King El-Mihráj, and found with him a party of Indians. I saluted them,
and they returned my salutation, and welcomed me, and asked me respecting
my country; after which, I questioned them as to their country, and they
told me that they consisted of various races. Among them are the Sháki-
reeyeh,13 who are the most noble of their races, who oppress no one, nor offer
violence to any. And among them are a class called the Bráhmans, a
people who never drink wine; but they are persons of pleasure and joy and
sport and merriment,¹ and possessed of camels and horses and cattle. They
informed me also that the Indians 15 are divided into seventy-two classes;
and I wondered at this extremely. And I saw, in the dominions of the King
El-Mihráj, an island, among others, which is called Kásil, in which is heard
the beating of tambourines and drums throughout the night, and the islanders
and travellers informed us that Ed-Dejjál is in it.18 I saw too, in the sea in
which is that island, a fish two hundred cubits long, and the fishermen fear
it; wherefore they knock some pieces of wood, and it fleeth from them: 19
and I saw a fish whose face was like that of the owl.20 I likewise saw dur-
ing that voyage many wonderful and strange things, such that, if I related
them to you, the description would be too long.
17
16
I continued to amuse myself with the sight of those islands and the things
that they contained, until I stood one day upon the shore of the sea, with a
staff in my hand, as was my custom, and, lo, a great vessel approached,
wherein were many merchants; and when it arrived at the harbour of the
city, and its place of anchoring, the master furled its sails, brought it to an
anchor by the shore, and put forth the landing-plank; and the sailors brought
out every thing that was in that vessel to shore. They were slow in taking
forth the goods, while I stood writing their accounts, and I said to the master
of the ship, Doth aught remain in thy vessel? He answered, Yes, O my
master; I have some goods in the hold of the ship; but their owner was
drowned in the sea at one of the islands during our voyage hither, and his
goods are in our charge; so we desire to sell them, and to take a note of their
price, in order to convey it to his family in the city of Baghdad, the Abode
of Peace. I therefore said to the master, What was the name of that man,
the owner of the goods? He answered, His name was Es-Sindibád of the
Sea, and he was drowned on his voyage with us in the sea.
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
581
And when I heard his words, I looked at him with a scrutinizing eye,
and recognised him; and I cried out at him with a great cry, and said, O
master, know that I am the owner of the goods which thou hast mentioned,
and I am Es-Sindibád of the Sea, who descended upon the island from the
ship, with the other merchants who descended; and when the fish that we
were upon moved, and thou calledst out to us, some got up into the vessel,
and the rest sank, and I was among those who sank. But God (whose
name be exalted!) preserved me and saved me from drowning by means of
a large wooden bowl, of those in which the passengers were washing, and
I got into it, and began to beat the water with my feet, and the wind and
the waves aided me until I arrived at this island, when I landed on it, and
God (whose name be exalted!) assisted me, and I met the grooms of the
King El-Mihráj, who took me with them and brought me to this city. They
then led me in to the King El-Mihráj, and I acquainted him with my story;
whereupon he bestowed benefits upon me, and appointed me clerk of the
harbour of this city, and I obtained profit in his service, and favour with
him. Therefore these goods that thou hast are my goods and my portion.
-
But the master said, There is no strength nor power but in God, the
High, the Great! There is no longer faith nor conscience in any one!
Wherefore, O master, said I, when thou hast heard me tell thee my story?
He answered, Because thou heardest me say that I had goods whose owner
was drowned: therefore thou desirest to take them without price; and this is
unlawful to thee; for we saw him when he sank, and there were with him
many of the passengers, not one of whom escaped. How then dost thou
pretend that thou art the owner of the goods? So I said to him, O master,
hear my story, and understand my words, and my veracity will become mani-
fest to thee; for falsehood is a characteristic of the hypocrites. Then I re-
lated to him all that I had done from the time that I went forth with him
from the city of Baghdad until we arrived at that island upon which we were
submerged in the sea, and I mentioned to him some circumstances that had
occurred between me and him.
-
Upon this, therefore, the master and the merchants were convinced of my
veracity, and recognised me; and they congratulated me on my safety, all of
them saying, By Allah, we believed not that thou hadst escaped drowning;
but God hath granted thee a new life. They then gave me the goods, and
I found my name written upon them, and nought of them was missing. So
I opened them, and took forth from them something precious and costly;
he sailors of the ship carried it with me, and I went up with it to the King
> offer it as a present, and informed him that this ship was the one in which
vas a passenger. I told him also that my goods had arrived all entire, and
this present was a part of them. And the King wondered at this affair
mely; my veracity in all that I had said became manifest to him, and
ved me greatly, and treated me with exceeding honour, giving me a
resent in return for mine.
en I sold my bales, as well as the other goods that I had, and gained
582
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
upon them abundantly; and I purchased other goods and merchandise and
commodities of that city. And when the merchants of the ship desired to
set forth on their voyage, I stowed all that I had in the vessel, and, going
in to the King, thanked him for his beneficence and kindness; after which I
begged him to grant me permission to depart on my voyage to my country.
and my family. So he bade me farewell, and gave me an abundance of
things at my departure, of the commodities of that city; and when I had
taken leave of him, I embarked in the ship, and we set sail by the permission
of God, whose name be exalted! Fortune served us, and destiny aided us,
and we ceased not to prosecute our voyage night and day until we arrived in
safety at the city of El-Basrah. There we landed, and remained a short
time; and I rejoiced at my safety, and my return to my country; and after
that, I repaired to the city of Baghdad, the Abode of Peace, with abundance
of bales and goods and merchandise of great value. Then I went to my
quarter, and entered my house, and all my family and companions came to
I procured for myself servants and other dependants, and memlooks
and concubines and male black slaves, so that I had a large establishment:
and I purchased houses and other immoveable possessions, more than I had at
first. I enjoyed the society of my companions and friends, exceeding my
former habits, and forgot all that I had suffered from fatigue, and absence
from my native country, and difficulty, and the terrors of travel. I occupied
myself with delights and pleasures, and delicious meats and exquisite drinks,
and continued in this state. Such were the events of the first of my voyages;
and to-morrow, if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), I will
relate to you the tale of the second of the seven voyages.
me.
Es-Sindibád of the Sea then made Es-Sindibád of the Land to sup with
him; after which he gave orders to present him with a hundred pieces of
gold, and said to him, Thou hast cheered us by thy company this day. So
the porter thanked him, and took from him what he had given him, and
went his way, meditating upon the events that befell and happened to man-
kind, and wondering extremely. He slept that night in his abode; and when
the morning came, he repaired to the house of Es-Sindibád of the Sea, and
went in to him; and he welcomed him, and treated him with honour, seat-
ing him by him. And after the rest of his companions had come, the food
and drink were set before them, and the time was pleasant to them, and they
were merry. Then Es-Sindibád of the Sea began his narrative thus:
THE SECOND Voyage of es-sindibád of the sEA
Know, O my brothers, that I was enjoying a most comfortable life, and
the most pure happiness, as ye were told yesterday, until it occurred to my
mind, one day, to travel again to the lands of other people, and I felt a long-
ing for the occupation of traffic, and the pleasure of seeing the countries and
islands of the world, and gaining my subsistence. I resolved upon that, affair.
and, having taken forth from my money a large sum, I purchased、ch it
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
583
goods and merchandise suitable for travel, and packed them up. Then I
went to the bank of the river, and found a handsome, new vessel, with sails
of comely canvas, and it had a numerous crew, and was superfluously
equipped. So I embarked my bales in it, as did also a party of merchants
besides, and we set sail that day. The voyage was pleasant to us, and we
ceased not to pass from sea to sea, and from island to island; and at every
place where we cast anchor, we met the merchants and the grandees, and the
sellers and buyers, and we sold and bought, and exchanged goods.
Thus we continued to do until destiny conveyed us to a beautiful island,
abounding with trees bearing ripe fruits, where flowers diffused their frag-
rance, with birds warbling, and pure rivers: but there was not in it an in-
habitant, nor a blower of a fire.21 The master anchored our vessel at that
island, and the merchants with the other passengers landed there, to amuse
themselves with the sight of its trees, and to extol the perfection of God, the
One, the Omnipotent, and to wonder at the power of the Almighty King.
I also landed upon the island with the rest, and sat by a spring of pure
water among the trees. I had with me some food, and I sat in that place
eating what God (whose name be exalted!) had allotted me. The zephyr
was sweet to us in that place, and the time was pleasant to me; so slumber
overcame me, and I reposed there, and became immersed in sleep, enjoying
that sweet zephyr, and the fragrant gales. I then arose, and found not in
the place a human being nor a Jinnee. The vessel had gone with the passen-
gers, and not one of them remembered me, neither any of the merchants nor
any of the sailors: so they left me in the island.
I looked about it to the right and left, and found not in it any one save
myself. I was therefore affected with violent vexation, not to be exceeded,
and my gall-bladder almost burst by reason of the severity of my grief and
mourning and fatigue. I had not with me aught of worldly goods, neither
food nor drink, and I had become desolate, weary in my soul, and despairing
of life; and I said, Not every time doth the jar escape unbroken; and if I
escaped the first time, and found him who took me with him from the shore
of the island to the inhabited part, far, far from me this time is the prospect
of my finding him who will convey me to inhabited lands! Then I began to
weep and wail for myself until vexation overpowered me; and I blamed my-
self for that which I had done, and for my having undertaken this voyage
and fatigue after I had been reposing at ease in my abode and my country,
in ample happiness, and enjoying good food and good drink and good apparel,
and had not been in want of any thing, either of money or goods or merchan-
dise. I repented of my having gone forth from the city of Baghdad, and set
out on a voyage over the sea, after the fatigue that I had suffered during my
first voyage, and I felt at the point of destruction, and said, Verily to God.
we belong, and verily unto Him we return! And I was in the predicament
of the mad.
After that, I rose and stood up, and walked about the island to the right
and left, unable to sit in one place. Then I climbed up a lofty tree; and
584
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
began to look from it to the right and left; but saw nought save the sky an
water, and trees and birds, and islands and sands. Looking, however, wit
a scrutinizing eye, there appeared to me on the island a white object, indis
tinctly seen in the distance, of enormous size: so I descended from the tree
and went towards it, and proceeded in that direction without stopping unti
I arrived at it; and, lo, it was a huge white dome, of great height and large
circumference. I drew near to it, and walked round it; but perceived no doo
to it; and I found that I had not strength nor activity to climb it, on account
of its exceeding smoothness. I made a mark at the place where I stood, and
went round the dome measuring its circumference; and, lo, it was fifty
full paces; and I meditated upon some means of gaining an entrance into
it.
The close of the day, and the setting of the sun, had now drawn near;
and, behold, the sun was hidden, and the sky became dark, and the sun was
veiled from me. I therefore imagined that a cloud had come over it; but
this was in the season of summer: so I wondered; and I raised my head,
and, contemplating that object attentively, I saw that it was a bird, of enor-
mous size, bulky body, and wide wings, flying in the air; and this it was that
concealed the body of the sun, and veiled it from view upon the island. At
this my wonder increased, and I remembered a story which travellers and
voyagers had told me long before, that there is, in certain of the islands,
a bird of enormous size, called the rukh', that feedeth its young ones with
elephants. I was convinced, therefore, that the dome which I had seen was
one of the eggs of the rukh'.22 I wondered at the works of God (whose
name be exalted!) and while I was in this state, lo, that bird alighted upon
the dome, and brooded over it with its wings, stretching out its legs behind
upon the ground; and it slept over it. Extolled be the perfection of Him
who sleepeth not!
Thereupon I arose, and unwound my turban from my head, and folded
it and twisted it so that it became like a rope; and I girded myself with it,
binding it tightly round my waist, and tied myself by it to one of the feet
of that bird, and made the knot fast, saying within myself, Perhaps this bird
will convey me to a land of cities and inhabitants, and that will be better
than my remaining in this island. I passed the night sleepless, fearing that,
if I slept, the bird would fly away with me when I was not aware; and when
the dawn came, and morn appeared, the bird rose from its egg, and uttered
a great cry, and drew me up into the sky. It ascended and soared up so
high that I imagined it had reached the highest region of the sky; and after
that, it descended with me gradually until it alighted with me upon the earth,
and rested upon a lofty spot. So when I reached the earth, I hastily untied
the band from its foot, fearing it, though it knew not of me nor was sensible
of me; and after I had loosed my turban from it, and disengaged it from its
foot, shaking as I did so, I walked away. Then it took something from the
face of the earth in its talons, and soared to the upper region of the sky;
and I looked attentively at that thing, and, lo, it was a serpent, of enormous
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
585
size, of great body, which it had taken and carried off towards the sea; and
I wondered at that event.23
After this, I walked about that place, and found myself upon an eminence,
beneath which was a large, wide, deep valley; and by its side, a great moun-
tain, very high; no one could see its summit, by reason of its excessive height,
and no one had power to ascend it. I therefore blamed myself for that which
I had done, and said, Would that I had remained in the island, since it is
better than this desert place; for in the island are found, among various
fruits, what I might have eaten, and I might have drunk of its rivers; but in
this place are neither trees nor fruits nor rivers: and there is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great! Verily every time that I escape
from a calamity, I fall into another that is greater and more severe! Then
I arose, and emboldened myself, and walked in that valley; and I beheld its
ground to be composed of diamonds, with which they perforate minerals and
jewels, and with which also they perforate porcelain and the onyx; and it is a
stone so hard that neither iron nor rock have any effect upon it, nor can
any one cut off aught from it, or break it, unless by means of the lead-
stone.24 All that valley was likewise occupied by serpents and venomous
snakes, every one of them like a palm-tree; and by reason of its enormous
size, if an elephant came to it, it would swallow it.25 Those serpents ap-
peared in the night, and hid themselves in the day, fearing lest the rukh' and
the vulture should carry them off, and after that tear them in pieces; and
the cause of that I know not. I remained in that valley, repenting of what I
had done, and said within myself, By Allah, I have hastened my own de-
struction!
The day departed from me, and I began to walk along that valley, look-
ing for a place in which to pass the night, fearing those serpents, and forget-
ting my food and drink and subsistence, occupied only by care for my life.
And there appeared to me a cave near by; so I walked thither, and I found
its entrance narrow. I therefore entered it, and seeing a large stone by its
mouth, I pushed it, and stopped with it the mouth of the cave while I was
within it; and I said within myself, I am safe now that I have entered this
place; and when daylight shineth upon me, I will go forth, and see what
destiny will do. Then I looked within the cave, and beheld a huge serpent
sleeping at the upper end of it over its eggs. At this my flesh quaked, and
I raised my head, and committed my case to fate and destiny; and I passed
all the night sleepless, until the dawn rose and shone, when I removed the
stone with which I had closed the entrance of the cave, and went forth from
it, like one intoxicated, giddy from excessive sleeplessness and hunger and
fear.
I then walked along the valley; and while I was thus occupied, lo, a great
slaughtered animal fell before me, and I found no one. So I wondered
thereat extremely; and I remembered a story that I had heard long before
from certain of the merchants and travellers, and persons in the habit of
journeying about, that in the mountains of the diamonds are experienced
- -
586
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
t
great terrors, and that no one can gain access to the diamonds, but that t
merchants who import them know a stratagem by means of which to obta
them that they take a sheep, and slaughter it, and skin it, and cut up
flesh, which they throw down from the mountain to the bottom of the valle
so, descending fresh and moist, some of these stones stick to it. Then
merchants leave it until midday, and birds of the large kind of vulture ar
the aquiline vulture descend to that meat, and, taking it in their talons, f
up to the top of the mountain; whereupon the merchants come to them, an
cry out at them, and they fly away from the meat. The merchants the
advance to that meat, and take from it the stones sticking to it; after whic
they leave the meat for the birds and the wild beasts, and carry the stones t
their countries. And no one can procure the diamonds but by means of thi
stratagem.
Therefore when I beheld that slaughtered animal, and remembered
this story, I arose and went to the slaughtered beast. I then selected
a great number of these stones, and put them into my pockets, and
within my clothes: and I proceeded to select, and to put into my pockets
and my girdle and my turban, and within my clothes. And while I
was doing thus, lo, another great slaughtered animal. So I bound my-
self to it with my turban, and, laying myself down on my back, placed
it upon my bosom, and grasped it firmly. Thus it was raised high above
the ground; and, behold, a vulture descended upon it, seized it with
its talons, and flew up with it into the air, with me attached to it; and
it ceased not to soar up until it had ascended with it to the summit of
the mountain, when it alighted with it, and was about to tear off some
of it. And thereupon a great and loud cry arose from behind that vul-
ture, and something made a clattering with a piece of wood upon
the mountain; whereat the vulture flew away in fear, and soared into the
sky.26
I therefore disengaged myself from the slaughtered animal, with the blood
of which my clothes were polluted; and I stood by its side. And, lo, the
merchant who had cried out at the vulture advanced to the slaughtered
animal, and saw me standing there. He spoke not to me; for he was fright-
ened at me, and terrified; but he came to the slaughtered beast, and turned it
over; and, not finding anything upon it, he uttered a loud cry, and said, Oh,
my disappointment! There is no strength nor power but in God! We seek
refuge with God from Satan the accursed! He repented, and struck hand
upon hand,27 and said, Oh, my grief! What is this affair? So I advanced
to him, and he said to me, Who art thou, and what is the reason of thy com-
ing to this place? I answered him, Fear not, nor be alarmed; for I am a
human being, of the best of mankind; and I was a merchant, and my tale is
marvellous, and my story extraordinary, and the cause of my coming to this
mountain and this valley is wondrous to relate. Fear not; for thou shalt
receive of me what will rejoice thee: I have with me abundance of diamonds,
of which I will give thee as much as will suffice thee, and every piece that I
-
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
587
have is better than all that would come to thee by other means: therefore be
not timorous nor afraid.
And upon this the man thanked me, and prayed for me, and conversed
with me; and, lo, the other merchants heard me talking with their com-
panion; so they came to me. Each merchant had thrown down a slaughtered
animal; and when they came to us, they saluted me, and congratulated me on
my safety, and took me with them; and I acquainted them with my whole
story, relating to them what I had suffered on my voyage, and telling them
the cause of my arrival in this valley. Then I gave to the owner of the
slaughtered animal to which I had attached myself an abundance of what I
had brought with me; and he was delighted with me, and prayed for me,
and thanked me for that; and the other merchants said to me, By Allah, a
new life hath been decreed thee; for no one ever arrived at this place before
thee and escaped from it; but praise be to God for thy safety! They passed
the next night in a pleasant and safe place, and I passed the night with them,
full of the utmost joy at my safety and my escape from the valley of serpents,
and my arrival in an inhabited country.
30
And when day came, we arose and journeyed over that great mountain,
beholding in that valley numerous serpents; and we continued to advance
until we arrived at a garden in a great and beautiful island, wherein were
camphor-trees, under each of which trees a hundred men might shade them-
selves.28 When any one desireth to obtain some camphor from one of these
trees, he maketh a perforation in the upper part of it with something
long, and catcheth what descendeth from it. The liquid camphor floweth
from it, and concreteth like gum. It is the juice of that tree; and after
this operation, the tree drieth, and becometh firewood. In that island too
is a kind of wild beast called the rhinoceros,29 which pastureth there like
oxen and buffaloes in our country; but the bulk of that wild beast is greater
than the bulk of the camel, and it eateth the tender leaves of trees.3 It is
a huge beast, with a single horn, thick, in the middle of its head, a cubit 1
in length, wherein is the figure of a man.3 And in that island are some
animals of the ox-kind. Moreover, the sailors and travellers, and persons.
in the habit of journeying about in the mountains and the lands, have told
us, that this wild beast which is named the rhinoceros lifteth the great ele-
phant upon its horn,33 and pastureth with it upon the island and the shores,
without being sensible of it; and the elephant dieth upon its horn; and its
fat, melting by the heat of the sun, and flowing upon its head, entereth its
eyes, so that it becometh blind. Then it lieth down upon the shore, and
the rukh' cometh to it, and carrieth it off [with the elephant]. I saw also
in that island abundance of the buffalo-kind, the like of which existeth not
among us.
32
31
The valley before mentioned containeth a great quantity of diamonds.
such as I carried off and hid in my pockets. For these the people gave me
in exchange goods and commodities belonging to them; and they conveyed
them for me, giving me likewise pieces of silver and pieces of gold; and I
588
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ceased not to proceed with them, amusing myself with the sight of different
countries, and of what God hath created, from valley to valley and from
city to city, we, in our way selling and buying, until we arrived at the city
of El-Basrah. We remained there a few days, and then I came to the city
of Baghdad, the Abode of Peace, and came to my quarter, and entered
my house, bringing with me a great quantity of diamonds, and money and
commodities and goods in abundance. I met my family and relations, be-
stowed alms and gifts, made presents to all my family and companions,
and began to eat well and drink well and wear handsome apparel. I asso-
ciated with friends and companions, forgot all that I had suffered, and
ceased not to enjoy a pleasant life and joyful heart and dilated bosom, with
sport and merriment. Every one who heard of my arrival came to me, and
inquired of me respecting my voyage, and the states of the different coun-
tries: so I informed him, relating to him what I had experienced and suf-
fered: and he wondered at the severity of my sufferings, and congratulated
me on my safety. - This is the end of the account of the events that befell
me, and happened to me during the second voyage; and to-morrow, if it be
the will of God (whose name be exalted!), I will relate to you the events
of the third voyage.
And when Es-Sindibád of the Sea had finished his story to Es-Sindibád
of the Land, the company wondered at it. They supped with him; and he
gave orders to present to Es-Sindibád of the Land a hundred pieces of
gold; and the latter took them, and went his way, wondering at the things
that Es-Sindibád of the Sea had suffered. He thanked him, and prayed for
him in his house; and when the morning came, and diffused its light and
shone, Es-Sindibád the Porter arose, performed the morning-prayers, and
repaired to the house of Es-Sindibád of the Sea, as he had commanded him.
He went in to him and wished him good morning, and Es-Sindibád of the Sea
welcomed him; and he sat with him until the rest of his companions and
party had come; and after they had eaten and drunk, and enjoyed them-
selves, and were merry and happy, Es-Sindibád of the Sea began thus: -
35
the third VOYAGE OF ES-Sindibád of the sea
-
Know, O my brothers (and hear from me the story of the third voyage,
for it is more wonderful than the preceding stories, hitherto related — and
God is all-knowing with respect to the things which He hideth, and omnis-
cient), that, in the times past, when I returned from the second voyage, and
was in a state of the utmost joy and happiness, rejoicing in my safety, having
gained great wealth, as I related to you yesterday, God having compensated
me for all that I had lost, I resided in the city of Baghdád for a length of
time in most perfect prosperity and delight, and joy and happiness. Then
my soul became desirous of travel and diversion, and I longed for commerce
and gain and profits; the soul being prone to evil. So I meditated, and
bought an abundance of goods suited for a sea-voyage, and packed them up,
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
589
and departed with them from the city of Baghdad to the city of El-Basrah.
There, coming to the bank of the river, I beheld a great vessel, in which
were many merchants and other passengers, people of worth, and comely and
good persons, people of religion and kindness and probity. I therefore
embarked with them in that vessel, and we departed in reliance on the
blessing of God (whose name be exalted!), and his aid and favour, rejoic-
ing in expectation of good fortune and safety. We ceased not to proceed
from sea to sea, and from island to island, and from city to city; at every
place by which we passed diverting ourselves, and selling and buying, in
the utmost joy and happiness.
Thus we did until we were, one day, pursuing our course in the midst
of the roaring sea, agitated with waves, when, lo, the master, standing at
the side of the vessel, looked at the different quarters of the sea, and then
slapped his face, furled the sails of the ship, cast its anchors, plucked his
beard, rent his clothes, and uttered a great cry. So we said to him, O master,
what is the news? And he answered, Know, O passengers, whom may God
preserve! that the wind hath prevailed against us, and driven us out of our
course in the midst of the sea, and destiny hath cast us, through our evil
fortune, towards the Mountain of Apes.36 No one hath ever arrived at this
place and escaped, and my heart is impressed with the conviction of the
destruction of us all. And the words of the master were not ended before
the apes had come to us and surrounded the vessel on every side, numerous
as locusts, dispersed about the vessel and on the shore. We feared that,
if we killed one of them, or struck him, or drove him away, they would kill
us, on account of their excessive number; for numbers prevail against
courage; and we feared them lest they should plunder our goods and our
commodities. They are the most hideous of beasts, and covered with hair
like black felt,37 their aspect striking terror. No one understandeth their
language or their state, they shun the society of men, have yellow eyes, and
black faces, and are of small size, the height of each one of them being four
spans. They climbed up the cables, and severed them with their teeth,
and they severed all the ropes of the vessel in every part; so the vessel
inclined with the wind, and stopped at their mountain, and on their coast.
Then, having seized all the merchants and the other passengers, and landed
upon the island, they took the vessel with the whole of its contents, and
went their way with it.38
They left us upon the island, the vessel became concealed from us, and
we knew not whither they went with it. And while we were upon that
island eating of its fruits and its herbs, and drinking of the rivers that were
there, lo, there appeared to us an inhabited house in the midst of the island.
We therefore went towards it, and walked to it; and, behold, it was a
pavilion, with lofty angles, with high walls, having an entrance with folding.
doors, which were open; and the doors were of ebony. We entered this
pavilion, and found in it a wide, open space, like a wide, large court, around
which were many lofty doors, and at its upper end was a high and great
590
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
39
mastabah. There were also in it utensils for cooking, hung over the fire-pots,
and around them were many bones. But we saw not there any person; and
we wondered at that extremely. We sat in the open space in that pavilion a
little while, after which we slept; and we ceased not to sleep from near the
midtime between sunrise and noon until sunset. And, lo, the earth trembled
beneath us, and we heard a confused noise from the upper air, and there de-
scended upon us, from the summit of the pavilion, a person of enormous size.
in human form, and he was of black complexion, of lofty stature, like a great
palm-tree; he had two eyes 30 like two blazes of fire, and tusks like the tusks
of swine and a mouth of prodigious size, like the mouth of a well, and his lips
like the lips of a camel, hanging down upon his bosom, and he had ears like
two mortars, hanging down upon his shoulders, and the nails of his hands were
like claws of the lion. So when we beheld him thus, we became unconscious
of our existence, our fear was vehement, and our terror was violent, and
through the violence of our fear and dread and terror we became as dead
men. And after he had descended upon the ground, he sat a little while
upon the mastabah.
Then he arose and came to us, and seizing me by my hands from among
my companions the merchants, lifted me up from the ground in his hand.
and felt me and turned me over; and I was in his hand like a little mouthful.
He continued to feel me as the butcher feeleth the sheep that he is about
to slaughter; but he found me infirm from excessive affliction, and lean from
excessive fatigue and from the voyage; having no flesh. He therefore let
me go from his hand, and took another, from among my companions; and
he turned him over as he had turned me over, and felt him as he had felt
me, and let him go. He ceased not to feel us and turn us over, one after
another, until he came to the master of our ship, who was a fat, stout, broad-
shouldered man; a person of strength and vigour: so he pleased him, and
he seized him as the butcher seizeth the animal that he is about to slaughter,
and having thrown him on the ground, put his foot upon his neck, which he
thus broke. Then he brought a long spit, and thrust it into his throat, and
spitted him; after which he lighted a fierce fire, and placed over it that spit
upon which the master was spitted, and ceased not to turn him round over
the burning coals until his flesh was thoroughly roasted; when he took him
off from the fire, put him before him, and separated his joints as a man
separates the joints of a chicken, and proceeded to tear in pieces his flesh
with his nails, and to eat of it. Thus he continued to do until he had eaten
his flesh, and gnawed his bones, and there remained of him nothing but
some bones, which he threw by the side of the pavilion. He then sat a little,
and threw himself down, and slept upon that mastabah, making a noise with
his throat like that which is made by a lamb or other beast when slaughtered;
and he slept uninterruptedly until the morning, when he went his way.
As soon, therefore, as we were sure that he was far from us, we conversed
together, and wept for ourselves, saying, Would that we had been drowned
in the sea, or that the apes had eaten us; for it were better than the roasting
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
591
of a man upon burning coals! By Allah, this death is a vile one! But what
God willeth cometh to pass, and there is no strength nor power but in God,
the High, the Great! We die in sorrow, and no one knoweth of us; and
there is no escape for us from this place. We then arose and went forth
upon the island, to see for us a place in which to hide ourselves, or to flee;
and it had become a light matter to us to die, rather than that our flesh
should be roasted with fire. But we found not for us a place in which to
hide ourselves; and the evening overtook us. So we turned to the pavilion,
by reason of the violence of our fear, and sat there a little while; and, lo,
the earth trembled beneath us, and that black approached us, and, coming
among us, began to turn us over, one after another, as on the former occasion,
and to feel us, until one pleased him; whereupon he seized him, and did
with him as he did with the master of the ship the day before. He roasted
him, and ate him upon that mastabah, and ceased not to sleep that night,
making a noise with his throat like a slaughtered animal; and when the
day came, he arose and went his way, leaving us as usual.
-
Upon this we assembled together and conversed, and said, one to another,
By Allah, if we cast ourselves into the sea and die drowned, it will be better.
than our dying burnt; for this mode of being put to death is abominable!
And one of us said, Hear my words. Verily we will contrive a stratagem
against him and kill him, and be at ease from apprehension of his purpose,
and relieve the Muslims from his oppression and tyranny. So I said to
them, hear O my brothers. If we must kill him, we will transport this wood,
and remove some of this firewood, and make for ourselves rafts, each to
bear three men; 40 after which we will contrive a stratagem to kill him, and
embark on the rafts, and proceed over the sea to whatsoever place God shall
desire. Or we will remain in this place until a ship shall pass by, when
we will embark in it. And if we be not able to kill him, we will embark
[on our rafts], and put out to sea; and if we are drowned, we shall be
preserved from being roasted over the fire, and from being slaughtered. If
we escape, we escape; and if we be drowned, we die martyrs.41 To this
they all replied, By Allah, this is a right opinion and a wise proceeding.
And we agreed upon this matter, and commenced the work. We removed.
the pieces of wood out of the pavilion, and constructed rafts, attached them
to the sea-shore, and stowed upon them some provisions; after which we
returned to the pavilion.
And when it was evening, lo, the earth trembled with us, and the black
came in to us, like the biting dog. He turned us over and felt us, one after
another, and having taken one of us, did with him as he had done with the
others before him. He ate him, and slept upon the mastabah, and the noise
from his throat was like thunder. So thereupon we arose, and took two iron
spits, of those which were set up, and put them in the fierce fire until they
were red-hot, and became like burning coals; when we grasped them firmly,
and went with them to that black while he lay asleep snoring, and we thrust
them into his eyes, all of us pressing upon them with our united strength
592
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and force. Thus we pushed them into his eyes as he slept, and his eyes
were destroyed, and he uttered a great cry, whereat our hearts were terrified.
Then he arose resolutely from that mastabah, and began to search for us,
while we fled from him to the right and left, and he saw us not; for his sight
was blinded; but we feared him with a violent fear, and made sure, in that
time, of destruction, and despaired of safety. And upon this he sought the
door, feeling for it, and went forth from it, crying out, while we were in
the utmost fear of him; and lo, the earth shook beneath us, by reason of the
vehemence of his cry. So when he went forth from the pavilion, we followed
him, and he went his way, searching for us. Then he returned, accompanied
by a female, greater than he, and more hideous in form: and when we beheld
him, and her who was with him, more horrible than he in appearance, we
were in the utmost fear. As soon as the female saw us, we hastily loosed
the rafts that we had constructed, and embarked on them, and pushed them
forth into the sea. But each of the two blacks had a mass of rock, and
they cast at us until the greater number of us died from the casting, there
remaining of us only three persons, I and two others; and the raft conveyed
us to another island.¹2
We walked forward upon that island until the close of the day, and the
night overtook us in this state; so we slept a little; and we awoke from our
sleep, and, lo, a serpent of enormous size, of large body and wide belly, had
surrounded us. It approached one of us, and swallowed him to his shoulders:
then it swallowed the rest of him, and we heard his ribs break in pieces
in its belly; after which it went its way. At this we wondered extremely,
and we mourned for our companion, and were in the utmost fear for our-
selves, saying, By Allah, this is a wonderful thing! Every death that we
witness is more horrible than the preceding one! We were rejoiced at our
escape from the black; but our joy is not complete! There is no strength
nor power but in God! By Allah, we have escaped from the black and from
drowning; but how shall we escape from this unlucky serpent? Then we
arose and walked on over the island, eating of its fruits, and drinking of its
rivers, and we ceased not to proceed till morning, when we found a great,
lofty tree. So we climbed up it, and slept upon it; I having ascended to
the highest of its branches.
But when the night arrived, and it was dark, the serpent came, looking
to the right and left, and, advancing to the tree upon which we were, came
up to my companion, and swallowed him to his shoulders; and it wound itself
round the tree with him, and I heard his bones break in pieces in its belly:
then it swallowed him entirely, while I looked on; after which it descended
from the tree, and went its way. 43
- I remained upon that tree the rest of
the night; and when the day came, and the light appeared, I descended from
the tree, like one dead, by reason of excessive fear and terror, and desired to
cast myself into the sea, that I might be at rest from the world; but it was
not a light matter to me to do so; for life is dear. So I tied a wide piece of
wood upon the soles of my feet, crosswise, and I tied one like it upon my
-
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
593
left side, and a similar one upon my right side, and a similar one upon the
front of my body, and I tied one long and wide upon the top of my head,
crosswise, like that which was under the soles of my feet. Thus I was in
the midst of these pieces of wood, and they enclosed me on every side. I
bound them tightly, and threw myself with the whole upon the ground; so
I lay in the midst of the pieces of wood, which enclosed me like a closet.
And when the evening arrived, the serpent approached as it was wont, and
saw me, and drew towards me; but it could not swallow me when I was in
that state, with the pieces of wood round me on every side. It went round
me; but could not come at me: and I looked at it, being like a dead man,
by reason of the violence of my fear and terror. The serpent retired from
me, and returned to me; and thus it ceased not to do: every time that it
desired to get at me to swallow me, the pieces of wood tied upon me on every
side prevented it. It continued to do thus from sunset until daybreak
arrived and the light appeared and the sun rose, when it went its way, in the
utmost vexation and rage. Upon this, therefore, I stretched forth my hands
and loosed myself from those pieces of wood, in a state like that of the
dead, through the severity of that which I had suffered from that serpent.
I then arose, and walked along the island until I came to the extremity
of it; when I cast a glance towards the sea, and beheld a ship at a distance,
in the midst of the deep. So I took a great branch of a tree, and made a sign
with it to the passengers, calling out to them; and when they saw me, they
said, We must see what this is. Perhaps it is a man. Then they approached
me, and heard my cries to them. They therefore came to me, and took me
with them in the ship, and asked me respecting my state: so I informed
them of all that had happened to me from beginning to end, and of the
troubles that I had suffered; whereat they wondered extremely. They clad
me with some of their clothes, attiring me decently; and after that, they put
before me some provisions, and I ate until I was satisfied. They also gave
me to drink some cool and sweet water, and my heart was revived, my soul
became at ease, and I experienced great comfort. God (whose name be
exalted!) had raised me to life after death: so I praised Him (exalted be his
name!) for his abundant favours, and thanked Him.
44
45
My courage was strengthened after I had made sure of destruction, so
that it seemed to me that all which I then experienced was a dream. - We
proceeded on our voyage, and the wind was fair to us by the permission of
God (whose name be exalted!) until we came in sight of an island called
the Island of Es-Seláhit, where sandal-wood is abundant, and there the
master anchored the ship, and the merchants and other passengers landed,
and took forth their goods to sell and buy. The owner of the ship then
looked towards me, and said to me, Hear my words. Thou art a stranger
and poor, and hast informed us that thou hast suffered many horrors; I
therefore desire to benefit thee with something that will aid thee to reach
thy country, and thou wilt pray for me. I replied, So be it, and thou shalt
have my prayers. And he rejoined, Know that there was with us a man
-
594
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
voyaging, whom we lost, and we know not whether he be living or dead
having heard no tidings of him. I desire to commit to thee his bales that
thou mayest sell them in this island. Thou shalt take charge of them, and
we will give thee something proportionate to thy trouble and thy service:
and what remaineth of them we will take and keep until we return to the city
of Baghdad, when we will inquire for the owner's family, and give to them
the remainder, together with the price of that which shall be sold of them.
Wilt thou then take charge of them, and land with them upon this island.
and sell them as do the merchants? I answered, I hear and obey thee,
O my master; and thou art beneficent and kind. And I prayed for him and
thanked him for that.
He thereupon ordered the porters and sailors to land those goods upon
the island, and to deliver them to me. And the clerk of the ship said, 0
master, what are these bales which these sailors and porters have brought
out, and with the name of which of the merchants shall I mark them? He
answered, Write upon them the name of Es-Sindibád of the Sea, who was
with us, and was drowned [or left behind] at the island [of the rukh'], and
of whom no tidings have come to us; wherefore we desire that this stranger
sell them, and take charge of the price of them, and we will give him some-
what of it in requital of his trouble and his sale of them. What shall remain
we will take with us until we return to the city of Baghdad, when, if we
find him, we will give it to him; and if we find him not, we will give it to
his family in Baghdád. So the clerk replied, Thy words are good and
thy notion is excellent. And when I heard the words of the master, men-
tioning that the bales were to be inscribed with my name, I said within
myself, By Allah, I am Es-Sindibád of the Sea.46 Then I fortified myself,
and waited till the merchants had landed and had assembled conversing and
consulting upon affairs of selling and buying, when I advanced to the owner
of the ship, and said to him, O my master, dost thou know what manner
of man was the owner of the bales which thou hast committed to me that
I may sell them? He answered me, I know not his condition; but he was
a man of the city of Baghdad, called Es-Sindibád of the Sea; and we had
cast anchor at one of the islands, where he was lost, and we have had no
tidings of him to the present time.
47
So upon this I uttered a great cry, and said to him, O master (whom
may God preserve!), know that I am Es-Sindibád of the Sea.
drowned, but when thou anchoredst at the island, and the merchants and
other passengers landed, I also landed with the party, taking with me some-
thing to eat on the shore of the island. Then I enjoyed myself in sitting in
that place, and, slumber overtaking me, I slept, and became immersed in
sleep; after which I arose, and found not the ship, nor found I any one
with me. Therefore this wealth is my wealth, and these goods are my goods.
All the merchants also who transport diamonds saw me when I was upon
the mountain of the diamonds, and they will bear witness for me that I am
Es-Sindibád of the Sea, as I informed them of my story and of the events
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
595
that befell me with you in the ship. I informed them that ye had forgotten
me upon the island, asleep, and that I arose and found not any one, and
that what had befallen me befell me.
And when the merchants and other passengers heard my words, they
assembled around me; and some of them believed me, and others disbelieved
me. But while we were thus talking, lo, one of the merchants, on his
hearing me mention the valley of diamonds, arose and advanced to me, and
said to them, Hear, O company, my words. When I related to you the most
wonderful thing that I had seen in my travels, I told you that, when we cast
down the slaughtered animals into the valley of diamonds, I casting down.
mine with the rest, as I was accustomed to do, there came up with my
slaughtered beast a man attached to it, and ye believed me not. But accused
me of falsehood, They replied, Yes: thou didst relate to us this thing,
and we believed thee not. And the merchant said to them, This is the man
who attached himself to my slaughtered animal, and he gave me some dia-
monds of high price, the like of which exist not, rewarding me with more
than would have come up with my slaughtered animal; and I took him as
my companion until we arrived at the city of El-Basrah, whence he proceeded
to his country, having bidden us farewell, and we returned to our own coun-
tries. This is he, and he informed us that his name was Es-Sindibád of the
Sea; he told us likewise of the departure of the ship, and of his sitting in
that island. And know ye that this man came not to us here but in order
that ye might believe my words respecting the matter which I told you; and
all these goods are his property; for he informed us of them at the time of
his meeting with us, and the truth of his assertion hath become manifest.
So when the master heard the words of that merchant, he arose and came
to me, and, having looked at me awhile with a scrutinizing eye, said, What
is the mark of thy goods? I answered him, Know that the mark of my goods
is of such and such a kind. And I related to him a circumstance that had
occurred between me and him when I embarked with him in the vessel from
El-Basrah. He therefore was convinced that I was Es-Sindibád of the Sea,
and he embraced me and saluted me, and congratulated me on my safety,
saying to me, By Allah, O my master, thy story is wonderful, and thy case
is extraordinary! But praise be to God who hath brought us together, and
restored thy goods and thy wealth to thee!
48
Upon this, I disposed of my goods according to the knowledge I pos-
sessed, and they procured me, during that voyage, great gain, whereat I
rejoiced exceedingly, congratulating myself on my safety, and on the restora-
tion of my wealth to me. And we ceased not to sell and buy at the islands
until we arrived at the country of Es-Sind, where likewise we sold and
bought. And I beheld in that sea [which we navigated, namely the Sea of
India,] many wonders and strange things that cannot be numbered nor cal-
culated. Among the things that I saw there were a fish in the form of the
cow, and a creature in the form of the ass; and I saw a bird that cometh
forth from a sea-shell, and layeth its eggs and hatcheth them upon the sur-
49
596
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
face of the water, and never cometh forth from the sea upon the face of th
earth.50 After this we continued our voyage, by permission of God (whos
name be exalted!), and the wind and voyage were pleasant to us, until w
arrived at El-Basrah, where I remained a few days.
Then I came to the city of Baghdád, and repaired to my quarter
entered my house, and saluted my family and companions and friends.
rejoiced at my safety and my return to my country and my family and
city and district, and I gave alms and presents, and clad the widows and the
orphans, and collected my companions and friends. And I ceased not to
live thus, eating and drinking, and sporting and making merry, eating wel
and drinking well, associating familiarly and mingling in society; and
forgot all that had happened to me, and the distress and horrors that I had
suffered. And I gained during that voyage what could not be numbered
nor calculated. Such were the most wonderful of the things that I beheld
during that voyage; and to-morrow, if it be the will of God (whose name
be exalted!), thou shalt come, [O Sindibád of the Land,] and I will relate
to thee the story of the fourth voyage; for it is more wonderful than the
stories of the preceding voyages.
-
Then Es-Sindibád of the Sea gave orders to present to the porter a
hundred pieces of gold, as usual, and commanded to spread the table. So
they spread it, and the company supped, wondering at that story and at the
events described in it; and after the supper they went their ways. Es-Sindi-
bád the Porter took the gold that Es-Sindibád of the Sea had ordered to be
given to him, and went his way, wondering at that which he had heard, and
passed the night in his house; and when the morning came, and diffused
its light and shone, he arose, and performed the morning-prayers, and
walked to the house of Es-Sindibád of the Sea. He went in to him and
saluted him; and he received him with joy and gayety, and made him sit by
him until the rest of his companions had come; when the servants brought
forward the food, and the party ate and drank and enjoyed themselves.
Then Es-Sindibád of the Sea began to address them, and related to them the
fourth story, saying,-
THE FOURTH Voyage of es-sindibád of the sea
Know, O my brothers, that when I returned to the city of Baghdad, and
met my companions and my family and my friends, and was enjoying the
utmost pleasure and happiness and ease, and had forgotten all that I had
experienced, by reason of the abundance of my gains, and had become
immersed in sport and mirth, and the society of friends and companions,
leading the most delightful life, my wicked soul suggested to me to travel
again to the countries of other people, and I felt a longing for associating
with the different races of men, and for selling and gains. So I resolved
upon this, and purchased precious goods, suitable to a sea-voyage, and,
having packed up many bales, more than usual, I went from the city of
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
597
Baghdad to the city of El-Basrah, where I embarked my bales in a ship,
and joined myself to a party of the chief men of El-Basrah, and we set forth
on our voyage.
The vessel proceeded with us, confiding in the blessing of God (whose
name be exalted!), over the roaring sea agitated with waves, and the voyage
was pleasant to us; and we ceased not to proceed in this manner for a
period of nights and days, from island to island and from sea to sea, until
a contrary wind rose against us one day. The master therefore cast the
anchors, and stayed the ship in the midst of the sea, fearing that she would
sink in the midst of the deep. And while we were in this state, supplicating,
and humbling ourselves to God (whose name be exalted!), there rose
against us a great tempest, which rent the sails in strips, and the people
were submerged with all their bales and their commodities and wealth. I
was submerged among the rest, and I swam in the sea for half a day, after
which I abandoned myself; but God (whose name be exalted!) aided me to
lay hold upon a piece of one of the planks of the ship, and I and a party
of the merchants got upon it. We continued sitting upon this plank, striking
the sea with our feet, and the waves and the wind helping us; and we
remained in this state a day and a night. And on the following day, shortly
before the mid-time between sunrise and noon, a wind rose against us, the
sea became boisterous, the waves and the wind were violent, and the water
cast us upon an island; and we were like dead men, from excess of sleep-
lessness and fatigue, and cold and hunger, and fear and thirst.
We walked along the shores of that island, and found upon it abundant
herbs; so we ate some of them to stay our departing spirits, and to sustain
us; and passed the next night upon the shore of the island. And when the
morning came, and diffused its light and shone, we arose and walked about
the island to the right and left, and there appeared to us a building in the
distance. We therefore proceeded over the island in the direction of that
building which we had seen from a distance, and ceased not to proceed until
we stood at its door. And while we were standing there, lo, there came
forth to us from that door a party of naked men, who, without speaking
to us, seized us, and took us to their King, and he commanded us to sit.
So we sat; and they brought to us some food, such as we knew not, nor in
our lives had we seen the like of it; wherefore my stomach consented not
to it, and I ate none of it in comparison with my companions, and my eating.
so little of it was owing to the grace of God (whose name be exalted!), in
consequence of which I have lived to the present time. For when my com-
panions ate of that food, their minds became stupefied, and they ate like
madmen, and their states became changed. Then the people brought to
them cocoa-nut-oil, and gave them to drink of it, and anointed them with
it; and when my companions drank of that oil, their eyes became turned
in their faces, and they proceeded to eat of that food contrary to their
usual manner.
Upon this, therefore, I was confounded respecting their case, and grieved
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
for them, and became extremely anxious by reason of the violence of my
fear for myself with regard to these naked men. I observed them attentively
and lo, they were a Magian people, and the King of their city was a ghool; 5:
and every one who arrived at their country, or whom they saw or met in
the valley or the roads, they brought to their King, and they fed him with
that food, and anointed him with that oil, in consequence of which his body
became expanded, in order that he might eat largely; and his mind was
stupefied, his faculty of reflection was destroyed, and he became like an
idiot. Then they gave him to eat and drink in abundance of that food and
oil, until he became fat and stout, when they slaughtered him and roasted
him, and served him as meat to their King. But as to the companions of
the King, they ate the flesh of men without roasting or otherwise cooking
it. So when I saw them do thus, I was in the utmost anguish on my own
account and on account of my companions. The latter, by reason of the
excessive stupefaction of their minds, knew not what was done unto them,
and the people committed them to a person who took them every day and
went forth to pasture them on that island like cattle.
But as for myself, I became, through the violence of fear and hunger,
infirm and wasted in body, and my flesh dried upon my bones. So when they
saw me in this state, they left me and forgot me, and not one of them
remembered me, nor did I occur to their minds, until I contrived a strata-
gem one day, and, going forth from that place, walked along the island to
a distance. And I saw a herdsman sitting upon something elevated in the
midst of the sea; and I certified myself of him, and, lo, he was the man te
whom they had committed my companions that he might pasture them;
and he had with him many like them. As soon, therefore, as that man
beheld me, he knew that I was in possession of my reason, and that nought
of that which afflicted my companions had afflicted me. So he made a sign
to me from a distance, and said to me, Turn back, and go along the road
that is on thy right hand: thou wilt so reach the King's highway. Ac-
cordingly I turned back, as this man directed me, and, seeing a road on my
right hand, I proceeded along it, and ceased not to go on, sometimes running
by reason of fear, and sometimes walking at my leisure until I had taken
rest.
Thus I continued to do until I was hidden from the eyes of the man who
directed me to the way, and I saw him not nor did he see me. The sun had
disappeared from me, and darkness approached; wherefore I sat to rest, and
desired to sleep; but sleep came not to me that night on account of the
violence of my fear and hunger and fatigue. And when it was midnight, I
arose and walked on over the island, and I ceased not to proceed until day
arrived, and the morning came and diffused its light and shone, and the
sun rose over the tops of the high hills and over the low gravelly plains. I
was tired and hungry and thirsty; so I began to eat of the herbs and vege-
tables that were upon the island, and continued to eat of them till I was
satiated, and my departing spirit was stayed; after which I arose and walked
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
599
on again over the island; and thus I ceased not to do all the day and the
next night; whenever I was hungry, eating of the vegetables.52
In this manner I proceeded for the space of seven days with their nights;
and on the morning of the eighth day, I cast a glance, and beheld a faint
object in the distance. So I went towards it, and ceased not to proceed
until I came up to it, after sunset; and I looked at it with a scrutinizing
eye, while I was yet distant from it, and with a fearful heart in consequence
of what I had suffered first and after, and, lo, it was a party of men gather-
ing pepper.53 And when I approached them, and they saw me, they has-
tened to me, and came to me and surrounded me on every side, saying to
me, Who art thou, and whence hast thou come? I answered them, Know
ye, O people, that I am a poor foreigner. And I informed them of my whole
case, and of the horrors and distresses that had befallen me, and what I had
suffered; whereupon they said, By Allah, this is a wonderful thing! But how
didst thou escape from the blacks, and how didst thou pass by them in this
island, when they are a numerous people, and eat men, and no one is safe
from them, nor can any pass by them? -So I acquainted them with that
which had befallen me among them, and with the manner in which they had
taken my companions, and fed them with food of which I did not eat. And
they congratulated me on my safety, and wondered at that which had be-
fallen me.
Then they made me sit among them until they had finished their work,
and they brought me some nice food. I therefore ate of it, being hungry,
and rested with them a while; after which they took me and embarked with
me in a vessel, and went to their island and their abodes. They then took
me to their King, and I saluted him, and he welcomed me and treated me
with honour, and inquired of me my story. So I related to him what I
had experienced, and what had befallen me and happened to me from the
day of my going forth from the city of Baghdád until I had come unto
him. And the King wondered extremely at my story, and at the events
that had happened to me; he, and all who were present in his assembly.
After that, he ordered me to sit with him. Therefore I sat; and he gave
orders to bring the food, which accordingly they brought, and I ate of it as
much as sufficed me, and washed my hands, and offered up thanks for the
favour of God (whose name be exalted!), praising Him and glorifying Him.
I then rose from the presence of the King, and diverted myself with a sight
of his city; and, lo, it was a flourishing city, abounding with inhabitants
and wealth, and with food and markets and goods, and sellers and buyers.
So I rejoiced at my arrival at that city, and my heart was at ease; I
became familiar with its inhabitants, and was magnified and honoured by
them and by their King above the people of his dominions and the great
men of his city. And I saw that all its great men and its small rode excellent
and fine horses without saddles; whereat I wondered; and I said to the
King, Wherefore, O my lord, dost thou not ride on a saddle; for therein
is ease to the rider, and additional power? He said, What kind of thing is
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
a saddle? This is a thing that in our lives we have never seen, nor have
we ever ridden upon it. - And I said to him, Wilt thou permit me to make
for thee a saddle to ride upon and to experience the pleasure of it? He
answered me, Do so. I therefore said to him, Furnish me with some wood.
And he gave orders to bring me all that I required. Then I asked for a
clever carpenter, and sat with him, and taught him the construction of the
saddle, and how he should make it.
Afterwards I took some wool, and teased it, and made felt of it; and
I caused some leather to be brought, and covered the saddle with it, and
polished it. I then attached its straps, and its girth: after which I brought
the blacksmith, and described to him the form of the stirrups, and he forged
an excellent pair of stirrups; and I filed them, and tinned them. Then I
attached fringes of silk. Having done this, I arose and brought one of the
best of the King's horses, 'girded upon him that saddle, attached to it the
stirrups, bridled him, and brought him forward to the King; and it pleased
him, and was agreeable to him. He thanked me, and seated himself upon
it, and was greatly delighted with that saddle; and he gave me a large pres-
ent as a reward for that which I had done for him. And when his Wezeer
saw that I had made that saddle, he desired of me one like it. So I made
for him a saddle like it. The grandees and dignitaries likewise desired of
me saddles, and I made for them. I taught the carpenter the construction
of the saddle; and the blacksmith, the mode of making stirrups; and we
employed ourselves in making these things, and sold them to the great men
and masters. Thus I collected abundant wealth, and became in high esti-
mation with them, and they loved me exceedingly.
I continued to enjoy a high rank with the King and his attendants and
the great men of the country and the lords of the state, until I sat one day
with the King, in the utmost happiness and honour; and while I was sitting.
the King said to me, Know, O thou, that thou hast become magnified and
honoured among us, and hast become one of us, and we cannot part with thee,
nor can we suffer thee to depart from our city; and I desire of thee that
thou obey me in an affair, and reject not that which I shall say. So I said
to him, And what dost thou desire of me, O King? For I will not reject
that which thou shalt say, since thou hast shewn favour and kindness and
beneficence to me, and (praise be to God!) I have become one of thy servants.
-And he answered, I desire to marry thee among us to a beautiful, lovely.
elegant wife, possessed of wealth and loveliness, and thou shalt become a
dweller with us, and I will lodge thee by me in my palace: therefore oppose
me not, nor reject what I say.
And when I heard the words of the King, I was abashed at him, and
was silent, returning him no answer, by reason of the exceeding bashfulness
with which I regarded him. So he said, Wherefore dost thou not reply to
me, O my son? And I answered him, O my master, it is thine to command.
O King of the age! And upon this he sent immediately and caused the
Kádee and the witnesses to come, and married me forthwith to a woman
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
601
of noble rank, of high lineage, possessing abundant wealth and fortune, of
great origin, of surprising loveliness and beauty, owner of dwellings and
possessions and buildings. Then he gave me a great, handsome house,
standing alone, and he gave me servants and other dependants, and assigned
me supplies and salaries. Thus I became in a state of the utmost ease and
joy and happiness, forgetting all the fatigue and affliction and adversity that
had happened to me; and I said within myself, When I set forth on my
voyage to my country, I will take her with me.
predestined to happen to man must inevitably take
eth what will befall him. I loved her and she loved me with a great affec-
tion, concord existed between me and her, and we lived in a most delightful
manner, and most comfortable abode, and ceased not to enjoy this state for
a length of time.
But every event that is
place, and no one know-
Then God (whose name be exalted!) caused to die the wife of my
neighbour, and he was a companion of mine. So I went in to him to con-
sole him for the loss of his wife, and beheld him in a most evil state, anxious,
weary in soul and heart; and upon this I consoled him and comforted him,
saying to him, Mourn not for thy wife. God will happily compensate thee
by giving thee one better than she, and thy life will be long if it be the
will of God, whose name be exalted! But he wept violently, and said to
me, O my companion, how can I marry another after her, or how can God
compensate me by giving me a better than she, when but one day remain-
eth of my life? So I replied, O my brother, return to thy reason, and do
not announce thine own death; for thou art well, in prosperity and health.
But he said to me, O my companion, by thy life, to-morrow thou wilt lose
me, and never in thy life wilt thou see me again. And how so? said I. He
answered me, This day they will bury my wife, and they will bury me with
her in the sepulchre; for it is our custom in our country, when the wife
dieth, to bury with her her husband alive; and when the husband dieth,
they bury with him his wife alive; that neither of them may enjoy life after
the other. I therefore said to him, By Allah, this custom is exceedingly
vile, and none can endure it!
-
And while we were thus conversing, lo, most of the people of the city
came, and proceeded to console my companion for the loss of his wife and
for himself. They began to prepare her body for burial according to their
custom, brought a bier, and carried the woman in it, with all her apparel
and ornaments and wealth,5* taking the husband with them; and they went
forth with them to the outside of the city, and came to a place in the side of
a mountain by the sea. They advanced to a spot there, and lifted up from
it a great stone, and there appeared, beneath the place of this, a margin
of stone, like the margin of a well. Into this they threw down that woman;
and, lo, it was a great pit beneath the mountain. Then they brought the
man, tied him beneath his bosom by a rope of fibres of the palm-tree, and
let him down into the pit. They also let down to him a great jug of sweet
water, and seven cakes of bread; and when they had let him down, he
602
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
loosed himself from the rope, and they drew it up, and covered the mout
of the pit with that great stone as it was before, and went their ways, leaving
my companion with his wife in the pit. So I said within myself, By Allah
this death is more grievous than the first death!
-
I then went to their King, and said to him, O my lord, how is it that ye
bury the living with the dead in your country? And he answered me, Know
that this is our custom in our country: when the husband dieth, we bury
with him his wife; and when the wife dieth we bury with her her husband
alive; that we may not separate them in life nor in death; and this custom we
have received from our forefathers. And I said, O King of the age, and
in like manner the foreigner like me, when his wife dieth among you do ye
with him as ye have done with this man? He answered me, Yes: we bury
him with her, and do with him as thou hast seen. And when I heard these
words from him, my gall-bladder almost burst by reason of the violence of
my grief and mourning for myself; my mind was stupefied, and I became
fearful lest my wife should die before me and they should bury me alive
with her. Afterwards, however, I comforted myself, and said, Perhaps I
shall die before her: and no one knoweth which will precede and which will
follow. And I proceeded to beguile myself with occupations.55
And but a short time had elapsed after that when my wife fell sick
and she remained so a few days, and died. So the greater number of the
people assembled to console me, and to console her family for her death;
and the King also came to console me for the loss of her, as was their
custom. They then brought for her a woman to wash her, and they washed
her, and decked her with the richest of apparel, and ornaments of gold, and
necklaces and jewels. And when they had attired my wife, and put her in
the bier, and carried her and gone with her to that mountain, and lifted up
the stone from the mouth of the pit, and cast her into it, all my companions,
and the family of my wife, advanced to bid me farewell and to console me
for the loss of my life. I was crying out among them, I am a foreigner,
and am unable to endure your custom! But they would not hear what I
said, nor pay any regard to my words. They laid hold upon me and bound
me by force, tying with me seven cakes of bread and a jug of sweet water,
according to their custom, and let me down into that pit. And, lo, it was
a great cavern beneath that mountain. They said to me, Loose thyself from
the ropes. But I would not loose myself. So they threw the ropes down
upon me, and covered the mouth of the pit with the great stone that was
upon it, and went their ways.
I beheld in that cavern many dead bodies, and their smell was putrid
and abominable: and I blamed myself for that which I had done, saying,
By Allah, I deserve all that happeneth to me and befalleth me! I knew not
night from day; and I sustained myself with little food, not eating until
hunger almost killed me, nor drinking until my thirst became violent, fear-
ing the exhaustion of the food and water that I had with me. I said, There
is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! What tempted
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
603
-
me to marry in this city? And every time that I say, I have escaped from
a calamity, I fall into a calamity that is more mighty than the preceding
one! By Allah, my dying this death is unfortunate! Would that I had
been drowned in the sea, or had died upon the mountains! It had been
better for me than this evil death! And I continued in this manner,
blaming myself. I laid myself down upon the bones of the dead, begging
aid of God (whose name be exalted!), and wished for death, but I found
it not, by reason of the severity of my sufferings. Thus I remained until
hunger burned my stomach, and thirst inflamed me; when I sat, and felt
for the bread, and ate a little of it, and I swallowed after it a little water.
Then I rose and stood up, and walked about the sides of the cavern; and
I found that it was spacious sideways, and with vacant cavities; but upon
its bottom were numerous dead bodies, and rotten bones, that had lain
there from old times. And upon this I made for myself a place in the side
of the cavern, remote from the fresh corpses, and there I slept.
At length my provision became greatly diminished, little remaining with
me. During each day, or in more than a day, I had eaten but once, and
drunk one draught, fearing the exhaustion of the water and food that was
with me before my death; and I ceased not to do this until I was sitting one
day, and while I sat, meditating upon my case, thinking what I should do
when my food and water were exhausted, lo, the mass of rock was removed
from its place, and the light beamed down upon me. So I said, What can
be the matter? And, behold, the people were standing at the top of the pit,
and they let down a dead man with his wife with him alive, and she was
weeping and crying out for herself; and they let down with her a large
quantity of food and water.56 I saw the woman; but she saw not me; and
they covered the mouth of the pit with the stone, and went their ways. Then
I arose, and, taking in my hand a long bone of a dead man, I went to the
woman, and struck her upon the middle of the head; whereupon she fell
down senseless; and I struck her a second and a third time, and she died.
So I took her bread and what else she had, and I found upon her abundance
of ornaments and apparel, necklaces and jewels and minerals. And having
taken the water and food that was with her, I sat in a place that I had pre-
pared in a side of the cavern, wherein to sleep, and proceeded to eat a little
of that food, as much only as would sustain me, lest it should be exhausted
quickly, and I should die of hunger and thirst.
I remained in that cavern a length of time; and whenever they buried a
corpse, I killed the person who was buried with it alive, and took that per-
son's food and drink, to subsist upon it, until I was sleeping one day, and I
awoke from my sleep, and heard something make a noise in a side of the
cavern. So I said, What can this be? I then arose and walked towards it,
taking with me a long bone of a dead man; and when it was sensible of
my presence, it ran away, and fled from me, and, lo, it was a wild beast.
But I followed it to the upper part of the cavern, and thereupon a light
appeared to me from a small spot, like a star. Sometimes it appeared to
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
me, and sometimes it was concealed from me. Therefore when I saw it,
I advanced towards it, and the nearer I approached to it, the larger did the
light from it appear to me. So upon this I was convinced that it was a hole
in that cavern, communicating with the open country; and I said within
myself, There must be some cause for this: either it is a second mouth,
like that from which they let me down, or it is a fissure in this place. I
meditated in my mind a while, and advanced towards the light; and, lo, it
was a perforation in the back of that mountain, which the wild beasts had
made, and through which they entered this place; and they ate of the dead
bodies until they were satiated, and went forth through this perforation.
When I saw it, therefore, my mind was quieted, my soul was tranquillized,
and my heart was at ease; I made sure of life after death, and became as
in a dream. Then I managed to force my way through that perforation,
and found myself on the shore of the sea, upon a great mountain, which
formed a barrier between the sea on the one side, and the island and city
on the other, and to which no one could gain access. So I praised God
(whose name be exalted!), and thanked Him, and rejoiced exceedingly, and
my heart was strengthened. I then returned through that perforation into
the cavern, and removed all the food and water that was in it, that I had
spared. I also took the clothes of the dead, and clad myself in some of them,
in addition to those I had on me; and I took abundance of the things that
were on the dead, consisting of varieties of necklaces and jewels, long neck-
laces of pearls, ornaments of silver and gold set with various minerals, and
rarities; and, having tied up some clothes of the dead in apparel of my
own, I went forth from the perforation to the back of the mountain, and
stood upon the shore of the sea. Every day I entered the cavern, and ex-
plored it; and whenever they buried a person alive, I took the food and
water, and killed that person, whether male or female; after which I went
forth from the perforation, and sat upon the shore of the sea, to wait for
relief from God (whose name be exalted!), by means of a ship passing by
me. And I removed from that cavern all the ornaments that I found, and
tied them up in the clothes of the dead.
I ceased not to remain in this state for a length of time; and afterwards,
as I was sitting, one day, upon the shore of the sea, meditating upon my
case, lo, a vessel passed along in the midst of the roaring sea agitated with
waves. So I took in my hand a white garment, of the clothes of the dead,
and tied it to a staff, and ran with it along the seashore, making a sign to
the people with that garment, until they happened to look, and saw me
upon the summit of the mountain. They therefore approached me, and
heard my voice, and sent to me a boat in which was a party of men from
the ship; and when they drew near to me they said to me, Who art thou,
and what is the reason of thy sitting in this place, and how didst thou
arrive at this mountain; for in our lives we have never seen any one who
hath came unto it? So I answered them, I am a merchant. The vessel
that I was in was wrecked, and I got upon a plank, together with my things,
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
605
and God facilitated my landing at this place, with my things, by means of
my exertion and my skill, after severe toil. They therefore took me with
them in the boat, and embarked all that I had taken from the cavern, tied up
in the garments and grave-clothes, and they proceeded with me until they
took me up in the ship, to the master, and all my things with me.
And the master said to me, O man, how didst thou arrive at this place,
which is a great mountain, with a great city behind it? All my life I have
been accustomed to navigate this sea, and to pass by this mountain; but have
never seen any thing there except the wild beasts and the birds I
answered him, I am a merchant I was in a great ship, and it was wrecked,
and all my merchandise, consisting of these stuffs and clothes which thou
seest, was submerged; but I placed it upon a great plank, one of the planks
of the ship, and destiny and fortune aided me, so that I landed upon this
mountain, where I waited for some one to pass by and take me with him. ——
And I acquainted them not with the events that had befallen me in the city,
or in the cavern; fearing that there might be with them in the ship some one
from that city. Then I took forth and presented to the owner of the ship
a considerable portion of my property, saying to him, O my master, thou
hast been the means of my escape from this mountain: therefore receive
from me this as a recompense for the favour which thou hast done to me.
But he would not accept it from me; and he said to me, We take nothing
from any one; and when we behold a shipwrecked person on the shore of
the sea or on an island, we take him with us, and feed him and give him
to drink; and if he be naked, we clothe him; and when we arrive at the
port of safety, we give him something of our property as a present, and
act towards him with kindness and favour for the sake of God, whose name
be exalted! So upon this I offered up prayers for the prolongation of
his life.
We ceased not to proceed on our voyage from island to island and from
sea to sea. I hoped to escape, and was rejoiced at my safety; but every
time that I reflected upon my abode in the cavern with my wife, my reason
left me.
We pursued our course 58 until we arrived at the Island of the
Bell, 59 whence we proceeded to the Island of Kelà 60 in six days. Then we
came to the Kingdom of Kelà, which is adjacent to India, and in it are
a mine of lead, and places where the Indian cane groweth, and excellent
camphor; and its King is a King of great dignity, whose dominion extendeth
over the Island of the Bell. In it is a city called the City of the Bell,61
which is two days' journey in extent. At length, by the providence of
God, we arrived in safety at the city of El-Basrah, where I landed, and
remained a few days, after which I came to the city of Baghdád, and to my
quarter, and entered my house, met my family and my companions, and
made inquiries respecting them; and they rejoiced at my safety, and con-
gratulated me. I stored all the commodities that I had brought with me
in my magazines, gave alms and presents, and clad the orphans and the
widows; and I became in a state of the utmost joy and happiness, and re-
-
606
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
turned to my former habit of associating with familiars and companions
and brothers, and indulging in sport and merriment. Such were the most
wonderful of the events that happened to me in the course of the fourth
voyage. But, O my brother, [O Sindibád of the Land,] sup thou with me,
and observe thy custom by coming to me to-morrow, when I will inform thee
what happened to me and what befell me during the fifth voyage; for it
was more wonderful and extraordinary than the preceding voyages.
He then gave orders to present the porter with a hundred pieces of gold,
and the table was spread, and the party supped; after which they went their
ways, wondering extremely; each story being more extraordinary than the
preceding one. Es-Sindibád the Porter went to his house, and passed the
night in the utmost joy and happiness, and in wonder; and when the morn-
ing came, and diffused its light and shone, he arose, and performed the
morning-prayers, and walked on until he entered the house of Es-Sindibád
of the Sea, and wished him good morning. And Es-Sindibád of the Sea
welcomed him, and ordered him to sit with him until the rest of his com-
panions came. And they ate and drank, and enjoyed themselves and were
merry, and conversation flowed round among them. Then Es-Sindibád
of the Sea began his narrative, saying thus: -
the fifth voyage of es-sindibád of the sea
Know, O my brothers, that when I returned from the fourth voyage,
and became immersed in sport and merriment and joy, and had forgotten
all that I had experienced, and what had befallen me, and what I had suf-
fered, by reason of my excessive joy at the gain and profit and benefits that
I had obtained, my mind again suggested to me to travel, and to divert
myself with the sight of the countries of other people, and the islands. So
I arose and meditated upon that subject, and bought precious goods, suited
for a sea voyage. I packed up the bales, and departed from the city of
Baghdad to the city of El-Basrah; and, walking along the bank of the river.
I saw a great, handsome, lofty vessel, and it pleased me; wherefore I pur-
chased it. Its apparatus was new, and I hired for it a master and sailors,
over whom I set my black slaves and my pages as superintendents, and I
embarked in it my bales. And there came to me a company of merchants,
who also embarked their bales in it, and paid me hire. We set sail in the
utmost joy and happiness, and rejoicing in the prospect of safety and gain,
and ceased not to pursue our voyage from island to island and from sea to
sea, diverting ourselves with viewing the islands and towns, and landing at
them and selling and buying.
Thus we continued to do until we arrived one day at a large island
destitute of inhabitants. There was no person upon it: it was deserted
and desolate; but on it was an enormous white dome, of great bulk; and
we landed to amuse ourselves with a sight of it, and, lo, it was a great
egg of a rukh'. Now when the merchants had landed, and were diverting
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
607
themselves with viewing it, not knowing that it was the egg of a rukh', they
struck it with stones; whereupon it broke, and there poured down from it
a great quantity of liquid, and the young rukh' appeared within it. So they
pulled it and drew it forth from the shell, and killed it, and took from it
abundance of meat. I was then in the ship, and knew not of it, and they
acquainted me not with that which they did. But in the mean time one of
the passengers said to me, O my master, arise and divert thyself with the
sight of this egg which we imagined to be a dome. I therefore arose to take
a view of it, and found the merchants striking the egg. I called out to them,
Do not this deed; for the rukh' will come and demolish our ship, and destroy
us. But they would not hear my words.
And while they were doing as above related, behold, the sun became
concealed from us, and the day grew dark, and there came over us a cloud
by which the sky was obscured. So we raised our heads to see what had
intervened between us and the sun, and saw that the wings of the rukh' were
what veiled from us the sun's light, so that the sky was darkened. And
when the ruhk' came, and beheld its egg broken, it cried out at us; where-
upon its mate, the female bird, came to it, and they flew in circles over the
ship, crying out at us with a voice more vehement than thunder. So I called
out to the master and the sailors, and said to them, Push off the vessel,
and seek safety before we perish. The master therefore hastened, and, the
merchants having embarked, he loosed the ship, and we departed from that
island. And when the rukh's saw that we had put forth to sea, they ab-
sented themselves from us for a while.
We proceeded, and made speed, desiring to escape from them, and to
quit their country; but, lo, they had followed us, and they now approached
us, each of them having in its claws a huge mass of rock from a mountain;
and the male bird threw the rock that he had brought upon us. The mas-
ter, however, steered away the ship, and the mass of rock missed her by
a little space. It descended into the sea by the ship, and the ship went up
with us, and down, by reason of the mighty plunging of the rock, and we
beheld the bottom of the sea in consequence of its vehement force. Then
the mate of the male rukh' threw upon us the rock that she had brought,
which was smaller than the former one, and, as destiny had ordained, it fell
upon the stern of the ship, and crushed it, making the rudder fly into twenty
pieces, and all that was in the ship became submerged in the sea.62
I strove to save myself, impelled by the sweetness of life, and God
(whose name be exalted!) placed within my reach one of the planks of the
ship; so I caught hold of it, and, having got upon it, began to row upon it
with my feet, and the wind and the waves helped me forward. The vessel
had sunk near an island in the midst of the sea, and destiny cast me, by
permission of God (whose name be exalted!), on to that island. I therefore
landed upon it; but I was at my last breath, and in the state of the dead,
from the violence of the fatigue and distress and hunger and thirst that I
had suffered. I then threw myself down upon the shore of the sea, and
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
remained lying there a while, until my soul felt at ease, and my heart was
tranquillized, when I walked along the island, and saw that it resembled
one of the gardens of Paradise. Its trees bore ripe fruits, its rivers were
flowing, and its birds were warbling the praises of Him to whom belongeth
might and permanence. Upon that island was an abundance of trees and
fruits, with varieties of flowers. So I ate of the fruits until I was satiated,
and I drank of those rivers until I was satisfied with drink; and I praised
God (whose name be exalted!) for this, and glorified Him. I then remained
sitting upon the island till evening came, and night approached; whereupon
I rose; but I was like a slain man, by reason of the fatigue and fear that
I had experienced; and I heard not in that island a voice, nor did I see in
it any person.
63
I slept there without interruption until the morning, and then rose and
stood up, and walked among the trees; and I saw a streamlet, by which
sat an old man, a comely person, who was clad from the waist downwards
with a covering made of the leaves of trees. So I said within myself, Per-
haps this old man hath landed upon this island and is one of the shipwrecked
persons with whom the vessel fell to pieces. I then approached him and
saluted him, and he returned the salutation by a sign, without speaking;
and I said to him, O sheykh, what is the reason of thy sitting in this place?
Whereupon he shook his head, and sighed, and made a sign to me with his
hand, as though he would say, Carry me upon thy neck, and transport me
from this place to the other side of the streamlet. I therefore said within
myself, I will act kindly with this person, and transport him to this place
to which he desireth to go: perhaps I shall obtain for it a reward [in
heaven]. Accordingly I advanced to him, and took him upon my shoulders,
and conveyed him to the place that he had indicated to me; when I said to
him, Descend at thine ease. But he descended not from my shoulders.
He had twisted his legs round my neck, and I looked at them, and I saw
that they were like the hide of the buffalo in blackness and roughness. So
I was frightened at him, and desired to throw him down from my shoulders;
but he pressed upon my neck with his feet, and squeezed my throat, so
that the world became black before my face, and I was unconscious of my
existence, falling upon the ground in a fit, like one dead. He then raised
his legs, and beat me upon my back and my shoulders; and I suffered violent
pain; wherefore I rose with him. He still kept his seat upon my shoulders,
and I had become fatigued with bearing him; and he made a sign to me that
I should go in among the trees, to the best of the fruits.
When I disobeyed him, he inflicted upon me, with his feet, blows more
violent than those of whips; and he ceased not to direct me with his hand
to every place to which he desired to go, and to that place I went with him.
If I loitered, or went leisurely, he beat me; and I was as a captive to him.
We went into the midst of the island, among the trees, and he descended
not from my shoulders by night nor by day: when he desired to sleep, he
would wind his legs around my neck, and sleep a little, and then he would
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
609
arise and beat me, whereupon I would arise with him quickly, unable to
disobey him, by reason of the severity of that which I suffered from him;
and I blamed myself for having taken him up, and having had pity on him.
I continued with him in this condition, enduring the most violent fatigue,
and said within myself, I did a good act unto this person, and it hath became
an evil to myself! By Allah, I will never more do good untc any one as
long as I live! And I begged of God (whose name be exalted!), at every
period and in every hour, that I might die, in consequence of the excessive
fatigue and distress that I suffered.
―
Thus I remained for a length of time, until I carried him one day to a
place in the island where I found an abundance of pumpkins, many of which
were dry. Upon this I took a large one that was dry, and, having opened
its upper extremity, and cleansed it, I went with it to a grape-vine, and filled
it with the juice of the grapes. I then stopped up the aperture, and put
it in the sun, and left it for some days, until it had become pure wine; and
every day I used to drink of it, to help myself to endure the fatigue that I
underwent with that obstinate devil; for whenever I was intoxicated by it,
my energy was strengthened. So, seeing me one day drinking, he made
a sign to me with his hand, as though he would say, What is this? And I
answered him, This is something agreeable, that invigorateth the heart, and
dilateth the mind. Then I ran with him, and danced among the trees; I was
exhilarated by intoxication, and clapped my hands, and sang, and was
joyful.
Therefore when he beheld me in this state, he made a sign to me to hand
him the pumpkin, that he might drink from it; and I feared him, and gave
it to him; whereupon he drank what remained in it, and threw it upon the
ground, and, being moved with merriment, began to shake upon my shoul-
ders. He then became intoxicated, and drowned in intoxication; all his
limbs, and the muscles of his sides, became relaxed, and he began to lean
from side to side upon my shoulders. So when I knew that he was drunk,
and that he was unconscious of existence, I put my hand to his feet, and
loosed them from my neck. Then I stooped with him, and sat down, and
threw him upon the ground. I scarcely believed that I had liberated myself
and escaped from the state in which I had been; but I feared him, lest he
should arise from his intoxication, and torment me. I therefore took a
great mass of stone from among the trees, and, coming to him, struck him
upon his head as he lay asleep, so that his flesh became mingled with his
blood, and he was killed. May no mercy of God be on him! 64
After that, I walked about the island, with a happy mind, and came to
the place where I was before, on the shore of the sea. And I remained
upon that island, eating of its fruits, and drinking of the water of its rivers,
for a length of time, and watching to see some vessel passing by me, until
I was sitting one day, reflecting upon the events that had befallen me and
happened to me, and I said within myself, I wonder if God will preserve me
in safety, and if I shall return to my country, and meet my family and my
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
companions. And, lo, a vessel approached from the midst of the roaring
sea agitated with waves, and it ceased not in its course until it anchored at
that island; whereupon the passengers landed there. So I walked towards
them; and when they beheld me, they all quickly approached me and as-
sembled around me, inquiring respecting my state, and the cause of my com-
ing to that island. I therefore acquainted them with my case, and with the
events that had befallen me; whereat they wondered extremely. And they
said to me, This man who rode upon thy shoulders is called the Old Man of
the Sea, and no one ever was beneath his limbs and escaped from him
except thee; and praise be to God for thy safety! Then they brought me
some food, and I ate until I was satisfied; and they gave me some clothing,
which I put on, covering myself decently. After this, they took me with
them in the ship; and when we had proceeded days and nights, destiny drove
us to a city of lofty buildings, all the houses of which overlooked the sea.
That city is called the City of the Apes; and when the night cometh, the
people who reside in it go forth from the doors that open upon the sea, and,
embarking in boats and ships, pass the night upon the sea, in their fear of
the apes, lest they should come down upon them in the night from the
mountains.65
I landed to divert myself in this city, and the ship set sail without my
knowledge. So I repented of my having landed there, remembering my com
panions, and what had befallen them from the apes, first and afterwards;
and I sat weeping and mourning. And thereupon a man of the inhabitants
of the city advanced to me and said to me, O my master, it seemeth that
thou art a stranger in this country. I therefore replied, Yes: I am a stran-
ger, and a poor man. I was in a ship which anchored at this city, and I
landed from it to divert myself in the city, and returned, but saw not the
ship. And he said, Arise and come with us, and embark in the boat; for
if thou remain in the city during the night, the apes will destroy thee. So
I replied, I hear and obey. I arose immediately, and embarked with the
people in the boat, and they pushed it off from the land until they had pro-
pelled it from the shore of the sea to the distance of a mile. They passed
the night, and I with them; and when the morning came, they returned in the
boat to the city, and landed, and each of them went to his occupation.
Such hath been always their custom, every night; and to every one of them
who remaineth behind in the city during the night, the apes come, and
they destroy him. In the day, the apes go forth from the city, and eat 0
of the fruits in the gardens, and sleep in the mountains until the evening,
when they return to the city. And this city is in the furthest parts of the
country of the blacks.
Among the most wonderful of the events that happened to me in the
treatment that I met with from its inhabitants, was this. A person of the
party with whom I passed the night said to me, O my master, thou art a
stranger in this country. Art thou skilled in any art with which thou mayest
occupy thyself? - And I answered him, No, by Allah, O my brother: I am t
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
611
acquainted with no art, nor do I know how to make any thing. I was a
merchant, a person of wealth and fortune, and I had a ship, my own prop-
erty, laden with abundant wealth and goods; but it was wrecked in the sea,
and all that was in it sank, and I escaped not drowning but by the per-
mission of God; for he provided me with a piece of a plank, upon which
I placed myself; and it was the means of my escape from drowning. And
upon this the man arose and brought me a cotton bag, and said to me. Take
this bag, and fill it with pebbles from this city, and go forth with a party
of the inhabitants. I will associate thee with them, and give them a charge
respecting thee, and do thou as they shall do. Perhaps thou wilt accom-
plish that by means of which thou wilt be assisted to make thy voyage, and
to return to thy country.
Then that man took me and led me forth from the city, and I picked up
small pebbles, with which I filled that bag. And, lo, a party of men came
out from the city, and he associated me with them, giving them a charge
respecting me, and saying to them, This is a stranger; so take him with you,
and teach him the mode of gathering. Perhaps he may gain the means of
subsistence, and ye will obtain [from God] a reward and recompense.
And they replied, We hear and obey. They welcomed me, and took me with
them, and proceeded, each of them having a bag like mine, filled with
pebbles; and we ceased not to pursue our way until we arrived at a wide
valley, wherein were many lofty trees, which no one could climb. In that
valley were also many apes, which, when they saw us, fled from us, and
ascended those trees Then the men began to pelt the apes with the stones
that they had with them in the bags; upon which the apes began to pluck
off the fruits of those trees, and to throw them at the men; and I looked at
the fruits which the apes threw down, and, lo, they were cocoa-nuts.
Therefore when I beheld the party do thus, I chose a great tree, upon
which were many apes, and, advancing to it, proceeded to pelt those apes
with stones; and they broke off nuts from the tree and threw them at me.
So I collected them as the rest of the party did and the stones were not
exhausted from my bag until I had collected a great quantity. And when
the party had ended this work, they gathered together all that was with
them, and each of them carried off as many of the nuts as he could.66
We then returned to the city during the remainder of the day, and I went to
the man, my companion, who had associated me with the party, thanking
him for his kindness. But he said to me, Take these and sell them, and
make use of the price. And afterwards he gave me the key of a place in
his house, and said to me, Put here these nuts that thou hast remaining
with thee, and go forth every day with the party as thou hast done this day;
and of what thou bringest, separate the bad, and sell them, and make use of
their price; and the rest keep in thy possession in this place. Perhaps thou
wilt accumulate of them what will aid thee to make thy voyage. - So I
replied, Thy reward is due from God, whose name be exalted! I did as he
told me, and continued every day to fill the bag with stones, and to go forth
-
612
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
with the people, and do as they did. They used to commend me, one to
another, and to guide me to the tree upon which was abundance of fruit;
and I ceased not to lead this life for a length of time, so that I collected a
great quantity of good cocoa-nuts, and I sold a great quantity, the price of
which became a large sum in my possession. I bought every thing that I
saw and that pleased me, my time was pleasant, and my good fortune
increased throughout the whole city.
I remained in this state for some time; after which, as I was standing by
the seaside, lo, a vessel arrived at that city, and cast anchor by the shore.
In it were merchants, with their goods, and they proceeded to sell and buy,
and to exchange their goods for cocoa-nuts and other things. So I went to
my companion, informed him of the ship that had arrived, and told him that
I desired to make the voyage to my country. And he replied, It is thine to
determine. I therefore bade him farewell, and thanked him for his kindness.
to me. Then I went to the ship, and, accosting the master, engaged with
him for my passage, and embarked in that ship the cocoa-nuts and other
things that I had with me, after which they set sail that same day. We con-
tinued our course from island to island and from sea to sea, and at every
island at which we cast anchor I sold some of those cocoa-nuts, and ex-
changed; and God compensated me with more than I had before possessed
and lost. We passed by an island in which are cinnamon and pepper,67 and
some persons told us that they had seen, upon every bunch of pepper, a large
leaf that shadeth it and wardeth from it the rain whenever it raineth; and
when the rain ceaseth to fall upon it, the leaf turneth over from the bunch,
and hangeth down by its side.68
From that island I took with me a large quantity of pepper and cinna-
mon, in exchange for cocoa-nuts. We passed also by the Island of El-'Asirát,⁹
which is that wherein is the Kamáree aloes-wood. And after that, we
passed by another island, the extent of which is five days' journey, and in
it is the Sanfee 70 aloes-wood, which is superior to the Kamáree; but the
inhabitants of this island are worse in condition and religion than the inhab-
itants of the island of the Kamáree aloes-wood; for they love depravity
and the drinking of wines, and know not the call to prayer, nor the act of
prayer." And we came after that to the pearl-fisheries; whereupon I gave
to the divers some cocoa-nuts, and said to them, Dive for my luck and lot.
Accordingly they dived in the bay 72 there, and brought up a great number
of large and valuable pearls; and they said to me, O my master, by Allah,
thy fortune is good! So I took up into the ship what they had brought
up for me, and we proceeded, relying on the blessing of God (whose name
be exalted!), and continued our voyage until we arrived at El-Basrah, where
I landed, and remained a short time. I then went thence to the city of
Baghdad, entered my quarter, came to my house, and saluted my family
and companions, who congratulated me on my safety. I stored all the goods
and commodities that I had brought with me, clothed the orphans and
the widows, bestowed alms and gifts, and made presents to my family and my
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
613
companions and my friends. God had compensated me with four times as
much as I had lost, and I forgot what had happened to me, and the fatigue
that I had suffered, by reason of the abundance of my gain and profits, and
resumed my first habits of familiar intercourse and fellowship. - Such were
the most wonderful things that happened to me in the course of the fifth
voyage; but sup ye, and to-morrow come again, and I will relate to you
the events of the sixth voyage; for it was more wonderful than this.
Then they spread the table, and the party supped; and when they had
finished their supper, Es-Sindibád of the Sea gave orders to present Es-
Sindibád the Porter with a hundred pieces of gold: so he took them and
departed, wondering at this affair. He passed the night in his abode, and
when the morning came, he arose and performed the morning-prayers; after
which he walked to the house of Es-Sindibád of the Sea, went in to him, and
wished him good morning; and Es-Sindibád of the Sea ordered him to sit.
He therefore sat with him, and he ceased not to converse with him until
the rest of his companions came. And they conversed together, and the
servants spread the table, and the party ate and drank, and enjoyed them-
selves and were merry. Then Es-Sindibád of the Sea began to relate to
them the story of the sixth voyage, saying to them,-
the sixth Voyage of es-sindibád of the sea
Know, O my brothers and my friends and my companions, that when I
returned from that fifth voyage, and forgot what I had suffered, by reason
of sport and merriment and enjoyment and gayety, and was in a state of
the utmost joy and happiness, I continued thus until I was sitting one day
in exceeding delight and happiness and gayety; and while I sat, lo, a party
of merchants came to me, bearing the marks of travel. And upon this I
remembered the days of my return from travel, and my joy at meeting my
family and companions and friends, and at entering my country; and my
soul longed again for travel and commerce. So I determined to set forth.
I bought for myself precious, sumptuous goods, suitable for the sea, packed
up my bales, and went from the city of Baghdad to the city of El-Basrah,
where I beheld a large vessel, in which were merchants and great men, and
with them were precious goods. I therefore embarked my bales with them
in this ship, and we departed in safety from the city of El-Basrah. We con-
tinued our voyage from place to place and from city to city, selling and buy-
ing, and diverting ourselves with viewing different countries. Fortune and
the voyage were pleasant to us, and we gained our subsistence, until we were
proceeding one day, and, lo, the master of the ship vociferated and called
out, threw down his turban, slapped his face, plucked his beard, and fell
down in the hold of the ship by reason of the violence of his grief and rage.
So all the merchants and other passengers came together to him and said to
him, O master, what is the matter? And he answered them, Know, O
company, that we have wandered from our course, having passed forth from
614
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the sea in which we were, and entered a sea of which we know not the
routes; and if God appoint not for us some means of effecting our escape
from this sea, we all perish: therefore pray to God (whose name be exalted!)
that He may save us from this case.
Then the master arose and ascended the mast; and desired to loose the
sails; but the wind became violent upon the ship, and drove her back, and
her rudder broke near a lofty mountain; whereupon the master descended
from the mast, and said, There is no strength nor power but in God, the
High, the Great! No one is able to prevent what is predestined! By Allah,
we have fallen into a great peril, and there remaineth to us no way of
safety or escape from it! So all the passengers wept for themselves: they
bade one another farewell, because of the expiration of their lives, and their
hope was cut off. The vessel drove upon that mountain, and went to pieces;
its planks were scattered, and all that was in it was submerged; the mer-
chants fell into the sea, and some of them were drowned, and some caught
hold upon that mountain, and landed upon it.
I was of the number of those who landed upon the mountain; and, lo,
within it was a large island.73 By it were many vessels broken in pieces,
and upon it were numerous goods, on the shore of the sea, of the things
thrown up by the sea from the ships that had been wrecked, and the pas
sengers of which had been drowned. Upon it was an abundance, that con-
founded the reason and the mind, of commodities and wealth that the sea
cast upon its shores. I ascended to the upper part of the island, and walked
about it, and I beheld in the midst of it a stream of sweet water, flowing
forth from beneath the nearest part of the mountain, and entering at the
furthest part of it, on the opposite side [of the valley]. Then all the other
passengers went over that mountain to [the interior of] the island, and
dispersed themselves about it, and their reason was confounded at that
which they beheld. They became like madmen in consequence of what they
saw upon the island, of commodities and wealth lying on the shore of the
sea. I beheld also in the midst of the above-mentioned stream an abun-
dance of various kinds of jewels and minerals, with jacinths and large
pearls, suitable to Kings. They were like gravel in the channels of the
water which flowed through the fields; and all the bed of that stream glit-
tered by reason of the great number of minerals and other things that it
contained. We likewise saw on that island an abundance of the best kind of
Sanfee aloes-wood, and Kamáree aloes-wood.
And in that island is a gushing spring of crude ambergris, which floweth
like wax over the side of that spring through the violence of the heat of the
sun, and spreadeth upon the sea-shore,76 and the monsters of the deep"
come up from the sea and swallow it, and descend with it into the sea; but
it becometh hot in their stomachs, therefore they eject it from their mouths
into the sea, and it congealeth on the surface of the water. Upon this, its
colour and its qualities become changed, and the waves cast it up on the shore
of the sea: so the travellers and merchants who know it take it and sell it.
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
615
But as to the crude ambergris that is not swallowed, it floweth over the side of
that fountain, and congealeth upon the ground; and when the sun shineth
upon it, it melteth, and from it the odour of the whole of that valley be-
cometh like the odour of musk. Then, when the sun withdraweth from it,
it congealeth again. The place wherein is this crude ambergris no one can
enter: no one can gain access to it: for the mountain surroundeth that
island.78
We continued to wander about the island, diverting ourselves with the
view of the good things which God (whose name be exalted!) had created
upon it, and perplexed at our case, and at the things that we beheld, and
affected with violent fear. We had collected upon the shore of the sea a small
quantity of provisions, and we used it sparingly, eating of it every day, or
two days, only one meal, dreading the exhaustion of our stock, and our
dying in sorrow, from the violence of hunger and fear. Each one of us
that died we washed, and shrouded in some of the clothes and linen which the
sea cast upon the shore of the island; and thus we did until a great number
of us had died, and there remained of us but a small party, who were weak-
ened by a colic occasioned by the sea. After this, we remained a short period,
and all my associates and companions died, one after another, and each
of them who died we buried.
Then I was alone on that island, and there remained with me but little
of the provisions, after there had been much. So I wept for myself, and said,
Would that I had died before my companions, and that they had washed
me and buried me! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High,
the Great! And I remained a short time longer; after which I arose and
dug for myself a deep grave on the shore of the island, and said within myself,
When I fall sick, and know that death hath come to me, I will lie down in
this grave, and die in it, and the wind will blow the sand upon me, and
cover me; so I shall become buried in it.79 I blamed myself for my little
sense, and my going forth from my country and my city, and my voyaging
to foreign countries, after what I had suffered in the first instance, and the
second and the third and the fourth and the fifth; and when I had not per-
formed one of my voyages without suffering in it horrors and distresses more
troublesome and more difficult than the horrors preceding. I believed not
that I could escape and save myself, and repented of undertaking sea-
voyages, and of my returning to this life when I was not in want of wealth,
but had abundance, so that I could not consume what I had, nor spend half
of it during the rest of my life; having enough for me, and more than enough.
Then I meditated in my mind, and said, This river must have a beginning
and an end, and it must have a place of egress into an inhabited country.
The right plan in my opinion will be for me to construct for myself a small
raft,80 of sufficient size for me to sit upon it, and I will go down and cast it
upon this river, and depart on it. If I find safety, I am safe, and escape, by
permission of God (whose name be exalted!); and if I find no way of saving
myself, it will be better for me to die in this river than in this place.81
And
616
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I sighed for myself. Then I arose and went and collected pieces of wood tha
were upon that island, of Sanfee 82 and Kamáree aloes-wood, and boun
them upon the shore of the sea with some of the ropes of the ships that ha
been wrecked; and I brought some straight planks, of the planks of th
ships, and placed them upon those pieces of wood. I made the raft to sui
the width of the river, less wide than the latter, and bound it well and firmly
and, having taken with me some of those minerals and jewels' and goods
and of the large pearls that were like gravel, as well as other things tha
were upon the island, and some of the crude, pure, excellent ambergris,
put them upon that raft, with all that I had collected upon the island, and
took with me what remained of the provisions. I then launched the raf
upon the river, made for it two pieces of wood like oars, and acted in accord
ance with the following saying of one of the poets:
Depart from a place wherein is oppression, and leave the house to tell its builder's fate
For thou wilt find, for the land that thou quittest, another; but no soul wilt thou find
to replace thine own.
Grieve not on account of nocturnal calamities; since every affliction will have its end
And he whose death is decreed to take place in one land will not die in any land bu
that.
Send not thy messenger on an errand of importance; for the soul hath no faithful min-
ister save itself.
I departed upon the raft along the river, meditating upon what might be
the result of my case, and proceeded to the place where the river entered
beneath the mountain. I propelled the raft into that place, and became in
intense darkness within it, and the raft continued to carry me in with the
current to a narrow place beneath the mountain, where the sides of the raft
rubbed against the sides of the channel of the river, and my head rubbed
against the roof of the channel. I was unable to return thence, and I blamed
myself for that which I had done, and said, If this place become narrower
to the raft, it will scarcely pass through it, and it cannot return: so I shall
perish in this place in sorrow, inevitably! I threw myself upon my face on
the raft, on account of the narrowness of the channel of the river, and ceased
not to proceed, without knowing night from day, by reason of the darkness.
in which I was involved beneath that mountain, together with my terror and
fear for myself lest I should perish. In this state I continued my course
along the river, which sometimes widened and at other times contracted;
but the intensity of the darkness wearied me excessively, and slumber over-
came me in consequence of the violence of my distress. So I lay upon my
face on the raft, which ceased not to bear me along while I slept, and knew
not whether the time was long or short.83
At length I awoke, and found myself in the light; and, opening my eyes,
I beheld an extensive tract, and the raft tied to the shore of an island, and
around me a company of Indians and [people like] Abyssinians. When they
saw that I had risen, they rose and came to me, and spoke to me in their
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
617
-
language; but I knew not what they said, and imagined that it was a dream,
and that this occurred in sleep, by reason of the violence of my distress and
vexation. And when they spoke to me and I understood not their speech,
and returned them not an answer, a man among them advanced to me, and
said to me, in the Arabic language, Peace be on thee, O our brother! What
art thou and whence hast thou come, and what is the cause of thy coming
to this place? We are people of the sown lands and the fields, and we came
to irrigate our fields and our sown lands, and found thee asleep on the raft:
so we laid hold upon it, and tied it here by us, waiting for thee to rise at
thy leisure. Tell us then what is the cause of thy coming to this place. — I
replied, I conjure thee by Allah, O my master, that thou bring me some food;
for I am hungry; and after that, ask of me concerning what thou wilt. And
thereupon he hastened, and brought me food, and I ate until I was satiated
and was at ease, and my fear subsided, my satiety was abundant, and my
soul returned to me. I therefore praised God (whose name be exalted!) for
all that had occurred, rejoicing at my having passed forth from that river,
and having come to these people; and I told them of all that had happened
to me from beginning to end, and of what I had experienced upon that river,
and of its narrowness. They then talked together, and said, We must take
him with us and present him to our King, that he may acquaint him with
what hath happened to him.
84
Accordingly they took me with them, and conveyed with me the raft,
together with all that was upon it, of riches and goods, and jewels and
minerals, and ornaments of gold, and they took me in to their King, who was
the King of Sarandeeb, and acquainted him with what had happened;
whereupon he saluted me and welcomed me, and asked me respecting my
state, and respecting the events that had happened to me. I therefore
acquainted him with all my story, and what I had experienced, from first to
last; and the King wondered at this narrative extremely, and congratulated
me on my safety. Then I arose and took forth from the raft a quantity of
the minerals and jewels, and aloes-wood and crude ambergris, and gave it
to the King; and he accepted it from me, and treated me with exceeding
honour, lodging me in a place in his abode. I associated with the best and
the greatest of the people, who paid me great respect, and I quitted not the
abode of the King.85
The island of Sarandeeb is under the equinoctial line; 86 its night being
always twelve hours, and its days also twelve hours. Its length is eighty
leagues; and its breadth, thirty; and it extendeth largely between a lofty
mountain and a deep valley. This mountain is seen from a distance of three
days, and it containeth varieties of jacinths, and different kinds of minerals,
and trees of all sorts of spices, and its surface is covered with emery, where-
with jewels are cut into shape: in its rivers also are diamonds, and pearls are
in its valleys. I ascended to the summit of the mountain, and diverted myself
with a view of its wonders, which are not to be described; and afterwards I
went back to the King, and begged him to give me permission to return to
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
my country.87 He gave me permission after great pressing, and bestowed
upon me an abundant present from his treasuries; and he gave me a present
and a sealed letter, saying to me, Convey these to the Khaleefeh Hároon
Er-Rasheed, and give him many salutations from us. So I replied, I hear
and obey. Then he wrote for me a letter on skin of the kháwee,88 which is
finer than parchment, of a yellowish colour; and the writing was in
ultramarine.
And the form of what he wrote to the Khaleefeh was this: Peace be on
thee, from the King of India, before whom are a thousand elephants, and
on the battlements of whose palace are a thousand jewels. To proceed: we
have sent to thee a trifling present: accept it then from us. Thou art to us a
brother and sincere friend, and the affection for you that is in our hearts is
great: therefore favour us by a reply. The present is not suited to thy
dignity; but we beg of thee, O brother, to accept it graciously. And peace
be on thee! And the present was a cup of ruby, a span high, the inside
of which was embellished with precious pearls; and a bed covered with the
skin of the serpent that swalloweth the elephant, which skin hath spots,
each like a piece of gold, and whosoever sitteth upon it never becometh
diseased; 90 and a hundred thousand mithkáls of Indian aloes-wood; and a
slave-girl like the shining full-moon. Then he bade me farewell, and gave a
charge respecting me to the merchants and the master of the ship.
So I departed thence, and we continued our voyage from island to island
and from country to country until we arrived at Baghdád, whereupon I
entered my house, and met my family and my brethren; after which I took
the present, with a token of service from myself for the Khaleefeh. On
entering his presence, I kissed his hand, and placed before him the whole,
giving him the letter; and he read it, and took the present, with which he was
greatly rejoiced, and he treated me with the utmost honour. He then said
to me, O Sindibád, is that true which this King hath stated in his letter?
And I kissed the ground, and answered, O my lord, I witnessed in his
kingdom much more than he hath mentioned in his letter. On the day of his
public appearance, a throne is set for him upon a huge elephant, eleven
cubits high, and he sitteth upon it, having with him his chief officers and
pages and guests, standing in two ranks, on his right and on his left. At his
head standeth a man having in his hand a golden javelin, and behind him
a man in whose hand is a great mace of gold, at the top of which is an emerald
a span in length, and of the thickness of a thumb. And when he mounteth,
there mount at the same time with him a thousand horsemen clad in gold and
silk; and as the King proceedeth, a man before him proclaimeth, saying,
This is the King of great dignity, of high authority! And he proceedeth to
repeat his praises in terms that I remember not, at the end of his panegyric,
saying, This is the King the owner of the crown the like of which neither
Suleyman nor the Mihráj possessed! Then he is silent; and one behind
him proclaimeth, saying, He will die! Again I say, He will die! Again I
say, He will die! And the other saith, Extolled be the perfection of the
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
619
Living who dieth not! 91 Moreover, by reason of his justice and good
government and intelligence, there is no Kádee in his city; and all the people
of his country distinguish the truth from falsity.
And the Khaleefeh wondered at my words, and said, How great is this
King!
His letter hath shewn me this; and as to the greatness of his
dominion, thou hast told us what thou hast witnessed. By Allah, he hath
been endowed with wisdom and dominion! Then the Khaleefeh conferred
favours upon me, and commanded me to depart to my abode. So I came to
my house, and gave the legal and other alms, and continued to live in the
same pleasant circumstances as at present. I forgot the arduous troubles
that I had experienced, discarded from my heart the anxieties of travel,
rejected from my mind distress, and betook myself to eating and drinking,
and pleasures and joy.
And when Es-Sindibád of the Sea had finished his story, every one who
was present wondered at the events that had happened to him. He then
ordered his treasurer to give to Es-Sindibád of the Land a hundred pieces of
gold, and commanded him to depart, and to return the next day with the
boon-companions, to hear his seventh story. So the porter went away happy
to his abode, and on the morrow he was present with all the boon-companions;
and they sat according to their usual custom, and employed themselves in
eating and drinking and enjoyment until the end of the day, when Es-
Sindibád of the Sea made a sign to them that they should hear his seventh
story, and said, -
the seventh voyage of es-sindibád of the sea
―
When I relinquished voyaging, and the affairs of commerce, I said within
myself, What hath happened to me sufficeth me. And my time was spent
in joy and pleasures. But while I was sitting one day, the door was knocked:
so the door-keeper opened, and a page of the Khaleefeh entered and said,
The Khaleefeh summoneth thee. I therefore went with him to his majesty,
and kissed the ground before him and saluted him, whereupon he welcomed
me and treated me with honour; and he said to me, O Sindibád, I have an
affair for thee to perform. Wilt thou do it? So I kissed his hand, and said
to him, O my lord, what affair hath the master for the slave to perform?
And he answered me, I desire that thou go to the King of Sarandeeb, and
convey to him our letter and our present; for he sent to us a present and a
letter. And I trembled thereat, and replied, By Allah the Great, O my
lord, I have taken a hatred to voyaging; and when a voyage on the sea, or
any other travel, is mentioned to me, my joints tremble, in consequence of
what hath befallen me and what I have experienced of troubles and horrors,
and I have no desire for that whatever. Moreover I have bound myself by
an oath not to go forth from Baghdad. — Then I informed the Khaleefeh of
all that had befallen me from first to last; and he wondered exceedingly, and
said, By Allah the Great, O Sindibád, it hath not been heard from times of
620
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
•
old that such events have befallen any one as have befallen thee, and it is
incumbent on thee that thou never mention the subject of travel. But
for my sake thou wilt go this time, and convey our present and our letter
to the King of Sarandeeb; and thou shalt return quickly if it be the will
of God (whose name be exalted!), that we may no longer have a debt of
favour and courtesy to the King. So I replied that I heard and obeyed,
being unable to oppose his command. He then gave me the present and the
letter, with money for my expenses, and I kissed his hand and departed from
him.
-
-
I went from Baghdad to the sea, and embarked in a ship, and we pro-
ceeded days and nights, by the aid of God (whose name be exalted!), until
we arrived at the island of Sarandeeb, and with us were many merchants.
As soon as we arrived, we landed at the city, and I took the present and
the letter, and went in with them to the King, and kissed the ground before
him. And when he saw me, he said, A friendly welcome to thee, O Sindibád!
By Allah the Great, we have longed to see thee, and praise be to God who
hath shewn us thy face a second time! Then he took me by my hand,
and seated me by his side, welcoming me, and treating me with familiar
kindness, and he rejoiced greatly. He began to converse with me, and
addressed me with courtesy, and said, What was the cause of thy coming
to us, O Sindibád? So I kissed his hand, and thanked him, and answered
him, O my lord, I have brought thee a present and a letter from my master
the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed. I then offered to him the present and
the letter, and he read the letter, and rejoiced at it greatly.
The present was a horse worth ten thousand pieces of gold, with its
saddle adorned with gold set with jewels; and a book, and a sumptuous
dress, and a hundred different kinds of white cloths of Egypt, and silks of
Es-Suweys 92 and El-Koofeh and Alexandria, and Greek carpets, and a
hundred menns of silk and flax, and a wonderful, extraordinary cup of
crystal, in the midst of which was represented the figure of a lion with a man
kneeling before him and having drawn an arrow in his bow with his utmost
force, and also the table of Suleyman the son of Dáood, on whom be peace! 93
And the contents of the letter were as follows: Peace from the King
Er-Rasheed, strengthened by God (who hath given to him and to his
ancestors the rank of the noble, and widespread glory), on the fortunate
Sultán. To proceed: thy letter hath reached us, and we rejoiced at it; and
we have sent the book [entitled] the Delight of the Intelligent, and the Rare
Present for Friends; 4 together with varieties of royal rarities; therefore
do us the favour to accept them: and peace be on thee! - Then the King con-
ferred upon me abundant presents, and treated me with the utmost honour;
so I prayed for him, and thanked him for his beneficence; and some days
after that, I begged his permission to depart; but he permitted me not save
after great pressing. Thereupon I took leave of him, and went forth from
his city, with merchants and other companions, to return to my country,
without any desire for travel or commerce.
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
621
We continued our voyage until we had passed many islands; but in the
midst of our course over the sea, there appeared to us a number of boats,
which surrounded us, and in them were men like devils, having, in their
hands, swords and daggers, and equipped with coats of mail, and arms and
bows. They smote us, and wounded and slew those of us who opposed them,
and, having taken the ship with its contents, conveyed us to an island,
where they sold us as slaves, for the smallest price. But a rich man
purchased me, and took me into his house, fed me and gave me to drink,
and clad me and treated me in a friendly manner. So my soul was tran-
quillized, and I rested a little. Then, one day, he said to me, Dost thou
not know any art or trade? I answered him, O my lord, I am a merchant:
I know nothing but traffic. And he said, Dost thou know the art of shooting
with the bow and arrow?—Yes, I answered: I know that. And thereupon
he brought me a bow and arrows, and mounted me behind him upon an
elephant: then he departed at the close of night, and, conveying me among
some great trees, came to a lofty and firm tree, upon which he made me climb;
and he gave me the bow and arrows, saying to me, Sit here now, and
when the elephants come in the daytime to this place, shoot at them
with the arrows: perhaps thou wilt strike one of them; and if one of them
fall, come to me and inform me. He then left me and departed; and I was
terrified and frightened. I remeained concealed in the tree until the sun
rose; when the elephants came forth wandering about among the trees, and
I ceased not to discharge my arrows till I shot one of them. I therefore
went in the evening to my master, and informed him; and he was delighted
with me, and treated me with honour; and he went and removed the slain
elephant.
In this manner I continued, every day shooting one, and my master
coming and removing it, until, one day, I was sitting in the tree, concealed,
and suddenly elephants innumerable came forth, and I heard the sounds of
their roaring and growling, which were such that I imagined the earth
trembled beneath them. They all surrounded the tree in which I was
sitting, their circuit being fifty cubits, and a huge elephant, enormously
great, advanced and came to the tree, and, having wound his trunk around it,
pulled it up by the roots, and cast it upon the ground. I fell down senseless
among the elephants, and the great elephant, approaching me, wound his
trunk around me, raised me on his back, and went away with me, the other
elephants accompanying. And he ceased not to proceed with me, while I
was absent from the world, until he had taken me into a place, and thrown
me from his back, when he departed, and the other elephants followed him.
So I rested a little, and my terror subsided; and I found myself among the
bones of elephants. I knew therefore that this was the burial-place of the
elephants, and that the elephant had conducted me to it on account of the
teeth.95
I then arose, and journeyed a day and a night until I arrived at the
house of my master, who saw me changed in complexion by fright and
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hunger. And he was rejoiced at my return, and said, By Allah, thou hast
pained our heart; for I went and found the tree torn up, and I imagined that
the elephants had destroyed thee. Tell me, then, how it happened with
thee. So I informed him of that which had befallen me; whereat he
wondered greatly, and rejoiced; and he said to me, Dost thou know that
place? I answered, Yes, O my master. And he took me, and we went out,
mounted on an elephant, and proceeded until we came to that place; and
when my master beheld those numerous teeth, he rejoiced greatly at the sight.
of them; and he carried away as much as he desired, and we returned to the
house. He then treated me with increased favour, and said to me, O my
son, thou hast directed us to a means of very great gain. May God then
recompense thee well! Thou art freed for the sake of God, whose name be
exalted! These elephants used to destroy many of us on account of [our
seeking] these teeth; but God hath preserved thee from them, and thou
hast profited us by these teeth to which thou hast directed us. I replied,
O my master, may God free thy neck from the fire [of Hell]! And I request
of thee, O my master, that thou give me permission to depart to my country.
-Yes, said he: thou shalt have that permission: but we have a fair, on the
occasion of which the merchants come to us and purchase the teeth of these
elephants of us. The time of the fair is now near; and when they have come
to us, I will send thee with them, and will give thee what will convey thee
to thy country. So I prayed for him and thanked him; and I remained.
with him treated with respect and honour.
-
Then, some days after this, the merchants came as he had said, and bought
and sold and exchanged; and when they were about to depart, my master
came to me, and said, The merchants are going: therefore arise that thou
mayest depart with them to thy country. Accordingly I arose, determined
to go with them. They had bought a great quantity of those teeth, and
packed up their loads, and embarked in the ship; and my master sent me
with them. He paid for me the money for my passage in the ship, together
with all that was required of me, and gave me a large quantity of goods.
And we pursued our voyage from island to island until we had crossed the
sea and landed on the shore, when the merchants took forth what was with
them, and sold. I also sold what I had at an excellent rate; and I purchased
some of the most elegant of things suited for presents, and beautiful rarities,
with every thing that I desired. I likewise bought for myself a beast to ride.
and we went forth, and crossed the deserts from country to country until I
arrived at Baghdad; when I went into the Khaleefeh, and, having given the
salutation, and kissed his hand, I informed him of what had happened and
what had befallen me; whereupon he rejoiced at my safety, and thanked
God (whose name be exalted!); and he caused my story to be written in
letters of gold. I then entered my house, and met my family and my
brethren. — This is the end of the history of the events that happened to
me during my voyages; and praise be to God, the One, the Creator, the
Maker!
ES-SINDIBÁD OF THE SEA
623
THE CONCLUSION OF THE STORY OF ES-SINDIBád of the sea
-
And when Es-Sindibád of the Sea had finished his story, he ordered his
servant to give to Es-Sindibád of the Land a hundred pieces of gold, and
said to him, How now, O my brother? Hast thou heard of the like of these
afflictions and calamities and distresses, or have such troubles as have
befallen me befallen any one else, or hath any one else suffered such hard-
ships as I have suffered? Know then that these pleasures are a compensation
for the toil and humiliations that I have experienced. And upon this,
Es-Sindibád of the Land advanced, and kissed his hands, and said to him,
O my lord, by Allah, thou hast undergone great horrors, and hast deserved
these abundant favours: continue then, O my lord, in joy and security; for
God hath removed from thee the evils of fortune; and I beg of God that
He may continue to thee thy pleasures, and bless thy days. And upon
this, Es-Sindibád of the Sea bestowed favours upon him, and made him his
boon-companion; and he quitted him not by night nor by day as long as
they both lived.
Praise be to God, the Mighty, the Omnipotent, the Strong, the Eminent
in power, the Creator of the heaven and the earth, and of the land and the
seas! 96
XXI
THE CITY OF BRASS¹
`HERE was, in olden time, and in an ancient age and period, in Damas-
ΤΗ
cus of Syria, a King, one of the Khaleefehs, named 'Abd-El-Melik the
son of Marwán; 2 and he was sitting, one day, having with him the great
men of his empire, consisting of Kings and Sultáns, when a discussion took
place among them, respecting the traditions of former nations. They called
to mind the stories of our lord Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom
be peace!), and the dominion and authority which God (whose name be
exalted!) had bestowed upon him over mankind and the Jinn and the birds
and wild beasts and other things; and they said, We have heard from
those who were before us, that God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose
name be exalted!) bestowed not upon any one the like of that which He be-
stowed upon our lord Suleymán, and that he attained to that to which none
other attained, so that he used to imprison the Jinn and the Márids and the
Devils in bottles of brass, and pour molten lead over them, and seal this
cover over them with his signet.
4
3
Then Tálib [the son of Sahl] related, that a man embarked in a ship
with a company of others, and they voyaged to the island of Sicily, and
ceased not in their course until there arose against them a wind which bore
them away to one of the lands of God, whose name be exalted! This hap-
pened during the black darkness of night, and when the day shone forth,
there came out to them, from caves in that land, people of black complexion
and with naked bodies, like wild beasts, not understanding speech. They
had a King of their own race, and none of them knew Arabic save their
King. So when they saw the ship and those who were in her, he came
forth to them attended by a party of his companions, and saluted them and
welcomed them, and inquired of them respecting their religion. They there-
fore acquainted him with their state; and he said to them, No harm shall
befall you. And when he asked them respecting their religion, each of
them was of some one of the religions prevailing before the manifestation
of El-Islám, and before the mission of Mohammad, may God bless and save
him! — wherefore the people of the ship said, We know not what thou sayest.
Then the King said to them, There hath not come to us any one of the sons
of Adam before you. And he entertained them with a banquet of the flesh
of birds and of wild beasts and of fish, beside which they had no food.
-
And after this, the people of the ship went down to divert themselves
in the city, and they found one of the fishermen who had cast his net in the
624
THE CITY OF BRASS
625
-
sea to catch fish, and he drew it up, and, lo, in it was a bottle of brass,
stopped with lead, which was sealed with the signet of Suleyman the son
of Dáood, on both of whom be peace! And the fisherman came forth and
broke it; whereupon there proceeded from it a blue smoke, which united
with the clouds of heaven; and they heard a horrible voice, saying, Re-
pentance! repentance! O Prophet of God! Then, of that smoke there.
was formed a person of terrible aspect, of terrific make, whose head would
reach [as high as] a mountain; and he disappeared from before their eyes.
As to the people of the ship, their hearts were almost eradicated; but the
blacks thought nothing of the event. And a man returned to the King,
and asked him respecting this; and the King answered him, Know that this
is one of the Jinn whom Suleyman the son of Dáood, when he was incensed
against them imprisoned in these bottles, and he poured lead over them,
and threw them into the sea. When the fisherman casteth his net, it gen-
erally bringeth up these bottles; and when they are broken, there cometh
forth from them a Jinnee, who imagineth that Suleymán is still living;
wherefore he repenteth, and saith, Repentance! O Prophet of God!
And the Prince of the Faithful, 'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán, won-
dered at these words, and said, Extolled be the perfection of God! Suley-
mán was endowed with a mighty dominion! And among those who were
present in that assembly was En-Nábighah Edh-Dhubyánee; and he said,
Tálib hath spoken truth in that which he hath related, and the proof of
his veracity is the saying of the Wise, the First [thus versified]: '—
And [consider] Suleymán, when the Deity said to him,
Perform the office of Khaleefeh, and govern with diligence;
7
And whoso obeyeth thee, honour him for doing so; and whoso disobeyeth thee, im-
prison him forever.
8
He used to put them into bottles of brass, and to cast them into the sea.
-And the Prince of the Faithful approved of these words, and said, By
Allah, I desire to see some of these bottles! So Tálib the son of Sahl replied,
O Prince of the Faithful, thou art able to do so, and yet remain in thy coun-
try. Send to thy brother 'Abd-El-'Azeez the son of Marwán desiring him
to bring them to thee from the Western Country, that he may write orders
to Moosà to journey from the Western Country to this mountain which
we have mentioned, and to bring thee what thou desirest of these bottles;
for the furthest tract of his province is adjacent to this mountain. - And
the Prince of the Faithful approved of his advice, and said, O Tálib, thou
has spoken truth in that which thou hast said, and I desire that thou be
my messenger to Moosà the son of Nuseyr for this purpose, and thou shalt
have a white ensign,10 together with what thou shalt desire of wealth or
dignity or other things, and I will be thy substitute to take care of thy fam-
ily. To this, Tálib replied, Most willing, O Prince of the Faithful.
the Khaleefeh said to him, Go in dependence on the blessing of God, and
his aid. Then he gave orders that they should write for him a letter to his
9
626
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
brother 'Abd-El-'Azeez, his viceroy in Egypt, and another letter to Moosà,
his viceroy in the Western Country, commanding him to journey, himself,
in search of the bottles of Suleymán, to leave his son to govern the coun-
try in his stead, and to take with him guides, to expend wealth, and to collect
a large number of men, and not to be remiss in accomplishing that object,
nor to use any pretext to excuse himself. He sealed the two letters, and
delivered them to Tálib the son of Sahl, commanding him to hasten, and
to elevate the ensigns over his head; and he gave him riches and riders
and footmen to aid him in his way: he gave orders also to supply his house
with every thing requisite.
So Tálib went forth on his way to Egypt. He proceeded with his com-
panions, traversing the districts from Syria, until they entered Misr; ¹¹ when
the Governor of Egypt met him, and lodged him with him; and he treated
him with the utmost honour during the period of his stay with him. Then
he sent with him a guide who accompanied him to Upper Egypt until they
came to the Emeer Moosà the son of Nuseyr; and when he knew of his
approach, he went forth to him and met him, and rejoiced at his arrival; and
Tálib handed to him the letter. So he took it and read it, and understood its
meaning; and he put it upon his head, saying, I hear and obey the command
of the Prince of the Faithful. He determined to summon his great men; and
they presented themselves; and he inquired of them respecting that which had
been made known to him by the letter; whereupon they said, O Emeer, if
thou desire him who will guide thee to that place, have recourse to the sheykh
'Abd-Es-Samad the son of 'Abd-El-Kuddoos Es-Samoodee; 12 for he is a
knowing man, and hath travelled much, and he is acquainted with the deserts
and wastes and the seas, and their inhabitants and their wonders, and the
countries and their districts. Have recourse therefore to him, and he will
direct thee to the object of thy desire.
-
Accordingly he gave orders to bring him, and he came before him; and,
lo, he was a very old man, whom the vicissitudes of years and times had ren-
dered decrepit. The Emeer Moosà saluted him, and said to him, O sheykh
'Abd-Es-Samad, our lord the Prince of the Faithful, 'Abd-El-Melik the son
of Marwán, hath commanded us thus and thus, and I possess little knowl-
edge of that land, and it hath been told me that thou art acquainted with
that country and the routes. Hast thou then a wish to accomplish the affair
of the Prince of the Faithful? The sheykh replied, Know, O Emeer, that
this route is difficult, far extending, with few tracks. The Emeer said to
him, How long a period doth it require? He answered, It is a journey of
two years and some months going, and the like returning; and on the way
are difficulties and horrors, and extraordinary and wonderful things. More-
over, thou art a warrior for the defence of the faith, and our country is near
unto the enemy; so perhaps the Christians may come forth during our
absence: it is expedient therefore that thou leave in thy province one to
govern it.
He replied, Well. And he left his son Hároon as his substitute
in his province, exacted an oath of fidelity of him, and commanded the troops
THE CITY OF BRASS
627
that they should not oppose him, but obey him in all that he should order
them to do. And they heard his words, and obeyed him. His son Haroon
was of great courage, an illustrious hero, and a bold champion; and the
sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad pretended to him that the place in which were the
things that the Prince of the Faithful desired was four months' journey dis-
tant, on the shore of the sea, and that throughout the whole route were
halting-places adjacent to one another, and grass and springs. And he said,
God will assuredly make this affair easy to us through the blessing attendant
upon thee, O Viceroy of the Prince of the Faithful. Then the Emeer Moosà
said, Knowest thou if any one of the Kings have trodden this land before
us? He answered him, Yes, O Emeer: this land belonged to the King of
Alexandria, Darius the Greek.13
After this they departed, and they continued their journey until they ar-
rived at a palace; whereupon the sheykh said, Advance with us to this pal-
ace, which presenteth a lesson to him who will be admonished. So the Emeer
Moosà advanced thither, together with the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad and his
chief companions, till they came to its entrance. And they found it open,
and having lofty angles, and steps, among which were two wide steps of col-
oured marbles, the like of which hath not been seen: the ceilings and walls
were decorated with gold and silver and minerals, and over the entrance
was a slab, whereon was an inscription in ancient Greek; and the sheykh
'Abd-Es-Samad said, Shall I read it, O Emeer? The Emeer answered, Ad-
vance and read. May God bless thee! for nought hath happened to us
during this journey but what hath been the result of the blessing attendant
upon thee.
So he read it; and, lo, it was poetry; and it was this:
Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost
dominion;
And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust.
Death hath destroyed them and disunited them, and in the dust they have lost what
they amassed;
As though they had only put down their loads to rest a while; quickly have they
departed!
And the Emeer Moosà wept until he became insensible, and he said, There
is no deity but God, the Living, the Enduring without failure! He then
entered the palace, and was confounded by its beauty and its construction;
and he looked at the figures and images that it contained. And, lo, over the
second door were inscribed some verses. So the Emeer Moosà said, Advance,
O sheykh, and read. Accordingly, he advanced and read; and the verses
were these:
How many companies have alighted in the tabernacles" since times of old, and taken
their departure!
Consider thou then what the accidents of fortune have done with others when they have
befallen them.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
They have shared together what they collected, and they have left the pleasure thereof.
and departed.
What enjoyments they had! and what food did they eat! and then in the dust they
themselves were eaten!
And again the Emeer Moosà wept violently: the world became yellow be-
fore his face; and he said, We have been created for a great object! 15
Then they attentively viewed the palace; and, lo, it was devoid of inhabi-
tants, destitute of household and occupants: its courts were desolate, and
its apartments were deserted; and in the midst of it was a chamber covered
with a lofty dome, rising high into the air, around which were four hundred
tombs. To these tombs the Emeer Moosà drew near, and, behold, among
them was a tomb constructed of marble, whereon were engraved these
verses:
How often have I stood [in fight]! and how often slain! and to how many things
have I been a witness!
And how often have I eaten! and how often drunk! and how often have I heard the
songs of beauteous damsels!
And how often have I ordered! and how often forbidden! and how many strong
fortresses are seen,
Which I have besieged and searched, and from which I have taken the lovely female's
ornaments!
But in my ignorance I transgressed to obtain things wished for which proved at last
to be frail.
Then consider attentively thy case, O man, before thou shalt drink the cup of death:
For after a little while shall the dust be poured upon thee, and thou wilt be lifeless.
And the Emeer Moosà, and those who were with him, wept. Then he drew
near to the dome-crowned chamber, and, lo, it had eight doors of sandal-
wood, with nails of gold, ornamented with stars of silver set with various
jewels. And over the first door were inscribed these verses:
What I have left, I left not from generosity; but through the sentence and decree
operating upon man.
Long time I lived, happy and enraged, defending my asylum like a fierce lion.
I was never quiet, nor would I bestow a mustard-seed, by reason of my avarice, though
I were cast into the fire.
Thus did I until I was smitten by the decree of the glorious Deity, the Creator, the
Maker.
When my death was appointed soon to take place, I could not prevent it by my numer
ous stratagems;
My troops that I had collected availed not, and none of my friends aided me, nor my
neighbour.
Throughout my whole life was I wearied in my journey to the grave, now in ease, and
now in difficulty.
So, when the purses have become laden, shouldst thou accumulate deenár upon deenår.”
It will all pass before the morning to another, and they will have brought thee a camel-
driver and a grave-digger;
And on the day of thy judgment, lone shalt thou meet God, laden with sin and crimes
and heavy burdens.
THE CITY OF BRASS
629
Then let not the world deceive thee with its beauty; but see what it hath done to thy
family and neighbour.
And when the Emeer Moosà heard these verses, he wept again so violently
that he became insensible; and after he had recovered, he entered the cham-
ber covered with the dome, and beheld in it a long tomb, of terrible appear-
ance, whereon was a tablet of iron of China; and the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad
drew near to it, and read its inscription; and, lo, on it was written, —
In the name of God, the Eternal, the Everlasting throughout all ages: in the name of
God, who begetteth not, and who is not begotten, and unto whom there is none like: in
the name of God, the Mighty and Powerful: in the name of the Living who dieth not.-
To proceed: - O thou who arrivest at this place, be admonished by the misfortunes and
calamities that thou beholdest, and be not deceived by the world and its beauty, and its
falsity and calumny, and its fallacy and finery; for it is a flatterer, a cheat, a traitor.
Its things are borrowed, and it will take the loan from the borrower: and it is like the
confused visions of the sleeper, and the dream of the dreamer, as though it were the saráb "
of the plain, which the thirsty imagineth to be water: the Devil adorneth it for man
until death. These are the characteristics of the world: confide not therefore in it, nor
incline to it; for it will betray him who dependeth upon it, and who in his affairs relieth
upon it. Fall not in its snares, nor cling to its skirts. For I possessed four thousand
bay horses in a stable: and I married a thousand damsels, of the daughters of Kings,
high-bosomed virgins, like moons; and I was blessed with a thousand children, like stern
lions; and I lived a thousand years, happy in mind and heart; and I amassed riches such
as the Kings of the regions of the earth were unable to procure, and I imagined that my
enjoyments would continue without failure. But I was not aware when there alighted
among us the terminator of delights and the separator of companions, the desolator of
abodes and the ravager of inhabited mansions, the destroyer of the great and the small
and the infants and the children and the mothers. We had resided in this palace in
security until the event decreed by the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of the heavens and
the Lord of the earths, befell us, and the thunder of the Manifest Truth assailed us, and
there died of us every day two, till a great company of us had perished. So when I
saw that destruction had entered our dwellings, and had alighted among us, and drowned
us in the sea of deaths, I summoned a writer, and ordered him to write these verses and
admonitions and lessons, and caused them to be engraved upon these doors and tablets
and tombs. I had an army comprising a thousand thousand bridles, composed of hardy
men, with spears, and coats of mail and sharp swords, and strong arms; and I ordered
them to clothe themselves with the long coats of mail, and to hang on the keen
swords, and to place in rest the terrible lances, and mount the high-blooded horses.
Then, when the event appointed by the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of the earth and
the heavens, befell us, I said, O companies of troops and soldiers, can ye prevent that
which hath befallen me from the Mighty King? But the soldiers and troops were unable
to do so, and they said, How shall we contend against Him from whom none hath
secluded, the Lord of the door that hath no door-keeper? So I said, Bring to me the
wealth. (And it was contained in a thousand pits, in each of which were a thousand
hundred-weights of red gold, and in them were varieties of pearls and jewels, and there
was the like quantity of white silver, with treasures such as the Kings of the earth were
unable to procure.) And they did so; and when they had brought the wealth before
me, I said to them, Can ye deliver me by means of all these riches, and purchase for me
therewith one day during which I may remain alive? But they could not do so. They
resigned themselves to fate and destiny, and I submitted to God with patient endurance
of fate and affliction until He took my soul, and made me to dwell in my grave. And if
thou ask concerning my name, I am Koosh the son of Sheddád the son of 'Ád the
Greater.18
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And upon
the same tablet were also inscribed these verses:
Shouldst thou think upon me after the length of my age, and the vicissitudes of days a
circumstances,
I am the son of Sheddád, who held dominion over mankind and each tract of the wh
earth.
All the stubborn troops became abject unto me, and Esh-Shám from Misr unto 'Adnái
In glory I reigned, abasing their Kings, the people of the earth fearing my dominic
And I beheld the tribes and armies in my power, and saw the countries and their :
habitants dread me.
When I mounted, I beheld my army comprising a million bridles upon neighing steed
And I possessed wealth that could not be calculated, which I treasured up against m
fortunes,
Determining to devote the whole of my property for the purpose of extending the term
my life.
But the Deity would nought save the execution of his purpose; and thus I becar
separated from my brethren.
Death, the disuniter of mankind, came to me, and I was removed from grandeur to t
mansion of contempt;
20
And I found [the recompense of] all my past actions, for which I am pledged: for
was sinful!
Then raise thyself, lest thou be upon a brink; and beware of calamities! Mayest the
be led aright!
And again the Emeer Moosà wept until he became insensible, in consider
ing the fates of the people; after which, as they were going about throug
the different apartments of the palace, and viewing attentively its chamber
and its places of diversion, they came to a table upon four legs of alabaster
whereon was inscribed, ---
Upon this table have eaten a thousand one-eyed Kings, and a thousand Kings eac
sound in both eyes. All of them have quitted the world, and taken up their abode i
the burial-grounds and the graves.
And the Emeer Moosà wrote all this. Then he went forth, and took no
with him from the palace aught save the table.
The soldiers proceeded, with the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad before them
shewing them the way until all the first day had passed, and the second"
and the third. They then came to a high hill, at which they looked, and
lo, upon it was a horseman of brass, on the top of whose spear was a wide
and glistening head that almost deprived the beholder of sight, and on it
was inscribed, O thou who comest unto me, if thou know not the way that
leadeth to the city of Brass, rub the hand of the horseman, and he will turn,.
and then will stop, and, in whatsoever direction he stoppeth, thither proceed,
without fear and without difficulty; for it will lead thee to the City of Brass.
And when the Emeer Moosà rubbed the hand of the horseman, it turned
like the blinding lightning, and faced a different direction from that in
which they were travelling.
The party therefore turned thither and journeyed on, and it was the
right way. They took that route, and continued their course the same
THE CITY OF BRASS
631
day and the next night until they had traversed a wide tract of country.
And as they were proceeding, one day, they came to a pillar of black stone,
wherein was a person sunk to his arm-pits, and he had two huge wings,
and four arms; two of them like those of the sons of Adam, and two like
the fore-legs of lions, with claws. He had hair upon his head like the tails
of horses, and two eyes like two burning coals, and he had a third eye, in
his forehead, like the eye of the lynx, from which there appeared sparks of
fire. He was black and tall; and he was crying out, Extolled be the per-
fection of my Lord, who hath appointed me this severe affliction and pain-
ful torture until the day of resurrection! When the party beheld him,
their reason fled from them, and they were stupefied at the sight of his form,
and retreated in flight; and the Emeer Moosà said to the sheykh 'Abd-Es-
Samad, What is this? He answered, I know not what he is. And the
Emeer said, Draw near to him, and investigate his case: perhaps he will
discover it, and perhaps thou wilt learn his history. The sheykh 'Abd-Es-
Samad replied, May God amend the state of the Emeer! Verily we fear
him. Fear ye not, rejoined the Emeer; for he is withheld from injuring
you and others by the state in which he is. So the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad
drew near to him, and said to him, O thou person, what is thy name, and
what is thy nature, and what hath placed thee here in this manner? And
he answered him, As to me, I am an 'Efreet of the Jinn, and my name is
Dáhish the son of El-Aamash,21 and I am restrained here by the majesty,
confined by the power, [of God,] tormented as long as God (to whom be
ascribed might and glory!) willeth. Then the Emeer Moosà said, O sheykh
'Abd-Es-Samad, ask him what is the cause of his confinement in this pillar.
He therefore asked respecting that, and the 'Efreet answered him, Verily
my story is wonderful; and it is this: -
There belonged to one of the sons of Iblees an idol of red carnelion, of
which I was made guardian; and there used to worship it one of the Kings
of the sea, of illustrious dignity, of great glory, leading among his troops
of the Jánn, a million warriors who smote with swords before him, and
who answered his prayer in cases of difficulty. These Jánn who obeyed
him were under my command and authority, following my words when I
ordered them: all of them were in rebellion against Suleyman the son of
Dáood (on both of whom be peace!); and I used to enter the body of the
idol, and command them and forbid them. Now the daughter of that
King was a frequent adorer of the idol, assiduous in the worship of it, and
she was the handsomest of the people of her age, endowed with beauty and
loveliness, and elegance and perfection; and I described her to Suleymán,
on whom be peace! So he sent to her father, saying to him, Marry to me
thy daughter, and break thy carnelion-idol, and bear witness that there is
no deity but God, and that Suleyman is the Prophet of God. If thou do
so, thy due shall be the same as our due, and thy debt as our debt. But
if thou refuse, I bring against thee forces with which thou hast not power
to contend: therefore prepare an answer to the question,22 and put on the
632
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
garment of death; for I will come to thee with forces that shall fill the vacant
region, and leave thee like yesterday that hath passed. And when the
messenger of Suleymán (on whom be peace!) came to him, he was insolent
and contumacious, and magnified himself and was proud. Then he said
to his wezeers, What say ye respecting the affair of Suleyman the son of
Dáood? For he hath sent demanding my daughter, and commanding me
to break my carnelion-idol, and to adopt his faith. And they replied, O
great King, can Suleymán do unto thee that, when thou art in the midst
of this vast sea? If he come unto thee, he cannot prevail against thee; since
the Márids of the Jinn will fight on thy side; and thou shalt seek aid against
him of thine idol that thou worshippest; for he will aid thee against him
and will defend thee. The right opinion is, that thou consult thy lord
(and they meant by him the red carnelion-idol), and hear what will be his
reply: if he counsel thee to fight him, fight him; but otherwise, do not. -
And upon this the King went immediately, and, going in to his idol, after
he had offered a sacrifice and slain victims, fell down before it prostrate,
and began to weep, and to recite these verses:
-
O my lord, verily I know thy dignity; and, behold, Suleymán desireth to break thee.
O my lord, verily I seek thy defence: command then; for I am obedient to thy command.
(Then that 'Efreet, the half of whom was in the pillar, said to the sheykh
'Abd-Es-Samad, while those around him listened,) And thereupon I entered
the body of the idol, by reason of my ignorance, and the paucity of my
sense, and my solicitude respecting the affair of Suleymán, and recited this
couplet: -
As for me, I am not in fear of him; for I am acquainted with every thing.
If he wish to wage war with me, I will go forth, and I will snatch his soul from him.
So when the King heard my reply to him, his heart was strengthened, and
he determined to wage war with Suleyman the Prophet of God (on whom
be peace!) and to fight against him. Accordingly, when the messenger of
Suleyman came, he inflicted upon him a painful beating, and returned him
a shameful reply; and he sent to threaten Suleymán, saying to him, by
the messenger, Thy mind hath suggested to thee desires. Dost thou threaten
me with false words? Either come thou to me, or I will go to thee.
Then the messenger returned to Suleymán, and acquainted him with all
that had occurred and happened to him. And when the Prophet of God,
Suleymán, heard that, [it was as though] his resurrection took place; 23 his
resolution was roused, and he prepared his forces, consisting of Jinn and
men, and wild beasts, and birds and reptiles. He commanded his Wezeer
Ed-Dimiryát, the King of the Jinn, to collect the Márids of the Jinn from
every place: so he collected for him, of the Devils, six hundred millions.
He also commanded Asaf the son of Barkhiyà [his Wezeer of men] to col-
lect his soldiers of mankind; and their number was one million, or more.
THE CITY OF BRASS
633
He made ready the accoutrements and weapons, and mounted, with his forces
of the Jinn and of mankind, upon the carpet,2+ with the birds flying over
his head, and the wild beasts beneath the carpet marching, until he alighted
upon his enemy's coast, and surrounded his island, having filled the land
with the forces. He then sent to our King, saying to him, Behold, I have
arrived: therefore repel from thee that which hath come down, or else submit
thyself to my authority, and acknowledge my mission, and break thine idol,
and worship the One, the Adored God, and marry to me thy daughter ac-
cording to law, and say thou, and those who are with thee, I testify that
there is no deity but God, and I testify that Suleymán is the Prophet of
God. If thou say that, peace and safety shall be thy lot. But if thou
refuse, thy defending thyself from me in this island shall not prevent thee:
for God (whose name be blessed and exalted!) hath commanded the wind
to obey me, and I will order it to convey me unto thee on the carpet, and
will make thee an example to restrain others. - So the messenger came to
him, and communicated to him the message of the Prophet of God, Suley-
mán, on whom be peace! But the King said to him, There is no way for
the accomplishment of this thing that he requireth of me: therefore inform
him that I am coming forth unto him.
-
Accordingly the messenger returned to Suleymán, and gave him the
reply. The King then sent to the people of his country, and collected for
himself, of the Jinn that were under his authority, a million; and to these
he added others, of the Márids and Devils that were in the islands of the
seas and on the tops of the mountains; after which he made ready his forces,
and opened the armouries, and distributed to them the weapons. And as
to the Prophet of God, Suleymán (on whom be peace!), he disposed his
troops, commanding the wild beasts to form themselves into two divisions,
on the right of the people and on their left, and commanding the birds to
be upon the islands. He ordered them also, when the assault should be
made, to tear out the eyes of their antagonists with their beaks, and to
beat their faces with their wings; and he ordered the wild beasts to tear in
pieces their horses; and they replied, We hear and obey God and thee, O
Prophet of God! Then Suleymán, the Prophet of God, set for himself a
couch of alabaster adorned with jewels, and plated with plates of red gold,
and he placed his Wezeer Asaf the son of Barkhiyà on the right side, and
his Wezeer Ed-Dimiryát on the left side, and the Kings of mankind on his
right, and the Kings of the Jinn on his left, and the wild beasts and vipers.
and serpents before him.
After this, they came upon us all together, and we contended with him.
in a wide tract for a period of two days; and calamity befell us on the third
day, and the decree of God (whose name be exalted!) was executed among
us. The first who charged upon Suleyman were I and my troops; and I said
to my companions, Keep in your places in the battle-field while I go forth
to them and challenge Ed-Dimiryát. And, lo, he came forth, like a great
mountain, his fires flaming, and his smoke ascending; and he approached,
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and smote me with a flaming fire; and his arrow prevailed over my fire.
He cried out at me with a prodigious cry, so that I imagined the heaven
had fallen and closed over me, and the mountains shook at his voice. Then
he commanded his companions, and they charged upon us all together: we
also charged upon them, and we cried out, one to another: the fires rose and
the smoke ascended, the hearts of the combatants were almost cleft asunder,
and the battle raged. The birds fought in the air; and the wild beasts in
the dust; and I contended with Ed-Dimiryát until he wearied me and I
wearied him; after which I became weak and my companions and troops
were enervated, and my tribes were routed. The Prophet of God, Suley-
mán, cried out, Take ye this great tyrant, the ill-omened, the infamous!
And the men charged upon the men, and the Jinn upon the Jinn; defeat
befell our King, and we became unto Suleymán a spoil. His troops charged
upon our forces, with the wild beasts on their right and left, and the birds
were over our heads, tearing out the eyes of the people, sometimes with their
talons and sometimes with their beaks, and sometimes they beat with their
wings upon the faces of the combatants, while the wild beasts bit the horses
and tore in pieces the men, until the greater portion of the party lay upon
the face of the earth like the trunks of palm-trees.
As to me, I flew from before Ed-Dimiryát; but he followed me a journey
of three months, until he overtook me.25 I had fallen down through fatigue,
and he rushed upon me, and made me a prisoner. So I said to him, By Him
who hath exalted thee and abased me, pity me, and take me before Suley-
mán, on whom be peace! But when I came before Suleymán, he met
me in a most evil manner: he caused this pillar to be brought, and hollowed
it, and put me in it, and sealed me with his signet; after which, he chained
me, and Ed-Dimiryát conveyed me to this place, where he set me down as
thou seest me, and this pillar is my prison until the day of resurrection.
He charged a great king 20 to guard me in this prison, and I am in this
condition tortured as thou seest me.
26
The party therefore wondered at him, and at the horrible nature of
his form; and the Emeer Moosà said, There is no deity but God! Suley-
mán was endowed with a mighty dominion! And the sheykh 'Abd-Es-
Samad said to the 'Efreet, O thou, I ask thee concerning a thing of which
do thou inform us. The 'Efreet replied, Ask concerning what thou wilt.
And the sheykh said, Are there in this place any of the 'Efreets confined
in bottles of brass from the time of Suleymán, on whom be peace? He
answered, Yes, in the Sea of El-Karkar, where are a people of the de-
scendants of Nooh (on whom be peace!), whose country the deluge reached
not, and they are separated there from [the rest of] the sons of Adam.--
And where, said the sheykh, is the way to the City of Brass, and the place
wherein are the bottles? What distance is there between us and it? The
'Efreet answered, It is near.
27
So the party left him, and proceeded; and there appeared to them a
great black object, with two [seeming] fires corresponding with each other
THE CITY OF BRASS
635
in position, in the distance, in that black object; whereupon the Emeer
Moosà said to the sheykh, What is this great black object, and what are
these two corresponding fires? The guide answered him, Be rejoiced, O
Emeer; for this is the City of Brass, and this is the appearance of it that I
find described in the Book of Hidden Treasures; that its wall is of black
stones, and it hath two towers of brass of El-Andalus,28 which the beholder
seeth resembling two corresponding fires; and thence it is named the City
of Brass. They ceased not to proceed until they arrived at it; and, lo,
it was lofty, strongly fortified, rising high into the air, impenetrable: the
height of its walls was eighty cubits, and it had five and twenty gates, none
of which would open but by means of some artifice; and there was not one
gate to it that had not, within the city, one like it: such was the beauty
of the construction and architecture of the city. They stopped before it,
and endeavoured to discover one of its gates, but they could not; and the
Emeer Moosà said to the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad, O sheykh, I see not to
this city any gate. The sheykh replied, O Emeer, thus do I find it de-
scribed in the Book of Hidden Treasures; that it hath five and twenty gates,
and that none of its gates may be opened but from within the city. - And
how, said the Emeer, can we contrive to enter it, and divert ourselves with
a view of its wonders?
Then the Emeer Moosà ordered one of his young men to mount a camel,
and ride round the city, in the hope that he might discover a trace of a gate,
or a place lower than that to which they were opposite." So one of his
young men mounted, and proceeded around it for two days with their
nights, prosecuting his journey with diligence, and not resting; and when
the third day arrived, he came in sight of his companions, and he was
astounded at that which he beheld of the extent of the city, and its height.
Then he said, O Emeer, the easiest place in it is this place at which ye have
alighted. And thereupon the Emeer Moosà took Tálib the son of Sahl, and
the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad, and they ascended a mountain opposite the city,
and overlooking it; and when they had ascended that mountain, they saw
a city than which eyes had not beheld any greater. Its pavilions were lofty,
and its domes were. shining; its mansions were in good condition, and its
rivers were running; its trees were fruitful, and its gardens bore ripe produce.
It was a city with impenetrable gates, empty, still, without a voice or a
cheering inhabitant, but the owl hooting in its quarters, and birds skimming
in circles in its areas, and the raven croaking in its districts and its great
thoroughfare-streets, and bewailing those who had been in it. The Emeer
Moosà paused, sorrowing for its being devoid of inhabitants, and its being
despoiled of people and dwellers; and he said, Extolled be the perfection of
Him whom ages and times change not, the Creator of the creation by his
power! And while he was extolling the perfection of God (to whom be
ascribed might and glory!), he happened to look aside, and, lo, there were
seven tablets of white marble, appearing from a distance. So he approached
them, and, behold, they were sculptured and inscribed; and he ordered that
636
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
their writing should be read: therefore the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad advanced
and examined them and read them; and they contained admonition, and mat-
ter for example and restraint, unto those endowed with faculties of discern-
ment. Upon the first tablet was inscribed, in the ancient Greek character,—
O son of Adam, how heedless art thou of the case of him who hath been before thee!
Thy years and age have diverted thee from considering him. Knowest thou not that the
cup of death will be filled for thee, and that in a short time thou wilt drink it? Look
then to thyself before entering thy grave. Where are those who possessed the coun-
tries and abased the servants of God and led armies? Death hath come upon them;
and God is the terminator of delights and the separator of companions and the devas-
tator of flourishing dwellings; so He hath transported them from the amplitude of
palaces to the straitness of the graves.
And in the lower part of the tablet were inscribed these verses:
Where are the Kings and the peoplers of the earth? They have quitted that which they
have built and peopled;
And in the grave they are pledged for their past actions: there, after destruction, they
have become putrid corpses.
Where are the troops? They repelled not, nor profited. And where is that which they
collected and hoarded?
The decree of the Lord of the Throne surprised them. Neither riches nor refuge saved
them from it.
And the Emeer Moosà fainted; his tears ran down upon his cheeks, and
he said, By Allah, indifference to the world is the most appropriate and the
most sure course! Then he caused an inkhorn and a paper to be brought,
and he wrote the inscription of the first tablet; after which he drew near
to the second tablet,80 and the third, and the fourth; and, having copied
what was inscribed on them, he descended from the mountain; and the
world had been pictured before his eyes.
And when he came back to the troops, they passed the day devising
means of entering the city; and the Emeer Moosà said to his Wezeer,
Tálib the son of Sahl, and to those of his chief officers who were around
him, How shall we contrive to enter the city, that we may see its wonders?
Perhaps we shall find in it something by which we may ingratiate ourselves
with the Prince of the Faithful. - Tálib the son of Sahl replied, May God
continue the prosperity of the Emeer! Let us make a ladder, and mount
upon it, and perhaps we shall gain access to the gate from within.-
And the Emeer said, This is what occurred to my mind, and excellent is
the advice. Then he called to the carpenters and blacksmiths, and ordered
them to make straight some pieces of wood, and to construct a ladder cov-
ered with plates of iron. And they did so, and made it strong. They em-
ployed themselves in constructing it a whole month, and many men were
occupied in making it. And they set it up and fixed it against the wall,
and it proved to be equal to the wall in height, as though it had been made
for it before that day. So the Emeer Moosà wondered at it, and said, God
THE CITY OF BRASS
637
bless you! It seemeth from the excellence of your work, as though ye
had adapted it by measurement to the wall.
He then said to the people, Which of you will ascend this ladder, and
mount upon the wall, and walk along it, and contrive means of descending
into the city, that he may see how the case is, and then inform us of the
mode of opening the gate? And one of them answered, I will ascend it,
O Emeer, and descend and open the gate. The Emeer therefore replied,
Mount. God bless thee! Accordingly, the man ascended the ladder
until he reached the top of it; when he stood, and fixed his eyes towards
the city, clapped his hands, and cried out with his loudest voice, saying,
Thou art beautiful! Then he cast himself down into the city, and his flesh
became mashed with his bones. So the Emeer Moosà said, This is the
action of the rational. How then will the insane act? If we do thus with'
all our companions, there will not remain of them one; and we shall be un-
able to accomplish our affair, and the affair of the Prince of the Faithful.
Depart ye; for we have no concern with this city. But one of them said,
Perhaps another than this may be more steady than he. And a second
ascended, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth; and they ceased not to
ascend by that ladder to the top of the wall, one after another, until twelve
men of them had gone, acting as acted the first. Therefore the sheykh 'Abd-
Es-Samad said, There is none for this affair but myself, and the experienced
is not like the inexperienced. But the Emeer Moosà said to him, Thou shalt
not do that, nor will I allow thee to ascend to the top of this wall; for
shouldst thou die, thou wouldst be the cause of the death of us all, and there
would not remain of us one; since thou art the guide of the party. The
sheykh however replied, Perhaps the object will be accomplished by my
means, through the will of God, whose name be exalted! And thereupon
all the people agreed to his ascending.
Then the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad arose, and encouraged himself, and,
having said, In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! — he
ascended the ladder, repeating the praises of God (whose name be exalted!),
and reciting the Verses of Safety,31 until he reached the top of the wall, when
he clapped his hands, and fixed his eyes. The people therefore all called
out to him, O sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad, do it not, and cast not thyself down!
And they said, Verily to God we belong, and verily unto Him we return!
If the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad fall, we all perish! Then the Sheykh 'Abd-
Es-Samad laughed immoderately, and sat a long time repeating the praises
of God (whose name be exalted!), and reciting the Verses of Safety; after
which he rose with energy, and called out with his loudest voice, O Emeer,
no harm shall befall you, for God (to whom be ascribed might and glory!)
hath averted from me the effect of the artifice and fraudulence of the Devil,
through the blessing resulting from the utterance of the words, In the name
of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. So the Emeer said to him, What
hast thou seen, O sheykh? He answered, When I reached the top of the
wall, I beheld ten damsels, like moons, who made a sign with their hands,
638
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
as though they would say, Come to us. And it seemed to me that beneath
me was a sea (or great river) of water; whereupon I desired to cast myself
down, as our companions did: but I beheld them dead; so I withheld my-
self from them, and recited some words of the book of God (whose name be
exalted!), whereupon God averted from me the influence of those damsels'
artifice, and they departed from me; therefore I cast not myself down, and
God repelled from me the effect of their artifice and enchantment. There
is no doubt that this is an enchantment and an artifice which the people
of this city contrived in order to repel from it every one who should desire
to look down upon it, and wish to obtain access to it; and these our com-
panions are laid dead.
He then walked along the wall till he came to the two towers of brass,
when he saw that they had two gates of gold, without locks upon them, or
any sign of the means of opening them. Therefore the sheykh paused as long
as God willed,32 and, looking attentively, he saw in the middle of one of
the gates a figure of a horseman of brass, having one hand extended, as
though he were pointing with it, and on it was an inscription, which the
sheykh read, and, lo, it contained these words: -Turn the pin that is in
the middle of the front of the horseman's body twelve times, and then the
gate will open. So he examined the horseman, and in the middle of the
front of his body was a pin, strong, firm, well fixed; and he turned it twelve
times; whereupon the gate opened immediately, with a noise like thunder;
and the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad entered. He was a learned man, acquainted
with all languages and characters. And he walked on until he entered a
long passage, whence he descended some steps, and he found a place with
handsome wooden benches, on which were people dead, and over their
heads were elegant shields, and keen swords, and strung bows, and notched
arrows. And behind the [next] gate were a bar of iron, and barricades
of wood, and locks of delicate fabric, and strong apparatus. Upon this, the
sheykh said within himself, Perhaps the keys are with these people. Then
he looked, and, lo, there was a sheykh who appeared to be the oldest of
them, and he was upon a high wooden bench among the dead men.
So the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad said, May not the keys of the city be
with this sheykh! Perhaps he was the gate-keeper of the city, and these were
under his authority. He therefore drew near to him, and lifted up his
garments, and, lo, the keys were hung to his waist. At the sight of them,
the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad rejoiced exceedingly; his reason almost fled from
him in consequence of his joy; and he took the keys, approached the gate.
opened the locks, and pulled the gate and the barricades and other appara-
tus, which opened, and the gate also opened, with a noise like thunder, by
reason of its greatness and terribleness, and the enormousness of its appara-
tus. Upon this, the sheykh exclaimed, God is most great! 33 and the
people made the same exclamation with him, rejoicing at the event. The
Emeer Moosà also rejoiced at the safety of the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad,
and at the opening of the gate of the city; the people thanked the sheykh
THE CITY OF BRASS
639
for that which he had done, and all the troops hastened to enter the gate.
But the Emeer Moosà cried out to them, saying to them, O people, if all
of us enter, we shall not be secure from some accident that may happen.
Half shall enter, and half shall remain behind.
The Emeer Moosà then entered the gate, and with him half of the people,
who bore their weapons of war. And the party saw their companions lying
dead: so they buried them. They saw also the gate-keepers and servants
and chamberlains and lieutenants lying upon beds of silk, all of them dead.
And they entered the market of the city, and beheld a great market, with
lofty buildings, none of which projected beyond another: the shops were
open, and the scales hung up, and the utensils of brass ranged in order, and
the kháns were full of all kinds of goods. And they saw the merchants dead
in their shops: their skins were dried, and their bones were carious, and
they had become examples to him who would be admonished. They saw
likewise four markets of particular shops filled with wealth. And they left
this place, and passed on to the silk-market, in which were silks and bro-
cades interwoven with red gold and white silver upon various colours, and
the owners were dead, lying upon skins, and appearing almost as though
they would speak.
Leaving these, they went on to the market of jewels and pearls and
jacinths; and they left it, and passed on to the market of the money-changers,
whom they found dead, with varieties of silks beneath them, and their
shops were filled with gold and silver. These they left, and they proceeded
to the market of the perfumers; and lo, their shops were filled with varieties of
perfumes, and bags of musk, and ambergris, and aloes-wood, and nedd,³*
and camphor, and other things; and the owners were all dead, not having
with them any food. And when they went forth from the market of the
perfumers, they found near unto it a palace, decorated, and strongly con-
structed; and they entered it, and found banners unfurled, and drawn
swords, and strung bows, and shields hung up by chains of gold and silver,
and helmets gilded with red gold. And in the passages of that palace were
benches of ivory, ornamented with plates of brilliant gold, and with silk, on
which were men whose skins had dried upon the bones: the ignorant would
imagine them to be sleeping; but, from the want of food, they had died, and
tasted mortality. Upon this the Emeer Moosà paused, extolling the per-
fection of God (whose name be exalted!), and his holiness, and contemplat-
ing the beauty of that palace, and its strong construction, and its wonderful
fabrication in the most beautiful form and with the firmest architecture;
and most of its decoration was in ultramarine.35 Around it were inscribed
these verses:
Consider what thou beholdest, O man; and be on thy guard before thou departest;
And prepare good provision, that thou mayest enjoy it; for every dweller in a house
shall depart.
Consider a people who decorated their abodes, and in the dust have become pledged for
their actions.
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
They built; but their buildings availed not: and treasured; but their wealth did no
save them when the term had expired.
How often they hoped for what was not decreed them! But they passed to the grave
and hope did not profit them;
And from their high and glorious state they were removed to the narrowness of th
sepulchre. Evil is their abode!
Then there came to them a crier, after they were buried, saying, Where are the throne
and the crowns and the apparel?
Where are the faces which were veiled and curtained, and on which, for their beauty
proverbs were composed? -
And the grave plainly answered the inquirer for them, As to the cheeks, the rose is gon
from them.
Long time they ate and drank; but now, after pleasant eating, they themselves have
been eaten.
And the Emeer Moosà wept until he became senseless; and, after
wards, having given orders to write these verses, he went on into the interio
of the palace. There he beheld a great hall, and four large and lofty cham-
bers, each one fronting another, wide, decorated with gold and silver and
with various colours. In the midst of the hall was a great fountain of ala-
baster, over which was a canopy of brocade; and in those chambers were
places [one in each chamber] containing decorated fountains, and tanks
lined with marble; and channels of water flowed along the floors of those
chambers, the four streams meeting together in a great tank lined with mar-
bles of various colours. The Emeer Moosà then said to the sheykh 'Abd-
Es-Samad, Enter these chambers with us. So they entered the first cham-
ber; and they found it filled with gold and with white silver, and pearls
and jewels, and jacinths and precious minerals. They found in it also chests
full of red and yellow and white brocades. And they went hence to the
second chamber, and opened a closet in it, and, lo, it was filled with arms
and weapons of war, consisting of gilded helmets, and Davidean coats of
mail, and Indian swords, and lances of Khatt Hejer, and maces of Khu-
wárezm, and other instruments of war and battle. Then they passed
thence to the third chamber, in which they found closets having upon their
doors closed locks, and over them were curtains worked with various kinds
of embroidery. They opened one of these closets, and found it filled with.
weapons decorated with varieties of gold and silver and jewels. And they
went thence to the fourth chamber, where also they found closets, one of
which they opened, and they found it full of utensils for food and drink,
consisting of various vessels of gold and silver, and saucers of crystal, and
cups set with brilliant pearls, and cups of carnelion, and other things.
36
So they began to take what suited them of those things, and each of the
soldiers carried off what he could. And when they determined to go forth
from those chambers, they saw there a door of sáj 37 inlaid with ivory and
ebony, and adorned with plates of brilliant gold, in the midst of that palace.
Over it was hung a curtain of silk worked with various kinds of embroidery,
and upon it were locks of white silver, to be opened by artifice, without a
key. The sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad therefore advanced to those locks, and
THE CITY OF BRASS
641
he opened them by his knowledge and boldness and excellent skill. And
the party entered a passage paved with marble, upon the sides of which
were curtains 38 whereon were figured various wild beasts and birds, all these
being worked with red gold and white silver, and their eyes were of pearls.
and jacinths; whosoever beheld them was confounded. Next they came to a
saloon, on beholding which the Emeer Moosà and the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad
were amazed at its construction.
They then passed on, and found a saloon constructed of polished marble
adorned with jewels. The beholder imagined that upon its floor was run-
ning water, and if any one walked upon it he would slip. The Emeer
Moosà therefore ordered the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad to throw upon it some-
thing that they might be enabled to walk on it; and he did this, and con-
trived so that they passed on. And they found in it a great dome con-
structed of stones gilded with red gold. The party had not beheld, in all
that they had seen, any thing more beautiful than it. And in the midst of
that dome was a great dome-crowned structure of alabaster, around which
were lattice-windows, decorated, and adorned with oblong emeralds, such as
none of the Kings could procure. In it was a pavilion of brocade, raised
upon columns of red gold, and within this were birds, the feet of which
were of emeralds; beneath each bird was a net of brilliant pearls, spread
over a fountain; and by the brink of the fountain was placed a couch
adorned with pearls and jewels and jacinths, whereon was a damsel resem-
bling the shining sun. Eyes had not beheld one more beautiful. Upon
her was a garment of brilliant pearls, on her head was a crown of red
gold, with a fillet of jewels, on her neck was a necklace of jewels in the
middle of which were refulgent gems, and upon her forehead were two
jewels the light of which was like that of the sun; and she seemed as
though she were looking at the people, and observing them to the right
and left.
-
When the Emeer Moosà beheld this damsel, he wondered extremely at
her loveliness, and was confounded by her beauty and the redness of her
cheeks and the blackness of her hair. And any beholder would imagine that
she was alive, and not dead. And they said to her, Peace be on thee, O
damsel.
But Tálik the son of Sahl said to the Emeer, May God amend
thy state! Know that this damsel is dead. There is no life in her. How
then can she return the salutation? And he added, O Emeer, she is skil-
fully embalmed; and her eyes have been taken out after her death, and
quicksilver hath been put beneath them, after which they have been restored
to their places; so they gleam; and whenever the air putteth them in motion,
the beholder imagineth that she twinkleth her eyes, though she is dead.³9
- Upon this the Emeer Moosà said, Extolled be the perfection of God,
who hath subdued his servants by death! And as to the couch upon which
was the damsel, it had steps, and upon the steps were two slaves, one of
them white and the other black; and in the hand of one of them was a
weapon of steel, and in the hand of the other a jewelled sword that blinded
39
642
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the eyes; and before the two slaves was a tablet of gold, whereon was rea
an inscription, which was this:
40
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God, the Creat
of Man; and He is the Lord of lords, and the Cause of causes. In the name of Go
the Everlasting, the Eternal: in the name of God, the Ordainer of fate and destiny.
son of Adam, how ignorant art thou in the long indulgence of hope! and how unmindf
art thou of the arrival of the predestined period! Knowest thou not that death ha
called for thee, and hath advanced to seize thy soul? Be ready then for departure, ar
make provision in the world; for thou wilt quit it soon. Where is Adam, the fath
of mankind? Where are Nooh and his offspring? Where are the sovereign Kisràs an
Cæsars? Where are the Kings of India and El-'Erák? Where are the Kings of th
regions of the earth? Where are the Amalekites? Where are the mighty monarchs
The mansions are void of their presence, and they have quitted their families an
homes. Where are the Kings of the foreigners and the Arabs? They have all died, an
become rotten bones. Where are the lords of high degree? They have all died. Wher
are Károon and Hámán? Where is Sheddád the son of 'Ád? Where are Ken'á
and the Lord of the Stakes?" God hath cut them off, and it is He who cutteth shor
the lives of mankind, and He hath made the mansions to be void of their presence. Di
they prepare provision for the day of resurrection, and make themselves ready to
reply to the Lord of men? —O thou, if thou know me not, I will acquaint thee with my
name and my descent. I am Tedmur," the daughter of the King of the Amalekites, o
those who ruled the country with equity. I possessed what none of the Kings possessed
and ruled with justice, and acted impartially towards my subjects: I gave and bestowed
and I lived a long time in the enjoyment of happiness and an easy life, and possessing
emancipated female and male slaves. Thus I did until the summoner of death came to
my abode, and disasters occurred before me. And the case was this: - Seven years in
succession came upon us, during which no water descended on us from heaven, nor
did any grass grow for us on the face of the earth. So we ate what food we had in our
dwellings, and after that we fell upon the beasts and ate them, and there remained
nothing. Upon this, therefore, I caused the wealth to be brought, and meted it with a
measure, and sent it by trusty men, who went about with it through all the districts,
not leaving unvisited a single large city, to seek for some food. But they found it not:
and they returned to us with the wealth, after a long absence. So thereupon we exposed
to view our riches and our treasures, locked the gates of the fortresses in our city, and
submitted ourselves to the decree of our Lord, committing our case to our Master; and
thus we all died, as thou beholdest, and left what we had built and what we had
treasured. This is the story: and after the substance there remaineth not aught save
the vestige.
And they looked at the lower part of the tablet, and saw inscribed upon it
these verses:
Child of Adam, let not hope make game of thee. From all that thy hands have
treasured thou shalt be removed.
I see thee desirous of the world and its embellishments; and the past generations have
pursued the same course.
They acquired wealth, both lawful and forbidden; but it repelled not fate when the
term expired;
They led troops in multitudes, and collected riches; and they left their wealth and
buildings, and departed
To the narrow graves, and lay down in the dust; and there they have remained, pledged
for their actions;
As if the company of travellers had put down their baggage during night in a house where
was no food for guests,
THE CITY OF BRASS
643
And its owner had said to them, O people, there is not any lodging for you in it. So
they packed after alighting:
they all thereupon became fearful and timid: neither halting nor journeying was
pleasant unto them.
Then prepare good provision that will rejoice thee to-morrow; and act not save agree-
ably with the fear of thy Lord.
And upon the tablet were also inscribed these words: 43
Whoso arriveth at our city, and entereth it, God facilitating his entrance into it, let
take of the wealth what he can, but not touch any thing that is on my body; for
tis the covering of my person, and the attire with which I am fitted forth from the
serld. Therefore let him fear God, and not seize aught of it; for he would destroy
d. I have caused this to be an admonition from me unto him, and a charge which
I give him in confidence. And peace be on you! I beg God, moreover, to save you
om the evil of trials and sickness.
The Emeer Moosà, when he heard these words, again wept so violently
that he became insensible; and after he had recovered, he wrote all that he
gw, and was admonished by what he witnessed. He then said to his com-
panions, Bring the sacks, and fill them with part of these riches and these
Vessels and rarities and jewels. And thereupon, Tálib the son of Sahl said
the Emeer Moosà, O Emeer, shall we leave this damsel with the things
that are upon her? They are things that have no equal, nor is the like of
them at any time found, and they are more than the riches thou hast taken,
and will be the best present by which thou mayest ingratiate thyself with
he Prince of the Faithful. But the Emeer replied, O thou, heardest thou
not that which the damsel hath given as a charge, in the inscription upon this
tablet? Moreover, and especially, she hath given it as a charge offered in
Confidence, and we are not of the people of treachery. - The Wezeer Tálib,
Lowever, said, And on account of these words wilt thou leave these riches
and these jewels, when she is dead? What then should she do with these
things, which are the ornaments of the world, and the decoration of the
ving? With a garment of cotton might this damsel be covered, and we
are more worthy of the things than she. Then he drew near to the steps,
and ascended them until he 45 reached the spot between the two men [the
slaves before mentioned], when, lo, one of these two smote him upon his
back, and the other smote him with his sword that was in his hand, and
struck off his head, and he fell down dead. So the Emeer Moosà said,
May God not regard with mercy thy resting-place! There was, in these
riches, a sufficiency; and covetousness doth doubtlessly dishonour the per-
Son in whom it existeth! - He thereupon gave orders for the entry of the
troops, who accordingly entered, and they loaded the camels with part of
those riches and minerals; after which the Emeer Moosà commanded
them to close the gate as it was before.
-
They then proceeded along the sea-coast until they came in sight of a
high mountain overlooking the sea. In it were many caves, and, lo, in
was a people of the blacks, clad in hides, and with burnuses of hides 46
these
644
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
upon their heads, whose language was not known. And when they saw th
troops, they ran away from them, and fled to those caves, while their wome
and their children stood at the entrances of the caves. So the Emee
Moosà said, O sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad, what are these people? And h
answered, These are the objects of the inquiry of the Prince of the Faith
ful. They therefore alighted, and the tents were pitched, and the riche
were put down; and they had not rested when the King of the blacks cam
down from the mountain, and drew near to the troops. He was acquainte
with the Arabic language; wherefore, when he came to the Emeer Moosà
he saluted him; and the Emeer returned his salutation, and treated hin
with honour. Then the King of the blacks said to the Emeer, Are ye o
mankind, or of the Jinn? The Emeer answered, As to us, we are of man
kind; and as to you, there is no doubt but that ye are of the Jinn, because
of your seclusion in this mountain that is separated from the world; and
because of the greatness of your make. But the King of the blacks replied
Nay, we are a people of the race of Adam, of the sons of Ham the son of
Nooh, on whom be peace! And as to this sea, it is known by the name of
El-Karkar.
47
So the Emeer Moosà said to him, And whence obtained ye knowl-
edge, when there hath not come unto you any prophet divinely inspired in
such a country as this? He answered, Know, O Emeer, that there ap-
peareth unto us, from this sea, a person diffusing a light whereby the sur-
rounding tracts are illuminated; and he proclaimeth, with a voice which
the distant and the near hear, O sons of Hám, be abashed at Him who seeth
and is not seen; and say, There is no deity but God: Mohammad is the>
Apostle of God. And I am Abu-l-Abbás El-Khidr. Before that, we
used to worship one another; but he called us to the worship of the Lord
of mankind. Then he said to the Emeer Moosà, He hath also taught us
some words to say. And what, asked the Emeer, are these words? He
answered, They are these: There is no deity but God alone: He hath no
partner: to Him belongeth dominion, and to Him belongeth praise: He
giveth life and killeth; and He is able to accomplish every thing. And we
seek not access to God (to whom be ascribed might and glory!) save by
these words, nor know we any others. Also, every night of Friday we
see a light upon the face of the earth, and we hear a voice saying, Perfect!
Holy! Lord of the Angels and the Spirit! Whatsoever God willeth cometh
to pass, and what He willeth not cometh not to pass! Every benefit from
God is a gratuitous favour! And there is no strength nor power but in
God, the High, the Great!
49
48
The Emeer Moosà then said to him, We are the associates of the King
of El-Islám, 'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán; and we have come on ac-
count of the bottles of brass that are here in your sea, and wherein are the
devils imprisoned from the time of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both
of whom be peace!). He hath commanded us to bring him some of them,
that he may see them, and divert himself by the view of them. And the
THE CITY OF BRASS
645
King of the blacks replied, Most willingly. Then he feasted him with fish,
and ordered the divers to bring up from the sea some of the bottles of Suley-
mán; and they brought up for them twelve bottles; wherewith the Emeer
Moosà was delighted, and the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad also, and the soldiers,
on account of the accomplishment of the affair of the Prince of the Faith-
ful. The Emeer Moosà thereupon presented to the King of the blacks
many presents, and gave him large gifts. In like manner too the King of
the blacks gave to the Emeer Moosà a present consisting of the wonders
of the sea, in the form of human beings, and said to him, Your entertainment
for these three days shall be of these fish. And the Emeer replied, We
must carry with us some of them, that the Prince of the Faithful may see
them; for thereby will his heart be pleased more than by the bottles of
Suleymán.
Then they bade him farewell, and they journeyed back until they came
to the land of Syria, and went in to the Prince of the Faithful; whereupon
the Emeer Moosà acquainted him with all that he had seen, and all that
had occurred to him with respect to the verses and histories and admoni-
tions, and told him of the case of Tálib the son of Sahl. And the Prince
of the Faithful said to him, Would that I had been with you, that I might
have beheld what ye beheld! He then took the bottles, and proceeded
to open one after another, and the devils came forth from them, saying, Re-
pentance, O Prophet of God! We will not return to the like conduct ever!
- And 'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán wondered at this. But as to the
damsels of the sea, with the like of which the King of the blacks feasted
them, they made for them troughs of wood, which they filled with water, and
into these they put them. They died, however, in consequence of the in-
tensity of the heat. After this the Prince of the Faithful caused the riches
to be brought before him, and divided them among the Muslims. And
he said, God hath not bestowed upon any one the like of what He be-
stowed upon Suleyman the son of Dáood. Then the Emeer Moosà begged
the Prince of the Faithful that he might appoint his son in his place as
Governor of the province, and that he might himself go to the noble Jeru-
salem,50 there to worship God. So the Prince of the Faithful appointed his
son to the government, and he himself went to the noble Jerusalem, and
he died there.
This is the end of that which hath come down to us, of the history of
the City of Brass, entire. And God is all-knowing.51

A
XXII
JOODAR, HIS WICKED BROTHERS AND THE
ENCHANTED TREASURE
MERCHANT, whose name was 'Omar, had issue consisting of three
sons; one of whom was named Sálim, and the youngest was named
Joodar,' and the middle one was named Seleem. He reared them until they
became men; but he loved Joodar more than his two brothers; and when
it became manifest that he so loved Joodar, jealousy seized them, and they
hated Joodar, and it was evident to their father that they hated their brother.
Now their father was of great age, and he feared that, when he died,
Joodar would suffer trouble from his brothers: so he summoned several
persons of his family, and some of the Kádee's dividers of property, and
some of the men of science, and said, Bring ye to me my wealth and my
stuffs. Accordingly they brought to him all the wealth and the stuffs; and
he said, O men, divide this wealth and these stuffs into four portions con-
formably to the law. They therefore divided the property; and he gave
to each son a portion, and himself took a portion, saying, This was my
property, and I have divided it among them, and there remaineth not to
them aught to claim of me, nor aught for one to claim of another: so when
I die, discord will not ensue among them; for I have divided among them
the inheritance during my life, and this property that I myself have taken
shall be for my wife, the mother of these children, that she may have re-
course to it for her subsistence.2
3
Then, after a short period, their father died. But neither of the two
envious brothers was content with that which their father 'Omar had done;
on the contrary, they demanded more of Joodar, and said to him, The
wealth of our father is in thy possession. He therefore referred his case
with them to the judges, and the Muslims who were present at the time
of the division came and testified of that which they knew, and the judge
forbade their injuring one another; but Joodar lost a considerable sum of
money, and his brothers lost in like manner, by reason of the litigation;
and they left him a while. Then they plotted against him a second time,
and he referred his case with them to the judges; so they lost a considerable
sum of money again, on account of the judges. And they ceased not to seek
his harm, appealing from tyrant to tyrant, they losing and he losing, until
they had given all their wealth as food to the tyrants, and the three became
paupers. The two brothers of Joodar then came to their mother, and, mock-
ing her, took her money, and beat her and turned her out. She therefore
646
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
647
came to her son Joodar, and said to him, Thy two brothers have done unto
me thus and thus, and taken my money. And she began to curse them;
whereupon Joodar said to her, O my mother, do not curse them; for
God will requite each of them for his conduct. But, O my mother, I have
become poor, and my two brothers are poor, and contention occasioneth the
loss of money. I have contended with them much before the judges, and
it profited us not at all; on the contrary, we have lost all that our father left
us, and the people have defamed us on account of our giving testimony [one
against another]. Shall I then on thine account contend with them, and
shall we refer the case to the judges? This is a thing that must not be.
Only do thou reside with me, and the cake of bread that I eat I will leave
for thee. Pray thou for me, and God will supply me with the means of thy
subsistence; and do thou leave both of them to receive from God the recom-
pense of their conduct, and console thyself with the saying of the poet:
----
If an ignorant fellow oppress thee, leave him, and look for the time of vengeance on the
oppressor; *
And avoid noxious tyranny; for if a mountain oppressed a mountain, the oppressor
would be shattered.
--And he proceeded to soothe the mind of his mother until she consented;
and she remained with him.
He then procured for himself a net, and he used to go to the river and
the lakes, and to every place in which was water; every day he went to
some place; and he earned one day ten, and one day twenty, and one day
thirty [nusfs], which he expended upon his mother, and he ate well and
drank well. But his two brothers neither worked nor sold nor bought;
ruin and destruction and overtaking calamity entered their abode, and they
had consumed what they had taken from their mother, and become of the
number of the wretched paupers, and naked. So sometimes they would
come to their mother, humbling themselves to her excessively, and com-
plaining to her of their hunger; and, the mother's heart being compassionate,
she would give them some stinking bread; and if any food cooked the day
before were there, she would say to them, Eat it quickly, and go before
your brother cometh; for it will not be agreeable to him, and it will harden
his heart against me, and ye will disgrace me with him. Wherefore they
would eat in haste and go.
But they came in to their mother one day, and she put for them some
cooked meat and some bread, which they proceeded to eat; and, lo, their
brother Joodar entered. So his mother was abashed and confounded at
the sight of him, fearing that he would be incensed against her, and she
hung down her head towards the ground in her abashment at her son.
He, however, smiled in their faces, and said, Welcome, O my brothers!
is a blessed day. What hath happened that ye have visited me on this
blessed day? And he embraced them, and loved them, and said, It was
not my wish that ye should leave me desolate, and not come to me nor
- -

648
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
—
-
visit me nor your mother. They therefore replied, By Allah, O our brother
we longed to see thee, and nothing hindered us but abashment in conse
quence of what hath happened between us and thee; but we have repented
greatly. This was the doing of the Devil (may God whose name be
exalted! execrate him!); and we have no blessing except thee and out
mother. Joodar rejoined, I have no blessing except you two. And his
mother said to him, O my son, may God whiten thy face, and may God
increase thy prosperity! Thou art the superior [in generosity 7], O my
son. He then said, Welcome to you both! Reside with me; for God
is bountiful, and good things with me are plentiful. He became reconciled
to them, and they passed the night with him, and supped with him, and
on the following day they breakfasted with him; after which, Joodar took
up the net, and went forth relying upon Providence. His two brothers also
went, and were absent until noon, when they returned; and their mother put
before them the dinner; and in the evening their brother came, bringing
meat and vegetables. In this state they continued for a period of a month;,
Joodar catching fish and selling them, and expending their price upon his
mother and his brothers, and the latter eating and frolicking.
Now it happened one day that Joodar took the net to the river, and
cast it, and drew it, and it came up empty; and he cast it a second time,
and it came up empty. He therefore said within himself, There are no
fish in this place. Then he removed to another place, and there cast the
net; but again it came up empty. And he removed to another place and
ceased not to change his place from morning to evening; but caught not
a single minnow. So he said, Wonderful! Are the fish exhausted from
the river, or what is the cause? - He then put the net upon his back, and
returned grieved and vexed, suffering anxiety for his two brothers and his
mother, and not knowing wherewith to give them to sup. And he came to
an oven, and saw the people crowding to take the bread, with money in
their hands, and the baker was not looking towards them. Upon this, he
stopped and sighed; and the baker said to him, Welcome to thee, O Joodar!
Dost thou want bread? And he was silent; but the baker said to him,
If thou have not the money, take what will suffice thee, and thou shalt
have a delay. So Joodar said, Give me bread for ten nusfs. The baker re-
plied, Take these ten nusfs besides, and to-morrow bring me fish for the
twenty. And Joodar said, On the head and the eye. He therefore took
the bread and the ten nusfs, and bought with these some meat and vegetables,
saying, To-morrow the Lord will dispel the trouble of my case.
He went to his abode, and his mother cooked the food, and he supped
and slept; and on the following day, he took the net. His mother said to
him, Remain and breakfast. But he replied, Breakfast thou with my two
brothers. And he repaired to the river, and cast the net in it a first time, and
a second, and a third, and changed his place; and he ceased not to do thus
until the time of afternoon-prayers; but nothing fell to his lot; wherefore
he took up the net, and went away vexed. Now his way was none other
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
649
than that which led by the baker; and when Joodar came to him, the baker
saw him, and counted out to him the bread and the money, saying to him,
Come, take and go. If there is nothing to-day there will be to-morrow.
And Joodar desired to excuse himself to him; but the baker said to him,
Go. No excuse is necessary. Hadst thou caught any thing, it had been
with thee; and when I saw thee empty-handed, I knew that nothing had
betided thee; and if to-morrow nothing betide thee, come, take bread, and
be not abashed. Thou shalt have a delay. Then, on the third day, he
went from lake to lake until the time of afternoon-prayers; but saw not
in them aught. So he went to the baker, and received from him the bread
And thus he continued to do for a period of seven days.
and the money.
He then became straitened in mind, and said to himself, Go to-day to
the Lake of Károon." And when he had arrived there, he was about to
cast the net, and was not aware of it when there approached him a Maghra-
bee 10 riding upon a mule, and wearing a magnificent dress, and on the
back of the mule was a pair of embroidered saddlebags, and every thing
that was on the mule was embroidered. The Maghrabee alighted from the
back of the mule, and said, Peace be on thee, O Joodar, O son of 'Omar!
So Joodar replied, And on thee be peace, O master the pilgrim! 11 And the
Maghrabee said to him, O Joodar, I have an affair for thee to perform; and
if thou comply with my desire, thou wilt obtain abundant good fortune, and
be on account thereof my companion, and perform for me my affairs. Joodar
therefore said, O my master the pilgrim, tell me what is in thy mind, and I
will obey thee: I have no opposition to shew thee. And the Maghrabee said
to him, Recite the Fátehah.12 So he recited it with him. And after this,
the Maghrabee took forth and gave him a cord of silk, and said to him, Bind
my hands behind me, and make my bond very tight; then throw me into the
lake, and wait over me a little; and if thou see me put forth my hands from
the
water, raising them high, before I appear, cast thou the net upon me, and
draw me out quickly; but if thou see me put forth my feet, know that I am
dead. In this case, leave me. and take the mule and the saddle-bags, and
go to the market of the merchants: 13 thou wilt find a Jew, whose name is
Shumey'ah; give thou to him the mule, and he will give thee a hundred
pieces of gold: so take them, and conceal the secret, and go thy way.
He therefore bound his hands tightly behind him, the Maghrabee saying to
him, Pull tightly the bonds. Then the latter said, Push me until thou shalt
have thrown me into the lake.
Accordingly he pushed him, and threw him into it; whereupon he sank;
and Joodar stood waiting for him a considerable time; and, lo, the feet of the
Maghrabee came forth. Therefore Joodar knew that he was dead, and he
took the mule and left him, and went to the market of the merchants, where
he saw the Jew sitting upon a chair at the door of the magazine. And when
he saw the mule, the Jew said, Verily the man hath perished. Then he said,
Nought caused him to perish save covetousness. And he took from him the
mule, and gave him a hundred pieces of gold, charging him to conceal the
650
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
secret. So Joodar took the pieces of gold, and went, and took as much bread
as he required of the baker, saying to him, Take this piece of gold. He
therefore took it, and calculated what was owing to him, and replied, I have
yet to give thee two days' bread.¹ Joodar then went from the baker to the
butcher, to whom he gave another piece of gold, and he took the meat, saying
to the butcher, Retain the rest of the piece of gold on account. He bought
also some vegetables, and went; and he saw his two brothers begging of his
mother something to eat, and she was saying to them, Wait until your brother
shall have come; for I have nothing. So he went in to them, and said to
them, Take, eat. And they fell upon the bread like ghools. Then Joodar
gave to his mother the rest of the gold, saying, Take, O my mother; and
when my brothers come, give to them, that they may buy and eat during my
absence.
He passed that night, and when he arose in the morning, he took the net,
and went to the Lake of Károon, and, stopping there, he was about to cast
the net. And, lo, another Maghrabee approached, riding upon a mule, and
more bedecked than he who had died; and he had with him a pair of saddle-
bags, in which were two little boxes; in each side of it was a little box. And
he said, Peace be on thee, O Joodar. So Joodar replied, On thee be peace, O
my master the pilgrim! And the Maghrabee said, Did there come to thee
yesterday a Maghrabee riding upon a mule like this mule? Upon this, Joodar
feared, and denied, saying, I saw not any one-fearing that he would say,
Whither is he gone? — and if he answered him, He was drowned in the lake
--perhaps he might say, Thou drownedst him. It was therefore impossible
for him to do aught save to deny. The Maghrabee then said to him, O poor
man, this was my brother, and he hath gone before me. Joodar replied, I
have no knowledge of him. But the Maghrabee rejoined, Didst thou not bind
his hands behind him, and throw him into the lake, and did he not say to
thee, If my hands come forth, cast upon me the net, and draw me out
quickly; but if my feet come forth, I shall be dead, and take thou the mule,
and give it to the Jew Shumey'ah, and he will give thee a hundred pieces of
gold? - and his feet came forth, and thou tookest the mule, and gavest it to
the Jew, and he gave thee a hundred pieces of gold. So Joodar said, Since
thou knowest this, wherefore dost thou ask me? The Maghrabee answered,
It is my desire that thou do with me as thou didst with my brother.
―
And he took forth and gave him a cord of silk, saying, Bind my hands
behind me, and throw me in; and if the like of that which befell my brother
befall me, take the mule, and give it to the Jew, and receive from him a
hundred pieces of gold. He therefore said to him, Advance. Accordingly he
advanced, and Joodar bound his hands behind him, and pushed him; where-
upon he fell into the lake, and sank; and he waited for him a while, and his
feet came up. Therefore Joodar said, He is gone to perdition! If it be the
will of God, every day may Maghrabees come to me, and I will bind their!
hands behind them, and they shall die, and a hundred pieces of gold from
each one who dieth will suffice me. He then took the mule, and went away;
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
651
and when the Jew saw him, he said to him, The other hath died! Joodar
replied, May thy head long survive! And the Jew said to him, This is the
recompense of the covetous. And he took the mule from him, and gave him
a hundred pieces of gold. So Joodar took them, and repaired to his mother,
and gave them to her; whereupon she said to him, O my son, whence came
unto thee this? He therefore informed her; and she said to him, Go not
again henceforth to the Lake of Károon; for I fear for thee with respect to
the Maghrabees. But he replied, O my mother, I throw them not in save
with their own consent; and how shall I act? This is a trade from which
there accrueth to us every day a hundred pieces of gold, and I return quickly:
so by Allah I will not desist from going to the Lake of Károon until all
traces of the Maghrabees cease, and not one of them remaineth.
Then, on the third day, he went and stood there; and, lo, there came a
Maghrabee riding upon a mule, and having with him a pair of saddle-bags;
but he was more bedecked than the two former ones; and he said, Peace be
on thee, O Joodar, O Son of 'Omar! So Joodar said within himself, Whence
do they all know me? Then he returned his salutation. And the Maghrabee
said, Have any Maghrabees passed by this place? Joodar answered him,
Two. The Maghrabee asked him, Whither went they? I bound their
hands behind them, answered Joodar, and threw them into this lake; so they
were drowned; and the same end is for thee also. And the Maghrabee
laughed, and said, O poor man, every living being hath his destiny. He then
alighted from the mule, and said, O Joodar, do with me as thou didst with
both of them. And he took forth the cord of silk. So Joodar said to him,
Turn round thy hands that I may bind them behind thy back; for I am in
haste, and my time is gone. He therefore turned round his hands towards
him, and Joodar tied them behind his back, and pushed him; whereupon he
fell into the lake, and Joodar stood waiting for him.
And, lo, the Maghrabee put forth to him his hands, saying to him, Cast
the net, O poor man! Accordingly he cast the net over him, and drew it;
and, behold he was grasping in his hands two fishes, the colour of which was
red, like coral; in each hand a fish; and he said to Joodar, Open the two little
boxes. So he opened them for him; and he put in each little box a fish, and
covered the mouths of the boxes over them. Then he pressed Joodar to his
bosom, and kissed him on the right cheek and on the left, and said to him,
May God deliver thee from every difficulty! By Allah, hadst thou not cast
the net over me, and drawn me out, I had not ceased to grasp these two
fishes, submerged in the water, until I had died, and I had not been able to
come forth from the water. And Joodar said to him, O my master the
pilgrim, I conjure thee by Allah that thou acquaint me with the affair of the
two who were drowned before, and with the truth of the history of these two
fishes, and with the affair of the Jew.
---
The Maghrabee therefore replied, O Joodar, know that the two who were
drowned before were my brothers. One of them was named 'Abd-Es-
Selám, and the other was named 'Abd-El-Ahad; I am named 'Abd-Es-
652
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Samad, and the Jew is our brother; his name is 'Abd-Er-Raheem: he is not
a Jew, but a Muslim, of the Málikee persuasion.15 Our father taught us the
arts of solving mysteries and opening hidden treasures, and enchantment;
and we strove until the Márids of the Jinn, and the 'Efreets, served us. We
were four brothers, and the name of our father was 'Abd-El-Wadood; and
our father died, leaving to us an abundance of things; whereupon we divided
the treasures and riches and talismans until we came to the books, which
also we divided. But there ensued among us a dissension respecting a book
entitled The Stories of the Ancients, the like of which existeth not, nor can
any one give its price, nor can its equivalent be made up in jewels; for in it
are given accounts of all the hidden treasures, and the solutions of mysteries.
Our father was in the habit of making use of it, and we committed to memory
a little of its contents, and each of us desired to possess it, that he might
know what was in it. Now when a dissension occurred between us, there
was present with us our father's sheykh, who had reared him and taught him
enchantment and divination, and he was named Diviner El-Abtan; 16 and he
said to us, Bring ye the book.
So we gave him the book; and he said, Ye are the sons of my son, and it
is impossible that I should wrong any one of you. Then let him who desireth
to take this book go and strive to accomplish the opening of the treasure
of Esh-Shamardal," and bring me the celestial planisphere, and the kohl-pot,
and the seal-ring, and the sword. For the seal-ring hath a Márid that serveth
it, whose name is Er-Raad el-Kâsif; 18 and whoso possesseth this seal-ring,
neither King nor Sultán can prevail against him; and if he desire to possess
the earth, in all its length and breadth, he will be able to do so. And as to
the sword, if it be drawn against an army, and its bearer shake it, he will
rout the army; and if he say to it, at the time of his shaking it, Slay this
army there will proceed from that sword a lightning, which will slay the
whole army. And as to the celestial planisphere, whoso possesseth it, if he
desire to behold all the countries from the east to the west, he will behold
them, and divert himself with viewing them, while he sitteth: whatsoever
quarter he desireth to see, he will turn the face of the planisphere towards
it, and, looking in the planisphere, he will see that quarter and its inhabitants,
as though all were before him. Moreover, if he be incensed against a city,
and turn the face of the planisphere towards the sun's disk, desiring to burn
that city, it will be burned. And as to the kohl-pot, whosoever applieth kohl
from it to his eyes, he will see the treasures of the earth. But I have a
condition to impose upon you; and it is this; that whosoever is unable to
open this treasure, he shall not have any claim to the book; and he who
openeth this treasure, and bringeth me these four reposited things, shall be
entitled to take this book. - And we consented to the condition.
He then said to us, O my sons, know that the treasure of Esh-Shamardal
is under the dominion of the sons of the Red King, and your father informed
me that he had striven to open that treasure, and had not been able; but that
the sons of the Red King had fled from him to a lake in the land of Egypt,
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
653
called the Lake of Károon, where they withstood his authority; and he
pursued them to Cairo; but could not prevail against them, on account of
their descending into that lake; for it was guarded by a talisman. He then
returned overcome, and could not open the treasure of Esh-Shamardal by
reason of the sons of the Red King. So when your father was unable to
prevail against them, he came to me, and complained to me. I therefore made
for him an astrological calculation, and saw that his treasure could not be
opened save by the good fortune of a young man of the sons of Cairo, named
Joodar the son of 'Omar; for that he would be the means of the seizure of
the sons of the Red King. Also, that the said young man would be a fisher-
man, that the meeting with him would be by the Lake of Károon, and that
the charm would not be dissolved unless Joodar should bind behind his back
the hands of the person whose lot it was to accomplish this, and throw him
into the lake; whereupon he would contend with the sons of the Red King;
and whosoever have the fortune to do so would seize 'the sons of the
Red King. But he saw that he who should not be fortunate would perish,
and his feet would appear from the water; and that he who should be safe,
his hands would appear; and it would be requisite that Joodar should cast
over him the net, and take him forth from the lake.
Upon this, [two of] my brothers said, We will go, though we perish.
And I said, I will go also. But as to our brother who is in the garb of a Jew,
he said, I have no desire. So we agreed with him that he should repair to
Cairo in the disguise of a Jewish merchant, in order that if one of us should
die in the lake, he might receive the mule and the saddle-bags from Joodar,
and give him a hundred pieces of gold. And when the first came to thee,
the sons of the Red King slew him; and they slew my second brother; but
they could not prevail against me: so I seized them.
-
Upon this, Joodar said, Where are they whom thou seizedst? The
Maghrabee replied, Didst thou not see them? I have imprisoned them in
the two little boxes. Joodar said, These are fishes. The Maghrabee how-
ever replied, These are not fishes: verily they are 'Efreets in the form of fishes.
But, O Joodar, know that the opening of the treasure cannot be accomplished
save by thy good fortune. Wilt thou then comply with my desire, and go with
me to the city of Fás and Miknás,19 and open the treasure? If so, I will
give thee what thou shalt desire. Thou hast become my brother by a
covenant before God, and thou shalt return to thy family with a comforted
heart. — Joodar said to him, O my master the pilgrim, I have in my charge
my mother and my two brothers, and I am he who provideth for them; and
if I go with thee, who will give them bread to eat? But the Maghrabee re-
plied, This is a vain pretext; and if it be on account of the money required
for expenses, we will give thee a thousand pieces of gold which thou shalt
give to thy mother that she may expend of it until thou shalt return to thy
country; and if thou go away, thou shalt return before four months. And
when Joodar heard the mention of the thousand pieces of gold, he said, Give
me, O pilgrim, the thousand pieces of gold, and I will leave them with my
654
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
AF
mother, and will go with thee. So the Maghrabee took forth and gave h
the gold, and he took it, and went to his mother, and acquainted her w
that which had happened between him and the Maghrabee, saying to h
Take these thousand pieces of gold, and expend of them upon thyself a
upon my two brothers, while I journey with the Maghrabee to the west, a
I shall be absent four months, and abundant good fortune will betide m
so pray for me, O my mother. She replied, O my son, thou wilt render r
desolate, and I fear for thee. But he said, O my mother, no harm w
befall him whom God preserveth; and the Maghrabee is a good man.
Αν
he proceeded to praise to her his state. So she replied, May God' incli
his heart to thee! Go with him, O my son. Perhaps he will give th
something.
He therefore bade farewell to his mother, and went, and when he can
to the Maghrabee 'Abd-Es-Samad, the latter said to him, Hast thou co
sulted thy mother? He answered, Yes, and she prayed for me. And th
Maghrabee said to him, Mount behind me. So he got upon the back of th
mule, and they journeyed from noon until the time of afternoon-prayer:
when Joodar was hungry, and he saw not with the Maghrabee any thing t
be eaten; wherefore he said to him, O my master the pilgrim, probably tho
hast forgotten to bring for us any thing to eat on the 'way. The Maghrabe
said, Art thou hungry? Joodar answered, Yes. And upon this the Maghra
bee alighted from the mule, with Joodar, and said, Put down the pair o
saddle-bags. So he put it down. Then the Maghrabee said to him, Wha
thing dost thou desire, O my brother? Joodar answered him, Any thing
The Maghrabee however replied, I conjure thee by Allah that thou tell m
what thing thou desirest. Joodar said, Bread and cheese. But the Maghra
bee replied, O poor man, bread and cheese are not suitable to thy condition:
therefore demand something good. In my estimation, said Joodar, at this
time every thing is good. And the Maghrabee asked him, Dost thou like
browned chickens? 20 He answered, Yes. And the Maghrabee said, Dost
thou like rice with honey? He answered, Yes. And the Maghrabee said,
Dost thou like such a dish, and such a dish? - until he had named to him
four and twenty different dishes of food.
Then Joodar said within himself, Is he mad? Whence will he bring me
the dishes of food that he hath named, when he hath neither kitchen nor
cook? But say to him, It is enough. So he said to him, It is enough.
Dost thou make me desire the dishes when I shall see nothing? — The
Maghrabee however replied, Welcome to thee, O Joodar! And he put his
hand into the saddle-bag, and took forth a dish of gold containing two
browned, hot chickens. Then he put his hand a second time, and took forth
a dish of gold containing kebáb.21 And he ceased not to take forth from
the pair of saddle-bags until he had taken forth the four and twenty dishes
that he had mentioned, entire and complete; whereupon Joodar was con-
founded. He then said to him, Eat, O poor man. And Joodar said, O my
master, dost thou put in this pair of saddle-bags a kitchen and people to
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
655
cook? So the Maghrabee laughed, and replied, This is enchanted, having
a servant: were we to demand every hour a thousand dishes, the servant
would bring them and make them ready instantly. Joodar therefore said,
An excellent thing is this pair of saddle-bags! Then they ate until they
were satisfied, and what remained they threw upon the ground; after which
the Maghrabee replaced the dishes, empty, in the saddle-bags, and, having
put in his hand, took forth a ewer; and they drank, and performed the ablu-
tion, recited the afternoon-prayers, and replaced the ewer in the pair of
saddle-bags.
The Maghrabee then put into them the two little boxes, placed the saddle-
bags on the mule, and mounted, saying, Mount, that we may journey on.
And he said, 'O Joodar, knowest thou what space we have traversed from
Cairo unto this place? Joodar answered him, By Allah, I know not. And
the Maghrabee said to him, We have traversed a space of a whole month's
journey. And how so? asked Joodar. The Maghrabee answered him, O
Joodar, know that the mule which is beneath us is one of the Márids of the
Jinn, that will travel in a day a year's journey; but for thy sake it proceeded
leisurely. They then journeyed on until sunset; and when they halted in
the evening, the Maghrabee took forth from the saddle-bags the supper; and
in the morning he took forth the breakfast. Thus they continued to do for
a period of four days, journeying until midnight, and alighting and sleeping,
and proceeding in the morning; and all that Joodar desired he demanded of
the Maghrabee, who produced it to him from the pair of saddle-bags. And
on the fifth day, they arrived at Fás and Miknás.
They entered the city; and when they entered, every one who met the
Maghrabee saluted him and kissed his hand. Thus he proceeded until he
came to a door; whereupon he knocked at it, and, lo, the door opened, and
there appeared from it a damsel like the moon, to whom he said, O Rah-
meh,22 O my daughter, open for us the pavilion. She replied, On the head
and the eye, O my father. And she entered, wriggling her sides,23 so that
Joodar's reason fled, and he said, This is none other than the daughter of a
King! Then the damsel opened the pavilion, and the Maghrabee took the
pair of saddle-bags from the back of the mule, and said to it, Depart: God
bless thee! And, behold, the ground clove asunder, and the mule descended,
and the ground became again as it was. So Joodar said, O Excellent Pro-
tector! Praise be to God, who delivered us upon its back! The Maghra-
bee however said, Wonder not, O Joodar: for I told thee that the mule is
an 'Efreet: but come up with us into the pavilion.
And when they entered that pavilion, Joodar was amazed at the abundance
of the rich furniture, and at what he beheld in it of rarities, and articles of
jewels and minerals; and after they had seated themselves, the Maghrabee
ordered the damsel, saying to her, O Rahmeh, bring such a wrapper. She
therefore arose and brought a wrapper, which she put down before her
father; and he opened it and took forth from it a dress worth a thousand
pieces of gold, and said, Put it on, O Joodar. Welcome to thee!
So he put
656
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
on the dress, and became like one of the Kings of the West; after which the
Maghrabee placed the saddle-bags before him, and, having put his hand into
them, took forth from them dishes containing varieties of viands until they
composed a table of forty different dishes, when he said, O my lord, advance
and eat, and be not displeased with us. We know not what viands thou de-
sirest: therefore tell us what thou wouldst have, and we will place it before
thee without delay. - Joodar replied, By Allah, O my master the pilgrim, I
love all viands, and hate not aught: then ask me not respecting any thing;
but bring all that occur to thy mind, and I have nothing to do but eat.-
Then he resided with him twenty days. Every day the Maghrabee clad
him with a dress, and the food was from the pair of saddle-bags; the Maghra-
bee not buying any thing, either of meat or bread, nor cooking; but taking
forth all that he required from the saddle-bags, even the different kinds of
fruit.
After this, the Maghrabee, on the one and twentieth day, said, O Joodar,
arise with us; for this is the day decreed for the opening of the treasure of
Esh-Shamardal. So he arose with him, and they walked to the extremity of
the city. Then they went forth from it, and Joodar mounted a mule and
the Maghrabee mounted a mule, and they ceased not to journey on until
noon, when they came to a river of running water. There 'Abd-Es-Samad
alighted, and he said, Alight, O Joodar. And he alighted; and 'Abd-Es-
Samad said, Quick! - making a sign with his hand to the two slaves [who
accompanied him]; whereupon they took the two mules, and each slave
departed by one way, and they were absent a little while; after which, one
of them approached with a tent, which he pitched; and the other approached
with a mattress, which he spread in the tent, placing around it cushions and
pillows. Then one of them went and brought the two little boxes in which
were the two fishes; and the other brought the pair of saddle-bags. Upon
this, the Maghrabee arose and said, Come, O Joodar. So he came, and
seated himself by his side; and the Maghrabee took forth from the saddle-
bags the dishes of viands, and they dined; after which, the Maghrabee took
the two little boxes, and recited a charm over them, whereupon those who
were within them began to say, At thy service, O diviner of the world!
Have mercy upon us! They prayed for help, while he recited his charm
over them, until the two little boxes burst, and became broken in pieces, the
fragments flying about, and there appeared from them two beings with their
hands bound behind them, saying, Quarter! O diviner of the world! What
dost thou desire to do unto us? He answered, My desire is, either to
burn you, or that ye promise me to open the treasure of Esh-Shamardal.
And they replied, We promise thee, and we will open for thee the treasure;
but on the condition that thou bring here Joodar the fisherman; for the
treasure cannot be opened but by his good fortune, and no one can enter it
except Joodar the son of 'Omar. So he said to them, Him whom ye mention
I have brought, and he is here, hearing you and beholding you.
-
-
--
They therefore promised him to open the treasure, and he released them.
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
657
Then he took forth a tube, and some tablets of red carnelion, which he
placed upon the tube; and he took a perfuming-vessel, put in it some char-
coal, and blew it with a single puff, wherewith he kindled it; and, having
made ready the incense, he said, O Joodar, I will recite the charm, and
throw on the incense, and when I have begun the charm I cannot speak;
for the charm would be frustrated; and I desire to inform thee how thou
shalt act to attain thy wish. So Joodar replied, Inform me.
The Maghrabee therefore said, Know that when I have recited the charm,
and thrown on the incense, the water will dry up from the bed of the river,
and there will appear to thee a door of gold, of the size of the city-gate,
with two rings of metal. Descend to the door, and knock it lightly, and
wait a while: then knock a second time, with more force than the first time:
after that, give three knocks without intermission, one after another.
Thereupon thou wilt hear a speaker say, Who knocketh at the door of
treasures and knoweth not how to solve the mysteries? And do thou
answer, I am Joodar the fisherman, the son of 'Omar. Then he will open to
thee the door; and there will come forth to thee a person with a sword in
his hand, who will say to thee, If thou be that man, stretch forth thy neck
that I may smite off thy head. And stretch thou forth to him thy neck,
and fear not; for when he raiseth his hand with the sword and smiteth thee,
he will fall down before thee, and after a while thou wilt see him a body
without a soul, and thou wilt not suffer pain from the blow, nor will aught
befall thee: but if thou oppose him, he will slay thee. And after that,
when thou hast annulled his talisman by obedience, enter on until thou seest
another door, which knock. There will come forth to thee a horseman riding
upon a horse, and having upon his shoulder a spear, and he will say, What
hath brought thee into this place, which no one entereth, either of mankind
or of the Jinn? And he will shake at thee the spear: but open to him thy
bosom, and he will smite thee, and will fall down instantly, and thou wilt
see him a body without a soul. If thou oppose him, however, he will slay
thee. Then enter the third door. There will come forth to thee a son of
Adam having in his hand a bow and arrows, and he will shoot at thee with
the bow: but open thou to him thy bosom, and he will smite thee, and will
fall down before thee a body without a soul: but if thou oppose him, he
will slay thee. - Next enter the fourth door. There will come forth to
thee a huge lion, who will rush upon thee, opening his mouth, and shewing
thee that he desireth to devour thee: yet fear thou not, nor flee from him;
but when he cometh up to thee, give him thy hand, and when he biteth at thy
hand he will fall down instantly, and nought will befall thee. After this,
enter the fifth door. There will come forth a black slave, who will say to
thee, Who art thou? Answer him, I am Joodar. And he will say to thee, if
thou be that man, enter the sixth door. - Advance therefore to that door,
and say, O 'Eesà, tell Moosà to open the door. Thereupon the door will be
opened, and do thou enter. Thou wilt find two serpents; one of them on
the left, and the other on the right. Each of them will open its mouth, and
-
658
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
they will dart upon thee instantly: but stretch thou forth to them thy two
hands, and each of them will bite at a hand: if thou oppose, however, they
will kill thee. Then enter on to the seventh door, and knock it. [The
semblance of] thy mother will come forth to thee, and will say to thee,
Welcome, O my son! Advance, that I may salute thee. But do thou reply,
Keep far from me, and pull off thine apparel. She will thereupon say to
thee, O my son, I am thy mother, and I have a claim upon thy duty for
suckling and rearing thee. How then wouldst thou strip me of my clothing?
-
Do thou, however, say to her, If thou pull not off thy clothing, I will
slay thee. And look on thy right side: thou wilt see a sword suspended on
the wall: so take it, and draw it upon her, and say to her, Pull off. Then
she will endeavour to beguile thee, and will humble herself unto thee: yet
pity her not; but every time that she pulleth off to thee any thing, say to her,
Pull off the rest. And cease not to threaten her with slaughter until she
pulleth off to thee all that is upon her, and falleth down. Upon this, the
mysterious contrivances will have become dissolved, and the talismans
annulled, and thou wilt be secure. So enter: thou wilt find the gold in
heaps within the treasury: pay no regard, however, to aught of it: but thou
wilt see a private chamber at the upper end of the treasury, with a curtain
over its entrance. Remove the curtain, and thou wilt see the diviner Esh-
Shamardal lying upon a couch of gold, having at his head something round,
shining like the moon; and it is the celestial planisphere. He is also equipped
with the sword, hung upon his side; and upon his finger is a seal-ring; and
upon his neck is a chain, to which is attached a kohl-pot. Bring therefore
the four reposited things; and beware of forgetting aught of the things with
which I have acquainted thee; and act not contrary to the directions; for
thou wouldst repent, and fear would be entertained for thee. — Then he
repeated to him the charge, a second and a third and a fourth time, until he
said, I have it in my memory; but who is able to face these talismans that
thou hast mentioned, and to endure these great horrors? The Maghrabee
replied, O Joodar, fear not; for they are bodies without souls. And he pro-
ceeded to tranquillize him. So Joodar said, I rely upon God.
Then the Maghrabee 'Abd-Es-Samad threw on the incense, and continued
a while reciting the charm; and, lo, the water had gone, and the bottom of
the river appeared, and the door of the treasure. Joodar therefore descended
to the door, and knocked it; and he heard a speaker say, Who knocketh at
the doors of the treasures and knoweth not how to solve the mysteries? So
he answered, I am Joodar the son of 'Omar. And upon this, the door opened.
and the person came forth to him, and drew the sword, saying to him, Stretch
forth thy neck. Accordingly, he stretched forth his neck, and the person
smote him, and fell down. In like manner did Joodar at the second door, and
so on until he had annulled the talismans of [six of] the seven doors. Then
[the semblance of] his mother came forth to him, saying to him, Salutations
to thee, O my son! And he said to her as the Maghrabee had directed him;
but after she had long remonstrated with him, and done nearly all that he
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
659
-
had commanded her, she said to him, O my son, is thy heart stone? Is not
this unlawful? And he replied, Thou hast spoken truth. So when he had
uttered these words, she cried out and said, He hath erred: therefore beat
ye him! And there fell upon him blows like the drops of rain: the servants
of the treasure assembled around him, and they inflicted upon him a beating
that he forgot not during his life; after which they pushed him, and cast him
forth outside the door of the treasure, and the doors of the treasure became
closed as they were before. So when they cast him outside the door, the
the Maghrabee took him up instantly, and the waters flowed as before.
Then 'Abd-Es-Samad the Maghrabee recited over Joodar a charm, until he
recovered from his intoxication, when he said to him, What hast thou done,
O poor man? Joodar therefore told him what had happened; whereupon the
Maghrabee replied, Did I not say to thee, Act not contrary to the directions?
Thou hast done ill to me and to thyself. But now thou must remain with
me till the next year, to the like of this day. And he called out immediately
to the two slaves, who forthwith struck the tent and carried it away, and,
after they had been absent a little while, returned with the two mules; and
the Maghrabee and Joodar each mounted a mule, and they returned to the
city of Fás.
Joodar remained with the Maghrabee, eating well and drinking well, and
every day the latter clad him in a rich dress, until the year had ended, and
that day arrived; when the Maghrabee said to him, This is the appointed
day; so repair with us. Joodar replied, Well. The Maghrabee therefore
took him outside the city, and they saw the two slaves with the two mules,
and rode until they arrived at the river; whereupon the two slaves pitched
the tent, and spread the furniture in it, and the Maghrabee took forth the
table of viands, and they dined. After this, the Maghrabee took forth the
tube and the tablets, as on the first occasion, kindled the fire, made ready his
incense, and said, O Joodar, I desire to charge thee. He replied, O my
master the pilgrim, if I have forgotten the beating, I may have forgotten the
charge. So the Maghrabee said to him, Dost thou retain the charge in thy
memory? He answered Yes. And the Maghrabee said, Keep thy self-
possession, and imagine not that the woman is thy mother; for she is only
a talisman in the form of thy mother, and her desire is to make thee err;
and if the first time thou camest forth alive, this time, if thou err, they will
cast thee forth slain. He replied, If I err, I shall deserve their burning me.
Then the Maghrabee put the incense and recited the charm, and the river
dried up.
So Joodar advanced to the door and knocked it; whereupon it opened,
and he annulled all the talismans until he came to [the semblance of] his
mother, who said to him, Welcome, O my son! But he replied, How should
I be thy son, O accursed? Pull off! And she endeavoured to beguile him;
but he insisted; and when she had done as he commanded her, she became a
body without a soul. He therefore entered, and saw the gold in heaps, but
paid no regard to aught of it. Then he came to the private chamber, and
660
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
beheld the diviner Esh-Shamardal lying, with the sword on his side, and the
seal-ring upon his finger, and the kohl-pot upon his bosom; and he saw the:
celestial planisphere over his head. So he advanced, and loosed the sword,
and took the seal-ring and the celestial planisphere and the kohl-pot, and
went forth; and, lo, a set of musical instruments sounded in honour of him,
and the servants [of the treasure] began to call out, Mayest thou enjoy that
which thou hast obtained, O Joodar! The instruments ceased not to sound
until he went forth from the treasure, and came to the Maghrabee, who there-
upon ceased from the recitation of the charm, and the fumigation, and, rising,
pressed him to his bosom, and saluted him; and Joodar gave him the four.
reposited articles. So the Maghrabee took them, and called out to the two
slaves, who forthwith took the tent, and restored it to its place; after which
they returned with the two mules, and the Maghrabee and Joodar mounted
them, and entered the city of Fás. The Maghrabee then brought the pair of
saddle-bags, and proceeded to take forth from it the dishes containing the
various viands until a complete table was before him, when he said, O my
brother, O Joodar, eat. He therefore ate until he was satisfied, and the
Maghrabee emptied the remains of the viands into other dishes, and put
back the empty dishes into the saddle-bags.
-
Then the Maghrabee 'Abd-Es-Samad said, O Joodar, thou quittedst thy
land and thy country on our account, and hast accomplished our affair;
wherefore thou hast a claim upon us for some object of desire; so demand of
us what thou wishest; for God (whose name be exalted!) giveth thee, and
we are [merely] the means. Require then what thou wilt, and be not
abashed, since thou deservest. He therefore replied, O my master, I desire
of God, and then of thee, that thou give me this pair of saddle-bags. And
the Maghrabee said [to his slave], Bring the pair of saddle-bags. Accord-
ingly he brought it; and he said to Joodar, Take it; for it is thy due; and
hadst thou desired something else, we had given it to thee: But, O poor man,
this will not profit thee save in food, and thou hast wearied thyself with us,
and we promised thee that we would restore thee to thy country with a
comforted heart; wherefore thou shalt eat from this pair of saddle-bags, and
we will give thee another pair of saddle-bags, full of gold and jewels, and
have thee conveyed to thy country; so thou shalt become a merchant, and
clothe thyself and thy family, and not stand in need of money for thy
expenses. Eat thou and thy family from this pair of saddle-bags; and the
mode of acting with it is this: that thou put forth thy hand into it, and say,
By the great names that have influence over thee, O servant of this pair of
saddle-bags, bring me such a dish! Thereupon he will bring thee what thou
demandest, even if thou demand every day a thousand different dishes of
food.
Then he caused a slave to come with a mule, and filled for Joodar a
pair of saddle-bags, one half with gold, and the other half with jewels and
minerals, and said to him, Mount this mule, and the slave will walk before
thee; for he will acquaint thee with the way until he conveyeth thee to the
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
661
-
24
door of thy house; and when thou hast arrived, take the two pairs of saddle-
bags, and give him the mule, and he will bring it back. But let not any one.
know thy secret. And now we commit thee unto God. So Joodar replied,
May God increase thy prosperity! He put the two pairs of saddle-bags upon
the back of the mule, and mounted; and the slave walked before him. The
mule followed the slave that day, and all the following night; and on the
second day, in the morning, he entered the Báb en-Nasr, and beheld his
mother sitting and saying, Something for the sake of God! So his reason
fled, and, having alighted from the back of the mule, he threw himself upon
her; and when she saw him, she wept. Then he mounted her upon the mule,
and walked by her stirrup until he arrived at the house, when he set down
his mother, took the two pairs of saddle-bags, and left the mule to the slave,
who took it and departed to his master: for the slave was a devil and the
mule was a devil.
―
But as to Joodar, the fact of his mother's begging was grievous to him;
and when he entered the house, he said to her, O my mother, are my two
brothers well? She answered, Well. And he said, Wherefore dost thou beg
in the way? She answered, O my son, in consequence of my hunger. He
replied, I gave thee, before I departed, a hundred pieces of gold the first day,
and a hundred pieces of gold the second day, and I gave thee a thousand
pieces of gold on the day that I departed. O my son, she said, they have
cheated me, and taken them from me, saying, We desire to purchase with
them merchandise. And they took them, and turned me out: so I betook
myself to begging in the way, by reason of the violence of my hunger. He
then said, O my mother, no harm shall befall thee now that I have come:
therefore suffer no anxiety. This is a pair of saddle-bags full of gold and
jewels, and good thing are abundant. — And she replied, O my son, thou art
fortunate! May God be well pleased with thee, and increase his favours to
thee! Arise, O my son; bring for us some bread; for I have passed the night
in violent hunger, without supper. Upon this, he laughed, and said to her,
Welcome to thee, O my mother! Demand then whatever thou desirest to
eat, and I will present it to thee immediately. I need not to purchase from
the market, nor need I any one to cook. So she said, O my son, I see not
with thee any thing. He replied, I have with me, in the pair of saddle-bags,
of every kind of viands. And she said, O my son, whatever is ready will stay
hunger. Thou hast spoken truth, he replied; for when plenty is wanting,
man is content with the smallest thing; but when plenty is at hand, man
desireth to eat of what is good; and I have plenty; therefore demand what
thou desirest. And she said to him, O my son, some hot bread, and a piece
of cheese. But he replied, O my mother, this is not suitable to thy condition.
So she said to him, Thou knowest my condition; wherefore, what is suitable
to my condition, thereof give me to eat. And he said, O my mother, suitable
to thy condition are browned meat, and browned chickens, and boiled rice
with butter and salt and pepper; and suitable to thy condition are sausages,
and stuffed gourds, and stuffed lamb, and stuffed ribs of lamb, and kunáfeh
662
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
with broken almonds and hazel-nuts, and honey and sugar, and katáïf, and
bakláweh.25 His mother therefore thought that he was laughing at her, and
making jest of her: so she said to him, Yooh! Yooh! 20 What hath happened
unto thee? Dost thou dream, or hast thou become mad?—He asked her,
Whence learnedst thou that I had become mad? She answered him, Because
thou mentionest to me all kinds of excellent dishes; and who can afford their
price, or who knoweth how to cook them? And he replied, By my life, I
must give thee to eat of all that I have mentioned to thee, immediately.
She said, I see not aught. And he said to her, Bring me the pair of
saddle-bags.
She therefore brought him the pair of saddle-bags, and, feeling it, found
it to be empty; and she put it before him. And he proceeded to stretch forth
his hand and to take out filled dishes until he had produced to her all that
he had mentioned. So his mother said to him, O my son, verily the pair
of saddle-bags is small, and it was empty, with nothing in it; yet thou hast
taken forth from it all these things: then where were these dishes? And he
answered, O my mother, know that the Maghrabee gave me this pair of
saddle-bags, and it is enchanted, and hath a servant: if a man desire any-
thing, and recite over it the names, and say, O servant of this pair of
saddle-bags, bring me such a dish! he will bring it. Upon this, his
mother said to him, Shall I stretch forth my hand and demand of him?
He answered, Stretch forth thy hand. And she did so, saying, By the names
that have influence over thee, O servant of this pair of saddle-bags, bring me
stuffed ribs of lamb! And she saw that the dish had come into the bag:
so she put forth her hand and took it, and found in it delicate stuffed ribs.
Then she demanded the bread, and demanded every thing that she desired,
of various kinds of viands. And he said to her, O my mother, after thou
shalt have finished eating, empty the rest of the viands into other dishes
than these, and put back the empty dishes into the saddle-bags; for the
charm is on this condition: and take care of the pair of saddle-bags. She
therefore removed the pair of saddle-bags, and took care of it. And he
said to her, O my mother, conceal the secret, and keep it; and whenever
thou wantest any thing, take it forth from the saddle-bags, and give alms,
and feed my two brothers, whether in my presence or in my absence.
After this, he began to eat with her, and, lo, his two brothers came in
to him. The news had been given to them by a man of the sons of his
quarter, who said to them, Your brother hath come, mounted on a mule,
with a slave before him, and wearing a dress of which the like existeth not.
So they said, one to the other, Would that we had not distressed our mother!
She will doubtless acquaint him with that which we have done unto her.
Oh, how we shall be disgraced by him! But one of them said, Our mother
is tender-hearted; and if she inform him, our brother is more tender-hearted
than she towards us; and when we excuse ourselves to him, he will accept
our excuse. - Then they went in to him; and he rose to them upon his
feet, and saluted them with the best salutation, and said to them, Sit and eat.
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
663
So they sat and ate; and they were weak from hunger; wherefore they ceased
not to eat until they were satiated. And Joodar said to them, O my brothers,
take the remainder of the food, and distribute it to the poor and needy.
They replied, O our brother, leave it that we may make our supper of it.
But he said to them, At the time of supper there will be brought to you
more than this. They therefore took forth the rest of the viands, and to
every poor person who passed by them they said, Take and eat-until
nothing remained. Then they took back the dishes, and Joodar said to his
mother, Put them into the saddle-bags.
And in the evening, he entered the saloon, and took forth from the saddle-
bags a table of forty different dishes; after which, he went up [into another
apartment]; and when he sat between his two brothers, he said to his
mother, Bring the supper. So when she entered the saloon, she saw the
dishes full; and she placed the table, and brought the dishes, one after
another, until the forty dishes were all put. They then supped; and after
the supper, Joodar said, Take ye, and feed the poor and the needy. Accord-
ingly they took the rest of the viands, and distributed them. And after they
had supped, Joodar produced to them sweetmeats, of which they ate; and
what remained of them, Joodar told them to give to the neighbours to eat.
On the following day they breakfasted in the same manner, and they ceased
not to remain in this state for a period of ten days.
--
Then Sálim said to Seleem, What is the cause of this thing, that our
brother produceth to us a feast in the morning, and a feast at noon, and
a feast at sunset, and, at the end of the night, sweetmeats, and that every
thing that remaineth he distributeth to the poor? This is the action of
Sultáns. And whence came to him this prosperity? 27 We never see him
buy any thing, nor doth he light a fire, nor hath he either kitchen or cook.
Shall we not inquire respecting these various viands, and respecting these
sweetmeats? His brother replied, By Allah, I know not. But knowest
thou any one who will acquaint us with the truth of this matter? - None,
said Sálim, will acquaint us except our mother. They therefore contrived
for themselves a stratagem, and, going to their mother during the absence
of their brother, they said, O our mother, we are hungry. So she replied,
Rejoice at good news. And she entered the saloon, demanded of the servant
of the pair of saddle-bags, and brought out to them hot viands; whereupon
they said, O our mother, this food is hot, and thou hast not cooked, nor
blown [a fire]. She replied, It is from the pair of saddle-bags. And they
said to her, What is this pair of saddle-bags? She answered them, It is
enchanted, and the demand is obtained by virtue of the charm. And she
acquainted them with the case, and said to them, Conceal the secret. They
replied, The secret is concealed, O our mother; but teach us the mode of this.
She therefore taught them; and they proceeded to put forth their hands,
and to take out the things that they demanded. And their brother had
no knowledge thereof.
So when they knew the property of the pair of saddle-bags, Sálim said
664
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to Seleem, O my brother, how long shall we remain with Joodar like servant
and eat his alms? Shall we not employ a stratagem against him, and tal
this pair of saddle-bags, and enjoy it? - How, said Seleem, shall the strat
gem be contrived? Sálim answered, We will sell our brother to the Capta
of the Sea of Es-Suweys.28 And how shall we manage, asked the othe
that we may sell him? I will go with thee, answered Salim, to tha
Captain, and we will invite him to an entertainment with two of h
company; and what I shall say to Joodar, do thou declare me to be veraciou
therein; and at the close of the night, I will show thee what I will do.
-
-
Thus they agreed to sell their brother. They went to the house of th
Captain of the Sea of Es-Suweys, and Sálim and Seleem both went in to th
Captain and said to him, O Captain, we have come to thee on account o
an affair that will rejoice thee. So he replied, Good. And they said t
him, We are two brothers, and we have a third brother, a profligate, in whom
is no good; and our father died, leaving to us a sum of money. Then w
divided the money, and he took what fell to his lot of the inheritance, and
expended it in debauchery and vice; and when he was reduced to poverty
he domineered over us, and proceeded to complain against us to the op
pressors, and to say, Ye two have taken my property, and the property o
my father
and we referred our case to the judges, and lost the property
After this, he suffered us a while, and complained against us a second time
so that he brought us to poverty, and he desisted not from oppressing us:
wherefore we have become impatient of him, and desire that thou purchase
him of us. So he said to them, Can ye employ a stratagem against him
and bring him to me here? If so, I will send him quickly to the sea. They
answered, We cannot bring him; but thou shalt be our guest, and bring with
thee two; no more; and when he sleepeth, we five will assist one another
against him, and seize him, and put a gag in his mouth, and take him under
the covering of the night. Then thou shalt carry him forth from the house.
And he said, I hear and obey. Will ye sell
-
---
and do with him as thou wilt.
him for forty pieces of gold? They answered him, Yes: and after the time
of the afternoon-prayers, thou shalt come to such a quarter, where thou wilt
find one of us waiting for thee. And he replied, Go ye.
They therefore sought Joodar; and after they had waited a while, Sálim
advanced to him, and kissed his hand. So Joodar said to him, What dost
thou want, O my brother? And he answered him, Know that I have a friend,
who invited me to entertainments many times in his house during thine
absence, and he is entitled to a thousand kindnesses from me, and he always
treateth me with honour, as my brother knoweth. Now I saluted him to-day,
and he invited me; but I said to him, I cannot quit my brother. He therefore
said, Bring him with thee. And I replied, He will not consent to that;"
but if thou and thy brothers will be my guests for his brothers were
sitting by him; so I invited them, thinking that I should invite them and
they would refuse. But when I invited him and his brothers, he consented,
and said, Wait for me at the door of the Záwiyeh,20 and I will come with my
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
665
brothers. Therefore I fear that he will come, and am abashed at thee.
Wilt thou then comfort my heart, and entertain them this night? Thy good
things are abundant, O my brother. But if thou consent not, give me leave
to take them into the neighbours' house. And Joodar said to him, Where-
fore shouldst thou take them into the neighbours' house? Is our house then
narrow, or have we not aught wherewith to give them a supper? Shame
upon thee to consult me. Thou hast nothing to require but nice viands and
sweetmeats in such quantities that there shall remain of them; and if thou
bring people and I be absent, demand of thy mother, and she will produce
to thee viands more than enough. Go: bring them. Blessings have betided
us. So he kissed his hand, and went and sat at the door of the Záwiyeh
till after the time of afternoon-prayers; and, lo, they approached him.
-
He therefore took them and conducted them into the house; and when
Joodar saw them, he said to them, Welcome to you! And he seated them,
and made himself familiar with them, not knowing what was secretly pur-
posed to betide him from them. Then he demanded of his mother the
supper, and she proceeded to take forth from the pair of saddle-bags, while
he said, Bring such a dish—until there were before them forty different
dishes. So they ate until they were satisfied, and the table was removed;
the sailors thinking that this hospitable entertainment proceeded from
Sálim. And when a third of the night had passed, Joodar caused the sweet-
meats to be brought to them; and Sálim was the one who served them.
Joodar and Seleem sat until they expressed a desire to sleep; when Joodar
arose and laid himself down, and the others lay down until he was inad-
vertent; whereupon they arose, and assisted each other against him, and
he awoke not until the gag was in his mouth. They bound his hands behind
him, carried him away, and took him forth from the pavilion under the
covering of the night, and sent him to Es-Suweys, where they put shackles
upon his feet, and he served in silence, and ceased not to serve in the manner
of captives and slaves for a whole year. Such was the case of Joodar.
But as to the case of his two brothers, when they arose in the morning,
they went in to their mother, and said to her, O our mother, our brother
Joodar hath not awoke. So she replied, Wake ye him. They asked her,
Where is he lying? And she answered them, With the guests. They said,
Probably he hath gone with the guests while we were asleep, O our mother.
It seemeth that our brother hath tasted absence from his country, and
desired to enter the hidden treasures: for we heard him speaking with the
Maghrabees, and they said to him, We will take thee with us, and we will
open for thee the treasure. Hath he, she said, been with the Maghrabees?
They replied, Were they not guests with us? And she said, Probably he
hath gone with them; but God will direct him right. This is a fortunate
person; he will certainly come back with abundant riches.
And she wept,
―
and his separation was grievous unto her. So they said to her, O accursed,
dost thou love Joodar with all this love, when, if we are absent or present,
thou neither rejoicest in us, nor mournest for us? Are we not thy sons
666
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
as Joodar is thy son? She answered, Ye are my sons; but ye are wicked
wretches, and ye are entitled to no favour from me; for from the day that
your father died I have not experienced from you any good; and as to
Joodar, I have experienced from him abundant good, and he hath comforted
my heart, and treated me with honour: therefore it behooveth me to weep
for him; for his kindness was shewn to me and to you.
And when they heard these words, they reviled her and beat her; and
they entered, and proceeded to search for the pair of saddle-bags until they
found it; and they took the jewels from the one half [of one pair of
saddle-bags], and the gold from the other half, and the enchanted pair of
saddle-bags also, saying to her, This was the property of our father. She
replied, No, by Allah; but it is the property of your brother Joodar, who
brought it from the country of the Maghrabees. They said to her, Thou
liest: this was the property of our father, and we will dispose of it. So they
divided it [that is, the jewels and gold,] between them; but a dissension
ensued between them respecting the enchanted pair of saddle-bags. Sálim
said, I will take it. And Seleem said, I will take it. And opposition took
place between them. Their mother therefore said, O my sons, the pair
of saddle-bags, in which were the jewels and the gold ye have divided, and
this cannot be divided, nor can its value be given in money, and if it be
cut in twain, its charm will be annulled; but leave it with me, and I will
take forth for you what ye shall eat on every occasion, and will be content
to take with you a morsel: if, moreover, ye clothe me with anything, it will
be of your favour; and each of you shall establish for himself a traffic with
the people. Ye are my sons, and I am your mother; then let us remain
in our present state lest your brother come, in fear of disgrace. — But they
accepted not her proposal. They passed the next night contending together;
and a man heard them, a kowwás 30 belonging to the guards of the King,
being a guest in a house adjoining the house of Joodar, a window of which
was open.
So the kowwás looked from the window, and heard the whole
of the dispute, and the words that they uttered, and the division. And when
the morning came, this kowwás went in to the King, whose name was Shems-
ed-Dóleh, the King of Egypt in that age; and when the kowwás went in
to him, he acquainted him with that which he had heard; whereupon the
King sent to the two brothers of Joodar, and brought them, and subjected
them to torture. So they confessed; and he took the two pairs of saddle-bags
from them, and put them in prison. Then he assigned to the mother of
Joodar such allowances every day as would suffice her. Thus did it happen
unto them.
31
Now again as to Joodar, he remained a whole year serving at Es-Suweys.
and after the year, he and others were in the ship, and there rose against
them a wind which cast the ship wherein they were upon a mountain, and it
broke in pieces, and all that was in it was submerged. None reached the
shore except Joodar; and the rest died. And when he had reached the shore,
he journeyed until he came to an encampment of Arabs by water and
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
667
pasture; and they asked him respecting his state; wherefore he informed
them that he was a sailor in a ship, and he related to them his story. Now
there was in the encampment a merchant, of the people of Juddeh; 32 and
he pitied him, and said to him, Wilt thou serve us, O man of Cairo? If so,
I will clothe thee, and take thee with me to Juddeh. So he served him,
and journeyed with him until they arrived at Juddeh; and the merchant
treated him with much favour. Then his master the merchant desired to
perform the pilgrimage, and took him with him to Mekkeh: so when they
entered it, Joodar went to perform the compassings in the Temple; 33 and
while he was compassing, lo, he found his friend the Maghrabee 'Abd-Es-
Samad compassing also. Therefore when the Maghrabee saw him, he saluted
him, and asked him respecting his state. And he wept, and acquainted him
with that which had befallen him.
And upon this the Maghrabee took him with him until he entered his
house, where he treated him honourably, and clad him in a dress of which
there existed not the equal; and he said to him, Evil hath quitted thee,
O Joodar. He then performed for him an operation of geomancy, whereupon
that which had befallen Joodar's two brothers appeared to him, and he said,
Know, O Joodar, that such and such things have befallen thy two brothers,
and they are confined in the prison of the King of Egypt: but thou shalt be
welcome [as my guest] until thou hast accomplished thy rites of sacrifice; 34
and nothing shall betide but good fortune. So Joodar said to him, O my
master, wait until I go and take leave of the merchant with whom I have
been living, and come back unto thee. And the Maghrabee said, Dost thou
owe money? He answered, No. The Maghrabee therefore said, Go; take
leave of him, and come back immediately; for bread imposeth obligation in
the estimation of the ingenuous.35 Accordingly he went and took leave
of the merchant, and said to him, I have met my brother. And the merchant
said to him, Go; bring him, and we will make for him an entertainment.
But Joodar replied, It is not necessary; for he is of the people of affluence,
and hath many servants. And the merchant gave him twenty pieces of gold,
saying to him, Acquit me of responsibility.3 So he took leave of him, and
went forth from him, and, seeing a poor man, he gave him the twenty pieces
of gold.
36
He then repaired to 'Abd-Es-Samad the Maghrabee, and he remained
with him until they had accomplished the rites of the sacrifice of the pil-
grimage; whereupon the Maghrabee gave him the seal-ring that he had taken
forth from the treasures of Esh-Shamardal, and said to him, Take this seal-
ring; for it will cause thee to attain thy desire, since it hath a servant whose
name is Er-Raad el-Kásif, and whatever thou shalt require of the things
of the world, rub the seal-ring, and thy servant will appear to thee [and he
will bring it thee]; and whatever thou shalt command him to do, he will
do it for thee. And he rubbed it before him; whereupon the servant
appeared to him, calling out, At thy service, O my master! What dost thou
demand? It shall be given thee. Wilt thou then render flourishing a ruined
668
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
city, or ruin a city that is flourishing, or slay a King, or rout an army? -
The Maghrabee replied, O Raad, this hath become thy master; and act thou
well to him. Then he dismissed him, and said to Joodar, Rub the seal-ring,
and its servant will appear before thee, and do thou command him to do
what thou desirest: for he will not disobey thee. Repair to thy country,
and take care of the ring; for thou wilt delude with it thine enemies; and be
not ignorant of the potency of this ring. — Joodar therefore replied, O my
master, with thy permission I will repair to my country. And the Maghra-
bee said to him, Rub the seal-ring: thereupon the servant will appear to thee,
and mount thou upon his back; and if thou say to him, Convey me this
day to my country, he will not disobey thy command.
-
Joodar, upon this, bade 'Abd-Es-Samad farewell, and rubbed the seal-
ring, and Er-Raad el-Kásif presented himself before him, saying to him,
At thy service! Demand: it shall be given thee. So he said to him,
Convey me to Cairo this day. And he replied, That shall be done for thee.
He took him up, and flew with him from the time of noon until midnight,
when he alighted with him in the court of the house of his mother, and
departed. He therefore went in to his mother; and when she saw him, she
arose and wept, and saluted him, and informed him of that which had been
done to his two brothers by the King, how he had beaten them, and taken
the enchanted pair of saddle-bags and the pair of saddle-bags containing
the gold and jewels. And when Joodar heard that, the state of his brothers
was not a light matter to him; but he said to his mother, Grieve not for
that which hath escaped thee; for instantly I will shew thee what I will do,
and I will bring my brothers. Then he rubbed the seal-ring, and the servant
appeared to him, saying, At thy service! Demand: it shall be given thee. —
And he said to him, I command thee to bring me my two brothers from
the King's prison. So he descended into the earth, and came not up save
in the midst of the prison. Now Sálim and Seleem were in the most violent
distress, and in great affliction, by reason of the misery of imprisonment:
they had wished for death, and one of them was saying to the other, By
Allah, O my brother, our trouble hath become wearisome to us, and how long
shall we remain in this prison? Death in it would be ease to us.
And while they were in this state, lo, the earth clove asunder, and
Er-Raad el-Kásif came forth to them, and, taking them both up, descended
into the earth. They swooned in consequence of the violence of their fear;
and when they recovered, they found themselves in their house, where they
saw their brother sitting with his mother by his side. And he said to them,
Salutations to you, O my brothers! Ye have cheered me by your presence.—
Upon this, they inclined their faces towards the ground, and began to weep.
But he said to them, Weep not; for the Devil and covetousness forced you
to do that. How could you sell me? But I will console myself by remem-
bering Yoosuf; for his brothers did unto him what was worse than your
deed, since they cast him into the pit. Turn ye, however, with repentance
unto God, and beg his forgiveness, and He will forgive you; for He is the
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
669
Abundant in forgiveness, the Merciful. I have pardoned you. Welcome
to you! No harm shall befall you. And he proceeded to appease their
minds until he had soothed their hearts; and he related to them all that he
had suffered at Es-Suweys [and afterwards] until he met with the sheykh
'Abd-Es-Samad, informing them also of the seal-ring. So they said, O our
brother, be not angry with us this time. If we return to our former conduct,
do with us what thou wilt. He replied, No harm: but tell me what the
King did unto you. And they said, He beat us and threatened us, and took
the two pairs of saddle-bags from us.
-
-
―
And he rubbed the seal-ring.
And when his brothers beheld
--
Thereupon he said, Will he not care?
So the servant presented himself before him.
him, they feared him, and imagined that Joodar would order the servant
to slay them. They therefore went to their mother, and began to say,
O our mother, we throw ourselves upon thy generosity! O our mother,
intercede for us! And she replied, O my sons, fear not. Then Joodar
said to the servant, I command thee to bring me all that is in the treasury
of the King, of jewels and other things, and to leave not in it aught: also,
that thou bring me the enchanted pair of saddle-bags, and the pair of
saddle-bags containing the jewels [and gold], which the King took from
my two brothers. So he replied, I hear and obey. And he went immedi-
ately, collected what was in the treasury, brought the two pairs of saddle-
bags with the enclosed deposites, and placed all that was in the treasury
before Joodar, saying, O my master, I have not left in the treasury any thing.
Upon this, Joodar ordered his mother to take care of the pair of saddle-bags
containing the jewels [and gold], put the enchanted pair of saddle-bags
before him, and said to the servant, I command thee to build for me, during
this night, a lofty palace, and to decorate it with liquid gold, and spread it
with magnificent furniture, and let not morning come before thou hast com-
pleted the whole of it. The servant replied, That shall be done for thee.
And he descended into the earth.
Then Joodar took forth the viands, and they ate, and enjoyed themselves,
and slept. But as to the affair of the servant, he collected his 'Óns, and
gave orders to build the palace. So some of them began to hew the stones,
and some to build, and some to whitewash, and some to paint, and some
to spread the furniture; and the daylight came not before the order of the
palace was perfect. The servant thereupon went up to Joodar, and said,
O my master, the palace is finished, and its order is perfect; if then thou
wilt go forth and divert thyself with a view of it, go forth.
He therefore went forth with his mother and his two brothers, and saw
this palace to be one of which there existed not the like, confounding the
minds by the beauty of its order. So Joodar was delighted with it, while
he was yet passing along the beaten track; and with all this, he had expended
nothing upon it. He then said to his mother, Wilt thou reside in this palace?
She answered him, O my son, I will reside in it. And she prayed for him.
Then he rubbed the seal-ring; whereupon the servant appeared, saying,
670
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
At thy service! And he said to him, I command thee to bring me forty
white and beautiful slave-girls, and forty black slave-girls, and forty mem-
looks, and forty male black slaves. The servant replied, That shall be done
for thee. And he repaired with forty of his 'Óns to the countries of India
and Es-Sind and Persia; and whenever they beheld a beautiful damsel they
carried her off; and when they saw a young man, they carried him off. He
sent also forty others, who brought elegant black slave-girls; and forty others
brought male black slaves. All came to the abode of Joodar, and they
filled it. Then he displayed them to Joodar, and they pleased him; and he
said, Bring for each person a dress, of the most magnificent apparel. The
servant replied, Ready. And Joodar said, Bring a dress for my mother to
put on, and a dress for myself to put on. So he brought all, and clad the
female slaves, and said to them, This is your mistress: therefore kiss her
hand, and disobey her not, but serve her, white and black. The memlooks
also clad themselves, and kissed the hand of Joodar; and his two brothers
clad themselves; and Joodar became like a king, and his two brothers like
His house was ample: so he lodged Sálim and his female slaves
in one part, and Seleem and his female slaves in another part; and he and
his mother resided in the new palace; each being in his abode like a king. —
Such was their case.
wezeers.
But as to the Treasurer of the King, he desired to take some things
from the treasury: so he entered, and saw not in it aught, but found it as
the poet hath said, --
The chambers were like a bee-hive well stocked: when their bees quitted them, they
became empty.
Upon this he uttered a great cry, and fell down in a swoon; and when he
recovered, he went forth from the treasury, leaving its door open, and,
going in to the King Shems-ed-Dóleh, he said, O Prince of the Faithful,"
what we tell thee is this, that the treasury hath become empty during this
night. So the King said, What hast thou done with my riches that were
in my treasury? He answered, By Allah, I have not done with them aught,
nor do I know the cause of their being exhausted. Yesterday I entered the
treasury, and beheld it filled; and to-day I entered it, and beheld it empty,
with nothing in it: yet the doors were locked, and it hath not been broken
through, nor hath its wooden lock been broken, nor hath a thief entered it.
And the King said, Have the two pairs of saddle-bags gone from it? The
Treasurer answered, Yes. And upon this, the reason of the King fled from
his head, and he rose upon his feet, and said to the Treasurer, Go before me.
So he went; and the King followed him until they came to the treasury,
and he found not in it aught. The King therefore was vexed, and he said,
Who hath assaulted my treasury, and not feared my authority? And he
was violently enraged. He then went forth, and held a court, and the great
officers of the army came, every one of them imagining that the King was
incensed against him; and the King said, O soldiers, know that my treasury
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
671
--
hath been plundered during this night, and I know not who hath done this
deed and assaulted me and not feared me. So they said, And how hath this
happened? He replied, Ask the Treasurer. They therefore asked him,
and he answered, Yesterday it was full, and to-day I entered it and beheld
it empty: yet it hath not been broken through, nor hath its door been broken.
Now all the soldiers wondered at these words, and no reply had been
given by them, when the kowwás, who, on a former occasion, betrayed Seleem
and Sálim, came in to the King, and said, O King of the age, all the night
I have been amusing myself with the sight of builders building, and when
daylight came, I saw a palace constructed, the like of which existeth not.
I therefore asked, and it was said to me, that Joodar had come and built this
palace, and with him were memlooks and black slaves; that he had brought
abundant riches, and delivered his two brothers from the prison, and was
in his mansion like a Sultán. So the King said, Examine the prison. And
they examined it, and saw not Sálim and Seleem. They therefore returned,
and acquainted him with that which had happened; whereupon the King
said, My offender hath become manifest; for he who delivered Sálim and
Seleem from the prison, and took the two pairs of saddle-bags,38 is the
person who took my property. And the Wezeer said, O my lord, who is he?
The King answered, Their brother Joodar: but, O Wezeer, send to him an
Emeer with fifty men to seize him and his two brothers, and to put seals
upon all his property, and to bring them to me that I may hang them. And
he was violently enraged, and said, Oh! quickly send to them an Emeer to
bring them to me that I may put them to death. But the Wezeer said to
him, Be clement, for God is clement: He is not hasty towards his servant
when he disobeyeth Him. He who hath built a palace in one night, as they
have said, no one in the world can be compared with him; and I fear for
the Emeer that some trouble may befall him from Joodar. Have patience,
therefore, that I may contrive for thee some plan, or till thou see the truth
of the case; and what thou desirest thou wilt attain, O King of the age:
So the King said, Contrive for me a plan, O Wezeer. The Wezeer replied,
Send to him the Emeer, and invite him to an entertainment. Then I will
pay all attention to him for thee, and make a show of friendship to him,
and ask him respecting his state. After that, thou shalt see: if his courage
be strong, we will employ some stratagem against him; and if his courage
be weak, seize thou him, and do with him as thou desirest. And the King
said, Send and invite him.
Accordingly he ordered an Emeer, whose name was the Emeer 'Osmán,
to go to Joodar and invite him, and say to him, The King summoneth thee
to an entertainment. And the King said to him, Return not but with him.
Now that Emeer was stupid, and haughty in mind; and when he descended,
he saw before the door of the palace [of Joodar] a eunuch sitting upon a
chair; and when the Emeer 'Osmán arrived at the palace, the eunuch rose
not to him, but remained as though no one were approaching him: yet there
were with the Emeer 'Osmán fifty men. And the Emeer 'Osmán came up,
672
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and said to him, O slave, where is thy master? He answered him, In the
palace. And he proceeded to speak to him in a reclining posture. So the
Emeer 'Osmán was enraged,and said to him, O ill-omened slave, art thou
not abashed at me, that when I speak to thee thou liest down like those
who have no shame? But he replied, Go along. Be not loquacious.—
And the Emeer heard not from him these words before he became infused
with rage, and, drawing forth his mace, he was about to beat the eunuch,
not knowing that he was a devil. When the eunuch, however, saw that he
had drawn forth the mace, he arose and rushed upon him, took the mace
from him, and struck him four blows; and when the fifty men saw it, the
beating of their master displeased them: they therefore drew their swords,
and desired to slay the slave. But he said to them, Do ye draw the swords,
O dogs? And he fell upon them, breaking the bones of every one whom
he smote with the mace, and drowning him in blood.
So they were routed before him, and ceased not to flee, while he still
beat them until they were far from the door of the palace, when he returned,
and seated himself again upon his chair, not caring for any one. But as to
the Emeer 'Osmán and his company, they returned routed and beaten until
they stood before the King Shems-ed-Dóleh, and they acquainted him with
that which had happened unto them, the Emeer 'Osmán saying to the King,
O King of the age, when I arrived at the door of the palace, I saw a eunuch
sitting at the door, upon a chair of gold, and he was haughty: when he beheld
me approaching him, he laid himself down, after he had been sitting, and
despised me, not rising to me; and I began to speak to him; but he replied
to me still lying down. So passion seized me, and I drew forth the mace
upon him, and was about to beat him; but he took the mace from me, and
beat me with it. He beat also my party, breaking their heads, and we fled
from before him, and could not prevail against him. Upon this, the King
was enraged, and he said, Let a hundred men go down to him. They there-
fore went down to him, and approached him; but he rose against them with
the mace, and ceased not to deal his blows among them until they fled from
before him; whereupon he returned, and seated himself again upon the chair.
So the hundred men went back; and when they came to the King, they
informed him, saying to him, O King of the age, we have fled from before
him in our fear of him. Then the King said, Let two hundred go down.
And they went down; but he routed them, and they returned. Therefore
the King said to the Wezeer, I require thee, O Wezeer, to go down with five
hundred men, and to bring me this eunuch quickly, together with his master
Joodar and his two brothers. He replied, O King of the age, I need not
soldiers; but I will go alone to him, without weapons. And the King said,
Go, and do what thou shalt see fit.
-
39
So the Wezeer threw down the weapon, clad himself in a white vesture,
and, taking in his hand a string of beads, walked alone, without a second
person, until he arrived at the palace of Joodar, and saw the slave sitting.
And when he saw him, he approached him without weapon, and seated
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
673
- -
----
himself by his side in a polite manner. Then he said, Peace be on you!
And the slave replied, And on you be peace, O human being! What dost
thou desire? When the Wezeer therefore heard him say, O human being
he knew that he was of the Jinn, and he trembled by reason of his fear, and
said to him, O my master, is thy master Joodar here? The slave answered,
Yes, in the palace. And the Wezeer said to him, O my master, go to him.
and say to him, The King Shems-ed-Dóleh inviteth thee, and maketh for
thee a banquet, and greeteth thee with peace, saying to thee, Honour my
abode, and eat of my banquet. So the slave replied, Stay thou here until
I consult him. Accordingly the Wezeer stayed, in a respectful posture, and
the Márid went up into the palace, and said to Joodar, Know, O my master,
that the King sent unto thee an Emeer, and I beat him; and there were
with him fifty men, and I routed them. Then he sent a hundred men, and
I beat them. Then he sent two hundred men, and I routed them. Then he
sent unto thee the Wezeer, without weapons, inviting thee to visit him and
to eat of his banquet. What then sayest thou? - Joodar replied, Go, bring
the Wezeer hither. So he descended from the palace, and said to him,
O Wezeer, answer the summons of my master. And he replied, On the head!
He ascended, and went in to Joodar, and he saw him to be greater than
the King, sitting upon furniture the like of which the King could not spread.
His mind was confounded by the beauty of the palace, and by its painting
and its furniture, which made the Wezeèr seem in comparison with him to
be a pauper. And he kissed the ground, and prayed for him; and Joodar
said to him, What is thy business, O Wezeer? O my master, he answered,
the King Shems-ed-Dóleh, thy friend, greeteth thee with peace, and is
desirous of beholding thy face, and he hath made for thee a banquet. Wilt
thou then comfort his heart? — Joodar replied, Since he is my friend, salute
him, and tell him to come unto me. So the Wezeer said to him, On the head.
Then Joodar took forth the seal-ring, and rubbed it, and the servant pre-
sented himself; and Joodar said to him, Bring me a dress, of the best of
apparel. He therefore brought him a dress; and Joodar said, Put on this,
O Wezeer. And he put it on. Joodar then said to him, Go: acquaint the
King with that which I have said. And he descended, wearing that dress,
the like of which he had never before worn, and, going in to the King,
informed him of the state of Joodar, and praised the palace with the things
that it contained; and he said, Joodar hath invited thee.
Upon this, the King said, Rise, O soldiers! So all of them rose upon
their feet. And he said, Mount your horses, and bring unto me my courser,
that we may go to Joodar. Then the King mounted, and took the troops,
and they repaired to Joodar's palace. Now as to Joodar, he said to the
Márid, I desire that thou bring us some 'Efreets of thy 'Óns, in the form
of human beings, to be as soldiers, and to stand in the court of the palace,
that the King may see them, and that they may terrify him and inspire him
with dread, so that his heart may tremble, and he may know that my power
is greater than his. He therefore brought two hundred in the garb of soldiers,
674
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
equipped with magnificent arms; and they were strong and bulky. - So
when the King arrived, he beheld the strong and bulky troop, and his heart
feared them. Then he went up into the palace, and entered into the presence
of Joodar, whom he saw sitting in a state in which no king nor sultán had
sat; and he saluted him, and raised his hands to his head before him. But
Joodar rose not to him, nor paid him honour, nor did he say to him, Sit:-
he left him standing till fear seized him, and he became unable either to sit
or to go forth, and began to say within himself, Were he in fear of me, he
had not left me unheeded, and probably he will do me some hurt, on account
of that which I did with his brothers. Then Joodar said, O King of the
age, it is not the proper business of such as you to tyrannize over men and
to take their goods. So he replied, O my master, blame me not; for covet-
ousness constrained me to do so, and destiny took effect; and were it not
for offence, there were no such thing as forgiveness. And he proceeded to
excuse himself to him for his former conduct, and to seek of him pardon
and lenity, to such a degree that among his expressions of apology he recited
to him these verses:
-
O thou of noble ancestors and gentle disposition, blame me not for that which hath pro-
ceeded from me.
If thou be an oppressor, we pardon thee: and if I be an oppressor, thou wilt pardon me.*
41
And he ceased not to humble himself before him until he said to him, May
God pardon thee! - and ordered him to sit. So he sat; and Joodar invested
him with the garments of mercy, and ordered his two brothers to spread
the table. Then, when they had eaten, he clad the King's company, and
treated them with honour; and after that, he ordered the King to depart.
He therefore went forth from the abode of Joodar; and every day after,
he used to go thither, and used not to hold his court save in Joodar's abode.
Their mutual familiarity and friendship increased, and they continued a while
in this state. But after that, the King had a private interview with his
Wezeer, and said to him, O Wezeer, I fear lest Joodar should slay me, and
take the kingdom from me. The Wezeer however replied, O King of the
age, as to the act of taking the kingdom, fear it not; for the state which
Joodar enjoyeth is more exalted than the state of the King, and the taking
of the kingdom would be a lowering of his dignity; but if thou fearest that
he will slay thee, thou hast a daughter: so marry her to him, and thou and
he will be of one condition. And he replied, O Wezeer, thou shalt be an
intermediary between me and him. The Wezeer therefore said to him, Invite
him to an entertainment in thy palace; then we will sit up at night in a
saloon, and command thou thy daughter to deck herself in the most mag-
nificent manner, and to pass by him from the door of the saloon; for as
soon as he seeth her, he will be enamoured of her; and when we perceive in
him that result, I will incline towards him and inform him that she is thy
daughter, and I will keep up a conversation with him as though thou hadst no
knowledge of the matter, so that he shall demand her of thee in marriage.
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
675
When thou shalt have married to him the damsel, thou and he will be one,
and thou wilt be secure from any injury on his part; and if he die, thou
wilt inherit largely from him. So the King replied, Thou hast spoken truth,
O my Wezeer. And he prepared the entertainment, and invited him.
-
Joodar therefore came to the Sultán's palace, and they sat in the saloon
in an exceeding sociableness until the close of the day. The King had sent
to his wife, desiring her to deck the damsel in the most magnificent manner,
and to pass with her by the door of the saloon. And she did as he had said.
She passed by with the damsel, and Joodar saw her; and she was endowed
with beauty and loveliness, having no equal. So when Joodar took an
accurate view of her, he said, Ah! and his limbs became loosened, passion
and desire became violent in him, ecstasy and distraction seized him, and
his complexion became sallow. The Wezeer therefore said to him, May
no harm befall thee, O my master! Wherefore do I see thee changed and
in pain? And he said, O Wezeer, whose daughter is this damsel? for she
hath captivated me, and deprived me of my reason. So he answered, This
is the daughter of thy friend the King; and if she please thee, I will speak
with the King, that he may marry her to thee. And Joodar said, O Wezeer,
speak to him, and I, by my life, will give thee what thou shalt desire, and will
give to the King what he shall desire as her dowry, and we will become
friends and connexions. The Wezeer replied, Thy desire must be accom-
plished. Then the Wezeer spoke to the King privately, saying to him,
O King of the age, Joodar is thy friend, and desireth affinity to thee, and
he hath requested thee, by me, to marry to him thy daughter, the lady
Asiyeh: therefore disappoint me not, but accept my intercession; and what-
ever thou shalt demand as her dowry, he will give thee. And the King
replied, The dowry hath been paid me,12 and the damsel is a slave-girl in his
service: I will marry her to him, and he will do a favour by accepting her.
43
They passed that night, and the King arose in the morning and held a
court, at which he caused the high and the low to be present, and the Sheykh
el-Islám +3 was there also. Then Joodar demanded the damsel in marriage,
and the King said, The dowry hath been paid. So they performed the
ceremony of the marriage-contract; and Joodar sent desiring that the pair
of saddle-bags containing the jewels [and gold] should be brought, and he
gave it to the King as the dowry of the damsel. The drums were beaten and
the pipes were sounded, the festal necklaces were strung, and Joodar took
the damsel as his wife. Thus he and the King became as one, and they
remained together for a period of days. Then the King died, and the troops
desired Joodar as Sultán, and they ceased not to urge him, while he refused
to comply with their request, until at last he consented. So they made him
Sultán; and he gave orders to build a congregational mosque over the
sepulchre of the King Shems-ed-Dóleh, and endowed it; and it is in the
district of El-Bundukaneeyeen. The house of Joodar was in the quarter
of El-Yemáneeyeh; and when he became Sultán, he constructed buildings
and a congregational mosque, and the quarter hath been named after him,
44
676
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
its name having become the Quarter of El-Joodareeyeh.15 He continue
as King some time, and made his two brothers wezeers; Sálim the wezeer o
his right hand, and Seleem the wezeer of his left; and they remained thu
one year, and no more.
----
After this, Sálim said to Seleem, O my brother, how long shall this stat
last? Shall we pass our lives entirely as servants of Joodar, and shall we
not enjoy dominion nor prosperity so long as Joodar is living? And how
shall we manage to kill him, said Seleem, and to take from him the seal-ring
and the pair of saddle-bags? Thou art more knowing than I: therefore
contrive for us a stratagem in order that we may kill him thereby. — Sálim
said, If I contrive for thee a stratagem by which to kill him, wilt thou
consent that I shall be Sultán, and that thou shalt be wezeer of the right
hand, and that the seal-ring shall be mine and the pair of saddle-bags thine?
Seleem answered, I consent. So they agreed to kill Joodar, on account of
the love of the world and of dominion. Then Seleem and Sálim contrived
a stratagem against Joodar, and said to him, O our brother, we desire that
we may glory in thee, and that thou wouldst enter our houses, and eat of
our banquet, and comfort our heart. And they proceeded to beguile him,
saying to him, Comfort our heart, and eat of our banquet. So he replied,
No harm. In the house of which of you will be the banquet? - Sálim
answered, In my house; and after thou shalt have eaten of my banquet,
thou shalt eat of the banquet of my brother. And he said, No harm: — and
I went with him to his house.
--
Then his brother placed the food for him, and put into it poison; and
when he had eaten, his flesh fell to pieces with his bones. So upon this,
Sálim arose to take the seal-ring from his finger; but it resisted his attempt:
therefore he cut off his finger with a knife. He then rubbed the ring, and
the Márid presented himself to him, saying, At thy service! Demand then
what thou wilt. And he said to him, Seize my brother, and slay him, and
take up the two, the poisoned and the slain, and throw them before the
troops. Accordingly he took Seleem and slew him, and took up the two,
and, going forth with them, cast them before the great officers of the army.
They were sitting at the table in the mak'ad of the house, eating; and when
they beheld Joodar and Seleem killed, they raised their hands from the food,
and fear disturbed them, and they said to the Márid, Who hath done these
deeds with the King and the Wezeer? So he answered them, Their brother
Sálim.
And, lo, Sálim approached them, and said, O soldiers, eat, and enjoy
yourselves; for I have obtained possession of the seal-ring from my brother
Joodar, and this Márid is the servant of the ring; he who is before you.
I ordered him to slay my brother Seleem, that he might not contend with
me for the kingdom, because he was treacherous, and I feared that he would
act treacherously towards me. And now this Joodar hath been put to death,
and I have become Sultán over you. Do ye accept me, or shall I rub the
ring, and shall its servant slay you, great and small? They answered him,
JOODAR AND THE ENCHANTED TREASURE
677
1
Te accept thee as King and Sultán. Then he gave orders to bury his two
rothers, and held a court; and some of the people attended the funeral,
hile others walked before him in the state-procession. And when they came
the court, he seated himself upon the throne, and they swore allegiance
phim as King; after which he said, I desire to perform the contract of my
carriage to the wife of my brother. They replied, When the period of
dowhood 46 shall have expired. But he said to them, I know not a period
widowhood nor anything else. By my head, I must take her as my wife
So they performed the ceremony of the contract for him, and
at and informed the wife of Joodar, the daughter of Shems-ed-Dóleh;
od she replied, Invite him to come in. And when he came in to her, she
ade a show of joy to him, receiving him with expressions of welcome. But
e put poison for him in the water, and destroyed him. Then she took the
eal-ring and broke it, that no one might thereafter possess it; and she rent
te pair of saddle-bags; after which she sent and informed the Sheykh
--Islám, and sent a message to him and the people, saying to them, Choose
r yourselves a King to be Sultán over you.
is night.
This is what hath come down to us of the Story of Joodar, entire and
xmplete.+7
47
XXIII
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
HERE was, in olden time, and in an ancient age and period, in the lan
of the Persians, a King named Sháh-Zemán,' and the place of h
residence was Khurásán. He had a hundred concubines; but he had no
been blest, during his whole life, with a male child by any of them, nor
female; and he reflected upon this, one day, and lamented that the greate
portion of his life had passed, and he had not been blessed with a male chil
to inherit the kingdom after him as he had inherited it from his fathers an
forefathers. So the utmost grief, and violent vexation, befell him on th
account.
Now while he was sitting one day, one of his memlooks came in to him
and said to him, O my lord, at the door is a slave-girl with a merchant
none more beautiful than she hath been seen. And he replied, Bring to m
the merchant and the slave-girl. The merchant and the slave-girl therefor
came to him; and when he saw her, he found her to resemble the Rudeynee
lance. She was wrapped in an izár of silk embroidered with gold, and th
merchant uncovered her face, whereupon the place was illuminated by he
beauty, and there hung down from her forehead seven locks of hair reaching
to her anklets, like the tails of horses. She had eyes bordered with kohl
and heavy hips, and slender waist: she was such as would cure the malady
of the sick, and extinguish the fire of the thirsty, and was as the poet hatl
Isaid in these verses:
-
I am enamoured of her: she is perfect in beauty, and perfect also in gravity and in
dignity.
She is neither tall nor short; but her hips are such that the izár is too narrow for them
Her stature is a mean between the small and the large: so there is neither tallness no
shortness to find fault with.
Her hair reacheth to her anklets [and is black as night,] but her face is ever like the day
The King, therefore, wondered at the sight of her, and at her beauty and
loveliness, and her stature and justness of form; and he said to the merchant
O sheykh, for how much is this damsel to be sold? The merchant answered.
O my lord, I purchased her for two thousand pieces of gold of the merchant
who owned her before me, and I have been for three years travelling with
her, and she hath cost, to the period of her arrival at this place, three thou-
sand pieces of gold; and she is a present from me unto thee. Upon this
the King conferred upon him a magnificent robe of honour, and gave orders
to present him with ten thousand pieces of gold. So he took them, and
678
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
679
kissed the hands of the King, thanking him for his bounty and beneficence,
and departed. Then the King committed the damsel to the tire-women, say-
ing to them, Amend the state of this damsel, and deck her, and furnish for
her a private chamber, and take her into it. He also gave orders to his
chamberlains that every thing which she required should be conveyed to her.
The seat of government where he resided was on the shore of the sea, and his
city was called the White City." And they conducted the damsel into a pri-
vate chamber, which chamber had windows overlooking the sea; and the
King commanded his chamberlains to close all the doors upon her after taking
to her all that she required.
The King then went in to visit the damsel; but she rose not to him, nor
took any notice of him. So the King said, It seemeth that she hath been
with people who have not taught her good manners. And looking at the
damsel, he saw her to be a person surpassing in beauty and loveliness, and in
stature and justness of form; her face was like the disk of the moon at the
full, or the shining sun in the clear sky; and he wondered at her beauty
and loveliness, and stature and justness of form, extolling the perfection of
God, the Creator: lauded be his power! then the King advanced to the dam-
sel, and seated himself by her side, pressed her to his bosom, and seated her
upon his thigh; and he kissed her lips, which he found to be sweeter than
honey. After this, he gave orders to bring tables of the richest viands, com-
prising dishes of every kind; and the King ate, and put morsels into her
mouth until she was satisfied; but she spoke not a single word. The King
talked to her, and inquired of her her name; but she was silent, not uttering
a word, nor returning him an answer, ceasing not to hang down her head
towards the ground; and what protected her from the anger of the King
was the excess of her beauty and loveliness, and her tenderness of manner.
So the King said within himself, Extolled be the perfection of God, the
Creator of this damsel! How elegant is she, saving that she doth not speak!
But perfection belongeth unto God, whose name be exalted! Then the
King asked the female slaves whether she had spoken; and they answered
him, From the time of her arrival to the present moment she hath not spoken
one word, and we have not heard her talk.
dedica
The King therefore caused some of the female slaves and concubines to
come, and ordered them to sing to her, and to make merry with her, think-
ing that then she might perhaps speak. Accordingly the female slaves and
concubines played before her with all kinds of musical instruments, and
enacted sports and other performances, and they sang so that every one who
was present was moved with delight, except the damsel, who looked at them
and was silent, neither laughing nor speaking. So the heart of the King was
contracted. He however inclined to her entirely, paying no regard to others,
but relinquishing all the rest of his concubines and favourites.
He remained with her a whole year, which seemed as one day, and still
she spoke not; and he said to her one day, when his love of her, and his
passion, were excessive, O desire of souls, verily the love I have for thee is
680
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
great, and I have relinquished for thy sake all my female slaves, and the
concubines and the women and the favourites, and made thee my worldly
portion, and been patient with thee a whole year. I beg God (whose name
be exalted!) that He will, in his grace, soften thy heart towards me, and
that thou mayest speak to me. Or, if thou be dumb, inform me by a sign,
that I may give up hope of thy speaking. I also beg of God (whose per-
fection be extolled!) that He will bless me by thee with a male child that
may inherit my kingdom after me; for I am single and solitary, having none
to be my heir, and my age hath become great. I conjure thee then by Allah,
if thou love me, that thou return me a reply. And upon this, the damsel
hung down her head towards the ground, meditating. Then she raised her
head, and smiled in the face of the King, whereat it appeared to the
King that lightning filled the private chamber; and she said, O magnanimous
King, and bold lion, God hath answered thy prayer; for I am about to bear
thee issue, and the time is [almost] come. But I know not whether the
child is male or female. And were it not for my being in this state, I had
not spoken to thee one word. And when the King heard what she said, his
face brightened up with joy and happiness, and he kissed her head and her
hands by reason of the violence of his joy, and said, Praise be to God who
hath favoured me with things that I desired; the first, thy speaking, and the
second, thy information that thou art about to bear me issue.
Then the King arose and went forth from her, and seated himself upon
the throne of his kingdom in a state of exceeding happiness; and he ordered
the Wezeer to give out to the poor and the needy and the widows and others
a hundred thousand pieces of gold as a thank-offering to God (whose name
be exalted!) and an alms on his part. So the Wezeer did as the King had
commanded him. And after that, the King went in to the damsel, and sat
with her, and embraced her and pressed her to his bosom, saying to her, O my
mistress, who ownest me as thy slave, wherefore hath been this silence, see-
ing that thou hast been with me a whole year, night and day, awake and
asleep, yet hast not spoken to me during this year, except on this day?
What then hath been the cause of thy silence?
The damsel answered, Hear, O King of the age, and know that I am a
poor person, a stranger, brokenhearted: I have become separated from my
mother and my family and my brother. And when the King heard her
words, he knew her desire, and he replied, As to thy saying that thou art
poor, there is no occasion for such an assertion; for all my kingdom and my
goods and possessions are at thy service, and I also have become thy mem-
look: and as to thy saying, I have become separated from my mother and
my family and my brother-inform me in what place they are, and I will
send to them, and bring them to thee. So she said to him, Know, O for-
tunate King, that my name is Jullanár of the Sea. My father was one
of the Kings of the Sea, and he died, and left to us the kingdom; but while
we were enjoying it, one of the Kings came upon us, and took the kingdom
from our hands. I have also a brother named Saleh," and my mother is of
4
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
681
the women of the sea; and I quarrelled with my brother, and swore that I
would throw myself into the hands of a man of the inhabitants of the land.
Accordingly I came forth from the sea, and sat upon the shore of an island
in the moonlight, and there passed by me a man who took me and conducted
me to his abode, and desired to make me his concubine; but I smote him upon
his head, and he almost died; wherefore he went forth and sold me to this
man from whom thou tookest me, and he was an excellent, virtuous man, a
person of religion and fidelity and kindness. But had not thy heart loved
me, and hadst thou not preferred me above all thy concubines, I had not re-
mained with thee one hour; for I should have cast myself into the sea from
this window, and gone to my mother and my people. I was ashamed, how-
ever, to go to them in the state in which I am; for they would imagine evil
of me, and would not believe me, even though I should swear to them, were
I to tell them that a King had purchased me with his money, and had made
me his worldly portion, and chosen me in preference to his wives and all
that his right hand possessed. This is my story, and peace be on thee!
-
-
---
And how, said the
She answered, We
And when he heard her words, he thanked her, and kissed her between
her eyes, and said to her, By Allah, O my mistress, and light of my eyes, I
cannot endure thy separation for one hour; and if thou quit me, I shall die
instantly. How then shall the affair be? She answered, O my master, the
time of the birth is near, and my family must come.
King, do they walk in the sea without being wetted?
walk in the sea as ye walk upon the land, through the influence of the names
engraved upon the seal of Suleyman the son of Dáood,. upon both of
whom be peace! But, O King, when my family and my brethren come, I
will inform them that thou boughtest me with thy money, and hast treated
Ime with kindness and beneficence, and it will be meet that thou confirm my
assertion to them. They will also see thy state with their eyes, and will
know that thou art a King, the son of a King. And thereupon the King
said, O my mistress, do what seemeth fit to thee, and what thou wishest;
for I will comply with thy desire in all that thou wilt do. And the damsel
said, Know, O King of the age, that we walk in the sea with our eyes open,
and see what is in it, and we see the sun and the moon and the stars of
the sky as on the face of the earth, and this hurteth us not. Know also,
that in the sea are many peoples and various forms of all the kinds that
are on the land; and know, moreover, that all that is on the land, in com-
parison with what is in the sea, is a very small matter. And the King won-
dered at her words.
-
-
Then the damsel took forth from her shoulders two pieces of Kamáree 7
aloes-wood, and took a bit of them, and, having lighted a fire in a perfuming-
vessel, threw into it that bit, and she uttered a loud whistle, and proceeded
to speak words which no one understood; whereupon a great smoke arose,
while the King looked on. After this, she said to the King, O my lord, arise
and conceal thyself in a closet, that I may shew thee my brother and my
mother and my family without their seeing thee; for I desire to bring them,
682
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and thou shalt see in this place, at this time, a wonder, and shalt wonder
at the various shapes and strange forms that God (whose name be exalted!)
hath created. So the King arose immediately, and entered a closet, and
looked to see what she would do. And she proceeded to burn perfume and
repeat spells until the sea foamed and was agitated, and there came forth
from it a young man of comely form, of beautiful countenance, like the moon
at the full, with shining forehead, and red cheek, and hair resembling pearls
and jewels; he was, of all the creation, the most like to his sister, and the
tongue of the case itself seemed to recite in his praise these verses:
The moon becometh perfect once in each month; but the loveliness of thy face is perfect
every day.
Its abode is in the heart of one sign at a time; but thine abode is in all hearts at once.
Afterwards, there came forth from the sea a grizzly-haired old woman, and
with her five damsels, resembling moons, and bearing a likeness to the dam-
sel whose name was Jullanár. Then the King saw the young man and the
old woman and the damsels walk upon the surface of the water until they
came to the damsel Jullanár; and when they drew near to the window, and
Jullanár beheld them, she rose to them and met them with joy and happiness.
On their seeing her, they knew her, and they went in to her and embraced
her, weeping violently; and they said to her, O Jullanár, how is it that thou
leavest us for four years, and we know not the place in which thou art?
By Allah, the world was contracted unto us, by reason of the distress occa-
sioned by the separation, and we had no delight in food nor in drink a single
day, weeping night and day on account of the excess of our longing to see
thee. Then the damsel began to kiss the hand of the young man her
brother, and the hand of her mother, and so also the hands of the daughters
of her uncle, and they sat with her a while, asking her respecting her state,
and the things that had happened to her, and her present condition.
So she said to them, Know ye, that when I quitted you, and came forth
from the sea, I sat upon the shore of an island, and a man took me, and sold
me to a merchant, and the merchant brought me to this city, and sold me to
its King for ten thousand pieces of gold. Then he treated me with atten-
tion, and forsook all his concubines and his women and his favourites for my
sake, and was diverted by his regard for me from every thing that he pos-
sessed and what was in his city. - And when her brother heard her words,
he said, Praise be to God who hath reunited us with thee! But it is my
desire, O my sister, that thou wouldst arise and go with us to our country
and our family.
So when the King heard the words of her brother, his reason fled in con-
sequence of his fear lest the damsel should accept the proposal of her brother,
and he could not prevent her, though he was inflamed with love of her:
wherefore he became perplexed, in violent fear of her separation. But as to
the damsel Jullanár, on hearing the words of her brother, she said, By Allah,
O my brother, the man who purchased me is the King of this city, and he is
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
683
a great King, and a man of wisdom, generous, of the utmost liberality. He
hath treated me with honour, and he is a person of kindness, and of great
wealth, but hath no male child nor a female. He hath shewn favour to me,
and acted well to me in every respect; and from the day when I came to him
to the present time, I have not heard from him a bad word to grieve my
heart; but he hath not ceased to treat me with courtesy, and hath done
nothing without consulting me, and I am living with him in the best of states,
and the most perfect of enjoyments. Moreover, if I quitted him, he would
perish: for he can never endure my separation even for a single hour. I
also, if I quitted him, should die, by reason of the violence of my love for
him in consequence of the excess of his kindness to me during the period of
my residence with him; for if my father were living, my condition with him
would not be like my condition with this great, glorious King. Ye have seen,
too, that I am about to bear him issue; and praise be to God who hath made
me to be a daughter of a King of the Sea, and my husband the greatest of
the Kings of the Land. God (whose name be exalted!) afflicted me not,
but compensated me well; and as the King hath not a male child nor a
female, I beg God (whose name be exalted!) to bless me with a male child
that may inherit of this great King these buildings and palaces and posses-
sions of which God hath made him owner.
And when her brother, and the daughters of her uncle, heard her words,
their eyes became cheerful thereat, and they said to her, O Jullanár, thou
knowest the place which thou hast in our estimation, and art acquainted with
our affection for thee, and thou art assured that thou art the dearest of all
persons to us, and art certain that we desire for thee comfort, without trouble
or toil. Therefore if thou be not in a state of comfort, arise and accompany
us to our country and our family; but if thou be comfortable here, in honour
and happiness, this is our desire and wish; for we desire not aught save thy
comfort in every respect. And Jullanár replied, By Allah, I am in a state
of the utmost comfort and enjoyment, in honour and desirable happiness.
So when the King heard these words from her, he rejoiced, and his heart be-
came tranquillized, and he thanked her for them; his love for her increased,
and penetrated to his heart's core, and he knew that she loved him as he
loved her, and that she desired to remain with him to see his child which she
was to bear him.
Then the damsel Jullanár of the Sea gave orders to the female slaves to
bring forward the tables and the viands of all kinds; and Jullanár herself was
the person who superintended the preparation of the viands in the kitchen.
So the female slaves brought to them the viands and the sweetmeats and the
fruits; and she ate with her family. But afterwards they said to her, O
Jullanár, thy master is a man who is a stranger to us, and we have entered
his abode without his permission and without his knowledge of us, and thou
praisest to us his excellence, and hast also brought to us his food, and we
have eaten, but have not had an interview with him, nor seen him, nor hath
he seen us, nor come into our presence, nor eaten with us, that the bond of
684
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
8
bread and salt might be established between us. And they all desisted from
eating, and were enraged at her, and fire began to issue from their mouths as
from cressets. So when the King beheld this, his reason fled, in consequence
of the violence of his fear of them. Then Jullanár rose to them, and soothed
their hearts; after which she walked along until she entered the closet in
which was the King her master; and she said to him, O my master, didst thou
see, and didst thou hear my thanks to thee, and my praise of thee in the
presence of my family; and didst thou hear what they said to me, that they
desired to take me with them to our family and our country?
-
The King answered her, I heard and saw. May God recompense thee for
us well! By Allah, I knew not the extent of the love that thou feelest for
me until this blessed hour, and I doubt not of thy love for me. She replied,
O my master, is the recompense of beneficence aught but beneficence? Thou
hast treated me with beneficence, and bestowed upon me great favours, and
I see that thou lovest me with the utmost love, and thou hast shewn me
every kindness, and preferred me above all whom thou lovest and desirest.
How then could my heart be happy to quit thee, and to depart from thee;
and how could that be when thou bestowest benefits and favours upon me?
Now I desire of thy goodness that thou come and salute my family, and see
them, and that they may see thee, and that pleasure and mutual friendship
may ensue. But know, O King of the age, that my brother and my mother
and the daughters of my uncle have conceived a great love for thee in con-
sequence of my praising thee to them, and they have said, We will not depart
from thee to our country until we have an interview with the King, and
salute him. So they desire to behold thee, and to become familiar with
thee. And the King said to her, I hear and obey; for this is what I de-
sire. He then rose from his place, and went to them, and saluted them with
the best salutation; and they hastened to rise to him; they met him in the
most polite manner, and he sat with them in the pavilion, ate with them at
the table, and remained with them for a period of thirty days. Then they
desired to return to their country and abode. So they took leave of the
King, and the Queen Jullanár of the Sea, and departed from them, after the
King had treated them with the utmost honour.
After this, Jullanár fulfilled her period, and she gave birth to a boy, re-
sembling the moon at the full, whereat the King experienced the utmost hap-
piness, because he had not before been blessed with a son nor a daughter
during his life. They continued the rejoicings, and the decoration [of the
city], for a period of seven days, in the utmost happiness and enjoyment; and
on the seventh day, the mother of the Queen Jullanár, and her brother, and
the daughters of her uncle, all came, when they knew that Jullanár had given
birth to her child. The King met them, rejoicing at their arrival, and said
to them, I said that I would not name my son until ye should come, and that
ye should name him according to your knowledge. And they named him
Bedr Básim; all of them agreeing as to this name. They then presented
the boy to his maternal uncle, Sáleh, who took him upon his hands, and,
9
1
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
685
rising with him from among them, walked about the palace to the right and
left; after which, he went forth with him from the palace, descended with
him to the sea, and walked on until he became concealed from the eye of the
King. So when the King saw that he had taken his son, and disappeared
from him at the bottom of the sea, he despaired of him, and began to weep
and wail. But Jullanár, seeing him in this state, said to him, O King of
the age,
fear not nor grieve for thy son; for I love my child more than thou,
and my child is with my brother; therefore care not for the sea, nor fear
his being drowned. If my brother knew that any injury would betide the
little one, he had not done what he hath done; and presently he will bring
thee thy son safe, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted!
And but a short time had elapsed when the sea was agitated and dis-
turbed, and the uncle of the little one came forth from it, having with him
the King's son safe, and he flew from the sea until he came to them, with
the little one in his arms, silent, and his face resembling the moon in the
night of its fulness. Then the uncle of the little one looked towards the
King, and said to him, Perhaps thou fearedst some injury to thy son when
I descended into the sea, having him with me. So he replied, Yes, O my
master, I feared for him, and I did not imagine that he would ever come forth
from it safe. And Saleh said to him, O King of the land, we applied to his
eyes a collyrium that we know, and repeated over him the names engraved
upon the seal of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!);
for when a child is born among us, we do to him as I have told thee. Fear
not therefore, on his account, drowning nor suffocation, nor all the seas if he
descend into them. Like as ye walk upon the land, we walk in the sea.
He then took forth from his pocket a case, written upon, and sealed; and
he broke its seal, and scattered its contents, whereupon there fell from it
strung jewels, consisting of all kinds of jacinths and other gems, together with
three hundred oblong emeralds, and three hundred oblong large jewels, of the
size of the eggs of the ostrich, the light of which was more resplendent than
the light of the sun and the moon. And he said, O King of the age, these
jewels and jacinths are a present from me unto thee; for we never brought
thee a present, because we knew not the place of Jullanár's abode, nor were
acquainted with any trace or tidings of her. So when we saw thee to have
become united to her, and that we all had become one, we brought thee this
present; and after every period of a few days, we will bring thee the like of
it, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! For these jewels and
jacinths with us are more plentiful than the gravel upon the land, and we
know the excellent among them, and the bad, and all the ways to them, and
the places where they are found, and they are easy of access to us. And
when the King looked at those jewels and jacinths, his reason was con-
founded and his mind was bewildered, and he said, By Allah, one of these
jewels is worth my kingdom! Then the King thanked Sáleh of the Sea for
his generosity, and, looking towards the Queen Jullanár, he said to her, I am
abashed at thy brother; for he hath shewn favour to me, and presented me
686
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
with this magnificent present, which the people of the earth would fail to
procure. So Jullanár thanked her brother for that which he had done; but
her brother said, O King of the age, thou hadst a prior claim upon us, and
to thank thee hath been incumbent on us; for thou hast treated my sister
with beneficence, and we have entered thine abode, and eaten of thy provision;
and the poet hath said,-
Had I wept before she did, in my passion for Soadà, I had healed my soul before re-
pentance came.
But she wept before I did: her tears drew mine; and I said, The merit belongs to the
precedent.
----
Then Sáleh said, If we stood serving thee, O King of the age, a thousand
years, regarding nothing else, we could not requite thee, and our doing so
would be but a small thing in comparison with thy desert. The King there-
fore thanked him eloquently. And Sáleh remained with the King, he and
his mother and the daughters of his uncle, forty days; after which he arose
and kissed the ground before the King, the husband of his sister. So the
King said to him, What dost thou desire, O Sáleh? And he answered, 0
King of the age, thou hast conferred favours upon us, and we desire of thy
goodness that thou wouldst grant us a boon, and give us permission to de-
part; for we have become desirous of seeing again our family and our coun-
try and our relations and our homes. We will not, however, relinquish the
service of thee, nor that of my sister nor the son of my sister; and by Allah,
O King of the age, to quit you is not pleasant to my heart; but how can we
act, when we have been reared in the sea, and the land is not agreeable to
us? So when the King heard his words, he rose upon his feet, and bade
farewell to Sáleh of the Sea and his mother and the daughters of his uncle,
and they wept together on account of the separation. Then they said to the
King, In a short time we shall be with you, and we will never relinquish you,
but after every period of a few days we will visit you. And after this, they
flew towards the sea, and descended into it, and disappeared.
—
The King treated Jullanár with beneficence, and honoured her exceed-
ingly, and the little one grew up well; and his maternal uncle, with his grand-
mother and the daughters of his uncle, after every period of a few days used
to come to the residence of the King, and to remain with him a month, and
two months, and then return to their places. The boy ceased not, with
increase of age, to increase in beauty and loveliness until his age became
fifteen years; and he was incomparable in his perfect beauty, and his stature
and his justness of form. He had learned writing and reading, and history
and grammar and philology, and archery; and he learned to play with the
spear; and he also learned horsemanship, and all that the sons of the Kings
required. There was not one of the children of the inhabitants of the city,
men and women, that talked not of the charms of that young man; for he
was of surpassing loveliness and perfection; and the King loved him greatly.
Then the King summoned the Wezeer and the emeers, and the lords of the
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
687
empire, and the great men of the kingdom, and made them swear by binding
oaths that they would make Bedr Básim King over them after his father; so
they swore to him by binding oaths, and rejoiced thereat; and the King
himself was beneficent to the people, courteous in speech, of auspicious aspect,
saying nothing but what was for the good of the people.
And on the following day, the King mounted, together with the lords of
the empire and all the emeers, and all the soldiers walked with him through
the city and returned; and when they drew near to the palace, the King dis-
mounted to wait upon his son, and he and all the emeers and the lords of
the empire bore the gháshiyeh 10 before him. Each one of the emeers and
the lords of the empire bore the gháshiyeh a while; and they ceased not to
proceed until they arrived at the vestibule of the palace; the King's son rid-
ing. Thereupon he alighted, and his father embraced him, he and the emeers,
and they seated him upon the throne of the kingdom, while his father stood,
as also did the emeers, before him. Then Bedr Básim judged the people,
displaced the tyrannical and invested the just, and continued to give judg-
ment until near midday, when he rose from the throne of the kingdom, and
went in to his mother Jullanár of the Sea, having upon his head the crown,
and resembling the moon. So when his mother saw him, and the King be-
fore him, she rose to him and kissed him, and congratulated him on his eleva-
tion to the dignity of Sultán; and she offered up a prayer in favour of him
and his father for length of life, and victory over their enemies. He then
sat with his mother and rested; and when the time of afternoon-prayers
arrived, he rode with the emeers before him until he came to the horse-
course, where he played with arms till the time of nightfall, together with
his father and the lords of his empire; after which he returned to the palace,
with all the people before him. Every day he used to ride to the horse-
course; and when he returned, he sat to judge the people, and administered
justice between the emeer and the poor man. He ceased not to do thus for
a whole year; and after that, he used to ride to the chase, and to go about
through the cities and provinces that were under his rule making proclamation.
of safety and security, and doing as do the Kings; and he was incomparable
among the people of his age in glory and courage, and in justice to the people.
Now it came to pass that the old King, the father of Bedr Básim, fell sick
one day, whereupon his heart throbbed, and he felt that he was about to be
removed to the mansion of eternity. Then his malady increased so that he
was at the point of death. He therefore summoned his son, and charged
him to take care of his subjects and his mother and all the lords of his
empire and all the dependants. He also made them swear and covenanted
with them, that they would obey his son, a second time; and he confided in
their oaths. And after this he remained a few days, and was admitted to the
mercy of God, whose name be exalted! His son Bedr Básim, and his wife
Jullanár and the emeers and wezeers and the lords of the empire mourned
over him; and they made for him a tomb, and buried him in it, and con-
tinued the ceremonies of mourning for him a whole month. Saleh, the
688
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
brother of Jullanár, and her mother, and the daughters of her uncle, a
came, and consoled them for the loss of the King; and they said, O Jullan:
if the King hath died, he hath left this ingenuous youth, and he who ha
left such as he is hath not died. This is he who hath not an equal, t
crushing lion, and the splendid moon. Then the lords of the empire, ar
the grandees, went in to the King Bedr Básim, and said to him, O King, the
is no harm in mourning for the King; but mourning becometh not any say
women; therefore trouble not thy heart and ours by mourning for thy fathe
for he hath died and left thee, and he who hath left such as thou art hath no
died. They proceeded to address him with soft words, and to console hin
and after that they conducted him into the bath; and when he came fort
from the bath, he put on a magnificent suit woven of gold, adorned wit
jewels and jacinths, and he put the royal crown upon his head, seated himse
upon the throne of his kingdom, and performed the affairs of the people
deciding equitably between the strong and the weak, and exacting for the poo
man his due from the emeer; wherefore the people loved him exceedingly
Thus he continued to do for the space of a whole year; and after every shor
period, his family of the sea visited him; so his life was pleasant, and his ey
was cheerful: and he ceased not to live in this state for a length of time.
king bedr básiM AND QUEEN JÓHarah of the SEA
After this it happened that his maternal uncle came in one night tc
Jullanár, and saluted her; whereupon she rose to him and embraced him,
and seated him by her side, and said to him, O my brother, how art thou,
and how are my mother and the daughters of my uncle? He answered her,
O my sister, they are well, in prosperity and great happiness, and nothing is
wanting to them but the sight of thy face. Then she offered him some food,
and he ate; and, conversation ensuing between them, they mentioned the
King Bedr Básim, and his beauty and loveliness, and his stature and justness
of form, and his horsemanship and intelligence and polite accomplishments.
Now the King Bedr Básim was reclining; and when he heard his mother
and his uncle mentioning him and conversing respecting him, he pretended
that he was asleep, and listened to their talk. And Sáleh said to his sister
Jullanár, The age of thy son is seventeen years, and he hath not married, and
we fear that something may happen to him, and he may not have a son. I
therefore desire to marry him to one of the Queens of the Sea, that shall be
like him in beauty and loveliness. So Jullanár replied, Mention them to
me; for I know them. Accordingly he proceeded to enumerate them to her,
one after another, while she said, I approve not of this for my son, nor will
I marry him save to her who is like him in beauty and loveliness, and in-
telligence and religion, and polite accomplishments and kindness of nature,
and dominion and rank and descent. And he said to her, I know not one
more of the daughters of the Kings of the Sea, and I have enumerated to
thee more than a hundred damsels, yet not one of them pleaseth thee: but
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
689
see, O my sister, whether thy son be asleep or not. She therefore felt him,
and she found that he bore the appearance of sleep: so she said to him, He is
asleep: what then hast thou to say, and what is thy desire with regard to
his sleeping?
He answered her, O my sister, know that I have remembered a damsel,
of the damsels of the Sea, suitable to thy son; but I fear to mention her, lest
thy son should be awake, and his heart should be entangled by love of her,
and perhaps we may not be able to gain access to her: so he and we and the
lords of his empire would be wearied, and trouble would befall us in conse-
quence thereof. The poet hath said,
Love, at its commencement, is like running saliva; but when it hath gained ascendancy,
it is like a wide sea.
– And when his sister heard his words, she replied, Tell me what is the con-
dition of this damsel, and what is her name; for I know the damsels of the
Sea, the daughters of Kings and of others; and if I see her to be suitable to
him, I will demand her in marriage of her father, though I expend upon her
all that my hand possesseth. Acquaint me therefore with her, and fear not
aught; for my son is asleep. He said, I fear that he may be awake; and
the poet hath said,
---
I loved her when her qualities were described; for sometimes the ear loveth before the
eye.
14
But Jullanár replied, Say, and be brief, and fear not, O my brother. And he
said, By Allah, O my sister, none is suitable to thy son except the Queen
Jóharah,¹¹ the daughter of the King Es-Semendel,12 and she is like him in
beauty and loveliness and elegance and perfection, and there existeth not in
the sea nor on the land any one more graceful or more sweet in natural en-
dowments than she. For she hath beauty and loveliness, and handsome
stature and just form, and red cheek and bright forehead, and hair like
jewels,¹³ and large black eye, and heavy hips and a slender waist, and a lovely
countenance. When she looketh aside, she putteth to shame the wild cows
and the gazelles; and when she walketh with a vacillating gait, the willow-
branch is envious; and when she displayeth her countenance, she confoundeth
the sun and the moon, and captivateth every beholder: she is sweet-lipped,
gentle in disposition. And when she heard the words of her brother, she
replied, Thou hast spoken truth, O my brother. By Allah, I have seen her
many times, and she was my companion when we were little children; but
now we have no acquaintance with each other, because of the distance be-
tween us; and for eighteen years I have not seen her. By Allah, none is
suitable to my son except her.
-
Now when Bedr Básim heard their words and understood what they said
from first to last in description of the damsel that Sáleh mentioned, Jóharah
the daughter of the King Es-Semendel, he became enamoured of her by the
ear; but he pretended to them that he was asleep. A flame of fire was
690
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
kindled in his heart on her account, and he was drowned in a sea of which
neither shore nor bottom was seen. Then Sáleh looked towards his sister
Jullanár, and said to her, By Allah, O my sister, there is not among the
Kings of the Sea any one more stupid than her father, nor is there any of
greater power than he. Therefore acquaint not thy son with the case of this
damsel until we demand her in marriage for him of her father; and if he
favour us by assenting to our proposal, we praise God (whose name be ex-
alted!); and if he reject us, and marry her not to thy son, we will remain
at ease, and demand in marriage another. And when Jullanár heard what
her brother Sáleh said, she replied, Excellent is the opinion that thou hast
formed. Then they were silent; and they passed that night.
-
In the heart of the King Bedr Básim was a flame of fire, kindled by his
passion for the Queen Jóharah; but he concealed his case, and said not to
his mother nor to his uncle aught respecting her, though he was tortured by
love of her as though he were on burning coals. And when they arose in
the morning, the King and his uncle entered the bath, and washed: then
they came forth, and drank some wine, and the attendants placed before
them the food: so the King Bedr Básim and his mother and his uncle ate
until they were satisfied, and washed their hands. And after that, Sáleh
rose upon his feet, and said to the King Bedr Básim and his mother Julla-
nár, With your permission, I would go to my mother; for I have been with
you a period of days, and the hearts of my family are troubled respecting me,
and they are expecting me. But the King Bedr Básim said to his uncle
Sáleh, Remain with us this day. And he complied with his request.
Bedr Básim then said Arise with us, O my uncle, and go forth with us
to the garden. So they went to the garden, and proceeded to divert and
recreate themselves; and the King Bedr Básim seated himself beneath a
shady tree, desiring to rest and sleep; but he remembred what his uncle Sáleh
had said, describing the damsel and her beauty and loveliness, and he shed
many tears, and recited these two verses:
Were it said to me, while the flame is burning within me, and the fire blazing in my heart
and bowels,
Wouldst thou rather that thou shouldst behold them, or a draught of pure water?—I
would answer, Them.
Then he lamented and groaned and wept, and recited these two other
verses:
Who will save me from the love of a charming gazelle, with a face like the sun: nay,
more lovely?
My heart was at ease, free from love of her; but now burneth with passion for the
daughter of Es-Semendel.
So when his uncle Sáleh heard what he said, he struck hand upon hand, and
said, There is no deity but God: Mohammad is the Apostle of God: and there
is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! Then he said to
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
691
him, Didst thou hear, O my son, what I and thy mother said respecting the
Queen Jóharah, and our mention of her qualities? Bedr Básim answered,
Yes, O my uncle, and I became enamoured of her from hearsay, when I
heard what ye said. My heart is devoted to her, and I have not patience to
remain absent from her. Sáleh therefore said to him, O King, let us re-
turn to thy mother and acquaint her with the case, and I will ask her to
permit me to take thee with me and to demand in marriage for thee the Queen
Jóharah. Then we will bid her farewell, and I will return with thee; for I
fear that, if I took thee and went without her permission, she would be
incensed against me; and she would be right, as I should be the cause of
your separation, like as I was the cause of her separation from us. The city,
-
too, would be without a King, its people having none to govern them, and to
see to their cases: so the state of the empire would become adverse unto thee,
and the kingdom would depart from thy hand. But when Bedr Básim
heard the words of his uncle Sáleh, he replied, Know, O my uncle, that if
I return to my mother and consult her on this subject she will not allow me
to do it; therefore I will not return to her, nor consult her ever. And he
wept before his uncle, and said to him, I will go with thee, and I will not in-
form her, and then I will return. So when Sáleh heard the words of his
sister's son, he was perplexed at his case, and said, I beg aid of God (whose
name be exalted!) in every circumstance.
Then Sáleh, seeing his sister's son in this state, and knowing that he de-
sired not to return to his mother, but would go with him, took from his
finger a seal-ring on which were engraved some of the names of God (whose
name be exalted!), and handed it to the King Bedr Básim, saying to him,
Put this upon thy finger, and thou wilt be secure from drowning and from
other accidents, and from the noxiousness of the beasts of the sea and its
great fishes. So the King Bedr Básim took the seal-ring from his uncle.
Sáleh, and put it upon his finger; after which, they plunged into the sea, and
ceased not in their course until they arrived at the palace of Saleh, when they
entered it, and Bedr Básim's grandmother, the mother of his mother, saw
him, as she sat, attended by her relations. When they went in to them, they
kissed their hands; and as soon as Bedr Básim's grandmother saw him, she
rose to him and embraced him, kissed him between the eyes, and said to him,
Thine arrival is blessed, O my son! How didst thou leave thy mother Julla-
nár? He answered her, Well; in prosperity and health; and she saluteth
thee and the daughters of her uncle. Then Sáleh acquainted his mother with
that which had occurred between him and his sister Jullanár, and that the
King Bedr Básim had become enamoured of the Queen Jóharah, the daughter
of the King Es-Semendel, from hearsay. He related to her the story from.
beginning to end, and said, He hath not come but for the purpose of de-
manding her in marriage of her father, and marrying her.
But when the grandmother of the King Bedr Básim heard the words of
Sáleh, she was violently incensed against him, and was agitated and grieved,
and she said to him, O my son, thou hast erred in mentioning the Queen
692
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Jóharah, the daughter of the King Es-Semendel, before the son of thy sister;
for thou knowest that the King Es-Semendel is stupid, overbearing, of little
sense, of great power, niggardly of his daughter Jóharah towards those who
demand her in marriage; for all the Kings of the Sea have demanded her of
him, and he refused, and approved not one of them, but rejected them all,
and said to them, Ye are not equal to her in beauty nor in loveliness, nor in
other qualities than those. And we fear to demand her in marriage of her
father; for he would reject us as he hath rejected others; and we are people
of kindness; so we should return broken-hearted. And when Sáleh heard
what his mother said, he replied, O my mother, what is to be done? For
the King Bedr Básim became enamoured of this damsel when I mentioned
her to my sister Jullanár, and he said, We must demand her in marriage of
her father though I should give away all my kingdom. And he hath asserted
that if he marry her not he will die of love and desire for her.
-
Then Sáleh said to his mother, Know that the son of my sister is more
beautiful and more lovely than she, and that his father was King of all
the Persians, and he is now their King, and Jóharah is not suitable to any but
him. I have resolved that I will take [to her father] some jewels, consisting
of jacinths and other gems, and convey a present befitting him, and demand
her of him in marriage. If he allege as a pretext to us that he is a King, so
also is he a King, the son of a King. And if he allege as a pretext to us i
her loveliness, he is more lovely than she. Again, if he allege as a pretext to
us the extent of dominions, he hath more extensive dominions than she and
than her father, and hath more numerous troops and guards; for his kingdom
is greater than the kingdom of her father. I must endeavour to accomplish
this affair of the son of my sister, though my life be lost thereby, since I was
the cause of this event; and as I cast him into the seas of her love, I will
strive to effect his marriage to her; and may God (whose name be exalted!)
aid me to do that! So his mother said to him, Do as thou wilt, and be-
ware of speaking rudely to him when thou addressest him; for thou know-
est his stupidity and his power, and I fear lest he make a violent attack upon
thee, since he knoweth not the dignity of any one. And he replied, I hear
and obey.
He then arose, and took with him two leathern bags full of jewels and
jacinths, and oblong emeralds, and precious minerals of all kinds of stones.
and, having made his young men carry them, he proceeded with them, he and
the son of his sister, to the palace of the King Es-Semendel. He asked per
mission to go in to him, and permission was given him; and when he entered,
he kissed the ground before him, and saluted with the best salutation. And
when the King Es-Semendel saw him, he rose to him, treated him with the
utmost honour, and ordered him to sit. So he sat, and after he had been
seated a while, the King said to him, Thine arrival is blessed. Thou hast
made us desolate by thine absence, O Sáleh. What is thy want, that thou
hast come unto us? Acquaint me with thy want, that I may perform it for
thee. And upon this he rose, and kissed the ground a second time, and said,
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
693
O King of the age, my want respecteth God, and the magnanimous King, and
the bold lion, the report of whose good qualities the caravans have borne
abroad, and whose fame hath been published in the provinces and cities,
for liberality and beneficence, and pardon and clemency and obliging con-
duct. Then he opened the two leathern bags, and took forth from them.
the jewels and other things, and scattered them before the King Es-Semendel,
saying to him, O King of the age, perhaps thou wilt accept my present, and
shew favour to me, and comfort my heart by accepting it from me. Upon
this, the King Es-Semendel said to him, For what reason hast thou presented
to me this present? Tell me thine affair, and acquaint me with thy want;
and if I be able to perform it, I will perform it for thee this instant, and not
oblige thee to weary thyself; but if I be unable to perform it, God imposeth
not upon a person aught save what he is able to accomplish.15
Then Sáleh rose, and kissed the ground three times, and said, O King of
the age, verily the thing that I require thou art able to perform, and it is
in thy power, and thou art master of it. I impose not upon the King a
difficulty, nor am I mad, that I should ask of the King a thing that he is
unable to do; for one of the sages hath said, If thou desire that thy request
should be complied with, ask that which is possible. Now as to the thing
that I have come to demand, the King (may God preserve him!) is able to
do it. So the King said to him, Ask the thing that thou requirest, and
explain thine affair, and demand what thou desirest. And he said to him,
O King of the age, know that I have come to thee as a marriage-suitor, de-
siring the unique pearl, and the hidden jewel, the Queen Jóharah, the daugh-
ter of our lord; then disappoint not, O King, him who applieth to thee.
-
But when the King heard his words, he laughed so that he fell backwards,
in derision of him, and replied, O Sáleh, I used to think thee a man of sense,
and an excellent young man, who attempted not aught but what was right,
and uttered not aught but what was just. What hath happened to thy
reason, and urged thee to this monstrous thing, and great peril, that thou
demandest in marriage the daughters of Kings, the lords of cities and prov-
inces. Art thou of a rank to attain to this high eminence, and hath thy
reason decreased to this extreme degree that thou confrontest me with these
words? So Sáleh said, May God amend the state of the King! I de-
manded her not in marriage for myself; yet if I demanded her for myself, I
am her equal; nay more; for thou knowest that my father was one of the
Kings of the Sea, if thou art now our King. But I demanded her not in
marriage save for the King Bedr Básim, lord of the provinces of Persia, whose
father was the King Sháh-Zemán, and thou knowest his power. If thou
assert that thou art a great King, the King Bedr Básim is a greater King:
and if thou boastest that thy daughter is lovely, the King Bedr Básim is
more lovely than she, and more beautiful in form, and more excellent in rank
and descent; and he is the horseman of his age. So if thou assent to that
which I have asked of thee, thou wilt, O King of the age, have put the thing
in its proper place; and if thou behave arrogantly towards us, thou treatest us
694
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
not equitably, nor pursuest with us the right way. Thou knowest, O King
that this Queen Jóharah, the daughter of our lord the King, must be married;
for the sage saith, The inevitable lot of the damsel is either marriage or the
grave; - and if thou design to marry her, the son of my sister is more worthy
of her than all the rest of men.
----
But when the King Es-Semendel heard the words of the King Sáleh, he
was violently enraged; his reason almost departed, and his soul almost quitted
his body, and he said to him, O dog of men, doth such a one as thyself
address me with these words, and dost thou mention my daughter in the
assemblies, and say that the son of thy sister Jullanár is her equal? Who
then art thou, and who is thy sister, and who is her son, and who was his
father, that thou sayest to me these words, and addressest me with this dis-
course? Are ye, in comparison with her, aught but dogs? - Then he called
out to his young men, and said, O young men, take the head of this young
wretch!
So they took the swords and drew them, and sought to slay him; but he
turned his back in flight, seeking the gate of the palace; and when he arrived
at the gate of the palace, he saw the sons of his uncle, and his relations and
tribe and young men, who were more than a thousand horsemen, buried in
iron and in coats of mail put one over another, and having in their hands
spears and bright swords. On their seeing Sáleh in this state, they said to
him, What is the news? He therefore told them his story. And his mother
had sent them to his assistance. So when they heard his words, they knew
that the King was stupid and of great power, and they alighted from their
horses, and drew their swords, and went in to the King Es-Semendel. They
saw him sitting upon the throne of his kingdom, heedless of these people, and
violently enraged against Sáleh; and they saw his servants and his young men
and his guards unprepared; and when he beheld them, with the drawn swords
in their hands, he called out to his people, saying, Oh! wo to you! Take ye
the heads of these dogs! - But there had not elapsed more than a little
while before the party of the King Es-Semendel were routed, and betook
themselves to flight; and Sáleh and his relations had seized the King Es-
Semendel, and bound his hands behind him.
-
Now Jóharah, awakening from sleep, was informed that her father was
taken a captive, and that his guards had been slain. So she went forth from
the palace, and fled to one of the islands, where she repaired to a lofty tree,
and she concealed herself upon it. And when these two parties contended
together, some of the young men of the King Es-Semendel fled, and Bedr
Básim, seeing them, asked them respecting their case; whereupon they
acquainted him with that which had happened. Therefore, on his hearing
that the King Es-Semendel had been seized, he turned his back in flight,
fearing for himself, and said in his heart, Verily this disturbance originated
on my account, and none is the object of search but myself. He turned
back in flight, seeking safety, and knew not whither to go. But the destinies
fixed from all eternity drove him to that island upon which was Jóharah,
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
695
the daughter of the King Es-Semendel; and he came to the tree, and threw
himself down like one slain, desiring to take rest by his prostrate position,
and not knowing that every one who is an object of search resteth not;
and none knoweth what is hidden from him in the secrets of destiny. And
when he lay down, he turned up his eyes towards the tree, and his eye met
that of Jóharah: so he looked at her, and saw her to be like the moon when
it shineth; and he said, Extolled be the perfection of the Creator of this
surprising form! and He is the Creator of every thing, and is Almighty!
Extolled be the perfection of God, the Great, the Creator, the Maker, the
Former! By Allah, if my imagination tell me truth, this must be Jóharah
the daughter of the King Es-Semendel. I suppose that when she heard of
the conflict happening between the two parties, she fled, and came to this
island, and hid herself upon this tree; but if this be not the Queen Jóharah,
this is more beautiful than she.
Then he proceeded to meditate upon her case, and said within himself,
I will rise and lay hold upon her, and ask her respecting her state; and if
this be she, I will demand her in marriage of herself, and this is the thing
I seek. So he stood erect upon his feet, and said to Jóharah, O utmost object
of desire, who art thou, and who brought thee unto this place? And Jóharah,
looking at Bedr Básim, saw him to be like the full moon when it appeareth
from behind the black clouds, of elegant stature, comely in his smile. She
therefore said to him, O thou endowed with comely qualities, I am the Queen
Jóharah, the daughter of the King Es-Semendel, and I have fled to this
place because Sáleh and his troops have fought with my father and slain
his troops, and made him a captive, together with some of his troops: so I
fled, in fear for myself. Then the Queen Jóharah said to the King Bedr
Básim, And I came not to this place save in flight, fearing slaughter; and
I know not what fortune hath done with my father. And when Bedr Básim
heard her words, he wondered extremely at this strange coincidence, and said,
No doubt I have attained my desire by the capture of her father. He then
looked at her, and said to her, Descend, O my mistress; for I am a victim
of thy love, and thine eyes have captivated me. On account of me and
thee were this disturbance and these conflicts. Know that I am the King
Bedr Básim, the King of Persia, and that Sáleh is my maternal uncle, and
he is the person who came to thy father and demanded thee of him in
marriage. I have left my kingdom on thine account, and our meeting now
is a wonderful coincidence. Arise then, and descend to me, that I may go
with thee to the palace of thy father, and ask my uncle Sáleh to release
him, and marry thee lawfully.
But when Jóharah heard the words of Bedr Básim, she said within her-
self, On account of this base young wretch hath this event happened, and
my father hath been made a captive, and his chamberlains and his attendants
have been slain, and I have become separated from my palace, and come
forth an exile from my country to this island. If now I employ not some
stratagem with him, thereby to defend myself from him, he will gain pos-
696
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
•
session of me, and attain his desire; for he is in love; and the lover, whatever
he doth, is not to be blamed for it. Then she beguiled him with words,
and with soft discourse, and he knew not what artifices she had devised
against him; and she said to him, O my master, and light of mine eye, art
thou the King Bedr Básim, the son of the Queen Jullanár? So he answered
her, Yes, O my mistress. And she said, May God cut off my father, and
deprive him of his kingdom, and not comfort his heart, nor restore him
from estrangement, if he desire a person more comely than thou, and aught
more comely than these charming endowments! By Allah, he is of little
sense and judgment! She then said to him, O King of the age, blame
not my father for that which he hath done. If the measure of thy love for
me be a span, that of my love for thee is a cubit. I have fallen into the
snare of thy love, and become of the number of thy victims. The love that
thou hadst is transferred to me, and there remaineth not of it with thee aught
save as much as the tenth part of what I feel. Then she descended from
the tree, and drew near to him, and came to him and embraced him, pressing
him to her bosom, and began to kiss him.
So when the King Bedr Básim saw what she did to him, his love for her
increased, and his desire for her became violent. He imagined that she
was enamoured of him, and he confided in her, and proceeded to embrace
her and kiss her. And he said to her, O Queen, by Allah, my uncle Sáleh
did not describe to me the quarter of the tenth part of thy loveliness, nor
the quarter of a keerát of four and twenty keeráts.16 Then Jóharah pressed
him to her bosom, and uttered some words not to be understood; after which,
she spat in his face, and said to him, Be changed from this human form
into the form of a bird, the most beautiful of birds, with white feathers, and
red bill and feet. And her words were not ended before the King Bedr Básim
became transformed into the shape of a bird, the most beautiful that could
be of birds; and he shook, and stood upon his feet, looking at Jóharah.
Now she had with her a damsel, one of her female slaves, named Marseeneh,"
and she looked at her and said, By Allah, were it not that I fear on account
of my father's being a captive with his uncle, I had slain him, and may
God not recompense him well; for how unfortunate was his coming unto us;
all this disturbance having been effected by his means! But, O slave-girl.
take him, and convey him to the Thirsty Island, and leave him there that
he may die of thirst. So the slave-girl took him, and conveyed him to
the island, and was about to return from him; but she said within herself.
By Allah, the person endowed with this beauty and loveliness deserveth not
to die of thirst. Then she took him forth from the Thirsty Island, and
brought him to an island abounding with trees and fruits and rivers, and.
having put him upon it, returned to her mistress, and said to her, I have
put him upon the Thirsty Island. Such was the case of Bedr Básim.
--
But as to Sáleh, the uncle of the King Bedr Básim, when he had got
possession of the King Es-Semendel, and slain his guards and servants, and
the King had become his captive, he sought Jóharah, the King's daughter;
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
697
but found her not. So he returned to his palace, to the presence of his
mother, and said, O my mother, where is the son of my sister, the King Bedr
Básim? She answered, O my son, by Allah, I have no knowledge of him,
nor know I whither he hath gone; for when he was told that thou hadst
fought with the King Es-Semendel, and that conflicts and slaughter had
ensued between you, he was terrified, and fled. So when Sáleh heard the
words of his mother, he grieved for the son of his sister, and said, O my
mother, by Allah, we have acted negligently with respect to the King Bedr
Básim, and I fear that he will perish, or that one of the soldiers of the
King Es-Semendel may fall upon him, or that the King's daughter, Jóharah,
may fall upon him, and shame will betide us from his mother, and good will
not betide us from her; for I took him without her permission. Then he sent
guards and spies after him, through the sea and in other directions, but
they met with no tidings of him; wherefore they returned, and informed
the King Sáleh thereof; and his anxiety and grief increased, and his bosom
became contracted on account of the King Bedr Básim. Thus was it
with them.
-
Next, with regard to Bedr Básim's mother, Jullanár of the Sea, when
her son had descended into the sea with his uncle Sáleh, she waited expecting
him; but he returned not to her, and tidings of him were long kept from her.
So she remained many days expecting him; after which she arose, and
descended into the sea, and came to her mother; and when her mother saw
her, she rose to her, and kissed her and embraced her, as did also the
daughters of her uncle. She then asked her mother respecting the King
Bedr Básim, and her mother answered her, O my daughter, he came with his
uncle, and his uncle took jacinths and jewels, and went with them, he and
Bedr Básim, to the King Es-Semendel, and demanded in marriage his
daughter: but the King assented not to his proposal, and he was violent to
thy brother in his words. I therefore sent to thy brother about a thousand
horsemen, and a conflict ensued between them and the King Es-Semendel;
but God aided thy brother against them, and he slew his guards and his
troops, and made the King Es-Semendel a captive. So tidings of this event
reached thy son, and apparently he feared for himself; wherefore he fled
from us without our will, and he returned not to us after that, nor have we
heard any tidings of him. Then Jullanár inquired of her respecting her
rother Sáleh, and she informed her, saying, He is sitting upon the throne
of the kingdom in the place of the King Es-Semendel, and he hath sent
n every direction to search for thy son and the Queen Jóharah.
-
So when Jullanár heard the words of her mother, she mourned for her
on violently, and her anger was fierce against her brother Sáleh, because
e had taken her son and descended with him into the sea without her
>ermission. She then said, O my mother, verily I fear for our kingdom;
or I came to you and informed not any one of the people of the empire,
nd I dread, if I remain long away from them, that the kingdom will be
lienated from us, and that the dominion will depart from our hands. The
698
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
right opinion is, that I should return, and govern the empire until G
shall order for us the affair of my son; and forget not ye my son, n
neglect his case; for if mischief befall him, I perish inevitably; since I rega
not the world save in connection with him, nor delight save in his life.
So her mother replied, With feelings of love and honour will I compl
O my daughter. Inquire not what we suffer by reason of his separati
and absence. Then her mother sent to search for him, and Bedr Básim
mother returned with mourning heart and weeping eye to the empire.
world had become straight to her, her heart was contracted, and her ca
was grievous.
--
Now again as to the King Bedr Básim, when the Queen Jóharah ha
enchanted him, and sent him with her female slave to the Thirsty Islan
saying to her, Leave him upon it to die of thirst- the slave-girl put hi
not save upon a verdant, fruitful island, with trees and rivers. So he betoo
himself to eating of the fruits, and drinking of the rivers; and he ceased no
to remain in this state for a period of days and nights, in the form of a bir
not knowing whither to go, nor how to fly. And while he was one day upo
that island, lo, there came thither a fowler, to catch something wherewit
to sustain himself; and he saw the King Bedr Básim in the form of a bird
with white feathers and with red bilf and feet, captivating the beholder, an
astonishing the mind. So the fowler looked at him, and he pleased him
and he said within himself, Verily this bird is beautiful: I have not seen
bird like it in its beauty, nor in its form. Then he cast the net over him
and caught him, and he went with him into the city, saying within himsel
I will sell it, and receive its price. And one of the people of the city met him
and said to him, For how much is this bird to be sold, O fowler? The fowle
said to him, If thou buy it, what wilt thou do with it? The man answered
I will kill it and eat it. But the fowler said to him, Whose heart would be
pleased to kill this bird and eat it? Verily I desire to present it to the King
and he will give me more than the sum that thou wouldst give me as its
price, and will not kill it, but will divert himself with beholding it, and
observing its beauty and loveliness; for during my whole life, while I have
been a fowler, I have not seen the like of it among the prey of the sea nor
among the prey of the land. If thou be desirous of it, the utmost that thou
wouldst give me as its price would be a piece of silver; and I, by Allah the
Great, will not sell it. Then the fowler went with him to the palace of the
King; and when the King saw him, his beauty and loveliness pleased him,
and the redness of his bill and his feet; so he sent to the fowler a eunuch
to purchase him of him; and the eunuch came to the fowler, and said to
him, Wilt thou sell this bird? He answered, No; it is for the King, as a
present from me unto him.
The eunuch therefore took him, and went with him to the King, and
acquainted him with that which he had said; whereupon the King took
the bird, and gave to the fowler ten pieces of gold; and he received them,
and kissed the ground, and departed. The eunuch then brought the bird
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
699
to the King's pavilion, put him in a handsome cage, hung it up, and put
with him what he might eat and drink. And when the King came down,
he said to the eunuch, Where is the bird? Bring it that I may see it. By
Allah, it is beautiful! So the eunuch brought him, and put him before
the King; and he saw that, of the food that was with him, he had not eaten
aught; wherefore the King said, By Allah, I know not what it will eat, that
I may feed it. Then he gave orders to bring the repast. The tables there-
fore were brought before him, and the King ate of the repast; and when the
bird looked at the flesh-meats and other viands, and the sweetmeats and
fruits, he ate of all that was upon the table before the King, and the King
was amazed at him, and wondered at his eating, as did also the other persons
who were present. And upon this the King said to the eunuchs and mem-
looks who were around him, In my life I have never seen a bird eat like
this bird.
-
The King then commanded that his wife should come to divert herself
with the sight of him. So the eunuch went to bring her; and when he saw
her, he said to her, O my mistress, the King desireth thy presence, in order
that thou mayest divert thyself with the sight of this bird that he hath
bought; for when we brought the repast, it flew from the cage, and pitched
upon the table, and ate of all that was upon it. Arise then, O my mistress;
divert thyself with the sight of it; for it is beautiful in appearance, and it is
a wonder among the wonders of the age. Therefore when she heard the
words of the eunuch, she came quickly; but as soon as she looked at the
bird, and discovered him, she veiled her face, and turned back. So the
King rose and followed her, and said to her, Wherefore didst thou cover
thy face, when there are not in thy presence any but the female slaves and
the eunuchs who serve thee, and thy husband? And she answered, O King,
verily this is not a bird; but it is a man like thee. But when he heard the
words of his wife, he said to her, Thou utterest falsehood. How much dost
thou jest! How can it be aught but a bird? She replied,
jested not with thee, nor did I tell thee any thing but truth.
bird is the King Bedr Básim, the son of the King Sháh-Zemán,
countries of the Persians, and his mother is Jullanár of the Sea.
said he, hath he become transformed into this shape? She answered him, The
Queen Jóharah, the daughter of the King Es-Semendel, hath enchanted him.
-
By Allah, I
Verily this
lord of the
And how,
Then she related to him what had happened to him from first to last,
telling him that he had demanded Jóharah in marriage of her father, and
that her father consented not thereto, and that his maternal uncle Sáleh
had fought with the King Es-Semendel, and that Sáleh had overcome him,
and made him a captive. And when the King heard the words of his wife,
he wondered extremely. Now this Queen, his wife, was the most skilful
in enchantment among the people of her age. The King therefore said to
her, By my life, I conjure thee to free him from his enchantment, and not
eave him tormented. May God (whose name be exalted!) cut off the hand
of Jóharah! How vile is she, and how little is her religion, and how great
700
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
are her deceit and her artifice!
Básim, enter this closet.
-
His wife replied, Say to him, O Bedr
So the King ordered him to enter the closet; and
when he heard the King's words, he entered it. Then the wife of the King
arose, and, having veiled her face, took in her hand a cup of water, and
entered the closet; and she uttered over the water some words not to be
understood, and [sprinkling him with it] said to him, By virtue of these
great names, and excellent verses [of the Kur-án], and by the power of
God (whose name be exalted!), the Creator of the heavens and the earth,
and the Reviver of the dead, and the Distributor of the means of subsistence
and the terms of life, quit this form in which thou now art, and return to
the form in which God created thee! And her words were not ended when
he shook violently, and returned to his original form, whereupon the King
beheld him a comely young man, than whom there was not upon the face
of the earth one more beautiful.
When the King Bedr Básim beheld this thing, he said, There is no deity
but God: Mohammad is the Apostle of God! Extolled be the perfection
of the Creator of all creatures, and the Ordainer of their means of subsistence
and their terms of life! - Then he kissed the hands of the King, and
prayed for long life for him; and the King kissed the head of Bedr Básim.
and said to him, O Bedr Básim, relate to me thy story from beginning to end.
So he related to him his story, not concealing from him aught; and the King
wondered thereat, and said to him, O Bedr Básim, God hath delivered thee
from the enchantment; what then doth thy good pleasure demand, and what
dost thou desire to do? He answered him, O King of the age, I desire of
thy beneficence that thou wouldst prepare for me a ship, and a company of
thy servants, and all that I require; for I have been absent a long time,
and I fear that the empire may depart from me. Moreover, I imagine not
that my mother is alive, on account of my separation. What seems most
probable to me is, that she hath died in consequence of her mourning for
me; since she knoweth not what hath happened to me, nor whether I be
living or dead. I therefore beg thee, O King, to complete thy beneficence
to me by granting that which I have requested of thee. And when the
King considered his beauty and loveliness and his eloquence, he replied
and said to him, I hear and obey. He then prepared for him a ship, trans-
ported to it what he required, and despatched with him a company of his
servants. So he embarked in the ship, after he had bidden farewell to the
King, and they proceeded over the sea.
The wind aided them, and they ceased not to proceed for ten days
successively; but on the eleventh day, the sea became violently agitated,
the ship began to rise and pitch, and the sailors were unable to manage her.
They continued in this state, the waves sporting with them, until they drew
near to one of the rocks of the sea, and the ship fell upon that rock, and
broke in pieces, and all who were in her were drowned, except the King Bedr
Básim; for he mounted upon one of the planks, after he had been at the
point of destruction.18 The plank ceased not to bear him along the sea, and
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
701
he knew not whither he was going, nor had he any means of checking the
motion of the plank; it carried him with the water and the wind, and con-
tinued to do so for a period of three days. But on the fourth day, the plank
was cast with him upon the shore of the sea, and he found there a city,
white as a very white pigeon, built upon an island by the shore of the sea,
with lofty angles, beautiful in construction, with high walls, and the sea
beat against its walls. So when the King Bedr Básim beheld the island
upon which was this city, he rejoiced greatly; and he had been at the point
of destruction by reason of hunger and thirst. He therefore landed from
the plank, and desired to go up to the city; but there came to him mules
and asses and horses, numerous as the grains of sand, and they began to
strike him, and to prevent his going up from the sea to the city. So he
swam round behind that city, and landed upon the shore, and he found not
there any one; wherefore he wondered, and said, To whom doth this city.
belong, not having a King nor any one in it, and whence are these mules
and asses and horses that prevented me from landing? And he proceeded
to meditate upon his case as he walked along, not knowing whither to go.
Then, after that, he saw a sheykh, a grocer; and when the King Bedr
Básim saw him, he saluted him; and the sheykh returned the salutation,
and, looking at him, saw him to be a comely person: so he said to him,
O young man, whence hast thou come, and what brought thee to this city?
He therefore related to him his story from beginning to end; and he won-
dered at it, and said to him, O my son, didst thou not see any one in thy
way? He answered him, O my father, I only wonder at this city seeing that
it is devoid of people. And the sheykh said to him, O my son, come up into
the shop, lest thou perish. So Bedr Básim went up, and seated himself in
the shop. And the sheykh arose, and brought him some food, saying to
him, O my son, come into the inner part of the shop. Extolled be the
perfection of Him who hath preserved thee from this she-devil! - The King
Bedr Básim therefore feared violently. He then ate of the food of the
sheykh until he was satisfied, and washed his hands, and, looking at the
sheykh, said to him, O my master, what is the reason of these words? For
thou hast made me to be frightened at this city and its people. And the
sheykh answered him, O my son, know that this city is the City of the
Enchanters, and in it is a Queen who is an enchantress, like a she-devil;
she is a sorceress, a great enchantress, abounding in artifice, exceedingly
treacherous, and the horses and mules and asses that thou sawest, all these
are like me and thee of the sons of Adam; but they are strangers; for whoever
entereth this city and is a young man like thyself, this infidel enchantress
taketh him, and she remaineth with him forty days, and after forty days she
enchanteth him, and he becometh a mule or a horse or an ass, of these
animals that thou hast seen upon the shore of the sea. Therefore when
thou desiredst to land, they feared for thee lest she should enchant thee
like them, and they said to thee by signs, Land not, lest the enchantress
see thee-in pity for thee; for perhaps she might do unto thee as she did
-
702
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
unto them. And he said to him, She got possession of this city from h
family by enchantment: and her name is the Queen Láb; the meaning
which in Arabic is Esh-Shems 19 (that is, The Sun).
Now when the King Bedr Básim heard these words from the sheykh, ł
feared violently, and began to tremble like the reed that is shaken by th
wind, and he said to him, I believed not that I had escaped from the calamit
in which I was involved by enchantment, and now destiny casteth me into
situation more abominable than that! And he proceeded to reflect upo
his case, and upon the events that had happened to him; and when th
sheykh looked at him, he saw that his fear was violent; so he said to him
O my son, arise and sit at the threshold of the shop, and look at thos
creatures and at their dress and their forms,20 and the states in which the
are through enchantment; but fear not; for the Queen, and every one in th
city, loveth me and regardeth me, and agitateth not my heart, nor weariet
my mind. Therefore when the King Bedr Básim heard these words of th
sheykh, he went forth and sat at the door of the shop, diverting himself
and there passed by him people, and he beheld creatures not to be numbered
And when the people saw him, they advanced to the shekyh, and said t
him, O sheykh, is this thy captive, and a prey that thou hast taken durinĮ
these days? But he answered them, This is the son of my brother. I hear
that his father had died; so I sent for him, and caused him to come, tha
I might quench the fire of my desire by his company. They replied, Verily
this young man is a comely youth; but we fear for him on account of the
Queen Láb, lest she turn upon thee with treachery and take him from thee
for she loveth the comely young men. The sheykh however said to them
Verily the Queen will not thwart me; she regardeth me favourably, and
loveth me; and when she knoweth that he is the son of my brother, she
will not offer him any injury, nor afflict me with respect to him, nor trouble
my heart on his account. And the King Bedr Básim remained with the
sheykh for a period of months, eating and drinking, and the shekyh loved
him greatly.
After this, Bedr Básim was sitting at the shop of the shekyh one day
as was his custom, and, lo, a thousand eunuchs, with drawn swords in their
hands, clad in various kinds of apparel, having upon their waists girdles
adorned with jewels, riding upon Arab horses, and equipped with Indian
swords; and they came to the shop of the sheykh, and saluted him, and
passed on. Then, after them, came a thousand damsels, like moons, clad in
various dresses of silk and satin embroidered with gold and adorned with
varieties of jewels, and all of them were armed with spears; and in the midst
of them was a damsel riding upon an Arab mare, upon which was a saddle
of gold set with varieties of jewels and jacinths. They ceased not to
proceed until they arrived at the shop of the sheykh, when they saluted
him, and passed on. And, lo, the Queen Láb approached in a magnificent
procession, and she ceased not to approach until she came to the shop of
the sheykh; whereupon she saw the King Badr Básim sitting at the shop,
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
703
resembling the moon at the full. So when the Queen Láb beheld him, she
was confounded at his beauty and loveliness, and amazed, and she became
distracted with love of him. She came to the shop, and alighted, and, having
seated herself by the King Badr Básim, she said to the sheykh, Whence
obtainedst thou this comely person? He answered, This is the son of my
brother; he came to me a short time ago. And she said, Let him be with
me to-night, that I may converse with him.
thou take him from me and not enchant him?
Swear to me.
enchant him.
The sheykh said to her, Wilt
She answered, Yes. He said,
And she swore to him that she would not hurt him nor
Then she gave orders to bring forward to him a handsome horse, sad-
dled, and bridled with a bridle of gold, and all that was upon him was of
gold set with jewels; and she presented to the sheykh a thousand pieces of
gold, saying to him, Seek aid for thyself therewith. The Queen Láb then
took the King Bedr Básim, and departed with him; and he was like the
moon in its fourteenth night. He proceeded with her; and the people,
as often as they looked at him, and observed his beauty, were pained for
him, and said, By Allah, this young man doth not deserve that this ac-
cursed woman should enchant him! And the King Bedr Básim heard
the words of the people; but he was silent, and had committed his case to
God, whose name be exalted!
He ceased not to proceed with the Queen Láb and her retinue until
they arrived at the gate of the palace; when the emeers and eunuchs and
the great men of the empire alighted. She had commanded the chamber-
lains to order all the great men of the empire to depart; so they kissed the
ground and departed. And the Queen, with the eunuchs and the female
slaves, entered the palace; and when the King Bedr Básim looked at the
palace, he beheld a palace of which he had never seen the like. Its walls
were constructed of gold, and in the midst of it was a great pool, abounding
with water, in a great garden; and the King Bedr Básim looked at the
garden, and saw in it birds warbling with all varieties of tongues and
voices, mirth-exciting and plaintive, and those birds were of all forms and
colours. The King Bedr Básim beheld great majesty, and he said, Ex-
tolled be the perfection of God for his bounty and his clemency! He
sustaineth the person who worshippeth other than Himself! 21 The Queen
seated herself at a lattice-window overlooking the garden. She was on a
couch of ivory, upon which was magnificent furniture; and the King Bedr
Básim sat by her side; and she kissed him, and pressed him to her bosom.
Then she ordered the female slaves to bring a table; whereupon there was
brought a table of red gold set with large pearls and with jewels, and upon
it were dishes of all kinds of viands.
So they ate until they were satisfied, and washed their hands. The
female slaves next brought vessels of gold and silver and crystal, and they
brought also all kinds of flowers, and plates of dried fruits; after which the
Queen gave orders to bring singing-women; and there came ten damsels
704
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
―
like moons, with all kinds of musical instruments in their hands. Then the
Queen filled a cup, and drank it; and she filled another, and handed it to
the King Bedr Básim, who took it and drank it; and they ceased not to
do thus, drinking until they were satisfied; when the Queen ordered the
female slaves to sing. So they sang all kinds of melodies, and it seemed
to the King Bedr Básim as though the palace danced with delight at the
sounds. His reason was captivated, and his bosom was dilated, and he for-
got his estrangement from his country, and he said, Verily this Queen is
a comely damsel! I will never henceforth quit her; for her kingdom is
larger than mine, and she is preferable to the Queen Jóharah. He ceased
not to drink with her until it was evening, and the lamps and candles
were lighted, and the attendants gave vent to the fumes of the sweet-scented
substances in the censers; and they gave not over drinking until they were
both intoxicated, while the female singers continued singing. And when
the Queen Láb was intoxicated, she arose from her place, and slept upon a
couch, having commanded the female slaves to depart; and she ordered
the King Bedr Básim to lie down by her side. Then, on the following
morning, she entered the bath in the palace, and he did the same; and when
they had come forth, she caused him to be clad in the most beautiful ap-
parel, and gave orders to bring the drinking-vessels. Accordingly the fe-
male slaves brought them, and they drank; after which the Queen arose,
and took the hand of the King Bedr Básim, and they sat upon the throne,
and she gave orders to bring the food; so they ate, and washed their hands.
The female slaves then brought to them the drinking-vessels, and the fresh
fruits and the flowers and the dried fruits; and they ceased not to eat and
drink, while the female slaves sang various melodies, till evening.
They continued eating and drinking, and delighting themselves, for a
period of forty days; after which she said to him, O Bedr Básim, is this
place the more pleasant, or the shop of thine uncle the grocer? He an-
swered her, By Allah, O Queen, this is pleasant; for my uncle is a poor
man who selleth beans. And she laughed at his words. Then they slept:
but in the morning, the King Bedr Básim awoke from his sleep and found
not the Queen Láb by his side: so he said, Whither can she have gone?
He became sad on account of her absence, and perplexed respecting his
case; and she had been absent from him a long time, and had, not re-
turned; wherefore he said within himself, Whither hath she gone? He then
put on his clothes, and proceeded to search for her; but he found her not;
and he said within himself, Perhaps she hath gone to the garden. He
therefore went to the garden, and he saw in it a running river, by the side
of which was a white bird, and on the bank of that river was a tree, whereon
were birds of various colours. So he looked at the birds; but they saw him
not; and, lo, a black bird alighted by that white bird, and began to feed
her with his bill like a pigeon; and after a while, the latter bird became
changed into a human form, at which he looked attentively, and, lo, she
was the Queen Láb. He therefore knew that the black bird was an en-
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
705
chanted man, and that she loved him, and for that reason transformed her-
self by enchantment into a bird; in consequence of which, jealousy seized
him, and he was incensed against the Queen Láb, on account of the black
bird. Then he returned to his place, and laid himself upon his bed; and
after a while, she returned to him, and began to kiss him and to jest with
him; but he was violently incensed against her, and uttered not to her a
single word. So she knew what he felt, and was convinced that he saw
her when she became a bird. She however did not manifest to him any-
thing; but concealed her feelings.
--
After this, he said to her, O Queen, I desire thee to permit me to go to
the shop of my uncle; for I have conceived a desire to visit him, and for
forty days I have not seen him. And she replied, Go to him; but be not
long absent from me, since I cannot part with thee, nor endure to be away
from thee for one hour. So he said to her, I hear and obey. He then
mounted and went to the shop of the sheykh, the grocer, who welcomed
him and rose to him and embraced him, and said to him, How art thou with
this infidel woman? He therefore answered him, I was well, in prosperity
and health; but she was this last night sleeping by my side, and I awoke
and saw her not. So I put on my clothes, and went about searching for her,
until I came to the garden. And he informed him of that which he had
seen, of the river, and the birds upon the tree. And when the sheykh
heard his words, he said to him, Beware of her, and know that the birds
that were upon the tree were all young men, strangers, whom she loved,
and she transformed them by enchantment into birds; and that black bird
that thou sawest was of the number of her memlooks. She used to love
him greatly; but he cast his eye upon one of the female slaves; so she
transformed him by enchantment into a black bird; and whenever she de-
sireth to visit him, she transformeth herself by enchantment into a bird;
for she still loveth him greatly. And when she knew that thou wast
acquainted with her case, she meditated evil against thee; and she doth
not offer thee a sincere affection. But thou shalt suffer no harm from her
so long as I have a care for thee; therefore fear not; for I am a Muslim,
and my name is 'Abd-Allah,22 and there is not in my age any one more
skilled in enchantment than I, yet I make not use of enchantment save when
I am constrained to do so. Often do I annul the enchantment of this
accursed woman, and deliver people from her; and I care not for her, since
she hath no way of injuring me: on the contrary, she feareth me violently,
as also doth every one in the city who is an enchanter like her, after this
manner: they all fear me, and all of them are of her religion, worshipping
fire instead of the Almighty King. But to-morrow come to me again, and
acquaint me with that which she shall do to thee; for this night she will
exert herself to destroy thee, and I will tell thee what thou shalt do with
her that thou mayest save thyself from her artifice.
Then the King Bedr Básim bade farewell to the sheykh, and returned
to her, and found her sitting expecting him. And when she saw him, she
706
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
rose to him and seated him, welcoming him; and she brought him food and
drink. So they ate till they were satisfied, and washed their hands; after
which, she gave orders to bring the wine. It was therefore brought, and
they drank until midnight, when she served him with the cups, and she
continued to ply him until he was intoxicated, and lost his sense and his
reason. And when she saw him in this state, she said to him, By Allah
I conjure thee, and by the Object of thy worship, if I ask thee concerning
a thing, tell me, wilt thou inform me thereof truly, and reply to my ques-
tion? So he answered her, being in a state of intoxication, Yes, O my mis-
tress. And she said to him, O my master, and light of mine eye, when
thou awokest from thy sleep, and foundest me not, thou searchedst for me
and camest to me in the garden, and sawest the blackbird. Now I will ac-
quaint thee with the truth of the case of this bird. He was one of my
memlooks, and I loved him greatly; but he cast his eye one day upon one
of my female slaves; so jealousy came upon me, and I transformed him
by enchantment into a blackbird. And as to the slave-girl, I killed her. But
now I cannot bear to be absent from him one hour; and whenever I desire
to visit him, I transform myself by enchantment into a bird, and go to
him. Art thou not on this account incensed against me, although I, by
the fire and the light and the shade and the heat, have increased in love
for thee, and made thee my worldly portion? So he said, being intoxi-
cated, Verily what thou hast understood, as to my anger being on that ac-
count, is true; and there is no cause for my anger except that.
And she embraced him and kissed him, and made a show of love to
him; after which she slept, and he slept by her side. And when it was mid-
night, she rose from the bed; and the King Bedr Básim was awake; but he
pretended that he was asleep, and kept stealing looks, and observing what
she did; and he found that she had taken forth, from a red bag, something
red, which she planted in the midst of the palace; and, lo, it became a stream
running like a large river. She then took a handful of barley, scattered
it upon the dust, and watered it with this water; whereupon it became eared
corn: and she took it and ground it into fine flour, after which she put it
in a place, and returned and slept by Bedr Básim until the morning.
So when the morning came, the King Bedr Básim arose, and, having
washed his face, asked permission of the Queen to go to the sheykh; and she
gave him permission. He therefore repaired to the sheykh, and acquainted
him with that which she had done, and what he had beheld; and when the
sheykh heard his words, he laughed, and said, By Allah, this infidel enchan-
tress hath formed a mischievous scheme against thee; but never care thou
for her. He then produced to him as much as a pound of saweek,2 and
said to him, Take this with thee, and know that when she seeth it she will
say to thee, What is this, and what wilt thou do with it? Answer her, A
superfluity of good things is good:- and do thou eat of it. And when
she produceth her saweek, and saith to thee, Eat of this saweek -- pretend
to her that thou eatest of it, but eat of this, and beware of eating aught of
JULLANAR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
707
her saweek, even one grain; for if thou eat of it even one grain, her en-
chantment will have power over thee, and she will enchant thee, saying to
thee, Quit this human form. So thou wilt quit thy form, and assume whatso-
ever form she desireth. But if thou eat not of it, her enchantment will be
frustrated, and no harm will result to thee from it; wherefore she will become
in a state of the utmost abashment, and will say to thee, I am only jesting
with thee. And she will make profession of love and affection to thee; but
all that will be hypocrisy and artifice in her. Do thou, however, make a
show of love to her, and say to her, O my mistress, and light of mine
eye, eat of this saweek, and see how delicious it is. And when she hath
eaten of it, if only one grain, take some water in thy hand, and throw it
in her face, and say to her, Quit this human form and tell her to assume
whatsoever form thou desirest. Thereupon, leave her, and come to me, that
I may contrive for thee a mode of proceeding.
Bedr Básim then bade him farewell, and pursued his way until he went
up into the palace and entered into her presence; and when she saw him,
she said to him, A friendly and free and an ample welcome! She rose to him
and kissed him, and said to him, Thou hast wearied me by thy delay, O my
master. He replied, I was with my uncle. And he saw with her some
saweek, and said to her, And my uncle hath given me to eat of this saweek,
and we have saweek better than it. Then she put his saweek into a dish,
and hers into another, and said to him, Eat of this, for it is nicer than thy
saweek. So he pretended to her that he ate of it; and when she believed
that he had eaten of it, she took in her hand some water, and sprinkled him
with it, and said to him, Quit this form, O young wretch, O villain, and
assume the form of a one-eyed mule of hideous appearance! But he
changed not. So when she saw him in his proper state, unchanged, she rose
to him, and kissed him between the eyes, and said to him, O my beloved,
I was only jesting with thee; therefore be not changed in mind towards me
on that account. And he replied, By Allah, O my mistress, I am not at all
changed towards thee; but I am convinced that thou lovest me: eat then
of this my saweek. She therefore took a morsel of it, and ate it; and
when it had settled in her stomach, she was agitated; and the King Bedr
Básim, having taken some water in his hand, sprinkled her with it upon her
face, saying to her, Quit this human form, and assume the form of a dapple
mule. And she saw not herself save in that form; whereupon her tears
began to run down upon her cheeks, and she rubbed her cheeks upon his
feet. He then betook himself to bridle her; but she allowed not the
bridle to be put.
He therefore left her, and repaired to the sheykh, and acquainted him
with what had happened; upon which the sheykh rose and produced to
him a bridle, and said to him, Take this bridle, and bridle her with it. So
he took it and went to her; and when she saw him, she advanced to him, and
he put the bit in her mouth, and having mounted her, went forth from the
palace, and repaired to the sheykh 'Abd-Allah, who, on seeing her, rose to
708
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
her, and said to her, May God (whose name be exalted!) abase thee by
affliction, O accursed woman! Then the sheykh said to Bedr Básim, O my
son, thou hast no longer an abode in this city; so mount her, and proceed
with her to whatsoever place thou wilt, and beware of giving up the bridle
to any one. The King Bedr Básim therefore thanked him, and bade him
farewell, and departed.
He ceased not in his journey for three days; after which he came in
sight of a city, and there met him a sheykh, of comely hoariness, who said
to him, O my son, whence art thou come? He answered, From the city of
this enchantress. The sheykh then said to him, Thou art my guest this
night. And he consented, and proceeded with him along the way. And,
lo, there was an old woman, who, when she saw the mule, wept, and said,
There is no deity but God! Verily this mule resembleth the mule of my
son, which hath died, and my heart is troubled for her. I conjure thee by
Allah, then, O my master, that thou sell her to me. He replied, by Allah,
O my mother, I cannot sell her. But she rejoined, I conjure thee by Allah,
that thou reject not my petition; for my son, if I buy not for him this
mule, will inevitably die. Then she urged her request in many words; where-
upon he said, I will not sell her but for a thousand pieces of gold. And
Bedr Básim said within himself, How can this old woman procure a thou-
sand pieces of gold? But upon this she took forth from her girdle a thou-
sand pieces of gold. So when the King Bedr Básim saw this, he said to
her, O my mother, I am only jesting with thee, and I can not sell her. The
sheykh, however, looked at him and said to him, O my son, no one may utter
a falsehood in this city; for every one who uttereth a falsehood in this city
they slay. The King Bedr Básim therefore alighted from the mule, and
delivered her to the old woman; and she drew forth the bit from her mouth,
and, having taken some water in her hand, sprinkled her with it, and said,
O my daughter, quit this form, and return to the form in which thou wast!
And she was transformed immediately, and returned to her first shape; and
each of the two women approached the other, and they embraced each
other.
24
So the King Bedr Básim knew that this old woman was the mother of
the Queen, and that the stratagem had been accomplished against him, and
he desired to flee. But, lo, the old woman uttered a loud whistle; where-
upon there presented himself before her an 'Efreet like a great mountain;
and the King Bedr Básim feared, and stood still. The old woman mounted
upon his back, took her daughter behind her, and the King Bedr Basim
before her, and the 'Efreet flew away with them, and there elapsed but a
short time before they arrived at the palace of the Queen Láb; after which.
when she had seated herself upon the throne of her kingdom, she looked at
the King Bedr Básim, and said to him, O young wretch, I have arrived
at this place, and attained what I desired, and I will shew thee what I will
do with thee and with this sheykh, the grocer. How many benefits have I
conferred upon him, and he doth evil unto me! And thou hadst not at-
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
709
—
tained thy desire but by his means.- Then she took some water, and
sprinkled him with it, saying to him, Quit this form in which thou now
art, and assume the form of a bird of hideous appearance, the most hideous
of birds! And he was transformed immediately, and became a bird of
hideous appearance; upon which she put him into a cage, and withheld from
him food and drink.
But a slave-girl looked at him, and had compassion on him, and she
fed him, and gave him drink, without the knowledge of the Queen. Then
the slave-girl found her mistress inadvertent one day, and she went forth
and repaired to the sheykh, the grocer, and acquainted with with the case,
saying to him, The Queen Láb is resolved upon the destruction of the son
of thy brother. So the sheykh thanked her, and said to her, I must surely
take the city from her, and make thee Queen in her stead. He then ut-
tered a loud whistle, and there came forth to him an 'Efreet who had four
wings, and he said to him, Take this slave-girl, and convey her to the city
of Jullanár of the Sea, and to her mother Farásheh; 25 for they two are the
most skilful in enchantment of all existing upon the face of the earth. And
he said to the slave-girl, When thou hast arrived there, inform them that the
King Bedr Básim is a captive in the hands of the Queen Láb. The 'Efreet
therefore took her up, and flew away with her, and but a short time had
elapsed when he alighted with her upon the palace of the Queen Jullanár
of the Sea. So the slave-girl descended from the roof of the palace, and,
going in to the Queen Jullanár, kissed the ground, and acquainted her with
the events that had happened to her son from first to last; upon which,
Jullanár rose to her, and treated her with honour, and thanked her. The
drums were beaten in the city to announce the good tidings, and she in-
formed her people, and the great men of her empire, that the King Bedr
Básim had been found.
After this Jullanár of the Sea, and her mother Farásheh, and her brother
Sáleh, summoned all the tribes of the Jánn, and the troops of the sea; for
the Kings of the Jánn had obeyed them after the captivity of the King
Es-Semendel. Then they flew through the air, and alighted upon the city
of the enchantress, and they plundered the palace, and slew all who were
in it. They also plundered the city, and slew all the infidels who were
in it in the twinkling of an eye. And Jullanár said to the slave-girl, Where
is my son? The slave-girl therefore took the cage, and brought it before her,
and, pointing to the bird that was within it, said, This is thy son. So the
Queen Jullanár took him forth from the cage, and she took in her hand some
water, with which she sprinkled him, saying to him, Quit this form, and
assume the form in which thou wast! And her words were not ended when
he shook, and became a man as he as before; and when his mother beheld him
in his original form, she rose to him and embraced him, and he wept vio-
lently, as did also his maternal uncle Sáleh, and his grandmother Farásheh,
and the daughters of his uncle; and they began to kiss his hands and his
feet. Then Jullanár sent for the sheykh 'Abd-Allah, and thanked him for
710
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
his kind conduct to her son; and she married him (the sheykh) to the slave-
girl whom he had sent to her with the news of her son. So he took her as
his wife; and Jullanár made him King of that city. And she summoned
those Muslims who remained of the inhabitants of the city, and made them
vow allegiance to the sheykh 'Abd-Allah, covenanting with them, and making
them swear, that they would obey and serve him; and they said, We hear
and obey.20
They then bade farewell to the sheykh 'Abd-Allah, and departed to
their city; and when they entered their palace, the people of their city met
them with the drums to celebrate the good news, and with rejoicing. They
decorated the city for three days, on account of their exceeding joy at
the arrival of their King Bedr Básim, rejoicing greatly at his return. And
after that, the King Bedr Básim said to his mother, O my mother, it remain-
eth only that I marry, and that we all be united. So she replied, O my son,
excellent is the idea that thou hast formed; but wait until we inquire for
a person suitable to thee among the daughters of the Kings. And his grand-
mother Farásheh, and the daughters of his uncle, and his maternal uncle,
said, We, O Bedr Básim, will all immediately assist thee to attain what thou
desirest. Then each of those females arose, and went to search through the
countries, and Jullanár of the Sea also sent her female slaves upon the necks
of the 'Efreets, saying to them, Leave not a city, nor one of the palaces
of the Kings, without attentively viewing all who are in it of the beautiful
damsels. But when the King Bedr Básim saw the pains that they were tak-
ing in this affair, he said to his mother Jullanár, O my mother, leave this
affair, for none will content me save Jóharah the daughter of the King
Es-Semendel, since she is a jewel as her name importeth. So his mother
replied, I know thy desire. She then sent immediately persons to bring to
her the King Es-Semendel, and forthwith they brought him before her;
whereupon she sent to Bedr Básim, and when he came, she acquainted him
with the arrival of the King Es-Semendel. He therefore went in to him; and
as soon as the King Es-Semendel saw him approaching he rose to him and
saluted him and welcomed him. Then the King Bedr Básim demanded of
him in marriage his daughter Jóharah; and he replied, She is at thy service,
and she is thy slave-girl, and at thy disposal.
And the King Es-Semendel sent some of his companions to his country,
commanding them to bring his daughter Jóharah, and to inform her that
her father was with the King Bedr Básim, the son of Jullanár of the Sea.
So they flew through the air, and were absent a while; after which they came
back accompanied by the Queen Jóharah; who, when she beheld her father.
advanced to him and embraced him. And he looked at her and said, O my
daughter, Know that I have married thee to this magnanimous King, and
bold lion, the King Bedr Básim, the son of the Queen Jullanár, and that he
is the handsomest of the people of his age, and the most lovely of them, and
the most exalted of them in dignity, and the most noble of them in rank:
he is not suitable to any but thee, nor art thou suitable to any but him. And
JULLANÁR, PRINCESS OF THE SEA
711
she replied, O my father, I cannot oppose thy wish: therefore do what thou
wilt; for anxiety and distress have ceased, and I am unto him of the num-
ber of servants.
So thereupon they summoned the Kádees and the witnesses, and they
performed the ceremony of the contract of the marriage of the King Bedr
Básim, the son of the Queen Jullanár of the Sea, to the Queen Jóharah.
The people of the city decorated it, sent forth the announcers of the glad
tidings, and released all who were in the prisons; and the King clothed the
widows and the orphans, and conferred robes of honour upon the lords of
the empire and the emeers and other great men. Then they celebrated a
grand festivity, made banquets, and continued the festivities evening and
morning for a period of ten days; and they displayed her to the King Bedr
Básim in nine different dresses. After this, the King Bedr Básim conferred
a dress of honour upon the King Es-Semendel, and restored him to his coun-
try and his family and his relations; and they ceased not to pass the most
delightful life, and the most agreeable days, eating and drinking, and en-
joying themselves, until they were visited by the terminator of delights and
the separator of companions.
This is the end of their story. The mercy of God be on them all!
-
XXIV
PRINCE SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND HIS MARVELOUS JOURNEY IN
SEARCH OF BEDEEA-EL-JEMÁL PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN¹
TH
3
HERE was, in olden times, and in an ancient age and period, in Egypt,
a King named 'Ásim the son of Safwán. He was a liberal, munificent
King, reverend and dignified: he possessed many countries, and castles and
fortresses, and troops and soldiers, and he had a Wezeer named Fáris the son
of Sáleh; and they all worshipped the sun and fire instead of the Almighty
King, the Glorious, the Mighty in dominion. Now this King became a very
old man: old age, and sickness and decrepitude, had rendered him infirm; for
he had lived a hundred and eighty years; and he had not a male child nor a
female; on account of which he was in a state of anxiety and grief night and
day. And it happened that he was sitting one day upon the throne of his
kingdom, with the emeers and wezeers and the chief officers and the lords of
the empire serving him according to their custom and according to their ranks;
and whosoever of the emeers came in to him having with him a son, or two
sons, the King envied him, and he said within himself, Every one is happy and
rejoicing in his children; but I have not a son, and to-morrow I shall die,
and leave my kingdom and my throne and my lands and my treasures and
my riches, and the strangers will take them, and no one will ever remember
me: there will not remain any memory of me in the world. Then the King
'Ásim became drowned in the sea of solicitude; and in consequence of the
rapid succession of griefs and solicitudes in his heart, he wept, and descended
from his throne, and sat upon the floor, weeping and humbling himself.
So when the Wezeer and the assembly of the great men of the empire who
were present saw him do thus with himself, they called out to the people and
said to them, Go ye to your abodes and rest until the King recover from the
state in which he is.
They therefore departed, and there remained not any except the King and
the Wezeer; and when the King recovered, the Wezeer kissed the ground
before him and said to him, O King of the age, what is the cause of this
weeping? Inform me who of the Kings, and the lords of the castles, or of the
emeers and the lords of the empire, hath become thine enemy, and inform
me who opposeth thee, O King, that we may all attack him, and take his
soul from between his sides. But the King spoke not, nor raised his head.
Then the Wezeer kissed the ground before him a second time, and said to
him, O King of the age, I am like thy son and thy slave; nay, I have reared
thee; and I know not the cause of thy grief and thine anxiety and thy
-
712
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 713
distress and the state in which thou art. Who then beside me can know,
and stand in my stead before thee? Acquaint me therefore with the cause
of this weeping and mourning. Yet he spoke not, nor opened his mouth,
nor raised his head; but ceased not to weep, and he cried out with a loud
voice, and wailed exceedingly, and cried. Ah! while the Wezeer regarded
him patiently. And after that, the Wezeer said to him, If thou tell me not
the cause of this, I will kill myself before thee immediately while thou
lookest on, rather than see thee in anxiety.
So the King 'Ásim thereupon raised his head, and wiped away his tears,
and said, O faithful Wezeer, leave me in my anxiety and my grief; for the
sorrows in my heart are sufficient for me. But the Wezeer replied, Tell
me, O King, what is the cause of this weeping: perhaps God may give thee
relief by my means. And the King said to him, O Wezeer, my weeping is
not on account of wealth nor on account of horses nor on account of any
thing but this, that I have become an old man, and my age is about a hun-
dred and eighty years, and I have not been blest with a male child nor a
female; so when I die, they will bury me; then will every trace of me be
obliterated, and my name will become extinct, and strangers will take my
throne and my kingdom, and no one will ever remember me. To this the
Wezeer replied, O King of the age, I am older than thou by a hundred years,
and have never been blest with a child, and I cease not to suffer anxiety
and grief night and day; and what shall we do, I and thou? But I have
heard of the fame of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be
peace!), and that he hath a mighty Lord, able to accomplish every thing. It
is meet therefore that I repair unto him with a present, and have recourse
to him, that he may petition his Lord: perhaps He may bless each of us
with a child. — The Wezeer then prepared for the journey, took a magni-
ficent present, and repaired with it to Suleyman the son of Dáood, on both
of whom be peace! Such was the case of the Wezeer.
-
Now as to Suleymán the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!),
God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!) spoke in
revelation unto him, and said, O Suleymán, verily the King of Egypt hath
sent to thee his chief Wezeer, with presents and rarities, which are such and
such things. Send thou therefore unto him thy Wezeer Ásaf the son of
Barkhiyà to meet him with honour and with provisions at the halting-places;
and when he presenteth himself before thee, say to him, Verily the King hath
sent thee to demand such and such things, and thine affair is so and
so. Then propose to him the faith. So upon this Suleymán ordered his
Wezeer Ásaf to take with him a company of his dependents, to meet them
with honour and with sumptuous provisions at the halting-places. Ac-
cordingly, Ásaf went forth, after he had prepared all things necessary, to
meet them, and he proceeded until he came to Fáris, the Wezeer of the King
of Egypt.
He met him and saluted him, and treated him and those who accompanied
him with exceeding honour, and proceeded to present to them the provisions
714
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
and the provender at the halting-places; and he said to him, A friendly and
free and an ample welcome to the coming guests! Rejoice ye at the informa-
tion of the accomplishment of your affair, and let your hearts be glad and
your eyes be cheerful and your bosoms be dilated! So the Wezeer said
within himself, Who acquainted them with this? Then he said to Ásaf the son
of Barkhiyà, And who informed you of us and of our desires, O my lord?
Ásaf answered him, Verily Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be
peace!), he it was who informed us of this. And who, said the Wezeer
Fáris, informed our lord Suleymán? He answered him, The Lord of the
heavens and the earth, and the God of all creatures, informed him. And the
Wezeer Fáris replied, This is none other than a mighty God! So Ásaf the
son of Barkhiyà said to him, And do ye not worship Him? Fáris the Wezeer
of the King of Egypt answered, We worship the sun, and prostrate ourselves
to it. Ásaf therefore replied, O Wezeer Fáris, verily the sun is a star, of the
number of the stars created by God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose
name be exalted!), and far be it from being a Lord! for the sun appeareth at
times, and is absent at times, and our Lord is always present, never absent,
and He is able to effect every thing.
They then journeyed on a little until they came near to the seat of gov-
ernment of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!),
when Suleyman ordered his troops of mankind and of the Jinn and other
creatures to range themselves in their way in ranks. So the wild creatures
of the sea, and the elephants and the leopards and the lynxes, all stationed
themselves, and ranged themselves in the way in two ranks. The species of
each kind collected themselves into separate bodies, and in like manner did
the Jánn; each of which appeared to the eyes unhidden, in a terrible form;
and they were of various descriptions. They all stood in two ranks; and
the birds spread their wings over the other creatures to shade them, warbling
one to another with all tongues and with all notes. Therefore when the
people of Egypt came to them, they dreaded them, and dared not to pro-
ceed: but Asaf said to them, Enter amid them and pass on, and fear them
not; for they are the subjects of Suleyman the son of Dáood, and none of
them will hurt you. Then Ásaf entered among them, and all the people
entered behind him, the party of the Wezeer of the King of Egypt being
among them; but they were in fear. They ceased not to proceed until they
arrived at the city, when they lodged them in the mansion of entertain-
ment, treated them with the utmost honour, and brought to them sumptu-
ous banquets during a period of three days.
5
After this, they brought them before Suleymán, the Prophet of God
(peace be on him!); and when they went in to him, they desired to kiss the
ground before him; but he prevented their doing so, and said, It is not meet
that a man prostrate himself upon the ground save unto God (to whom
be ascribed might and glory!), the Creator of the earth and the heavens
and all other things; and whoever among you desireth to stand let him
stand; but none of you shall stand in attendance upon me. They therefore
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 715
mplied, and the Wezeer Fáris sat, and some of his servants; but some of
he inferiors stood waiting upon him; and when they had sat a while, the
ervants spread for them the tables, and the people all ate of the repast
til they were satisfied." Then Suleymán commanded the Wezeer of Egypt
mention his affair, that it might be accomplished, and said to him, Speak,
and conceal not aught of that on account of which thou hast come; for thou
hast not come save for the accomplishment of an affair, and I will inform
bee thereof. It is thus and thus: the King of Egypt who sent thee is named
Asim, and he hath become a very old man, decrepit, infirm; and God (whose
came be exalted!) hath not blessed him with a male child nor a female.
He hath therefore been in a state of grief and anxiety and solicitude night
and day, until it happened to him that he was sitting upon the throne of his
Kingdom one day, and the emeers and wezeers, and the great men of his
expire, came in to him, and he saw some of them having two sons each,
nd some having one son, and some having three sons, and they came in
accompanied by their sons, and stood in attendance upon him.
-
So he meditated in himself, and said, by reason of the excess of his
sorrow, Who will take my kingdom after my death? And will any but a
stranger take it? Thus I shall be as though I had never been. He be-
came drowned in the sea of solicitude on account of this, and ceased not to
remain in solicitude and sorrow until his eyes overflowed with tears, and
be covered his face with the handkerchief, and wept violently. Then he
ruse from his throne and sat upon the floor, weeping and lamenting, and
cone knew what was in his heart except God (whose name be exalted!),
while he thus sat upon the floor. And when the Prophet of God, Suley-
man the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!), had informed the
Wezeer Fáris of the sorrow and weeping of the King, and what had hap-
pened between him and his Wezeer from first to last, he said after that to the
Wezeer Fáris, Is this which I have told thee, O Wezeer, true? So the
Wezeer Fáris answered, O Prophet of God, verily that which thou hast said
is true and correct; but, O Prophet of God, when I was conversing with the
King respecting this matter, there was not with us any one, and not one of
the people knew our case. Who then informed thee of all these things?
- He replied, My Lord, who knoweth the furtive glance and what the
bosoms conceal, informed me. So thereupon the Wezeer Fáris said, O
Prophet of God, this is none other than an excellent, mighty Lord, able to
accomplish every thing. And the Wezeer Fáris, embraced El-Islám, he and
they who were with him."
The Prophet of God, Suleymán, then said to the Wezeer, Verily thou
hast with thee such and such rarities and presents. The Wezeer replied,
Yes. And Suleymán said to him, I accept from thee all of them; but I give
them unto thee: and rest thou, and those who are with thee, in the place
where ye took up your quarters, that the fatigue of the journey may quit
you, and to-morrow, if it be the will of God (whose named be exalted!),
thine affair shall be accomplished in the most complete manner, by the will
716
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of God, the Lord of the earth and the heaven, and the Creator of all crea-
tures. Then the Wezeer Fáris went to his place; and he repaired to the
Lord Suleymán on the following day; whereupon the Prophet of God,
Suleymán, said to him, When thou hast come unto the King of 'Ásim the
son of Safwán, and hast an interview with him, do ye both ascend such
a tree, and sit silent; and when it is the period between the two prayers,
and the mid-day heat hath become assuaged, descend ye to the foot of the
tree, and look ye there: ye will find two large serpents coming forth; the
head of one being like the head of the ape, and the head of the other like
the head of an 'Efreet. When ye see them, smite ye them with arrows, and
kill them; then [cut off and] throw away, from the head-part of each of
them, as much as one span's length, and of the tail-part of each of them
likewise: so their flesh will remain, and do ye cook it, and cook it well, and
feed your two wives with it, and ye will obtain by them, by the permission
of God (whose name be exalted!), male children.
9
Then Suleymán (on whom be peace!) caused to be brought a seal-ring
and a sword, and a wrapper containing a tunic ornamented with jewels, and
he said, O Wezeer Fáris, when the two sons of you twain shall have grown
up, and attained to manhood, give ye to each one of them one of these
things. And after this, he said to the Wezeer, In the name of God! May
God (whose name be exalted!) accomplish thine affair! And now there
remaineth not aught for thee to do but that thou set forth on thy journey,
relying upon the blessing of God (whose name be exalted!); for the King
is night and day expecting thine arrival, and his eye is constantly gazing
upon the way. So upon this the Wezeer Fáris advanced to the Prophet
of God, Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!), and bade
him farewell, and went forth from him, after he had kissed his hands.
He journeyed on during the rest of that day, full of joy on account of
the accomplishment of his affair, and he prosecuted his journey with dili
gence night and day, and ceased not to travel on until he came near to
Egypt, when he sent one of his servants to acquaint the King 'Ásim there-
with. So when the King 'Ásim heard of his arrival and of the accomplish-
ment of his affair, he rejoiced exceedingly, he and his chief officers, and the
lords of his kingdom and all his troops, and especially at the safety of the
Wezeer Fáris. And when the King and the Wezeer met each other, the
Wezeer alighted, and kissed the ground before him, and gave the King the
glad tidings of the accomplishment of his affair in the most complete man-
ner; after which he proposed to him the true faith and El-Islám; where-
upon the King 'Ásim embraced El-Islám, with all his subjects,10 and said
to the Wezeer Fáris, Go to thy house and rest thyself this night, and rest
thyself also for a week, and enter the bath: after that come to me, that I may
inform thee of a thing respecting which we must deliberate. So the Wezeer
kissed the ground and departed, he and his dependents and his young men
and his servants, to his house, and he rested eight days: after which he re-
paired to the King, and related to him all that had occurred between him
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 717
and Suleymán, the son of Dáood, on both of whom be peace! He then said
to the King, Arise thou alone, and come with me. He therefore arose with
the Wezeer, and they took two bows and two arrows, ascended the tree,
and sat silent until the period of mid-day had passed, and ceased not to
remain so until near the time of afternoon-prayers, when they descended,
and looked, and saw two large serpents come forth from the foot of the tree.
The King looked at them, and liked them; for they excited his admira-
tion when he saw them with collars of gold; and he said, O Wezeer, verily
these two serpents are adorned with collars of gold! By Allah, this is a
wonderful thing! Let us take them and put them into a cage, and divert
ourselves with the sight of them. But the Wezeer replied, These hath God
created for their use: so smite thou one with an arrow, and I will smite one
with an arrow. Accordingly they both shot at them with the arrows, and
slew them; and they cut off from the head-part of each of them a span,
and from the tail-part of each a span, and threw away these pieces. They
then went with the rest to the King's palace, demanded the cook, and gave
him that meat, saying to him, Cook this meat nicely, with onion-sauce¹¹
and spices, and ladle it out into two saucers, and bring them hither at such
a time and at such an hour, and delay not. So the cook took the meat, and
went with it to the kitchen, and he cooked it well, with excellent onion-
sauce; after which he ladled it out into two saucers, and brought them
before the King and the Wezeer. The King therefore took a saucer, and the
Wezeer a saucer, and they fed with them their two wives; and by the good
pleasure of God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!),
and his power and will, it happened, that night, as the Prophet of God,
Suleymán, had said.
The King remained, after that, three months disturbed in heart, saying
within himself, I wonder whether this thing be true or not true. Then his
wife was sitting one day, and she felt symptoms of becoming a mother,
and she was pained, and her complexion changed. So she summoned one
of the eunuchs who were with her, and he was one of the chief of them, and
she said, Go to the King, wherever he is, and say to him, O King of the age,
I give thee the glad tidings that our mistress hath felt symptoms of her be-
coming a mother. The eunuch therefore went forth quickly, full of joy, and
he saw the King alone, with his hand upon his cheek, meditating on this
subject; so the eunuch approached him, and kissed the ground before him,
and informed him of this fact. And when he heard the words of the eunuch,
he rose upon his feet, and, in the excess of his joy, he kissed the hand of the
eunuch, and his head, and, having pulled off the apparel that was on him-
self, gave it to him; and he said to those who were present in his hall of
assembly, Whosoever loveth me, let him bestow favours upon him. They
therefore gave him, of riches and jewels and jacinths and horses and mules
and gardens, what could not be numbered nor calculated.
Then the Wezeer came in at that time to the King, and said, O King
of the age, I was just now sitting alone in the house, troubled in heart, medi-
718
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
tating upon the state of my wife, and saying within myself, I wonder
whether it be true, and whether Khátoon¹² will bear me a child or not-
when, lo, the eunuch came in to me, and gave me the glad tidings that my
wife Khatoon had felt symptoms of becoming a mother, and that her com-
plexion was changed; whereupon, in my joy, I pulled off all the apparel
that was upon me, and gave it to the eunuch; and I gave him a thousand
pieces of gold, and made him the chief of the eunuchs. Then the King
'Asim said, O Wezeer, verily God (blessed be He, and exalted be his name!)
hath favoured us, in his bounty and goodness and liberality and benefi-
cence, with the right religion, and honoured us in his graciousness and
bounty, and brought us out from darkness into light; and I desire to relieve
the people, and to rejoice them. So the Wezeer replied, Do what thou de-
sirest. And he said, O Wezeer, go down immediately, and take forth every
one who is in the prison, of the criminals and debtors; and whosoever shall
be guilty of an offence after that, we will requite him with that which he shall
deserve. We will also take off from the people the taxes for three years, and
do thou set up, around this city, kitchens, around the walls, and order the
cooks to suspend there all kinds of cooking-pots, to cook all kinds of viands,
and to continue the cooking night and day; and all who are in this city,
and in the surrounding tracts, near and distant, shall eat and drink and
carry to their houses. Order them also to make merry, and to decorate the
city seven days, and not to shut their shops night nor day.13
So the Wezeer went forth immediately, and did as the King 'Ásim had
commanded him. They decorated the city and the castle and the towers in
the most beautiful manner, and clad themselves in the best of apparel; and
the people passed their time in eating and drinking and play and merriment
until the period of the delivery of the King's wife, after the fulfilment of
her days, when she gave birth to a male child like the moon in the night of
its fulness, and the King named him Seyf-el-Mulook.14 Likewise the wife
of the Wezeer gave birth to a boy like a lamp, and he named him Sá'ed.¹
When they had attained to years of discretion,16 the King 'Ásim, whenever
he beheld them, rejoiced in them exceedingly; and when their age had be-
come twenty years, the King summoned his Wezeer Fáris to a private inter-
view, and said to him, O Wezeer, a thing hath occurred to my mind, and I
desire to do it; but I will consult thee respecting it. The Wezeer replied,
Whatever hath occurred to thy mind, do it; for thy judgment is blessed.
And the King 'Ásim said, O Wezeer, I have become a very old, decrepit
man; for I am far advanced in years; and I desire to reside in a Záwiyeh,"
to worship God (whose name be exalted!), and give my kingdom and my
empire to my son Seyf-el-Mulook; since he is now a comely young man,
perfect in horsemanship and intellect, and polite literature, and gravity, and
the art of government. What then sayest thou, O Wezeer, of this idea?
The Wezeer answered, Excellent is the idea that thou hast formed. It is a
blessed and fortunate idea; and if thou do this, I also will do like thee, and
my son Sá'ed shall be Wezeer unto him; for he is a comely young man, a
-
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 719
person of knowledge and judgment. Thus the two shall be together, and we
will arrange their affair, and will not be negligent respecting their case, but
guide them to the right way.
Then the King 'Ásim said to his Wezeer, Write the letters, and send
them by the couriers to all the provinces and districts and fortresses and
castles that are under our authority, and order their chiefs to be present in
such a month in the Horse-course of the Elephant.18 The Wezeer Fáris
therefore went forth immediately, and wrote to all the governors and the
commanders of the castles, and others who were under the authority of the
King 'Ásim, commanding them all to be present in that month; and he or-
dered that every one who was in the city should be present, the distant
and the near.
Then the King 'Ásim, after the expiration of the greater part of the in-
terval, commanded the farráshes to pitch the tents in the midst of the
horse-course, and to decorate them in the most sumptuous manner, and to
set the great throne upon which the King sat not save on the occasions of
festivals. So they did immediately all that he commanded them: they set
the throne, and the lieutenants and chamberlains and emeers went forth.
The King also went forth, and commanded to proclaim among the people,
In the name of God! Come forth to the horse-course! Accordingly the
emeers and wezeers, and the governors of the provinces and the cultivated
tracts, came forth to that horse-course, and betook themselves to the service
of the King as was their custom, and they all remained in their several
places: some of them sat, and some stood, until all the people had collected,
when the King gave orders to spread the table.19 They therefore spread it,
and they ate and drank, and prayed for the King. Then the King com-
manded the chamberlains to proclaim among the people that they should
not depart. So they proclaimed, and said in their proclamation, Not one
of you shall go until he heareth the words of the King!
They then raised the curtains,20 and the King said, Whoso loveth me,
let him remain until he heareth my words. Wherefore all the people sat
with tranquil souls, after they had been fearful. And the King rose upon
his feet, and made them swear that none of them would rise from his place;
and he said to them, O emeers and wezeers and lords of the empire, great
and small, and whosoever is present of all the people, do ye know that this
kingdom was an heritage unto me from my fathers and forefathers? They
answered him, Yes, O King: all of us know that. And he said to them, I
and ye all worshipped the sun and the moon, and God (whose name be ex-
alted!) blessed us with the true faith, and delivered us from darkness into
light, and God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!)
guided us unto the religion of El-Islám. Know also that I have now be-
come a very old man, decrepit, feeble; and I desire to sit in a Záwiyeh, there
to worship God (whose name be exalted!), and to beg his forgiveness of past
offences; and this my son, Seyf-el-Mulook, shall be ruler. Ye know that
he is a comely young man, eloquent, acquainted with the affairs of the
720
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
world, intelligent, excelling in science, just. I therefore desire at this pre
ent time to give him my kingdom, and to make him King over you in n
stead, and seat him as Sultán in my place. So I will retire to worship G
(whose name be exalted!) in a Záwiyeh, and my son Seyf-el-Mulook w
be invested with the sovereignty, and judge between you. What then do
all say? And upon this, they all rose, and, having kissed the ground b
fore him, answered, We hear and obey. And they said, O our King an
our defender, shouldst thou set over us one of thy slaves, we would obe
him, and attend to thy words, and comply with thy command: how the
in the case of thy son Seyf-el-Mulook? We accept him and approve
him, on the eye and the head.
-
So thereupon the King 'Ásim the son of Safwán arose, and descende
from his throne, and, having seated his son on the great throne, took th
crown from his own head, and put it on the head of his son, and he girde
his waist with the royal girdle.21 The King 'Ásim seated himself upon th
throne of his kingdom, by the side of his son; and the emeers and wezeers
and the great men of the empire, and all the people, arose and kissed th
ground before him, and stood saying one to another, He is worthy of th
sovereignty, and he is more worthy of it than any other. They mad
proclamation of safety, and offered up prayers in his favour for victory
and good fortune; and Seyf-el-Mulook scattered gold and silver over th
heads of all the people, conferred robes of honour, and gave and bestowed
Then, after a moment, the Wezeer Fáris arose, and kissed the ground, and
said, O emeers, O lords of the empire, do ye know that I am Wezeer, and
that my office of Wezeer commenced of old, before the King 'Ásim the sor
of Safwan was invested with the sovereignty, who hath now divested him-
self of the sovereignty and invested his son in his stead? They answered
Yes: we know that thou hast inherited thine office of Wezeer from father
after grandfather. And he said, And now I divest myself, and invest this
my son Sá'ed; for he is intelligent, sagacious, knowing. What then say ye
all? And they answered, None is fit to be Wezeer to the King Seyf-el-
Mulook except thy son Sá'ed; for they are suited, each to the other. So
thereupon the Wezeer Fáris arose, and took off his Wezeer's turban, and
put it on the head of his son Sá'ed, and he put the Wezeer's inkhorn before
him also. And the chamberlains and emeers said, Verily he deserveth the
office of Wezeer. Then the King 'Ásim and the Wezeer Fáris arose, and
opened the treasuries, and conferred sumptuous robes of honour upon the
kings and emeers and wezeers, and the great men of the empire, and all the
people; gave salaries and benefactions, and wrote for them new diplomas
and mandates with the signature of Seyf-el-Mulook and the signature of
the Wezeer Sá'ed the son of the Wezeer Fáris; and the people [of the
provinces] remained in the city for a week, after which each of them jour-
neyed to his district and his place.
The King 'Ásim then took his son Seyf-el-Mulook, and Sá'ed the son of
the old Wezeer, and they entered the city, went up to the palace, and, hav-
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 721
ing summoned the Treasurer, ordered him to bring the seal-ring and the
sword and the wrapper; and the King 'Ásim said, O my sons, come: each of
you shall choose something from this present and take it. And the first
who put forth his hand was Seyf-el-Mulook, who took the wrapper and the
seal-ring; and Sá'ed put forth his hand, and took the sword; 22 after which
they kissed the hands of the old King, and departed to their dwelling-
places. Now when Seyf-el-Mulook took the wrapper, he did not open it,
nor look at what was in it, but he threw it upon the couch on which he slept
at night together with his Wezeer Sá'ed; for it was their custom to sleep
together. They spread their bed, and the two lay down together upon it,
the candles shedding their light upon them; and they remained until mid-
night. Then Seyf-el-Mulook awoke from his sleep, and, seeing the wrapper
at his head, he said within himself, I wonder what is in this wrapper which
the King hath given us among the rarities. So he took it, and took a candle,
and descended from the couch, leaving Sá'ed asleep; and he entered a
closet, and opened the wrapper; whereupon he saw in it a tunic of the
fabric of the Jánn. He then opened the tunic, and spread it out, and found
upon the lining of the back part of it the portrait of a damsel, delineated
in gold; but her loveliness was wonderful. When he saw this portrait, his
reason fled from his head: he became mad with love of it, and fell upon the
floor in a fit, and began to weep and wail, and to slap his face and his
bosom, and to kiss the portrait. Then he recited these two verses:-
Love, at its commencement, is like running saliva. Destiny bringeth it and exciteth it.
But when the youth plungeth into the abysses of love, events occur too great for him
to bear.
-
He ceased not to wail and weep, and to slap his face and his bosom, un-
til the Wezeer Sá'ed awoke, and looked at the bed, and saw not Seyf-el-
Mulook; but he saw a candle; and he said within himself, Whither is Seyf-
el-Mulook gone? He then took the candle, and proceeded to search through
all the palace until he came to the closet in which Seyf-el-Mulook was,
when he saw him weeping violently and wailing. So he said to him, O my
brother, for what reason is this weeping? What hath happened to thee?
Tell me, and acquaint me with the cause of this. But Seyf-el-Mulook
spoke not to him, nor raised his head: he still wept and wailed, and struck
his hand upon his bosom. Therefore when Sá'ed saw him in this state, he
said, I am thy Wezeer and thy brother, and I was reared with thee; and if
thou do not discover to me thine affairs, and make me acquainted with thy
secret, to whom wilt thou reveal thy secret, and whom wilt thou make
acquainted with it? And Sá'ed ceased not to humble himself and to kiss
the ground for some time, while Seyf-el-Mulook looked not towards him,
nor spoke to him a single word; but continued weeping. And when his state
alarmed Sá'ed, and his case wearied him, he went forth from him, and, tak-
ing a sword, entered the closet in which was Seyf-el-Mulook, and put the
point of the sword to his own bosom, and said to Seyf-el-Mulook, Rouse thy-
722
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
self, O my brother! If thou tell me not what hath happened to thee, I wi
slay myself, rather than see thee in this state. So upon this, Seyf-e
Mulook raised his head towards his Wezeer Sá'ed, and said to him, O m
brother, I was ashamed to tell thee, and to acquaint thee with that whic
hath happened to me. But Sá'ed replied, I conjure thee by Allah, the Lor
of lords, and the Liberator of necks, and the Cause of causes, the One, th
Gracious, the Bountiful, the Liberal, that thou tell me what it is that hat
happened to thee, and be not abashed at me; for I am thy slave and thy
Wezeer and thy counsellor in all affairs. And Seyf-el-Mulook said, Come
look at this portrait.
24
-
And when Sá'ed saw that portrait, he contemplated it for some time
and saw inscribed upon the head of it, in pearls arranged, This is the por-
trait of Bedeea-el-Jemál the daughter of Shahyál23 the son of Shárookh, one
of the Kings of the believing Jánn, who sojourn in the city of Bábil, and
dwell in the Garden of Irem of the son of 'Ad the Greater. Upon this,
the Wezeer Sá'ed said to the King Seyf-el-Mulook, O my brother, knowest
thou who among women is the original of this portrait, that we may search
for her? Seyf-el-Mulook answered, No, by Allah, O my brother: I know
not the original of this portrait. And Sá'ed replied, Come, read this in-
scription. So Seyf-el-Mulook advanced, and read the inscription that was
upon the crown, and knew its purport; and thereupon he uttered a loud cry
from the bottom of his bosom, and said, Ah! Ah! Ah! But Sá'ed said to
him, O my brother, if the original of this portrait be in existence, and her
name be Bedeea-el-Jemál, and she be in the world, I will hasten to seek
her, without delay, that thou mayest attain thy desire. I conjure thee then
by Allah, O my brother, that thou relinquish weeping, in order that thou
mayest introduce the people of the empire to wait upon thee; and when the
morning cometh, summon the merchants and the poor devotees and the
travellers and the needy, and inquire of them respecting the particulars of
this city. Perhaps some one, by the blessing of God (whose perfection be
extolled, and whose name be exalted!), and by his aid, may direct us to it,
and to the Garden of Irem.
Accordingly, when the morning came, Seyf-el-Mulook rose, and ascended
the throne, hugging the tunic; for from this time he neither rose nor sat
down, nor would sleep come to him, unless it were with him. So the emeers
and wezeers, and the troops, and the lords of the empire, came in to him; but
when the court was fully attended, and the assembly was ranged in order,
the King Seyf-el-Mulook said to his Wezeer Sá'ed, Go forth to them and say
to them, that the King hath experienced an indisposition, and that he passed
not last night save in a state of illness. The Wezeer Sá'ed therefore went
forth, and acquainted the people with that which the King had said. And
when the King 'Ásim heard that, the case of his son was not a light matter to
him; wherefore, upon this, he summoned the sages and the astrologers, and
went in with them to his son Seyf-el-Mulook; and they looked at him, and
prescribed for him a beverage, and he remained in his place during a period
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 723
-
of three months. So the King 'Ásim said to the sages who were present,
being enraged against them, Wo to you, O dogs! Are ye all unable to cure
my son? Now if ye cure him not immediately, I will slay you all! Their
chief replied, O King of the age, we know that this is thy son, and thou
knowest that we are not neglectful in the cure of the stranger: how then
should we be so with respect to the cure of thy son? But thy son hath a
difficult disease: if thou desire to know it, we will mention it to thee, and
inform thee of it. The King 'Ásim said, What hath appeared to you in the
disease of my son? So the chief sage answered him, O King of the age,
verily thy son is now enamoured, and loveth a person with whom there is
no way of effecting a union. And upon this, the King 'Ásim was enraged,
and said, How learned ye that my son is enamoured, and how came love
unto my son? They therefore answered him, Ask his brother and his Wezeer
Sá'ed: for he is the person who knoweth his state.
And the King 'Ásim arose, and, having entered a closet alone, summoned
Sá'ed, and said to him, Tell me the true nature of the disease of my son.
But he replied, I know not its true nature. And the King said to the exe-
cutioner, Take Sá'ed, bind his eyes, and smite off his head. So Sá'ed feared
for himself, and said, O King of the age, give me promise of indemnity.
And he replied, Tell me, and thou shalt be safe. Then Sá'ed said to him,
Verily thy son is enamoured. And who, asked the King, is the object of his
passion? Sá'ed answered, The daughter of one of the Kings of the Jánn:
or he saw her portrait upon a tunic in the wrapper which Suleyman the
Prophet of God gave you.
And thereupon the King 'Ásim arose and went in to his son Seyf-el-
Mulook, and said to him, O my son, what hath afflicted thee, and what is
his portrait of which thou hast become enamoured, and why didst thou
ot inform me? Seyf-el-Mulook answered, O my father, I was abashed at
hee, and I was not able to mention to thee that matter, nor could I acquaint
ny one with aught of it: but now thou knowest my state; see then how
hou wilt act to effect my cure. His father said to him, What expedient
hall be employed? Were this of the daughters of mankind, we would
ontrive an expedient to obtain access to her; but she is of the daughters
f the Kings of the Jánn; and who is able to gain possession of her, unless
be Suleyman the son of Dáood? for he is the person who can effect that.
ut, O my son, arise immediately, and strengthen thyself, and mount, and
> to the chase, and to the games in the horse-course; employ thyself also
eating and drinking, and dismiss anxiety and grief from thy heart. I will
ring thee a hundred damsels of the daughters of Kings, and thou hast no
eed of the daughters of the Jánn, over whom we have no power, and who
e not of our species. But he replied, I will not relinquish her, nor will I
ek any other than her. So his father said to him, How shall this be done,
my son? And he answered him, Bring to us all the merchants and the
avellers and wanderers throughout the countries, that we may inquire of
em respecting this. Perhaps God will direct us to the Garden of Irem
724
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and to the city of Bábil.-The King 'Ásim therefore commanded that every
merchant in the city should present himself, and every stranger in it, and
every sea-captain; and when they came, he asked them respecting the city of
Bábil and its country, and respecting the Garden of Irem. Not one of them,
however, knew these places, or gave any information of them.
But on the breaking up of the assembly, one of them said, O King of
the age, if thou desire to know that, inquire in the country of China; for it
hath a great city, and perhaps some one of that place may direct thee to
the object of thy desire. And upon this, Seyf-el-Mulook said, O my father,;
fit out for me a ship for the voyage to the land of China. His father re-
plied, O my son, sit thou upon the throne of thy kingdom, and rule the peo-
ple, and I will make the voyage to the land of China, and go myself on this
business. But Seyf-el-Mulook said, O my father, this affair concerneth me,
and no one can seek to accomplish it like myself; and whatever may happen,
if thou give me permission to make the voyage, I will do so, and be absent
for a period of time. If I find any tidings of her, my desire is attained; and
if I find no tidings of her, by the voyage I shall experience dilatation of my
bosom, and enlivenment of my heart; thus my case will become easy; and if
I live, I shall return to thee safe. And the King looked at his son, and
saw for himself no resource but doing for him that which would content
him. So he gave him permission to make the voyage, and fitted out for him
forty ships, and a thousand 25 memlooks, besides servants, and gave him
wealth and treasures, with every thing that he required of implements of
war; and he said to them, Set forth on thy voyage, O my son, in prosperity
and health and safety. I commit thee unto Him with whom deposites are
not lost.
Then his father and his mother bade him farewell, the ships were lader.
with water and provisions and arms and soldiers, and they commenced the
voyage. They ceased not to pursue their course until they arrived at the
capital of China; and when the people of China heard that there had come
to them forty ships filled with men and equipages and arms and stores, they
made sure that they were enemies who had come to attack them and besieg
them; wherefore they closed the gates of the city, and prepared the catapults.
So when the King Seyf-el-Mulook heard of this, he sent to them two of his
favourite memlooks, and said to them, Go ye to the King of China, and say
to him, This is Seyf-el-Mulook, the son of the King 'Ásim: he hath com
unto thy city as a guest, to divert himself in thy country for a period of
time, and not to fight, nor to contend: so if thou wilt receive him, he wil
land to visit thee; and if thou wilt not receive him, he will return, and n
trouble thee nor the people of thy city.
Accordingly the memlooks, on their arriving at the city, said to its in-
habitants, We are envoys of the King Seyf-el-Mulook. They therefor
opened to them the gate, and went with them, and presented them befor
their King. His name was Faghfoor 26 Sháh; and there had existed between
him and the King 'Ásim, before that period, an acquaintance. So when
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 725
-
he heard that the King who had come to him was Seyf-el-Mulook, the
son of the King 'Ásim, he bestowed robes of honour upon the envoys, and
gave orders to open the gates. He also prepared the gifts of hospitality,
and went forth himself, with the favourite officers of his empire, and came
to Seyf-el-Mulook; and they embraced each other. He said to him, A
friendly and free and an ample welcome to him who hath come unto us! I
am thy memlook, and the memlook of thy father; my city is at thy dis-
posal, and every thing that thou demandest shall be brought unto thee.—
And he presented to him the gifts of hospitality, and provisions [for him
and his people], at their stations. Then the King Seyf-el-Mulook mounted,
and Sá'ed his Wezeer, and with them their favourite officers and the rest
of the soldiers, and they proceeded along the sea-shore until they entered the
city; when the cymbals were beaten, and the drums to announce the happy
event; and they remained there for a period of forty days, well entertained.
After this, the King of China said to Seyf-el-Mulook, O son of my
brother, how art thou? Hath my country pleased thee? Seyf-el-Mulook
answered him, May God (whose name be exalted!) make it ever to be
honoured by thy rule, O King! And the King Faghfoor Sháh said, Nought
hath brought thee hither save some affair that hath occurred to thee; and
whatever thing thou desirest to obtain from my country, I will accomplish
it for thee. So Seyf-el-Mulook replied, O King, verily my case is wonderful;
and it is this: I have become enamoured of a portrait of Bedeea-el-Jemál.
And upon this the King of China wept in pity and compassion for him, and
said to him, And what desirest thou now, O Seyf-el-Mulook? He answered
him, I desire of thee that thou bring unto me all the wanderers and travellers,
and those who are accustomed to journeys, that I may inquire of them
respecting the original of this portrait. Perhaps some one of them may give
me information respecting her. The King Faghfoor Sháh therefore sent
the lieutenants and chamberlains and guards, and commanded them to bring
all the wanderers and travellers who were in the country. So they brought
them; and they were a numerous company; and they assembled before the
King Faghfoor Sháh. Then the King Seyf-el-Mulook inquired respecting the
city of Bábil and the Garden of Irem: but none of them returned him an
answer; wherefore the King Seyf-el-Mulook was perplexed at his case. After
hat, however, one of the sea-captains said, O King, if thou desire to know
his city and that garden, inquire in the islands that appertain to India.
So thereupon, Seyf-el-Mulook commanded that they should bring the
hips; and they did so, and stored them with water and provisions and all
hat they required; after which, Seyf-el-Mulook embarked with Sá'ed his
Vezeer, having bidden farewell to the King Faghfoor Sháh, and they con-
inued their course over the sea for a period of four months, with a fair wind,
afe and secure. But it happened that there rose against them a wind one
ay, the billows came upon them from every quarter, the rain descended
pon them, and the sea became charged by the violence of the wind. The
hips dashed one against another by reason of the force of the wind, and all
726
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
fell to pieces, as also did the small boats, [except one,] and they were
submerged but Seyf-el-Mulook with a party of his memlooks who remain
in a small boat. Then the wind became stilled and calmed by the power
God (whose name be exalted!), and the sun rose, and Seyf-el-Mulook, ope
ing his eyes, saw not any of the ships, nor saw he aught save the sky and t
water and himself and those who were with him in the little boat. So he sa
to the memlooks who were with him, Where are the ship and the small boat
and where is my brother Sá'ed? They answered him, O King of the ag
there remain not ships nor boats nor those who were in them; for they a
all submerged, and have become food for the fishes.
And thereupon, Seyf-el-Mulook called out, and repeated a sentence th
utterer of which is secure from confusion; that is, There is no strength no
power but in God, the High, the Great! Then he began to slap his fac
and desired to cast himself into the sea; but the memlooks prevented hin
and said to him, O King, what advantage would arise to thee from this
Thou hast done with thyself thus, and hadst thou attended to the words o
thy father, nought of this had happened to thee. But all this was writte
from eternity by the will of the Creator of souls, and the servant mus
experience the accomplishment of that which God hath decreed to befall him
The astrologers said to thy father, at thy birth, Verily all these difficultie
will befall this thy son. And in this case we have no resource but to b
patient until God shall dispel from us the affliction in which we are involved
-And Seyf-el-Mulook said, There is no strength nor power but in God
the High, the Great! There is no place of refuge from that which God
(whose name be exalted!) decreeth, nor any flight therefrom! Then he
sighed, and recited these verses:
-
-
I am perplexed, by the Compassionate! without doubt, in my case; and trouble hath
befallen me from sources unknown to me.
I will be patient, that mankind may know me to have borne with patience that which i
more bitter than aloes."
The taste of bitter aloes is not like my patience; for I have borne with patience what is
hotter than live coals.
I have no resource in my present case; but I commit my affairs to the Disposer of events
He was drowned in the sea of solicitudes, and his tears ran down his
cheek like a copious rain; and he slept for a period of the day, after which
he awoke, and demanded some food. So he ate until he was satisfied, and
they removed the provision from before him. The boat proceeded with
them, and they knew not whither it was conveying them; and it ceased not
to bear them along with the waves and the winds night and day for a long
period of time, until their provision was exhausted, and they were confounded
and became in a state of the most violent hunger and thirst and agitation.
But, lo, an island appeared to them in the distance, and the winds drove
them on until they arrived at it; whereupon they made fast their boat to it,
and landed, leaving one in the boat. They went. on upon that island, and
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 727
saw upon it many fruits of all kinds, and ate of them until they were satis-
fied. And, lo, there was a person sitting among the trees, long-faced, of
strange appearance, with white beard and skin; and he called to one of the
memlooks by his name, and said to him, Eat not of these fruits, for they are
not ripe: but come to me, that I may give thee to eat of these ripe fruits.
And the memlook looked at him, and imagined that he was of the number
of those who were submerged, and that he had landed upon this island.
So he rejoiced extremely at the sight of him, and walked on until he came
near to him; this memlook not knowing what was secretly ordained to befall
him, and what was written upon his forehead.28 And when he came near to
him, that person leaped upon him; for he was a Márid; 20 and mounting
upon his shoulders, he wound one of his legs round his neck, and hung the
other down his back, and said to him, Walk on: there remaineth for thee no
escape from me, and thou hast become my ass. The memlook thereupon
called out to his companions, and began to weep, and to say, Alas, my
master! Go ye forth and save yourselves from this wood, and flee ye; for
one of its inhabitants hath mounted upon my shoulders, and the rest seek
you, and desire to mount you like me. So when they heard these words
which the memlook uttered, they all fled, and embarked in the boat; and
the inhabitants of the island followed them into the sea, saying to them,
Whither go ye? Come and remain with us, that we may ride upon your
backs, and we will give you food and drink, and ye shall be our asses.
Therefore on their hearing from them these words, they hastened in their
course upon the sea until they were far from them; and they proceeded
relying upon God, whose name be exalted!
They ceased not to proceed in this manner for the space of a month, till
another island appeared to them; and they landed upon that island, and saw
there fruits of various kinds. So they busied themselves with eating the
fruits; and, lo, they saw something in the way, appearing in the distance;
and when they drew near to it, they looked at it, and saw it to be a creature
of hideous appearance, lying down, like a column of silver. And a memlook
struck it with his foot; and, behold, it was a person with long eyes and
cloven head, and he was hidden beneath one of his ears; for it was his habit,
when he slept, to put one of his ears beneath his head, and to cover himself
with the other ear.30 He then seized the memlook who struck him, and went
with him into the midst of the island; and, lo, it was all occupied by Ghools,
who ate the sons of Adam. And thereupon that memlook called out to his
companions and said to them, Save yourselves; for this island is the island
of the Ghools who eat the sons of Adam, and they desire to cut me up and
eat me. So when they heard these words, they turned back in flight, and
descended from the shore into the boat, without having collected aught of
the fruits.
They proceeded for some days, and it happened that there appeared to
them, one day, another island; and when they arrived at it, they found upon
it a high mountain, which they ascended, and they found upon the mountain
728
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
a wood of many trees; and they were hungry; wherefore they busied them
selves with eating of the fruits. But they were not aware when there cam
forth to them, from among the trees, persons of horrible aspect, and tall
the height of each of them was fifty cubits and his dog-teeth protruded from
his mouth like the tusks of the elephant. And, lo, they found a person sittin
upon a piece of black felt on a rock, and around him were the Ethiopians,
numerous company, standing in attendance upon him. Then these Ethi
opians came and took Seyf-el-Mulook and his memlooks, and, having sta
tioned them before their King, said, We found these birds among the trees
And the King was hungry so he took two of the memlooks, and slaughtered
them and ate them. Therefore when Seyf-el-Mulook beheld this thing, h
feared for himself, and wept; and he recited these two verses:
Calamities have become familiar with my heart, and I with them, after shunning them
for the generous is habitually familiar.
The anxieties that I suffer are not of one description: I have (praise be to God!) thou
sands of them.
Then he sighed, and recited also this couplet:
Fortune hath smitten me so with disasters, that my heart is covered with its arrows
And now, when other arrows strike me, their points break against the points in my heart
And when the King heard his weeping and lamentation, he said, Verily these
birds have an agreeable voice and modulation, and their voices have pleased
me: so put ye each one of them into a cage. Accordingly they put each of
them into a cage, and they hung them over the head of the King, that he
might hear their voices. Thus Seyf-el-Mulook and his memlooks became
imprisoned in the cages, and the Ethiopians gave them food and drink; and
at times they wept and at times laughed, and at times they talked and at
times were silent; the King of the Ethiopians all the while delighting in their
voices; and they ceased not to remain in this state for a length of time.
Now the King had a married daughter in another island; and she heard
that her father had birds of agreeable voices; so she sent a party of her people
to her father to request of him some of these birds. Her father therefore
sent to her Seyf-el-Mulook, and three memlooks, in four cages, with the
envoy who came to request them; and when they were brought to her, and
she beheld them, they pleased her, and she ordered her attendants to put them
up in a place over her head. So Seyf-el-Mulook wondered at the events
that had befallen him, and he reflected upon the glorious state in which he
had been living, and began to weep for himself, while the three memlooks
also wept for themselves; and all the time the King's daughter believed that
they were singing. It was the custom of the King's daughter, when any one
of the land of Egypt or any other country fell into her possession, and
pleased her, to hold him in high estimation; and it happened, by the decree
of God (whose name be exalted!) and his predestination, that when she saw
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 729
Seyf-el-Mulook, his beauty and loveliness pleased her, and his stature, and
justness of form. She therefore gave orders to treat him and his companions
with honour, and caressed him; but he shewed a dislike to her; and upon
this she was incensed against him and his memlooks, and commanded them
to serve her, and to convey to her the water and the firewood.
They continued to do thus for four years, and this state wearied Seyf-
el-Mulook: so he sent to intercede with the Queen, hoping that she would
liberate them, and that they might go their way and be relieved from their
present state; but she refused; and Seyf-el-Mulook and the memlooks
remained with her upon the island in the same condition. The inhabitants
of the island knew that they were the birds of the King's daughter; wherefore
none of the people of the city dared to hurt them in any way; and the heart
of the King's daughter was at ease respecting them, and she felt certain that
there was no escape for them from this island. So they used to absent
themselves from her for two days, and three, and to go about the desert to
collect firewood from the different tracts of the island and to bring it to the
kitchen of the King's daughter; and they continued in this state five years.
After this, it happened that Seyf-el-Mulook sat with his memlooks, one
day, upon the shore of the sea, conversing upon the events that had occurred,
and Seyf-el-Mulook, looking aside, and seeing himself in this place with
his memlooks, thought upon his mother and his father and his brother
Sá'ed, and upon the state of glory in which he had lived, and he wept and
lamented and wailed exceedingly, as did also the memlooks. Then the
memlooks said to him, O King of the age, how long shall we weep? Weeping
will not profit. This is an event written upon our foreheads by the pre-
determination of God (to whom he ascribed might and glory!), and the pen
hath written what He hath appointed, and nought will profit us but patience.
Perhaps God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!),
who hath afflicted us by this calamity, will dispel it from us. And Seyf-
el-Mulook said to them, O my brothers, how shall we contrive our escape
from this accursed woman? I see no way of escape for us unless God deliver
us from her by his favour. But it hath occurred to my mind that we may
flee and be at ease from this fatigue. They said to him, O King of the
age, whither can we go from this island, which is all occupied by Ghools who
eat the sons of Adam? In every place to which we might go they would
find us, and they would either eat us or take us prisoners and bring us back
to our place, and the King's daughter would be incensed against us. But
Seyf-el-Mulook replied, I will do for you something, and perhaps God
(whose name be exalted!) will aid us thereby to effect our deliverance, and
we shall escape from this island. So they said to him, How wilt thou act?
And he answered, We will cut some of these long pieces of wood, and twist
ropes of their bark, and bind one to another, and make them a raft,32 which
we will launch into the sea, and lade with these fruits; and we will make for
it oars, and embark upon it. Perhaps God (whose name be exalted!) will
give us relief by means of it; for He is able to accomplish every thing; and
-
-
――
730
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
perhaps God will bless us with a fair wind, that will convey us to the land
of India, and we shall escape from this accursed woman. And they replied
This is a good idea. And they rejoiced at it exceedingly.
They began immediately to cut the pieces of wood for making the raft
Then they twisted the ropes to bind the pieces of wood together, and they
persevered in this work for the space of a month. Every day, in the evening
they took some firewood, and carried it to the kitchen of the King's daughter
and they devoted the rest of the day to their work in making the raft, until
they completed it. So when they had finished making it, they launched it
upon the sea, and laded it with fruits gathered from the trees of the island.
and prepared themselves at the close of the day, not having acquainted any
one with that which they had done. Then they embarked upon the raft, and
proceeded over the sea for a period of four months, not knowing whither
they were borne. Their provisions were exhausted, and they had become
in a state of the most violent hunger and thirst, when, lo, the set frothed and
foamed, and rose in high waves, and there came to them a horrible crocodile,
which put forth its fore paw, and seized one of the memlooks, and swallowed
him. Therefore when Seyf-el-Mulook saw that crocodile do thus with the
memlook, he wept violently. He remained upon the raft with the two other
memlooks 33 alone, and they passed on to a distance from the place of the
crocodile, in a state of fear. They ceased not to remain in this state until
there appeared to them, one day, a great mountain, terrible, lofty, rising
high into the air; and they were glad at the sight of it; and after that, there
appeared to them an island: so they pursued their course to it with diligence,
rejoicing at their arriving there. But while they were in this condition, lo,
the sea became agitated, and its waves rose high, and its state became
changed. Then again a crocodile raised its head, stretched forth its paw,
and took the two remaining memlooks of Seyf-el-Mulook, and swallowed
them.
So Seyf-el-Mulook remained alone until he arrived at the island; where-
upon he laboured till he had ascended the mountain, and he looked, and saw
a wood, which he entered, and he walked among the trees, and began to eat
of the fruits; but he saw that more than twenty great apes had ascended
some of the trees; each of them larger than a mule. Therefore when Seyf-
el-Mulook beheld these apes, violent fear came upon him. Then the apes
descended, and surrounded him on every side; and after that, they walked
before him, making a sign to him that he should follow them, and went on.
So Seyf-el-Mulook walked after them; and they ceased not to proceed, with
him following them, until they came to a castle of high structure, with lofty
angles. They entered this castle, and Seyf-el-Mulook entered behind them,
and he beheld in it, of all kinds of rarities and jewels and minerals, what the
tongue cannot describe. He saw also in this castle a young man, upon the
sides of whose face hairs had not begun to grow; but he was tall, exceedingly
tall; and when Seyf-el-Mulook saw this young man, he was cheered by his
company; and there was not in that castle any one of mankind besides this
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 731
young man. The young man, on seeing Seyf-el-Mulook, was pleased with
him extremely; and he said to him, What is thy name, and from what
country art thou, and how camest thou hither? Acquaint me with thy story,
and conceal not of it aught.
-
Therefore Seyf-el-Mulook replied, I, by Allah, came not hither by my
own choice, nor was this place the object of my desire, nor can I remain in a
place 34 until I attain what I seek. And what is it, said the young man,
that thou seekest? Seyf-el-Mulook answered him, I am of the land of
Egypt, and my name is Seyf-el-Mulook, and my father is named the King
'Asim the son of Safwán. He then related to him the events that had
happened to him from the first of the case to the last; and thereupon that
young man arose and betook himself to the service of Seyf-el-Mulook, and
said, O King of the age, I was in Egypt, and heard that thou hadst gone to
the land of China; and how far is this land from the land of China! Verily
this is a wonderful thing, and an extraordinary case! Seyf-el-Mulook
replied, Thy words are true; but after that, I proceeded from the land of
China to the land of India, and a wind rose against us, and the sea became
agitated, and all the ships that were with me went to pieces. And he told
him all that had happened to him, until he said, And I have come unto thee
in this place. The young man then said to him, O son of the King, what
thou hast experienced in this absence from thy country, and in the difficulties
that have attended it, is sufficient for thee, and praise be to God who hath
brought thee to this place! Reside then with me, that I may be cheered by
thy society until I die, and thou shalt be King over this region; for it com-
priseth this island, to which no limit is known. Moreover these apes are
skilled in arts, and every thing that thou shalt demand thou wilt find here.
But Seyf-el-Mulook replied, O my brother, I cannot remain in any place
until my affair be accomplished, though I should go around about the whole
world inquiring respecting the object of my desire. Perhaps God will cause
me to attain my wish, or my course may lead me to a place wherein my
appointed term shall end, and I shall die.
The young man then looked towards an ape, and made a sign to him;
whereupon the ape absented himself for a while; after which he came back,
accompanied by apes with silken napkins tied to their waists; and they
brought forward a table, and put upon it about a hundred dishes of gold
and silver, containing all kinds of viands, and the apes stood in the manner
of servants before Kings. Next he made a sign to the chamberlains to seat
themselves: so they sat; and he whose custom it was to serve stood. Then
they ate until they were satisfied, when they removed the table, and brought
basins and ewers of gold, and they washed their hands. And after that, they
brought wine-vessels, about forty vessels, each containing a particular kind
of wine; and they drank, and enjoyed themselves, and were merry, and their
time was pleasant; all the apes dancing and playing, while the eaters were
occupied in eating. So when Seyf-el-Mulook beheld this, he wondered at
them, and forgot the difficulties that had happened to him. And when
732
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
night came, they lighted the candles, and put them in candlesticks of gold
and silver. Then they brought vessels of dried and fresh fruits, and they
ate; and when the time for sleep came, they spread for them the beds, and
they slept.
And in the morning, the young man arose as he was wont, and he woke
Seyf-el-Mulook, and said to him, Put forth thy head from this window, and
see what is standing beneath the window. He therefore looked, and he saw
apes that filled the wide waste and all the desert tract, and none know the
number of those apes but God, whose name be exalted! So Seyf-el-Mulook
said, These are numerous apes, that have filled the open country, and where-
fore have they assembled at this time? And the young man answered him,
This is their custom: all who are in the island have come, and some of them
have come from a distance of two days' journey, or three days'; for they
come every Saturday 35 and stand here until I awake from my sleep and put
my head forth from this window; and when they see me, they kiss the
ground before me; after which they depart to their occupations. And he
put forth his head from the window so that they saw him; and when they
beheld him, they kissed the ground before him, and departed.
Seyf-el-Mulook remained with the young man during the space of a
whole month; and after that, he bade him farewell, and departed. The
young man ordered a party of the apes, about a hundred, to journey with
him; and they journeyed in attendance upon Seyf-el-Mulook for a period
of seven days, until they had conducted him to the extremity of their
country,36 when they bade him farewell, and returned to their places. Seyf-
el-Mulook then journeyed alone over the mountains and hills and the deserts
and wastes for the space of four months, one day hungry and another day
satiated, one day eating of the herbage and another day eating of the fruits
of the trees. He began to repent of that which he had done with himself,
and of his going forth from that young man, and he desired to retrace his
steps to him. But he saw an indistinct, black object appearing in the
distance; so he said within himself, Is this a black city, or how is the case?
But I will not return until I see what this indistinct object is. - And when
he came near to it, he saw it to be a palace of lofty structure. He who built
it was Yáfith the son of Nooh (on whom be peace!), and it was the palace
which God (whose name be exalted!) hath mentioned in his Excellent Book,
in his words, And an abandoned well, and a lofty palace.37
-
Seyf-el-Mulook seated himself at the door of the palace, and said within
himself, I wonder what is the state of the interior of this palace, and who of
the Kings is within it. Who now will acquaint me with the truth of the
case, and are its inhabitants of mankind or of the Jinn? He sat meditating
for some time, and found not any one entering it, nor any coming forth from
it. So he arose and walked forward, relying upon God, until he entered the
palace; and he counted in his way seven entrance-passages; but saw no one.
He beheld, however, on his right hand, three doors, and before him a door
over which hung a curtain. He therefore advanced to that door, and lifted
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 733
the curtain with his hand, and walked on within the door; and, lo, he found
a great leewán 38 spread with silken carpets, and at the upper end of the
leewán was a couch of gold, whereon sat a damsel whose face was like the
moon: upon her was the apparel of Kings, and she resembled a bride on the
night of her display. And at the feet of the couch were forty tables, upon
which were dishes of gold and silver, all of them filled with rich viands.
When Seyf-el-Mulook beheld her, he approached her and saluted; and she
returned his salutation, and said to him, Art thou of mankind or of the Jinn?
He answered, I am of the best of mankind; for I am a King, the son of a
King. And she said to him, What dost thou desire? Avail thyself of this
food, and after that relate to me thy story from first to last, and tell me how
thou camest to this place. Seyf-el-Mulook therefore seated himself at a
table, and removed the cover from it, and, being hungry, he ate of those
dishes until he was satiated, and washed his hands; after which he ascended
the couch, and seated himself by the damsel, who thereupon said to him,
Who art thou, and what is thy name, and whence hast thou come, and who
brought thee hither? Seyf-el-Mulook replied, As to me, my story is long.
And she said to him, Tell me whence thou art, and what is the cause of thy
coming hither, and what is thy desire. But he replied, Inform thou me what
is thy state, and what is thy name, and who brought thee hither, and where-
fore thou art residing in this place alone. And the damsel said to him,
—
-
My name is Dólet-Khátoon.39 I am daughter of the King of India, and
my father dwelleth in the city of Sarandeeb.0 He hath a beautiful, large
garden: there is not in the land of India and its district any superior to it;
and in it is a large tank; and I entered that garden one day with my female
slaves, and I and my female slaves approached and descended into the tank,
and we proceeded to play and to amuse ourselves. But I was not aware
when a thing like a cloud came down upon me, and having snatched me away
from among my female slaves, flew with me between heaven and earth,
saying, O Dólet-Khátoon, fear not, but be of tranquil heart. Then he flew on
with me for a short time; after which he put me down in this palace, and
immediately became transformed, and, lo, he was a comely young man, of
youthful beauty, and clean in apparel; and he said to me, Dost thou know
me? I answered, No, O my master. And he said, I am son of the Blue
King, King of the Jánn, and my father, dwelleth in the Castle of El-Kulzum,¹¹
and hath under his authority six hundred thousand of the flying and the
diving Jinn.12 It happened to me that I was on a journey, going on my way,
and I saw thee and became enamoured of thee, and, descending upon thee,
seized thee from among the female slaves, and brought thee to this lofty
palace, which is my place and my abode. No one ever cometh to it; neither
any of the Jinn nor any of mankind; and from India to this place is a
journey of a hundred and twenty years: so be sure that thou wilt never see
again the country of thy father and thy mother. Reside then with me in.
this place with tranquil heart and mind, and I will bring before thee whatever
thou shalt desire.
43
734
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And after that, he embraced me and kissed me, and said to me, Reside
here, and fear not aught. Then he left me, and was absent from me a
while; after which he came bringing these tables and the furniture and
carpets. But he cometh to me every Tuesday and remaineth with me three
days; and on Friday he remaineth till the middle of the afternoon, when
he departeth, and he is absent until the Tuesday: then again he remaineth
with me
44 in the same manner. When he cometh, he eateth and drinketh
with me, and embraceth me and kisseth me; but he hath not induced me to
become his wife. My father is named Táj-el-Mulook; and he knoweth no
tidings of me, nor hath he discovered any trace of me. This is my story:
now tell me thy story.
Upon this, Seyf-el-Mulook said to her, Verily my story is long, and I
fear that, if I tell it thee, the time which it will require will be too long for
us, and the 'Efreet will come. But she replied, He did not depart from me
more than a little while before thine entrance, and he cometh not save on
Tuesday: therefore remain and be at ease, and gladden thy heart, and relate
to me what hath happened to thee from first to last. So Seyf-el-Mulook said,
I hear and obey. And he commenced his story, and proceeded with it until
he had related the whole of it from beginning to end; and when he came to
the mention of Bedeea-el-Jemál, her eyes filled with copious tears, and she
said, It is not as I imagined of thee, O Bedeea-el-Jemál! Alas, for the
conduct of fortune! O Bedeea-el-Jemál, dost thou not remember me, nor
say, My sister Dólet-Khátoon, whither hath she gone? Then she wept
exceedingly, and lamented that Bedeea-el-Jemál had not remembered her."
Seyf-el-Mulook therefore said to her, O Dólet-Khátoon, thou art a human
being, and she is a Jinneeyeh: how then can this be thy sister? She replied,
She is my foster-sister; and the cause was this: my mother went down to
divert herself in the garden, and, her time coming, she gave birth to me in
the garden: and the mother of Bedeea-el-Jemál was in the garden, she and
her 'Óns, and her time came; so she sojourned in a tract of the garden,
and
she gave birth to Bedeea-el-Jemál. Then she sent one of her female slaves
to my mother to demand of her some food and necessary clothing, and my
mother sent to her what she demanded, and invited her. She therefore arose,
and, taking Bedeea-el-Jemál with her, came to my mother, and my mother
suckled Bedeea-el-Jemál; and her mother and she remained with us in the
garden for the space of two months, after which she journeyed to her country;
and she gave to my mother a thing, saying to her, When thou wantest me,
I will come to thee in the midst of the garden. Bedeea-el-Jemál used to
come with her mother every year, and they used to remain with us some
time, and then to return to their country; and if I were with my mother,
O Seyf-el-Mulook, and beheld thee with us in our country, and we were
united as usual, I would employ some stratagem against Bedeea-el-Jemál, so
as to make thee attain thy desire, but I am in this place, and they know not
my case. If they were acquainted with my case, and knew me to be here,
they could effect my deliverance from this place; but the affair is God's
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JANN 735
(whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!), and what can
I do?
46
-
Seyf-el-Mulook then said to her, Arise, and come with me: we will flee,
and go whither God (whose name be exalted!) pleaseth. But she replied,
We cannot do that. By Allah, if we fled to the distance of a year's journey,
this accursed wretch would bring us back immediately, and he would destroy
us. So Seyf-el-Mulook said, I will hide myself in a place, and when he
passeth by me, I will smite him with the sword, and slay him. But she
replied, Thou canst not slay him unless thou kill his soul. And in what
place, said he, is his soul? She answered, I asked him respecting it many
times; but he would not confess to me its place. It happened, however, that
I urged him, one day, and he was enraged against me, and said to me, How
often wilt thou ask me respecting my soul? What is the reason of thy ques-
tion respecting my soul? So I answered him, O Hátim, there remaineth
to me no one but thee, except God; and I, as long as I live, would not cease
to hold thy soul in my embrace; and if I do not take care of thy soul and put
it in the midst of my eye, how can I live after thee? If I knew thy soul, I
would take care of it as of my right eye. And thereupon he said to me,
When I was born, the astrologers declared that the destruction of my soul
would be effected by the hand of one of the sons of the human Kings. I
therefore took my soul, and put it into the crop of a sparrow, and I
imprisoned the sparrow in a little box, and put this into another small box,
and this I put within seven other small boxes, and I put these within seven
chests, and the chests I put into a coffer 47 of marble within the verge of this
circumambient ocean; for this part is remote from the countries of mankind,
and none of mankind can gain access to it. Now I have told thee; and tell
not thou any one of this; for it is a secret between me and thee.
-
So I said to him, To whom should I relate it? None but thou cometh
unto me, that I should tell him. Then I said to him, By Allah, thou hast
put thy soul in a most strongly secured place, to which no being can gain
access. How then should any one of mankind gain access to it, unless what is
[seemingly] impossible be ordained, and God had predetermined like as
the astrologers have said? How can one of mankind gain access to this
[place]? — But he replied, Perhaps one of them may have upon his finger
the seal-ring of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!),
and he may come hither, and put his hand with the seal-ring upon the face
of the water, and say, By virtue of these names, let the soul of such-a-one
come up! Thereupon the coffer will come up, and he will break it, and the
chests in like manner, and the small boxes; and the sparrow will come forth
from the little box, and he will strangle it, and I shall die.
So thereupon Seyf-el-Mulook said, That King's son is myself, and this is
the ring of Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!) upon
my finger. Arise then and come with us to the shore of this sea, that we
may see whether these his words be false or true. - The two, therefore, arose,
and walked on until they came to the sea, when Dólet-Khátoon stood upon
736
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the sea-shore, and Seyf-el-Mulook entered the water to his waist, and sa
By virtue of the names and talismans that are upon this seal-ring, and
the influence of Suleymán (on whom be peace!), let the soul of such-a-on
the son of the Blue King, the Jinnee, come forth! And immediately the s
became agitated, and the coffer came up. So Seyf-el-Mulook took it, an
struck it against the rock, and broke it, and he broke the chests and th
small boxes, and took forth the sparrow from the little box. They the
returned to the palace, and ascended the couch; and, lo, a horrible du
arose, and a huge thing came flying, and saying, Spare me, O son of th
King, and slay me not, but make me thy emancipated slave, and I wi
cause thee to attain thy desire. But Dólet-Khátoon said to him, The Jinne
hath come; therefore kill the sparrow, lest this accursed wretch enter th
palace, and take the sparrow from thee, and slay thee, and slay me afte
thee. So upon this he strangled the sparrow, and it died, and the Jinne
fell upon the ground, a heap of black ashes.
Then Dólet-Khátoon said, We have escaped from the hand of this accursed
wretch, and how shall we now act? Seyf-el-Mulook answered, We mus
seek aid of God (whose name be exalted!), who hath afflicted us; for He
will order our affair, and will aid us to effect our deliverance from our presen
state. And he arose and pulled off, of the doors of the palace, about ten
doors. These were of sandal-wood and aloes-wood, and their nails were of
gold and silver. And he took some ropes which were there, of common silk
and floss-silk, and bound the doors together; after which, he and Dólet-
Khatoon helped each other so that they conveyed them to the sea and cast
them into it; they having become a raft; 48 and they tied it to the shore.
They then returned to the palace, and carried off the dishes of gold and
silver, and likewise the jewels and jacinths and precious minerals. They
transported all that was in the palace of such things as were light to carry
and of high price, and put them upon that raft, and they embarked upon it,
placing their reliance upon God (whose name be exalted!), who satisfieth,
and doth not disappoint, him who relieth upon Him. They also made for
themselves two pieces of wood as oars; and they loosed the ropes, and let the
raft take its course with them over the sea. They ceased not to proceed in
this manner for a period of four months, until their provisions were exhausted,
and their affliction became violent, and their spirits were oppressed: so they
begged of God to grant them deliverance from the state in which they were.
Seyf-el-Mulook, during the course of their voyage, used, when he slept, to
put Dólet-Khátoon behind his back; and when he turned over, the sword
was between them.49
And while they were in this state, one night, it happened that Seyf-el-
Mulook was asleep, and Dólet-Khátoon awake, and, lo, the raft inclined to
the shore, and came to a harbour in which were ships. So Dólet-Khatoon
saw the ships, and she heard a man talking with the sailors, and the man
who was talking was the chief captain. Therefore, when she heard the voice
of the captain, she knew that this was the harbour of some city, and that
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 737
they had arrived at the habitations of men; and she rejoiced greatly, and,
having roused Seyf-el-Mulook from his sleep, she said to him, Arise, and ask
this captain respecting the name of this city, and respecting this harbour.
And thereupon Seyf-el-Mulook arose, joyful, and said to him, O my brother,
what is the name of this city, and what is this harbour called, and what is
the name of its King? But the captain replied, O lying-faced! 50 O silly-
bearded! if thou know not this harbour nor this city, how camest thou
hither? Seyf-el-Mulook said, I am a stranger, and I was in a vessel, one
of the merchant-vessels, and it was wrecked, and sank with all that was in it;
but I got upon a plank, and have arrived here, and I asked thee a question,
which is not disgraceful. So the captain said, This is the city called
'Emáreeyeh, and this harbour is called the harbour Kemeen el-Bahreyn.51
Now when Dólet-Khátoon heard these words, she rejoiced exceedingly, and
said, Praise be to God! So Seyf-el-Mulook said, What is the news? And
she answered, O Seyf-el-Mulook, rejoice at the announcement of speedy
relief; for the King of this city is my uncle, the brother of my father, and
his name is 'Áli-l-Mulook.52 Then she said to him, Ask him, and say to
him, Is the Sultán of this city, 'Áli-l-Mulook, well? He therefore asked him
that question; and the captain, enraged at him, replied, Thou sayest, In my
life I never came hither; but am a stranger: who then acquainted thee
with the name of the lord of this city? - And Dólet-Khátoon was glad, and
she knew the captain; his name was Mo'een-ed-Deen,53 and he was one of
her father's captains: he had come forth to search for her, when she was lost,
and found her not, and he ceased not to search about until he came to the
city of her uncle. Then she said to Seyf-el-Mulook, Say to him, O captain
Mo'een-ed-Deen, come and answer the summons of thy mistress. So he
called to him in the words which she had said; and when the captain heard
his words, he was violently enraged, and said to him, O dog, who art thou,
and how knewest thou me? And he said to some of the sailors, Hand me a
staff of shoom,54 that I may go to this unlucky fellow and break his head.
He then took the staff, and went towards Seyf-el-Mulook; and he saw the
raft, and saw upon it an object wonderful and beautiful, whereat his mind
was amazed; and looking, and taking a sure view, he beheld Dólet-Khatoon
sitting, like a piece of the moon. He therefore said, What is with thee?
And Seyf-el-Mulook answered him, With me is a damsel named Dólet-
Khátoon. And when the captain heard these words he fell down in a fit,
on his hearing her name and knowing that she was his mistress, and the
daughter of his King.
Then, as soon as he recovered, he left the raft with what was upon it,
and repaired to the city, went up to the palace of the King, and asked
permission to go in to him. So the chamberlain went in to the King, and
said, The captain Mo'een hath come to thee to give thee good news. Where-
fore he gave him permission to enter, and he went in to the King, and kissed
the ground before him, and said to him, O King, thou hast to give a present
for good news; for the daughter of thy brother, Dólet-Khátoon, hath arrived
738
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
at the city, in good health and prosperity, and she is upon a raft, acco
panied by a young man like the moon in the night of its fulness.
A
when the King heard the tidings of the daughter of his brother, he rejoice
and conferred a sumptuous robe of honour upon the captain. He al
ordered immediately that they should decorate the city for the safety
the daughter of his brother, and sent to her, and caused her to be broug
to him, together with Seyf-el-Mulook, and saluted them, and congratulate
them on their safety. He then sent to his brother to inform him that h
daughter had been found and that she was with him; and when the messenge
came to him, he prepared himself, and the troops assembled, and Táj-e
Mulook, the father of Dólet-Khátoon, set forth, and proceeded until h
came to his brother 'Áli-l-Mulook, when he met his daughter, and the
rejoiced exceedingly.
Táj-el-Mulook remained with his brother a week; after which he too
his daughter, and likewise Seyf-el-Mulook, and they proceeded until they
came to Sarandeeb, her father's country, when Dólet-Khátoon met he
mother, and they rejoiced at her safety, and celebrated festivities; and i
was a great day, the like of which is not seen. As to the King, he treated
Seyf-el-Mulook with honour, and said to him, O Seyf-el-Mulook, thou has
done unto me and my daughter all this benefit, and I am not able to requite
thee for it, nor can any one requite thee save the Lord of all creatures: but
I desire of thee that thou sit upon the throne in my place, and govern in the
land of India; for I have given to thee my kingdom and my throne and my
treasures and my servants, and all this is a present from me unto thee. So
thereupon Seyf-el-Mulook arose, and kissed the ground before the King,
and thanked him, and said unto him, O King of the age, I have accepted all
that thou hast given to me, and it is returned from me unto thee as a present
also; for I, O King of the age, desire not kingdom nor empire, nor desire
I aught but that God (whose name be exalted!) may cause me to attain
my desire. The King then said to him, These my treasures are at thy
disposal, O Seyf-el-Mulook: whatsoever thou desire of them, take it, and
consult me not respecting it, and may God recompense thee for me with
every thing good! But Seyf-el-Mulook replied, May God strengthen the
King! There is no delight for me in sovereignty nor in wealth until I attain
my wish; but I desire now to divert myself in this city, and to see its great
thoroughfare-streets and its markets.
So Táj-el-Mulook ordered that they should bring him a horse of excellent
breed; and accordingly they brought him a horse saddled and bridled, of
excellent breed, and he mounted it, and went forth into the market, and
rode through the great thoroughfare-streets of the city. And while he was
looking to the right and left, he saw a young man, with a tunic, crying it at
the price of fifteen pieces of gold; and, looking attentively at him, he found
him to resemble his brother Sá'ed; and, in truth, he was Sá'ed himself; but
his complexion and condition were changed by protracted estrangement and
the difficulties of travel; so he did not know him. He then said to those
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 739
who were around him, Bring this young man, that I may interrogate him.
And they brought him to him, and he said, Take him and convey him to the
palace in which I am staying, and let him remain with you until I return
from diverting myself. But they imagined that he said to them, Take him
and convey him to the prison. And they said, Perhaps this is one of his
memlooks, who hath fled from him.
Accordingly they took him and conveyed him to the prison, and shackled
him, and left him sitting there. Then Seyf-el-Mulook returned from divert-
ing himself, and went up into the palace; but he forgot his brother Sá'ed,
and no one mentioned him to him. So Sá'ed remained in the prison; and
when they went forth with the prisoners to employ them in constructions
and repairs and similar works, they took Sá'ed with them, and he worked
with the prisoners, and dirt increased upon him. He remained in this state
for the space of a month, reflecting upon his circumstances, and saying
within himself, What is the cause of my imprisonment? And Seyf-el-Mulook
was occupied by his joys and other things. But it happened that he was
sitting one day, and remembered his brother Sá'ed: so he said to the mem-
looks who were with him, Where is the memlook who was with you on such
a day? They replied, Didst thou not say to us, Convey him to the prison?
He said, I did not say to you these words; but I said to you, Convey him to
the palace in which I am staying. Then he sent the chamberlains to Sá'ed:
so they brought him to him, shackled; and they loosed him from his shackles,
and stationed him before Seyf-el-Mulook, who said to him, O young man,
from what country art thou? And he answered him, I am from Egypt, and
my name is Sá'ed, the son of the Wezeer Fáris.
When Seyf-el-Mulook, therefore, heard his words, he rose from the throne,
threw himself upon him, and clung to his neck; and by reason of his joy,
he wept violently, and said, O my brother, O Sá'ed, praise be to God that thou
art living, and that I have seen thee; for I am thy brother Seyf-el-Mulook,
the son of the King 'Ásim. So when Sá'ed heard the words of his brother,
and knew him, they embraced each other, and wept together; and the
persons who were present wondered at them. Then Seyf-el-Mulook ordered
that they should take Sá'ed and conduct him to the bath. Accordingly they
conducted him thither; and on his coming forth from the bath, they clad
him in sumptuous apparel, and brought him back to the chamber of Seyf-el-
Mulook, who seated him with him on the throne. And when Táj-el-Mulook
knew of this, he rejoiced greatly at the meeting of Seyf-el-Mulook with his
brother Sá'ed; and he came, and the three sat conversing upon the events
that had happened to them from first to last.
Then Sá'ed said, O my brother, O Seyf-el-Mulook, when the ship was
submerged and the memlooks also were submerged, I and a party of mem-
looks got upon a plank, and it proceeded with us over the sea for a period
of a whole month; after which, the wind cast us, by the decree of God
(whose name be exalted!), upon an island. So we landed upon it; and we
were hungry; wherefore we went in among the trees and ate of the fruits,
740
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and were busied with eating; and we were not aware when there came forth
upon us people like 'Efreets, who sprang upon us, and mounted upon our
shoulders, saying to us, Go on with us; for ye have become our asses. I
therefore said to him who had mounted me, What art thou, and why hast
thou mounted me? And when he heard from me these words, he wound his
leg round my neck in such a manner that I nearly died, and he beat me
upon my back with his other leg so that I thought he had broken my back.
I then fell upon the ground, on my face, and no strength remained in me by
reason of my hunger and thirst. So when I fell, he knew that I was hungry,
and, taking me by my hand, he brought me to a tree abounding with fruit,
and it was a pear-tree; and he said to me, Eat from this tree until thou art
satiated. I therefore ate from that tree until I was satiated, and I arose to
walk, without desiring to do so; but I had not gone more than a little way
before that person turned back and mounted again upon my shoulders. A
while I walked, a while I ran, and a while I trotted; and he, riding upon
me, laughed, and said, In my life I have never seen an ass like thee.
Now it happened that we gathered some bunches of grapes one day, and
put them into a trench, and trod them with our feet, and that trench
became a great pool. Then we waited some time, and, coming again to the
trench, we found that the sun had heated that juice, and that it had become
wine. So after that, we used to drink of it, and intoxicate ourselves, and our
faces became red, and we used to sing and dance, by reason of the exhilara-
tion produced by intoxication; whereupon they said, What is it that red-
deneth your faces, and maketh you dance and sing? We replied, Ask ye not
respecting this. And what desire ye by asking respecting it? They said,
Inform us, that we may know the truth of the case. And we replied, [It is]
the expressed juice of grapes. And upon this they took us to a valley, of
which we knew not the length nor the breadth, and in that valley were
grape-vines of which neither the beginning nor the end was known; every
one of the bunches that were upon them was as much as twenty pounds in
weight, and every one was within easy reach; and they said to us, Gather of
these. We therefore gathered of them a great quantity; and I saw there a
large trench, larger than a great tank, which we 'filled with grapes, and we
trod them with our feet, and did as we had done the first time: so it became
wine, and we said to them, It hath come to perfection. With what then will
ye drink? Whereupon they answered us, There were in our possession
some asses like you, and we ate them, and their heads remain: therefore
give us to drink in their skulls.
And we gave them to drink, and they became intoxicated; after which
they lay down: and they were about two hundred. Upon this we said, one
to another, Is it not enough for these to ride us, but will they eat us also?
There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! But we
will make intoxication to overcome them, and then we will kill them, and
be secure from them, and escape from their hands. Accordingly we roused
them, and proceeded to fill for them those skulls, and to give them to drink;
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 741
but they said, This is bitter. So we said to them, Wherefore do ye say that
this is bitter? Every one who saith that, if he drink not of it ten times he
will die the same day. They therefore feared death, and said to us, Give
us to drink all the ten times. And when they had drunk what remained of
the ten draughts, they were intoxicated, and their intoxication was excessive,
and their strength entirely failed: so we dragged them by their hands, and
collected a great quantity of the sticks of those vines and put them around
them and upon them; after which we set fire to the sticks, and stood at a
distance, to see what would become of them. We then approached them,
after the fire had become low, and we saw that they were reduced to a heap
of ashes.
―
We therefore praised God (whose name be exalted!) who had saved us
from them, and, going forth from the midst of that island, we sought the
shore of the sea. Then we parted. But as to me and two of the memlooks,
we walked until we came to a great wood, abounding with trees, where we
busied ourselves with eating. And, lo, a person of tall stature, with a long
beard, with long ears, and with two eyes like two cressets, before whom were
many sheep which he was tending, and with him was a party of persons
like himself. And when he saw us, he rejoiced at our coming, and was glad;
and he welcomed us, saying, A friendly and free welcome! Come to my
abode, that I may slaughter for you one of these sheep, and roast it, and
feed you. So we said to him, And where is thy place? And he answered,
Near to this mountain: go ye then in this direction until ye see a cave,
which enter ye; for in it are many guests like you. Go and sit with them
until we prepare for you the entertainment. And we felt sure that his
words were true, and went in that direction, and entered that cave; but we
saw the guests that were in it all of them blind; and when we went in to
them, one of them said, I am sick: — and another said, I am infirm. So we
said to them, What are these words that ye utter? What is the cause of your
infirmity and your disease? - And they asked us, saying, Who are ye? We
answered them, We are guests. And they said to us, What hath thrown you
into the hand of this accursed. wretch? There is no strength nor power but
in God, the High, the Great! This is a Ghool, that eateth the sons of Adam,
and he hath blinded us, and desireth to eat us. We therefore said to them,
How hath this Ghool blinded you? They replied, Verily forthwith he will
blind you like us. But how, said we, will he blind us? They answered us,
He will bring you cups of milk, and will say to you, Ye are wearied by your
journey: therefore take this milk, and drink of it. And when ye drink of it,
ye will become like us.
--
-
So I said within myself, There remaineth for us no escape save by strata-
gem. And I dug a hole in the ground, and sat over it. Then, after a while,
the accursed Ghool came in to us, bringing cups of milk, and he handed to me
a cup, and handed a cup to each of those who were with me, saying to us,
Ye have come from the desert thirsty; therefore take this milk, and drink
of it, while I roast for you the meat. Now as to myself, I took the cup, and
742
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
put it near to my mouth, and emptied it into the hole; after which I crie
out, Ah! my sight is gone, and I have become blind! And I held my eye
with my hand, and began to weep and cry out, while he laughed, and said
Fear not. But as to the two who were my companions, they drank the milk
and became blind. And thereupon the accursed arose immediately, and
having closed the entrance of the cave, drew near to me, and felt my ribs
and he found me lean, having no meat upon me; wherefore he felt another
and he saw that he was fat, and rejoiced thereat. He then slaughtered three
sheep, and skinned them, and he brought some spits of iron, upon which he
put the flesh of the sheep, and he put them over the fire, and roasted the
meat; after which he brought it to my two companions, who ate, and he ate
with them. He next brought a leathern bottle full of wine, and drank it, and
laid himself down upon his face and snored.
So upon this I said, within myself, Verily he is immersed in sleep, and
how shall I slay him? Then I remembered the spits; and I took two of
them, and put them into the fire, and waited until they had become like
red-hot coals; whereupon I girded myself, and, having risen upon my feet,
took the two iron spits in my hand, and drew near to the accursed, and
thrust them into his eyes, pressing upon them with all my strength. So by
reason of the sweetness of life he rose erect upon his feet and desired to lay
hold upon me, after he had become blind. But I fled from him into the
inner part of the cave, while he pursued me; and I said to the blind men who
were with him, What is to be done with this accursed? Upon which one of
them said, O Sá'ed, arise and ascend to this aperture: thou wilt find in it a
polished sword; and do thou take it, and come to me, that I may tell thee
what thou shalt do. Accordingly I ascended to the aperture, and took the
sword, and came to that man; and he said to me, Take it, and smite him
upon his waist, and he will die instantly. I therefore arose and ran after
him, and he was tired with running, and he came to the blind men to kill
them: so I came to him, and smote him with the sword upon his waist, and
he became divided in twain; upon which he cried out to me, saying, O man,
since thou desirest my slaughter, smite me a second time. Wherefore I
resolved to smite him a second time; but he who directed me to the sword
said, Smite him not a second time; for in that case he will not die, but will
live, and will destroy us. So I complied with the direction of that man, and
smote him not; and the accursed died. The man then said to me, Arise;
open the cave, and let us go forth from it. Perhaps God will aid us, and we
shall be safe from this place. But I replied, No harm remaineth for us.
We will rather rest, and slaughter some of these sheep, and drink of this
wine; for the land is far-extending. And we remained in this place for a
period of two months, eating of these sheep and of the fruits.
After this, it happened that we were sitting upon the shore of the sea,
one day, and I saw a large ship appearing upon the sea in the distance: so
we made a sign to the persons on board of it, and called out to them. But
they feared that Ghool; for they knew that upon this island was a Ghool
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 743
that ate human beings: wherefore they desired to escape.55 We however
made signs to them with the ends of our turbans, and drew nearer to them,
and proceeded to call out to them; and thereupon one of the passengers, who
was sharp-sighted, said, O company of passengers, verily I see these indistinct
objects to be human beings like us, and they have not the form of Ghools.
Then they came towards us by little and little until they drew near to us;
and when they were convinced that we were human beings, they saluted us,
and we returned their salutation, and gave them the good news of the
slaughter of the accursed Ghool; whereupon they thanked us.
We then provided ourselves from the island with some of the fruits that
were upon it, and embarked on board the ship, and it bore us along with a
fair wind for the space of three days. But after that, a wind rose against
us, and the darkness of the sky became excessive, and not more than one
hour had elapsed when the wind bore the ship to a mountain, and it was
wrecked, and its planks were rent asunder.56 However, God, the Great,
decreed that I should lay hold of one of its planks, and I got upon it, and it
bore me along for two days. A fair wind had then come, and I, sitting upon
the plank, proceeded to row with my feet for some time, until God (whose
name be exalted!) caused me to reach the shore in safety, and I landed at
this city. But I had become a stranger, alone, solitary, not knowing what to
do, and hunger had tormented me, and extreme trouble had befallen me. I
therefore came to the market of the city, after I had hidden myself and
pulled off this tunic, saying within myself, I will sell it, and sustain myself
with its price until God shall accomplish what He will accomplish. Then,
O my brother, I took the tunic in my hand, and the people were looking at
it, and bidding up for its price, until thou camest and sawest me, and gavest
orders to convey me to the palace; whereupon the young men took me and
imprisoned me; and after this period thou rememberedst me, and causedst
me to be brought to thee. Thus I have acquainted thee with the events that
have happened to me; and praise be to God for the meeting!
And when Seyf-el-Mulook, and Táj-el-Mulook the father of Dólet-
Khátoon, heard the story of the Wezeer Sá'ed, they wondered at it greatly.
Táj-el-Mulook had prepared a pleasant place for Seyf-el-Mulook and his
brother Sá'ed; and Dólet-Khátoon used to come to Seyf-el-Mulook, and to
thank him, and converse with him respecting his kind conduct. Then the
Wezeer Sá'ed said, O Queen, I desire thine aid to accomplish his wish. And
she replied, Yes; I will exert myself in his favour so that he shall attain his
wish, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! And looking towards
Seyf-el-Mulook, she said to him, Be of good heart, and cheerful eye. Thus
was the case of Seyf-el-Mulook and his Wezeer Sá'ed. And now, as to the
Queen Bedeea-el-Jemál, information was brought to her of the return of her
sister Dólet-Khátoon to her father and her country; and she said, I must
visit her and salute her in beautiful trim and ornaments and apparel. So she
repaired to her; and when she drew near to her abode, the Queen Dólet-
Khátoon met her, and saluted her and embraced her, and kissed her between
-
744
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
―
her eyes; and the Queen Bedeea-el-Jemál congratulated her on her safety.
Then they sat conversing, and Bedeea-el-Jemál said to Dólet-Khátoon, What
happened to thee during thine absence from thy country? O my sister,
replied Dólet-Khátoon, ask me not respecting the things that befell me.
Oh, what difficulties do human creatures endure! And how so? asked
Bedeea-el-Jemál. She answered, O my sister, I was in the Lofty Palace,
and in it the son of the Blue King had possession of me.
And she related to her the rest of the story from first to last, and the
story of Seyf-el-Mulook, and what happened to him in the palace, and the
difficulties and horrors that he had endured until he came to the Lofty Palace:
also how he had killed the son of the Blue King, and how he had pulled off
the doors, and made them into a raft, and made for it oars; and how he
came hither; whereat Bedeea-el-Jemál wondered. Then she said, By Allah,
O my sister, verily this was one of the most extraordinary of wonderful cases,
and I desire to acquaint thee with the origin of his tale; but bashfulness
preventeth my doing so. Bedeea-el-Jemál therefore said to her, What is
the cause of thy bashfulness, when thou art my sister and my companion,
and we have much between us, and I know that thou desirest not for me
aught save what is good? Wherefore then shouldst thou be abashed at me?
Acquaint me with that which thou hast to say, and be not abashed at me, nor
conceal from me aught of the matter.
-
So Dólet-Khátoon replied, Verily he saw thy portrait on the tunic which
thy father sent to Suleyman the son of Dáood, on both of whom be peace!
Suleyman opened it not, nor saw what was on it, but sent it to the King 'Ásim
the son of Safwán, the King of Egypt, among other presents and rarities
which he sent to him; and the King 'Ásim gave it to his son Seyf-el-Mulook
before he opened it. And when Seyf-el-Mulook took it, he opened it, desiring
to put it on himself, and he saw on it thy portrait, and became enamoured
of it, wherefore he came forth to seek thee, and he endured all these diffi-
culties on thine account. But Bedeea-el-Jemál said (and her face had
become red, and she was abashed at Dólet-Khátoon), Verily this is a thing
that can never be; for mankind agree not with the Jánn. So Dólet-Khátoon
proceeded to describe to her Seyf-el-Mulook, and the excellence of his form
and his conduct and his horsemanship; and she ceased not to praise him and
to mention to her his qualites until she said, O my sister, for the sake of God
(whose name be exalted!) and for my sake, come and converse with him,
though thou speak but a single word. But Bedeea-el-Jemál replied, Verily
these words that thou utterest I will not hear, nor will I yield to thy wish
expressed in them. And she seemed as though she heard not of them aught,
and as though no love for Seyf-el-Mulook and the excellence of his form
and his conduct and his horsemanship entered her heart. Then Dólet-
Khátoon humbled herself to her, and kissed her feet, and said, O Bedeea-el-
Jemál, by the milk that we have sucked, I and thou, and by the characters
engraved upon the seal of Suleymán (on whom be peace!), hear these my
words; for I pledged myself to him in the Lofty Palace that I would shew
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 745
-
him thy face. I conjure thee then by Allah to shew him thy form once, for
my sake, and that thou also see him. And she proceeded to weep to her,
and to humble herself to her, and to kiss her hands and her feet, until she
consented, and said, For thy sake I will shew him my face once.
Upon this, therefore, the heart of Dólet-Khátoon was comforted. She
kissed her hands and her feet, and went forth, and came to the largest palace,
which was in the garden; and she ordered the female slaves to spread the
furniture in it, to set in it a couch of gold, and to place the wine-vessels in
order. She then arose, and went in to Seyf-el-Mulook and Sá'ed his Wezeer,
who were sitting in their place, and gave to Seyf-el-Mulook the good news
of the attainment of his desire, and the accomplishment of his wish; and
she said to him, Repair to the garden, thou and thy brother, and enter the
palace, and conceal yourselves from the eyes of the people, so that no one
of those who are in the palace may see you, until I and Bedeea-el-Jemál
come. So Seyf-el-Mulook and Sá'ed arose, and repaired to the place to which
Dólet-Khátoon had directed them; and when they entered it, they saw a
couch of gold set, with the cushions upon it, and there were viands and wine.
And they sat a while. Then Seyf-el-Mulook thought upon his beloved, and
his bosom thereupon became contracted, and love and desire assailed him:
he therefore arose and walked on until he went forth from the entrance-
passage of the palace. His Brother Sá'ed followed him; but he said to him,
my brother, sit thou in thy place, and follow me not, until I return to thee.
So Sá❜ed sat, and Seyf-el-Mulook descended, and entered the garden, intoxi-
cated by the wine of desire, perplexed by excess of passion and distraction;
love had agitated him, and ecstasy had overcome him, and he recited these
0
verses:
O Bedeea-el-Jemál, I have none beside thee; have mercy on me then, for I am the
captive of thy love:
Thou art the object of my search, and my desire and my joy. My heart hath refused to
love any beside thee.
Would I were informed if thou knewest of my weeping all the night long with sleepless
eye.
Command sleep to sojourn in my eyelid, and then perhaps I shall behold thee in a dream.
Be favourable to one who is distracted by love. Save him from the destructive effects of
thy cruelty.
May God increase thy beauty and thy happiness, and may all thine enemies be a ransom
for thee.
The lovers shall be ranged, on the day of resurrection, beneath my banner, and all the
beauties beneath thine.
Then he wept again, and recited other verses; and thus he continued to do,
now weeping, and now reciting, till Sá'ed, thinking him slow to return, went
forth from the palace to search for him in the garden, and saw him walking
there, perplexed, and reciting verses. Thereupon Seyf-el-Mulook and Sá'ed
his brother met, and they proceeded to divert themselves in the garden, and
to eat of the fruits.
746
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
But as to Dólet-Khátoon, when she and Bedeea-el-Jemál came to the
palace, they entered it, after the eunuchs had decorated it with varieties of
ornaments, and done in it all that Dólet-Khátoon had ordered them, having
prepared for Bedeea-el-Jemál a couch of gold that she might sit upon it.
So when Bedeea-el-Jemál saw that couch, she seated herself upon it; and
there was by her side a window overlooking the garden. The eunuchs had
brought varieties of exquisite viands, and Bedeea-el-Jemál and Dólet-Khatoon
ate, the latter putting morsels into the mouth of the former until she was
satisfied; when she called for various sweetmeats, and the eunuchs brought
them, and the two ladies ate of them as much as sufficed them, and washed
their hands. Next, Dólet-Khátoon prepared the wine and the wine-vessels,
arranged the ewers and the cups, and proceeded to fill and to hand to
Bedeea-el-Jemál; after which she filled the cup and drank. Then Bedeea-
el-Jemál looked from the window that was by her side into that garden,
and saw its fruit and branches; and happening to turn her eyes in the direc-
tion of Seyf-el-Mulook, she beheld him wandering about in the garden, with
the Wezeer Sá'ed behind him, and heard Seyf-el-Mulook reciting verses, while
he poured forth copious tears; and when she beheld him, the sight occasioned
her a thousand sighs.
She therefore looked towards Dólet-Khátoon (and the wine had made
sport of her affections), and she said to her, O my sister, who is this young
man that I see in the garden, perplexed, distracted, melancholy, sighing?
So Dólet-Khátoon said to her, Wilt thou permit his presence with us that
we may see him? She answered, if thou canst bring him, do so. And upon
this Dólet-Khatoon called him, saying to him, O son of the King, come up
to us, and approach us with thy beauty and loveliness. Wherefore Seyf-el-
Mulook, knowing the voice of Dólet-Khatoon went up into the palace; and
when his eye fell upon Bedeea-el-Jemál, he fell down in a fit: so Dólet-
Khatoon sprinkled upon him a little rose-water, and he recovered from his fit.
He then arose, and kissed the ground before Bedeea-el-Jemál, who was
confounded by his beauty and loveliness; and Dólet-Khátoon said, Know, 0
Queen, that this is Seyf-el-Mulook, through whose means my deliverance
was effected, by the decree of God (whose name be exalted!), and he is the
person whom all kinds of difficulties have befallen on thine account; where-
fore I desire that thou regard him favourably. Upon this, Beedeea-el-Jemal,
after laughing, said, And who fulfilleth vows, that this young man should
fulfil them? For mankind are destitute of affection. So Seyf-el-Mulook
replied, O Queen, verily faithlessness will never be in me: and all people are
not alike. And he wept before her and recited these verses:
—
O Bedeea-el-Jemál, be propitious to one sorrowful, worn and afflicted by an enchanting,
cruel eye!
57
By the beauteous colours combined in thy cheeks, the white and deep red like that of the
anemone,
Punish not with abandonment one in constant suffering; for my body is wasting through
protracted estrangement!
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 747
This is my wish, and the utmost that I hope´for; and union is my desire, if this be
possible.
-
Then he wept violently, and recited other verses; and when he had ended
them, he wept again violently; whereupon Bedeea-el-Jemál said to him,
O son of the King, verily I fear to give myself up to thee entirely, lest I
should not experience from thee affection nor love; for often the good quali-
ties of mankind are found to be few, and their perfidy is great. And know
that the lord Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!) took
Bilkees 58 lovingly; and when he saw another more beautiful than she, he
turned from her to that other person. But Seyf-el-Mulook replied, O my
eye and my soul, God hath not created all mankind alike, and I, if it be the
will of God, will fulfil my vow, and will die beneath thy feet. Thou shalt
see what I will do agreeably with that which I say, and on God I depend
for my doing as I say. So upon this, Bedeea-el-Jemál said to him, Sit, and
be at ease, and swear to me by thy religion, and let us covenant with each
other, that neither of us will be treacherous to the other; and may God
(whose name be exalted!) execute vengeance on the one who is treacherous
to the other! And when Seyf-el-Mulook heard from her these words, he sat;
and, with the hand of each in the hand of the other, they swore that neither
of them would prefer to the other any person, whether of mankind or of the
Jinn. Then they remained a long while embracing one another, and weeping
by reason of the violence of their joy. And after Bedeea-el-Jemál and Seyf-
el-Mulook had sworn, each to the other, Seyf-el-Mulook arose to walk, and
Bedeea-el-Jemál arose also to walk, attended by a slave-girl carrying some
food, and carrying likewise a bottle full of wine. And Bedeea-el-Jemál sat,
and the slave-girl put before her the food and the wine; but they had not
remained more than a short time when Seyf-el-Mulook approached; where-
upon she met him with salutation, and they embraced each other.
After this, they sat a while eating and drinking; and Bedeea-el-Jemál
said, O son of the King, when thou enterest the Garden of Irem, thou wilt
see a large tent pitched, of red satin, and its lining of green silk. Enter the
tent, and fortify thy heart. Thou wilt there see an old woman sitting upon
a couch of red gold set with large pearls and with jewels; and when thou
enterest, salute her with politeness and reverence; and look towards the
couch; thou wilt find beneath it a pair of slippers interwoven with gold and
adorned with minerals. Take those slippers and kiss them, and put them
upon thy head: 59 then put them beneath thy right arm-pit, and stand before
the old woman, silent, and hanging down thy head. And when she asketh
thee and saith to thee, Whence hast thou come, and how arrivedst thou here,
and who made known to thee this place, and for what reason tookest thou
these slippers?-be thou silent until this my slave-girl entereth and con-
verseth with her, and endeavoureth to render her favourable to thee, and
striveth to content her mind by words. Perhaps God (whose name be
exalted!) may incline her heart to thee, and she may consent to that which
748
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thou desirest. She then called that slave-girl; and her name was Marjáneh;
and she said to her, By the love of me, accomplish this affair this day, and
be not slothful in doing it. If thou accomplish it this day, thou shalt be
free for the sake of God (whose name be exalted!), and thou shalt receive
generous treatment, and there shall not be any dearer in my estimation than
thou, nor will I reveal my secret to any but thee.
-
So she replied, O my mistress, and light of mine eye, tell me what is
thine affair, that I may accomplish it for thee on my head and mine eye. And
she said to her, It is, that thou carry this human being upon thy shoulders,
and convey him to the Garden of Irem, to the presence of my grandmother,
the mother of my father; that thou convey him to her tent, and take care of
him. And when thou enterest the tent, thou with him, and seest him take
the slippers, and pay homage to them, and she saith to him, Whence art thou,
and by what way camest thou, and who brought thee to this place, and for
what reason tookest thou these slippers, and what is thine affair that I may
accomplish it for thee? - thereupon enter thou quickly, and salute her and
say to her, O my mistress, I am the person who brought him hither, and he
is the son of the King of Egypt, and he is the person who went to the Lofty
Palace, and killed the son of the Blue King, and delivered the Queen Dólet-
Khátoon, and conveyed her to her father safe; and I have brought him to
thee that he may inform thee and give thee the glad tidings of her safety:
therefore be gracious unto him. Then, after that, say to her, By Allah.
I conjure thee tell me, is not this young man comely, O my mistress? And
she will answer thee, Yes. And thereupon say to her, O my mistress, verily
he is perfect in honour and generosity and courage, and he is the lord of
Egypt, and its King, and he compriseth all praiseworthy qualities. And when
she saith to thee, What is his affair? - reply, My mistress saluteth thee, and
asketh thee, how long shall she remain in the house a maiden, unmarried?
For the time hath become tedious to her. What then is thy desire in not
marrying her, and wherefore dost thou not marry her during thy life and the
life of her mother, like other damsels? — And if she say to thee, How shall
we act to marry her? If she know any one, or if any one have occurred to
her mind, let her inform us respecting him, and we will do for her as she
wisheth as far as may be possible: then do thou reply, O my mistress,
thy daughter saith to thee, Ye were desirous of marrying me to Suleyman
(on whom be peace!), and ye designed for him my portrait on the tunic.
But he had no lot in me; and he sent the tunic to the King of Egypt, who
gave it to his son, and he saw my portrait delineated upon it, and became
enamoured of me; wherefore he abandoned the kingdom of his father and
his mother, turning from the world and what it containeth, and came forth
wandering over the earth without regard to any thing, and endured the
greatest of troubles and horrors on my account.
The slave-girl then took up Seyf-el-Mulook, and said to him, Close thine
eyes. He therefore did so; and she flew up with him to the sky; and after
a while, she said to him, O son of the King, open thine eyes. So he opened
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 749
his eyes, and beheld the garden, the Garden of Irem; and the slave-girl
Marjáneh said to him, Enter, O Seyf-el-Mulook, this tent. Upon this, Seyf-
el-Mulook uttered the name of God, and entered, and, casting a look in the
garden, he saw the old woman sitting upon the couch, with the female slaves
in attendance upon her; wherefore he approached her with politeness and
reverence, took the slippers and kissed them, and did as Bedeea-el-Jemál
had directed him. The old woman then said to him, Who art thou, and
whence hast thou come, and from what country art thou, and who brought
thee to this place, and for what reason tookest thou these slippers and kissedst
them, and when didst thou tell me of a want, and I did not perform it for
thee? So upon this the slave-girl Marjáneh entered, and saluted her with
politeness and reverence; after which she repeated what Bedeea-el-Jemál
had told her. But when the old woman heard these words, she cried out
at her, and was incensed against her, and said, How can there be agreement
between mankind and the Jinn? Seyf-el-Mulook therefore replied, I will
agree with thee, and be thy page, and die loving thee, and keep thy covenant,
and see none but thee, and thou shalt see my veracity and my freedom from
falsehood, and the excellence of my generosity towards thee, if it be the will
of God, whose name be exalted!
Then the old woman reflected for some time, with her head hung down;
and after that, she raised her head, and said, O comely young man, wilt thou
keep the covenant and the compact? He answered her, Yes, by Him who
raised the heaven and spread out the earth upon the water, verily I will
keep the covenant. And upon this the old woman said, I will accomplish
for thee thine affair, if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!);
but go now into the garden, and divert thyself in it, and eat of the fruits of
which the equals exist not, and of which there are not in the world the like,
while I send to my son Shahyál, who will come, and I will talk with him
on that affair, and nought but good will happen, if it be the will of God
(whose name be exalted!); for he will not oppose me, nor disobey my
command. I will marry to thee his daughter Bedeea-el-Jemál: so be of
good heart; for she shall be thy wife, O Seyf-el-Mulook. And when Seyf-
el-Mulook heard from her these words, he thanked her, and kissed her hands
and her feet, and went forth from her into the garden. The old woman then
looked towards that slave-girl, and said to her, Go forth and search for my
son Shahyál, seek for him in whatsoever quarter and place he is, and bring
him unto me. So the slave-girl went and searched for the King Shahyál,
and she met with him, and brought him to his mother.
---
Meanwhile, Seyf-el-Mulook was diverting himself in the garden, when
five of the Jánn, who were of the subjects of the Blue King, saw him; and
they said, Whence is this man, and who brought him to this place? Perhaps
he is the person who killed the son of the Blue King. Then they said,
one to another, We will employ a stratagem against him, and interrogate
him, and ask information of him. So they walked on by little and little
until they came to Seyf-el-Mulook in a side of the garden, when they seated
-
750
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
themselves by him, and said to him, O comely young man, thou failedst not
in killing the son of the Blue King, and delivering Dólet-Khátoon from him.
He was a perfidious dog, and had circumvented her; and had not God sent
thee to her for that purpose, she had never escaped. But how didst thou
kill him? And Seyf-el-Mulook looked at them and answered them, I killed
him by means of this seal-ring that is upon my finger. So it was evident
to them that he was the person who killed him: therefore two of them seized
his hands, and two his feet, and the other held his mouth, lest he should call
out, and the people of the King Shahyál should hear him and deliver him
from their hands.
Then they took him up and flew away with him, and they ceased not in
their flight, until they alighted in the presence of their King, when they
stationed him before him, and said, O King of the age, we have brought
thee him who killed thy son. And where is he? said the King. They
answered, This is he. And the Blue King said to him, Didst thou kill my
son, and the vital spark of my heart, and the light of mine eye, without
right, and without any offence that he had committed against thee? Seyf-el-
Mulook answered him, Yes, I killed him; but on account of his tyranny
and his iniquity; for he took the children of the Kings, and conveyed them
to the Abandoned Well and the Lofty Palace, and separated them from their
families, and acted impudently towards them. I killed him by means of this
ring that is upon my finger, and God hurried his soul to the fire, and
miserable is the abode to which he hath gone. So it was evident to the
Blue King that this was the person who killed his son, without doubt; and
thereupon he called for his Wezeer, and said to him, This is the person
who killed my son, without any uncertainty or doubt. What then dost thou
counsel me to do in his case? Shall I slay him in the most abominable
manner, or torture him with the most grievous torture, or how shall I act? --
The chief Wezeer answered, Cut off one of his limbs. Another said, Inflict
upon him every day a severe beating. Another said, Cut him through the
middle. Another said, Cut off all his fingers, and burn them with fire.
Another said, Crucify him. And every one of them proceeded to speak
according to his judgment.
――
But there was with the Blue King a great Emeer, acquainted with affairs
and with the circumstances of the times, and he said to the King, O King
of the age, I will say to thee some words, and it is thine to judge whether
thou wilt attend to that which I counsel thee to do. He was the counsellor
of his kingdom, and the chief officer of his empire, and the King used to
attend to his words, and act according to his judgment, and not oppose him
in aught. Now he rose upon his feet, kissed the ground before him, and
said to him, O King of the age, if I give thee
follow it, and wilt thou grant me indemnity?
Shew thine opinion, and thou shalt be safe.
kill this man, and receive not my advice, nor consider my words, the slaughter
of him at this time will not be right; for he is in thy hand and in thine
advice in this affair, wilt thou
And the King answered him.
Then said he, O King, if thou
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 751
asylum, and he is thy captive, and when thou desirest him thou findest him,
and mayest do with him as thou wilt. Be patient then, O King of the age;
for this man hath entered the Garden of Irem, and married Bedeea-el-Jemál,
the daughter of the King Shahyál, and become one of them, and thy people
seized him and brought him unto thee, and he hath not concealed his case
from them nor from thee. So if thou slay him, the King Shahyál will
demand of thee his blood-revenge, and will act hostilely to thee, and come
to thee with forces on account of his daughter, and thou art not able to
prevail against his forces, nor hast thou power to contend with him. — The
King therefore attended to this his advice, and gave orders to imprison Seyf-
el-Mulook. Thus did it happen unto him.
Now the lady Bedeea-el-Jemál, having met with her father, Shahyál,
sent the slave-girl to search for Seyf-el-Mulook; and she found him not;
wherefore she returned to her mistress, and said, I have not found him in the
garden. And she sent to the gardeners, and asked them respecting Seyf-el-
Mulook; and they answered, We saw him sitting beneath a tree, and lo, five
persons, of the people of the Blue King, alighted by him, and conversed with
him: then they took him up, and stopped his mouth, and flew with him, and
departed. So when the lady Bedeea-el-Jemál heard these words, the affair
was not a light matter to her. She was violently enraged, and, rising upon
her feet, she said to her father the King Shahyál, How is it that thou art
King, and the people of the Blue King come to our garden and take our
guest and depart with him in safety while thou art living? In like manner
his mother also began to provoke him, and to say, It is not fit that any one
should transgress against us while thou art living. But he replied, O my
mother, this human being killed the son of the Blue King, a Jinnee; so God
cast him into his hand: how then should I go to him and act hostilely
towards him on account of the human being?
His mother however said to him, Go to him, and demand of him our
guest; and if he be living, and he deliver him to thee, take him, and come
back; but if he have slain him, seize the Blue King alive, him and his
children and his hareem, and every one who hath his protection among his
dependants, and bring them alive unto me, that I may slaughter them with
mine own hand, and devastate his dwellings. If thou do not that which I
have commanded thee, I will not hold thee lawfully acquitted of the obliga-
tion that thou owest me for my milk, and my rearing of thee shall be as
though it were to thee unlawful. So upon this the King Shahyál arose,
and commanded his troops to go forth, and repaired unto him, in honour
of his mother, and from a regard to the feelings of herself and of those who
were beloved of her, and in order to the accomplishment of a thing that had
been decreed from eternity.
Shahyál set forth with his troops, and they ceased not to pursue their
way until they came to the Blue King, and the two armies met; whereupon
the Blue King was defeated with his army, and the victors seized his children,
great and small, and the lords of his empire and its great men, and bound
752
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
60
them, and brought them before the King Shahyál, who said to the Blue
King, O Blue, where is Seyf-el-Mulook, the human being, who was my guest?
The Blue King said to him, O Shahyál, thou art a Jinnee and I am a Jinnee,
and on account of a human being who hath killed my son dost thou do these
deeds? He is the destroyer of my son, the vital spark of my heart and the
ease of my soul, and how hast thou done all these deeds, and spilt the blood
of so many thousand Jinnees? But Shahyál replied, Desist from these
words; and if he be living, bring him, and I will liberate thee, and will
liberate every one of thy children whom I have seized: but if thou have slain
him, I will slaughter thee and thy children. The Blue King said to him,
O King, is this more dear unto thee than my son? The King Shahyal
answered him, Verily thy son was a tyrant; for he carried off the children
of men, and the daughters of Kings, and put them in the Lofty Palace and
the Abandoned Well, and acted impudently towards them. And the Blue
King said to him, He is with me; but make thou reconciliation between us
and him. So he reconciled them, and conferred upon them robes of honour,
and he wrote a voucher agreed upon between the Blue King and Seyf-el-
Mulook respecting the slaughter of the son of the former; after which, the
King Shahyál received Seyf-el-Mulook, and entertained them handsomely;
and the Blue King remained with him, he and his army, three days. Then
Shahyál took Seyf-el-Mulook, and brought him to his mother, who rejoiced
exceedingly at seeing him, and Shahyál wondered at the beauty of Seyf-el-
Mulook, and his perfection and loveliness; and Seyf-el-Mulook related to
him his story from beginning to end, telling him what had befallen him
with Bedeea-el-Jemál.
The King Shahyál then said, O my mother, since thou hast consented
to this, I hear and obey all that thou desirest: so take him and go with him
to Sarandeeb, and celebrate there a magnificent festivity; for he is a comely
young man, and hath endured horrors on her account. Accordingly she
proceeded with her female slaves until they arrived at Sarandeeb, and entered
the garden belonging to the mother of Dólet-Khátoon. Bedeea-el-Jemál
saw Seyf-el-Mulook, after they had gone to the tent and met one another,
and the old woman related to them what he had experienced from the Blue
King, and how he had been at the point of death in the prison of the
Blue King. Then 61 the King Táj-el-Mulook, the father of Dólet-Khatoon,
summoned the great men of his empire, and they performed the ceremony
of the contract of the marriage of Bedeea-el-Jemál to Seyf-el-Mulook, and
married her to him; and when the ceremony of the contract was performed,
the ushers of the court cried out, May it be blessed! He deserveth! — and
they scattered the gold and silver upon the head of Seyf-el-Mulook, con-
ferred costly robes of honour, and made banquets. Seyf-el-Mulook then
said to Táj-el-Mulook, O King, pardon! I would ask of thee a thing, and
I fear that thou mayest refuse it me and disappoint me. But Táj-el-Mulook
replied, By Allah, wert thou to demand my soul, I would not withhold it
from thee, on account of the kind actions that thou hast done. So Seyf-el-
SEYF-EL-MULOOK AND THE PRINCESS OF THE JÁNN 753
Mulook said, I desire that thou marry Dólet-Khátoon to my brother Sá'ed,
that we may both be thy pages. And Táj-el-Mulook replied, I hear and obey.
He forthwith assembled the great men of his empire a second time, and
performed the ceremony of the contract of the marriage of his daughter
Dólet-Khátoon to Sá'ed; and when they had finished the ceremony of the
contract, they scattered the gold and the silver, and the King commanded
that they should decorate the city. They then celebrated the festivity, and
Seyf-el-Mulook took Bedeea-el-Jemál as his wife, and Sá'ed took Dólet-
Khátoon as his wife the same night. Seyf-el-Mulook ceased not to remain.
in retirement with Bedeea-el-Jemál for forty days; and she said to him one
day, O son of the King, doth there remain in thy heart a regret for any thing?
Seyf-el-Mulook answered, God forbid! I have accomplished my want, and
no regret remaineth in my heart; but I desire to meet my father and mother
in the land of Egypt, and to see if they have continued well or not. So she
ordered a party of her servants to convey him and Sá'ed to the land of Egypt;
and they conveyed them to their families in Egypt; and Seyf-el-Mulook
met his father and his mother, as also did Sá'ed, and they remained with
them a week. Then each of them bade farewell to his father and his
mother, and they departed to the city of Sarandeeb; and whenever they
desired to see their families, they used to go and return. Thus Seyf-el-
Mulook lived with Bedeea-el-Jemál a most pleasant and most agreeable
life, and in like manner did Sá'ed with Dólet-Khátoon, until they were
visited by the terminator of delight and the separator of companions. —
Extolled be the perfection of the Living who dieth not, who created the
creatures, and sentenced them to death, and who is the First, without begin-
ning, and the Last, without end!
XXV
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN AND THE
ADVENTURES THAT CAME AFTER ¹
HERE was, in ancient times, a certain merchant residing in El-Basrah,
happened, as God, who heareth and knoweth, decreed, that the merchant
was admitted to the mercy of God (whose name be exalted!), and left that
wealth. So his two sons betook themselves to prepare him for the grave,
and to bury him; after which they divided the wealth between them equally,
and each of them took his portion, and they opened for themselves two shops.
One of them was a dealer in copper-wares, and the other was a goldsmith.
Now while the goldsmith was sitting in his shop, one day, lo, a Persian
walked along the market-street among the people until he came to the shop
of the young goldsmith, when he looked at his work, and examined it
knowingly, and it pleased him. And the name of the young goldsmith was
Hasan. Then the Persian shook his head, and said, By Allah, thou art an
excellent goldsmith! And he proceeded to look at his work, while he (the
young man) was looking at an old book that was in his hand, and the people
were occupied with the contemplation of his beauty and loveliness and his
stature and justness of form. And when the time of afternoon-prayers
arrived, the shop was quitted by the people, and thereupon the Persian
accosted Hasan, and said to him, O my son, thou art a comely young man.
What is this book? I have not a son, and I know an art than which there
is none better that is practised in the world. Numbers of people have asked
me to teach it them, and I would not teach it to any one of them; but my
soul hath consented that I should teach it to thee, and make thee my son,
and put a barrier between thee and poverty; so thou shalt rest from this
work of labouring with the hammer and the charcoal and the fire. - Hasan
therefore said to him, O my master, and when wilt thou teach me? He
replied, To-morrow I will come to thee, and will make for thee, of copper,
pure gold in thy presence.
Upon this, Hasan rejoiced, and he bade farewell to the Persian, and
went to his mother. He entered and saluted her, and ate with her; but he
was stupefied, without memory or intellect. So his mother said to him,
What is the matter with thee, O my son? Beware of listening to the words
of the people; especially the Persians; and comply not with their counsel
in aught; for these people are great deceivers, who know the art of alchemy,
and trick people, and take their wealth and devour it by means of false
754
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
755
pretences.
But he replied, O my mother, we are poor people, and we
have nothing to be coveted, that any one should trick us. A Persian hath
come to me; but he is a virtuous sheykh, bearing marks of virtue, and God
hath inclined him towards me. And thereupon his mother kept silence in
her anger; and her son became busied in heart: sleep visited him not that
night by reason of the violence of his joy at what the Persian had said to him.
And when the morning came, he rose, took the keys, and opened the
shop; and, lo, the Persian approached him. So he rose to him, and desired
to kiss his hands: but the Persian refused, and would not consent to his
doing that; and said, O Hasan, prepare the crucible, and place the bellows.
He therefore did as the Persian ordered him, and lighted the charcoal; after
which the Persian said to him, O my son, hast thou by thee any copper?
He answered, I have a broken plate. And he ordered him to press upon it
with the shears, and to cut it into small pieces; and he did as he told him.
He cut it into small pieces, and threw it into the crucible, and blew upon it
with the bellows until it became liquid; when the Persian put his hand to
his turban, and took forth from it a paper folded up, which he opened, and
he sprinkled some of its contents into the crucible, as much as half a drachm.
That thing resembled yellow kohl: 3 and he ordered Hasan to blow upon it
with the bellows; and he did as he ordered him until the contents of the
crucible became a lump of gold. So when Hasan beheld this, he was stupe-
fied, and his mind was confounded by reason of the joy that he experienced.
He took the lump and turned it over, and he took the file and filed it, and
saw it to be pure gold, of the very best quality. His reason fled, and he was
stupefied in consequence of the violence of his joy. Then he bent down
over the hand of the Persian to kiss it; and the Persian said to him, Take
this lump, and go down with it into the market, and sell it, and take its price
quickly, without speaking. Accordingly Hasan went down into the market,
and gave the lump to the broker, who took it of him, and rubbed it [on the
touchstone], and found it to be pure gold. They opened the bidding for
it at the sum of ten thousand pieces of silver, and the merchants increased
their offers for it so that he sold it for fifteen thousand pieces of silver.
He received its price, and went home, and related to his mother all that
he had done, saying to her, O my mother, I have learnt this art. But she
laughed at him, and said, There is no strength nor power but in God, the
High, the Great! And she kept silence in her anger. Then Hasan, in his
ignorance, took a brass mortar, and went with it to the Persian, who was
sitting in the shop, and put it before him. So he said to him, O my son,
what desirest thou to do with this mortar? He answered, We will put it into
the fire, and make it into lumps of gold. And the Persian laughed, and said
to him, O my son, art thou mad, that thou wouldst go down into the market
with two lumps in one day? Knowest thou not that the people would suspect
is, and that our lives would be lost? But, O my son, when I have taught thee
his art, do not thou practise it in a year more than once; for that will suffice
hee from year to year. And Hasan replied, Thou hast spoken truth, O
756
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
my master. Then he sat in the shop, and put on the crucible, and threw the
charcoal into the fire. The Persian therefore said to him, O my son, what
dost thou desire? He answered, Teach me this art, But the Persian laughed,
and said, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great!
Thou, O my son, art of little sense. Thou art not suited for this art at all.
Doth any one in his life learn this art in the beaten way, or in the markets?
For if we occupy ourselves with it in this place, the people will say of us,
Verily these are practising alchemy: - and the magistrates will hear of us,
and our lives will be lost. If therefore, O my son, thou desirest to learn this
art, repair with me to my house.
So Hasan arose, and closed his shop, and went with the Persian. But
while he was on the way, he remembered the words of his mother, and
revolved in his mind a thousand thoughts; and he stopped, hanging down his
head towards the ground for some time; whereupon the Persian looked aside,
and, seeing him stopping, laughed, and said to him, Art thou mad? How is
it that I purpose in my heart to do thee good, and thou imaginest that I
will injure thee? - when the Persian said to him, If thou be afraid to go
with me to my house, I will go with thee to thy house, and will teach thee
there. So Hasan replied, Be it so, O uncle. And the Persian said to him,
Walk before me.
Hasan therefore went on before him to his abode, and the Persian followed
him until he arrived there, and Hasan entered his house, and found his
mother, and informed her of the Persian's arrival with him, while the Persian
stood at the door. So she furnished for them the chamber, and put it in
order, and when she had finished her affair, she went away. Then Hasan
gave permission to the Persian to enter, and he entered; and Hasan, having
taken in his hand a plate, went with it to the market to bring in it some-
thing to eat. He went forth, and brought some food, and put it before
him, saying to him, Eat, O my master, that the bond of bread and salt
may be established between us; and may God (whose name be exalted!)
execute vengeance upon him who is unfaithful to the bond of bread and
salt! And the Persian said to him, Thou hast spoken truth, O my son.
Then he smiled, and said, O my son, who knoweth the due estimation of
bread and salt? And the Persian advanced, and ate with Hasan until they
were satisfied; when he said to him, O my son, O Hasan, bring for us
some sweetmeat. Hasan therefore went to the market, and brought ten
cups of sweetmeat; and he was rejoiced at the words of the Persian. And
when he presented to him the sweetmeat, he ate of it, and Hasan ate with
him.
5
4
The Persian then said to him, May God recompense thee well, O my son'
With such a one as thou art should men associate, and him should they
acquaint with their secrets, and teach what will profit him. And he said.
O Hasan, bring the apparatus. And Hasan scarcely believed these words. !
when he went forth like the colts to the spring-pasture, and proceeded unti
he arrived at the shop, and he took the apparatus and returned, and placed
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
757
it before him. The Persian thereupon took forth a piece of paper, and said,
O Hasan, by the bread and salt, wert thou not dearer than my son, I would
not acquaint thee with this art. There remaineth not in my possession
aught of this elixir save the contents of this paper. But observe when I
compound the simples and put them before thee; and know, O my son,
O Hasan, that thou must put, to every ten pounds of copper, half a drachm
of this which is in the paper, and the ten pounds will become pure, unalloyed
gold. Then he said to him, O my son, O Hasan, in this paper are three
ounces, of Egyptian weight; and after the contents of this paper are ex-
hausted, I will make for thee more. And Hasan took the paper, and saw
in it something yellow, finer than the first; and he said, O my master, what
is the name of this, and where is it found, and in what is it made? Upon
this, the Persian laughed, and longed to get possession of Hasan, and said
to him, Respecting what dost thou ask? Do the work and be silent. — And
he took forth a cup belonging to the house, cut it up, and threw it into the
crucible, and threw upon it a little of what was in the paper, whereupon it
became a lump of pure gold. So when Hasan beheld it, he rejoiced exceed-
ingly, and became perplexed in his mind, entirely occupied by meditation.
upon that lump of gold.
The Persian then hastily took forth a packet from his turban, cut it
open, and put it into a piece of the sweetmeat, and said to him, O Hasan,
thou hast become my son, and hast become dearer to me than my soul and
my wealth, and I have a daughter to whom I will marry thee. Hasan replied,
I am thy page, and whatsoever thou dost with me, it will be a deposit with
God, whose name be exalted! And the Persian said, O my son, have patience,
and restrain thyself, and good fortune will betide thee. Then he handed to
him the piece of sweetmeat, and he took it, and kissed his hand, and put
it into his mouth, not knowing what was secretly decreed to befall him.
He swallowed the piece of sweetmeat, and his head sunk down before his
feet, and he became lost to the world; and when the Persian saw that the
calamity had come upon him, he rejoiced exceedingly. Rising upon his feet,
he said to him, Thou hast fallen into the snare, O young wretch! O dog of the
For many years have I been searching for thee, until I got thee,
O Hasan! He then girded himself, and tied Hasan's hands behind his back,
and bound his feet to his hands; after which he took a chest, emptied it of
the things that were in it, put Hasan into it, and locked it upon him. He
emptied also another chest, and put into it all the wealth that was in Hasan's
abode, with the lump of gold that he had made, and, having locked it, he
went forth running to the market, and brought a porter, carried off the two
chests, and drew near to a moored vessel. That vessel was fitted out for
the Persian, and her master was expecting him: so when her crew saw him,
they came to him, and carried the two chests, and put them on board the
ship. The Persian then cried out to the master and to all the sailors, saying
to them Rise ye! The affair is accomplished, and we have attained our
desire. The master therefore cried out to the sailors, and said to them,
758
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Pull up the anchors, and loose the sails! And the ship proceeded with a fair
wind. Such was the case with the Persian and Hasan.
-
But as to the mother of Hasan, she remained expecting him until night-
fall, and heard no sound of him nor any tidings whatever. Then she came
to the house, [which she had quitted after the Persian had come,] and saw
it open, and beheld not in it any one, nor found the chests nor the wealth.
She therefore knew that her son was lost, and that fate had taken effect upon
him; and she slapped her face, and rent her garments, cried out and wailed,
and began to say, Oh, my son! Oh, the delight of my heart! And she
recited these verses:
--
My patience hath failed, and my disquietude is excessive, and excessive is my wailing
since your absence, and my disease!
No patience is left to me, by Allah, since you quitted me! How can I bear the loss
of the object of my hope?
After the loss of my beloved, how can I delight in sleep? And who is he that can enjoy
a life of abasement?
Thou hast gone, and made the house and its family desolate, and my clear draughts thou
hast rendered turbid.
Thou wast mine aid in every adversity, and my glory and my honour among mankind.
and my reliance.
Cancelled be the day whereon thou wast taken away from my sight, until I see thee
return to me!
She continued to weep and wail till the morning, when the neighbors came
in to her, and asked her respecting her son, and she informed them of that
which had happened to him with the Persian. She felt certain that she should
never see him after that, and went about the house weeping; and while she
thus went about, lo, she saw two lines written upon the wall: wherefore
she brought a Fakeeh, who read them to her: and they were these: -
Leyla's phantom came by night, when drowsiness had overcome me, towards morning,
while my companions were sleeping in the desert;
But when we awoke to behold the nightly phantom, I saw the air vacant, and the place
of visitation was distant.
So when the mother of Hasan heard these verses, she called out and said.
Yes, O my son! Verily the house is desolate, and the place of visitation is
distant! Then the neighbours bade her farewell, after they had prayed for
her that she might have patience, and that she might soon experience a
reunion, and departed. But the mother of Hasan ceased not to weep during
the hours of the night and the periods of the day; and she built in the midst
of the house a tomb, on which she inscribed the name of Hasan, with the
date of his loss. She quitted not that tomb; and such was her habit inces-
santly from the time that her son was separated from her.
Now again as to her son Hasan with the Persian. This Persian was
a Magian: he hated the Muslims greatly, and whenever he got power over
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
759
any of them, he destroyed him. He was a wicked, vile alchemist, such as
the poet hath thus described: -
He is a dog, a dog's son, and a dog was his grandsire; and no good is in a dog, the issue
of a dog.
The name of that accursed wretch was Bahram the Magian, and he used
every year to take a Muslim and to slaughter him over a hidden treasure."
And when his stratagem was accomplished against Hasan the goldsmith, and
he had proceeded with him from the commencement of day until night, the
ship moored on the shore till morning; and at sunrise, when the ship con-
tinued her course, the Persian ordered his black slaves and his pages to bring
to him the chest in which was Hasan. So they brought it to him, and he
opened it, and took him forth from it. He then poured some vinegar into
his nostrils, and blew a powder into his nose; whereupon he sneezed, and
vomited the benj, and, opening his eyes, he looked to the right and left, and
found himself in the midst of the sea, the ship in its course, and the Persian
sitting by him. He therefore knew that it was a stratagem practised against
him, that the accursed Magian had done it, and that he had fallen into the
calamity against which his mother had cautioned him. So he pronounced
the words of which the utterer is secure from confusion, and which are
these: There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great!
Verily to God we belong, and verily unto Him we return! O Allah, act
graciously with me in thine appointment, and make me to endure with
patience thine affliction, O Lord of all creatures! Then looking towards
the Persian, he spoke to him with soft words, and said to him, O my father,
what are these deeds, and where is thy respect for the bread and salt and
for the oath that thou sworest to me? But he looked at him, and said to
him, O dog, doth such a one as myself know an obligation imposed by bread
and salt? I have slain a thousand youths like thee, save one youth, and
thou shalt complete the thousand. And he cried out at him; so he was
silent, and he knew that the arrow of fate had pierced him.
----
-
The accursed then gave orders to loose his bonds; after which they gave
him to drink a little water, while the Magian laughed, and said, By the fire
and the light and the shade and the heat, I did not imagine that thou
wouldest fall into my net; but the fire strengthened me against thee, and
aided me to seize thee, that I might accomplish my affair, and return, and
make thee a sacrifice to it, that it might be pleased with me. So Hasan
replied, Thou hast been unfaithful to the bond of bread and salt. And
upon this the Magian raised his hand and gave him a blow, and he fell,
and bit the deck with his teeth, and fainted, his tears running down his
cheek. The Magian then ordered that they should light for him a fire;
therefore Hasan said to him, What wilt thou do with it? He answered
him, This is the fire, that emitteth light and sparks, and it is what I worship;
and if thou wilt worship it as I do, I will give thee half my wealth, and marry
760
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to thee my daughter. But Hasan cried out at him, and said to him, Wo to
thee! Thou art surely an infidel Magian: thou worshippest the fire instead
of the Almighty King, the Creator of the night and the day; and this is
nought but an evil among religions. And thereupon the Magian was
enraged, and said, Wilt thou not agree with me, O dog of the Arabs, and
embrace my religion? But Hasan agreed not with him therein. And the
accursed Magian arose, and prostrated himself to the fire, and ordered his
young men to throw Hasan down upon his face. So they threw him down
upon his face, and the Magian proceeded to beat him with a whip of plaited
thongs until he lacerated his sides, while he cried for aid, but was not aided,
and implored protection, but none protected him; and he raised his eye to
the Avenging King, and endeavoured to propitiate Him by appealing to the
Chosen Prophet. He had lost patience, his tears ran down upon his cheeks
like rain, and he recited these two verses:
I will endure with patience, O my Lord, what Thou hast ordered. I will be patient, if
so I may obtain thine approval.
They have tyrannized over us, and transgressed, and commanded. Perhaps, in thy
beneficence, Thou wilt pardon what is past.
Then the Magian ordered the slaves to make him sit, and to bring him some
food and drink. So they brought it; but he would not eat nor drink. The
Magian proceeded to torture him night and day during the voyage, while
he endured with patience, and humbled himself to God (to whom be ascribed
might and glory!); and the heart of the Magian was hardened against him.
They ceased not to pursue their voyage over the sea for a period of three
months, during which Hasan continued to suffer torture from the Magian;
but when the three months were completed, God (whose name be exalted!)
sent against the ship a wind, and the sea became black, and tossed the ship
with violence by reason of the greatness of the wind. And thereupon the
master and the sailors said, This, by Allah, is all occasioned by the crime.
committed against this young man, who hath been for three months suffering
torment from this Magian, and this is not allowed by God, whose name be
exalted! Then they rose against the Magian, and slew his young men and all
who were with him. So when the Magian saw that they had slain the young
men, he made sure of destruction, and feared for himself; wherefore he loosed
Hasan from his bonds, pulled off from him the tattered garments that were
upon him, and clad him with others; and he made peace with him, promising
that he would teach him the art, and restore him to his country, and said
to him, O my son, blame me not for that which I have done unto thee.
But Hasan said to him, How can I any longer rely upon thee? He rejoined,
O my son, were it not for offence, there were no such thing as pardon; and
I did not unto thee these deeds save for the purpose of my seeing thy
patience; and thou knowest that the case is wholly in the hand of God. The
sailors, therefore, and the master, rejoiced at his release, and Hasan prayed
for them, and praised God (whose name be exalted!), and thanked him.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
761
Then the winds became stilled, the darkness was withdrawn, and the wind
and the voyage became pleasant. And Hasan said to the Magian, O Persian,
whither repairest thou? He answered, O my son, I am going to the Mountain
of the Clouds, on which is the elixir wherewith we practise alchemy. And
the Magian swore to him by the fire and the light that he no longer medi-
tated to do to Hasan aught that might frighten him. So the heart of Hasan
was comforted; he was rejoiced at the words of the Magian, and proceeded
to eat with him, and drink and sleep; and the Magian clad him with his
own apparel.
They continued their voyage for three months more; after which, the
vessel moored on a long coast, all of it composed of pebbles, white and yellow
and blue and black and of every other colour. And when the vessel moored,
the Persian arose, and said, O Hasan, arise and land; for we have arrived
at the place of our desire and our wish. So Hasan arose and landed with
the Persian, and the Magian charged the master to attend to his affairs.
Then Hasan walked on with the Magian until they were far from the ship,
and had disappeared from before the eyes of the crew; whereupon the Magian
seated himself, and took forth from his pocket a drum of copper, and a plec-
trum of silk worked with gold and bearing talismans, and he beat the drum;
and when he beat it, there appeared a dust from the further part of the desert.
Hasan therefore wondered at his action, and feared him; and he repented
of his having landed with him, and his complexion changed. So upon this
the Magian looked at him and said to him, What aileth thee, O my son?
By the fire and the light, thou hast nothing to fear from me; and were it
not that my affair cannot be accomplished save by thy means, I had not
brought thee out from the ship. Rejoice at the prospect of every thing good.
This dust is the dust occasioned by a thing that we shall mount, and it will
aid us to cross this desert, and will render easy unto us the inconvenience
thereof.
And but a little while had elapsed when the dust dispersed, and dis-
covered three excellent she-camels. Then the Persian mounted one of them,
and Hasan mounted one, and they put their provisions on the third; and
they proceeded for seven days, after which they came to an extensive tract;
and when they alighted at that tract, they beheld a cupola constructed upon
four columns of red gold. They alighted from the she-camels, and, having
entered beneath the cupola, ate and drank and rested: and Hasan happened
to look aside, and he saw something lofty: so he said to the Magian, What
is this, O uncle? The Magian answered, This is a palace. And Hasan
said to him, Wilt thou not arise that we may enter it to rest ourselves in it
and to divert ourselves with the sight of it? But the Magian upon this
went away, saying to him, Mention not to me this palace; for in it is my
enemy, and with him there happened to me an event of which this is not
the time to inform thee.
Then he beat the drum, and the she-camels approached: so they mounted;
and they proceeded for seven days more; and when the eighth day ar-
762
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
rived, the Magian said, O Hasan, what is it that thou seest? Hasan an
swered, I see clouds and mists between the east and the west. And th
Magian replied, This is not clouds nor mists; but it is a great, lofty moun
tain, whereon the clouds divide, and there are not any clouds above it, or
account of its excessive height, and vast elevation. This mountain is the
object of my desire, and upon it is that which we want. For the sake of this
I brought thee with me, and my affair will be accomplished by thy means.
So thereupon Hasan despaired of life. He then said to the Magian, By the
object of thy worship, and by what thou believest in thy religion, what
is the thing on account of which thou hast brought me? And he answered
him, The art of alchemy will not succeed save by means of an herb that
groweth in the place where the clouds pass, and on which they are sepa-
rated; and it is this mountain: the herb is upon it; and when we have ob-
tained the herb, I will shew thee what is this art. And Hasan replied, by
reason of his fear, Yes, O my master. He had despaired of life, and he wept
on account of his separation from his mother and his family and his home,
repenting of his having opposed his mother, and recited these two verses: --
Consider the doings of thy Lord, how happiness cometh unto thee, with speedy relief;
And despair not when thou sufferest affliction; for how many wondrous mercies attend
affliction !
They ceased not to proceed until they arrived at that mountain, and
stopped beneath it, when Hasan saw upon that mountain a palace: so he
said to the Magian, What is this palace? And the Magian answered, This
is the abode of the Jánn and the Ghools and the Devils." Then the Magian
alighted from his camel, and ordered Hasan to alight also; and he came to
him and kissed his head, and said to him, Blame me not for that which I
did to thee. I will preserve thee when thou ascendest to the palace, and it
behooveth thee that thou be not dishonest to me in aught of that which thou
wilt bring hence: I will share it with thee equally. And he replied, I hear
and obey. The Persian then opened a leathern bag, and took forth from
it a mill, and he also took forth from it a quantity of wheat, and ground
it with that mill; after which he kneaded the flour, and made of it three
round cakes, and lighted a fire, and baked the cakes. He next took forth
the copper drum and the figured plectrum, and beat the drum; whereupon
the camels came; and he chose one of them, and slaughtered it, and stripped
off its skin. Then looking towards Hasan, he said to him, Hear, O my son,
O Hasan, what I charge thee to do. He replied, Well. And the Magian
said, Enter this skin, and I will sew it up over thee, and will lay thee upon
the ground; thereupon the Rukh's 10 will come, and carry thee off, and fly
with thee to the summit of the mountain. And take thou this knife with
thee, and when the birds have finished their flight, and thou knowest that
they have put thee upon the mountain, cut open with it the skin, and go
forth; for the birds will fear thee and will fly away from thee; and do thou
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
763
look down to me from the summit of the mountain, and speak to me, that I
may inform thee of that which thou shalt do.
He then prepared for him the three cakes, and a leathern bottle contain-
ing water, and put them with him into the skin; after which he sewed it up
over him, and went to a distance from him. And the Rukh's came, and car-
ried him off, flew with him to the summit of the mountain, and there put
him down. So when Hasan knew that they had put him down upon the
mountain, he cut open the skin and came forth from it, and spoke to the
I Magian, who, on hearing his words, rejoiced, and danced by reason of the
violence of his joy; and he said to him, Go in the direction to which thy
back is turned, and tell me what thou seest. Hasan therefore went, and he
beheld many rotten bones, by which was much wood, and he informed him
of all that he saw; upon which the Magian said, This is the object of desire
and search. Take then, of the wood, six bundles, and throw them down.
to me; for this wood is the material with which we shall perform the alchemi-
cal process.
So he threw down to him the six bundles; and when the
Magian saw that those bundles had come down to him, he said to Hasan, O
young wretch, the thing that I desired of thee hath been accomplished;
and if thou wilt, remain upon this mountain, or cast thyself down upon the
ground that thou mayest perish. Then the Magian departed.¹¹
-
Upon this, Hasan exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God,
This dog hath circumvented me!
This dog hath circumvented me!
these verses:
the High, the Great!
for himself, and recited
—
He sat wailing
When God willeth an event to befall a man who is endowed with reason and hearing
and sight,
He deafeneth his ears, and blindeth his heart, and draweth his reason from him as a hair,
Till having fulfilled his purpose against him, He restoreth him his reason that he may
be admonished.
Then say not of an event, How did it happen? - for every thing happeneth by fate and
destiny."
He then stood upon his feet, and looked to the right and left, and walked
along the summit of the mountain. He made sure of his death, and he pro-
ceeded to walk along until he came to the other side of the mountain, when
he saw, by the side of the mountain, a blue sea, agitated with waves; and it
was foamy, and every wave of it was like a great mountain. Thereupon he
sat, and recited an easy portion of the Kur-án, and begged God (whose name
be exalted!) to alleviate his trouble, either by death, or by deliverance from
these difficulties; after which he recited for himself the funeral-prayer,¹ and
cast himself into the sea. The waves, however, bore him along safely, by the
will of God (whose name be exalted!), until he came forth from the sea safe,
by the decree of God. So he rejoiced, and praised God (exalted be his
name!), and thanked Him.
He then arose and walked along searching for something to eat; and
while he was doing thus, lo, he came to the place where he was with Bahrám
764
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
- -
the Magian. And he walked on a while, and saw a great palace, rising hig
into the air. He therefore went to it; and, behold, it was the palace respec
ing which he asked the Magian, and of which he said to him, In this palac
is my enemy. And upon this, Hasan said, By Allah, I must enter th
palace. Perhaps I may experience relief in it. And when he came to i
he saw its door open. So he entered the door-way; and he saw a mastaba
in the entrance-passage, and on the mastabah two damsels like two moons
with a chess-table before them, and they were playing; and one of them
raising her head towards him, cried out by reason of her joy, and said, B
Allah, this is a human being, and I imagine that he is the person whon
Bahram the Magian brought this year. Therefore when Hasan heard he
words, he cast himself down before them, and wept violently, and said, (
my mistresses, I am that poor person. And upon this the younger damse
said to her sister the elder, Bear witness against me, O my sister, that thi:
is my brother by a covenant and compact before God, and that I will die
for his death and live for his life, and rejoice for his joy and mourn for his
mourning.
Then she rose to him, and embraced and kissed him, and, taking him by
his hand, led him into the palace, her sister accompanying her; and she
pulled off from him the tattered clothing that was upon him, and brought
him a suit of royal apparel, with which she clad him. She also prepared for
him viands of every kind, and presented them to him, and she and her sister
sat and ate with him; and they said to him, Relate to us thine adventure with
the wicked dog, the enchanter, from the time of thy falling into his hands
to the time of thine escape from him, and we will relate to thee what hath
happened to us with him from the first of the case to the last, that thou
mayest be on thy guard if thou see him again. And when Hasan heard
from them these words, and saw their kind reception of him, his soul was
tranquillized, and his reason returned to him, and he proceeded to relate to
them what had happened to him with the Magian from first to last; where-
upon they said to him, Didst thou ask him respecting this palace? He
answered, Yes, I asked him, and he said to me, I like not the mention of it;
for this palace belongeth to the Devils and Demons. So the two damsels
were violently enraged, and said, Did this infidel call us Devils and Demons?
He answered them, Yes. And the younger, the sister of Hasan, said, By
Allah, I will surely slay him in the most abominable manner, and I will
surely deprive him of the air of the world! And how, said Hasan, wilt
thou get to him and slay him? She answered, He is in a garden called
El-Mesheed,¹¹ and I must without fail slay him soon. And her sister said
to her, Hasan hath spoken truth, and all that he hath said of this dog is
true: but relate to him our whole story, that it may remain in his memory.
So the young damsel said,-
-
Know, O my brother, that we are of the daughters of the Kings. Our
father is one of the Kings of the Jánn, of great dignity, and he hath troops
and guards and servants, consisting of Márids; and God (whose name be ex-
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
765
alted!) hath blessed him with seven daughters by one wife; but such folly
and jealousy and pride as cannot be surpassed affected him, so that he mar-
ried us not to any one. Then he summoned his wezeers and his companions,
and said to them, Do ye know any place for me that no one can invade,
neither any of mankind nor any of the Jinn, and that aboundeth with trees
and fruits and rivers? So they said to him, What wouldst thou do there,
O King of the age? He answered, I desire to place in it my seven daugh-
ters. And thereupon they said to him, O King, the Palace of the Mountain
of the Clouds, which an 'Efreet of the refractory Jinn who stubbornly dis-
obeyed the vow exacted by Suleymán (on whom be peace!) founded, and
which palace, after that 'Efreet perished, none inhabited after him, neither
any of the Jinn nor any of mankind, will be suitable for them; for it is
separated from the rest of the world. None gaineth access to it; and around
it are trees and fruits and rivers, and around it is running water sweeter than
honey and colder than snow: no one having the leprosy or elephantiasis
or other diseases ever drank of it without being cured immediately. - So
when our father heard of this, he sent us to this palace, and sent with us
soldiers and troops, and collected for us what we require in it. He used,
when he desired to ride, to beat the drum; whereupon all the troops pre-
sented themselves to him, and he chose whom of them he would mount, and
the rest departed. And when our father desireth that we should visit him,
he ordereth the enchanters his dependents to bring us, and they come to us.
and convey us to his presence, that he may cheer himself by our society, and
that we may accomplish our desires by seeing him: then he sendeth us
back to our place. We have five sisters, who have gone to hunt in this ad-
jacent desert; for in it are wild beasts that cannot be numbered nor calcu-
lated. Each two of us have their turn to remain at home for the purpose of
cooking the food, and the turn came to us, me and this my sister; therefore
we remained to cook for them the food; and we were begging God (whose
perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!) that He would bless
us with a human being to cheer us by his company. Then praise be to God
who hath brought thee unto us! And do thou be of good heart and cheer-
ful eye. No harm shall befall thee.
So Hasan rejoiced, and said, Praise be to God who hath guided us to the
way of deliverance, and hath moved hearts with affection and compassion.
for us! Then his sister arose, and took him by his hand, led him into a
private chamber, and brought out from it linen and furniture such as no
creature could procure. And after a while, their sisters returned from the
chase, and they acquainted them with the case of Hasan; whereupon they re-
joiced at his arrival, and, coming in to him in the private chamber, they
saluted him, and congratulated him on his safety. He remained with them,
passing the most pleasant life, and enjoying the most agreeable happiness;
and he used to go forth with them to the chase, and slaughter the game.
Thus Hasan became familiar with them, and he ceased not to reside with
them in this condition until his body became healthy, and he recovered from
766
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the state in which he was; his frame was invigorated, and he became sto
and fat, by reason of the generous treatment that he enjoyed, and h
residence with them in that place. He amused and diverted himself wit
them in that decorated palace, and in all the gardens and among the flower
while they treated him with courtesy, and cheered him with discourse, an
his sadness ceased. The damsels became exceedingly joyful and happ
in his society, and he rejoiced in their society more than they rejoiced i
him. And afterwards, his sister, the young damsel, related to her sister
the story of Bahram the Magian, telling them that he had called them Devil
and Demons and Ghools; whereupon they swore to her that he should surel
be slain.
Then, in the following year, the accursed came, having with him a comely
young man, a Muslim, resembling the moon, shackled, and tortured in th
most cruel manner; and he alighted with him beneath the palace wher
Hasan introduced himself to the damsels. Now Hasan was sitting by the
river, beneath the trees; and when he beheld the Magian, his heart palpi-
tated, his complexion changed, and he struck his hands together, and said to
the damsels, By Allah, O my sisters, aid me to slay this accursed wretch;
for here he hath come, and he hath fallen into your hands, and with him is a
young Muslim, a captive, of the sons of the great, whom he is torturing with
varieties of painful torture. I desire to slay him, that I may heal my soul
by taking vengeance upon him, that I may also release this young man from
his torture, and gain the recompense thereof [from God], and that the
young Muslim may return to his home, and be reunited to his brethren
and his family and friends. That action will be as an alms proceeding from
you, and ye will acquire the reward thereof from God, whose name be
exalted! And the damsels replied, We hear and obey God and thee, O
Hasan. They then threw litháms over their faces, equipped themselves with
the implements of war, and slung on the swords; and they brought to Hasan
a courser of the best breed, furnished him with complete accoutrements and
armed him with beautiful weapons. Having done this, they proceeded all to-
gether; and they found that the Magian had slaughtered a camel and skinned
it, and was tormenting the young man, and saying to him, Enter this skin.
So Hasan came behind him, while the Magian knew not of his presence,
and cried out at him, so that he stupefied and confounded him. Then, ad-
vancing to him, he said to him, Withhold thy hand, O accursed! O enemy of
God, and enemy of the Muslims! O dog! O perfidious wretch! O wor-
shipper of fire! O pursuer of the way of the wicked, who worshippest the
fire and the light, and swearest by the shade and the heat! The Magian
therefore looked aside, and, seeing Hasan, he said to him, O my son, how
didst thou escape, and who brought thee down to the ground?
Hasan an-
swered him, God delivered me: He who hath caused thy life to be taken by
the hands of thine enemies. As thou torturedst me all the way, O infidel!
O impious wretch! thou hast fallen into affliction, and turned aside from the
way; and neither mother shall profit thee, nor brother nor friend, nor firm
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
767
covenant; for thou saidst, Whoso shall be unfaithful to the bond of bread
and salt, may God execute vengeance upon him! - and thou hast been un-
faithful to the bond of bread and salt; wherefore God hath thrown thee into
my power, and thy deliverance from me hath become remote.
Upon this, the Magian said to him, By Allah, O my son, thou art dearer
in my estimation than my soul and than the light of mine eye! But Hasan
advanced to him. and quickly smote him upon his shoulders so that the sword
came forth glittering from his vitals, and God hurried his soul to the fire;
a miserable abode! Then Hasan took the leathern bag that was with him,
and opened it, and having taken forth from it the drum and the plectrum,
beat with this the drum; whereupon the camels came to him like lightning;
and he loosed the young man from his bonds, mounted him upon a camel,
on which he put for him the remaining food and water, and said to him, Re-
pair to the place of thy desire. He therefore departed after God had thus
delivered him from his affliction by the hand of Hasan. Then the damsels,
when they had seen Hasan smite the neck of the Magian, rejoiced in him
greatly; and they came round him, wondering at his courage and his exceed-
ing intrepidity, and thanked him for that which he had done, congratulated
him on his safety, and said to him, O Hasan, thou hast done a deed by
which thou hast healed the sick, and pleased the Glorious King. And he and
the damsels returned to the palace.
He remained with them, eating and drinking, and sporting and laughing.
His residence with them was pleasant to him, and he forgot his mother. But
while he was with them, passing the most delightful life, there came towards
them a great dust from the further part of the desert, whereby the sky was
darkened. So the damsels said to him, Arise, O Hasan, and enter thy pri-
vate chamber, and conceal thyself; or, if thou wilt, enter the garden, and hide
thyself among the trees and the grape-vines; and no harm shall befall thee.
And he arose and went in and concealed himself in his private chamber,
having closed the door upon him, within the palace. And after a while,
the dust dispersed, and there appeared beneath it numerous encumbered
troops, like the roaring sea, approaching from the King the father of the
damsels. When the troops arrived, the damsels lodged them in the best.
manner, and entertained them during three days; after which the damsels.
asked them respecting their state and their tidings; and they replied, We
have come from the King to summon you. So the damsels said to them,
And what doth the King desire of us? One of them answered, One of the
Kings celebrateth a marriage-festivity, and he desireth that ye should be
present at that festivity, that ye may divert yourselves. And how long,
said the damsels, shall we be absent from our palace? They answered, The
time of going and coming, and a residence of two months.
The damsels therefore arose, and, entering the palace, went in to Hasan,
and acquainted him with the case, and they said to him, Verily this place
is thy place, and our house is thy house; so be of good heart and cheerful
eye, and fear not nor grieve; for no one can gain access to us in this place.
768
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Then be of tranquil heart and joyful mind until we come to thee again.
These keys of our private chambers we leave with thee; but, O our brother,
we beg thee by the bond of brotherhood that thou open not this door,
[pointing to one of the doors,] for thou hast no need of opening it. — Then
they bade him farewell, and departed in company with the troops.
So Hasan remained in the palace alone. His bosom was contracted, and
his patience became exhausted, his affliction was excessive, and he was sad,
mourning for their separation greatly; the palace, notwithstanding its am-
plitude, was strait unto him, and when he found himself solitary and sad, he
reflected upon the damsels, and recited these verses:
The whole plain hath become contracted in mine eye, and my heart altogether is
troubled by the view of it.
Since the objects of my love departed, my joy hath been disturbed, and the tears have
overflowed from mine eyes,
And sleep hath quitted mine eye on account of their separation, and my whole mind
hath been perturbed.
Will fortune reunite us, and shall I again enjoy intimacy with them, and nightly con-
versation?
He used to go alone to hunt in the deserts, and bring back the game and
slaughter it, and eat alone. His gloominess and disquietude, on account of
his solitariness, became excessive. So he arose and went about through the
palace, examined every part of it, and opened the private chambers of the
damsels, and he saw in them riches such as would ravish the minds of be-
holders. But he delighted not in aught thereof, by reason of the absence
of the damsels; and a fire burned in his heart on account of the door which
his sister had charged him not to open, and respecting which she commanded
him that he should not go near to it, nor ever open it. He said within him-
self, My sister did not charge me not to open this door save because within
it is a thing with which she desireth that no one should become acquainted.
By Allah, I will arise and open it, and see what is within it, though within
may be death.
Accordingly, he took the key, and opened it, and he saw in it no riches;
but he saw in it a flight of stairs at the upper end of the place, vaulted with
stones of the onyx of El-Yemen; and he ascended those stairs, and went up
until he arrived at the roof of the palace, saying within himself, This is what
she forbade me to visit.15 He then went about the top of the palace, and he
looked down upon a place beneath it entirely occupied by sown fields, and
gardens and trees and flowers, and wild beasts, and birds which were
warbling and proclaiming the perfection of God, the One, the Omnipotent.
He gazed upon those places of diversion, and saw a roaring sea, agitated
with waves; and he ceased not to go round about the palace, on the right
and left, until he came to a pavilion upon four columns, in which he saw
a mak'ad decorated with all kinds of stones, such as the jacinth and the
emerald and the balass-ruby, and various other jewels. It was built with
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
769
one brick of gold and another brick of silver and another brick of jacinth
and another brick of emerald; and in the midst of that pavilion was a pool
full of water, over which was a trellis of sandal-wood and aloes-wood, reticu-
lated with bars of red gold and oblong emeralds, and adorned with varieties
of jewels and pearls, every bead of which was of the size of a pigeon's egg.
Also by the side of the pool was a couch of aloes-wood adorned with large
pearls and with jewels, reticulated with red gold, and comprising all kinds
of coloured gems and precious minerals, set so as to correspond, one with
another. Around it the birds warbled with various tongues, proclaiming
the perfection of God (whose name be exalted!) by the sweetness of their
notes and the diversity of their tongues; and the like of this palace neither a
Kisrà nor a Cæsar ever possessed. So Hasan was amazed when he beheld it,
and he sat in it, looking at what was around it.
And while he sat in it, wondering at the beauty of its construction, and
at the lustre of the large pearls and the jacinths that it comprised, and at
all the artificial works that it contained, wondering also at those sown
fields, and at the birds that proclaimed the perfection of God, the One, the
Omnipotent, and contemplating the memorials of him whom God (exalted be
his name!) enabled to construct this pavilion (for he was of mighty con-
dition), lo, he beheld ten birds, which approached from the direction of the
desert, coming to that pavilion and that pool. Hasan therefore knew that
they sought the pool to drink of its water: so he concealed himself from
them, fearing that they would see him and fly from him. They then
alighted upon a great, beautiful tree, and they went around it: and he saw
among them a great and beautiful bird, the handsomest among them; and
the rest encompassed it and attended it as servants; whereat Hasan won-
dered. That bird began to peck the nine others with its bill, and to behave
proudly towards them, and they fled from it, while Hasan stood diverting
himself with the sight of them from a distance.
Then they seated themselves upon the couch, and each of them rent
open its skin with its talons, and came forth from it; and, lo, it was a dress
of feathers. There came forth from the dresses ten damsels, virgins, who
shamed by their beauty the lustre of the moon; and when they had divested
themselves, they all descended into the pool, and washed, and proceeded to
play and to jest together; the bird who surpassed the others throwing them
down and plunging them, and they fleeing from her, and unable to put forth
their hands to her. When Hasan beheld her, he lost his reason, and his mind
was captivated, and he knew that the damsels forbade him not to open
the door save on this account. He became violently enamoured of her
by reason of what he beheld of her beauty and loveliness and her stature
and justness of form, while she was sporting and jesting, and they were
sprinkling one another with the water. Hasan stood looking at them, sigh-
ing that he was not with them; his mind was perplexed by the beauty of
the young damsel, his heart was entangled in the snare of her love, and he
had fallen into the snare: the eye was looking, and in the heart a fire was
770
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
burning; for the soul is prone to evil. He wept with desire by reason of her
beauty and loveliness, fires were shot into his heart on her account, a flame
of which the sparks could not be extinguished increased in him, and a de-
sire of which the signs could not be hidden.16
Then, after that, the damsels came up from the pool, while Hasan stood
looking at them; but they saw him not; and he was wondering at their beauty
and loveliness and gracefulness and elegance. And when they came forth
from the water, each of them put on her dress and ornaments. The chief
damsel put on a green dress, and surpassed in her loveliness the beauties of
the world, and the lustre of her face outshone the bright full moon: she
surpassed the branches in the beauty of her bending motions, and con-
founded the minds with apprehension of incurring calumny. The damsels
then sat conversing and laughing together, while Hasan still stood looking
at them, drowned in the sea of his passion, and bewildered in the valley
of his solicitude, and he said within himself, By Allah, my sister said not to
me, Open not this door save on account of these damsels, and in fear
of my becoming enamoured of one of them. He continued to gaze at the
beauties of the chief damsel, who was the most lovely person that God had
created in her time, surpassing in her beauty all human beings.
She had a mouth like the seal of Suleymán," and hair blacker than
the night of estrangement is to the afflicted and distracted lover, and a fore-
head like the new moon of the Festival of Ramadán,18 and eyes resembling
the eyes of the gazelles, and an aquiline nose brightly shining, and cheeks
like anemones, and lips like coral, and teeth like pearls strung on necklaces
of native gold, and a neck like molten silver, above a figure like a willow-
branch. The damsels ceased not to laugh and sport, while he stood upon
his feet looking at them, and forgot food and drink, until the time of after-
noon-prayer drew near, when the chief damsel said to her companions, O
daughters of Kings, the time hath become late to us, and our country is
distant, and we are tired of staying here. Arise, therefore, that we may
depart to our place. - Accordingly each of them arose, and put on her
dress of feathers; and when they were enveloped in their dresses, they be-
came birds as they were at first, and all flew away together, the chief damsel
being in the midst of them.
Hasan therefore despaired of them,
from his place; but he could not rise.
and his desire became violent, and he
and he desired to rise and descend
His tears ran down upon his cheek,
recited these verses:
May Allah deny me the accomplishment of my vow, if after your absence I know pleasant
sleep,
And may my eyes not be closed after your separation, nor rest delight me after your
departure!
It would seem to me as though I saw you in sleep: and would that the visions of sleep
might be real!
I love sleep, though without requiring it; for perhaps a sight of you might be granted
in a dream.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
771
Then he walked a little, but without being led aright, until he descended to
e lower part of the palace; and he ceased not to drag himself along in a
ting posture till he came to the door of the private chamber; whereupon
passed through, and locked it after him; and he lay upon his side, sick,
Fither eating nor drinking. He was drowned in the sea of his solicitudes,
ad he wept and lamented for himself until the morning, when he recited
bese verses:
is birds they flew away in the evening, and cried out. And he who dieth of love is not
culpable."
ll keep my passion secret while I can; but if violent desire overcome me, it will
appear.
phantom of her whose face is like the morning came at night; and the night of my
desire hath no dawn.
Cemoan her, while they sleep who are free from love; and the winds of desire have
made sport with me.
ave been liberal of my tears and my wealth and my heart and my reason and my soul;
and liberality is gain.
The worst of all kinds of evil and vexation is hostility experienced from beautiful damsels.
Try say it is forbidden for the beauties to shew favour, and that the shedding of the
blood of lovers is lawful,
ed that the love-sick can do nought but sacrifice his soul, and liberally forfeit it in
love, which is a game.20
try out in my longing and ardour for the beloved; and all that the distracted can do
is to moan.
21
And when the sun rose, he opened the door of the private chamber, and
cended to the place in which he was before, and sat before the mak'ad
til the approach of night; but not one of the birds came while he sat ex-
ecting them. So he wept violently, till he fainted, and fell prostrate upon
the ground; and when he recovered from his fit, he dragged himself along
a sitting posture, and descended to the lower part of the palace. The
right had come, and the whole world was strait unto him, and he ceased not
to weep and lament for himself all the night until the morning came and the
sun rose over the hills and the lowlands. He ate not nor drank nor slept,
or had he any rest: during the day he was perplexed, and during the night
deepless, confounded, intoxicated by his solicitude, expressing the violence
of his desire in some verses of a distracted poet.
Now while he was in this violent state of distraction by reason of his
passion, lo, a dust rose from the desert; whereupon he arose and ran down
and hid himself. He knew that the mistresses of the palace had come, and
but a little while had elapsed when the troops alighted, and encompassed
the palace. The seven damsels also alighted, and they entered the palace,
and took off their arms and all the implements of war that were upon them,
except the youngest damsel, his sister, who took not off the implements
war that were upon her, but came to the private chamber of Hasan; and
she saw him not. So she searched for him, and found him in one of the
dosets, infirm and lean; his body had become languid and his bones were
772
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
wasted, his complexion had become sallow and his eyes were sunk in h
face, in consequence of the little food and drink that he had taken, and th
abundance of his tears by reason of his attachment to the damsel, and h
passion for her. Therefore when his sister the Jinneeyeh saw him in th
state, she was confounded, and her reason quitted her, and she asked hi
respecting his condition, and the state in which he was, and what had b
fallen him, saying to him, Inform me, O my brother, that I may devise son
stratagem for thee to remove thine affliction, and I will be thy ransom. An
upon this, he wept violently, and recited thus:
The lover, when his beloved is separated from him, hath nothing except sorrow ar
affliction:
Within him is disease, and without is burning: the beginning is remembrance, and the er
is solicitude.
So when his sister heard these words, she wondered at his eloquence an
his fluency of speech, and at his beauty of expression and his replying to he
in verse; and she said to him, O my brother, when didst thou fall into thi
predicament in which thou art, and when did this happen to thee?
see thee speak in verses, and shed copious tears. I conjure thee by Allah
O my brother, and by the sacred nature of the love that existeth between u
that thou inform me of thy state, and acquaint me with thy secre
and conceal not from me aught of that which hath befallen thee during ou
absence; for my bosom hath become contracted, and my life is perturbe
on thine account. And thereupon he sighed, and shed tears like rain, an
replied, I fear, O my sister, if I inform thee, that thou wilt not aid me t
attain my desire, but wilt leave me to die sorrowing, in my anguish. An
she said, No, by Allah, O my brother, I will not abandon thee, though m
life should be lost in consequence thereof.
-
So he told her what had befallen him, and what he beheld when he had
opened the door, and informed her that the cause of his affliction and distres
was his passion for the damsel whom he had seen, and his affection for her
and that for ten days he had not desired food nor drink. Then he wep
violently, and recited these two verses:-
Restore my heart as it was to my breast, and let mine eyes sleep again; then forsak
me.
Do you think that the nights have changed the vow of love? May he cease to live whe
changeth!
And his sister wept at his weeping: she was moved with compassion for his
case, and pitied him for his distance from home; and she said to him, C
my brother, be of good heart and cheerful eye; for I will expose myself tc
peril with thee, and give my life to content thee, and contrive for thee and
stratagem even if it occasion the loss of my precious things and my soul, that
I may accomplish thy desire, if it be the will of God, whose name be ex-
alted! But I charge thee, O my brother, to conceal the secret from my.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
773
sisters. Therefore reveal not thy state to any one of them, lest my life and
thine be lost; and if they ask thee respecting the opening of the door, answer
them, I never opened it; but I was troubled in heart on account of your
absence from me, and my sadness for your loss, and my residence in the
palace by myself. And he replied, Yes: this is the right course. He
kissed her head, and his heart was comforted, and his bosom became dilated.
He had been in fear of his sister on account of his having opened the door;
so now his soul was restored to him, after he had thought himself at the
point of destruction by reason of the violence of his fear.
-
He then demanded of his sister something to eat; whereupon she arose
and went forth from him; and afterwards she went in to her sisters, mourn-
ing and weeping for him. So they asked her respecting her state, and she
informed them that her heart was troubled for her brother, and that he was
sick, and for ten days no food had entered his stomach. They therefore
asked her respecting the cause of his sickness; and she answered them, Its
cause was our absence from him, and our leaving him desolate; for these
days during which we were absent from him were to him longer than a
thousand years, and he is excusable, seeing that he is a stranger and alone,
and we left him solitary, without any one to cheer him by society, or any
one to comfort his heart. Besides he is, at all events, but a youth, and
probably he remembered his family and his mother, who is an old woman,
and he imagined that she was weeping for him during the hours of the night
and the periods of the day, and that she ceased not to mourn for him;
but we used to console him by our society.
And when her sisters heard her words, they wept by reason of the vio-
lence of their sorrow for him, and said to her, By Allah, he is excusable.
Then they went forth to the troops and dismissed them; after which they
went in to Hasan and saluted him; and they saw that his charms had be-
come altered, and his complexion had become sallow, and his body had
become lean; wherefore they wept in pity for him, and they sat with him
and cheered him and comforted his heart by conversation, relating to him
all that they had seen of wonders and strange things, and what happened
to the bridegroom with the bride. The damsels remained with him during
the period of a whole month, cheering him by their society, and caressing
him; but every day he became more ill; and whenever they beheld him
in this state, they wept for him violently, the youngest damsel being the one
of them who wept the most.
Then, after the month, the damsels were desirous of riding forth to
hunt, and they resolved to do so, and asked their younger sister to mount
with them; but she said to them, By Allah, O my sisters, I cannot go forth
with you while my brother is in this state, until he is restored to health,
and the affliction that he suffereth quitteth him. I will rather sit with him
to soothe him. And when they heard her words, they thanked her for her
kindness, and said to her, Whatever thou dost with this stranger,, thou wilt
be recompensed for it. Then they left her with him in the palace, and
774
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
mounted, taking with them provisions for twenty days. And when they
were far from the palace, their sister knew that they had traversed a wide
space: so she came to her brother, and said to him, O my brother, arise;
shew me this place in which thou sawest the damsels. And he replied, In
the name of Allah: 22 on the head: rejoicing at her words, and feeling
sure of the attainment of his desire. He then desired to arise and go with
her, and to shew her the place; but he was unable to, walk; wherefore she
carried him in her bosom, and conveyed him to the [top of the] palace:
and when he was upon it, he shewed her the place in which he had seen the
damsels, and he shewed her the mak'ad and the pool. And his sister said
to him, Describe to me, O my brother, their state and how they came. He
therefore described to her what he had observed of them, and especially
the damsel of whom he had become enamoured; and when she heard the
description of her, she knew her, and her countenance became sallow, and
her state became changed. So he said to her, O my sister, thy countenance
hath become sallow, and thy state is changed; and she replied, ---
O my brother, know that this damsel is the daughter of one of the Kings
of the Jánn, of great dignity. Her father hath obtained dominion over men
and Jánn, and enchanters and diviners, and tribes and guards, and regions
and cities in great numbers, and hath vast riches. Our father is one of his
viceroys, and no one is able to prevail against him, on account of the
abundance of his troops, and the extent of his dominions, and the greatness
of his wealth. He hath assigned to his children, the damsels whom thou
sawest, a tract of a whole year's journey in length and breadth, and to that
tract is added a great river encompassing it, and no one can gain access to
that place, neither any of mankind nor any of the Jánn. He hath an
army
23 of damsels who smite with swords and thrust with spears, five and
twenty thousand in number, every one of whom, when she mounteth her
courser and equippeth herself with her implements of war, will withstand a
thousand brave horsemen; and he hath seven daughters who in bravery
and horsemanship equal their sisters, and excel them. He hath set over
this tract, of which I have informed thee, his eldest daughter, the chief of her
sisters; and she is distinguished by bravery and horsemanship, and guile and
artifice and enchantment, by which she can overcome all the people of her
dominions. But as to the damsels who were with her, they are the chief
ladies of her empire, and her guards, and her favourites among the people
of her dominions; and these feathered skins wherewith they fly are the
work of the enchanters among the Jánn. Now if thou desire to possess
this damsel, and to marry her, sit here and wait for her: for they come on
the first day of every month to this place; and when thou seest that they
have come, conceal thyself, and beware of appearing; for the lives of all of
us would be lost. Know then what I tell thee, and keep it in thy memory.
Sit in a place that shall be near unto them, so that thou shalt see them and
they shall not see thee; and when they take off their dresses, cast thine
eye upon the dress of feathers belonging to the chief damsel, who is the
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
775
object of thy desire, and take it; but take not aught beside it; for it is
the thing that conveyeth her to her country.24 So if thou possess it, thou
wilt possess her; and beware of her beguiling thee, and saying, O thou who
hast stolen my dress, restore it to me, and here am I with thee and before
thee and in thy possession: for, if thou give it her, she will slay thee, and
will demolish the pavilions over us, and slay our father. Know therefore
thy case, and how thou shalt act. When her sisters see that her dress
hath been stolen, they will fly away, and leave her sitting alone: so there-
upon go thou to her, and seize her by her hair and drag her along; and when
thou shalt have dragged her to thee, thou wilt have obtained her, and she
will be in thy possession. Then, after this, take care of the dress of feathers;
for as long as it remaineth with thee, she is in thy power, and in captivity
to thee; since she cannot fly away to her country save with it. And when
thou hast taken her, carry her and descend with her to thy private chamber,
and reveal not to her that thou hast taken the dress.
So when Hasan heard the words of his sister, his heart was tranquillized,
and his terror was quieted, and the pain that he suffered ceased. He then
rose erect upon his feet, and kissed the head of his sister; after which he
descended from the top of the palace, he and his sister, and they slept that
night. He studied to restore himself until the morning came; and when the
sun rose, he arose and opened the door and ascended to the top. He sat
there, and ceased not to sit until nightfall, when his sister came up to him
with some food and drink, and changed his clothes, and he slept. She con-
tinued to do thus with him every day until the next month commenced. So
when he saw the new moon, he watched for them; and while he was doing
thus, lo, they approached him, like lightning. On his seeing them, therefore,
he concealed himself in a place so that he could see them and they could
not see him. The birds alighted, each bird of them seating herself in a
place, and they rent open their dresses, and the damsel of whom he was
enamoured did the same as the rest. This was done in a place near unto
Hasan. She then descended into the pool with her sisters; and thereupon
Hasan arose and walked forward a little, still concealing himself; and God
veiled him: so he took the dress, and not one of them saw him; for they
were playing together. And when they had ended, they came forth, and each
of them put on her dress of feathers, except his beloved, who came to put
on her dress and found it not. Upon this she cried out, and slapped her face,
and tore her clothes. Her sisters therefore came to her, and asked her re-
specting her state, and she informed them that her dress of feathers had
been lost; whereupon they wept and cried out, and slapped their faces. And
when the night overtook them, they could not remain with her: so they left
her upon the top of the palace alone.
Then, when Hasan saw that they had flown away and were absent from
her, he listened to her, and he heard her say, O thou who hast taken my
dress, and stripped me, I beg thee to restore it to me, and may God never
make thee to taste my grief! And on his hearing these her words, his rea-
776
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
son was captivated by his passion for her, his love for her increased, and he
could not withhold himself from her. He therefore arose from his place,
and ran forward until he rushed upon her and laid hold of her. Then he
dragged her to him, and descended with her to the lower part of the palace,
and, having taken her into his private chamber, threw over her his 'abáäh,"
while she wept, and bit her hands. He locked the door upon her, and went
to his sister, and told her that he had got her and obtained possession of her,
and had brought her down to his private chamber; and he said to her, She
is now sitting weeping, and biting her hands.
—
His sister therefore, when she heard his words, arose and repaired to
the private chamber, and, going in to her, she saw her weeping and mourn-
ing. She kissed the ground before her, and then saluted her; and the dam-
sel said to her, O daughter of the King, do people such as ye are do these
vile deeds with the daughters of Kings? Thou knowest that my father is a
great King, and that all the Kings of the Jánn are terrified at him, and fear
his awful power; and that he hath, of enchanters and sages and diviners
and devils and Márids, those against whom none can prevail; and that un-
der his authority are people whose number none knoweth but God. How
then can it be right for you, O daughters of Kings, to lodge men of human
kind with you, and to acquaint them with our circumstances and yours? If
ye did not so, how could this man gain access to us? · So the sister of Hasan
answered her, O daughter of the King, verily this human being is perfect
in kindness of disposition, and his desire is not to do any shameful action:
he only loveth thee; and women were not created save for men. Were it not
that he loveth thee, he had not fallen sick on thine account, and his soul had
not almost departed by reason of his love of thee. And she related to her
all that Hasan had told her, with respect to his passion for her, and how the
damsels had acted in their flight and their washing themselves; and told her
that none of them all had pleased him except her; for all of them were her
slave-girls; and that she was plunging them into the pool, and not one of
them could stretch forth her hand to her. And when she heard her words,
she despaired of escape.
Then the sister of Hasan arose and went forth from her, and brought to
her a sumptuous dress, with which she clad her. She also brought to her
some food and drink, and ate with her, and comforted her heart and appeased
her terror. She ceased not to caress her with gentleness and kindness, and
said to her, Have compassion upon him who saw thee once and became a
victim of thy love. Thus she continued to caress her and gratify her, and
to address her with pleasing words and expressions; but she wept until day-
break came, when her heart was comforted and she abstained from weeping
knowing that she had fallen into the snare, and that her escape was impos-
sible. So she said to the sister of Hasan, O daughter of the King, thus hath
God appointed [and written] upon my forehead, with respect to my estrange-
ment and my disjunction from my country and my family and my sisters;
therefore I must endure with becoming patience what my Lord hath decreed.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
777
Then the sister of Hasan appropriated to her alone a private chamber in the
palace, than which chamber there was none handsomer there; and she ceased
not to sit with her and console her, and to comfort her heart, until she was
content, and her bosom became dilated, and she laughed, and her trouble and
contraction of the bosom on account of her separation from her family and
home, and her separation from her sisters and her parents and her domin-
ions, ceased.
The sister of Hasan then went forth to him, and said to him, Arise, go in
to her in her private chamber, and kiss her hands and her feet. He there-
fore entered, and did so; and he kissed her between her eyes, and said to
her, O mistress of beauties, and life of souls, and delight of beholders, be
tranquil in heart. I have not taken thee but that I may be thy slave till the
day of resurrection, and this my sister will be thy slave-girl. I, O my mistress,
desire not aught save to marry thee, agreeably with the ordinance of God
and his Apostle, and to journey to my country, and I will reside with thee in
the city of Baghdad. I will purchase for thee female slaves, and male
slaves; and I have a mother, of the best of women who will be thy servant.
There is not a country there better than our country: every thing that is in
it is better than what is in any other of all the countries, and its inhabitants
and its people are good people, with comely faces.
But while he was addressing her, and cheering her by conversation, and
she addressed him not with a single letter, some one knocked at the door of
the palace. So Hasan went forth to see who was at the door; and, lo, there
were the damsels, who had returned from the chase. He rejoiced at their
coming, and met and saluted them; whereupon they offered up prayers in
his favour for safety and health, and he prayed for them also. They then
alighted from their horses, and entered the palace, and each of them went
into her private chamber, where she pulled off the worn clothes that were
upon her, and put on comely apparel, after which they came forth, and de-
manded the game; and they brought 26 an abundance of gazelles and wild
oxen, and hares and lions and hyenas, and other beasts, some of which they
brought forward for slaughter, and they left the rest with them in the palace.
Hasan stood among them with girded waist, slaughtering for them, while
they sported and amused themselves, rejoicing exceedingly at his doing thus.
And when they had finished the slaughter, they sat preparing something
whereof to make their dinner.
Then Hasan advanced to the eldest damsel, and kissed her head; and he
proceeded to kiss all their heads, one after another. So they said to him,
Thou hast greatly humbled thyself to us, O our brother, and we wonder at
the excess of thine affection for us, thou being a man of the sons of Adam,
and we being of the Jinn. And thereupon his eyes shed tears, and he wept
violently; wherefore they said, What is the news, and what causeth thee to
weep? Thou hast troubled our life by thy weeping this day. It seemeth
that thou hast conceived a longing to see thy mother and thy country; and
if the case be so, we will equip thee, and will journey with thee to thy home
778
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and thy friends. He replied, By Allah, my desire is not to be separat
from you. They therefore said to him, Then who of us hath disturbed the
that thou art thus troubled? And he was ashamed to say, Nought hath di
turbed me but love of the damsel fearing that they would deny him the
approval; wherefore he was silent, and did not acquaint them with aught
his case. So his sister arose and said to them, He hath caught a bird fro
the air, and he desireth of you that ye aid him to make her his wife. An
they all looked at him, and said to him, We are all before thee, and whats
ever thou demandest, we will do it. But tell us thy tale, and conceal n
from us aught of thy state. He therefore said to his sister, Tell thou m
tale to them; for I am abashed at them, and I cannot face them with thes
words.
Accordingly, his sister said to them, O my sisters, when we departed o
our journey and left this poor young man alone, the palace become stra
unto him, and he feared that some one might come in to him; and ye kno
that the intellects of the sons of Adam are weak. So he opened the doo
that leadeth to the roof of the palace, when his bosom was contracted an
he had become solitary and lone, and he ascended upon it, and sat there
looking down upon the valley, and looking down also towards the door, fear
ing lest some one should come to the palace. And while he was sitting on
day, lo, ten birds approached him, coming to the palace; and they cease
not to pursue their course until they seated themselves upon the margin o
the pool that is above the mandharah; whereupon he looked at the bir
that was the most beautiful of them, and she was pecking the others, among
which there was not one that could stretch forth her claw to her. Then they
put their talons to their necks, rent open their dresses of feathers, and came
forth from them, and each of them became a damsel like the moon in the
night of its fulness. After that, they disrobed themselves, while Hasan stood
looking at them, and they descended into the water, and proceeded to sport;
the chief damsel plunging the others, among whom there was not one who
could put forth her hand to her; and she was the most beautiful of them
in face, and the most just of them in stature, and the most clean of them
in apparel. They ceased not to do thus until the time of afternoon-prayers
drew near, when they came forth from the pool, put on their garments, and
entered the apparel of feathers, in which they wrapped themselves, and they
flew away.
Thereupon his mind was troubled, and his heart was inflamed with fire,
on account of the chief bird, and he repented that he had not stolen her ap-
parel of feathers. He became sick, and remained upon the palace expecting
her return, and he abstained from food and drink and sleep. He continued
in that state until the new moon appeared; and while he was sitting, lo,
they approached according to their custom, and pulled off their garments,
and descended into the pool. So he stole the dress of the chief damsel, and,
knowing that she could not fly save with it, he took it and hid it, fearing
that they would discover it and slay him. Then he waited until the others
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
779
had flown away; when he arose and seized her, and brought her down from
the top of the palace. Upon this, her sisters said to her, And where is she?
She answered them, She is in his possession, in such a closet. And they said,
Describe her to us, O our sister. She therefore said, She is more beautiful
than the moon in the night of its fulness, and her face is more splendid than
the sun, and the moisture of her mouth is sweeter than wine, and her figure
is more elegant than the slender branch. She hath black eyes, and bril-
liant face, and bright forehead, and a bosom like pearl, in which are seen
the forms of two pomegranates; and she hath cheeks like two apples. She
captivateth the hearts by her eyes bordered with kohl, and by the slender-
ness of her delicate waist, and by her heavy hips, and speech that cureth
the sick. She is comely in shape, beautiful in her smile, like the full moon.
And when the damsels heard these descriptions, they looked towards
Hasan and said to him, Shew her to us. So he arose with them, distracted
with love, and proceeded until he had conducted them to the closet in which
was the King's daughter; whereupon he opened it and entered, and they
entered behind him; and when they saw her, and beheld her loveliness, they
kissed the ground before her, wondering at the beauty of her form, and at
her elegance. They then saluted her, and said to her, By Allah, O daughter
of the supreme King, this is an egregious thing; but hadst thou heard the
description of this human being among the women, thou wouldst have won-
dered at him all thy life. He is enamoured of thee to the utmost degree;
yet, O daughter of the King, he desireth not aught that is dishonest. He
desireth thee not save as his lawful wife; and if we knew that damsels were
content without husbands, we would have prevented him from attaining the
object of his desire, though he sent not to thee a messenger, but came to
thee himself; and he hath informed us that he hath burnt the dress of
feathers: otherwise we would have taken it from him. Then one of the
damsels agreed with her and became her deputy for the performance of the
ceremony of the marriage-contract. She performed the ceremony of the
contract of her marriage to Hasan, who took her hand,27 putting his hand in
hers, and she married her to him with her permission; after which they
celebrated her marriage-festivity in the manner befitting the daughters of
Kings, and introduced him to her; and he congratulated himself thereupon,
and recited these verses:
--
Thy shape is enticing, and thine eye like the gazelle's, and thy face drippeth with the
water of beauty.
Thou appearest in mine eye most gloriously pictured, half of thee of ruby, and a third
of pearl,
And a fifth of musk, and a sixth of ambergris: thou resemblest fine pearl: nay, thou art
more splendid.
Eve hath not borne like thee any one, nor in the Gardens of Eternity is another like thee.
Then if thou wish my torment, it will proceed from love's laws; and if thou wilt pardon,
thou hast the choice to do so.
O ornament of the world, and utmost object of desire, who can keep from enjoying the
beauty of thy face?
780
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The damsels were standing at the door, and when they heard the verses, they
said to her, O daughter of the King, hast thou heard the words of this hu-
man being? How canst thou blame us, when he hath recited these verses
on the subject of his love for thee? And on her hearing that, she was
happy and cheerful and glad. Then Hasan remained with her for a period
of forty days, in pleasure and happiness and delight and joy, the damsels
renewing for him, every day, festivity and beneficence and presents and rari-
ties, and he passing his time among them in happiness and cheerfulness;
and the residence of the King's daughter among them became pleasant to
her, so that she forgot her family.
But after the forty days, Hasan was sleeping, and he saw his mother
mourning for him: her bones had wasted, and her body had become ema-
ciated, and her complexion had become sallow, and her state was altered,
while he was in good condition. And when she beheld him in this state,
[as he thought,] she said to him, O my son, O Hasan, how is it that thou
livest in the world, blest with a pleasant life, and forgettest me? Look at
the state in which I have been since thy departure. I will not forget thee,
nor will my tongue cease to mention thee until I die; and I have made for
thee a tomb in my house, that I may never forget thee. Shall I live, 0
my son, and see thee with me, and shall we again be united as we were?
-So Hasan awoke from his sleep weeping and lamenting; his tears ran
down upon his cheeks like rain, and he became sorrowful and afflicted; his
tears ceased not, nor did sleep visit him, nor had he any rest, nor did any
patience remain to him. And when he arose, the damsels came in to him,
and wished him good morning, and were cheerful with him as they were
wont: but he looked not towards them. They therefore asked his wife re-
specting his state; and she answered him, I know not. So they said to her,
Ask thou him respecting his state. Accordingly she advanced to him, and
said to him, What is the matter, O my master? And thereupon he sighed
and was oppressed, and acquainted her with that which he had seen in his
sleep. Then he recited these two verses:
We have become distracted in mind, perplexed, seeking to draw near, without means
of doing it.
The calamities of love increase upon us, and the endurance of love is burdensome to us.
His wife therefore acquainted them with that which he had said to her; and
when the damsels heard the verses, they were moved with pity for his state,
and said to him, Favour us [by doing as thou desirest]: in the name of
Allah. We cannot prevent thee from visiting her: we will rather aid thee
to do so by every means in our power. But it behooveth thee to visit us,
not sever thyself from us, though in every year thou come but once. And
he replied, I hear and obey.
and
Then the damsels arose immediately, prepared for him the provisions,
and equipped for him the bride with ornaments and apparel and every
thing costly, such as language would fail to describe; and they also prepared
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
781
for him rarities which pens cannot enumerate. After that, they beat the
drum, and thereupon the she-camels came to them from every quarter, and
they chose of them such as should carry all that they had prepared. They
mounted the damsel and Hasan, and put upon the camels, and brought to
them, five and twenty chests full of gold, and fifty of silver. Then they pro-
ceeded with them for three days, during which they traversed a space of
three months' journey; and having done so, they bade him farewell, and de-
sired to return from them. Upon this, Hasan's sister, the youngest damsel,
embraced him, and wept until she fainted; and when she recovered, she re-
cited these two verses:
Would that the day of separation had ne'er been! No sleep remaineth in mine eyes.
The union of us and thee is broken, and our strength and our body are enfeebled.
Then, having finished her verses, she bade him farewell, and strictly charged
him that, when he had arrived at his city and met his mother, and his heart
was tranquillized, he should not fail to visit her once in every six months,
and she said to him, When an affair rendereth thee anxious, or thou fearest
any thing disagreeable, beat the drum of the Magian: thereupon the she-
camels will come to thee, and do thou mount, and return to us, and remain
not away from us. And he swore to her that he would do so; after which
he conjured them to return. So they returned, after they had bidden him
farewell, and mourned for his separation; and she who mourned most was
his sister, the youngest damsel; for she found no rest, nor did patience obey
her: she wept night and day.
Hasan proceeded all the night and day, traversing with his wife the
deserts and wastes and the valleys and rugged tracts, during the midday-
heat and the early dawn, and God decreed them safety. So they were safe,
and arrived at the city of El-Basrah; and they ceased not to pursue their
way until they made their camels kneel down at the door of his house. He
then dismissed the camels, and advanced to the door to open it; and he
heard his mother weeping with a soft voice, that proceeded from a bosom
which had experienced the torture of fire, while she recited these verses:
How can she taste sleep who hath lost somnolency, and is wakeful at night while others
repose?
She possessed riches and family and glory; but hath become a stranger and solitary.
Fire and groaning are in her bosom, and violent longing that cannot be exceeded.
Passion hath gained dominion over her. She moaneth for her sufferings; but is firm.
Her state under the influence of love telleth that she is mourning and afflicted, and her
tears are witnesses.
And Hasan wept when he heard his mother weeping and lamenting; and he
knocked at the door with alarming violence. So his mother said, Who is at
the door? And he replied, Open: - wherefore she opened the door, and
looked at him; and when she knew him, she fell down in a fit; and he ceased
not to caress her until she recovered, when he embraced her, and she em-
782
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
braced him and kissed him. He then conveyed his goods and property in
the house, while the damsel looked at him and at his mother; and the moth
of Hasan when her heart was tranquillized, and God had reunited her to h
son, recited these verses:
-
Fortune hath compassionated my case, and felt pity for the length of my torment,
And granted me what I desire, and removed that which I dreaded.
I will therefore forgive its offences committed in former times;
Even the injustice it hath shewn in the turning of my hair gray.
Hasan and his mother then sat conversing together, and she said to hin
How was thy state, O my son, with the Persian? He answered her, O m
mother, he was not [only] a Persian, but he was a Magian, who worshippe
fire instead of the Almighty King. And he informed her of what he ha
done with him; that he had travelled with him, and put him into the ski
of the camel and sewed it up over him, and that the birds had carrie
him off, and put him down upon the top of the mountain. He told her to
what he had seen upon the mountain, namely the dead men, whom th
Magian had deluded and left upon the mountain after they had accom
plished his affair; and how he cast himself into the sea from the top of the
mountain, and God, (whose name be exalted!) preserved him, and con
ducted him to the palace of the damsels; and of the sisterly love of the
youngest damsel for him, and his residence with the damsels; and how God
had conducted the Magian to the place in which he was residing. He also
told her of his passion for the damsel whom he had married, and how he
caught her, and her whole story, [and the subsequent events] until God re-
united them. And when his mother heard his story, she wondered, and
praised God (whose name be exalted!) for his health and safety.
1
She then arose and went to those packages, and looked at them, and
asked him respecting them; and he acquainted her with their contents;
whereat she rejoiced exceedingly. And after that, she advanced to the dam-
sel, to converse with her and to cheer her by her company; and when her
eye fell upon her, her mind was stupefied by her comeliness, and she re-
joiced and wondered at her beauty and loveliness and her stature and just-
ness of form. Then she said to Hasan, O my son, praise be to God for thy
safety, and for thy safe return! And she sat by the side of the damsel,
cheering her by her company, and comforting her heart; after which, early
the next day, she went down into the market, and bought ten suits, the most
sumptuous garments that were in the city. She also brought for her mag-
nificent furniture, and clad the damsel, and adorned her with every thing
beautiful. Then she accosted her son, and said, O my son, with this wealth
we cannot live in this city; for thou knowest that we were poor, and the
people will accuse us of practising alchemy. Therefore arise with us, and
let us go to the city of Baghdad, the Abode of Peace, that we may reside
in the sacred asylum of the Khaleefeh, and thou shalt sit in a shop and sell
and buy, and fear God (to whom be ascribed might and glory!): then will
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
783
God open to thee the doors of prosperity by means of this wealth. And
when Hasan heard her words, he approved them.
He arose immediately, and went forth from her, sold the house, and
summoned the she-camels; and he put upon them all his riches and goods,
together with his mother and his wife. He set forth, and ceased not to
pursue his journey until he arrived at the Tigris; when he hired a vessel to
convey them to Baghdad, embarked in it all his wealth and effects, and his
mother and his wife, and every thing that was with him, and went on board
the vessel, which conveyed them with a fair wind for a period of ten days,
until they came in sight of Baghdad; and when they came in sight of it,
they rejoiced. The vessel brought them into the city, and Hasan landed
there forthwith, and hired a magazine in one of the Kháns. He then removed
his goods from the vessel to the magazine, and went up, and remained one
night in the Khán; and when he arose in the morning, he changed his clothes;
and the broker seeing him, asked him respecting his affair, and what he
desired: so he said to him, I desire a house, handsome and ample. And the
broker shewed him the houses that he had to let, and a house that had be-
longed to one of the wezeers pleased him; wherefore he bought it of him
for a hundred thousand pieces of gold, and gave him the price. Then he
returned to the Khán in which he had taken lodging, and removed thence
all his wealth and his goods to the house; after which he went forth into the
market, and bought what was requisite for the house, of utensils and furniture
and other things. He purchased also eunuchs, and among them was a
young black slave, for the house. And he resided in ease with his wife,
enjoying the most delightful life and happiness, for the space of three years,
during which he was blessed by her with two boys, one of whom he named
Násir, and the other Mansoor.
Then, after this period, he remembered his sisters, the damsels before
mentioned, and he remembered their kindness to him, and how they had
aided him to attain his desire. So he longed to see them; and, having gone
forth to the markets of the city, he bought there some ornaments, and costly
stuffs, and dried fruits, the like of which they had never seen nor known.
His mother therefore asked him the reason of his buying those rarities, and
he answered her, I have determined to repair to my sisters, who treated me
with all kindness, and from whose goodness and beneficence to me my present
good fortune proceeded; for I desire to go to them and to see them, and I
will return soon, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! So she
replied, O my son, be not long absent from me. And he said to her, Know,
O my mother, how thou shalt manage with my wife. Here is her dress of
feathers, in a chest buried in the earth: then be careful of it, lest she light
upon it and take it, and fly away with her children, and depart, and I shall
not find any tidings of her; so I shall die in sorrow on account of them.
Know also, O my mother, that I caution thee not to mention this to her.
And know that she is the daughter of the King of the Jánn, and there is not
among the Kings of the Jánn any greater than her father, nor any that hath
784
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
more numerous troops, or more wealth than he. Know likewise that she
is the mistress of her people, and the dearest of the things that her father
hath. Moreover, she is excessively high-minded: therefore do thou thyself
serve her; and allow her not to go forth from the door, nor to look from the
window, or from over a wall; for I fear on her account the wind when it
bloweth; and if any event of the events of the world befall her, I shall slay
myself on her account.
28
And his mother replied, Allah preserve me from disobeying thee, O my
son! Am I mad, that when thou givest me this charge I should disobey thee
with respect to it? Set forth, O my son, and be of good heart, and thou
shalt come back happily, and see her, if it be the will of God (whose name
be exalted!), and she shall acquaint thee with my conduct to her. But, 0
my son, remain not away more than the time required for going and return-
ing. And his wife, as was decreed, heard his words to his mother; and they
knew it not.
Hasan then arose and went forth from the city, and beat the drum; so
thereupon the she-camels came to him, and he laded twenty with the rarities
of El-'Erák; after which he bade farewell to his mother and his wife and
his children. The age of one of his two children was a year, and the age of
the other was two years. Then he returned to his mother, and charged her
a second time; and having done this, he mounted and journeyed to his sisters.
He ceased not to pursue his journey night and day, traversing the valleys
and the mountains, and the plains and the rugged tracts, for the space of ten
days; and on the eleventh day he arrived at the palace and went in to his
sisters, having with him the things that he had brought for them. And
when they saw him, they rejoiced at his arrival, and congratulated him on his
safety; and as to his sister, the youngest damsel, she decorated the palace
without and within. They took the present, and lodged Hasan in a private
chamber as before, and asked him respecting his mother and his wife. So
he informed them that his wife had borne him two sons. Then his sister, the
youngest damsel, when she saw him in health and prosperity, rejoiced
exceedingly, and recited this verse:
I ask the wind respecting you whenever it bloweth, and none but you ever occurreth to
my mind.
He remained with them, entertained and treated with honour, for a period
of three months, and he passed his time in joy and happiness and comfort
and cheerfulness, and in hunting.
But as to his mother and his wife, when Hasan had set forth on his
journey, his wife remained a day and a second day with his mother, and she
said to her on the third day, Extolled be the perfection of God! Do I reside
with him three years and not enter the bath? And she wept. So his
mother compassionated her state, and said to her, O my daughter, we are
here strangers, and thy husband is not in the city. If he were present, he
would take upon himself to serve thee; but as for me, I know not any one.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
785
However, O my daughter, I will heat for thee the water, and will wash thy
head in the bath that is in the house. To this the damsel replied, O my
mistress, hadst thou said these words to one of the female slaves, she would
have demanded to be sold in the market, and would not have remained with
you. But, O my mistress, men are excusable; for they are jealous, and their
minds say to them, that the woman, if she go forth from her house, will
perhaps commit a dishonest action; and women, O my mistress, are not all
alike. Thou knowest too that a woman, if she have a desire for a thing, no
one can overcome her, nor can any one set a guard over her or preserve her,
or debar her from the bath or any thing else, or from doing all that she
desireth. Then she wept, and cursed herself, and began to bewail for her-
self, and for her absence from her native country. So the mother of her
husband pitied her state, and knew that all which she said must be done.
Wherefore she arose, and prepared the things that they required for the bath,
and took her and went to the bath. And when they entered it, they pulled
off their clothes, and all the women began to look at her and to extol the
perfection of God (to whom be ascribed might and glory!), contemplating
the beautiful form that He had created. Every woman who passed by the
bath entered and diverted herself by viewing her.
-
The fame of her spread through the city, and the women crowded upon
her, and the bath could not be passed through by reason of the number of
women who were in it. Now it happened in consequence of this wonderful
event, that there came to the bath that day one of the slave-girls of the
Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, called Tohfeh 29 the lute-player;
and seeing the women crowding together, and the bath not to be passed
through by reason of the number of the women and girls, she asked what was
the matter, and they informed her of the damsel. So she came in to her
and looked at her and viewed her attentively, and her mind was confounded
by her beauty and loveliness. She extolled the perfection of God (greatly be
He glorified!) for the beautiful forms that He had created, and she entered
not [the inner apartment] nor washed; but sat confounded at the sight of
he damsel until the damsel had made an end of washing, and came forth and
out on her clothes, when she appeared still more beautiful. And when she
came forth from the harárah,30 she sat upon the carpet and the cushions, the
women gazing at her; and she looked at them and went forth.
Tohfeh the lute-player, the slave-girl of the Khaleefeh, arose and went
orth with her, and proceeded with her until she knew her house, when she
Dade her farewell, and she returned to the palace of the Khaleefeh. She
eased not to pass on until she came before the lady Zubeydeh, and kissed
he ground before her; whereupon the lady Zubeydeh said, O Tohfeh, what
s the reason of thy loitering in the bath? So she answered, O my mistress, I
aw a wonder, the like of which I have not seen among men nor among
vomen, and that was the thing which diverted my attention and amazed
ny mind and confounded me so that I did not wash my head. And the
ady Zubeydeh said, And what was it, O Tohfeh? She answered, O my
786
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
mistress, I saw a damsel in the bath, having with her two young childr
like two moons, and none hath beheld the like of her, neither before
nor after her, nor doth there exist the like of her form in the whole wor
By thy beneficence, O my mistress, if thou acquaintedst the Prince of
Faithful with her, he would slay her husband, and take her from him;
there existeth not one like her among women. I inquired respecting
husband, and they said that her husband is a merchant, whose name
Hasan of El-Basrah. And I followed her when she went forth from the ba
until she entered her house, whereupon I saw it to be the house of
Wezeer, that hath two entrances, an entrance on the side of the river, and
entrance on the side of the land. I fear, O my mistress, that the Prince
the Faithful may hear of her, and that he will disobey the law, and slay h
husband, and marry her.
Upon this, the lady Zubeydeh said, Wo to thee, O Tohfeh! Is th
damsel endowed with such beauty and loveliness that the Prince of t
Faithful would sell his religion for his worldly enjoyments, and disobe
the law on her account? By Allah, I must have a sight of this damsel; ar
if she be not as thou hast described, I will give orders to strike off thy hea
O wicked woman! In the palace of the Prince of the Faithful are thre
hundred and sixty slave-girls, according to the number of the days of th
year, among whom there is not one such as thou hast described. And sh
replied, O my mistress, no, by Allah; nor is there in all Baghdád the like o
her; nay, neither among the foreigners nor among the Arabs, nor hath Go
(to whom be ascribed might and glory!) created the like of her.
So upon this the lady Zubeydeh summoned Mesroor, who came and
kissed the ground before her; and she said to him, O Mesroor, go to the hous
of the Wezeer, that hath two entrances, an entrance towards the river, and
an entrance towards the land, and bring to me the damsel who is there, to
gether with her children, and the old woman who is with her, quickly, and
loiter not. And Mesroor replied, I hear and obey. He went forth from
before her, and proceeded until he arrived at the door of the house, where-
upon he knocked at the door, and the old woman, the mother of Hasan
came forth to him, saying, Who is at the door? He answered her, Mesroor
the eunuch of the Prince of the Faithful. So she opened the door, and he
entered, and saluted her, and she saluted him, and asked him respecting his
business. He therefore said to her, The lady Zubeydeh the daughter of
El-Kásim, the wife of the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, the
fifth 31 of the sons of El-'Abbás the uncle of the Prophet (whom may God
bless and save!), summoneth thee to her, thee and the wife of thy son, and
her children; for the women have informed her respecting her and respecting
her beauty. Upon this, the mother of Hasan said, O Mesroor, we are
strangers, and the damsel's husband, my son, is not in the city, and he did
not order me to go forth, neither me nor her, to any one of the creatures of
God (whose name be exalted!); and I fear, if any thing happen and my son
come, he will slay himself. I beg then, of thy kindness, O Mesroor, that thou
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
787
impose not upon us a command which we are unable to perform. — But
Mesroor replied, O my mistress, if I knew that,in this were aught to be
feared on your account, I would not require you to go. The desire of the
lady Zubeydeh is only to see her, and she shall return: therefore disobey
not; for thou wouldst repent; and like as I take you I will bring you back
hither safe, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! - So the mother
of Hasan could not disobey him; wherefore she entered, and made ready the
damsel, and took her forth, together with her children.
They followed Mesroor, who preceded them to the palace of the Khalee-
feh, and led them up and stationed them before the lady Zubeydeh, where-
upon they kissed the ground before her, and prayed for her. The damsel
had her face covered: so the lady Zubeydeh said to her, Wilt thou not
uncover thy face, that I may see it? The damsel therefore kissed the ground
before her, and displayed a face that put to shame the full moon in the
horizon of the sky; and when the lady Zubeydeh beheld her, she fixed her
eyes in astonishment upon her, and let them wander over her, and the palace
was illumined by her splendour and by the light of her countenance.
Zubeydeh was amazed at her beauty, and so also was every one in the palace,
and every one who beheld her became insane, unable to speak to another.
The lady Zubeydeh then arose, and made the damsel stand, and she pressed
her to her bosom, seated her with herself upon the couch, and commanded
that they should decorate the palace; after which she gave orders to bring
for her a suit of the most magnificent apparel, and a necklace of the most
precious jewels, and decked the damsel with them, and said to her, O mistress
of beauties, verily thou hast pleased me, and filled my eye with delight.
What hast thou among thy treasures? - So the damsel answered, O my
mistress, I have a dress of feathers: if I were to put it on before thee, thou
wouldst see a thing of the most beautiful make, that thou wouldst wonder
at, and every one who would see it would talk of its beauty, generation after
generation. And where, said Zubeydeh, is this thy dress? She answered,
It is in the possession of the mother of my husband; so demand it for me
of her.
----
-
The lady Zubeydeh therefore said, O my mother, by my life I conjure
thee that thou go down and bring to her her dress of feathers, that she may
amuse us with the sight of that which she will do, and take thou it again.
The old woman replied, O my mistress, this damsel is a liar. Have we seen
any woman possessing a dress of feathers? This is a thing that pertaineth
not to any but birds. The damsel however said to the lady Zubeydeh,
By thy life, O my mistress, I have in her possession a dress of feathers, and
it is in a chest buried in the closet that is in the house. So the lady
Zubeydeh pulled off from her neck a necklace of jewels worth the treasures
of a Kisrà and a Cæsar, and said to her, O my mother, receive this necklace.
And she handed it to her, saying to her, By my life I conjure thee that thou
go down and bring that dress, that we may divert ourselves with the sight of
t, and take thou it again after that. But she swore to her that she had
788
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
not seen this dress, and that she knew not where to find it. And upon this,
the lady Zubeydeh cried out at the old woman, and, having taken from her
the key, called Mesroor, who came, and she said to him, Take this key,
and go to the house, and open it, and enter the closet of which the door is of
such and such a description: in the midst of it is a chest, which take thou
up, and break it, and bring the dress of feathers that is in it before me. So
he replied, I hear and obey.
He took the key from the hand of the lady Zubeydeh, and went; and the
old woman, the mother of Hasan, arose, with weeping eye, repenting of her
compliance with the desire of the damsel, and of having gone to the bath
with her; for the damsel had not desired to go to the bath save for the
purpose of practising a stratagem. Then the old woman entered the house
with Mesroor, and she opened the door of the closet: so he entered, and
raised forth the chest, took from it the dress of feathers, and, having
wrapped it in a napkin that he had with him, brought it to the lady Zubeydeh,
who took it and turned it over, wondering at the beauty of its make. She
then handed it to the damsel, saying to her, Is this thy dress of feathers?
She answered, Yes, O my mistress. And she stretched forth her hand to it
and took it from her, full of joy.
The damsel examined it, and saw that it was perfect as it was when upon
her, not a single feather of it being lost. She was therefore delighted with
it, and rose from the side of the lady Zubeydeh, took the dress and opened
it, and took her children in her bosom; after which she wrapped herself in
it, and became a bird, by the power of God, to whom be ascribed might and
glory! So the lady Zubeydeh wondered at that, as also did every one who
was present; all of them wondering at that which she did. The damsel
leant from side to side, and walked about, and danced and played; and the
persons present had fixed their eyes in astonishment upon her, wondering
at her actions. She then said to them, with an eloquent tongue, O my mis-
tress, is this beautiful? The persons present answered her Yes, O mistress
of beauties: all that thou hast done is beautiful. And she said to them.
And this that I am about to do will be more beautiful, O my mistresses. And
she expanded her wings, and flew up with her children above the cupola, and
stood upon the roof of the saloon. So they looked at her and said to her.
By Allah, this is an extraordinary and a beautiful art, that we have never
before beheld! Then the damsel, when she desired to fly away to her
country, remembered Hasan, and said, Hear, O my mistresses! And she
recited these verses:
O thou who hast quitted these mansions and departed to the objects of thy love with
rapid flight!
Dost thou think that I continue in comfort among you, and that your life hath not be
come a life of troubles?
When I was taken captive in the snare of love, he made love my prison, and went t
away.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
789
When my dress was hidden, he felt sure that I should not implore the One, the Om-
nipotent, to restore it.
He charged his mother to keep it carefully in a closet, and transgressed against me, and
oppressed:
But I heard their words and kept them in my memory, and conceived hopes of abundant
good fortune.
My going to the bath was the means of making the minds of people to be confounded
at the sight of me;
And the spouse of Er-Rasheed wondered at my beauty, when she beheld me on the
right and left.
Then I said, O wife of the Khaleefeh, I possess a dress of feathers of great magnificence.
If it were upon me, thou wouldst see wonders that would efface sorrow and disperse
troubles.
So the spouse of the Khaleefeh asked, Where is it? And I answered, In the house of
him who hath hidden it.
And Mesroor pounced down and brought it to her; and, lo, it was here, beaming with
light.
Thereupon I took it from his hand and opened it, and I saw its bosom and its buttons.
Then I entered it, having my children with me, and expanded my wings, and flew away.
O mother of my husband, tell him when he cometh, if he wish to meet me, he must leave
his home.
―
-
And when she had ended her verses, the lady Zubeydeh said to her, Wilt
thou not descend to us, that we may continue to enjoy thy beauty, O
mistress of the comely? Extolled be the perfection of Him who hath
endowed thee with eloquence and beauty! But she replied, Far from re-
turning be that which hath passed! She then said to the mother of Hasan,
the mourning, the wretched, By Allah, O my mistress, O mother of Hasan,
thou wilt render me desolate by thine absence; but when thy son hath come,
and the days of separation have become tedious to him, and he desireth
approach and meeting, and the winds of love and longing desire agitate him,
let him come to me in the Islands of Wák-Wák.32 And she flew away with
!
her children, and sought her country.
When the mother of Hasan beheld this, she wept, and slapped her face,
and wailed until she fainted; and when she recovered, the lady Zubeydeh
said to her, O my mistress the pilgrim,33 I did not know that this would
happen; and if thou hadst acquainted me with it, I would not have opposed
thee. I knew not that she was of the Flying Jinn before the present time;
and had I known that she was of this nature, I would not have allowed her
to put on the dress, nor would I have suffered her to take her children.
But, O my mistress, absolve me. And the old woman replied, having no
way of avoiding it, Thou art absolved. She then went forth from the
palace of the Khaleefeh, and ceased not to pursue her way until she entered
her house, when she proceeded to slap her face until she fainted again; and
when she recovered from her fit, she sorrowfully longed for the damsel and
for her children, and for the sight of her son, and recited these verses:
-
-
On the day of separation, your removal made me weep, lamenting on account of your
absence from home.
I cried out, from the pain of parting, in anguish, and tears had made my eyelids sore,
790
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
This is separation! Shall we enjoy your return? For your departure hath deprived me
of the power of concealment.
Would they had returned, and observed good faith! If they do so, perhaps my former
times may return.
Then she arose, and dug in the house three graves; 34 and she betook herself
to them, weeping night and day. And when the absence of her son became
tedious to her, and her disquietude and longing and mourning became exces-
sive, she recited these verses:
Thine image is within mine eyelids, and I think of thee when my heart is throbbing and
when it is quiet,
And love of thee hath circulated in my bones, as circulates the juice in the fruits upon
the branches:
And when I see thee not, my bosom is contracted, and the censurers excuse me for my
sorrows.
O thou whose love hath got possession of me, and for whom my distraction exceedeth my
affection,
Fear the Compassionate, with respect to me, and be merciful! Love of thee hath made
me to taste of death.
But as to her son Hasan, when he came to the damsels, they conjured
him to stay with them for three months. And after that period, they pre-
pared for him the wealth, and made ready for him ten loads, five of gold and
five of silver, and also of provisions one load; after which they bade him
commence his journey, and went forth with him; but he conjured them to
return. So they advanced to embrace him, for the purpose of bidding him
farewell. The youngest damsel first advanced to him, and she embraced him,
and wept until she fainted. Then she recited these two verses: —
When shall the fire now kindled by separation be quenched by your approach, and my
desire be accomplished by your presence, and when shall we be as formerly?
The day of parting hath filled me with terror, and hath afflicted me; and the act of bid-
ding thee farewell, O my master, hath increased my infirmity.
The second damsel next approached, and embraced him, and recited this
couplet: --
Bidding thee farewell is like bidding life farewell; and the loss of thee is like the loss of
the zephyr.
35
Thine absence is like a fire that burneth my heart, and in thy presence I enjoy the
Gardens of Delight.
In like manner also did the other damsels; each embracing him and reciting
a couplet. Then Hasan bade them farewell. He wept until he fainted, on
account of his separation from them, and recited these verses:
My tears flowed, on the day of separation, like pearls, and I made of them, as it were,
a necklace.
The camel-driver urged on the beasts with singing, and I found not strength nor patience,
nor was my heart with me.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
791
I bade them farewell: then retired in grief, and quitted the society of the places I had
frequented.
I returned evil was the way! and my soul was not comforted save by hoping to
come again and see thee.
O my friend, listen to the words of love! God forbid that I should speak and thy heart
should not remember!
O my soul, when thou partest with them, also part with the delight of life, and wish
not to survive!
He then pursued his journey with assiduity, night and day, until he
arrived at Baghdád, the Abode of Peace, and the sacred asylum of the
'Abbásee Khaleefehs; and he knew not what had happened after his de-
parture.
He entered the house, and went in to his mother to salute her; but he
saw that her body was emaciated, and her bones were wasted, by reason
of exceeding lamentation and sleeplessness, and weeping and groaning, so
that she had become like a toothpick; and she was unable to reply. He
dismissed the she-camels, and advanced to her; and when he beheld her in
this state, he went about the house searching for his wife and children; and
found not any trace of them. Then he looked into the closet, and he found
it open, and the chest also open, and he found not in it the dress. So upon
this he knew that she had got possession of the dress of feathers, and taken
it, and flown away, taking her children with her. He therefore returned to
his mother, and, seeing that she had recovered from her fit, he asked her
respecting his wife and his children; and she wept, and said, O my son, may
God compensate thee greatly for the loss of them! These are their three
tombs. And when he heard the words of his mother, he uttered a great
cry, and fell down in a fit, and thus he remained from the commencement of
the day until noon. The grief of his mother therefore increased, and she de-
spaired of his life. And when he recovered, he wept and slapped his face,
and rent his clothes, and went about the house confounded. Then he recited
these two verses:
Persons before me have bemoaned the pain of absence, and living and dead have been
terrified by estrangement;
But an instance of feelings like those in my bosom I have never heard of nor beheld.
And after he had concluded his verses, he took his sword and drew it, and
coming to his mother, he said to her, If thou acquaint me not with the truth
of the case, I will strike off thy head, and slay myself. So she said to him,
O my son, do not that, and I will inform thee. Then she said to him,
Sheathe thy sword, and sit, that I may tell thee what happened. And when
he had sheathed his sword and seated himself by her side, she repeated to
him the story from beginning to end, and said to him, O my son, if I had not
seen her weep to go to the bath, and feared thee, that thou wouldst come
and that she would complain to thee, and thou wouldst be incensed against
me, I had not gone with her thither. And if the lady Zubeydeh had not been
792
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
incensed against me, and taken from me the key by force, I had not tak
forth the dress, though I should have died; and, O my son, thou know
that no one can contend for superiority in power with the Khaleefeh. The
when they brought the dress to her, she took it and turned it over, imagini
that some part of it might be lost; but she found that no injury had ha
pened to it. She therefore rejoiced, and, having taken her children, s
bound them to her waist, and put on the dress of feathers, after the la
Zubeydeh had pulled off and given to her all that was upon her, in hono
of her, and for her loveliness. And when she had put on the dress
feathers, she shook, and became a bird; and she walked about the palac
while they looked at her and wondered at her beauty and loveliness. S
then flew up, and perched upon the palace; and after that, she looked
me and said to me, When thy son hath come, and the nights of separatio
have become tedious to him, and he desireth to approach and meet m
and the winds of love and longing desire agitate him, he must leave h
home, and repair to the Islands of Wák-Wák. Thus did she during thi
absence.
Now when Hasan heard the words of his mother, he uttered a great cry
and fell down in a fit. He ceased not to lie in this state until the close
the day; and when he recovered, he slapped his face, and rolled about on th
floor like a serpent. His mother sat weeping at his head until midnight; an
after he had recovered from his fit, he wept vehemently, and recited thes
verses:
Pause, and see the condition of him whom you abandon: perhaps you will pity him afte
your cruelty;
For if you see him, you will doubt of him, by reason of his sickness, as though, by Allah
you knew him not.
He is dying in consequence of his passion for you, and would be numbered among th
dead, but for his groaning.
Do not imagine your separation to be light: it is grievous to the lover, and death would
be easier.
And when he had ended his verses, he arose, and continued going about the
house, moaning and weeping and wailing, for a period of five days, during
which he tasted not food nor drink. So his mother went to him and conjured
him with oaths to abstain from weeping; but he yielded not to her words,
and ceased not to weep and wail. His mother still attempted to console him,
but he would not attend to aught that she said. He continued in this state,
weeping until the next morning. Then his eyes slumbered, and he saw his
wife mourning and weeping: whereupon he arose from his sleep, crying out,
and recited these two verses:
Thine image is with me, and never quitteth me. I have given it the most honourable
place in my heart.
But for the hope of reunion, I could not live a moment; and but for the phantom of thy
form, I would not sleep.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
793
And in the morning his wailing and weeping increased. He remained with
weeping eye and mourning heart, sleepless during the night, and eating little;
and he continued in this state for the space of a whole month.
But when that month had passed, it occurred to his mind that he should
journey to his sisters, in order that they might assist him to attain his
desire of regaining his wife. So he summoned the excellent she-camels,
loaded fifty with rarities of El-'Erák, and mounted one of them. He then
charged his mother with the care of the house, and committed all his goods
[to the custody of persons of his acquaintance], except a few things that he
left in the house; after which he set forth on his journey to his sisters,
hoping that he might obtain their aid to effect his reunion with his wife.
He ceased not to pursue his way until he arrived at the palace of the damsels
by the Mountain of Clouds; and when he went in to them, he presented to
them the gifts, with which they were delighted; and they congratulated him
on his safety, and said to him, O our brother, what is the reason of thy
coming so quickly, when thou hast not been absent from us more than two
months? And upon this he wept, and recited these verses:
I find my soul solicitous on account of the loss of its beloved, enjoying not life nor its
delights.
My disease is one of which the cure is unknown. And can any one cure diseases but
their physician?
O thou who hast debarred me from the delight of sleep! thou hast left me to inquire for
thee of the wind when it bloweth,
If it be near to the place of the beloved, who compriseth those charms that excite mine
eye to weep.
O thou who alightest in her country! perhaps thy breath may revive my heart by its
fragrance.
And when he had ended his verses, he uttered a great cry, and fell down in
a fit; and the damsels seated themselves around him, weeping for him until
he recovered from his fit; whereupon he recited this couplet: -
36
Probably fortune will turn its rein, and bring my beloved; for time is changeable;
And my fortune may prosper me, and my wants be performed, and happy events may
follow adverse.
He continued for some time weeping and fainting, and reciting verses; and
the damsels had retired; but when his sister heard his words, she came forth
to him, and saw him lying in a fit; upon which she cried out, and slapped
her face; and her sisters, hearing her, came forth to her, and beheld Hasan
lying in a fit. They surrounded him, and wept for him; and when they saw
him in this state, the ecstasy and distraction of love, and longing desire, that
affected him no longer remained concealed from them.
They then asked him respecting his condition, and he wept, and
acquainted them with that which had befallen him during his absence from
home, telling them that his wife had flown away, and taken her children with
794
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
So they mourned for him, and asked him what she said when she
departed; and he answered, O my sisters, she said to my mother, Tell thy
son, when he hath come, and the nights of separation have become tedious
to him, and he desireth to approach and meet me, and the winds of love and
longing desire agitate him, he must come to me in the Islands of Wák-Wák.
-And when they heard his words, they winked to each other, and reflected:
and each of them looked at her sister, while Hasan looked at them. Then
they hung down their heads towards the ground a while; and after that.
they raised their heads, and said, There is no strength nor power but in
God, the High, the Great! And they said to him, Stretch forth thy hand
to heaven, and if thou canst reach to heaven, thou mayest reach to thy wife
and thy children. And thereupon his tears ran down upon his cheeks like
rain, so that they wetted his clothes; and he recited these verses:
The red cheeks and the pupils of the eyes have disturbed me, and patience abandoned me
when sleeplessness approached.
Fair, sleek damsels have by cruelty emaciated my body: to men's eyes it seemeth not to
retain the last breath.
With black eyes, and proud gait, like the gazelles of the sandhill, they shewed beauty
of which the saints, if they saw it, would be enamoured.
They walk like the zephyr of the gardens towards daybreak." Through love of them.
anxiety and disquietude have come upon me.
I have attached my hopes to a lovely damsel among them. My heart burneth with
flaming fire on her account.
Gazelle-like, sleek-limbed, walking with proud gait; her face is like the morning; but
her hair is dark as night.
She hath disturbed me. But how many heroes have the eyelids and the eyes of the fair
ones disturbed with love!
And when he had concluded his verses, he wept, and the damsels wept at his
weeping; compassion and zeal for him affecting them.
They betook themselves to soothing him, and exhorting him to have
patience, and praying for his reunion to his wife; and his sister accosted him
and said to him, O my brother, be of good heart and cheerful eye, and be
patient: then wilt thou attain thy desire; for he who is patient, and waiteth.
obtaineth what he wisheth; and patience is the key of relief. The poet
hath said,-
Let destiny run with slackened reins, and pass not the night but with careless mind:
For between the closing of an eye and its opening, God effecteth a change in the state
of affairs.
She then said to him, Strengthen thy heart, and confirm thy resolution; for
he whose life is to be ten years will not die when he is but nine; and weeping
and grief and mourning occasion disease and sickness. Remain with us unt
thou shalt have taken rest, and I will contrive means of thy gaining access
to thy wife and thy children, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted!
But he wept violently, and recited this couplet:
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
795
If I be cured of a disease in my body, I am not cured of a disease in my heart.
There is no other cure for the diseases of love than union of the beloved with the lover.
Then he sat by the side of his sister, who proceeded to converse with him
and to console him, and asked him what was the cause of his wife's departure.
So he informed her of the cause of that event; and she said to him, By Allah,
O my brother, I desired to say to thee, Burn the dress of feathers: - but the
Devil made me forget that. And she continued to converse with him and to
soothe him. But when the case became tedious to him, and his disquietude
increased, he recited these verses:
-
A beloved, with whom I was familiar, hath got possession of my heart: and God's
decree cannot be prevented.
She hath all the united beauty of the Arabs. She is a gazelle; but freely pastureth on
my heart.
Though my patience and contrivance in my love of her are little, I weep, notwithstand-
ing weeping availeth not.
She is lovely, and hath twice seven years, as though she were a moon of five nights and
five and four.38
So when his sister saw how he suffered from ecstasy and distraction of love,
and the afflictions of passion and desire, she went to her sisters, with weeping
eye and mourning heart, and she wept before them, threw herself upon them,
kissed their feet, and begged them to aid her brother in the accomplishment
of his affair, and in effecting his meeting with his children and his wife. She
conjured them to contrive means of procuring him access to the Islands of
Wák-Wák, and ceased not to weep before her sisters until she made them
also weep, and they said to her, Comfort thy heart; for we will strive to
accomplish his meeting with his family, if it be the will of God, whose name
be exalted! He then remained with them a whole year; but his eye ab-
stained not from shedding tears.
Now the sisters of the youngest damsel had a paternal uncle, the brother
of their father by the same father and mother, and his name was 'Abd-El-
Kuddoos.39 He loved the eldest damsel with a great affection, and every
year he used to visit her once, and perform her affairs. The damsels also-
had related to him the story of Hasan, and the events that befell him with
the Magian, and how he was enabled to slay him; whereat their uncle re-
joiced; and he gave to the eldest damsel a purse containing some incense, and
said to her, O daughter of my brother, if any thing render thee anxious, and
any thing disagreeable happen to thee, or any want occur to thee, throw this
incense into the fire, and mention me; and I will come to thee quickly, and
will perform thy want. This he said on the first day of the year.
And that damsel said to one of her sisters, Verily the year hath entirely
passed, and my uncle hath not come. Arise, strike the steel upon the flint,
and bring me the box of incense. So the damsel arose joyful, and brought
the box of incense; and she opened it, and, having taken from it a small
quantity, handed it to her sister, who took it and threw it into the fire, men-
796
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
tioning her uncle; and the fumes of the incense had not ceased before a dust
appeared advancing from the further extremity of the valley. Then, after a
while, the dust dispersed, and there appeared beneath it a sheykh riding upon
an elephant, which was crying out beneath him. And when the damsels
beheld him, he began to make signs to them with his hands and his feet.
Soon after, he came to them, and alighted from the elephant, and came in to
them; whereupon they embraced him, and kissed his hands, and saluted him.
He then sat, and the damsels proceeded to converse with him, and to ask
him the cause of his absence. And he said, I was just now sitting with the
wife of your uncle, and I smelt the incense; so I came to you upon this
elephant. What then dost thou desire, O daughter of my brother? She
answered, O my uncle, we were longing to see thee, the year having passed,
and it is not thy custom to remain absent from us more than a year. And
he replied, I was occupied, and I had determined to come to you to-morrow.
They therefore thanked him and prayed for him.
-
After that, they sat conversing with him, and the eldest damsel said to
him, O my uncle, we related to thee the story of Hasan of El-Basrah, whom
Bahram the Magian brought, and how he slew him, and we informed thee of
the damsel, the daughter of the supreme King, whom he took, and of the
difficulties and horrors he endured, and how he caught the King's daughter
and married her, and how he journeyed with her to his country. He replied,
Yes. And what, he asked, happened to him after this? She answered him,
She acted perfidiously to him, after he had been blest with two sons by her;
she took them and departed with them to her country, while he was absent;
and she said to his mother, When thy son hath come, and the nights of
separation have become tedious to him, and he desireth to approach and meet
me, and the winds of love and longing desire agitate him, he must come to
me in the Islands of Wák-Wák. — And upon this he shook his head, and bit
his finger. Then he hung down his head towards the ground, and began to
make marks upon the ground with the end of his finger; 40 after which he
looked to the right and left, and shook his head again, while Hasan looked
at him, but was concealed from him. So the damsels said to their uncle,
Reply to us; for our livers are broken in pieces. And he shook his head at
them and said to them, O my daughters, this man hath wearied himself, and
cast himself into a most terrible predicament and great peril; for he cannot
gain access to the Islands of Wák-Wák.
Upon this the damsels called Hasan, and he came forth to them, and,
advancing to the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, he kissed his hand and saluted
him; and the sheykh was pleased with him, and seated him by his side.
The damsels then said to their uncle, O uncle, shew our brother the truth
of that which thou hast said. He therefore said to him, O my son, relinquish
this most vexatious affair; for thou couldst not gain access to the Islands
of Wák-Wák even if the Flying Jinn and the wandering stars assisted thee,
since between thee and those Islands are seven valleys and seven seas and
seven mountains of vast magnitude. How then canst thou gain access to
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
797
this place, and who will convey thee to it? By Allah I conjure thee that
thou return soon, and weary not thy heart. And when Hasan heard the
words of the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, he wept until he fainted, and the
damsels sat around him weeping for his weeping. But as to the youngest
damsel, she rent her clothes and slapped her face until she also fainted.
So when the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos saw them in this state of anxiety
and ecstasy of grief, and mourning, he pitied them, and was affected with
commiseration for them, and he said, Be ye silent. Then he said to Hasan,
Comfort thy heart, and rejoice at the prospect of the accomplishment of
thine affair if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! And after that,
he said to him, O my son, arise, and brace up thy nerves, and follow me.
So Hasan stood up, after he had bidden the damsels farewell; and he fol-
lowed him, rejoicing in expectation of the accomplishment of his affair.
The sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos then called the elephant, and he came, and
he mounted him, putting Hasan behind him, and proceeded with him for
the space of three days with their nights, like the blinding lightning, until he
came to a vast, blue mountain, all the stones of which were blue; and in that
mountain was a cavern, which had a door of iron of China.
Upon this the sheykh took the hand of Hasan, and put him down; after
which the sheykh himself alighted, and dismissed the elephant. He then
advanced to the door of the cavern, and knocked it; whereupon the door
opened, and there came forth to him a black slave, beardless, resembling
an 'Efreet, and having in his right hand a sword, and in the other a shield
of steel. But when he saw the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, he threw down
the sword and shield from his hands, and advanced to the sheykh, and kissed
his hand. Then the sheykh took the hand of Hasan, and entered with him,
and the slave shut the door behind them. Hasan saw that the cavern was
very large and wide, and that it had a passage vaulted over; and they
ceased not to go on for the space of a mile, after which their course brought
them at last to a vast desert. They repaired to an angle in which were two
great doors, of cast brass, and the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos opened one of
them, and entered, and closed it, having said to Hasan, Sit at this door, and
beware of opening it and entering until I shall have entered and returned to
thee quickly. And when the sheykh had entered he remained absent for the
space of an astronomical hour.
He then came forth, having with him a horse saddled and bridled, which,
when he went along, flew; and when he flew, the dust overtook him not.
The sheykh led him forward to Hasan, and said, Mount. And the sheykh
opened the other door; whereupon there appeared within it an extensive
desert. So Hasan mounted the horse, and the two passed through the door,
and were in that desert. And the sheykh said to Hasan, O my son, take
this letter, and proceed upon this horse to the place to which he will convey
thee; and when thou seest him stop at the door of a cavern like this, descend
from his back, and put his rein upon the pommel, and dismiss him, and he
will enter the cavern; but enter not thou with him. Stay at the door of
798
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the cavern for the space of five days, and be not weary; for on the sixth day
there will come forth to thee a black sheykh, clad in black apparel, and with
a beard white and long, descending to his waist; and when thou seest him.
kiss his hands, and lay hold of his skirt, and put it on thy head, and weep
before him, that he may have pity on thee. He will thereupon ask thee
respecting thine affair; and when he saith to thee, What is thine affair? —
give him this letter, and he will take it of thee and will not speak to thee, but
will enter and leave thee. Stay in thy place five days more, and be not
weary, and on the sixth day expect him; [for perhaps] he will come forth to
thee; and if he himself come forth to thee, know that thine affair will be
accomplished; but if one of his young men come forth to thee, know that
he who hath come forth to thee desireth to slay thee. And peace be on thee!
But know, O my son, that every one who exposeth himself to peril destroyeth
himself: therefore if thou fear for thy soul, cast it not into destruction: if
however thou fear not, do as thou desirest. I have shewn thee the circum-
stances of the case; and if thou desire to return to thy companions, this
elephant is ready, and he will convey thee to the daughters of my brother,
who will send thee to thy country and restore thee to thy home, and God
will bless thee with one better than this damsel to whom thou art attached.
But Hasan said to the sheykh, How can life be pleasant to me, without
my attaining my desire? By Allah, I will never return until I find my be-
loved, or my death overtake me! Then he wept, and recited some verses,
commencing thus: -
---
For the loss of my beloved, and the excess of my passion, I stood and cried out in my
despondency and abjection;
And I kissed the dust of the house, in my longing for her; but it only served to augment
my sorrow.
And when the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos heard his recitation and his words.
he knew that he would not relinquish the object of his desire, and that words
would make no impression upon him, and he was convinced that he must
expose himself to peril, though his life should be sacrificed. But he said,
Know, O my son, that the Islands of Wák-Wák are seven islands, in which
is a great army, entirely composed of damsels, virgins; and the inhabitants
of the Interior Islands are Devils and Márids and enchanters and various
tribes. Whosoever entereth their country returneth not, and no one ever
went to them and returned. I conjure thee therefore by Allah that thou
return to thy family soon. Know moreover that the damsel whom thou
seekest is the daughter of the King of all these islands; and how canst thou
gain access to her? Hear then my words, O my son; and perhaps God will
give thee in her stead one better than she. But Hasan replied, By Allah.
O my master, were I cut piecemeal for my love of her, I should only increase
in fondness and desire. I must see my wife and my children, and enter the
Islands of Wák-Wák; and if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!).
I will not return save with her and with my children. So the sheykh 'Abd-
-
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
799
El-Kuddoos said to him, Then thou must perform the journey. He replied,
Yes; and I only desire of thee thy prayers for help and aid. Perhaps God
will reunite me to my wife and my children soon. Then he wept by reason
of the greatness of his desire, and recited these verses:
--
You are my desire, and the best of creatures. I hold you to be as dear as my hearing
and my sight.
You have possessed my heart, and it hath become your abode, and since you left me, O
my mistress, I have been in trouble.
Then think not that I have relinquished the love of you; for it hath put the wretched
being in fear.
You have gone, and my happiness went when you departed, and what was bright
became to me obscure in the extreme.
You have left me to contemplate the stars in my anguish, weeping with tears like a
pouring rain.
O night, thou art tedious to him who is disquieted, in the violence of his passion gazing
at the moon!
O wind, if thou pass by the tribe that she sojourneth with, give my salutation to her; for
my life is short;
And describe to her somewhat of the anguish I experience; for the beloved is not
acquainted with my state!
And when he had ended his verses, he wept so violently that he fainted; and
on her recovery the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos said to him, O my son, thou
hast a mother: then make her not to taste the pain of thy loss. But Hasan
replied, By Allah, O my master, I will not return, save with my wife, or my
death shall overtake me. Then he wept and moaned, and again recited some
verses; and when he had ended them, the sheykh knew that he would not.
draw back from his present purpose though his life should be sacrificed;
wherefore he handed to him the letter, prayed for him, and directed him how
he should act, and said to him, I have given a strict charge for thee, in the
letter, to Abu-r-Ruweysh the son of Balkees the daughter of the accursed
Iblees; 41 for he is my sheykh and my preceptor, and all mankind and the
Jinn humble themselves to him, and fear him. He then said to him, Go, in
reliance upon the blessing of God.
He therefore departed, giving the rein to the horse, which fled with him
more rapidly than lightning. Hasan ceased not to speed along on the horse
for a period of ten days, until he beheld before him a huge indistinct object,
blacker than night, obstructing the space between the east and the west; and
when he drew near to it, the horse neighed beneath him; whereupon there
came together horses numerous as the drops of rain, the number of which
could not be calculated, nor was any help for them known; and they began
to rub against Hasan's horse. So Hasan feared them and was terrified; and
he ceased not to proceed, with the horses around him, until he arrived at the
cavern which the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos had described to him, when the
horse stopped at its entrance, and Hasan alighted from him, and put his
rein upon his saddle. The horse then entered the cavern, and Hasan stopped
at the entrance, as the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos had ordered him.
He
800
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
meditated upon the result of his case how it would be, perplexed, distracted,
not knowing what would happen to him. He continued at the entrance of
the cavern five days with their nights, sleepless, mournful, perplexed, medi-
tating upon his having parted from his family and home and companions and
friends, with weeping eye and mourning heart.
Then he remembered his mother, and thought upon what might happen
to him, and upon the separation of his wife and his children, and the troubles
he had suffered, and recited some verses, which he had not ended when the
sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh came forth to him. He was black, and clad in black
apparel; and when Hasan beheld him, he knew him by the descriptions which
the shykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos had given of him. So he threw himself upon
him, and rubbed his cheeks upon his feet, and, taking his foot, he put it
upon his head, and wept before him. The sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh therefore
said to him, What is thine affair, O my son? And Hasan stretched forth
his hand with the letter, and handed it to the sheykh, who received it from
him, and entered the cavern, without returning him a reply; and Hasan
remained in his place at the entrance, as the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos had
desired him, weeping. He ceased not to stay in his place for the space of
five days more. His disquietude was excessive, and his fear was violent, and
his sleeplessness was constant. He wept and was oppressed in mind by the
pain of estrangement and excessive wakefulness, and recited some plaintive
verses.
He ceased not to weep until the dawn appeared, when, lo, the sheykh
Abu-r-Ruweysh came forth to him, clad in white apparel, and made a sign
to him with his hand, that he should enter. So Hasan entered, and the
sheykh, taking him by the hand, led him into the cavern; and he rejoiced,
and felt sure that his affair would be accomplished. The sheykh continued
to proceed, and Hasan with him, for the space of half a day; after which
they arrived at an arched doorway with a door of steel, which the sheykh
opened, and he and Hasan entered a passage vaulted over with variegated
stones decorated with gold. They ceased not to go on till they came to a
great saloon constructed with marble, and spacious, in the midst of which
was a garden containing all kinds of trees and flowers and fruits, and birds
upon the trees warbling, and proclaiming the perfection of God, the Omnipo-
tent King. In the saloon were four leewáns, facing one another, each
leewán having a sitting-place with a fountain, and at each of the corners of
each fountain was a figure of a lion of gold. In each sitting-place also was
a chair, upon which was sitting a person with a great number of books
before him, and before them were perfuming-vessels of gold, containing fire
and incense. Every one of these sheykhs likewise had before him students.
reading to him the books. And when the two went in to them, they rose to
them and treated them with honour; and the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh accosted
them and made a sign to those four sheykhs that they should dismiss the
other persons who were present.
-
So they dismissed them, and the four sheykhs arose and seated themselves
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
801
before the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh, and asked him respecting the case of
Hasan; whereupon the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh made a sign to Hasan, and
said to him, Tell the company thy story and all that hath happened to thee
from the first of the case to the last. And Hasan wept violently, and related
to them his story; and when he had finished it all the sheykhs cried out and
said, Is this he whom the Magian caused to ascend to the top of the Mountain
of the Clouds by means of the birds, 42 he being in the skin of the camel? So
Hasan answered them, Yes. And they accosted the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh
and said to him, O our sheykh, Bahrám practiced a stratagem to effect his
ascent to the top of the mountain, and how did he descend, and what won-
ders did he see upon the mountain? The sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh therefore
said, O Hasan, tell them how thou descendedst, and acquaint them with the
wonders that thou sawest. Accordingly he repeated to them the account of
the events that had happened to him from beginning to end, and told them
how he got the Magian into his power and slew him, and how his wife had
acted perfidiously to him and taken his children and flown away, and of all
the horrors and difficulties that he had suffered. And the persons present
wondered at the things that had happened to him.
They then accosted the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh and said to him, O
sheykh of the sheykhs, by Allah, this young man is a pitiable person; and
perhaps thou wilt assist him to deliver his wife and his children. The sheykh
Abu-r-Ruweysh replied, O my brothers, verily this is a great and perilous
affair, and I have not seen any one hate life except this young man. Ye
know that the Islands of Wák-Wák are difficult of access: no one ever
arrived at them without exposing himself to peril; and ye know the strength.
of their inhabitants, and their guards. I have sworn that I will not tread
their country, nor oppose myself to them in aught; and how can this person
gain access to the daughter of the supreme King, and who can convey him to
her, or assist him to attain this object? - Upon this they said, O sheykh of
the sheykhs, verily desire hath almost consumed this man, and he hath
exposed himself to peril, and brought to thee the letter of thy brother, the
sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos: therefore it is incumbent on thee to assist him.
Then Hasan arose and kissed the foot of Abu-r-Ruweysh, and, lifting up his
skirt, put it on his head, and wept, and said to him, I conjure thee by Allah
that thou unite me with my children and my wife though the doing so occa-
sion the loss of my life and soul! And the persons present wept at his
weeping, and said to the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh, Acquire the recompense
that will be granted for this poor man, and act kindly with him for the
sake of thy brother the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos. So he replied, Verily this
young man is a pitiable person, and he knoweth not what he is undertaking;
but we will assist him as far as possible.
Hasan therefore rejoiced when he heard his words, and kissed his hands.
He kissed also the hands of the other persons who were present, one after
another, and begged their aid. And thereupon Abu-r-Ruweysh took a paper
and an inkhorn, and wrote a letter, and sealed it, and gave it to Hasan. He
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
likewise gave him a small bag of leather, containing incense and instruments
for striking fire, consisting of a steel and other things; and said to him, Take
care of this bag; and when thou fallest into a difficulty, burn a little of the
incense that it containeth, and mention me; and I will be present with thee,
and deliver thee from the difficulty. Then he ordered one of those who
were present to summon to him an 'Efreet of the Flying Jinn immediately;
and he came; and the sheykh said to him, What is thy name? He answered,
Thy slave is Dahnash the son of Faktash. And Abu-r-Ruweysh said to
him, Draw near to me. So he drew near to him; and the sheykh Abu-r-
Ruweysh put his mouth to the ear of the 'Efreet, and said to him some
words; whereat the 'Efreet shook his head. The sheykh then said to Hasan,
O my son, arise, mount upon the shoulders of this 'Efreet, Dahnash the
Flyer; but when he hath taken thee up to heaven, and thou hearest the
praises of the Angels in the sky, utter not thou any words of praise; for if
thou do, thou wilt perish, and so will he. And Hasan replied, I will never
speak. Then the sheykh said to him, O Hasan, when he hath gone with thee,
he will put thee down on the next day, a little before daybreak, upon a
white, clean land, like camphor; and when he hath put thee there, walk on
ten days by thyself, until thou arrivest at the gate of the city. On thine
arrival at it, enter, and ask for its King; and when thou hast an interview
with him, salute him, and kiss his hand, and give him this letter; and
whatsoever he directeth thee to do, understand it. So Hasan replied, I
hear and obey. He arose with the 'Efreet, and the sheykhs arose and prayed
for him, and gave the 'Efreet a charge respecting him.
Now when the 'Efreet had taken him upon his shoulders, he rose with him
to the clouds of heaven, and proceeded with him a day and a night, until he
heard the praises of the Angels in heaven; and when the dawn came, he put
him down upon a land white like camphor, and left him and departed. So
when Hasan saw that he was upon the earth, and that no one was with him,
he went on night and day for the space of ten days, until he arrived at the
gate of the city: whereupon he entered it, and inquired for the King. They
therefore guided him to him, and said that his name was the King Hasoon,
King of the Land of Camphor, and that he had, of soldiers and troops, what
would fill the earth in its length and breadth. He asked permission to go in
to him, and permission was given him; and when he went in to him, he found
him to be a magnificent King; and he kissed the ground before him. So the
King said to him, What is thine affair? And Hasan kissed the letter, and
handed it to him; and he took it and read it. Then he shook his head a
while; after which he said to one of the chief officers, Take this young man,
and lodge him in the mansion of entertainment.
Accordingly he took him and proceeded with him, until he had lodged
him there, and he remained in it for a period of three days, eating and
drinking, having no one with him but the eunuch who attended him; and
that eunuch conversed with him and cheered him, and asked him respecting
his story, and how he had come to this country; wherefore he acquainted
་
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
803
43
him with all that had happened to him, and all his state. After that, on the
fourth day, the young man took him and brought him before the King; and
he said to him, O Hasan, thou hast come unto me, desiring to enter the
Islands of Wák-Wák, as the sheykh of the sheykhs hath mentioned to us.
O my son, I will send thee during these days; but in thy way are many
dangerous places, and thirsty deserts abounding with fearful spots.
patient, however, and nought but good will happen. I must employ a
stratagem, and cause thee to attain thy wish, if it be the will of God, whose
name be exalted! Know, O my son, that here are soldiers of Ed-Deylem
desiring to enter the Islands of Wák-Wák, fitted out with arms and horses
and accoutrements, and they have not been able to enter. But, O my son,
for the sake of the sheykh of the sheykhs, Abu-r-Ruweysh the son of the
daughter of the accursed Iblees, I cannot send thee back to him without thy
having accomplished thine affair. Soon there will come to us ships from the
Islands of Wák-Wák: there remaineth not before their arrival more than a
short time; and when one of them hath come, I will embark thee in it, and
will charge the sailors respecting thee, that they may take care of thee and
convey thee to the Islands of Wák-Wák. Whosoever asketh thee respecting
thy condition and thy story, answer him, I am a relation of the King Hasoon,
lord of the Land of Camphor. And when the vessel mooreth at the Islands
of Wák-Wák, and the master saith to thee, Land- do thou land. Thou
wilt see many settees in all the quarters of the shore; and do thou choose
for thyself one of them, and sit beneath it, and move not. And when the
night becometh dark, and thou seest that the army of women hath surrounded
the merchandise, stretch forth thy hand and lay hold upon the owner of this
settee beneath which thou hast placed thyself, and beg her protection; and
know, O my son, that if she protect thee, thou wilt accomplish thine affair,
and wilt gain access to thy wife and thy children. But if she protect thee
not, mourn for thyself, and despair of life, and be sure of thy destruction.
Know, O my son, that thou art exposing thyself to peril; and I cannot do
for thee aught but this. And peace be on thee! Know also, that if aid had
not been granted thee by the Lord of Heaven, thou hadst not gained access
hither.
When Hasan heard these words of the King Hasoon, he wept until he
fainted; and on his recovering, he recited these two verses:
A decreed term is my certain lot; and when its days have ended, I die.
If the lions contended with me in their forests, I should vanquish them if aught of my
term remained.
And after he had ended his verses, he kissed the ground before the King,
and said to him, O great King, how many days remain to the time when the
ships will come? He answered, The period of a month; and they will remain
here for the sale of their cargoes a period of two months: then they will
return to their country: so hope not to make thy voyage in the ship save
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
after three whole months. The King then commanded Hasan to.return
the mansion of entertainment, and gave orders to carry to him all that
required, of food and drink and apparel, such as was fit for Kings. H
remained in the mansion of entertainment a month; and after the mont
the ships came. The King and the merchants therefore went forth, and h
took Hasan with him to the ships. And he saw a ship in which were man
people, like the pebbles: none knew their number but He who created them
That ship was in the midst of the sea, and had small boats transporting th
goods that it contained to the shore. Hasan stayed with them until the crev
had removed the goods from it to the shore, and sold and bought, and ther
remained not to the time of departure more than three days; whereupo
the King summoned Hasan before him, prepared for him what he required
and conferred upon him great favours.
Then, after that, he called for the master of that ship, and said to him
Take this young man with thee in the ship, and acquaint no one with him.
convey him to the Islands of Wák-Wák, and leave him there, and bring
him not back. And the master replied, I hear and obey. The King ther
charged Hasan, and said to him, Acquaint not any one of the persons with
thee in the ship with aught of thy case, nor let any one know thy story; for
if thou do, thou wilt perish. And he replied, I hear and obey. And he bade
him farewell, after he had offered up prayers in his favour for length of
life, and victory over all the enviers and enemies; and the King thanked
him for that, and prayed for his safety and for the accomplishment of
his affair. He then committed him to the master, who took him and put
him into a chest, and embarked him in a boat; and he took him not forth in
the ship but when the people were occupied in removing the goods.
After that, the ships departed, and they ceased not to pursue their course
for the space of ten days; and on the eleventh day, they reached the shore.
The master thereupon landed him from the ship; and when he went up on
the shore, he saw there settees, the number of which none knew but God.
So he walked on until he came to a settee of which there was not the like,
and he hid himself beneath it. And when the night approached, there came
a numerous crowd of women, like scattered locusts, advancing on foot, with
their swords drawn in their hands; but they were enveloped in coats of
mail; and on their seeing the goods, they busied themselves with them.
Then, after that, they sat to take rest, and one of them seated herself upon
the settee beneath which was Hasan. He therefore laid hold of the edge of
her skirt, put it upon his head, and, throwing himself upon her, began to kiss
her hands and her feet, weeping. So she said to him, O thou, arise and stand
up before any one see thee and slay thee. And thereupon he came forth
from beneath the settee [where he had hidden himself again], and rose upon
his feet, kissed her hands, and said to her, O my mistress, I throw myself
upon thy protection! Then he wept again, and said to her, Have mercy upon
him who is parted from his family and his wife and his children, and hath
hastened to effect his reunion with them, and exposed his life and soul to
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
805
peril! Have mercy upon me, and be sure that thou wilt be recompensed for
that with Paradise. Or, if thou wilt not receive me, I conjure thee by
Allah, the Great, the Excellent Protector, that thou conceal my case!
And the merchants fixed their eyes upon him, while he spoke to her; and
when she heard his words, and saw his humiliation, she had compassion
upon him, her heart was moved with pity for him, and she knew that he had
not exposed himself to peril and come to this place save for a great affair. So
thereupon she said to Hasan, O my son, be of good heart and cheerful eye,
comfort thy heart and thy soul, and return to thy place, and hide thyself
beneath the settee as thou wast at first until the next night, and God will do
what He desireth. Then she bade him farewell, and Hasan entered be-
neath the settee as before. The army passed the night, having lighted
candles composed with an admixture of aloes-wood and crude ambergris,
until the morning. And when daylight came, the ships returned to the shore,
and the merchants occupied themselves with conveying the goods and effects
till night approached, while Hasan remained hidden beneath the settee, with
weeping eye and mourning heart, not knowing what was secretly decreed to
happen unto him.
Now while he was in this state, lo, the female merchant whose protection
he had begged approached him, and handed to him a coat of mail and a
sword and a gilt girdle and a lance; after which she departed from him, fear-
ing the troops. So when he saw that, he knew that the female merchant
had not brought him these accoutrements save in order that he should put
them on; wherefore he arose and put on the coat of mail, put the girdle
round his waist, hung on the sword beneath his arm-pit, took the lance in
his hand, and seated himself upon that settee. His tongue neglected not
to repeat the praises of God (whose name be exalted!), and he begged his
protection; and while he sat, lo, the cressets and the lanterns and the candles
approached, and the army of women. Hasan therefore arose and mixed
among the troops, having become like one of them; and at the approach of
daybreak, the troops proceeded, and Hasan with them, until they came to
their tents, when each of them entered her tent. Hasan also entered the
tent of one of them, and, lo, it was the tent of his companion, whose pro-
tection he had begged.
And when she entered her tent, she threw down her arms, and pulled off
the coat of mail and the veil; and Hasan, having thrown down his arms,
looked at his companion, and found her to be blue-eyed with a large nose;
she was a calamity among calamities, of the most hideous form, with a face
marked with smallpox, and hairless eyebrows, and broken teeth, and puffed
cheeks, and gray hair, and a mouth running with saliva: her hair was falling
off, and she was like the speckled, black and white, serpent. Now when she
looked at Hasan, she wondered, and said How could this person gain access
to this country and in which of the ships came he and how did he arrive
safely? And she proceeded to ask him respecting his case, and wondered at
his arrival; and upon this, Hasan fell upon her feet, rubbing his face upon
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
them, and wept until he fainted: and when he recovered, he recited these
verses:
When will time grant us our meeting, and when shall we be reunited after our separation,
And when shall I enjoy the object of my choice, and see reproach ended, and love
remain ?
If the Nile were to flow as copiously as my tears, it would leave in the world no land
unwatered:
It would overflow the Hejáz and Egypt, and Syria likewise with El-'Erák.
This is caused by thine estrangement, O my beloved! Be kind to me, and promise a
meeting.
And after he had ended his verses, he took the skirt of the old woman, and
put it upon his head, and proceeded to weep and to beg her protection. So
when the old woman saw his ardour and affliction and pain and distress, her
heart was moved with sympathy for him, and she granted him protection
and said to him, Fear not at all. Then she asked him respecting his case,
and he related to her all that had happened to him from beginning to end:
and the old woman wondered at his tale, and said to him, Comfort thy heart
and comfort thy soul. There remaineth nothing for thee to fear. Thou hast
attained thy desire and the accomplishment of thine affair, if it be the will
of God, whose name be exalted! Therefore Hasan rejoiced at that ex-
ceedingly.
The old woman then sent to the leaders of the army, commanding them
to come before her. This was on the last day of the month. And when they
presented themselves before her, she said to them, Go forth, and proclaim
among all the troops that they shall go forth to-morrow, in the morning,
and that none of them shall remain behind; and if any one remain behind,
that person's life shall be taken. And they replied, We hear and obey. They
went forth, and proclaimed among all the troops that they should march
on the morrow, in the morning; after which they returned, and acquainted
her therewith. So Hasan knew that she was the chief of the troops, and the
person of authority among them, and their leader. Then Hasan took not off
the arms from his body that day. The name of that old woman with whom
he had placed himself was Shawáhee, and she was surnamed Umm-ed-
Dawáhee. And the old woman had not made an end of her commanding
and forbidding until the daybreak came, when all troops went forth from
their places; but the old woman went not forth with them.
44
And when the army had gone, and the places were devoid of their
presence, Shawáhee said to Hasan, Draw near to me, O my son. So he drew
near to her, and stood before her; and she accosted him and said to him.
What is the cause of thine exposure of thyself to peril, and thine entering this
country, and how was it that thy soul consented to its own destruction?
Acquaint me with the truth of thy whole affair, and conceal not from me
aught of it, nor fear thou; for thou hast become one to whom I have plighted
my faith, and I have granted thee protection, and had compassion upon
thee, and pitied thy state. If thou inform me truly, I will aid thee to accom
!
1
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
807
plish thine affair, even if the consequence be the loss of lives, and the de-
struction of the sheykhs. Now that thou hast come unto me, no harm shall
befall thee, nor will I suffer any one, of all who are in the Islands of Wák-
Wák, to do thee any injury. He therefore repeated to her his story from
first to last, telling her of the affair of his wife, and the birds, and how he
caught her from among the ten, and how he married her, and then resided
with her until he was blest with two sons by her, and how she took her
children and flew away when she knew the means of obtaining the dress of
feathers; and he concealed not aught of his story, from the commencement to
that day.
So when the old woman heard his words, she shook her head, and said to
him, Extolled be the perfection of God who preserved thee and brought thee
hither and caused thee to light on me! Hadst thou lighted on any except
me, thy life had been lost, and thine affair had not been accomplished. But
the honesty of thine intention, and thy love and the excess of thy desire for
thy wife and thy children, were the means of enabling thee to attain the
object of thy search. Were it not that thou lovest her, and art distracted by
thy passion for her, thou hadst not thus exposed thyself to peril; and praise
be to God for thy safety! It is therefore incumbent on us to accomplish for
thee thine affair, and to aid thee to attain the object of thy desire, that thou
mayest obtain what thou seekest soon, if it be the will of God, whose name
be exalted! But know, O my son, that thy wife is in the seventh island of
the Islands of Wák-Wák, and the distance between us and it is seven months'
journey, night and day. For we proceed hence until we arrive at a land
called the Land of the Birds; and by reason of the vehemence of the cries of
the birds, and the flapping of their wings, one of them heareth not what an-
other uttereth. Then we proceed over that land for a period of eleven days,
night and day; after which we pass forth from it to a land called the
Land of the Wild Beasts; and by reason of the vehemence of the cries of
the beasts of prey and the hyenas and other wild beasts, and the howling of
the wolves and the roaring of the lions, we shall hear nothing else. We
journey over that land for the space of twenty days, and then pass forth from
it to a land called the Land of the Jinn, where, by reason of the vehemence
of the cries of the Jánn, and the rising of the flames and the flying about of
the sparks and the smoke from their mouths, and the harsh sounds from their
throats, and their insolence, they will obstruct the way before us, and our
ears will be deafened, and our eyes will be covered with darkness, so that we
shall neither hear nor see, nor will any of us be able to look behind him; for
by doing so he would perish. In that place, the horseman will put his head
upon the pommel of his saddle, and not raise it for a period of three days.
After that, there will be before us a vast mountain and a running river, which
extend to the Islands of Wák-Wák. Know also, O my son, that all this army
consisteth of damsels, virgins; and the sovereign who ruleth over us is a
woman of the Seven Islands of Wák-Wák. The extent of these seven islands
is a whole year's journey to the rider who travelleth with diligence. On the
45
808
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
bank of this river [that I have mentioned] is another mountain, called th
Mountain of Wák-Wák; and this name is the proper appellation of a tre
whose branches resemble the heads of the sons of Adam; and when the su
riseth upon it, those heads all cry out, saying in their cry, Wák! Wák
Extolled be the perfection of the King, the Excellent Creator! So when w
hear their cry, we know that the sun hath risen. In like manner also whe
the sun setteth, those heads cry out and say in their cry the same words, an
we know thereupon that the sun hath set. No man can reside with us, no
gain access to us, nor tread our land; and between us and the residence o
the Queen who ruleth over this land is a journey of a month, from this shore
Also, all the subjects upon that shore are under the authority of that Queen
and under her authority likewise are the tribes of the Jánn, Márids and
Devils, and under her authority are enchanters, the number of whom none
knoweth but He who created them. Now if thou fear, I will send with thee
one who will convey thee to the coast, and I will bring one who will transport
thee with him in a vessel and convey thee to thy country. But if it be agree-
able to thy heart to remain with us, I will not prevent thee: thou shalt be
with me as though thou wert in mine eye, until thou shalt accomplish thine
affair, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted!
Upon this he said to her, O my mistress, I will not quit thee until I meet
with my wife, or my life shall be lost. And she replied, This will be an easy
affair: so comfort thy heart, and thou shalt attain thy desire if it be the will
of God, whose name be exalted! I must acquaint the Queen with thee, that
she may aid thee to attain thy wish.-Hasan therefore prayed for her, and
kissed her hands and her head, and thanked her for that which she had
done, and for her exceeding kindness. He proceeded with her, meditating
upon what might be the result of his case, and upon the horrors of his
estrangement; and he began to weep and wail, and recited these verses:
From the place of the beloved a zephyr hath blown, and thou seest me, from the excess
of my ecstasy, distracted.
The night of union is like a brilliant morning, and the day of separation like a black night.
Taking leave of the beloved is severely distressing, and the separation of the companion
is a heavy calamity.
I will not complain of her cruelty save to her. I have not among mankind a friendly
relation.
My becoming indifferent to you is impossible; for the despised censurer doth not make
my heart indifferent.
O unparalleled in loveliness! my love is unparalleled. O thou whose equal existeth not!
my heart existeth not.
Whosoever pretended that he loveth you, and dreadeth reprehension, he is reprehensible.
The old woman then gave orders to beat the drum for their departure,
and the army proceeded, Hasan proceeding also, in company with the old
woman. Being drowned in the sea of solicitudes, he was oppressed in mind,
and recited verses, while the old woman exhorted him to be patient, and
consoled him; but he recovered not, nor attended to that which she proposed
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
809
to him. They ceased not to journey on until they arrived at the first of the
seven islands, which was the Island of the Birds; and when they entered it,
Hasan imagined that the world was overturned, in consequence of the vehe-
mence of the cries. His head ached and his mind was bewildered, his eyes
were blinded and his ears were stopped, and he feared violently and made
sure of death, saying within himself, If this is the Land of the Birds, how
will be the Land of the Wild Beasts? So when the old woman named
Shawáhee saw him in this state, she laughed at him, and said to him, O my
son, if this is thy state in the first island, how will it be with thee when thou
comest to the remaining islands? He therefore supplicated God, and hum-
oled himself to Him, and begged of Him that He would aid him to bear up
against the affliction with which He had visited him, and that He would cause
aim to attain his desires.
They continued their journey until they had traversed the Land of the
Birds, and passed forth from it, and entered the Land of the Jánn; and when
Hasan beheld it, he feared, and repented of his having entered it with them.
Then he begged aid of God (whose name be exalted!), and proceeded with
hem. And they escaped from the Land of the Jánn, and arrived at the river,
ind, alighting beneath a vast, lofty mountain, they pitched their tents upon
he bank of the river. The old woman placed for Hasan a couch of alabaster,
set with fine pearls, and jewels, and bars of red gold, by the side of the river.
So he seated himself upon it; and the troops advanced, and she displayed
hem to him. After that they pitched their tents around him, and rested
while. Then they ate and drank and slept in security; for they had arrived
it their country.
Now Hasan had put over his face a lithám, so that nought of him
ippeared save his eyes. And, lo, a company of the damsels walked near to
he tent of Hasan, and, having pulled off their outer garments, descended
nto the river. So Hasan kept looking at them while they washed, and they
proceeded to play and divert themselves, not knowing that he was looking
it them; for they imagined that he was of the daughters of the Kings.¹
Thus the whole army assembled before Hasan; for the old woman gave
orders to proclaim among all the troops that they should assemble before
is tent, and display themselves, and descend into the river, thinking that
erhaps his wife might be among them, and he would know her. She pro-
eeded to ask him respecting them, company after company; and he replied,
she is not among these, O my mistress. So the old woman said, Describe
er to me, and acquaint me with all her characteristics, that she may be in
ny mind; for I know every damsel in the Islands of Wák-Wák, as I am the
eader of the army of damsels, and their commander; and if thou describe
er to me, I shall know her, and will contrive means for thy taking her.
Accordingly, he described her to her.
And thereupon the old woman hung down her head towards the ground
or some time; after which she raised her head towards Hasan, and said,
Extolled be the perfection of God, the Great in dignity! Verily I am afflicted
810
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
in thee, O Hasan; and I would that I had not known thee!
47
For the woma
whom thou hast described to me, she is thy wife indeed: I have known he
by her characteristics, and she is the daughter of the supreme King, h
eldest daughter, who ruleth over all the Islands of Wák-Wák. Therefor
open thine eyes, and consider thine affair; and if thou be asleep, awake
for it is impossible for thee ever to gain access to her; and if thou gaineds
access to her, thou couldst not get possession of her; since between thee an
her is like as is between heaven and earth. Return therefore, O my son, soon
and cast not thyself into destruction, and me with thee; for I imagine tha
thou hast no lot in her. Return to the place whence thou hast come, les
our lives be lost.. And she feared for herself and for him.
-
When Hasan, therefore, heard the words of the old woman, he wep
violently, so that he fainted; and the old woman ceased not to sprinkle wate
upon his face until he recovered from his fit. He continued to weep so tha
he wetted his clothes with his tears, by reason of the excessive anxiety and
grief that had come upon him in consequence of the words of the old woman
and he despaired of life. Then he said to the old woman, O my mistress
and how can I return after I have got hither? I did not imagine in my mind
that thou wast unable to accomplish my desire, especially because thou art
the leader of the army of damsels, and their commander. - To this she
replied, I conjure thee, by Allah, O my son, that thou choose for thyself a
damsel from among these damsels, and I will give her to thee instead of thy
wife, lest thou fall into the hand of the Kings, and I shall have no means of
releasing thee. By Allah, I conjure thee that thou hear my words, and
choose for thyself one of these damsels, instead of that damsel, and return to
thy country soon in safety, and make me not to drink thine anguish [by
witnessing thy death]. By Allah, thou hast cast thyself into a severe
calamity and great peril, from which no one can deliver thee. So there-
upon Hasan hung down his head and wept violently, and he recited some
verses, commencing thus: -
I said to my censurers, Do not censure me: for nought but tears were mine eyelids created.
The tears of mine eye have overflowed and inundated my cheek, and my beloved hath
treated me with cruelty.
And when he had ended his verses, he wept again until he fainted, and the
old woman ceased not to sprinkle water upon his face till he recovered from
his fit; when she addressed him and said, O my master, return to thy
country: for if I go with thee to the city, thy life and mine will be lost; as
the Queen, when she knoweth thereof, will blame me for coming with thee
into her country and her islands, to which no one of the sons of Adam
cometh, and she will slay me because of my having brought thee with me
and given thee a sight of these virgins whom thou hast seen in the river,
although no male hath touched them, nor a husband approached them. So
Hasan swore that he had never looked at them with an evil glance. But she
rejoined, O my son, return to thy country, and I will give thee wealth and
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
811
--
treasures and rarities on account of which thou shalt become indifferent to all
women. Hear then my words, and return soon, and expose not thyself to
peril; for I have given thee good advice. When Hasan, however, heard
her words, he wept, and rubbed his cheeks upon her feet, and said, O my
mistress and my lady, and delight of mine eye, how can I return after I have
come to this place without seeing her whom I desire, and have approached
the abode of the beloved, and hoped to meet her soon, and when perhaps I
may have the good fortune to be reunited with her? Then he recited some
verses; and when he had ended them, the old woman pitied him and had
compassion on him, and, addressing him kindly, she comforted his heart,
and said to him, Let thy soul be happy and thine eye be cheerful, and let
thy mind be free from anxiety. By Allah, I will expose my soul to peril
with thee until thou shalt attain thy desire or my death shall overtake
me!
So the heart of Hasan was comforted, his bosom became dilated, and he
sat conversing with the old woman until the close of the day; and when the
night approached, all the damsels became dispersed; some of them entered
their palaces in the city, and some passed the nights in the tents. The old
woman then took Hasan with her, and conducted him into the city, and she
appropriated to him a place for himself alone, lest any one should become
acquainted with him and inform the Queen of him, and she should slay him
and the bringer of him. She served him herself, and inspired him with fear
of the authority of the supreme King, the father of his wife; and he wept
before her, and said, O my mistress, I choose death for myself, and hate the
world, if I be not reunited with my wife and my children: so I will expose
my life to peril, and either I shall attain my desire, or else I shall die. And
the old woman proceeded to meditate upon the mode of effecting his union
and interview with his wife, and what stratagem should be employed in the
case of this poor man, who had cast his soul into destruction, and would not
be restrained from pursuing the object of his desire by fear nor by any thing.
else. He had become indifferent to himself; and the author of the proverb
saith, The enamoured heareth not the words of one who is free from love.
The damsel above mentioned was Queen of the island in which they then
were, and her name was Noor-el-Hudà.18 This Queen had six ¹⁹ sisters,
virgins, residing with their father, the supreme King, who was ruler of the
seven islands and the districts of Wák-Wák; and the seat of government of
that King was in the greatest of the cities of that country. His eldest
daughter, Noor-el-Hudà, was ruler over that city in which Hasan was, and
over all its districts.
Now the old woman, when she saw Hasan burning with desire to meet
with his wife and his children, arose and repaired to the palace of the Queen
Noor-el-Hudà, and went in to her, and kissed the ground before her. The
old woman had a claim upon her for favour, because she had reared all the
daughters of the King, and she had authority over them all, and was held
in honour by them, and was dear unto the King. So when she went in to
812
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
--
the Queen Noor-el-Hudà, the Queen rose to her and embraced her, seate
her by her side, and asked her respecting her journey. She therefore answere
her, By Allah, O my mistress, it was a blessed journey, and I have brough
for thee with me a present which I will place before thee. Then she sai
to her, O my daughter, O Queen of the age and time, I have brought wit
me a wonderful thing, and I desire to shew it to thee, in order that tho
mayest aid me to accomplish what it requireth. And what is it? said th
Queen. So she acquainted her with the story of Hasan from its beginnin
to its end. She trembled like the reed in the day of the stormy wind, unti
she fell down before the daughter of the King, and said to her, O my mistress
a person implored my protection upon the coast, and he was hidden beneath
the settee, and I granted him protection, and brought him with me among
the army of damsels, he being armed that no one might know him, and 1
conducted him into the city. Then she said to her, And I inspired him with
fear of thy authority, and acquainted him with thy valour and thy power;
but as often as I threatened him, he wept, and recited verses, and he said
to me, I must regain my wife and my children, or I will die, and I will not
return to my country without them. He hath exposed himself to peril, and
come to the Islands of Wák-Wák; and I have not seen in my life a human
being more strong of heart than he, nor any of greater valour; but love
hath gained the utmost ascendancy over him.
When the Queen, however, heard her words, and understood the case of
Hasan, she was violently enraged, and hung down her head for a while
towards the ground. Then she raised her head, and, looking at the old
woman, said to her, O ill-omened old woman, hath thy wickedness occasioned
thee to convey males, and conduct them to the Islands of Wák-Wák, and
bring them in unto me, without fearing my authority? By the head of the
King, were it not for the claim thou hast upon me on account of thy having
reared me, I would slay thee and him this instant in the most abominable
manner, that the travellers might be admonished by thine example, O ac-
cursed woman, lest any one else should do the like of this egregious deed
which thou hast done, and which none was able to do before! But go forth
and bring him this instant, that I may see him.
The old woman therefore went forth from before her, confounded, not
knowing whither to go, and saying, All this calamity hath God sent upon
me from this Queen by means of Hasan! She proceeded until she went in
to Hasan, when she said to him, Arise: answer the summons of the Queen,
O thou whose last day hath drawn near! So he arose with her, his tongue
ceasing not to utter the name of God (extolled be it!), saying, O Allah, act
graciously with me in thine appointment, and deliver me from the calamity
which Thou hast sent upon me! · - She went on with him until she stationed
him before the Queen Noor-el-Hudà, and the old woman directed him on
the way as to what he should say with her. And when he presented himself
before Noor-el-Hudà, he saw her with a lithám over her face; and he kissed
the ground before her, saluted her, and recited these two verses:
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
813
May God perpetuate thy glory, with happiness, and enrich thee above others with his
gifts,
And may our Lord increase thy glory and grandeur, and the Mighty aid thee against
thine enemies!
Then, when he had ended his verses, the Queen commanded the old woman
to talk with him before her, that she might hear his answers. The old
woman therefore said, The Queen returneth thy salutation, and saith to thee,
What is thy name, and from what country art thou, and what are the names
of thy wife and thy children on account of whom thou hast come, and what
is the name of thy country? So he answered her (and he had fortified his
heart, and destiny aided him), O Queen of the age and period, and peerless
one of the time, as to me, my name is Hasan, the very mournful, and my
city is El-Basrah; but as to my wife, I know not her name: as to my
children, however, one is named Násir, and the other is named Mansoor.
And when the Queen heard his words, she said, And whence took she her
children? He answered her, O Queen, from the city of Baghdad, from the
palace of the Khaleefeh. She then said to him, And did she say to you
aught at the time of her flying away? He answered, She said to my mother,
When thy son cometh, and the days of separation have become tedious to
him, and he desireth nearness and meeting, and the winds of longing desire
agitate him, let him come to me in the Islands of Wák-Wák. And there-
upon the Queen Noor-el-Hudà shook her head. Then she said to him, If she
desired thee not, she had not said to thy mother these words; and if she
did not desire thee and long for thine approach, she had not acquainted
thee with the place of her abode, nor summoned thee to her country. And
Hasan said, O mistress of Kings, and ruler over every King and pauper,
I have acquainted thee with what hath happened, and I have not concealed
of it aught. I implore protection of God and of thee, begging thee not to
oppress me. Have compassion upon me, and gain the recompense and
reward that will be given for me, and aid me to accomplish my reunion with
my wife and my children; dispel my sorrow and cheer mine eye by the
restoration of my children, and help me with a sight of them. Then he
wept and yearned and lamented, and recited some verses.
--
Upon this, the Queen Noor-el-Hudà hung down her head towards the
ground and shook it for a long time; after which, she raised it and said to
him, I have compassionated thee and pitied thee, and I have determined that
I will display to thee every damsel in the city and in the districts of my
island; and if thou know thy wife, I will deliver her to thee; but if thou
know her not, I will slay thee, and crucify thee upon the door of the house
of the old woman. And Hasan replied, I accept this proposal from thee,
O Queen of the age. He then recited these verses:
You have roused my desire, and remained at ease: and made my wounded eyelid to be
wakeful, and slept:
And you made a vow to me that you would not be backward; but when you had en-
chained me, you acted perfidiously.
814
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I loved you when a child, not knowing what was love. Then slay me not; for I complai
of oppression.
Fear you not God, in slaying a lover who watcheth the stars while others are asleep?
By Allah, O my people, if I die, write ye on my tombstone, This was a slave of lov
Perhaps a man like me, whom love hath afflicted, when he seeth my grave, may give m
his salutation.
And when he had ended his verses, he said, I consent to the condition which
thou hast imposed, and there is no strength nor power but in God, the High
the Great! The Queen Noor-el-Hudà then gave orders that no damse
in the city should remain without coming up to the palace and passing before
him, and she ordered the old woman Shawáhee herself to go down into the
city and to bring every damsel therein to the Queen in her palace. The
Queen proceeded to introduce the damsels to Hasan, a hundred after a
hundred, until there remained not in the city a damsel whom she did not
display to him. But he saw not his wife among them. The Queen asked
him and said to him, Hast thou seen her among these? And he answered
her, By thy life, O Queen, she is not among them. And thereupon the rage
of the Queen became violent against him, and she said to the old woman,
Enter, and bring out every one who is in the palace and display them to him.
But when she displayed to him every one in the palace, he saw not his wife
among them; and he said to the Queen, By thy head, O Queen, she is not
among them. So she was enraged, and she cried out to those who were
around her, saying, Take him and drag him upon his face on the ground,
and smite off his head, lest any one after him expose himself to peril and
become acquainted with our condition, and come unto us in our country, and
tread our land and our islands.
Accordingly they dragged him along upon his face, threw his skirt over
him, bound his eyes, and stood with the swords over his head, waiting for
permission. And upon this, Shawáhee advanced to the Queen, kissed the
ground before her, and, taking hold of her skirt, raised it over her head, and
said to her, O Queen, by the claim that I have upon thee for rearing thee,
hasten not to punish him, especially since thou knowest that this poor man
is a stranger, who hath exposed himself to peril, and endureth events that
none hath endured before him, and God (to whom be ascribed might and
glory!) hath saved him from death on account of the predestined length of
his life. He had heard of thy justice, and entered thy country and thine
asylum; therefore, if thou slay him, the news will be spread abroad by the
travellers, respecting thee, that thou hatest the strangers, and slayest them.
He is at all events in thy power, and the victim of thy sword if his wife
appear not in thy country; and at whatever time thou shalt desire his
presence, I shall be able to bring him back unto thee. Moreover, I granted
him not protection save with the desire of thy generosity, on account of the
claim that I have upon thee for having reared thee: so I pledged myself to
him that thou wouldst enable him to attain the object of his search, because
I knew thy justice and thy clemency. Had I not known this of thee, I had
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
815
not brought him into thy country, and said within myself, The Queen will
livert herself by seeing him, and by hearing the verses and the charming
and eloquent words which he will utter, and which will be like strung pearls.
This man hath entered our country and eaten our food: so it is expedient
hat we give him his due, especially since I promised him an interview with
hee; and thou knowest that separation is hard to endure, and knowest that
eparation is slaughter, especially separation from one's children.
here remaineth not any one of the women for us to display except thee:
herefore shew him thy face.
At this the Queen smiled, and she said, How can he be my husband, and
have had children by me, that I should show him my face? Then she gave
orders to bring him; wherefore they brought him in to her, and stationed him
before her, and she uncovered her face; and when Hasan beheld it, he
ittered a great cry, and fell down in a fit. So the old woman ceased not to
oothe him until he recovered; and when he recovered from his fit, he recited
hese verses:
zephyr that hast blown from the land of El-'Erák upon the tracts of the country of
Wák-Wák!
Convey to the beloved the information, for me, that I die of the bitter taste of love.
) object of my love, be kind and propitious! My heart is dissolved by the afflictions of
separation.
And when he had ended his verses, he arose and looked at the Queen, and
gain uttered a great cry, whereat the palace almost fell upon those who
were in it. Then a second time he fell down in a fit, and the old woman,
is before, ceased not to soothe him until he recovered, when she asked him
especting his state, and he replied, Verily this Queen is either my wife, or
she is the most like, of all persons, to my wife. So the Queen said to the
old woman, Wo to thee, O nurse! Verily this stranger is mad, or disordered
n mind; for he looketh in my face and stareth. The old woman replied,
> Queen, this man is excusable; therefore blame him not, since it is said in
he proverb, For the sick of love there is no remedy, and he and the mad are
like. Then Hasan wept violently, and recited these two verses:
-
[ behold their footsteps, and melt with desire, pouring forth my tears in the places of
their abode,
And begging of Him who hath afflicted me by their separation that He will graciously
vouchsafe me their return.
- after which he said to the Queen, By Allah, thou art not my wife; but,
of all persons, thou art the most like to her. And the Queen Noor-el-Hudà
aughed until she fell backwards and turned upon her side. She then said,
O my friend, act leisurely, and observe me distinctly, and answer me respect-
ng that of which I shall ask thee, and dismiss from thy mind insanity and
>erplexity and confusion; for relief hath approached thee. So Hasan replied,
> mistress of Kings, and refuge of every rich person and pauper, when I
816
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
beheld thee, I became mad, seeing thee to be either my wife, or, of all perso
the most like to my wife; and now ask me concerning what thou wilt. A
she said, What is there in thy wife that resembleth me? He answered,
my mistress, all that thou hast, of beauty and loveliness, and elegance a
amorous manner (as the justness of thy shape, and the sweetness of t
speech, and the redness of thy cheeks, and other things), resembleth h
Then the Queen looked towards Shawáhee Umm-ed-Dawáhee, and said
her, O my mother, take him back to his place where he was with thee, a
do thou thyself serve him until I investigate his case; and if this man be
person of generosity, so that he retain the feelings of companionship a
friendship and affection, it will be incumbent on us to aid him in the accor
plishment of his affair, especially since he hath sojourned in our count
and eaten our food, and endured the difficulties of travel, and undergo
horrors and perils. But when thou hast conveyed him to thy house, give
charge respecting him to thy servants, and return to me speedily; and if
be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), nought but good shall happe
So thereupon the old woman went forth, and took Hasan, and, havin
gone with him to her house, she ordered her female slaves and her servant
and other dependants to serve him, commanding them to bring to him a
that he required, and not to fail in doing what was proper for him. Sh
then returned to the Queen with speed, and the Queen ordered her to arm
herself, and to take with her a thousand brave horsemen. And the old
woman Shawáhee obeyed her command. She put on her coats of mail, and
summoned the thousand horsemen; and when she stood before the Queen
and informed her that the thousand horsemen were ready, the Queen com
manded her to go to the city of the supreme King, her father, and to alight
at the abode of his daughter, Menár-es-Senà,5º her sister, and to say to her
Clothe thy two sons with the two coats of mail which I have made for them,
and send them to their aunt; for she is desirous of seeing them. And she
said to her also, I charge thee, O my mother, to conceal the affair of Hasan;
and when thou hast received the two children from her, say to her, Thy
sister inviteth thee to visit her. Then, when she hath given thee her two
children, and come forth with them to visit me, bring thou the two children
speedily, and let her come at her leisure. Come thou by a way different from
that by which she shall come, and let thy journey be continued night and
day, and beware that no one become acquainted with this affair. Then I
will swear by all oaths, and if my sister prove to be his wife, and it appear
that her children are his children, I will not prevent his taking her, nor her
journeying with him and with her children to his country.
And the old woman confided in her words, not knowing what she purposed
in her mind; for the wicked woman had purposed in her mind, that if she
were not his wife, and if her children did not resemble him, she would slay
him. The Queen then said to the old woman, O my mother, if my imagina-
tion tell truth, my sister Menár-es-Senà is his wife (But God is all-knowing);
for these characteristics are hers, and all the qualities that he hath mentioned,
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
817
-
her surpassing loveliness and exceeding beauty, are not found in any one
except my sisters; and especially are they found in the youngest. Then
the old woman kissed her hand, and returned to Hasan, and acquainted
him with that which the Queen had said; on his hearing which, his reason
fled in consequence of his joy, and he arose and advanced to the old woman
and kissed her head. But she said to him, O my son, kiss not my head:
kiss me on my mouth, and let this kiss be a gratuity for thy safety. Be of
good heart and cheerful eye, and let not thy bosom be otherwise than
dilated; and dislike not kissing me on my mouth, for I have been the cause
of thine interview with her. Comfort thy heart and thy mind, and be not
otherwise than with dilated bosom, cheerful eye, and tranquil soul. — She
then bade him farewell, and departed.
The old woman equipped herself with her arms, and, taking with her a
thousand armed horsemen, repaired to that island in which was the sister of
the Queen; and she proceeded until she came to the Queen's sister. Between
the city of Noor-el-Hudà and that of her sister was a space of three days'
journey. And when Shawáhee arrived at the city, and went up to the Queen's
sister, Menár-es-Senà, she saluted her, and gave her the salutation of her
sister Noor-el-Hudà, acquainted her with her sister's desire to see her and
her children, and informed her that the Queen Noor-el-Hudà reproved her
for not visiting her. So the Queen Menár-es-Senà replied, Verily I am
indebted to my sister, and I have been deficient in the duty I owe her, in
my not visiting her; but I will visit her now. She then gave orders to take
forth her tents to the outside of the city, and took with her for her sister a
present and rarities suitable to her. And her father the King, looking from
the windows of the palace, saw the tents pitched. He therefore asked respect-
ing them; and they answered him, The Queen Menár-es-Senà hath pitched
her tents in that route; for she desireth to visit her sister Noor-el-Hudà.
And when the King heard thereof, he prepared for her some troops to conduct
her to her sister, and took forth from his treasuries, of riches, and of food
and drink, and of rarities and jewels, what words would fail to describe.
The seven daughters of the King were of one father and one mother,
except the youngest: the eldest was named Noor-el-Hudà; the second,
Nejm-es-Sabáh; the third, Shems-ed-Dohà; the fourth, Shejeret-ed-Durr;
the fifth, Koot-el-Kuloob; the sixth, Sharaf-el-Benát; and the seventh,
Menár-es-Senà; 51 and she was the youngest of them, and was the wife of
Hasan, and she was their sister by the father's side only. Then the old
woman came and kissed the ground before Menár-es-Senà. So Menár-es-
Senà said to her, Hast thou any want, O my mother? And she answered her,
The Queen Noor-el-Hudà, thy sister, desireth thee to change the apparel of
thy two sons, and to clothe them with the two coats of mail which she hath
made for them, and to send them with me unto her, and I will take them
and go on before with them, and will be the announcer of the glad tidings
of thy coming to her. But when Menár-es-Senà heard the words of the old
woman, she hung.down her head towards the ground, and her complexion had
818
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
changed; and she ceased not to hang down her head for a long time. Then sh
shook her head, and raising it towards the old woman, said to her, O m
mother, my mind was violently agitated, and my heart throbbed, when the
mentionedst my children; for from the time of their birth none of the Jin
nor any of mankind hath seen their faces, neither female nor male, and
am jealous, for them, of the zephyr when it bloweth in the night.
So the old woman said to her, What are these words, O my mistress
Dost thou fear, on their account, thy sister? Allah preserve thy reason
If thou wouldst disobey the Queen in this thing, thou couldst not disobey; fo
she would reprove thee. However, O my mistress, thy children are young
and thou art excusable in fearing for them, and the loving is addicted to ev
imagination. But, O my daughter, thou knowest my kindness and my lov
for thee and for thy children, and I reared you before them. I will receiv
them and take them, and spread for them my cheek as a carpet, and ope
my heart and put them within it, and I require no charge respecting them i
such a case as this. Therefore be of good heart and cheerful eye, and sen
them to her, and at most I shall be before thee one day or two. Sh
ceased not to urge her until her temper was softened, and she feared the
anger of her sister, and knew not what was concealed from her in the secre
purpose of God. So she consented to send them with the old woman, and
having called for them, she bathed them and made them ready, changed thei
apparel, clad them with the two coats of mail, and delivered them to the old
woman.
She therefore took them and proceeded with them like a bird, by a
different way from that by which their mother was going, as the Queer
Noor-el-Hudà had charged her. She ceased not to prosecute her journey
with diligence, fearing for them, until she arrived with them at the city of
the Queen Noor-el-Hudà. She crossed the river with them, entered the city,
and went with them to the Queen their aunt; and when the Queen saw
them, she rejoiced at their arrival, embraced them, and pressed them to her
bosom, and seated one upon her right thigh, and the other upon her left
thigh. Then she looked towards the old woman, and said to her, Bring now
Hasan; for I have given him my protection, and granted him deliverance
from my sword, and he hath sought defence in my mansion, and alighted in
my abode, after having endured horrors and difficulties, and escaped the
causes of death that were attended by increasing anxiety yet to the present
time hath not become secure from drinking the cup of death, and from
the stopping of his breath. The old woman therefore said to her, If I
bring him before thee, wilt thou reunite him and them; and if it appear not
that they are his children, wilt thou pardon him, and send him back to his
country.
But when the Queen heard her words, she was violently enraged, and said,
Wo to thee, O ill-omened old woman! How long shall continue this guile in
the affair of this stranger, who hath emboldened himself against us, and
removed our veil, and become acquainted with our circumstances? Doth
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
819
he imagine that he can come to our country, and see our faces, and soil our
reputations, and return to his country in safety, and disgrace us in his
country and among his people, and that our story shall reach all the Kings
in the regions of the earth, and the merchants travel about relating our
story in every quarter, and saying, A human being hath entered the Islands
of Wák-Wák, and crossed the countries of the enchanters and sorcerers, and
trod the Land of the Jánn and the Lands of the Wild Beasts and the Birds,
and returned in safety? This shall never be. I swear by the Creator of
Heaven, and its Architect, and the Expander of the Earth, and its Spreader,
and the Creator of the Creatures, and their Numberer, if they be not his
children, I will surely slay him, and I will be the smiter off of his head with
mine own hand! She then cried out at the old woman, who thereupon
fell down through fear; and she set upon her the chamberlain and twenty
memlooks, and said to them, Go with this old woman, and bring me the
young man who is in her house, with speed.
So the old woman went forth, dragged along, with the chamberlain and
the memlooks; and her complexion had turned sallow, and the muscles of
her side quivered. She proceeded to her abode, and went in to Hasan; and
when she went in to him, he rose to her and kissed her hands and saluted her.
She, however, saluted not him; but said to him, Arise, and answer the sum-
mons of thy Queen. Did I not say to thee, Return to thy country and
did I not forbid thy doing all this? But thou heardest not my words. And
did I not say to thee, I will give thee what none is able to procure, and return
thou to thy country soon? But thou obeyedst me not, nor heardest my
words, but actedst contrary to my advice, and chosest destruction for me and
for thyself. Take then what thou hast chosen; for death is near. Arise:
answer the summons of this wicked, sinful, oppressive, tyrannical woman.
So Hasan arose, broken-spirited, with mourning heart, fearing, and saying, O
God of peace, preserve me! O Allah, act graciously with me in the trial
which Thou hast decreed to fall upon me, and protect me, O most merciful
of those who shew mercy! And he had despaired of life. He repaired with
the twenty memlooks and the chamberlain and the old woman, and they
went in to the Queen with Hasan, who found his two sons Násir and
Mansoor sitting in her lap, and she was playing with them, and cheering
them by conversation. When his eye fell upon them, he knew them, and,
uttering a great cry, fell upon the floor in a fit by reason of the violence of
his joy at seeing his two children; and when he recovered, he knew his
children, and they knew him, and natural affection moved them so that they
extricated themselves from the lap of the Queen, and stood by Hasan; and
God (to whom be ascribed might and glory!) caused them to utter the
exclamation, O our father! Upon this, the old woman and the rest who
were present wept in compassion and pity for them, and said, Praise be to
God, who hath reunited you to your father! And when Hasan recovered
from his fit, he embraced his children. Then he wept until he fainted again;
and having recovered from his fit, he recited these verses:
820
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
By your existence, my heart would be unable to endure separation even if union wer
perdition!
Your phantom saith to me, We shall meet to-morrow. Shall I live, in spite of th
enemies, till the morrow?
By your existence, O my mistress, since the day of your separation, the sweets of lif
have never delighted me!
If God decree my death on account of my love of you, I will die loving you among th
greatest of martyrs.
512
Oft doth a gazelle make my heart her pasturage; but her person, like sleep, hath fle
from mine eye.
If she deny, in the battle-field of law, the fact of her shedding my blood, on her cheek
it beareth witness.
But when the Queen had certified herself that the little-ones were the
children of Hasan, and that her sister, the lady Menár-es-Senà, was his wife
in search of whom he had come, she was enraged against her with a violent
rage, not to be exceeded; and she cried out in the face of Hasan, who fainted
thereupon; and when he recovered from his fit, he recited these verses:
You are distant; but to my mind you are the nearest of people: and you are absent; but
in my heart you are still present.
By Allah, I have not turned from you to another; but I bear with patience the tyranny
of fortune.
Nights pass and end while I still love you, and in my heart is a flame, and a raging fire.
I was one who consented not to an hour's estrangement. How then must be my case
when months have passed over me?
I am jealous when a zephyr bloweth upon you. Verily I am jealous for the beautiful,
soft damsel.
Then, having ended his verses, he fell down again in a fit; and when he
recovered, he saw that they had taken him forth, dragged along upon his
face. So he rose and walked, stumbling upon his skirts, and not believing in
his escape from that which he had suffered from her; and this was grievous
to the old woman Shawáhee; but she could not address the Queen on the
subject of his case by reason of the violence of her anger. Now when Hasan
went forth from the palace, he became perplexed, not knowing whither to go,
nor to what place to come, nor whither to repair. The world, with its
amplitude, became strait unto him, and he found not any one to converse
with him and cheer him by his company, nor any one to comfort him, nor
any one of whom to ask advice, nor any one to whom to resort and to whom
to apply for refuge. He therefore made sure of destruction; for he was
unable to travel, and knew not any one with whom to travel, nor knew he
the way, nor was he able to traverse the Valley of the Jánn, and the Land
of the Wild Beasts, and the Islands of the Birds; therefore he despaired of
life. Then he wept for himself until he fainted; and when he recovered, he
thought upon his children and his wife, and her coming to her sister, and
thought upon what might happen to her with the Queen, her sister. He
repented of his having come to this country, and of his not having attended
to the words of any one; and he recited some mournful verses; after which
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
821
he ceased not to walk on until he went forth to the outside of the city, when
he found the river, and he proceeded along its bank, not knowing whither
to repair.
But as to his wife, Menár-es-Senà, she desired to set forth on her journey
on the second day after that on which the old woman set forth. While,
however, she was meditating to depart, lo, the chamberlain of the King her
father came in to her, and kissed the ground before her, and said to her,
O Queen, thy father the supreme King saluteth thee and calleth thee to him.
So she arose and repaired with the chamberlain to her father to see what he
wanted. And when her father saw her, he seated her by his side upon the
couch, and said to her, O my daughter, know that I have seen this last night
a vision, and I fear for thee in consequence thereof, and fear that there will
occur to thee, from this thy journey, long-continued anxiety. She therefore
said to him, Wherefore, O my father; and what didst thou see in thy sleep?
And he answered, I beheld as though I entered a repository of treasure, and
saw in it great riches, and jewels and jacinths in abundance, and as though
there pleased me not in all that treasure, nor among all those jewels, aught
save seven beads, which were the most beautiful of the things there. And I
chose, of the seven jewels, one, which was the smallest of them, and the most
beautiful of them, and the most excellent of them in brilliancy; and it
seemed as though I took it in my hand, when its beauty pleased me, and
went forth with it from the repository of treasure. But when I went forth
from its door, I opened my hand, being joyful, and turned over the jewel;
and, lo, a strange bird had approached from a distant country - it was not
of the birds of our country — and it pounced down upon me from the sky,
seized the jewel from my hand, and returned with it to the place whence it
had come.53 So anxiety and sorrow and vexation came upon me, and I was
affected with exceeding terror, which roused me from my sleep, and I awoke
mournful, lamenting the loss of that jewel. Therefore when I awoke, I sum-
moned the interpreters and expounders, and related to them my dream; and
they said to me, Thou hast seven daughters, the youngest of whom thou
wilt lose, and she will be taken from thee forcibly, without thy consent.
Now thou, O my daughter, art the youngest of my daughters, and the
dearest of them in my estimation, and the most generous of them to me;
and now thou art about to journey to thy sister, and I know not what will
befall thee from her: therefore go not; but return to thy palace.
And when Menár-es-Senà heard the words of her father, her heart
throbbed, and she feared for her children, and hung down her head for a
while towards the ground. Then she raised her head towards her father,
and said to him, O King, verily the Queen Noor-el-Hudà hath prepared for
me an entertainment, and she is expecting my coming to her hour after hour.
For four years she hath not seen me, and if I delay visiting her, she will be
incensed against me; and the utmost period of my stay with her will be a
month, after which I shall be with thee again. Besides, who is this person
who can invade our country and gain access to the Islands of Wák-Wák?
822
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
54
And who can gain access to the White Land, and the Black Mountain, and
come to the Island of Camphor, and the Castle of Crystal; and how ca
he traverse the Valley of the Birds; then the Valley of the Wild Beasts
then the Valley of the Jánn; and then enter our Islands? If any strange
came in to them, he would be drowned in the seas of destructions. There
fore let thy soul be happy and thine eye be cheerful with regard to my
journey; for no one hath power to tread our land. And she ceased not to
persuade him until he granted her permission to go. He then ordered a
thousand horsemen to journey with her, to conduct her to the river, and
there to remain until she should arrive at the city of her sister and enter her
sister's palace. He also ordered them to remain with her till they should
take her and bring her back to her father; and her father charged her that
she should remain with her sister two days only, and then return speedily.
So she said, I hear and obey.
She then arose and went forth, and her father went forth with her, and
bade her farewell. The words of her father had made an impression upon
her heart, and she feared for her children; but fortifying oneself by caution
against the assault of destiny is of no avail. She prosecuted her journey
with diligence for three days with their nights, until she arrived at the river,
and pitched her tents on its bank. Then she crossed the river, having with
her some of her pages and other followers, and her wezeers; and when she
arrived at the city of the Queen Noor-el-Hudà, she ascended to the palace,
and went in to her; and she saw her children weeping by her and crying out,
O our father! So the tears flowed from her eyes, and she wept, and pressing
her children to her bosom, she said to them, Have ye seen your father?
Would that the hour had never been when I parted from him! And if I
knew that he were in the abode of the world, I would convey you to him.
She then lamented for herself and for her husband and for the weeping of
her children, and recited these verses:
My beloved, notwithstanding distance and cruelty, I desire you and incline to you,
wherever you are,
And mine eye looketh towards your home, and my heart lamenteth that the days when
you were with me are past.
How many nights have we passed without suspicion, loving one another, fidelity and
kindness rejoicing us!
-
But when her sister saw that she pressed her children to her bosom, and
said, I have occasioned this to befall myself and my children, and have made
my house desolate she saluted her not: on the contrary, she said to her,
O wicked woman, how hadst thou these children? Hast thou married with-
out the knowledge of thy father, or hast thou formed an unlawful connection?
If thou have done this, thou must be severely punished; and if thou have
married without our knowledge, wherefore didst thou quit thy husband and
take thy children, separating them from their father, and come to our
country? Moreover thou hast concealed thy children from us. Dost thou
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
823
imagine that we knew not that? By Allah (whose name be exalted!), who
knoweth all secrets, thy case hath been made manifest to us, and thy state
hath been revealed, and thy shameful secrets have been exposed. Then,
after that, she ordered her guards to lay hold upon her. So they seized her,
and she bound her hands behind her, shackled her with shackles of iron,
and inflicted upon her a painful beating, so that she lacerated her skin; and
she suspended her by her hair, put her into a prison, and wrote a letter to
the supreme King, her father, informing him of her story, and saying to
him,
-
There hath appeared in our country a man of the human race,
and my
sister, Menár-es-Senà, asserteth that she hath married him lawfully and had
by him two sons, whom she hath concealed from us and from thee; but she
evealed not aught respecting herself until that man, who is of the human
ace, came to us. His name is Hasan, and he hath informed us that he
narried her, and that she resided with him a long time; after which she
ook her children and departed without his knowledge, having told his
nother, at her departure, and said to her, Say to thy son, when he hath a
onging to see me, that he must come to the Islands of Wák-Wák. So we
eized the man in our abode, and I sent to her the old woman Shawáhee to
ring her to me, together with her children; wherefore she fitted herself out
nd came. And I had ordered the old woman to bring to me her children
irst, and to come on in advance to me with them, before the arrival of their
nother. Accordingly the old woman came with the children before her
rrival. Then I sent to the man who asserted her to be his wife; and when
e came in to me, and saw the children, he knew them. So I was certified
hat they were his children and that she was his wife, and I knew that the
aying of the man was true, that there was no disgracefulness in him, and
saw that the turpitude and disgracefulness were in my sister. I therefore
eared that we should be dishonoured in the opinion of the people of our
lands; and when this wicked, deceitful woman came in to me, I was
icensed against her, and inflicted upon her a painful beating, and suspended
er by her hair. Now I have acquainted thee with her story; and it is
ine to command: whatever thou shalt order us to do, we will do it. Thou
nowest that this thing is attended with dishonour to us, and with disgrace
> us and to thee; for probably the people of the islands will hear thereof,
nd we shall become among them an example; wherefore it is expedient that
lou return us a reply speedily.
She gave the letter to the messenger, who went with it to the King; and
hen the supreme King read it, he was violently enraged against his daughter
[enár-es-Senà, and wrote to his daughter Noor-el-Hudà a letter, in which
e said to her, I have committed her case unto thee, and given thee power
er her life; and if the thing be as thou hast said, slay her, and consult me
ot respecting her case. So when the letter of her father came to her, and
e read it, she sent to Menár-es-Senà, and caused her to be brought before
She was drowned in her blood, having her hands bound behind her.
824
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
with her hair, shackled with heavy shackles of iron, and upon her was app
of haircloth. They stationed her before the Queen, and she stood ab
and abased; and when she beheld herself in this state of great abasem
and excessive contempt, she reflected upon her former glory, and
violently, and recited these two verses:
O my Lord, the enemies are attempting to destroy me, and imagine that I can
escape from them.
I have recourse to Thee to annul what they have done! O my Lord, Thou art
refuge of the fearful, the suppliant!
And again she wept violently, until she fell down in a fit; and when
recovered, she recited some other verses.
Her sister then caused a ladder of wood to be brought to her, a
extended her upon it, and ordered the servants to bind her upon her ba
on the ladder, stretched forth her arms and tied them with cords, uncover
her head, and wound her hair upon the ladder; and pity for her had be
eradicated from her heart. So when Menár-es-Senà beheld herself in t
state of abasement and contempt, she cried out and wept: but no o
aided her. She said to the Queen, O my sister, how is it that thy heart
hardened against me, and thou hast no mercy on me, nor hast mercy
these little infants? But when she heard these words, her hardness of hea
increased, and she reviled her, and said to her, O wanton! O wicked woma
may God shew no mercy to the person who sheweth mercy to thee! How ca
I have pity on thee, O deceitful woman? So Menár-es-Senà, lying stretche
(as above described), said to her, I appeal against thee to the Lord
Heaven with regard to that wherewith thou reproachest me, and I a
innocent of it. By Allah, I have not formed an unlawful connection; but
married him legally; and my Lord knoweth whether my words be true
not. My heart is incensed against thee on account of the excessive hardnes
of thy heart towards me. How is it that thou accusest me of dishonest
without knowledge thereof? But my Lord will deliver me from thee; and
the accusation of dishonesty that thou hast brought against me be tru
God will punish me for it. And her sister meditated in her mind whe
she heard her words, and said to her, How is it that thou addressest me wit
these words? Then she arose and advanced to her, and beat her until sh
fainted; and they sprinkled water upon her face till she recovered. He
charms had become changed by reason of the violence of the beating, and
the tightness of the bonds, and the excessive insult that she had experienced
and she recited these two verses:
-
If I have committed a crime, and done an iniquitous deed,
I repent of what hath passed, and have come to you begging pardon.
But when Noor-el-Hudà heard her verses, she was violently incensed, and
said to her, Dost thou speak, O wicked woman, before me in verse, and seek
1
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
825
o excuse thyself for the heinous sins that thou hast committed? It was my
lesire that thou shouldst return to thy husband, in order that I might
vitness thy wickedness and thy turpitude; for thou gloriest in the wicked-
ess and shameful conduct and heinous sins that have proceeded from thee.
- She then ordered the pages to bring her the palm-stick: so they brought
t; and she arose and tucked up the sleeves from her arms, and fell to beating
er from her head to her feet; after which she called for a plaited whip,
uch that if an elephant were beaten with it he would trot with speed; and
he fell to beating her with that whip upon her back and her stomach and
ll her limbs until she fainted. Now when the old woman Shawáhee saw
his that the Queen did, she went forth fleeing from before her, and weeping
nd cursing her. But the Queen cried out to the servants, and said to them,
iring her to me So they ran together after her, and laid hold upon her,
nd brought her before the Queen, who gave orders to throw her upon the
round, and said to the female slaves, Drag her along on her face, and turn
er out. Accordingly they dragged her and turned her out from before the
Jueen.
-
As to Hasan, however, he arose with firmness, and walked along the bank
f the river, and turned his face towards the desert. He was perplexed,
axious, despairing of life, and he had become confounded, not knowing
ight from day, by reason of the violence of the afflictions that had befallen
im. He ceased not to walk on until he came to a tree, and he found upon
a paper suspended. So he took it with his hand, and looked at it; and,
, on it were written these verses:
disposed thine affair at the time when thou wast in thy mother's womb,
nd inclined her heart to thee so that she fostered thee in her bosom.
'e will suffice thee in matters that occasion thee anxiety and sorrow.
> submit to us, and arise. We will aid thee in thine enterprise.
nd when he had finished reading the paper, he felt sure of escape from
ouble, and of effecting his reunion. Then he went on two steps, and found
mself alone in a desert and perilous place, without any one by whose
ciety to cheer himself; wherefore his reason fled in consequence of his
litude and fear, the muscles of his side quivered on account of this fearful
ace, and he recited some verses.
After that, he proceeded along the bank of the river two steps further,
id he found two young boys, of the sons of the enchanters and sorcerers.
efore them was a rod of brass, engraved with talismans, and by the side
the rod was a cap 55 of leather, the crown of which was composed of three
iangular pieces, whereon were worked, in steel, names, and characters of
als. The rod and the cap were thrown upon the ground, and the two boys
ere disputing and beating each other on account of them, so that blood
wed from them, while this said, None shall take the rod but I and the
her said, None shall take the rod but I. So Hasan interposed between
em, and disengaged them, each from the other, and said to them, What
826
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
is the cause of this contention?
And they answered him, O uncle, ju
between us; for God (whose name be exalted!) hath sent thee to us in o
that thou shouldst decide between us justly. He therefore said, Relate
me your story, and I will judge between you. And one of them said to H
We are two brothers by the same father and mother, and our father was
of the great enchanters. He resided in a cavern in this mountain, and
died, leaving to us this cap and this rod; and my brother saith, None sl
take the rod but I and I say, None shall take it but I. So judge betw
us, and deliver us, each from the other. Therefore when Hasan he
their words, he said to them, What is the difference between the rod a
the cap, and what is their value? For the rod, in appearance, is worth
jedeeds, and the cap is worth three jedeeds. They replied, Thou know
not their virtues. And he said to them, What are their virtues? TH
answered him, In each of them is a wonderful secret property; for the rod
worth the revenue of the Islands of Wák-Wák with their districts, and
cap in like manner.
So Hasan said to one of them, O my son, By Allah, discover to me th
secret properties. And he replied, O uncle, verily their secret properties a
extraordinary; for our father lived a hundred and thirty-five years applyi
himself to the contrivance of them until he finished them in the most perfe
manner, ingrafted in them the secret virtues, made use of them for extrac
dinary services, designed upon them the similitude of the revolving firmamer
and dissolved, by their means, all talismanic charms; and when he ha
finished the contrivance of them, death, which every one must experiend
overtook him. Now as to the cap, its secret property is this: that whose
ever putteth it on his head, he is concealed from the eyes of all peopl
and no one seeth him as long as it remaineth on his head. And as to th
rod, this is its secret property that whosoever possesseth it, he hath a
thority over seven tribes of the Jinn, and all of them will serve that roo
all of them will be under his command and authority; and every one wh
possesseth it, and in whose hand it is, when he smiteth with it the ground
its Kings will humble themselves to him, and all the Jinn will be at hi
service.
When Hasan heard these words, he hung down his head for a whil
towards the ground. Then he said within himself, By Allah, I shall surely
be rendered triumphant by means of this rod and this cap, if it be the will o
God (whose name be exalted!), and I am more worthy of them than they
So I will immediately employ a stratagem to take them from them, that
may have recourse to their aid for my deliverance and the deliverance of
my wife and my children from this tyrannical Queen, and we will journey
from this dismal place, from which there is [otherwise] no deliverance no
flight for any one of mankind. Probably God sent me not to these two
youths save for the purpose of my getting from them the rod and the cap.-
He then raised his head towards the two youths, and said to them, If ye
desire the decision of the case, I will make trial of you, and he who over-
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
827
cometh his companion shall take the rod, and he who faileth shall take the
cap; for if I make trial of you and discern between you, I shall know what
each of you deserveth. And they replied, O uncle, we depute thee to make
trial of us, and to judge between us as thou choosest. Hasan said to them,
Will ye attend to my words, and have regard to what I shall say? They
answered him, Yes. And Hasan said to them, I will take a stone and throw
it, and the one of you who getteth first to it, and taketh it before his com-
panion, shall take the rod; and he who is last, and reacheth it not, shall
take the cap. And they replied, We accept from thee this proposal, and we
are content with it. Then Hasan took a stone and threw it with all his
force and it went out of sight.
The two youths therefore hastened together after it; and when they
were at a distance, Hasan took the cap and put it on, and he took the rod
in his hand, and removed from his place to see the truth of that which
they had said with respect to the secret of their father. And the younger
boy got first to the stone and took it, and he returned with it to the place
in which was Hasan, and saw no trace of him. So he called out to his brother,
and said to him, Where is the man who judgeth between us? And he
answered, I see him not, nor know I whether he hath ascended to the highest
heaven, or descended to the lowest earth. They searched for him, and saw
im not; and Hasan was standing in his place. Therefore they reviled one
another, and said, The rod and the cap are gone: they are neither mine nor
hine; and our father said to us these very words; but we forgot what he
old us.
Then they retraced their steps, and Hasan entered the city, wearing the
cap, and having in his hand the rod, and none of the people saw him. He
entered the palace, ascended to the place in which was Shawáhee Zát-ed-
Dawáhee,57 and went in to her, still wearing the cap, and she saw him not.
Then he walked on until he drew near to a shelf which was over her head,
and on which were vessels of glass and China-ware; and he shook it with
is hand so that the things that were upon it fell on the floor. So Shawáhee´
'át-ed-Dawáhee cried out, and slapped her face; and she rose and restored
what had fallen to their places,58 saying within herself, By Allah, I imagine
ot aught but that the Queen Noor-el-Hudà hath sent to me a devil, and
hat he hath done to me this deed. I therefore beg God (whose name be
xalted!) to deliver me from her, and to preserve me from her anger. O
ny Lord, if this is her abominable conduct to her sister, beating and sus-
ending her, when she is dear in the estimation of her father, how will she
ct with the stranger like myself, when she is incensed against her? Then
he said, I conjure thee, O devil, by the Most Compassionate, the Beneficent,
he Great in dignity, the Mighty in dominion, the Creator of mankind and
he Jánn and by the characters upon the seal of Suleyman the son of Dáood
on both of whom be peace!), that thou speak to me and reply to me! So
Hasan replied to her and said to her, I am not a devil: I am Hasan the
istracted, the confounded, the perplexed.
-
828
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
He then pulled off the cap from his head; whereupon he appeared to
old woman, and she knew him, and, having taken him into a private pla
she said to him, What hath happened to thy reason, that thou hast co
hither? Go; hide thyself; for this iniquitous. woman hath inflicted tortu
upon thy wife, though she is her sister: how then will she act if she li
upon thee?
And she related to him all that had befallen his wife, descr
ing to him her present state of distress and punishment and torture; and
like manner she described to him the torture that had befallen herself; af
which she said to him, Verily the Queen repented of her having liberat
thee, and hath sent to thee one to bring thee to her, promising that she w
give him a hundredweight of gold, and place him in my post in her servi
She hath also sworn that if they bring thee back, she will slay thee,
slay thy wife and thy children. Then the old woman wept, and discover
to Hasan what the Queen had done to her; whereupon Hasan also we
and he said, O my mistress, how is it possible to escape from this count
and from this tyrannical Queen; and what is the stratagem that will enab
me to deliver my wife and my children, and to return with them to n
country? The old woman replied, Wo to thee! Save thyself! - But
said, I must deliver her, and deliver my children from the Queen by force.
How, said the old woman, wilt thou deliver them from her by force? C
and hide thyself, O my son, until God (whose name be exalted!) sha
permit.
a
Hasan therefore shewed her the rod of brass and the cap; and when th
old woman saw them, she rejoiced in them exceedingly, and said to hin
Extolled be the perfection of Him who reanimateth the bones when the
are rotten! By Allah, O my son, thou and thy wife were nought but of th
number of the perishing, and now, O my son, thou and thy wife and th
children are saved; for I know the rod, and know who was its owner; h
having been my sheykh, who taught me enchantment. He was an egregiou
enchanter: he persevered a hundred and thirty-five years until he skilfully
made this rod and this cap; and when the making of them in this manne
was finished, death, which is inevitable, overtook him. And I heard him say
to his two sons, O my two sons, these two things are not of your lot; for
person, a stranger to the country, will come and take them from you by
force, and ye will not know how he will take them. So they said, O our
father, inform us how he will be able to take them. But he replied, I know
not that. How then wast thou able, O my son, to take them? He there-
fore told her how he took them from the two boys; and when he told her,
she rejoiced thereat, and said to him, O my son, as thou hast enabled thyself
to gain possession of thy wife and thy children, hear what I will say to thee.
I can no longer reside in the abode of this wicked woman, since she hath
assaulted me and tormented me. I am about to depart from her to the
cavern of the enchanters, to reside with them and to live with them until I
die. Now do thou, O my son, put on the cap, and take the rod in thy hand;
then go in to thy wife and thy children, in the place in which they are, and
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
829
strike the ground with the rod, and say, O servants of these names! There-
upon their servants will come up to thee; and if one of the chiefs of the
tribes come up to thee, command him to do as thou shalt desire and
choose.
He then bade her farewell, and departed, and having put on the cap, and
taken the rod with him, he entered the place in which was his wife. He saw
her in a state approaching to annihilation, extended upon the ladder, with
her hair bound to it, and with weeping eye and mourning heart, in the most
evil condition, not knowing any way to effect her deliverance. Her children
were beneath the ladder playing, and she was looking at them, and weeping
for them and for herself, on account of the things that had happened to her
and befallen her, and the torment and painful beating and most violent
punishment that she suffered; and when he saw her thus in the most evil of
conditions, he heard her recite these verses:
There remaineth not aught save a flitting breath, and an eye whose pupil is confounded,
And a desirous lover whose bowels are burned with fire, notwithstanding which she is
silent.
The exulting foe pitieth her at the sight of her. Alas for her whom the exulting foe
pitieth!
When Hasan saw the torment and abasement and contempt that she was
suffering, he wept until he fainted; and on his recovering, and seeing his
children playing, and their mother in a fit of insensibility, by reason of the
excess of her pain, he removed the cap from his head; whereupon they
cried out, O our father! Then he covered his head again, and their mother
recovered from her fit on hearing their cry, and saw not her husband, but
only saw her children weeping, and crying out, O our father! So she wept
when she heard them mention their father and weep: her heart broke, and
her bowels were cut in pieces, and she called out, with a liver that was
burst, and a painful heart, Where are ye, and where is your father? Then
she reflected upon the times of her union with him, and reflected upon the
events that had befallen her since his separation, and wept violently, so
that her tears ulcerated her cheeks, and wetted the ground. Her cheeks
became drowned in her tears, by the excess of her weeping! and she had not
a hand at liberty that she might wipe away her tears with it from her cheeks.
The flies were satiated with feeding upon her skin, and she found for herself
no aider save weeping, and consoling herself by reciting verses. And when
Hasan heard her verses, he wept until he fainted, his tears ran down upon
his cheeks like rain, and, drawing near to the children, he removed the cap;
and when they saw him, they knew him, and cried out saying, O our father!
So their mother wept again on hearing them mention their father, and said,
There is no means of avoiding what God hath decreed. And she said within
herself, O wonderful! What is the cause of their mention of their father at
this time, and their calling to him? Then she wept, and recited these
verses:
―
830
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The country is destitute of the rising moon! O mine eye, pour forth overflowing tears.
They have gone, and how can I be patient after their departure? I swear that I have
neither heart nor patience.
O ye who have departed, but whose abode is in my heart, will, you, after this, O my
master, return?
What harm if they return and I enjoy their society, and they feel pity for the overflowing
of my tears, and my anguish?
They made mine eyes misty on the day of departure through astonishment, and the fire
of my bosom is not extinguished.
I desire their remaining; but fortune opposed me with respect to them, and disappointed
my desire by separation.
By Allah, O object of our love, return to us; for my tears have flowed sufficiently for
your absence!
So Hasan could no longer abstain from removing the cap from his head,
and his wife saw him; and when she knew him, she uttered a cry that alarmed
all who were in the palace. She then said to him, How camest thou hither?
Hast thou descended from the sky, or risen from the earth? And her eyes
filled with tears: therefore Hasan also wept; and she said to him, O man.
this is not a time for weeping, nor is it a time for reproach. Fate hath had
its course, and the sight was blinded, and the pen hath written what God
decreed from eternity. I conjure thee by Allah to tell me whence thou hast
come. Go and hide thyself, lest any one see thee and inform my sister thereof
and she slaughter me and slaughter thee also. Hasan replied, O my
mistress, and mistress of every Queen, I have exposed my life to peril and
come hither, and either I will die, or I will deliver thee from the predicament
in which thou art, and I and thou and my children will journey to my
country, in spite of this wicked woman, thy sister. But when she heard his
words she smiled and laughed, and shook her head for a long time, and said
to him, Far, O my soul, far is it from me that any one should deliver me
from the predicament in which I am, except God, whose name be exalted!
So save thyself, and depart, and cast not thyself into destruction; for she
hath numerous and heavily-equipped troops whom no one can confront. And
suppose thou tookest me and wentest forth; how canst thou make thy way
to thy country, and how can we escape from these islands, and the difficulties
of these places? Thou hast seen, in thy way, wonders and strange things.
and horrors and troubles, such as scarcely can one of the refractory Jinn
escape. Go therefore soon, and increase not my anxiety nor my sorrow:
and pretend not that thou wilt deliver me from this state; for who will
convey me to thy country across these valleys and thirsty lands and fatal
places?
Hasan thereupon said to her, By thy life, O light of mine eye, I will not
go forth hence, nor will I journey forth, save with thee. She rejoined, 0
man, how canst thou do this thing? What is thy nature? For thou knowest
not what thou sayest. If thou hadst dominion over Jánn and 'Efreets, and
enchanters and tribes and 'Óns, thou couldst not; for no one is able to
escape from these places. Therefore save thyself, and leave me. Perhaps
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
831
-
God will bring to pass other events after these. So Hasan said to her, O
mistress of beauties, I came not save to deliver thee by means of this rod
and by means of this cap. And he related to her what had happened to
him with the two boys.
But while he was speaking, lo, the Queen came in to them, and heard
their conversation. So when he saw the Queen, he put on the cap; and she
said to her sister, O wicked woman, who is he with whom thou wast convers-
ing? She replied, And who is with me to speak to except these infants?
And the Queen took the whip, and proceeded to beat her with it, while
Hasan stood looking on. She ceased not to beat her until she fainted, when
she gave orders to remove her from that place to another; wherefore they
loosed her and went forth with her to another place, and Hasan went forth
with them to the place to which they conveyed her. Then they threw her
down senseless, and stood looking at her; and when she recovered from her
fit, she recited these verses:
I have sorrowed on account of our disunion with a sorrow that made the tears to over-
flow from my eyelids;
And I vowed that if fortune should reunite us, I would never again mention our separa-
tion;
And I would say to the enviers, Die ye with regret; by Allah, I have now attained my
desire!
Joy hath overwhelmed me to such a degree that by its excess it hath made me weep.
O eye, how hath weeping become thy habit? Thou weepest in joy as well as in sorrows.
And when she had ended her verses, the female slaves went forth from
her.
So thereupon Hasan pulled off the cap; and his wife said to him, See O
man: all this hath not befallen me save on account of my having disobeyed
thee, and acted in opposition to thy command, and gone forth without thy
permission. But I conjure thee by Allah, O man, blame me not for my
misconduct. Know that a woman is not sensible of the value of a man
until she is separated from him. I have done wrong and sinned; but I beg
God, the Great, to pardon the actions committed by me; and if God reunite
us, I will never disobey thy command after that. Hasan replied (and his
heart pained him for her), Thou sinnedst not, and none sinned but I; for
I went away on a journey and left thee with one who knoweth not thy
dignity nor knoweth thy value nor thy rank. And know thou, O beloved of
my heart, and delight of my soul, and light of mine eye, that God (whose
perfection be extolled!) hath empowered me to deliver thee. Desirest thou,
then, that I convey thee to the abode of thy father, and that thou shouldst
experience, with him, the accomplishment of all that God hath appointed for
thee, or wilt thou journey to our country soon, seeing that relief hath come
to thee? But she said to him, And who is able to deliver me, except the
Lord of Heaven? Go thou therefore to thy country, and dismiss from thy
mind desire; for thou knowest not the dangers of this country; and if thou
comply not with my advice, thou wilt see. Then she recited some verses,
832
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and wept with her children, and the female slaves heard their weeping;
so they came in to them, and found the Queen Menár-es-Senà and her
children weeping; but they saw not Hasan with them; and the female slaves
wept in compassion for them, and cursed the Queen Noor-el-Hudà.
-
Then Hasan waited until night approached and the guards who were
deputed to watch her went to their sleeping-places; after which he arose
and girded his waist, and, coming to his wife, loosed her, and kissed her
head, pressed her to his bosom, kissed her between her eyes, and said to her,
How great is our desire for our country and for our reunion there! Is this
our meeting in sleep or in a time when we are awake? He then took up
his elder child, and she took upon the younger child, and they went forth
from the palace. God had let down the veil of his protection over them, and
they proceeded; and on their arrival at the outside of the palace, they
stopped at the door that was locked to close the entrance to the palace of
the Queen; but when they were there, they saw it locked. So Hasan said,
There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! Verily to
God we belong, and verily unto Him we return! - Upon this they despaired
of escape, and Hasan said, O Dispeller of griefs! and struck hand upon
hand, and said, I had calculated upon every thing, and considered its result,
except this; and now, when the day cometh upon us, they will take us; and
how shall we contrive in this case? And he recited these two verses:
Thou thoughtest well of the days when they went well with thee, and fearedst not the
evil that destiny was bringing.
Thy nights were peaceful, and thou wast deceived by them: in the midst of their bright-
ness, there cometh gloom.
Then he wept, and his wife wept at his weeping, and on account of the
contempt and misfortunes that she suffered; and Hasan, looking towards
her, recited this couplet: -
My fortune opposeth me as though I were its enemy, and every day meeteth me with
calamity.
When I seek prosperity, it bringeth the reverse of it; and if one day it is bright to me,
the next day it is turbid.
And his wife said to him, By Allah, there is no relief for us, unless we kill
ourselves, and so be at rest from this excessive trouble. Otherwise, in the
morning we shall suffer painful torture.
Now while they were talking, a speaker said, outside the door, By Allah.
I will not open to thee, O my mistress Menár-es-Senà, and to thy husband
Hasan, unless ye will obey me in that which I shall say to you. And when
they heard these words from that person, they were silent, and desired to
return to the place in which they had been. But a speaker said, Wherefore
have ye kept silence, and not returned me a reply? And thereupon they
knew the person who spoke, who was the old woman Shawáhee Zát-ed-
Dawáhee. So they said to her, Whatsoever thou shalt command us to do.
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
833
we will do it. But open to us the door first; for this time is not a time for
talk. — She however replied, By Allah I will not open to you until ye swear
to me that ye will take me with you, and not leave me with this profligate
woman; and whatsoever shall befall you shall befall me: if ye be preserved,
I shall be preserved; and if ye perish, I shall perish; for this wicked, vicious
woman despiseth me, and constantly tortureth me on your account; and
thou, O my daughter, knowest my worth. Therefore when they knew her,
they confided in her, and swore to her by oaths that she trusted in; after
which she opened to them the door, and they went forth; and they found
her riding upon a red earthen jar of Greek manufacture, upon the neck of
which was a rope of the fibres of the palm-tree, and it was turning about
beneath her, and moving with a speed greater than that of the Nejdee 60
colt.
She then came before them and said to them, Follow me, and be not
terrified at aught; for I know forty modes of enchantment, by the least of
which I could make this city a roaring sea agitated with waves, and enchant
every damsel in it so that she would become a fish. All that could I do
before the morning; but I was unable to do aught of that mischief by reason
of my fear of the King, the father of Noor-el-Hudà, and from regard to her
sisters; for they derive might from the great number of their guards and
tribes and servants. However, I will shew you the wonders of my enchant-
ment. Then proceed with us, relying upon the blessing of God (whose name
be exalted!) and his aid. So thereupon Hasan and his wife rejoiced, and
felt sure of escape.
―
They went forth to the exterior of the city, and Hasan, taking the rod
in his hand, struck with it the ground, and fortified his heart, and said, O
servants of these names, present yourselves to me, and acquaint me with
your brethren! And, lo, the earth clove asunder, and there came forth from
it seven 61 'Efreets, each of them having his feet in the lowest limits of the
earth, and his head in the clouds. They kissed the ground before Hasan
three times, and all of them said, with one voice, At thy service, O our master,
and ruler over us! What dost thou command us to do? For we will hear
and obey thy command. If thou desire, we will dry up for thee the seas,
and remove for thee the mountains from their places. So Hasan was
rejoiced at their words, and at the quickness of their reply; and he encour-
aged his heart, and fortified his mind and resolution, and said to them, Who
are ye, and what are ye called, and from what tribes are ye derived, and of
what race are ye, and of what tribe, and of what company? Upon this,
they kissed the ground a second time, and answered with one voice, We are
seven Kings: each King of us ruleth over seven tribes of the Jinn and the
Devils and the Márids: so we seven Kings rule over nine and forty tribes
of all the races of the Jinn and the Devils and the Márids and the companies
and the 'Óns, the Flyers and the Divers, and the dwellers in the mountains
and the deserts and the wastes, and the inhabitants of the seas. Order us to
do what thou wilt; for we are thy servants and slaves; and whoever pos-
834
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
sesseth this rod, he hath authority over the necks of us all, and we become
obedient unto him.
When Hasan, therefore, heard their words, he rejoiced greatly, as did
also his wife and the old woman; and thereupon Hasan said to the Jinn, I
desire of you that ye shew me your company and your troops and your
guards. But they replied, O our master, if we shewed thee our company,
we should fear for thee and for those who are with thee; for it consists of
numerous troops, of various forms and make and kinds and faces and bodies.
Among us are heads without bodies, and among us are bodies without heads,
and among us are some like the wild beasts, and among us are some like
animals of prey. However, if thou desire that, we must exhibit to thee first
those who are like the wild beasts. But, O our master, what dost thou
desire of us at this present time? So Hasan said to them, I desire of you
that ye carry me and my wife and this virtuous woman immediately to the
city of Baghdad. But when they heard his words, they hung down their
heads. Therefore Hasan said to them, Why do ye not reply? And they said
with one voice, O master and ruler over us, we have existed from the time of
the lord Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of whom be peace!), and he
made us swear that we would not carry any one of the sons of Adam upon
our backs: so from that time we have not carried any one of the sons of
Adam upon our shoulders nor upon our backs; but we will immediately
saddle for thee, of the horses of the Jinn, such as will convey thee to thy
country, thee and those that are with thee.
Upon this, Hasan said to them, And what distance is between us and
Baghdad? They answered him, A distance of seven years' journey to the
horseman who travelleth with diligence. And Hasan wondered thereat, and
said to them, How came I hither in less than a year? They answered him,
God moved the hearts of his virtuous servants with compassion for thee;
and had it not been for that, thou hadst not gained access to this country
and region, nor ever beheld it with thine eye. For the sheykh 'Abd-El-
Kuddoos, who mounted thee on the elephant, mounted thee also on the
fortunate courser, which traversed with thee, in ten 62 days, a space of three
years' journey to the horseman who proceedeth with diligence; and as to
the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh, he committed thee to Dahnash, and that
'Efreet traversed with thee, during the day and the night, a space of three
years' journey. This was effected through the blessing of God, the Great;
for the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh is of the posterity of Asaf the son of
Barkhiyà,63 and he knoweth the Most Great Name of God. And from
Baghdad to the palace of the damsels is a year's journey. So these make
up the seven years. And when Hasan heard their words, he wondered
greatly, and said, Extolled be the perfection of God, who maketh easy
what is difficult, and repaireth the broken heart, and bringeth near what
is distant, and abaseth every obstinate tyrant, who hath rendered every
thing easy to us, and conveyed me to this country, and made subservient
to me these people, and reunited me to my wife and my children! I
-
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
835
now not whether I be sleeping or awake, or whether I be in my senses or
toxicated.
He then looked towards them and said to them, When ye have mounted
e upon your horses, in how many days will they arrive with us at Baghdad?
hey answered, They will arrive with thee in less than a year, after thou
halt have endured difficulties and troubles and horrors, and traversed thirsty
alleys and dismal wastes, and deserts and dangerous places great in number;
nd we shall not be sure of thy safety, O my master, from the people of
hese islands, nor from the malice of the supreme King, nor from these
nchanters and sorcerers. Perhaps they will overcome us, and take you
om us, and we shall be afflicted by them; and every one whom the news
eacheth after that will say to us, Ye are the unjust. How did ye go against
le supreme King, and convey the human being from his country, and convey
Iso his daughter with you? Wert thou alone with us, the affair were easy
> us; but He who caused thee to gain access to these islands is able to cause
ee to arrive at thy country, and to reunite thee to thy mother soon, at no
istant period. Therefore be resolute, and depend upon God, and fear not;
r we are at thy service until we cause thee to reach thy country. So
lasan thanked them for that, and said to them, May God recompense you
ell! Then he said to them, Hasten with the horses. And they replied,
Te hear and obey.
They then struck the ground with their feet; whereupon it clove asunder,
id they were absent within it a while; after which they presented them-
lves, and, lo, they had come up bringing with them three horses, saddled
nd bridled, and on the fore part of each saddle was a pair of saddle-bags,
one side of which was a leathern bottle full of water, and the other side
as full of food. They brought forward the horses, and Hasan mounted
courser, taking a child before him; and his wife mounted the second
urser, and took a child before her. Then the old woman alighted from
e jar, and mounted the third courser. And they departed, and ceased not
proceed all the night, until the morning came, when they turned aside from
e way, and went towards the mountain; their tongues ceasing not from
e mention of God. They proceeded all the day beneath the mountain; and
hile they were journeying on, Hasan beheld a phantom-like form, resembling
pillar, and it was lofty, like smoke ascending to the sky. So he recited
mewhat of the Kur-án, and begged for refuge with God from Satan the
cursed.
Then that black object appeared more plainly the nearer they approached
it; and when they came near to it, they found it to be an 'Efreet, whose
ad was like a huge dome, and his dog-teeth were like hooks, and his nostrils
e ewers, and his ears like shields, and his mouth was like a cavern, and his
eth were like pillars of stone, and his hands like winnowing-forks,64 and
s legs like masts: his head was amid the clouds, and his feet were in the
west limits of the earth, beneath the dust. And when Hasan looked at the
freet, the 'Efreet bowed himself and kissed the ground before him, and
836
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
said to him, O Hasan, fear me not. I am chief of the inhabitants of this la
and this is the first island of the Islands of Wák-Wák. I am a Muslim
professor of the unity of God; and I heard of you, and knew of your comin
and when I became acquainted with your state, I desired to journey from
country of the enchanters to another land, devoid of inhabitants, rem
from human beings and the Jánn, that I might live therein solitary,
myself, and worship God until my appointed term overtake me. I therefo
desired to accompany you, and to be your guide, until ye go forth fro
these islands, and I will not appear save by night. So comfort your hea
with regard to me; for I am a Muslim, like as ye are Muslims.
-
And when Hasan heard the words of the 'Efreet, he rejoiced exceeding
and felt sure of escape. Then looking towards him, he said to him, M
God recompense thee well! Proceed with us, relying upon the blessing
God! Accordingly the 'Efreet went before them, and they betook ther
selves to conversing and sporting. Their hearts became happy, and the
bosoms were dilated; and Hasan proceeded to relate to his wife all that h
happened to him, and what he had endured. They ceased not to prosecu
their journey all the next night, until the morning, the horses bearing the
along like the blinding lightning; and when daylight rose, they put the
hands to their several saddle-bags, and each took forth something thend
and ate it; and took forth water, and drank it. Then they pursued the
way with diligence, and continued to proceed, with the 'Efreet before then
but he had turned aside with them from the way to another way, which w
not a beaten route, along the shore of the sea.
They ceased not to traverse the valleys and the wastes for the space
a whole month; and on the thirty-first day there arose against them a du
that obstructed the view of the surrounding tracts, and the day was darkene
by it. So when Hasan beheld it, paleness came upon him; and they hear
alarming noises, and the old woman looking towards Hasan, said to hin
O my son, these are the troops of the Islands of Wák-Wák: they have over
taken us, and immediately will they take us in their grasp. Hasan therefor
said to her, What shall I do, O my mother? And she answered him, Strik
the earth with the rod. Wherefore he did so; and the seven Kings came u
to him and saluted him, and, having kissed the ground before him, said t
him, Fear not nor grieve. So Hasan rejoiced at their words, and said, Y
have done well, O lords of the Jinn and 'Efreets. This is your time. An
they said to him, Ascend, with thy wife and thy children, and her who i
with thee, upon the mountain, and leave us with them; for we know that y
are in the right, and they are in the wrong, and God will defend us agains
them. Therefore Hasan and his wife and children and the old woma
alighted from the backs of the horses, and, having dismissed the horses
ascended upon the side of the mountain.
Then the Queen Noor-el-Hudà approached, with troops disposed on the
right and left, and the chiefs went around them, and ranged them company
by company. The two armies met, and the two hosts dashed against each
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
837
ɔther, and the fires raged, and the heroes advanced boldly, and the cowards
flew, and the Jinn cast forth from their mouths burning sparks, until the
thickly-dark night approached. Thereupon the two hosts separated, and the
two parties retired from each other; and when they alighted from their horses
and rested upon the ground, they lighted the fires, and the seven Kings went
up to Hasan, and kissed the ground before him. So he advanced to them
and thanked them, and prayed for them that they might be rendered vic-
torious; and he asked them respecting their state with regard to the army
of the Queen Noor-el-Hudà; upon which they said to him, They will not
withstand us more than three days; for we were to-day about to overcome
them. We have seized of them as many as two thousand, and slain of them
a great multitude, the number of which cannot be calculated. Therefore let
thy soul be happy and thy bosom be dilated. They then bade him fare-
They ceased not to light
well, and descended to their army, to guard it.
the fires until the morning rose, and diffused its light, and shone, when the
horsemen mounted the five-year-old horses, and smote one another with the
thin-edged swords, and thrust one another with the brown spears, and they
passed the night upon the backs of the horses, dashing together like seas,
and the fire of war raged among them. They ceased not to fight and contend
until the troops of Wák-Wák were defeated, and their power was broken,
and their resolution fell, and their feet slipped; and whithersoever they fled,
defeat was before them. They turned their backs, and placed their reliance
upon flight. The greater number of them were slain, and the Queen Noor-
el-Hudà was taken captive, together with the grandees of her kingdom, and
her chief officers.
And when the morning came, the seven Kings presented themselves before
Hasan, and set for him a couch of alabaster ornamented with fine pearls and
with jewels; and he seated himself upon it. They also set, by it, another
couch, for the lady Menár-es-Senà, his wife, and that couch was of ivory
>verlaid with brilliant gold. And by the side of it they set another couch,
for the old woman Shawáhee Zát-ed-Dawáhee. Then they brought forward
he prisoners before Hasan, and among them the Queen Noor-el-Hudà, who
had her hands bound behind her, and her feet shackled. And when the old
woman saw her, she said to her, Thy recompense, O wicked, O tyrannical
voman, shall be none other than this: that one shall make two bitches
hungry, and tie them with thee to the tails of horses, and drive them to the
sea, that thy skin may be lacerated; and after chat, some of thy flesh shall
be cut off and given thee to eat. How didst thou do to thy sister these deeds,
> wicked woman, seeing that she married lawfully, according to the ordi-
ance of God and his Apostle? For there is no monkery in El-Islám, and
narriage is one of the ordinances of the Apostles (on whom be peace!);
ind women were not created save for men. —— - And thereupon Hasan gave
orders to slay all the captives; and the old woman cried out and said, Slay
ve them, and let not one of them remain! But when the Queen Menár-es-
Senà saw her sister in this state, shackled, and in captivity, she wept for her,
838
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and said to her, O my sister, and who is this who hath made us captives
our country, and overcome us? She answered her, This is a momentous ca
Verily this man whose name is Hasan hath gained possession of us, and C
hath given him power over us and over all our kingdom, and he hath sub
gated us and the Kings of the Jinn. And her sister replied, God aided h
not against you, nor did he subdue you, nor did he make you prisoners, sa
by means of this cap and this rod.
---
So her sister was convinced of that, and knew that he had delivered 1
by these means; and she humbled herself to her sister until her heart w
affected with sympathy for her, and she said to her husband Hasan, Wh
dost thou desire to do with my sister? For here she is before thee, and s
hath not committed an abominable deed that thou shouldst punish her for
He replied, Her torture of thee was sufficiently abominable. But she sa
to him, For every abominable deed that she did to me she was excusab
And as to thee, thou hast tortured my father's heart by reason of the lo
of me, and how will be his state atter the death of my sister? So Hasa
said to her, It is thine to determine. Whatever thou desirest, do it. An
thereupon the Queen Menár-es-Senà gave orders to loose all the prisoners
and they loosed them for the sake of her sister, and loosed her sister also
after which, Menár-es-Senà advanced to her sister and embraced her.
began to weep with her, and they ceased not to do so for some time. The
the Queen Noor-el-Hudà said to her sister, O my sister, blame me not fo
that which I have done to thee. And the lady Menár-es-Senà replied, O m
sister, this was decreed to befall me.
---
SH
She and her sister sat upon the couch, conversing together; and after
wards, Menár-es-Senà made a reconciliation between the old woman and he
sister in the most perfect manner, and their hearts became comforted. Hasa
then dismissed the troops who were in the service of the rod, and thanked
them for that which they had done in aiding him against his enemies; afte
which, the lady Menár-es-Senà related to her sister all that had happened to
her with her husband Hasan, and all that had happened to him, and what
he had endured for her sake. And she said to her, O my sister, it is incum
bent upon one not to neglect what is due to a person who hath done these
deeds, and who hath this power, and whom God (whose name be exalted!)
hath aided by such exceeding fortitude that he hath entered our country, and
taken thee and made thee a prisoner, and defeated thine army, and subdued
thy father the supreme King, who ruleth over the Kings of the Jinn. Her
sister replied, By Allah, O my sister, thou hast spoken truth in that which
thou hast told me, respecting the wonderful events that this man hath
endured. And was all this for thy sake, O my sister? She answered, Yes.
Then they passed the night conversing together till the morning; and when
the sun rose, they desired to depart. So they bade one another farewell, and
Menár-es-Senà bade farewell to the old woman, having made a reconciliation
between her and her sister Noor-el-Hudà.
Thereupon Hasan struck the earth with the rod, and its servants came up
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
839
to him, and saluted him, and said to him, Praise be to God for the quiet of
thy soul! Command us to do what thou desirest, that we may do it for
thee in less time than the twinkling of an eye. He therefore thanked them
for their words, and said to them, May God recompense you well! He then
said to them, Saddle for us two coursers, of the best of horses. And they
did as he commanded them immediately, and brought forward to him two
saddled coursers. So Hasan mounted one of them, taking his elder son
before him; and his wife mounted the other, taking her younger son before
her. The Queen Noor-el-Hudà also mounted with the old woman; and all
went to their countries. Hasan with his wife journeyed to the right, and
the Queen Noor-el-Hudà with the old woman journeyed to the left; and
Hasan ceased not to proceed with his wife and his children for the space of
a whole month; after which they came in sight of a city, around which they
found fruits and rivers; and when they arrived at the trees, they alighted
from the backs of the horses, desiring to rest. Then they sat conversing
together; and, lo, many horsemen advanced to them. So when Hasan saw
them, he rose upon his feet, and met them; and, behold, they were the King
Hasoon, the lord of the Land of Camphor and the Castle of Crystal,65 with
his attendants. Thereupon Hasan advanced to the King, and kissed his
hands and saluted him; and when the King saw him, he alighted from the
back of his courser, and seated himself with Hasan upon furniture spread
beneath the trees, after he had saluted him and congratulated him on his
safety; and he was rejoiced exceedingly at his return, and said to him,
O Hasan, acquaint me with the events that have happened to thee from
beginning to the end.
So Hasan acquainted him with all those events; and the King Hasoon
wondered at them, and said to him, O my son, no one ever obtained access
to the Islands of Wák-Wák and returned from them except thee, and thy
case is wonderful. But praise be to God for thy safety! Then, after that,
the King arose and mounted, ordering Hasan to mount and accompany him;
wherefore he did so, and they ceased not to proceed until they came to the
city, and they entered the King's palace. The King Hasoon alighted, and
Hasan and his wife and his children alighted at the mansion of entertainment;
and when they had alighted, they remained with the King three days, eating
and drinking, and enjoying sport and mirth.
Hasan then begged permission of the King Hasoon that he might journey
to his country, and he gave him permission. So he mounted with his wife.
and his children, and the King mounted with them, and they proceeded ten
days; and when the King desired to return, he bade Hasan farewell, and
Hasan continued his journey with his wife and his children. They ceased
not to journey on for the space of another whole month, after which they
came in sight of a great cavern, the ground of which was of brass; whereupon
Hasan said to his wife, See this cavern. Dost thou know it? She answered,
Yes. And he said, In it is a sheykh named Abu-r-Ruweysh, to whom I am
greatly indebted; for he was the cause of the acquaintance between me and
840
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the King Hasoon. And he proceeded to relate to his wife the story of Abu-
Ruweysh; and, lo, the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh came forth from the entranc
of the cavern. So when Hasan saw him, he alighted from his courser an
kissed his hands, and the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh saluted him, and congratu
lated him on his safety. He rejoiced at his arrival, and took him and con
ducted him into the cavern, and sat with him; and Hasan proceeded to te
the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh what had happened to him in the Islands o
Wák-Wák; whereat the sheykh wondered extremely; and he said, O Hasar
how didst thou deliver thy wife and thy children? Hasan therefore relate
to him the story of the rod and the cap; and when the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweys]
heard that story he wondered, and said, O Hasan, O my son, had it not bee
for this rod and this cap, thou couldst not have delivered thy wife and thy
children. And Hasan replied, Even so, O my master.
Now while they were speaking, a person knocked at the door of the
cavern: so the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh went forth and opened the door, and
he found that the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos had come, riding upon the
elephant. The sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh thereupon advanced and saluted and
embraced him, rejoicing greatly at his arrival, and congratulated him on his
safety; after which, the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh said to Hasan, Relate to the
sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos all that hath happened to thee, O Hasan. So Hasar
proceeded to relate to the sheykh all that had happened to him from first to
last, until he came to the story of the rod and the cap; whereupon the sheykh
'Abd-El-Kuddoos said to him, O my son, as to thee, thou hast delivered thy
wife and thy children, and thou hast no longer any need of the rod and the
cap; but as to us, we were the cause of thy gaining access to the Islands of
Wák-Wák, and I have acted kindly to thee for the sake of the daughters of
my brother, and I beg thee, of thy bounty and beneficence, to give me the
rod, and to give the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh the cap.
And when Hasan heard the words of the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, he
hung down his head towards the ground, and was ashamed to say, I will not
give them to you. Then he said within himself, Verily these two sheykhs
have done a great kindness to me, and they were the cause of my gaining
access to the Islands of Wák-Wák, and but for them I had not arrived at
these places, nor had I delivered my wife and my children, nor had I got this.
rod and this cap. And he raised his head, and said, Yes: I will give them
to you. But, O my masters, verily I fear the supreme King, the father of
my wife, lest he come to me with troops into our country and they fight
against me, and I shall not be able to repel them save by means of the rod
and the cap. The sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, however, replied, O my son,
fear not; for we will be to thee a spy and a helper in this place, and who-
soever shall come to thee from the father of thy wife, we will repel him from
thee. Fear not any thing whatever; but be of good heart and cheerful eye
and dilated bosom. No harm shall befall thee. So when Hasan heard the
words of the sheykh, bashfulness affected him, and he gave the cap to the
sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh, and said to the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, Accom-
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
841
pany me to my country, and I will give thee the rod. And the two sheykhs
rejoiced thereat exceedingly, and prepared for Hasan riches and treasures
that cannot be described.
He remained with them three days; and after that, he desired to con-
tinue his journey; wherefore the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos prepared himself
to journey with him. And when Hasan had mounted a beast, and mounted
his wife upon another, the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos whistled, and, lo, a huge
elephant advanced trotting from the further part of the desert, and the
sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos took him and mounted upon him, and proceeded
with Hasan and his wife and his children. But as to the sheykh Abu-r-
Ruweysh, he entered the cavern. Hasan and his wife and his children,
and the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos, ceased not to pursue their journey, travers-
ing the land in its length and breadth, the sheykh guiding them by an easy
way and near roads, until they drew near to the country that they sought;
and Hasan rejoiced at his approach towards the country of his mother, and
at the return of his wife and his children to him. On his arrival at the
country [of his sisters], after these arduous, horrible events, he praised God
(whose name be exalted!) for this, and thanked Him for his grace and
bounty, and recited these verses:
66
Perhaps, in a short time, God will unite us, and we shall be encircled in each other's
arms,
And I shall tell you the most wonderful of the events that have befallen me, and what
I have suffered from the pain of separation,
And I shall cure mine eye by looking at you; for my heart is in a state of longing desire.
I have hidden a story for you in my mind, that I may relate it to you when we meet.
I will reproach you for the actions that have proceeded from you, with a reproach that
shall end; but affection will remain.
And when he had ended his verses, he looked, and, lo, the green cupola
appeared to them, and the pool, and the green palace, and the Mountain
of the Clouds appeared to them in the distance. So the sheykh 'Abd-El-
Kuddoos said, O Hasan, rejoice at the prospect of good fortune; for thou
wilt this night be a guest with the daughters of my brother. Therefore Hasan
rejoiced thereat exceedingly, and so did his wife. Then they alighted at
the cupola, and rested and ate and drank; after which they mounted again,
and proceeded until they drew near to the palace.
Upon this, the daughters of the brother of the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos
came forth to them and met them, and saluted them and their uncle, and
their uncle saluted them, and said to them, O daughters of my brother, see,
I have accomplished the affair of your brother Hasan, and aided him to
deliver his wife and his children. So the damsels advanced to him and
embraced him, rejoicing at his return, and congratulated him on his safety
and health, and his reunion to his wife and his children; and it was to them
a festival-day. Then the sister of Hasan, the youngest damsel, advanced
and embraced him, and wept violently. Hasan also wept with her, on account
of the length of his desolate state; and she complained to him of the pain of
842
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
separation that she had experienced, and the trouble of her heart, and wha
she had endured in consequence of his absence, and recited these tw
verses:
Mine eye hath not looked, since thy separation, at any one but thy form appeare
before it:
Nor hath it closed without my seeing thee in slumber, as though thou wast dwelling be
tween the eyelid and the eye.
And when she had finished her verses, she rejoiced exceedingly; and Hasa
said to her, O my sister, I thank none for this affair but thee, above th
rest of my sisters; and may God (whose name be exalted!) be thine aide
and assister! He then related to her all that had befallen him in his trave
from first to last, and what he had endured, and what had happened to him
with the sister of his wife, and how he had delivered his wife and his chil-
dren. He told her also of the wonders, and the arduous and horrible events
that he had witnessed, that the sister of his wife had desired to slaughter
him, and to slaughter her and her children, and that none had preserved
them from her save God, whose name be exalted! After that, he related to
her the story of the rod and the cap, telling her that the sheykh Abu-r-
Ruweysh and the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos had demanded those two things
of him, and that he had not given them to them but for her sake. She
therefore thanked him for that, and prayed for long life for him; and he
said, By Allah, I shall not forget all the good offices that thou hast done
me from the beginning of the affair to its end!
-
Then his sister looked towards his wife Menár-es-Senà, and embraced
her, and pressed her children to her bosom; after which she said to her, O
daughter of the supreme King, was there no mercy in thy heart, that thou
separatedst him and his children, and torturedst his heart for them. Didst
thou desire by doing thus that he should die? And she laughed, and re-
plied, Thus ordained God (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name
be exalted!); and he who deceiveth men, him doth God deceive. Then they
brought some food and drink, and they all ate and drank and were happy.
Hasan remained with them ten days, eating and drinking, and in joy and
happiness; and after ten days, he prepared himself for his journey. His
sister thereupon arose, and prepared for him wealth and rarities that can-
not be described, and after that, she pressed him to her bosom, to bid him
farewell, and embraced him; and Hasan, alluding to her, recited these
verses:
The relinquishment of lovers is nought but remote, and quitting one's beloved is nought
but afflicting,
And cruelty and absence are nought but trouble, and the victim of love is nought but
a martyr.
How tedious is the night to the enamoured, who is parted from his true love, and hath
become solitary!
His tears run down upon his cheek, and he saith, Are there yet any more tears to flow?
HOW HASAN CAPTURED THE BIRD-MAIDEN
843
Then Hasan gave the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kuddoos the rod, and he rejoiced in
it exceedingly, and thanked Hasan for it; and after he had received it from
him, he mounted, and returned to his abode.
Hasan then mounted, with his wife and his children, and departed from
the palace of the damsels; and they went forth with him, and bade him.
farewell, after which they returned. Hasan repaired to his country, pro-
ceeding over the desert tract for the space of two months and ten
days, until he arrived at the city of Baghdád, the Abode of Peace; and
he came to his house by the way of the private door which opened towards
the plain and the desert, and knocked at the door. His mother, on
account of the length of his absence, had relinquished sleep, and given
herself continually to mourning and weeping and wailing, until she fell
sick, and ate not food, nor delighted in sleep, but wept night and day,
and ceased not to mention her son. She had despaired of his return to
her; and when he stood at the door, he heard her weeping, and reciting these
verses:
By Allah, O my master, cure her whom you have made sick; for her body is emaciated
and her heart is broken!
If you grant her a meeting, in your generosity, the enamoured will be overwhelmed
with the favours of the beloved.
I despair not of your approach; for God can effect it; and in the midst of difficulty,
prosperity surroundeth one.
And when she had ended her verses, she heard her son Hasan calling out at
the door, O my mother, verily fortune hath granted reunion! And on her
hearing his words, she knew him. She came to the door in a state between
that of believing and that of disbelieving; and when she opened the door,
she saw her son standing there with his wife and his children, and she cried
out by reason of the violence of her joy, and fell upon the ground in a fit.
Hasan therefore ceased not to soothe her until she recovered, when she em-
braced him, and then she wept; after which she called his pages and slaves,
and ordered them to bring all that was with him into the house. Accord-
ingly they brought the loads into the house. Then his wife and his children
entered, and his mother went to her and embraced her, and kissed her head
and kissed her feet, and said to her, O daughter of the supreme King, if I
have erred in not doing what was due to thee, lo, I beg forgiveness of God,
the Great. And looking towards her son, she said to him, O my son, what
was the cause of this long absence? So when she asked him respecting that,
he acquainted her with all that had happened to him from beginning to end;
and on hearing his words, she uttered a great cry, and again fell upon the
ground in a fit, on account of the mention of the events that had happened
to her son. He ceased not to soothe her until she recovered, and thereupon
she said to him, O my son, by Allah, thou hast acted negligently with re-
spect to the rod and the cap; for if thou hadst taken care of them and
preserved them, thou hadst possessed the earth in its length and breadth;
844
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
but praise be to God, O my son, for thy safety, and for that of thy wife and
thy children!
They passed a most agreeable and most pleasant night; and when the
morning came, Hasan changed his clothes, and put on a suit of the most
beautiful material. He then went forth to the market, and bought male
black slaves and female slaves, and stuffs and precious things, consisting of
ornaments and apparel, and furniture and costly vessels, of which the like
existed not in the possession of the Kings. He bought also houses and gar-
dens, immovable estates, and other things; and he resided with his children
and his wife and his mother, eating and drinking and delighting. They
ceased not to pass the most comfortable life, and the most agreeable, until
they were visited by the terminator of delights and the separator of com-
panions. Extolled be the perfection of Him who possesseth the dominion
that is apparent and the dominion that is hidden, and who is the Living, the
Everlasting, who dieth not!
XXVI
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES AND WHAT FOLLOWED
WITH THE SULTÁN AND HIS FAVORITE SLAVE GIRL
HERE was, in ancient times, in the city of Baghdád, a fisherman named
Thale Wels, what was a man' in needy circumstances, a pauper; and he
had never in his life married. And it happened one day that he took his net,
and went with it to the river, as it was his custom to do, that he might
catch some fish before the other fishermen. When he arrived at the river,
he girded himself, and tucked up his sleeves: then advancing to the river,
he spread his net, and cast it the first time and the second time; but there
came not up in it aught. He ceased not to cast it until he had done so ten
times; but nothing whatever came up in it. So his bosom was contracted,
and his mind was perplexed respecting his case, and he said, I beg forgive-
ness of God, the Great, beside whom there is no deity, the Living, the Ever-
lasting; and I turn unto Him repentant! There is no strength nor power
but in God, the High, the Great! What God willeth cometh to pass, and
what He willeth not cometh not to pass! Subsistence is to be bestowed by
God (to whom be ascribed might and glory!); and when God bestoweth
upon a servant, no one preventeth him; and when He preventeth a servant,
no one bestoweth upon him. Then, by reason of the abundant grief that
affected him, he recited this couplet:
—
When fortune afflicteth thee with a calamity, prepare patience to endure it, and expand
thy bosom;
For the Lord of all creatures, in his beneficence and bounty, will cause easy circumstances
to follow difficult.
He then sat a while, meditating upon his case, and hanging down his head
towards the ground; after which he recited some other verses, and said within
himself, I will cast the net this time also, and rely upon God: perhaps He
will not disappoint my hope.
Accordingly he advanced, and cast the net as far as he could into the
river, and he folded its cord, and waited over it a while. Then, after that,
he drew it, and found it heavy: therefore when he knew that it was heavy,
he managed it gently, and drew it until it came up on the bank; and, lo,
in it was a one-eyed, lame ape. So Khaleefeh, on beholding him, said, There
is no strength nor power but in God! Verily to God we belong, and verily
unto Him we return! What is this deficient fortune, and evil luck! What
hath happened to me on this blessed day! But all this is by the prede-
845
846
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
termination of God, whose name be exalted!
He then took the ape, bou
him with a rope, and, advancing to a tree growing upon the bank of t
river, he tied him to it. And he had with him a whip, and he took it
his hand, and raised it in the air, desiring to beat with it the ape. But Ge
caused this ape to speak with an eloquent tongue, and he said to him,
Khaleefeh, restrain thy hand, and beat me not, but leave me tied to thi
tree, and go to the river, and cast thy net, relying upon God; for He wi
give thee thy means of subsistence. So when Khaleefeh heard the worc
of the ape, he took the net, and advanced to the river, and cast it, and slack
ened its cord.
Then he drew it, and found it heavier than it was the first time; and h
ceased not to labour at it until it came up to the bank, when, lo, there wa
in it another ape, whose front teeth were far apart, his eyes adorned with
kohl, and his hands stained with hennà; and he was laughing, and ha
around his waist a piece of ragged stuff. Upon this, Khaleefeh said, Praise
be to God who hath substituted, for the fish of the river, apes! He then
came to the ape that was tied to the tree, and said to him, See, O unlucky
how abominable was that which thou advisedst me to do! For none causec
me to fall in with the second ape but thou; because, when thou presentedst
thyself to me in the morning, lame and one-eyed, I became embarrassed.
weary, not possessing a piece of silver nor a piece of gold.¹ - And he took
in his hand a stick for driving cattle, and whirled it round in the air three.
times, and was about to strike with it the ape, when he prayed for aid
against him, and said to him, I conjure thee by Allah to pardon me for the
sake of this my companion, and seek thou of him what thou wantest; for he
will guide thee to that which thou desirest. Khaleefeh therefore threw
down the stick and pardoned him.
He then came to the second ape, and stood by him; and the ape said to
him, O Khaleefeh, these words will not profit thee at all, unless thou hear
what I shall say to thee; but if thou hear my words and comply with my
advice, and oppose me not, I shall be the means of thy becoming rich. So
Khaleefeh said to him, What wilt thou say to me, that I may obey thee re-
specting it? And he answered him, Leave me tied here in my place, and go
to the river and cast thy net, and I will tell thee what thou shalt do after
this. Khaleefeh accordingly took the net and went to the river, and cast it
and waited over it a while. Then he drew it, and found it heavy; and he
ceased not to labour at it until he brought it up to the bank; and, lo, in it
was another ape: but this ape was red; around his waist were blue gar
ments, and his hands and feet were stained with hennà, and his eyes adorned
with kohl.
M
Gr
ོག་
and
and
On seeing him, Khaleefeh said, Extolled be the perfection of God, the
Great! Extolled be the perfection of the Possessor of dominion! Verily he h
this day is blessed from its beginning to its end; for its luck hath been
shewn to be fortunate by the countenance of the first ape, and the page is
shewn by its superscription! This day is a day of apes; there remaineth
What
0 to
ag
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
847
--
-
in the river a single fish, and we came not forth to-day save to catch
Praise be to God who hath substituted, for the fish, apes! - He
looked towards the third ape, and said to him, What art thou also, O
ucky? The ape said to him, Dost thou not know me, O Khaleefeh?
alee feh answered, No. And he replied, I am the ape of Abu-s-Sa'ádát,
Jew, the money-changer. And what dost thou for him? said Khaleefeh.
answered him, I present myself to him in the morning, at the beginning
the day, and he gaineth five pieces of gold; and I present myself to him
the evening, at the close of the day, and he gaineth five pieces of gold
ain. And Khaleefeh thereupon looked towards the first ape, and said to
See, O unlucky, how excellent are the apes of other people: but as to
ze, thou presentest thyself to me in the morning lame and one-eyed, and
th thine unlucky countenance, and I become a pauper, a bankrupt, hungry.
then took the stick, and whirled it round in the air three times, and was
out to strike him with it. But the ape of Abu-s-Sa'ádát said to him,
ave him, O Khaleefeh, and withdraw thy hand, and come to me, that I
zy tell thee what thou shalt do. So Khaleefeh threw down the stick from
is hand, and, advancing to him, said to him, Of what wilt thou tell me, O
aster of all apes? And he answered him, Take the net, and cast it in the
er, and leave me and these apes remaining by thee; and whatever cometh
to thee in the net, bring it to me, and I will acquaint thee with that which
vil rejoice thee. Khaleefeh replied, I hear and obey. And he took the net
d folded it upon his shoulder, and recited these verses:
ten my bosom is contracted, I will beg aid of my Creator, who is able to make easy
every thing that is difficult;
Er before the eye can close, by the grace of our Lord the captive is liberated and the
broken heart made whole.
Commit then to God all thine affairs; for every discerning person knoweth his beneficence.
Then he recited also these two verses:
Thou art the cause of men's falling into trouble, and Thou removest anxieties and the
means of misfortunes.
Cause me not to covet what I cannot attain. How many who have coveted have failed
to gain their wishes!
And when he had ended his verses, he advanced to the river, and cast in
the net, and waited over it a while; after which he drew it, and, lo, in it
Tas a large fish, with a great head, and its tail was like a ladle, and its eyes
were like two pieces of gold. So when Khaleefeh saw it, he was rejoiced at
t; for he had not caught the like of it before in his life. He took it, won-
dering at it, and brought it to the ape of Abu-s-Sa'ádát the Jew; and he was
as though he had gained possession of the whole world. And the ape said
to him, What dost thou desire to do with this, O Khaleefeh, and what
Wilt thou do to thine ape? Khaleefeh answered him, I will inform thee, O
master of all apes, what I will do. Know that I will, before every thing else,
848
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
t
A
contrive means of destroying this accursed one, my ape, and I will take
in his stead, and feed thee every day with what thou shalt desire.
the ape said to him, Since thou hast informed me, I will tell thee how th
shalt do; and by thy so doing, thy state shall be amended, if it be the v
of God, whose name be exalted! Understand then what I say to thee; a
it is this: that thou prepare for me also a rope, and tie me with it to a tr
then thou shalt leave me, and go to the middle of the quay, and cast thy r
into the river Tigris; and when thou hast cast it, wait over it a little, a
draw it, and thou wilt find in it a fish than which thou hast not seen a
more beautiful in thy whole life. Bring it to me, and I will tell thee h
thou shalt do after that. So thereupon Khaleefeh arose immediately, a
cast the net in the river Tigris, and drew it, and he saw in it a fish of t
kind called bayád,2 of the size of a lamb. He had not seen the like of
in his whole life; and it was larger than the first fish.
-
He took it and went with it to the ape; and the ape said to him, Bri
for thyself some green grass and put half of it into a basket, and put the fis
upon it, and cover it with the other half, and leave us tied. Then carry t
basket upon thy shoulder, and go with it into the city of Baghdad; ar
whoever speaketh to thee, or asketh thee a question, return him not a repl
until thou enterest the market of the money-changers. Thou wilt find, a
the upper end of the market, the shop of the Mo'allim Abu-s-Sa'ádát th
Jew, the Sheykh of the money-changers, and thou wilt see him sitting upon
mattress, with a pillar behind him, and before him two chests, one for th
gold and the other for the silver, and with him memlooks, and black slaves
and pages. Advance to him, and put the basket before him, and say t
him, O Abu-s-Sa'ádát, I have gone forth to-day to fish, and cast the net i
thy name, and God (whose name be exalted!) sent this fish. Thereupon h
will say, Hast thou shewn it to any one beside me? And do thou answe
him, No, by Allah. And he will take it from thee, and give thee a piece o
gold. But do thou return it to him. And he will give thee two pieces o
gold. But return them to him. And whenever he giveth thee aught, returr
it to him; if he give thee its weight in gold, receive not from him aught
So he will say to thee, Tell me what thou desirest. And say thou to him
By Allah, I will not sell it save for two sayings. And when he saith to thee
And what are those two sayings? answer him, Rise upon thy feet, and
say, Bear witness, O ye who are present in the market, that I have exchanged.
for the ape of Khaleefeh the fisherman, my ape; and I have exchanged.
for his lot, my lot; and for his good fortune, my good fortune. This is the
price of the fish, and I have no need of the gold. — And when he hath done
with thee thus, I will every day present myself to thee in the morning and
the evening, and henceforth thou wilt gain every day ten pieces of gold;
while this his one-eyed, lame ape will present himself in the morning to Abu-
s-Sa'ádát the Jew, and God will afflict him every day with an exaction which
he will be obliged to pay, and he will not cease to be thus afflicted until he
becometh reduced to poverty, and is possessed of nothing whatever. Hear
-
-
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
849
what I say to thee: so wilt thou become prosperous and be directed
-And when Khaleefeh the fisherman heard the words of the ape,
plied, I accept the advice which thou hast given me, O King of all the
But as to this unlucky one, may God not bless him! I know not
to do with him. The third ape, however, said to him, Let him go
the water, and let me go also. And Khaleefeh replied, I hear and obey:
and he advanced to the apes and loosed them and left them; whereupon
descended into the river.
He then approached the fish, and took it and washed it, and he put
ath it some green grass in the basket, covered it also with grass, and,
ying it upon his shoulder, proceeded, singing this mowwál: 5—
it thine affairs to the Lord of Heaven, and thou wilt be safe;
fat kindly throughout thy life, and thou wilt not repent;
d associate not with the suspected, for thou wouldst be suspected;
keep thy tongue from reviling, for thou wouldst be reviled.
ceased not to walk on until he entered the city of Baghdád; and when
entered it, the people, knowing him, wished him good morning, and said,
What has thou with thee, O Khaleefel? But he paid no regard to any one
ong them until he came to the market of the money-changers, and passed
shops, as the ape directed him. Then he looked at that Jew, and saw
sitting in the shop, with the pages in attendance upon him, and he was
de one of the Kings of Khurásán. When Khaleefeh saw him, he knew him,
dwalked on until he stood before him; whereupon the Jew raised his
head towards him, and knew him, and said to him, Welcome to thee, O
Khaleefeh! What is thine affair, and what is it that thou desirest? For if
my one have spoken to thee or contended with thee, tell me, that I may
with thee to the Wálee, and he will exact for thee thy due from him.
So he replied, No, by thy head, O chief of the Jews! No one hath spoken
me. But I went forth to-day from my house for thy luck, and repaired
the river, and cast my net in the Tigris, and there came up this fish.
He then opened the basket, and threw down the fish before the Jew; and
Then the Jew saw it, he admired it, and said, By the Pentateuch and the
Ten Commandments, I was sleeping yesterday, and I saw in my sleep as
though I were before a person who said to me, Know, O Abu-s-Sa'ádát,
that I have sent to thee a beautiful present. So probably the present is this
ish: without doubt it is. Then he looked towards Khaleefeh and said
him, By thy religion, hath any one seen it beside me? Khaleefeh answered
him, No, by Allah! By Aboo-Bekr the Very Veracious, O chief of the Jews,
to one beside myself hath seen it!
6
7
8
9
And upon this the Jew looked towards one of his pages, and said to him,
Come hither: take this fish, and go with it to the house, and let Sa'adeh
prepare it, and fry and broil against the time when I shall accomplish my
business and come. Khaleefeh also said to him, Go, O page: let the wife
of the Mo'allim fry some of it and broil some of it. And the page replied, I
850
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hear and obey, O my master. And he took the fish and went with it to
house. But as to the Jew, he stretched forth his hand with a piece of 10
and offered it to Khaleefeh the fisherman, saying to him, Take this for
self, O Khaleefeh, and expend it upon thy family.
When Khaleefeh saw it in his hand, he said, Extolled be the perfec
of the Possessor of dominion! and seemed as though he had not
anything of gold in his life. He took the piece of gold, and walked awa
little. Then he remembered the charge of the ape: so he returned,
threw back the piece of gold to the Jew, saying to him, Take thy gold,
give me people's fish. Are people to thee objects of ridicule? - And w
the Jew heard his words, he imagined that he was jesting with him; whe
fore he handed to him two pieces of gold, in addition to the first piece.
Khaleefeh said to him, Give me the fish without jesting. Dost thou kn
that I will sell the fish for this price? And the Jew put forth his hand
two other pieces, and said to him, Take these five pieces of gold as the va
of the fish, and relinquish covetousness. And Khaleefeh took them in
hand, and went away with them, joyful. He proceeded to look at the go
and to wonder at it, and say, Extolled be the perfection of God! There
not in the possession of the Khaleefeh of Baghdad the like of what is in
possession this day! And he ceased not to walk on until he came to t
end of the market.
---
-
Then he remembered the words of the ape, and the charge that he h
given him. So he returned to the Jew, and threw back to him the gold. T
Jew therefore said to him, What aileth thee, O Khaleefeh? What dost th
desire? Wilt thou take pieces of silver in change of thy gold? - And
answered him, I desire not pieces of silver nor pieces of gold. I only desi
that thou give me people's fish. And upon this the Jew was enraged, a
cried out at him, and said to him, O fisherman, dost thou come to me with
fish that is not worth a piece of gold, and do I give thee for it five pieces
gold, and dost thou not consent? Art thou mad? Tell me for how mu
thou wilt sell it. Khaleefeh answered him, I will not sell it for silver n
for gold, and I will not sell it save for two sayings that thou shalt utter to m
And when the Jew heard his mention of two sayings,10 his eyes became fixe
in his head, and his breathing became difficult, and he locked his teet
together, and said to him, O recrement of the Muslims, dost thou desire tha
I should abandon my religion for the sake of thy fish, and wouldst tho
alienate from me my faith and my belief which I found my fathers to hav
held before me? And he cried out to his pages, who came before him, and h
said to them, Wo to you! Take this unlucky fellow; mangle with blows th
back of his neck, and torture him with abundant beating. They therefor
fell to beating him, and ceased not to do so until he fell down beneath th
shop, when the Jew said to them, Leave him, that he may rise. An
Khaleefeh rose up as though nought ailed him."1
11
The Jew then said to him, Tell me what thou desirest as the price of thi
fish, and I will give it thee; for thou hast not obtained good from us on thi
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
851
ccasion. But Khaleefeh replied, Fear not for me, O Mo'allim, on account
of the beating; for I can bear as much beating as ten asses. And the Jew
aughed at his words, and said to him, By Allah, I conjure thee, tell me
vhat thou desirest, and I, by my religion, will give thee it. So he replied,
Nought from thee will content me as the price of this fish save two sayings.
The Jew therefore said to him, I imagine thou desirest of me that I should
ecome a Muslim. Khaleefeh replied, By Allah, O Jew, if thou become a
Muslim, thy becoming so will not profit the Muslims nor will it injure the
ews; and if thou remain in thine infidelity, thine infidelity will not injure
he Muslims nor will it profit the Jews.12 But what I desire of thee is this:
hat thou rise upon thy feet, and say, Bear witness against me, O people of
he market, that I have given in exchange my ape for the ape of Khaleefeh
he fisherman, and my good luck in the world for his good luck, and my good
ortune for his good fortune. And the Jew said, If this thing be thy desire,
is to me easy. Then the Jew rose immediately, and stood upon his feet,
nd said as Khaleefeh the fisherman had told him; after which he looked
›wards him, and said to him, Hast thou aught more to demand of me? The
sherman answered, No. And the Jew said to him, Go in peace.
So Khaleefeh arose immediately, and, having taken his basket and his
et, went to the river Tigris, and cast the net. Then he drew it, and found
heavy, and he pulled it not forth save after laborious exertion; and when
e pulled it forth, he saw it full of fish of all kinds. And there came to him
woman, having with her a plate, and she gave him a piece of gold, for
hich he gave her fish; and there came to him a eunuch also, who bought
[ him for a piece of gold. Thus it happened until he had sold fish for ten
eces of gold; and he ceased not to sell every day for the pieces of gold till
e end of ten days, so that he amassed a hundred pieces of gold.
Now this fisherman had a chamber within a place through which the
erchants passed.13 And while he was sleeping in his chamber one night, he
id to himself, O Khaleefeh, verily all the people know that thou art a poor
an, a fisherman, and there have come into thy possession a hundred pieces
gold: so, inevitably, the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, will
ar of thy story from some one of the people; and probably he will be in
ed of wealth, and will send to thee, and say to thee, I am in want of a
rtain number of pieces of gold, and it hath been told me that thou hast a
indred pieces of gold; therefore lend them to me.
Then I will say, 0
ince of the Faithful, I am a poor man, and he who informed thee that I
d a hundred pieces of gold lied against me: they are not in my possession,
r have I aught thereof. And he will deliver me to the Wálee, and will
y to him, Strip him of his clothing, and torture him with beating, that he
y confess, and may bring the hundred pieces of gold that are in his pos-
ision. Therefore the right opinion, that will be the means of saving me
om this embarrassing predicament, is this: that I arise immediately, and
ture myself with the whip, that I may be accustomed to beating. And
hasheesh 14 said to him, Arise; strip thyself of thy clothes.
--- -
852
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
- -
So he arose forthwith, and stripped himself of his clothes, and took in
hand a whip that he had by him. He had also a pillow of leather; and
proceeded to strike one blow upon that pillow, and one blow upon his sk
saying, Ah! Ah! By Allah, this is a false assertion, O my lord, and th
utter a lie against me: I am a poor man, a fisherman, and have not in
possession aught of worldly goods. And the people heard Khaleefeh
fisherman torturing himself, and beating upon the pillow with the whip,
falling of the blows upon his body and upon the pillow making a noise in
night; and among those who heard him were the merchants. They the
fore said, What can be the matter with the poor man, that he crieth, and th
we hear the falling of the blows upon him? It seemeth that the robb
have come down upon him, and they are the persons who are torturi
him. So thereupon they all arose, on hearing the sounds of the beating a
crying, and came forth from their lodgings to the chamber of Khaleef
and, seeing its door locked, they said, one to another, Probably the robb
have descended upon him from behind the saloon: 15 therefore it is expedie
that we ascend by way of the roofs. Accordingly they ascended to the roo
and descended through the memrak; 16 and they saw him with bare bac
and torturing himself. They therefore said to him, What aileth thee,
Khaleefeh? What is thy story? - And he answered, Know, O people, th
I have acquired some pieces of gold, and I fear that my case will be report
to the Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, and he will summon r
before him, and demand of me those pieces of gold. Then I will deny; a
when I deny, I fear that he will torture me; wherefore I am torturing m
self, and making the torture habitual to me, to prepare for what may com
And the merchants laughed at him, and said to him, Leave off the
actions. May God not bless thee, nor the pieces of gold that have come
thee! For thou hast disquieted us this night, and alarmed our hearts.
So Khaleefeh discontinued the beating of himself, and slept until t
morning; and when he arose from sleep, and desired to depart to his occ
pation, he reflected upon the matter of the hundred pieces of gold that ha
come into his possession, and said within himself, If I leave them in t
chamber, the robbers will steal them; and if I put them into a kamar
around my waist, probably some one will see them, and lay wait for me unt
I am alone, in a place devoid of other persons, and he will slay me, and tal
them from me. But I will practise a stratagem, one that will be good, an
very advantageous. He then arose immediately, and sewed for himse
a pocket within the upper border of his vest, and, having tied up the hur
dred pieces of gold in a purse, put them into that pocket which he had made
after which he arose and took his net and his basket and his staff, and pr
ceeded until he came to the river Tigris, and cast his net in it. Then
drew it; but there came not up for him anything. He therefore remove
from that place to another place, and there he cast his net; but nothing cam
up for him. And he ceased not to remove from place to place until he wa
as far from the city as the space of half a day's journey, casting the net o
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
853
the way; but still there came not up for him aught. And he said within
imself, By Allah, I will not cast my net again into the water save this time,
whatever be the result!
So he cast the net with all his force, by reason of the violence of his rage,
and the purse in which were the hundred pieces of gold flew from his bosom,
ell into the midst of the river, and was carried away with the force of the
current. Upon this he threw down the net from his hand, and stripped him-
self of his clothes, and leaving them upon the bank, descended into the
iver, and dived after the purse. He ceased not to dive and come up about
hundred times, until his strength became impaired; but he found not that
›urse; and when he despaired of it, he came up on the bank, and found not
ught save the staff and the net and the basket. He sought his clothes; but
liscovered no trace of them. So he unfolded the net, and wrapped himself
n it, and, taking the staff in his hand, and the basket upon his shoulder, he
vent trotting along like the stray camel, running to the right and left, and
ackwards and forwards, with dishevelled hair, and dust-coloured, like the
efractory 'Efreet when let loose from Suleymán's prison.18- Such was the
ase of Khaleefeh the fisherman.
Now the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed had a companion, a jeweller,
amed Ibn-El-Kirnás; and all the people and the merchants and the brokers
nd the bargain-makers knew that Ibn-El-Kirnás was the merchant of the
haleefeh. Nought that was sold in the city of Baghdad, of rarities and
ther costly things, was sold until it was shewn to him, and among these
ings were the memlooks and the female slaves. And while that merchant,
bn-El-Kirnás, was sitting in his shop one day, lo, the sheykh of the brokers
ime to him, having with him a female slave, the like of whom eyes had
ot beheld. She was endowed with the utmost beauty and loveliness, and
ne stature, and justness of form; and among the number of her excellences
ere these: that she knew all sciences and arts, and composed verses, and
ayed upon all kinds of musical instruments. So Ibn-El-Kirnás the jeweller
urchased her for five thousand pieces of gold, and he clad her at the cost
one thousand pieces of gold, and brought her to the Prince of the Faith-
il, who tried her in every science and in every art, and found her to be
quainted with all sciences and arts.
She was unequalled in her age; and her name was Koot-el-Kuloob. And
the following morning, the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed sent to Ibn-
[-Kirnás the jeweller; and when he came, he gave orders to pay him ten
ousand pieces of gold as the price of that slave-girl. Then the heart of the
haleefeh became engrossed by that slave-girl named Koot-el-Kuloob, and
abandoned the lady Zubeydeh the daughter of El-Kásim, though she was
e daughter of his paternal uncle. He abandoned also all the concubines,
d remained a whole month without going forth from that slave-girl, save
the Friday-prayers, after which he returned to her in haste. So this con-
ct was grievous to the lords of the empire; wherefore they complained
ereof to the Wezeer Jaafar El-Barmekee; and the Wezeer waited for the
854
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Prince of the Faithful until the next Friday, when he entered the mosq
and met the Prince of the Faithful, and related to him all that he had he
of stories concerning extraordinary love, in order that he might draw fo
the statement of his feelings. And upon this the Khaleefeh said to him,
Jaafar, by Allah, that thing was not of my choice; but my heart is
tangled in the snare of love, and I know not what is to be done. 1
Wezeer Jaafar therefore replied, Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that t
concubine Koot-el-Kuloob hath become under thine authority, and of 1
number of thy servants; and what the hand possesseth the soul doth r
covet. I will also acquaint thee with another thing, which is this: that t
best of what the Kings and the sons of the Kings glory in are hunting, a
enjoying sport and conveniences; and if thou do thus, probably thou w
thereby be diverted from her, and probably thou wilt forget her. And t
Khaleefeh said to him, Excellent is that which thou hast said, O Jaafar.
pair then with us hastily, immediately, to hunt.
---
R
Accordingly, when the Friday-prayers were ended, they both went for
from the mosque, and mounted immediately, and went to hunt. They pr
ceeded until they came to the desert, and the Prince of the Faithful and t
Wezeer Jaafar were riding upon two mules; and as they occupied each oth
by conversation, the troops outwent them. The heat had become oppressiv
to them: so Er-Rasheed said, O Jaafar, violent thirst hath affected me. The
Er-Rasheed cast his eyes, and saw a distant object faintly appearing upon
high mound; and he said to the Wezeer, Dost thou see what I see? TH
Wezeer answered him, Yes, O Prince of the Faithful: I see a distant objec
faintly appearing upon a high mound, and it is either the keeper of a garde
or the keeper of a ground for melons and cucumbers; and in either case, hi
tract is not without water. The Wezeer then said, I will go to him, and brin
thee some water from him. But Er-Rasheed replied, My mule is more swi
than thine; therefore stay thou here, on account of the troops, and I wi
myself go and get drink from the station of this person, and return. An
he urged his mule, which thereupon went forth like the wind in its pace, o
as water poureth into a pool, and ceased not to bear him away until he ar
rived at that faint object in the twinkling of an eye, when he found not tha
object to be any one but Khaleefeh the fisherman. Er-Rasheed saw him
with his naked body wrapped in the net, and his eyes, by reason of their ex
cessive redness, were like burning cressets. His form was horrible, and hi
figure bending, and, with dishevelled hair, and dust-coloured, he resembled
an 'Efreet, or a lion.
Er-Rasheed saluted him, and he returned his salutation in a state of rage
and his breath would have kindled fires; and Er-Rasheed said to him, O man
hast thou by thee any water? Khaleefeh replied, O thou, art thou blind of
mad? Go to the river Tigris; for it is behind this mound.19 So Er-Rasheed
went round behind the mound, and descended to the river Tigris, and drank.
and watered his mule. Then he went up immediately, and, returning to
Khaleefeh the fisherman, said to him, Wherefore, O man, art thou standing
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
855
here, and what is thine occupation? Khaleefeh replied, Verily this question.
is more wonderful and more extraordinary than thy question respecting the
water. Dost thou not see the apparatus of my occupation upon my shoulder?
- Er Rasheed therefore said to him, It seemeth that thou art a fisherman,
He replied, Yes. Where then, said Er-Rasheed, is thy jubbeh, and where
is thy shemleh,20 and where is thy herám,21 and where are thy clothes?
Now the things that had gone from Khaleefeh were like those which he men-
tioned to him, article agreeing with article: so when Khaleefeh heard those
words of the Khaleefeh, he imagined in his mind that he was the person who
had taken his clothes from the bank of the river. He therefore descended
immediately from the top of the mound, more swiftly than the blinding
lightning, and, seizing the bridle of the mule of the Khaleefeh, said to him, O
man, give me my things, and desist from sport and jesting. So the Kha-
leefeh replied, I, by Allah, have not seen thy clothes, nor do I know them.
And Er-Rasheed had large cheeks, and a small mouth: wherefore Khaleefeh
said to him, Probably thine occupation is that of a singer, or a piper? But
give me my clothes, by the means that are best, or else I will beat thee with
this staff so that thou shalt find thyself in an evil plight.
And when the Khaleefeh saw the staff in Khaleefeh's hand, he said within
himself, By Allah, I cannot endure from this pauper half a blow with this
staff. And there was upon Er-Rasheed a long vest of satin: so he pulled it
off, and said to Khaleefeh, O man, take this vest instead of thy clothes.
Khaleefeh therefore took it, and turned it over, and said, Verily my clothes
are worth ten such things as this variegated cloak. Er-Rasheed however re-
plied, Wear it till I bring thee thine own clothes. And Khaleefeh took it and
put it on; but he saw it to be too long for him; and, having with him a knife
tied to the handle of the basket, he took it and cut off with it from the lower
part of the vest as much as one third of it, so that it reached but just below
his knees.
He then looked towards Er-Rasheed, and said to him, By Allah I con-
jure thee, O piper, that thou inform me what is the amount of thy wages
hat thou receivest every month from thy master, for the art of piping. The
Khaleefeh replied, My wages every month are ten pieces of gold. And upon
his, Khaleefeh said to him, By Allah, O poor man, thou hast made me to
partake of thine anxiety! By Allah, the sum of ten pieces of gold I gain
very day! Dost thou desire, then, to be with me as my servant? If so, I
vill teach thee the art of fishing, and be partner with thee in the gain. Thus
hou wilt work every day at the rate of five pieces of gold, and be my young
nan, and I will protect thee from thy master with this staff. - And Er-
Rasheed answered him, I will consent to that. So Khaleefeh said to him,
Alight now from the back of the ass, and tie it, that it may be of use to us
ereafter in carrying the fish; and come, that I may teach thee the art of
shing immediately. And thereupon Er-Rasheed alighted from the back of
is mule, and tied it, and tucked up his skirts within the circle of his girdle.
Kahleefeh then said to him, O piper, hold this net so, and put it upon thine
―
856
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
arm so, and cast it into the river Tigris so. And Er-Rasheed fortified h
heart, and did as Khaleefeh shewed him. He cast the net in the river, an
pulled it; but could not draw it up. Khaleefeh therefore came to him, an
pulled it with him; but they could not draw it up together. So Khaleefe
said to him, O ill-omened piper, if I took thy cloak instead of my clothe
the first time, this time I will take thine ass for my net, if I see it mangled
and I will beat thee until thou shalt be in an abominable condition. Επ
Rasheed replied, Let me and thee pull together.
And the two together pulled the net, and they could not draw up tha
net save with difficulty; and when they had drawn it up, they looked at i
and, lo, it was full of all kinds of fish. Upon this, Khaleefeh said to Er
Rasheed, By Allah, O piper, verily thou art an ugly fellow; but when tho
shalt have laboured at fishing, thou wilt be an excellent fisherman. An
now, the right opinion is this: that thou mount thine ass, and go to th
market, and bring two great baskets, and I will take care of these fish unti
thou come again, when I and thou will put them upon the back of thine ass
and I have the pair of scales and the pound-weights and every thing that w
require. We will take all with us, and thou wilt have nothing to do but to
hold the pair of scales and to receive the prices; for we have with us fish
worth twenty pieces of gold. Hasten then to bring the two great baskets
and delay not. And the Khaleefeh replied, I hear and obey.
-
He left him, and left the fish, and urged on his mule, being in a state of
the utmost joy. He ceased not to laugh at what had happened to him with
the fisherman until he came to Jaafar; and when Jaafar saw him, he said to
him, O Prince of the Faithful, probably when thou wentest to drink, thou
foundest a pleasant garden, and enteredst it and divertedst thyself in it
alone. And Er-Rasheed, on his hearing the words of Jaafar, laughed. Then
all the Barmekees kissed the ground before him, and said to him, O Prince
of the Faithful, may God perpetuate thy joys, and dispel from thee troubles!
What was the cause of thy delay when thou wentest to drink, and what hap-
pened to thee? And the Khaleefeh answered them, An extraordinary event,
and a mirth-exciting, wonderful thing hath happened to me. Then he re-
peated to them the story of Khaleefeh the fisherman, and what had hap-
pened to him with him; his saying, Thou hast stolen my clothes, and his
having given him his vest, and the fisherman's having cut off a part of the
vest on his seeing it to be too long for him. And Jafaar said, By Allah, O
Prince of the Faithful, it was my wish to have requested of thee the vest;
but I will go immediately to the fisherman and purchase it of him. So the
Khaleefeh said to him, By Allah, he hath cut off a third of it, from its lower
part, and hath entirely spoiled it; but, O Jaafar, I am fatigued by my fish-
ing in the river; for I have caught a great quantity of fish, and they are upon
the bank of the river, with my teacher Khaleefeh. He is standing there
waiting for me to return to him, and to take to him two great baskets. Then
I and he are to go to the market, and we are to sell the fish, and divide their
price. Jaafar replied, O Prince of the Faithful, I will bring to you one who
- -
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
857
will purchase of you. And the Khaleefeh said to him, O Jaafar, by my pure
forefathers, to every one who bringeth me a fish from among those which
are before Khaleefeh, who taught me the art of fishing, I will give for it a
piece of gold! The crier therefore proclaimed among the troops, Go ye
forth and purchase fish for the Prince of the Faithful!
Accordingly the memlooks went forth, repairing to the bank of the river;
and while Khaleefeh was waiting for the Prince of the Faithful to bring
to him two great baskets, lo, the memlooks pounced upon him like eagles,
and took the fish, and put them in gold-embroidered handkerchiefs, and pro-
ceeded to beat each other to get at him. So Khaleefeh said, No doubt these
fish are the fish of Paradise! Then, taking two fish in his right hand, and two
in his left hand, he descended into the water to his throat, and began to say,
O Allah, by these fish, let thy servant the piper, my partner, come imme-
diately! 22 And, lo, a black slave advanced to him, and that slave was the
chief over all the black slaves that were in the palace of the Khaleefeh.
The cause of his having come later than the memlooks was an impediment
that occurred to him on the way. So when he cane to Khaleefeh, he found
that there remained not of the fish little nor much; but looking to the right
and left, he saw Khaleefeh the fisherman standing in the water with the fish
in his hands; and thereupon he said to him, O fisherman, come hither! The
fisherman replied, Go, without impertinence. The eunuch however advanced
to him, and said to him, Give me these fish, and I will give thee the price.
Khaleefeh the fisherman rejoined, Art thou of little sense? I will not sell
them.
But the eunuch drew forth against him the mace: so thereupon Kha-
leefeh said to him, Strike not, O wretch: for the conferring of a favour is
better than the mace! Then he threw to him the fish, and the eunuch took
them, and placed them in his handkerchief, and put his hand into his pocket;
but found not a single piece of silver. He therefore said, O fisherman, verily
thy fortune is unlucky! I, by Allah, have not with me any money. But
to-morrow come thou to the palace of the Khaleefeh, and say, Direct me to
the eunuch Sandal. Thereupon the eunuchs will direct thee to me; and
when thou hast come to me there, thou wilt obtain what is decreed for thee,
and thou shalt receive it and go thy way.
So upon this, Khaleefeh said, Verily this day is blessed, and its blessing
was apparent from its commencement! 23 Then he took his net upon his
shoulder, and walked on until he entered Baghdád, and he walked along the
streets. The people therefore saw the garment of the Khaleefeh upon him,
and they continued looking at him until he entered the quarter [where he
ived]. And the shop of the tailor of the Prince of the Faithful was by the
gate of the quarter: so the tailor saw Khaleefeh the fisherman having upon
im a garment worth a thousand pieces of gold, of the apparel of the Kha-
eefeh; and he said, O Khaleefeh, whence obtainedst thou this farajeeyeh?
Khaleefeh replied, And what reason hast thou to be impertinent? I received
t from him whom I have taught the art of fishing, and who hath become
858
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
TH
my young man, and I have remitted to him the amputation of his hand;
for he stole my clothes, and gave me this cloak instead of them.
tailor therefore knew that the Khaleefeh had passed by him, while he wa
fishing, and had jested with him, and given him the farajeeyeh. Then th
fisherman went to his abode.
Now the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed had not gone forth to the chas
save in order that he might be diverted from thinking of the slave-girl Koo
el-Kuloob. And when Zubeydeh heard of the slave-girl, and of the Kha
leefeh's devotion to her, that jealousy which seizes women so seized her tha
she abstained from food and drink, and relinquished the delight of sleep; an
she waited for the absence of the Khaleefeh, and his going forth on a jou
ney, that she might set, for Koot-el-Kuloob, the snare of stratagems. There
fore when she knew that the Khaleefeh had gone forth to hunt, she ordere
the female slaves to spread the furniture in the palace, and she made a pro
fuse display of decoration and magnificence, caused the viands and th
sweetmeats to be placed, and prepared, among these, a China dish contain
ing sweetmeat of the most dainty kind, in which she put some benj, infusin
it therewith. She then ordered one of the eunuchs to go to the slave-gir
Koot-el-Kuloob, to invite her to partake of the food of the lady Zubeydel
the daughter of El-Kásim, the wife of the Prince of the Faithful, and to say
to her, The wife of the Prince of the Faithful hath drunk to-day some medi
cine, and she hath heard of the sweetness of thy melody, wherefore she de
sireth to divert herself by hearing somewhat of thy performance. -- And
she replied, I hear and obey God and the lady Zubeydeh. She arose imme
diately, not knowing what was secretly decreed to befall her, and, taking with
her what instruments she required, she accompanied the eunuch, and ceased
not to proceed until she went in to the lady Zubeydeh, when she kissed the
ground before her many times; after which she rose upon her feet and said.
Peace be on the lady of the highly-honoured curtain and the unapproach-
able majesty, the descendant of El-'Abbás and the member of the family of
the Prophet! May God cause thee to obtain prosperity and peace during
the course of days and years!
Then she stood among the female slaves and the eunuchs; and there-
upon the lady Zubeydeh raised her head towards her, and contemplated her
beauty and loveliness; and she saw a damsel with smooth cheeks, with a
bosom presenting the similitude of two pomegranates, and a brilliant counte-
nance and shining forehead and large black eyes. Her eyelids were lan-
guishing, and her face was beauteously bright. The splendour of her coun-
tenance was like that of the rising sun; and the hair over her forehead like
the darkness of night; and her odour, like the fragrance diffused by musk;
and her beauty, like charming flowers; and her forehead, like the moon; and
her figure, like the waving branch. She was like the full moon shining in the
dark night, and her eyes were amorous, and her eyebrows were arched, and
her lips were as though they were formed of coral. She amazed by her
beauty every one who beheld her, and enchanted with her eye every one
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
859
who saw her. Glory be to Him who created her and perfected her and com-
pleted her! She was like her of whom the poet hath said,———
When she is incensed, thou seest men slain; and when she is pleased, their souls return.
She hath eyes the glances of which are enchanting: with them she killeth and reanimateth
whom she will.
She captivateth all creatures with her eyes; and it seemeth as though they were her
slaves.
The lady Zubeydeh said to her, A friendly and free and an ample wel-
come to thee, O Koot-el-Kuloob! Sit, that thou mayest amuse us with thy
performances and the excellence of thine art. So she replied, I hear and
obey. And she sat, and, putting forth her hand, she took the tambourine;
and after that, the shebbábeh; 25 and next, the lute; and she played fourteen
tunes, and sang to it an entire piece in such a manner that she amazed the
beholders, and moved with delight the hearers. And after that, she exhibited
her skill in juggling and sleights, and every pleasing art, so that the lady
Zubeydeh almost became enamoured of her, and said within herself, The
son of my uncle, Er-Rasheed, is not to be blamed for his passion for her.
Then the damsel kissed the ground before Zubeydeh, and sat down; and
they presented to her the viands; and afterwards, the sweetmeat; and they
presented the dish in which was the benj. So she ate of it; and the sweet-
meat had not settled in her stomach before her head turned over and she
fell down on the floor asleep; whereupon the lady Zubeydeh said to the fe-
male slaves. Take her up to one of the private chambers, and there leave
her until I require her to be brought. And they replied, We hear and obey.
She then said to one of the eunuchs, Make for us a chest, and bring it to me.
And she gave orders to make the semblance of a tomb, and to spread a re-
port that the damsel had been choked and had died. She also warned her
chief attendants, that whoever should say that she was living, that person's
head should be struck off. And, lo, the Khaleefeh then came back from
the chase, and his first inquiry was respecting the damsel. So one of his
eunuchs advanced to him; and the lady Zubeydeh had charged him that, if
the Khaleefeh should ask him respecting her, he should say she had died:
wherefore he kissed the ground before him, and said to him, O my lord, may
thy head long survive! Know for certain that Koot-el-Kuloob hath been.
choked with food, and hath died.
. Upon this, the Khaleefeh said, May God not rejoice thee with good tid-
ings, O wicked slave! He then arose and entered the palace, and heard of
her death from every one in it; and he said, Where is her tomb? They
therefore conducted him thither, and shewed him the tomb that had been
made for deception, saying to him, This is her tomb. And when he saw it,
he cried out, and embraced the tomb, and wept, and recited some verses. He
wept for her violently, and remained there some time; after which he arose
and quitted the tomb, in a state of the utmost grief. So the lady Zubeydeh
knew that her stratagem had been accomplished, and she said to the eunuch,
860
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Bring the chest. He therefore brought it before her; and she caused the
damsel to be brought, and put her in it, and said to the eunuch, Endeavou
to sell the chest, make it a condition with the purchaser that he shall purchase
it locked: then give its price in alms. And the eunuch took it and went forth
from her, and complied with her command.
But as to Khaleefeh the fisherman, when the morning came and diffused
its light and shone, he said, I have no occupation to follow this day better
than my going to the eunuch who bought of me the fish; for he made an ap-
pointment with me that I should go to him in the palace of the Khaleefeh
He then went forth from his abode to repair to the palace of the Khaleefeh;
and when he arrived at it, he found the memlooks and the black slaves and
the eunuchs sitting and standing. So he looked attentively at them, and,
lo, the eunuch who took from him the fish was sitting there, with the mem-
looks in attendance upon him. And one of the memlooks called out to him;
whereupon the eunuch looked towards him, to see who he was; and, behold,
he saw the fisherman. Therefore when the fisherman knew that he saw him,
and recognized his person with certainty, he said to him, Thou hast not failed
in thy duty, O Shukeyr! 26 Thus are persons of fidelity! And the eunuch,
on hearing his words, laughed at him, and replied, By Allah, thou hast
spoken truth, O fisherman! Then the eunuch Sandal desired to give him
something, and put his hand to his pocket.
-
But just then a great clamour arose: so the eunuch raised his head, to
see what had happened; and, lo, the Wezeer Jaafar El-Barmekee was coming
forth from the Khaleefeh. Therefore when the eunuch saw him, he rose to
him, and walked before him, and they both proceeded to converse together
as they walked until the time became tedious. Khaleefeh the fisherman
waited a considerable while, during which the eunuch looked not towards
him; and when his standing was tedious to him, the fisherman placed him-
self opposite to him, but at a distance from him, and, making a sign to him
with his hand, said, O my master Shukeyr, let me go! And the eunuch heard
him, but was ashamed to return him a reply, on account of the presence
of the Wezeer Jaafar. He continued to converse with the Wezeer, and so
to divert himself from attending to the fisherman. So Khaleefeh said, O
delayer of the payment of thy debt, may God disgrace every sulky person,
and every one who taketh the goods of others and acteth sulkily to them! I
place myself under thy protection, O my master Kerish-en-Nukhál,27 beg-
ging thee to give me what is my due, that I may go!
The eunuch heard him; but he was abashed at Jaafar; and Jaafar also
saw him as he made signs with his hands and talked to the eunuch, though
he knew not what he said to him; and he said to the eunuch, disapproving
of his conduct, O eunuch, what doth this poor beggar demand of thee? San-
dal the eunuch therefore said to him, Dost thou not know this man, O our
lord the Wezeer? The Wezeer Jaafar answered, By Allah, I do not know
him! And how (he added) should I know this man when I have not seen
him before the present time? So the eunuch replied, O our lord, this is the
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
861
fisherman whose fish we seized from the bank of the Tigris. I got not any,
and was ashamed to return to the Prince of the Faithful without aught, all
the memlooks having taken. But when I came to him, I found him standing
in the midst of the river, supplicating God, and having with him four fish.
I therefore said to him, Give me what thou hast with thee, and receive their
price. And when he gave me the fish, I put my hand into my pocket, desiring
to give him something; but found not in it aught: wherefore I said to him,
Come to me in the palace, and I will give thee something by means of which
thou mayest seek aid against thy poverty. Accordingly he came to me this
day, and I put forth my hand with the desire of giving him something, and
thou camest: so I arose to wait upon thee, and was diverted by thee from
attending to him, and the case became tedious to him. This is his story, and
this is the reason of his standing here.
And when the Wezeer heard the words of the eunuch, he smiled at them,
and said, O eunuch, how is it that this fisherman hath come in the time of
his need, and thou hast not accomplished his affair? Dost thou not know
him, O chief of the eunuchs? He answered, No. And Jaafar said, This
is the teacher of the Prince of the Faithful, and his partner; and our lord
the Khaleefeh hath risen this day with contracted bosom, mourning heart,
and troubled mind, and there is nothing that will dilate his bosom except
this fisherman. So let him not go until I consult the Khaleefeh respecting
him, and bring him before him. Perhaps God will dispel his grief, and con-
sole him for the loss of Koot-el-Kuloob, by means of his presence, and he
will give him something wherewith to seek for himself aid; and thou wilt be
the cause of that. The eunuch therefore replied, O my lord, do what thou
desirest; and may God (whose name be exalted!) preserve thee as a pillar
of the dynasty of the Prince of the Faithful! May God perpetuate its
shadow, and keep its branch and its root!
-
The Wezeer Jaafar then went to the Khaleefeh, and the eunuch com-
manded the memlooks that they should not quit the fisherman. So there-
upon Khaleefeh the fisherman said, How excellent is thy beneficence, O
Shukeyr! The demander hath become demanded; for I came to demand
my money, and they have imprisoned me for the arrears! 28 - And when
Jaafar went in to the Khaleefeh, he saw him sitting, hanging down his head
towards the ground, with contracted bosom, full of solicitude, singing some
plaintive verses; and Jaafar, standing before him, said, Peace be on thee,
O Prince of the Faithful, and defender of the dignity of the religion, and
descendant of the uncle of the Chief of Apostles-may God bless and save
him and all his family! - The Khaleefeh therefore raised his head, and re-
plied, And on thee be peace, and the mercy of God, and his blessings! And
Jaafar said, With the permission of the Prince of the Faithful, may his serv-
ant speak, and not be restrained? The Khaleefeh replied, And when was re-
straint as to speech put upon thee? Thou, being the chief of the Wezeers,
shalt speak what thou wilt. So the Wezeer Jaafar said to him, I went forth,
O our lord, from before thee, desiring to repair to my house, and I saw thy
862
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
master and thy teacher and thy partner, Khaleefeh the fisherman, standing
at the gate, and he was displeased with thee, and was complaining of thee,
and saying, Extolled be the perfection of God! I have taught him the art
of fishing, and he went to bring me two great baskets, and returned not to
me; and this is not consistent with the condition of partnership nor the con-
dition of teachers. Therefore if thou desire to be a partner, no harm:
but if not, inform him, that he may take some other than thyself as partner.
And when the Khaleefeh heard his words, he smiled, and the contraction
of the bosom that he suffered ceased; and he said to Jaafar, By my life I
conjure thee to tell me, is it true that thou sayest, that the fisherman is
standing at the gate? Jaafar answered, By thy life, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, he is standing at the gate. And thereupon the Khaleefeh said, O Jaafar,
by Allah, I will assuredly endeavour to accomplish that which is his due;
and if God send him, by my means, misery, he obtaineth it; and if He send
him, by my means, prosperity, he obtaineth it. Then the Khaleefeh took a
piece of paper, and cut it in pieces, and said, O Jaafar, write with thine own
hand twenty sums of money, from a piece of gold to a thousand pieces of
gold; and the posts of Wálee and Emeers, from the least office to that of
Wezeer; 29 and twenty kinds of punishment, from the slightest chastisement
to slaughter. And Jaafar replied, I hear and obey, O Prince of the Faith-
ful. He wrote the papers with his own hand, as the Khaleefeh commanded
him; and after that, the Khaleefeh said, O Jaafar, I swear by my pure fore-
fathers, and my connection by lineage with Hamzeh and 'Akeel, 30 that I
desire to cause Khaleefeh the fisherman to be brought, and I will order him
to take one of these papers, the inscription of which none shall know except
me and thee; and whatever is written upon it, I will give him possession
thereof: even if upon it be written the office of Wezeer, I will make him
possessor of it; and if upon it be written hanging, or amputation, or slaugh-
ter, I will do unto him accordingly. So go, and bring him unto me.
When Jaafar, therefore, heard these words, he said within himself, There
is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! Perhaps there
will prove to be the lot of this poor man something that will occasion his de-
struction, and I shall be the cause. But the Khaleefeh hath sworn: so it
only remaineth for him to enter; and nought will happen but what God
desireth. He then went to Khaleefeh the fisherman, and laid hold of his
hand, desiring to enter with him; and upon this, the reason of Khaleefeh
fled from his head, and he said within himself, How have I trifled, that I
have come to this ill-omened slave Shukeyr, and he hath brought me into the
company of Kerish-en-Nukhál! Jaafar ceased not to proceed with him, the
memlooks being behind him and before him, and Khaleefeh saying, Is not
imprisonment enough, that these are behind me and before me, preventing
my fleeing? Jaafar still went on with him until he had passed through
seven antechambers, when he said to Khaleefeh, Wo to thee, O fisherman!
Thou wilt stand before the Prince of the Faithful, and the defender of the
dignity of the religion. Then he raised the grand curtain, and the eye of
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
863
Khaleefeh the fisherman fell upon the Khaleefeh, who was sitting upon his
couch, with the lords of the empire standing in attendance upon him; and
when he knew him, he advanced to him and said, A friendly and free wel-
come to thee, O piper! It is not right in thee to become a fisherman, and
leave me sitting to keep watch over the fish, and go, and not return, so that
I was not aware when the memlooks advanced, upon beasts of various col-
ours, and snatched the fish from me, while I stood alone. All this was occa-
sioned by thee; for if thou hadst come with the great baskets, quickly, we
should have sold of them for a hundred pieces of gold. But I came to de-
nand my due, and they imprisoned me. And who imprisoned thee also in
this place? And the Khaleefeh smiled, and, lifting up the edge of the
curtain, put forth his head from beneath it, and said to him, Advance, and
cake for thee one of these papers.
---
-
So Khaleefeh the fisherman said to the Prince of the Faithful, Thou
vast a fisherman, and I see thee to-day to have become an astrologer. But
when a man's trades become many, his poverty becometh great. Upon this,
Jaafar said, Take the paper speedily, without talking, and do as the Prince
of the Faithful hath commanded thee. Accordingly Khaleefeh the fisher-
nan advanced, and put forth his hand, and said, Far be it from me that this
›iper should be again my young man, and fish with me! He then took the
paper, and handed it to the Khaleefeh, and said, O piper, what hath proved
o be written upon it as my lot? Conceal not of it aught. The Khaleefeh
herefore took it and handed it to the Wezeer Jaafar, saying to him, Read
vhat is upon it. And Jaafar looked at it, and said, There is no strength nor
Dower but in God, the High, the Great! So the Khaleefeh said, Good news,3
) Jaafar! What hast thou seen upon it? He answered, O Prince of the
Faithful, there hath proved to be written upon the paper, The fisherman shall
eceive a hundred blows with a staff. And thereupon the Khaleefeh com-
nanded that he should have a hundred blows with a staff inflicted upon him;
nd they complied with his command; and when they had done so, Kha-
eefeh arose, saying, Accursed be this game, O Kerish-en-Nukhál!
risonment and beating among the conditions of the game?
---
31
Are im-
Upon this, Jaafar said, O Prince of the Faithful, this poor man hath
ome to the great river,32 and how shall he return thirsty? We hope that
y the beneficence of the Prince of the Faithful he may be allowed to take
or himself another paper, and perhaps there may prove to be written upon
t as his lot something good, so that he may return with it, to have recourse
o it for aid against his poverty. The Khaleefeh replied, By Allah, O
aafar, if he take paper, and slaughter prove to be the lot written for him
pon it, I will assuredly slay him, and thou wilt be the cause. Jaafar re-
ɔined, If he die, he will be at rest. And upon this, Khaleefeh the fisherman
aid to him, May God not rejoice thee with good tidings! Have I made
Baghdad strait unto you, that ye seek my slaughter? But Jaafar replied,
ake for thyself a paper, and beg success of God, whose name be exalted!
nd he put forth his hand, and took a paper, and gave it to Jaafar, who
----
864
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
took it from him, and read it, and was silent. The Khaleefeh therefore s
to him, Why art thou silent, O son of Yahyà? He answered, O Prince of 1
Faithful, there hath proven to be written upon the paper, The fisherm
shall not be given any thing. And the Khaleefeh said, There is no good f
tune for him to obtain from us. Tell him to depart from before my face.
But Jaafar said, By thy pure forefathers, let him take the third! Perha
good fortune may betide him by it. And the Khaleefeh replied, Let hi
take for himself one paper more, and nought beside it. So he stretch
forth his hand, and took the third paper; and, lo, on it was written, T
fisherman shall be given a piece of gold. Jaafar therefore said to Khaleefe
I sought for thee prosperity; but God would not that aught should fa
to thy lot save this piece of gold. Khaleefeh replied, Every hundr
blows with a staff for a piece of gold are abundant good fortune. Ma
God not make thy body to be healthy! And the Khaleefeh laughed
him.
-
Jaafar then took the hand of Khaleefeh, and went forth with him; an
when he came to the gate, Sandal the eunuch saw him, and said to hin
Come hither, O fisherman! Bestow upon us a present from that which th
Prince of the Faithful hath given thee while jesting with thee And Kha
leefeh replied, By Allah, thou hast spoken truth, O Shukeyr! And dost tho
desire to share with me, O black-skinned, when I have had a hundred blow
with a staff and received one piece of gold? Thou art absolved of respon
sibility with respect to it. Then he threw the piece of gold to the eunuch
and went forth, his tears running down upon the surface of his cheek. S
when the eunuch saw him in this state, he knew that he had spoken truth
he therefore went towards him, and called out to the pages, Bring him back
Accordingly they brought him back; and the eunuch put his hand to his
pocket, and took forth from it a red purse, which he opened and shook, and
lo, in it were a hundred pieces of gold; and he said, O fisherman, take this
gold as the price of thy fish, and go thy way. So thereupon, Khaleefeh the
fisherman rejoiced.
He took the hundred pieces of gold, and the Khaleefeh's piece of gold, and
went forth; he had forgotten the beating. And as God (whose name be ex-
alted!) desired the accomplishment of an event that He had decreed, Kha-
leefeh the fisherman passed through the market for female slaves; and he
saw a large ring of persons, comprising many people; upon which he said
within himself, What are these people? Then he advanced and made his
way among the people, who consisted of merchants and others; and the mer-
chants said, Make room for the nákhoodah Zuleyt! So they made room
for him; and Khaleefeh looked, and lo, there was a sheykh upon his feet,
and before him was a chest, upon which was sitting a eunuch; and the sheykh
was crying and saying, O merchants, O possessors of riches, who will hazard
and hasten to give his money for this chest of which the contents are un-
known, from the palace of the lady Zubeydeh the daughter of El-Kásim, the
wife of the Prince of the Faithful, Er-Rasheed? At what sum shall it be
33
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
865
--
innounced for you? May God bless you! Upon this, one of the mer-
hants said, By Allah, this is a hazarding; but I will say something for
which I shall not be blamable. Be it mine for twenty pieces of gold. — An-
ther said, For fifty pieces of gold. And the merchants increased their
›iddings for it until the sum offered amounted to a hundred pieces of gold;
vhen the crier said, Have ye any addition to make, O merchants? And
Khaleefeh the fisherman said, Be it mine for a hundred pieces of gold and
ne. So when the merchants heard the words of Khaleefeh, they imagined
hat he was jesting; and they laughed at him, and said, O eunuch, sell it
o Khaleefeh for the hundred pieces of gold and one. And the eunuch re-
lied, By Allah, I will not sell it save to him! Take it, O fisherman. May
God bless thee in it! And give me the gold.
Khaleefeh therefore took forth the gold, and delivered it to the eunuch,
nd the contract was concluded. The eunuch then gave away the gold in
Ims in the place where he stood, and returned to the palace, and acquainted
he lady Zubeydeh with that which he had done; whereat she rejoiced. Kah-
efeh the fisherman took the chest upon his shoulder; but he could not carry
: so, on account of the greatness of its weight; wherefore he carried it upon
is head, and came with it to the quarter in which he dwelt, and put it down
rom his head. He had become fatigued; and he sat meditating upon the
vents that had happened to him, and began to say within himself, Would
hat I knew what is in this chest! Then he opened the door of his abode,
nd laboured to remove the chest until he had brought it into his abode;
fter which he laboured to open it; but was not able. So he said within him-
elf, What hath happened to my reason, that I have bought this chest? I
just break it, and see what is in it. And he applied himself to open the
ck; but could not; and he said within himself, I will leave it till the
Iorrow.
-
He then desired to sleep; but found not a place in which to sleep, for the
nest was just of the size of the chamber in length and breadth. He there-
re got upon it, and slept on it; and after he had remained a while, some-
ing moved; whereupon Khaleefeh was frightened, and sleep fled from him,
nd his reason also took flight. He arose and said, It seemeth that there are
nn in it. Praise be to God who caused me not to open it! For if I had
pened it, they would have come upon me in the dark and destroyed me,
id no good would have betided me from them. Then he returned and lay
›wn again; and lo, the chest moved a second time, more than the first time.
haleefeh therefore arose and stood up, and said, This is another time; but
is alarming! And he hastened to get a lamp; but found it not, and he
id not aught wherewith to buy a lamp. So he went forth from the house,
id called out, O people of the quarter! And most of the people of the
arter were sleeping; and they awoke at his cry, and said, What aileth thee,
Khaleefeh? He answered, Come to me with a lamp; for the Jinn have
me forth upon me! They therefore laughed at him, and gave him a lamp,
d he took it and went with it into his abode. He then beat the lock of
866
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the chest with a stone, and broke it, and opened the chest; and, lo, he beh
a damsel like a hooreeyeh, lying in the chest.
She had been stupefied with benj, and having then vomited the be
and recovered her senses, she opened her eyes, and became sensible of
confinement, and moved. So when Khaleefeh saw her, he rose to her, a
said, By Allah, O my mistress, whence art thou? And she opened her ey
and said, Bring me Yásemeen and Narjis.34 Khaleefeh replied, There
nothing here but temer-hennà.35 And upon this she recovered her consciou
ness, and, seeing Khaleefeh, she said to him, What art thou? Then she sa
And where am I? He answered her, Thou art in my house. She said, Am
not in the palace of the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed? He replied, What
Er-Rasheed, O mad woman? Thou art nought but my slave-girl, and th
day I bought thee for a hundred pieces of gold and one, and brought thee
my house, and thou wast in this chest, asleep. And when the damsel hear
his words, she said to him, What is thy name? He answered, My name
Khaleefeh. And how is it (he added) that my star hath become fortunat
when I know that my star was not so? And she laughed and said, Ceas
to trouble me with these words. Hast thou any thing to be eaten?
answered, By Allah, I have not even any thing to be drunk; and I, by Allal
have passed two days without eating aught, and I am now in want of a mo
sel. So she said to him, Hast thou not any money? He replied, Allah pre
serve this chest which hath reduced me to poverty! For I have given wha
I had for it, and become a bankrupt. And the damsel laughed at him, an
said, Arise, seek of thy neighbours something that I may eat; for I an
hungry.
-
- H
Khaleefeh therefore arose and went forth from the chamber, and crie
out, O people of the quarter! And they were sleeping: so they awoke and
said, What aileth thee, O Khaleefeh? He answered, O my neighbours, I an
hungry, and I have not any thing for me to eat. And upon this, one came
down to him with a cake of bread, and another with a fragment of bread
and another with a bit of cheese, and another with a cucumber. Thus his
lap was filled, and he entered the chamber, and put the whole before her
saying to her, Eat. But she laughed at him, and said to him, How shall I
eat of this, when I have not a mug of water whereof to drink, so that I fear
I may be choked with a morsel, and die? Khaleefeh therefore said, I will
fill for thee this jar. And he took the jar, and went forth into the midst of
the quarter, and called out, O people of the quarter! So they said to him,
What is thy misfortune this night, O Khaleefeh? And he answered them,
Ye gave me, and I have eaten; but I am thirsty: therefore give me to
drink.
And this one came down to him with a mug, and this with a ewer, and this
with a water-bottle; and he filled the jar, went with it into the chamber,
and said to the damsel, O my mistress, there remaineth to thee no want. She
replied, True: there remaineth to me no want at present. He then said to
her, Speak to me, and tell me thy story. And she replied, Wo to thee! If
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
867
Š
thou know me not, I will acquaint thee with myself. I am Koot-el-Kuloob,
the slave-girl of the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed. The lady Zubeydeh
hath become jealous of me, and stupefied me with benj, and put me into this
chest. Then she said, Praise be to God that this easy event happened, and
that another event happened not! But this happened not to me save for
the sake of thy good fortune; for thou wilt undoubtedly receive from the
Khaleefeh Er-Rasheed a large sum of money, that will be the cause of
thy becoming rich. Upon this, Khaleefeh said to her, Is not he Er-Rasheed
in whose palace I was imprisoned? She answered, Yes. And he said, By
Allah, I have not beheld any one more avaricious than he, that piper of lit-
tle goodness and intellect! For he caused me to receive, yesterday, a hundred
blows with a staff, and gave me one piece of gold, although I had taught him
the art of fishing, and made him my partner; and he acted perfidiously to
me. So she said to him, Abstain from this foul language, and open thine
eyes, and behave respectfully when thou seest him after this; for if so, thou
wilt attain thy desire. And when he heard her words, he was as though he
had been sleeping, and awoke; and God removed the veil from the judgment,
for the sake of his good fortune; wherefore he replied, On the head and the
eye. Then he said to her, In the name of Allah, sleep.
According she arose, and laid herself down and slept, and he slept at a
distance from her until the morning; and when she arose in the morning,
she demanded of him an inkhorn and a piece of paper. So he brought them
to her; and she wrote to the merchant who was the companion of the Kha-
leefeh, acquainting him with her case, and the events that had happened to
her; that she was in the abode of Khaleefeh the fisherman, and that he had
purchased her. Then she gave to him the paper, and said to him, Take this
paper, and go with it to the jewel-market, and inquire for the shop of Ibn-
El-Kirnás the jeweller, and give him this paper without speaking. Kha-
leefeh therefore replied, I hear and obey. He took the paper from her
hand, and went with it to the jewel-market, and inquired for the shop of
Ibn-El-Kirnás. So they directed him to it, and he came to him and saluted
him, and he returned his salutation, but despised him, and said to him,
What dost thou want? And he handed to him the paper, which he took;
but he read it not, imagining that he was a pauper, who desired of him
an alms; wherefore he said to one of his pages, Give him half a piece of
silver. So Khaleefeh said to him, I have no need of alms; but read thou the
paper.
He therefore took the paper and read it, and he understood its contents;
and when he knew what it contained, he kissed it, and put it on his head,
and, rising, he said to Khaleefeh, O my brother, where is thy house?
Khaleefeh said to him, And what desirest thou with regard to my house?
Is it thy desire to go to it to steal my slave-girl? - He answered him, No:
but I will buy for thee something that thou shalt eat with her. So there-
upon Khaleefeh replied, My abode is in such a quarter. And the jeweller
said to him, Thou hast done well. May God not give thee health, O
868
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
unfortunate! 36 Then he cried out to two of his black slaves, and said to
them, Go with this man to the shop of Mohsin the money-changer, and say
to him, O Mohsin, give this person a thousand pieces of gold, — and return
ye with him to me speedily. Accordingly the two slaves went with Kha-
leefeh to the shop of the money-changer, and said to him, O Mohsin, give
this man a thousand pieces of gold. He therefore gave him them, and
Khaleefeh took them, and returned with the two slaves to the shop of their
master; whom they found riding upon a light-paced mule worth a thousand
pieces of gold, with the memlooks and pages around him, and by the side
of his mule was a mule like it, saddled and bridled. The jeweller then said
to Khaleefeh, In the name of Allah, mount this mule. But Khaleefeh replied,
I will not mount. By Allah, I fear that she would throw me. The
merchant Ibn-El-Kirnás, however, said to him, By Allah, thou must mount.
So Khaleefeh advanced to mount her, and he mounted her back-foremost,
and laid hold of her tail, and cried out; whereupon she threw him on the
ground, and the people laughed at him; and he rose and said, Did I not say
to thee, I will not mount this great ass?
-
Then Ibn-El-Kirnás left Khaleefeh in the market, and went to the
Prince of the Faithful, and gave him information of the damsel; after which
he returned, and removed her to his own house. And Khaleefeh went to his
house to see the damsel, and beheld the people of the quarter assembled,
and saying, Verily Khaleefeh is to-day altogether terrified! 37 Whence can
this damsel have come into his possession? - And one of them said, This
man is a mad rascal. Probably he found her in the way, intoxicated, and
carried her and brought her to his house, and hath not absented himself save
because he knew his crime. And while they were talking, lo, Khaleefeh
approached them; and they said to him, How is thy condition, O poor man?
Dost thou not know what hath happened to thee? - He answered, No, by
Allah. And they said, Just now some memlooks came and took thy slave-
girl, and they sought thee, but found thee not. So Khaleefeh said, How
did they take my slave-girl? And one said, Had he fallen in their way.
they had slain him. And Khaleefeh paid no regard to them; but returned
running to the shop of Ibn-El-Kirnás; and he saw him riding, and said to
him, By Allah, it is not right in thee; for thou divertedst my attention, and
sentest thy memlooks, and they have taken my slave-girl. And he replied.
O madman, come hither, and be thou silent!
Then he took him and conducted him to a house of handsome construc-
tion, which he entered with him, and he saw the damsel sitting in it upon a
couch of gold, surrounded by ten slave-girls resembling moons. And when
Ibn-El-Kirnás saw her, he kissed the ground before her; and she said to him.
What hast thou done with my new master, who purchased me with all that
he possessed? He answered her, O my mistress, I have given him a thousand
pieces of gold. And he related to her the story of Khaleefeh from its
beginning to its end; whereupon she laughed, and said, Blame him not; for
he is a man of the vulgar class. Then she said, And these thousand pieces
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
869
of gold besides are a present from me to him; and if it be the will of God
(whose name be exalted!), he shall receive from the Khaleefeh what will
enrich him.
Now while they were talking, lo, a eunuch from the palace of the Kha-
leefeh advanced, demanding Koot-el-Kuloob; for the Khaleefeh knew that
she was in the house of Ibn-El-Kirnás, and when he knew that, he could not
endure her absence, wherefore he gave orders to bring her. And when she
went to him, she took Khaleefeh with her. She went on until she approached
the Khaleefeh; and on her coming to him, she kissed the ground before him;
and he rose to her and saluted her and welcomed her, and asked her how
had been her state with him who had purchased her. So she answered him,
He is a man named Khaleefeh the fisherman, and here he is, standing at the
gate; and he hath mentioned to me that he hath a reckoning to make with
our lord the Prince of the Faithful, on account of the partnership that was
between him and the Prince of the Faithful in the trade of fishing. Upon
this the Khaleefeh said, Is he standing there? She answered, Yes. And
he gave orders to bring him. Therefore he came; and he kissed the ground
before the Khaleefeh, and prayed for the continuance of his glory and bless-
ings; and the Khaleefeh wondered at him, and laughed at him, and asked
him how he had conducted himself to Koot-el-Kuloob. So he told him that
he had treated her respectfully, and he repeated to him the account of all
that had happened to him from first to last, while the Khaleefeh laughed at
him. He told him the story of the eunuch, and what happened to him with
him, and how he gave him the hundred pieces of gold, in addition to the
piece of gold that he had received from the Khaleefeh. He told him also of
his entering the market, and his buying the chest for the hundred pieces of
gold and one, not knowing what was in it; and he related to him the whole
story, from the beginning to the end.
And the Khaleefeh laughed at him; his bosom became dilated, and
he said to him, We will do as thou desirest, O thou who hast con-
veyed to the owner his rightful property! Then he was silent. And
after that, the Khaleefeh gave orders to present him with fifty thousand
pieces of gold, and a sumptuous robe of honour, of the apparel of the
great Khaleefehs, and a mule; and he gave to him black slaves to serve
him. Thus he became as though he were one of the Kings of that age.
And the Khaleefeh was rejoiced at the return of his slave-girl, and knew
that all this was of the doings of the lady Zubeydeh, the daughter of
his uncle; wherefore his rage against her was excessive, and he
forsook her for a length of time, and visited her not, nor inclined to
her.
So when she was certified thereof, she was affected with great anxiety
on account of his wrath. Her complexion became sallow after redness; and
when endurance wearied her, she sent a letter to the son of her uncle, the
Prince of the Faithful, apologizing to him, and confessing her crime; and she
recited these verses:
870
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I long to experience your former approbation, that I may quench the fire of my grie
and sorrow.
O my lord, have pity for the excess of my passion; for this that I have suffered from
you is sufficient!
My patience hath failed since your estrangement, O my beloved, and what was bright in
my life you have rendered turbid.
I shall live if you fulfil the vows that you made me; and if you grant me not fulfilment.
I shall die.
Suppose I have committed a crime: forgive it. For, by Allah, how sweet is the beloved
when he pardoneth!
Therefore when the letter of the lady Zubeydeh came to the Prince of the
Faithful, and he read it, he knew that she had acknowledged her crime, and
sent to apologize to him for that which she had done. So he said within
himself, Verily God forgiveth all sins; for He is the Very Forgiving, the
Merciful.38 And he sent to her a reply to her letter, containing the expression
of his satisfaction and forgiveness, and pardon of what was past; whereupon
she experienced great joy.
The Khaleefeh then assigned Khaleefeh a monthly allowance of fifty
pieces of gold, and he acquired, in the estimation of the Khaleefeh, great
dignity and high rank, and honour and respect. Khaleefeh kissed the
ground before the Prince of the Faithful on his going forth, and went forth
walking with stately gait; and when he came to the entrance, the eunuch
who had given him the hundred pieces of gold saw him and knew him, and
said to him, O fisherman, whence came to thee all this? So he told him what
had happened to him from first to last. And the eunuch rejoiced at that,
seeing that he had been the cause of his becoming rich; and he said to him.
Wilt thou not give me a present from this wealth that hath become thine?
And Khaleefeh put his hand to his pocket, and took forth from it a purse
containing a thousand pieces of gold, which he handed to the eunuch; but
the eunuch said to him, Take thy wealth. May God bless thee in it! -And
he wondered at his generosity, and the liberality of his mind, considering
his late poverty. Khaleefeh then went forth from the eunuch, riding upon
the mule, and attended by the servants with their hands upon her haunches.
Thus he proceeded until he came to the Khán, the people diverting them-
selves with gazing at him, and wondering at the glory that had betided him:
and they advanced to him after he had alighted from the mule, and asked
him respecting the cause of that good fortune. He therefore acquainted
them with the events that had happened to him from first to last. Then he
purchased a house of handsome structure, and expended upon it a large
sum of money, so that it became perfect in beauty.
He took up his abode in that house; and when he had settled himself
in it, he demanded for himself in marriage one of the daughters of the chief
men of the city, of the beautiful damsels, and took her as his wife; and he
experienced the utmost delight, and exceeding pleasure, and happiness. He
became in a state of abundant affluence and complete prosperity; and when
he beheld himself in that state of enjoyment, he thanked God (whose perfec
THE FISHERMAN AND THE RIVER APES
871
tion be extolled, and whose name be exalted!) for the abundant affluence
and successive favours that He had bestowed upon him, praising his Lord
with the praise of the grateful. He used frequently to visit the Khaleefeh
Hároon Er-Rasheed, being well received by him, and Er-Rasheed used to
cover him with his benefits and munificence. So Khaleefeh ceased not to
ive in a state of the most perfect affluence and happiness and glory and
ilarity, enjoying abundant wealth and rising elevation, and a pleasant,
greeable life, and pure, grateful delight, until he was visited by the ter-
ninator of delights and the separator of companions. - Extolled be the
>erfection of Him to whom belong glory and permanence, and who is living,
verlasting, who will never die! 39
XXVII
ABOO-SEER THE FAITHFUL FRIEND AND ABOO-KEER THE
DECEIVER
ΤΗ
1
HERE were, in the city of Alexandria, two men, one of whom was
dyer, and his name was Aboo-Keer; and the other was a barber, an
his name was Aboo-Seer; ¹ and they were neighbours, each to the other,
the market; the shop of the barber being by the side of the shop of the dye
The dyer was a swindler, a liar, a person of exceeding wickedness: he wa
as though the temple of his head were cut out of rock, or made from th
threshold of the synagogue of the Jews: he was not ashamed of any di
graceful action that he committed among the people. It was his custon
when any one gave him a piece of stuff to dye, to demand of him the pa
first, and to make him believe that he would buy with it materials wherewit
to dye. So the man would give him the pay in advance; and when he ha
received it of him, he would expend it for food and drink. Then he woul
sell the stuff that he had received, after its owner had gone, and expend it
price for food and drink and other things. He ate nothing but what was good
of the most excellent of food; nor did he drink save of the best of the drink
that dispelled the reason.
And when the owner of the stuff came to him, he would say to him
To-morrow come to me before sunrise, and thou wilt find thy stuff dyed
Therefore the owner would go, and say within himself, One day soon followetl
another. Then he would come to him the next day, at the time appointed
and the dyer would say to him, Come to-morrow; for yesterday I was no
at leisure, having with me guests; so I was occupied in doing what was
expedient for them until they went. To-morrow, before sunrise, come and
receive thy stuff dyed. — And he would go, and come to him again on the
third day; when the dyer would say to him, Verily I was yesterday excusable;
for my wife gave birth to a child in the night, and all the day I was engaged
in transacting affairs; but, to-morrow, without fail, come and receive thy
stuff dyed. The man would therefore come to him again at the time
appointed, and the dyer would practise with him some other stratagem, of
any kind, and swear to him. And he would not cease to promise him and
to swear when he came to him, until the customer would become impatient,
and say to him, How often wilt thou say to me, To-morrow? Give me my
stuff; for I do not desire it to be dyed. And thereupon the dyer would say,
By Allah, O my brother, I am abashed at thee; but I will tell thee the truth;
and may God harm every one who harmeth men with respect to their goods!
872
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
873
so the man would say to him, Tell me what hath happened. And he would
eply, As to thy stuff, I dyed it in a manner unequalled, and spread it upon
he rope, and it was stolen, and I know not who stole it. Therefore if the
wner of the stuff were of the people of kindness, he would say to him, God
vill compensate me. And if he were of the people of malevolence, he would
ersevere in disgracing and insulting him; but nothing would he get from him,
ven if he complained of him to the magistrate.
He ceased not to do these deeds until he became notorious among the
eople, and they used to caution one another against him, and to make him.
subject of proverbs. They all abstained from employing him; and none
sed to fall into his snare save he who was ignorant of his conduct; but
otwithstanding this, he was sure to experience, every day, insult and disgrace
rom the creatures of God. So his trade became dull in consequence thereof,
nd he used to come to the shop of his neighbour the barber, Aboo-Seer, and
ɔ sit in it, facing the dyeing-shop, and looking at its door; and if he saw
ny one ignorant of his conduct standing at the door of the dyeing-shop,
nd having with him something which he desired to be dyed, he would rise
rom the shop of the barber, and say, What dost thou want, O man? He
Would answer him, Take and dye for me this thing. And he would say,
What colour dost thou desire? For, with all these bad qualities, he was able
> dye all colours; but he never acted honestly with any one, and poverty
vercame him. Then he would take the thing of the man, and say to him,
Give me the pay in advance, and to-morrow come and take the thing. And
he man would give him the pay, and depart; and after the owner of the
hing had gone his way, he would take that thing, and repair to the market,
nd sell it, and buy, with its price, meat and vegetables and tobacco ² and
-uit, and what else he required.
2
And when he saw standing at the shop any one of those who had given
im things to dye, he would not appear to him, nor shew himself to him.
'hus he continued to do for years; but it happened to him, one day, that
e received a thing of a violent man, and sold it, and expended its price;
nd its owner came to him every day; but saw him not in the shop; for
henever the dyer saw any one who had aught to demand of him, he used
› flee from him into the shop of the barber Aboo-Seer. And when that
iolent man had not found him in his shop, and this conduct of his wearied
im, he repaired to the Kádee, and, having brought one of his sergeants to
is shop, nailed up its door in the presence of a company of the Muslims,
nd sealed it; for he saw not in it aught except some earthen basins broken
pieces, and found not in it any thing to compensate him for his stuff.
hen the sergeant took the key, and said to the neighbours, Tell him to bring
e property of this man, and come to receive the key of his shop. And the
an and the sergeant went their ways.
Aboo-Seer, upon this, said to Aboo-Keer, What is thy misfortune? For
very one who bringeth to thee a thing thou makest to lose it. Whither
gone the property of this violent man? O my neighbour, he answered,

874
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
-
-
verily it was stolen from me.-Wonderful! replied Aboo-Seer. Wheney
any one giveth thee a thing, doth a thief steal it from thee? Art thou
enmity with all the thieves? But I imagine that thou liest. Acquaint
then with thy case. And he said, O my neighbour, no one has stolen fro
me aught. Then what dost thou, asked Aboo-Seer, with the men's good
He answered him, Whenever any one giveth me aught, I sell it, and exper
its price. Aboo-Seer said to him, Is this allowed thee by God? Aboo-Ke
replied, I do this only in consequence of poverty; for my trade is unprof
able, and I am a poor man, having nothing in my possession. And
proceeded to talk to him of the unprofitableness of his trade, and the littl
ness of his business; and Aboo-Seer spoke to him of the unprofitableness
his trade also, and said, I am a craftsmaster; I have no equal in this city
but no one is shaved at my shop because I am a poor man, and I ha
conceived a hatred for this art, O my brother. So Aboo-Keer the dyer sa
to him, And I also have conceived a hatred for my art on account of i
unprofitableness. But, O my brother, what is the inducement for our residin
in this town? Let me and thee journey from it, and divert ourselves in oth
countries, and our arts, which we shall carry with us, will be in demand i
all countries; and when we travel, we shall enjoy the fresh air, and be relieve
from this excessive anxiety. - And Aboo-Keer ceased not to commend trave
to Aboo-Seer until the latter became desirous of emigration. So they bot
agreed to travel, and Aboo-Keer rejoiced that Aboo-Seer was desirous o
doing so; and he recited these verses:
-
Transport thyself from home in search of eminence, and travel; for in travels are fiv
advantages:
The dispelling of anxiety, and the gaining of subsistence, and knowledge, and good man
ners, and the society of the noble.
If it be said that in travels are grief and affliction, and the disunion of friends, and the
incurring of difficulties,
The death of a man is better than his living in the abode of contempt between the
slanderer and the envier.
And when they determined to travel, Aboo-Keer said to Aboo-Seer, O my
neighbour, we have become brothers, and there is no difference between us:
so it is requisite that we recite the Fátehah 3 in confirmation of our agreement
that he of us who is occupied shall make gain and feed him of us who is
unoccupied, and whatever remaineth we will put into a chest; and when we
return to Alexandria, we will divide it between us truly and equally. Aboo-
Seer replied, And it shall be so. And they recited the Fátehah in confirma-
tion of their agreement that the occupied should make gain and feed the
unoccupied.
Aboo-Seer locked his shop, and gave the keys to its owner; and Aboo-
Keer left the key of his shop with the sergeant of the Kádee, and left the
shop closed and sealed. Then they took their things, and in the morning
they set forth, embarking in a galleon upon the sea. They departed that
day, and aid attended them; and by the complete good fortune of the barber,
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
875
-
it happened that among all who were in the galleon there was not a single
barber; and there were in it a hundred and twenty men, beside the captain
and the sailors. And when they loosed the sails of the galleon, the barber
arose and said to the dyer, O my brother, this is a sea: we stand in need
here of food and drink, and we have not with us more than a little stock of
provisions; but probably some one will say to me, Come hither, O barber:
shave me and I will shave him for a cake of bread, or for a nusf faddah,*
or for a drink of water: so I shall profit thereby; I and thou. And the dyer
replied, No harm. Then he laid down his head, and slept, while the barber
rose and took his apparatus, together with the cup, and, having put upon
his shoulder a piece of rag to serve instead of the towel (for he was a poor
nan), passed amid the passengers; and one said to him, Come hither, O
craftsmaster: shave me. So he shayed him; and when he had shaved that
nan, he gave him a nusf faddah; whereupon the barber said to him, O my
brother, I have no need of this nusf faddah; and hadst thou given me a
cake of bread, it had been a more blessed gift to me on this sea; for I have
1 companion, and our provisions are but little. And he gave him a cake of
read and a piece of cheese, and filled for him the cup with fresh water.
He therefore took those things, and came to Aboo-Keer, and said to him,
Take this cake of bread, and eat it with the cheese, and drink what is in the
cup. And he took them of him, and ate and drank.
Then Aboo-Seer the barber, after that, took his apparatus, with the rag
pon his shoulder and the cup in his hand, and went about the galleon,
mong the passengers; and he shaved one man for two cakes of bread, and
nother for a piece of cheese. Demands were made for his services; and
vhenever any one said to him, Shave me, O craftsmaster, he bargained
with him for two cakes of bread and a nusf faddah; and there being in the
alleon no barber beside him, sunset came not before he had collected thirty
akes of bread and fifteen nusf faddahs; beside which he got cheese and
lives and batárikh. Whenever he demanded any thing, they gave it him,
o that he became in possession of an abundance of things. He also shaved
he captain, and complained to him of the smallness of his stock of provisions
or the voyage; and the captain said to him, Welcome to thee! Bring thy
ompanion every night, and sup ye with me, and suffer not anxiety as long
s ye voyage with us.
6
He then returned to the dyer, and saw that he had not ceased to sleep:
o he woke him; and when Aboo-Keer awoke, he saw at his head an
bundance of bread and cheese and olives and batárikh; and he said to
boo-Seer, Whence gottest thou this? Aboo-Seer answered, From the bounty
f God, whose name be exalted! And Aboo-Keer desired to eat; but Aboo-
eer said to him, Eat not, O my brother, of this. Leave it to be of use to
s at another time. For know that I have shaved the captain, and I
omplained to him of the littleness of our stock of provisions; whereupon
e said to me, Welcome to thee! Bring thy companion every night, and
up ye with me. And the first time of our supping with the captain is to be

876
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
—
this night. Aboo-Keer however replied, I am sea-sick, and cannot
from my place: therefore let me make my supper of these things, and
thou alone to the captain. So Aboo-Seer said to him, There will be no ha
in that. And he sat diverting himself with looking at him while he ate, a
saw him cut off the mouthful as the quarryman cutteth stone from the mou
tain, and swallow it as the elephant that for days hath not eaten, bolti
one mouthful before he had quite swallowed the preceding one, and stari
at what was before him with the stare of the ghool, and blowing as blowe
the hungry bull over the straw and the beans.
And, lo, a sailor came and said, O craftsmaster, the captain saith to the
Bring thy companion, and come to supper. So Aboo-Seer said to Aboo-Kee
wilt thou arise and go with us? But he answered him, I am not able to wal
The barber therefore went alone, and he saw the captain sitting with a tab
before him comprising twenty different kinds of food, or more; and he an
his party were waiting for the barber and his companion: so when the captai
saw him, he said to him, Where is thy companion? He answered him, O m
master, he is sea-sick. And the captain replied, No harm will befall hin
His sickness will leave him. Come thou; sup with us; for I was waiting fo
thee. Then the captain set apart a dish of kebáb, and put into it some o
every kind of food, and it became enough for ten; and after the barber ha
supped, the captain said to him, Take this dish with thee to thy companion
Accordingly Aboo-Seer took it, and went with it to Aboo-Keer, whom h
saw grinding his food with his dog-teeth like the camel, and adding mouth fu
to mouthful in haste. So Aboo-Seer said to him, Did I not say to thee, Ea
not; for the captain hath abundance of good things? See then what he hath
sent thee when I informed him that thou wast sick. - Aboo-Keer replied
Give it me.
And Aboo-Seer handed to him the dish; and he took it from him, greedy
for it and for other food, like the grinning dog, or the bone-breaking lion, or
the rukh' when it pounceth upon the pigeon, or like him who hath almost
died of hunger; and Aboo-Keer, seeing some viands, proceeded to eat.
Aboo-Seer then left him, and went back to the captain, and drank coffee
with him; after which he returned to Aboo-Keer, and he saw that he had
eaten all that was in the dish, and thrown it aside empty. So he took it and
conveyed it to one of the servants of the captain, and went back to Aboo-
Keer, and slept until the morning. And on the following day, Aboo-Seer
proceeded again to shave; and whenever any thing came to him, he gave it
to Aboo-Keer, who ate and drank sitting still, not rising save when he was
obliged to do so; and every night, Aboo-Seer brought him a full dish from
the captain.
They continued in this state twenty days, until the galleon moored in
the harbour of a city; whereupon they both landed from the galleon, and
entered the city, and took for them a chamber in a Khán. Aboo-Seer fur-
nished it, and bought all that they required, and brought some meat and
cooked it, while Aboo-Keer slept from the time that he entered the chamber.
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
877
He awoke not until Aboo-Seer roused him, and put the table before him;
nd when he awoke, he ate; and after that, he said to Aboo-Seer, Blame me
ot; for I am giddy. Then he slept again. And they remained in this state
orty days. Every day the barber took his apparatus, and went about the
ity, practised his art for such remuneration as destiny allotted him, and,
eturning, found Aboo-Keer sleeping. So he would wake him; and when he
woke, he would betake himself to eating with voracity, eating as he who is
ot satiated nor contented; after which he would sleep again. He ceased not
o do thus for forty days more; and every time that Aboo-Seer said to him,
it and rest thyself, and go forth and take an airing in the city, for it is a
iverting and gay place, and there is no equal to it among the cities, -
boo-Keer the dyer would reply, Blame me not; for I am giddy. And
boo-Seer the barber did not like to trouble his heart, nor to make him
ear a word that would vex him. But on the forty-first day, the barber fell
ick, and was unable to go abroad; and he engaged the door-keeper of the
Chán to serve him gratuitously. He performed for them their affairs, bring-
ng them their food and drink; and all the while Aboo-Keer ate and slept.
The barber ceased not to employ the door-keeper of the Khán to perform
ratuitously his affairs for the space of four days; and after that, the disease
f Aboo-Seer became so violent that he was unconscious by reason of its
everity.
But as to Aboo-Keer, hunger tortured him. So he arose and searched
he clothes of Aboo-Seer, and saw in his possession a sum of money; and he
bok it, and closed the door of the chamber upon Aboo-Seer, and departed,
ithout informing any one; and the doorkeeper was in the market; wherefore
e saw him not when he went forth. Aboo-Keer then betook himself to the
arket, and clad himself in costly clothes, and proceeded to go about the
ity, and to divert himself. He saw it to be a city of which he had not found
e like among cities; but all the apparel of its inhabitants was white and
lue, without any other colour. And he came to a dyer, and saw all that was
1 his shop to be blue; and, producing to him a handkerchief, he said to him,
▸ master, take this handkerchief, and dye it, and receive thy pay. The dyer
eplied, The pay for dyeing this will be twenty pieces of silver. So Aboo-
Leer said to him, We should dye this in our country for two pieces of silver.
'he man rejoined, Go, dye it in your country; but as to me, I will not dye it
ive for twenty pieces of silver: the pay will not fall short of this sum in the
ast. Upon this, Aboo-Keer said to him, What colour dost thou desire to
ye it? The dyer answered him, I will dye it blue. Aboo-Keer said to him,
desire that thou shouldst dye it for me red. The man however replied, I
now not how to dye red. Aboo-Keer said, Green. The dyer replied, I know
ot how to dye green. Aboo-Keer said, Yellow. The dyer replied, I know
ot how to dye yellow. And Aboo-Keer proceeded to enumerate to him the
olours, one after another; but the dyer replied, We, in our country, are
>rty masters, not one more nor one less; and when one of us dieth, we teach
is son; and if he leave not a son, we are deficient by one. When one
878
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
leaveth two sons, we teach one of them; and if he die, we teach his brother.
Thus our trade is strictly regulated; and we know not how to dye any colour
except blue alone.
So Aboo-Keer the dyer said to him, Know that I am a dyer, and I know
how to dye all colours. I desire that thou wouldst take me into thy service
for pay, and I will teach thee the art of dyeing all colours, that thou mayest
glory therein over all the company of dyers. But he replied, We allow not
a stranger to enter our trade ever. Aboo-Keer said to him, And if I open for
myself alone a dyeing-shop? The man answered, Thou canst not do tha
ever. And thereupon Aboo-Keer left him, and went to the second, and he
said to him as the first had said; and he ceased not to go from dyer to
dyer until he had gone round to the forty masters; but they would not
admit him either as a hired servant or as a master. He went also to the
Sheykh of the dyers, and informed him; but he replied, We do not allow a
stranger to enter our trade.
So upon this, exceeding rage affected Aboo-Keer, and he went up to com-
plain to the King of that city, and said to him, O King of the age, I am a
stranger, and my trade is that of dyeing, and there have happened to me
with the dyers, such and such events. I dye red of various hues, as rose
colour and jujube-colour; and green of various hues, as plant-green, and
pistachio-green, and oil-green, and parrot's-wing; and black of various hues.
as coal-black and kohl-black; and yellow of various hues, as orange-colour
and lemon-colour; and he proceeded to mention to him all the colours.
Then he said, O King of the age, all the dyers who are in thy city are unable
to dye any of these colours, and they know not how to dye any colour but
blue; yet they will not admit me among them as a master nor as a hired
workman. And the King replied, Thou hast spoken truth as to that matter.
but I will open for thee a dyeing-shop, and give thee a capital, and care not
thou for them; for whosoever opposeth thee, I will hang him over the door of
his shop.
-----
He then commanded the builders, and said to them, Repair ye with this
master; go about the city with him, and whatsoever place pleaseth him, tur
out its owner, whether it be occupied by a shop or a Khán or other building
and build for him a dyeing-shop agreeable with his desire. Whatever be
commandeth to do, do it and oppose him not with respect to that which he
shall say. Then the King clad him in a handsome suit of apparel, gave
him a thousand pieces of gold, and said to him, Expend them upon thyse
until the building shall be completed. He also gave him two memlooks t
serve him, and a horse with embroidered saddle and trappings; and Abo
Keer put on the dress, and mounted the horse, and became as though he
were an Emeer. The King, moreover, appropriated to him exclusively 3
house, and gave orders to furnish it: so they furnished it for him, and he
took up his abode in it.
Then, on the following day, he mounted, and went about through the
city, with the architects before him, and he ceased not to survey until a pla
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
879
pleased him; whereupon he said, This place is good. They therefore ejected
its owner from it, and brought him to the King, who gave him, as the price
of his place, more than would have contented him, and the building proceeded
there, Aboo-Keer saying to the builders, Build thus and thus, and do thus
and thus, until they had built for him a dyeing-shop of which the equal
existed not. He then presented himself to the King, and informed him that
the building of the dyeing-shop was completed, and that only the price of
the materials for dyeing was requisite in order to commence work; upon
which the King said to him, Take these four thousand pieces of gold, and
make them thy capital, and shew me the products of thy dyeing-shop. So
he took them, and repaired to the market, and he saw the indigo to be
abundant, and [comparatively] of no price. He bought all the materials for
dyeing that he required; after which, the King sent to him five hundred
pieces of stuff, and he proceeded to dye them, and, having dyed them of all
colours, spread them [on ropes] before the door of the dyeing-shop.
Therefore, when the people passed by the shop, they saw a wonderful
sight, the like of which they had not seen in their lives; and crowds collected
at the door of the dyeing-shop, diverting themselves, and asking him and
saying to him, O master, what are the names of these colours? So he
answered them, This is red, and this is yellow, and this is green, - mention-
ing to them the names of all the colours; and they proceeded to bring to him
pieces of stuff, and to say to him, Dye for us like this and this, and receive
what thou shalt demand. And when he had finished the dyeing of the stuffs
of the King, he took them and went up with them to the court; and on the
King's seeing those dyed stuffs, he was delighted with them, and conferred
upon him exceeding favours. All the troops also brought to him stuffs,
saying to him, Dye for us thus. And he dyed for them according to their
desires, and they threw to him gold and silver. Then his fame spread abroad,
and his dyeing-shop was named the dyeing-shop of the Sultán. Prosperity
came in upon him by every way; and of all the dyers, not one could speak
to him, save only that they used to come to him and kiss his hands, and
apologize to him for their past injurious conduct to him, offering themselves
to him, and saying to him, Make us servants to thee. But he would not
accept one of them. He had male black slaves, and female slaves, and he
collected abundant wealth.
Now as to Aboo-Seer, when Aboo-Keer had closed the door of the chamber
upon him, after he had taken his money, and gone, and left him sick, in a
state of unconsciousness, he lay in that chamber, with the door closed upon
him, and remained so three days. The door-keeper of the Khán then
observed the door of the chamber, and saw it closed, and he saw not either
of these two persons until sunset, nor knew he any tidings of them. So he
said within himself, Perhaps they have travelled away without paying the
rent of the chamber, or died; or what can be their case? And he came to
the door of the chamber, and saw it closed, and he heard the groaning of
the barber within it, and saw the key in the wooden lock. He therefore

880
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
opened the door and entered, and saw the barber groaning: so he said
him, No harm shall befall thee. Where is thy companion? - And the barb
replied, By Allah, I have not yet recovered from the stupefying effects
my disease save on this day; and I called out; but no one returned me
reply. I conjure thee by Allah, O my brother, that thou look for the pur
beneath my head, and take from it five nusfs, and buy for me with the
something wherewith I may sustain myself; for I am in a state of extrem
hunger. Accordingly, the doorkeeper stretched forth his hand, and too
the purse, and he saw it empty; wherefore he said to the barber, Verily th
purse is empty: there is not in it aught.
So Aboo-Seer the barber knew that Aboo-Keer had taken what was in i
and fled; and he said to the door-keeper, Hast thou not seen my companion
He answered him, For the space of three days I have not seen him, and
imagined not any thing but that thou hadst travelled away with him. An
the barber replied, We travelled not; but he coveted my money, and he tool
it and fled, when he saw me sick. Then he wept and wailed. But the door
keeper of the Khán said to him, No harm shall befall thee; and he wil
receive the recompense of his conduct from God. The door-keeper then wen
and cooked for him some broth, and, having ladled out for him a dishful
gave it to him; and he ceased not to attend to him for the space of two
months, maintaining him from his own purse, until he perspired profusely
and God cured him of the disease that he had been suffering. After this
he rose upon his feet, and said to the door-keeper of the Khán, If God (whose
name be exalted!) enable me, I will recompense thee for thy good actions to
me; but none, save God in his bounty, will recompense. The door-keeper
however replied, Praise be to God for thy health! I did not unto thee that
service save from a desire of seeing the face of God, the Bountiful.
The barber then went forth from the Khán, and passed through the
markets, and destiny brought him to the market in which was the dyeing-
shop of Aboo-Keer. There he saw the stuffs dyed of various colours, spread
[upon ropes] at the entrance of the dyeing-shop, and the people crowding
together, diverting themselves with the sight of them. So he asked a man
of the inhabitants of the city, and said to him, What is this place, and
wherefore do I see the people crowding together? And the person whom he
asked answered him, This is the Sultán's dyeing-shop, which he founded for
a stranger named Aboo-Keer; and whenever he hath dyed a piece of stuff,
we assemble around it, and divert ourselves with the sight of his dyeing; for
there are not in our country dyers who know how to dye these colours; and
such and such events happened to him with the dyers who are in the city.
He told him what had occurred between Aboo-Keer and the dyers, and that
he had complained of them to the Sultán, who thereupon had aided him, and
built for him this dyeing-shop, and given him such and such things: and he
acquainted him with all that had happened.
Upon this, Aboo-Seer rejoiced, and said to himself, Praise be to God who
hath aided him so that he hath become a master-tradesman!
And the man
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
881
is excusable. Probably he hath been diverted from thinking of thee by his
work, and forgotten thee; but thou actedst kindly to him, and treatedst him
with generosity, when he was unoccupied; and when he seeth thee, he will
rejoice in thee, and treat thee with generosity, like as thou treatedst him.
He then advanced towards the door of the dyeing-shop, and saw Aboo-Keer
sitting upon a high mattress upon a mastabah at the door of the dyeing-shop,
with a suit of the apparel of Kings upon him, and before him four black
slaves and four white memlooks wearing the most sumptuous apparel. He
also saw the workmen, ten black slaves, standing at work; for when Aboo-
Keer bought them, he taught them the art of dyeing; and he was sitting
between the cushions, as though he were a grand Wezeer, or a most magnifi-
cent King, not doing aught with his own hand, but only saying to them, Do
so and so. Aboo-Seer stood before him, imagining that, when he should see
him, he would rejoice in him, and salute him, and treat him with generosity,
and behave courteously to him. But when eye met eye, Aboo-Keer said to
him, O scoundrel, how many times have I said to thee, stand not at the door
of this workshop? Dost thou desire to disgrace me with the people, O
thief? — And he said, Seize ye him.
-
So the slaves ran after him, and seized him, and Aboo-Keer, rising with
energy, took a staff, and said, Throw him down! Accordingly they threw
him down; and he gave him a hundred blows on his back; after which they
turned him round, and he gave him a hundred blows on his stomach, and
said to him, O villain! O deceiver! if I see thee after this day standing at
the door of this dyeing-shop, I will send thee to the King immediately, and he
will deliver thee to the Wálee, that he may strike off thy head! Walk away!
May God not bless thee! So he departed from him with broken heart by
reason of the beating and the contemptuous treatment that had befallen
him; and the persons present said to Aboo-Keer the dyer, What hath this
man done? Whereupon he answered them, He is a thief, who stealeth the
stuffs of the people; for he hath often stolen stuffs from me, and I said within
myself, May God pardon him! for he is a poor man. And I would not
trouble him; but would give the people the prices of their stuffs, and forbid
him gently; yet he would not abstain. So if he return again after this time,
I will send him to the King, and he will slay him, and relieve the people
from his mischief. — The people therefore reviled him after his departure.
Aboo-Seer returned to the Khán, and sat reflecting upon that which Aboo-
Keer had done to him; and he ceased not to sit until the pain of the beating
became alleviated, when he went forth and passed through the markets of
the city, and it occurred to his mind that he should enter the bath. So he
asked a man of the inhabitants of the city, and said to him, O my brother,
which is the way to the bath? But the man said to him, And what is the
bath? He replied, A place in which people wash themselves, to remove the
impurities that are upon them, and it is of the best of the good things of the
world. Upon this the man said to him, Betake thyself to the sea. He
replied, I desire the bath. But the man said to him, We know not what kind

882
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of thing the bath is: we all of us go to the sea: even the King, when 1
desireth to wash himself, goeth to the sea.
So when Aboo-Seer knew that there was not a bath in the city, and th
its inhabitants knew not the bath, nor what kind of thing it was, he repaire
to the council of the King, and went in to him, and, having kissed the groun
before him, and prayed for him, said to him, I am a man of a strange countr
and my trade is that of a bath-keeper, and I entered thy city, and desire
to repair to the bath, but saw not in it even one bath; and how is it that th
city which is of this beautiful description is without a bath, which is one
the best of the delights of the world? So the King said to him, What is th
bath? He proceeded, therefore, to describe it to him, and said to him, Th
city will not be a perfect city unless there be in it a bath. And upon th
the King said to him, Welcome to thee! And he clad him in a suit of appare
of which the like existed not, gave him a horse and two black slaves, an
bestowed upon him four female slaves, and two memlooks. He also prepare
for him a furnished house, and treated him with more honour than the dyer
and he sent with him the builders, saying to them, In the place that shal
please him, build ye for him a bath.
So he took them and went with them through the midst of the city, unti
a place pleased him, when he pointed it out to them, and they commence
the building there. He proceeded to direct them as to the manner of it
construction until they had built for him a bath of which there existed no
the like; whereupon he ordered them to paint it; and they painted it in an
admirable manner, so that it became a delight to the beholders. He ther
went up to the King, and acquainted him with the completion of the building
of the bath, and its painting, and said to him, There is nothing wanting bu
the furniture. The King therefore gave him ten thousand pieces of gold; and
he took them, and furnished the bath, and arranged in it the napkins upon
the ropes; and every one who passed by the door of the bath gazed at it in
astonishment, and his mind was confounded at the sight of its painting.
The people crowded about that thing of which they had not seen the like
in their lives, and they proceeded to divert themselves with the sight of it.
saying, What is this? And Aboo-Seer answered them, This is a bath. And
they wondered at it. Then he heated the water, and set the bath in action.10
He made also a fountain in the basin, such as captivated the reason of every
one of the inhabitants of the city who beheld it. And he demanded of the
King ten memlooks under the age of manhood; whereupon the King gave
him ten memlooks like moons; and Aboo-Seer betook himself to rubbing
them with the bag, and said to them, Do with the bathers thus. He then
gave vent to the fumes of the incense, and sent a crier to cry in the city, and
to say, O creatures of God, repair to the bath, which is named the bath of
the Sultán! So the people came thither, and he ordered the memlooks to
wash the bathers. The people descended into the tank, and came up; and
after they had come up, they sat upon the leewán, while the memlooks rubbed
them as Aboo-Seer had taught them; and the people continued to enter the
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
883
ath, and to gratify their desire thereby, and go forth, without paying, for
he space of three days.
After that, on the fourth day, Aboo-Seer invited the King to the bath.
o he mounted with the great men of his empire, and they went thither. He
ulled off his clothes, and entered [the inner apartment], and Aboo-Seer
tered, and rubbed the King with the bag, removing from his person the
pure particles like twists of thread, and shewing them to him; whereat the
ing rejoiced. The putting his hand upon his body made a sound, by reason
its smoothness and cleanness. And after Aboo-Seer had washed his skin,
è mixed for him some rose-water with the water of the tank, and the King
escended into the tank and came forth, and his skin was softened, and he
perienced a liveliness which in his life he had never known before. Then,
ter that, Aboo-Seer seated him upon the leewán, and the memlooks pro-
eded to perform upon him the operation of gently rubbing and pressing him,
hile the perfuming vessels diffused the odour of aloes-wood. And the
ing said, O master, is this the bath? Aboo-Seer answered, Yes. And the
ing said to him, By my head, my city hath not become a city save by this
th. He then said to him, What wilt thou take as pay for each person?
000-Seer answered, What thou shalt command me I will take. And he
dered him to take a thousand pieces of gold, saying to him, From every
e who washeth in thy bath take a thousand pieces of gold. But Aboo-Seer
plied, Pardon, O King of the age! Verily all men are not alike; for among
em is the rich, and among them is the poor; and if I took from every one
thousand pieces of gold, the bath would become void, since the poor man
nnot pay the thousand pieces of gold. So the King said, And how then
It thou act with respect to the pay? Aboo-Seer answered, I will regulate
→ pay generously; and every one who can afford a thing, his soul consenting
it, shall give that thing. Thus we shall take from every man according
his condition; for if the case be so, the people will come to us; and he
o is rich will give according to his rank, while he who is poor will give
at to which his soul consenteth. If the case be thus, the bath will be in
ion, and it will be in excellent condition; but as to the thousand pieces
gold, it is the gift of the King, and every one cannot afford it.
And the great men of the empire pronounced his words to be true, and
d, This will be the right course, O King of the age. Dost thou imagine
at the people are all like thee, O glorious King? The King replied,
rily your saying is true; but this is a stranger, a poor man, and to treat him
h generosity is incumbent on us; for he hath made in our city this bath,
like of which we have never in our lives seen, and our city had not been
rned, and acquired importance, without it: so if we shew him generosity
giving him excessive pay, it will not be much. But they said, If thou
at him with generosity, do so by bestowing upon him of thine own wealth,
I let the King's generosity be shewn to the poor by the smallness of the
for bathing, in order that thy subjects may pray for thee; but as to the
usand pieces of gold, we are the great men of thine empire, and yet our

884
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
souls consent not to give it: how then can the souls of the poor consen
thereto? The King therefore said, O great men of my empire, every on
of you shall give him this time a hundred pieces of gold, and a memlook, and
a female slave, and a male black slave. And they replied, Yes; we will giv
him those things; but after this day, every one who entereth shall only giv
him what his soul shall consent to. And he said, There will be no harm in that
Accordingly each of the great men gave him a hundred pieces of gold
and a female slave, and a memlook, and a male black slave; and the numbe
of the great men who bathed with the King on this day was four hundred
souls. So the number of the pieces of gold that they gave him was forty
thousand; and of the memlooks, four hundred; and of the male black slaves
four hundred; and of the female slaves, four hundred: and enough was thi
gift! The King also gave him ten thousand pieces of gold, and ten memlook
and ten female slaves, and ten male black slaves. Aboo-Seer therefor
advanced and kissed the ground before the King, and said to him, O fortunat
King, endowed with right judgment, what place will contain me with thes
memlooks, and female slaves, and male black slaves? The King replied
I ordered not my grandees to do this save in order that we might collect fo
thee a great quantity of wealth; for perhaps thou hast reflected upon thy
country and thy household, and longed to see them, and desired to voyag
to thy home, and thou wilt have taken from our country a large quantity o
wealth to which thou mayest have recourse for thy subsistence as long as
thou shalt live in thy country. But Aboo-Seer rejoined, O King of the ag
(may God strengthen thee!), verily these numerous memlooks, and femal
slaves, and male black slaves, are proper only for Kings; and hadst thou
given orders to present me with ready money, it had been better for me thar
this army; for they will eat, and drink, and dress, and whatever wealth
acquire, it will not suffice them to expend for their support. And upon this
the King laughed, and said, By Allah, thou hast spoken truth; for they have
become a heavy army, and thou hast not ability to expend what will b
sufficient upon them. But wilt thou sell them to me, each one for a hundred
pieces of gold? He answered, I sell them to thee for this price.
—
So the King sent to the treasurer, desiring him to bring him the money:
and he brought it, and the King gave Aboo-Seer the price of the whole, com
plete and entire; after which he bestowed them upon their former owners
saying, Every one who knoweth his male black slave, or his female slave, o
his memlook, let him take such slave; for they are a gift from me unto you
And they complied with the command of the King, each of them taking wha
appertained to him. Aboo-Seer then said to the King, May God relieve
thee, O King of the age, as thou hast relieved me from these ghools, whom
none but God can satiate! And the King laughed at his words, and said tha
he had spoken truth, and he took the great men of his empire, and returned
from the bath to his palace.
Aboo-Seer passed the ensuing night counting the gold and putting it into
the bags and sealing them. And he had with him twenty male black slaves
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
885
nd twenty memlooks, and four female slaves to serve him. And when the
norning came, he opened the bath, and sent a crier to cry and say, Whosoever
ntereth the bath and washeth, he shall give that to which his soul shall
onsent, and what his generosity shall require him to give. He seated himself
y the chest,¹¹ and those who desired to bathe rushed upon him, every one
ho entered putting down what was easy to him to give; and evening came
ot before the chest was filled with the good gifts of God, whose name be
xalted! Then the Queen desired to enter the bath: so when this was made
nown to Aboo-Seer, he divided the day on her account into two portions,
aking from daybreak to noon the portion of the men, and from noon to
inset the portion of the women. And when the Queen came, he stationed
female slave behind the chest. He had taught four female slaves the art
f washing women and plaiting their hair, so that they became skilful per-
ormers of these arts; and the Queen, on her entering, was pleased by what
e saw, her bosom became dilated, and she put down a thousand pieces of
old. His fame spread throughout the city, and every one who entered
eated him with honour, whether he were rich or poor, and good fortune
ime in to him by every way. He became acquainted with the King's guards,
id gained companions and friends, and the King used to come to him one
y in the week, when he gave him a thousand pieces of gold; the other days
the week being for the great men and the poor; and he used to behave
ndly to the people, and to treat them with the utmost courtesy.
It happened also that the King's sea-captain came in to him in the bath
e day, whereupon Aboo-Seer pulled off his clothes, and entered [the inner
artment] with him, and proceeded to rub and press him, treating him with
ceeding courtesy. And when he came forth from the bath, he made for
m sherbet and coffee; and on the captain's desiring to give him something,
swore that he would not receive from him aught. So the captain was
ateful for his kindness, on account of the exceeding courtesy that he had
perienced from him, and his beneficence to him, and he became perplexed
specting what he should give to that bath-keeper in return for his generous
nduct to him.
Meanwhile, Aboo-Keer heard all the people eagerly talking of the bath,
ery one of them saying, Verily this bath is the delight of the world, without
ubt! If it be the will of God, O such-a-one, thou shalt go with us to-
rrow into this delectable bath.· So Aboo-Keer said within himself, I
ist go like others, and see this bath that hath captivated the minds of men.
en he put on the most sumptuous of the apparel that he had, mounted a
le, took with him four black slaves and four memlooks, who walked behind
a and before him, and repaired to the bath. He alighted at the door of the
h; and when he was at the door, he smelt the odour of aloes-wood, and
✓ men entering and men coming forth, and he saw the mastabahs fully
upied by great and small. He then entered the vestibule, and saw Aboo-
r, who rose to him, and rejoiced at seeing him; and Aboo-Keer said to
1, Is this fulfilling the covenant of the sons of the ingenuous? I have

886
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
opened for myself a dyeing-shop, and become the master-dyer of the city.
and acquainted with the King, and have become in a state of prosperity and
authority, yet thou comest not to me, nor inquirest respecting me, nor sayest
Where is my companion? I have been unable to find thee while searchin
for thee, and sending my black slaves and my memlooks to search for the
in the Kháns and in all other places; for they knew not how to find thee
nor did any one give them tidings of thee.
So Aboo-Seer replied, Did I not come to thee, and didst thou not call m
a thief, and beat me, and disgrace me among the people? And thereupo
Aboo-Keer was grieved, and said, What are these words? Art thou the person
whom I beat? - Aboo-Seer answered him, Yes; that person was myself
And Aboo-Keer swore to him a thousand oaths that he knew him not, and
said, One resembling thee used to come every day and steal people's stuffs
and I imagined that thou wast that person. And he proceeded to feig
repentance, and to strike hand upon hand, and say, There is no strength no
power but in God, the Great We have acted injuriously to thee; but woul
that thou hadst acquainted me with thyself, and said, I am such-a-one. Th
fault therefore is thine, because thou didst not acquaint me with thyself
especially as I was confounded by the multiplicity of my occupations. And
upon this, Aboo-Seer said to him, May God pardon thee, O my companion
This event was secretly predestined, and reparation is God's affair. Enter
pull off thy clothes, and bathe and enjoy thyself. - Aboo-Seer rejoined, B
Allah I conjure thee that thou pardon me, O my brother! And Aboo-See
said to him, May God acquit thee of responsibility, and pardon thee! Fo
it was an event predestined from eternity to befall me.
Aboo-Keer then said to him, And whence obtainedst thou this authority
He answered him, He who aided thee aided me; for I went up to the King
and described to him the bath, and he ordered me to build one. So Aboo
Keer replied, As thou art an acquaintance of the King, I also am his acquaint
ance; and if it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), I will caus
him to love thee and to treat thee with generosity exceeding this generosity
for my sake; for he knew not that thou wast my companion; but I wil
inform him that thou art my companion, and I will give him a charge respect
ing thee. Aboo-Seer, however, said to him, I require not any charge to b
given him; for He who moveth hearts with affection existeth; and the Kin
hath conceived a love for me, he and all his court, and given me such and
such things. He told him the story, and then said to him, Pull off thy clothe
behind the chest, and enter the bath, and I will enter with thee, that I ma
rub thee with the bag. So he pulled off the clothes that were upon him
and entered the bath, and Aboo-Seer entered with him, and rubbed him wit
the bag, washed him with soap, dressed him, and occupied himself wit
serving him until he came forth [from the inner apartment]; and when h
came forth, he brought him dinner and sherbet; and all the people wondere
at the great honour that he shewed him.
After that, Aboo-Keer was about to give him something; but he swor
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
887
that he would not receive from him aught, and said to him, Be ashamed of
this thing, seeing that thou art my companion, and there is no difference
between us. Then Aboo-Keer said to Aboo-Seer, O my companion, by Allah,
this bath is excellent; but thine art in it is deficient. So Aboo-Seer said to
him, And what is its deficiency? Aboo-Keer answered him, The remedy
that is a composition of arsenic and lime, which removeth the hair with
facility.12 Therefore make this remedy; and when the King cometh, present
it to him, and teach him how the hair falleth off by its means; for thereupon
he will love thee exceedingly, and will treat thee with honour. - And Aboo-
Seer replied, Thou hast spoken truth. If it be the will of God, I will
make that.
--
Then Aboo-Keer went forth, and mounted his mule, repaired to the King,
and went in to him, and said to him, I give thee a precaution, O King of
the age. So the King said, And what is thy precaution? And he answered
him, Information hath been given me that thou hast built a bath. The King
said, Yes: a stranger hath come to me, and I have founded the bath for him,
ike as I have founded for thee this dyeing-shop; and it is an excellent bath;
ny city hath become adorned by it. And he proceeded to mention to him
the excellencies of the bath. Aboo-Keer then said to him, And hast thou
entered it? He answered, Yes. And Aboo-Keer said, Praise be to God who
hath saved thee from the wickedness of this villain, the enemy of the religion;
nd he is the bath-keeper. The King therefore said to him, And what is his
lesire? And Aboo-Keer answered, Know, O King of the age, that if thou
nter the bath after this day, thou wilt perish.
Wherefore? said the King. He answered him, Verily the bath-keeper is
hine enemy, and the enemy of the religion; for he induced thee not to found.
his bath save because he desireth to poison thee in it. He hath made for
hee a thing; and when thou enterest the bath, he will bring it to thee, and
ill say to thee, This is a remedy: whosoever applieth it to himself, it will
ause the hair to fall off from the part with ease. And it is not a remedy:
n the contrary, it is a cause of terrible disease, and a deadly poison. The
ultán of the Christians hath promised this villain that, if he slay thee, he
ill liberate his wife and his children from captivity; for his wife and children
re in captivity in the land of the Sultán of the Christians. I also was in
aptivity with him in their country; but I opened a dyeing-shop, and dyed
or them stuffs of various colours, in consequence of which they inclined the
eart of the King to favour me, and the King said to me, What dost thou
esire? So I desired of him emancipation, and he emancipated me; and,
aving come to this city, I saw the man in the bath. I therefore asked him
nd said to him, How was effected thine escape, and the escape of thy wife
id thy children? And he answered, I and my wife and my children ceased
ɔt to remain in captivity until the King of the Christians held a court, and
was present at it among the rest, standing among the people, and I heard
em enter upon the mention of the Kings, and proceed until they mentioned
e King of this city; whereupon the King of the Christians cried, Ah! -

888
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and said, No one in the world hath overcome me except the King of such a
city; and whosoever will contrive means for me to slay him, I will give him
every thing that he shall desire. So I advanced to him, and said to him,
If I contrive means for thee to slay him, wilt thou emancipate me and my
wife and my children? And he answered me, Yes: I will emancipate you,
and I will give thee all that thou shalt desire. I then agreed with him to
do this, and he sent me in a galleon to this city. So I went up to this King,
and he built for me this bath, and there remaineth nothing for me to do but
to kill him, and go to the King of the Christians, redeem my children and my
wife, and demand of him what I desire. I therefore said, And what is the
stratagem that thou hast contrived in order to kill him? And he answered
me, It is an easy stratagem; the easiest that can be: for he will come to me
in this bath, and I have made for him something wherein is poison; and
when he cometh, I will say to him, Take this remedy, and apply it to any
part from which thou wouldst remove hair; for the hair will fall off. So he
will take it and apply it to himself, and the poison will operate within him
a day and a night, until it penetrateth to his heart, and destroyeth him, and
there will be an end of the affair. Therefore, on my hearing from him these
words, I feared for thee; because thy goodness hath imposed an obligation
on me; and I have informed thee of this.
—
So when the King heard these words, he was violently enraged; and he
said to the dyer, Conceal this secret. He then desired to go to the bath, that
he might put an end to doubt by certain assurance; and when the King
entered the bath, Aboo-Seer divested himself as he was accustomed to do,
devoted himself to the service of the King and rubbed him with the bag;
after which he said to him, O King of the age, I have made a remedy for
clearing away the hair. So he said, Bring it to me. And he brought it before
him; and the King perceived its smell to be abominable. It appeared sure
to him, therefore, that it was poison; and he was enraged, and called out to
the guards, saying, Seize him! Accordingly, the guards laid hold upon him,
and the King went forth, infused with rage, no one knowing the cause of
this rage; and by reason of the violence of the rage of the King, he informed
not any one, nor did any one dare to ask him.
He then put on his clothes, and went up to the council-chamber, and,
having caused Aboo-Seer to be brought before him, with his hands bound
behind him, he summoned the sea-captain. So he came; and when the
captain came, the King said to him, Take this villain, and put him into a
sack, and put into the sack two hundred-weight of unslaked lime, and tie up
its mouth over him and the lime; then put it into a boat, and come beneath
my palace. Thou wilt see me sitting at its window, and do thou say to me,
Shall I cast it in? Thereupon I will answer thee, Cast it. And when I have
said to thee that, cast it, that the lime may be slaked upon him, and he may
die drowned and burnt. So he replied, I hear and obey. He then took
him from before the King, to an island opposite the King's palace, and said
to Aboo-Seer, O thou, I came to thee once in the bath, and thou treatedst me
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
889
with honour, and didst what was requisite for me, and I derived great pleasure
from thee: thou sworest also that thou wouldst not receive from me pay,
and I have conceived for thee a violent love. Tell me then what was thy
case with the King, and what abominable action hast thou done to him,
that he hath become enraged against thee, and commanded me that thou
shalt die this evil death. So he replied, By Allah, I have not done any
thing, and I have no knowledge of any crime that I have committed against
him requiring this.
-
Upon this, the captain said to him, Verily thou enjoyedst, in the estima-
tion of the King, great dignity, such as none attained before thee; and every
one who is possessed of good things is envied. Perhaps then some one hath
envied thee this good fortune, and said some words injurious to thee in the
presence of the King, in consequence of which the King hath been thus
enraged against thee. But welcome to thee! No harm awaiteth thee. For
as thou treatedst me with honour without there existing any acquaintance
between me and thee, I will liberate thee. But when I liberate thee, thou
shalt remain with me on this island until a galleon shall depart from this
city towards thy country, when I will send thee in it. Aboo-Seer there-
ore kissed the hand of the captain, and thanked him for this. Then the
captain brought the lime, and put it into a sack, and he put into it a great
tone, as large as a man, and said, I place my reliance upon God. After
hat, he gave to Aboo-Seer a net, and said to him, Cast this net into the sea.
Perhaps thou wilt catch some fish. For the fish for the King's kitchen are
equired of me every day, and I have been diverted from fishing by this
alamity that hath befallen thee, and fear that the cook's young men may
ome to demand the fish and not find it; but if thou catch any thing, they
ill find it. Do so while I go and practise the stratagem that I have devised
eneath the palace, and I will pretend that I have cast thee into the sea.
nd Aboo-Seer replied, I will fish, and go thou, and may God aid thee!
The captain therefore put the sack into the boat, and proceeded until he
ime beneath the palace, when he saw the King sitting at the window, and
tid, O King of the age, shall I cast him in? And he answered, Cast him:
nd he made a sign with his hand; and, lo, a thing gleamed: then dropped
to the sea: and, behold, what dropped into the sea was the King's seal-ring.
his ring was enchanted, so that, when the King was enraged against any
e, and desired to slay him, he would make a sign to him with his right
ind, upon which was the seal-ring, and there would proceed, from the ring,
ghtning, which would strike the person to whom he made the sign, and
s head would fall from between his shoulders. And the troops obeyed him
t, nor did he subdue mighty men, save by means of this seal-ring. So when
e ring fell from his finger, he concealed the matter, being unable to say,
y ring hath fallen into the sea, through fear of the troops, lest they
ould rise against him, and slay him: wherefore he was silent.
-
But as to Aboo-Seer, after the departure of the captain, he took the net,
d cast it in the sea, and drew it; and it came forth full of fish. Then he

890
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
cast it a second time, and it came up full of fish again. He ceased not to
cast it, and it came up every time full of fish, until there was before him a
great heap of fish; whereupon he said within himself, By Allah, for a long
time I have not eaten fish. And he chose for himself a large, fat fish, and
said, When the captain cometh, I will tell him to fry for me this fish, that I
may make my dinner of it. He then killed it with a knife that he had with
him, and the knife stuck in its gill, and he saw the King's seal-ring in it;
for the fish had swallowed it, and destiny had driven it to that island, and
it had fallen into the net. So he took the ring, and put it on his little finger,
not knowing its properties; and lo, two young men, of the servants of the
cook, came to demand the fish: and when they were near Aboo-Seer, they
said, O man, whither is gone the captain? He answered, I know not: and
'made a sign with his right hand, and, behold, the heads of the two young
men fell from between their shoulders when he made a sign to them and said,
I know not. Aboo-Seer therefore wondered at that, and said, Who can have
slain them? Their case grieved him, and he was reflecting upon this event
when, lo, the captain approached, and saw a great heap of fish, and saw the
two young men slain, and the seal-ring upon the finger of Aboo-Seer.
-
So he said to him, O my brother, move not thy hand upon which is the
seal-ring; for if thou move it, thou wilt slay me. And he wondered at his
saying, Move not thy hand upon which is the seal-ring; for if thou move it,
thou wilt slay me. And when the captain came to him, he said, Who slew
these two young men? Aboo-seer answered him, By Allah, O my brother, I
know not. And the captain replied, Thou hast spoken truth; but inform me
respecting this seal-ring, whence it came to thee. He said, I saw it in the
gill of this fish. And the captain rejoined, Thou hast spoken truth; for I
saw it descending gleaming from the palace of the King till it dropped into
the sea, when he made a sign with respect to thee, and said to me, Cast him.
And when he made the sign, I cast in the sack, and the ring had dropped
from his finger, and fallen into the sea. Thereupon this fish swallowed it,
and God drove the fish to thee, so that thou caughtest it: therefore this is
thy lot. But knowest thou the properties of this seal-ring? - Aboo-Seer
answered, I don't know its properties. And the captain said, Know that the
troops of our King have not obeyed him save from fear of this seal-ring;
because it is enchanted; and when the King was enraged against any one,
and desired his slaughter, he used to make a sign to him with it, and his head
would fall from between his shoulders; for a lightning would proceed from
this ring, and its ray would reach the object of rage, who would die immedi-
ately. So when Aboo-Seer heard these words, he rejoiced exceedingly, and
said to the captain, Take me back to the city. And the captain replied, I
will take thee back, since I no longer fear for thee with respect to the King;
for when thou makest a sign with thy hand, and hast conceived the intention
of slaying him, his head will fall down before thee; and if thou shouldst desire
the slaughter of the King and all the troops, thou wouldst kill them without
impediment.
—
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
891
He then embarked in the boat, and repaired with him to the city; and
when he arrived there, he went up to the palace of the King, and entered the
council-chamber, where he saw the King sitting with the troops before him,
and he was in a state of excessive grief on account of the seal-ring, unable
to inform any one of the soldiers of the loss of the ring. So when the King
saw him he said to him, Did we not cast thee into the sea? How hast thou
contrived that thou hast come forth from it? And he answered him,
O King of the age, when thou gavest orders to cast me into the sea, thy
captain took me and proceeded with me to an island, and asked me respecting
the cause of thy rage against me, saying to me, What hast thou done unto
the King, that he hath given orders for thy death? I answered him, By Allah,
I know not that I have done unto him any foul action. And he said to me,
Verily thou enjoyedst great dignity in the estimation of the King, and perhaps
some one hath envied thee, and said some words injurious to thee in the
presence of the King, in consequence of which he hath become enraged
against thee. But I came to thee in thy bath, and thou treatedst me with
honour; and in requital of the honour that thou shewedst me in thy bath,
I will save thee, and will send thee to thy country. He then put into the
boat a stone instead of me, and cast it into the sea. But when thou madest
a sign to him with reference to me, the seal-ring fell from thy hand into the
sea, and a fish swallowed it; and I was on the island, fishing, and that fish
came up in the net among others. Thereupon I took it, desiring to broil it;
and when I opened its body, I saw the seal-ring in it. So I took it, and put
it on my finger; and there came to me two of the servants of the kitchen,
demanding the fish, and I made a sign to them, not knowing the property of
the seal-ring, and their heads fell off. Then the captain came, and he knew
the ring which was upon my finger, and acquainted me with its magic
influence. I have therefore brought it to thee; for thou hast acted kindly
to me, and treated me with the utmost generosity, and the good actions that
thou hast done me have not been lost upon me. This is thy seal-ring: so
take it, and if I have done unto thee any thing requiring my slaughter,
acquaint me with my crime, and slay me, and thou shalt be absolved of sin
in shedding my blood. He then pulled off the seal-ring from his finger,
and handed it to the King.
----
Therefore when the King saw Aboo-Seer's beneficent conduct, he received
the ring from him, and put it on his finger. His soul was restored to him,
and, rising upon his feet, he embraced Aboo-Seer, and said, O man, thou
art of the most excellent of the sons of the ingenuous! Blame me not; but
pardon me for my injurious conduct to thee. Had any one but thyself got
possession of this seal-ring, he had not given it to me. Aboo-Seer replied,
O king of the age, if thou desire that I should pardon thee, acquaint me with
my crime that required thee to be enraged against me, so that thou gavest
orders for my slaughter. The King said to him, By Allah, it hath become
manifest to me that thou art innocent, and that thou art not guilty in aught,
since thou hast done this kind action but the dyer said to me thus and thus.
--
892
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And he acquainted him with that which the dyer had said; whereupon Aboo-
Seer said, By Allah, O King of the age, I know not the King of the Christians,
nor in my life have I gone to the country of the Christians, nor did it enter
my mind to kill thee. But this dyer was my companion and my neighbour
in the city of Alexandria, and our life there became difficult so we came forth
from it, on account of the difficulty of obtaining our livelihood, and recited
together the Fatehah in confirmation of our agreement that the occupied
should feed the unoccupied; and such and such events happened to me with
him. He acquainted him with all that had happened to him with Aboo-
Keer the dyer, and how he had taken his money, and abandoned him sick
in the chamber that was in the Khán, and that the door-keeper of the Khán
used to expend upon him while he was sick, until God restored him.
-
Then he went forth and walked about the city with his apparatus, as he
was accustomed to do; and while he was in the way, he saw a dyeing-shop
before which the people were crowding, and, looking at the door of the dye-
ing shop, he saw Aboo-Keer sitting upon a mastabah there. So he entered
to salute him, and he experienced from him that beating and injurious treat-
ment; Aboo-Keer asserting that he was a thief, and inflicting upon him a
painful beating. And he acquainted the King with all that had befallen him
from first to last. Then he said, O King of the age, he is the person who
said to me, Make the remedy, and present it to the King; for the bath is
perfect in all things, saving that this remedy is wanting in it. And know,
O King of the age, that this remedy injureth not: we make it in our country,
and it is one of the requisites of the bath; but I had forgotten it; and when
the dyer came to me, and I treated him with honour, he reminded me
of it, and said to me, Make the remedy. Now send, O King of the age.
and bring the door-keeper of such a Khán, and the workmen of the dyeing-
shop, and ask them all respecting the things with which I have acquainted
thee.
So the King sent to the door-keeper of the Khán, and to the workmen of
the dyeing-shop; and when they all were present, he asked them, and they
acquainted him with the case. He therefore sent to the dyer, and said, Bring
ye him barefooted, with his head uncovered, and with his hands bound behind
him. Now the dyer was sitting in his house, happy at the thought of the
slaughter of Aboo-Seer, and he was not aware when the guards of the King
rushed upon him, and blows fell upon the back of his neck. They then bound
his hands behind his back, and came with him before the King; whereupon
he saw Aboo-Seer sitting by the side of the King, and the door-keeper of the
Khán and the workmen of the dyeing-shop standing before him. So the
door-keeper of the Khán said to him, Is not this thy companion, whose money
thou stolest, and whom thou leftest with me in the chamber sick, and to whom
thou didst such and such things? And the workmen of the dyeing-shop said
to him, Is not this he whom thou commandedst us to seize, and whom we
beat? The baseness of Aboo-Keer, therefore, was manifest to the King, and
his deserving more severe torture than that which is inflicted by Munkar
ABOO-SEER AND ABOO-KEER
893
and Nekeer: 13 so the King said, Take ye him, and parade him as an example
through the city, and put him into a sack, and cast him into the sea.
Upon this, Aboo-Seer said, O King of the age, accept my intercession for
him; for I have pardoned him all that he hath done unto me. But the King
replied, If thou hast pardoned him for his injurious conduct to thee, I cannot
pardon him for his injurious conduct to me. He then cried out and said,
Take ye him! They therefore took him and paraded him; and after that,
they put him into a sack, and put with him the lime, and cast him into the
sea: so he died drowned and burnt. Then the King said, O Aboo-Seer,
demand of me what thou wilt, and it shall be given thee. And he replied,
I demand of thee that thou send me to my country; for I no longer desire
to reside here.
The King therefore gave him an abundance of things, in addition to his
former wealth and portion and gifts, and bestowed upon him a galleon laden
with good things, the sailors of which were memlooks, whom, also, he gave
to him, after he had proposed to him that he should make him Wezeer, and
he consented not. Aboo-Seer then bade the King farewell, and set forth on
his voyage; all that was in the galleon being his property; even the sailors
being his memlooks; and he ceased not to pursue his voyage until he arrived
at the district of Alexandria, and moored by the shore of Alexandria. There-
upon they landed; and one of his memlooks saw a sack by the shore: so he
said, O my master, by the shore of the sea is a large, heavy sack, the mouth
of which is tied, and I know not what is in it. Aboo-Seer therefore came and
opened it, and he saw in it the body of Aboo-Keer; the sea having driven it
towards Alexandria. And he took the body forth and buried it in the neigh-
bourhood of Alexandria, and made for it a tomb for visitation, which he
endowed with inalienable legacies; and he inscribed over the door of the
building which enclosed the grave these verses:
A man is known among others by his actions," and the deeds of the ingenuous and
generous are like his origin.
Backbite not, lest thou be backbitten; for probably, of him who saith a thing, the like
will be said:
And abstain from shameful words: utter them not when thou speakest seriously or when
thou jestest;
For the dog, if he retain good qualities, is domesticated, while the lion is chained in con-
sequence of his ignorance;
And the carcasses of the desert float upon the sea, while the fine pearl lies neglected on its
lowest sands.
A sparrow would not offer molestation to a hawk, were it not for its folly, and the
weakness of its sense.
In the sky is written, upon the pages of the air, He who doth kind actions will experience
the like.
Attempt not to extract sugar from the colocynth; for the thing will prove to be, in taste,
like its origin.
Then Aboo-Seer remained a while, after which, God took his soul, and
they buried him near the sepulchre of his companion Aboo-Keer; and on that
894
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
account, this place was called Aboo-Keer and Aboo-Seer; but it is com-
monly known now by the name of Aboo-Keer.15 -This is what hath been
related to us of their story.. Extolled be the perfection of Him who endureth
for ever, and by whose will the nights and days interchange!
XXVIII
'ABD-ALLAH OF THE LAND AND 'ABD-ALLAH OF THE SEA AND
WHAT CAME OF THEIR MEETING
THERE was a fishermannd their mother, and was very poor, possessing
HERE was a fisherman named 'Abd-Allah, who had a numerous family:
nothing but his net. He used to go every day to the sea to fish; and when
he caught little, he sold it, and expended its price upon his children, accord-
ing as God supplied him; but if he caught much, he would cook a good dish,
and buy fruit, and cease not to expend until there remained not aught in
his possession; whereupon he would say within himself, The supply necessary
for to-morrow will come to-morrow.
Now when his wife gave birth to another, his children became ten
persons; and the man that day possessed not any thing whatever: so his wife
said to him, O my master, seek for me something wherewith I may sustain
myself. He answered her, Lo, I am going, relying upon the blessing of
God (whose name be exalted!), to the sea this day, for the luck of this
new-born child, that we may see its fortune. And she replied, Place thy de-
pendence upon God. Accordingly he took the net, and repaired to the sea.
He then cast the net for the luck of that little infant, and said, O Allah, make
his subsistence easy, not difficult; and abundant, not little! He waited over
it a while, and then drew it, and it came forth full of rubbish and sand and
pebbles and grass; and he saw not in it any fish; neither many did he see,
nor few. So he cast it a second time, and waited over it, and then drew it;
out he saw not in it fish. And he cast a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth;
out there came not up in it any fish. He therefore removed to another place,
and begged his subsistence of God (whose name be exalted!), and ceased
not to do thus till the close of the day; but caught not a single minnow.¹
And he wondered in his mind, and said, Hath God created this new-born
child without allotting it subsistence? This can never be: for He who hath
opened the jaws hath undertaken to provide for them the necessary sub-
sistence; and God (whose name be exalted!) is bountiful, a liberal supplier
of the necessaries of life.
He then took up the net, and returned with broken spirit, his heart
being occupied with care for his family, because he had left them without
food, especially as his wife had just given birth to a child. He ceased not to
walk on, saying within himself, What is to be done; and what shall I say to
he children this night? Then he came before the oven of a baker, and saw a
crowd before it. The time was a time of dearness; and in those days, there
895

896
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
existed not in the possession of the people more than a scanty supply
provisions, and the people were offering money to the baker, but he pai
no attention to any one of them, on account of the greatness of the crowd.
—
The fisherman however stood looking and smelling the smell of the ho
bread, and his soul desired it by reason of his hunger; and thereupon th
baker saw him, and called out to him, saying, Come hither, O fisherman
So he advanced to him; and the baker said to him, Dost thou desire bread
And he was silent. The baker said to him, Speak, and be not abashed; fo
God is bountiful. If thou have not with thee money, I will give thee, an
will have patience with thee until good shall betide thee. The fisherma
therefore replied, By Allah, O master, I have not money, but give me brea
sufficient for my family, and I will leave this net in pawn with thee til
to-morrow. But the baker said to him, O poor man, verily this net is as i
were thy shop, and the door of thy subsistence; and if thou give it in pawn
with what wilt thou fish? Acquaint me then with the quantity that wil
suffice thee. He replied, For ten nusf faddahs. And he gave him bread for
ten nusfs; after which he gave him also ten nusf faddahs, and said to him
Take these ten nusfs, and cook for thee by their means a dish of food; so
thou wilt owe twenty nusf faddahs, and to-morrow bring me their value in
fish, or, if nought betide thee, come, receive thy bread and ten nusfs, and I
will have patience with thee until good shall betide thee; and after that,
bring me fish to the value of that which I shall be entitled to receive from
thee. So the fisherman replied, May God (whose name be exalted!) reward
thee, and recompense thee for me with every thing good! He then took the
bread and the ten nusf faddahs, and went away happy, and, having pur-
chased for him what he easily could, went in to his wife; and he saw her
sitting, soothing the children, who were weeping by reason of their hunger,
and she was saying to them, This instant your father will bring something for
you to eat. So when he went in to them, he put down for them the bread,
and they ate; and he acquainted his wife with that which had happened to
him; whereupon she said to him, God is bountiful.
—
And on the following day, he took up his net, and went forth from his
house, saying, I beg thee, O Lord, to supply me, this day with that which
shall whiten my face 2 in the eyes of the baker! And when he came to the
sea he proceeded to cast the net and draw it; but there came not forth in it
any fish. He ceased not to do so until the close of the day, and got nothing.
So he returned in great grief; and the way to his house led by the oven of
the baker. He therefore said within himself, By what way can I go to my
house? But I will quicken my pace, that the baker may not see me.
And when he came to the oven of the baker, he saw a crowd; and he
hastened in his pace, by reason of his abashment at the baker, in order that
he might not see him: but, lo, the baker raised his eyes towards him, and
cried out, saying, O fisherman, come hither; receive thy bread and the
money for thy expenditure; for thou hast forgotten! He replied, No, by
Allah; I forgot not; but I was abashed at thee; for I have not caught any
3
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
897
sh this day. The baker said to him, Be not abashed. Did I not say to
hee, Take thy leisure, until good shall betide thee? Then he gave him the
read and the ten nusfs, and he went to his wife, and informed her of the
ews; upon which she said to him, God is bountiful. If it be the will
f God, good will betide thee, and thou shalt pay him all that is due to
im.
And he ceased not to continue thus for the space of forty days, every
ay going to the sea, and remaining from the rising of the sun to its setting,
nd returning without fish, and receiving bread, and money for his expendi-
ures, from the baker, who mentioned not to him the fish any day of those
ays, nor neglected him as men generally would have done, but gave him
he ten nusfs and the bread; and every time that the fisherman said to him,
my brother, reckon with me, he would reply, Go this is not the time for
eckoning: wait until good shall betide thee, and then I will reckon with thee.
o he would pray for him, and depart from him thanking him. And on the
ne and fortieth day, he said to his wife, I desire to cut up this net, and be
elieved of this mode of life. Wherefore? said she. He answered her, It
eemeth that my supply of subsistence from the sea is ended. And how long,
e added, shall this state continue? By Allah, I am dissolved by abashment
t the baker, and I will no more go to the sea, that I may not pass by his
ven; for there is no way for me save by his oven; and every time that I
ass by it, he calleth me, and giveth me the bread and the ten nusfs. How
ong then shall I run in debt to him? - But she replied, Praise be to God
whose name be exalted!) who hath moved his heart to favour thee so that
e giveth thee the food! And what dost thou dislike in this? - He said, I
ow owe him a great sum of money, and inevitably he will demand his due.
lis wife said to him, Hath he vexed thee with words? He answered, No;
or would he reckon with me; but would say to me, Wait until good shall
etide thee. Then, replied his wife, when he demandeth of thee, say to
im, Wait until the good that I and thou hope for shall betide. And he said.
› her, When will the good that we hope for come? She answered him, God
bountiful. And he replied, Thou hast spoken truth.
-
He then took up his net, and repaired to the sea, saying, O Lord, supply
e, if only with one fish that I may give it to the baker! Then he cast the
et in the sea, and drew it, and found it heavy; and he ceased not to labour
t it until he was violently fatigued; but when he drew it forth he saw in it
dead ass, swollen, and of abominable odour: so his soul was wearied. He
xtricated it from the net, and said, There is no strength nor power but in
iod, the High, the Great! I have been tired of saying to this woman, There
emaineth for me no means of subsistence in the sea: let me abandon this
ccupation: and of her replying, God is bountiful: good will betide thee.
s then this dead ass that good? - Exceeding grief affected him, and he went
> another place, that he might be remote from the smell of the ass, and took
ne net, and cast it, and waited over it some time. Then he drew it, and
gain found it heavy; and he ceased not to labour at it until blood issued
-

898
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
from the palms of his hands; and when he had drawn forth the net, he sa
in it a human being.*
-
So he imagined that he was an 'Efreet, of those whom the lord Suleyma
used to imprison in bottles of brass, and cast into the sea, and that, th
bottle having broken by reason of the length of years, that 'Efreet had issue
from it, and come up in the net. He therefore fled from him, and began
say, Mercy! Mercy! O 'Efreet of Suleymán! But the human being cri
out to him from within the net, saying, Come hither, O fisherman! Flee n
from me, for I am a human being like thee. Liberate me then, that the
mayest obtain my recompense. So when the fisherman heard his words, h
heart became tranquillized, and he came to him and said to him, Art tho
not an 'Efreet of the Jinn? He answered, No; but I am a man, a believer i
God and his Apostle. The fisherman said to him, And who cast thee int
the sea? He replied, I am of the children of the sea. I was going about
and thou threwest upon me the net. We are nations obedient to th
ordinances of God, and we are compassionate to the creatures of God (whos
name be exalted!); and were it not that I fear and dread being of the dis
obedient, I should have rent thy net; but I willingly submit to that which
God hath decreed to befall me; and thou, if thou deliver me, wilt become my
owner, and I shall become thy captive. Wilt thou then emancipate me with
the desire of seeing the face of God (whose name be exalted!), and mak
a covenant with me, and become my companion? I will come to thee every
day in this place, and thou shalt come to me, and bring for me a present of
the fruits of the land. For with you are grapes and figs and water-melons
and peaches and pomegranates and other fruits, and every thing that thou
wilt bring me will be acceptable from thee. And with us are coral and pearls
and chrysolites and emeralds and jacinths and other jewels. So I will fill
for thee the basket in which thou wilt bring me the fruits with minerals con-
sisting of the jewels of the sea. What then sayest thou, O my brother, of
this proposal? The fisherman answered him, Let the Fátehah be recited in
confirmation of the agreement between me and thee as to this proposal.
5
He
Accordingly each of them recited the Fátehah, and the fisherman
liberated him from the net, and said to him, What is thy name?
answered, My name is 'Abd-Allah of the Sea; and if thou come to this place,
and see me not, call out and say, Where art thou, O 'Abd-Allah, O thou of
the Sea? And I will be with thee instantly. And thou (he added), what
is thy name? The fisherman answered, My name is 'Abd-Allah. So the
other replied, Thou art 'Abd-Allah of the Land, and I am 'Abd-Allah of the
Sea. Now stay here while I go and bring thee a present. And he said, I
hear and obey. Then 'Abd-Allah of the Sea went into the sea; and there-
upon 'Abd-Allah of the Land repented of his having liberated him from the
net; and he said within himself, How do I know that he will return to me?
He only laughed at me, so that I liberated him; and had I kept him, I might
have diverted the people in the city with the sight of him, and received
money from all the people for shewing him, and entered with him the
-
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
899
houses of the great men. Therefore he repented of his having liberated
him, and said to himself, Thy prey hath gone from thy hand. But while
he was lamenting his escape from his hand, lo, 'Abd-Allah of the Sea returned
to him, with his hands filled with pearls and coral and emeralds and jacinths
and other jewels, and said to him, Receive, O my brother, and blame me not;
for I have not a basket; if I had, I would have filled it for thee. So there-
upon 'Abd-Allah of the Land rejoiced, and received from him the jewels;
and 'Abd-Allah of the Sea said to him, Every day thou shalt come to this
place before sunrise. He then bade him farewell, and departed, and entered
the sea.
But as to the fisherman, he entered the city, joyful, and ceased not to
walk on until he came to the oven of the baker, when he said to him, O my
brother, good hath betided us: therefore reckon with me. The baker replied,
No reckoning is necessary. If thou have with thee any thing, give me; and if
thou have not with thee any thing, receive thy bread, and the money for
thy expenditure, and go, and wait until good shall betide thee. So he said
to him, O my companion, good hath betided me from the bounty of God,
and I owe thee a large sum; but receive this. And he took for him a hand-
ful of pearls and corals and jacinths and other jewels, that handful being
half of what he had with him; and he gave it to the baker, and said to him,
Give me some money that I may expend it this day, until I shall sell these
minerals. He therefore gave him all the money that he had at his command,
and all the bread that was in the basket which he had with him; and the
baker was rejoiced with those minerals, and said to the fisherman, I am thy
slave and thy servant.
He carried all the bread that he had with him on his head, and walked
behind him to the house, and the fisherman gave the bread to his wife and
his children. The baker then went to the market, and brought meat and
vegetables and all kinds of fruit. He abandoned the oven, and remained all
that day occupying himself with the service of 'Abd-Allah of the Land, and
performing for him his affairs. So the fisherman said to him, O my brother,
thou hast wearied thyself. The baker replied, this is incumbent on me; for
I have become thy servant, and thy beneficence hath inundated me. But
the fisherman said to him, Thou wast my benefactor in the time of distress
and dearness. And the baker passed the ensuing night with him, enjoying
good eating; and he became a faithful friend to the fisherman. The fisher-
nan informed his wife of his adventure with 'Abd-Allah of the Sea, whereat
she rejoiced, and she said to him, Conceal thy secret, lest the magistrates
yrannize over thee. But he replied, If I conceal my secret from all other
people, I will not conceal it from the baker.
He arose in the morning of the following day, having filled a basket
with fruits of all kinds in the preceding evening, and he took it up before sun-
ise, and repaired to the sea, put it down on the shore, and said, Where art
hou, O 'Abd-Allah, O thou of the Sea? And he answered him, At thy
ervice; — and came forth to him. He therefore presented to him the fruit,

900
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and he took it up, and descended with it, diving into the sea, and was absent
a while; after which he came forth, having with him the basket full of all
kinds of minerals and jewels. So 'Abd-Allah of the Land put it upon his
head, and departed with it; and when he came to the oven of the baker, the
baker said to him, O my master I have baked for thee forty shureyks, and
sent them to thy house; and now I will bake bread of the finest flour, and
when it is done, I will convey it to the house, and go to bring thee the
vegetables and the meat. Upon this, 'Abd-Allah took for him, from the
basket, three handfuls, and gave them to him, and went to the house, where
he put down the basket, and took, of each kind of jewels, one jewel of great
value. Then he repaired to the jewel-market and, stopping at the shop of
the Sheykh of the market, said, Purchase of me these jewels. He replied,
Shew them to me. So he shewed them to him; and the Sheykh said to him,
Hast thou any beside these? He answered, I have a basket full.
Sheykh said to him, Where is thy house? He answered him, In such a
quarter. And the Sheykh took from him the jewels, and said to his servants,
Lay hold of him; for he is the thief who stole the things of the Queen, the
wife of the Sultán.
He then ordered them to beat him, and they did so, and bound his
hands behind his back; and the Sheykh arose, with all the people of the
jewel-market, and they began to say, We have taken the thief. Some of
them said, None stole the goods of such a one but this villain: - and others
said, None stole all that was in the house of such a one but he: - and some
of them said thus, and others said thus. All this while, he was silent; he
returned not to any one of them a reply, nor did he utter to him a sentence,
until they stationed him before the King; whereupon the Sheykh said, O
King of the age, when the necklace of the Queen was stolen, thou sentest and
acquaintedst us, and requiredst of us the capture of the offender; and I
strove above the rest of the people, and have captured for thee the offender.
Lo, here he is before thee, and these jewels we have rescued from his hand.
The King therefore said to the eunuch, Take these minerals, and shew them.
to the Queen, and say to her, Are these thy goods that thou hast lost?
Accordingly the eunuch took them, and went in with them before the Queen;
and when she saw them, she wondered at them, and she sent to say to the
King, I have found my necklace in my place, and these are not my property;
but these jewels are better than the jewels of my necklace; therefore act
not unjustly to the man; and if he will sell them, purchase them of him for
thy daughter, Umm-es-So'ood, that we may put them for her upon a
necklace.
8
So when the eunuch returned, and acquainted the King with that which
the Queen had said, he cursed the Sheykh of the jewellers, him and his
company, with the curse of 'Ád and Thamood; whereupon they said, O
King of the age, we knew that this man was a poor fisherman; so we deemed
those things too much for him to possess, and imagined he had stolen them.
But he replied, O base wretches, do ye deem good things too much for a
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
901
-
believer? Wherefore did ye not ask him? Perhaps God (whose name be
exalted!) hath blessed him with them in a way he did not reckon upon; and
wherefore do ye assert him to be a thief, and disgrace him among the people?
Go forth! May God not bless you! They therefore went forth in a state
of fear. The King then said, O man, may God bless thee in that which He
hath bestowed on thee! And thou hast promise of indemnity. But acquaint
me with the truth. Whence came to thee these jewels? For I am a King,
and the like of them exist not in my possession. So he answered, O King
of the age, I have a basket full of them; and the case is thus and thus. And
he informed him of his companionship with 'Abd-Allah of the Sea, and said
to him, An agreement hath been made between me and him, that I shall
every day fill for him the basket with fruits, and he shall fill it for me with
these jewels. The King therefore said to him, O man, this is thy lot; but
wealth requireth an exalted station, and I will prevent men's domineering
over thee in these days. Perhaps, however, I may be deposed, or may die,
and another may be appointed in my stead, and may slay thee on account
of his love of worldly goods, and covetousness. I therefore desire to marry
thee to my daughter, and to make thee my Wezeer, and bequeath to thee the
kingdom after me, that no one may covet thy possessions after my death.
Then the King said, Take ye this man, and conduct him into the bath.
So they took him, and washed him, and they clad him in apparel of the
apparel of Kings, and led him forth into the presence of the King, who
hereupon appointed him Wezeer unto him. He sent also the couriers, and
he soldiers of the guard, and all the wives of the great men, to his house;
and they clad his wife in the apparel of the wives of Kings, clad her children
ikewise, and mounted her in a litter; and all the wives of the great men,
ind the troops and the couriers, and the soldiers of the guard, walked before
her, and conducted her to the King's palace, with the little infant in her
bosom. They brought in her elder children to the King, who treated them
vith honour, took them upon his lap, and seated them by his side. And they
vere nine male children; and the King was destitute of male offspring, not
aving been blessed with any child except that daughter, whose name was
Jmm-es-So'ood. And as to the Queen, she treated the wife of 'Abd-Allah
of the Land with honour, and bestowed favours upon her, and made her
Vezeereh to her. The King gave orders to perform the ceremony of the
ontract of the marriage of 'Abd-Allah of the Land to his daughter, and
e assigned as her dowry all the jewels and minerals that he had, and they
ommenced the festivity! the King commanding that a proclamation should
e made to decorate the city on account of the marriage-festivity of his
aughter.
Then, on the following day, after 'Abd-Allah of the Land had introduced
imself to the King's daughter, the King looked from the window, and saw
Abd-Allah carrying upon his head a basket full of fruits. So he said to
im, What is this that is with thee, O my son-in-law, and whither goest thou?
He answered, To my companion, 'Abd-Allah of the Sea. The King said to

902
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
him, O my son-in-law, this is not the time to go to thy companion. But 1
replied, I fear to be unfaithful to him with respect to the time of promis
for he would reckon me a liar, and say to me, Worldly matters have diverte
thee from coming to me. And the King said, Thou hast spoken truth. Go 1
thy companion. May God aid thee! 10 So he walked through the city, c
his way to his companion, and, the people having become acquainted wit
him, he heard them say, This is the son-in-law of the King, going to e
change the fruits for the jewels. And he who was ignorant of him, an
knew him not, would say, O man, for how much is the pound? Come hither
sell to me. Whereupon he would answer him, Wait for me until I retur
to thee. And he would not vex any one. Then he went, and met 'Abd-Alla
of the Sea, and gave him the fruits; and 'Abd-Allah of the Sea gave him fo
them jewels in exchange. He ceased not to do thus, and every day h
passed by the oven of the baker, and saw it closed. He continued thus fo
the space of ten days; and when he had not seen the baker, and saw his ove
closed, he said within himself, Verily this is a wonderful thing! Whither ca
the baker have gone? He then asked his neighbour, saying to him, O my
brother, where is thy neighbour the baker, and what hath God done with
him? He answered O my master, he is sick: he doth not come forth from
his house. So he said to him, Where is his house? The man answered him
In such a quarter.
-
—
He therefore repaired thither, and inquired for him; and when he knocked
at the door, the baker looked from the window, and saw his companion the
fisherman with a full basket upon his head. So he descended to him, and
opened to him the door; and 'Abd-Allah of the Land threw himself upon him,
and embraced him, and said to him, How art thou, O my companion? For
every day I pass by the oven and see it closed. Then I asked thy neighbour,
and he informed me that thou wast sick. I therefore inquired for thy house,
that I might see thee. The baker replied, May God recompense thee for
me with every thing good! I have no disease; but it was told me that the
King had taken thee, because some of the people lied to him, and asserted
that thou wast a thief: so I feared, and closed the oven, and hid myself.
'Abd-Allah of the Land said, Thou hast spoken truth. And he informed him.
of his case, and of the events that had happened to him with the King and
the Sheykh of the jewel-market, and said to him, The King hath married
me to his daughter, and made me his Wezeer. He then said to him, Take
what is in this basket as thy lot, and fear not.
After that, he went forth from him, having dispelled from him his fear,
and repaired to the King with the basket empty. So the King said to him,
O my son-in-law, it seemeth that thou hast not met with thy companion
'Abd-Allah of the Sea this day. He replied, I went to him, and what he
gave me I have given to my companion the baker; for I owe him kindness.
The King said, Who is this baker? He answered, He is a man of kind dis-
position, and such and such events happened to me with him in the days of
poverty, and he neglected me not any day, nor broke my heart. The King
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
903
said, What is his name? He answered, His name is 'Abd-Allah the baker,
ind my name is 'Abd-Allah of the Land, and my other companion's name is
Abd-Allah of the Sea. Upon this, the King said, And my name is 'Abd-
Allah, and the servants of God 11 are all brethren. Send therefore to thy
companion the baker: bring him that we may make him Wezeer of the Left.
Accordingly he sent to him; and when he came before the King, the King
nvested him with the apparel of Wezeer, and appointed him Wezeer of the
Left, appointing 'Abd-Allah of the Land Wezeer of the Right. 'Abd-Allah
of the Land continued in this state a whole year, every day taking the basket
ull of fruits, and returning with it full of jewels and minerals; and when the
ruits were exhausted from the gardens, he used to take raisins and almonds
ind hazel-nuts and walnuts and figs and other things; and all that he took
o him he accepted from him, and he returned to him the basket full of
ewels as was his custom.
Now it happened, one day, that he took the basket full of dried fruits,
iccording to his custom, and his companion received them from him; after
vhich, 'Abd-Allah of the Land sat upon the shore, and 'Abd-Allah of the
Sea sat in the water, near the shore, and they proceeded to converse together,
alking alternately, until they were led to mention the tombs. Thereupon
Abd-Allah of the Sea said, O my brother, they say that the Prophet (may
God bless and save him!) is buried among you in the land. Dost thou then
know his tomb? He answered, Yes. He asked, In what place? He
inswered, In a city called Teybeh.12 He said, And do men, the people of the
and, visit his tomb? He answered, Yes. And 'Abd-Allah of the Sea said,
May you derive enjoyment, O people of the land, from visiting this generous,
benign, merciful Prophet, whose visitor meriteth his intercession! And
ast thou visited him, O my brother? - He answered, No; for I was a poor
nan, and found not what I should expend on the way, and I have not been
ndependent save from the time when I first knew thee and thou conferredst
ipon me this prosperity. But the visiting him, after I shall have performed
he pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God,13 hath become incumbent on me;
and nothing hath prevented my doing that but my affection for thee; for I
cannot separate myself from thee for one day.
Upon this, he of the Sea said to him of the Land, And dost thou prefer
hy affection for me above visiting the tomb of Mohammad (may God bless
nd save him!), who will intercede for thee on the day of appearance before
God, and will save thee from the fire, and by means of whose intercession
hou wilt enter Paradise; and for the sake of the love of the world dost thou
neglect to visit the tomb of thy Prophet Mohammad, may God bless and save
him? He answered, No, by Allah: verily the visitation of him is preferred
y me above everything else; but I desire of thee permission that I may visit
im this year. He replied, I give thee permission to visit him; and when
hou standest by his tomb, give him my salutation. I have also a deposite:
o enter the sea with me, that I may take thee to my city, and conduct thee
nto my house, and entertain thee, and give thee the deposite, in order that

904
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thou mayest put it upon the grave of the Prophet (may God bless and sav
him!); and say thou to him, O Apostle of God, 'Abd-Allah of the Se
saluteth thee, and hath given to thee this present, and he beggeth thir
intercession to save him from the fire.
So 'Abd-Allah of the Land said to him, O my brother, thou wast create
in the water, and the water is thine abode, and it injureth thee not: then
thou come forth from it to the land, will injury betide thee? He answered
Yes; my body will dry up, and the breezes of the land will blow upon me, an
I shall die. And I in like manner, replied 'Abd-Allah of the Land, wa
created on the Land, and the land is my abode; and if I enter the sea, th
water will enter into my body, and suffocate me, and I shall die. But th
other said to him, Fear not that; for I will bring thee an ointment, wit
which thou shalt anoint thy body, and the water will not injure thee, even
thou pass the remainder of thy life going about in the sea; and thou sha
sleep and arise in the sea, and nought will injure thee. So he replied, If th
case be so, no harm. Bring me the ointment, that I may try it.
'Abd-Allah of the Sea said, Be it so. And he took the basket, and de
scended into the sea, and was absent a little while. He then returned, havin
with him some fat like the fat of beef, the colour of which was yellow, lik
gold, and its scent was sweet; and 'Abd-Allah of the Land said to him, Wha
is this, O my brother? He answered him, This is the fat of the liver of
kind of fish, called the dendán.14 It is the greatest of all kinds of fish, an
the most violent of our enemies, and its form is larger than that of any beas
of the land existing among you: if it saw the camel or the elephant, it woul
swallow it.'Abd-Allah of the Land said to him, O my brother, and wha
doth this unlucky creature eat? He answered him, It eateth of the beasts
the sea. Hast thou not heard that it is said in the proverb, Like the fish
the sea: the strong eateth the weak? 15 He replied, Thou hast spoke
truth. But have you (he added) many of these dendáns among you in th
sea? 'Abd-Allah of the Sea answered, Among us are such as none ca
number except God, whose name be exalted! Then said 'Abd-Allah of th
Land, Verily I fear that, if I descend with thee, this kind of creature ma
meet me and devour me.
But 'Abd-Allah of the Sea replied, Fear not; for when it seeth thee,
will know that thou art a son of Adam, and it will fear thee, and flee. ]
feareth not aught in the sea as it feareth a son of Adam; for when it hat
eaten a son of Adam, it dieth instantly, because the fat of a son of Adar
is a deadly poison to this kind of creature. And we collect not the fat c
its liver save in consequence of a son of Adam's falling into the sea and bein
drowned: for his form becometh altered, and often his flesh is torn, and th
dendán eateth it, imagining it to be of some of the animals of the sea, an
dieth: then we happen to light on it dead, and take the fat of its liver, wit
which we anoint our bodies, and we go about in the sea. In whatever plac
is a son of Adam, if there be in that place a hundred or two hundred or
thousand or more of that kind of creature, and they hear the cry of the so
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
905
f Adam, all of them die immediately at his crying once, and not one of them
an move from its place.
Upon this, 'Abd-Allah of the Land said, I place my reliance upon God.
[e then pulled off the clothes that were upon him, and, having dug a hole on
he shore, he buried his clothes; after which, he anointed his person from
e parting of his hair to his feet with this ointment. Then he descended
to the water, and dived; and he opened his eyes, and the water injured him
ɔt. He walked to the right and left; and if he would, he ascended; and
he would, he descended to the bottom. He saw the water of the sea
›rming as it were a tent over him, and it injured him not. And 'Abd-Allah
the Sea said to him, What seest thou, O my brother? He answered him,
see what is good, O my brother, and thou hast spoken truth in that which
ou hast said; for the water doth not injure me. Then 'Abd-Allah of the
ea said to him, Follow me. So he followed him; and they ceased not to
alk from place to place, while he saw before him, and on his right and on
s left, mountains of water, and he diverted himself with the view of them
id with the view of the different kinds of fish that were sporting in the sea,
me great and some small. Among them were some resembling buffaloes,
id some resembling oxen, and some resembling dogs, and some resembling
iman beings; and every kind to which they drew near fled at seeing 'Abd-
llah of the Land. He therefore said to him of the Sea, O my brother,
herefore do I see every kind to which we draw near flee from us? And he
iswered him, Through fear of thee; for every thing that God hath created
areth the son of Adam.
He ceased not to divert himself with the sight of the wonders of the sea
til they came to a high mountain, and 'Abd-Allah of the Land walked by
e side of that mountain, and suddenly he heard a great cry: so he looked
ide, and he saw something black descending upon him from that mountain,
id it was as large as a camel, or larger, and cried out. He therefore said to
s companion, What is this, O my brother? He answered him, This is the
endán: it is descending in pursuit of me, desiring to devour me: so cry out
it, O my brother, before it reacheth us; for otherwise it will seize me and
vour me. Accordingly, 'Abd-Allah of the Land cried out at it, and, lo, it
Il down dead; and when he saw it dead, he said, Extolled be the per-
ction of God, and his praise! I struck it not with a sword, nor with a
life! How is it that, with the enormity of this creature, it could not bear
y cry, but died?
But 'Abd-Allah of the Sea said to him, Wonder not:
r by Allah, O my brother, were there a thousand or two thousand of this
nd, they would not be able to endure the cry of a son of Adam.
They then walked to a city, and they saw its inhabitants to be all damsels,
› males being among them. So 'Abd-Allah of the Land said, O my brother,
hat is this city, and what are these damsels? And his companion answered
m, This is the city of the damsels; for its inhabitants are of the damsels
the Sea.16
The King of the Sea banisheth them to this city. Every one
ainst whom he is incensed, of the damsels of the Sea, he sendeth hither,

906
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and she cannot come forth from it; for if she came forth from it, any of
beasts of the sea that saw her would devour her. But in other cities th
this, there are men and women. - Then 'Abd-Allah of the Land proceed
to divert himself with the view of these damsels, and saw that they
faces like moons, and hair like the hair of women, but they had arms
legs in the fore part of the body, and tails like the tails of fishes. His co
panion, having diverted him with the view of the inhabitants of this ci
went forth with him, and walked before him to another city, which he s
to be filled with people, females and males, whose forms were like the for
of the damsels before mentioned; and they had tails; but they had no selli
nor buying like the people of the land. And he said, O my brother, how
they manage their marriages? His companion answered him, They do not
marry; for we are not all of one religion: among us are Muslims, unitariar
and among us are Christians and Jews and other sects; and those of us w
marry are chiefly the Muslims. Whoso desireth to marry, they impose up
him, as a dowry, the gift of a certain number of different kinds of fis
which he catcheth; as many as a thousand or two thousand, or more or le
according to the agreement made between him and the father of the wi
And when he bringeth what is demanded, the family of the bridegroom a
the family of the bride assemble and eat the banquet. Then they introdu
him to his wife. And after that, he catcheth fish, and feedeth her; or, if
be unable, she catcheth fish, and feedeth him.
'Abd-Allah of the Sea then took him to another city, and after that
another, and so on, until he had diverted him with the sight of eighty citie
and he saw the inhabitants of each city to be unlike the inhabitants
another city; and he said, O my brother, are there any more cities in t
sea? His companions said, And what hast thou seen of the cities of the se
and its wonders? By the generous, benign, merciful Prophet, were I
divert thee a thousand years, every day with the sight of a thousand citi
and shew thee in every city a thousand wonders, I should not shew thee
twenty-fourth part of the cities of the sea, and its wonders. I have on
diverted thee with the view of our own region and her land, and nothi
more. So 'Abd-Allah of the Land said to him, O my brother, since the ca
is so, enough for me is that with the sight of which I have diverted mysel
for I have become weary of eating fish and have spent eighty days in t
company, during which thou hast not fed me, morning and evening, wi
aught but raw fish, neither boiled nor cooked in any way. But thou ha
not diverted me with a sight of thy city. He replied, As to my city,
have gone a considerable distance beyond it, and it is near the shore fro
which we came.
-
Then he returned with him to his city, and when he came to it, he sa
to him, This is my city. And he saw it to be a small city in comparison wi
those with the sight of which he had diverted himself. He entered the cit
accompanied by 'Abd-Allah of the Sea, who proceeded until he came to
cavern, when he said to him, This is my house; and all the houses of th
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
907
17
ity are likewise caverns, great and small, in the mountains, as are also all
hose of all. the cities of the sea. For every one who desireth to make for
imself a house goeth to the King, and saith to him, I desire to make me a
house in such a place. Thereupon the King sendeth with him a tribe of
ish called the peckers, assigning as their wages a certain quantity of fish;
and they have beaks which crumble rock. They come to the mountain that
he intended owner of the house hath chosen, and excavate in it the house
vith their beaks; and the owner of the house catcheth fish for them, and
outteth them into their mouths, until the cavern is completed, when they
lepart, and the owner of the house taketh up his abode in it. All the people
›f the sea are in this state: they transact not affairs of commerce, one with
nother, nor do they serve one another, save by means of fish; and their
ood is fish.
Then he said to him, Enter. So he entered. And 'Abd-Allah of the Sea
aid, O my daughter! And lo, his daughter advanced to him. She had a
ace round like the moon, and long hair and heavy hips, and black-edged eyes
ind a slender waist; but she had a tail. And when she saw 'Abd-Allah of the
and with her father, she said to him, O my father, what is this tail-less
creature whom thou hast brought with thee? He answered her, O my
laughter, this is my companion of the land, from whom I used to bring thee
he fruits of the land. Come hither: salute him. She therefore advanced
ind saluted him, with an eloquent tongue and fluent speech; and her father
aid to her, Bring some food for our guest, by whose arrival blessing hath
betided us. And she brought him two large fishes, each of them like a lamb;
and he said to him, Eat. So he ate in spite of himself, by reason of his
unger; for he was weary of eating fish, and they had nothing else. And but
short time had elapsed when the wife of 'Abd-Allah of the Sea approached.
She was of beautiful form, and with her were two children, each child
having in his hand a young fish, of which he was craunching bits as a man
rauncheth bits of a cucumber.
And when she saw 'Abd-Allah of the Land with her husband, she said,
What is this tail-less creature? The two children also advanced with their
ister and their mother, and they looked at 'Abd-Allah of the Land, and
aid, Yea, by Allah: verily he is tail-less! And they laughed at him. So
Abd-Allah of the Land said to his companion, O my brother, hast thou
>rought me to make me a laughing-stock to thy children and thy wife?
Abd-Allah of the Sea answered him, Pardon, O my brother: for he who
hath no tail existeth not among us; and when one without a tail is found,
he Sultán taketh him to laugh at him. But, O my brother, be not dis-
pleased with these young children and the woman, since their intellects
tre defective. Then he cried out at his family, and said to them, Be ye
ilent! So they feared, and were silent; and he proceeded to appease his
nind.
And while he was conversing with him, lo, ten persons, great, strong, and
tout, advanced to him, and said O 'Abd-Allah it hath been told to the King

908
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
that thou hast with thee a tail-less creature of the tail-less creatures of t
land. So he replied, Yes; and he is this man; for he is my companion:
hath come to me as a guest, and I desire to take him back to the land. E
they said to him, We cannot go save with him; and if thou desire to s
aught, arise and take him, and come with him before the King, and wh
thou sayest to us, say to the King. Therefore 'Abd-Allah of the Sea said
him, O my brother, the excuse is manifest, and it is impossible for us to d
obey the King; but go with me to the King, and I will endeavour to liberal
thee from him, if it be the will of God. Fear not; for when he seeth the
ne will know that thou art of the children of the land; and when he knowe
that thou art of the land, he will without doubt treat thee with honour, an
restore thee to the land. So 'Abd-Allah of the Land replied, It is thine
determine; and I will place my dependence upon God, and go with thee. F
then took him and proceeded with him until he came to the King; and whe
the King saw him, he laughed, and said, Welcome to the tail-less!
every one who was around the King began to laugh at him, and to say, Ye
by Allah: verily he is tail-less!
—
Then 'Abd-Allah of the Sea advanced to the King, and acquainted hi
with the circumstances, and said to him, This is of the children of the lan
and he is my companion, and he cannot live among us; for he loveth not th
eating of fish unless it be fried or otherwise cooked; and I desire that the
give me permission to restore him to the land. The King therefore replie
Since the case is so, and he cannot live among us, I give thee permission t
restore him to his place after entertainment. Then the King said, Bring t
him the banquet. And they brought him fish of various shapes and colour
and he ate in obedience to the command of the King; after which the Kin
said to him, Demand of me what thou wilt. And 'Abd-Allah of the Lan
replied, I demand of thee that thou give me jewels. So he said, Take y
him to the jewel-house, and let him select what he requireth. Accordingl
his companion took him to the jewel-house, and he selected as many as h
desired. He then returned with him to his city, and, producing to him
purse, he said to him, Take this as a deposite, and convey it to the tom
of the Prophet, may God bless and save him! And he took it, not knowin
what was in it.
Then 'Abd-Allah of the Sea went forth with him, to conduct him to th
land; and he saw, in his way, people engaged in singing and festivity, and
table of fish spread; and the people were eating and singing, and in a stat
of great rejoicing. So he said to 'Abd-Allah of the Sea, Wherefore are thes
people in a state of great rejoicing? Is a wedding being celebrated amon
them? And he of the Sea answered, There is no wedding being celebrate
among them; but a person among them is dead. 'Abd-Allah of the Lan
therefore said to him, Do ye, when a person dieth among you, rejoice fo
him, and sing and eat? His companion answered, Yes. And ye, O peopl
of the land, he added, what do ye? 'Abd-Allah of the Land answered, Whe
a person among us dieth, we mourn for him, and weep, and the women sla
THE TWO 'ABD-ALLAHS OF LAND AND SEA
909
heir faces, and rend the bosoms of their garments, in grief for him who is
ead.
-
-
And upon this, 'Abd-Allah of the Sea stared at 'Abd-Allah of the Land,
nd said, Give me the deposite. So he gave it to him. Then 'Abd-Allah
f the Sea took him forth to the land, and said to him, I have broken off my
ompanionship with thee, and my friendship for thee, and after this day
hou shalt not see me, nor will I see thee. Wherefore, said 'Abd-Allah of
he Land, are these words? 'Abd-Allah of the Sea said, Are ye not, O
eople of the Land, a deposite of God? Yes, answered he of the Land.
And the other rejoined, Then how is it that it is not agreeable to you that
God should take his deposite, but on the contrary ye weep for it? And how
hould I give thee the deposite for the Prophet (may God bless and save
im!), seeing that ye, when the new-born child cometh to you, rejoice in it,
hough God (whose name be exalted!) putteth into it the soul as a deposite?
Then, when He taketh that soul, how is it that it grieveth you, and ye weep
nd mourn? Such being the case, we have no need of your companionship.
- He then left him, and went back to the sea.
So upon this, 'Abd-Allah of the Land put on his clothes, and took his
ewels, and repaired to the King, who met him with a longing desire to see
im, and rejoiced at his return, and said to him, How art thou, O my son-in-
aw, and what hath been the cause of thine absence from me during this
>eriod? He therefore told him his story and what he had seen of the won-
lers in the sea; whereat the King wondered. He acquainted him also with
hat which 'Abd-Allah of the Sea had said; and he replied, Thou art the
Derson who erred, in thy giving this information. 'Abd-Allah of the Land
>ersevered for a length of time in going to the shore of the sea, and calling
ut to 'Abd-Allah of the Sea; but he answered him not, nor came to him.
So 'Abd-Allah of the Land relinquished the hope of seeing him again, and he
ind the King his father-in-law and their family resided in the most happy
tate and in the practice of good deeds until they were visited by the termi-
ator of delights and the separator of companions, and they all died. Ex-
olled be the perfection of the Living who dieth not, and to whom belongeth
he dominion that is apparent and the dominion that is hidden, and who is
able to accomplish every thing, and is gracious and knowing with respect
o his servants! 18
-
-

XXIX
HOW IBRAHEEM SAW A PICTURE OF THE LADY JEMEELER
LOVED HER, SEARCHED FOR HER, AND WON HER
E'
AFTER MANY ADVENTURES.
L-KHASEEB,¹ the lord of Egypt, had a son, named Ibráheem, tha
whom there was none more beautiful; and by reason of his fear for hir
he would not allow him to go out, save to the Friday-prayers. Now h
passed, going forth from the Friday-prayers, by an old man, with who
were many books, and he alighted from his horse, and seated himself by hin
and, turning over the books and examining them, he saw in one of them
picture of a woman, which almost spoke: none more beautiful than she ha
been seen upon the face of the earth. Thereupon his reason was captivated
and his mind was stupefied, and he said to the man, O sheykh, sell me thi
picture. And he kissed the ground before him, and replied, O my lord, with
out price. So he gave him a hundred pieces of gold, and took the book
in which was this picture; and he occupied himself with looking at it, and
weeping, night and day. He abstained from food and drink and sleep, and
he said within himself, Had I asked the bookseller respecting the painter o
this picture, who he was, probably he had informed me; and if the origina
of it be living, I might gain access to her; and if it be a picture not represent
ing any particular person, I would cease to be enamoured of it, and not
torment myself on account of a thing that hath no real existence.
So when the next Friday arrived, he passed by the bookseller, who rose
up to him, and he said to him, O uncle, inform me who painted this picture.
He replied, O my lord, a man of the inhabitants of Baghdad, named
Abu-l-Kásim Es-Sandalánee, who resideth in a quarter called the quarter of
El-Karkh, painted it, and I know not whose portrait it is. The youth there-
fore arose and left him, and he acquainted not any one of the people of the
empire with his state.
He performed the Friday-prayers, and returned to the palace, and, taking
a leathern bag, he filled it with jewels and gold, and the value of the jewels.
was thirty thousand pieces of gold. He then waited until the morning, and
went forth, not having informed any one; and he overtook a caravan, and
saw a Bedawee, and said to him, O uncle, what distance is between me and
Baghdad? He replied, O my son, where art thou, and where is Baghdad?
Verily between thee and it is a space of two months' journey. - And the
youth said to him, O uncle, if thou wilt conduct me to Baghdad, I will give
thee a hundred pieces of gold and this mare that is beneath me, the value of
910
IBRAHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
911
which is a thousand pieces of gold. Upon this, the Bedawee replied, God is
witness of what we say. But thou shalt not lodge this night save with me.
And the young man assented to that which he said, and passed the night with
im; and when daybreak appeared, the Bedawee took him, and proceeded
with him quickly by a near way, in eagerness for that mare which he had
promised to give him. They ceased not to journey on until they arrived at
the walls of Baghdad, when the Bedawee said to him, Praise be to God for
safety! O my master, this is Baghdád. So the young man rejoiced exceed-
ingly, and he alighted from the mare, and gave her to the Bedawee, her and
the hundred pieces of gold.
He then took the leathern bag, and walked on, inquiring for the quarter
of El-Karkh, and for the place of abode of the merchants, and destiny
drove him to a by-street in which were ten chambers, five facing five, and
at the upper end of the street was an entrance with two folding doors, and
with a ring of silver. At this entrance were two mastabahs of marble,
spread with the best of furniture, and upon one of them was sitting a man of
reverend appearance, of handsome form, and clad in sumptuous apparel,
before whom were five memlooks, like moons. When the young man saw
this, he knew the indication which the bookseller had mentioned to him;
and he saluted the man, who returned his salutation, and welcomed him, and
seated him, and asked him respecting his state. So the young man said
to him, I am a stranger, and I desire of thy beneficence that thou wouldst
see for me, in this street, a house in which I may reside. And the man called
out, saying, O Ghazáleh! 2-whereupon a slave-girl came forth to him, and
said, At thy service, O my master! And he said, Take with thee some serv-
ants, and go ye to a chamber, and clean it, and spread furniture in it, and
put in it all that is requisite of vessels and other things, for the sake of this
young man, the beautiful in form.
Accordingly the slave-girl went forth, and did as he had ordered her;
after which, the sheykh took him and shewed him the dwelling; and the
young man said to him, O my master, how much is the rent of this dwelling?
He answered him, O comely-faced, I will not receive from thee rent as long
as thou remainest in it. The young man therefore thanked him for that.
Then the sheykh called another slave-girl, and there came forth a slave-girl
like the sun, and he said to her, Bring the apparatus for chess. So she
brought it, and a memlook spread the chess-table, and the sheykh said to
the young man, Wilt thou play with me? He answered, Yes. And he
played with him several times, and the young man beat him. He therefore
said, Thou hast done well, O young man, and thy qualities are perfect. By
Allah, there is not in Baghdád the person who can beat me, and thou hast
beaten me!
And after they had prepared the dwelling with the furniture and every
thing else that was requisite, the sheykh delivered to him the keys, and said
to him, O my master, wilt thou not enter my abode and eat of my bread,
that we may be honoured by thee? And the young man assented to this,

912
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and went with him; and when they came to the house, he beheld a han
some, beautiful house, decorated with gold, and in it were all kinds
pictures, and varieties of furniture and other things, such as the tong
cannot describe. The sheykh then complimented him, and gave orders
bring the food; whereupon they brought a table of the manufacture
San'à of El-Yemen, and it was put, and they brought extraordinary dishes
food, than which there existed none more excellent, nor any more deliciou
So the young man ate until he was satisfied, and washed his hands; and H
proceeded to look at the house and the furniture. And after that, he looke
for the leathern bag that was with him; and saw it not. So he said, Ther
is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! I have eaten
morsel worth a piece of silver or two pieces of silver, and there hath gon
from me a leathern bag containing thirty thousand pieces of gold. But
seek aid of God.
-
Then he was silent, and was unable to speak; and the sheykh again
caused the apparatus for chess to be brought forward, and said to the young
man, Wilt thou play with me? He answered, Yes: and played, and the
sheykh beat him; whereupon the young man said, Thou hast done well:
and he gave over playing, and rose. So the sheykh said to him, What aileth
thee, O young man? He answered, I desire the leathern bag. And upon
this the sheykh arose and brought it out to him, and said, Lo, here it is, O
my master. Wilt thou resume the playing with me? He answered Yes.
And he played with him, and the young man beat him. The man therefore
said, When thy mind was occupied with thinking of the leathern bag, I beat
thee; and when I had brought it to thee, thou beatest me. Then he said to
him, O my son, inform me from what country thou art. So he answered,
From Egypt. And the sheykh said to him, And what is the reason of thy
coming to Baghdád? He therefore produced to him the picture, and said,
Know, O uncle, that I am the son of El-Khaseeb, the lord of Egypt; and I
saw this picture in the possession of a bookseller, and my reason was capti-
vated: so I asked respecting the painter of it, and it was told me that the
painter of it was a man in the quarter of El-Karkh, named Abu-l-Kásim
Es-Sandalánee, in a street called Darb ez-Zaafarán. I therefore took with
me some wealth, and came alone, no one knowing of my case; and I desire
of thy perfect beneficence that thou wouldst direct me to him, in order that
I may ask him the cause of his painting this picture, and whose portrait
it is; and whatsoever he shall desire of me, I will give him it.
—
Upon this, the sheykh said, By Allah, O my son, I am Abu-1-Kásim Es-
Sandalánee, and this is a wonderful thing. How is it that destiny hath
driven thee to me? And when the young man heard his words, he rose to
him and embraced him, and kissed his head and his hands, and said to him,
By Allah I conjure thee that thou tell me whose portrait it is. And he
replied, I hear and obey. He then arose and opened a closet, and took forth
from it a number of books in which he had painted this picture, and said,
Know, O my son, that the original of this portrait is the daughter of my
IBRAHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
913.
3
paternal uncle. She is in El-Basrah, and her father is Governor of El-
Basrah. He is named Abu-l-Leys, and she is named Jemeeleh; ³ and there
is not on the face of the earth a person more beautiful than she; but she is
averse from men, and cannot bear the mention of a man in her company. I
went to my uncle, desiring that he should marry me to her, and I was lavish
of wealth to him; but he consented not to my proposal; and when his
daughter knew thereof, she was enraged, and sent to me a message, saying
in it, If thou have sense, remain not in this city: for if thou do, thou wilt
perish and thy sin will be on thine own neck. And she is a virago
among viragoes. I therefore went forth from El-Basrah with broken heart,
and I painted this portrait in the books, and dispersed them in the
countries, thinking that they might fall into the hand of a young man of
beautiful form, like thee, and he might contrive means of gaining access
to her; for perhaps she would become enamoured of him; and I would
previously exact of him a promise that, when he should have gained pos-
session of her, he should shew her to me, if he only granted me a look from a
distance.
So when Ibraheem, the son of El-Khaseeb, heard his words, he hung
down his head a while, meditating. And Es-Sandalánee said to him, O my
son, I have not seen in Baghdád any one more beautiful than thou; and I
imagine that she, if she see thee, will love thee. Canst thou then, if thou
obtain an interview with her, and get possession of her, shew her to me, and
grant me even a look from a distance? He answered, Yes. And the
sheykh said, Since the case is so, reside with me until thou shalt set forth.
But the young man replied, I cannot remain; for an exceeding fire is in my
heart on account of my passion for her. So the sheykh said to him, Wait
until I prepare for thee a vessel in the course of three days, that thou mayest
go in it to El-Basrah. He therefore waited until he had prepared for him a
vessel, and put in it all that he required, of food and drink and other things;
and after the three days the sheykh said to the young man, Prepare for the
voyage; for I have fitted out for thee a vessel, in which are all things that
thou requirest, and the vessel is my property, and the boatmen are of my
servants, and in the vessel is what will suffice thee until thou shalt return;
and I have charged the boatmen to serve thee till thou shalt return in
safety.
So the young man arose, and embarked in the vessel, bade farewell to the
sheykh, and proceeded until he arrived at El-Basrah, when he took forth
a hundred pieces of gold for the boatmen; but they said to him, We have
received the pay from our master. He however replied, Receive it as a
present, and I will not inform him of it. They therefore received it from
him, and prayed for him. The young man then entered El-Basrah, and
asked where was the place of abode of the merchants; whereupon they
answered him, In a Khán called the Khán of Hamdán. So he walked on
until he came to the market in which was the Khán; and the eyes of the
people were cast upon him, gazing at him, on account of his excessive beauty

914
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
and loveliness. Then he entered the Khán with a boatman, and inquire
for the door-keeper. They therefore directed him to him; and he saw hi
to be an old, reverend sheykh. He saluted him, and the door-keeper r
turned his salutation; and he said, O uncle, hast thou an elegant chamber
- h
He answered, Yes; and, taking him, together with the boatman,
opened for them an elegant chamber, decorated with gold, and said, O youn
man this chamber is suitable to thee. And thereupon the young man too
forth two pieces of gold, and said to him, Receive these two as the gratuit)
for the key. So he took them, and prayed for him.
And the young man ordered the boatman to return to the vessel. H
then entered the chamber, and the door-keeper of the Khán remained with
him, and served him, and said to him, O my master, happiness hath betided
us by thy coming. And the young man gave him a piece of gold, saying
to him, Buy for us with it some bread and meat and sweetmeat and wine.
Accordingly he took it, and repaired to the market, and returned to him.
having bought those things for ten pieces of silver, and gave him the re-
mainder. But the young man said to him, Expend it upon thyself. And
the door-keeper of the Khán rejoiced thereat exceedingly. Then the young
man ate, of the things that he had demanded, one cake of bread with a little
savoury food, and said to the door-keeper of the Khán, Take this to the
people of thy dwelling. He therefore took it, and went with it to the people
of his dwelling, and said to them, I imagine not that any one on the face of
the earth is more generous than the young man who hath taken up his abode
with us this day, or more sweet than he; and if he remain with us, richness
will betide us.
-
Then the door-keeper of the Khán went in to Ibráheem, and saw him
weeping: so he sat, and began to rub and press gently his feet; after which
he kissed them, and said, O my master, wherefore dost thou weep? May
God not cause thee to weep! And the young man said, O uncle, I desire
to drink with thee this night. The door-keeper therefore replied, I hear and
obey. And the young man took forth and give him five pieces of gold, saying
to him, Buy for us, with them, fruits and wine. He then gave him five other
pieces of gold, and said to him, Buy for us, with these, dried fruits and per-
fumes and five fat fowls and bring me a lute. So he went forth and brought
for him what he had ordered him to get, and said to his wife, Prepare this
food, and strain for us this wine, and let that which thou shalt prepare be
excellent; for this young man hath extended to all of us his beneficence. His
wife therefore did as he commanded her to the utmost of his desire, and he
took the provisions and went in with them to Ibraheem the son of the Sultán.
So they ate and drank and were merry; and afterwards the young man wept
and recited these two verses: -
O my friend, if I gave my life in my endeavour, and all my wealth, and the world with
what is in it,
And the Garden of Eternity, and Paradise, all together, for the hour of union, my heart
would purchase it.
IBRAHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
915
Then he uttered a great groan, and fell down in a fit; whereat the door-
keeper of the Khán sighed; and when he recovered, he said to him, O my
master, what causeth thee to weep, and who is she to whom thou alludest in
these verses; for she cannot be aught but as dust to thy feet? And the
young man arose, and, taking forth a wrapper containing some of the most
beautiful of women's apparel, said to him, Take this to thy hareem. So he
received it from him, and gave it to his wife, who thereupon came with him,
and went in to the young man; and, lo, he was weeping. She therefore said
to him, Thou hast crumbled our livers. Tell us then what beautiful woman
hou desirest, and she shall not be aught but a slave in thine abode. — And
he said (addressing the door-keeper), O uncle, know that I am the son of
El-Khaseeb, the lord of Egypt, and that I am enamoured of Jemeeleh, the
laughter of Abu-l-Leys, the chief. So the wife of the door-keeper of the
Khán said, Allah! Allah! O my brother, abstain from uttering these words,
est any one hear of us, and we perish; for there is not upon the face of the
arth any one more violent than she, and no one can mention to her the name
of a man, since she is averse from men. Then, O my son, turn from her to
nother.
And when he heard her words, he wept violently. The door-keeper of
he Khan therefore said to him, I have nought but my life to give, and I will
xpose it to peril for love of thee, and contrive for thee a plan by which thy
lesire may be attained. Then they both went forth from him. And when
he morning came, the young man entered the bath, and put on a suit of the
pparel of Kings; and, lo, the door-keeper of the Khán, with his wife, ad-
anced to him and said to him, O my master, know that here is a tailor who
› humpbacked and he is the tailor of the lady Jemeeleh. So repair to him,
nd acquaint him with thy state, and perhaps he will direct thee to a means
f thine attaining thy desires.
The youth therefore arose and went to the shop of the humpbacked
ailor; and he went in to him, and found with him ten memlooks, like moons.
le saluted them, and they returned his salutation, and were delighted with
im, and they seated him, and were confounded at the sight of his charms
nd his loveliness. And when the humpback saw him, his mind was amazed
: the beauty of his form. The young man then said to him, I desire of thee
at thou sew for me my pocket. So the tailor advanced, and took a needleful
silk, and sewed it. And the young man had torn his pocket purposely.
nd when the tailor had sewed it, he took forth for him five pieces of gold,
nd gave them to him; after which, he departed to his chamber. The tailor
erefore said, What have I done for this young man, that he hath given me
e five pieces of gold? Then he passed the night thinking upon his beauty
id his generosity.
And when the morning came, the young man repaired again to the shop
the humpbacked tailor. He entered and saluted him, and he returned his
lutation, treated him with honour, and welcomed him; and when the young
an sat, he said to the humpback, O uncle, sew for me my pocket; for it
916
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
hath been torn a second time. So he replied, O my son, on the head and
eye. And he advanced and sewed it; and the young man gave him
pieces of gold. The tailor therefore took them and became amazed at
beauty and generosity, and said, By Allah, O young man, there must be so
reason for this conduct of thine, and this is not for the sewing of a pock
But inform me of the truth of thy case. And he replied, O uncle, this
not the place for talking; for my story is wonderful, and my case is extra
dinary. Upon this, the tailor said, Since the case is so, arise and come wi
us into a private place. Then the tailor arose, and, taking his hand, enter
with him a chamber within the shop and said to him, O young man, tell m
So he related to him his case from first to last; and he was amazed at h
words, and said, O young man, fear God with respect to thy case; for s
whom thou hast mentioned is a virago, averse from men.
Therefore guar
O my brother, thy tongue; otherwise thou wilt destroy thyself.
the young man heard his words, he wept violently, and, keeping hold of th
skirt of the tailor, he said, Protect me, O uncle; for I am perishing; and
have left my kingdom and the kingdom of my father and my grandfathe
and become in the land a stranger, solitary; and I have not patience t
remain absent from her.
And wh
So when the tailor saw what had betided him, he pitied him, and said,
my son, I have nought but my life to give, and I will expose it to peril fo
love of thee; for thou hast wounded my heart; but to-morrow I will contriv
for thee a plan by which thy heart shall be comforted. He therefore praye
for him, and departed to the Khán; and he told the door-keeper of the Khá
what the tailor had said; whereupon he replied, He hath acted with the
kindly. And when the next morning came, the young man attired himself i
the most sumptuous of his apparel, and, taking with him a purse containing
some pieces of gold, came to the humpback, and saluted him, and sat down
Then he said to him, O uncle, fulfil thy promise to me. And he replied Aris
immediately, and take three fat fowls, and three ounces of sugar-candy, and
two small jugs, which fill thou with wine, and take a cup. Put these thing
into a small bag, and embark, after the morning-prayers, in a small boat, with
a boatman, and say to him I desire that thou go with me to the country
below El-Basrah. And if he reply, I cannot go further than a league, — say
thou to him, Thou shalt do as thou pleasest. But when he goeth, excite him
with money, until he conveyeth thee further; and when thou hast ar
rived, the first garden that thou wilt see is the garden of the lady Jemeeleh
When thou seest it, go to its gate. Thou wilt see two high steps, or
which is furniture of brocade; and a humpback man, like myself, sitting
Complain to him of thy state, and solicit his favour, and perhaps he wil
feel pity for thy state, and enable thee to see her, at least to obtain
sight from a distance. I have no expedient within my power but this; and
if he be not moved with pity for thy state, I perish, and so dost thou. This
is what I think advisable, and the affair must be committed to God, whose
name be exalted So the young man said, I seek aid of God. What God
IBRÁHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
917
willeth must come to pass; and there is no strength nor power but in
God.
He then arose and departed from the humpbacked tailor, and repaired to
his chamber, took the things that he had directed him to procure, and put
them into a neat, small bag. And when he arose in the following morning, he
came to the bank of the Tigris, and, lo, he saw a boatman lying asleep. So
he woke him, and gave him ten pieces of gold, saying to him, Convey me to
the country below El-Basrah. The man replied, O my master, on the condi-
tion that I go not further than a league; for if I go a span beyond that dis-
cance, we both perish. And he said to him, As thou pleasest. He therefore
Cook him, and proceeded with him down the river; and when he came near to
he garden, he said, O my son, beyond this point I cannot go; for if I pass
his limit, we both perish. So he took forth and gave him ten other pieces of
gold, and said to him, Receive this money, that thou mayest have recourse to
t to amend thy state. And the man was abashed at him, and said, I commit
he affair to God, whose name be exalted! And he proceeded down the river
vith him; and when he arrived at the garden, the young man arose in his joy,
eapt from the boat as far as a spear's throw, and threw himself down; and
he boatman returned, fleeing.
The young man then advanced, and he saw all that the humpback had
lescribed to him with respect to the garden. He saw its gate open, and in
he vestibule was a couch of ivory, on which was sitting a humpbacked man
f comely countenance, clad in apparel ornamented with gold, and having in
is hand a mace of gilt silver. So the young man went quickly and threw
imself on his hand and kissed it; whereupon he said to him, Who art thou,
nd whence hast thou come, and who brought thee hither, O my son? And
hat man when he saw Ibráheem the son of El-Khaseeb, was amazed at his
>veliness. Then Ibráheem said to him, O uncle, I am an ignorant, strange
outh. And he wept; and the man was moved with pity for him, and took
im up on the couch, wiped away his tears, and said to him, No harm shall
efall thee. If thou be in debt, may God discharge thy debt; and if thou
e in fear, may God appease thy fear! So he replied, O uncle, I have no
ear, nor am I in debt; but have with me abundant wealth, by the good
leasure of God, and his aid. The man therefore said to him, O my son,
hat is thine affair, that thou hast exposed thy life and thy beauty to peril
y coming to a place of destruction?
And the young man related to him his story, and explained to him his
ise; and when the humpback heard his words, he hung down his head a
hile towards the ground, and said, Is the humpbacked tailor the person who
irected thee to me? He answered him, Yes. And he rejoined, This is my
rother, and he is a blessed man. Then he said, O my son, if affection for
ee had not entered into my heart, and if I had not pitied thee, thou hadst
erished, thou and my brother and the door-keeper of the Khán and his wife.
nd he said, Know that there is not on the face of the earth the like of this
rden, and it is called the Garden of the Pearl. No one hath entered it,
918
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
during the period of my life, except the Sultán and myself and its owne
Jemeeleh [and her attendants]; and I have resided in it twenty years, an
have not seen any man [except the Sultán] come to this place. In th
course of every forty days, the lady Jemeeleh cometh hither in the vesse
and ascendeth amid her female slaves, in a canopy of satin, the borders c
which, ten female slaves hold up with hooks of gold, till she entereth: s
I have not seen of her aught. But I have nothing save my life to give, an
I will expose it to peril for thy sake. And thereupon the young man kisse
his hand; and the humpback said to him, Sit with me until I contrive fo
thee a mode of proceeding.
After that, he took the hand of the young man and conducted him int
the garden; and when Ibráheem saw that garden, he imagined that it wa
Paradise. He beheld the trees to be entangled, and the palm-trees tall, and
the waters pouring, and the birds warbling with various notes. Then th
humpback went with him to a dome-crowned pavilion, and said to him
This is the place in which the lady Jemeeleh sitteth. And he examined tha
pavilion, and found it to be one of the most wonderful of pleasure-houses
In it were all kinds of pictures in gold and ultramarine, and it had fou
doors, to which one ascended by five steps; and in the midst of it was a
pool, to which one descended by steps of gold, those steps being set with
minerals. In the midst of the pool was a fountain of gold, with images
large and small, from the mouths of which the water issued; and when the
images produced various sounds at the issuing of the water, it seemed to the
hearer that he was in Paradise. By the dome-crowned pavilion was a
water-wheel, the pots of which were of silver; and it was covered with
brocade. And on the left of the water-wheel was a lattice-window of silver
looking upon a green meadow, in which were all kinds of wild beasts, and
gazelles, and hares; and on its right was a lattice-window looking upon a
field in which were all kinds of birds, all of them warbling with various
notes, amazing the hearer.
When the young man beheld this, he was moved with delight. He seated
himself at the gate of the garden, and the gardener sat by his side, and said,
How dost thou regard my garden? The young man answered him, It is
the Paradise of the World. And the gardener laughed. Then he arose,
and was absent from him a while, after which he returned, having with him
a tray containing fowls and quails, and nice food, and sweetmeat of sugar;
and he put it before the young man, and said to him, Eat until thou shalt
be satiated. So I ate, says Ibráheem, until I was satisfied; and when he saw
that I ate, he rejoiced, and said, By Allah, this is the manner of Kings, the
sons of Kings! And he said, O Ibraheem, what is with thee in this small
bag? I therefore opened it before him; and he said, Carry it with thee; for
it will be of use to thee when the lady Jemeeleh cometh, since, when she
cometh, I shall not be able to come in to thee with aught for thee to eat.
Then he arose and took my hand and brought me to a place opposite the
dome-crowned pavilion of Jemeeleh; and he made an arbour amid the trees,
-
IBRAHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
919
and said, Ascend into this; and when she cometh, thou wilt see her, and
she will not see thee. This is the utmost stratagem that I can employ, and
upon God be our dependence. When she singeth, drink to her singing, and
vhen she departeth, return to the place whence thou camest, if it be the will
of God, with safety. So the young man thanked him, and desired to kiss
is hand; but he prevented him. Then the young man put the small bag
nto the arbour which the humpback had made for him; after which the
gardener said to him, O Ibráheem, divert thyself in the garden, and eat of its
ruits; for the appointed time of the coming of thy beloved is to-morrow.
braheem therefore proceeded to amuse himself in the garden, and to eat
of its fruits.
He passed the night with the gardener, and when the morning came,
nd diffused its light and shone, Ibráheem recited the morning-prayers, and,
o, the gardener came to him, with sallow complexion, and said to him, Arise,
) my son, and ascend to the arbour; for the female slaves have come to
pread the furniture in the place, and she will come after them; and beware
hou of spitting, or blowing thy nose, or sneezing; for if thou do, we shall
oth perish. The young man therefore arose and ascended to the arbour,
nd the gardener departed, saying, God grant thee safety, O my son! And
while the young man was sitting, lo, there approached five slave-girls, the
ike of whom no one had beheld. They entered the dome-crowned pavilion,
ulled off their outer garments, and washed the place, sprinkled it with
ose-water, gave vent to the fumes of aloes-wood and ambergris, and spread
he brocade. And there approached after them fifty female slaves, with
musical instruments, and Jemeeleh was amid them, within a red canopy
f brocade, and the female slaves held up the skirts of the canopy
ith hooks of gold until she entered the pavilion. So the young man
iw not of her, nor of her apparel, aught; and he said within himself, By
llah, all my labour is lost; but I must wait until I see how the case will
e. The female slaves brought forward the food and drink; so they ate,
nd washed their hands, and set for Jemeeleh a throne, on which she seated
erself.
Then they all played on the musical instruments, and sang with mirth-
xciting voices, of which there was not the like; after which an old woman,
kahramaneh, came forth, and clapped her hands, and danced; and the
male slaves pulled her along. And, lo, the curtain was raised, and Jemeeleh
ime forth, laughing: and Ibraheem saw her. Upon her were ornaments
nd apparel, and on her head was a crown set with fine pearls and with
wels, and on her neck a necklace of pearls, and around her waist a girdle
f oblong chrysolites, the strings of which were of jacinths and pearls. And
hereupon the female slaves arose, and kissed the ground before her, while
le laughed.
When I beheld her, says Ibráheem the son of El-Khaseeb, I became un-
onscious of my existence, and my reason was confounded, and my mind
as perplexed, in consequence of my amazement at loveliness the like of
920
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
which was not seen upon the face of the earth. I fell down in a fit, a
recovered with weeping eyes, and recited these two verses:
I see thee, and close not mine eye, that mine eyelids may not prevent my beholding th
If I gaze at thee with every glance, mine eyes would not see all thy charms.
- The old woman then said to the female slaves, Let ten of you arise a
dance and sing. And when Ibráheem saw them, he said within himself,
wish that the lady Jemeeleh would dance. And after the dancing of th
ten slave-girls was ended, they went around her, and said, O our mistres
we wish that thou wouldst dance amid this assembly, that our happine
might be rendered complete thereby; for we have not seen a more delightf
day than this. So Ibráheem said within himself, No doubt the gates
heaven have been opened, and God hath answered my prayer. Then th
female slaves kissed her feet, and said to her, By Allah, we have not see
thy bosom dilated as it is this day. And they ceased not to excite her unt
she pulled off her outer clothing, and became only clad in a shirt wove
with gold, embroidered with varieties of jewels, shewing the forms of
bosom like two pomegranates, and displaying a face like the moon in th
night of its fulness. Ibráheem beheld motions the like of which he ha
not seen before in his life. And when she exhibited, in her dancing, a
extraordinary mode, and wonderful invention, her performance was suc
(says Ibraheem) that she made us forget the dancing of the bubbles in th
cups, and occasioned our thinking of the inclining of the turbans from th
heads.10 She was such as the poet hath thus described:
-
A dancer whose figure is like a willow-branch: my soul almost quitteth me at the sigh
of her movements.
No foot can remain stationary at her dancing. She is as though the fire of my hear
were beneath her feet.
Now, while I was looking at her, says Ibráheem, lo, a glance of her eye
was directed towards me, and she saw me; and when she beheld me, her
countenance changed, and she said to her female slaves, Sing ye until I
return to you. Then she took a knife half a cubit in length, and came
towards me, saying, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High,
the Great! And when she drew near to me, I became unconscious of my
existence; but when she saw me, and her face met mine, the knife fell from
her hand, and she said, Extolled be the perfection of the Changer of hearts!
She then said to me, O young man, be of good heart: thou art secure from
that which thou fearest. And I began to weep, and she wiped away my tears
with her hand, and said, O young man, inform me who thou art, and what
brought thee to this place. So I kissed the ground before her, and kept
hold of her skirt; and she said, No harm shall befall thee; for, by Allah,
mine eye hath not been delighted with any male but thyself. Then tell me
who thou art. - I therefore related to her my story from beginning to end;
IBRAHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
921
nd she wondered thereat, and said to me, O my master, I conjure thee by
llah to tell me, art thou Ibráheem the son of El-Khaseeb? I answered,
es. And she threw herself upon me, and said, O my master, thou art
he person who made me averse from men; for when I heard that there
xisted in Egypt a young man than whom there was not upon the face of
he earth any one more beautiful, I loved thee from the description, and
y heart became fondly attached to thee, by reason of that which was
old me of thee, concerning thy surpassing loveliness, and I became, with
egard to thee, in the case thus expressed by the poet: -
line ear became enamoured of him before mine eye; for the ear is enamoured before
the eye sometimes.
--
herefore praise be to God who hath shown me thy face! By Allah, had
been any but thee, I had crucified the gardener, and the door-keeper of
he Khán, and the tailor, and him who had had recourse to them! - Then
ne said to me, How shall I contrive means of procuring something for thee
› eat without the knowledge of my female slaves? So I answered her, I
ave with me what we may eat and what we may drink. And I opened
he small bag before her, and took a fowl, and she proceeded to feed me with
horsels, I feeding her in like manner. And when I saw this conduct of hers,
imagined that the event was a dream. Then I brought forward the wine,
nd we drank. All that time, while she was with me, the female slaves were
nging; and we ceased not to remain in this state from morn to noon, when
ne arose, and said, Arise now; prepare for thee a vessel, and wait for me
ì such a place until I come to thee; for there remaineth to me no patience
› endure thy separation. So I replied, O my mistress, I have with me a
essel, which is my property, and the boatmen are hired by me, and they
re expecting me. And she said, This is what we desire.
She then went to the female slaves, and said to them, Arise with us, that
e may go to our palace. They therefore said to her, Why should we arise.
ow, when it is our custom to remain three days? And she replied, Verily
experience in myself a great heaviness. It seemeth that I am sick, and
fear that this illness may become more heavy upon me. - So they said to
er, We hear and obey. Accordingly they put on their apparel, went to the
ank of the river, and embarked in the boat. And, lo, the gardener ap-
roached Ibraheem, having no knowledge of that which had happened to
im, and said, O Ibráheem, thou hast not had the good fortune to delight
yself with beholding her; for it is her custom to remain here three days,
nd I fear that she hath seen thee. But Ibráheem replied, She saw me not,
or did I see her, nor did she come forth from the pavilion. And he said,
'hou hast spoken truth, O my son; for had she seen thee, we had perished:
ut remain with me until she come next week, and thou shalt see her, and
atiate thyself with gazing at her. Ibráheem, however, replied, O my
aster, I have with me wealth, and I fear for it. I have also left behind
922
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
me men, and I fear that they will think me too long absent. And ti
gardener said, O my son, verily thy separation will be grievous to me. Th
he embraced him, and bade him farewell; and Ibraheem repaired to tl
Khán in which he was lodging, met the door-keeper of the Khán, ar
took his wealth. And the door-keeper said to him, Good news, if it be tl
will of God. But Ibráheem replied, I found no way of accomplishing n
affair, and I desire to return to my family. So the door-keeper of the Kha
wept, and bade him farewell, carried his goods, and conducted him to th
vessel.
After that, Ibráheem repaired to the place of which Jemeeleh had tol
him, and there waited for her; and when the night became dark, lo, sh
approached him, in the garb of a valiant man, with a round beard, an
her waist bound with a girdle, and in one of her hands were a bow an
arrows, and in the other was a drawn sword; and she said to him, Art tho
the son of El-Khaseeb, the lord of Egypt? So Ibraheem answered her, I a
he.
And she said to him, And what young wretch art thou, that thou has
come to corrupt the daughters of the Kings? Arise; answer the summon
of the Sultán. Upon this, says Ibraheem, I fell down in a fit; and as to th
boatmen, they almost died in their skins from fear. Therefore, when sh
saw what had happened to me, she pulled off that beard, threw down th
sword, and loosed the girdle; and I saw that she was the lady Jemeeleh
and said to her, By Allah, thou hast mangled my heart! Then I said t
the boatmen, Hasten the course of the vessel.
.
-
Accordingly they loosed the sail, and hastened in their course, and only
a few days had elapsed before we arrived at Baghdad. And, lo, ther
was a vessel lying stationary by the bank of the river; and when the boat
men who were in it saw us, they called out to the boatmen who were with us
and proceeded to say, O such-a-one! and O such-a-one! we congratulat
you on your safety! They then drove their vessel against ours; and w
looked, and, behold, in it was Abu-l-Kásim Es-Sandalánee, who, when h
saw us, said, Verily this is the object of my search. Go ye, in the keeping of
God. I desire to repair to accomplish an affair. And there was before
him a candle. Then he said to me Praise be to God for thy safety! Hast
thou accomplished thine affair? I answered, Yes. And thereupon he pu
the candle near to us, and when Jemeeleh saw him, her state became changed
and her complexion became sallow; and when Es-Sandalánee saw her, he
said, Depart ye in the safe keeping of God. I am going to El-Basrah, on
business for the sultán: but the gift is for him who is present. He then
produced a small box of sweetmeats, and threw it into our vessel, and there
was in them benj. So Ibraheem said, O delight of mine eye, eat of this.
But she wept, and said, O Ibráheem, knowest thou who this is? I an-
swered (says Ibráheem), Yes: this is such-a-one. And she rejoined, He is
the son of my paternal uncle, and formerly he demanded me in marriage
of my father, and I did not accept him and he is repairing to El-Basrah; so
probably he will inform my father of us. But I said, O my mistress, He
-----
IBRAHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
923
-
And they knew
vill not arrive at El-Basrah until we arrive at El-Mósil.
not what was concealed from them in the secret purpose of God.
Then I ate (says Ibráheem) somewhat of the sweetmeat, and it had not
lescended into my stomach before I struck the floor with my head. And
when it was near daybreak I sneezed; where upon the benj issued from my
ostril, and I opened my eye, and beheld myself stripped of my outer cloth-
ng, and thrown amid ruins. I therefore slapped my face, and said within
myself. Verily this is a stratagem practised upon me by Es-Sandalánee. I
new not whither to repair, and had nothing upon me but a pair of trousers;
nd I arose and walked about a little; and, lo, the Wálee approached me,
ccompanied by a party of men with swords and leathern shields. So I
eared, and, seeing a ruined bath, I hid myself in it. But my foot stumbled
pon something; wherefore I put my hand upon it, and it became befouled
ith blood. I therefore wiped it upon my trousers, not knowing what it
as, and stretched forth my hand to the thing a second time; whereupon
fell on a slain person, and the head came up in my hand. So I threw
down, and said, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High,
he Great! I then entered one of the retired corners of the bath; and,
ehold, the Wálee stopped at the door of the bath, and said, Enter ye this
lace and search. And ten of them entered with cressets; and by reason of
y fear, I retired behind a wall, and, taking a view of that slain person, I
w it to be a damsel, whose face was like the full moon; her head lying
ʼn one side, and her body on another; and upon her was costly apparel.
herefore, when I beheld her, a violent trembling affected my heart. And
e Wálee entered, and said, Search throughout the bath. And they entered
e place in which I was, and a man of them saw me, and came to me,
iving in his hand a knife half a cubit long; and when he drew near to me
e said, Extolled be the perfection of God, the Creator of this beautiful face!
young man, whence art thou? Then he took my hand, and said, O
ung man, wherefore didst thou slay this murdered female? So I answered,
y Allah, I did not slay her, nor do I know who slew her, and I entered
>t this place save through fear of you. And I acquainted him with my
se, and said to him, By Allah I conjure thee that thou wrong me not, for
am in anxiety for myself. And he took me and led me forward to the
álee: and when he saw upon my hands the marks of blood he said, This
quireth not proof: therefore strike off his head. So when I heard these
ords, I wept violently: the tears of my eyes flowed, and I recited these
o verses
—
e trod the steps appointed for us: and he whose steps are appointed must tread them.
: whose death is decreed to take place in one land will not die in any land but that.
en I uttered a groan, and fell down in a fit; whereupon the heart of
e executioner was moved with pity for me, and he said, By Allah, this is
t the face of him who hath committed a murder! But the Walee said.
924
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Strike off his head! They therefore seated me upon the skin of blood
and bound over my eyes a covering, and the swordsman took his sword, ash
permission of the Walee, and was about to strike off my head. So I cr
out, Alas for my distance from my home!
-
But, lo, a company of horsemen approached, and a speaker said, Lea
ye him!
Restrain thy hand, O swordsman! And this was occasion
by a wonderful cause and an extraordinary circumstance, which was th
El-Khaseeb the lord of Egypt had sent his Chamberlain to the Khaleef
Hároon Er-Rasheed, and with him presents and rarities, and also a lett
in which he wrote to him, My son hath been lost a year since, and I ha
heard that he is in Baghdad; and my desire of the beneficence of the Kh
leefeh of God is that he would search for tidings of him, and strive in see
ing him, and send him to me with the Chamberlain. So when the Khaleef
read the letter, he ordered the Wálee to investigate the truth of his story
and the Walee and the Khaleefeh ceased not to inquire for him, until it w
told the Wálee that he was at El-Basrah. He therefore informed the Kh
leefeh of that, and the Khaleefeh wrote a letter, and gave it to the Egy
tian Chamberlain, ordering him to journey to El-Basrah, and to take wit
him a party of the dependents of the Wezeer.
And by reason of the eagerness of the Chamberlain to find the son o
his lord, he went forth immediately, and he found the young man upo
the skin of blood, with the Wálee. And when the Wálee saw the Chamber
lain, and knew him, he dismounted to him; and the Chamberlain sai
to him, Who is this young man, and what is his case? So he acquainte
him with the matter; and the Chamberlain said, not knowing that he wa
the son of the Sultán, Verily the face of this young man is the face of on
that doth not murder. And he ordered the Wálee to loose his bonds; where
fore he loosed them; and he said, Bring him forward to me. Accordingly
he led him forward to him. And his loveliness had departed in consequenc
of the severity of the horrors that he had endured. The Chamberlai
therefore said to him, Acquaint me with thy history, O young man, and
tell me wherefore this slain female is with thee. And when Ibraheem looked
at the Chamberlain, he knew him: so he said to him, Wo to thee! Dost
thou not know me? Am I not Ibraheem, the son of thy lord? Probably
thou hast come to seek for me. Upon this, the Chamberlain fixed his
eyes intently upon him, and knew him perfectly: therefore, when he knew
him, he threw himself upon his feet. And when the Walee saw what the
Chamberlain did, his complexion became sallow. The Chamberlain ther
said to him, Wo to thee, O oppressor! Was it thy desire to slay the son
of my master El-Khaseeb the lord of Egypt? So the Walee kissed the skirt
of the Chamberlain, and said to him, O my lord, how could I know him?
Verily we saw him in this plight, and we saw the damsel slain by his side.
But he replied, Wo to thee! Verily thou art not fit for the office of Walee.
This is a young man, fifteen years of age, and he hath not killed a sparrow.
How then should he murder a human being? Didst thou not grant him
IBRÁHEEM AND THE LADY JEMEELEH
925
any delay, and ask him respecting his state? Then the Chamberlain and
the Wálee said, Search ye for the murderer of the damsel. They therefore
entered the bath a second time, and they saw her murderer: so they took
him, and brought him to the Wálee, who took him and repaired with him
to the palace of the Khaleefeh, and acquainted the Khaleefeh with the
events that had happened.
Upon this, Er-Rasheed gave orders to slay the murderer of the damsel;
after which he commanded to bring the son of El-Khaseeb. And when he
presented himself before him, Er-Rasheed smiled in his face, and said to
him, Acquaint me with thy history, and the events that have happened to
thee. So he related to him his story from the beginning to the end: and it
excited his wonder. He then called Mesroor the executioner, and said, Go
his instant and assail the house of Abu-l-Kásim Es-Sandalánee, and bring
him and the damsel to me. Accordingly he went immediately, and assailed
his house, and he saw the damsel bound with her hair, and at the point of
lestruction. Mesroor therefore loosed her, and brought her with Es-San-
lalánee; and when Er-Rasheed beheld her, he wondered at her loveliness.
Then he looked towards Es-Sandalánee, and said, Take ye him, and cut off
his hands with which he smote this damsel, and crucify him, and deliver
his riches and his possessions to Ibráheem. And they did so. And while
hey were thus employed, lo, Abu-l-Leys, the Governor of El-Basrah, the
ather of the lady Jemeeleh, approached them, to demand aid of the Kha-
eefeh against Ibráheem the son of El-Khaseeb the lord of Egypt, and to
complain to him that he had taken his daughter. But Er-Rasheed said to
im, He was the cause of her deliverance from torture and slaughter. And
he gave orders to bring the son of El-Khaseeb; and when he came, he
aid to Abu-l-Leys, Wilt thou not consent that this young man, the son of
he Sultán of Egypt, shall be a husband to thy daughter? And he an-
wered, I hear and obey God and thee, O Prince of the Faithful! So the
Khaleefeh summoned the Kádee and the witnesses, and married the damsel
o Ibraheem the son of El-Khaseeb. He also presented to him all the
iches of Es-Sandalánee, and fitted him out for his return to his country.
And he lived with her in the most perfect happiness and the most complete
oy until they were visited by the terminator of delights and the separator of
companions. — Extolled be the perfection of the Living who dieth not! 12
XXX
MAAROOF, THE POOR COBBLER, WHO FOUND TREASURE
GAINED A ROYAL BRIDE, AND BECAME SULTÁN
THERE
WITH THE HELP OF AN 'EFREET
3
HERE was, in the guarded city of Cairo,¹ a cobbler who mended ol
shoes. His name was Maaroof," and he had a wife whose name wa
Fátimeh, and whose nickname was El-'Orrah; and they gave her not tha
nickname save because she was a wicked, evil woman, of little modesty, a
great mischief-maker. She ruled her husband, and every day used to revil
him and curse him a thousand times; and he dreaded her malice, and feared
her oppression; for he was a sensible man, who felt shame for his reputation
but he was poor in circumstances. When he worked for much, he expended
his gains upon her; and when he worked for little, she revenged herself upor
his body during the ensuing night, and deprived him of health, making his
night like the record of his own actions.¹ She was such a person as her in
dispraise of whom the poet hath said,
How many nights have I passed with my wife in the most unfortunate of conditions
Would that, at the time of my first visit to her, I had produced some poison and poisoned
her!
Now, among the events that happened to this man, proceeding from his
wife, it chanced that she said to him, O Maaroof, I desire of thee to-night
that thou bring me some kunáfeh with bees' honey upon it. And he replied,
May God (whose name be exalted!) make easy to me the means of obtaining
its price, and I will bring it to thee to-night. By Allah, I have had no
money this day; but our Lord may render the affair easy. She, however,
said to him, I know not these words. Whether He render it easy or do not
render it easy, come not to me save with the kunáfeh with bees' honey; and
if thou come without kunáfeh, I will make thy night like thy fortune when
thou marriedst me and fellest into my hand. So he replied, God is bountiful.
Then that man went forth, with grief displaying itself in his person; and
after he had performed the morning-prayers, he opened the shop, and said,
I pray thee, O Lord, to supply me with the price of this kunáfeh, and to save
me from the mischief of this wicked woman to-night! And he sat in the shop
until mid-day, but no work betided him; wherefore his fear of his wife
became violent, and he rose and closed the shop, and became perplexed
respecting his case, on account of the kunáfeh, not having even any portion
of the price of the bread.
926
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
927
He then passed by the shop of the seller of kunáfeh, and stopped in a
state of stupefaction, and his eyes filled with tears. And the seller of kunáfeh,
casting at him a sidelong glance, said, O master Maaroof, wherefore dost
thou weep? Tell me what hath befallen thee. He therefore told him his
tale, and said to him, My wife is a virago, and she hath demanded of me
kunáfeh, and I have sat in the shop until half the day hath passed, but not
even the price of bread hath betided me, and I am in fear of her. And upon
this, the seller of kunáfeh laughed, and said, No harm shall befall thee. How
many pounds dost thou desire? He answered, Five pounds. And he
weighed for him five pounds, and said to him, I have the clarified butter;
but I have not bees' honey: I have, however, drip-honey," better than bees'
honey; and what will be the harm if it be with drip-honey? And Maaroof
was abashed at him, because he was to wait for his paying the price. He
therefore said to him, Give it me with drip-honey. And he fried for him the
kunáfeh with the clarified butter, and saturated it with drip-honey, and it
became fit to be presented to Kings. Then he said to him, Dost thou want
bread and cheese? He answered, Yes. So he took for him four nusfs-worth
of bread, and a nusf-worth of cheese, and the kunáfeh was for ten nusfs;
and he said to him, Know, O Maaroof, that thy debt hath become fifteen
nusfs. Go to thy wife, and make merry, and take this nusf to serve as pay-
ment for the bath. Thou shalt have a delay of a day, or two days, or three,
until God shall supply thee; and distress not thy wife; for I will have patience
with thee until thou shalt have money exceeding what will be requisite for
thy expenditure.
So he took the kunáfeh and the bread and the cheese, and departed pray-
ing for him, and went with comforted heart, saying, Extolled be thy per-
fection, O my Lord! How beautiful art Thou! Then he went into her,
and she said to him, Hast thou brought the kunáfeh? He answered, Yes.
And he placed it before her. So she looked at it, and saw it to be with
honey of the sugar-cane; and upon this she said to him, Did I not say to
thee, Bring it with bees' honey? Dost thou act contrary to my desire, and
make it with honey of the sugar-cane? He therefore apologized to her,
and said to her, I bought it not save upon credit. But she replied, These are
vain words. I will not eat kunáfeh save with bees' honey. And she was
angry with it, and threw it in his face, saying to him, Arise, you rascal:
bring me some other kunáfeh! She then struck him with her fist upon the
side of his face, knocking out one of his teeth, and the blood flowed down
upon his bosom; and by reason of the violence of his rage, he struck her one
slight blow upon her head; whereat she seized his beard, and began to cry
out and to say, O Muslims! The neighbours therefore entered, and extri-
cated his beard from her hand; and they beset her with reproofs, and re-
proached her, and said, We all like to eat kunáfeh that is with honey of the
sugar-cane. What is this oppressive conduct towards this poor man! Verily
this is disgraceful to thee!
6
And they ceased not to soothe her until they effected a reconciliation
928
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
7
between her and him. But after the departure of the people, she swore tha
she would not eat aught of the kunáfeh; and hunger tormented Maaroof
so he said within himself, She hath sworn that she will not eat: therefore 1
will eat. Then he ate; and when she saw him do so, she began to say to
him, If it be the will of God, may it be a poison that shall destroy the body
of the remote! But he replied, It is not as thou sayest. And he proceeded
to eat, and to laugh, and say, Thou hast sworn that thou wilt not eat of this
But God is bountiful; and if it be the will of God, to-morrow night I will
bring thee kunáfeh that shall be with bees' honey, and thou shalt eat it by
thyself. And he proceeded to appease her, while she cursed him. She
ceased not to revile him and abuse him until the morning; and when the
morning came, she tucked up the sleeve from her arm to beat him: so he
said to her, Grant me a delay, and I will bring thee some other kunáfeh.
He then went forth to the mosque, and said his prayers, and went to the
shop, and opened it and sat. But he had not sat long when two officers from
the Kádee came to him, and said to him, Rise; answer the summons of the
Kádee; for thy wife hath complained of thee to him, and her appearance is
so and so. And he knew her [by the description], and said, May God (whose
name be exalted!) send trouble upon her! Then he arose and walked with
them until he went in to the Kádee, when he saw his wife with her arm bound,
and her face-veil befouled with blood, and she was standing weeping, and
wiping away her tears. So the Kádee said to him, O man, dost thou not fear
God, whose name be exalted? How is it that thou beatest this wife, and
breakest her arm, and knockest out her tooth, and doest these deeds unto her?
- And he replied, If I have beaten her, or knocked out her tooth, sentence
me to what punishment thou choosest. Verily the case was so and so, and
the neighbours made peace between me and her. And he acquainted him
with the case from beginning to end. And that Kádee was of the people of
beneficence; so he took forth for him a quarter of a piece of gold, and said
to him, O man, take this, and prepare for her with it some kunáfeh with
bees' honey, and be thou reconciled to her. And he replied, Give it to her.
She therefore took it; and the Kádee made peace between them, and said,
O wife, obey thy husband; and thou O man, act kindly to her. And they
went forth reconciled by means of the Kádee.
The woman went one way, and her husband went another way, to his
shop, and lo, the sergeants came to him and said, Give us our fee. So he said
to them, The Kádee took not from me aught: on the contrary, he gave me
a quarter of a piece of gold. But they replied, We have no concern with the
Kádee's giving to thee or taking from thee; and if thou give us not our fee,
we will take it by force from thee. And they proceeded to drag him along
through the market. He therefore sold his implements, and gave them half
a piece of gold, and they went away from him. He then put his hand upon
his cheek, and sat sorrowful, because he had not implements with which to
work. And while he was sitting, lo, two men of hideous aspect advanced
to him and said to him, Rise, O man; answer the summons of the Kádee;
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
929
for thy wife hath complained of thee to him. He therefore replied, He hath
made peace between me and her. But they said to him, We are from another
Kádee; for thy wife hath complained of thee to our Kádee.
So he arose and went with them, praying for aid against her by ejacu-
lating, God is our sufficiency, and excellent is the Protector! And when he
saw her, he said to her, Have we not made peace with each other, O ingenu-
ous woman? But she replied, There remaineth no longer peace between
me and thee. And he advanced and related to the Kádee his story, saying to
him, The Kádee such-a-one made peace between us just now. So the Kádee
said to her, O impudent woman, since ye have made peace with each other,
wherefore hast thou come complaining to me? She answered, He beat me
after that. And the Kádee said to them, Make peace with each other, and,
addressing the man, he added, and beat her not again, and she will not
again oppose thee. They therefore made peace with each other, and the
Kádee said to him, Give the serveants their fee. Accordingly he gave them
their fee, and he went to the shop and opened it, and sat in it, like one
intoxicated, by reason of the anxiety that had befallen him.
-
-
And while he was sitting, lo, a man advanced to him and said to him,
O Maaroof, rise; hide thyself; for thy wife hath complained of thee to the
Sublime Court, and Aboo-Tabak is coming down upon thee. So he rose
and closed the shop, and he fled in the direction of the Báb en-Nasr. And
there had remained in his possession, five nusf faddahs, of the price of the
lasts and the other implements. He therefore bought for four nusfs bread,
and for one nusf cheese, as he fled from her. And this happened in the
winter-quarter, at the time of afternoon-prayers; and when he went forth
among the mounds, the rain descended upon him like streams pouring from
the mouths of water-skins, and his clothes were wetted. So he entered the
'Ádileeyeh,¹º and, seeing a ruined place, in which was a deserted cell, without
a door, he entered to shelter himself in it from the rain; his clothes being
wetted. Then tears descended from his eyelids, and he became oppressed in
mind by his affliction, and said, Whither shall I flee from this vile woman?
I pray thee, O Lord, to send to me some person who shall convey me to a
distant country, whither she shall not know the way by which to reach me.
And while he was sitting weeping, lo, the wall clove asunder, and there
came forth to him from it a person of tall stature, at the sight of whom the
flesh quaked, and he said to him, O man, what aileth thee that thou hast
disquieted me this night? I have been residing in this place for two hundred
years, and have not seen any one enter it and do as thou hast done. Acquaint
me then with thy desire, and I will accomplish thine affair; for compassion
for thee hath affected my heart. Upon this he said to him, Who art thou,
and what mayest thou be? And he answered him, I am the haunter of this
place. So he acquainted him with all that had happened to him with his
wife; whereupon the Jinnee said to him, Dost thou desire that I should
convey thee to a country whither thy wife shall know no way by which to
reach thee? He answered, Yes. And the Jinnee said to him, Mount upon
-
-
930
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
my back. Accordingly he mounted; and the Jinnee bore him and flew wi
him from after nightfall until the rising of the dawn, when he set him dow
upon the summit of a high mountain, and said, O human being, descen
from the top of this mountain: thou wilt see the threshold of a city, and d
thou enter it; for thy wife will not know any way by which to reach the
nor will it be possible for her to gain access to thee. Then he left him, an
departed.
Maaroof was in a state of confusion, perplexed in his mind, until the su
rose; whereupon he said within himself, I will arise, and descend from thi
mountain to the city; for in my sitting here is no advantage. So he descended
to the foot of the mountain, and he saw a city with high walls, and lofty
pavilions, and decorated buildings, and it was a delight to the beholders. He
entered the gate of the city, and saw that it dilated the sorrowful heart; and
when he walked through the market, the people of the city looked at him
diverting themselves with the sight of him, and they assembled around him.
and wondered at his apparel; for his apparel resembled not theirs. And a
man of the people of the city said to him, O man, art thou a stranger? He
answered, Yes. He said to him, From what country? He answered, From
the fortunate city of Cairo. He said to him, Hast thou long quitted it? He
answered him, Yesterday in the afternoon. And thereupon he laughed at
him, and said, O people, come hither; see this man, and hear what he saith!
So they said, What saith he? He answered, He asserteth that he is from
Cairo, and that he came forth from it yesterday in the afternoon. And they
all laughed, and the people assembled round him and said, O man, art thou
mad that thou sayest these words? How is it thou assertest that thou
quittedst Cairo yesterday in the afternoon, and foundest thyself in the morn-
ing here, when between our city and Cairo is a space of a whole year's
journey? But he replied, None are mad but you: and as to me, I am
veracious in my saying, and this is bread of Cairo: it hath not ceased to
remain with me moist. And he shewed them the bread, and they diverted
themselves with looking at it, and wondered at it; for it resembled not the
bread of their country. The crowd became numerous around him, and they
said one to another, This is bread of Cairo. Divert yourselves with the
sight of it.
---
He became notorious in that city; and among the people, some believed
him, and some belied and derided him; and while they were in this state, lo,
a merchant advanced to them, riding upon a mule, and behind him were
two black slaves. Thereupon the people became dispersed, and he said,
O people, are ye not ashamed of collecting around this stranger and ridi-
culing him and laughing at him? What concern have ye with him? — And
he ceased not to revile them until he drove them away from him, no one
being able to return him a reply. He then said to Maaroof, Come hither,
O my brother. No harm shall befall thee from these. Verily they have no
shame. He took him and proceeded with him until he conducted him into
a spacious, decorated mansion, and he seated him in a royal chamber, and
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
931
ve orders to the slaves, who thereupon opened for him a chest, and took
rth for him a dress fit for a merchant possessing a thousand purses, and
clad him with it; and Maaroof was a comely person; so he became as
ough he were Sháh-Bandar of the merchants.
Then that merchant demanded the table; and they put before them a
ble containing every description of exquisite viands, of all kinds; and they
e and drank; after which the merchant said to Maaroof, O my brother,
hat is thy name? He answered, My name is Maaroof; and my trade is that
a cobbler: I mend old shoes. He said to him, From what country art
ou? He answered, From Cairo. He said, From what quarter? Maaroof
id to him, Dost thou know Cairo? The merchant replied, I am of its sons.
› Maaroof replied, I am from the Darb el-Ahmar." The merchant said to
m, Whom dost thou know of the Darb el-Ahmar? He answered him, Such-
one and such-a-one. And he enumerated to him many persons. The mer-
ant said to him, Dost thou know the sheykh Ahmad the druggist? 12 He
swered him, He was my neighbour, wall adjoining wall. He said to him,
he well? He answered, Yes. He said to him, How many children hath he?
e answered, Three: Mustafà and Mohammad and 'Alee. He said to him,
hat hath God done with his children? He answered, As to Mustafà he is
ell, and he is a learned man, a professor: 13 and as to Mohammad, he is a
uggist: he hath opened for himself a shop by the side of the shop of his
ther, after having married, and his wife hath borne him a son whose name
Hasan. And the merchant said, May God rejoice thee with good tidings!
Maaroof then said, And as to 'Alee, he was my companion when we were
tle children, and I used always to play with him, and we used to go, in the
rb of the Christians, and enter the church, and steal the books of the
iristians, and sell them, and buy, with their price, food. But it happened
ce that the Christians saw us, and laid hold of us with a book: so they
mplained of us to our families, and said to his father, If thou prevent not
y son from troubling us, we will complain of thee to the King. And he
peased them, and gave him a beating; and for this reason, he fled immedi-
ely, and no way of finding him was known. He hath been absent twenty
ars, and no one hath given any tidings of him.
Upon this, the merchant said to him, He is myself, 'Alee the son of the
eykh Ahmad the druggist, and thou art my companion, O Maaroof. They
uted each other, and after the salutation, the merchant said to him, O
aaroof, acquaint me with the reason of thy coming from Cairo to this city.
he acquainted him with the history of his wife Fátimeh El-'Orrah, and
at she had done with him, and said to him, When her injurious conduct to
› became excessive, I fled from her, in the direction of the Báb en-Nasr:
d the rain descended upon me; wherefore I entered a ruined cell in the
lileeyeh, and sat weeping, and there came forth to me the haunter of the
ice, who is an 'Efreet of the Jinn, and he questioned me. I therefore
quainted him with my state, and he mounted me upon his back, and flew
h me all the night between heaven and earth: then he put me down upon
932
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the mountain, and informed me of the city: so I descended from the mo
tain, and entered the city, and the people collected around me, question
me: and I said to them, I came forth yesterday from Cairo.. But th
believed me not. And thou camest, and repelledst the people from me, a
broughtest me to this house. This was the cause of my coming forth fr
Cairo. And what was the cause of thy coming hither?
He answered him, Folly overcame me when my age was seven years, a
from that time I have been going about from country to country and fro
city to city until I entered this city, the name of which is Ikhtiyán of 1
Khutan; 14 whereupon I saw its inhabitants to be generous people, endu
with compassion, and I saw that they confided in the poor man, and sold
him on credit, and whatever he said they believed him respecting it. I ther
fore said to them, I am a merchant, and I have come on before my me
chandise, and I desire a place in which to deposit it. And they believed m
and appropriated a place to my exclusive use. Then I said to them, Is the
among you one who will lend me a thousand pieces of gold until my mercha
dise shall arrive, when I will return to him what I receive from him? For
am in need of some commodities before my merchandise will enter the cit
And they gave me what I desired. I then repaired to the market of th
merchants, and, seeing some goods, I bought them; and on the following da
I sold them, and gained by them fifty pieces of gold, and bought other good
I proceeded to associate with the people, and to treat them with generosity
and they loved me; and I betook myself to selling and buying, and my wealt
became great. And know, O my brother, that the author of the prover
saith, The world is full of idle boasting, and artifice. And in the countr
in which no one knoweth thee, do whatsoever thou wilt. But if thou sa
to every one who asketh thee, I am, by trade, a cobbler, and a poor mar
and I fled from my wife, and yesterday I came forth from Cairo, — they wil
not believe thee, and thou wilt become among them a laughingstock as lon
as thou shalt remain in this city. And if thou say, An 'Efreet conveyed me
they will run away from thee in fear, and no one will come near thee
and they will say, This is a man possessed by an 'Efreet, and whosoever goet
near him, injury will happen to him. And this notoriety will be disgracefu
to me and to thee; for they know that I am from Cairo.
Maaroof then said, And how shall I act? He answered, I will teach the
how thou shalt act. If it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!)
I will give thee to-morrow a thousand pieces of gold, and a mule which thou
shalt ride, and a black slave who shall walk before thee until he shall conduc
thee to the gate of the market of the merchants. Then go in to them; and
I will be sitting among the merchants; and when I see thee, I will rise to the
and salute thee, and I will kiss thy hand and honour thy station; and when-
ever I ask thee respecting any kind of stuff, saying to thee, Hast thou brought
with thee any of such a kind? — answer, Abundance: and if they ask me
respecting thee, I will praise thee and magnify thee in their eyes. I will then
say to them, Provide ye for him a magazine and a shop. And I will describe
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
933
hee as a person of abundant wealth and generosity; and if a beggar come
> thee, give him what thou canst easily afford: thereupon they will confide
my words, and believe in thy greatness and thy generosity, and they will
we thee. After that I will invite thee, and I will invite all the merchants
n thine account, and bring you and them together, that all of them may
now thee, and that thou mayest know them, in order that thou mayest sell
nd buy and take and give with them; and no long period will pass over thee
efore thou wilt become a person of wealth. Accordingly, when the morn-
g came, he gave him a thousand pieces of gold, clad him in a suit of apparel,
ounted him upon a mule, and gave him a black slave, saying, God acquit
lee of responsibility with respect to the whole; for thou art my companion;
> to treat thee with generosity is incumbent on me. Suffer not anxiety; but
smiss from thy mind the subject of thy wife, and mention her not to
y one.
Maaroof therefore said to him, May God recompense thee well! He then
ounted the mule, and the slave walked before him until he had conducted
m to the gate of the market of the merchants, who were all sitting there,
id the merchant 'Alee was sitting among them: so when he saw him, he
se and threw himself upon him, saying to him, A blessed day, O merchant
aaroof, O man of good works and of kindness! Then he kissed his hand
fore the merchants, and said, O our brothers, the merchant Maaroof hath
lighted you by his arrival. They therefore saluted him, and the merchant
lee made signs to them that they should shew him honour: so he was
agnified in their eyes. His companion set him down from the back of the
ule, and they saluted him again; and the merchant 'Alee proceeded to go
art with one of them after another, and to praise Maaroof to him; and
ey said to him, Is this a merchant? He answered them, Yes: indeed he
the greatest of merchants, and there existeth not any one more wealthy
an he; for his wealth and the wealth of his father and his forefathers are
torious among the merchants of Cairo; and he hath partners in El-Hind
d Es-Sind and El-Yemen; and for generosity, his fame resteth on an
cellent foundation. Therefore know his dignity, and extol his rank, and
ve him; and know that his coming to this city is not for the sake of traffic;
• his desire is for nothing but to divert himself with the sights of the
intries of the world; because he is not in need of travelling to foreign parts
the sake of gain and profits, having wealth which fires cannot consume,
1 I am of the number of his servants.
He ceased not to praise him until they raised him above their heads, and
ey proceeded to acquaint one another with his qualities. Then they came
;ether to him, and presented him with food for breakfast, and sherbet.
en the Sháh-Bandar of the merchants came to him, and saluted him; and
: merchant 'Alee said to him, in the presence of the other merchants, O
master, probably thou hast brought with thee some of such a kind of
So he answered him, Abundance. And on that day the merchant
ee had shewn him the various kinds of costly stuffs, and taught him the
ff.
934
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
names of the stuffs, the dear and the cheap. Then one of the merchants s
to him, O my master, hast thou brought with thee yellow cloth? He
swered, Abundance. He said, And red, of gazelle's blood? 15 He answer
Abundance. And every time that he asked him respecting any thing,
answered him, Abundance. So thereupon he said, O merchant 'Alee, ver
thy countryman, if he desired to transport a thousand loads of costly stu
could transport them. And he replied, He would do so from one of
magazines, and nought of its contents would be missing.
ar
And while they were sitting, lo, a beggar came round to the merchan
and some of them gave him a nusf faddah, and some of them gave him
jedeed, and most of them gave him not aught, until he came to Maaro
who took for him a handful of gold, and gave him it. So he prayed f
him, and departed; and the merchants wondered thereat, and said, Veri
this is the gift of kings; for he gave the beggar gold without counting i
and were he not of the persons of great riches, and possessing abundand
he had not given the beggar a handful of gold. And after a while there can
to him a poor woman; whereupon he took another handful, and gave it
her, and she departed, praying for him, and told the other poor person
So they advanced to him, one after another, and for every one who came
him he proceeded to take a handful and to give it him until he had disburse
the thousand pieces of gold; after which he struck hand upon hand,
said, God is our sufficiency, and excellent is the Protector! So the Shál
Bandar of the merchants said to him, What aileth thee, O merchant Maaroo
He answered, It seemeth that most of the people of this city are poor an
needy; and if I had known that they were so, I had brought with me in th
saddle-bags a large sum of money and given it in alms to the poor. I fea
that my absence from my country may be long, and it is a habit of my natur
not to reject the beggar; but I have with me no gold remaining; therefor
when a poor man cometh to me, what shall I say to him?
He answere
him, Say to him, God sustain thee. But he replied, It is not my custom
and anxiety hath come upon me on account of this. Would that I had
thousand pieces of gold more, that I might give them in alms until my mer
chandise come! So he said, No harm. And he sent one of his dependants
who brought him a thousand pieces of gold, and he gave them to him.
Maaroof then proceeded to give every one of the poor who passed by hin
until the call to noon-prayers was chanted; whereupon they entered th
mosque, and performed the noon-prayers, and what remained with him o
the thousand pieces of gold he scattered over the heads of the worshippers
The attention of the people was therefore drawn to him, and they prayed
for him, and the merchants wondered at the abundance of his generosity and
his munificence. He then inclined to another merchant, and obtained from
him a thousand pieces of gold, and distributed them; and the merchant
'Alee was observing his actions, but could not speak. He ceased not to do
thus until the call to afternoon-prayers was chanted, when he entered the
mosque and prayed, and distributed the remainder. And they closed not
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
935
the gate of the market until he had received five thousand pieces of gold and
distributed them; and to every one of whom he had received aught, he said,
Wait until the merchandise shall arrive, when, if thou desire gold, I will give
It thee, and if thou desire stuffs, I will give them thee; for I have abundance.
And in the evening the merchant 'Alee invited him, and he invited with him
all the merchants. He seated him at the upper end of the apartment, and
he talked not of aught but of stuffs and jewels; and whenever they mentioned
o him any thing, he said, I have abundance of it. And on the following day
he repaired again to the market, and proceeded to incline to the merchants,
obtain from them money, and distribute it to the poor.
He ceased not to do thus for the space of twenty days, until he had
eceived from the people sixty thousand pieces of gold, and there came not
o him merchandise nor a burning plague.16 So the people were clamorous
or their money, and said, The merchandise of the merchant Maaroof hath
not arrived, and how long shall he take people's money and give it to the
Door? And one of them said, My opinion is, that we should speak with his
countryman, the merchant 'Alee. Accordingly they came to him and said
o him, O merchant 'Alee, the merchandise of the merchant Maaroof hath
not arrived. And he replied, Be ye patient; for it must arrive soon. Then
he had a private interview with him, and said to him, O Maaroof, what are
hese deeds? Did I say unto thee, Toast the bread or Burn it? Verily
he merchants have become clamorous for their money, and have informed
ne that they have become creditors to thee for sixty thousand pieces of gold,
vhich thou hast received, and hast distributed to the poor. And how wilt
hou pay thy debt to the people, when thou neither sellest nor buyest? ---
But he replied, What will be the consequence, and what are the sixty thou-
and pieces of gold? When the merchandise arriveth, I will give them, if
hey will, stuffs, and if they will, gold and silver. Upon this, the merchant
Alee said to him, God is most great! And hast thou merchandise? He
inswered, Abundance. And he said to him, Allah and the Rijál 17 requite
hee and thy turpitude! Did I teach thee this saying in order that thou
houldst utter it to me? Now will I inform the people of thee. — Maaroof
eplied, Go, without loquacity. Am I a poor man? Verily my merchandise
compriseth an abundance of things; and when it arriveth they shall receive
louble the value of their property. I am in no need of them. So there-
pon the merchant 'Alee was enraged, and said to him, O thou of little good-
›reeding, I will without fail shew thee. How is it that thou liest to me and
rt not ashamed? But he replied, What thou hast in thy power, do; and
hey shall wait until my merchandise arrive, and shall receive their property
vith addition.
-
-
He therefore left him, and departed, and he said within himself, I praised
im before; and if I censure him now, I become a liar, and include myself
mong those to whom applieth the saying of him who said, He who praiseth
nd censureth, lieth twice.18 And he became perplexed respecting his case.
Then the merchants came to him again, and said, O merchant 'Alee, hast
936
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
thou spoken to him? He answered them, O people, I am abashed at hi
and he oweth me a thousand pieces of gold, but I have not been able to spea
to him respecting them. When ye gave him, ye consulted me not, and y
have nought to say to me. So demand of him by an application from you
selves to him; and if he give you not, complain of him to the King of th
city, and say to him, He is an impostor, who hath imposed upon us. Fo
the King will save you from being injured by him.
Accordingly they went to the King, and acquainted him with what ha
happened, and said, O King of the age, we are perplexed respecting ou
case with this merchant whose generosity is excessive; for he doth so and so
and every thing that he receiveth he distributeth to the poor by the handful
Now if he possessed little, his soul would not consent to his taking gold by
the handful and giving it to the poor: yet were he of the people of affluence
his veracity had appeared to us by the arrival of his merchandise belonging
to him, though he asserteth that he hath merchandise, and that he hath come
on before it; and whenever we mentioned to him any kind of stuff, he would
say, I have abundance of it. A considerable period hath elapsed; but no
tidings of his merchandise have come; and he hath become indebted to us
to the amount of sixty thousand pieces of gold, all of which he hath dis-
tributed to the poor. And they proceeded to eulogize him and to praise
his generosity.
-
-
And that King was covetous; more covetous than Ash'ab: 19 so when
he heard of his generosity and munificence, covetousness overcame him, and
he said to his Wezeer, If this merchant did not possess abundant riches,
all this generous conduct would not proceed from him; his merchandise will
without fail arrive, and these merchants will come together to him, and he
will disperse among them abundant riches. But I am more worthy of this
wealth than they: therefore I desire to contract friendship with him, and to
shew an affection for him, before his merchandise arriveth; and what these
merchants will receive from him, I shall receive, and I will marry to him my
daughter, and join his wealth with mine. But the Wezeer replied, O King
of the age, I imagine him not to be aught but an impostor; and the im-
postor hath ruined the house of the covetous. The King, however, said to
him, O Wezeer, I will try him, and know whether he be an impostor or
veracious, and whether he have been reared in affluence or not. The Wezeer
said, With what wilt thou try him? The King answered, I have a jewel,
and I will send for him and cause him to be brought to me; and when he
hath seated himself I will treat him with honour, and give him the jewel;
and if he know it, and know its price, he will be proved to be a person of
riches and affluence; but if he know it not, he will be proved to be an im-
postor, an upstart, and I will slay him in the most abominable manner.
Then the King sent to him, and caused him to be brought; and when he
came in to him, he saluted him, and the King returned his salutation, and
seated him by his side, and said to him, Art thou the merchant Maaroof?
He answered, Yes. And the King said to him, The merchants assert that
MAAROOF THE COBBLER ÅND THE 'EFREET
937
-
thou owest them sixty thousand pieces of gold. Now is that which they say
true? He answered, Yes. The King said to him, Wherefore hast thou not
given to them their money? He answered, Let them wait until my merchan-
dise arriveth, and I will give them double of what I have received; and if
they desire gold, I will give it them, and if they desire silver, I will give it
them, and if they desire merchandise I will give it them; and to him whom.
I owe a thousand I will give two thousand in return for that wherewith he
hath veiled my face before the poor; for I have abundance. The King then
said to him, O merchant, take this, and see what is its kind, and what is its
value. And he gave him a jewel of the size of a hazel-nut, which the King
had purchased for a thousand pieces of gold, and he had not another, and held
it dear. So Maaroof took it in his hand, and he pressed upon it with his
thumb and forefinger, and broke it; for the jewel was frail, and would not
bear the pressure.
The King therefore said to him, Wherefore hast thou broken the jewel?
And he laughed, and answered, O King of the age, this is not a jewel. This
is a piece of mineral worth a thousand pieces of gold. How is it that thou
sayest of it that it is a jewel? Verily the jewel is of the price of seventy
thousand pieces of gold, and this is only called a piece of mineral; and the
jewel that is not of the size of a hazel-nut hath no value in my estimation,
nor do I care for it. How is it that thou art a King, and callest this a jewel,
when it is a piece of mineral, the value of which is a thousand pieces of gold?
But ye are excusable, because ye are poor, and have not in your possession
treasures that are of value. — So the King said to him, O merchant, hast
thou jewels of the kind that thou mentionest? He answered, Abundance.
And thereupon covetousness overcame the King, and he said to him, Wilt
thou give me perfect jewels? He answered him, When the merchandise
cometh, I will give thee abundance; whatsoever thou desirest I have abun-
dance thereof, and I will give thee without price. So the King rejoiced, and
said to the merchants, Go your way, and be patient with him until the mer-
chandise arriveth: then come, receive your money from me. And they de-
Such was the case of Maaroof and the merchants.
parted.
But as to the King, he addressed the Wezeer, and said to him, Treat the
merchant Maaroof with courtesy, and take and give with him in talk, and
mention to him my daughter, in order that he may marry her, and we may
gain these riches that are in his possession. But the Wezeer replied, O
King of the age, verily the state of this man hath not pleased me, and I
magine that he is an impostor and a liar. Therefore desist from these words,
lest thou lose thy daughter for nought. - And the Wezeer had before so-
licited the King to marry him the damsel, and he desired to marry her to
him; but when this was told her, she consented not. So thereupon the King
said to him, O deceiver, thou dost not desire for me good fortune, because
hou demandedst my daughter in marriage before, but she consented not to
narry thee. So now thou interceptest the way of her marriage, and desirest
that my daughter should remain as a waste land, in order that thou mayest
938
THE ARABIAN NİGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
—
take her. But hear from me this saying: Thou hast no concern with thes
words. How can he be an impostor, a liar, when he knew the price of th
jewel, the price at which I purchased it, and broke it because it did no
please him? He hath many jewels; and when he introduceth himself to m
daughter, he will see her to be beautiful, and she will captivate his reason
and he will love her, and will give her jewels and treasures. But thou de
sirest to prevent my daughter and to prevent me from obtaining these riches
So the Wezeer was silent, and feared the King's rage against him, and he
said to him, Set the dogs upon the [wild] oxen. Then he inclined to the
merchant Maaroof and said to him, His Majesty the King loveth thee, and
he hath a daughter endowed with beauty and loveliness, whom he desireth
to marry to thee. What then sayest thou? And he answered him, No
harm. But let him wait until my merchandise arriveth; for the dowry of
the daughters of the Kings is large, and their rank requireth that they should
not be endowed save with a dowry befitting their condition; and at this
present time I have not with me wealth. Therefore let him have patience
with me until the merchandise arriveth; for I have abundant riches, and I
must give as her dowry five thousand purses. I shall also require a thousand
purses to distribute to the poor and needy on the night of my introduction to
the bride, and a thousand purses to give to those who shall walk in the mar-
riage-procession, and a thousand purses wherewith to prepare the viands
for the soldiers and others; and I shall require a hundred jewels to give to
the Queen 20 on the morning of the wedding, and a hundred jewels to dis-
tribute among the female slaves and the eunuchs, giving each a jewel in
honour of the rank of the bride. I shall require moreover to clothe a thou-
sand naked persons among the poor, and alms will be indispensable; and
this is a thing that will be impossible until the merchandise arriveth. But
I have abundance; and when the merchandise cometh, I care not for all
these expenses.
The Wezeer therefore went and acquainted the King with that which he
had said, and the King said, When this is his desire, how is it that thou as-
sertest of him that he is an impostor, a liar? The Wezeer replied, And
I cease not to say so. But the King chid him angrily, and threatened him,
and said to him, By my head, if thou desist not from these words, I will
slay thee! Return then to him, and bring him to me, and I will arrange with
him. So the Wezeer went to him, and said to him, Come hither: answer
the summons of the King. And he replied, I hear and obey. Then he came
to him, and the King said to him, Apologize not with these excuses; for my
treasury is full: therefore take the keys into thy possession, and expend
all that thou requirest, and give what thou wilt, and clothe the poor, and do
what thou desirest, and mind not for the damsel and the female slaves. But
when thy merchandise arriveth, shew what generosity thou wilt to thy wife,
and we will have patience with thee for her dowry until the merchandise ar-
riveth, and there shall never be any difference between me and thee. He
then ordered the Sheykh el-Islám 21 to perform the ceremony of the mar-
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
939
riage-contract. So he performed the ceremony of the contract of the mar-
riage of the King's daughter to the merchant Maaroof.
The King commenced the celebration of the festivity, and gave orders to
decorate the city, and the drums were beaten, and the tables of viands were
spread with all kinds of dishes, and the performers of sports came. The
merchant Maaroof sat upon a throne in a mak'ad, and the performers of
sports, and the exhibitors of cunning tricks, and the Jink,22 and the per-
formers of extraordinary arts and wonderful games, were disposed in order
before him, and he proceeded to order the Treasurer, and to say to him,
Bring the gold and the silver. Accordingly he brought him the gold and the
silver, and Maaroof went round among the people who were diverting them-
selves, and gave to every one who played by the handful, and bestowed alms
on the poor and needy, and clad the naked, and it was a noisy festivity.
The Treasurer had not time to bring the money from the treasury, and the
heart of the Wezeer almost burst with rage; but he could not speak. The
merchant 'Alee also wondered at the squandering of this wealth, and said to
the merchant Maaroof, May Allah and the Rijál retaliate upon thy temple!
Hath it not sufficed thee that thou hast wasted the money of the merchants,
out thou wilt also waste the money of the King? But the merchant Maa-
roof answered him, Thou hast no concern with it; and when the merchandise
arriveth, I will compensate the King for this with double its value. —— And
he proceeded to scatter the money, and to say within himself, A burning
plague! What will happen will happen; and from that which is predestined
there is no escape.
-
The festivity ceased not for the space of forty days; and on the one-
ind-fortieth day they made the procession for the bride. All the emeers
and the soldiers walked before her; and when they entered with her, Maaroof
scattered gold over the heads of the people. They made for her a magni-
icent procession, and Maaroof expended a vast quantity of wealth. They
ntroduced him to the Queen, and he sat upon the high mattress, and they
et down the curtains, and closed the doors, and went forth, leaving him with
he bride. And thereupon he smote hand upon hand, and sat sorrowful
or some time, striking palm upon palm, and saying, There is no strength nor
Dower but in God, the High, the Great? So the Queen said to him, O my
ord, Allah preserve thee! What aileth thee that thou art sorrowful? — And
e replied, How can I be otherwise than sorrowful when thy father hath dis-
quieted me, and done to me a deed like the burning of the green corn? She
aid, And what hath my father done to thee? Tell me. He answered, He
nath introduced me to thee before my merchandise hath arrived, and I de-
ired at least a hundred jewels to distribute among thy female slaves, to each.
ne a jewel, that she might rejoice in it, and say, My lord gave me a jewe!
n the night of his introduction to my lady; and this good deed would
ave been an act of honour to thy rank, and have increased thy glory; for
am not deficient in lavishing jewels, having of them an abundance. - But
he said to him, Be not anxious for that, nor grieve thyself for this reason.
-
-
940
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
As to myself, thou hast no blame to fear from me; for I will have patience
with thee until the merchandise arriveth; and as to the female slaves, thou
hast nought to care for on their account. So he was appeased.
-
And on the following morning he entered the bath, and put on a suit of
the apparel of Kings, and, having gone forth from the bath, entered the
King's council-chamber: whereupon those who were in it rose to him upon
their feet, and received him with respect and honour, and congratulated him
and blessed him. He sat by the side of the King, and said, Where is the
Treasurer? They answered, Lo, he is here before thee. And he said, Bring
the robes of honour, and invest all the wezeers and the emeers, and the men
of office. Accordingly he brought him all that he demanded, and he sat giv-
ing to every one who came to him, and presenting to every man according to
his rank.
He continued in this state for the space of twenty days, and there ap-
peared not any merchandise belonging to him, nor aught else. Then the
Treasurer became straitened by him to the utmost degree, and he went in
to the King in the absence of Maaroof, when the King was sitting with the
Wezeer, and no one beside, and he kissed the ground before him, and said, O
King of the age, I will acquaint thee with a thing; for perhaps thou wouldst
blame me for not acquainting thee therewith. Know that the treasury hath
become almost empty; there remaineth not in it any money, except a small
quantity, and after ten days we shall close it empty. So the King said, O
Wezeer, verily the merchandise of my son-in-law hath been backward in
coming, and no tidings of it have appeared. And the Wezeer laughed, and
said to him, May God be gracious to thee, O King of the age! Thou art
none other than a careless person, with respect to the conduct of this im-
postor and liar. By thy head, there is no merchandise belonging to him,
nor a plague to relieve us of him; but he hath only incessantly imposed upon
thee until he hath consumed thy wealth, and married thy daughter for noth-
ing. And how long wilt thou be heedless of this liar? The King there-
upon said to him, O Wezeer, how shall we act, that we may know the truth
of his state? And he answered, O King of the age, no one will become ac-
quainted with the man's secret except his wife. Therefore send to thy daugh-
ter, desiring that she may come behind the curtain, in order that I may ask
her respecting the truth of his state, so that she may examine him and ac-
quaint us with his state. And he replied, There will be no harm in that.
By my head, if it be proved that he is an impostor, a liar, I will surely
slay him in the most unfortunate manner!
-
He then took the Wezeer, and entered with him into the sitting-chamber,
and sent to his daughter. So she came behind the curtain; and this was
during the absence of her husband; and when she came, she said, O my
father, what dost thou desire? He answered, Speak to the Wezeer. Ac-
cordingly she said, O Wezeer, what wouldst thou? He answered, O my mis-
tress, know that thy husband hath consumed the wealth of thy father, and
he hath married thee without giving a dowry, and hath not ceased to prom-
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
941
se us and to break his promise: no tidings of his merchandise have appeared;
ind, in short, we desire that thou wouldst inform us respecting him. She
eplied, Verily, his words are many, and he is constantly coming and prom-
sing me jewels and treasures and costly stuffs; but I have seen nothing.
And he said, O my mistress, canst thou this night take and give with him
n talk, and say to him, Acquaint me with the truth, and fear nothing; for
hou hast become my husband, and I will not be neglectful of thee: so ac-
quaint me with the truth of the case, and I will contrive for thee a plan by
vhich thou shalt be made happy? After that, use nearness and remoteness
of speech to him, and make a show of affection to him, and induce him to
onfess; and then acquaint us with the truth of his case. And she said, O
ny father, I know how to examine him.
- -
She then departed; and after nightfall, her husband Maaroof came in to
er according to his custom. So she rose to him, and took him with her
and beneath his armpit, and beguiled him with excessive guile. (And
ufficient is the guile of women when they have to request of men any thing
of which they desire the accomplishment.) She ceased not to beguile him
nd to coax him with speech sweeter than honey until she stole his reason;
nd when she saw that he had inclined to her entirely, she said to him, O
ny beloved, O delight of mine eye, O joy of my heart, may God not make
ne desolate by thine absence, nor time make a separation between me and
hee! for affection for thee hath taken up its abode in my heart, and the fire
of desire for thee hath burned my liver, and there can be no neglect of thee
ver. But I desire that thou wouldst acquaint me with the truth; for the
tratagems of falsehood are not profitable, nor do they gain credit on all
ccasions. How long wilt thou impose, and lie to my father? I fear that
hy case will be exposed to my father before we contrive a stratagem to
void it, and that he will lay violent hands upon thee. Acquaint me then
with the truth, and thou shalt experience nought but what will rejoice thee.
When thou shalt have acquainted me with the truth of the case, thou shalt
ear nothing that would injure thee. How often wilt thou assert that thou
rt a merchant, and a person of riches, and that thou hast merchandise?
long period hath passed during which thou hast been saying, My mer-
handise: my merchandise: - but no tidings of thy merchandise have ap-
eared; and anxiety is manifest in thy countenance on this account. Now,
f thy words have no truth, inform me, and I will contrive for thee a plan
y means of which thou shalt be safe, if it be the will of God. - And he re-
lied, O my mistress, I will acquaint thee with the truth, and whatever thou
vilt, do. So she rejoined, Say, and take care to be veracious; for veracity
; the ship of safety; and beware of falsehood; for it disgraceth its speaker.
Divinely gifted was he who said, -
ake care to be veracious, even though veracity should cause thee to be burned with
the threatened fire;
nd seek God's approval; for the silliest of men is he who angereth the Lord and
pleaseth his servants.
942
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-And he said, O my mistress, know that I am not a merchant, and I have
neither merchandise nor a burning plague. But in my country I was only
a cobbler, and I have a wife whose name is Fátimeh El-'Orrah, and such
and such things happened to me with her. And he acquainted her with
the story from its commencement to its end.
Upon this, she laughed, and said, Verily thou art skilful in the art of
lying and imposition! He replied, O my mistress, may God (whose name be
exalted!) preserve thee to veil faults and dissolve griefs! And she said
Know, that thou hast imposed upon my father, and deceived him by the
abundance of thine idle boasting, so that he hath married me to thee by
reason of his covetousness. Then thou consumedst his wealth; and the
Wezeer suspecteth thee for this conduct; and how often doth he speak of
thee before my father, saying to him, Verily he is an impostor, a liar! But
my father hath not complied with that which he had said, because he had
demanded me in marriage, and I consented not that he should be to me a
husband, and that I should be to him a wife. Then the time became tedious,
and my father had become straitened, and he said to me, Make him con-
fess. And I have made thee confess, and what was covered hath become
exposed. Now my father is purposing mischief to thee on this account; but
thou hast become my husband, and I will not neglect thee. For if I in-
formed my father of this news, it would be proved to him that thou art an
impostor, a liar, and that thou hast imposed upon the daughters of Kings,
and squandered away their riches; and thine offence would not be forgiven
by him, but he would slay thee without doubt, and it would become pub-
lished among the people that I had married a man who was an impostor, a
liar, and thou wouldst be a cause of disgrace to me. Moreover, if my father
slew thee, probably he would desire to marry me to another, and this is a
thing to which I would not consent even if I were to die for refusing. But
arise now, and put on the dress of a memlook, and take with thee fifty thou-
sand pieces of gold of my wealth; then mount upon a courser, and journey to
a country to which the rule of my father doth not reach. There trade as a
merchant, and write to me a letter, and send it by a courier who will bring
it to me privately, that I may know in what country thou art, in order that
I may send to thee all that my hand can procure. Thus thy wealth will
become abundant; and if my father die, I will send to thee, and thou shalt
come with respect and honour; and if thou die, or I die, departing to receive
the mercy of God (whose name be exalted!), the day of resurrection will
unite us. This is the right plan; and as long as thou continuest well, and I
continue well, I will not cease to send thee letters and riches. Arise before
the daylight cometh upon thee, and thou art perplexed, and destruction en-
vironeth thee. So he said to her, O my mistress, I throw myself upon thy
generosity, begging thee to bid me farewell with an embrace. And she re-
plied, No harm. He then embraced her, and put on the dress of a mem-
look, and ordered the grooms to saddle for him a swift courser. They there-
fore saddled for him a courser, and he bade farewell to his wife, and went
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
943
orth from the city at the close of the night, and departed, every one who
w him imagining that he was one of the memlooks of the Sultán going on a
ourney for the accomplishment of some affair.
-
-
-
And when the morning arrived, her father came with the Wezeer to the
tting-chamber, and her father sent to her. So she came behind the curtain,
nd her father said to her, O my daughter, what sayest thou? She answered,
say, May God blacken the face of thy Wezeer! For he desired to blacken
y face in the eyes of my husband. And how so? said the King. She
nswered, He came in to me yesterday, before I mentioned to him these
ords, and lo, Faraj, the eunuch, came in to me with a letter in his hand, and
e said, Ten memlooks are standing beneath the window of the palace, and
hey gave me this letter, and said to me, Kiss for us the hands of our mas-
er Maaroof the merchant, and give him this letter; for we are of his mem-
oks who are with the merchandise, and it hath been told us that he hath
arried the daughter of the King; so we have come to him to acquaint him
ith the events that have happened to us on the way. And I took the let-
er and read it, and saw in it, - From the five hundred memlooks, to the
ossessor of dignity, our master, the merchant Maaroof. — To proceed.
The news wherewith we acquaint thee is this. After thou leftest us, the
rabs came forth against us, and fought with us, and they were two hundred
orsemen, while we were five hundred memlooks; and a severe contest en-
ued between us and the Arabs. They prevented our pursuing the way, and
hirty days elapsed while we were contending with them, and this was the
ause of our being behind the time in coming to thee. They have taken from
s two hundred loads of stuffs, forming part of the merchandise, and killed
f us fifty memlooks. And when the news came to him, he said, May Allah
isappoint them! Wherefore should they contend with the Arabs for the
ake of two hundred loads of merchandise? And what are two hundred
Dads? It was not expedient for them to delay on that account; for the
alue of the two hundred loads is but seven thousand pieces of gold. But
t is requisite that I go to them and hasten them; and as to what the Arabs
ave taken, the merchandise will not be the less for it, nor will it make any
mpression upon me, and I will reckon as though I had bestowed it in alms
pon them.
Then he descended from me, laughing, and grieved not for what was lost.
of his wealth, nor for the slaughter of his memlooks; and when he descended,
looked from the window of the palace, and saw that the ten memlooks,
vho brought him the letter, were like moons, each one of them wearing a suit
of apparel worth two thousand pieces of gold, and that there was not in the
Dossession of my father a memlook resembling one of them. He then re-
aired with the memlooks who brought him the letter, in order that he might
>ring his merchandise. And praise be to God who prevented me from men-
ioning to him aught of the words which thou orderedst me to say! For
he would have derided me and thee, and probably he would have looked
pon me with the eye of disparagement, and would have hated me. But
944
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the fault is wholly in thy Wezeer, who speaketh against my husband wor
not suitable to him. So the King said, O my daughter, verily the weal
of thy husband is abundant, and he thinketh not of it; and from the da
that he entered our country he hath been constantly bestowing alms on t
poor. If it be the will of God, he will soon come with the merchandise, ar
abundant good fortune will betide us from him. He proceeded to appea
her mind, and to threaten the Wezeer, and the stratagem deceived him.
-
But as to the merchant Maaroof, he mounted the courser, and proceede
over the desert tract, perplexed, not knowing to what country to go; and b
reason of the pain of separation, he moaned, and he suffered ecstasy and a
flictions, and recited some verses; after which, he wept violently. The way
were obstructed in his face, and he preferred death above life. Then h
went like one intoxicated, through the violence of his perplexity, and cease
not to proceed until the hour of noon, when he approached a village, an
saw a ploughman near it, ploughing with a yoke of bulls; and hunger ha
violently affected him; so he went to the ploughman and said to him, Peace
be on thee! And he returned his salutation, and said, Welcome to thee, C
my master! Art thou of the memlooks of the Sultán? He answered, Yes
And he said, Alight here with me for entertainment. He therefore knew
that he was of the liberal, but he said to him, O my brother, I see not with
thee any thing wherewith thou canst feed me. How is it then that thou in
vitest me? The ploughman answered, O my master, good things are at
hand. Alight thou; and, behold, the village is near; so I will go and bring
thee dinner, and fodder for thy horse. Maaroof replied, Since the village
is near, I shall arrive at it in the same time in which thou wouldst arrive
there, and I will buy what I desire from the market, and eat. But he said
to him, O my master, verily the village is a hamlet, and there is not in it a
market, nor selling nor buying. I conjure thee by Allah that thou alight
here with me, and comfort my heart; and I will go thither, and will return to
thee quickly. So he alighted; and the peasant left him, and went to the
village to bring him the dinner. Maaroof therefore sat waiting for him.
Then he said within himself, Verily we have diverted this poor man from
his work; but I will arise and plough in his stead, until he come, to com-
pensate for my having hindered him from his work.
_
Accordingly he took the plough, and drove on the bulls, and ploughed
a little; and the plough struck against something, whereupon the beasts
stopped. So he urged them; but they could not proceed; and he looked at
the plough, and saw that it was caught in a ring of gold. He therefore re-
moved from it the earth, and he found that ring to be in the middle of a
stone of alabaster, of the size of the nether millstone; and he laboured at
it until he pulled it up from its place, when there appeared beneath it a sub-
terranean place with stairs; and he descended those stairs, and saw a place
like a bath, with four leewáns. The first leewán was full of gold, from the
floor to the roof; and the second leewán was full of emeralds and pearls and
coral, from the floor to the roof; and the third leewán was full of jacinths
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
945
nd balass-rubies and turquoises; and the fourth leewán was full of dia-
onds and precious minerals of all kinds of jewels. Also, at the upper end
f that place was a chest of clear crystal, full of incomparable jewels, each
ewel of them being of the size of a hazel-nut; and upon that chest was a
ttle box, of the size of a lemon, and it was of gold. So when he beheld this,
e wondered, and rejoiced exceedingly; and he said, What can be in this
ttle box?
Then he opened it, and he saw in it a seal-ring of gold, on which were
ngraved names and talismans, like the marks made by the creeping of ants.
nd he rubbed the seal-ring; and, lo, a speaker said, At thy service! At
y service! O my master. Demand then, and thou shalt receive. Dost
ou desire to build a town, or to ruin a city, or to slay a King, or to dig a
ver, or any thing of that kind? For whatsoever thou demandest, it will
appen, by permission of the Almighty King, the Creator of the night and
le day. So he said to him, O creature of my Lord, who art thou, and
hat mayest thou be? He answered, I am the servant of this seal-ring,
cting in the service of its possessor; and whatever object of desire he de-
andeth, I accomplish it for him; and there is no excuse for my neglecting
hat he commandeth me to do; for I am Sultán over 'Óns of the Jánn, and
he number of my troops is two and seventy tribes. The number of each
ibe is two and seventy thousand, and every one of the thousand ruleth over
thousand Márids, and each Márid ruleth over a thousand 'Óns, and every
On ruleth over a thousand Devils, and every Devil ruleth over a thousand
innees, and all of them are under my authority, and they are unable to dis-
bey me. But I am bound by enchantment to this seal-ring, and I cannot
isobey him who possesseth it. Lo, thou hast possessed it, and I have be-
>me thy servant. Demand then what thou wilt; for I will hear thy saying
nd obey thy command; and when thou requirest me at any time, on land
on the sea, rub the seal-ring, and thou wilt find me with thee. But be-
are of rubbing it twice successively; for thou wouldst burn me with the
re of the names [engraved thereon], and lose me, and repent for me after
hat. Now I have acquainted thee with my state; and peace be on thee!
Upon this, Maaroof said to him, What is thy name? He answered, My
ame is Abu-s-Sa'ádát.23 And he said to him, O Abu-s-Sa'ádát, what is this
lace, and who enchanted thee in this little box? He answered, O my mas-
er, this place is a treasure, called the treasure of Sheddád the son of 'Ád,
ho constructed Irem Zát el-'Emád, the like of which hath not been made
the countries of the earth. I was his servant during his life, and this was
is seal-ring, and he deposited it in his treasure; but it is thy lot. Maaroof
en said to him, Canst thou take forth what is in this treasure and place it
1 the face of the earth? He answered, Yes; it will be the easiest of actions.
nd Maaroof said, Take forth all that is in it, and leave not of it aught.
nd he made a sign with his hand towards the ground, whereupon it clove
sunder. Then he descended, and was absent a little while; and lo, young,
egant boys, with beautiful faces, came forth carrying baskets of gold, and
946
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
those baskets were full of gold, and they emptied them; after which tl
went and brought more; and they ceased not to transport the gold a
jewels, and not more than a short time had elapsed when they said, Th
remaineth not in the treasure aught.
Upon this, Abu-s-Sa'ádát came up to him, and said to him, O my mi
ter, thou hast seen that we have transported all that was in the treasu
And he said to him, Who are these beautiful boys? He answered, Th
are my children; for this work deserved not that I should collect for it t
'Óns, and my children have accomplished thine affair, and have been ho
oured by serving thee. Now demand what thou desirest beside this. —
he said to him, Canst thou bring me mules and chests, and put these rich
into the chests, and place the chests upon the mules? He answered, Th
will be the easiest affair that can be. Then he uttered a great cry, wher
upon his children presented themselves before him; and they were eight hu
dred. And he said to them, Let some of you become transformed into th
semblance of mules, and some of you into the semblance of beautiful men
looks, such that the like of the least of them existeth not in the possessio
of any of the Kings, and some of you into the semblance of those who let ou
beasts of burden, and some of you into the semblance of servants. And the
did as he had commanded them; after which he called out to the 'Ons, wh
presented themselves before him, and he ordered them that some of ther
should become transformed into the semblance of horses saddled with sad
dles of gold set with jewels. And when Maaroof beheld this, he said, Wher
are the chests? They therefore brought them before him. And he said
Pack the gold and the minerals, each kind by itself. So they packed them
and put them upon three hundred mules.
And Maaroof said, O Abu-s-Sa'ádát, canst thou bring me loads of precious
stuffs? He asked, Dost thou desire Egyptian stuffs, or Syrian, or Persian
or Indian, or Greek? He answered, Bring of the stuffs of each country a
hundred loads upon a hundred mules. He replied, O my master, grant me
a delay, until I arrange my 'Óns for that purpose, and order each company
to go to a country in order to bring a hundred loads of its stuffs, and the
'Óns shall become transformed into the semblance of mules, and come car-
rying the goods. Maaroof said, What shall be the period of delay? He
answered, The period of the blackness of the night; for the daylight shall
not arise without thy having with thee all that thou desirest. And he said,
I grant thee this period of delay.
He then commanded them to pitch for him a tent. So they pitched it,
and he seated himself, and they brought him a table of viands; and Abu-
s-Sa'ádát said to him, O my master, sit in the tent, and these my children
are before thee to guard thee; therefore fear not aught; and I am going to
collect my 'Óns, and send them to accomplish thine affair. Then Abu-s-Sa-
ádát went his way, and Maaroof sat in the tent, with the table before him,
and the children of Abu-s-Sa'ádát before him in the semblance of memlooks
and servants and other dependants. And while he was sitting in this state,
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
947
o, the peasant approached, carrying a large wooden bowl of lentils, and a
odder-bag full of barley. So he saw the tent pitched, and the memlooks
standing with their hands upon their bosom; and he imagined that Maaroof
vas the Sultán, who had come and alighted in that place. He therefore
tood in a state of confusion, and said within himself, Would that I had
illed two chickens, and fried them red with clarified cows' butter for the
ake of the Sultán! And he desired to return, to kill two chickens where-
vith to entertain the Sultán.
But Maaroof saw him, and cried out to him, and said to the memlooks,
Bring him. They therefore carried him with the wooden bowl of lentils,
nd brought both before Maaroof, who said to him, What is this? He
nswered, This is thy dinner, and the fodder for thy horse; but blame me not;
or I did not imagine that the Sultán would come to this place; and had I
nown that, I would have killed for him two chickens, and entertained him
n a goodly manner. So Maaroof replied, The Sultán hath not come; but I
m his son-in-law, and I was displeased with him, and he hath sent to me
is memlooks, who have reconciled me, and I now desire to return to the city.
However, thou hast prepared for me this entertainment without being ac-
uainted with me, and thine entertainment is accepted, though it is of lentils,
nd I will not eat save of thy cheer. - He then ordered him to put the
wooden bowl in the middle of the table, and ate from it until he was satis-
ed; but as to the peasant, he filled his stomach with food from those dishes
f various exquisite viands. After that, Maaroof washed his hands, and
ave permission to the memlooks to eat. So they fell upon the remains of
he repast, and ate; and when the wooden bowl was emptied, Maaroof filled
: for the peasant with gold, and said to him, Convey it to thy dwelling, and
ɔme to me in the city, and I will treat thee with generosity. He therefore
ook the wooden bowl full of gold, and drove the bulls, and went to his vil-
ige, imagining that he [himself] was a relation of the king.
24
Maaroof passed that night in delight and joy, and they brought him
amsels, of the brides of the treasures, who played upon the instruments
f music and danced before him. Thus he passed his night, and it was not to
e reckoned among lives. And when the morning came, he was not aware
hen the dust rose and flew, and dispersed exposing to view mules bearing
ads. They were seven hundred mules, carrying stuffs, and around them
ere young men like those who let out beasts of burden, and 'akkáms, and
ghtbearers; and Abu-s-Sa'ádát was riding upon a mule, being in the sem-
ance of leader of the caravan, and before him was a takht-rawán upon
hich were four ornaments 26 of brilliant red gold, set with jewels. When
e arrived at the tent, he alighted from the back of the mule, and kissed
e ground, and said, O my master, verily the affair is accomplished com-
etely and perfectly, and in this takht-rawán is a suit of apparel from the
easures, of which there is not the like among the apparel of Kings: there-
re put it on, and ride in the takht-rawán, and command us to do what thou
esirest. And he replied, O Abu-s-Sa'ádát, I desire to write for thee a let-
25
948
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ter, with which thou shalt repair to the city of Ikhtiyán 27 of El-Khuta
and go in to my uncle the King; and go not in to him save in the semblanc
of a human 28 courier. So he said to him, I hear and obey. He then wrot
a letter and sealed it, and Abu-s-Sa'ádát took it, and proceeded with it un
til he went in to the King, when he saw him saying, O Wezeer, verily m
heart is anxious for my son-in-law, and I fear that the Arabs may slay him
Would that I knew whither he is going, that I might follow him with th
troops, and would that he had informed me thereof before his departure!
- Upon this the Wezeer replied, May God be gracious to thee with respec
to this state of heedlessness in which thou art! By thy head, the man hatl
known that we had become excited to suspect him, and he feared disgrace
and fled; and he is none other than an impostor, a liar.
-
And, lo, the courier entered, and he kissed the ground before the King
and offered up a prayer in his favour for the continuance of his glory and
blessings, and for length of life. So the King said to him, Who art thou
and what is thine affair? And he answered him, I am a courier. Thy son-
in-law hath sent me to thee, and he is approaching with the merchandise
and he hath sent thee by me a letter. Lo, here it is. He therefore took
it and read it, and saw in it, After exceeding salutation to our uncle, the
glorious King, I inform thee that I have come with the merchandise; so
come forth and meet me with the troops. And thereupon the King said,
May Allah blacken thy face, O Wezeer! How often wilt thou speak against
the reputation of my son-in-law, and assert him to be a liar and an im-
postor? He hath come with the merchandise, and thou art none other than
a traitor. So the Wezeer hung down his head towards the ground, in shame
and confusion, and replied, O King of the age, I said not these words save
on account of the long delay of the merchandise, and I was fearing the
loss of the wealth that he hath expended. But the King said, O traitor,
what are my riches! Since his merchandise hath come, he will give me
instead of them an abundance of things.
Then the King gave orders to decorate the city, and went in to his daugh-
ter, and said to her, Good news for thee! Verily thy husband will soon come
with his merchandise; and he hath sent to me a letter informing me of that
event; and, lo, I am going forth to meet him. The damsel therefore won-
dered at this circumstance, and said within herself, Verily this is a wonder-
ful thing! Was he deriding me, and making game of me, or was he proving
me, when he informed me that he was a poor man? But praise be to God
that nothing injurious to him proceeded from me! And as to the merchant
'Alee of Cairo, when he saw the decoration of the city, he inquired respect-
ing the cause of it, and they said to him, The merchandise of the merchant
Maaroof, the son-in-law of the King, hath arrived. So he said, God is
most great! What is this calamity! Verily he came to me fleeing from his
wife, and he was a poor man. Whence then came to him merchandise? But
probably the daughter of the King hath contrived for him a stratagem, in
fear of disgrace, and Kings are not unable to accomplish any thing. How-
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
949
ever, may God (whose name be exalted!) protect him, and not disgrace him!
-And all the other merchants rejoiced and were glad because they would
receive their money. The King then assembled the troops and went forth;
and Abu-s-Sa’ádát had returned to Maaroof and informed him that he had
delivered the letter; whereupon Maaroof said, Put ye on the loads. Ac-
cordingly they put them on; and he clad himself in the suit of the apparel
of the treasures, and got up into the takht-rawán, and became a thousand
times greater and more majestic than the King. He proceeded as far as half
the way, and, lo, the King met him with the troops; and when he came to
him, he saw him wearing that dress, and riding in the takht-rawán, and he
threw himself upon him, saluted him, and congratulated him on his safety.
All the great men of the empire also saluted him, and it appeared that
Maaroof was veracious, and that there was no falsehood in him.
He entered the city in a stately procession that would have made the.
gall-bladder of the lion to burst, and the merchants came to him and kissed
the ground before him. Then the merchant 'Alee said to him, Thou hast done
this deed, and it hath been successfully accomplished by thee, O sheykh of
the impostors! But thou art deserving: therefore may God (whose name
be exalted!) increase to thee his bounty! And Maaroof laughed. And
when he entered the palace, he seated himself upon the throne, and said, Put
ve the loads of gold into the treasury of my uncle the King, and bring ye the
cads of stuffs. So they brought them forward to him, and proceeded to
open them, load after load, and to take forth their contents, until they had
opened the seven hundred loads; whereupon he selected the best of them,
and said, Take them in to the Queen, that she may distribute them among
her female slaves; and take ye this chest of jewels, and carry it in to her,
hat she may distribute the jewels among the female slaves and the eunuchs.
Next he proceeded to give to the merchants to whom he was indebted, stuffs
n payments of the debts; and to whom he owed a thousand, he gave stuffs
worth two thousand, or more; after which, he distributed to the poor and
eedy, while the King looked on, and was unable to prevent him.
He ceased not to give and bestow until he had distributed the seven
undred loads; when he looked towards the soldiers, and betook himself to
istributing among them minerals and emeralds and jacinths and pearls and
oral and other things, not giving the jewels save by handfuls, without num-
ering. So the King said to him, O my son, these gifts are sufficient; for
here remaineth not of the merchandise more than a small quantity. But
e replied, I have abundance. And his veracity had become publicly mani-
est, and no one could any longer belie him. He became careless as to
iving; for the servant of the seal-ring brought him whatever he demanded.
`hen the Treasurer came to the King, and said, O King of the age, verily
he treasury is filled, and will not hold the rest of the loads, and where shall
e put what remaineth of the gold and minerals? So he pointed out to
im another place. And when his wife beheld this thing, her joy was ex-
essive, and she wondered, and said within herself, Whence can all this wealth
950
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
have come to him? In like manner also the merchants rejoiced at the thing
that he had given them, and they prayed for him. And as to the merchan
'Alee, he wondered too, and said within himself, How is it that he hath im
posed and lied so that he hath gained possession of all these treasures?
if they were from the daughter of the King, he would not have distributed
them to the poor. But how excellent is the saying of him who said,
When the King of Kings bestoweth, inquire not respecting the cause.
God will give to whom he pleaseth: so keep within the bounds of reverence.
---
But as to the King, he wondered extremely at what he beheld of the ac-
tions of Maaroof, and his generosity and munificence in lavishing the wealth.
After that, Maaroof went in to his wife, who met him smiling, laughing,
and joyful, and kissed his hand, and said, Wast thou making game of me,
or didst thou try me by thy saying, I am a poor man, and fleeing from my
wife? Praise be to God that nothing injurious to thee proceeded from me!
Thou art my beloved, and there is none more dear in my estimation, whether
thou be rich or poor; and I wish that thou wouldst inform me what thou
desiredst by these words. He replied, I desired to try thee, that I might
see whether thine affection were sincere, or on account of wealth, and covet-
ousness of worldly goods; and it hath become manifest to me that thine af-
fection is sincere; and since thou art true in affection, welcome to thee! I
have known thy value. Then he went into a place by himself, and rubbed
the seal-ring. So Abu-s-Sa'ádát presented himself to him, and said to him,
At thy service! Demand then what thou wilt. He replied, I desire of thee
a suit of the apparel of the treasures for my wife, and ornaments of the
treasures, comprising a necklace of forty incomparable jewels. And he said,
I hear and obey. Then he brought to him what he had commanded him to
procure, and Maaroof took the suit of apparel and the ornaments, after he
had dismissed the servant, and, going in to his wife, he put them before
her, and said to her, Take and put them on; and welcome to thee!
-
And when she looked at those things, her reason fled in consequence
of her joy; and she saw, among the ornaments, two anklets of gold set with
jewels, the work of the magicians, and bracelets and earrings and a nose-
ring,29 which no riches would suffice to purchase. She put on the suit of
apparel and the ornaments, and said, O my master, I desire to treasure them
up for festivals and holidays. But he replied, Wear them always, for I
have abundance beside them. And when she put them on, and the female
slaves beheld her, they rejoiced, and kissed her hands. He then left them,
and went apart by himself, and again rubbed the seal-ring. The servant
therefore presented himself to him, and he said to him, Bring me a hundred
suits of apparel, with the ornaments of gold appropriate to them. And he
replied, I hear and obey, and brought him the suits of apparel, each suit
having its ornaments of gold within it; and Maaroof took them, and called
out to the female slaves. So they came to him, and he gave to each of them
a suit; and they put on the suits, and became like the Hooreeyehs, the
-
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
951
Queen being among them like the moon among the stars. And one of the
emale slaves informed the King thereof; wherefore the King came in to his
aughter, and saw that she and her female slaves amazed the beholder; and
e wondered at this extremely.
He then went forth and summoned his Wezeer, and said to him, O
Vezeer, such and such things have happened, and what sayest thou of this
ase? He answered, O King of the age, verily this conduct proceedeth not
com merchants; for pieces of linen remain in the possession of the merchant
or years, and he selleth them not save for gain. How should merchants
ave generosity like this generosity, and how can they accumulate the like
f these riches and jewels such as exist not in the possession of Kings, save
1 small quantities? How then can loads of them exist in the possession of
erchants? There must be a cause for this. But, if thou wilt comply with
y advice, I will make manifest to thee the truth of the case. -And he re-
lied, I will comply with thy advice, O Wezeer. So the Wezeer said to him,
ave an interview with him, and shew affection for him, and converse with
im, and say to him, O my son-in-law, I have it in my heart to go with thee
nd the Wezeer, and none else, to a garden, for the sake of diversion. And
hen we have gone forth to the garden, we will put the wine-table, and I
ill constrain him, and give him to drink; and when he hath drunk the wine,
s reason will be lost, and his right judgment will quit him, and we will
sk him respecting the truth of his case; for he will acquaint us with his
crets. Wine is a betrayer; and divinely gifted was he who said, -
hen we had drunk it, and it had crept as far as the place of secrets, I said to it, Stop;
aring lest its influence should overcome me, and my companions discover my hidden
secret.
hen, when he hath informed us of the truth of the case, we shall know
s state, and may do with him as we like and choose; for I fear for thee the
sults of this state in which he is. Probably his soul may be ambitious of
taining the kingdom, and the troops may be collected by means of gener-
ity and the lavishing of wealth, and he may depose thee, and take the
ngdom from thee. And the King replied, Thou hast spoken truth.
They passed the night agreeing as to this plan; and when the morning
me, the King went forth to the mak'ad, and seated himself; and, lo, the
rvants and grooms came in to him in affliction. So he said to them, What
ith befallen you? And they answered, O King of the age, the grooms
rried the horses, and gave fodder to them and to the mules that brought
e merchandise; and when we arose in the morning, we found that the
emlooks had stolen the horses and mules, and we searched the stables, but
w not horses nor mules; and we entered the place of the memlooks, but
w not in it any one; and we know not how they fled. The King therefore
›ndered at that; for he imagined that the 'Óns were horses and mules and
emlooks, and knew not that they were the 'Óns of the servant of the talis-
an. And he said to them, O ye accursed! How is it that a thousand beasts,
952
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and five hundred memlooks, and servants besides, fled, and ye perceived the
not? They replied, We know not how it happened to us that they fle
And he said, Depart, and wait until your master cometh forth from th
Hareem, and acquaint him with the news.
So they departed from before the King, and sat perplexed respecting th
matter; and while they were sitting in this state, lo, Maaroof came fort
from the Hareem, and saw them sorrowful, and he said to them, What
the news? They therefore acquainted him with that which had happened
But he said, And what is their value, that ye are sorrowful on account o
them? Go your way. And he sat laughing, and was neither angry no
sorrowful on account of this event. And the King looked in the face of th
Wezeer, and said, What is this man, in whose estimation wealth is of n
value? There must be a cause for this. Then they conversed with hir
a while, and the King said, O my son-in-law, I desire to go with thee an
the Wezeer to a garden, for the sake of diversion. What then sayest thou
-And he replied, No harm.
So thereupon they departed, and repaired to a garden containing tw
kinds of every fruit, and its rivers were flowing, and its trees were tall, an
its birds were warbling. They entered, within it, a pavilion, that would dis
pel grief from hearts, and sat conversing, the Wezeer relating extraordinary
tales, and introducing ludicrous witticisms, and mirth-exciting sayings, and
Maaroof listening to the conversation, until the dinner came up. They
placed the table of viands, and the jar of wine; and after they had eaten
and washed their hands, the Wezeer filled the cup, and gave it to the King
who drank it; and he filled the second, and said to Maaroof, Take the cup
of the beverage in reverence of which the understanding bows the neck. S
Maaroof said, What is this, O Wezeer? The Wezeer answered, This is the
old maid, and the virgin long kept in her home, and the imparter of joy to
hearts, of which the poet hath said, -
The stout, foreign infidels' feet went round treading her, and she hath avenged hersel
upon the heads of the Arabs.
One of the daughters of the infidels, like the full moon amid darkness, whose eyes are the
strongest cause of temptation, presenteth her.
30
And among other pieces of poetry, he recited this verse:
I wonder at the pressers of it, how they have died, and have left to us the water of life
And this couplet: -
By Allah, there is no other alchemy than this; and all is false that is said of the mode:
of other kinds.
Pour a carat's weight of wine upon a hundred-weight of grief, and the latter is instantly
converted into joys.
He ceased not to excite his desire for the wine, mentioning to him such of
its good qualities as he relished, and reciting to him what occurred to his
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
953
ind of verses on the subject of it, and pleasant stories, until he inclined to
this lips to the mouth of the cup, and had no longer a desire for any
ing else. And the Wezeer continued to fill for him, and he drank and
Highted and was merry, till he lost his reason, and distinguished not his
ong conduct from his right. So when he knew that his intoxication had
come extreme, and exceeded the utmost point that was required, he said
him, O merchant Maaroof, by Allah, I wonder whence came to thee these
wels of which the like exist not in the possession of the royal Kisràs; and
our lives we have never seen a merchant who hath accumulated riches
le thee, nor any one more generous than thou; for thine actions are
e actions of Kings, and they are not the actions of merchants. I con-
re thee then by Allah that thou inform me, in order that I may know
y rank and thy station. And he proceeded to ply him and beguile
while he was bereft of reason. Maaroof therefore said to him, I
not a merchant, nor one of the Kings. And he acquainted him with
's story from beginning to end. So the Wezeer said to him, I conjure
ee by Allah, O my master Maaroof, to divert us with a sight of this
al-ring, that we may see of what kind is its make. And he pulled off
e ring, in his intoxication, and said, Take it, and divert yourselves with
e sight of it. And the Wezeer took it, and turned it over, and said, If I
bit, will the servant present himself? Maaroof answered, Yes: rub it:
d he will present himself to thee; and divert thou thyself by beholding
m.
-
The Wezeer therefore rubbed it; and, lo, a speaker said, At thy service,
my master! Demand: thou shalt receive! Wilt thou ruin a city, or build
city, or slay a King? For whatever thou desirest, I will do it for thee,
ithout disobedience. And the Wezeer made a sign to Maaroof, and said
the servant, Take up this erring man: then cast him down in the most
esolate of deserted lands, so that he may not find in it what he may eat nor
hat he may drink, and may perish of hunger, and die in sorrow, no one
Cowing of him. So the servant seized him, and flew with him between
eaven and earth. And when Maaroof beheld this, he felt sure of destruction,
ad grievous embarrassment; and he wept, and said, O Abu-s-Sa'ádát, whither
at thou going with me? He answered him, I am going to cast thee down
the deserted quarter 31 of the earth, O thou of little good-breeding! Who
Pssesseth a talisman like this and giveth it to people that they may divert
themselves with the sight of it? But thou deservest what hath befallen
tree; and, but that I fear God, I would cast thee down from the distance of
thousand fathoms, and thou wouldst not reach the earth until the winds
should have torn thee in pieces. So he was silent, and spoke not to him
until he arrived with him at the deserted quarter; whereupon he threw him
down there; and he returned, and left him in the desolate land. — Mean-
hile, the Wezeer, having possessed the seal-ring, said to the King, How
thinkest thou now? Did I not say to thee that this man was a liar, an im-
postor? But thou didst not believe me. And he replied, Thou art right,
-
954
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
O my Wezeer! God give thee health! Give me this seal-ring, that I ma
divert myself with a sight of it.
But the Wezeer looked at him angrily, and spat in his face, and said t
him, O thou of little sense, how should I give it to thee, and become th
servant, after I have become thy master? But I will no longer suffer thee t
exist. Then he rubbed the seal-ring, and the servant presented himsel
and he said to him, Take up this person of little good-breeding, and thro
him down in the place where thou hast cast his son-in-law, the imposto
So he took him up, and flew away with him, and the King said to him,
creature of my Lord, what is my offence? The servant answered him,
know not: but my master hath commanded me to do this, and I cannot dis
obey him who possesseth the seal-ring containing this talisman. He cease
not to fly on with him until he threw him down in the place in which wa
Maaroof. He then returned, and left him there. And the King heard Maa
roof weeping: wherefore he came to him and informed him of his case, an
they sat weeping for that which had befallen them, and found neither foo
nor drink.
But as to the Wezeer, after he had separated Maaroof and the Kin
from their home, he arose and went forth from the garden, and, having sen
to all the soldiers, held a court, and acquainted them with what he ha
done with Maaroof and the King. He told them also the story of the seal
ring, and said to them, If ye make me not Sultán over you, I will comman
the servant of the seal-ring to carry you all off and cast you down in the de
serted quarter, and ye will die of hunger and thirst. So they replied, D
us no injury; for we consent to thy being Sultán over us, and we will no
disobey thy command. They agreed, against their wish, to his being Sul
tán over them, and he conferred upon them robes of honour, and proceeded
to demand all that he desired of Abu-s-Sa'ádát, who presented it befor
him immediately.
32
He seated himself upon the throne, and the troops obeyed him; and h
sent to the daughter of the King, saying to her, Prepare thyself; for I an
coming to take thee as my wife this night, being full of desire to be with
thee. Upon this, she wept; and the case of her father and her husband
grieved her; and she sent to say to him, Let me remain until the period o
widowhood 3 shall have been completed: then perform the ceremony of the
contract of my marriage, and take me as thy wife legally. But he sent to
say to her, I know no period of widowhood nor length of time, nor do
require a contract of marriage, nor do I know lawful from unlawful.
must without fail take thee as my wife this night. And she sent to say
to him, Welcome to thee! And there will be no harm in that. - But this
proceeding was a stratagem of hers. And when the reply was brought to
him, he rejoiced, and his bosom became dilated; for he was passionately
enamoured of her. He then gave orders to place the viands among all the
people, and said, Eat ye this food, as it is the banquet of the wedding
festivity; for I purpose to take the Queen as my wife this night. The Sheykh
--
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
955
El-Islam therefore said, It is not lawful for thee to take her as thy wife
intil her period of widowhood shall have been completed and thou shalt
have performed the ceremony of the contract of thy marriage to her. But
he replied, I know not a period of widowhood nor any other period: there-
ore multiply not thy words to me. So the Sheykh El-Islám was silent, and
eared his malice, and said to the soldiers, Verily this is an infidel, and he
ath no religion nor religious opinion.
--
Then, when the evening came, he went in to her, and saw her wearing
he most magnificent of the apparel that she possessed, and adorned with
he most beautiful of ornaments; and when she beheld him, she received him
aughing, and said to him, A blessed night! But hadst thou slain my father
nd my husband, it had been better in my opinion! So he replied, I must
ithout fail slay them. And she seated him, and proceeded to jest with
im, and to make a show of affection for him; and when she caressed him,
nd smiled in his face, his reason fled. But she only beguiled him by
aresses in order that she might get possession of the seal-ring, and convert
is joy into calamity upon his head; and she did not with him these deeds
ive in accordance with the idea of him who said,
33
have attained by means of my stratagem what could not be attained by the swords.
hen I returned with plunder of which the plucked fruits were sweet.
hen suddenly she retired to a distance from him, and wept, and said, O
y lord, dost thou not see the man that is looking at us? I conjure thee
y Allah to veil me from his eye! - And thereupon he was enraged, and
id, Where is the man? She answered, Lo, he is in the stone of the seal-
ng, putting forth his head, and looking at us. He therefore imagined that
e servant of the seal-ring was looking at them; and he laughed, and said,
ear not. This is the servant of the seal-ring, and he is under my authority.
- She replied, I am afraid of 'Efreets: so pull it off, and throw it to a dis-
nce from me. Accordingly he pulled it off, and put it on the cushion, and
ew near to her. But she kicked him with her foot upon his stomach, so
at he fell upon his back senseless; and she called out to her dependants,
no came to her quickly, and she said to them, Lay hold upon him! So
rty female slaves seized him, and she hastily took the seal-ring from the
llow, and rubbed it; and, lo, Abu-s-Sa'ádát approached, saying, At thy
rvice, O my mistress! And she said, Take up this infidel, and put him
to the prison, and make his shackles heavy.
He therefore took him, and confined him in the Prison of Anger, and re-
rned and said to her, I have imprisoned him. She then said to him,
hither conveyedst thou my father and my husband? He answered, I threw
emn down in the deserted quarter. And she said, I command thee to bring
em to me this instant. So he replied, I hear and obey. And he flew from
fore her, and ceased not to fly on until he arrived at the deserted quarter,
d descended upon them, when he beheld them sitting weeping, and com-
956
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
--
plaining, each to the other; and he said to them, Fear ye not. Relief hat
come to you. He acquainted them with that which the Wezeer had don
and said to them, I have imprisoned him with mine own hand, in obedienc
to her; and she commanded me to bring you back. They therefore rejoice
at the news that he told them. Then he took them up, and flew away wit
them, and not more than a little while had elapsed before he went in wit
them to the King's daughter, who arose and saluted her father and her hus
band, and seated them, and presented to them the viands and the sweet
meat./
They passed the remainder of the night; and on the following day, sh
clad her father in a magnificent suit of apparel, and clad her husband in lik
manner, and said, O my father, sit thou upon thy throne, a King as tho
wast at first, and make my husband thy Wezeer of the right hand; then ac
quaint thy troops with the events that have happened, and bring the Wezee
from the prison, and slay him, and after that, burn him; for he is an infidel
and he desired to take me as his wife unlawfully, without the rite of mar
riage. He hath avowed of himself that he is an infidel, and that he hath
no religion which he holdeth. And do thou act well to thy son-in-law, whom
thou hast appointed thy Wezeer of the right hand. He replied, I hear and
obey, O my daughter: but give me the seal-ring, or give it to thy husband.
But she said, Verily it befitteth not thee nor him. The seal-ring shall re-
main only in my possession, and probably I shall take more care of it than
ye would. Whatever ye desire, demand it of me, and I will demand for you
of the servant of the seal-ring. Fear ye not any harm as long as I live;
and after my death, do as ye will with the seal-ring. — And her father re-
plied, This is the right plan, O my daughter. Then he took his son-in-law,
and went up to the council-chamber.
-
-
Now the troops had passed the night in excessive affliction, on account
of the King's daughter, and what the Wezeer had [as they imagined] done
with her, taking her as his wife unlawfully, without the rite of marriage, and
his ill-treatment of the King and his son-in-law; and they feared that the
law of El-Islám would be dishonoured; for it had become manifest to them
that he was an infidel. Then they assembled in the council-chamber, and be-
gan to reproach the Sheykh El-Islám, saying to him, Wherefore didst thou
not prevent him from taking the Queen as his wife unlawfully? So he an-
swered them, O people, verily the man is an infidel, and he hath become pos-
sessor of the seal-ring, and I and ye are unable to do aught against him.
But God (whose name be exalted!) will recompense him for his conduct;
and be ye silent, lest he slay you. And while the soldiers were assembled
in the council-chamber, conversing on this subject, lo, the King came in to
them in the council-chamber, and with him his son-in-law Maaroof. So
when the soldiers beheld him, they rejoiced at his coming, and rose to him
upon their feet, and kissed the ground before him. He then seated himself
upon the throne, and acquainted them with the story. Therefore their grief
quitted them. And he gave orders to decorate the city, and caused the
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
957
Vezeer to be brought from the prison; and as he passed by the soldiers,
hey cursed him and reviled him and threatened him until he came to the
King; and when he stood before him, he gave orders to slay him in
he most abominable manner. So they slew him: then they burned him;
nd he went to Hell in the most evil of conditions: and well did one say of
im, -
-
May the Compassionate shew no mercy to the tomb where his bones will lie, and may
Munkar and Nekeer incessantly remain in it!
hen the King appointed Maaroof his Wezeer of the right hand, and the
mes were pleasant to them, and their joys were unsullied.
They remained thus five years; and in the sixth year the King died;
nd thereupon the King's daughter made Maaroof Sultán in the place of her
ither; but she gave him not the seal-ring. And during this period, she had
orne him a boy, of surprising loveliness, of surpassing beauty and perfec-
on; and he ceased not to remain in the laps of the nurses until he had at-
ined the age of five years. Then his mother fell into a fatal sickness: so
he summoned Maaroof, and said to him, I am sick. He replied, God pre-
erve thee, O beloved of my heart! But she rejoined, Probably I shall die,
nd thou requirest not that I should charge thee respecting thy son. I only
large thee to take care of the seal-ring, from fear for thee and for this boy.
- He said, No harm will befall him whom God preserveth. And she pulled
f the ring, and gave it to him; and on the following day, she was admitted
the mercy of God, whose name be exalted!
Maaroof still remained King, and applied himself to the affairs of gov-
nment. And it happened one day that he shook the handkerchief, and
e soldiers dispersed themselves from before him to their abodes, and he
tered the sitting-chamber, and sat there until the day had passed, and the
ght came with its thick darkness. Then the great men who were his boon-
›mpanions came in to him, according to their custom, and sat up with him
r the sake of enjoyment and amusement until midnight, when they asked
ermission to depart, and he gave them permission, and they went forth
om him to their houses. After that, there came in to him a slave-girl,
ho was employed to attend to his bed, and she spread for him the mat-
ess, pulled off his clothes, and clad him in the apparel of sleep, and he laid
mself down. The damsel then proceeded to rub and press gently the soles
his feet until sleep overcame him; whereupon she went forth from him to
r sleeping-place, and slept. And the King Maaroof was sleeping, and
ddenly he found something by his side in the bed. So he awoke terrified,
id said, I seek refuge with God from Satan the accursed! Then he opened
s eyes, and saw by his side a woman of hideous aspect; and he said to
r, Who art thou? She answered, Fear not. I am thy wife, Fátimeh
-'Orrah.
Upon this, he looked in her face, and knew her by the hideousness of
958
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
her shape, and the length of her dog-teeth; and he said, How camest thot
in to me, and who brought thee to this country? She said to him, In wha
country art thou at present? He answered, In the city of Ikhtiyán of El
Khutan. And thou (he added), when didst thou quit Cairo? She answered
Just now. He said to her, And how so? She answered, Know that wher
I wrangled with thee, and the Devil had incited me to do thee mischief, and
I complained of thee to the magistrates, they searched for thee, and found
thee not; and the Kádees inquired respecting thee; but they saw thee not
Then, after two days had passed, repentance seized me, and I knew that
the fault was mine; but repentance did not profit me. I remained for a
period of days weeping for thy separation, and my means became diminished,
so that it was necessary for me to beg for the sake of food. I proceeded
to beg of every emulated man of wealth and every detested pauper; and
from the time when thou quittedst me, I have been eating the food obtained
by ignominous begging. I became in the most evil of conditions, and every
night I sat weeping for thy separation, and for what I had endured since
thy departure, of ignominy and contempt and disappointment and injury.
She continued to relate to him what had happened to her, while he was
in amazement at her, until she said, And yesterday I went about all the day
begging; but no one gave me aught. Every time that I accosted any one,
and begged him for a bit of bread, he reviled me, and gave me not aught.
So when the night came, I passed it without supper, and hunger tormented
me; what I endured was grievous to me, and I sat weeping. And, lo, a per-
son appeared before me, and said to me, O woman, wherefore dost thou
weep? I therefore answered, I had a husband who expended upon me and
accomplished my desires, and he hath been lost to me, and I know not
whither he hath gone, and I have endured embarrassment since his depart-
ure. Thereupon he said, What is the name of thy husband? I answered,
His name is Maaroof. And he said, I am acquainted with him. Know
that thy husband is now Sultán in a city; and if thou desire that I should
convey thee to him, I will do so. I therefore said to him, I throw myself
upon thy generosity, begging thee to convey me to him! And he took me
up, and flew with me between heaven and earth until he conveyed me to
this palace, when he said, Enter this chamber. Thou wilt see thy hus-
band sleeping upon the couch. So I entered, and saw thee in this
state of sovereignty. Now it was not my wish that thou shouldst for-
I am thy companion; and praise be to God who hath united me with
thee!
Upon this he said to her, Did I forsake thee, or didst thou forsake me? ³¹
Thou complainedst of me to Kádee after Kádee, and finishedst by complain-
ing of me to the Sublime Court, so that thou causedst Aboo-Tabak to come
down upon me from the Citadel. Therefore I fled in spite of myself. -
And he proceeded to relate to her what had happened to him until he be-
came Sultán and married the King's daughter. He told her also that she had
died, and that he had by her a son, whose age was seven years. And she
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
959
said to him, What hath happened was predestined by God (whose name be
exalted!), and I have repented. I throw myself upon thy generosity, en-
treating thee not to forsake me; but let me eat bread in thine abode as alms.
She ceased not to humble herself to him until his heart was moved with
compassion for her, and he said to her, Repent of evil conduct, and reside
with me, and thou shalt experience nothing but what will rejoice thee. But
if thou do any evil act, I will slay thee, and will not fear any one; so let it
10t occur to thy mind that thou mayest complain of me to the Sublime Court,
and that Aboo-Tabak will come down to me from the Citadel; for I have
become a Sultán, and the people fear me; but I fear not any one except God
(whose name be exalted!), since I have a seal-ring that hath a servant in
subjection to it. When I rub it, the servant of the ring appeareth to me: his
name is Abu-s-Sa'ádát; and whatever I demand of him, he bringeth it to me.
Now if thou desire to return to thy country, I will give thee what will suffice
hee all thy life, and send thee to thy country speedily. And if thou desire
o reside with me, I will appropriate to thee exclusively a pavilion, and fur-
ish it for thee with the best of silks, appoint for thee twenty female slaves
o serve thee, and assign for thee good food and magnificent apparel, so that
hou shalt become a Queen, and live in exceeding affluence until thou shalt
lie, or I die. What then sayest thou respecting this proposal? She an-
wered, I desire to remain with thee. Then she kissed his hand, and vowed
epentance of evil conduct.
He therefore appropriated to her a pavilion for herself alone, and bestowed
pon her female slaves and eunuchs, and she became a Queen. And the boy
ised to repair to her and to his father; but she hated the boy because he
vas not her son; and when the boy saw that she looked upon him with the
ye of anger and hatred, he shunned her and hated her. Maaroof then be-
ame occupied with love of the beautiful slave-girls, and thought not of his
vife Fátimeh El-'Orrah, because she had become a half-gray old woman, with
ideous form, and a person whose hair was falling off, more ugly than the
peckled, black and white, serpent; but especially because she had ill-treated
im in a manner that could not be exceeded; and the author of the proverb
aith, Ill-treatment eradicateth desire, and soweth fierce hatred in the soil of
earts. Divinely gifted was he who said, -
eware of losing hearts in consequence of injury, for the bringing them back, after
flight, is difficult.
erily hearts, when affection hath fled from them, are like glass, which, when broken,
cannot be made whole again.
Maaroof did not receive her to reside in his abode on account of any
raiseworthy quality that she possessed; but he treated her in this generous
anner only from a desire of obtaining the approval of God, whose name be
xalted! And when she saw that he withheld himself from her, and became
ccupied with others, she hated him, and jealousy overcame her, and Iblees
1ggested that she should take the seal-ring from him, and slay him, and
960
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
make herself Queen in his place. Then she went forth one night, and walked
from her pavilion to the pavilion in which was her husband, the King
Maaroof. Now it was his custom, when he slept, to take off the seal-ring
and conceal it; and she knew this: so she went forth by night to go in to
him in the pavilion when he was drowned in sleep, and to steal this ring in
such a manner that he should not see her. But the King's son, at that time.
was awake, in a private chamber with the door open; and when she came
forth from her pavilion, he saw her carefully walking towards the pavilion
of his father, and he said within himself, Wherefore hath this sorceress
come forth from her pavilion in the hour of darkness, and wherefore do I
see her repairing to the pavilion of my father? There must be a cause for
this event.
He then went forth behind her, and followed her steps without her seeing
him. And he had a short, jewelled sword; 35 and he used not to go forth to
the council-chamber of his father without having this sword hung by his side,
because he prized it highly; and when his father saw him, he used to laugh
at him, and say, God's will! Verily thy sword is excellent, O my son!
thou hast not gone down with it to battle, nor cut off with it a head. — And
thereupon he used to reply, I shall not fail to cut with it a neck that shall
be deserving of the cutting. And his father would laugh at his words. Now
when he walked behind his father's wife, he drew the sword from its scabbard
and followed her until she entered the pavilion of his father, when he stood
watching her at the door of the pavilion; and as he continued looking at her,
he saw her searching, and saying, Where hath he put the seal-ring? He
therefore understood that she was looking about for the ring; and he ceased
not to wait, observing her, until she found it, when she said, Lo, here it is.
And she picked it up, and was about to come forth. So he hid himself behind
the door; and when she came forth from the door, she looked at the ring, and
turned it over in her hand, and was about to rub it. But he raised his hand
with the sword, and struck her upon her back, and she uttered one cry; then
fell down slain.
-
Upon this, Maaroof awoke, and beheld his wife laid prostrate, and her
blood flowing, and his son with the sword drawn in his hand. So he said
to him, What is this, O my son? He replied, O my father, how often hast
thou said to me, Verily thy sword is excellent; but thou hast not gone down.
with it to battle, nor cut off with it a head? and I answered thee, I shall not
fail to cut with it a neck deserving of the cutting! Lo, now I have cut for
thee with it a neck deserving of the cutting. And he acquainted him with
her case. Then he searched for the seal-ring; but he saw it not. And
he ceased not to search her person until he saw her hand closed upon it.
Maaroof therefore took it from her, and said to the boy, Thou art my son
without doubt or uncertainty. May God relieve thee from trouble in this
world and in the next, as thou hast relieved me from this base woman! Her
course only led her to her own destruction; and divinely gifted was he who
said,-
-----
MAAROOF THE COBBLER AND THE 'EFREET
961
When God's aid promoteth the business of a man, his wish, in every case, is easily ac-
complished:
But if the aid of God be not granted to a man, the first thing that harmeth him is his
own endeavour.
Then the King Maaroof called out to some of his dependants, who came
> him quickly, and he acquainted them with that which his wife Fátimeh El-
Orrah had done, and commanded them to take her and put her in a place
ntil the morning. So they did as he commanded them; after which he ap-
ointed a number of the eunuchs to take charge of her; and they washed her
nd shrouded her, made for her a funeral-procession, and buried her. Thus
er coming from Cairo was only a journey to her grave. Divinely gifted was
e who said, -
Ve trod the steps appointed for us: and he whose steps are appointed must tread them.
le whose death is decreed to take place in one land will not die in any land but that.
And how excellent is this saying of the poet:-
know not, when I journey to a land, desiring good fortune, whether will betide me
The good fortune of which I am in pursuit, or the misfortune that pursueth me.
The King Maaroof then sent to summon the ploughman who had enter-
ained him when he was a fugitive; and when he came, he appointed him his
Vezeer of the right and, and his counsellor.36 And he learned that he had a
laughter of surprising beauty and loveliness, of generous qualities, of noble
ace, of high dignity: so he took her to wife. And after a period of time,
e married his son. And they remained a long time enjoying the most com-
ortable life; their times were unsullied, and their joys were sweet, until they
vere visited by the terminator of delights and the separator of companions,
nd the ruiner of flourishing houses, and him who maketh sons and daughters
›rphans. — Extolled be the perfection of the Living who dieth not, and in
vhose hands are the keys of the dominion that is apparent and the dominion
hat is hidden!
THE FORTUNE THAT BEFELL SHAHRAZÁD
SHAHRAZÁD, during this period, had borne the King three male children;
and when she had ended these tales, she rose upon her feet, and kissed
the ground before the King, and said to him, O King of the time, and incom-
parable one of the age and period, verily I am thy slave, and during a thou-
sand and one nights I have related to thee the history of the preceding genera-
tions, and the admonitions of the people of former times: then have I any
claim upon thy majesty so that I may request of thee to grant me a wish?
And the King answered her, Request: thou shalt receive, O Shahrazád. So
thereupon she called out to the nurses and the eunuchs, and said to them,
Bring ye my children. According. they brought them to her quickly; and
they were three male children: one of them walked, and one crawled, and
one was at the breast.
And when they brought them, she took them and placed them before the
King, and, having kissed the ground, said, O King of the age, these are thy
children, and I request of thee, that thou exempt me from slaughter, as a
favour to these infants; for if thou slay me, these infants will become without
a mother, and will not find among women one who will rear them well. And
thereupon the King wept, and pressed his children to his bosom, and said,
O Shahrazád, by Allah, I pardoned thee before the coming of these children,
because I saw thee to be chaste, pure, ingenuous, pious. May God bless thee,
and thy father and thy mother, and thy root and thy branch! I call God to
witness against me that I have exempted thee from every thing that might
injure thee. So she kissed his hands and his feet, and rejoiced with exceed-
ing joy; and she said to him, May God prolong thy life, and increase thy
dignity and majesty!
-
Joy spread through the palace of the King until it became diffused
throughout the city, and it was a night not to be reckoned among lives: its
colour was whiter than the face of day. The King rose in the morning happy,
and with prosperity inundated; and he sent to all the soldiers, who came; and
he conferred upon his Wezeer, the father of Shahrazád, a sumptuous and mag-
nificent robe of honour, saying to him, May God protect thee, since thou hast
married to me thy generous daughter, who hath been the cause of my repent-
ing of slaying the daughters of the people, and I have seen her to be ingenu-
ous, pure, chaste, virtuous. Moreover, God hath blessed me by her with
three male children; and praise be to God for this abundant favour! - Then
he conferred robes of honour upon all the wezeers and emeers and lords of
the empire, and gave orders to decorate the city thirty days; and he caused
962
THE FORTUNE THAT BEFELL SHAHRAZÁD
963
ot any one of the people of the city to expend aught of his wealth; for all the
xpense and disbursements were from the King's treasury.
So they decorated the city in a magnificent manner, the like of which had
ot been seen before, and the drums were beaten and the pipes were sounded,
nd all the performers of sports exhibited their arts, and the King rewarded
hem munificently with gifts and presents. He bestowed alms also upon the
oor and needy, and extended his generosity to all his subjects, and all the
eople of his dominions. And he and the people of his empire continued in
rosperity and joy and delight and happiness until they were visited by the
erminator of delights and the separator of companions.
Extolled be the perfection of Him whom the vicissitudes of times do not
estroy, and to whom no change happeneth, whom no circumstance diverteth
rom another circumstance, and who is alone distinguished by the attributes
f perfection! And blessing and peace be on the Imám of his Majesty, and
he elect from among his creatures, our Lord Mohammad, the lord among
ankind, through whom we supplicate God for a happy end!
THE END
APPENDIX
Comprising the Translator's Complete,
Original Notes containing explanations
and illustrations of Oriental life and
thought.
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
NOTE I. On the Initial Phrase, and on
he Mohammadan Religion and Laws. It is
i universal custom of the Muslims to write
his phrase at the commencement of every
book, whatever may be the subject, and to
ronounce it on commencing every lawful
ict of any importance. This they do in
mitation of the Kur-án (every chapter of
which, excepting one, is thus prefaced), and
n accordance with a precept of their Proph-
t. The words which I translate "Compas-
ionate" and "Merciful" are both derived
rom the same root, and have nearly the
ame meaning: the one being of a form
which is generally used to express an ac-
idental or occasional passion or sensation;
he other, to denote a constant quality:
out the most learned of the 'Ulamà (or
>rofessors of religion and law, &c.) inter-
>ret the former as signifying "Merciful in
reat things; and the latter, "Merciful
n small things." Sale has erred in ren-
lering them conjunctly, "Most merciful."
In the books of the Muslims, the first
words, after the above phrase, almost always
onsist (as in the work before us) of some
orm of praise and thanksgiving to God for
is power and goodness, followed by an
ivocation of blessing on the Prophet; and
1 general, when the author is not very
oncise in these expressions, he conveys in
hem some allusion to the subject of his
ook. For instance, if he write on mar-
age, he will commence his work with some
ich form as this (after the phrase first
entioned) "Praise be to God, who
ath created the human race, and made
hem males and females," &c.
19
The exordium of the present work, show-
g the duty imposed upon a Muslim by
is religion, even on the occasion of his
>mmencing the composition or compila-
on of a series of fictions, suggests to me
e necessity of inserting a brief prefatory
otice of the fundamental points of his
ith, and the principal laws of the ritual
id moral, the civil, and the criminal code;
aving more full explanations of particular
ints to be given when occasions shall re-
aire such illustrations.
The confession of the Muslim's faith is
iefly made in these words: "There is
› deity but God: Mohammad is God's
-
Apostle: "which imply a belief and ob-
servance of everything that Mohammad
taught to be the word or will of God. In
the opinion of those who are commonly
called orthodox, and termed "Sunnees"
(the only class whom we have to consider;
for they are Sunnee tenets and Arab man-
ners which are described in this work in
almost every case, wherever the scene is
laid), the Mohammadan code is founded
upon the Kur-án, the Traditions of the
Prophet, the concordance of his principal
early disciples, and the decisions which
have been framed from analogy or com-
parison. This class consists of four sects,
Hanafees, Sháfe'ees, Málikees, and Hambe-
lees; so called after the names of their
respective founders. The other sects,
who are called "Shiya'ees" (an appella-
tion particularly given to the Persian
sect, but also used to designate generally
all who are not Sunnees, are regarded by
their opponents in general nearly in the
same light as those who do not profess
El-Islám (or the Mohammadan faith);
that is, as destined to eternal or severe
punishment.
The Mohammadan faith embraces the
following points:
1. Belief in God, who is without begin-
ning or end, the sole Creator and Lord of
the universe, having absolute power, and
knowledge, and glory, and perfection.
2. Belief in his Angels, who are impec-
cable beings, created of light; and Genii
(Jinn), who are peccable, created of smoke-
less fire. The Devils, whose chief is Iblees,
or Satan, are evil Genii.
3. Belief in his Scriptures, which are
his uncreated word, revealed to his proph-
ets. Of these there now exist, but held to
be greatly corrupted, the Pentateuch of
Moses, the Psalms of David, and the Gos-
pels of Jesus Christ; and, in an uncorrupted
and incorruptible state, the Kur-án, which
is held to have abrogated, and to surpass in
excellence, all preceding revelations.
4. Belief in his Prophets and Apostles;
the most distinguished of whom are Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mo-
hammad. Jesus is held to be more excel-
lent than any of those who preceded him;
to have been born of a virgin, and to be
967
968
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the Messiah, and the word of God, and a
Spirit proceeding from Him, but not par-
taking of his essence, and not to be called
the Son of God. Mohammad is held to be
more excellent than all; the last and great-
est of prophets and apostles; the most ex-
cellent of the creatures of God.
5. Belief in the general resurrection and
judgment, and in future rewards and pun-
ishments, chiefly of a corporeal nature;
that the punishments will be eternal to all
but wicked Mohammadans; and that none
but Mohammadans will enter into a state
of happiness.
6. Belief in God's predestination of all
events, both good and evil.
The principal Ritual and Moral Laws are
on the following subjects, of which the
first four are the most important.
1. Prayer (es-saláh, commonly pro-
nounced es-salah), including preparatory
purifications. There are partial or total
washings to be performed on particular oc-
casions which need not be mentioned. The
ablution which is more especially prepara-
tory to prayer (and which is called wudoo)
consists in washing the hands, mouth, nos-
trils, face, arms (as high as the elbow, the
right first), each three times; and then
the upper part of the head, the beard,
ears, neck, and feet, each once. This is
done with running water, or from a very
large tank, or from a lake, or the sea. —
Prayers are required to be performed five
times in the course of every day; between
daybreak and sunrise, between noon and
the 'asr (which latter period is about mid-
time between noon and nightfall), between
the 'asr and sunset, between sunset and
the 'eshè (or the period when the darkness
of night commences), and at, or after, the
'eshè. The commencement of each of these
periods is announced by a chant (called
adán), repeated by a crier (muëddin) from
the mád'neh, or menaret, of each mosque;
and it is more meritorious to commence the
prayer then than at a later time. On each
of these occasions, the Muslim has to per-
form certain prayers held to be ordained
by God, and others ordained by the
Prophet; each kind consisting of two,
three, or four "rek'ahs; " which term sig-
nifies the repetition of a set form of words,
chiefly from the Kur-án, and ejaculations
of "God is most Great!" &c., accom-
panied by particular postures; part of the
words being repeated in an erect posture;
part, sitting; and part, in other postures:
an inclination of the head and body, fol-
lowed by two prostrations, distinguishing
each rek'ah. These prayers may in some
cases be abridged, and in others entirely
omitted. Other prayers must be performe
on particular occasions. 1. On Friday, th
Mohammadan Sabbath. These are congre
gational prayers, and are similar to thos
of other days, with additional prayers an
exhortations by a minister, who is calle
Imám, or Khateeb. 2. On two grand an
nual festivals. 3. On the nights of Rama
dán, the month of abstinence. 4. On the
occasion of an eclipse of the sun or moon
5. For rain. 6. Previously to the com
mencement of battle. 7. In pilgrimage
8. At funerals.
"
66
2. Alms-giving. An alms, callec
zekáh," commonly pronounced 'zekah,'
is required by law to be given annually
to the poor, of camels, oxen (bulls and
cows), and buffaloes, sheep and goats.
horses and mules and asses, and gold and
silver (whether in money or in vessels,
ornaments, &c.), provided the property be
of a certain amount, as five camels, thirty
oxen, forty sheep, five horses, two hundred
dirhems, or twenty deenárs. The propor-
tion is generally one-fortieth, which is to
be paid in kind, or in money, or other
equivalent.
3. Fasting (es-siyám). The Muslim
must abstain from eating and drinking, and
from every indulgence of the senses, every
day during the month of Ramadán, from
the first appearance of daybreak until sun-
set, unless physically incapacitated.— On
the first day of the following month, a
festival called the Minor Festival, is ob-
served with public prayer, and with gen-
eral rejoicing, which continues three days.
4. Pilgrimage (el-hajj). It is incumbent
on the Muslim, if able, to perform, at least
once in his life, the pilgrimage to Mekkeh
and Mount Arafát. The principal cere-
monies of the pilgrimage are completed on
the 9th of the month of Zu-l-Hejjeh: on
the following day, which is the first of
the Great Festival, on the return from
'Arafát to Mekkeh, the pilgrims who are
able to do so perform a sacrifice, and every
other Muslim who can is required to do the
same: part of the meat of the victim he
should eat, and the rest he should give
to the poor. This festival is observed other-
wise in a similar manner to the minor one,
above mentioned; and lasts three or four
days.
The less important ritual and moral laws
may here be briefly mentioned in a single
paragraph. One of these is circumcision,
which is not absolutely obligatory. - The
distinctions of clean and unclean meats are
nearly the same in the Mohammadan as
in the Mosaic code. Camels' flesh is an ex-
ception; being lawful to the Muslim.
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
969
--
-
Swine's flesh, and blood, are especially con-
demned; and a particular mode of slaugh-
tering animals for food is enjoined, accom-
panied by the repetition of the name of
God. Wine and all inebriating liquors are
strictly forbidden. So also are gaming
and usury.
Music is condemned; but
nost Muslims take great delight in hearing
t. Images and pictures representing liv-
ng creatures are contrary to law. - Char-
ty, probity in all transactions, veracity
(excepting in a few cases), and modesty,
are virtues indispensable. - Cleanliness in
Derson, and decent attire, are particularly
required. Clothes of silk, and ornaments
of gold or silver, are forbidden to men,
out allowed to women: this precept, how-
ever, is often disregarded. - Utensils of
gold and silver are also condemned: yet
hey are used by many Muslims. - The
nanners of Muslims in society are subject to
particular laws or rules, with respect to
alutations, &c.
-
-
-
Of the Civil Laws, the following notices
vill at present suffice. A man may have
our wives at the same time, and, according
o common opinion, as many concubine
laves as he pleases. - He may divorce a
wife twice, and each time take her back
gain; but if he divorce her a third time,
or by a triple sentence, he cannot make her
is wife again unless by her own consent, and
by a new contract, and after another man
las consummated a marriage with her, and
livorced her. The children by a wife and
hose by a concubine slave inherit equally,
f the latter be acknowledged by the father.
ions inherit equally: so also do daughters;
out the share of a daughter is half that
f a son. One-eighth is the share of the
vife or wives of the deceased if he have
eft issue, and one-fourth if he have left
10 issue. A husband inherits one-fourth
f his wife's property if she have left issue,
nd one-half if she have left no issue. The
ebts and legacies of the deceased must be
irst paid. A man may leave one-third of
is property in any way he pleases.
When a concubine slave has borne a child
o her master, she becomes entitled to free-
om on his death. There are particular
ws relating to commerce. Usury and
1onopoly are especially condemned.
Of the Criminal Laws, a few only need
ere be mentioned. Murder is punishable
y death, or by a fine to be paid to the
amily of the deceased, if they prefer it.
-Theft, if the property stolen amount to
quarter of a deenár, is to be punished by
utting off the right hand, except under
ertain circumstances. - Adultery, if at-
ested by four eye-witnesses, is punishable
by death (stoning): fornication, by a hun-
dred stripes, and banishment for a year.
Drunkenness is punished with eighty stripes.
- Apostasy, persevered in, by death.
66
NOTE 2. - On the Arabian System of Cos-
mography. The words translated as a
bed" would be literally rendered "and the
bed;" but the signification is that which
I have expressed. (See the Kur-án, ch.
(6
lxxviii. v. 6; and, with respect to what
is before said of the heavens, idem, ch.
xiii. v. 2.) These, and the preceding words,
commencing with "the Beneficent King,"
I have introduced (in the place of the
Lord of all creatures") from the Cal-
cutta edition of the first two hundred
nights, as affording me an opportunity to
explain here the Arabian system of Cos-
mography, with which the reader of this
work cannot be too early acquainted.
When we call to mind how far the Arabs
surpassed their great master, Aristotle, in
natural and experimental philosophy, and
remember that their brilliant discoveries
constituted an important link between those
of the illustrious Greek and of our equally
illustrious countryman, Roger Bacon, their
popular system of cosmography becomes
an interesting subject for our consideration.
According to the common opinion of the
Arabs (an opinion sanctioned by the
Kur-án, and by assertions of their Prophet,
which almost all Muslims take in their
literal sense), there are Seven Heavens, one
above another, and Seven Earths, one be-
neath another; the earth which we inhabit
being the highest of the latter, and next
below the lowest heaven. The upper sur-
face of each heaven, and that of each earth,
are believed to be nearly plane, and are
generally supposed to be circular; and are
said to be five hundred years' journey in
width. This is also said to be the meas-
ure of the depth or thickness of each heaven
and each earth, and of the distance between
each heaven or earth and that next above
or below it. Thus is explained a passage
of the Kur-án, (ch. lxv. last verse), in
which it is said, that God hath created
seven heavens and as many earths, or
stories of the earth, in accordance with
traditions from the Prophet. — This notion
of the seven heavens appears to have been
taken from the "seven spheres; " the first
of which is that of the Moon; the second,
of Mercury; the third, of Venus; the
fourth, of the Sun; the fifth, of Mars;
the sixth, of Jupiter; and the seventh, of
Saturn; each of which orbs was supposed
to revolve round the earth in its proper
sphere. So also the idea of the seven
970
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
earths seems to have been taken from the
division of the earth into seven climates; a
division which has been adopted by several
Arab geographers. But to return to the
opinions of the religious and the vulgar.
-
Traditions differ respecting the fabric of
the seven heavens. In the most credible
account, according to a celebrated historian,
the first is described as formed of emeralds;
the second, of white silver; the third, of
large white pearls; the fourth, of ruby; the
fifth, of red gold; the sixth, of yellow
jacinth; and the seventh, of shining light.
Some assert Paradise to be in the seventh
heaven; and, indeed, I have found this to
be the general opinion of my Muslim
friends: but the author above quoted pro-
ceeds to describe, next above the seventh
heaven, seven seas of light; then, an un-
defined number of veils, or separations, of
different substances, seven of each kind;
and then, Paradise, which consists of seven
stages, one above another; the first (Dár
el-Jelál, or the Mansion of Glory), of
white pearls; the second (Dár es-Selám,
or the Mansion of Peace), of ruby; the
third (Jennet el-Ma-wà, or the Garden of
Rest) of green chysolite; the fouth (Jen-
net el-Khuld, or the Garden of Eternity),
of green coral; the fifth (Jennet en-Na'eem,
or the Garden of Delight), of white silver;
the sixth (Jennet el-Firdós, or the Garden
of Paradise), of red gold; and the seventh
(Jennet 'Adn, or the Garden of Perpetual
Abode, or- of Eden), of large pearls; this
overlooking all the former, and canopied
by the Throne, or rather Empyrean, of the
Compassionate ('Arsh Er-Ramán), i. e. of
God. These several regions of Paradise
are described in some traditions as forming
so many degrees, or stages, ascended by
steps.
Though the opinion before mentioned
respecting the form of the earth which we
inhabit is that generally maintained by
the Arabs, there have been, and still are,
many philosophical men among this people
who have argued that it is a globe, because,
as El-Kazweenee says, an eclipse of the
moon has been observed to happen at dif-
ferent hours of the night in eastern and
western countries. Thus we find Ptolemy's
measurement of the earth quoted and ex-
plained by Ibn-El-Wardee: - The circum-
ference of the earth is 24,000 miles, or
8,000 leagues; the league being three miles;
the mile, 3,000 royal cubits; the cubit,
three spans; the span, twelve digits; the
digit, five barley-corns placed side by side;
and the width of the barley-corn, six
mule's-hairs. El-Makreezee also, among
the more intelligent Arabs, describes the
globular form of the earth, and its arcti
and antarctic regions, with their day o
six months, and night of six months, and
their frozen waters, &c.
""
99 66
For ourselves, however, it is necessary
that we retain in our minds the opinion
first stated, with regard to the form and
dimensions of our earth; agreeing with
those Muslims who allow not philosophy
to trench upon revelation or sacred tradi-
tions. It is written, say they, that Goc
hath "spread out the earth, as a bed,'
and as a carpet; " and what is round
or globular cannot be said to be spread
out, nor compared to a bed, or a carpet.
It is therefore decided to be an almost
plane expanse. The continents and islands
of the earth are believed by the Arabs (as)
they were by the Greeks in the age of
Homer and Hesiod) to be surrounded by
"the Circumambient Ocean," "el-Bahr el-
Moheet; and this ocean is described as
bounded by a chain of mountains called
Káf, which encircle the whole as a ring,
and confine and strengthen the entire fab-
ric. With respect to the extent of the
earth, our faith must at least admit the
assertion of the Prophet, that its width (as
well as its depth or thickness) is equal to
five hundred years' journey: allotting the
space of two hundred to the sea, two hun-
dred to uninhabited desert, eighty to the
country of Yájooj and Májooj (or Gog
and Magog), and the rest to the remain-
ing creatures: nay, vast as these limits are,
we must rather extend than contract them,
unless we suppose some of the heroes of
this work to travel by circuitous routes.
Another tradition will suit us better,
wherein it is said, that the inhabited por-
tion of the earth is, with respect to the rest,
as a tent in the midst of a desert. But
even according to the former assertion, it
will be remarked, that the countries now
commonly known to the Arabs (from the
western extremity of Africa to the eastern
limits of India, and from the southern con-
fines of Abyssinia to those of Russia) oc-
cupy a comparatively insignificant portion
of this expanse. They are situated in the
middle; Mekkeh, according to some,
Jerusalem, according to others, — being ex-
actly in the centre. Adjacent to the tract
occupied by these countries are other lands
and seas, partially known to the Arabs.
On the north-west, with respect to the cen-
tral point, lies the country of the Chris-
tians, or Franks, comprising the principal
European nations; on the north, the coun-
try of Yájooj and Májooj, before men-
tioned, occupying, in the maps of the
Arabs, large tracts of Asia and Europe; on
-
-or
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
971
-
the north-east, central Asia; on the east,
Es-Seen (or China); on the south-east, the
sea, or seas, of El-Hind (or India), and
Ez-Zinj (or Southern Ethiopia), the waves
of which (or of the former of which)
mingle with those of the sea of Es-Seen,
beyond; on the south, the country of the
Zinj; on the south-west, the country of
the Soodán, or Blacks: on the west is a
portion of the Circumambient Ocean, which
surrounds all the countries and seas already
mentioned, as well as immense unknown
regions adjoining the former, and innumer-
able islands interspersed in the latter.
These terræ incognitæ are the scenes of
some of the greatest wonders described in
the present work; and are mostly peopled
with Jinn, or Genii. On the Moheet, or
Circumambient Ocean, is the 'Arsh Iblees,
or Throne of Iblees: in a map accompany-
ing my copy of the work of Ibn-El-Wardee,
a large yellow tract is marked with this
name, adjoining Southern Africa. The
western portion of the Moheet is often
called "the Sea of Darkness" (Bahr-ez-
Zulumát, or, - ez-Zulmeh). Under this
name (and the synonymous appellation of
el-Bahr el-Muzlim) the Atlantic Ocean is
described by the author just mentioned;
though, in the introduction to his work,
he says that the Sea of Darkness surrounds
the Moheet. The former may be consid-
ered either as the western or the more re-
mote portion of the latter. In the dark
regions (Ez-Zulumát, from which, per-
haps, the above-mentioned portion of the
Moheet takes its name), in the south-west
quarter of the earth, according to the same
uthor, is the Fountain of Life, of which
El-Khidr drank, and by virtue of which he
till lives, and will live till the day of judg-
ment. This mysterious person, whom the
ulgar and some others regard as a
rophet, and identify with Ilyás (Elias, or
lijah), and whom some confound with
t. George, was, according to the more
oproved opinion of the learned, a just
an, or saint, the Wezeer and counsellor
- the first Zu-l-Karneyn, who was a uni-
ersal conqueror, but an equally doubtful
ersonage, contemporary with the patriarch
-ráheem, or Abraham. El-Khidr is said
appear frequently to Muslims in per-
exity, and to be generally clad in green
rments; whence, according to some, his
me.
The Prophet Ilyás (or Elias) is
o related to have drunk from the Foun-
n of Life. During the day-time, it is
d, El-Khidr wanders upon the seas, and
ects voyagers who go astray; while Ilyás
ambulates the mountains or deserts, and
rects persons who chance to be led astray
by the Ghools: but at night, they meet
together, and guard the rampart of Yájooj
and Májooj, to prevent these people from
making irruptions upon their neighbours.
Both, however, are generally believed by
the modern Muslims to assist pious per-
sons in distress in various circumstances,
whether travelling by land or by water. -
The mountains of Káf, which bound the
Circumambient Ocean, and form a circular
barrier round the whole of our earth, are
described by interpreters of the Kur-án as
composed of green chrysolite, like the green
tint of the sky. It is the colour of these
mountains, said the Prophet, that imparts
a greenish hue to the sky. It is said, in a
tradition, that beyond these mountains are
other countries; one of gold, seventy of
silver, and seven of musk, all inhabited by
angels, and each country ten thousand
years' journey in length, and the same in
breadth. Some say that beyond it are
creatures unknown to any but God: but
the general opinion is, that the mountains
of Káf terminate our earth, and that no
one knows what is beyond them. They
are the chief abode of the Jinn, or Genii.
Such is a concise account of the earth
which we inhabit, according to the notions
of the Arabs.
---
We must now describe what is beneath
our earth. It has already been said, that
this is the first, or highest, of seven earths,
which are all of equal width and thick-
ness, and at equal distances apart. Each
of these earths has occupants. The occu-
pants of the first are men, genii, brutes,
&c.: the second is occupied by the suffo-
cating wind that destroyed the infidel tribe
of 'Ád: third, by the stones of Jahennem
(or Hell), mentioned in the Kur-án, in
these words, "the fuel of which is men
and stones: "the fourth by the sulphur of
Jahennem: the fifth, by its serpents: the
sixth, by its scorpions, in colour and size
like black mules, and with tails like spears:
the seventh, by Iblees and his troops.
Whether these several earths are believed
to be connected with each other by any
other means, and if so, how, we are not
expressly informed; but, that they are
supposed to be so is evident. With respect
to our earth in particular, as some think,
it is said that it is supported by a rock,
with which the mountains of Káf com-
municate by means of veins or roots; and
that, when God desires to effect an earth-
quake at a certain place, He commands the
mountain [or rock] to agitate the vein
that is connected with that place. But
there is another account, describing our
earth as upheld by certain successive sup-
972
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ports of inconceivable magnitude, which are
under the seventh earth; leaving us to
infer that the seven earths are in some
manner connected together. This account,
as inserted in the work of one of the writ-
ers above quoted, is as follows: The earth
[under which appellation are here under-
stood the seven earths] was, it is said,
originally unstable; "therefore God created
an angel of immense size and of the utmost
strength, and ordered him to go beneath
it, [i. e. beneath the lowest earth,] and
place it on his shoulders; and his hands
extended beyond the east and west, and
grasped the extremities of the earth [or,
as related in Ibn-El-Wardee, the seven
earths], and held it [or them]. But there
was no support for his feet: so God cre-
ated a rock of ruby, in which were seven
thousand perforations; and from each of
these perforations issued a sea, the size of
which none knoweth but God, whose name
be exalted: then He ordered his rock to
stand under the feet of the angel. But
there was no support for the rock: where-
fore God created a huge bull, with four
thousand eyes, and the same number of
ears, noses, mouths, tongues, and feet;
between every two of which was a distance
of five hundred years' journey: and God,
whose name be exalted, ordered this bull
to go beneath the rock: and he bore it on
his back and his horns. The name of this
bull is Kuyootà. But there was no sup-
port for the bull: therefore God, whose
name be exalted, created an enormous fish,
that no one could look upon, on account
of its vast size, and the flashing of its eyes
and their greatness; for it is said that if
all the seas were placed in one of its nos-
trils, they would appear like a grain of
mustard-seed in the midst of a desert: and
God, whose name be exalted, commanded
the fish to be a support to the feet of the
bull. The name of this fish is Bahamoot.
He placed, as its support, water; and under
the water, darkness: and the knowledge of
mankind fails as to what is under the
darkness." Another opinion is, that the
[seventh] earth is upon water; the water,
upon the rock; the rock, on the back of
the bull; the bull, on a bed of sand; the
sand, on the fish; the fish, upon a still,
suffocating wind; the wind, on a veil of
darkness; the darkness on a mist; and what
is beneath the mist is unknown.
It is generally believed, that, under the
lowest earth, and beneath seas of darkness
of which the number is unknown, is Hell,
which consists of seven stages, one beneath
another. The first of these, according to
the general opinion, is destined for the
reception of wicked Mohammadans; the
second, for the Christians; the third, foi
the Jews; the fourth, for the Sabians; the
fifth, for the Magians; the sixth, for the
Idolaters; the seventh, by general consent
for the Hypocrites. 'Jahennem " is the
66
general name for Hell, and the particular
name for its first stage. The situation of
Hell has been a subject of dispute; some
place it in the seventh earth; and some
have doubted whether it be above or
below the earth which we inhabit.
At the consummation of all things, God,
we are told, will take the whole earth in
his [left] hand, and the heavens will be
rolled together in his right hand; and the
earth will be changed into another earth;
and the heavens [into other heavens]; and
Hell will be brought nigh [to the tribunal
of God].
NOTE 3. The phrase "God is all-know-
ing," or "surpassing in knowledge," or, as
some say, simply "knowing," is generally
used by an Arab writer when he relates
anything for the truth of which he cannot
vouch; and Muslims often use it in con-
versation, in similar cases, unless when they
are uttering intentional falsehoods, which
most of them are in the frequent habit of
doing. It is worthy of remark, that,
though falsehood is permitted by their re-
ligion in some cases, their doctors of re-
ligion and law generally condemn all works
of fiction (even though designed to convey
useful instruction), excepting mere fables,
or apologues of a high class.
NOTE 4. In my usual standard-copy of
the original work, as also in that from
which the old translation was made, and in
the edition of Breslau, this prince is called
a king of the dynasty of Sásán; but as he
is not so designated in the Calcutta edition
of the first two hundred nights, I have
here omitted, in my translation, what would
render the whole work full of anach-
ronisms.
NOTE 5. Shahriyár is a Persian word,
signifying "Friend of the City." The
name of the elder King is thus written in
the Calcutta edition above mentioned; in
the edition of Cairo (which I generally
follow) it is written Shahrabáz by errors
in diacritical marks; and in that of Bres-
lau, Shahrabán.
NOTE 6. This name, Sháh-Zemán, is a
compound of Persian and Arabic, and sig-
nifies "King of the Age." By the omission
of a diacritical point, in the Cairo edition,
it is written Sháh-Remán.
A
973.
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
NOTE 7. In the Calcutta edition before
mentioned, the elder brother is called King
of Sarmarkand; and the younger, King of
China.
NOTE 8. On the title and office of
Wezeer. Wezeer is an Arabic word, and
it is pronounced by the Arabs as I have
written it; but the Turks and Persians pro-
Inounce the first letter V. There are three
opinions respecting the etymology of this
I word. Some derive it from "wizr" (a
#urden); because the Wezeer bears the
-urdens of the King: others, from "wezer
(a refuge); because the King has recourse
to the counsels of his Wezeer, and his
#knowledge and prudence: others, again,
:rom "azr 39
(back or strength); because
the King is strengthened by his Wezeer
is the human frame is by the back.
""
The proper and chief duties of a Wezeer
ire explained by the above, and by a say-
ng of the Prophet: -"Whosoever is in
uthority over Muslims, if God would
prosper him, He giveth him a virtuous
Wezeer, who, when he forgetteth his duty,
emindeth him, and when he remembereth,
assisteth him: but if He would do other-
wise, He giveth him an evil Wezeer, who,
when he forgetteth, doth not remind him,
ind when he remembereth, doth not assist
im."
The post of Wezeer was the highest that
was held by an officer of the pen; and the
person who occupied it was properly the
next to the Sultán: but the Turkish Sul-
áns of Egypt made the office of Naïb (or
Viceroy) to have the pre-eminence. Under
hem, the post of Wezeer was sometimes
Occupied by an officer of the sword, and
ometimes by an officer of the pen; and,
n both cases, the Wezeer was also called
'the Saheb." The Sultán Barkook so
legraded this office, by intrusting its most
mportant functions to other ministers, that
he Wezeer became, in reality, the King's
›urveyor, and little else; receiving the in-
lirect taxes, and employing them in the
-urchase of provisions for the royal kitchen.
t is even said, that he was usually chosen,
y the Turkish Sultáns of Egypt, from
mong the Copts (or Christian Egyptians);
ecause the administration of the taxes had,
rom time immemorial, been committed to
ersons of that race. This, it would seem,
as the case about the time of the Sultán
arkook. But in the present work, we are
> understand the office of Wezeer as being
hat it was in earlier times, - that of
rime Minister; though we are not hence
- infer that the editions of the Tales of a
housand and One Nights known to us
were written at a period anterior to that of
the Memlook Sultáns of Egypt and Syria;
for, in the time of these monarchs, the
degradation of the office was commonly
known to be a recent innovation, and it
may have been of no very long continuance.
NOTE 9. The paragraph to which this
note relates is from the Calcutta edition of
the first two hundred Nights.
NOTE 10. On Presents. The custom of
giving presents on the occasion of paying
a visit, or previously, which is of such
high antiquity as to be mentioned in the
book of Genesis, has continued to prevail
in the East to this day. Presents of pro-
visions of some kind, wax candles, &c.,
are sent to a person about to cele-
brate any festivity by those who are to be
his guests: but after paying a mere visit of
ceremony, and on some other occasions,
only money is commonly given to the serv-
ants of the person visited. In either case,
the latter is expected to return the compli-
ment on a similar occasion by presents of
equal value. To reject a present generally
gives great offence; being regarded as an
insult to him who has offered it. When a
person arrives from a foreign country, he
generally brings some articles of the prod-
uce or merchandise of that country as
presents to his friends. Thus, pilgrims re-
turning from the holy places bring water
of Zemzem, dust from the Prophet's tomb,
&c., for this purpose. - Horses, and male
and female slaves, are seldom given but
by kings or great men. Of the condition
of slaves in Mohammadan countries, an
account will be given hereafter.
-
NOTE 1. On the Letters of Muslims.
The letters of Muslims are distinguished by
several peculiarities dictated by the rules
of politeness. The paper is thick, white,
and highly polished: sometimes it is orna-
mented with flowers of gold, and the
edges are always cut straight with scissors.
The upper half. is generally left blank: and
the writing never occupies any portion of
the second side. A notion of the usual
style of letters will be conveyed by several
examples in this work. The name of the
person to whom the letter is addressed,
when the writer is an inferior or an equal,
and even in some other cases, commonly
occurs in the first sentence, preceded by
several titles of honor; and is often written
a little above the line to which it apper-
tains; the space beneath it in that line
being left blank: sometimes it is written
in letters of gold, or red ink. A king, writ-
.974
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ing to a subject, or a great man to a
dependent, usually places his name and
seal at the head of his letter. The seal is
the impression of a signet (generally a
ring, worn on the little finger of the right
hand), upon which is engraved the name
of the person commonly accompanied by
the words "His [i. e. God's] servant," or
some other words expressive of trust in
God, &c. Its impression is considered more
valid than the sign-manual, and is indis-
pensable to give authenticity to the letter.
It is made by dabbing some ink upon the
surface of the signet, and pressing this
upon the paper: the place which is to be
stamped being first moistened, by touching
the tongue with a finger of the right hand,
and then gently rubbing the part with that
finger. A person writing to a superior, or
to an equal, or even an inferior to whom
he wishes to show respect, signs his name
at the bottom of his letter, next the left
side or corner, and places the seal imme-
diately to the right of this: but if he par-
ticularly desire to testify his humility, he
places it beneath his name, or even partly
over the lower edge of the paper, which
consequently does not receive the whole
of the impression. The letter is generally
folded twice, in the direction of the writ-
ing, and enclosed in a cover of paper, upon
which is written the address, in some such
form as this: "It shall arrive, if it be
the will of God, whose name be exalted,
at such a place, and be delivered into the
hand of our honoured friend, &c., such a
one, whom God preserve." Sometimes it
is placed in a small bag, or purse, of silk
embroidered with gold.
NOTE 12. The custom of sending forth
a deputation to meet and welcome an ap-
proaching ambassador, or other great man,
is still observed in Eastern countries; and
the rank of the persons thus employed con-
veys to him some intimation of the man-
ner in which he is to be received at the
court: he therefore looks forward to this
ceremony with a degree of anxiety. A hu-
morous illustration of its importance in
the eye of an Oriental ambassador, is given
in The Adventures of Hajji Baba in
England."
""
NOTE 13.-On Hospitality. The hos-
pitable custom here mentioned is observed
by Muslims in compliance with a precept
of their Prophet. "Whoever," said he,
"believes in God and the day of resur-
rection must respect his guest; and the
time of being kind to him is one day and
one night; and the period of entertaining
----
O
him is three days; and after that, if H
does it longer, he benefits him more; bu
it is not right for a guest to stay in th
house of the host so long as to incommod
him." He even allowed the "right of
guest" to be taken by force from suc
as would not offer it. The following ob
servations, respecting the treatment
guests by the Bedawees, present an inter
esting commentary upon the former pre
cept, and upon our text: "Stranger
who have not any friend or acquaintanc
in the camp, alight at the first tent tha
presents itself: whether the owner be at
home or not, the wife or daughter imme-
diately spreads a carpet, and prepares
breakfast or dinner. If the stranger's busi-
ness requires a protracted stay, as, for in-
stance, if he wishes to cross the Desert
under the protection of the tribe, the host,
after a lapse of three days and four hours
from the time of his arrival, asks whether
he means to honour him any longer with
his company. If the stranger declares his
intention of prolonging his visit, it is ex-
pected that he should assist his host in
domestic matters, fetching water, milking
the camel, feeding the horse, &c.
he even decline this, he may remain; but
will be censured by all the Arabs of the
camp: he may, however, go to some other
tent of the nezel [or encampment], and
declare himself there a guest. Thus, every
third or fourth day he may change hosts,
until his business is finished, or he has
reached his place of destination."
---
Should
NOTE 14.1
- On different modes of Obei-
sance. Various different modes of obeisance
are practised by the Muslims. Among
these, the following are the more common
or more remarkable: they differ in the
degree of respect that they indicate, nearly
in the order in which I shall mention
them; the last being the most respectful:
-
1. Placing the right hand upon the
breast. -2. Touching the lips and the fore-
head or turban (or the forehead or turban
only) with the right hand. 3. Doing the
same, but slightly inclining the head during
that action.-4. The same as the preced-
ing, but inclining the body also. 5. As
above, but previously touching the ground
with the right hand. - 6. Kissing the hand
of the person to whom the obeisance is
paid. 7. Kissing his sleeve.-8. Kissing
the skirt of his clothing.-9. Kissing his
feet. 10. Kissing the carpet or ground
before him. The first five modes are
often accompanied by the salutation of
"Peace be on you!" to which the reply
is, "On you be peace, and the mercy of
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
975
""
The sixth mode
God, and his blessings!
s observed by servants or pupils to mas-
ers, by the wife to the husband, and by
hildren to their father, and sometimes to
he mother. It is also an act of homage
aid to the aged by the young; or to
earned or religious men by the less in-
tructed or less devout. The last mode is
eldom observed but to kings; and in
rabian countries it is now very uncom-
1on.
NOTE 15. It might seem unnecessary to
y, that a King understood what he read,
ere it not explained that the style of
rabic epistolary compositions, like that
f the literature in general, differs con-
derably from that of
ersation.
common con-
NOTE 16. The party travelled chiefly by
ight, on account of the heat of the day.
―
NOTE 17. On the occasional Decora-
ons of Eastern Cities. On various occa-
ons of rejoicing in the palace of the king
governor, the inhabitants of an Eastern
ty are commanded to decorate their
ouses, and the tradesmen, in particular, to
dorn their shops, by suspending shawls,
rocades, rich dresses, women's ornaments,
id all kinds of costly articles of merchan-
se; lamps and flags are attached to cords
rawn across the streets, which are often
nopied over; and when sufficient notice
is been given, the shops, and the doors,
2., of private houses, are painted with
y colors. Towards the close of the
ar 1834, the people of Cairo were ordered
-
decorate their houses and shops pre-
ously to the arrival of Ibraheem Báshà,
ter his victorious campaigns in Syria and
sia Minor. They ornamented the lower
irts of their houses with whitewash and
d ochre, generally in broad, alternate,
rizontal stripes; that is, one course of
one white, and the next red; but the
ly kind of oil-paint that they could pro-
re in large quantities was blue, the color
mourning; so that they were obliged to
e this as the ground upon which to paint
wers and other ornamental devices on
eir shops; but they regarded this as por-
ading a pestilence; and the awful plague
the following spring confirmed them
their superstitious notions.
NOTE 18. As the notes to this introduc-
ry portion are especially numerous, and
e chase is here but cursorily alluded to,
shall reserve an account of the mode of
nting to be given on a future occasion.
NOTE 19. On the opinions of the Arabs
The reader
respecting Female Beauty.
should have some idea of the qualifications
or charms which the Arabs in general con-
sider requisite to the perfection of female
beauty; for erroneous fancies on this sub-
ject would much detract from the interest
of the present work. He must not imagine.
that excessive fatness is one of these char-
acteristics; though it is said to be esteemed
a chief essential to beauty throughout the
greater part of Northern Africa: on the
contrary, the maiden whose loveliness in-
spires the most impassioned expressions in
Arabic poetry and prose is celebrated for
her slender figure: she is like the cane
among plants, and is elegant as a twig of
Her face is like the
the oriental willow.
full moon, presenting the strongest contrast
to the colour of her hair, which (to pre-
serve the nature of the simile just em-
ployed) is of the deepest hue of night, and
descends to the middle of her back. A rosy
blush overspreads the centre of each cheek;
and a mole is considered an additional
charm. The Arabs, indeed, are particularly
extravagant in their admiration of this
natural beauty-spot; which, according to
its place, is compared to a globule of
ambergris upon a dish of alabaster or
upon the surface of a ruby. The eyes of
the Arab beauty are intensely black, large,
and long; of the form of an almond: they
are full of brilliancy; but this is softened
by a lid slightly depressed, and by long
silken lashes, giving a tender and languid
expression, which is full of enchantment,
and scarcely to be improved by the adven-
titious aid of the black border of kohl; for
this the lovely maiden adds rather for the
sake of fashion than necessity; having, what
the Arabs term, natural kohl. The eye-
brows are thin and arched; the forehead
is wide, and fair as ivory; the nose,
straight; the mouth, small; the lips are of
a brilliant red and the teeth, "like pearls
set in coral." The forms of the bosom are
compared to two pomegranates; the waist
is slender; the hips are wide and large;
the feet and hands, small; the fingers,
tapering, and their extremities dyed with
the deep orange-red tint imparted by the
leaves of the henna. The person in whom
these charms are combined exhibits a lively
image of "the rosy-fingered Aurora:" her
lover knows neither night nor sleep in her
presence, and the constellations of heaven
are no longer seen by him when she ap-
proaches. The most bewitching age is be-
tween fourteen and seventeen years; for
then the forms of womanhood are gen-
erally developed in their greatest beauty;
976
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
but many a maiden in her twelfth year
possesses charms sufficient to fascinate
every youth or man who beholds her.
The reader may perhaps desire a more
minute analysis of Arabian beauty. The
following is the most complete that I can
offer him." Four things in a woman
should be black; the hair of the head, the
eyebrows, the eyelashes and the dark part
of the eyes:, four white; the complexion of
the skin, the white of the eyes, the teeth,
and the legs: four red; the tongue, the
lips, the middle of the cheeks, and the
gums: four round; the head, the neck, the
fore-arms, and the ankles: four long; the
back, the fingers, the arms, and the legs:
four wide; the forehead, the eyes, the
bosom, and the hips: four fine; the eye-
brows, the nose, the lips, and the fingers:
four thick; the lower part of the back,
the thighs, the calves of the legs, and the
knees: four small; the ears, the breasts, the
hands, and the feet."
NOTE 20. Mes'ood is a common proper
name of men, and signifies "happy," or
"made happy."
NOTE 21. On the Jinn, or Genii. The
frequent mention of Genii in this work,
and the erroneous accounts that have been
given of these fabulous beings by various
European writers, have induced me to
examine the statements respecting them in
several Arabic works; and I shall here
offer the result of my investigation, with
a previous account of the Angels.
66
The Muslims, in general, believe in three
different species of created intelligent be-
ings; namely, Angels, who are created of
light; Genii, who are created of fire; and
Men, created of earth. The first species
are called Meláïkeh" (sing. “Melek ");
the second, Jinn" or Ginn" (sing.
"Jinnee" or Ginnee"); the third, "Ins "
(sing. "Insee "). Some hold that the
Devils (Sheytáns) are of a species distinct
from Angels and Jinn; but the more pre-
vailing opinion, and that which rests on
the highest authority, is, that they are re-
bellious Jinn.
""
"It is believed," says El-Kazweenee,
"that the Angels are of a simple substance,
endowed with life, and speech, and rea-
son; and that the difference between them
and the Jinn and Sheytáns is a difference
of species. Know," he adds, "that the
Angels are sanctified from carnal desire and
the disturbance of anger: they disobey not
God in what He hath commanded them,
but do what they are commanded. Their
food is the celebrating of his glory; their
drink, the proclaiming of his holiness; the
conversation, the commemoration of Go
whose name be exalted; their pleasure, h
worship: they are created in different form
and with different powers." Some are d
scribed as having the forms of brutes. For
of them are Archangels; Jebraeel or Jibre
(or Gabriel), the angel of revelation
Meekaeel or Meekál (or Michael), th
patron of the Israelites; 'Azraeel, the ang
of death; and Isráfeel, the angel of th
trumpet, which he is to sound twice or a
some say thrice, at the end of the world
one blast will kill all living creatures (him
self included): another, forty years after
(he being raised again for this purpos
with Jebraeel and Meekaeel), will raise th
dead. These Archangels are also calle
Apostolic Angels. They are inferior i
dignity to human prophets and apostles
though superior to the rest of the huma
race: the angelic nature is held to be in
ferior to the human nature, because all th
Angels were commanded to prostrate them
selves before Adam. Every believer i
attended by two guardian and recording
angels; one of whom writes his good ac
tions; the other, his evil actions, or, accord
ing to some, the number of these angels i
five, or sixty, or a hundred and sixty
There are also two Angels called Munka
(vulg. Nákir) and Nekeer, who examine
all the dead, and torture the wicked, in
their graves.
The species of Jinn is said to have beer
created some thousands of years before
Adam. According to a tradition from the
Prophet, this species consists of five orders
or classes; namely, Jánn (who are the
least powerful of all), Jinn, Sheytáns (or
Devils), 'Efreets, and Márids. The last,
it is added, are the most powerful; and the
Jánn are transformed Jinn; like as certain
apes and swine were transformed men.
It must, however, be remarked here, that
the terms Jinn and Jánn are generally used
indiscriminately, as names of the whole
species (including the other orders above
mentioned), whether good or bad; and that
the former term is the more common.
Also, that "Sheytán" is commonly used to
signify any evil Jinnee. An 'Efreet is a
powerful evil Jinnee: a Márid, an evil Jinnee
of the most powerful class. The Jinn (but
generally speaking, evil ones) are called
by the Persians Deevs," the most power-
ful evil Jinn, "Narahs (which signifies
"males," though they are said to be males
and females); the good Jinn, Perees;
though this term is commonly applied to
females.
66
In a tradition from the Prophet, it is
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
977
aid, "The Jánn were created of a smoke-
ess fire." The word which signifies "a
mokeless fire" has been misunderstood by
ome as meaning "the flame of fire: "
-Jóharee (in the Seháh) renders it
ightly; and says that of this fire was the
heytán (Iblees) created. "El-Jánn is
ometimes used as a name for Iblees; as
the following verse of the Kur-án:
And the Jánn [the father of the Jinn;
e. Iblees] we had created before [i. e.
efore the creation of Adam] of the fire of
e samoom [i. e. of fire without smoke]."
Jánn" also signifies "a serpent; " as in
ther passages of the Kur-án; and is used
66
the same book as synonymous with
Jinn." In the last sense it is generally
elieved to be used in the tradition quoted
the commencement of this paragraph.
here are several apparently contradictory
aditions from the Prophet which are rec-
nciled by what has been above stated: in
ne, it is said, that Iblees was the father
f all the Jánn and Sheytáns; Jánn being
ere synonymous with Jinn: in another,
at Jánn was the father of all the Jinn;
ere, Jánn being used as a name of Iblees.
"It is held," says El-Kazweenee, that
le Jinn are aërial animals, with transpar-
it bodies, which can assume various forms.
eople differ in opinion respecting these
ings: some consider the Jinn and Shey-
ns as unruly men; but these persons are
the Moatezileh [a sect of Muslim free-
inkers]: and some hold, that God, whose
ime be exalted, created the Angels of
e light of fire, and the Jinn of its flame
but this is at variance with the general
inion], and the Sheytáns of its smoke
which is also at variance with the com-
on opinion]; and that [all] these kinds
beings are [usually] invisible to men,
Et that they assume what forms they
ease, and when their form becomes con-
nsed they are visible."— This last re-
ark illustrates several descriptions of
nees in this work; where the form of
e monster is at first undefined, or like
enormous pillar, and then gradually
sumes a human shape and less gigantic
e.
The particular forms of brutes, rep-
es, &c., in which the Jinn most frequently
Dear will be mentioned hereafter.
It is said that God created the Jánn
- Jinn] two thousand years before Adam
-, according to some writers, much
lier]; and that there are believers and
dels and every sect among them, as
ong men. -Some say that a prophet,
ed Yoosuf, was sent to the Jinn: others,
t they had only preachers, or admon-
ers: others again, that seventy apostles
were sent, before Mohammad, to Jinn and
men conjointly. It is commonly believed
that the preadamite Jinn were governed
by forty (or, according to some, seventy-
two) kings, to each of whom the Arab
writers give the name of Suleyman (or
Solomon); and that they derived their
appellation from the last of these, who
was called Jánn Ibn-Jánn, and who, some
say, built the Pyramids of Egypt. The
following account of the preadamite Jinn
is given by El-Kazweenee. "It is re-
lated in histories, that a race of Jinn, in
ancient times, before the creation of Adam,
inhabited the earth, and covered it, the
land and the sea, and the plains and the
mountains; and the favours of God were
multiplied upon them, and they had gov-
ernment, and prophecy, and religion, and
law; but they transgressed and offended,
and opposed their prophets, and made
wickedness to abound in the earth; where-
upon God, whose name be exalted, sent
against them an army of Angels, who took
possession of the earth, and drove away
the Jinn to the regions of the islands, and
made many of them prisoners; and of
those who were made prisoners was
'Azázeel [afterwards called Iblees, from his
despair]; and a slaughter was made among
them. At that time, 'Azázeel was young:
he grew up among the Angels [and prob-
ably for that reason was called one of
them], and became learned in their knowl-
edge, and assumed the government of them;
and his days were prolonged until he be-
came their chief; and thus it continued for
a long time, until the affair between him
and Adam happened, as God, whose name
be exalted, hath said, 'When we said unto
the Angels, Worship ye Adam, and [all]
worshipped except Iblees [who] was [one]
of the Jinn.''
66
"Iblees," we are told by another author-
ity, was sent as a governor upon the
earth, and judged among the Jinn a thou-
sand years, after which he ascended into
heaven, and remained employed in worship
until the creation of Adam." The name of
Iblees was originally, according to some,
'Azázeel (as before mentioned); and ac-
cording to others, El-Hárith: his pat-
ronymic is Aboo-Murrah, or Abul-l-Ghimr.
- It is disputed whether he was of the
Angels or of the Jinn. There are three
opinions on this point. -1. That he was
of the Angels, from a tradition from Ibn-
'Abbas. — 2. That he was of the Sheytáns
(or evil Jinn); as it is said in the Kur-án,
except Iblees, [who] was [one] of the
Jinn: this was the opinion of El-Hasan
El-Basree, and is that commonly held. -
""
978
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
3. That he was neither of the Angels nor
of the Jinn; but created alone, of fire.
Ibn-'Abbás founds his opinion on the same
text from which El-Hasan El-Basree de-
rives his: "When we said unto the Angels,
Worship ye Adam, and [all] worshipped
except Iblees, [who] was [one] of the
Jinn" (before quoted): which he explains
by saying, that the most noble and hon-
ourable among the Angels are called "the
Jinn," because they are veiled from the
eyes of the other Angels on account of
their superiority; and that Iblees was one
of these Jinn. He adds, that he had the
government of the lowest heaven and of
the earth, and was called the Táoos (lit-
erally, Peacock) of the Angels; and that
there was not a spot in the lowest heaven
but he had prostrated himself upon it:
but when the Jinn rebelled upon the earth,
God sent a troop of Angels who drove them
to the islands and mountains; and Iblees
being elated with pride, and refusing to
prostrate himself before Adam, God trans-
formed him into a Sheytán. But this
reasoning is opposed by other verses, in
which Iblees is represented as saying,
"Thou has created me of fire, and hast
created him [Adam] of earth." It is
therefore argued, "If he were created orig-
inally of fire, how was he created of light?
for the Angels were [all] created of light."
-The former verse may be explained by
the tradition, that Iblees, having been taken
captive, was exalted among the Angels; or
perhaps there is an ellipsis after the word
"Angels; " for it might be inferred that
the command given to the Angels was also
(and a fortiori) to be obeyed by the Jinn.
-
According to a tradition, Iblees and all
the Sheytans are distinguished from the
other Jinn by a longer existence. "The
Sheytans," it is added, "are the children
of Iblees, and die not but with him:
whereas, the [other] Jinn die before him;
though they may live many centuries. But
this is not altogether accordant with the
popular belief: Iblees and many other evil
Jinn are to survive mankind; but they
are to die before the general resurrection;
as also even the Angels; the last of whom
will be the Angel of Death, 'Azraeel: yet
not all the evil Jinn are to live thus long:
many of them are killed by shooting stars,
hurled at them from heaven; wherefore,
the Arabs, when they see a shooting star
(shiháb), often exclaim, "May God trans-
fix the enemy of the faith!"- Many also
are killed by other Jinn; and some, even
by men. The fire of which the Jinnee is
created circulates in his veins, in place of
blood: therefore, when he receives a mortal
T
wound, this fire, issuing from his vein
generally consumes him to ashes.
Jinn, it has been already shown, are pe
cable. They also eat and drink, and prop
gate their species, sometimes in conjunctio
with human beings; in which latter cas
the offspring partake of the nature of bo
parents. In all these respects they diff
from the Angels. Among the evil Jinn a
distinguished the five sons of their chie
Iblees; namely, Teer, who brings abou
calamities, losses, and injuries; El-Aawa
who encourages debauchery; Sót, who sug
gests lies; Dásim, who causes hatred be
tween man and wife; and Zelemboor, wh
presides over places of traffic.
The most common forms and habita
tions or places of resort of the Jinn mus
now be described.
--
The following traditions from th
Prophet are the most to the purpose tha
I have seen. The Jinn are of variou
shapes; having the forms of serpents, scor
pions, lions, wolves, jackals, &c. The Jin
are of three kinds; one on the land; one in
the sea; and one in the air. The Jinn con
sist of forty troops; each troop consisting
of six hundred thousand. - -The Jinn are of
three kinds; one have wings, and fly:
another are snakes, and dogs; and the third
move about from place to place like men
- Domestic snakes are asserted to be Jinn
on the same authority.
The Prophet ordered his followers to kill
serpents and scorpions if they intruded at
prayers; but on other occasions, he seems
to have required first to admonish them
to depart, and then, if they remained, to
kill them. The Doctors, however, differ in
opinion whether all kinds of snakes or
serpents should be admonished first; or
whether any should; for the Prophet, say
they, took a covenant of the Jinn [prob-
ably after the above-mentioned command],
that they should not enter the houses of
the faithful: therefore, it is argued, if they
enter, they break their covenant, and it
becomes lawful to kill them without pre-
vious admonishment. Yet it is related that
'Áisheh, the Prophet's wife, having killed
a serpent in her chamber, was alarmed by
a dream, and, fearing that it might have
been a Muslim Jinnee, as it did not enter
her chamber when she was undressed, gave
in alms, as an expiation, twelve thousand
dirhems (about £300), the price of the
blood of a Muslim.
The Jinn are said to appear to mankind
most commonly in the shapes of serpents,
dogs, cats, or human beings. In the last
case, they are sometimes of the stature of
men, and sometimes of a size enormously
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
979
igantic. If good, they are generally re-
plendently handsome: if evil, horribly
ideous. They become invisible at pleas-
re (by a rapid extension and rarefaction
f the particles which compose them), or
uddenly disappear in the earth or air, or
hrough a solid wall. Many Muslims in
he present day profess to have seen and
eld intercourse with them.
The Zóba'ah, which is a whirlwind that
ises the sand or dust in the form of a
illar of prodigious height, often seen
weeping across the deserts and fields, is
elieved to be caused by the flight of an
il Jinnee. To defend themselves from a
nnee thus "riding in the whirlwind," the
rabs often exclaim, "Iron! Iron!" (Ha-
ced! Hadeed!), or "Iron! thou un-
cky!" (Hadeed! yá mashoom!), as the
nn are supposed to have a great dread
that metal: or they exclaim, "God is
ost great!" (Alláhu akbar!). A similar
perstition prevails with respect to the
ater-spout at sea, as the reader may
ve discovered from the first instance of
e description of a Jinnee in the present
ork, which occasions this note to be here
serted.
It is believed that the chief abode of
e Jinn is in the Mountains of Káf, which
e supposed (as mentioned on a former
casion) to encompass the whole of our
rth. But they are also believed to per-
de the solid body of our earth, and
e firmament; and to choose, as their
incipal places of resort, or of occasional
ode, baths, wells, the latrina, ovens,
ned houses, market-places, the junctures
roads, the sea, and rivers. The Arabs,
erefore, when they pour water, &c., on
ground, or enter a bath, or let down a
cket into a well, or visit the latrina, and
various other occasions, say, "Permis-
n!" or "Permission, ye blessed!" (Des-
r! or, Destoor yá mubárakeen!). - The
1 spirits (or evil Jinn), it is said, had
erty to enter any of the seven heavens
the birth of Jesus, when they were
luded from three of them; on the birth
Mohammad, they were forbidden the
er four. They continue, however, to as-
d to the confines of the lowest heaven,
I there listening to the conversation of
Angels respecting things decreed by
i, obtain knowledge of futurity, which
y sometimes impart to men, who, by
ins of talismans, or certain invocations,
se them to serve the purposes of magical
formances. To this particular subject
will be necessary to revert. - What
Prophet said of Iblees, in the follow-
tradition, applies also to the evil Jinn
-
His chief abode
over whom he presides:
[among men] is the bath; his chief places
of resort are the markets, and the junc-
tures of roads; his food is whatever is
killed without the name of God being
pronounced over it; his drink, whatever is
intoxicating; his muëddin, the mizmár (a
musical pipe; i. e. any musical instrument);
his kur-án, poetry; his written character,
the marks made in geomancy; his speech,
falsehood; his snares are women.
That particular Jinnees presided over
particular places, was an opinion of the
early Arabs. It is said in the Kur-án,
"And there were certain men who sought
refuge with certain of the Jinn." In the
Commentary of the Jeláleyn, I find the
following remark on these words: -
"When they halted, on their journey, in
a place of fear, each man said, 'I seek
refuge with the lord of this place, from
the mischief of his foolish ones!" In
illustration of this, I may insert the fol-
lowing tradition, translated from El-
Kazweenee: "It is related by a certain
narrator of traditions, that he descended
into a valley, with his sheep, and a wolf
carried off a ewe from among them; and
he arose, and raised his voice, and cried,
'O inhabitant of the valley!' whereupon
he heard a voice saying, 'O wolf, restore
to him his sheep!' and the wolf came with
the ewe, and left her, and departed." -
The same opinion is held by the modern
Arabs, though probably they do not use
such an invocation. A similar super-
stition, a relic of ancient Egyptian credulity,
still prevails among the people of Cairo.
It is believed that each quarter of this city
has its peculiar guardian-genius, or Aga-
thodæmon, which has the form of a ser-
pent.
It has already been mentioned that some
of the Jinn are Muslims; and others, in-
fidels. The good Jinn acquit themselves of
the imperative duties of religion; namely,
prayers, alms-giving, fasting during the
month of Ramadán, and pilgrimage to
Mekkeh and Mount 'Arafát; but in the
performance of these duties they are gen-
erally invisible to human beings. Some
examples of the mode in which good Jinn
pay the alms required of them by the law,
I have given in a former work.
Of the services and injuries done by
Jinn to men, some account must be
given.
It has been stated, that, by means of
talismans, or certain invocations, men are
said to obtain the services of Jinn; and the
manner in which the latter are enabled to
assist magicians, by imparting to them the
980
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
knowledge of future events, has been ex-
plained. No man ever obtained such ab-
solute power over the Jinn as Suleymán
Ibn-Dáood (Solomon, the Son of David).
This he did by virtue of a most wonderful
talisman, which is said to have come down
to him from heaven. It was a seal-ring,
upon which was engraved "the most great
name" of God; and was partly composed
of brass, and partly of iron. With the brass
he stamped his written commands to the
good Jinn; with the iron (for a reason be-
fore mentioned), those to the evil Jinn, or
Devils. Over both orders he had unlimited
power; as well as over the birds and the
winds, and, as is generally said, the wild
beasts. His Wezeer, Asaf the son of Bark-
hiyà, is also said to have been acquainted
with "the most great name," by uttering
which, the greatest miracles may be per-
formed; even that of raising the dead. By
virtue of this name, engraved on his ring,
Suleyman compelled the Jinn to assist in
building the Temple of Jerusalem, and in
various other works. Many of the evil
Jinn he converted to the true faith; and
many others of this class, who remained
obstinate in infidelity, he confined in
prisons. He is said to have been monarch
of the whole earth. Hence, perhaps, the
name of Suleymán is given to the uni-
versal monarchs of the preadamite Jinn;
unless the story of his own universal
dominion originated from confounding him
with those kings of the Jinn.
The injuries related to have been in-
flicted upon human beings by evil Jinn are
of various kinds. Jinnees are said to have
often carried off beautiful women, whom
they have forcibly kept as their wives or
concubines. I have mentioned in a former
work, that malicious or disturbed Jinnees
are asserted often to station themselves on
the roofs, or at the windows, of houses,
and to throw down bricks and stones on
persons passing by. When they take pos-
session of an uninhabited house, they
seldom fail to persecute terribly any per-
son who goes to reside in it. They are
also very apt to pilfer provisions, &c.
Many learned and devout persons, to secure
their property from such depredations, re-
peat the words "In the name of God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful!" on locking
the doors of their houses, rooms, or closets,
and on covering the bread-basket, or any-
thing containing food. During the month
of Ramadán, the evil Jinn are believed
to be confined in prison; and therefore,
on the last night of that month, with the
same view, women sometimes repeat the
words above mentioned, and sprinkle salt
upon the floors of the apartments of th
houses.
To complete this sketch of Arabian m
thology, an account must be added
several creatures generally believed to be
inferior orders of the Jinn.
TH
re
01
One of these is the Ghool, which is cor
monly regarded as a kind of Sheytá
or evil Jinnee, that eats men; and is al
described by some as a Jinnee or an e
chanter who assumes various forms.
Ghools are said to appear in the forms
various animals, and of human being
and in many monstrous shapes; to haur
burial-grounds and other sequestered spots
to feed upon dead human bodies; and t
kill and devour any human creature wh
has the misfortune to fall in their way
whence the term "Ghool" is applied t
any cannibal. An opinion quoted by
celebrated author, respecting the Ghool, i
that it is a demoniacal animal, which passe
a solitary existence in the deserts,
sembling both man and brute; that it ap
pears to a person travelling alone in th
night and in solitary places, and, bein
supposed by him to be itself a traveller
lures him out of his way. Another opinion
stated by him is this: that, when the
Sheytáns attempt to hear words by stealth
[from the confines of the lowest heaven]
they are struck by shooting stars; and som
are burnt; some, falling into a sea,
rather a large river (bahr), become con-
verted into crocodiles; and some, falling
upon the land, become Ghools. The same
author adds the following tradition: -
"The Ghool is any Jinnee that is opposed
to travels, assuming various forms and ap-
pearances;" and affirms that several of the
Companions of the Prophet saw Ghools in
their travels; and that 'Omar, among them,
saw a Ghool while on a journey to Syria,
before El-Islám, and struck it with his
sword. It appears that "Ghool " is, prop-
erly speaking, a name only given to a
female demon of the kind above described:
the male is called "Kutrub." It is said
that these beings, and the Ghaddár, or
Gharrár, and other similar creatures which
will presently be mentioned, are the off-
spring of Iblees and of a wife whom God
created for him of the fire of the Samoom
(which here signifies, as in an instance be-
fore mentioned, "a smokeless fire"); and
that they sprang from an egg. The female
Ghool, it is added, appears to men in the
deserts, in various forms, converses with
them, and sometimes prostitutes herself to
them.
The Sealáh, or Saaláh, is another de-
moniacal creature, described by some [or
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
981
rather, by most authors] as of the Jinn.
It is said that it is mostly found in forests,
and that when it captures a man, it makes
im dance, and plays with him as the cat
plays with the mouse. A man of Isfahán
isserted that many beings of this kind
bounded in his country; that sometimes
he wolf would hunt one of them by night,
nd devour it, and that, when it had seized
t, the Sealáh would cry out, "Come to
ny help, for the wolf devoureth me!"
or it would cry, "Who will liberate me?
have a hundred deenárs, and he shall
eceive them!" but the people knowing
hat it was the cry of the Sealáh, no one
would liberate it; and so the wolf would
at it. An island in the sea of Es-Seen
or China) is called "the Island of the
ealáh," by Arab geographers, from its
eing said to be inhabited by the demons so
amed: they are described as creatures of
ideous forms, supposed to be Sheytans,
he offspring of human beings and Jinn,
7ho eat men.
The Ghaddár, or Gharrár (for its name is
Tritten differently in two different MSS.
1 my possession), is another creature of
similar nature, described as being found
the borders of El-Yemen, and some-
mes in Tihámeh, and in the upper parts
f Egypt. It is said that it entices a
an to it, and either tortures him in a
anner not to be described, or merely
errifies him, and leaves him.
The Delhán is also a demoniacal being,
habiting the islands of the seas, having
e form of a man, and riding on an
strich. It eats the flesh of men whom
le sea casts on the shore from wrecks.
ɔme say that a Delhán once attacked a
ip in the sea, and desired to take the
ew; but they contended with it; where-
on it uttered a cry which caused them
fall upon their faces, and it took them.
In my MS. of Ibn-El-Wardee, I find
e name written "Dahlán." He mentions
1 island called by this name, in the Sea
'Omán; and describes its inhabitants
. cannibal Sheytáns, like men in form,
id riding on birds resembling ostriches.
The Shikk is another demoniacal creature,
tving the form of half a human being
ike a man divided longitudinally); and
is believed that the Nesnás is the off-
ring of a Shikk and of a human being.
he Shikk appears to travellers; and it was
demon of this kind who killed, and was
lled by, 'Alkamah, the son of Safwán, the
n of Umeiyeh; of whom it is well known
at he was killed by a Jinnee. So says
-Kazweenee.
The Nesnás (above mentioned) is de-
scribed as resembling half a human being;
having half a head, half a body, one arm,
and one leg, with which it hops with
much agility; as being found in the woods
of El-Yemen, and being endowed with
speech: "but God," it is added, "is all-
knowing." It is said that it is found in
Hadramót as well as El-Yemen; and that
one was brought alive to El-Mutawekkil: it
resembled a man in form, excepting that it
had but half a face, which was in its breast,
and a tail like that of a sheep. The people
of Hadramót, it is added, eat it; and its
flesh is sweet. It is only generated in
their country. A man who went there
asserted that he saw a captured Nesnás,
which cried out for mercy, conjuring him
by God and by himself. A race of people
whose head is in the breast is described
as inhabiting an island called Jábeh (sup-
posed to be Java), in the Sea of El-Hind,
or India. A kind of Nesnás is also de-
scribed as inhabiting the Island of Ráïj,
in the Sea of Es-Seen, or China, and having
wings like those of the bat.
The Hátif is a being that is heard, but
not seen; and is often mentioned by Arab
writers. It is generally the communicator
of some intelligence in the way of advice, or
direction, or warning.
Here terminating this long note, I must
beg the reader to remark, that the supersti-
tious fancies which it describes are pre-
valent among all classes of the Arabs, and
the Muslims in general, learned as well as
vulgar. I have comprised in it much mat-
ter not necessary to illustrate the intro-
ductory portion of this work, in order to
avoid frequent recurrence to the same sub-
ject. Another apology for its length may
also be offered: - its importance as con-
futing Schlegel's opinion, that the frequent
mention of Genii is more consistent with
Indian than with Arab notions.
NOTE 22. This chest is described in
some copies as formed of glass.
NOTE 23. The term ""Efreet" has been
explained above, in Note 21.
NOTE 24. Most of the copies of the
original, it appears, make the number of
rings ninety-eight; therefore, I have sub-
stituted this, as less extraordinary, for five
hundred and seventy, which is the number
mentioned in the Cairo edition.
NOTE 25. Almost every Muslim who can
afford it has a seal-ring, for a reason
shown in a former note (No. 11).
982
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
In a great collection of Indian tales, the
"Katha Sarit Ságara," is a story which
may have been the original of that to
which this note refers. "Two young
Brahmans travelling are benighted in a
forest, and take up their lodging in a
tree near a lake. Early in the night a
number of people come from the water,
and having made preparation for an enter-
tainment, retire; a Yaksha, a genie, then
comes out of the lake with his two wives,
and spends the night there: when he and
one of his wives are asleep, the other, seeing
the youths, invites them to approach her,
and to encourage them, shows them a hun-
dred rings received from former gallants,
notwithstanding her husband's precautions,
who keeps her locked up in a chest at the
bottom of the lake. The Hindu story-
teller is more moral than the Arab. The
youths reject her advances; she wakes the
genie, who is going to put them to death,
but the rings are produced in evidence
against the unfaithful wife, and she is
turned away with the loss of her nose.
The story is repeated in the next section
with some variation; the lady has ninety
and nine rings, and is about to complete
the hundredth, when her husband, who is
here a Naga, a snake-god, wakes, and con-
sumes the guilty pair with fire from his
mouth."British and Foreign Review, No.
xxi. page 266.
NOTE 26. For the story of Yoosuf and
Zeleekha (or Joseph and the wife of
Potiphar), see the Kur-án, ch. xii.
NOTE 27. On the wickedness of Women.
The wickedness of women is a subject upon
which the stronger sex among the Arabs,
with an affected feeling of superior virtue,
often dwell in common conversation. That
women are deficient in judgment or good
sense is held as a fact not to be disputed
even by themselves, as it rests on an as-
sertion of the Prophet; but that they
possess a superior degree of cunning is
pronounced equally certain and notorious.
Their general depravity is pronounced to
be much greater than that of men. “I
stood," said the Prophet, "at the gate of
Paradise; and lo, most of its inmates were
the poor: and I stood at the gate of Hell;
and lo, most of its inmates were women.'
In allusion to women, the Khaleefeh 'Omar
said, "Consult them, and do the contrary
of what they advise." But this is not
to be done merely for the sake of opposing
them; nor when other advice can be had.
"It is desirable for a man," says a learned
Imám, "before he enters upon any im-
portant undertaking, to consult ten intelli-
39
gent persons among his particular friends
or, if he have not more than five suc
friends, let him consult each of them twice
or, if he have not more than one friend
he should consult him ten times, at te
different visits: if he have not one to con
sult, let him return to his wife, and consul
her; and whatever she advises him to do
let him do the contrary: so shall he proceed
rightly in his affair, and attain his ob
ject." A truly virtuous wife is, of course
excepted in this rule: such a person is a
much respected by Muslims as she is (a)
least, according to their own account) rarely
met with by them. When woman was
created, the Devil, we are told, was de-
lighted, and said, "Thou art half of my
host, and thou art the depository of my
secret, and thou art my arrow, with which
I shoot, and miss not." What are termed
by us affairs of gallantry were very com-
mon among the Pagan Arabs, and are
scarcely less so among their Muslim pos-
terity. They are, however, unfrequent
among most tribes of Bedawees, and among
the descendants of those tribes not long
settled as cultivators. I remember being
roused from the quiet that I generally en-
joyed in an ancient tomb in which I re-
sided at Thebes, by the cries of a young
woman in the neighbourhood, whom an
Arab was severely beating for an impudent
proposal that she had made to him.
NOTE 28. On the cruelty ascribed to
Shahriyár. I wish that I could accuse the
author of inventing, in this case, an in-
cident of an incredible nature, and entirely
unparalleled; but, alas, acts of equal cruelty
are recorded of Arab princes: traits of
benevolence, and crimes of the blackest
hue, are related in their histories, sometimes
in the same page. I have not read of any
case exactly resembling that to which this
note relates; but the following anecdote
will show, that if conduct still more atro-
cious had been described in the latter, it
might have been founded on fact. "In
the year of the Flight 423, the Khaleefeh of
Egypt, Ez-Záhir, the son of El-Hákim,
collected together all the female slaves
that were in the palace, and said to them,
'Assemble together, and I will make a day
of pleasure for you, such as hath not before
been seen in Egypt.' He ordered, also,
that every person who had a female slave
should bring her, and that none of them
should come but with her ornaments of
jewels and gold. They did so; and there
was not a single one that did not come. He
then placed them in a chamber, and, call-
ing some masons, made them build up the
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTORY STORY
983
door of the chamber upon them, and so
hey all died. This happened on Friday
the Mohammadan Sabbath), the 6th of
Showwál. The number of them was two
housand six hundred and sixty female
laves. After they had remained six months,
e heaped lighted combustibles upon them,
nd burned them, together with their
lothes and ornaments. May God [says
he narrator] show no mercy to him!"
NOTE 29. I here deviate a little from
ny original, in which Shahrazád is made
o say, "Either I shall live, or I shall be
ransom for the daughters of the Muslims,
nd the cause of their deliverance from
im." Upon this, the sheykh Mohammad
Eiyád has remarked in a marginal note,
It would seem that she had contrived
ome stratagem to prevent his marrying
gain if he determined to kill her: other-
vise, the mere killing her would not be a
neans of rescuing the other maidens."
NOTE 30.-On the Language of Birds, &c.
t is commonly believed by the Muslims
learned and unlearned), that all kinds of
irds, and many (if not all) beasts, have
language by which they communicate
heir thoughts to each other; and we are
old in the Kur-án, that Suleymán (or
olomon) was taught the language of birds.
thought that I could boast of an accom-
lishment very rare in Christian countries,
n having learned, in Egypt, somewhat of
his language; for instance, that the com-
on cry of the pigeon is "Alláh! Alláh!"
God! God!"); that of the ringdove,
Keerem! Towwáb!" ("Bountiful! Pro-
itious!"—an ejaculation addressed to
od); that of the common dove, "Wahhi-
Do rabbakumu-llezee khalakakum, yeghfir-
kum zembakum!" ("Assert the unity of
our Lord who created you, so will He
rgive you your sin!") but I afterwards
und that several specimens of this lan-
age were given by Ez-Zamakhsheree, and
d been published in Europe: see Alco-
nus Marraccii," p. 511. The cock cries,
Uzkuru-lláha, yá gháfiloon!" ("Com-
morate God, O ye negligent!"): the
"C
tà
(a kind of grouse), "Men seket
im!" ("He who is silent is safe!").
e latter, however, would do better if
did itself attend to the maxim it utters;
- its cry, which, to the uninstructed in
e language of birds, sounds merely,
atà! katà!" as its own name, tells
ere it is to be found by the sportsman,
thus causes its own destruction. Hence
proverb-"More veracious than the
à."
NOTE 31. In the houses of persons of
the middle classes in Arabian countries,
there is generally an apartment on the
ground-floor fitted up as a stable for a
horse, mule, or ass, or for two or more such
animals; and the cattle of the farmer, if not
very numerous, are usually lodged during
the night in similar quarters, or in an open
court enclosed within, or immediately ad-
jacent to, his house.
NOTE 32. It is a common custom in
the East to sprinkle the ground, during the
summer, in order to cool the air.
NOTE 33. Cut straw is the usual fodder
of asses and other beasts of burden in
Egypt and other countries of the East.
NOTE 34. The phrase with which the
bull commences his address to the ass, is
one dictated by an indispensable rule of
Muslim politeness, which requires that
these or some similar words should be
uttered by a person whenever he sees
another with food before him, and does
not partake of it. If this were not done,
it would be feared that the food had
been poisoned, or rendered of no avail, by
an envious eye.
NOTE 35. The peasants in the East use
a hand-mill for grinding their corn. The
larger mills used for this and other pur-
poses are turned by cattle.
NOTE 36. In the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred nights, the ass is made
to quote verses to the bull. Hast thou
not, he asks him, heard the poet say:-
I occupy myself every day and night in anxious
service of him in whose prosperity I have
no enjoyment:
Like the bleacher who blackens his face in the
sun, while he watches the whitening of
the clothes of others.
NOTE 37. I read "nat'an," as in the
Calcutta edition of the first two hundred
nights, instead of "kita'an" in the Cairo
edition. The nata is a large round piece
of leather, which, spread upon the ground,
serves as a table for dinner, &c. It is
particularly convenient, and therefore much
used, in travelling. Around the edge is a
running string, which, being drawn, con-
verts it into a bag to hold what is left of
the food.
NOTE 38-On the office of Kádee. The
Kádee is a judge, or minister of justice,
who passes sentence in all cases of law,
religious, moral, civil, and criminal. This
984
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
he generally does, in the present day, in
accordance with the decision of a Muftee,
or doctor of the law. In small towns and
villages, he is often employed to draw up
written contracts of various kinds.
NOTE 39. The famous Saadee attained
the age here mentioned; but instances of
equal longevity, among the Orientals, are
rare.
NOTE 40. To perform the ablution pre-
paratory to prayer in the expectation of
almost immediate death, is a supererog-
atory act which, I believe, is seldom ob-
served.
NOTE 41. Both religion and climate
make the Muslim an early riser. It is his
duty to perform the first of the five daily
prayers at, or soon after, daybreak; and
he generally awakes before this period.
While Shahriyar, therefore, was waiting for
the dawn of day to acquit himself of this
duty, in accordance with the common cus-
tom of Mohammadan kings, Shahrazád
amused him by the recitation of her tales.
That he should be described as thus strict
with regard to religious exercises, when
about to give orders for the murder of
his innocent wife, need not excite our
surprise: such conduct is consistent with
the character of many Muslims. In the
year 1834, when I was residing in Cairo,
a General in the service of Mohammad
'Alee hired a large party of men to perfor
a recital of the Kur-án, in his house
that city, and then went up into his hareer
and strangled his wife, in consequence of
report which accused her of incontinenc
The religious ceremony was designed
preparatory to this act, though the punish
ment of the woman was contrary to th
law, since her husband neither produce
four witnesses of the imputed crime, no
allowed her to clear herself of the charg
by her own oath. Another case of dil
gence in the performance of a religiou
duty accompanied by the contemplation o
murder, but murder on a larger scale, oc
curred in the same city shortly after. Suley
mán Ághà, the Siláhdár, being occupied i
directing the building of a public fountain
as a work of charity to place to the ac
count of a deceased brother, desired to ex
tend the original plan of the structure; and
to do this, it was necessary that he should
purchase two houses adjoining the plot in
which the foundations had been laid: bu
the owners of these houses refused to sel
them, and he therefore employed a num
ber of workmen to undermine them by
night, and cause them to fall upon their
inhabitants. His scheme, however, but
partially succeeded, and no lives were sac-
rificed. This man was notorious for
cruelty, but he was a person of pleasing
and venerable countenance, and engaging
manners: whenever I chanced to meet him,
I received from him a most gracious salu-
tation. He died before I quitted Egypt.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
""
NOTE I. The words "in a garden are
omitted in my original; but they are re-
quired by the sequel. I may here remark,
that, in future, when I find trifling in-
sertions of this kind to be requisite in my
translation, I shall not deem it necessary
to mention them in a note.
NOTE 2. An Eastern traveller often
makes a long journey with no other encum-
brance than a well-filled pair of saddle-
bags: in one bag he puts his provisions;
and in the other, such articles of clothing
as he may require in addition to those in
which he sets out, including a spare shirt,
and perhaps no other clean linen: for he is
as indifferent with regard to this comfort as
he is careful respecting his personal clean-
liness.
NOTE 3. Perhaps no reader of this work
will require to be told that the date has
not a shell. I only make this remark on
account of an error in the old translation.
As dates are very nutritious, and are
preserved by being merely dried in the sun,
they are an excellent article of provision for
travellers.
NOTE 4. The merchant was culpably
careless: before throwing aside the date-
stone with sufficient force to kill a Jinnee
who happened to be near him (though at
the time invisible), he should have asked
permission by the exclamation "Destoor!"
as explained in a note appended to the
Introduction.
-
NOTE 5.
-On Fate and Destiny. The
belief in fate and destiny ("el-kadà wa-l-
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
985
kadar") exercises a most powerful influ-
ence upon the actions and character of the
Muslims; and it is therefore highly im-
portant that the reader of the present
work should be acquainted with the notions
which these people entertain respecting such
matters of faith. I use two words (perhaps
the best that our language affords) to ex-
press corresponding Arabic terms, which
some persons regard as synonymous, but
others distinguish by different shades of
meaning. On what I consider the best
authority, the word which I render "fate "
respects the decrees of God in a general
sense; while that which I translate "des-
tiny relates to the particular applica-
tions of those decrees. In such senses these
terms are here to be understood when
separately employed.
19
Many Muslims hold that fate is, in some
respects, absolute and unchangeable; in
others, admitting of alteration; and almost
all of them act, in many of the affairs of
life, as if this were their belief. In the
former case, it is called "el-kadà el-
Mohkam: " in the latter, "el-kadà el-
Mubram" (which term, without the ex-
planation here given, might be regarded
as exactly synonymous with the former).
Hence, the Prophet, it is said, prayed to be
preserved from the latter, as knowing that
it might be changed; and in allusion to this
changeable fate, God, we are told, says,
"God will cancel what He pleaseth, and
confirm; " while, on the contrary, the fate
which is termed "Mohkam" is appointed
"destiny" decreed by God.
Many doctors have argued, that destiny
respects only the final state of a certain
portion of men (believers and unbelievers);
and that, in general, man is endowed with
free will, which he should exercise ac-
cording to the laws of God and his own
conscience and judgment, praying to God
for a blessing on his endeavours, or im-
oloring the intercession of the Prophet, or
of any of the saints, in his favour, and
propitiating them by offering alms or sacri-
fices in their names; relying upon God for
the result, which he may then, and then
only, attribute to fate or destiny. They
hold, therefore, that it is criminal to at-
empt resistance to the will when its dictates
ire conformable with the laws of God
ind our natural consciences and prudence,
ind so passively to await the fulfilment of
God's decrees. The doctrine of the Kur-
in and the Traditions respecting the decrees
of God, or fate and destiny, appears, how-
ver, to be, that they are altogether abso-
ute and unchangeable, written, in the
66 'Pre-
beginning of the creation, on the
66
served Tablet," in heaven; that God hath
predestined every event and action, evil
as well as good; at the same time com-
manding and approving good, and for-
bidding and hating evil; and that the
'cancelling" mentioned in the preceding
paragraph relates (as the context seems to
show) to the abrogation of former scrip-
tures, or revelations; not of fate. But still
it must be held that He hath not pre-
destined the will; though He sometimes
inclines it to good, and the Devil sometimes
inclines it to evil. It is asked, then, If
we have the power to will, but not the
power to perform otherwise than as God
hath predetermined, how can we be re-
garded as responsible beings? The answer
to this is, that our actions are judged good
or evil according to our intentions, if we
have faith: good actions or intentions, it
should be added, only increase, and do not
cause, our happiness, if we are believers;
and evil actions or intentions only increase
our misery if we are unbelievers or irre-
ligious: for the Muslim holds that he is
to be admitted into heaven only by the
mercy of God, on account of his faith;
and to be rewarded in proportion to his
good works.
The Prophet's assertions on the subject
of God's decrees are considered of the
highest importance as explanatory of the
Kur-án.. "Whatever is in the universe,"
said he, "is by the order of God."-"God
hath pre-ordained five things on his serv-
ants; the duration of life, their actions,
their dwelling-places, their travels, and
their portions."-"There is not one among
you whose sitting-place is not written by
God, whether in the fire or in paradise."
-Some of the Companions of the Prophet,
on hearing the last-quoted saying, asked
him, "O Prophet, since God hath appointed
our places, may we confide in this, and
abandon our religious and moral duties?"
He answered, "No: because the happy
will do good works, and those who are of
the miserable will do bad works."-The
following of his sayings further illustrate
this subject. "When God hath ordered
a creature to die in any particular place,
He causeth his wants to direct him to that
place." A Companion asked, "O Prophet
of God, inform me respecting charms, and
the medicines which I swallow, and shields
which I make use of for protection, whether
they prevent any of the orders of God."
Mohammad answered, "These also are by
the order of God." "There is a medicine
for every pain: Then, when the medicine
reaches the pain, it is cured by the order
of God."- When a Muslim, therefore, feels
--
986
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
an inclination to make use of medicine for
the cure of a disease, he should do so, in
the hope of its being predestined that he
shall be so cured.
On the predestination of diseases, I find
the following curious quotation and re-
mark in a manuscript work, by Es-Suyootee,
in my possession. "El-Haleemee says,
'Communicable or contagious diseases are
six: smallpox, measles, itch or scab, foul
breath or putridity, melancholy, and pes-
tilential maladies; and diseases engendered
are also six: leprosy, hectic, epilepsy, gout,
elephantiasis, and phthisis.' But this does
not contradict the saying of the Prophet,
'There is no transition of diseases by con-
tagion or infection, nor any omen that
brings evil:' for the transition here meant
is one occasioned by the disease itself;
whereas the effect is of God, who causes
pestilence to spread when there is inter-
course with the diseased." - A Bedawee
asked the Prophet, "What is the condition
of camels which stay in the deserts?
Verily, you might say, they are deer, in
health and in cleanness of skin; then they
mix with mangy camels, and they become
mangy also." Mohammad said, "What
made the first camel mangy? "
---
Notwithstanding, however, the arguments
which have been here adduced, and many
others that might be added declaring or
implying the unchangeable nature of all
God's decrees, I have found it to be the
opinion of my own Muslim friends, that
God may be induced, by supplication, to
change certain of his decrees; at least,
those regarding degrees of happiness or
misery in this world and the next; and
that such is the general opinion, appears
from a form of prayer which is repeated
in the mosques on the eve of the middle
(or fifteenth day) of the month of Shaa-
bán; when it is believed that such por-
tions of God's decrees as constitute the des-
tinies of all living creatures for the ensuing
year, are confirmed and fixed. In this
prayer it is said, "O God, if Thou hast
recorded me in thine abode, upon the
Original of the Book' [the Preserved Tab-
let], miserable, or unfortunate, or scanted
in my sustenance, cancel, O God, of thy
goodness, my misery, and misfortune, and
scanty allowance of sustenance, and confirm
me, in thine abode, upon the Original of
the Book, as happy, and provided for,
and directed to good," &c.
The Arabs in general constantly have
recourse both to charms and medicines,
not only for the cure, but also for the
prevention of diseases. They have, indeed,
a strange passion for medicine, which shows
that they do not consider fate as alto-
gether unconditional. Nothing can exceed
the earnestness with which they often press
a European traveller for a dose; and the
more violent the remedy, the better are
they pleased. The following case will
serve as an example: Three donkey-
drivers, conveying the luggage of two Brit-
ish travellers from Boolák to Cairo, opened
a bottle which they observed in a basket,
and finding it to contain, as they had sus-
pected, brandy, emptied it down their
throats: but he who had the last, on turn-
ing up the bottle, got the tail of a scorpion
into his mouth; and, looking through the
bottle, to his great horror, saw that it con-
tained a number of these reptiles, with
tarantulas, vipers, and beetles. Thinking
that they had poisoned themselves, but not
liking to rely upon fate, they persuaded a
man to come to me for medicine. He in-
troduced the subject by saying, “O Efendee,
do an act of kindness: there are three
men poisoned; in your mercy give them
medicine, and save their lives: " and then
he related the whole affair, without con-
Icealing the theft. I replied, that they
Idid not deserve medicine; but he urged
that, by giving it, I should obtain an im-
mense reward. "Yes," said I; "he who
saveth a soul alive shall be as if he had
saved the lives of all mankind.'" I said
this to try the feeling of the applicant,
who, expressing admiration of my knowl-
edge, urged me to be quick, lest the men
should die; thus showing himself to be no
unconditional fatalist. I gave him three
strong doses of tartar emetic; and he soon
came back to thank me, saying that the
medicine was most admirable, for the men
had hardly swallowed it, when they almost
vomited their hearts and livers, and every-
thing else in their bodies.
From a distrust in faith, some Muslims
even shut themselves up during the preva-
lence of plague; but this practice is gen-
erally condemned. A Syrian friend of
mine, who did so, nearly had his door
broken by his neighbours. Another of my
friends, one of the most distinguished of
the 'Ulamà, confessed to me his conviction
of the lawfulness of quarantine, and argued
well in favour of it; but said that he dared
not openly avow such an opinion. "The
Apostle of God," said he, "God bless and
save him! hath commanded that we should
not enter a city where there is pestilence,
nor go out from it. Why did he say, 'En-
ter it not?' because by so doing, we
should expose ourselves to the disease.
Why did he say, 'Go not out from it?'-
because, by so doing, we should carry the
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
987
disease to others. The Prophet was ten-
derly considerate of our welfare: but the
present Muslims in general are like bulls
brute beasts]; and they hold the meaning
of this command to be, Go not into a
city where there is pestilence, because this
would be rashness; and go not out from it,
because this would be distrusting God's
power to save you from it."
Many of the vulgar and ignorant among
modern Muslims, believe that the unchange-
able destinies of every man are written
upon his head, in what are termed the
sutures of the skull.
NOTE 6. The paragraph thus commenc-
ing, and the verses comprised in it, are
translated from the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred nights.
NOTE 7. It is a common custom for a
Muslim, on a military expedition, or during
a long journey, especially in the desert, to
carry his grave-linen with him; for he is
extremely careful that he may be buried ac-
cording to the law. It seems to be implied
in our tale, that the merchant hoped that
the Jinnee, or some passing traveller, would
wash, shroud, and bury him.
NOTE 8. It is thus that the Arab women
generally do on the occasion of a funeral.
NOTE 9. On the title of Sheykh.
"Sheykh" is an appellation which literally
signifies "an elder," or "an aged person,'
and in this sense it is here used; but it is
also commonly employed as synonymous
with our appellation of "Mister;
and
particularly applied to a learned man, or
1 reputed saint. In every case, it is a
itle of respect, and never given to any
out a Muslim.
NOTE 10. "Jánn" is here used as
ynonymous with "Jinn."
NOTE II. A cousin (the daughter of a
aternal uncle) is often chosen as a wife,
on account of the tie of blood, which
s likely to attach her more strongly to
her husband; or on account of an affection
conceived in early years. The various cus-
oms relating to marriage, I shall describe
on a future occasion.
NOTE 12. A bride is called young, by
he Arabs, when she is about twelve years
of age.
In the Calcutta edition of the
irst two hundred nights, the wife in this
ale is said to have been of this age when
he was first married.
NOTE 13.- On Slaves. A slave, among
Muslims, is either a person taken captive
in war, or carried off by force, and being
at the time of capture an infidel; or the
offspring of a female slave by another
slave, or by any man who is not her owner,
or by her owner, if he does not acknowl-
edge himself to be the father: but the
offspring of a male slave by a free woman
is free. A person who embraces the Mo-
hammadan faith after having been made
a slave, does not by this act become free,
unless he flees from a foreign infidel master
to a Muslim country, and there becomes
a Mohammadan. A person cannot have as
a slave one whom he acknowledges to be
within the prohibited degrees of marriage.
- The slaves of the Arabs are mostly from
Abyssinia and the Negro countries: a few,
mostly in the houses of wealthy individuals,
are from Georgia and Circassia.
Slaves have no civil liberty; but are en-
tirely under the authority of their owners,
whatever may be the religion, sex, or age,
of the latter; and can possess no property,
unless by the owner's permission. The
owner is entire master, while he pleases, of
the person and goods of his slave; and of
the offspring of his female slave, which, if
begotten by him or presumed to be so,
he may recognize as his own legitimate
child, or not: the child, if recognized by
him, enjoys the same privileges as the
offspring of a free wife; and if not recog-
nized by him, is his slave. The master may
even kill his own slave with impunity for
any offence; and he incurs but a slight pun-
ishment (as imprisonment for a period at
the discretion of the judge) if he kills him
wantonly. He may give away or sell his
slaves, excepting in some cases which will
be mentioned; and may marry them to
whom he will, but not separate them when
married. A slave, however, according to
most of the doctors, cannot have more than
two wives at the same time. Unemanci-
pated slaves, at the death of their master,
become the property of his heirs; and
when an emancipated slave dies, leaving no
male descendants or collateral relations,
the former master is the heir; or, if he be
dead, his heirs inherit the slave's property.
As a slave enjoys less advantages than a
free person, the law, in some cases, ordains
that his punishment for an offence shall be
half of that to which the free is liable
for the same offence, or even less than
half: if it be a fine, or pecuniary com-
pensation, it must be paid by the owner,
to the amount, if necessary, of the value
of the slave, or the slave must be given in
compensation.
988
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The owner, but not the part-owner, may
cohabit with any of his female slaves who
is a Mohammadan, a Christian, or a Jewess,
if he has not married her to another man;
but not with two or more who are sisters,
or who are related to each other in any
of the degrees which would prevent their
both being his wives at the same time if
they were free: after having so lived with
one, he must entirely relinquish such inter-
course with her before he can do the same
with another who is so related to her. He
cannot have this intercourse with a pagan
slave. A Christian or Jew may have slaves,
but not enjoy the privilege above mentioned
with one who is a Mohammadan.
master must wait a certain period (gen-
erally from a month to three months) after
the acquisition of a female slave, before he
can have such intercourse with her. If
he find any fault in her within three days,
he is usually allowed to return her.
The
When a man, from being the husband,
becomes the master, of a slave, the marriage
is dissolved, and he cannot continue to
live with her but as her master, enjoying,
however, all a master's privileges; unless
he emancipates her; in which case he may
again take her as his wife with her consent.
In like manner, when a woman, from being
the wife, becomes the possessor, of a slave,
the marriage is dissolved, and cannot be re-
newed unless she emancipates him, and he
consents to the re-union.
Complete and immediate emancipation is
sometimes granted to a slave gratuitously,
or for a future pecuniary compensation.
It is conferred by means of a written docu-
ment, or by a verbal declaration (expressed
in the words, "Thou art free," or some
similar phrase) in the presence of two wit-
nesses, or by returning the certificate of sale
obtained from the former owner. Future
emancipation is sometimes covenanted to be
granted on the fulfilment of certain condi-
tions; and more frequently, to be conferred
on the occasion of the owner's death.
the latter case, the owner cannot sell the
slave to whom he has made this promise:
and, as he cannot alienate by will more
than one-third of the whole property that
he leaves, the law ordains that, if the
value of the said slave exceeds that portion,
the slave must obtain and pay the addi-
tional sum. When a female slave has
borne a child to her master, and he ac-
knowledges the child to be his own, he
cannot sell this slave, and she becomes
free on his death.
In
Abyssinian and white female slaves are
kept by many men of the middle and
higher classes, and often instead of wives,
as requiring less expense, and being more
subservient; but they are generally in-
dulged with the same luxuries as free
ladies; their vanity is gratified by costly
dresses and ornaments, and they rank high
above free servants; as do also the male
slaves. Those called Abyssinians appear
to be a mixed race between negroes and
whites; and are from the territories of the
Gallas. They are mostly kidnapped and
sold by their own countrymen. The negro
female slaves, as few of them have con-
siderable personal attractions (which is not
the case with the Abyssinians, many of
whom are very beautiful), are usually em-
ployed only in cooking, and other menial
offices. The female slaves of the higher
classes are often instructed in plain needle-
work and embroidery, and sometimes in
music and dancing. Formerly, many of
them possessed sufficient literary accom-
plishments to quote largely from esteemed
poems, or even to compose extemporary
verses, which they would often accompany
with the lute. The condition of many
concubine slaves is happy; and that of
many, quite the contrary. These, and all
other slaves of either sex, are generally
treated with kindness; but at first they are
usually importuned, and not unfrequently
used with much harshness, to induce them
to embrace the Mohammadan faith; which
almost all of them do. Their services are
commonly light: the usual office of the
male white slave, who is called "memlook,"
is that of a page, or a military guard.
Eunuchs are employed as guardians of the
women; but only in the houses of men of
high rank, or of great wealth: on account
of the important and confidential office
which they fill, they are generally treated
in public with especial consideration. I
used to remark, in Cairo, that few persons
saluted me with a more dignified and con-
sequential air than these pitiable but self-
conceited beings. Most of them are Abys-
sinians or Negroes. Indeed, the slaves in
general take too much advantage of the
countenance of their masters, especially
when they belong to men in power. The
master is bound to afford his slaves proper
food and clothing, or to let them work for
their own support, or to sell, give away,
or liberate them. It is, however, considered
disgraceful for him to sell a slave who has
been long in his possession; and it seldom
happens that a master emancipates a female
slave, without marrying her to some man
able to support her, or otherwise providing
for her.
The Prophet strongly enjoined the duty
of kindness to slaves. Feed your mem-
64
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
989
1
looks," said he, "with food of that which
ye eat, and clothe them with such clothing
is ye wear; and command them not to
do that which they are unable." — These
precepts are generally attended to, either
entirely or in a great degree. Some other
ayings of the Prophet on this subject
well deserve to be mentioned; as the fol-
owing: "He who beats his slave without
ault, or slaps him on the face, his atone-
nent for this is freeing him."—"A man
who behaves ill to his slave will not enter
nto paradise." "Whoever is the cause
of separation between mother and child,
by selling or giving, God will separate him
rom his friends on the day of resurrec-
ion."-"When a slave wishes well to his
naster, and worships God well, for him are
double rewards." It is related of 'Oth-
nán, "that he twisted the ear of a mem-
ook belonging to him, on account of dis-
›bedience, and afterwards, repenting of it,
ordered him to twist his ear in like manner:
out he would not. 'Othmán urged him, and
the memlook advanced, and began to wring
t by little and little. He said to him,
Wring it hard; for I cannot endure the
punishment of the day of judgment [on
account of this act].' The memlook an-
swered, 'O my master, the day that thou
earest, I also fear.'". "It is related also
of Zeyn-el-'Ábideen, that he had a memlook
who seized a sheep, and broke its leg; and
he said to him, 'Why didst thou this?' He
answered, 'To provoke thee to anger.'
And I,' said he,' will provoke to anger him
who taught thee; and he is Iblees: go, and
be free, for the sake of God.'" Many
similar anecdotes might be added; but the
general assertions of travellers in the East
are more satisfactory evidence in favour of
the humane conduct of most Muslims to
heir slaves.
It sometimes happens, though rarely, that
ree girls are sold as slaves. A remark-
ble instance is related in the "Mir-át ez-
Zemán.". - Fátimeh, surnamed Ghareeb, a
lave of the Khaleefeh El-Moatasim, the
on of Hároon, was a poetess, accomplished
n singing and calligraphy, and extremely
eautiful. Her mother was an orphan; and
aafar, the famous Wezeer of Hároon Er-
Rasheed, took her as his wife; but his
ather, Yahyà, reproached him for marry-
ng a woman whose father and mother were
nknown, and he therefore removed her
rom his own residence to a neighbouring
ouse, where he frequently visited her; and
he bore him a daughter, the above-men-
Coned Ghareeb, and died. Jaafar com-
nitted her infant to the care of a Christian
Foman, to nurse; and, on the overthrow
of his family, this woman sold her young
charge as a slave. El-Emeen, the successor
of Er-Rasheed, bought her of a man named
Sumbul, but never paid her price; and
when he was killed, she returned to her
former master; but on the arrival of El-
Ma-moon at Baghdad, she was described
to him, and he compelled Sumbul to sell
her to him. This Sumbul loved her so
passionately, that he died of grief at her
loss. On the death of El-Ma-moon, his
successor, El-Moatasim, bought her for a
hundred thousand dirhems, and emanci-
pated her. The historian adds, that she
composed several well-known airs and
verses.
NOTE 14.
An Arab who is married to
his cousin generally calls her by this ap-
pellation rather than that of wife, as the
tie of blood is, to him, in every respect,
stronger than that of matrimony.
NOTE 15. On Magic. The Arabs and
other Mohammadans enjoy a remarkable
advantage over us in the composition of
works of fiction: in the invention of inci-
Idents which we should regard as absurd in
the extreme, they cannot be accused by
their countrymen of exceeding the bounds
of probability. A case similar to that here
described was related to me as a fact, in
Cairo. A person in that city, I was told,
was suddenly surprised by the disappear-
ance of his brother, and by finding, in his
place, an ass: but this animal increased
his astonishment, and that of every person
who beheld him, by manifesting a sagacity
singularly opposed to the proverbial dulness
of the generality of his species. Yet, strange
as it may seem, it was not imagined that
this brute was the lost man in a trans-
formed state, till, one day, an old woman,
seeing him, quickly covered her face, and
declared the fact. She discovered this by
her knowledge of magic; and, by her skill
in this art, she agreed to restore the en-
chanted person to his proper shape. Hav-
ing collected a number of herbs, she boiled
them in a large vessel; and when the decoc-
tion had cooled, she took the vessel, and,
muttering a certain spell, threw its contents
over the animal, endeavouring to do so in
such a manner that every part of it should
be wetted. Every part of it was wetted,
excepting one hind-foot; and, accordingly,
it was restored to the original human form,
with the exception of one foot, which re-
mained like that of an ass.
An implicit belief in magic is entertained
by almost all Muslims; and he, among
them, who denies its truth, they regard as
990
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
a freethinker, or an infidel. Some are of
opinion that it ceased on the mission of
Mohammad; but these are comparatively
few. Many of the most learned Muslims,
to the present age, have deeply studied it;
and a much greater number of persons of
inferior education (particularly school-
masters) have, more or less, devoted their
time and talents to the pursuit of this
knowledge. Recourse is had to it for the
discovery of hidden treasures, for alchym-
ical purposes, for the acquisition of the
knowledge of futurity, to procure offspring,
to obtain the affection of a beloved ob-
ject, to effect cures, to guard against the in-
fluence of the evil eye, to afflict or kill an
enemy or a rival, and to attain various
other objects of desire.
There are two descriptions of magic; one
is spiritual, and regarded by all but free-
thikers as true; the other, natural, and
denounced by the more religious and en-
lightened as deceptive.
I. Spiritual magic, which is termed "er-
Roohánee" (vulgo "Rowhánee "), chiefly
depends upon the virtues of certain names
of God, and passages from the Kur-án, and
the agency of Angels and Jinn, or Genii. It
is of two kinds: High and Low ("'Ilwee "
and "Suflee "), or Divine and Satanic
("Rahmánee," i. e. relating to "the Com-
passionate [who is God], and "Shey-
tánce ").
""
1. Divine magic is regarded as a sublime
science, and is studied only by good men,
and practised only for good purposes. Per-
fection in this branch of magic consists in
the knowledge of "the most great name
of God ("el-Ism el Aazam "); but this
knowledge is imparted to none but the
peculiar favourites of Heaven. By virtue of
this name, which was engraved on his seal-
ring, Suleymán (or Solomon) subjected to
his dominion the Jinn and the birds and
the winds, as mentioned in a former note.
By pronouncing it, his minister Ásaf, also,
transported, in an instant, to the presence
of his sovereign, in Jerusalem, the throne
of the Queen of Sheba. But this was a
small miracle to effect by such means; for,
by uttering this name, a man may even
raise the dead. Other names of the Deity,
commonly known, are believed to have par-
ticular efficacies when uttered or written;
as also are the names of the Prophet; and
Angels and good Jinn are said to be ren-
dered subservient to the purposes of divine
mag.c by means of certain invocations.
Of such names and invocations, together
with words unintelligible to the uninitiated
in this science, passages from the Kur-án,
mysterious combinations of numbers, and
peculiar diagrams and figures, are chief
composed written charms employed fc
good purposes. Enchantment, when use
for benevolent purposes, is regarded by th
vulgar as a branch of lawful or divin
magic; but not so by the learned; an
the same remark applies to the science o
divination.
66
2. Satanic magic, as its name implies
is a science depending on the agency o
the Devil and the inferior evil Jinn, whos
services are obtained by means similar to
those which propitiate, or render sub
servient, the good Jinn. It is condemned
by the Prophet and all good Muslims, and
only practised for bad purposes. -En-
chantment, which is termed es-Sehr," is
almost universally acknowledged to be a
branch of satanic magic; but some few
persons assert (agreeably with several tales
in this work), that it may be, and by some
has been, studied with good intentions, and
practised by the aid of good Jinn; conse-
quently, that there is such a science as
good enchantment, which is to be
garded as a branch of divine or lawful
magic. The metamorphoses are said to
be generally effected by means of spells,
or invocations to Jinn, accompanied by
the sprinkling of water or dust, &c., on
the object to be transformed.
re-
Persons are said to be enchanted in va-
rious ways: some, paralyzed, or even de-
prived of life; others, affected with irre-
sistible passion for certain objects; others,
again, rendered demoniacs; and some,
transformed into brutes, birds, &c. The
evil eye is believed to enchant in a very
powerful and distressing manner. This was
acknowledged even by the Prophet. Dis-
eases and death are often attributed to its
influence. Amulets, which are mostly writ-
ten charms, of the kind above described,
are worn by many Muslims with the view
of counteracting, or preserving from, en-
chantment; and for the same purpose,
many ridiculous ceremonies are practised.
Divination, which is termed "el-Kihá-
neh," is pronounced, on the highest au-
thority, to be a branch of satanic magic;
though not believed to be so by all Mus-
lims. According to an assertion of the
Prophet, what a fortune-teller says may
sometimes be true; because one of the Jinn
steals away the truth, and carries it to the
magician's ear: for the Angels come down
to the region next the earth (the lowest
heaven), and mention the works that have
been pre-ordained in heaven; and the
Devils (or evil Jinn) listen to what the
Angels say, and hear the orders predes-
tined in heaven, and carry them to the
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
991
fortune-tellers.
It is on such occasions
that shooting-stars are hurled at the Devils.
It is said that "the diviner obtains the
services of the Sheytán by magic arts,
and by names [invoked], and by the
burning of perfumes, and he informs him
of secret things: for the Devils, before the
mission of the Apostle of God," it is added,
used to ascend to heaven, and hear words
by stealth." That the evil Jinn are believed
still to ascend sufficiently near to the lowest
heaven to hear the conversation of the
Angels, and so to assist magicians, appears
from the former quotation, and is asserted
by all Muslims. The discovery of hidden
treasures, before alluded to, is one of the
objects for which divination is most
studied. The mode of divination called
"Darb el-Mendel" is by some supposed
to be effected by the aid of evil Jinn; but
the more enlightened of the Muslims re-
gard it as a branch of natural magic. Some
curious performances of this kind, by means
of a fluid mirror of ink, have been de-
scribed in my "Account of the Manners
and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,"
and in No. 117 of the "Quarterly Review."
-
There are certain modes of divination
which cannot properly be classed under the
head of spiritual magic, but require a place
between the account of this science and
that of natural magic. The most impor-
tant of these branches of Kiháneh is Astrol-
ogy, which is called "'Ilm en-Nujoom."
This is studied by many Muslims in the
present day; and its professors are often
employed by the Arabs to determine a for-
tunate period for laying the foundation of
a building, commencing a journey, &c.;
but more frequently by the Persians and
Turks. The Prophet pronounced astrology
to be a branch of magic. - Another branch
of Kiháneh is Geomancy, called "Darb
er-Raml;" a mode of divination from
certain marks made on sand (whence its
appellation), or on paper; and said to be
chiefly founded on astrology. The sci-
ence called "ez-Zijr," or "el-'Eyáfeh," is
a third branch of Kiháneh; being divina-
tion or auguration chiefly from the motions
and positions, or postures, of birds, or of
gazelles and other beasts of the chase.
Thus, what was termed a Sáneh," that is,
such an animal standing or passing with
its right side towards the spectator, was
esteemed among the Arabs as of good
omen; and a Báreh," or an animal of
this kind with its left side towards the
spectator, was held as inauspicious. " El-
Kiyáfeh," under which term are included
Chiromancy and its kindred sciences, is a
fourth branch of Kiháneh. "Et-Tefá-ul,"
or the taking an omen, particularly a good
one, from a name or words accidentally
heard or seen, or chosen from a book, be-
longs to the same science. The taking a
'fál," or omen, from the Kur-án is gen-
erally held to be lawful.- Various trifling
events are considered as ominous. For in-
stance, a Sultán quitting his palace with
his troops, a standard happened to strike
a "thureiyà” (a cluster of lamps, so called
from resembling the Pleiades), and broke
them; he drew from this an evil omen,
and would have relinquished the expedi-
tion; but one of his chief officers said to
him, "O our lord, thy standards have
reached the Pleiades; "- and, being re-
lieved by this remark, he proceeded, and
returned victorious. The interpretation
of dreams "Taabeer el-Menámát," must
also be classed among the branches of this
science. According to the Prophet, it is
the only branch of divination worthy of
dependence. "Good dreams," said he,
66
-
are one of the parts of prophecy," and
"nothing else of prophecy remains."
"Good dreams are from God; and false
dreams, from the Devil." "When any one
of you has a bad dream, spit three times
over your left shoulder, and seek protec-
tion with God from the Devil thrice; and
turn from the side on which the dream
was, to the other." This rule is observed
by many Muslims. Dreams are generally
so fully relied upon by them as to be
sometimes the means of deciding contested
points in history and science. The sight,
in a dream, of anything green or white,
or of water, is considered auspicious; any-
thing black or red, or fire, inauspicious. —
The distinction of fortunate and unfortu-
nate days should also here be mentioned.
Thursday and Friday, especially the latter,
are considered fortunate; Monday and
Wednesday, doubtful; Sunday, Tuesday,
and Saturday, especially the last, unfor-
tunate. It is said that there are seven
evil days in every [lunar] month; namely,
the third, on which Kábeel (or Cain)
killed Hábeel (Abel); the fifth, on which
God cast down Adam from paradise, and
afflicted the people of Yoonus (Jonas),
and on which Yoosuf (or Joseph) was cast
into the well; the thirteenth, on which God
took away the wealth of Eiyoob (or Job),
and afflicted him, and took away the king-
dom from Suleymán (or Solomon), and on
which the Jews killed the prophets; the
sixteenth, on which God exterminated and
buried the people of Loot (or Lot), and
transformed three hundred Christians into
swine, and Jews into apes, and on which
the Jews sawed asunder Zekereeyà (or
992
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Zachariah); the twenty-first, on which
Pharaoh was born, and on which he was
drowned, and on which his nation was
afflicted with the plagues; the twenty-
fourth, on which Numrood (or Nimrod)
killed seventy women, and cast El-Khaleel
(or Abraham) into the fire, and on which
was slaughtered the camel of Sáleh; and
the twenty-fifth on which the suffocating
wind was sent upon the people of Hood.
II. Natural magic, which is called "es-
Seemiyà," is regarded by most persons of
the more enlightened classes of Muslims as
altogether a deceptive art, no more worthy
of respect than legerdemain; but it seems
to be nearly allied to enchantment; for
it is said to effect, in appearance, the most
wonderful transformations, and to cause
the most extraordinary visions; affecting
the senses and imagination in a manner
similar to opium. This and other drugs
are supposed, by some persons, to be the
chief means by which such illusions are
caused; and perfumes, which are generally
burnt in these performances, may operate
in a similar manner. As such things are
employed in performances of the kind
called "Darb el-Mendel," before men-
tioned, these feats are regarded by many
as effected by natural magic, nothwith-
standing what has been said above respect-
ing the services of evil Jinn being procured
by means of perfumes. -Alchymy ("el-
Keemiyà ") is a branch of natural magic.
It is studied by many Muslims of the pres-
ent day, and by some of considerable tal-
ents and attainments.
The most celebrated of the magicians
who have gained notoriety in Egypt dur-
ing the course of the last hundred years,
was the sheykh Ahmad Sádoomeh, who
flourished somewhat more than sixty years
ago I write in 1837. Several persons of
Cairo, men of intelligence and of good edu-
cation, have related to me various most
marvellous stories of his performances, on
the authority of eye-witnesses whom they
considered veracious; but a more credible
account of this magician I have found in
the work of an excellent historian of Mod-
ern Egypt. This author mentions the sheykh
Sádoomeh as an aged man, of venerable ap-
pearance, who derived his origin from the
town of Semennood, in the Delta, and who
acquired a very great and extensive celeb-
rity for his attainments in spiritual and
natural magic, and for holding converse,
face to face, with Jinn, and causing them
to appear to other persons, even to the
blind, as men acquainted with him informed
the historian. His contemporaries, says this
writer, entertained various opinions respect-
ing him; but, among them, a famous gram-
marian and general scholar, the sheysh
Hasan El-Kafráwee, regarded him as a
first-rate saint, who performed evident
miracles; this learned man pronouncing as
such the effects of "his legerdemain and
natural magic." His fame he describes as
having increased until he was induced to
try an unlucky experiment. A Memlook
chief, Yoosuf Bey, saw some magic char-
acters written on the body of one of his
female slaves, and, exasperated by jealousy,
commanded her, with a threat of instart
death, to tell him who had done this
She confessed that a woman had taken
her to the sheykh Sádoomeh, and that he
had written this charm to attract to her
the Bey's love. Upon hearing this, be
instantly sent some attendants to seize the
magician, and to put him to death, and
throw him into the Nile; which was done.
But the manner in which the seizure was
made, as related to me by one of my
friends, deserves to be mentioned. Several
persons, one after another, endeavoured to
lay hold upon him; but every arm that
was stretched forth for this purpose was
instantly paralyzed, through a spell mut-
tered by the magician; until a man behind
him thrust a gag into his mouth, and so
stopped his enchantments.
Of the stories related to me of Sádoo-
meh's miracles, the following will serve
as a specimen: In order to give one of
his friends a treat, he took him to the
distance of about half an hour's walk into
the desert on the north of Cairo; here
they both sat down, upon the pebbly and
sandy plain, and, the magician, having
uttered a spell, they suddenly found them-
selves in the midst of a garden, like one
of the gardens of paradise, abounding with
flowers and fruit-trees of every kind, spring-
ing up from a soil clothed with verdure
brilliant as the emerald, and irrigated by
numerous streamlets of the clearest water.
A repast of the most delicious viands and
fruits and wines was spread before them
by invisible hands; and they both ate to
satiety, taking copious draughts of the
various wines. At length, the magician's
guest sank into a deep sleep; and when
he awoke, he found himself again in the
pebbly and sandy plain, with Sadoomeh
still by his side. The reader will prob
ably attribute this vision to a dose of
opium or some similar drug; and such I
suppose to have been the means employed:
for I cannot doubt the integrity of the
narrator, though he would not admit such
an explanation; regarding the whole as an
affair of magic, effected by the operation
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
993
of Jinn, like similar relations in the pres-
ent work.
It may be remarked that most of the
enchantments described in this work are
said to be performed by women; and re-
puted witches appear to have been much
more numerous in all countries than wiz-
irds. This fact the Muslims readily explain
by a saying of their Prophet:
- That
women are deficient in sense and religion:
- whence they argue that they are more
inclined than men to practise what is un-
lawful.
NOTE 16.- On the Two Grand Festivals.
The Muslims observe two grand 'Eeds, or
Festivals, in every year. The first of these
immediately follows Ramadán, the month
of abstinence, and lasts three days: it is
The other,
called the Minor Festival.
which is called the Great Festival, com-
mences on the tenth of Zu-l-Hejjeh, the
day when the pilgrims, halting on their re-
turn from Mount 'Arafát to Mekkeh, in
the Valley of Minè (vulgarly called Munà),
perform their sacrifice: the observance of
this festival also continues three days, or
four.
-
Early in the first morning, on each of
these festivals, the Muslim is required to
perform a lustration of his whole person,
as on the mornings of Friday; and on
the first morning of the Minor Festival,
he should break his fast with a few dates
or some other light food; but on the Great
Festival, he abstains from food until he has
acquitted himself of the religious duties
now to be mentioned. Soon after sun-
rise, on the first day of each festival, the
men, dressed in new or in their best clothes,
repair to the mosque, or to a particular
place appointed for the performance of
the prayers of the 'Eed. On going thither,
"God is
they should repeat, frequently,
most great!". - this, on the Minor Fes-
tival, they should do inaudibly: on the
The congregation, having
other, aloud.
assembled, repeat the prayers of two
rek'ahs; after which the Khateeb recites
an exhortation and a
a khutbeh; i. e.
prayer. On each of these festivals, in the
mosque, or place of prayer, and in the
street, and at each other's houses, friends
congratulate and embrace one another;
generally paying visits for this purpose;
and the great receive visits from their de-
pendants. The young, on these occasions,
kiss the right hand of the aged; and serv-
ants or dependants do the same to their
masters or superiors, unless the latter be
of high rank, in which case they kiss the
end of the hanging sleeve, or the skirt of
Most of the shops
the outer garment.
are closed excepting those at which eatables
and sweet drink are sold; but the streets
are filled with people in their holiday
clothes.
On the Minor Festival, which, as it ter-
minates an arduous fast, is celebrated with
more rejoicing than the other, servants
and other dependants receive presents of
new articles of clothing from their masters
or patrons; and the servant receives pres-
ents of small sums of money from his
master's friends, whom, if they do not
visit his master, he goes to congratulate;
as well as from any former master, to
whom he often takes a plateful of kahks.
These are sweet cakes, or biscuits, of an
annular form, composed of flour and but-
ter, with a little 'ajameeyeh (which is a
thick paste consisting of butter, honey, a
little flour, and some spices) inside. They
are also often sent as presents on this
occasion by other people. Another custom
required of the faithful on this festival is
the giving of alms.
On the Great Festival, after the prayers
of the congregation, every one who can
afford it performs, with his own hand, or
by that of a deputy, a sacrifice of a ram,
he-goat, cow or buffalo, or she-camel; part
of the meat of which he eats, and part he
gives to the poor, or to his friends or de-
pendants. The ram or goat should be at
least one year old; the cow or buffalo, two
years; and the camel, five years; and the
victim should not have any considerable
mutilation or infirmity.
falo, or a camel, is
seven persons.
A cow or buf-
sufficient sacrifice for
The clothes which were
put on new at the former festival are
generally worn on this occasion; and the
presents which are given to servants and
others are usually somewhat less.
On each of the two festivals it is also
customary, especially with the women, to
visit the tombs of relations. The party
generally take with them a palm-branch,
and place it, broken in several pieces, or
merely its leaves, upon the tomb or monu-
ment; or some, instead of this, place sweet
basil or other flowers. They also usually
provide themselves with sweet cakes, bread,
dates, or some other kind of food, to dis-
But their first duty,
tribute to the poor.
on arriving at the tomb, is to recite the
Fátehah (the opening Chapter of the
Kur-án) or to employ a person to recite
previously a longer chapter; generally the
thirty-sixth (or Soorat Yá-Seen); or even
the whole of the book: or sometimes the
visitors recite the Fátehah, and, after hav-
ing hired a person to perform a longer
994
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
recitation, go away before he commences.
The women often stay all the days of the
festival in the cemeteries, either in tents,
or in houses of their own, erected there
for their reception on these and other occa-
sions. The tent of each party surrounds
the tomb which is the object of their
visit. In the outskirts of the cemeteries,
swings and whirligigs are erected; and
story-tellers, dancers, and jugglers, amuse
the populace.
-
NOTE 17.1
On the Mode of Slaughtering
of Animals for Food. In the old transla-
tion, the sheykh is described as preparing
to slaughter the cow with a mallet. This
is a mistake of a serious nature; as the
flesh of the victim, if so killed, would be
legally unclean. The Muslims are required
to slaughter animals for food in a particu-
lar manner. Sheep, goats, cows or bulls,
and buffaloes, must be killed by cutting
the throat, at the part next the head, or
any other part; dividing the windpipe,
gullet, and carotid arteries. The camel is
to be slaughtered by stabbing the throat
at the part next the breast. Poultry, also,
must be killed by cutting the throat; and
so must every tame animal of which the
flesh is lawful food. The slaughterer, in
every case, must be a Muslim, a Christian,
or a Jew; of either sex. On commencing
the operation, he must say, "In the name
of God! God is most great!"—or at
least, "In the name of God!". - but not
add, "the Compassionate, the Merciful
for an obvious reason. Birds or beasts
of the chase may be killed by an arrow, a
dog, a hawk, &c.; but the name of God
must be uttered at the time of discharging
the arrow, or slipping the dog, &c. When
the beast or bird is not killed at once by
the arrow, &c., it must be slaughtered as
soon as possible, in the same manner as
sheep and poultry: the law, as well as
humanity, requires this.
NOTE 18. On the Influence of Elo-
quence and Tales upon the Arabs. The
main incident upon which this work is
founded, the triumph of the fascination
of the tongue over a cruel and unjust de-
termination which nothing else could annul,
might be regarded, by persons unacquainted
with the character and literature of the
Arabs, as a contrivance too improbable
in its nature; but such is not the case.
Perhaps there are no other people in the
world who are such enthusiastic admirers
of literature, and so excited by romantic
tales, as those above named. Elo-
quence, with them, is lawful magic: it ex-
ercises over their minds an irresistible in
fluence. "I swear by God," said the
Prophet, "verily abuse of infidels in vers
is worse to them than arrows." This,
course, alludes to Arab unbelievers.
In the purest, or Heroic Age of Arabi
literature, which was anterior to th
triumph of the Mohammadan religion, th
conquest which the love of eloquence coul
achieve over the sanguinary and vindictiv
feelings of the Arabs was most remarkably
exemplified in the annual twenty days' fail
of 'Okáz, or 'Okádh. Respecting this fair
I shall here insert a few particulars bor-
rowed from an author who is at the present
devoting talents of the very highest order
to the study and illustration of the history
and literature of the early Arabs, and to
whose conversation and writings I must
acknowledge myself indebted for most val-
uable information, which will often be
of great utility to me in this undertaking,
as well as in every branch of my Arabic
studies.
The fair of 'Okáz "was not only a great
mart opened annually to all the tribes of
Arabia; but it was also a literary congress,
or rather a general concourse of virtues, of
glory and of poetry, whither the hero-
poets resorted to celebrate their exploits in
rhyming verse, and peacefully to contend
for every kind of honour. This fair was
held in the district of Mekkeh, between Et-
Táïf and Nakhleh, and was opened at the
new moon of Zu-l-Kaadeh; that is to say,
at the commencement of a period of three
sacred months, during which all war was
suspended, and homicide interdicted. . . .
How is it possible to conceive that men
whose wounds were always bleeding, who
had always acts of vengeance to execute,
vengeances to dread, could at a certain
epoch impose silence upon their animosities,
so as tranquilly to sit by a mortal enemy?
How could the brave who required the
blood of a father, a brother, or a son,
according to the phraseology of the desert
and of the Bible, who long, perhaps, had
pursued in vain the murderer, — meet him,
accost him peacefully at 'Okáz, and only
assault with cadences and rhymes him
whose presence alone seemed to accuse
him of impotence or cowardice, - him
whom he was bound to slay, under pain of
infamy, after the expiration of the truce?
In fine, how could he hear a panegyric
celebrating a glory acquired at his own
expense, and sustain the fire of a thou-
sand looks, and yet appear unmoved?
Had the Arabs no longer any blood in
their veins during the continuance of the
fair? These questions, so embarrassing,
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
995
-
were determined [to a great degree],
luring the age of Arab paganism, in a man-
er the most simple and most refined. At
he fair of 'Okáz, the heroes were masked
or veiled]. In the recitations and im-
rovisations, the voice of the orator was
ided by that of a rhapsodist or crier, who
vas stationed near him, and repeated his
words. There is a similar office in the
ublic prayers: it is that of the muballigh
transmitter), who is employed to repeat
n a loud voice what is said in a lower
one by the Imám. These two facts have
Deen revealed to me by the same manu-
cript which I am translating, and upon
which I am commenting. The use of the
nask [or veil] might, however, be either
dopted or dispensed with, ad libitum; as
s proved by the narratives of a great
umber of quarrels begun and ended at
Okáz. . . . It was in this congress of the
Arab poets (and almost every warrior
vas a poet at the age which I am consid-
ring) that the dialects of Arabia became
used into a magic language, the language
of the Hejáz, which Mohammad made use
of to subvert the world; for the triumph
f Mohammad is nothing else than the
ríumph of speech." The Kur-án is re-
arded by the Arabs as an everlasting
airacle, surpassing all others, appealing to
he understanding of every generation by
ts inimitable eloquence. A stronger proof
of the power of language over their minds
ould hardly be adduced; unless it be their
eing capable of receiving as a credible
act the tradition that both genii and men
vere attracted by the eloquent reading of
David, when he recited the Psalms; that
he wild beasts and the birds were alike
ascinated; and that sometimes they were
orne out from his assembly as many as
our hundred corpses of men who died
rom the excessive delight with which he
hus inspired them! It may be added that
he recitation, or chanting, of the Kur-án
sa favourite means of amusing the guests
t modern private festivities.
In what may be termed the Middle Age
if Arabic literature, commencing from the
riumph of the Mohammadan religion, and
xtending to the foundation of the Empire
of Baghdad, the power of eloquence over
be educated classes of the Arabs probably
ncreased in proportion as it became less
amiliar to them: for, early in this age,
hey began to simplify their spoken lan-
uage in consequence of their intercourse
vith strangers, who could not generally
cquire the difficult, old dialect of their
onquerors: this, therefore, then began to
e confined to literary compositions. That
such a change took place at this period
appears from several anecdotes interspersed
in Arabic works. The Khaleefeh El-Weleed
(who reigned near the close of the first
century of the Flight), the son of 'Abd-
El-Melik, spoke so corrupt a dialect that
he often could not make himself understood
by the Arabs of the desert. A ridiculous
instance of the mistakes occasioned by his
use of the simplified language which is
now current is related by Abu-l-Fidà.
The same author adds, that the father and
predecessor of this prince was a man of
eloquence, and that he was grieved by
the corrupt speech of his son, which he
considered as a defect that incapacitated
him to be a future ruler of the Arabs, as
they were still great admirers of purity of
speech, though so large a proportion of
them spoke a corrupt dialect; wherefore, he
sent him to a house to be instructed by a
grammarian; but after the youth had re-
mained there a long time, he returned to
his father more ignorant than before. Vul-
garisms, however, would sometimes escape
from the mouth of 'Abd-El-Melik himself;
yet, so sensible was he to eloquence, that,
when a learned man, with whom he was
conversing, elegantly informed him of an
error of this kind, he ordered his mouth
"6 "These," said
to be filled with jewels.
are things to
his courteous admonisher,
be treasured up; not to be expended: ".
and for this delicate hint, he was further
rewarded with thirty thousand pieces of
silver, and several costly articles of ap-
parel. It may be aptly added, that this
Khaleefeh was, in the beginning of his
reign, an unjust monarch; and as he thus
bore
some slight resemblance to
Shahriyár, so was he reclaimed to a sense
of his duty by means somewhat similar.
Being, one night, 'unable to sleep, he called
for a person to tell him a story for his
"O Prince of the Faithful,"
amusement.
-
66
our
said the man thus bidden, "there was an
owl in El-Mósil, and an owl in El-Basrah;
and the owl of El-Mósil demanded in mar-
riage, for her son, the daughter of the owl
of El-Basrah: but the owl of El-Basrah
said, 'I will not, unless thou give me, as
her dowry, a hundred desolate farms.'
'That I cannot do,' said the owl of El-
Mósil, at present; but if our sovereign
(may God, whose name be exalted, pre-
serve him!) live one year, I will give thee
what thou desirest.'"-This simple fable
sufficed to rouse the prince from his apathy,
and he thenceforward applied himself to
fulfil the duties of his station.
In the most flourishing age of Arabic
poetry and general literature and science,
996
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
commencing from the foundation of the
Empire of Baghdád, and extending to the
conquest of Egypt by the 'Osmánlee
Turks, the influence of eloquent and enter-
taining language upon the character of the
Arab sovereigns was particularly exempli-
fied. A few illustrative anecdotes may here
be inserted.
It is related by El-Asma'ee, that Hároon
Er-Rasheed, at a grand fête which he was
giving, ordered the poet Abu-l-'Atáhiyeh
to depict, in verse, the voluptuous enjoy-
ments of his sovereign. The poet began
thus:
Live long in safe enjoyment of thy desires,
under the shadow of lofty palaces!"
"Well said!" exclaimed Er-Rasheed:
"and what next?".
"May thy wishes be abundantly fulfilled,
whether at eventide or in the morning!"
"Well!" again said the Khaleefeh:
"then what next?
99
"But when the rattling breath struggles in the
dark cavity of the chest,
Then shalt thou know surely, that thou hast
been only in the midst of illusions."
- Er-Rasheed wept; and Fadl, the son of
Yahyà, said, "The Prince of the Faithful
sent for thee to divert him, and thou hast
plunged him into grief." "Suffer him,"
said the prince; "for he hath beheld us
in blindness, and it displeased him to in-
crease it."
The family of the Barmekees (one of
the most brilliant ornaments of which was
the Wezeer Jaafar, who has been rendered
agreeably familiar to us by the many scenes
in which he is introduced in the present
work) earned a noble and enduring reputa-
tion by their attachment to literature, and
the magnificent rewards they conferred on
learned men. It was peculiarly hard, there-
fore, that literature contributed to their
melancholy overthrow. Poets were em-
ployed by their enemies to compose songs
artfully pointed against them, to be sung
before the prince to whom they owed
their power. Of one of these songs, the
following lines formed a part: -
"Would that Hind had fulfilled the promises
she made us, and healed the disease under
which we suffer!
That she had once, at least, acted for herself!
for imbecile, indeed, is he who doth not
So.
""
"Yea! By Allah! Imbecile!" exclaimed
the Khaleefeh, on hearing these verses:
his jealousy was roused; and his vengeance
soon after fell heavily upon his former fa
vourites.
One of the Khaleefehs having invite
the poets of his day to his palace, a Beda
wee, carrying a water-jar to fill at th
river, followed them, and entered with
them. The Khaleefeh, seeing this poo
man with the jar on his shoulder, asked
him what brought him thither.
turned for answer these words:
He re
"Seeing that this company had girded on the
saddles
To repair to thy overflowing river, I came with
my jar."
The Khaleefeh, delighted with his answer
gave orders to fill his jar with gold.
In the present declining age of Arabian
learning (which may be said to have com-
menced about the period of the conquest
of Egypt by the 'Osmánlees), literary rec-
reations still exert a magic influence upon
the Arabs. Compositions of a similar na-
ture to the tales of a Thousand and One
Nights (though regarded by the learned as
idle stories unworthy of being classed with
their literature) enable numbers of profes-
sional story-tellers to attract crowds of
delighted listeners to the coffee-shops of
the East; and now that the original of the
present work is printed, and to be pur-
chased at a moderate price, it will probably
soon, in a great measure, supersede the
romances of Aboo-Zeyd, Ez-Záhir, and
'Antar. As a proof of the powerful fas-
cinations with which the tales of a Thou-
sand and One Nights affect the mind of a
highly-enlightened Muslim, it may be men-
tioned that the latest native historian of
Modern Egypt, the sheykh 'Abd-Er-Rah-
mán El-Jabartee, so delighted in their
perusal that he took the trouble of refining
the language of a copy of them which he
possessed, expunging or altering whatever
was grossly offensive to morality without
the somewhat redeeming quality of wit,
and adding many facetiæ of his own, and
of other literati. What has become of
this copy, I have been unable, though ac-
quainted with several of his friends, to
discover.
NOTE 19. It is a common custom among
the Muslims to give a present to a person
who brings good tidings. The word (bis-
hárah) which I render "a reward for
bringing good news," literally signifies
merely "good news; "but it is often used,
as in this case, in the former sense.
NOTE 20. A Mohammadan woman is
not allowed to show her face to any men
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST
997
cepting certain near relations and others
om the law prohibits her from marry-
Who these are will be mentioned in
future note, descriptive of the general
vs and ceremonies of marriage. Respect-
e females consider it a great disgrace
be seen unveiled by any men but those
ove alluded to.
NOTE 21. -On the Deenár and Dirhem.
e standards of gold and silver coin,
ong the Arabs, were the deenár and the
hem: therefore, in this work, I call the
mer "a piece of goid," and the latter
piece of silver." Their values have
ied considerably at different periods;
in the present work, we shall suffi-
atly approximate to the truth, if we
lerstand the average value of the former
be about ten shillings or half a guinea;
1 that of the latter, about sixpence.
NOTE 22. ·Description of Shops. In
stern cities, most of the great thorough-
e-streets, and many others, have a row
shops along each side, not communicat-
with the superstructures; which latter
divided into separate lodgings, inhab-
1 by different families, and seldom by
persons who rent the shops beneath.
ese streets are called, in Arabic,
Doks; " and are generally termed by us,
ázárs." A whole strect of this descrip-
1, or a portion of such a street, com-
nly contains only or chiefly shops ap-
priated to a particular trade; and is
ed the Sook of that trade. In general,
shop is a small recess or cell, about six
seven feet high, and between three and
r feet wide, the floor of which is even
h the top of a raised seat of stone or
k, called "mastabah," between two and
e feet high, and about the same in
dth; upon which the shopkeeper usually
The front of the shop is furnished
h shutters; which, when closed at night,
secured by a wooden lock.
NOTE 23. Distrust in his governors and
tions and acquaintances often induces
Arab to hide his money under the paved
r of a room, or in some other place,
his house.
JOTE 24. These words, "I give myself
thee," uttered by a woman to a man,
n without the presence of witnesses, if
cannot be easily procured, render her
lawful wife, if he replies that he ac-
ts her, and gives her a dowry.
"
'Jin-
NOTE 25. I have substituted
neeyeh" (agreeably with the Calcutta edi-
tion of the first two hundred nights, and
because the context requires it) for
"'Efreeteh," which signifies a powerful and
evil female genie. The tale to which this
note refers may be illustrated by the fol-
lowing anecdote, which was related to me
by a Persian with whom I was acquainted
in Cairo, named Abu-l-Kásim, a native of
Geelán, then superintendent of the Basha's
Printing-office at Boolák.
One of this person's countrymen, whom
he asserted to be a man of indubitable
veracity, was sitting on the roof of a house
which he had hired, overlooking the Ganges,
and was passing the closing hour of the
day, according to his usual custom, smok-
ing his Persian pipe, and feasting his eyes
by gazing at the beautiful forms of Indian
maidens bathing in the river, when he
beheld among them one so lovely that his
heart was overpowered with desire to have
her for his wife. At nightfall she came to
him, and told him that she had observed
his emotion, and would consent to become
his wife; but on the condition that he
should never admit another female to take
or share her place, and that she should
only be with him in the night-time. They
took the marriage-vow to each other, with
none for their witness but God; and great
was his happiness, till, one evening, he
saw again among a group of girls in the
river, another who excited in him still
more powerful emotions. To his surprise,
this very form stood before him at the
approach of night. He withstood the temp-
tation, mindful of his marriage-vow: she
used every allurement; but he was reso-
lute. His fair visitor then told him that
she was his wife; that she was a Jinnee-
yeh; and that she would always thence-
forward visit him in the form of any
female whom he might chance to prefer.
NOTE 26. This form of benediction is
almost always added when the Prophet is
mentioned in a book by any of his fol-
lowers, and often also in conversation.
NOTE 27. Perhaps it is needless to ex-
plain this proverb by the words of the
Bible"Vengeance is mine; I will repay,
saith the Lord." (Romans, xii. 19.) For
the honour of the Muslims I must say that
this maxim is often observed by them, ex-
cepting in cases to which the law of retalia-
tion applies.
NOTE 28. The houses in Arabian coun-
tries generally have flat roofs, upon which,
998
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
in the summer, some of the inhabitants
often sleep: the interior, therefore, is as
accessible from the roof as from the com-
mon entrance.
NOTE 29. I here steer a middle course
between my usual standard copy - which
gives the story of the third sheykh m
fully than I have done and the Calcu
edition of the first two hundred nigh
which omits it altogether, as does also t
copy from which the old translation w
made, perhaps on account of its uninte
esting nature.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
NOTE 1. The sentiment expressed in this
verse is one which is often heard from the
mouth of a Muslim; but generally when
his toil is ended, and its result seen; though
not unfrequently as an excuse for indo-
lence.
NOTE 2.
The bottle is here described
(by the term "kumkum ") as of a kind
commonly used for sprinkling rose-water,
&c., having a spherical or wide body, with
a long and narrow neck. I remember seeing
a gilt brass bottle of this kind, of very
beautiful workmanship, for which nearly
as much as ten pieces of gold was de-
manded.
NOTE 3. The seal of Suleymán, or Solo-
mon, has twice been mentioned in former
notes; in No. 21 of the notes appended to
the Introduction, and in No. 15 of those
to the first chapter.
NOTE 4. It is necessary to remark, that
this and many other descriptions in the
present work are not designed to be under-
stood in their literal sense. The reader will
often be required to make some allowance
for Oriental hyperbole, and to distinguish
between expressions characterised by this
figure, and such as are purely accordant
with Eastern grandeur and magnificence,
or with Muslim superstition.
NOTE 5. The end of the winnowing-fork
bears a rude resemblance to a gigantic
hand; having several long prongs of wood.
19
NOTE 6. Instead of "ibreek (a ewer),
in the Cairo edition, I read "abwák
(trumpets), as in other editions.
NOTE 7. This appellation has been men-
tioned in a former note, as signifying an
evil Jinnee of the most powerful class.
NOTE 8. It is a rule observed in dece
society, by the Arabs, to avoid, as mu
as possible, the mention of opprobrio
epithets, lest any person present shou
imagine such empithets to be address
insidiously to himself. For this reaso
when any malediction or offensive langua
is repeated in a story, it is usual with the
to designate the object of such langua
by this term, which signifies both remote
absent from the person or persons in who
presence the words are repeated, and remo
from virtue or good. In the present in
stance, "remote is an epithet substitute
by Shahrazad for some other of a gro
nature, from respect to the king to who
she is relating the story.
""
NOTE 9.
I read "Sakhr el-Jinnee" fo
"Sakhr el-Jinn."— Sakhr was an ev
Jinnee, and a terrible enemy of Solomor
His last act of treachery to that monarch
and his fate, are thus related by com
mentators on the Kur-án. Solomon hav
ing, through negligence, suffered one O
his women to practice idolatry under hi
roof, God saw fit to punish him. It wa
the custom of this King, on certain occa
sions, "to intrust his signet, on which hi
kingdom depended, with a concubine o
his, named El-Emeeneh. One day, there
fore, when she had the ring in her custody
a devil [or evil Jinnee], named Sakhr
came to her in the shape of Solomon, and
received the ring from her; by virtue o
which he became possessed of the king
dom, and sat on the throne in the shap
which he had borrowed, making what
alterations in the law he pleased. Solo-
mon, in the meantime, being changed in
his outward appearance, and known to
none of his subjects, was obliged to wander
about, and beg alms for his subsistence;
till at length, after the space of forty days,
which was the time the image had been
worshipped in his house, the devil flew
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
999
way, and threw the signet into the sea.
The signet was immediately swallowed by
fish, which being taken and given to
Solomon, he found the ring in its belly;
and having by this means recovered the
kingdom, he took Sakhr, and, tying a great
stone to his neck, threw him into the Lake
of Tiberias."
NOTE 10. "Umm-'Amir" is an appella-
ion of the hyena. It is scarcely necessary
o mention, that the proverb here quoted
s said to have originated from the fact
of a man's having been devoured by a
yena whom he had aided against an
nemy.
NOTE 11. In some copies, the personage
ere mentioned is called "Melik el-Yoo-
án," that is, "King of Ancient Greece,"
r" of the Ancient Greeks." I have
ollowed the Cairo edition, and that of the
irst two hundred nights, printed at Cal-
cutta, in which "Yoonán" is used as
he King's proper name. See also Note
3.
NOTE 12. This is the name of the sage
n most copies; but in the Cairo edition
e is called " Rooyán."
39
NOTE 13. In the Calcutta edition, the
ing is merely said to have reigned "in
he country of the Persians," as in my
ranslation; but in the Cairo edition, he
s said to have been "in the city of the
'ersians, and the country of Roomán;
vhich may perhaps mean (though this is
ardly allowable) the [eastern] Roman,
or later Greek, empire; an unnecessary con-
radiction. (See Note 22 to Chapter x.)
t is obviously more agreeable with the
tory to regard him as a Persian King.
66
NOTE 14.
"The Ornament of the Good,"
r" of the Comely," is an appellation
of the Arabian prophet, who is related to
have said, "The sun never riseth until it
ath saluted me." The sun's saluting the
Ornament of the Good," or "Comely," is
herefore, a phrase not unfrequently
ised by Muslims merely to signify its
ising.
-
NOTE 15.
-On the Rewards of Men of
iterature and Science. It has long been
common custom of Eastern princes to
estow dresses of honour upon men of
terature and science, as well as upon their
reat officers and other servants. These
resses were of different kinds for persons
The
of different classes or professions.
most usual kind was an ample coat. With
dresses of this description were often given
gold-embroidered turbans; and sometimes,
to Emeers (or great military officers), neck-
rings or collars (called tóks), some of
which were set with jewels; as also, brace-
lets, and swords ornamented with precious
stones, &c.; and to Wezeers, instead of
the tók, a necklace of jewels. The fol-
lowing striking record will convey an idea
of the magnificence of some of these dresses
of honour; or, in other words, of the lib-
erality of a Muslim prince, and, at the
same time, of the very precarious nature
of his favour. A person, chancing to look
at a register kept by one of the officers
of Hároon Er-Rasheed, saw in it the fol-
lowing entry: -"Four hundred thousand
pieces of gold, the price of a dress of honour
for Jaafar, the son of Yahyà, the Wezeer."
-A few days after, he saw beneath this
written, - "Ten keeráts, the price of
naphtha and reeds, for burning the body
of Jaafar, the son of Yahyà." - The keerát
of Baghdad was the twentieth part of a
deenár, or piece of gold.
-
--
Arab princes and other great men have
generally been famous for highly respect-
ing, and liberally rewarding, men of lit-
erature and science, and especially poets.
El-Mamoon and many others are well
known to us for their patronage of the
learned. Er-Rasheed carried his conde-
scension to them so far as to pour the
water on the hands of a blind man, Aboo-
Mo'awiyeh, one of the most learned per-
sons of his time, previously to his eating
with him, to shew his respect for science.
An anecdote of a Khaleefeh ordering the
mouth of a learned man to be filled with
jewels, I have related in a former note.
To cram the mouth with sugar or sweet-
meats for a polite or eloquent speech, or
piece of poetry, has been more commonly
done; but the usual presents to learned
men were, and are, dresses of honour and
sums of money. Ibn-'Obeyd El-Bakhteree,
an illustrious poet and traditionist, who
flourished in the reign of El-Musta'een, is
said to have received so many presents,
that, after his death, there were found,
among the property which he left, a hun-
dred complete suits of dress, two hundred
shirts, and five hundred turbans. A thou-
sand pieces of gold were often given, and
sometimes ten, twenty, or thirty, thousand,
and even more, for a few verses; nay, for
a single couplet.
The prodigality of Arab princes to men
of learning may be exemplified by the fol-
lowing anecdote: - Hammád, surnamed
1000
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Er-Ráwiyeh, or the famous reciter, having
attached himself to the Khaleefeh El-
Weleed, the son of 'Abd-el-Melik, and
shewn a contrary feeling towards his
brother Hishám, on the accession of the
latter fled to El-Koofeh. While there, a
letter arrived from Hishám, commanding
his presence at Damascus: it was addressed
to the governor, who, being ordered to
treat him with honour, gave him a purse
containing a thousand pieces of gold, and
despatched him with the Khaleefeh's mes-
senger. On his arrival at Damascus, he was
conducted before Hishám, whom he found
in a splendid saloon, seated under a pavilion
of red silk, surmounted by a dome of yel-
low brocade, attended by two female slaves
of beauty unsurpassed, each holding a crys-
tal ewer of wine. His admission during
the presence of members of the King's
hareem, the reader will remark as a very
unusual and high honour: the mention of
the wine may also surprise him; but this
is a subject upon which much may be
said, and which will be considered on a
future occasion. After Hammád had given
the salutation, and the Khaleefeh had re-
turned it, the latter told him that he had
sent for him to ask respecting a couplet
of which he (the Khaleefeh) could only
remember that it ended with the word
"ibreek," which signifies "a ewer." The
reciter reflected a while, and the lines oc-
curred to his mind, and he repeated them.
Hishám cried out, in delight, that the lines
were those he meant; drank a cup of wine,
and desired one of the female slaves to
hand a cup to Hammád. She did so; and
the draught, he says, deprived him of one-
third of his reason. The Khaleefeh desired
him to repeat the lines again, and drank
a second cup; and Hammád was deprived
of another third of his reason in the same
manner; and said, "O Prince of the Faith-
ful, two-thirds of my reason have departed
from me." Hishám laughed, and desired
him to ask what he would before the re-
maining third should have gone; and the
reciter said, "One of these two female
slaves." The Khaleefeh laughed again, and
said, "Nay, but both of them are thine,
and all that is upon them, and all that
they possess, and, beside them, fifty thou-
sand pieces of gold."-"I kissed the
ground before him," says Hammád, "and
drank a third cup, and was unconscious
of what happened after: I did not awake
till the close of the night, when I found
myself in a handsome house, surrounded
by lighted candles, and the two female
slaves were putting in order my clothes and
other things: so I took possession of the
property, and departed, the happiest of the
creatures of God."
A whimsical story is told of a King, who
denied to poets those rewards to which
usage had almost given them a claim.
This King, whose name is not recorded, had
the faculty of retaining in his memory an
ode after having only once heard it; and
he had a memlook who could repeat an
ode that he had twice heard, and a female
slave who could repeat one that she had
heard thrice. Whenever a poet came to
compliment him with a panegyrical ode,
the King used to promise him that, if he
found his verses to be his original composi-
tion, he would give him a sum of money
equal in weight to what they were written
upon. The poet, consenting, would recite
his ode; and the King would say, "It is
not new; for I have known it some years;
and would repeat it as he had heard it;
after which he would add, "And this mem-
look also retains it in his memory;" and
would order the memlook to repeat it;
which, having heard it twice, from the
poet and the King, he would do. The King
would then say to the poet, "I have also
a female slave who can repeat it; and
on his ordering her to do so, stationed be-
hind the curtains, she would repeat what
she had thus thrice heard: so the poet
would go away empty-handed. The fa-
mous poet El-Asma'ee, having heard of
this proceeding, and guessing the trick,
determined upon outwitting the King; and
accordingly composed an ode made up of
very difficult words; but this was not his
only preparative measure; another will be
presently explained; and a third was, to
assume the dress of a Bedawee, that he
might not be known, covering his face,
the eyes only excepted, with a lithám (a
piece of drapery) in accordance with a
custom of Arabs of the desert. Thus dis-
guised, he went to the palace, and, having
asked permission, entered, and saluted the
King, who said to him, "Whence art thou,
O brother of the Arabs, and what dost
thou desire?" The poet answered, "May
god increase the power of the King! I am
a poet of such a tribe, and have composed
an ode in praise of our lord the Sultán."
"O brother of the Arabs," said the King,
"hast thou heard of our condition?"
-"No," answered the poet; "and what
is it, O King of the age?"-"It is," re-
plied the King, "that if the ode be not
thine, we give thee no reward; and if it
be thine, we give thee the weight in money
of what it is written upon."-" How,"
said El-Asma'ee, "should I assume to my-
self that which belongs to another, and
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
ΙΟΟΙ
howing, too, that lying before kings is one
the basest of actions? But I agree to
is condition, O our lord the Sultán." So
repeated his ode. The King, perplexed,
id unable to remember any of it, made a
in to the memlook - but he had retained
>thing; and called to the female slave,
it she also was unable to repeat a word.
O brother of the Arabs," said he, "thou
ist spoken truth, and the ode is thine
ithout doubt: I have never heard it be-
re: produce, therefore, what it is written
on, and we will give thee its weight in
oney, as we have promised."-"Wilt
ou," said the poet, "send one of the
tendants to carry it?"-"To carry
hat?" asked the King; "is it not upon
paper here in thy possession?"—"No,
our lord the Sultán," replied the poet;
the time I composed it I could not pro-
re a piece of paper upon which to write
and could find nothing but a fragment
a marble column left me by my father;
I engraved it upon this; and it lies in
e court of the palace." He had brought
wrapped up, on the back of a camel.
he King, to fulfil his promise, was obliged
exhaust his treasury; and to prevent a
petition of this trick (of which he after-
ards discovered El-Asma'ee to have been
e author), in future rewarded the
>ets according to the usual custom of
ngs.
The following case is also related as an
ception to the common custom of great
en, with regard to the bestowal of re-
ards on poets: "A poet praised a gov-
nor in some verses, and the latter ordered
1 ass's barda'ah (or stuffed saddle) and
rth to be given to him. The poet went
vay with them on his shoulder; and,
ing asked what he had got, answered,
have praised our honoured lord in the
st of my verses, and he hath bestowed
1 me some of the most magnificent arti-
es of his apparel." "
NOTE 16.
On the Bath. The hammám,
bath, is a favourite resort of both men
d women of all classes among the Mus-
ns who can afford the trifling expense
hich it requires; and (it is said) not only
human beings, but also of evil genii; on
hich account, as well as on that of de-
ncy, several precepts respecting it have
en dictated by Mohammad. It is fre-
iented for the purpose of performing
rtain ablutions required by the religion,
by a regard for cleanliness, and for its
lutary effects, and for mere luxury.
The following description of a public
ith will convey a sufficient notion of those
The
in private houses, which are on a smaller
scale, and generally consist of only two
or three chambers. The public bath com-
prises several apartments, with mosaic or
tesselated pavements, composed of white
and black marble, and pieces of fine red
tile, and sometimes other materials. The
inner apartments are covered with domes,
having a number of small, round, glazed
apertures, for the admission of light. The
first apartment is the meslakh, or disrobing
room, which has, in the centre, a fountain
of cold water, and, next the walls, wide
benches or platforms, encased with marble.
These are furnished with mattresses and
cushions for the higher and middle classes,
and with mats for the poorer sort.
inner division of the building, in the more
regularly planned baths, occupies nearly a
square: the central and chief portion of
it is the principal apartment, or harárah,
which generally has the form of a cross.
In its centre is a fountain of hot water,
rising from a base encased with marble,
which serves as a seat. One of the angles
of the square is occupied by the beyt-
owwal, or antechamber of the harárah: in
another, is the fire over which is the boiler;
and each of the other two angles is gen-
erally occupied by two small chambers: in
one of these is a tank filled with warm
water, which pours down from a spout
in the dome: in the other are two taps,
side by side; one of hot, and the other of
cold water, with a small trough beneath,
before which is a seat. The inner apart-
ments are heated by the steam which rises
from the fountain and tanks, and by the
contiguity of the fire; but the beyt-owwal
is not so hot as the harárah, being separated
from it by a door. In cold weather, the
bather undresses in the former, which has
two or three raised seats, like those of
the meslakh.
With a pair of wooden clogs to his feet,
and having a large napkin round his loins,
and generally a second wound round his
head like a turban, a third over his chest,
and a fourth covering his back, he enters
the harárah, the heat of which causes him
immediately to perspire profusely. An at-
tendant of the bath removes from him all
the napkins excepting the first, and pro-
ceeds to crack the joints of his fingers and
toes, &c., and several of the vertebræ of
the back and neck; kneads his flesh; and
rubs the soles of his feet with a coarse
earthen rasp, and his limbs and body with
a woolen bag which covers his hand as a
glove; after which, the bather, if he
please, plunges into one of the tanks. He
is then thoroughly washed with soap and
1002
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
water, and fibres of the palm-tree, and
shaved, if he wish it, in one of the small
chambers which contain the taps of hot
and cold water; and returns to the beyt-
owwal. Here he generally reclines upon a
mattress, and takes some light refreshment,
while one of the attendants rubs the soles
of his feet, and kneads the flesh of his body
and limbs, previously to his resuming his
dress. It is a common custom, now, to
take a pipe and a cup of coffee during
this period of rest.
The women are especially fond of the
bath, and often have entertainments there;
taking with them fruits, sweetmeats, &c.,
and sometimes hiring female singers to ac-
company them. An hour or more is occu-
pied by the process of plaiting the hair,
and applying the depilatory, &c.; and,
generally, an equal time is passed in the
enjoyment of rest, or recreation, or refresh-
ment. All necessary decorum is observed
on these occasions by most females;
but women of the lower orders are often
seen in the bath without any covering.
Some baths are appropriated solely to
men; others, only to women; and others,
again, to men during the forenoon, and
in the afternoon to women. When the
bath is appropriated to women, a napkin,
or some other piece of drapery, is sus-
pended over the door, to warn men from
entering.
Before the time of Mohammad, there
were no public baths in Arabia; and he was
so prejudiced against them, for the reasons
already alluded to, that he at first forbade
both men and women from entering them:
afterwards, however, he permitted men to
do so, if for the sake of cleanliness, on
the condition of their having a cloth round
the waist; and women also on account of
sickness, child-birth, &c., provided they had
not convenient places for bathing in their
houses. But, notwithstanding this license,
it is held to be a characteristic of a vir-
tuous woman, not to go to a bath even
with her husband's permission: for the
Prophet said, "Whatever woman enters a
bath, the devil is with her." As the bath
is a resort of the Jinn, prayer should not
be performed in it, nor the Kur-án recited.
The Prophet said, "All the earth is given
to me as a place of prayer, and as pure,
except the burial-ground and the bath."
Hence also, when a person is about to
enter a bath, he should offer up an ejacula-
tory prayer for protection against evil
spirits; and should place his left foot first
over the threshold. Infidels have often
been obliged to distinguish themselves in
the bath, by hanging a signet to the neck,
or wearing anklets, &c., lest they should r
ceive those marks of respect which shoul
be paid only to believers.
NOTE 17. On Meals, and the Mann
of Eating. The King (with the sage :
his guest) is here described as eating i
the presence of his court, agreeably wit
a common custom of Eastern princes an
other great men in the present day; th
simple manner in which the meal is serve
and eaten occasioning but a slight inter
ruption.
The Muslim takes a light breakfast afte
the morning-prayers, and dinner after th
noon-prayers; or a single meal instead c
these two, before noon. His principal me:
is supper, which is taken after the prayer
of sunset. A man of rank or wealth, whe
he has no guest, generally eats alone; hi
children eat after him, or with his wif
or wives. In all his repasts he is moderat
with regard to the quantity which he eats
however numerous the dishes.
In the times to which most of the tale
in the present work relate, it appears tha
the dishes were sometimes, I believe gen
erally, placed upon a round embroidered
cloth spread on the floor, and sometime
on a tray, which was either laid on the
floor or upon a small stand or stool. Th
last is the mode now always followed in
the houses of the higher and middle classe
of the Arabs. The table is usually placed
upon a round cloth, spread in the middle
of the floor, or in a corner, next two of
the deewans, or low seats which generally
extend along three sides of the room. It
is composed of a large round tray of silver
or of tinned copper, or of brass, supported
by a stool, commonly about fifteen or
sixteen inches high, made of wood, and gen-
erally inlaid with mother-of-pearl and
ebony or other wood, or tortoise-shell, &c.
When there are numerous guests, two or
more such tables are prepared. The dishes
are of silver, or of tinned copper, or of
china. Several of these are placed upon
the tray; and around them are disposed
some round, flat cakes of bread, with
spoons of box-wood, ebony, or other mate-
rial, and, usually, two or three limes, cut
in halves, to be squeezed over certain of
the dishes. When these preparations have
been made, each person who is to partake
of the repast receives a napkin; and a serv-
ant pours water over his hands. A basin
and ewer of either of the metals first men-
tioned are employed for this purpose; the
former has a cover with a receptacle for a
piece of soap in its centre, and with numer-
ous perforations through which the water
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
1003
MENT
kins during the act of washing, so that it
d not seen when the basin is brought from
ne person to another. It is indispensably
quisite to wash at least the right hand
efore eating with the fingers anything but
ty food; and the mouth, also, is often
snsed, the water being taken up into it
The company sit
Com the right hand.
Loon the floor, or upon cushions, or some
2 them on the deewán, either cross-legged,
with the right knee raised: they retain
e napkins before mentioned; or a long
pkin, sufficient to surround the tray, is
aced upon their knees; and each person,
efore he begins to eat, says, "In the name
God," or "In the name of God, the
ompassionate, the Merciful." The master
the house begins first: if he did not so,
me persons would suspect that the food
as poisoned. The thumb and two fingers
the right hand serve instead of knives
id forks; and it is the usual custom for
person to help himself to a portion of
e contents of a dish by drawing it towards
e edge, or taking it from the edge, with
morsel of bread, which he eats with it:
hen he takes too large a portion for a
ngle mouthful, he generally places it on
s cake of bread.
He takes from any
sh that pleases him; and sometimes a
ost hands a delicate morsel with his fingers
› one of his guests. It is not allowable to
uch food with the left hand (as it is used
r unclean purposes), excepting in a few
ises, when both hands are required to
vide a joint.
Among the more common dishes are the
lamb or mutton cut into small
llowing:
eces, and stewed with various vegetables,
id sometimes with peaches, apricots, or
or small
jubes and sugar; cucumbers
urds, or the fruit of the black or white
gplant, stuffed with rice and minced
eat, &c.; vine-leaves or pieces of lettuce-
af or cabbage-leaf, enclosing a similar
mposition; small morsels of lamb or mut-
n,
called
roasted on skewers, and
kebáb; "fowls simply roasted or boiled,
boned, and stuffed with raisins, pista-
io-nuts, crumbled bread, and parsley;
ad various kinds of pastry, and other
The repast is frequently com-
veets.
enced with soup; and is generally ended
ith boiled rice, mixed with a little butter,
id seasoned with salt and pepper; or
ter this, is served a water-melon or other
uit, or a bowl of a sweet drink composed
water with raisins, and sometimes other
nds of fruit, boiled in it, and then sugar,
id with a little rose-water added to it
The meat, having generally
hen cool.
tle fat, is cooked with clarified butter,
and is so thoroughly done that it is easily
divided with the fingers.
A whole lamb, stuffed in the same man-
ner as the fowls above mentioned, is not
a very uncommon dish; but one more
extraordinary, of which 'Abd-El-Lateef
gives an account as one of the most remark-
able that he had seen in Egypt, I am
tempted to describe. It was an enormous
pie, composed in the following manner:
Thirty pounds of fine flour being kneaded
with five pounds and a half of oil of sesame,
and divided into two equal portions, one
of these was spread upon a round tray
of copper, about four spans in diameter.
Upon this were placed three lambs, stuffed
with pounded meat fried with oil of sesame
and ground pistachio-nuts, and various hot
aromatics, such as pepper, ginger, cinnamon,
mastic, coriander-seed, cumin-seed, car-
damom, nut [or nutmeg?], &c. These were
then sprinkled with rose-water infused with
musk; and upon the lambs, and in the
remaining spaces, were placed twenty fowls,
twenty chickens, and fifty smaller birds;
some of which were baked, and stuffed with
eggs; some, stuffed with meat; and some,
fried with the juice of sour grapes, or that
To the
of limes, or some similar acid.
above were added a number of small pies;
some filled with meat, and others with
sugar and sweetmeats; and sometimes, the
meat of another lamb, cut into small pieces,
and some fried cheese. The whole being
piled up in the form of a dome, some rose-
water infused with musk and aloes-wood
was sprinkled upon it; and the other half
of the paste first mentioned was spread
over, so as to close the whole: it was then
baked, wiped with a sponge, and again
sprinkled with rose-water infused with
musk. A dish still more extraordinary
will be described in a note on public Royal
feasts.
With respect to clean and unclean meats,
the Muslim is subject to nearly the same
laws as the Jew. Swine's flesh, and blood,
are especially forbidden to him; but camel's
flesh is allowed. The latter, however, being
of a coarse nature, is never eaten when
any other meat can be obtained, excepting
by persons of the lower classes, and by
Arabs of the desert. Of fish, almost every
kind is eaten (excepting shell-fish), usually
fried in oil: of game, little; partly in
consequence of frequent doubt whether it
have been lawfully killed. The diet con-
sists, in a great measure, of vegetables,
and includes a large variety of pastry. A
very common kind of pastry is a pancake,
which is made very thin, and folded over
several times like a napkin; it is saturated
1004
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
with butter, and generally sweetened with
honey or sugar; as is also another com-
mon kind, which somewhat resembles
vermicelli.
The usual beverage at meals is water,
which is drunk from cooling, porous,
earthen bottles, or from cups of brass or
other metal: but in the houses of the
wealthy, sherbet is sometimes served in-
stead of this, in covered glass cups, each
of which contains about three quarters
of a pint. The sherbet is composed of
water made very sweet with sugar, or with
a hard conserve of violets or roses or mul-
berries, &c. After every time that a per-
son drinks, he says, "Praise be to God; "
and each person of the company says to
him, "May it be productive of enjoy-
to which he replies,
ment:
May God
cause thee to have enjoyment." The Arabs
drink little or no water during a meal, but
generally take a large draught immediately
after. The repast is quickly finished; and
each person, as soon as he has done, says,
"Praise be to God," or "Praise be to
God, the Lord of all creatures." He then
washes, in the same manner as before, but
more thoroughly; well lathering his beard,
and rinsing his mouth.
""
66
NOTE 18. This mode of shewing honour
to a meritorious individual, or distinguished
guest, which is at least as ancient as the
time of Ahasuerus, is still observed in
Muslim countries.
NOTE 19. The influence of the stars
upon the dispositions and fortunes of man-
kind is firmly believed by the generality
of Muslims, and is often a matter of con-
sideration previous to the uniting of two
persons in marriage; though the absurdity
of such an opinion is declared in their law.
NOTE 20. On the Distribution of Virtues
and Vices among Mankind. I have heard
Arabs confess that their nation possesses
nine-tenths of the envy that exists among
all mankind collectively; but I have not
seen any written authority for this. Ibn-
'Abbas assigns nine-tenths of the intrigue or
artifice that exists in the world to the
Copts; nine-tenths of the perfidy, to the
Jews; nine-tenths of the stupidity, to the
Maghrabees; nine-tenths of the hardness,
to the Turks; and nine-tenths of the
bravery, to the Arabs. According to Kaab-
El-Ahbár, reason and sedition are most
peculiar to Syria; plenty and degradation,
to Egypt; and misery and health, to the
Desert. In another account, faith and
modesty are said to be most peculiar to
El-Yemen; fortitude and sedition, to Syri
magnificence, or pride, and hypocrisy,
El-'Erák; wealth and degradation,
Egypt; and poverty and misery, to t
Desert. Of women, it is said, by Kaal
El-Ahbár, that the best in the world (e
cepting those of the tribe of Kureysh mer
tioned by the Prophet) are those of E
Basrah; and the worst in the world, thos
of Egypt.
NOTE 21. In the Cairo edition, Kin
Yoonán is made to say, "I should repen
after it, as King Sindibád repented o
killing the falcon; "- and thus is intro
duced an indifferent story in the place o
that of the Husband and the Parrot; th
former story describing a king as having
under an erroneous idea, killed a falcon
that had prevented his drinking poison
The latter story I insert in preference, ac
cording to the Calcutta edition of the first
two hundred nights, and the edition of
Breslau.
NOTE 22.-On Miraculously-gifted Birds.
An Arab historian would make it to ap-
pear, that the intelligence and talent as-
cribed to this parrot are not nearly so
wonderful as those which some birds have
been known to display. He mentions a
parrot which recited the Soorat Yá-Seen
(or 36th chapter of the Kur-án); and a
raven which recited the Soorat es-Sijdeh
(or 32nd chapter), and which, on arriving
at the place of prostration (or verse which
should be recited with prostration), would
perform that action, and say, "My body
prostrateth itself to Thee, and my heart
confideth in Thee." But these are not the
most remarkable cases of the kind. He
affirms that there was a parrot in Cairo
which recited the Kur-án from beginning
to end. The Báshà, he says, desiring to
try its talent, caused a man to recite a
chapter of the Kur-án in its presence, and
to pass irregularly from one chapter to an-
other, with the view of leading the bird into
error: but, instead of this being the result,
the parrot corrected him!
NOTE 23. But a few years ago, it was a
common custom for an Arab merchant or
shopkeeper of the higher class to
wear
a sword; and this not only during a
journey, but also during his ordinary walks
or rides. I have seen many persons of this
description so armed, and with a pair of
pistols stuck in the girdle; though seldom
excepting in the former case. A dagger or
case-knife is a weapon now more commonly
worn by such persons, both at home and
abroad.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
1005
EXT
NOTE 24.-On Hunting and Hawking.
Hunting and hawking, which were com-
non and favourite diversions of the Arabs,
nd especially of their kings and other
reat men, have now fallen into compara-
ive disuse among this people. They are,
owever, still frequently practised by the
'ersians, and in a manner the same as they
re generally described in the present work.
ir John Malcolm was informed that these
ports were nowhere found in greater per-
ection than in the neighbourhood of Aboo-
hahr, where he witnessed and took part
them: I shall, therefore, here avail my-
elf of his observations on this subject.
66 proceed to
"The huntsmen," he says,
large plain, or rather desert, near the sea-
de: they have hawks and greyhounds;
he former carried in the usual manner, on
le hand of the huntsman; the latter led
1 a leash by a horseman, generally the
When the
ime who carries the hawk.
ntelope is seen, they endeavour to get as
ear as possible; but the animal, the mo-
ent it observes them, goes off at a rate
at seems swifter than the wind: the
orsemen are instantly at full speed, having
ipped the dogs.
Cherkh, is not large, but of great beauty
and symmetry.
"Another mode of running down the
antelope is practised here, and still more in
Persons of the
the interior of Persia.
highest rank lead their own greyhounds in a
long silken leash, which passes through the
collar, and is ready to slip the moment
The well-trained
the huntsman chooses.
dog goes alongside the horse, and keeps
clear of him when at full speed, and in all
kinds of country. When a herd of ante-
lopes is seen, a consultation is held, and
the most experienced determine the point
towards which they are to be driven. The
field (as an English sportsman would term
it) then disperse, and, while some drive
the herd in the desired direction, those with
the dogs take their post on the same line,
at the distance of about a mile from each
other; one of the worst dogs is then
slipped at the herd, and from the moment
he singles out an antelope the whole body
are in motion. The object of the horsemen
who have greyhounds is to intercept its
course, and to slip fresh dogs, in succession,
at the fatigued animal. In rare instances,
It is generally the
the second dog kills.
If it is a single deer,
ey at the same time fly the hawks; but
a herd, they wait till the dogs have fixed
The hawks,
n a particular antelope.
kimming along near the ground, soon reach
le deer, at whose head they pounce in suc-
ession, and sometimes with a violence that
nocks it over. [They are commonly de-
ribed as pecking at the poor creature's
At all events,
yes until they blind it.]
ey confuse the animal so much as to stop
s speed in such a degree that the dogs
in come up with it; and, in an instant,
en, horses, dogs, and hawks, surround the
nfortunate deer, against which their united
forts have been combined. The part of
le chase that surprised me most, was the
xtraordinary combination of the hawks
nd the dogs, which throughout seemed to
ok to each other for aid. This, I was
ld, was the result of long and skilful
aining. The antelope is supposed to be
e fleetest quadruped on earth; and the
pidity of the first burst of the chase I
ive
The run
described is astonishing.
ldom exceeds three or four miles, and
iten is not half so much. A fawn is an
sy victory; the doe often runs a good
ase; and the buck is seldom taken. The
rabs are, indeed, afraid to fly their hawks
the latter, as these fine birds, in pouncing,
equently impale themselves on its sharp
The hawks used in this sport are
a species that I have never seen in any
:her country. This breed, which is called
orns.
-
third or fourth; and even these, when the
deer is strong, and the ground favourable,
often fail. This sport, which is very ex-
hilarating, was the delight of the late King
of Persia, Ághà Mohammad Khán, whose
taste is inherited by the present sovereign.
"The novelty of these amusements in-
terested me, and I was pleased, on accom-
panying a party to a village, about twenty
miles from Aboo-Shahr, to see a species of
hawking peculiar, I believe, to the sandy
plains of Persia, on which the Hobárà, a
noble species of bustard, is found on almost
bare plains, where it has no shelter but a
When we
small shrub called 'geetuck.'
went in quest of them, we had a party
of about twenty, all well mounted. Two
kinds of hawks are necessary for this sport;
the first, the Cherkh (the same which is
flown at the antelope), attacks them on
the ground, but will not follow them on
the wing; for this reason, the 'Bhyree,' a
hawk well known in India, is flown the
moment the Hobárà rises. As we rode
along in an extended line, the men who car-
ried the Cherkhs every now and then un-
hooded and held them up, that they might
The first Hobárà
look over the plain.
-
we found afforded us a proof of the aston-
ishing quickness of sight of one of the
hawks: he fluttered to be loose, and the
man who held him gave him a whoop as
he threw him off his hand, and set off at
At first
full speed. We all did the same.
•
1006
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
we only saw our hawk skimming over
the plain, but soon perceived, at a distance
of more than a mile, the beautiful speckled
Hobárà, with his head erect and wings
outspread, running forward to meet his
adversary. The Cherkh made several un-
successful pounces, which were either
evaded or repelled by the beak or wings
of the Hobárà, which at last found an
opportunity of rising, when a Bhyree was
instantly flown, and the whole party were
again at full gallop. We had a flight of
more than a mile, when the Hobárà
alighted, and was killed by another Cherkh,
who attacked him on the ground. This bird
weighed ten pounds. We killed several
others, but were not always successful, hav-
ing seen our hawks twice completely beaten,
during the two days we followed this fine
sport."
The hunting of the wild ass is another
sport of the Persians and Arabs, but one
of a more difficult nature. This animal
is found in Syria, and in the Nubian deserts,
as well as in Arabia and Persia. The
more common kinds of game are gazelles,
or antelopes, hares, partridges, the species
of grouse called " katà," quails, wild geese,
ducks, &c. Against all of these, the hawk
is generally employed, but assisted in the
capture of gazelles and hares by dogs. The
usual arms of the sportsmen, in the times
to which the present work relates, were the
bow and arrow, the cross-bow, the spear,
the sword, and the mace. When the game
is struck down, but not killed, by any
weapon, its throat is immediately cut. If
merely stunned, and then left to die, its
flesh is unlawful food. Some other laws
respecting the killing of game have been
mentioned in a former note; but one has
been there omitted which is worthy of re-
mark, though it is often disregarded; it is,
that hunting is allowable only for the
purpose of procuring food, or to obtain the
skin of an animal, or for the sake of de-
stroying ferocious and dangerous beasts.
Amusement is certainly, in general, the main
object of the Muslim huntsman, but he
does not, with this view, endeavour to pro-
long the chase; on the contrary, he strives
to take the game as quickly as possible; for
this purpose, nets are often employed,
and the hunting party, forming what is
called the circle of the chase (halkat es-
seyd), surround the spot in which the game
is found.
"On the eastern frontiers of Syria," says
Burckhardt," are several places allotted for
the hunting of gazelles: these places are
called masiade' [more properly, masye-
dehs '). An open space in the plain, of
over.
P
about one mile and a half square, is en
closed on three sides by a wall of loos
stones, too high for the gazelles to lea
In different parts of this wall, gap
are purposely left, and near each gap a dee
ditch is made on the outside. The enclose
space is situated near some rivulet or spring
to which, in summer, the gazelles resort
When the hunting is to begin, many peas
ants assemble, and watch till they see
herd of gazelles advancing from a distanc
towards the enclosure, into which they
drive them: the gazelles, frightened by the
shouts of these people, and the discharge
of fire-arms, endeavour to leap over the
wall, but can only effect this at the gaps
where they fall into the ditch outside,
and are easily taken, sometimes by hun-
dreds. The chief of the herd always leaps
first: the others follow him one by one.
The gazelles thus taken are immediately
killed, and their flesh is sold to the Arabs
and neighbouring Felláhs."
""
NOTE 25. In the Cairo edition, the word
"jezeereh (an island) is erroneously put
for "kharábeh" (a ruin).
NOTE 26. "Ghooleh" is the feminine of
"Ghool." The Ghool is a fabulous being,
of which some account has been given in
No. 21 of the notes to the Introduction.
NOTE 27. This epithet of the Deity ap-
pears to be used in preference to others
in this instance, in order to imply that
God always decrees what is best for a
virtuous man, even when the reverse would
seem to us to be the case. He is here
described as appointing that the sage should
die a violent death; but this death, being
unmerited, raised him, according to Mo-
hammadan notions, to the rank of a
martyr.
In the edition from which my translation
is chiefly made, four poetical quotations are
here inserted on the subject of fate, and
the inutility of anxious forebodings. The
first of these is as follows:
"O thou who fearest thy fate, be at ease; com.
mit thine affairs unto Him who spread out
the earth.
For what is predestined cannot be cancelled;
and thou art secure from every thing that
is not predestined."
NOTE 28. The Fable of the Crocodile.
Perhaps the reader may desire to know
what is the story which the sage Doobán
declined to relate; I will therefore supply
the omission as well as my memory will
allow me. I have heard this fable differ-
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
1007
tly told by different persons; and it is
netimes spun out to a considerable
gth; but the principal points of it are
ese: A crocodile, having crawled far
om the Nile, over a desert tract, found his
ength so exhausted by fatigue and thirst,
it he despaired of being able to return
the river. While he was in this un-
ppy state, an Arab with his camel ap-
Dached him, proceeding in the desired
ection; and he appealed to his compas-
n, entreating that he would bind him on
e back of the camel, and so convey him
the Nile, and promising that he would
erwards, in return for this favour, carry
n across to the opposite bank. The Arab
swered, that he feared the crocodile
uld, as soon as he was unbound, turn
on him, and devour him; but the mon-
r swore so solemnly that he would grate-
ly requite the service he requested, that
› man was induced to consent; and, mak-
; his camel lie down, bound the croco-
e firmly upon his back, and brought him
the bank of the river. No sooner, how-
er, was the horrid creature liberated,
an, in spite of his vows, he opened his
leous jaws to destroy his benefactor,
10, though he eluded this danger, was un-
le to rescue his camel. At this moment
fox drew near them. The man, accost-
this cunning animal, related his tale;
d the crocodile urged in his own excuse,
at the man had spitefully bound him
the back of the camel in such a man-
r that he had almost killed him. The
< replied that he could quickly pursue and
pture the man, but that he must act
irly, and first see the whole transaction
beated before him. The crocodile, as-
hting, and submitting to have a noose
rown over his jaws, was again bound on
e back of the camel, and taken to the
ice whence he was brought; and as soon
this was done, the man, by the direction
the fox, holding with one hand the
Iter of his camel, with the other cut the
pes which secured his burden, and hasted
way with his beast, leaving the ungrateful
d treacherous monster in the same hope-
is state in which he had found him.
NOTE 29. This comparison is perfectly
st. My first visit to Egypt was not too
te for me to witness such a scene as that
hich is here alluded to; but now, through-
it the Turkish dominions, the officers of
vernment are obliged more or less, to
similate their style of dress to that which
mmonly prevails in Europe; gaudy col-
irs are out of fashion among them, and
k embroidery is generally preferred to
gold: in Egypt, however, the dress worn by
this class of persons has not been so much
altered as in Turkey, still retaining an
Oriental character, though wanting the
shawl which was wound round the red cap,
and formed the turban; while the dress
worn by other classes has undergone no
change.
NOTE 30. This story of the head speak-
ing after it was cut off is not without a
parallel in the writings of Arab historians.
The head of Sa'eed, the son of Jubeyr, is
said to have uttered the words, "There is
no deity but God," after it had been
severed from his body by order of El-
Hajjáj, who is related to have killed a
hundred and twenty thousand persons of
note, besides those whom he slew in war.
NOTE 31. I do not remember to have
read or heard the story of Umámeh and
'Átikeh, who, as their names import, were
two females.
NOTE 32. The words here quoted are
part of the 36th verse of the 17th chapter
of the Kur-án.
17
NOTE 33. The title of "Sultán' is
higher than that of "Melik" (or King):
a Sultán, properly speaking, being a mon-
arch who has kings or viceroys under his
authority.
NOTE 34-On Kohl, and the mode of
applying it. Kohl is a black powder, with
which most of the Arab, and many other,
women blacken the edges of the eyelids.
The most common kind is the smoke-black
which is produced by burning a kind of
frankincense. An inferior kind is the
smoke-black produced by burning the shells
of almonds. These are believed to be bene-
ficial to the eyes; but are generally used
merely for the sake of ornament. Among
other kinds which are particularly em-
ployed for their beneficial effect upon the
eye are several ores of lead, reduced to a
fine powder. Antimony is said to have
been, in former times, the most esteemed
kind of kohl. The powder is applied by
means of a small probe of wood, ivory, or
silver, the end of which is moistened, and
then dipped in the powder, and drawn
along the edges of the eyelids.
NOTE 35. The Koofeeyeh is described in
a great Arabic Lexicon (Táj el-'Aroos) as
a thing worn on the head; so called be-
cause of its roundness: " and this is the
(4
1008
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
only description of it that I have been
able to find. I was told in Cairo, that
"koofeeyeh" is the correct appellation of
the headkerchief commonly called "keffee-
yeh: " but this is a mistake. The latter is
a square kerchief, which is worn on the
head, measuring about a yard in each di-
rection, and of various colours, generally
a dull, brownish red, bright green, and yel-
low, composing broad and narrow stripes,
and having a deep fringe of strings and
tassels along two opposite edges. The most
common kind is entirely of cotton; another,
of cotton interwoven with silk; and a
third, of silk interwoven with gold. It is
now chiefly worn by the Wahhábees and
several tribes of Bedawees; but the former
wear only the first kind, as they hold
articles of dress composed wholly or partly
of silk or gold to be unlawful. In former
times it was in common use among the
inhabitants of the towns. It is mostly worn
by men, and is doubled diagonally, and
placed over the cap in such a manner that
the two corners which are folded together
hang down the back; and the other two
corners, in front. A piece of woollen rope,
or a strip of rag, or a turban, is generally
wound round it; and the corners, or those
only which usually hang down in front,
are sometimes turned up, and tucked within
the upper edge of the turban. The in-
habitants of the towns usually wear the
turban over the keffeeyeh. Burckhardt,
who calls this headkerchief "keffie," men-
tions, that the Bedawees of Mekkeh and
El-Yemen tie over it, instead of the woollen
rope which is used by the Northern Beda-
wees, "a circle made of wax, tar, and
butter, strongly kneaded together: this,"
he adds, "is pressed down to the middle of
the head, and looks like the airy crown of
a saint. It is about the thickness of a
finger; and they take it off very frequently
to press it between their hands, so that
its shape may be preserved." The better
kinds of keffeeyeh above mentioned are
worn by some of the Turks, but not in the
Arab manner; being wound tight round the
cap.
-
NOTE. 36. Anecdote of a Miraculous
Fish. This story of the miraculous fish
reminds me of one of a similar kind which
is related as authentic. A certain just
judge of the Israelites, in the time of
Solomon, had a wife who, every time that
she brought him his food, used to ejaculate
a prayer that disgrace might befall every
unfaithful wife. One day, this woman hav-
ing placed before her husband a fried fish,
and repeated her usual ejaculation, the fish
leaped from the dish, and fell upon
floor. This happened three times; and
consequence of a suspicion expressed t
devotee, who was consulted respecting
meaning of this strange event, the ju
discovered that a supposed maid, whon
had purchased as a slave, was a disgu
man.
NOTE 37. This comparison is not
tended to be understood in its literal se
for the smallest of the tribe of 'Ád is E
to have been sixty cubits high: the larg
a hundred! The tribe of 'Ád were a r
of ancient Arabs, who, according to
Kur-án and Arab historians, were destroy
by a suffocating wind, for their infideli
after their rejection of the admonitions
the prophet Hood.
NOTE 38. The Arabs generally calcula
distances by time. The average distance
a day's journey is from twenty to twent
five miles; the former being the usu
rate of caravan-travelling.
NOTE 39-On the Privacy of Arab Dwe
ings. In a palace, or large house, there
generally a wide bench of stone, or
wooden couch, within the outer door, f
the accommodation of the door-keeper ar
other servants. The entrance-passage lea
to an open court, and, for the sake
preventing persons at the entrance, or
little within it, from seeing into the cour
it usually has two turnings. We may, there
fore, understand the motive of the King i
seating himself in the place here describe
to have been a desire that he might not
if discovered, be supposed to be prying im
pertinently into the interior of the palace
Respect for the privacy of another's hous
is a point that is deemed of so much im
portance that it is insisted upon in the
Kur-án, in these words: "O ye who hav
become believers, enter not any houses
besides your own houses, until ye shall have
asked leave, and saluted their inhabitants
this will be better for you: peradventure yo
will be admonished. And if ye find not
in them any person, enter them not, unti
leave be granted you; and if it be said unto
you, Return, then do ye return; this will
be more decent for you; and God knoweth
what ye do. But it shall be no crime in
you that ye enter uninhabited houses
wherein ye may find a convenience. When
a visitor finds the door open, and no servant
below, he usually claps his hands as a
signal for some person to come to him;
striking the palm of his left hand with the
fingers of the right: and even when leave
has been granted him to enter, it is cus-
NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND
1009
omary for him, when he has to ascend
o an upper apartment, to repeat several
66 'Permis-
imes some ejaculation, such as
ion!" or, "O Protector!" (that is, "O
rotecting God!"), as he goes up, in order
hat any female of the family, who may
hance to be in the way, may have notice
of his approach, and either retire or veil
erself. Sometimes the servant who pre-
edes him does this in his stead.
NOTE 40. These verses are translated
rom the Calcutta edition of the first two
undred nights, as more apposite than
hose which are inserted in their place
1 the edition of Cairo.
NOTE 41. That the reader may not form
rong conceptions of the characters of
any persons portrayed in this work, it is
ecessary to observe, that weeping is not
egarded by the Arabs as an evidence of an
ffeminate disposition, or inconsistent with
ven a heroic mind; though the Muslims
1 general are remarkable for the calmness
ith which they endure the heaviest afflic-
tons.
NOTE 42. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to
ention, that it is a common custom of the
Orientals, as of other natives of warm
limates, to take a nap in the afternoon.
. tradesman is not unfrequently seen en-
oying this luxury in his shop, and sel-
om, excepting in this case, is it considered
llowable to wake a person.
NOTE 43-Description of Arab Fans.
he kind of fan most commonly used
y the Arabs has the form of a small
ag. The flap, which is about six or
ven inches in width, and somewhat more
length, is composed of split palm-leaves
f various colours, or some plain and others
oloured, neatly plaited or woven together.
he handle is a piece of palm-stick, about
vice the length of the flap. This fan
used by men as well as women, and
or the double purpose of moderating the
eat and repelling the flies, which, in
arm weather, are excessively annoying.
: is more effective than the ordinary
uropean fan, and requires less exertion.
rabian fans of the kind here described,
rought from Mekkeh to Cairo as articles
i merchandise, may be purchased in the
tter city for a sum less than a penny
ich; they are mostly made in the Hejáz.
nother kind of fan, generally composed
i black ostrich-feathers, of large dimen-
ons, and ornamented with a small piece
f looking-glass on the lower part of the
front, is often used by the Arabs. A kind
of fly-whisk made of palm-leaves is also
A servant or slave is
in very general use.
often employed to wave it over the master
or mistress during a meal or an afternoon
nap.
NOTE 44. Mes'oodeh is the feminine of
Mes'ood, a name before explained, as sig-
nifying happy," or made happy."
66
66
NOTE 45. The word which I have here
rendered" wine" (namely, “sharáb") is
applied to any drink, and particularly to
a sweet beverage; but, in the present case,
the context shews that its signification is
that which I have given it. The descrip-
tion of a carousal in the next chapter will
present a more fit occasion for my con-
sidering at large the custom of drinking
wine as existing among the Arabs.
66
NOTE 46. On the Use of Hemp to in-
duce Intoxication. The name of "benj,"
or beng," is now, and, I believe, gen-
erally, given to henbane; but El-Kazwee-
nee states that the leaves of the garden
hemp (kinneb bustánee, or shahdánaj) are
the benj which, when eaten, disorders the
reason. This is an important confirmation
of De Sacy's opinion respecting the deriva-
tion of the appellation of " Assassins " from
Hashshásheen (hemp-eaters, or persons who
intoxicate themselves with hemp); as the
sect which we called "Assassins
pressly said by the Arabs to have made
frequent use of benj. To this subject I
shall have occasion to revert. I need only
add here, that the custom of using benj,
and other narcotics, for purposes similar to
that described in this tale, is said to be not
very unfrequently practised in the present
day; but as many Arab husbands are ex-
tremely suspicious of the character of
women in general, perhaps there is but little
ground for this assertion.
are ex-
NOTE 47. Most Eastern cities and towns
are partly or wholly surrounded by mounds
of rubbish, close to the walls; and upon
these mounds are thrown the carcasses of
camels, horses, and other beasts, to be de-
voured by dogs and vultures. Immense
mounds of this unsightly description en-
tirely,surrounded the city of Cairo; but
those which extended along its western
side, and, in a great measure, screened it
from the views of persons approaching from
the Nile, have lately been removed by order
of the present Báshà of Egypt.
ΙΟΙΟ
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 48.
"Kubbeh" generally signifies
either a dome or a cupola, or a building
or apartment surmounted by a dome. In
the present instance it is to be understood
in the latter sense. It is also applied to
a closet, and to a tent.
NOTE 49.
"Káf" is generally to be un-
derstood, as it is in the present case, to
signify the chain of mountains believed, by
the Muslims, to encircle our earth, as men-
tioned in a former note. It is also the
name of the chain of Caucasus, and hence
it has been supposed that the fable respect-
ing the mountains before mentioned, origin-
ated from an early idea that the chain of
Caucasus was the limit of the habitable
earth; but it is possible that the latter
mountains may have derived their name
from an imaginary resemblance to the
former.
NOTE 50. Rats, though unlawful food
to the Muslim, are occasionally eaten by
many of the peasants of the province of
Lower Egypt called El-Boheyreh on the
west of the western branch of the Nile.
The extraordinary abundance of these
animals, and mice, throughout Egypt, gave
rise to an absurd fable, which is related
by Diodorus Siculus as a matter worthy
of serious consideration: that these crea-
tures are generated from the alluvial soil
deposited by the Nile. The inundation
drives many of them from the fields to the
houses and deserts, and destroys the rest;
but soon after the waters have subsided,
vast numbers of them are seen again, tak-
ing refuge in the deep clefts of the parched
soil.
-
NOTE 51. On the Beverage called Boo-
zah. Boozah, or boozeh, is a favourite
beverage of the boatmen, and other persons
of the lower class, in Egypt; and more
especially of the Nubians and negroes; as
it was, according to Herodotus and other
writers, of the ancient Egyptians. It is an
intoxicating liquor, a kind of beer, most
commonly prepared from barley-bread,
crumbled, mixed with water, strained, and
left to ferment. It is also prepared from
wheat and from millet in the same manner.
The account of Herodotus has been con-
firmed by the discovery of large jars, con-
taining the dregs of the barley-beer in
ancient tombs at Thebes.
-
NOTE 52. On the Apparel, &c., of
Mourning. The wearing of mourning ap-
pears to have been a custom of both sexes
among the Arabs in earlier times for the
black clothing which distinguished
'Abbásce Khaleefehs and their officers
originally assumed in testimony of g
for the death of the Imám Ibráheem I
Mohammad. It has, however, ceased to
worn by men, as indicating a want
resignation to the decrees of Providen
and is only assumed by women on the oc
sion of the death of a husband or near re
tion, and not for an elderly person. In
former cases they dye their shirts, hea
veils, face-veils, and handkerchiefs, of
blue or almost black colour, with indig
and sometimes, with the same dye, sta
their hands and arms as high as the elbow
and smear the walls of their apartmen
They generally abstain from wearing a
article of dress of a bright colour, lea
their hair unbraided, and deck themselv
with few or no ornaments. They al
cease to make use of perfumes, kohl, ar
henna; and often turn upside down th
carpets, mats, cushions, and coverings
the deewáns.
NOTE 53. "Houses of Lamentations
erected in burial-grounds for the accon
modation of ladies on the occasions of the
visiting the tombs of their relations, hav
been mentioned in a former note respect
ing the two grand annual festivals.
NOTE 54. The kind of tomb here allude
to is generally a square building crowne
by a dome.
NOTE 55. This passage deserves particu
lar notice, as being one of those which
assist us to form some opinion respecting
the period when the present work, in th
states in which it is known to us, wa
composed or compiled or remodelled. It i
the same in all the copies of the origina
work that I have seen, and bears strong
evidence of having been written subse
quently to the commencement of the
eighth century of the Flight, or fourteenth
of our era, at which period, it appears, the
Christians and Jews were first compelled
to distinguish themselves by wearing, re-
spectively, blue and yellow turbans, in
accordance with an order isued by the
Sultán of Egypt, Mohammad Ibn-Kala-
oon. Thus the white turban became pecul-
iar to the Muslims. An eminent German
critic has been unfortunate in selecting the
incident of the four fish as affording an
argument in favour of his opinion that
the Tales of a Thousand and One Nights are
of Indian origin, on the mere ground that
the same word (varna) is used in Sanscrit
to signify both "colour" and "caste."
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
IOII
56. The Muslims often implore
entercession of their prophet, and of
as members of his family and other
persons, though their ordinary prayers
addressed solely to God. The regard
they pay to their reputed saints, both
and deceased, as mediators, is one of
heresies which the Wahhábees most
mently condemn.
NOTE 57. This verse, translated from
Sual prototype, the Cairo edition, is
followed by another, which I omit
Deing inapposite.
E 58. In the first of the notes to
Introduction, I have mentioned that it
3 general custom of the Muslims to
repeat this phrase, "In the name of God!"
on commencing every lawful action that is
of any importance; it is, therefore, here
employed, as it is in many similar cases, to
express a readiness to do what is com-
manded or requested; and is equivalent to
saying, "I this instant begin to execute
thy orders."
NOTE 59. The condition and offices of
memlooks, who are male white slaves,
have been mentioned in the thirteenth note
to the first chapter.
NOTE 60. Eastern histories present nu-
merous instances of marriages as unequal as
those here related; the reader, therefore,
must not regard this part of the story as
inconsistent.
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
NOTE 1.-
- On the Uses of Palm-sticks in
rous Manufactures. The kind of crate
mentioned is made of jereeds, or
alm-sticks, which (being very soft, and
sly cut and punched, in their fresh state,
d very tough, difficult to break, and
22, when dry) are used in a great
ety of manufactures. In making crates
baskets, and stools, bed-frames, coops,
a number of jereeds, being placed an
ach or more apart, are fixed by two, three,
more, thicker ones, placed transversely.
und holes are punched in the latter,
rough which the former are inserted;
d the whole becomes light and strong as
on as it is dry. Chests are made with
dick jereeds placed close together, and
hers, pared thin, passing transversely
Crough them.
NOTE 2.-
Description of the Veils of
Arab Women. The modern izár or eezár
ter the word is written in two different
Rays), of Arab women, is a piece of dra-
pery commonly worn by them when they
pear in public. It is about two yards
more in width (according to the height
the wearer), and three yards in length:
the edge of it being drawn from behind,
ver the upper part of the head and the
rehead, and secured by a band sewed in-
de, the rest hangs down behind and on
tach side to the ground, or nearly so, and
almost entirely envelops the person; the
two ends being heid so as nearly to meet
in front. Thus it conceals every other
part of the dress excepting a small portion
of a very loose gown (which is another
of the articles of walking or riding ap-
parel), and the face-veil. It is now gen-
erally made of white calico, but a similar
covering of black silk for the married, and
of white silk for the unmarried, is now
worn by females of the higher and middle
classes, and is called a "habarah."
It appears that the kind of face-veil
mentioned in the same passage (in Arabic,
"kináa ") is a piece of muslin, about a
yard or more in length, and somewhat less
in width, a portion of which is placed over
the head, beneath the izár, the rest hanging
down in front, to the waist, or thereabout,
and entirely concealing the face. I have
often seen Arab women, particularly those
of the Wahhábees, wearing veils of this
kind composed of printed muslin, com-
pletely concealing their features, yet of suffi-
ciently loose fabric to admit of their seeing
their way. But the more common kind of
Arab face-veil is a long strip of white
muslin, or of a kind of black crêpe, cover-
ing the whole of the face excepting the
eyes, and reaching nearly to the feet. It is
suspended at the top by a narrow band,
which passes up the forehead, and which
is sewed, as are also the two upper corners
of the veil, to a band that is tied round
the head. This veil is called "burko."
The black kind is often ornamented with
gold coins, false pearls, &c., attached to the
1012
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
upper part. It is not so genteel as the
white veil, unless for a lady in mourning.
NOTE 3.
"El-Mósil" is the name of
the city which Europeans commonly call
"Mosul," "Mosoul," &c.; a city long fa-
mous for its fine stuffs. Hence our word
"muslin," often termed, in Arabic, "Mósi-
lee," signifying, "of the manufacture of
El-Mósil."
NOTE 4. The wine is mentioned in the
Calcutta edition of the first two hundred
nights, but not in the edition of Cairo.
The lady went to a Christian to purchase
her wine because Muslims are not allowed
to sell it.
NOTE 5. The "'Othmánee quinces" I
suppose to be a kind so called after some
person named 'Othmán who introduced it,
or was famous for its culture. The term
"Sultánee," applied to the citrons after-
wards mentioned, signifies “imperial.”
NOTE 6. A list of these sweets is given
in my original, but I have thought it better
to omit the names.
NOTE 7. The "willow-flower-water" is
prepared from the sweet-scented flowers
of the Oriental willow, called "bán" and
"khiláf" or "khaláf; a twig of which
is, among the Arabs, a favourite emblem of
a graceful female.
""
NOTE 8. On the Vessels used for Sprin-
kling and Perfuming. The sprinkling-bottle,
here called "mirashsh," is more commonly
called "kumkum," and has been alluded to
in a former note, as having a spherical or
wide body and a long and narrow neck.
It is generally about eight inches high,
and of plain or gilt silver, or of fine brass,
or china, or glass; and has a cover pierced
with a small hole. This vessel is used in
the houses of the rich to sprinkle a guest or
visitor, before he rises to take his leave,
with rose-water; after which ceremony, a
page or servant presents to him a kind of
censer, called "mibkharah," which is gen-
erally of one or other of the metals above
mentioned, and about the same height as
the kumkum; and he wafts the smoke
which rises from it towards his face, beard,
&c., with the right hand. The body of
the mibkharah, the form of which is nearly
globular, surmounts a stem rising from the
centre of a small circular tray; the upper
half is a cover pierced with apertures for the
escape of the smoke; and the lower half, in
which some burning charcoal is placed, is
lined, or half filled, with gypsum-plas
Aloes-wood, previously moistened, or SC
other odoriferous substance, is placed up
the burning coals; and sometimes, in
houses of very wealthy persons, amberg
is used.
ou
NOTE 9. This description of the
door of a house in Baghdád is an obvic
absurdity; but none of the copies of
original to which I have access authori
my substituting "gilt" for "plated w
gold;" all here agreeing in the use
words which have the latter sense.
NOTE 10. In their eagerness to obta
the earliest possible sight of the new mo
which marks the period of the commend
ment of the Ramadán, lest they shou
not begin their fast as soon as the la
requires, the Muslims often see the cresce
one night earlier in this than in any oth
month. The comparison of an eyebro
to the new moon of Ramadán expresse
therefore, its extreme thinness, as well as
arched form. To reduce its natural thick
ness, and to give it this form, scisso
are often used.
NOTE II. "The seal of Suleyman "
a name given by the Arabs to a six-pointe
star formed by two equilateral triangle
intersecting each other, and to the flowe
which we, also, call "Solomon's seal."
fear that the reader will not consider th
comparison very apposite, unless the allu
sion be to a beautiful red berry which,
am informed, is borne by the flower her
mentioned.
NOTE 12. - Description of Apartments in
Arab Houses. Most of the descriptions o
interior domestic architecture which occu
in the present work, I may aptly illustrate
by availing myself of observations made
in Cairo. In the houses of persons of the
higher and middle classes in this city, the
different apartments generally resemble each
other in several respects, and are similarly
furnished. The greater portion of the floor
is elevated about half a foot, or somewhat
more, above the rest. The higher portion is
called "leewán" (a corruption of "el-
eewán "), and the lower, "durká'ah," from
the Persian" dar-gáh." When there is but
one leewán, the durká'ah occupies the lower
end, extending from the door to the op-
posite wall. In a handsome house, it is
usually paved with white and black marble,
and little pieces of red tile, ihlaid in tasteful
and complicated patterns; and if the room
is on the ground-floor, and sometimes in
other cases, it has, in the centre, a fountain
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1013
hich plays into a small, shallow pool,
ned with coloured marbles, &c., like the
Irrounding pavement. The shoes, or slip-
ers, are left upon the durká'ah previously
> stepping upon the leewán. The latter
generally paved with common stone, and
>vered with a mat in summer, and a
rpet over this in winter; and a mattress
nd cushions are placed against each of its
ree walls, composing what is called a
deewán," or divan. The mattress, which
commonly about three feet wide, and
ree or four inches thick, is placed either
the floor or on a raised frame or a
ghtly-elevated pavement; and the cush-
ns, which are usually of a length equal
the width of the mattress, and of a
ight equal to half that measure, lean
ainst the wall. Both mattresses and cush-
ns are stuffed with cotton, and are cov-
ed with printed calico, cloth, or some
ore expensive stuff. The deewán which
tends along the upper end of the leewán
called the "sadr," and is the most hon-
rable: and the chief place on this seat is
e corner which is to the right of a person
cing this end of the room; the other
rner is the next in point of honour; and
e intermediate places on the same deewán
e more honourable than those on the two
le-deewáns. To a superior, and often
an equal, the master or mistress yields
e chief place. The corners are often
rnished with an additional mattress, of a
are form, just large enough for one
rson, placed upon the other mattress, and
th two additional (but smaller) cushions
recline against. The walls are, for the
st part, plastered and whitewashed, and
nerally have two or more shallow cup-
ards, the doors of which, as well as those
the apartments, are fancifully constructed
h small panels. The windows, which are
cfly composed of curious wooden lattice-
rk, serving to screen the inhabitants from
view of persons without, as also to
nit both light and air, commonly project
wards, and are furnished with mattresses
1 cushions. In many houses there are,
ove these, small windows of coloured
ss, representing bunches of flowers, &c.
e ceiling is of wood, and certain portions
it, which are carved, or otherwise orna-
nted by fanciful carpentry, are usually
nted with bright colours such as red,
en, and blue, and sometimes varied with
ling; but the greater part of the wood-
rk is generally left unpainted.
The word in the original text which I
nslate "saloon," is "ká'ah." This term
applied to a large and lofty apartment,
monly having two leewáns, on opposite
sides of the durká'ah. One of these is, in
most instances, larger than the other, and
is held to be the more honourable part.
Some ká'ahs, containing three leewáns, one
of these being opposite the entrance, or
four leewáns composing the form of a
cross with the durká'ah in the centre, com-
municate with small chambers or closets,
or have elevated recesses which are fur-
nished in the same manner as the leewáns.
That part of the roof which is over the
durká'ah rises above the rest, sometimes
to nearly twice the height of the latter, and
is generally surmounted by a lantern of
wooden latticework to admit the air.
NOTE 13. In the Cairo edition, the
couch is described as being in the midst
of the saloon; but this is inconsistent with
what follows.
www.c
NOTE 14. Of Bàbil, and the Angels
Hároot and Mároot. Bábil, or Babel, is
regarded by the Muslims as the fountain-
head of the science of magic, which was,
and, as most think, still is, taught there
to mankind by two fallen angels, named
Hároot and Mároot, who are there sus-
pended by the feet in a great pit closed by
a mass of rock. According to the account
of them generally received as correct, these
two angels, in consequence of their want
of compassion for the frailties of mankind,
were rendered, by God, susceptible of
human passions, and sent down upon the
earth to be tempted: they both sinned;
and, being permitted to choose whether
they would be punished in this life or in
the other, chose the former; but they were
sent down not merely to experience temp-
tation, being also appointed to tempt others
by means of their knowledge of magic;
though it appears that they were com-
manded not to teach this art to any man
"until they had said, 'Verily we are a
temptation; therefore, be not an unbe-
liever.'"The celebrated traditionist
Mujahid is related to have visited them,
under the guidance of a Jew. Having re-
moved the mass of rock from the mouth
of the pit, or well, they entered. Mujahid
had been previously charged by the Jew
not to mention the name of God in their
presence; but when he beheld them, re-
sembling in size two huge mountains, and
suspended upside-down, with irons attached
to their necks and knees, he could not re-
frain from uttering the forbidden name;
whereupon the two angels became so vio-
lently agitated that they almost broke the
irons which confined them, and Mujáhid
and his guide fled back in consternation.
1014
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 15. The meaning conveyed by this
comparison is " tall and slender."
NOTE 16. In the MS. from which the
old translation was made, it appears that
this lady is called Zubeydeh (which was
the name of the daughter of Jaafar the son
of El-Mansoor, and wife of Er-Rasheed);
the portress, Sáfiyeh; and the cateress,
Ámineh; but no names are given to them
in any of the copies of the original to which
I have access.
NOTE 17. Literally, "two nusfs."
"Nusf," vulgarly pronounced by the Egyp-
tians "nuss," and signifying "half," is the
name of a small Egyptian coin made of a
mixture of silver and copper, and now
equivalent to something less than a quarter
of a farthing; but this name was originally
given to the half-dirhems which
struck in the reign of the Sultán El-Mu-
eiyad, in the early part of the ninth cen-
tury of the Flight, or of the fifteenth of
our era. In the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred nights, and in the edition
of Breslau, we read here "two dirhems,"
instead of "two nusfs."
were
NOTE 18. The "menáreh" is the tower
of a mosque, commonly called by English
writers "minaret,' which generally rises
from a square base.
NOTE 19. It is a common custom in the
East to seal the doors of store-houses with
a lump of clay, lest the lock should be
picked.
NOTE 20. I here deviate a little from
the Cairo edition, in which the cateress is
described as having drunk three cups of
wine successively before she handed any to
her sisters. My reason for this will pres-
ently be seen.
NOTE 21.
Thus in two editions. In the
Cairo edition, "tukellimuhu is put for
"telkumuhu."
-
NOTE 22. On Wine, Fruits, Flowers,
and Music, in Illustration of Arab Carous-
als. I here pass over an extremely objec-
tionable scene, which, it is to be hoped,
would convey a very erroneous idea of the
manners of Arab ladies; though I have
witnessed, at private festivities in Cairo,
abominable scenes, of which ladies, screened
behind lattices, were spectators. Can the
same be said with respect to the previous
carousal? This is a question which cannot
be answered in a few words.
The prohibition of wine, or, rather, o
fermented and intoxicating liquors, bein
one of the most remarkable and importan
points of the Mohammadan religion, i
might be imagined that the frequent storie
in this work, describing parties of Muslim
as habitually indulging in the use of for
bidden beverages, are scandalous misrepre
sentations of Arab manners and customs
There are, however, many similar anecdote
interspersed in the works of Arab histor.ans
which (though many of them are probably
untrue in their application to particula
individuals) could not have been offered to
the public by such writers if they were not
of a nature consistent with the customs of
a considerable class of the Arab nation.
66
In investigating this subject, it is neces-
sary, in the first place, to state, that there
is a kind of wine which Muslims are per-
mitted to drink. It is properly called
nebeedh" (a name which is now given
to prohibited kinds of wine), and is gen-
erally prepared by putting dry grapes, or
dry dates, in water, to extract their sweet-
ness, and suffering the liquor to ferment
slightly, until it acquires a little sharpness
or pungency. The Prophet himself was
in the habit of drinking wine of this kind,
which was prepared for him in the first
part of the night; he drank it on the first
and second days following; but if any re-
mained on the morning of the third day,
he either gave it to his servants or ordered
it to be poured out upon the ground. Such
beverages have, therefore, been drunk by
the strictest of his followers; and Ibn-
Khaldoon strongly argues that nebeedh
thus prepared from dates was the kind of
wine used by the Khaleefehs Hároon Er-
Rasheed and El-Ma-moon, and several
other eminent men, who have been com-
monly accused of habitually and publicly
indulging in debauches of wine properly so
called; that is, of inebriating liquors.
Nebeedh, prepared from raisins, is com-
monly sold in Arab towns, under the name
of "zebeeb," which signifies "raisins."
This I have often drunk in Cairo; but
never could perceive that it was in the
slightest degree fermented. Other bev-
erages, to which the name of "nebeedh "
has been applied (though, like zebeeb, no
longer called by that name), are also sold
in Arab towns. The most common of
these is an infusion of licorice, and called
by the name of the root, "'erk-soos." The
nebeedh of dates is sold in Cairo with the
dates themselves in the liquor; and in like
manner is that of figs. Under the same
appellation of "nebeedh" have been
classed the different kinds of beer now com-
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1015
EX
only called "boozeh," which have been
mentioned in former pages. Opium, hemp,
c., are now more frequently used by the
Muslims to induce intoxication or exhilara-
ion. The young leaves of the hemp are
enerally used alone, or mixed with tobacco,
or smoking; and the capsules, without the
eeds, enter into the composition of several
toxicating conserves. Some remarks upon
his subject have been inserted in a former
ote.
By my own experience I am but little
ualified to pronounce an opinion respect-
g the prevalence of drinking wine among
he Arabs; for, never drinking it myself,
had little opportunity of observing
thers do so during my residence among
fuslims. I judge, therefore, from the con-
ersations and writings of Arabs, which
istify me in asserting that the practice of
rinking wine in private, and by select
arties, is far from being uncommon among
odern Muslims, though certainly more
than it was before the introduction of
obacco into the East, in the beginning of
he seventeenth century of our era; for
his herb, being in a slight degree exhilarat-
ig, and at the same time soothing, and
nattended by the injurious effects that
esult from wine, is a sufficient luxury to
any who, without it, would have recourse
intoxicating beverages merely to pass
way hours of idleness. The use of coffee,
50, which became common in Egypt,
yria, and other countries, besides Arabia,
century earlier than tobacco, doubtless
ended to render the habit of drinking wine
That it was adopted as a
'ss general.
ubstitute for wine appears even from its
ame, "kahweh," an old Arabic term for
ine; whence the Turkish "kahveh," the
"coffee."
alian "caffe," and our
There is an Arabic work of some celeb-
ty, and not of small extent, entitled
Halbet el-Kumeyt," apparently written
hortly before the Arabs were in possession
f the first of the above-mentioned substi-
ites for wine, nearly the whole of which
onsists of anecdotes and verses relating to
ie pleasures resulting from, or attendant
pon, the use of wine; a few pages at the
id being devoted to the condemnation of
his practice, or, in other words, to prove
he worthlessness of all that precedes. Of
his work I possess a copy, a quarto vol-
I have endeavoured
me of 464 pages.
› skim its cream; but found it impossible
› do so without collecting, at the same
me, a considerable quantity of most filthy
um, for it is characterised by wit and
umour plentifully interlarded with the
rossest and most revolting obscenity; yet
it serves to confirm what has been above
asserted. The mere existence of such a
work (and it is not the only one of the
kind), written by a man of learning, and I
believe a Kádee, a judge, or one holding
the honourable office of a guardian of re-
ligion and morality, - written, too, evi-
dently with pleasure, notwithstanding his
- is a strong
assertion to the contrary,
argument in favour of the prevalence of
the practice which it paints in the most
fascinating colours, and then condemns.
Its author terminates a chapter (the ninth),
in which many well-known persons are
mentioned as having been addicted to wine,
by saying, that the Khaleefehs, Emeers,
and Wezeers, so addicted, are too numerous
to name in such a work; and by relating
a story of a man who placed his own wife
in pledge in the hands of a wine-merchant,
after having expended in the purchase of
the forbidden liquor all the property that
he possessed. He excuses himself (in his
preface) for writing this book, by saying
that he had been ordered to do so by one
whom he could not disobey; thus giving
us a pretty strong proof that a great man in
his time was not ashamed of avowing his
fondness for the prohibited enjoyment. If,
then, we admit the respectable authority of
Ibn-Khaldoon, and acquit of the vice of
drunkenness those illustrious individuals
whose characters he vindicates, we must
still regard most of the anecdotes relating
to the carousals of other persons as being
not without foundation.
I
One of my friends, who enjoys a high
reputation, ranking among the most distin-
guished of the 'Ulamà of Cairo, is well
known to his intimate acquaintances as
frequently indulging in the use of forbidden
beverages with a few select associates.
disturbed him and his companions by an
evening visit on one of these occasions,
and was kept waiting within the street-
door while the guests quickly removed
everything that would give me any indica-
tion of the manner in which they had
been employed; for the announcement of
my (assumed) name, and their knowledge
of my abstemious character, completely
disconcerted them. I found them, however,
in the best humour. They had contrived,
it appeared, to fill with wine a china bot-
tle, of the kind used at that season (winter)
for water; and when any one of them asked
the servant for water, this bottle was
brought to him; but when I made the same
demand, my host told me that there was a
bottle of water on the sill of the window
behind that part of the deewán upon which
I was seated. The evening passed away
1016
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
very pleasantly, and I should not have
known how unwelcome was my intrusion
had not one of the guests with whom I
was intimately acquainted, in walking part
of the way home with me, explained to me
the whole occurrence. There was with us a
third person, who, thinking that my antip-
athy to wine was feigned, asked me to
stop at his house on my way, and take a
cup of "white coffee," by which he meant
brandy.
Another of my Muslim acquaintances in
Cairo I frequently met at the house of a
mutual friend, where, though he was in
most respects very bigoted, he was in the
habit of indulging in wine. For some time
he refrained from this gratification when I
was present; but at length my presence
became so irksome to him, that he ventured
to enter into an argument with me on the
subject of the prohibition. The only
answer I could give to his question, “Why
is wine forbidden?". was in the words
of the Kur-án, "Because it is the source of
more evil than profit." This suited his
purpose, as I intended it should; and he
asked, "What evil results from it?" I
answered, "Intoxication and quarrels, &c."
66
Then," said he, "if a man take not
enough to intoxicate him there is no
harm; "—and finding that I acquiesed by
silence, he added, "I am in the habit of
taking a little; but never enough to intox-
icate. Boy, bring me a glass." He was
the only Muslim, however, whom I have
heard to argue against the absolute inter-
diction of inebriating liquors.
Histories tell us that some of the early
followers of the Prophet indulged in wine,
holding the text above referred to as inde-
cisive; and that Mohammad was at first
doubtful upon this subject appears from
another text, in which his followers were
told not to come to prayer when they were
drunk, until they should know what they
would say; an injunction somewhat sim-
ilar to one in the Bible: but when fre-
quent and severe contentions resulted from
their use of wine, the following more de-
cided condemnation of the practice was
pronounced: "O ye who have become
believers, verily wine and lots and images
and divining-arrows are an abomination of
the work of the Devil; therefore, avoid
them, that ye may prosper." This law is
absolute: its violation in the smallest degree
is criminal. The punishment ordained by
the law for drinking (or, according to most
doctors, for even tasting) wine or spirits,
or inducing intoxication by any other
means, on ordinary occasions, is the inflic-
tion of eighty stripes in the case of a free
man, and forty in that of a slave: but i
the crime be openly committed in th
course of any day of the month of Ram
adán, when others are fasting, the punish
ment prescribed is death!
The prohibition of wine hindered man
of the Prophet's contemporaries from em
bracing his religion. It is said that th
famous poet El-Aashà, who was one o
them, delayed to join his cause on thi
account, until death prevented him.
person passing by his tomb (at Menfooháh
in El-Yemámeh), and observing that i
was moist, asked the reason, and wa
answered, that the young men of the place
considering him still as their cup-compan
ion, drank wine over his grave, and poured
his cup upon it. Yet many of the most
respectable of the pagan Arabs, like certair
of the Jews and early Christians, abstained
totally from wine, from a feeling of its
injurious effects upon morals, and, in their
climate, upon health; or, more especially
from the fear of being led by it into the
commission of foolish and degrading ac-
tions. Thus, Keys the son of 'Ásim, being
one night overcome with wine, attempted
to grasp the moon, and swore that he
would not quit the spot where he stood
until he had laid hold of it: after leaping
several times with the view of doing so,
he fell flat upon his face; and when he
recovered his senses, and was acquainted
with the cause of his face being bruised,
he made a solemn vow to abstain from
wine ever after. A similar feeling operated
upon many Muslims more than religious
principle. The Khaleefeh 'Abd-El-Melik
Ibn-Marwán took pleasure in the company
of a slave named Naseeb, and one day de-
sired him to drink with him. The slave
replied, "O Prince of the Faithful, I am
not related to thee, nor have I any author-
ity over thee, and I am of no rank or
lineage: I am a black slave, and my wit
and politeness have drawn me into thy
favour: how then shall I take that which
will plunder me of these two qualities;
and by what shall I then propitiate thee?"
The Khaleefeh admired and excused him.
It was the custom of many Muslim
princes, as might be inferred from the above
anecdote, to admit the meanest of their
dependants to participate in their unlaw-
ful carousals when they could have no
better companions; but poets and musi-
cians were their more common associates
on these occasions; and these two classes,
and especially the latter, are in the present
day the most addicted to intoxicating
liquors. Few modern Arab musicians are
so well contented with extraordinary pay-
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1017
lent and mere sweet sherbet as with a
oderate fee and plenty of wine and
randy; and many of them deem even
ine but a sorry beverage.
It was usual with the host and guests at
ine-parties to wear dresses of bright col-
urs, red, yellow, and green; and to per-
ime their beards and mustaches with civet,
to have rose-water sprinkled upon them;
id ambergris or aloes-wood, or some other
doriferous substance, placed upon burning
als in a censer, diffused a delicious fra-
ance throughout the saloon of the revels.
The wine, it appears, was rather thick;
or it was necessary to strain it: it was
robably sweet, and not strong; for it
as drunk in large quantities. Frequently,
erhaps, it was nebeedh of dry raisins kept
nger than the law allows. It was usually
ept in
a large earthen vessel, called
lenn," high, and small at the bottom,
hich was partly imbedded in the earth
keep it upright. The name of this
essel is now given to a cask of wood,
it the kind above mentioned was of
rth; for it was easily broken. A famous
int, Abu-l-Hoseyn En-Nooree, seeing a
essel on the Tigris containing thirty denns
elonging to the Khaleefeh El-Moatadid,
id being told that they contained wine,
ok a boat-pole, and broke them all, ex-
pting one. When brought before the
haleefeh to answer for this action, and
ked by him, "Who made thee Moh-
sib?" he boldly answered, "He who
ade thee Khaleefeh!"- and was par-
oned. Pitch was used by the Arabs, as
was by the Greeks and Romans, for
e purpose of curing their wine; the in-
rior of the denn being coated with it. A
maller kind of earthen jar, or amphora,
id a bottle of leather, or of glass, were
so used. The wine was transferred for
e table to glass jugs, or long-spouted
vers. These and the cups were placed
on a round embroidered cloth spread on
e floor, or upon a round tray. The
tter now is in general use, and is sup-
orted on a low stool, described in a
rmer note, as being used at ordinary
eals. The guests sat around, reclining
ainst pillars; or they sat upon the
ewán, and a page or slave handed the
p, having on his right arm a richly-
abroidered napkin: the person after
inking took the end of this to wipe his
s. The cups are often described as hold-
g a fluid pound, or little less than an
nglish pint; and this is to be understood
erally, or nearly so: they were commonly
cut glass; but some were of crystal, or
ver, or gold. With these and the ewers
or jugs were placed several saucers, or
small dishes, of fresh and dried fruits; and
fans and fly-whisks, of the kinds described
on a former occasion, were used by the
guests.
The most common and esteemed fruits
in the countries inhabited by the Arabs
may here be mentioned.
The date deserves the first place. The
Prophet's favourite fruits were fresh dates
and water-melons; and he ate them both
together. Honour," said he, "your
paternal aunt, the date-palm, for she was
created of the earth of which Adam was
formed." It is said that God hath given
this tree as a peculiar favour to the Mus-
lims; that he hath decreed all the date-
palms in the world to them, and they have
accordingly conquered every country in
which these trees are found; and all are
said to have derived their origin from the
Hejáz. The palm-tree has several well-
known properties that render it an emblem
of a human being; among which are these:
that if the head be cut off, the tree dies;
and if a branch be cut off, another does
not grow in its place. Dates are preserved
in a moist state by being merely pressed
together in a basket or skin, and thus
prepared are called "'ajweh." There are
many varieties of this fruit. The pith or
heart of the palm is esteemed for its deli-
cate flavour.
The water-melon, from what has been
said of it above, ought to be ranked next;
and it really merits this distinction.
"Whoso eateth," said the Prophet, ("a
mouthful of water-melon, God writeth for
him a thousand good works, and cancelleth
a thousand evil works, and raiseth him a
thousand degrees; for it came from Para-
dise; and again, "The water-melon is
food and drink, acid and alkali, and a sup-
port of life," &c. The varieties of this
fruit are very numerous.
The banana is a delicious fruit. The
Prophet pronounced the banana-tree to be
the only thing on earth that resembles a
thing in Paradise; because it bears fruit
both in winter and summer.
The pomegranate is another celebrated
fruit. Every pomegranate, according to the
Prophet, contains a fecundating seed from
Paradise.
.-
The other most common and esteemed
fruits are the following: the apple, pear,
quince, apricot, peach, fig, sycamore-fig,
grape, lote, jujube, plum, walnut, almond,
hazel-nut, pistachio-nut, orange, Seville-
orange, lime and lemon, citron, mulberry,
olive, and sugar-cane.
Of a selection of these fruits consists the
1018
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
dessert which accompanies the wine; but
the table is not complete without a bunch
or two of flowers placed in the midst.
-
Though the Arabs are far from being
remarkable for exhibiting taste in the plan-
ning of their gardens, they are passionately
fond of flowers, and especially of the rose.
- The Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil monopo-
lized roses for his own enjoyment; saying,
"I am the King of Sultáns, and the rose
is the king of sweet-scented flowers; there-
fore each of us is most worthy of the
other for a companion." The rose, in his
time, was seen nowhere but in his palace:
during the season of this flower he wore
rose-coloured clothes; and his carpets, &c.,
were sprinkled with rose-water. A similar
passion for the rose is said to have distin-
guished a weaver, in the reign of El-Ma-
moon. He was constantly employed at his
loom every day of the year, even during
the congregational prayers of Friday, ex-
cepting in the rose-season, when he aban-
doned his work, and gave himself up to
the enjoyment of wine, early in the morn-
ing and late in the evening, loudly pro-
claiming his revels by singing, -
"The season has become pleasant! The time
of the rose has come! Take your morn-
ing potations, as long as the rose has blos-
soms and flowers!"
When he resumed his work, he made it
known by singing aloud, -
"If my Lord prolong my life until the rose.
season, I will take again my morning pota.
tions: but if I die before it, alas! for the
loss of the rose and wine!
"I implore the God of the supreme throne,
whose glory be extolled, that my heart may
continually enjoy the evening potations to
the day of resurrection."
The Khaleefeh was so amused with the
humour of this man, that he granted him
an annual pension of ten thousand dirhems
to enable him to enjoy himself amply on
these occasions. Another anecdote may
be added to shew the estimation of the
rose in the mind of an Arab. It is said
that Rowh Ibn-Hátim, the governor of
the province of Northern Africa, was sitting
one day, with a female slave, in an apart-
ment of his palace, when a eunuch brought
him a jar full of red and white roses, which
a man had offered as a present. He ordered
the eunuch to fill the jar with silver in
return; but his concubine said, "O my
lord thou hast not acted equitably towards
the man; for his present to thee is of two
colours, red and white." The Emeer re-
plied, "Thou hast said truly; and gave
orders to fill the jar for him with silver
2
and gold (dirhems and deenárs) intermixec
-Some persons preserve roses during th
whole of the year, in the following manner
They take a number of rose-buds, and fil
with them a new earthen jar, and, afte
closing its mouth with mud, so as to rende
it impervious to the air, bury it in th
earth. Whenever they want a few roses
they take out some of these buds, which
they find unaltered, sprinkle a little wate
upon them, and leave them for a shor
time in the air, when they open, and appea
as if just gathered. The rose is even
subject of miracles. It is related by Ibn-
Kuteybeh, that there grows in India
kind of rose upon the leaves of which i
inscribed, "There is no deity but God.'
But I find a more particular account 01
this miraculous rose. A person, who pro-
fessed to have seen it, said, "I went into
India, and I saw, at one of its towns, a
large rose, sweet-scented, upon which was
inscribed, in white characters, 'There is
no deity but God; Mohammad is God's
apostle: Aboo-Bekr is very veracious:
'Omar is the discriminator;' and I doubted
of this, whether it had been done by art;
so I took one of the blossoms not yet
opened, and in it was the same inscription;
and there were many of the same kind
there. The people of that place worshipped
stones, and knew not God, to whom be
ascribed might and glory."-Roses are an-
nounced for sale in the streets of Cairo by
the cry of "The rose was a thorn: from
the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed!
in allusion to a miracle recorded of Mo-
hammad. "When I was taken up into
heaven," said the Prophet, some of my
sweat fell upon the earth, and from it
sprang the rose; and whoever would smell
my scent, let him smell the rose." In
another tradition it is said, "The white
rose was created from my sweat on the
night of the Mearáj (the night of the
Ascension); and the red rose, from the
sweat of Jebraeel (Gabriel, who accom-
panied the Prophet); and the yellow rose,
from the sweat of El-Burák (the beast on
which he rode from Mekkeh to Jerusalem
previous to his ascension. These tradi-
tions are from Es-Suyootee, ubi supra).”—
The Persians take especial delight in roses;
sometimes spreading them as carpets or
beds on which to sit or recline in their
revellings.
39
But there is a flower pronounced more
excellent than the rose; that of the Egyp-
tian privet, or Lawsonia inermis. Moham-
mad said, "The chief of the sweet-scented
flowers of this world and of the next is the
fághiyeh;" and this was his favourite
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1019
lower. I approve of his taste; for this
lower, which grows in clusters somewhat
ke those of the lilac, has a most delicious
ragrance. But, on account of discrepancies
different traditions, a Muslim may, with
clear conscience, prefer either of the two
lowers next mentioned.
The Prophet said of the violet, "The
Xcellence of the extract of violets, above
Il other extracts, is as the excellence of
he above all the rest of the creation: it
cold in summer and not in winter: "
nd, in another tradition, "The excellence
f the violet is as the excellence of El-
slám above all other religions." A de-
cious sherbet is made of a conserve of
ugar and violet-flowers.
The myrtle is the rival of the violet.
Adam," said the Prophet, "fell down
rom Paradise with three things; the
yrtle, which is the chief of sweet-scented
owers in this world; an ear of wheat,
hich is the chief of all kinds of food in
his world; and pressed dates, which are
he chief of the fruits of this world."
The anemone was monopolized for his
wn enjoyment by Noamán Ibn-El-
Mundhir (King of El-Heereh, and con-
emporary of Mohammad), as the rose was
fterwards by El-Mutawekkil.
Another flower much admired and cele-
rated in the East is the gilliflower. There
re three principal kinds; the most esteemed
the yellow, or golden-coloured, which
as a delicious scent both by night and
ay; the next, the purple, and other dark
inds, which have a scent only in the
ight; the least esteemed, the white, which
as no scent. The yellow gilliflower is an
mblem of a neglected lover.
The narcissus is very highly esteemed.
Galen says, "He who has two cakes of
read, let him dispose of one of them for
ome flowers of the narcissus; for bread
s the food of the body, and the narcissus
the food of the soul." Hippocrates,
Do, gave a similar opinion.
The following flowers complete the list
I those celebrated as most appropriate to
dd to the delights of wine: the jasmine,
lantine, Seville-orange-flower, lily, sweet-
asil, wild thyme, buphthalmum, chamo-
ile, nenuphar, lotus, pomegranate-flower,
oppy, ketmia, crocus or saffron, safflower,
ax, the blossoms of different kinds of bean,
nd those of the almond.
A sprig of Oriental willow adds much to
e charms of a bunch of flowers, being
e favourite symbol of a graceful female.
But I have not yet mentioned all that
ntributes to the pleasures of an Eastern
rousal. For the juice of the grape is not
fully relished without melodious sounds.
"Wine is as the body; music, as the soul;
and joy is their offspring." All the five
senses should be gratified. For this reason,
an Arab toper, who had nothing, it ap-
pears, but wine to enjoy, exclaimed, -
-
"Ho! give me wine to drink; and tell me,
'This is wine.'
For, on drinking, his sight and smell and
taste and touch would all be affected; but
it was desirable that his hearing should
also be pleased.
66
Music was condemned by the Prophet
almost as severely as wine. Singing and
hearing songs," said he, "cause hypocrisy
to grow in the heart, like as water pro-
moteth the growth of corn: "-and
musical instruments he declared to be
among the most powerful means by which
the Devil seduces man. An instrument of
music is the Devil's muëddin, serving to
call men to his worship, as stated in a
former note. Of the hypocrisy of those
attached to music, the following anecdote
presents an instance: A drunken young
man with a lute in his hand was brought
one night before the Khaleefeh 'Abd-El-
Melik the son of Marwán, who, pointing
to the instrument, asked what it was, and
what was its use. The youth made no
answer; so he asked those around him;
but they also remained silent, till one, more
bold than the rest, said, "O Prince of the
Faithful, this is a lute: it is made by taking
some wood of the pistachio-tree, and cut-
ting it into thin pieces, and glueing these
together, and then attaching over them
these chords, which, when a beautiful girl
touches them, send forth sounds more pleas-
ant than those of rain falling upon a desert
land; and my wife is separated from me
by a triple divorce if every one in this
council is not acquainted with it, and
doth not know it as well as I do, and thou
the first of them, O Prince of the Faith-
ful." The Khaleefeh laughed, and ordered
that the young man should be discharged.
The latter saying of the Prophet, respect-
ing the Devil, suggests to me the insertion
of another anecdote, related of himself by
Ibraheem El-Mósilee, the father of Is-hák;
both of whom were very celebrated musi-
cians. I give a translation of it somewhat
abridged." I asked Er-Rasheed," says
Ibraheem, "to grant me permission to
spend a day at home with my female
slaves and brothers; and he gave me two
thousand deenárs, and appointed the next
Saturday for this purpose. I caused the
meats and wine and other necessaries to
1020
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
be prepared, and ordered the chamberlain
to close the door, and admit no one: but
while I was sitting, with my attendants
standing in the form of a curved line before
me, there entered, and approached me, a
sheykh, reverend and dignified and comely
in appearance, wearing short khuffs, and
two soft gowns with a kalensuweh upon
his head, and in his hand a silver-headed
staff; and sweet odours were diffused from
his clothes. I was enraged with the cham-
berlain for admitting him; but on his salut-
ing me in a very courteous manner, I re-
turned his salutation, and desired him to
sit down. He then began to repeat to
me stories, tales of war, and poetry; so
that my anger was appeased, and it ap-
peared to me that my servants had not
presumed to admit him until acquainted
with his politeness and courteousness;
I therefore said to him, "Hast thou any
inclination for meat?' He answered, 'I
have no want of it.' And the wine?'
said I. He replied, 'Yes.' So I drank a
large cupful and he did the same, and then
said to me, 'O Ibráheem, wilt thou let us
hear some specimen of thy art in which
thou hast excelled the people of thy pro-
fession?' I was angry at his words; but
I made light of the matter, and, having
taken the lute and tuned it, I played and
sang; whereupon he said, 'Thou hast per-
formed well, O Ibráheem.' I became more
enraged, and said within myself, 'He is
not content with coming hither without
permission, and asking me to sing, but he
calls me by my name, and proves him-
self unworthy of my conversation.'
He
then said, 'Wilt thou let us hear more?
If so, we will requite thee.' And I took
the lute, and sang, using my utmost care,
on account of his saying, we will requite
thee.' He was moved with delight, and
said, 'Thou hast performed well, O my
master Ibraheem: '-adding, Wilt thou
permit thy slave to sing?' I answered,
"
As thou pleasest: '- but thinking lightly
of his sense to sing after me. He took
the lute, and tuned it; and, by Allah! I
imagined that the lute spoke in his hands
with an eloquent Arab tongue. He pro-
ceeded to sing some verses commencing, -
"
My heart is wounded! Who will give me, for
it, a heart without a wound?""
The narrator continues by saying, that he
was struck dumb and motionless with
ecstasy; and that the strange sheykh, after
having played and sung again, and taught
him an enchanting air (with which he
afterwards enraptured his patron, the
Khaleefeh), vanished. Ibráheem, in aları
seized his sword; and was the more amaze
when he found that the porter had n
seen the stranger enter or leave the hous
but he heard his voice again, outside, tellir
him that he was Aboo-Murrah (the Devil
-Two other anecdotes of a similar kin
are related in the work from which th
above is taken.
Ibraheem El-Mósilee, his son Is-hák, an
Mukhárik (a pupil of the former), we:
especially celebrated among the Arab musi
cians, and among the distinguished men o
the reign of Hároon Er-Rasheed. Is-há
El-Mósilee relates, of his father Ibraheem
that when Er-Rasheed took him into hi
service, he gave him a hundred and fifty
thousand dirhems, and allotted him a
monthly pension of ten thousand dirhems
besides occasional presents [one of which
is mentioned as amounting to a hundred
thousand dirhems for a single song], and
the produce of his (Ibraheem's) farms:
he had food constantly prepared for him;
three sheep every day for his kitchen, be-
sides birds; three thousand dirhems were
allowed him for fruits, perfumes, &c., every
month, and a thousand dirhems for his
clothing; "and with all this," says his son,
"he died without leaving more than three
thousand deenárs, a sum not equal to his
debts, which I paid after his death."-
Ibraheem was of Persian origin, and of a
high family. He was commonly called the
Nedeem (or cup-companion), being Er-
Rasheed's favourite companion at the wine-
table; and his son, who enjoyed the like
distinction with El-Ma-moon, received the
same appellation, as well as that of "Son
of the Nedeem." Ibráheem was the most
famous musician of his time, at least till
his son attained celebrity.
Is-hák El-Mósilee was especially famous
as a musician; but he was also a good poet,
accomplished in general literature, and en-
dowed with great wit. He was honoured
above all other persons in the pay of El-
Ma-moon, and enjoyed a long life; but for
many years before his death he was blind.
66
Mukhárik appears to have rivalled his
master Ibraheem. The latter, he relates,
took him to perform before Er-Rasheed,
who used to have a curtain suspended be-
tween him and the musicians. "Others,"
he says,
sang, and he was unmoved; but
when I sang he came forth from behind
the curtain, and exclaimed, 'Young man,
hither!' and he seated me upon the seerer
[a kind of couch], and gave me thirty
thousand dirhems." The following anecdote
(which I abridge a little in translation)
shews his excellence in the art which he
ENT
1021
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
--
rofessed, and the effect of melody on an
rab: "After drinking with the Khalee-
h a whole night, I asked his permission,"
ys he, "to take the air in the Rusáfeh,
hich he granted; and while I was walk-
g there, I saw a damsel who appeared as
the rising sun beamed from her face.
he had a basket, and I followed her. She
opped at a fruiterer's, and bought some
uit; and observing that I was following
r, she looked back and abused me sev-
al times; but still I followed her until
e arrived at a great door, after having
led her basket with fruits and flowers
id similar things. When she had entered,
id the door was closed behind her, I sat
own opposite to it, deprived of my reason
7 her beauty; and knew that there must
in the house a wine-party. The sun
ent down upon me while I sat there;
id at length there came two handsome
ung men on asses, and they knocked at
e door, and when they were admitted
entered with them; the master of the
use thinking that I was their companion,
id they imagining that I was one of his
iends. A repast was brought, and we
e, and washed our hands, and were per-
imed. The master of the house then said
the two young men, 'Have ye any
esire that I should call such a one?'
nentioning a female name). They an-
vered, 'If thou wilt grant us the favour,
ell: so he called for her, and she came,
id lo, she was the maiden whom I had
en before, and who had abused me. A
rvant-maid preceded her, bearing her
te, which she placed in her lap. Wine
as then brought, and she sang while we
rank, and shook with delight. 'Whose
r is that?' they asked. She answered,
Sedee Mukhárik's.' She then sang an-
her air, which, also, she said was mine;
hile they drank by pints; she looking
ide and doubtfully at me until I lost
y patience, and called out to her to do
er best: but in attempting to do so, sing-
g a third air, she overstrained her voice,
nd I said, 'Thou hast made a mistake:
- upon which she threw the lute from
er lap, in anger, so that she nearly broke
s saying, 'Take it thyself, and let us hear
ee.' I answered, 'Well;' and, having
ken it and tuned it perfectly, sang the
st of the airs which she had sung be-
re me; whereupon all of them sprang
on their feet, and kissed my head. I
en sang the second air, and the third;
d their reason almost fled, from ecstasy.
e master of the house, after asking his
ests, and being told by them that they
me not, came to me, and, kissing
ew
"
my hand, said, 'By Allah, my master,
who art thou?' I answered, 'By Allah,
I am the singer Mukhárik.'-'And for
what purpose,' said he, kissing both my
hands, camest thou hither?' I replied,
'As a spunger;'- and related what had
happened with respect to the maiden:
whereupon he looked towards his two com-
panions, and said to them, 'Tell me, by
Allah, do ye not know that I gave for
that girl thirty thousand dirhems, and have
refused to sell her?' They answered, 'It
is so.' Then said he, 'I take you as wit-
nesses that I have given her to him.'-
'And we,' said the two friends, 'will pay
thee two-thirds of her price.' So he put
me in possession of the girl, and in the
evening, when I departed, he presented me
also with rich dresses and other gifts, with
all of which I went away; and as I passed
the places where the maiden had abused
me, I said to her, 'Repeat thy words to
me;' but she could not, for shame. Hold-
ing the girl's hand, I went with her imme-
diately to the Khaleeféh, whom I found
in anger at my long absence; but when I
related my story to him he was surprised,
and laughed, and ordered that the master
of the house and his two friends should
.be brought before him, that he might
requite them: to the former he gave forty
thousand dirhems; to each of his two
friends, thirty thousand; and to me, a
hundred thousand; and I kissed his feet,
and departed."
It is particularly necessary for the Arab
musician, that he have a retentive memory,
well stocked with choice pieces of poetry,
and with facetious or pleasant anecdotes,
interspersed with songs; and that he have
a ready wit, aided by dramatic talent, to
employ these materials with good effect.
If, to such qualifications, he adds fair at-
tair ments in the difficult rules of grammar,
a degree of eloquence, comic humour, and
good temper, and is not surpassed by many
in his art, he is sure to be a general fa-
vourite. Very few Muslims of the higher
classes have condescended to study music,
because they would have been despised by
their inferiors for doing so; or because they
themselves have despised or condemned the
art. Ibraheem, the son of the Khaleefeh
El-Mahdee, and competitor of El-Ma-
moon, was a remarkable exception: he is
said to have been an excellent musician,
and a good singer.
In the houses of the wealthy, the vocal
and instrumental performers were usually
(as is the case in many houses in the
present age) domestic female slaves, well
instructed in their art by hired male or
1022
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
female professors. In the work before us,
these slaves are commonly described as
standing or sitting unveiled in the pres-
ence of male guests; but, from several
descriptions of musical entertainments that
I have met with in Arabic works, it ap-
pears that, according to the more approved
custom in respectable society, they were
concealed on such occasions behind a cur-
tain, which generally closed the front of
an elevated recess. In all the houses of
wealthy Arabs that I have entered, one or
each of the larger saloons has an elevated
closet, the front of which is closed by a
screen of wooden lattice-work, to serve
as an orchestra for the domestic or hired
female singers and instrumental performers.
Of the hired performers, any further men-
tion is not here required; but of the slaves
and free ladies who supplied their place, a
few words must be added, as very neces-
sary to illustrate the preceding and many
other tales in this work.
To a person acquainted with modern
Arabian manners, it must appear inconsist-
ent with truth to describe such females
as exposing their faces before strange men,
unless he can discover in sober histories
some evidence of their having been less
strict in this respect than the generality of
Arab females at the present period. I find,
however, a remarkable proof that such was
the case in the latter part of the ninth
century of the Flight, and the beginning
of the tenth; that is, about the end of
the fifteenth century of our era. The
famous historian Es-Suyootee, who flour-
ished at this period, in his preface to a
curious work on wedlock, written to cor-
rect the corrupt manners of his age, says,
Seeing that the women of this time
deck themselves with the attire of prosti-
tutes, and walk in the sooks (or market-
streets), like female warriors against the
religion, and uncover their faces and hands
before men, to incline [men's] hearts to
them by evil suggestions, and play at feasts
with young men, thereby meriting the
anger of the Compassionate [i. e. God],
and go forth to the public baths and as-
semblies, with various kinds of ornaments
and perfumes, and with conceited gait;
for the which they shall be congregated
in Hell-fire, for opposing the good, and
on account of this their affected gait, while
to their husbands they are disobedient, be-
having to them in the reverse manner,
excepting when they fear to abridge their
liberty of going abroad by such conduct;
for they are like swine and apes in their
interior nature, though like daughters of
Adam in their exterior appearance; espe-
cially the women of this age; not advisin
their husbands in matters of religion, b
the latter erring in permitting them to g
out to every assembly; sisters of devils an
demons, &c., &c. . . . I have undertake
the composition of this volume." A mo
convincing testimony than this, I thin
cannot be required.
The lute (el-'ood) is the only instru
ment that is generally described as used a
the entertainments which we have been con
sidering. Engravings of this and othe
musical instruments are given in my wor
on the Modern Egyptians. The Arab vic
(called rabáb) was commonly used b
inferior performers. (See also Note 26
below.)
The Arab music is generally of a sof
and plaintive character, and particularly
that of the most refined description, which
is distinguished by a remarkable peculiarity
the division of tones into thirds. The
singer aims at distinct enunciation of the
words, for this is justly admired; and de-
lights in a thrilling style. The airs of
songs are commonly very short and simple
adapted to a single verse, or even to a
single hemstitch; but in the instrumenta
music there is more variety.
NOTE 23. This is often said to a person
whose presence is disagreeable to his
companions.
99
NOTE 24. On the Kalenderees. In the
old translation, these three strangers are
called "Calenders; " that is, "Kalen-
derees: but in the Calcutta edition of
the first two hundred nights, and the edi-
tion of Breslau, they are designated as
"Karendelees," "miserable or ridiculous
beggars;" and in that of Cairo, the term
applied to them is "sa'áleek," or, simply,
"paupers," or "mendicants." Some may
suppose the right reading to be "Kalen-
derees; " for it was a custom of this order
of Darweeshes to shave their beards: they
were forbidden to do so in the year of
the Flight 761, by the Sultán of Egypt (El-
Melik en-Násir El-Hasan); but whether
they afterwards reverted to this habit,
I do not know. The order of the Kalen-
derees, however, was not founded until
about the commencement of the fifth cen-
tury of the Flight, a period long posterior
to that to which the tale relates.
NOTE 25. In the edition of Cairo, they
are said to have arrived from Greece.
NOTE 26. On the Persian Harp. This
instrument is called in Arabic "junk," from
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1023
the Persian "chang." It has almost fallen
nto disuse, and I have never seen it. The
number of strings vary from 20 to 27.
NOTE 27. On the Title and Office of
Khaleefeh. As most of our best authors
in Oriental subjects have for some years
ast deviated from our old general mode
of writing this title, substituting (for
Caliph ") Khalif," Khalifah," &c., I
have taken the same liberty. It cannot be
orrectly written, at the same time con-
genially with our language and with its
orthography in Arabic characters, other-
wise than "Khaleefeh" or "Khaleefah;
ind of these two modes I adopt the one
which agrees with the manner in which
he title is most generally pronounced by
he Arabs. The meaning of this title is
**Successor," or "Vicar; " and it was orig-
nally given to the universal sovereigns of
the Muslim Arabs, as signifying "Successor
of the Prophet; 19 but afterwards, in a
more exalted sense, as "Vicar of God: "
he Khaleefeh being the head of the religion
as well as the supreme political governor,
or at least arrogating to himself the right
.0 possess such supremacy, throughout the
whole Muslim world.
NOTE 28. The stories in which this
justly-celebrated man is mentioned will, I
think, be more agreeable to those readers
who are unacquainted with his history, of
which, therefore, I shall say nothing.
NOTE 29. Mesroor was a black eunuch,
and a favourite servant of Er-Rasheed. The
ame signifies "happy."
Tabareeyeh" is the modern
NOTE 30.
ame for Tiberias.
-
NOTE 31.
·Description of Kháns, or
Vekálehs. A Khán is a building chiefly
esigned for the accommodation of mer-
hants, and for the reception of their
oods. In Egypt, a building of this kind
generally called a Wekáleh. I have de-
ribed it, in a former work, as surround-
g a square or oblong court, and having,
the ground-floor, vaulted magazines for
erchandise, which face the court, and are
metimes used as shops. Above these are
nerally lodgings, which are entered from
gallery extending along each of the
ur sides of the court; or, in the place
these lodgings, there are other maga-
zines: and in many kháns or wekálehs
which have apartments designed as lodg-
ings, these apartments are used as maga-
zines. In general, the building has only
one common entrance; the door of which
is closed at night, and kept by a porter.
NOTE 32. It is customary for a guest or
visitor to ask permission of the host, or
master of the house, before taking his de-
parture. A common form of speech used
on this occasion is, "With your permission,
I rise."
NOTE 33. Many Muslims perform the
pilgrimage with the view of expiating their
offences, and, at the Kaabeh, or at the
tomb of the Prophet, make a vow to
abstain from any glaring infringement of
the law of which they may before have
been guilty.
NOTE 34. I learn, from a marginal note
in my copy of the original, by the sheykh
Mohammad Et-Tantáwee, that these verses
are the composition of Ibn-Sahl El-Ish-
beelee. Three concluding verses of the
same ode, and a second poetical quotation
immediately following, I have passed over.
NOTE 35. In the original there are some
errors in this part of the story, which the
sequel requires me to correct. The cateress
is described as having sung three suc-
cessive songs, accompanying them with her
lute. After the first song, the mistress of
the house is said to have been affected in
the manner described in the translation,
and to have exposed to view the marks of
beating. The second lady (namely, the
portress) is represented as similarly excited
by the second song; and the third lady
(the cateress herself), by the third song.
The last also is said to have exhibited upon
her person those marks which, as the
sequel shews, were borne by the second.
66
NOTE 36. The "mikra'ah," vulgarly
called makra'ah," is a portion of the
thicker end of a palm-branch stripped of
the leaves. It is often used to beat a per-
son in sport; but in this case, two or three
splits are usually made in the thicker part
of it, to increase the sound of the blows.
NOTE 37. In the original," the portress."
See Note 35, above.
NOTE 38. Perhaps it is needless to ex-
plain that the wish here expressed, for a
1024
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
protractive trial on the day of judgment,
is occasioned by the longing for reunion,
and the fear of separation after that day.
The Muslims usually pray for an easy (and
consequently, a short) reckoning.
NOTE 39. I have omitted the third song
of the cateress, and the description of its
effects, mentioned in Note 35.
NOTE 40. See Note 47 to Chapter II.
NOTE 41. It seems to be implied that
the lady discovered her guests, notwith-
standing their disguise, to be persons of
rank.
NOTE 42. I read "fukaráü aajám" for
"fukaráü-l-hojjám: " the former, carelessly
written (in Arabic characters), might easily
be mistaken for the latter.
""
NOTE 43. This phrase is used to signify
"Recover thy senses; alluding to a per-
son's drawing his hand over his head or
face after a sleep or fit.
NOTE 44. The burial-grounds of Eastern
cities are generally so extensive, that, with
the varied structures which they contain,
they may aptly be called "Cities of the
Dead." It was with difficulty that I recog-
nized the tomb of the lamented Burck-
hardt, in the great cemetery on the north of
Cairo, even after I had carefully noticed
its place on a former visit.
NOTE 45. I have ventured to make a
slight alteration here; but it is one which
does not in the least affect the consistency
of the tale. Marriage with a foster-sister
is as expressly forbidden by the Moham-
madan law as that with a natural sister.
NOTE 46. "The Truth" is one of the
ninety-nine names or epithets of God.
NOTE 47. Many an Arab would rather
risk the loss of his head than part with his
beard; for the latter is regarded by almost
all Muslims with a superstitious respect;
and to shave it off, at least after it has
been suffered to grow for many days, they
consider as sinful: this, however, is some
times done by religious mendicants, as it is
also by some of those persons who seck,
or enjoy, the reputation of sanctity, and
who are, or pretend to be, insane.
NOTE 48. By "the seven readings," we
are to understand seven slightly different
modes of reading the Kur-án, seldor
differing essentially as to the sense.
NOTE 49. Astrology (not astronomy)
here meant. Though a forbidden science
it is studied by many Muslims.
NOTE 50. A misplaced diacritical poin
occasions a wrong reading here, in th
original, which I have corrected.
NOTE 51. The Mohammadan law re
quires that every man be acquainted with
some art or occupation by which he may
in case of necessity, at least be able to
obtain the means of supporting himself
and such of his family as are dependant
upon him, and of fulfilling all his re-
ligious as well as moral duties. Hence it
has been a common custom of Muslim
princes, in every age, to learn some useful
art; and many of them have distinguished
themselves by displaying exquisite skill in
the work of their hands, and especially in
caligraphy, of which the Orientals in gen-
eral are great admirers.
NOTE 52. The 'Efreet (as we are told in
some editions of the original) had taken
this lady against the consent of his family,
and therefore could not more frequently
visit her.
NOTE 53. The term "kubbeh" is often
applied to a closet or small chamber ad-
joining a saloon; and in this sense it ap-
pears to be here used.
NOTE 54. On Sherbets. The Arabs have
various kinds of sherbets, or sweet drinks;
the most common of which is merely sugar
and water, made very sweet. The most
esteemed kind is prepared from a hard
conserve of violets, made by pounding
violet-flowers, and then boiling them with
sugar. Other kinds are prepared from
conserves of fruits, &c. The sherbet is
served in covered glass cups, containing
from two-thirds to three-quarters of an
English pint; the same which I have de-
scribed in a former note as used for wine.
These are placed on a round tray, and
covered with a round piece of embroidered
silk, or cloth of gold; and on the right
arm of the person who presents the sherbet,
is hung a long napkin with a deep em-
broidered border of gold and coloured silks
at each end, which is ostensibly offered for
the purpose of wiping the lips after drink-
ing, though the lips are scarcely touched
with it.
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1025
NOTE 55. The Arabs are very fond of
aving their feet, and especially the soles,
owly rubbed with the hand; and this op-
ration, which is one of the services com-
only required of a wife or female slave,
a usual mode of waking a person.
NOTE 56. Here, and again in the same
ad a subsequent sentence, for "kheiyá-
en," I read "hattábeen." In the Breslau
lition, "khattábeen " is put for the latter.
the right reading is obvious.
NOTE 57. Falsehood was commended by
e Prophet when it tended to reconcile
ersons at enmity with each other, and
hen practised in order to please one's wife,
r to obtain any advantage in a war with
fidels, though strongly reprobated in
ther cases.
NOTE 58. Four verses here inserted in
ie original appear to me to be a corrup-
on of a couplet which better expresses the
ime meaning, and which I have therefore
ranslated in the place of the former. As
he lines to which I allude are particularly
leasing, I may perhaps be excused if I
ere introduce the original words, which
re as follow:-
Isháratunà fi-l-hobbi remzu 'oyooninà: wa-
kullu lebeebin bi-l-ishárati yefhamu.
[awajibunà tekdi-l-hawaijà beynenà: fa-nahnu
sukootun wa-l-hawà yetekellemu."
NOTE 59. This is not meant to disparage
he individual lady here mentioned, but is
saying of the Prophet applied to the sex
general.
NOTE 60. In the edition of Cairo, this
ory is omitted. I translate it from the
alcutta edition of the first two hundred
ghts.
NOTE 61. "Fakeer" (which signifies
poor," and is particularly used in the
nse of "poor in the sight of God," or
ther, “in need of the mercy of God") is
appellation commonly given to poor
ersons who especially occupy themselves
religious exercises.
NOTE 62. The performances
""
called
zikrs will be briefly described towards
e close of the next note.
NOTE 63. —On Muslim Saints, or De-
tees. The tale of the Envied Sheykh,
d several other stories in this work,
quire that the reader should be acquainted
th the remarkable opinions which the
abs entertain with respect to the offices
and supernatural powers of their saints.
Such matters form an important part of the
mysteries of the Darweeshes, and are but
imperfectly known to the generality of
Muslims.
66
66
The distinguished individuals above men-
tioned are known by the common appella-
tion of "Welees," or particular favourites
of God. The more eminent among them
compose a mysterious hierarchical body,
whose government respects the whole hu-
man race, infidels as well as believers; but
whose power is often exercised in such a
manner that the subjects influenced by it
know not from what person or persons its
effects proceed. The general governor or
Coryphæus of these holy beings is com-
monly called the Kutb," which literally
signifies a "pole," or an axis," and is
metaphorically used to signify a "chief,"
either in a civil or political, or in a spiritual
sense. The Kutb of the saints is distin-
guished by other appellations: he is called
"Kutb el-Ghós," or "el-Ghóth" ("the
Kutb of Invocation for Help "), &c.; and
simply "El-Ghós." The orders under the
rule of this chief are called "6
'Omud (or
Owtád), Akhyár, Abdál, Nujabà, and Nu-
kabà: " I name them according to their
precedence. Perhaps to these should be
added an inferior order called "As-háb ed-
Darak," which is said to mean "Watch-
men," or "Overseers." The members are
not known as such to their inferior, unen-
lightened fellow-creatures; and are often
invisible to them. This is more frequently
the case with the Kutb, who, though gen-
erally stationed at Mekkeh, on the roof of
the Kaabeh, is never visible there, nor at
any of his other favourite stations or
places of resort; yet his voice is often
heard at these places. Whenever he and
the saints under his authority mingle among
ordinary men, they are not distinguished by
a dignified appearance, but are always
humbly clad. These, and even inferior
saints, are said to perform astonishing mir-
acles, such as flying in the air, passing un-
hurt through fire, swallowing fire, glass, &c.,
walking upon water, transporting them-
selves in a moment of time to immense
distances, and supplying themselves and
others with food in desert places. Their
supernatural power they are supposed to
obtain by a life of the most exalted piety,
and especially by constant self-denial, ac-
companied with the most implicit reliance
upon God; by the services of good genii;
and, as many believe, by the knowledge
and utterance of "the most great name
God. A miracle performed by a saint is
distinguished by the term " karámeh" from
"of
1026
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
one performed by a prophet, which is
called "moajizeh.'
El-Khidr and Ilyás (or Elias), of whom
I have before had occasion to speak, are
both believed to have been Kutbs, and the
latter is called in the Kur-án an apostle;
but it is disputed whether the former was
a prophet or merely a welee. Both are
said to have drunk of the Fountain of
Life, and to be in consequence still living;
and Ilyás is commonly believed to invest
the successive Kutbs. The similarity of the
miracles ascribed to the Kutbs and those
performed by Elias or Elijah I have re-
marked in a former work. Another miracle,
reminding us of the mantle of Elijah in
the hands of his successor, may here be
mentioned. A saint who was the Kutb
of his time, dying at Toonis (or Tunis),
left his clothes in trust to his attendant,
Mohammad El-Ashwam, a native of the
neighbouring regency of Tripoli (now called
Tarábulus), who desired to sell these relics,
but was counselled to retain them, and ac-
cordingly, though high prices were bidden
for them, made them his own by purchase.
As soon as they became his property, he
was affected, we are told, with a divine
ecstasy, and endowed with miraculous
powers.
Innumerable miracles are related to have
been performed by Muslim saints, and
large volumes are filled with the histories
of their wonderful lives. The author of
the work from which the above story is
taken, mentions, as a fact to be relied on,
in an account of one of his ancestors, that,
his lamp happening to go out one night
while he was reading alone in the riwák
of the Jabart (of which he was the
sheykh), in the great mosque El-Azhar, the
forefinger of his right hand emitted a light
which enabled him to continue his reading
until his nakeeb had trimmed and lighted
another lamp.
From many stories of a similar kind
that I have read, I select the following as
a fair specimen: it is related by a very
celebrated saint, Ibráheem El-Khowwás..
"I entered the desert [on pilgrimage to
Mekkeh from El-'Erák], and there joined
me a man having a belt round his waist,
and I said, 'Who art thou?' He an-
swered, 'A Christian; and I desire thy
company.' We walked together for seven
days, eating nothing; after which he said
to me, 'O monk of the Muslims, produce
what thou hast in the way of refreshment;
for we are hungry:' so I said, 'O my
God, disgrace me not before this infidel:
and lo, a tray, upon which were bread and
broiled meat and fresh dates and a mug of
་
66
water. We ate, and continued our jour
seven days more; and I then said to h
'O monk of the Christians, produce w
thou hast in the way of refreshment;
the turn is come to thee:' whereupon
leaned upon his staff, and prayed;
lo, two trays, containing double that whi
was on my tray. I was confounded, a
refused to eat: he urged me, saying,
'Eat
but I did it not. Then said he, 'Be gla
for I give thee two pieces of good new
one of them is, that I testify that there
no deity but God, and that Mohamm
is God's Apostle: the other, that I said,
God, if there be worth in this servan
supply me with two trays: - so this
through thy blessing.' We ate, and th
man put on the dress of pilgrimage, an
so entered Mekkeh, where he remaine
with me a year as a student; after whic
he died, and I buried him in [the ceme
tery El-Maalà." And God," says th
author from whom I take this story, "i
all-knowing: " i. e. He alone knowet]
whether it be strictly true: but this i
often added to the narration of tradition:
resting upon high authority. The sain
above mentioned was called "El-Khow-
wás" (or the maker of palm-leaf baskets,
&c.) from the following circumstance, re-
lated by himself. "I used," said he, "to
go out of the town [Er-Rei] and sit by
a river on the banks of which was abund-
ance of palm-leaves; and it occurred to
my mind to make every day five baskets
[kuffehs], and to throw them into the
river, for my amusement, as if I were
obliged to do so. My time was so passed
for many days: at length, one day, I
thought I would walk after the baskets,
and see whither they had gone: so I pro-
ceeded a while along the bank of the river,
and found an old woman sitting sorrowful.
On that day I had made nothing. I said
to her, 'Wherefore do I see thee sorrow-
ful?' She answered, 'I am a widow: my
husband died leaving five daughters, and
nothing to maintain them; and it is my
custom to repair every day to this river,
and there come to me, upon the surface
of the water, five baskets, which I sell,
and by means of them I procure food; but
to-day they have not come, and I know
not what to do.' Upon hearing this, I
raised my head towards heaven, and said,
'O my God, had I known that I had more
than five children to maintain, I had
laboured more diligently!'" He then took
the old woman to his house, and gave her
money and flour, and said to her, "When-
ever thou wantest anything, come hither
and take what may suffice you."
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1027
An irresistible influence has often been
xercised over the minds of princes and
ther great men by reputed saints. Many
Muslim Monarch has thus been incited
as the Kings of Christendom were by
eter the Hermit) to undertake religious
ars, or urged to acts of piety and char-
y; or restrained from tyranny by threats
f Divine vengeance to be called down
pon his head by the imprecations of a
elee. 'Alee, the favourite son of the
haleefeh El-Ma-moon, was induced, for
he sake of religion, to flee from the splen-
our and luxuries of his father's court,
ad, after the example of a self-denying
evotee, to follow the occupation of a
orter, in a state of the most abject pov-
ty, at El-Basrah, fasting all the day, re-
aining without sleep at night in a
osque, and walking barefooted, until,
nder an accumulation of severe sufferings,
e prematurely ended his days, dying on a
at.
The honours which he refused to re-
ive in life were paid to him after his
eath: his rank being discovered by a ring
id paper which he left, his corpse was
nointed with camphor and musk and
oes, wrapped in fine linen of Egypt, and
conveyed to his distressed father at
aghdád.
Self-denial I have before mentioned as
ne of the most important means by which
> attain the dignity of a welee. A very
mous saint, Esh-Shiblee, is said to
ave received from his father an inher-
ance of sixty millions of deenárs (a sum
credible, and probably a mistake for
xty thousand, or for sixty million dir-
ms), besides landed property, and to
ive expended it all in charity: also, to
ive
thrown into the Tigris seventy
indredweight of books, written by
s own hand during a period of twenty
ars.
Sháh El-Karmánee, another celebrated
int, had a beautiful daughter, whom
e Sultán of his country sought in mar-
age. The holy man required three days
consider his sovereign's proposal, and in
le meantime visited several mosques, in
e of which he saw a young man humbly
cupied in prayer. Having waited till he
id finished, he accosted him, saying, "My
n, hast thou a wife?" Being answered,
No," he said, "I have a maiden, a virtu-
is devotee, who hath learned the whole
the Kur-án, and is amply endowed with
auty. Dost thou desire her?"-"Who,"
id the young man, "will marry me to
ch a one as thou hast described, when I
ossess no more than three dirhems?"
I will marry thee to her," answered the
saint: "she is my daughter, and I am Sháh
the son of Shujáa El-Karmánee: give me,
the dirhems that thou hast, that. I may buy
a dirhem's worth of bread, and a dirhem's
worth of something savoury, and a dir-
hem's worth of perfume." The marriage-
contract was performed; but when the
bride came to the young man, she saw a
stale cake of bread placed upon the top
of his mug; upon which she put on her
izár, and went out. Her husband said,
"Now I perceive that the daughter of
Sháh El-Karmánee is displeased with my
poverty." She answered, "I did not with-
draw from fear of poverty, but on account
of the weakness of thy faith, seeing how
thou layest by a cake of bread for the
morrow."
He
One of my friends in Cairo, Abu-l-Kásim
of Geelán, mentioned in a former note,
entertained me with a long relation of
the mortifications and other means which
he employed to attain the rank of a
welee. These were chiefly self-denial and
a perfect reliance upon Providence.
left his home in a state of voluntary desti-
tution and complete nudity, to travel
through Persia and the surrounding coun-
tries, and yet more distant regions if
necessary, in search of a spiritual guide.
For many days he avoided the habitations
of men, fasting from daybreak till sunset,
and then eating nothing but a little grass
or a few leaves or wild fruits, till by de-
grees he habituated himself to almost total
abstinence from every kind of nourish-
ment. His feet, at first blistered, and cut
by sharp stones, soon became callous; and
in proportion to his reduction of food, his
frame, contrary to the common course of
nature, became (according to his own ac-
count) more stout and lusty. Bronzed by
the sun, and with his black hair hanging
over his shoulders (for he had abjured the
use of the razor), he presented, in his
nudity, a wild and frightful appearance;
and on his first approaching a town, was
surrounded and pelted by a crowd of
boys; he therefore retreated, and, after the
example of our first parents, made himself
a partial covering of leaves; and this he
always after did on similar occasions;
never remaining long enough in a town
for his leafy apron to wither. The abodes
of mankind he always passed at a distance,
excepting when several days' fast, while
traversing an arid desert, compelled him to
obtain a morsel of bread or a cup of water
from the hand of some charitable fellow-
creature. One thing that he particularly
dreaded was, to receive relief from a sinful
man, or from a demon in the human form.
1028
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
In passing over a parched and desolate
tract, where for three days he had found
nothing to eat, not even a blade of grass,
nor a spring from which to refresh his
tongue, he became overpowered with thirst,
and played that God would send him a
messenger with a pitcher of water. "But,"
said he, "let the water be in a green
Baghdáhee pitcher, that I may know it be
from Thee, and not from the Devil; and
when I ask the bearer to give me to drink,
let him pour it over my head, that I may
not too much gratify my carnal desire."-
"I looked behind me," he continued, "and
saw a man bearing a green Baghdáhee
pitcher of water, and said to him, 'Give
me to drink;' and he came up to me, and
poured the contents over my head, and
departed! By Allah it was so!"-Re-
joicing in this miracle, as a proof of his
having attained to a degree of wiláyeh (or
saintship), and refreshed by the water, he
continued his way over the desert, more
firm than ever in his course of self-denial,
which, though imperfectly followed, had
been the means of his being thus distin-
guished. But the burning thirst returned
shortly after, and he felt himself at the
point of sinking under it, when he beheld
before him a high hill, with a rivulet run-
ning by its base. To the summit of this
hill he determined to ascend, by way of
mortification, before he would taste the
water, and this point, with much difficulty,
he reached at the close of the day. Here
standing, he saw approaching, below, a
troop of horsemen, who paused at the foot
of the hill, when their chief, who was fore-
most, called out to him by name, "O
Abu-l-Kásim! O Geelánee! Come down
and drink!"-but, persuaded by this that
he was Iblees with a troop of his sons,
the evil Genii, he withstood the tempta-
tion, and remained stationary until the
deceiver with his attendants had passed on,
and were out of sight. The sun had then
set; his thirst had somewhat abated; and
he only drank a few drops. Continuing his
wanderings in the desert, he found, upon a
pebbly plain, an old man with a long white
beard, who accosted him, asking of what
he was in search. "I am seeking," he an-
swered, "
a spiritual guide; and my heart
tells me that thou art the guide I seek."
"My son," said the old man, "thou seest
yonder a saint's tomb: it is a place where
prayer is answered: go thither, enter it, and
seat thyself: neither eat nor drink nor
sleep; but occupy thyself solely, day and
night, in repeating silently, Lá ilaha illa-
lláh (There is no deity but God); and
let not any living creature see thy lips
move in doing so; for among the peculia
virtues of these words is this, that the
may be uttered without any motion of th
lips. Go, and peace be on thee."-" Ac
cordingly," said my friend, “I went thithe
It was a small square building, crowned b
a cupola; and the door was open.
I en
tered, and seated myself, facing the niche
and the oblong monument over the grave
It was evening, and I commenced my
silent professions of the Unity, as directed
by my guide; and at dusk I saw a whit
figure seated beside me, as if assisting i
my devotional task. I stretched forth my
hand to touch it; but found that it was
not a material substance; yet there it was
I saw it distinctly. Encouraged by this
vision, I continued my task for three nights
and days without intermission, neither eat-
ing not drinking, yet increasing in strength
both of body and of spirit; and on the
third day, I saw written upon the white-
washed walls of the tomb, and on the
ground, and in the air, wherever I turned
my eyes, Lá iláha illa-lláh;' and when-
ever a fly entered the tomb, it formed these
words in its flight. By Allah it was so!
My object was now fully attained: I
felt myself endowed with supernatural
knowledge: thoughts of my friends and
acquaintances troubled me not; but I knew
where each of them was, in Persia, India,
Arabia, and Turkey, and what each was
doing. I experienced an indescribable hap-
piness. This state lasted several years:
but at length I was insensibly enticed back
to worldly objects: I came to this country;
my fame as a caligraphist drew me into
the service of the government; and now see
what I am, decked with pelisses and shawls,
and with this thing [a diamond order]
on my breast; too old, I fear, to undergo
again the self-denial necessary to restore
me to true happiness, though I have al-
most resolved to make the attempt."-
Soon after this conversation, he was de-
prived of his office, and died of the plague.
He was well known to have passed several
years as a wandering devotee; and his
sufferings, combined with enthusiasm, per-
haps disordered his imagination, and made
him believe that he really saw the strange
sights which he described to me; for there
was an appearance of earnestness and sin-
cerity in his manner, such as I thought
could hardly be assumed by a conscious
impostor.
Insanity, however, if not of a very
violent and dangerous nature, is commonly
regarded by Muslims as a quality that
entitles the subject of it to be esteemed as
a saint; being supposed to be the abstrac-
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1029
tion of the mind from worldly affairs, and
its total devotion to God. This popular
superstition is a fertile source of impos-
ture; for, a reputation for sanctity being
so easily obtained and supported, there
are numbers of persons who lay claim to
it from motives of indolence and licentious-
ness, eager to receive alms merely for per-
forming the tricks of madmen, and greedy
of indulging in pleasures forbidden by the
law; such indulgences not being considered
in their case as transgressions by the com-
mon people, but rather as indications of
holy frenzy. From my own observation I
should say that lunatics or idiots, or im-
postors, constitute the majority of the per-
sons reputed to be saints among the Mus-
lims of the present day; and most of those
who are not more than slightly tinged with
insanity are darweeshes.
A reputed saint of this description, in
Cairo, in whom persons of some education
put great faith, affected to have a particu-
lar regard for me. He several times ac-
costed me in an abrupt manner, acquainted
me with the state of my family in Eng-
land, and uttered incoherent predictions re-
specting me, all of which communica-
tions, excepting one which he qualified with
an "in sháa-l áh" (or "if it be the will
of God"), I must confess, proved to be
true; but I must also state that he was
acquainted with two of my friends who
might have materially assisted him to
frame these predictions, though they pro-
tested to me that they had not done so.
The following extract from a journal
which I kept in Cairo during my second
visit to Egypt, will convey some idea of
this person, who will serve as a picture
of many of his fraternity. - To-day (Nov.
6th, 1834), as I was sitting in the shop of
the Basha's booksellers, a reputed saint,
whom I have often seen here, came and
seated himself by me, and began, in a
series of abrupt sentences, to relate to me
various matters respecting me, past, pres-
ent, and to come. He is called the sheykh
'Alee El-Leysee. He is a poor man, sup-
ported by alms; tall and thin and very
dark, about thirty years of age, and wears
nothing at present but a blue shirt and a
girdle, and a padded red cap. "O Efen-
dee," he said, "thou hast been very anxious
for some days. There is a grain of anxiety
remaining in thee yet. Do not fear. There
is a letter coming to thee by sea, that will
bring thee good news." He then proceeded
to tell me of the state of my family, and
that all were well excepting one, whom he
particularized by description, and who he
Stated to be then suffering from an inter-
mittent fever. [This proved to be ex-
actly true.] "This affliction," he con-
tinued, "may be removed by prayer; and
the excellences of the next night, the night
of [i. e. preceding] the first Friday of the
month of Regeb, of Regeb, the holy Regeb,
are very great. I wanted to ask thee for
something to-day; but I feared: I feared
greatly. Thou must be invested with the
wiláyeh [i. e. be made a welee]: the
welees love thee; and the Prophet loves
thee. Thou must go to the sheykh Mustafà
El-Munádee, and the sheykh El-Baháee.
Thou must be a welee." He then took my
right hand, in the manner commonly prac-
tised in the ceremony which admits a per-
son a darweesh, and repeated the Fátehah
(commonly pronounced Fát'hah); after
which he added, "I have admitted thee
my darweesh." Having next told me of
several circumstances relating to my family
matters of an unusual nature - with
singular minuteness and truth, he added,
"To-night, if it be the will of God, thou
shalt see the Prophet in thy sleep, and
El-Khidr and the seyyid El-Beda wee. This
is Regeb, and I wanted to ask of thee --
but I feared I wanted to ask of thee
four piastres, to buy meat and bread and
oil and radishes. Regeb! Regeb! I have
great offices to do for thee to-night."-
Less than a shilling for all he promised was
little enough: I gave it him for the trouble
he had taken; and he uttered many abrupt
prayers for me. In the following night,
however, I saw in my sleep neither Mo-
hammad nor El-Khidr nor the seyyid El-
Bedawee, unless, like Nebuchadnezzar, I
was unable, on awaking, to remember my
dreams.
-
―
-
Some reputed saints of the more respect-
able class, to avoid public notice, wear
the general dress and manners of their fel-
low-countrymen, and betray no love of
ostentation in their acts of piety and self-
denial; or live as hermits in desert places,
depending solely upon Providence for their
support, and are objects of pious and char-
itable visits from the inhabitants of near
and distant places, and from casual travel-
lers. Others distinguish themselves by the
habit of a darweesh, or by other peculiari-
ties, such as a long and loose coat (called
dilk) composed of patches of cloth of
various colours, long strings of beads hung
upon the neck, a ragged turban, and a staff
with shreds of cloth of different colours at-
tached to the top; or obtain a reputation
for miraculous powers by eating glass, fire,
serpents, &c. Some of those who are in-
sane, and of those who feign to be so, go
about, even in crowded cities, in a state of
1030
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
perfect nudity, and are allowed to commit,
with impunity, acts of brutal sensuality
which the law, when appealed to, should
punish with death. Such practices are
forbidden by the religion and law even
in the cases of saints; but common and
deeply-rooted superstition prevents their
punishment. During the occupation of
Egypt by the French, the Commander-in-
chief, Menou, applied to the Sheykhs (or
'Ulamà) of the city for their opinion "re-
specting those persons who were accus-
tomed to go about in the streets in a state
of nudity, crying out and screaming, and
arrogating to themselves the dignity of
wiláych, relied upon as saints by the gen-
erality of the people, neither performing
the prayers of the Muslims nor fasting,"
asking whether such conduct was permitted
by the religion, or contrary to the law. He
was answered, "Conduct of this descrip-
tion is forbidden, and repugnant to our
religion and law and to our traditions."
The French General thanked them for this
answer, and gave orders to prevent such
practices in future, and to seize every one
seen thus offending; if insane, to confine
him in the Máristán (or hospital and
lunatic asylum); and if not insane, to com-
pel him either to relinquish his disgusting
habits, or to leave the city. - Of reputed
saints of this kind, thus writes an en-
lightened poet, El-Bedree El-Hejázee: -
"Would that I had not lived to see every
fool esteemed among men as a Kutb!
Their learned men take him as a patron; nay,
even as Lord, in place of the Possessor of
Heaven's throne.
'Forgetting God, they say, Such a one from
all mankind can remove affliction.'
When he dies, they make for him a place of
visitation, and strangers and Arabs hurry
thither in crowds:
Some of them kiss his tomb, and some kiss
the threshold of the door, and the very
dust.
Thus do the idolaters act towards their images,
hoping so to obtain their favour."
These lines are quoted by El-Jabartee, in
his account of a very celebrated modern
saint, the seyyid 'Alee El-Bekree (events
of Rabeea eth-Thánee, 1214). A brief his-
tory of this person will not be here mis-
placed, as it will present a good illustra-
tion of the general character and actions
of those insane individuals who are com-
monly regarded as saints.
The seyyid 'Alee El-Bekree was a mej-
zoob (or insane person) who was con-
sidered an eminent welee, and much trusted
in: for several years he used to walk
naked about the streets of Cairo, with a
shaven face, bearing a long nebboot (or
staff), and uttering confused language,
which the people attentively listened to
and interpreted according to their desire
and the exigencies of their states. He wa
a tall, spare man, and sometimes wore a
shirt and a cotton skull-cap; but he was
generally barefooted and naked. The re
spect with which he was treated induced a
woman, who was called the sheykhah Am
mooneh, to imitate his example furthe
than decency allowed: she followed him
whithersoever he went, covered at firs
with her izár (or large cotton veil thrown
over the head and body), and muttering
like him, confused language. Entering
private houses with him, she used to ascend
to the hareems, and gained the faith o
the women, who presented her with money
and clothes, and spread abroad that the
sheykh ('Alee) had looked upon her, and
affected her with religious frenzy, so that
she had become a weleeyeh, or female
saint. Afterwards, becoming more insane
and intoxicated, she uncovered her face
and put on the clothing of a man; and
thus attired she still accompanied the
sheykh, and the two wandered about, fol-
lowed by numbers of children and common
vagabonds; some of whom also stripped
off their clothes in imitation of the sheykh
and followed, dancing; their mad actions
being attributed (like those of the woman)
to religious frenzy, induced by his look or
touch, which converted them into saints.
The vulgar and young, who daily followed
them, consequently increased in numbers;
and some of them, in passing through the
market-streets, snatched away goods from
the shops, thus exciting great commotion
wherever they went. When the sheykh sat
down in any place, the crowd stopped, and
the people pressed to see him and his mad
companions. On these occasions the
woman used to mount upon the mastabah
of a shop, or ascend a hillock, and utter
disgusting language, sometimes in Arabic,
and sometimes in Turkish, while many
persons among her audience would kiss
her hands to derive a blessing. After
having persevered for some time in this
course, none preventing them, the party
entered one day the lane leading from the
principal street of the city to the house
of the Kádee, and were seized by a Turkish
officer there residing, named Jaafar Káshif,
who, having brought them into his house,
gave the sheykh some food, and drove out
the spectators, retaining the woman and
the mejzoobs, whom he placed in confine-
ment: he then liberated the sheykh 'Alee,
brought out the woman and the mejzoobs
and beat them, sent the woman to the
Máristán, and there confined her, and set
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1031
at large the rest, after they had prayed
for mercy, and clothed themselves, and
The
recovered from their intoxication.
woman remained a while confined in the
Máristán, and, when liberated, lived alone
as a sheykhah, believed in by men and
women, and honoured as a saint with visits
and festivals.
The seyyid 'Alee, after he had thus been
deprived of his companions and imitators,
was constrained to lead a different kind
of life. He had a cunning brother, who, to
turn the folly of this saint to a good ac-
count, and fill his own purse (seeing how
great faith the people placed in him, as the
Egyptians are prone to do in such a case),
confined him in his house, and clothed him,
asserting that he had his permission to do
so, and that he had been invested with the
dignity of Kutb. Thus he contrived to at-
tract crowds of persons, men and women,
to visit him. He forbade him to shave
his beard, which consequently grew to its
full size; and his body became fat and
stout from abundance of food and rest;
for, while he went about naked, he was, as
before mentioned, of a lean figure. During
that period he used generally to pass the
night wandering, without food, through the
streets, in winter and summer.
Having
now servants to wait upon him, whether
sleeping or waking, he passed his time in
idleness, uttering confused and incoherent
words, and sometimes laughing and some-
times scolding; and in the course of his idle
loquacity he could not but let fall some
words applicable to the affairs of some of
his listening visitors, who attributed such
expressions to his supernatural knowledge
of the thoughts of their hearts, and in-
terpreted them as warnings or prophecies.
Men and women, and particularly the
wives of the grandees, flocked to him with
presents and votive offerings, which en-
riched the coffers of his brother; and the
honours which he received ceased not with
his death.
--
candles, and eatables of various kinds to
distribute for his sake to the poor. The
oblong monument over his grave, resem-
bling a large chest, was covered, when I
was in Cairo, with a black stuff orna-
mented by a line of words from the
Kur-án, in white characters, surrounding
it. A servant who accompanied me during
my rides and walks used often to stop as
we passed this tomb, and touch the wooden
bars of the window above mentioned with
his right hand, which he then kissed to
obtain a blessing.
In most cases greater honour is paid to a
reputed saint after his death than he re-
ceives in his life. A small, square, white-
washed building, crowned with a dome, is
generally erected as his tomb, surrounding
an oblong monument of stone, brick, or
wood, which is immediately over the sepul-
chral vault. At least one such building
forms a conspicuous object close by, or
within, almost every Arab village; for the
different villages, and different quarters of
every town and city, have their respective
patron saints, whose tombs are frequently
visited, and are the scenes of periodical
festivals, generally celebrated once in every
year. The tombs of many very eminent
saints are mosques; and some of these are
large and handsome edifices, the monu-
ment being under a large and lofty dome,
and surrounded by an enclosure of wooden
railings, or of elegantly-worked bronze. In
these buildings also, and in some others,
the monument is covered with silk or cot-
ton stuff ornamented with words from the
Kur-án, which form a band around it.
Many buildings of the more simple kind
erected in honour of saints, and some of
the larger description, are mere cenotaphs,
or cover only some relic of the person to
whom they are dedicated. The tombs and
cenotaphs or shrines of saints are visited
by numerous persons, and on frequent oc-
casions; most commonly on a particular
The object of the
day of the week.
His funeral was attended by
multitudes from every quarter. His brother
buried him in the mosque of Esh-Sharáï-
bee, in the quarter of the Ezbekeeyeh,
made for him a maksoorah (or railed
enclosure) and an oblong monument over
the grave, and frequently repaired thither
with readers of the Kur-án, munshids to
sing odes in his honour, flag-bearers, and
other persons, who wailed and screamed,
rubbed their faces against the bars of the
window before his grave, and caught the
air of the place in their hands to thrust it
into their bosoms and pockets. Men and
women came crowding together to visit his
tomb, bringing votive offerings and wax
visitor, in general, is to perform some meri-
torious act, such as taking bread, or other
food, or money, for the poor, or distribut-
ing water to the thirsty, on account of the
saint, to increase his rewards in heaven,
and at the same time to draw down a
blessing on himself; or to perform a sacri-
fice of a sheep, goat, calf, or other animal,
which he has vowed to offer, if blessed
with some specific object of desire, or to
obtain general blessings; or to implore the
saint's intercession in some case of need.
The flesh of the devoted animal is given to
the poor.
The visitors also often take
with them palm-branches, or sprigs of
1032
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
myrtle, or roses or other flowers, to lay
upon the monument, as they do when they
visit the tombs of their relations. The
visitor walks round the monument, or its
enclosure, from left to right, or with his
left side towards it (as the pilgrims do
round the Kaabeh), sometimes pausing to
touch its four angles or corners with his
right hand, which he then kisses; and re-
cites the opening chapter of the Kur-án
(the Fát'hah) standing before one or each
of its four sides. Some visitors repeat also
the chapter of Yá-Seen (the 36th), or em-
ploy a person to recite this, or even the
whole of the Kur-án, for hire. The reciter
afterwards declares that he transfers the
merit of this work to the soul of the de-
ceased saint. Any private petition the
visitor offers up on his own account, im-
ploring a favourable answer for the sake
of the saint, or through his intercession;
holding his hands before his face like an
open book, and then drawing them down
his face. Many a visitor, on entering the
tomb, kisses the threshold, or touches it
with his right hand, which he then kisses;
and, on passing by it, persons often touch
the window, and kiss the hand thus hon-
oured.
The great periodical or annual festivals
are observed with additional ceremonies,
and by crowds of visitors. These are
called Moolids (more properly Mólids);
and are held on the anniversary of the
birth of the saint, or in commemoration
of that event. Persons are then hired to
recite the Kur-án in and near the tomb,
during the day; and others, chiefly dar-
weeshes, employ themselves during the
night in performing zikrs, which consist in
repeating the name of God, or the profes-
sion of his unity, &c., in chorus, accom-
panying the words by certain motions of
the head, hands, or whole body; mun-
shids, at intervals, singing religious odes
or love songs during these performances,
to the accompaniment of a náy, which
is a kind of flute, or the arghool, which is
a double reed-pipe. These moolids are
scenes of rejoicing and of traffic, which
men and boys and girls attend, to eat
sweat meats, and drink coffee and sherbets,
or to amuse themselves with swinging, or
turning on a whirligig, or witnessing the
feats of conjurers, or the performances of
dancers; and to which tradesmen repair to
sell or barter their goods. The visitors
to the great moolids of the seyyid Ahmad
El-Bedawee, at Tantà, in the Delta of
Egypt, which are great fairs as well as re-
ligious festivals, are almost as numerous as
the pilgrims at Mekkeh. During a moolid,
the inhabitants of the houses in the neig
bourhood of the tomb hang lamps befo
their houses, and spend a great part of th
night listening to the story-tellers at th
coffee-shops, or attending the zikrs.
These latter performances, though
common among the Arabs, are inconsister
with the spirit of the Mohammadan re
ligion, and especially with respect to musi
which was not employed in religious cere
monies until after the second century o
the Flight. The Imám Aboo-Bekr Et
Toosee, being asked whether it were law
ful or not to be present with people wh
assembled in a certain place, and read a
portion of the Kur-án; and, after a mun
shid had recited some poetry, would dance
and become excited, and play upon tam-
bourines and pipes, - answered, that such
practices were vain, ignorant, and errone-
ous; not ordained by the Kur-án or the
Traditions of the Prophet, but invented by
those Israelites who worshipped the Golden
Calf; that the Prophet and his companions
used to sit so quietly that a bird might
alight upon the head of any one of them
and not be disturbed; that it was incum-
bent on the Sultán and his vicegerents to
prevent such persons from entering the
mosques and other places for these pur-
poses; and that no one who believed in
God and the Last Day should be present
with them, or assist them in their vain
performances: such, he asserted, was the
opinion of the Imams of the Muslims.
Some eminent doctors, however, have con-
tended for the lawfulness of these prac-
tices.
Of the various orders of darweeshes, to
which so many of the reputed saints be-
long, it is unnecessary here to say more
than that they differ chiefly in unim-
portant regulations and rites, such as par-
ticular forms of prayer, and modes of
zikr; that some distinguish themselves by
peculiar dresses; and that a few pursue a
wandering life, and subsist on alms.
NOTE 64. The reason of this strange
proceeding is not stated in the Cairo edi-
tion, but it is in the two other editions
which I have before me.
NOTE 65. Arab etiquette requires that
a person should sit upon his knees and
feet in the presence of one of much higher
rank, or of one to whom he would pay
especial honour. He should also, in these
cases, cover his hands with his sleeves.
NOTE 66. Kunáfeh is a kind of pastry
resembling vermicelli, made of wheat-flour.
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1033
--
It is moistened with clarified butter
then baked, and sweetened with honey or
sugar.
NOTE 67. Chess is played somewhat
differently in different parts of the East.
The pieces are generally of very simple
forms, as the Muslim is forbidden by his
religion to make an image of anything
that has life.
NOTE 68. In my original, and in the
Breslau edition, the ape is said to have
been the son of the King of the Ebony
Islands; but this is a mistake; for the
latter, as before stated, was the father of
the lady who was carried off by Jarjarees.
NOTE 69. The term "leewán " has been
explained in No. 12 of the notes to this
chapter.
NOTE 70. This was, and I believe still
is, a common battle-cry of the Arabs, and
more commonly used on the occasion of a
victory.
NOTE 71.
<<
"Dár es-Selám," "the Abode
of Peace," or of Safety," is a name often
given to Baghdád, as it is also to one of
the seven stories or stages of Paradise.
NOTE 72.- The Mountain of Loadstone.
Several Arab writers describe this moun-
tain of loadstone. El Kazweenee, in his
account of minerals, says that the mine
of loadstone is on the shore of the Indian
Ocean, and that if the ships which navigate
this sea approach the said mine, and con-
tain anything of iron, it flies from them
like a bird, and adheres to the mountain;
for which reason, it is the general custom
to make use of no iron in the construction
of the vessels employed in this navigation.
I think that I have met with a similar
story in some Latin author.
NOTE 73. For an explanation of this
term, see what I have said on the subject
of prayer in the first of the notes to the
Introduction.
66
NOTE 74.
"Khaseeb " signifies en-
dowed with plenty."
I
NOTE 75. The remainder of the story
of the Third Royal Mendicant is almost
wholly omitted in the Cairo edition.
translate it chiefly from the Calcutta edi-
tion of the first two hundred nights.
NOTE 76. On Dreams.
are
That dreams
regarded by the Muslims as being
often true warnings or indications of future
events I have mentioned in a former note.
This belief, sanctioned by the Prophet, will
be well illustrated by the following anec-
dote, which was related to me in Cairo,
shortly after the terrible plague of the
year 1835, by the sheykh Mohammad Et-
Tantáwee, who had taken the trouble of
investigating the fact, and had ascertained
its truth.
He
A tradesman, living in the quarter of El-
Hanafee, in Cairo, dreamt, during the
plague above mentioned, that eleven per-
sons were carried out from his house to
be buried, victims of this disease.
awoke in a state of the greatest distress
and alarm, reflecting that eleven was the
total number of the inhabitants of his
house, including himself, and that it would
be vain in him to attempt, by adding one
or more members to his household, to
elude the decree of God, and give himself
a chance of escape: so, calling together
his neighbours, he informed them of his
dream, and was counselled to submit with
resignation to a fate so plainly foreshewn,
and to be thankful to God for the timely
notice with which he had been mercifully
favoured. On the following day, one of
his children died; a day or two after, a
wife; and the pestilence continued its rav-
ages among his family until he remained in
his house alone. It was impossible for him
now to entertain the slightest doubt of
the entire accomplishment of the varning:
immediately, therefore, after the last death
that had taken place among his household,
he repaired to a friend at a neighbouring
shop, and, calling to him several other
persons from the adjoining and opposite
shops, he reminded them of his dream, ac-
quainted them with its almost complete
fulfilment, and expressed his conviction
that he, the eleventh, should very soon die.
Perhaps," said he, "I shall die this next
night: I beg of you, therefore, for the
sake of God, to come to my house early
to-morrow morning, and the next morning
and the next if necessary, and to see if I
be dead, and, when dead, that I be prop-
erly buried; for I have no one with me
Fail not to
to wash and shroud me.
do me this service, which will procure
I have
you a recompense in heaven.
bought my grave-linen: you will find it in
a corner of the room in which I sleep.
If you find the door of the house latched,
and I do not answer to your knocking,
break it open."
Soon after sunset he laid himself in his
lonely bed, though without any expectation
of closing his eyes in sleep; for his mind
1034
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
was absorbed in reflections upon the awful
entry into another world, and a review of
his past life. As the shades of night gath-
ered around him, he could almost fancy
that he beheld, in one faint object or
another in his gloomy chamber, the dread-
ful person of the Angel of Death: and at
length he actually perceived a figure gliding
in at the door, and approaching his bed.
Starting up in horror, he exclaimed, "Who
art thou?" - and a stern and solemn voice
answered, "Be silent! I am 'Azraeel, the
Angel of Death!"-"Alas!" cried the ter-
rified man; "I testify that there is no
deity but God, and I testify that Moham-
mad is God's Apostle! There is no strength
nor power but in God, the High! the
Great! To God we belong, and to Him
we must return!" - He then covered him-
self over with his quilt, as if for protection,
and lay with throbbing heart, expecting
every moment to have his soul torn from
him by the inexorable messenger. But
moments passed away, and minutes, and
hours; yet without his experiencing any
hope of escape; for he imagined that the
Angel was waiting for him to resign him-
self, or had left him for a while, and was
occupied in receiving first the souls of the
many hundred human beings who had at-
tained their predestined term in that same
night and in the same city, and the souls
of the thousands who were doomed to em-
ploy him elsewhere. Daybreak arrived be-
fore his sufferings terminated; and his
neighbours, coming according to their
promise, entered his chamber, and found
him still in bed; but observing that he
was covered up, and motionless as a corpse,
they doubted whether he were still alive,
and called to him. He answered, with a
faint voice, "I am not yet dead: but the
Angel of Death came to me in the dusk of
the evening, and I expect every moment his
return, to take my soul: therefore trouble
me not; but see me washed and buried."
"But why," said his friends, "was the
street-door left unlatched?"-"I latched
it," he answered, "but the Angel of Death
may have opened it.”—“And who," they
asked, "is the man in the court?"- He
answered, "I know of no man in the
court: perhaps the Angel who is waiting
for my soul has made himself visible to
you, and been mistaken, in the twilight,
for a man."-"He is a thief," they said,
"who has gathered together everything in
the house that he could carry away, and
has been struck by the plague while doing
so, and now lies dead in the court, at
the foot of the stairs, grasping in his
hand a silver candlestick."-The master
66
of the house, after hearing this, paused f
a moment, and then, throwing off his qui
exclaimed, Praise be to God, the Lo
of all creatures! That is the elevent
and I am safe! No doubt it was th
rascal who came to me and said that h
was the Angel of Death. Praise be t
God! Praise be to God!"
This man survived the plague, and too
pleasure in relating the above story. Th
thief had overheard his conversation wit
his neighbours, and, coming to his hous
in the dusk, had put his shoulder to th
wooden lock, and so raised the door an
displaced the latch within. There i
nothing wonderful in the dream, nor in it
accomplishment; the plague of 1835 en
tirely desolated many houses, and wa
mostly fatal to the young; and all the in-
habitants of the house in question were
young excepting the master.
NOTE 77. "Ajeeb" signifies "a won-
der," or anything strange or admirable.'
64
NOTE 78. Blue is the colour of mourn-
ing, as before mentioned, in No. 52 of the
notes to the second chapter.
NOTE 79. Smearing the face and slap-
ping the cheeks are common practices of
Arab women, especially of the lower
orders, on following to the grave the
corpse of a near relation or a husband.
NOTE 80. - On the Rukh'. This fabu-
lous bird is described by many Arab
writers, some of whom assert that it can
carry a rhinoceros, while others ascribe to
it powers still more extraordinary. I shall
have occasion to speak of it again in my
notes to this work.
NOTE 81. This is explained by No. 30
of the notes to the Introduction.
NOTE 82. I here return to the Cairo
edition.
NOTE 83. Some of the incidents de-
scribed in this story, as the shipwrecks
caused by the image, and the opening of
the forbidden closet, &c., appear to be
taken from the romance of Seyf Zu-l-
Yezen, of which I possess a copy, pur-
chased during my second visit to Egypt.
This romance, which has become ex-
tremely scarce, is filled with stories of
genii and enchantments of the most ex-
travagant kind. Some of the public story-
tellers in Cairo used, a few years since, to
amuse their audiences by recitations from
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD
1035
it. I was not able to discover the period
at which it was composed; but it is said
to have been written long before the Tales
of a Thousand and One Nights. I saw
once a portion of a copy of it which ap-
peared, from the handwriting and the
paper, to be three or four centuries old.
NOTE 84. So in the Calcutta edition of
the first two hundred nights, and in the
edition of Breslau.
NOTE 85. Those decrees which are
written with "the Pen" on the "Pre-
served Tablet are believed to be un-
changeable. "The Pen" is also the title
of one of the chapters of the Kur-án, the
58th.
NOTE 86. In all the copies of the
original which I have by me, El-Basrah
is said to have been the place to which the
lady designed to voyage; but this is in-
consistent with the sequel of the story.
NOTE 87. In the old version, two
strange errors occur in the passage corre-
sponding with this: two words in the
original, "nár" and "doon," having been
mistaken for a proper name; and the word
"jebbár," which, applied to God, signifies
"almighty," or rather the Compeller of
his creatures to do whatsoever He willeth,"
being taken in the sense of "giant," which
it bears in many other cases.
66
NOTE 88.-On Martyrs. The Moham-
madan law distinguishes several different
descriptions of martyrs. This honourable
title is given to the soldier who dies in
fighting for the faith, or on his way to do
so, or who dies almost immediately after
his having been wounded when so en-
gaged; to a person who innocently meets
with his death from the hand of another;
to a victim of the plague, who does not
flee from the disease, or of dysentery; to a
person who is drowned; and to one who
is killed by the falling of a wall or any
building. It is said that the souls of
martyrs, after quitting their bodies, reside,
until the day of resurrection, in the crops
of green birds, which eat of the fruits, and
drink of the waters, of Paradise. Such
we are to consider as the first and lowest
state of felicity to which the young prince
in this tale was introduced as the reward
of his virtue.
NOTE 89. The share inherited, accord-
ing to the law, by the wife, or by the wives
conjointly when there are more than one,
is one-eighth of what remains of the prop-
erty of the deceased after the discharge of
his debts and legacies, if he have left issue;
and one-fourth, if he have left no issue.
-xxx
NOTE 90. The Arabs, fond of hyper-
bole, often thus describe a lofty building.
NOTE 91. On the Magnificence of
Arab Palaces, &c. After remarking upon
the preceding sentence as presenting an in-
stance of Oriental hyberbole, it may be
necessary to inform the reader that he
need not regard this in the same light.
The magnificence of the palaces of Baghdád
in the times of the Khaleefehs almost
exceeds belief.
In the beginning of the year of the
Flight 305 (June, A. D. 917), two ambassa-
dors from the Greek Emperor (Constantine
IX., Porphyrogenitus) arrived in Baghdad
on a mission to the Khaleefeh El-Muk-
tedir, bringing an abundance of costly
presents; and the scenes which they wit-
nessed are thus described; apparently, how-
ever, not without some exaggeration. They
were first received by the Wezeer, who, at
the audience which he granted to them in
his garden-palace, displayed on this occa-
sion a degree of magnificence that had
never before been manifested by any of his
rank; pages, memlooks, and soldiers,
crowded the avenues and courts of his
mansion, the apartments of which were
hung with tapestry of the value of thirty
thousand deenárs; and the Wezeer himself
was surrounded by generals and other
officers on his right and left and behind his
seat, when the two ambassadors approached
him, dazzled by the splendour that sur-
rounded them, to beg for an interview with
the Khaleefeh. El-Muktedir, having ap-
pointed a day on which he would receive
them, ordered that the courts and passages
and avenues of his palace should be filled
with armed men, and that all the apart-
ments should be furnished with the utmost
magnificence. A hundred and sixty thou-
sand armed soldiers were arranged in ranks
in the approach to the palace; next to these
were the pages of the closets, and chief
eunuchs, clad in silk and with belts set
with jewels, in number seven thousand;
four thousand white, and three thousand
black: there were also seven hundred
chamberlains; and beautifully ornamented
boats of various kinds were seen floating
upon the Tigris, hard by. The two am-
bassadors passed first by the palace of the
chief chamberlain, and, astonished at the
splendid ornaments and pages and arms
which they there beheld, imagined that this
1036
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
was the palace of the Khaleefeh; but what
they had seen here was eclipsed by what
they beheld in the latter, where they were
amazed by the sight of thirty-eight thou-
sand pieces of tapestry of gold-embroidered
silk brocade, and twenty-two thousand
magnificent carpets. Here also were two
menageries of beasts by nature wild, but
tamed by art, and eating from the hands
of men: among them were a hundred
lions; each lion with its keeper. They then
entered the Palace of the Tree, enclosing a
pond from which rose the Tree: this had
eighteen branches, with leaves of various
colours (being artificial), and with birds
of gold and silver (or gilt and silvered) of
every variety of kind and size, perched
upon its branches, so constructed that each
of them sang. Thence they passed into the
garden, in which were furniture and utensils
not to be enumerated: in the passages lead-
ing to it were suspended ten thousand gilt
coats of mail. Being at length conducted
before El-Muktedir, they found him seated
on a couch of ebony inlaid with gold and
silver, to the right of which were hung
nine necklaces of jewels, and the like to the
left, the jewels of which outshone the
light of day. The two ambassadors paused
at the distance of about a hundred cubits
from the Khaleefeh, with the interpreter.
Having left the presence, they were con-
ducted through the palace, and were shewn
splendidly-caparisoned elephants, a giraffe,
lynxes, and other beasts. They were then
clad with robes of honour, and to each of
them was brought fifty thousand dirhems,
together with dresses and other presents.
It is added, that the ambassadors ap-
proached the palace through a street called
"the Street of the Menárehs," in which
were a thousand menárehs, or menarets.
It was at the hour of noon; and as they
passed, the muëddins from all these
menárehs chanted the call to prayer at the
same time, so that the earth almost quaked
at the sound, and the ambassadors were
struck with fear.
The Orientals well understand how to
give the most striking effect to the jewels
which they display on their dress, &c., on
occasions of state. Sir John Malcolm,
describing his reception by the late King
of Persia, says, His dress baffled all de-
scription. The ground of his robes was
white; but he was so covered with jewels
**
of an extraordinary size, and their splen
dour, from his being seated where th
rays of the sun played upon them, was s
dazzling, that it was impossible to dis
tinguish the minute parts which combine
to give such amazing brilliancy to his whol
figure."
NOTE 92.
As this marriage is describe
as conducted in an irregular manner,
need say nothing at present of the cere
monies usually practised on such an occa
sion.
NOTE 93. Every person who has visite
Eastern cities will bear testimony to th
plausibility of this excuse. I have severa
times been thrown down by the wide loa
of a camel in the streets of Cairo, and see
loads of firewood scraping the houses o
both sides of a street at the same time.
NOTE 94. Women suspected of in
fidelity to their husbands have not unfre
quently been thus punished in Egypt in
modern times, in violation of the law.
NOTE 95.
"Saad" signifies "happiness,"
"prosperity," and also "happy," o
prosperous."
or
NOTE 96. Pity is of more importan
service to the Muslim after death thar
during life; for the prayers which it in
spires increase his happiness in futurity, o
diminish his misery.
NOTE 97. This allusion to religious faith
is peculiarly apt in the mouth of a Muslim;
for the chief dogma of his creed is the
denial of any partnership in the Divine
essence. He calls persons of all other
religions "mushriks," or those who attrib-
ute partners to God.
NOTE 98. In the original, she is here
called an 'Efreeteh, which is an improper
term.
NOTE 99. This salutation and its reply
are only to be given by and to Muslims.
NOTE 100. It is implied by this ejacu-
lation that the two ladies were admirable
beauties, evidences of the perfection of their
Creator.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
1037
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
NOTE I. From the close of Chapter iii.,
the order of the tales in this translation
agreeably with the Cairo edition) differs
rom that which is followed in the old
version.
NOTE 2. This alludes to the poor man's
vant of sufficient clothing; for, in the
limate of Baghdád, a person who is not
very scantily clad is in little need of a fire
o warm himself.
NOTE 3. My sheykh has remarked, in a
narginal note, that these verses would be
ppropriate only from the mouth of a
earned man complaining of the unprofit-
bleness of his science with respect to pro-
uring him money; but perhaps, in writing
his, he was actuated by a somewhat
verzealous regard for the honour of his
>wn profession; for, when a poor man has
acquired a little knowledge, his neighbours
re apt to flatter him.
NOTE 4. The "izár" has been described
n the second note to Chapter iii.
NOTE 5. Literally, "the sons of thine
incle;
nen."
but the meaning is, "thy kins-
NOTE 6.-On Bastinadoing. In Arabian,
and some other Eastern, countries, it is a
ommon custom, when a person is accused
of a crime before a magistrate, and denies
is guilt, to bastinade him, in order to
nduce him to confess; and even witnesses,
ometimes, are treated in the same manner.
The beating is usually inflicted with a
urbáj (a thong or whip of hippopotamus'
ide hammered into a round form) or with
stick, and generally on the soles of the
eet. For this purpose the feet are con-
ined by a chain or rope attached at each
nd to a staff, which is turned round to
ighten it. This is called a "falakah."
wo persons (one on each side) strike
lternately; and the punishment is often
ontinued until the sufferer becomes in-
ensible, and even longer.
NOTE 7.-Of Sales by Auction. In
nany of the sooks (market-streets, or
ázárs) in Arabian cities, auctions are held
n stated days, once or more frequently
n every week. They are conducted by
rokers (delláls), hired either by private
ersons or by shopkeepers. These brokers
arry the goods up and down the street,
announcing the sums bidden, with cries
of "haráj," &c.; and the shopkeepers, as
well as others, purchase of them.
NOTE 8. I have before mentioned, that
this horrid mode of punishing a woman
suspected of incontinence is not unfre-
quently practised among the Arabs. Many
similar cases have been mentioned to me in
Egypt as having occurred in that country
in the present age; and often the murder is
committed by the father or a brother of
the woman, as her relations are considered
as more disgraced than the husband by her
crime. The present tale is probably
founded on some particular occurrence of
this kind. One is related as having hap-
pened in the reign of the Khaleefeh El-
Moatadid. In this case, some limbs of
the murdered woman, in two leathern
bags, were brought up from the bed of the
Tigris in the net of a fisherman.
NOTE 9. Of the Retaliation of In-
juries on the Day of Resurrection. The
"examination being past, and every one's
works weighed in a just balance, that
mutual retaliation will follow according
to which every creature will take vengeance
one of another, or have satisfaction made
to him for the injuries which he hath
suffered. And since there will then be no
other way of returning like for like, the
manner of giving this satisfaction will be,
by taking away a proportinate part of the
good works of him who offered the injury,
and adding it to those of him who suffered
it. Which being done, if the angels (by
whose ministry this is to be performed)
say, 'Lord, we have given to every one his
due, and there remaineth of this person's
good works so much as equalleth the weight
of an ant,' God will of his mercy cause it
to be doubled unto him, that he may be
admitted into Paradise; but if, on the con-
trary, his good works be exhausted, and
there remain evil works only, and there be
any who have not yet received satisfaction
from him, God will order that an equal
weight of their sins be added unto his, that
he may be punished for them in their
stead, and he will be sent to Hell laden
with both."
""
""
NOTE 10. 'Reyhán is a common
proper name of men, now commonly given
to slaves; and the name of the sweet basil
in particular (also called "reelán ") and of
sweet-smelling plants in general. It also
1038
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
signifies "any favour of God,"
the sup-
plies necessary for subsistence," "a son,"
&c.
NOTE II. This ejaculation is addressed
to God.
NOTE 12. In the original, "Misr," vulg.,
"Masr." This is the name which the Arabs
give to Egypt, and which they have also
given to its successive capitals, or seats of
government, Memphis, Egyptian Babylon,
El-Fustát, and El-Káhireh, or Cairo. It is
here applied to Cairo, as will be shewn by
the following note, and by the sequel of
the tale, though this city was not founded
until long after the reign of Hároon Er-
Rasheed. I may here remark, that I have
not found the name of "Misr " applied to
Cairo in any Arabic work anterior to the
conquest of Egypt by the 'Osmánlee Turks,
which happened in the year of the Flight
923 (A. D. 1517). El-Fustát retained this
appellation in the time of Es-Suyootee, who
died in the year of the Flight 911, but it
ceased to do so before the time of El-Is-
hákee, who brought down his history to the
month of Ramadán, 1032 (A. D. 1623). It
is probable, therefore, that the name of
"Misr "" was transferred to Cairo on the
occasion of the conquest by the Turks. I
must not assert, that this observation alone
enables us to form a decided judgment as
to the period when this work was com-
posed, as it may be objected that copyists
have perhaps substituted "Misr " for "El-
Káhireh; " but I pursue the inquiry in the
next note.
-
NOTE 13. On several Evidences of the
Period when this Work, in the states in
which it is known to us, was composed or
compiled or remodelled. The tale here
presents another anachronism. The title of
Sultán," as a prefix, was first borne by
Mahmood Ibn-Sabuktekeen, in the year of
the Flight 393, just two hundred years after
the death of Hároon Er-Rasheed; and there
was no Sultán of Egypt until the year of
the Flight 567 of a little later; the first
being the famous Saláh-ed-Deen, or Saladin.
I have now given several data upon
which to found a reasonable opinion as to
the age when these tales, in the states in
which they are known to us, were com-
posed or compiled or remodelled. First, in
Note 55 to Chapter ii., I have shewn that
a fiction in one of the tales is framed in
accordance with the distinction of Muslims,
Christians, and Jews, by the colours of
their turbans, which mode of distinction
originated in the beginning of the eighth
century of the Flight. Secondly, in th
present note, I have mentioned a fact which
affords some reason for inferring that there
had been a long series of Sultáns in Egyp
before the age of the writer or writers. Ir
the third place, I must remark, that all the
events described in this work are said to
have happened in ages which, with respect
to that of the writer or writers, were
ancient, being related to an ancient king;
from which I think we may infer its age
to have been at least two centuries
posterior to the period mentioned in the
first of these data. Fourthly, in Note 22
to Chapter iii., I have shewn that the state
of manners and morals described in many
of these tales agrees, in a most important
point of view, with the manners and
morals of the Arabs at the commencement
of the tenth century of the Flight. This I
regard as an argument of great weight, and
especially satisfactory as agreeing with the
inference just before drawn. Fifthly, from
what I have stated in the note immediately
preceding, I incline to the opinion that
few of the copies of this work now known
to us, if any, were written until after the
conquest of Egypt by the Turks, in the
year 1517 of our era. This opinion, it
should be remarked, respects especially the
early portion of the work, which is the
least likely to have been interpolated, as
later parts evidently have been. At the
last-mentioned period, a native of Cairo
(in which city I believe the principal
portion of the work to have been written)
might, if about forty years of age, retain
a sufficient recollection of the later Mem-
look Sultáns and of their ministers to de-
scribe his kings and courts without the
necessity of consulting the writings of his-
torians; deriving his knowledge of early
times not from the perusal of any regular
record, but only from traditions or from
works like the present. I should have de-
layed the insertion of the foregoing re-
marks, had I not considered it a point of
some importance to suggest to the reader,
as early as possible, that the manners and
customs, and in general even the dresses
and dwellings, described in most of the
present tales, are those of a very late
period. The lax state of morals which ap-
pears to have prevailed among the Arabs
in the time of the writer or writers prob-
ably continued at least until the period
when coffee became a common beverage,
about the middle of the tenth century of
the Flight (or near the middle of the six-
teenth century of our era), and perhaps
considerably later, until some years after
the introduction of tobacco into the East.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
1939
The researches of Von Hammer have satis-
actorily shewn that the Thousand and One
Nights, in the states in which it is known
o us, is based upon a very old work, in
Persian; an Arabic translation of which
Dore a similar, or perhaps the same, title
is that which we are considering; but I
believe the last to be, in its best features,
I very late production.
NOTE 14.
"Shems-ed-Deen "
signifies
'the Sun of the Religion; " and "Noor-ed-
Deen," the Light of the Religion."
"
By
NOTE 15.
Customs observed after a
Death. Though the men, in Arabian coun-
ries, make no change in their dress in in-
lication of mourning, they observe other
ustoms after the death of a relation.
he term here used in the original for
'mourning" ("azá," the primary signifi-
ation of which is "consolation or "con-
lolence"), an allusion is made to receiving
he visits of condoling friends. On the
night immediately following the burial,
everal persons are employed to perform
ecitations of portions of the Kur-án, &c.
The most remarkable of these ceremonies
consists in repeating thrice one thousand
imes, There is no deity but God: " one
of the performers having a string of a thou-
and large beads by means of which to
count these repetitions. Some persons are
lso hired to perform a recitation of the
whole of the Kur-án in the afternoon or
evening of the first Thursday after the
uneral, and often on other days; and the
nerit of these and the former religious acts
s transferred to the soul of the deceased.
- These customs I have fully described in
ny work on the Modern Egyptians, vol. ii.
h. xv.
NOTE 16. The island here alluded to is
hat called "Er-Ródah," or The Garden."
NOTE 17. The prayer-carpet, which re-
embles a wide hearth-rug, is seldom used
is a covering for the saddle except when
he rider is a person of the learned pro-
ession. It is probably mentioned here to
hew that Noor-ed-Deen was an officer of
he pen, which was generally the case with
he Wezeers of the Sultáns of Egypt.
NOTE 18. Jerusalem is called in the
original, and by the modern Arabs, "El-
Kuds" which signifies "Holiness."
NOTE 19. The Arabic name of Aleppo
s"Halab."
NOTE 20. An Arab of rank is seldom
seen on foot outside the threshold of his
own house, unless it be merely to cross the
street.
NOTE 21.
The decoration here alluded
to consists in furnishing the apartment with
costly carpets, handsome cushions, rich
coverings for the deewáns, and coloured
lamps, &c.
NOTE 22. This, to some readers, may
appear odd: it should therefore be ex-
plained that most articles of Arab clothing
are equally suitable to young and old, thin
and stout.
NOTE 23.
"Hasan ""
ful" or "Handsome."
66
signifies Beauti-
NOTE 24.-On Infancy and Education.
I may avoid an unnecessary multiplication
of notes on the same, or nearly the same,
subject, by availing myself of this occasion
to insert here the following illustrations of
numerous passages, in the preceding and
subsequent tales, relating to infancy and
education.
In few cases are the Mohammadans so
much fettered by the directions of their
Prophet and other religious institutors as in
the rearing and educating of their children.
In matters of the most trivial nature, re-
ligious precedents direct their management
of the young. One of the first duties is, to
wrap the new-born child in clean white
linen, or in linen of some other colour; but
not yellow. After this, some person [not a
female] should pronounce the adán in the
ear of the infant, because the Prophet did
so in the ear of El-Hasan when Fátimeh
gave birth to him; or he should pronounce
the adán in the right ear, and the ikámeh
(which is nearly the same) in the left.
39
The adán referred to above is the call to
prayer, which is chanted from the mád'nehs (or
menarets) of the mosques. It is as follows:-
"God is most great! (four times). "I tes-
tify that there is no deity but God! (twice).
"I testify that Mohammad is God's Apostle!
(twice). 'Come to prayer!" (twice). "Come
to security! " (twice).
"God is most great!
(twice). There is no deity but God!"
"
It was formerly a custom of many of
the Arabs, and perhaps is still among some,
for the father to give a feast to his friends
on seven successive days after the birth of
a son; but that of a daughter was observed
with less rejoicing. The general modern
custom is, to give an entertainment only
on the seventh day, which is called "Yom
es-Subooa." On this occasion, the mother,
1040
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
having left her bed, receives her guests; the
child is exhibited to them; and they give
presents of gold or silver coins, which are
generally used to decorate the infant's
head-dress. The father entertains his
friends in the evening.
"
On this day, or on the fourteenth,
twenty-first, twenty-eighth, or thirty-fifth
day after the birth, several religious cere-
monies are required to be performed; but
they are most approved if observed on the
seventh day. One of these is the naming.
I believe, however, that it is a more com-
mon custom to give the name almost imme-
diately after the birth, or about three hours
after. Astrologers were often consulted
on this occasion; but the following direc-
tions are given on higher authority, and are
generally observed. The father should
give his son a good name, not a name
of self-praise, as Rasheed [Orthodox],
Emeen [Faithful], &c. . . . The prophet
said, 'The names most approved by God
are 'Abd-Allah [Servant of God] and 'Abd-
Er-Rahmán [Servant of the Compassion-
ate], and such like.' He also said, 'Give
my name, but do not distinguish by my
surname of relationship: ' but this precept,
they say, respects his own life-time,
because he was addressed, 'O Abu-l-
Kásim!' and now it is not disapproved;
but some disapprove of uniting the name
and surname, so as to call a person Mo-
hammad and Abu-l-Kásim. And if a son
be called by the name of a prophet it is
not allowable to abuse or vilify him, unless
the person so named be facing his re-
proacher, who should say, 'Thou [without
mentioning his name]: and a child named
Mohammad or Ahmad should be [espe-
cially] honoured. . . . The Prophet said,
'There is no people holding a consultation
at which there is present one whose name
is Mohammad or Ahmad, but God blesseth
all that assembly:' and again he said,
'Whoever nameth his child by my name,
or by that of any of my children or my
companions, from affection to me or to
them, God (whose name be exalted!) will
give him in Paradise what eye hath not
seen nor ear heard.' And a son should not
be named King of kings, or Lord of lords;
nor should a man take a surname of rela-
tionship from the name of the eldest of
his children; nor take any such surname
before a child is born to him."-- The cus-
tom of naming children after prophets, or
after relations or companions of Moham-
mad, is very common. No ceremony is
observed on account of the naming.
On the same day, however, two practices
which I am about to mention are prescribed
to be observed; though, as far as my ob
servations and inquiries allow me to judge
they are generally neglected by the modern
Muslims. The first of these is a sacrifice
The victim is called 'akeekah. It should be
a ram or goat; or two such animals should
be sacrificed for a son, and one for a daugh-
ter. This rite is regarded by Ibn-Hamba.
as absolutely obligatory: he said, "If a
father sacrifice not for his son, and he [the
son] die, son will not intercede for him on
the day of judgment." The founders of
the three other principal sects regard it in
different and less important lights, though
Mohammad slew an 'akeekah for himself
after his prophetic mission. The person
should say, on slaying the victim, "O God,
verily this 'akeekah is a ransom for my son
such a one; its blood for his blood, and its
flesh for his flesh, and its bone for his
bone, and its skin for his skin, and its hair
for his hair. O God, make it a ransom
for my son from Hell-fire." A bone of the
victim should not be broken. The midwife
should receive a leg of it. It should be
cooked without previously cutting off any
portion of it; and part of it should be given
in alms. After this should be performed
the other ceremony above alluded to, which
is this. It is a sunneh ordinance, incum-
bent on the father, to shave, or cause to
be shaved, the head of his child, and to
give, in alms to the poor, the weight of
the hair in gold or silver. This should also
be done for a proselyte. On the subse-
quent occasions of shaving the head of a
male child (for the head of the male is
frequently shaven), a tuft of hair is gen-
erally left on the crown, and commonly,
for several years, another also over the
forehead.
-
Circumcision is most approved if per-
formed on the same day: but the observ-
ance of this rite is generally delayed until
the child has attained the age of five or six
years, and sometimes several years later. I
shall therefore delay mentioning the cere-
monies with which it is celebrated.
The Muslims rightly regard a child as a
trust committed by God to its parents, who,
they hold, are responsible for the manner in
which they bring it up, and will be
examined on this subject on the day of
judgment. But they further venture to
say, that "the first who will lay hold of a
man on the day of judgment will be his
wife and children, who [if he have been
deficient in his duty to them] will present
themselves before God, and say, 'O our
Lord, take for us our due from him; for he
taught us not that of which we were
ignorant, and he fed us with forbidden
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
1041
food, and we knew not:' and their due
will be taken from him." By this is meant,
that a certain proportion of the good works
which the man may have done, and his
children and wife neglected, will be set
down to their account; or that a similar
proportion of their evil works will be
transferred to his account.
The mother is enjoined by the law to
give suck to her child two full years, unless
she have her husband's consent to shorten
the period, or to employ another nurse.
"For suckling the child, a virtuous woman,
who eateth only what is lawful, should be
chosen; for the unlawful [food] will mani-
fest its evil in the child: as the Prophet
... said, Giving suck altereth the tem-
pers.' But it is recommended by the
sunneh that the mother herself suckle the
child for it is said in a tradition, 'There
is nothing better for a child than its
mother's milk.' 'If thou wouldst try,' it
is added, whether a child be of an in-
genuous disposition in its infancy, or not,
order a woman who is not its mother to
suckle it after its mother has done so; and
if it drink of the milk of the woman who
is not its mother, it is not of an ingenuous
disposition.'"
Children, being regarded by Muslim
parents as enviable blessings, are, to them,
objects of the most anxious solicitude. To
guard them from the supposed influence of
the envious or evil eye, they have recourse
to various expedients. When they are
taken abroad, they are usually clad in the
most slovenly manner, and left unwashed,
or even purposely smeared with dirt; and
as a further precaution, a fantastic cap is
often put upon the child's head, or its head-
dress is decorated with one or more coins, a
feather, a gay tassel, or a written charm or
two sewed up in leather or encased in gold
or silver, or some other appendage to at-
tract the eye, that so the infant itself may
pass unnoticed. If a person expresses his
admiration of another's child otherwise than
by some pious ejaculation, as, for instance,
by praising its Creator (with the exclama-
tion of "Subhána-lláh!" or, "Má sháa-
lláh!" &c.) or invoking a blessing on the
Prophet, he fills the mind of the parent
with apprehension; and recourse is had to
some superstitious ceremony to counteract
the dreaded influence of his envious glance.
The children of the poor are less exposed to
this imaginary danger from their unattrac-
tive appearance: they generally have little
clothing, or none whatever, and are ex-
tremely dirty. It is partly with the view of
protecting them from the evil eye, that
those of the rich are so long confined to the
hareem: there they are petted and
pampered for several years; at least until
they are of age to go to school; but most
of them are instructed at home.
The children of the Muslims are taught
to shew to their fathers a degree of respect
which might be deemed incompatible with
the existence of a tender mutual affection;
but I believe that this is not the case. The
child greets the father in the morning by
kissing his hand, and then usually stands
before him in a respectful attitude, with the
left hand covered by the right, to receive
any order or to await his permission to
depart; but after the respectful kiss, is
often taken on the lap. After the period
of infancy, the well-bred son seldom sits
in the presence of his father; but during
that period he is generally allowed much
familiarity. A Syrian merchant, who was
one of my near neighbours in Cairo, had
a child of exquisite beauty, commonly sup-
posed to be his daughter, whom, though he
was a most bigoted Muslim, he daily took
with him from his private house to his
shop. The child followed him, seated upon
an ass, before a black slave; and, until
about six years old, was dressed like most
young ladies, but without a face-veil. The
father then thinking that the appearance of
taking about with him a daughter of that
age was scandalous, dressed his pet as a
boy, and told his friends that the female
attire had been employed as a protection
against the evil eye; girls being less coveted
than boys. This indeed is sometimes done:
and it is possible that such might have been
the case in this instance; but I was led to
believe that it was not so. A year after, I
left Cairo: while I remained there, I con-
tinued to see the child pass my house as
before; but always in boy's clothing.
It is not surprising that the natives of
Arabian countries, where a very trifling
expense is required to rear the young,
should be generally desirous of a numer-
ous offspring. A motive of self-interest
conduces forcibly to cherish this feeling in
a wife, for she is commonly esteemed by
her husband in proportion to her fruitful-
ness; and a man is seldom willing to
divorce a wife, or to sell a slave, who has
borne him a child. A similar feeling also
induces in both parents a desire to obtain
offspring, and renders them at the same
time resigned to the loss of such of their
children as die in tender age. This feeling
arises from their belief of certain services,
of greater moment than the richest bless-
ings this world can bestow, which children
who die in infancy are to render to their
parents. The Prophet is related to have
1042
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
said, "The infant children [of the
Muslims] shall assemble at the scene of
judgment on the day of the general resur-
rection, when all creatures shall appear
for the reckoning, and it will be said to the
angels, Go ye with these into Paradise: '
and they will halt at the gate of Paradise,
and it will be said to them, 'Welcome to
the offspring of the Muslims! enter ye
Paradise: there is no reckoning to be made
with you:' and they will reply, 'Yea, and
our fathers and our mothers:' but the
guardians of Paradise will say, "Verily
your fathers and your mothers are not with
you because they have committed faults
and sins for which they must be reckoned
with and required of.' Then they will
shriek and cry at the gate of Paradise with
a great cry; and God (whose name be
exalted! and who is all-knowing respect-
ing them) will say, 'What is this cry?'
He will be answered, 'O our Lord, the
children of the Muslims say, We will not
enter Paradise but with our fathers and our
mothers.' Whereupon God (whose name
be exalted!) will say Pass among them all,
and take the hands of your parents, and
introduce them into Paradise.'" The chil-
dren who are to have this power are such
as are born of believers, and die without
having attained to the knowledge of sin;
and according to one tradition, one such
child will introduce his parents into Para-
dise. [Such infants only are to enter
Paradise; for, of the children who die in
infancy, those of believers alone are they
who would believe if they grew to years of
discretion.] On the same authority it is
said, "When a child of the servant [of
God] dies, God (whose name be exalted!)
saith to the angels, 'Have ye taken the
child of my servant?' They answer,' Yea.'
He saith, Have ye taken the child of his
heart?' They reply, 'Yea.' He asketh
them, 'What did my servant say?' They
answer, 'He praised thee, and said, Verily
to God we belong, and verily unto Him we
return!' Then God will say, 'Build for
my servant a house in Paradise, and name
it the House of Praise.' To these tradi-
tions, which I find related as proofs of the
advantages of marriage, the following
anecdote, which is of a similar nature, is
added. A certain man, who would not take
a wife, awoke one day from his sleep, and
demanded to be married, saying, as his
reason, "I dreamt that the resurrection had
taken place, and that I was among the be-
ings collected at the scene of judgment, but
was suffering a thirst that stopped up the
passage of my stomach; and lo, there were
youths passing through the assembly, hav-
>
ing in their hands ewers of silver, and cup
of gold, and giving drink to one perso
after another; so I stretched forth my han
to one of them, and said, 'Give me t
drink; for thirst overpowereth me: bu
they answered, 'Thou hast no child amon
us: we give drink only to our fathers.'
asked them, 'Who are ye?' They replied
'We are the deceased infant children of th
Muslims.'" Especial rewards in heave
are promised to mothers. "When a woma
conceives by her husband," said
th
Prophet," she is called in heaven a marty
[i. e. she is ranked as a martyr in dignity]
and her labour in child-bed, and her care
for her children, protect her from Hell-
fire."
"When the child begins to speak, the
father should teach him first the kelimeh
[or profession of faith], 'There is no deity
but God: [Mohammad is God's apostle:]
- he should dictate this to him seven times.
Then he should instruct him to say,
'Wherefore, exalted be God, the King, the
Truth! There is no deity but He, the Lord
of the honourable throne.' He should
teach him also the Throne-verse, and the
closing words of the Hashr, ' He is God, be-
side whom there is no deity, the King, the
Holy,'" &c.
As soon as a son is old enough, his father
should teach him the most important rules
of decent behaviour: placing some food
before him, he should order him to take it
with the right hand (the left being em-
ployed for unclean purposes), and to say,
on commencing, "In the name of God;
to eat what is next to him, and not to
hurry, nor spill any of the food upon his
person or dress. He should teach him
that it is disgusting to eat much. He
should particularly condemn to him the
love of gold and silver, and caution him
against covetousness as he would against
serpents and scorpions; and forbid his
spitting in an assembly, and committing
any similar breach of good manners, talk-
ing much, turning his back upon another,
standing in an indolent attitude, and speak-
ing ill of any person to another. He should
keep him from bad companions, teach him
the Kur-án and all requisite divine and
prophetic ordinances, and instruct him in
the arts of swimming and archery, and in
some virtuous trade; for trade is a security
from poverty. He should also command
him to endure patiently the chastisements
of his teacher. In one tradition it is said,
"When a boy attains the age of six years
he should be disciplined; and when he at-
tains to nine years he should be put in a
separate bed; and when he attains to ten
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
1043
years he should be beaten for [neglecting]
rayer: "in another tradition, "Order your
hildren to pray at seven [years], and beat
hem for [neglecting] it at ten, and put
hem in separate beds."
Circumcision, which has before been
nentioned, is generally performed before
he boy is submitted to the instruction of
he schoolmaster. Previously to the per-
ormance of this rite, he is, if belonging to
he higher or middle rank of society,
sually paraded about the neighbourhood
f his parents' dwelling, gaily attired,
hiefly with female habits and ornaments,
ut with a boy's turban on his head,
ounted on a horse, preceded by musicians,
nd followed by a group of his female rela-
ons and friends. This ceremony is ob-
rved by the great with much pomp and
ith sumptuous feasts. El-Jabartee men-
ons a fête celebrated on the occasion of
e circumcision of a son of the Kadee of
airo, in the year of the Flight 1179 (A. D.
66), when the grandees and chief mer-
ants and 'Ulamà of the city sent him such
undance of presents that the magazines
his mansion were filled with rice and
itter and honey and sugar; the great hall,
ith coffee; and the middle of the court,
th firewood: the public were amused for
iny days by players and performers of
rious kinds; and when the youth was
raded through the streets he was attended
numerous memlooks with their richly-
parisoned horses and splendid arms and
nour and military band, and by a num-
r of other youths who, from compliment
him, were circumcised afterwards with
n. This latter custom is usual on such
casions; and so also is the sending of
sents, such as those above mentioned, by
ends, acquaintances, and tradespeople.
a fête of this kind, when the Khaleefeh
Muktedir circumcised five of his sons,
money that was scattered in presents
ounted to six hundred thousand pieces
gold, or about £300,000. Many orphans
e also circumcised on the same day, and
e presented with clothes and pieces of
1.
The Khaleefeh above mentioned was
ous for his magnificence, a proof of
ch I have given in a former note. At
more approved entertainments which
given in celebration of a circumcision,
ecital of the whole of the Kur-án, or a
, is performed: at some others, male or
ale public dancers perform in the court
the house, or in the street before the
r.
ew of the children of the Arabs receive
h instruction in literature, and still
er are taught even the rudiments of any
of the higher sciences; but there are nu-
merous schools in their towns, and one at
least in almost every moderately large vil-
lage. The former are mostly attached to
mosques and other public buildings, and,
together with those buildings, endowed by
princes or other men of rank, or wealthy
tradesmen. In these, the children are in-
structed either gratis or for a very trifling
weekly payment, which all parents, except
those in indigent circumstances, can easily
afford. The schoolmaster generally teaches
nothing more than to read, and to recite
by heart the whole of the Kur-án. After
committing to memory the first chapter of
the sacred volume, the boy learns the rest
in the inverse order of their arrangement,
as they generally decrease in length. Writ-
ing and arithmetic are usually taught by
another master; and grammar, rhetoric,
versification, logic, the interpretation of the
Kur-án, and the whole system of religion
and law, with all other knowledge deemed
useful, which seldom includes the mere ele-
ments of mathematics, are attained by
studying at a collegiate mosque, and at no
expense; for the professors receive no pay
either from the students, who are mostly
of the poor classes, or from the funds of the
mosque.
The wealthy often employ for their sons
a private tutor; and, when he has taught
them to read, and to recite the Kur-án,
engage for them a writing-master, and then
send them to the college. But among this
class, polite literature is more considered
than any other branch of knowledge, after
religion. Such an acquaintance with the
works of some of their favourite poets as
enables a man to quote them occasionally
in society, is regarded by the Arabs as
essential to a son who is to mix in genteel
company; and to this acquirement is often
added some skill in the art of versification,
which is rendered peculiarly easy by the
copiousness of the Arabic language, and by
its system of inflection. These character-
istics of their noble tongue (which are re-
markably exhibited by the custom, common
among the Arabs, of preserving the same
rhyme throughout a whole poem), while
on the one hand they have given an admir-
able freedom to the compositions of men
of true poetic genius, have on the other
hand mainly contributed to the degradation
of Arabic poetry. To an Arab of some
little learning it is almost as easy to speak
in verse as in prose; and hence he often
intersperses his prose writings, and not un-
frequently his conversation, with indiffer-
ent verses, of which the chief merit often
consists in puns, or in an ingenious use of
1044
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
several words nearly the same in sound,
but differing in sense. To a reader unac-
quainted with the Arabic language it is
necessary to explain this custom; otherwise
he would imagine that the author of the
present work is merely indulging in a
dramatic license inconsistent with a true
delineation of manners, when he makes a
person suddenly change the style of his
speech from prose to verse, and then re-
vert to the former.
One more duty of a father to a son I
should here mention: it is, to procure for
him a wife as soon as he has arrived at
the proper age. This age is decided by
some to be twenty years; though many
young men marry at an earlier period. It
is said, "When a son has attained the age
of twenty years, his father, if able, should
marry him, and then take his hand, and
say, 'I have disciplined thee, and taught
thee, and married thee: I now seek refuge
with God from thy mischief in the present
world and the next.'" To enforce this
duty, the following tradition is urged:
"When a son attains to the age of pub-
erty, and his father does not marry him,
and yet is able to do so, if the youth com-
mit an improper act in consequence, the
sin of it is between the two," or, as in
another report,
"on the father." The
same is held to be the case with respect
to a daughter who has attained the age of
twelve years.
-
The female children of the Arabs are
seldom taught even to read. Though they
are admissible at the daily schools in which
the boys are instructed, very few parents
allow them the benefit of this privilege;
preferring, if they give them any instruc-
tion of a literary kind, to employ a shey-
khah (or learned woman) to teach them
at home. She instructs them in the forms
of prayer, and teaches them to repeat by
heart a few chapters of the Kur-án; very
rarely the whole book. Parents are indeed
recommended to withhold from their
daughters some portions of the Kur-án; to
"teach them the Soorat en-Noor [or 24th
chapter], and keep from them the Soorat-
Yoosuf [12th chapter]; on account of the
story of Zeleekhà and Yoosuf in the latter
and the prohibitions and threats and men-
tion of punishments contained in the
former."
Needlework is not so rarely, but yet not
generally, taught to Arab girls: the spindle
frequently employs those of the poorer
classes; and some of them learn to weave.
The daughters of persons of the middle and
higher ranks are often instructed in the art
of embroidery, and in other ornamental
t
work, which are taught in schools and
private houses. Singing, and playing up
the lute, which were formerly not uncor
mon female accomplishments among
wealthy Arabs, are now almost exclusive
confined, like dancing, to professional pe
formers and a few of the slaves in t
hareems of the great: it is very seldom no
that any musical instrument is seen in ti
hand of an Arab lady, except a kind
drum called darabukkeh, and a tár (
tambourine), which are found in mar
hareems, and are beaten with the finger
Some care, however, is bestowed by th
ladies in teaching their daughters what the
consider an elegant gait and carriage,
well as various alluring and voluptuous ar
with which to increase the attachment
their future husbands.
NOTE 25. Water-wheels. The wate
wheels here mentioned are machines com
monly used for the purpose of irrigatin
fields and gardens. They are generall
turned by a pair of cows or bulls. The
raise the water from a river or well in
series of earthen pots attached to cord
which pass over a vertical wheel, and pou
it into a trough, from which it flows
narrow channels through the space C
ground to be irrigated. A cogged vertica
wheel is attached to the same axis as th
former; and this, and consequently th
other also, are turned by means of a large
horizontal, cogged wheel. The ground
divided into hollow squares, or furrow
into each of which in succession the wate
is admitted.
NOTE 26. "Bedr-ed-Deen "
"the Full Moon of the Religion."
signific
NOTE 27. I have here omitted the nam
of Shems-ed-Deen, and his office; a
Hasan's knowledge of them would rende
the sequel of the story too improbable eve
to an Arab.
NOTE 28. In the original, this paper i
here said to have been written by Hasa
in accordance with the dictation of hi
father; but afterwards it is said to hav
been written by the latter; and this is mor
consistent with the rest of the tale.
NOTE 29. Papers of importance ar
often wrapped in waxed cloth to preserv
them from wet, which would efface th
writing, as the Arab ink is chiefly compose
of smoke-black and gum and water.
NOTE 30. In the original, the cap is no
here mentioned; but it is afterwards.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
sagree
1045
NOTE 31. This paragraph and the verses
interspersed in it are translated from the
Calcutta edition of the first two hundred
nights.
NOTE 32. The poet here alluded to is
El-Mutanebbee.
NOTE 33. It is a common custom of
Eastern kings and governors to avail them-
elves of any pretext for seizing upon the
property of a deceased officer who has ac-
umulated much wealth.
NOTE 34. It is implied that he was sit-
ing at the door, or in the court, of his
Louse.
NOTE 35. His taking a copy is men-
ioned afterwards in the original; but not
n this place.
NOTE 36. I have designated by the ap-
ellation of "dye-woman" (from want of
better) those females who are employed
o apply the hennà, which imparts a deep
range-red dye, to the nails or tips of the
ngers, the palms of the hands, the soles
f the feet, &c. Some Arab ladies, espe-
ially on such an occasion as that here de-
ribed, are ornamented with this dye in
more fanciful manner. The woman who
pplies it is called in Arabic "munak-
isheh."
NOTE 37. The chief office of the tire-
oman (in Arabic, "máshitáh") is to
mb and plait the hair. She attends the
dies in the bath; and hence is also called
belláneh."
NOTE 38. A "mastabah" is a bench of
one or brick, generally between two and
ree feet in height, and about the same in
idth, built against the front of a shop,
id sometimes along the front of a private
use.
NOTE 39.-
On Marriage. Previously to
e perusal of the first description of a nup-
il fête that occurs in this work, the reader
ay perhaps desire some introductory in-
rmation, which I shall here endeavour to
nvey in such a manner as to make the
esent note serve to illustrate many future
lusions in these pages, and not merely
e foregoing tale.
Marriage is regarded by the Muslims in
neral as a positive duty; and to neglect
without a sufficient excuse, subjects a
an to severe reproach. "When a servant
f God]." said the Prophet, marries,
66
verily he perfects half his religion. He
once asked a man, "Art thou married?"
The man answered, "No." "And art
thou," said he, "sound and healthy?" The
answer was, "Yes." "Then,"
said
Mohammad, "thou art one of the brothers
of the devils; the most wicked among you
are the unmarried; and the most vile
among your dead are the unmarried; more-
over the married are those who are acquit-
ted of filthy conversation; and by Him in
whose hands is my soul, the devil hath not
a weapon more effective against the virtu-
ous, both men and women, than the neg-
lect of marriage." Some remarks on this
subject, and on the advantages of mar-
riage, have been made in a preceding note
on infancy and education.
The number of wives whom a Muslim
may have at the same time is four. He
may marry free women, or take concubine
slaves, or have both of these classes.
It is the opinion of most persons, I believe,
among the more strictly religious, that a
man may not have more than four women,
whether they be wives alone, or concubine
slaves alone, or of both classes together;
but the practice of some of the Companions
of the Prophet, who cannot be accused of
violating his precepts, affords a strong
argument to the contrary. 'Alee, it is said,
was the most devout of the Companions;
but he had four wives and seventeen con-
cubines besides, and married, after Fátimeh
(may God be well pleased with her!),
among all that he married and divorced,
more than two hundred women: and some-
times he included four wives in one con-
tract, and sometimes divorced four at one
time, taking other four in their stead."
This may perhaps be an exaggerated state-
ment: but it is certain that the custom of
keeping an unlimited number of concubines
was common among wealthy Muslims in
the first century of the Mohammadan era,
and has so continued. The famous author
of the work above quoted urges the ex-
ample of Solomon to prove that the pos-
session of numerous concubines is not in-
consistent with piety and good morals; not
considering that God made but one wife
for Adam.
It has been mentioned in the first of the
notes to this work, that a Muslim may
divorce his wife twice, and each time take
her back. This he may do, even against
her wish, during a fixed period, which can-
not extend beyond three months, unless
she be enceinte, in which latter case she
must wait until the birth of her child be-
fore she will be at liberty to contract a new
marriage. During this period the husband
1046
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
is obliged to maintain her. If he divorce
her a third time, or by a triple sentence,
he cannot take her again unless with her
own consent, and by a new contract, and
after another marriage has been consum-
mated between her and another husband,
and this husband also has divorced her.
-
It is not a common custom, especially
among the middle ranks, for an Arab to
have more than one wife at the same time;
but there are few of middle age who have
not had several different wives at different
periods, tempted to change by the facility
of divorce. The case of 'Alee has been
mentioned above. Mugheyreh Ibn-Shea-
beh married eighty women in the course
of his life; and several more remarkable
instances of the love of change are recorded
by Arab writers: the most extraordinary
case of this kind that I have met with was
that of Mohammad Ibn-Et-Teiyib, the
Dyer, of Baghdad, who died in the year of
the Flight, 423, aged eighty-five years; of
whom it is related, on most respectable
authority, that he married more than nine
hundred women! Supposing, therefore,
that he married his first wife when he was
fifteen years of age, he must have had, on
the average, nearly thirteen wives per an-
num. The women, in general, cannot of
course marry so many successive husbands,
not only because a woman cannot have
more than one husband at a time, but also
because she cannot divorce her husband.
There have been, however, many instances
of Arab women who have married a sur-
prising number of men in rapid succession.
Among these may be mentioned Umm-
Khárijeh, who gave occasion to a proverb
on this subject. This woman, who was of
the tribe of Bejeeleh, in El-Yemen, married
upwards of forty husbands; and her son
Khárijeh knew not who was his father.
She used to contract a marriage in the
quickest possible manner: a man saying to
her, "Khitbun" (betrothal), she replied,
Nik-hun" (marriage), and thus became
his lawful wife. She had a very numerous
progeny; several tribes originating from
her.
For the choice of a wife, a man generally
relies on his mother, or some other near
female relation, or a professional female be-
trother (who is called " khátibeh"); for
there are many women who perform this
office for hire. The law allows him to see
the face of the female whom he proposes
to marry, previously to his making the
contract; but in the present day this lib-
erty is seldom obtained, except among the
lower orders. Unless in this case, a man is
not allowed to see unveiled any woman but
66
his own wife or slave, and those women
to whom the law prohibits his uniting him-
self in marriage: nay, according to some
he is not allowed to see his own niece
unveiled, though he may not marry her
It should be added, that a slave may law-
fully see the face of his own mistress; but
this privilege is seldom granted in the pres-
ent day to any slave but a eunuch. An in-
fringement of the law above mentioned is
held to be extremely sinful in both parties:
"The curse of God," said the Prophet, is
on the seer and the seen: yet it is very
often disregarded in the case of women of
the lower orders.
""
46
A man is forbidden, by the Kur-án and
the Sunneh, to marry his mother, or other
ascendant; daughter, or other descendant;
his sister, or half-sister; the sister of his
father or mother or other ascendant; his
niece, or any of her descendants; his foster-
mother who has suckled him five times in
the course of the first two years, or a
woman related to him by milk in any of
the degrees which would preclude his mar-
riage with her if she were similarly related
to him by consanguinity; the mother of his
wife, even if he has not consummated his
marriage with his wife; the daughter of his
wife, if he has consummated his marriage
with the latter (but if he has not done so,
and this wife is divorced from him, or
dead, he may marry her daughter); his
father's wife, and his son's wife; and to
have at the same time two wives who are
sisters, or aunt and niece: he is forbidden
also to marry his unemancipated slave, or
another man's slave if he has already a
free wife; and to marry any woman but
one of his own faith, or a Christian, or a
Jewess. A Mohammadan woman, however,
may only marry a man of her own faith.
An unlawful intercourse with any woman
prevents a man from marrying any of her
relations who would be forbidden to him
if she were his wife.
The reader has already seen that a cousin
(the daughter of a paternal uncle) is often
chosen as a wife, on account of the tie of
blood, which is likely to attach her more
strongly to her husband, or on account of
an affection conceived in early years.
Parity of rank is generally much regarded;
and a man is often unable to obtain as his
wife the daughter of one of a different pro-
fession or trade, unless an inferior; or a
younger daughter when an elder remains
unmarried. A girl is often married at the
age of twelve years, and sometmies at ten,
or even nine: the usual period is between.
twelve and sixteen years. At the age of
thirteen or fourteen she may be a mother.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
1047
The young men marry a few years later.
The most important requisite in a wife
s religion. The Prophet said, "A virtuous
vife is better than the world and all that
t contains." "A virtuous wife," said
Lukmán, "is like a crown on the head of
king; and a wicked wife is like a heavy
›urden on the back of an old man.'
Among the other chief requisites are agree-
bleness of temper, and beauty of form
undiminished by any defect or irregularity
of features or members), moderation in
he amount of dowry required, and good
irth. It is said, "if thou marry not a vir-
in, [which is most desirable,] marry a
livorced woman, and not a widow; for
he divorced woman will respect thy words
when thou sayest, 'If there were any good
n thee thou hadst not been divorced;'
whereas the widow will say, May God
ave mercy on such a one! he hath left me
o one unsuited to me.'' But according to
nother selfish maxim, the woman most to
e avoided is she who is divorced from a
han by whom she has had a child; for
er heart is with him, and she is an enemy
the man who marries her after. -
Modesty is a requisite upon which too
uch stress cannot be laid; but this, to an
English reader, requires some explanation.
Alee asked his wife Fátimeh, "Who is the
est of women?" She answered, "She
ho sees not men, and whom they see
ot." Modesty, therefore, in the opinion
f the Muslims, is most eminently shown
y a woman's concealing her person, and
estraining her eyes, from men. "The best
ink of men [in a mosque]," said the
rophet, "is the front; and the best rank
f women is the rear: " that is, those most
istant from the men: but better than even
hese are the women who pray at home. -
ruitfulness is also a desirable qualification
› be considered in the choice of a wife:
it may be known in maidens," says the
rophet, "from their relations; because,
nerally speaking, kindred are similar in
sposition, &c." Lastly, contentment is to
enumerated among the requisites. It is
id, on the same authority, "Verily the
st of women are those that are most
ntent with little." To obtain a contented
id submissive wife, many men make their
lection from among the classes inferior
them in rank. Others, with a similar
ew, prefer a concubine slave in the place
a wife.
The consent of a girl not arrived at the
e of puberty is not required: her father,
, if he is dead, her nearest adult male
lation, or a guardian appointed by will
by the Kádee, acts as her wekeel, or
deputy, to effect the marriage-contract for
her. If of age, she appoints her own
deputy. A dowry is required to legalize
the marriage; and the least dowry allowed
by the law is ten dirhems, or drachms of
silver; about five shillings in our money.
Mohammad married certain of his wives
for a dowry of ten dirhems and the house-
hold necessaries, which were a handmill to
grind the corn, a water-jar, and a pillow
of skin or leather stuffed with the fibres
of the palm-tree, which are called "leef: "
but some he married for a dowry of five
hundred dirhems. With the increase of
wealth and luxury, dowries have increased
in amount; but, to our ideas, they are still
trifling; a sum equivalent to about twenty
pounds sterling being a common dowry
among Arabs of the middle classes for a
virgin, and half or a third or quarter of
that sum for a divorced woman or a
widow. Two-thirds of the sum is usually
paid before making the contract, and the
remaining portion held in reserve to be
paid to the woman in case of her divorce
or in case of the husband's death. The
father or guardian of a girl under age re-
ceives the former portion of her dowry;
but it is considered as her property, and he
generally expends it, with an additional
sum from his own purse, in the purchase
of necessary furniture, dress, &c., for her,
which the husband can never take from her
against her own wish.
The marriage-contract is generally, in
the present day, merely verbal; but some-
times a certificate is written, and sealed
by the Kádee. The most approved or pro-
pitious period for this act is the month of
Showwál: the most unpropitious, Mohar-
ram. The only persons whose presence is
required to perform it are the bridegroom
(or his deputy), the bride's deputy (who
is the betrother), two male witnesses, if
such can be easily procured, and the Kádee
or a schoolmaster or some other person to
recite a khutbeh, which consists of a few
words in praise of God, a form of blessing
on the Prophet, and some passages of the
Kur-án, respecting marriage. They all re-
cite the Fát'hah (or opening chapter of
the Kur-án), after which the bridegroom
pays the money. The latter and the bride's
deputy then seat themselves on the ground,
face to face, and grasp each other's right
hand, raising the thumbs, and pressing
them against each other. Previously to the
khutbeh, the person who recites this form-
ula places a handkerchief over the two
joined hands; and after the khutbeh he
dictates to the two contracting parties what
they are to say. The betrother generally
1048
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
uses the following or a similar form of
words: "I betroth to thee my daughter
[or her for whom I act as deputy] such a
one [naming the bride], the virgin, [or the
adult virgin, &c.,] for a dowry of such an
amount." The bridegroom answers, "I ac-
cept from thee her betrothal to myself.”
This is all that is absolutely necessary; but
the address and reply are usually repeated
a second and third time, and are often ex-
pressed in fuller forms of words. The con-
tract is concluded with the recital of the
Fát'hah by all persons present.
This betrothal, or marriage-contract, is
often performed several years before the
consummation, when the two parties are
yet children; or during the infancy of the
girl; but generally not more than about
eight or ten days before the former event.
The household furniture and dress prepared
for the bride are sent by her family
to the bridegroom's house, usually con-
veyed by a train of camels, two or three
or more days before she is conducted
thither.
The feasts and processions which are now
to be mentioned are only observed in the
case of a virgin bride; a widow or divorced
woman being remarried in a private man-
ner. I describe them chiefly in accordance
with the usages of Cairo, which appear to
me most agreeable, in general, with the
descriptions and allusions in the present
work. The period most commonly ap-
proved for the consummation of marriage
is the eve of Friday, or that of Monday.
Previously to this event, the bridegroom
once or twice or more frequently gives a
feast to his friends; and for several nights,
his house and the houses of his near neigh-
bours are usually illuminated by numerous
clusters of lamps, or by lanterns, suspended
in front of them; some, to cords drawn
across the street. To these or other cords
are also suspended small flags, or square
pieces of silk, each of two different colours,
generally red and green. Some say that the
feast or feasts should be given on the oc-
casion of the contract; others, on the con-
summation; others, again, on both these
occasions. The usual custom of the people
of Cairo is to give a feast on the night
immediately preceding that of the consum-
mation, and another on the latter night;
but some commence their feasts earlier.
Respecting marriage-feasts, the Prophet
said, "The first day's feast is an incumbent
duty; and the second day's, a sunneh ordi-
nance; and the third's day's, for ostentation
and notoriety: " and he forbade eating at
the feast of the ostentatious. It is a posi-
tive duty to accept an invitation to a
marriage-feast or other lawful entertain
ment; but the guest is not obliged to eat
The persons invited, and all intimat
friends, generally send presents of pro
visions of some kind a day or two before
The Prophet taught that marriage-feast
should be frugal: the best that he gav
was with one goat. He approved of demon
strations of joy at the celebration of a
marriage with songs, and, according to on
tradition, by the beating of deffs (or tam
bourines); but in another tradition the lat
ter practice is condemned. The preferabl
mode of entertaining the guests is by th
performance of a zikr.
The bride is conducted to the bride
groom's house in the afternoon immediately
preceding the night of consummation. Or
the day next preceding that on which sh
is conducted thither, she goes to the publi
bath, accompanied by a number of he
female relations and friends. The proces
sion generally pursues a circuitous route
for the sake of greater display; and or
leaving the house, turns to the right. In
Cairo, the bride walks under a canopy o
silk borne by four men, with one of he
near female relations on each side of her
Young unmarried girls walk before her
these are preceded by the married ladies
and the procession is headed and closed by
a few musicians with drums and hautboys
The bride wears a kind of pasteboar
crown, or cap; and is completely veiled
from the view of spectators by a Kashmee
shawl placed over her crown and whol
person; but some handsome ornaments o
the head are attached externally. The
other women are dressed in the best o
their walking-attire. In the case, however
of a bride of high rank, or of wealth, and
often in the case of one belonging to
family of the middle class, the ladies ride
upon high-saddled asses, without music of
canopy; and the bride is only distinguished
by a Kashmeer shawl instead of the usua
black silk covering; one or more eunuch
sometimes riding at the head. In the bath
after the ordinary operations of washing
&c., a feast is made, and the party are ofter
entertained by female singers. Having re
turned in the same manner to her home
the bride's friends there partake of a simila
entertainment with her. Her hands and
feet are then stained with hennà, and hel
eyes ornamented with kohl; and her friend
give her small presents of money, and take
their leave. "It is a sunneh ordinance that
the bride wash her feet in a clean vessel,
and sprinkle the water in the corners of the
chamber, that a blessing may result from
this. She should also brighten her face
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH
1049
put on the best of her apparel, and
dern her eyes with kohl, and stain [her
ads and feet] with hennà [as above
ntioned]; and she should abstain, during
e first week, from eating anything that
tains mustard, and from vinegar, and
fur apples."
The bride is conducted to the house of
bridegroom (on the following day) in
same manner as to the bath, or with
e pomp. In Cairo, the bridal proces-
persons of very high rank are con-
ted with singular display. The train is
ally headed by buffoons and musicians,
da water-carrier loaded with a goat's-
filled with sand and water, of very
at weight, which is often borne for
any hours before, as well as during, the
rocession, merely to amuse the spectators
this feat of strength. Then follow (in-
rupted by groups of male or female
acers, jugglers, &c.) numerous decorated
waggons, or cars, each of which con-
as several members of some particular
ade or art engaged in their ordinary oc-
pations, or one such person with atten-
ts: in one, for instance, a kahwejee (or
avejee), with his assistants and pots and
ps and fire, making coffee for the spec-
tors: in a second, makers of sweetmeats:
a third, makers of pancakes (fateerehs):
a fourth, silk-lace manufacturers: in a
th, a silk-weaver, with his loom: in a
h, tinners of copper vessels, at their
Fork: in a seventh, white-washers, whiten-
over and over again a wall: in short,
most every manufacture, &c., has its rep-
entatives in a different waggon. El-Ja-
artee describes a procession of this kind
which there were upwards of seventy
parties of different trades and arts, each
arty in a separate waggon, besides buf-
cs, wrestlers, dancers, and others; fol-
ed by various officers, the eunuchs of
bride's family, ladies of the hareem with
eir attendants, then the bride, in a Euro-
an carriage, a troop of memlooks clad in
Tour, and a Turkish band of music. It
a procession of which the like had not
efore been seen.
The bride and her party, having arrived
the house, sit down to a repast. The
Pridegroom does not yet see her. He has
ready been to the bath, and at nightfall
procession with a number of his
goes in
iends to a mosque, to perform the night-
Prayers; he is accompanied by musicians
And singers,
or by chanters of lyric odes
praise of the Prophet; and by men bear-
cressets (poles with cylindrical frames
of iron at the top filled with flaming
Bood); and on his return, most of his
other attendants bear lighted wax candles,
and bunches of flowers.
Returned to his house, he leaves his
friends in a lower apartment, and goes up
to the bride whom he finds seated, with a
shawl thrown over her head, so as to con-
ceal her face completely, and attended by
one or two females. The latter he induces
to retire, by means of a small present. He
then gives a present of money to the bride,
as "the price of uncovering the face," and
having removed the covering (saying, as
he does so," In the name of God, the Com-
passionate, the Merciful "), he beholds her,
generally, for the first time. On the occa-
sion of this first visit, which is called the
"dukhool," or "dukhleh," he is recom-
mended " to perfume himself, and to sprin-
kle some sugar and almonds on the head
of the bride and on that of each woman
with her; this practice being established
by existing usage and by traditions: also,
when he approaches her, he should perform
the prayers of two rek'ahs; and she should
do the same if able: then he should take
hold of the hair over her forehead, and say,
'O God, bless me in my wife, and bless my
wife in me! O God, bestow upon me [off-
spring] by her, and bestow upon her [off-
spring] by me! O God, unite us, as Thou
hast united, happily; and separate us, when
Thou separatest, happily!""
NOTE 40. The tarboosh is a woollen
skull-cap, of a deep blood-red colour, hav-
ing a tassel of dark blue silk attached to
the crown. It is now worn by most Arabs
of the higher and middle classes, and by
many others, except in Arabia, where it is
not so common. Round it is wound the
muslin or shawl which forms the turban.
Within it is worn a cotton cap. The Turks
call it "fes," and "fés."
NOTE 41. The farajeeyeh is a loose robe
or coat, now generally made of cloth, with
full and long sleeves extending a little be-
yond the extremities of the fingers and
without any slit. It is worn chiefly by
persons of the learned professions.
NOTE 42. This is the usual mode in
which money is collected for the singing-
women in the present day.
NOTE 43. "Hooreeyeh" is the appella-
tion commonly given by the Arabs to a
virgin of Paradise, by French and English
writers, termed "Houri; " which term, in
Arabic, converts a female into a male, but
is agreeable with the Persian equivalent of
the Arabic "Hooreeyeh."
1050
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 44.
- On the Evil Eye. Some re-
marks on the "evil eye" have been made
in a former note (No. 24 in the present
series), with respect to children, and the
means of counteracting its supposed influ-
ence; but I mention this subject again
partly with the view of suggesting to the
reader the necessity of bearing it in mind,
as it explains many usages described, or
alluded to, in this work, which would
otherwise appear unaccountable. He may
remember a well-known line of Virgil
--
"Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat
agnos,
which, like many other allusions in works
of ancient authors, shews how long and
how extensively this superstition has been
entertained. How deeply it is rooted in
the minds of Arabs, even the most religious
and learned, may be inferred from this say,
ing of their Prophet: "The eye has a
complete influence; because verily, if there
were a thing to overcome fate, it most cer-
tainly would be a malignant eye." Hence
he permitted charms (which he disallowed
in almost every other case) to be employed
for the purpose of counteracting its influ-
ence. The following observation, selected
from several of a similar nature in my work
on the Modern Egyptians, aptly illustrates
the passage to which this note immediately
refers. "It is a custom among the higher
and middle classes in Cairo, on the occasion
of a marriage, to hang chandeliers in the
street before the bridegroom's house; and it
often happens that a crowd is collected to
see a very large and handsome chandelier
suspended: in this case, it is a common
practice to divert the attention of the spec-
tators by throwing down and breaking a
large jar, or by some other artifice, lest an
envious eye should cause the chandelier to
fall."
NOTE 45. The closet here alluded to, be-
ing one in which ablution is performed, al-
ways contains a small trough of water, or
a ewer.
NOTE 46. This epithet, "unlucky," is
often applied to an 'Efreet. I have fre-
quently heard it thus used by Arabs.
(literally,
NOTE 47. "Aboo-Shiháb"
Father of a Shooting Star) is a nickname
often given to a devil, and is so employed
because devils, or evil jinnees, are some-
times destroyed by shooting stars hurled
at them by angels; an instance of which
occurs in the tale under consideration.
NOTE 48. "Sitt-el-Hosn " signifies
Lady of Beauty."
NOTE 49.
"th
"Hasheesh" is the intoxicat
ing hemp, which has been mentioned i
former notes.
NOTE 50. Thus in the Breslau edition
and in the Calcutta edition of the first tw
hundred nights; but in the edition of Cair
the cook is merely termed a prodigal.
NOTE 51.- On Adoption. The Moham
madan law allows the adoption of son:
provided that the person to be adopte
consents to the act, if of age to judge fo
himself; also, that he has been deprived o
his parents by death or other means; an
that there be such a difference of age be
tween the two parties as might subsist be
tween a natural father and his son. Th
adopted son enjoys the same right of in
heritance as the natural son; but the adop
tive father is not prevented by this ac
from marrying any relation of his adopte
son.
NOTE 52. In the houses of Arabs of th
more wealthy classes, there is usually
chair upon which the turban is placed a
night. It is of a large size, but slight make
the bottom and back being generally o
cane-work; and sometimes it has a kind o
canopy constructed over it. The turban
when placed upon it, is covered with a ker
chief of thick silk stuff, often embroidered
or interwoven with gold thread.
NOTE 53. "Mósilee " may be understood
as meaning either "of the fashion of El-
Mósil," or " of muslin: " but the former
according to my sheykh, is the signification
here intended. I think there is nothing
peculiar in the common modern turban of
El-Mósil.
NOTE 54. This is done under the idea
that it strengthens the infant's eyes.
NOTE 55. "'Ajeeb " signifies "Wonder-
ful."
NOTE 56. The meaning of this is, that
he grew in a day as other children in a
month; and in a month, as others in a year.
NOTE 57. The death of the cook is men-
tioned in the edition of Breslau; but not
in that of Cairo.
NOTE 58. This ejaculation is generally
uttered at the mention of a deceased Mus-
lim.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH
1051
NOTE 59.
"Sáheb" is a title given to
Nezeers, as mentioned in Note 8 to the
ntroduction.
The
NOTE 60. In the original, fifteen.
ge of 'Ajeeb has been shewn to have been
ttle more than eleven at this period; there-
ore I have substituted twelve for fifteen.
-
NOTE 61. This alludes to a custom com-
non in the East, that of giving a pres-
nt of a dress, or some article of clothing,
o a person who has brought good news.
NOTE 62. The term "boy" is not used
ere to imply that the eunuch was a youth;
ut in the sense in which it is often em-
loyed by us; as synonymous with serv-
nt."
66
NOTE 63. "Er-Reydáneeyeh" is the
ame of a tract on the north of Cairo,
there travellers arriving from Syria gen-
rally halted. In the original, by errors
1 the diacritical points, this name is con-
erted into "Ez-Zebedáneeyeh."
NOTE 64. The word which I translate
a cross," literally signifies "an effigy;
ut I suppose this term to be employed
erely because a cross bears a rude resem-
lance to a man with extended arms.
66
NOTE 65. "The name of Allah encom-
ass thee!" (or, literally, - be around
lee!") is an ejaculation often used, espe-
cially by women, agreeing exactly with the
expression in the first verse of the twentieth
Psalm, "The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee!". -the "name" of God here
signifying his power.
"The name of the
Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run-
neth into it, and is safe." (Proverbs xviii.
10.)
NOTE 66. Here, for a reason given
above, I have substituted "twelve for
ten."
NOTE 67. In the original, the last of
these verses is here omitted, but my sheykh
has supplied it in the margin of my copy,
and it occurs afterwards, in the 75th night,
in which the preceding verses, with some
slight variations, are repeated.
-
NOTE 68. On the Expiation of Oaths.
The law clearly allows expiation for an in-
considerate oath, and, according to vulgar
opinion, for the violation of a deliberate
oath. The expiation consists in once feed-
ing or clothing ten poor men, liberating a
Muslim slave or captive, or fasting three
days. An unintentional oath requires no
expiation; but the swearing to a falsehood
can only be expiated by deep repentance.
NOTE 69. Hole observes (page 222),
that "the discovery of Bedreddin in the
Arabian Nights, by the tarts he had made,
bears internal evidence of having been
copied from Nella Raja's detection by the
same means: " and he refers to Kindersley's
"Specimens of Indian Literature."
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH
NOTE I. As the story of the Humpback
one of the best in this collection, and
irely Arab, I have been glad to find, in
e Calcutta edition of the first two hun-
ed nights, authority for deviating here
om my usual standard copy, by sub-
ituting "El-Basrah" for a city of China.
he Breslau edition, in the opening of the
ory, lays the scene at "El-Basrah and
ajkár." By the latter, I suppose Kásh-
iar to be meant.
NOTE 2. In my original, they are said to
Ive gone out early in the morning; but
is is contradicted by the sequel.
NOTE 3. The appeal to Ezra's ass, which
alludes to a tradition believed by the Mus-
lims, as it is mentioned in the Kur-án, is
omitted in the Cairo edition. The story
is this: 'Ozeyr, or Ezra, "riding on an
ass by the ruins of Jerusalem, after it had
been destroyed by the Chaldeans, doubted
in his mind by what means God could
raise the city and its inhabitants again;
whereupon God caused him to die, and he
remained in that condition a hundred
years; at the end of which, God restored
him to life, and he found a basket of figs
and a cruse of wine that he had with him,
not in the least spoiled or corrupted; but
1052
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
his ass was dead, the bones only remain-
ing; and these, while the Prophet looked
on, were raised and clothed with flesh, be-
coming an ass again, which, being inspired
with life, began immediately to bray."
NOTE 4. Most Arab cities abound with
cats, which are much favoured by the in-
habitants. These animals are often seen
leaping across from the terrace of one house
to that of another on the opposite side of
a narrow street; and often has my kitchen
in Cairo been robbed by them. They are
said to contribute greatly to the spreading
of the plague.
NOTE 5. Occurrences of this kind are
said to have often happened in Arab towns,
where dogs, though esteemed unclean by
the Muslims, are, like cats, generally very
numerous. Few of them have masters;
but they compose distinct tribes; those of
each tribe confining themselves to a par-
ticular quarter or district of the town, and
suffering no strange dog to intrude among
them and share with them in the offal
thrown out from the butchers' shops and
from private houses; or prowling about
the mounds of rubbish in the environs,
and, like the vultures, feeding upon the car-
casses of camels, asses, and other beasts,
thrown out by the inhabitants. I was once
told that the master of an English mer-
chant-vessel, having fallen asleep in a state
of intoxication on the shore of the harbour
of Alexandria, at night, was devoured by
dogs.
NOTE 6. The snatching of turbans by
night is still a frequent practice of Arab
and one which is often very lucra-
rogues,
tive; many a turban being composed of a
costly Kashmeer shawl wound round a tar-
boosh, which latter alone is worth eight or
nine shillings, or more, and some also hav-
ing money or other valuables secreted in
them.
66
NOTE 7. Watchmen are generally em-
ployed to guard by night the sooks, or
market-streets, and other districts, in Arab
towns. Those in Cairo carry a nebboot, or
long staff, but no lantern. Their usual
cries are of a religious nature; as,
I ex-
tol the perfection of the Living King, who
sleepeth not nor dieth!" When they see a
passenger approaching, they call out to
him, "Attest the unity of God!" or merely,
"Attest the unity!" and the reply is,
"There is no deity but God!" It is sup-
posed that a person bound on any unlawful
undertaking would not dare to utter these
words.
NOTE 8. At the period when this wor
was composed, the Christians were distin
guished from the Muslims by a black
blue turban, and this was wound in
peculiar manner.
-
NOTE 9.
- On the Title and Office
Wálee. "Walee" is the title given to th
chief magistrate of the police, and was s
employed in the time of El-Makreezee, in
stead of the older appellation of "Sáhe
esh-Shurtah." The same officer was als
called "Mutawellee." It was the duty o
this magistrate to perambulate the street
at night, attended by a body of his officers
including an executioner; for he often in
flicted capital punishment on criminals im
mediately after their detection. He wa
invested with a degree of despotic power
and often put to death persons accused o
capital crimes without the formalities re
quired by the law. It was also his duty
to superintend the infliction of the punish
ments of criminals legally condemned. Ar
officer was employed to perform the nightly
rounds in El-Medeeneh in the reign o
Aboo-Bekr; but it appears that the firs
regular guard for this purpose was ap
pointed in the reign of 'Othmán.
NOTE 10. The ardebb, thus commonly
pronounced, but properly written irdebb
varies in different places. In Cairo it is
very nearly equivalent to five English
bushels.
NOTE II. In the original, this building is
called the Khán of El-Jawálce; but it evi-
dently should be — of El-Jáwalee; and
the error is to be attributed to a copyist.
The Khan of El-Jáwalee is mentioned by
El-Makreezee, as being situate at a short
distance within the present gate called
Báb en-Nasr, and by the site of the older
gate so called; and as existing in his time.
in the former half of the ninth century of
the Flight.
NOTE 12. Báb en-Nasr (the Gate of
Victory, or
of Aid) is the name of
the easternmost of the northern gates of
Cairo. It was built in the reign of the
Khaleefeh El-Mustansir, in the year of the
Flight 480 (A. D. 1087-8).
NOTE 13. The words "besides my brok-
erage," I have inserted as necessary to
make the account correct.
NOTE 14. It has been shewn in a former
note that the Arabs consider it indecorous
to eat with the left hand.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH
1053
NOTE 15. As it is held unpolite to shew
he hands, unless unavoidably, in the pres-
nce of a person of rank, the sleeve of the
loth coat, or that of the silk vest which is
vorn beneath it, is made sufficiently long
o extend a little beyond the ends of the
ingers; and so also, in general, is the sleeve
of the shirt worn by persons of the lower
›rders.
NOTE 16. This building is first called, in
he Cairo edition, the Khán of Suroor; and
fterwards, - of Mesroor: the latter is
he appellation given to it in the edition of
Breslau; and is the correct name. The
Khán of Mesroor is mentioned by El-
Makreezee, as situate at the southern ex-
remity of Beyn el-Kasreyn (respecting
which see the next note), adjacent to the
ite of the Great Palace of the Khaleefehs.
There were two Kháns of this name near
ach other. El-Makreezee says, that, in
his earlier days, the greater of these, which
appears to be that here alluded to, was
one of the finest and largest Kháns in
Cairo, in a most flourishing state, the re-
ort of the chief Syrian merchants, and the
lépot of their goods; but that latterly it
had declined, and some portions of it were
'uined.
NOTE 17. Beyn el-Kasreyn (which sig-
ifies "Between the Two Palaces ") is the
name still applied to that part of the prin-
ipal street of Cairo which intervenes be-
ween the sites of the two famous palaces
of the Khaleefehs.
NOTE 18. A Keysáreeyeh is a superior
kind of sook, consisting of ranges of shops
acing each other. That which is here men-
ioned (called in the Cairo edition. the
Keysareeyeh of Jirjis; in the edition of
Breslau, the Keysáreeyeh of Jarkash; and
n the old English version, erroneously, the
Circassian bezestein) is the Keysáreeyeh of
Tahárkas, which, as I learn from El-
Makreezee, was situate near the centre of
what constituted the old city, on the east
of the principal street. It existed in his
ime, and was built by the Emeer Fakhr-
ed-Deen Jahárkas, in the year of the Flight
502 (A. D. 1108-9). Ibn-Khallikán, as
quoted by El-Makreezee, says of it, "I
mave seen a number of merchants who have
raversed various countries, and who say,
We have not seen in any country its equal
n beauty and greatness, and compactness
f construction."" He explains also the
rthography of the name of Jahárkas,"
and states that it is Persian (Chahár-kas),
nd signifies “four persons."
NOTE 19. The Egyptian fowls are much
smaller than those of our country, and one
is not too much for one man's breakfast.
The eggs are usually hatched in ovens.
NOTE 20. The appellation of "the Gar-
dener" is here to be understood as a mere
surname derived from the occupation of
some ancestor of the merchant; it being a
common custom of the Arabs to retain an
appellation of this kind, however humble.
NOTE. 21. El-Makreezee mentions a
"sook of the money-changers" as near to
the Khán of Mesroor; and it seems to be
the place here alluded to: the word "sook "
being often omitted.
NOTE 22. The lady having offered up a
prayer that the young merchant might be
her husband, I have taken the liberty of
inserting here a slight interpolation, which
does not detract from the probability or
consistency of the story; but rather the
contrary.
―
NOTE 23.
- On one of the Passages in
this Work indicating a very late Date. The
Habbáneeyeh is the name now applied to
a portion of a main street, a little to the
west of the lake called Birket el-Feel, in
the southern part of Cairo. It is evidently
thus applied in the passage to which this
note relates; but El-Makreezee, writing in
the former half of the ninth century of
the Flight, says, "In this our time, border-
ing upon it [the Birket el-Feel] is a garden
called by the name of the Habbáneeyeh,
who were a family of Darmà the son of
'Amr the son of 'Owf the son of Thaalebeh
the son of Baal the son of 'Amr the son
of El-Ghóth the son of Teiyi: so Darmà
was a minor family of [the tribe of] Teiyi,
and the Habbáneeyoon [or Habbáneeyeh -
for the terms are synonymous] were a fam-
ily of Darmà: and the people have made
a road between the garden of the Habbá-
neeyeh and the lake." He proceeds to say,
that on the east of the Birket el-Feel, there
were gardens; but that houses and streets
had been built there. Now, in the work
before us, the tract which was a garden in
the time of El-Makreezee is mentioned as
occupied by houses and streets. Many
years must have elapsed since that period
before such could have been the case; and
surely at least a century before the houses
could have presented such an appearance as
would lead a writer to imagine them of
ancient times." It may be objected
against an argument drawn from this pas-
sage, that it is perhaps an interpolation of
66
1054
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
a copyist; but it agrees with many evi-
dences of a late date, and occurs in at least
one other copy (that from which the Bres-
lau edition is printed), with only this slight
difference that " Habbáneeyeh," by the
erroneous addition of a point beneath the
first letter, is converted into "Jebbá-
neeyeh: " and it should be remarked that
the latter copy varies considerably in other
points from that of Cairo. It would imply
that Cairo was almost as extensive a city
at the time when this work was composed
or modernized as it is at present; and
would account for its being here called
Misr, or Masr; a name which was retained
by El-Fustát at least as late as the com-
mencement of the tenth century of the
Flight, and probably until the year 1517
of our era or a little later, as I have re-
marked in a former note.
66
NOTE 24. "Ká'ah" is a term generally
signifying a lofty saloon; " but also often
applied to an elegant house.
66
NOTE 25. "Nakeeb" signifies "a chief,"
a leader," &c., and has various applica-
tions. In the present instance, the office
which it designates is doubtful, but is evi-
dently of high dignity, as Nakeeb of the
Shereefs, the Chief, or Syndic, of the De-
scendants of the Prophet.
NOTE 26. Báb Zuweyleh (the Gate of
Zuweyleh, or, more properly, of Zaweeleh,
which is the name of a tribe) is a gate that
was built at the same period as Báb en-
Nasr, before mentioned. It marked the
southern limit of Cairo; but is now in the
heart of the metropolis. With two round-
fronted towers, each surmounted by a lofty
and elegant mád'neh, or menaret, pertain-
ing to the adjoining great mosque of El-
Mueiyad, it presents a very noble appear-
ance.
NOTE 27.
"Imperial gypsum" is a name
given to the best kind of plaster used in
Cairo. I have often admired the smooth-
ness of its surface upon the walls of cham-
bers in some of the older houses in that
city; but, I need hardly say, never saw any
that reflected like a mirror.
NOTE 28. In the Cairo edition, "with
pearls and jewels at its corners." The de-
ficiency I have supplied from the edition
of Breslau: but I may here remark, that it
would have been more proper to describe
the snakes as gilt.
NOTE 29. On the Crowns worn by
Arab Ladies. From Eastern drawings and
descriptions, it appears that the kind a
crown here mentioned was generally a circl
of jewelled gold (the lower edge of which
was straight; and the upper, fancifully
heightened to four or more points) sur
rounding the lower part of a dome-shaped
cap with a jewel or some other ornament
at the summit. This crown was worn by
many Arab ladies of high rank or great
wealth, probably until about two centuries
ago. Another kind of crown is now more
generally worn, called a "kurs." This is a
round, convex ornament, generally about
five inches in diameter, composed of gold
set with a profusion of diamonds, of open
work, representing roses, leaves, &c. It is
sewed upon the top of the tarboosh; and
is worn by most of the ladies of Cairo, at
least in full dress. An engraving of a
crown of this description, and another of
one of a more common kind, may be seen
in my work on the Modern Egyptians, vol.
ii. Appendix A.
NOTE 30. It is a common custom of the
Arabs to give a present of money tied up
in a corner of an embroidered handker-
chief.
NOTE 31. The mace is a weapon still
used in the East, but not so commonly as
it was in former times. There was a petty
governor in Upper Egypt during my first
visit to that country, who, in his daily
rides, indulged a frequent habit of striking
persons with a weapon of this kind, a toler-
ably-heavy steel mace; but he did it with
a happy knack, so as never, I believe, to
inflict a dangerous wound, unless intention-
ally. Maces, like other arms of steel, are
often tastefully inlaid with arabesque orna-
ments and inscriptions in gold.
NOTE 32.- On the Punishment of Theft.
The Mohammadan law ordains that a per-
son who is adult and of sound mind, if he
steals an article of the value of a quarter
of a deenár (or piece of gold) from a place
to which he has not ordinary or free ac-
cess, shall lose his right hand; but this
punishment is not to be inflicted for steal-
ing a free child, or anything which, in the
eye of the law, is of no pecuniary value;
as wine, or a musical instrument; and there
are some other cases in which the thief is
not to be so punished. For the second
offence, the left foot is to be cut off; and
for the third and subsequent offences, ac-
cording to the Hanafee code, the culprit is
to be punished by a long imprisonment;
or, by the Sháfe'ee law, for the third of-
fence, he is to lose his left hand; for the
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH
1055
-
fourth, his right foot; and for further
offences, he is to be flogged or beaten. The
punishment is the same for a woman as for
a man. The law induced a freethinking
Muslim to ask, "If the hand is worth five
hundred deenárs, [this being the fine for
depriving a man of that member,] why
should it be cut off for a quarter of a
deenár?" He was answered, "An honest
hand is of great value; but not so is the
hand that hath stolen." - Amputation for
theft is now seldom practised: beating, or
some other punishment, is usually inflicted
in its stead for the first, second, and third
offense; and, frequently, death for the
fourth.
NOTE 33. Capital punishment in this
case would be contrary to the law; but it
is often inflicted upon highway-robbers.
NOTE 34. The meaning is, that the doer
is God. An allusion is here conveyed to a
verse (the 17th) in the Soorat el-Anfál
(the eighth chapter of the Kur-án)
"Thou didst not cast [the gravel into their
eyes] when thou didst [seem to] cast [it];
but God cast [it]."
NOTE 35. The honour that is due to the
human body requires that any portion dis-
united from it be decently deposited in
the earth.
NOTE 36. As a hair, for instance, is
drawn from paste.
NOTE 37. These verses are founded on a
tradition of the Prophet.
NOTE 38.-
On Khatmehs, or Recitations
of the whole of the Kur-án at Private Fes-
tivities. The most approved and common
mode of entertaining guests at modern pri-
vate festivities among the Arabs is by a
Khatmeh, which is the recitation of the
whole of the Kur-án. Three or more per-
sons of the inferior class of the professors
of religion and law, who are called fakeehs
(vulgarly, fikees), are usually hired for this
purpose. Schoolmasters, and students of
the collegiate mosques who devote them-
selves to religion and law, are the persons
most commonly thus employed. Their
mode of recitation is a peculiar kind of
chanting, which, when well executed, I
found very agreeable, at least for an hour
or so: but the guests seldom have to listen
to the chanting of the whole of the Kur-án:
the reciters usually accomplish the greater
portion of their task, in a somewhat hur-
ried manner, before the guests have as-
sembled, each of them chanting, in turn, a
certain portion, as a thirtieth part of the
whole (called a "juz "), or half one of
these sections (a "hezb"), or, more com-
monly, a quarter (ruba). Afterwards they
chant more leisurely, and in a more musical
manner; but still by turns. These recita-
tions of the whole of the Kur-án are per-
formed on various festive occasions, but
are most usual after a death; the merit of
the performance being transferred to the
soul of the deceased.
66
--
NOTE 39. The mess termed "zirbájeh,"
by some called "zurbájeh," from the Per-
sian Zeerbáj," is a kind of spoon-meat.
Some of its ingredients are described in the
sequel of the present story.
-
NOTE 40.
-On Atonements and other
Services for the Dead. As filial piety is a
general characteristic of the Arabs, and
various services are believed by them to
atone for the minor sins of the deceased,
and thus to diminish his misery, or to in-
crease his happiness, it is natural, and not
uncommon, for a son to act in the manner
here related. Recitations of the Kur-án
are performed for the dead, to whom the
merit of these works is transferred, and a
sacrifice is often offered at the tomb after
the burial; the flesh of the victim being
distributed to the poor. But a more im-
portant service for the deceased is the pay-
ment of his debts; for it is affirmed by the
Prophet, that even martyrdom will not
atone for a debt unpaid.
NOTE 41. A money-changer is very fre-
quently employed to examine the money
which a purchaser offers; and if it be old,
to weigh it. The money-changers are
mostly Jews and Christians.
NOTE 42. Some mosques (as the Azhar,
for instance, the principal mosque of Cairo)
remain open all night; and many houseless
persons sleep in them, upon the matting
which covers the paved floor. Men are also
often seen, at other times, but not at the
hours of prayer, lounging, eating, or work-
ing, in the mosques; such practices not be-
ing deemed inconsistent with the high re-
spect which the Muslims pay to these
buildings.
NOTE 43. The remainder of this para-
graph, and the whole of the next two para-
graphs, being omitted in the edition of
Cairo, I translate from the Calcutta edition
of the first two hundred nights, and the edi-
tion of Breslau; but almost entirely from
the former.
1056
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 44. The water of the well of Zem-
zem, in the temple of Mekkeh, is believed
to possess miraculous virtues, and is there-
fore brought away in bottles or flasks by
many of the pilgrims, to be used when oc-
casion may require as medicine, or to be
sprinkled on grave-linen. A bottle of it is
a common and acceptable present from a
pilgrim, and a guest is sometimes treated
with a sip of this holy water.
NOTE 45. A whip is sometimes used in
the hareem of a great man; and its being
attached to the waist of the damsel here
mentioned marks her authority. It is gen-
erally formed of a strip of hippopotamus'
hide, hammered into a round shape; and
this kind is called a "kurbáj." I believe it
is seldom used in the hareem with severity;
but usually for intimidation.
NOTE 46. It is a universal custom of the
Arabs, on visiting the sick, to say, "May
our Lord restore thee!" or, "No evil befall
thee! &c.
NOTE 47. The first hospital built by a
Muslim was that of Damascus, founded by
El-Weleed the son of 'Abd-El-Melik, in the
eighty-eighth year of the Flight (A. D. 706-
7). The Arabs would deprive St. Ephrem
Syrus of the honour of having been the
author of the first institution of this kind;
one of their historians ascribing it to an
early Pharaoh, named Menákiyoosh; an-
other, to Hippocrates.
NOTE 48. The remainder of the para-
graph is translated from the Calcutta edi-
tion of the first two hundred nights.
NOTE 49. "The metropolis of the
world," or literally, "the mother of the
world"
("umm ed-dunyà "), is a title
given to several cities, as well as to Cairo,
by their respective inhabitants. This pas-
sage, therefore, and others of a similar kind,
in which even foreigners are made to rank
Egypt and Cairo as superior to every other
country and city, strongly favour the opin-
ion that some of its tales were written, or
altered, by an Egyptian.
NOTE 50. A more ample eulogium upon
Egypt and the Nile, but abounding with
such gross errors that I could not con-
fidently offer a translation, is found in the
Breslau edition. It agrees better with the
old translation; which, however, in this
place, presents considerable unauthorized
amplifications, and some misconceptions:
"Birket el-Habash" (for instance), the
name of a lake on the south of Cairo, bein
mistaken for Ethiopia.
NOTE 51. For this monthly rent (o
about a guinea of our money), a large and
handsome house may be hired at the pres
ent day in Cairo.
NOTE 52. After the amputation of the
hand for theft, the stump is usually
plunged in boiling pitch or tar, or oil, to
stanch the blood.
NOTE 53. On Retaliation and Fines for
Wounds and Mutilations. Retaliation for
intentional wounds and mutilations is al-
lowed by the Mohammadan law, like as
for murder; "eye for eye," &c.: but a fine
may be accepted instead, which the law al-
lows also for unintentional injuries. The
fine for a member that is single (as the
nose) is the whole price of blood, as for
homicide; namely a thousand deenárs
(about 500£) from him who possesses gold;
or, from him who possesses silver, twelve
thousand dirhems (about 300£); for a
member of which there are two, and not
more (as a hand), half the price of blood;
for one of which there are ten (a finger
or toe), a tenth of the price of blood: but
the fine of a man for maiming or wounding
a woman is half of that for the same in-
jury to a man; and that of a free person
for injuring a slave varies according to the
value of the slave. The fine for depriving
a man of any of his five senses, or danger-
ously wounding him, or grievously disfigur-
ing him for life, is the whole price of
blood.
NOTE 54. See No. 20 of the notes to
Chapter ii." The women of Egypt have
the character of being the most licentious
in their feelings of all females who lay any
claim to be considered as members of a
civilized nation; and this character is freely
bestowed upon them by their countrymen,
even in conversation with foreigners.".
In the work from which the above passage
is quoted, I have expatiated upon this sub-
ject more than I need do in the present
case.
NOTE 55. The Arabs are generally of
opinion that the innate dispositions of a
child are inherited more from the mother
than from the father. They believe that
a daughter commonly resembles, in good or
evil qualities, her mother; and a son, his
maternal uncle. Hence they often address
a man, "Ya teiyib el-khál! -"O thou
who hast a good maternal uncle!"
""
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH
1057
NOTE 56. 'Abd-Allah Ibn-'Abbas was
one of the most learned of the companions
of his cousin Mohammad, and one of the
most celebrated of the relaters of his say-
ings and actions. He has received the titles
of "Interpreter of the Kur-án " and "Sul-
tán of Commentators." He died in the
year of the Flight 68. His father, 'Abbás,
the son of 'Abd-El-Muttalib, was paternal
uncle of Mohammad, and ancestor of the
'Abbasee Khaleefehs.
-
NOTE 57. On the Astrolabe. The astro-
labe is more commonly used by the Arabs
than any other instrument for astronomical
observations. It is generally between four
and six inches in diameter. It consists of
a circular plate with a graduated rim,
within which fit several thinner plates, and
of a limb, moving on a pivot in the centre,
with two sights. The plates are engraved
with complicated diagrams, &c., for various
calculations. The instrument is held by a
ring, or by a loop of cord attached to the
ring, during an observation; and thus its
own weight answers the same purpose as
the plumb-line of the quadrant (which the
Arabs sometimes used in its stead); the
position of the moveable limb with the
sights marking the required altitude.
NOTE 58. Safar is the second month of
the Mohammadan year.
NOTE 59. As different copies vary here
as to the date, I have taken the liberty of
putting 263 instead of 763 or 653, in order
to avoid a glaring anachronism. It is
probable, however, that the last of these is
the author's date, as it is found both in
the old translation, and in the Breslau edi-
tion. The date in the Cairo edition is 763.
NOTE 60. A degree is four minutes; it
would have been more proper, therefore,
to have said, eight degrees and two min-
utes, than seven degrees and six minutes.
NOTE 61. "Es-Sámit
Silent."
""
46
signifies the
NOTE 62. This and the two following
names, or rather, surnames, convey the
Same meaning. Bakbook, Heddár, and
Bakbak (here, in my original, erroneously
written Yakyak), signify "Chatterer."
El-Kooz el-Aswanee " (not to be mis-
taken for ".
Aswánee," with a
soft s) seems to imply that the person thus
named was always like a mug, with open
mouth, and insensible as flint to rebuke.
The two remaining names are different in
different copies: "Shakálik " is perhaps put
erroneously for some other word, as "Shi-
kák,'
""Discord."
NOTE 63. Kur-án, ch. iii. v. 128.
NOTE 64. The Arabs generally carry
their young children in this manner, seated
astride upon the shoulder.
NOTE 65. This expression is borrowed
from the Kur-án, ch. xlviii. v. 10. The
meaning is, "there is no power of man, but
God's power is superior to it."
NOTE 66. The Prophet (Mohammad) is
always alluded to when this form of bene-
diction is used and the name of the person
to whom it is applied is not mentioned.
NOTE 67. "Nedd" is a perfume com-
posed of ambergris, musk, and aloes wood;
or simply ambergris.
NOTE 68. Two khutbehs are recited on
the occasion of the congregational Friday-
prayers. It is the first of these which is
here alluded to. See the next note.
NOTE 69. - On the Congregational Fri-
day-prayers. The Selám (or Salutation)
of Friday is a form of blessing on the
Prophet and his family and companions,
which is chanted by the muëddins from the
mád'nehs (or towers) of the congregational
mosques half an hour before noon. The
worshippers begin to assemble in the
mosque as soon as they hear it, and, rang-
ing themselves in rows parallel to, and
facing, that side in which is the niche, that
marks the direction of Mekkeh, each per-
forms, by himself, the prayers of two
rek'ahs, which are supererogatory, and then
sits in his place while a reader recites part
or the whole of the 18th chapter of the
Kur-án. At the call of noon, they all stand
up, and each again performs, separately,
the prayers of two rek'ahs, ordained by
the Prophet. A minister, standing at
the foot of the pulpit-stairs, then pro-
poses to bless the Prophet: and accord-
ingly, a second Selám is chanted by one
or more other ministers stationed on an
elevated platform. After this, the for-
mer minister, and the latter after him,
repeat the call of noon (which the muëd-
dins have before chanted from the mád-
'nehs); and the former enjoins silence. The
chief minister (Khateeb, or Imám,) has
already seated himself on the top step or
platform of the pulpit. He now rises, and
recites a khutbeh of praise to God and ex-
1058
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hortation to the congregation; and if in a
country or town acquired by arms from
unbelievers, he holds a wooden sword, rest-
ing its point on the ground. Each of the
congregation next offers up some private
supplication; after which, the Khateeb
recites a second khutbeh, which is always
the same, or nearly so; part, of a similar
nature to the first, but chiefly, prayer for
the Prophet and his family, &c., and for the
general welfare of the Muslims. This
finished, the Khateeb or Imám descends
from the pulpit, and, stationed before the
niche, after a form of words differing
slightly from the call to prayer has been
chanted by the ministers on the elevated
platform before mentioned, recites the
divinely-ordained prayers of Friday (two
rek'ahs), while the people do the same
silently, keeping time with him exactly in
the various postures. Thus are completed
the Friday prayers; but some of the con-
gregation remain, and perform the ordi-
nary divinely-ordained prayers of noon.
NOTE 70. So in the Cairo edition. El-
Muntasir bi-lláh was the great-grandson of
Hároon Er-Rasheed, and acceded to the
throne in the year of the Flight 247 (A. D.
861). A slight anachronism, therefore, is
here presented, unless we suppose that the
hero of the story told by the Sultán's
steward was an old man at the period of
the misfortune of the humpback. The
reign of El-Muntasir was somewhat less
than six months. The copy from which the
old translation was made, and the edition
of Breslau, date the adventure of the bar-
ber, here related, more than three centuries
and a half later, in the reign of El-Mus-
tansir bi-lláh.
NOTE 71. The practice of spunging, or
the intrusion of strangers at entertainments,
has long been very prevalent in Arab towns.
An instance has been given towards the
close of Note 22 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 72. I have altered the order in
which the brothers are described, and
omitted two particulars, to agree with the
sequel.
NOTE 73. The next paragraph is trans-
lated from the Calcutta edition of the first
two hundred nights; being omitted in the
Cairo edition. An equal portion, later, is
wanting in the old translation.
NOTE 74.1 - On Augurations with respect
to Marriage. This passage alludes to an
astrological calculation made with the view
of determining by what sign of the zodiac
the two persons are influenced who con-
template becoming man and wife, and
thence ascertaining whether they will agree.
This is often done in the present day by
adding together the numerical values of the
letters composing his or her name and that
of the mother, and, if I remember right;
subtracting from 12 the whole sum if this is
less than 12, or what remains after sub-
tracting, or dividing by, 12. Thus is ob-
tained the number of the sign. The twelve
signs, commencing with Aries, correspond
respectively with the elements of fire, earth,
air, water, fire, earth, and so on; and if
the signs of the two parties indicate the
same element, it is inferred that they will
agree; but if they indicate different ele-
ments, the inference is, that the one will
be affected by the other in the same man-
ner as the element of the one is by that of
the other: thus, if the element of the man
is fire, and that of the woman, water, he
will be subject to her rule.
Among other calculations of the same
kind is the following, which my sheykh has
mentioned in a marginal note on this
passage, in the copy from which I trans-
late. - The numerical values of the letters
composing the name of each of the two
parties are added together, and one of
these two sums is subtracted from the
other: if the remainder is an uneven num-
ber, the inference is unfavourable; but if
even, the reverse.
In the present instance, the dupe, know-
ing that there are various modes of divin-
ing whether he will be happy with his wife,
is made to believe that his fortune depends
upon the mode, instead of the result, of the
calculation.
NOTE 75. Here, in my original, “Bak-
bak;" but this, as before mentioned, was
the name of the third brother.
a
NOTE 76. "Kuffeh," signifying
basket of palm-leaves," and "a dry gourd,"
seems to be here equivalent to "empty-
head."
NOTE 77. The blind in Egypt are no-
torious for their impudence. It is related
that Moses, while bathing one day in the
Nile, saw a blind man pass by, and, being
moved with pity, prayed that God would
restore his sight. His prayer was answered;
but as soon as the eyes of the blind man
were opened, he seized the clothes of his
benefactor, which were lying on the bank,
and protested that they were his own.
Moses, therefore, now prayed that the thief
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH
1059
night be struck blind again; and God,
nswering his prayer, said, O Moses, know
hat I am wiser than thou with respect to
ny creatures. This tradition was related
o me in Cairo.
NOTE 78. It is generally thus that an
njured Muslim calls others to his aid.
NOTE 79. Like the natives of Egypt in
he period of the Roman domination, its
nodern inhabitants, and the Arabs of other
ountries (though, I believe, in a less de-
ree), are notorious for their obstinacy in
efusing to pay their taxes until they have
een severely beaten. They well know
hat, the more readily they pay, the more
ill be exacted from them; and are often
eard to boast of the number of stripes
hich they have received before yielding
heir money. The same obstinacy is gen-
rally displayed by an Arab accused of any
ffence; and often, even by a witness: in
ither case the man fears that, should he
ell at once all he can, the judge will try
hether the stick or the kurbáj will elicit
further confession.
NOTE 80. On the general Corruptness
f Muslim Judges. Khidr Bey (whether he
as a judge I do not know), conversing
ne day with his friends on the difficulties
<perienced in the exercise of judicature,
ne of the company remarked, "In my
pinion, the greatest difficulty that is met
ith is, when one of the parties is rich, and
he other, poor."-In that case," replied
hidr Bey, "I find none; for it is clear
at the rich will gain his cause, and the
oor will lose: but the great difficulty Is,
hen the two parties are equally rich and
owerful. If thou, "he continued," being
poor man, have a suit against one who is
ch and powerful, beware of applying to
e Kádee; for he will not fail to condemn
ee: my advice is, that thou desist alto-
ther from thy suit, and rather throw thy-
If at the feet of thine adversary; for
ou wilt obtain more justice from him
an from the Kádee." For a justifica-
on of the opinion here expressed, see my
ork on the Modern Egyptians, vol. i.
1. iv.
-
NOTE 81. On good and evil Omens.
f omens I have already treated, in Note
to Chapter i.: but a few words on this
bject must be here added. It is com-
on to draw a lucky or unlucky omen
om the first object seen on going out in
e morning; and according as that object
pleasant or the contrary, the person says,
my morning is good," or
bad." A
one-eyed man is regarded as of evil omen;
and especially one who is blind of the left
eye. Many a person is related to have
suffered for having an unlucky countenance.
NOTE 82. The portion of this story com-
prised in the first paragraph having been
the subject of a specimen of the present
publication, translated from the Calcutta
edition of the first two hundred nights,
and printed and distributed when I had
not in my possession the copy of the orig-
inal which I have taken as my general
standard, it is here given nearly in the
same words: I have only made a few slight
additions and alterations derived from a
comparison of the two editions. Some of
the notes inserted in the specimen I omit
in this place, as they relate to matters
already explained. - Hole remarks (in
page 223), that this part of the Barber's
story of his Fifth Brother is derived "from
an Indian fable of the remotest antiquity
found in the Heeto-pades of Veeshnoo-
Sarma," in which a Brahman "inadver-
tently breaks his pottery ware . . . with a
walking-stick . . . in the act of suppressing
the outrageous jealousy of four beautiful
but turbulent wives."
66
NOTE 83. "El-Feshshár" signifies "the
Foolish Talker," or Vain Boaster." I
have substituted this name for "El-'Ash-
shár" the reading in my original. In the
Arabic characters, the latter differs from
the former in little more than the want of
a point, and has no appropriate meaning.
It appears that, in most copies of the orig-
inal, the barber's Fifth Brother is surnamed
"En-Neshshár," or the Sawyer," perhaps
in allusion to his incessant loquacity: but
this, also, in the Arabic characters, very
nearly resembles El-Feshshár," which I
doubt not to be the right name.
NOTE 84. There is nothing very ex-
travagant in this hope of the barber's
brother; for in the East, persons frequently
rise from very low to very high stations;
and it is remarkable that, notwithstanding
their usual pride, they generally retain the
appellation of the trade or craft which they
or their fathers pursued, however ignoble,
before their elevation. It is common for a
great man to distinguish himself by adding
to his name the appellation of "the drug-
gist or perfumer,' or "the grocer," &c.;
and he is not a whit the less respected on
this account.
NOTE 85. The Eastern grandee rides not
at the head or rear of his attendants, but
in the midst of them.
1060
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 86. Persons distinguished by rank
or wealth or learning are saluted by many
of the shopkeepers and passengers as they
pass through the streets of Eastern cities,
and often greeted with a short ejaculatory
prayer for the continuance of their life
and happiness. When a very great man
rides through the streets, most of the shop-
keepers rise to him, and pay their respect
to him by inclining the head, and touching
the lips and forehead or turban with the
fingers of the right hand.
NOTE 87. See Note 12 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 88. He could scarcely shew his
pride more strongly; for it is an affront to
reject a present.
NOTE 89. An Arab lady of high rank
seldom makes use of her feet but to move
from one chamber to another; when she
goes abroad, she always rides: to stand for
many minutes together is, therefore,
fatiguing to her.
NOTE 90. See the close of Note 39 to
Chapter iv.
NOTE 91. This is said either to shew
his vulgarity or that the weather was
sultry.
NOTE 92.
Beautiful:
(salt, &c.).
99
"El-Meleehah " signifies ",the
it is derived from "mil
—
"
NOTE 93. An occurrence of a similar
nature, which happened a few years ago
in Cairo, was related to me by one of my
friends there. An old woman frequented
the tomb of a saint in that city, near the
eastern gate called the Báb el-Mahrook, to
which many women afflicted with disease
or barrenness often resorted to offer up
prayers, believing their petitions would be
effectual through the saint's intercession;
and she was in the habit of enticing ladies
from this tomb to the house of her hus-
band, which was near by, under pretence
of his serving them with medicines or with
charms. The unsuspecting victim, being
desired to go thither alone, was conducted
by the old woman to an upper room, at the
end of which the man was seated; and in
walking over the matted floor to approach
him, suddenly fell through a trapdoor
into a place so deep that the fall rendered
her senseless. In this state, she was put to
death; and as ladies in Cairo always wear
valuable ornaments and costly clothes, the
murderers were sure of obtaining consider-
able spoil.
NOTE 94. This money, we are to under
stand, was prepared for the purpose of
giving those presents which are customary
from a guest at a marriage-festivity; but
the mention of a smaller sum would have
been more proper. It is given to the sing-
ing-women and tire-women who, in great
houses, parade the bride through the dif-
ferent apartments, and display her in
different rich suits of attire before the
bridegroom.
NOTE 95. On the Handkerchief, and
Signet, of Indemnity. Sometimes, the
handkerchief, and sometimes, the signet, or
seal-ring, is given as a pledge of indemnity.
- It was a frequent custom of many a
chief of the Memlooks of Egypt (there
commonly called "the Ghuzz "), to bastin-
ade men in the court of his mansion (when
he desired to make a show of strict justice),
in order that one of the women of the
family, hearing the cries, might drop a
handkerchief from a window, and so the
punishment might soon cease, in respect
for the hareem, whose protection is often
appealed to by offenders.
NOTE 96. The title of "Sultán " is here,
and afterwards, given to the Khaleefeh;
and it has been so employed by a celebrated
historian, El-Makreezee.
NOTE 97. So, apparently, in most
copies; but in the Cairo edition, "of the
sons of the Kings." It is said to have been
a custom of some of the Barmekees (the
family so renowned for their generosity)
to keep open house during the hours of
meals, and to allow no one who applied at
such times for admission to be repulsed.
"
NOTE 98. 'Sikbáj" is a dish composed
of meat, wheat-flour, and vinegar.
NOTE 99. "Katáïf" is a name applied
to various kinds of sweet pastry: particu-
larly to a kind of small pancakes, made of
a thin paste of fine flour and water, about
three inches broad, and a sixth of an inch
or less in thickness, baked upon a copper
tray over a fire, like kunáfeh (the composi-
tion of which is the same), and eaten with
honey or sugar: also to cakes composed of
fine flour, treacle or honey, and sesame-oil.
The sirup mentioned in the same sentence
is (as my sheykh states in a marginal note)
treacle thickened over the fire. The
proper singular of katáïf, namely, "katee-
feh," is seldom used; one of these cakes
being generally called "fard katáïf."
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTH
1061
Sometimes, it appears, they were perfumed
with musk.
NOTE 100. The "mithkál " is the weight
of a deenár, or a dirhem and a half,- in
Cairo, about 71% or 72 English grains.
NOTE 101. See above, Note 96.
NOTE 102. By "Arabs," we are here
to understand Bedawees, or Arabs of
the Desert, who are termed, by the
older writers, Aaráb," or Aarábees; "
but in my original, as in other
late works, "'Arab," which was the
old appellation of the townspeople and
villagers.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTH
""
NOTE 1. In the old version, the person
ere named Enees-el-Jelees is called "The
air Persian; but I do not find her so
escribed in any copy of the original.
The name here given to her may be ren-
ered "the Companion's Cheerer;
Enees" being a term applied to any per-
on or thing serving as an agreeable, cheer-
ng companion; and "Jelees" signifying
a companion," or one in the habit of
tting with another."
་་
L6
NOTE 2. Khatteeyeh" is derived from
khatt," which signifies " writing," but
hich is also the name of a place (Khatt
lejer) in the province of El-Bahreyn, a
amous mart for spears. Of the figure of
beech employed in the couplet in which
his word occurs (considered by the Arabs
n elegant mode of ætiology, and called by
"hosn et-taaleel ") my sheykh gives
he following example in a marginal
em
ote:
"And the rain fell not but for the purpose of
ssing the ground before thee."
NOTE 3. "El-Mo'een " signifies
ider," or "the Assistant."
"the
"the
NOTE 4. "El-Fadl," signifying
xcellence," is here, as a proper name, an
>breviation of Fadl-ed-Deen,"
xcellence of the Religion."
66
"the
of
NOTE 5. This phrase (a person
Ispicious aspect) is often used by the
odern Arabs and the Turks, and signifies
a virtuous or beneficent man."
NOTE 6.
This answer is not to be under-
ood in its literal sense; it has become a
ommon form of speech which an Arab
ten uses for the purpose of obtaining
mething more than he would venture to
-mand.
(c
NOTE 7. "May it be favourable," or
beneficial," is a compliment usually
addressed to a person who has just been to
the bath, and to a man who has just had
his head shaved. The reply is, "May God
bestow favours upon thee."
NOTE 8.-On the Law respecting
Murder and unintentional Homicide. The
Kur-án ordains that murder shall be pun-
ished with death; or, rather, that the free
shall die for the free, the slave for the
slave, and a woman for a woman; or that
the perpetrator of the crime shall pay, to
the heirs of the person whom he has killed,
if they allow it, a fine, which is to be
divided according to the laws of inheri-
tance. It also ordains, that unintentional
homicide shall be expiated by freeing a
believer from slavery, and paying, to the
family of the person killed, a fine, unless
they remit it. But these laws are amplified
and explained by the same book and by the
Imáms. A fine is not to be accepted for
murder unless the crime has been attended
by some palliating circumstance. This fine,
the price of blood, is a hundred camels;
or a thousand deenárs (about 500£) from
him who possesses gold; or, from him who
possesses silver, twelve thousand dirhems
(about 300£). This is for killing a free
man; for a woman, half that sum; for a
slave, his or her value, but that must fall
short of the price of blood for the free. A
person unable to free a believer must fast
two months as in Ramadán. The accom-
plices of a murderer are liable to the pun-
ishment of death. By the Sunneh also, a
man is obnoxious to capital punishment for
the murder of a woman; and by the Hana-
fee law, for the murder of another man's
slave. But he is exempted from this pun-
ishment who kills his own child or other
descendant, or his own slave, or his son's
slave, or a slave of whom he is part-owner:
so also are his accomplices: and according
1062
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to Esh-Sháfe'ee, a Muslim, though a slave,
is not to be put to death for killing an
infidel, though the latter be free. A man
who kills another in self-defence, or to de-
fend his property from a robber, is exempt
from all punishment. The price of blood is
a debt incumbent on the family, tribe, or
association, of which the homicide is a
member. It is also incumbent on the in-
habitants of an enclosed quarter, or the
proprietor or proprietors of a field, in which
the body of a person killed by an unknown
hand is found; unless the person has been
found killed in his own house.
Hence it appears, that the punishment
with which the Wezeer El-Fadl threatened
his son is not to be regarded as a grave
criminal act; especially when we consider
the nature of the son's offence: for the slave
was the property of the king, and it was
not allowable to any other man even to
see her without his permission. Many of
the characters depicted in the present work
would seem incongruous in the extreme, if
judged according to European notions of
justice and other moral qualities.
NOTE 9. "The two professions of the
faith," "There is no deity but God," and
"Mohammad is God's Apostle," are gen-
erally repeated by a dying Muslim.
NOTE 10. This is said to imply (as my
sheykh has remarked in a marginal note)
that El-Fadl was a charitable person who
bestowed pensions upon the professors of
the Kur-án and of science. There are many
among the modern Muslims who do so,
and numbers also who found and endow
public schools.
NOTE II.
-On the Washing, Shrouding,
and Burial of the Dead. The ceremonies
attendant upon death and burial are nearly
the same in the cases of men and women.
The face or the head of the dying person
is turned towards the direction of Mekkeh.
When the spirit is departing, the eyes are
closed; and then, or immediately after, the
women of the house commence a loud
lamentation, in which many of the females
of the neighbourhood generally come to
join. Hired female mourners are also
usually employed; each of whom accom-
panies her exclamations of " Alas for him!"
&c., by beating a tambourine. If possible,
the corpse is buried on the day of the
death; but when this cannot be done, the
lamentation of the women is continued dur-
ing the ensuing night; and a recitation of
several chapters, or of the whole, of the
Kur-án is performed by one or more men
hired for the purpose.
The washing consists, first, in the per
formance of the ordinary ablution which
preparatory to prayer, with the exceptio
of the cleansing of the mouth and nose
and secondly in an ablution of the whol
body with warm water and soap, or wit
water in which some leaves of the lote-tre
have been boiled. The jaw is bound up
the eyes are closed, and the nostrils, &c
are stuffed with cotton; and the corpse i
sprinkled with a mixture of water, pounde
camphor, dried and pounded leaves of th
lote-tree, and sometimes other dried and
pulverized leaves, &c., and with rose-water
The ankles are bound together; and th
hands placed upon the breast.
The grave-clothing of a poor man con
sists of a piece or two of cotton, or a kind
of bag: but the corpse of a man of wealth
is generally wrapped first in muslin; then
in cotton cloth of a thicker texture; next
in a piece of striped stuff of silk and cottor
intermixed, or in a kaftán (a long vest) o
similar stuff, merely stitched together; and
over these is wrapped a Kashmeer shawl
The colours most approved for the grave
clothes are white and green. The body thu
shrouded is placed in a bier, which is
usually covered with a Kashmeer shawl
and borne on the shoulders of three or four
men, generally friends of the deceased.
There are some slight differences in the
funeral-ceremonies observed in different
Arab countries; but a sufficient notion of
them will be conveyed by briefly describing
those which prevail in Cairo. The proces-
sion to the tomb is generally headed by a
number of poor men, mostly blind, who,
walking two and two, or three and three,
together, chant, in a melancholy tone, the
profession (or two professions) of the faith,
mentioned above (in Note 9), or sometimes
other words. They are usually followed
by some male relations and friends of the
deceased; and these, by a group of school-
boys, chanting in a higher tone, and one of
them bearing a copy of the Kur-án, or of
one of its thirty sections, placed upon a
kind of desk formed of palm sticks, and
covered with an embroidered kerchief.
Then follows the bier, borne head-fore-
most. Friends of the deceased relieve one
another in the office of carrying it; and
casual passengers often take part in this
service, which is esteemed highly meritori-
ous. Behind the bier walk the female
mourners, composing a numerous group,
often more than a dozen; or, if of a
wealthy family, they ride. Each of those
who belong to the family of the deceased
has a strip of cotton stuff or muslin, gen-
erally blue, bound round her head, over the
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTH
1063
head-veil, and carries a handkerchief, usually
dyed blue (the colour of mourning), which
she sometimes holds over her shoulders,
and at other times twirls with both hands
over her head or before her face, while she
cries and shrieks almost incessantly; and
the hired female mourners, accompanying
the group, often celebrate the praises of
the deceased in the manner described in the
preceding tale, though this was forbidden
by the Prophet. - The funeral-procession
of a man of wealth is sometimes preceded
by several camels, bearing bread and water
to give to the poor at the tomb; and closed
by the led horses of some of the attendants,
and by a buffalo or other animal to be
sacrificed at the tomb, where its flesh is
distributed to the poor, to atone for some
of the minor sins of the deceased.
The bier used for conveying the corpse
of a boy or a female has a cover of wood,
over which a shawl is spread; and at the
head is an upright piece of wood: upon
the upper part of this, in the case of a boy,
is fixed a turban, with several ornaments
of female head-dress; and in the case of a
female, it is similarly decked, but without
the turban.
A short prayer is recited over the dead,
either in a mosque or in a place particu-
larly dedicated to this service in, or adja-
cent to, the burial-ground. The body is
then conveyed, in the same manner as
before, to the tomb. This is a hollow,
oblong vault, one side of which faces the
direction of Mekkeh, generally large
enough to contain four or more bodies, and
having an oblong monument of stone or
brick constructed over it, with a stela at
the head and foot. Upon the former of
these two stela (which is often inscribed
with a text from the Kur-án, and the name
of the deceased, with the date of his death),
a turban, cap, or other head-dress, is some-
times carved, showing the rank or class of
the person or persons buried beneath; and
in many cases, a cupola supported by four
walls, or by columns, &c., is constructed
over the smaller monument. The body is
laid on its right side, or inclined by means
of a few crude bricks, so that the face is
turned towards Mekkeh; and a person is
generally employed to dictate to the de-
ceased the answers which he should give
when he is examined by the two angels
Munkar and Nekeer, whom I have men-
tioned in No. 21 of the Notes to the In-
troduction. If the funeral be that of a
person of rank or wealth, the bread and
water, &c., before mentioned are then dis-
tributed to the poor.
The principal ceremonies observed after
the funeral have been described in Note 15
to Chapter iv.
NOTE 12. "The lord (or chief) of the
first and the last among mankind" is one
of the many appellations of honour given
by the Muslims to their Prophet.
NOTE 13. My sheykh remarks, that this
is said merely to excite men to generosity;
for literally it is not true, as is shown by
the memorable example of Kaab the son
of Mámeh, who preferred giving the water
with which he was provided to another,
and in consequence himself died of thirst.
NOTE 14. We are not to understand
that such a slave as Enees-el-Jelees was
exposed to the public gaze in a market to
which all persons indiscriminately were
admitted (for this would be at variance
with Eastern usages); but in a special
mart to which none were allowed access
but persons of wealth who expressed a de-
sire to purchase.
NOTE 15.
""
66
-
On Kissing the Ground, as
a Mode of Obeisance. This and several
other passages in the present work shew
that we are often to understand the ex-
pression 'kissing the ground before a
person as signifying "touching the
ground, and then the lips and forehead, or
turban, with the right hand; " and I believe
this expression should generally be so
understood. When I wrote the fourteenth
note to the Introduction, I inclined to a
contrary opinion, chiefly from recollect-
ing to have read the following translation
of a passage of El-Makreezee, by the
learned De Sacy: "Ce khalife [El-
Hákim] ordonna qu'à l'avenir on ne
baiseroit plus la terre devant lui; que per-
sonne, en le saluant dans les marches pub-
liques, ne baiseroit sa main ou son etrier,
parce que cette coutume de se prosterner
devant une créature étoit une invention
des Grecs." But on referring to the orig-
inal, I find that the words which he renders
"cette coutume de se prosterner" signify
literally "the bending towards the ground."
I suppose, therefore, that his deviating from
the literal sense in one case was owing to
his adhering to it in another; and not
meeting with the proof which I had fancied
to exist of his being right, I venture to
differ from him in this instance, without
fear of being suspected of arrogance, as
the kind of obeisance above described is
often called "kissing the ground" both by
the Arabs and the Persians. I should add
that, except in the house, I do not remem-
1064
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ber to have ever seen the ground actually
touched, but nearly so, in making this
obeisance, which is still called "kissing the
ground" when thus imperfectly performed.
NOTE 16. By this is meant, a place
where mud was kneaded to be employed in
building. The mortar generally used in the
construction of Arab houses is composed of
mud in the proportion of one-half, with a
fourth part of lime, and the remaining part
of the ashes of straw and rubbish.
NOTE 17. See the note immediately
preceding.
This
NOTE 18. In Arabic, "bursh."
kind of mat, composed of palm-leaves (and
sometimes, I believe, of the coarse grass
mentioned in the next note), is used by the
poor to sit upon.
46
NOTE 19. This kind of grass, called in
Arabic halfeh," and more properly
"halfà" (by botanists, poa multiflora, and
poa cynosyroïdes), and the 'ákool 99
(or
hedysarum alhagi), overspread spontane-
ously most of the alluvial tracts in Egypt
which are above the reach of the inunda-
tion, and in consequence left uncultivated.
The former is used in the manufacture of
coarse mats, and the latter serves as pasture
for camels. The Wezeer, by taking the
round mat and the two bundles of halfà,
seems to indicate that he is degraded to a
condition as low as that of a maker of
coarse mats.
NOTE 20. The boats used by the Arabs
in the navigation of rivers are generally
moored by means of a rope attached to a
stake which is driven into the bank.
NOTE 21. By "children of the road" are
meant "travellers."
NOTE 22. See Note 55 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 23. The word which I render ele-
vated (mo'allakah) is applied to a structure
raised upon columns or pillars, &c.
NOTE 24. The "ghadà" is a tree of a
very inflammable nature, which, in burning,
gives out a fierce heat. It grows chiefly in
sandy tracts, and is described as resembling
the "athl" (or tamarisk), but as being
smaller than this tree.
NOTE 25. On Shaving the Head. I do
not know when the custom of shaving the
head became general among the Arabs of
the towns; but from a remark of Es-
Suyootee, I think it was not so common
about the commencement of the tenth cen-
tury of the Flight (that is, about the
period which this work best illustrates) as
it is at present, when it is almost universal
among all classes; for in his time, its
legality was doubted. He writes thus:
"The Imám El-Ghazálee hath said, 'There
is no harm in it in the case of him whose
object is cleanliness: and the apparent
sense of his words is, that it is improper in
him who desireth to beautify himself for
any worldly purpose, as is done by people
of bad disposition." It is added in a mar-
ginal note in the copy from which I trans-
late this, "Persons differ respecting the
shaving of the head. The opinion generally
prevailing is, that it is improper to him
who wears not a turban, and allowable to
him who does wear one, since he has a sub-
stitute: -"that it is also lawful, un-
questionably, in the case of any disease of
the head: " and that the hanging of
the rosary to the neck, and the shaving of
the head without a legal necessity, are
innovations."-Hároon Er-Rasheed gen-
erally wore the hair of his head sufficiently
long to reach below his ears; but shaved
it when he performed the pilgrimage; and
many other Muslims in early times did the
same. Those who shave the head generally
leave a small tuft upon the crown; but
most persons of the literary and religious
professions, and many others, disapprove
of this tuft.
NOTE 26. By the term "sheykhs" we
are here to understand "persons of sanctity
and of learning." See Note 9 to Chapter i.
NOTE 27. By "the shining moon" is
meant "the beautiful cup-bearer, whose
face is like the shining moon.'
NOTE 28. The Muslims believe that a
blessing is derived from witnessing and
hearing the devout exercises, recitations,
&c., of holy men.
""
NOTE 29. The " "jubbeh worn in East-
ern countries, is a long outer vest, with
sleeves which reach nearly to the wrist. It
is now generally made of cloth, and is
worn by most tradesmen and other persons
of the middle and higher classes. It differs
somewhat in form in different countries.
NOTE 30. The "melwatah" is a gar-
ment of which I was unable to obtain a
description until I inquired of my friend
Mr. Salamé, who informed me that it was
the name of a large outer garment which
NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVENTH
1065
used to be worn over the farajeeyeh. But
I afterwards found it stated in one of the
marginal notes to a later tale, that the term
above mentioned is now pronounced "mel-
lootah," and is applied in the present day
to an article of dress of cloth or other
costly material; particularly to a jubbeh;
but that it is also employed, in allusion to
a jubbeh, &c., in a contemptuous sense, or,
as I infer, ironically.
NOTE 31. See Note 41 to Chapter iv.
NOTE 32. The "lithám " is a piece of
drapery with which a Bedawee often covers
the lower part of his face. It frequently
prevents his being recognised by another
Arab who might make him a victim of
blood-revenge; and is a means of disguise
seldom employed but by Arabs of the
desert.
NOTE 33. The meaning is, that the act
would speak for itself, and be long remem-
bered; that the grave of the fisherman
would be pointed out as that of one to
whom the Khaleefeh had shown signal
favours.
NOTE 34. It is a common custom of
Arabs of the lower orders to put the money
which they receive, especially when it is the
first of the day's gains, to the lips and fore-
head before depositing it in the pocket; and
the same is sometimes done by persons of
the middle class.
NOTE 35. Literally, "twenty nusfs."
See Note 17 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 36. These are the Kadees of the
four great sects, or persuasions, of the
Sunnee Muslims. See Note I to the Intro-
duction.
19
NOTE 37. The
took him away
edition.
NOTE 38.
words "and the Wezeer
are omitted in the Cairo
66
Kuteyt " is the diminutive
of "kitt," vulgo kutt," a "cat," and
properly a "he-cat."
NOTE 39. The words which I translate
"the place of blood" literally signify "the
place of the stagnation of blood;" and are
applied to the usual place of decapitation,
because the blood is left there to soak into
the ground.
NOTE 40.
The recompense here alluded
to is one to be received at the final retribu-
tion; not in the present life.
NOTE 41. This kind of "kulleh" is a
small, porous, earthen bottle, with a wide
mouth.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVENTH
NOTE I. Damascus is afterwards men-
tioned in the original as the abode of this
merchant's family; but not here.
NOTE 2. 66
33
Ghánim signifies "a taker
of spoil," a fortunate acquirer of any-
" and "
thing
Eiyoob is the name which
we call "Job."
NOTE 3. Fitneh
""
66
signifies 'tempta-
tion," "seduction," "disturbance," &c.
NOTE 4. By the term "loads" we are
always to understand "camel-loads," un-
less it is otherwise expressed. A camel-load
is generally about three hundredweights.
NOTE 5. Or vesicles of musk. In the
original, nawáfeh" is put for "nawáfij."
""
NOTE 6. A great recompense in the
world to come is to be the lot of him who
takes part in a funeral-procession.
NOTE 7. The ablution was necessary to
qualify Ghánim for joining in the prayer
over the dead.
<<
NOTE 8. "Sawáb" signifies "rectitude."
NOTE 9.
"Káfoor" is the Arabic for
camphor." Instances of antiphrasis in
the names given to black slaves are very
common.
NOTE 10. "Bakheet" signifies "fortu-
nate," from "bakht" ("fortune "), a word
borrowed from the Persian.
NOTE II. I am not sure that this is to
be understood as a jest; for I have been
1066
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
assured, by a slave-dealer and other persons
in Cairo, that sometimes slaves brought
to that city are found to be cannibals; and
that a proof lately occurred there; an in-
fant having been eaten by its black nurse.
I was also told that these cannibals are
generally distinguished by an elongation
of the os coccygis; or in other words, that
they have tails!
NOTE 12. The story here alluded to is
inserted in the original; but, being ex-
tremely objectionable, and too short and
simple to be abridged, I have been com-
pelled to omit it altogether.
NOTE 13. This story is not in the old
version; but I think the reader will con-
sider it worthy of insertion in the present
series, as an amusing illustration of the
customs which are often observed by the
Arabs on the occasion of the death of the
master of a family. I can bear testimony
to the general correctness of the picture
which it presents; or rather state, that the
greatest of the extravagances which it de-
scribes are not unfrequently practised in
the present day.
NOTE 14. As the Arab women are much
more reluctant to uncover the upper and
back part of the head than they are to
shew the face, before strange men, such a
scene as that which is here described is
very seldom witnessed; but I have seen not
so unfrequently a woman with her face
uncovered, and besmeared with mud, on
her receiving the news of the sudden death
of a near relation.
NOTE 15. This, to some readers, may
require explanation. To free a slave who
has no means of providing for himself, and
not to grant him any means to do so, is
almost the heaviest punishment that can
be inflicted upon him; and to do this, un-
less for a heinous crime, is considered dis-
graceful.
NOTE 16. This is not just; for as soon
as the slave is emancipated he is legally
free, without doubt: but it is inserted in
the tale as a jest.
-
NOTE 17. See Note 46 to Chapter ii.
This mode of disposing of a rival in the
hareem is said to have been not very un-
frequently adopted.
NOTE 18. I suspect that the original
presents here an error, which I have en-
deavoured to correct. The names which
Garden;
33
64
the lady ejaculates are to be understood a
those of female slaves, her attendants
"Zahr-el-Bustán" signifies " Flower of the
'Sabeehah," "Beautiful;
"Shejeret-ed-Durr," "Tree of Pearls" (this
is the vulgar mode of pronouncing “Shejer-
ed-Durr,' which was the name of the wife
of the Sultán Es-Sáleh Nejm-ed-Deen,
afterwards Queen of Egypt); "Noor-el-
Hudà," " 'Light of Day," or Light of
Guidance Nejmet-es-Subh,' 'Star of
the Morning; "Nuzheh," 'Delight;
Hulweh," Sweet; " and Zareefeh,"
Elegant."
66
66
""
64
""
66
99 64
NOTE 19. From this point, to the rela-
tion of the stratagem employed by Zubey-
deh, I omit much that is unsuitable for in-
sertion in the translation, as approaching
to licentiousness.
NOTE 20. Perhaps it is unnecessary to
mention, that "the Prophet's Uncle" here
alluded to was El-'Abbás; and that the
"descendant " was Hároon Er-Rasheed.
NOTE 21.
"Koot-el-Kuloob"
"Food (or Sustenance) of Hearts."
signifies
NOTE 22. As black, which was the dis-
tinguishing colour of the banners and dress
of the 'Abbasee Khaleefehs, was originally
assumed in token of mourning for such of
their relations as were victims of the
Umawees, it may have continued for a
long time to be used for a similar purpose:
but the modern colour of mourning among
the Arabs is blue; and it is remarkable
that the term which properly signifies
"black" is commonly applied by them to
dark blue. On the subject of mourning,
see Note 52 to Chapter ii.
-
NOTE 23. "Kheyzurán" and "Kadeeb "
signify respectively, "a Cane" (particularly
"Indian Cane"), and " a Rod," or a
long and slender Branch."
NOTE 24. See Note 85 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 25. By "the Sultán" is meant
the Viceroy of Damascus, though the title
is improperly used in this sense.
NOTE 26. The account of the disgusting
treatment of Ghánim's mother and sister,
which follows in this place in the old
version, is not in either of the copies of
the original which I possess, containing this
tale. Hence, and as it is extremely in-
consistent with Arab customs and feelings,
I have little doubt of its being an interpola-
tion by some ignorant copyist.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVENTH
1067
NOTE 27. See Note 18 to Chapter vi.
NOTE 28. By Ghánim's hareem, we are
here to understand his mother and sister;
the term 'hareem" being often used to
signify a man's female relations residing in
his house.
NOTE 29. It is implied that she visited
the sheykhs (by which are here meant the
devotees) to request the aid of their
prayers; and gave alms for the sake (or in
the name) of Ghánim in order to propitiate
Providence in his favour.
-
NOTE 30.
On the Charitable Disposi-
tion of the Arabs. Some remarks which I
have made on this subject with reference
to the Egyptians, in a former work, are
equally applicable to the Arabs in general.
"Benevolence and charity to the poor are
virtues which the Egyptians possess in an
eminent degree, and which are instilled
into their hearts by religion; but from their
own profession it appears that they are as
much excited to the giving of alms by the
expectation of enjoying corresponding re-
wards in heaven, as by pity for the dis-
tresses of their fellow-creatures, or a dis-
interested wish to do the will of God. It
may be attributed, in some measure, to the
charitable disposition of the inhabitants,
that beggars, are so numerous in Cairo.
The many handsome Sebeels, or public
fountains (buildings erected and endowed
for the gratuitous supply of water to pas-
sengers), which are seen in this city, and
the more humble structures of the same
kind in the villages and fields, are monu-
ments of the same virtue." So also the
numerous Kháns for the reception of
travellers, in countries occupied by the
Arabs, bear testimony to the charity of this
people.
NOTE 31. This is often said by an Arab
to a person against whom he knows or
fears himself to have committed an offence.
The most urgent reason for doing so may
be seen by reverting to No. 9 of the notes
to Chapter iv.
NOTE 32. This compliment has occa-
sioned, in the old version, an error of the
most serious kind, by its having been
understood in its literal sense. Ghánim is
made to propose that the Khaleefeh should
take his sister as one of his favourites (i. e.
concubines); which, as she was a free
woman, would be a crime of the foulest
nature.
NOTE 33. We are to understand this
sum of money as being Fitneh's dowry.
Here it may be mentioned, that the Kha-
leefeh, by marrying Fitneh, severely
punished Zubeydeh: for he thus gave her
a wife, instead of a concubine, as a rival.
NOTE 34.1
-On the Passion of Love
among the Arabs. A few remarks on this
subject may be inserted to justify the
picture of love presented in the foregoing
tale. That sensual passion is most preva-
lent among the Arabs cannot be doubted;
but I think it unjust to suppose them gen-
erally incapable of a purer feeling, worthy,
if constancy be a sufficient test, of being
termed true love. That they are not so,
appears evident to almost every person who
mixes with them in familiar society; for
such a person must have opportunities of
being acquainted with many Arabs sincerely
attached to wives whose personal charms
have long vanished, and who have neither
wealth nor influence of their own, nor
wealthy nor influential relations, to in-
duce their husbands to refrain from divorc-
ing them. It very often happens, too, that
an Arab is sincerely attached to a wife
possessed, even in the best portion of her
age, of few charms; and that the lasting
favourite among two or more wives is not
the most handsome. This opinion, I am
sorry to observe, is at variance, as far as
the Arabs of the towns are concerned, with
that entertained by one of the most intelli-
gent and experienced of modern travellers,
who long resided among this people,
justly-celebrated Burckhardt: but it is con-
firmed by numerous facts related by re-
spectable Arab authors (and therefore not
regarded by them as of an incredible
nature), as well as by cases which have
fallen under my own observation.
tale of Leylà and Mejnoon, "the Juliet and
Romeo of Arabia," is too well known to be
here repeated; but among many other anec-
dotes of strong and constant love, the fol-
lowing may be inserted:
the
The
The Khaleefeh Yezeed the son of 'Abd-
El-Melik, it is said, had two female slaves;
one of whom was named Habbábeh, and
the other, Selámeh; to the former of whom
he was most ardently attached: he had pur-
chased her for a hundred thousand dir-
hems; and the other, for ten thousand. In
the company of these two females he some-
times shut himself up for three months
together, utterly neglecting the affairs of
his people. At length, being reproved for
this conduct by his brother Meslemeh, he
promised to return to his duty: but the
two slaves diverted him from his purpose;
1068
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and on the following morning, excited by
their songs and caresses, and by wine, he
became frantic with pleasure, and danced
and sang lke a madman, till a fatal accident
put a stop to his joy; Habbábeh, eating
a pomegranate, was choked by one of the
grains, and immediately died. The grief of
Yezeed was so poignant that he would not
quit the corpse, but continued to kiss and
fondle it until it became putrid. Being
then admonished by his attendants that
proper respect required its burial, he con-
sented to commit it to the earth: after five
days, however, his desire again to behold
the object of his love induced him to open
the grave, and though the corpse had be-
come hideous, he declared that it was
lovely as ever in his eyes. At the earnest
request of Meslemeh, he ordered the grave
to be closed again; but he was unable to
exist when deprived of the sight of the re-
mains of her who was at the same time
his slave and his mistress: he threw himself
upon his bed, speechless; and after linger-
ing seventeen nights, expired, and was
buried by the side of Habbábeh. "May
God," says the narrator, "have mercy on
them both!"
In the same work from which the above
is taken, it is related that Hároon Er-
Rasheed, visiting Suleymán the son of
Aboo-Jaafar, one of his chief officers, saw
with him a female slave, named Da'eefeh,
of excessive beauty, and being smitten by
her charms, demanded her as a present.
His request was granted; but Suleymán,
from grief at the loss of his mistress, fell
sick; and during his illness was heard to
exclaim,
"I appeal unto God against the affliction which
He hath sent upon me through the Khalee-
feh.
The world heareth of his justice; but he is a
tyrant in the affair of Da'eefeh.
Love of her is fixed in my heart as ink upon
the surface of paper.'
Er-Rasheed, being informed of his com-
plaint, restored to him his mistress, and,
with her, his peace of mind. - This anec-
dote is given as a proof of strong love;
but perhaps may not be thought much to
the purpose. The following from the same
work, is more apt.
During the hottest hour of an exces-
sively sultry day, the Khaleefeh Mo'áwiyeh
the son of Aboo-Sufyan was sitting in a
chamber which was open on each side to
allow free passage to the air, when he
beheld a barefooted Bedawee approaching
him. Wondering what could induce this
man to brave the scorching heat, he de-
clared to his attendants that, if he were
come to demand of him any favour or aid
or act of justice; his request should be
granted. The Bedawee addressed him, in
verse, with a pathetic appeal for justice
against the tyranny of Marwán the son of
El-Hakam (afterwards Khaleefeh, Mo'áwi-
yeh's fourth successor), by whom he had
been forcibly deprived of his beloved wife,
named Soadà. The Khaleefeh requiring a
more particular account of his case, he re-
lated the following facts. He had a wife,
the daughter of his paternal uncle, exces-
sively beloved by him, and he possessed
a number of camels, which enabled him
to live in comfort; but a year of terrible
drought deprived him of his property, and
reduced him to utter want: his friends
deserted him, and his wife was taken away
from him by her father. To seek redress,
he repaired to Marwán, the Governor of
his district, at El-Medeeneh, who, having
summoned the father of his wife, and her-
self, was so smitten by the beauty of the
woman that he determined to obtain her
for himself in marriage; to accomplish
which, he threw the husband into prison,
and offered the father of the woman a
thousand deenárs and ten thousand dirhems
for his consent to his marriage with her,
promising to compel her actual husband to
divorce her; and this latter object, having
obtained the father's approval, he gained
by severely torturing the unfortunate
Bedawee. It would have been vain for the
woman to attempt resistance; and so she
became the wife of Marwán. - The op-
pressed Bedawee, having related these cir-
cumstances, fell down in a swoon, and lay
on the floor senseless, coiled up like a dead
snake. As soon as he recovered, the Kha-
leefeh wrote a poetical epistle to Marwán,
severely reproaching him for his baseness,
and commanding him, on pain of death, to
divorce the woman and send her with his
messenger. She was accordingly divorced
and sent, with an answer composed in the
same measure and rhyme, assuring the
Khaleefeh that the sight of Soadà would
convince him that her charms were irre-
sistible; and this proved too true. Mo'áwi-
yeh himself no sooner saw her than he
coveted the possession of her, and offered
to give the Bedawee, if he would resign
her to him, three virgins from among his
female slaves, together with a thousand
deenárs, and an ample annual pension. The
Bedawee shrieked with dismay, as though
he had received his death-blow; and in-
dignantly rejected the offer. The Kha-
leefeh then said to him, "Thou confessest
that thou hast divorced her, and Marwán
has married her and acknowledged that he
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH
1069
has divorced her: we will therefore give
her her choice: if she desire any other
than thee as her husband we will marry
her to him, and if she prefer thee we will
restore her to thee." She however pre-
ferred the destitute Bedawee, and the Kha-
leefeh gave her up to him, with a present
of ten thousand dirhems.
Numerous instances of unreasonable love
are recorded in the writings of Arabs. It
is related that a man fell in love with a
female from seeing the impression of her
hand upon a wall; and being unable to
obtain possession of her, died. Many men
are said to have conceived a violent pas-
sion for females seen in dreams: others,
again, to have been thus affected merely
by the ear. An author relates his having
been acquainted with an accomplished
schoolmaster who lost his heart from hear-
ing a man sing the praises of a woman
named Umm-'Amr, and two days after,
shut himself up in his house to mourn for
her death, in consequence of his hearing
the same man sing,
"The ass went away with Umm-'Amr; and
she returned not, nor did the ass return."
"
But a few anecdotes may be considered
as rare exceptions to a general rule. I
think, however, that strong evidences of
the existence of true love among all classes
of the Arabs are afforded by their very
numerous tales of fiction descriptive of this
passion.
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH
NOTE I. The next story to that of
Ghánim, in my original, is one of very
great length, comprising the greater part of
the forty-fourth night and extending to the
end of the hundred and forty-fifth; but
interrupted by the contents of my eighth
chapter, which consists of two stories of
a very different kind, that appear to have
been introduced to relieve its tediousness.
With these, it occupies nearly 162 pages,
or not much less than an eighth part of the
whole work. It is the story of the King
'Omar En Noamán, and his two sons Sharr-
kán and Dó-el-Mekán ("Light of the
Place"), and his daughter Nuzhet-ez-Ze-
mán ("Delight of the Age"), &c. It is
entirely a fiction, professedly relating to
the first century of the Mohammadan era,
"before the reign of the. Khaleefeh 'Abd-
El-Melik the son of Marwán;" and its
main subject is a war with two Greek
Kings. Taken altogether, I deem it un-
worthy of a place in the present series of
tales; and so much of it depends upon
incidents of a most objectionable nature,
that I cannot attempt to abridge it; but a
pleasant tale might be composed from it
by considerable alterations.
One of the two stories which I have ex-
tracted from it, that of Táj-el-Mulook and
the Lady Dunyà, bears apparent indica-
tions of a Persian origin; but in their
present state, the manners and customs,
&c., which both exhibit are Arab. The
scenes of the events narrated in the story
of Táj-el-Mulook are in Persia and, prob-
ably, in India; but imaginary names ap-
pear to be given to the several kingdoms
mentioned in it: the kingdom of El-Ard
el-Khadrà (" the Green Country ") and
El-'Amoodeyn (which signifies "the Two
Columns") is said to include the moun-
tains of Ispahán, and its locality is thereby
sufficiently indicated: that of El-Ard el-
Beyda ("the White Country") I suppose,
to be in Persia or India: and as to the
Islands of Camphor, I fancy we must be
content to consider them vaguely as ap-
pertaining to India: the country in which
'Azeez and 'Azeezeh resided is said to have
been near to the Islands of Camphor; but
their story is perfectly Arab.- The Island
of Camphor is also mentioned in the Story
of Hasan of El-Basrah.
NOTE 2.
"El-Medeeneh el-Khadrà "
signifies "the Green City." See the above
note.
NOTE 3. "The Compassionate" is an
epithet here applied to God.
NOTE 4. See the first note in this series.
"Zahr," in Arabic, signifies "a Flower."
NOTE 5.-On Coats of Mail, and other
Armour worn by the Arabs. The Prophet
David is said to have been the first person
who manufactured coats of mail; and the
cause of his applying himself to the art
was this." He used to go forth in dis-
guise; and when he found any people who
knew him not, he approached them and
asked them respecting the conduct of
1070
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS
---
Dáood (or David), and they praised him
and prayed for him; but one day as he
was asking questions respecting himself as
usual, God sent to him an angel in the
form of a human being, who said, 'An
excellent man were Dáood if he did not
take from the public treasury: '--where-
upon the heart of Dáood was contracted,
and he begged God to render him inde-
pendent: so He made iron soft to him, and
it became in his hands as thread; and he
used to sell a coat of mail for four thou-
sand [pieces of money whether gold or
silver is not said], and with part of this
he obtained food for himself, and part he
gave in alms, and with part he fed his
family." Hence an excellent coat of mail
is often called by the Arabs "Dáoodee,"
i. e. "Davidean." This kind of armour is
worn by some Arabs of the Desert in the
present day; but the best specimens, I be-
lieve, are mostly found in India. Burck-
hardt mentions one tribe of Arabs who
have about twenty-five; another, two hun-
dred; and two others, between thirty and
forty. "The dora [properly dira] is," he
remarks, "of two sorts, one covering the
whole body like a long gown from the
elbow, over the shoulders, down to the
knees: this is the sirgh: the other, called
kembáz, covers the body only to the waist;
the arms from the elbows downwards being
covered with two pieces of steel, fitting into
each other, with iron fingers. Thus clad,
the Arab completes his armour by putting
on his head an iron cap (tás), which is but
rarely adorned with feathers. The price
of a coat of mail fluctuates from two hun-
dred to fifteen hundred piastres. . . . Those
of the best quality are capable of resisting
a ball." The coat of mail is sometimes
worn within the ordinary outer tunic.
NOTE 6. This implies that his parents
were dead.
NOTE 7.-On Public Royal Feasts. On
certain periodical festivals, and on other
occasions (as those of the kind here de-
scribed), it has long been, and still is, a
custom of Muslim princes to give public
feasts to all classes of their subjects, in the
palace. El-Makreezee quotes a curious ac-
count of the feasts which were given on
the festival following Ramadán to the in-
habitants of Cairo, by the Fátimee Kha-
leefehs. At the upper end of a large saloon
was placed the sereer (or couch) of the
monarch, upon which he sat with the
Wezeer on his right. Upon this seat was
placed a round silver table, with various
delicacies, of which they alone ate. Be-
fore it, and extending nearly from the seat
to the other extremity of the saloon, was
set up a kind of table or platform (simát)
of painted wood, resembling a number of
benches placed together, ten cubits (or
about eighteen or nineteen feet) in width.
Along the middle of this were arranged
twenty-one enormous dishes, each contain-
ing twenty-one baked sheep, three years
old, and fat; together with fowls, chickens,
and young pigeons, in number three hun-
dred and fifty of each kind; all of which
were piled together in an oblong form, to
the height of the stature of a man, and
enclosed with dry sweetmeat. The spaces
between these dishes were occupied by
nearly five hundred other dishes of earth-
enware; each of which contained seven
fowls, and was filled up with sweetmeats of
various kinds. The table was strewn with
flowers; and cakes of bread made of the
finest flour were arranged along each side.
There were also two great edifices of sweet-
meats, each weighing seventeen hundred-
weights, which were carried thither by
porters with shoulder-poles; and one of
these was placed at the commencement,
and the other at the close, of this sump-
tuous banquet. When the Khaleefeh and
Wezeer had taken their seats upon the
couch, the officers of state who were dis-
tinguished by neck-rings or collars, and
the inferior members of the court, seated
themselves in the order of their respective
ranks; and when they had eaten, they gave
place to others. Two such feasts, given on
the festival after Ramadán and on the
"great festival," cost four thousand dee-
nárs, or about two thousand pounds
sterling. Two military officers, named
Ibn-Faiz and Ed-Deylemee, distinguished
themselves at these feasts in a very re-
markable manner. Each of them used to
eat a baked sheep, and ten fowls dressed
with sweetmeats, and ten pounds of sweet-
meats besides, and was presented with a
quantity of food carried away from the
feast to his house, together with a large
sum of money. One of them had been a
prisoner at Askalán; and after he had re-
mained there some time, the person into
whose power he had fallen jestingly told
him that if he would eat a calf belonging
to him, the flesh of which weighed several
hundredweights, he would emancipate him.
This feat he accomplished, and thus he ob-
tained his liberation.
--
Several cases of a similar kind to those
just mentioned are instanced in a late work.
One of a man who, as related by Vopiscus,
was brought before the Emperor Maxi-
milian [sic], and who devoured a whole
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH
1071
calf, and was proceeding to eat up a sheep,
but was prevented. Another, of a man
who commenced his repast (in the presence
ci Dr. Boehmen, of Wittenberg,) by eating
a raw sheep and a sucking pig, and, by way
of dessert, swallowed sixty pounds of
prunes, stones and all. A third, of an at-
tendant of the menagerie of the Botanical
Garden in Paris, who used to devour all
the offals of the Theatre of Comparative
Anatomy, and ate a dead lion in one day.
NOTE 8. On Litters for Travelling.
The kind of litter borne by mules is gen-
erally one resembling the pálkee (or palan-
quin): it is borne by four of these, animals,
two before and two behind, or by two only,
or more commonly by two camels, and
sometimes by two horses. When borne by
camels, the head of the hindmost of these
animals is painfully bent down, under the
vehicle. It is the most comfortable kind
of litter; and two light persons may travel
in it. The name generally given to it is
"takhtarawán," or "takht-rawán; but
the term employed in the passage to which
this note refers is "mihaffeh," which is
often used as general name for a camel-
litter, and particularly applied to one with
a flat top.-A very common kind of
"heml
camel-litter, called "musattah," or
musattah," resembles a small square tent,
and is chiefly composed of two long chests,
each of which has a high back: these are
placed on the camel in the same manner
as a pair of panniers, one on each side; and
the high backs, which are placed outwards,
together with a small pole resting on the
camel's pack-saddle, support the covering
which forms what may be called the tent.
This vehicle accommodates two persons.
It is generally open at the front; and may
also be opened at the back. Though it
appears comfortable, the motion is uneasy;
especially when it is placed upon a camel
that has been accustomed to carry heavy
burdens: but camels of easy pace are gen-
erally chosen for bearing litters. Another
kind of litter, called "shibreeyeh," is com-
posed of a small square platform with an
arched covering. This accommodates but
one person; and is placed on the back of
the camel: two sahhárahs (or square
camel-chests), one on each side of the
animal, generally form a foundation for
it. The musattah and shibreeyeh (but
particularly the latter) are also called
hódaj."
66
NOTE 9. See Note 43 to Chapter iv.
NOTE 10. See Note 54 to Chapter iv.
NOTE II. "Táj-el-Mulook" signifies
"the Crown of the Kings."
NOTE 12. Lynxes were often employed
in the chase in Arabian and other Eastern
countries in former times; but I do not
know if they are at present. See Note 24
to Chapter ii.
meant
NOTE 13. By this word are
"oblong, cylindrical, hollow beads: ""ka-
sabeh signifying originally a reed,"
cane," &c.
66
NOTE 14. The words "who hath taught
men," &c., are from the Kur-án, ch. xcvi.
v. 5.
""
NOTE. 15. "'Azeez and "'Azeezeh "
(masculine and feminine) signify "Dear,"
"Excellent," &c.
NOTE 16. The handkerchief is generally
oblong, and each of its two ends is em-
broidered with a border of coloured silks
and gold; the other two edges being plain.
NOTE 17. My sheykh has remarked in
a marginal note, that this sign may allude
to her heart, or to her sighing because she
enjoys not the union she desires (as ex-
pressed immediately after); and that the
latter is more probable, as the action is one
common with persons in grief.
-
NOTE 18. On Conversing and Corre-
sponding by means of Signs, Emblems,
Metaphors, &c. Many persons of the in-
structed classes, and some others, among
the Arabs, often take delight, and shew
much ingenuity and quickness of apprehen-
sion, in conversing and corresponding by
means of signs, emblems, &c., or in a con-
ventional, metaphorical, language, not un-
derstood by the vulgar in general, and
sometimes not by any except the parties
engaged in the intercourse. In some cases,
when the main metaphor employed is un-
derstood, the rest of the conversation be-
comes easily intelligible without any
previous explanation; and I have occasion-
ally succeeded in carrying on a conversa-
tion of this kind (though not in cases
such as that described in the tale referred
to by this note); but I have more fre-
quently been unsuccessful in attempting to
divine the nature of a topic in which other
persons were engaged. One simple mode of
secret conversation or correspondence is by
substituting certain letters for other letters.
Many of the women are said to be adepts
in this art, or science, and to convey mes-
1072
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
sages, declarations of love, &c., by means
of fruits, flowers, and other emblems. The
inability of numbers of females in families
of the middle classes to write or read, as
well as the difficulty or impossibility fre-
quently existing of conveying written let-
ters, may have given rise to such modes of
communication. Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, in one of her charming letters
from the East, has gratified our curiosity
by a Turkish love-letter of this kind. A
specimen of one from an Arab, with its
answer, may be here added. An Arab
lover sent to his mistress a fan, a bunch
of flowers, a silk tassel, some sugar-candy,
and a piece of a chord of a musical instru-
ment; and she returned for answer a piece
of an aloe-plant, three black cumin-seeds,
and a piece of a plant used in washing.
His communication is thus interpreted:
The fan, being called "mirwahah," a word
derived from a root which has among its
meanings that of "going to any place in
the evening," signified his wish to pay her
an evening visit: the flowers, that the in-
terview would be in her garden: the tassel,
being called "shurrábeh," that they should
have sharáb (or wine): the sugar-candy,
being termed "sukkar nebát," and "nebát
also signifying "we will pass the night,"
denoted his desire to remain in her com-
pany until the morning: and the piece of
a cord, that they should be entertained by
music. The interpretation of her answer
is as follows: The piece of an aloe-plant,
which is called "sabbárah" (from "sabr,"
which signifies "patience"--because it
will live for many months together with-
out water), implied that he must wait: the
three black cumin-seeds explained to him
that the period of delay should be three
nights: and the plant used in washing in-
formed him that she should then have gone
to the bath, and would meet him. I have
omitted one symbol in the lady's answer,
as it conveys an allusion not so consistent
with European as with Arab notions of
female delicacy.
The language of flowers employed by the
Turks does not exactly agree with the sys-
tem illustrated in the story of 'Azeez and
'Azeezeh; for the former consists of a col-
lection of words and phrases or sentences
which rhyme with the names of the objects
used as the signs. This system is also em-
ployed by the Arabs; but I believe not so
commonly as the other.
A remarkable faculty is displayed by
some Arabs in catching the meaning of
secret signs employed in written communi-
cations to them; such signs being often
used in political and other intrigues. The
following is a curious instance. The cele
brated poet El-Mutanebbee, having written
some verses in dispraise of Káfoor El-Ikh-
sheedee the independent Governor of
Egypt, was obliged to flee, and hide him-
self in a distant town. Káfoor was in-
formed of his retreat, and desired his sec-
retary to write to him a letter promising
him pardon, and commanding him to re-
turn; but told the writer at the same time,
that when the poet came he would punish
him. The secretary was a friend of the
poet, and, being obliged to read the letter
to the Prince when he had written it, was
perplexed how to convey to El-Mutaneb-
bee some indication of the danger that
awaited him: he could only venture to do
so in the exterior address; and having
written this in the usual form, commencing
"In shaa-lláh " (If it be the will of God)
"this shall arrive," &c., he put a small
mark of reduplication over the "n" in the
first word, which he thus converted into
"Inna;" the final vowel being understood.
The poet read the letter, and was rejoiced
to see a promise of pardon; but on looking
a second time at the address, was surprised
to observe the mark of reduplication over
the "n." Knowing the writer to be his
friend, he immediately suspected a secret
meaning, and rightly conceived that the
sign conveyed an allusion to a passage in
the Kur-án commencing with the word
"Inna," and this he divined to be the fol-
lowing: "Verily the magistrates are de-
liberating concerning thee, to put thee to
death." Accordingly, he fled to another
town. Some authors add, that he wrote
a reply, conveying, by a similar sign, to
his friend, an allusion to another passage
in the Kur-án: · "We will never enter the
country while they remain therein." - It
is probable that signs thus employed were
used by many persons to convey allusions
to certain words; and such may have been
the case in the above-mentioned instance:
if not, the poet was indeed a wonderful
guesser.
-
-
NOTE 19. Perhaps it is unnecessary to
explain that the actions here described are
those of a dyer, dipping a piece of linen
into a red dye, and then wringing it. The
shop of the dyer is generally, like most
other shops, a small chamber or recess open
towards the street. Pans containing the
different dyes are imbedded in its floor.
NOTE 20. "Mak'ad" is a name gen-
erally given to a chamber in which male
guests or visitors are received, having an
open front with two or more arches, and
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH
1073
looking into the court or garden of the
house. Its floor is elevated about ten or
more feet above the ground, and the front
is usually towards the north, or nearly so.
NOTE 21. I suppose it to be meant, that
these designs were executed in a kind of
mosaic work; for the pool of the fountain
is generally ornamented with black and
white marble, and pieces of fine red tile,
inlaid in complicated and tasteful patterns.
A view and plan of a fountain of this kind
are inserted in the Introduction to my
work on the Modern Egyptians.
NOTE 22.
--
"Baklaweh," from the Turk-
ish "baklavá," is a name given to a kind
of pastry, which is generally thus pre-
pared: A paste made of fine flour with
clarified butter is rolled thin, and laid upon
a tray: upon this paste is then spread a
composition of clarified butter and
blanched almonds (and sometimes walnuts
and currants) beaten small; and over this
is put another layer of paste. Eight of
these double layers of paste with the com-
position above mentioned between them are
placed one upon another, making the
whole about an inch thick. It is baked in
an oven; cut into lozenge-shaped pieces,
about three inches long, and two inches
wide; and after it is thus cut, some honey
or treacle is poured over.
NOTE 23. See Note 99 to Chapter v.
NOTE 24. It is a general belief of the
Muslims that the wicked will rise to judg-
ment with their faces black; and hence the
origin of the imprecation, "May God
blacken thy face!" But it is often used
to signify "May God disgrace thee!" for
a person's face is said to be black when he
is in any disgrace; and in the reverse case,
it is said to be white.
NOTE 25. "Zardeh" (which is a Per-
sian word) is a name given to rice dressed
with honey and saffron; but here it appears
to be applied to a sweet drink infused with
saffron.
NOTE 26. By the play-bone and the
táb-stick an allusion is conveyed to two
games common among the Arabs. The
play-bones are used in the same manner
as dice, of which they are probably the
origin; and both bear the same name in
the Arabic, in the singular "kaab" or
"kaabeh," that is, "a cube." Of the game
of táb I have given a full account in my
work on the Modern Egyptians (vol. ii.
ch. iv.). I need only mention here, that
the táb-stick is of a flat form, about a
span (or eight inches) in length, and two-
thirds of an inch in breadth, generally
formed of a piece of a palm-branch; one
side of which, being cut flat and smooth, is
white; the other, green, or, if not fresh,
of a dull yellow colour. Four such sticks
are used in playing the game.
NOTE 27.
tion is this:
The more simple interpreta-
Idle games are more suited
to thee than affairs of love.
NOTE 28. El-Kazweenee makes a remark
somewhat similar to this at the close of
his account of the date; but the interpreta-
tion of the meaning conveyed by the date
stone in our text is very far-fetched: my
sheykh in a marginal note, gives one per-
fectly opposite: the date-stone is called
"nawáyeh," and more properly "nawáh"
and "nawà; " and the last of these words
signifies also distance," absence," &c.,
and is often used to express the state of
one who is far from loving or being a
lover: it implies also, in this case, that, if
he slept again, she would cast him off.
46
NOTE 29. The locust-fruit, by its dark
colour, and the length of time it remains
in a state of preservation after it has been
plucked, is rendered a fit emblem of a heart
long enduring separation from the object
of its love.
NOTE 30.
Dirhem," I have before
mentioned, is the name of a silver coin: it
is also the name of a weight, very nearly
equivalent to forty-eight English grains;
and being here described as of iron, we
must understand it in the latter sense.
NOTE 31. I suppose the iron dirhem to
be symbolic of the eye because it is round,
and perhaps likewise because the Arabic
term for "iron" (namely "hadeed") has
also the significance of “sharp" or "pierc-
ing;
in which sense it is often applied to
the sight (as in the Kur-án, ch. 1. v. 21).
See the next note.
NOTE 32. From this double oath, it
seems to me probable, that, by the circular
form of the dirhem, an allusion was meant
to God (as being without beginning or
end), and that the matter of which it was
composed (from what I have said in the
note immediately preceding), as well as its
form, conveyed the allusion to the eye.
NOTE 33. This gentle kneading or press-
ing of the limbs, which is one of the opera-
1074
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
tions performed in the bath, is often prac-
tised by the Arabs for the purpose of in-
ducing sleep.
NOTE 34. This is a kind of nebeedh.
(See Note 22 to Chapter iii.) The same
fruit is also stewed with meat. It is called
in Arabic "'onnáb."
NOTE 35. See Note 18 to Chapter vii.
NOTE 36. It is seen that 'Azeezeh speaks
of herself in the masculine gender in the
verses here inserted; but this is in accord-
ance with a common Arab custom.
NOTE 37.- On the Ceremony called Zikr.
Zikrs are very often performed after a
death; the merit of the performance being
transferred to the soul of the deceased.
I have before mentioned these ceremonies
(in Note 63 to Chapter iii.); but in a
vague manner; and as it is my object in the
present work to give such illustrations as
will satisfy the general reader, without
obliging him to refer to other books, I shall
here insert an abridged extract, descriptive
of a zikr, from my Account of the Man-
ners and Customs of the Modern Egyp-
tians.
The Zikkeers (or performers of the zikr),
who were about thirty in number, sat,
cross-legged, upon matting extended close
to the houses on one side of the street, in
the form of an oblong ring. Within this
ring, along the middle of the matting, were
placed three very large wax candles; each
about four feet high, and stuck in a low
candlestick. Most of the zikkeers were
Ahmedee darweeshes, persons of the lower
orders, and meanly dressed: many of them
wore green turbans. At one end of the
ring were four munshids (or singers of re-
ligious odes), and with them was a player
on the kind of flute called "náy." I pro-
cured a small seat of palm-sticks from a
coffee-shop close by, and, by means of a
little pushing, and the assistance of my
servant, obtained a place with the mun-
shids, and sat there to hear a complete act,
or "meglis," of the zikr; which act com-
menced at about three o'clock (or three
hours after sunset), and continued two
hours.
The performers began by reciting the
Fát'hah (or opening chapter of the Kur-
án) all together; their sheykh, or chief,
first exclaiming, “El-Fát'hah!" They then
chanted the following words: “O God,
bless our lord Mohammad among the for-
mer generations; and bless our lord Mo-
hammad among the latter generations; and
bless our lord Mohammad in every time
and period; and bless our lord Mohammad
in the highest degree, unto the day of
judgment; and bless all the prophets and
apostles among the inhabitants of the
heavens and of the earth; and may God
(whose name be blessed and exalted!) be
well pleased with our lords and our mas-
ters, those persons of illustrious estimation,
Aboo-Bekr and 'Omar and 'Osmán and
'Alee, and with all the favourites of God.
God is our sufficiency; and excellent is the
Guardian! There is no strength nor power
but in God, the High, the Great! O God!
O our Lord! O Thou liberal of pardon!
O Thou most bountiful of the most boun-
tiful! O God! Amen!" They were
then silent for three or four minutes; and
again recited the Fát'hah; but silently.
This form of prefacing the zikr is com-
monly used, by almost all orders of dar-
weeshes in Egypt.
The performers now commenced the zikr.
Sitting in the manner above described, they
chanted, in slow measure, "Lá ilaha illa-
lláh " ("There is no deity but God") to
the following air: -
с
Lá i lá ha illa
-
1 - láh.
24
Lá
i- lá - ha
i
1 - la 1.
नै
lá
h.
Lá
i lá
-
ha illa
1
láh.
नै
bowing the head and body twice in each
repetition of "Lá iláha illa-lláh." Thus
they continued about a quarter of an hour;
and then, for about the same space of time,
they repeated the same words to the same
air, but in a quicker measure, and with
correspondingly quicker motions. In the
meantime, the munshids frequently sang,
to the same, or a variation of the same, air,
portions of a kaseedeh, or of a muwesh-
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH
1075
hah; an ode of a similar nature to the
ong of Solomon, generally alluding to the
rophet as the object of love and praise;
nd at frequent intervals, one of them sang
ut the word "meded," implying an in-
ocation for spiritual or supernatural aid.
The zikkeers, after having performed
as above described, next repeated the
same words to a different air for about
the same length of time; first, very
slowly; then, quickly. The air was as
follows:
Lá i lá ha illa 1 lá - h. Lá i lá ha illa - 1 -
-
-
lá . h.
नै
Lá i
lá
·
ha illa 1
·
láh.
Then they repeated these words again, to the following air, in the same manner:
--
e
2
25
Lá i lá ha il la 1 - láh. Lá i - lá ha il la-1-láh.
·
·
They next rose, and, standing in the same
der in which they had been sitting, re-
ated the same words to another air.
ter which, still standing, they repeated
ese words in a very deep and hoarse
ne; laying the principal emphasis upon
e word "Lá" and the first syllable of
e last word "Allah; " and uttering it, ap-
rently, with a considerable effort: the
und much resembled that which is pro-
ced by beating the rim of a tambourine.
ich zikkeer turned his head alternately to
e right and left at each repetition of
á iláha illa-lláh." One of them, a
nuch, at this part of the zikr, was seized
th an epileptic fit, evidently the result of
high state of religious excitement; but
body seemed surprised at it; for occur-
ices of this kind at zikrs are not uncom-
›n. All the performers now seemed much
cited; repeating their ejaculations with
eater rapidity, violently turning their
ads, and sinking the whole body at the
ne time: some of them jumping. The
uch above mentioned again was seized
th fits several times; and I generally re-
rked that this happened after one of
: munshids had. sung a line or two and
rted himself more than usually to ex-
e his hearers: the singing was, indeed,
my taste, very pleasing. The contrast
sented by the vehement and distressing
rtions of the performers at the close of
zikr, and their calm gravity and
emnity of manner at the commencement,
s particularly striking. Money was col-
·
-
lected during the performance for the mun-
shids. The zikkeers receive no pay.
NOTE 38. From the last of these verses
it appears that the flowers are described
as laid upon the tomb (in accordance with
the custom mentioned in the last paragraph
of Note 16 to Chapter i.), and not as
planted upon it; though this is frequently
done in some countries of the East; the
monument being filled with mould, and
the whole of its top open.
NOTE 39. See Note 25 to Chapter v.
NOTE 40. See Note 35 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 41. The "rod" (in Arabic "kasa-
beh ") was, according to the Egyptian
measurement, until lately reduced, about
twelve English feet and a half.
NOTE 42. See Note 12 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 43. It is common (as my sheykh
has remarked) to say, of a very spacious
chamber, that a horseman might gallop
in it. The playing at goff by horsemen has
been mentioned in a former tale. It was
a common exercise in Egypt as well as
Persia and other Eastern countries.
NOTE 44.
"Deleeleh" is an epithet used
in modern Arabic as indicative of artifice,
machination, or fraud. It is often em-
ployed as a female nickname.
1076
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 45. From this point to the end of
the story of 'Azeez and 'Azeezeh I omit
some portions which are tedious, and others
which are more objectionable.
NOTE 46. Any one may enter the pub-
lic bath, but none can go out of it, with-
out paying.
NOTE 47. The "kaak," commonly called
"kahk," has been described in Note 16 to
Chapter i. De Sacy has remarked that our
English word "cake" seems to be from
the same origin.
-
NOTE 48.-On Oaths. To explain this
passage, I must repeat, with a few slight
additions, some remarks which I have made
in a former publication. Among a peo-
ple by whom falsehood, in certain cases,
is not only allowed but commended, oaths
of different kinds are more or less binding.
In considering this subject, we should also
remember that oaths may sometimes be
expiated. There are some oaths which,
I believe, few Muslims would falsely take;
such as saying, three times, "By God the
Great!" (Wa-lláhi-l-Azeem), and the oath
upon the mus-haf (or copy of the Kur-án),
saying, "By what this contains of the word
of God!" This latter is rendered more
binding by placing a sword with the sacred
volume; and still more so, by the addition
of a cake, or piece, of bread, and a hand-
ful of salt. But a form of oath which is
generally yet more to be depended upon is
that of saying, "I impose upon myself
divorcement!" (that is, the divorce of
my wife, if what I say be false "); or, “I
impose upon myself interdiction!" which
has a similar meaning ("My wife be un-
lawful to me!"); or, "I impose upon my-
self a triple divorcement!" which binds a
man by the irrevocable divorce of his wife.
If a man use any of these three forms of
oath falsely, his wife, if he have but one,
is divorced by the oath itself, if proved to
be false, without the absolute necessity of
any further ceremony; and if he have two
or more wives, he must, under such cir-
cumstances, choose one of them to put
away.
66
In the case which this note is principally
intended to illustrate, the wife of 'Azeez
makes him swear by the sword and the
Kur-án in the hope of inducing him to re-
turn to her; and by the oath of divorce,
to make the inducement more strong, and
that she might be enabled, in case he did
not fulfil his vow, legally to contract an-
other marriage as soon as she should have
waited the period which the law requires.
NOTE 49. The verses I have omitted a
they are the same (with the exception o
some slight variations) as the first, seconc
third, and fifth, of those commencing a
page 85 in this volume; and the content
of the accompanying paper as being tire
some and in some parts unmeaning.
NOTE 50. See the first note in the pres
ent series.
NOTE 51. I have substituted "Sháh
Zemán" (signifying "King of the Age
for Shahramán; the latter being evidently
a mistake of a copyist.
NOTE 52. "Dunyà" signifies the
"world."
66
NOTE 53.
"Ridwán," which signifie:
approbation," "complacency," &c., is the
name of the Guardian of Paradise. - The
meaning of this passage is, "Surely this
handsome young person is one of the
Wildán, or Weleeds, those beautiful youth:
prepared to wait upon the faithful in Para-
dise; and he hath escaped thence through
the inadvertence of Ridwán." The very
meanest in Paradise is promised eighty
thousand of these servants, besides seventy-
two Hooreeyehs, &c.
NOTE 54. A compliment of this kind is
generally uttered on letting a shop or
house, and on selling an article of dress.
&c.; and "God bless thee!" is usually said
in reply. In like manner, a merchant sell-
ing goods to be re-sold says,
grant thee a profit upon them!'
May God
NOTE 55. The word thus translated sig-
nifies taking a morning-draught of wine,
milk, sherbet, or any other beverage.
NOTE 56. When Zeleekha invited her
female friends that they might behold
Yoosuf (or Joseph) and excuse her for in-
clining to him, at the sight of him they
cut their own hands, and praised God,
ejaculating these words, "This is not a
mortal," &c. (Kur-án, ch. xii. v. 31).
NOTE 57. To persons more or less above
him in rank, the shopkeeper rises and
stands, or merely makes a slight motion as
if he were about to rise.
NOTE 58. This is a common invocation,
for the protection of a person from envy,
or the evil eye, founded upon the last
chapter but one of the Kur-án, in which
the believer is desired to "seek refuge with
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH
1077
the Lord of the Daybreak" from various
evils, and among these "from the mischief
of the envious." It is very often said to
imply admiration of a child, that the
mother may not fear.
NOTE 59. This ejaculation is addressed
to God.
NOTE 60. This alludes to one of the
stages of the creation of man explained in
the Kur-án, ch. xxii. v. 5.
NOTE 61. The old woman is described
is being "full of joy" because, having in-
fuced her mistress to answer the letter,
he saw a prospect of continuing the cor-
espondence, and so obtaining additional
resents.
NOTE 62.
"Es-Suhà" is an obscure star
n the Greater Bear, at which people look
o try their powers of sight. It is the star
o, by C.
NOTE 63. My sheykh has remarked in a
narginal note on the "Five Elders" (or
heykhs) here mentioned, "the known
umber is the four; namely the [first four]
Khaleefehs; or the Four Welees (eminent
aints), the seyyid El-Bedawee and the
eyyid Ed-Dasookee and Er-Rifa'ee and
1-Geelánee." The latter four are often
entioned together as being the saints gen-
rally most esteemed in the present day
nd the founders of the four principal or-
ers of Darweeshes. Who, then, can be
eant by "the Five Elders" I do not
now; but I have retained this number as
occurs again in a variation of the same
erses in a subsequent tale, which is almost
actly the same as that of Táj-el-Mulook.
("Son of
NOTE 64. "Ibn-Seenà "
eenà ") is the true name of the great
hysician called by us "Avicenna."
NOTE 65. The gait of Arab ladies is very
markable: they incline the lower part
the body from side to side as they step,
id with the hands raised to the level of
ie bosom they hold the edges of their
iter covering. Their pace is slow, and
ey look not about them, but keep their
es towards the ground in the direction
which they are going.
NOTE 66. It should be remarked here,
that the private room of an Eastern prin-
cess is not to be regarded as a Western
bed-room. In the East, a guest may lay
himself down upon a deewán in the pres-
ence of another, to pass the night, without
any infringement of decorum.
NOTE 67. See the latter paragraph of
the first note in the present series.
NOTE 68. See Note 9 to Chapter vii.
NOTE 69. The doors in Eastern houses
generally turn on two wooden pins; one
fitting into a hole in the lintel; the other,
into a hole immediately behind the thres-
hold; and the latter is very short. It is
therefore often easy to displace a door by
raising it a little, which may be done by
means of a projecting wooden lock; and in
many cases, when the door cannot be dis-
placed from its sockets, it may be raised
sufficiently to remove the inner latch from
its catch. The doors of the ancient temples
and tombs in Egypt were formed as above
described, with pins, which were often
made of bronze.
from
NOTE 70. I here read "nimsheh " (also
written " nimjeh and nimjáh
the Persian" neemjah ") instead of "kam-
sheh." The latter is described by my
sheykh, in a marginal note, as "a strip of
leather divided into two. and tied together
and nailed at the upper end to a piece of
wood; " but the use of such an instru-
ment in this case would be ridiculous. The
name of "nimsheh " is often given to a
royal dagger.
NOTE 71. As persons are often decapi-
tated in an Eastern palace, a skin is made
use of to receive the head and the blood.
I believe it to be similar to the round skin
used by travellers to eat upon; which is
converted into a bag by means of a run-
ning string round the edge.
In concluding the present series of notes,
I may state my opinion, that the two
stories to which they relate are fully
worthy of insertion in this collection, as
extending the picture of Arab life and man-
ners, whatever may be thought of their
origin.
1078
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
NOTE I. In the first of the Notes to
Chapter viii., I have mentioned that the
long story from which the contents of that
chapter are extracted terminates with the
hundred and forty-fifth Night. It is fol-
lowed by several more fables, extending
to the end of the hundred and fifty-second
Night. Two of these I have translated,
and here insert, as I think them at least
worthy of a second-rate place in the pres-
ent collection. The rest are short, and very
inferior.
The Fable of the Peacock, the Peahen, etc.
"There was, in ancient times, a peacock
who resorted to the sea-side with his mate.
This place abounded with savage beasts,
and all other wild animals were there, but
it also abounded with trees and rivers; and
the peacock with his mate roosted by night
in one of those trees, through their fear
of the wild beasts, in the morning betaking
themselves to seek their sustenance. Thus
they continued until, their fear increasing,
they sought another place in which to re-
side; and while they were searching for it,
an island appeared before them, with many
trees and rivers. So they took up their
abode in this island, and ate of its fruits,
and drank of its rivers. And as they were
thus living, lo, a duck approached them, in
a state of great terror, and advanced with-
out stopping until she came to the tree
upon which was the peacock with his mate;
whereupon she felt secure. The peacock,
therefore, doubted not but that this duck
had a wonderful story to tell; and he asked
her respecting her state, and the reason
of her fear. She answered, I am sick with
grief, and my fear is of the son of Adam.
Beware then, beware of the sons of Adam.
-So the peacock said to her, Fear not,
now that thou hast come unto us. And the
duck replied, Praise be to God who hath
dispelled my anxiety and grief by your
vicinity! I have come in the desire of
gaining your affection. And when she
had uttered these words, the peacock's mate
descended to her, and said to her, Welcome
to friendship and ease and amplitude! No
evil waiteth thee. And how can the son
of Adam obtain access to us when we are
in this island in the midst of the sea?
From the land he cannot reach us, and
from the sea he cannot come up against
us. Rejoice, therefore, at this announce-
ment, and tell us what hath befallen thee
from the son of Adam.
-
"So the duck said, Know, O peahen,
that I have passed all my life in this island
in safety, and seen nothing disagreeable,
till I slept one night, and beheld in my
sleep the figure of a son of Adam, who con-
versed with me, and I conversed with him.
But I heard a speaker say to me, O duck,
beware of the son of Adam, and be not
deceived by his words, nor by his sugges-
tions to thee; for he aboundeth with stra-
tagems and guile. Beware then, be fully
aware, of his craftiness; for he is guileful
and crafty as the poet hath said of him, —
With his tongue he will offer thee sweet expres
sions; but he will elude thee like the fox.
And know that the son of Adam circum-
venteth the fish, and draweth them out
from the waters, and shooteth the birds
with an earthen bullet, and entrappeth the
elephant by his craftiness. No one is se-
cure from the mischief of the son of Adam,
and neither bird nor wild beast can escape
from him. Thus I have acquainted thee
with that which I have heard respecting
the son of Adam. So I awoke from my
sleep fearful and terrified; and to the pres-
ent time my heart hath not become dilated,
through my fear for myself from the son
of Adam, lest he surprise me by his arti-
fice, and catch me in his snares. When
the close of day overtook me, my strength
was impaired and my energy failed.
"I then felt a desire to eat and drink.
I therefore went walking forth, with a
troubled mind and a contracted heart, and,
arriving at yonder mountain, I found, at
the entrance of a cave, a young lion, of
yellow colour. When this young lion be-
held me, he rejoiced exceedingly at my
arrival; my colour and my elegant form
pleased him, and he called out to me, say-
ing, Draw near to me: and on my ap-
proaching him he said to me, What is thy
name, and what is thy genus? I therefore
answered, My name is duck, and I am of
the genus of birds. And I then said to him,
What is the reason of thy sojourning until
the present time in this place? The young
lion answered, The reason of it is, that my
father the lion hath been for days caution-
ing me against the son of Adam; and it
happened that I beheld last night in my
sleep the figure of a son of Adam. Then
the young lion related to me the like of
that which I have related unto thee; and
when I heard his words I said to him, O
lion, I have had recourse unto thee that
thou mayest slay the son of Adam, and be
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1079
resolved upon his slaughter; for I fear for
myself extremely from him, and my fear
is increased from seeing that thou also fear-
est the son of Adam although thou art
Sultán of the wild beasts. I ceased not,
O my sister, to caution the young lion
against the son of Adam, and to urge him
to slay him, until he rose suddenly from
the place where he was, and walked forth,
I walking behind him; and he lashed his
back with his tail.
"He proceeded, and I behind him, down
the road; and we found a dust raised,
which subsided, and there appeared in the
midst of it a run-away, naked ass, now
galloping and running, and now rolling on
the ground. When the lion beheld him he
called out to him: so the ass came to him
submissively: and the lion said to him, O
thou animal of infatuated mind, what is
thy genus, and what is the reason of thy
coming unto this place?-O son of the
Sultán, answered the ass, as to my genus,
I am an ass; and the reason of my coming
to this place is my flight from the son of
Adam. So the young lion said, And art
thou also afraid of the son of Adam that
he should kill thee? The ass answered,
No, O son of the Sultán; but my fear is
lest he employ a stratagem against me, and
ride me; for he hath a thing called the
pad, which he placeth on my back, and a
thing called the girth, which he draweth
round my belly, and a thing called the
crupper, which he inserteth beneath my
tail, and a thing called the bit, which he
putteth in my mouth; and he maketh for
me a goad, and goadeth me with it, and
he requireth me to exert myself beyond
my ability in running. When I stumble,
he curseth me; and when I bray, he re-
ileth me. Afterwards, when I have grown
old, and can no longer run, he putteth
ipon me a pack-saddle of wood, and com-
nitteth me to the water-sellers (sakkàs),
who load me with water upon my back
rom the river, in goat-skins, and in similar
hings, such as jars; and I cease not to
uffer abasement and contempt and fatigue
intil I die, when they throw me upon the
nounds of rubbish to the dogs. What then
an be greater than this anxiety that I
uffer, and what calamity is greater than
hese calamities that I endure? - Now
vhen I heard, O peahen, the words of the
ss, my flesh quaked with horror of the
on of Adam, and I said to the young lion,
) my master, the ass is excused, and his
vords have added to my terror. The
oung lion then said to the ass, Whither art
hou going? The ass answered, I saw the
on of Adam before sunrise at a distance,
and I fled from him, and now I desire to
depart, and to run without stopping, from
the violence of my fear of him: perhaps I
may find a place that will afford me an
asylum from the perfidious son of Adam.
--
"Now while the ass was conversing with
the young lion on this subject, and was
desirous of bidding us farewell, and depart-
ing, there appeared unto us a cloud of
dust; whereupon the ass brayed and cried
out, looking in the direction of the dust.
And after a while, the dust dispersed, and
discovered a black horse, with a white spot
on his forehead like a dirhem. This horse,
beautiful with the white spot on his fore-
head, handsomely marked with white next
the hoof, with becoming legs, and mane,
stopped not in his course, until he came
before the young lion. And when the
young lion beheld him, he admired him,
and said to him, What is thy genus, O ma-
jestic wild beast, and what is the reason
of thy fleeing away into this wide and ex-
tensive desert? O my lord of the wild
beasts, answered the horse, I am one of
the genus of horses, and the reason of my
running away is my flight from the son
of Adam. And the young lion wondered
at the words of the horse, and replied, Say
not thus, for it is disgraceful to thee.
Thou art tall and stout; and how then
fearest thou the son of Adam, notwith-
standing the bulk of thy body, and the
swiftness of thy running, when I, with the
smallness of my body, have determined to
encounter the son of Adam, to attack him,
and eat his flesh, and to appease the terror
of this poor duck, and establish her securely
in her home Now, on thy coming here,
thou hast broken my heart by thy words,
and deterred me from that which I de-
sired to do; seeing that the son of Adam
hath overcome thee, in spite of thy great-
ness, and feared not thy height and thy
breadth, though, if thou kickedst him with
thy hoof, thou wouldst kill him, and he
could not prevail against thee; but thou
wouldst make him to drink the cup of per-
dition. But the horse laughed when he
heard the words of the young lion, and
said, Far, far is it from my power to over-
come him, O son of the King! Let not my
height nor breadth nor my bulk deceive
thee with respect to the son of Adam, for,
in the excess of his artifice and his crafti-
ness he maketh for me a thing called a
tethering-rope, and putteth to my four
feet two tethering-ropes of cords made of
the fibres of the palm-tree, wound round
with felt, and attacheth me by my head
to a high stake. I remain standing, thus
attached, unable to lie down or to sleep.
1080
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
And when he desireth to ride me, he
maketh for me a thing of iron into which
to put his feet, called the stirrup, and
placeth upon my back a thing called the
saddle, binding it with two girths under
the hollow of my forelegs; and he putteth
in my mouth a thing of iron called the bit,
affixing to it a strip of leather termed the
bridle. Then when he rideth on my back,
upon the saddle, he taketh hold of the
bridle and guideth me with it, and striketh
me on my flanks with the stirrups until he
maketh them bleed. Ask not, O son of the
Sultán, what I suffer from the son of
Adam; for when I have grown old and
lean, and am unable to run fleetly, he
selleth me to the miller, to employ me in
turning the mill, and I cease not to do so
night and day, until I become infirm from
age, when he selleth me to the butcher,
who slaughtereth me: he strippeth off my
skin and plucketh my tail and seileth them
to the sieve-makers, and he melteth down
my fat. And when the young lion heard
these words of the horse, he became more
enraged and vexed, and said to him, When
didst thou part from the son of Adam?
He answered, I parted from him at midday,
and he is following my tracks.
"And while the young lion was thus
talking with the horse, lo, a dust rose, and
afterwards dispersed, and there appeared
in the midst of it a furious camel, uttering
a gurgling noise, and striking the ground
with his feet. Thus he continued to do
until he came up to us; and when the
young lion beheld him, great and stout,
he thought that he was the son of Adam,
and was about to spring upon him; but I
said to him, O son of the Sultán, this is
not the son of Adam, but he is a camel;
and it seemeth that he is fleeing from the
son of Adam. And as I was thus engaged,
O my sister, in speaking to the young lion,
the camel came before the young lion, and
saluted him; and he returned his salutation,
and said to him, What is the reason of thy
coming unto this place? He answered, I
have come fleeing from the son of Adam. -
And thou, said the young lion, with thy
huge make and height and breadth, how
fearest thou the son of Adam, when, if
thou kickedst him with thy foot, thou
wouldst kill him. O son of the Sultán,
answered the camel, know that the son of
Adam hath subtleties not to be supported,
and nothing overcometh him but death;
for he putteth in my nose a string called
a nose-ring, and upon my head he putteth
a halter: then he committeth me to the
least of his children, and the little child
draweth me along by the string, notwith-
standing my great bulk. They load me
also with the heaviest burdens, and take
me with them on long journeys. They em-
ploy me in difficult labours during the
hours of the night and the day; and when
I have grown old, and have become dis-
abled, my master no longer endureth my
society; but selleth me to the butcher, who
slaughtereth me, and selleth my skin to
the tanners, and my flesh to the cooks.
Ask not, therefore, what I suffer from the
son of Adam. The young lion then said
to him, At what hour didst thou part from
the son of Adam? He answered, I parted
from him at the hour of sunset; and I
imagine that, coming to my place after
my departure, and finding me not, he is on
the way to seek me; therefore suffer me,
O son of the Sultán, to flee into the deserts
and wastes. But the young lion replied,
Wait a little, O camel, that thou mayest
see how I will tear him, and feed thee
with his flesh, and break his bones, and
drink his blood. O son of the Sultán, re-
joined the camel, I fear for thee from the
son of Adam; for he is guileful and crafty.
And he recited the saying of the poet, -
When the severe alighteth in the land for a
people, there is nothing for its inhabitants
but to depart.
"But as the camel was conversing thus
with the young lion, lo, a dust rose, and
after a while dispersed from around a short
and thin old man. On his shoulder was
a basket containing a set of carpenter's
tools, upon his head was a branch of a
tree, with eight planks, and he was leading
by the hand young children, and walking
at a brisk pace. He advanced without
stopping until he drew near to the young
lion; and when I beheld him, O my sister,
I fell down from the violence of my fear.
But as to the young lion, he arose and
walked forward to him and met him; and
when he came up to him, the carpenter
laughed in his face, and said to him with
an eloquent tongue, O glorious King, en-
dowed with liberality, may Allah make
thine evening and thine intention pros-
perous, and increase thy courage and thy
power! Protect me from him who hath
afflicted me, and by his wickedness smit-
ten me; for I have found none to aid me
but thee. Then the carpenter stood be-
fore the lion, and wept and sighed and
lamented. And when the young lion heard
his weeping and lamenting, he said to him,
I will protect thee from the object of thy
dread. Who then is he who hath oppressed
thee, and what art thou, O thou wild beast,
the like of whom I have never in my life
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1081
--
beheld, and than whom I have never seen
any of more handsome form nor any of
more eloquent tongue; and what is thy
condition? So the carpenter answered,
O lord of the wild beasts, as to myself, I
am a carpenter; and as to him who hath
oppressed me, he is a son of Adam, and
on the morning after this night he will
be with thee in this place. And when the
young lion heard these words from the car-
penter, the light became converted into
darkness before his face: he growled and
snorted; his eyes cast forth sparks; and he
cried out, saying, By Allah, I will remain
awake this night until the morning, and
will not return to my father until I accom-
plish my desire! Then looking towards
the carpenter, he said to him, I see thy
steps to be short, and I cannot hurt thy
feelings; for I am endowed with gen-
erosity; and I imagine that thou canst not
seep pace in thy walk with the wild beasts:
acquaint me, then, whither thou art going.
The carpenter replied, Know that I am
going to the Wezeer of thy father, to the
ynx; for, when it was told him that the
son of Adam had trodden this region, he
eared for himself greatly, and sent to me
messenger from among the wild beasts,
and I might make for him a house in which
he might reside, and find an asylum, and
hat should debar from him his enemy, so
hat no one of the sons of Adam might
obtain access to him. Therefore, when the
nessenger came to me, I took these planks
ind set forth to him.
"On hearing these words of the car-
enter, the young lion became envious of
he lynx, and said to him, By my life, thou
nust make for me a house with these
lanks before thou make for the lynx his
ouse; and when thou hast finished my
vork, go to the lynx, and make for him
vhat he desireth. But when the carpenter
eard what the young lion said, he replied,
lord of the wild beasts, I cannot make
or thee anything until I have made for
he lynx what he desireth then I will come
o serve thee, and make for thee a house
hat shall protect thee from thine enemy.
The young lion, however, said, By Allah,
will not let thee go from this place until
hou make for me a house with these
lanks. He then crept, and sprang upon
he carpenter, desiring to jest with him,
nd struck him with his paw, throwing
own the basket from his shoulder. The
arpenter fell down in a swoon, and the
oung lion laughed at him, and said, Wo to
hee, O carpenter! Verily thou art weak,
nd without strength: so thou art excused
or thy fearing the son of Adam. But
when the carpenter had fallen down upon
his back, he became violently enraged. He
however concealed this from the young
lion, through his fear of him; and after-
wards, he sat and laughed in the face of
the young lion, saying to him, Well, I will
make for thee the house. So he took the
planks that he had with him, and nailed
together the house, making it to suit the
measure of the young lion, and left its
door open; for he made it in the form of
a chest. He made for it a large aperture
with a cover pierced with numerous holes,
and, taking forth some new nails, said to
the young lion, Enter this house by this
aperture, that I may arch it over thee.
The young lion therefore rejoiced at this,
and advanced to the aperture; but he saw
that it was narrow. The carpenter said
to him, Enter, and crouch down upon thy
four legs. And the lion accordingly did so,
and entered the chest, but his tail remained
outside. He then desired to draw back
and come forth; but the carpenter said to
him, Wait, that I may see if it will admit
thy tail with thee. So the young lion com-
plied with his directions; and the carpen-
ter, having folded the young lion's tail,
and stuffed it into the chest, placed the
cover upon the aperture quickly, and nailed
it. The young lion cried out, saying, O
carpenter, what is this narrow house that
thou hast made for me? Let me come
forth from it. But the carpenter replied,
Far, far be it from thee! Repentance for
what hath passed will not avail; for thou
wilt not come forth from this place. -
Then the carpenter laughed, and said to
the young lion, Thou hast fallen into the
cage, and become the basest of wild beasts.
O my brother, said the young lion, what
is this discourse that thou addressest to me?
- Know O dog of the desert, replied the
carpenter, that thou hast fallen into the
snare that thou fearedst: destiny hath
overthrown thee, and caution will not avail
thee. So when the young lion heard his
words, O my sister, he knew that he was
the son of Adam, against whom his father
had cautioned him when he was awake,
and the invisible speaker in his sleep; and
I was convinced that this was he without
doubt or uncertainty. I therefore feared
him greatly for myself, and, retiring to a
little distance from him, waited to see what
he would do with the young lion. And I
saw, O my sister, the son of Adam dig a
trench in that place, near the chest in
which was the young lion; and he threw
him into the trench, and threw wood upon
him, and burnt him with fire. So my fear,
O my sister, increased; and for two days
1082
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I have been fleeing from the son of Adam,
in my fear of him.
"The peahen, when she heard these
words from the duck, wondered at them
extremely, and said, O my sister, thou art
now secure from the son of Adam; for
we are in one of the islands of the sea,
to which the son of Adam hath no way of
access; therefore choose a residence with
us until God make easy thy affair and ours.
The duck replied, I fear that some noc-
turnal calamity may befall me; and no
fugitive slave can detach himself from
fate. But the peahen rejoined, Reside with
us, and be like us. And she continued to
urge her until she did so; and she said to
the peahen, O my sister, thou knowest how
little is my patience; and if I had not
seen thee here, I had not remained. The
peahen replied, If anything be [written]
on our forehead, we must experience its
accomplishment; and when our predestined
end approacheth, who will deliver us? A
soul departeth not until it hath enjoyed
the whole of its sustenance and its decreed
period. And while they were thus con-
versing, a cloud of dust approached them;
whereupon the duck cried out, and de-
scended into the sea, saying, Beware, be-
ware, though there be no refuge from
destiny! The dust was great; but as it
subsided, there appeared in the midst of
it an antelope. So the duck and the pea-
hen felt secure; and the latter said to the
duck, O my sister, that which thou fearest
is an antelope, and see, he hath approached
us: no harm will befall us from him; for
the antelope eateth the herbs which spring
from the earth; and as thou art of the
genus of birds, he is of the genus of wild
beasts: therefore feel secure, and be not
anxious; since anxiety wasteth the body.
And the peahen had not finished her words
when the antelope came up to them to
shade himself beneath the tree; and on
beholding the peahen and the duck, he
saluted them, and said to them, I have en-
tered this island to-day, and have seen
no place more fruitful than it, nor any
more pleasant as an abode. He then in-
vited them to keep him company and to
treat him with sincere friendship; and
when the duck and the peahen saw his
affection for them, they addressed him
kindly, and became desirous of his society.
They swore to be faithful friends, one to
another, and they passed the night together,
and ate together. Thus they continued in
safety, eating and drinking, until there
passed by them a vessel that was wander-
ing from its course in the sea. It anchored
near them, and the people came forth, and
dispersed themselves in the island, and, see-
ing the antelope and the peahen and the
duck together, they approached them. So
the antelope fled into the desert, and the
peahen soared into the sky; but the duck
remained infatuated, and they continued to
run after her until they captured her,
when she cried out, saying, Caution is of
no avail to me against fate and destiny!
And they departed with her to their ves-
sel."
The antelope and the peahen mourned
incessantly for the loss of the duck, and
concluded that her unhappy end was oc-
casioned by her neglecting to repeat the
praises of God; for it is the general prac-
tice of everything that God hath created to
celebrate his praises, and the neglect of
doing so causeth its destruction.
The Fable of the Fox and the Wolf.
"A fox and a wolf inhabited the same
den, resorting thither together, and thus
they remained a long time. But the wolf
oppressed the fox; and it so happened that
the fox counselled the wolf to assume be-
nignity, and to abandon wickedness, say-
ing to him, If thou persevere in thine arro-
gance, probably God will give power over
thee to a son of Adam; for he is possessed
of stratagems, and artifice, and guile: he
captureth the birds from the sky, and the
fish from the sea, and cutteth the moun-
tains and transporteth them; and all this
he accomplisheth through his stratagems.
Betake thyself, therefore, to the practice
of equity, and relinquish evil and oppres-
sion; for it will be more pleasant to thy
taste. The wolf, however, received not
his advice; on the contrary, he returned
him a rough reply, saying to him, Thou
hast no right to speak on matters of mag-
nitude and importance. He then gave the
fox such a blow that he fell down senseless;
and when he recovered, he smiled in the
wolf's face, apologizing for his shameful
words, and recited these two verses:
If I have been faulty in my affection for you,
and committed a deed of a shameful nature,
I repent of my offence, and your clemency will
extend to the evil-doer who craveth for-
giveness.
So the wolf accepted his apology, and
ceased from ill-treating him, but said to
him, Speak not of that which concerneth
thee not, lest thou hear that which will
not please thee. The fox replied, I hear
and obey. I will abstain from that which
pleaseth thee not; for the sage hath said,
Offer not information on a subject respect-
ing which thou art not questioned; and re-
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1083
ply not to words when thou art not in-
vited; leave what concerneth thee not, to
attend to that which doth concern thee;
and lavish not advice upon the evil, for
they will recompense thee for it with evil.
-And when the wolf heard these words
of the fox, he smiled in his face; but he
meditated upon employing some artifice
against him, and said, I must strive to
effect the destruction of this fox. As to
the fox, however, he bore patiently the in-
jurious conduct of the wolf, saying within
himself, Verily, insolence and calumny oc-
casion destruction, and betray one into per-
plexity; for it hath been said, He who is
insolent suffereth injury, and he who is
ignorant repenteth, and he who feareth is
safe: moderation is one of the qualities of
the noble, and good manners are the
noblest gain. It is advisable to behave with
dissimulation towards this tyrant, and he
will inevitably be overthrown. - He then
said to the wolf, Verily the Lord pardoneth
and becometh propitious unto his servant
when he hath sinned; and I am a weak
slave, and have committed a transgression
in offering thee advice. Had I foreknown
the pain that I have suffered from thy
blow, I had known that the elephant could
not withstand nor endure it; but I will
not complain of the pain of that blow, on
account of the happiness that hath resulted
unto me from it; for, if it had a severe
effect upon me, its result was happiness;
and the sage hath said, The beating in-
flicted by the preceptor is at first extremely
grievous; but in the end it is sweeter than
clarified honey. So the wolf said, I for-
give thine offence, and cancel thy fault; but
beware of my power, and confess thyself
my slave; for thou hast experienced my
severity unto him who sheweth me hos-
tility. The fox, therefore, prostrated him-
self before him, saying to him, May God
prolong thy life, and mayest thou not
cease to subdue him who opposeth thee!
And he continued to fear the wolf, and to
dissemble towards him.
"After this, the fox went one day to a
vineyard, and saw in its wall a breach; but
he suspected it, saying within himself,
There must be some cause for this breach;
and it hath been said, Whoso seeth a hole
in the ground, and doth not shun it, and
be cautious of advancing to it boldly, ex-
poseth himself to danger and destruction.
It is well known that some men make a
figure of the fox in the vineyard, and even
put before it grapes in plates, in order that
a fox may see it, and advance to it, and
fall into destruction. Verily I regard this
breach as a snare; and it hath been said,
Caution is the half of cleverness. Caution
requireth me to examine this breach, and
to see if I can find there anything that may
lead to perdition. Covetousness doth not
induce me to throw myself into destruc-
tion. He then approached it, and, going
round about examining it warily, beheld
it! and lo, there was a deep pit, which the
owner of the vineyard had dug to catch
in it the wild beasts that despoiled the
vines; and he observed over it a slight
covering. So he drew back from it, and
said, Praise be to God that I regarded it
with caution! I hope that my enemy, the
wolf, who hath made my life miserable,
may fall into it; so that I alone may enjoy
absolute power over the vineyard, and live
in it securely! Then, shaking his head, and
uttering a loud laugh, he merrily sang these
verses:
Would that I beheld at the present moment, in
this well a wolf
Who hath long afflicted my heart, and made me
drink bitterness perforce!
Would that my life may be spared, and that
the wolf may meet his death!
Then the vineyard will be free from his pres-
ence, and I shall find in it my spoil.
Having finished his song, he hurried away
until he came to the wolf, when he said
to him, Verily God hath smoothed for
thee the way to the vineyard without
fatigue. This hath happened through thy
good fortune. Mayest thou enjoy, there-
fore, that to which God hath granted thee
access, in smoothing thy way to that plun-
der and that abundant sustenance without
any difficulty! So the wolf said to the
fox, What is the proof of that which thou
hast declared? The fox answered, I went
to the vineyard, and found that its owner
had died; and I entered the garden, and
beheld the fruits shining upon the trees.
"So the wolf doubted not the words of
the fox, and in his eagerness he arose, and
went to the breach. His cupidity had de-
ceived him with vain hopes, and the fox
stopped and fell down behind him as one
dead, applying this verse as a proverb
suited to the case:
Doth thou covet an interview with Leylà? It
is covetousness that causeth the loss of
men's heads.
And when the wolf came to the breach,
the fox said to him, Enter the vineyard;
for thou art spared the trouble of break-
ing down the wall of the garden, and it
remaineth for God to complete the benefit.
So the wolf walked forward, desiring to
enter the vineyard, and when he came to
the middle of the covering of the hole, he
1084
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
was
fell into it; whereupon the fox
violently excited by happiness and joy; his
anxiety and grief ceased, and, in merry
tones, he sang these verses:
Fortune hath compassionated my case, and felt
pity for the length of my torment.
And granted me what I desired, and removed
that which I dreaded.
I will therefore forgive its offences committed
in former times;
Even the injustice it hath shewn in the turn-
ing of my hair grey.
There is no escape for the wolf from utter
annihilation;
And the vineyard is for me alone, and I have
no stupid partner.
He then looked into the pit, and beheld
the wolf weeping in his repentance and sor-
row for himself, and the fox wept with
him. So the wolf raised his head towards
him, and said, Is it from thy compassion
for me that thou hast wept, O Abu-l-
Hoseyn? No, answered the fox; by Him
who cast thee into this pit; but I wept
for the length of thy past life, and in my
regret at thy not having fallen into this pit
before the present day. Hadst thou falien
into it before I met with thee, I had ex-
perienced refreshment and ease. But thou
hast been spared to the expiration of thy
decreed term and known period. - The
wolf, however, said to him, Go, O evil-
doer, to my mother, and acquaint her with
that which hath happened to me: perhaps
she will contrive some means for my de-
liverance. But the fox relied, The excess
of thy covetousness and eager desire have
entrapped thee into destruction, since thou
hast fallen into a pit from which thou wilt
never be saved. Knowest thou not, O
ignorant wolf, that the author of the prov-
erb saith, He who thinketh not of results
will not be secure from perils? — O Abu-l-
Hoseyn, rejoined the wolf, thou wast wont
to manifest an affection for me, and to de-
sire my friendship, and fear the greatness
of my power. Be not, then, rancorous to-
wards me for that which I have done unto
thee; for he who hath one in his power
and yet forgiveth will receive a recompense
from God; and the poet hath said,-
-
Sow good, even on an unworthy soil; for it
will not be fruitless wherever it is sown.
Verily, good, though it remain long buried, none
will reap but he who sowed it.
-O most ignorant of the beasts of prey,
said the fox, and most stupid of the wild
beasts of the regions of the earth, hast
thou forgotten thy haughtiness and in-
solence and pride, and thy disregarding
the rights of companionship, and thy re-
fusing to be advised by the saying of the
poet? -
Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do
so; for the tyrannical is in danger of re-
venges.
Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wake-
ful, will call down curses on thee, and
God's eye sleepeth not.
-O Abu-l-Hoseyn, exclaimed the wolf, be
not angry with me for my former offences;
for forgiveness is required of the generous,
and kind conduct is among the best means
of enriching oneself. How excellent is the
saying of the poet! -
Haste to do good when thou art able; for at
every season thou hast not the power.
"He continued to abase himself to the
fox, and said to him, Perhaps thou canst
find some means of delivering me from de-
struction. But the fox replied, O artful,
guileful, treacherous wolf, hope not for de-
liverance; for this is the recompense of thy
base conduct, and a just retaliation. Then
shaking his jaws with laughing, he recited
these two verses: -
No longer attempt to beguile me; for thou wilt
not attain thine object.
What thou seekest from me is impossible. Thou
hast sown, and reap then, vexation.
-O gentle one among the beasts of prey,
resumed the wolf, thou art in my estima-
tion more faithful than to leave me in this
pit! He then shed tears, and repeated this
couplet: -
O thou whose favours to me have been many,
and whose gifts have been more than can
be numbered!
No misfortune hath ever yet befallen me but
I have found thee ready to aid me in it.
The fox replied, O stupid enemy, how art
thou reduced to humility and submissive-
ness, and abjection and obsequiousness,
after thy disdain and pride, and tyranny
and haughtiness! I kept company with
thee through fear of thine oppression, and
flattered thee without a hope of conciliating
thy kindness; but now, terror hath affected
thee, and punishment hath overtaken thee.
And he recited these two verses: -
-
O thou who seekest to beguile, thou hast fallen
in thy base intention.
Taste, then, the pain of shameful calamity, and
be with other wolves cut off.
-
- The wolf still entreated him, saying, O
gentle one, speak not with the tongue of
enmity, nor look with its eye; but fulfil
the covenant of fellowship with me before
the time for discovering a remedy shall
have passed. Arise and procure for me a
rope, and tie one end of it to a tree, and
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1085
let down to me its other end, that I may
lay hold of it. Perhaps I may so escape
from my present predicament, and I will
give thee all the treasures that I possess.
-The fox, however, replied, Thou hast
prolonged a conversation that will not pro-
cure thy liberation. Hope not, therefore,
for thine escape through my means; but
reflect upon thy former wicked conduct,
and the perfidy and artifice which thou
thoughtest to employ against me, and how
near thou art to being stoned. Know that
thy soul is about to quit the world, and to
perish and depart from it: then wilt thou
be reduced to destruction; and an evil
abode is it to which thou goest! -O Abu-
1-Hoseyn, rejoined the wolf, be ready in
returning to friendship, and be not so ran-
corous. Know that he who delivereth a
soul from destruction hath saved it alive,
and he who saveth a soul alive is as if he
had saved the lives of all mankind. Fol-
low not a course of evil; for the wise abhor
it; and there is no evil more manifest than
my being in this pit, drinking the suffocat-
ing pains of death, and looking upon de-
struction, when thou art able to deliver me
from the misery into which I have fallen.
-But the fox exclaimed, O thou bar-
barous, hard-hearted wretch! I compare
thee, with respect to the fairness of thy
professions and the baseness of thine inten-
tion, to the falcon with the partridge.
And what, asked the wolf, is the story of
the falcon and the partridge?
"The fox answered, I entered a vineyard
one day to eat of its grapes, and while I
was there, I beheld a falcon pounce upon
a partridge; but when he had captured
him, the partridge escaped from him and
entered his nest, and concealed himself in
it; whereupon the falcon followed him,
calling out to him, O idiot, I saw thee in
the desert hungry, and, feeling compassion
for thee, I gathered for thee some grain,
and took hold of thee that thou mightest
eat; but thou fleddest from me, and I see
no reason for thy flight unless it be to
mortify. Shew thyself, then, and take the
grain that I have brought thee, and eat it,
and may it be light and wholesome to thee.
-So when the partridge heard these words
of the falcon, he believed him and came
forth to him; and the falcon stuck his
talons into him, and got possession of him.
The partridge, therefore, said to him, Is
this that of which thou saidst that thou
hadst brought it for me from the desert,
and of which thou saidst to me, Eat it, and
may it be light and wholesome to thee?
Thou hast lied unto me; and may God
make that which thou eatest of my flesh to
And
be a mortal poison in thy stomach.
when he had eaten it, his feathers fell off,
and his strength failed, and he forthwith
died.
"The fox then continued, Know, O wolf,
that he who diggeth a pit for his brother
soon falleth into it himself; and thou be-
havedst with perfidy to me first. - Cease,
replied the wolf, from addressing me with
this discourse, and propounding fables, and
mention not unto me my former base ac-
tions. It is enough for me to be in this
miserable state since I have fallen into a
calamity for which the enemy would pity
me; much more the true friend. Consider
some stratagem by means of which I may
save myself, and so assist me. If the doing
this occasion thee trouble, thou knowest
that the true friend endureth for his own
true friend the severest labour, and will
suffer destruction in obtaining the means
of his deliverance; and it hath been said,
An affectionate friend is better than an own
brother. If thou procure means for my
escape, I will collect for thee such things
as shall be a store for thee against the time
of want, and then I will teach thee extraor-
dinary stratagems by which thou shalt
make the plenteous vineyards accessible,
and shalt strip the fruitful trees: so be
happy and cheerful. But the fox said,
laughing as he spoke, How excellent is
that which the learned have said of him
who is excessively ignorant like thee. -
And what have the learned said? asked the
wolf. The fox answered, The learned have
observed, that the rude in body and in dis-
position is far from intelligence, and nigh
unto ignorance for thine assertion, O per-
fidious idiot, that the true friend under-
goeth trouble for the deliverance of his own
true friend, is just, as thou hast said; but
acquaint me with thine ignorance, and thy
paucity of sense, how I should bear sincere
friendship towards thee with thy treachery.
Hast thou considered me a true friend unto
thee, when I am an enemy who rejoiceth
in thy misfortune? These words are more
severe than the piercing of arrows, if thou
understand. And as to thy saying that
thou wilt give me such things as will be a
store for me against the time of want, and
wilt teach me stratagems by which I shall
obtain access to the plenteous vineyards,
and strip the fruitful trees how is it, O
guileful traitor, that thou knowest not a
stratagem by means of which to save thy-
self from destruction? How far, then, art
thou from profiting thyself, and how far
am I from receiving thine advice! If thou
know of stratagems, employ them to save
thyself from this predicament, from which
-
1086
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I pray God to make thine escape far dis-
tant. See then, O idiot, if thou know any
stratagem, and save thyself by its means
from slaughter, before thou lavish instruc-
tion upon another. But thou art like a
man whom a disease attacked, and to
whom there came a man suffering from the
same disease to cure him, saying to him,
Shall I cure thee of thy disease? The first
man therefore said to the other, Why hast
thou not begun by curing thyself? So he
left him and went his way. And thou, O
wolf, art in the same case. Remain then in
thy place, and endure that which hath be-
fallen thee.
"Now when the wolf heard these words
of the fox, he knew that he had no kindly
feeling for him; so he wept for himself,
and said, I have been careless of myself;
but if God deliver me from this affliction,
I will assuredly repent of my overbearing
conduct unto him who is weaker than I;
and I will certainly wear wool, and ascend
the mountains, commemorating the praises
of God (whose name be exalted!), and
fearing his punishment; and I will separate
myself from all the other wild beasts; and
verily I will feed the warriors in defence of
the religion, and the poor. Then he wept
and lamented. And thereupon the heart of
the fox was moved with tenderness for him.
On hearing his humble expressions, and the
words which indicated his repenting of
arrogance and pride, he was affected with
compassion for him, and, leaping with joy,
placed himself at the brink of the pit, and
sat upon his hind legs, and hung down his
tail into the cavity. And upon this, the
wolf arose, and stretched forth his paw
towards the fox's tail, and pulled him down
to him: so the fox was with him in the pit.
The wolf then said to him, O fox of little
compassion, wherefore didst thou rejoice in
my misfortune? Now thou hast become
my companion, and in my power. Thou
hast fallen into the pit with me, and pun-
ishment hath quickly overtaken thee. The
sages have said, If any one of you reproach
his brother for deriving his nourishment
from miserable means, he shall experience
the same necessity: - and how excellent is
the saying of the poet!
When Fortune throweth itself heavily upon
some, and encampeth by the side of others.
Say to those who rejoice over us, Awake: the
rejoicers over us shall suffer as we have
done.
I must now, he continued, hasten thy
slaughter, before thou behold mine. So
the fox said within himself, I have fallen
into the snare with this tyrant, and my
present case requireth the employment of
artifice and frauds. It hath been said, that
the woman maketh her ornaments for the
day of festivity; and, in a proverb, I have
not reserved thee, O my tear, but for the
time of my difficulty: - and if I employ
not some stratagem in the affair of this
tyrannical wild beast, I perish inevitably.
How good is the saying of the poet: -
Support thyself by guile; for thou livest in an
age whose sons are like the lions of a
forest;
And brandish around the spear of artifice, that
the mill of subsistence may revolve;
And pluck the fruits; or if they be beyond thy
reach, then content thyself with herbage.
"He then said to the wolf, Hasten not
to kill me, lest thou repent, O courageous
wild beast, endowed with might and exces-
sive fortitude. If thou delay, and consider
what I am about to tell thee, thou wilt
know the desire that I formed; and if
thou hasten to kill me, there will be no
profit to thee in thy doing so; but we shall
die here together. So the wolf said, O
thou wily deceiver, how is it that thou
hopest to effect my safety and thine own,
that thou askest me to give thee a delay?
Acquaint me with the desire that thou
formedst. The fox replied, As to the de-
sire that I formed, it was such as requireth
thee to recompense me for it well; since,
when I heard thy promises, and thy con-
fession of thy past conduct, and thy regret
at not having before repented, and done
good, and when I heard thy vows to
abstain from injurious conduct to thy com-
panions and others, and to relinquish the
eating of the grapes and all other fruits,
and to impose upon thyself the obligation
of humility, and clipping thy claws, and
breaking thy dog-teeth, and to wear wool,
and offer sacrifice to God (whose name be
exalted!), if He delivered thee from thy
present state, I was affected with com-
passion for thee, though I was before long-
ing for thy destruction. So when I heard
thy profession of repentance, and what
thou vowedst to do if God delivered thee,
I felt constrained to save thee from thy
present predicament. I therefore hung
down my tail that thou mightest catch hold
of it and make thine escape. But thou
wouldst not relinquish thy habit of severity
and violence, nor desire escape and safety
for thyself by gentleness. On the contrary,
thou pulledst me in such a manner that I
thought my soul had departed: so I became
a companion with thee in the abode of
destruction and death; and nothing will
effect the escape of myself and thee but one
plan. If thou approve of this plan that I
have to propose, we shall both save our-
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1087
selves; and after that, it will be incumbent
on thee to fulfil that which thou hast
I vowed to do, and I will be thy companion.
-So the wolf said, And what is thy pro-
posal that I am to accept? The fox
answered, That thou raise thyself upright;
then I will place myself upon thy head,
that I may approach the surface of the
earth, and when I am upon its surface I
will go forth and bring thee something of
which to take hold, and after that thou
wilt deliver thyself. But the wolf replied,
I put no confidence in thy words; for the
sages have said, He who confideth when
he should hate, is in error: - and it hath
been said, He who confideth in the faith-
less is deceived, and he who maketh trial
of the trier will repent, and he who dis-
tinguisheth not between circumstances, and
attributeth to each its proper success, but
regardeth all circumstances alike, his
fortune will be small, and his calamities
will be many. How excellent also is the
saying of the poet! -
Let not your opinion be otherwise than evil;
for ill opinion is among the strongest of
intellectual qualities.
Nothing casteth a man into a place of danger
like the practice of good, and a fair opinion.
And the saying of another: -
Always hold an evil opinion, and so be safe.
Whoso liveth vigilantly, his calamities will
be few.
Meet the enemy with a smiling and an open
face; but raise for him an army in the
heart to combat him.
And that of another:
The most bitter of thine enemies is the nearest
whom thou trustest in; beware then of men,
and associate with them willy.
Thy favourable opinion of fortune is a weak-
ness: think evil of it, therefore, and regard
it with apprehension.
- Verily, rejoined the fox, an evil opinion
s not commendable in every case; but a
air opinion is among the characteristics of
excellence, and its result is escape from
errors. It is befitting, O wolf, that thou
employ some stratagem for thine escape
rom thy present predicament; and it will
be better for us both to escape than to die.
Relinquish, therefore thine evil opinion and
hy malevolence; and if thou think favour-
ably of me, I shall not fail to do one of
wo things: either I shall bring thee some-
hing of which to lay hold, and thou wilt
-scape from thy present situation, or I shall
act perfidiously towards thee, and save my-
elf and leave thee; but this is a thing that
cannot be; for I am not secure from meet-
ing with some such affliction as that which
thou hast met with, and that would be the
punishment of perfidy. It hath been said
in a proverb, Fidelity is good, and perfidy
is base. It is fit, then, that thou trust in
me; for I have not been ignorant of mis-
fortunes. Delay not, therefore, to con-
trive our escape for the affair is too strait
for thee to prolong thy discourse upon
it.
"The wolf then said, Verily, notwith-
standing my little confidence in thy fidelity,
I knew what was in thy heart, that thou
desiredst my deliverance when thou wast
convinced of my repentance; and I said
within myself, If he be veracious in that
which he asserteth, he hath made amends
for his wickedness; and if he be false, he
will be recompensed by his Lord. So now
I accept thy proposal to me; and if thou
act perfidiously towards me, thy perfidy
will be the means of thy destruction. -
Then the wolf raised himself upright in the
pit, and took the fox upon his shoulders,
so that his head reached the surface of the
ground. The fox thereupon sprang from
the wolf's shoulders, and found himself
upon the face of the earth, when he fell
down senseless. The wolf now said to him,
O my friend, forget not my case, nor delay
my deliverance.
"The fox, however, uttered a loud laugh,
and replied, O thou deceived; it was noth-
ing but my jesting with thee and deriding
thee that entrapped me into thy power; for
when I heard thy profession of repentance,
joy excited me, and I was moved with de-
light, and danced, and my tail hung down
into the pit; so thou pulledst me, and I
fell down to thee. Then God (whose name
be exalted!) delivered me from thy hand.
Wherefore, then, should I not aid in thy
destruction, when thou art of the associates
of the Devil? Know that I dreamt yes-
terday that I was dancing at thy wedding,
and I related the dream to an interpreter,
who said to me, Thou wilt fall into a
frightful danger, and escape from it. So I
knew that my falling into thy power and
my escape was the interpretation of my
dream. Thou too knowest, O deceived
idiot, that I am thine enemy. How then
dost thou hope, with thy little sense and
thine ignorance, that I will deliver thee,
when thou hast heard what rude language
I used? And how shall I endeavour to
deliver thee, when the learned have said,
that by the death of the sinner are pro-
duced ease to mankind and purgation of
the earth. Did I not fear that I should
suffer, by fidelity to thee, such affliction as
would be greater than that which may re-
1088
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
T
.
-
sult from perfidy, I would consider upon
means for thy deliverance. So when the
wolf heard the words of the fox, he bit his
paw in repentance. He then spoke softly
to him; but obtained nothing thereby.
With a low voice he said to him, Verily,
you tribe of foxes are the sweetest of people
in tongue, and the most pleasant in jesting;
and this is jesting in thee; but every time is
not convenient for sport and joking. -O
idiot, replied the fox, jesting hath a limit
which its employer transgresseth not.
Think not that God will give thee posses-
sion of me after He hath delivered me from
thy power.- The wolf then said to him,
Thou art one in whom it is proper to desire
my liberation, on account of the former
brotherhood and friendship that subsisted
between us; and if thou deliver me, I
will certainly recompense thee well. But
the fox replied, The sages have said, Take
not as thy brother the ignorant and
wicked; for he will disgrace thee, and not
honour thee: and take not as thy brother
the liar; for if good proceed from thee he
will hide it, and if evil proceed from thee
he will publish it. And the sages have said,
For everything there is a stratagem, except
death; and everything may be rectified,
except the corruption of the very essence;
and everything may be repelled, except
destiny. And as to the recompense that
thou assertest I deserve of thee, I compare
thee, in thy recompensing, to the serpent
fleeing from the Hawee, when a man saw
her in a state of terror, and said to her,
What is the matter with thee, O serpent?
She answered, I have fled from the Hawee;
for he seeketh me; and if thou deliver me
from him, and conceal me with thee, I will
recompense thee well and do thee every
kindness. So the man took her, to obtain
the reward, and eager for the recompense,
and put her into his pocket; and when the
Háwee had passed and gone his way, and
what she feared had quitted her, the man
said to her, Where is the recompense? for
I have saved thee from that which thou
fearedst and dreadedst. But the serpent
answered him, Tell me in what member I
shall bite thee; for thou knowest that we
exceed not this recompense. She then in-
flicted upon him a bite from which he died.
And thee, O idiot, continued the fox, I
compare to that serpent with that man.
Hast thou not heard the saying of the
poet? -
Trust not a person in whose heart thou hast
made anger to dwell; nor think his anger
hath ceased.
Verily, the vipers, which are smooth to the
touch, and shew graceful motions, hide
mortal poison.
- O eloquent and comely-faced animal, re-
joined the wolf, be not ignorant of my con-
dition, and of the fear with which mankind
regard me. Thou knowest that I assault
the strong places, and strip the vines. Do,
therefore, what I have commanded thee,
and attend to me as the slave attendeth to
his master. O ignorant idiot, who seekest
what is vain, exclaimed the fox, verily I
wonder at thy stupidity, and at the rough-
ness of thy manner, in thine ordering me
to serve thee and to stand before thee as
though I were thy slave. But thou shalt
soon see what will befall thee, by the split-
ting of thy head with stones, and the
breaking of thy treacherous dog-teeth.
"The fox then stationed himself upon a
mound overlooking the vineyard, and cried
out incessantly to the people of the vine-
yard until they perceived him and came
quickly to him. He remained steady before
them until they drew near unto him and
unto the pit in which was the wolf, and
then he fled. So the owners of the vine-
yard looked into the pit, and when they
beheld the wolf in it, they instantly pelted
him with heavy stones, and continued
throwing stones and pieces of wood upon
him, and piercing him with the points of
spears, until they killed him, when they
departed. Then the fox returned to the
pit, and, standing over the place of the
wolf's slaughter, saw him dead; whereupon
he shook his head in the excess of his joy,
and recited these verses: --
was
Fate removed the wolf's soul, and it
snatched away. Far distant [from happi-
ness] be his soul that hath perished!
How long hast thou striven, Aboo-Sirhán, to
destroy me! But now have burning calami-
ties befallen thee.
Thou hast fallen into a pit into which none
shall descend without finding in it the
blasts of death.
-After this, the fox remained in the vine-
yard, alone and in security, fearing no
mischief."
NOTE 2. In several copies, and perhaps
in most, this person is called an
"Attár,"
which appellation is generally given not
merely to a seller of essences, but to a
druggist and perfumer.
66
NOTE 3. The word which I here
render Persians" (namely ''Ajam ") is
applied to any and all people who are not
Arabs; but often to the Persians in par-
ticular; and this seems to be here required
by the subsequent expression of the King
of the 'Ajam. Here I may also remark,
that the phrase "of the sons of the Kings,"
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1089
&c., is often used to signify" of the de-
scendants of the Kings," &c.; and that it
would have been more consistent to have
employed this phrase, as applied to 'Alee
the son of Bekkár, in a later passage, in-
stead of "son of the King; " for he is not
distinguished in the story as a Prince.
--
NOTE 4.
On the Custom of frequent-
ing Shops for the sake of Amusement. It
is perfectly consistent with Arab manners
and customs, as existing in the present day
and as exhibited in histories, to describe
Abu-l-Hasan as keeping company with the
Khaleefeh, and 'Alee the son of Bekkár as
being in the habit of sitting at Abu-l-
Hasan's shop. Among the Muslims in gen-
eral, trade is far more honourable than it
is in the estimation of a large proportion
of the independent classes in this country;
so much so, that it is regarded by the
former as disgraceful in a man, however
high his rank, or great his wealth, not to
be able, by some occupation, as the pro-
fession of arms or of literature or science,
or by some trade or art, to procure his sub-
sistence in case of necessity: therefore the
pursuit of trade excludes no man of good
breeding among them from the society of
his superiors in rank. But the free inter-
course of different ranks of Muslims is
further and very greatly promoted by the
law of the separation of the sexes; persons
being thus enabled to associate with each
other, regardless of difference of wealth or
station, without the risk of occasioning un-
equal matrimonial connections:
so this
law, being felt by neither sex as oppressive,
is regarded by them as productive of re-
sults which constitute the Muslim's chief
enjoyments, the highest degree of domes-
tic comfort, and the most free and exten-
sive society with his fellow-men. Thus it
is with both sexes; and neither would give
up the pleasure that they hence derive for
a different system of society, somewhat
extending their domestic intercourse, but
often destroying the pleasures of home, and
contracting into a compass comparatively
narrow the fellowship which they enjoy
abroad.
The Arabs in general seldom give enter-
tainments except on particular occasions,
such as that of a marriage, or a circum-
cision; and hence, as well as for the
reasons above stated, a shop is often fre-
quented for the purpose of passing time
in agreeable conversation. For women to
do this, in the present day, is not considered
decent; but they have their places of re-
sort as well as the other sex: with them, a
visit to the bath is a much longer and more
social affair than it is with the men: and
there they indulge in free conversation with
strangers of their own sex. In their visits
to their friends and relations, also, they
have an advantage over the men; for not
only are these visits frequent, but all the
female inmates of a house generally accom-
pany the mistress, the stay is often pro-
longed from an early hour until near sun-
set, and the guests are liberally and merrily
entertained. But I must return to the
shop. Much of the pleasure and much
of the profit that I derived while living in
Cairo was obtained at the shops of per-
sons with whom I was acquainted, and at
those of strangers. The reader of the
present work has a sufficient notion of the
general construction of Arab shops to see
that a person seated on the mastabah may
enjoy at the same time conversation with
the owner, and perhaps with other visitors,
and a close and unobstructed view of what-
ever is passing in the street. I regret that
I did not often adopt the proper means of
preserving a complete recollection of what
I heard and witnessed at places of this
kind: had I done so, I might here offer
to the reader something more enter-
taining than the following extract from
a journal in which I sometimes, when
in an idle mood, wrote the occur-
rences of the day, during my second visit
to Egypt.
Oct. 27th (1834). I generally pay a
visit to the shop of the Báshà's booksellers
(two persons employed to sell the books
which are printed at the government-press)
on the mornings of Monday and Thursday,
when auction-markets are held in the
street where the shop is situate, and in
the neighbouring mart called Khán El-
Khaleelee (the chief Turkish bázár), occa-
sioning the street to be much crowded, and
to present an amusing scene; but I am
often more amused with the persons who
frequent the shop where I take my seat. I
found there, to-day, an old man, a cele-
brated character, whose name I must not
mention: he had been possessed of large
property; but the greater part of it had
been confiscated; he, however, had con-
trived to hide much of his wealth, and has
since employed friends to trade with it
privately; so that he has still a large in-
come; one-third of which he always gives
to the poor! The elder of the two book-
sellers was relating his having just pur-
chased a house. There lived next door to
him, he said, a fikee, a member of the
Azhar, and of some repute, to whom be-
longed fourteen keeráts (or twenty-fourth
parts) of the house in which he (the fikee)
1090
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
lodged: the other ten keeráts of this house
were the property of a tailor. The book-
seller's house was entered, from the roof,
and plundered, three times, of wheat,
butter, &c.; and the fikee was accused by
him of having committed these thefts, and
confessed that he had; urging in palliation,
that he had only taken his food. The
bookseller caused him to be imprisoned in
the citadel; and, after he had been con-
fined there many days, offered to procure
his liberation if he would sell to him his
share of the house. This was done: it was
sold for six purses and a half. (A purse
is the sum of five hundred piasters: it was
then equivalent exactly to five pounds
sterling.) The bookseller then desired to
possess himself of the tailor's share, and
proposed to him to repair or separate or
sell; for the house was in a very dilapidated
state; but he refused to comply with any
one of these requisitions: he was there-
fore summoned to the court of the Kadee,
and compelled to sell his share; for which
he demanded five purses. Having received
this sum of money, he met, on his way
home, a friend, whom he told what he had
done. "O fool!" said the friend: "thou
mightest have asked ten purses, and it
would have been given." And the tailor
66
no sooner heard these words than he threw
down the bag in the middle of the street,
kicked off his shoes, and for several
minutes continued slapping his face, and
crying out like a woman, O my sorrow!
He then snatched up the bag, and ran away
with it, crying in the same manner all the
way, and leaving his friend to follow him
with his shoes. Soon after the bookseller
had told this story, there joined us a Per-
sian darweesh, whom I had often met there
before, and a fat, merry-looking, red-faced
man, loaded with ragged clothing, shewing
the edge of a curly head of hair below
his turban, and carrying a long staff.
Everybody at the shop, except myself,
kissed his hand: he offered his hand to me,
and, after taking it, I kissed my own; and
he did the like. I was informed that he
was a celebrated welee, or saint. He took
snuff, smoked from my pipe, and had a
constant smile upon his countenance;
though he seldom spoke: almost the only
words that he uttered were a warm com-
mendation of an answer which I gave to
the Persian: on his (the Persian's) asking
me why I had not already departed from
Cairo, as I had intended, I said that the
servant of God was passive, and not elec-
tive; and this sentiment, though common,
seemed much to please the welee: he re-
peated it with emphasis. - There next
-
joined us a man of a very respectable and
intelligent appearance, applying for a copy
of the sheykh Rifa'ah's account of his visit
to France, lately printed at Boolák. Ask-
ing what were the general contents of this
book, a person present answered him, that
the author relates his voyage from Alexan-
dria to Marseilles; how he got drunk on
board the ship, and was tied to the mast
and flogged; that he ate pork in the land
of infidelity and obstinacy, and that it is
a most excellent meat; how he was de-
lighted with the French girls, and how su-
perior they are in charms to the women of
Egypt; and, having qualified himself, by
every accomplishment, for an eminent place
in Hell, returned to his native country.
This was an ironical quizz on the sheykh
Rifa'ah, for his strict, conscientious adher-
ence to the precepts of El-Islám during his
voyage, and his residence in France. The
applicant for this book had a cataract in
each of his eyes; and I advised him to
seek relief from the French surgeon Clot
Bey; but he said that he was afraid to go
to the hospital; for he had heard that
many patients there were killed and boiled,
to make skeletons: he afterwards, however,
on my assuring him that his fears were
groundless, promised to go. While I was
talking with him, there began to pass by
the shop a long funeral-train, consisting
of numerous fikees, and many of the emi-
nent 'Ulamà. On my asking whose
funeral it was, I was answered, "The
Sheykh El-Menzeláwee," Sheykh of the
Saadeeyeh darweeshes. I was surprised,
having seen him a few days before in ap-
parently good health. Presently I saw him
walking in the funeral-procession: so I
asked again; but was answered as before.
"Why," said I, "praise be to God, the
Sheykh is walking with you, in good
health." I was then told that the deceased
was his wife. Some Saadeeyeh in the pro-
cession were performing a zikr as they
passed along; repeating the word " Alláh !
When the bier came in view, I heard the
women who followed uttering their
zagháreet, or cries of joy, instead of lament-
ing; for the deceased was a famous saint.
She was the sister of the late Sheykh of
the Saadeeyeh; and it is believed that her
husband, the present Sheykh, derives his
miraculous powers from her. It is said
that she prophesied, yesterday, the exact
hour of her death this day. The women
began to lament when the corpse left the
house; and, as is usually the case when this
is done at the funeral of a saint, the bearers
declared that they could not move it: as
soon as the lamentations were changed
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINTH
1091
to the cries of joy, the bearers pretended to
End their work quite easy.
NOTE 5.
"Shems-en-Nahár
the Sun of Day."
signifies
NOTE 6. The masculine seems to be
here used for the feminine gender. See
Note 36 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 7. See Note 25 to Chapter vi., on
the modern custom of shaving the head.
NOTE 8. In this verse, the wine-cup is
compared to the sun, the teeth of the cup-
bearer are likened to the Pleiades, and his
face is compared to the full moon.
""
NOTE 9. "'Afeef" signifies Chaste,"
and "Abstinent."
NOTE 10. This order was given to make
the messengers suppose that she had been
sleeping. See Note 55 to Chapter iii.
NOTE II. "Waseef," here used as a
proper name, signifies "a young man-
servant."
NOTE 12. A procession similar to that
here described is seen in the streets of Cairo,
when a bridegroom returns to his house,
from the mosque, where he has performed
the prayers of nightfall previously to his
first visit to the bride. He and his friends
and other attendants proceed in the form
of an oblong ring, all facing the interior of
the ring (so that the foremost walk back-
wards), and each bearing in his hand one
or more wax candles, and sometimes a sprig
of hennà or some other flower except the
bridegroom and the friend on either side
of him. These three form the latter part
of the ring which generally consists of
twenty or more persons. The procession
is headed by musicians, by persons carrying
mesh'als (or cresset-lights), and by others
bearing lamps.
NOTE 13. "Gharám " signifies
sire," "Vehemence of Desire," or
sion," &c.
"De-
"Pas-
NOTE 14. I use the modern term "Beda-
weeyeh" (signifying an Arab female of the
Desert) for the old appellation "Aarábee-
yeh."
NOTE 15. The word which I render
"laurel," namely "rend," is also applied to
the myrtle, and to aloes-wood. The willow
(which is of the kind called Oriental) and
the rend are here to be understood as em-
blems of the object of the Bedaweeyeh's
love.
NOTE 16. Clapping the hands (striking
the palm of the left hand with the fingers
of the right) is the usual mode of sum-
moning a servant.
NOTE 17. This, I suppose, is meant to
imply that the disorder of her mind in-
capacitated her from using the pen. The
substitution of the masculine gender for the
feminine (as in the verses preceding) is
not uncommon.
NOTE 18. There is an omission here in
the Cairo edition, and it appears, from the
edition of Breslau, that what is given in
the former as the contents of Shems-en-
Nahár's letter consists partly of her letter
and partly of 'Alee's answer. I supply the
omission (ending with the words, "and by
thy head, O my mistress,") from the Cal-
cutta edition of the first two hundred
nights, to avoid the necessity of using my
own judgment in correcting the blunders
which here, as usual, occur in the Breslau
edition, though the latter differs less in its
context, than the former, from my standard
copy.
NOTE 19. The meaning of this is,
"Thou hast dealings with the women of
the palace." "How is thy house?" is a
phrase often used as a delicate mode of
inquiring respecting the health of a man's
wife or hareem.
NOTE 20. My sheykh remarks, that this
relates to the departure of Abu-l-Hasan;
but, from what follows, I think it rather
applies to the slave-girl.
NOTE 21. By his praying for her, is
merely meant his uttering some such words
as God keep thee! or God bless thee!
66
NOTE 22.
The word which I render
"wine" is "kahweh," which is the term
now applied to "coffee." I believe coffee
to be here meant by it; but probably it is
an error or interpolation of a copyist.
NOTE 23. El-Moatasim, the son, and
third successor, of Hároon Er-Rasheed, is
said to have been the first Khaleefeh who
formed a military corps of foreigners (in
this case, Turkish slaves); and from his
time, the natives of the greater part of the
Arabian Empire gradually became subject
to the military despotism of Turkish and
1092
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
other foreign guards and governors. Thus
it was in Egypt and Syria under the Mem-
look Sultáns, who originated in the corps
formed by Es-Sálih Eiyoob, the last of the
dynasty of Saláh-ed Deen; and thus it con-
tinued after the conquest of those countries
by the 'Osmánlee Turks under the Sultán
Seleem, until Mohammad 'Alee, after he
had exterminated or expelled the Memlook
forces, organized his Egyptian troops, and
almost entirely displaced the Turkish
soldiery.
NOTE 24. I have substituted
men" for " another man."
"other
NOTE 25. I have remarked in my work
on the Modern Egyptians, that it is almost
impossible for a woman to have a private
interview with a man who has a hareem
in his own house; or to enter the house of
a man who is neither married nor has a
concubine-slave, without attracting the no-
tice of the neighbours, and causing their
immediate interference. This remark
applies to those cases in which the two
parties are not very nearly related.
During my second residence in Egypt,
the wives of my servants often came to my
house in Cairo, yet they never ventured to
enter it. A maid-servant, about nine
years of age, frequently brought messages
to me from her master, and came up into
my sitting-room when I was alone; but this
caused no scandal. On one occasion, how-
ever, my character was called in question:
I was accused of admitting a woman into
my room, and had some difficulty to satisfy
my neighbours and others. I had pur-
chased some female ornaments and attire
of the head, and, having a friend with me,
a man between forty and fifty years of
age, I induced him to put them on in the
place of his turban, that I might the better
judge of them; then seating him in a pro-
jecting window next the street, for the sake
of a foolish joke I suddenly opened a small
casement at his side, and thrust forth
his head. But little did I expect the re-
sult. A bean-seller, sitting at his shop in
the street, nearly opposite, saw the appari-
tion, and pointed it out to two or three
other persons, and soon there collected be-
fore the house a little crowd, whom the
bean-seller began to harangue, expressing
his astonishment that an Efendee like my-
self, one who had always appeared to him
to have conducted himself most respectably,
should have been guilty of so foul an action
as that of introducing a woman into his
house, having no hareem: that a person de-
voted to study, and one whom sheyks of
the Azhar frequented, and who delighted in
attending the religious festivals, should act
in so shameless a manner! I began to be
uneasy at witnessing and hearing what
passed; and the people were consulting as
to the course they should pursue, when I
compelled my friend, who had quickly
withdrawn his head, to shew it again, and
exhibit his beard; whereupon the bean-seller
was still more amazed, at recognising the
well-known countenance of a respected
sheykh, one connected with the Azhar too,
who had a hundred times saluted him in
approaching my door. But this did not
satisfy his audience nor himself: it was sus-
pected that the sheykh was a party to my
offence; and it was only by constraining
the latter to go down into the street and
explain the whole affair, that tranquillity
was restored. My character, eventually,
did not suffer even from the imputation of
a culpable deviation from general custom;
as practical jokes are not uncommon among
the Arabs in the best society.
(6
66
NOTE 26. The kánoon is a kind of
dulcimer, of which I have given engrav-
ings and a description in my work on the
Modern Egyptians (vol. ii. ch. v.). Its
name is from the Greek κavav, or from
the same origin; and has the same significa-
tion; that is,
"law,"
rule,"
custom."
It is laid upon the knees of the performer,
and played with two plectra, attached to
the fore fingers; each plectrum being placed
between the finger and a ring, or thimble.
There are three chords (of lamb's gut) to
each note, and generally, altogether,
twenty-four treble chords.
NOTE 27.1
-
- On the State of the Soul
between Death and the Judgment. It is
believed that the soul remains with the
body until the expiration of the first night
after the burial, when it departs to the
place appointed for the abode of good
souls until the last day, or to the appointed
prison in which wicked souls await their
final doom; but with respect to the state of
souls in the interval between death and
judgment, there are various opinions, which
Sale thus states. As to the souls of the
good, he says, "Ist. Some say that they
stay near the sepulchres; with liberty, how-
ever, of going wherever they please; which
they confirm from Mohammad's manner
of saluting them at their graves, and his
affirming that the dead heard those saluta-
tions as well as the living, though they
could not answer. Whence perhaps pro-
Iceeded the custom of visiting the tombs of
relations, so common among the Moham-
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1093
madans. 2ndly. Others imagine they are
with Adam, in the lowest heaven; and also
support their opinion by the authority of
their prophet, who gave out that in his
return from the upper heavens in his pre-
tended night-journey, he saw there the
souls of those who were destined to para-
dise on the right hand of Adam, and those
who were condemned to hell on his left.
3rdly. Others fancy the souls of believers
remain in the well Zemzem, and those of
infidels in a certain well in the province of
Hadramót, called Baranoot; but this
opinion is branded as heretical. [On this
subject, however, see the next paragraph.]
4thly. Others say they stay near the
graves for seven days; but that whither
they go afterwards is uncertain. 5thly.
Others, that they are all in the trumpet,
whose sound is to raise the dead. And
5thly. Others, that the souls of the good
dwell in the forms of white birds, under the
throne of God. As to the condition of the
souls of the wicked, besides the opinions
that have been already mentioned, the
nore orthodox hold that they are offered
by the angels to heaven, from whence
being repulsed as stinking and filthy, they
ire offered to the earth, and being also
refused a place there, are carried down to
he seventh earth, and thrown into a dun-
geon, which they call Sijjeen, under a green
ock, or according to a tradition of Mo-
hammad, under the devil's jaw, to be there
ormented till they are called up to be
oined again to their bodies." ― But the
ouls of prophets are believed to be ad-
nitted immediately into paradise, and those
of martyrs are said to rest in the crops of
reen birds which eat of the fruits of para-
lise and drink of its rivers.
-
Of the opinions above mentioned, with
espect to the souls of the faithful, I believe
he first to be that which is most preva-
ent. It is generally said, that these souls
isit their respective graves every Friday;
and according to some, they return to their
bodies on that day, after the period of the
afternoon prayers, and on Saturday and
Monday; or on Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday; and remain until sunrise. - I
believe also, from having heard frequent
allusions made to it, as a thing not to be
doubted, that the opinion respecting the
Well of Barahoot commonly prevails in
the present day. El-Kazweenee says of it,
"It is a well near Hadramót; and the
Prophet (God bless and save him!) said,
In it are the souls of the infidels and
hypocrites.' It is an 'Ádite well, [i. e.
ancient, as though made by the ancient
tribe of 'Ád,] in a dry desert, and a gloomy
valley; and it is related of 'Alee (may God
be well pleased with him!), that he said,
'The most hateful of districts unto God
(whose name be exalted!) is the Valley of
Barahoot, in which is a well whose water
is black and fetid, where the souls of the
infidels make their abode.' El-Asma'ee
hath related of a man of Hadramót, that
he said, 'We find near Barahoot an ex-
tremely-disgusting and fetid smell, and then
news is brought to us of the death of a
great man of the chiefs of the infidels.' It
is related also, that a man who passed a
night in the Valley of Barahoot said, 'I
heard all the night [exclamations of] O
Roomeh! O Roomeh!- and I mentioned
this to a learned man, and he told me that
it was the name of the angel commissioned
to keep guard over the souls of the in-
fidels.'
929
NOTE 28. The emancipation of slaves
on the occasion of a death is a custom often
observed. Sometimes this is done in ac-
cordance with the will of the deceased: at
other times, by the free will of the heirs;
but in the latter cases, the merit of the act
is transferred to the soul of the deceased;
its object being, to increase his happiness
in the future world.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
NOTE I. The scenes in which the
rincipal events described in this tale are
aid, though I cannot recognise them in the
works of any geographer, have led me to
earch for traces of a Persian origin; but
o indication of such an origin have I been
ble to discover; and as the character of
he tale is altogether Arab, I regard it as
an Arab composition. Every one who is
moderately acquainted with the Arabs and
their literature will see that the tale ex-
hibits throughout, in its present state, the
life and manners, and the notions, of that
people. One of its chief merits, however,
consists in its construction; and this, again,
is mainly compatible only with the notions
1094
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of the same people. I think that this tale
offers some of the strongest reasons for con-
sidering the Thousand and One Nights, in
the state in which it is known to us, as
almost entirely an Arab work, though
framed after the model of one much older;
and I have much satisfaction in remarking
that my opinion of this tale is the same as
that of the greatest Arabic scholar of Chris-
tendom, whose remarks upon it I here
translate.
"The history of the loves of Kamar-ez-
Zemán, prince of the island of the children
of Khálidán, an island which is situate at
the distance of twenty days' sail from the
coasts of Persia, in the Ocean, and of Bu-
door, princess of China, is no more Indian
or Persian than the others. The King, the
father of Kamar-ez-Zemán, has Muslims
for subjects; the mother of the young
prince is named Fátimeh; and Kamar-ez-
Zemán in his prison, occupies himself in
reading [or rather reciting] the Kur-án.
The genii who interpose in these adventures
are, again, of those who had concerns with
Solomon. In fine, all that is said, in this
tale, of the city of the Magians, as well as
of the worshippers of fire, would suffice to
shew that one should not suspect to find in
it anything but the production of a Muslim
writer." (De Sacy).
NOTE 2.
So in the edition of Breslau.
In the Cairo edition, by a mistake of a
copyist, "Shahramán."
66
NOTE 3. This sentence is from the Bres-
lau edition; but I have put "Islands for
Island," to agree with the sequel. - It
must be observed here, that the scenes of
the events described in this tale are in the
regions of fiction. I am at a loss to assign
a position to the Islands of Khalidán, other-
wise than in the vague manner in which
they are mentioned in the old version, as
being situate at the distance of about
twenty days' sail from the coasts of Persia,
in the Ocean; for Galland, in this case,
appears to have followed his original. De
Sacy, who seems from his own words to
have founded his observations respecting
the Thousand and One Nights chiefly upon
an examination of Galland's original, men-
tions these Islands (calling them, as in Gal-
land's version, the Islands of the children of
Khálidán) in the same manner, as already
shewn in the first note of the present series.
"Khálidán ""
may be a corruption of "El-
Khálidát " or "El-Khalidetán," which
names are given by the Arabs to the For-
tunate Islands, or Canaries. Our author
might have heard of these Islands, and,
ignorant of their situation, supposed them
to be in the sea which washes the coasts of
Persia and India; of which sea, as well as
of the sea of China, he evidently enter-
tained most erroneous ideas. It should also
be here observed, that the Arabic word
("jezeereh ") which generally signifies "an
island" is often applied to a peninsula, and
may frequently, with propriety, be trans-
lated
""
country; Arabia, Persia, India,
&c., being, by many Arab writers, termed
Islands. It is implied in the tale under
consideration, that there was a route by
land from the "Islands of Khálidán" to
the "Ebony Islands" and the "Interior
Islands of the region of China." The in-
habitants of all these "Islands" are de-
scribed as Muslims; and in manners, dress,
&c., as Arabs. But this, in a tale of fiction,
will not surprise those who are acquainted
with the words of Arab geographers, and
their accounts of places visited by their
own countrymen. Ibn-El-Wardee, in de-
scribing "the Sea of Ez-Zulmeh, which is
the western [portion of the] Circumam-
bient Ocean" (that is, the Atlantic), says,
"Among its islands are the Khálidetán
[above mentioned]. These are two islands
whereon are two images [or idols] con-
structed of hard stone: each of them is a
hundred cubits high, and upon the top of
each is a figure of copper, pointing with
its hand backwards, as though it would
say, 'Return; for there is nothing behind
me.' Zu-l-Menár the Hemyeree, one of the
Tubbas [or ancient Kings of the Yemen],
constructed them. He was [the son of]
Zu-l-Karneyn; but not of the one men-
tioned in the Kur-án." But the Canary
Islands were only known to Europeans, at
the time when Ibn-El-Wardee wrote, from
the accounts of the Ancients. They were
rediscovered by some Genoese and Spanish
seamen in 1345, three or four years before
the death of that geographer.
33
NOTE 4. In the original, "el-'Ajam;
the sense of which appears to be here re-
stricted to signify the Persians. Other-
wise the text would mean, that the Islands
of Khálidán were at the limits of the extra-
Arabian world. It would be quite consistent
with Arabian notions to speak thus of the
Fortunate Islands, El-Khálidetán; but the
former sense of the passage is more agree-
able with the whole character of the tale.
NOTE 5. It is a common custom of the
Arabs in the present day to perform the
prayers of two rek'ahs with the view of
obtaining offspring; and more specially on
the occasion of a man's first visit to his
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1095
oride, as mentioned in the last paragraph
i Note 39 to Chapter iv.
NOTE 6. This sentence, again, is from
he Breslau edition. It describes a custom
vhich, like that mentioned in the note im-
nediately preceding, is often observed by
Arabs in the present day to 'propitiate
'rovidence, and obtain offspring. For the
ame purpose, alms are frequently given to
he poor, to obtain their prayers; and visits
re performed to the tombs of saints to
equest their intercession.
NOTE 7.
"Kamar-ez-Zemán " signifies
the Moon of the Age."
NOTE 8. On the manner in which the
Irab Ladies dress their Hair. Two of the
ustoms here mentioned, the dyeing of the
ngers with hennà, and the blackening of
he edges of the eyelids with kohl, have
een noticed before. The manner in which
ne Arab ladies usually dress their hair may
ow be described.
They are extremely fond of full and long
air; and however amply endowed with
his natural ornament, to add to its effect
ey have recourse to art. But the Prophet,
bhorring all false attractions that might
t first deceive a husband and then dis-
ppoint him, "cursed the woman who
bined her own hair to that of another,
r other hair to her own without her hus-
and's permission: if she do it, therefore,
ith his permission, it is not prohibited,
nless she so make use of human hair; for
is is absolutely forbidden." Hence the
rab women prefer strings of silk to add to
eir hair. Over the forehead, the hair
cut rather short; but two full locks
ang down on each side of the face: these
re often curled in ringlets, and sometimes
laited. The rest of the hair is arranged
plaits or braids, which hang down the
ick. They are generally from eleven to
venty-five in number; but always of an
neven number: eleven is considered a
anty number: thirteen and fifteen are
ore common. Three times the number of
ack silk strings (three to each plait of
air, and each three united at the top),
om sixteen to eighteen inches in length,
e braided with the hair for about a quar-
r of their length; or they are attached
a lace or band of black silk which is
ound round the head, and in this case
ing entirely separate from the plaits of
tir. These strings, together with certain
naments of gold, &c., compose what is
rmed the "safà." Along each string,
cept from the upper extremity to about a
quarter or (at most) a third of its length,
are generally attached nine or more little
flat ornaments of gold, which are usually
all of the same form. The most common
form is oblong, round at the lower ex-
tremity and pointed at the upper, or the
reverse. They are affixed (each by a little
ring at its upper extremity) about an inch,
or a little more, apart; but those of each
string are purposely placed so as not
exactly to correspond with those of the
others. At the end of each string is a small
gold tube, or a small polygonal gold bead,
beneath which is most commonly sus-
pended (by a little ring) a gold coin, a
little more than half an inch in diameter.
Such is the most general kind of safà; but
some ladies substitute, for the gold coin, a
fanciful ornament of the same metal, either
simple, or with a pearl in the centre; or
they suspend, in the place of this, a little
tassel of pearls; or attach alternately pearls
and emeralds to the bottom of the triple
strings, and a pearl with each of the little
ornaments of gold first mentioned. Coral
beads are also sometimes attached in the
same manner as these pearls. The safà
I think the prettiest, as well as the most
singular, of all the ornaments worn by the
Arab ladies. The glittering of the little
ornaments of gold, and their chinking to-
gether as the wearer walks, have a pecu-
liarly lively effect.
The ornamented strings, though not
alluded to in the verses to which this note
immediately refers, are afterwards men-
tioned in the tale. The passages relating to
them, with many others in the present
collection of stories, shew that the costumes
described in this work were nearly the same
as those which still prevail in Arabian
countries.
NOTE 9. Here follows, in the old ver-
sion, a discussion on the subject of mar-
riage, between Kamar-ez-Zemán and his
mother Fátimeh, who had been desired by
Sháh-Zemán to try if her powers of persua-
sion would induce him to comply with the
King's request. But not a word of all
this occurs in the edition of Cairo or in that
of Breslau. I do not, however, ascribe it
to Galland's invention; for De Sacy, who
examined the original, mentions it, and
partly founds an argument upon it, as I
have already shewn.
NOTE 10. In illustration of this expres-
sion, see Note 14 to Chapter iii.
NOTE II. "Et-Taghoot" is a name
given to the Devil, or any seducer, and to
1096
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
any idol. It is therefore to be understood
here in the first of these senses.
NOTE 12. His eyelashes are said to
have scorned the sharp sword, because
they were themselves more piercing.
NOTE 13. This is said to shew his exces-
sive submission. In the usual posture of a
subject before his prince, or a servant be-
fore his master, a posture maintained also
in some other cases, especially by the son or
daughter before the parent, the hands are
placed together, the left within the right,
before the girdle.
NOTE 14. Perhaps it is needless to com
ment upon this reply of Kamar-ez-Zemán
and to remind the reader of the extreme
respect which is generally shewn by the
Arab son to his father. But though no
reader will regard it as a light offence,
some might not imagine the degree of in-
dignation which such expressions would
excite in the mind of an Eastern parent.
NOTE 15. These words, addressed by a
King to his son, gross as they are, and
reflecting upon the honour of the former
and his wife, convey a correct idea of the
extravagancies into which an Arab, how-
ever high his rank, is sometimes betrayed
by anger.
NOTE 16. The farrásh is a servant who
spreads the carpets, mattresses, &c., takes
care of these and other articles of the
furniture of the house, and, on a journey,
pitches the tents.
NOTE 17. By Muslims of education, the
Kur-án is usually recited by heart, and to
do so is, with many, a daily exercise: with
others it is also very common. The same
Arabic word is employed to signify both
reading a book and reciting by heart.
-
NOTE 18. The chapter of "The Cow"
is the second; "The Family of 'Emrán,"
the third; "Ya-Seen," the thirty-sixth;
"The
Compassionate," the fifty-fifth;
"Blessed be He in whose hand is the
Kingdom," the sixty-seventh; and the
"Two Preventives" are the last two.
These two, are so named because they
serve as preventives of, or antidotes
against, the effects of the evil eye, or en-
chantment. They are said to have been
revealed to the Prophet in order that he
might liberate himself from an enchantment
by repeating them; and they are often
employed as preservative charms.-
Kamar-ez-Zemán's
recitation of these
chapters of the Kur-án is to be understoc
as supererogatory; but it is often that
Muslim, in solitude, terminates his prayer.
in this manner. By his "supplication
meant a short petition in words of his own
choice. In repeating this, the worshippe
looks at the palms of his two hands, wa
he holds like an open book before him; and
when he has finished, he draws them ove
his face, from the forehead downwards. B
the "seeking refuge with God," is mean
repeating the words, "I seek refuge with
God from Satan the accursed." ―See Noz
44 below.
NOTE 19.
"Maadinee signifies "L
eral" and "metallic." and may perhaps
here denote the colour of the satin; but
may, more probably, signify" of the fabr
of a place called Maadin; " for silks, &c.
are often called after the names of th
places where they are made. I cannot cir
any other conjecture as to its meaning
this case; and as my sheykh has not et
plained it, I infer that he, also, was
doubt respecting it; which is not to
wondered at, as many similar terms are
longer understood. In the Breslau edition
it is not mentioned. A large and popul
town called Maadin-en-Nakrah, or
en-Nakireh, is mentioned by Arab get-
raphers as situate at the point where
pilgrim-routes from El-Basrah and E
Koofeh unite.
NOTE 20. The word which I reri
"kerchief" (namely "mikna'") is a k
of veil, similar to the kináa, but narrea
and seldom worn but by women. It
probably meant that Kamar-ez-Zem
used it to keep off mosquitoes.
NOTE 21. I have substituted “towe
for "saloon; " the sequel requiring the
alteration.
**
NOTE 22. In the original, "Roomirs
This term, and the collective Room
are used in modern Arabic to signity,
spectfully, "Roman" and "Romans." T
terms "Roomán" and "Roomâneeyoer
(plural of "Roománee ") are applied to
inhabitants of Italy, and the Greeks
late ages ("el Arwám), and other peop
who became subject to the Roman Emp
Hence my interpretation of "Rooman 2
Note 13 to Chapter ii. But "Room is t
more proper appellation of the subjects
the Eastern Roman, or later Greek, Er
pire, and of the modern Greeks.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1097
NOTE 23.
Meymooneh " (feminine of
Meymoon ") signifies "Fortunate."
NOTE 24.
66
Jánn" is here synonymous
with "Jinn.". See Note 21 to the In-
roduction.
-
NOTE 25. She ascended towards the con-
nes of the lowest of the seven heavens to
isten by stealth to the conversation of the
ngels. - See the note just before referred
o, and Note 36 in the present series.
NOTE 26. We may suppose that she
ntered the saloon either by a window or
y passing through the solid wall.
-
((
NOTE 27. On Talismans. "Talisman"
› a corruption of the Arabic word tal-
am." I write this latter word in accord-
nce with the manner in which it is gen-
rally pronounced by the Arabs, and the
banner in which my sheykh has written
here and in other parts of the work: by
ome it is written "tilsem," and "tilism."
t is a term applied to mystical characters;
nd also to seals, images, &c., upon which
uch characters are engraved or inscribed.
hese characters are astrological, or of some
ther magical kind. The purposes for
which talsams are contrived are various;
ne has the property of preserving from en-
hantment, or from a particular accident,
r a variety of evils; another protects a
reasure with which it is deposited; a third,
y being rubbed, procures the presence and
ervices of a Jinnee.
NOTE 28. The upper order of Jirn, are
hose who inhabit the higher regions, and
o good acts; the lower are those who in-
abit low places, such as the latrine, and
o evil acts; and the third class are those
ho dive in the seas.
is
written
NOTE 29. My sheykh remarks that this
commonly
"Shem-
oorish; but correctly, "Shemharoosh."
ame
27
NOTE 30. I have already remarked that
he scenes of the events related in this tale
re in the regions of fiction. When China,
nd the Islands of its Sea, are mentioned
1 the present work, we must dismiss from
ur minds all correct notions of those parts
nd their inhabitants, who are generally
ere described as similar to the Arabs in
eligion, manners, dress, &c.
39
NOTE 31. "El-Ghayoor" signifies "the
ealous (with respect to love or honour),
r" the Zealous; " and in some cases, "the
'hangeable."
NOTE 32.
The foregoing description is
somewhat abridged. Its extravagance in
the original may partly be attributed to
the excitement of Dahnash.
NOTE 33. The number of these palaces,
and the costly materials of which they are
said to have been constructed, are prob-
ably designed to convey a comparison to
the seven heavens, or to the seven stages
of paradise. See Note 2 to the Intro-
duction.
NOTE 34.
"Budoor" is the plural of
"bedr," and signifies "Full Moons." She
was thus named to imply that, "by the
excess of her beauty she was [to be com-
pared to nothing less than] a number of
full moons; not one only." In the old
version she is improperly called "Badoura."
NOTE 35. I give the Arabic appellation
of "kahramaneh " for want of an English
synonym. It sometimes signifies "a female
confidant (as I have before rendered it);
66
in other cases, an intriguing waiting-
woman," a duenna," and a woman of
gallantry." But it is generally applied as
in the present instance, to an experienced,
confidential female slave, who is set over
others, or intrusted with some office of
importance. It is from the Persian "kahra-
mán," signifying "a valiant warrior," the
name of a celebrated fabulous hero of
Persia.
NOTE 36. The reader may perhaps say,
"How did Meymooneh become acquainted
with the youth's history?" - Probably,
before she met Dahnash, she had reached
the confines of the lowest heaven, and
there heard the Angels conversing upon the
subject; such being the usual way by which
the Jinn arrive at the knowledge of things
which would otherwise remain hidden from
them.
NOTE 37. The fire here mentioned is
that of which the Jinn are created. See
Note 21 to the Introduction.
-
NOTE 38. The clinking of the orna-
ments of the head has been mentioned in
the eighth note of the present series. The
anklets, also, knocking together, produce a
tinkling. The odour alluded to in the last
of these characteristic verses is that arising
from perspiration. A beautiful Arab damsel
is often described as diffusing a natural
perfume of this kind, like the blessed in
Paradise, whose perspiration will be odori-
ferous as musk. Thus, in the Mo'allakah
1098
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of Imra-el-Keys, in allusion to two former
objects of the poet's love, it is said, -
"When they rise, the odour of musk is diffused
from them, as the breathing of the zephyr
bringing the fragrance of the clove."
Many similar examples might be added:
but they are often misunderstood: one of
them is quoted with the view of proving
the fondness of the Oriental ladies for per-
fumes, while it only implies such fondness
in the men. It is true, however, that both
sexes take great delight in perfumes, and
few of the women comply with the injunc-
tion in the latter part of the following say-
ing of the Prophet; that, "the perfume for
a man should have smell, but not colour;
and the things which women rub on must
have colour, but not smell."
NOTE 39. My sheykh explains the word
"kutrub" as signifying here, an animal
with long fore-legs; one of those which
early in the morning puts itself in motion."
In the Kámoos it is described as "a small
beast that ceases not from moving about
all the day;" and the same term (kutrub)
is also there rendered, "a bald wolf," and
"the male of the Ghool," &c.
NOTE 40. So in the edition of Breslau.
In the Cairo edition, " äwi-l-kubbeti-l-
mebneeyeh," which may be rendered "or
[like] the dome-crowned structure."
NOTE 41. See Note 15 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 42. The word here rendered
"quinary," which is its literal sense, is gen-
erally used to signify "of five spans."
We may perhaps here understand it as
meaning "of five feet." The Arabs espe-
cially admire damsels who have not at-
tained their full growth; and at witnessing
a bridal procession, disapprobation is often
expressed, or indicated by looks, if the
bride is of the average stature of women.
NOTE 43. This is here interpreted by
my sheykh as meaning "marrow." The
former part of Note 11 to Chapter iii. will
explain this interpretation.
NOTE 44. When the Muslim has finished
the prayers ordained by the Kur-án and
the Sunneh, if he would acquit himself of
supererogatory acts, he remains sitting (but
may then sit more at his ease), and re-
cites the "Throne-Verse," which is the
256th of the second chapter of the Kur-an
(beginning with the words, "God! There
is no deity but He;" and ending with,
"Ex-
"He is the High, the Great "); and gen-
erally adds, "O High! O Great! Thy per-
fection [I extol]." He then repeats "The
perfection of God!" (thirty-three times).
"The perfection of God, the Great, with
his praise for ever!" (once). "Praise be
to God;" (thirty-three times).
tolled be his dignity! There is no deity
but He!" (once). "God is most great!
(thirty-three times). "God is most great
in greatness, and praise be to God in abun-
dance!" (once). He counts these repeti-
tions with a string of beads, which are
ninety-nine in number, and have a mark
between each thirty-three: they are of
aloes or other odoriferous or precious wood,
or of coral, or of certain fruitstones, or
seeds, &c.
NOTE 45. This exclamation (“ Allah pre-
serve thy youth!"), being only used by
women, is, as my sheykh remarks, improper
from the mouth of the Wezeer.
"
NOTE 46. This, again, is an ejaculation
of women. See Note 65 to Chapter iv.
--
NOTE 47. The word here rendered
news generally signifies "happy news."
My sheykh observes that it is used to excite
laughter.
NOTE 48. Of the various significations of
"kubbeh," the most appropriate here seems
to be either " a dome or a building or
chamber, &c., surmounted by a dome."
NOTE 49. These are the names of the
twelve lunar months which compose the
Mohammadan year. They are mentioned
in the order of their succession; but Mo-
harram is that with which the year com-
mences. - The questions here put are those
which are generally addressed by the Arabs
to a person to try if he be sane.
NOTE 50. "Kisrà," or
66 Kesrà," from
the Persian "Khusrow," which signifies "a
great king," and which the Romans con-
verted into "Cosroes (a surname that
they gave to almost every King of the
Sásánian dynasty), is an appellation ap-
plied by the Arabs (like Cæsar among the
Romans) to many ancient Kings of Persia.
According to the Persian and Arab his-
torians, the Kings of Persia prior to El-
Islám composed four dynasties; namely, the
Péshdádians, the chronology of which is
unknown; the Kayánians, which ended in
the year 331 B. C., when Persia was con-
quered by Alexander the Great; the Ash-
kánians, which terminated A. D. 202; and
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1099
he Sásánians, the last of whom was over-
ome by the Arabs, A. D. 636.
NOTE 51. From the commencement of
his sentence to the end of the paragraph
from the Breslau edition.
NOTE 52. In the Cairo edition, the lady
ludoor is said to have killed the old
zoman; but in the edition of Breslau, and
he old version, she is described as having
nly beaten her.
NOTE 53. Maniacs, in the madhouse in
Cairo, are thus chained by the neck, each
1 a separate cell. They are treated there, I
ear, with unnecessary vigour; but trav-
llers are often deceived on this point; for
: is a custom of visitors to take with them
read to distribute to the lunatics, many
f whom consequently cry out for it, when
ny stranger enters the court, as if they
vere starving. Sometimes, when a lunatic
as received his cake of bread, he throws it
ack in the face of the giver.
NOTE 54. So in the edition of Breslau,
nd apparently in the MS. from which
Galland translated, being written in his
ersion "Torf." In the Cairo edition, "Et-
Teyreb."
"9
NOTE 55. These are female proper
ames, used as fictitious names. "Su-
eymà is the diminutive of Selmà;
nd, like the latter, is often employed to
lesignate a beautiful woman. "Er-Ra-
áb" signifies "the white cloud," and "the
iol; ” and “Rabáb " is also applied to "a
loud which is now white, and presently
lack; " and hence it is a term applied to
a woman," denoting changeableness.
Ten'om" is the third person singular
eminine of the aorist of a verb signifying
to be soft, gentle, &c."
66
NOTE 56. "'Andam" is an Arabic name
f "Brazil-wood" (also called bak-
am "), and of the resinous substance
ermed by us dragon's blood."
66
NOTE 57. The meaning is, "My fingers
re not dyed with hennà." See Note 36
> Chapter iv.
NOTE 58. This and the next preceding
erse, on the superior merit of the prece-
ent, are often repeated by the learned.
NOTE 59. She hath Lukmán's wisdom
(which is proverbial among the Muslims),
Joseph's beauty (which is alike celebrated),
David's sweet voice (on the effects of which
see Note 18 to Chapter i.), and the chas-
tity of the Virgin Mary; while I have grief
like that which Jacob felt (for the loss
of Joseph), regret such as Jonas suffered
(when swallowed by the fish), affliction
like that endured by Job (when God tried
him, on his marrying the wife of the man
whom He sent, and not being content with
the wives whom he had before), and am
in a state like that of Adam expelled from
Paradise.
NOTE 60. This is equivalent to saying,
she is in a state of affliction that cannot be
described.
NOTE 61. This, I suppose, is said from
politeness; for, as my sheykh remarks, it
is not consistent with the story; since
Kamar-ez-Zemán acquainted his father and
others with the adventure, and the lady
Budoor did not acquaint her father.
NOTE 62. See the fiftieth note of the
present series.
On the
NOTE 63. On Geomancy.
science and practice of Geomancy, called
"'Ilm er-Raml" and "Darb er-Raml,"
there are several treatises by Eastern writ-
ers; but I have not met with any of these;
nor have I seen a Geomantic tablet; which,
probably, I should be unable to describe
satisfactorily if I had. Geomancy is a
mode of divination from the combinations
of certain marks or dots made, apparently
at random, upon sand (whence its appella-
tion) or on paper; but I have been in-
formed that it is chiefly founded upon
astrology; so I suppose the Geomantic tab-
let to be an instrument engraved with
astrological diagrams, &c. I have only seen
the mode of performing geomantic experi-
ments upon paper. The invention of the
science is ascribed by some to Idrees, or
Enoch; by some, to Daniel; by some, to
Ham the son of Noah; and by others, to
Hermes Trismegistus.
NOTE 64. Literally. "I write the book,"
or "- the writ." This phrase is em-
ployed to signify writing, or, more com-
monly, merely repeating, a form of words
constituting a contract of marriage. It is
evident that this is its meaning here, and
that it alludes to astrological calculations
1100
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
which are often made previously to mar-
riage, and which I have described in Note
74 to Chapter v.. - See that note, and Note
147 in the present series.
-
NOTE 65. See the fifty-sixth note of the
present series.
NOTE 66. Amulets thus engraved with
talismanic characters are worn by many
Muslims in the present day; but a more
common kind of amulet is a piece of paper
partly inscribed with such characters and
enclosed in a case of gold or silver or
leather, &c.
NOTE 67. In the times of the early 'Ab-
básee Khaleefehs, in the eighth and ninth
centuries of our era, popular European
tales may have found their way among the
Arabs, as well as Persian and Indian tales
of the same nature; and the establishment
of an Arab empire in Spain, the Crusades,
and the extensive commerce of the Vene-
tians with Egypt and Syria, doubtless oc-
casioned the transmission of similar tales
from the Arabs to Europe, and vice versâ.
On the subject of such transmissions, and
the resemblance of popular tales and fic-
tions of different countries, much informa-
tion and entertainment may be derived
from a work by Mr. Keightley, from which
I must here insert an extract.
"In that pleasing old French romance
of Peter of Provence and the fair Mague-
lone, . . . there is a circumstance so like
one in the Arabian Nights, that it may
have come from the East. I know not the
age of the romance, but it is certainly pos-
terior to the establishment of the Angevin
dynasty at Naples. As it does not appear
to have ever existed in verse, I would re-
fer it to the fifteenth century.
"Peter, son to the Count of Provence,
hearing of the beauty of Maguelone,
daughter of the King of Naples, determined
to go thither in person, and view the peer-
less maiden. He accordingly went in dis-
guise to the Neapolitan court, and there, as
an unknown knight, so distinguished him-
self in the tournaments, that he won the
favour of the King, and the heart of the
lovely Maguelone. After some time, being
desirous to return to Provence, he per-
suaded the princess to fly with him. She
yielded her assent, and they secretly left
the palace and departed on horseback, tak-
ing a third horse laden with provisions. On
the second day they came to a dense wood
on a mountain near the sea, and being
fatigued and overcome with the heat, they
alighted from their horses to rest them; and
the princess, laying her head on the lap of
Peter, fell fast asleep and-
"While Magalona, as has been said,
was sleeping on the lap of her dear friend
Peter, the said Peter delighted his whole
heart by gazing on the sovereign beauty of
his lady; and when he had to his pleasure
contemplated her beautiful countenance,
and had well admired and kissed that sweet
and agreeable, small and beautiful mouth,
he could not satiate himself with looking
at it more and more: then he could not
refrain from uncovering her a little, and
gazing on her most beautiful and white
bosom, that was whiter than the crystal;
and he touched her sweet bosom, and when
he did so he was so penetrated with love
that it seemed to him that he was in para-
dise, and that nothing could ever cause him
any affliction. But that pleasure did not
last long; for he suffered the most in-
estimable pain and ill-fortune, as you shall
hear, that man could ever think of. And
the noble Magalona suffered not less, for
she afterwards passed through many great
afflictions.
"For while Peter thus admired and
touched the sweet Magalona, he found in
her bosom a coloured piece of silk, which
was folded up, and he had a very great
desire to know what was in it. And he
began to unfold it, and he found in it
three of his mother's rings, which he had
given to Magalona, and she had kept them
out of good love. And when Peter had
seen them, he folded them up again, and
placed them near him on a stone; and he
turned his eyes to the noble Magalona, and
regarded her with good love, and he al-
most fainted away with love and with
pleasure. But our Lord shewed that in
this world there is not pleasure without
pain, nor perfect happiness. For a bird of
prey, thinking that that coloured silk was
a piece of flesh, came flying, and took that
silk, and went away with it, and flew to
the mountain, and seated itself on a very
lofty tree.
"When Peter saw this he was greatly
grieved, and he thought that Magalona
would be grieved at it, whom he wished
to please more than any person in the
world. He put his cloak under the head
of Magalona, and then got up very quietly,
without her perceiving anything. And he
began to follow that bird, and to pelt it
with stones, to make it drop the silk it
was carrying. And there was there a little
rock near the land. Yet between the rock
and the land there was a great quantity of
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
ΙΙΟΙ
rater, and no one could pass to that rock
ithout swimming. And this bird went
ying from tree to tree to settle on that
erilous rock, and Peter flung a stone at it,
that that bird went from thence and
that silk fall into the sea; and the said
eter could not pass thither, because he
new not how to swim. Nevertheless, as
le distance was not great, he began to
earch on one side and the other if he
ould find anything in which he could pass
> the rock to go to look for it. Then
id Peter, Would to God that I had not
iken the rings or the silk from where I
ook them, and that I had not meddled
ith them, for they will cost me dear, and
lagalona still more; for if I delay much
onger Magalona will go look for me. And
3 Peter was thus searching along the shore
f the sea, he found an old boat, which the
shers had abandoned because it was worth
othing; and Peter went into it, and was
reatly joyed, but his joy lasted not long.
nd he took some sticks that he had picked
p to row with, and went off for the rock.
ut God, who does all things at his pleas-
re, caused to rise a great wind, cold and
rong, from the land side, which carried
eter and his bark, against his will, very
ir out to sea, and all his rowing availed
im nought; for the sea was very high
nd very deep, and he could not get to
ind, and the wind carried him along in
pite of himself.'
"I need not tell how Peter was taken up
y a ship and brought to Egypt, where he
ecame a great favourite with the Sultán,
nd how Maguelone went to Provence, and
as made directress of an hospital, whither
eter was brought as a pauper, and how
e recognised him, and made herself
nown to him, and how they were united,
nd passed their days in uninterrupted
licity.'
Mr. Keightley proceeds to remark upon
he similar incident in the tale of Kamar-
-Zemán, "the main story of which (for
e episodic ones certainly are not) is pos-
bly," he says, "of Persian origin;." but,
ke De Sacy, as I have already said, I see
o foundation for such an opinion; and
here is certainly much that is utterly in-
onsistent with it. Mr. Keightley after-
ards mentions another point of resem-
lance between the story of Kamar-ez-
emán and that of Peter of Provence,
hich I shall notice in its proper place;
nd he adds, "It is therefore, I think, by
O means unlikely that some part at least
f the oriental tale travelled westwards."
o me it seems more probable that the
riters of these two stories were alike in-
debted to some tale much older than that
of Kamar-ez-Zemán - to one which of-
fered little that was worthy of imitation.
The resemblances, being only in two points,
I regard as tending to confirm my opinion,
that the tales of the Thousand and One
Nights, in general, differ extremely from
any others upon which they may have been
founded. For the incomparable superiority
of the tale of Kamar-ez-Zemán over that
of Peter of Provence renders it, I think,
highly improbable that the latter could
have been founded upon the former; or
that the former could have been indebted,
otherwise than in the points here noticed,
to any tale of which the latter may be an
imitation. The chief merit of the former
tale I most confidently ascribe to an Arab
writer.
NOTE 68. It is perhaps unnecessary to
observe to the reader, that the danger
which Kamar-ez-Zemán is said to have
incurred in the city of the Magians is in-
consistent with the idea that his story may
be one borrowed from the
"Hezár
Afsaneh;" that is, of an ancient Persian
origin. So, too, is the treatment experi-
enced by El-As'ad, later in the tale.
NOTE 69. "El-Islám" is a term often
used to signify "the Muslims."
NOTE 70. In a former tale, "the king
of the further parts of India" is called
"lord of the Ebony Island."
mu-
NOTE 71. The same principle which in-
duced Mohammad to forbid all games of
chance was strictly regarded by him in his
laws relating to commerce and industry, as
in the cases of "musákáh" and 66
zára'ah." "Musákáh signifies a man's giv-
ing over his trees in charge to another, to
attend upon them and improve them, by
watering them for a fixed proportion of
their produce; such as half, a third, or a
fourth. Muzára'ah is the giving of land in
charge, to be cultivated on similar con-
ditions." It appears that Mohammad for-
bade the latter practice, and consequently
the former also, under certain circum-
stances. "My two uncles," says Ráfe' the
son of Khadeej, "informed me, that the
companions of the Prophet used to let
land by this agreement, that the sower
should sow his own seed, and that what-
ever grew upon the sides of small ponds
should be for them; or they fixed on a part
of the ground, and said, 'Whatever grows
on this is for us, and the rest for you.'
1102
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Then the Prophet forbade it, because per-
adventure nothing might grow on it: " that
is, on one part of it. But it is also said,
by one of the companions of Mohammad,
"Verily the Prophet of God has forbidden
muzára'ah in this sense, by saying, 'What-
ever may be produced in this part is for
me, and in the other part for you;' and
ordered fixed rent, and said, 'In this there
is no fear.'"
It is evident, therefore, that
he prohibited certain modes of muzára'ah,
which were unfair; but I think it is also
clear that he did not forbid the practice
in cases in which the proprietor of the
land and the labourer incurred a similar
risk. 'Omar, the second Khaleefeh, "set-
tled with the people, that if he found the
seed, he should have half its produce; and
if the labourers brought the seed, then two-
thirds [should be] for them, and the re-
mainder for him." Mohammad himself,
also, "delivered over, to a Jew of Khey-
ber, the trees and grounds of Kheyber, by
this stipulation, that he should work on
them at his own expense, and give him half
their produce."-I should be extremely
glad to see a similar plan adopted in
Egypt: the revenue of the government
would be greatly increased by it; and the
chief evil of which the peasants complain,
remedied.
In the tale which this note is designed
to illustrate, Kamar-ez-Zemán was merely
an assistant: therefore a fourth of the pro-
duce of the garden was a fair remuneration
for him.
NOTE 72. See Note 25 to Chapter iv.
NOTE 73. See Note 32 to Chapter vi.
"Hayat-en-Nufoos" signifies
NOTE 74.
"the Life of Souls."
NOTE 75. This he did to obtain a bless-
ing.
NOTE 76. Thamood and 'Ád were two
tribes of ancient Arabs, said to have been
of enormous stature, who, with few ex-
ceptions, were destroyed for their obstinate
idolatry. The tribe of 'Ád was the more
ancient; but both lived before the time of
Abraham.
NOTE 77. In the original, "amtár,"
plural of "matr." The terms "matr " and
"matrah " are applied to a large jar or
bottle of wood or leather, used for water,
&c.
99
NOTE 78. I do not know of any kind
of olives called " 'asáfeeree; nor do I find
this appellation in any dictionary.
NOTE 79. Just so Peter of Provence
when leaving Egypt, put his valuables int
barrels, which he filled with salt; and, hav
ing fallen asleep in the isle of Sagona, th
ship sailed away, leaving him behind. O
arriving at the place where Maguelon
dwelt, the captain gave her the barrels o
salt for the use of the hospital, and in then
she found the treasure."
NOTE 80. This is a common expression
of humility. An Arab, writing to a su
perior, often terms himself the latter's
slave.
NOTE 81. From this we must understand
that the gardener had left no natural heir.
NOTE 82. Tamarind, in Arabian coun-
tries, is generally formed into round, flat-
tish cakes, which have a hole in the middle.
When dry, they are strung together.
NOTE 83. The Muslims are forbidden
not only to swear frequently and vainly
by God, but especially to swear by any
created thing. There are few of them,
however, who are not in the constant habit
of acting contrary to both these prohibi-
tions. Their most common forms of oath
are By God!" and "By the existence of
the Prophet!" but they also often swear
by the life of any respected person; and
by the life, head, or beard, of a man whom
they are addressing.
66
NOTE 84.-On Polygamy, &c. In a for-
mer Note I have mentioned certain bene-
ficial results of the law of the separation of
the sexes; its promoting a more free and
extensive intercourse among persons of the
same sex and of different ranks, and its
tendency, with Muslims, to increase what
they consider domestic happiness. I must
now remark upon some other effects of the
same law.
First, the restriction of intercourse be-
tween the sexes before marriage renders
indispensable, to some, the facility of di-
vorce; for it would be unjust for a man
who finds himself disappointed in his ex-
pectations of a wife whom he has never
before seen, not to be enabled to put her
away. Secondly, it sometimes renders in-
dispensable the license of polygamy; for a
man who finds his first wife unsuited to
him may not be able to divorce her with-
out reducing her to want; and the license
of polygamy becomes as necessary in this
case as that of divorce in another. Thirdly,
the liberty of polygamy renders the facility
of divorce more desirable for the happiness
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1103
of women; since, when a man has two or
more wives, and one of them is dissatisfied
with her situation, he is enabled to liberate
her. Fourthly, the license of divorce often
acts as a check upon that of polygamy;
for the fear of being obliged, by the influ-
ence of his first wife, or by that of her
relations, to divorce her if he take a sec-
ond, often prevents a man from doing this.
Thus both these licenses are required by
the most important principle of the consti-
tution of Muslim society, and each is pro-
ductive of some moral benefit. In consid-
ering the question of their expediency, we
should also remember, that barrenness is
much more common in hot climates than
in those which are temperate.
Christianity is plainly opposed to poly-
gamy; but as to divorce, some have con-
tended that it only forbids putting away
a wife against her will, unless for one cause.
Christians are often most unjust in their
condemnation of Muslim laws and tenets,
and especially condemn those which agree
with the Mosaic code and the practices of
holy men; such as polygamy (which Mo-
hammad limited), divorce, war for the de-
fence of religion, purifications, and even
minor matters. Mohammad endeavoured
to remove one of the chief causes of poly-
gamy and divorce, by recommending that
a man should see a woman whom he pro-
posed to take as his wife. We might
imagine that he could have made these
practices less common than they now are,
and always have been, among his follow-
ers, had he given more license, allowing
the man to enjoy a limited intercourse with
the object of his choice in the presence of
her female or male relations (the former
of whom might be veiled), without infring-
ing further the general law of the separa-
tion of the sexes. But he saw that such
liberty would very seldom, if ever, be al-
lowed: scarcely any parents, among the
Arabs, except those of the lower classes,
permit the little license which he recom-
mended. Instead of condemning him for
allowing a plurality of wives, I think we
should be more reasonable if we com-
mended him for diminishing and restricting
the number. I think too, that, as Moses
allowed his people, for the hardness of their
hearts, to put away their wives, and God
denounced not polygamy when the patri-
archs practised it, we should be more con-
sistent as believers in the Scriptures if we
admitted the permission of these practices,
to be more conducive to morality than their
prohibition, among a people similar to the
ancient Jews to whom Moses allowed such
liberty. As to the privilege which Moham-
mad assumed to himself, of having a
greater number of wives than he allowed
to others, I have elsewhere remarked, that,
in doing so, he may have been actuated by
the want of male offspring rather than im-
pelled by voluptuousness; he seems, how-
ever, to have been influenced by both these
motives.
It
"On the subject of polygamy," says a
recent writer who has deeply studied Mus-
lim institutions and their effects," a Euro-
pean has all the advantage in discussion
with a Turkish woman, because her feelings
are decidedly on the side of her antagonists;
but then she has a tremendous power of
reply, in the comparison of the practical
effects of the two systems, and in the wide-
ly-spread rumours of the heartlessness and
the profligacy of Europe. All the con-
victions of our habits and laws stand in
hostile array against the country where
the principle of polygamy is admitted into
the laws of the state; but yet, while we
reproach Islamism with polygamy, Islam-
ism may reproach us with practical poly-
gamy, which, unsanctioned by law and
reproved by custom, adds degradation of
the mind to dissoluteness of morals."
should further be remarked, that, by sanc-
tioning polygamy, Mohammad did not
make the practice general: nay, he could
not. It is a license for the hard-hearted,
which restrains them from worse conduct,
and in some cases, as already shewn, a re-
source for the tender-hearted. "The per-
mission," observes the author just cited,
"does not alter the proportions of men
and women. While, therefore, the law of
nature renders this practice an impossibility
as regards the community, it is here still
further restrained among the few who have
the means of indulging in it, both by the
domestic unquiet that results from it, and
by the public censure and reprobation of
which it is the object." I have remarked
in a former work, that polygamy "is more
rare among the higher and middle classes
[in Egypt, and I believe in other Arab
countries,] than it is among the lower or-
ders; and it is not very common among
the latter. A poor man may indulge him-
self with two or more wives, each of whom
may be able, by some art or occupation,
nearly to provide her own subsistence; but
most persons of the higher and middle or-
ders are deterred from doing so by the
consideration of the expense and discom-
fort which they would incur. A man
having a wife who has the misfortune to
be barren, and being too much attached
to her to divorce her, is sometimes induced
to take a second wife, merely in the hope
-
1104
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of obtaining offspring; and from the same
motive, he may take a third, and a fourth;
but fickle passion is the most evident and
common motive both to polygamy and to
repeated divorces. They are comparatively
few who gratify this passion by the former
practice. I believe that not more than
one husband among twenty has two
wives."
I hope I have shewn, that, though I con-
sider polygamy as necessary in the consti-
tution of Muslim society, to prevent a
profligacy that would be worse than that
which prevails to so great a degree in Euro-
pean countries, where parties are united in
marriage after an intimate mutual ac-
quaintance, I consider it as a necessary
evil. When two or more wives of the
same man live together, or when they visit
each other, feelings of jealousy are gen-
erally felt, and often manifested, and espe-
cially on the part of the wife or wives who
cannot claim precedence by having been
married before the other or others, or by
reason of being more favoured by the hus-
band. The wife first married usually en-
joys the highest rank: therefore parents
often object to giving a daughter in mar-
riage to a man who has already another
wife; and it frequently happens that the
female who is sought in marriage objects
to such a union. The law provides in some
measure against the discomforts arising
from polygamy, by giving to each wife a
claim to a distinct lodging, affording con-
veniences for sleeping, cooking, &c.; and
further enjoins the husband to be strictly
impartial to his wives in every respect.
But fruitfulness and superior beauty are
qualifications that often enable a second,
third, or fourth wife to usurp the place of
the first; though in many cases, as I have
remarked in another note, the lasting
favourite is not the most handsome.
There are, however, many instances of
sincere affection existing in the hearts of
fellow-wives. The following story of two
wives of the father of El-Jabartee, the
modern Egyptian historian, related by him-
self, and of undoubted truth, is a pleasing
example. Speaking of the first of these
two wives, the historian says,-
-
"Among her acts of conjugal piety and
submission was this, that she used to buy
for her husband beautiful concubine slaves,
with her own wealth, and deck them with
ornaments and apparel, and so present them
to him, confidently looking to the reward
and recompense which she should receive
[in Paradise] for such conduct. He took,
in addition to her, many other wives from
among free women, and bought female
slaves; but she did not in consequence con-
ceive any of that jealousy which com-
monly affects women. Among other strange
events which happened, was the following.
When the subject of this memoir [the
author's father] performed the pilgrimage,
in the year 1156 (A. D. 1743-4), he became
acquainted at Mekkeh, with the sheykh
'Omar El-Halabee, who commissioned him
to purchase for him a white female slave,
who should be a virgin, not arrived at
womanhood, and having such and such
other qualifications. So when he returned
from the pilgrimage, he searched for fe-
male slaves among the slave-dealers, to
choose from them such a
one as was
wanted, and ceased not until he found the
object of his desire, and bought her. He
brought her to his wife, above mentioned,
to remain with her until he should send
her with a person to whom he was com-
missioned to entrust her for the journey;
and when the period at which she was to
depart arrived, he informed his wife of it,
that she might prepare the provisions for
the way, and other necessaries. But she
said to him, 'I have conceived a great love
for this maid, and I cannot endure separa-
tion from her: I have no children, and I
have taken her as a daughter.' The girl
also wept, and said, 'I will not part from
my mistress, nor ever leave her.' 'Then
what is to be done' he asked. She an-
swered, I will pay her price from my own
property, and do thou buy another.' He
did so. She then emancipated the girl,
gave her to him by a marriage-contract,
prepared her paraphernalia, and furnished
for her a separate apartment; and he took
her as his wife in the year 65. The for-
mer wife could not bear to be separated
from her even for an hour, although she
had become her fellow-wife, and borne him
children. In the year 82 before mentioned,
the [emancipated] slave fell sick, and she
[the first wife] fell sick on account of her
[friend's] sickness. The illness increased
upon both of them; and in the morning
the slave arose, and looked at her mistress
when she seemed about to die, and wept,
and said, 'O my God and my Lord, if
Thou hast decreed the death of my mis-
tress, make my day to be before her day.'
Then she lay down, and her disease in-
creased, and she died the next night; and
they wrapped her up by the side of her
mistress. And her mistress awoke at the
close of the night, and felt her with her
hand, and began to say, 'Zeleekhà!
Zeleekha!' They said to her, 'She is
asleep.' But she replied, 'My heart telleth
me that she is dead: and I saw in my sleep
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1105
•
what indicated this event.' They then said
to her, May thy life be prolonged!' And
when she had thus ascertained the event,
she raised herself, and sat up, and said,
'No life remaineth to me after her.' And
she wept and wailed until the day ap-
peared, when they began to prepare for
the speedy burial of the slave; and they
washed the corpse before her, and carried
it to the grave. Then she returned to her
bed, and fell into the agonies of death, and
died at the close of the day; and on the
following day they carried her corpse to
the grave in like manner. — - This was one
of the strangest of the things that I have
witnessed and seen and remembered. My
age at that time was fourteen years."
66
NOTE 85. 'El-Amjad" signifies "the
More, or the Most, Glorious."
NOTE 86. "El-As'ad " signifies "the
More, or the Most, Fortunate, Prosperous,
or Happy."
NOTE 87. I here omit an explanation
which is of a nature to disgust every per-
son of good taste. In this case, and in
several others of a similar kind, the old
version agrees with the original, being
faithful to the latter when, to say the
least, it is utterly unnecessary to be so,
and unfaithful when fidelity is most de-
sirable. He who is unacquainted with the
original should be informed, that it con-
tains many passages which seem as if they
were introduced for the gratification of the
lowest class of the auditors of a public
reciter at a coffee-shop. These passages
exhibit to us persons of high rank, both
men and women, as characterized by a
grossness which is certainly not uncommon
among Arabs of the inferior orders; but
this is all that I can venture to assert; for
although there are numerous anecdotes
which might be adduced with the view of
justifying our original in the cases here
alluded to, they are obviously of suspicious
authority. It is highly probable that
Hároon Er-Rasheed often exercised the wit
of Aboo-Nuwás by relating to him exag-
gerated or even fictitious accounts of oc-
currences in his own hareem; and, still
more so, that the latter person, in reciting
his anecdotes to his friends, disregarded
truth in a much greater degree.
NOTE 88. See Note 8 in the present
series. By sending, with the letter, the
silk strings of her hair, we are to under-
stand that the lady designed to testify the
most abject submission. The same mean-
ing is conveyed in a more forcible manner
by sending the hair itself. Thus, when
Cairo was besieged by the Franks in the
year of the Flight 564 (A. D. 1168), El-
'Ádid, the last Khaleefeh of the house of
Fátimeh, sent letters to Noor-ed-Deen
Mahmood, Sultán of Syria, imploring suc-
cour, and with them sent his women's hair,
to shew their subjection and his own.
NOTE 89. This is one of the passages
alluded to at the close of Note 8 in the
present series.
NOTE 90. By "drinking of the anguish
of another" is meant "C
partaking of his
anguish by witnessing it." The same and
a similar expression occur shortly after-
wards, where the meaning is more obvious.
NOTE 91. The person here designated
the "Treasurer" ("Kházindár," as gen-
erally pronounced,) is called in the Bres-
lau edition "the Emeer Jendár," and in
the old version, an emeer called Giondar."
Dr. Scott has converted "Giondar into
"Jehaun-dar." But "Jendár " is not a
proper name. This term, more properly
written" Jándár," was a title common to
a class of officers under the Sultáns of
Egypt, whose duty was to guard the door
of the Sultán, to convey or enforce his or-
ders with respect to emeers, and to guard
the prison called the Zardakhánáh, in
which persons of rank were confined. The
Emeer Jándár was the chief of these
officers.
It is important to remark, that the pres-
ent work exhibits but a very imperfect
acquaintance with the offices held under
the Sultáns whose dominion was subverted
by the Turkish conqueror Seleem. Such
we should expect to be the case in a work
either composed or remodelled after the
Turkish conquest of Syria and Egypt,
A. D. 1517.
NOTE 92. This prayer is addressed to
God.
NOTE 93. When God desireth anything,
He saith unto it, "Be," and it is.
NOTE 94. In the original, three pieces
of poetry are here put into the mouth of
El-As'ad. That which I have given is
the second of them.
NOTE 95. The saráb (generally called
by Europeans "mirage ") is that remark-
able vapour which is so often seen in the
desert, tormenting the thirsty traveller by
1106
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
presenting the appearance of a lake. So
complete is the illusion, that I have seen
the images of objects situate within or be-
yond it distinctly reflected by its surface.
- In the verse in which this vapour is
mentioned, the word kahal," which I
have rendered "the black-edged eyelid,"
literally signifies "the natural blackness
round the eye, resembling the artificial
blackness which is produced by the powder
called kohl."
NOTE 96. This sentence I have inserted
from the Breslau edition.
NOTE 97. A small oratory, with a niche
indicating the direction of Mekkeh, is often
seen in Muslim countries, by the side of a
spring, a well, a reservoir, or a large water-
jar which is daily replenished for the use
of travellers. Sometimes it is designed also
as a place of repose, being a small, roofed
chamber, open towards the north.
NOTE 98. In the story of the Young
King of the Black Islands, the Muslims,
Christians, Jews, and Magians, who com-
posed his subjects, are said to have been
transformed, respectively, into white, blue,
yellow, and red fish; and here a Magian
is described with a red turban. When the
Christians and Jews were compelled to dis-
tinguish themselves by wearing, respec-
tively, blue and yellow turbans (as men-
tioned in Note 55 to Chapter ii.), and the
white turban was made peculiar to the
Muslims, the Samaritans were also com-
pelled to wear red turbans; and our author
appears to have made red the distinguish-
ing colour of the Magians from this cir-
cumstance; for an Arab writer quoted by
El-Makreezee, in his account of the Sa-
maritans, says that the tenets of this latter
people were a mixture of Judaism and
Magism. This explanation I think more
probable than one which might be deduced
from the Turkish term "Kizilbásh," or
Red-head," a nickname applied by the
Turks to a Persian, and so applied by the
Persians themselves. It is said to have been
derived from a red cap first worn by the
Persian soldiers under the Shah Ismá'eel,
about the commencement of the sixteenth
century. I prefer the explanation first pro-
posed because it would account for the
distinctive colours of all the fish above
mentioned.
་་
NOTE 99. "Ghadbán" signifies
raged," or "angry."
en-
NOTE 100. The remainder of this para-
Here
graph is from the Breslau edition.
-
I may mention that, in the old version, the
old man orders his "daughters, Bostama
and Cavama," to undertake the office of
torturing El-As'ad: in the Breslau edition,
he is said to have so commissioned his
"daughter Bustán and slave-girl Käwám.”
This shews that he is the same person who
is afterwards mentioned by the name of
Bahram; which, in the Cairo edition, is
not so clearly shewn. Agreeably with this
edition, I have not here mentioned Bah-
rám's daughter; as I think that an incident
at the close of the story is rendered need-
lessly improbable by describing her as the
torturer of El-As'ad.
NOTE 101.- - On the Magian Festivals of
Fire. As the present tale exhibits scarcely
any acquaintance with the religion of the
Magians, I consider it most unnecessary to
attempt any illustration of its allusions to
the rites of that people. The "Blue Sea
and the Mountain of Fire " I suppose to be
purely imaginary. But the idea of the
human sacrifice at a particular period of
the year, on the occasion of "the Festival
of the Fire" (as afterwards said), may
have been derived from a vague notion of
the rites of two Magian festivals. The
first of these was celebrated in the month
of Ádur, or Ázur, which (except in the
middle ages of Persia, when the calendar
was altered,) corresponded with November.
The angel after whom this month was
named "presided over fire; in consequence
of which on the ninth, his name-day, the
country blazed all around with flaming
piles; whilst the Magi, by the injunction
of Zoroaster, visited, with great solemnity,
all the temples of that element throughout
the empire, which, upon this occasion, were
adorned and illuminated in a splendid man-
ner. On this day it was reckoned a point
of religion to pare the nails and to shave
the hair, under the idea that, with these
excrescences, they threw away, at the same
time, all their sins and defects." In the
following month (Dei), "on the 11th, or
the angel's day," the other "great festival
of fire was celebrated all over the kingdom;
for the origin of which solemnity, a variety
of traditional reasons have been handed
down; one of them is curious: Winter,
they say, having once, on the anniversary
of that day, taken a fancy to come from
hell, which was, it seems, too hot for him,
their ancestors had lighted up immediately
those piles of fire, to convince him that
he had got into a still more infernal place,
and force him again from earth to the
shades of darkness. In order to improve
the general scene of nocturnal splendour,
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1107
on
on this occasion, it was usual for the King
and his courtiers to set fire to large
›unches of dry herbs, fastened to wild
easts and birds, who being then let loose,
he fields, mountains, and the air itself
vere immediately in one universal tem-
orary blaze, heightened often by the acci-
ental firing of the neighbouring woods, to
which those terrified animals naturally fled
ɔr shelter. . . . A custom similar to this
revailed even in England within this cen-
iry; it having been customary,
welfth-night, in Shropshire and other
laces, to kindle bonfires on the mountain-
ops and other high grounds, as a farewell
› winter, and a welcome to the spring.
he 15th of this month was remarkable
›r another singular ceremony: they
›rmed a number of images of paste or
ay, representing those deceased person-
res whom they meant to honour, which
ey placed in the most public places, espe-
ally where many roads or streets met,
id, after paying them great homage,
irnt them with much formality."
ight not this last practice have given
se to a vulgar belief among the Arabs,
at the Magians offered human sacri-
es?
NOTE 102. On the Soofees. On this
aracteristic passage, my sheykh remarks,
a marginal note, that it is usual with the
ofees thus to beg for an increase of the
lictions that they suffer. - The Soofees
e so called either from the Arabic word
oof," signifying "wool," on account of
eir wearing woollen garments, or from
Greek word ooods, because of their
ilosophical tenets. There is an order of
islim darweeshes called Soofees, "who
ke profession of a more regular and
re contemplative life than darweeshes
general; and many of this class have
itten books of spirituality, of devotion,
of contemplation, which mostly bear
title of Tasowwuf,' that is, of spiritual
93
The first convent of this order in
pt was founded by Saláh-ed-Deen, who
commonly called by European writers
adin. But the title of Soofee is adopted
many who do not belong to this order
darweeshes; by those who lead a life
contemplation, and of philosophical re-
on; and of this class are many excellent
1, who regard with especial veneration
moral and most other doctrines of the
pel. Their grand principle seems to be
of God. - The Sunnee Soofees are in
reat degree mystical and latitudinarian;
not so much so as the Soofees of the
sian sect.
NOTE 103. So in the Breslau edition and
in the old version. In the Cairo edition,
the distance by sea is said to be six months.
The preferable reading is "four months,"
because this city is evidently the same as
that in the neighbourhood of which
Kamar-ez-Zemán resided with the gardener.
The two princes are said to have performed
in three months a journey which usually
occupied a year; and we must therefore
suppose that they did it in that compara-
tively short space of time by taking a route
too arduous to be generally followed, and
impracticable for caravans. This is implied
by El-Amjad's remark on the first discov-
ery of the city.
NOTE 104. The Muslims hold (and I
believe adduce a saying of their Prophet
in confirmation of their opinion) that it is
improper to eat in a street or other place
where many people are passing; because
a person who does so cannot give to all
who pass by and desire to partake; and
when he has given all that he can spare,
the remainder may be looked upon by an
envious eye, which renders it injurious, or
at least unprofitable.
NOTE 105. In the present day, in many
parts of the East, the Frank Christian may
dress as a Muslim: but formerly, Muslims
were distinguished from all other persons,
especially by the colour and form of the
turban. The Eastern Christians and Jews,
with few exceptions, are still distinguished
by the turban, which is generally black
or blue, or of a greyish, or light-brown,
colour. See Note 55 to Chapter ii., and
Note 98 in the present series.
NOTE 106. The meaning of this is, "Thy
beauty is continually increasing."
NOTE 107. See Note 59 in the present
series.
NOTE 108. By "the thorns of lances,"
it is perhaps needless to state, that piercing
eyes or eyelashes are meant.
NOTE 109. This sentence commences
the thirty-eighth verse of the fourth chap-
ter of the Kur-án. By "He whose name
be exalted" we are always to understand
God. The Muslim never quotes the Kur-
án but as the word of God, and generally
in doing so says, "He whose name be ex-
alted hath said, in the Excellent Book,".
never mentioning the Prophet in this case
unless he use some such phrase as this,
1108
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
"God hath said by the tongue of his
Prophet."
NOTE 110. The word which I render
"flowers" (namely "sohbeh") also sig-
nifies "a branched candlestick, or candela-
brum, with many candles." Either sense
would be appropriate here; but in speaking
of wine, it generally signifies "a bunch
of flowers," which are often placed in a
candlestick in the midst of the wine-serv-
ice.
NOTE III. The wooden lock which is
in general use in Arabian countries for the
doors of houses and chambers is described
and figured in the Introduction to my work
on the Modern Egyptians.
NOTE 112. See Note 12 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 113. In a MS. Arabic dictionary
of my own composition I see that the only
meaning that I have given to "sidilleh"
(a word that I do not find in any other
dictionary) is that of "a long seat, or
couch;" and accordingly, in a former in-
stance I have rendered the plural of this
word, with that of "mastabah" preceding
it, by "benches of different kinds." In
the present case, my sheykh has explained
the plural of "sidilleh" by words signify-
ing "places elevated a little, like the suf-
freh;" which last term is applied to "a
kind of shelf or sill of stone," and a bench
or sofa." The term "sidilleh" is applied
in Cairo to a slightly elevated recess, with-
out a window; and to a platform of stone,
for a deewán, generally about half a foot
high.
NOTE 114. The clothes here mentioned
are those which were usually worn at wine-
parties. See Note 22 to Chapter iii.
-
NOTE 115. The most appropriate mean-
ing of "sufreh" here appears to be " a
round cloth." A stool with a round tray
upon it is also called a sufreh; and this
term is applied to a round piece of leather,
which serves as a table for meals, and
which is usually spread on the ground;
chiefly used by travellers, whence its name.
66
NOTE 116. This word is Persian and
Turkish, and signifies courageous,"
66
'bold," a hero." It is pronounced by
the Arabs as I have written it; by the
Persians, Bahádar;" and by the Turks,
"Behádir." Turkish and Persian names
became familiar to the Arabs in the times
66
of the 'Abbásee Khaleefehs, and were sti
more so in later times.
NOTE 117. This is said to shew mor
strongly the disturbed state of his mind
for it is usual to put the feet into th
shoes or slippers on stepping off the car
peted portion of the floor.
NOTE 118.
"Bahrám "
is a commo
Persian name.
It is also a name of th
planet Mars; and signifies a king,"
sword," &c.
"
NOTE 119. See Note 100 in the presen
series.
NOTE 120. "Marjáneh" (vulg., "mur
jáneh"), in modern Arabic, signifies
piece of coral." It also signifies "a smal
pearl," and a kind of spring pot-herb.1
66
NOTE 121. This sentence I insert from
the Breslau edition.
NOTE 122. Here, again, I insert a few
words from the Breslau edition, ending
with "El-Moatarr."
NOTE 123. "El-Moatarr" signifies "the
Poor," "the Indigent," "He who dares
not ask for what he needs." It is a name
assumed as the opposite of "El-As'ad," or
"the Most Fortunate." In the old ver-
sion, it is written "Motar," and rendered
66 Devoted to be sacrificed."
NOTE 124. "These two verses are by
one of the sect of the Murjiäh, or Murjis,
and one of the Sunnees (or orthodox Mus-
lims) answered them, and said, -
'If God protect him, no moisture will touch
him, and he need not care for being hand-
bound, and thrown;
But if the Lord have decreed that he shall be
drowned, he will be drowned though he be
cast upon a desert.'"
Thus my sheykh comments upon the two
verses to which this note relates. The tale
itself also shews their fallacy, by a sub-
sequent incident (of no very improbable
nature) in the history of El-As'ad.. In
their place are inserted, in the Breslau edi-
tion, with some slight variations and errors,
the verses of which a translation has been
given in a former tale, and the same ap-
pears to be the case in the manuscript from
which Galland translated.
NOTE 125. The drum and pipe are the
instruments most commonly used in Ara-
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
1109
bian countries on occasions of festivity; as
In the procession of a bride or bridegroom,
that of a boy about to be circumcised, and
that of a pilgrim approaching his home on
his return from the holy places.
NOTE 126. The burial grounds adjacent
o Arab towns generally contain a number
of dome-crowned structures erected over
traves, which often afford shelter to be-
highted travellers.
99
NOTE 127. "Bustán signifies "a gar-
len."
NOTE 128. This is said in allusion to his
ame, which signifies more, or most, for-
unate."
NOTE 129. See Note 9 to Chapter vi.
NOTE 130. In the edition of Breslau,
his story occupies a different place, com-
encing the seventh volume.
NOTE 131.
"El-Koofeh " is the city
ommonly called by European writers
Kufah" and "Cufa," situate on the west
ank of the Euphrates. It was founded in
he reign of the Khaleefeh 'Omar, and was
famous seat of Arabian learning. The
habitants of El-Koofeh were a people
ifficult to please, always ready to revolt,
nd continually complaining of their Gov-
nors.
A party of them one day urging a
>mplaint, to the Khaleefeh El-Ma-moon,
gainst one of his officers, one of them
used this person in such gross terms that
e Khaleefeh took his officer's part, and
ghly praised him for the strict justice
hich he rendered to every one. Upon
is, one of the complainants replied that
I which the Khaleefeh said was very true,
d that all the accusations which his
wnsmen had advanced against the officer
ere pure calumnies; yet, as it was neces-
ry that justice should be rendered every-
here, it was not right that the people of
-Koofeh alone should enjoy the advan-
ze of possessing such a man, while all the
her provinces of the Empire were de-
ved of him. "Cause thy people, then,
our lord," he continued, "to praise and
ss thee equally, by sending him else
iere."
NOTE 132. "Neamet-Allah " signifies
he Boon of God."
"
NOTE 133. The meaning of "Towfeek"
a causing to be prosperous, or agree-
e," &c.
"Saad" signifies "prosper-
NOTE 134.
ity," "happiness,"
NOTE 135.
64
66
good fortune."
"Noam is synonymous
with Saad." The name was changed that
it might agree with that of Neamet -Allah.
NOTE 136. In "Neamet-Allah" and
similar names, the latter word is often
dropped. In this case, the final t in the
former is changed into h.
NOTE 137. That is, each of them was
in some respects more beautiful than the
other.
NOTE 138. I here put "four" instead
of nine," as the sequel requires it.
"?
NOTE 139. "Zeyd and "'Amr" are
here used as fictitious names, in the same
manner as they are by the Arab gram-
marians.
-
NOTE 140.
Of El-Hajjáj and his Char-
acter. El-Hajjáj the son of Yoosuf Eth-
Thakafee was Governor of the Hejáz and
of the Arabian 'Erák under 'Abd-El-Melik
and his son El-Weleed, the fifth and sixth
Khaleefehs of the house of Umeiyeh, for
a space of about twenty years, until the
period of his death. which happened in the
year of the Flight 95 (A. D. 713-14). He
was highly celebrated for his eloquence
and courage, but execrated for his tyranny.
His cruelty, however, has perhaps been
exaggerated by the Shiya'ees, or Shee'ees,
to whom he rendered himself especially
odious; and I do not place entire reliance
on the correctness of the following illustra-
tions of his character, which I insert on
account of their singular nature.
In his last illness, "he ventured to con-
sult an astrologer whether the position of
the stars, that year, prognosticated the de-
mise of any person in power. To which
the astrologer replied, that prince would
shortly die, who either bore or had borne
the appellation of Kuleyb; and El-Hajjáj
confessing that his mother had in his in-
fancy been accustomed to address him by
that name (puppy, perhaps), the astrologer
rashly declared that the person whose
death was indicated could be no other than
himself. 'At least thou shalt precede me,'
said El-Hajjáj, and the unfortunate wiz-
ard was ordered to be immediately de-
spatched by the attendants. This fero-
cious tyrant, whose memory has been
indeed loaded with sufficient obloquy by
the Shiya'ees, and whom he on his part
never ceased to persecute with unsparing
IIIO
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
vengeance, expired, at the age of fifty-
four, about the twenty-fifth day of the
month of Ramadán, in the ninety-fifth
year of the Hijrah. Some time previous to
his death he complained that his bowels
were lacerated by dogs; and a roll of
flexible silk being passed down his throat,
by the physicians who attended, it was
drawn up, covered with vermin. And
though it does not appear to have rendered
his government at all more palatable, it is
recorded, probably as a proof of his bound-
less prodigality in the public expenditure,
that among the disciples of the Kur-án, he
was the first who, on one occasion, dis-
played a thousand tables for the entertain-
ment of the people; or in a single donation
disbursed a million of dirhems. — Exclu-
sive of those who perished in battle, the
amount of whom could be estimated by
Him alone who knows all things, there fell
by the arbitrary mandates of El-Hajjáj,
not less than one hundred and twenty
thousand persons. Nevertheless, in a
dream, in which he is said to have appeared
to some one a short time after his death,
he is made to declare, that, though for each
of this numerous list of the victims of his
fury, divine justice was satisfied with in-
flicting on him the punishment of a single
death, yet that for the execution of Sa'eed
alone, he was condemned to suffer seventy
times the agony of dissolution. There were,
after all, found in the different prisons of
his government, when Providence thought
fit to relieve mankind from his oppressions,
no less than thirty thousand men, and
twenty thousand women; many of these
confined in that species of prison invented
by himself, without roof; in which, alter-
nately exposed to the scorching rays of the
sun, and the vicissitudes of cold, heat, and
rain, the unhappy victims were left to
suffer under every variety of pain and
wretchedness."
NOTE 141. It is a common custom of
the religious devotees among the Muslims
to wear woollen garments.
NOTE 142. It is a custom of many Mus-
lim devotees to hang to the neck, in sev-
eral circumvolutions, a string of many
hundreds of beads. The object is either
to employ these beads in repeating certain
ejaculations in praise of God, or to make
others believe that the wearer is accus-
tomed so to employ them. - See the forty-
fourth note of the present series. A
string of a thousand beads, and the use to
which it is applied, have been mentioned
in Note 15 to Chapter iv.
-
The whole description of the costume,
manners, and expressions, of the hypocriti-
cal old woman in this tale is admirably just
It is perfectly applicable to persons who
may be seen occasionally in the streets of
Cairo in the present day, though probably
the character of many of these may be sin-
cere. The female. devotees who thus dis-
tinguish themselves are very few in com-
parison with the male. I should also add
that the conduct of Noam towards the old
woman described in this story is consistent
with that of the generality of Arab women
in similar cases. Indeed the story alto-
gether is as true a picture of Arab manners
as any of the present collection.
NOTE 143. In some Arab houses, in one
or more of the apartments, a niche is
formed or painted, in or upon one of the
walls, indicating the direction of Mekkeh.
But more commonly a prayer-carpet an-
swers the same purpose, its pattern pre-
senting the form of a niche, the point of
which is turned towards Mekkeh, so that a
visitor need not ask of his host in what
direction he is to turn his face in prayer.
NOTE 144.
These words are the com-
mencement of the seventieth verse of the
twenty-fifth chapter of the Kur-án. They
follow a denunciation against the wicked,
and Noam is supposed to know what pre-
cedes them, as well as the remainder of
the verse, which is this: "for unto them
God will change their evil works into good;
and God is ready to forgive, and merci-
ful."
NOTE 145.
By "the sheykhs" we are
here to understand the saints, or persons
who devote themselves to religious exer-
cises. And "the holy places" mentioned
in the same passage are those mosques and
other buildings containing the tombs or
cenotaphs of saints; such buildings being
frequently visited by men and women, in
the belief that the prayers there offered up
are especially efficacious. See Note 63
to Chapter iii.
--
NOTE 146. By this is meant that she
was a descendant of the Kings of El-
Koofeh; but the author was probably igno-
rant that there were no such Kings. If by
"Kings" are meant merely "Governors,"
he is still in error; for the Governors of
El-Koofeh were, from its foundation,
Muslims; and their daughters could not be
sold as slaves.
NOTE 147. On Astrological Calcula-
tions. My sheykh remarks, in a marginal
NOTES TO CHAPTER TENTH
IIII
note, that the calculation here spoken
of is founded upon the numerical values of
he letters composing the name. Thus,
Voam (in Arabic) consists of three letters,
Voon, 'Eyn, and Meem: Noon is 50; 'Eyn,
70; and Meem, 40: the sum of the three is
herefore 160: subtract from this 9 and 9,
r 12 and 12, and so on until there re-
nains either 12 or less than 12: the remain-
ler is the number of the sign of the Zodiac
hat influences the person to whom the
iame belongs: 1, being Aries; 2, Taurus;
, Gemini; and so on.
I have mentioned two other modes of
naking calculations of the same kind; but
rom the above it appears, that I should
ave stated, in explaining the former of
hose two modes, that the calculation is
ɔmetimes (and perhaps generally) founded
pon the numerical values of the letters
omposing only the name of the person
hose sign is sought, and that then the
umber of the sign is obtained in the
anner above described. The reader has
een that two different results may be ob-
ained according to my sheykh's directions.
le does not state whether it is the general
ractice to subtract 9 or 12 from the num-
er of the name.
NOTE 148. "O brother of the Persians"
vá akhà-l-Furs) is synonymous with "O
ersian." "O brother of the Arabs is a
ommon expression used in addressing an
rab.
NOTE 149. Arab shopkeepers very often
ake their calculations by writing on the
ilm of the hand.
NOTE 150. "Soadà" and "Juml" are
ctitious names of women. They are
osen for the sake of a play upon words,
hich I could not preserve in the trans-
tion.
-
NOTE 151.
- On the Koofee Character.
he Koofee character (generally called by
uropean writers "Cufic ") was so termed
om the city of El-Koofeh, in which with-
it doubt, it originated, and which was
unded in the seventeenth year of the
ight. Some papyri lately discovered in
ypt shew that the character employed
the Arabs of the Hejáz before this dif-
red little from that which superseded the
Dofee, and which has generally been em-
oyed by the Arabs to the present day.
it the character, as well as the language
alled Hemyeree, or Himyaritic,) used in
-Yemen, and probably in several other
parts of Arabia, before the time of the
Prophet, is unknown. My learned friend
M. Fulgence Fresnel has discovered a lan-
guage still spoken in some parts of El-
Yemen, a dialect of the ancient Hemyeree;
and it may be hoped that his discovery will
be productive of important results, and be
of value in biblical literature.
A flexuous Koofee character, an orna-
mental style which came into use in the
fourth century of the Flight, has been
erroneously called, by many European
writers, the Carmatic character, and sup-
posed to have been invented by the nation
or people called the Karmatees. This mis-
take seems to have originated in a misin-
terpretation of the word "karmatah,"
which is defined in the Kámoos as signify-
ing "a diminutive style of writing and a
close [or short] step [in walking]."
the
NOTE 152. It is related in the Soorat
Yoosuf (the twelfth chapter of
Kur-án), that Jacob's eyes became white
with mourning for Joseph; but that the
latter, when he had discovered himself to
his brethren in Egypt, gave to them his
inner garment, desiring them to throw it
on his father's face; and when this was
done, Jacob recovered his eyesight.—
This garment, we are told in the Commen-
tary of the Jeláleyn, "was the shirt of
Ibraheem, which he wore when he was
thrown into the fire.
It was on his
[Yoosuf's] neck in the well; and it was
from Paradise. Jibreel or [Gabriel]
ordered him to send it, and said that in it
was its odour, [i. e. the odour of Paradise,]
and it should not be thrown on any one
afflicted [with a disease] but he should be
restored to health."
NOTE 153. For the insertion of the
words enclosed betwen crotchets in this
sentence, I have the authority of my
sheykh.
NOTE 154. See Note 65 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 155. In my original it is here
added, "and her name was Noam," which
would explain what the Khaleefeh's sister
wished as yet to conceal.
NOTE 156. Marjáneh, we may suppose,
came thither with him.
NOTE 157. The words " And God is all-
knowing are added by the narrator to
imply that the story may perhaps be not
entirely true!
1112
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
NOTE 1. This story is in the edition of
Breslau, as well as in that of Cairo, from
which I translate it. In the former, it
occupies the next place to the story of
Neameh and Noam. It appears to be com-
prised also in the MS. of Von Hammer;
but with a title not exactly the same; for
in a list of the contents of his MS., pre-
fixed to Trébutien's "Contes Inédits des
Mille et une Nuits," I find, in the place
corresponding with that in which the story
of 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát occurs in
the Cairo edition, a tale entitled "Aladdin
le père des Envieux," with the words
"Traduit par Caussin" added. Caussin's
translation of this story, I believe, forms
part of an edition of which I have in vain
endeavoured to procure a copy, published
in Paris, by Lenormant, in 1806.
In presenting the story of 'Alá-ed-Deen
Abu-sh-Shámát to the English reader, I
may give my opinion that it is a purely
Arab tale, of Egyptian character, either
wholly composed, or in some parts altered,
since the conquest of Egypt by the Turkish
Sultán Seleem; faithfully describing Arab
manners and customs, as existing during the
last three or four centuries.
NOTE 2. That Cairo is here meant, as
usual, by "Misr" (vulg. "Masr "), is
proved afterwards, towards the close of the
story, by the mention of a street.
NOTE 3.
"Sháh-Bandar " is a title given
to the chief or general syndic, of the mer-
chants of Cairo; but in some parts of the
East it is applied to the receiver-general of
duties or tribute.
NOTE 4. It is a duty of the Muslim to
perform a lustration of the whole person
before the congregational prayers of Friday.
0
a
NOTE 5. To utter an ejaculation of this
kind on looking at his face in a glass is a
usual custom of a Muslim; but I believe it
is more common to say in this case,
God, bless our lord Mohammad!"
person being often fearful even of the in-
fluence of his own admiring glance; for
these words are generally used to counter-
act the influence of the evil eye, which is
always dreaded when a look of admiration
is cast. When a person is about to leave
the bath, the barber's glass is presented to
him, and upon it he places the money that
he has to pay.
-
NOTE 6. The allusion here is to Death
or the Angel of Death.
NOTE 7. This custom prevails in th
present day among the women. They say
to the infant, "In the name of the Prophe-
and of his cousin (the son of his paterna
uncle) 'Alee!" The object is, to preserve
the child from the influence of the Jinn.
NOTE 8. This, also, is done with the
view of preventing any mischief from the
Jinn. The "tekbeer" is the exclamation
of "God is most great!" and the "adán,’
or adhán," the call to prayer. See Note
24 to Chapter iv.
66
In
NOTE 9.
On the Customs observed on
the Seventh Day after the Birth of a Child.
The messes which are distributed after the
birth of a child I have described in my
work on the Modern Egyptians, vol. ii.
ch. xiv. They are generally prepared on
the fourth or fifth day after the birth.
the work above mentioned, in the same
chapter, I have described the customs ob-
served on the seventh day, and I must
here repeat, nearly in the same words, what
I have there said on this subject. In the
families of the higher classes, professional
female singers are hired to entertain a
party of ladies, friends of the infant's
mother, who visit her on this occasion, in
the hareem; or a concert of instrumental
music, or a recitation of the whole of the
Kur-án, is performed below by men. The
mother, attended by the midwife, being
seated on a chair which is the property of
the latter, the child is brought, wrapped in
a handsome shawl, or something costly;
and, to accustom it to noise, that it may
not be frightened afterwards by the music,
and other sounds of mirth, one of the
women takes a brass mortar, and strikes it
repeatedly with the pestle, as if pounding.
After this, the child is put into a sieve, and
shaken; it being supposed that this opera-
tion is beneficial to its stomach. Next, it
is carried through all the apartments of the
hareem, accompanied by several women or
girls; each of whom bears a number of
wax candles, sometimes of various colours,
cut in two, lighted, and stuck into small
lumps of paste of hennà, upon a small
round tray. At the same time, the midwife,
or another female, sprinkles, upon the floor
of each room, a mixture of salt with seed of
the fennel-flower, or salt alone, which has
been placed during the preceding night at
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1113
he infant's head: saying, as she does this,
The salt be in the eye of the person who
oth not bless the Prophet!" or "The foul
alt be in the eye of the envier!" This
eremony of the sprinkling of salt is con-
dered a preservative, for the child and
other, from the evil eye; and each person
resent should say, " O God, bless our lord
Iohammad!" The child, wrapped up,
ad placed on a fine mattress, which is
>metimes laid on a silver tray, is shewn
> each of the women present, who looks at
is face, says, "O God, bless our lord Mo-
ammad! God give thee long life!" &c.,
id usually puts an embroidered handker-
ief, with a gold coin (if pretty or old the
ore esteemed) tied up in one of the
orners, on the child's head, or by its side.
his giving of handkerchiefs and gold is
onsidered as imposing a debt, to be repaid
y the mother, if the donor should give her
e same occasion; or as the discharge of a
ebt for a similar offering. The coins are
nerally used, for some years, to decorate
te head-dress of the child. After these
resents for the child, others are given for
e midwife. During the night before the
venth-day's festivity, a water-bottle full
water (a dórak in the case of a boy,
id a kulleh in that of a girl), with an em-
oidered handkerchief tied round the neck,
placed at the child's head while it
eps. This, with the water it contains,
e
a
midwife takes, and puts upon
ay and presents it to each of the women,
ho put presents of money for her
to the tray. In the evening, the hus-
nd generally entertains a party of his
iends.
NOTE 10. That is, Where is the new-
rn child, which is God's deposite? For
belongeth to God, who hath intrusted
m to us; and when He desireth to take
m, He taketh him by death. The poet
ith,-
--
ealth and families are nought but deposites,
and a day must come when deposites shall
be restored.
NOTE II. The daughter is named by her
other; and the son, by his father.
NOTE 12. "'Alá-ed-Deen" signifies "the
obility of the Religion; " and "Abu-sh-
ámát," Having Moles " (literally,
Father of the Moles "). The former is
anged by the vulgar into "'Aláy-ed-
en,"
and is generally written by us
Aladdin." The custom of deriving a
me from an omen is still general among
? Bedawees.
NOTE 13. Many a house in Cairo has a
trap-door in some apartment (often in a
cupboard), opening into a secret chamber,
or into a passage by which the tenant may
make his escape in any case of danger.
NOTE 14. When a youth has attained to
years of discretion, and begun to say his
prayers and to acquit himself of other
religious duties, he is believed to be less
obnoxious to the influence of the eye: still
more so, when his beard is grown; for
then he is less likely to be admired, or
envied, or coveted. Many Arabs preserve
their children from the public gaze with a
care almost as ridiculous as that of which
'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát is said to
have been the object. On this subject I
have made some remarks in Note 24 to
Chapter iv.
NOTE 15. When a person admires a
child or any other object, he should say,
"In the name of Allah!" or utter some
similar words, as "Má sháa-lláh!" (ex-
plained in Note 81 in this series). Such
expressions are believed to prevent and to
counteract the influence of the eye.
NOTE 16. These are metaphorical ex-
pressions, alluding to the careful manner
in which the boy had been reared, and to
his gentility.
NOTE 17. See Note 20 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 18. Since Egypt has been under
the dominion of foreign princes, the great
officers of the state have generally been,
almost exclusively, foreigners. On this
account, the Sháh-Bandar of the merchants
is here called "Sultán of the Sons of the
Arabs," being the chief man of substance
among them. The term "'Arab is now
given only to the Bedawees, or Arabs of
the desert: the townspeople and villagers
call themselves "Owlád el-'Arab," or " Sons
of the Arabs."
NOTE 19. This is a saying of the
Prophet.
NOTE 20. The "Nakeeb" of a sook, or
market, is an officer under its Sheykh, or
syndic. The Sháh-Bandar, being chief of
all the merchants, was of course chief of
the market in which he had his shop.
NOTE 21.
It is customary to recite the
Fátehah (or opening chapter of the
Kur-án) on making for the first time, and
on renewing, a profession of submission to
1114
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the authority of another, as well as in con-
cluding a bargain, and on various other
occasions.
NOTE 22. "Simsim," here used as a sur-
name, is the name of the grain which we
call sesame.
66
NOTE 23. 'Aseedeh is a kind of
custard, made with boiling water, flour,
clarified butter, and honey.
NOTE 24. See Note 16 to Chapter x.
NOTE 25. The word which I render
"pavilion is "kasr." This word is used
to signify a palace; a mansion; and a
pavilion (or a piece of building, or set of
apartments, isolated, or only connected
with another piece of building on one side;
or an upper room, generally isolated, or
nearly so): the same as the Turkish
"kyúshk," generally called by us kiosk
and "kiosque." The term "pavilion,"
when used in this work, except when it
signifies a large tent," may be understood
in either of the senses in which it is ex-
plained above.
66
""
NOTE 26. Among the Arabs, it is very
seldom that a beardless youth, in genteel
society, can be persuaded to eat with men,
unless with those who are much inferior
to him in rank. That this is a result of an
education which inculcates an affectionate
respect for elders, and superiors in station,
is evident to every person familiar with
Muslim society; for he will often hear a
servant address his master by the appella-
tion of father. In the tale upon which I
am commenting, a servant of 'Alá-ed-Deen
becomes his adopted father. 'Alá-ed-Deen
disobeys him on one occasion; but his do-
ing so is an exception to a general rule.
The kind of respect shewn by Muslims to
parents and other elders, and to masters,
excited my high admiration during my
residence among the Arabs. This respect
of servants for masters is attributable in a
great measure to the occasional presents
which the former receive from the latter.
Mr. Urquhart has well observed, "The
habit of irregular remuneration, in lieu of
fixed, invariable, and actionable wages,
produces a difference of mental habits, as
regards servants and masters, that I am
sure is not to be understood through de-
scription; and yet every day you see Euro-
peans, those men who affect such compre-
hensive views and such powers of logic,
reviling the habit of giving presents, not
perceiving that this practice leads to the
preservation of those interesting domestic
relations which I conceive to be the greatest
lesson, political and moral, that is presented
to us by the Eastern world." The Muslim
servant generally feels far greater respect
for his master, though he often shews less
than the European.
NOTE 27. Here, in the original, is in-
troduced a character of a disgusting de-
scription, and unnecessary to the carrying
on of the story.
NOTE 28. The appellation of " ’Akkám ”
is here applied to a person who ties and
loads camels and other beasts of burden.
It is also often applied to one who has
the charge of the tents and baggage.
NOTE 29. The meaning is, This is not
my time; for I am grown old.
66
NOTE 30.
"Mukaddam" signifies one
placed before, or over, others; a superior,
chief, or overseer."
NOTE 31. The kind of "covering " here
mentioned is placed over the oblong monu-
ment that is erected over the grave of a
saint; and is like the covering of the
Kaabeh, at Mekkeh. 'Abd-El-Kádir El-
Geelánee was a very famous saint, and
founder of a celebrated order of Dar-
weeshes called the Kádireeyeh, who died at
Baghdad, in the year of the Flight 561
(A. D. 1165-6). The Shah-Bandar is said
to have bought a covering for him because
his son was going to Baghdad, where this
saint is buried; and by carrying with him
this offering, he might hope to obtain the
saint's favour and intercession. - A new
covering for the Kaabeh is sent from Cairo
every year with the great caravan of
pilgrims: it is carried in procession through
that city, and is believed to be one of the
chief means of procuring safety to the at-
tendants during their arduous and dan-
gerous journey. The reader needs not to
be informed that camels are the beasts
generally employed in Arabian countries to
carry the baggage on long journeys: but
mules are preferred by the rich,, when
camels are not necessary.
NOTE 32. The festival here alluded to is
similar to those periodical festivals which
I have described in Note 63 to Chapter iii.,
and further illustrated by Note 37 to
Chapter viii.
NOTE 33. The "Ráfidees" are the Mo-
hammadan sect of the Shiya'ees,
or
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1115
Shee'ees; the followers of 'Alee; who are
regarded by the Sunnees as heretics. The
principal point wherein they differ from the
Sunnees is their denying the right of the
irst three Khaleefehs, Aboo-Bekr, 'Omar,
ind 'Othmán; asserting the only legiti-
nate successors of the Prophet to be 'Alee
and his descendants, called by them their
máms; the twelfth and last of whom (El-
Mahdee) they believe to be still living,
hough invisible. The Shiya'ee faith be-
ame the national religion of Persia about
he commencement of the sixteenth cen-
ury of our era, under the Sháh Ismá'eel,
he founder of the Safee Dynasty; and
ince that period (a period with which the
haracter of the story of 'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-
h-Shámát appears best to agree), the adja-
ent territories of Sunnee princes and
overnors have always been coveted, and
often invaded, by the Ráfidees. The first
var between the 'Osmánlee Sunnees under
he Sultán Seleem, and the Persian Shi-
a'ees under the Sháh above mentioned,
ccasioned the conquest of Syria and Egypt
y the former monarch; for though the
nhabitants of these countries were Sun-
ees, they were in alliance with the Sháh
smá'eel.
NOTE 34. A Sakkà is a water-carrier, or
person who has the charge of supplying
vater.
"9
NOTE 35. "O thy blessing! " is an in-
ocation for supernatural aid, which is
enerally signified by the word "blessing
hen it is employed with reference to a
int. The hand afterwards mentioned is
> be understood as that of Seyyidee 'Abd-
1-Kádir, or as the result of a miracle
erformed by him.
NOTE 36. This prayer is addressed not
› Seyyidee 'Abd-El-Kádir, but to God.
NOTE 37. The Seyyideh Nefeeseh, who was
ne great-granddaughter of the Imám El-
lasan, was a very celebrated saint, and
any miracles are related to have been
erformed by her. Her tomb, which is
reatly venerated, is in a mosque in a
outhern suburb of Cairo.
NOTE 38. The meaning is, Thou wast
Iways swearing by divorce, as though it
ere thy mus-haf (or copy of the Kur-án)
1 which thou wast constantly reading.
NOTE 39. "El-'Oodeeyeh" is derived
om "'ood," which signifies "wood," and
articularly "aloes-wood," and also a
64
""
lute," &c. As Zubeydeh was very skilful in
playing on the lute, I think that
"El-
'Oodeeyeh here signifies "the Lute-
player." My sheykh has remarked, in a
marginal note, "Probably she was so called
because her odour was sweet, like that of
aloes-wood; " but I find the term "'oodee-
yeh" used, to signify "a female lute-
player" in the Breslau edition of the
Thousand and One Nights (for instance, in
vol. vii. p. 205,) instead of the more
proper term " 'Owwȧdeh."
66
NOTE 40. I have before mentioned that
when a Muslim has divorced his wife
three times, or by a triple divorce ex-
pressed in one sentence, he cannot take her
again, unless by her own consent and by
a new contract, and after another man has
consummated a marriage with her and
divorced her. When a man is employed
to do this, he is called a mustahall" or
"mustahill," or a "mohallil: " but such a
proceeding is regarded by all respectable
persons as disgraceful, and is clearly con-
trary to the spirit of the law, which has
ordained this consequence of a third or
triple divorce as a check upon the husband,
and as an indulgence to the wife. As I
am not desirous of expatiating here on this
subject, if any reader require further in-
formation respecting it, I beg to refer him
to my work on the Modern Egyptians, vol.
i. ch. vi. I have there mentioned a plan
which is sometimes pursued to defeat the
mustahall if he refuses to divorce. The
wife also may withhold her consent to a
reunion with her former husband, unless
she is not of age, which we must under-
stand to have been Zubeydeh's case. A girl
who is not of age may be married by her
father or other lawful guardian to whom he
pleases.
NOTE 41. This impudent avowal of the
design is contrary to the law; but there
are doubtless Kádees who would listen to
such a proposition. The ten thousand
pieces of gold which 'Alá-ed-Deen was re-
quired to pay in case of his not divorcing,
we are to understand as constituting that
portion of the dowry which is usually paid
before concluding the marriage-contract;
for the remainder is not paid but on the
occasion of a divorce, or from the prop-
erty which the husband leaves at his death.
But if 'Alá-ed-Deen divorced his wife at
the time promised, no dowry was to be
required of him.
NOTE 42. The Prophet denied the com-
munication of diseases from one person
1116
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to another; but said, "Run from the per-
son afflicted with elephantiasis as you
would from a tiger: " yet he himself took
hold of the hand of a person who had that
disease, and put it into a dish out of which
he was eating, and said, "I depend upon
God." On this subject see Note 5 to
Chapter i.
NOTE 43. This is the thirty-sixth Chap-
ter of the Kur-án. It is one which is very
frequently recited.
NOTE 44. By "the family of Dáood"
is meant Dáood (or David) himself, agree-
ably with a common form of speech. On
David's recitation of the Psalms, see Note
18 to Chapter i.
NOTE 45. This expression, according to
my sheykh, alludes to the appearance of
the veins in the midst of the wrist, divid-
ing it as the spine does the back.
NOTE 46. The raven is regarded as an
omen of separation.
NOTE 47. In the original, "nusf fad-
dah." The same coin is also called simply
"nusf," and vulgarly "nuss." See Note
17 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 48. The "Shahids" of a Kádee's
court are officers whose business is to hear
and write the statements of the cases to be
submitted for judgment. The same term
is also applied to witnesses.
NOTE 49.
"Efendee" is a Turkish title
given to judges, ministers of religion,
learned men, writers, and others. It is
here improperly applied to the Kádee of
an Arabian city at a period when that city
had not become subject to Turkish
dominion.
NOTE 50. In the original, the chords are
said to have called out, O Dáood! - See
above, Note 44.
NOTE 51. It is a common custom of
Arab musicians to commence a piece slowly,
and afterwards, as if becoming excited, to
perform with a rapid measure. The word
which I have rendered "the more rapid
part" (agreeably with an explanation
given by my sheykh) also signifies
trilling or "quavering."
66
NOTE 52. By the term "lyric songs I
render the Arabic word muweshshahát,"
plural of "muweshshah." This word is
used, it appears, by the Persians, to signify
an acrostic; but I have heard, and possess
copies of, manv Arabic poems so entitled,
none of which is of this character; they are
poems in stanzas; all the stanzas of the
same muweshshah agreeing in the last
rhyme, or the last two or more rhymes. In
many instances, all the stanzas of the same
poem end with two pairs of hemistichs
rhyming alternately; the preceding hemi-
stichs of each stanza also rhyming alter-
nately, but the rhymes of these being dif-
ferent in different stanzas. This kind of
poem is generally sung.
NOTE 53. Aboo-Nuwás was a cele-
brated poet and wit, who stood high in the
favour of Hároon Er-Rasheed. He was
surnamed "Aboo-Nuwás" from his having
two long locks of hair which hung down
upon his shoulders. He died (according
to Abu-l-Fidà) in the year of the Flight
195, aged fifty-nine years.
NOTE 54. So in the Breslau edition, both
here and where the dowry is next men-
tioned. In the Cairo edition, in both cases,
fifty thousand.
(6
NOTE 55. "Seleem " (generally writ-
ten by European authors "Selim ") signi-
fies "sound," "safe," entire," &c. The
inappropriate style of this letter seems to
be intentional.
NOTE 56. Until he had paid that por-
tion of the dowry which he had agreed to
give in case of his refusing to divorce, his
marriage was not lawful.
NOTE 57. It often happens in Cairo (as
my sheykh mentions in a marginal note),
that when a person arrives from a journey,
his friends say to him, "Make an enter-
tainment for us as a gratuity for thy
safety" (haláwet es-selámeh): so also
when a person recovers from a sickness,
and on other occasions. I was often re-
quired there to comply with this custom.
NOTE 58. What I have said in the fif-
tieth note of the present series applies also
to this passage.
""
NOTE 59. 66
'May thy head long strive
(or, literally, May thy head [long] live
with respect to, or in comparison of,)
such-a-one! is a common form of speech
used in announcing a person's death; for,
in communicating any bad news, it is a
general custom among the Arabs to greet
the individual addressed with some kind
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1117
66
of salutation. It is meant that the person
here mentioned was one of the Khaleefeh's
appointed boon-companions. I use the
term 'boon-companion " for the Arabic
'nedeem," which properly signifies "a cup-
companion," but is employed in a more
extended sense, applied to one who is a
regular associate on occasions of convivi-
lity or diversion; generally a poet, wit,
nusician, or any other who is an amusing
companion, or a favourite.
NOTE 60. "Raees es-Sitteen" signifies
Chief of the Sixty; " and I believe it is
mproperly used here as the title of some
great officer of the state. In the Breslau
dition we find, in its place, a title which
ppears to me still more improper, namely,
Básh es-Sitteen Sultán," or "Chief of
he Sixty Sultáns; " and the palaces of the
ixty Sultáns are afterwards mentioned.
Raees es-Sitteen seems to be of similar
mport to "Emeer 'Asharah," "Emeer
Miah," &c., which we meet with in the
istories of the Memlook Sultáns, signifying
Emeer of Ten Memlooks,"
of a
Hundred Memlooks," &c.; the chief of
ired soldiers being commonly called
Mukaddam."
17
66
NOTE 61. Shaking the handkerchief is
common signal for the dispersion of an
ssembly.
NOTE 62. The poet calls the bier "curv-
ng" (literally "humpbacked ") "in allu-
ion to the bier of the Arabs [i. e. of the
Bedawees]; for they used to carry the dead
pon cords interwoven between two poles,
o that the corpse lay depressed within
hem."
NOTE 63. The Khaleefeh's making this
notion to welcome 'Alá-ed-Deen was a
roof of most extraordinary condescension.
NOTE 64. See Note 21 to Chapter vii.
NOTE 65. The kind of litter here men-
ioned is the takhtrawán, described in
Note 8 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 66. From this we must infer, that
when 'Alá-ed-Deen heard Koot-el-Kuloob
erform on the lute in the Khaleefeh's
alace, she was concealed from him by a
urtain, or a screen of lattice-work, in
ccordance with usual custom.
a
NOTE 67. "Khátoon," here used as
roper name, is a Persian and Turkish
word, signifying "a lady" and "a
natron."
NOTE 68. " Habazlam" and "Bazázah
are, I believe, words of no meaning; but
chosen for the uncouthness of their sound,
as composing a suitable name for an un-
couth person.
NOTE 69. This is a metaphorical ex-
pression, signifying the rushing headlong
into peril.
NOTE 70. Yásemeen," or "yásimeen,"
signifies "jasmine."
NOTE 71. This is explained by the note
immediately preceding.
NOTE 72.
"He would steal the kohl
from the eye " is a phrase often used to
denote wonderful expertness in thieving.
See Note 34 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 73. See Note 39 to Chapter vi.
-
NOTE 74. On the oath of divorce, see
Note 48 to Chapter viii., Note 40 in the
present series, and Note 39 to Chapter iv.
NOTE 75. This was done in order to
fulfil the Khaleefeh's oath. Arabs often
have recourse to shifts of this kind in
similar cases.
NOTE 76. Respecting benj, see Note 46
to Chapter ii. The following remarks by
the celebrated Von Hammer, who regards
the benj as hyoscyamus (or henbane),
should have been there added. "Bendj,'
the plural of which in Coptic is 'nibendj,'
is without doubt the same plant as the
'nepenthe,' which has hitherto so much
perplexed the commentators of Homer.
Helen evidently brought the nepenthe from
Egypt, and bendj is there still reputed to
possess all the wonderful qualities which
Homer attributes to it."
NOTE 77. The "durká'ah" is the de-
pressed portion of the paved floor. See
Note 12 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 78. I do not remember to have
found this custom mentioned in any other
Arabic work; but Mr. Salamé, whom I
have consulted on the subject, has informed
me of a similar custom among the Turks.
The billets of the tribute exacted from un-
believers have occasionally been of red
paper, and the issuing of these has spread
consternation among the tributaries; red
being the colour significant of anger, as
white and black (or blue) are, respectively,
the colours appropriated to joy and mourn-
1118
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ing. But red, among the Arabs, was cer-
tainly not always indicative of anger; for
Arabs at carousals used to wear dresses of
this colour, and of yellow, and green: and
red dresses are very commonly worn by
them. Their princes, however, may have
been accustomed to exhibit the striking
and dramatic spectacle described by our
author; which, I conceive, may have been
more effective than any words could be.
NOTE 79. In the description of this rod
or staff in the Cairo edition, there is an
error: I therefore follow the edition of
Breslau. I suppose this kind of rod to have
been employed for the purpose of inducing
a belief that it possessed some magical
property.
66
NOTE 80. I have inserted the word
'surnamed," as the Khaleefeh is after-
wards said to have surnamed 'Alá-ed-Deen
"the Trusty and Faithful."
NOTE 81. The words which I render
"Wonderful is Allah's will!" (Má sháa-
lláh!) are sometimes used to signify liter-
ally "What God hath willed: " in other
cases, as in the present instance, "What
hath God willed! i. e. "How wonderful
is the event that God hath brought to
pass!
""
66
NOTE 82. "Ez-Zeebak" is a surname,
or nickname, signifying quicksilver."
Many traditional stories of extraordinary
feats said to have been performed by 'Alee
Ez-Zeebak are related in Cairo. I believe
that there really was a famous thief so
named in that city; but have met with no
authentic record of him stating the age in
which he lived.
NOTE 83. "It is the most received
opinion among the Mohammadans that the
son whom Abraham offered was Ismael,
and not Isaac: Ismael being his only son
at that time: for the promise of Isaac's
birth is mentioned lower [in the Kur-án],
as subsequent in time to this transaction.
They also allege the testimony of their
prophet, who is reported to have said, 'I
am the son of the two who were offered
in sacrifice;' meaning his great ancestor,
Ismael, and his own father, 'Abd-Allah:
for 'Abd-El-Muttalib had made a vow,
that if God would permit him to find out
and open the well Zemzem, and should
give him ten sons, he would sacrifice one
of them; accordingly, when he had ob-
tained his desire in both respects, he cast
lots on his sons, and the lot falling on
'Abd-Allah, he redeemed him by offering
an hundred camels, which was therefore
ordered to be the price of a man's blood in
the Sunneh."
NOTE 84. This expression is to be under-
stood as metaphorical; for there is no city
to which, in the literal sense, it is more
inapplicable than Alexandria, which is en-
compassed by sea and desert.
NOTE 85. It is here proper to mention
that Ahmad Ed-Denef, in other stories of
the Thousand and One Nights, is said to
have been an iniquitous character; and so
is Hasan Shoomán.
NOTE 86. A small village, I believe, now
occupies the site of the city of Ayás (sup-
posed to be that of the ancient Egæ), on
the shore of the Gulf of Iskenderoon.
NOTE 87. The coin is not specified here,
and I cannot attempt to supply the omis-
sion, the property being SO vaguely
described.
So it
NOTE 88. The Arabic term "sukatee "
I render "a dealer in second-hand goods."
My sheykh remarks, in a marginal note,
that this term is here improperly applied;
and that it denotes one who sells the
pluck and the feet, &c., of animals.
generally does; but it has another applica-
tion in Egypt; and it is singular that I
should be acquainted with a sense in which
it is there employed, and that a learned
native of that country should not. In in-
quiring for a sprinkling-bottle and per-
fuming-vessel of brass or bronze and of old
workmanship, I was told that I should
apply for them to a sukatee; and being
directed to a person so called, I found
that he dealt in a variety of old and
damaged articles, chiefly of metal, and
mostly purchased at sales of old furniture,
&c. Professor Habicht, in the seventh
volume of the Breslau edition of the Thou-
sand and One Nights, page 5 of the Glos-
sary, explains this term in a similar manner.
NOTE 89. That a corpse should remain
hanging during the period required to go
from Baghdad to Alexandria and to return,
is too improbable. The remains of a person
who has been executed are generally left
exposed for three days, and then interred.
NOTE 90. By "the two sheykhs" are
meant Aboo-Bekr and 'Omar, the first two
Khaleefehs. Many of the Ráfidees, or
Shiya'ees, it is said, write the names of the
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1119
first two Khaleefehs, or only the name of
'Omar, whom they especially hate, upon
the upper surface of the soles of their
shoes, and upon their heels, to be habitu-
ally trodden upon, by way of shewing con-
tempt. See above, Note 33.
NOTE 91.
" is a Turkish word,
"Aslán
signifying a lion."
66
NOTE 92. This might convey, to some
readers, a wrong notion; for the Ráfidees
do call themselves Muslims, though the
Sunnees often deny them to be so. The
passage reminds me of an anecdote related
by Burckhardt. A Bedawee one day pre-
sented himself before Mohammad 'Alee,
during his war with the Wahhábees, "kissed
his beard, and exclaimed, 'I have aban-
doned the religion of the Muslims' (or
'True Believers,' as the Wahhábees style
themselves); 'I have adopted the religion
of the heretics' (so the Wahhábees entitle
all those Mohammadans who are not of
their own creed); 'I have adopted the re-
ligion of Mohammad 'Alee.' This unin-
tended blunder caused a general laugh; and
the Páshá answered through his interpreter
(for he but imperfectly understood Arabic),
'I hope you will always be a stanch
heretic.'
999
NOTE 93. He rubbed the bead to try if
it were a talisman, and if this process
would procure the presence of some obedi-
ent Jinnee; for in this manner the virtues
of a talisman are generally proved.
NOTE 94. That is, Probably it is a
stone naturally variegated or marked.
NOTE 95. "Consul " (pronounced by
the Arabs" Kunsul ") is a title often given
n Egypt, not merely to those to whom it
justly belongs, but also to any wealthy
Frank.
NOTE 96. The Arabic phrase thus ren-
dered literally signifies "May God open,"
assist." It is commonly used by
Arab shopkeepers in the present day.
Or
16
NOTE 97. This incident deserves espe-
cial remark. What 'Alá-ed-Deen is here
described to have done is an act very com-
Inon with Arab shopkeepers, and is a proof
of their general good faith. When an Arab
quits his shop intending to return to it
the same day, he usually hangs a net before
:he front..
NOTE 98. The poles here mentioned are
those which are used in shoving off a small
vessel from the shore, or from a bank on
which it has run, in propelling it in a calm
in shallow water, and also in sounding.
NOTE 99. The Arabic words "báb
keytoon," which I render a door opening
upon the sea," my sheykh explains as
applied to a door which opens upon a river,
as the doors opening upon the canal in
Cairo.
NOTE 100. Cannons are mentioned in
several places in the Thousand and One
Nights; but perhaps by copyists.
NOTE 101. See Note 10 to Chapter v.
NOTE 102. The mineeneh" is a kind
of small biscuit or cracknel made of fine
wheat-flour with a little clarified butter.
NOTE 103. The "weybeh" is the sixth
part of the ardebb; consequently nearly
equivalent to six English gallons and two-
thirds.
NOTE 104. "Hosn-Maryam" (literally
"the Beauty of Maryam ") is here used to
signify "Beautiful as Maryam," i. e.
as the Virgin Mary."
66
(6
""
NOTE 105.
"Yoohannà " is the Arabic
Christian name corresponding to John:
the corresponding Muslim name
"Yahyà."
is
NOTE 106. ""On" is used as synony-
mous with "Márid," an appellation already
explained as applied to an evil Jinnee of
the most powerful class.
66
NOTE 107. In the original, sureatu,"
which literally signifies "I was pros-
trated," particularly "by an epileptic fit."
My sheykh explains it by the words " ilte-
bestu bi-l-jinneeyi," or "I was possessed
by the Jinnee; "the belief that epilepsy
is thus occasioned generally prevailing
among the Arabs. A person under the in-
fluence of this malady they term
"mel-
boos," or "possessed."
NOTE 108. See the last paragraph of
Note 5 to Chapter i.
NOTE 109.
I have remarked before, that
we must suppose Zubeydeh to have been
under age when 'Alá-ed-Deen married her;
consequently, at the time of her reunion
with him, we need not infer that her age
1120
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
was much more than thirty years: for
some Arab girls are married at the age of
ten years; and we may imagine Zubey-
deh to have been eleven or twelve years
old at the time of her second marriage;
yet in person, notwithstanding, nearly a
woman.
NOTE 110. The marriage of a Muslim
with a Christian woman is not absolutely
forbidden; but it is generally disapproved.
66
NOTE III. The sum called a purse
in Egypt is five hundred Egyptian piasters,
now nearly equivalent to five pounds
sterling.
―
NOTE 112. "The Furkán" is an appel-
lation of the Kur-án, and sometimes ap-
plied to "other books of scripture," "from
the verb 'faraka,' 'to divide' or 'dis-
tinguish;' not, as the Mohammadan
doctors say, because those books are
divided into chapters or sections, or to
distinguish between good and evil; but in
the same notion that the Jews use the
word Perek,' or 'Pirka,' from the same
root, to denote a section or portion of
scripture." The Muslims believe that the
copies of the Pentateuch, Psalms, and
Gospels, now existing, have been corrupted,
and that the passages in them wherein Mo-
hammad is foretold have been altered or
expunged: yet they pretend to trace a
prophecy of him in the modern copies of
the Gospel of St. John, reading, instead of
"Paraclete," Periclyte," which is similar
in signification to Mohammad" and
"Ahmad," both of which are names of the
Arabian Prophet; the former of these two
names signifying "greatly praised;
"the
latter, "more or most laudable."- Here it
is worthy of remark, that the name of
Mohammad, pronounced as Europeans gen-
erally write it, with an "e" instead of an
"a" in the last syllable, might be under-
stood by an Arab in an active instead of
a passive sense, as meaning "greatly
praising."
66
66
NOTE 113. Shahrazád, in relating this
story, says, "the remote will die," instead
of "thou wilt die," as the latter expression
might seem to be intended as a prophecy
of the death of the King Shahriyár, whom
she is addressing. See Note 8 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 114. A marriage without wit-
nesses in this case was perfectly lawful.
NOTE 115. Thrones, carpets, &c., of
this kind are mentioned in several Eastern
tales, the authors of which may have all
taken the idea from the tradition of Solo-
mon's mode of travelling through the air.
It is said "that he had a carpet of green
silk, on which his throne was placed,
being of a prodigious length and breadth,
and sufficient for all his forces to stand
on, the men placing themselves on his
right hand, and the spirits [or Jinn] on his
left; and that when all were in order, the
wind, at his command, took up the carpet,
and transported it, with all that were upon
it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds
at the same time flying over their heads,
and forming a kind of canopy, to shade
them from the sun."
NOTE 116. The "Darb-el-Asfar" is a
street in the Jemáleeyeh, in the northern
part of Cairo.
NOTE 117. Here it becomes necessary to
mention, that many anecdotes are inserted
among the longer stories of the Thousand
and One Nights. They are chiefly, I believe,
extracted from other works, and many are
historical; but most of them are very in-
ferior in interest to the longer stories; and,
from a hasty perusal of them, I found that
it would be advisable to omit, in my trans-
lation, the greater number; introducing
the rest in their proper places, but append-
ing them to my notes. A few of these
anecdotes have been already given from
other sources; for at the time of my in-
serting them, I had not received from
Cairo the whole of the copy from which
my translation is made, and had no means
of knowing that it contained those anec-
dotes. Their places in the original will be
mentioned as they occur in order. As they
rest on better authority than that of the
Thousand and One Nights, and illustrate
the notes in which they are inserted, it has
been thought best to retain them in their
present form in this edition,
Almost the whole of that portion of the
Thousand and One Nights which is wanting
in Galland's version was translated into
French by the late Baron Von Hammer
Purgstall; and from his manuscript French
version, a German translation was made
by Professor Zinserling; but the latter
alone was published; the former being
afterwards most unfortunately lost by a
person to whose care it was intrusted to
bring it to England for the purpose of
publication. Again, from the German ver-
sion, a French translation was made, by
M. Trébutien, and published in Paris in
1828; and likewise an English translation
of most of the longer stories, and four
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1121
anecdotes, by the Rev. George Lamb, pub-
lished in London in 1829. I regret ex-
tremely that I am unable to read the Ger-
man version; for it is natural to infer that
the merits of the version of Von Hammer
are more imperfectly reflected in the second,
than in the first, of two successive trans-
lations of which one has been made from
the other. With respect to Von Ham-
mer's version, the only remarks that I can
venture to make are these; 1st, that he
appears to have considerably abridged the
stories; 2ndly, that he has omitted very
few of them altogether but such as had
been previously translated, and not all of
these; and, 3rdly, that he has generally
preserved the best of the verses with which
they are interspersed. Thus, in two re-
spects, his plan differs from that which is
pursued by me; for I scarcely ever abridge
in the smallest degree, except in the omis-
sion of many of the pieces of poetry; but
reject entirely those stories which I think
the English reader would find tedious, or
otherwise displeasing. And here I must
remark, that some pieces of appropriate
poetry occur in the versions above men-
tioned in places where none, or some
slightly different, are found in mine, because
the pieces in my original do not always
admit of being rendered as they are in the
former versions. Of this, the reader may
judge by comparing my translation of the
first poetical quotation in the third of the
following anecdotes with the corresponding
couplet in M. Trébutien's version (vol. iii.
pp. 280-1), which runs thus:
"Le ciel a récompensé ceux qui honorèrent
Joseph lorsqu'il était encore dans sa prison;
ainsi le ciel me mettra peut-être un jour en
état de reconnaitre vos bienfaits envers
moi."
In my original, as follows:
"Wa-'asa-lledhee ahdà li-yoosufa ahlahu: wa-
a'azzabu fi-s-sejni wa-hwa aseeru:
An yestejeeba lana wa-yejma'a shemlanà; wa-
lláhu rabbu-1-'álameena kadeeru."
The same remark applies also in many
cases to the prose. M. Trébutien's version
I consider superior to that of Mr. Lamb;
but I regret his having endeavoured to
imitate the style of Galland. I have
deemed it necessary to make the above
observations in justice to Von Hammer
and his translators, and to myself; as my
reader has now arrived at the point where
be is first enabled to compare the versions
above mentioned with my own.
The following anecdotes are selected
from a series of nine, commencing with
part of the two hundred and sixty-ninth
Night, and ending with part of the two
hundred and eighty-fifth.
Liberality of Hátim Et-Táce after his Death
It is related of Hátim Et-Táee, that,
when he died, he was buried on the summit
of a mountain, and they made over his
grave two troughs of stone, and stone
images of damsels with dishevelled hair.
Beneath that mountain ran a river; and
when travellers arriving there alighted at
that place, they heard a loud crying during
the whole night, from nightfall until morn;
but when they arose in the morning, they
found no one save only the damsels carved
of stone. And when Zu-l-Keláa, the King
of Hemyer, alighted in that valley, going
forth from his tribe, he passed a night
there, and, approaching the place, he heard
the crying: so he said, What is this
lamentation that is on the summit of this
mountain? They answered him, Here is
the sepulchre of Hátim Et-Táee, over
which are two troughs of stone, with stone
images of damsels with dishevelled hair,
and every night, persons who alight in this
place hear this lamentation and crying.
Upon this Zu-l-Keláa said, in mockery of
Hátim Et-Táee, O Hátim, we are this
night thy guests, and lank with hunger.
And after sleep had overcome him, he
awoke in alarm, exclaiming, O Arabs, come
hither to me and to my beast! And when
they came, they found the she-camel con-
vulsed: so they slaughtered her, and roasted
her flesh, and ate. They then asked him
the cause of this; and he answered, I was
sleeping, and saw in a dream Hátim Et-
Táee, who came to me with a sword, and
said. Thou hast visited us when we have
nothing in our possession. And he wounded
my she-camel with the sword. Had ye not
slaughtered her, she had died.
And when the next morning came, Zu-l-
Keláa mounted the beast of one of his
companions, taking the man up behind
him; and at mid-day they saw a man
riding a beast and leading another beast by
his hand; and they said to him, Who art
thou? He answered, I am 'Adee the son
of Hátim Et-Táee. And where, he added,
is Zu-l-Keláa, the Prince of Hemyer? So
they answered him, This is he. And he
said to Zu-l-Keláa, Mount this she-camel,
instead of thine own; for thy she-camel,
my father hath slaughtered for thee.-
And who, said Zu-l-Keláa, informed thee?
'Adee answered, My father came to me in
sleep this last night, and said to me, O
'Adee, Zu-l-Keláa, the King of Hemyer,
1122
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hath demanded my hospitality, and I have
slaughtered for him his she-camel: so re-
pair thou to him with a she-camel for
him to ride; for I have nothing in my
possession.Zu-l-Keláa therefore took
her, and wondered at the generosity dis-
played by Hátim while living and when
dead.
Maan and the Three Damsels
As Maan the son of Záïdeh was hunting
one day, he thirsted, and found not any
water with his young men. But while he
was in this state, lo, three damsels ap-
proached him, carrying three skins of
water. He therefore requested drink of
them, and they gave it him; and he de-
manded something of his young men, to
give it to the damsels; but found that they
had no money. So he presented to each of
the damsels ten arrows from his quiver,
the heads of which were of gold. Where-
upon one of them said to her companions,
This generous conduct cannot proceed from
any but Maan the son of Záïdeh: do ye
each, then, recite some poetry in his praise.
Accordingly, the first said, –
He headeth his arrows with points of gold, and
in smiting his enemies dispenseth his
munificence,
Affording the wounded a means of cure, and
grave-clothes for him whose abode is the
tomb.
And the second said,
A warrior of such excessive liberality, that his
benefits are bestowed both on friends and
foes.
The heads of his arrows are made of gold, that
war may not hinder him from acts of
munificence.
Then the third recited a couplet, in sub-
stance the same as that of the first.
Adventures of Ibráhcem the Rebel
Ibraheem the son of El-Mahdee, and
brother of Hároon Er-Rasheed, when the
office of Khaleefeh devolved to El-Ma-
moon the son of his brother Er-Rasheed,
refused to vow allegiance to him, and re-
paired to Er-Rei, where he assumed to
himself the title of Khaleefeh, and thus he
continued to do for the space of one year
and eleven months and twelve days. His
brother's son, El-Ma-moon, remained ex-
pecting his return to obedience, and his
ranging himself among the number of his
followers, until at length, despairing of his
doing so, he mounted and set forth with
his horsemen and foot-soldiers to Er-Rei.
And when the news of his approach was
brought to Ibráheem, he found no resource
but that of going to Baghdad, where he
hid himself, fearing for his life; and El-
Ma-moon offered to any one who would
point out his place of concealment a hun-
dred thousand pieces of gold.
Now when I heard of this reward that
was offered, says Ibráheem, I feared for
myself, and was perplexed at my case. So
I went forth from my house at the hour
of mid-day, not knowing whither to repair,
and I entered a great street that was not
a thoroughfare, and, seeing at the upper
end of it a barber standing at the door of
his house, I advanced towards him, and
said to him, Hast thou any place in which
I may conceal myself for a while? He
answered, Yes: and opened the door, and
I entered a clean house. Then, after he
had brought me in, he closed the door
upon me, and went away. I suspected,
therefore, that he had heard of the reward
that was offered, and said within myself,
He hath gone forth to betray me. So I
remained in a state of agitation like the
pot upon the fire, reflecting upon my case;
but while I was in this state, lo, he came,
attended by a porter with all that he re-
quired; and, looking towards me, he said
to me, May I be thy ransom! - I was in
want of food, and prepared for myself a
saucepan-full, the like of which I do not
remember ever to have eaten before; and
when I had satisfied myself with it, he
said, O my master, it is not consistent with
my station to converse with thee; but if
thou desire to honour thy slave, thine own
surpassing judgment will determine. I
therefore said to him, not imagining that
he knew me, And whence hast thou
learned that I excel in conversation?
Whereupon he exclaimed, Extolled be the
perfection of Allah! Our lord is too cele-
brated for me to be ignorant of that.
Thou art my master, Ibráheem the son of
El-Mahdee, respecting whom El-Ma-moon
hath announced that he will give to him
who discovereth thee a hundred thousand
pieces of gold. And when he said this,
he became exalted in my eye, and his gen-
erosity was established in my opinion: so I
complied with his desire, and, the re-
membrance of my children and my family
occurring to my mind, I said, -
-
Perhaps He who restored to Yoosuf his family,
and aggrandized him in the prison when
he was a captive,
May answer our prayer, and reunite us; for
God, the Lord of all creatures, is able.
And when he heard these words from me,
he said, O my master, wilt thou permit me
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1123
o repeat what hath suggested itself to my
nind? I answered, Do so. And he recited
wo pieces of poetry; on hearing which, I
vas filled with the utmost wonder at him,
and moved with extreme delight. I then
ook a purse that I had with me, contain-
ng a number of pieces of gold, and threw
t towards him, saying to him, I commend
hee to the care of God; for I am about to
lepart from thee; I beg thee to employ
he contents of this purse in the purchase
f some of the things that thou requirest,
nd thou wilt receive from me an abundant
ecompense when I am secure from that
hich I fear. But he gave me back the
urse, and said, O my master, paupers like
myself are of no estimation with you;
et, consistently with my feelings of gen-
rosity, how can I accept payment for the
oon which fortune hath granted me in
ausing thee to shew me such favour and
> visit my abode? By Allah, if thou re-
eat those words, and throw the purse to
le a second time, I will kill myself. So
took the purse, putting it into my sleeve,
nd the weight of it incommoded me; and
turned to leave him but when I came
> the door of his house, he said, O my
aster, this place is more suited for thy
oncealment than another, and the supply-
g thee with provisions is no burden to
e; therefore remain with me until God
ispel thy trouble. So I replied, On the
ondition that thou expend from this
urse. And he deceived me by professing
s assent to this condition. Accordingly,
remained with him some days; but he
pended nothing from the purse.
I then attired myself in women's ap-
irel, with the khuff and the veil, and went
rth from his house. But when I was in
e street, excessive fear overcame me;
ad as I was about to pass over the bridge,
found myself in a place sprinkled with
ater, and a trooper, one of those who had
en in my service, saw me and recognised
e; whereupon he called out and said, This
the person of whom El-Ma-moon is in
est! And he laid hold upon me. I how-
er pushed him and his horse, and threw
>th down in that slippery place, so that
e rider became an example to him who
ould be admonished, and the people
stened towards him.
I therefore hurried on until I had passed
e bridge, when I entered a great street,
d, seeing the door of a house, and a
ɔman standing in the passage, I said, O
y mistress, save my life; for I am a man
fear. She replied, No harm shall befall
ee. And she took me up into a supping-
om, where she spread furniture for me,
•
and brought to me some food, saying to
me, Let thy terror subside. And while she
was thus comforting me, the door was
knocked with violence. So she went forth
and opened it; and, lo, my acquaintance
whom I had pushed upon the bridge came
forward, with his head bound, and his
blood running down upon his clothes, and
his horse was not with him. She said to
him, What is this? What calamity hath
befallen thee? He answered, I caught the
man, and he made his escape from me.
And he related to her the whole affair.
And she took forth a piece of rag, with
which she bound his head; after which, she
spread a bed for him, and he lay sick.
Then coming up to me, she said to me, I
imagine that thou art the person in ques-
tion. I replied, Yes. And she said, No
harm shall befall thee. She then renewed
her generous conduct to me, and I re-
mained with her three days; at the expira-
tion of which, she said to me, I am in
fear for thee from this man, lest he come
up to thee, and thou fall into the mis-
fortune that thou dreadest: therefore save
thyself by flight. But I requested her to
delay my departure until the night; and she
said, There will be no harm in that.
So when the night came, I put on the
women's apparel, and, going forth from
her, repaired to the house of an emanci-
pated female slave who had belonged to
us; and when she saw me, she wept, and
appeared grieved, and praised God (whose
name be exalted!) for my safety, and went
forth as though she would go to the mar-
ket to procure what was requisite for my
entertainment. But suddenly I beheld
Ibraheem El-Mósilee, approaching in the
midst of his young men and troopers, with
a woman before them; and, looking nar-
rowly at her, I found that she was the
emancipated slave, the owner of the house
where I was. She walked on before them
until she delivered me into their hands,
and I was carried, in the women's attire,
to El-Ma-moon.
He held a general council, and caused me
to be brought in before him; and when I
entered, I saluted him as Khaleefeh; but
he replied, May God not preserve thee nor
bless thee! So I said to him, Act accord-
ing to thy good pleasure, O Prince of the
Faithful: thou hast the command; there-
fore decide upon punishment or pardon;
but pardon is the more agreeable with
piety. God hath made thy pardon to ex-
cel that of every other person, as He hath
made my offence to exceed every other
offence, O Prince of the Faithful; and if
thou take vengeance it will be in thy jus-
1124
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
tice, and if thou pardon it will be in thy
generosity. Then I recited these verses:
My offence against thee is great; but thou art
greater than it:
So exact thy due, or else, in thy clemency re-
mit it.
If I have not been of the generous in conduct,
do thou be so.
El-Ma-moon then raised his head, and I
quickly recited these other verses: —
I have committed an enormous offence; but
thou art disposed to pardon.
If thou pardon, thou wilt be gracious; and if
thou punish, thou wilt be just.
And El-Ma-moon hung down his head, and
repeated this couplet: -
When a friend desireth to enrage
me, and
causeth me to be choked in my anger.
I forgive his offences, and pardon him, fearing
lest I should live friendless.
So when I heard these words from him,
I perceived from them the odour of mercy.
He then addressed the son of his uncle,
and his brother Is-hák, and all his chief
officers who were present, and said to them,
What course do ye see to be suitable to his
case? Whereupon every one of them ad-
vised him to slay me; but they differed
as to the mode of slaughter. El-Ma-moon,
however, said to Ahmad the son of Khá-
lid, What sayest thou, O Ahmad?-0
Prince of the Faithful, he answered, if thou
slay him, we find an instance of such a
person as thyself who hath slain such as
he is; and if thou pardon him, we find
not an instance of any like thee who hath
pardoned one like him. And when El-Ma-
moon heard the words of Ahmad the son
of Khalid, he hung down his head, and re-
peated the saying of the poet:
me.
-
My family have slain Umeym, my brother: so
if I shoot at them, my arrow will revert to
If I pardon. I shall grant an egregious pardon;
and if I assault, I shall weaken my own
bones.
And he recited also these words of the
poet:
Forgive thy brother when he mingleth what is
right with what is wrong;
And continue thy kindness to him, whether he
be thankful or ungrateful;
And abstain thou from reproaching him,
whether he err or act justly.
Dost thou not see that what thou lovest and
what thou hatest are conjoined?
And that the delight of long life is disturbed
by the mixture of grey hairs?
And that the thorns appear upon the branches
together with the fruit that is gathered?
Who is he that hath never done evil? And who
hath done good alone?
If thou triedst the sons of this age, thou
wouldst find that most of them had erred.
On hearing these verses from him, I re-
moved the veil from my head, loudly ex-
claiming, God is most great! - and said,
May God pardon thee, O Prince of the
Faithful! He replied, No harm shall be-
fall thee, O uncle. - O Prince of the Faith-
ful, I rejoined, my offence is too great for
me to utter any thing in excuse of it, and
thy pardon is too great for me to express
my thanks. Then, with mirth-exciting
modulations, I sang these verses:
Verily the Author of all virtues collected them
in the loins of Adam for the Seventh Imam.
Thou hast filled men's hearts with reverence for
thee, and with an humble heart thou guard-
est them all.
I rebelled not against thee, overwhelmed by
delusion, from any motive but that of covet-
ousness;
And thou hast pardoned one whose like never
was pardoned before, though none inter-
ceded with thee,
And hast pitied little-ones like those of the
katà, and the yearning of a mother with
impatient heart.
To this, El-Ma-moon replied, I say, in
imitation of the example of our lord Yoo-
suf (upon our Prophet and upon him be
blessing and peace!), There shall be no
reproach cast on you this day: God forgive
you; for He is the most merciful of those
who shew mercy. And I restore to thee
thy wealth and thy lands, O uncle, and no
harm shall befall thee. So I devoutly
supplicated blessings upon him, and recited
these verses:
Thou hast restored my wealth, and not been
avaricious of it; and before thou didst this,
thou sparedst my life.
I would give my blood to obtain thine approval.
and my wealth till I drew off the shoe from
my foot.
Were I ungrateful for the favours thou hast
granted me, I should be more base than
thou art generous.
El-Ma-moon then treated me with
honour and beneficence, and said to me, O
uncle, verily Aboo-Is-hák and El-'Abbas
advised me to slay thee. I replied, Verily
Aboo-Is-hák and El-'Abbás advised thee
faithfully, O Prince of the Faithful; but
thou hast acted as became thyself, and
averted that which thou fearedst by doing
what thou desiredst. And he said, I have
extinguished my rancour by sparing thy
life, and I have pardoned thee without
burdening thee by obligations to interces-
sors. Then he prostrated himself in adora-
tion for a long time; after which he raised
his head, and said, O uncle, knowest thou
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1125
wherefore I prostrated myself? I an-
swered, Perhaps thou didst so to thank God
for his having made thee master of thine
enemy. He replied, I desired not that;
out to thank God that He had inspired me
o pardon thee. I then explained to him
ny case, and told him what had happened
o me with the cupper [or barber], and
with the trooper and his wife, and the
mancipated female slave who betrayed
ne: whereupon El-Ma-moon gave orders
o bring that emancipated female slave.
She was in her house, expecting the reward
o be sent to her; and when she came be-
ore El-Ma-moon, he said to her, What in-
luced thee to act as thou didst to thy
naster? She answered, Desire for the
honey. And he said, Hast thou a child
r a husband? She answered, No. And
pon this he gave orders to inflict upon
er a hundred lashes, and commanded that
he should be imprisoned for life. He then
aused the trooper and his wife and the
upper to be brought; and when they had
Il come, he asked the trooper the cause of
is having acted as he had done. He an-
wered, Desire for the money. And El-
la-moon replied, Thou must be a cupper.
nd accordingly he commissioned a person
> place him in the shop of a cupper that
e might teach him his art. But the troop-
r's wife he treated with honour, and he
ook her into his palace, and said, This is
sensible woman, fit to be employed in
ffairs of importance Then he said to the
ipper, There hath been such evidence of
y generosity as requireth that extraordi-
ary honour should be paid to thee. And
commanded that the house of the
ooper should be given up to him, and be-
owed upon him, in addition to that, fif-
en thousand pieces of gold.
Irem, the Terrestrial Paradise
It is related that 'Abd-Allah the son of
boo-Kilábeh went forth to seek a camel
at had run away, and while he was pro-
eding over the deserts of El-Yemen and
e district of Sebà, he chanced to arrive
a vast city encompassed by enormous
rtifications, around the circuit of which
ere pavilions rising high into the sky.
› when he approached it, he imagined that
ere must be inhabitants within it, of
hom he might inquire for his camel; and
cordingly he advanced to it; but on com-
g to it, he found that it was desolate,
thout any one to cheer its solitude.
I alighted, says he, from my she-camel,
d tied up her foot; and then, compos-
my mind, entered the city. On ap-
proaching the fortifications, I found that
they had two enormous gates, the like of
which, for size and height, have never been
seen elsewhere in the world, set with a
variety of jewels and jacinths, white and
red and yellow and green; and when I be-
held this, I was struck with the utmost
wonder at it, and the sight astonished me.
I entered the fortifications in a state of ter-
ror, and with a wandering mind, and saw
them to be of the same large extent as the
city, and to comprise elevated pavilions,
every one of these containing lofty cham-
bers, and all of them constructed of gold
and silver, and adorned with rubies and
chrysolites and pearls and various-coloured
jewels. The folding-doors of these pa-
vilions were like those of the fortifications
in beauty, and their floors were overlaid
with large pearls and with balls like hazel-
nuts composed of musk and ambergris and
saffron. And when I came into the midst
of the city, I saw not in it a created being
of the sons of Adam; and I almost died of
terror. I then looked down from the sum-
mits of the lofty chambers and pavilions,
and saw rivers running beneath them; and
in the great thoroughfare-streets of the city
were fruit-bearing trees, and tall palm-
trees; and the construction of the city was
of alternate bricks of gold and silver: so
I said within myself, No doubt this is the
Paradise promised in the world to come.
I carried away, of the jewels, which were
as its gravel, and the musk that was as
its dust, as much as I could bear, and re-
turned to my district, where I acquainted
the people with the occurrence. And the
news reached Mo'awiyeh the son of Aboo-
Sufyan (who was then Khaleefeh) in the
Hejáz: so he wrote to his lieutenant in
San'a of El-Yemen, saying, Summon that
man, and inquire of him the truth of the
matter. His lieutenant therefore caused
me to be brought, and demanded of me
an account of my adventure, and of what
had befallen me; and I informed him of
what I had seen. He then sent me to
Mo'awiyeh, and I acquainted him also with
that which I had seen; but he disbelieved
it: so I produced to him some of those
pearls and the little balls of ambergris and
musk and saffron. The latter retained
somewhat of their sweet scent: but the
pearls had become yellow and discoloured.
At the sight of these, Mo'awiyeh won-
dered, and he sent and caused Kaab-el-
Ahbár to be brought before him, and said
to him, O Kaab-el-Ahbár, I have called
thee on account of a matter of which I
desire to know the truth, and I hope that
thou mayest be able to certify me of it.
1126
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
- And what is it, O Prince of the Faith-
ful? asked Kaab-el-Ahbár. Mo'awiyeh
said, Hast thou any knowledge of the ex-
istence of a city constructed of gold and
silver, the pillars whereof are of chrysolite
and ruby, and the gravel of which is of
pearls, and of balls like hazel-nuts, com-
posed of musk and ambergris and saffron?
He answered, Yes, O Prince of the Faith-
ful. It is Irem Zát el-'Emád, the like of
which hath never been constructed in the
regions of the earth; and Sheddád the son
of 'Ád the Greater built it. Relate to
us, said Mo'awiyeh, somewhat of its his-
tory. And Kaab-el-Ahbár replied thus:
'Ád the Greater had two sons, Shedeed
and Sheddád; and when their father per-
ished, they reigned conjointly over the
countries after him, and there was no one
of the Kings of the earth who was not
subject to them. And Shedeed the Son of
'Ád died: so his brother Sheddád ruled
alone over the earth after him. He was
fond of reading the ancient books; and
when he met with the description of the
world to come, and of Paradise with its
pavilions and lofty chambers and its trees
and fruits, and of the other things in Para-
dise, his heart enticed him to construct its
like on the earth, after this manner which
hath been above mentioned. He had under
his authority a hundred thousand Kings,
under each of whom were a hundred thou-
sand valiant chieftains, and under each of
these were a hundred thousand soldiers.
And he summoned them all before him, and
said to them, I find in the ancient books
and histories the description of the Para-
dise that is in the other world, and I de-
sire to make its like upon the earth.
Depart ye therefore to the most pleasant
and most spacious vacant tract in the earth,
and build for me in it a city of gold and
silver, and spread, as its gravel, chrysolites
and rubies and pearls, and as the supports
of the vaulted roofs of that city make
columns of chrysolite, and fill it with pa-
vilions, and over the pavilions construct
lofty chambers, and beneath them plant, in
the by-streets and great thoroughfare-
streets, varieties of trees bearing different
kinds of ripe fruits, and make rivers to
run beneath them in channels of gold and
silver. To this they all replied, How can
we accomplish that which thou hast de-
scribed to us, and how can we procure the
chrysolites and rubies and pearls that thou
hast mentioned? But he said, Know ye
not that the Kings of the world are obedi-
ent to me, and under my authority, and
that no one who is in it disobeyeth my
command? They answered, Yes we know
-
that.
Depart then, said he, to the mines
of chrysolite and ruby, and to the places
where pearls are found, and gold and sil-
ver; and take forth and collect their con-
tents from the earth, and spare no exer-
tions. Take also for me from the hands
of men such of those things as ye find, and
spare none, nor let any escape you; and
beware of disobedience.
He then wrote a letter to each of the
Kings in the regions of the earth, com-
manding them to collect all the articles of
the kinds above-mentioned that their sub-
jects possessed, and to repair to the mines
in which these things were found, and ex-
tract the precious stones that they con-
tained, even from the beds of the seas.
And they collected the things that he re-
quired in the space of twenty years; after
which, he sent forth the geometricians and
sages, and labourers and artificers, from all
the countries and regions, and they dis-
persed themselves through the deserts and
wastes, and tracts and districts, until they
came to a desert wherein was a vast open
plain, clear from hills and mountains, and
in it were springs gushing forth, and rivers
running. So they said, This is the kind of
place which the King commanded us to
seek, and called us to find. They then
busied themselves in building the city ac-
cording to the direction of the King Shed-
dád, King of the whole earth, in its length
and breadth; and they made through it
the channels for the rivers, and laid the
foundations conformably with the pre-
scribed extent. The Kings of the various
districts of the earth sent thither the jewels
and stones, and large and small pearls, and
carnelion and pure gold, upon camels over
the deserts and wastes, and sent great ships
with them over the seas; and a quantity
of those things, such as cannot be described
nor calculated nor defined, was brought to
the workmen, who laboured in the con-
struction of this city three hundred years.
And when they had finished it, they came
to the King and acquainted him with the
completion; and he said to them, Depart,
and make around it impregnable fortifica-
tions, of great height, and construct around
the circuit of the fortifications a thousand
pavilions, each with a thousand pillars be-
neath it, in order that there may be in
each pavilion a Wezeer. So they went im-
mediately, and did this in twenty years;
after which they presented themselves be-
fore Sheddád, and informed him of the
accomplishment of his desire.
He therefore ordered his Wezeers, who
were a thousand in number, and his chief
officers, and such of his troops and others
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1127
as he confided in, to make themselves ready
for departure, and to prepare themselves
for removal to Irem Zát el-'Emád, in at-
tendance upon the King of the world,
Sheddád the son of 'Ád. He ordered also
such as he chose of his women and his
hareem, as his female slaves and his
eunuchs, to fit themselves out. And they
passed twenty years in equipping them-
selves. Then Sheddád proceeded with his
troops, rejoiced at the accomplishment of
his desire, until there remained between
him and Irem Zát el-'Emád one day's
journey; when God sent down upon him
and upon the obstinate infidels who accom-
panied him a loud cry from the heaven of
his power, and it destroyed them all by
the vehemence of its sound. Neither Shed-
dád nor any of those who were with him
arrived at the city or came in sight of it,
and God obliterated the traces of the road
that led to it; but the city remaineth as
it was in its place until the hour of the
judgment.
At this narrative related by Kaab-el-
Ahbár, Mo'awiyeh wondered, and he said
to him, Can any one of mankind arrive at
that city? Yes, answered Kaab-el-
Ahbár: a man of the companions of Mo-
hammad (upon whom be blessing and
peace!), in appearance like this man who
is sitting here without any doubt.- Esh-
Shaabee also saith, It is related on the
authority of the learned men of Hemyer,
in El-Yemen, that when Sheddád and those
who were with him were destroyed by the
loud cry, his son Sheddád the Less reigned
after him; for his father Sheddád the
Greater had left him as successor to his
kingdom, in the land of Hadramót and
Sebà, on his departure with the troops
who accompanied him to Irem Zát el-
'Emád. And as soon as the news reached
him of the death of his father on the way
before his arrival at the city of Irem, he
gave orders to carry his father's body from
those desert tracts to Hadramót, and to ex-
cavate a sepulchre for him in a cavern.
And when they had done this, he placed
his body in it, upon a couch of gold, and
covered the corpse with seventy robes in-
terwoven with gold and adorned with pre-
cious jewels; and he placed at his head
a tablet of gold, whereon were inscribed
these verses:
Be admonished. O thou who art deceived by a
prolonged life!
I am Sheddád the son of 'Ad, the lord of the
strong fortress;
The lord of power and might and of excessive
valour.
The inhabitants of the earth obeyed me, fear-
ing my severity and threats;
And I held the east and west under a strong
dominion.
And a preacher of the true religion invited
us to the right way;
But we opposed him, and said, Is there no
refuge from it?
And a loud cry assaulted us from a tract of the
distant horizon;
Whereupon we fell down like corn in the midst
of a plain at harvest;
And now, beneath the earth, we await the
threatened day.
- Eth-Tha'álibee also saith, It happened
that two men entered this cavern, and
found at its upper end some steps; and
having descended these, they found an ex-
cavation, the length whereof was a hun-
dred cubits, and its breadth forty cubits,
and its height a hundred cubits. And in
the midst of this excavation was a couch
of gold, upon which was a man of enor-
mous bulk, occupying its whole length and
breadth, covered with ornaments and with
robes interwoven with gold and silver; and
at his head was a tablet of gold, whereon
was an inscription. And they took that
tablet, and carried away from the place
as much as they could of bars of gold and
silver, and other things.
Is-hák, the Maiden Khadeejeh, and the
Sultán
I went forth one night, says Is-hák El-
Mósilee, from the presence of El-Ma-moon,
and, turning into a by-street, I saw some-
thing hanging from one of the houses
there. So I felt it, to discover what it
was, and found that it was a large basket,
with four handles, and covered with bro-
cade; whereupon I said within myself,
There must be some cause for this. And
I was perplexed at my case.
Intoxication induced me to seat myself
in the basket; and when I had done so,
lo, the people of the house drew it up with
me in it, thinking that I was the person
whom they were expecting. And when
they had raised it to the top of the wall,
behold, four damsels were there, and they
said to me, Descend, and may ample en-
joyment attend thee. Then a damsel
walked before me with a candle until I
descended into a mansion in which were
sitting-rooms spread [with carpets and
other furniture], the like of which I had
never seen except in the palace of the Kha-
leefeh. And after I had sat a while, sud-
denly some curtains were raised on one
side of the apartment, and, lo, maids
walked in with candles in their hands, and
with perfuming-vessels containing aloes-
wood; and among them was a damsel like
the rising full moon. So I rose; and she
1128
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
said, Thou art a welcome visitor. Then
having desired me to be seated, she inquired
of me my story. I therefore answered her,
I came forth from certain of my brethren,
and, turning into this street, found a basket
let down; whereupon the wine induced me
to seat myself in it, and it was drawn up,
with me in it, to this house. This, said
I, is my case. — And she said, No harm
shall befall thee, and I hope thou wilt ap-
prove of the result of thine adventure. And
what, she added, is thine occupation? I
answered, That of a merchant in the mar-
ket of Baghdad. And she said, Canst thou
repeat any verses? Some trifling pieces,
I answered. Then mention them to us,
said she, and recite to us somewhat of
them. But I replied, The visitor is bash-
ful: do thou begin. Thou hast spoken
truly, she said. And she recited some ele-
gant verses, of the poetry of ancient and
of recent composers, some of their most
admirable effusions; and I listened, and
knew not whether to wonder most at her
beauty and loveliness, or at the charming
style of her rehearsal. After this she said,
Hath thy bashfulness passed away?-
Yea, by Allah, I answered. And she said,
If thou wilt, recite to us somewhat of that
which thou art able to rehearse. So I
recited to her an abundance of pieces by
a number of old writers; and she approved
them, and said, By Allah, I did not
imagine that there existed among the sons
of the common people such a person as
this.
She then gave orders to bring the food;
and it was brought, and she began to take
and to put before me; and varieties of
sweet-smelling flowers were there, with rare
fruits, such as are usually found nowhere
but in the abodes of Kings. Afterwards
she called for the wine, and she drank a
cup, and handed one to me, saying, This
is the time for conversation and relating
stories. I therefore began to converse with
her, and to say I have been told that such
and such things happened, and there was
a man who said so and so, -until I had
related to her a number of agreeable
stories; with which she was delighted; and
said, I wonder how it is that one of the
merchants is able to repeat stories like
these; for they are such as are proper for
Kings. So I said, I had a neighbour who
used to converse with the Kings, and serve
as their boon-companion; and when he was
unoccupied, I used to visit his house, and
sometimes he would relate what thou hast
heard. And she replied, By my life, thou
hast retained them well. We continued our
conversation, whenever I was silent she be-
ginning, until we had passed the greater
part of the night, the fumes of the aloes-
wood imparting a constant odour to the
air; and I was in such a state that if El-
Ma-moon could have imagined it, he would
have flown with a desire to enjoy it. She
then said, Verily thou art one of the most
pleasant and polished of men; for thou
art a person of surpassing good breeding;
and there is but one thing wanting. And
what, said I, is that? She answered,
Couldst thou sing verses to the sounds of
the lute? So I replied, I used to devote
myself to this art of old; but not being
endowed with a talent for it, I relinquished
it; and my heart is inflamed on that ac-
count. I should be glad to sing something
well on the present occasion, that my
night's enjoyment might be complete.
On hearing this, she said, It seemeth thou
hast proposed that the lute should be
brought. I replied, It is thine to decide:
thou art the conferrer of favours, and art
entitled to thanks for thy kindness. And
she gave orders to bring a lute; and when
it was brought, she sang with a voice which
I had never heard equalled in sweetness,
with a charming manner, and admirable
skill in striking the chords, and altogether
with consummate excellence: after which
she said, Knowest thou by whom this air
was composed, and whose are the verses?
I answered, No. And she said, the verses
are by such-a-one, and the air is Is-hák's.
I said, And is Is-hák (may I be thy ran-
som!) endowed with such talent?- Won-
derful! wonderful! she exclaimed: Is-hák
surpasseth all in this art. And I said,
Extolled be the perfection of Allah, who
hath given to this man what He hath not
given to any beside him! And how then
wouldst thou be charmed, she added, if
thou heardest this air sung by him!
Thus we continued to pass the time until
daybreak, when an old woman, who
seemed to be her nurse, addressed her and
said, The time hath arrived. So she arose
at her words, and said, Keep thou our
conduct secret; for social meetings are con-
fidential. May I be thy ransom! I re-
plied: I required no charge on that subject.
I then bade her farewell, and she sent a
damsel to walk before me to the door of
the house, and she opened to me, and I
went forth to my own abode.
-
Having arrived there, I performed the
morning-prayers, and slept; and the mes-
senger of El-Ma-moon came to me; so I
repaired to him, and remained with him
that day. And when the hour of night-
fall came, I reflected upon the pleasure that
I had enjoyed during the preceding night,
NOTES TO CHAPTER ELEVENTH
1129
and it was such as none but the fool could
be withheld from. I therefore went forth,
and, coming to the basket, seated myself in
it, and was drawn up to the place in which
I was the night before. The damsel said
to me, Thou hast been assiduous. But I
replied, I do not think myself to have been
otherwise than neglectful. We then chat-
ted together, as in the preceding night, each
of us supplying subjects of conversation;
and reciting poetry, and relating strange
tales, until dawn, when I departed to my
abode, and performed the morning-prayers,
and slept.
The messenger of El-Ma-moon then
came to me, and I repaired to him; and
after I had passed the day with him, and
the hour of nightfall arrived, the Prince of
the Faithful said to me, I conjure thee to
sit here until I have gone and accomplished
an object that I have in view and come
back. But when the Khaleefeh had gone
away from me, disquieting thoughts arose
in my mind, and, reflecting upon my late
enjoyment, what I might experience from
the Prince of the Faithful seemed of little
moment to me. So I sprang up and re-
tired, and went forth running until I came
to the basket; whereupon I seated myself
in it, and it was drawn up with me to
the place of my former visits; and the
damsel said, Probably thou art our friend?
- Yea, by Allah, I answered. — And she
said, Hast thou made our house thine
abode? I answered, May I be thy ransom!
The right of a stranger to hospitality is
for three days; and if I return after that
period, ye shall be free to shed my blood.
-We then sat amusing ourselves as on
the former occasions; and when the time
of departure drew near, knowing that El-
Ma-moon would certainly question me, and
would not be content with any thing but
an explanation of the affair, I said to her,
I see thee to be one of those who take
pleasure in singing, and I have a cousin
who is more comely than myself in counte-
nance, and of higher rank, and more ac-
complished manners, and he is most nearly
acquainted of all the creatures of God
(whose name be exalted!) with Is-hák.
Upon this she said, Art thou a spunger and
dost thou urge an impertinent request? I
answered her, Thou art the arbitress of
the matter. And she replied, If thy cousin
be as thou hast described him, we shall
have no dislike to be acquainted with him.
- Then the time came, and I arose and
went homewards.
But before I arrived at my house, the
messengers of El-Ma-moon rushed upon
me,
and violently bore me away to him.
-
I found him sitting upon a throne, and in-
censed against me; and he said, O Is-hák,
hast thou swerved from allegiance? I an-
swered, No, by Allah, O Prince of the
Faithful. What then is thy story? said
he: relate the affair to me with truth. So
I replied, Well; but in privacy. He there-
fore made a sign to those who were be-
fore him; whereupon they retired; and I
told him the story, and said to him, I
promised her that thou wouldst pay her a
visit. And he said, Thou hast done well.
We then occupied ourselves with our usual
pleasures that day; but the heart of El-
Ma-moon was intent upon the damsel; and
scarcely had the appointed time arrived
when we departed. I charged him, saying,
Refrain from calling me by my name be-
fore her; and be as though thou wert my
attendant in her presence. And we agreed
on this subject.
We proceeded until we came to the place
where the basket had been hung, and we
found two baskets: so we seated ourselves
in them, and they were drawn up with us
to the same place. The damsel then ad-
vanced and saluted us; and when El-Ma-
moon beheld her, he was astonished at her
beauty and loveliness. She began to re-
late stories to him, and to recite verses,
and afterwards caused the wine to be
brought, and we drank; she making him
the object of her particular favour, and
rejoicing in his society, and he shewing the
same favour to her, and alike delighted
with her. And she took the lute, and sang
these verses:
The beloved visited me towards the close of
night. I stood, to shew him honour, until
he sat down.
I said, O my intimate, and all my desire, hast
thou come this night and not feared the
watch?
He answered, The love-smitten feared: but his
desire had forcibly deprived him of his
reason.
She then said to me, And is thy cousin of
the merchants? And she pointed towards
El-Ma-moon. I answered, Yes. And she
said, Verily ye nearly resemble each other.
I replied, Yes.
And when El-Ma-moon had drunk three
pints, being moved with joy and merri-
ment, he called out and said, O Is-hák! I
replied, At thy service, O Prince of the
Faithful. Sing, said he, this air. And
when the damsel discovered that he was
the Khaleefeh, she retired into another
apartment. So after I had finished my
song, El-Ma-moon said to me, See who is
the master of this house. Whereupon an
old woman quickly answered and said, It
1130
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
belongeth to El-Hasan the son of Sahl.
And he said, Bring him hither unto me.
The old woman, therefore, was absent for
a short time, and, lo, El-Hasan came in.
El-Ma-moon said to him, Hast thou a
daughter? He answered, Yes: her name is
Khadeejeh. Is she married? said the
Khaleefeh. El-Hasan answered, No, by
Allah. Then, said El-Ma-moon, I demand
her of thee as my wife. El-Hasan replied,
She is thy hand-maiden, and at thy dis-
posal, O Prince of the Faithful. And the
Khaleefeh said, I marry her on the condi-
tion of paying in ready money, as her
dowry, thirty thousand pieces of gold,
which shall be brought to thee this next
morning: so, after thou shalt have received
the money, do thou convey her to us in
the following night. He replied, I hear,
and obey. We then went forth; and he
said, O Is-hák, tell not this story to any
one. I therefore kept it a secret until El-
Ma-moon died.
Never had such pleasures altogether
fallen to the lot of any one, as those which
I enjoyed during these four days, keeping
company with El-Ma-moon by day, and
with Khadeejeh by night. By Allah, I
have seen no one among men like El-Ma-
moon, and I have not beheld among
women the like of Khadeejeh, nor any who
approached her in intelligence and sense
and elocution. And God is all-know-
ing.
--
[Some Arab authors have, not without
reason, pronounced this anecdote an inven-
tion of Is-hák. It is well known that El-
Ma-moon married the daughter of his
Wezeer El-Hasan the son of Sahl; but that
he became acquainted with her in the man-
ner above described is highly improbable.
The marriage took place at Fem-es-Silh,
on the bank of the Tigris, near Wásit, and
was celebrated with a magnificence scarcely
credible. El-Hasan, the father of the bride,
scattered, among the officers and other
chief persons who were present, balls of
musk of the size of hazel-nuts, containing
paper inscribed with the names of lands
and of female slaves, and the descriptions
of beasts, &c., and into whose hand soever
a ball fell, the property of which the name
or description was written upon the en-
closed paper was delivered to him, whether
it were a piece of land, or other posses-
sion, or a horse, or a female slave, or a
memlook. After that, he scattered, among
the rest of the people, pieces of gold and
silver, and bags of musk, and balls of
ambergris. He expended upon the enter-
tainment of El-Ma-moon and his com-
panions, and all his troops and other at-
tendants, the number of whom was incal-
culable, even the camel-drivers, and the
hired conductors of beasts, and the boat-
men, so that none had occasion to pur-
chase anything for himself or for his beast.
It is said that El-Ma-moon remained with
El-Hasan nineteen days, the latter provid-
ing the Khaleefeh and all who were with
him each day, with every thing that they
required; and that the sum which he ex-
pended upon them was fifty millions of
pieces of silver. El-Ma-moon, on his depar-
ture, gave orders to present him with ten
millions of pieces of silver, and allotted him
Es-Silh as a possession; whereupon El-
Hasan sat, and distributed the money
among his grandees and companions and
retinue. El-Ma-moon likewise gave up to
him the revenues of Fáris and of the cities
of El-Ahwaz for the period of a year. It
is related, also, that when El-Ma-moon
first entered the apartment of the bride,
and seated himself with her, her grand-
mother scattered over them both a thou-
sand large pearls from a tray of gold; and
that a candle of ambergris weighing forty
menns, in a lantern of gold, was lighted
that night; but that El-Ma-moon disap-
proved of it, and pronounced it an act of
prodigality.]
NOTE I.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWELFTH
This story is not in the edition
of Cairo, nor in the MS. of the Thousand
and One Nights from which Galland trans-
lated, though he has introduced it in his
version; and I am not aware of its being
found in any copy of that work, except the
one from which the Breslau edition is
printed. From these circumstances, and
from my having discovered that its chief
and best portion is a historical anecdote,
related as a fact, I am inclined to think
that it is not a genuine tale of the Thou-
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWELFTH
1131
sand and One Nights, and that it has been
inserted in some copies of that work (per-
haps only in one), to supply a deficiency.
But as it exists in one copy, and is one
of the best tales in Galland's version, I
have gladly given it a place in the present
collection. The place which it occupies in
the order of the Nights, in the edition of
Breslau, I have mentioned at the head of
this chapter; but in the order of the Tales
in that edition, it follows the story of Es-
Sindibád of the Sea and Es-Sindibád of
the Land.
The author by whom I have found the
chief portion of this tale related as a his-
torical anecdote is El-Is-hákee, who fin-
ished his history shortly before the close
of the reign of 'Osmánlee Sultán Mustafà,
apparently in the year of the Flight 1032
(A. D. 1623). He does not mention his
authority; and whether it is related by an
older historian, I do not know; but per-
haps it is founded upon fact.
The story is narrated in El-Is-hákee's
work in a simple and agreeable manner:
in the Breslau Thousand and One Nights
it is given more fully, but in language of
a vulgar style, and abounding with errors,
of which a few will be found particularized
in the following notes. I have, therefore,
here availed myself of both these works,
each of which, in this case, possesses merits
that the other does not. To the former,
as far as it has enabled me to do so, I have
adhered more closely; but the additions
I have made, of the best parts of the nar-
rative in the latter work, constitute the
main portion of my translation of the tale.
Abu-l-Hasan's marriage, and the subse-
quent events, are not related by El-Is-
hákee.
Galland has evidently added to this story
considerable embellishments of his own in-
vention, and made it in many parts incon-
sistent with Arab manners and customs.
But his version of it appears to have been
mainly derived from an Arabic original
more full than the corresponding text in
the Breslau edition; for I distinguish in it
several poetical and other passages which
are not in the tale as given in that edition,
and which are certainly not invented by
him. For instance, near the commencement
of the story, I observe a loose translation
of four verses occurring in the Cairo edi-
tion in an earlier tale.
NOTE 2. The word "khaleea," which I
render" wag (though this is not its prim-
ary meaning, nor do I find it so explained
in any Dictionary, except one in MS. of
my own composition), is generally used in
66
the present day to signify "waggish,"
frolicksome," or witty," and has been
so used by many good writers. That it is
to be thus understood here, and not in the
sense of an "abandoned person," or a
"reprobate," is evident from the manner
in which it is employed at the close of
the tale. In like manner, "khalá’ah" sig-
nifies "waggishness," &c.
66
NOTE 3. In the original, "kumájeh."
This word appears to be from the Persian
kumáj," or "kumásh" ("unleavened
bread," or "bread baked in the ashes ");
but it is commonly used to signify "fine
flour," and I have not found it used in
any other sense.
NOTE 4. Potash is used for washing the
hands after eating; but the most common
substitute for soap I have observed to be
dukák," which is the meal of the lupin,
called in Arabic "turmus," vulgarly
"tirmis."
66
NOTE 5. In illustration of this part of
the story, as it respects the character of
Hároon Er-Rasheed, see Note 22 to Chap-
ter iii.
NOTE 6. See Note 18 to Chapter vii.
NOTE 7. The morning-prayers consist
of only four rek'ahs; namely, two sunneh
(or ordained by the Prophet), and two
fard (i. e., of divine appointment). Re-
specting the "rek'ah," see Note I to the
Introduction.
NOTE 8. After the sunneh prayers, and
after the fard, the worshipper, looking upon
his right shoulder, says, "Peace be on you,
and the mercy of God!" then, looking
upon the left shoulder, he repeats the same
words. These salutations are considered
by some as addressed only to the guardian
angels who watch over the believer, and
note all his actions; but others say that
they are addressed both to angels and men
(i. e., believers only), who may be present:
no person, however, returns them. Some
hold that every believer is attended by two
angels; others say, five; others, sixty, or a
hundred and sixty.
NOTE 9. In the Breslau edition, four
hundred lashes.
NOTE 10. "Kadeeb-el-Bán" signifies
"the Twig of the Oriental willow."
1132
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE II. See Note 78 to Chapter v.
NOTE 12. Or hospital. The same build-
ing, in an Arabian city, generally serves
both as an hospital for the sick and an
asylum for the mad.
NOTE 13. "Shut your doors at night,"
said the Prophet; "and at the time of do-
ing it, remember [or rather repeat] God's
name; because the Devil cannot open the
door which has been shut in the name of
God.". As I have remarked in my work
on the Modern Egyptians, it is a common
custom of many learned and devout per-
sons, and some others, to say, "In the
name of God, the Compassionate, the Mer-
ciful," on locking a door, covering bread,
laving down their clothes at night, and on
other occasions, to protect their property
(as well as themselves) from evil genii,
or deviis.
NOTE 14. Literally, "I have not seen
thee to have a heel prosperous to me."
""
NOTE 15. See Notes 44 and 18 to Chap-
ter x. "The Chapter of Sincerity is the
112th (or last but two) of the Kur-án.
NOTE 16. "Nuzhet-el-Fuád" signifies
"the Delight of the Heart."
NOTE 17. Two of the customs here men-
tioned, namely, tying the toes of the corpse,
and placing a knife, or rather, a sword,
upon the body, are still common in some
Muslim countries; but I did not hear of
their being observed in Egypt, nor of the
custom of putting the salt with the knife
or sword. Iron and salt are both believed
to repel genii, and to prevent their ap-
proach and hence, perhaps, are thus used.
NOTE 18. Nuzhet-el-Fuád must have re-
signed her office of Treasurer on marrying
Abu-l-Hasan.
NOTE 19. Abu-l-Hasan expected the
present of the money for the purpose of
defraying the expenses of the funeral, and
the piece of silk for grave-clothing.
Note 11 to Chapter vi.
See
NOTE 20. This is a common kind of
ejaculation. By the "hour," in this in-
stance, we may understand either "the
hour of Abu-l-Hasan's birth, or that in
which he was appointed the Khaleefeh's
boon-companion.
NOTE 21. Literally "the Háshimee
vein." The vein of anger between the eyes
appears to have been especially remarkable
in descendants of Hashim. Whether it
was so in Hashim himself, I do not find;
but it is mentioned among the character-
istics of his great-grandson, the Prophet.
66
NOTE 22. The word rendered "pic-
tures generally signifies "carved images,'
effigies," or "models." I suppose pic-
tures to be here meant because carved
images are generally representations of liv-
ing creatures, which representations are
forbidden by the Muslim law.
NOTE 23. This is a saying of the
Prophet, and is often quoted by a Muslim
to silence his wife.
NOTE 24. The text here is faulty; but
Dr. Habicht has pointed out the correc-
tions, and I only differ from him in adding
the article (in the Arabic) to the last word
of the latter of the two proverbs.
NOTE 25. Here, also, the text appears
to be faulty. I read "kibleh" for
66 keeleh" or "keyleh."Some Muslims
turn the head of the corpse in the direction
of the Kibleh, or Mekkeh: others, the right
side, inclining the face in that direction.
In the latter position the corpse is placed
in the tomb.
NOTE 26. In this passage, again, I am
obliged to have recourse to a conjectural
emendation.
66
""
NOTE. 27. The word here rendered
two clods also signifies "two lumps of
stone," or "two bricks." Beating the
bosom with two clods of hard, dry earth,
in a case of extreme distress, is not an un-
common action with the Arabs of the lower
orders.
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRTEENTH
1133
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRTEENTH
NOTE 1. This story, and that in the next
chapter of the present work, have, I be-
lieve, been translated into French, by M.
Caussin, and published in the edition of
the Thousand and One Nights mentioned
in the first of the notes to my eleventh
chapter.
NOTE 2. The kind of cresset here men-
tioned, called in Arabic "mesh'al," is a
staff with a cylindrical frame (commonly
of iron) at the top, filled with flaming
wood, or having two, three, four, or five
of these receptacles for fire. The mesh'al
with a single receptacle for fire is the most
common, and the entire length is gen-
erally about seven feet. Two different
kinds are figured in my work on the Mod-
ern Egyptians, vol. i. ch. vi. They are
borne in various nocturnal processions, and
often before a horseman riding by night.
<<
or
NOTE 3. The term meezer
"mi-
zer" is properly applied to a cloth which
is wrapped round the waist and reaches to
the knees, or lower; and is now also used
to signify a pair of drawers.
NOTE 4. What is here meant is doubt-
ful. A cresset-bearer before a horseman
might be properly described as having on
his shoulder an embroidered saddle-cover,
called in Arabic "gháshiyeh." This was
usually borne before a King, and a less
costly kind is now often seen on the shoul-
der of a groom preceding a horseman of
the higher or middle rank.
NOTE 5. See Note 52 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 6. Literally, "the second, or the
other Khaleefeh." So also in the other in-
stances in which I use the term "False
Khaleefeh."
NOTE 7. "Sáj " is the name of an In-
dian tree, the wood of which is imported
into Arabian countries; but our Orientalists
disagree as to its species. De Sacy thinks
it likely that " sáj" is an Indian name
adopted by the Arabs: if so, the tree so
called is probably the teak (as he first sup-
posed); this tree being termed in Sanscrit,
"sáka."
NOTE 8. In the original, "shádharwán."
This word, which I here render in accord-
ance with the manner in which my sheykh
has explained it in several places, is also
written "shádarwán" and "shádirwán,"
and is, I believe, generally applied to a
fountain, or jet d'eau, with pieces of glass,
or glass bells, which, being put in motion
by the water, produce a constant tinkling.
The word is Persian.
NOTE 9. The "long mattresses" here
mentioned are those described in Note 12
to Chapter iii.
NOTE 10. For a knowledge of the par-
ticular kind of round cushion here men-
tioned, by the term, "mudowwarah," I
am indebted to Mr. Salamé; for although
I have one, which I purchased of an Arab
at Gibraltar, I either did not inquire, or
else forgot, the name. It is generally about
fifteen inches in diameter, three or four
inches thick, and covered with velvet or
leather, embroidered or otherwise orna-
mented. Cushions of this kind I did not
see in the East; but they are common
among the Arabs in Western Africa, and
have of late years been imported into Eng-
land, where they are used as footstools.
The Arabs use them generally to recline
against, and sometimes as pillows for the
head.
NOTE 11. Literally, "O full moons."
The plural is used for the reason explained
in Note 34 to Chapter x.
NOTE 12. Here again the plural is used
in the original, to convey a superlative
sense.
NOTE 13. It is a general custom among
the Arabs when a person is asked "What
is the news?" to reply, "Good" (kheyr),
even when the news to be imparted is bad.
NOTE 14. I believe I have before men-
tioned El-'Abbas, as an uncle of the
Prophet, and ancestor of the Khaleefehs of
Baghdad, who were hence called the 'Ab-
básse Khaleefehs.
NOTE 15. See Note 8 to the Introduc-
tion.
NOTE 16. It is common with the Arabs
to say that a day is like milk, or white
as milk, to imply that it is fortunate; and
that it is like mud, or black as mud, to
signify the contrary.
1134
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 17.
A money-changer is employed
by Kings and grandees to pay and receive
their money.
NOTE 18. See Note 39 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 19.
The action here mentioned is
accompanied with a gentle rubbing. The
object in this case was to awake the lady.
See Note 55 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 20. These two verses may be ex-
plained by the following amplified para-
phrase. "May thy palace never cease to
be an object of desire, a place where prayer
will be answered, resorted to by multitudes,
like the Temple of Mekkeh; and may men
ever exhibit tokens of the honours or bene-
fits that they have received there in paying
their homage, as a person who has just
prayed upon the bare ground exhibits a
forehead marked with the dust: thus
throughout every country it will be known,
that thy palace is like the station of Ibrá-
heem (or Abraham), a place within the
inner enclosure of the Kaabeh, where
prayer is especially blessed, and that thou
art like Ibraheem himself." But my
sheykh remarks, that these verses are not
well applied except in praise of a person
whose name is Ibráheem.
NOTE 21.
See Note 95 to Chapter v.
NOTE 22. This story is followed by four
anecdotes, ending with part of the two
hundred and ninety-ninth night. The third
and fourth of these are here subjoined.
The Lover Who Pretended to Be a Thief
It is related that Khalid the son of 'Abd-
Allah El-Kusheyree was Governor of El-
Basrah; and there came to him a number
of men grasping a young man of surpass-
ing comeliness and evident good breeding
and abundant intellect, of handsome fig-
ure, of sweet odour, and of a grave and
dignified appearance; and they brought
him forward unto Khálid. So Khálid in-
quired of them his story, and they said,
This is a thief, whom we caught yesterday
in our abode. And when Khalid looked
at him, the beauty of his appearance, and
his cleanliness, excited his admiration, and
he said, Loose him. Then, approaching
him, he asked him his story; and the young
man answered, The people have spoken
truth, and the case is as they have related.
- And what, said Khálid, induced thee to
do this, when thou hast so comely an ap-
pearance and so handsome a form?
-
He
answered, Covetousness of worldly goods,
and the decree of God, whose perfection
be extolled, and whose name be exalted!
And upon this, Khálid said, May thy
mother be bereft of thee! Hadst thou not
in the comeliness of thy face, and the
soundness of thy sense, and in thy good
breeding, what would suffice to restrain
thee from thieving? - Abstain from this
language, O Emeer, replied the young man,
and proceed to do what God (whose name
be exalted!) hath ordained; for such is
the recompense of that which my hands
have done, and God is not tyrannical to-
wards his servants. And Khálid remained
a while silent, reflecting upon the affair of
the young man; after which he desired him
to draw near, and said to him, Thy con-
fession before the witnesses hath perlexed
me so that I know not what to do; and
I do not think thee to be a thief. Probably
thou hast some story to tell that is not
one of theft. Acquaint me then with it.
- But the young man replied, O Emeer,
let nothing be imagined by thee, except
that which I have confessed to thee; for
I have no story to relate but this, that I
entered the house of these people, and stole
what I could, and they caught me, and
took the property from me, and conveyed
me unto thee. Upon this, therefore, Khá-
lid gave orders to imprison him, and com-
manded a crier to proclaim throughout
El-Basrah, Ho! whosoever desireth to wit-
ness the punishment of such-a-one, and the
cutting off of his hand, let him come in
the morning to such a place!
-
And when the young man had been a
while in the prison, and they had put the
irons upon his feet, he sighed heavily, shed
copious tears, and recited these verses:
Khalid hath threatened me with the cutting off
of my hand if I reveal not to him her
story;
But I said, Far be it from me that I should
reveal the love for her which my heart
entertaineth!
The cutting off of my hand for that which I
have confessed is easier to my heart than
disgracing her.
And the persons who were commissioned
to guard him, hearing this, came to Khá-
lid, and acquainted him with that which
he had said. So when the night grew
dark, he gave orders to bring him into his
presence; and on his coming before him, he
urged him to speak, and found him to be
sensible, well-bred, intelligent, polite and
discreet. He gave orders to bring him
food; and he ate, and conversed a while
with him; after which, Khalid said to him,
I know that thou hast a story to tell that is
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRTEENTH
1135
not one of theft: so when the morning
cometh, and the people are present, with
the Kádee, and he asketh thee respecting
the theft, deny it, and assert that which
may avert from thee the punishment of
amputation; for the Apostle of God (may
God bless and save him!) hath said, In
cases of doubt, avert the punishments fixed
by the law. He then gave orders to take
him back to the prison, where he remained
that night.
And in the morning the people came to
witness the amputation of the young man's
hand, and there was not any one in El-
Basrah, man or woman, who did not come
to behold the punishment of that young
man. Khalid mounted attended by the
chief persons of El-Basrah, and others, and,
having summoned the Kádees, gave orders
to bring the young man, who approached,
jumping in the chains; and not one of the
people beheld him without weeping for
him, and the voices of the women rose in
shrieks. So the [chief] Kádee commanded
to silence the women, and then said to
the young man, These people assert that
thou enteredst their house, and stolest their
property. Probably thou stolest less than
the nisáb. Nay, he replied, I stole a
complete nisáb. Probably, rejoined the
Kádee, thou art a partner of the people
in some of the property. But the young
man replied, Nay: the whole of it was
theirs: I had no right in it. And upon this,
Khalid was enraged, and came to him
and struck him upon the face with the
whip, repeating this verse as applicable to
his own case: -
---
Man desireth that his wish may be granted
unto him; but God refuseth all save what
Himself desireth.
He then called for the butcher, who came,
and drew forth the knife, and, stretching
forth the young man's hand, put the knife
upon it.
But a damsel hastened forward from the
midst of the women, clad in tattered and
dirty garments, and cried out, and threw
herself upon the young man; after which
she displayed a face like the moon; where-
upon a great clamour arose among the peo-
ple, and a fiery excitement of the passions
of the spectators well nigh ensued in con-
sequence of this spectacle. Then the dam-
sel cried out with her loudest voice, I
conjure thee by Allah, O Emeer, that
thou hasten not the amputation until thou
shalt have read this note. And she gave
him a note, which Khálid opened and
read, and, lo, in it were written these
verses:
O Khalid, this person is a distracted slave of
love, wounded by a glance shot from the
bows of my eye-lashes.
An arrow from my eye hath prostrated him;
for he is wedded to the ardour of love, and
recovereth not from his malady.
He hath avowed a deed that he had not com-
mitted, thinking this better than the dis-
grace of his enamoured.
Have patience then with the afflicted lover; for
he is one of the noble of mankind, not a
thief.
When Khalid, therefore, read the verses,
he withdrew, and separated himself from
the people, and, having summoned the
woman, inquired of her respecting the case.
So she informed him that this young man
was enamoured of her, and that she was
enamoured of him; and that he had re-
paired to the house of her family with the
desire of visiting her, and thrown a stone
into the house to acquaint her with his
arrival; but that her father and her broth-
ers heard the sound of the stone, and came
up to him; and when he perceived them,
he collected all the linen of the house,
making it appear to them that he was a
thief, in order to protect the honour of
his beloved. Therefore when they saw
him thus engaged, they took him and said,
This is a thief, and brought him to thee;
whereupon he confessed that he had com-
mitted theft, and persisted in doing so,
that he might not disgrace me. These
things he did, making himself a thief, from
the excess of his kindness, and the gen-
erosity of his mind.. And Khálid replied,
Verily he is worthy of the accomplishment
of his desire. Then having called the
young man to him, he kissed him between
the eyes; and he gave orders to bring be-
fore him the damsel's father, and said to
him, O sheykh, we had determined upon
the execution of the sentence upon this
young man by the amputation of his hand;
but God (to whom be ascribed might and
glory!) hath preserved me from that act;
and I have ordered that ten thousand pieces
of silver be given to him, for his generous
exposure of his hand in order to preserve
thy honour and the honour of thy daugh-
ter, and to protect you both from reproach.
I have ordered also that ten thousand pieces
of silver shall be given to thy daughter,
in consideration of her having informed
me of the truth of the affair; and I beg
that thou give me permission to marry
her to him. O Emeer, replied the sheykh,
I give thee permission to do so And Khá-
lid praised God, and thanked Him, and re-
cited an eloquent khutbeh; after which he
said to the young man, I marry to thee
this damsel, such-a-one, who is here pres-
ent, with her permission and consent, and
1136
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
4
with the permission of her father, for a
dowry consisting of this money, the amount
of which is ten thousand pieces of silver.
And the young man replied, I accept from
thee this offer of marriage. The Khalid
gave orders to carry the money to the
house of the young man, borne in pro-
cession, upon trays; and the people dis-
persed full of happiness. — I have not wit-
nessed (says the narrator) a day more
strange than that day, beginning with
weeping and misfortunes, and ending with
joy and happiness.
[In the following anecdote, mention is
made of an event of a most melancholy
nature, the knowledge of which has caused
me to derive less pleasure than I should
find, if ignorant of the fact, in many of
the best stories in the present collection;
and I therefore think that some of my
readers may prefer passing over it unread.]
The Token of the Bean
A Bedawce of a distant desert used every
year to bring an ode to Jaafar El-Bar-
mekee, who used to give him a thousand
pieces of gold as a largess for his ode;
and the Bedawee took the money and de-
parted, and remained expending from it
upon his family until the close of the year.
Now this Bedawee brought him the ode
according to his custom, and, when he
came, found Jaafar hanged; and he came
to the place where he was hanged, and
there, having made his camel lie down,
wept violently, mourned greatly, and re-
cited his ode, and slept. And in his sleep
he saw Jaafar El-Barmekee, who said to
him, Thou hast wearied thyself, and come
to us, and found us in the state thou seest:
but repair to El-Basrah, and inquire for
a man whose name is so-and-so, one of the
merchants of El-Basrah, and say to him,
Jaafar El-Barmekee saluteth thee, and saith
to thee, Give me a thousand pieces of gold,
by the token of the bean.
When the Bedawee, therefore, awoke
from his sleep, he repaired to El-Basrah,
and inquired for that merchant; and,
having met with him, he acquainted him
with the words that Jaafar had said
in the dream; whereupon the merchant
wept violently, so that his soul almost
quitted the world. He then treated the
Bedawee with honour, seating him by
him, and making his stay pleasant; and
the Bedawee remained with him three
days, honourably entertained. And when
he desired to depart, the merchant gave to
him a thousand and five hundred pieces
of gold, saying to him, The thousand are
what I am commanded to give thee, and
the five hundred are a present to thee from
myself, and thou shalt receive every year
a thousand pieces of gold.
And at his departure, the Bedawee said
to the merchant, I conjure thee by Allah
to acquaint me with the affair of the bean,
that I may know its foundation. So the
merchant replied, I was, at the commence-
ment of my career, in a state of poverty,
going about with hot beans through the
streets of Baghdad, and selling them as a
means of subsistence. And I went forth
on a cold and rainy day, without sufficient
clothing on my body to preserve me from
the bleakness of the air, now shivering from
the severity of the cold, and now falling
in the water of the rain, in so horrible a
state that the skin quaketh at thinking
upon it. Now Jaafar was sitting that day
in a pavilion overlooking the street, and
with him were his chief attendants and
concubines; and his eye fell upon me;
whereupon he was moved with pity for my
condition, and sent to me one of his ser-
vants, who took me and led me in to
him; and when he saw me, he said to me,
Sell the beans that thou hast with thee
to my attendants. So I began to mete
them with a measure that I had with me,
and every one who took a measure of
beans filled the measure with gold, until
all that I had with me was exhausted, and
there remained nothing in the basket [ex-
cept one bean]. Then I collected together
the gold that had accrued to me; and
Jaafar said to me, Doth aught of the beans
remain with thee? I answered, I know not.
And searching in the basket I found in it
nothing but one bean; whereupon Jaafar
took it from me, and split it in twain; and
he took one half of it, and gave the other
half to one of his concubines, saying, For
what sum wilt thou buy the half of this
bean? She answered, For twice the quan-
tity of this gold. So I was confounded at
my case, and said within myself, This is
impossible. But while I was wondering,
lo, the concubine gave orders to one of
her female slaves, who brought a quantity
of gold twice as much as that which was
already collected. Then Jaafar said, And
I will buy the half that I have taken for
twice the quantity of the whole. And he
said to me, Receive the price of thy bean.
And he gave orders to one of his servants,
who collected together the whole of the
money and put it into my basket; and I
took it and departed. After that, I came
to El-Basrah, and trafficked with the
money in my possession, and God gave me
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTEENTH
1137
ample wealth. To God therefore be praise
and thanks! So if I give thee every year
a thousand pieces of gold, derived from the
munificence of Jaafar, it injureth me not
at all. Observe, then, the generous dis-
position of Jaafar, and the praise bestowed
upon him living and dead. The mercy of
God (whose name be exalted!) be on him!
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTEENTH
NOTE 1. This story I suppose to be the
same as that which is entitled, in the list
of the contents of Von Hammer's MS., as
given by Trébutien, "Aboubekr Alkoz-
lan;" the surname, or nickname, which I
render the Lazy," being in my original
"El-Keslán."
66
NOTE 2. So in the two editions of Cairo
and Breslau; but what a white emerald is
I know not. Perhaps the word which I
have rendered "white may here signify
"bright."
NOTE 3. The battlements here men-
tioned (in the original, "sharáreef," plural
of shurráfeh,") are in general merely
ornamental, and of various different forms
in different buildings.
NOTE 4. The Arab cupper is generally
a barber, and shaving is a more common
operation in the bath than bleeding.
NOTE 5.
The "Zunooj," also called
Zinj" and "Zenj," are, properly speak-
ing, an Ethiopian nation, the inhabitants
of the country commonly called by us
"Zanguebar."
NOTE 6. By the term "possessions" we
may here understand property consisting
of houses, &c., such being the general mean-
ing of the word so rendered. "Raba" is
a term commonly applied to a range of
dwelling-rooms over shops or magazines.
NOTE 7. "Shereef " (signifying "noble "),
and "seyd" or "seyyid" ("master," or
"lord "), are titles given to any descend-
ant of the Prophet, however low his sta-
tion. Men and women of this caste
often contract marriages with persons who
are not members of the same; and as the
title of shereef is inherited from either
the father or the mother, the number of
persons who enjoy this distinction has
become very considerable. The men are
privileged to wear the green turban; but
not all of them do so. Many of the
women wear a green face-veil.
NOTE 8. "It is related that a rich
man informed his friends who were sitting
with him, that the mice had eaten an iron
utensil belonging to him, and they pro-
nounced his assertion to be true: then a
poor man told them that the mice had
eaten his palm-stick [or staff), and they
declared his assertion to be false. So he
said to them, How is it that ye do not
admit the truth of my assertion that the
mouse ate the palm-stick, and ye admit its
having eaten the iron?"
NOTE 9. By this description, El-Khidr
is evidently meant. See Note 2 to the
Introduction.
NOTE 10.
"Henád " I suppose to be an
imaginary name, as the city so called is
said to have been near to the regions of
the Jinn.
NOTE II.
The three anecdotes here fol-
lowing occupy the next place to the story
of Aboo-Mohammad the Lazy, and end
with part of the three hundred and eighth
Night.
The Generosity of Yahyà
It is related that Hároon Er-Rasheed
called for one of his guards, named Saleh,
before the period at which he became
changed against the Barmekees, and when
the man came before him he said to him,
O Sáleh, go to Mansoor, and say to him,
Thou owest us a million pieces of silver,
and we require that thou bring to us this
sum immediately. I command thee also,
O Saleh, that if this sum be not paid to
thee forthwith, before sunset, thou sever
his head from his body, and bring it to me.
- So Sáleh replied, I hear and obey. He
repaired to Mansoor, and informed him of
that which the Prince of the Faithful had
said; whereupon Mansoor exclaimed, I
perish, by Allah; for the price of all my
property and all that my hand possesseth,
if sold for its highest value, would not ex-
ceed a hundred thousand: how then, O
Sáleh, can I procure the remaining nine
1138
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hundred thousand pieces of silver? Sáleh
therefore said to him, Contrive for thyself
some stratagem by which thou mayest save
thyself quickly, or thou perishest; for I
cannot grant thee a moment's delay after
the period which the Khaleefch hath pre-
scribed me, nor can I fail in aught of that
which the Prince of the Faithful hath com-
manded me to do. Hasten then to employ
a stratagem by which to save thy life be-
fore the period shall have expired. - Man-
soor replied, O Sáleh, I beg thee of thy
kindness to take me to my house, that I
may bid farewell to my children and my
family, and give my directions to my rela-
tions. Accordingly, says Saleh, I went
with him to his house, and he began to
take leave of his family; and a clamour
arose in his abode, with weeping and cry-
ing, and supplication for the aid of God,
whose name be exalted!
-
-
Then Sáleh said to him, It hath occurred
to my mind that God may effect thy relief
by means of the Barmekees: so repair with
us to the house of Yahyà the son of Khá-
lid. And when they went to Yahyà the
son of Khálid, he acquainted him with his
case; whereat Yahyà grieved, and hung
down his head for a while towards the
ground; after which, he raised his head,
and, having called his treasurer, said to
him, How much money is in our treasury?
He answered, The sum of five thousand
pieces of silver. And Yahyà ordered him
to bring it. He then sent a messenger to
his son El-Fadl, with a note, the purport
of which was, There have been offered to
me for sale some estates of great value,
that will never be laid waste: so send to us
some money. And he sent to him a million
pieces of silver. Then he sent another man
to his son Jaafar, with a note, of which
the purport was this: We have an impor-
tant affair to transact, and want for that
purpose some money. And Jaafar sent to
him immediately a million pieces of silver.
And Yahyà continued to send messengers
to the Barmekees until he had collected
from them for Mansoor a great sum of
money. Sáleh and Mansoor, meanwhile,
knew not of this proceeding; and Mansoor
said to Yahyà, O my lord, I have laid hold
upon thy skirt, and I know not how to
procure this money but from thee, agree-
ably with thy usual generosity: complete
for me then the remainder of my debt, and
make me thine emancipated slave. And
Yahyà hung down his head and wept, and
said, O page, the Prince of the Faithful
presented to our slave-girl Denáneer a
jewel of great value. Repair then to her,
and tell her to send to us this jewel.
So
the page went, and brought it to him; and
he said, O Mansoor, I purchased this jewel
for the Prince of the Faithful from the
merchants for two hundred thousand pieces
of gold, and the Prince of the Faithful pre-
sented it to our slave-girl Denáneer, the
lute-player; and when he seeth it with thee,
he will know it, and will treat thee with
honour, and spare thy life on our account,
in honour of us; and thy money, O Man-
soor, is now complete.
So I carried the money and the jewel,
says Saleh, to Er-Rasheed, taking Mansoor
with me; but while we were on the way,
I heard him repeat this verse, applying it.
to his own case: -
It was not from love that my feet went towards
them; but because I feared to be smitten by
the arrows.
And I wondered at the wickedness of his
disposition, and his worthlessness and de-
pravity, and the baseness of his origin and
birth; and I retorted and said to him,
There is not upon the face of the earth
any one better than the Barmekees, nor
is there any more base or more evil than
thyself; for they bought thee off from
death, and saved thee from destruction,
bestowing upon thee the means of thy
deliverance, and thou hast not thanked
them nor praised them, nor behaved in
the manner of the ingenuous; but hast re-
quited their kindness with these words.
I then went to Er-Rasheed, and related to
him the story, acquainting him with all
that had happened; and Er-Rasheed won-
dered at the generosity of Yahyà, and his
munificence and kind disposition, and at the
vileness of Mansoor, and ordered that the
jewel should be restored to Yahyà the son
of Khalid, saying, Any thing we give unto
him, it is not fit that we revoke. And
Sáleh returned to Yahyà the son of Khá-
lid, and related to him the story of Man-
soor, acquainting him with his evil con-
duct. But Yahyà replied, O Sáleh, when a
man is in want, with a contracted heart
and with a troubled mind, for whatsoever
proceedeth from him he is not to be re-
proached; for it doth not come from his
heart. And he sought excuses for Mansoor.
And upon this, Sáleh wept, and said, The
revolutions of time will never bring about
the existence of a person like thee. Alas,
then, how can it be that one endowed with
a nature like thine and generosity like thine
shall be buried in earth! And he recited
these verses:
Hasten to accomplish any kind intention; for
it is not always that generosity can be ex-
ercised.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTEENTH
1139
•
ow many a man, when able, hath withheld
himself from an act of generosity till
poverty prevented him!
The Kindness of Yahyà
It is related also, that there existed, be-
veen Yahyà the son of Khálid, and 'Abd-
llah the son of Málik El-Khuza'ee, a
cret enmity, which neither of them mani-
sted; and the reason of this enmity be-
ween them was, that the Prince of the
ithful, Hároon Er-Rasheed, loved 'Abd-
lah the son of Málik so greatly as to
casion Yahyà the son of Khalid and his
ns to say, that 'Abd-Allah enchanted the
ince of the Faithful. Thus they con-
ued for a long time, with hatred in their
arts.
And it happened that Er-Rasheed be-
owed the government of Irmeeneeyeh
Don 'Abd-Allah the son of Málik El-
husá'ee, and despatched him thither. And
ter he had established himself there in
e seat of government, there came to him
man of the inhabitants of El-'Erák, of
rpassing good breeding, and acuteness
d intelligence; but his means had become
ntracted, and his wealth had passed
vay, and his prosperity had vanished: so
forged a letter in the name of Yahyà
e son of Khálid to 'Abd-Allah the son of
álik, and journeyed to him in Irmeenee-
h. On arriving at his door, he delivered
e letter to one of his chamberlains, who
ok the letter and delivered it to 'Abd-
lah the son of Málik El-Khuza'ee; and
opened it and read it, and, considering
he knew that it was forged. So he
ve orders to bring the man; and when
presented himself before him, he prayed
r him and praised him and the members
his court; and 'Abd-Allah the son of
álik said to him, What induced thee to
dergo this long toil, and to come to me
th a forged letter But be of good
art; for we will not disappoint thy
Dour. -The man replied, May God pro-
ng the life of our lord the Wezeer! If
y coming be troublesome to thee, employ
pretext to repel me; for God's earth is
de, and the Bestower of the means of
bsistence existeth: the letter that I have
ought to thee from Yahyà the son of
álid is genuine, not forged. — So 'Abd-
lah said, I will write a letter to my agent
Baghdad, and order him to inquire re-
ecting this letter that thou hast brought
me; and if it prove to be true and
nuine, not forged, I invest thee with the
vernment of one of my districts, or I
e thee two hundred thousand pieces of
ver, with horses and excellent camels of
-
high value, and an honorary gift besides,
if thou desire a present: but if the letter
prove to be forged, I give orders that thou
shalt be beaten with two hundred blows
of a staff, and that thy beard shall be
shaven. - Then 'Abd-Allah commanded
that he should be taken into a chamber;
and that what he required should be put
for him there until he should have ascer-
tained his case. After this, he wrote a
letter to his agent in Baghdád, the pur-
port whereof was as follows:
There hath come unto me a man with
a letter which he asserteth to be from
Yahya the son of Khálid, and I have an
evil opinion of this letter. It is therefore
necessary that thou neglect not this affair;
but go thyself and ascertain the case of this
letter, and hasten to send me a reply, that
we may know the truth or the falsity of
the matter.
So when the letter was brought to him
in Baghdad, he mounted immediately, and
repaired to the mansion of Yahyà the son
of Khalid. He found him sitting with his
boon-companions and chief attendants, and
he saluted him, and delivered to him the
letter; and Yahyà the son of Khalid read
it, and said to the agent, Return to me
to-morrow, that I may write for thee the
answer. Then looking towards his boon-
companions, after the departure of the
agent, he said, What shall be the recom-
pense of him who beareth a letter forged
in my name, and taketh it to mine enemy?
And every one of the boon-companions of-
fered some opinion, and each of them pro-
posed some kind of punishment. But
Yahyà said to them, Ye have erred in
that which ye have proposed, and this ad-
vice which ye have given hath arisen from
the baseness and meanness of your minds.
Ye all know the close favour in which
'Abd-Allah is held by the Prince of the
Faithful, and ye know the wrath and
enmity that subsisteth between me and
him. Now God (whose name be exalted!)
hath made this man a means of effecting a
reconciliation between us, and hath fitted
him for that purpose, and appointed him
to extinguish the fire of hatred in our
hearts, which hath been increasing for a
period of twenty years; and by his inter-
vention our affairs shall be peaceably ad-
justed. It is incumbent on me to satisfy
this man by verifying his opinions and
amending his circumstances; and I will
I write for him a letter to 'Abd-Allah the
son of Málik El-Khuzá'ee, to the effect
that he shall treat him with increased
honour, and continue to exalt and respect
him. And when the boon-companions
-
1140
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS
heard this, they invoked blessings upon
him, and wondered at his generosity and
the abundance of his kindness. He then
demanded the paper and the inkhorn, and
wrote to 'Abd-Allah the son of Málik a
letter in his own hand, of the following
purport:
In the name of God, the Compassionate,
the Merciful. Thy letter hath arrived:
may God prolong thy life! and I have read
it, and rejoiced at thy safety, and been
delighted at the tidings of thy well-being
and thy general prosperity. Now thou
imaginedst that that ingenuous man forged
a letter as from me, and did not bear an
epistle from me: but the case was not so;
for the letter I myself wrote, and it was
not forged; and I hope from thy liberality
and kindness and excellence of disposition
that thou wilt satisfy the hope and wish
of that ingenuous and generous man, and
regard him with the respect that he
meriteth, and cause him to attain his de-
sire, and make him a particular object of
overflowing kindness and abundant favour;
and whatsoever thou dost for him, I shall
regard myself as the object of it, and shall
be thankful to thee.
Then he directed the letter and sealed it
and delivered it to the agent. So the agent
sent it to 'Abd-Allah, who, when he read
it, was delighted at its contents, and, hav-
ing caused that man to be brought to him,
said to him, Whichever of the two things
that I promised thee is the more agreeable
to thee I will present to thee. And the
man replied, The gift will be more agree-
able to me than any thing else. Accord-
ingly, 'Abd-Allah gave orders to present
him with two hundred thousand pieces of
silver, and ten Arab horses, five of them
with housings of silk, and five with jewelled
saddles such as are used in processions of
state, and with twenty chests of clothes,
and ten memlooks, horsemen, together with
what was appropriate of costly jewels.
Then he bestowed upon him a dress of
honour, and sent him to Baghdad magni-
ficently equipped.
When he arrived, therefore, at Baghdad,
he repaired to the door of the mansion of
Yahyà the son of Khalid before he went to
his family, and he begged permission to go
in to him. So the chamberlain went in to
Yahyà, and said to him, O our lord, at our
door is a man of respectable appearance
and comely form and good condition, with
a number of pages, desiring to come in to
thee. And he gave him permission to
enter; and when he came in to him, he
kissed the ground before him, and Yahyà
said to him, Who art thou? The man
answered, O master, I am he who was kille
by the tyranny of fortune, and thou has
brought me to life from the grave C
calamities, and raised me to the paradise o
desires. I am he who forged a letter in th
name, and conveyed it to 'Abd-Allah th
son of Málik El-Khuzá'ee. And what
said Yahyà, hath he done with thee; an
what hath he given to thee? He answered
He gave me of the benefits proceeding from
thy liberality and benevolence, and thy
comprehensive favours and universal gen
erosity, and thy magnanimity and ample
bounty, so that he enriched me, and he dis
tinguished me by especial beneficence, and
bestowed presents upon me; and I have
brought all his gifts and his presents; they
are at the door, and the case is submitted
unto thee, to decide upon it as thou wilt.
Upon this Yahyà replied, The action that
thou hast done for me is better than that
which I have performed for thee, and thou
art entitled to abundant thanks from me,
and great bounty, since thou hast changed
the enmity that subsisted between me and
that highly-revered man into sincere friend-
ship and affection. I will therefore give
thee the like of that which 'Abd-Allah the
son of Málik hath given the. He then
ordered that he should be presented with
money and horses, and chests of clothing,
such as 'Abd-Allah had bestowed upon
him; and thus that man's original pros-
perity was restored to him by the kindness
of these two generous men.
El-Ma-moon and the Learned Man
It is said that there was not among the
Khaleefehs of the descendants of El-'Abbas
any more learned in all the sciences than
El-Ma-moon. On two days in every week,
he used to preside at discussions of the
learned men; and the professors of religion
and law, and the scholastic theologians, by
whom the discussions were carried on, used
to sit in his presence according to their
several ranks and degrees. Now on one
occasion, while he was sitting with them,
there came in to his assembly a stranger,
clad in white, tattered clothing, who seated
himself at the lower end, behind the pro-
fessors, in an obscure place. And when
they began the discussion, and entered upon
the consideration of the different proposi-
tions, it being their custom to submit the
proposition to the members of the assembly
one after another, and for each who could
offer some quaint addition to what others
advanced, or some extraordinary, witty
saying, to mention it, the question was
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTEENTH
1141
proposed to them by turns until it came to
that stranger; whereupon he gave a reply
better than the replies of all the professors;
and the Khaleefeh approved it, and ordered
that he should be raised from the place
that he had taken to a higher one. Then,
when the second question came to him, he
zave a reply better than the first; and El-
Ma-moon ordered that he should be raised
to a place of higher dignity. And when
the third question went round, he gave a
reply better and more just than the two
ormer replies; upon which El-Ma-moon
ordered that he should sit near unto him-
self. And after the discussion was ended,
he attendants brought the water, and the
quests washed their hands; and they
rought the repast, and they ate.
The professors then arose and went
orth; but El-Ma-moon prevented the
stranger from going out with them; he
caused him to draw near unto him, and
reated him with courtesy, promising him
o bestow favours and benefactions upon
im. And after this, the banquet of wine
vas prepared, the comely boon-companions
ame, and the wine circulated; but when it
ame round to that man, he rose upon his
eet, and said, If the Prince of the Faithful
ive me permission, I will speak one word.
El-Ma-moon replied, Say what thou wilt.
nd he said, The possessor of eminent judg-
nent (whose eminence may God increase!)
noweth that the slave was to-day, in this
oble assembly, one of the obscure among
he people, and one of the mean among the
company, and that the Prince of the Faith-
ful hath raised him to a place near unto his
own person, small as is the wisdom that he
hath displayed, and hath elevated him to a
rank above others, so that he hath attained
to a goal to which his ambition did not
aspire; and now he desireth to divest him
of that small degree of wisdom which hath
exalted him after his meanness, and en-
riched him after his poverty. But may
God forbid, and by no means suffer, that
the Prince of the Faithful should envy him
for the small degree of wisdom and fame
and excellence that he possesseth; for if
the slave drink wine, wisdom will depart
far from him, and ignorance will draw near
to him, and he will be deprived of his
politeness, and will return to his former
contemptible station, and become despicable
and obscure in the eyes of men. I there-
fore hope that the possessor of eminent
judgment, of his bounty and generosity and
princely qualities and excellent disposition,
will not despoil him of this jewel. And
when the Khaleefeh El-Ma-moon heard
these words from him, he praised him and
thanked him, caused him to sit again in his
place and treated him with respect, gave
orders to present him with a hundred thou-
sand pieces of silver and to mount him
upon a horse, and gave him magnificent
apparel. And in every assembly he exalted
and favoured him above all the professors,
so that he became the highest of them in
rank and degree. And God is all-know-
ing.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTEENTH
NOTE 1. Though the scenes of this story
re Khurásán and some neighbouring
ountry, in, or adjacent to, the north or
orth-east of Persia, its character through-
ut is Arabian.
NOTE 2.
lory of the Religion."
"Mejd-ed-Deen" signifies "the
NOTE 3. On this first occasion of the
ention of 'Alee Shér, the surname (Shér)
omitted in the edition from which I
anslate; namely, that of Cairo. As there
fterwards written, this surname may be
ronounced either "Shár" or (by what is
ermed "imáleh ") "Shér: " but the latter
the preferable pronounciation; as the
ord is evidently the Persian Shér,"
signifying "a Lion." In the edition of
Breslau it is "Sheer," or "Sheyr."
NOTE 4. This couplet has occurred be-
fore: so also have the sixth in the same
paragraph, slightly varied, and the eighth,
and one in my original which I omit be-
cause it is similar to the eighth, which it
immediately follows.
66
NOTE 5.
A person who only tastes a
thing may find sweetness in it, when it is
bitter at the heart. Dhaka," in the
original, is put, by an error of the com-
positor, for "Dhaka."
NOTE 6. See Note 42 to Chapter x.
1142
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 7.
erald."
"Zumurrud" signifies
NOTE 8. "Rasheed-ed-Deen "
"Em-
signifies,
in this case," Rightly directed in Religion,"
Orthodox."
or
"6
NOTE 9. The Arabs in general entertain
a prejudice against blue eyes; a prejudice
said to have arisen from the great number
of blue-eyed persons among certain of their
northern enemies.
NOTE 10. She compares the old man's
mustaches to cotton, with which the
nostrils, &c., of a corpse are stuffed. (See
the second paragraph of Note II to Chap-
ter vi.) From this it appears that the
Arabs sometimes stuff the mouth of a
corpse with cotton; but I have never heard
of their doing so.
NOTE II. Slapping the back of the neck
is a common Arab custom, like slapping the
face, or boxing the ears, in England; and
beating with the shoe or slipper is one of
the greatest insults that an Arab can offer.
-The verse to which this note refers is,
in my original, immediately followed by
one too coarse to be translated.
NOTE 12. The Prophet forbade the dye-
ing of the hair black.
NOTE 13. The puppetmen here men-
tioned are the exhibitors of what we term
"Chinese shadows," a show common in
Arabian and other Eastern countries.
NOTE 14. See Note 81 to Chapter v.
NOTE 15. "Selsebeel" is the name of a
fountain in Paradise.
NOTE 16. See Note 53 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 17. See Note 48 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 18. Seven different styles of writ-
ing are used by the Arabs in the present
day. Herbin has given descriptions and
specimens of them in an Essay on Oriental
Caligraphy at the end of his "Dévelop-
pemens des Principes de la Langue Arabe
Moderne."
-
NOTE 19. On the Occupations of the
Hareem. Next to the service of her hus-
band or master, the care of her children, and
attending to other indispensable domestic
duties, the most important occupation of
the wife or concubine-slave is that of spin-
ning or weaving or needle-work. "Sitting
for an hour employed with the distaff is
better for women," said the Prophet, "than
a year's worship; and for every piece of
cloth woven of the thread spun by them
they shall receive the reward of a martyr."
'Áïsheh, the Prophet's wife, thus declared
the merit of spinning: "Tell the women
what I say. There is no woman who spins
until she hath clothed herself but all the
angels in the Seven Heavens pray for for-
giveness of her sins; and she will go forth
from her grave on the day of judgment
wearing a robe of Paradise, and with a veil
upon her head, and before her shall be an
angel, and on her right an angel who will
hand her a draught of the water of Selse-
beel; and another angel will come to her,
and carry her upon his wings, and bear her
to Paradise. And when she enters Paradise,
eighty thousand maidens will meet her,
each maiden bringing a different robe; and
she will have mansions of emeralds with
three hundred doors, at each of which
doors will stand an angel with a present
from the Lord of the Throne."- The arts
above mentioned are pursued by the
females in the hareems of the middle and
higher classes. "Their leisure hours are
mostly spent in working with the needle;
particularly in embroidering handkerchiefs,
head-veils, &c., upon a frame called
'mensej,' with coloured silks, and gold.
Many women, even in the houses of the
wealthy, replenish their private purses by
ornamenting handkerchiefs and other
things in this manner, and employing a
delláleh (or female broker) to take them to
the market, or to other hareems, for sale."
Thus it was in ancient Greece. We are
told of Andromache, that -
Far in the close recesses of the dome.
Pensive she ply'd the melancholy loom;
A growing work employ'd her secret hours,
Confus'dly gay with intermingled flow'rs.
Of
Such also, until the decline of the Empire.
was the habit of the Roman matrons.
Augustus it is said, that his ordinary ap-
parel was entirely of the manufacture of
his wife, sister, daughter, and nieces.
a
NOTE 20. The word which I render "
tributary" (namely, "dhimmee,") signi-
fies a client of the state, or one who, by
paying an annual tribute, is entitled to the
protection of the Muslims and to most of
the civil rights which the latter enjoy.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTEENTH
1143
NOTE 21. On the Obligation imposed
by eating Bread and Salt. The obligation
which is imposed by eating another person's
bread and salt, or salt alone, or eating such
things with another, is well known; but the
following example of it may be new to
some readers. Yaakoob the son of El-
Leys Es-Saffár, having adopted a preda-
tory life, excavated a passage one night into
the palace of Dirhem the Governor of
Sijistán, or Seestán; and after he had
"made up a convenient bale of gold and
jewels, and the most costly stuffs, was pro-
ceeding to carry it off, when he happened
in the dark to strike his foot against some-
thing hard on the floor. Thinking it might
be a jewel of some sort or other, a diamond
perhaps, he picked it up and put it to his
tongue, and, to his equal mortification and
disappointment, found it to be a lump of
rock-salt; for having thus tasted the salt
of the owner, his avarice gave way to his
respect for the laws of hospitality; and
throwing down his precious booty, he left
it behind him, and withdrew empty-handed
to his habitation. The treasurer of Dirhem
repairing the next day, according to custom,
to inspect his charge, was equally surprised
and alarmed at observing that a great part
of the treasure and other valuables had
been removed; but on examining the pack-
age which lay on the floor, his astonish-
ment was not less, to find that not a single
article had been conveyed away. The sing-
ularity of the circumstance induced him
to report it immediately to his master:
and the latter causing it to be proclaimed
throughout the city, that the author of this
proceeding had his free pardon, further an-
nounced, that on repairing to the palace,
he would be distinguished by the most
encouraging marks of favour." Yaakoob
availed himself of the invitation, relying
upon the promise which was fulfilled to
him; and from this period he gradually rose
in power until he became the founder of a
Dynasty.
NOTE 22. The Prophet is often invoked
as an intercessor but not otherwise.
NOTE 23. Nearly the same couplet has
occurred before. The idea expressed in the
latter part of the first verse is found in a
couplet in Dryden's Spanish Friar:
There is a pleasure sure in being mad
Which none but madmen know:
and in Cowper's Task we have the fol-
lowing:
There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which none but poets know:
upon which Mr. Keightley
66
remarks,
Though I think there is imitation here, I
would not positively assert it."
NOTE 24. This is, as my sheykh states
in a marginal note, the tradition of the
Prophet, namely, his saying, "Whoso is in
love, and acteth chastely, and concealeth
[his passion], and dieth, dieth a martyr."
NOTE 25. The kind of broom here men-
tioned, called "mikashsheh," is short and
flat and is sometimes made of the thickest
part of a palm-stick; the larger portion of
which, being soaked, is beaten until the
fibres separate.
NOTE 26. From this question it seems
that she feared he might be a Jinnee.
NOTE 27. "Kurdee" is the appellation
of an individual of the nation called "El-
Kurd," whose country, "Kurdistan," is on
the south of Armenia. Saláh-ed-Deen
(commonly called by Europeans "Sala-
din ") was of this nation. 'Jawán" is
a Persian word, from the same root as the
Latin "juvenis," and has the same mean-
ing.
NOTE 28. On feasts of this kind, see
Note 7 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 29. A "hashshásh" is a person
addicted to the intoxicating hemp, called
"hasheesh" and "hasheesheh." - See Note
46 to Chapter ii., and the fourth paragraph
of Note 22 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 30. "Kishk " (as the word is
commonly pronounced, but properly
"keshik,") is prepared from wheat, first
moistened, then dried, trodden in a vessel
to separate the husks, and coarsely ground
with a hand-mill: the meal is mixed with
milk, and about six hours afterward is
spooned out upon a little straw or bran,
and then left for two or three days to dry.
When required for use, it is either soaked
or pounded, and put into a sieve, over a
vessel; and then boiling water is poured
on it. What remains in the sieve is thrown
away: what passes through is generally
poured into a saucepan of boiled meat or
fowl, over the fire. Some leaves of white
bete, fried in butter, are usually added to
each plate of it.
NOTE 31. See Note 55 to Chapter ii.,
and Note 98 to Chapter x.
1144
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 32. The narrator uses this expres-
sion, fearing to say, "I am a Christian,"
even in repeating the words of another. -
See Note 8 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 33. This expression again, like
that just noticed, is worthy of remark.
If a man, reading this work aloud, said,
"Divorcement shall be incumbent upon me
if henceforth I eat of sweet rice," some
persons, having heard him say so, might
swear that he applied the words seriously
to himself, and had thereby bound himself
to divorce his wife if ever he ate of that
dish. See Note 48 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 34.
'Hájj " signifies "pilgrim,"
and is the usual Arab title of one who has
performed the pilgrimage to Mekkeh and
Mount 'Arafát. The Turks and Persians
use instead of it, the synonymous Arabic
word "hájjee."
NOTE 35: "Biting one's hand" is a
common expression of the Arabs similar to
ours of " biting one's lip."
NOTE 36. The streets being deserted by
the men of the city, it was a fit opportunity
for the women to look out from the win-
dows, and for those who were neighbours
thus to converse with each other.
NOTE 37. See above, Note 29.
NOTE 38. "His hand descends into the
dish resembling the foot of a raven [with
the thumb and first and second fingers
nearly joined, and the other fingers turned
up towards the palm of the hand], and
comes up [so full that it is] like the foot
of a camel," is a common proverb, applied
to a coarse glutton. See Burckhardt's
'Arabic Proverbs," No. 756.
66
NOTE 39. Properly, "Rustam "
(the
name of the most celebrated of the Persian
heroes); but pronounced by the Arabs, and
generally, I believe, by the Turks, "Rus-
tum."
NOTE 40. The words here rendered "I
am of their number" also signify, "I am
at the point of death," or
in the
agonies of death; " but the first is my
sheykh's reading, and is more logical.
NOTE 41. The Sirát is the bridge which
all must pass on the day of judgment, ex-
tending over the midst of Hell, finer than
a bair, and sharper than the edge of a
sword.
NOTE 42. See Note 55 to Chapter iii.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
NOTE I. - Invention of the Air-bed.
Hároon Er-Rasheed seems to have been,
like many other Easterns, much troubled
with sleeplessness. The usual means em-
ployed to relieve or divert a person thus
suffering are story-telling, music, and a
gentle kneading or pressing of the flesh;
and for the same purpose the air-bed was
invented. El-Makreezee relates, in his ac-
count of the constructions of Khumára-
weyh (the Governor of Egypt), the son of
Ahmad, the son of Tooloon, that upon his
complaining of excessive sleeplessness, his
physician advised him to make a pool of
quicksilver. This pool he made in front
of his palace, which was in the place now
called the Rumeyleh: it was fifty cubits in
length and the same in breadth; and its
construction, and the filling it with quick-
silver, cost a great sum of money. At the
corners of the pool were pegs of pure silver,
to which were attached, by rings of silver,
strong bands of silk; and a bed of skins,
inflated with air, being thrown upon the
pool and secured in the midst of it by the
bands of silk, remained in a continual state
of agreeable vacillation while the Prince lay
upon it.
66
NOTE 2. << İbn " signifies "son;" and
Ibn-Mansoor," "the Son of Mansoor."
NOTE 3. This is, of course, a monstrous
exaggeration.
NOTE 4. So in the edition of Breslau.
In the Cairo edition, "like two uk-
howánehs." This name is generally given
to the chamomile.
NOTE 5. See Note 43 to Chapter x.
NOTE 6. "Lutf" signifies
delicacy," &c.
"elegance,"
NOTE 7. We may suppose that he had
learnt this of some passenger.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
1145
NOTE 8. See Note 34 to Chapter x.
NOTE 9.
Nearly the same couplet has
Occurred before. See Note 19 to Chapter
II.
NOTE 10. 'Benee-Sheybán " is the name
of two tribes of Arabs.
NOTE 11. See Note 112 to Chapter xi.
NOTE 12. "Khoolenj," also written
khalenj," is explained in dictionaries as
the name of a tree from which wooden
bowls are made.
NOTE 13. The word which I render
"cranes " ("gharáneek") may perhaps
here signify some other kind of long-necked
aquatic birds. That which I render "por-
" is "sekáreej," plural of "sukroo-
ringers
jeh," also written "sukrujeh," and "sujur-
jeh," of Persian origin: the meaning which
I have given to it (and which I find in a
MS. dictionary of my own) appears to
have been unknown to my sheykh. On
the "sikbáj see Note 98 to Chapter v.;
but, I may add, there are other kinds of
sikbáj than that which is there mentioned:
vinegar, I believe, enters into the composi-
tion of all. Instead of "mourn over," we
may read "call; " but I prefer the former
sense, as it implies the celebration of the
excellencies of that which is mourned over.
The "katà" is a kind of grouse, and has
been before mentioned. The "browned
meat" (in the original, "mohammar,") is
meat cut into small pieces, and fried for a
long time, till it becomes of a reddish-
brown colour. Four other verses follow
in the original; but I have omitted them in
my text, as I consider them inappropriate,
and of little merit. I however insert them
here:
-
O the sighing of my heart for two dishes of
fish that were placed by a cake of new
bread on the stairs!
God be praised for the supper! How excellent
it was, with the pulse steeped in the vinegar
of the jars,
And the rice dressed with buffalo's milk, in
which hands were plunged even to the arm-
lets!
O my soul, be patient; for God is bountiful:
if thy means be narrow, He will give thee
relief.
NOTE 14. "Such is the custom of men;
when any one acteth ill towards them, they
revile both him and every one who cometh
from his country."
NOTE 15. He who dieth of love will
enjoy Paradise. See Note 24 to Chapter
XV.
NOTE 16. That is, forget not to beg
mercy for me.
NOTE 17. Lám and Alif, when not
united with any other letter, generally
have the form of two nearly upright
strokes, crossing each other obliquely, and
connected at the feet.
NOTE 18. This phrase (in the original,
"zálet 'anhu 'illetu-lledhee lá yensarif "),
which I have freely rendered, bears an-
other meaning, and conveys an allusion to
a rule of grammar, with which the Arabic
scholar is acquainted, and of which others
will not require an explanation.
NOTE 19. On the Festival of the New-
year's-days. The Festival of the New-
year's-days, commencing at the Vernal
Equinox, is generally said to have been of
Persian origin; but I think it not improb-
able that it originated from the Jewish
Passover. It was the principal festival
among the ancient Persians, and continued
six days. On the first [called by them
'Now-róz,' and by the Arabs 'Norooz,']
the King gave his chief attention to pro-
mote the happiness of the body of the
people; on the second, he entertained the
doctors and astrologers; on the third, the
priests, and counsellors of state; on the
fourth, the princes of the blood, and
grandees; on the fifth, the royal children;
and on the sixth, which was considered as
the King's particular day, his subjects
made him free gifts agreeable to their
rank. On the eve of the Now-róz, a young
man of an elegant figure, personating the
new year, was stationed at the door of the
royal bedchamber, which he entered with-
out ceremony the moment the sun ap-
peared above the horizon. The King, im-
mediately addressing him, said, 'What art
thou? Whence dost thou come? Whither
dost thou go? What is' thy name? Where-
fore dost thou approach? And what dost
thou bring? To which he answered, 'I
am the fortunate and the blessed: I am
sent hither by God, and bring with me the
new year.' Then sitting down, another
appeared with a large silver dish, in which
were wheat, barley, peas, vetches, sesame,
and rice (seven ears and nine grains of
each), with a lump of sugar, and two new-
coined pieces of gold, which, as an offering,
were placed before the King. Then entered
the prime-minister, the general of the
forces, the lord high treasurer, and the
superintendent of war; after whom fol-
lowed the nobles and people, according to
their dignity and respective classes. A
1146
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
large loaf, made of the above-mentioned
grains, being then presented to the King,
after eating part of it he offered some to
those who were around him, saying, 'This
is the new day, of the new month, of the
new year, of the new time; when all things
consistent with time must be renewed.'
Then investing his nobles with rich robes,
he blessed and distributed amongst them
the presents which had been brought. The
origin of this solemnity is carried up to one
of their ancient Kings, called Jemshed,
who then made his first public entry into
Istakhr (Persepolis), which he had just
finished; and, amongst other regulations,
ordered that the Persian era should com-
mence from that day."
A custom similar to that described in
the passage to which this note refers pre-
vails at the present day in Egypt. It is
termed "Shemm en-Naseem" (or "the
Smelling of the Zephyr "), and is observed
on the first day of the Khamàseen, which
is a period of forty-nine days (when hot
southerly winds are of frequent occurrence),
commencing on the day immediately fol-
lowing the Coptic festival of Easter Sun-
day, and terminating on the Day of Pen-
tecost, or Whit Sunday. Early in the
morning of the first day of this period,
many persons, especially women, break an
onion, and smell it; and in the course of
the forenoon, many of the citizens of Cairo
ride or walk a little way into the country,
or go in boats, generally northwards, to
take the air, or, as they term it, smell the
air, which, on that day, they believe to
have a wonderfully beneficial effect. The
greater number dine in the country, or on
the river. The 'ulamà (or learned), how-
ever, have their Shemm en-Naseem at a
fixed period of the solar year; the first
three days of the spring-quarter corre-
sponding with the Persian Now-róz.
Having mentioned the period of the
Khamáseen, I may add that I believe it has
been called by all European writers who
have mentioned it, except myself, "el-
Khamseen," or by the same term differently
expressed, signifying "the Fifty: " i. e.
"the Fifty Days; " but it is always termed
by the Arabs "el-Khamáseen," which sig-
nifies" the Fifties," being a vulgar plural of
"Khamseen." In like manner, the Arabs
call the corresponding period of the Jewish
calendar by a term exactly agreeing with
"el-Khamáseen; namely "el-Kham-
seenát;" only its last day being termed
"el-Khamseen;" as may be seen in an
extract from El-Makreezee, given by De
Sacy. This eminent orientalist, however,
appears to have had no authority but that
33
of Europeans for the name of the above-
mentioned period of the Coptic calendar;
for he has followed the travellers, and
written it "khamsin."
NOTE 20. This story is followed by six-
teen anecdotes, ending with part of the
three hundred and fifty-seventh night;
eleven of which I translate, and here insert.
Freaks of Fortune
It is related that a man was burdened
with numerous debts, and his circum-
stances became strait unto him; so he left
his people and his family, and went forth
wandering in perplexity and at random.
He ceased not to proceed until he ap-
proached, after a length of time, a city with
lofty walls, and great buildings, and he
entered it in a state of abasement and de-
spondency. His hunger had become violent,
and the journey had wearied him; and as
he walked through one of its great thor-
oughfare-streets, he saw a company of
the great passing along; whereupon he pro-
ceeded with them until they entered an
abode resembling the abode of Kings, and
he entered with them, and they went in
until they came to a man sitting at the
upper end of the mansion. He was of
magnificent appearance, and great dignity,
and surrounded by pages and servants as
though he were of the sons of the wezeers;
and when he saw the party he rose to them,
and treated them with respectful hospi-
tality. So trouble of mind overcame the
man above mentioned at witnessing this
thing, and he was confounded at that which
he beheld of the beauty of the building,
and the servants and dependants.
therefore drew back, in perplexity and dis-
tress, fearing for himself, until he seated
himself in a place alone, remote from the
people, that no one might see him. And
while he was sitting, lo, there approached a
man with whom were four dogs, of the
dogs of the chase, decked with varieties of
silk and brocade, and having, upon their
necks, collars of gold with chains of silver;
and he chained each of them in a separate
place. Then he went away, and returned
bringing to each dog a dish of gold full of
rich food, and he put before each of them
his separate dish, and departed and left
them. This man therefore began to look
at the food, on account of the violence of
his hunger, and desired to advance to one
of the dogs and to eat with him: but his
fear of them prevented him. Presently,
however, one of the dogs looked at him.
He
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
1147
and God (whose name be exalted!) in-
spired him with a knowledge of his case:
so he drew back from the dish, and made a
sign to the man, who thereupon ap-
proached, and ate until he was satisfied,
when he would have departed; but the dog
made a sign to him that he should take the
dish, with the food remaining in it, for him-
self, and pushed it towards him with his
fore-paw. He therefore took it, and went
forth from the house, and proceeded with-
out any one following him.
He then journeyed to another city, where
he sold the dish and, having purchased
merchandise with its price, returned with
it to his own town. There he sold what
he had brought, and discharged the debts
that he owed, and his wealth increased so
that he became in a state of abundant
affluence and perfect prosperity; and he
ceased not to reside in his town for a
length of time; after which, he said within
himself, I must journey to the city of the
owner of the dish, and take for him a
handsome and suitable present, and pay
him the price of the dish which one of his
dogs bestowed upon me.
Then he took a
present befitting that person, and took with
him the price of the dish, and set forth on
his journey.
He ceased not in his journey days and
nights until he arrived at that city, and
he entered it, desiring to meet with the
man; and he walked along its great thor-
oughfare-streets until he approached his
abode. But he saw nothing of it save
mouldering ruins, and a raven uttering its
lamentable cry, and dwelling-places ren-
dered desolate, and circumstances changed,
and a state of things so altered as not to
be recognized; whereupon his heart and
soul were agitated, and he recited the words
of the poet: -
---
The recesses are devoid of their hidden treas
ures, as hearts are devoid of sciences and
piety;
And the valley is changed altogether, and its
gazelles are not those antelopes, nor is its
sand-heap that sand-heap.
And the saying of another:
The phantom of Soadà came by night to rouse
me, towards morning, while my companions
were sleeping in the desert:
But when we awoke to behold the nightly phan
tom, I saw the air vacant, and the place of
visitation distant.
And when that man beheld those moulder-
ing ruins, and saw what the hands of
fortune had openly done unto them, and
found of the substance nothing but traces,
knowledge rendered it needless for him to
ask information. He then looked aside, and
saw a miserable man, in a state that made
the skin to quake at it, and rock to be
moved with sympathy for it; and he said,
O thou! what have fortune and time done
with the master of this place, and where
are his shining full moons and brilliant
stars, and what hath been the cause of the
event that hath happened unto his struc-
tures, that there remaineth of them naught
save the walls? He answered, He is this
miserable wretch whom thou seest, sigh-
ing on account of that which hath come
upon him. But knowest thou not (he
added) that in the saying of the Apostle is
a lesson to him who would follow it, and
an admonition to him who would be
directed aright, his saying (God bless
and save him!), Verily it is the way of God
(whose name be exalted!) not to elevate
any thing of this world without afterwards
bringing it down? If thou inquire respect-
ing the cause of this event, there is noth-
ing in the vicissitudes of fortune wonderful.
I was the master of this place, and its
founder and proprietor and builder, and
the possessor of its shining full moons and
magnificent appurtenances and splendid
rarities and beautiful slave-girls: fortune
however hath turned from me, and taken
away the servants and the wealth, and re-
duced me to this present condition, and
brought upon me events that it before kept
concealed. But there must be a cause for
this thine inquiry. Acquaint me then with
it, and cease to wonder. So the man
acquainted him with the whole affair, being
the while in grief and distress, and said
to him, I have brought thee a present such
as souls desire, and the price of thy dish
of gold that I took, for it was the cause of
enriching me after my poverty, and of the
replenishment of my abode after it was
desolate, and of the dissipation of the
anxiety and straitness that I suffered. But
the other man shook his head, and wept
and sighed and lamented, and said, O thou!
I imagine thou art a madman: for this
conduct proceedeth not from a man of
sense. How should one of our dogs make
thee a present of a dish of gold, and I take
it back? My taking back that which my
dog hath presented would be wonderful;
and were I in the severest anxiety and dis-
ease, by Allah there should not find accep-
tance with me, from thee, any thing of the
value of a nail-paring. So go to the place
whence thou camest, in health and safety.
- The man therefore kissed his feet, and
went forth on his return, praising him; and
on parting with him, and taking leave of
him, recited this verse: -
1148
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The men and the dogs are gone together; and
on the men and the dogs be peace!
- And God is all-knowing.
The Daring Sharper
There was, in the fortified coast-town of
Alexandria, a Walee named Hosám-ed-
Deen; and as he was sitting in his seat of
office one night, there came to him a
trooper, who said to him, Know, O our
lord the Wálee, that I entered this city in
the present night, and took up my lodging
in such a Khán, and slept there until a
third of the night had passed; and when I
awoke, I found my pair of saddle-bags cut
open, and there had been stolen from it a
purse containing a thousand pieces of gold.
And his words were not ended when the
Wálee sent, and caused the Mukaddams to
come before him, and ordered them to
bring all who were in the Khán, command-
ing them also to imprison those persons till
the morning. So when the morning came,
he gave orders to bring the instruments of
punishment. He then caused those men to
be brought before him in the presence of
the trooper, the owner of the money, and
was about to punish them.
But, lo, a man approached, forcing his
way among the people until he stood before
the Wálee and the trooper; and he said,
O Emeer, release all these people; for they
are unjustly treated: I am the person who
took the property of this trooper, and here
is the purse that I took from his saddle-
bags. Then he produced it from his sleeve,
and placed it before the Wálee and the
trooper. So the Wálee said to the trooper,
Receive thy property and take possession
of it, and thou hast nothing further to de-
mand of the people. And those people, and
all who were present, began to praise that
man, and to pray for him. But the man
said, O Emeer, there was no cleverness in
my presenting myself before thee, and
bringing this purse: rather there would be
cleverness in taking this purse a second
time from this trooper.- And how, said
the Wálee, didst thou do, O sharper, when
thou tookest it?
-
O Emeer, he answered, I was standing in
Cairo in the market of the money-changers,
and saw this trooper when he took this
gold in change and put it into the purse;
and I followed him from by-street to by-
street without finding any way of taking
the property from him. Then he set forth
on his journey, and I followed him from
town to town, trying stratagems against
him on the way; but could not take it
from him. And when he entered this city,
I followed him until he entered this Khán;
whereupon I took my lodging next to
him, and watched him until he slept and I
heard his snoring; when I walked gently
towards him, cut open the saddle-bags with
this knife, and took the purse thus: - So
saying, he stretched forth his hand, and
took the purse from before the Wálee and
the trooper, both of whom, with the rest of
the people, drew back, looking at him, and
believing that he would only shew them
how he took the purse from the saddle-
bags: but, lo, he ran, and threw himself
into a pool of water. So the Wálee cried
out to his dependants and said, Overtake
him, and descend after him. They how-
ever had not pulled off their clothes and
descended the steps before the sharper had
gone his way: and they searched for him;
but found him not; for the by-streets of
Alexandria all communicate one with an-
other. The men therefore returned with-
out catching the sharper; and the Wálee
said to the trooper, Thou hast no claim
upon the people; for thou hast known
thine offender, and taken possession of thy
property, and not guarded it. And the
trooper arose, his money was lost, and
the people were saved from his hands and
from those of the Wálee, entirely through
the favour of God, whose name be exalted!
The Strange Tales of The Three Wálees
El-Melik en-Násir summoned one day
the three Walees, the Wálee of El-Káhireh,
the Walee of Boolák, and the Walee of
Misr el-Kadeemeh, and said, I desire that
each of you acquaint me with the most
wonderful thing that hath happened to him
during the period of his holding the office
of Waleė. And they replied, We hear and
obey.
Accordingly, the Wálee of El-Káhireh
said, Know, O our lord the Sultán, that
the most wonderful thing that hath hap-
pened to me during the period of my hold-
ing the office of Wálee was as follows:
There were, in this city, two legal witnesses,
who gave testimony respecting blood and
wounds; but they were addicted to the
love of [disreputable] women, and the
drinking of wine, and iniquity; and I could
succeed in no stratagem to revenge myself
upon them. So being unable to do this, I
charged the vintners, and the sellers of
dried fruits, and those of fresh fruits, and
the dealers in candles, and the keepers of
houses prepared for vicious practices, that
they should inform me of these two wit-
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
1149
or
nesses whenever they might be in a place
drinking, or committing any act of iniquity,
whether they should be together
separate, and if they bought, or either of
them bought, any thing of these persons
that was designed for the purpose of
carousing; and that they should not conceal
it from me. They replied, that they heard
and obeyed. And it happened that a man
came to me one night, and said, O our lord,
know that the two witnesses are in such a
place, in such a by-street, in the house of
such-a-one, and that they are engaged in
abominable iniquity. So I arose and dis-
guised myself, I and my young man, and
I repaired to them without any one accom-
panying me save my young man, and
stopped not on the way until I stood before
the door and knocked; whereupon a female
slave came to me and opened to me the
door, and said, Who art thou? So I
entered without answering her; and I be-
held the two witnesses and the master of
the house sitting, with common women,
and with abundance of wine. But when
they saw me, they rose to me, treated me
with honour, seated me at the upper end
of the apartment, and said to me, Welcome
to thee, as an excellent guest, and a polite
boon-companion! They met me without
fearing me or being alarmed; and after
that, the master of the house arose from
them, and, having been absent a while, re-
turned bringing three hundred pieces of
gold, without the least fear; and they
said, Know, O our lord the Walee, that
thou canst do more than disgrace us, and
that it is in thy power to chastise us; but
naught save fatigue would accrue to thee
from doing so. It is advisable, therefore,
that thou receive this sum, and protect us,
for God (whose name be exalted!) is
named the Excellent Protector, and He
loveth of his servants such as are liberal of
protection; and thou wilt receive a reward
and recompense. -So I said to myself,
Receive this gold from them, and protect
them this time; and if thou have them in
thy power another time, take thy revenge
upon them. I coveted the money, and took
it from them, and left them and departed,
no one knowing what I had done. But
suddenly on the following day a sergeant
the Kádee came to me, and said, Wálee,
have the goodness to answer the summons
of the Kádee; for he citeth thee. I arose,
therefore, and went with him to the
Kádee, not knowing the cause of this; and
when I went in to him, I saw the two
witnesses and the master of the house who
gave me the three hundred pieces of gold
sitting with him; and the master of the
house arose and sued me for three hundred
pieces of gold. It was not in my power to
deny it; and he produced a written obliga-
tion, and those two legal witnesses testified
against me that I owed the money. So it
was established with the Kádee by the
testimony of the two witnesses, and he
ordered me to pay that sum. I therefore
went not forth from them until they had
received from me the three hundred pieces
of gold; and I was enraged, purposing
every kind of mischief against them, and
repented that I had not tormented them;
and I departed in a state of the utmost
confusion.
Then arose the Walee of Boolák, and
said, As to myself, O our lord the Sultán,
the most wonderful thing that hath hap-
pened to me since I have been Wálee was
this: I had debts to pay amounting to
three hundred thousand pieces of gold;
and, being distressed thereby, I sold what
was behind me and what was before me
and what was in my hand, and thus col-
lected one hundred thousand pieces of gold
and no more. I therefore remained in great
perplexity; and while I was sitting in my
house one night, in this state, a person
knocked at the door; upon which I said to
one of the young men, See who is at the
door. And he went forth, and then re-
turned to me with sallow countenance,
changed in complexion, and with the
muscles of his side quivering. So I said to
him, What hath befallen thee? And he
answered, Verily at the door is a man
stripped of his proper clothing, and clad
in apparel of leather, and with a sword,
and in his girdle is a knife, and with him
is a party of men equipped in the same
manner, and he asketh for thee. I there-
fore took my sword in my hand, and went
forth to see who these were and, lo, they
were as the young man had said. I asked
them, What is your affair? And they an-
swered, We are robbers, and we have
acquired this night vast booty, and assigned
it to thee, that thou mayest thereby help
thyself to manage the affair on account of
which thou art in anxiety, and pay the debt
that thou owest. I said to them, And
where is the booty? And they brought
before me a great chest full of vessels [ap-
parently] of gold and silver. So when I
beheld it, I rejoiced, and said within
myself, I will pay the debt that I owe from
this, and there will remain to me as much
again as the amount of that debt. I there-
fore took it, and entered the house, and
said within myself, It would not be con-
sistent with humanity in me to let them go
without any thing. Accordingly, I took the
1150
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
hundred thousand pieces of gold that were
in my possession, and gave it to them,
thanking them for what they had done;
and they took the pieces of gold and went
their way under the covering of night,
without any one's knowing of their com-
ing. But when the morning arrived, I saw
that the contents of the chest were gilded
brass, and tin, the whole of them worth
but five hundred pieces of silver; and the
thing afflicted me: the pieces of gold that
I had were lost: and my grief was in-
creased.
Then the Wálee of Misr el-Kadeemeh
arose and said, O our lord the Sultán, with
regard to myself, the most wonderful thing
that hath happened to me during the period
of my holding the office of Wálee was this:
- I hanged ten robbers, each on a separate
gallows, and charged the guards to watch
them, and not to suffer the people to take
away any one of them. But on the mor-
row I came to see them, and beheld two
men hanged upon one gallows: so I said
to the guards, Who did this, and where is
the gallows on which was the second of
these hanged men? They however denied
the fact; and I was about to beat them,
when they said, Know, O Emeer, that we
slept last night, and when we awoke, we
found that one hanged man had been
stolen, together with the gallows on which
he was suspended; whereupon we feared
thee; and, lo, a peasant on a journey ap-
proached us having with him an ass; and
we seized him and killed him, and hanged
him instead of the one that was stolen,
on this gallows. And I wondered at this,
and said to them, What was with the
peasant? They answered, With him was
a pair of saddle-bags on the ass. And
what, said I, was in them? They answered,
We know not. And I said to them, Bring
me the saddle-bags. So they placed them
before me; and I gave orders to open
them; and, lo, in them was a murdered
man, cut in pieces; and when I saw this,
I wondered at it, and said within myself,
Extolled be the perfection of God! The
cause of the hanging of this peasant was
naught but the crime that he had com-
mitted against this murdered man; and thy
Lord is not tyrannical towards his servants!
The Robber Who Tricked the Money-
changer
It is related that a man of the money-
changers had with him a purse full of gold,
and he had passed by the robbers; where-
upon one of the sharpers said, I am able
to take this purse. The others said to him,
How wilt thou do? And he replied, See
ye. Then he followed the money-changer
to his abode, and the latter entered, and,
having thrown down the purse upon the
suffeh, called to a slave-girl to bring a
ewer of water for ablution; and the slave-
girl took the ewer to him, and followed
him into a private chamber, leaving the
street-door open. So the robber entered,
took the purse, and repaired with it to his
companions, whom he told what had hap-
pened to him with the money-changer and
the slave-girl. They replied, By Allah, that
which thou hast done was a clever exploit,
and not every man is capable of perform-
ing such; but (they added) immediately
the money-changer will come forth from
the private chamber, and, not finding the
purse, will beat the slave-girl, and inflict
upon her a painful punishment; and it
seemeth that thou hast not done any
thing for which thou art to be praised.
If then thou be a clever sharper,
save the slave-girl from the beating and
punishment. So he said to them, If
it be the will of God (whose name be
exalted!), I will save the slave-girl and the
purse.
Then the robber returned to the house
of the money-changer, and found him pun-
ishing the slave-girl on account of the
purse; and he knocked at his door; where-
upon the money-changer said to him, Who
is this? And he answered him, I am the
young man of thy neighbour in the
Keysá-reeyeh. The money-changer there-
fore came forth to him, and said to him,
What is thy business? And he answered
him, My master saluteth thee, and saith to
thee, thy habits are all changed. How is it
that thou throwest down such a thing as
this purse at the door of the shop, and goest
and leavest it? Had any stranger found it,
he had taken it and gone away. And
had not my master seen it and taken care
of it, thou hadst lost it. He then took
forth the purse, and showed it to him; and
when the money-changer saw it, he said,
This is my purse itself. And he stretched
forth his hand to take it from the sharper;
but the latter said to him, By Allah I will
not give it to thee until thou write a paper
to my master stating that thou hast re-
ceived the purse from me; for I fear he
may not believe me that thou hast taken
the purse and received it safely unless thou
write for me a paper and seal it with thy
seal. So the money-changer entered to
write for him a paper acknowledging the.
safe arrival of the purse as he had told
him, and the robber went his way with the
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
1151
purse, and the slave-girl was saved from
the punishment.
The next anecdote describes a trick
exactly of the same kind as that related by
the second of "the Three Walees; " and
therefore I omit it.]
The Girl with the Beautiful Hands
It is related that the Prince of the
Faithful, El-Ma-moon, said to Ibráheem
the son of El-Mahdee, Tell us the most
Wonderful thing that thou hast witnessed.
And he replied, I hear and obey, O Prince
of the Faithful.
Know that I went forth one day to
fivert myself, and my course led me to a
place where I smelt the odour of food, and
my soul longed for it. I stopped, O Prince
of the Faithful, in perplexity, unable to
depart from the spot or to enter that dwel-
ling; and I raised my eyes, and, lo, there
was a lattice-window, behind which were a
hand and wrist, than which I had never
beheld any more beautiful. My reason fled
at the sight of them, and I forgot the odour
of the food on account of that hand and
wrist, and began to devise a stratagem by
means of which to obtain access to that
dwelling. And, lo, there was a tailor near
unto that place: so I advanced to him
and saluted him, and he returned my salu-
tation. I then said to him, To whom be-
longeth this house? He answered, To a
man of the merchants. And I said, What is
his name? His name, he answered, is
such-a-one the son of such-a-one, and he
carouseth with none but the merchants.
And while we were speaking, lo, there ap-
proached two comely, intelligent men, and
he informed me that they were his most
particular associates, and acquainted me
with their names.
I therefore urged on my beast until I
met them, when I said to them, May I be
your ransom! The father of such-a-one
hath thought you tardy. And I pro-
ceeded with them till we arrived at the
door; whereupon I entered, and the two
men entered also; and when the master of
the house saw me with them, he doubted
not that I was their associate: so he wel-
comed me, and seated me in the highest of
places. Then the servants brought the
table, and I said within myself, God hath
granted me the attainment of my desire
with respect to these viands, and there
remain the hand and the wrist. And after
this, we removed for the purpose of ca-
rousal to another apartment, which I found
decked all over with elegant objects; and
the master of the house busied himself in
shewing me courtesy, addressing his conver-
sation to me, as he imagined me to be a
guest of his guests, while they in like man-
ner treated me with the utmost courtesy,
imagining me to be a companion of the
master of the house. They all continued
incessantly their politeness to me until we
had drunk several cups, when there came
forth to us a damsel like a willow-branch,
of the utmost elegance and comeliness of
appearance, and she took a lute, and, with
exciting modulations, sang these verses:
Is it not wonderful that one house should con-
tain us, and yet thou drawest not near, nor
speakest?
Only eyes reveal the secrets of souls, and the
breaking of hearts by love's fire inflamed.
We have only signals with the eyes and eye-
brows, and sidelong glances, and the hand
saluting.
Disquieting feelings were excited in me, O
Prince of the Faithful, and I was moved
with delight by the excess of her beauty,
and the elegance of her verses that she
sang, and envied her for the excellence of
her performance; but I said, Thou wantest
one thing, O slave-girl. And upon this,
she threw the lute from her hand in anger,
and said, When were ye wont to bring
impertinent dolts into your assemblies?
So I repented of that which I had done,
and I saw that the party were displeased
with me; wherefore I said, All that I hoped
for hath eluded me, and I see no resource
by which to avert reproach from me save
this: I demanded a lute, and said, I will
shew what was omitted by her of the air
that she played. And the party replied,
We hear and obey. They immediately
brought me a lute, and I tuned its strings,
and sang these verses: -
This is thy lover, prostrated in his passion; the
enamoured, whose tears are running down
upon his body;
He hath one hand raised in supplication to the
Compassionate, for the attainment of his
hope, and the other on his heart.
O thou who beholdest one perishing of his
love, his death is occasioned by his eye
and by his hand.
And upon this the slave-girl sprang up, and
threw herself upon my feet, kissing them,
and said, It is thine to excuse, O my
master! By Allah I knew not thy dignity,
nor have I ever heard the like of this per-
formance. - Then the party began to
honour and exalt me, after they had been
moved with extreme delight; and each of
them requested me to sing. I therefore
sang an exciting piece, and the party be-
came intoxicated, their reason quitting
1152
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
them, so that the two guests were carried
away to their houses, and the master of the
house alone remained with the slave-girl.
And after he had drunk some cups with
me, he said, O my master, my life hath
passed unprofitably, since I have not known
such a person as thyself before the present
time. By Allah, then, O my master, tell
me who thou art, that I may know my
cup-companion with whom God hath
favoured me this night. And I began to
give ambiguous hints, without telling him
plainly my name. But he conjured me: so
I informed him. And when he knew my
name, he sprang upon his feet, and said,
I wondered to think that this excellence
could belong to any but thyself; and for-
tune hath granted me a favour for which
I am unable to render due thanks; but per-
haps this is a dream; for when did I hope
that one connected with the Khaleefeh
would visit me in my abode, and pass this
night carousing with me?
I conjured him to sit; and he sat, and
began to enquire of me the cause of my
visiting him, in the most polite manner. So
I acquainted him with the affair from first
to last, concealing nothing of it, and said,
With regard to the food, I have attained
what I sought; but with regard to the hand
and wrist, I have not attained my desire.
He replied, With regard to the hand and
wrist, thou shalt attain thy desire, if it be
the will of God, whose name be exalted!
Then he said, O such-a-one [mentioning a
female name], tell such-a-one that she
is to come down. And he proceeded to call
for his female slaves, one after another,
and to shew them all unto me; but I saw
not the object of my affection, until he
said, By Allah, O my master, there remain
none save my mother and my sister; but,
by Allah, they must be brought down to
thee and shewn to thee, that thou mayest
see them. And I wondered at his gen-
erosity, and his frankness of mind; and I
said, May I be thy ransom! Begin then
with the sister. He replied, With pleasure.
Then his sister came down and he shewed
me her hand, and, lo, she was the person,
whose hand and wrist I had seen. So I
said, May I be thy ransom! This damsel
is she whose hand and wrist I saw. - And
he ordered the young men to bring the wit-
nesses immediately. They therefore
brought them; and he produced two
myriads of pieces of gold, and said to the
witnesses, This our lord, Seyyidee Ibraheem
the son of El-Mahdee, the uncle of the
Prince of the Faithful, demandeth in mar-
riage my sister such-a-one, and I call you
to witness that I have married her to him
-
and he has given her as her dowry a
myriad. And after this he said, I marry
to thee my sister such-a-one for the said
dowry. I replied, I accept that offer, and
approve of it. Then he paid one of the
two myriads to his sister, and the other to
the witnesses; and said, O our lord, I de-
sire to furnish one of the chambers for thee
and thy wife. But I was abashed at that
which I had experienced of his generosity,
and was ashamed to accept his proposal:
so I said, Equip her and send her to my
abode. And by thy existence, O Prince of
the Faithful, there were brought to me, of
her paraphernalia, such things that our
rooms were too small to contain them,
spacious as they were.. Then I had by her
this boy who is standing before thee.
-
-
And El-Ma-moon wondered at the gen-
erosity of this man, and said, Divinely was
he gifted! I have never heard of the like
of him! He ordered Ibraheem the son
of El-Mahdee to bring the man that he
might see him. So he brought him before
the Khaleefeh, who desired him to speak,
and his politeness and good breeding so
pleased him that he made him one of his
chief attendants. And God is the Giver,
and the Liberal Bestower.
―
The Reward of Charity
It is related that a certain King said to
the people of his dominions, if any one of
you give aught in alms, I will assuredly cut
off his hand. So all the people refrained
from alms-giving, and none could bestow
upon another. And it happened that a
beggar came to a woman one day, and
hunger tormented him, and he said to her,
Give me somewhat as an alms. - How, said
she, can I bestow an alms upon thee when
the King cutteth off the hand of every one
who doth so? But he rejoined, I conjure
thee by God (whose name be exalted!)
that thou give me an alms. So when he
conjured her by God, she was moved with
pity for him, and bestowed upon him two
cakes of bread. And the news reached the
King; whereupon he gave orders to bring
her before him; and when she came, he
cut off her hands. And she returned to her
house.
Then the King, after a while, said to
his mother, I desire to marry: therefore,
marry me to a comely woman. And she
replied, There is, among our female slaves,
a woman than whom none more beautiful
existeth; but she hath a grievous defect.
And what is it? he asked. She an-
swered, She is maimed of the two hands.
.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
1153
The King however said, I desire to see her.
Wherefore she brought her to him, and
when he saw her, he was tempted by her
beauty, and married her. And that woman
was she who bestowed upon the beggar
the two cakes of bread, and whose hands
were cut off on that account. But when
he had married her, her fellow-wives en-
vied her, and wrote to the King, telling
tim that she was unchaste: and she had
ziven birth to a son. And the King wrote
a letter to his mother, in which he com-
manded her to go forth with her to the
desert, and to leave her there, and return.
His mother therefore did so: she took
her forth to the desert, and returned. And
that woman began to weep for the mis-
ortune that had befallen her, and to be-
ail violently, with a wailing not to be
exceeded. And while she was walking,
with the child upon her neck, she came to
a river, and kneeled down to drink, be-
cause of the violence of the thirst that had
affected her from her walking and fatigue
and grief; and when she stooped her head,
the child fell into the water. So she sat
weeping violently for her child; and while
he wept, lo, there passed by her two men,
who said to her, What causeth thee to
weep? She answered, I had a child upon
my neck, and he fell into the water. And
they said, Dost thou desire that we rescue
him, and restore him to thee? She an-
swered, Yes. And upon this they suppli-
cated God (whose name be exalted!), and
the child came forth to her safe and un-
urt. Then they said to her, Dost thou
desire that God should restore to thee thy
hands as they were? She answered, Yes.
And they supplicated God (whose perfec-
tion be extolled, and whose name be ex-
alted!); whereupon her hands returned
to her in the most perfect state. After
this they said to her, Knowest thou who
we are? God, she replied, is all-knowing.
And they said, We are thy two cakes of
bread which thou gavest as an alms to the
beggar, and which alms occasioned the cut-
ting off of thy hands. Therefore praise
God (whose name be exalted!) that He
hath restored to thee thy hands and thy
child. And she praised God (whose name
be exalted!), and glorified Him.
-
The Generous Israelite
There was, among the Children of Israel,
a devout man, having a family who spun
cotton; and he used every day to sell the
thread that they spun, and to buy fresh
cotton; and with the profit that arose he
bought, for his family, food, which they
ate that day. And he went forth one day,
and sold the thread which they had spun,
and there met him one of his brethren,
who complained to him of his need; where-
upon he gave him the price of his thread,
and returned to his family without either
cotton or food. So they said to him,
Where is the cotton and the food? And
he answered them, Such-a-one met me, and
complained to me of his need; wherefore
I gave him the price of the thread. They
said, And what shall we do; for we have
nothing to sell? But they had a broken
wooden bowl, and a jar; and he took them
to the market. No one, however, would
buy them of him; but while he was in the
market, there met him a man with a
stinking, swollen fish, which no one would
buy of him; and the owner of the fish said
to him, Wilt thou sell to me thy unmar-
ketable property for mine? He answered,
Yes: and gave the man the wooden bowl
and the jar, receiving from him the fish,
which he brought to his family. They said,
What shall we do with this fish? He an-
swered, We will broil it and feed upon it
until God (whose name be exalted!) please
to supply us with sustenance. They there-
fore took it, and ripped open its belly, and
they found in it a pearl. So they informed
the sheykh [the devotee]; and he said,
See if it be pierced; for if so, it belongeth
to some one of the people; but if it be not
pierced, it is a gift which God (whose name
be exalted!) hath bestowed upon you. And
they looked, and, lo, it was not pierced.
And when the morning came, he went with
it to one of his brethren, of those who were
acquainted with pearls; and this person
said, O such-a-one, whence gottest thou
this pearl? He answered, It is a gift which
God (whose name be exalted!) hath be-
stowed upon us. And the man said, Verily
it is worth a thousand pieces of silver, and
I will give thee that sum; but take it to
such-a-one; for he is of more wealth and
knowledge than myself. So he took it to
him, and he said, Verily it is worth seventy
thousand pieces of silver: not more than
that. Then he paid him seventy thousand
pieces of silver; and the sheykh called the
porters, who carried for him the money
until he arrived at the door of his dwell-
ing; when a beggar came to him, and said
to him, Give me of that which God (whose
name be exalted!) hath given unto thee.
And he said to the beggar, We were yes-
terday like thee. Take half of this money.
And when he had divided the money
into two equal portions, and each of them
had taken his half, the beggar said to him,
----
1154
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Keep thy money, and take it: may God
bless thee in it: for verily I am a messen-
ger of thy Lord, who hath sent me to thee
to try thee. And the sheykh said, To God
be praise and thanks! And he ceased
not to pass a most comfortable life, he
and his family, until death.
-
Aboo-Hassán and the Dream of El-Ma-
moon
Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyádee saith, My cir-
cumstances one day became severely
straitened, so that the grocer and the baker
and the rest of the tradesmen importuned
me, and my affliction became violent, and
I found no resource. But while I was in
this state, not knowing what to do, lo,
there came in to me a young man belong-
ing to me, and he said, At the door is a
man on pilgrimage, who desireth to come
in to thee. So I said, Give him permis-
sion. And he came in; and, behold, he was
a man of Khurásán. He saluted me, and
I returned his salutation; and he said, Art
thou Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyadee? I an-
swered, Yes. And what, said I, dost thou
want? I am a stranger, he answered,
and am desirous of performing the pil-
grimage, and I have with me a sum of
money, the carrying of which is a burden
to me: wherefore I desire to deposit with
thee these ten thousand pieces of silver
until I accomplish my pilgrimage and re-
turn: and if the caravan return and thou
see me not, know that I have died, and the
money is a present from me unto thee;
but if I return, it is mine. I replied, Thy
desire shall be complied with, if it be the
will of God, whose name be exalted! And
he took forth a leathern bag; and I said
to the young man, Bring me a pair of
scales. So he brought a pair of scales,
and the man weighed the money, and, hav-
ing delivered it to me, went his way.
then summoned the tradesmen, and paid
my debts, and expended and made ample
purchases, saying within myself, Ere he
returneth, God will aid me with some-
what of his gifts.
I
But after a day, the young man came
in to me, and said to me, Thy acquaintance
the man of Khurásán is at the door. I
replied, Give him permission. And he en-
tered, and said, I had determined on per-
forming the pilgrimage; but news hath
been brought to me of the death of my
father; and I have resolved to return;
therefore give me the money that I en-
trusted to thee yesterday. Now when I
heard from him these words, excessive
anxiety overcame me, such as none hath
ever experienced; and I was perplexed, and
returned him not a reply; for if I denied,
I knew that he would require me to swear,
and ignominy would have been my lot in
the world to come; and if I informed him
that I had expended it, he would [I
imagined] have cried out, and disgraced
me. So at last I said, God preserve thee
in health! This my abode is not a strong
nor a secure place of custody for that
money; and when I received thy leathern
bag, I sent it to him with whom it now
is: therefore return to us to-morrow to
receive it, if it be the will of God, whose
name be exalted! - Accordingly he de-
parted from me; and I passed the night
in perplexity on account of the return of
the man of Khurásán to me, and sleep
came not to me that night, nor could I
close my eye. So I arose and went to the
young man, and said to him, Saddle for
me the mule. -O my lord, he replied, it
is now the first third of the night, and in-
deed nought of the night hath passed. I
therefore returned to my bed; but sleep
was forbidden me, and I ceased not to
rouse the young man, who continued to
turn me back from my purpose, until
the dawn rose, when he saddled for me
the mule, and I mounted. I knew not
whither to go: so I threw the mule's bridle
upon her shoulders, and became occupied
with reflection and anxieties, while she pro-
ceeded to the eastern side of Baghdad.
And while I was passing on, lo, I beheld
a company, and I turned from them, and
went out of their way to another way;
but they followed me; and when they saw
me with a teylesán, they hastened towards
me, and said to me, Dost thou know the
abode of Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyádee? I an-
swered them, I am he. And they said,
Answer the summons of the Prince of the
Faithful. I therefore proceeded with them
until I went in to El-Ma-moon; and he
said to me, Who art thou? I answered,
A man of the companions of the Kadee
Aboo Yoosuf, one of the professors of the
law and of the traditions. He asked, By
what surname of relationship art thou
called? I answered, By the surname of
Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyádee. And he said,
Explain to me thy case. So I explained
to him my story, and he wept violently,
and said, Wo to thee! The Apostle of God
(may God bless and save him!) suffered
me not to sleep this last night because of
thee; for when I slept in the beginning of
the night, he said to me [in a dream], Aid
Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyádee. And I awoke,
and knew thee not. Then a second time I
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
1155
sept, and he came to me, and said to me,
Wo to thee! Aid Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziya-
dee. And I awoke, and knew thee not.
Then I slept again, and he came to me, and
still I knew thee not. And again I slept,
and he came to me, and said to me, Wo to
thee! Aid Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyȧdee. -
So I dared not sleep after that. I re-
mained awake the whole of the remainder
of the night, and roused the people, and
sent them to seek for thee in every quar-
ter. He then gave to me ten thousand
pieces of silver, saying, This is for the man
of Khurásán. And after that, he gave me
ten thousand more pieces of silver, and
said, Make, with this ample purchases,
and reform thy circumstances with it.
Then he gave me thirty thousand pieces
of silver, saying, Equip thyself with this,
and when the day of the state-procession
arriveth, come to me, that I may invest
thee with an office.
So I went forth, taking the money with
me, and having returned to my house,
performed there the morning-prayers; and,
lo, the man of Khurásán came. I brought
him into the house, and produced to him
ten thousand pieces, saying to him, This
is thy money, But he replied, This is not
my very money. I said, Yes. And he
asked, What is the cause of this? I there-
fore related to him the story; whereupon
he wept, and said, By Allah, hadst thou
told me the truth in the beginning of the
affair I had not demanded the money of
thee; and now, by Allah, I will not accept
aught of this money: thou art absolved of
responsibility with respect to it. And he
departed from me. I then arranged my
affairs, and repaired on the day of the
state-procession to the gate of El-Ma-
moon, and I went in to him as he sat. And
when I presented myself before him, he
called me near to him, and produced unto
me a written appointment from beneath
his prayer-carpet, saying, This is an ap-
pointment conferring the office of Kadee of
the Noble City, from the western side [of
the mosque], from the Báb es-Selám, to
an extent unlimited; and I have assigned
thee such and such allowances every month.
Then fear God (to whom be ascribed might
and glory!), and be mindful of the solici-
tude of the Apostle of God (may God
bless and save him!) respecting thee.-
And the people wondered at his words, and
asked me their meaning: so I acquainted
them with the story from beginning to
end, and the report spread among the
people.
And Aboo-Hassán Ez-Ziyádee ceased not
to be Kádee in the Noble City until he
died, in the days of El-Ma-moon. The
mercy of God be on him!
A Friend in Need
―
It is related that a man possessed great
wealth, and it departed from him, and he
became destitute of everything; whereupon
his wife advised him to seek of one of his
friends something wherewith to repair his
condition. So he betook himself to a friend
of his, and mentioned to him his neces-
sity; and this friend lent him five hundred
pieces of gold, that he might traffic with
them. Now he was originally a jeweller.
He therefore took the gold, and went to
the market of jewels, where he opened a
shop to buy and sell. And when he sat
in the shop, there came to him three men,
who inquired of him respecting his father;
and he told them of his death; upon which
they said to him, hath he left any off-
spring? He answered, He hath left the
slave who is before you. - And who, said
they, knoweth that thou art his son? He
answered, The people of the market. And
they said to him, bring them together to
us, that they may testify that thou art
his son.
He therefore collected them, and
they testified to that fact. And the three
men produced a pair of saddle-bags con-
taining the sum of thirty thousand pieces
of gold, together with jewels and precious
minerals; and they said, This was deposited
with us in trust for thy father. Then they
departed; and there came to him a woman,
who demanded of him some of those jewels
worth five hundred pieces of gold, and
bought them of him for three thousand
pieces of gold. And he sold them to her,
and took the five hundred pieces of gold
that he had borrowed of his friend, and
carried them to him, and said to him, Re-
ceive the five hundred pieces of gold that
I borrowed of thee; for God hath aided
me and prospered me. But his friend re-
plied, I presented thee with them, and gave
them up for the sake of God: therefore
take them; and take this paper, but read
it not until thou art in thy house, and act
agreeably with its contents: so he took
the money and the paper, and repaired to
his house; and when he opened the paper,
he found written in it these verses: -
The men who came to thee were my relations,
my father and my paternal uncle and my
maternal uncle Sáleh the son of 'Alee.
In like manner, what thou soldest for cash, to
my mother thou soldest it; and the money
and jewels were sent from me.
I desired not, by doing so, any detriment to
thee; but to spare thee the embarrassment
of bashfulness before me.
1156
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
The Man Enriched Through a Dream
It is related also, that a man of Bagh-
dád was possessed of ample riches and great
wealth; but his wealth passed away, and
his state changed, and he became utterly
destitute, and could not obtain his sus-
tenance save by laborious exertion. And
he slept one night, overwhelmed and op-
pressed, and saw in his sleep a person who
said to him, Verily thy fortune is in Cairo:
therefore seek it and repair to it. So he
journeyed to Cairo; and when he arrived
there, the evening overtook him, and he
slept in a mosque. Now there was, adja-
cent to the mosque, a house; and as God
(whose name be exalted!) had decreed, a
party of robbers entered the mosque, and
thence passed to that house; and the peo-
ple of the house, awaking at the disturb-
ance occasioned by the robbers raised
cries; whereupon the Wálee came to their
aid with his followers, and the robbers fled.
The Walee then entered the mosque, and
found the man of Baghdád sleeping there:
so he laid hold upon him, and inflicted
upon him a painful beating with mikra'ahs,
until he was at the point of death, and im-
prisoned him; and he remained three days
in the prison; after which, the Wálee caused
him to be brought, and said to him, From
what country art thou? He answered,
From Baghdad. — And what affair, said
the Walee, was the cause of thy coming to
Cairo? He answered, I saw in my sleep
a person who said to me, Verily thy for-
tune is in Cairo: therefore repair to it.
And when I came to Cairo, I found the
fortune of which he told me to be those
blows of the mikra'ahs, that I have re-
ceived from thee. And upon this the
Wálee laughed so that his grinders ap-
peared, and said to him, O thou of little
sense, I saw three times in my sleep a
person who said to me, Verily a house in
Baghdad, in such a district, and of such a
description, hath in its court a garden, at
the lower end of which is a fountain,
wherein is wealth of great amount: there-
fore repair to it and take it. But I went
not; and thou, through the smallness of
thy sense, hast journeyed from city to city
on account of a thing thou hast seen in
sleep, when it was only an effect of con-
fused dreams. Then he gave him some
money, and said to him, Help thyself with
this to return to thy city. So he took
it and returned to Baghdád. Now the
house which the Wálee had described, in
Baghdad, was the house of that man;
therefore when he arrived at his abode, he
dug beneath the fountain, and beheld
abundant wealth. Thus God enriched and
sustained him; and this was a wonderful
coincidence.
The Arrogant Slave Girl
There were, in the palace of the Prince
of the Faithful, El-Mutawekkil 'ala-lláh,
four hundred concubines, two hundred
Greeks, and two hundred muwelledehs and
Abyssinians; and 'Obeyd the son of Táhir
gave to El-Mutawekkil four hundred slave-
girls, two hundred white, and two hundred
Abyssinians and muwelledehs. Among
these was a slave-girl of the muwelledehs
of El-Basrah, named Mahboobeh. She
was preeminent in beauty and loveliness,
and in elegance and amorous manners; she
played upon the lute, and sang well, com-
posed verses, and wrote an excellent hand;
and El-Mutawekkil in consequence became
captivated by her, and could not bear to
be absent from her a single hour. But
when she saw his affection for her, she
behaved arrogantly towards him, and was
ungrateful for his favours: so he became
violently incensed against her, and deserted
her, forbidding the inmates of the palace
to speak to her.
She remained in that state some days;
but El-Mutawekkil still had an affection
for her; and he arose in the morning one
day, and said to his usual associates, I
dreamed this last night that I became
reconciled to Mahboobeh. They replied,
We beg of God (whose name be exalted!)
that such an event may happen when thou
art awake. And while he was speaking, lo,
a maid-servant came, and communicated
some information to him: upon which he
arose from the assembly and entered the
abode of the Hareem. And the communi-
Ication that she made to him was this: she
Isaid to him, We heard from the chamber
of Mahboobeh the sound of singing, and
playing upon the lute, and we know not
the cause of this. And when he arrived
at her chamber, he heard her singing to
the lute, striking it sweetly, and singing
these verses:
I wander through the palace and behold not any
one unto whom to complain, nor any one
to speak to me;
As though I had committed an act of rebellion,
of which
no repentance could avail
acquit me.
to
Is there any intercessor to plead for me with
a King who hath paid me a visit in sleep
and made peace with me,
And who, when the daybreak appeared unto
us, resumed his desertion, and severed me
from him?
1
1
NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH
1157
He
So when El-Mutawekkil heard her words,
te wondered at these verses, and at this
strange coincidence; at Mahboobeh's see-
ing a dream agreeing with his dream.
therefore went in to her in the chamber;
and when he entered and she was sensible
of his presence, she hastened to rise to
him, and threw herself upon his feet, kiss-
ing them, and saying, By Allah, O my lord,
I saw this event in my sleep last night;
and when I awoke, I composed these
verses. By Allah, replied El-Muttawek-
kil, I beheld in my sleep the like of this.
Then they embraced each.other, and be-
came reconciled; and he remained with her
seven days with their nights. And Mah-
boobeh had written upon her cheek, with
musk, the name of El-Mutawekkil; and
his name was Jaafar; and when he beheld
―
his name so written, he composed and re-
cited these verses:
She wrote Jaafar with musk on her cheek.
With my soul would I ransom her who
wrote on the cheek what I see.
If her fingers have inscribed one line upon her
cheek, she hath deposited many lines in my
heart.
O thou whom Jaafar among mankind possesseth,
may God fill Jaafar with the draught of
thy love!
And when El-Mutawekkil died, all the
female slaves that had belonged to him
dismissed him from their minds, except
Mahboobeh; for she ceased not to mourn
for him until she died, and she was buried
by his side. The mercy of God be on
them all!
NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH
NOTE I. The words "in the country of
the Persians" are not in my original. In
the Breslau edition, the King mentioned
immediately after is called " a King of the
Persians, named the King Sáboor," an Ara-
bic corruption of "Shápoor," which was a
name borne by several Kings of Persia. In
the old version, the court of this monarch
is said to have been at Sheeráz. On the
origin of the tale of the Magic Horse some
remarks will be made in the last note of
the present series.
NOTE 2.- On the Persian Festival of the
Autumnal Equinox. The sentence to which
this note refers I have taken from the Bres-
lau edition, correcting some errors. Of the
first of the two festivals here mentioned,
I have already given some account.
The festival of the Autumnal Equinox,
called "Mihrgán," "Mihrján," and "Mah-
raján" (the last of which terms is that
by which the Arabs call it), was one of the
greatest of those celebrated by the ancient
Persians. It began on the 16th of Mihr,
the seventh month. Many traditional
motives are assigned for the origin of this
solemnity, which was held for six days;
but the most rational conjecture leads us
to conclude that it was instituted at this
season of the autumnal equinox in honour
of their great ostensible deity, the Sun;
as the other high festival of the Now-róz
was, on the same principles, intended to
celebrate the sun's entering the constella-
tion of Aries. The sixteenth was more par-
ticularly distinguished than the rest; all
who could afford the purchase anointing
themselves then with the oil of bán, sprin-
kling themselves with rose-water, and eat-
ing of various fruits, from an idea that
such observances would defend them from
a number of evils which might otherwise
distress them in the course of the year.
The King, on the first day of this festival,
after anointing himself with the oil of
bán, dressed in a superb robe of many
colours, his head adorned with the royal
táj (or diadem), on which was a splendid
figure of the Sun, seated himself on his
throne; when the high priest, entering
alone, with a large silver dish, filled with
sugar, peaches, quinces, apples, citrons,
pomegranates, the jujube, the lote, a bunch
of white grapes, and seven myrtle-berries,
muttered over them a prayer, and pre-
sented them to the King, who ate of them
all; after which, the nobility and others,
approaching according to their rank, fol-
lowed their sovereign's example; when a
variety of robes and other rich furniture,
from the royal wardrobes, were distributed
amongst them in proportion to their de-
gree. On this day it was esteemed for-
tunate to wean or name children; and if a
son was then born to the King, he was
immediately, with great solemnity, conse-
crated high priest of the Sun."
NOTE 3. The words "during one of
these festivals" I have inserted from the
Breslau edition.
1158
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 4. In the Breslau edition, the pea-
cock is described as being in the middle of
a basin of silver, and surrounded by four
and twenty young ones of gold; and the
owner of it explains that at the expiration
of each hour, the peacock would peck one
of its young ones; then, at the end of an-
other hour, a second of them; and so on;
and that at the termination of the month,
it would open its beak, and that the new
moon would be seen in it.
NOTE 5. Instead of a mere trumpet, the
Breslau edition describes "a figure of gold
set with fine and precious stones and
jewels, with a trumpet of gold in its
hand; but "nakeer" is put for "nefeer,"
"3
a trumpet.
NOTE 6. In the Breslau edition, the sage
is said to have first mounted the ebony
horse, and ascended on it, and descended.
Afterwards, the King's youngest daughter,
whom he had granted in marriage to the
owner of the horse, disgusted with the
hideous aspect of this person, implores the
assistance of her brother, who remonstrates
with the King, and is induced by him to
try the wonderful properties of the horse
in order that he may consent to the mar-
riage, nearly as in the tale of Cleomades
and Claremond, with which, in some other
particulars, the story of the Magic Horse
in the Breslau edition agrees more nearly
than that in the edition of Cairo; as also
does the story in each of these editions
more than that in Galland's version. To
the tale of Cleomades and Claremond I
Ishall have occasion to revert.
NOTE 7. See Note 15 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 8. Literally, "by "Say, I seek
refuge with the Lord of Men,' and 'the
Daybreak: '" that is, by repeating the last
Chapter, and the last but one of the Kur-
án; which are called "the Two Preven-
tives." See Note 18 to Chapter x., and
Note 58 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 9. See Note 50 to Chapter x.
This would refer the story to a period
antecedent to the conquest of Persia by
the Muslims; but such is evidently not the
idea of the Arab narrator.
NOTE 10. That is, as though he would
eat the Prince. See Note 21 to the Intro-
duction.
NOTE II. In the Breslau edition, this
King is called "Keysar; " that is, Cæsar:
but in the edition from which I translate,
his kingdom is El-Yemen, or Arabia Felix.
NOTE 12. This princess is called, in the
Breslau edition, "Shems-en-Nahár," which
signifies" The Sun of Day."
NOTE 13. San'à is the capital of El-
Yemen, and a very ancient city. It is
celebrated for its trees and waters, and
hence compared to Damascus.
NOTE 14. From the commencement of
this paragraph to the end of the two verses,
I have taken from the Breslau edition,
correcting some obvious errors.
NOTE 15. In the original, "Bilád er-
Room." This name is applied by some of
the Arab geographers to the territories
constituting Modern Greece and European
Turkey; but by others, to the greater part
of Asia Minor. The latter I suppose to be
here meant. Instead of " the country of
the Greeks," we have in the Breslau edi-
tion, China; and in Galland's version,
Kashmeer.
NOTE 16.
"Kisrawee" here signifies "a
subject of a Kisrà; " i.e. of the Persian
Monarch.
NOTE 17. This name, I fancy, has been
altered by a copyist.
NOTE 18. It is the general belief of the
Arabs, that furious or dangerous madness
is occasioned by the patient's being pos-
sessed by a devil, or evil Jinnee; and the
usual term applied to it (namely “ju-
noon") signifies this.
NOTE 19. Literally, "this accident," or
"misfortune," &c. My sheykh, by a
note on a later passage, authorizes the
rendering which I have adopted.
NOTE 20. This story differs so little from
that of Cleomades and Claremond that it
is evident that one of these was derived,
immediately or mediately, from the other,
or that both of them are derived from
a common origin. Of the latter story, Mr.
Keightley has given a copious extract, to
which he has subjoined several notices of
the mention of magic horses of wood, the
brazen horse of King Cambuscan, and en-
chanted horses of flesh and blood. He
shews that "Cleomades and Claremond "
was written in the thirteenth century of
our era, and remarks, "The story, as every
one must see, is that of the Enchanted
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1159
Horse in the Thousand and One Nights;
and it is a very remarkable instance of
the transmission of fictitious narratives,
little altered, from distant regions. . .
The Enchanted Horse," he adds, "is in my
opinion an ancient Persian tale, from the
time of the Shapoors and Yezdejirds." I
agree with him in regarding it as an old
Persian tale, and think that it is probably
derived from the "Hezár Afsaneh."
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
NOTE I. THIS story has been given in
French, but greatly abridged, by Trébutien;
and in English, still more abridged, by Dr.
Scott. I have felt that I could not convey
a fair notion of the original without trans-
ating not only the whole of the prose
(with the exception of a very few words),
out also considerably more than half of
he poetry. The latter, whatever may be
hought of it in other respects, has the
nerit of being characteristic; and though
specimens of the amatory poetry of the
Arabs are not wanting in other parts of
he present work, I hope that the reader
will excuse their abundance in this story
is it is entirely one of love.
The story is evidently Arabian; but the
countries in which its scenes are laid are
foubtful. In one part (as will be shewn
n a subsequent note), we seem to have
in exaggerated description of a part of
he Nile, and of a small island there situ-
ite, namely that of Philæ. In another, a
country is mentioned as near to Ispahán.
NOTE 2. "El-Ward fi-l-Akmám" sig-
ifies "the Rose in the Calyx," or, liter-
lly, "
in the segments of the Calyx:
"the Rose bud," or "the Unblown
e.
Rose."
""
NOTE 3. The game here mentioned ap-
ears to be that of goff.
NOTE 4. The lattice-windows in the
East generally have small frames opening
pon hinges.
NOTE 5. I read "baghtatan" instead of
burhatan," as recommended by my
heykh.
66
NOTE 6. My sheykh explains the mean-
ng of Uns-el-Wujood " (vulgarly pro-
ounced "Anas-el-Wujood ") by the words
Lezzet (or Ledhdhet) ed-Dunyà," which
gnify "the Delight of the World."
Uns" is here used, and in many other
ases, as synonymous with "eenás," (in-
nitive noun of "ánasa," fourth conjuga-
tion), though I do not know that it is so
interpreted in any published dictionary;
and "el-wujood " often signifies
"the
world; " as in "Hosn-el-Wujood" (a fe-
male name), "the Beauty of the World."
NOTE 7. In this verse, in the original,
there is a play upon the name of Uns-el-
Wujood, which I have not attempted to
imitate.
NOTE 8. "Noon" and "Sád" are two
letters of the Arabic alphabet. The former,
lengthened, as it often is, forms an elegant
curve; and the latter, without the curve,
which is added to it when it occurs alone
or at the end of a word, resembles the
outline of a human eye, almond-shaped. -
"The Benevolent" is one of the many
epithets of the Deity.
-
NOTE 9. The prayers of two rek'ahs,
here mentioned, are not the only practice
observed by Muslims with the view of
obtaining a right direction; several others
I have described in my work on the Mod-
ern Egyptians, towards the close of Chap-
ter xi. in the First Volume.
66
NOTE 10. The words which I render
"the Sea of the Kunooz " are "Bahr el-
Kunooz." The term "bahr " is applied to
"a large river" as well as "a sea," and
Kunooz" may be rendered "Treasures:
but I prefer retaining the latter of these
two Arabic words untranslated, for the
following reasons: - The people who in-
habit the banks and islands of the Nile
from a considerable distance north of As-
wán as far as Wádee es-Subooa are called
"the Kunooz;" therefore that portion of
the Nile which flows through their country
may be properly called "Bahr el-Ku-
nooz; " and Philæ, which is in this part of
the Nile, near the northern limits of Nubia,
is now called "the Island of Anas- (or
more properly Uns-) el-Wujood." Hence
it appears to me most probable that the
author of this story founded it upon some
tradition that was preserved in Philæ and
1160
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
66
its neighbourhood; and without having
heard any exaggerated description of that
picturesque island, he may have taken the
liberty of magnifying it, as well as giving
it a new name (which the story required
him to do), and of converting a great river
into a sea. Burckhardt renders "Anas-el-
Wujood " the social pleasures of Wu-
jood;" and adds, "Wujood, say the Arabs,
was the name of the mighty King who
built the temples of Philæ." But, if my
memory deceive me not, I was there told
that "
Anas-el-Wujood," not simply "Wu-
jood," was the name of the builder of those
temples; and of his history I could learn
nothing; the tradition relating to him being
lost.
NOTE II. This is commonly done in ex-
pectation of immediate death.
NOTE 12. "Abu-1-Hárith" is a surname
of the lion, given to him on account of
his abundant acquisitions.
NOTE 13. Seyhoon and Jeyhoon are the
rivers anciently called Jaxartes and Oxus,
which flow into the sea of Aral.
NOTE 14. That is, because he is of my
portion, according to my sheykh. But may
not the meaning be, because his cheek can-
not be rosy if mine be not?
NOTE 15. Of these fibres, which grow at
the top of the trunk, and which are called
in Arabic "leef," are made most of the
ropes used by the Arabs.
NOTE 16. The kind of net here men-
tioned (in the original "shinf") has the
form of a large sack.
NOTE 17. So in the Breslau edition. In
the edition of Cairo by the omission of a
dot, the word signifies "branch" instead
of "gourd."
NOTE 18. See Note 30 to the Introduc-
tion.
NOTE 19. The "hezár" is a species of
nightingale, and is so called from the great
variety of its notes; the word "hezár "
(which is Persian) signifying "a thousand."
NOTE 20.
"Dirbás" is one of the many
Arabic words signifying "a lion.”
NOTE 21. "Shámikh" signifies "high,"
16 lofty," and "proud."
NOTE 22. This deception is accounted
for by the information which El-Ward
fi-l-Akmám had given to the King, respect-
ing the obstacles that had been raised
against her marriage to Uns-el-Wujood.
NOTE 23. By "Arabs," we are here to
understand Bedawees, or Arabs of the
Desert.
NOTE 24. In illustration of this passage,
see Note 63 to Chapter iii.
it
NOTE 25. The Wezeer Ibraheem,
seems, inferred that Uns-el-Wujood had
come to this palace, and, seeing the doors
opened, had carried off his beloved.
NOTE 26. "The Requiter" is one of
the epithets of the Deity.
NOTE 27. The words rendered " around
us" literally signify "in the four quarters
of the horizon," or, "among the flapping
[standards]," as my sheykh explains in a
marginal note. Perhaps these words, with
those immediately connected with them,
may be also meant to convey an allusion
to the palpitating of the heart occasioned
by the hearing of glad tidings. The word
which bears the significations above men-
tioned also signifies "palpitating "
64
""
or
throbbing;" and that rendered "our
drums of glad tidings may with equal
propriety be applied to any things an-
nouncing such news.
NOTE 28. "On the seventh day after a
marriage, the wife receives her female re-
lations and friends during the morning and
afternoon; and sometimes the husband en-
tertains his own friends in the evening;
generally hiring persons to perform a khat-
meh or a zikr." Professional vocal and
instrumental performers are also often hired
on this occasion, as on others of a similar
kind, to amuse each party of guests. In
the case to which the present note refers,
we may suppose the musicians to have been
sent by the King.
NOTE 29. Next follows a long series of
forty-eight anecdotes, ending with part of
the four hundred and twenty-fourth Night.
Twenty-two of these I have selected for
translation, and here insert.
The Pauper and his slave-girl
It is related that a man of the inhabi-
tants of El-Basrah purchased a slave-girl
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1161
whom he educated and instructed well; and
he loved her extremely, and expended all
his property in diversion and amusement
while he lived with her, so that nothing
remained in his possession, and excessive
poverty afflicted him. The slave-girl there-
fore said to him, O my master, sell me;
for thou art in need of my price, and I
am moved with pity for thee by the state
of poverty into which thou hast fallen.
lf thou sell me and employ my price for
thy support, it will be better for thee than
my remaining with thee! and perhaps God
(whose name be exalted!) will make thy
means of subsistence ample. - So he as-
sented to her proposal on account of the
straitness of his circumstances. He took
her and went down with her to the mar-
ket, and the broker offered her for sale to
the Governor of El-Basrah, whose name
was 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Maamar Et-Teymee;
and she pleased him, and he bought her
for five hundred pieces of gold, which sum
he paid to her master. But when her mas-
ter had received the money, and was about
to depart, the slave-girl wept and recited
this couplet:
May the money which thou hast collected de-
light thee! But for me, nought remaineth
save sorrow and anxiety.
I say to my grievously oppressed soul, Mourn
little or much: the beloved is separated.
On hearing which, her master uttered
groans, and thus replied:
If thou have not any resource in this case, and
find not aught but death, yet excuse me.
Eve and morn the remembrance of you will
console me, and comfort a heart severely
troubled.
Peace be on thee! Henceforh shall no visit
nor meeting take place between us unless
Ibn-Maamar willeth.
And when 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Maamar heard
their verses, and witnessed their sorrow,
he said, By Allah, I will not be a means
of separating you. It hath become evident
to me that ye love one another; so take
the money and the slave-girl, O man. May
God bless thee in them both! for the
separation of two lovers is painful to them.
They both, therefore, kissed his hand,
and departed; and they ceased not to live
together until death parted them. - Ex-
tolled be the perfection of Him whom
death doth not overtake!
Two Victims of Love
There was a graceful man of the tribe of
'Odhrah, who was never free from the pas-
sion of love for a single day. And it hap-
pened that he loved a beautiful woman of
his tribe, and he sent messages to her dur-
ing the space of some days; but she ceased
not to treat him with cruelty and aversion
until desire and transport and distraction
afflicted him, and he fell into a violent
sickness. He confined himself to the pil-
low, and relinquished sleep; his case be-
came manifest to the people, and his pas-
sion notorious; his infirmity increased, and
his pain became severe, so that he almost
died. His family and the family of his be-
loved incessantly begged her to visit him;
but she refused, until he was at the point
of death, when they acquainted her with
this, and at length she was moved with
compassion for him, and granted him the
favour of a visit. And upon his beholding
her, his eyes poured forth tears, and, with
a broken heart, he recited these words:
By thy life, when my corpse passeth by thee,
borne upon the necks of four men,
Wilt thou not follow the bier, to salute the
grave in which that corpse shall be laid?
And when she heard his words, she wept
violently, and said to him, By Allah, I
did not imagine that thy desire had risen
to such a pitch as to cast thee into the
arms of death. Had I known that, I had
aided thee in thine affair, and thou hadst
enjoyed the union thou desirest. And on
his hearing what she said, his tears became
like rain; and he repeated the saying of
the poet:
She drew near at the time when death was
parting us, and favoured me with union
when it would not profit me.
And
Then he uttered a groan, and died.
upon this, she threw herself upon him, kiss-
ing him and weeping, and she ceased not
to weep until she fell down by him in a
fit. And when she recovered, she charged
her family that they should bury her in his
grave when she should have died. Then
she poured forth tears, and recited these
two verses:
We lived upon the earth a life of comfort, and
the tribe and abode and home were proud
of us;
But fortune, with its changes, hath parted us
from each other, and now the grave-clothes
will unite us.
And after she had ended her verses, she
wept violently, and ceased not to weep and
wail till she fell down in a fit, in which she
remained three days; and then she died,
and was buried in his grave. This was
one of the strange coincidences that have
happened in love.
-
1162
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Love in a School
A boy and a slave-girl learned in one
school, and the boy became affected with
a violent passion for the slave-girl: so, one
day, when the other boys were inadvertent,
he took her tablet, and wrote upon it these
two verses:
What sayest thou of him whom disease hath
wasted by excessive love of thee, and who
hath become perplexed:
Who in transport and pain complaineth of his
passion, unable to conceal the feelings of
his heart?
When the slave-girl, therefore, took the
tablet, she saw these verses written upon it;
and after she had read them, and under-
stood their meaning, she wept in compas-
sion for the boy, and wrote beneath his
lines, this couplet: -
If we behold a lover whom desire hath afflicted,
we will confer favours upon him;
And that which he requireth of us he shall
obtain, whatever happen to us in conse-
quence.
And it happened that the teacher came in
to them, and, finding the tablet at a mo-
ment when it was lying unheeded, took it,
and read what was upon it; whereat he
was moved with pity for their state, and
wrote these two verses (addressed to the
girl) beneath those which they had writ-
ten:
-
Receive thy lover, and fear not punishment;
for he hath become perplexed in his passion.
As to the teacher, fear not his authority; for
he hath long been afflicted by love.
Then the master of the slave-girl happened
to enter the school, and he found the girl's
tablet; so he took it, and read the words
of the slave-girl, and those of the boy, and
those of the teacher; and beneath the
verses of them all, he wrote this couplet: -
-
May God never cause a separation between you;
and may your slanderer be perplexed and
wearied!
As to the teacher, never, by Allah, have my
eyes beheld a greater fosterer of intrigues.
The master of the slave-girl then sent for
the Kadee and witnesses, and performed
the ceremony of her contract of marriage
to the youth in their presence. He made
for them also a feast, and treated them
with great beneficence; and they continued
together in joy and happiness until they
were overtaken by the terminator of de-
lights and the separator of companions.
A Faithless Wife
There was a man who had a mill, and
an ass which turned it; and he had a
wicked wife, whom he loved; but she hated
him, and loved a neighbour of hers, who
detested her, and withheld himself from
her. And her husband dreamt that a per-
son said to him, Dig in such a spot in the
ass's circuit in the mill: thou wilt find a
treasure. And when he awoke, he told
his wife of his dream, commanding her to
conceal the secret. But she acquainted
with it her neighbour whom she loved, for
the purpose of ingratiating herself with
him, and he promised to come to her at
night. Accordingly he came to her in the
night, and dug in the circuit of the mill,
and they found the treasure, and took it
forth. He then said to her, What shall
we do with this? She answered, We will
divide it into two equal portions, and thou
shalt part thyself from thy wife, and I will
devise a stratagem to separate myself from
my husband: then thou shalt marry me;
and when we are united, we will put all
the money together and it shall be in our
possession. Her neighbour however re-
plied, I fear that the Devil will seduce thee,
and that thou wilt take some other man
in my stead; for gold in the house is like
the sun in the world; and the right opin-
ion is, that the money be all in my keep-
ing, in order that thou mayest eagerly
study to effect thy release from thy hus-
band and to come to me. But she re-
joined, I also fear the like of that which
thou fearest, and I will not give up to thee
my share of this money; for I was the
person who gave thee information of it.
And when he heard these words from her,
covetousness incited him to kill her: so
he killed her, and threw her into the place
of the treasure; after which, daylight over-
took him, and prevented his concealing
her. And the miller awoke, and found
not his wife; and he went into the mill,
attached the ass there, and urged it with
his voice; whereupon it walked on, and
then stopped. The miller beat it violently;
but every time that he did so, it drew
back; for it took fright at the dead woman,
and could not advance. All this while,
the miller knew not the cause of the stop-
ping of the ass; and he took a knife, and
goaded it many times; yet still it would
not move from its place; and upon this, he
was enraged at it, and stabbed it in the
side, and the ass fell down dead. Then,
when day came, the miller saw the ass
dead, and his wife dead, and found her in
the place of the treasure; and his rage in-
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1163
creased at discovering the loss of the treas-
are and the slaughter of his wife and the
ass, and great sorrow came upon him.-
All this happened in consequence of his re-
vealing his secret to his wife, and not con-
cealing it.
A Simpleton and a Sharper
A certain simpleton was walking along,
holding the halter of his ass, which he was
dragging after him; and two sharpers saw
him; whereupon one of them said to his
companion, I will take this ass from this
man. How wilt thou take it? said the
other. The first replied, Follow me, and
I will shew thee. So he followed him; and
that sharper, advancing to the ass, unloosed
from it the halter, and gave the ass to his
companion; after which, he put the halter
upon his own head and walked on behind
the simpleton until he knew that his com-
panion had gone away with the ass. Then
he stopped: so the simpleton dragged him
by the halter; but he advanced not. The
man therefore looked back at him, and,
seeing the halter upon the head of a man,
he said to him, What art thou? The
sharper answered, I am thy ass, and my
story is wonderful; and it is this: I had
a mother, a virtuous old woman, and I
went to her one day in a state of intoxica-
tion; whereupon she said to me, O my son,
turn with repentance unto God (whose
name be exalted!) from these sins. But
I took a staff, and beat her with it; and
she uttered an imprecation against me;
upon which God (whose name be exalted!)
transformed me into an ass, and caused
me to fall into thy possession, and I re-
mained with thee all this time. To-day,
however, my mother remembered me, and
God inclined her heart towards me; so
she prayed for me, and God restored me
to the human shape as I was. - - And the
simpleton said, There is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great!
By Allah, O my brother, absolve me of
responsibility for that which I have done
unto thee, in riding thee and in other
things. Then he left the sharper to go
his way, and he himself returned to his
house intoxicated with anxiety and grief.
His wife therefore said to him, What hath
afflicted thee, and where is the ass? He
said to her, Hast thou no knowledge of
the case of the ass? Then I will acquaint
thee with it. And he related to her the
story; on hearing which, she exclaimed,
Alas for the punishment that we shall re-
ceive from God, whose name be exalted!
-
-
How hath it happened that all this time
hath passed over us and we have been
making a son of Adam to labour for us!
---
Then she gave alms, and prayed for the
forgiveness of God. And the man remained
a long time in the house without work.
So his wife said to him, How long wilt
thou remain in the house without work?
Go to the market and buy for us an ass
with which to work. He therefore went
to the market, and stopped by the asses;
and, lo, he beheld his own ass for sale.
And when he recognized it, he advanced to
it, and, putting his mouth to its ear, said
to it, Wo to thee, O unlucky! Doubtless
thou hast returned to intoxication, and
beaten thy mother again. By Allah, I will
never again buy thee! - Then he left it,
and departed.
The King and the Merchant of Cairo
It is related that El-Hákim bi-amri-lláh
was riding in his state procession one day,
and he passed by a garden, where he saw
a man surrounded by slaves and servants;
and he demanded of him a draught of
water. The man therefore gave him to
drink; after which he said, Perhaps the
Prince of the Faithful will honour me by
alighting and paying me a visit in this
garden. So the King alighted, and his
troops also, and entered that garden; and
the man above mentioned caused a hun-
dred carpets to be brought out, and a hun-
dred skins, and a hundred pillows, and a
hundred dishes of fruits, and a hundred
bowls full of sweets, and a hundred saucers
full of sherbet of sugar. El-Hakim bi-
amri-lláh was amazed at this, and he said,
O man, verily thy case is wonderful. Didst
thou know of our coming, and prepare
for us this? The man answered, No, by
Allah, O Prince of the Faithful: I knew
not of your coming. I am a merchant, of
the number of thy subjects, and I have a
hundred concubines; and when the Prince
of the Faithful honoured me by alighting
and paying me a visit, I sent to each of
them, desiring her to send me the dinner
in the garden; and each of them sent some-
what of her furniture and the surplus of
her food and her drink. Each of them
sendeth to me every day a dish of meat,
and a dish of something cooling, and a
dish of fruit, and a bowl full of sweetmeat,
and a saucer of sherbet; and this is my
dinner every day: I have not added to it
any thing for thee. And the Prince of
the Faithful prostrated himself, offering up
thanks to God (whose name be exalted!),
-
1164
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and said Praise be to God, who hath made
to be of the number of our subjects one
upon whom He hath bestowed such afflu-
ence that he feedeth the Khaleefeh and his
troops without preparing for them, but
only of the surplus of his food! Then he
gave orders to present to him all that
the government-treasury contained of coins
struck during that year; and they
amounted to three millions and seven hun-
dred thousand; and he mounted not until
he had caused them to be brought, and
had given them to that man, saying to
him, Make use of them as thy case may
require; for thy generosity is worthy of a
greater recompense. Then the King
mounted and departed.
The King and the Village Damsel
The just King, Kisrà Anooshirwán, rode
forth one day to the chase, and separated
himself from his troops, pursuing a gazelle;
and as he proceeded after it, he saw a tract
of cultivated land near unto him. He was
exceedingly thirsty; so he repaired thither,
and, going to the door of the house of a
family, he asked for some water to drink;
whereupon there came forth to him a dam-
sel, who looked at him, and then returned
to the house, and pressed for him a single
sugar-cane, mixed its juice with water,
poured it into a cup, and put into it some
sweet-scented substance resembling dust.
Then she gave it to Anooshirwán, who
looked into the cup, and saw in it some-
thing like dust. He therefore drank it
slowly, until he came to the end of it,
when he said to the damsel, O damsel, ex-
cellent was the water, and how sweet had
it been but for those particles swimming
upon the surface; for they rendered it tur-
bid. The damsel replied, O guest, I pur-
posely threw into it those particles which
rendered it turbid.. And why didst thou
that? said the King. She answered, Be-
cause I saw thee to be violently thirsty,
and feared that thou wouldst drink it at a
single draught, and it would have been
injurious to thee; and had there not been
in it those particles upon the surface, thou
wouldst have drunk it up quickly at once,
and thy doing so would have been hurtful
to thee. So the just King, Anooshirwán,
wondered at her words and her intelligence,
knowing that what she had said had pro-
ceeded from intelligence and acuteness and
excellence of understanding; and he said
to her, From how many canes didst thou
press that juice? She answered, From one
cane. And Anooshirwán wondered, and
-
demanded the register of the taxes that
arose from the village there; and he saw
that its taxes were little; wherefore he pur-
posed in his mind, when he should return
to his seat of government, to increase those
taxes; saying, Wherefore should the taxes
of a village from a single sugar-cane of
which this juice proceedeth be so little?
Then he departed from that village to
the chase; and at the close of the day he
returned to it, and passing alone by that
door again, he asked a second time for
water to drink; upon which that same
damsel came forth to him; and seeing and
knowing him, she returned to bring him
the water. But she was long absent from
him. So Anooshirwán hastened her, and
said, Wherefore hast thou been tardy?
She answered, Because there proceeded not
from one cane as much as thou wantest;
therefore I pressed three canes; and there
came not from them as much as before
came from one cane. The King said, What
is the cause of that? And she answered,
The cause of it is, that the purpose of the
Sultán hath become changed. He therefore
asked her, Whence learnedst thou this?
She answered, We have heard from the
wise, that, when the purpose of the Sul-
tán becometh changed against a people,
their prosperity ceaseth, and their bless-
ings are diminished. And Anooshirwán
laughed, and dismissed from his mind that
which he had purposed against the people;
and forthwith he married that damsel, be-
ing pleased with the excess of her intelli-
gence and acuteness, and the excellence of
her speech.
The King and the Clever Fisherman
Khusrow, who was one of the Kings
[of Persia], was fond of fish; and he was
one day sitting in his saloon, with Shee-
reen, his wife, when there came a fisher-
man with a large fish, which he gave to
Khusrow. And the King was pleased with
that fish, and gave orders to present the
man with four thousand pieces of silver.
But Sheereen said to him, Evil is that
which thou hast done! And why? he
asked. She answered, Because if, after this,
thou give any one of thy dependants this
sum, he will despise it, and say, He hath
given me the like of the sum which he
gave to the fisherman. And if thou give
him less than that, he will say, He hath
despised me, and given me less than he
gave to the fisherman. So Khusrow re-
plied, Thou hast spoken truth; but it is
disgraceful in Kings to take back their
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1165
-
gifts, and this hath passed. Sheereen how-
ever rejoined, I will contrive for thee a
means of getting back the present from
him. And how so? said he. She an-
swered, If thou desire that, call the fisher-
man, and ask him of what species is this
fish. And if he say to thee, Of such a
species, - reply, We desired one of another
kind. He therefore sent after the fisher-
man, who returned; and this fisherman was
a person of intelligence and acuteness; and
the King Khusrow asked him, of what
species was the fish which he had brought;
whereupon the fisherman kissed the ground,
and said, This fish is of a mixed kind, and
of no one particular species. And Khusrow
laughed at his words, and gave orders to
present him with four thousand more pieces
of silver.
The fisherman therefore went to the
treasurer, and received from him eight
thousand pieces of silver, which he put into
a leathern bag that he had with him; and
he raised it upon his neck, and was about
to go forth, when there fell from him one
piece of silver; upon which he set down
the leathern bag from his shoulders, and
stooped to pick up the piece of silver, and
took it. Now the King and Sheereen were
looking at him; and Sheereen said, O King,
hast thou seen the vileness of this man, and
his meanness, in that when there fell from
him a piece of silver, it was not easy for
him to leave it for one of the pages of the
King to take it? And when the King
heard her words, he was enraged at the
fisherman, and said, Thou hast spoken
truth, O Sheereen. Then he gave orders
to bring back the fisherman, and said to
him, O thou devoid of spirit! Thou art
not a man! How was it that thou puttest
down this money from thy shoulders, and
stoopedst for a piece of silver, and wast
too covetous to leave it in its place?
But the fisherman kissed the ground, and
answered, May God prolong the life of the
King! I took not up that piece of silver
from the ground on account of its value in
my estimation; but I did so because upon
one of its faces is the effigy of the King,
and upon its other face his name, and I
feared that some person might put his foot
upon it unknowingly, and that would be
dishonouring the name of the King, and
his effigy; and I should be the one to be
blamed for this offence. And the King
wondered at his words, and approved what
he said, and gave orders to present him
with four thousand more pieces of silver.
He also commanded a crier to proclaim
and say, It is not fit that any one should
follow the counsel of women; for he who
followeth their counsel will lose with his
piece of silver two pieces of silver beside.
me.
The Hospitality of Yahyà
It is related that Yahyà the son of Khá-
lid El-Barmekee went forth from the palace
of the Khaleefeh to return to his house,
and saw, at the door of the house, a man,
who, when he approached, rose and saluted
him, and said to him, O Yahyà, I am in
need of that which is in thy hand, and I
beg of God to conciliate thy favour for
And Yahyà gave orders to appropri-
ate to him a place in his house, and com-
manded his treasurer to take to him every
day a thousand pieces of silver, and di-
rected that he should be fed with the
choicest of his food. Thus the man re-
mained a whole month; at the expiration
of which, he had received thirty thousand
pieces of silver; but he feared that Yahyà
would take from him the money, on ac-
count of its large amount: so he departed
privily. And they informed Yahyà of this.
He however replied, By Allah, had he re-
mained with me for his life, and for all
his days, I had not withheld my gifts, nor
deprived him of the honours of my hos-
pitality. And the excellencies of the Bar-
Imekees were incalculable, and their virtues
cannot be fully described: especially those
of Yahyà the son of Khálid; for he chiefly
abounded in illustrious actions, as the poet
hath said of him:
I asked Liberality, Art thou free? He an
swered, No; but I am the slave of Yahyà
the son of Khálid.
By purchase? said I. God forbid! he an-
swered; for he had me by inheritance from
father after father.
-
Mohammad El-Emeen and the Slave-girl
Jaafar the son of Moosà El-Hádee had
a slave-girl, a lute-player, whose name was
El-Bedr el-Kebeer, and there was not in
her time any more beautiful in face, or of
more just figure, or more graceful, or more
skilful in the art of singing, and striking
the chords: she was endowed with the ut-
most loveliness and elegance, and every
charm. And Mohammad El-Emeen the
son of Zubeydeh heard of her, and be-
sought Jaafar to sell her to him: but he
replied, Thou knowest that it becometh not
such a person as myself to sell female slaves
and to set prices upon concubines; and
were she not brought up in my house, I
would send her as a present to thee, and
not covetously withhold her from thee.
Then Mohammad El-Emeen repaired one
1166
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
day, for the purpose of exhilaration, to the
house of Jaafar, who thereupon shewed
him the hospitality suitable to friends, and
ordered his slave-girl El-Bedr el-Kebeer to
sing to him and make him merry. She
therefore tuned the instruments, and sang
with the sweetest of melodious tones. And
Mohammad El-Emeen betook himself to
drinking and making merry, and ordered
the cup-bearers to give abundance of wine
to Jaafar, that they might intoxicate him.
He then took the slave-girl with him, and
repaired to his residence; but he extended
not his hand towards her. And in the
morning he gave orders to invite Jaafar;
and when he came he placed the wine be-
fore him, and commanded the slave-girl
to sing to him within the curtain. When
Jaafar, therefore, heard her voice, he knew
her; and he was enraged at this; but he
shewed not his rage, by reason of the
nobleness of his nature, and his magna-
nimity; and he manifested no change in
his convivial converse. And as soon as the
carousal was ended, Mohammad El-Emeen
gave orders to one of his dependants to fill
the skiff in which Jaafar had come to him,
with pieces of gold and silver, and varietles
of jewels and jacinths and rich apparel,
and exceeding wealth. So he did as he
commanded him, putting into the skiff a
thousand myriads of pieces of money, and
a thousand large pearls, each pearl of the
value of twenty thousand pieces of silver;
and he ceased not to put in it varieties of
rarities, until the boatmen called out for
aid, and said, The skiff cannot carry any
thing more. And he ordered them to con-
vey the wealth to the house of Jaafar.-
Such are the noble actions of the great.
May God have mercy on them!
El-Fadl and Jafaar the Generous Bar-
mekees
Sa'eed the son of Sálim El-Báhilee saith,
My circumstances became difficult in the
time of Hároon Er-Rasheed; many debts
were accumulated upon me, burdening my
back, and I was unable to discharge them.
My means were contracted, and I became
perplexed, not knowing what to do; for
payment was vehemently urged upon me,
the persons to whom I was indebted sur-
rounded my door, those who had demands
to make crowded upon me, and the credi-
tors constantly importuned me. Thus my
invention of expedients was straitened, and
my trouble of mind was excessive. So
when I saw my affairs involved in diffi-
culty, and my circumstances changed, I
repaired to 'Abd-Allah the son of Málik
El-Khuza'ee, and besought him to aid me
by his advice, and direct me to the door of
relief by his good counsel; and he said,
No one can save thee from thy trouble and
anxiety, and straitness and grief, except the
Barmekees. I replied, And who can bear
their pride, and endure their haughtiness?
-Thou wilt bear that, he rejoined, for the
sake of amending thy circumstances. I
therefore rose from his presence, and went
to El-Fadl and Jaafar, the sons of Yahyà
the son of Khalid, related to them my case,
and shewed them my condition. And they
said, May God give thee his aid, and ren-
der thee independent of his creatures by
his beneficence, and liberally bestow on
thee abundant prosperity, and grant thee
sufficiency above any being beside Him;
for He is able to do whatsoever He willeth,
and is gracious unto his servants, and ac-
quainted with their wants.
So I departed from them, and returned
to 'Abd-Allah the son of Málik with con-
tracted bosom, perplexed mind, and broken
heart, and repeated to him what they had
said; and he replied, It is expedient that
thou remain to-day with us, that we may
see what God (whose name be exalted!)
will decree. I therefore sat with him a
while; and, lo, my young man approached
and said, O my master, at our door are
many mules, with their loads, and with
them is a man who saith, I am the agent
of El-Fadl the son of Yahyà, and Jaafar
the son of Yahyà. Upon this, 'Abd-Allah
the son of Málik said, I hope that relief
hath approached thee: rise then, and see
what is the affair. Accordingly, I rose from
his presence, and hastened running to my
house, and saw at my door a man with a
note, in which was written,
When thou hadst been with us, and we
had heard thy words, we repaired, after
thy departure, to the Khaleefeh, and in-
formed him that thou hadst been reduced
to the ignominious necessity of begging;
whereupon he commanded us to convey to
thee, from the government-treasury, a mil-
lion pieces of. silver. But we said to him,
This money he will disburse to his creditors,
and he will pay with it his debts; and
whence is he to sustain himself? So he
gave orders to present thee with three
hundred thousand pieces of silver besides.
And each of us also hath sent to thee, of
his proper wealth, a million pieces of sil-
ver. The whole sum, therefore, is three
millions and three hundred thousand pieces
of silver, wherewith thou shalt amend thy
circumstances and affairs.
See then this generosity evinced by these
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1167
noble persons. May God (whose name be
exalted!) have mercy on them!
A Deceitful Wife
It is related that a woman practised a
stratagem against her husband; and it was
this: Her husband brought her a fish,
on a Friday, and desired her to cook it
and make it ready by the time that the
congregational prayers should be ended.
He then went forth to his work; and her
friend came to her, and invited her to at-
tend a wedding in his house; to which she
assented. She put the fish into a water-
jar in her abode, and went with him, and
remained absent from her house until the
next Friday; while her husband was search-
ing in other houses, and inquiring for her;
but no one gave him any tidings of her.
Then she came on the following Friday,
and took forth to him the fish alive, and,
having collected a number of people before
him, related to them her tale; whereupon
they pronounced the man a liar, and said
to him, It is impossible that the fish should
remain alive all this time. They made it
appear evident that he was mad, and im-
prisoned him and laughed at him.
The Slayer Who Was Pardoned
The shereef Hoseyn the son of Reiyán
hath related, that the Prince of the Faith-
ful, 'Omar the son of El-Khattáb, was sit-
ting one day to judge the people, and to
exercise jurisdiction among his subjects,
attended by the chiefs of his companions,
of those possessed of judgment and just
perception. And as he sat, there ap-
proached him a young man, of the most
comely of young men, of clean apparel,
upon whom two of the most comely of
young men had laid hold; and they dragged
him by the upper edge of his vest, and
stationed him before the Prince of the
Faithful. So the Prince of the Faithful
looked at the two young men, and at the
other, and, having ordered them to with-
draw from him, caused him to draw near
unto him, and said to the two young men,
What is your affair with him?-O Prince
of the Faithful, they answered, we are two
brothers by the same mother, and suited
to follow the truth. We had a father, a
very old man, prudent, honoured among
the tribes, free from meannesses, well
known for virtues, who reared us from
infancy, and bestowed on us great favours,
a person of abundant virtues and illustrious
actions, deserving of the praise of the
poet:
They said, Is Aboo Sakr of Sheybán? I an-
swered them, Nay, by my life; but Shey-
bán is of him:
For how many a father hath derived eminence
from a noble son, as did 'Adnán from
God's Apostle!
And he went forth to an orchard belong-
ing to him, to recreate himself among its
trees, and to pluck its ripe fruits, and this
young man slew him, swerving from the
path of rectitude. We therefore request
thee to retaliate his offence, and to pass
sentence upon him in accordance with the
command of God.
So 'Omar cast a terrifying glance at the
young man, and said to him, Thou hast
heard what these two young men have
stated. What then sayest thou in reply?
- Now that young man was of firm heart
and bold tongue; he had cast off the gar-
ments of dastardy, and divested himself of
the apparel of fear: so he smiled, and spoke
with a most eloquent tongue, compliment-
ing the Prince of the Faithful with elegant
language.
Then he said, By Allah, O
Prince of the Faithful, I have retained in
my mind their charge, and they have
spoken truth in that which they have said
in relating what happened and the com-
mand of God is a determinate decree. But
I will state my case before thee, and it is
thine to decide upon it. Know, O Prince
of the Faithful, that I am of the choicest
of the genuine Arabs, who are the most
noble of the races under heaven. I grew
up in the dwellings of the desert, and
gloomy times of oppressive sterility af-
flicted my people; wherefore I came to the
environs of this town, with my family and
wealth and, children. I followed one of
the roads around it leading amid its gardens
of trees, with she-camels of high estima-
tion and dear unto me, among which was
a male camel of high breed and of numer-
ous offspring and beautiful form, whereby
they bore abundantly, and he walked
among them like a king wearing a crown.
Now one of the she-camels ran away to
the orchard of the father of these two
young men, and its trees appeared above
the wall, and she reached them with her
lips; so I drove her away from that
orchard. But, lo, a sheykh appeared
through an interstice of the wall, the flame
of his rage casting forth sparks, and with
a stone in his right hand; and he walked
like the lion that swayeth in his pace, and,
smiting the male camel with that stone,
he killed it; for the stone struck its eye.
1168
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Therefore when I saw that the male camel
had fallen down by my side, I felt the
burning coals of anger lighted in my heart,
and I took up that same stone, and smote
him with it, and it was the cause of his
destruction. Thus he found an evil result
to his action; the man being killed with
that wherewith he had killed. And when
he was struck with the stone, he uttered
a great cry and a painful shriek; where-
upon I hastened from my place; but these
two young men hastened after me, and laid
hold upon me; and they brought me unto
thee, and placed me before thee.
On hearing this, 'Omar (may God, whose
name be exalted, be well pleased with
him!) said, Thou hast confessed the crime
that thou hast committed: liberation hath
become difficult, retaliation is necessary and
there is no opportunity of escape. The
young man replied, I hear and obey the
sentence which the Imám hath passed, and
consent to that which the law of El-Islám
requireth. But I have a young brother,
and he had an old father, who, before his
death, assigned him abundant wealth, and
a great sum of gold, and committed the
care of him to me, calling God to witness
against me, and saying This is in trust
with thee for thy brother: keep it then
carefully. I therefore received that money
from him, and buried it; and no one
knoweth of it but myself. So if thou now
pass sentence of death upon me, the wealth
will be lost, and thou wilt be the cause
of its loss, and the child will sue thee for
his right on the day when God will judge
his creatures. But if thou grant me three
days delay, I will appoint some one to act
as guardian to the boy, and I will return
to discharge my obligation; and I have one
who will be my surety for the fulfilment of
this promise. And upon this, the Prince
of the Faithful hung down his head. Then
he looked at those who were present, and
said, Who will be surety unto me for his
return to his place? - And the young man
looked at the faces of those who composed
the assembly, and, pointing to Aboo-Dharr
in preference to the rest of the persons
present, said, This will be my guarantee
and my surety. So 'Omar (may God,
whose name be exalted, be well pleased
with him!) said, O Aboo-Dharr, hast thou
heard this saying, and wilt thou be surety
unto me for the return of this young man?
He answered, Yes, O Prince of the Faith-
ful: I will be surety for him for three
days. 'Omar, therefore, consented to this,
and gave permission to the young man to
depart.
And when the period of delay had drawn
1
*
towards its close, and the time had almost 1
expired, or had expired, the young man
had not come unto the assembly of 'Omar, 1
whom the Companions were surrounding
like the stars around the moon. Aboo-
Dharr was present, and the plaintiffs were
waiting, and they said, Where is the de-
linquent, O Aboo-Dharr? How shall he
who hath fled return? But we will not
move from our place until thou bring him
to us, that our blood-revenge may be
taken. Aboo-Dharr replied, By the Om-
niscient King, if the three days expire and
the young man shall not have come, I will
discharge the obligation of surety, and sur-
render myself to the Imám! And 'Omar
(may God be well pleased with him!) said,
By Allah, if the young man delay his com-
ing, I will assuredly pass sentence upon
Aboo-Dharr according as the law of El-
Islám requireth! And upon this, the tears
of the persons present flowed, and the
sighs of the spectators rose, and great was
the clamour. The chiefs of the Compan-
ions proposed to the two young men to
take the pecuniary compensation, and ob-
tain the thanks of the people. But they
refused, and would admit nothing but the
taking of the blood-revenge.
And
While the people, however, were in a
state of tumult and clamour in their
lamentation for Aboo-Dharr, lo, the young
man approached, and stood before the
Imám, and greeted him with the most
courteous salutation. His face was shining
brightly, and glistening with perspiration;
and he said to the Imám I have committed
the youth unto his maternal uncles, and
acquainted them with all his affairs and
informed them of what had been done with
his wealth: then I rushed into the sultry
mid-day heat, and fulfilled my promise
with the fidelity of the ingenuous.
the people wondered at his veracity and
good faith, his ready offering of himself to
death, and his boldness. And some of them
said, How generous a young man art thou,
and how faithful in the performance of
thy promise and duty! But the young
man replied, Are ye not convinced that
when the period of death hath come, no
one can escape from it? Verily I fulfilled
my promise that it might not be said,
Fidelity hath departed from among men.
- And Aboo-Dharr said, By Allah, O
Prince of the Faithful, I became surety for
this young man and knew not of what tribe
he was, nor had I seen him before that day.
But when he turned from all else who were
present, and desired me, and said, This will
be surety and guarantee for me, - I
deemed it not right to reject him, and
等
​NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1169
humanity refused to disappoint his desire;
for there is no evil in complying with a
desire, that it may not be said, Virtue hath
departed from among men. - And upon
this, the two young men said, O Prince of
the Faithful, we give up to this young man
the blood of our father, since he hath con-
verted sadness into a cause of cheerfulness,
that it may not be said, Kindness hath de-
parted from among men. And the Imám
rejoiced at the pardon granted to the young
man, and at his veracity and his fidelity
in the performance of his duty, and he
highly extolled the humanity of Aboo-
Dharr above his companions, and approved
of the resolution of the young men in the
shewing of kindness: he bestowed upon
them grateful thanks, and recited, as ap-
plicable to their case, the saying of the
poet:
He who acteth kindly among men will be re
quited for it. Kindness is not lost with
God nor with men.
Then he offered to pay them the fine for
their father's blood from the government-
treasury. But they said, Verily we par-
doned him from a desire of seeing the face.
of God, the Bountiful, the Exalted; and
he whose intention is of this nature doth
not make his kindness to be followed by
reproach for his benefits, nor by detriment.
An Impudent Thief
A man, who was a robber, turned with
repentance unto God (whose name be ex-
alted!), and his repentance was sincere,
and he opened for himself a shop in which
to sell stuffs. This life he led for a length
of time; and it happened, one day, that he
locked his shop, and went to his house;
and one of the artful robbers came, and,
having disguised himself in the garb of the
owner of the shop, took forth from his
sleeve some keys. This was in the night;
and he said to the watchman of the market,
Light for me this candle. So the watch-
man took it from him, and went to light
it; and the robber opened the shop, and
lighted another candle that he had with
him; and when the watchman came again,
he found him sitting in the shop, with the
account-book in his hand, and he was look-
ing at it, and calculating with his fingers.
Thus he continued to do until the first
appearance of daybreak, when he said to
the watchman, Bring me a camel-driver
with his camel, to convey for me some of
the merchandise. Accordingly he brought
him a camel-driver with his camel, and
the robber took and gave him four bales
of stuffs, which he placed upon the camel.
Then he locked the shop, gave to the
watchman two pieces of silver, and fol-
lowed the camel-driver; the watchman be-
lieving that he was the owner of the shop.
And when the morning arrived, and day-
light appeared, the owner of the shop came,
and the watchman began to greet him with
prayers for his prosperity, on account of
the two pieces of silver. So the owner of
the shop disavowed what he said, and
wondered at it; and when he opened the
shop, he found the wax that had run down
from the candles, and the account-book
thrown down, and, examining the shop, he
found four bales of stuffs missing; where-
upon he said to the watchman, What hath
happened? He therefore told him of that
which had been done in the night, and of
what had been said to the camel-driver
respecting the bales; and the owner of the
shop said, Bring to me the camel-driver
who took up the bales with thee at day-
break. The watchman replied, I hear and
him.
obey; - and brought
And the
owner of the shop said to him, Whither
conveyedst thou the stuffs at daybreak?
He answered, To such a landing-place, and
I stowed them in the vessel of such-a-one.
And the merchant said to him, Go with me
thither. He accordingly went thither with
him, and said to him, This is the vessel,
and this is her owner. So he said to the
boatman, Whi her conveyedst thou the
merchant and the stuffs? He answered, To
such a place, and he brought to me a
camel-driver, who placed the stuffs upon
his camel, and departed, and I know not
whither he went. The owner of the shop
Isaid to him, Bring me the camel-driver
who conveyed the stuffs from thee. And
he brought him; and he said to him,
Whither conveyedst thou the stuffs from
the vessel, with the merchant? To such
a place, he answered. And he said to him,
Go with me thither, and shew it to me.
And the camel-driver went with him to a
place distant from the bank of the river,
acquainted him with the Khán in which
he had deposited the stuffs, and shewed
him the magazine of the [pretended] mer-
chant. So he advanced to the magazine
and opened it, and found the four bales
of stuffs in their original state, unopened;
and he gave them to the camel-driver.
The robber had placed his cloak upon the
stuffs; and the owner of the stuffs handed
it also to the camel-driver, who placed
the whole upon his camel. Then he closed
the magazine, and departed with the camel-
driver. And, lo, the robber confronted him,
1170
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and followed him until he had embarked
the stuffs in the boat; when he said to him,
O my brother, mayest thou be in the keep-
ing of God! Thou hast taken thy stuffs,
and nought of them is lost: so give me the
cloak. And the merchant laughed at him,
and gave him the cloak, and did not molest
him; and each of them went his way.
-
The Penalty of Greed
The Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-
Rasheed, was troubled one night with an
exceeding restlessness; so he said to his
Wezeer Jaafar the son of Yahyà El-Bar-
mekee, I am sleepless this night, and my
heart is contracted, and I know not what
to do. Now his eunuch Mesroor was
standing before him, and he laughed. The
Khaleefeh therefore said to him, At what
dost thou laugh? Dost thou laugh in con-
tempt of me, or because thou art mad? -
He answered, No, by Allah, O Prince of
the Faithful, by thy relationship to the
chief of Apostles, I did it not willingly;
but I went forth yesterday to walk with-
out the palace, and proceeded until I came
to the bank of the Tigris, where I saw a
crowd of people collected together: so I
stopped, and I saw a man making the
people laugh. He is named Ibn-El-Kári-
bee. And I remembered just now his
words, and laughter overcame
me; for
which I beg thy pardon, O Prince of the
Faithful. Upon this, the Khaleefeh said,
Bring him unto me immediately. Mesroor
therefore went forth and hastened until he
came to Ibn-El-Káribee; and he said to
him, Answer the summons of the Prince
of the Faithful. I hear and obey, replied
Ibn-El-Káribee. And Mesroor said to him,
But on the condition that, if thou go in to
him and he bestow upon thee any thing,
the quarter of it shall be thine, and the
rest be mine. Nay, replied Ibn-El-Kári-
bee; thou shalt have half, and I half. But
Mesroor said, No. And Ibn-El-Karibee
said, I will have a third, and thou shalt
have two thirds. And to this, Mesroor as-
sented, after excessive striving.
Then Ibn-El-Káribee arose and went
with him, and when he came into the pres-
ence of the Prince of the Faithful, he
greeted him with the salutation usually
given to Khaleefehs, and stood before him;
and the Prince of the Faithful said to him,
If thou do not make me laugh, I beat thee
three times with this leathern bag. So
Ibn-El-Káribee said within himself, And
it will be no great matter if three blows
be inflicted with this leathern bag, when
beating with whips hurteth me not. For
he imagined that the leathern bag was
empty. He then uttered sayings that would
make the enraged to laugh, with varieties
of drolleries; but the Prince of the Faith-
ful laughed not, nor even smiled; and
Ibn-El-Káribee wondered at him, and was
vexed, and feared; and the Prince of the
Faithful said to him, Now thou hast de-
served the beating. Accordingly, he took
the leathern bag, and beat him once; and
there were in it four pebbles, each pebble
of the weight of two pounds; and the blow
fell upon his neck: so he uttered a great
cry, and, remembering the agreement made
between him and Mesroor, he said, Pardon,
O Prince of the Faithful! Hear from me
two words! - The Khaleefeh replied, Say
what thou wilt. And he said, Verily Mes-
roor imposed on me a condition, and I
agreed with him respecting it; and it was,
that of whatsoever the Prince of the Faith-
ful should bestow upon me, one third of
it should be for me, and two thirds for
him; and he consented not to this my pro-
posal save after excessive striving. Now
thou hast not bestowed on me aught save
beating, and this blow is my share, and
the remaining two blows are his share; for
I have received my share, and here he is
standing, O Prince of the Faithful; there-
fore pay him his. And when the Prince
of the Faithful heard his words, he laughed
until he fell backwards; and, having called
Mesroor, he gave him a blow, whereupon
he cried out, and said, O Prince of the
Faithful, the third sufficeth me, and do
thou give him the two thirds. And the
Khaleefeh laughed at them, and gave or-
ders to present each of them with a thou-
sand pieces of gold. And they departed,
rejoiced at that which he had bestowed
upon them.
--
The Devout Prince
The Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-
Rasheed, had a son who had attained the
age of sixteen years, and he was averse
from the world, following the course of the
abstinent and the devotees. He used to go
forth to the burial-grounds, and to say, Ye
were in possession of the world; but that
saved you not; and ye have gone unto
your graves. Would then that I knew
what ye said, and what was said unto you!
- And he wept as the fearful and the
dreading, and recited the saying of the
poet:
The funerals constantly terrify me, and the
weeping of the wailing women grieveth me.
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1171
And it happened that his father passed
y him one day, proceeding in state, sur-
ounded by his wezeers and the great men
f his empire and of the people of his
ominions, and they saw the son of the
rince of the Faithful with a woollen jub-
eh upon his body, and a piece of woollen
uff (as a turban) upon his head. So one
f them said to another, This youth hath
isgraced the Prince of the Faithful among
he Kings, and if he reproved him, he
ould relinquish his present course. And
bird
And
And
e Prince of the Faithful, hearing their
ords, spoke to him on that subject, and
id to him, O my child, thou hast dis-
aced me by thy present life. But his
n looked at him, and answered him not.
hen he looked at a bird upon one of the
ttlements of the palace, and said to it,
bird, by Him who created thee, drop
Don my hand. Whereupon the
rted down upon the youth's hand.
said to it, Return to thy place.
returned. He then said to it, Drop upon
e hand of the Prince of the Faithful.
it it refused to do so. And the youth
d to his father, Thou hast disgraced me
long the Welees by thy love of the world,
d I have resolved to part from thee,
ver to return unto thee save in the world
come. Then he went down the river
El-Basrah, where he employed himself
working with the labourers in mud;
d he worked not each day save for a
ce of silver and a sixth: with the sixth,
fed himself; and with the piece of sil-
, he gave alms.
Aboo-'Ámir of El-Basrah hath related
follows: A wall having fallen in my
ise, I went forth to the station of the
ourers, to see for a man to repair it;
1 my eye fell upon a comely youth, of
utiful countenance; whereupon I went
him and saluted him and said to him, O
friend, dost thou desire service? He
wered, Yes. And I said, Arise and come
h me to build a wall. He replied, On
ain conditions which I will impose upon
2.- O my friend, said I, what are they?
answered, The hire shall be a piece of
er and a sixth; and when the Muëddin
nteth the call to prayer, thou shalt let
go to pray with the congregation. I
ied, Well. Then I took him and went
him to the house, and he worked in
anner of which I have not seen the like.
! I mentioned to him the dinner; but he
No: so I knew that he was fasting.
1 when he heard the call to prayer, he
to me, Thou knowest the condition. I
ied, Yes. And he loosed his girdle, and
lied himself to the ablution, performing
it in a manner that I have not seen sur-
passed. He then went forth to prayer,
and, having prayed with the congregation,
he returned to his work. And when the
afternoon-call to prayer was chanted, he
performed the ablution again and went to
prayer, and returned to his work. Upon
this I said to him, O my friend, the period
of work is ended; for the work of the
labourers is until the time of afternoon-
prayers. But he replied, Extolled be the
perfection of God! Verily my work is
until night. And he ceased not to work
till night, when I gave him two pieces of
silver; on seeing which, he said, What is
this? I answered, By Allah, this is but a
portion of thy hire, on account of thy dili-
gence in my service. But he threw them
back to me, saying, I desire not any addi-
tion to that for which we agreed together.
I urged him; but could not prevail upon
him. So I gave him a piece of silver and a
sixth, and he went away.
-
And when the next morning came, I
went early to the station; but found him
not. I therefore inquired respecting him;
and it was told me, He cometh not hither
save on Saturday only. And when the
next Saturday arrived I repaired to that
place, and found him; and I said to him,
In the name of Allah, do me the favour
to come to work. He replied, On the con-
ditions which thou knowest. I said, Yes.
And I went with him to my house, and
stood and looked at him without his seeing
me. And he took a handful of mud, and
placed it upon the wall, and, lo, the stones
ranged themselves, one upon another. So
I said, Thus are the Welees of God!
worked that day, and exceeded what he
had done before; and when the night came,
I paid him his hire, and he took it and
departed.
He
Again, on the third Saturday, I went to
the station; but found him not; wherefore
I asked respecting him, and was answered,
He is sick, and lying in the booth of such
a woman. This was an old woman well
known for devotion, and she had a booth
of reeds in the burial-ground. And I
went to the booth, and entered it; and,
lo, he was lying upon the ground, with
nothing under him: he had placed his head
upon an unburnt brick, and his face was
beaming with light. I saluted him, and he
returned my salutation; and I seated my-
self at his head, weeping on account of his
youth, and his absence from his native
place, and his aptness to the obedience of
his Lord. Then I said to him, Hast thou
any want? He answered, Yes. And
what is it? I asked. He answered, To-mor-
1172
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
row come to me, at the mid-time between
sunrise and noon, and thou wilt find me
dead. Wash me, and dig my grave, with-
out acquainting any one with it; and
shroud me in this jubbeh that is upon me;
and after unsewing it, search its breast,
take forth what is within it, and keep it
in thy possession. Then, when thou hast
prayed over me, and deposited my body
in the earth, repair to Baghdad, and watch
for the Khaleefeh, Hároon Er-Rasheed,
until he cometh forth, and give him what
thou shalt find in the breast of my jubbeh,
with my salutation. — Having said this,
he repeated the professions of the faith,
and praised his Lord with the most elo-
quent words, and recited these verses:
Convey the deposite of him whom death awaiteth
to Er-Rasheed; for thou wilt be rewarded
for that act;
And say to him, A stranger, desirous of be-
holding thee, long loving and distant, hath
offered thee his homage.
Neither hatred nor weariness hath removed him
from thee; for by kissing thy right hand,
he is brought near to God;
But that which hath estranged him from thee,
O my father, is a soul which forbeareth to
share thy worldly pleasures.
Then he employed himself in begging God's
forgiveness, and in prayer, and invoking
blessings upon the Chief of the Just, and
reciting some verses of the Kur-án, and
repeated these lines:
O my father, be not thou deceived by enjoy.
ment; for life will pass away, and enjoy.
ment will end.
When thou art informed that a people are op
pressed, know that thou wilt be inquired
of respecting them;
And when thou conveyest a corpse unto the
tombs, know that thou likewise wilt be
borne after it.
And when the youth had ended his charge
and his recitations, I departed from him
and went to my house. And on the fol-
lowing morning I repaired to him again,
at the mid-time between sunrise and noon,
and found that he had died. May the
mercy of God be on him! So I washed
him, and unsewed his jubbeh, and I found
in its breast a ruby 'worth thousands of
pieces of gold; whereupon I said within
myself, By Allah, this young man hath ab-
stained from worldly pleasures with the
extreme of abstinence.
Then, after I had buried him, I re-
paired to Baghdad, and, arriving at the
palace of the Khaleefeh, I watched for Er-
Rasheed's coming forth until he came;
when I presented myself before him in one
of the streets, and gave to him the ruby.
As soon as he saw it, he knew it, and fell
*
down in a fit; upon which the servant
laid hold upon me; but when he recov
ered, he said to them, Loose him, and sen
him with courtesy to the palace. So they
I did as he commanded them; and on hi
entering his palace, he summoned me, and
took me into his chamber, and said to me
What did the owner of this ruby? I an
swered him, He is dead. And I described to
him his case; whereupon he wept, and said
The son hath profited, and the father hath
been disappointed! Then he called out, C
such-a-one! (naming a female); — and a
woman came forth; but when she saw me
she was about to return: so he said to her,
Come hither. Thou needest not mind him.
- She therefore entered and saluted, and
he threw to her the ruby; on seeing which
she uttered a great cry, and fell down in
a fit. And when she recovered from her fit.
she said, O Prince of the Faithful, what
hath God done with my son? He said to
me, Acquaint her with his case. And weep-
ing overcame him. Accordingly I informed
her of his case; and she began to weep, and
to say with a faint voice, O, how I longed
to meet thee! O delight of mine eye!
Would that I had given thee to drink
when thou foundest not any to do so!
Would that I had cheered thee when thou
foundest not a cheerer! Then she poured
forth tears, and recited these verses:
I weep for a stranger who died in solitude,
with no friend unto whom to complain of
his misery.
After glory, and union with those who loved
him, he became lone and desolate, seeing no
one.
What fortune concealeth a while will be mani-
fest. Death never spareth any one among
us.
O absent! my Lord decreed thine absence; and
after nearness thou becamest remote from
me!
Though death makes me hopeless of meeting
thee now, O my son, we shall meet on the
day of account.
me.
And I said, O Prince of the Faithful, was
he thy son? He answered, Yes; and be-
fore I held this office he used to visit the
learned men, and keep company with the
just; and when I assumed this office he
avoided me, and estranged himself from
So I said to his mother, This youth
is devoted unto God (whose name be
exalted!), and probably adversities may
befall him, and he may be afflicted with:
trials; therefore give to him this ruby,
that he may find it in the time of his
wanting it. Accordingly, she gave it to
him, conjuring him to retain it, and he
complied with her desire and took it from
her. Then he left our worldly enjoyments
to us, and absented himself from us, and
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1173
ceased not to remain absent from us until,
pious and pure, he met God, to whom be
ascribed might and glory!
I
And after this, the Khaleefeh said to
me, Arise, and shew me his tomb.
therefore went forth with him, and jour-
neyed on until I shewed it to him; where-
upon he wept and lamented until he fell
down in a fit; and when he recovered from
his fit he begged forgiveness of God and
said, Verily to God we belong, and verily
unto Him we return!
And he invoked
blessings on his son. After which, he
asked me to become his associate; but I
replied, O Prince of the Faithful, I have,
n the case of thy son, the most momentous
of admonitions.
The Illiterate Schoolmaster
It is related that a certain man among
he collegians, neither acquainted with
writing nor with reading, practised strata-
ems upon the people for the purpose of
btaining his bread. And it occurred to
is mind one day that he should open for
imself a school, and teach boys in it to
ead. So he collected writing-tablets and
ritten papers, and hung them up in a
lace, and he enlarged his turban, and
ated himself at the door of the school.
he people therefore, passing by him, and
oking at his turban, and at the writing-
blets and papers, imagined that he was
1 excellent fakeeh, and brought to him
eir children. And he used to say to this
e, Write; and to this, Read; - and
us the boys taught one another. But
he was sitting one day at the door of
e school as usual, lo, a woman ap-
oached from a distance, with a letter in
r hand; whereupon he said within him-
If, Without doubt this woman is com-
g to. me, that I may read to her the letter
at she holdeth; and how shall I manage
th her, when I know not how to read
riting? He meditated upon descending
flee from her; but she came up to him
fore he had descended, and said to him,
hither goest thou? He answered her, I
sire to perform the noon-prayers, and to
Noon, she replied, is yet dis-
it: therefore read for me this letter.
d he took it from her, and turned it
side down, and began to look at it;
d one moment he shook his turban, and
other moment moved about his eye-
ws, and manifested rage. Now the
sband of the woman was absent, and the
ter was sent to her from him. So when
urn. -
saw the fakeeh in this state, she said
within herself, No doubt my husband is
dead, and this fakeeh is ashamed to tell
me that he is dead. She therefore said to
him, O my master, if he be dead, tell me.
And he shook his head, and was silent.
And the woman said to him, Shall I rend
my clothes? Rend, he answered. — Shall
I slap my face? she asked. He answered
her, Slap.
-----
So she took the letter from his hand,
and returned to her abode; and she and
her children began to weep; whereupon
some of her neighbours, hearing the weep-
ing, inquired respecting her state; and
were answered, A letter hath come to her
acquainting her with the death of her
husband. But a man among them re-
plied, Verily this assertion is false; for her
husband sent me a letter yesterday inform-
ing me in it that he was well, in prosperity
and health, and that after. ten days he will
be with her. And he arose immediately,
and, coming to the woman, said to her,
Where is the letter that hath come to thee?
She therefore brought it to him, and he
took it from her and read it, and, lo, it
contained these words: To proceed, I am
well, in prosperity and health, and after
ten days I shall be with you; and I have
sent unto you a quilt and a mekmarah. -
So she took the letter, and returned with
it to the fakeeh, and said to him, What
induced thee to act as thou hast done with
me? And she acquainted him with that
which her neighbour had said, respecting
the safety of her husband, and his having
sent to her a quilt and a mekmarah;
whereupon he replied, Thou hast spoken
truth; but, O respectable woman, excuse
me; for I was at that time enraged,
troubled in mind, and, seeing the mek-
marah wrapped up in the quilt, I imagined
that he had died, and that they had
shrouded him. And the woman knew not
the trick; so she said to him, Thou art
excused. And she took the letter from
him, and departed.
The Quill of The Rukh'
A man of the people of Western Africa
had travelled in various regions, and trav-
ersed the wastes and the seas, and destiny
cast him upon an island, where he re-
mained a long time. Then ne returned to
his country, bringing with him the quill-
part of a feather from the wing of a
young rukh', which was in the egg, and
had not come forth from it into the world;
and that quill held as much as a goat's
skin of water. It is said that the length of
1174
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
the wing of the young rukh', at the time
of its coming forth from the egg, is a
thousand fathoms; and the people won-
dered at that quill when they saw it. This
man was named 'Abd-Er-Rahmán El-
Maghrabee; and he became commonly
known by the surname of the Chinese, on
account of his long residence in China;
and he used to relate wonders.
Result of Restraint upon two Lovers
El-Kásim the son of 'Adee hath related
that a man of the tribe of the Benee-
Temeem said, I went forth to seek a stray
beast, and, coming to the waters of the
tribe of Teiyi, I saw two parties of people,
near unto each other, and among one of
them words were passing like as among the
people of the other. And I looked atten-
tively, and saw among one of the parties
a young man whom disease had emaciated,
so that he was like a worn-out, dried-up
water-skin; and while I was looking at
him, he recited these verses:
Wherefore doth the beauteous damsel not re-
turn? Is it from niggardness in her, or
aversion?
I fell sick, and each member of my family
visited me. Then wherefore wast thou not
seen among them?
Hadst thou been sick, I had come unto thee,
and threats would not have prevented my
doing so.
I missed thee among them, and became desolate.
Grievous was thy loss, O my heart's abode!
And a damsel of the other party heard his
words, and hastened towards him. Her
family followed her; but she encountered
them with blows; and the young man,
perceiving her, sprang towards her, while
the people of his party quickly followed
him. He however dragged himself from
them, and she in like manner dragged her-
self from her party until she liberated
herself, and each of them ran to the other
till they met between the two parties, and
embraced each other: then they fell down
upon the ground, dead. Upon this, an old
man came forth from one of the adjacent
tents, and, standing over them, exclaimed,
Verily to God we belong, and verily unto
Him return! - and wept violently; after
which he said, May God (whose name be
exalted!) have mercy on you both! By
Allah, if ye were not united in your lives
I will assuredly unite you after death!
Then he gave orders to prepare them for
burial; and they were washed, and
shrouded in the same grave clothes; one
grave was dug for them, and the people
prayed over them, and buried them in that
grave; and there was not a male nor a
female among the two parties that I did
not see weeping for them, and slapping [the
face]. So I inquired of the old man re-
specting them; and he answered me, This
was my daughter, and this was the son of
my brother. Their love hath brought them
to the issue which thou beheldest. I said
to him, May God give thee reparation!
Didst thou not marry them to each other?
He answered, I feared reproach and dis-
grace, and now I have fallen into both.
This is one of the wonders in the histories
of lovers.
A Distracted Lover
Abu-l-'Abbás El-Mubarrad saith, I re-
paired to El-Bereed, with a party of men,
on some business, and, passing by the
Convent of Heraclius, we alighted in its
shade; and there came to us a man who
Isaid to us, There are in the convent some
madmen, among whom is one that utter-
eth wisdom; and if ye saw him, ye would
wonder at his words. So we all arose and
entered the convent, and we saw a man
sitting in a private chamber, upon a skin,
with his head uncovered, and his eye
fixed upwards towards the wall. We sa-
luted him, and he returned our salutation
without looking at us; and a man said,
Recite to him some poetry; for when he
heareth poetry, he will speak. I therefore
recited these two verses:
O thou best of all men to whom Eve hath given
birth! but for thee, the world were not
beautiful nor pleasant.
The man whom God sheweth thy form hath ob-
tained immortality, and will grow neither
decrepit nor hoary.
And when he heard me say this, he turned
towards us, and recited thus:
-
God knoweth that I am in affliction. I cannot
make manifest the pain that I feel.
Two souls have I: one place containeth one
soul; and another place, the other.
I imagine that my absent soul is like my pres
ent, and that she experienceth what I do.
Then he asked, Have I said well or ill?
We answered him, Thou hast not said ill;
but well and admirably. And he stretched
forth his hand to a stone that was by him,
and took it. So we imagined that he
would smite us with it, and we fled from
him. But he began to beat with it his own
bosom, with violent blows, and said, Fear
ye not. Draw near to me, and hear from
me something: receive it from me. - We
therefore approached him; and he recited
these verses:
1
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1175
When they made their white camels kneel down,
near daybreak, they mounted, and the camel
departed with the beloved.
My eye, through the interstice of the prison,
beheld them, and I said, in my anguish,
with tears overflowing,
O camel-driver, turn, that I may bid her fare-
well; for in parting, and in bidding her
farewell, I shall die.
I am faithful to the vow of love, and have not
broken it. Would that I knew how she
hath acted with regard to it!
He then looked towards me, and said,
Hast thou any knowledge of what the be-
loved hath done? I answered, Yes: she
hath died. May God (whose name be
exalted!) have mercy on her! - And upon
this, his countenance changed, and he
sprang upon his feet, and said, How knew-
est thou her death? I answered, Had she
been alive, she had not left thee thus. And
he replied, Thou hast spoken truth, by
Allah: but I also love not life after the loss
of her. Then the muscles of his side quiv-
ered, and he fell upon his face; whereat we
hastened to him, and moved him, and
found him dead. The mercy of God
(whose name be exalted!) be on him. And
we wondered at this, and grieved for him
violently; and we prepared his body for
the grave, and buried him. And when I
returned to Baghdad, and went in to El-
Mutawekkil, he saw the traces of tears
upon my face; whereupon he said, What
is this? So I related to him the story; and
it distressed him, and he said, What in-
duced thee to act so? By Allah, if I knew
that thou mournedst not for him, I should
reprove thee for it. And he mourned for
him all the rest of the day.
The Converted Prior
Aboo-Bekr the son of Mohammad El-
Ambáree saith, I went forth from El-
Ambár, on one of my journeys, to 'Am-
mooriyeh, in the country of the Greeks,
and alighted on the way, at the Convent of
the Lights, in a village near 'Ammooriyeh,
whereupon there came forth to me the
chief of the convent, the Prior, whose name
was 'Abd-El-Meseeh; and he conducted
me into the convent. I found in it forty
monks; and they honoured me that night
with a hospitable entertainment. Then on
the morrow I departed from them, after I
had seen, of their exceeding diligence in
their exercises, and of their devotion, what
I had not seen exhibited by others, and I
returned to El-Ambár. And in the fol-
lowing year I performed the pilgrimage
to Mekkeh; and while I was compassing
the House, lo, I beheld 'Abd-El-Meseeh the
monk compassing also, and with him five
persons of his companions, the monks,
Therefore when I was sure that I knew
him, I advanced to him, and said to him,
Art thou 'Abd-El-Meseeh the monk? He
answered, Rather I am 'Abd-Allah the
suppliant. So I began to kiss his hoary
hairs, and to weep; and, taking him by the
hand, I turned to a side of the Temple,
and said to him, Acquaint me with the
cause of thy conversion to El-Islám. And
he replied, It was one of the most wonder-
ful of wonderful events, and it was this.
A party of Muslim devotees passed by
the village in which is our convent, and
sent a young man to buy for them food,
and he beheld in the market a Christian
damsel selling bread; and she was of the
most beautiful of women in form. On
beholding her he was fascinated by her and
fell down upon his face in a fit, and when
he recovered, he returned to his compan-
ions, and informed them of that which had
befallen him, and said to them, Depart ye
to your business; for I go not with you.
They reproved him and admonished him;
but he paid no regard to them; so they
departed from him; and he entered the
village, and seated himself at the door of
the shop of that woman. She therefore
asked him what he wanted, and he in-
formed her that he was enamoured of her;
whereupon she turned from him. He re-
mained in his place three days without
tasting food; keeping his eye fixed upon
her face, and when she saw that he would
not depart from her, she went to her fam-
ily, and told them of him; and they set
upon him the boys, who pelted him with
stones until they fractured his ribs and
broke his head; notwithstanding which, he
Iwould not depart. The people of the
village, therefore, resolved to kill him;
but a man of them came to me, and ac-
quainted me with his case; upon which I
went forth to him, and beheld him laid
prostrate; and I wiped the blood from his
face, and conveyed him to the convent,
where I applied remedies to his wounds,
and he remained with me fourteen days.
As soon, however, as he was able to walk
he went forth from the convent to the
door of the damsel's shop, and sat again
gazing at her. And when she saw him, she
rose to him, and said to him, By Allah, I
am moved with compassion for thee. Wilt
thou then adopt my religion, that I may
marry thee? But he answered, God pre-
serve me from abandoning the religion of
the Unity, and adopting the religion of
Polytheism! - Then depart from me, said
the damsel. My heart, he replied, will
-
-
1176
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
not consent to my doing so. And she
turned her face from him. And the boys
seeing him again, came to him, and pelted
him as before with stones, and he fell upon
his face, saying, Verily my helper is God,
who sent down the Book, and He taketh
charge of the just! I therefore went
forth from the convent, and drove from
him the boys, and lifting up his head from
the ground, I heard him say, O my Lord,
unite me with her in Paradise! I con-
veyed him to the convent; but he died be-
fore I had arrived there with him; and I
took him forth from the village, dug a
grave for him, and buried him.
And in the following night, when half of
it was spent, that woman shrieked out as
she lay in her bed; whereupon the people
of the village came together to her, ask-
ing her what had happened to her; and
she answered, While I was asleep, this
Muslim came in to me, and, taking me by
my hand, went away with me to Paradise.
But when he arrived with me at its gate,
its Guardian prevented my entering it,
saying, It is denied unto the infidels. So
I made profession of El-Islám to him, and
entered with him; and I beheld in it pa-
vilions and trees such as I cannot describe
to you.
Then he took me to a pavilion
of jewels, and said to me, Verily this pa-
vilion is for me and thee. I will not enter
it but with thee; and after five nights thou
wilt be with me in it, if it be the will of
God, whose name be exalted! - And
thereupon he stretched forth his hand to a
tree at the door of that pavilion, and
plucked from it two apples, which he gave
to me, saying, Eat this, and conceal the
other, that the monks may see it. I there-
fore ate one; and I have tasted nothing
more sweet than it. He then took me by
my hand, and went forth with me until
he conducted me to my house; and when
I awoke, I found the taste of the apple in
my mouth, and the other apple with me. —
Having said this, she produced the apple,
and it shone in the darkness of night as
though it were a glistening star. So they
brought the woman to the convent, and
the apple with her; and she related to us
the vision, and produced to us the apple.
We had seen nothing like it among all the
fruits of the world; and I took a knife,
and divided it in pieces according to the
number of my companions; and we had
not tasted any thing more delicious than
its flavour, nor smelt any thing more sweet
than its odour. But we said, Perhaps this
was a devil who presented himself to her
to seduce her from her religion. And her
family took her and departed. And she
abstained from eating and drinking: and
when the fifth night arrived, she rose from
her bed, went forth from her house, and
repaired to the grave of that Muslim; and
she threw herself upon it, and died; her
family not knowing what she had done.
Then, in the morning, there came to the
village two Muslim sheykhs, attired in
apparel of hair-cloth, and accompanied by
two women in the like garb; and they
said, O people of the village, ye have
among you a Weleeyeh of God; she hath
died a Muslimeh, and we will take charge
of her in preference to you. So the people
of the village sought that woman, and they
found her upon the grave, dead. But they
said, This was our friend; she died in our
religion, and we will take charge of her.
The two sheykhs said, Nay: she died a
Muslimeh, and we will take charge of her.
And the altercation and dispute between
them became violent. Therefore one of
the two sheykhs said, The sign of her hav-
ing embraced El-Islám shall be this: the
forty monks of the convent shall come to-
gether, to drag her from the grave; and if
they be able to lift her from the ground,
she died a Christian; but if they cannot do
so, one of us shall advance and drag her;
and if she come with him, she died a
Muslimeh. And to this the people of the
village consented. The forty monks as-
sembled, and encouraged one another, and
came to her to lift her; but they could not
do so; and we tied to her waist a great
rope, and attempted to drag her; but the
rope broke, and she moved not. The peo-
ple of the village also advanced and did
the like: yet she moved not from her
place. So when we were unable to lift her
by any means that we adopted, we said to
one of the two sheykhs, Advance thou,
and lift her. Accordingly one of them ad-
vanced to her, and wrapped her in his
cloak, and saying, In the name of God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful, and through
the religion of the Apostle of God, may
God favour and preserve him!-he car-
ried her in his bosom. The Muslims con-
veyed her to a cavern there, and put her
in it; and the two women came, and
washed her and shrouded her. Then the
sheykhs carried her, and prayed over her,
and buried her by the side of his grave, and
departed; we having witnessed all this.
And when some of us were in private
with others of our associates, we said,
Verily the truth is most deserving of being
followed, and the truth hath become mani-
fest to us by ocular witness, and we can
have no proof of the truth of El-Islám
more manifest to us than what we have
NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH
1177
beheld with our eyes.
Then I embraced
El-Islám, and so also did all the monks of
the convent, and the people of the village.
After this, we sent to the people of El-
Jezeereh, supplicating for a professor of
religion and law, to teach us the ordinances
of El-Islám, and the precepts of the reli-
gion; and a professor, a just man, came to
us, and taught us the rites of divine wor-
ship, and the precepts of El-Islám; so that
we are now enjoying abundant happiness;
and to God be praise and thanks!
Aboo-'Eesà and the Girl Kurrat-el-'Eyn
'Amr the son of Mes'adah hath related,
that Aboo-'Eesà the son of Fr-Rasheed
and brother of El-Ma-moon was enam-
oured of Kurrat-el-'Eyn, the slave-girl of
Alee the son of Hishám, and she also was
enamoured of him; but Aboo-'Eesà con-
cealed his love, and revealed it not, nor
complained of it to any one, nor_ac-
quainted any one with his secret. Thus
he did from his magnanimity and gen-
erosity. He endeavoured, however, to
purchase her of her lord by every expe-
dient. But he could not attain his ob-
ject; and when his patience failed him,
and his transport of love became violent,
and he found no means of obtaining her,
he went in to El-Ma-moon on a festival-
day, after the departure of the people from
him, and said, O Prince of the Faithful, if
thou wouldst try thy heart this day and
pay unexpected visits, thou wouldst dis-
tinguish the people of generosity from
others, and wouldst know the place of each
of them, and the quality of his mind.
Aboo-'Eesà desired, by these words, to get
an opportunity of sitting with Kurrat-el-
'Eyn in the house of her lord. And El-
Ma-moon replied, Verily this advice is
right. He gave orders to prepare a bark
which was named the Flyer: so they
brought it forward to him, and he em-
barked in it, together with a party of his
chief officers; and the first pavilion that he
entered was that of Homeyd Et-Taweel, of
Toos. They went in to him in the pavil-
ion when he expected them not, and found
him sitting upon a mat, with the singers
before him, having lutes and flutes and
other instruments of music in their hands;
and after El-Ma-moon had sat a while,
there were brought to him dishes of the
flesh of beasts, without any of the flesh of
birds; and El-Ma-moon paid no regard to
any of those viands. So Aboo-'Eesà said,
0 Prince of the Faithful, we entered this
place unexpected, and its owner knew not
of thine approach. Arise then and go
with us to a place prepared for thee and
suited to thee.
The Khaleefeh accordingly arose, with
his chief officers and his brother Aboo-
'Eesà, and they repaired to the house of
'Alee the son of Hishám. And when he
knew of their coming, he received them in
the most honourable manner, kissing the
ground before the Khaleefeh. Then he
conducted them into a pavilion, and
opened a chamber, such as none had seen
surpassed in beauty. Its floor and col-
umns and walls were of varieties of mar-
bles, it was decorated with various kinds
of Greek paintings, and its floor was spread
with mats of Es-Sind, and furniture of
El-Basrah, made to suit the length and
breadth of the chamber. El-Ma-moon sat
a while contemplating the apartment and
the roof and the walls; after which he
said, Give us some food. And there were
brought to him immediately nearly a hun-
dred dishes of fowls, besides other birds,
and thereeds and fries and cold things; and
when he had eaten, he said, Give us some-
thing to drink, O 'Alee. And there was
brought to him aromatic wine, prepared
with fruits and fragrant spices, in vessels
of gold and silver and crystal; and those
who brought in that wine were pages like
moons, attired in garments of stuff of
Alexandria interwoven with gold, and be-
fore their bosoms were bottles of crystal
containing rose-water infused with musk.
El-Ma-moon wondered exceedingly at that
which he beheld, and said, O Abu-l-Hasan.
Whereupon he sprang to the carpet and
kissed it, and then, standing before the
Khaleefeh, replied, At thy service, O Prince
of the Faithful. And the Khaleefeh said,
Let us hear some mirth-exciting songs.
His host replied, I hear and obey, O Prince
of the Faithful. Then he said to one of
his servants, Bring the singing slave-girls.
So the eunuch replied that he heard and
obeyed; and, after he had been absent a
moment, returned with ten eunuchs bring-
ing ten chairs of gold. And when they had
placed the chairs, there came ten maids
like shining full moons and flowery gar-
dens, attired in black brocade, and with
crowns of gold upon their heads; and
they walked forward unti! they seated
themselves upon the chairs, when they
sang varieties of melodies. Then those
slave-girls departed, and ten others came,
and sang; and after these, came ten others;
and again, after them, ten others.
El-Ma-moon then said, Bring forward
the boat. And he was about to embark
and go. But 'Alee the son of Hishám arose
1178
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
and said, O Prince of the Faithful, I have
a slave-girl whom I purchased for ten
thousand pieces of gold, and who hath
captivated my whole heart, and I desire to
shew her to the Prince of the Faithful. If
she please him, and he approve of her, she
shall be his; and if not, let him hear from
her something. So the Khaleefeh said,
Bring her unto me. And there came forth
a damsel like a twig of the Oriental wil-
low, with fascinating eyes, and eyebrows
like two bows, and upon her head was a
crown of red gold set with large pearls and
with jewels, beneath which was a bandage
whereon was worked with chrysolites this
verse: -
-
A Jinneeyeh, and she hath Jinn who teach her
to smite hearts by means of a stringless
bow.
This damsel walked forward like a fugitive
gazelle; and she would have fascinated a
devotee. She continued to advance till she
seated herself upon a chair; and when
El-Ma-moon beheld her, he wondered at
her beauty and loveliness; and Aboo-'Eesà
was pained in heart; his complexion be-
came sallow, and his whole state changed.
El-Ma-moon therefore said to him, What
is the matter with thee, O Aboo-'Eesà,
that thy state hath changed? He an-
swered, O Prince of the Faithful, it is by
reason of a malady that cometh upon me
sometimes. And the Khaleefeh said to him,
Hast thou known this slave-girl before the
present day? Yes, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, he answered. And can the moon (he
added) be hidden? - Then El-Ma-moon
said to her, What is thy name, O damsel?
She answered, My name is Kurrat-el-'Eyn,
O Prince of the Faithful. And he said to
her, Sing to us, O Kurrat-el-'Eyn. So she
sang; and the Khaleefeh said to her,
Divinely art thou gifted! By whom are
these verses? She answered, By Deabil,
El-Khuza'ee, and the air is by Zurzoor
Es-Sagheer. And Aboo-'Eesà looked at
her, and weeping choked him, so that the
company wondered at him.
-
Then the damsel looked towards El-
Ma-moon, and said to him, O Prince of the
Faithful, wilt thou give me permission to
change the words of my song? He an-
swered, Sing what thou wilt. And, with
exciting modulations, she sang these
verses: -
If thou please one and he also please thee pub-
licly, be more careful of preserving thy
love in secret;
And reject the assertions of the slanderers; for
seldom do they wish for aught but the
estrangement of the lover.
They have averred that whenever the lover ap
proacheth, he is wearied; and that absence
is the remedy for passion.
We have tried both remedies, and not been
cured; but nearness of abode is better than
distance:
Yet nearness of abode is of no advantage when
the person thou lovest doth not love thee.
And when she had finished her song, Aboo-
'Eesà said, O Prince of the Faithful, if we
be disgraced, we shall be at ease. Wilt
thou give me permission to reply to her?
The Khaleefeh answered him, Yes: say
to her what thou wilt. And he restrained
his tears, and sang these two verses: -
I was silent, and said not that I was a lover;
but concealed my affection from my own
heart.
If my love, notwithstanding, appear in my eye,
'tis because it is near to the shining moon.
Then again the damsel took the lute and
sang; and again Aboo-'Eesà sang in reply
to her; and when he had ended, 'Alee the
son of Hishám sprang to his feet and
kissed them, saying to him, O my master,
God hath answered thy prayer, and heard
thy secret, and consented to thy taking her
with all her appurtenances of rarities and
beautiful things, if the Prince of the Faith-
ful have no desire for her. And El-Ma-
moon said, If we had a desire for her, we
had given Aboo-'Eesà the preference to
ourself, and aided him in the attainment of
his desire. Then El-Ma-moon arose, and
embarked in the boat. Aboo-'Eesà re-
mained behind to take Kurrat-el-'Eyn, and
he took her and departed with her to his
abode, with a dilated heart. — Consider
then the generosity of 'Alee the son of
Hishám.
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINETEENTH
NOTE I. "El-Mustafa" is one of the
names of Mohammad, and signifies "the
Elect."
NOTE 2. "When any one of you dies,"
said the Prophet, "you must not keep him
in the house; but carry him quickly to his
grave: " and again, he said, "Be quick
in lifting up a bier; for if the deceased be
a good man, it is good to take him up
quickly, and carry him to his grave, to
cause the good to arrive at happiness; and
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINETEENTH
1179
if the deceased be a bad man, it is a wick-
edness which ye put from your neck."
The
NOTE 3. Ceremonies observed after a
Death. Towards the eve of the first Fri-
day after the funeral, and, often, early in
the morning of the Thursday, the women
of the family of the deceased repeat their
wailing, in the house, accompanied by some
of their female friends: male friends of the
deceased also visit the house shortly before
or after sunset; and three or four persons
are hired to perform a recitation of the
whole of the Kur-án. On the following
morning, some or all of the members of
the deceased's family, but chiefly the
women, visit the tomb; they or their ser-
vants carrying palm-branches, and some-
times sweet basil, to lay upon it.
palm-branch is broken into several pieces,
and these, or the leaves only, are placed
on the tomb. Often, also, the visitors take
with them some kind of food, as bread,
pancakes, sweet cakes of different kinds,
or dates, to distribute to the poor on this
occasion. They recite the Opening Chap-
ter of the Kur-án; or, if they can afford it,
employ a person to recite first the Thirty-
sixth Chapter, or a large portion of the
Kur-án; and many persons cause a recita-
tion of the whole of the Kur-án to be per-
formed at the tomb, or in the house, by
men hired for that purpose. These cere-
monies are repeated on the same days of
the next two weeks; and again on the eve
and morning of the Friday which com-
pletes, or next follows, the first period of
forty days after the funeral; whence this
Friday is called "El-Arba'een," or " Jum'at
el-Arba'een.
-
NOTE 4. This is one of the instances in
which coffee is mentioned in the Thou-
sand and One Nights in a manner not to
be mistaken; but perhaps by a copyist.
The word rendered "coffee-makers" is
"kahwejeeyeh," plural of "kahwejee," a
compound of Arabic and Turkish, pro-
nounced by the Turks "kahvejee." It oc-
curs also in the same passage in the Bres-
lau edition.
NOTE 5. Er-Ródah is a very pleasant
island in the Nile, about two miles and a
half in length, near Cairo; lying to the
south-west of that city. Its name signifies
The Garden," &c. The Nilometer is at
its southern extremity.
46
""
NOTE 6. The term "hósh generally
signifies "the court of a house; " but it is
often applied, as in this case, to a court
surrounded by mean lodgings, inhabited by
persons of the lower orders.
NOTE 7. Boolák is the principal port of
Cairo. It was founded, and became a con-
siderable town, in the eighth century of
the Flight (or the fourteenth of our era).
The plain upon which it is situate arose in
consequence of a gradual change in the
course of the Nile, which formerly flowed
very near by the western side of Cairo.
NOTE 8. Dimyát is the town commonly
called by us Damietta. Its name is gen-
erally pronounced by the modern Egyptians
Dumyát.
NOTE 9. See Note 48 to Chapter xi.
NOTE 10. A takhtarawán, described in
Note 8 to Chapter viii.
66
""
NOTE II. The terms "'akkám" and
farrásh have been explained in Note
28 to Chapter xi and Note 16 to Chapter
x. By "light-bearers are meant men who
bear the kind of cresset described in Note
2 to Chapter xiii.
99
NOTE 12. See Note 8 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 13. "Hosn el-Wujood" signifies
"the Beauty of the World." See Note 6
to Chapter xviii.
NOTE 14. "'Ulamà" is the plural of
"'álim," which signifies a man of science
or learning, but is a term more particularly
given to a doctor of the law. European
writers generally use the plural form of
this appellation for the singular.
NOTE 15. See Note 18 to Chapter x.
NOTE 16. This story is followed by an
anecdote, of which I here give a transla-
tion.
A Townsman and a Bedaweeyeh
It is related that a man of the pilgrims
slept a long sleep, and then awoke, and saw
no trace of the other pilgrims. So he arose
and walked on; but he wandered from the
way, and he proceeded until he saw a tent,
and an old woman at its door, and he
found by her a dog asleep. He approached
the tent, saluted the old woman, and begged
of her some food; whereupon she said to
him, Go to yon valley, and catch as many
serpents as will suffice thee, that I may
1180
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
Tyrann
A tyran
the Child
on his
d enter
E effensi
the K
trusion up
pearanc
ad said.
ave thee
od who
code ?
code con
e nor
to Kin
of former days. This our age is one of a
people opprobrious, and greatly calamitous;
since they are noted for folly, and for
hardness of heart, and are bent upon vehe-
ment hatred, and upon enmity. Therefore,
if the Sultán (in God, whose name be ex-
alted, be our refuge!) should be weak
among them, or not characterized by policy
and awfulness, no doubt that would be the
cause of the ruin of the country. And
among the proverbs is this: - The oppres-
sion of the Sultán for a hundred years,
rather than the oppression of the subjects,
one over another, for a single year.-
And when the subjects oppress, God setteth
over them an oppressive Sultán and a
violent King. Thus it is related in the his-
tories, that there was sent up to El-Hajjaj
the son of Yoosuf, one day, a petition
wherein was written, Fear God, and op-
press not God's servants with every kind
of oppression. And when he had read the
petition, he ascended the pulpit (and he
was eloquent), and he said, O ye people,
verily God (whose name be exalted!) hatl
set me over you on account of your ac-
tions; and if I die, ye will not be free from
oppression with these wicked actions; for
God (whose name be exalted!) hath cre-
ated many like me; and if I be not, there
I will be one worse than I, and more severe
in oppression, and more violent in im-
petuosity. As the poet hath said, -
broil some of them for thee. The man
replied, I dare not catch serpents, and I
never ate them. The old woman therefore
said, I will go with thee, and catch some
of them, and fear thou not. Then she went
with him, and the dog followed her, and
she caught as many of the serpents as
would suffice, and proceeded to broil some
of them. The pilgrim could not refrain
from eating; for he feared hunger and
emaciation: so he ate of those serpents.
And after this, being thirsty, he demanded
of the old woman some water to drink;
and she said to him, Go to the spring, and
drink of it. Accordingly he went to the
spring; but he found its water bitter; yet
he could not refrain from drinking of it,
notwithstanding its exceeding bitterness, on
account of the violence of his thirst. He
therefore drank, and then returned to the
old woman, and said to her, I wonder at
thee, O thou old woman, and at thy resid-
ing in this place, and thy feeding thyself
with this food, and thy drinking of this
water. How then, said the old woman,
is your country? He answered her, Verily
in our country are spacious and ample
houses, and ripe and delicious fruits, and
abundant sweet waters, and excellent
viands, and fat meats, and numerous sheep,
and every thing good, and blessings of
which the like exist not save in the Para-
dise that God (whose name be exalted!)
hath described to his just servants. - All
this, replied the old woman, I have heard;
but tell me. have you any Sultán who
ruleth over you, and oppresseth in his rule
while ye are under his authority; and who,
if any one of you committeth an offence,
taketh his wealth, and destroyeth him; and
who, if he desire, turneth you out from
your houses, and eradicateth you utterly?
The man answered her, That doth some-
times happen. And the old woman re-
joined, If so, by Allah, that dainty food
and elegant life and those delightful com-
forts, with oppression and tyranny, are
penetrating poison; and our food, with
safety, is a salutary antidote. Hast
thou not heard that the most excellent
of boons, after El-Islám, are safety and
health?
Sultán
he v
June can
rminato
mpanio
There is no hand but God's hand is above it.
nor oppressor that shall not meet with an
oppressor.
ese WC
Temor C
- Oppression is feared; but justice is the
best of all qualities. We beg God to amend
our states.
down
d. Art
wered.
re thee
lay, tha
and
ere the
its ow
Fiction
d the 1
it. B
Far, far i
Fay of &
Cart the
te are re
[The above anecdote is followed by the
Story of Taweddud, the Learned Slave-
girl, ending with part of the four hundred
and sixty second Night. This story almost
entirely consists in a display of Tawed-
dud's profound knowledge in religion, &c.,
in which she surpassed the most eminent
professors in an examination before Hároon
Er-Rasheed; and as it would not only re-
quire a volume of commentary, but be
extremely tiresome to most readers of the
present work, I omit it.
Now these may be through the justice
of the Sultan, the vicegerent of God upon
his earth, and through his good policy.
The Sultan of former times loved to be
distinguished by the lowest degree of
awfulness; because, when his subjects saw
him, they feared him: but the Sultán of
this age loveth to be distinguished by the
most perfect policy and the utmost awful-
ness; because men now are not like those
tered, an
e-T
delay F
The
ded in
tie the
ile the
ed the
Dere rer
-And t
Next is a series of eighteen anecdotes (or
rather fictions related as facts), ending
with part of the four hundred and eighty-
second Night. From these I have selected
for translation only four. Almost all of
them relate to saints and miracles.
first of those which I translate is pre
ceded in the original by two of a simila
kind.]
Ce when
swered
work
work
Without
12 an
izer of
soul:
and fell 1
Lang t
Prices W
Weeping
e indi
e fro
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINETEENTH
1181
A Tyrannical King and the Angel of Death
A tyrannical King, one of the Kings of
the Children of Israel, was one day sitting
upon his throne, and he beheld a man who
had entered the door of the palace, having
an offensive form and a terrible appearance.
So the King shuddered at his sudden in-
trusion upon him, and was terrified at his
appearance; and he sprang up in his face,
and said, Who art thou, O man, and who
gave thee permission to intrude upon me,
and who commanded thee to come to my
abode ? He answered, The Lord of the
abode commanded me, and none excludeth
me, nor do I require permission to go in
unto Kings, neither do I fear the rule of
a Sultán nor the multitude of guards: I
am he whom no tyrant hindereth, and
none can escape from my grasp: I am the
terminator of delights and the separator of
companions. And when the King heard
these words, he fell upon his face, a
tremor crept through his body, and he
fell down in a fit; and on his recovery he
said, Art thou the Angel of Death? He
answered, Yes. And the King said, I con-
jure thee by Allah to give me one day's
delay, that I may beg forgiveness of my
sin, and seek pardon of my Lord, and re-
store the wealth that is in my treasuries
to its owners, so that I may not suffer the
affliction of a reckoning with respect to it,
and the misery of punishment on account
of it. But the Angel of Death replied,
Far, far from thee be that! Thou hast no
way of attaining that wish. How can I
grant thee a delay when the days of thy
life are reckoned, and thy breaths are num-
bered, and thy moments are fixed and writ-
ten? The King said, Grant me an hour's
delay. He replied, Verily the hour is in-
cluded in the account, and it hath passed
while thou wast heedless, and hath expired
while thou wast careless. Thou hast ful-
filled the number of thy breaths, save that
there remaineth to thee one breath only.
-And the King said, Who will be with
me when I am removed to my grave? He
answered, Nought will be with thee but
thy work. The King replied, I have [done]
no work. And the Angel of Death said,
Without doubt thine abode will be in the
fire; and thy destination, to suffer the
anger of the Omnipotent. Then he seized
his soul: so he tumbled from his throne,
and fell to the ground; and a clamour arose
among the people of his kingdom; their
voices were raised, and their cries and
weeping were loud; and had they known
the indignation that he had gone to en-
dure from his Lord, their weeping for him
-
had been greater, and their lamentation
had been more violent and more abundant.
Advantages of Piety and Industry
There was, among the Children of Israel,
a good man, who applied himself diligently
to the worship of God, and abstained from
worldly enjoyments, discarding them from
his heart; and he had a wife who aided
him in his pursuit, and who always obeyed
him. They lived by making trays and fans,
working all the day; and at the close of the
day, the man went forth with the things
that he had made in his hand, and walked
with them along the streets and roads,
seeking a purchaser, to whom to sell them;
and they fasted continually. Now one day
the man went forth as usual, and an event
befell him which constrained him to throw
himself from the top of a lofty house, in
order to avoid an act of disobedience unto
his Lord; but God sent to him an angel,
who bore him upon his wings, and set him
down upon the ground in safety, without
any injury happening to him. And when
he rested upon the ground, he praised God
(to whom be ascribed might and glory!)
for the protection which He had afforded
him, and the mercy that He had granted
him, and returned without any obstacle to
his wife. He had been long absent from
her, and entered bringing nothing with
him: so she asked him respecting the cause
of his tardiness, and respecting the things
which he had taken forth in his hand, and
as to what he had done with them, and
how he had returned without any thing.
He therefore informed her of the tempta-
tion that had happened to him, and that he
had thrown himself down from that place,
and God had saved him. And his wife
said, Praise be to God who hath averted
from thee the temptation, and interposed
between thee and the calamity! Then she
said, O man, verily the neighbours have
been accustomed to observe that we light
our oven every night, and if they see us this
night without fire, they will know that we
are destitute. Thankfulness to God re-
quireth the concealment of our poverty,
and the conjoining of the fast of this night
with that of the past day, and spending it
in the service of God, whose name be
exalted! Accordingly she arose and went
to the oven, filled it with firewood, and set
light to it to delude the women who were
her neighbours; and she recited these
verses:-
I will conceal the desire and the griefs that I
suffer, and will light my fire to delude my
neighbours.
1182
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I approve of that which my Lord hath decreed:
perhaps He will see my submission, and
approve me.
After this, she and her husband arose,
and performed the ablution, and began to
pray. But, lo, one of her female neigh-
bours begged permission to light from their
oven. They therefore said to her, Go to
the oven, and do as thou desirest. And
when the woman drew near to the oven to
take the fire, she called out, O such-a-one!
(mentioning the name of the woman of the
place) come to thy bread before it burneth.
So she said to her husband, Heardest thou
what this woman said? And he replied,
Arise and see. She arose, therefore, and
went to the oven, and, lo, it was filled with
fine white bread; and she took the cakes of
bread and went in to her husband, thank-
ing God (to whom be ascribed might and
glory!) for the abundant good, and great
favour, which He had bestowed. They ate
of the bread, and drank some water, and
praised God, whose name be exalted! Then
the woman said to her husband, Come, let
us supplicate God (whose name be ex-
alted!): perhaps He will favour us with
something that will render us independent
of the trouble necessary to obtain our liveli-
hood, and of the fatigue of working, and
will aid us to employ ourselves in his wor-
ship and to occupy ourselves with his
service. He replied, Well. So the man
supplicated his Lord, and the woman said
Amen to his supplication; and, lo, the roof
clove asunder, and there descended a ruby,
which illuminated the chamber by its
lustre; whereupon they increased in their
thanksgiving and praise. They were greatly
rejoiced with that ruby, and said as many
prayers as God (whose name be exalted!)
willed. Then, at the close of the night,
they slept; and the woman saw in her sleep
as though she entered Paradise, and beheld
many pulpits ranged in order, and chairs
set; whereupon she said, What are these
pulpits, and what are these chairs? She
was answered, These are the pulpits of the
prophets, and these are the chairs of the
just and the good. And where, said she,
is the chair of my husband, such-a-one?
She was answered, It is this. And she
looked at it, and, lo, in its side was a hole.
She therefore said, What is this hole? And
she was answered, It is the hole of the ruby
that descended upon you from the roof of
your house. So she awoke weeping and
mourning for the defect of the chair of her
husband among the chairs of the just; and
she said, O man, supplicate thy Lord to
restore this ruby to its place; for the en-
durance of hunger and poverty during the
days that are few will be a lighter matter
than the hole in thy chair among the
people of excellencies. And the man sup-
plicated his Lord, and, lo, the ruby flew
up to the roof, while they looked at it:
and they ceased not to live in their poverty
and devotion until they met God, to whom
be ascribed might and glory.
The Muslim Warrior and the Christian
Maiden
The Prince of the Faithful, 'Omar the
son of El-Khattáb, sent an army of the
Muslims against the enemy, in Syria, and
they besieged vehemently one of their for-
tresses; and there were among the Muslims
two men, brothers, to whom God had given
impetuosity and boldness against the enemy,
so that the lord of that fortress said to his
auxiliaries, and to his heroes who were
before him, If these two Muslims were
made prisoners, or slain, I should suffice
you against the rest of the Muslims. They
ceased not to set snares for these two men,
and to employ stratagems against them,
laying ambushes, and increasing the num-
ber of the men in the lurking-places, until
one of the two Muslims was taken prisoner,
and the other was slain a martyr. So the
captive Muslim was carried to the lord of
that fortress; and when the latter saw him,
he said, Verily the slaughter of this man
would be an evil, and his return to the
Muslims would be a calamity. I wish that
he would embrace the Christian faith, to
be an auxiliary and a helper to us.
one of his Batreeks said, O Emeer, I will
seduce him so that he shall apostatize froin
his religion; for the Arabs are exceedingly
fond of women, and I have a daughter
endowed with loveliness and perfect
beauty: so if he see her, he will be seduced
by her. The Emeer therefore said, He is
committed unto thee: then convey him
away.
And
Accordingly he conveyed him to his
abode, and clad the damsel in attire which
increased her beauty and loveliness; after
which, he took the man into the house,
and caused the food to be brought; and the
Christian damsel stood before him as a
maid serving her master and waiting for
him to give her some command which she
should perform. And when the Muslim
saw what had befallen him, he kept him-
self from sin by seeking refuge with God
(whose name be exalted!); he closed his
eyes, and occupied himself with the worship
of his Lord, and reciting the Kur-án. Now
he had an excellent voice, and an effective
NOTES TO CHAPTER NINETEENTH
1183
talent in the use of it; and the Christian
damsel was affected with a violent love for
him, and became greatly enamoured of
him; and this state of affairs continued
seven days, until the damsel said, Would
that he may consent to my embracing El-
Islám! And when her patience failed, and
her heart was contracted, she threw herself
down before him, and said, I conjure thee
by thy religion that thou hear my words!
He replied, And what wouldst thou say?
She answered, Propose to me El-Islám.
So he proposed it to her and she became a
Muslimeh. Then she purified herself, and
he taught her how to pray; and when she
had done so, she said, O my brother, Verily
my embracing El-Islám was on thine ac-
count, and from my wish to have thee near
unto me. He replied, El-Islám forbiddeth
marriage unless there be two legal wit-
nesses, and a dowry, and a guardian; and
I find not the two witnesses, nor the
guardian, nor the dowry; but if thou con-
trive means of our going forth from this
place, I may hope to arrive in the abode
of the Muslims, and I will make a cove-
nant with thee that I will have no wife
among the Muslimehs but thee. So she
said, I will contrive a stratagem to accom-
plish that. She then called her father and
her mother, and said to them, Verily the
heart of this Muslim hath become softened,
and he desireth to embrace the faith; and
I will grant him the accomplishment of
that which he desireth of me. He hath
said, however, This shall not happen unto
me in a town where my brother was killed;
but if I go forth from it, that my heart
may be diverted, I will do as thou desirest.
No harm will ensue if ye send me
forth with him to another town; for I
am a surety to you and to the King for
the accomplishment of that which ye de-
sire.
So her father went to their Emeer, and
informed him; and he was greatly rejoiced
at that, and gave orders to send her forth
with him to the town that she had men-
tioned. Accordingly they went forth, and
when they had arrived at the town, and
remained the rest of the day, and the dark-
ness of night overshadowed them, they de-
parted, and pursued their way, like as one
of the poets hath said, -
They said, The time of our departure hath
drawn near. I replied, How oft shall I be
threatened with departure?
I have nothing to do but to cross the waste,
and to traverse the earth, mile after mile.
If the beloved journey towards another land,
I travel thither, a son of the road;
I make my desire my director to her, and it
sheweth me the way without other guide.
And they proceeded throughout the night.
The young man had mounted a swift horse
and placed her behind him; and he ceased
not to traverse the earth until morning
was near, when he turned with her from
the road and set her down; and they per-
formed the ablution, and recited the morn-
ing-prayers. But while they were thus
engaged, they heard the clashing of
weapons, and the clinking of bits and
bridles, and the voices of men, and the
sounds of the hoofs of horses. . So he said
to her, O such-a-one (mentioning her
name), this is a troop of the Christians in
pursuit, which hath overtaken us; what
then shall be our resource, when the horse
hath become wearied and jaded so that he
cannot stir a step? But she replied, Wo to
thee! Art thou alarmed and afraid? -
He said, Yes. Where then, she rejoined,
is the power of thy Lord, of which thou
toldest me, and His succour to those
who seek it? Come let us humble our-
selves before Him, and supplicate Him:
perhaps He will grant us His succour,
and make us to participate in His gracious
protection; extolled be His perfection, and
exalted be His name! And he replied,
Excellent, by Allah, is that which thou
hast said! Accordingly they began to
humble themselves before God (whose
name be exalted!), and he recited these
verses:
--
-
Verily I am hourly in need of thine assistance,
and should be though a crown were placed
upon my head.
Thou art my greatest want, and if my hand
obtained what I desire, I should have no
wants remaining.
Thou hast not any thing that Thou withholdest;
for the flood of thy munificence floweth
copiously and in torrents;
But I am excluded by my transgression: yet
resplendent is the light of thy pardon, O
Clement!
O Dispeller of anxiety, remove my affliction!
for who but Thyself can dispel this
anxiety?
And while he was supplicating, and the
damsel was saying Amen to his supplica-
tion, and the tramping of the horses was
approaching them, the young man heard
the voice of his brother the martyr, saying,
O my brother, fear not nor grieve; for the
approaching troop is the troop of God,
and it is his Angels, whom He hath sent
unto you to witness your marriage. Verily
God hath gloried in you before his Angels,
and given you the recompense of the
blessed and the martyrs, and contracted for
you the earth, so that in the morning thou
wilt be among the mountains of El-Me-
deeneh. And when thou meetest 'Omar the
1184
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
son of El-Khattáb (may God be well
pleased with him!), greet him with salu-
tation from me, and say to him, May God
recompense thee well for the Muslims; for
thou hast given good counsel, and laboured
with diligence. Then the Angels raised
their voices, saluting him and his wife, and
said, Verily God (whose name be exalted!)
decreed her in marriage to thee before the
creation of your father Adam (on whom
be peace!) by two thousand years. And
upon this they experienced joy and hap-
piness, and security and gladness: confi-
dence was increased, and the guidance of
the pious was confirmed: and when day-
break came; they performed the morning-
prayers.
Now 'Omar the son of El-Khattáb (may
God be well pleased with him!) used to
perform the morning-prayers in the dark-
ness before dawn; and sometimes he entered
the place of prayer in the mosque, fol-
lowed by two men, and began with the
Chapter of Cattle, or the Chapter of
Women; whereupon the sleeper awoke, and
he who would perform the ablution per-
formed it, and he who was at a distance
came, so that the first rek'ah was not com-
pleted before the mosque was filled with
people. Then he performed the second
rek'ah with the recitation of a light chap-
ter, and doing it quickly. But on that day,
he recited in the first rek'ah a light chap-
ter, doing it quickly, and in like manner
in the second; and when he had pro-
nounced the salutations, he looked to-
wards his companions, and said, Come
forth with us that we may meet the
bridegroom and bride. So his companions
wondered, and understood not his words;
and he advanced, with them following him,
until he went forth to the gate of the
city.
The young man, as soon as the light ap-
peared to him, and he beheld the standards
of El-Medeeneh, advanced towards the
gate, with his wife behind him; and 'Omar
and the Muslims his companions met him
and saluted him. And when they entered
the city, 'Omar (may God be well pleased
with him!) gave orders that a feast should
be prepared; and the Muslims came and
ate. The young man entered with his
bride; and God (whose name be exalted!)
blessed him by her with children who
fought in the way of God, and kept their
genealogies, because they gloried in them;
and they ceased not to pass a most com-
fortable life, and to enjoy the most perfect
happiness, until they were visited by the
terminator of delights and the separator of
companions.
The Justice of Providence
A certain prophet employed himself in
devotion upon a lofty mountain, beneath
which ran a spring of water; and during
the day he used to sit upon the summit of
the mountain, so that people saw him not.
There he repeated the praises of God
(whose name be exalted!), and saw such
persons as came to drink at the spring.
And as he was one day sitting looking
towards the spring, he beheld a horseman,
who approached, and alighted from his
horse, put down a leathern bag that was
slung to his neck, and rested, and drank
of the water; after which he departed, leav-
ing the leathern bag, in which were pieces
of gold. And, lo, a man came to drink of
the water, and he took the leathern bag
with the money, and drank of the water,
and departed in safety. Then there came
after him a man who was a wood-cutter.
bearing a heavy bundle of firewood upon
his back, and he seated himself by the
spring, to drink of the water. But, lo, the
horseman first mentioned approached in a
state of distress, and he said to the wood-
cutter, Where is the leathern bag that was
here? He answered, I know nothing of it.
And the horseman drew his sword, struck
the wood-cutter, and slew him; and he
searched in his clothes, and found nothing:
so he left him, and went his way.
And that prophet said, O Lord, one per-
son took a thousand pieces of gold, and
another hath been slain unjustly. But
God said to him by revelation, Occupy thy-
self with thy devotion; for the government
of the kingdom is not thine affair. Verily
the father of this horseman had taken by
force a thousand pieces of gold of the prop-
erty of the father of this man; so I have
put the son in possession of his father's
property: and verily the wood-cutter had
slain the father of this horseman; where-
fore I have enabled the son to take re-
taliation. And thereupon that prophet
said, There is no deity but Thou! Extolled
be thy perfection! Thou art all-knowing
with respect to secret things!
[Next to the series of anecdotes from
which the above are selected, follows the
Story of Hásib Kereem-ed-Deen, or rather,
a combination of the stories of Hásib,
Bulookiyà, and Jánsháh, ending with the
five hundred and thirty-sixth Night. It is
mainly a compound of the most extrava-
gant absurdities, and would, I think, be
extremely tedious to many readers of the
present translation, with the exception of
the portion relating to Jánsháh; but this
is similar in its general character, and in
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1185
the incidents upon which it is chiefly
founded, to the Story of Hasan of El-
Basrah, which is one that I purpose to in-
clude in this work. I therefore pass on to
the five hundred and thirty-seventh Night,
with which commences the Story of Es-
Sindibád of the Sea (the famous Voyager)
and Es-Sindibád of the Land.
The stories which I omit in these volumes
I do not consider destitute of interest or
value, nor should I regard them, with the
exception of a few, as unworthy of being
presented to English readers, if some were
abridged, and considerable alterations were
made in others, when the omission of gross
passages would render them incoherent;
but even if they were thus abridged and
altered, I should not think it advisable to
introduce them in this collection, which is
designed to comprise no tales that are
greatly inferior in interest to those in the
old version.]
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
NOTE 1. Before I considered the com-
position of this story, it appeared to me
utterly incredible that one person, or even
two or three, could have composed the
greater portion of a series of tales so nu-
merous and so varied as those of the
Thousand and One Nights. But my
opinion was changed when I found that
nearly every one of the most wonderful
incidents occurring in the voyages of Es-
Sindibád of the Sea was described in other
Arabic works, and when I considered that,
these works being professedly scientific, it
would be unreasonable to entertain the
slightest suspicion that their authors bor-
rowed from a tale of fiction. Thus I dis-
covered that one of the tales which seemed
to have required in its composer the great-
est power of imagination did in reality re-
quire very little of this faculty, and that
the merit of the composition lay not so
much in the matter, as in the manner.
obtained also a confirmation of De Sacy's
opinion (which some learned men have
doubted), that the story of the voyages of
Es-Sindibád is a roman vraiment arabe
d'origine," and not "the Book of Es-
Sindibád" mentioned in the passage re-
lating to the Hezár Afsaneh in the Golden
Meadows of El-Mes'oodee. May not most
of the tales of the Thousand and One
Nights have been composed in the same
manner as the one which I now endeavour
to illustrate?
I
66
1
Of the age in which this story was com-
posed, I can offer no certain evidence; but
see no reason to think it older than most
of the tales in the present work. It is evi-
dently founded upon the exaggerated
reports of a variety of travellers, and
almost all these reports I find related in the
"'Ajáïb el-Makhlookát" of El-Kazweenee
and the "Khareedet el-'Ajáïb " of Ibn-El-
Wardee. The former author flourished in
the latter half of the thirteenth century,
and the latter died about the middle of
the fourteenth. I am unable to discover
whether the "travellers' lies" here alluded
to have been recorded by earlier writers;
but considering the popularity of the two
works above mentioned, I think it probable
that they were the mines from which the
author of the voyages of Es-Sindibád of
the Sea drew most of the materials for the
composition of this tale.
66
Mr. Hole's ingenious and admirable illus-
trations of this story, which, he observes,
may be not unjustly denominated 'the
Arabian Odyssey,' . . . if small things may
be compared with great," are well known;
and I shall often avail myself of them in
the present series of notes; but not so
amply as I should have done had I not
traced almost all the marvels of the tale to
their proper Arabian sources. Here I
must also mention a learned and instruc-
tive article on the Thousand and One
Nights in No. 47 of the Foreign Quarterly
Review. The writer of that article (the
perusal of which has afforded me much
gratification), alluding to the voyages of
Es-Sindibád, observes that a singular poem,
which has escaped the notice of Hole, con-
tains some highly curious coincidences with
these voyages and with some other portions
of the Arabian Nights. "They tend at the
same time," he adds, "to prove the an-
tiquity of these particular stories, as it is
improbable that the eastern story-tellers
should have been indebted to the writer of
a German metrical romance of the twelfth
century. The romance alluded to is Duke
1186
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Ernest of Bavaria. It was composed in
German Rhyme by Henry of Veldeck, who
flourished about 1160; and a Latin poem
on the same subject, by one Odo, appeared
about the same time. A prose version of
the outlines of the story is still popular in
Germany. In this singular romance we
find the aeronautic excursion in the second
voyage of Sindbad, with no material varia-
tion; the pigmies and cranes as well as the
adventure borrowed from the Odyssey in
the third voyage; and the subterraneous
voyage in the sixth. We have likewise the
magnetic mountain, occurring in the story
of the Third Calendar, which has also been
transplanted into the miraculous legend of
the Irish Saint, Brandanus." - It will be
seen, however, that the incidents in Es-
Sindibád's Voyages here alluded to, and
many more, occur in other works; and I
think it may be reasonably inferred, that
they were subjects of common report in
the East long before they were introduced
into the present collection.
In the translation, I have occasionally
deviated from the Cairo edition, following,
in cases which will be pointed out in the
notes, the Breslau edition of the Thousand
and One Nights, the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, and an edition
of the story of Es-Sindibád in the original
Arabic appended by the learned M. Langlès
to Savary's Grammaire de la Langue Arabe,
and also published in a separate form, ac-
companied by a faithful version in French.
NOTE 2. In Langlès' edition, and the
Calcutta edition of the first two hundred
Nights, the porter is called "El-Hindibád."
The etymology of this name, and of "Es-
Sindibád," I must leave in doubt. If the
former be the name by which the author of
the tale called the porter, I conclude that
he derived the two names, respectively,
from "El-Hind" and "Es-Sind;" the
former of which is the appellation of the
main portion of India; and the latter, that
of Western India. "Es-Sindibád" is a
name which not unfrequently occurs in
Arabian tales.
NOTE 3. See Note 30 to the Introduc-
tion, and Note I to Chapter ix.
NOTE 4. See Note 19 to Chapter xviii.
NOTE 5. The "keerawán," more com-
monly, and I believe more properly, called
"karawán," is the stone-curlew, or chara-
drius ædicnemus of Linnæus. The follow-
ing extract from the Encyclopædia Britan-
nica, art. "Charadrius," appears to be a
good account of this bird. "Hasselquist
informs us that this bird is also met with
in Lower Egypt, in the acacia groves, near
the villages of Abusir [Aboo-Seer] and
Sackhara [Sakkárah], near the sepulchres
of the ancient Egyptians, and in the deserts.
The Arabians call it Kervan (karawán]. It
has a shrill voice, somewhat resembling
that of the black woodpecker, which it
raises and lowers successively, uttering
agreeable notes. The Turks and Egyptians
value it much, if they can get it alive; and
keep it in a cage for the sake of its sing-
ing. Its flesh is hard, and of a very good
taste, inclined to aromatic. It is a very
voracious bird, catching and devouring rats
and mice, which abound in Egypt.
seldom drinks; and when taken young, and
kept in a cage in Egypt, they give it no
water for several months, but feed it with
fresh meat macerated in water, which it
devours very greedily. It is found in
deserts, and is therefore accustomed to be
without water."
It
NOTE 6. In the latter hemistich of this
verse I follow the Breslau edition.
NOTE 7. "The day of death is better
than the day of birth, because nothing is
wanted after the day of death, and the
contrary is the case with respect to the day
of birth. And a living dog is better than
a dead lion, because the uses of the lion
end with his death: so the living dog is
better than he, because advantage may be
hoped for from him. And the grave that
hideth the poor man is better than the
palace in which a man is in want."
(Marginal note by my sheykh.) — The first
saying is from Ecclesiastes, ch. vii. v. 1;
and the second, from the same book, ch.
ix. v. 4. The third saying, in Langlès'
edition, and in the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, is, "the grave
is better than poverty: " but I do not know
any saying of Solomon in the Bible agree-
ing with either reading.
-
NOTE 8. The Fish mistaken for an
Island. The origin of this first marvel re-
lated by Es-Sindibád of the Sea I find in
El-Kazweenee's "'Ajáïb el-Makhlookát."
In his account of animals of the water, he
says, "The tortoise (sulahfáh,' also writ-
ten sulahfà,' &c.,) is a sea and land
animal. As to the sea-tortoise, it is very
enormous, so that the people of the ship
imagine that it is an island. One of the
merchants hath related, saying, 'We found
in the sea an island elevated above the
water, having upon it green plants; and we
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1187
went forth to it, and dug [holes for fire]
to cook; whereupon the island moved, and
the sailors said, Come ye to your place;
for it is a tortoise, and the heat of the fire
hath hurt it; lest it carry you away!-
By reason of the enormity of its body,'
saith he, [i. e., the narrator above men-
tioned,] 'it was as though it were an
island; and earth collected upon its back
in the length of time, so that it became
like land, and produced plants.''
Though the above is so apposite, I am
tempted to copy from Hole's work (pages
22 and 23) the following quotation from
Milton, who mentions the Leviathan as
"that seabeast "
which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim the ocean flood.
Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side.
----
P. L., B. i.
and another (in pages 253 and 254) from
Olaus Magnus: "Habet etiam Cetus
super corium suum superficiem tanquam
sabulum quod est juxta littus maris: unde
plerumque elevato dorso suo super undas a
navigantibus nihil aliud creditur esse quam
insula. Itaque nautæ ad illum appellunt
et super eum descendunt, inque ipsum palos
figunt, naves alligant, focos pro cibis co-
quendis accendunt: donec tandem cetus
sentiens ignem sese in profundum mergat,
atque in ejus dorso manentes, nisi funibus
à navi protesis se liberare queant, submer-
gantur." (L. xxi. c. 25.)
Pliny, as Hole suggests, may have been
"the general source of these sea-monsters."
NOTE 9. Thus this title is pronounced
and written by the Arabs. In my original,
and in the Breslau edition, it is written
“El-Mahraján." It is a corruption of the
Indian title "Maha Rája," or "Great
King." The situation of the kingdom of
the Mihráj will presently be considered.
-
Here I
NOTE 10.
- On the Sea-Horse.
have abridged a little." The Water-
Horse," says El-Kazweenee, in his account
of animals of the water, " is like the land-
horse, save that he is larger in the mane
and tail, and more handsome in colour;
and his hoof is cloven, like the hoof of the
wild ox (bakar el-wahsh, a species of bovine
antelope), and his size is smaller than that
of the land-horse, but larger than that of
the ass, by a little." He adds that some-
times a foal is produced having a water-
horse for its sire and a land-mare for its
dam, and that it is of extreme excellence
and beauty; and he mentions an instance
(similar to what is related in the Thousand
and One Nights): the water-horse, in this
case, was black, with white spots like
pieces of silver. He also states that it is
⚫ found in the Nile; and it is evident from
this that the well-known hippopotamus is
the animal thus incorrectly described, and
which has suggested the fable here related.
NOTE II.
Here again I abridge a little.
NOTE 12.
On the Island of the Mihráj,
and some other Islands in the Seas of
China and India. I shall here endeavour
to determine the positions of several islands
in the Seas of China and India, including,
among these islands, that of the Mihráj.
After having commenced with one of which
the position is most easily ascertained, 1
shall pass on to others which are men-
tioned in the story that I am illustrating,
and on subsequent occasions I shall refer
the reader to this note.
"C
In the "Accounts of India and China by
two Mohammadan Travellers in the ninth
Century," we are told (in page 3 of the
English translation) that among the islands
of the Sea of [El-] Harkend [a name given
both to the Sea of China and to a part of
that of India], towards Sarendeeb [or
Ceylon], one "is called Ramni, and is
under several princes; being eight or nine
hundred leagues in dimension. [Afterwards,
in page 61, this island is mentioned by the
name of Rahmi, and is said to be eight
hundred leagues in compass.] Here," it is
added, are gold-mines, and particularly
those called Fansur (or Fanfur?); as also
an excellent sort of Camphire.".
-It ap-
pears hence, beyond a doubt, that the island
called by the Arab geographers" Ráminee,"
"Rámin," "Rámee," &c., is Sumatra, the
Java Minor of Marco Polo, described by
him (book iii. ch. 16,) as two thousand
miles in circuit (which appears to be near
the truth), and as containing eight king-
doms, governed by so many kings; one of
which kingdoms is called by him Fansur,
or Fanfur, and said to contain the best
kind of camphor, much superior in quality
to any other. This kingdom, and five of
the others, Marco Polo visited; and he re-
mained in one of the ports of the island
five months: his authority therefore, which
is in general good, is in this case especially
so. El-Kazweenee says that in the island
of Rámin, in the Sea of China, are a naked
people, whose language is not understood:
for it is like whistling. He adds that they
shun mankind, that the height of one of
1188
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
them is four spans, that on their faces is
red downy hair, and that they climb up
trees; and he states that in it are the
camphor-tree, brasil-wood, and the Indian
cane, and likewise the rhinoceros, and
buffaloes without tails.
66
66
The next island of which I shall consider
the position is that which is called in the
works of the Arab geographers "Zánij,"
"Zálij," Zábij," Ránij," Rálij,"
Ráïj," "Ráneh," &c. The name of this
island, which name is also employed to in-
clude some other islands dependant on the
principal one, is written in the "Accounts
of India and China," above quoted,
"Zabage" (page 10), and 'Zapage
(page 60), in both places probably for
"Zábij." In the latter place we are in-
formed, that "the province of Zapage is
opposite to China, and a month's sail
distant therefrom by sea, or less, if the wind
be fair. The King of this country," it is
added, "is called Mehrage, and they say it
is nine hundred leagues in circumference,
and that this King is master of many
islands which lie round about; thus this
kingdom is above a thousand leagues in
extent. Among these islands there is one
called Serbeza, which is said to be four
hundred leagues in circuit, [nearly the cir-
cuit of Java,] and that also of Rahmi "
[above identified with Sumatra]. — From
these descriptions of the size of the great
island of the Mihráj, and its situation with
respect to China and Sumatra it seems evi-
dent to me that it can be no other island
than Borneo, as Sir William Jones and
others have supposed. El-Kazweenee says
that the King of the Island of Ráïj (or
Zábij, &c.) is called El-Mihráj; that in this
island is a mountain where are huge ser-
pents, some of which will swallow the
elephant; and that it contains also the
camphor-tree, which is of enormous size.
El-Kazweenee describes this island as
the confines of China, the furthest of the
countries of India."
66
on
"In this same kingdom [I continue the
extract from the Accounts of India and
China' begun in the preceding paragraph]
is the Island of Cala, which is in the mid-
passage between China and the country of
the Arabs. This island, they say, is four-
score leagues in circumference; and hither
they bring all sorts of merchandise, wood-
aloes of several sorts, camphire-sandal-
wood, ivory, the lead called Cabahi, ebony,
red-wood, every kind of spice, and many
other things too tedious to enumerate. At
present the commerce is most usually
carried on from Oman l'Omán] to this
island, and from this island to Oman."
(Page 61.) In my MS. of Ibn-El-Wardee,
this island is called "Kulleh." This geog-
rapher describes it as in the "Sea of In-
dia"
(a very vague appellation), and
says, "It is a great island: in it are
trees and rivers and fruits. A King of
the sons of Jábeh the Indian dwelleth
in it; and in it are mines of tin, and
camphor-trees, one tree of which shadeth
a hundred men, and more: in it also is
the Indian cane; and among its wonders
are such things that the describer of them
would incur disbelief." El-Idreesee (1st
Climate, 9th Section,) describes this island,
mentions the same particulars, and gives an
account of the mode of obtaining the
camphor similar to that in Es-Sindibád's
Second Voyage. He adds, that in the
neighbourhood of the said island are those
of Jábeh, Seláhit, and Hereej; each about
two leagues from another; and states that
they all obey the same King, named Jábeh.
- From these notices of situation, size, and
the existence of tin-mines, I am induced to
think that this island is the one called in
our maps Banca, the rich tin-mines of
which are well known; though Renaudot
places it near the point of Malabar, and
does not consider it as an island. From
page 15 of the English translation of his
Remarks on the "Accounts," it appears
that in page 10 of the latter, "Calabar "
is put for the name which in the extract at
the commencement of this paragraph is
writen "Cala." Now in this page of the
66
Accounts," the place thus named is said
to have been dependant on "the Kingdom
of Zabage." That a tract near the point
of Malabar should be so is extremely im-
probable; and it is afterwards said, as I
have shewn above, that it was in that
Kingdom. It is stated in the same work
(page 9), that from Mascat (or Maskat)
to Kaucammali, in the course to China, is
a month's sail, with the wind aft. [The
name of the latter place is written by El-
Idreesee (2nd Climate, 7th Section,) "Koo-
lam Melee." It is evidently the Koulam
of Marco Polo (who says that it was a re-
sort of Arabian and Manji, or Southern
Chinese, merchants), and the Coulan of
our maps, in Malabar, or Malayala, nearly
ninety British miles from Cape Comorin.]
Here the Arabs, we are told, in the voyage
to China, took in water: then they entered
the sea of El-Harkend, and having sailed
across it, they touched at Lajabalus [be-
fore called (in page 4) "Najabalus " (sup-
posed to be the Nicobar Islands)], and,
after about a month's Voyage from
Kaukam [i. e. Koulam], arrived at Cala
[in the translation Calabar]. It is added,
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1189
that from this place to one called Betuna is
ten days, in the course to China; that ten
days further in the same course is Kad-
range; ten days further, Senef [or Sanf],
whence "comes the aromatic wood we call
Hud al Senefi" [el 'ood es-Sanfee]; ten
days further, Sandarfulat; and a month
further, China: altogether, from the place
in question to "Canfu" [or "Khánfoo,"
also written by Arab geographers "Khán-
koo," supposed to be "Kuang-cheu-fu,"
called by us Canton"], the chief port of
China, two months and ten days. The
latter part of the voyage, it appears, was
tedious: it was probably circuitous, for the
sake of traffic; and eight whole days were
consumed in clearing some rocks and shoals
called the Gates of China.
I next consider the position of Sanf. Its
distance from the supposed Canton has
been stated above, as one month and ten
days. El-Idreesee (2nd Climate, 9th Sec-
tion,) calls it a Chinese island, or peninsula
(the term generally rendered "island" is
very vague), and afterwards (1st Climate,
10th Section,) he makes it only fourteen
days from Khánkoo (or Canton?); but his
authority I think of much less weight than
that before cited. He states also, that from
Sanf to Melay or Malay was a voyage of
twelve days, among islands and rocks. -
These indications of its position, and the
assertion of El-Idreesee (1st Climate, 9th
Section,) and others, that it produces the
best kinds of aloes-wood, lead me to con-
Iclude that it is the tract called in our maps
Tsiampa. Mr. Marsden has shewn (in note
1172 to his translation of Marco Polo) that
the best kind of aloes-wood is that of the
mountains of Tsiampa, on the south of
Cochinchina, about the 13th degree of north
latitude, This is called Kalambak. The
resemblance of the names Tsiampa" and
46
(6
Sanf " I also think of some weight; esne-
cially as the Arabs, having no p, substitute,
for that letter, f or b. The author of the
Kámoos says, that the Sanfee aloes-wood
(or aloes-wood of Sanf) is inferior to the
Kamáree; but the contrary statement, be-
ing more fully expressed, I think more en-
titled to credit.
The position of Kamár, which produced
the Kamáree aloes-wood, is more difficult
to determine. In the "Accounts of India
and China," which mention its aloes-wood,
the island (or peninsula) of Kamár is said
(in page 64) to be divided from the king-
dom of the Mihráj (or Borneo) "by a
passage of ten or twenty days' sail, with a
very easy gale." This will by no means
allow us to identify it with Cape Comorin,
as some European writers have done. El-
66
Idreesee says (1st Climate, 9th Section),
that it is near Sanf, separated only by three
miles; but perhaps "miles" may be a mis-
take for days." I can only conjecture
that it is either a part of the Malayan
peninsula, or on the opposite side of the
Gulf of Siam, adjacent to Tsiampa.
66
I now revert to the Mihráj and his
Island, which is described in the "Ac-
counts of India and China " (page 61) as
"extremely fertile, and so very populous
that the towns almost crowd one upon the
other." In the next page it is said that
the palace of a former Mihráj was still
to be seen," in the time of the author," on
a river as broad as the Tigris at Baghdad
or at El-Basrah." And it is added,
"The
sea intercepts the course of its waters, and
sends them back again with the tide of
flood; and during the tide of ebb, it streams
out fresh water a good way into the sea.
This river is let into a small pond close to
the King's palace, and every morning the
officer who has charge of his household
brings an ingot of gold wrought in a par-
ticular manner, which is unknown, and
throws it into the pond in the presence of
the King. The tide rising with the flood,
covers it with many others, its fellows, and
quite conceals it from sight; but low water
discovers them, and they appear plain by
the beams of the sun. The King comes to
view them at the same time that he repairs
to an apartment of state which looks upon
this pond. This custom is very scrupulously
observed, and thus they every day throw
an ingot of gold into this pond, as long as
the King lives, nor touch the same upon
any account. When the King dies, his
successor causes them all to be taken out,
and not one of them is ever missed. They
count them, and melt them down, and this
done, the sums provening from this great
quantity of gold are distributed to those
of the royal household, to the men, to the
women, and to the children, to the superior
and to the inferior officers, each receiving
a part, in proportion to the rank he bears,
and according to the order established
among them for this distribution; and the
surplus is given away to the poor, and to
the infirm. Then they reckon up the num-
ber of ingots, and what they weigh, and
say, Such a one reigned so many years, for
he left so many ingots of gold in the pond
of the Kings, and they were distributed,
after his death, to the people of his king-
dom. It is a glory, with them, to have
reigned a long while, and to have thus
multiplied the number of these ingots, to
be given away at their death."- Nearly
the same account is given in other Arabic
1190
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
-
works. "The hospitality, power, and
magnificence, of the King of Borneo, Raia
Siripada, is mentioned by Pigafetta (Pur-
chas's Pilg. v. i. b. 2.), Magellan's fellow-
traveller, and the first literary circumnavi-
gator. He reigned, it is said, over many
other kings, islands, and cities, and that
which was his place of residence contained
25,000 houses Maximilian of Transylvania,
who gives an account of the same voyage,
enlarges on these circumstances; but adds,
' equi perexigui et exiles sunt.' We are not
to wonder, therefore, that the monarch in
the text was so desirous of improving the
diminutive race."
NOTE 13. The " Shakireeyeh," called in
the Breslau edition "Sekáribeh," and by
El-Idreesee" Sákireeyeh," are evidently the
"Kshatriyas," the second caste of the
Hindoos. By El-Idreesee, as well as in the
Thousand and One Nights, they are called
the first caste. He says (1st Climate, roth
Section), "They are the most noble: it is
from among them, only, that the Kings are
chosen [which is true]. All the others,"
he adds, 'prostrate themselves before
them; but they do not prostrate themselves
before any others."
66
NOTE 14. This idea of the Brahmans I
suppose to be derived from the music and
dances at religious ceremonies.
NOTE 15. So in the Breslau edition. In
the Cairo edition, " Jews" (Yahood), which
is clearly a mistake.
NOTE 16. In the Breslau edition,
"forty-two sects.' So also says El-
Idreesee.
NOTE 17. Thus written in the Breslau
edition, the Calcutta edition of the first
two hundred Nights, and in Langlès' edi-
tion: in the edition of Cairo, "Kábil." It
is evidently the island called by El-
Kazweenee that of "Bartáïl." He de-
1 scribes it as in the. Sea of India, and near
to the Islands of Ez-Zenj (evidently a mis-
take for Zánij, i. e. Borneo), and says, on
the authority of Ibn-El-Fakeeh, "There are
in it a people whose faces are like the
shields made of coats of leather, and their
hair is like the tails of pack-horses; and
in it is the rhinoceros. In it also are
mountains whence are heard by night the
sounds of the drum and tambourine, and
disturbing cries, and disagreeable laugh-
ter; and the sailors say that Ed-Dejjál is
in it, and that he will come forth from
it.
In this island, moreover, cloves are
sold, and in this manner. The merchants
land there, and put their goods and com-
modities upon the shore, and, having re-
turned to their ships, pass the night in
them. Then, when they arise in the morn-
ing, they come to their commodities, and
find by the side of each lot of goods a
quantity of cloves. If the owner of the
goods approve of this, he taketh it, and
leaveth the goods; but if he take the
goods and the cloves, the ship cannot de-
part until the taker of the goods restoreth
them to their place. And if any one
desire an addition, he leaveth the goods
and the cloves, and an addition to these
is made for him. One of the merchants
hath related that he went up into this
island, and saw there a people beardless,
of yellow complexion, whose faces were
like the faces of the Turks, and their ears
were perforated, and their hair was like
that of women. They disappeared from
his sight, and the merchants after that
continued a long time frequenting the
shore; but no cloves were brought out to
them: so they knew that this was on ac-
count of their looking at them. Then,
after some years, they resumed their
former habits."-Cloves, it should be
observed, grow only within the tropics
but they are not the growth of either
Borneo or Java. (See Marsden, M.
Polo, p. 591.) The Island of Bartáïl
or Kásil I suppose to have been not far
from Borneo. Hole suggests (p. 38), that
the roaring of the waves amidst its hollow
rocks might, not improbably, have re-
sembled the sound of drums; and after-
wards (page 41) he remarks, "Bartholo-
mew Leonardo de Argensola, a learned
divine, employed by the president and
council of the Indies to write a history of
the discovery and conquest of the Moluc-
cas, observes, that near Banda is 'a
desert and uninhabited island, called Poel-
setton, infamous for stronger reasons than
the Acroceraunian rocks. There are cries,
whistles, and roarings, in it at all times,
and dreadful apparitions are seen, &c.; and
long experience has shewn that it is in-
habited by Devils.' May it not be reason-
ably suspected," he adds, "that this is
the same island as Kásil; and that the
Spanish writer, like the Arabian, appro-
priated to the superstition of his own
country a traditional report of India?"
I think the reader must answer, "Yes."
NOTE 18. Thus in the Calcutta edition
of the first two hundred Nights, and in
Langlès' edition; in the Cairo edition, in-
stead of the words "that Ed-Dejjál is in
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1191
it," we read," that they [the inhabitants]
are a people of industry and good judg-
ment."
- Necessary illustrations of this
passage have been given in the note imme-
diately preceding.
--
NOTE 19. The words "and the fisher-
men fear it," &c., are inserted on the au-
thority of the Calcutta edition of the first
two hundred Nights and Langlès' edition.
El-Kazweenee says, "In the Sea of China
is a fish more than three hundred cubits
long: fear is entertained for the ship on
account of it; and it is found by the
island of Wák-Wák; and when the people
know of its passing by, they call out, and
beat with wood, that it may flee away at
their noises: when it raiseth its fin, it is
like an enormous sail." The same writer
also, and Ibn-El-Wardee, say, that in the
Sea of El-Kulzum is an enormous fish, that
beateth the ship with its tail, and sinketh
it: its length is about two hundred cubits.
NOTE 20. The two authors just cited
state, that in the Sea of El-Kulzum is
also a fish a cubit long, the body of which
is like that of a fish, and its face like the
face of the owl.
NOTE 21.
This is a common phrase to
express utter desolation.
NOTE 22.- - On the Rukh'. This enor-
mous bird has already been mentioned,
and some idea of its size, in the opinion of
the Arabs, has been conveyed by an anec-
dote in page 1173 of this work; but it
is time to give some further account of
it. Ibn-El-Wardee mentions, among the
islands of the Sea of China, the Island
of the Rukh', and says, "The Rukh',
by the name of which this island is
known, is an enormous and extraordinary
bird, of terrible appearance; so much so
that it is said, that the length of one
of its wings is about ten thousand
fathoms "! This he relates on the author-
ity of a zoological work by El-Háfiz Ibn-
El-Joozee, who had been visited by an
eye-witness of the bird, 'Abd-Er-Rahmán
El-Maghrabee, also surnamed the Chinese,
on account of his long residence in China,
the person mentioned in the anecdote above
referred to. He then narrates two anec-
dotes, one of which is that just mentioned,
and another which would illustrate the
incident to which this note refers, but
which more particularly agrees with an ad-
venture in Es-Sindibád's Fifth Voyage:
therefore I defer the insertion of it.
Of this bird, Marco Polo heard during
his travels. He says, "The people of the
island [of Madagascar] report that at a
certain season of the year, an extraor-
dinary kind of bird, which they call a
rukh', makes its appearance from the south-
ern region. In form it is said to resemble
the eagle; but it is incomparably greater
in size; being so large and strong as to
seize an elephant with its talons, and to
lift it into the air; from whence it lets it
fall to the ground, in order that, when
dead, it may prey upon the carcass. Per-
sons who have seen this bird assert that
when the wings are spread they measure
sixteen paces in extent from point to point;
and that the feathers are eight paces in
length, and thick in proportion." He adds
that some messengers sent to the island by
the Grand Khán brought back with them
"a feather of the rukh' positively affirmed
to have measured ninety spans, and the
quill-part to have been two palms in
circumference." (Marsden's Transl. p.
707.)
Several writers have remarked, that the
condor suggested the monstrous descrip-
tions of the rukh'; and Bishop Heber, who
was of this opinion, says in his "Journal,"
"Lieutenant Fisher shot one very lately
at Degra, which measured thirteen feet be-
tween the tips of its extended wings, and
had talons eight inches long. He was of
a deep black colour, with a bald head and
neck." But Mr. Harvey, in his designs
illustrative of Es-Sindibád's Voyages, has
taken the bearded vulture as the archetype
of the rukh'; justly observing to me, that
the talons of the condor are not so formed
as to enable it to carry off with them any
weighty animal; and pointing out to me,
that a bearded vulture "killed in the
French expedition to Egypt, and measured
in the presence of MM. Monge and Ber-
thollet, is said by M. Larrey to have ex-
ceeded fourteen Parisian, or upwards of
fifteen English feet," from point to point
of its expanded wings. (See Gardens
and Menagerie of the Zoological Society
Delineated," vol. ii. p. 181.) It should
also be observed that the condor is a native
of South America, confined to the region
of the Andes; and it is therefore improb-
able that a solitary specimen should have
strayed to the Chinese or Indian Seas, and
given rise to the fable of the rukh'.-The
rukh', however, may be purely imaginary.
If so, it may be a fabulous species of a
fabulous genus: but I rather think that
it is the same as the 'ankà and seemurgh,
which Arab and Persian writers have de-
scribed in the like monstrous manner. El-
Kazweenee states, that the 'ankà is the
66
1192
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
greatest of birds; that it carries off the
elephant as the kite carries off the mouse;
that, in consequence of its carrying off a
bride, God, at the prayer of a prophet
named Handhalah, banished it to an island
in the Circumambient Ocean, unvisited by
men, under the Equinoctial Line; that it
lives one thousand and seven hundred
years, &c. He also states, that when the
young 'ankà has grown up, if it be a
female, the old female bird burns herself;
and if a male, the old male bird does so.
This reminds us of the phoenix.
-
Voyage.
I
NOTE 23. The Aerial
scarcely hoped to find any narrative, re-
lated as a fact, that could have suggested
the description of this wonderful adven-
ture; but I have succeeded in doing so.
El-Kazweenee, in his account of the Sea
of Persia, relates the following anecdote.
-
"The author of the Kitáb el-'Ajáïb'
saith, A man of Isfahan related to me, that
he was burdened with debts and the ex-
pense of supporting his family; so he
quitted Isfahan, and misfortunes so en-
compassed him that he went to sea with
some merchants. The waves, saith he, beat
us about until we came to the well-known
whirlpool (durdoor) of the Sea of Persia;
whereupon the merchants came together to
the master, and said, Dost thou know any
way of escape for us from this predica-
ment? He answered, O people, verily no
ship escapeth from this whirlpool save such
as God (whose name be exalted!) willeth
[to escape]: but if one of you will liber-
ally give himself for his companions, I will
use my endeavours. Perhaps God (whose
name be exalted!) will save us. So I
said, O people, we are all in a place of
destruction, and I am a man wearied by
misery. I wished for death; and there
was in the ship a party of men of Isfahan:
I therefore said to them, Swear that ye
will discharge my debts, and act with
beneficence to my children, and I will
ransom you with myself. And I said to
the master, What dost thou command me
to do? He answered, That thou stand
upon this island (for there was near unto
the whirlpool an island, the extent of which
was six days' journey with their nights),
and that thou cease not to beat this drum.
So I replied, I will do it. Accordingly
they swore to me severe oaths that they
would comply with the condition that I
had imposed upon them; and they gave me
of water and food what would suffice me
for some days. And I stood on the shore
of the island, and began to beat the drum;
whereupon I beheld the waters move, and
they bore the ship along, while I looked
at it, until it was out of my sight. I then
went to and fro upon the island, and, lo, I
beheld an island on which was an enor-
mous tree, such that I have not seen any
greater; and upon it was something like
a large roof. And at the close of the day,
I heard a great, vehement, harsh_voice;
and, lo, a huge bird, than which I have
not seen any greater, came and alighted
upon the roof on that tree. So I hid my-
self, fearing lest he should make me his
prey, until the light of morning approached,
when he shook his wings, and flew away.
The next night, he came and alighted again
upon his nest, and again I was in despair
of my life, and was content to meet de-
struction. I approached him; but he
shewed no hostility to me, and flew away
in the morning. And when the third night
came, I sat by him without consternation,
until he shook his wings at daybreak;
and on his doing so, I laid hold upon his
legs, and he flew away with me with a
most rapid flight until the daylight rose,
when I looked towards the earth, and saw
not aught save an abyss of water. Upon
this I was about to quit my hold of his
legs, by reason of the violence of the pain
that affected me; but I constrained my-
self to have patience, and, looking again
at the earth, I beheld the villages, or towns,
and the people looking at it [at the bird],
and I beheld the dwellings. Then it ap-
proached the earth, and set me down upon
a heap of straw in a threshing-floor be-
longing to one of the villages, after which
it left me and soared into the sky, and
became absent from me. And the people
collected, and conveyed me to their chief,
and, having brought to me a man who un-
derstood my language, they said to me,
Whence art thou? So I related to them
my whole story, whereupon they won-
dered at me, and they suffered me to re-
main with them, and the chief gave orders
to present me with money. I remained
with them some days; and having walked
one day to the seashore to divert myself,
lo, I met the ship of my companions, who,
when they beheld me, hastened to me,
asking me respecting my case. And I an-
swered them, O people, verily I gave my-
self away for the sake of God (whose
name be exalted!) and He delivered me
in a wonderful way, and made me a
sign unto men, and blessed me with
wealth, and brought me to the place of
destination before you. This is a won-
derful story, and it is not [a case] foreign
from the grace of God, whose name be
exalted!"
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1193
NOTE 24. Though I believe that there
no known substance with which the
diamond can be cut or ground except its
own substance, I think it not improbable
that the Eastern lapidaries may be ac-
quainted with some ore, really, or sup-
posed by them to be, an ore of lead, by
which it may be broken, and that this is
what is here called "the lead-stone," or
"the stone of lead." It is well known that
those diamonds which are unfit for any
other purpose than that of cutting and
grinding others are broken in a steel
mortar.
NOTE 25. See above, the third para-
graph of Note 12.
NOTE 26. -The Valley of Diamonds.
El-Kazweenee, after describing the dia-
mond, saying, "It breaketh all other
stones except [that of] lead (el-usrub);
for if it be struck with. this, the diamond
breaketh," related as follows:
-
"To the place in which the diamond is
found, no one can gain access. It is a
valley in the land of India, the bottom of
which the sight reacheth not; and in it
are venomous serpents which no one seeth
but he dieth; and they have a summer-
abode for six months, and a winter-abode
[where they hide themselves] for the like
period.
El-Iskender [either Alexander the
Great or the first Zu-l-Karneyn] com-
manded to take some mirrors and to throw
them into the valley, that the serpents
might see in them their forms, and die in
consequence. It is said also that he
watched for the time of their absenting
themselves [or retiring into their winter-
quarters], and threw down pieces of meat,
and diamonds stuck to these: then the
birds came from the sky, and took pieces
of that meat, and brought them up out of
the valley; whereupon El-Iskender ordered
his companions to follow the birds, and to
pick up what they easily could of the
meat."
The valley or valleys of diamonds we
also find described by other writers, and
among these by Marco Polo, in his ac-
count of the kingdom of Murphili or
Monsul. This, observes Mr. Marsden, "is
no other than Muchli-patan, or, as it is
more commonly named, Masuli-patam; the
name of a principal town, by a mistake
not unusual, being substituted for that of
the country. . . . It belongs to what was
at one period termed the kingdom of Gol-
conda, more anciently named Telingana.
Golconda, of which Masuli-patam is
the principal sea-port, is celebrated for the
production of diamonds. In the astronom-
ical observations of Mr. Topping, printed
in Dalrymple's Oriental Repertory, men-
tion is made of the famous diamond-mines
of Golconda, at a place named Malvellee,
not far from Ellore. Vol. i. p. 435. Cæsar
Fredericke, who was at Bijanagar in 1567,
mentions that the diamond-mines were six
days' journey from that city."- Es-Sindi-
bád's adventure in the valley of diamonds
has been amply illustrated by the learned
writer from whom the above remarks are
borrowed, and by Hole; and I shall quote
some of their observations, after inserting
an extract from Marco Polo's Travels.
"In the mountains of this kingdom" [of
Murphili], says the Venetian Traveller, "it
is that diamonds are found. During the
rainy season the water descends in violent
torrents amongst the rocks and caverns,
and when these have subsided, the people
go to search for diamonds in the beds of
the rivers, where they find many. Messer
Marco was told that in the summer, when
the heat is excessive and there is no rain
they ascend the mountains with great
fatigue, as well as with considerable danger
from the number of snakes with which
they are infested. Near the summit it is
said there are deep valleys full of caverns
and surrounded by precipices, amongst
which the diamonds are found, and here
many eagles and white storks, attracted
by the snakes on which they feed, are ac-
customed to make their nests.
The per-
sons who are in quest of the diamonds
take their stand near the mouths of the
caverns, and from thence cast down sev-
eral pieces of flesh, which the eagles and
storks pursue into the valleys, and carry
off with them to the tops of the rocks.
Thither the men immediately ascend, drive
the birds away, and, recovering the pieces
of meat, frequently find diamonds sticking
to them."
Mr. Marsden, in a note, alludes to the
adventures of Es-Sindibád, and says, of
the Arabian Tales, "These tales, as appears
from the mention of persons and circum-
stances in the course of the narrative, must
have been composed chiefly in the thir-
teenth century, and one of them in par-
ticular is fixed, by an astronomical ob-
servation, taken by a singular personage,
to the year 1255." But surely this date,
even if it were the same in every MS.
(which is not the case), would prove noth-
ing more than that the tale in which it
Occurs was not composed before this
period: or rather it should lead us to infer
that the tale was composed long after, as it
professes to relate events of ancient times.
1194
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
- Mr. Marsden afterwards transcribes,
from Hole's ingenious work, part of a
quotation from Epiphanius; upon which
he remarks, "Thus it appears incontro-
vertibly, that so early as the fourth century
of our era, the tale [of the valley of dia-
monds, and of the mode of procuring the
precious stones from it,] was current, di-
vested, it is true, of the extraordinary inci-
dent of the adventurous sailor's escape,
but in conformity with what was related
to our author [Marco Polo]; with the
exception of the scene being laid in Scythia
or western Tartary, where, in fact, dia-
monds are not found. The question of
locality," he adds, "is however determined
by another oriental navigator, Nicolo di
Conti, who visited the coast of the penin-
sula in the fifteenth century." He then
gives a quotation from this navigator, dif-
fering little from the story of Marco Polo
given above, and that of Epiphanius after-
wards alluded to, but making the site fif-
teen days' journey from Bisinagar (or
Bijanagar), towards the north. - Hole ob-
serves (in page 60), that a story somewhat
resembling this of the valley of diamonds
is recorded in the travels of Benjamin of
Tudela (Engl. transl. p. 144); and that
the translator supposes it to have been
borrowed from the Thousand ond One
Nights. "I, however," he adds, with bet-
ter judgment, "rather suspect, that the ac-
count of Benjamin of Tudela and of Es-
Sindibád were derived from some common
origin."
NOTE 27. My sheykh remarks, in a
marginal note, that many men strike their
hands together when they are enraged;
that persons clap their hands also to call a
servant, as the Franks ring a bell; and
likewise to testify joy; and that some of
the performers of zikrs do so. On various
occasions of rejoicing too, or for amuse-
ment at other times, the Egyptian peas-
ants, forming a ring, clap their hands in
time, and to certain measures, with or
without singing.
66
NOTE 28. In the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, and in Langlès'
edition, this island is called "Er-Rahà,"
"Er-Ruhà," or Er-Rihà;" and in the
old version, "Roha; " but I do not know
any island so named. From the camphor-
trees here mentioned, and the rhinoceros
afterwards, and a strange kind of buffalo,
I doubt not that Sumatra is the island
meant. (See the second paragraph of
Note 12 in the present series. See also
the fourth paragraph of the same note.)
Mr. Marsden says that the camphor-tree
does not grow anywhere to the south of
the line; and that the finest kinds of
camphor are produced by a tree in Su-
matra and Borneo; but perhaps he applies
the first remark only to Sumatra; for I
believe that this tree grows to the south
of the line in Borneo. He also observes
that the camphor-tree of China and Japan.
"the only species of the laurel-genus grow-
ing in China, and there a large and valu-
able timber-tree, . . . is not to be con-
founded with the camphor-tree of Borneo
and Sumatra, which is also remarkable for
its great size, but is of a genus entirely
distinct from the laurus."
NOTE 29. In the Cairo edition (erro-
neously), "kezkezán: " in others "karka-
dán" and "karkend." "Karkadan is the
vulgar modern term: the correct term is
Karkedden.'
NOTE 30. The word "'alak" I have
rendered "the tender leaves of trees." I'
oftener signifies "the leech," or "leeches."
NOTE 31. So in the Calcutta edition of
the first two hundred Nights, and in
Langlès edition: in the editions of Cairo
and Breslau, "ten cubits."
NOTE 32. El-Kazweenee says, in his de-
scription of the rhinoceros, "upon its horn
is a curved branch, the curve of which is
contrary in direction to that of the [main]
horn. It hath virtues; and the sign of its
perfection is this; that there is seen in it
the form of a horseman. That branch,"
he adds, "is not found save in the posses
sion of the Kings of India." He mentions
also its various virtues, which are medicinal
and magical. - El-Idreesee gives a some-
what different account, agreeing more with
what is said in the old version, and the
Calcutta edition of the first two hundred
Nights, and the edition of Langlès; espe-
Icially the last. He says, that in some
rhinoceros' horns, when cut, are seen the
figures of men, birds, &c., perfectly por-
trayed in white; and that with these are
made girdles, of high price. These girdles
are mentioned in the two Arabic editions
above referred to, and their price is said to
be a thousand pieces of gold.
NOTE 33. "The account of the rhinoc
eros, and its combat with the elephant."
says Hole (pp. 61 and 62), "after allow-
ing for one or two trifling additions, agrees
with what is said by Pliny (Nat. Hist. L
viii. c. 30), Ælian (Nat. An. L. xvii. c 44),
and Diodorus Siculus (L. iii. c. 2).”
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1195
NOTE 35. These words, "and God is all
knowing," &c., are an apology of the writer
for relating such fables.
NOTE 36. In the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, and in Langlès'
edition, "the islands of the wild, downy
[creatures]."
NOTE 37. In the two editions just men-
tioned, they are described as red downy
creatures.
NOTE 38. The Island of Apes. What
is called in my translation (from the Cairo
edition) "the Mountain of Apes," is named
in the edition of Breslau, "the Island of
Apes;" and Ibn-El-Wardee gives the fol-
lowing account of it."Among the isl-
ands of the Sea of China is the Island of
Apes. It is large, and in it are marshy
forests, and numerous apes; and the apes
have a king there, to whom they submit
themselves: they carry him upon their
shoulders and their necks; and he gov-
erneth the island so that none oppresseth
another. Those, however, who come to
them in ships, they torture with biting and
scratching and stoning; but the people of
the two Islands of Khartán and Martán
employ stratagems against them and hunt
them, and sell them for a high price. The
people of El-Yemen desire them much, and
take them as guards of their shops, like
slaves; and they are endowed with ex-
treme acuteness."- El-Idreesee (1st Cli-
mate, 7th Section,) gives a similar account;
but states that this island is two days' voy-
age from that of Sukutrà (or Socotra).
There is, however, a contrariety in his text;
and though what is said of the inhabitants
of Khartán and Martán seems to favour
the opinion that the island in question is
not far from Arabia, I think that it is
Sumatra. It is very probable that differ-
ent navigators often designated the same
island by different names, and thus misled
the geographers. El-Idreesee also describes
the apes as of a reddish colour.
note immediately preceding this.) Crea-
tures in the island of Rámin (or Sumatra)
four spans high, and with red downy hair
on their faces, have already been men-
tioned (in the second paragraph of Note
12 in the present series), on the authority
of El-Kazweenee, who likewise says, "The
sailors relate that when the waves of the
sea of China are tumultuous, there appear
from it black persons, each of four spans
high, like the children of the Abyssinians; "
but he adds, "and they ascend the ships
without injury."
(See the
That the pigmies of antiquity, and of
early travellers, were apes, cannot reason-
ably be doubted. It is remarkable that
Marco Polo mentions pretended pigmies
which were brought from India, and which
were the bodies of apes stuffed in Java
Minor, or Sumatra; mentioned above as
the country of red-downy-faced creatures,
four spans high. For ample illustrations
of the pigmies, see Hole, pp. 64-78.
-
NOTE 39. In the old version, this giant
is described as having only one eye, in his
forehead; but not so in any of the four
editions of the original that I have by me.
In these editions, however, subsequent inci-
dents are remarkable for their agreement
with the story of Polyphemus. Stories of
monsters like the Cyclops appear to have
been current in the East; and so also,
probably, was the tale of Ulysses and Poly-
phemus. Sir John Mandeville says, that
in one of the Indian islands were giants
who had but one eye, in the middle of the
front, and who ate nothing but raw flesh
and raw fish. He mentions others who ate
more gladly man's flesh than any other
flesh. In another isle, he was told that
there were giants of greater stature, some
of fifty cubits high, who many times took
men out of the sea in their ships, and
brought them to land, two in one hand and
two in another, eating them going, all raw
and all quick. - Hole thinks that Virgil
and Ovid supplied the knight with the pre-
ceding descriptions; but this I doubt. El-
Kazweenee says, that behind the island of
El-Beenán, in the Sea of China, are two
islands of great length and breadth, wherein
are a black people like the tribe of 'Ád, of
enormous size, with crisp hair, and long
faces: the foot of one of them, he adds, is
a cubit long; and they eat men. One of
these two islands our author may have con-
founded with that of the Apes. El-Idree-
see (1st Climate, 8th Section,) places the
Island of El-Beenán on the south of that of
Er-Rámee or Sumatra). Our giant had
enormous ears, hanging down upon his
shoulders; and Mr. Marsden (as observed
by Hole) says, that "the inhabitants of
Neas, an adjacent island to Sumatra, [on
the south-west of the latter,] bore their
ears, and encourage the aperture to a mon-
strous size, so as in many instances to be
large enough to admit the hand, the lower
parts being stretched till they touch the
shoulders."
NOTE 40. In the Cairo edition, "and
make for ourselves a vessel like a boat."
The reading I have adopted is that of the
1196
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Calcutta edition of the first two hundred
Nights, and of Langlès' edition, as well as
of the old version.
NOTE 41. See Note 88 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 42.
"Ulysses and his friends were
more fortunate in their escape from Poly-
pheme, but suffered nearly in the same
manner by Antiphates and his gigantic
attendants."
NOTE 43. El-Kazweenee says, that
among the creatures of the Sea of China
are "two enormous serpents, that come
forth upon the land, and one of them will
swallow the buffalo or the elephant, and
wind itself round a tree or rock, and so
break in pieces the bones of the animal
in its belly."
NOTE 44. The name of this island is
thus written in Langlès' edition and by El-
Idreesee; in the Cairo edition, "Es-Selá-
hitah;" in the Calcutta edition of the first
two hundred Nights, "Es-Selámit; " and
in the Breslau edition, "El-Kalásitah." It
has been mentioned in a former note (Note
12 in the present series, fourth paragraph);
and from what is there said, I suppose it to
be near Java. In my copy of El-Kaz-
weenee, its name is written Es-Selámit.
He says, "From it are brought sandal-
wood, spikenard, and camphor; . . . and
in it is a spring that spouteth up, the
water boiling from it, and near it is a lake,
into which it descendeth: what remaineth
of the sprinkled water in the day becometh
white stone, and what remaineth of it in
the night becometh black stone." El-
Idreesee (1st Climate, 9th Section,) de-
scribes in it a volcano constantly and ex-
ceedingly active. Such a volcano there is
in the island called in our maps
66 Sum-
bawa," well known.
NOTE 45. The words "where sandal-
wood is abundant are inserted on the au-
thority of the Calcutta edition of the first
two hundred Nights, and Langlès' edition.
NOTE 46. Here is added in my original,
and I was submerged at the island, with
the rest who were submerged: " but this
was during the First Voyage.
NOTE 47. Here the master says, that
many were drowned at that island, and Es-
Sindibád of the Sea among them: but this
again refers to the First Voyage.
NOTE 48.
"Es-Sind" is Western India.
NOTE 49.
El-Kazweenee and Ibn-El-
Wardee relate, that in the Sea of El-
Kulzum is a fish in the form of a cow,
which bringeth forth its young and suck-
leth like a cow. The Calcutta edition of
the first two hundred Nights, and Langlès'
edition, mention these particulars, and add,
"and shields are made of its skin." The
same editions also here mention "fish
twenty cubits long, a tortoise twenty cubits
wide, and fish in the form of camels." The
two Arab writers quoted above say, that
in the Sea of El-Kulzum is a fish twenty
cubits long, the back of which is [like]
excellent tortoise-shell, and it bringeth forth
young and suckleth like human beings. El-
Kazweenee also relates, that in the Sea of
China are " tortoises each twenty cubits
in circumference. Each of them," he adds,
"layeth a thousand eggs: and this is found
at the island of Wák-Wák." But these
are too small. Revert to Note 8.
"The account of these animals," ob-
serves Hole (pp. 90 et seqq.), "is not to
be attributed to a licentious exuberance of
fancy in the Arabian author. He might
have seen in Elian (Hist. An. L. xvi. c.
17.) that tortoises whose shells were fifteen
cubits in length, and sufficiently large to
cover a house, were to be found near the
island of Taprobane Pliny (Nat. Hist. L.
ix. c. 10.) and Strabo (Geog. L. xv.) men-
tion the same circumstance: they likewise
turn them upside down, and say, that men
used to row in them as in a boat. Dio-
dorus Siculus adds to their testimony, and
assures us (B. iii. c. 2.), on the faith of an
historian, that the Chelonophagi (or shell-
fish-eaters) derived a threefold advantage
from the tortoise, which occasionally sup-
plied them with a roof to their houses, a
boat, and a dinner. . . . Í have been in-
formed that boats, made of wicker, and
covered with a skin, resembling the upper
skin of a tortoise, are frequently used for
passing rivers in different parts of India.
May we not suppose that inaccurate ob-
servation, misapprehension, or wilful mis-
representation of the natives, misled in this
and many other respects the voyagers of
antiquity? Boats of a similar structure
are to be found in Wales, where they are
called Coracles. They appear to be the
vitilia navigia of Pliny, and are supposed
to have derived their name from being cov-
ered with coria or hides. They are men-
tioned likewise by Cæsar and Lucan. -
The fish like a cow may be intended for
the hippopotamus, whose skin, as Pliny
observes, is scarcely to be penetrated by
any missive weapon, and therefore may,
with great probability, have been used as
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1197
He
a covering for bucklers by different nations.
[Shields, it is said, are made of the hippo-
potamus' hide by the Nubians. I have a
Nubian shield of the hide of the giraffe or
hippopotamus (I am not certain which),
and another of crocodile's hide.]
observes, that those animals live indiffer-
ently in rivers, or in the ocean, or on the
land. . . . The Manatee, or Cowfish, agrees
likewise with Es-Sindibád's account, and
is to be found in the Mauritius, the Philip-
pine, and the Comori islands: it suckles its
young, like the seal and porpoise; and the
dorsal protuberance of the latter would
naturally suggest to Arabian seamen the
idea of a camel."
NOTE 50. A creature with the head of
an ass in the Indian Sea is mentioned by
Pliny (Nat. Hist. L. ix. c. 3. See Hole,
p. 96); as well as others with the heads of
horses, and of bulls: but what could have
suggested the idea of the "bird that cometh
forth from the sea-shell," unless it were
the nautilus, I am unable to conjecture.
NOTE 51. 66 Ghool," here, may signify
merely a cannibal. See Note 21 to the
Introduction.
NOTE 52.- The Cannibals who stupefy
and fatten Men, and then eat them. The
adventure of Es-Sindibád of the Sea, and
his companions, among these cannibals ap-
pears to be mainly founded on the follow-
ing anecdote, related by Ibn-El-Wardee and
El-Kazweenee. In translating it, I avail my-
self of the narratives of both these writers.
"Among the islands of the Sea of the
Zenj (or Ethiopians) is the Island of
Seksár. Yaakoob Ibn-Is-hák, the traveller,
saith, I met with a man having many
scratches on his face, and asked him re-
specting them, and he said, I went upon
the sea, and the wind drove me to the
Island of Seksár, and we could not depart
from it on account of the violence of the
wind. And there came to us a people
whose faces were like the faces of dogs,
and their bodies like the bodies of men;
and one of them came forward to us with
a staff, and a party came behind us, and
drove us to their abodes, where we saw
skulls and legs and arms of men. They
then took us into a house in which was a
sick man, and brought us fruits and other
food, whereupon that man said, They feed
you that ye may become fat, and him
among you who is fat they eat. So I ate
little, that I might not grow fat; and every
one of my companions who became fat
they ate, until only I and that man re-
mained; for I was lean, and he was ill.
And that man said to me, A festival of
theirs hath arrived, and they all go out to
celebrate it, and are absent at it three
days: so if thou canst make thine escape,
do so: but as for me, as thou seest, I am
unable to move, and cannot flee: see then
to thyself. I therefore replied, May God
compensate thee with Paradise! I went
forth, and journeyed by night, and hid
myself in the day. And when they re-
turned from their festival, they searched
for me, and followed my track, and over-
took me as I lay beneath a tree; but they
quitted me.". - This is not the whole of
the anecdote; but the remaining portion !
reserve for a subsequent note, as it illus-
trates an incident in the Fifth Voyage.
66
66
Marco Polo's account of the inhabitants
of the Andaman Islands, which he calls
Angaman," remarkably agrees with what
is said above of the cannibals of Seksár;
and though this island is described as in
the Ethiopian Sea, we might almost con-
clude, from his statement, that, if the anec-
dote which I have just given be not en-
tirely a fiction, its narrator was cast upon
one of the Andamans. "The inhabitants
[of Angaman]," says the Venetian trav-
eller, are idolaters, and are a most brutish
and savage race, having heads, eyes, and
teeth, resembling those of the canine
species. Their dispositions are cruel, and
every person, not being of their own na-
tion, whom they can lay their hand upon,
they kill and eat." Our author might
perhaps also have heard of an island in the
Sea of India, called the Island of El-Kasr
(or the Pavilion), on which, as related by
El-Kazweenee, is a white pavilion, and
whoever enters this, sleep and insensibility
overcome him, and the inhabitants take
him. But several circumstances connected
with the adventures of Es-Sindibád on the
island of the cannibals seem rather to point
out Sumatra as the scene; and I think it
most probable that this island is meant by
"Seksár." Hole observes (page 111),
"Notwithstanding the striking similarity
between the inhabitants of the Andamans
and Es-Sindibád's negroes, other circum-
stances render it more probable that he
was wrecked on the coast of Sumatra.
Some old voyagers mention a stupefying, or
rather inebriating, vegetable as peculiar to
it: others say that it was customary with
its inhabitants to fatten children in order
to eat them. The Mohammadan travellers
in the ninth century describe them as
cannibals, and those of the kingdom of
Batta continue so to this day.'In Lam-
aray' (Sumatra), says Mandeville, 'is a
1198
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
cursed custom, for thei eaten more gladly
mannes flesche than any other flesche. . .
Thidre gon marchauntes, and bryngen with
hem children, to selle to hem of the contree,
and thei byzen [buy] hem: and zif thei
ben fatte, thei eten hem anon: and zif
thei ben lene, thei feden hem, tille thei ben
fatte, and thanne thei eten hem.'" (Page
214.)
The food which stupefied the companions
of Es-Sindibád we may suppose to have
been mixed with hemp, henbane, hellebore,
datura, or opium; all of which are often
used in various countries of the East for
this purpose, though more frequently to
induce a pleasurable intoxication. Hole
remarks (page 126), that "Davis, who
sailed to Sumatra in the year 1599, says,
'In this country there is a kind of seed,
whereof a little being eaten, maketh a man
to turn fool, all things seeming to him to
be metamorphosed.'"-" Dampier," also,
he observes, "mentions that the inhabit-
ants of Sumatra 'make use of a certain
herb like hemp, called Ganga or Bang,
which, if infused in any liquor, exerts its
operation upon those that taste it after a
very odd manner, according to their differ-
ent constitutions; for some it stupefies,
others it makes sleepy, others merry, and
some quite mad." The term "benj," or
"beng," is applied by the Arabs both to
hemp and henbane: the former, from the
effects above described, appears to be here
meant. Dampier might have been igno-
rant of the intoxicating property of hemp,
and therefore prudently used the words
"like hemp." It is scarcely necessary to
add, that Sumatra abounds with cocoa-
nuts.
NOTE 53. "Es-Sindibád's travelling
eight days [or seven days and nights] be-
fore he finds white men on another part of
the coast will not agree with the contracted
size of the Andaman or Nicobar islands.
Pepper is the common product of the
Sunda islands, and more peculiarly so of
Sumatra." (Hole, page 130.)
NOTE 54. The words "with all her ap-
parel and ornaments and wealth" I have
inserted on the authority of the Calcutta
edition of the first two hundred Nights,
and Langlès' edition.
NOTE 55. The name of the island where
the living spouse was buried with the dead
is not mentioned; but we may suppose it to
be not far from Sumatra. That such a cus-
tom prevailed in any of the Eastern islands
or elsewhere, the reader will not expect to
be proved: but the burial of the living
husband with the dead wife, in a city be-
yond an extensive desert on the northern
frontiers of India, is mentioned in another
Oriental romance. Mandeville, also, "men-
tions, that in the yle of Calanak ["an
island supposed to be not very remote
from Java," and consequently perhaps the
island where this custom is said to have
prevailed in our story], zif a man that is
maryed dye, men buryen his wif with him
alle quyk.' . . . Mr. Grose, likewise in his
voyage to the East Indies in 1745, says that
among a particular caste of Indians, a
plate of rice, a jar of water, and the cloaths
and jewels a wife wore when alive, were
buried with her. But he further informs
us, that the husband usually divested her
of the latter before the grave was filled
up." (Hole, page 139.) Perhaps, then,
our author might have heard some account
of the custom which he here describes; or
merely the Hindoo practice of burning
the widow with the corpse of her husband
may have suggested to him the idea.
NOTE 56. My sheykh observes that this
is a mistake, unless it be meant that the
women, because they were weaker than
the men, had a larger stock of provisions.
In the Breslau edition we read here "a
mug of water and seven cakes of bread,"
as usual.
NOTE 57. Hole remarks (page 140),
that Es-Sindibád's escape " may have been
suggested by an incident that took place
in a very early period of Grecian history,
relative to Aristomenes, the Messenian
general, who was taken prisoner by the
Spartans, and with fifty of his country-
men precipitated into a deep, gloomy cav-
ern. All the others were killed by the
fall; and for three days he lay almost dead
with hunger and the stench of corrupted
carcases, when he perceived a fox near
him, gnawing a dead body. With one
hand he caught it by the hind leg, and
with the other held its jaw when it at-
tempted to bite him. Following, as well
as he could, his struggling guide to the
narrow crevice at which he entered, he
there let him go, and soon forced himself
a passage through it to the welcome face
of day."
NOTE 58. This and the next two sen-
tences I insert from Langlès' edition.
NOTE 59. Of "the Island of the Bell"
I find no mention in any other work.
May it not be the island mentioned in
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1199
Note 17 in the present series? The original
meaning of the word which I have rendered
"bell" (namely "nákoos ") is, a wooden
instrument used by the Eastern Christians
to announce the times of prayer, consist-
ing of two pieces of wood of unequal
lengths, which were knocked together. The
noisy island of Bartáïl might therefore
not inaptly be called "the Island of the
Nákoos."
NOTE 60. The orthography of this
name is uncertain, as the signs that would
fix it are omitted. It is evidently the
46 Cala" and "Kulleh" in the fourth para-
graph of Note 12 in the present series;
which see. For the word "Kingdom,"
afterwards occurring, we may read "seat
of government; and for "a mine of
lead," it appears that we should read "a
mine of tin."
"9
NOTE 61. In the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, this is called
"the City of El-Abáteel," that is ".
of Vanities," or "Lies," &c.
NOTE 62.- The Egg of the Rukh', and
the consequence of breaking it. Ibn-El-
Wardee, after having given the brief notice
which I have quoted in Note 22 in the
present series, respecting the Island of the
Rukh', and the bird after which it was
named, on the authority of 'Abd-Er-Rah-
mán El-Maghrabee, relates two anecdotes
of this man, both of which are included
among the historical anecdotes of the Cairo
edition of the Thousand and One Nights.
Of the former I have given a translation
in page 1173 of this work. The lat-
ter I omitted there that I might not
anticipate the adventures of Es-Sindibád
to which this note, and the one above
referred to, relate. It is given in Ibn-
El-Wardee's work as follows, and nearly
in the same words in the Thousand and
One Nights, in both works as related by
'Abd-Er-Rahmán El-Maghrabee.
"He said that he made a voyage in the
Sea of China, and the wind drove them to
a great, large, wide island, where the
people of the ship landed to procure water
and firewood, taking with them axes and
ropes and water-skins, and he was with
them. And they saw upon the island a
dome, white, of enormous size, shining,
glistening, more than a hundred cubits high.
So they went towards it and approached
it, and, lo, it was an egg of the rukh'.
They began to strike it with the axes and
with masses of rock and with wood, until
it broke, and disclosed the young rukh',
which was like a firm mountain; and they
caught hold of a feather of its wing, and
pulled it; whereupon it became dissevered
from the wing; and the formation of the
feathers was not complete. After this
they killed the bird, and carried away as
much as they could of its flesh. They also
cut off the lower portion of the feather,
from the extremity of the quill-part, and
departed. And some of those who entered
the island had cooked of the flesh, and
eaten. Among these were old men with
white beards; and when they arose in the
morning, they found that their beards had
become black; and not one of the people
who ate became grey after that: wherefore
they said, that the stick with which they
stirred what was in the pot of the flesh
of the young rukh' was of the tree of
youth: but God is all-knowing. And when
the sun rose, and the people were in the
ship, and she was proceeding with them,
lo, the rukh' [the old bird] approached,
coming down like a vast cloud, having in
its claw a fragment of a mountain, like an
enormous house, and bigger than the ship.
And when it came over the ship, in the
sky, it cast down the stone upon her, and
upon those who were in her: But the ship
was swift in her course; so she got before
the stone, which fell into the sea, and its
fall occasioned a most terrible commotion
in the sea. God, says the narrator, de-
creed us safety, and delivered us from
destruction."
The above anecdote is also related by
Ed-Demeeree, who died, according to
D'Herbelot, in the year of the Flight 808
(A. D. 1405-6), and apparently with little
variation, judging from a Latin transla-
tion of it by Bochart (Hierozoicon, vol. ii.
p. 854), which Hole has quoted.
NOTE 63. The word which I have ren-
dered " a streamlet" (namely "sákiyeh ")
is also applied to a water-wheel for irriga-
tion, and is used in this sense in my orig-
inal and in the Breslau edition; but not so
in the two other editions that I have by
We must suppose that there were no
men who could make use of a water-wheel
in this part.
me.
NOTE 64. The Old Man of the Sea.
I must now continue the anecdote com-
menced in Note 52 in the present series,
describing the adventures of a man upon
an island which, as there stated, I suppose
to be Sumatra.
"Being then secure from them, I jour-
neyed over that island, night and day, and
came at last to trees bearing fruits, be-
1200
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
neath which were men of handsome form,
but without bones in their legs. I sat, and
I understood not their language, nor did
they understand mine; and I was not
aware of it before one of them mounted on
my neck, wound his legs round my throat,
and urged me to rise. So I rose with him,
and strove to release myself from him, and
to throw him down from me; but I could
not; and he began to scratch my face with
his sharp nails. I therefore proceeded to
carry him about among the trees, and he
ate of their fruits, and fed his companions,
who laughed at me. But while I was
bearing him about among the trees a thorn
of a tree entered his eye, and he became
blind. Then I pressed for him some grapes,
and said to him, Stoop. And he stooped;
whereupon his legs became loosened from
me, and I threw him down from my neck,
and departed, and God saved me by his
grace. And these scratches were made by
him."
El-Kazweenee also mentions, in the
khátimeh (or conclusion) of his work, that
in the island in which is a people with
faces like the faces of dogs. that is, the
island which is said to have been the scene
of the adventure above related, “there is a
people in the form of men, like the hand-
somest existing, and there is no bone in
their legs." He adds, "They drag them-
selves along; and when they find a man
walking, they leap upon his neck, and fold
their legs upon that walking man; and if
the latter strive to throw down the man
upon his neck, he scratcheth him upon his
face, and he curbeth him as one of us
curbeth his beast."
But in another place, in his account of
animals of the water, he gives a somewhat
different account of "the Old Man of the
Sea; as follows: "The water-man re-
sembleth a man, saving that he hath a
tail.
One of them was found in our
time dried, and was shewn to the people,
and his form was as we have described it.
It is related that, from the Sea of Syria,
sometimes, there cometh up from the water
to the abode of men [a creature in] the
form of a man, having a white beard, and
they name it the Old Man of the Sea, and
it remaineth some days, without descend-
ing; and when the people see it, they re-
joice in expectation of plenty. It is also
related that a water-man was brought to
one of the Kings, who desired to know his
condition: so he married a woman to him,
and they had a son who understood the
languages of both his parents. And it was
said to the son, What saith thy father?
To which he answered, He saith, The tails
of all [other] animals are on the lower
part of their bodies: how then is it that
the tails of these are upon their faces?
This important observation of the water-
man does not confirm what is said before,
that this creature hath a white beard: but
the above account was apparently founded
on the fact of the exhibition of the dried
water-man.
Is it not highly probable that this dried
Old Man of the Sea was one of the apes
mentioned in a former note, No. 38 in
the present series? And does not this
strengthen the opinion that Sumatra is the
island of this creature? Es-Sindibád's next
adventure after his escape from the Old
Man of the Sea also appears to me to
confirm this opinion. I agree with Hole in
the latter of the two conjectures which he
thus states (as well as in the inference he
thence draws). -"I would willingly sup-
pose the phrase of the sea' to be an addi-
tion of the translator, not countenanced by
the original; or that it was applied to Es-
Sindibad's persecutor merely on account
of his insular abode, or usual appearance
by the sea-side. - If either of these con-
jectures," he adds, "be allowed, we may
pronounce him, without any hesitation, to
be an Ourang Outan. It is to be observed,
that he never speaks, but expresses his
meaning by gesticulation; he lives on
fruits; the skin of his legs resembles that
of a cow [or buffalo]; and his winding
them around Es-Sindibád's neck is consist-
ent with the pliability of limb belonging
to that animal: even his draining the cala-
bash, in imitation of Es-Sindibád, is char-
acteristic of our humiliating copyists."
Two stories similar to that of Es-Sindi-
bád and the Old Man of the Sea occur in
two other Eastern romances. One I have
met with in the romance of Seyf Zu-l-
Yezen. Two of Seyf's companions are re-
lated to have fallen into the power of the
monsters above mentioned, whom they in-
toxicated, and thus they effected their
liberation. This romance, I was told in
Cairo, is much older than the Thousand
and One Nights. The other story, which
was pointed out to me by Dr. W. C.
Taylor, is in the Adventures of Cámarupa.
See pages 72-81 of the translation by
Franklin, who shews, in a note, the prev-
alence of a belief in the existence of the
monsters in question, whom his author
calls "Duwál Páyán," that is, "men with
slender and pliant legs," or, as he renders
the words, " men with leathern feet." I
find them described in Richardson's Dic-
tionary (Johnson's edition), as, a people
in India, who, according to Castellus, have
66
•
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1201
legs thin and ductile, like leathern straps:
they pretend to be lame, and importune
travellers to carry them on their backs;
which proves fatal to such whose com-
passion induces them to comply; as the
villains twist their legs round their necks,
and instantly strangle them." And here I
may appropriately add an extract from
No. 47 of the Foreign Quarterly Review,
before referred to." In the story of
Sindibád, many of the incidents which are
attributed to the Greeks were undoubtedly
borrowed by them from Persia; and the
fabulous deduction assuredly sprung from
an historical fact. Thus, as noted on a
former occasion, the Old Man of the Sea
simply signifies the chief (sar) of the sea or
lake (yangi), i. e. of the coast; - and
there is no greater perversion in the trans-
lation than in that of sheykh, used some-
times as chief, sometimes as old man, or
elder, (so too our eoldermann,) as in
patriarchal countries. The same compound
word, sar-yangi, is obviously the name
preserved by Arrian, and Quintus Curtius,
as Zarangæ, a Scytho-Persic tribe. This
singular identity is established by the fact
that the Avari, or shepherds, of our Indian
frontier, Scyths also, are in a vulgar tradi-
tion represented as riding upon the con-
quered inhabitants; while the buskin, men-
tioned (if we remember rightly, by
Herodotus,) as the appendage of the
Scythian tribes, at once explains the phan-
tasy of the leather legs of these man-
bestriding Ancients." (Pages 145 and 146.)
May not the name of the Old Man of the
Sea have originated hence and been trans-
ferred by the Arabs to a kind of Ade,
which they imagined a man? That they
applied this name to an ape I cannot doubt.
NOTE 65. The City of the Apes appears
to be in the Island of Apes, which I sup-
pose to be Sumatra. See above, Note 38.
If Es-Sindibád's adventures during his
Fifth Voyage were founded on the experi-
ence and reports of a single navigator, and
agreed with the account of the latter in
the order of events, there would still be,
here, nothing inconsistent with what im-
mediately precedes; as a person might be
several days and nights" in passing from
one part of Sumatra to another. What
follows, too, is especially applicable to this
island.
66
NOTE 66. Hole mentions (page 157), on
the authority of Grossier's Description of
China, a similar mode of gathering tea,
said to be practised in that country; and
Chinese drawings confirming the account.
I have myself likewise seen paintings in
ancient Egyptian tombs representing the
mode of gathering fruit by means of tame
monkeys. See an engraving of one of
these designs in the invaluable work on the
Ancient Egyptians by Sir Gardner Wilkin-
son, vol. ii. p. 150.
NOTE 67. This, as Hole observes, might
be any of the islands near the straits of
Sunda. The cinnamon is mentioned only
in one of the four editions that I have of
the original. In the Breslau edition, for
" cinnamon we have "cloves."
NOTE 68.
""
the
El-Kazweenee says of
pepper-vine, that when the sun becomes
hot upon the bunches of pepper leaves
fold over each bunch, that it may not be
burnt by the sun; and when the sun is
withdrawn from it, the leaves are also, that
it may receive the zephyr; but I remember
to have seen, somewhere in the work of
El-Idreesee, an account agreeing with that
of our author.
NOTE 69. In Langlès' edition, this is
called the Island of El-Kamáree; and in
the same edition, after mentioning the
aloes-wood, it is added, "its inhabitants
prohibit fornication and wine." This is
also added in the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, which does not
mention the name of the island. Hence
it is evident that the name should be
Kamár (respecting which see Note 12 in
the present series); for in the Accounts
of India and China" (before quoted), the
same remark is made (page 64) of the
inhabitants of the island or country so
called.
NOTE 70. I read "Sanfee " for
"Seenee" (or "Chinese "). See again the
note just referred to, fifth paragraph. But
if what I have there said, respecting the
position of Sanf, be correct, an Arab
writer might regard this country as a part
of China, and I have shewn that El-
Idreesee calls it "a Chinese island" (or
peninsula). In Langlès' edition, the Sanfee
aloes-wood is mentioned as the product of
the Island of El-Kamáree."
NOTE 71. In the Breslau edition, these
remarks are applied to the inhabitants of
the Island of the Kamáree aloes-wood.
·
NOTE 72. The word which I render
"bay" is "birkeh." It generally signifies
a lake or pool; but is also applied to a bay
(ex. gr.
Birket Far'oon," or Pharaoh's
66
1202
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Bay," in the Red Sea), and to a reach of a
river. There is a pearl-fishery "in the
gulf of a bay that lies between Maabar
[the southernmost part of India] and the
island of Zeilan [or Ceylon]," in the course
of Es-Sindibád's homeward voyage.
NOTE 73. Or rather a peninsula, as the
sequel will shew; for it afterwards appears
that the vessel was wrecked upon the coast
of Ceylon, though, as Hole remarks, it
would be no easy matter to find the par-
ticular spot here described. The author
seems, in this case, to have given the reins
to his imagination, and scarcely to have
curbed it on any occasion until his men-
tion, by name, of the island of Sarandeeb,
or Ceylon.
NOTE 74. The introduction of the
words here inserted between crotchets is
justified by what follows in the text. -
In the old version, the stream of sweet
water here mentioned is said to run out of
the sea. But in this passage, I think
Galland has mistaken the sense of his
original: in the Calcutta edition of the
first two hundred Nights, and in Langlès'
edition, the stream, or river, is described
as coming forth from the seaside. Hole
mentions submarine springs of fresh water
in the Persian Gulf, near El-Bahreyn, on
the authority of Ives and Chardin.
In
NOTE 75. So in Langlès' edition.
the Cairo edition, "Chinese," as in a former
instance. The reading of the Breslau edi-
tion is "good aloes-wood."-What is said
of the abundance of jewels in this place is
founded upon truth. Marco Polo observes
(Book iii. chap. 19), that the island of
Ceylon "produces more beautiful and valu-
able rubies than are found in any other
part of the world, and likewise sapphires,
topazes, amethysts, garnets, and many other
precious and costly stones." And his
learned translator, Mr. Marsden, adds,
"Mr. Cordiner enumerates, as the pro-
duction of Ceylon, the ruby, emerald, topaz,
amethyst, sapphire, cat's-eye or opal, cinna-
mon-stone or garnet, agate, sardonix, and
some others." Ancient authors also give
similar accounts of the natural riches of
this island, called by them "Taprobane."
NOTE 76. Through an opening, we may
suppose, in the mountain. In the old
version, this spring is called " a sort of
fountain of pitch or bitumen;" and Hole
remarks (pp. 168-171), "The fountain of
pitch and bitumen is not to be objected
against. Similar ones existed on the banks
of the Euphrates at a place called Eit or
Ait [properly, Heet], about five days'
journey from ancient Babylon, and two
'from modern Babylon or Bagdad.' . . . If
we are to credit Bartholomew de Argen-
sola, we must consider Es-Sindibád as
merely stating a well-known matter of
fact; for he assures us, that in Ceylon
were 'springs of liquid bitumen thicker
than our oil, and some of pure balsam.'"
El-Idreesee (1st Climate, close of 7th Sec-
tion,) says, that ambergris is a substance
which flows from sources at the bottom of
the sea, as naphtha flows from the sources
of Heet. See Note 78 below.
NOTE 77. In the original, "el-hawáïsh"
(plural of "háïsheh "). My sheykh, in a
marginal note, explains that this term is
applied to "such creatures as the crocodile
and buffalo and terrific things that come
forth from the sea; but as to common
fish," he adds, "they are not so called."
The author seems to have intended to
allude to the whale, of which El-Kaz-
weenee, describing it under the name of
"bál," says, that some of the Zenj (or
Ethiopians) catch it, and take forth from
it ambergris.
NOTE 78. It is added in my original,
"and no one can ascend that mountain:
but we are told that Es-Sindibád and his
companions did. It should rather have
been said, "and no ship can approach it
in safety."
In regard to the ambergris which the
waves threw on the beach, it may be ob-
served," says Hole (page 171), "that 'the
Mohammadan traveller [of the ninth cen-
tury mentions a particular species of it
which was frequently cast by the sea on
the Barbarian and Indian coasts; which
swam in great lumps, and, when swallowed
by certain fish of the whale kind, destroyed
them.' Renaudot, in his observations, says,
that these authors thought with some of
the ancients that it grew like a plant at
the bottom of the sea;' and that another
asserted, it rose in springs like pitch and
bitumen.' He quotes another who observes,
that one sort of it was black like pitch,
soft, and often ill-scented, because, as the
inhabitants report, whales and other fishes,
and even birds, swallow it as often as they
see it floating on the surface.' These cir-
cumstances, which the author of the tale
might have heard but not thoroughly un-
derstood, suggested possibly the idea in the
text of the supposed metamorphosis these
inflammatory substances underwent by
being lodged for a short period in the
•
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1203
stomach of a fish. Ambergris is said to
abound chiefly in those seas that are in-
habited by the spermaceti-whale, and is
often found in the body and excrements
of that animal. Yet many naturalists
agree in opinion with the Mohammadan
traveller, and imagine it to be a fossil or
vegetable substance, which, when devoured
by the whale, throws it into a state of
torpidity and sickness."- El-Kazweenee
says, some persons assert that ambergris
comes from a spring in the sea, like bitu-
men; others, that it is a kind of dew; and
others, that it is from an animal of the
water. He adds, that it is not denied that
the sea throws it up on the shore; and
states that the sea of the Zenj (or Ethi-
opians) throws up large masses, the largest
being a thousand mithkáls; that it is often
found in the belly of the sea-fish; and that
the fish which eats it dies. It is mostly
found on the eastern shores of Africa, and
on the shores of the adjacent islands. Sir
Gardner Wilkinson has shewn me a cylin-
drical lump of ambergris three inches and
a quarter in length, and one inch and a
half in diameter, which he found on the
western shore of the Red Sea, at Jebel
ez-Zeyt. He was informed by the Arabs
that similar, but smaller, lumps were often
found there.
-
NOTE 79. This is not unfrequently done
in similar cases. See my work on the Mod-
ern Egyptians, vol. ii. ch. xv., first para-
graph.
NOTE 80. Here, and afterwards, I read
"kelek" for "fulk," as in a former in-
stance. In Langlès' edition, and the Cal-
cutta edition of the first two hundred
Nights, what is called a boat in the edition
of Cairo is sometimes termed a boat and
sometimes a raft ("kelek," and "remes,"
for "remeth ").
NOTE 81. Because, by being drowned,
he would die a martyr. See Note 88 to
Chapter iii.
NOTE 82. Here again I read "Sanfee"
for "Seenee," or Chinese.
NOTE 83. In the Romance of Seyf Zu-
1-Yezen, mentioned before, I find a simi-
lar story of a subterranean river, and a
voyage upon it, which may have suggested
this incident to our author; or perhaps, as
Hole observes, the idea may have been
taken from the fact that the river Zenda-
rood passes under the earth from Ispahán
to Kirmán.
NOTE 84. The words "who was the
King of Sarandeeb" (i. e. Ceylon) are in
the Calcutta edition of the first two hun-
dred Nights, and in Langlès' edition; but
not in the editions of Cairo and Breslau.
NOTE 85. For the remainder of this
voyage, and the whole of the next (which
is the last), I follow the text of the Cal-
cutta edition of the first two hundred
Nights, and occasionally that of Langlès'
edition; for in the Cairo edition, and in
that of Breslau also, the latter part of the
Sixth Voyage is less amply related, and the
Seventh is altogether very different from
that in the old version. I therefore think
it better to subjoin a translation of the
Seventh Voyage as related in the Cairo
edition to the present series of notes.
NOTE 86. Though this is far from the
truth, Diodorus Siculus and Ptolemy have
said the same of this island, the ancient
Taprobane. See Hole, p. 176.
NOTE 87. Es-Sindibád's brief descrip-
tion of Sarandeeb (or Ceylon) has been
amply illustrated by Hole; pp. 178-187. Its
jewels I have already noticed; and I shall
only add a few words respecting its great
mountain, called by the Arabs "Er-
Ráhoon; and by Europeans, "Adam's
Peak." The Arabs say, that when our first
parents were cast down from Paradise,
Adam fell upon this mountain; and Eve,
near Juddah (commonly called Jiddeh),
the port of Mekkeh. They also say, that
on the summit of the said mountain is the
print of Adam's foot; and that, when one
of his feet was on this spot, the other was
in the sea.
NOTE 88. This word I find only in
Langlès' edition, and what animal is meant
by it I know not. Hole states (page 192),
on the authority of a gentleman who long
resided in the East Indies, that "the skin
of the hog-deer, a beautiful and uncommon
animal found at Prince's Island in the
straits of Sunda, is of a yellowish colour
when alive, and might easily be dressed as
yellow parchment."
NOTE 89. The elephants of Ceylon are
said to be the best in the world. See Hole,
p. 194.
NOTE 90. The belief in the sanative
properties of a serpent's skin is a supersti-
tion of ancient times, and still prevailing,
as shewn by Hole, pages 204 and 205.
El-Kazweenee says, "In the sea of the
1204
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Zenj (or Ethiopians) is the island of Ed-
Dódà (i. e. Vociferation), which is a white
island, whence are heard vociferation and
clamour. No one of mankind dwelleth in
it; but sometimes the sailors have entered
it, and drunk of its water, which they have
found sweet and good, and having the
odour of camphor; and they say, 'We
know not its extremity; but near it are
great mountains, wherein burneth by night
a great fire.' They have related also, that
on its shores a serpent appeareth once
every year, and the Kings of the Zenj find
death in taking it; and when they have
taken it, they cook it, and make, of its
skin, beds, upon which the person who is
afflicted with elephantiasis sitteth, and so
becometh cured of his disease; and that
[skin] is found in the treasuries of Kings."
Serpents that swallow the elephant have
been mentioned in Note 12 (3rd para-
graph) and Note 43, in the present series.
NOTE 91. This ceremony is consistent
with what we read in the "Accounts of
India and China," page 31. "When a
King dies in the Island of Sarandeeb, they
lay his body on a car, in such a manner
that his head hangs backwards till it
almost touches the ground, and his hair is
upon the earth; and this car is followed by
a woman with a broom in her hand, there-
with to sweep dust on the face of the de-
ceased, while she cries out with a loud
voice, 'O men! behold your King who was
yesterday your master; but now the em-
pire he exercised over you is vanished and
gone. He is reduced to the state you
behold, having left the world; and the
arbiter of death hath withdrawn his soul.
Reckon therefore no more upon the un-
certain hopes of life.""
NOTE 92. Es-Suweys is the town com-
monly called by us "Suez."
66
NOTE 93. "The Table of Suleyman" I
suppose to be a figure engraved in the cup.
The figure called the Seal of Suleyman is
often engraved in the bottom of a drink-
ing-cup. The word rendered carpets,"
in the same passage, is "zawálee." I have
so rendered it conjecturally, judging from
the manner in which I have found it used
in other instances, where it expressly de-
notes either carpets or mattresses of some
kind. I suppose it to be the same as
"zelálee."
NOTE 94. I do not know any book hav-
ing this title; but similar titles are borne
by many Oriental works.
NOTE 95. Here and afterwards I have
taken the liberty of writing "teeth" for
"bones.". And now I must insert one
more extract from Hole's learned and enter-
taining "Remarks."
"Nothing material occurs in the last
voyage, this instance of the elephant's
sagacity excepted. They had slain, it ap-
pears, many former slaves employed in the
same office Es-Sindibád had undertaken;
but finding no end to their persecution, and
being aware of its cause, they adopted this
judicious method of suppressing the mer-
chants' hostilities, which proceeded solely
from their avarice: and it were devoutly to
be wished that this was a solitary instance
of warfare originating from the same prin-
ciple. This story relative to the half-
reasoning elephant is sufficiently consonant
to European as well as Asiatic ideas con-
cerning him, to vindicate the author from
the charge of extravagance. We find an
anecdote in Topsell's Gesner (page 152)
which likewise represents these animals as
equally sensible of the value, which man-
kind set on their teeth; and, therefore,
when they dropped out, which was com-
monly the case every tenth year, they care-
fully covered them with earth, to hide
them from the view of their persecutors."
- Hole afterwards shews, "that the ele-
phants of Pliny and Es-Sindibád were
equally conscious of the value which man-
kind set on their teeth."
NOTE 96. For the reason given in a
former note, I here subjoin a translation
of
The Seventh Voyage of Es-Sindibád of the
Sea as related in the Cairo Edition of
the Thousand and One Nights
Know, O company, said Es-Sindibád of
the Sea, that when I returned from the
sixth voyage, and resumed my former life
of enjoyment and pleasure, and sport and
merriment, I remained thus for a length
of time in uninterrupted joy and happiness
night and day; and had acquired abundant
gains, and great profits. Then my soul
again longed for diversion in other coun-
tries, and voyaging upon the sea, and asso-
ciating with the merchants, and hearing
news. So I resolved upon that. I packed
up bales suited for the sea, consisting of
costly commodities, and conveyed them
from the city of Baghdád to the city of El-
Basrah, where I saw a ship prepared for a
voyage, and in her was a company of
great merchants. I therefore embarked
with them, and made myself familiar with
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1205
them, and we set forth in safety and health
on our voyage. The wind was fair to us
until we arrived at a city called the City of
China, and we were in the utmost joy and
happiness, conversing together on travel
and commerce. But while we were in this
state, a stormy wind arose from the quar-
ter ahead of the ship, and there fell upon
us a violent rain, by which we were wetted,
and our bales also: wherefore we covered
the bales with felt and canvas, fearing
that the goods would be spoiled by the
rains; and we began to supplicate God
(whose name be exalted!) and to humble
ourselves before Him, that He might re-
move the affliction that had befallen us.
And thereupon the master of the ship
arose, and tightened his girdle and tucked
up his clothes, and ascended the mast.
Then he turned his eyes to the right and
left, after which he looked at the people
of the ship, and slapped his face and
plucked his beard. So we said, O master,
what is the news? And he answered us,
Seek ye of God (whose name be exalted!)
escape from the peril into which we have
fallen, and weep for yourselves, and bid
one another farewell; for know that the
wind hath prevailed against us, and cast
us into the furthest of the seas of the
world. The master then descended from
the mast-head, and opened his chest, and
took forth from it a cotton bag, which he
untied, and he took out of it some dust
like ashes, moistened this with water, and,
having waited over it a little, he smelt it;
after which he took forth from that chest
a small book, and read in it, and said to
us, Know, O ye passengers, that in this
book is a wonderful property, indicating
that whosoever arriveth at this region, he
will not escape from it, but will perish;
for this region is called the Clime of the
Kings, and in it is the tomb of our lord
Suleyman the son of Dáood (on both of
whom be peace!), in which are serpents of
enormous size and of terrible appearance;
and whatsoever ship arriveth at this region,
there cometh up to her from the sea a great
fish, which swalloweth her with all that
she containeth.
So when we heard these words from the
master, we wondered extremely at his ac-
count; and he had not finished his speech
to us, when the ship began to rise with us
from the water, and then to descend, and
we heard a great cry, like the loud-pealing
thunder, whereat we were struck with
terror, and became as dead men, making
sure, at that moment, of destruction. And,
lo, a great fish approached the ship, like a
lofty mountain, and we were terrified at
it.
We wept for ourselves with a violent
weeping, and prepared for death, and were
looking at that great fish, wondering at its
terrible formation, when, lo, another great
fish approached us; and we had not beheld
aught more monstrous than it, nor any
thing greater. Upon this, therefore, we
bade one another farewell, weeping for our-
selves. And, lo, a third great fish ap-
proached, and it was greater than the two
that had come to us before it. So we be-
came without memory and without under-
standing, and our minds were stupefied by
the violence of our fear and terror. Then
these three great fishes began to compass
the ship, and the third fish darted down to
swallow the ship with all that was in her.
But, lo, there rose a great wind, whereupon
the ship rose, and fell upon a great reef, and
broke in pieces; all the planks were sepa-
rated, and all the bales, and the merchants
and other passengers, were submerged in
the sea. I therefore pulled off all the
clothes that were upon me except one gar-
ment, and swam a little, and reached one
of the planks of the ship, and caught hold
of it. Then I got upon it and bestrode it,
and the waves and the wind sported with
me upon the face of the water, while I kept
grasping that plank. The waves carried
me up and down, and I was in a state of
the most violent distress and fear, and
hunger and thirst. I began to blame myself
for that which I had done; my soul was
weary after enjoying ease, and I said to
myself, O Sindibád of the Sea, thou re-
pentedst not; and every time thou sufferest
troubles and fatigue, yet repentest not of
voyaging upon the sea; and, if thou sayest
that thou repentest, thou liest: suffer then
all that thou meetest with; for thou de-
servest all that happeneth to thee. All
this, I added, is decreed to befall me by
God (whose name be exalted!) that I may
relinquish my covetousness; and this that
I suffer is occasioned by my covetousness;
for I had abundant wealth. Then I re-
turned to my reason, and said, Verily, in
this voyage, I turn unto God (whose name
be exalted!) sincerely repenting of travel,
and I will never again in my life mention
it with my tongue, nor in my mind. I
ceased not to humble myself before God
(whose name be exalted!) and to weep;
and afterwards I reflected in my mind
upon my former state of ease and happi-
ness and sport and merriment and joy.
Thus I continued the first day and the
second day, until I landed upon a great
island, wherein were many trees and rivers.
So I ate of the fruits of those trees, and
drank of the water of those rivers, until I
--
1206
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
was revived, and my soul returned to me,
and my energy was strengthened, and my
bosom expanded.
I then walked along the island, and I
beheld, in its opposite side, a great river of
sweet water, running with a strong current,
whereupon I remembered the affair of the
raft upon which I was before, and said
within myself, I must make for me a raft
like it, and perhaps I may escape from this
predicament. If I so escape, my desire is
attained, and I turn unto God (whose name
be exalted!) repenting of travel; and if
I perish, my heart is relieved from fatigue
and distress. Then I arose and collected
pieces of wood from those trees, consisting
of high-priced sandal-wood, the like of
which existeth not; but I knew not what it
was. And when I had collected those
pieces of wood, I made shift with twigs
and herbs of the island, twisting them like
ropes, and bound with them the raft; and I
said If I be preserved, it will be by God's
help. I embarked upon the raft, and pro-
ceeded upon it along that river during the
first day and the second day and the third
day after my departure thence. I lay
down, and ate not during this period any
thing; but when I thirsted, I drank of that
river; and I was like a giddy young bird,
by reason of the violence of my fatigue
and hunger and fear, until the raft con-
veyed me to a high mountain, beneath
which the river entered. So when I saw
this, I feared for myself, on account of the
distress that I had suffered before on the
former river, and I desired to stop the raft,
and to get off from it to the side of the
mountain; but the current overpowered
me, and drew the raft, with me upon it,
and descended with it beneath the moun-
tain. On beholding this, therefore, I made
sure of destruction, and said, There is no
strength nor power but in God, the High,
the Great! The raft ceased not to pro-
ceed for a short distance, after which it
passed forth into a wide place, and, lo, it
was a great valley, through which the
water roared, making a noise like thunder
and with a rapidity like that of the wind,
I grasped the raft with my hand, fearing
lest I should fall from upon it, the waves
tossing me to the right and left in the
midst of the stream. The raft continued to
descend with the current along that valley,
and I could not prevent it, nor was I able
to bring it to the land, until it stopped
with me by a city of grand appearance,
well built, and containing a numerous popu-
lation. And when the people beheld me
upon that raft, descending in the midst of
the river with the current, they cast a net
and ropes upon me and the raft, and drew
forth the raft from the river to the land.
I fell down in the midst of them like a
dead man, by reason of excessive hunger
and sleeplessness and fear; and there came
to me from among the assemblage an aged
man, a sheykh of high dignity, who wel-
comed me, and threw over me an abun-
dance of comely apparel, with which I
covered myself decently. Then he took me
and conducted me into the bath, brought
me reviving beverages and exquisite scents,
and, after we had come forth from the
bath, took me to his house, and led me into
it; and his family rejoiced at my coming.
He seated me in an elegant place, and pre-
pared for me some rich food: so I ate until
I was satiated, and praised God (whose
name be exalted!) for my escape; and after
that, his pages brought to me hot water.
and I washed my hands; and his female
slaves brought to me drying-towels of silk,
with which I dried my hands, and wiped
my mouth. Then that sheykh arose imme-
diately, and appropriated to me a place
alone, in a part of his house, and made his
pages and his female slaves to serve me,
and to perform my wants and all my
affairs. They therefore paid constant at-
tention to me, and in this manner I ceased
not to remain with him in the mansion of
entertainment three days, enjoying good
eating and good drinking and sweet scents,
until my soul returned to me, and my terror
subsided, and my heart was calmed, and
my mind was at ease. And on the fourth
day, the sheykh came to me and said to me,
Thou hast cheered us by thy company, O
my son, and praise be to God for thy
safety! Wilt thou now arise and go with
me to the bank of the river, and go down
into the market and sell the goods and re-
ceive their price? Perhaps thou wilt buy
for thyself with it something wherewith
thou mayest traffic. So I was silent for a
little while, and said within myself, Whence
have I goods, and what is the cause of the
words? And the sheykh said, O my son,
be not anxious nor be thoughtful; but arise
and go with us to the market, and if we
see any one who will give thee for thy
goods a price that will content thee, I will
receive it for thee; but if what will con-
tent thee be not offered for them, I will
deposit them for thee in my magazines
until the days of selling and buying arrive.
So I meditated upon my case, and said to
myself, Comply with his desire, that thou
mayest see what these goods are, And I
said to him, I hear and obey, O my uncle
the sheykh, and what thou doest will be
attended by blessing, and it is impossible to
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTIETH
1207
oppose thee in aught. I then went with
him to the market, and found that he had
unbound the raft on which I came, and
which was of sandal-wood, and he com-
missioned the crier to announce it for sale.
The merchants came, and opened the bid-
ding for the wood, and increased their
offers for it until its price amounted to a
thousand pieces of gold; whereupon they
ceased to bid more; and the sheykh, look-
ing towards me, said, Hear, O my son: this
is the price of thy goods in such days as
the present. Wilt thou then sell them for
this price, or wilt thou wait, and shall I
put them for thee in my magazines until
the time come when their price will be
greater, and then sell them for thee?-I
answered him, O my master, the affair is
thine: so do what thou desirest. And he
said, O my son, wilt thou sell me this wood
for a hundred pieces of gold above what
the merchants have offered for it? - Yes,
I answered him: I have sold it to thee, and
received the price. And upon this he
ordered his young men to transport that
wood to his magazines, and I returned with
him to his house, where we sat, and he
counted to me the whole price of the wood,
brought to me bags, and, having put the
money into them, locked them up with a
lock of iron, of which he gave me the key.
And after a period of some days and
nights, the sheykh said, O my son, I will
propose to thee something, and I hope
that thou wilt comply with my desire re-
specting it. So I said to him, And what
is that affair? And he answered me, Know
that I have become a man of great age,
and I have not a male child; but I have a
daughter, small in age, elegant in form,
having abundant wealth and loveliness;
therefore I desire to marry her to thee,
and thou shalt reside with her in our
country: then I will put thee in possession
of all that I have, and what
my hand
possesseth; for I have become an old
man, and thou wilt supply my place. And
I was silent, and spoke not. And he said
to me, Obey me, O my son, in that which
I say to thee; for my wish to thee is good,
and if thou comply with my desire, I will
marry thee to my daughter, and thou shalt
be as my son; and all that my hand hath,
and what I possess, shall be thine; and
if thou desire to traffic, and to return to
thy country, no one will prevent thee: this
is thy property, under thy disposal: do
therefore with it what thou wilt and what
thou choosest. So I replied, By Allah, O
my uncle the sheykh, thou hast become as
my father: I have suffered many horrors,
and have neither judgment nor knowledge
remaining: it is thine, therefore, to de-
termine in all that thou desirest to do.
And upon this the sheykh ordered his pages
to bring the Kádee and the witnesses. Ac-
cordingly they brought them, and he mar-
ried me to his daughter, made for us a
grand entertainment and a great feast, and
introduced me to her; and I found her to
be endowed with the utmost beauty and
loveliness, with handsome figure and just
stature, and upon her was an abundance
of various ornaments and articles of ap-
parel, minerals, and ornaments of gold,
and necklaces and precious jewels, the
value of which was not less than thousands
of thousands of pieces of gold, and no one
could pay their price. When I went into
her presence, she pleased me; affection for
each other ensued, and I remained with
her for a length of time in a state of the
utmost delight and enjoyment. Her father
was then admitted to the mercy of God
(whose name be exalted!), and we pre-
pared his body for the grave, and buried
him, and I put my hand upon his property:
all his young men became mine, and under
my authority in my service, and the mer-
chants instated me in his office; for he was
their chief, and none of them purchased
aught but with his knowledge and by his
permission; he being their sheykh; and I
became in his place.
Now when I mixed with the people of
that city, I found that their state became
changed every month, and there appeared
upon them wings, wherewith they flew to
the upper region of the sky, and there re-
mained not behind in the city any but the
children and the women. So I said within
myself, When the first day of the month
cometh, I will ask one of them, and per-
haps they will convey me with them
whither they go. And when the first day
of that month came, their appearances be-
came altered, and their forms became
changed, and I went in to one of them, and
said to him, I conjure thee by Allah that
thou convey me with thee, in order that I
may divert myself and return with you.
He replied, This is a thing that cannot be.
But I ceased not to solicit him until he
granted that favour. I agreed with them,
and caught hold of that man, and he
soared with me in the air; but I informed
not any one of my family nor any of my
young men nor any of my companions;
and that man continued to fly, with me
upon his shoulders, until he rose so high
with me into the sky that I heard the
praises of the angels in the vault of the
heavens. So I wondered at that, and said,
Extolled be the perfection of God! and
1208
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
praise be to God! And I had not finished
the words of praise when there came forth
a fire from heaven, and it almost burnt
them. They therefore all descended, and,
having cast me upon a lofty mountain, de-
parted in the utmost rage against me, and
they went and left me. Thus I became
alone upon that mountain, and I blamed
myself for that which I had done, and said,
There is no strength nor power but in God,
the High, the Great! Verily, every time
that I escape from a calamity, I fall into a
calamity that is mightier than the former
one!
I remained upon that mountain, and
knew not whither to go, when, lo, two
young men passed along, like two moons,
each having in his hand a rod of gold, on
which he leaned. I advanced to them, and
saluted them, and they returned my saluta-
tion; and I said to them, I conjure you by
Allah to tell me who ye are and what is
your business. And they answered me, We
are of the servants of God, whose name be
exalted! Then they gave me a rod of red
gold that they had with them, and went
their way and left me. And I proceeded
along the top of that mountain, leaning
upon the rod, and reflecting upon the case
of these two young men, and, lo, a serpent
came forth from beneath the mountain,
having in its mouth a man whom it had
swallowed to his middle, and he was crying
out and saying, Whosoever will deliver me,
God will deliver him from every diffi-
culty! I therefore advanced to that ser-
pent, and struck it with the rod of gold
on its head, whereat it threw the man from
its mouth. And upon this the man came
to me and said, Since my deliverance from
this serpent hath been effected by thy
means, I will not henceforth quit thee: thou
hast become my companion on this moun-
tain. So I replied, Thou art welcome. And
we proceeded along the mountain, And, lo,
a party of people came towards us, and I
looked at them, and among them was the
man who bore me upon his shoulders and
flew with me. Therefore I advanced to
him, and excused myself to him, addressing
him courteously, and saying to him, O my
friends, friends act not thus one to an-
other. The man replied, Thou wouldst
have destroyed us by thy words of praise
upon my back. And I rejoined, Be not
displeased with me; for I had no knowl-
edge of the matter; but I will never again
speak. So he consented to take me with
him, making a condition with me that I
should not mention God, nor praise Him,
upon his back. He then took me up, and
flew away with me as before, until he con-
veyed me to my abode, when my wife met
me and saluted me, and congratulated me
on my safety; and she said to me, Beware
of going forth again with these people, and
be not familiar with them; for they are the
brothers of the devils, and they know not
the celebration of God, whose name be
exalted! I said to her, How did thy father
live with them? And she answered me, My
father was not of them, nor did he as
they; and it is my opinion, since my father
is dead, that thou shouldst sell all that
we have, and purchase goods with the price,
and voyage back to thy country and thy
family, and I will go with thee; for I
have no need of residing here in this city
after the loss of my mother and my
father.
So upon this I betook myself to selling
the commodities of the sheykh, one thing
after another, and to watching for some
one who would set forth on a voyage
from that city, that I might go with him.
And while I was so doing, lo, a company
of men in the city desired to perform a
voyage, but found not for themselves a
ship; wherefore they bought wood, and
made for them a great ship; and I engaged
for a passage with them, and paid them
the whole of the hire. I then embarked
my wife, and all that we had, in the ship;
and, leaving the other possessions and the
estates, we proceeded, and ceased not in
our course over the sea from island to
island, and from sea to sea; and the wind
and the voyage were pleasant to us until
we arrived in safety at the city of El-
Basrah. I sojourned not there; but en-
gaged for a passage in another vessel, to
which I transferred all that I had with
me, and I went on to the city of Baghdad.
Then I entered my quarter and came to my
house, and met my family and companions
and friends, and stowed all the goods that
I had with me in my magazines; and my
family calculated the period of my absence
from them during the seventh voyage, and
found it to be seven and twenty years;
so that they had given up all hope of my
return.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1209
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
NOTE I. This city, which, we are told in
the tale, derived its name from its having
two towers of brass (or yellow copper), is
not to be identified with that which is
mentioned in the Story of Aboo-Moham-
mad the Lazy; as the latter was in a
different part of the world, though it was
like the former in having no visible gate.
The Story of the City of Brass appears to
have been suggested partly by a tradition
related by Et-Tabaree, and partly by ac-
counts, or actual observation, of the ancient
temples and tombs of Egypt, with their
inscriptions, statues, mummies, &c. And
here I may mention, that the term mask-
hoot," employed to signify "a human be-
ing converted by the wrath of God into
stone," is commonly applied in Egypt to
an ancient statue. Hence the Arabs have
become familiar with the idea of cities
whose inhabitants are petrified, such as that
described in "the Story of the First of the
Three Ladies of Baghdad."
NOTE 2. 'Abd-El-Melik the son of
Marwan was the fifth Khaleefeh of the
house of Umeiyeh, and reigned A. D. 685-
705.
NOTE 3. Namely, reptiles, and the wind.
NOTE 4. The word rendered "bottles "
is the plural of "kumkum." For a de-
scription of the vessel thus called see Note
2 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 5. Thus in the edition of Breslau.
n the Cairo edition, "to the land of India."
The reading which I have adopted is more
agreeable with the sequel.
NOTE 6. Here, in my original, but not
in the Breslau edition, is added, "nor know
we aught of this religion."
NOTE 7. Our author has erred in mak-
ing En-Nábighah Edh-Dhubyánee contem-
porary with 'Abd-El-Melik the son of
Marwán; for he flourished in the reign of
En-Noamán Ibn-El-Mundhir, surnamed
Aboo-Káboos, and died before the pro-
mulgation of El-Islám. The verses, also,
given as his paraphrase of words ad-
dressed to Solomon by God ("the Wise,
the First "), are misquoted. In their stead
we should read, -
Except Suleymán, when the Deity said to him,
Assume the government of mankind, and
withhold them from error:
And bring under the Jinn; for I have com-
manded them to construct Tedmur with
slabs and pillars.
Whoso obeyeth, reward him for his obedience;
as he hath obeyed thee, direct him aright:
And whoso opposeth thee, punish him severely:
so prohibit the unjust.
-
...
See the original in De Sacy's Chrestomathie
Arabe, 2nd ed., vol. ii. pp. 145-6 of the
Arabic text; and his translation and notes,
pp. 406 and 442. Hence it is evident, as
this great scholar has remarked, that the
legends relating to Solomon which are
read in the Kur-án, especially in Chapters
34 and 38, were current among the Arabs
before Mohammad.
NOTE 8. "The Western Country" is
Northern Africa, west of Egypt.
In my original, erroneously
NOTE 9.
written "Nasr."
NOTE 10. "That is, a white ensign to
take with thee.' It is also said, in the
vulgar dialect, The ensign of such-a-one
is white,' when he fails not in the perform-
ance of his affairs." White ensigns, &c.,
were more particularly distinctive of the
rivals of the 'Abbásee Khaleefehs; and
black, of the 'Abbásees themselves; but
these also gave white ensigns to their gov-
ernors.
NOTE II. By "Misr " we must here
understand El-Fustát, now vulgarly called
"Masr el-'Ateekah (or old Masr); as
Cairo was not yet founded.
""
―
NOTE 12. "'Abd-Es-Samad signifies
"Servant of the Lord," or
66 of the Ever-
lasting," &c.; and "'Abd-El-Kuddoos,"
"Servant of the Holy." The surname
written in my original "Es-Samoodee" is
doubtful; in the Breslau edition it is ""El-
Masmoodee."
Dárán."
NOTE 13. In my original,
The Breslau edition describes preparations
made for encountering the hot and dry
winds of the desert; but no mention is
afterwards made of these difficulties. It
also relates, that the party wandered from
the right way before they arrived at the
first of the wonderful objects which they
beheld in their journey.
NOTE 14.
"That is, in the tabernacles
of the world, or the tabernacles of their
souls."
NOTE 15.
follow it."
"For worship, and what will
1210
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
1
NOTE 16. This verse, omitted in my
original, I have inserted from the Breslau
edition.
NOTE 17. See Note 95 to Chapter x.
NOTE 18. This is doubtless a mistake
for "Koosh the son of Hám," or Cush the
son of Ham.
NOTE 19.
"Esh-Shám," which generally
applies to Syria, or its capital Damascus,
here signifies the northern parts of Arabia,
opposed to El-Yemen; and "from Misr
unto 'Adnán," from the country of Misr
(i. e. Egypt) to that of 'Adnán, ancestor
of most of the Ishmaelite Arabs. My
sheykh remarks, that these verses are a
modern forgery, as is shewn, among other
things, by the fact that 'Adnan lived long
after Koosh. The tale presents numerous
anachronisms throughout.
NOTE 20. "Every man is given on
pledge for that which he shall have
wrought." (Kur-án, ch. lii. v. 21. That
is, as Sale explains the words, "Every man
is pledged unto God for his behaviour;
and if he does well, he redeems his pledge;
but if evil, he forfeits it: " or, as El-Bey-
dáwee says, if he act righteously, He will
release him; but otherwise, He will destroy
him."
NOTE 21. "Dáhish" signifies
"amazed;" and "aamash," "having weak
eyes, with a frequent flowing of tears."
NOTE 22. That is, prepare to answer
God, on the day of judgment.
NOTE 23. This is a common phrase, and
may be rendered, "his fury, or passion,
rose," or "he was violently moved."
NOTE 24. See Note 115 to Chapter xi.
NOTE 25. From this point to the end of
the next paragraph is from the edition of
Breslau; very little of it being in the Cairo
edition.
NOTE 26. By the word rendered "king,"
I suppose a king of the Jinn to be meant.
NOTE 27. This name I suppose to be
imaginary, unless it be a mistake for "Koo-
koo," which word, in Arabic characters,
differs little from "Karkar." If the "Koo-
koo" of El-Idreesee were the "Kouka "
of our modern maps (the chief town of
Bornou), the sea in question might be the
great lake "Tchad," or "Tsad; " but
Kouka, as Dr. Barth tells us, is quite a
modern place. Ibn-El-Wardee, however,
mentions a place in Central Africa called
Karkar; probably the same as the
Kerker," or Gerger," of Dr. Barth.
66
""
66
1
NOTE 28. "El-Andalus" is the name
by which the Arabs call, not merely An-
1
dalusia, but the whole of Spain. In the
tradition related by Et-Tabaree, and al-
luded to in the first of these notes, the
City of Brass is said to have been built in
a desert, beyond a city named El-Andalus.
But according to its tradition, the whole
city was constructed of brass. God, as we
are told in the Kur-án, made a fountain of
molten brass to flow for Suleymán; and
the tradition relates, that the Jinn, having
transported this fountain to the place
above mentioned, built there a great city,
twelve miles in length, and the same in
breadth, in which he (Solomon) deposited
his books and treasures. The tradition
also narrates some particulars of the ex-
pedition of Moosà the son of Nuseyr to
this city, stating its result, however, to
have been unsuccessful. The Book of
Hidden Treasures, mentioned in the para-
graph to which this note refers, is probably
the name of a work on the treasures still
currently believed in the East to be con-
cealed in ancient edifices and similar places.
NOTE 29. I have made a correction
here on the authority of the Breslau edi-
tion.
NOTE 30. In my original, the inscrip-
tions of three more of the tablets are given,
and in the Breslau edition, those of all the
seven; but they are so much alike, that I
have thought it sufficient to give only one
as a specimen.
NOTE 31. That is, the verses which
cause safety to their reciter; as the saying
of Him whose name be exalted!" And
wherefore should we not put our trust in
God?" [Kur-án, ch. xiv. v. 15.]Say,
Nothing shall befall us but what God hath
decreed for us. [Idem, ch. ix. v. 51.]
339
NOTE 32. This phrase means a long
time."
NOTE 33.
"God is most great!" is the
usual Muslim cry of victory.
NOTE 34. See Note 67 to Chapter v.
NOTE 35. Literally, "green lapis-la-
zuli; " but this is doubtless a mistake of
a copyist.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1211
NOTE 36. Respecting the coats of mail
and the lances here mentioned, see Note
5 to Chapter viii., and Note 2 to Chapter
vi.
NOTE 37. See Note 7 to Chapter xiii.
cur-
39
NOTE 38. The word here rendered
tains" is the plural of "burko "," which
generally signifies "a woman's face veil;
but it is also sometimes applied to a door-
curtain. The curtain which is suspended
over the entrance of the Kaabeh is thus
called.
NOTE 39. In this sentence are some
errors in my original which the Breslau
edition has enabled me to correct. - The
greater part of the description of the pal-
ace given in the edition of Cairo is wanting
in that of Breslau.
NOTE 40. Respecting Károon and Há-
mán see the twenty-eighth chapter of the
Kur-án. The former is the Korah of the
Bible: the latter was the chief minister of
the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites.
-
19
NOTE 41.
"Ken'án" is the Canaan of
the Bible; and "the Lord of the Stakes" is
an appellation given (in the Kur-án, ch.
Xxxviii. v. II) to the Pharaoh above men-
tioned. The words bearing this meaning
Sale renders "the contriver of the stakes;
and he gives the following note upon them:
-"For they say Pharaoh used to tie
those he had a mind to punish, by the
hands and feet, to four stakes fixed in the
ground, and so tormented them. Some
interpret the words, which may also be
translated, The Lord of master of the
stakes, figuratively, of the firm establish-
ment of Pharaoh's kingdom; because the
Arabs fix their tents with stakes; but they
may possibly intend that prince's obstinacy
and hardness of heart."
NOTE 42. There are errors here in the
Cairo and Breslau editions. I have fol-
lowed what appears (from Trébutien's
translation) to be the reading of Von
Hammer's MS. Tedmur is the origi-
nal and present name of Palmyra, which,
according to the Arabs, was named after
its Queen Tedmur, the daughter of Hassán
the son of Udheyneh. Our author, how-
ever, can hardly be supposed to have here
meant this Queen; the situation and grand
remains of the city bearing her name be-
ing so well known.
NOTE 43. Some words in my original,
immediately following the verses, I omit,
as they are similar to the many exhorta-
tions which have occurred before, and are
not inserted in the Breslau edition.
NOTE 44. The word rendered "sacks"
(namely "aadál") is also applied to other
receptacles for provisions, &c., two of which
form a camel's load, one being attached on
each side of the animal.
NOTE 45. It is said, in my original, that
he ascended the steps 64 I until he was be-
tween the two columns, and reached the
spot between the two men." These
columns not being elsewhere mentioned, I
have omitted the words here relating to
them.
""
NOTE 46. The "burnus," also called
burnoos," is a hooded cloak, generally
made of white woollen stuff, and mostly
worn by the people of Northern Africa.
The people of Kookoo are described by El-
Idreesee as wearing skins. Revert to Note
27.
NOTE 47. Or El-Khadir. According to
my sheykh, this does not apply to the
prophet [or saint] mentioned in Note 2
to the Introduction, but I know not whom
else it can mean.
NOTE 48. What the Muslims term "the
night of Friday" is the night immediately
preceding the day of Friday; as they class
each night with the day which immediately
follows it.
NOTE 49. By "the Spirit " is here meant
the Angel Gabriel.
46
NOTE 50. Jerusalem is here called in my
original, and by the Muslims generally,
El-Kuds," which signifies "holiness."
The Muslims, like the Christians and Jews,
regard it with great veneration.
NOTE 51. The next story in my original
is that of "the King and his Son and the
Damsel and the Seven Wezeers," which
ends with part of the six hundred and sixth
Night. It is similar in its framework to
the Bakhtyár Námeh, as observed by an
orientalist who (in the Asiatic Journal,
N. S. vol. xxx., No. 120) has given a sum-
mary of its contents, comprising numerous
short tales selected from it, translated from
a manuscript of a portion of the Thousand
and One Nights in the British Museum; in
which manuscript the story is related nearly
as in the Cairo edition. It is also related
nearly in the same manner in a fragment
1212
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of the Thousand and One Nights brought
from India; and from that fragment, Dr.
Jonathan Scott made a translation, which
is included in his "Tales, &c., from the
Arabic and Persian." The story in my
original, as well as in the manuscripts
above mentioned, abounds with indecent
passages and incidents; but among the
short tales of which it is composed are
some of considerable interest, and some
others which I think not entirely unworthy
of being presented to the English reader.
I shall therefore follow the example of the
first of the translators mentioned above,
and, distinguishing by inverted commas the
portions which will be fully rendered, or
only curtailed of a few objectionable
words, give an
Abstract of the Story of the King and his
Son and the Damsel and the
Seven Wezeers
There was, in ancient times, a certain
King, of great power, who had reigned a
long time, but had not been blessed with
a son. At length, however, after he had
earnestly prayed for an heir, his wife, the
daughter of his uncle, bore him a male
child, with a face like the disc of the
moon in its fourteenth night. At the age
of five years, the boy was committed to the
care of a sage named Es-Sindibád, and he
became unequalled in science, and polite
learning, and intelligence, and horseman-
ship. But one day the sage discovered, by
observing the stars, that the young man
was threatened with destruction, if, during
the next seven days, he should speak one
word. The King, therefore, by the sage's
advice, delivered him to a female slave, to
be diverted with music in the pavilion of
the women, and to be kept there until the
expiration of that period. Now there were
in the pavilion forty private chambers, in
each of which were ten slave-girls, every
one of whom had a musical instrument,
and when any one of them played, the
pavilion danced at the melodious sounds
that she produced; and around the pavilion
ran a river, the banks of which were
planted with all kinds of fruit-trees and
sweet-smelling flowers. But here the
favourite concubine of the King became
violently enamoured of his son: the young
man was indignant at hearing from her
the avowal of her passion; and she in con-
sequence complained to his father, revers-
ing the true state of the case. The King
thereupon was furiously enraged, and, hav-
ing summoned his Wezeers, ordered them
to put his son to death. The Wezeers,
however, feared that he would afterwards
repent, and blame them for not having dis-
suaded him: so they determined to divert
him, if possible, from his purpose. This
they endeavoured to do by relating to him
numerous short tales; and the guilty dam-
sel endeavoured to counteract their influ-
ence by similar means.
The First Wezeer, as an instance of the
stratagems (but not of the wickedness) of
women, begins by relating that, -
A certain King saw a beautiful damsel
upon the roof of her house, and was cap-
tivated by her charms, and, learning that
she was the wife of his Wezeer, he sent
this minister to examine the state of one
of the provinces, and went to pay her a
visit. But he received from her a reproof
which confounded him. He quitted her
abode abruptly, leaving his seal-ring by
mistake, in his confusion, beneath the
cushion against which he had been reclin-
ing; and when the Wezeer returned to his
house, he happened to put his hand be-
neath the cushion, and there found the
King's seal: so he separated himself from
his wife for the space of a whole year,
not even speaking to her. She knew not
the cause of his anger; and at length, when
she was wearied by his conduct, she com-
plained to her father, who went in to the
King, and, "finding the Wezeer in his
presence, and the Kádee of the army be-
fore him, accused the Wezeer in these
words: May God (whose name be ex-
alted!) amend the circumstances of the
King! I had a beautiful garden, which I
planted with my hand, and I expended
upon it my wealth, until it bore fruit, and
its fruit was ripe, when I gave it to this
thy Wezeer, and he ate of it what was
pleasant to him, after which he abandoned
it; so its flowers withered, and its beauty
departed, and its state altogether changed.
- And thereupon the Wezeer said, O
King, this person hath spoken truth in that
which he hath said. I guarded it, and ate
of it; but I went one day to it, and saw
the footstep of the lion there; so I was
afraid of him, and withdrew myself from
it. The King therefore understood that
the footstep which the Wezeer had found
was the King's seal that he had left by
mistake in the house; and upon this he said
to the Wezeer, Return, O Wezeer, to thy
garden, and thou wilt be safe and secure;
for the lion drew not near it. It hath been
told me that the lion came thither; but he
did it no injury, by the honour of my
fathers and my ancestors! So the
Wezeer, on hearing this, said, I hear and
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1213
obey. He returned to his house, and sent
to his wife, made peace with her, and con-
fided in her honesty."
The same Wezeer then relates the story
of the Husband and the Parrot. The Dam-
sel next tells a short tale of a father who
perished in attempting to save his son from
drowning, and another tale unfit for trans-
lation. Then the Second Wezeer relates a
story of a nasty trick played upon a mer-
chant by an old woman, and a tale which
is as follows:
A woman received visits from two men
unknown to her husband: one of them was
the treasurer of the King, and the other
was that officer's young man. And one
day, when the latter was with her, his
master knocked at the door: so she took
the young man, and put him down into
a chamber beneath a trap-door; after
which, she opened the door, and the master
entered. "But, lo, her husband knocked
at her door; whereupon he said to her,
Who is this? She answered, My husband.
And he said to her, What shall I do, and
what shall be my resource in this case?
She answered him, Arise, draw thy sword,
and stand at the entrance of the passage:
then abuse me and revile me; and when
my husband cometh in to thee, depart, and
go thy way. He therefore did so; and
when her husband came in, he saw the
King's treasurer standing, with his drawn
sword in his hand, reviling his wife, and
threatening her; and the treasurer, on see-
ing him, was abashed, and sheathed his
sword, and went forth from the house.
So the man said to his wife, What is the
cause of this? And she answered him,
How blessed is this hour in which thou
hast come! Thou hast delivered a believ-
ing soul from slaughter. And the case was
no other than this: I was spinning upon
the house-top, and, lo, a young man came
in unto me, an outcast, distracted, panting
in fear of slaughter; and this man, with
his drawn sword, was hastening after him
striving in pursuit of him. So the young
man threw himself upon my protection,
kissing my hands and my feet, and said,
O my mistress, deliver me from him who
desireth my slaughter unjustly! Wherefore
I hid him in the chamber here beneath the
trap-door; and when I saw that this man
had entered, with his sword drawn, I de-
nied the young man to him on his demand-
ing him of me, and he began to revile me
and threaten me as thou sawest. And
praise be to God who hath sent thee unto
me; for I was perplexed, having no one
with me to rescue me. - Her husband
thereupon said to her, Excellently hast thou
-
done, O woman! Thy reward is due from
God, and He will recompense thee well
for thy deed. Then her husband went to
the chamber beneath the trap-door, and
called the young man, saying to him, Come
up! No harm shall befall thee. So he
came up from the chamber, but in a state
of fear; and the man said to him, Cheer
thyself. No harm shall befall thee. And
he was grieved for that which had befallen
him, while the young man prayed for him.
Thus they both went forth, and knew not
of the stratagem which this woman had
contrived."
On the third day (for on each day one
Wezeer tries his influence), the Damsel re-
lates "the Story of the Envious Wezeer
and the Prince and the Ghooleh." Then
the Third Wezeer enters, and narrates the
two following anecdotes:
"There was a huntsman who hunted
the wild beasts in the desert, and one day
he entered a cave in a mountain, and found
in it a hollow which was filled with honey.
So he collected some of that honey in a
water-skin that he had with him: then he
carried it upon his shoulder, and conveyed
it to the city, having with him a hound
that was dear unto him. And the hunts-
man stopped at the shop of an oilman, to
whom he offered the honey for sale, and
the shopman, agreeing to buy it, opened
the water-skin and emptied from it the
honey, to see it. But there dropped from
the skin a drop of honey, and a bird
pounced down upon it; and the oilman had
a cat, and it sprang upon the bird; and
the huntsman's dog saw it, and sprang
upon the cat and killed it; and the oil-
man sprang upon the huntsman's dog and
killed it; and the huntsman sprang upon
the oilman and killed him; and the oilman
was of one village, and the huntsman of
another, and the people of these two vil-
lages heard of this event; so they took
their weapons and arms, and rose against
each other in anger: the two ranks met,
and the swords ceased not to be brandished
about among them until there died of them
a great multitude, the number of whom
none knoweth but God, whose name be ex-
alted!
"It hath been told me also, O King,
among the stories of the artifice of women,
that a woman's husband gave her a piece
of silver to buy some rice, and she took it
of him and went with it to the rice-dealer,
who gave her the rice, and began to joke
with her and ogle her; and he said to her,
Rice is not sweet unless with sugar; and
if thou desire it, come in. So the woman
went into his shop, and he said to his slave,
1214
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
Weigh for her a dirhem's worth of sugar.
And he gave him a wink; whereupon the
slave took the handkerchief from the
woman, and, having emptied it of the rice,
put in the place of it dust; and instead of
sugar, he put stones; after which, he tied
the handkerchief, and left it by her. There-
fore when the woman went forth from him,
she took her handkerchief and departed to
her abode, thinking that what was in her
handkerchief was rice and sugar; and on
arriving at her abode, she put the hand-
kerchief before her husband, who found
in it dust and stones. So when she brought
the cooking-pot, her husband said to her,
Did we tell thee that we had aught to
build, that thou hast brought us dust and
stones? And on her seeing this, she knew
that the slave of the dealer had cheated
her; and having brought the cooking-pot
in her hand, she said to her husband, O
man, in consequence of the trouble of mind
that hath befallen me, I went to bring
the sieve and brought the cooking-pot.
Her husband said to her, And what hath
troubled thy mind? And she answered
him, O man, the piece of silver that I had
with me dropped from me in the market,
and I was ashamed before the people to
search for it, and it was not a light mat-
ter to me that the piece of silver should
go from me; wherefore I collected the dust
from the place where it fell, and desired
to sift it; and I was going to bring the
sieve and brought the cooking-pot. Then
she went and brought the sieve, and gave
it to her husband, saying to him, Sift thou
it; for thy sight is more clear than mine.
So the man sat sifting the dust until his
face and his beard were covered with it,
and he perceived not her artifice, and dis-
covered not that which had happened to
her."
On the fourth day, the Damsel again
presents herself to the King, and relates
an instance of the perfidy of men.
A King of former times had an only son,
whom he contracted in marriage to the
daughter of another King. But the dam-
sel, who was endowed with great beauty,
had a cousin who had sought her in mar-
riage, and had been rejected; wherefore
he sent great presents to the Wezeer of
the King first mentioned, requesting him
to employ some stratagem by which to
destroy his master's son, or to induce him
to relinquish the damsel; and the Wezeer
consented. Then the father of the damsel
sent to the King's son, inviting him to
come and introduce himself to his daugh-
ter, to take her as his wife; and the father
of the young man sent him with the treach-
erous Wezeer, attended by a thousand
horsemen, and provided with rich presents.
And when they were proceeding over the
desert, the Wezeer remembered that there
was near unto them a spring of water,
called Ez-Zahrà, and whosoever drank of
it, if he were a man, he became a woman.
He therefore ordered the troops to alight
near it, and induced the Prince to go thither
with him; and when they arrived at that
spring the King's son dismounted from his
courser, and washed his hands, and drank;
and, lo, he became a woman; whereupon
he cried out and wept until he fainted.
The Wezeer asked him what had befallen
him; so the young man informed him; and
on hearing his words, the Wezeer affected
to be grieved for him, and wept. The
King's son then sent the Wezeer back to
his father, to inform him of this event,
determining not to proceed nor to return
until his affliction should be removed from
him, or until he should die.
He remained by that fountain during a
period of three days with their nights,
neither eating nor drinking; and on the
fourth night there came to him a horse-
man with a crown upon his head, appear-
ing like one of the sons of the Kings,
and this horseman said to him, Who
brought thee, O young man, unto this
place? So the young man told him his
story; and when the horseman heard it, he
pitied him, and said to him, The Wezeer
of thy father is the person who hath
thrown thee into this calamity; for no one
of mankind knoweth of this spring except
one man. Then the horseman ordered him
to mount with him. He therefore
mounted; and the horseman said to him,
Come with me to my abode; for thou art
my guest this night. The young man re-
plied, Inform me who thou art before I
go with thee. And the horseman said, I
am son of a King of the Jánn, and thou
art son of a King of mankind: and now
be of good heart and cheerful eye on ac-
count of that which shall dispel thine
anxiety and thy grief; for it is unto me
easy.
So the young man proceeded with him
from the commencement of the day, for-
saking his troops and soldiers (whom the
Wezeer had left at their halting-place),
and ceased not to travel on with his con-
ductor until midnight, when the son of the
King of the Jinn said to him, Knowest
thou what space we have traversed during
this period? The young man answered
him, I know not. And the son of the
King of the Jinn said, We have traversed
a space of a year's journey to him who
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1215
travelleth with diligence. So the young
man wondered thereat, and asked, How
shall I return to my family? The other
answered, This is not thine affair: it is my
affair; and when thou shalt have recovered
from thy misfortune, thou shalt return to
thy family in less time than the twinkling
of an eye; for to accomplish that will be
to me easy. And the young man, on hear-
ing these words from the Jinnee, almost
flew with excessive delight: he thought that
the event was a result of confused dreams,
and said, Extolled be the perfection of Him
who is able to restore the wretched, and
render him prosperous! They ceased not
to proceed until morning, when they ar-
rived at a verdant, bright land, with tall
trees, and warbling birds, and gardens of
surpassing beauty, and fair palaces; and
thereupon the son of the King of the Jinn
alighted from his courser, commanding the
young man also to dismount. He therefore
dismounted, and the Jinnee took him by
the hand, and they entered one of those
palaces, where the young man beheld an
exalted King and a Sultán of great dignity,
and he remained with him that day, eat-
ing and drinking, until the approach of
night. Then the son of the King of the
Jinn arose and mounted his courser, and
the son of the King of men mounted with
him, and they went forth and proceeded
during the night with diligence until morn-
ing; and, lo, they came to a black land,
not inhabited, abounding with black rocks
and stones, as though it were a part of
Hell; whereupon the son of the King of
men said to the Jinnee, What is the ap-
pellation of this land? And he answered,
It is called the Dusky Land, and belongeth
to one of the Kings of the Jinn, whose
name is Zu-l-Jenáheyn: none of the Kings
can attack him, nor doth any one enter
his territory unless by his permission; so
stop in thy place while I ask his permis-
sion. Accordingly the young man stopped,
and the Jinnee was absent from him for
a while, and then returned to him; and
they ceased not to proceed until they came
to a spring flowing from black mountains;
when the Jinnee said to the young man,
Alight. He therefore alighted from his
courser, and the Jinnee said to him, Drink
of this spring. And the young man drank
of it, and immediately became again a
male, as he was at first, by the power of
God (whose name be exalted!); whereat
he rejoiced with great joy, not to be ex-
ceeded. And he said to the Jinnee, O my
brother, what is the name of this spring?
The Jinnee answered, It is called the Spring.
of the Women; no woman drinketh of it
but she becometh a man: therefore praise
God and thank him for thy restoration,
and mount thy courser. So the King's
son prostrated himself, thanking God,
whose name be exalted!
-
Then he mounted, and they journeyed
with diligence during the rest of the day
until they had returned to the land of that
Jinnee; and the young man passed the
night in his abode in the most comfortable
manner; after which they ate and drank
until the next night, when the son of the
King of the Jinn said to him, Dost thou
desire to return to thy family this night?
The young man answered, Yes. So the
son of the King of the Jinn called one of
his father's slaves, whose name was Rájiz,
and said to him, Take this young man
hence, and carry him upon thy shoulders,
and let not the dawn overtake him before
he is with his father-in-law and his wife.
The slave replied, I hear and obey, and
with feelings of love and honour will I do
it. Then the slave absented himself from
him for a while and approached in the
form of an 'Efreet: and when the young
man saw him, his reason fled, and he was
stupefied; but the son of the King of the
Jinn said to him, no harm shall befall thee.
Mount thy courser, and on it ascend upon
his shoulders. The young man however
replied, Nay, I will mount alone upon his
shoulders, and leave the courser with thee.
He then alighted from the courser, and
mounted upon the slave's shoulders; and
the son of the King of the Jinn said to him,
Close thine eyes. So he closed his eyes;
and the slave flew with him between
heaven and earth, and ceased not to fly
along with him, while the young man was
unconscious; and the last third of the night
came not before he was on the top of the
palace of his father-in-law, whereupon the
'Efreet said to him, Alight. He therefore
alighted: and he said to him, Open thine
eyes; for this is the palace of thy father-
in-law and his daughter. Then he left him
and departed. And as soon as the day
shone, and the alarm of the young man
subsided, he descended from the roof of
the palace; and when his father-in-law
beheld him, he rose to him and met him,
wondering at seeing him descend from the
top of the palace, and he said to him, We
see other men come through the doors; but
thou comest down from the sky. The
young man replied, What God (whose per-
fection be extolled, and whose name be
exalted!) desired hath happened.
when the sun rose, his father-in-law or-
dered his Wezeer to prepare great banquets,
and the wedding was celebrated; the young
And
1216
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
man remained there two months, and then
departed with his wife to the city of his
father. But as to the cousin of the dam-
sel, he perished by reason of his jealousy
and envy.
Next, the Fourth Wezeer relates a story
of a bath-keeper and his wife and a young
man: but this must be passed over. He
then tells a story of which the following
is a very brief abstract:
A young and beautiful and virtuous wife
was corrupted by an old woman, and sent
her to bring a young man who was
enamoured of her. But the old woman,
being unable to find the lover at the time
appointed, brought another man, whom
she knew not, and this happened to be the
damsel's husband, who had been on a jour-
ney. She conducted him into the saloon,
and when the wife came in, and her eye
fell upon her husband, she quickly had re-
course to a stratagem. Pulling off her
khuff from her foot she said to her hus-
band, Not thus is our mutual vow ob-
served! How is it that thou deceivest me,
and actest with me in this manner? When
I had heard of thine arrival I tried thee
by means of this old woman, and I have
caused thee to fall into that against which
I cautioned thee, and have certified myself
of thy conduct, and that thou hast violated
the vow that was between me and thee.
Before now I imagined that thou wast
chaste, until I beheld thee with mine eye
with this old woman, and found that thou
frequentest women of bad character. -
Then she began to beat him with the khuff
upon his head, while he declared himself
to be innocent of the offence, and swore
to her that he had never deceived her dur-
ing the course of his life. But she still
beat him, and wept and cried out, saying,
Come to me, O Muslims! So he held her
mouth with his hand, and she bit it; and
he humbled himself to her, kissing her
hands and her feet. And after she had
continued some time longer slapping him,
she made a sign to the old woman that she
should withhold her hand from him. The
old woman therefore came to her, and pro-
ceeded to kiss her hands and her feet until
she made them both sit down; when the
husband kissed the old woman's hand, and
said to her, May God recompense thee
with every thing good, for thy having
delivered me from her! And the old
woman wondered at the artifice of the
wife.
On the fifth day, the Damsel comes in
to the King with a cup of poison in her
hand, threatening to destroy herself with
it if he gratify not her revenge; and she
relates a story of which an abridgement is
here inserted.
A certain amorous goldsmith saw upon
a wall of a chamber in the house of a
friend a picture of a most beautiful dam-
sel, and was smitten by it with so. violent
a passion that he fell sick and was at the
point of destruction. But learning that
the damsel of whom it was a portrait was
a singing-girl belonging to one of the
Wezeers, and that she was in the city of
Kashmeer, he encouraged himself, and
journeyed thither, from Persia, where he
resided. On his arrival there, he inquired
of a perfumer respecting the character of
the King, and was informed that he was
a just monarch, hating nothing in the
world except enchanters, and that every
enchanter or enchantress who fell into his
hand he cast into a pit outside the city,
and left to die of hunger. Then the gold-
smith questioned the perfumer respecting
the King's wezeers; and the latter informed
him of the character of each Wezeer
until he mentioned the singing-girl, and
he told him that she was with such a
Wezeer. So the goldsmith waited after
that some days, till he had contrived a
stratagem; and during a night of rain and
thunder and stormy winds, he took with
him a band of robbers, and repaired to the
mansion of the Wezeer who was the owner
of the damsel. He attached a ladder with
grappling-irons, and ascended to the roof
of the palace, and thence he descended into
its court, where he beheld all the female
slaves sleeping, each upon her couch; and
he saw a couch of alabaster, whereon was
a damsel like the full moon. He ap-
proached her, and seated himself at her
head, and removed the covering from her.
It was a covering of gold stuff; and at her
head was a candle, and at her feet a can-
dle, each in a candlestick of brilliant gold,
and these two candles were of ambergris;
and beneath the cushion was a box of
silver, containing all her ornaments, cov-
ered, and placed at her head. And there-
upon he took forth a knife, and struck
her upon the hip, making a manifest
wound. So the damsel awoke in terror;
but when she say him, she feared to cry
out; wherefore she was silent, imagining
that he desired to take the ornaments.
She then said to him, Take the box and
what is in it. The slaughter of me will
not profit thee; and I throw myself upon
thy protection and thy generosity! - The
man therefore took the box with its con-
tents, and departed.
And on the following morning he took
the box in which were the ornaments, and,
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1217
going in with it to the King of the city,
kissed the ground before him, and said to
him, O King, I am a man who would give
thee good counsel. I am of the country of
Khurásán, and have come a refugee unto
thy majesty, on account of the fame of
thy good qualities and thy justice to thy
subjects: wherefore I desired to be under
thy banner. I arrived at this city at the
close of the day, and found the gate
shut: so I slept outside it; and while I was
between sleeping and waking, lo, I saw
four women, one of them riding upon a
broom and one of them riding upon a
fan. I therefore knew, O King, that they
were enchantresses who would enter thy
city; and one of them drew near to me,
and kicked me with her foot, and beat me
with the tail of a fox that was in her hand,
and pained me: so passion seized me by
reason of the blow, and I struck her with
a knife that was with me, wounding her
hip, as she turned her back in flight. And
when I wounded her, she fled away before
me, and there fell from her this box with
its contents; and I took it and opened it,
whereupon I saw in it these precious orna-
ments. Therefore take thou it; for I have
no need of it, as I am a wanderer about
the mountains, and have rejected the
world from my heart, and forsaken it
with what it containeth, seeking to behold
the face of God, whose name be exalted!
-Then he left the box before the King,
and departed; and when he had gone forth,
the King opened the box, and, having
taken out all the ornaments from it, be-
gan to turn them over, and found among
them a necklace which he had bestowed
upon the Wezeer, the master of the dam-
sel. So the King summoned the Wezeer;
and when he came before him, he said to
him, This is the necklace that I presented
to thee. And as soon the the Wezeer saw
it, he knew it, and said to the King, Yes;
and I presented it to a singing-girl in my
abode. The King therefore said to him,
Bring to me the damsel immediately. And
he brought her; and when she came be-
fore the King, he said to her master, Un-
cover her hip, and see if there be a wound
upon it, or not. Accordingly the Wezeer
uncovered it, and saw upon it a wound
inflicted by a knife: so he said to the
King, Yes, O my lord: there is a wound
upon it. And the King thereupon said to
the Wezeer, This is an enchantress, as the
devotee told me, without doubt. Then he
gave orders to put her into the pit of the
enchanters; and they sent her thither that
day.
Therefore when the night came, and
the goldsmith knew that his stratagem was
accomplished, he went to the guard of the
pit, having in his hand a purse containing
a thousand pieces of gold; and he sat with
the guard conversing until the expiration
of the first third of the night, when he said
to him, Know, O my brother, that this
damsel is innocent of this crime which
they have laid to her charge, and it was
I who caused her to fall into the calamity.
And he related to him the story from be-
ginning to end; after which he said to him,
O my brother, Take this purse; for in it
are a thousand pieces of gold; and give me
the damsel, that I may journey with her
to my country; for these pieces of gold
will be more profitable to thee than the
imprisonment of the damsel. Obtain our
recompense, and we both will offer prayers
in thy favour for prosperity and safety. -
And when he heard his words, he won-
dered extremely at this stratagem and its
accomplishment. He then took the purse
with its contents, and left the damsel to
him, binding him not to remain with her
in the city a single hour. So the gold-
smith took her immediately, and departed,
and he journeyed with diligence until he
arrived at his country, having attained his
desire.
The Fifth Wezeer then enters, and re-
lates the following story of "the man who
never laughed for the rest of his life: "
"There was a man, of those possessed
of houses and riches, who had wealth and
servants and slaves and other possessions,
and he departed from the world to re-
ceive the mercy of God (whose name be
exalted!), leaving a young son. And when
the son grew up, he took to eating and
drinking, and the hearing of instruments
of music, and songs, and was liberal, and
gave gifts, and expended the riches that
his father had left to him until all the
wealth had gone. He then betook him-
self to the sale of the male black slaves
and the female slaves, and other posses-
sions, and expended all that he had of his
father's wealth and other things, and be-
came so poor that he worked with the
labourers. In this state he remained for
a period of years; and while he was sit-
ting one day beneath a wall, waiting to
see who would hire him, lo, a man of
comely countenance and apparel drew near
to him and saluted him. So the youth
said to him, O uncle, hast thou known me
before now? The man answered him,
I have not known thee, O my son, at all;
but I see the traces of affluence upon thee,
though thou art in this condition. The
young man replied, O uncle, what fate and
1218
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
destiny have ordained hath come to pass.
But hast thou, O uncle, O comely-faced,
any business in which to employ me?--
And the man said to him, O my son, I
desire to employ thee in an easy business.
The youth asked, And what is it, O uncle?
And the man answered him, I have with
me ten sheykhs in one abode, and we have
no one to perform our wants. Thou shalt
receive from us, of food and clothing, what
will suffice thee, and shalt serve us, and
thou shalt receive of us thy portion of
benefits and money. Perhaps, also, God
will restore to thee thine affluence by our
means. The youth therefore replied, I
hear and obey. The sheykh then said to
him, I have a condition to impose upon
thee. And what is thy condition, O un-
cle? asked the youth. He answered him,
O my son, it is, that thou keep our secret
with respect to the things that thou shalt
see us do; and when thou seest us weep,
that thou ask us not respecting the cause
of our weeping. And the young man re-
plied, Well, O uncle.
---
--
"So the sheykh said to him, O my son,
come with us, relying on the blessing of
God, whose name be exalted! And the
young man followed the sheykh until the
latter conducted him to the bath, when
he took him into it, and caused the hard-
ened dirt to be removed from his person;
after which he sent a man, who brought
him a comely garment of linen, and he
clad him with it, and went with him to
his abode and his associates. And when
the young man entered, he found it to be a
high mansion, with lofty angles, ample,
with chambers facing one another, and
saloons; and in each saloon was a fountain
of water, and birds were warbling over it,
and there were windows overlooking, on
every side, a beautiful garden within that
mansion. The shekyh conducted him into
one of the chambers, and he found it deco-
rated with coloured marbles, and found its
ceiling decorated with ultramarine and
brilliant gold, and it was spread with car-
pets of silk; and he found in it ten
sheykhs sitting facing one another, wear-
ing the garments of mourning, weeping
and wailing. So the young man wondered
at their case, and was about to question
the sheykh [who had brought him]; but
he remembered the condition, and there-
fore withheld his tongue. Then the sheykh
committed to the young man a chest con-
taining thirty thousand pieces of gold, say-
ing to him, O my son, expend upon us out
of this chest, and upon thyself, according
to what is just, and be thou faithful, and
take care of that wherewith I have in-
trusted thee. And the young man replied,
I hear and obey. He continued to expend
upon them for a period of days and nights;
after which, one of them died; whereupon
his companions took him, and washed him
and shrouded him, and buried him in a
garden behind the mansion. And death
ceased not to take of them one after an-
other, until there remained only the sheykh
who had hired the young man:
so he
remained with the young man in that
mansion, and there was not with them
a third, and they remained thus for a
period of years. Then the sheykh fell
sick; and when the young man despaired
of his life, he addressed him with courtesy,
and was grieved for him, and said to him,
O uncle, I have served you, and not failed
in your service one hour for a period
of twelve years, but acted faithfully to
you, and served you according to my
power and ability. The sheykh replied,
Yes, O my son, thou hast served us until
these sheykhs have been taken unto God
(to whom be ascribed might and glory!),
and we must inevitably die. And the
young man said, O my master, thou art in
a state of peril, and I desire of thee that
thou inform me what hath been the cause
of your weeping, and the continuance of
your wailing and your mourning and your
sorrow. He replied, O my son, thou hast
no concern with that, and require me not
to do what I am unable to do; for I have
begged God (whose name be exalted!) not
to afflict any one with my affliction. Now
if thou desire to be safe from that into
which we have fallen, open not that door
(and he pointed to it with his hand, and
cautioned him against it); and if thou
desire that what hath befallen us should
befall thee, open it, and thou wilt know
the cause of that which thou hast beheld
in our conduct; but thou wilt repent, when
repentance will not avail thee. - Then the
illness increased upon the sheykh, and he
died; and the young man washed him with
his own hand, and shrouded him, and
buried him by his companions.
-
"He remained in that place, which with
its contents was sealed; but notwithstand-
ing this, he was uneasy, reflecting upon the
conduct of the sheykhs. And while he was
meditating one day upon the words of the
sheykh, and his charge to him not to open
the door, it occurred to his mind that he
might look at it. So he went in that
direction, and searched until he saw an
elegant door, over which the spider had
woven its webs, and upon it were four
locks of steel; and when he beheld it, he
remembered the action against which the
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1219
sheykh had cautioned him, and departed
from it. His soul desired him to open the
door, and he restrained it, during a period
of seven days; but on the eighth day, his
Soul overcame him, and he said, I must
open that door, and see what will happen
to me in consequence; for nothing will re-
pel what God (whose name be exalted!)
decreeth and predestineth, and no event
will happen but by his will. Accordingly
he arose, and opened the door, after he
had broken the locks; and when he had
opened the door, he saw a narrow passage,
along which he walked for the space of
three hours; and, lo, he came forth upon
the bank of a great river. At this the
young man wondered; and he walked
along that bank, looking to the right and
left; and, behold, a great eagle had de-
scended from the sky, and, taking up the
young man with its talons, it flew with
him between heaven and earth, until it
conveyed him to an island in the midst
of the sea, and it threw him down upon it,
and departed from him.
66
So the young man was perplexed at his
case, not knowing whither to go; but while
he was sitting one day, lo, the sail of a
vessel appeared to him upon the sea, like
the star in the sky; wherefore the heart
of the young man became intent upon the
vessel, in the hope that his escape might
be effected in it. He continued looking
at it until it came near unto him; and
when it arrived, he beheld a bark of ivory
and ebony; the oars of which were of
sandal-wood and aloes-wood, and the
whole of it was encased with plates of
brilliant gold. There were also in it ten
damsels, virgins, like moons; and when
the damsels saw him, they landed to him
from the bark, and kissed his hands, say-
ing to him, Thou art the King, the bride-
groom. Then there advanced to him a
damsel who was like the shining sun in
the clear sky, having in her hand a ker-
chief of silk, in which were a royal robe,
and a crown of gold set with varieties of
jacinths; and having advanced to him,
she clad him and crowned him; after
which the other damsels carried him upon
their arms to that bark, and he found in
it varieties of carpets of silk of divers
colours. They then spread the sails, and
proceeded over the abysses of the sea. -
Now when I proceeded with them, says the
young man, I felt sure that this was a
dream, and knew not whither they were
going with me. And when they came in
sight of the land, I beheld it filled with
troops, the number of which none knew
but God (whose perfection be extolled,
-
and whose name be exalted!), clad in
coats of mail. They brought forward to
me five marked horses, with saddles of
gold set with varieties of pearls and
precious stones; and I took a horse from
among these, and mounted it. The four
others proceeded with me; and when I
mounted, the ensigns and banners were set
up over my head, the drums and the cym-
bals were beaten, and the troops disposed
themselves in two divisions, right and
left. I wavered in opinion as to whether
I were asleep or awake, and ceased not to
advance, not believing in the reality of my
stately procession, but imagining that it
was a result of confused dreams, until we
came in sight of a verdant meadow, in
which were palaces and gardens, and trees
and rivers and flowers, and birds proclaim-
ing the perfection of God, the One, the
Omnipotent. And now there came forth
an army from among those palaces and
gardens, like the torrent when it poureth
down, until it filled that meadow; and
when the troops drew near to me, they
halted; and, lo, a King advanced from
among them, riding alone, preceded by
some of his chief officers walking.
"The King, on approaching the young
man, alighted from his courser; and the
young man, seeing him do so, alighted
also; and they saluted each other with the
most courteous salutation. Then they
mounted their horses again, and the King
said to the young man, Accompany us;
for thou art my guest. So the young man
proceeded with him, and they conversed
together, while the stately trains in orderly
disposition went on before them to the
palace of the King, where they alighted,
and all of them entered the palace, together
with the King and the young man, the
young man's hand being in the hand of
the King, who thereupon seated him on a
throne of gold, and seated himself by him.
And when the King removed the lithám
from his face, lo, this supposed King was
a damsel, like the shining sun in the clear
sky, a lady of beauty and loveliness, and
elegance and perfection, and concelt and
amorous dissimulation. The young man
beheld vast affluence and great prosperity,
and wondered at the beauty and loveli-
ness of the damsel. Then the damsel said
to him, Know, O King, that I am the
Queen of this land, and all these troops
that thou hast seen, including every one.
whether of cavalry or infantry, are
women: there are not among them any
men. The men among us, in this land, till
and sow and reap, employing themselves in
the cultivation of the land, and the build-
1220
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
ing and repairing of the towns, and in
attending to the affairs of the people by
the pursuit of every kind of art and trade;
but as to the women, they are the gov-
ernors and magistrates and soldiers. - And
the young man wondered at this extremely.
And while they were thus conversing, the
Wezeer entered; and, lo, she was a gray-
haired old woman, having a numerous
retinue, of venerable and dignified appear-
ance; and the Queen said to her, Bring to
us the Kádee and the witnesses. So the
old woman went for that purpose; and the
Queen turned towards the young man, con-
versing with him, and cheering him, and
dispelling his fear by kind words, and,
addressing him courteously, she said to
him, Art thou content for me to be thy
wife? And thereupon he arose and kissed
the ground before her; but she forbade
him; and he replied, O my mistress, I am
less than the servants who serve thee.
She then said to him, Seest thou not these
servants and soldiers, and wealth and
treasures and hoards? He answered her,
Yes. And she said to him, All these are at
thy disposal; thou shalt make use of them,
and give and bestow, as seemeth fit to thee.
Then she pointed to a closed door, and
said to him, All these things thou shalt
dispose of; but this door thou shalt not
open; for if thou open it, thou wilt re-
pent, when repentance will not avail thee.
And her words were not ended when the
Wezeereh, with the Kádee and the wit-
nesses, entered, and all of them were old
women, with their hair spreading over
their shoulders, and of venerable and dig-
nified appearance; and when they came
before the Queen, she ordered them to
perform the ceremony of the marriage-
contract. So they married her to the
young man; and she prepared the ban-
quets and collected the troops; and when
they had eaten and drunk, the young man
took her as his wife; and he resided with
her seven years, passing the most delightful
and most comfortable and most agreeable
and most sweet life.
"But he meditated one day upon open-
ing the door, and said, Were it not that
there are within it great treasures, better
than what I have seen, she had not pro-
hibited me from opening it. He then
arose, and opened the door; and, lo, within
it was the bird that had carried him from
the shore of the great river and deposited
him upon the island; and when the bird
beheld him, it said to him, No welcome to
a face that will never be happy! So when
he saw it, and heard its words, he fled
from it; but it followed him, and carried
him off. and flew with him between heaven
and earth for the space of an hour, and
deposited him in the place from which it
had carried him away; after which it dis-
appeared from him. He thereupon sat in
that place, and, returning to his reason, he
reflected upon what he had seen of afflu-
ence and glory and honour, and the riding
of the troops before him, and commanding
and forbidding; and he wept and wailed.
He remained upon the shore of the great
river, where that bird had put him, for
the space of two months, wishing that he
might return to his wife; but while he
was one night awake, mourning and medi-
tating, a speaker spoke (and he heard his
voice, but saw not his person), calling out,
How great were the delights! Far, far
from thee is the return of what is past!
And how many therefore will be the sighs!
- So when the young man heard it, he
despaired of meeting again that Queen, and
of the return to him of the affluence in
which he had been living. He then en-
tered the mansion where the sheykhs had
resided, and knew that they had experi-
enced the like of that which had happened
unto him, and that this was the cause of
their weeping and their mourning; where-
fore he excused them thereupon. Grief and
anxiety came upon the young man, and he
entered his chamber, and ceased not to
weep and moan, relinquishing food and
drink, and pleasant scents, and laughter,
until he died; and he was buried by the
side of the sheykhs."
On the sixth day, the Damsel presents
herself before the King with a drawn
knife in her hand, threatening to stab her-
self if he persist in sparing his son, and
tells a tale of a King's son who was
enamoured of the wife of a jealous mer-
chant, and caused himself to be conveyed
into her abode in a chest. She also relates
a story of a slave who inveigled his mas-
ter's wife by pretending to understand the
language of birds. Then enters the Sixth
Wezeer, who tells two humorous but gross
stories. The former of these is similar to
the "
Story of the Lady of Cairo and her
Four Gallants" in Scott's version: in some
respects more humorous, but in others less
so, and related in such a manner that I
must omit it. The latter differs little,
except in its abominable grossness, from a
tale familiar to us from childhood: it is the
tale of the Three Wishes. On the Sev-
enth day, the Damsel, for the last time,
tries the influence of her tales upon the
King. Having lighted a great fire, and
declared to him her determination to cast
herself into it if he avenge her not upon
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1221
-
his son, she relates to him three tales; but
they are of little interest, and therefore
here but slightly noticed. The first is simi-
lar to the story of the Maid and the
Magpie. The wife of a king, while bath-
ing, left a valuable necklace under the care
of a holy woman; and while the latter
was praying, a bird carried off the neck-
lace, and hid it in a crevice in a wall of
the palace. The King accused the holy
woman of the theft, and tortured and im-
prisoned her; but afterwards discovered
his error. The second tale is of two
pigeons, a male and a female, who stored
up some wheat and barley in their nest
for the days of winter. During the sum-
mer, the grains, drying, appeared less in
number; and the male bird accused his
mate of having eaten of them, and killed
her. In the winter, however, the grains
recovered their original size, and he was
convinced that he had killed her unjustly,
and pined away until he died. The third
tale is of a King's daughter, named Ed-
Detmà, a damsel of unequalled beauty,
who (like several heroines of Arab and of
European romances) refused to marry any
man that could not overcome her in sin-
gle combat. Each suitor whom she van-
quished she despoiled of his horse and
arms and apparel, and branded on the
forehead with the words, This is the
freedman of Ed-Detmà. A Persian prince,
named Bahrám, engaged her, and was on
the point of overcoming her, when she
displayed her face, and he was so con-
founded by her beauty, that his energy
failed him, and he was unhorsed and
branded. But afterwards, by a stratagem,
he inveigled her in her garden, and, with
her consent, carried her off. After the
relation of these tales, the Seventh Wezeer
enters, and narrates the story of the Old
Woman and the Son of the Merchant, of
which the following is an abstract:
The son of a wealthy merchant journeyed
to Baghdád, and selected for his residence
a magnificent mansion; but its door-keeper
informed him that every one who lodged
in it remained there no more than a week,
or two weeks, and came not forth from it,
without being either sick or dead; in con-
sequence of which its monthly rent was
only ten pieces of gold. On hearing this,
the young man reflected, and, having
sought refuge with God from Satan the
accursed, and dismissed apprehension from
his mind, he took up his abode in it, and
sold and bought; and some days passed
over him without there befalling him any
thing of the kind mentioned to him by that
door-keeper. "But as he was sitting one
-
day at the door of the house, there passed
by him a gray-haired old woman, like the
speckled, black and white, serpent: she
was uttering many ejaculations expressive
of the perfection and holiness of God, and
removing the stones and other hurtful
things from the way; and, seeing the youth
sitting at the door, she looked at him, and
wondered at his case. So he said to her,
O woman, dost thou know me, or dost
thou doubt of me whether I be, or be
not, some one whom thou knowest? And
when she heard his words, she walked
quickly up to him, and saluted him, say-
ing to him, How long hast thou been re-
siding in this house? He answered her,
O my mother, a period of two months.
And she said, At this I wonder; for I,
O my son, know thee not, nor dost thou
know me, nor did I doubt of thee whether
thou wert some one known to me or not
but I wondered because no one but thyself
inhabiteth this house without coming forth
from it either dead or sick; and I doubt
not but that thou, O my son, art exposing
thy youth to peril. Hast thou not
ascended to the top of the pavilion, nor
looked from the mandharah that is in it?
-Then the old woman went her way; and
when she had parted from him, the youth
meditated upon her words, and said within
himself, I have not ascended to the top
of the pavilion, and know not that there is
in it a mandharah. And thereupon he en-
tered immediately, and began to search
about the corners of the house, until he
saw in a corner of it an elegant door, over
which the spider had woven its webs
among the trees. So when he saw it, he
said within himself, Probably the spider
hath not woven its webs over this door
but because death is within it. But he
placed his reliance upon [the efficacy of
uttering] the saying of God (whose name
be exalted!), say, Nothing shall befall
us but what God hath decreed for us.
He then opened that door, and ascended
a flight of elegant stairs until he came to
the top, when he saw a mandharah, and
he seated himself in it to rest and divert
himself, and beheld an elegant, clean
abode, on the top of which was a lofty
mak'ad overlooking the whole of Bagh-
dád, and in that mak'ad was a damsel
like a Hooreeyeh. She took possession of
his whole heart, and deprived him of his
reason and understanding, occasioning him
the malady of Eiyoob, and the grief of
Yaakoob. When the youth, therefore, be-
held her, and viewed her exactly, he said
within himself, Probably the people say
that no one dwelleth in this mansion with-
1222
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
out dying or falling sick on account of
this damsel; and would that I knew how
my deliverance may be effected; for my
reason hath departed."
-
He then descended, and seated himself
again at the door; and, lo, the old woman
passed by as before. So when the youth
saw her, he rose upon his feet, greeted her
first with salutation and compliments, and
said to her, O my mother, I was in pros-
perity and health until thou advisedst me
to open the door, and I have seen the
mandharah and opened it, and, looking
from it, I beheld what stupefied me. I
imagine now that I am about to perish,
and I know that there is no physician for
me except thee. And when she heard
him, she laughed, and replied, No harm
shall befall thee, if it be the will of God.
So the youth arose, and entered the house,
and brought out to her, in his sleeve, a
hundred pieces of gold, which he gave to
her; and she desired him to go to the
silk-market, to inquire for the shop of
Abu-l-Fet-h the son of Keydám (the hus-
band of the damsel), and to purchase of
him the most beautiful face-veil in his
possession. Accordingly, on the following
morning, he purchased the veil, for which
he gave fifty pieces of gold, and he re-
turned happy to his residence. The old
woman then came again, and he gave her
the veil; whereupon she took a live coal,
and burnt with it the edge of the veil;
after which, she folded it up, and went
with it to the house of Abu-l-Fet-h.
ing acquainted with the mother of the
damsel, she obtained admission by pre-
tending that she desired to perform the
ablution and to pray; and while the dam-
sel was inadvertent, she put the veil under
a cushion of the mattress upon which the
husband usually sat, and departed.
at the close of the day, the merchant came
home, and seated himself upon the mat-
tress; and after he had eaten, he reclined
upon the cushion, and, lo, the edge of the
veil appeared from beneath it. So when
he saw it, he knew it, and conceived an
evil suspicion of the damsel. He therefore
called her, and said to her, Whence came
to thee this veil? And she swore to him
that no man had come to her but himself;
whereupon he was silent, fearing to be
publicly disgraced; for he was accustomed
to sit with the Khaleefeh. He then said to
the damsel, It hath been told me that thy
mother is lying sick, from a pain in her
heart, and that all the women are with
her, weeping for her: so I desire thee to go
forth to her. Accordingly she went to her
mother; but when she entered the house,
Be-
And
she found her mother well; and soon after,
the porters came to her, bringing all her
things from the merchant's house. Her
mother therefore asked her what had hap-
pened to her; and she denied having of-
fended; and the mother wept and mourned
for the separation of her daughter from
that man.
--
Then, some days after this, the old
woman came to the damsel, and saluted
her, expressing the longing she had felt
to see her again, and said to her, What
is the matter with thee, O my daughter,
O my beloved? Thou hast disturbed my
mind. And she went in to the damsel's
mother, and said to her, O my sister, what
is the news, and what is the story of the
damsel with her husband; for it hath been
told me that he hath divorced her? What
offence then hath she committed that re-
quireth all this? The damsel's mother
replied, Perhaps her husband will return
to her by means of the blessing attendant
upon thee: so pray for her, O my sister;
for thou fastest much, and art up all thy
night [in prayer]. And after this, the
old woman repaired to the young man, and
desired him to make ready for the recep-
tion of the damsel. She then returned to
the damsel's mother, and said to her, O my
sister, we are celebrating a wedding-
festivity; so send the damsel with me, that
she may divert herself, and that her anx-
iety and grief may be dispelled: then I
will bring her back to thee as I took her
from thee. The damsel's mother therefore
arose, and clad her in the richest of her
apparel, adorning her with the best of her
ornaments and attire, and the damsel went
forth with the old woman. Her mother
went with her to the door, and charged
the old woman, saying to her, Beware of
suffering any man of the creatures of God
(whose name be exalted!) to see her; for
thou knowest the station of her husband
with the Khaleefeh; and delay not; but
return with her as soon as possible.
the old woman took her to the residence
of the young man; the damsel imagining
that it was the house where the wedding
was celebrated; and when the damsel en-
tered the house, and saw the young man,
she was amazed at his beauty, and easily
consented to his taking her as his wife.
But she was eventually taken back to her
mother's house, and restored to her former
husband by means of a stratagem con-
trived by the old woman, and thus put in
practice.
So
The young man repaired to the shop of
the merchant Abu-l-Fet-h and seated him-
self with him; and, lo, the old woman
J
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1223
passed by the shop, having in her hand a
string of beads, with which she was tell-
ing her ejaculations in praise of God;
whereupon the young man arose and
pulled her by her clothes, and began to
revile her and abuse her, while she, ad-
dressing him with courtesy, said to him,
O my son, thou art excused. So the peo-
ple of the market assembled around them,
saying, What is the matter? And the
young man answered, O people, I pur-
chased of this merchant a veil for fifty
pieces of gold, and my slave-girl wore it
for one hour, and sat fumigating it; and
there flew forth a spark, which burned its
edge; wherefore we delivered it to this
old woman, that she might give it to some
one who should darn it, and return it to
us; but from that time we have never
seen her until now. The old woman then
said, This youth hath spoken truth. Yes,
I took it of him, and went with it into one
of the houses that I am accustomed to en-
ter, and left it by mistake in some place
in one of those houses; but know not
where it is; and being a poor woman, I
feared its owner, and did not face him.
So when the merchant Abu-l-Fet-h heard
this, he begged God's forgiveness of his
faults and suspicion, and said to the old
woman, Dost thou enter our abode? She
answered him, O my son, I do enter thine
abode, and the abodes of others, for the
sake of alms; and from that day, no one
hath given me tidings of the veil. The
merchant said to her, Hast thou asked any
one respecting it in our house? She an-
swered, O my master, I went to the house
and inquired; but they said to me, The
merchant hath divorced the lady of the
house. So I returned, and asked not any
one after that to the present day. - And
thereupon the merchant looked towards
the young man, and said to him, Let this
old woman go; for the veil is in my pos-
session. And he took it forth from the
shop, and gave it to the darner before the
people who were present. Then he went
to the damsel, gave her some money, and
took her again as his wife, after he had
made abundant excuses to her, and begged
God's forgiveness, not knowing what the
old woman had done.
--
On
The same Wezeer then tells the story
of the damsel kept by an 'Efreet in a box,
nearly as related in the Introduction to
this work; and the King thereupon deter-
mines that he will not kill his son.
the eighth day, the King's son, being no
longer withheld from speaking by the fore-
seen danger, goes in to the King, and, in
most eloquent words, praises his father
t
and his Wezeers, and the lords of his em-
pire, and thanks them. And the King says
to his Wezeers, If I had killed my son,
would the crime have been on me or on
the damsel or on the instructor Es-Sindi-
bád? But the persons present are silent.
And Es-Sindibád says to the youth, Give
the answer, O my son. So the King's son
says,
"I have heard that a guest alighted at
the house of a certain merchant, who
thereupon sent his slave-gir to purchase
for him from the market some milk in a
jar. And she took the milk in her jar,
desiring to return to the house of her mas-
ter; but while she was on her way, there
passed over her a kite flying with a ser-
pent in its talons, and pressing it with
them; and there dropped a drop of poison
from the serpent into the jar, without the
girl's knowing it. So when she came to
the house, the master took from her the
milk, and drank of it, he and his guests;
and the milk had not settled in their
stomachs before they all died."
See then, O King (adds the youth),
whose was the fault in this case. - One of
the persons present says, The fault was on
the part of those who drank the milk.
Another says, The fault was on the part
of the damsel, who left the jar uncovered.
But Es-Sindibád desires the young man to
give his opinion, and the latter says, They
have erred: the fault was not on the part
of the damsel, nor of the people who
drank; for the terms of their lives had
expired, with their means of subsistence,
and their death was decreed to be ef-
fected by means of that event. Upon
this, the persons present wonder extremely
at the youth, and declare him to be un-
equalled in wisdom. He, however, replies,
that a blind sheykh, and a boy three years
old, and a boy five years old, were wiser
than he, as shewn by three stories which
he relates. The first is this:
"There was a certain merchant, who
possessed great riches, and had travelled
much to all cities, and, desiring again to
journey to a city, he inquired of those
who had come from it, and said to them,
What merchandise is productive of great
gain there? And they answered him, San-
dal-wood; for it is there sold at a dear
price. The merchant therefore purchased
sandal-wood with all the money that he
had, and journeyed to that city. Now
when he arrived there, it was the close of
the day; and, lo, there was an old woman
driving some sheep belonging to her; and
on her seeing the merchant, she said to him,
Who art thou, O man? He answered her,
1224
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
I am a merchant, a stranger. And she said
to him, Beware of the inhabitants of the
city; for they are cheats and thieves: they
deceive the stranger that they may over-
come him and eat what he hath with him:
and I have given thee good advice. Then
she departed from him. And when the
morning came, a man of the inhabitants of
the city met him, and saluted him and said
to him, O my master, whence hast thou
come? He answered him, I have come
from such a city. And the man said, What
merchandise hast thou brought with thee?
He answered, Sandal-wood; for I have
heard that it is of value with you. But
the man of the city said, He hath erred
who advised thee to do so; for we burn
not beneath the cooking-pot any thing
but that sandal-wood, and the value of it
is with us the same as that of common
firewood. And when the merchant heard
the words of that man, he sighed and re-
pented; but wavered between believing and
disbelieving. He then alighted at one of
the Khans of the city, and made a fire of
sandal-wood beneath the cooking-pot. So
when that man saw him, he said to him,
Wilt thou sell this sandal-wood for a sáa
of whatsoever thy soul shall desire? The
merchant answered him, I sell it thee. The
man therefore removed all the sandal-wood
that the merchant had, and deposited it in
his own abode; and the seller purposed to
take gold. And on the following morning,
the merchant walked in the city, and there
met him a blue-eyed man, of the inhabi-
tants of that city: this man had lost one
eye, and he laid hold upon the merchant,
saying to him, Thou art the person who
deprived me of my eye, and I will never
let thee go. So the merchant denied that,
and replied, This cannot be established.
And the people collected around them, and
asked the one-eyed man to grant the other
a delay until the morrow, when the latter
should give him the price of his eye;
wherefore the merchant appointed a per-
son to be his guarantee, and so they let
him go. Then the merchant went away;
and his shoe was rent in consequence of
the dragging of the one-eyed man.
therefore stopped at the shop of a cob-
bler, and gave it to him, saying to him,
Repair it, and thou shalt receive of me
what will please thee. He then departed
from him; and, lo, there were some people
sitting playing; and he seated himself with
them, by reason of his anxiety and grief,
and they asked him to play. So he played
with them, and they overcame him, and,
having done so, gave him his choice, either
to drink up the sea, or else to disburse the
He
whole of his wealth; whereupon he arose
and said to them, Allow me a delay until
to-morrow.
"He went away, grieved for that which
he had done, and not knowing what
would be the result of his case. So he sat
in a place, meditating, sorrowful, anxious;
and, lo, the old woman passed by him, and,
looking towards him, she said to him,
Probably the people of the city have over-
come thee; for I see thee anxious on ac-
count of that which hath befallen thee.
He therefore related to her all that had
happened from first to last; and she said
to him, Who is he who hath cheated thee
in the affair of the sandal-wood; for with
us the value of every pound of sandal-
wood is ten pieces of gold? But I will
contrive for thee a plan, by means of
which I hope thy deliverance may be ef-
fected; and it is this: that thou go towards
such a gate; for in that place is a blind
sheykh, who is deprived of the use of his
legs, and he is wise, knowing, old, skilful.
All the people visit him, asking him re-
specting what they will, and he pointeth
out to them what will be advisable for
them; for he is acquainted with artifice
and enchantment and tricking. He is a
sharper, and the sharpers meet at his
abode by night. Therefore go thou thither,
and hide thyself from thine offenders, so
that thou mayest hear their words and
they may not see thee; for he will ac-
quaint them with the case in which one
overcometh and that in which one is over-
come. Probably thou wilt hear from him
the mention of a subterfuge that may de-
liver thee from thine offenders.
"So the merchant departed from her to
the place of which she had told him, and
hid himself. He then looked at the sheykh,
and seated himself near unto him; and
there had not elapsed more than a short
time when there came his party, who re-
sorted to him as their judge. On their
coming before the sheykh, they saluted him
and each other, and seated themselves
around him; and when the merchant saw
them, he found his four offenders among
the number of those who were present.
The sheykh caused some food to be placed
before them, and they ate; after which,
each of them related his story of the events
that had happened to him during the past
day. The buyer of the sandal-wood ad-
vanced, and informed the sheykh of that
which had happened to him that day; that
he had bought sandal-wood of a man for
less than its value; and that the sale had
been settled between them on the con-
dition of his giving the measure of a sáa
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
1225
of whatsoever the seller should desire.
Upon this the sheykh said to him, Thine
adversary hath overcome thee. The man
asked, How can he overcome me? The
sheykh replied, If he say to thee, I will
take the measure in gold or silver- wilt
thou give it him? The man said, Yes, I
will give it him, and I shall be the gainer.
But the sheykh rejoined, And if he say to
thee, I will take the measure of a sáa of
fleas, half males and half females what
wilt thou do? So the man knew that he
was overcome.— - Then the one-eyed man
advanced, and said, O sheykh, I saw to-
day a blue-eyed man, who is a stranger to
the country, and I assailed him and laid
hold upon him, saying to him, Thou hast
deprived me of my eye- and I let him
not go until a party had become guar-
antees that he should return to me and
satisfy me for my eye. But the sheykh
replied, If he desire to overcome thee, he
will overcome thee. And how, said the
man, will he do so? He answered, He
may say to thee, Pull out thine eye, and I
will pull out my eye, and we will weigh
each of them; and if my eye be equal in
weight to thine, thou art veracious in that
which thou hast asserted. Then thou wilt
owe him the fine for his eye, and thou
wilt be blind; but he will see with his
other eye. So the man knew that the
merchant might overcome him by means of
this subterfuge. Next, the cobbler ad-
vanced, and said, O sheykh, I saw to-day
a man who gave me his shoe, and said to
me, Repair it. Whereupon I said to him,
Wilt thou not give me the remuneration?
And he answered me, Repair it, and thou
shalt receive of me what will please thee.
Now nothing will please me but all his
wealth. The sheykh however replied, If
he desire to take his shoe from thee and
not give thee aught, he may take it. And
how so? said the cobbler. The sheykh an-
swered, He may say to thee, The enemies
of the Sultán are defeated, and his oppo-
nents have become weak, and his children
and his auxiliaries are multiplied. Art
thou pleased or not? - If thou say, I am
pleased he will take his shoe from thee
and depart: and if thou say, No - he will
take his shoe and beat with it thy face
and the back of thy neck. He therefore
knew that he was overcome. Then ad-
vanced the man who played with the
merchant for a wager, and he said, O
sheykh, I found a man, and laid a wager
with him and overcame him; whereupon I
said to him, If thou drink up this sea, I
will give up the whole of my wealth to
thee, and if thou drink it not, give thou up
-
--
the whole of thy wealth to me. The
sheykh replied, If he desire to overcome
thee, he may overcome thee. The man
said, And how so? And the sheykh an-
swered, He may say to thee, Hold for me
the mouth of the sea with thy hand, and
hand it to me, and I will drink it. And
thou wilt not be able: so he will over-
come thee by means of this subterfuge.
66
When the merchant therefore heard
that, he knew what subterfuges to em-
ploy against his offenders. Then they
arose and left the sheykh, and the mer-
chant departed to his lodging. And when
the morning arrived, the man who had
laid the bet with him came to him." The
merchant proposed to him what the
sheykh had said, and the man released
himself by paying him a hundred pieces of
gold. Then came the cobbler; and the
merchant took his shoe without giving
remuneration. Next came the one-eyed
man; and he was obliged to conciliate the
merchant by giving him a hundred pieces
of gold. Lastly came the buyer of the
sandal-wood; and this man also was com-
pelled to release himself by paying the
merchant a hundred pieces of gold, and
returning the wood. The merchant then
sold the sandal-wood as he desired, re-
ceived its price, and journeyed back to his
own country.
The tale relating to the boy three years
old is unworthy of translation. The other
instance of precocious intelligence is thus
related:
-
"Four merchants were sharers in a sum
of a thousand pieces of gold, which they
had mixed together, and put into one
purse; and they went with it to purchase
merchandise, and, finding in their way a
beautiful garden, they entered it, and left
the purse with a woman who was the
keeper of that garden. Having entered,
they diverted themselves in a tract of the
garden, and ate and drank and were
happy; and one of them said, I have with
me some perfume. Come, let us wash our
heads with this running water; and per-
fume ourselves.. Another said, We want
a comb. And another said, We will ask the
keeper: perhaps she hath with her a comb.
And upon this, one of them arose and went
to the keeper, and said to her, Give me the
purse. She replied, When ye all present
yourselves, or thy companions order me to
give it thee. Now his companions were in
a place where the keeper could see them,
and she could hear their words. And the
man said to his companions, She is not
willing to give me aught. So they said to
her, Give him. And when she heard their
1226
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
words, she gave him the purse; and he
went forth fleeing from them. Therefore
when he had wearied them by the length
of his absence, they came to the keeper,
and said to her, Wherefore didst thou not
give him the comb? And she replied, He
demanded of me nothing but the purse,
and I gave it not to him save with your
permission, and he hath departed hence
and gone his way. And when they heard
the words of the keeper, they slapped their
faces, and seized her with their hands,
saying to her, We gave thee not permis-
sion save to give the comb. She replied,
He did not mention to me a comb. And
they seized her and took her up to the
Kádee; and when they presented them-
selves before him, they stated to him the
case; whereupon he bound the keeper to
restore the purse, and bound a number of
her debtors to be answerable for her.
"So she went forth perplexed, not
knowing her way; and there met her a
boy, whose age was five years; and when
the boy saw her, thus perplexed, he said
to her, What is the matter, O my mother?
But she returned him not an answer, de-
spising him on account of the smallness of
his age. And he repeated his question to
her a first and a second and a third time."
So at length she told him what had hap-
pened to her. "And the boy said to her,
Give me a piece of silver that I may buy
some sweetmeat with it, and I will tell
thee something by which thine acquittance
may be effected. The keeper therefore
gave him a piece of silver, asking him,
What hast thou to say? And the boy an-
swered her, Return to the Kádee, and say
to him, It was agreed between me and
them that I should not give them the purse
save in the presence of all the four. So
the keeper returned to the Kádee, and said
to him as the boy had told her; upon
which the Kádee said to the three men,
Was it thus agreed between you and her?
They answered, Yes. And the Kádee said
to them, Bring to me your companion and
take the purse. Thus the keeper went
forth free, no injury befalling her; and
she went her way."
The King's son is then highly ap-
plauded by all present, and embraced and
kissed by his father, who desires him to
decide upon the punishment of the Dam-
sel; to kill her, or to do what else he may
choose with her. The young man replies,
"Banish her from the city."
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
NOTE 1. My sheykh supposes "Joo-
dar" to be for "Ju-dhar," which signifies
"the young of the wild cow" (a kind of
antelope): but it will be seen by a note
(No. 45) on a passage near the end of the
story, that the appellation of a quarter in
Cairo suggested this name to the author,
and that the said quarter was not, as he
pretends, called after a person named Joo-
dar. Joodar is, however, a proper name,
as appears from El-Makreezee; although
my sheykh does not seem to have known
of it.
NOTE 2. Had the merchant left his
property to be divided after his death, and
not made a will, his wife would only have
inherited one eighth. By will, he might
have left to her one third of his property,
and she would have inherited besides one
eighth of the remainder; but he could not
have thus increased the share of a relation
without the consent of all the co-heirs.
NOTE 3. My sheykh observes, in a mar-
ginal note, that this alludes to bribes, as
well as to the legal fees. The bribery prac-
tised in Muslim courts of law is notorious.
For a striking instance, see my work on
the Modern Egyptians, vol. i. ch. iv.
NOTE 4. That is, look for the time when
vengeance and punishment shall befall the
oppressor from God.
NOTE 5. That the word "nusfs" (which
is omitted in the original) should be here
supplied seems evident from the sequel.
Respecting the nusf, see Note 17 to Chap-
ter iii., and Note 14, to this chapter.
NOTE 6. See Note 24 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 7. I suppose "karaman," or some
similar word, to be here understood, and
the meaning to be, "Thou art the superior
in generosity to me."
NOTE 8. The word which I have ren-
dered "minnow" is "seereh." My sheykh
merely states, that the seereh is "the small-
est of fishes; " and I am unable to define
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
1227
its species. It has been differently de-
scribed by different authors, as may be seen
in De Sacy's "Relation de l'Egypte par
Abd-allatif," pp. 278-288.
NOTE 9. The Lake of Károon (birket
Károon) was at the southern extremity of
Cairo, when that city had extended to
about its present limits. El-Makreezee
sufficiently points out its situation when
he says, that the great dike called El-Jisr
el-Aazam, which had in his time (early
in the fifteenth century) become a great
thoroughfare-street, leading from the Kal'at
el-Kebsh to the two bridges called Kanátir
es-Sibáa, divided this lake from that of
the Elephant (Birket el-Feel). The extent
which it occupied is doubtful, and its bed,
I believe, has long since been entirely filled
up.
NOTE IO. Northern Africa west of
Egypt is called by the Arabs El-Maghrib
and its inhabitants Maghrabees.
NOTE 11. This appellation is very com-
monly given to Maghrabees in Egypt, be-
cause great numbers of them pass through
that country every year on pilgrimage.
NOTE 12. See Note 21 to Chapter xi.
NOTE 13. As Cairo contains so great a
number of markets, I suppose the market
of the Maghrabee merchants to be here
meant.
NOTE 14. From this and some preced-
ing passages, it appears that the story of
Joodar was composed after the conquest
of Egypt by the 'Osmánlee Turks, or that
it has been altered by a copyist. During
the seven days before mentioned, Joodar
incurred a debt of a hundred and forty
nusfs to the baker. He then took at least
his usual daily quantity of bread, of the
value of ten nusfs, and gave the baker a
deenár, or piece of gold; and the baker
still owed him the value of twenty nusfs.
Now, towards the close of the Circassian
dynasty in Egypt, the nusf became less
than a quarter of a dirhem, and more than
a hundred and twenty may have passed
for a deenár. I do not know the precise
period when a hundred and seventy nusfs
passed for a deenár; but it must have been
considerably later.
NOTE 15. Nearly all the Maghrabees are
of the Málikee persuasion. - The names
mentioned in the passage to which this
note refers signify, respectively, "Servant
of [the God of] Peace," Servant of the
One [God]," "Servant of the Eternal
66
Lord," or "of the Everlasting," &c., and
"Servant of the Merciful; " and the name
of the father, afterwards mentioned, sig-
nifies "Servant of the Loving."
NOTE 16. "El-Abtan" seems here to
mean "the Most Profound."
NOTE 17. "Esh-Shamardal " signifies
"the Tall," &c.
NOTE 18. "Er-Raad el-Kásif" signifies
"the Loud-pealing, or the Breaking
Thunder."
NOTE 19. Fás and Miknás (or Fés and
Miknés, as the names are pronounced by
the natives,) are the two cities called by
our geographers "Fez" and Mequinez."
They seem to be regarded by our author
as one city.
NOTE 20.
NOTE 21.
See Note 13 to Chapter xvi.
Kebáb is mutton or lamb cut
into small morsels, which are roasted upon
skewers.
NOTE 22.
"Rahmeh" here signifies 66
gift of God's mercy."
NOTE 23. See Note 65 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 24. See Note 12 to Chapter v.
a
NOTE 25. The stuffed gourds are gen-
erally of the size and shape of a small cu-
cumber, and the stuffing usually consists
of rice and minced meat, delicately sea-
soned with salt, pepper, and onions, and
often with garlic, parsley, &c. They are
boiled. The stuffing of the lamb com-
monly consists of minced meat (of the
same kind), with hazel-nuts or pistachio-
nuts, &c. Respecting kunáfeh, Katáïf,
and bakláweh, see, respectively, Note 66
to Chapter iii., Note 23 to Chapter viii.,
and Note 99 to Chapter v.
―
NOTE 26. This is a common ejaculation
of women.
NOTE 27. Here, in the original, some
words are misplaced, and others repeated,
by a mistake of a copyist or compositor.
NOTE 28. By "the Captain of the Sea
of Es-Suweys," which is commonly called
by us "Suez," is meant, the chief in com-
mand of the ships of the Red Sea. That
the free have sometimes (though very
rarely) been sold as slaves, has been shewn
1228
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
in the last paragraph of Note 13 to Chap-
ter i.
NOTE 29. "Zawiyeh is a name given
in Egypt to a small mosque.
NOTE 30. A kowwás is a sergeant, an
officer whose business is to execute the
commands of a magistrate or any person
in authority.
NOTE 31. Shems-ed-Dóleh (thus com-
monly pronounced in the present day), like
Joodar, is an imaginary person.
NOTE 32. Juddeh, vulgarly called Jid-
deh, is the port of Mekkeh.
NOTE 33. The compassing of the Kaa-
beh seven times is one of the chief cere-
monies which are required to be performed
by every person who enters Mekkeh,
whether he be a pilgrim or not, before he
attends to any worldly business.
NOTE 34. See Note I to the Introduc-
tion.
NOTE 35. My sheykh observes, in a
marginal note on this passage, that when
a person has eaten of the bread of another,
the former becomes obliged to the latter,
and among the duties which he owes him
is that of taking leave of him when he is
about to perform a journey. The reader
may remember a former note on this sub-
ject.
NOTE 36. This is commonly said both
by the master and by the servant, when
the latter quits the former voluntarily, or
is dismissed; and the reply given in each
case is, "May God acquit thee of respon-
sibility." The custom serves to illustrate
some remarks in Note 26 to Chapter xi.
NOTE 37. If this title be not introduced
by a copyist, we must suppose that the
author referred the events described in
this tale to the times of the Khaleefehs.
NOTE 38. The words "and took the two
pairs of saddle-bags" I have transposed
agreeably with an opinion of my sheykh,
stated in the margin of the original.
NOTE 39. White garments are indicative
of peace, as well as of joy. See Note 78
to Chapter xi.
-
NOTE 40. My sheykh questions the pro-
priety of inserting these verses, as uttered
by a King.
NOTE 41. As a dress is given in token
of honour or favour, one conferred upon
an offender is a token of mercy.
NOTE 42. This is said as a compliment;
for the dowry had not been paid.
NOTE 43. The Sheykh el-Islám is the
chief Muftee (or Doctor of the Law), and
Muftee of the capital. D'Ohsson states,
that this title was first conferred by Mo-
hammad II., when he conquered Constan-
tinople, in 1453, and there established the
seat of his empire.
NOTE 44. The district of El-Bunduká-
neyeen was so called, according to El-
Makreezee, because it contained a number
of shops in which cross-bows were made.
The same author relates that its shops and
houses were destroyed by a great fire, in
the year of the Flight 751. The name,
slightly changed (to El-Bundukȧneeyeh,
which is synonymous with the former
name, signifying "the cross-bow makers "),
is still retained. The situation of this dis-
trict is near the well-known Khán of El-
Hamzáwee, and is between the quarter of
the Jews and the principal street of the
city.
NOTE 45. El-Makreezee states, that the
quarter of El-Joodareeyeh, or (as the name
is pronounced by the inhabitants of Cairo)
El-Goodareeyeh, was so called after a par-
ticular division, thus named, of the army
of the Khaleefehs of the house of Fátimeh.
He does not mention that it was previously
called the quarter of El-Yemáneeyeh: so
I suppose this was not the case. It is
situate not far from the Khán of El-Ham-
záwee (mentioned in the note immediately
preceding), towards the south-west.
NOTE 46. The period during which a
widow must wait before she can contract
a new marriage is here meant. It is four
months and ten days.
NOTE 47. Next follows, in my original,
the Story of 'Ajeeb and Ghareeb, a long
tale, ending with part of the Six Hundred
and Eightieth Night; much resembling the
romance of Seyf Zu-l-Yezen. Its subjects,
almost exclusively, are superhuman exploits
in war, and other extravagant adventures
of men and Jinn, related in such a manner
that Von Hammer considers the story as
an ironical satire upon the belief in genii
sanctioned by the Kur-án, and upon the
propagation of El-Islám by compulsion.
In this point of view, he regards it as ex-
1
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
1229
tremely curious, and it would, I doubt not,
interest many English readers; but I con-
sider it so inferior to most of the tales of
the Thousand and One Nights, that I have
no hesitation in omitting it. Then fol-
lows a series of thirteen anecdotes, ending
with part of the Six Hundred and Ninety-
eighth Night. Of these I here insert only
four.
The Lovers 'Otbeh and Reiyà
It is related that 'Abd-Allah the son of
Maamar El-Keysee said, I performed the
pilgrimage, one year, to the sacred House
of God; and when I had accomplished my
pilgrimage, I returned to visit the tomb of
the Prophet (may God bless and save
him!); and as I was, one night, sitting in
the Ródah, between the tomb and the
pulpit, I heard a gentle lamentation, ut-
tered in a soft tone; so I listened to it,
and the voice said, -
Hath the moaning of the pigeons of the lote-
tree saddened thee, and excited anxious
thoughts in thy bosom?
Or doth the remembrance of a beauteous dam-
sel, who hath caused thee troubles of mind,
disturb thee?
O night, that art tedious to one constantly dis-
ordered, complaining of desire and of the
failure of patience,
Thou hast rendered him sleepless who is suffer-
ing the fire of a love that burneth like red-
hot coals!
The full moon beareth witness that I am en-
grossed by love of one who resembleth the
full moon.
I thought not myself thus engrossed by love
until I was afflicted when I was not aware
of it.
Then the voice ceased, and I knew not
whence it came to me; wherefore I was
perplexed; and presently the complainer
repeated the lamentation, and recited
thus:
―
Hath the phantom of Reiyà, visiting, saddened
thee, in the thick darkness of black-haired
night,
And hath love rendered thine eye sleepless, and
the phantom-visitor agitated thy heart?
I exclaimed to my night, whose darkness re-
sembled a sea in which swelling waves were
dashing,
O night, thou art tedious to a lover unto whom
there is no assister nor helper save the
morning!
But the night replied, Complain not of my
length; for love is the present cause of ab-
jection.
I arose and went towards him on his
commencing the recitation of these verses,
proceeding towards the quarter whence the
voice came, and he had not ended the
verses before I was by him, when I saw
a young man of the utmost beauty: the
down of the sides of his face had not
begun to grow, and tears had made two
tracks down his cheeks. I said to him,
An excellent young man art thou! He re-
plied, And thou too. But who, he asked,
is the man before me? I answered, 'Abd-
Allah the son of Maamar El-Keysee. -
Dost thou want any thing? said he. I an-
swered, I was sitting in the Ródah and
nought surprised me but thy voice. With
my life would I ransom thee. What is it
that thou sufferest? He said, Sit. So I
sat; and he said, I am 'Otbeh the son of
El-Hobáb the son of El-Mundhir the son
of El-Jamooh the Ansáree. I went in the
morning to the Mesjid el-Ahzáb, and con-
tinued my inclinations and prostrations;
after which I withdrew alone to occupy
myself with devotion; and, lo, some women
came along, walking with a vacillating gait,
resembling moons, and in the midst of
them was a damsel of surprising loveliness,
of perfect beauty, who stopped before me,
and said to me, O 'Otbeh, what sayest thou
of union with the person who desireth
union with thee? Then she left me and
departed, and I have not heard any tidings
of her, nor have I discovered any trace of
her; and I am perplexed, removing from
place to place. - Having said this, he cried
out, and fell down upon the ground in a
fit, and when he recovered, he was as
though his cheeks were dyed with saffron;
and he recited these verses: -
I see you with my heart from distant tracts.
Do you also see us with the heart from
afar?
My heart and my eye are sorrowing for you:
my soul is with you, and you are ever in
my mind.
I should not delight in life without seeing you.
were I in Paradise, or the Garden
of Eternity.
even
Upon this I said to him, O 'Otbeh, O son
of my brother, turn with repentance unto
thy Lord and beg the forgiveness of thine
offence; for thou hast to experience the
dreadful trial of the judgment before God.
But he replied, Far be it from me to do
so! I shall not cease to love until the
two karadh-gatherers return. - I remained
with him until daybreak, when I said to
him, Arise and accompany us to the Mes-
jid [el-Ahzád]. And we sat there until
we performed the noon-prayers; and, lo,
the women came; but as to the damsel, she
was not among them; and they said, O
'Otbeh, what thinkest thou of her who de-
sireth union with thee? He said, And
what of her? They answered, Her father
hath taken her, and departed to Es-Semá-
weh. And I asked them what was the
1230
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
name of the damsel. They answered,
Reiyá the daughter of El-Ghitreef Es-Sula-
mee. And he raised his head, and recited
these two verses: -
O my friend, Reiyà hath hastened in the morn
ing, and to the district of Es-Semáwch her
caravan hath gone.
O my friend, I have fainted by reason of my
weeping. Hath any one else, then, a tear
that I may borrow?
-
I then said to him, O 'Otbeh, I have
brought with me great wealth, with which
I desire to protect the generous from dis-
grace. By Allah, I will expend it for thee,
that thou mayest attain thy desire, and
more than thy desire. Arise then and ac-
company us to the assembly of the An-
sárees. We therefore arose, and pro-
ceeded until we beheld their assembly,
when I saluted them, and they returned
the salutation courteously; after which I
said, O assembly, what say ye of 'Otbeh
and his father? They answered, Of the
chiefs of the Arabs. And I said, Know
ye that he hath been smitten with the
calamity of love, and I desire your aid and
company to Es-Semáweh. They replied,
We hear and obey. So we mounted, and
the party mounted with us, and we pro-
ceeded until we came in sight of the abode,
of the Benee-Suleym, when El-Ghitreef
became acquainted with our place, and
came forth in haste and met us, saying,
May ye live, O generous men! We replied,
And thou, mayest thou live! We are thy
guests. And he said, Ye have alighted
at a most hospitable, ample abode. And
he alighted, and called out, O company
of slaves, come down! So the slaves came
down, and they spread the skins and placed
the pillows, and slaughtered the cattle and
the sheep. But we said, We will not taste
thy food until thou shalt have performed
our want. And what, said he, is your
want? We answered, We demand in mar-
riage thy generous daughter for 'Otbeh the
son of El-Hobáb the son of El-Mundhir,
the high in nobility, the good in origin.
And he replied, O my brothers, she whom
ye demand in marriage is at her own dis-
posal, and I will go in and inform her.
Then he arose in anger, and went in to
Reiyá. So she said, O my father, where-
fore do I see anger apparent in thy counte-
nance? And he answered, A party of the
Ansárees have come to me, demanding thee
of me in marriage. She replied, They are
generous chiefs. I beg forgiveness for them
of the Prophet, on whom be the most ex-
cellent salutations, and peace! And for
whom among them, she asked, is the de-
-
--
mand? He answered her, For a youth
known by the name of 'Otbeh, the son of
El-Hobáb. She replied, I have heard of
this 'Otbeh, that he performeth that which
he promiseth, and attaineth that which he
seeketh. But he said, I swear that I will
never marry thee to him; for some of thy
conversation with him hath been reported
to me.
- What was that? she asked. But,
she added, I swear that the Ansárees shall
not be rejected in a foul manner; so give
them a fair reply. - How? said he. She
answered, Make the dowry heavy to them;
for then they will desist. And he replied,
How excellent is that which thou hast said!
Then he went forth in haste, and said, The
damsel of the tribe hath consented; but
she desireth a dowry like herself, and who
can give it? I, answered 'Abd-Allah.
And he said, I desire for her a thousand
bracelets of red gold, and five thousand
dirhems of the coin of Hejer, and of burds
and heberehs a hundred pieces, and five
skins of ambergris. - Thou shalt have this
demand, said 'Abd-Allah; then dost thou
consent? He answered, I do consent.
'Abd-Allah therefore sent some persons
of the Ansárees to the Illumined City, and
they brought all that he had guaranteed to
give. The cattle and the sheep were
slaughtered, and the people assembled to
eat the food. We continued in this state,
says 'Abd-Allah, forty days; after which
El-Ghitreef said, Take ye your damsel.
So we mounted her in a hódaj; and he fur-
nished her with thirty camels laden with
rarities. Then he bade us farewell, and
departed; and we proceeded until there
remained between us and the Illumined
City one day's journey; whereupon there
came forth against us a party of horsemen
with intent to plunder, and I imagine that
they were of the Benee-Suleym. So 'Otbeh
the son of El-Hobáb charged upon them,
and slew a number of men, and he turned
away, wounded by a thrust of a spear.
Then he fell to the earth; and assistance
came to us from the inhabitants of that
part, and they repelled from us the horse-
men. But 'Otbeh had ended his days,
and we said, Alas, 'Otbeh! The damsel
therefore heard this, and cast herself down
from the camel, threw herself upon him,
and cried out in anguish and repeated
these verses:
----
I affected patience; but I was not patient: I
only beguiled myself; for I am about to
join thee.
Had my soul acted justly, it, rather than any
of the creation, had gone before thee to de-
struction.
After me and thee, therefore, none will be
just to a friend, nor soul agree with soul.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
1231
Then she uttered one groan, and her days
were ended. So we dug for them one
grave, and interred them, and I returned
to the country of my people, where I re-
mained seven years; after which I went
again to the Hejáz, and entered the Il-
lumined City to visit; and I said, By Allah,
I will go again to the tomb of 'Otbeh.
And I came to it, and, lo, over it was a
tall tree, on which were red and yellow
and green strips of stuff; and I said to
the inhabitants of the [adjacent] halting-
place, What is this tree called? They an-
swered, The Tree of the Bridegroom and
Bride.
And I remained by the tomb a day
and a night, and departed. This was the
last that I knew of 'Otbeh. May God
(whose name be exalted!) have mercy on
him!
Generosity Rewarded
There was, in the days of the Prince of
the Faithful, Suleyman the son of 'Abd-El-
Melik, a man named Khuzeymeh the son
of Bishr, of the tribe of the Benee-Asad,
who was distinguished by manifest gen-
erosity, and abundant wealth, and benefi-
cence and kindness to his brethren. He
continued thus until misfortune crippled
him, so that he became in need of the
assistance of his brethren towards whom
he had exercised his generosity, and whom
he had comforted; and they comforted him
for a while; but after that they became
weary of him. And when their altered
conduct towards him appeared unto him,
he went to his wife, who was the daughter
of his paternal uncle, and said to her, O
daughter of my uncle, I have experienced
from my brethren a change of conduct,
and I have determined to confine myself
to my house until death shall come to me.
So he closed his door upon himself, and
proceeded to sustain himself by the pro-
vision that he had until it was consumed,
when he became perplexed.
Now 'Ekrimeh El-Feiyád, Er-Raba'ee
the Governor of El-Jezeereh, knew him;
and as he was in his hall of assembly, Khu-
zeymeh the son of Bishr was mentioned,
and 'Ekrimeh El-Feiyád said, In what state
is he? So they answered him, He hath be-
come reduced to a condition not to be de-
scribed; he hath closed his door, and con-
fined himself to his house. Upon this,
'Ekrimeh El-Feiyád said, This hath hap-
pened to him only in consequence of his
excessive generosity, and how is it that
Khuzeymeh the son of Bishr findeth not
a comforter nor a fulfiller of his duty?
--
They replied, He hath found nothing of
the kind. And when night came, he took
four thousand pieces of gold and put them
into one bag. Then he gave orders to
saddle his beast, went forth secretly from
his family, and mounted, attended by one
of his young men carrying the money. He
proceeded until he stopped at the door of
Khuzeymeh, when he took the purse from
his young man, and, having sent him to
a distance from him, advanced to the door,
and pushed it. So Khuzeymeh came forth
to him, and he handed to him the bag,
saying to him, Amend with this thy cir-
cumstances. He therefore took it, and he
found it to be heavy; whereupon he put
it down from his hand, and laid hold of
the bridle of the beast, saying to 'Ekrimeh,
Who art thou? May my soul be thy ran-
som! But 'Ekrimeh replied, O thou, I
came not to thee in such a time as this
and desire that thou shouldst know me.
Khuzeymeh rejoined, Then I will not re-
lease thee until thou inform me who thou
art. So he said, I am a repairer of the
slips of the generous. And tell me more,
said Khuzeymeh.- No, replied 'Ekrimeh.
Then he departed. And Khuzeymeh went
in with the bag to the daughter of his
uncle, and said to her, Rejoice at good tid-
ings; for God hath brought speedy relief,
and wealth; for if these be pieces of sil-
ver, they are many. Arise and light a
lamp. But she replied, There is no means
of lighting the lamp. So he passed the
night feeling the coins with his hand, and
he felt the roughness of pieces of gold, yet
believed not that they were pieces of gold.
-As to 'Ekrimeh, however, he returned
to his abode, and found that his wife had
missed him, and asked respecting him, and
been informed of his having ridden forth;
wherefore she suspected him for this con-
duct, and doubted of him, and said to him,
The Governor of El-Jezeereh goeth not
forth after a period of the night, without
his young men, unknown to his family, save
to a wife or a concubine. He replied, God
knoweth that I went not forth unto either
of those two. And she said, Tell me for
what purpose thou wentest forth. He re-
plied, I went not forth at this time save
in order that no one should know it. But
she rejoined, I must be informed. He said,
Wilt thou conceal the thing if I tell thee?
She answered, Yes. So he acquainted her
with the state of the case, and with that
which he had done; after which he said,
Dost thou wish that I should swear to thee
also? She answered, No, no; for my heart
hath become at ease, and hath relied upon
that which thou hast stated.
1232
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
But as to Khuzeymeh, when he arose in
the morning, he appeased the creditors, and
put in order his affairs. Then he equipped
himself, desiring to repair to Suleyman
the son of 'Abd-El-Melik, who was then
sojourning in Falasteen; and when he
stopped at his door, and begged permission
of his chamberlains to enter, a chamber-
lain went in and informed the Khaleefeh
of his being there. As he was celebrated
for generosity, and Suleyman knew him,
he gave him permission to enter; and on
his entering, he saluted Suleyman with the
salutation usual to Khaleefehs; whereupon
Suleyman the son of 'Abd-El-Melik said
to him, O Khuzeymeh, what hath kept
thee so long from us? He answered, The
evil state of my affairs. And what, said
the Khaleefeh, prevented thy having re-
course to us? He answered, My infirmity,
O Prince of the Faithful. The Khaleefeh
said, Then how is it that thou hast come
now? - Know, O Prince of the Faithful,
he answered, that I was in my house, after
a portion of the night had elapsed, and, lo,
a man knocked at the door, and thus and
thus did he. And he acquainted him with
his story from first to last; and Suleyman
said, Knowest thou the man? Khuzey-
meh answered, I do not know him, O
Prince of the Faithful; for he was proud,
and I heard not of his speech aught but
his saying, I am a repairer of the slips of
the generous. Upon this, Suleyman the
son of 'Abd-El-Melik burned and anxiously
longed to know him, and said, If we knew
him, we would requite him for his kindness.
Then he tied an ensign for Khuzeymeh
the Son of Bishr, and appointed him Gov-
ernor of El-Jezeereh, in the place of 'Ekri-
meh El-Feiyád.
So Khuzeymeh went forth on his way
to El-Jezeereh, and when he drew near
to it, 'Ekrimeh came forth and met him,
and the people of El-Jezeereh also came
out to meet him, and they saluted one an-
other. They then proceeded all together
until Khuzeymeh entered the city, and
alighted at the government-house, when he
gave orders that a guarantee should be
taken on the part of 'Ekrimeh, and that
he should be called to account. He was,
therefore, called to account, and Khuzey-
meh found him to owe large sums of
money, and required him to pay them;
but he said, I have no means of paying
aught. They must be paid, said Khuzey-
meh. 'Ekrimeh replied, The money is not
in my possession; so do as thou wilt. And
Khuzeymeh gave orders to take him to
prison, and sent to him again, requiring
him to pay what he owed. But he sent
back, saying to him, I am not of those
who preserve their wealth by sacrificing
their honour; so do as thou wilt. And
Khuzeymeh ordered that his feet should be
shackled with irons, and that he should
be kept in prison; and he remained a
month, or more, until that treatment
emaciated him, and his imprisonment af-
flicted him.
Then information of his state reached
the daughter of his uncle, and she was
grieved thereat extremely, and, having
called an emancipated female slave who
had belonged to her, who was endowed
with abundant intellect and knowledge,
she said to her, Go immediately to the
door of the Emeer Khuzeymeh the son of
Bishr, and say, I have an admonition to
give: - and if any one ask it of thee,
reply, I will not tell it save to the Emeer.
Then, when thou hast gone in to him, de-
mand of him a private interview; and
when thou art alone with him, say to him,
What is this deed that thou hast done?
Was the requital that the repairer of the
slips of the generous should receive of thee
nought save thy requiting him with severe
imprisonment, and strait confinement in
irons? The female slave therefore did as
she commanded; and when Khuzeymeh
heard her words, he called out with his
loudest voice, Alas, my baseness! Verily
he is the person! She replied, Yes. So
he gave orders immediately to bring his
beast, and it was saddled; and he sum-
moned the chief men of the city, brought
them together to him, and went with them
to the door of the prison, and opened it.
Khuzeymeh and those who were with him
entered, and they saw 'Ekrimeh sitting,
changed in condition, the beating and af-
fliction that he suffered having emaciated
him; and when he beheld Khuzeymeh, the
sight abashed him, and he hung down his
head. But Khuzeymeh approached, and
threw himself upon 'Ekrimeh's head, kiss-
ing it. So 'Ekrimeh raised his head to-
wards him, and said to him, What hath
occasioned this conduct of thine? He an-
swered, Thy generous actions, and my evil
requital. And 'Ekrimeh replied, May God
forgive us and thee! Then Khuzeymeh
commanded the jailer to loose the chains
from him, and ordered that they should
be put upon his own feet; whereupon
'Ekrimeh said, What is this that thou de-
sirest to do? He answered, I desire that
I may suffer like as thou hast suffered.
But 'Ekrimeh said, I conjure thee by Allah
that thou do it not! Then they all went
forth, and proceeded until they arrived at
the mansion of Khuzeymeh, when 'Ekrimeh
-
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
1233
bade him farewell, and desired to depart.
Khuzeymeh, however, prevented his doing
so; and 'Ekrimeh said, What dost thou
desire? He answered, I desire to change
thy condition; for my shame with respect
to the daughter of thine uncle is greater
than my shame with respect to thee. He
then gave orders to clear the bath. So
they cleared it, and they entered together,
and Khuzeymeh himself served 'Ekrimeh.
After that, they went forth, and Khuzey-
meh bestowed upon 'Ekrimeh a sumptuous
dress, mounted him upon a beast, and, con-
veying with him a large sum of money,
went with him to his house, and begged
his permission to excuse himself to the
daughter of his uncle; and he did excuse
himself to her; after which, he asked
'Ekrimeh to go with him to Suleymán the
son of 'Abd-El-Melik, who was then stay-
ing at Er-Ramleh, and he consented to do
So.
They both proceeded until they came to
Suleyman the son of 'Abd-El-Melik, when
the chamberlain entered, and acquainted
him with the arrival of Khuzeymeh the
son of Bishr; and this alarmed him, and
he said, Doth the Governor of El-Jezeereh
come without our order! This is on ac-
count of nought save a great occurrence!
And he gave him permission to enter; and
when he entered, he said to him, before he
had saluted him, What tidings bringest
thou, O Khuzeyr..eh? He answered him,
Good, O Prince of the Faithful. - And
what hath brought thee? said the Kha-
leefeh. He answered, I have got the re-
pairer of the slips of the generous, and I
wished to rejoice thee with him, having
seen thine anxious desire to know him,
and thy longing to behold him. The Kha-
leefeh said, And who is he? And he an-
swered, 'Ekrimeh El-Feiyád. So he gave
him permission to approach; and he ap-
proached, and saluted him as Khaleefeh;
and the Khaleefeh welcomed him, caused
him to draw near to the place where he
sat, and said to him, O 'Ekrimeh, thy good
action to him was nought but a trouble to
thyself. Then Suleymán said, Write all
thy wants, and every thing that thou re-
quirest, in a note. And he did so; and
the Khaleefeh gave orders to accomplish
all that he required immediately. He gave
orders also to present him with ten thou-
sand pieces of gold, besides the needful
things that he had written, and twenty
chests of clothes, which were also an addi-
tion to the things that he had written;
after which, he called for a spear, and tied
for him an ensign, as Governor of El-
Jezeereh and Irmeeneeyeh and Adhrabee-
ján; and he said to him, The case of Khu-
zeymeh is submitted to thee: if thou wilt,
thou shalt confirm him; and if thou wilt,
thou shalt displace him. 'Ekrimeh re-
plied, Nay, I will restore him to his post,
O Prince of the Faithful. Then they both
departed from him; and they ceased not
to be Governors under Suleyman the son
of 'Abd-El-Melik as long as he was Kha-
leefeh.
[Of four anecdotes which I here omit,
the last is that of Ibráheem El-Mósilee and
the Devil, which I have already related,
in page 1019 of this work.]
The Lovers of the Benee-'Odhrah
The Prince of the Faithful, Hároon Er-
Rasheed, being troubled one night with ex-
ceeding restlessness, desired Jemeel the son
of Maamar El-'Odhree to relate to him a
story, and the latter said, —
Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that I
was fascinated by a damsel, enamoured of
her, and I used often to visit her, as she
was the object of my desire and ambition
among the things of the world. Ther her
family removed with her, on account of the
scarcity of pasture; and I remained a while
without seeing her; after which, desire dis-
quieted me, and attracted me to her: so
my soul suggested to me a journey to her;
and on a certain night, desire excited me
to repair to her. I therefore arose, and
girded my saddle upon my she-camel,
bound my turban round my head, put on
my old clothes, slung on my sword,
armed myself with my spear, mounted my
she-camel, and went forth to seek her. I
journeyed quickly, and I was proceeding
one night, it was a night of thick dark-
ness, yet notwithstanding that, I endured
the difficulties of descending into the val-
leys and ascending the mountains. - and I
heard the roaring of the lions, and the
howling of the wolves, and the noises of
wild beasts on every side. My reason
was confounded, my mind was disordered,
and my tongue desisted not from repeat-
ing the praises of God, whose name be
exalted! And while I was proceeding in
this state, sleep overcame me, and the
camel conveyed me by a different way
from that in which I was: sleep over-
powered me, and, lo, something struck
me upon my head. So I awoke alarmed
and terrified; and, behold, there were trees
and rivers, and birds upon the branches
of those trees were warbling with their
various tongues and notes, and the trees
1234
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
of that verdant spot were entangled, one
with another. I therefore alighted from
my she-camel, and took her halter in my
hand, and ceased not to endeavour by
gentle means to get clear until I led her
forth from those trees to a desert tract;
whereupon I placed her saddle right, and
seated myself properly on her back.
--
I knew not whither to go, nor unto what
place destiny would urge me; but I looked
over that desert, and a fire appeared to
me at its further extremity. So I struck
my she-camel, and proceeded towards the
fire until I arrived at it; and I drew near
to it, and looked attentively, and, lo, there
was a Bedawee tent pitched, with a spear
stuck in the ground, and a beast standing,
and horses, and pasturing camels. I there-
fore said within myself, Probably great
importance attaches to this tent; for I see
not in this desert any other. Then I ad-
vanced towards it, and said, Peace be on
you, O people of the tent, and the mercy
of God, and his blessings. And there came
forth to me from it a young man, of the
youths of nineteen years, who was like
the full moon when it shineth, and courage
was manifest in his countenance; and he
said, And on thee be peace, and the mercy
of God, and his blessings, O brother of the
Arabs! Verily I imagine that thou hast
wandered from the way. I replied, The
case is so. Direct me: may God have mercy
on thee! But he said, O brother of the
Arabs, verily this our district is a place
abounding with wild beasts, and this night
is dark and dreary, exceedingly dark and
cold, and I should not be without fear for
thee lest the wild beast should tear thee;
therefore alight and rest with me, and en-
joy amplitude and ease; and when the
morrow cometh, I will direct thee to the
right way. Accordingly I alighted from
my she-camel, tied up one of her fore-feet
with the end of her halter, and, having
pulled off the clothes that were upon me,
attired myself lightly, and sat a while.
And, lo, the young man took a sheep and
slaughtered it, and he kindled and lighted
up a fire; after which, he entered the tent,
and took forth some fine spices, and good
salt, and began to cut off pieces of the meat
of that sheep, and to roast them upon the
fire, and give to me; sighing at one time,
and weeping at another. Then he uttered
a great groan, wept violently, and recited
these verses: -
There remaineth not aught save a flitting breath,
and an eye of which the pupil is con-
founded [in its vision].
There remaineth not a joint of any of his limbs
but in it is a constant disease;
And his tears are flowing, and his bowels burn-
ing; but, notwithstanding this, he is silent.
His enemies weep for him in pity. Alas for
him whom the exulting foe pitieth!
So I knew, upon this, O Prince of the
Faithful, that the young man was a dis-
tracted lover, and none knoweth love but
he who hath tasted it. I therefore said
within myself, Shall I ask him? But then
I consulted my mind, and said, How shall
I attack him with inquiry when I am in
his abode? So I restrained myself; and
ate of that meat as much as sufficed me;
and when we had finished eating, the
young man arose, and entered the tent, and
brought forth a clean basin, with a hand-
some ewer, and a napkin of silk, the ends
of which were embroidered with red gold,
and a sprinkling-bottle full of rose-water
infused with musk. I wondered therefore
at his elegance and delicacy, and said
within myself, I knew not elegance in the
desert. Then we washed our hands, and
conversed a while; after which he arose,
and entered the tent, and made a partition
between me and him with a piece of red
brocade, and said, Enter, O chief of the
Arabs, and take thy place of repose; for
thou hast experienced fatigue this night,
and excessive toil in this thy journey.
So I entered, and, lo, I found a bed of
green brocade, and thereupon I pulled off
the clothes that were upon me, and passed
such a night as I had never passed in my
life; but all the while I was meditating
upon the case of this young man until the
night was dark, and eyes slept. Then sud-
denly I heard a low voice, than which I
had never heard any more soft or delicate.
I therefore raised the partition that was
put between us, and, lo, I beheld a damsel,
than whom I had never seen one more
beautiful in face. She was by his side, and
they were weeping, and complaining to
each other of the pain of love and desire
and ardent passion, and of the violence of
their longing to meet each other. So I
said, O Allah, how I wonder at this second
person! For when I entered this tent, I
saw not in it any one but this young man,
and he had not any one with him. Then
I said within myself, No doubt this damsel
is of the daughters of the Jinn; she loveth
this young man, who hath segregated him-
self with her in this place; and she hath
segregated herself with him. But after-
wards I looked intently at her, and, behold,
she was a human, Arab girl: when she
uncovered her face, she put to shame the
shining sun, and the tent was illuminated
by the light of her countenance. So when
I certified myself that she was his beloved,
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
1235
I thought upon the jealousy of the lover;
wherefore I let down the curtain, and cov-
ered my face, and slept. And when I arose
in the morning, I put on my clothes, per-
formed the ablution for my prayers, and
acquitted myself of the divinely-ordained
prayers that were incumbent on me; after
which I said to the young man, O brother
of the Arabs, wilt thou direct me to the
right way? Thou hast bestowed favours
upon me.- But he looked towards me,
and answered, At thy leisure, O chief of
the Arabs. The period of the entertain-
ment of a guest is three days; and I am
not one who will. let thee go until after
three days.
I therefore remained with him three
days, says Jemeel; and on the fourth day,
we sat to converse, and I conversed with
him, and asked him his name and gene-
alogy; whereupon he said, As to my
genealogy, I am of the Benee-'Odhrah; and
as to my name, I am such-a-one, the son
of such-a-one, and my paternal uncle is
such-a-one. And, lo, he was the son of
my paternal uncle, O Prince of the Faith-
ful, and he was of the most noble house
of the Benee-'Odhrah. So I said, O son of
my uncle, what induced thee to do as I
see, segregating thyself in this desert; and
how is it that thou hast forsaken thy com-
forts and the comforts of thy fathers; and
how is it that thou hast forsaken thy male
slaves and thy female slaves, and segre-
gated thyself in this place? And when he
heard, O Prince of the Faithful, my words,
his eyes filled with tears, and he answered,
O son, of my uncle, I was in love with the
daughter of my paternal uncle, fascinated
by her, distracted with love of her, ren-
dered insane by passion for her, unable
to endure separation from her; and my
passion for her became excessive. So I de-
manded her in marriage of my uncle; but
he refused, and he married her to a man
of the Benee-'Odhrah, who took her as
his wife, and conveyed her to the place of
his residence last year. And when she was
distant from me, and I was prevented from
seeing her, the burnings of love, and the
violence of desire and ardent passion, in-
duced me to forsake my family, and to
quit my tribe and my friends and all my
comforts, and I took up my abode alone
in this tent in this desert, and accustomed
myself to my solitude. - - And where, said
I, are their tents? He answered, They are
near, on the summit of this mountain; and
every night, when eyes sleep, in the stillness
of night, she stealeth away secretly from
the tribe, so that no one knoweth of her
movement, and I accomplish my desire by
discourse with her, and she accomplisheth
her desire in like manner. I am remaining
in this state, consoling myself with her dur-
ing a period of the night, until God shall
accomplish a thing that must come to pass,
or my object be attained in spite of the
enviers, or until God shall determine for
me, and He is the best of those who de-
termine. So when the young man in-
formed me, O Prince of the Faithful, his
case grieved me, and I became perplexed by
reason of the zeal that affected me there-
upon. Then I said to him, O son of my
uncle, shall I shew thee a stratagem that I
would counsel thee to employ, wherein, if
it be the will of God, thou wilt find the
most advisable course, and the way to a
right and successful issue, and by means of
which God will dispel from thee that which
thou dreadest? The young man answered,
Tell me, O son of my uncle. And I said
to him, When it is night, and the damsel
hath come, put her upon my she-camel:
for she is swift: and mount thou thy
courser. I also will mount one of these
she-camels, and proceed with you both all
the night, and the morning will not have
come before I shall have traversed with
you deserts and wastes; so thou wilt have
attained thy desire, and got possession
of the beloved of thy heart. The expanse
of God's earth is wide, and I, by Allah,
will aid thee while I live with my soul and
my wealth and my sword. And when he
heard this, he replied, O son of my uncle,
wait until I consult her on this subject;
for she is intelligent, prudent, having clear
judgment.
-
But when the night became dark, and
the time of her coming had arrived, and he
was expecting her at the known period, she
was behind her usual time; and I saw the
young man go forth from the door of the
tent, and open his mouth, and begin to
inhale the breeze that blew from the quar-
ter whence she came, smelling her odour;
and he recited these two verses: -
O zephyr, thou bringest me a gentle gale from
the place in which the beloved is dwelling.
O wind, thou bearest a token of the beloved.
Knowest thou, then, when she will arrive?
Then he entered the tent, and sat a while
weeping; after which he said, O son of my
uncle, verily something hath occurred to
the daughter of my uncle this night, and
some accident hath happened to her, or
some obstacle hath prevented her from
coming to me. He then said to me, Stay
in thy place until I bring thee the news.
And thereupon he took his sword and his
shield, and after he had been absent from
1236
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
me for a period of the night, he approached
bearing something upon his hands, and
called out to me. So I hastened to him,
and he said, O son of my uncle, knowest
thou what hath happened? I answered,
No, by Allah. And he said, Verily I have
been afflicted with respect to the daughter
of my uncle this night; for she was coming
to us, and a lion opposed her in her way,
and rent her, and there remained not of
her aught save what thou seest. Then he
threw down what was upon his hand; and,
lo, it was the ends of the bones of the
damsel, and what else remained of her
bones. And he wept violently, and, hav-
ing cast the shield from his hand, took in
his hand a bag, and said to me, Go not
hence until I come to thee, if it be the will
of God, whose name be exalted! He then
departed, and was absent from me a while;
after which he returned with the head of
the lion in his hand, and he threw it down
from his hand, and demanded water. So I
brought it to him; and he washed the
mouth of the lion, and began to kiss it,
and to weep. His mourning for her was
excessive; and he recited these verses: -
O lion, who hast exposed thyself to destruc-
tion, thou hast perished, and hast roused up
my grief for my beloved.
Thou hast rendered me solitary who was lately
her companion, and made the bowels of the
earth to be her grave.
I say to time, that hath afflicted me with her
separation, God forbid that thou shouldst
shew me a friend in her stead!
He then said, O son of my uncle, I implore
thee by Allah, and by the claim of rela-
tionship and consanguinity that subsisteth
between me and thee, that thou keep my
charge. Thou wilt see me presently dead
before thee; and thereupon do thou wash
me, and shroud me together with these
remains of the bones of the daughter of my
uncle in this garment, and bury us both in
one grave, and inscribe upon our grave
these two verses: -
We lived upon the earth a life of comfort,
united in fellowship, and in abode and
home;
But fortune, with its changes, parted us from
each other, and now the grave-clothes have
united us.
Then he wept violently, and entered the
tent, and was absent from me a while;
after which he came forth; and he began
to sigh and to cry out, and, uttering a deep
groan, he quitted the world. So when I
beheld him thus die, the event grieved me
and afflicted me so that I almost joined
him by reason of the violence of my sorrow
for him. I then advanced to him, and laid
him on the ground, and did with him as he
had ordered me. I shrouded him with the
remains of the damsel together, and buried
them in one grave, and remained by their
grave three days; after which I departed;
and I continued for two years to visit
them frequently. Such were the events
of their history, O Prince of the Faithful.
And when Er-Rasheed heard his story,
he approved it; and he bestowed upon him
a robe of honour, and conferred upon him
a handsome gift.
[The next anecdote is that of the Beda-
Iwee and his Wife, related (though not so
fully as it is told in the original) in page
1068 of the present work. Then follows
an anecdote so nearly agreeing with the
story of Ibn-Mansoor and the Lady
Budoor that I think it needless to give a
translation of it: the latter appears to
me to be founded on the former; or per-
haps the reverse may be the case. The
next also I pass over for a similar reason:
it is an anecdote of Is-hák El-Mósilee and
the Devil, very similar (except in some
particulars rather too free for translation
and for insertion in this work) to that of
Ibraheem El-Mósilee and the Devil, which
I have before related, in page 1019.]
The Lovers Reunited
Is-hák the son of Ibráheem saith, I was
entirely devoted to the Barmekees; and
while I was one day in my abode, lo, my
door was knocked: so my young man went
forth, and he returned and said to me, At
the door is a comely youth, asking per-
mission to come in. I therefore gave him
permission, and there entered a young man
who bore traces of illness; and he said,
Verily I have been for some time desiring
to meet thee, and I have need of thine as-
sistance. And what is it that thou want-
est? said I. And he took forth three hun-
dred pieces of gold, which he put before
me, saying, I request thee to accept them
from me, and to compose for me an air
to two verses that I have uttered. So I
Isaid to him, Recite them to me. And he
recited, saying,
-
By Allah, O mine eye, which hast oppressed
my heart, extinguish with my tears the fire
of my grief.
Fortune joins in reproving me on account of
my beloved, and I shall not see her though
I be wrapped in my grave-clothes.
I therefore composed for him an air of a
plaintive kind, and sang it; whereupon he
fainted, and I imagined that he had died.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND
1237
He recovered, however, and said, Repeat it.
But I conjured him by Allah, and said, I
fear thou wilt die. He replied, Would
that such an event happened! And he
ceased not to humble himself and to sup-
plicate until I had pity on him, and re-
peated it. And thereupon he fell into a fit
more severe than the first, and I doubted
not of his death; but I ceased not to
sprinkle rose-water upon him until he re-
covered and sat up. So I praised God for
his safety, and put his pieces of gold before
him, saying to him, Take thy money, and
depart from me. But he replied, I have
no need of it, and thou shalt have the like
of it if thou repeat the air. And my heart
was dilated at the prospect of the money;
wherefore I said to him, I will repeat it;
but on three conditions: the first of them
is, that thou shalt remain with me and eat
of my food, in order that thy soul may be
strengthened; and the second, that thou
shalt drink of the wine as much as will
restrain thy heart; and the third, that thou
shalt relate to me thy story. And he did
so, and said,
I am a man of the people of El-Me-
deeneh. I went forth for recreation, and
proceeded by the way to El-'Akeek, with
my brothers; and I saw a damsel, with
girls who were like a branch covered with
dew. She looked with two eyes whose
glance was not withdrawn save with the
soul that contemplated them; and they
remained until the day closed, when they
departed; and I found in my heart wounds
slow to heal. So I returned endeavouring
to obtain information of her; but found
not any one to acquaint me; therefore I
proceeded to seek diligently after her in
the market-streets; yet found not any
tidings of her. And I fell sick of grief,
and told my story to one of my relations;
but he said to me, No harm shall befall
thee. These days of the spring are not
ended, and the heaven will rain, and there-
upon she will go forth. I also will go forth
with thee, and do thou what thou wilt..
My soul therefore was tranquillized there-
by until El-'Akeek flowed with water, and
the people went forth. Thereupon I like-
wise went forth, with my brothers and my
relations, and we sat in the same place as
before; and we had not remained long
when the women approached, running like
two horses for a wager. So I said to a
damsel of my relations, Say to this damsel,
This man saith unto thee, Well did he ex-
press himself who uttered this verse:
She smote me with an arrow which pierced the
heart, and she withdrew, having left in it
a wound and scars.
-
She therefore went to her, and said to her
thus; and she replied, Say to him, Well
hath he said who replied with this verse: -
We feel the like of that which thou bemoanest:
so have patience: we may see relief that
will soon heal our hearts.
And I abstained from speaking, in fear of
disgrace, and rose and departed. On my
rising, she also rose, and I followed her,
and she looked at me until I knew her
abode; and after this, she used to come to
me, and I used to go to her. Thus we had
interviews with each other, and our meet-
ings were so frequent that the case became
public and manifest, and her father knew
of it. Yet I ceased not to be assiduous
in meeting her, and complained of the case
to my father, who thereupon collected our
family, and went to her father to request
her in marriage. He, however, said, Had
that matter been known to me before he
had disgraced her [by his visits], I had
done as ye desire: but the thing hath be-
come notorious, and I would not verify
the assertion of the people.
So I repeated to him the air, says Is-
hák, and he acquainted me with his abode;
after which he departed; and we had be-
come familiar with each other. Then
Jaafar the son of Yahyà sat, and I pre-
sented myself as was my custom, and sang
to him the verses of the youth; where-
upon he was moved with delight, and
drank some cups, and said, Wo to thee!
Whose air is this? I therefore told him
the story of the youth, and he ordered me
to ride to him, and to assure him of the
attainment of the object of his desire. Ac-
cordingly I went to him, and I brought
him, and Jaafar desired him to repeat
the story; wherefore he related it to him;
and Jaafar said, Depend upon me that I
will marry thee to her. So his soul was
comforted, and he remained with us. And
when the morning came, Jaafar rode to Er-
Rasheed, and related to him the story; and
he admired it, and commanded that we
should all present ourselves. He then de-
sired the repetition of the air, and drank to
it; after which he gave orders to write a
letter to the Governor of the Hejáz, re-
quiring him to send the father of the
woman with her family in an honourable
manner to his presence, and to expend upon
them amply. And but a short time had
elapsed before they came, when Er-Rasheed
commanded to bring the man before him.
So he came; and he ordered him to marry
his daughter to the youth, and gave him a
hundred thousand pieces of gold. Then
the man returned to his family; and the
1238
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
youth ceased not to be one of the boon-
companions of Jaafar until that happened
which happened; whereupon the youth
returned with his family to El-Medeeneh.
-May God (whose name be exalted!)
have mercy upon the souls of all of
them!
[One more anecdote follows in the orig-
inal; but it must be omitted here. Then
follows the story of the Crafty Deleeleh,
which ends with part of the Seven Hun-
dred and Ninetieth Night. I should hesi-
tate to introduce it in the present collec-
tion of tales on account of its vulgarity;
but it is rendered more objectionable by
indecent incidents, and, without making
many and great alterations, I could not
offer it to the English reader. The next
story is that of Ardesheer and Hayát-en-
Nufoos, ending with part of the Seven
Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night. This
also I pass over as it is little more than a
repetition, word for word, of the story of
Táj-el-Mulook and the Lady Dunyà.]
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD
NOTE I. Here, as in other instances, I
have substituted "Sháh-Zemán " for
"Shahramán."
NOTE 2. "Rudeynee" is a relative ad-
jective from " Rudeyneh," the name of a
woman of Khatt Hejer, who, as well as her
husband Semher, practised, and excelled
in, the art of straightening spear-shafts.
Hence the terms "Rudeynee" and "Sem-
heree "
are often applied to a straight
spear.
NOTE 3. I suppose the city here men-
tioned to be imaginary; and perhaps the
sea may be imaginary also. The latter,
however, may be the Caspian.
NOTE 4. "Jullanár" (vulgarly pro-
nounced "Julnár ") is from the Persian
"gulnár," and significs Pomegranate-
flower." In my original, by the erroneous
addition of a point, the last letter is con-
verted into z.
NOTE 5. "Sáleh
"just," "virtuous," &c.
signifies "good,"
NOTE 6. These people of the sea appear
to me to be an inferior class of the Jinn
termed "El-Ghowwásah," that is, the
Divers, or Plungers, in the seas. They fly
through the air; and fire, the element of
which the Jinn were created, is said to
have issued from the mouth of Jullanár's
relations. Her people are often spoken of
as men; but it does not appear that the
author meant them to be considered as
human beings in the literal sense of the
term. Jullanár's son, however, evidently
partook more of his father's than of his
mother's nature.
NOTE 7. See Note 12 to Chapter xx.
NOTE 8. These cressets are described in
Note 2 to Chapter xiii.
NOTE 9.
"Bedr Básim" signifies" Smil-
ing Full Moon."
NOTE 10. See Note 4 to Chapter xiii.
NOTE 11. "Jóharah "
Jewel."
signifies
"a
NOTE 12.
"Semendel" is a name of the
salamander, and also of a bird of India
and China, of which it is said, as of the
salamander, that it is not burned by fire.
NOTE 13. This comparison has been
made before, with respect to the hair of
Sáleh. On this second occurrence of the
expression, my sheykh has stated, in the
margin, his disapprobation of it.
NOTE 14. Four different kinds of an-
telopes are thus called. The distinctive
name, in Arabic, of the kind here men-
tioned is "maháh."
NOTE 15. These words, "God imposeth
not," &c., are from the Kur-án, ch. ii. v.
286
NOTE 16. The "keerát," or carat (Gr.
KEрȧTLOV), is the weight of a bean, equal
to four kamhahs (or wheat-grains), or
very nearly three English grains. It is the
twenty-fourth part of a mithkál, and hence
is a term used to signify the twenty-fourth
part of any thing. Thus the Arabs say of
a person in whom they see no fault,
is a perfect man of four and twenty
He
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH
1239
keeráts;" as we say of gold, that it is so
many carats fine.
NOTE 17.
myrtle."
99
66
signifies
"Marseeneh
a
NOTE 18. It appears that the ring which
before preserved him from drowning he
lost when he was transformed into a bird.
"9
NOTE 19. In the original, the name
"Láb " is interpreted as meaning in Arabic
"Takweem esh-Shems; " but "Láb," which
is a Persian word, signifies in Arabic sim-
ply "esh-Shems; in English," the Sun;
Takweem esh-Shems," as a proper name,
The mean-
appears to me to be nonsense.
is "rectification,"
ing of "takweem "
"an al-
correction," &c.; "evaluation;
an astrological calculation," &c.
16
"
manac;
NOTE
97 66
20.
The word here rendered
forms" also signifies "colours," and
'species," or kinds."
NOTE 21. The Queen Láb was an infi-
del, a worshipper of fire, as the tale after-
wards shews.
NOTE 22. "'Abd-Allah" signifies
Servant of God."
"the
NOTE 23. "Saweek" is the meal of
parched barley. It is made into a kind of
gruel, or thick ptisan, but not too thick to
be drunk.
a
NOTE 24. Mr. Keightley mentions
tale in the Pleasant Nights of Straparola,
and also a popular story in Germany, hav-
ing some resemblance to this incident, and
likewise points of resemblance to the story
With
of the Second Royal Mendicant.
respect to the incident in the story of
Bedr Básim, he observes, "There is noth-
ing said about the bridle in the account of
the sale; but I am sure that, in the origi-
nal tale, Bedr's misfortune must have been
owing to his having parted with it. In
Chaucer's Squier's Tale, the bridle would
also appear to have been of some impor-
tance." He likewise observes, that "Queen
Labe, with her lovers turned into various
animals, reminds one strongly of the
Homeric Circe; " and adds, that he thinks
it "not at all impossible that the Grecian
fable may have penetrated into Persia."
He had before remarked upon the great
differences betwen this tale and that of the
Magic Horse; shewing the superior claims
of the latter to be regarded as a Persian
composition; but stating his opinion that
the former "is possibly an ancient Persian
tale also, though the Arabian narrator may
have taken greater liberties with it."
a
signifies
NOTE 25. "Farásheh "
moth," and "a butterfly,' and, according to
66 a locust.'
my sheykh,
NOTE 26. In the old version, it is said
that "all the lovers of the magic queen
resumed their pristine forms as soon as she
ceased to live;" and that "they were all
sons of kings, princes, or persons of high
rank."
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH
NOTE I. In the original, this story has
the following introduction, which I have
transferred to this place because it seems
to me to be of little interest, and calcu-
lated to induce expectations that will not
be fully realized. The Breslau edition does
not contain it.
How the Merchant Hasan learned the
Night-Story of Seyf-el-Mulook
"There was, in ancient times, a King,
of the Kings of the Persians, whose name
was Mohammad the son of Sebáik, and
who ruled over the countries of Khurásán,
and every year he used to invade the
countries of the infidels, in El-Hind and
Es-Sind and China, and the regions that
are beyond the River (Oxus], and other
countries besides these, of the Persians and
other nations. He was a just, brave, gen-
erous, liberal King. And this King was
fond of conversations over the cup, and
traditions and verses, and histories and
tales, and night-discourses, and the lives of
the ancients. Whoever preserved in his
memory an extraordinary tale, and re-
lated it to him, he used to confer favours
upon him. It is said that if a stranger
came to him with an extraordinary night-
discourse, and recited before him, and he
1240
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
approved of his tale, and his words pleased
him, he used to bestow upon him a sump-
tuous robe of honour, give him a thousand
pieces of gold, mount him upon a horse
saddled and bridled, clothe him from head
to foot, and give him magnificent gifts;
and the man would take the things and go
his way.
-
"Now it happened that an old man
came to him with an extraordinary night-
tale, which he related before him, and he
approved of it, and his words pleased him;
so he gave orders to present to him a
sumptuous gift, comprising a thousand
pieces of gold of Khurásán, and a horse
completely equipped. Then, after this, the
news of these actions of the King spread
abroad throughout all the cities, and a man
named the merchant Hasan, who was gen-
erous, liberal, learned, a poet, excelling in
science, heard of him. And there was,
with that King, an envious Wezeer, of
inauspicious aspect, who loved not any one
among all the people, neither the rich nor
the poor; and whenever any one came to
that King and he gave him aught, he en-
vied him, and said, Verily this practice
consumeth the wealth and ruineth the
country; and this is the custom of the
King: these words proceeding not save
from envy and hatred in that Wezeer.
Then the King heard of the merchant
Hasan; so he sent to him, and caused him
to be brought; and when he came before
him, he said to him, O merchant Hasan,
the Wezeer hath acted with opposition and
enmity towards me on account of the
wealth that I give to the poets and the
boon-companions, and the reciters of tales
and verses. Now I desire of thee that thou
relate to me a pleasant tale and an ex-
traordinary story, such that I have never
heard the like of it. And if thy story
please me, I will give thee many tracts of
land with their castles, and I will make
them additional to thy fief: I will also
place.all my kingdom at thy disposal, and
make thee the chief of my wezeers: thou
shalt sit on my right hand, and govern my
subjects. But if thou bring me not that of
which I have told thee, I will take all that
is in thy hand, and banish thee from my
country. To this the merchant Hasan
replied, I hear and obey our lord the King.
But the memlook desireth of thee that thou
have patience with him for a year; then I
will relate to thee a story the like of which
thou hast not heard in thy life, neither
hath any one beside thee heard the like of
it, nor any story better than it. And
the King said, I grant thee a delay of a
whole year. Then he called for a sump-
tuous robe of honour, and clad him with it,
and said to him, Confine thyself to thy
house, and mount not, nor go nor come,
during the period of a whole year, until
thou presentest thyself with that which
I have demanded of thee. If thou bring
that, thou shalt receive special favour; and
rejoice thou in the prospect of that which
I have promised thee. But if thou bring
it not, thou shalt not be of us, nor will we
be of thee. And the merchant Hasan
kissed the ground before him, and went
forth.
-
"He then chose, of his memlooks, five
persons, all of whom wrote and read; and
they were excellent in science, intelligent,
versed in polite literature, of the choicest
of his memlooks. He gave to each of them
five thousand pieces of gold, and said to
them, I reared you not but for such a day
as this: aid me then to accomplish the
desire of the King, and save me from his
hand. They said to him, And what de-
sirest thou to do? For our souls shall be
thy ransom. He answered them, I desire
that each of you journey unto some region,
and that ye use your utmost endeavours
to gain access to the learned, and the ac-
complished in polite literature, and the ex-
cellent in science, and the relaters of ex-
traordinary talks and wonderful histories;
and search ye for me to procure the story
of Seyf-el-Mulook, and bring it to me. If
ye find it with any one, excite his desire
for its price, and whatsoever he demandeth
of gold and silver give him it; even if he
demand of you a thousand pieces of gold,
give him what ye have ready and promise
him the remainder, and bring it to me.
Whichever of you findeth this story and
bringeth it to me, I will bestow upon him
sumptuous robes of honour and abundant
favours, and there shall be unto me none
dearer than he. Then the merchant
Hasan said to one of them, Go thou to the
countries of El-Hind and Es-Sind, and
their provinces and districts. And he said
to another, Go thou to the countries of
Persia and China, and their districts. And
to another he said, Go thou to the coun-
tries of Khurásán, and its provinces and
districts. To another he said, Go thou to
the countries of the West, and its regions
and its districts and its provinces and all
its quarters. And he said to the other, the
fifth, Go thou to the countries of Syria
and Egypt, and their provinces and dis-
tricts. The merchant then chose for them
an auspicious day, and said to them, Set
forth on your journeys this day, and strive
diligently to accomplish my affair, and be
not slothful though the case should require
―
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH
1241
the sacrifice of your lives. So they bade
him farewell, and set forth, and each of
them went to the quarter to which he had
Four of them,
commanded him to go.
however, were absent four months, and
searched, and found not aught. Therefore
the bosom of the merchant Hasan was
contracted when the four memlooks re-
turned to him, and informed him that
they had searched the cities and the
countries and the districts for the objects
of their master's desire, and found not of
it aught.
"But as to the fifth memlook, he jour-
neyed until he entered Syria and arrived
at the city of Damascus, and he found it to
be a pleasant, secure city, with trees and
rivers and fruits, and birds that pro-
claimed the perfection of God, the One,
the Omnipotent, who created the night and
the day. He remained in it some days,
his master
inquiring for that which
wanted; but no one gave him information
of it. He then desired to depart thence,
and to journey to another place; and, lo,
he saw a young man running, and stum-
bling upon his skirts: so the memlook said
to him, Wherefore dost thou run, and art
thou distressed, and whither repairest
thou? And he answered him, Here is an
excellent sheykh who every day seateth
himself upon a stool at this time, and re-
lateth pleasant tales and histories and
night-stories, the like of which no one hath
heard; and I am running that I may find
for myself a place near unto him, and fear
that I shall not obtain a place on account
of the crowd. The memlook therefore said
And the
to him, Take me with thee.
young man replied, Hasten in thy pace.
So he closed his door, and hastened with
him until he arrived at the place in which
the sheykh recited amid the people, when
he saw that sheykh to be a person of
comely face, and sitting upon a stool re-
He seated himself
citing to the people.
near to him, and listened to hear his
story; and when the time of sunset came,
the sheykh ended the story, and the people,
having heard what he had recited, dis-
persed from around him. And thereupon
the memlook advanced to him and saluted
him, and he returned his salutation with
exceeding greeting and honour. The mem-
look then said to him, Verily, O my master
the sheykh, thou art a comely, reverend
man, and thy recitation is pleasant, and I
desire to inquire of thee respecting a thing,
and the sheykh replied, Inquire respecting
what thou wilt. So the memlook said to
him, Hast thou the night-story of Seyf-el-
The sheykh
Mulook and Bedeea-el-Jemál?
said to him, And from whom heardest thou
these words, and who is he who informed
thee of this? The memlook answered, I
heard not this from any one; but I am
from a distant country, and have come
seeking for this story, and whatsoever thou
demandest as its price, I will give it thee,
if thou have it and wilt bestow it as a
favour and charity upon me, and in the
generosity of thy nature wilt give it as an
alms from thee. If my soul were at my
disposal and I sacrificed it to thee for it,
my heart would be pleased by doing so.
And the sheykh replied, Be of good heart
and cheerful eye; for it shall be produced
to thee; but this is a story which none
relateth in the beaten way, nor would I
The mem-
give this story to every one.
look therefore said to him, By Allah, O my
master, do not covetously withhold it
from me; but demand of me whatever
thou wilt. And the sheykh replied, If thou
desire this story, give me a hundred pieces
of gold, and I will give it thee; but on five
conditions.
"So when he knew that it was in the
possession of the sheykh, and that he con-
sented to give it him, he rejoiced exceed-
ingly, and said to him, I will give thee a
hundred pieces of gold as its price, and
ten as a gratuity, and receive it on the
conditions that thou hast mentioned. And
the sheykh replied, Go, bring the gold and
receive what thou wantest. Wherefore the
memlook arose, and kissed the hands of
the sheykh, and went to his lodging joyful
and happy. He took in his hand a hun-
dred pieces of gold and ten, and put them
into a purse that he had with him; and
when the morning came, he arose and put
on his clothes, and, taking the pieces of
gold, went with them to the sheykh. He
saw him sitting at the door of his house,
and saluted him; and he returned his
salutation. He then gave him the hundred
pieces of gold and ten, and the sheykh,
having received them from him, arose, and
entered his house, taking the memlook in;
and he seated him in a place, and brought
to him an inkhorn and a pen and some
paper; and he brought to him also a book,
and said to him, Transcribe what thou
seekest from this book of the night-story
of Seyf-el-Mulook. The memlook there-
fore sat writing this story until he had
finished the transcription of it, when he
read it to the sheykh, and he corrected it;
and after that, the sheykh said to him,
Know, O my son, that the first condition is,
that thou relate not this story in the beaten
way; nor shalt thou relate it among women
among male black
and slave-girls, nor
1242
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
slaves and stupid persons, nor among boys;
but thou shalt only recite it among emeers
and kings and wezeers, and persons of
knowledge, such as expositors and others.
And the memlook assented to the condi-
tions, kissed the hands of the sheykh, bade
him farewell, and departed from him. He
set forth on his journey that day joyful
and happy, and ceased not to prosecute his
journey with diligence, by reason of the
great joy that he experienced on account
of his acquisition of the story of Seyf-el-
Mulook, until he came to his country; and
he sent his servant to convey the good
news to the merchant, and to say to him,
Thy memlook hath arrived safely, and at-
tained his wish and desire. And when the
memlook arrived at the city of his master,
and sent to him the messenger of good
news, there remained not of the period
agreed upon between the King and the
merchant Hasan more than ten days. He
then went in to his master the merchant,
and acquainted him with that which had
happened to him; whereat he rejoiced
greatly. The memlook rested in his private
apartment, and gave to his master the book
containing the story of Seyf-el-Mulook and
Bedeea-el-Jemál; and when his master saw
that, he bestowed on the memlook all the
clothes that were upon him, and gave him
ten excellent horses, and ten camels, and
ten mules, and three black slaves, and two
memlooks.
"The merchant then took the story,
wrote it plainly in his own hand, and went
up to the King, and said to him, O for-
tunate King, I have brought a night-story,
and a pleasant, rare tale, the like of which
no one hath ever heard. And when the
King heard the words of the merchant
Hasan, he ordered immediately that every
intelligent emeer should come, and every
learned man who excelled in science, and
every one versed in polite literature, and
each poet and sagacious person. Then the
merchant Hasan sat and read this story
before the King; and when the King and
every one who was present heard it, they
all wondered and approved of it. All who
were present approved of it, and they
showered upon him gold and silver and
jewels; and the King gave orders to present
to the merchant Hasan a sumptuous robe
of honour of the most magnificent of his
apparel, gave him a great city with its
castles and its fields, made him one of the
greatest of his wezeers, and seated him on
his right hand. He then ordered the scribes
to write this story in letters of gold, and
to place it in his private repositories; and
the King used, whenever his bosom was
contracted, to summon the merchant Hasan,
and he read it."
NOTE 2. These names are Arabic
("'Ásim" signifying "defending," &c.; and
"Safwán," "clear and cold," applied to a
day); and (notwithstanding the pretended
scenes and age of the story) the manners
and customs which it describes, and the
dresses, when any kind is specified, are
Arabian. The author evidently seems to
have intended Cairo as the capital of the
King. (See Note 18 below.)
NOTE 3.
"Fáris" signifies "a horse-
man," &c.; and "Sáleh," "good," "just,"
&c.
NOTE 4. In the Breslau edition, and in
Trébutien's version, the place of Suleyman's
abode at this time is said to have been
Sebà, of El-Yemen, the seat of government
of Bilkees, "the Queen of Sheba " men-
tioned in the Bible.
NOTE 5. Here it appears that the phrase
"to kiss the ground" is to be understood
in its literal sense; but I believe that this is
never the case when the act is said, in this
work, to be performed by a Muslim. -
See Note 15 to Chapter vi.
NOTE 6. "The same ceremony is still
observed at the audiences which the Porte
gives to Ambassadors. Oriental politeness
requires that refreshments be presented to
guests before inquiring the motive of their
visit." (Note by Von Hammer, in Trébu-
tien's version.)
NOTE 7. Mohammad did not profess to
reach a new religion, but to restore the only
true religion; and this is called "El-Islám,"
which signifies "resignation [to God]."
NOTE 8. By the "two prayers," it ap-
pears from what follows, that the prayers
of noon and afternoon are meant.
NOTE 9. So in the Breslau edition: of
the edition of Cairo, "two tunics; " but
only one is mentioned afterwards.
NOTE 10. The words "with all his sub-
jects" I have inserted on the authority of
the Breslau edition.
NOTE II. The word rendered "onion-
sauce " is takleeyeh." My sheykh ex-
plains it as "onions cooked in clarified
butter, after which they are put upon other
cooked food."
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH
1243
NOTE 12.
See Note 67 to Chapter xi.
NOTE 13. "Such rejoicings are still
usual at Constantinople, under the name of
'dónánmah,' not only when the Sultanas
are enceintes, but also when they are
brought to bed. In 1803, the rumor of the
pregnancy of a Sultana, being falsely
spread, involved all the ministers at Con-
stantinople in useless expenses, to prepare
for a dónánmah which did not take place."
(Note by Von Hammer, in Trébutien's
version.)
NOTE 14.
"Seyf-el-Mulook" signifies
"the Sword of the Kings." In the Breslau
edition and in Trébutien's version, the
astrologers are here said to have cast the
Prince's nativity, and to have foreseen vari-
ous events which the tale afterwards relates.
NOTE 15.
"Sá'ed" signifies
"fore
arm;" and hence it is applied to a chief,
upon whom people rely."
NOTE 16. In the Breslau edition, they
are said to have been taught the Kur-án,
&c.
NOTE 17. "Záwiyeh" has before been
explained, as a name given in Egypt to a
small mosque.
NOTE 18. "The Horse-course of the
Elephant "here mentioned seems to be that
of the Lake of the Elephant, which,
according to El-Makreezee (as stated in his
"Khitat "), was made towards the close
of the seventh century of the Flight, and
afterwards in the seventeenth year of the
next century, became the site of stables.
In the Breslau edition, the Horse-course is
called "el-Meydán el-Adl" this I suppose
to be a mistake for Meydán El-'Adil "
(or the Horse-course of El-'Adil); as El-
'Adil was the surname of the King who
made the Horse-course of the Lake of the
Elephant. If so, we must infer (as I have
observed in the second of these notes) that
Cairo is intended as the capital of the
King 'Ásim, notwithstanding the anachro-
nism thus implied.
NOTE 19. A description of banquets of
the kind here mentioned has been given in
Note 7 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 20. I suppose either the outer
curtains of the King's pavilion to be here
meant, or the inner curtains of its vestibule.
NOTE 21. Von Hammer, in illustration
of this passage, mentions the custom, still
existing, of girding the sabre on the side
of an eastern sovereign when he mounts
the throne; and adds, that the girdle is
found, upon their monuments, as one of
the insignia of the ancient Kings of Egypt.
Being adorned with most valuable jewels,
like the crown, the girdle is still one of the
insignia of many Eastern Kings.
66
NOTE 22. In my original is here added
"and the signet" (muhr); and in the
Breslau edition, and the bow;" but
neither of these things is mentioned before
or after.
66
NOTE 23. In my original, the name of
the father of Bedeea-el-Jemál is here writ-
ten "Shemmákh," or Shemakh,' as in
Trébutien's version; but he is often men-
tioned afterwards and always called
"Shahyál."
NOTE 24. Respecting Bábil, and the
Garden of Irem, see Note 14 to Chapter
iii., and the anecdote commencing in page
1125.
NOTE 25. So in the Breslau edition and
in .Trébutien's version: in my original
twenty thousand.
NOTE 26. "Faghfoor" is a common title
given by the Muslims to Emperors of
China. In my original, by the misplacing
of a diacritical point and the omission of
a letter, it is converted into "Kaafoo."
NOTE 27. In the original there is a play
upon words; "sabr," the name of the aloe,
signifying "patience." So also in the next
verse.
NOTE 28. See the last paragraph of Note
5 to Chapter i.
NOTE 29. Here we have again "the Old
Man of the Sea," whose nature and coun-
try (supposed to be Sumatra) have been
considered in Note 64 to Chapter xx.; but
in this instance we find him considered as
a Márid, which is properly an evil Jinnee
of the most powerful class. Some other
incidents in the present tale will be found
to be nearly the same as certain events in
the Voyages of Es-Sindibád of the Sea;
but it is inferior to those tales, and ap-
parently in some measure copied from
them, and from the romance of Seyf Zu-
1-Yezen. I have, therefore, not referred to
1244
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
these coincidences in my notes to the
Voyages of Es-Sindibád.
NOTE 30. See Note 39 to Chapter xx.
NOTE 31. These verses, I suspect, are by
some Soofee poet. See Note 102 to Chap-
ter x.
NOTE 32. Here, and afterwards, I read
"kelek" (a raft), as in the Breslau edi-
tion, instead of "fulk," which signifies "a
ship" or other vessel.
NOTE 33. In my original, "with the re-
maining memlook." I have corrected this
passage, and another afterwards in the
same manner, on the authority of the
Breslau edition.
NOTE 34. Here again I adopt a reading
of the Breslau edition.
NOTE 35. On this passage, my sheykh
has written upon the margin of my original,
"Were they Jews? If this were not in the
time of Suleymán, it might be said that
these apes were the Jews who were trans-
formed on the day of their transgression
with respect to the Sabbath." These are
mentioned in the sixty-first verse of the
second chapter of the Kur-án, and, as
stated by Sale, were some dwellers at
Eyleh (or Elath), on the Red Sea, who
lived in the time of David, and were trans-
formed into apes for catching fish on the
Sabbath. After remaining in this condi-
tion three days, they were destroyed by a
wind which swept them all into the sea.
But it appears from what is afterwards
stated in Trébutien's version, that by these
apes are meant the descendants of a rem-
nant of the tribe of 'Ád. At the time of
the general destruction of this tribe (men-
tioned in Note 37 to Chapter ii.), a com-
pany belonging to it had gone to Mekkeh
to pray for rain; and the persons com-
posing this company, or their descendants,
were afterwards transformed by God into
apes. (See Pocock's Spec. Hist. Arab.,
ed. 1806, pp. 36 and 37.
NOTE 36. In my original " their islands."
NOTE 37. The words rendered "And an
abandoned well, and a lofty palace," are
from the forty-fourth verse of the twenty-
second chapter of the Kur-án. They are
either misunderstood or purposely misap-
plied, in the tale; the true meaning being,
"And [how many] a well [hath been]
abandoned, and [how many] a lofty
palace!" Others, however, have misun-
derstood them, and given to them a par-
ticular application. “The Oriental geog-
raphers," observes Von Hammer, "state
these places [called in Arabic ' el-Beer el-
Mo'attalah' and 'el Kasr el-Mesheed'] to
be in the province of Hadramót, and we
wait for a new Niebuhr to inform us what
are the monuments or the ruins thus
called." - "Yáfith" and "Nooh" are the
names which we write "Japheth" and
"Noah."
NOTE 38. The word in my original is
"eewán;" but this means here, as my
sheykh has noted, what is now commonly
called a "leewán." It has been described
in Note 12 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 39. "Dólet," which signifies "for-
tune," "empire," &c., I suppose to be here
the proper name; and "Khátoon" (i. e.
Lady), a title subjoined in the Turkish
manner.
NOTE 40. By "the city of Sarandeeb"
we must understand the capital of the
island of Ceylon.
66
NOTE 41. “El-Kulzum" is the ancient
Clysma," whence the Red Sea is called
"the Sea of El-Kulzum."
NOTE 42. See Note 28 to Chapter 1
and Note 6 to Chapter xxiii.
NOTE 43. From the sequel, as well as
from what has been said above in Note 37.
it appears that this is meant as a falsehood
of the Jinnee, to deceive the lady.
NOTE 44. The words "and remaineth
with me three days," &c., are omitted in the
Cairo edition. I have supplied them from
the edition of Breslau.
NOTE 45. "For, had she remembered
her, probably she had come to her, as she
was a Jinneeyeh."
NOTE 46. "Hátim "I suppose to be the
name of the 'Efreet. In the Breslau edition
it is written "Khátim."
NOTE 47. The word for which I write
"coffer" is here, in my original, “ tábak”
or "tábik;" but afterwards, “táboot.”
NOTE 48. Here again, as in the instances
mentioned above, in Note 32,
"fulk
put in my original for "kelek."
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH
1245
NOTE 49. He put the sword between
himself and the lady from a motive of
modesty and respect.
NOTE 50. The word rendered "lying"
is "sáke'." My sheykh supposes it to be
a vulgar word derived from "sakeea," for
"sakeea," which signifies "hoar-frost: "
but I imagine that the word 'sáke'," i. e.
"lying," or "a liar," had escaped his
memory at the time of his reading this
passage.
NOTE 51. This city and harbour I sup-
pose to be imaginary. The name of the
former is derived from "'emáreh," which
signifies "the being inhabited." &c.: that
of the latter may be rendered "the lurk-
ing-place of the two seas," or of the
province [of Arabia] called El-Bahreyn."
In the Breslau edition, the city is called
"'Amár;" and the harbour, "Beyn el-
Bahreyn."
66
NOTE 52. This name, I rather think,
should be "'Ali-l-Mulk," or "the High in
Dominion."
NOTE 53. (6
Mo'een-ed-Deen" signifies
"the Aider of the Religion."
NOTE 54.
"'Shoom' is a kind of tough
wood of which are made small staves
wherewith asses are driven." Sir Gardner
Wilkinson informs me that it is ash.
NOTE 55. In Trébutien's version, this
cannibal is here called (vol. ii. p. 168)
"Goul-Eli-Fenioun; " and the following
note by Von Hammer is subjoined. "There
was no need of this similitude of name to
prove that all this episode is a manifest
imitation of the adventures of Ulysses in
the cave of Polyphemus, and that this
latter is the same as Goul-Eli-Fenioun:
which induces the belief that the Arabs
have been acquainted with the poems of
Homer." But may not the story of
Ulysses and Polyphemus have been of
Eastern origin? See some remarks on the
knowledge that the Arabs had of Homer,
in the Review subjoined to this work.
Notes 39 and 52 to Chapter xx. will serve
to illustrate the account of the Ghool in
the present tale.
NOTE 56. In the Breslau edition, the
ship is not wrecked, but conveys Sá'ed,
with the other passengers, safely to the city
where Seyf-el-Mulook finds him.
NOTE 57. Instead of "enchanting, cruel
eye," we may, as my sheykh observes, read,
'enchanting eye of Jinneeyeh."
66
NOTE 58. For the story of Suleymán
and Bilkees (whom I have mentioned
above, in Note 4), see the twenty-seventh
chapter of the Kur-án, and Sale's notes.
NOTE 59. The action here described is
one indicative of extreme submission.
NOTE 60. In the Breslau edition, Shah-
yál is here very properly made to say,
"Dost thou not know that a single human
being is, with God, better than a thousand
Jinnees?"
NOTE 61. This sentence is from the
Breslau edition.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH
99
NOTE I. The hero of this story is called
in Dr. Scott's translation "Mazin of
Khorassaun," or Khurásán. He is there
said, in the commencement of the tale, to
have "resided in the city of Khorassaun;
but afterwards, in "Bussorah," or El-
Basrah. The story in Dr. Scott's version is
short in comparison with that in my orig-
inal; but in other respects, for the most
part it agrees with the latter. I have be-
fore mentioned, that another tale of the
Thousand and One Nights (that of Ján-
sháh) is similar to this in its general char-
acter, and in the incidents upon which it
is chiefly founded.
NOTE 2.
In the Breslau edition, Hasan
is said to have squandered away his
wealth.
NOTE 3. There are various kinds of
kohl, as mentioned in Note 34 to Chapter
ii. Those which are used merely for the
sake of ornament are black; but there are
many other kinds of different colours em-
ployed for medicinal purposes.
1246
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 4. "That is," as my sheykh ob-
serves in a marginal note, "but few per-
sons know it: and in this expression is a
double meaning: it signifies also 'I know
not that.'"
97 66
NOTE 5. I read "ke'áb (plural of
"kaab," a cup,") for a word written in
my original "kabbát," and in the Breslau
edition "kaabán."
NOTE 6. "The Persian wrote these two
verses, to denote that he had taken Hasan,
and that he (the latter) would not re-
turn."
. NOTE 7. This is not consistent with the
sequel. The passage is perhaps corrupted
by copyists. It should rather be said, "he
used every year to take a Muslim and to
sacrifice him in order to attain an object of
his desire."
66
NOTE 8. The drum and plectrum here
mentioned (called, respectively, in my orig-
inal, "tabl" and zakhmeh or zukh-
meh") appear to be similar to those de-
scribed in the following passage. "Dar-
weeshes, in religious processions, &c., and
in begging, often make use of a little tabl,
or kettle-drum, called 'báz,' six or seven
inches in diameter which is held in the left
hand, by a little projection in the centre of
the back; and beaten by the right hand,
with a short leathern strap, or a stick."
The term which designates the plectrum in
my original is also applied to a stirrup-
leather, or strap. The drum is generally
of tinned copper, with a parchment face.
NOTE 9. This seems, from the sequel,
to be the same palace near which they
before passed. We may suppose that it was
situate a little above the foot of the moun-
tain, and that the Magian had pursued a
very circuitous route (along a winding
valley) in order to avoid passing close
beneath it.
NOTE 10.
So in the Breslau edition: in
the Cairo edition, "rakhams," or aquiline
vultures.
NOTE 11. There is an incident similar to
this in the romance of Seyf Zu-l-Yezen,
which work I have mentioned before.
Misr, the son of Seyf Zu-l-Yezen, is sewed
up in a camel's hide, and carried by a rukh
to the top of a mountain, to obtain a
treasure for a treacherous Magian, named
Bahrám. It is also remarkable that the
story of Hasan of El-Basrah presents two
other incidents which I have found de-
scribed in the romance above mentioned.
See Notes 15 and 16 below.
NOTE 12. These verses, except the last,
have occurred before, in page 135. See
the notes there referred to.
NOTE 13. The form of this prayer I
have given in my work on the Modern
Egyptians, vol. ii. ch. xv.
46
NOTE 14.
plastered
"lofty."
"Mesheed " generally signifies
but here its meaning
is
NOTE 15. This is one of the incidents
alluded to above, in Note 11. Seyf Zu-l-
Yezen enters a forbidden closet in a palace,
and ascends thence, by a flight of steps, to
the roof.
NOTE 16. This is the last of the inci-
dents that I have to notice as occurring in
the romance of Seyf Zu-l-Yezen. The chief
hero of this romance (Seyf himself) sees a
number of beautiful damsels with clothing
and wings of feathers, who fly like birds
and come to a pool in a pavilion, near
which he has concealed himself, in the
midst of a garden. There they divest them-
selves of their dresses of feathers, and
bathe; and Seyf, like Hasan of El-Basrah,
becoming enamoured of the chief damsel,
adopts the same plan as Hasan with the
view of capturing her, and experiences the
same result. Trébutien mentions (vol. ii.
p. 208) a similar incident in a German
tale. "Il est assez remarquable qu'il existe
en Allemagne une tradition à peu près
semblable, et qui a fourni le sujet d'un des
contes de Musæus, intitulé le Voile enlevé."
-I also find that in the first volume of
Mr. Keightley's "Fairy Mythology" is a
Shetland legend of the same kind; but the
vehicle is a seal-skin.
NOTE 17. See Note 43 to Chapter x.
NOTE 18. The new moon of the Festi-
val of Ramadán (commonly called the
Minor Festival) is anxiously watched for,
and the sight of it gives delight, as it shews
that the month of abstinence is ended.
Hence there is a double reason for the
comparison in the text.
NOTE 19. See Note 24 to Chapter xv.
NOTE 20.
In the latter hemistich of
this verse, in my original, a transposition
is required for the sake both of the sense
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH
1247
and the measure, as my sheykh has ob-
served. For "wa-hwa fi-l-hobbi " we must
read "fi-l-hobbi wa-hwa."
NOTE 21.
"Mandharah" is here put in
my original instead of "mak'ad."
NOTE 22. See Note 58 to Chapter ii.
-
an army
corre-
"" I
NOTE 23. The words
have inserted on the authority of the
Breslau edition. Dr. Scott, in his sixty-
eighth note, in illustration of a
sponding passage in the story of "Mazin
extract from
of Khorassaun," gives an
Barrow's Public Life of Lord Macartney
(vol. ii. p. 23), in which his lordship,
speaking of the Cossack soldiery, says, that
there is one horde of them, consisting of
about 30,000 fighting men, called the
Cossacks of Zaporavia, whose women re-
side in certain islands of the Nieper in their
neighbourhood, and are only visited by
them at a particular season of the year.
The male children, at a certain age, are
delivered to the fathers, like whom they
become hunters and warriors, while the
females remain with their mothers.
NOTE 24. Thus Seyf Zu-l-Yezen, in the
case above alluded to (in Note 16), is
directed by a friendly Jinneeyeh to steal
the feather-dress of his beloved.
NOTE 25. The "'abáäh" (vulgarly
called "abáyeh ") is a kind of woollen
cloak, generally striped, brown and white.
NOTE 26. These words "and de-
manded," &c., are from the Breslau edition.
In my original, the damsels are here said
to have gone forth again to the chase, and
to have caught the game mentioned imme-
diately after in my translation. Among the
by
game are particularized "wild oxen;
which name, four different kinds of ante-
lopes are called, by some: it is properly
applied to bovine antelopes.
72
NOTE 27. That is, the hand of the
deputy. See Note 39 to Chapter iv.
NOTE 28. This is a vulgar proverb, as
my sheykh has observed in a marginal note.
"2
66
signifies a pres-
"Tohfeh
NOTE 29.
pleas-
ent," and particularly "a rare," or
ing," or a rare and pleasing, present."
66
NOTE 30. See Note 16 to Chapter ii.
"the sixth,"
NOTE 31. In my original,
but this is an error, which my sheykh has
noted in the margin; adding, that Er-
Rasheed occasioned a proverb, which is
applied to any person like that Khaleefeh
in his actions, "Is he the fifth of the sons
of El-'Abbas?" - meaning Er-Rasheed;
for none of the 'Abbásees did like him;
neither any before him nor any after him.
Is not this proverb, current in Egypt,
sufficient to account for the frequent men-
tion of Er-Rasheed in many of the tales
of the Thousand and One Nights, without
our supposing that these tales were written
by a native of Baghdad, and a subject of
the 'Abbásees?
-
-
NOTE 32.
On the Islands of Wák-Wák,
These islands, which are called in my orig-
inal "Wák," and in the Breslau edition
"Wák el-Wák," are commonly called "The
of El-
Islands of Wák-Wák' or
Wák-Wák." By some European writers
they are supposed to be the Japan Islands:
But I
by Langlès, the Sunda Islands.
rather think that the Arab geographers ap-
plied the name of Wák-Wak to all the
islands with which they were acquainted
on the east and south-east of Borneo. The
following particulars respecting the islands
thus called by them are derived from the
works of El-Kazweenee and Ibn-El-War-
dee; but chiefly from the latter author.
These islands extend (or are contiguous
to) the Islands (or Island) of Er-Ráïj or
Ez-Zánij (before identified with Borneo),
and the navigation to them is by the stars.
They are said to be one thousand and
seven hundred in number, and governed
by a woman, named Demharah, who wears
a robe woven with gold, and has shoes
(or sandals) of gold. No one walks in all
these islands with any other kind of shoe:
if he wear any other kind, his feet are cut.
The Queen rides amid her slaves and troops
with elephants and standards and drums
and trumpets and beautiful female slaves.
The place of her abode is an island called
Amboobeh, the inhabitants of which are
skilful in manufactures, so that they weave
shirts of one piece each, sleeves and body
together, and make great ships of small
pieces of wood, and make houses of wood
that move upon the face of the water.
son of El-
'Eesà (or Moosà), the
Mubárak, Es-Seeráfee, relates, "I went in
to this Queen, and saw her sitting naked
upon a couch of gold, with a crown of
gold upon her head, and before her were
four thousand maid-servants, beautiful
virgins. They were of the Magian religion,
with uncovered heads, and on the head of
each of them was a comb of ivory, adorned
with mother-of-pearl (or shells); some of
1248
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
them had two combs, or three, or four, or
more, to the number of twenty." The
people ornament themselves with cowries,
which they also treasure up. Here too is
a tree that bears fruits like women, with
bodies, eyes, limbs, &c., like those of
women: they have beautiful faces, and are
suspended by their hair. They come forth
from integuments like large leathern bags;
and when they feel the air and the sun,
they cry out "Wák! Wák!" until their
hair is cut; and when it is cut, they die;
and the people of these islands understand
this cry, and augur ill from it. The land
where these fruits grow is the best of
lands, and the most abundant in odours
and perfumes; and in it are rivers sweeter
than hydromel and dissolved sugar; but it
has no inhabitants except the elephants,
some of which attain the height of eleven
cubits; and it has abundance of birds. No
one knoweth what is beyond it save God.
From one of these Islands of Wák-Wák
there issueth a great torrent like pitch,
which floweth into the sea, and the fish are
burnt thereby, and float upon the water. —
The Islands of Wák-Wák contain gold in
such abundance that the inhabitants make
the chains of their dogs and other beasts,
and the collars of their apes, of that metal;
and the great men make bricks of gold, and
build with them palaces and houses, well
and skilfully. These islands also contain
the ebony-tree. Ibn-El-Wardee likewise
mentions, among the islands of the same
sea (the Sea of China), the Island of
Women, in which there is not a single male
inhabitant.
NOTE 33. It is a common custom of the
Arabs to address an old woman by the
appellation of "pilgrim," in Arabic
hájjeh." This word, in my original, is
here written (as it is usually pronounced)
"hajjeh."
NOTE 34. These were to be shewn to
Hasan, on his return, as the graves of his
wife and two children, as afterwards ap-
pears.
NOTE 35. I here read (as proposed by
my sheykh)" neseem" (zephyr) instead of
"nedeem (boon-companion).
NOTE 36. The word which I have
rendered changeable (namely "gha-
yoor") generally signifies "jealous: " but
for giving it the former signification I have
the authority of my sheykh, in a marginal
note in volume i. page 360 of my original,
where nearly the same verse occurs.
NOTE 37. For "semerin," in my orig-
inal, my sheykh has substituted "saharin,"
and I have followed his reading.
NOTE 38. That is, she is like the full
moon, which is fourteen nights old.
NOTE 39. "'Abd-El-Kuddoos" signifies
"the Servant of the Very Holy."
NOTE 40. An Arab often does thus
when meditating; and thus, while He was
sitting in the Temple (upon the floor),
when the woman taken in adultery was
brought before Him, "Jesus stooped down,
and with his finger wrote on the ground."
(John viii. 6.)
NOTE 41. Here, in my original, for the
words signifying "the accursed Iblees," is
put "Mo'een; " but afterwards, Abu-r-
Ruweysh is called "son of the daughter of
the accursed Iblees." He appears, however,
to be a virtuous person.
NOTE 42. In my original, the birds are
here called vultures ("nusoor ").
NOTE 43. Ed-Deylem is a large province
of Persia, bounding the Caspian Sea, on
the south. In the Breslau edition. instead
of "here are soldiers of Ed-Deylem," we
read "here is a great army."
-
NOTE 44. "Umm-ed-Dawáhee" signifies
"Mother of Calamities."
NOTE 45. It seems that by the term
"islands" here used, we are to under-
stand peninsulas, which is often the case.
The reader will observe, in the account of
the islands of Wák-Wák here given, some
inconsistencies which I cannot pretend to
reconcile.
NOTE 46. I omit some passages &c. of
my original in the paragraph to which this
note refers.
NOTE 47. The youngest was his wife;
but it appears afterwards that the eldest
daughter bore a strong resemblance to her.
66
NOTE 48. "Noor-el-Hudà " signifies
the Light of Day."
NOTE 49. In my original, they are here
said to be seven.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH
1249
C
NOTE 50. "Menár-es-Senà "
may be
rendered "the Pharos of Splendour."
the
NOTE 51. The first and last of these
names have been explained. The second
signifies "the Star of the Morning"; the
third, "the Sun of the Forenoon;
fourth, "the Tree of Pearls; " the fifth,
"the Food of Hearts; " and the sixth,
the Glory of Damsels."
"6
NOTE 52. See Note 24 to Chapter xv.
NOTE 53. So in the Breslau edition: in
the edition of Cairo, "to the place whence
I had brought it."
NOTE 54. Thus in the Breslau edition:
in the Cairo edition, "the Castle of the
Birds." "The Islands of Camphor and
the Castle of Crystal" have been mentioned
in a former tale: see Note I to Chapter
viii.
NOTE 55. The kind of cap here men-
tioned (in the Arabic, "tákeeyeh,") is a
close-fitting skull-cap, which is worn next
the head. It is generally of cotton. Some-
times the crown is composed of four or
three triangular pieces, which are most
commonly of different-coloured silks.
NOTE 56. The "jedeed" is a copper
coin which, I believe, is now no longer cur-
rent. My sheykh states, in a marginal
note, that ten jedeeds were equivalent to a
nusf faddah, vulgarly called nuss, respect-
ing which see Note 17 to Chapter iii. The
plural is "jided."
NOTE 57. "Zát-ed-Dawáhee" is similar
in import to " Umm-ed-Dawáhee," which
has been explained above.
NOTE 58. We must suppose (what is
most probable) that the vessels of glass
and China-ware fell upon a mattress ex-
tending along the side of the room, and
therefore did not break.
NOTE 59. This verse, and others nearly
agreeing with those which here follow it,
have occurred before.
19
NOTE 60. "Nejdee " signifies " of Nejd
(the central and largest province of
Arabia), which is famous for its excellent
horses.
NOTE 61. In my original they are here
said to be ten; but afterwards, whenever
they are mentioned, seven.
NOTE 62. So before; but here, in my
original, three.
NOTE 63. By the mother's side, as be-
fore stated, Abu-r-Ruweysh was the grand-
son of Iblees.
NOTE 64. See Note 5 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 65. Here, as in the instance
pointed out in Note 54, I read "Castle of
Crystal," agreeably with the Breslau edi-
tion, instead of "Castle of the Birds."
NOTE 66. These verses seem to be ad-
dressed to his mother; not to the seven
damsels.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH
NOTE I. This is explained by Note 81
to Chapter v.
NOTE 2. The " bayád is a fish of the
genus silurus. It is common in the Nile.
NOTE 3. "Mo'allim" (vulgarly pro-
nounced "M'allim") is a title usually
given in Egypt and other Arab countries
to any Christian or Jew; and also to a
master in any art or trade. It signifies
teacher."
NOTE 4. The Arabs in general are ex-
tremely fearful of the influence of the evil
eye upon articles of food, which, by many
persons who deal in them, are consequently
concealed from the public gaze.
66
NOTE 5. What is commonly called a
mowwál," but properly mawáleeyà
according to some, or, according to others,
"mawáliyà," is a kind of short poem. It
generally consists of five lines, the measure
of which is like a species of the beseet,"
"L
1250
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
admitting, however. of licences not
allowed by the strict rules of prosody; and
all these five lines, except the penultimate,
end with the same rhyme. The language
of the mowwál, if I may judge from all the
poems of this kind that I have seen and
heard, is a mixture of the classical and the
vulgar.
NOTE 6. My original here presents an
evident error, which I have corrected.
NOTE 7. In my original, this person is
said to be "the Virgin," as though the
dreamer were a Christian.
NOTE 8. Aboo Bekr received from Mo-
hammad the surname of "the Very Vera-
cious" (es-Siddeek) on account of his
asserting the truth of the Prophet's miracu-
lous Night-Journey.
NOTE 9. Perhaps "Sa'adeh " (which
signifies "felicity," "prosperity," &c.,) was
the name of the Jew's daughter, and from
her he
was called "Abu-s-Sa'ádát;
though Khaleefeh supposed it to be the
name of his wife.
17
NOTE 10. The words which compose
the profession of the faith of El-Islám
("There is no deity but God: Mohammad
is God's Apostle ") are commonly called
"the Two Sayings."
NOTE 11.
Some readers may imagine
that a Muslim, in his own country, could
not be beaten at the command of a Jew;
but Arabs have not unfrequently thus
suffered both from Christians and Jews
under the domination' of the Memlooks and
Turks.
NOTE 12. The Muslims believe that the
number of the faithful is decreed by God,
and that no act of man can increase or
/diminish it.
NOTE 13. It is said, at the close of the
story, that Khaleefch resided in a Khán;
and the Breslau edition describes him as
dwelling in a magazine of a ruined Khán.
According to my original, his habitation
seems to have been a closet adjoining a
ruined saloon. The word which I have
rendered "chamber" generally signifies
"house."
NOTE 14. That is, his mind, under the
influence of hasheesh, suggested to him the
idea of stripping himself, &c. Most of
Khaleefeh's oddities are such as might be
the effect of hasheesh. See the fourth para-
graph of Note 22 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 15. See above, Note 13.
NOTE 16. A "memrak" is generally a
kind of small lantern for the admission of
air, in the roof of a chamber: its form is
octagonal; and its sides are of wooden
lattice-work, supporting a cupola. But this
term is also applied to a simple aperture
in the roof, made for the same purpose, or
to admit light.
NOTE 17. The "kamar" is a kind of
belt containing a purse for money.
NOTE 18. By "Suleyman's prison” is
meant one of the bottles of brass in which
Suleyman confined the refractory Jinn, as
mentioned in two former tales in this
work.
NOTE 19. Here, and in the next sen-
tence, I read "kóm" (a mound) instead of
"karm," which signifies " a grape-vine."
NOTE 20.
The "shemleh" is a kind of
cloak, or wrapper, entirely enveloping the
person.
NOTE 21. The "herám" (more prop-
erly "ehrám ") is a kind of woollen sheet,
mostly used by the western Arabs, both
to envelop the body by day and as a
night-covering. It is so called because it is
similar to the covering of the body worn
during the performance of the rites of
pilgrimage.
NOTE 22. Imagining the fish to be from
Paradise, he thought that this prayer
would surely be answered.
NOTE 23. This is said ironically; for
the commencement of the day was unfor-
tunate, and its end seemed to be more
unfortunate also.
NOTE 24. See Note 32 to Chapter v.
NOTE 25. The "shebbábeh" is a kind
of flageolet, made of reed.
NOTE 26. My sheykh states that "shu-
keyr" is a diminutive form of "ashkar,"
which signifies "of a ruddy complexion,"
and also " tawny."
NOTE 27. "Kerish-en-Nukhál" may be
rendered Paunch of Bran." This nick-
66
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH
1251
name is applied by Khaleefeh to the
Wezeer Jaafar.
NOTE 28. His case was like that of a
peasant, who, on his demanding money due
to him from the government for grain, or
on some other account, is imprisoned for
arrears of taxes due from his fellow-villa-
gers; for tyrannical measures of this kind
have been often practised."
NOTE 29. In my original, "that of
Khaleefeh." I follow the reading which
Trébutien's version shews to be that of
Von Hammer's manuscript.
NOTE 30. Hamzeh was a brother of
El-'Abbás, from whom the Khaleefehs of
Baghdad derived their origin; and 'Akeel
was a son of Aboo-Tálib, another brother
of El-'Abbás.
NOTE 31. The meaning of this expres-
sion is, "I hope that thou hast good news
to tell."
NOTE 32. That is, " to the Prince whose
munificence is as a great river."
NOTE 33.
"Nákhoodah is a title of a
master of a ship, and "zuleyt " is a term
often applied to a low fellow.
""
NOTE 34.
"Yasemeen" and "Narjis '
(or Jasmine and Narcissus) are to be
understood as the names of two female
slaves, or, perhaps, two eunuchs, atten-
dants of Koot-el-Kuloob.
NOTE 35. This is the Lawsonia inermis.
See Note 22 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 36. This is to be understood as
said in jest.
""
NOTE 37. I
here read "mar'oob
(terrified) instead of " marhoob," which
signifies" terrible."
NOTE 38. These words, "Verily God
forgiveth,' &c., are part of the fifty-
fourth verse of the thirty-ninth chapter
of the Kur-án.
NOTE 39. The next two stories in my
original I omit. The first of these, which
is "Mesroor and Zeyn-el-Mawasif," is a
tale of the illicit amours of a Christian
and a Jewess, who dupes her husband in
various abominable ways. The husband,
to separate her from her paramour, takes
her with him on a journey; but she pre-
fers a malicious suit against him to four
judges, professing herself a Muslimeh,
denying that she is his wife, and falsely
accusing him of having defrauded her of
fifteen thousand pieces of gold; and all
the four judges, captivated by her beauty,
decide in her favour. She receives the
above-mentioned sum, and with other
valuables, returns to her lover, who em-
braces El-Islám, and marries her. Her
former husband also returns, and, by her
direction, one of her female slaves informs
him that she is dead, and shews him her
pretended tomb: the Jew throws himself
upon the tomb and faints, and while he is
insensible, the female slave puts him into
the tomb and closes it over him. From
this brief statement the reader will see that
it is not a story fit to be included in the
present series.
The other story is that of "Noor-ed-
Deen and Maryam," which I omit because
part of it is very similar to the story of
"Alee Shér and Zumurrud," and part to
that of "'Alá-ed-Deen Abu-sh-Shámát,"
and neither of these two tales is among the
best of the collection.
Then follow two anecdotes, of the latter
of which I here give a translation. It
commences with part of the Eight Hundred
and Ninety-sixth Night, and ends with
part of the Eight Hundred and Ninety-
ninth.
The Man of Baghdad and his Slave-girl
There was in ancient times, a man in
Baghdad, of the sons of the people of
affluence, who inherited from his father
abundant wealth, and he was enamoured
of a slave-girl; wherefore he purchased
her. She loved him as he loved her; and
he ceased not to expend upon her until all
his wealth passed away, and there re-
mained not of it aught. He sought for
some means of subsistence, but could not
obtain it. And this young man, in the
days of his riches, used to attend the as-
semblies of the scientific on account of his
art in singing, in which he attained the
utmost excellence; and he asked advice of
one of his brethren, who said to him, I
know not any occupation for thee better
than thy singing with thy slave-girl; for
by so doing thou wilt obtain much money,
and eat and drink. But he and the damsel
disliked that; and his slave-girl said to
him, I have devised for thee a plan. And
what, said he, is it? She answered, Thou
shalt sell me, and we shall be delivered
from this difficulty, I and thou, and I shall
1252
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
be in affluence, for none will buy such a
one as myself but a person of affluence, and
thus I may be a means of my return to
thee. He therefore took her forth to the
market, and the first person who saw her
was a Háshimee, of the people of El-
Basrah, who was a well-bred man, polite,
generous of soul; and he bought her for
one thousand and five hundred pieces of
gold. But, says the young man, the
owner of the slave-girl, when I had re-
ceived the price, I repented and wept, I
and the damsel, and I requested the can-
celling of the sale. The Hashimee, how-
ever, would not consent. So I put the
pieces of gold into the purse, and I knew
not whither to go; for my house was
rendered desolate by her absence; and I
wept and slapped myself and wailed as I
had never done before. I entered one of
the mosques, and sat weeping in it: and I
was so stupefied that I became unconscious;
and I slept, having put the purse beneath
my head as a pillow. But I was not aware
of it when a man pulled it from beneath
my head, and departed with rapid pace.
Then I awoke, alarmed and terrified, and
found not the purse. I therefore rose to
run after him; and, lo, my feet were tied
by a rope: so I fell upon my face; and I
proceeded to weep and to slap myself, say-
ing to myself, Thy soul hath quitted thee,
and thy wealth is lost!
My affliction was excessive; and I came
to the Tigris, put my garment over my
face, and cast myself into the river. But
the persons present, perceiving me, said,
Verily this is on account of a great trouble
that hath befallen him! — and they cast
themselves after me, and took me forth,
and asked me respecting my case. I there-
fore informed them of the events that had
befallen me, and they grieved thereat.
Then a sheykh from among them came to
me, and said, Thy wealth hath gone, and
how would'st thou be the cause of the loss
of thy soul, and become one of the people
of the fire? Arise, and accompany me, that
I may see thine abode. And I did so;
and when we came to my abode, he sat
with me a while, until my feelings had be-
come tranquil, and I thanked him for that.
He then departed; and when he went forth
from me, I was at the point of slaying
myself; but I remembered the world to
come, and the fire; and I went forth
from my house, fleeing to one of my
friends, and informed him of the events
that had befallen me; whereupon he wept
in compassion for me, and gave me fifty
pieces of gold, saying, Accept my advice,
and go forth immediately from Baghdad,
-
and make use of this money for thy main-
tenance until thy heart shall be diverted
from the love of her, and thou shalt cease
to care for her. Thou art of the sons of
the secretaries and writers, and thy hand-
writing is excellent, and thy polite attain-
ments are surpassing: seek then whom thou
wilt of the intendants, and throw thyself
upon his generosity. Perhaps God will
reunite thee with thy slave-girl. And
I attended to his advice. My resolution
had become strengthened, and somewhat
of my trouble of mind had⚫ quitted me;
and I determined that I would repair to
the province of Wasit; for I had in it
relations.
-
Accordingly I went forth to the bank of
the river, and I saw a moored vessel, the
crew of which were transporting to it
goods and costly stuffs: so I asked them to
take me with them, but they replied, This
vessel belongeth to a Háshimee. We can-
not take thee in this garb. — I however
excited their desire for recompense; and
thereupon they said, If it must be so,
pull off these costly clothes that are upon
thee, and put on the clothes of the sailors,
and sit with us as though thou wert one of
us. I therefore returned, and bought some
sailor's clothes, and put them on, and came
again to the vessel, which was going to
El-Basrah. I embarked with the crew; and
but a little while had elapsed when I saw
my slave-girl herself, attended by two
slave-girls to serve her. So the rage that
I suffered became appeased, and I said
within myself, Now I shall see her, and
hear her singing, until we arrive at El-
Basrah. And very soon came the Háshi-
mee, riding, and with him a party of
people; and they embarked in that vessel.
I proceeded down the river with them, and
he caused the food to be brought forth,
and ate with the damsel, while the rest ate
in the midst of the vessel. The Háshimee
then said to the damsel, How long shall
continue this abstaining from singing, and
this constant mourning and weeping?
Thou art not the first who hath become
separated from the object of love. So I
knew what she felt with respect to her
love of me. Then he put a curtain before
the damsel at the side of the vessel, and,
having called those who were by me, he
sat with them, outside the curtain; and I
asked respecting them, and, lo, they were
his brothers. He caused the servants to
bring out to them what they required of
wine and dried fruits, and they ceased not
to urge the damsel to sing until she called
for a lute, and tuned it, and began to sing;
and she sang these two verses:
--
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH
1253
The company went away with my beloved at
night, and forbore not from going with
the desire of my heart;
And in the heart of the enamoured, since
their camels departed a fire like that of
the ghadá hath raged.
Then weeping overpowered her, and she
threw down the lute and ceased from sing-
ing. So the party were troubled, and I fell
down in a fit, and the people thought that
I had become possessed; wherefore one of
them began to recite some words in my
ear; and they ceased not to soothe the
damsel, and to beg her to sing, until she
tuned the lute again, and began to sing;
and she sang this couplet:
I stood and bewailed travellers who had de-
parted. They are in my heart though they
gone far away.
And I stood by the ruins, asking respecting
them; and the house was desolate, and
the abodes were uninhabited.
She then fell down in a fit, and a lamenta-
tion arose from the people. I, also, cried
out, and fell down senseless; and the sailors
were alarmed at me; and one of the pages
of the Háshimee said, How is it that ye
have conveyed with you this madman?
One of them therefore said to the others,
When ye have arrived at one of the villages,
turn him out, and rid us of him.
So great trouble affected me thereat, and
painful torment of mind; but I hardened
myself to the utmost, and said within my-
self, I have no resource by which to save
myself from their hands except my inform-
ing her of my situation in the vessel, that
she may not allow my going out. We then
proceeded until we came near to a culti-
vated tract; whereupon the master of the
vessel said, Go ye up with us to the bank.
Accordingly the party landed; and it was
eventide. I therefore arose and went be-
hind the curtain, took the lute, and played
several different airs, one after another,
and I played an air that she had learned of
me: then I returned to my place in the
vessel. And after that, the people de-
scended from the bank, and returned to
their places in the vessel; and the moon
shone upon the shore and the river: so the
Háshimee said to the damsel, By Allah I
conjure thee that thou trouble not our life.
She therefore took the lute, and touched it
with her hand, and uttered a groan,
whereat they imagined that her soul had
quitted her. Then she said, By Allah, my
master is with us in this vessel! The
Háshimee replied, By Allah, were he with
-
us, I would not debar him from our so-
ciety; for perhaps he might alleviate thy
sorrow, and we should enjoy thy singing;
but his being in the vessel is a thing far
from truth. Upon this she said, I cannot
strike the lute and play over different airs
when my master is with us. The Háshi-
mee said, We will ask the sailors. And she
replied, Do so. He therefore asked them,
and said, Have ye taken any one with you
as a passenger? And they answered, No:
- and I feared that the inquiry would
stop: so I laughed, and said, Yes; I was
her master, and I taught her when I was
her lord. And she said, By Allah, this is
the speech of my lord! Therefore the
pages came to me and took me to the
Háshimee; and when he saw me, he knew
me, and he said, Wo to thee! What is this
condition in which thou art, and what
hath befallen thee that thou hast become in
this state?-So I related to him the events
of my case, and wept, and the wailing of
the damsel was loud from behind the
curtain, and the Háshimee also wept, he
and his brothers, with a violent weeping,
in pity for me.
He then said, By Allah, I have not drawn
near to this damsel, nor have I heard her
sing, to this day! I am a man on whom
God hath bestowed ample wealth, and I
only came to Baghdád to hear singing,
and to demand my pensions of the Prince
of the Faithful. I had attained both ob-
jects; and when I desired to return to my
home, I said within myself, I will hear
somewhat [more] of the singing of Bagh-
dád. I therefore purchased this damsel,
and I knew not that ye were in this state.
So I call God to witness that, when I ar-
rive at El-Basrah, I will emancipate this
damsel, and marry thee to her, and I will
grant you allowances sufficient for you,
and more; but on the condition that, when
I desire to hear her sing, a curtain shall
be suspended for her, and she shall sing
behind the curtain; and thou shalt be of
the number of my brethren and my boon-
companions. So I rejoiced thereat. Then
the Hashimee put his head within the cur-
tain, and said to her, Will that content
thee? And she betook herself to praying
for him and thanking him. He then called
for a page belonging to him, and said to
him, Take the hand of this young man,
pull off his clothes, and dress him in costly
apparel, and perfume him with incense,
and bring him to us. Accordingly the page
took me, did with me as his master had
ordered him, and brought me to him; and
he put before me wine, like as he had
put before them. The damsel then began
1254
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
to sing with the sweetest modulations,
singing these verses:
They reproached me for having shed my tears
when the beloved came to bid farewell.
They have not experienced the taste of separa-
tion, nor the fire of sorrow that burneth
my bosom.
Only the afflicted knoweth what is love; he
whose heart is lost amid those dwellings.
And the party were moved thereby with
exceeding delight; and the joy of the young
man so increased thereat that he took the
lute from the damsel, played with it the
sweetest modulations, and sang these
verses: -
If thou ask a favour, ask it of the generous,
who hath known, unceasingly, riches and
opulence;
For asking of the generous is productive of
honour, and asking of the base is produc-
tive of disgrace.
When abasement is a thing not to be avoided,
meet with it by asking of the great.
Thine honouring the great is no abasement
of thyself: it is only abasement to honour
the little.
And the people (says the young man) re-
joiced in me; their joy was excessive, and
they ceased not to be in a state of joy
and happiness, I singing a while, and the
damsel a while, until we arrived at one
of the ports.
The vessel moored there, and all who
were in it went up on shore. I, also, went
up; and I was intoxicated: so I sat, and
sleep overcame me, and I slept; and the
passengers returned to the vessel, which
proceeded down the river with them, they
not knowing of my absence; for they were
likewise intoxicated; and I had given the
money for my maintenance to the damsel,
and there remained not with me aught.
They arrived at El-Basrah; and I awoke
not save by reason of the heat of the
sun: and thereupon I arose and looked;
but saw not any one; and I had forgotten
to ask the Háshimee his name, and where
was his house at El-Basrah, and how he
was known. I therefore became perplexed,
and it seemed as though the state of joy
in which I had been at finding the damsel
had been a dream. I ceased not to remain
in a state of perplexity until a great ves-
sel passed by me, and I embarked in it and
entered El-Basrah. I knew not in it any
one, nor knew I the house of the Hashi-
mee; and I came to a grocer, procured
from him an inkhorn and a piece of paper,
and sat writing; and he admired my hand-
writing, and, seeing my dress to be dirty,
asked me respecting my case. So I in-
formed him that I was a stranger, a poor
man; whereupon he said, Wilt thou reside
with me, and receive every day half a
piece of silver, and thy food and thy cloth-
ing, and manage for me the accounts of my
shop? And I answered him, Yes: - and I
resided with him, managed his affairs, and
regulated for him his income and expendi-
ture; and when a month had expired, the
man saw his income to be increased, and
his expenditure diminished. He therefore
thanked me for that, and assigned me
every day a piece of silver, until the year
had passed, when he proposed to me that
I should marry his daughter, and that he
should make me his partner in the shop.
And I gave him my assent thereto, took
my wife, and kept to the shop. But I was
broken in spirit and heart, with an aspect
of grief. And the grocer used to drink,
and invite me to do so; but I refused on
account of my grief.
I remained in that state for a period of
two years; and while I was in the shop,
lo, there was a company having with them
food and drink, and I asked the grocer
respecting the matter, and he said, This is
the day of the men of pleasure, when the
people of mirth and sport, and the young
men of affluence, go forth to the bank of
the river, to eat and drink among the
trees on the river of El-Ubulleh. And
thereupon my soul invited me to divert
myself with the sight of this thing, and I
said within myself, Perhaps, when I see
these people, I shall meet her whom I love.
So I said to the grocer that I desired to
do that; and he replied, Go forth with
them as thou desirest. He then prepared
for me some food and wine, and I pro-
ceeded until I came to the river of El-
Ubulleh; but, lo, the people were depart-
ing. I therefore desired to depart with
them; and, behold, there was the captain
of the vessel in which were the Háshimee
and the damsel, he himself; and he was
proceeding along the river of El-Ubulleh.
So I cried out to him and his party; and
he and those who were with him knew me,
and they took me in among them, and said
to me, Art thou living? And they em-
braced me, and asked me respecting my
story; wherefore I acquainted them with
it; and they said to me, We imagined that
intoxication had overpowered thee, and
that thou wast drowned. I then asked
them respecting the state of the damsel,
and they replied, When she knew of thy
being lost, she rent her clothes, and burned
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH
1255
the lute, and betook herself to slapping and
wailing; and when we returned with the
Háshimee to El-Basrah, we said to her,
Abstain from this weeping and mourning.
But she replied, I will put on black ap-
parel, and make me a tomb in the side of
this house, and I will remain by that tomb,
and repent of singing. And we allowed
her to do so, and she hath remained in that
state until now.
Then they took me with them; and on
my arriving at the house, I saw her in
that state; and when she saw me, she ut-
tered a great groan, so that I imagined
she had died; and I embraced her with a
long embrace. The Háshimee then said
to me, Take her. I replied, Yes; but
emancipate her as thou promisedst me, and
marry me to her. And he did so, and gave
us costly goods, and abundance of apparel,
and furniture, and five hundred pieces of
gold, saying, This is the amount of what
I desire to allow you two every month;
but on the condition of thy being my boon-
companion, and of my hearing the damsel
sing. After that, he appropriated to us
exclusively a house, and gave orders to
convey to it all that we required; and
when I went to that house, I found it
covered with furniture and stuffs, and I
conveyed it to the damsel. Then I came
to the grocer, informed him of all that
had happened to me, and begged that he
would absolve me of guilt in divorcing
his daughter without her having commit-
ted any fault. I gave her her dowry, and
what was incumbent on me; and I have
remained with the Háshimee in this state
two years, and become a person of great
affluence. The state in which I was with
the damsel in Baghdad was restored to me,
and God, the Bountiful, hath dispelled our
trouble, loaded us with abundant benefits,
and made the result of our patience to be
the attainment of our desire. To Him then
be praise, first and last! -And God is
all-knowing.
[Next follows the Story of "the King
Jelee'ád and his Son and the Wezeer Shem-
más," which ends with part of the Nine
Hundred and Thirtieth Night. This is one
of the two stories which El-Mes'oodee
mentions as being similar to the Hezár
Afsaneh. Von Hammer, speaking of the
tales which he regards as being of Indian
origin, and among which he includes this
story, says, "Sous le rapport de leur an-
tiquité et de la morale qu'elles renferment,
elles méritent la plus grande attention,
mais d'un autre côté elles ne sont rien
moins qu'amusantes; " and as I fully agree
with him that the story of Jelee'ád is far
from being amusing, I omit it. Much of it
appears to me extremely puerile; and upon
the whole I think it very inferior in inter-
est to most of the tales in the present
work.]
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH
modern
NOTE I. "Aboo-Seer" is a
Arabic corruption of the Coptic "Bousiri"
or "Pousiri," the "Busiris" of the Greeks
and Romans; but it is more properly writ-
ten in Arabic "Booseer." It is the name
of several villages in Egypt, the chief of
which is in the Delta, on the eastern branch
of the Nile. The like may be inferred
with regard to Aboo-Keer," commonly
written by the French and English "Abou-
kir." The place so named (well known
to my countrymen) marks the site of the
ancient Canopus.
66
NOTE 2. As it is certain that most of
the stories in this work were written at
least half a century before the introduc-
tion of tobacco into the East (which hap-
pened about the close of the sixteenth cen-
tury), this tale must have been altered by
a copyist, or added to the original series:
and I think it most probable that the latter
was the case.
NOTE 3. See Note 21 to Chapter xi.
Also called simply "nusf."
See Note 17 to Chapter iii.
NOTE 4.
NOTE 5. Many a poor barber has a
small cup of tinned copper, or of brass,
instead of the large basin of tinned copper.
NOTE 6. In my original, the number of
nusf faddahs is said to have been thirty;
but this is at variance with what pre-
cedes.
1256
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 7. "Batárikh " is a mess composed
of the roe of small salted fish, which are
called "feseekh."
NOTE 8. After what I have observed
above, in Note 2, it is perhaps unnecessary
to notice the mention of coffee, which be-
gan to become
a common beverage
throughout Arabian countries about a cen-
tury before the introduction of tobacco
into the East.
NOTE 9. The chambers in Kháns con-
taining no furniture, the lodger supplies
a mat or two, or a carpet, and perhaps a
mattress upon which to sit and sleep, with
a few other portable things.
NOTE 10. That is, he set the streams
of hot and cold water in motion. - A
description of a public bath, and of the
operations performed in it, has been given
in Note 16 to Chapter ii.
NOTE II. The bather, on entering the
meslakh (the first apartment, or disrobing-
room), commits his purse, and any other
valuables that he has about him, to the
bath-keeper, who locks them up in a chest,
in which he also deposits the pay that he
receives.
""
12.
NOTE The depilatory called the
“ dảwà
(or remedy), which is employed
in the bath, is composed, as I have been
informed, of quicklime with a small pro-
portion (about an eighth part) of orpi-
ment, or native arsenic. It is made into a
paste, with water, before application; and
loosens the hair in about two minutes,
when it is washed off.
NOTE 13. This alludes to the questions
put by the two angels Munkar and Nekeer
who examine the dead and torture the
wicked in the grave.
NOTE 14. "If a man's deeds are good,
he is of good origin; but otherwise, he is
not: and hence it is said, When a man's
origin is [otherwise] unknown, his deeds
indicate it."
NOTE 15. See the first note of the pres-
ent series.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH
"
""
NOTE I. The word rendered minnow
seereh." See Note 8 to Chapter xxii.
is
66
NOTE 2.
See Note 24 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 3. It appears that the fisherman
lived in a quarter which had but one
entrance.
NOTE 4. Though the man of the sea is
here called a human being (in the original,
"ádamee," a word derived from the name
of our first parent), it appears afterwards
that this species is different from that of
the sons of Adam, properly so called. -
See the fourth paragraph of Note 64 to
Chapter xx.
--
NOTE 5. That is, wilt thou emancipate
me with the desire of no other recom-
pense than that of beholding the face of
God? For this the Muslim holds to be
the greatest happiness that can be enjoyed
in Paradise. Hence this phrase is com-
monly used as meaning "with the desire
of God's recompense."
NOTE 6. The "shureyk" is a kind of
bunn. A single bunn of this kind is called
"keff shureyk." It is about the size of a
man's hand, of an oblong form, with two
longitudinal cuts along the top, and sev-
eral oblique, cross cuts. It is composed
of leavened dough and clarified butter (in
the proportion of about two pounds of the
latter to a ruba of the former), with a little
sesame, and several aromatic and other
substances, which are commonly called
"reehat el-'ajeen; " as seed of the nigella,
aniseed, cinnamon, rose-buds, absinthium
(or artemisia arborescens), káfoorah, mah-
lab, and curcuma. Before it is baked, it
is rubbed over with egg. The shureyk is
made to be distributed to the poor at the
periodical visits to the tombs, and is also
made on various occasions of festivity.—
A compound called reehat el-'ajeen is often
added to bread. It generally consists of
mahlab, káfoorah, absinthium, and some
times seed of the nigella. This last is like-
wise, by some people, sprinkled upon the
bread before it is baked and
sesame.
so is
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH
1257
NOTE 7. "Umm-es-So'ood" signifies
"the Mother of Prosperities."
NOTE 8. That is, he imprecated upon
them a fate like those of 'Ád and Thamood
(two tribes of ancient Arabs, mentioned
in Note 76 to Chapter x.); the former of
whom, a few only excepted, were destroyed
by a suffocating wind, and the latter, also
with the exception of a few persons, by
an earthquake, and a terrible noise from
heaven.
NOTE 9. The litter here mentioned was
of the kind called "takhtarawán," or
takht-rawán," described in Note 8 to
Chapter viii.
NOTE 10. Here the story in Trébutien's
version differs, representing 'Abd-Allah of
the Land as being induced by the King to
break his agreement with his companion
of the Sea. It closes by stating that 'Abd-
Allah of the Land,
66 preferring to retain
his place and the favour of the King, re-
turned no more to the shore of the sea,
and lived happily to the end of his days."
Thus it wants the moral which is conveyed
in my original.
""
NOTE II. "'Abd-Allah signifies
Servant of God."
"the
NOTE 12. Teybeh" is one of the many
names of the city in which the Prophet is
buried, commonly called, by way of
honour, "El-Medeeneh," i. e. "The City."
NOTE 13.
"The Sacred House of God"
is the Temple of Mekkeh.
NOTE 14. This name is perhaps imagin-
ary. I do not know of any fish so called.
NOTE 15. This proverb is often men-
tioned by Arab peasants, with allusion to
their rulers and themselves.
NOTE 16. From this point, I omit sev-
eral passages in my original which are
silly and tiresome, or otherwise objection-
able.
NOTE 17. The kind of fish here men-
tioned (in the Arabic, "nakkár,") I sup-
pose to be, like the dendán," purely
imaginary.
66
NOTE 18. The next story in my original,
that of "the Merchant of 'Omán," which
ends with part of the Nine Hundred and
Fifty-second Night, I omit. A large por-
tion of it is extremely objectionable, and,
upon the whole, it is of little merit.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH
NOTE I. This tale relates to the times
of Hároon Er-Rasheed; and may perhaps
be founded on fact; for there was, in the
reign of that Khaleefeh, an intendant of
the tribute of Egypt named El-Khaseeb,
the son of 'Abd-El-Hameed. Aboo-Nuwás
has made honourable mention of him in
the following verses:
If our camels visit not the land of El-Khaseeb,
what man after El-Khaseeb shall they
visit?
For liberality hath not passed beyond him,
nor hath it alighted behind him; but lib-
erality goeth whithersoever he goeth.
He is a man who purchaseth eulogy with his
wealth, and who knoweth that the periods
of fortune revolve.
In our tale, El-Khaseeb is improperly
called Lord, and Sultán, of Egypt.
NOTE 2. "Ghazáleh is a gazelle;
but here it is a proper name.
NOTE 3.
Jemeeleh signifies "beau-
tiful," "lovely," "good," &c.
""
NOTE 4. "The gratuity for the key
(hulwán el-miftáh) is a fee which is still
commonly given on hiring a house or
chamber.
NOTE 5. See the fifth paragraph of
Note 2 to the Introduction.
99
NOTE 6. The word rendered Pearl
(namely "lu-lu-ah ") also signifies "a wild
cow," a species of bovine antelope. Each
sense is appropriate if it be meant (as I
suppose it is) to convey an allusion to the
lady Jemeeleh.
NOTE 7. Literally "around." I suspect
that a copyist has altered this passage,
imagining the word " sákiyeh" to signify
here "a water-wheel for irrigation when
it was used in the sense of "a rivulet," and
has therefore spoken of its "pots."
1258
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 8. I here
蘩
​meadow) for "burj
read "marj" (a
(a tower), and am
justified in doing so by Trébutien's ver-
sion.
NOTE 9. When the gates of heaven are
opened, prayer is sure to be answered.
This is said to be the case on the night
called Leylet el-Kadr, which is generally
believed to be the night of the twenty-
seventh of Ramadán; that is, the night
preceding the twenty-seventh day.
NOTE 10. In this sentence, in my origi-
nal, there seems to be an omission, which
I have supplied by inserting the words
"her performance was such (says Ibrá-
heem)." The meaning I suppose to be
this: she made my state to be like that of
a man who ceases to be merry with in-
toxication, and begins to be careful lest
his turban should fall from his head.
NOTE 11. See Note 71 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 12. The next three stories in my
original I omit. The first of these, which
is that of "Abu-l-Hasan of Khurásán," is
very similar, but inferior in interest, to
"the Story told by the Sultan's Steward,"
in the fifth Chapter of my translation. -
The second is "the Story of Kamar-ez-
Zemán and the Wife of the Jeweller."
This is extremely objectionable; far more
so than the title might lead one to sus-
-
pect. But one of the marginal notes with
which my sheykh has illustrated it is too
interesting to be omitted here with the
story, especially as it confutes an opinion
generally prevailing among my country-
men with respect to the morality of Arab
women. The following is a translation
of it. "Many persons reckon marrying a
second time among the greatest of dis-
graceful actions. This opinion is most
common in the country-towns and vil-
lages; and the relations of my mother are
thus characterized, so that a woman of
them, when her husband dieth while she
is young, or divorceth her while she is
young, passeth her life, however long it
may be, in widowhood, and never mar-
rieth a second time." The third story is
that of "Abd-Allah the son of Fadil,"
which is one of the most entertaining
tales in the work; but its chief and best
portion is essentially the same as "the
Story of the First of the Three Ladies of
Baghdad." Instead of the three sisters, we
have here three brothers; and instead of
the young man, in the city of the petrified
idolaters, a beautiful damsel. The story of
'Abd-Allah the son of Fádil therefore
agrees also, in several points, with that of
"the Second Sheykh and the Two Black
Hounds," in the first Chapter of the pres-
ent translation, repeating the chief inci-
dents of the latter with slight variations. -
Then follows "the Story of Maaroof," the
last in the work.
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRTIETH
NOTE I. Cairo is generally called, as it
is here in my original, "Misr [vulg. Masr]
el-Mahrooseh;" i. e. the Guarded [City
of] Misr, or Masr."
(6
NOTE 2. Maaroof signifies "kindness."
NOTE 3.
"'Orrah" is a vulgar word,
signifying a wicked, mischievous shrew."
NOTE 4. Literally
"like her [own]
book, or page." Her actions being bad,
the record of them was, figuratively speak-
ing, black.
NOTE 5. Drip-honey ('asal katr) is a
"fine kind of black honey," or treacle.
NOTE 6. See Note 78 to Chapter v.
or
NOTE 7. See Note 8 to Chapter ii.
NOTE 8. Literally, "the Sublime Gate"
Porte."
NOTE 9. "Aboo-Tabak" is a vulgar
appellation of a sergeant who arrests by
order of a magistrate, because he often
executes his commission with violence. It
is derived from a verb vulgarly used in the
sense of assailing with violence.
NOTE 10. "The 'Ádileeyeh" is the
name of a mosque founded by El-Melik
el-'Ádil Toomán Bey, in the year of the
Flight 906 (A.D. 1501), outside the wall of
Cairo, near the great gate called Báb en-
Nasr; and the neighbourhood of that
mosque is also called by the same name.
This late date is worthy of remark; and
NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRTIETH
1259
แ
it should also be observed, that the story
of Maaroof is not related as one of an-
cient times.
NOTE II.
The Darb el-Ahmar is a
street outside the gate called Báb Zuwey-
leh.
39
NOTE 12. The word here rendered
druggist
แ
is 'attár." See Note 2 to
Chapter ix.
NOTE 13. That is, a professor in a
Collegiate Mosque.
NOTE 14. "Ikhtiyán," or, as it is after-
wards written in my original, "Kheetán,"
appears to be a fictitious name; and so,
perhaps, is the name which follows it, as
my sheykh supposes; but, as we are left to
supply the short vowels, I rather think
that the latter is "El-Khutan or "Khu-
tan" (without the article), the name of a
district of Tartary. It is more consistent,
however, with the character of the story
to regard this city as an imaginary place,
the inhabitants of which agree, in every
thing but dress, with the Arabs. In Tré-
butien's version, it is called Khaitan, the
capital of the kingdom of Sohatan."
་་
NOTE 15. This is the name of a deep
red dye.
NOTE 16. This is a vulgar form of
speech, and signifies, "there came not to
him what would profit him, nor what
would rid others of him."
NOTE 17. By "the Rijál" are meant
the Welees, or Saints; and probably that
order of the Welees called 66
Rijál el-
Gheyb," who, according to the Arabs, ap-
pear not to other men. In an account of
the Muslims of India, the Rijál el-Gheyb
are described as a class of people who are
mounted on clouds, and remain together
each day in a different part of the hemi-
sphere;" and they are said to have much
influence upon the fortune of travellers.
66
NOTE 18. That is, he is suspected of
lying in both cases.
NOTE 19. "Ash'ab was a very covetous
man: so covetous that he said to a man
who was making a dish, Enlarge it:
whereupon the man said to him, Where-
fore? and he answered, Perhaps some-
thing may be given in it to me."
NOTE 20. By "the Queen" is here
meant the bride, as is afterwards shewn
in the story.
NOTE 21. The mention of this title I
regard as another evidence of the late date
of this tale. See Note 43 to Chapter xxii.
NOTE 22. The Jink are a class of public
dancers, young men and boys, generally
Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and Turks.
Their dress is partly male and partly fe-
male, and they wear long hair, which they
plait, and in other respects also they as-
similate their appearance to that of women.
NOTE 23. "Abu-s-Sa'ádát " signifies "the
Father of Prosperities."
NOTE 24. By "brides" are often meant,
as in this case, young and beautiful dam-
'sels; and by "the brides of the treasures,"
those enchanting females who are said to
serve as guardians of some hidden treas-
ures. Such were the ten damsels in the
City of Brass.
NOTE 25. See Note 8 to Chapter viii.
NOTE 26. The ornaments here men-
tioned (called in Arabic "'asákir ") are of
various shapes. The most common kind is
a ball with a pointed head rising from it;
the latter being with or without a crescent,
and tapering either uniformly or otherwise.
NOTE 27. Here called, in my original,
"Kheetán."
66
NOTE 28. Here, in my original, the
word "atyas" (which signifies "stupid")
is the epithet used; but this is evidently a
mistake for "insee " ("human," or a
human being "). I suspected this to be the
case before I referred to Trébutien's ver-
sion, which has confirmed my conjecture.
In the Arabic characters, "insee," if not
plainly written, might easily be mistaken
for "atyas."
NOTE 29. The word which I have ren-
dered nose-ring" is "khizám." My
sheykh has stated in the margin that it is
for the ear; but I believe that he has made
this remark inadvertently, for I have never
heard the term "khizám" applied to any
thing but a nose-ring. This ornament,
however, I have seen worn by few but
women of the lower orders. Specimens of
the khizám and other ornaments here men-
tioned are figured in my work on the
Modern Egyptians, in Appendix A.
NOTE 30. The cup-bearer is generally a
slave, and slaves are mostly of infidel
parents.
1260
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS
NOTE 31. According to a map of the
world, in a copy of Ibn-El-Wardee's geog-
raphy in my possession, "the deserted
quarter" (in Arabic "er-ruba el-kharáb ")
is a large portion of Africa, immediately on
the south of the sources of the Nile.
NOTE 32. This she says assuming her
husband to be dead; for otherwise, if he
did not divorce her, she could not law-
fully marry another. The period of
widowhood is four months and ten days.
NOTE 33. These two verses are from
El-Hareeree (29th Makámeh); but trans-
posed, and slightly altered.
NOTE 34. "That is to say, Thou wast
the cause for my forsaking thee: so it was
as though thou forsookest me. Otherwise,
it was he who forsook her. But she was
the cause. And this is like the saying of
El-Mutanebbee, -
--
When thou departest from a people who
are able to induce thee not to quit
them, they are the departers."
NOTE 35. Literally, "a short sword of
jewel." But the word here rendered
"jewel" (namely jóhar") has another
sense, peculiarly applied to a weapon of
steel: it signifies the wavy appearance seen
in fine Eastern swords and daggers, and
perhaps the steel itself that has that ap-
pearance.
NOTE 36. Elevations of this kind, in
the East, have been innumerable; for,
among the Muslims, there are few persons,
even if they can neither read nor write,
who can be truly called uneducated, —
few who, from their infancy, have not
received a moral education which (simple
as it is) is equal to that of many of their
compatriots holding high civil employ-
ments.
J
1
1x5
JAN
77