c. 800-1400 2026
This is an AI modernization of The Thousand Nights and a Night into contemporary English. The original is available from Project Gutenberg. Also available as an epub.
The two most famous stories in the Arabian Nights are not in the Arabian Nights. No Arabic manuscript older than the eighteenth century contains Aladdin or Ali Baba. Antoine Galland, who made the first European translation between 1704 and 1717, took both of them down in Paris in 1709 from a young Maronite Christian from Aleppo named Hanna Diyab, printed them in French, and they were written back into Arabic afterwards by people who assumed they must have come from there. Both are in this volume, and a short editor's note says so where they begin.
The rest of the collection is genuinely old and genuinely unfixed. Behind the frame is a lost Persian book of a thousand stories; on top of that, tales from India, Persia, Iraq and Egypt were told, written down, translated and recopied over something like six hundred years. No two surviving manuscripts hold the same set. There has never been a correct table of contents, which is why every printed edition is somebody's selection.
The frame is what holds it together. A king finds his wife unfaithful, kills her, and concludes that all women are the same. He takes a new wife every night and has her executed at dawn, until the vizier's daughter Shahrazad volunteers to be next. She brings her sister, she begins a story, and when the sun comes up the story is not finished. That is the whole mechanism and it is on the page: she breaks off at dawn, the night is numbered, and she picks the thread up the following evening. There are a hundred and sixty-one of those breaks in this book.
This volume is the frame and eighteen of the tales, covering those nights. They are the Fisherman and the Jinni, the Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad, the entire Hunchback cycle, all seven of Sindbad's voyages and an eighth from a different manuscript, the City of Brass, Aladdin and Ali Baba. The registers are not the same from one to the next — the Hunchback is farce played straight, the City of Brass is an hour of tomb inscriptions, Aladdin is a pantomime — and they have not been evened out.
The text underneath is Richard Burton's, published between 1885 and 1888, the fullest and least readable English version there is. Burton wrote it in an antique diction of his own invention, full of whenas and hight and anent, which was artificial the day it was printed. None of it corresponds to anything in the Arabic. What has been taken off here is a costume the translator put on. What is under it has been left alone, including the passages a modern reader will not like: Sindbad in the burial cavern, and everything he does there to get out.
The Story of King Shahryar and His Brother
Tale of the Trader and the Jinni
The Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban
The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot
The Tale of the Prince and the Ogress
The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince
The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad
The Tale of the Envier and the Envied
The Barber's Tale of His First Brother
The Barber's Tale of His Second Brother
The Barber's Tale of His Third Brother
The Barber's Tale of His Fourth Brother
The Barber's Tale of His Fifth Brother
The Barber's Tale of His Sixth Brother
Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman
The First Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Second Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Third Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Fourth Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Fifth Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Sixth Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman
The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman: The Calcutta Version
Aladdin; Or, the Wonderful Lamp
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Praise be to Allah, the Beneficent King, the Maker of the world, Lord of the three worlds, who set the sky up over us with no pillars to hold it, and spread the earth out flat beneath us like a bed; and blessing and peace upon our lord Mohammed, lord of all the prophets, and upon his family and his companions, blessing and peace enduring to the day of judgement. Amen! O Sovereign of the three worlds!
And now to begin. The doings and the sayings of the people who came before us have become lessons and examples for the people of today. A man can look at what befell other men and take warning from it; he can read through the records of the ancient peoples and everything that happened to them, and be steadied and governed by what he reads. Praise, then, to Him who made the histories of the past a warning to the present.
Among such stories are the tales called A Thousand Nights and a Night, with all their famous legends and their wonders.
It is told — though Allah alone knows what is hidden, and He alone rules, and to Him belong all honour and all giving and all grace and all mercy — that in the old days, and in the old time before them, there was a king among the kings of the house of Sasan, in the islands of India and China, a lord of armies and guards and servants and dependants. He left two sons, one in the prime of his manhood and the other still a boy; and both were fine horsemen and brave men, though the elder was the better rider of the two.
The elder came to the throne, and he ruled the land and governed his people so justly that he was loved by everyone in his capital and everyone in his kingdom. His name was King Shahryar, and he made his younger brother, whose name was Shah Zaman, king of Samarkand, away in the outer lands.
The two of them stayed in their separate kingdoms, and the law was carried out in both, and each governed his own people with fairness and a straight hand, and lived in great ease and contentment. Things went on that way for twenty years.
But at the end of the twentieth year the elder king began to long for a sight of his younger brother, and felt he had to look at him once more. So he asked his vizier what he thought of paying a visit, and the vizier, who did not think the journey a good idea, suggested instead that a letter be written and a present sent, in his own charge, inviting the younger brother to come to the elder.
The king took the advice. He had handsome gifts got ready at once — horses with saddles of gold crusted with gems, Mamluks, which is to say soldiers who are also slaves, beautiful serving girls, splendid and costly cloth — and he wrote his brother a letter full of his love for him and how badly he wanted to see him. It ended:
"So we hope, out of the affection and the kindness of our beloved brother, that he will trouble himself to turn his face towards us. We have sent our vizier to make all the arrangements for the march. Our one and only wish is to see you before we die; and if you delay, or disappoint us, we shall not survive the blow. And peace be upon you."
Then King Shahryar sealed the letter and gave it to the vizier along with the gifts, and told him to tuck up his skirts and put out his strength and lose no time going or coming back.
"Hearing and obedience!" said the vizier, and he set about getting ready without a pause, and packed his loads and had everything he needed prepared without delay. It took him three days, and at dawn on the fourth he took his leave of the king and marched off — over desert and hill road, over stony waste and pleasant meadow, never stopping by night or by day. Wherever he came into a country whose ruler was subject to his own king, and was met with magnificent presents of gold and silver and every fine and rare thing, he would stay three days, which is the term a guest is owed, and when he left on the fourth he would be escorted in honour for a full day's march.
When the vizier drew near Shah Zaman's court at Samarkand, he sent ahead one of his senior officers to announce that he had come. The officer presented himself, kissed the ground before the king, and delivered his message; and the king sent out a party of his nobles and lords to meet his brother's vizier a full day's journey from the city. They met him respectfully, wished him every good thing, and formed an escort and a procession around him.
When he entered the city he went straight to the palace and presented himself to the king. He kissed the ground, prayed for the king's health and happiness and for victory over all his enemies, and told him that his brother was longing to see him and begged for the pleasure of a visit. Then he handed over the letter.
Shah Zaman took it and read it. It had hints and turns in it that needed thinking about; but once he had taken in what it meant, he said, "I hear and I obey the commands of my beloved brother!" And to the vizier he added, "But we will not march until you have had three days' hospitality."
He gave the vizier good quarters in the palace, pitched tents for the troops, and had them supplied with everything they might want in the way of food and drink and the rest. On the fourth day he made ready for the road, put together magnificent presents worthy of his elder brother's rank, and appointed his own chief vizier to govern the country while he was away. Then he had his tents and his camels and his mules brought out, and the whole camp — bales and loads, servants and guards — pitched within sight of the city, ready to set out for his brother's capital the next morning.
But when the night was half over, he remembered something he had meant to bring and had left behind in the palace. So he went back quietly and let himself into his own rooms — and found the queen his wife asleep on his own bed, with both arms around a black cook, a loathsome man, greasy and filthy from the kitchen.
The world went dark in front of him. He said, "If this is going on while I am still within sight of my own city, what will this damned woman be doing during the months I am away at my brother's court?"
He drew his scimitar and cut the two of them into four pieces with a single stroke, and left them lying on the bed, and went back to the camp without letting anyone know what had happened. Then he gave the order to move, and set off at once.
But he could not stop thinking about his wife's treachery. He kept saying to himself, "How could she do this to me? How could she work her own death?" — until grief took hold of him so hard that his colour turned yellow and his body went weak, and he looked like a man sickening for something that kills. So the vizier shortened the day's marches and lingered long at the watering places, and did what he could to comfort him.
When Shah Zaman came near his brother's capital he sent runners and messengers ahead with the good news of his arrival, and Shahryar came out to meet him with his viziers and his emirs and all the lords and great men of his kingdom. He greeted him, and was overjoyed to see him, and had the city decorated in his honour.
But when the brothers came face to face, the elder could not miss the change in the younger's colour, and asked what was wrong.
"It is only the wear of the road," Shah Zaman said, "and my health needs looking after. The change of water and air has told on me. But praise be to Allah, who has brought me back to a brother so dear and so rare!" That was how he covered it and kept his secret. And he added, "O King of the age, it is nothing but toil and travel that have turned my face yellow with bile and sunk my eyes back in my head."
So the two of them entered the capital in state, and the elder brother lodged the younger in a palace that looked out over the pleasure garden. After a while, seeing that his condition had not changed, Shahryar put it down to being away from his own country and his own kingdom, and left him to go his own way and asked him nothing — until one day he said again, "Brother, I see you are getting weaker in body and yellower in the face."
"Brother," Shah Zaman answered, "I have a wound inside me." But still he would not tell him what he had seen his wife do.
So Shahryar sent for doctors and surgeons and had them treat his brother by the rules of their art, and they worked on him for a whole month; but their syrups and their medicines did nothing at all, because he went on dwelling on what his wife had done, and instead of easing, his misery got worse. The doctors' treatment failed entirely.
One day the elder brother said to him, "I am going out hunting and coursing, to take some pleasure and pass the time. Perhaps it will lighten your heart."
But Shah Zaman refused. "Brother," he said, "my soul wants nothing of the kind. Let me have the favour of staying quietly here. I am wholly taken up with my illness."
So Shah Zaman spent the night in the palace, and next morning, when his brother had ridden out, he left his room and sat down at one of the latticed windows overlooking the pleasure grounds. He sat there thinking the saddest thoughts he had about his wife's betrayal, and burning sighs came up out of his tortured chest.
And while he was sitting like that — a small private door of the palace, one that was carefully kept shut, swung open, and out of it came twenty slave girls, and in the middle of them his brother's wife. She was extraordinarily beautiful, a model of grace and symmetry and perfect loveliness, and she walked with the step of a gazelle going down to water.
Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but kept the whole party in sight, watching from a place where he could not be seen himself.
They walked directly under his lattice and went a little way into the garden, until they came to a fountain jetting up in the middle of a great basin of water. There they stripped off their clothes — and of the twenty, ten turned out to be women, the king's concubines, and the other ten were young men, slaves, who had been dressed as women all along.
Then they paired off, each with each. But the queen was left by herself, and after a moment she called out loudly, "Here to me, Saeed, my lord!"
And down out of one of the trees, in a single dropping leap, came a huge Black man, slack-mouthed, the whites of his eyes showing as they rolled — a hideous sight, as Shah Zaman saw him from the window. He walked straight up to her and threw his arms round her neck, and she held him just as tightly; and he kissed her, and wound his legs round hers the way a loop of thread winds round a button, and threw her down and had her. The other slaves did the same with the girls, until they had all satisfied themselves; and they went on kissing and clinging and coupling and carousing until the day began to fade. Then the Mamluks got up off the women, and the Black slave got up off the queen; the young men put their disguises on again; and all of them went back into the palace and shut the private door behind them, exactly as before — all except the Black man, who went back up his tree.
When Shah Zaman had seen his sister-in-law behave like this, he said to himself, "By Allah, my trouble is lighter than his! My brother is a greater king among kings than I am, and this shameful business is going on inside his own palace, and his own wife is in love with the filthiest slave in his household. But it only shows that they all do it, and that there is not a woman alive who does not cheat her husband. The curse of Allah on every one of them, and on the fools who lean on them for support, or put the reins of their conduct into their hands."
So he put away his misery and his low spirits, his regret and his brooding, and eased his own sorrow by repeating those words over and over. He added, "It is my settled opinion that no man in this world is safe from the malice of women."
When supper time came they brought in the trays, and he ate ravenously, because he had gone a long time without touching meat and had not been able to face any dish, however fine. Then he gave grateful thanks to Almighty Allah, praising Him and blessing Him, and he slept a thoroughly restful night — it had been a long while since he had tasted the sweetness of sleep. The next day he ate a good breakfast and began to get his health and his strength back, and before long he was in excellent condition again.
His brother came back from the hunt ten days later, and Shah Zaman rode out to meet him, and they greeted one another. When King Shahryar looked at King Shah Zaman he saw that the colour of health had come back into him, that his face had gone ruddy, and that he was eating with an appetite after living on so little. He wondered at it a good deal, and said, "Brother, I was so worried that you would not come out hunting and chasing with me and take your pleasure in my country!"
Shah Zaman thanked him and made his excuses. Then the two of them took horse and rode into the city, and when they were sitting comfortably in the palace the food trays were set in front of them and they ate their fill. When the dishes had been taken away and they had washed their hands, King Shahryar turned to his brother.
"My mind is full of astonishment at the state of you," he said. "I wanted to take you hunting with me, but I saw you changed in colour, pale and worn to look at, and in real distress of mind besides. And now — alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah — I see your natural colour has come back into your face and you are in the best of health. I believed your sickness came from being cut off from your family and your friends, and from being away from your capital and your country, and so I held back from troubling you with any more questions. But now I beg you: explain to me what caused your illness and the change in your colour, and explain to me the reason for your recovery and the ruddy health I am used to seeing in you. Speak out, and hide nothing."
Shah Zaman bowed his head towards the ground for a while, then lifted it and said, "I will tell you what caused my illness and the loss of my colour. But excuse me from telling you the cause of its coming back and the reason for my recovery. I beg you not to press me for an answer."
Shahryar was very much surprised at this. "Let me hear first what made you so pale and brought you so low," he said.
"Know then, brother," Shah Zaman answered, "that when you sent your vizier with the invitation to come to you, I made ready and marched out of my city. But then I remembered a string of jewels I had left behind in the palace, which I meant as a present for you. I went back for it alone, and found my wife on my own bed in the arms of a hideous black cook. So I killed the pair of them and came on to you — and my mind kept working over the business, and I lost my bloom and grew weak. But excuse me if I still refuse to tell you the reason my colour came back."
Shahryar shook his head, marvelling at it beyond measure, and with the fire of anger flaring up in his heart he cried, "The malice of woman is a mighty thing indeed!" Then he took refuge from them with Allah, and said, "In plain truth, brother, you have escaped a great deal of evil by putting your wife to death, and your rage and your grief were entirely excusable — a thing like that has never yet happened to a crowned king. By Allah, if it had happened to me, I would not have been satisfied with less than killing a thousand women, and that way lies madness. But praise be to Allah, who has softened your trouble for you. And now you really must tell me what it was that suddenly gave you back your colour and your health, and explain to me why you are hiding it."
"O King of the age, again I beg you to excuse me."
"No. You must."
"Brother, I am afraid the telling of it will cause you more anger and more sorrow than it caused me."
"All the more reason," said Shahryar, "to tell me the whole story. And I charge you by Allah to keep nothing back."
So Shah Zaman told him everything he had seen, from beginning to end, and finished: "When I saw your calamity, brother, and the treachery of your wife, and thought about it — that you are older than I am and greater than I am in sovereignty — my own sorrow was made small by the comparison, and my mind came back into balance and good temper. And so, throwing off my misery and my low spirits, I could eat and drink and sleep, and got my health and strength back quickly. That is the truth, and the whole of it."
When King Shahryar heard this he flew into a rage so great that it nearly choked him; but he mastered himself and said, "Brother, I would not call you a liar in this matter, but I cannot believe it until I see it with my own eyes."
"If you want to look at your own calamity," said Shah Zaman, "get up at once and make ready for hunting and coursing again, and then hide yourself here with me. You will see it, and your own eyes will prove it."
"True," said the king.
So he had it proclaimed that he was going travelling, and the troops and the tents went out of the city and camped within sight of it, and Shahryar rode out with them and took his place in the middle of his army, ordering the slaves to let no one in to him. When night came he called for his vizier and said, "Sit in my place, and let no one know I am gone for the next three days."
Then the two brothers disguised themselves and came back to the palace by night, in complete secrecy, and passed the dark hours there. At dawn they settled themselves at the lattice overlooking the pleasure grounds, and before long the queen and her women came out as before, passed under the windows, and made for the fountain. There they stripped, ten of them men and ten of them women, and the king's wife called out, "Where are you, Saeed?"
The Black man dropped straight down out of the tree, and rushing into her arms without any pause at all, called out, "I am Sa'ad al-Din Saood!" The queen laughed out loud, and they all fell to satisfying their lusts, and stayed at it a couple of hours. Then the white slaves got up off the serving women, and the Black slave got up off the queen; and they all went down into the basin, and after performing the full washing they put their clothes on and went away as they had done before.
When King Shahryar saw this shame done by his wife and his concubines, he went out of his mind. "Only in complete solitude," he cried, "can a man be safe from what goes on in this vile world! By Allah, life is nothing but one great wrong."
Then he said, "Do not cross me, brother, in what I am about to propose."
"I will not," said the other.
"Then let us get up exactly as we are and go away from here at once. We have no business with kingship. Let us wander over Allah's earth and worship the Almighty until we find somebody the same calamity has happened to; and if we find nobody, then death will be more welcome to us than life."
So the two brothers went out through a second private door of the palace, and never stopped travelling by night or by day until they came to a tree standing in the middle of a meadow, beside a spring of sweet water on the shore of the salt sea. They both drank, and sat down to rest.
An hour of the day had gone by when they heard a roaring and an uproar out in the middle of the sea, as if the heavens were falling in on the earth; and the sea broke into waves in front of them, and out of it there rose a black pillar, which grew and grew until it towered up to the sky and began to come towards that meadow.
They were terrified, and climbed to the top of the tree, which was a tall one, and looked out from there to see what was happening. And it was a jinni — one of the jinn, the spirits that people nowadays call genies — enormously tall, huge in the chest and the body, broad-browed and black as pitch, carrying a crystal chest on his head. He waded to shore through the deep water, came to the tree the two kings were in, and sat himself down under it.
Then he set the chest upright and drew out of it a casket with seven steel padlocks, which he unlocked with seven steel keys that he took from beside his thigh. And out of the casket came a young woman, white-skinned and lovely-faced, slender and finely made, and as bright as the moon of the fourteenth night, which is the full moon, or as the sun pouring down its light. As the poet Utayyah put it, and put it well:
She rose like the morning breaking through the night, and gilded the whole grove with her graciousness; the sun itself takes light from her radiance when she puts back her veil and shames the moon. Every creature bows down between her hands when she unveils and shows what she is. And she floods whole cities with a torrent of tears when the lightning of her glance goes over them.
The jinni sat her down under the tree at his side, and looked at her and said, "Dearest love of this heart of mine! Lady of the noblest family — I carried you off on your wedding night so that nobody could get in ahead of me and take your maidenhead before I did, and nobody has ever loved you or had you but me. Sweetheart, I should like to sleep a little."
Then he laid his head on the lady's thighs, and stretched out his legs, which reached all the way down to the sea, and slept, and snored, and rumbled like rolling thunder.
After a while she lifted her head towards the top of the tree and saw the two kings perched near the summit. So she carefully slid the ifrit's head off her lap — she was tired of holding it up, and an ifrit is a jinni of the fiercer kind — and set it down on the ground, and stood up under the tree, and signalled to them: Come down, you two. Don't be afraid of this ifrit.
They were in a terrible fright, finding they had been seen, and signalled back, "In Allah's name, and by your own modesty, madam — excuse us from coming down."
"In Allah's name," she signalled, "come down this instant. If you don't, I will wake my husband here, this ifrit, and he will kill you by the worst death there is." And she went on making signs at them.
So, out of fear, they came down to her. She stood up in front of them and said, "Take me, and be quick about it. Otherwise I will wake this ifrit and set him on you, and he will kill you where you stand."
"Madam," they said, "we beg you by Allah, let us off this. We are runaways from exactly this sort of thing, and we are in absolute terror of this husband of yours. How can we possibly do what you want?"
"No more talk," she said. "It has to be." And she swore to them by Him who raised the skies up with no prop and no pillar that if they did not do what she wanted, she would have them killed and thrown into the sea.
So Shahryar, in his fear, said to his brother, "Do what she tells you."
"I will not," said Shah Zaman, "until you do it first."
And they stood there arguing about which of them was going to have her.
"What is this?" she said. "Why are you arguing and hanging back? If you two do not come forward like men and do what men do, I will wake the ifrit on you."
At that, in their terror of the jinni, they both did what she told them to do. And when they had got up off her she said, "Well done."
Then she took a purse out of her pocket and drew out a knotted string, with five hundred and seventy signet rings threaded on it. "Do you know what these are?" she asked.
"We do not," they said.
"These," she said, "are the seals of five hundred and seventy men, and every one of them has had me on the horns of this foul, stupid, filthy ifrit. So give me your two seal rings as well, the pair of you."
When they had pulled the rings off their hands and given them to her, she said, "The truth is that this ifrit carried me off on my wedding night, and put me in a casket, and set the casket inside a chest, and fastened seven strong steel padlocks on the chest, and laid me down on the floor of the raving sea, where the waves crash and clash over me. He guarded me so that I should stay chaste and honest — as he puts it — and so that nobody but him should ever have me. And I have lain with as many of my own kind as I pleased. This miserable jinni does not understand that destiny cannot be turned aside or held back by anything, and that whatever a woman wants she gets, however unwilling a man may be. As one of the poets says:
Do not rely on women; do not trust their hearts. Their joys and their sorrows both hang below the belt. They will swear you a love that guile never leaves. Look at what happened to Yusuf — beware of their tricks, beware of the sting. Was it not through their arts that Iblis got Adam thrown out?
And another says:
Ease off your blame, man — it only drives the passion higher. My fault is not so heavy as the fault you have found in it. If I have become a true lover, nothing has come to me but what has come to a great many others before now. For the man is a wonder and well worth our praise who has kept himself safe and sound out of the wiles of women."
Hearing all this, the two of them marvelled beyond marvelling. And she went back to the ifrit and took his head up on her thigh as before, and said to them quietly, "Now go your ways, and get yourselves out of the reach of his malice."
So they went off, saying to one another, "Allah! Allah!" and, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great — and with Him we take refuge from the malice and the cunning of women, which has no equal on earth. Think about it, brother: look at what this astonishing woman has done to an ifrit, who is a great deal more powerful than we are. Something worse has happened to him than happened to us, and that ought to be consolation enough. So let us go back to our countries and our capitals — and let us settle it that we will never marry a woman again. And soon enough we will show them what we intend to do."
Then they rode back to King Shahryar's camp, which they reached on the morning of the third day; and having called together the viziers and the emirs, the chamberlains and the senior officials, the king gave a robe of honour to his deputy and gave orders to return to the city at once.
There he sat down on his throne and sent for his chief minister — the father of the two girls who, Allah willing, will be spoken of shortly — and said, "I order you to take my wife and put her to death. She has broken her word and her faith."
So the vizier carried her off to the place of execution and killed her.
Then King Shahryar took a sword in his hand and went to the women's quarters and killed all the concubines and all their Mamluks. And he swore a binding oath that from now on, whatever wife he married, he would take her maidenhead at night and kill her the next morning, to make certain of his honour. "Because," he said, "there never was and there is not now one chaste woman on the face of the earth."
Then Shah Zaman asked leave to go home, and he was fitted out and escorted, and travelled until he reached his own country.
Meanwhile Shahryar ordered his vizier to bring him that night's bride, so that he could go in to her. The vizier produced a most beautiful girl, the daughter of one of the emirs; the king went in to her in the evening, and when morning came he told his minister to strike her head off. And the vizier did it, for fear of the king.
He went on like that for three years. Every night he married a girl, and every morning he killed her — until the people raised an outcry against him and cursed him and prayed to Allah to destroy him and his rule utterly. The women wailed and the mothers wept and parents fled the city with their daughters, until there was not a girl left in the whole place old enough to be taken to bed.
Then the king ordered his chief vizier — the same man who was charged with the executions — to bring him a virgin as usual. The minister went out and searched and could not find one; and he came home in sorrow and dread, afraid for his own life.
Now this vizier had two daughters, whose names were Shahrazad and Dunyazad. Shahrazad is the name English has usually spelled Scheherazade, and she was the elder. She had read the books and the annals and the legends of earlier kings, and the stories and examples and lessons of men and things long gone by; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand volumes of histories about ancient peoples and dead rulers. She had read the poets and knew them by heart. She had studied philosophy and the sciences and the arts and every accomplishment; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well brought up.
That day she said to her father, "Why do I see you so changed, and so loaded down with worry and care? About such things one of the poets said:
Tell anyone who is grieving: grief will never last. Just as joy has no tomorrow, so sorrow will go past."
When the vizier heard this from his daughter he told her, from beginning to end, everything that had passed between himself and the king.
Then she said, "By Allah, father — how long is this slaughter of women going to go on? Shall I tell you what is in my mind, to save both sides from destruction?"
"Say on, daughter," he said.
"I want you to give me in marriage to this King Shahryar," she said. "Either I live, or I am the ransom for the virgin daughters of the Muslims and the reason they are delivered out of his hands and out of yours."
"In Allah's name!" he cried, in a rage that needed no feeding. "You little fool — do not put your life in that kind of danger! How dare you speak to me in words so far from wisdom and so close to stupidity? Understand this: a person with no experience of the world falls into trouble easily, and whoever does not consider how a thing ends does not keep the world for a friend. As the common people say — I was sitting at my ease, and nothing but my own meddling brought me unease."
"You must," she broke in, "let me do this good deed. And let him kill me if he likes. I shall only die as a ransom for others."
"Daughter," he asked, "how does that do you any good, once you have thrown your life away?"
"Father," she answered, "it has to be, whatever comes of it."
The vizier flew into a fury again and scolded her and reproached her, and finished with, "In plain truth, I am afraid the same thing will happen to you that happened to the Bull and the Ass with the Farmer."
"And what happened to them, father?" she asked.
Whereupon the vizier began the
Know, my daughter, that there was once a merchant who had a great deal of money and a great many men under him, and who was rich in cattle and camels. He had a wife and children too, and he lived out in the country, where he was an experienced farmer and devoted to his land.
Now Allah Most High had given him the gift of understanding the speech of every kind of beast and bird — but on pain of death if he ever told anyone he had it. So he kept it secret, out of plain fear.
In his cowshed he had a Bull and an Ass, each tied up in his own stall, right next to one another. And one day, as the merchant was sitting nearby with his servants and his children were playing around him, he heard the Bull say to the Ass:
"Health and joy to you, Father of Waking! You get rest and good service. Everything under you is swept clean and freshly watered. Men wait on you and feed you, and your ration is sifted barley and your drink is clean spring water — while I, wretched creature, am taken out in the middle of the night, and they put the plough on my neck and a thing they call a Yoke, and I wear myself out splitting the ground from sunrise to sunset. I am made to do more than I can, and to put up with every sort of ill-treatment from one night to the next; and then they take me back with my sides torn and my neck flayed and my legs aching and my eyelids raw with tears. Then they shut me in the byre and throw me beans and chopped straw with dirt and chaff in it, and I lie in dung and filth and stink all night long.
"But you — you are always in a place that has been swept and watered and cleaned out, and you are always lying at your ease, except now and then, and rarely enough, when the master has business and rides you into town and comes straight back with you. So it works out that I am worked and worn while you take your rest; you sleep while I lie awake; I am hungry while you eat your fill; and I get contempt while you get goodwill."
When the Bull had finished, the Ass turned to him and said, "Broad-Brow, you poor lost creature — whoever named you Bull-head was not lying. You have no forethought and no cunning, Father of a Bull; you are the simplest of simpletons, and you know nothing about taking good advice. Have you never heard what the wise man said?
For other men I carry these hardships and this work, and theirs is the pleasure and mine is the care — like the bleacher who blackens his own face in the sun to whiten the clothes that other men will wear.
"But you, you fool, are full of eagerness. You slave and sweat in front of the master; you tear yourself and wear yourself out and kill yourself for somebody else's comfort. Have you never heard the saying, no one to guide you and you wander off the road? You go out at the call to dawn prayer and you do not come back until sundown, and all the long day you put up with every kind of hardship — beating and belabouring and foul language.
"Now listen to me, Sir Bull. When they tie you to that stinking manger, you paw the ground with your front hooves and lash out with your back ones and butt with your horns and bellow, and so they think you are contented. And when they throw down your fodder you fall on it greedily and hurry to line that fine fat belly of yours.
"If you take my advice it will go better for you, and you will have an easier life than mine. When you go out to the field and they lay that thing called a Yoke on your neck, lie down and do not get up again, even if they thrash you; and if you do get up, lie down a second time. And when they bring you home and offer you your beans, fall over backwards and only sniff at your food and back away from it and do not taste it, and be content with the chopped straw and the chaff. That way you can pretend to be ill. Keep it up for a day, or two days, or even three, and you will get a rest from all your toil and trouble."
When the Bull heard all this he knew the Ass was his friend, and thanked him. "Your advice is sound," he said, and prayed that every blessing might repay him, and cried, "Father of Waking, you have made up for everything I lack!"
(And the merchant, my daughter, understood every word of it.)
The next day the driver took the Bull and settled the plough on his neck and set him to work as usual; but the Bull began to shirk his ploughing, exactly as the Ass had advised. The ploughman beat him until he broke the yoke and bolted; but the man caught him and leathered him until the beast despaired of his life. Even so, he would do nothing but stand still and then drop down again, and he kept it up until the evening.
Then the herdsman led him home and put him in his stall. But he backed away from his manger, and did not stamp or rear or butt or bellow the way he usually did, which puzzled the man. He brought him the beans and the husks, and the Bull sniffed at them and left them, and lay down as far from them as he could get, and passed the whole night without eating.
The farmhand came back next morning, and seeing the manger still full of beans, the chopped straw untouched, and the ox lying on his back in a pitiful state with his legs stuck out and his belly swollen, he was worried about him and said to himself, "By Allah, he has certainly fallen sick — that is why he would not plough yesterday."
So he went to the merchant and reported, "Master, the Bull is ailing. He refused his fodder last night, and what is more he has not touched a scrap of it this morning."
Now the merchant knew perfectly well what all this meant, because he had overheard the conversation between the Bull and the Ass. So he said, "Take that rascal of a donkey, and put the yoke on his neck, and tie him to the plough, and make him do the Bull's work."
So the ploughman took the Ass and worked him the whole day long at the Bull's task; and when he flagged from weakness the man fed him the stick until his ribs were sore and his sides were sunken and his neck was flayed by the yoke. When he came home in the evening he could hardly drag one leg after another, front or back.
The Bull, meanwhile, had spent the day lying stretched out at full length and had eaten his fodder with an excellent appetite, and he never stopped calling down blessings on the Ass for his good advice — not knowing what had happened to the Ass on his account.
So when night came and the Ass came back into the byre, the Bull rose up to honour him and said, "May good news gladden your heart, Father of Waking! Thanks to you I have rested all day and eaten my food in peace and quiet."
But the Ass did not answer a word, for rage and heartburning and exhaustion and the beating he had taken; and he repented with the bitterest repentance there is, and said to himself, "This is what comes of my folly in giving good advice. As the saying goes — I was sitting at my ease, and nothing but my own meddling brought me unease. But I will keep my own worth in mind, and the nobility of my nature. For what does the poet say?
Does the beautiful colour of the basil fail because a beetle has crawled over the leaf? And if a spider and a fly are living in it, does disgrace attach to the royal hall? The cowrie shell, I know, will pass as currency — but does that make the clear drop of the pearl worth less?
"And now I must think, and play a trick on him, and get him back to his place, or else I die."
Then he went wearily to his manger, while the Bull thanked him and blessed him.
"And in just the same way, my daughter," said the vizier, "you will die for want of sense. So sit still and say nothing, and do not put your life in this kind of danger — for by Allah, I am giving you the best advice I have, and it comes out of my love for you and my care for you."
"Father," she answered, "I must go up to this King, and I must be married to him."
"Do not do it," he said.
"I truly will," she said.
"If you will not be quiet and stay where you are," he replied, "I will do to you exactly what the merchant did to his wife."
"And what did he do?" she asked.
Know then, said the vizier, that after the Ass came back the merchant went out onto the terrace roof with his wife and his children, because it was a moonlit night with the moon at the full. The terrace looked down over the cowshed; and as he sat there with his children playing round him, the trader heard the Ass say to the Bull:
"Tell me, Father Broad-Brow — what do you mean to do tomorrow?"
"What else," the Bull answered, "but go on following your advice? It could not have been better, and it has given me rest and quiet, and I shall not depart from it by a hair. So when they bring me my food I shall refuse it, and blow my belly out, and play sick."
The Ass shook his head. "Do nothing of the sort, Father of a Bull."
"Why not?" asked the Bull.
"Because," said the Ass, "I am about to give you the best advice you have ever had. I heard our owner say to the herdsman: If the Bull does not get up from his place and do his work this morning, and if he backs off from his fodder again today, hand him over to the butcher to have his throat cut, and give the meat to the poor and make a bit of leather out of the hide. Now I am afraid for you on account of that. So take my advice before a disaster falls on you: when they bring your fodder, eat it, and get up, and bellow, and paw the ground — or our master will most certainly kill you. And peace be with you."
At that the Bull got up and lowed aloud and thanked the Ass, and said, "Tomorrow I will go out with them gladly." And he ate up all his food at once and licked the manger clean.
(All of this happened, and the owner was listening to every word.)
Next morning the trader and his wife went and sat down by the Bull's crib, and the driver came and led the Bull out; and the Bull, seeing his owner, whisked his tail and broke wind and frisked about so energetically that the merchant burst out laughing, and went on laughing until he fell over on his back.
His wife asked him, "What are you laughing at like that?"
"I laughed," he said, "at a secret something I heard and saw, and I cannot tell you or I shall die."
"You must tell me," she said, "and you must say why you were laughing, even if it kills you."
"I cannot reveal what beasts and birds say in their own language," he answered. "I would die."
"By Allah, you are lying," she said. "This is a mere excuse. You are laughing at nobody but me, and now you want to hide something from me. But by the Lord of the Heavens, if you do not tell me why, I will not live with you another day. I am leaving." And she sat down and cried.
"Curse it," said the merchant, "what are you crying for? Fear Allah, and leave this alone, and ask me no more questions."
"You have got to tell me why you laughed," she said.
"You know," he replied, "that when I prayed to Allah to grant me the understanding of the speech of beasts and birds, I swore a vow never to tell the secret to anybody, on pain of dropping dead on the spot."
"Never mind that," she cried. "Tell me what passed between the Bull and the Ass, and die this very hour if that is what you want." And she went on badgering him until he was worn out and quite beside himself.
So at last he said, "Send for your father and your mother, and our relatives, and some of the neighbours." Which she did; and he sent for the judge and his witnesses, meaning to make his will, and tell her the secret, and die.
He loved her very much — she was his cousin, his father's brother's daughter, and the mother of his children, and he had lived with her for a hundred and twenty years.
So when the whole family and all the neighbours had assembled, he said to them, "There is a strange business hanging over me, and it is of such a kind that if I tell the secret to anybody, I am a dead man."
At that every single person there said to the woman, "In Allah's name, drop this sinful obstinacy and admit that this is how the matter stands, before you end up killing your husband and the father of your children."
But she answered, "I will not let go of it until he tells me, even if it kills him."
So they gave up urging her; and the trader got up from among them and went off to an outbuilding to wash for prayer, meaning to come back afterwards and tell them the secret and die.
Now, daughter Shahrazad, that merchant kept about fifty hens in his outbuildings with a single rooster over them. And while he was getting himself ready to say goodbye to his household, he heard one of his many farm dogs address the Rooster in the Rooster's own language. The Rooster was flapping his wings and crowing at the top of his voice and jumping from one hen's back to another and treading them all in turn.
"Rooster," said the Dog, "how small your wits are, and how shameless your behaviour is! Bad luck to whoever raised you. Are you not ashamed of yourself, carrying on like that on a day like this?"
"And what," asked the Rooster, "has happened today?"
"Do you not know," said the Dog, "that our master is getting ready to die today? His wife is determined that he shall tell her the secret Allah taught him, and the moment he does, he dies. We dogs are all in mourning. And you clap your wings and crow your loudest and tread one hen after another. Is this an hour for amusing yourself and taking your pleasure? Have you no shame?"
"Then by Allah," said the Rooster, "our master is a half-wit and a man with no sense in him. If he cannot manage one single wife, his life is not worth keeping. Now I have about fifty ladies of my own. I please this one and cross that one; I starve one and stuff another; and by good government I have the lot of them well under control. And this master of ours claims to have wit and wisdom, and he has one wife, and does not know how to manage her."
"Then what," asked the Dog, "should the master do to get himself out of this fix?"
"He should get up this instant," said the Rooster, "and take a few switches off that mulberry tree, and give her a good thorough beating across the back and the ribs until she cries: I repent, my lord! I will never ask you a question as long as I live! And then let him beat her once more, and soundly. And when he has done that he can sleep without a care and enjoy his life. But this master of ours has neither sense nor judgement."
"Now, daughter Shahrazad," the vizier went on, "I will do to you what that husband did to that wife."
"And what did he do?" said Shahrazad.
He replied: When the merchant heard the wise words his Rooster spoke to his Dog, he got up in a hurry and went to his wife's room, cutting some mulberry switches on the way and hiding them there. Then he called to her, "Come into the inner room, so that I can tell you the secret where nobody can see me, and then die."
She went in with him, and he locked the door, and came down on her with such a beating — back and shoulders, ribs, arms and legs — saying all the while, "Are you going to spend your life asking questions about what does not concern you?" — that she was very nearly senseless.
Presently she cried out, "I am one of the repentant! By Allah, I will never ask you another question. I repent, truly and thoroughly."
Then she kissed his hands and his feet, and he led her out of the room as obedient as a wife should be. Her parents and the whole company were delighted, and the sadness and the mourning turned into joy and gladness. So the merchant learned how to run a household from his Rooster, and he and his wife lived together as happily as any two people until they died.
"And you too, my daughter," the vizier went on. "Unless you turn back from this business I will do to you what that trader did to his wife."
But she answered him very firmly. "I will never give it up, father, and this tale is not going to change my mind. Leave off this talk and this chatter. I will not listen to you; and if you refuse me, I will marry myself to him in spite of your nose. And I will go up to the King myself, alone, and say to him: I begged my father to marry me to you, and he refused, because he was determined to disappoint his lord and grudged the like of me to the like of you."
Her father asked, "Does it have to be?"
"It does," she answered.
At which the vizier, worn out with lamenting and arguing and persuading and dissuading her, all to no purpose, went up to King Shahryar and blessed him and kissed the ground before him, and told him the whole story of the dispute with his daughter from beginning to end, and how he intended to bring her to him that night.
The King was astonished beyond measure, because he had made a particular exception of the vizier's daughter. "Most faithful of my counsellors," he said, "how can this be? You know I have sworn by the Raiser of the Heavens that after I have gone in to her tonight I shall say to you tomorrow morning: Take her and kill her. And if you do not kill her, I will kill you in her place, without fail."
"May Allah guide you to glory and lengthen your life, O King of the age," the vizier answered. "It is she who has decided this. I have told her all that and more, but she will not listen to me, and she insists on spending this coming night with the King's Majesty."
So Shahryar was greatly pleased, and said, "Very well. Go and get her ready, and bring her to me tonight."
The vizier went back to his daughter and reported the order, saying, "May Allah not leave your father desolate by the loss of you!"
But Shahrazad was overjoyed. She got ready everything she needed, and said to her younger sister Dunyazad, "Pay close attention to what I am asking you to do. When I have gone in to the King I will send for you; and when you come to me, and see that he has had what he wants of me, then say to me: Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell me some new story, something delightful and delicious, to help the waking hours along. And I will tell you a tale which will be our deliverance, if it pleases Allah, and which will turn the King away from this blood-thirsty habit of his."
Dunyazad answered, "With love and gladness."
So when night came their father the vizier brought Shahrazad to the King, who was pleased at the sight of her and asked, "Have you brought me what I need?"
"I have," he answered.
But when the King took her to his bed and began to play with her and wanted to go in to her, she wept; which made him ask, "What is the matter?"
"O King of the age," she replied, "I have a younger sister, and I should dearly like to say goodbye to her tonight before I see the dawn."
So he sent for Dunyazad at once, and she came and kissed the ground between his hands, and he let her take a seat near the foot of the bed. Then the King got up and took his bride's maidenhead, and the three of them fell asleep.
But at midnight Shahrazad woke, and signalled to her sister Dunyazad, who sat up and said, "In Allah's name, sister, tell us some new story, something delightful and delicious, to pass away the waking hours of the last of the night."
"With joy and goodwill," answered Shahrazad, "if this pious and fortunate King will permit me."
"Tell on," said the King, who happened to be sleepless and restless and was therefore pleased at the prospect of hearing a story.
So Shahrazad was glad; and on the first night of the Thousand Nights and a Night she began with the
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that there was once a merchant among the merchants, a man of great wealth with business in a number of cities.
One day he mounted his horse and rode out to collect money owed him in certain towns; and the heat came down on him hard, so he sat down under a tree, and put his hand into his saddlebag and took out some broken bread and a few dry dates, and began to eat.
When he had finished the dates he flung the stones away, hard — and there in front of him stood an ifrit, an enormous one, brandishing a drawn sword. The ifrit came up to him and said, "Stand up, so that I can kill you, exactly as you killed my son."
"How have I killed your son?" asked the merchant.
"When you ate those dates and threw away the stones," he answered, "they struck my son full in the chest as he was walking past, and he died on the spot."
"Truly we come from Allah, and to Allah we are returning," said the merchant. "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! If I killed your son, I killed him by pure accident. I beg you to pardon me."
"There is no help for it," said the jinni. "I have to kill you."
Then he seized him and dragged him along, and threw him down on the ground, and raised the sword to strike. And the merchant wept and said, "I commit my case to Allah," and began to recite:
Time holds two sorts of day, this one a blessing and that one a curse, and life holds two halves, this one all pleasure and that one all pain. Do you not see, when the hurricane blows, stripping and striking hard, that nothing but the great tree of the forest feels the strain of it? How many trees does the earth feed, the dry ones and the green — and none but the ones bearing fruit get stones thrown at them. Do you not see how corpses rise and float on the top of the tide, while the pearls worth having lie hidden in the deepest part of the sea? The stars in heaven are past counting, but no star is ever eclipsed except the sun and the moon. You judged well of the days that saw you going about safe and sound, and never counted the pangs and the pains that Fate is always ready with. The nights kept you safe, and being safe made you proud — but the good things of the night are the very things that breed the bad.
When the merchant had finished his verses the jinni said to him, "Cut it short, by Allah. I have to kill you."
But the merchant spoke to him like this. "Understand, ifrit, that I have debts owed to me and a great deal of property, and children and a wife, and a number of things left in my keeping. Let me go home and settle with every man who has a claim on me; and I will come back to you at the head of the new year. Let Allah be my witness and my guarantor that I will return to you, and then you may do with me whatever you like. And Allah is witness to what I say."
The jinni took a firm promise from him and let him go.
So he went back to his own city and put his affairs in order and paid every man what he was owed; and after telling his wife and children what had happened to him, he appointed a guardian for them and lived with them for a full year.
Then he got up, and washed himself clean as a man does before death, and took his shroud under his arm, and said goodbye to his household and his neighbours and every one of his relations, and went out — though every part of him refused to go. They began weeping and wailing and beating their breasts over him; but he travelled on until he came to the same garden, and the day he arrived was the head of the new year.
As he sat there weeping over what had happened to him, an old man came up, a very ancient man, leading a gazelle on a chain. He greeted the merchant and wished him a long life, and said, "What has brought you to sit in this place, all by yourself, when it is a haunt of evil spirits?"
The merchant told him everything that had passed between himself and the ifrit; and the old man, the owner of the gazelle, marvelled at it and said, "By Allah, brother, your faith is nothing short of extraordinary, and your story is a strange one. If it were engraved with needles on the inner corners of the eye, it would be a warning to anyone willing to take warning."
Then he sat down beside the merchant and said, "By Allah, brother, I am not leaving you until I see what happens between you and this ifrit."
And as he sat there and the two of them talked, the merchant began to feel fear and terror, and a grief past all easing, and a care that kept growing, and the last extremity of despair.
The owner of the gazelle was still at his side when a second old man came up to them, and with him two dogs, both greyhounds and both black. This second old man greeted them and asked their news as well, and said, "What has brought you to sit in this place, which is a dwelling of the jinn?"
So they told him the tale from beginning to end. And they had not been sitting there long before a third old man came up, with him a she-mule of a bright bay colour; and he greeted them and asked why they were sitting there. So they told him the story from first to last — and there is no use, my lord, in telling a tale twice.
He sat down with them. And then a cloud of dust came on, and a great dust-devil rose up in the middle of the waste ground; and the cloud opened, and inside it was that same jinni, with a drawn sword in his hand and his eyes throwing off sparks of rage.
He came up to them and hauled the merchant out from among them and shouted at him, "Get up, so that I can kill you, exactly as you killed my son, the life-blood of my liver."
The merchant wailed and wept, and the three old men began sighing and crying and weeping and wailing along with their companion.
Then the first old man, the owner of the gazelle, stepped out from among them and kissed the ifrit's hand and said, "Jinni — Crown of the Kings of the Jinn — if I were to tell you the story of myself and this gazelle, and you found it a wonder, would you give me a third part of this merchant's blood?"
"I would," said the jinni. "If you tell me this tale and I hold it to be a marvel, then I will give you a third of his blood."
At which the old man began to tell
Know, jinni, that this gazelle is my father's brother's daughter, my own flesh and blood. I married her when she was a young girl, and I lived with her for the best part of thirty years, and she never gave me a child. So I took a concubine, and she gave me the gift of a son, a boy as handsome as the full moon, with beautiful shining eyes and eyebrows that met in a single line, and every limb of him perfectly made.
Little by little he grew, and grew tall; and when he was a lad of fifteen I had to travel to certain cities, and I set off with a great stock of goods.
But my cousin — this gazelle — had learned magic and sorcery and the black arts from her childhood. So she turned that son of mine into a calf, and turned my slave girl, his mother, into a heifer, and handed the pair of them over to the herdsman.
When I came home after a long absence and asked after my son and his mother, she said, "Your slave girl is dead, and your son has run off, and I do not know where he has gone."
So I stayed a whole year with a grieving heart and streaming eyes, until the time came round for the Great Feast of Allah. Then I sent to my herdsman and told him to pick me out a fat heifer; and he brought me one — and it was the girl, my slave, whom this gazelle had bewitched.
I tucked up my sleeves and my skirts and took a knife and started to cut her throat. But she bellowed aloud and wept bitter tears. It astonished me, and pity took hold of me, and I stayed my hand and said to the herdsman, "Bring me a different one."
Then my cousin cried out, "Kill her! I have none fatter and none finer."
So I went forward to sacrifice her a second time, and a second time she bellowed aloud; and out of pity I held back again, and told the herdsman to kill her and skin her himself. He killed her and skinned her, and found neither fat nor flesh on her, nothing but hide and bone. And I was sorry, when being sorry was no use to me at all.
I gave her over to the herdsman and said, "Fetch me a fat calf." And he brought my son, under the spell.
When the calf saw me he broke his tether and ran to me and fawned on me and cried, and shed tears; so that I took pity on him and said to the herdsman, "Bring me a heifer, and let this calf go."
At that my cousin — this gazelle — shouted at me, "You must kill this calf. This is a holy day and a blessed one, and nothing is sacrificed on it that is not perfect and pure; and we have no calf fatter or finer than this one."
"Look at the state of the heifer I slaughtered at your bidding," I said, "and how we turned away from her in disappointment, and how she was no good to us at all. I regret killing her bitterly. So this time I will not do what you tell me and sacrifice this calf."
"By Allah the Most Great, the Compassionate, the Merciful," she said, "there is no help for it. You must kill him on this holy day; and if you do not kill him, then you are no husband to me and I am no wife to you."
Now when I heard those hard words — not understanding what she was after — I went up to the calf with the knife in my hand:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
Then her sister said to her, "How lovely your tale is, and how pleasing, and how sweet, and how good to listen to!"
And Shahrazad answered, "And what is this compared to what I could tell you tomorrow night, if I am alive and the King spares me?"
Then the King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill her until I have heard the rest of her tale."
So they slept the rest of that night in each other's arms until the day was fully up. Then the King went out to his audience hall, and the vizier went up with his daughter's shroud under his arm. The King gave out his orders, and promoted this man and dismissed that one, until the end of the day; and he said not one word to the vizier about what had happened. The minister wondered at it beyond all wondering. And when the court broke up, King Shahryar went into his palace.
When it was the Second Night,
Dunyazad said to her sister Shahrazad, "Sister, finish that story of the Merchant and the Jinni for us."
And she answered, "With joy and goodwill, if the King permits me."
Then the King said, "Tell your tale."
And Shahrazad began: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the merchant meant to sacrifice the calf, and saw it weeping, his heart softened, and he said to the herdsman, "Keep the calf with the rest of my cattle."
All this the old man told the jinni, who marvelled a good deal at such strange words. Then the owner of the gazelle went on:
Lord of the Kings of the Jinn, all this happened, and my uncle's daughter, this gazelle, stood watching and saw it, and said, "Butcher this calf for me. It is certainly a fat one." But I told the herdsman to take it away, and he took it and turned for home.
Next day, as I was sitting in my own house, in came the herdsman, and he stood in front of me and said, "Master, I am going to tell you something that will gladden your heart, and it should earn me the reward that goes with good news."
"So it shall," I answered.
"Merchant," he said, "I have a daughter, and she learned magic in her childhood from an old woman who lived with us. Yesterday, when you gave me the calf, I took it into the house to her, and she looked at it and covered her face; and then she wept, and then she laughed, and then wept again, and at last she said: Father, has my honour become so cheap to you that you bring strange men in to me?
"I asked her: Where are these strange men, and why were you laughing and crying? And she answered: The truth is that this calf you have with you is the son of our master the merchant. He is under a spell put on him by his stepmother, who bewitched both him and his mother. That is why I laughed. And the reason I wept is his mother — because his father killed her without knowing what he was doing.
"I marvelled at this beyond all marvelling, and I could hardly wait for daylight before coming to tell you."
When I heard my herdsman's words, jinni, I went out with him — drunk without any wine, out of the sheer joy and gladness that had come over me — and we went to his house. There his daughter welcomed me and kissed my hand, and at once the calf came and fawned on me as before.
"Is this true, what you say about this calf?" I asked the herdsman's daughter.
"It is, my lord," she said. "He is your son, the very core of your heart."
I was overjoyed, and said to her, "Girl, if you will free him, everything I own that is in your father's hands, cattle and property both, shall be yours."
She smiled and answered, "My lord, I have no greed for the goods, and I will not take them except on two conditions. The first is that you marry me to your son. The second is that I may put a spell on the woman who put a spell on him, and shut her up — because otherwise I cannot be safe from her malice and her mischief."
When I heard the herdsman's daughter say this, jinni, I answered, "Besides what you are asking for, all the cattle and the household goods in your father's charge are yours; and as for my uncle's daughter, her blood is lawful to you."
When I had said it, she took a cup and filled it with water, and recited a spell over it, and sprinkled it on the calf, saying, "If Almighty Allah created you a calf, then stay in this shape and do not change; but if you are under a spell, then come back to the shape you had before, by the command of Allah Most High!"
And the calf shuddered — and became a man.
Then I fell on his neck and said, "In Allah's name, tell me everything my uncle's daughter did to you and to your mother." And when he had told me what had passed between them, I said, "My son, Allah favoured you with somebody to give you back to yourself, and what was yours has come back to you."
Then, jinni, I married the herdsman's daughter to him; and she turned my wife into this gazelle, saying, "This shape is a pretty one, and not loathsome at all."
After that she lived with us night and day and day and night, until the Almighty took her to Himself. When she died, my son set out for the cities of India — for the very city, in fact, that belongs to this man here, the one who has had done to him what has been done. And I took this gazelle, my cousin, and wandered with her from town to town looking for news of my son, until Destiny drove me to this place, where I found the merchant sitting here in tears.
That is my tale.
"That story is strange indeed," said the jinni, "and so I grant you the third part of his blood."
Then the second old man, the one who owned the two greyhounds, came up and said, "Jinni, if I tell you what happened to me because of my brothers, these two hounds, and you find it a tale more wonderful and more marvellous than the one you have just heard, will you grant me a third of this man's blood as well?"
"You have my word on it," the jinni replied, "if your adventures are more marvellous and more wonderful."
At which he began
Know, Lord of the Kings of the Jinn, that these two dogs are my brothers, and I am the third of us.
When our father died he left us a capital of three thousand gold pieces. I opened a shop with my share and traded in it, and my two brothers did the same, each setting up a shop of his own.
But I had not been in business long before the eldest sold his stock for a thousand dinars, and bought an outfit and goods, and went off to foreign parts. He was away a whole year with the caravan.
Then one day, as I was sitting in my shop, a beggar came and stood in front of me asking for charity. "May Allah open another door to you," I said.
At which he answered, weeping, "Am I so changed that you do not know me?"
I looked at him closely — and it was my brother. So I got up and made him welcome, and sat him down in the shop and asked him what had happened.
"Do not ask," he said. "My money is all gone, and my situation is beyond describing."
So I took him to the baths and dressed him in a suit of my own clothes and gave him a room in my house. What is more, when I went over my stock accounts and the profits of my business, I found that hard work had earned me a thousand dinars, and that my capital, the head of my wealth, came to two thousand. So I split the whole lot with him, and said, "Suppose that you never went abroad at all, but stayed at home. And do not let your bad luck weigh on you."
He took his share very gladly and opened a shop of his own; and things went quietly along for a few days and nights.
But then my second brother — that other dog there — set his heart on travelling too, and sold off what goods and stock he had; and though we tried to stop him, he would not be stopped. He got himself an outfit for the journey and set off with a party of travellers.
After a whole year away he came back to me, exactly as my elder brother had.
"Brother," I said, "did I not try to talk you out of travelling?"
He burst into tears and cried, "Brother, this is what destiny has decreed. Here I am, a plain beggar, without a penny and without a shirt to my back."
So I took him to the baths as well, jinni, and dressed him in new clothes of my own, and took him along to my shop and gave him food and drink. And I said to him, "Brother, it is my habit to cast up my shop accounts at the head of every year, and whatever surplus I find is to be shared between you and me."
So I struck a balance, ifrit, and found two thousand dinars of profit; and I gave praise to the Creator, be He extolled and exalted, and made over half of it to my brother and kept the other half myself. Then he set about opening a shop, and so we went on for a long while.
After a time my brothers began pressing me to travel with them. I refused. "What did the two of you gain by travelling," I said, "that I should expect to gain by it?" And since I would not listen to them, we each went back to our own shop and bought and sold as before.
They kept on urging me to travel for a whole twelve months, and I kept refusing, until six full years had gone by. Then I agreed, and said, "Brothers, here I am, ready to travel with you. Now let me see what money you have between you."
I found they did not have a farthing. They had squandered everything on rich food and drink and pleasures of the flesh. But I did not say a word of reproach to them. Far from it: I went over my shop accounts once more, and sold what goods and stock were mine; and finding myself the owner of six thousand gold pieces, I gladly divided the sum in half.
"These three thousand gold pieces are for you and me to trade with," I said to my brothers. And I added, "Let us bury the other half in the ground, so that it will be there if any harm comes to us — and in that case each of us takes a thousand and opens a shop again."
"Your reckoning is right," they both said. So I gave each of them his thousand gold pieces and kept the same for myself, a thousand dinars.
Then we got suitable goods together and hired a ship, and loaded our merchandise, and sailed on day after day for a full month, until we came to a city where we sold our venture; and for every gold piece we took ten.
And as we were turning back to our ship we found on the seashore a girl in worn and ragged clothes, and she kissed my hand and said, "Master, is there kindness in you, and charity? I can make you a fitting return for both."
"There is," I answered. "There is goodwill in me and a wish to do right, even if you make me no return at all."
Then she said, "Take me as your wife, master, and carry me to your city, for I have given myself to you. Do me this kindness, and I am one of those who deserve kindness and charity: I will make you a fitting return for it. And do not be ashamed of the state you find me in."
When I heard her say this my heart went out to her, as Allah willed it — be He extolled and exalted. So I took her and clothed her and had a good place made ready for her on the ship, and treated her with honour.
So we sailed on; and my heart became attached to her past all attaching, and I was not away from her by night or by day, and I paid more attention to her than to my brothers. So they grew cold towards me, and became jealous of my wealth and the quantity of goods I had, and they looked greedily at everything I owned. They took counsel together to murder me and seize my money, saying, "Let us kill our brother, and all his money will be ours." And Satan made the deed look fine to them. So when they found me alone — and I asleep beside my wife — they picked the two of us up and threw us into the sea.
My wife woke with a start out of her sleep, and instantly became an ifritah, and lifted me up and carried me to an island; and she vanished for a short time, and came back in the morning and said:
"Here I am, your faithful servant, who has made you a fitting return. I carried you up out of the water and saved you from death by the command of the Almighty. You should know that I am a jinniyah; and the moment I saw you my heart loved you, by the will of the Lord — for I am a believer in Allah and in His Apostle, on whom be blessing and peace. So I came to you in the state you saw me in, and you married me; and now, you see, I have saved you from drowning. But I am angry with your brothers, and I certainly must kill them."
When I had heard her story I was astonished, and I thanked her for everything she had done, and said, "But as for killing my brothers — that must not happen."
Then I told her the whole tale of what had passed between us, from the beginning of our lives to the end of it; and when she had heard it she said, "Tonight I will fly over them as a bird, and sink their ship, and kill them."
"In Allah's name," I said, "do not. The proverb says: you who do good to the man who does evil — leave the evildoer to his own evil deeds. And besides, they are still my brothers."
But she came back at me: "By Allah, there is no help for it. I shall kill them."
I humbled myself in front of her, begging their pardon; at which she lifted me up and flew off with me, and at last set me down on the terrace roof of my own house.
I opened the doors and dug up what I had hidden in the ground; and after greeting the neighbours I opened my shop and bought goods.
Now when night came I went home, and there I saw these two hounds tied up. When they caught sight of me they got up and whined and fawned on me — and before I could understand what had happened, my wife said, "These two dogs are your brothers."
"And who has done this to them?" I said.
"I sent a message to my sister," she answered, "and she treated them like this. And these two will not be released from the shape they are in until ten years have gone by."
And now I have arrived at this place on my way to my wife's sister, so that she can deliver them from this condition, after they have endured it for a full ten years. And as I was going along I saw this young man, who told me what had happened to him, and I decided not to go on from here until I had seen what might happen between you and him.
That is my tale.
Then the jinni said, "This is certainly a strange story, and so I give you the third part of his blood and his crime."
At which the third old man, the master of the she-mule, said to the jinni, "I can tell you a tale more wonderful than either of these, if you will grant me the rest of his blood and the rest of his offence."
And the jinni answered, "So be it."
Then the old man began
Know, Sultan and head of the jinn, that this mule was my wife.
It happened that I went away and was gone for a whole year; and when I came back from my journey I came to her at night, and saw a Black slave lying with her on the carpet bed. They were talking and playing with one another, laughing and kissing and coupling.
When she saw me she got up and came at me in a hurry with a water jar; and muttering spells over it, she sprinkled me and said, "Come out of this shape of yours and into the shape of a dog." And that instant I was a dog.
She drove me out of the house, and I ran out through the doorway and did not stop running until I came to a butcher's stall, where I stopped and started eating the bones that were lying there.
When the owner of the stall saw me he took me and led me into his house; but the moment his daughter caught sight of me she covered her face and cried out, "Are you bringing men in to me? Do you walk in here with them?"
"Where is the man?" her father asked.
"This dog," she said, "is a man whose wife has put a spell on him. And I can release him."
When her father heard that, he said, "In Allah's name, daughter — release him."
So she took a water jar and, after saying words over it, sprinkled a few drops on me and said, "Come out of that shape and into the shape you had before." And I went back to being myself.
Then I kissed her hand and said, "I wish you would transform my wife the way she transformed me."
At that she gave me some water and said, "As soon as you see her asleep, sprinkle this on her and say the words you heard me say, and she will become whatever you want her to be."
I went to my wife and found her fast asleep; and as I sprinkled the water on her I said, "Come out of that shape and into the shape of a she-mule." And that instant she became a she-mule — and she is the one you are looking at now with your own eyes, Sultan and head of the Kings of the Jinn.
Then the jinni turned to her and said, "Is this true?"
And she nodded her head and answered by signs: It is the truth. That is my story, and that is what happened to me.
Now when the old man had finished speaking, the jinni shook with pleasure and gave him the third part of the merchant's blood:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
Then Dunyazad said, "Sister, how pleasant your tale is, and how good to listen to — how sweet, and how welcome!"
She answered, "And what is this compared to what I could tell you tomorrow night, if I live and the King spares me?"
Then the King thought, "By Allah, I will not kill her until I have heard the rest of her tale, for it is truly a wonder."
So they rested that night in each other's arms until dawn. After that the King went out to his Hall of State, and the vizier and the troops came in and the court filled up; and the King gave his orders and gave judgement, appointed men and dismissed men, commanding and forbidding through the rest of the day. Then the council broke up, and King Shahryar went into his palace.
When it was the Third Night,
and the King had had his will of the vizier's daughter, her sister Dunyazad said to her, "Finish that tale of yours for us."
And she answered, "With joy and goodwill! It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the third old man had told the jinni a tale more wonderful than the two before it, the jinni marvelled beyond all marvelling and, shaking with delight, cried, 'There — I have given you what was left of the merchant's punishment, and for your sake I have let him go.'"
At which the merchant embraced the old men and thanked them; and the three of them wished him joy of his deliverance, and each went off to his own city.
But this tale is not so wonderful as the fisherman's story.
The King asked, "What is the fisherman's story?"
And she answered by telling the tale of
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that there was once a fisherman well on in years, who had a wife and three children and was in poor circumstances. It was his habit to cast his net four times a day, and no more.
One day he went out about noon to the seashore and set down his basket; and tucking up his shirt and wading into the water, he made a cast with his net and waited for it to settle on the bottom. Then he gathered the cords together and hauled — and found it heavy. However hard he pulled towards the shore, he could not get it up. So he carried the ends of it up the beach and drove a stake into the ground and made the net fast to it. Then he stripped and dived into the water all round the net, and did not stop working at it until he had brought it up.
He was delighted, and put his clothes back on and went to the net — and found in it a dead donkey which had torn the meshes.
When he saw it he cried out in his grief, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great!" And then he said, "This is a strange way of earning a day's bread." And he began making up verses on the spot:
You who work through the dark of the night in danger and in pain — the work you do for a day's bread does not come by strength or effort. Do you not see the fisherman going out on the sea after his bread while the stars of night glimmer overhead like a tangled skein? Down he goes into the water, and the waves knock him about, and all the while his eyes strain to see the net belly out; till, glad of a good night's work, he carries home a fish whose throat the hook of Fate had caught and cut in two. And a man buys that fish from him — a man who spent the night hours warm and comfortable, out of the cold and the wet and the dark. Praise to the Lord who gives to this one and denies that one his wish, and dooms one man to do the work and catch it, and another to eat it.
Then he said, "Up and get on with it. I am certain of His generosity, if Allah wills." And he went on:
When Evil Fate has hold of you, put on the long patience of a noble soul: it is your best. Do not complain to your fellow creatures; that is complaining from the most merciful of them to the least merciful of all.
The fisherman, having looked at the dead donkey, got it free of the tangle and wrung out his net and spread it; then he waded into the sea saying, "In Allah's name!" and made a cast and pulled — and it grew heavy, and settled down even more firmly than the first time.
Now he thought there must be fish in it, so he made it fast, and took off his clothes and went into the water and dived and hauled until he had dragged it up onto dry land. And this time he found in it a large earthenware pitcher full of sand and mud.
Seeing this he was greatly upset, and began reciting:
Leave off, troubles of the world — and if you will not leave off, then forgive. I went out to look for my day's bread and I find I must go breadless. Neither does my craft bring me anything nor does Fate allot me a share. How many fools reach up to the Pleiades while the dark swallows the wise and the careful.
So he begged Allah's pardon and threw the jar away, and wrung out his net and cleaned it, and went back to the sea a third time to cast, and waited until it had sunk. Then he pulled it in and found in it broken crockery and broken glass; at which he began to speak these lines:
Your daily bread is His to give: you can neither tie it up nor loose it, and neither pen nor writing will help you find it. Joy and daily bread are what Fate condescends to allow; this is sad and barren ground, while that makes the farmer glad. The arrows of Time and Life bring down a great many worthy men while they lift up to high position men of no worth at all. So come, Death — for truly life is not worth a straw when the falcon falls low and the mallard rides the wind. It is no wonder to see the great in soul and mind go poor, while many a worthless clown is marked out for luck. This bird will fly over the whole world from east to furthest west, and that one gets every wish it has without leaving the nest.
Then he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "My God, You know very well that I cast my net only four times a day. The third is done, and so far You have granted me nothing. So this time, my God, be pleased to give me my daily bread."
Then, having called on Allah's name, he threw his net again and waited for it to sink and settle; and then hauled at it, and could not draw it in, because it had caught fast on the bottom. He cried out in his vexation, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah!" and began reciting:
Curse this wretched world, if this is how it is — that I must be swamped by grief and misery. Though a man's lot look cheerful when the morning breaks, he drains the cup of sorrow before he sees the evening. And yet I was the very man of whom the world, when asked whose lot was happiest, would say: his.
At that he stripped and dived down to the net and worked away at it until he got it to land. Then he opened the meshes — and found in it a jar shaped like a cucumber, made of yellow copper, plainly full of something, its mouth closed with a lead cap stamped with the seal ring of our lord Solomon, son of David, may Allah accept them both.
At the sight of it the fisherman was delighted, and said, "If I sell this in the brass market it is worth ten gold dinars." He shook it, and finding it heavy went on, "I wish I knew what was inside. But I must and will open it and look at what is in it, and then put it in my bag and sell it in the brass market."
So he took out a knife and worked at the lead until he had loosened it off the jar; and he laid the cap on the ground and tipped the jar up to pour out whatever might be inside.
Nothing came out at all, which astonished him a great deal. But then a smoke came out of the jar and went spiralling up into the sky — which astonished him a great deal more — and trailed along the surface of the ground; and when it had reached its full height the thick vapour drew itself together and became an ifrit, enormous in bulk, whose head touched the clouds while his feet were still on the earth. His head was like a dome, his hands like pitchforks, his legs as long as masts and his mouth as big as a cave; his teeth were like boulders, his nostrils like water jugs, his eyes like two lamps, and his whole look was fierce and black.
Now when the fisherman saw the ifrit the muscles in his sides quivered, his teeth chattered, his mouth went dry and he could not think what to do.
At this the ifrit looked at him and cried, "There is no god but God, and Solomon is the prophet of God!" and then added, "Apostle of Allah, do not kill me. Never again will I contradict you in a word or sin against you in a deed."
"Marid," said the fisherman — for that is the name of the mightiest and most rebellious of the jinn — "did you say Solomon, the Apostle of Allah? Solomon has been dead for a thousand and eight hundred years, and we are living in the last days of the world. What is your story, and what account do you give of yourself, and how did you come to be inside this jar?"
Now when the evil spirit heard the fisherman's words he said, "There is no god but God. Be of good cheer, fisherman!"
"Why do you tell me to be of good cheer?" said the fisherman.
"Because," he replied, "you are going to die a bad death within the hour."
"For such good news as that," said the fisherman, "you deserve to have Heaven's protection taken off you, you distant one. Why should you kill me? What have I done to deserve death — I, who freed you out of the jar and saved you from the bottom of the sea and brought you up onto dry land?"
"Ask me one thing only," the ifrit answered, "which death you would like to die, and by what manner of killing I am to kill you."
"What is my crime," said the fisherman, "and why should I be paid back like this?"
"Hear my story, fisherman," said the ifrit.
"Say on," he answered, "and keep it short, for truly my life is in my nostrils this minute."
So the jinni said: Know that I am one of the jinn who fell into heresy, and I sinned against Solomon son of David, on the two of them be peace, along with the famous Sakhr the Jinni. So the Prophet sent his minister, Asaf son of Barkhiya, to seize me; and this vizier brought me against my will and led me to him in chains — and I went with him though every part of me refused to go — and stood me in front of him like a beggar.
When Solomon saw me he took refuge with Allah, and ordered me to embrace the True Faith and obey his commands. I refused. So he sent for this jar and shut me up in it and stopped it with lead, and stamped on it the Most High Name, and gave his orders to the jinn, who carried me off and threw me into the middle of the ocean.
There I stayed a hundred years, and all that time I said in my heart, "Whoever sets me free, I will make him rich for ever and ever." But the full century went by, and nobody set me free.
So I began the second hundred, saying, "Whoever sets me free, for him I will open the treasure hoards of the earth." Still nobody set me free, and so four hundred years went past.
Then I said, "Whoever sets me free, for him I will grant three wishes." And still nobody set me free.
At that I flew into a rage past all raging, and said to myself, "Whoever sets me free from this time on, I will kill him, and I will give him his choice of what death he dies." And now, since you are the one who has set me free, I give you your full choice of deaths.
The fisherman, hearing all this, said, "O Allah — the wonder of it, that I should not have come along to free you until now!" And he added, "Spare my life, and may Allah spare yours; and do not kill me, or Allah will set somebody on to kill you."
"There is no help for it," the stubborn creature replied. "Die you must. So ask me, as a favour, what manner of death you will die."
Even so certain of it, the fisherman tried once more. "Forgive me my death," he said, "as a generous reward for having freed you."
"I would certainly not be killing you," said the ifrit, "except on account of that same freeing."
"Chief of the ifrits," said the fisherman, "I do you good and you pay me back with evil. Truly the old saying does not lie:
We did them good, and they met our good with ill; such, on my life, is every bad man's work. Whoever does a kindness to people who do not deserve it gets what the man got who took in the hyena."
Now when the ifrit heard this he answered, "No more of this talk. I have to kill you."
At which the fisherman said to himself, "This is a jinni, and I am a man, and Allah has given me a reasonably cunning wit. So I will now find a way to bring about his destruction by my own contrivance and my own intelligence — just as he has taken counsel of nothing but his malice and his perversity."
He began by asking the ifrit, "Have you really made up your mind to kill me?"
And getting no answer but "I have," he cried, "Now, by the Most Great Name engraved on the seal ring of Solomon son of David, peace be on the holy two — if I ask you about a certain matter, will you give me a truthful answer?"
The ifrit replied, "I will." But at the mention of the Most Great Name his wits were shaken, and he said, trembling, "Ask, and be quick about it."
"How," said the fisherman, "did you fit into this bottle, which would not hold your hand — no, nor even your foot? And how did it come to be big enough to hold the whole of you?"
"What!" said the ifrit. "Do you not believe I was all in there?"
And the fisherman answered, "No. I will never believe it until I see you inside it with my own eyes":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Fourth Night,
her sister said to her, "Please finish this tale for us, if you are not sleepy!" So she took it up again:
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the fisherman said to the ifrit, "I will never in any way believe you until I see you inside it with my own eyes," the evil spirit instantly shook himself and became a vapour, which drew together and went into the jar little by little, until all of him was well inside. And at that the fisherman snatched up the lead cap with the seal on it and stoppered the mouth of the jar, and called out to the ifrit:
"Ask me, as a favour, what death you would like to die! By Allah, I am going to throw you into the sea here in front of us, and I will build myself a hut on this spot; and whoever comes here I shall warn him off fishing and tell him: In these waters there lives an ifrit who offers the man who rescues him a choice of deaths and a choice of ways of being killed."
Now when the ifrit heard this from the fisherman, and saw himself shut in, he wanted to escape; but Solomon's seal prevented him. So he understood that the fisherman had cheated him and outwitted him, and he became meek and submissive, and began humbly saying, "I was only joking with you."
But the other answered, "You are lying, vilest of the ifrits, and meanest, and filthiest." And he set off with the bottle for the shore; the ifrit calling out "No! No!" and the fisherman calling out "Yes! Yes!"
At that the evil spirit softened his voice and smoothed his speech and abased himself, and said, "What will you do with me, fisherman?"
"I will throw you back into the sea," he answered, "where you have been housed and homed for a thousand and eight hundred years; and now I shall leave you there till Judgement Day. Did I not say to you: spare me and Allah will spare you, and do not kill me or Allah will kill you? And you rejected my plea and had no intention but to deal ungraciously with me. And now Allah has thrown you into my hands, and I am the cunninger of the two of us."
"Open the jar for me," said the ifrit, "and I will do you good."
"You are lying, you accursed thing," said the fisherman. "My case with you is the case of the vizier of King Yunan with the sage Duban."
"And who was the vizier of King Yunan, and who was the sage Duban, and what was the story about them?" said the ifrit.
At which the fisherman began to tell
Know, ifrit, that in the old days, and in the old time before them, a king called Yunan ruled over the city of Fars in the land of Rum. He was a powerful ruler and a rich one, with armies and guards and allies among every nation of men; but his body was afflicted with a leprosy that the doctors and the men of science could not heal. He drank potions and swallowed powders and rubbed on ointments, and none of it did him any good, and not one of the whole host of physicians could manage a cure.
At last there came to his city a great healer of men, well on in years, whose name was the sage Duban. This man was a reader of books — Greek, Persian, Roman, Arabic and Syriac. He was skilled in astronomy and in medicine, the theory as well as the practice; he knew everything that heals the body and everything that harms it; he was familiar with the properties of every plant and grass and herb, what good it did and what damage; and he understood philosophy, and had gone round the whole range of medical science and of the other branches on the tree of knowledge.
This physician had spent only a few days in the city before he heard of the King's illness and all the suffering the leprosy caused him, and how every doctor and wise man had failed to heal him. So he sat up through the night thinking hard; and when the dawn broke and the morning appeared and the light was born again, and the sun greeted the good, whose beauty adorns the world, he put on his handsomest clothes and went in to King Yunan and kissed the ground before him. Then he prayed in the finest language for the long continuance of his honour and his prosperity, and made himself known.
"O King," he said, "news has reached me of what has befallen you in your own body, and of how the whole host of physicians have proved unable to reduce it. And I can cure you, O King — and I will not make you drink a draught or rub you with any ointment."
Now when King Yunan heard this he said, in enormous surprise, "How will you do it? By Allah, if you make me whole I will make you rich, and your son's sons after you, and I will give you magnificent presents; and whatever you wish for shall be yours, and you shall be my drinking companion and my friend."
The King then robed him in a dress of honour and treated him graciously, and asked, "Can you really cure me of this complaint without drug or ointment?"
"I can," he answered. "I will heal you without the pains and penalties of medicine."
The King marvelled beyond all marvelling, and said, "Physician, when will this be that you speak of, and in how many days will it happen? Hurry, my son!"
"I hear and I obey," he replied. "The cure will begin tomorrow."
And so saying he went out of the presence, and rented a house in the city so as to have somewhere better to keep his books and scrolls, his medicines and his aromatic roots. Then he set to work choosing the fittest drugs and simples; and he made a polo mallet, hollow inside and fitted with a handle outside, and he made a ball to go with it, and both were prepared with consummate art.
Next day, when the two of them were ready for use and wanted nothing more, he went up to the King and kissed the ground between his hands and told him to ride out onto the parade ground and play polo. The King went, and his suite went with him — emirs and chamberlains, viziers and lords of the realm. And before he had even taken his seat, the sage Duban came up to him and handed him the mallet.
"Take this mallet," he said, "and grip it the way I do — so. And now push out onto the field, and lean well over your horse, and drive the ball with all your might until your palm is damp and your body sweats. Then the medicine will pass through your palm and go all through you. When you have finished playing, and can feel the medicine working, go back to your palace, and wash yourself completely at the baths, and lie down to sleep; and so you will be made whole. And now, peace be with you."
At that King Yunan took the mallet from the sage and gripped it firmly. Then he mounted, and drove the ball before him, and galloped after it until he caught it up, and struck it with all his strength, his palm gripping the mallet handle all the while; and he did not stop knocking the ball about until his hand was damp and his skin, sweating, took the medicine in out of the wood.
Then the sage Duban knew the drugs had gone through him, and told him to go back to the palace and get into the baths at once, without any delay. So King Yunan went straight back and gave orders to clear the baths for him. They did it — the carpet-spreaders hurrying and the slaves hurrying — and got out a change of clothes for the King. He went in and washed himself long and thoroughly; then he dressed inside the bathhouse, and rode from there to his palace, and lay down, and slept.
So much for King Yunan. As for the sage Duban, he went home and slept as usual, and when morning broke he went to the palace and asked for an audience. The King ordered him admitted; and then, having kissed the ground between his hands, he recited these lines about the King, speaking them solemnly:
Eloquence is happy when you are named as her father, but she goes into mourning when any other man claims the title. Lord of the fairest face, whose shining rays clear off the fogs of doubt that hang over famous deeds — may your face never stop shining like the dawn and the sunrise, and may you never show Time a face hot with anger. Your favour has given us gifts that did such work in us as rain clouds do raining on hills that frame the open country. Freely you spent your wealth so as to rise high, until you won from Time the very heights your greatness aimed at.
Now when the sage had finished reciting, the King got quickly to his feet and fell on his neck; then, seating him at his side, he ordered him dressed in a magnificent robe. For it had happened that when the King came out of the baths he looked at his body and saw no trace of the leprosy: the skin was all as clean as new silver. He was overjoyed at it, and his chest opened with delight, and he felt thoroughly happy.
Presently, when it was full day, he came into his audience hall and sat on the throne of his kingship, and his chamberlains and great men flocked into the presence, and the sage Duban with them. Seeing the doctor, the King rose to honour him and seated him at his side; and then the food trays were brought in loaded with the choicest dishes, and the physician ate with the King, and stayed in his company all that day.
What is more, at nightfall he gave the physician Duban two thousand gold pieces, besides the usual robe of honour and a great many other gifts, and sent him home on his own horse.
After the sage had gone out, King Yunan said again how astonished he was at the doctor's art. "This man treated my body from the outside," he said, "and never rubbed me with any ointment at all. By Allah, this is nothing short of perfect skill. I am bound to honour a man like that with rewards and distinctions, and take him as my companion and my friend for the rest of my days."
So King Yunan passed the night in joy and gladness, because his body had been made whole and had thrown off so destructive a disease.
Next morning the King came out from his private apartments and sat on his throne, and the lords of the realm stood about him, and the emirs and viziers sat as usual on his right hand and his left. Then he asked for the sage Duban, who came in and kissed the ground before him; and the King rose to greet him and seated him at his side, and ate with him and wished him a long life. What is more he robed him again and gave him presents, and did not stop talking with him until the evening drew on. Then the King ordered him, by way of salary, five robes of honour and a thousand dinars. And the physician went home to his own house full of gratitude to the King.
Now when the next morning came the King went to his audience hall, and his lords and nobles gathered round him, and his chamberlains and his ministers, the way the white of the eye encloses the black.
Now the King had a vizier among his viziers who was unpleasant to look at, an ill-omened sight, mean and ungenerous, full of envy and ill will. When this minister saw the King put the physician next to him and give him all these presents, he grew jealous of him and planned to do him harm — as the saying on the subject goes, "Envy lurks in everybody"; and as the other saying goes, "Oppression is hidden in every heart: power reveals it and weakness conceals it."
So the minister came before the King and kissed the ground between his hands and said, "O King of the age and of all time, in whose kindness I grew to manhood — I have serious advice to offer you, and if I hold it back I am a bastard and no true-born man. So if you order me to disclose it, I will do it at once."
The King, who was troubled at the way the minister put it, said, "And what is this advice of yours?"
"O glorious monarch," he said, "the wise men of old said: whoever does not consider how a thing ends will not have Fortune for a friend. And indeed I have lately seen the King going down a road that is anything but the right one; for he is lavishing gifts on his enemy, on a man whose whole object is the downfall and ruin of his kingship. To this man he has shown favour, honouring him beyond all honouring and making an intimate of him. And so I fear for the King's life."
The King, much troubled, and changing colour, asked, "Who is it you suspect, and who is it you are hinting at?"
And the minister answered, "O King, if you are asleep, wake up! I am pointing at the physician Duban."
"Shame on you," the King retorted. "This is a true friend, whom I favour above all men, because he cured me with something I held in my own hand, and healed the leprosy that had baffled every physician there is. He is a man whose like is not to be found these days — not in the whole world, from the furthest east to the furthest west. And it is of such a man that you say such hard things.
"Now from this day forward I allot him a fixed salary and allowance, a thousand gold pieces every month; and if I were to share my kingdom with him it would be a small enough matter. I cannot help suspecting that you speak this way out of nothing but envy and jealousy — as they tell of King Sindibad":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
Then Dunyazad said, "Sister, how pleasant your tale is, and how good to listen to — how sweet, and how welcome!"
She answered, "And what is this compared to what I could tell you tomorrow night, if the King is pleased to spare my life?"
Then the King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill her until I have heard the rest of her tale, for it is truly a wonder."
So they rested that night in each other's arms until dawn. Then the King went out to his Hall of Rule, and the vizier and the troops came in, and the audience chamber filled up; and the King gave his orders and gave judgement, appointed men and dismissed men, commanding and forbidding through the rest of that day, until the court broke up and King Shahryar went back to his palace.
When it was the Fifth Night,
her sister said, "Do finish your story for us, if you are not sleepy." And she took it up again:
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that King Yunan said to his minister, "Vizier, you are a man possessed by the evil spirit of envy on account of this physician, and you are scheming to have me put him to death — after which I should be very bitterly sorry, exactly as King Sindibad was sorry for killing his falcon."
"Pardon me, O King of the age," said the vizier. "How was that?"
So the King began the story of
It is said — though Allah alone knows — that there was once a king among the kings of Fars who was fond of amusement and diversion, and especially of coursing and hunting. He had raised a falcon which he carried all night on his fist, and whenever he went hunting he took the bird with him; and he had a little golden cup made for her, hung round her neck, so that she could be given water out of it.
One day, as the King was sitting quietly in his palace, the chief falconer of the household suddenly spoke up: "O King of the age, this is a day made for hunting birds."
So the King gave the orders and set out with the hawk on his fist; and they rode cheerfully on until they came to a valley, where they set out a ring of nets for the hunt. And a gazelle came into the trap, and the King cried, "Whoever lets that gazelle spring over his head and loses her — that man I shall certainly kill."
They drew the nets in tighter round the gazelle, and she came near the King's own position; and there she planted herself on her haunches and crossed her forelegs over her breast, as though she were about to kiss the ground in front of him. He bent his head low to the creature in acknowledgement — and she bounded high over his head and made off into the waste.
At which the King turned round to his troops and saw them winking at one another and pointing at him. "Vizier," he asked, "what are my men saying?"
And the minister answered, "They are saying that you proclaimed that whoever let the gazelle spring over his head should be put to death."
"Now by the life of my own head," said the King, "I will go after her until I bring her back."
So he set off at a gallop on the gazelle's trail, and did not give up tracking her until he came to the foothills of a mountain range, where the quarry made for a cave. Then the King cast the falcon off at it, and she caught the gazelle up at once and swooped down and drove her talons into its eyes, dazing it and blinding it; and the King drew his mace and struck a blow that rolled the animal over. Then he dismounted, and cut the gazelle's throat and skinned the body and hung it from the pommel of his saddle.
Now this was the hour of the midday rest, and the country was parched and dry, and there was no water to be found anywhere; and the King was thirsty, and so was his horse. So he went about looking, until he saw a tree with water dripping from its branches, like melted butter.
The King was wearing leather gauntlets to protect him against poisons. He took the cup from the hawk's neck and filled it with the water and set it down in front of the bird — and the falcon struck at it with her claws and knocked the liquid over.
The King filled it a second time from the falling drops, thinking his hawk was thirsty; and again the bird struck the cup with her talons and overturned it.
Then the King grew angry with the hawk, and filled the cup a third time and offered it to his horse; and the hawk knocked it over with a flick of her wings.
"Allah confound you," said the King, "unluckiest of all flying things! You keep me from drinking, and you deprive yourself as well, and the horse too."
And he struck the falcon with his sword and cut off her wing. But the bird lifted her head and said to him by signs, "Look at the thing hanging in that tree."
So the King lifted his eyes, and saw a nest of vipers, whose drops of poison he had taken for water. And he was sorry then that he had struck off his falcon's wing; and he mounted and rode on with the dead gazelle until he reached the camp he had started from.
He threw the game to the cook, saying, "Take this and grill it," and sat down in his chair with the falcon still on his fist — and suddenly the bird gasped, and died. At which the King cried out in sorrow and remorse for having killed the falcon that had saved his life.
Now that is what happened in the case of King Sindibad; and I am certain that if I did what you want me to do, I should be as sorry as the man who killed his parrot.
"And how was that?" said the vizier.
And the King began to tell
There was a certain man, a merchant into the bargain, who had married a beautiful wife — a woman of perfect beauty and grace, of fine proportions and great loveliness — and he was insanely jealous of her, and she managed very successfully to keep him from travelling anywhere.
At last something came up that forced him to leave her. So he went to the bird market and bought himself, for a hundred gold pieces, a parrot, which he set up in the house to act as a chaperone; he expected her to tell him, when he came back, everything that had gone on the whole time he was away. For the bird was knowing and clever, and never forgot anything she had seen or heard.
Now his beautiful wife had fallen in love with a young Turk who used to visit her, and she feasted him by day and slept with him by night.
When the man had made his journey and got what he wanted from it he came home, and at once had the parrot brought to him and questioned her about his wife's behaviour while he had been abroad.
"Your wife has a man friend," she said, "who spent every night with her while you were away."
At that the husband went to his wife in a violent rage and gave her a beating thorough enough to satisfy anybody.
The woman, suspecting that one of the slave girls had been telling tales to the master, called them all together and questioned them on their oaths; and every one of them swore she had kept the secret — but that the parrot had not. "And we heard her with our own ears," they said.
So the woman told one of the girls to set a hand-mill under the cage and grind with it; and a second to sprinkle water down through the roof of the cage; and a third to run about, right and left, flashing a mirror of bright steel — and to keep it up all night long.
Next morning the husband came home, having been entertained by one of his friends, and told them to bring the parrot to him, and asked what had happened while he was out.
"Forgive me, master," said the bird, "but I could neither hear nor see anything, on account of the tremendous darkness, and the thunder and the lightning, which went on all night."
As it happened to be summer, the master was amazed. "But we are in the middle of July," he cried. "This is not the season for rain and storms."
"By Allah, it is so," the bird answered. "I saw with these eyes what my tongue has told you."
At this the man, not understanding the situation and not smelling the plot, flew into a tremendous rage; and reckoning that his wife had been wrongly accused, he put out his hand and pulled the parrot out of her cage and dashed her on the ground so hard that he killed her on the spot.
Some days afterwards one of the slave girls confessed the whole truth to him; and even then he would not believe it, until he saw the young Turk, his wife's lover, coming out of her room. Then he drew his blade and killed him with a blow to the back of the neck; and he did the same to the adulteress. And so the two of them went, loaded with mortal sin, straight to the Everlasting Fire.
Then the merchant knew that the parrot had told him the truth about everything she had seen, and he grieved bitterly over losing her — when grieving was no use to him at all.
The minister, hearing King Yunan out, replied, "O Monarch, high in dignity — and what harm have I done this man, or what evil have I ever had from him, that I should be plotting his death? I would not be doing it except to serve you, and you will see soon enough that I am right. And if you take my advice you will be saved, and if you do not you will be destroyed — exactly like the vizier who dealt treacherously with the young prince."
"How was that?" asked the King.
And the minister began
There was a certain King whose son was far too fond of hunting and coursing, and he ordered one of his viziers to attend on the boy wherever he went.
One day the young man set out for the chase with his father's minister; and as they jogged along together a big wild animal came into view.
"Up and after that fine quarry!" cried the vizier to the King's son.
So the prince went after it until he was out of everyone's sight, and the animal got away from him in the wilderness; and he was left confused, not knowing which way to turn. And then a girl appeared ahead of him, in tears.
"Who are you?" the King's son asked.
"I am the daughter of a king among the kings of India," she answered, "and I was travelling with a caravan through the desert when drowsiness came over me and I fell off my mount without knowing it. So I am cut off from my people and thoroughly lost."
The prince, hearing this, pitied her, and mounted her behind him on his horse's crupper; and they rode until they passed an old ruin, where the girl said, "Master, I need to relieve myself."
So he set her down at the ruin, and she took so long there that the King's son thought she was simply wasting time. So he followed her without her knowing it — and she was a ghulah, an ogress, and she was saying to her brood:
"Children, today I am bringing you a fine fat young man for dinner."
To which they answered, "Bring him quickly, mother, so that we can browse on him till our bellies are full."
The prince, hearing this talk, gave himself up for dead, and the muscles in his sides quivered in fear for his life; so he turned away and was about to run.
The ogress came out, and seeing him in such a fright — for he was trembling in every limb — cried, "What are you afraid of?"
"I have run into an enemy," he replied, "and I am very much afraid of him."
"Did you not tell me you were a King's son?" asked the ogress.
"I did," he answered.
"Then why not give this enemy of yours some money and satisfy him that way?"
"He will not be satisfied with my purse," he said, "only with my life. And I am mortally afraid of him, and I am a man being wronged."
"If you are as distressed as you think you are," she replied, "then ask Allah for help against him. He will certainly protect you from the man's mischief and from the evil you are afraid of."
Then the prince raised his eyes to heaven and cried, "You who answer the needy man when he calls on You, and drive his distress away — my God, grant me victory over my enemy, and turn him away from me, for You are Almighty over all things."
The ogress, hearing his prayer, turned away from him; and the prince went back to his father and told him the whole story about the vizier — at which the King summoned the minister into his presence and killed him then and there.
And you likewise, O King: if you go on trusting this doctor, you will be made to die the worst of deaths. The very man you have made so much of, and treated as an intimate, will bring about your destruction. Do you not see how he cured the disease from outside your body, with something gripped in your hand? Do not be so sure he will not destroy you with something held the same way.
"You have spoken truly, vizier," King Yunan replied. "It may well be as you hint, my good advising minister. Perhaps this sage has come as a spy, looking to put me to death — for if he certainly cured me with a something held in my hand, he can certainly kill me with a something given me to smell."
Then King Yunan asked, "Minister, what is to be done with him?"
And the vizier answered, "Send after him this very instant and summon him into your presence; and when he comes, strike him across the neck. So you will be rid of him and his wickedness, and will deceive him before he can deceive you."
"You have spoken truly again, vizier," said the King. And he sent a man to call the sage, who came in a cheerful mood, not knowing what the Compassionate One had appointed for him. As a certain poet says, by way of illustration:
You who go in fear of Fate — travel trusting; commit the whole of it to Him who built the world, and wait. What Fate says "Be" to must be, my lord; and from what Fate has not decreed you are safe.
As Duban the physician came in, he addressed the King in these lines:
If I fail of my thanks to you, and do not thank you day after day, then for whom did I ever put together prose and verse, my speech and my song? You lavished your generous gifts before ever I asked for them; you lavished your favours unasked, with no pretext and no delay. How shall I stint my praise of you, how shall I stop praising your graciousness, in private and in the most open show? No; I will thank your kindnesses, for your favours always lie light on my thought and my tongue, though they weigh heavy on my back.
And he said further, on the same theme:
Turn away from grief and do not care a jot! Commit what you need to Fate and to your Lot. Enjoy the present, and enjoy it thoroughly, and let the past be entirely forgotten. For what happens to look like the worst shall work out for your good, as Allah knows. Allah will do whatever He wills, and in His will do not oppose Him.
And further still:
To the All-wise, the Subtle One, trust the things of this world; rest yourself from everything the worldly man clings to. Learn well and wisely that nothing comes about by your will, but only as Allah wills it, the King of Kings.
And lastly:
Be cheerful and glad, and forget every grief you have. Grief has worn out the wisest hearts often enough. Thinking is only folly in a feeble slave: shun it, and so be saved for ever.
The King's only reply was, "Do you know why I have sent for you?"
And the sage answered, "Allah Most High alone knows hidden things."
But the King retorted, "I sent for you only to take your life and destroy you utterly."
Duban the Wise wondered at this strange address beyond all wondering, and asked, "O King — and why would you kill me? What harm have I done you?"
"Men tell me you are a spy," the King answered, "sent here with the intention of killing me. And so I will kill you before I am killed by you." And he called to his headsman and said, "Strike me off this traitor's head and deliver us from his evil practices."
"Spare me and Allah will spare you," said the sage. "Do not kill me, or Allah will kill you." And he said those very words to him, ifrit, exactly as I said them to you — and yet you would not let me go, being bent on my death.
King Yunan only answered, "I shall not be safe unless I kill you; for just as you healed me with something held in the hand, so I am not secure against your killing me with something given me to smell, or by some other means."
"So this, O King," said the physician, "is my recompense and my reward? You return nothing but evil for good."
"There is no help for it," the King replied. "Die you must, and without delay."
Now when the physician was certain the King would kill him without waiting, he wept, and regretted the good he had done to the man who did not deserve it. As somebody has said on this subject:
Maymunah is bare of wit and wisdom, whose own father outstrips every wit in wisdom. A man cannot walk on mud or dust or clay except by good sense — otherwise he trips and slips.
At that the headsman stepped forward and bound the sage Duban's eyes and bared his blade, saying to the King, "By your leave." And the physician wept and cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare you; do not kill me, or Allah will kill you," and began reciting:
I was kind, and did not escape; they were cruel, and escaped; and my kindness led me nowhere but to the Hall of Ruin. If I live I will never be kind again; and if I die, then damnation on all who come after me, and a curse on their kindliness.
"Is this," Duban went on, "the return I get from you? It seems to me you are paying me the crocodile's kindness."
"What is the tale of the crocodile?" said the King.
"It is impossible for me to tell it in the state I am in," said the physician. "In Allah's name, spare me, as you hope Allah will spare you." And he wept beyond all weeping.
Then one of the King's favourites stood up and said, "O King, grant me this physician's blood. We have never seen him sin against you, or do anything but heal you of a disease that baffled every doctor and man of science."
"You do not know why I am putting this physician to death," said the King, "and it is this. If I spare him, I doom myself to certain death; for a man who healed me of such a malady with something held in my hand can certainly kill me with something held to my nose. And I am afraid he may kill me for a price, since he may well be a spy whose only purpose in coming here was to bring about my destruction. So there is no help for it. Die he must — and only then shall I be sure of my own life."
Again Duban cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare you; do not kill me, or Allah will kill you." But it was no use.
Now when the physician knew for certain that the King would kill him, ifrit, he said, "O King, if there is no help for it and I must die, then grant me a little delay, so that I can go down to my house and settle my obligations and tell my household and my neighbours where to bury me and how to distribute my medical books. Among them I have one that is the rarest of rarities, which I should like to present to you as a gift: keep it as a treasure in your treasury."
"And what is in the book?" asked the King.
"Things past counting," the sage answered. "And the least of its secrets is this: that if, directly after you have cut off my head, you open three leaves and read three lines of the page on your left hand, my head will speak, and answer every question you care to ask it."
The King wondered beyond all wondering, and shaking with delight at the strangeness of it, said, "Physician, are you really telling me that when I cut off your head it will speak to me?"
"Yes, O King," he replied.
"This is a strange matter indeed," said the King. And he sent him home at once under close guard, and Duban settled all his obligations then and there.
Next day he went up to the King's audience hall, where emirs and viziers, chamberlains and governors, grandees and lords of the realm were all gathered together, making the presence chamber as gay as a garden of flower beds. And the physician came up and stood before the King, carrying a worn old volume and a little metal case full of powder, like the powder used for the eyes.
Then he sat down and said, "Give me a tray." So they brought him one, and he poured the powder onto it and levelled it off, and at last he spoke:
"O King, take this book, but do not open it until my head falls. Then set the head on this tray and have it pressed down onto the powder, and at once the blood will stop flowing. That is the moment to open the book."
So the King took the book and made a sign to the headsman, who rose and struck off the physician's head and set it in the middle of the tray and pressed it down onto the powder. The blood stopped flowing; and the sage Duban opened his eyes and said, "Now open the book, O King."
The King opened the book and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to his mouth, and by moistening it he managed to turn over the first leaf, and the second the same way, and the third, each leaf opening with a good deal of trouble. And when he had unstuck six leaves he looked them over and, finding nothing written on them, said, "Physician, there is no writing here."
"Turn over more," Duban replied. And he turned over three more in the same way.
Now the book was poisoned; and before long the venom worked into his system, and he fell into violent convulsions and cried out, "The poison has done its work!"
At which the sage Duban's head began to improvise:
There have been rulers who ruled with a foul and tyrannical hand, and soon they were as though they had never, never been. Had they been just, they would have had justice done to them; they oppressed, and were oppressed in turn by Fortune, who paid them back with ruin and bane and misery. So they faded like the morning, and the tongue of things repeats: take this for that, and do not vent your spleen on the ways of Fortune.
No sooner had the head stopped speaking than the King rolled over dead.
Now I would have you know, ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the sage Duban, Allah would have spared him; but he refused to do it and decreed his death, and so Allah killed him. And you too, ifrit — if you had spared me, Allah would have spared you:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
Then Dunyazad said, "Sister, how pleasant your tale is, and how good to listen to — how sweet, and how welcome!"
She answered, "And what is this compared to what I could tell you tomorrow night, if I live and the King spares me?"
The King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill her until I have heard the rest of her story, for it is truly a wonder."
They rested that night in each other's arms until dawn. Then the King went out to his court; the viziers and the troops came in and the audience hall filled up; and the King gave his orders and gave judgement, appointed men and dismissed men, commanding and forbidding through the rest of that day, until the court broke up and King Shahryar went into his palace.
When it was the Sixth Night,
her sister Dunyazad said to her, "Please finish your story for us." And she answered, "I will, if the King gives me leave."
"Say on," said the King. And she went on:
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the fisherman said to the ifrit, "If you had spared me I would have spared you; but nothing would satisfy you except my death. So now I will put you to death by shutting you up in this jar, and I will hurl you into this sea."
Then the marid roared aloud and cried, "In Allah's name, fisherman — don't! Spare me, and pardon what I have done; and as I have been tyrannical, be you generous. For it is said, among the sayings that go about: You who do good to the man who has done you evil — let the evildoer's own evil deeds be enough for him. And do not deal with me as Umamah dealt with Atikah."
"And what happened between them?" asked the fisherman.
"This is no time for storytelling," the ifrit answered, "and me in this prison. Set me free and I will tell you the tale."
"Leave off this talk," said the fisherman. "There is no help for it: you must be thrown back into the sea, and there is no way of your ever getting out of it, for ever and ever. I put myself under your protection for nothing; I humbled myself to you in tears, and all you wanted was to kill me — me, who had done you no injury to deserve it. Far from injuring you by any evil act, I did you nothing but good in releasing you from that prison of yours.
"Now I knew you for an evildoer when you did to me what you did. And know this: when I have thrown you back into the sea, I shall warn whoever fishes you up about what happened to me with you, and I shall advise him to toss you straight back in again. So you shall stay here under these waters until the End of Time makes an end of you."
But the ifrit cried out, "Set me free! This is a fine occasion for generosity, and I make a covenant with you and vow never to do you hurt or harm. On the contrary, I will help you to something that will put you beyond want."
The fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions — that he should not trouble him as before, but on the contrary do him a service; and after making the pledge firm and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah Most High, he opened the jar.
At that the pillar of smoke rose up until the whole of it was out; and then it thickened and once more became an ifrit, hideous to look at, who promptly gave the bottle a kick and sent it flying into the sea.
The fisherman, seeing how the jar was treated and making sure his own death was next, wet himself, and said to himself, "This looks bad." But he steadied his heart and cried:
"Ifrit, Allah has said: keep your covenant, for the keeping of your covenant shall be inquired into hereafter. You have made a vow to me and sworn an oath not to play me false, in case Allah plays you false — for truly He is a jealous God, who gives the sinner time but does not let him escape. I say to you what the sage Duban said to King Yunan: spare me, so that Allah may spare you."
The ifrit burst out laughing and stalked away, saying to the fisherman, "Follow me." And the man walked after him at a safe distance, not being at all sure of getting away, until they had gone right round the outskirts of the city.
From there they struck out into uncultivated ground, and crossed it, and came down into a broad wilderness; and in the middle of it stood a mountain tarn.
The ifrit waded into the middle of it and again cried, "Follow me." And when that was done he took his stand in the centre and told the man to cast his net and catch his fish.
The fisherman looked into the water and was astonished to see fish of different colours in it, white and red, blue and yellow. But he cast his net, and hauling it in, saw he had netted four fish, one of each colour.
He was overjoyed at it, and more so when the ifrit said, "Carry these to the Sultan and set them in front of him; and he will give you what will make you a wealthy man. And now accept my apology, for by Allah I know no other way of doing you good at present, seeing that I have lain in this sea for eighteen hundred years and have not seen the face of the world until this hour. But I would not have you fish here more than once a day."
Then the ifrit wished him well, saying, "Allah grant we meet again," and struck the ground with one foot; and the earth split open and swallowed him up.
The fisherman, marvelling a great deal at what had happened to him with the ifrit, took the fish and made for the city; and as soon as he got home he filled an earthenware bowl with water and dropped the fish into it, and they began to struggle and wriggle about.
Then he carried the bowl off on his head and went to the King's palace, as the ifrit had told him to, and laid the fish before the presence. And the King marvelled beyond all marvelling at the sight, for never in his life had he seen fish like these, in colour or in shape.
So he said, "Give those fish to the foreign slave girl who is cooking for us now" — meaning the bondmaid whom the King of Rum had sent him only three days before, so that he had not yet tested her talents in the dressing of meat.
At which the vizier carried the fish to the cook and told her to fry them, saying, "Girl, the King sends you this message: I have not stored you up, O treasure of mine, except against a hard time of mine. So show us today your delicate handiwork and your savoury cooking; for this dish of fish is a present sent to the Sultan, and plainly a rarity."
The vizier, having instructed her carefully, went back to the King, who ordered him to give the fisherman four hundred dinars. He gave them accordingly, and the man clutched them to his chest and ran off home, stumbling and falling and getting up again and thinking the whole thing was a dream. Anyway, he bought his family everything they needed, and at last he went in to his wife in enormous joy and gladness.
So much for him. As for the cook, she took the fish and cleaned them and set them in the frying pan, basting them with oil until one side was done. Then she turned them over — and the kitchen wall split apart, and out of it came a young lady, beautiful in shape, oval in the face, perfect in grace, with eyelids that lines of kohl enchase.
Her dress was a silk head-kerchief fringed and tasselled with blue; a large ring hung from each ear; a pair of bracelets went round her wrists; there were rings with priceless gems in their settings on her fingers; and she held in her hand a long rod of rattan cane, which she thrust into the frying pan, saying, "Fish! Fish! Are you keeping your covenant?"
When the cook saw this apparition she fainted away. The young lady repeated her words a second time and a third time; and at last the fish raised their heads out of the pan and said, in words anyone could understand, "Yes! Yes!" And they began, all in one voice, to recite:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! And if you choose to abandon us, I will pay you back till we are quits!
After this the young lady turned the frying pan over and went out the way she had come in, and the kitchen wall closed behind her.
When the cook came round from her fainting fit she saw the four fish burnt black as charcoal, and cried out, "His staff broke at the first blow!" — and fell down in a faint again.
While she was lying there the vizier came for the fish; and seeing her senseless on the floor, not knowing Sunday from Thursday, he shoved her with his foot and said, "Bring the fish for the Sultan!"
At that she came round, and wept, and told him her situation and everything that had happened to her. The vizier marvelled greatly and exclaimed, "This is nothing short of an extraordinary business!" And he sent for the fisherman and said to him, "You, fisherman, must fetch us four more fish like the ones you brought before."
So the man went off to the tarn and cast his net; and when he landed it, there were four fish in it exactly like the first. He carried them straight to the vizier, who took them in to the cook and said, "Up with you, and fry these in front of me, so that I can see this business for myself."
The girl got up and cleaned the fish and set them in the frying pan over the fire. But they had not been there long before the wall split apart and the young lady appeared, dressed as before and holding the wand, which she again thrust into the frying pan, saying, "Fish! Fish! Are you keeping to your old covenant?"
And the fish lifted their heads and answered, "Yes! Yes!" and recited the couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! But if you choose to abandon us, I will pay you back till we are quits!
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Seventh Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the fish had spoken, and the young lady had upset the frying pan with her rod and gone out the way she came in, and the wall had closed up behind her, the vizier cried, "This is not a thing that can be kept from the King."
So he went and told him what had happened; at which the King said, "There is no help for it. I must see this with my own eyes."
Then he sent for the fisherman and ordered him to bring four more fish like the first, and to take three men with him as witnesses. The fisherman brought the fish at once; and the King, after ordering that he be given four hundred gold pieces, turned to the vizier and said, "Up, and fry me these fish here in front of me."
The minister answered, "To hear is to obey," and had the frying pan brought, and threw the cleaned fish into it and set it over the fire. And then the wall split apart, and out burst a Black slave, huge as a boulder, or like something left over from the ancient giants of the tribe of Ad, with a branch of a green tree in his hand; and he cried in a loud and terrible voice, "Fish! Fish! Are you all keeping to your old covenant?"
At which the fish lifted their heads out of the frying pan and said, "Yes! Yes! We are true to our vow." And they recited the couplet again:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! But if you choose to abandon us, I will pay you back till we are quits!
Then the huge man came up to the frying pan and turned it over with the branch, and went out the way he had come in.
When he had vanished from their sight the King inspected the fish; and finding them all burnt black as charcoal, he was utterly bewildered, and said to the vizier, "This is truly a matter that cannot be kept quiet; and as for these fish, there is certainly some marvellous adventure attached to them."
So he had the fisherman brought, and asked him, "Confound you, man — where did these fish come from?"
"From a tarn between four heights," he answered, "lying behind that mountain there, which is in sight of your city."
"How many days' march?" asked the King.
"Our lord the Sultan," he said, "it is half an hour's walk."
The King was astonished, and immediately ordered his men to march and his horsemen to mount, and led off with the fisherman going in front as guide — privately cursing the ifrit as he went.
They travelled on until they had climbed the mountain and come down into a great desert which none of them had ever seen in all their lives; and the Sultan and all his company marvelled at this open country set among four mountains, and at the tarn, and at its fish of four colours, red and white, yellow and blue.
The King stood rooted to the spot in wonder, and asked his troops and everyone else there, "Has any one of you ever seen this piece of water before now?"
And they all answered, "O King of the age, we never set eyes on it in all our days."
They questioned the oldest inhabitants they could find as well, men well on in years; and every one of them replied, "We have never seen a little lake like this in this place."
At which the King said, "By Allah, I will not go back to my capital or sit on the throne of my forefathers until I have learned the truth about this tarn and the fish in it."
Then he ordered his men to dismount and camp all round the mountain, which they did; and he summoned his vizier, a minister of great experience, shrewd, sharp-witted and well versed in affairs, and said to him:
"There is something in my mind that I mean to do, and I will tell you what it is. My heart tells me to go out alone tonight and get to the root of the mystery of this tarn and its fish. You take your seat at my tent door, and say to the emirs and viziers, the governors and the chamberlains — in short, to everybody who asks you — that the Sultan is unwell and has ordered me to admit nobody. And take care that no one learns what I am doing."
And the vizier could not oppose him.
Then the King changed his clothes and his ornaments and slung his sword over his shoulder, and took a path that led up one of the mountains, and marched the rest of the night until the day dawned; and he did not stop travelling until the heat was too much for him. After his long walk he rested a while, and then took up the march again and went on through the second night until dawn — when suddenly a black point appeared in the distance.
He was delighted at it and said to himself, "Perhaps somebody here will tell me the mystery of the tarn and its fish."
Coming closer to the dark object, he found it was a palace built of black stone plated with iron; and one leaf of the gate stood wide open while the other was shut.
The King's spirits rose as he stood before the gate and rapped a light rap. But hearing no answer, he knocked a second and a third time; and there was still no sign of anyone. Then he knocked as loud as he could, and still no answer. So he said, "It must be empty."
At that he gathered up his resolution and walked boldly in through the main gate into the great hall, and there called out, "Hello, people of the palace! I am a stranger and a traveller. Have you anything here in the way of food?"
He repeated his call a second and a third time, and still no reply came. So, steadying his heart and making up his mind, he went on through the entrance hall into the very middle of the palace, and found not a soul in it.
And yet it was furnished with silks starred with gold, and hangings were let down over the doorways. In the middle was a spacious court, off which stood four open rooms, each with its raised dais, room facing room; a canopy shaded the court, and in the centre was a jetting fountain with four figures of lions in red gold, spouting out water as clear as pearls and as transparent as gems. Round about the palace birds had been let loose, and over the whole of it was stretched a net of golden wire to stop them flying away. In short, there was everything there except human beings.
The King marvelled greatly at it, and yet felt sad at heart, because he could see nobody to give him any account of that waste land and its tarn, of the fish, the mountains, or the palace itself.
Presently, as he sat between the doors deep in thought, he heard a voice of lamentation, as if from a heart worn out with grief, and it was chanting these verses:
I hid what I suffered from him, and even so it came to light, and sleep fled from my eyelids every night and turned into sleeplessness. O world! O Fate! hold back your hand and stop your hurting and harming; look and see my luckless spirit, the colour of it and the terror of it. Will you never show pity to a high-born young man who lost himself on the road of Love, and fell from wealth and fame to the lowest and basest state? I used to be jealous of the west wind as it breathed over your body — but when Destiny comes down it blinds a man's sight. What can the unlucky archer do who faces his enemy and bends his bow to loose the arrow, and finds his bowstring gone? And when cares and troubles bear so heavily on a young man of generous heart, how is he to escape his lot, and where is his place of refuge from Fate?
Now when the Sultan heard the mournful voice he sprang to his feet, and following the sound, found a curtain let down over the door of a room. He raised it and saw behind it a young man sitting on a couch about a foot and a half above the floor — a young man beautiful to look at, well made, and finely spoken. His forehead was flower-white and his cheek was rosy bright, and there was a mole on the width of his cheek like a speck of ambergris. As the poet writes:
A slim-waisted youth, from whose hair and forehead the world takes both its blackness and its light. In the whole round of Creation there is no fairer show, no rarer sight your eye has ever met: a nut-brown mole sits enthroned on a cheek of the rosiest red, beneath an eye of jet.
The King was glad, and greeted him; but the young man stayed sitting where he was, in his caftan of silk edged with Egyptian gold and his crown studded with gems of every kind; and his face was sad with the marks of sorrow. He returned the royal greeting most courteously and added, "My lord, your dignity demands that I rise to you; and my only excuse is to beg your pardon."
"You are excused, young man," said the King. "Look on me as your guest, come here on a particular errand. I want you to tell me the secrets of this tarn and its fish, and of this palace, and of your being alone in it, and the cause of your groaning and grieving."
When the young man heard this he wept bitterly, until his breast was soaked with tears, and began reciting:
Say to the man who sleeps carelessly while the arrow of Fortune flies: how many does this shifting world lay low, and how many raise up? Though your own eye is sealed in sleep, the eyes of the Almighty do not sleep. And who has ever found Time fair, or Fate constant in its ways?
Then he heaved a long-drawn sigh and recited:
Trust your case to Him, the Lord who made mankind; leave off worry and care and cultivate a contented mind. Do not ask about the past, or how or why it came about: all human things were designed by Fate and Destiny.
The King marvelled, and asked him, "What makes you weep, young man?"
And he answered, "How should I not weep, when this is my situation?"
Then he put out his hand and lifted the skirt of his robe — and the lower half of him was stone, all the way down to his feet, while from the navel up to the hair of his head he was a man.
The King, seeing the state he was in, grieved sorely, and out of compassion cried, "Alas and alack! Truly, young man, you are heaping sorrow on top of my sorrow. I meant to ask you only about the mystery of the fish, and now I am concerned to learn your story as well as theirs. But there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Lose no time, young man — tell me your whole tale at once."
"Lend me your ears," he said, "and your sight, and your understanding."
"They are all at your service," said the King.
At which the young man began. "My case, and the case of these fish, is a wonder and a marvel; and if it were engraved with needles on the inner corners of the eye, it would be a warning to anyone willing to take warning."
"How is that?" asked the King.
And the young man began to tell
Know then, my lord, that once my father was King of this city, and his name was Mahmud, and he was called Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of what are now these four mountains. He ruled seventy years, and then went to the mercy of the Lord, and I reigned as Sultan in his place.
I took as my wife my cousin, my father's brother's daughter, and she loved me with such an overflowing love that whenever I was away she would not eat and would not drink until she saw me again. She lived with me for five years — until a certain day when she went out to the baths, and I told the cook to hurry and get everything ready for our supper.
And I came into this palace and lay down on the bed where I usually slept, and told two of the girls to fan my face, one sitting at my head and the other at my feet. But I was troubled and made restless by my wife's absence and could not sleep; for although my eyes were shut, my mind and my thoughts were wide awake.
Presently I heard the slave girl at my head say to the one at my feet, "Mas'udah, how miserable our master is, and how wasted in his youth — and oh, the pity of his being betrayed like this by our mistress, the accursed whore."
The other answered, "Yes indeed. Allah curse every faithless and adulterous woman. But a man like our master, with all his fine qualities, deserves something better than this harlot who lies out every night."
Then the one at my head said, "Is our lord dumb, or good for nothing but blowing bubbles, that he never questions her?"
And the other said, "Shame on you. Does our lord know her ways? Does she leave him any choice? Why, does she not drug the cup she gives him every night before bedtime, and put bhang in it? So he sleeps and knows nothing about where she goes or what she does. But we know that after giving him the drugged wine she puts on her richest clothes and perfumes herself and goes out and stays out till daybreak; and then she comes back to him and burns a pastille under his nose, and he wakes out of that deathlike sleep."
When I heard what the slave girl said, the light went black in front of my eyes, and I thought night would never come.
Presently my uncle's daughter came back from the baths; and they laid the table for us, and we ate, and sat together a good half hour drinking our wine as we always did. Then she called for the particular wine I used to drink before sleeping, and handed me the cup; and I seemed to drink it as usual, but poured the contents into the breast of my robe, and lay down, and let her hear that I was asleep.
And then she cried, "Sleep out the night and never wake again! By Allah, I loathe you, and I loathe your whole body, and my soul turns in disgust from lying with you; and I cannot see the moment when Allah will snatch your life away."
Then she got up and put on her finest dress and perfumed herself and slung my sword over her shoulder; and opening the gates of the palace, she went out on her wicked way.
I got up and followed her out of the palace, and she threaded through the streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke words I could not understand, and the padlocks dropped off by themselves as though they had been broken, and the leaves of the gate swung open. Out she went — and I after her, without her noticing anything — until at last she came to the mounds outside the city, and a reed fence built round a round-roofed hut of mud brick.
As she went in at the door I climbed onto the roof, from where I could see into the inside — and there my beautiful cousin had gone in to a hideous slave, a Black man whose upper lip was like the lid of a pot and whose lower lip was like the pot itself, lips that could have swept the gravel up off the floor of the hut. He was a leper besides, and a paralytic, lying on a heap of sugar-cane trash and wrapped in an old blanket and the filthiest rags and tatters.
She kissed the ground in front of him, and he lifted his head far enough to see her and said, "Damn you — what call had you to stay away all this time? Several of my brothers have been here, and drank their wine, and each of them had his young woman with him, and I was not willing to drink, because you were not here."
Then she said, "My lord, love of my heart, coolness of my eyes — do you not know that I am married to my cousin, whose very look I loathe, and that I hate myself when I am in his company? And if I were not afraid on your account, I would not let a single sun rise before I made his city a heap of ruins, where the raven would croak and the owl hoot, and the jackal and the wolf would den and hunt; no, I would have carried its very stones to the far side of Mount Kaf."
"You are lying, damn you," the slave answered. "Now I swear an oath by the courage and the honour of Black men — and do not imagine our manhood is the poor manhood of white men — that from this day on, if you stay away till this hour again, I will not keep company with you, and I will not put my body against your body. Do you play fast and loose with us, you cracked pot, so that we can satisfy your dirty lusts? Stinker! Bitch! Vilest of the vile whites!"
When I heard what he said, and saw with my own eyes what passed between those two wretches, the world went dark in front of my face and my soul did not know what place it was in.
But my wife stood there humbly weeping in front of him, and coaxing him, and saying, "My beloved, the very fruit of my heart — there is nobody left to cheer me but your dear self; and if you cast me off, who will take me in, my beloved, light of my eyes?" And she went on weeping and abasing herself to him until he condescended to be reconciled with her.
Then she was delighted, and got up and took off her clothes, down to her petticoat trousers, and said, "My master, what have you here for your servant to eat?"
"Uncover the basin," he grumbled. "You will find at the bottom of it the grilled bones of some rats we had for dinner. Pick at those. And then go to that slop pot, where you will find some leavings of beer you can drink."
So she ate, and drank, and washed her hands, and went and lay down beside the slave on the cane trash; and stripping herself stark naked, she crept in with him under his filthy coverlet and his rags and tatters.
When I saw my wife, my cousin, my uncle's daughter, do this thing, I clean lost my wits; and climbing down from the roof I went in and took the sword she had brought with her and drew it, determined to cut the pair of them down. I struck first at the slave's neck, and thought the sentence of death had fallen on him:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Eighth Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the young enchanted prince said to the King:
When I struck the slave, meaning to take his head off, I thought I had killed him, for he gave a loud hissing groan. But I had cut only the skin and flesh of the throat and the two arteries. It woke my uncle's daughter; so I sheathed the sword and went out and back to the city, and came into the palace and lay down on my bed and slept till morning — when my wife roused me, and I saw she had cut off her hair and put on mourning clothes.
She said, "Cousin, do not blame me for what I am doing. Word has just reached me that my mother is dead, and that my father has been killed in a holy war, and that of my brothers one has died of a snakebite and the other by falling down a precipice. I can do nothing and should do nothing but weep and lament."
When I heard this I held back from any reproach, and said only, "Do as you like. I certainly will not thwart you."
She went on sorrowing and weeping and wailing for a whole year from one end of its circle to the other; and when the year was up she said to me, "I want to build myself a tomb in your palace, with a dome on it, which I will set apart for my mourning and will call the House of Lamentations."
And again I said, "Do as you like."
So she built herself a memorial tomb to mourn in, and set at the centre of it a dome, under which there showed a grave like a holy man's sepulchre. And there she carried the slave, and lodged him; but he was exceedingly weak from his wound and could do her no love service. He could only drink wine; and from the day he was hurt he never spoke a word, and yet he lived on, because his appointed hour had not come.
Every day, morning and evening, my wife went to him and wept and wailed over him and gave him wine and strong soups; and she did not leave off doing this for a second year. And I bore with her patiently and paid no attention.
One day, however, I went in to her unexpectedly, and found her weeping and beating her face and crying, "Why are you gone from my sight, delight of my heart? Speak to me, my life. Talk to me, my love." And then she recited:
For love of you my patience fails, and though you may forget, I cannot, nor can my heart answer to any other love. Carry my body and carry my soul wherever you go, and where you pitch the camp let my body be buried; call my name over my grave, and an answer will come back — the moaning of my bones answering your cry.
Then she recited, weeping bitterly all the while:
The day of my delight is the day when you come near, and the day of my terror is the day when you turn away. Though I tremble all night in my bitter dread of death, when I hold you in my arms I am free of all fear.
And once more she began:
Though I might wake one morning with every happiness in my hand, though the whole world were mine and I reigned like the kings of Persia, all of it would be worth the wing of a gnat to me if I could not see your face, if I looked for you in vain.
When she had finished her words and her weeping for a moment, I said to her, "Cousin, let this mourning of yours be enough. There is little profit in pouring out tears."
"Do not thwart me," she answered, "in anything I do, or I will lay violent hands on myself."
So I held my peace and left her to go her own way; and she went on crying and keening and indulging her grief for yet another year.
At the end of the third year I grew weary of this long-drawn-out mourning; and one day I happened to go into the tomb chamber vexed and angry about some matter that had crossed me, and I suddenly heard her say, "My lord, I never hear you grant me a single word. Why do you not answer me, my master?" And she began reciting:
O tomb! O tomb! is his beauty put into shadow? Have you darkened that face that was as bright as noon? O tomb! you are neither earth to me nor heaven — then how does it come about that in you my sun and my moon are joined?
When I heard verses like that, rage was heaped on top of my rage, and I cried out, "Well away! How long is this sorrow going to last?" And I began reciting back at her:
O tomb! O tomb! is his horribleness put into shadow? Have you darkened that face that turns the stomach? O tomb! you are neither cesspool to me nor cooking pot — then how does it come about that in you soil and coal are joined?
When she heard this she sprang to her feet, crying, "Shame on you, you dog! All this is your doing. You wounded my heart's darling and worked me this bitter grief; and you have wasted his youth, so that for these three years he has lain in bed more dead than alive."
In my fury I cried, "You foulest of harlots and filthiest of whores — you who have been had by every slave you hire to have at you! Yes indeed, it was I who did this good deed." And snatching up my sword I drew it and went at her to cut her down.
But she laughed my words and my intention to scorn, and cried, "To heel, dog that you are! Alas for the past, which will never come again — and nobody can raise the dead. Allah has now delivered into my hand the man who did this to me, a deed that has burnt my heart with a fire that has not died and a flame that could not be quenched."
Then she stood up, and pronouncing some words I could not understand, she said, "By virtue of my sorcery, become half stone and half man." And I became what you see — unable to stand or to sit, neither dead nor alive.
What is more, she put a spell on the city with all its streets and gardens; and by her magic she turned the four islands into the four mountains round the tarn you were asking me about. And the citizens, who were of four different faiths — Muslim, Christian, Jew and Magian — she transformed by her enchantments into fish: the Muslims are the white ones, the Magians the red, the Christians the blue and the Jews the yellow.
And every day she tortures me and flogs me with a hundred strokes, each one of which draws floods of blood and cuts the skin of my shoulders into strips; and last of all she puts a hair shirt on my upper half and then throws these robes over it.
At this the young man shed tears again and began reciting:
In patience, O my God, I endure my lot and my fate; I will bear whatever state You will for me. They oppress me; they torture me; they make my life a misery — and yet perhaps the happiness of Heaven will make up for my hard case. Yes, my life is narrowed by the ruin and the hatred of enemies, but Mustafa and Murtaza shall open Heaven's gate to me.
After this the Sultan turned to the young prince and said, "Young man, you have taken one grief away only to add another. But now, my friend — where is she? And where is the tomb the wounded slave is lying in?"
"The slave lies under that dome," said the young man, "and she sits in the chamber facing that door. Every day at sunrise she comes out and first strips me and whips me with a hundred strokes of the leather scourge, and I weep and shriek, but there is no power of movement in my lower limbs to keep her off me. When she has finished tormenting me she goes and visits the slave, bringing him wine and boiled meat. And tomorrow she will be here early."
"By Allah, young man," said the King, "I shall certainly do you a good turn that the world will not willingly let die, and an act of daring that will be talked about long after I am dead and gone."
Then the King sat down beside the young prince and talked with him until nightfall, when he lay down and slept. But as soon as the false dawn showed he got up and took off his outer clothes and bared his blade and hurried to the place where the slave lay.
There he found candles and lamps lit, and the smell of incense and ointments; and guided by these, he made for the slave and struck him one blow and killed him on the spot. After which he lifted him onto his back and threw him into a well in the palace. Then he came back, and putting on the slave's clothes, lay down full length inside the tomb chamber with the drawn sword close along his side.
An hour or so later the accursed witch came. First she went to her husband and stripped his clothes off, and taking a whip, flogged him cruelly while he cried out, "Ah — the state I am in is enough for me! Take pity on me, cousin!"
But she answered, "Did you take pity on me, and spare the life of the man I truly loved?"
Then she drew the hair shirt over his raw and bleeding skin, and threw the robe over the top of it, and went down to the slave with a goblet of wine and a bowl of meat broth in her hands. She came in under the dome weeping and wailing, "Well away!" and crying, "My lord, speak a word to me! My master, talk to me a while!" And she began to recite:
How long is this harshness, this unlovingness, going to last? Are the floods of tears you have seen not enough for you? You draw out our separation on purpose — and if you meant to please my enemy, then you are satisfied.
Then she wept again and said, "My lord, speak to me! Talk to me!"
The King lowered his voice, and twisted his tongue, and spoke thickly and indistinctly, the way a man speaks who is very weak and whose throat has been cut: "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great."
Now when she heard the words she shouted for joy, and fell to the ground in a faint; and when her senses came back she asked, "My lord, can it be true that you have the power of speech?"
And the King, making his voice small and faint, answered, "My curse — do you deserve that I should talk to you and speak with you?"
"Why? What do you mean?" she said.
And he replied, "What I mean is that all the livelong day you torment your husband, and he keeps calling on heaven for help, until sleep is a stranger to me from evening till morning; and he prays and swears, cursing the two of us, you and me, and gives me no quiet and a great deal of trouble. If it were not for that I should have got my health back long ago. And that is what prevents me from answering you."
"With your leave," she said, "I will release him from the spell he is under."
"Release him," said the King, "and let us have some rest."
"To hear is to obey," she cried. And going from the tomb chamber to the palace, she took a metal bowl and filled it with water and spoke certain words over it that made the contents bubble and boil as a cauldron seethes over a fire. And with this she sprinkled her husband, saying, "By virtue of the dreadful words I have spoken — if you became like this by my spells, then come out of that form into your own former form."
And the young man shivered and shook; and then he rose to his feet, and rejoicing at his deliverance, cried aloud, "I testify that there is no god but God, and that truly Mohammed is His Apostle, whom Allah bless and keep!"
Then she said to him, screaming it into his face, "Get out, and do not come back here — for if you do I shall certainly kill you."
So he went out from between her hands; and she went back to the dome, and down into the tomb, and said, "My lord, come out to me, so that I can look at you and at your handsomeness."
The King answered in a faint, low voice, "What have you done? You have rid me of the branch but not of the root."
"My darling! My black one!" she asked. "What is the root?"
And he answered, "Shame on you, my curse. The people of this city and of the four islands, every night when it is half over, lift their heads out of the tank you have turned them into fish in, and cry to Heaven and call down its anger on me and on you; and that is the reason my body is baulked of its health. Go at once and set them free; then come to me and take my hand and raise me up, for a little strength is already coming back into me."
When she heard the King's words — and she still thought he was the slave — she cried joyfully, "My master, on my head and on my eyes be your command. In Allah's name!"
So she sprang to her feet, full of joy and gladness, and ran down to the tarn and took a little of its water in the palm of her hand:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the young woman, the sorceress, took some of the tarn water in her hand and spoke words over it that could not be understood, the fish lifted their heads and stood up in that instant like men, the spell on the people of the city being lifted.
What had been a lake became a crowded capital again; the markets were thronged with people buying and selling, every citizen busy with his own trade; and the four hills became islands as they had been before.
Then the young woman, the wicked sorceress, went back to the King and — still thinking he was the slave — said to him, "My love, stretch out your honoured hand so that I can help you up."
"Come nearer to me," said the King in his faint, feigned voice.
She came close, as if to embrace him — and he took up the sword that lay hidden by his side and struck her across the breast, so that the point showed gleaming out behind her back. Then he struck her a second time and cut her in two, and threw her on the ground in two halves.
After that he went out and found the young man, now free of the spell, waiting for him, and wished him joy of his release; and the prince kissed his hand with many thanks.
"Will you stay in this city," said the King, "or come with me to my capital?"
"O King of the age," said the young man, "do you not know how far it is between you and your city?"
"Two and a half days," he answered.
At which the other said, "If you are asleep, O King, wake up. Between you and your city is a year's march for a well-girt walker; and you would not have come here in two and a half days except that the city was under enchantment. And I, O King, will never leave you — not even for the blink of an eye."
The King was delighted at this and said, "Thanks be to Allah, who has bestowed you on me! From this hour you are my son, and my only son, for in all my life I have never been blessed with a child."
At which they embraced and were overjoyed. And reaching the palace, the prince who had been under the spell informed his lords and his great men that he was about to visit the Holy Places as a pilgrim, and told them to get ready everything necessary for the occasion.
The preparations took ten days, after which he set out with the Sultan, whose heart was burning with longing for the city he had been absent from for a whole twelvemonth. They travelled with an escort of Mamluks carrying all sorts of precious gifts and rarities, and they did not stop travelling day or night for a full year, until they came near the Sultan's capital and sent messengers on ahead to announce that they were coming.
Then the vizier and the whole army came out to meet him in joy and gladness, for they had given up all hope of ever seeing their King again; and the troops kissed the ground before him and wished him joy of his safe return. He came in and took his seat on his throne, and the minister came before him; and when he had been told everything that had happened to the young prince, he congratulated him on his narrow escape.
When order had been restored throughout the land, the King gave gifts to a great many of his people, and said to the vizier, "Bring me the fisherman who brought us the fish."
So he sent for the man who had been the first cause of the city and its citizens being delivered from enchantment; and when he came into the presence, the Sultan gave him a robe of honour and asked him about his circumstances and whether he had any children. The fisherman told him he had two daughters and a son. So the King sent for them, and took one daughter as his wife and gave the other to the young prince, and made the son his head treasurer.
Furthermore he invested his vizier with the sultanate of the City in the Black Islands, which had belonged to the young prince, and sent with him the escort of fifty armed slaves, together with robes of honour for all the emirs and grandees. The vizier kissed his hands and went on his way; while the Sultan and the prince stayed at home in all the comfort and delight of life. And the fisherman became the richest man of his age, and his daughters were married to kings, until death came to them all.
And yet, O King — this is not more wonderful than the story of
Once upon a time there was a porter in Baghdad, a bachelor, and one who meant to stay unmarried.
It happened one day, as he was standing about in the street leaning idly on his carrying-crate, that a respectable woman came and stood in front of him, in a cloak of Mosul silk embroidered with gold and edged with brocade; her walking shoes were worked with gold as well, and her hair hung down in long plaits. She lifted her face veil and showed two black eyes fringed with jet lashes, whose glances were soft and languishing and whose perfect beauty never stopped coaxing; and she spoke to the porter in the smoothest tones and the choicest language.
"Take up your crate and follow me."
The porter was so dazzled he could hardly believe he had heard her right, but he shouldered his basket in a great hurry, saying to himself, "O day of good luck! O day of Allah's grace!" And he walked after her until she stopped at the door of a house.
There she knocked, and an old man came out to her, a Christian, to whom she gave a gold piece and got in return what she wanted of strained wine, as clear as olive oil; and she set it carefully in the hamper and said, "Lift, and follow."
"By Allah," said the porter, "this is a lucky day indeed, a day fit for the granting of everything a man could wish for."
He hoisted the crate up again and followed her, until she stopped at a fruiterer's shop and bought Syrian apples and Ottoman quinces and Omani peaches, and cucumbers grown on the Nile, and Egyptian limes and Sultani oranges and citrons; and besides these, jasmine from Aleppo, scented myrtle berries, Damascus water lilies, privet flower and camomile, blood-red anemones, violets, pomegranate blossom, sweet briar and narcissus. She set the whole lot in the porter's crate and said, "Up with it."
So he lifted, and followed her, until she stopped at a butcher's stall and said, "Cut me ten pounds of mutton." She paid him his price, and he wrapped it in a banana leaf, and she laid it in the crate and said, "Hoist, porter."
He hoisted accordingly, and followed her as she walked on until she stopped at a grocer's, where she bought dried fruit and pistachio kernels, raisins from Tihamah, shelled almonds and everything else wanted for dessert; and she said to the porter, "Lift, and follow me."
So up he went with his hamper and after her, until she stopped at the confectioner's, and there she bought an earthenware platter and piled it with every kind of sweet in the shop — open-worked tarts and fritters scented with musk, and soap-cakes, and lemon loaves and preserved melon, and Zaynab's combs, and ladies' fingers, and judge's titbits, and goodies of every description — and put the platter in the porter's crate.
At which he said, being a cheerful man, "You should have told me, and I would have brought a pony or a she-camel along to carry all this shopping."
She smiled, and gave him a little cuff on the back of the neck, and said, "Step out, and do not overdo the talking. Your wage will not be lacking, Allah willing."
Then she stopped at a perfumer's and took ten sorts of scented water from him — rose scented with musk, orange flower, water lily, willow flower, violet and five others. She also bought two loaves of sugar, a bottle for spraying perfume, a lump of male incense, aloe-wood, ambergris and musk, and candles of Alexandrian wax; and she put the whole lot into the basket, saying, "Up with your crate, and after me."
He did it, and followed until she stood in front of the greengrocer's, where she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and in oil, with tarragon and cream cheese and hard Syrian cheese; and she stowed them away in the crate and said, "Take up your basket and follow me."
He did, and went after her until she came to a fine mansion fronted by a spacious court — a tall, handsome place to which columns gave both strength and grace; and the gate had two leaves of ebony inlaid with plates of red gold.
The lady stopped at the door and, turning her face veil aside, knocked softly with her knuckles, while the porter stood behind her thinking of nothing at all except her beauty and her loveliness.
Presently the door swung back and both leaves opened; and he looked to see who had opened it — and it was a lady of tall figure, some five feet high, a model of beauty and loveliness, brilliance and symmetry and perfect grace. Her forehead was flower-white; her cheeks like the anemone, ruddy and bright; her eyes were the eyes of the wild heifer or the gazelle, with eyebrows like the crescent moon that ends Sha'aban and begins Ramadan; her mouth was the ring of Solomon; her lips coral red, and her teeth like a line of strung pearls or of camomile petals. Her throat recalled the antelope's; and her breasts, like two pomegranates of exactly the same size, stood as though at bay; her body rose and fell in waves under her dress like the folds of a length of brocade; and her navel would have held an ounce of benzoin ointment. In short she was the woman the poet meant when he said:
Cast your eye on the sun and moon of the palace; enjoy her flower-like face and her fragrant light. Your eyes will never see hair so black framing a brow so purely white. The ruddy rose of her cheek makes her claim for her, though we cannot name the name of the beauty we describe. As her walk sways, I smile at hips so wide and weep to see how slight the waist is that carries them.
When the porter looked at her his wits were waylaid and his senses stormed, so that the crate very nearly fell off his head; and he said to himself, "Never in my life have I seen a day more blessed than this one."
Then the lady who kept the door said to the lady who had done the shopping, "Come in from the gate and relieve this poor man of his load."
So the caterer went in, followed by the doorkeeper and the porter, and they went on until they reached a spacious ground-floor hall, built with admirable skill and decorated with every kind of colour and carving, with upper balconies and groined arches and galleries and cupboards and alcoves with curtains hanging in front of them. In the middle stood a great basin full of water with a fine fountain in it; and at the upper end, on the raised dais, was a couch of juniper wood set with gems and pearls, with a canopy over it like mosquito curtains, of red satin silk, looped up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger.
And on the couch sat a lady bright of face, with a brow beaming brilliance, the dream philosophy dreams of; whose eyes were loaded with the magic of Babylon and whose eyebrows were arched like a bow for archery; whose breath breathed ambergris and perfume, and whose lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to look at. Her figure was straight as a single upright stroke of the pen, and her face shamed the noon sun's radiance; and she was like a galaxy, or a dome with golden inlay, or a bride displayed in her choicest finery, or a noble girl of Arabia. The poet sang of her exactly right when he said:
Her smiles show two rows of pearls, camomile buds or a spray of frost. Her hair strays down like night let loose and her light shames the light of dawn.
The third lady rose from the couch and came forward with a gracefully swaying walk until she reached the middle of the room, and said to her sisters, "Why are you standing about? Take it down off this poor man's head."
So the caterer went and stood in front of him, and the doorkeeper behind him, while the third helped them; and they lifted the load off the porter's head, and emptied it of everything in it, and put each thing in its place. And finally they gave him two gold pieces and said, "Off you go, porter."
But he did not go. He stood looking at the ladies and admiring what uncommon beauty they had, and what pleasant manners and kind natures — he had never seen better — and he looked wistfully at that good store of wines and sweet-scented flowers and fruit and everything else. He was astonished too, beyond all astonishment, particularly at seeing no man about the place; and he lingered.
At which the eldest lady said, "What is the matter with you, that you do not go? Perhaps your wage is too small?" And turning to her sister the caterer, she said, "Give him another dinar."
But the porter answered, "By Allah, my lady, it is not the wage. My hire is never more than two dirhams. But the truth is that my heart and my soul are taken up with you and with your situation. I wonder to see you on your own with never a man about you, and not a soul to keep you company. And you know perfectly well that a minaret topples over unless it stands on four legs — and you are wanting that same fourth. And women's pleasure without a man is short measure, as the poet said:
Do you not see that for our joy we want four things in all: the harp and the lute, the flute and the flageolet; and let them be companioned by four scents — rose, myrtle, anemone and violet. And all eight will not please if you withhold four more: good wine, and youth, and gold, and a pretty companion.
"You are three, and you want a fourth, who should be a person of good sense and discretion, sharp-witted and able to keep a secret carefully."
His words pleased them and amused them a great deal, and they laughed at him and said, "And who is going to give us any guarantee of that? We are unmarried women, and we are afraid to trust our secret where it may not be kept — for we have read in a certain chronicle the lines of one Ibn al-Sumam:
Hold your secret fast and unfold it to nobody; a secret is lost the moment that secret is told. If your own breast fails to hold your secret in, how can you hope that another man's breast will hold it?
"And Abu Nowas said it well on the same subject:
Whoever puts his secret into another man's hand deserves to have the brand burnt on his forehead."
When the porter heard this he answered, "By your lives! I am a man of sense and discretion, who has read books and studied chronicles. I reveal what is fair and conceal what is foul, and I act as the poet advises:
None but the good keep a secret, and good men keep it unrevealed. With me it is a well-shut house with the locks keyless and the door sealed."
When the young women heard his verse and the way he applied it to them, they said, "You know we have laid out all our money on this place. Now tell us — have you anything to offer us in return for entertainment? For we certainly will not let you sit in our company and be our drinking companion and look at faces as fair and rare as ours without paying a round sum. Do you not know the saying:
Without hope of gain, Love is not worth a grain?"
To which the doorkeeper added, "If you bring something, you are something; if nothing, be off with you — you are nothing."
But the caterer broke in and said, "No, sisters, leave off teasing him. By Allah, he has not failed me today; anyone else would never have kept his patience with me. Whatever his charge comes to, I will take it on myself."
The porter, overjoyed, kissed the ground before her and thanked her, saying, "By Allah, this money is the first fruit this day has given me."
Hearing this they said, "Sit down, and welcome to you." And the eldest lady added, "By Allah, we cannot let you join us except on one condition, and this is it: that no questions are asked about what does not concern you, and that being contrary is soundly flogged."
"I agree to that, my lady," the porter answered. "On my head and my eyes be it. Look — I am dumb. I have no tongue."
Then the caterer got up, and tightening her girdle, set the table by the fountain and put the flowers and sweet herbs in their jars, and strained the wine and ranged the flasks in a row and made everything else ready. Then she sat down, she and her sisters, with the porter in the middle of them — and he kept thinking he must be dreaming.
She took up the wine flagon and poured the first cup and drank it off, and a second, and a third. After that she filled a fourth cup and handed it to one of her sisters; and last of all she crowned a goblet and passed it to the porter, saying:
"Drink the dear draught, drink free and glad — the drink that heals every grief and pain."
He took the cup in his hand and, bowing low, gave her his best thanks, and improvised:
"Do not drain the bowl except with a trusted friend, a man of worth whose good old blood is known to everybody. For wine, like the wind, takes its sweetness from what is sweet, and stinks when it happens to blow over a stench."
And he added:
"Do not drain the bowl except from a dear hand like yours. The cup calls your gifts to mind — and you are the gift of wine."
After reciting this couplet he kissed their hands and drank, and was drunk, and sat swaying from side to side, and went on:
"Every drink with blood in it the Law holds unclean except one — the blood shed by the vine. Fill! Fill! take all my wealth, inherited or earned; you fawn! a willing ransom for those eyes of yours."
Then the caterer crowned a cup and gave it to the doorkeeper, who took it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Then she poured again and passed it to the eldest lady, sitting on the couch; and filled yet another and handed it to the porter. He kissed the ground before them, and after drinking and thanking them began reciting again:
"Here! Here! by Allah, here! Cups of the sweet, the dear! Fill me a brimming bowl — it is the Fountain of Life I ask for."
Then the porter stood up in front of the mistress of the house and said, "My lady, I am your slave, your Mamluk, your bondsman, your very own property." And he began reciting:
"A slave of slaves is standing at your door, praising your generous kindness and your gifts. Beauty! may he come in a while to enjoy your charms? for Love and I will never part."
She said to him, "Drink; and health and happiness go with your drinking."
So he took the cup and kissed her hand and recited these lines in a sing-song:
"I gave her good old wine that, like her cheeks, blushed red, or like flame flaring up out of a furnace. She kissed the brim and said, smiling all over, how dare you serve people's cheeks for people to drink? 'Drink!' said I. 'These are my tears, and their colour is heart's blood that sighs have boiled in the cup.'"
She answered him with this couplet:
"If you have shed tears of blood for me, my friend, then let me drink them up, by your head and your eyes!"
Then the lady took the cup and drank it off to her sisters' health; and they did not stop drinking, with the porter in the middle of them, and dancing and laughing and reciting verses and singing ballads and refrains.
All this time the porter was carrying on with them — kissing, playing, biting, handling, groping, fingering; while one of them thrust a dainty morsel into his mouth and another slapped him, and this one cuffed his cheeks and that one threw sweet flowers at him. And he was in the very paradise of pleasure, as though he were sitting in the seventh sphere among the houris, who are the maidens of Heaven.
They went on like this until the wine started playing tricks in their heads and getting the better of their wits. And when the drink had beaten them, the doorkeeper stood up and pulled her clothes off until she was stark naked. She did let her hair down over her body by way of a shift; and then she threw herself into the basin and disported herself and dived like a duck and swam up and down, and took water into her mouth and squirted it all over the porter, and washed her limbs, and between her breasts, and inside her thighs, and all round her navel.
Then she came up out of the cistern and threw herself down on the porter's lap and said, "My lord, my love, what do you call this?" — pointing to herself.
"I call that your slit," said the porter.
"Wah! wah!" she said. "Are you not ashamed to use a word like that?" And she caught him by the collar and cuffed him soundly.
"Your womb, then," he said; and she struck him a second slap, crying, "Oh fie, oh fie — that is another ugly word. Have you no shame in you at all?"
"Your cunny," he said; and she cried, "You! Are you completely destitute of modesty?" and thumped him and bashed him.
Then the porter cried, "Your clitoris" — at which the eldest lady came down on him with a still sorer beating, and said, "No."
"It is so," he said. And the porter went on calling the same article by a variety of other names; and whatever he said, they beat him more and more, until his neck ached and swelled with the blows he had taken. And in this way they made a butt of him and a laughing stock.
At last he turned on them and asked, "And what do you women call it?"
To which the girl answered, "The basil of the bridges."
"Thank Allah for my safety!" cried the porter. "Help me and be kind to me, O basil of the bridges!"
They passed the cup round and tossed the bowl off again; and then the second lady stood up, and stripping off all her clothes, threw herself into the cistern and did as the first had done. Then she came out of the water and threw her naked body down on the porter's lap and pointed to herself and said, "Light of my eyes, do tell me the name of this."
He answered as before, "Your slit."
"Has a word like that no shame for you?" she said; and cuffed him and buffeted him until the room rang with the blows. And then she said, "Oh fie! Oh fie! How can you say that without blushing?"
He suggested, "The basil of the bridges." But she would not have it, and said, "No! No!" and struck him and slapped him on the back of the neck.
So he began calling out every name he knew — "Your slit, your womb, your cunny, your clitoris" — and the girls kept saying, "No! No!"
So he said, "I stick to the basil of the bridges." And all three of them laughed until they fell over on their backs, and laid slaps on his neck, and said, "No! No! That is not its proper name."
At which he cried, "Sisters — what is its name?"
And they answered, "What do you say to the husked sesame seed?"
Then the caterer put her clothes back on, and they fell to carousing again; but the porter kept moaning, "Oh! and Oh!" over his neck and shoulders, and the cup went merrily round and round for a good hour.
After that the eldest and handsomest lady stood up and stripped her clothes off — at which the porter took his own neck in his hands and rubbed it and massaged it, saying, "My neck and shoulders are on the way of Allah!"
Then she threw herself into the basin and swam and dived, disported herself and washed; and the porter looked at her naked figure as though she were a slice of the moon, and at her face with the sheen of the full moon on it, or like the dawn when it brightens; and he took in her noble height and shape and those glorious forms that quivered as she moved, for she was as naked as the Lord made her.
Then he cried, "Alack! Alack!" and began to address her, putting it into these couplets:
"If I compare your shape to the green bough my comparison fails and I make a bad mistake; for the bough is at its finest the more it is clothed and you are at your finest stark naked."
When the lady heard his verses she came up out of the basin and, seating herself on his lap and knees, pointed to herself and said, "My little lord, what is the name of this?"
"The basil of the bridges," he said.
"Bah, bah!" she said.
"The husked sesame," he said.
"Pooh, pooh!" she said.
Then he said, "Your womb"; and she cried, "Fie, fie! Are you not ashamed of yourself?" and cuffed him on the back of the neck.
And whatever name he gave, declaring, "That is it," she beat him and cried, "No! no!" — until at last he said, "Sisters, what is its name?"
She replied, "It is called the Inn of Abu Mansur."
At which the porter said, "Ha, ha! Allah be praised for a safe deliverance! O Inn of Abu Mansur!"
Then she came out and dressed, and the cup went round for a full hour.
At last the porter got up and stripped off all his clothes and jumped into the tank, and swam about and washed under his bearded chin and under his arms, exactly as they had done. Then he came out and threw himself into the first lady's lap, and rested his arms on the doorkeeper's lap, and laid his legs in the caterer's lap, and pointed to himself and said, "My mistresses — what is the name of this article?"
They all laughed at him until they fell over on their backs, and one said, "Your pintle!"
But he answered, "No!" and gave each of them a bite by way of a forfeit.
Then they said, "Your pizzle!" and he cried, "No," and gave each of them a hug:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Tenth Night,
her sister Dunyazad said, "Finish your story for us." And she answered, "With joy and goodwill."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the girls did not stop saying to the porter, "Your prickle, your pintle, your pizzle," and he did not stop kissing and biting and hugging until his heart was satisfied, and they laughed until they could laugh no more.
At last one of them said, "Well then, brother — what is it called?"
"Do you not know?" said he.
"No!" said they.
"Its true name," he said, "is the mule Burst-all, which browses on the basil of the bridges, and munches the husked sesame, and spends the night at the Inn of Abu Mansur."
Then they laughed until they fell over on their backs, and went back to their carousing; and they went on like this until night began to fall.
Then they said to the porter, "In Allah's name, master — up, and on with those sorry old shoes of yours, and turn your face and show us the breadth of your shoulders."
"By Allah," he said, "parting with my soul would be easier for me than parting from you. Come, let us join the night to the day, and tomorrow morning each of us will go his own way."
"On my life," said the caterer, "let him stay with us, so that we can laugh at him. We could live out our whole lives and never meet his like; he really is a merry rogue and a witty one."
So they said, "You may not stay with us tonight except on the condition that you submit to our orders, and that whatever you see, you ask no questions about it and do not inquire into the reason for it."
"All right," he answered.
And they said, "Go and read the writing over the door."
So he got up and went to the entrance, and there he found written in gold wash: Whoever speaks of what does not concern him shall hear what does not please him.
The porter said, "Be witnesses against me that I will not speak of what does not concern me."
Then the caterer got up and set food in front of them and they ate; after which they moved from one drinking place to another, and she lit the lamps and the candles and burned ambergris and aloe-wood, and set out fresh fruit and the wine service; and they fell to carousing and talking about their lovers.
And they did not stop eating and drinking and chatting, nibbling dried fruit and laughing and playing tricks, for a good hour — when there came a knock at the gate.
The knocking did not disturb the party in the least, but one of them got up to see what it was, and came back presently saying, "Truly our pleasure tonight is going to be perfect."
"How is that?" they asked.
"At the gate," she answered, "there are three Persian kalandars — wandering holy beggars under a vow — with their beards and their heads and their eyebrows all shaved off; and all three of them blind in the left eye, which is certainly a strange coincidence. They are foreigners from the land of Rum, with the marks of travel plain on them; they have only just arrived in Baghdad, this being their first visit to our city; and the reason they are knocking at our door is simply that they cannot find a lodging.
"Indeed one of them said to me: perhaps the owner of this house will let us have the key of his stable, or some old outbuilding where we can pass the night. For evening had caught them out, and being strangers in the country they knew nobody who would shelter them. And sisters — each one of them is a figure of fun in his own way; and if we let them in we shall have something to make sport of."
She went on persuading them until they said, "Let them in — and make the usual condition with them, that they do not speak of what does not concern them, in case they hear what does not please them."
So she was delighted, and went to the door, and came back with the three one-eyed men, whose beards and moustaches were shaved clean off. They gave their greetings and stood well back out of respect; but the three ladies rose to them and welcomed them and wished them joy of their safe arrival, and made them sit down.
The kalandars looked round the room and saw it was a pleasant place, swept clean and decorated with flowers, the lamps burning and the smoke of the perfumes spiralling up into the air; and besides the dessert and the fruit and the wine there were three lovely girls who might well be unmarried. So they exclaimed all in one voice, "By Allah, this is good!"
Then they turned to the porter and saw he was a merry-faced fellow, though by no means sober, and sore after his slappings. So they took him for one of themselves and said, "A beggar like us — Arab or foreigner, whichever."
But when the porter heard this he got up and, fixing his eyes fiercely on them, said, "Sit there and do not overdo the talking! Have you not read what is written over the door? It hardly suits fellows who come to us like paupers to wag their tongues at us."
"We beg your pardon, fakir," they answered, "and our heads are between your hands."
The ladies laughed themselves silly at the squabble; and making peace between the kalandars and the porter, they seated their new guests in front of food, and they ate. Then they all sat together, and the doorkeeper served them with drink; and as the cup went merrily round, the porter said to the beggars, "And you, brothers — have you no story or rare adventure to entertain us with?"
Now the warmth of the wine had gone to their heads, and they called for musical instruments; and the doorkeeper brought them a tambourine from Mosul, a lute from Iraq and a Persian harp. And each beggar took one and tuned it — this one the tambourine and those two the lute and the harp — and struck up a merry tune, while the ladies sang so lustily that there was a tremendous noise.
And while they were carrying on, somebody knocked at the gate, and the doorkeeper went to see what the matter was.
Now the reason for that knocking, O King (said Shahrazad), was this. The Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, had come out of the palace as he did now and then, to amuse himself in the city that night and to see and hear what new thing was stirring. He was dressed as a merchant, and he was attended by Ja'afar his vizier and by Masrur his executioner.
As they walked about the city their way led them towards the house of the three ladies, where they heard the loud noise of musical instruments and singing and merriment. So the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "I have a great desire to go into this house and hear those songs and see who is singing them."
"O Commander of the Faithful," said Ja'afar, "these people are certainly drunk on wine, and I am afraid some mischief may come to us if we get among them."
"There is no help for it, I must go in," the Caliph replied. "And I want you to think up some pretext for our turning up among them."
"I hear and I obey," said Ja'afar; and he knocked at the door, at which the doorkeeper came out and opened it.
Then Ja'afar came forward and, kissing the ground before her, said, "My lady, we are merchants from the town of Tiberias. We arrived in Baghdad ten days ago, and put up at the merchants' caravanserai, and sold all our goods. Now a certain trader invited us to an entertainment tonight; so we went to his house and he set food before us and we ate; then we sat drinking with him for an hour or so, when he gave us leave to go. And we went out from him in the darkness of the night, and being strangers we could not find our way back to our inn. So perhaps out of your kindness and courtesy you will let us stay with you tonight — and Heaven will reward you."
The doorkeeper looked them over, and seeing them dressed as merchants and looking grave and substantial men, she went back to her sisters and repeated Ja'afar's story; and they took pity on the strangers and said to her, "Let them in."
She opened the door to them, and they said, "Have we your leave to come in?"
"Come in," she said. And the Caliph came in, followed by Ja'afar and Masrur; and when the girls saw them they rose in respect and made them sit down and saw to their wants, saying, "Welcome, and well come, and good cheer to our guests — but on one condition."
"What is that?" they asked.
And one of the ladies answered, "Do not speak of what does not concern you, in case you hear what does not please you."
"Just so," they said; and sat down to their wine and drank deep.
Presently the Caliph looked at the three kalandars and, seeing every one of them blind in the left eye, wondered at the sight; then he looked at the girls and was startled, and marvelled beyond all marvelling at their beauty and loveliness.
They went on carousing and talking, and said to the Caliph, "Drink!"
But he replied, "I am under a vow to go on pilgrimage," and drew back from the wine.
At that the doorkeeper got up and spread a tablecloth worked with gold in front of him, and set a porcelain bowl on it, into which she poured willow-flower water with a lump of snow and a spoonful of sugar candy. The Caliph thanked her, and said to himself, "By Allah, I will repay her tomorrow for the kindness she has done me."
The others turned back to talking and carousing; and when the wine had got the better of them, the eldest lady, who ruled the house, stood up and made them a bow and took the caterer by the hand and said, "Get up, sister, and let us do what we have to do."
They both answered, "Just so."
Then the doorkeeper stood up and set about removing the table service and the remains of the feast; and she renewed the pastilles and cleared the middle of the room. Then she made the kalandars sit on a sofa at the side of the dais, and seated the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur on the other side of the room; after which she called the porter and said, "How poor your manners are! You are not a stranger now — you are one of the household."
So he stood up and, tightening his waistcloth, asked, "What would you like me to do?"
And she answered, "Stand where you are."
Then the caterer got up and set a low chair in the middle of the room; and opening a closet, called to the porter, "Come and help me."
So he went to help her — and saw two black bitches with chains round their necks.
"Take hold of them," she said. And he took them and led them into the middle of the room.
Then the lady of the house got up and tucked her sleeves back above her wrists, and taking a scourge, said to the porter, "Bring one of the bitches forward."
He brought her forward, dragging her by the chain, and the bitch wept and shook her head at the lady; but the lady came down on her with blows on the skull, and the bitch howled, and the lady did not stop beating her until her own forearm gave out.
Then, throwing the scourge out of her hand, she pressed the bitch to her breast and wiped away her tears with her hands and kissed her head.
Then she said to the porter, "Take her away and bring the second." And when he brought her, she did to her exactly as she had done to the first.
Now the Caliph's heart was touched at these cruel doings; his chest tightened and he lost all patience in his desire to know why the two bitches were beaten like that. He threw a wink at Ja'afar, wanting him to ask; but the minister turned to him and said with a sign, "Be silent."
Then the doorkeeper said to the mistress of the house, "My lady, get up and go to your place, so that I in my turn can do what I have to do."
She answered, "Just so"; and taking her seat on the couch of juniper wood, decorated with gold and silver, she said to the doorkeeper and the caterer, "Now do what you have to do."
At which the doorkeeper sat down on a low seat by the side of the couch; but the caterer went into a closet and brought out of it a satin bag with green fringes and two gold tassels. She stood in front of the lady of the house and shook the bag and drew a lute out of it, which she tuned by tightening the pegs; and when it was in perfect order she began to sing these verses:
"You are what I wish for, you are what I aim at, and when, O Love, I see your face the mansion of heaven opens; but I see Hell when I lose the sight of you. From you comes madness — and no less from you come the highest joy and ecstasy. Nor, in my love for you, do I fear shame or blame, hatred or spite. When Love was enthroned inside my heart I tore the veil of modesty apart; and Love does not stop tearing that veil and bringing disgrace down on grace. I put on the robe of sickness then, but secrecy was torn to rags. And so my love and my longing heart proclaim your highest and most supreme power; the teardrop running down my cheek tells the tale of my dishonour; and everything hidden was seen by everybody and my whole riddle was read out right.
Heal me of my sickness, then, for you are both the sickness and the cure! But the woman whose cure is in your hand will never be free of ruin and blight. Burn me with those eyes that rain light down; kill me with the swords of imagination. How many has the sword of Love laid low for all their high position? And yet I will never stop pining, nor will I run away into forgetting. Love is my health, my faith, my joy, in public and in private, right or wrong. Happy are the eyes that see your charms, that gaze on you as much as they please! Yes — of my purest wish and my own will, the slave of Love is what I shall always be called."
When the girl heard this lament in quatrains she cried out, "Alas! Alas!" and tore her clothes, and fell to the ground in a faint. And the Caliph saw the scars of the palm rod on her back and the welts of the whip, and marvelled beyond all wondering.
Then the doorkeeper got up and sprinkled water on her and brought her a fresh and very fine dress and put it on her.
But when the company saw all this their minds were troubled, because they had no idea of the situation and did not know the story behind it. So the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "Did you not see the scars on that girl's body? I cannot keep quiet or be easy until I learn the truth about her condition, and the story of this other girl, and the secret of the two black bitches."
But Ja'afar answered, "Our lord, they made it a condition with us that we should not speak of what does not concern us, in case we hear what does not please us."
Then the doorkeeper said, "By Allah, sister, come here and finish this service for me."
"With joy and goodwill," the caterer replied. So she took the lute and leaned it against her breast and swept the strings with her fingertips, and began to sing:
"Give my eyes back the sleep that has been stolen from them so long, and tell me where my reason has fled to. I learned that once I gave your love a place, sleep became the mortal enemy of my eyelids. They said, 'We used to think you an upright woman — who waylaid your soul?' 'Go and ask his glorious eyes,' I said. I pardon him all the blood he chose to spill, granting that his own troubles drove him to shed it. He cast a sunlike brightness on the mirror of my mind whose keen reflection bred a fire in my vitals. Let Allah waste the Waters of Life however He likes; those dewy red lips are wage enough for me. If you speak to my love you will find cause enough for complaint and tears, or for pity, or for desire. His face will greet your eyes in clear water when the bowl fails and you need not drink wine at all."
Then she quoted from the same ode:
"I drank, but the draught was his glance, not wine, and his swaying walk swayed these eyes of mine to sleep. It was not grape juice that gripped me but the grip of the past; it was not the bowl that overcame me but gifts from heaven. His coiling little curls netted my soul and his cruel will outwitted all my wits."
After a pause she went on:
"If we complain of absence, what are we to say? Or if pain afflicts us, which way are we to go? If I hire an interpreter to tell my tale — a lover's complaint is not told for pay. If I put on patience, a lover's life will not last a day after love is lost. Nothing is left me now but regret and repining and tears flooding my cheeks for ever and ever. O you who have fled from the babies of these eyes, you are housed in a heart that will never stray. Would to heaven I knew — have you kept our pact, to hold firmest faith as long as the stream flows? Or have you forgotten the weeping slave whom groans afflict and whom griefs waylay? Ah, when the separation ends and we lie side by side, I will blame you for your hardness and scold you for your pride!"
Now when the doorkeeper heard her second ode she shrieked aloud and said, "By Allah, that is very good!" — and laying hands on her clothes, tore them as she had the first time, and fell to the ground in a faint.
At which the caterer rose and sprinkled water on her and brought her a second change of clothes. She came round and sat up, and said to her sister the caterer, "On you go, and help me with my duty, for there is only this one song left."
So the caterer brought out the lute again and began to sing these verses:
"How long is this to last, how long this hardness full of grief? Are all these tears you see running not enough for you? You deliberately draw out our parting with a cruel purpose — is it not enough to gladden the heart of an envious enemy? If this lying world had once been true to a lover's heart he would not have watched out the weary night in tears. Oh pity me, whom your cruel will has overwhelmed; my lord, my king, it is time you showed me some mercy. To whom shall I tell my wrongs, you who have murdered me? Sad is the one who must suffer the pangs of broken faith. My wild love for you grows hour by hour, and the days of exile lengthen minute by slow minute. O Muslims, claim vengeance for this slave of Love, whose sleep Love always wastes, whose patience Love lays low. Does the law of Love allow you, my heart's desire, to lie wrapped in another's arms and cry Go! to me? And yet in your presence — tell me — what joys shall I enjoy when the man I love works only to overthrow my love?"
When the doorkeeper heard the third song she cried out aloud, and laying hands on her clothes, tore them right down to the hem and fell to the ground in a faint for the third time, showing the scars of the scourge again.
Then the three kalandars said, "Would to Heaven we had never come into this house, but had spent the night on the rubbish mounds outside the city! Truly our visit has been spoiled by sights that cut a man to the heart."
The Caliph turned to them and asked, "Why is that?"
And they answered, "Our minds are badly troubled by this business."
"Are you not of the household?" said the Caliph.
"No," they said, "nor did we ever set eyes on the place until an hour ago."
At this the Caliph marvelled, and said, "This man sitting next to you — would he not know the secret of the matter?" And saying it he winked and made signs at the porter.
So they questioned the man, but he answered, "By the Almighty power of Allah, in love we are all alike! I am Baghdad born and bred, and yet in all my born days I never darkened these doors until today; and my keeping company with them was a curious business."
"By Allah," they said, "we took you for one of them, and now we see you are one like ourselves."
Then the Caliph said, "We are seven men, and they are only three women without even a fourth to help them; so let us question them about their situation. And if they will not answer us, we shall be answered by force."
Every one of them agreed to this except Ja'afar, who said, "That is not my reckoning. Let them be. We are their guests, and as you know they made a compact and a condition with us which we accepted and promised to keep. So it is better that we say nothing about the matter; and since there is little of the night left, let each and every one of us go his own way."
Then he winked at the Caliph and whispered to him, "There is only one hour of darkness left, and I can bring them before you tomorrow, when you can question them all about their story as much as you like."
But the Caliph raised his head haughtily and cried out at him in anger, "I have no patience left, for my longing to hear about them. Let the kalandars ask them straight away."
"That is not my advice," said Ja'afar.
Then words ran high and talk answered talk, and they argued about who should put the question first; but at last they all settled on the porter.
And as the racket grew, the mistress of the house could not help noticing it, and asked them, "You people — what is this matter you are all talking so loudly about?"
Then the porter stood up respectfully in front of her and said, "My lady, this company earnestly wants you to tell them the story of the two bitches, and what makes you punish them so cruelly, and then makes you fall to weeping over them and kissing them; and last of all they want to hear the tale of your sister, and why she has been beaten with palm rods like a man. These are the questions they have charged me to put. And peace be with you."
At which the lady of the house said to her guests, "Is this true, what he says on your behalf?"
And all of them answered, "Yes" — except Ja'afar, who kept silent.
When she heard this she cried, "By Allah, guests, you have wronged us, and grievously. When you came in to us we made a compact and a condition with you: that whoever spoke of what did not concern him should hear what did not please him. Was it not enough for you that we took you into our house and fed you with the best food we had? But the fault is not so much yours as hers, who let you in."
Then she pulled her sleeves back from her wrists and struck the floor three times with her hand, crying, "Come quickly!"
And a closet door opened, and out of it came seven Black slaves with drawn swords in their hands, to whom she said, "Pinion these chatterers' elbows and tie them to one another."
They did as she said, and asked her, "O veiled and virtuous one, is it your high command that we strike off their heads?"
But she answered, "Leave them a while, so that I can question them about their situation, before their necks feel the sword."
"By Allah, my lady!" cried the porter, "do not kill me for somebody else's sin. All these men gave the offence and deserve the penalty for the crime, except me. By Allah, our night would have been charming if we had escaped the mortification of these one-eyed kalandars, whose arrival in a crowded city would turn it into a howling wilderness."
Then he recited these verses:
"How fine a thing is pity that a strong man does not smother — and finest of all when it is shown to the weakest brother. By the holy tie of Love itself between the two of us, let one man not suffer for the sin of another."
When the porter had finished his verse the lady laughed:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Eleventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the lady, having laughed at the porter in spite of her anger, came up to the party and spoke to them.
"Tell me who you are," she said, "for you have only an hour to live. And if you were not men of rank, and perhaps notables among your own people, you would not have been so contrary, and I would have hurried your doom along."
Then the Caliph said, "Confound you, Ja'afar — tell her who we are, or we shall be killed by mistake; and speak fair to her before some horror comes down on us."
"It is no more than you deserve," he replied.
At which the Caliph cried out at him, "There is a time for witty words and there is a time for serious work."
Then the lady turned to the three kalandars and asked them, "Are you brothers?"
"No, by Allah," they answered. "We are nothing but beggars and foreigners."
Then she said to one of them, "Were you born blind in one eye?"
"No, by Allah," he said. "It was a marvellous business and a strange mischance that caused my eye to be torn out; and my tale is one which, if it were engraved with needles on the inner corners of the eye, would be a warning to anyone willing to take warning."
She questioned the second and the third kalandar, and both answered like the first. "By Allah, mistress, each one of us comes from a different country, and all three of us are the sons of kings, sovereign princes ruling over vassals and capital cities."
At that she turned to them and said, "Let every one of you tell me his tale in turn, and explain what brought him to our house; and if his story pleases us, let him rub his head and be on his way."
The first to come forward was the porter, who said, "My lady, I am a man, and a porter. This lady, the caterer, hired me to carry a load, and took me first to a wine-seller's shop, then to a butcher's stall; from there to a fruiterer's; from there to a grocer who also sold dried fruit; from there to a confectioner and a perfumer-and-druggist; and from him to this place, where what happened to me with you happened. That is my story, and peace be on us all."
At this the lady laughed and said, "Rub your head and be on your way."
But he cried, "By Allah, I will not stir a foot until I have heard my companions' stories."
Then one of the one-eyed men came forward and began to tell her
Know, my lady, that the reason my beard was shaved off and my eye was torn out was this.
My father was a king, and he had a brother who was king over another city; and it happened that my cousin — my father's brother's son — and I were both born on one and the same day.
The years and the days rolled on, and as we grew up I used to visit my uncle now and then and spend some months with him. My cousin and I were sworn friends, for he always treated me with tremendous kindness: he killed the fattest sheep for me and strained the best of his wines, and we enjoyed long hours of talking and drinking.
One day, when the wine had got the better of us, my uncle's son said to me, "Cousin, I have a great service to ask of you, and I want you not to stop me in anything I mean to do."
"With joy and goodwill," I answered.
Then he made me swear the most binding oaths, and left me. But after a little while he came back leading a lady, veiled and richly dressed, with jewellery on her worth a great deal of money.
Presently he turned to me — the woman still standing behind him — and said, "Take this lady with you and go ahead of me to such and such a burial ground" (and he described it, so that I knew the place), "and go into such and such a tomb chamber, and wait there for me to come."
The oaths I had sworn to him kept me quiet and would not let me argue with him. So I led the woman to the cemetery, and she and I sat down inside the tomb chamber; and we had hardly sat down before in came my uncle's son with a bowl of water, a bag of mortar, and an adze rather like a hoe.
He went straight to the tomb in the middle of the chamber and broke it open with the adze and set the stones to one side; and then he began digging into the earth of the tomb until he came to a large iron plate the size of a wicket door. Raising it, there appeared underneath a vaulted, winding staircase.
Then he turned to the lady and said, "Come now, and make your final choice."
She went straight down the stairs and disappeared. And then he said to me:
"Cousin, by way of completing your kindness — when I have gone down into this place, put the trapdoor back where it was and heap the earth back over it as it was before. And then, of your great goodness, mix this unslaked lime that is in the bag with this water that is in the bowl, and after building the stones back up, plaster the outside, so that nobody looking at it can say: this is a new opening in an old tomb. I have worked at this place for a whole year, and nobody knows about it except Allah. And this is the service I need from you."
And presently he added, "May Allah never take you from your friends or leave them desolate by your absence, cousin — my dear cousin!"
And he went down the stairs and disappeared for ever.
When he was out of sight I put the iron plate back and did everything he had told me until the tomb was as it had been before; and I worked almost without knowing what I was doing, for my head was hot with wine.
Going back to my uncle's palace, I was told he had gone out hunting and hawking; so I slept that night without seeing him. And when the morning dawned I remembered the scenes of the evening before and what had passed between me and my cousin, and I was sorry I had obeyed him, when being sorry was no use at all. Still, I half thought it had been a dream.
So I began asking after my uncle's son; but there was nobody who could answer me about him. And I went out to the graveyard and the tomb chambers and looked for the tomb he was under, and could not find it. And I did not stop wandering from tomb chamber to tomb chamber and from grave to grave, all without success, until night came on.
So I went back to the city, and I could neither eat nor drink; my thoughts were entirely taken up with my cousin, because I did not know what had become of him. And I grieved beyond all grieving, and passed another sorrowful night, lying awake until morning.
Then I went a second time to the cemetery, turning over what my uncle's son had done, and bitterly regretting having listened to him; and I went round all the tombs and could not find the tomb I was looking for. I mourned over the past, and stayed in my mourning seven days, looking for the place and always missing the path.
Then my torment of scruples grew on me until I very nearly went mad; and I could find no way to shake off my grief except to travel, and go back to my father.
So I set off and journeyed homewards. But as I was coming into my father's capital, a crowd of rioters sprang on me and pinioned my arms.
I wondered at it with every kind of wonder, seeing that I was the Sultan's son and these men were my father's subjects, and some of them my own slaves. A great fear fell on me and I said to myself, "I wish to heaven I knew what has happened to my father."
I asked the men who had bound me why they were doing it, but they gave me no answer. However, after a while one of them said to me — and he had been a hired servant of our household — "Fortune has been false to your father. His troops betrayed him, and the vizier who killed him now reigns in his place; and we were lying in wait to seize you at that man's bidding."
I was very nearly out of my mind, and felt ready to faint at the news of my father's death; and they carried me off and set me in front of the usurper.
Now there was an old grudge between him and me, and the cause of it was this. I was fond of shooting with the pellet bow; and it happened one day, as I was standing on the terrace roof of the palace, that a bird settled on the top of the vizier's house at a moment when he happened to be there. I shot at the bird and missed my mark — and hit the vizier in the eye and knocked it out, as fate and fortune decreed. As the poet says:
We tread the path that Fate has led us down; the path Fate wrote is the path we must tread. And a man doomed to die in one country will be put to death nowhere else.
And another says the same thing:
Let Fortune have her wanton way; take heart, and obey everything she says. Do not rejoice or mourn at anything, for all things pass and nothing stays.
Now when I knocked the vizier's eye out he could not say a single word, because my father was king of the city; but he hated me from then on, and the grudge between the two of us was a bitter one.
So when I was set in front of him with my hands bound and my arms pinioned, he gave orders at once for me to be beheaded.
"For what crime will you put me to death?" I asked.
And he answered, "What crime is greater than this?" — pointing all the while at the place where his eye had been.
"I did that by accident," I said, "and not out of deliberate malice."
"If you did it by accident," said he, "I shall do the same to you on purpose."
Then he cried, "Bring him forward." And they brought me up to him, and he thrust his finger into my left eye and gouged it out; and that is how I became one-eyed, as you see me.
Then he ordered me bound hand and foot and put into a chest, and said to the swordsman, "Take charge of this fellow, and go off with him to the waste ground outside the city; then draw your scimitar and kill him, and leave him for the beasts and the birds to feed on."
So the headsman went out with me; and when he was in the middle of the desert he took me out of the chest — my hands pinioned and my feet in fetters — and was about to bandage my eyes before striking off my head.
But I wept so bitterly that I made him weep with me; and looking at him, I began to recite:
"I thought you a coat of mail that would stand up to the enemy's arrows — and you turned out to be the enemy's sword. I hoped for your help in every chance that came, though my left hand should fail to help my right; but you stand aside and listen to the mocker's gibes while the whole gang of mockers rains their shafts on me. Well — if you will not guard me from my enemies, then stand clear, and help neither them nor me."
And I also quoted:
"I thought my brothers were mail of the strongest steel — and so they were, at fending off my own arrows from my enemies. I thought their arrows the surest of aim — and so they were, when they aimed at my heart."
When the headsman heard my lines — and he had been swordsman to my father, and he owed me a debt of gratitude — he cried, "My lord, what can I do? I am only a slave under orders."
And presently he added, "Fly for your life, and never come back to this country, or they will kill you and kill me along with you. As the poet said:
Take your life and fly when trouble threatens; let the ruined house tell the tale of its owner's fate. You will look for a new country and find one instead of the old, but you must not wait about to find a new life. It is strange that men should sit down in a place of shame when Allah's world is so wide and so great. And in serious matters do not trust anybody else: life itself must act for a life under threat. The lion with the maned neck would never go out hunting if he counted on help or took thought of other creatures."
Hardly able to believe I had escaped, I kissed his hand, and thought the loss of my eye a light matter considering that I had got away without being killed.
I reached my uncle's capital; and going in to him, I told him what had happened to my father and to myself. At which he wept bitterly and said, "Truly you are adding grief to my grief and woe to my woe; for your cousin has been missing these many days, and I do not know what has happened to him, and nobody can give me news of him." And he wept until he fainted.
I grieved with him and offered him what comfort I could; and he wanted to put certain medicines on my eye, but he saw that it had become like a walnut with an empty shell. Then he said, "My son, better to lose an eye and keep your life."
After that I could not keep silent any longer about his son, who was his only son and dearly loved; so I told him everything that had happened. He was overjoyed to hear news of the boy and said, "Come now, and show me the tomb."
But I answered, "By Allah, uncle, I do not know where it is; I have hunted for it carefully a great many times and could never find the place."
However, my uncle and I went to the graveyard and looked right and left, until at last I recognised the tomb, and we were both overjoyed. We went into the chamber and loosened the earth round the grave; then, raising the trapdoor, we went down some fifty steps until we came to the foot of the staircase — and there we were stopped by a blinding smoke.
At which my uncle said the saying whose sayer shall never come to shame: "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
And we went on, and suddenly came out into a large room whose floor was strewn with flour and grain and provisions and all sorts of necessaries; and in the middle of it stood a canopy sheltering a couch.
My uncle went up to the couch, and looking at it, found his son and the lady who had gone down into the tomb with him, lying in each other's arms — but the two of them had turned black as charred wood, as though they had been thrown into a pit of fire.
When my uncle saw this sight he spat in his son's face and said, "You have what you deserve, you pig! This is your judgement in the passing world, and the judgement in the world to come is still waiting for you — harsher, and longer-lasting":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Twelfth Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the kalandar carried on with his story in front of the lady and the Caliph and Ja'afar:
My uncle struck his son with his slipper as he lay there, a black heap of coal. I marvelled at his hardness of heart, and grieving for my cousin and for the lady, said, "By Allah, uncle, calm your anger. Can you not see that all my thoughts are taken up with this misfortune, and how sorry I am for what has happened to your son, and how horrible it is that nothing is left of him but a black heap of charcoal? Is that not enough, without your striking him with your slipper as well?"
He answered, "Nephew, this boy was madly in love with his own sister from his boyhood. Time and time again I forbade him to go near her, saying to myself: they are only little ones. But when they grew up, sin happened between them; and although I could hardly believe it, I shut him up and scolded him and threatened him with the severest threats.
"And the eunuchs and the servants said to him: beware of such a foul thing, which nobody before you has ever done and nobody after you will ever do; and take care you are not dishonoured and disgraced among the kings of the day, to the end of time.
"And I added: a report like this will be carried abroad by the caravans, so take care not to give them anything to talk about, or I shall certainly curse you and put you to death.
"After that I lodged them apart and shut her up. But the accursed girl loved him with a passionate love, for Satan had got the mastery of her as well as of him and made their foul sin look fine to them both.
"Now when my son saw that I had separated them, he secretly built this underground place and furnished it and carried provisions down to it, exactly as you see. And when I had gone out hunting he came here with his sister and hid from me. Then Allah's righteous judgement fell on the pair of them and burnt them up with fire out of Heaven; and truly the last judgement will deal them harsher pains, and longer-lasting."
Then he wept, and I wept with him; and he looked at me and said, "You are my son in his place."
And I thought for a while about the world and the chances of it: how the vizier had killed my father and taken his place and put out my eye, and how my cousin had come to his death by the strangest chance of all. And I wept again, and my uncle wept with me.
Then we climbed the steps and let down the iron plate and heaped the earth up over it; and after putting the tomb back the way it had been, we returned to the palace.
But we had hardly sat down before we heard the drumming of kettledrums and the blaring of trumpets and the clash of cymbals, and the rattle of fighting men's lances, and the shouting of attackers, and the clanking of bits and the neighing of horses; while the whole world was canopied in thick dust and clouds of sand thrown up by the horses' hooves.
We were astonished at the sight and the sound, not knowing what the matter could be; so we asked, and were told that the vizier who had usurped my father's kingdom had marched his men against us — that after raising his army and taking a host of desert Arabs into his service, he had come down on us with forces like the sands of the sea, whose number nobody could count and against whom nobody could stand.
They attacked the city without warning; and the citizens, powerless to resist them, surrendered the place. My uncle was killed, and I made for the outskirts, saying to myself, "If you fall into this villain's hands he will certainly kill you."
And so all my troubles began again; and I turned over everything that had happened to my father and my uncle, and I did not know what to do. For if the townspeople or my father's troops had recognised me, they would have done their best to win favour by destroying me; and I could think of no way of escape except by shaving off my beard and my eyebrows.
So I shaved them off, and changing my fine clothes for a kalandar's rags, I set out from my uncle's capital and made for this city, hoping that somebody might help me into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful, the Caliph, who is the Viceregent of Allah upon earth. And so I have come here, to tell him my tale and lay my case before him.
I arrived this very night, and was standing in doubt about which way to go, when suddenly I saw this second kalandar; so I greeted him, saying, "I am a stranger!" and he answered, "I am a stranger too!"
And as we were talking, up came our companion here, this third kalandar, and greeted us, saying, "I am a stranger!" And we answered, "We are strangers too!"
Then the three of us walked on together until the dark overtook us, and Destiny drove us to your house.
So that is the reason my beard and my moustaches and my eyebrows were shaved off, and that is how I lost my left eye.
They marvelled a great deal at this tale, and the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "By Allah, I have neither seen nor heard the like of what has happened to this kalandar."
Then the lady of the house said, "Rub your head and be on your way."
But he replied, "I will not go until I have heard the history of the other two."
At which the second kalandar came forward, and kissing the ground, began to tell
Know, my lady, that I was not born one-eyed, and mine is a strange story; if it were engraved with needles on the inner corners of the eye, it would be a warning to anyone willing to take warning.
I am a king and the son of a king, and I was brought up like a prince. I learned to chant the Koran according to the seven schools; I read books of every kind and held disputations on what was in them with the scholars and the men of science; I studied the lore of the stars and the fine sayings of the poets; and I trained myself in every branch of learning until I surpassed everybody of my time. My skill in calligraphy was greater than any scribe's, and my fame was carried abroad over every region and city, and all the kings came to know my name.
Among others, the King of India heard of me, and sent to my father to invite me to his court, with offerings and presents and rarities such as suit royalty. So my father fitted out six ships for me and my people; and we put to sea and sailed for a full month until we made land. Then we brought out the horses we had with us in the ships, and after loading the camels with our presents for the prince, we set off inland.
But we had gone only a little way when a cloud of dust flew up and grew until it walled off the whole horizon. After an hour or so the veil lifted, and showed underneath it fifty horsemen, ravening lions to look at, dressed in steel armour.
We watched them closely — and they were highwaymen, wild as the wildest of the desert Arabs. When they saw that we were only four, and had nothing with us but the ten camels carrying the presents, they charged down on us with their lances levelled.
We signalled to them with our fingers, as if to say, "We are messengers of the great King of India, so do us no harm." But they answered the same way, "We are not in his dominions to obey him, and we are not subject to his rule."
Then they set on us and killed some of my slaves and put the rest to flight; and I fled too, after taking a wound, a bad one, while the Arabs were busy with the money and the presents we had with us.
I went off without knowing where I was going, having become as poor as I had been powerful; and I travelled until I came to the crest of a mountain, where I sheltered for the night in a cave. When day came I set out again, and did not stop until I arrived at a fine, well-filled city.
Now it was the season when winter was turning away with his frost, and spring was coming to greet the world with his flowers, and the young blossoms were opening and the streams were running and ringing and the birds were singing sweetly — as the poet says about a certain city, describing it:
A place secure from every thought of fear; safety and peace lord it here for ever. Its beauties seem to make its people beautiful, and its happy folk look as though they were in Heaven.
I was glad to have arrived, for I was worn out with the road and yellow in the face with weakness and want; but my situation was pitiable and I had no idea where to turn.
So I went up to a tailor sitting in his little shop and greeted him. He returned my greeting and made me kindly welcome and wished me well and spoke gently to me, and asked how I came to be a stranger there. I told him my whole past from beginning to end; and he was concerned for me and said, "Young man, do not tell your secret to anybody. The king of this city is your father's greatest enemy, and there is a blood feud between them, and you have reason to fear for your life."
Then he set food and drink in front of me, and I ate and drank and he with me; and we talked freely until nightfall, when he cleared a place for me in a corner of his shop and brought me a carpet and a coverlet.
I stayed with him three days, at the end of which he said to me, "Do you know no trade you could earn a living by, my son?"
"I am learned in the law," I replied, "and a doctor of doctrine; an adept in art and science, a mathematician, and a notable penman."
"Your calling is worth nothing in our city," he answered, "where not a soul understands science, or even writing, or anything at all except making money."
"By Allah," I said, "I know nothing but what I have told you."
And he answered, "Gird up your middle, and take a hatchet and a rope, and go and cut wood in the country for your daily bread, until Allah sends you relief. And tell nobody who you are, or they will kill you."
Then he bought me an axe and a rope and put me in the charge of some woodcutters; and with these guardians I went out into the forest, where I cut firewood all day long and came back in the evening carrying my bundle on my head. I sold it for half a dinar, and with part of that I bought food and laid the rest by.
I spent a whole year at this work. And when the year was over I went out one day as usual into the wilderness, and wandering away from my companions, I came across a thickly grown hollow where there was plenty of wood.
So I went in, and found the gnarled stump of a great tree, and loosened the ground round it and shovelled the earth away. And presently my hatchet rang on a copper ring; so I cleared the soil away, and there was the ring, fixed to a wooden trapdoor.
I raised it, and underneath there appeared a staircase. I went down the steps to the bottom and came to a door, which I opened — and found myself in a noble hall, strongly made and beautifully built, where there was a girl like a pearl of great price, whose face banished every grief and care and trouble from my heart, and whose soft speech healed a soul in despair, and captivated the wise and the wary.
Her figure measured five feet in height; her breasts were firm and upright; her cheek was a very garden of delight; her colour was lively and bright; her face gleamed like the dawn through curly hair that was dark as night, and above the snows of her breast glittered teeth of a pearly white. As the poet said about somebody like her:
A slim-waisted darling crowned with jet-black hair, a willow wand growing on a sandy mound.
And as another says:
Four things that never meet, unless they meet here, to shed my heart's blood and carry off my soul: the most brilliant forehead; hair jet and bright; cheeks red as roses; and a figure dressed in beauty.
When I looked at her I bowed down before Him who had created her, for the beauty and loveliness He had shaped in her; and she looked at me and said, "Are you a man or a jinni?"
"I am a man," I answered.
"Then who brought you to this place," she said, "where I have lived twenty-five years without ever yet seeing a man in it?"
I said — and I found her words wonderfully sweet, and my heart was melted to the core by them — "My lady, my good fortune led me here, to drive away my cares and troubles."
Then I told her all my misfortunes from beginning to end, and my case struck her as terribly hard; so she wept and said, "I will tell you my story in my turn.
"I am the daughter of King Ifitamus, lord of the Ebony Islands, who married me to my cousin, my father's brother's son. But on my wedding night an ifrit named Jirjis son of Rajmus — first cousin, that is, mother's sister's son, of Iblis the Foul Fiend — snatched me up and flew away with me like a bird and set me down in this place, and brought here everything I needed of fine stuffs, clothing and jewels and furniture, and food and drink and the rest.
"Once every ten days he comes here and lies a single night with me, and then goes his way; for he took me without his family's consent. And he has agreed with me that if ever I need him, by night or by day, I have only to pass my hand over those two lines engraved on the alcove there, and he will appear to me before my fingers have stopped touching.
"Four days have gone by now since he was here; and since there are six days left before he comes again — tell me, will you stay with me five days, and go away the day before he comes?"
I replied, "Yes, and yes again! And how wonderful, if all this is not a dream."
At this she was delighted, and springing to her feet she took my hand and led me through an arched doorway to a bathhouse, a fine hall and richly decorated. I took off my clothes and she took off hers; then we bathed and she washed me. And when that was done we came out of the bath, and she seated me at her side on a high divan and brought me sherbet scented with musk.
When we had cooled after the bath she set food in front of me, and we ate, and fell to talking. But presently she said, "Lie down and rest, for you must certainly be tired."
So I thanked her, my lady, and lay down and slept soundly, forgetting everything that had happened to me. When I woke I found her rubbing and massaging my feet; so I thanked her again and blessed her, and we sat a while and talked.
She said, "By Allah, I have been sad at heart, having lived alone underground these twenty-five years; and praise be to Allah, who has sent me somebody to talk to!"
Then she asked, "Young man, what do you say to wine?"
And I answered, "Do as you like."
At which she went to a cupboard and took out a sealed flask of good old wine, and set out the table with flowers and scented herbs, and began to sing these lines:
"Had we known you were coming, we would gladly have spread out the cores of our hearts or the balls of our eyes; we would have thrown down our cheeks as a carpet to greet you and strewn our eyelids for your feet to walk on."
Now when she had finished her verse I thanked her; for indeed love of her had taken hold of my heart, and my grief and my anguish were gone.
We sat talking and drinking until nightfall, and I spent the night with her — such a night as I never spent in all my life. And next day delight followed delight until midday, by which time I had drunk wine so freely that I had lost my wits; and I stood up, staggering to right and to left, and said, "Come, my charmer, and I will carry you up out of this underground vault and deliver you from your jinni's spell."
She laughed and answered, "Content yourself and hold your peace. Of every ten days, one is for the ifrit and the other nine are yours."
Said I — and in good truth the drink had got the better of me — "This very instant I will break down the alcove with the talisman engraved on it, and summon the ifrit so that I can kill him; for killing ifrits is a practice of mine."
When she heard this her colour went pale and she said, "By Allah, do not!" And she began reciting:
"This is a thing with destruction lying in it; I advise you to shun it, if your wits are sound."
And these lines too:
"You who go looking for separation, draw in the rein of your swift horse and do not press so far forward. Ah, stop! for treachery is the rule of life, and the sweets of meeting end in parting."
I heard her verse and paid no attention to her words — no, I raised my foot and gave the alcove a mighty kick:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Thirteenth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the second kalandar went on with his tale to the lady:
But when I kicked that alcove with a mighty kick, my mistress, the air went stark and dark and thundered and lightened; the earth trembled and quaked and the world went out of sight. In that instant the fumes of the wine left my head, and I cried to her, "What is the matter?"
And she answered, "The ifrit is on us! Did I not warn you of this? By Allah, you have brought ruin on me. But fly for your life, and go up the way you came down."
So I fled up the staircase; but in the excess of my fear I forgot my sandals and my hatchet. And when I had climbed two steps I turned to look for them — and I saw the earth split apart, and out of it rose an ifrit, a monster of hideousness, who said to the girl, "What trouble and uproar is this that you disturb me with? What misfortune has come on you?"
"No misfortune has come on me," she answered, "except that my chest was tight and my heart heavy with sadness; so I drank a little wine to open it and hearten myself; and then I got up to relieve myself, but the wine had gone to my head and I fell against the alcove."
"You are lying, like the whore you are!" shrieked the ifrit. And he looked round the hall, right and left, until he caught sight of my axe and my sandals, and said to her, "What are these but the belongings of some mortal who has been in your company?"
She answered, "I never set eyes on them until this moment; they must have been carried in here clinging to your own clothes."
"These words are absurd, you harlot! you strumpet!" said the ifrit.
Then he stripped her stark naked and stretched her out on the floor and tied her hands and feet to four stakes, like someone crucified, and set about torturing her and trying to make her confess.
I could not bear to stand there listening to her cries and her groaning; so I climbed the stair shaking with fear, and when I reached the top I put the trapdoor back and covered it with earth.
Then I was sorry for what I had done, sorry beyond all sorrow; and I thought of the lady and her beauty and loveliness, and the tortures she was suffering at the hands of that accursed ifrit after her quiet life of twenty-five years, and how everything that had happened to her had happened because of me. And I thought of my father and his royal position, and how I had become a woodcutter; and how, after my life had been calm for a while, the world had gone thick and troubled on me again.
So I wept bitterly and repeated this couplet:
When the tyranny of Fate weighs on you hardest, consider: one day will gladden you and one will grieve you.
Then I walked on until I reached the house of my friend the tailor, whom I found anxiously waiting for me — he was, as the saying goes, on coals of fire on my account. And when he saw me he said, "All night long my heart has been heavy, fearing for you from wild beasts or some other mischance. Now praise be to Allah for your safety."
I thanked him for his kind concern and, going off to my corner, sat pondering and brooding on what had happened to me, and blamed and scolded myself for my meddling folly and my perversity in kicking the alcove.
I was calling myself to account when my friend the tailor came to me and said, "Young man, there is an old man in the shop, a Persian, who is looking for you. He has your hatchet and your sandals, which he had taken to the woodcutters, saying: I was going out at the hour when the muezzin began the call to dawn prayer, when I came across these things and do not know whose they are; so direct me to their owner. The woodcutters recognised your hatchet and directed him to you. He is sitting in my shop, so go out to him and thank him and take your axe and your sandals."
When I heard this I turned yellow with fear and felt stunned as though by a blow; and before I could recover myself, the floor of my private room split apart, and up out of it rose the Persian — who was the ifrit.
He had tortured the lady with terrible tortures, and even so she would confess nothing to him; so he had taken the hatchet and the sandals and said to her, "As surely as I am Jirjis of the seed of Iblis, I will bring you back the owner of these!" Then he had gone to the woodcutters with the pretence I have described and, being directed to me, and having waited a while in the shop until the fact was confirmed, he now suddenly snatched me up as a hawk snatches a mouse, and flew high into the air; and then came down and plunged with me under the earth — I in a dead faint all the while — and at last set me down in the underground palace where I had spent that blissful night.
And there I saw the lady stripped to the skin, her limbs bound to four stakes, and blood welling from her sides. At the sight my eyes ran over with tears; but the ifrit covered her body and said, "You wanton — is this man not your lover?"
She looked at me and answered, "I do not know him, and I have never seen him before this hour."
"What!" said the ifrit. "All this torture and still no confession?"
And she said, "I have never seen this man in all my born days, and it is not lawful in Allah's sight to tell lies about him."
"If you do not know him," said the ifrit, "then take this sword and strike off his head."
She took the sword in her hand and came right up to me; and I signalled to her with my eyebrows, my tears running down my cheeks all the while. She understood me and answered, also by signs, "How could you bring all this evil down on me?" And I answered the same way, "This is the moment for mercy and forgiveness."
And the mute tongue of my situation spoke aloud, saying:
My eyes were interpreters for my tongue when it was tied and told out clearly the love I would gladly have hidden. When last we met and tears came down in torrents, my glances gave evidence for a tongue struck dumb. She signed with a glance of the eye while her lips were silent; I signed with my fingers and she knew what was meant. Our eyebrows did all the work between the two of us — and we being speechless, Love spoke loud and plain.
Then, my mistress, the lady threw the sword away and said, "How am I to strike the neck of a man I do not know, and who has done me no harm? Such a deed would not be lawful by my law." And she held her hand.
Said the ifrit, "It is hard for you to kill your lover; and because he has lain with you, you endure these torments and obstinately refuse to confess. After this it is clear enough to me that only like loves and pities like."
Then he turned to me and asked, "Man — perhaps you do not know this woman either?"
To which I answered, "And who might she be? I certainly never saw her until this instant."
"Then take the sword," said he, "and strike off her head, and I will believe you do not know her, and I will leave you free to go and will not deal harshly with you."
"That I will do," I replied. And taking the sword I went forward briskly and raised my hand to strike.
But she signalled to me with her eyebrows, "Have I failed you in any part of love? And is this how you pay me back?"
I understood what her looks meant, and answered her with a glance, "I will sacrifice my soul for you." And the tongue of the situation wrote these lines in our hearts:
How many a lover speaks with his eyebrows to the woman he loves, as his passion pleads: with flashing eyes he breathes his passion into her and she sees perfectly well what his pleading needs. How sweet is the look when each one gazes at the other, and with what swiftness and what certainty it travels: and this one writes out all his passion with his eyebrows, and that one reads all his passion with her eyes.
Then my eyes filled with tears and overflowed, and I threw the sword out of my hand and said, "Mighty ifrit and hero — if a woman, lacking wits and lacking faith, thinks it unlawful to strike off my head, how can it be lawful for me, a man, to strike the neck of a woman I have never seen in my whole life? I cannot do such a wrong, though you make me drink the cup of death and destruction."
Then said the ifrit, "The two of you are showing me how well you understand one another. But I will let you see how such doings end."
He took the sword and struck off the lady's hands first, with four strokes, and then her feet; while I stood looking on and made certain of my own death, and she said goodbye to me with her dying eyes.
So the ifrit shouted at her, "You play the whore and make a cuckold of me with your eyes!" — and struck her so that her head went flying.
Then he turned to me and said, "Mortal, we have it in our law that when a wife commits adultery it is lawful for us to kill her. As for this girl, I snatched her away on her wedding night when she was twelve years old, and she knew nobody but me. I used to come to her once every ten days and lie with her the night, in the shape of a man, a Persian; and when I was well satisfied that she had cuckolded me, I killed her.
"But as for you, I am not well satisfied that you have wronged me in her. All the same I must not let you go unharmed; so ask a favour of me and I will grant it."
Then I rejoiced, my lady, beyond all rejoicing, and said, "What favour shall I ask of you?"
He replied, "Ask me this: what shape I am to bewitch you into. Will you be a dog, or an ass, or an ape?"
I answered — and indeed I had been hoping some mercy might be shown me — "By Allah, spare me, so that Allah may spare you for sparing a Muslim, and a man who never wronged you." And I humbled myself before him with the utmost humility, and stood there in his presence saying, "I am sorely oppressed by circumstance."
He replied, "Do not talk me a long talk. It is in my power to kill you; but instead I am giving you your choice."
Said I, "Ifrit, it would become you to pardon me, exactly as the Envied man pardoned the Envier."
"And how was that?" said he.
And I began to tell him
They tell, ifrit, that in a certain city there were two men who lived in houses next door to one another, sharing a party wall; and one of them envied the other and looked on him with an evil eye, and did everything he could to injure him. And although he was jealous of his neighbour all the time, his malice grew on him at last until he could hardly eat or enjoy the sweetness of sleep.
But the Envied man did nothing except prosper; and the harder the other tried to injure him, the more he got and gained and throve.
At last the malice of his neighbour, and the man's constant efforts to do him harm, came to his notice. So he said, "By Allah, God's earth is wide enough for the people in it." And leaving the neighbourhood, he went to another city, where he bought himself a piece of land with a dried-up draw-well on it, old and in ruins. There he built himself a place of prayer, and furnishing it with a few necessaries, took up his home in it and gave himself over to praying and worshipping Allah Almighty. And holy beggars and mendicants flocked to him from every quarter, and his fame went abroad through the city and the country round it.
Presently the news of what good fortune had come to him, and how the notables of the city had become his disciples, reached his envious neighbour. So he travelled to the place and presented himself at the holy man's hermitage, and was met by the Envied man with welcome and greeting and every honour.
Then the Envier said, "I have a word to say to you; that is why I have come here, and I want to give you a piece of good news. So come with me to your cell."
At which the Envied man got up and took the Envier by the hand, and they went into the innermost part of the hermitage. But the Envier said, "Tell your beggars to go back to their cells, for I will not tell you what I have to say except in private, where nobody can hear us."
So the Envied man said to his beggars, "Go back to your own cells." And when they had all done as he told them, he set off with his visitor and walked a little way, until the two of them reached the ruinous old well.
And as they stood on the brink of it, the Envier gave the Envied man a push that tumbled him headlong into it, with nobody to see it; and then he came out and went his way, thinking he had killed him.
Now this well happened to be haunted by the jinn, who, seeing what had happened, held him up and lowered him little by little until he reached the bottom, and then seated him on a large stone.
Then one of them asked the others, "Do you know who this man is?"
And they answered, "No."
"This man," the speaker went on, "is the one called the Envied, who ran from the Envier and came to live in our city, and founded this holy house here; and he has edified us with his prayers and his readings from the Koran. But the Envier set out and travelled until he found him again, and cunningly contrived to trick him and throw him into the well we are in now.
"But the fame of this good man has this very night reached the Sultan of our city, who means to visit him tomorrow on account of his daughter."
"What is wrong with his daughter?" asked one.
And another answered, "She is possessed by a spirit; for Maymun, son of Damdam, is madly in love with her. But if this pious man knew the remedy, curing her would be as easy as anything."
At which one of them asked, "And what is the medicine?"
And he replied, "The black tomcat that is with him in the oratory has, on the end of his tail, a white spot the size of a dirham. Let him pluck seven white hairs out of that spot, and then fumigate her with them, and the marid will flee out of her and not come back; and she will be in her right mind for the rest of her life."
All this took place, ifrit, within earshot of the Envied man, who listened eagerly.
When dawn broke and the morning rose in its brightness and shone, the beggars went to look for their master, and found him climbing up the wall of the well — which made him greater still in their eyes. Then, knowing that nothing but the black tomcat could supply him with the remedy he needed, he plucked the seven tail hairs from the white spot and laid them by him.
And hardly had the sun risen before the Sultan came into the hermitage with the great lords of his court, telling the rest of his retinue to wait outside. The Envied man gave him a hearty welcome, and seating him at his side, asked him, "Shall I tell you why you have come?"
The King answered, "Yes."
He went on, "You have come on the pretext of paying a visit; but what is in your heart is to ask me about your daughter."
"That is exactly so, holy man," replied the King.
And the Envied man went on, "Send and fetch her, and I trust to heal her at once — if such is the will of Allah."
The King, overjoyed, sent for his daughter, and they brought her in with her arms pinioned and her feet fettered. The Envied man made her sit down behind a curtain, and taking out the hairs, fumigated her with them — at which the thing that was in her head cried out and left her.
The girl was restored to her right mind that instant, and veiling her face, said, "What has happened? Who brought me here?"
The Sultan rejoiced with a joy nothing could exceed, and kissed his daughter's eyes and the holy man's hand; then, turning to his great lords, he asked, "What do you say? What fee does the man deserve who has made my daughter whole?"
And they all answered, "He deserves to have her as his wife."
And the King said, "You speak truly."
So he married him to her, and the Envied man became the King's son-in-law.
And after a little the vizier died, and the King said, "Whom can I make minister in his place?"
"Your son-in-law," replied the courtiers. So the Envied man became a vizier.
And after a while the Sultan died too, and the people said, "Whom shall we make king?" And they all cried, "The vizier." So the vizier was made Sultan straight away, and he became a reigning king, and a true ruler of men.
One day, when he had mounted his horse and was riding in all the eminence of his kingship among his emirs and viziers and the great men of his realm, his eye fell on his old neighbour, the Envier, standing on foot in his path. So he turned to one of his ministers and said, "Bring that man here, and do not frighten him."
The vizier brought him, and the King said, "Give him a thousand gold miskals out of the treasury, and load him ten camels with goods to trade with, and send him back to his own town under escort."
Then he said goodbye to his enemy and sent him away, and held back from punishing him for all the many and great evils he had done him.
See, ifrit, the mercy of the Envied man to the Envier, who had hated him from the beginning, and had borne him such bitter malice, and had never met him without causing him trouble; who had driven him out of house and home, and had then made a journey for the sole purpose of taking his life by throwing him into the well. And yet he did not pay back his injurious dealing, but forgave him, and was generous to him.
Then I wept in front of him, my lady, and wept bitterly — never was there bitterer weeping — and I recited:
"Pardon my fault, for it is the wise man's custom to pardon every fault and let revenge go. Truly I contain in myself every kind of fault — so be pleased of your goodness to show mercy and grace. Whoever begs pardon from on High should hold his own hand back from the sinners down here."
Said the ifrit, "Do not lengthen your words. As for my killing you, do not fear it; and as for my pardoning you, do not hope for it. But from my bewitching you there is no escape."
Then he tore me from the ground, which closed under my feet, and flew up with me into the sky until I saw the earth like a great white cloud, or a saucer in the middle of the waters. Presently he set me down on a mountain, and taking a little dust and muttering some magic words over it, sprinkled me with it, saying, "Leave that shape and take the shape of an ape!"
And in that instant I became an ape — a tailless baboon, a hundred years old.
Now when he had left me, and I saw myself in this ugly and hateful shape, I wept for myself; but I resigned my soul to the tyranny of Time and Circumstance, knowing well that Fortune is fair and constant to nobody.
I came down the mountain and found a desert plain at the foot of it, long and broad, over which I travelled for a month, until my course brought me to the edge of the salt sea. After standing there a while, I noticed a ship out in the offing, running before a fair wind and making for the shore. I hid myself behind a rock on the beach and waited until the ship came near, and then I leaped aboard.
I found her full of merchants and passengers, and one of them cried, "Captain, this ill-omened brute will bring us bad luck!" And another said, "Turn this ill-omened beast out from among us." The captain said, "Let us kill it." Another said, "Kill it with a sword"; a third, "Drown it"; and a fourth, "Shoot it with an arrow."
But I sprang up and took hold of the captain's skirt, and shed tears that poured down my chops. The captain took pity on me and said, "Merchants! this ape has appealed to me for protection and I will protect him. From now on he is in my charge; so let nobody do him any hurt or harm, or there will be bad blood between us."
Then he treated me kindly; and whatever he said I understood, and I saw to his every want and served him like a servant, although my tongue would not obey my wishes — so that he came to love me.
The ship sailed on with a fair wind for fifty days, at the end of which we anchored under the walls of a great city, in which there was a world of people, and learned men above all, whose number nobody could tell but Allah.
No sooner had we arrived than we were visited by certain Mamluk officials from the King of that city, who came aboard and greeted the merchants and wished them joy of their safe arrival, and said, "Our King welcomes you, and sends you this roll of paper, on which each and every one of you must write a line. For you should know that the King's minister, a calligrapher of great renown, is dead, and the King has sworn a solemn oath that he will make nobody vizier in his place who cannot write as well as he could."
Then he gave us the scroll, which measured ten cubits long by one wide; and each of the merchants who knew how to write wrote a line on it, down to the last of them. After which I stood up — still in the shape of an ape — and snatched the roll out of their hands.
They were afraid I would tear it or throw it overboard, so they tried to stop me and scare me off; but I signed to them that I could write, at which they all marvelled, saying, "We have never yet seen an ape write."
And the captain cried, "Let him write; and if he scribbles and scrawls we will kick him out and kill him; but if he writes a fair and scholarly hand, I will adopt him as my son. For I certainly never yet saw a more intelligent and better-mannered monkey than this one. Would to Heaven my own son were his match in morals and manners."
I took the reed pen, and stretching out my paw, dipped it in ink and wrote, in the hand used for letters, these two couplets:
Time has recorded the gifts she gave to the great, but she never recorded yours, which are far higher. May Allah never orphan men by the loss of you, who are the mother of Goodness and the father of Bounty.
And I wrote in Rayhani, the larger and elegantly curving letters:
You hold a reed of good counsel for every land, whose driving makes the whole world thrive. The Nile of Egypt is nothing beside your gifts, you who make misery smile with five fingers.
Then I wrote in the Thuluth character:
There is no writer who shall escape from Death, but what his hand has written men will repeat. Write nothing, therefore, but what will serve you when you see it on Judgement Day — if see it you do.
Then I wrote in the Naskh character:
When Fate dooms our love to a bitter parting and Destiny decrees a life far off, we make the lips of the inkhorn complain of our pains and give our speech a tongue with the talking reed.
And I wrote in the Tumar character:
Kingdom lasts with nobody; and if you deny this truth, then where are the kings of the earlier earth? Plant trees of goodness while your rule lasts, and when you have fallen they will speak your worth.
And I wrote in the Muhakkak character:
When the inkhorn of your wealth and fame is opened, take ink from a generous heart and a gracious hand; write brave and noble deeds while you still can write, and win yourself praise from the point of the pen and of the sword.
Then I gave the scroll to the officials; and after we had all written our lines, they carried it before the King.
When he saw the paper, no writing pleased him except mine; and he said to the assembled courtiers, "Go and find the writer of these lines, and dress him in a splendid robe of honour; then mount him on a she-mule, and let a band of music go in front of him, and bring him into my presence."
At these words they smiled, and the King was angry with them and cried, "You accursed people! I give you an order and you laugh at me?"
"O King," they replied, "if we laugh it is not at you, and not without a reason."
"And what is it?" he asked.
And they answered, "O King, you order us to bring into your presence the man who wrote these lines. Now the truth is that the one who wrote them is not one of the sons of Adam, but an ape, a tailless baboon belonging to the ship's captain."
"Is this true, what you say?" said he.
"It is — by the rights of your own munificence!" said they.
The King marvelled at their words and shook with laughter, and said, "I have a mind to buy this ape from the captain."
Then he sent messengers to the ship with the mule, the robe, the guard and the state drums, saying, "All the same, you are to dress him in the robe of honour and mount him on the mule and let him be surrounded by the guards and preceded by the band."
They came to the ship and took me from the captain and robed me in the robe of honour, and mounting me on the she-mule, carried me in a state procession through the streets, while the people were amazed and amused. And people said to one another, "Hello! is our Sultan about to make an ape his minister?" And they all came crowding agog to stare at me, and the town was astir and turned upside down on my account.
When they brought me up to the King and set me in his presence, I kissed the ground before him three times, and once before the High Chamberlain and the great officers; and he told me to be seated, and I sat respectfully back on my shins and knees, and everybody there marvelled at my fine manners, and the King most of all.
At that he ordered the rest to withdraw; and when nobody was left except His Majesty, the eunuch on duty and a little white slave, he had the table of food set before me, with every kind of bird on it — everything that hops and flies and treads in a nest, such as quail and sand grouse.
Then he signed to me to eat with him; so I got up and kissed the ground before him, and then sat down and ate with him. And when the table had been taken away I washed my hands in seven waters, and took the pen case and the reed, and wrote these lines instead of speaking:
Wail for the little partridges on porringer and plate; cry for the ruin of the fries and the well-marinated stews. Keen as I keen for the loved and lost daughters of the sand grouse, and for omelette heaped round fine browned fowls. O the fire in my heart for fish — those two fine fish I saw bedded on new-made scones and cakes piled up to be torn apart. For you, O vermicelli, my very stomach aches! I hold that without you every taste and joy is clean annihilated. Those eggs rolled their yellow eyes in the torturing pains of the fire before they came served with hash and hot fritters, that daintiest dish. Praise be to Allah for His baked meats and His roast — and ah! how good are these pulses, these pot-herbs steeped in oil and mixed with vinegar. When my hunger was satisfied I propped myself on an elbow and fell back on the meat pudding, in which gleamed the bangles that confound my wits. Then I woke my sleeping appetite to eat as though in play sweets from brocaded trays, and the most elaborate of trifles. Be patient, soul of mine! Time is a haughty, jealous creature; today he looks dark and lowering, and tomorrow fair to see.
Then I got up and seated myself at a respectful distance while the King read what I had written; and he marvelled and exclaimed, "The miracle of it — that an ape should be gifted with this graceful style and this power of penmanship! By Allah, it is a wonder of wonders."
Presently they set choice wines before the King in glass flagons, and he drank; and then he passed the cup on to me, and I kissed the ground and drank and wrote on it:
With fire they boiled me to loosen my tongue, and gave me pain and patience for company. And so it comes about that the hands of men hold me up high and I sip honey-dew from the lips of a girl.
And these lines as well:
Morning says to Night, "Withdraw, and let me shine"; so let us drain draughts that dull all pain and pining. The glass is so fine and the wine so clear, I am in doubt whether it is the wine in the glass or the glass in the wine.
The King read my verse and said with a sigh, "If these gifts were in a man, he would surpass everybody of his time and his age."
Then he called for the chessboard and said, "Tell me — will you play with me?" And I signed with my head, "Yes."
Then I came forward and set out the pieces and played two games with him, and won them both. He was speechless with surprise; so I took the pen case and, drawing out a reed, wrote these two couplets on the board:
Two armies go fighting the whole day long and their battling is never finished, until, when the dark closes round about them, the two of them go and sleep in a single bed.
The King read these lines with wonder and delight and said to his eunuch, "Mukbil, go to your mistress, Sitt al-Husn, and say to her: come, the King calls you here to amuse yourself with the sight of this truly wonderful ape."
So the eunuch went out and came back presently with the lady; and when she saw me she veiled her face and said, "Father! have you lost all sense of honour? How is it you are pleased to send for me and show me to strange men?"
"Sitt al-Husn," said he, "there is no man here except this little foot page, and the eunuch who brought you up, and I, your father. So who are you veiling your face from?"
She answered, "The one you take for an ape is a young man — clever and polite, wise and learned, and the son of a king. But he is under a spell; the ifrit Jirjis, who is of the seed of Iblis, laid it on him, after putting his own wife to death — the daughter of King Ifitamus, lord of the Ebony Islands."
The King marvelled at his daughter's words, and turning to me, said, "Is this true, what she says about you?"
And I signed with a nod of my head, "Yes, truly," and wept bitterly.
Then he asked his daughter, "How did you know he was under a spell?"
And she answered, "Dear father, when I was a child there was an old woman with me, a cunning and a wise one and a witch besides, and she taught me the theory of magic and its practice; and I took notes in writing and grew perfect in it, and I have committed to memory a hundred and seventy chapters of magical formulas, by the least of which I could carry the stones of your city away behind Mount Kaf and the encircling ocean, or turn the site of it into a pit of sea and its people into fish swimming about in the middle of it."
"My daughter," said her father, "I beg you, by my life — disenchant this young man, so that I may make him my vizier and marry you to him; for he is an ingenious young man and a deeply learned one."
"With joy and goodwill," she replied. And taking in her hand an iron knife with the name of Allah inscribed on it in Hebrew characters, she drew a wide circle:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Fourteenth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the kalandar went on with his tale like this:
My lady, the King's daughter took in her hand a knife with Hebrew characters inscribed on it and drew a wide circle in the middle of the palace hall, and inside it wrote mysterious names and talismans in Kufic letters; and she spoke words and muttered charms, some of which we understood and some of which we did not.
Presently the world went dark in front of our eyes, until we thought the sky was falling on our heads — and the ifrit presented himself in his own shape and appearance. His hands were like many-pronged pitchforks, his legs like the masts of great ships, and his eyes like torches of gleaming fire.
We were in terrible fear of him; but the King's daughter shouted at him, "No welcome to you and no greeting, dog!"
At which he changed into the shape of a lion and said, "Traitress, how is it you have broken the oath we swore, that neither of us would cross the other?"
"Accursed thing," she answered, "how could there be any agreement between me and the like of you?"
Then he said, "Take what you have brought on yourself." And the lion opened his jaws and rushed at her. But she was too quick for him; and plucking a hair from her head, she waved it in the air, muttering over it as she did — and the hair became instantly a keen sword blade, with which she struck the lion and cut him in two.
Then the two halves flew away into the air, and the head changed into a scorpion; and the princess became a huge serpent and set on the accursed scorpion, and the two of them fought, coiling and uncoiling, a stiff fight for a good hour.
Then the scorpion changed into a vulture, and the serpent became an eagle which set on the vulture and hunted him for an hour, until he became a black tomcat, which yowled and grinned and spat.
At that the eagle changed into a piebald wolf, and these two battled about the palace for a long time, until the cat, seeing himself beaten, changed into a worm and crept into a huge red pomegranate lying beside the jetting fountain in the middle of the palace hall.
At which the pomegranate swelled up in the air to the size of a watermelon; and falling on the marble pavement of the palace, it broke to pieces, and all the seeds fell out and were scattered about until they covered the whole floor.
Then the wolf shook himself and became a snow-white cock, which fell to picking up the seeds, meaning not to leave a single one. But by the doom of destiny one seed rolled to the edge of the fountain and lay there hidden.
The cock fell to crowing and clapping his wings and signing to us with his beak, as if to ask, "Are there any seeds left?" But we did not understand what he meant; and he called out to us with so loud a cry that we thought the palace would fall on us.
Then he ran all over the floor until he saw the seed that had rolled to the fountain's edge, and rushed eagerly to pick it up — and it sprang into the middle of the water and became a fish and dived to the bottom of the basin.
At which the cock changed into a big fish and plunged in after the other, and the two of them disappeared for a while; and then we heard loud shrieks and cries of pain that made us tremble.
After this the ifrit rose up out of the water, and he was like a burning flame, throwing fire and smoke out of his mouth and his eyes and his nostrils. And immediately the princess came out of the basin too, and she was one live coal of flame; and these two, she and he, battled for the space of an hour, until their fires completely surrounded them and their thick smoke filled the palace.
As for us, we panted for breath, being very nearly suffocated, and we longed to plunge into the water for fear of being burnt up and utterly destroyed.
And the King said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great! Truly we are Allah's and to Him we are returning. Would to Heaven I had never urged my daughter to try to disenchant this ape fellow, by which I have laid on her the terrible task of fighting that accursed ifrit, against whom all the ifrits in the world could not prevail. And would to Heaven we had never seen this ape — may Allah never bless the day he came! We thought to do a good deed by him in the sight of Allah, and to release him from enchantment, and now we have brought this trouble and travail down on our own hearts."
But I, my lady, was tongue-tied and powerless to say a word to him.
Suddenly, before we knew anything about it, the ifrit yelled out from under the flames and, coming up to us as we stood on the dais, blew fire in our faces. The girl overtook him and breathed blasts of fire at his face, and the sparks from her and from him rained down on us. Her sparks did us no harm; but one of his sparks landed on my eye and destroyed it, making me a one-eyed ape; and another fell on the King's face, scorching the lower half of it, burning off his beard and his moustaches and making his lower teeth fall out; while a third landed on the eunuch's chest and killed him on the spot.
So we despaired of life and made certain of death — when a voice repeated the saying, "Allah is Most High! Allah is Most High! Help and victory to all who believe the Truth; and disappointment and disgrace to all who do not believe the religion of Mohammed, the Moon of Faith."
The speaker was the princess, who had burnt the ifrit up; and he had become a heap of ashes.
Then she came up to us and said, "Bring me a cup of water." They brought it to her, and she spoke words over it that we did not understand, and sprinkling me with it, cried, "By virtue of the Truth, and by the Most Great Name of Allah, I charge you to return to your former shape."
And I shook, and became a man as before — except that I had entirely lost one eye.
Then she cried out, "The fire! The fire! Dear father, an arrow from the accursed one has wounded me to death, for I am not used to fighting the jinn. If he had been a man I would have killed him at the beginning. I had no trouble at all until the moment the pomegranate burst and the seeds scattered; but I overlooked the seed that had the jinni's very life in it. If I had picked it up he would have died on the spot; but as Fate and Fortune decreed, I did not see it. So he came on me completely unawares, and there was a hard struggle between him and me under the earth and high in the air and in the water; and every time I opened one gate on him he opened another and a stronger one on me, until at last he opened on me the gate of fire — and few are saved on whom the door of fire opens.
"But Destiny willed that my cunning should beat his cunning; and I burned him to death, after urging him in vain to embrace the religion of Islam. As for me, I am a dead woman. May Allah supply my place to you."
Then she called on Heaven for help and did not stop begging for relief from the fire — when a black spark shot up from her robed feet to her thighs; and then it flew to her breast and from there to her face.
When it reached her face she wept and said, "I testify that there is no god but God, and that Mohammed is the Apostle of God."
And we looked at her and saw nothing but a heap of ashes, beside the heap that had been the ifrit.
We mourned for her, and I wished I had been in her place, so that I might not have seen that lovely face, which had done me so much good, turned into ashes. But there is no gainsaying the will of Allah.
When the King saw his daughter's terrible death he plucked out what was left of his beard and beat his face and tore his clothes; and I did as he did, and we both wept over her.
Then the chamberlains and the great men came in and were amazed to find two heaps of ashes and the Sultan in a dead faint; so they stood round him until he revived and told them what had happened to his daughter through the ifrit. At which their grief was very grievous, and the women and the slave girls shrieked and keened; and they kept up their lamentations for seven days.
What is more, the King ordered a great vaulted tomb built over his daughter's ashes, and wax tapers and funeral lamps to be burnt in it. But as for the ifrit's ashes, they scattered them on the winds and sent them off to the curse of Allah.
Then the Sultan fell into a sickness that very nearly brought him to his death, and it lasted a month. And when his health came back to him, and his beard grew again, and he had been converted by the mercy of Allah to Islam, he sent for me and said:
"Young man, Fate had decreed for us the happiest of lives, safe from all the chances and changes of Time — until you came to us, when troubles fell on us. Would to Heaven we had never seen you, or that foul face of yours! For we took pity on you, and by doing it we have lost everything we had.
"On your account I have lost, first, my daughter, who was worth a hundred men to me; secondly I have suffered what happened to me by the fire and the loss of my teeth; and my eunuch was killed as well.
"I do not blame you, for it was out of your power to prevent it: the doom of Allah was on you as it was on us, and thanks be to the Almighty that my daughter delivered you, even though she lost her own life doing it.
"Go out now, my son, from this city of mine; and let what has happened to us through you be enough, even though it was decreed for us. Go in peace — and if I ever see you again, I shall certainly kill you." And he shouted at me.
So I went out of his presence, my lady, weeping bitterly and hardly able to believe in my escape, and not knowing which way to go. And I recalled everything that had happened to me — my meeting with the tailor, my love for the girl in the palace under the earth, and my narrow escape from the ifrit even after he had determined to put me to death; and how I had entered the city as an ape and was now leaving it a man again.
Then I gave thanks to Allah and said, "My eye and not my life!" And before leaving the place I went into the baths and shaved my head and my beard and my moustaches and my eyebrows; and I threw ashes on my head and put on the coarse black woollen robe of a kalandar.
Then I set out, my lady; and every day I turned over all the disasters that had come on me, and I wept and repeated these lines:
"I am distraught, and yet truly His mercy stays with me, though whole armies of troubles gather round me from I cannot see where. Patient I will be, until Patience herself grows impatient with me; patient for ever, until the Lord fulfils my destiny. Patient I will stay without complaining, a wronged and beaten man; patient as a sun-parched creature crossing the desert's sea of sand. Patient I will be until the aloe itself admits, without knowing it, that I am patient under bitterer things than the bitterest aloes. There is nothing bitterer for mankind than aloes or than patience — and yet bitterer to me than either was the treachery of Patience. My dry and seamed and scorched forehead would interpret my pain if a soul could search my spirit and unlock the secret there. If the hills had to carry the load I carry they would crumble under it; it would still the roaring wind, it would quench the flame's hot tongue. And whoever says the world is sweet will certainly see a day with more than the bitterness of aloes and more than their pungency."
Then I journeyed through many regions and saw many a city, making for Baghdad, so that I might get an audience in the House of Peace with the Commander of the Faithful and tell him everything that had happened to me.
I arrived here this very night and found my brother in Allah, this first kalandar, standing about like a man at a loss; so I greeted him with "Peace be upon you," and we fell into conversation. Presently up came our brother, this third kalandar, and said to us, "Peace be with you! I am a stranger"; to which we replied, "And we are strangers too, who have come here this blessed night."
So all three of us walked on together, none of us knowing the others' history, until Destiny drove us to this door and we came in to you.
So that is my story, and that is the reason for my shaving my beard and my moustaches, and that is what caused the loss of my eye.
Said the mistress of the house, "Your tale is a rare one indeed. So rub your head and be on your way."
But he replied, "I will not budge until I have heard my companions' stories."
Then the third kalandar came forward and said, "Illustrious lady, my history is not like these comrades' of mine, but stranger and far more marvellous. In their case Fate and Fortune came down on them without warning; but I drew destiny down on my own head and brought sorrow on my own soul, and shaved my own beard and lost my own eye. Hear then
Know, my lady, that I too am a king and the son of a king, and my name is Ajib son of Khazib.
When my father died I succeeded him; and I ruled and did justice and dealt fairly with all my subjects. I took great delight in sea trips, for my capital stood on the shore with the ocean stretching far and wide in front of it; and close at hand were many great islands with forts and garrisons on them out in the middle of the water. My fleet numbered fifty merchantmen, and as many yachts for pleasure, and a hundred and fifty sail fitted out and ready for holy war against the unbelievers.
It happened that I had a mind to enjoy myself among those islands, so I took ship with my people in ten vessels; and carrying a month's provisions with me, I set out on a twenty-day voyage.
But one night a head wind struck us, and the sea rose against us in huge waves; the billows buffeted us badly and a thick darkness settled round us. We gave ourselves up for lost, and I said, "Whoever puts his days in danger deserves no praise, even if he escapes."
Then we prayed to Allah and begged Him; but the gale did not stop blowing against us, nor the surges striking us, until morning broke, when the wind fell and the seas sank to a mirror stillness and the sun shone kindly and clear on us.
Presently we made an island, where we landed and cooked some food and ate heartily and rested for a couple of days. Then we set out again and sailed another twenty days, the seas broadening and the land shrinking.
Presently the current ran against us, and we found ourselves in strange waters, where the captain had lost his reckoning and was completely bewildered in that sea. So we said to the lookout man, "Get to the masthead and keep your eyes open."
He swarmed up the mast and looked out, and cried aloud, "Captain, I see something dark to starboard, very like a fish floating on the surface of the sea; and to larboard there is a looming shape out in the middle of the water, now black and now bright."
When the captain heard the lookout's words he dashed his turban down on the deck and plucked out his beard and beat his face, saying, "Good news indeed! We are all dead men; not one of us can be saved."
And he began to weep, and all of us wept at his weeping, and for our own lives besides. And I said, "Captain, tell us what it is the lookout saw."
"My prince," he answered, "you must know that we lost our course on the night of the storm, which was followed next day by a two-day calm during which we made no way; and we have been going astray for eleven days from that night, with never a wind to bring us back onto our proper course.
"Tomorrow, by the end of the day, we shall come to a mountain of black stone called the Magnet Mountain; for the currents are carrying us there whether we like it or not. As soon as we are under its lee, the ship's sides will open, and every nail in every plank will fly out and stick fast to the mountain; for Almighty Allah has given the loadstone a mysterious power and a love for iron, and because of it everything made of iron travels towards it. And on this mountain there is a great deal of iron — how much nobody knows but the Most High — from all the vessels that have been lost there since the old days.
"The bright spot on the summit is a dome of yellow brass from Andalusia, vaulted on ten columns; and on the crown of it is a horseman riding a horse of brass and holding a brass lance in his hand; and there hangs on his breast a tablet of lead engraved with names and talismans."
And presently he added, "And, O King, nobody destroys people except that rider on his horse; and the enchantment will not be broken until he falls from his mount."
Then, my lady, the captain wept beyond all weeping, and every one of us made certain of our doom, and each said goodbye to his friend and charged him with his last will and testament, in case he should be the one saved.
We did not sleep that night; and in the morning we found ourselves much closer to the Magnet Mountain, where the waters were driving us with a violent set. When the ships were close under its lee they opened, and the nails flew out, and all the iron in them made for the Magnet Mountain and clung to it like a net; so that by the end of the day we were all struggling in the waves round about the mountain.
Some of us were saved, but more were drowned; and even the ones who escaped did not know one another, they were so stupefied by the beating of the billows and the raving of the winds.
As for me, my lady, Allah — exalted be His name — preserved my life so that I might suffer whatever He willed for me of hardship and misfortune and calamity; for I scrambled onto a plank from one of the ships, and the wind and the water threw it up at the foot of the mountain.
There I found a practicable path, leading up by steps carved out of the rock to the summit; and I called on the name of Allah Almighty:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Fifteenth Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the third kalandar said to the lady — the rest of the party sitting there tied up, and the slaves standing over them with drawn swords:
And after calling on the name of Almighty Allah and passionately begging Him for help, I breasted the climb, clinging to the steps and notches cut in the stone, and mounted little by little. And the Lord stilled the wind and helped me in the climb, so that I managed to reach the summit.
There I found nowhere to rest but the dome, which I went into, overjoyed at my escape; and I made the ritual washing and prayed a prayer of two prostrations, in thanks to God for preserving me. Then I fell asleep under the dome, and in my dream I heard a mysterious voice saying:
"Son of Khazib! When you wake from your sleep, dig under your feet and you will find a bow of brass and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismans and magical characters. Take the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on the top of the dome, and free mankind from this terrible calamity.
"When you have shot him he will fall into the sea, and the horse will drop at your feet: then bury it in the place where the bow was. That done, the sea will swell and rise until it is level with the mountain top, and there will appear on it a skiff carrying a man of brass — not the one you shot — holding a pair of oars in his hands. He will come to you, and you are to go aboard with him; but beware of saying In Allah's name, or of naming Allah Almighty in any other way.
"He will row you for ten days, until he brings you to certain islands called the Islands of Safety, and from there you will easily reach a port and find people to carry you to your own country. And all this will be fulfilled for you provided you do not call on the name of Allah."
Then I started up out of my sleep in joy and gladness; and hurrying to do what the mysterious voice had told me, I found the bow and the arrows and shot at the horseman and tumbled him into the sea, while the horse dropped at my feet; so I took it and buried it.
Presently the sea surged up and rose until it reached the top of the mountain; and I had not long to wait before I saw a skiff out in the offing coming towards me. I gave thanks to Allah; and when the skiff came up to me I saw in it a man of brass with a tablet of lead on his breast inscribed with talismans and magical characters; and I went aboard without saying a word.
The boatman rowed on with me through the first day and the second and the third, ten whole days in all, until I caught sight of the Islands of Safety — at which I was overjoyed, and in the stress of my gladness exclaimed, "Allah! Allah! In the name of Allah! There is no god but God, and Allah is Almighty."
At which the skiff instantly turned over and threw me into the sea; and then it righted itself and sank down into the depths.
Now I am a good swimmer, so I swam the whole day until nightfall, when my forearms and shoulders were numb with exhaustion and I felt as though I were dying; so I made my profession of faith, expecting nothing but death.
The sea was still surging under the violence of the winds; and presently there came a billow like a hill, and lifting me high in the air, threw me with a long cast onto dry land, so that His will might be fulfilled.
I crawled up the beach and took my clothes off and wrung them out to dry and spread them in the sun; then I lay down and slept the whole night.
As soon as it was day I put my clothes on and got up to see which way I should walk. Presently I came to a thicket of low trees; and making a circuit of it, I found that the place I was standing on was an islet, a mere holm, ringed on all sides by the ocean. At which I said to myself, "Whatever frees me from one great calamity throws me into a greater one."
But while I was pondering my situation and longing for death, I saw a ship in the distance making for the island; so I climbed a tree and hid myself among the branches.
Presently the ship anchored and put ten Black slaves ashore, carrying iron hoes and baskets, who walked on until they reached the middle of the island. There they dug deep into the ground until they uncovered a metal plate, which they lifted, opening a trapdoor.
After this they went back to the ship and brought from it bread and flour, honey and fruit, clarified butter, leather bottles of liquor and a great many household goods; and furniture too, and table service and mirrors, rugs and carpets — in fact everything needed to furnish a dwelling. And they kept going to and fro and down through the trapdoor until they had carried everything that was in the ship into the dwelling.
After this the slaves went aboard again and came back with the richest clothing you could imagine; and in the middle of them came an old, old man, of whom very little was left, for Time had dealt hard and harshly with him, and all that remained of him was a bone wrapped in a rag of blue cloth with the winds whistling through it, east and west. As the poet says of such a man:
Time makes me tremble — ah, how sore the check — while Time in the pride of his strength goes stalking on. Time was when I walked and never once felt tired; now I am tired, though I never walk at all.
And the old man held by the hand a young man cast in beauty's own mould, all elegance and perfect grace, so fair that his good looks deserved to become proverbial; for he was like a green bough, or the young of the roe deer, ravishing every heart with his loveliness and subduing every soul with his coquetry and his charm. It was of him the poet spoke when he said:
They brought Beauty along with him to make a comparison, but Beauty hung her head in shame and confusion. They said, "Beauty, have you ever seen his like?" And Beauty cried, "His like? Nowhere at all!"
They did not stop their coming and going, my lady, until all of them had gone down through the trapdoor; and they did not reappear for an hour or more, at the end of which the slaves and the old man came up without the young man. And replacing the iron plate and carefully closing the door slab as it had been before, they went back to the ship and made sail and were lost to my sight.
When they had turned away to go, I came down from the tree and, going to the place I had seen them fill in, scraped off and cleared away the earth; and I possessed my soul in patience until I had cleared the whole of it away.
Then the trapdoor appeared, which was made of wood and was the shape and size of a millstone; and when I lifted it, it disclosed a winding staircase of stone.
At this I marvelled; and going down the steps until I reached the last, I found a fine hall spread with all kinds of carpets and silks, in which a young man was sitting on a raised couch and leaning back on a round cushion, with a fan in his hand and nosegays and posies of sweet-scented herbs and flowers in front of him. But he was alone, without a soul near him in that great vault.
When he saw me he turned pale; but I greeted him courteously and said, "Set your mind at ease and calm your fears; no harm will come near you. I am a man like yourself, and the son of a king into the bargain, whom the decrees of Destiny have sent to keep you company and cheer you in your loneliness. But now tell me — what is your story, and what makes you live like this, alone under the ground?"
When he was satisfied that I was of his own kind and not a jinni, he was delighted and his good colour came back; and drawing me close to him he said:
"Brother, my story is a strange one, and it is this. My father is a merchant-jeweller with great wealth, who has white slaves and Black slaves travelling and trading on his account in ships and on camels, and dealing with the most distant cities; but he was not blessed with a child, not even one.
"Now on a certain night he dreamed a dream that he would be given a son who would be short-lived; and so the morning dawned on my father bringing him grief and weeping. On the following night my mother conceived, and my father noted down the date she became pregnant.
"When her time was up she bore me — at which my father rejoiced and gave banquets and called the neighbours together and fed the holy beggars and the poor, because he had been blessed with a child near the end of his days.
"Then he assembled the astrologers and the astronomers who knew the places of the planets, and the wizards and the wise men of the time, and the men learned in horoscopes and nativities; and they drew up the scheme of my birth and said to my father:
"'Your son will live to fifteen years, but in his fifteenth there is a sinister aspect; and if he gets safely past it he will reach a great age. And the thing that threatens him with death is this. In the Sea of Peril there stands a mountain called the Magnet Mountain, on the summit of which is a horseman of yellow brass seated on a horse of brass and carrying a tablet of lead on his breast. Fifty days after that rider falls from his horse, your son will die; and his killer will be the man who shoots the horseman down, a prince named Ajib son of King Khazib.'
"My father grieved beyond all grieving to hear this; but he brought me up in the tenderest way and educated me excellently well until my fifteenth year was reached.
"Ten days ago news came to him that the horseman had fallen into the sea, and that the man who shot him down was named Ajib son of King Khazib. At which my father wept bitterly at having to part with me, and became like a man possessed by a jinni. However, being in mortal fear for me, he built me this place under the earth; and stocking it with everything needed for the few days still to run, he brought me here in a ship and left me.
"Ten of them have gone by already; and when the forty have passed without harm coming to me, he will come and take me away — for he has done all this only out of fear of Prince Ajib. So that is my story, and that is the reason I am here alone."
When I heard his history I marvelled, and said to myself, "I am the very Prince Ajib who has done all this; but as Allah is with me, I certainly will not kill him."
So I said to him, "My lord, may this hurt and harm stay far from you; and then, please Allah, you shall suffer no care or worry or unease at all. For I will stay here with you and serve you as a servant, and then go on my way; and after keeping you company through the forty days, I will go with you to your home, where you shall give me an escort of some of your Mamluks to travel back with me to my own city. And the Almighty will repay you on my behalf."
He was glad to hear this; and I got up and lit a large wax candle and trimmed the lamps and the three lanterns, and set out food and drink and sweets. We ate and drank and sat talking about one thing and another until most of the night was gone; and then he lay down to rest, and I covered him up and went to sleep myself.
Next morning I got up and warmed a little water; then I lifted him gently so as to wake him, and brought him the warm water, and he washed his face and said to me, "Heaven repay you on my behalf with every blessing, young man! By Allah, if I get clear of this danger and am saved from the man whose name is Ajib son of Khazib, I will make my father reward you and send you home healthy and wealthy; and if I die, then my blessing be on you."
I answered, "May the day never dawn on which any evil comes to you; and may Allah make my last day come before your last day."
Then I set some food in front of him and we ate; and I got perfumes ready to fumigate the hall with, which pleased him. What is more I made him a mancala board; and we played and ate sweets and played again and enjoyed ourselves until nightfall, when I got up and lit the lamps and set something in front of him to eat, and sat telling him stories until the hours of darkness were far gone. Then he lay down to rest, and I covered him up and rested too.
And I went on doing this, my lady, for days and nights; and affection for him took root in my heart and my sorrow was eased, and I said to myself, "The astrologers lied when they predicted that he would be killed by Ajib son of Khazib. By Allah, I will not kill him."
I did not stop looking after him and talking with him and drinking with him and telling him all kinds of tales for thirty-nine days.
On the fortieth night the young man was overjoyed and said, "Brother — praise be to Allah, who has preserved me from death; and this is by your blessing and the blessing of your coming to me. And I pray God that He restores you to your own country. But now, brother, I should like you to warm me some water for a washing, and be kind enough to bathe me and change my clothes."
I replied, "With love and gladness"; and I heated plenty of water and carried it in to him and washed his whole body, the washing of health, with lupin meal, and rubbed him well and changed his clothes and spread him a high bed, on which he lay down to rest, being drowsy after the bath.
Then he said, "Brother, cut me up a watermelon and sweeten it with a little sugar candy."
So I went to the storeroom, and bringing out a fine watermelon I found there, set it on a platter and laid it before him and said, "My master, have you not a knife?"
"Here it is," he answered, "over my head, on the high shelf."
So I got up in a hurry and took the knife and drew it out of its sheath; but my foot slipped as I stepped down, and I fell heavily onto the young man with the knife in my hand — which hurried to fulfil what had been written on the Day the destinies of men were decided, and buried itself, as though it had been planted there, in the young man's heart.
He died that instant.
When I saw that he was killed, and knew that I had killed him in spite of myself, I cried out with a loud and bitter cry and beat my face and tore my clothes and said:
"Truly we are Allah's and to Him we are returning! Muslims! People who love Allah! There was only one day left of the forty dangerous days that the astrologers and the learned men had foretold for him — and the predestined death of this beautiful boy had to come at my hand. Would to Heaven I had never tried to cut that watermelon.
"What a dreadful misfortune this is that I must bear, whether I like it or not! What a disaster! What an affliction! O my Allah, I beg your pardon and declare to You that I am innocent of his death. But what God wills — let that come to pass":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Sixteenth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ajib went on with his tale to the lady:
When I was certain I had killed him, I got up and went up the stairs and replaced the trapdoor and covered it with earth as before. Then I looked out to sea and saw the ship cleaving the water and making for the island; at which I was afraid, and said, "The moment they come and see the young man put to death, they will know it was I who killed him, and they will kill me without any delay."
So I climbed up into a tall tree and hid myself among the leaves. And I had hardly done it before the ship anchored and the slaves landed with the old man, the young man's father, and made straight for the place; and when they cleared the earth away they were surprised to find it loose.
Then they raised the trapdoor and went down, and found the young man lying at full length, dressed in fine new clothes, with his face glowing after the bath and the knife deep in his heart.
At the sight of it they shrieked and wept and beat their faces, cursing the murderer out loud; while a fainting fit came over the old man, so that the slaves thought him dead, unable to survive his son.
At last they wrapped the murdered young man in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the ground and covered him with a shroud of silk. And while they were making for the ship the old man came round; and looking at his son stretched out there, he fell to the ground and threw dust over his head and struck his face and plucked out his beard; and his weeping redoubled as he thought of his murdered son, and he fainted away once more.
After a while a slave went and fetched a strip of silk, and they laid the old man on it and sat down at his head.
All this took place, and I was up in the tree above them watching everything that happened; and my heart turned grey before my head did, at the hard lot that was mine and the distress and anguish I had been through. And I fell to reciting:
"How many a joy has fled by Allah's will with a flight that escapes the sight of the wisest head! How many a sadness begins the day and grows quite cheerful before the day is out! How many a good thing treads on the heels of an ill one, making the mourner's heart thrill with joy!"
But the old man, my lady, did not come out of his faint until near sunset; when he came to himself and looked at his dead son and remembered what had happened, and how the thing he had dreaded had come to pass. And he beat his face and his head and recited these lines:
"My heart is racked by parting from my friends and two streams run for ever out of my eyelids. My hopes went out with them — alas, and well away! What way is left me now to speak or act? Would I had never looked on the sight of them. What way, good sirs, when the paths grow narrower and narrower? What charm shall calm my pangs when the longings of love burn like this and glow in my very vitals? Would I had trodden the road of Death along with them! Then this parting blow would never have fallen on us. Allah — I pray the Merciful to show me mercy and mix our lives and never part them again. How blessed we were, living together under one roof, joined in our joys and reckoning nothing of grief; until Fortune shot us with the arrow of separation. Ah, who shall bear such a parting-pang with patience? And the dart of Death struck down in the middle of the tribe the pearl of the age, whom the Morning saw shining brightest. I cried out, while his very case found a tongue and spoke: Would to Heaven, my son, that Death had let his doom run late! Which is the readiest road for me to meet with you, my son, for whom I would give away my own soul? If I call him the sun — no; the sun goes down. If I call him the moon — the moons wane. Ah, no. O sad mischance of you, O doom of the days; your place no other love will ever know. Your father, out of his mind, looks at you and despairs of overthrowing Fate by any wit or wisdom. Some evil eye has cast its spell this day — and may it fall foul on him as it has fallen foul on us."
Then he gave one single sob, and his soul fled his body.
The slaves shrieked aloud, "Alas, our lord!" and showered dust on their heads and redoubled their weeping and wailing. Presently they carried their dead master to the ship side by side with his dead son; and having moved all the goods out of the dwelling into the vessel, they set sail and disappeared from my sight.
I came down from the tree and, raising the trapdoor, went down into the underground dwelling, where everything reminded me of the young man; and I looked at the poor remains of him and began repeating these verses:
"I see their tracks, and pine with pain and pang, and weep and yearn over hearths they have left. And I pray to Him who doomed them to depart that some day He may grant the gift of a safe return."
Then, my lady, I went up again through the trapdoor; and every day I used to wander round about the island, and every night I came back to the underground hall.
I lived like this for a month; until at last, looking at the western side of the island, I noticed that every day the tides ebbed and left shallow water which the flow did not make up for; and by the end of the month the sea had shown dry land in that direction.
At this I was overjoyed, making certain of my safety; so I got up and forded what little water was left and reached the mainland — where I fell in with great heaps of loose sand in which even a camel's hoof would sink to the knee.
However, I put heart into my soul, and wading through the sand, saw a fire shining a long way off and burning with a blazing light. So I made for it, hoping perhaps to find help, and broke out into these verses:
"Perhaps my Fortune may turn her bridle round and Time bring me good, jealous though he is called; may forward my hopes and further everything I need, and pay for the ills that are past with present good."
And when I got near the fire — it was a palace, with gates of copper burnished red, which, when the rising sun shone on them, gleamed and glittered a long way off and had looked to me like a fire.
I was glad at the sight, and sat down opposite the gate; but I was hardly settled in my seat before I was met by ten young men in sumptuous clothes, and every one of them blind in the left eye, which looked as though it had been plucked out. They had with them an old man, an old, old man; and I marvelled a great deal at the look of them, and at their all being blind in the same eye.
When they saw me they greeted me with the salutation of peace and asked me about my circumstances and my history; at which I told them everything that had happened to me and what a full measure of misfortune had been mine.
Marvelling at my tale, they took me into the mansion, where I saw ten couches ranged round the hall, each with its blue bedding and a coverlet of blue cloth; and in the middle stood a smaller couch furnished like the rest with blue and nothing else.
As we came in, each of the young men took his seat on his own couch, and the old man seated himself on the smaller one in the middle and said to me, "Young man, sit down on the floor, and do not ask about our situation or about the loss of our eyes."
Presently he got up and set some meat in a large dish and drink in a big bowl in front of each young man, and treated me the same way; and after that they sat questioning me about my adventures and what had happened to me, and I went on telling them my tale until the night was far gone.
Then the young men said, "Master, will you not set our usual thing before us? The time has come."
He replied, "With love and gladness," and got up and went into a closet and disappeared; but presently he came back carrying ten trays on his head, each covered with a strip of blue cloth. He set a tray in front of each young man, and lighting ten wax candles, stuck one on each tray, and drew off the covers — and underneath there was nothing but ashes and powdered charcoal and kettle soot.
Then all the young men tucked their sleeves up to the elbow and fell to weeping and wailing; and they blackened their faces and smeared their clothes and beat their brows and struck their breasts, exclaiming over and over, "We were sitting at our ease, and nothing but our own meddling brought us unease!"
They did not stop doing this until the dawn drew near, when the old man got up and heated water for them; and they washed their faces and put on other, clean clothes.
Now when I saw this, my lady, my senses left me for sheer wonderment and my wits went wild, and my heart and my head were so full of it that I forgot what had happened to me. And I could not keep quiet — I felt I simply had to speak out and ask them about these strange things; so I said to them:
"How is it you do this, after we have been so open-hearted and cheerful together? Thanks be to Allah, you are all sound and sane, and yet actions like these suit nobody but madmen, or people possessed by an evil spirit. I beg you, by everything dearest to you — why do you refuse to tell me your history, and the reason for losing your eyes and for blackening your faces with ashes and soot?"
At this they turned to me and said, "Young man, do not listen to the promptings of your youth, and ask us no questions."
Then they slept, and I with them; and when they woke the old man brought us something to eat; and after we had eaten and the plates and goblets had been taken away, they sat talking until nightfall, when the old man got up and lit the wax candles and the lamps and set food and drink in front of us.
After we had eaten and drunk we sat talking and drinking in good company until midnight, when they said to the old man, "Bring us our usual thing, for the hour of sleep is at hand."
So he got up and brought them the trays of soot and ashes; and they did as they had done the night before, no more and no less.
I stayed with them like this for a month, during which they blackened their faces with ashes every night and washed and changed their clothes when the morning was young; and I only marvelled the more, and my scruples and my curiosity grew to such a pitch that I had to give up even eating and drinking.
At last I lost command of myself, for my heart was aflame with a fire that could not be put out and a flame that could not be hidden, and I said, "Young men, will you not relieve my trouble and tell me the reason for blackening your faces like this, and the meaning of your words — we were sitting at our ease, and nothing but our own meddling brought us unease?"
They said, "It would be better to keep these things secret."
Still I was so bewildered by what they did that I stopped eating and drinking altogether; and at last, losing patience entirely, I said to them, "There is no help for it. You must tell me the reason for all this."
They replied, "We kept our secret only for your own good. Gratifying you will bring evil down on you, and you will become one-eyed, exactly as we are."
I repeated, "There is no help for it; and if you will not tell me, then let me leave you and go back to my own people and be spared the sight of these things. For the proverb says:
Better that you stay and I take my leave: for what the eye does not see, the heart will never grieve."
At this they said to me, "Remember, young man, that if harm comes to you we will not take you in again or let you stay among us." And bringing a ram, they slaughtered it and skinned it.
Last of all they gave me a knife, saying: "Take this skin and stretch yourself out on it, and we will sew it up around you. Presently there will come to you a certain bird called the roc, which will catch you up in its claws and tower high in the air and then set you down on a mountain. When you feel that it is no longer flying, rip the hide open with this blade and come out of it; the bird will be startled and will fly away and leave you free.
"After this, travel for half a day, and the march will bring you to a palace, wonderful to look at, towering high in the air and built of khalanj wood and aloes-wood and sandalwood, plated with red gold and studded with every kind of emerald and costly gem fit for a seal ring. Go into it and you will get what you want — for we have all gone into that palace; and that is the reason for our losing our eyes and for blackening our faces. If we were to tell you our stories now it would take far too long, for every one of us lost his left eye by an adventure of his own."
I was delighted at their words; and they did with me as they had said, and the bird, the roc, carried me off and set me down on the mountain. Then I came out of the skin and walked on until I reached the palace.
The door stood open as I came up, and I found myself in a spacious and handsome hall, exceedingly wide — as wide as a racecourse; and around it were a hundred rooms with doors of sandalwood and aloes-wood plated with red gold and fitted with silver rings for knockers.
At the upper end of the hall I saw forty girls, sumptuously dressed and ornamented, and every one of them as bright as the moon; nobody could ever tire of gazing at them, and they were all so lovely that the strictest hermit alive, on seeing them, would have become their slave and obeyed their will.
When they saw me the whole company came up to me and said, "Welcome, and well come, and good cheer to you, our lord! This whole month we have been expecting you. Praised be Allah, who has sent us someone worthy of us, as we are worthy of him."
Then they made me sit down on a high divan and said, "Today you are our lord and master, and we are your servants and your handmaids; so order us as you like."
And I marvelled at their situation.
Presently one of them got up and set food in front of me, and I ate and they ate with me; while others heated water and washed my hands and feet and changed my clothes, and others made sherbets ready and gave us to drink; and they all gathered round me, full of joy and gladness at my coming.
Then they sat down and talked with me until nightfall, when five of them got up and laid the trays and spread them with flowers and fragrant herbs and fruit, fresh and dried, and sweets in profusion. At last they brought out a fine wine service with rich old wine; and we sat down to drink, and some sang songs and others played the lute and the psaltery and the recorder and other instruments, and the bowl went merrily round.
At this such gladness took hold of me that I forgot every sorrow in the world, and said, "This is what life is; how sad that it passes!"
I enjoyed their company until the time came for rest, and our heads were all warm with wine, when they said, "Our lord, choose from among us the one who is to share your bed tonight, and who is not to lie with you again until forty days have gone by."
So I chose a girl with a lovely face and a perfect figure, her eyes edged with kohl by nature's own hand; hair long and jet black, teeth slightly parted and eyebrows meeting. She was like some limber, graceful young branch, or the slender stalk of sweet basil, made to amaze a man and bewilder his imagination — just as the poet said about such a woman:
To match her with a green bough would be useless; he is a fool who finds her beauties in the roe deer. When did the roe have those lively, lovely limbs, or honey-dew those lips of hers alone can give? Those eyes — those soul-piercing eyes, that kill with love, that bind their victim with the arrows that lay him low? They coaxed my heart back into a second childhood. No wonder: a love-sick man is a child again.
And I repeated to her the poet's words:
"No other charms but yours shall meet my eyes, no other image can take my heart by surprise. Your love, my lady, has captured all my thoughts, and on that love I shall die and shall rise again."
So I lay with her that night; I never knew a lovelier. And when it was morning the girls carried me off to the baths and bathed me and dressed me in the finest clothes. Then they served food, and we ate and drank and the cup went round until nightfall, when I chose from among them one lovely in form and face, soft-sided and a model of grace — the kind of woman the poet described when he said:
On her fair breast I saw two caskets, sealed fast with seals of musk to hold lovers off; her eyes stand guard over them with arrowy glances whose shafts would shoot whoever dared put out a hand.
With her I spent a very fine night. And, to be brief, my mistress, I stayed with them in all the comfort and delight of life, eating and drinking, talking and carousing, and every night lying with one or another of them.
But at the head of the new year they came to me in tears and said goodbye, weeping and crying out and clinging to me; at which I wondered, and said, "What can be the matter? Truly you are breaking my heart."
They exclaimed, "Would to Heaven we had never known you! For though we have kept company with a great many, we never saw a pleasanter man than you or a more courteous." And they wept again.
"But tell me more clearly," I asked, "what is causing this weeping, which is making my gall bladder ready to burst?"
And they answered, "Our lord and master, it is separation that makes us weep; and you, and only you, are the cause of our tears. If you will listen to us we need never be parted; and if you will not listen, we part for ever. But our hearts tell us that you will not listen to what we say, and that is the cause of our tears and our crying."
"Tell me how the matter stands."
"Know, our lord, that we are the daughters of kings, who have met here and lived together for years; and once every year we are obliged to be away for forty days; and afterwards we come back and stay here for the rest of the twelve months, eating and drinking and taking our pleasure and enjoying ourselves.
"We are about to go, according to our custom; and we are afraid that once we are gone you will go against our charge and disobey what we tell you. Now here we put into your hands the keys of the palace, which has forty rooms; and of these you may open thirty-nine — but beware, and we beg you by Allah and by our own lives, of opening the fortieth door, for behind it is the thing that will separate us for ever."
Said I, "I certainly will not open it, if it holds the cause of my being separated from you."
Then one of them came up to me and fell on my neck and wept and recited these lines:
"If Time brings us together after a while apart, the world will stop frowning harshly and smile on our lot; and if your face will condescend to adorn my eyes, I will pardon Time its past wrongs and its old deceits."
And I recited the following:
"When she drew near to say goodbye, with her heart unstrung, while care and longing wrung her breast that day, she wept wet pearls, and mine rolled down like red carnelians, and joined in a sad necklace, they hung about her throat."
When I saw her weeping I said, "By Allah, I will never open that fortieth door — never, and in no way at all." And I said goodbye to her.
At which they all departed, flying away like birds, signalling their farewells with their hands as they went, and leaving me alone in the palace.
When evening drew near I opened the door of the first room, and going in, found myself in a place like one of the pleasure gardens of Paradise. It was a garden with trees of the freshest green and ripe fruit of a yellow sheen; and its birds were singing clear and keen, and rills ran winding through the fair terrain.
The sight and the sounds brought comfort to my spirit; and I walked among the trees and smelt the breath of the flowers on the breeze, and heard the little birds singing their melodies, hymning the One, the Almighty, in the sweetest litanies. And I looked at the apple, whose colour is part red and part yellow, as the poet says:
Apple, whose colour joins in a mellow union my beloved's red cheek and her luckless lover's yellow one.
Then I looked at the quince, and breathed in its fragrance, which puts musk and ambergris to shame, as the poet has said:
The quince joins every taste in one; in her are found the gifts that have crowned the quince queen of the fruits. Her taste is wine, her scent the waft of musk; her colour pure gold, and her shape the moon's fair round.
Then I looked at the pear, whose taste surpasses sherbet and sugar; and at the apricot, whose beauty strikes the eye with admiration, as though she were a polished ruby.
Then I went out of the place and locked the door as it had been before.
Next day I opened the second door; and going in, I found myself on a spacious plain set with tall date palms and watered by a running stream, whose banks were bushed with rose and jasmine, while privet and sweet briar, ox-eye, violet and lily, narcissus, marjoram and the winter gillyflower carpeted the borders. And the breath of the breeze swept over all these sweet-smelling growths, spreading their delicious scents right and left, perfuming the world and filling my soul with delight.
After enjoying myself there a while I went out and, having shut the door as it had been before, opened the third door — where I saw a high open hall inlaid with parti-coloured marbles and costly stonework and other precious stones, and hung with cages of sandalwood and eagle-wood, full of birds making sweet music: the thousand-voiced nightingale, and the wood pigeon, the blackbird, the turtle dove and the Nubian ring dove.
My heart was filled with pleasure at it; my grief was driven off, and I slept in that aviary until dawn.
Then I unlocked the door of the fourth room, and inside found a grand saloon with forty smaller chambers opening off it. All their doors stood open; so I went in, and found them full of pearls and jacinths and beryls and emeralds and corals and carbuncles, and every kind of precious gem and jewel that the tongue of man cannot describe.
My thoughts were stunned at the sight, and I said to myself, "These, I think, are things gathered together that could not be found except in the treasuries of a King of Kings; nor could all the monarchs of the world have collected the like of them."
And my heart swelled and my sorrows stopped. "For," said I, "now truly I am the monarch of the age, since by Allah's grace all this enormous wealth is mine; and I have forty girls under my hand, and there is nobody to claim them but myself."
Then I did not leave off opening one place after another until thirty-nine days had gone by, and in that time I had gone into every room except the one whose door the princesses had charged me not to open.
But my thoughts, my mistress, ran always on that forbidden fortieth, and Satan urged me to open it for my own undoing; and I had not the patience to hold back, although there was only a single day left before they were due.
So I stood in front of that room and, after a moment's hesitation, opened the door, which was plated with red gold, and went in.
I was met by a perfume the like of which I had never smelt before; and the scent was so sharp and so subtle that it made my senses drunk as with strong wine, and I fell to the ground in a fainting fit that lasted a full hour.
When I came to myself I put strength into my heart and, going in, found myself in a chamber whose floor was strewn with saffron and blazing with light from branched candelabra of gold and lamps fed with costly oils, which gave off the scent of musk and ambergris. I saw there two great censers as well, each as big as a drinking bowl, flaming with aloes-wood, nadd perfume, ambergris and honeyed scents; and the place was full of their fragrance.
Presently, my lady, I caught sight of a noble horse, black as the murk of the murkiest night, standing ready saddled and bridled — and his saddle was of red gold — in front of two mangers, one of clear crystal holding husked sesame, and the other also of crystal holding rose water scented with musk.
When I saw this I marvelled, and said to myself, "There must certainly be some wonderful mystery in this animal." And Satan tricked me; so I led him out of the palace and mounted him — but he would not stir from the spot.
So I hammered his sides with my heels, and he did not move; and then I took the rein-whip and struck him with it. And when he felt the blow he neighed a neigh with a sound like deafening thunder, and opening a pair of wings, flew up with me into the sky, far beyond the reach of any man's eyesight.
After a full hour of flight he came down and landed on a terrace roof; and shaking me off his back, he lashed me across the face with his tail and gouged out my left eye, so that it rolled down my cheek. Then he flew away.
I came down from the terrace and found myself among the ten one-eyed young men again, sitting on their ten couches with the blue covers; and they cried out when they saw me, "No welcome to you, and nothing of good cheer! We all lived the happiest of lives, and ate and drank of the best; we took our rest on brocades and cloth of gold and slept with our heads on beauty's breast — and we could not wait one day to gain the delights of a whole year."
Said I, "Look — I have become one like you; and now I want you to bring me a tray full of blackness, so that I can blacken my face and be received into your society."
"No, by Allah," they said. "You shall not stay with us. Now get out."
So they drove me away. And finding them reject me like that, I foresaw that things would go hard with me; and I remembered all the miseries that Destiny had written on my forehead, and I went out from among them heavy-hearted and with tears in my eyes, repeating to myself the words, "I was sitting at my ease, and nothing but my own meddling brought me unease."
Then I shaved my beard and my moustaches and my eyebrows, renouncing the world, and wandered about Allah's earth in a kalandar's clothes; and the Almighty decreed safety for me until I reached Baghdad, which was on the evening of this very night.
Here I met these other two kalandars standing about at a loss; so I greeted them, saying, "I am a stranger!" and they answered, "And we are strangers too!" By the freak of Fortune we were like to like — three kalandars and three one-eyed men, all blind in the left eye.
Such, my lady, is the reason for the shearing of my beard, and that is how I lost an eye.
Said the lady to him, "Rub your head and be on your way."
But he answered, "By Allah, I will not go until I have heard the stories of these others."
Then the lady turned to the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur and said, "You men — give an account of yourselves as well."
At which Ja'afar stood forward and told her what he had told the doorkeeper as they were coming into the house; and when she heard his story of their being merchants and Mosul men who had outrun the watch, she said, "I grant you your lives, each for the other's sake. And now away with you, all of you."
So they all went out; and when they were in the street the Caliph said to the kalandars, "Where are you going now, my friends, seeing that the morning has not yet dawned?"
They said, "By Allah, our lord, we do not know where to go."
"Come and spend the rest of the night with us," said the Caliph. And turning to Ja'afar, "Take them home with you, and tomorrow bring them into my presence, so that we can put their adventures on record."
Ja'afar did as the Caliph ordered him, and the Commander of the Faithful went back to his palace; but sleep gave no sign of visiting him that night, and he lay awake turning over the misfortunes of the three kalandar princes and impatient to know the history of the ladies and the two black bitches.
No sooner had morning dawned than he went out and sat on the throne of his sovereignty; and turning to Ja'afar, after all his grandees and officers of state had assembled, he said, "Bring me the three ladies and the two bitches and the three kalandars."
So Ja'afar went out and brought them all before him — the ladies veiled. Then the minister turned to them and said in the Caliph's name:
"We pardon you for your ill treatment of us and your lack of courtesy, in consideration of the kindness that went before it, and because you did not know who we were. However, I would have you know now that you are standing in the presence of the fifth of the sons of Abbas — Harun al-Rashid, brother of the Caliph Musa al-Hadi, son of Al-Mansur, son of Mohammed the brother of Al-Saffah son of Mohammed, who was the first of the royal house. So speak before him the truth, and the whole truth."
When the ladies heard Ja'afar's words about the Commander of the Faithful, the eldest came forward and said, "O Commander of the Faithful, my story is one which, if it were engraved with needles on the inner corners of the eye, would be a warning to anyone willing to take warning, and an example to anyone who can profit by an example":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Seventeenth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that she stood forward before the Commander of the Faithful and began to tell
Truly my tale is a strange one, and it is this.
Those two black bitches are my eldest sisters, by the same mother and father; and these two others — the one who carries the marks of the whip on her, and the third, our caterer — are my sisters by another mother.
When my father died, each of us took her share of the inheritance; and after a while my mother died too, leaving me and my full sisters three thousand dinars, so that each daughter received a thousand, and I the same, although I was the youngest.
In due course my sisters married with the usual festivities and went to live with their husbands, who bought merchandise with their wives' money and set out travelling together. And so they threw me off.
My brothers-in-law were away with their wives five years, in which time they spent all the money they had; and going bankrupt, they abandoned my sisters in foreign parts among strangers.
After five years my eldest sister came back to me in beggar's clothes, her dress in rags and tatters and a dirty old cloak over it; and truly she was in the foulest and sorriest state. At first sight I did not know my own sister; but presently I recognised her and said, "What state is this?"
"Sister," she answered, "words cannot undo what is done; and the pen of Destiny has run through what Allah decreed."
Then I sent her to the baths and dressed her in a suit of my own, and boiled her a broth and brought her some good wine, and said to her:
"Sister, you are the eldest, and you still stand to us in the place of father and mother. And as for the inheritance that came to me as it did to you two, Allah has blessed it and prospered it and made it grow; and my circumstances are comfortable, for I have made a good deal of money spinning and cleaning silk. You and I will share what I have equally."
I treated her with every kindness, and she stayed with me a whole year, during which our thoughts and our imaginations were always on our other sister.
Not long afterwards she came home too, in an even fouler and sorrier state than the eldest; and I dealt with her still more generously than I had with the first, and each of them had her share of what I had.
After a time they said to me, "Sister, we want to marry again; truly we have not the patience to drag out our days without husbands and live the lives of widows under a spell."
And I replied, "My dears! You have seen precious little good in marriage so far; these days good men and true have become rarities and curiosities. And I do not think your plans are advisable, since you have already tried matrimony and it failed."
But they would not take my advice, and married without my consent — although I gave them their outfits and their dowries out of my own money; and off they went with their husbands.
In a very little while their husbands played them false and, taking whatever they could lay hands on, absconded and left them in the lurch. At which they came to me ashamed and in an abject state, and made their excuses, saying:
"Pardon our fault and do not be angry with us; for though you are younger in years, you are older in sense. From now on we will never mention marriage again; so take us back as your servants, so that we may have a mouthful to eat."
Said I, "Welcome to you, sisters; there is nothing dearer to me than you." And I took them in and redoubled my kindness to them.
We went on living in this loving way for a full year, when I decided to sell my goods abroad, and first of all to fit out a passage to Basra. So I equipped a large ship and loaded her with merchandise and valuable goods for trading, and with provisions and everything needed for a voyage, and said to my sisters, "Will you stay at home while I travel, or would you rather come with me on the voyage?"
"We will travel with you," they answered, "for we cannot bear to be parted from you."
So I divided my money into two parts, one to come with me and the other to be left with a trustworthy person — for, as I said to myself, "Some accident may happen to the ship and we still be alive; in which case we shall find something on our return to stand us in good stead."
I took my two sisters and we voyaged some days and nights; but the master was careless enough to lose his course, and the ship went astray with us and entered a sea other than the sea we were making for.
For a time we knew nothing about it; and the wind blew fair for us ten days, after which the lookout man went aloft to look about him and cried, "Good news!" Then he came down rejoicing and said, "I have seen what seems to be a city, no bigger than a pigeon."
At this we were delighted; and before an hour of the day had gone by the buildings showed plain in the offing, and we asked the captain, "What is the name of that city?"
And he answered, "By Allah I do not know, for I never saw it before and never sailed these seas in my life. But since our troubles have ended safely, all that remains is for you to land there with your merchandise; and if you find selling profitable, then sell and make your market of what is there; and if not, we will rest two days and provision ourselves and go on."
So we entered the port, and the captain went up into the town and was gone a while, after which he came back to us and said, "Get up; go up into the city and marvel at the works of Allah with His creatures, and pray to be preserved from His righteous anger."
So we landed, and going up into the city, saw at the gate men holding staves in their hands; but when we came close to them, they had been transformed by the anger of Allah and had become stone.
Then we went into the city and found everyone who lived there turned into black stone. Not one inhabited house was to be seen by anybody looking for one, and there was not a soul blowing up a fire.
We were awestruck at the sight, and threaded through the market streets, where we found the goods and the gold and the silver left lying where they were; and we were glad, and said, "There must be some mystery in all this."
Then we scattered about the thoroughfares, and every one of us busied himself with collecting the wealth and the money and the rich stuffs, taking very little notice of friend or companion.
As for me, I went up to the castle, which was strongly fortified; and going into the King's palace by its gate of red gold, found all the plate of gold and silver, and the King himself seated in the middle of his chamberlains and governors and emirs and viziers, all dressed in clothing that confounded the art of man.
I came nearer and saw him sitting on a throne encrusted and inlaid with pearls and gems; and his robes were of cloth of gold decorated with jewels of every kind, each one flashing like a star. Around him stood fifty Mamluks, white slaves, dressed in silks of various sorts and holding their drawn swords in their hands — but when I came close to them, every one of them was black stone.
My understanding was confounded at the sight; but I walked on and came into the great hall of the harem, whose walls I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped silk and spread with silk carpets embroidered with flowers of gold.
Here I saw the Queen lying at full length, dressed in robes edged with fresh young pearls; on her head was a diadem set with all sorts of gems, each one fit for a ring, and round her neck hung collars and necklaces. All her clothing and her ornaments were in their natural state, but she had been turned to black stone by Allah's anger.
Presently I noticed an open door and made straight for it, and found a flight of seven steps leading up to it. So I walked up and came upon a place floored with marble and spread and hung with gold-worked carpets and tapestries, in the middle of which stood a throne of juniper wood inlaid with pearls and precious stones and set with bosses of emerald.
In the far wall was an alcove whose curtains, strung with pearls, were let down; and I saw a light coming out of it. So I went nearer, and saw that the light came from a precious stone as big as an ostrich egg, set at the upper end of the alcove on a little couch of gold and ivory; and this jewel, blazing like the sun, cast its rays far and wide. The couch too was spread with every kind of silk, amazing anyone who looked at it with their richness and their beauty.
I marvelled a great deal at all this, and most of all at seeing candles there ready lit; and I said in my mind, "Somebody must have lit these candles."
Then I went out and came to the kitchen, and from there to the pantry and the King's treasure chambers; and I went on exploring the palace and walking from place to place. I forgot myself in my awe and wonder at all this, and I was drowned in thought until the night came on.
Then I would have gone out; but not knowing where the gate was, I lost my way. So I went back to the alcove, where the lit candles guided me, and sat down on the couch; and wrapping myself in a coverlet, after repeating something from the Koran, I would have slept — but I could not, for restlessness had hold of me.
When night was at its middle I heard a voice chanting the Koran in the sweetest tones; but the sound of it was weak. So I got up, glad to hear the silence broken, and followed the sound until I came to a small room whose door stood ajar.
Then, peeping through a chink, I looked at the place — and it was a place of prayer, with a prayer niche and two wax candles burning and lamps hanging from the ceiling. And in it a prayer carpet was spread, on which a young man was sitting, fair to look at; and in front of him on its stand was a copy of the Koran, which he was reading from.
I marvelled to see him alive, alone among all the people of the city; and going in, I greeted him, at which he raised his eyes and returned my greeting.
Said I, "Now by the truth of what you are reading in Allah's Holy Book, I beg you to answer my question."
He looked at me with a smile and said, "Handmaid of Allah, first tell me why you have come here, and I in my turn will tell you what has happened to me and to the people of this city, and why I escaped their doom."
So I told him my story, at which he wondered; and I questioned him about the people of the city, and he replied, "Have patience with me a moment, sister." And reverently closing the Holy Book, he laid it up in a satin bag.
Then he sat me down at his side; and I looked at him — and he was like the moon at the full, fair of face and rare of form, soft-sided and slight, of well-proportioned height, and with a cheek smoothly bright and giving off light; in short a sweet thing, a sugar stick — just as the poet says of somebody like him:
That night the astrologer drew a scheme of the planets, and there appeared in view a graceful shape of a young man. Saturn had stained his hair with the most saturnine jet and blown spots of nut-brown musk on the rose of his cheek; Mars tinctured both cheeks with the tincture of martial red; Sagittarius shot arrows out of his eyelids; Mercury endowed him with a bright mercurial wit; and the Bear carried off whatever ill men's glances grew. The star-lover stood amazed to see this marvel born when the Moon at the full bowed low to kiss the Earth.
And truly Allah the Most High had robed him in the raiment of perfect grace, and had edged it and fringed it with a cheek all beauty and loveliness — just as the poet says of such a man:
By his eyelids shedding perfume and his fine slim waist I swear, by the shooting of his arrows barbed with rare sorcery; by the softness of his sides, and the lingering light of his glances, and his brow of dazzling daylight with the night inside his hair; by his eyebrows, which deny all rest to whoever looks at them, now bidding, now forbidding, always dealing joy and care; by the rose that decks his cheek and the myrtle of its down, by the jacinths bedded in his lips and the pearls his smile lays bare; by his gracefully bending neck and the curving of his breast, whose polished surface carries that lovely pair of pomegranates; by his heavy hips that quiver as he passes in his pride, or as he rests on that waist that is slim beyond compare; by the satin of his skin, by that fine unsullied spirit; by the beauty in him that contains everything bright and debonair; by that ever-open hand, by the candour of his tongue; by noble blood and high degree, of which he is the hope and heir — musk borrows its muskiness from him and loves to breathe it out, and all the airs of ambergris perfume the air through him. The sun, I think — the broad bright sun — would go pale beside my love, and without his splendour would look like a paring of his nail.
I glanced at him with one glance of the eyes that cost me a thousand sighs, and my heart was taken captive that instant; so I asked him, "My lord and my love, tell me what I asked you."
And he answered, "To hear is to obey. Know, handmaid of Allah, that this city was my father's capital; and my father is the King you saw on the throne, transformed by Allah's anger into black stone; and the Queen you found in the alcove is my mother.
"They and all the people of the city were Magians who worshipped fire instead of the Omnipotent Lord, and used to swear by flame and heat, by shade and light, and by the spheres revolving day and night.
"My father had no son until he was blessed with me near the end of his days; and he brought me up, and I grew, and prosperity ran ahead of me in everything.
"Now it happened that there was with us an old woman well on in years, a Muslim who, believing inwardly in Allah and His Apostle, outwardly conformed to the religion of my people. And my father trusted her completely, because he knew her to be trustworthy and virtuous, and he treated her with more and more kindness, believing her to be of his own faith.
"So when I was nearly grown up my father put me in her charge, saying: take him and educate him and teach him the rules of our faith; give him the best instruction, and do not leave off your fostering care of him.
"So she took me and taught me the tenets of Islam, with the divine ordinances of the ritual washing and the five daily prayers; and she made me learn the Koran by heart, saying over and over: serve nobody but Allah Almighty.
"When I had mastered this much she said to me: my son, keep this matter hidden from your father, and reveal nothing to him, or he will kill you. So I hid it from him.
"I lived like this for a while, until the old woman died; and the people of the city redoubled in their impiety and their arrogance and their error.
"One day, while they were going on as usual, they heard a loud and terrible sound, and a crier crying out with a voice like rolling thunder, so that every ear could hear it, far and near: 'People of this city, leave off your fire-worshipping and worship Allah, the All-compassionate King!'
"At this, fear and terror fell on the citizens, and they crowded to my father, he being King of the city, and asked him, 'What is this awful voice we have heard? It has confounded us with the excess of its terror.'
"And he answered, 'Do not let a voice frighten you or shake your steadfast spirit or turn you back from the faith that is right.'
"Their hearts inclined to what he said, and they did not stop worshipping the fire; and they persisted in their rebellion for a full year from the time they heard the first voice. And on the anniversary came a second cry, and a third at the head of the third year, each year once.
"Still they persisted in their evil practices, until one day at daybreak judgement and the anger of Heaven came down on them all of a sudden; and by the visitation of Allah they were all turned into black stones — they and their beasts and their cattle — and nobody was saved except me, who at that hour was busy at my devotions.
"From that day to this I have been in the state you see, constant in prayer and fasting and reading and reciting the Koran; but I have truly grown weary of my loneliness, with nobody to keep me company."
Then said I to him — for in very truth he had won my heart and was the lord of my life and my soul:
"Young man, will you come with me to the city of Baghdad, and visit the learned men and the men skilled in the law and the doctors of divinity, and get yourself an increase of wisdom and understanding and theology? And know that the woman standing in front of you will be your servant, although she is the head of her family and mistress over men and eunuchs and servants and slaves. Truly my life was no life before it met with your youth. I have a ship here loaded with merchandise; and in very truth Destiny drove me to this city so that I should come to know all this, for it was fated that we should meet."
And I did not stop persuading him and speaking him fair and using every art until he consented:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Eighteenth Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the lady did not stop persuading the young man with soft speech to go away with her until he consented and said yes. She slept that night lying at his feet, hardly knowing where she was for the excess of her joy.
As soon as the next morning dawned (she went on, addressing the Caliph), I got up, and we went into the treasuries and took from them whatever was light in weight and great in worth; and then we went down side by side from the castle into the city, where we were met by the captain and my sisters and the slaves, who had been looking for me.
When they saw me they were delighted, and asked what had kept me; and I told them everything I had seen, and told them the story of the young prince and the transformation that had justly come on the citizens. At which they all marvelled — but when my two sisters (these two bitches, Commander of the Faithful!) saw me at the side of my young lover, they grew jealous of me on his account and were angry, and plotted mischief against me.
We waited for a fair wind and went on board rejoicing, and ready to fly for joy at the goods we had got; but my own greatest joy was in the young man. And we waited a while until the wind blew fair for us, and then we set sail and went on our way.
Now as we sat talking, my sisters asked me, "And what will you do with this handsome young man?"
And I answered, "I mean to make him my husband." Then I turned to him and said, "My lord, I have something to propose to you in which you must not cross me; and it is this: that when we reach Baghdad, my native city, I offer you my life as your servant in holy matrimony, and you shall be my husband and I will be your wife."
He answered, "I hear and I obey. You are my lady and my mistress, and whatever you do I will not gainsay."
Then I turned to my sisters and said, "This is my gain; I am content with this young man, and those who have got any of my property, let them keep it as their gain with my goodwill."
"You speak and do well," the two of them answered; but they were imagining mischief against me.
We sailed on before a fair wind until we had exchanged the sea of peril for the seas of safety; and in a few days we made the city of Basra, whose buildings loomed clear in front of us as the evening fell.
But after we had gone to bed and were sound asleep, my two sisters got up and picked me up, bed and all, and threw me into the sea. They did the same to the young prince, who, being unable to swim, sank and was drowned; and Allah enrolled him in the noble army of Martyrs.
As for me — would to Heaven I had drowned with him; but Allah judged that I should be one of the saved. So when I woke and found myself in the sea, and saw the ship making off like a flash of lightning, He threw a piece of timber in my way, which I got astride of; and the waves tossed me to and fro until they cast me up on the coast of an island, a high land and an uninhabited one.
I landed and walked about the island the rest of the night; and when the morning dawned I saw a rough track, barely fit for a child of Adam to walk on, leading to what turned out to be a shallow ford joining the island to the mainland.
As soon as the sun had risen I spread my clothes out to dry in it, and ate some of the island's fruit and drank its water; then I set out along the footpath, and did not stop walking until I reached the mainland.
Now when there was only a two hours' journey left between me and the city, a great serpent, as big round as a date palm, came fleeing towards me in a tremendous hurry, gliding along now to the right and now to the left until she was close on me, her tongue lolling a span long towards the ground and sweeping the dust as she went.
She was being pursued by a dragon no longer than two lances, of slender build, about as thick as a spear; and although her terror lent her speed and she kept wriggling from side to side, he overtook her and seized her by the tail — at which her tears streamed down and her tongue was thrust out in her agony.
I took pity on her; and picking up a stone and calling on Allah for help, I threw it at the dragon's head with such force that he died then and there. And the serpent opened a pair of wings and flew up into the sky and disappeared from in front of my eyes.
I sat down marvelling at this adventure; but I was tired, and drowsiness came over me, and I slept where I was for a while.
When I woke I found a jet-black girl sitting at my feet massaging them; and by her side stood two black bitches — my sisters, Commander of the Faithful!
I was embarrassed in front of her; and sitting up, I asked her, "Sister, who and what are you?"
And she answered, "How quickly you have forgotten me! I am the one you did a good turn for and sowed the seed of gratitude in, and killed her enemy; for I am the serpent whom by Allah's aid you delivered just now from the dragon.
"I am a jinniyah, and he was a jinni who hated me, and nobody saved my life from him but you. As soon as you freed me from him I flew on the wind to the ship your sisters threw you from, and moved everything in it to your house. Then I ordered my attendant marids to sink the ship, and I transformed your two sisters into these black bitches — for I know everything that has passed between them and you. But as for the young man, the truth is that he is drowned."
So saying, she flew up with me and the bitches, and presently set us down on the terrace roof of my house, where I found the whole of the property that had been in my ship already stored, with nothing missing.
"Now," the serpent that was went on, "I swear by everything engraved on the seal ring of Solomon, on whom be peace: unless you give each of these bitches three hundred stripes every day, I will come and imprison you for ever under the earth."
I answered, "Hearing and obedience!" And away she flew. But before going she charged me again, saying, "I swear again by Him who made the two seas flow — and let this be my second oath — that if you disobey me I will come and transform you as I have your sisters."
Since then I have never once failed, Commander of the Faithful, to beat them with that number of blows, until their blood flows along with my tears — and I pitying them all the while. And they know perfectly well that their being scourged is no fault of mine, and they accept my excuses.
And this is my tale and my history.
The Caliph marvelled at her adventures, and then signed to Ja'afar, who said to the second lady, the doorkeeper, "And you — how did you come by the welts and the weals on your body?"
So she began the
Know, Commander of the Faithful, that I had a father who, when his time was up, died and left me a great store of wealth. I stayed single a short while and then married one of the richest men of his day. I lived with him a year, when he died too; and my share of his property came to eighty thousand gold dinars, according to the holy law of inheritance.
So I became extremely rich, and my reputation spread far and wide, for I had ten changes of clothing made for me, each one worth a thousand dinars.
One day, as I was sitting at home, in came an old woman with a lantern jaw and sunken cheeks, and eyes puckered up, and eyebrows scant and scabby, and a head bare and bald; teeth broken by time and mauled, back bending and neck-nape nodding, face blotched, nose running, hair speckled black and white like a snake, and in complexion a perfect fright — just as the poet says of such a woman:
Ill-omened hag! May her sins never be shriven nor mercy visit her on her dying bed. Her wiles could lead a thousand of the strongest mules, bolt as they might, on a thread of spider silk.
And as another says:
A hag to whom the unlawful is the most lawful thing there is, and witchcraft has grown into wisdom in her sight. A mischief-making brat, a demon girl, a whorish woman and a pimping crone.
When the old woman came in she greeted me and kissed the ground before me and said:
"I have an orphan daughter at home, and tonight is her wedding and her displaying. We are poor folk and strangers in this city, and we know nobody who lives here, and we are broken-hearted. So earn yourself a reward and a recompense in Heaven by being present at her displaying; and when the ladies of this city hear that you are going to put in an appearance, they will come too. And so you will comfort her affliction, for she is badly bruised in spirit and has nobody to look to but Allah the Most High."
Then she wept and kissed my feet, reciting these lines:
"Your presence brings a grace on us that we acknowledge before your winsome face; and if you were absent there is not one who could stand in your stead or take your place."
So pity and compassion took hold of me, and I said, "To hear is to consent; and please Allah I will do more than that for her, and she shall not be shown to her bridegroom except in my own clothes and ornaments and jewellery."
At this the old woman rejoiced and bowed her head to my feet and kissed them, saying, "Allah repay you with good and comfort your heart as you have comforted mine! But, my lady, do not trouble yourself to do me this service now; be ready by supper time, and I will come and fetch you."
And saying that, she kissed my hand and went her way.
I set about stringing my pearls and putting on my brocades and doing my face, little reckoning what Fortune had in her womb for me — when suddenly the old woman stood in front of me, simpering and smiling until she showed every tooth stump, and said, "My mistress, the city ladies have arrived; and when I told them you had promised to be present, they were delighted, and they are waiting for you now and looking eagerly for your coming and for the honour of meeting you."
So I threw on my cloak, and making the old crone walk in front of me and my maids behind me, I went on until we came to a street well watered and swept neat, where the winnowing breeze blew cool and sweet.
Here we were stopped by a gate arched over with a dome of marble, firmly seated on the solidest foundation, and leading to a palace whose walls rose tall and proud from the ground and whose pinnacle was crowned by the clouds. And over the doorway these lines were written:
I am the house where Mirth shall always smile, the home of Joy for as long as I last. And in my courtyard a fountain jets and flows that neither tears nor troubles shall defile. Its margin is decked with the royal anemone, with myrtle, and narcissus flower, and camomile.
Arriving at the gate, which had a black curtain hanging in front of it, the old woman knocked, and it was opened to us; and we went in and found a hallway spread with carpets and hung all round with lamps, all of them lit, and wax candles in candelabra decorated with pendants of precious gems and noble metals.
We passed on through this passage until we came into a great room whose like for grandeur and beauty is not to be found in this world. It was hung and carpeted with silks, and lit with branched sconces and tapers ranged in a double row — an avenue running up to the upper and noble end of the room, where stood a couch of juniper wood encrusted with pearls and gems and topped by a canopy with mosquito curtains of satin looped up with pearls.
And we had hardly taken all this in when there came out from under the canopy a young lady — and I looked, Commander of the Faithful, on a face and a figure more perfect than the moon at its fullest, with a countenance brighter than the dawn and gleaming with saffron-coloured light, exactly as the poet sang when he said:
You pace the palace, a marvel to see, a bride fit for a Chosroes or a Caesar. The rose plays wanton on your rosy cheek, O cheek as bright as dragon's blood! Slim-waisted, languorous, sleepy-eyed, with charms that promise every delight of love. And the head-dress that dresses your crowned brow is a night of grief laid over a glad morning's light.
The lovely young girl came down from the dais and said to me, "Welcome, and well come, and good cheer to my sister, the dearly beloved, the illustrious — and a thousand greetings!" And then she recited these lines:
"If the house could only know who is coming it would rejoice and would kiss the very dust your foot has stood on; and with the tongue of circumstance the walls would say, Welcome and hail to one graced with generous gifts!"
Then she sat down and said to me, "Sister, I have a brother who has caught sight of you at various wedding feasts and festivals. He is a young man handsomer than I am, and he has fallen desperately in love with you, because generous Destiny has gathered up all beauty and perfection in you; and he has given money to this old woman so that she might visit you, and she has contrived in this way to bring the two of us together.
"He has heard that you are one of the notables of your family, and he is nothing less in his; and being anxious to join his lot to yours, he has practised this device to bring me into your company. For he is eager to marry you according to the ordinance of Allah and His Apostle; and in what is lawful and right there is no shame."
When I heard this, and saw myself fairly trapped in the house, I said, "To hear is to consent."
She was delighted and clapped her hands; at which a door opened and out came a young man in the flower of his youth, exquisitely dressed, a model of beauty and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace, with gentle winning manners, and eyebrows like a bent bow with the arrow on the string, and eyes that bewitched every heart with a sorcery that is lawful in the sight of the Lord — as some rhymer says, describing his like:
His face shines like the face of the young moon and Fortune stamps him with pearls for signs.
And Allah favour the man who said:
Blessed be his beauty; blessed the Lord's decree who cast and shaped a thing of such brightness. He joins all the gifts of beauty into one; all humanity is lost in loving him; for Beauty herself has written on his forehead, "I testify that there is no Good but he."
When I looked at him my heart inclined to him and I loved him; and he sat down at my side and talked with me a while, when the young lady clapped her hands again — and a side door opened, and out came the judge with his four assessors as witnesses; and they greeted us and sat down and drew up and wrote out the marriage contract between me and the young man, and withdrew.
Then he turned to me and said, "May our night be blessed"; and presently added, "My lady, I have a condition to lay on you."
Said I, "My lord, what is that?"
At which he got up and fetched a copy of the Holy Book and handed it to me, saying, "Swear on this that you will never look at any man but me, and never incline your body or your heart to another."
I swore to it readily enough, and he was overjoyed and put his arms round my neck, while love for him took possession of my whole heart.
Then they set the table in front of us, and we ate and drank until we were satisfied; but I was dying for the night to come. And when night did come he led me to the bridal chamber and slept with me on the bed, and went on kissing and holding me till the morning — such a night as I had never seen even in my dreams.
I lived with him a life of happiness and delight for a full month, at the end of which I asked his leave to go on foot to the market and buy myself certain particular stuffs; and he gave me permission.
So I put on my cloak, and taking with me the old woman and a slave girl, went to the silk merchants' hall, where I sat down in the shop front of a young merchant whom the old woman recommended, saying to me:
"This young man's father died when he was a boy and left him a great store of wealth. He has a very fine stock of goods by him, and you will find what you are looking for with him, for nobody in the market has better stuffs than he has."
Then she said to him, "Show this lady the most costly stuffs you have"; and he replied, "Hearing and obedience!"
Then she whispered to me, "Say a civil word to him." But I replied, "I am pledged to speak to no man except my husband." And as she started sounding his praises I said sharply to her, "We want none of your sweet speeches; what we want is to buy whatever we need from him and go home."
So he brought me everything I was looking for and I offered him his money; but he refused to take it, saying, "Let it be a gift offered to my guest today."
Then I said to the old woman, "If he will not take the money, give him back his stuff."
"By Allah," he cried, "I will take nothing from you. I do not sell it for gold or for silver; I give the whole lot as a gift, for a single kiss — a kiss more precious to me than everything in this shop."
The old woman asked, "And what will the kiss profit you?" And turning to me, she whispered, "Daughter, you hear what this young fellow says. What harm will it do you if he gets a kiss from you and you get what you were looking for at that price?"
I replied, "I take refuge with Allah from any such thing! Do you not know that I am bound by an oath?"
But she answered, "Now hush! Just let him kiss you, and neither speak to him nor lean over him; so you will keep your oath and your silver, and no harm at all will come to you."
And she did not stop persuading me and pressing me and making light of the matter, until evil got into my mind; and I put my head in the sack and, declaring I would never consent, consented.
So I veiled my eyes and held up the edge of my cloak between me and the people going past, and he put his mouth to my cheek under the veil. But while he was kissing me he bit me — so hard a bite that it tore the flesh off my cheek, and the blood ran fast, and I fainted.
The old woman caught me in her arms; and when I came round I found the shop shut up and her grieving over me and saying, "Thank Allah for averting what might have been worse."
Then she said to me, "Come, take heart, and let us go home before the matter becomes public and you are dishonoured. And when you are safe inside the house, pretend to be ill and lie down and cover yourself up; and I will bring you powders and plasters to cure this bite with, and your wound will be healed in three days at the most."
So after a while I got up, in extreme distress and with terror full upon me; but I went on little by little until I reached the house, when I pleaded illness and lay down.
When it was night my husband came in to me and said, "What has happened to you, my darling, on this excursion of yours?"
And I replied, "I am not well; my head is aching badly."
Then he lit a candle and came close to me and looked hard at me and asked, "What is that wound I see on your cheek — and in the tenderest part of it too?"
And I answered, "When I went out today with your permission to buy stuffs, a camel loaded with firewood jostled me, and one of the pieces tore my veil and wounded my cheek as you see; for the streets of this city are truly narrow."
"Tomorrow," he cried, "I will go and complain to the Governor, and he shall hang every firewood seller in Baghdad."
"In Allah's name," I said, "do not burden your soul with such a sin against any man. The fact is that I was riding on a donkey and it stumbled and threw me to the ground, and my cheek landed on a stick or a piece of glass and got this wound."
"Then," said he, "tomorrow I will go up to Ja'afar the Barmecide and tell him the story, and he shall kill every donkey boy in Baghdad."
"Would you destroy all these men because of my wound," I said, "when what happened to me was by the decree of Allah and His destiny?"
But he answered, "There is no help for it." And springing to his feet, he plied me with words and pressed me until I was confused and frightened; and I stuttered and stammered and my speech grew thick, and I said, "This is a mere accident, by the decree of Allah."
Then, Commander of the Faithful, he guessed my case, and said, "You have been false to your oath."
He cried out at once with a loud cry, at which a door opened and in came seven Black slaves, whom he ordered to drag me from my bed and throw me down in the middle of the room. Then he ordered one of them to pinion my elbows and squat on my head; and a second to sit on my knees and hold my feet; and drawing his sword, he gave it to a third and said:
"Strike her, Sa'ad, and cut her in two, and let each of you take half and throw it into the Tigris for the fish to eat. For that is the retribution due to those who violate their vows and are unfaithful to their love."
And he redoubled in fury, and recited these lines:
"If there were somebody who shared her love with me, I would strangle Love, though my life were killed by Love, saying, O Soul, Death would be the nobler choice, for Love is a bad thing when shared between two partners."
Then he repeated to the slave, "Strike her, Sa'ad!"
And when the slave who was sitting on me was sure of the order, he bent down to me and said, "My mistress, repeat the profession of faith, and think whether there is anything you would like done; for truly this is the last hour of your life."
"Good slave," I said, "wait just a little, and get off my head so that I can charge you with my last instructions."
Then I raised my head and saw the state I was in — how I had fallen from a high position into the lowest disgrace, and into death after such a life as I had had; and how I had brought my punishment on myself by my own sin. And at that the tears streamed from my eyes and I wept beyond all weeping.
But he looked at me with eyes full of anger and began repeating:
"Tell the woman who turns away from our love to work it a sore injury, and takes herself a fine new love and tosses the old one over: we have had enough of you before you shall cry enough of us. What passed between us is sufficient, and perhaps something more."
When I heard this, Commander of the Faithful, I wept and looked at him and began repeating these lines:
"You doom my love to separation and stay unmoved yourself; you make my sore lids sleepless and sleep while I complain. You make a firm friendship reign between my eyes and insomnia, and yet my heart cannot forget you, nor can I hold back my tears. You made me swear with many an oath to keep my faith for ever; but when you reigned as the lord of my breast you worked me a traitor's ruin. I loved you like a silly child who does not know what Love is; so spare the learner, do not let her be killed by the master. By the name of Allah I beg you, when I am dead and gone, write on my tomb: this woman died of Love, whose senses Love had taken. Then perhaps somebody will pass that way who has felt the fire of Love, and treading on a lover's heart will melt with pity and with grief."
When I had finished my verses the tears came again; but the poetry and the weeping only added fury to his fury, and he recited:
"It was not satiety that made me leave the darling of my soul, but that she sinned a mortal sin that caught me in its grip: she tried to let another man share the love between the two of us, but my true Faith in Unity refuses any partnership."
When he had stopped reciting I wept again, and begged his pardon and humbled myself in front of him and spoke to him softly, saying to myself, "I will work on him with words; and perhaps he will hold back from killing me, even if he takes everything I have."
So I complained of my sufferings and began to repeat these lines:
"Now, by your life — if you were just, you would not have taken my life; but who can break the law of separation that parts two lovers? You load me with the heavy weight of longing love, when I can hardly bear the weight of my own shift for weakness and for pain. I do not marvel to see my life and soul laid in ruins; I marvel much to see my body bear such pangs of separation."
When I had finished my verse I wept again; and he looked at me and reviled me in abusive language, repeating these lines:
"You were all taken up with the love of another man, not me; it was yours to show me the face of separation, mine only to see it. I will leave you, because you were the first of us to take your leave, and bear that parting blow as patiently as you bore it. Just as you went looking for another love, so I will look for another, and make the crime of murdering love your own atrocity."
When he had finished his verses he cried out to the slave again, "Cut her in half and free us from her, for we have no profit of her."
So the slave came close to me, Commander of the Faithful; and I stopped bandying verses and made certain of death, and despairing of life, committed my affairs to Almighty Allah — when the old woman rushed in and threw herself at my husband's feet and kissed them and wept and said:
"My son, by the rights of my having nursed you and by my long service to you, I beg you to pardon this young lady, for truly she has done nothing to deserve such a doom. You are a very young man, and I am afraid her death may be laid at your door; for it is said: whoever kills shall be killed. As for this wanton — since that is what you think her — drive her out of your doors, out of your love and out of your heart."
And she did not stop weeping and pressing him until he relented and said, "I pardon her. But I must set my mark on her, and it shall show on her all her life."
Then he ordered the slaves to drag me along the ground and lay me out at full length, after stripping me of all my clothes; and when the slaves had sat on me so that I could not move, he fetched a rod of quince wood and came down with it on my body, and went on beating me across the back and the sides until I lost consciousness from the pain, and I despaired of my life.
Then he ordered the slaves to take me away as soon as it was dark, along with the old woman to show them the way, and to throw me down on the floor of the house I had lived in before my marriage. They did their master's bidding, and threw me down in my old home, and went their way.
I did not come out of my faint until dawn appeared, when I set about dressing my wounds with ointments and other medicines; and I doctored myself — but my sides and my ribs still show the marks of the rod, as you have seen.
I lay weak and confined to my bed four months before I was able to get up, and my health came back to me. At the end of that time I went to the house where all this had happened, and found it a ruin; the whole street had been pulled down from end to end and heaps of rubbish stood where the building had been; and I could not learn how it had come about.
Then I went to this sister of mine on my father's side, and found her with these two black bitches. I greeted her and told her what had happened to me and the whole of my story, and she said, "Sister, who is safe from the spite of Time, and who is secure? Thanks be to Allah, who has brought you off safely." And she began to say:
"Such is the world, so keep a patient heart when riches leave you and when friends depart."
Then she told me her own story, and what had happened to her with her two sisters, and how it had all ended. So we lived together, and the subject of marriage was never on our tongues in all these years.
After a while we were joined by our other sister, the caterer, who goes out every morning and buys everything we need for the day and the night; and we went on in that condition until last night.
In the morning our sister went out as usual to do her marketing, and then there happened to us what happened, from bringing the porter into the house and admitting these three kalandars.
We treated them kindly and honourably, and a quarter of the night had not gone by before three grave and respectable merchants from Mosul joined us and told us their adventures. We sat talking with them, but on one condition, which they broke; at which we treated them as suited their breach of promise, and made them repeat the account they had given of themselves. They did as we told them, and we forgave their offence; so they left us. And this morning we were unexpectedly summoned into your presence.
And such is our story.
The Caliph marvelled at her words and ordered the tale to be written down and put on record and laid up in his record rooms:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Nineteenth Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Caliph commanded this story, and those of the sister and the kalandars, to be recorded in the archives and set in the royal record rooms.
Then he asked the eldest lady, the mistress of the house, "Do you know where the ifritah is who put your sisters under a spell?"
And she answered, "Commander of the Faithful, she gave me a ringlet of her hair, saying: whenever you want to see me, burn a couple of these hairs and I will be with you at once, even if I were beyond Mount Kaf."
Said the Caliph, "Bring me the hair."
So she brought it, and he threw the whole lock on the fire. And as soon as the smell of the burning hair spread, the palace shook and trembled, and everybody there heard a rumbling and rolling of thunder and a noise as of wings — and the jinniyah who had been a serpent stood in the Caliph's presence.
Now she was a Muslim, so she greeted him and said, "Peace be with you, Vicar of Allah"; to which he replied, "And with you also be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessing."
Then she went on, "Know that this girl sowed the seed of kindness for me, and I cannot repay her enough, in that she delivered me from death and destroyed my enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters dealt with her, and I felt bound to avenge her on them. At first I meant to kill them, but I was afraid it would grieve her, so I transformed them into bitches. But if you want them released, Commander of the Faithful, I will release them to please you and her, for I am one of the Muslims."
Said the Caliph, "Release them; and afterwards we will look into the affair of the beaten lady and consider her case carefully; and if the truth of her story is proved, I will exact retaliation from the man who wronged her."
Said the ifritah, "Commander of the Faithful, I will release them at once; and I will show you the man who did that deed to this lady and wronged her and took her property — and he is the nearest of all men to you."
So saying, she took a cup of water and muttered a spell over it and spoke words there was no understanding; and then she sprinkled some of the water over the faces of the two bitches, saying, "Return to your former human shape!" — at which they were restored to their natural forms and fell to praising their Creator.
Then said the ifritah, "Commander of the Faithful, the truth is that the man who scourged this lady with rods is your son Al-Amin, brother of Al-Ma'mun. For he had heard of her beauty and loveliness, and he played a lover's trick on her and married her according to the law, and committed the crime — such as it is — of scourging her.
"And yet he is not to be blamed for beating her, for he laid a condition on her and swore her by a solemn oath not to do a certain thing; and she was false to her vow. He meant to put her to death, but he feared Almighty Allah and contented himself with scourging her, as you have seen, and with sending her back to her own place. Such is the story of the second lady, and the Lord knows all."
When the Caliph heard these words from the ifritah, and knew who had beaten the girl, he marvelled with a mighty marvelling and said:
"Praise be to Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, who has shown me such exceeding mercy, letting me deliver these two girls from sorcery and torture, and granting me the knowledge of the secret of this lady's history! And now, by Allah, we will do a deed that shall be recorded of us after we are gone."
Then he summoned his son Al-Amin and questioned him about the story of the second lady, the doorkeeper; and he told it in the face of truth.
At which the Caliph had the judges and their witnesses called in, and the three kalandars, and the first lady with her full sisters who had been under the spell. And he married the three sisters to the three kalandars, whom he knew to be princes and the sons of kings, and appointed them chamberlains about his own person, assigning them stipends and allowances and everything they needed, and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad.
He returned the beaten lady to his son Al-Amin, renewing the marriage contract between them and giving her great wealth, and ordered the house rebuilt finer than it had been before.
As for himself, he took the caterer as his wife and lay with her that night; and next day he set apart an apartment for her in his own palace, with maids to serve her and a fixed daily allowance.
And the people marvelled at their Caliph's generosity and his natural kindness and his princely wisdom; nor did he forget to send all these histories to be recorded in his annals.
When Shahrazad stopped speaking, Dunyazad exclaimed, "Sister, by Allah, this is truly a most pleasant tale and a delightful one; the like of it was never heard. But please tell me another story now, to while away what is left of the waking hours of this night of ours."
She replied, "With love and gladness, if the King gives me leave."
And he said, "Tell your tale, and tell it quickly."
So she began, in these words,
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that in the old days, and in the old time before them, there lived in a certain city of China a tailor, an open-handed man who loved pleasure and merrymaking, and who used to go out with his wife from time to time to amuse themselves at the public entertainments.
One day they went out at first light and were coming home in the evening when they fell in with a hunchback, whose appearance would raise a laugh out of care itself and drive off the horrors of despair. So they went over to enjoy the look of him, and invited him home to talk and drink with them that night.
He agreed, and walked home with them; at which the tailor went out to the market — night having just set in — and bought a fried fish and bread and lemons and dried sweets for dessert, and set the food in front of the hunchback, and they ate.
Presently the tailor's wife took a great chunk of fish and gave it to the hunchback in one lump, stopping his mouth with her hand and saying, "By Allah, you must get it down at a single gulp; I am not giving you time to chew it."
So he bolted it. But there was a stiff bone in it, which stuck in his throat; and his hour having come, he died:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Twenty-fifth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the tailor's wife gave the hunchback that mouthful of fish which ended his term of days, he died on the instant.
Seeing it, the tailor cried aloud, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! Alas that this poor wretch should have died in such a stupid way, and at our hands!"
And the woman answered, "Why all this idle talk? Have you not heard the man who said:
Why then do I waste my time in grief, until I find no friend to carry my weight of woe? How am I to sleep on a fire that is never put out? To rest on the flames would be hard enough!"
Her husband asked, "And what am I to do with him?"
And she answered, "Get up and take him in your arms and spread a silk cloth over him; then I will go out with you following me, this very night; and if you meet anybody, say: this is my son, and his mother and I are carrying him to the doctor to have him looked at."
So he got up and took the hunchback in his arms and carried him along the streets, with his wife going in front of him crying, "My son, Allah keep you! Which part is hurting you, and where has this smallpox got at you?" So that everybody who saw them said, "It is a child sick with smallpox."
They went along asking for the doctor's house, until people directed them to the house of a physician who was a Jew. They knocked at the door, and a black slave girl came down and opened it; and seeing a man carrying a baby, with a woman beside him, she said, "What is the matter?"
"We have a little one with us," answered the tailor's wife, "and we want to show him to the physician. So take this quarter dinar and give it to your master and let him come down and see my son, who is very sick."
The girl went up to tell her master — at which the tailor's wife stepped into the hallway and said to her husband, "Leave the hunchback here and let us run for our lives."
So the tailor carried the dead man to the top of the stairs and propped him upright against the wall, and away he ran, he and his wife.
Meanwhile the girl went in to the Jew and said, "At the door there is a man and a woman with a sick child, and they have given me a quarter dinar for you, so that you will go down and look at the little one and prescribe for it."
As soon as the Jew saw the quarter dinar he was delighted, and got up quickly in his eagerness for the money, and went out in a hurry in the dark. But he had hardly taken a step before he tripped over the corpse and knocked it over, and it rolled to the bottom of the staircase.
So he shouted to the girl to hurry up with the light, and she brought it; and he went down and examined the hunchback and found him stone dead.
At which he cried out, "O Ezra! O Moses! O Aaron! O Joshua son of Nun! O the Ten Commandments! I have tripped over the sick man and he has fallen downstairs and he is dead! How am I to get this man I have killed out of my house? O by the hooves of the ass of Ezra!"
Then he picked the body up and carried it into the house and told his wife what had happened; and she said to him, "Why are you sitting still? If you keep him here till daybreak we shall both lose our lives. Let the two of us carry him up to the terrace roof and drop him over into the house of our neighbour the Muslim; for if he stays there a night the dogs will come down on him from the next-door terraces and eat him up."
Now this neighbour was a steward, the controller of the Sultan's kitchen, and he used to bring home a great store of oil and fat and scraps of meat; but the cats and the rats used to eat it, or if the dogs smelt a fat sheep's tail they would come down off the nearest roofs and tear at it; and in this way the animals had already done a good deal of damage to what he brought home.
So the Jew and his wife carried the hunchback up to the roof, and letting him down by his hands and feet through the ventilator shaft into the steward's house, propped him against the wall and went their way.
They had hardly done it when the steward, who had been spending the evening with friends listening to a recitation of the Koran, came home and opened the door; and going up with a lighted candle, found a son of Adam standing in the corner under the ventilator.
When he saw this he said, "Well! By Allah, very good indeed! So the thing that has been robbing my stores is nothing but a man."
Then he turned to the hunchback and said, "So it is you who steal the meat and the fat! I thought it was the cats and the dogs, and I kill the dogs and cats of the quarter and sin against them by killing them. And all the while it is you, coming down from the house terrace through the ventilator. But I will avenge myself on you with my own hand!"
So he snatched up a heavy hammer and set on him and struck him full in the chest, and he fell down. Then he examined him, and finding that he was dead, cried out in horror, thinking he had killed him, and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
And he was afraid for his own life, and added, "Allah curse the oil and the meat and the grease and the sheep's tails into the bargain! How has fate given this man his quietus at my hand?"
Then he looked at the body, and seeing it was a hunchback, said, "Was it not enough for you to be a hunchback, without being a thief as well and pinching meat and fat? O Thou the Veiler, deign to veil me with Thy curtain of concealment!"
So he took him up on his shoulders, and going out with him from his house towards the end of the night, carried him to the nearest end of the market, where he set him on his feet against the wall of a shop at the head of a dark lane, and left him and went away.
After a while up came a Christian, the Sultan's broker, who was very much the worse for drink and was heading for the baths, his drunkenness whispering in his ear, "Truly the call to morning prayer is close."
He came plodding along and staggering about until he got near the hunchback, and squatted down to relieve himself opposite him; when he happened to glance round and saw a man standing against the wall.
Now somebody had snatched the Christian's turban off him earlier in the night; so when he saw the hunchback close by, he imagined that this one meant to steal his headdress too. At which he clenched his fist and struck him on the neck, felling him to the ground, and called out for the market watchman; and he came down on the body in his drunken fury and went on pounding it and throttling it.
Presently the watchman came up and, finding a Christian kneeling on a Muslim and beating him, asked, "What harm has this man done?"
And the broker answered, "The fellow meant to snatch my turban off."
"Get up off him," said the watchman.
So he got up; and the watchman went over to the hunchback and, finding him dead, exclaimed, "By Allah, good indeed! A Christian killing a Muslim!"
Then he seized the broker and tied his hands behind his back and carried him off to the Governor's house — the Christian saying to himself all the way, "O Messiah! O Virgin! how did I come to kill this fellow? And what a hurry he must have been in to leave this life, dying of a single blow!"
Presently, as his drunkenness left him, misery came in its place.
So the broker and the body were kept at the Governor's place until the morning came, when the Governor came out and gave orders to hang the supposed murderer, and commanded the executioner to proclaim the sentence.
They set up a gallows at once and made the Christian stand under it, and the torch-bearer, who was also the hangman, threw the rope round his neck and passed one end through the pulley and was about to hoist him up — when the steward, passing by, saw the broker about to be hanged; and making his way through the crowd, shouted to the executioner, "Stop! Stop! I am the man who killed the hunchback!"
The Governor asked, "What made you kill him?"
And he answered, "I went home last night and found this man, who had come down the ventilator to steal my property; so I hit him on the chest with a hammer, and he died on the spot. Then I picked him up and carried him to the market and stood him against the wall in such a place, near such a lane." And he added, "Is it not enough for me to have killed a Muslim, without killing a Christian as well? So hang nobody but me."
When the Governor heard this he released the broker and said to the torch-bearer, "Hang this man, on his own confession."
So he loosed the cord from the Christian's neck and threw it round the steward's, and stood him under the gallows tree, and was about to string him up — when the Jewish physician pushed through the crowd and shouted to the executioner:
"Stop! Stop! It was I and nobody else who killed the hunchback! Last night I was sitting at home when a man and a woman knocked at the door carrying this hunchback, who was sick, and gave my maid a quarter dinar, telling her to hand me the fee and tell me to come down and see him.
"While she was gone, the man and the woman brought him into the house and set him on the stairs and went away; and presently I came down and did not see him, because I was in the dark, and tripped over him, and he fell to the foot of the staircase and died that instant.
"Then my wife and I took him up and carried him to the top terrace; and this steward's house being next door to mine, we let the body down through the ventilator. When he came home and found the hunchback in his house he thought he was a thief and hit him with a hammer, so that he fell to the ground, and our neighbour made certain he had killed him.
"Now is it not enough for me to have killed one Muslim without knowing it, without burdening myself with taking another Muslim's life knowingly?"
When the Governor heard this he said to the hangman, "Set the steward free and hang the Jew."
At which the torch-bearer took him and slung the cord round his neck — when the tailor pushed through the crowd and shouted to the executioner:
"Stop! Stop! It was I and nobody else who killed the hunchback, and this is how it happened. I had been out enjoying myself yesterday, and coming back for supper, fell in with this hunchback, who was drunk and drumming away and singing loudly to his tambourine.
"So I got talking to him and took him home and bought a fish, and we sat down to eat. Presently my wife took a chunk of fish and made a lump of it and crammed it into his mouth; but some of it went down the wrong way or stuck in his throat, and he died on the instant.
"So my wife and I lifted him up and carried him to the Jew's house, where the slave girl came down and opened the door to us, and I said to her: tell your master there is a man and a woman and a sick person for him to see. I gave her a quarter dinar and she went up to tell her master; and while she was gone I carried the hunchback to the top of the staircase and propped him against the wall, and went off with my wife. When the Jew came down he tripped over him and thought he had killed him."
Then he asked the Jew, "Is this the truth?"
And the Jew answered, "It is."
At which the tailor turned to the Governor and said, "Let the Jew go and hang me."
When the Governor heard the tailor's tale he marvelled at this business of the hunchback and exclaimed, "Truly this is an adventure that ought to be written down in books!"
Then he said to the hangman, "Let the Jew go and hang the tailor, on his own confession."
The executioner took the tailor and put the rope round his neck and said, "I am tired of this slow work. We bring out this one and change him for that one, and nobody gets hanged after all."
Now the hunchback in question, they say, was jester to the Sultan of China, who could not bear him out of his sight. So when the fellow got drunk and did not turn up that night or the next day until noon, the Sultan asked some of his courtiers about him, and they answered:
"Our lord, the Governor came upon him dead and has ordered his murderer to be hanged; but as the hangman was about to hoist him up there came a second man, and a third, and a fourth, and each of them said, 'It is I and nobody else who killed the hunchback!' and each gave a full and detailed account of how the jester came to be killed."
When the King heard this he called out to the chamberlain in waiting, "Go down to the Governor and bring me all four of them."
So the chamberlain went down at once to the place of execution, where he found the torch-bearer on the point of hanging the tailor, and shouted to him, "Stop! Stop!"
Then he gave the King's command to the Governor, who took the tailor, the Jew, the Christian and the steward — the hunchback's body being carried on men's shoulders — and went up with the whole lot of them to the King.
When he came into the presence he kissed the ground and told the ruler the whole story, which there is no need to repeat; for, as they say, there is no use in a tale told three times.
The Sultan, hearing it, marvelled and was moved to laughter, and commanded the story to be written down in letters of liquid gold, saying to the people about him, "Did you ever hear a more wonderful tale than that of my hunchback?"
At which the Christian broker came forward and said, "O King of the age, with your leave I will tell you something that happened to myself, and which is still more wonderful and marvellous and pleasing and delightful than the tale of the hunchback."
Said the King, "Tell us what you have to say."
So he began in these words
O King of the age, I came to this country of yours with merchandise, and Destiny kept me here among you; but the place of my birth was Cairo in Egypt, where I was brought up as well, for I am one of the Copts, and my father was a broker before me. When I came of age he departed this life and I took over his business.
One day, as I was sitting in my shop, there came up to me a young man as handsome as could be, wearing sumptuous clothes and riding a fine donkey. When he saw me he greeted me, and I stood up to do him honour; and then he took out a handkerchief with a sample of sesame in it and asked, "How much is this worth an ardabb?" — which is the great Egyptian measure for grain.
I answered, "A hundred dirhams."
Said he, "Take porters and gaugers and measurers and come tomorrow to the Khan al-Jawali, by the Gate of Victory quarter, where you will find me."
Then he went off, leaving the sample of sesame with me in his handkerchief; and I went round my customers and established that every ardabb would fetch a hundred and twenty dirhams.
Next day I took four measurers and walked with them to the khan, where I found him waiting for me. As soon as he saw me he got up and opened his storehouse, and we measured the grain until the store was empty; and we found the contents came to fifty ardabbs, making five thousand pieces of silver.
Then he said, "Let ten dirhams on every ardabb be your brokerage; so take the price and keep four thousand five hundred dirhams on deposit for me; and when I have finished selling the other goods in my warehouses I will come to you and collect the amount."
"Very good," I replied; and kissing his hand, I went away, having made a profit of a thousand dirhams that day.
He was gone a month, at the end of which he came to me and asked, "Where are the dirhams?"
I got up and greeted him and said, "Will you not eat something in my house?"
But he refused, with the remark, "Get the money ready and I will come back presently and take it." Then he rode away.
So I brought out the dirhams and sat down to wait for him; but he stayed away another month, and then came back and said, "Where are the dirhams?"
I got up and greeted him and asked, "Will you not eat something in my house?"
But again he refused, adding, "Get the money ready for me and I will come back presently and take it." Then he rode off.
So I brought out the dirhams and sat down to wait for him; but he stayed away from me a third month, and I said, "Truly this young man is generosity in human form."
At the end of the month he came up, riding a she-mule and wearing a suit of sumptuous clothes; and he was like the moon on the night of its fullness, and he seemed fresh from the baths, with his cheeks rosy bright and his brow flower-white and a mole like a grain of ambergris delighting the sight — as the poet said about such a man:
The full moon and the sun rose in a single house and shone in the brightest splendour and good fortune, changing every spirit with their happy brilliance. Hail to the thing that rewards prayer with such a gift! Their charms and their grace have reached perfection's height; they have conquered every heart and won over every wit. Praise to the Lord for works so strange and wonderful, and for whatever the Almighty wills His hand has done.
When I saw him I rose and called down blessings on him and asked, "My lord, will you not take your money?"
"Why the hurry?" said he. "Wait till I have finished my business and then I will come and take it." And again he rode away.
And I said to myself, "By Allah, when he comes next time I really must make him my guest; for I have traded with his dirhams and made large profits by them."
At the end of the year he came again, dressed in a suit even more sumptuous than the last; and when I begged him, by the Gospel, to come down at my house and eat my guest-food, he said, "I agree, on condition that whatever you spend on me comes out of my own money that is still in your hands."
I answered, "So be it"; and I sat him down while I got ready everything necessary in the way of food and drink and the rest, and set the tray in front of him with the invitation, "In Allah's name!"
Then he drew up to the tray and put out his left hand and ate with me; and I wondered at his not using his right hand.
When we had finished eating I poured water over his hand and gave him something to dry it with. At which we sat down to talk, after I had set some sweets in front of him; and I said to him, "My master, please relieve my mind and tell me why you eat with your left hand. Is there something wrong with the other one?"
When he heard this he recited these lines:
"Dear friend, do not ask what burns in my breast, in case you see fiery pains no eye ever saw. It is not that my heart chooses to house Salma in place of Layla's love — but need has never a law."
And he put his right arm out of his sleeve — and the hand was cut off, a wrist without a fist.
I was astounded at it; but he said, "Do not be surprised, and do not think I ate with my left hand out of conceit or bad manners, but out of necessity. And the cutting off of my right hand came about by the strangest adventure."
I asked, "And what caused it?"
And he answered: Know that I am one of the sons of Baghdad, and my father was among the notables of that city. When I came of age I heard the pilgrims and travellers, the wayfarers and the merchants, talking about the land of Egypt, and their words sank deep into my mind; until my father died, when I took a large sum of money and fitted myself out for trade with stuffs from Baghdad and Mosul, and packing them into bales, set out on my travels. And Allah decreed safety for me until I came into this city of yours.
Then he wept, and began repeating:
The bleary-eyed escapes the pits that the lynx-eyed falls into. A word will kill the wise man and save the simpleton. The Muslim goes short of food while the unbeliever feasts in hall. What art or act belongs to a man? The will of God binds everybody.
Now when he had finished his verse he said:
So I came into Cairo and took off my loads and stored my goods in the Khan al-Masrur. Then I gave the servant a few silver pieces to buy me some food, and lay down to sleep a while. When I woke I went to the street called Bayn al-Kasrayn — Between the Two Palaces — and came back presently and spent the night at the khan.
When morning came I opened a bale and took out some cloth, saying to myself, "I will go off and walk through some of the markets and see the state of trade." So I loaded the stuff onto some of my slaves and went out until I reached the Exchange of Jaharkas, where the brokers, who knew I had come, came out to meet me.
They took the stuffs and cried them for sale, but could not get even the prime cost of them. I was vexed at this; however, the chief of the brokers said to me:
"My lord, I will tell you how you may make a profit on your goods. You should do as the merchants do, and sell your merchandise on credit for a fixed term, on a contract drawn up by a notary and properly witnessed; and employ a money-changer to collect your dues every Monday and Thursday. That way you will gain two dirhams and more for every one; and you will amuse yourself and pass the time seeing Cairo and the Nile."
Said I, "This is sound advice," and took the brokers back to the khan. They took my stuffs and went with them to the Exchange, where I sold them well, taking bonds for the value. These bonds I deposited with a money-changer, who gave me a receipt, and I went back to the khan with it.
Here I stayed a whole month, breaking my fast every morning with a cup of wine and making my meals on pigeon and mutton and sweets, until the time came for my receipts to fall due. So every Monday and Thursday I used to go to the Exchange and sit in the shop of one merchant or another, while the notary and the money-changer went round collecting the money from the traders, until after the hour of afternoon prayer, when they brought me the amount; and I counted it and sealed the bags and went back with them to the khan.
On a certain day, which happened to be a Monday, I went to the baths and from there back to my khan; and sitting in my own room, broke my fast with a cup of wine, after which I slept a little. When I woke I ate a chicken, and perfuming myself, went to the shop of a merchant called Badr al-Din the Gardener, who made me welcome; and we sat talking a while until the market should open.
And presently up came a lady of stately figure, wearing the most magnificent headdress, perfumed with the sweetest of scents and walking with a gracefully swaying step; and seeing me, she lifted her veil enough to let me glimpse her beautiful black eyes.
She greeted Badr al-Din, who returned her greeting and stood up and talked with her; and the moment I heard her speak, the love of her took hold of my heart.
Presently she said to Badr al-Din, "Have you by you a cut piece of cloth woven with thread of pure gold?"
So he brought out a piece from those he had bought from me, and sold it to her for a thousand two hundred dirhams; at which she said, "I will take the piece home with me and send you the price of it."
"That is impossible, my lady," the merchant replied, "for here is the owner of the cloth, and I owe him a share of the profit."
"Shame on you!" she cried. "Do I not regularly take whole rolls of costly stuff from you, and give you a greater profit than you expect, and send you the money?"
"Yes," he answered, "but I am in pressing need of the price this very day."
At which she took up the piece and threw it back into his lap, saying, "Out on you! Allah confound the whole tribe of you, who value nobody at their proper worth." And she turned to go.
I felt my very soul going with her; so I stood up and stopped her, saying, "I beg you by the Lord, my lady, do me the favour of retracing your gracious steps."
She turned back with a smile and said, "For your sake I will," and took a seat opposite me in the shop.
Then I said to Badr al-Din, "What is the price they asked you for this piece?"
And he said, "Eleven hundred dirhams."
I answered, "The odd hundred shall be your profit. Bring me a sheet of paper and I will write you a discharge for it." And I wrote him a receipt in my own hand and gave the piece to the lady, saying, "Take it away with you; and if you like, bring me the price of it next market day — or better still, accept it as my guest-gift to you."
"Allah reward you with good," she answered, "and make you my husband and lord and master of everything I have."
And Allah granted her prayer.
I saw the Gates of Paradise swing open in front of me, and said, "My lady, let this piece of cloth be yours now, and another like it is ready for you; only let me have one look at your face."
So she raised her veil, and I saw a face the sight of which left me a thousand sighs, and my heart was so captured by love of her that I was no longer master of my own reason.
Then she let her face veil fall, and taking up the piece of cloth, said, "My lord, do not make me desolate by staying away!" And she turned away and vanished from my sight.
I stayed sitting at the Exchange until past the hour of afternoon prayer, lost to the world by the love that had mastered me; and the violence of my passion forced me to ask the merchant about her, and he answered, "This is a lady and a rich one: she is the daughter of a certain emir who died lately and left her a large fortune."
Then I took my leave of him and went home to the khan, where they set supper in front of me; but I could not eat for thinking of her, and when I lay down to sleep, sleep did not come near me.
So I lay awake until morning, when I got up and put on a change of clothes and drank a cup of wine; and after breaking my fast on a trifle, I went to the merchant's shop, where I greeted him and sat down beside him.
Presently up came the lady as usual, followed by a slave girl and wearing a dress more sumptuous than before; and she greeted me without taking any notice of Badr al-Din, and said, in fluent graceful speech — I never heard a voice softer or sweeter — "Send somebody with me to take the thousand two hundred dirhams, the price of the piece."
"Why this hurry?" I asked.
And she answered, "May we never lose you!" and handed me the money.
Then I sat talking with her; and presently I signed to her in dumb show, so that she understood that I longed to enjoy her; and she got up in a hurry with a show of displeasure.
My heart clung to her, and I went out of the market and followed after her. As I was walking, a black slave girl suddenly stopped me and said, "My master, come and speak with my mistress."
At this I was surprised, and replied, "There is nobody who knows me here."
But she answered, "My lord, how quickly you have forgotten her! My lady is the same one who was at such a merchant's shop today."
Then I went with her to the money-changer's, where I found the lady, who drew me to her side and said, "My beloved, your image is firmly stamped on my imagination, and love of you has taken hold of my heart. From the hour I first saw you, neither sleep nor food nor drink has given me any pleasure."
I replied, "Double that suffering is mine, and my own state saves me the trouble of complaining."
Then she said, "My beloved — at your house, or at mine?"
"I am a stranger here and have no place to receive you but the khan; so by your leave, it shall be at your house."
"So be it. But this is Friday night, and nothing can be done till tomorrow after the public prayers. Go to the mosque and pray; then mount your donkey and ask for the Habbaniyah quarter; and when you are there, look for the mansion of Al-Nakib Barakat, who is generally known as Abu Shamah the Syndic — for that is where I live. So do not be late, as I shall be expecting you."
I rejoiced at this with still greater joy, and took my leave of her and went back to my khan, where I passed a sleepless night.
I had hardly made sure that morning had dawned when I got up and changed my clothes and perfumed myself with essences and sweet scents; and taking fifty dinars in a handkerchief, went from the Khan al-Masrur to the Zuwaylah gate, where I hired a donkey and said to its owner, "Take me to the Habbaniyah."
So he set off with me and brought up in the twinkling of an eye at a street called Darb al-Munkari, where I said to him, "Go in and ask for the Syndic's mansion."
He was gone a while and then came back and said, "Get down."
"Go in front of me to the house," said I, and added, "Come back at first light and take me home." And he answered, "In Allah's name"; at which I gave him a quarter dinar of gold, and he took it and went his way.
Then I knocked at the door, and out came two white slave girls, both young, high-bosomed maidens, and they were like two moons; and they said to me, "Come in, for our mistress is expecting you, and she has not slept all night for her delight in you."
I passed through the entrance hall into a great room with seven doors, floored with parti-coloured marbles and furnished with curtains and hangings of coloured silks. The ceiling was panelled with gold and corniced with inscriptions emblazoned in lapis lazuli; and the walls were plastered with Sultani gypsum that gave back the face of anybody looking at it.
Round the room were latticed windows overlooking a garden full of every kind of fruit, whose streams were railing and rilling and whose birds were trilling and shrilling; and in the heart of the hall was a jetting fountain, at whose corners stood birds fashioned in red gold, crusted with pearls and gems, spouting water crystal clear.
When I came in and took a seat:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Twenty-sixth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the young merchant went on:
When I came in and took a seat, the lady came in at once, crowned with a diadem of pearls and jewels; her face dotted with artificial moles in indigo, her eyebrows pencilled with kohl, and her hands and feet reddened with henna.
When she saw me she smiled into my face and took me into her arms and clasped me to her breast; then she put her mouth to my mouth and sucked my tongue, and I did the same; and she said, "Can it be true, my darling, that you have come to me?" And she added, "Welcome and good cheer to you! By Allah, from the day I saw you sleep has not been sweet to me and food has not been pleasant."
Said I, "That has been my case too; and I am your slave, your bondsman."
Then we sat down to talk, and I hung my head towards the ground out of bashfulness; but she did not wait long before she set a tray of the most exquisite food in front of me — marinated meats, fritters soaked in bees' honey, and chickens stuffed with sugar and pistachio nuts — and we ate our fill of them.
Then they brought a basin and a ewer, and I washed my hands; and we scented ourselves with musked rose water and sat down again to talk. And she began repeating these lines:
"Had we known you were coming, your road would have been strewn with the blood of our hearts and the balls of our eyes; we would have thrown our cheeks down as a carpet to greet you, so that your step should land softly on our eyelids."
And she went on complaining of what had happened to her and I of what had happened to me; and love of her took such firm hold of my heart that all my wealth seemed nothing at all beside her.
Then we fell to playing and groping and kissing until nightfall, when the maids set food in front of us and a full wine service, and we sat drinking until midnight, when we lay down and I lay with her. Never in my life did I see a night like that night.
When morning came I got up and took my leave of her, throwing the handkerchief with the dinars in it under the bed; and as I went out she wept and said, "My lord, when shall I look on that lovely face again?"
"I will be with you at sunset," I answered.
And going out, I found the donkey boy who had brought me the day before waiting at the door. So I mounted and rode to the Khan al-Masrur, where I got down and gave the man half a dinar, saying, "Come back at sunset"; and he said, "I will."
Then I had my breakfast and went out to collect the price of my goods; after which I came back, and taking a roast lamb and some sweets, called a porter and put the provisions in his crate and sent them to the lady, paying the man his hire.
I went back to my business until sunset, when the donkey driver came for me; and I took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and rode to her house, where I found the marble floor swept, the brasses burnished, the branched lights burning, the wax candles already lit, the meat served up and the wine strained.
When my lady saw me she threw her arms round my neck and cried, "You have left me desolate by being away."
Then she set the tables in front of me and we ate our fill, and the slave girls carried the trays off and served the wine. We did not stop drinking until half the night was gone; and being well warmed with drink, we went into the bedchamber and lay there until morning.
Then I got up and left her, leaving the fifty dinars with her as before; and finding the donkey boy at the door, rode to the khan and slept a while.
After that I went out to get the evening meal ready, and took a brace of geese with gravy on two platters of dressed and peppered rice, and got ready taro roots fried and soaked in honey, and wax candles and fruit and preserves and nuts and almonds and sweet-scented flowers; and I sent the whole lot to her.
As soon as it was night I tied up fifty dinars in a handkerchief again, and mounting the donkey as usual, rode to the mansion, where we ate and drank and lay together till morning; when I threw her the handkerchief and the dinars and rode back to the khan.
I did not stop going on in this way until, after one sweet night, I woke up on a fine morning and found myself beggared, without a dinar or a dirham to my name.
So I said to myself, "All this is Satan's work," and began to recite these lines:
"Poverty dims a man's brightness, whatever his wealth has been, just as the sun about to set shines with a yellowing light. Absent, he falls out of memory and is forgotten by his friends; present, he does not share their joys, for nobody delights in him. He walks the market avoided by everybody, glad enough to hide his head, and in lonely places he sheds tears and moans over his bitter state. By Allah, among his own kin a man, however good he is, is nothing but a stranger once want and poverty have waylaid him."
I went out from the khan and walked down the street called Between the Palaces until I came to the Zuwaylah Gate, where I found the crowd thick and the gateway blocked with people.
And by the decree of Destiny I saw there a trooper, against whom I pressed accidentally, so that my hand came against his breast pocket and I felt a purse inside it. I looked, and seeing a green silk string hanging out of the pocket, knew it for a purse.
The crush grew greater every minute; and just then a camel loaded with firewood happened to jostle the trooper on the other side, and he turned round to fend it off in case it tore his clothes. And Satan tempted me, so I pulled the string and drew out a little bag of blue silk with something in it that chinked like coin.
But the soldier, feeling his pocket suddenly lighter, put his hand to it and found it empty; at which he turned on me and, snatching his mace off his saddle bow, struck me on the head with it.
I fell to the ground, while the people gathered round us and seized the trooper's mare by the bridle and said to him, "Do you strike this young man a blow like that for a mere push?"
But the trooper shouted at them, "This fellow is a cursed thief!"
At which I came to myself and stood up; and the people looked at me and said, "No, he is a good-looking young man; he would not steal anything." And some of them took my part and others were against me, and question and answer grew loud and warm. The people pulled at me and would have rescued me out of his clutches — but as fate decreed, the Governor, the Chief of Police and the watch came in at the Zuwaylah Gate at that very moment; and seeing the people gathered round me and the soldier, the Governor asked, "What is the matter?"
"By Allah, Emir," answered the trooper, "this is a thief! I had a purse of blue silk in my pocket with twenty good gold pieces in it, and he took it while I was in the crush."
Said the Governor, "Was anybody beside you at the time?"
And the soldier said, "No."
At which the Governor called out to the Chief of Police, who seized me; and in this way the curtain of the Lord's protection was drawn back from me.
Then he said, "Strip him." And when they stripped me they found the purse in my clothes. The Governor took it and opened it and counted it; and finding twenty dinars in it, as the soldier had said, he grew extremely angry and ordered his guard to bring me before him.
Then he said to me, "Now, young man, speak the truth: did you steal this purse?"
At this I hung my head towards the ground and said to myself, "If I deny stealing it, I shall get myself into terrible trouble." So I raised my head and said, "Yes, I took it."
When the Governor heard this he wondered, and summoned witnesses, who came forward and attested my confession. All this happened at the Zuwaylah Gate.
Then the Governor ordered the torch-bearer to cut off my right hand, and he did so; after which he would have struck off my left foot as well — but the soldier's heart softened and he took pity on me and interceded for me with the Governor, so that I should not be killed.
At which the Governor left me and went away, and the people stayed round me and gave me a cup of wine to drink. As for the trooper, he pressed the purse on me and said, "You are a good-looking young man, and it does not suit you to be a thief."
So I recited these verses:
"I swear by Allah's name, good sir, that I was no thief, nor, best of men, was I ever bred a bandit. But the chances and changes of Fortune overthrew me all at once, and care and trouble and poverty led me off my road. I did not shoot it, truly; it was Allah who shot the arrow that rolled the kingly crown from my head into the dust."
The soldier turned away after giving me the purse; and I too went my way, having wrapped my hand in a piece of rag and thrust it into my breast.
My whole appearance had changed, and my colour had gone yellow from the shame and the pain that had come on me. Even so, I went on to my mistress's house, where in extreme agitation of spirit I threw myself down on the bed.
She saw me in that state and asked, "What is the matter, and why do I see you so changed in your looks?"
And I answered, "My head is hurting me, and I am far from well."
At which she was upset and concerned on my account, and said, "Do not burn my heart, my lord; sit up and lift your head and tell me what has happened to you today, for your face tells me a story."
"Leave this talk," I replied.
But she wept and said, "It seems to me that you have grown tired of me, for I see you are not as you usually are."
But I was silent; and she went on talking to me although I gave her no answer, until night came on.
Then she set food in front of me; but I refused it, afraid she might see me eating with my left hand, and said to her, "I have no appetite to eat at present."
Said she, "Tell me what has happened to you today, and why you are so sorrowful and broken in spirit and in heart."
Said I, "Wait a while; I will tell you everything at my leisure."
Then she brought me wine, saying, "Down with it, this will drive off your grief. You really must drink, and tell me your news."
I asked, "Must I tell you?"
And she answered, "Yes."
Then I said, "If it must be so, then give it to me with your own hand."
She filled and drank, and filled again and gave me the cup; and I took it from her with my left hand, and wiped the tears from my eyelids and began repeating:
"When Allah wills that something should befall a man who has his full share of ears and eyes and wits, He deafens his ears and He blinds his eyes and draws his wits out as we draw out a hair — until, having worked His purpose, He gives him back his wits, so that he may go more warily warned."
When I had finished my verses I wept; and she cried out with a very loud cry, "What is the cause of your tears? You are burning my heart! What makes you take the cup with your left hand?"
Said I, "The truth is I have a boil on my right hand."
And she said, "Put it out and I will open it for you."
"It is not time to open it yet," I replied, "so do not worry me with your words, for I will not take it out of the bandage at this hour."
Then I drank the cup off; and she did not stop plying me with drink until drunkenness overcame me and I fell asleep where I was sitting — at which she looked at my right hand and saw a wrist without a fist.
So she searched me closely, and found on me the purse of gold and my severed hand wrapped up in the piece of rag. At which such sorrow came over her as never came over anybody; and she did not stop lamenting on my account until the morning.
When I woke I found she had made me a dish of broth of four boiled chickens, which she brought me together with a cup of wine. I ate and drank; and laying down the purse, would have gone out — but she said to me, "Where are you going?"
And I answered, "Where my business calls me."
And she said, "You shall not go. Sit down."
So I sat down; and she went on, "Has your love for me so overpowered you that you have wasted all your wealth and lost your hand on my account? I call you to witness against me, and let Allah be my witness too, that I will never part with you, but will die under your feet; and you shall soon see that what I say is true."
Then she sent for the judge and the witnesses and said to them, "Write out my marriage contract with this young man, and bear witness that I have received the marriage settlement."
When they had drawn up the document she said, "Bear witness that all my money that is in this chest, and everything I have in slaves and maids and other property, is given as a free gift to this young man."
So they took a record of the statement, putting me in possession by right of marriage; and then they withdrew, after being paid their fees.
At which she took me by the hand and, leading me to a small room, opened a large chest and said, "Look at what is in here."
And I looked — and it was full of handkerchiefs.
Said she, "This is the money I had from you; and every handkerchief you gave me, with fifty dinars in it, I wrapped up and threw into this chest. So now take what is your own, for it comes back to you; and today you have become a man of high estate. Fortune and Fate afflicted you so that you lost your right hand for my sake, and I can never repay you; no, if I gave my life it would still be little, and I should remain in your debt."
Then she added, "Take charge of your property."
So I moved the contents of her chest into my chest, and added my wealth to her wealth, which I had given her; and my heart was eased and my sorrow ceased.
I stood up and kissed her and thanked her; and she said, "You have given your hand for love of me — and how am I able to give you anything equal to it? By Allah, if I offered my life for your love it would truly be a small thing and would not do justice to your claim on me."
Then she made over to me by deed everything she owned in clothes and ornaments of gold and pearls, and goods and farms and property; and she did not lie down to sleep that night, being so sorely grieved for my grief, until I had told her the whole of what had happened to me.
I spent the night with her. But before we had lived together a month she fell seriously ill, and her illness grew worse by reason of her grief over the loss of my hand; and she lasted only fifty days before she was numbered among the people of the world to come and the heirs of immortality.
So I laid her out and buried her body in the earth, and had a full reading of the Koran made for the health of her soul, and gave a great deal of money in alms for her; after which I turned away from the grave and went back to the house.
There I found she had left a great deal of property in ready money and slaves, houses, lands and estates; and among her storehouses was a granary of sesame seed, part of which I sold to you. And I had neither the time nor the inclination to settle accounts with you until I had sold the rest of the stock in store; nor indeed have I finished collecting the price even now.
So I want you not to baulk me in what I am about to say to you: twice I have eaten your food, and I wish to make you a present of the money for the sesame that you are holding.
Such is the cause of the cutting off of my right hand, and of my eating with my left.
"Truly," said I, "you have shown me the greatest kindness and generosity."
Then he asked me, "Why should you not travel with me to my own country, which I am about to go back to with Cairo and Alexandria goods? Tell me — will you come with me?"
And I answered, "I will."
So I agreed to go with him at the head of the month; and I sold everything I had and bought other merchandise. Then we set out and travelled, the young man and I, to this country of yours, where he sold his venture and bought another stock of country goods and went on with his journey to Egypt.
But it was my lot to stay here, so that these things happened to me in my exile which happened last night.
And is this tale, O King of the age, not more wonderful and more marvellous than the story of the hunchback?
"Not so," said the King. "I cannot accept it. There is no help for it: every one of you is to be hanged":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Twenty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the King of China declared, "There is no help for it, every one of you is to be hanged," the steward of the Sultan's kitchen came forward and said, "If you will permit me, I will tell you a tale of what happened to me just before I found this hunchback; and if it is more wonderful than his story, then grant us our lives."
And when the King answered, "Yes," he began to recount
Know, O King, that last night I was at a party where they made a full reading of the Koran and got together doctors of law and religion skilled in recitation and chanting; and when the readers had finished, the table was spread, and among other things they set in front of us was a marinated ragout flavoured with cumin seed.
So we sat down; but one of our number held back and refused to touch it. We begged him to eat some, but he swore he would not; and when we pressed him again, he said, "Do not press me. What has already happened to me through eating it is enough." And he began reciting:
"Shoulder your tray and go straight to your goal; and if this kohl suits you — why, then, use this kohl."
When he had finished his verse we said to him, "In Allah's name, tell us your reason for refusing to eat the cumin ragout."
"If it must be so," he replied, "and I have to eat some of it, I will not do it unless I wash my hand forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times with galangal — a hundred and twenty washings in all."
At which our host told his slaves to bring water and everything else he needed; and the young man washed his hand as he had said. Then he sat down, looking disgusted and frightened at the same time, and dipping his hand into the ragout, began to eat, showing signs of anger as he did.
And we wondered at him beyond all wondering, for his hand trembled and the morsel in it shook, and we saw that his thumb had been cut off and he was eating with four fingers only.
So we said to him, "In Allah's name — what happened to your thumb? Is your hand like that by God's own creation, or has some accident happened to it?"
"My brothers," he answered, "it is not only this thumb, but the other one too, and both my great toes, as you shall see."
And saying that, he uncovered his left hand and his feet; and we saw that the left hand was like the right, and that each of his feet was likewise missing its great toe.
When we saw him like that our amazement grew greater still, and we said to him, "We have hardly the patience to wait for your history, and to hear how your thumbs came to be cut off, and why you wash both hands a hundred and twenty times."
Know then, said he, that my father was chief of the merchants and the wealthiest of them all in the city of Baghdad, in the reign of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid; and he was much given to wine drinking and to listening to the lute and the other instruments of pleasure, so that when he died he left nothing.
I buried him and had full readings of the Koran made for him, and mourned for him days and nights; then I opened his shop and found he had left few goods in it, while his debts were many. However, I made an arrangement with his creditors for time to settle their claims, and set about buying and selling, paying them something from week to week on account; and I did not stop doing this until I had cleared his obligations entirely and begun adding to my capital.
One day, as I was sitting in my shop, suddenly and unexpectedly there appeared in front of me a young lady, fairer than any I ever saw, wearing the richest clothes and ornaments and riding a she-mule, with one Black slave walking in front of her and another behind.
She drew rein at the head of the exchange market and came in, followed by a eunuch who said to her, "My lady, come out and away without telling anybody, in case you light a fire that burns the whole lot of us up." And he stood in front of her, keeping her from being seen, while she looked at the merchants' shops.
She found none open except mine; so she came up, with the eunuch behind her, and sat down in my shop and greeted me. I never heard anything fairer than her speech or sweeter than her voice.
Then she unveiled her face, and I saw that she was like the moon; and I stole a glance at her that cost me a thousand sighs, and my heart was captured with love of her; and I kept looking again and again at her face, repeating these lines:
"Say to the charmer in the dove-coloured veil, death would be welcome if it eased your sorrow! Do me the favour of your favours, so that I may live: see, I hold out my palm to take what you give."
When she heard my verse she answered me, saying:
"I have lost all patience through your unkindness; my heart knows nothing but its pledge of love to you. If I look on anything but those bright charms of yours, may my parting from you never end in the sight of you. I swear I will never forget what is owed to you, and this breast would gladly soar to the height of you. You made me drain the cup of love, and gladly would I hold a cup of love for your delight. Take this body of mine wherever you go, and when you die, bury me in the same place as you. Call to me in my grave, and you will hear my bones sigh their answers to the sound of your cry. And if I were asked, 'What would you have of God?' I would answer: first His will, and then your decree."
When she had finished her verse she asked me, "Young man, have you any fine stuffs by you?"
And I answered, "My lady, your slave is a poor man; but be patient until the merchants open their shops, and I will suit you with whatever you want."
Then we sat talking, she and I — and I was drowned in the sea of her love and lost in the desert of my passion — until the merchants opened their shops; when I got up and fetched her everything she wanted, to the tune of five thousand dirhams.
She gave the goods to the eunuch, and going out by the door of the Exchange, mounted her mule and rode away without telling me where she came from; and I was ashamed to speak about such a trifle.
When the merchants dunned me for the price, I made myself answerable for five thousand dirhams and went home, drunk with love of her. They set supper in front of me and I ate a mouthful, thinking of nothing but her beauty and loveliness, and tried to sleep, but sleep would not come.
And that was my condition for a whole week, when the merchants asked me for their money; but I persuaded them to be patient another week, at the end of which she appeared again, mounted on a she-mule and attended by her eunuch and two slaves.
She greeted me and said, "My master, we have been a long time bringing you the price of the goods; but now fetch the money-changer and take your money."
So I sent for the money-changer, and the eunuch counted out the coin in front of him and handed it over to me. Then we sat talking, she and I, until the market opened, when she said to me, "Get me this and that."
So I got her from the merchants whatever she wanted, and she took it and went away without saying a word to me about the price.
As soon as she was out of sight I regretted what I had done; for the value of the goods bought for her came to a thousand dinars, and I said in my soul, "What kind of love is this? She has brought me five thousand dirhams and has taken goods worth a thousand dinars."
I was afraid of being beggared by having to pay the merchants their money, and I said, "They know nobody but me; this lovely lady is nothing but a cheat and a swindler, who has diddled me with her beauty and her grace; for she saw I was a mere boy and laughed at me for not asking her address."
I did not stop being troubled by these doubts and fears, as she was gone more than a month, until the merchants pestered me for their money and were so hard on me that I put my property up for sale and stood on the very brink of ruin.
However, as I was sitting in my shop one day, drowned in melancholy thoughts, she suddenly rode up and, dismounting at the market gate, came straight over to me. When I saw her all my cares fell away from me and I forgot every trouble.
She came right up to me and greeted me in her sweet voice and pleasant speech, and presently said, "Fetch the money-changer and weigh your money."
So she gave me the price of the goods I had got for her, and more; and fell to talking freely with me, until I was ready to die of joy and delight.
Presently she asked me, "Have you a wife?"
And I answered, "Indeed no; I have never known a woman" — and began to shed tears.
Said she, "Why are you weeping?"
Said I, "It is nothing."
Then, giving the eunuch some of the gold pieces, I begged him to be a go-between in the matter; but he laughed and said, "She is more in love with you than you are with her. She has no use at all for the stuffs she has bought from you, and did the whole thing only for love of you; so ask her whatever you like and she will refuse you nothing."
When she saw me giving the dinars to the eunuch she came back and sat down again; and I said to her, "Be charitable to your slave and pardon him what he is about to say."
Then I told her what was in my mind; and she agreed, and said to the eunuch, "You shall carry my message to him" — adding to me, "And do whatever the eunuch tells you."
Then she got up and went away; and I paid the merchants their money and they all profited by it. But as for me, all I gained was regret at the breaking off of our meetings; and I did not sleep the whole of that night.
However, before many days had passed her eunuch came to me, and I treated him honourably and asked him after his mistress.
"Truly she is sick with love of you," he replied.
And I answered, "Tell me who and what she is."
Said he, "The Lady Zubaydah, queen consort of Harun al-Rashid, brought her up in her own household and has advanced her to be stewardess of the harem, and given her the right to come and go as she pleases. She spoke to her lady about you and begged her to marry her to you; but she said, 'I will not do it until I see the young man; and if he is worthy of you, I will marry you to him.'
"So now we are looking for the moment to smuggle you into the palace; and if you manage to get in secretly you will get your wish and marry her. But if the affair gets about, the Lady Zubaydah will strike your head off. What do you say to that?"
I answered, "I will go with you and take the risk you speak of."
Then he said, "As soon as it is night, go to the mosque the Lady Zubaydah built on the Tigris, and pray the night prayers and sleep there."
"With love and gladness," I cried.
So at nightfall I went to the mosque, where I prayed and passed the night. At the first light of dawn a number of eunuchs came in a skiff with a quantity of empty chests, which they set down in the mosque; and then they all went their way except one — and looking at him closely, I saw he was our go-between.
Presently in came the girl, my mistress, walking straight over to us; and I got up to her and embraced her, while she kissed me and shed tears. We talked a while; after which she made me get into one of the chests, which she locked on me.
Presently the other eunuchs came back with a quantity of packages, and she set about stowing them into the chests, which she locked down one by one until all were shut. When it was done the eunuchs loaded the chests into the boat and set off for the Lady Zubaydah's palace.
At this, misgivings began to trouble me and I said to myself, "Truly your lust and your recklessness will be the death of you; and after all this, the question is whether you get your wish or not."
And I began to weep, boxed up as I was in the box and suffering from cramp; and I prayed to Allah to deliver me from the dangerous position I was in — while the boat did not stop going on until it reached the palace gate, where they lifted out the chests, and mine among them.
Then they carried them in, passing a troop of eunuchs, the guardians of the harem and of the ladies behind the curtain, until they came to the post of the Chief Eunuch, who started up out of his sleep and shouted at the girl, "What is in those chests?"
"They are full of goods for the Lady Zubaydah."
"Open them, one by one, so that I can see what is in them."
"And what do you want to open them for?"
"Give me no words and do not overdo the talking! These chests must and shall be opened."
And saying that, he sprang to his feet; and the first one they brought him to open was the one I was in. And when I felt his hands on it my senses left me and I wet myself in my terror, so that the water ran out of the box.
Then she said to the Chief Eunuch, "Steward! You will get me killed and yourself too, for you have damaged goods worth ten thousand dinars. This chest holds coloured dresses and four gallon-flasks of Zamzam water; and now one of them has come unstoppered and the water is running out over the clothes and will spoil their colours."
The eunuch answered, "Take up your boxes and get out, to the curse of God!"
So the slaves carried off all the chests, mine included, and hurried on with them — when suddenly I heard a voice saying, "Alack, and alack! The Caliph! The Caliph!"
When that cry struck my ears I died in my skin, and said the saying that has never yet shamed the man who said it: "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I and nobody else have brought this calamity on myself."
Presently I heard the Caliph say to my mistress, "A plague on you — what is in those boxes?"
And she answered, "Dresses for the Lady Zubaydah."
At which he said, "Open them in front of me!"
When I heard this I died my death outright, and said to myself, "By Allah, today is the very last of my days in this world. If I come safely out of this I am to marry her and there is no more to be said; but discovery is staring me in the face and my head is as good as struck off."
Then I repeated the profession of faith, saying, "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God!":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Twenty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the young merchant went on as follows:
Now when I had testified, "I bear witness that there is no god but God," I heard my mistress the handmaid declare to the Caliph, "These chests, Commander of the Faithful, have been committed to my charge by the Lady Zubaydah, and she does not want their contents seen by anybody."
"No matter," said the Caliph. "They must be opened; I will see what is in them." And he called out to the eunuchs, "Bring the chests here in front of me."
At this I made certain of death, beyond any doubt, and fainted away.
Then the eunuchs brought the chests up to him one after another and he set about inspecting the contents; but he saw in them nothing but perfumes and cloths and fine dresses. And they did not stop opening the chests and he did not stop looking at what was in them, finding nothing but clothes and such things, until none was left unopened but the box I was boxed in.
They put out their hands to open it — but my mistress made haste and said to the Caliph, "This one you shall see only in the presence of the Lady Zubaydah, for what is in it is her own secret."
When he heard this he gave orders to carry the chests in; so they took up the one I was in and carried it with the rest into the harem and set it down in the middle of the great room; and truly my spittle was dried up with sheer fear.
Then my mistress opened the box and took me out, saying, "Do not be afraid; no harm and no dread will come to you now. Broaden your chest and strengthen your heart and sit down until the Lady Zubaydah comes, and you shall certainly get your wish of me."
So I sat down; and after a while in came ten maids, virgins like moons, and ranged themselves in two rows, five facing five; and after them twenty other girls, high-bosomed virgins, surrounding the Lady Zubaydah, who could hardly walk for the weight of her clothes and her ornaments.
As she came near, the slave girls parted from around her, and I came forward and kissed the ground between her hands. She signed to me to sit; and when I had sat down in front of her chair, she began questioning me about my forebears and my family and my circumstances, to which I gave such answers as pleased her; and she said to my mistress, "Our raising of you, girl, has not disappointed us."
Then she said to me, "Know that this girl is to us as our own child, and she is a trust committed to you by Allah."
I kissed the ground before her again, well pleased that I should marry my mistress; and she told me to stay ten days in the palace.
So I stayed there ten days, in which time I saw neither my mistress nor anybody else except one of the concubines, who brought me my morning and evening meals.
After this the Lady Zubaydah consulted the Caliph about the marriage of her favourite handmaid, and he gave his leave and assigned her a wedding portion of ten thousand gold pieces. So the Lady Zubaydah sent for the judge and the witnesses, who wrote out our marriage contract; after which the women made ready sweets and rich dishes and distributed them among all the chambers of the harem.
They did this for another ten days, at the end of which my mistress went to the baths.
Meanwhile they set in front of me a tray of food with all sorts of meats on it; and among those dishes, which were enough to daze a man's wits, was a bowl of cumin ragout with chicken breasts in it, larded and flavoured with sugar, pistachios, musk and rose water.
Then, by Allah, good sirs, I did not hesitate long; but took my seat in front of the ragout and fell to and ate of it until I could eat no more. After this I wiped my hands, but forgot to wash them; and sat until it grew dark, when the wax candles were lit and the singing women came in with their tambourines and set about displaying the bride in one dress after another and carrying her in procession from room to room all round the palace, getting their palms crossed with gold as they went.
Then they brought her to me and undressed her.
When I found myself alone with her on the bed I put my arms round her, hardly able to believe we were together; but she smelled the strong odour of the ragout on my hands, and instantly cried out with a very loud cry, at which the slave girls came running to her from every side.
I trembled with alarm, not knowing what the matter was; and the girls asked her, "What is the matter, sister?"
She answered them, "Take this madman away from me. I thought he was a man of sense!"
Said I to her, "What makes you think me mad?"
Said she, "You madman! What made you eat cumin ragout and forget to wash your hand? By Allah, I will pay you back for your bad manners. Is a man like you to come to bed with a woman like me with unclean hands?"
Then she took a plaited scourge from her side and came down with it on my back and the place where I sit, until her forearms were numb and I had fainted away from the beating; when she said to the maids, "Take him and carry him to the Chief of Police, so that he may strike off the hand he ate the cumin ragout with and did not wash."
When I heard this I said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! Will you cut off my hand because I ate a cumin ragout and did not wash?"
The maids interceded with her too, and kissed her hand, saying, "Sister, this man is a simpleton; do not punish him for what he has done this once."
But she answered, "By Allah, there is no help for it: I must dock him of something, and of the offending member above all."
Then she went away, and I saw no more of her for ten days, in which time she sent me food and drink by a slave girl, who told me she had fallen ill from the smell of the cumin ragout.
After that she came to me and said, "You disgrace! I will teach you how to eat cumin ragout without washing your hands."
Then she called out to the maids, who pinioned me; and she took a sharp razor and cut off my thumbs and my great toes, exactly as you see, good company.
At which I fainted away; and she sprinkled some powdered healing herbs on the stumps, and when the blood had been staunched I said, "Never again will I eat cumin ragout without washing my hands forty times with potash and forty times with galangal and forty times with soap!"
And she made me swear an oath and bound me by a covenant to that effect.
So when you brought me the cumin ragout my colour changed, and I said to myself, "This is the very dish that caused the cutting off of my thumbs and my great toes"; and when you forced me, I said, "I must fulfil the oath I have sworn."
"And what happened to you after that?" asked the people there.
And he answered: When I had sworn to her, her anger was appeased, and I slept with her that night.
We lived like that a while, until one day she said to me, "Truly the Caliph's palace is not a pleasant place for us to live in, and nobody ever entered it but you — and you only by the grace of the Lady Zubaydah. Now she has given me fifty thousand dinars," she added; "take this money and go out and buy us a fine house."
So I went out and bought a fine, spacious mansion, to which she moved all the wealth she owned and what riches I had made in cloth and costly rarities.
Such is the cause of the cutting off of my thumbs and my great toes.
We ate (the steward went on), and were going home when there happened to me with the hunchback that business you know about. That is my story, and peace be with you.
Said the King, "This story is in no way more delightful than the story of the hunchback; no, it is rather less so, and there is no help for it: the whole lot of you must be hanged."
Then the Jewish physician came forward and, kissing the ground, said, "O King of the age, I will tell you a history more wonderful than that of the hunchback."
"Tell on," said the King of China. So he began the
A truly marvellous thing happened to me in my youth. I was living in Damascus in Syria, studying my art; and one day, as I was sitting at home, a Mamluk came to me from the Viceroy's household and said, "Speak with my lord!"
So I followed him to the Viceroy's house; and going into the great hall, saw at the head of it a couch of cedar plated with gold, on which lay a sickly young man, and a handsome one at that — you could not see a fairer.
I sat down by his head and prayed to Heaven for a cure; and he made me a sign with his eyes. So I said to him, "My lord, favour me with your hand, and may safety be with you."
Then he put out his left hand; and I marvelled at it and said to myself, "By Allah, it is strange that this handsome young man, the son of a great house, should have so little in the way of manners. This can be nothing but pride and conceit."
However, I felt his pulse and wrote him a prescription, and went on visiting him for ten days, at the end of which he recovered and went to the baths; at which the Viceroy gave me a handsome robe of honour and appointed me superintendent of the hospital in Damascus.
I went with him to the baths, the whole of which they had kept private for his use; and the servants came in with him and took off his clothes inside; and when he was stripped I saw that his right hand had been cut off, and not long before — and this was the cause of his weakness.
At this I was amazed and grieved for him; and then, looking at his body, I saw on it the scars of scourge-strokes that he had been putting ointments on. I was troubled at the sight, and my concern showed in my face.
The young man looked at me and, understanding, said, "Physician of the age, do not marvel at my case; I will tell you my story as soon as we leave the baths."
Then we washed, and going back to his house, ate a little food and rested a while; after which he asked me, "What do you say to amusing yourself by looking over the supper hall?"
And I answered, "So let it be."
At which he ordered the slaves to carry out the necessary carpets and cushions, and to roast a lamb and bring us some fruit. They did as he said, and we ate together, he using his left hand for it.
After a while I said to him, "Now tell me your tale."
"Physician of the age," he replied, "hear what happened to me.
"Know that I am one of the sons of Mosul, where my grandfather died leaving nine children, of whom my father was the eldest. They all grew up and took wives, but not one of them was blessed with children except my father, to whom Providence granted me. So I grew up among my uncles, who rejoiced in me exceedingly, until I came of age.
"One day, which happened to be a Friday, I went to the cathedral mosque of Mosul with my father and my uncles, and we prayed the congregational prayers; after which the people went out, except my father and my uncles, who sat talking about wonderful things in foreign parts and the marvellous sights of strange cities.
"At last they mentioned Egypt, and one of my uncles said, 'Travellers tell us that there is nothing on the face of the earth finer than Cairo and her Nile' — and these words made me long to see Cairo.
"Said my father, 'Whoever has not seen Cairo has not seen the world. Her dust is golden and her Nile a miracle to behold; and her women are as fair as the maidens of Paradise, painted puppets, beautiful pictures; her houses are rare palaces; her water is sweet and light and her mud a commodity and a medicine beyond compare — just as the poet says in this poem of his:
The Nile flood today is the gain you own; you alone dwell among such gains and bounties. The Nile is the flood of my own tears at separation, and here nobody is forlorn but I alone.
"'What is more, her air is temperate and mixed with a fragrance that surpasses aloes-wood in scent; and how should it be otherwise, she being the Mother of the World? And Allah favour the man who wrote these lines:
If I leave Cairo and her pleasure gardens, where can I go to find such gladdening ways? Shall I abandon that place, whose grateful scents delight every soul and call for the loudest praise? Where every palace, like another Eden, displays its richly worked carpets and cushions; a city that woos the eye and the spirit to gladness, where Saint meets Sinner and each enjoys his craze; where friend meets friend, brought together by Providence in green gardens and in mazes of palm. People of Cairo — and by Allah's decree I travel — in my thoughts I live with you always. Do not whisper Cairo in the ear of the west wind, in case he robs her of her garden scents.
"'And if your eyes saw her earth, and how it is adorned with blossom and embroidered with every kind of flower, and the islands of the Nile and how much there is in them of wide and handsome prospect; and if you turned your sight on the Abyssinian Pond, your glance would not come back from the scene without wonder; for nowhere would you see the fellow of that lovely view. Indeed the two arms of the Nile embrace the most luxuriant green, as the white of the eye encloses its black, or like filigreed silver surrounding chrysolites. And a divinely gifted poet said these lines about it:
By the Abyssinian Pond, O divine day, in the morning twilight and in the sunny shine! The water imprisoned in its green walls like the flash of a sabre before shrinking eyes. And in the Garden we sat while it drank a slow draught, its embroidered banks dyed the finest. The stream is rippled by the hands of the clouds, and we too go rippling as we lie back on our rugs, passing round pure wine; and whoever leaves us there shall never rise up from the fall his woes have designed. Draining long draughts from large and brimming bowls, administering the only medicine for thirst — wine.
"'And what is there to compare with the Observatory and its charms, of which every viewer says as he comes near it, "Truly this spot has every kind of excellence to itself"? And if you speak of the Night of the Nile at its full, then give away the rainbow and share it out! And if you saw the Garden in the evening, with the cool shadows sloping far and wide, you would see a marvel and would incline to Egypt in ecstasy. And if you were by Cairo's river when the sun is sinking and the stream puts on its coat of mail and its hauberk over its other clothes, you would be quickened to new life by its gentle breezes and by its all-sufficient shade.'
"So he spoke; and the rest of them fell to describing Egypt and her Nile. As I listened to their accounts my thoughts dwelt on the subject; and when they had talked their fill and all got up and went their ways, I lay down to sleep that night, but sleep would not come, because of my violent longing for Egypt; and neither food nor drink pleased me.
"After a few days my uncles fitted themselves out for a trading journey to Egypt; and I wept in front of my father until he got suitable merchandise ready for me, and consented to my going with them — saying, however, 'Do not let him enter Cairo, but leave him to sell his goods at Damascus.'
"So I said goodbye to my father, and we set out from Mosul and did not stop travelling until we reached Aleppo, where we halted some days. Then we marched on until we made Damascus; and we found her a city that might have been a Paradise, full of trees and streams and birds and fruit of every kind.
"We put up at one of the khans, where my uncles stayed a while selling and buying; and they bought and sold on my account too, each dirham turning a profit of five on the prime cost, which pleased me mightily.
"After this they left me alone and set their faces towards Egypt, while I stayed in Damascus, where I had rented from a jeweller, for two dinars a month, a house whose beauties would beggar the tongue. Here I stayed, eating and drinking and spending what money I had, until one day, as I was sitting at the door of my house, there came past a young lady in the costliest clothes my eyes ever saw.
"I gave her a look, and she stepped inside without hesitating and stood there. I went in with her and shut the door on the two of us; at which she raised her face veil and threw off her cloak — and I found her like a moon in a painting, of a rare and marvellous loveliness; and love of her took hold of my heart.
"So I got up and brought a tray of the most delicate food and fruit and whatever else suited the occasion; and we ate and played, and after that drank until the wine turned our heads. Then I lay with her the sweetest of nights; and in the morning I offered her ten gold pieces — at which her face darkened and her eyebrows drew together, and shaking with anger she cried, "Shame on you, my sweet companion! Do you think I want your money?"
"Then she took fifteen dinars out of the breast of her shift and laid them in front of me and said, "By Allah, unless you take these I will never come back to you."
"So I accepted them, and she said, "My beloved, expect me again in three days' time, when I will be with you between sunset and supper; and with these dinars prepare us the same entertainment as last night."
"And saying that, she took her leave and went away, and all my senses went with her.
"On the third day she came again, dressed in cloth woven with gold wire, and wearing clothes and ornaments finer than before. I had got the place ready for her before she arrived and the meal was waiting; so we ate and drank and lay together as we had done, until the morning, when she gave me another fifteen gold pieces and promised to come again in three days.
"So I got ready for her; and at the appointed time she appeared, more richly dressed than on the first and second occasions, and said to me, "My lord, am I not beautiful?"
"'Yes, by Allah, you are,' I answered.
"And she went on, 'Will you let me bring with me a young lady fairer than I am and younger in years, so that she can play with us, and you and she can laugh and make merry and gladden her heart? For she has been very sad this long while, and has asked me to take her out and let her spend the night away with me.'
"'Yes, by Allah!' I replied.
"And we drank until the wine turned our heads, and slept until morning, when she gave me another fifteen dinars, saying, 'Add something to your usual provision on account of the young lady who is coming with me.'
"Then she went away; and on the fourth day I got the house ready as usual, and soon after sunset she came, with another girl wrapped carefully in her cloak. They came in and sat down; and when I saw them I repeated these lines:
'How dear our day is and how lucky our lot when the cynic is away with his spiteful tongue! When love and delight and the swimming of the head send cleverness trotting off — the best gift of wine. When the full moon shines out from the cloudy veil and the little branch sways in its shining greenery; when the red rose blooms in the freshest cheek and Narcissus opens his love-sick eyes; when pleasure with the people I love is so sweet and friendship with the people I love is complete.'
"I was delighted to see them, and lit the candles after welcoming them with gladness and delight. They took off their heavy outer clothes, and the new girl uncovered her face — and I saw she was like the moon at the full; I never saw anything more beautiful.
"Then I got up and set food and drink in front of them, and we ate and drank; and I kept giving mouthfuls to the newcomer and crowning her cup and drinking with her, until the first girl, growing inwardly jealous, asked me, 'By Allah, is she not more delicious than I am?'
"To which I answered, 'Yes, by the Lord.'
"'It is my wish that you lie with her tonight; for I am your mistress, but she is our guest. On my head be it, and on my eyes.'
"Then she got up and spread the carpets for our bed; and I took the young lady and lay with her that night until morning, when I woke and found myself wet, as I thought, with sweat.
"I sat up and tried to wake the girl; but when I shook her by the shoulders my hand came away crimson with blood, and her head rolled off the pillow.
"At which my senses left me and I cried out aloud, 'O All-powerful Protector, grant me Your protection!' And then, finding her neck had been cut through, I sprang up, and the world went black in front of my eyes; and I looked for the lady, my first love, and could not find her.
"So I knew it was she who had murdered the girl out of jealousy, and I said, 'There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! What is to be done now?'
"I thought a while; then, taking off my clothes, I dug a hole in the middle of the courtyard, in which I laid the murdered girl with her jewellery and her gold ornaments; and throwing the earth back over her, replaced the slabs of the marble pavement.
"After this I made the full washing and put on clean clothes; then, taking what money I had left, I locked up the house and gathered my courage and went to its owner, to whom I paid a year's rent, saying, 'I am about to join my uncles in Cairo.'
"Presently I set out, and travelling to Egypt, met up with my uncles, who were delighted to see me; and I found they had finished selling their merchandise. They asked me, 'What is the reason for your coming?' And I answered, 'I longed for a sight of you' — but I did not let them know that I had any money with me.
"I stayed with them a year, enjoying the pleasures of Cairo and her Nile and squandering the rest of my money on feasting and carousing, until the time drew near for my uncles to leave, when I ran from them and hid myself. They made enquiries and searched for me; but hearing nothing, they said, 'He will have gone back to Damascus.'
"When they had gone I came out of my hiding place and stayed in Cairo three years, until nothing was left of my money.
"Now every year I used to send the rent of the Damascus house to its owner, until at last I had nothing left but enough to pay him one year's rent; and my chest was tight with worry. So I travelled to Damascus and put up at the house, whose owner the jeweller was glad to see me; and I found everything locked up as I had left it.
"I opened the cupboards and took out my clothes and necessaries, and came upon — underneath the bed where I had lain that night with the girl who was beheaded — a golden necklace set with ten gems of surpassing beauty.
"I picked it up and cleaned the blood off it, and sat gazing at it and weeping a while.
"Then I stayed in the house two days, and on the third went to the baths and changed my clothes. I had no money by me now; so Satan whispered temptation to me, that the Decree of Destiny might be carried out.
"Next day I took the jewelled necklace to the market and handed it to a broker, who sat me down in the shop of the jeweller, my landlord, and told me to be patient until the market filled up; when he carried the ornament off and cried it for sale, privately and without my knowledge.
"The necklace was priced as worth two thousand dinars; but the broker came back to me and said, 'This collar is copper, a mere counterfeit made after the fashion of the Franks, and a thousand dirhams have been bid for it.'
"'Yes,' I answered, 'I knew it was copper; we had it made for a certain person so as to play a joke on her. Now my wife has inherited it and we want to sell it; so go and take the thousand dirhams'":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Twenty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the handsome young man said to the broker, "Take the thousand dirhams"; and when the broker heard this, he knew the case was suspicious.
So he carried the collar to the head of the market, and the head of the market took it to the Governor, who was also prefect of police, and told him, falsely enough, "This necklace was stolen from my house, and we have found the thief dressed as a trader."
So before I knew anything about it the watch surrounded me and made me their prisoner and carried me before the Governor, who questioned me about the collar. I told him the tale I had told the broker; but he laughed and said, "These words are not true."
Then, before I knew what was happening, the guards stripped my clothes off and came down on my ribs with palm rods, until for the smart of the sticks I confessed, "It was I who stole it" — saying to myself, "It is better to say you stole it than to let them know its owner was murdered in your house, for then they would kill you to avenge her."
So they wrote down that I had stolen it, and they cut off my hand and scalded the stump in oil, at which I fainted away for the pain; but they gave me wine to drink and I recovered, and picking up my hand, was going back to my fine house — when my landlord said to me, "Since this has happened to you, my son, you must leave my house and look for another lodging, as you have been convicted of theft. You are a handsome young man, but who will pity you after this?"
"My master," I said, "bear with me two days or three, until I find another place."
He answered, "So be it," and went away and left me.
I went back into the house, where I sat weeping and saying, "How shall I go back to my own people with my hand cut off, when they do not know I am innocent? Perhaps even after this Allah may arrange something for me."
And I wept beyond all weeping; grief besieged me, and I stayed in bitter trouble for two days.
But on the third day my landlord came suddenly in to me, and with him some of the guards and the head of the market who had falsely accused me of stealing the necklace. I went up to them and asked, "What is the matter?" — but without any more talk they pinioned my arms and threw a chain round my neck, saying, "The necklace that was on you has turned out to be the property of the Wazir of Damascus, who is also her Viceroy." And they added, "It went missing from his house three years ago, at the same time as his younger daughter."
When I heard this my heart sank inside me, and I said to myself, "Your life is gone beyond any doubt! By Allah, I must tell the Chief my story; and if he likes let him kill me, and if he pleases let him pardon me."
So they carried me to the Wazir's house and stood me in front of him. When he saw me he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and said to those present, "Why did you cut off his hand? This man is unfortunate, and there is no fault in him; indeed you have wronged him by cutting off his hand."
When I heard this I took heart, and my soul promising me something good, I said to him, "By Allah, my lord, I am no thief; but they slandered me with a vile slander, and they scourged me in the middle of the market, telling me to confess, until for the pain of the rods I lied against myself and confessed the theft, although I am entirely innocent of it."
"Do not be afraid," said the Viceroy. "No harm shall come to you."
Then he ordered the head of the market to be imprisoned, and said to him, "Give this man the blood money for his hand; and if you delay I will hang you and seize all your property."
What is more he called his guards, who took the man and dragged him away, leaving me with the Chief.
Then at his command they loosed the chain from my neck and unbound my arms; and he looked at me and said, "My son, be truthful with me, and tell me how this necklace came to you." And he recited these lines:
"Truth suits you best, even though the truth should bring you to burn in the fire you were threatened with."
"By Allah, my lord," I answered, "I will tell you nothing but the truth."
Then I told him everything that had passed between me and the first lady, and how she had brought me the second and had killed her out of jealousy; and I set the tale out for him in full.
When he heard my story he shook his head and struck his right hand upon his left; and putting his handkerchief over his face, wept a while, and then recited:
"I see the woes of the world in plenty, and worldly people sick with spleen and grief; there is One who will part the meeting of any two, and those who are not parted are few and far between."
Then he turned to me and said:
"Know, my son, that the elder girl who first came to you was my daughter, whom I used to keep closely guarded. When she grew up I sent her to Cairo and married her to her cousin, my brother's son. After a while he died and she came back — but she had learnt wantonness and bad manners from the people of Cairo; so she visited you four times, and at last brought her younger sister.
"Now they were full sisters and much attached to each other; and when that adventure happened to the elder, she disclosed her secret to her sister, who wanted to go out with her. So she asked your leave and brought her to you; after which she came back alone; and finding her weeping, I questioned her about her sister, but she said, 'I know nothing about her.'
"However, she presently told her mother privately what had happened and how she had cut off her sister's head; and her mother told me. Then she did not stop weeping and saying, 'By Allah, I shall cry for her till I die.' Nor did she leave off mourning until her heart broke and she died; and that is how things fell out.
"So you see, my son, what has come to pass. And now I want you not to cross me in what I am about to offer you: I mean to marry you to my youngest daughter, for she is a virgin and born of another mother; and I will take no dowry from you but on the contrary will settle an allowance on you, and you shall live with me in my house in the place of a son."
"So be it," I answered, "and how could I hope for such good fortune?"
Then he sent at once for the judge and the witnesses and had my marriage contract with his daughter written out, and I went in to her. What is more, he got me a large sum of money out of the head of the market, and I stood in high favour with him.
During that year news came to me that my father was dead; and the Wazir sent a courier with letters bearing the royal signature to fetch me the money my father had left behind. And now I am living in all the comfort of life.
Such was the manner of the cutting off of my right hand.
I marvelled at his story (the Jew went on), and I stayed with him three days, after which he gave me a great deal of wealth; and I set out and travelled eastwards until I reached this city of yours, and the place suited me very well; so I settled here — and there happened to me what you know about with the hunchback.
At this the King of China shook his head and said, "This story of yours is not stranger or more wonderful or more marvellous or more delightful than the tale of the hunchback; and so I must hang the whole number of you. However, there still remains the tailor, who is the head of the whole offence." And he added, "Tailor, if you can tell me anything more wonderful than the story of the hunchback, I will pardon you all your offences."
At which the man came forward and began to tell the
Know, O King of the age, that the most marvellous thing happened to me only yesterday, before I fell in with the hunchback.
It so happened that early in the day I was at the wedding feast of one of my friends, who had got together in his house some twenty of the craftsmen of this city — tailors and silk-spinners and carpenters and others of the same sort.
As soon as the sun had risen they set food in front of us so that we could eat; when in came the master of the house, and with him a young stranger, a good-looking man from Baghdad, wearing clothes as handsome as could be; and he was a very fine figure, except that he was lame in one leg.
He came and greeted us, and we stood up to receive him; but when he was about to sit down he caught sight among us of a certain man who was a barber, at which he refused to sit and would have gone away.
But we stopped him, and our host stopped him too, swearing he should not leave us, and asked, "What is the reason for your coming in and going straight out again?"
To which he answered, "By Allah, my lord, do not hinder me; the reason I am turning back is that barber over there — that man of ill omen, that disgrace, that good-for-nothing."
When the master of the house heard this he marvelled greatly and said, "How does this young man, who comes from Baghdad, come to be so troubled and put out by this barber?"
Then we looked at the stranger and said, "Explain the reason for your anger against the barber."
"Good company," said the young man, "I had a strange adventure with this barber in Baghdad, which is my native city. He was the cause of my leg being broken and of my lameness, and I have sworn never to sit in the same place as he does, nor even to stay in any town where he happens to be living. I said goodbye to Baghdad and travelled far from it and came to stay in this city of yours; and I had hardly passed one night before I meet him again. But not another day shall go by before I leave here."
Said we to him, "In Allah's name, tell us the tale."
And the young man began — the barber changing colour from brown to yellow as he spoke:
Know, good company, that my father was one of the chief merchants of Baghdad, and Almighty Allah had blessed him with no son but me. When I grew up and came of age my father was received into the mercy of Allah, whose Name be exalted, and left me money and eunuchs, servants and slaves; and I used to dress well and eat well.
Now Allah had made me a hater of womankind; and one day, as I was walking along a street in Baghdad, a party of women met me face to face on the footway; so I fled from them, and going into an alley that was a dead end, sat down on a stone bench at the far end of it.
I had not been sitting there long before the latticed window of one of the houses opposite was thrown open, and at it there appeared a young lady like the full moon at its fullest; I never in my life saw her like; and she began watering some flowers on the window sill.
She turned right and left, and seeing me watching her, shut the window and went away. At which a fire was suddenly kindled in my heart; my mind was possessed with her, and my hatred of women turned into love of women.
I went on sitting there, lost to the world, until sunset — when the judge of the city came riding by with his slaves in front of him and his eunuchs behind, and dismounted and went into the house where the girl had appeared.
By this I knew he was her father; so I went home miserable and threw myself down on my bed in grief. Then my maids came flocking in and sat about me, not knowing what was wrong with me; but I did not say a word to them, and they wept and wailed over me.
Presently in came an old woman, who looked at me and saw at a glance what the matter was; so she sat down by my head and spoke kindly to me, saying, "My son, tell me all about it and I will be the means of your being joined with her."
So I told her what had happened; and she answered, "My son, this girl is the daughter of the judge of Baghdad, who keeps her in the closest seclusion; and the window where you saw her is her floor, while her father occupies the great hall on the lower storey. She is often there alone, and I am in the habit of visiting the house; so you will not get to her except through me. Now set your wits to work and take heart."
With these words she went away; and I took heart at what she had said, and my household rejoiced that day, seeing me get up in the morning safe and sound.
By and by the old woman came back looking crestfallen, and said, "My son, do not ask me how I got on with her! When I told her, she cried at me: 'If you do not hold your peace, you hag of ill omen, and leave off such talk, I will treat you as you deserve and put you to the foulest of deaths.' But I must have another try at her."
When I heard this it added illness to my illness; and the neighbours came to visit me and judged that I was not long for this world.
But after some days the old woman came to me and, putting her mouth close to my ear, whispered, "My son, I claim from you the gift for good news."
With this my soul came back into me and I said, "Whatever you want shall be yours."
At which she began: "Yesterday I went to the young lady, who, seeing me broken in spirit and shedding tears from reddened eyes, asked me, 'Auntie, what is the matter, that I see your chest so tight with trouble?'
"And I answered, weeping bitterly, 'My lady, I have just come from the house of a young man who loves you and who is about to die for your sake.'
"Said she — and her heart was softened — 'And who is this young man you speak of?'
"And I said, 'He is like a son to me and the fruit of my own body. He saw you some days ago at the window watering your flowers; and catching sight of your face and your wrists, he fell in love at first sight. I let him know what happened to me the last time I was with you, at which his illness grew worse; he took to his bed, and he is nothing now but a dead man, and there is no doubt about it at all.'
"At this she turned pale and asked, 'All this for my sake?'
"And I answered, 'Yes, by Allah! What would you have me do?'
"Said she, 'Go back to him and greet him for me and tell him that I am twice as heartsick as he is. And on Friday, before the hour of public prayer, tell him to come to the house, and I will come down and open the door for him. Then I will take him up to my room and be with him a while, and let him go before my father comes back from the mosque.'"
When I heard the old woman's words all my sickness suddenly fell away from me, my anguish stopped and my heart was comforted. I took off the clothes I had on and gave them to her; and as she turned to go she said, "Keep a good heart."
"I have not a jot of sorrow left," I replied.
My household and my friends rejoiced at my recovery; and I stayed like that until Friday, when the old woman came in and asked how I was, to which I answered that I was well and in good case.
Then I put on my clothes and perfumed myself and sat down to wait for the congregation to go in to prayers, so that I could go to her.
But the old woman said to me, "You have time and to spare; so you would do well to go to the baths and have your hair shaved off — especially after your illness — so as not to show the traces of it."
"That is the best way," I answered. "I have only just bathed in hot water, but I will have my head shaved."
Then I said to my page, "Go to the market and bring me a barber — a discreet fellow, and one not given to meddling or impertinent curiosity, or likely to split my head with too much talk."
The boy went out at once and came back with this wretched old man, this creature of ill omen.
When he came in he greeted me and I returned his greeting; and then he said, "Truly I see you are thin in the body."
And I said, "I have been ill."
He went on, "May Allah drive far away from you your woe and your sorrow and your trouble and your distress."
"Allah grant your prayer," said I.
He continued, "All gladness to you, my master, for recovery has certainly come to you. Do you wish to be shaved, or to be bled? For it was a tradition of Ibn Abbas — Allah accept of him — that the Apostle said, 'Whoever cuts his hair on a Friday, the Lord shall turn seventy calamities away from him.' And it is related of him also that he said, 'Cupping on a Friday preserves a man from loss of sight and from a host of diseases.'"
"Leave this talk," I cried. "Come and shave my head at once, for I cannot stand it."
So he got up and put out his hand in the most leisurely way and took out a handkerchief and unfolded it — and inside it was an astrolabe with seven parallel plates mounted in silver.
Then he went into the middle of the courtyard and raised his head and the instrument towards the sun's rays, and looked for a long while. When that was over he came back and said to me:
"Know that there have elapsed of this our day, which is Friday, and this Friday being the tenth of the month Safar in the six hundred and fifty-third year since the Flight of the Apostle — on whom be the best of blessings and peace — and the seven thousand three hundred and twentieth year of the era of Alexander: eight degrees and six minutes.
"Furthermore, the ascendant of this our day is, according to the most exact science of computation, the planet Mars; and it so happens that Mercury is in conjunction with him, indicating an auspicious moment for haircutting. And this also makes plain to me that you desire union with a certain person, and that your dealings with her will not be favourable. But after this there occurs a sign concerning a matter which will befall you, and of which I will not speak."
"You there," I cried, "by Allah, you weary me and scatter my wits, and your forecast is anything but good. I sent for you to shave my head and nothing else; so up and shave me, and do not draw out your speech."
"By Allah," he replied, "if you only knew what is about to happen to you, you would do nothing at all today; and I advise you to act as I tell you, by the computation of the constellations."
"By Allah," said I, "I never saw a barber who excelled in judicial astrology except you; but I think, and I know, that you are extremely prodigal of frivolous talk. I sent for you only to shave my head, and you come and pester me with this sorry prattle."
"What more would you have?" he replied. "Allah has generously bestowed on you a barber who is an astrologer; one learned in alchemy and white magic; in syntax, grammar and lexicology; in the arts of logic, rhetoric and elocution; in mathematics, arithmetic and algebra; in astronomy, astromancy and geometry; in theology, the Traditions of the Apostle and the Commentaries on the Koran.
"Furthermore I have read books by the score and digested them, and I have had experience of affairs and understood them. In short I have learned the theory and the practice of all the arts and sciences; I know them all by heart, and I am a past master in everything that can be known.
"Your father loved me for my lack of officiousness; therefore, to serve you is a religious duty laid on me. I am no busybody, as you seem to suppose; and on that account I am known as The Silent Man, and also The Modest Man. So it behoves you to give thanks to Allah Almighty and not to cross me, for I am a true counsellor to you and kindly disposed towards you. I only wish I were in your service a whole year, so that you might do me justice; and I would ask you no wage for any of it."
When I heard this flow of words I said to him, "You will certainly be the death of me today":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Thirtieth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the young man said to the barber, "You will certainly be the death of me this very day!"
"My good master," he replied, "I am the one called The Silent Man, by reason of the fewness of my words, to distinguish me from my six brothers. For the eldest is called Al-Bakbuk, the Prattler; the second Al-Haddar, the Babbler; the third Al-Fakik, the Gabbler; the fourth — his name is Al-Kuz al-Aswani, the Long-Necked Jug, from his everlasting chattering; the fifth is Al-Nashshar, the Tattler and Teller of Tales; the sixth is Shakashik, or Many Clamours; and the seventh is famous as Al-Samit, The Silent Man — and that is my noble self."
While he redoubled his talk I thought my gall bladder would burst; so I said to the servant, "Give him a quarter dinar and get rid of him, and let him go from me in the name of the God who made him. I will not have my head shaved today."
"What words are these, my lord?" he cried. "By Allah, I will accept no hire from you until I have served you and attended to your wants; and I do not care if I never take money from you at all. If you do not know my quality, I know yours; and I owe your father, an honest man — on whom Almighty Allah have mercy — a great many kindnesses, for he was a liberal soul and a generous one.
"By Allah, he sent for me one day, just as it might be this blessed day, and I went in to him and found a party of his intimates about him. Said he to me, 'Bleed me.' So I pulled out my astrolabe and, taking the sun's altitude for him, found that the ascendant was inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for bleeding. I told him so, and he did as I bade him and waited for a better opportunity. So I made these lines in his honour:
I went to my patron to let a little blood, but found that the moment was far from good; so I sat and I talked of all sorts of strange things and wooed his goodwill with jests and with jokes. They pleased him, and he cried, 'O man of wit, you have proved yourself perfect in a merry mood!' Said I, 'O Lord of men, unless you lend me art and wisdom, I am a drunken fool; in you gather grace, gift, bounty and courtesy, and I reward the world with learning, science and gravity.'
"Your father was delighted and called out to the servant, 'Give him a hundred and three gold pieces with a robe of honour!' The man obeyed, and I waited for an auspicious moment and then bled him; and he did not baulk me — no, he thanked me, and I was thanked and praised by everybody there.
"When the bloodletting was over I had no power to keep silent, and asked him, 'By Allah, my lord, what made you say to the servant, Give him a hundred and three dinars?'
"And he answered, 'One dinar was for the astrological observation, another for your pleasant conversation, the third for the bloodletting, and the remaining hundred and the robe were for your verses in my praise.'"
"May Allah show small mercy to my father," I exclaimed, "for ever knowing the like of you!"
He laughed and said, "There is no god but God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God! Glory to Him that changes and is not changed! I took you for a man of sense, but I see you babble and wander from your illness. Allah has said in the Blessed Book, 'Paradise is prepared for the good, who bridle their anger and forgive men' — and so on; and in any case you are excused.
"Yet I cannot conceive the cause of your hurry and flurry; and you should know that your father and your grandfather did nothing without consulting me. Indeed it has been truly enough said, 'Let the adviser be prized'; and, 'There is no vice in advice'; and it is said too, in certain sayings, 'Whoever has no counsellor older than himself will never be an elder himself.' And the poet says:
Whatever necessary thing you undertake, consult the experienced man and do not cross him.
"And truly you will never find a man better versed in affairs than I am; and here I stand on my feet to serve you. I am not vexed with you: why should you be vexed with me? But whatever happens I will bear with you patiently, in memory of the great kindness your father showed me."
"By Allah," I cried, "you with a tongue as long as a jackass's tail, you persist in pestering me with your prattle, and you grow longer and longer in your long speeches — when all I want of you is to shave my head and be on your way."
Then he lathered my head, saying, "I perceive you are vexed with me, but I will not take it ill of you, for your wits are weak and you are only a lad; it was no longer ago than yesterday that I used to take you on my shoulder and carry you to school."
"Brother," said I, "for Allah's sake do what I want and go your way!" And I tore my clothes.
When he saw me do that he took the razor and set about sharpening it, and did not leave off stropping it until my senses were very nearly leaving me. Then he came up to me and shaved part of my head; and then he stopped his hand, and then he said:
"My lord, haste is Satan's way, whereas patience is of Allah the Compassionate. But you, my master — I know you do not know my rank; for truly this hand comes down on the heads of kings and emirs and viziers, and sages and doctors learned in the law. And the poet said of a man like me:
All crafts are like necklaces strung on a string, but this barber is the one great pearl of the row; he ranks high over every other craftsman, and why? Because the heads of kings are under his hand."
Then I said, "Do leave off talking about what does not concern you; indeed you have tightened my chest and distracted my mind."
Said he, "It seems to me you are a hasty man."
And said I, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
And he, "I advise you to practise self-restraint, for haste is Satan's stock-in-trade, and bequeaths nothing but repentance and ruin; and He, upon whom be blessings and peace, has said, 'The best of works is the work that deliberation lurks in.' But by Allah, I have some doubt about this affair of yours; and so I should like you to let me know what it is you are in such haste to do, for I am afraid it is something other than good."
Then he went on, "It wants three hours yet to prayer time; but I do not wish to be in doubt about the matter — no, I must know the moment exactly; for truly, 'A guess shot in a time of doubt often brings harm about'; and especially in the case of a man like myself, a superior person whose merits are famous among mankind at large. It would not suit me to talk at random, as the common sort of astrologers do."
And saying that, he threw down the razor and took up the astrolabe and went out into the sun and stood there a long time; after which he came back and, counting on his fingers, said to me, "There remain to prayer time three full hours and complete, neither more nor less, according to the most learned astronomers and the wisest makers of almanacs."
"Allah upon you," I cried, "hold your tongue with me, for you are breaking my liver in pieces."
So he took the razor and, after sharpening it as before and shaving another two hairs off my head, stopped his hand again and said, "I am concerned about your hastiness, and truly you would do well to let me into the cause of it; it would be the better for you, as you know that neither your father nor your grandfather ever did a single thing except by my advice."
When I saw there was no escaping him I said to myself, "The time for prayer is drawing near, and I want to go to her before the people come out of the mosque. If I am held up much longer I do not know how I am to get to her."
Then I said aloud, "Be quick and cut short this talk and this impertinence, for I have to go to a party at the house of some friends of mine."
When he heard me speak of a party he said, "This day of yours is a blessed day for me! In very truth it was only yesterday that I invited a company of my friends, and I have forgotten to provide anything for them to eat. This very moment I was thinking about it. Alas, how disgraced I shall be in their eyes!"
"Do not be distressed about that," I answered. "Have I not told you that I am invited to an entertainment today? So everything in my house, food and drink both, shall be yours, if only you will get through your work and make haste to shave my head."
He replied, "Allah reward you with good! Tell me exactly what is in your house for my guests, so that I know about it."
Said I, "Five dishes of meat and ten chickens with browned breasts and a roast lamb."
"Set them in front of me," said he, "so that I can see them."
So I told my people to buy them, borrow them or steal them, and bring them in any way they could; and I had the lot set in front of him.
When he saw it he cried, "The wine is missing."
And I replied, "I have a flagon or two of good old grape juice in the house."
And he said, "Have it brought out."
So I sent for it, and he exclaimed, "Allah bless you for a generous disposition! But there are still the essences and the perfumes."
So I had a box set in front of him containing nadd, the best of compound perfumes, together with fine aloes-wood, ambergris and unmixed musk, the whole lot worth fifty dinars.
Now the time was growing short and my heart grew tight with it; so I said to him, "Take the whole of it, and finish shaving my head, by the life of Mohammed, whom Allah bless and keep."
"By Allah," said he, "I will not take it until I see everything that is in it."
So I told the page to open the box; and the barber laid down the astrolabe, leaving the greater part of my head unshaved, and sitting down on the ground, turned over the scents and the incense and the aloes-wood and the essences until I was very nearly out of my mind.
Then he took the razor and, coming up to me, shaved off a few more hairs and repeated these lines:
"The boy will surely take after his father, as the tree grows out of its parent root."
Then he said, "By Allah, my son, I do not know whether to thank you or your father; for my entertainment today is entirely owing to your bounty and your kindness. And although not one of my company is worthy of it, still I have a set of honourable men — namely Zantut the bath-keeper; and Sali'a the corn-chandler; and Silat the bean-seller; and Akrashah the greengrocer; and Humayd the scavenger; and Sa'id the camel-man; and Suwayd the porter; and Abu Makarish the bathman; and Kasim the watchman; and Karim the groom.
"There is not among the whole lot of them a bore or a bully in his cups, nor a meddler, nor a man mean with his money; and every one of them has some dance of his own that he dances and some verses of his own that he sings. And the best of them is that, like your servant here, your slave, they do not know what too much talking is, nor what forwardness means.
"The bath-keeper sings to the drum a song that enchants you; and he stands up and dances and chants:
I am going, O mother, to fill up my pot.
"As for the corn-chandler, he brings more skill to it than anybody; he dances and sings:
O keening woman, O sweetheart, you fall not short —
and he leaves nobody's insides sound for laughing at him.
"But the scavenger sings so that the birds stop to listen to him, and dances and sings:
What my wife knows is not locked up in a box!
"And he has the privilege of it, for he is a shrewd rogue and a witty one; and speaking of how good he is, I am in the habit of saying:
My life for the scavenger! I love him well; like a waving bough he is sweet to my sight. Fate joined us one night, and I said to him — while I grew weak and love gained more might — 'Your love burns my heart!' 'And no wonder,' said he, 'when the drawer of dung turns into a stoker.'
"And truly each of them is perfect in whatever can charm a man's wits with joy and jollity." And presently he added, "But hearing is not seeing; and truly, if you would make up your mind to join us and put off going to your friends, it would be better for us and for you.
"The marks of your illness are still on you, and it may be that you are going among people who are mighty talkers, men who discuss together what does not concern them; or there may be among them some forward fellow who will split your head — and you half your size from sickness."
"This shall be for some other day," I answered, and laughed with my heart full of anger. "Finish your work and go, in Almighty Allah's keeping, to your friends, for they will be expecting you."
"My lord," he replied, "I am only trying to introduce you to these fellows of infinite mirth, the sons of men of worth, among whom there is neither impudence nor gossip nor chatter; for never, since I came to years of discretion, could I bear to keep company with anybody who asks questions about what does not concern him, nor have I ever spent time with any but men who are, like myself, men of few words. Truly, if you were to keep company with them, or even to see them once, you would give up all your own friends."
"Allah fulfil your enjoyment of them," said I. "I must certainly come among them some day or other."
But he said, "I wish it were this very day, for I had set my heart on your making one of us. Still, if you must go to your friends today, I will take these good things you have honoured and favoured me with to my guests and leave them to eat and drink and not wait for me; while I will come back to you in haste and go with you to your little party — for there is no ceremony between me and my intimates to stop me leaving them. Do not be afraid, I shall soon be back with you and go with you wherever you go. There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
I shouted, "Go to your friends and make merry with them, and do let me go to mine and be with them today, for they are expecting me."
But the barber cried, "I will not let you go alone."
And I replied, "The truth is that nobody can go in where I am going except me."
He came back, "I suspect that today you have an assignation with some woman, or else you would have taken me with you. And yet I am the very man to take, one who could help you to the end you want. But I am afraid you are running after strange women and will lose your life over it; for in this city of Baghdad a man cannot do anything in that line, and especially on a day like Friday: our Governor is an angry man and a mighty sharp blade."
"Shame on you, you wicked, bad old man!" I cried. "Be off! What are these words you are giving me?"
"You cold-witted creature," he cried, "you say to me what is not true and you hide your mind from me. But I know the whole business for certain, and I only want to help you today with my best endeavours."
I was afraid my people or my neighbours would hear the barber's talk; so I kept quiet a long while, and in that time he finished shaving my head — by which time the hour of prayer had come and the sermon was about to follow.
When he had done I said to him, "Go to your friends with their meat and drink, and I will wait for you to come back. Then we will go together." I hoped in this way to pour oil on the troubled waters and trick the accursed fool, and so perhaps be rid of him.
But he said, "You are cozening me, and you mean to go alone to your appointment and throw yourself into a danger there will be no escaping from. Now by Allah, and again by Allah, do not go until I come back, so that I can go with you and watch how your business turns out."
"So be it," I replied. "Do not be gone long."
Then he took all the meat and drink I had given him, and the rest of it, and went out of my house — but the accursed fellow gave it to a porter to carry to his home and hid himself in one of the alleys.
As for me, I got up that instant, for the muezzins had already called the Friday salutation to the Apostle; and I dressed in a hurry and went out alone, and hurrying to the street, took up my position by the house where I had seen the young lady.
I found the old woman on guard at the door waiting for me, and went up with her to the upper storey, to the girl's rooms. I had hardly got there when the master of the house came back from prayers and, going into the great hall, shut the door.
I looked down out of the window and saw this barber — Allah's curse on him — sitting right opposite the door, and said, "How did this devil find me out?"
At that very moment, as Allah had decreed for the tearing of my veil of secrecy, one of the master's maids happened to commit some offence, for which he beat her. She shrieked out, and his slave ran in to intercede for her, at which the judge beat him too, and he roared out as well.
The damned barber imagined it was I who was being beaten; so he began shouting too, and tore his clothes and threw dust on his head and kept on shrieking and crying, "Help! Help!"
So the people gathered round him, and he went on yelling, "My master is being murdered in the judge's house!"
Then he ran off clamouring to my house with the crowd after him, and told my people and my servants and my slaves; and before I knew what was happening, up they came tearing their clothes and letting their hair down and shouting, "Alas, our master!" — with this barber leading the rout, his clothes torn and in the sorriest state, shouting like a madman and saying, "Alas for our murdered master!"
And the whole lot of them made an assault on the house I was in.
The judge, hearing the yelling and the uproar at his door, said to one of his servants, "See what the matter is"; and the man went out and came back and said, "My master, at the gate there are more than ten thousand souls, what with men and women, and all of them crying, 'Alas for our murdered master!' — and they keep pointing at our house."
When the judge heard this the matter looked serious, and he grew angry; so he got up and opened the door and saw a great crowd of people; at which he was astounded and said, "Good people! What is the matter?"
"You accursed thing! You dog! You hog!" my servants replied. "It is you who have killed our master!"
Said he, "Good people, and what has your master done to me that I should kill him?":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Thirty-first Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the judge said to the servants, "What has your master done to me that I should kill him? This is my house, and it is open to all of you."
Then the barber said, "You beat him, and I heard him cry out."
And the judge said, "But what was he doing that I should beat him? And what brought him into my house? And where did he come from and where did he go?"
"Do not be a wicked, perverse old man," cried the barber, "for I know the whole story. And the long and the short of it is that your daughter is in love with him and he loves her; and when you found out he had come into the house, you told your servants to beat him and they did. By Allah, nobody shall judge between us and you but the Caliph. Or else bring our master out so that his people can take him, before they go in and rescue him from your house by force and you are put to shame."
Then said the judge — his tongue bridled and his mouth stopped with confusion in front of all those people — "If you speak the truth, then come in yourself and fetch him out."
At which the barber pushed forward and went into the house.
When I saw this I looked about for some means of escape and flight, but could see no hiding place except a great chest in the upper room where I was. So I got into it and pulled the lid down over myself and held my breath.
The barber was hardly in the room before he began looking about for me; then he turned right and left and came straight to the place where I was, and stepped up to the chest and lifted it onto his head and made off as fast as he could go.
At this my reason left me, for I knew he would not leave me alone; so I took my courage in both hands and opened the chest and threw myself out onto the ground. My leg was broken in the fall; and the door being open, I saw a great crowd of people looking in.
Now I carried in my sleeve a good deal of gold and some silver, which I had put by against a bad day and just such an occasion as this; so I kept scattering it among the people to distract their attention from me, and while they were busy scrambling for it I set off, hopping as fast as I could through the back streets of Baghdad, shifting and turning right and left.
But wherever I went this damned barber would go in after me, crying aloud, "They would have robbed me of my ma-a-aster! They would have killed the man who was a benefactor to me and my family and my friends! Praise be to Allah, who made me prevail against them and delivered my lord out of their hands!"
And then to me: "Where will you go now? You would persist in following your own wicked devices, until you brought yourself to this pass; and if Allah had not granted me to you, you would never have escaped the strait you had fallen into, for they would have thrown you into a disaster you could never have got clear of. But I will not call you to account for your ignorance, since you are so little in your wits and so inconsequential and so given to hastiness."
Said I to him, "Is what you have brought on me not enough for you, without your running after me and talking such talk to me in the market streets?"
And I very nearly gave up the ghost for sheer rage against him.
Then I took refuge in a weaver's shop in the middle of the market and asked the owner's protection, and he drove the barber away; and sitting in the back room, I said to myself, "If I go home I shall never be able to get rid of this curse of a barber, who will be with me night and day; and I cannot bear the sight of him even for the space of a breath."
So I sent out at once for witnesses and made a will, dividing the greater part of my property among my people, and appointed a guardian over them, to whom I gave charge of great and small alike, directing him to sell my houses and my estates.
Then I set out on my travels, so as to be free of this pimp; and I came and settled in your town, where I have lived some time. When you invited me and I came here, the first thing I saw was this accursed pander sitting in the place of honour.
How, then, can my heart be glad and my stay be pleasant in the company of this fellow who brought all this on me, and who was the cause of the breaking of my leg and of my exile from my home and my native land?
And the young man refused to sit down, and went away.
When we heard his story (the tailor went on) we were amazed beyond measure, and amused; and we said to the barber, "By Allah, is it true, what this young man says about you?"
"By Allah," he replied, "I dealt with him like that out of my courtesy and my sound sense and my generosity. If it had not been for me he would have perished, and nobody but me was the cause of his escape. It was a good thing for him that he suffered in his leg and not in his life!
"If I had been a man of many words, a meddler, a busybody, I would never have acted so kindly by him. But now I will tell you a tale of something that happened to me, so that you may be quite satisfied that I am a man sparing of speech, in whom there is no forwardness, and a very different person from those six brothers of mine. And this is it."
I was living in Baghdad in the time of Al-Mustansir Billah, son of Al-Mustazi Billah, who was Caliph then — a prince who loved the poor and the needy and kept company with the learned and the pious.
One day it happened that he was angry with ten men, highwaymen who robbed on the Caliph's own road; and he ordered the Prefect of Baghdad to bring them into his presence on the anniversary of the Great Festival.
So the Prefect went out and made them his prisoners and embarked with them in a boat. I caught sight of them as they were getting aboard, and said to myself, "These men are surely gathered for a wedding feast; I think they mean to spend their day in that boat eating and drinking, and nobody shall share their cups but me."
So I got up, good company; and out of the excess of my courtesy and the gravity of my understanding, I got aboard with them and fell into conversation with them.
They rowed across to the opposite bank, where they landed; and up came the watch and the guardians of the peace with chains, which they put round the robbers' necks. And they chained me among the rest of them.
And, good people, is it not a proof of my courtesy and my sparingness of speech that I held my peace and did not care to say a word?
Then they took us away in irons; and next morning they carried the whole lot of us before Al-Mustansir Billah, Commander of the Faithful, who ordered the necks of the ten robbers to be struck off.
So the executioner came forward after they had been seated on the leather mat of blood; and drawing his blade, struck off one head after another until he had struck the neck of the tenth — and I alone was left.
The Caliph looked at me and asked the headsman, "What is the matter with you, that you have struck off only nine heads?"
And he answered, "Allah forbid that I should behead only nine when you ordered me to behead ten."
Said the Caliph, "It seems to me you have struck the necks of only nine, and this man in front of you is the tenth."
"By your beneficence," replied the headsman, "I have beheaded ten."
"Count them," cried the Caliph. And when they counted the heads — there were ten.
The Caliph looked at me and said, "What made you keep silent at a time like this? And how did you come to be in the company of these men of blood? Tell me the cause of it all; for although you are a very old man, your wits are certainly weak."
Now when I heard these words from the Caliph I sprang to my feet and replied:
"Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that I am the Silent Old Man, and I am called so to distinguish me from my six brothers. I am a man of immense learning; while as for the gravity of my understanding, the wiliness of my wits and the sparingness of my speech, there is no end to them; and my calling is that of a barber.
"I went out early yesterday morning and saw these men making for a skiff; and imagining they were bound for a wedding feast, I joined them and mixed in with them. After a while up came the watch and the guardians of the peace, who put chains round their necks and round mine along with the rest; but in the excess of my courtesy I held my peace and did not say a word — and that was nothing but generosity on my part.
"They brought us into your presence, and you gave an order to strike off the necks of the ten; and yet I did not make myself known to you, and stayed silent in front of the executioner, purely out of the great generosity and courtesy that led me to share their death with them.
"But all my life long I have dealt so nobly with mankind, and they pay me back with the foulest and most evil payment there is."
When the Caliph heard my words and knew that I was a man of surpassing generosity and very few words, one with no forwardness in him — as this young man would have it, whom I rescued from mortal danger and who has repaid me so scurvily — he laughed with such excessive laughter that he fell over on his back.
Then he said to me, "Silent Man, do your six brothers take after you in wisdom and knowledge and sparingness of speech?"
I replied: "They were never like me! You put a reproach on me, Commander of the Faithful, and it does not become you to set my brothers on a level with me; for out of the abundance of their speech and the deficiency of their courtesy and their gravity, every one of them has got himself some injury or other.
"One of them is one-eyed; one is palsied; one is stone blind; one is cropped of both his ears; one is shorn of both his lips; and one is a hunchback and a cripple.
"And do not imagine, Commander of the Faithful, that I am prodigal of speech; but I am obliged to explain to you that I am a man of greater worth and fewer words than any of them. From every one of my brothers there hangs a tale of how he came by his bodily defect, and these I will relate to you."
So the Caliph gave ear to
Know then, Commander of the Faithful, that my first brother, Al-Bakbuk the Prattler, is a hunchback who took to tailoring in Baghdad. He used to sew in a shop rented from a man of great wealth, who lived over the shop; and there was a flour mill in the basement as well.
One day, as my brother the hunchback was sitting in his shop tailoring, he happened to raise his head and saw a lady like the rising full moon at a balconied window of his landlord's house, looking out at the passers-by.
When my brother saw her his heart was taken with love of her, and he spent the whole day gazing at her and neglected his tailoring until evening.
Next morning he opened his shop and sat down to sew; but every time he made a stitch he looked up at the window and saw her as before, and his passion and his infatuation grew.
On the third day, as he sat in his usual place gazing at her, she caught sight of him; and seeing that he had been captivated with love of her, she laughed in his face, and he smiled back at her. Then she disappeared, and presently sent her slave girl to him with a bundle containing a piece of red flowered silk.
The maid came up to him and said, "My lady greets you, and asks that of your skill and goodwill you will make her a shift out of this piece, and sew it handsomely with your best sewing."
He replied, "Hearing and obedience"; and he cut out a chemise for her and finished sewing it that same day.
When the morning came the girl came back and said, "My lady greets you and asks how you passed last night; for she has not tasted sleep, her heart being so taken up with you."
Then she laid a piece of yellow satin in front of him and said, "My lady tells you to cut her two pairs of petticoat trousers out of this piece, and sew them this very day."
"Hearing and obedience," he replied. "Greet her for me with many greetings, and tell her: your slave is obedient to your order, so command him as you like."
Then he set about cutting out, and worked hard at sewing the trousers; and after an hour the lady appeared at the lattice and greeted him by signs, now casting her eyes down, now smiling into his face; and he began to assure himself that he would soon make a conquest.
She did not let him stir until he had finished both pairs of trousers; when she withdrew and sent the maid, to whom he handed them over; and she took them and went her way.
When night came he threw himself on his bed and lay tossing from side to side until morning, when he got up and sat down in his place.
Presently the girl came to him and said, "My master calls for you."
Hearing this he was extremely frightened; but the slave girl, seeing his fright, said, "No harm is meant to you: nothing but good is waiting for you. My lady wants you to make my lord's acquaintance."
So my brother the tailor, overjoyed, went with her; and when he came into the presence of his landlord, the lady's husband, he kissed the ground before him, and the master of the house returned his greeting and gave him a great piece of linen, saying, "Cut me shirts out of this stuff and sew them well."
And my brother answered, "To hear is to obey."
At which he fell to work at once, snipping, shaping and sewing, until he had finished twenty shirts by supper time, without stopping to taste food.
The master of the house asked him, "How much is the wage for this?"
And he answered, "Twenty dirhams."
So the gentleman called out to the slave girl, "Bring me twenty dirhams" — and my brother did not say a word; but the lady signed to him, "Take nothing from him"; at which my brother said, "By Allah, I will take nothing from your hand."
And he carried off his tailor's gear and went back to his shop, though he was destitute down to his last penny.
Then he applied himself to their work; eating, in his zeal and diligence, nothing but a bit of bread and drinking only a little water, for three days. At the end of that time the maid came and said to him, "What have you done?"
Said he, "They are finished" — and carried the shirts to the lady's husband, who would have paid him his hire; but he said, "I will take nothing," for fear of her; and going back to his shop, passed the night without sleep for hunger.
Now the lady had told her husband how things stood — my brother knowing nothing about it — and the two of them had agreed to make him their tailor for nothing, the better to mock him and laugh at him.
Next morning he went to his shop; and as he sat there the maid came and said, "Speak with my master."
So he went with her to the husband, who said to him, "I want you to cut me out five long-sleeved robes."
So he cut them out and took the stuff away. Then he sewed them and carried them to the gentleman, who praised his sewing and offered him a purse of silver. He put out his hand to take it — but the lady signed to him from behind her husband not to; and he replied, "My lord, there is no hurry, we have time enough for that."
Then he went out of the house meaner and meeker than a donkey; for truly five things were gathered together in him — love, beggary, hunger, nakedness and hard labour. Even so, he kept his spirits up with the hope of gaining the lady's favours.
When he had finished all their jobs they played him another trick, and married him to their slave girl; but on the night he expected to go in to her, they said, "Sleep tonight in the mill, and tomorrow all will go well."
My brother concluded there was some good reason for it, and spent the night alone in the mill.
Now the husband had set the miller on to make the tailor turn the mill; so when the night was half gone the man came in to him and began saying, "This bull of ours has become useless and stands still instead of going round; he will not turn the mill tonight, and yet we have a great store of corn to grind. However, I shall yoke him whether he likes it or not, and make him finish grinding it before morning, as the people are impatient for their flour."
So he filled the hoppers with grain; and going up to my brother with a rope in his hand, tied it round his neck and said, "Gee up! Round with the mill! You, bull, would do nothing but grub and stale and dung!"
Then he took a whip and laid it on my brother's shoulders and calves, and my brother began to howl and bellow; but nobody came to help him, and he was forced to grind the wheat until close on dawn, when the master of the house came in and, seeing my brother still tethered to the yoke and the man flogging him, went away again.
At daybreak the miller went home and left him still yoked and half dead; and soon afterwards in came the slave girl, who untied him and said, "My lady and I are very sorry for what has happened, and we have shared your grief with you."
But he had no tongue to answer her with, for the excess of beating and mill-turning.
Then he went off to his lodging; and the clerk who had drawn up the marriage deed came and greeted him, saying, "Allah give you long life! May your wedding be blessed! That face of yours tells of pleasant doings and dalliance and kissing and embracing from dusk to dawn."
"Allah grant the liar no peace, you thousandfold cuckold," my brother replied. "By Allah, I did nothing but turn the mill in the place of the bull all night till morning."
"Tell me your tale," said he. And my brother recounted what had happened to him; and he said, "Your star does not agree with her star; but if you like I can alter the contract for you" — adding, "Take care there is not another cheat in store for you."
And my brother answered, "See whether you have not another device."
Then the clerk left him; and he sat in his shop looking out for somebody to bring him a job, so that he could earn his day's bread.
Presently the maid came and said, "Speak with my lady."
"Be off, my good girl," he replied. "There shall be no more dealings between me and your lady."
The maid went back to her mistress and told her what my brother had said; and presently she put her head out of the window, weeping and saying, "Why, my beloved, are there to be no more dealings between me and you?"
But he made her no answer. Then she wept and begged him, swearing that everything that had happened to him in the mill was done without her knowledge, and that she was innocent of the whole business.
When he looked at her beauty and loveliness and heard the sweetness of her speech, the sorrow that had possessed him passed out of his heart; he accepted her excuse and rejoiced at the sight of her. So he greeted her and talked with her, and sat tailoring a while — after which the maid came and said, "My mistress greets you and informs you that her husband means to sleep out tonight at the house of some close friends of his; so when he has gone, come to us and spend the night with my lady in the most delightful enjoyment till the morning."
Now her husband had asked her, "How shall we manage to turn him away from you?" And she had answered, "Leave me to play him another trick and make him a laughing stock for the whole town." But my brother knew nothing of the malice of women.
As soon as it was dusk the slave girl came and took him to the house; and when the lady saw him she said, "By Allah, my lord, I have been longing for you terribly."
"By Allah," he cried, "kiss me quickly before you give me anything else."
He had hardly spoken when the lady's husband came in from the next room and seized him, saying, "By Allah, I will not let you go until I have handed you over to the chief of the town watch."
My brother humbled himself to him, but he would not listen, and carried him before the Prefect, who gave him a hundred lashes with a whip and, mounting him on a camel, paraded him round the city, while the guards proclaimed aloud, "This is the reward of the man who violates the households of honourable men!"
What is more, he fell off the camel and broke his leg, and so became lame. Then the Prefect banished him from the city; and he went off not knowing where to go. But I heard of him, and fearing for him, went out after him and brought him back secretly to the city and restored him to health, and took him into my house, where he is living still.
The Caliph laughed at my story and said, "You have done well, Samit — Silent Man, sparing of speech!" And he told me to take a present and go away.
But I said, "I will accept nothing from you until I have told you what happened to all my other brothers; and do not think me a man of many words."
So the Caliph gave ear to
Know, Commander of the Faithful, that my second brother's name was Al-Haddar, that is the Babbler, and he was the paralysed one.
It happened to him one day, as he was going about his business, that an old woman came up to him and said, "Stop a moment, my good man, so that I can tell you of something which, if it is to your liking, you may do for me; and I will pray Allah to give you good of it."
My brother stopped, and she went on, "I will put you in the way of a certain thing, provided you are not prodigal of speech."
"Go on with your talk," said he.
And she said, "What do you say to handsome quarters, and a fine garden with running water, flowers blooming and fruit growing and old wine going round, and a pretty young face whose owner you may hold in your arms from dark till dawn? If you do whatever I tell you, you will see something greatly to your advantage."
"And is all this in the world?" asked my brother.
And she answered, "It is, and it shall be yours — provided you are sensible and leave off idle curiosity and too much talk, and do as I say."
"I will indeed, my lady," said he. "But how is it you have chosen me for this before all other men, and what is it about me that pleases you so much?"
Said she, "Did I not tell you to be sparing of speech? Hold your peace and follow me. Know that the young lady I am taking you to loves to have her own way and hates being thwarted and hates anybody who contradicts her; so if you humour her, you will get what you want of her."
And my brother said, "I will not cross her in anything."
Then she went on and my brother followed her, hungering after everything she had described, until they came into a fine large house, handsome and choicely furnished, full of eunuchs and servants and showing signs of prosperity from top to bottom.
And she was taking him up to the upper storey when the people of the house said to him, "What are you doing here?"
But the old woman answered them, "Hold your peace and do not trouble him; he is a workman, and we have need of him."
Then she brought him into a fine great pavilion with a garden in the middle of it — eyes never saw a fairer — and sat him down on a handsome couch.
He had not been sitting long before he heard a loud noise, and in came a troop of slave girls surrounding a lady like the moon on the night of its fullness. When he saw her he got up and made her a bow, at which she welcomed him and told him to be seated.
So he sat down, and she said to him, "Allah advance you to honour! Is all well with you?"
"My lady," he answered, "all is very well with me."
Then she ordered food brought in, and they set delicate dishes before her; so she sat down to eat, making a show of affection towards my brother and joking with him — though the whole time she could not stop laughing; but every time he looked at her she made a sign towards her maids, as though she were laughing at them.
My brother, the ass, understood nothing of it; but in the excess of his ridiculous passion he imagined that the lady was in love with him and would soon grant him what he wanted.
When they had finished eating they set on the wine; and in came ten girls like moons, with lutes ready strung in their hands, and fell to singing with full voices, sweet and sad; at which delight took hold of him, and he took the cup from the lady's hands and drank it standing.
Then she drank a cup of wine, and my brother, still standing, said "Health!" to her and bowed. She handed him another cup and he drank it off — at which she slapped him hard on the back of the neck.
At this my brother would have gone out of the house in anger; but the old woman followed him and winked at him to come back. So he came back, and the lady told him to sit down, and he sat down without a word. Then she slapped him on the back of the neck again; and the second slapping was not enough for her — she had to make all her maids slap him and cuff him too, while he kept saying to the old woman, "I never saw anything nicer than this."
And she for her part kept exclaiming, "Enough, enough, I beg you, mistress!" — but the women slapped him until he very nearly fainted away.
Presently my brother got up and went out to relieve himself; but the old woman overtook him and said, "Be patient a little and you will get what you want."
"How much longer have I to wait?" my brother replied. "This slapping has made me feel faint."
"As soon as she is warm with the wine," she answered, "you shall have your desire."
So he went back to his place and sat down; at which all the maids stood up, and the lady told them to perfume him with pastilles and sprinkle his face with rose water.
Then she said to him, "Allah advance you to honour! You have come into my house and have put up with my conditions; for whoever thwarts me I turn away, and whoever is patient gets what he wants."
"My mistress," said he, "I am your slave and in the hollow of your hand."
"Know then," she went on, "that Allah has made me passionately fond of a frolic; and whoever falls in with my humour comes by whatever he wishes."
Then she ordered her maids to sing at the tops of their voices until the whole company was delighted; after which she said to one of them, "Take your lord and do what is necessary for him, and bring him straight back to me."
So the girl took my brother — and he not knowing what she meant to do with him. But the old woman overtook him and said, "Be patient; there is only a little more to do."
At this his face brightened, and he stood up in front of the lady while the old woman kept saying, "Be patient; you will get your wish this instant!" — until he said, "Tell me what she wants the girl to do with me."
"Nothing but good," she replied, "as I am your sacrifice! She only wants to dye your eyebrows and pluck out your moustaches."
Said he, "As for dyeing my eyebrows, that will come off with washing; but as for plucking out my moustaches, that is a somewhat painful business."
"Be careful how you cross her," cried the old woman, "for she has set her heart on you."
So my brother patiently let her dye his eyebrows and pluck out his moustaches; after which the girl went back to her mistress and told her.
Said she, "Now there is only one other thing to be done: you must shave off his beard and make him smooth-faced."
So the girl went back and told him what her mistress had ordered; and my brother, the blockhead, said, "How am I to do a thing that will disgrace me in front of everybody?"
But the old woman said, "She only wants it so that you may be like a beardless youth, and so that no hair is left on your face to scratch and prick her delicate cheeks; for truly she is passionately in love with you. So be patient and you will get what you are after."
My brother was patient and did as she said, and let his beard be shaved off. And when he was brought back to the lady — there he was, dyed red as to his eyebrows, plucked of both moustaches, shorn of his beard and rouged on both cheeks.
At first she was startled at him; and then she made a mockery of him, and laughing until she fell over on her back, said, "My lord, you have truly won my heart by your good nature!"
Then she begged him, by her own life, to stand up and dance; and he got up and capered about — and there was not a cushion in the house that she did not throw at his head, and all her women did the same, and they kept pelting him with oranges and lemons and citrons besides, until he fell down senseless from the cuffing on the neck, the cushions and the fruit.
"Now you have got what you wanted," said the old woman when he came round. "There are no more blows in store for you, and there is only one small thing left to do. It is her habit, when she is in her cups, to let nobody have her until she has taken off her dress and her trousers and is stark naked. Then she will tell you to take your clothes off and run; and she will run ahead of you as though she were flying from you; and you are to follow her from room to room until you are fully roused, when she will give herself to you." And she added, "Strip your clothes off at once."
So he got up, very nearly out of his mind with ecstasy, and taking off his clothes, showed himself stark naked:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Thirty-second Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the old woman said to the barber's second brother, "Take your clothes off," he got up very nearly out of his mind with ecstasy, and stripping off his clothes, showed himself stark naked.
At which the lady stripped too, and said to my brother, "If you want anything, run after me until you catch me."
Then she set off at a run and he ran after her, while she rushed into one room after another and out of one room after another, my brother scampering after her in a rage of desire like a downright madman, and fully roused.
After a good deal of this she dashed into a darkened place and he dashed in after her — but suddenly he trod on a spot that gave way under his weight; and before he knew where he was, he found himself in the middle of a crowded market, part of the leather-sellers' bazaar, where they were crying the prices of skins and hides and buying and selling.
When they saw him in that state — naked, roused, shorn of beard and moustaches, his eyebrows dyed red and his cheeks reddened with rouge — they shouted and clapped their hands at him, and set about flogging him with hides across his bare body until a faint came over him.
Then they threw him on the back of a donkey and carried him to the Chief of Police.
Said the Chief, "What is this?"
Said they, "This fellow fell suddenly on us out of the Wazir's house in this state."
So the Prefect gave him a hundred lashes and then banished him from Baghdad. However, I went out after him and brought him back secretly into the city and made him a daily allowance to live on — although, if it were not for my generous nature, I could not have put up with the likes of him.
Then the Caliph gave ear to
My third brother's name was Al-Fakik, the Gabbler, and he was blind.
One day Fate and Fortune drove him to a fine large house, and he knocked at the door, wanting a word with its owner so as to beg something of him.
Said the master of the house, "Who is at the door?"
But my brother did not say a word; and presently he heard him repeat in a loud voice, "Who is this?"
Still he made no answer; and immediately he heard the master walk to the door and open it and say, "What do you want?"
My brother answered, "Something for Almighty Allah's sake."
"Are you blind?" asked the man; and my brother answered, "I am."
Said the other, "Hold out your hand to me."
So my brother put out his hand, thinking he would give him something — but he took it and, drawing him into the house, carried him up from stair to stair until they reached the terrace on the roof, my brother thinking all the while that he would certainly give him something in the way of food or money.
Then he asked my brother, "What do you want, blind man?"
And he answered, "Something for the Almighty's sake."
"May Allah open some other door for you!"
"You there! Why not say so when I was down at the bottom of the stairs?"
"You beggar, why not answer me when I first called out to you?"
"And what do you mean to do for me now?"
"There is nothing in the house to give you."
"Then take me down the stairs."
"The way is in front of you."
So my brother got up and made his way downstairs, until he came within twenty steps of the door, when his foot slipped and he rolled to the bottom and broke his head open.
Then he went out, not knowing which way to turn; and presently he fell in with two other blind men, companions of his, who said to him, "What did you take today?"
He told them what had happened to him, and added, "Brothers, I want to take some of the money we have in hand and provide for myself out of it."
Now the master of the house had followed him and was listening to what they said; but neither my brother nor his companions knew anything about it.
So my brother went to his lodging and sat down to wait for his companions, and the owner of the house came in after him without being noticed.
When the other blind men arrived, my brother said to them, "Bolt the door and search the house, in case some stranger has followed us in."
The man, hearing this, caught hold of a cord that hung from the ceiling and clung to it, while they went round the house and searched and found nobody. So they came back and sat down beside my brother and brought out their money, which they counted — and it came to twelve thousand dirhams.
Each of them took what he wanted, and they buried the rest in a corner of the room. Then they set out food and sat down to eat.
Presently my brother, hearing a strange pair of jaws chewing beside him, said to his friends, "There is a stranger among us"; and putting out his hand, caught hold of the house-owner's.
At which they all fell on him and beat him; and when they were tired of belabouring him they shouted, "Muslims! A thief has got in among us and wants to take our money!"
A crowd gathered round them, at which the intruder clung to them and complained along with them, and shut his eyes as they did, so that nobody should doubt he was blind, and cried out, "Muslims! I take refuge with Allah and with the Governor, for I have a matter to lay before him!"
Suddenly up came the watch and, laying hands on the whole lot of them — my brother among them — drove them off to the Governor's, who set them in front of him and asked, "What is your news?"
Said the intruder, "Look and find out for yourself; not a word will be got out of us except by torture. So begin by beating me, and after me beat this man, our leader." And he pointed at my brother.
So they threw the man down at full length and gave him four hundred strokes on his backside. The beating hurt him, at which he opened one eye; and as they redoubled the blows, he opened the other.
When the Governor saw this he said, "What have we here, you accursed thing?"
To which he replied, "Give me the pledge of pardon! The four of us have shammed blindness, and we impose on people so as to get into their houses and look on the unveiled faces of their women and contrive to corrupt them. We have made a great deal of money this way, and our store comes to twelve thousand dirhams.
"I said to my companions, 'Give me my share, three thousand'; but they set on me and beat me and took my money away; and I take refuge with Allah and with you. Better you should have my share than they. So if you want to know whether what I say is true, beat each of the others more than you have beaten me, and he will certainly open his eyes."
The Governor gave orders for the questioning to begin with my brother; and they tied him to the whipping post, and the Governor said, "You scum of the earth, do you abuse the gracious gifts of Allah and pretend to be blind?"
"Allah! Allah!" cried my brother. "By Allah, there is not one of us who can see."
Then they beat him until he fainted away, and the Governor cried, "Leave him until he comes round, and then beat him again."
After this he had each of the companions given more than three hundred strokes, while the impostor kept saying to them, "Open your eyes, or you will be beaten again."
At last the man said to the Governor, "Send somebody with me to bring you the money; for these fellows will not open their eyes, in case they are disgraced in front of everybody."
So the Governor sent to fetch the money, and gave the man his pretended share, three thousand dirhams; and keeping the rest for himself, banished the three blind men from the city.
But I, Commander of the Faithful, went out and overtook my brother and questioned him about his case; at which he told me what I have told you. So I brought him secretly into the city and appointed him — in the strictest privacy — an allowance for meat and drink.
The Caliph laughed at my story and said, "Give him a gift and let him go."
But I said, "By Allah, I will take nothing until I have made known to the Commander of the Faithful what happened with the rest of my brothers; for truly I am a man of few words and sparing of speech."
Then the Caliph gave ear to
Now as for my fourth brother, Commander of the Faithful — Al-Kuz al-Aswani, called the Long-Necked Jug from his brimming over with words, the one who was blind in one eye — he became a butcher in Baghdad, and sold meat and fattened rams; and great men and rich men bought their meat from him, so that he amassed a good deal of wealth and got himself cattle and houses.
He went on like this a long while, until one day, as he was sitting in his shop, an old man with a long beard came up and laid down some silver and said, "Give me meat for this."
He gave him his money's worth of meat and the old man went his way. My brother examined the old man's silver, and seeing that the dirhams were white and bright, put them away in a place by themselves.
The greybeard kept coming back to the shop regularly for five months, and my brother did not stop laying up all the coin he got from him in its own box.
At last he thought he would take the money out and buy sheep with it; so he opened the box and found nothing in it but bits of white paper cut round to look like coins. At which he beat his own face and cried aloud until the people gathered round him; and then he told them his tale, which astonished them a great deal.
Then he got up as usual, and slaughtering a ram, hung it up inside his shop; after which he cut off some of the meat and hung it outside, saying to himself all the while, "O Allah, if only that ill-omened old fellow would come!"
And not an hour had passed before the old man came with his silver in his hand — at which my brother got up and caught hold of him, calling out, "Come and help me, Muslims, and hear my story about this villain!"
When the old man heard this he said to him quietly, "Which will be better for you — to let go of me, or to be disgraced by me in front of everybody?"
"And how will you disgrace me?"
"By showing that you sell human flesh for mutton."
"You lie, you accursed thing!"
"No — the accursed man is the one who has a human being hanging up in his shop by way of meat. If the matter is as you say, I give you lawful leave to take my money and my life."
Then the old man cried out aloud, "Ho, people! If you want to prove the truth of what I say, go into this man's shop."
The people rushed in — and found that the ram had become a dead man hung up for sale. So they set on my brother, crying out, "Infidel! Villain!"; and his best friends fell to cuffing and kicking him and kept saying, "Do you make us eat the flesh of the sons of Adam?"
What is more, the old man struck him in the eye and put it out.
Then they carried the carcass, with its throat cut, before the Chief of the city watch, to whom the old man said, "Emir, this fellow butchers men and sells their flesh for mutton, and we have brought him to you; so rise and carry out the judgements of Allah, to whom be honour and glory."
My brother would have defended himself, but the Chief refused to hear him, and sentenced him to receive five hundred strokes and to forfeit the whole of his property. And indeed, if it had not been for that same property, which he laid out in bribes, they would certainly have killed him.
Then the Chief banished him from Baghdad; and my brother travelled at random until he came to a great town, where he thought it best to set up as a cobbler; so he opened a shop and sat there doing what he could to make a living.
One day, as he went out about his business, he heard the distant tramp of horses; and asking what it was, was told that the King was going out hunting and coursing. So my brother stopped to look at the fine procession.
It so happened that the King's eye met my brother's — at which the King hung his head down and said, "I take refuge with Allah from the evil of this day!" And he turned his horse's reins and went home with his whole retinue.
Then he gave orders to his guards, who seized my brother and beat him with such a painful beating that he was very nearly dead; and my brother had no idea what the cause of his ill-treatment could be. After it he went back to his place in the sorriest state.
Soon afterwards he went to one of the King's household and told him what had happened; and the man laughed until he fell over on his back, and cried, "Brother, you must know that the King cannot bear the sight of a one-eyed man, and especially one blind in the right eye — in which case he never lets him go without killing him."
When my brother heard this he decided to fly from that city; so he went out of it to another, where nobody knew him, and there he stayed a long while.
One day, being full of sorrowful thoughts about what had happened to him, he went out to console himself; and as he was walking along he heard the distant tramp of horses behind him, and said, "The judgement of Allah is on me!" — and looked about for somewhere to hide, and could find nowhere.
At last he saw a closed door which he pushed hard; it gave way, and he went into a long gallery and took shelter there. But he had hardly done so when two men set on him, crying out, "Allah be thanked for delivering you into our hands, enemy of God! These three nights you have robbed us of our rest and our sleep, and truly you have made us taste the cup of death."
My brother asked, "Good people, what is the matter with you?"
And they answered, "You give us the slip and you go about to disgrace us, and you are planning some plot to cut the throat of the master of the house! Is it not enough that you have brought him to beggary, you and your fellows? But now hand over the knife you threaten us with every night."
Then they searched him and found in his belt the knife he used for shoe leather; and he said, "Good people, have the fear of Allah before your eyes and do not ill-treat me; for you must know that my story is a very strange one."
"And what is your story?" said they.
So he told them what had happened to him, hoping they would let him go; but they paid no attention to what he said, and instead of showing him any consideration, beat him grievously and tore his clothes off. And then, finding the scars of a beating with rods on his sides, they said, "You accursed thing! These marks are the plain signs of your guilt."
They carried him before the Governor, while he said to himself, "I am being punished now for my sins, and nobody can deliver me but Almighty Allah."
The Governor, addressing my brother, asked him, "You villain, what made you go into their house with the intention of murder?"
And my brother answered, "I beg you by Allah, Emir, hear my words and do not be hasty in condemning me."
But the Governor cried, "Are we to listen to the words of a robber who has beggared these people, and who carries the scars of the whip on his back?" And he added, "They would surely never have done that to you except for some great crime."
So he sentenced him to receive a hundred strokes of the scourge, after which they set him on a camel and paraded him round the city, proclaiming, "This is the reward, and only too small a reward, for the man who breaks into other people's houses."
Then they thrust him out of the city; and my brother wandered at random until I heard what had happened to him; and going to look for him, questioned him about his case. So he told me his story and all his misfortunes, and I carried him secretly to the city, where I made him an allowance for his meat and drink.
Then the Caliph gave ear to
My fifth brother, Al-Nashshar the Tattler, the one who was cropped of both ears, Commander of the Faithful, was a beggar, in the habit of asking from people by night and living on their alms by day.
Now when our father, who was an old man well on in years, fell sick and died, he left us seven hundred dirhams, of which each son took his hundred; but when my fifth brother got his share he was at a loss and did not know what to do with it.
While he was in this uncertainty he took it into his head to lay it out on glassware of all sorts and turn an honest penny on the price of it. So he bought a hundred dirhams' worth of glass and, putting it into a big tray, sat down to sell it on a bench at the foot of a wall, with his back leaning against the wall.
As he sat there with the tray in front of him he fell to musing, and said to himself:
"Know, my good self, that the head of my wealth, my capital invested in this glassware, is a hundred dirhams. I shall certainly sell it for two hundred, with which I shall buy other glass straight away and make four hundred by it; nor shall I stop selling and buying in this way until I have got four thousand, and soon find myself the master of a great deal of money.
"With these coins I shall buy merchandise and jewels and perfumes and make a great profit on them, until, Allah willing, I shall have made my capital a hundred thousand dirhams. Then I shall buy a fine house with white slaves and eunuchs and horses; and I shall eat and drink and enjoy myself; nor shall I leave a singing man or a singing woman in the city, but I shall summon them to my palace and make them perform in front of me."
All this he counted over in his mind, while the tray of glassware worth a hundred dirhams stood on the bench in front of him; and after looking at it he went on:
"And when, if Allah wills, my capital has become a hundred thousand dirhams, I shall send out marriage brokers to ask for me in marriage the daughters of kings and viziers; and I shall demand as my wife the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister, for it has reached me that she is perfect in beauty and first in loveliness and rare in accomplishments.
"I shall give a marriage settlement of a thousand dinars; and if her father consents, well and good; and if not, I shall take her by force from under his very nose.
"When she is safely housed with me, I shall buy ten little eunuchs, and for myself a robe such as kings and sultans wear; and get myself a saddle of gold and a bridle set thick with precious gems. Then I shall ride out with my Mamluks going in front of me and all round me, and I shall make a circuit of the city while the people salute me and bless me.
"After that I shall go to the vizier, the girl's father, with armed white slaves in front of me and behind me and on my right and my left. When he sees me the vizier will stand up and seat me in his own place and sit down well below me, since I am to be his son-in-law.
"Now I shall have two eunuchs with me carrying purses, each with a thousand dinars in it; and of these I shall hand him the thousand that is his daughter's marriage settlement, and make him a free gift of the other thousand, so that he may have reason to know my generosity and my liberality, and the greatness of my spirit and the littleness of the world in my eyes. And for every ten words he addresses to me I shall answer him two.
"Then back I go to my house; and if anybody comes to me from the bride's side, I shall make him a present of money and throw a robe of honour over him; but if he brings me a gift, I shall give it back to him and refuse to accept it, so that they may learn what a proud spirit is mine, which never condescends to lower itself. In this way I shall establish my rank and my standing.
"When that is done I shall appoint her wedding night and decorate my house showily and gloriously. And when the time comes for the bride to be paraded, I shall put on my finest clothes and sit down on a mattress of gold brocade, propping my elbow on a pillow and turning neither to the right nor to the left, but looking only straight ahead, out of the haughtiness of my mind and the gravity of my understanding.
"And there in front of me will stand my wife in her clothes and her ornaments, as lovely as the full moon; and I, in my loftiness and my dreadful lordliness, shall not glance at her until those present say to me, 'Our lord and master, your wife, your handmaid, is standing before you; grant her one look, for standing tires her.'
"Then they will kiss the ground in front of me a great many times; at which I shall raise my eyes and cast one single glance at her and turn my face down to the ground again.
"Then they will carry her off to the bridal chamber, and I shall get up and change my clothes for a far finer suit; and when they bring the bride in a second time, I shall not deign to throw her a look until they have begged me a great many times; after which I shall glance at her out of the corner of one eye, and then bend my head down.
"I shall go on behaving like this until the parading and displaying are finished":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Thirty-third Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the barber's fifth brother went on:
"Then I shall bend my head down and go on behaving like this until her parading and displaying are finished. At which I shall order one of my eunuchs to bring me a bag of five hundred dinars, which I shall give as a largesse to the dressing-women there, and tell them, all of them, to lead me into the bridal chamber.
"When they leave me alone with her I shall neither look at her nor speak to her, but lie down at her side with my face to the wall, showing my contempt, so that every one of them may remark again how high and haughty I am.
"Presently her mother will come in to me, and kissing my head and my hand, will say, 'My lord, look on your handmaid, who longs for your favour; heal her broken spirit!'
"I shall give her no answer; and when she sees this she will get up and kiss my feet a great many times and say, 'My lord, truly my daughter is a beautiful girl who has never known a man; and if you show her this coldness and dislike, her heart will break; so incline to her and speak to her and soothe her mind and her spirit.'
"Then she will get up and fetch a cup of wine, and say to her daughter, 'Take it and hand it to your lord.'
"But as she comes up to me I shall leave her standing between my hands, and sit propping my elbow on a round cushion edged with gold thread, leaning back lazily and not looking at her, in the majesty of my spirit, so that she may reckon me a very sultan and a mighty man.
"Then she will say to me, 'My lord, in Allah's name, do not refuse to take the cup from the hand of your handmaid, for truly I am your bondswoman.'
"But I shall not speak to her; and she will press me, saying, 'There is no help for it, you must drink it' — and she will put it to my lips.
"Then I shall shake my fist in her face and kick her with my foot — like this."
And he let out with his toe and knocked over the tray of glassware, which fell off the bench to the ground, and everything on it was broken to bits.
"You foulest of pimps, this comes of the pride of my spirit!" cried my brother. And then, Commander of the Faithful, he beat his own face and tore his clothes and went on weeping and beating himself.
The people who were flocking to their Friday prayers saw him; and some of them looked at him and pitied him, while others paid no attention; and in this way my brother lost both his capital and his profit.
He stayed there weeping a long while; and at last up came a beautiful lady with the scent of musk breathing off her, going to Friday prayers on a mule with a golden saddle and followed by several eunuchs.
When she saw the broken glass and my brother weeping, her kind heart was moved to pity for him, and she asked what was wrong with him, and was told that he had had a tray full of glassware which he hoped to make his living by selling, but it was broken; "and there happened to him," they said, "what you see."
At which she called up one of her eunuchs and said, "Give what you have with you to this poor fellow."
And he gave my brother a purse in which he found five hundred dinars; and when it touched his hand he was very nearly dying from the excess of his joy, and he called down blessings on her.
Then he went home a substantial man; and as he sat there thinking things over, somebody rapped at the door. So he got up and opened it and saw an old woman he had never seen before.
"My son," said she, "you should know that prayer time is near and I have not yet made my ritual washing; so kindly let me use your lodging for the purpose."
My brother answered, "To hear is to comply"; and going in, told her to follow him. So she came in and he brought her an ewer to wash with, and sat down ready to fly with joy on account of the dinars he had tied up in his belt for a purse.
When the old woman had finished her washing she came over to where he was sitting and prayed a prayer of two prostrations; after which she blessed my brother with a godly benediction. And he, thanking her, put his hand to the dinars and gave her two, saying to himself, "These are my free offering."
When she saw the gold she cried, "Praise be to Allah! Why do you look on a woman who loves you as though she were a beggar? Take your money back: I have no need of it. Or if you do not want it, give it back to the woman who gave it to you when your glassware was broken. What is more, if you would like to be with her, I can arrange the matter, for she is my mistress."
"Mother," asked my brother, "by what means can I get to her?"
And she answered, "My son, she has an inclination for you; but she is a wealthy man's wife. So take all your money with you and follow me, and I will guide you to what you want; and when you are in her company, spare neither persuasion nor fair words, but bring the whole lot to bear on her; and so you shall enjoy her beauty and her wealth to your heart's content."
My brother took all his gold and got up and followed the old woman, hardly able to believe his luck.
She did not stop going on, and my brother following her, until they came to a tall gate at which she knocked; and a Greek slave girl came out and opened to them. Then the old woman led my brother into a great sitting room spread with wonderfully fine carpets and hung with curtains, where he sat down with his gold in front of him and his turban on his knee.
He had hardly taken his seat before there came in to him a young lady — eye never saw a fairer — dressed in the most sumptuous clothes; at which my brother rose to his feet, and she smiled in his face and welcomed him and signed to him to be seated.
Then she gave orders for the door to be shut; and when it was shut she turned to my brother and took his hand and led him to a private room furnished with all kinds of brocades and cloths of gold. Here he sat down and she sat beside him and played with him a while; after which she got up and said, "Do not stir from your seat until I come back to you" — and disappeared.
And while he was sitting like that, there came in to him a Black slave, big in body and bulk, holding a drawn sword in his hand, who said, "Curse you! Who brought you here, and what do you want here?"
My brother could not give him any reply, being tongue-tied with terror; so the man seized him and stripped his clothes off and beat him with the flat of his sword blade until he fell to the ground in a faint from the excess of the belabouring.
The slave supposed that was the end of him; and my brother heard him call out, "Where is the salt girl?"
At which in came a maid holding a large tray of salt, and the slave went on rubbing it into my brother's wounds; but he did not stir, for fear the slave might find out he was not dead and kill him outright.
Then the salt girl went away, and the slave cried, "Where is the keeper of the cellar?"
At which in came the old woman, and dragged my brother by his feet to a cellar and threw him down on a heap of dead bodies.
He lay in that place two full days; but Allah made the salt the means of preserving his life, by staunching the blood and stopping its flow.
Presently, feeling able to move, Al-Nashshar got up and opened the trapdoor in fear and trembling and crept out into the open; and Allah protected him, so that he went on in the darkness and hid himself in the entrance hall until dawn, when he saw the accursed old woman go out in search of other quarry.
He followed in her wake without her knowing it, and made for his own lodging, where he dressed his wounds and doctored himself until he was whole again.
Meanwhile he used to watch the old woman, tracking her at all times and seasons, and saw her accost one man after another and carry them to the house. However, he did not say a word; but as soon as he was hale and hearty again he took a piece of stuff and made it into a bag, which he filled with broken glass and tied round his middle.
He also disguised himself as a Persian so that nobody should know him, and hid a sword under his foreign-cut clothes.
Then he went out; and presently, falling in with the old woman, said to her, speaking Arabic with a Persian accent, "Venerable lady, I am a stranger, only arrived here today, and I know nobody. Have you a pair of scales where I might weigh eleven hundred dinars? I will give you something out of them for your pains."
"I have a son who is a money-changer, and he keeps all kinds of scales," she answered; "so come with me to him before he goes out, and he will weigh your gold."
My brother answered, "Lead the way."
She led him to the house, and the young lady herself came out and opened it; at which the old woman smiled in her face and said, "I am bringing you fat meat today."
Then the girl took my brother by the hand and led him to the same room as before, where she sat with him a while and then got up and went out, saying, "Do not stir from your seat until I come back to you."
Presently in came the accursed slave with the drawn sword, and cried to my brother, "Get up, and damnation to you."
So he got up; and as the slave walked ahead of him he drew the sword out from under his clothes and struck him with it, and sent his head flying off his body.
Then he dragged the corpse by the feet to the cellar and called out, "Where is the salt girl?"
Up came the girl carrying the tray of salt; and seeing my brother with a sword in his hand, turned to run; but he followed her and struck off her head.
Then he called out, "Where is the keeper of the cellar?" And in came the old woman, to whom he said, "Do you know me again, you ill-omened hag?"
"No, my lord," she replied.
And he said, "I am the owner of the five hundred gold pieces, whose house you came into to make your washing and say your prayers, and whom you snared here and betrayed."
"Fear Allah and spare me," she cried; but he paid no attention to her, and struck her with the sword until he had cut her into four.
Then he went to look for the young lady; and when she saw him her reason left her and she cried out piteously, "Mercy! Mercy!"
So he spared her, and asked, "What made you keep company with this slave?"
And she answered, "I was slave to a certain merchant, and the old woman used to visit me until I took a liking to her. One day she said to me, 'We have a marriage feast at our house the like of which was never seen, and I want you to enjoy the sight of it.' 'To hear is to obey,' I answered; and getting up, dressed myself in my finest clothes and ornaments and took with me a purse with a hundred gold pieces in it.
"Then she brought me here; and I had hardly got into the house before the Black man seized me — and I have stayed in this state three whole years, through the treachery of that accursed old woman."
Then my brother asked her, "Is there anything of his in the house?"
To which she answered, "A great store of wealth; and if you are able to carry it away, do so, and Allah give you good of it."
My brother went with her, and she opened various chests for him with money bags in them, at which he was astounded; then she said to him, "Go now and leave me here, and fetch men to move the money."
He went out and hired ten men; but when he came back he found the door wide open, the girl gone, and nothing left except some small matter of coin and the household stuff. By this he knew that the girl had outwitted him; so he opened the storerooms and seized everything in them, together with the rest of the money, and left nothing in the house.
He passed the night rejoicing; but when morning dawned he found some twenty troopers at the door, who laid hands on him saying, "The Governor wants you."
My brother begged them hard to let him go back to his house, and even offered them a large sum of money; but they refused, and binding him fast with cords, carried him off.
On the way they met a friend of my brother's, who clung to his skirt and begged his protection and asked him to stand by him and help to get him out of their hands. The man stopped and asked them what the matter was, and they answered, "The Governor has ordered us to bring this fellow before him, and, look you, that is what we are doing."
My brother's friend urged them to release him and offered them five hundred dinars to let him go, saying, "When you get back to the Governor, tell him you could not find him."
But they would not listen to what he said, and took my brother and dragged him along on his face, and set him in front of the Governor, who asked, "Where did you get these goods and this money?"
And he answered, "I ask for mercy!"
So the Governor gave him the pledge of mercy; and he told him everything that had happened to him from first to last with the old woman, and how the girl had run off; ending with, "Whatever I have taken, take what you like of it, so long as you leave me enough to live on."
But the Governor took all the goods and all the money for himself; and fearing that the affair might come to the Sultan's ears, he summoned my brother and said, "Leave this city, or I will hang you."
"Hearing and obedience," said my brother, and set out for another town.
On the road thieves fell on him and stripped him and beat him and docked his ears; but I heard news of his misfortunes and went out after him, taking him clothes, and brought him secretly into the city, where I assigned him an allowance for meat and drink.
And presently the Caliph gave ear to
My sixth brother, Commander of the Faithful — Shakashik, or Many Clamours, the one shorn of both his lips — was once rich and became poor; so one day he went out to beg something to keep body and soul together.
As he was on the road he suddenly caught sight of a large and handsome mansion, with a wide, lofty building standing separate at the entrance, where a number of eunuchs sat giving orders and forbidding.
My brother asked one of the men idling there, and he replied, "The palace belongs to a member of the house of Barmecide."
So he went up to the doorkeepers and asked them for alms.
"Go in," said they, "by the great gate, and you will get what you are after from our master the Wazir."
Accordingly he went in; and passing through the outer entrance, walked on a while and presently came to a hall of the utmost beauty and elegance, paved with marble, hung with curtains, and with a flower garden in the middle of it whose like he had never seen.
My brother stood a while bewildered, not knowing which way to turn his steps; then, seeing somebody at the far end of the sitting room, he walked up to it and found a man of handsome presence and a comely beard.
When this personage saw my brother he stood up to him and welcomed him and asked how things stood with him; to which he replied that he was in want and needed charity.
Hearing this, the great man showed great concern and, putting his hand to his fine robe, tore it, exclaiming, "What! Am I in a city, and you standing here hungry? I have not the patience to bear such a disgrace!"
Then he promised him all manner of good cheer and said, "There is no help for it, you must stay with me and eat of my salt."
"My lord," answered my brother, "I can wait no longer; for indeed I am dying of hunger."
So he cried, "Ho, boy! Bring the basin and the ewer!" And turning to my brother, said, "My guest, come forward and wash your hands."
My brother got up to do it — but he saw neither ewer nor basin; and yet his host went on washing his hands with invisible soap in imperceptible water, and cried, "Bring the table!"
But again my brother saw nothing.
Then said the host, "Honour me by eating some of this meat, and do not be shy."
And he kept moving his hand to and fro as though he were eating, and saying to my brother, "I am surprised to see you eating so sparingly. Do not stint yourself, for I am sure you are famished."
So my brother began to make as though he were eating, while his host kept saying, "Fall to — and notice especially how excellent this bread is, and how white!"
But still my brother saw nothing. Then he said to himself, "This man is fond of making fun of people"; and replied, "My lord, in all my days I never knew anything more winsome than the whiteness of it or sweeter than its taste."
The Barmecide said, "This bread was baked by a maid of mine whom I bought for five hundred dinars."
Then he called out, "Ho, boy, bring in the meat pudding for our first dish, and let there be plenty of fat in it." And turning to my brother, said, "My guest — in Allah's name, did you ever see anything better than this meat pudding? Now by my life, eat, and do not be embarrassed."
Presently he cried out again, "Ho, boy, serve up the marinated stew with the fattened sand grouse in it." And he said to my brother, "Up and eat, my guest, for truly you are hungry and you need food."
So my brother began wagging his jaws and making as if he were champing and chewing, while the host went on calling for one dish after another and yet producing nothing but orders to eat.
Presently he cried, "Ho, boy, bring us the chickens stuffed with pistachio nuts." And he said to my brother, "By your life, my guest, I have fattened these chickens on pistachios; eat, for you have never eaten their like."
"My lord," replied my brother, "they are indeed first rate."
Then the host began motioning with his hand as though he were putting a mouthful into my brother's mouth; and he did not stop enumerating the various dishes and expatiating on them to the hungry man, whose hunger grew more violent still, so that his soul lusted after a bit of bread, even a barley scone.
Said the Barmecide, "Did you ever taste anything more delicious than the seasoning of these dishes?"
And said my brother, "Never, my lord."
"Eat heartily and do not be ashamed," said the host.
And the guest said, "I have eaten my fill of meat."
So the host cried, "Take it away and bring in the sweets." And turning to my brother, said, "Eat some of this almond conserve, for it is first rate; and some of these honey fritters. Take this one — by my life, the syrup is running out of it."
"May I never be bereaved of you, my lord," replied the hungry man; and he began asking him about the abundance of musk in the fritters.
"That is my custom," he answered. "They put a dinar's weight of musk in every honey fritter for me, and half that quantity of ambergris."
All this time my brother kept wagging his head and his jaws, until the master cried, "Enough of that. Bring us the dessert!"
Then he said to him, "Eat some of these almonds and walnuts and raisins; and of this and that" — naming various kinds of dried fruit — "and do not be embarrassed."
But my brother replied, "My lord, indeed I am full: I can eat no more."
"My guest," the host repeated, "if you have a mind to these good things, eat. Allah! Allah! Do not stay hungry."
But my brother answered, "My lord, a man who has eaten of all these dishes — how can he be hungry?"
Then he thought it over and said to himself, "I will do something that will make him regret these tricks of his."
Presently the host called out, "Bring me the wine"; and moving his hands in the air as though they had set it in front of them, he gave my brother a cup and said, "Take this cup, and if it pleases you, let me know."
"My lord," he replied, "it is remarkably good in the nose; but I am used to drinking wine some twenty years old."
"Knock at this door, then," said the host, "for you cannot drink of anything better."
"By your kindness," said my brother, motioning with his hand as though he were drinking.
"Health and joy to you," exclaimed the master of the house; and he pretended to fill a cup and drink it off, and then handed another to my brother, who drank it down and made as though he were drunk.
Presently he caught the host off guard; and raising his arm until the white of his armpit showed, dealt him such a cuff on the back of the neck that the palace echoed with it. And then he came down on him with a second cuff.
The host cried aloud, "What is this, you scum of the earth?"
"My lord," replied my brother, "you have shown great kindness to your slave, and let him into your house and given him your food to eat; and then you made him drink your old wine until he became drunk and rowdy. But you are too noble not to bear with his ignorance and pardon his offence."
When the Barmecide heard my brother's words he laughed his loudest and said, "For a long time I have been in the habit of making mock of men and playing the madcap among my friends; but I have never yet come across a single one who had the patience and the wit to fall in with all my humours except you. So I forgive you; and you shall be my drinking companion in good earnest, and never leave me."
Then he ordered the servants to lay the table in earnest, and they set on every dish he had spoken of in sport; and he and my brother ate until they were satisfied. After which they moved to the drinking room, where they found girls like moons who sang every kind of song and played on every kind of instrument.
There they stayed drinking until the wine got the better of them; and the host treated my brother like a familiar friend, so that he became like a brother to him, and gave him a robe of honour and loved him with a great love.
Next morning the two fell to feasting and carousing again, and they did not stop living like this for a term of twenty years — at the end of which the Barmecide died, and the Sultan took possession of all his wealth and squeezed my brother of his savings, until he was left a pauper without a penny to handle.
So he left the city and fled away, going wherever his face led him; but when he was halfway between two towns the desert Arabs fell on him and bound him and carried him to their camp, where the man who had taken him set about torturing him, saying, "Buy your life from me with your money, or else I will kill you."
My brother began to weep and replied, "By Allah, I have nothing, neither gold nor silver; but I am your prisoner, so do what you like with me."
Then the Bedouin drew a knife, broad-bladed and ground so sharp that if it were plunged into a camel's throat it would sever it clean across from one side to the other, and cut off my brother's lips, and grew more insistent still in demanding money.
Now this Bedouin had a beautiful wife, who in her husband's absence used to make advances to my brother and offer herself to him; but he held off from her.
One day she began tempting him as usual, and he played with her and made her sit on his lap — when in came the Bedouin, who, seeing this, cried out, "Curse you, you accursed villain, would you debauch my wife for me?"
Then he took out a knife and cut off my brother's manhood; after which he tied him on the back of a camel and carried him to a mountain and left him there.
He was found at last by people who recognised him and gave him food and drink, and let me know how he was; at which I went out to him and brought him back to Baghdad, where I made him an allowance enough to live on.
This, then, Commander of the Faithful, is the history of my six brothers; and I was afraid to go away without telling you all of it and leaving you in the error of judging me to be like them. And now you know that I have six brothers on my hands, and that being more upright than they are, I support the whole family.
When the Caliph heard my story and everything I told him about my brothers, he laughed and said, "You speak the truth, Silent Man! You are indeed sparing of speech, and there is nothing of forwardness in you; but now go out of this city and settle in some other."
And he banished me by decree.
I left Baghdad and travelled in foreign parts until I heard of his death and of another man's accession to the Caliphate. Then I went back to Baghdad, where I found all my brothers dead, and came upon this young man, to whom I rendered the kindliest service — for without me he would certainly have been killed.
Indeed he slanders me and accuses me of a fault which is not in my nature; and what he reports about impudence and meddling and forwardness is idle and false. For truly it was on his account that I left Baghdad and travelled through a great many countries until I came to this city and met him here in your company.
And was not all this, worthy company, the mark of the generosity of my nature?
Then said the tailor to the King of China:
When we had heard the barber's tale, and seen the excess of his talkativeness and the way he had wronged this young man, we laid hands on him and shut him up; after which we sat down in peace, and ate and drank and enjoyed the good things of the wedding feast until the call to afternoon prayer, when I left the party and went home.
My wife received me with sour looks and said, "You go off enjoying yourself among your friends and leave me sitting sorrowing here alone. So now, unless you take me out and give me some amusement for the rest of the day, I shall cut the rope between us, and that will be the cause of my parting from you."
So I took her out and we amused ourselves until supper time, when we came home and fell in with this hunchback, who was brimful of drink and trolling out these rhymes:
"Clear is the wine and the cup is fine; like to like the two combine. It is wine and not a cup! It is a cup and not wine!"
So I invited him to have supper with us, and went out to buy fried fish; after which we sat down to eat; and presently my wife took a piece of bread and a chunk of fish and stuffed them into his mouth, and he choked; and though I slapped him long and hard between the shoulders, he died.
Then I carried him off and contrived to leave him at the house of this doctor, the Jew; and the doctor contrived to drop him into the house of the steward; and the steward contrived to set him up in the way of the Christian broker.
This, then, is my adventure, which happened to me only yesterday. Is it not more wonderful than the story of the hunchback?
When the King of China heard the tailor's tale he shook his head for pleasure; and showing great surprise, said, "What passed between the young man and that busybody of a barber is truly more pleasant and more wonderful than the story of my lying rogue of a hunchback."
Then he told one of his chamberlains to go with the tailor and bring the barber out of jail, saying, "I want to hear the talk of this Silent Man, and it shall be the cause of your deliverance, every one of you; then we will bury the hunchback, since he has been dead since yesterday, and set up a tomb over him":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Thirty-fourth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the King of China ordered, "Bring me the barber, who shall be the cause of your deliverance; then we will bury this hunchback, since he has been dead since yesterday, and set up a tomb over him."
So the chamberlain and the tailor went to the jail and released the barber, and presently came back with him to the King.
The Sultan of China looked at him and considered him carefully — and he was an ancient man, past his ninetieth year; dark of face, white of beard, and hoary of eyebrow; lop-eared and with a nose like a trunk, and a vacant, silly, conceited expression on his face.
The King laughed at this figure of fun and said to him, "Silent Man, I want you to tell me something of your history."
Said the barber, "O King of the age, allow me first to ask you: what is the story of this Christian and this Jew and this Muslim and this hunchback — the corpse — that I see among you? And pray, what may be the object of this gathering?"
Said the King of China, "And why do you ask?"
"I ask," he replied, "so that the King's majesty may know that I am no forward fellow or busybody or impertinent meddler, and that I am innocent of their slanderous charges of too much talk; for I am the man whose name is the Silent Man, and my nickname is particularly happy, as the poet says:
When men design a nickname or a pet name, know that nature will often fall in with the name."
Then the King said, "Explain to the barber the case of this hunchback and what happened to him at supper time; and repeat to him the stories told by the Christian, the Jew, the steward and the tailor. A twice-told tale is of no use to me."
They did as he ordered; and the barber shook his head and said, "By Allah, this is a marvel of marvels! Now uncover the body of that hunchback for me."
They undid the winding sheet, and he sat down and took the hunchback's head in his lap and looked at his face, and laughed and guffawed until he fell over on his back, and said, "There is a wonder in every death; but the death of this hunchback is worth writing down and recording in letters of liquid gold!"
The bystanders were astounded at his words, and the King marvelled and said to him, "What is the matter with you, Silent Man? Explain your words to us."
"O King of the age," said the barber, "I swear by your beneficence that there is still life in this hunchback."
At which he pulled a barber's kit out of his belt, and took from it a pot of ointment and anointed the hunchback's neck with it, and the arteries of it. Then he took a pair of iron tweezers and, putting them into the hunchback's throat, drew out the chunk of fish with its bone; and when it came into sight, it was soaked in blood.
At which the hunchback gave a hearty sneeze and jumped up as though nothing had happened, and passing his hand over his face, said, "I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Mohammed is the Apostle of God."
At this sight everybody there wondered; the King of China laughed until he fainted, and so did the rest of them.
Then said the Sultan, "By Allah, this is truly the most marvellous thing I ever saw! Muslims! Soldiers, all of you! Did you ever in your lives see a man die and be brought back to life? Truly, if Allah had not granted him this barber, he would have been a dead man."
Said they, "By Allah, it is a marvel of marvels."
Then the King of China ordered this tale to be recorded; so they recorded it and placed it in the royal record rooms. After which he bestowed costly robes of honour on the Jew, the Christian and the steward, and told them to go on their way with every mark of esteem.
Then he gave the tailor a sumptuous robe and appointed him his own tailor, with suitable pay and allowances; and made peace between him and the hunchback, to whom he also presented a splendid and expensive suit with a suitable stipend.
He dealt as generously with the barber, giving him a gift and a robe of honour; what is more, he settled a handsome salary on him and created him Barber-Surgeon of State and made him one of his drinking companions.
So they did not stop living the most pleasurable and delightful of lives, until there came to them the Destroyer of all delights and the Sunderer of all societies, the Depopulator of palaces and the Garnerer for graves.
And yet, O most fortunate King (Shahrazad went on), this tale is by no means more wonderful than the tale of Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman.
Said her sister Dunyazad, "And what may that be?"
At which she began to tell the following tale of
There lived in the city of Baghdad, in the reign of the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, a man named Sindbad the Porter, a poor man who carried burdens on his head for hire.
It happened to him one day of great heat that while he was carrying a heavy load he grew extremely tired and sweated profusely, the heat and the weight oppressing him alike. Presently, as he was passing the gate of a merchant's house, in front of which the ground had been swept and watered and the air was temperate, he caught sight of a broad bench beside the door; so he set his load down on it to rest and take the air:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the porter had set his load on the bench to rest and take the air, there came out to him from the courtyard door a pleasant breeze and a delicious fragrance.
He sat down on the edge of the bench, and at once heard from inside the melodious sound of lutes and other stringed instruments, and voices singing and reciting to stir up mirth, together with the song of birds warbling and glorifying Almighty Allah in all sorts of tunes and tongues — turtle doves, mockingbirds, blackbirds, nightingales, wood pigeons and stone-curlews; at which he marvelled to himself and was moved to a mighty joy and comfort.
Then he went up to the gate and saw inside a great flower garden, in which were pages and Black slaves and such a train of servants and attendants and the rest as is only found with kings and sultans; and his nostrils were greeted with the savoury smells of every kind of meat, rich and delicate, and of delicious and generous wines.
So he raised his eyes to heaven and said:
"Glory to You, O Lord, O Creator and Provider, who provide for whom You will without counting or stinting! O my Holy One, I beg Your pardon for all my sins and turn to You in repentance for all my offences!
"O Lord, there is no gainsaying You in Your ordinance and Your dominion, nor will You be questioned about what You do, for You are indeed Almighty over all things. Extolled be Your perfection: whom You will You make poor, and whom You will You make rich; whom You will You exalt and whom You will You abase; and there is no god but You.
"How mighty is Your majesty and how enduring Your dominion and how excellent Your government! Truly You favour whom You will among Your servants, so that the owner of this place lives in all the joyance of life and delights himself with pleasant scents and delicious food and exquisite wines of every kind.
"For indeed You appoint for Your creatures whatever You will and whatever You have foreordained for them; and so some are weary and others are at rest, and some enjoy good fortune and plenty while others suffer the last extremity of toil and misery — as I do."
And he fell to reciting:
How many, by my labours that go on and on for ever, enjoy every good thing in life and lie back in the cool shade? Every morning that dawns I wake to toil and to grief, and my condition is strange and my burden makes me pine. Plenty of others are in luck and free of every misery, and Fortune never loads them with loads like mine. They live out their happy days in comfort and delight; they eat, drink and live in honour among the noble and the worthy. Every living thing was made out of a little drop of seed; your origin is mine and my beginning is yours; and yet the difference and the distance between the two of us are as far apart as the taste of vinegar and the taste of wine. But at You, O all-wise God, I do not venture to rail, whose ordinance is just and whose justice cannot fail.
When Sindbad the Porter had finished reciting his verses, he took up his burden and was about to go on his way, when there came out to him from the gate a little page boy, fair of face and shapely of figure and dainty in his dress, who caught him by the hand and said, "Come in and speak with my lord, for he is calling for you."
The porter would have excused himself to the page, but the boy would take no refusal; so he left his load with the doorkeeper in the entrance hall and followed the boy into the house, which he found to be a fine mansion, radiant and full of majesty — until he brought him into a grand sitting room, where he saw a company of nobles and great lords seated at tables decked with all sorts of flowers and sweet-scented herbs, besides great plenty of dainty dishes and fruit, dried and fresh, and sweets, and wines of the choicest vintages.
There too were instruments of music and mirth, and lovely slave girls playing and singing. The whole company was ranged according to rank; and in the highest place sat a man of a worshipful and noble aspect, whose beard was touched at the sides with grey; and he was stately in stature and handsome in his face, agreeable to look at and full of gravity and dignity and majesty.
So Sindbad the Porter was confounded at what he saw, and said to himself, "By Allah, this must be either a piece of Paradise or some king's palace!"
Then he greeted the company with great respect, praying for their prosperity; and kissing the ground before them, stood with his head bowed down in a humble attitude:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Porter, after kissing the ground between their hands, stood with his head bowed in a humble attitude.
The master of the house told him to come nearer and be seated, and spoke to him kindly and made him welcome. Then he set various kinds of food in front of him, rich and delicate and delicious; and the porter, after saying "In Allah's name," fell to and ate his fill; after which he exclaimed, "Praised be Allah, whatever our condition!" and washing his hands, thanked the company for entertaining him.
Said the host, "You are welcome, and your day is a blessed one. But what is your name and your calling?"
Said the other, "My lord, my name is Sindbad the Porter, and I carry people's goods on my head for hire."
The master of the house smiled and answered, "Know, porter, that your name is the same as mine, for I am Sindbad the Seaman. And now, porter, I should like you to let me hear the verses you were reciting at the gate just now."
The porter was embarrassed and replied, "In Allah's name, excuse me! Toil and travail and lack of luck, when the hand is empty, teach a man bad manners and boorish ways."
Said the host, "Do not be ashamed; you have become my brother. But repeat the verses to me, for they pleased me when I heard you recite them at the gate."
At which the porter repeated the lines, and they delighted the merchant, who said to him:
Know, porter, that my story is a wonderful one; and you shall hear everything that happened to me and everything I went through before I rose to this state of prosperity and became the lord of this place where you see me. For I did not come to this high estate except after grievous toil and perils in plenty; and how much labour and trouble have I not suffered in days gone by!
I have made seven voyages, and by each one of them hangs a marvellous tale, such as confounds the reason; and all of it came about by the doom of fortune and fate, for from what destiny writes there is neither refuge nor flight.
Know then, my good lords (he went on), that I am about to relate the
My father was a merchant, one of the notables of my native place, a moneyed man and ample of means, who died while I was still a child, leaving me a great deal of wealth in money and lands and farmhouses.
When I grew up I laid hands on the whole of it and ate of the best and drank freely and wore rich clothes and lived lavishly, keeping company with young men of my own age and reckoning that this way of living would go on for ever and never know any change.
I went on like that a long time; but at last I woke out of my heedlessness, and coming back to my senses, found that my wealth had become no wealth and my condition an ill condition, and that everything I had once held had gone out of my hand.
And recovering my reason, I was struck with dismay and confusion, and remembered a saying of our lord Solomon son of David, on whom be peace, which I had heard from my father in the old days: "Three things are better than three others: the day of death is better than the day of birth, a live dog is better than a dead lion, and the grave is better than want."
Then I got together the remains of my estates and property and sold everything, even my clothes, for three thousand dirhams, with which I resolved to travel to foreign parts, remembering the poet's saying:
By means of hard work a man shall climb the height; whoever aspires to fame must not sleep at night. Whoever looks for pearls in the deep must dive, winning wealth and welfare by his own main strength; and whoever looks for Fame without toil and struggle is looking for the impossible and wasting his life.
So, taking heart, I bought myself goods and merchandise and everything needed for a voyage; and impatient to be at sea, I embarked with a company of merchants on board a ship bound for Basra.
There we embarked again and sailed many days and nights, and we passed from island to island and sea to sea and shore to shore, buying and selling and bartering everywhere the ship touched; and we kept on our course until we came to an island like a garden out of the gardens of Paradise.
Here the captain cast anchor, and making fast to the shore, put out the landing planks. So everybody aboard landed and made furnaces and lit fires in them and busied themselves in various ways, some cooking and some washing, while others walked about the island for their amusement; and the crew fell to eating and drinking and playing and sporting.
I was one of the walkers. But while we were occupied like this, the master, who was standing on the gunwale, called out to us at the top of his voice:
"Ho there, passengers! Run for your lives and hurry back to the ship, and leave your gear and save yourselves from destruction, Allah preserve you! For this island you are standing on is no true island, but a great fish lying still in the middle of the sea, on which the sand has settled and trees have sprung up in the old days, so that it has become like an island. But when you lit fires on it, it felt the heat and moved; and in a moment it will sink with you into the sea and you will all be drowned. So leave your gear and look to your safety before you die!":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the ship's master cried out to the passengers, "Leave your gear and look to your safety, before you die!" — all who heard him left their gear and their goods, clothes washed and unwashed, fire pots and brass cooking pots, and fled back to the ship for their lives; and some reached it and others, myself among them, did not.
For suddenly the island shook and sank into the depths of the sea with everything that was on it, and the dashing sea surged over it with clashing waves.
I sank with the rest, down and down into the deep; but Almighty Allah preserved me from drowning and threw in my way a great wooden tub, one of those the ship's company had used for washing. I gripped it for the sweetness of life; and getting astride it like a man riding, paddled with my feet like oars while the waves tossed me right and left as though in sport.
Meanwhile the captain made sail and went off with the men who had got aboard, without a thought for the drowning and the drowned; and I did not stop following the vessel with my eyes until she was out of sight, and I made certain of death.
Darkness closed in on me while I was in this plight, and the winds and the waves carried me on all that night and the next day, until the tub brought up with me under the lee of a high island with trees hanging out over the water.
I caught hold of a branch and by its help clambered up onto the land, after coming close to death; but when I reached the shore I found my legs cramped and numb, and my feet showed the traces of fish nibbling at their soles — though I had felt nothing, for the excess of my anguish and exhaustion.
I threw myself down on the ground of the island like a dead man, and drowned in desolation, fainted away; and I did not come back to my senses until next morning, when the sun rose and revived me.
But I found my feet swollen, so I made shift to move by shuffling on my backside and crawling on my knees; for on that island there was a store of fruit and springs of sweet water. I ate the fruit, which strengthened me; and so I stayed days and nights, until my life seemed to come back to me and my spirits began to revive and I was better able to move about.
So, after due consideration, I set about exploring the island and amusing myself with gazing at everything Almighty Allah had created there; and I rested under the trees, and cut myself a staff from one of them to lean on.
One day, as I walked along the shore, I caught sight of something in the distance and took it for a wild animal or one of the monstrous creatures of the sea; but as I came nearer, looking hard at it all the while, I saw it was a noble mare, tethered on the beach.
Presently I went up to her; but she cried out against me with a great cry, so that I trembled with fear and turned to go away — when a man came out from under the earth and followed me, shouting, "Who are you and where do you come from, and what brought you here?"
"My lord," I answered, "I am truly a waif and a stranger, and I was left to drown with several others by the ship we were voyaging in; but Allah graciously sent me a wooden tub, so I saved myself on it, and it floated with me until the waves cast me up on this island."
When he heard this he took my hand and said, "Come with me"; and he carried me into a great underground chamber, as spacious as a hall. He made me sit down at the upper end of it; and then he brought me something to eat, and being famished, I ate until I was satisfied and refreshed.
And when he had put me at my ease he questioned me about myself, and I told him everything that had happened to me from first to last. And as he was marvelling at my adventure, I said, "By Allah, my lord, excuse me; I have told you the truth of my case and the accident that came to me; and now I should like you to tell me who you are, and why you live here under the earth, and why you have tethered that mare on the edge of the sea."
He answered, "Know that I am one of several men stationed in different parts of this island. We are the grooms of King Mihrjan, and all his horses are under our hands.
"Every month, about the time of the new moon, we bring our best mares here that have never been covered, and picket them on the seashore and hide ourselves in this place under the ground, so that nobody can see us.
"Presently the stallions of the sea scent the mares and come up out of the water; and seeing nobody, mount the mares and have their will of them. When they have covered them they try to drag them away, but cannot, because of the leg-ropes; so they cry out at them and butt at them and kick them. Hearing which, we know that the stallions have dismounted; so we run out and shout at them, at which they take fright and go back into the sea.
"Then the mares conceive by them and bear colts and fillies worth a mint of money, whose like is not to be found on the face of the earth. This is the season for the sea stallions to come out; and, Allah willing, I shall take you to King Mihrjan":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fortieth Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the groom said to Sindbad the Seaman, "I shall take you to King Mihrjan and show you our country. And know that if you had not happened on us you would have perished miserably and nobody would ever have known of you; but I shall be the means of saving your life and of your getting back to your own land."
I called down blessings on him and thanked him for his kindness and courtesy; and while we were still talking, up came the stallion out of the sea and, giving a great cry, sprang on the mare and covered her.
When he had had his will of her he dismounted and would have carried her away with him, but could not because of the tether. She kicked and cried out at him, at which the groom took a sword and a shield and ran out of the underground room, striking the shield with the blade and calling to his companions, who came up shouting and brandishing spears; and the stallion took fright at them and plunged into the sea like a buffalo and disappeared under the waves.
After this we sat a while, until the rest of the grooms came up, each leading a mare; and seeing me with their fellow groom, they asked about my situation and I repeated my story to them. At which they came up to me and spread the table and ate, and invited me to eat; so I ate with them.
After which they took horse and, mounting me on one of the mares, set out with me and travelled on without stopping until we came to the capital city of King Mihrjan; and going in to him, they told him my story.
Then he sent for me; and when they had set me before him and greetings had been exchanged, he gave me a cordial welcome, and wishing me a long life, told me to tell him my tale.
So I related to him everything I had seen and everything that had happened to me from first to last; at which he marvelled and said, "By Allah, my son, you have truly been preserved by a miracle! If the term of your life were not a long one, you would never have escaped these straits. But praise be to Allah for your safety!"
Then he spoke cheerfully to me and treated me with kindness and consideration; what is more, he made me his agent for the port and registrar of all the ships that came into the harbour.
I attended him regularly to receive his commands, and he favoured me and did me every kind of kindness and invested me with costly and splendid robes. Indeed I stood high in his favour, as an intercessor for the people and a go-between for them and him when they wanted anything of him.
I stayed like that a great while; and whenever I passed through the city to the port I used to question the merchants and travellers and sailors about the city of Baghdad, in the hope of hearing of some chance of getting back to my own country; but I could find nobody who knew it or who knew anybody who went there.
At this I was distressed, for I was weary of being a stranger so long; and my disappointment went on for a time — until one day, going in to King Mihrjan, I found him with a company of Indians. I greeted them and they returned my greeting, and welcomed me politely and asked me about my country:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-first Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman said:
When they asked me about my country I asked them about theirs, and they told me that they were of various castes: some called the Shakiriyah, who are the noblest of their castes and neither oppress nor offer violence to anybody; and others Brahmans, a people who abstain from wine but live in delight and comfort and merriment and own camels and horses and cattle.
What is more, they told me that the people of India are divided into seventy-two castes, and I marvelled at this beyond all marvelling.
Among the other things I saw in King Mihrjan's dominions was an island called Kasil, where all night long you can hear the beating of drums and tabors; but we were told by the neighbouring islanders and by travellers that the inhabitants are people of diligence and judgement.
In that sea I also saw a fish two hundred cubits long, which the fishermen are afraid of; so they knock pieces of wood together and put it to flight. I saw another fish too, with a head like an owl's — besides many other wonders and rarities which it would be tedious to recount.
I occupied myself in visiting the islands like this until one day, as I stood in the port with a staff in my hand as usual, a great ship with many merchants aboard came sailing for the harbour.
When it reached the small inner port where the ships anchor below the city, the master furled his sails, and making fast to the shore, put out the landing planks; at which the crew fell to breaking bulk and landing cargo, while I stood by taking written note of it all.
They were a long while bringing the goods ashore, so I asked the master, "Is there anything left in your ship?"
And he answered, "My lord, there are several bales of merchandise in the hold whose owner was drowned from among us at one of the islands on our course; so his goods have remained in our charge as a trust, and we mean to sell them and note the price, so as to convey it to his people in the city of Baghdad, the House of Peace."
"What was the merchant's name?" said I.
And he said, "Sindbad the Seaman."
At which I looked hard at him and, recognising him, cried out to him with a great cry, saying:
"Captain, I am that same Sindbad the Seaman who travelled with the other merchants; and when the fish heaved and you called out to us, some saved themselves and others sank, and I was one of them. But Almighty Allah threw in my way a great wooden tub, one of those the crew had used for washing; and the winds and the waves carried me to this island, where by Allah's grace I fell in with King Mihrjan's grooms, and they brought me here to the King their master.
"When I told him my story he treated me with favour and made me his harbour master; and I have prospered in his service and found acceptance with him. These bales, therefore, are mine — the goods that God has given me":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-second Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Sindbad the Seaman said to the captain, "These bales are mine, the goods that Allah has given me," the other exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Truly there is neither conscience nor good faith left among men!"
Said I, "Captain, what do you mean by these words, seeing that I have told you my case?"
And he answered, "Because you heard me say that I had goods with me whose owner was drowned, you think to take them without any right; but this is forbidden you by law, for we saw him drown before our eyes, together with many other passengers, and not one of them was saved. So how can you pretend to be the owner of the goods?"
"Captain," said I, "listen to my story and pay attention to my words, and my truthfulness will be plain to you; for lying and falsehood are the marks of hypocrites."
Then I recounted to him everything that had happened to me since I sailed from Baghdad with him, up to the time we came to the fish-island where we were nearly drowned; and I reminded him of certain matters that had passed between us — at which both he and the merchants were satisfied of the truth of my story and recognised me and wished me joy of my deliverance, saying, "By Allah, we did not think you had escaped drowning! But the Lord has granted you a new life."
Then they handed my bales over to me, and I found my name written on them, and nothing was missing from them.
So I opened them and, making up a present for King Mihrjan of the finest and costliest of the contents, had the sailors carry it up to the palace; where I went in to the King and laid my present at his feet, telling him what had happened, and particularly about the ship and my goods.
At which he marvelled beyond all marvelling, and the truth of everything I had told him was made plain to him. His affection for me redoubled after that, and he showed me great honour and bestowed a great present on me in return for mine.
Then I sold my bales and the other things I owned, making a great profit on them, and bought myself other goods and gear of the growth and fashion of that island city.
When the merchants were about to start on their homeward voyage I put everything I had aboard the ship; and going in to the King, thanked him for all his favours and his friendship and begged his leave to go back to my own country and my own friends. He said goodbye to me and bestowed on me a great store of the country's stuffs and produce; and I took my leave of him and embarked.
Then we set sail and travelled on nights and days by the permission of Almighty Allah; and Fortune served us and Fate favoured us, so that we arrived safely at the city of Basra, where I landed, rejoicing at my safe return to my native soil.
After a short stay I set out for Baghdad, the House of Peace, with a store of goods and commodities of great price. Reaching the city in due time, I went straight to my own quarter and into my own house, where all my friends and relations came to greet me.
Then I bought myself eunuchs and concubines, servants and Black slaves, until I had a large household; and I bought houses and lands and gardens, until I was richer and better off than before; and I went back to enjoying the society of my friends and companions more assiduously than ever, forgetting everything I had suffered of exhaustion and hardship and exile and every peril of travel. And I gave myself up to every kind of joy and comfort and delight, eating the daintiest food and drinking the most delicious wines; and my wealth allowed this state of things to go on.
This, then, is the story of my first voyage; and tomorrow, Allah willing, I shall tell you the tale of the second of my seven voyages.
(Says the teller of the tale:) Then Sindbad the Seaman made Sindbad the Landsman have supper with him, and gave orders to give him a hundred gold pieces, saying, "You have cheered us with your company today."
The porter thanked him and, taking the gift, went his way, turning over what he had heard and marvelling mightily at the things that happen to mankind.
He passed the night in his own place, and with the early morning went back to the house of Sindbad the Seaman, who received him with honour and seated him at his side. As soon as the rest of the company had assembled, he set food and drink in front of them; and when they had eaten and drunk well and were merry and in a cheerful frame of mind, he took up his discourse and recounted to them, in these words, the narrative of
Know, my brother, that I was living a most comfortable and enjoyable life, in all comfort and delight, as I told you yesterday:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-third Night,
she went on: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Sindbad the Seaman's guests were all gathered together he spoke to them like this:
I was living a most enjoyable life, until one day my mind became possessed with the thought of travelling about the world of men and seeing their cities and their islands; and a longing took hold of me to trade and make money by commerce.
On this resolve I took a great store of cash and, buying goods and gear fit for travelling, tied them up in bales. Then I went down to the riverbank, where I found a noble ship, brand new and about to sail, fitted with sails of fine cloth and well manned and provisioned; so I took passage in her with a number of other merchants, and after loading our goods we weighed anchor the same day.
Our voyage was a very fine one, and we sailed from place to place and from island to island; and whenever we anchored we met a crowd of merchants and notables and customers, and set about buying and selling and bartering.
At last Destiny brought us to an island, fair and green, in trees abundant, with yellow-ripe fruit luxuriant and flowers fragrant and birds warbling a soft descant, and streams crystalline and radiant — but no sign of a man showed to anyone looking, not so much as a blower of a fire.
The captain made fast with us at this island, and the merchants and the sailors landed and walked about, enjoying the shade of the trees and the song of the birds, which chanted the praises of the One, the Victorious, and marvelling at the works of the Omnipotent King.
I landed with the rest; and sitting down by a spring of sweet water that welled up among the trees, took out some provisions I had with me and ate what Almighty Allah had allotted me. And the breeze was so sweet and the flowers so fragrant that presently I grew drowsy, and lying down in that place, was soon drowned in sleep.
When I woke I found myself alone, for the ship had sailed and left me behind, and not one of the merchants or the sailors had given me a thought.
I searched the island right and left, but found neither man nor jinn; at which I was troubled beyond measure and my gall was ready to burst for the stress of my chagrin and anguish and worry, because I was left entirely alone, without any worldly goods or food or drink, weary and broken-hearted.
So I gave myself up for lost and said, "The crock does not always escape the shock. I was saved the first time by finding somebody who brought me from a desert island to an inhabited place; but now there is no hope for me."
Then I fell to weeping and wailing and gave myself up to a fit of rage, blaming myself for having ventured again on the perils and hardships of a voyage when I was at my ease in my own house in my own country, taking my pleasure with good food and good drink and good clothes and wanting for nothing, neither money nor goods.
And I repented of having left Baghdad — the more so after all the troubles and dangers I had gone through on my first voyage, in which I had so narrowly escaped destruction — and exclaimed, "Truly we are Allah's and to Him we are returning!"
I was indeed like a man mad and jinn-struck; and presently I got up and walked about the island, right and left and every way, unable for trouble of mind to sit still or stay in any one place.
Then I climbed a tall tree and looked out in every direction, but saw nothing except sky and sea and trees and birds and islands and sand.
However, after a while my eager glances fell on some great white thing, a long way off in the interior of the island; so I came down from the tree and made for what I had seen — and it was a huge white dome, rising high into the air and of vast compass.
I walked all round it, but found no door to it, nor could I muster the strength or the nimbleness to climb it, because it was so exceedingly smooth and slippery. So I marked the spot where I stood and went round the dome to measure its circumference, which I found to be fifty good paces.
And as I stood there, casting about for a way to get inside — the day being near its close and the sun near the horizon — the sun was suddenly hidden from me and the air went dull and dark.
I thought a cloud had come over the sun; but it was the season of summer, so I marvelled at it, and lifting my head, looked steadily at the sky — and saw that the cloud was nothing else than an enormous bird, of gigantic girth and inordinately wide of wing, which, as it flew through the air, veiled the sun and hid it from the island.
At this sight my wonder redoubled, and I remembered a story:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
My wonder redoubled, and I remembered a story I had heard in the old days from pilgrims and travellers: how on a certain island there lives a huge bird called the roc, which feeds its young on elephants. And I was certain that the dome which had caught my eye was nothing else than a roc's egg.
As I looked and marvelled at the wonderful works of the Almighty, the bird alighted on the dome and brooded over it, its wings covering it and its legs stretched out behind it on the ground; and in that posture it fell asleep — glory be to Him who never sleeps!
When I saw this I got up and, unwinding my turban from my head, doubled it and twisted it into a rope, with which I girded my middle and tied my waist fast to the legs of the roc, saying to myself, "Perhaps this bird will carry me to a land of cities and inhabitants, and that will be better than staying on this desert island."
I passed the night watching and afraid to sleep, in case the bird flew away with me unawares; and as soon as the dawn broke and the morning shone, the roc rose off its egg and, spreading its wings with a great cry, flew up into the air, dragging me with it. Nor did it stop soaring and towering until I thought it had reached the limit of the firmament; after which it came down towards the earth little by little, until it landed on the top of a high hill.
As soon as I found myself on hard ground I made haste to untie myself, quaking with fear of the bird — though it took no notice of me and did not even feel me; and loosing my turban from its feet, I made off at my best speed.
Presently I saw it catch up something from the ground in its huge claws and rise with it high into the air; and looking narrowly at it, I saw it was a serpent, big of bulk and gigantic of girth, with which it flew clean out of sight.
I marvelled at this; and going forward, found myself on a peak overlooking a valley, exceedingly great and wide and deep, bounded by vast mountains that towered up into the air: nobody could make out their summits, for the excess of their height, nor was anybody able to climb up to them.
When I saw this I blamed myself for what I had done, and said, "Would to Heaven I had stayed on the island! It was better than this wild desert; for there I had at least fruit to eat and water to drink, and here there are neither trees nor fruit nor streams. But there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Truly, as often as I get clear of one peril I fall into a worse danger and a more grievous."
However, I took courage; and walking along the valley, found that its soil was diamond — the stone they use for boring minerals and precious stones and porcelain and onyx, since it is a dense stone and a hard one, on which neither iron nor steel has any effect, and we cannot cut anything from it or break it except by means of lead.
What is more, the valley swarmed with snakes and vipers, each as big as a palm tree, that would have made one gulp of an elephant; and they came out by night and hid during the day, in case the rocs and the eagles pounced on them and tore them to pieces, as was their habit — why, I do not know.
And I repented of what I had done, and said, "By Allah, I have hurried to bring destruction on myself."
The day began to wane as I went along, and I looked about for a place to pass the night, being afraid of the serpents; and I took no thought of food or drink in my concern for my life.
Presently I caught sight of a cave nearby with a narrow doorway; so I went in, and seeing a great stone close to the mouth, rolled it up and stopped the entrance, saying to myself, "I am safe here for the night; and as soon as it is day I will go out and see what destiny will do."
Then I looked inside the cave and saw at the far end a great serpent brooding on her eggs — at which my flesh quaked and my hair stood on end; but I raised my eyes to Heaven and, committing my case to fate and lot, stayed there all that night without sleeping until daybreak, when I rolled the stone back from the mouth of the cave and went out, staggering like a drunken man and giddy with watching and fear and hunger.
As I walked along the valley in this sore state, there fell down in front of me a slaughtered beast — but I could see nobody; at which I marvelled greatly, and presently remembered a story I had heard in the old days from traders and pilgrims and travellers.
How the mountains where the diamonds are, are full of perils and terrors, and nobody can travel through them; but the merchants who deal in diamonds have a device by which they get them. That is to say, they take a sheep and slaughter it and skin it and cut it in pieces, and throw the pieces down from the mountain tops into the floor of the valley, where the meat, being fresh and sticky with blood, has some of the gems cling to it.
There they leave it until midday, when the eagles and the vultures swoop down on it and carry it in their claws to the mountain tops; at which the merchants come and shout at them and scare them off the meat. Then they come and take the diamonds they find sticking to it and go their way with them, and leave the meat to the birds and the beasts; and nobody can come at the diamonds except by this device:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on with his account of what happened to him in the Valley of Diamonds, and told them that the merchants cannot come at the diamonds except by the device already described.
So when I saw the slaughtered beast fall (he went on) and remembered the story, I went up to it and filled my pockets and my belt-shawl and my turban and the folds of my clothes with the choicest diamonds; and while I was busy at it, down fell another great piece of meat in front of me.
Then, with my turban unrolled, and lying on my back, I set the piece of meat on my chest, so that I was hidden by it and it was held up off the ground.
I had hardly gripped it when an eagle swooped down on the flesh and, seizing it in his talons, flew up with it high into the air, and me clinging to it; nor did he stop flying until he landed on the top of one of the mountains, where he dropped the carcass and fell to tearing at it.
But there arose behind him a great noise of shouting and clattering of wood, at which the bird took fright and flew away.
Then I loosed the meat off myself, my clothes daubed with blood from it, and stood up beside it; at which up came the merchant who had shouted at the eagle, and seeing me standing there, did not speak to me, but was frightened of me and shook with fear.
However, he went up to the carcass and, turning it over, found no diamonds sticking to it; at which he gave a great cry and exclaimed, "Alas, my disappointment! There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, with whom we take refuge from Satan the stoned!"
And he bemoaned himself and beat one hand on the other, saying, "Alas, the pity of it! How has this come about?"
Then I went up to him, and he said to me, "Who are you, and what has brought you here?"
And I said, "Do not be afraid; I am a man, and a good man, and a merchant. My story is a wonderful one and my adventures marvellous, and the manner of my coming here is prodigious. So be of good cheer; you shall get from me what will make you glad, for I have a great plenty of diamonds with me and I will give you enough of them to satisfy you — and each one is better than anything you could get otherwise. So fear nothing."
The man was delighted at this and thanked me and blessed me; then we talked together until the other merchants, hearing me in conversation with their fellow, came up and greeted me, for each of them had thrown down his own piece of meat.
And as I went off with them I told them my whole story, how I had suffered hardships at sea and the manner of my reaching the valley. But I gave the owner of the meat a number of the stones I had by me; so they all wished me joy of my escape, saying, "By Allah, a new life has been decreed for you; for nobody ever reached that valley and came away alive before you. But praise be to Allah for your safety!"
We passed the night together in a safe and pleasant place, and I was beyond measure glad at my deliverance from the Valley of Serpents and my arrival in an inhabited land.
Next day we set out and journeyed over the mighty range of mountains, seeing many serpents in the valley, until we came to a fine great island where there was a grove of huge camphor trees, under each one of which a hundred men might take shelter.
When the people want to get camphor, they bore into the upper part of the trunk with a long iron; at which the liquid camphor, which is the sap of the tree, flows out and they catch it in vessels, where it hardens like gum. But after this the tree dies and becomes firewood.
What is more, on this island there is a kind of wild beast called the rhinoceros, which grazes as our steers and buffaloes do; but it is a huge brute, bigger in the body than a camel, and like the camel it feeds on the leaves and twigs of trees.
It is a remarkable animal with a great thick horn, ten cubits long, in the middle of its head, in which, when it is split in two, there is the likeness of a man.
Voyagers and pilgrims and travellers declare that this beast, called the karkadan, will carry off a great elephant on its horn and graze about the island and the seacoast with it and take no notice of it, until the elephant dies and its fat, melting in the sun, runs down into the rhinoceros's eyes and blinds him, so that he lies down on the shore. Then comes the roc and carries off both the rhinoceros and what is on its horn, to feed its young with.
Besides this I saw on this island many kinds of oxen and buffaloes whose like is not found in our country.
Here I sold some of the diamonds I had by me for gold dinars and silver dirhams, and bartered others for the produce of the country; and loading them on beasts of burden, travelled on with the merchants from valley to valley and town to town, buying and selling and seeing foreign countries and the works and the creatures of Allah, until we came to the city of Basra, where we stayed a few days, after which I went on with my journey to Baghdad:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Sindbad the Seaman came back from his travels to Baghdad, the House of Peace, he arrived home with a great store of diamonds and money and goods.
(He went on:) I met up with my friends and my relations, and gave alms and largesse and bestowed curious gifts and made presents to all my friends and companions.
Then I took to eating well and drinking well and wearing fine clothes and making merry with my fellows, and forgot all my sufferings in the pleasures of coming back to the comfort and delight of life, with a light heart and a broadened chest.
And everybody who heard of my return came and questioned me about my adventures and about foreign countries; and I told them everything that had happened to me and all I had suffered, at which they marvelled and wished me joy of my safe return.
This, then, is the end of the story of my second voyage; and tomorrow, Allah willing, I shall tell you what happened to me on my third voyage.
The company marvelled at his story and had supper with him; after which he ordered a hundred gold dinars to be given to the porter, who took the sum with many thanks and blessings — which he did not stint even when he got home — and went his way, wondering at what he had heard.
Next morning, as soon as the day came in its brightness and shone, he got up and prayed the dawn prayer and went to the house of Sindbad the Seaman, as he had told him to; and he went in and gave him good morning.
The merchant welcomed him and made him sit with him until the rest of the company arrived; and when they had eaten and drunk well and were merry with joy and jollity, their host began by saying, "Listen, my brothers, to what I am about to tell you; for it is even more wonderful than what you have heard already. But Allah alone knows what things His Omniscience has concealed from man. And listen to
As I told you yesterday, I came back from my second voyage overjoyed at my safety and with a great increase of wealth, Allah having repaid me everything I had wasted and lost; and I stayed a while in the city of Baghdad enjoying the utmost ease and prosperity and comfort and happiness — until the flesh took hold of me once more with a longing for travel and diversion and adventure, and I yearned after trade and profit and gain; for the human heart is naturally inclined to what is bad for it.
So, making up my mind, I laid in a great plenty of goods suitable for a sea voyage, and going to Basra, went down to the shore and found a fine ship there ready to sail, with a full crew and a large company of merchants, men of worth and substance, of faith and piety and consideration.
I embarked with them, and we set sail on the blessing of Almighty Allah and on His aid and His favour to bring our voyage to a safe and prosperous end; and already we were congratulating one another on our good fortune and our fine voyage.
We travelled on from sea to sea and island to island and city to city, in all delight and contentment, buying and selling wherever we touched and taking our comfort and our pleasure — until one day, as we sailed across the dashing sea, swollen with clashing billows, the master, who was standing on the gunwale examining the ocean in every direction, cried out with a great cry, and beat his face and plucked out his beard and tore his clothes, and ordered the sails furled and the anchors cast.
So we said to him, "Captain, what is the matter?"
"Know, my brothers — Allah preserve you — that the wind has got the better of us and driven us off our course into the middle of the ocean; and destiny, for our ill luck, has brought us to the Mountain of the Zughb, a hairy people like apes, among whom no man ever fell and came out alive. And my heart tells me that we are all dead men."
The master had hardly finished speaking when the apes were on us. They surrounded the ship on all sides, swarming like locusts and crowding the shore.
They were the most frightful of wild creatures, covered with black hair like felt, foul of face and small of stature, being only four spans high, yellow-eyed and black-faced; nobody knows their language or what they are, and they shun the company of men.
We were afraid to kill them or strike them or drive them off, because of their inconceivable numbers, in case, if we hurt one, the rest fell on us and killed us — for numbers prevail over courage. So we let them do as they liked, although we were afraid they would plunder our goods and our gear.
They swarmed up the cables and gnawed them through, and did the same with all the ropes of the ship, so that she fell off from the wind and stranded on their mountainous coast.
Then they laid hands on all the merchants and the crew, and landing us on the island, made off with the ship and its cargo and went their way, we knew not where.
So we were left on the island, eating its fruit and its pot-herbs and drinking from its streams — until one day we caught sight of something in the middle of it that looked like an inhabited house.
So we made for it as fast as our feet would carry us; and it was a castle, strong and tall, surrounded by a high wall and having a two-leaved gate of ebony wood, both leaves of which stood open.
We went in and found inside a wide bare space like a great square, round which stood a number of tall doors thrown open; and at the far end a long stone bench and braziers, with cooking gear hanging on them and a great plenty of bones about them. But we saw nobody, and marvelled at it beyond all wondering.
Then we sat down in the courtyard a little while, and presently fell asleep, and slept from the forenoon until sundown — when the earth trembled under our feet and the air rumbled with a terrible sound.
And there came down on us, from the top of the castle, a huge creature in the likeness of a man, black in colour, tall and big of bulk as though he were a great date palm, with eyes like coals of fire and eye-teeth like a boar's tusks and a vast wide mouth like the mouth of a well.
What is more, he had long loose lips like a camel's, hanging down on his chest, and ears like two boats falling over his shoulder blades; and the nails of his hands were like a lion's claws.
When we saw this frightful giant we were ready to faint, and every moment our fear and terror increased; and we became like dead men for the excess of our horror and fright:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
When we saw this frightful giant we were struck with the utmost terror and horror. And after trampling about on the ground he sat a while on the bench; then he got up and came over to us and seized me by the arm, choosing me out from among my comrades the merchants.
He took me up in his hand and, turning me over, felt me as a butcher feels a sheep he is about to slaughter — and I was no more than a little mouthful in his hands. But finding me lean and fleshless from the stress of toil and trouble and weariness, he let me go and took up another, whom he turned over and felt in the same way and let go. Nor did he stop feeling and turning over the rest of us, one after another, until he came to the master of the ship.
Now he was a sturdy, stout, broad-shouldered fellow, fat and in full vigour; so he pleased the giant, who seized him as a butcher seizes a beast and, throwing him down, set his foot on his neck and broke it; after which he fetched a long spit and, thrusting it up through him, brought it out at the crown of his head.
Then, lighting a fierce fire, he set the spit over it with the captain on it, and turned it over the coals until the flesh was roasted; when he took the spit off the fire and set it down in front of him like a kebab skewer.
Then he tore the body limb from limb as a man joints a chicken, and rending the flesh with his nails, fell to eating it and gnawing the bones, until there was nothing left but some of them, which he threw down beside the wall.
This done, he sat a while; then he lay down on the stone bench and fell asleep, snorting and snoring like the gurgling of a lamb or a cow with its throat cut; nor did he wake until morning, when he got up and went out and went his way.
As soon as we were certain he was gone we began talking to one another, weeping and bemoaning ourselves for the danger we were in, and saying, "Would to Heaven we had been drowned in the sea, or that the apes had eaten us! That would be better than being roasted over the coals. By Allah, this is a vile, foul death! But whatever the Lord wills must come to pass, and there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Him, the Glorious, the Great. We shall certainly perish miserably and nobody will ever know of us, for there is no escape for us from this place."
Then we got up and roamed about the island, hoping we might find somewhere to hide or some means of flight; for indeed death was a light matter to us, provided we were not roasted over the fire and eaten. However, we could find no hiding place, and the evening overtook us; so out of the excess of our terror we went back to the castle and sat down a while.
Presently the earth trembled under our feet, and the black ogre came up to us and, turning us over, felt one after another until he found a man to his liking, whom he took and served as he had served the captain, killing and roasting and eating him; after which he lay down on the bench and slept all night, snorting and snoring like a beast with its throat cut, until daybreak, when he got up and went out as before.
Then we drew together and talked, and said to one another, "By Allah, we had better throw ourselves into the sea and be drowned than die roasted; for this is an abominable death."
Said one of us, "Hear what I say! Let us cast about to kill him and be at peace from the grief of him, and rid the Muslims of his barbarity and his tyranny."
Then said I, "Hear me, my brothers. If there is nothing for it but to kill him, let us carry some of this firewood and these planks down to the seashore and make ourselves a boat, in which — if we manage to kill him — we can either embark and let the water carry us wherever Allah wills, or else stay here until some ship passes and take passage in her.
"And if we fail to kill him, we will get into the boat and put out to sea; and if we are drowned, we shall at least have escaped being roasted over a kitchen fire with our throats cut. And if we escape, we escape; and if we are drowned, we die martyrs."
"By Allah," they all said, "this advice is sound." And we agreed on it and set about carrying it out.
So we hauled the pieces of wood that lay about the bench down to the beach and, making a boat, moored it to the shore; after which we stowed some provisions in it and went back to the castle.
As soon as evening fell the earth trembled under our feet and in came the ogre on us, snarling like a dog about to bite. He came up to us and, feeling us and turning us over one by one, took one of us and did with him as he had done before and ate him; after which he lay down on the bench and snored and snorted like thunder.
As soon as we were sure he was asleep we got up and, taking two of the iron spits that stood there, heated them in the fiercest part of the fire until they were red hot like burning coals; when we gripped them fast and, going up to the giant as he lay snoring on the bench, thrust them into his eyes and pressed on them, all of us together with our united strength, so that his eyeballs burst and he was stone blind.
At which he cried out with a great cry that made our hearts tremble; and springing up off the bench, fell to groping after us, blindfolded.
We fled from him right and left and he could not see us, for his sight was altogether gone; but we were in terrible fear of him and made certain we were dead men, despairing of any escape.
Then he found the door, feeling for it with his hands, and went out roaring aloud; and the earth shook under us with the noise of his roaring, and we quaked with fear.
As he left the castle we followed him and made for the place where we had moored our boat, saying to one another, "If this accursed creature stays away until sundown and does not come back to the castle, we shall know he is dead; and if he comes back, we will get into the boat and paddle until we escape, committing our affair to Allah."
But even as we spoke, up came the ogre with two others, like ghouls, fouler and more frightful than he was, with eyes like red-hot coals. Seeing which, we hurried into the boat and, casting off the moorings, paddled away and pushed out to sea.
As soon as the ogres caught sight of us they cried out at us and, running down to the seashore, fell to pelting us with rocks, some of which fell among us and others into the sea. We paddled with all our might until we were beyond their reach; but most of us were killed by the rock-throwing, and the winds and the waves played with us and carried us into the middle of the dashing sea, swollen with clashing billows.
We had no idea where we were going, and my companions died one after another, until there were only three of us left, myself and two others:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
Most of us were killed by the rock-throwing, and only three of us were left aboard the boat; for as often as one died we threw him into the sea.
We were badly exhausted with the stress of hunger, but we took courage and heartened one another and worked for dear life and paddled with main strength, until the winds cast us up on an island, and we were like dead men for exhaustion and fear and famine.
We landed on the island and walked about it a while, and found it abounded in trees and streams and birds; and we ate its fruit and rejoiced at our escape from the black ogre and our deliverance from the perils of the sea. And so we went on until nightfall, when we lay down and fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.
But we had hardly closed our eyes before we were roused by a hissing sound like the sighing of the wind; and waking, saw a serpent like a dragon — a rarely seen sight — of monstrous make and with a belly of enormous bulk, lying in a circle around us.
Presently it reared its head and, seizing one of my companions, swallowed him down to his shoulders; then it gulped down the rest of him, and we heard his ribs crack in its belly. Presently it went its way; and we were left in bitter amazement and grief for our comrade and in mortal fear for ourselves, saying:
"By Allah, this is a marvellous thing! Every kind of death that threatens us is more terrible than the last. We were rejoicing at our escape from the black ogre and our deliverance from the perils of the sea; and now we have fallen into something worse. There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! By the Almighty, we have escaped from the ogre and from drowning — but how are we to escape from this abominable, viperish monster?"
Then we walked about the island, eating its fruit and drinking from its streams until dusk, when we climbed up into a high tree and went to sleep there, myself on the topmost bough.
As soon as it was dark night up came the serpent, looking right and left; and making for the tree we were in, climbed up to my comrade and swallowed him down to his shoulders. Then it coiled about the trunk with him — while I, who could not take my eyes off the sight, heard his bones crack in its belly — and it swallowed him whole, after which it slid down out of the tree.
When the day broke and the light showed me that the serpent was gone, I came down like a dead man for the stress of my fear and anguish, and thought of throwing myself into the sea and being at rest from the woes of the world; but I could not bring myself to it, for truly life is dear.
So I took five pieces of wood, broad and long, and bound one crosswise to the soles of my feet, and others in the same way on my right and left sides and over my chest; and the broadest and largest of them I bound across my head, and made them all fast with ropes.
Then I lay down on the ground on my back, so that I was completely fenced in by the pieces of wood, which enclosed me like a bier.
So as soon as it was dark, up came the serpent as usual and made towards me, but could not get at me to swallow me because of the wood that fenced me in. So it wriggled round me on every side while I looked on like a dead man for terror; and every now and then it would glide away and come back — but as often as it tried to get at me it was hindered by the pieces of wood I had tied round myself on every side.
It did not stop besetting me like this from sundown until dawn; but when the light of day shone on the beast, it made off in the utmost fury and the extremity of disappointment.
Then I put out my hand and untied myself, very nearly down among the dead men for fear and suffering; and went down to the shore of the island — where a ship far off in the middle of the waves suddenly struck my sight.
So I tore off a great branch of a tree and made signs with it to the crew, shouting all the while; which when the ship's company saw, they said to one another, "We must stand in and see what this is; perhaps it is a man."
So they made for the island and presently heard my cries, at which they took me aboard and questioned me about my case. I told them all my adventures from first to last, at which they marvelled mightily, and covered my nakedness with some of their clothes.
What is more, they set some food in front of me, and I ate my fill and drank cold sweet water and was greatly refreshed; and Almighty Allah brought me back to life after I had been virtually dead. So I praised the Most High and thanked Him for His favours and His exceeding mercies; and my heart revived in me after utter despair, until it seemed to me that everything I had suffered was only a dream I had dreamed.
We sailed on with a fair wind the Almighty sent us until we came to an island called Al-Salahitah, which abounds in sandalwood, where the captain cast anchor:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
And when we had cast anchor, the merchants and the sailors landed with their goods to sell and to buy. Then the captain turned to me and said:
"Listen — you are a stranger and a pauper, and you tell us you have gone through frightful hardships; and so I have a mind to do you some good that may help you towards your own country, so that you will always bless me and pray for me."
"So be it," I answered. "You shall have my prayers."
Said he, "Know then that there was a man with us, a traveller, whom we lost, and we do not know whether he is alive or dead, for we have had no news of him. So I mean to commit his bales of goods to your charge, so that you may sell them on this island. We will give you a part of the proceeds as a payment for your pains and your service, and the rest we will keep until we get back to Baghdad, where we will ask after his family and hand it over to them, together with any goods left unsold. Tell me, then — will you take on the charge and land them and sell them as the other merchants do?"
I replied, "Hearing and obedience to you, my lord; and great is your kindness to me" — and thanked him; at which he told the sailors and the porters to carry the bales in question ashore and hand them over to my charge.
The ship's clerk asked him, "Master, what bales are these, and what merchant's name shall I write on them?"
And he answered, "Write on them the name of Sindbad the Seaman, the man who was with us in the ship and whom we lost at the roc's island, and of whom we have had no news; for we mean this stranger to sell them, and we will give him a part of the price for his pains and keep the rest until we get back to Baghdad, where, if we find the owner, we will hand it over to him, and if not, to his family."
And the clerk said, "Your words are apt and your advice is right."
Now when I heard the captain give orders for the bales to be inscribed with my name, I said to myself, "By Allah, I am Sindbad the Seaman!"
So I armed myself with courage and patience and waited until all the merchants had landed and were gathered together, talking and haggling about buying and selling; and then I went up to the captain and asked him, "My lord, do you know what manner of man this Sindbad was, whose goods you have committed to me for sale?"
And he answered, "I know nothing about him except that he was a man from the city of Baghdad, called Sindbad the Seaman, who was drowned with a number of others when we lay at anchor at such and such an island; and I have heard nothing of him since."
At this I cried out with a great cry and said:
"Captain — whom Allah keep! — know that I am that same Sindbad the Seaman, and that I was not drowned. When you cast anchor at the island I landed with the rest of the merchants and the crew; and I sat down in a pleasant place by myself and ate some of the food I had with me and enjoyed myself, until I grew drowsy and was drowned in sleep; and when I woke I found no ship and nobody near me.
"These goods are my goods and these bales are my bales; and all the merchants who fetch jewels from the Valley of Diamonds saw me there and will bear me witness that I am the very same Sindbad the Seaman. For I told them everything that had happened to me, and told them how you forgot me and left me sleeping on the island, and what happened to me happened."
When the passengers and the crew heard my words they gathered round me, and some of them believed me and others did not. But presently one of the merchants, hearing me mention the Valley of Diamonds, came up and said to them:
"Hear what I say, good people! When I told you the most wonderful thing in all my travels, and told you that at the time we threw down our slaughtered animals into the Valley of Serpents — I throwing one with the rest, as was my custom — there came up a man hanging onto mine, you did not believe me and gave me the lie."
"Yes," said they, "you did tell us some such tale, but we had no reason to believe you."
He went on, "Now this is that very man; and the proof of it is that he gave me diamonds of great value and high price, whose like is not to be found, repaying me more than would ever have come up sticking to my quarter of meat. And I kept company with him as far as the city of Basra, where he took leave of us and went on to his native place, while we went back to our own country.
"This is he; and he told us his name, Sindbad the Seaman, and how the ship left him on the desert island. And you should know that Allah has sent him here so that the truth of my story might be made plain to you. What is more, these are his goods; for when he first fell in with us he told us about them, and the truth of what he said is obvious."
Hearing the merchant's speech, the captain came up to me and considered me closely a while, after which he said, "What was the mark on your bales?"
"Such and such," I answered; and I reminded him of something that had passed between him and me when I shipped with him from Basra.
At which he was convinced that I really was Sindbad the Seaman, and took me round the neck and wished me joy of my safety, saying, "By Allah, my lord, your case is truly wondrous and your tale marvellous; but praised be Allah, who has brought you and me together again, and who has restored your goods and your gear to you!":—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
"Praise be to Allah," said the captain, "who has restored your goods and your gear to you."
Then I disposed of my merchandise as skilfully as I could, and made a large profit on it; at which I rejoiced exceedingly and congratulated myself on my safety and on the recovery of my goods.
We did not stop buying and selling at the various islands until we came to the land of India, where we bought cloves and ginger and all kinds of spices; and from there we went on to the land of Sind, where we also bought and sold.
In those Indian seas I saw wonders without number or count — among others a fish like a cow, which brings forth its young and suckles them as human beings do, and out of whose skin shields are made. There were fish like donkeys and camels too, and tortoises twenty cubits across. And I saw a bird as well that comes out of a seashell and lays its eggs and hatches its chicks on the surface of the water, and never comes up out of the sea onto the land.
Then we set sail again with a fair wind and the blessing of Almighty Allah; and after a prosperous voyage arrived safe and sound at Basra.
Here I stayed a few days and presently went back to Baghdad, where I went straight to my own quarter and my own house, and greeted my family and my household and my friends.
I had gained on this voyage more than could be counted or reckoned; so I gave alms and largesse and clothed the widow and the orphan by way of thanksgiving for my happy return, and fell to feasting and making merry with my companions and my intimates; and forgot, in eating well and drinking well and dressing well, everything that had happened to me and all the perils and hardships I had suffered.
These, then, are the most remarkable things I saw on my third voyage; and tomorrow, if it be the will of Allah, you shall come to me and I will relate the adventures of my fourth voyage, which is still more wonderful than those you have heard already.
(Says the teller of the tale:) Then Sindbad the Seaman ordered a hundred golden dinars to be given to Sindbad the Landsman as usual, and called for food. So they spread the tables and the company ate the evening meal and went their ways, marvelling at the tale they had heard.
The porter, after taking his gold, passed the night in his own house, also wondering at what his namesake the Seaman had told him; and as soon as day broke and the morning showed with its brightness and shone, he got up and prayed the dawn prayer and went to Sindbad the Seaman, who returned his greeting and received him with an open heart and a cheerful face, and made him sit with him until the rest of the company arrived; when he had food set on, and they ate and drank and made merry.
Then Sindbad the Seaman spoke to them and related to them the narrative of
Know, my brothers, that after I came back from my third voyage and met up with my friends, and forgot all my perils and hardships in the enjoyment of ease and comfort and rest, I was visited one day by a company of merchants, who sat down with me and talked of foreign travel and trade — until the old bad man inside me yearned to go with them and enjoy the sight of strange countries, and I longed for the society of the various races of mankind and for trade and profit.
So I resolved to travel with them; and buying the necessaries for a long voyage, and a great store of costly goods, more than ever before, transported them from Baghdad to Basra, where I took ship with the merchants in question, who were among the chief men of the town.
We set out trusting in the blessing of Almighty Allah; and with a favouring breeze and the best of conditions we sailed from island to island and sea to sea — until one day a contrary wind rose against us, and the captain cast out his anchors and brought the ship to a standstill, afraid she might founder in mid-ocean.
Then we all fell to praying and humbling ourselves before the Most High; but while we were doing it a furious squall struck us that tore the sails to rags and tatters. The anchor cable parted, and the ship foundering, we were thrown into the sea, goods and all.
I kept myself afloat by swimming for half the day, until, when I had given myself up for lost, the Almighty threw in my way one of the ship's planks, which I and some of the other merchants scrambled onto:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on as follows:
And when the ship foundered I scrambled onto a plank with some of the other merchants; and mounting it as we would a horse, we paddled with our feet in the sea.
We stayed like that a day and a night, the wind and the waves helping us along; and on the second day, shortly before the middle of the morning, the breeze freshened and the sea worked and the rising waves cast us up on an island, very nearly dead bodies for weariness and want of sleep, cold and hunger and fear and thirst.
We walked about the shore and found plenty of herbs, of which we ate enough to keep breath in our bodies and steady our failing spirits; then we lay down and slept until morning close by the sea.
And when the morning came with its brightness and shone, we got up and walked about the island to right and left, until we came in sight of an inhabited house a long way off. So we made towards it, and did not stop walking until we reached its door — when a number of naked men came out of it and, without greeting us or a word said, laid hold of us and mastered us and carried us off to their king, who signed to us to sit down.
So we sat down, and they set food in front of us of a kind we did not know and whose like we had never seen in all our lives. My companions ate some of it out of the stress of their hunger; but my stomach revolted at it and I would not eat — and my refusing it was, by Allah's favour, the reason I am alive today.
For no sooner had my comrades tasted it than their reason left them and their condition changed, and they began to devour it like madmen possessed by an evil spirit.
Then the savages gave them coconut oil to drink and anointed them with it; and straight after drinking it their eyes turned up in their heads and they fell to eating greedily, quite against their habit.
When I saw this I was confounded and concerned for them, and no less anxious about myself for fear of the naked people. So I watched them closely, and it was not long before I discovered that they were a tribe of Magian cannibals, whose King was a ghoul.
Everybody who came to their country, or whoever they caught in their valleys or on their roads, they brought to this King and fed on that food and anointed with that oil, at which their stomachs would swell so that they could eat a great deal, while their reason left them and they lost the power of thought and became idiots.
Then they stuffed them with coconut oil and the food I have described until they became fat and gross; when they slaughtered them by cutting their throats and roasted them for the King to eat. But as for the savages themselves, they ate human flesh raw.
When I saw this I was badly dismayed for myself and my comrades, who by now had become so stupefied that they did not know what was being done with them; and the naked people committed them to a man who used to lead them out every day and pasture them on the island like cattle. And they wandered among the trees and rested as they pleased, and so grew very fat.
As for me, I wasted away and grew sickly with fear and hunger, and my flesh shrivelled on my bones. Seeing which, the savages left me alone and took no notice of me, and so far forgot about me that one day I gave them the slip; and walking out of their place, made for the beach, which was a long way off.
There I caught sight of a very old man sitting on a high place, ringed about by the water. I looked at him and knew him for the herdsman who had charge of pasturing my companions; and with him were many others in the same state.
As soon as he saw me he knew I was still in possession of my reason and not afflicted like the rest he was pasturing; so he signed to me from a distance, as much as to say, "Turn back and take the right-hand road, for that will bring you to the King's highway."
So I turned back as he directed, and followed the right-hand road, now running for fear and now walking at leisure to rest myself, until I was out of the old man's sight.
By this time the sun had gone down and the dark had set in; so I sat down to rest, and would have slept, but sleep would not come to me that night for the stress of fear and famine and fatigue.
When the night was half gone I got up and walked on, until the day broke in all its beauty and the sun rose over the heads of the lofty hills and across the low gravelly plains.
Now I was weary and hungry and thirsty; so I ate my fill of the herbs and grasses that grew on the island and kept life in my body and stayed my stomach; after which I set out again and travelled all that day and the next night, staying my hunger with roots and herbs.
Nor did I stop walking for seven days and their nights, until the morning of the eighth, when I caught sight of a faint object in the distance. So I made towards it, though my heart quaked for everything I had suffered first and last — and it was a company of men gathering peppercorns.
As soon as they saw me they hurried up to me and surrounded me on all sides and said, "Who are you and where do you come from?"
I replied, "Know, good people, that I am a poor stranger" — and told them my case and all the hardships and perils I had suffered:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
And the men gathering pepper on the island questioned me about my case, when I told them all the hardships and perils I had suffered and how I had fled from the savages; at which they marvelled and wished me joy of my safety, saying:
"By Allah, this is wonderful! But how did you escape from these savages, who swarm all over the island and devour everybody who falls in with them? Nobody is safe from them, and nobody gets out of their clutches."
And after I had told them the fate of my companions they made me sit with them until they had finished their work; and fetched me some good food, which I ate, for I was hungry, and rested a while.
After which they took ship with me and, carrying me to their island home, brought me before their King, who returned my greeting and received me honourably and questioned me about my case.
I told him everything that had happened to me from the day I left the city of Baghdad; at which he wondered greatly at my adventures, he and his courtiers, and told me to sit beside him. Then he called for food, and I ate with him as much as I needed and washed my hands and gave thanks to Almighty Allah for all His favours, praising Him and glorifying Him.
Then I left the King and walked about the city to amuse myself, and found it wealthy and populous, abounding in market streets well stocked with food and merchandise and full of buyers and sellers.
So I rejoiced at having reached such a pleasant place, and took my ease there after my exhaustion; and I made friends among the townspeople, and before long I stood higher in honour and favour with them and with their King than any of the chief men of the realm.
Now I saw that all the citizens, great and small, rode fine horses, high-priced and thoroughbred, without saddles or housings; at which I wondered, and said to the King, "Why, my lord, do you not ride with a saddle? There is comfort in it for the rider and an increase of control."
"What is a saddle?" he asked. "I never saw one or used one in all my life."
And I answered, "With your permission I will make you a saddle, so that you may ride on it and see how comfortable it is."
And he said, "Do so."
So I said to him, "Furnish me with some wood"; which being brought, I looked out a clever carpenter and sat with him and showed him how to make the saddle tree, drawing the shape of it for him in ink on the wood.
Then I took wool and teased it and made felt of it; and covering the saddle tree with leather, stuffed it and polished it and attached the girth and the stirrup leathers.
After which I fetched a blacksmith and described to him the shape of the stirrups and the bit. So he forged a fine pair of stirrups and a bit, and filed them smooth and tinned them. What is more, I fastened silk fringes to them and fitted bridle leathers to the bit.
Then I fetched one of the best of the royal horses and, saddling and bridling him, hung the stirrups on the saddle and led him to the King.
The thing took his fancy and he thanked me; then he mounted and was delighted with the saddle, and rewarded me handsomely for my work.
When the King's vizier saw the saddle he asked me for one like it, and I made it for him. And after that all the grandees and officers of state came to me for saddles; so I fell to making saddles — having taught the craft to the carpenter and the blacksmith — and selling them to everybody who wanted one, until I amassed great wealth and stood in high honour and great favour with the King and his household and his grandees.
I lived like this until one day, as I was sitting with the King in all respect and contentment, he said to me:
"Know, my friend, that you have become one of us, dear as a brother; and we hold you in such regard and affection that we cannot part with you or allow you to leave our city. And so I want your obedience in a certain matter, and I will not have you cross me in it."
I answered, "O King, what is it you want of me? Far be it from me to cross you in anything, for I am indebted to you for many favours and bounties and much kindness; and, praise be to Allah, I have become one of your servants."
Said he, "I have a mind to marry you to a fair, clever, agreeable wife who is as wealthy as she is beautiful, so that you may be naturalised and settled among us. I will lodge you with me in my palace; so do not oppose me or cross me in this."
When I heard this I was abashed and held my peace, and could not answer him at all for my great bashfulness in front of him.
He asked, "Why do you not answer me, my son?"
And I answered, "My master, it is yours to command, O King of the age."
So he summoned the judge and the witnesses and married me straight away to a lady of a noble family and a high pedigree; wealthy in money and in means; the flower of an ancient race; of surpassing beauty and grace, and the owner of farms and estates and many a dwelling place:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on in these words:
Now after the King my master had married me to this choice wife, he also gave me a great and handsome house standing on its own, together with slaves and officers, and assigned me pay and allowances.
So I lived in all ease and contentment and delight, and forgot everything that had happened to me of weariness and trouble and hardship; for I loved my wife with the fondest love and she loved me no less, and we were as one, and lived in the utmost comfort of life and in its happiness.
And I said to myself, "When I go back to my own country I will take her with me." But whatever is predestined for a man, that must happen, and nobody knows what will befall him.
We lived like this a great while, until Almighty Allah bereaved one of my neighbours of his wife. Now he was a friend of mine; so hearing the cry of the mourners, I went in to condole with him on his loss, and found him in a very bad way, full of trouble and weary in soul and mind.
I condoled with him and comforted him, saying, "Do not mourn for your wife, who has now found the mercy of Allah; the Lord will surely give you a better one in her place, and your name shall be great and your life shall be long in the land, Allah willing."
But he wept bitter tears and replied, "My friend, how can I marry another wife, and how shall Allah replace her with a better than she was, when I have only one day left to live?"
"Brother," said I, "come back to your senses, and do not announce the glad tidings of your own death, for you are well and sound and in good case."
"By your life, my friend," he answered, "tomorrow you will lose me and will never see me again till the Day of Resurrection."
I asked, "How so?"
And he answered, "This very day they bury my wife, and they bury me with her in one tomb; for it is the custom with us, if the wife dies first, to bury the husband alive with her, and likewise the wife if the husband dies first, so that neither may enjoy life after losing the other."
"By Allah," I cried, "this is a most vile and wicked custom, and not to be endured by anybody!"
Meanwhile most of the townspeople came in and fell to condoling with my friend for his wife and for himself. Presently they laid the dead woman out, as was their custom; and setting her on a bier, carried her and her husband out of the city until they came to a place in the side of the mountain at the end of the island by the sea.
And here they raised a great rock and uncovered the mouth of a stone-lined pit or well, leading down into a vast underground cavern that ran beneath the mountain.
Into this pit they threw the corpse; then, tying a rope of palm fibre under the husband's armpits, they let him down into the cavern, and with him a great pitcher of fresh water and seven scones by way of provisions.
When he reached the bottom he loosed himself from the rope and they drew it up; and stopping the mouth of the pit with the great stone, went back to the city, leaving my friend in the cavern with his dead wife.
When I saw this I said to myself, "By Allah, this fashion of death is more grievous than the other!"
And I went in to the King and said, "My lord, why do you bury the living with the dead?"
Said he, "You must understand that it has been the custom of our forefathers and of our old kings from time out of mind: if the husband dies first, to bury his wife with him, and the same with the wife — so that we may not sever them, alive or dead."
I asked, "O King of the age, if the wife of a foreigner like myself dies among you, do you deal with him as you did with that man?"
And he answered, "Certainly; we do with him exactly as you have seen."
When I heard this my gall bladder was ready to burst for the violence of my dismay and my concern for myself. My wits were dazed; I felt as if I were in a foul dungeon; and I hated their society, for I went about in fear that my wife might die before me and they would bury me alive with her.
However, after a while I comforted myself, saying, "Perhaps I shall die before her, or shall have gone back to my own country before she dies; for nobody knows which will go first and which last."
Then I applied myself to turning my mind from this thought with various occupations; but it was not long before my wife fell ill and complained and took to her bed, and after a few days went to the mercy of Allah.
And the King and the rest of the people came, as was their custom, to condole with me and with her family and console us for her loss — and no less to condole with me for my own death.
Then the women washed her and, dressing her in her richest clothes and her golden ornaments, necklaces and jewellery, laid her on the bier and carried her to the mountain I have described, where they lifted the cover of the pit and threw her in.
After which all my intimates and acquaintances and my wife's family gathered round me, to say goodbye to me in my own lifetime and console me for my own death — while I cried out among them, saying:
"Almighty Allah never made it lawful to bury the living with the dead! I am a stranger and not one of your kind; and I cannot bear your custom; and if I had known of it I would never have married among you!"
They did not hear me and paid no attention to my words, but laying hold of me, bound me by force and let me down into the cavern with a large jar of sweet water and seven cakes of bread, according to their custom.
When I reached the bottom they called out to me to cast myself loose from the cords, but I refused to do it; so they threw them down on me, and closing the mouth of the pit with the stones I have described, went their ways:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
When they had left me in the cavern with my dead wife and closed the mouth of the pit and gone their ways, I looked about me and found myself in a vast cave full of dead bodies, which gave off a foul and loathsome smell; and the air was heavy with the groans of the dying.
At this I fell to blaming myself for what I had done, saying:
"By Allah, I deserve everything that has happened to me and everything that is going to happen! What curse was on me, to take a wife in this city? There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! As often as I say I have escaped from one calamity, I fall into a worse. By Allah, this is an abominable death to die! Would to Heaven I had died a decent death and been washed and shrouded like a man and a Muslim. I wish I had been drowned at sea or had perished in the mountains — it would be better than dying this miserable death."
And so I went on blaming my own folly and my greed for gain, in that black hole where I could not tell night from day; and I did not stop cursing the Foul Fiend and blessing the Almighty Friend.
Then I threw myself down on the bones of the dead and lay there imploring Allah's help; and in the violence of my despair I called on death, which did not come to me — until the fire of hunger burned my stomach and thirst set my throat aflame, when I sat up and, feeling for the bread, ate a morsel of it and swallowed a mouthful of water on top of it.
After this, the worst night I ever knew, I got up and explored the cavern, and found that it ran a long way, with hollows in its sides; and its floor was strewn with dead bodies and rotten bones that had lain there since ancient times. So I made myself a place in one of the hollows of the cave, far from the corpses lately thrown down, and slept there.
I stayed like that a long while, until my provisions were close to running out; and even so I ate only once every day or every second day, and did not drink more than an occasional mouthful, for fear my food should fail me before my death; and I said to myself, "Eat little and drink little; perhaps the Lord will grant you deliverance."
One day, as I sat there pondering my case and wondering what I should do when my bread and water were finished, the stone that covered the opening was suddenly rolled away and the light streamed down on me.
Said I, "I wonder what the matter is; perhaps they have brought another corpse."
Then I saw people standing about the mouth of the pit, who presently let down a dead man and a living woman, weeping and bemoaning herself, and with her a fuller supply of bread and water than usual. I saw her, and she was a beautiful woman; but she did not see me. And they closed up the opening and went away.
Then I took the leg-bone of a dead man and, going up to the woman, struck her on the crown of the head; and she gave one cry and fell down in a faint. I struck her a second and a third time, until she was dead; when I laid hands on her bread and water, and found on her a great quantity of ornaments and rich clothes, necklaces, jewels and gold trinkets — for it was their custom to bury women in all their finery.
I carried the provisions to my sleeping place in the side of the cavern and ate and drank of them sparingly, no more than was enough to keep the life in me, in case the food should run out quickly and I should die of hunger and thirst. And yet I never entirely lost hope in Almighty Allah.
I stayed there a great while, killing everybody they let down alive into the cavern and taking their provisions of food and drink — until one day, as I slept, I was woken by something scratching and burrowing among the bodies in a corner of the cave; and I said, "What can this be?" — being afraid of wolves or hyenas.
So I sprang up and, seizing the leg-bone I have mentioned, made for the noise. As soon as the thing was aware of me it fled from me into the depths of the cavern; and it was a wild animal.
However, I followed it to the far end, until I saw a long way off a point of light no bigger than a star, now appearing and now disappearing. So I made for it; and as I came nearer it grew larger and brighter, until I was certain that it was a crevice in the rock leading out into the open country.
And I said to myself, "There must be some reason for this opening: either it is the mouth of a second pit, like the one they let me down by, or else it is a natural fissure in the rock."
So I thought a while; and coming closer to the light, found that it came from a break in the far side of the mountain, which the wild animals had enlarged by burrowing, so that they could get in and devour the dead and come and go freely.
When I saw this my spirits revived and hope came back to me and I made certain of life, after having died a death. So I went on as though in a dream; and managing to scramble through the gap, found myself on the slope of a high mountain overlooking the salt sea and cutting off all access to it from the island, so that nobody could reach that part of the beach from the city.
I praised my Lord and thanked Him, rejoicing greatly and heartening myself with the prospect of deliverance; then I went back through the crack into the cavern and brought out all the food and water I had saved up, and put on some of the dead people's clothes over my own.
After which I gathered together all the collars and necklaces of pearls and jewels, and the trinkets of gold and silver set with precious stones, and the other ornaments and valuables I could find on the corpses; and making them into bundles with the grave clothes and the garments of the dead, carried them out to the back of the mountain facing the seashore, where I settled myself, meaning to wait there until it should please Almighty Allah to send me relief by some passing ship.
I visited the cavern every day; and as often as I found people buried alive there I killed them all without distinction, men and women alike, and took their food and their valuables and carried them to my place on the seashore.
So I stayed a long while:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
And after carrying all my food and my valuables from the cavern to the coast, I stayed a long while by the sea, pondering my case — until one day I caught sight of a ship passing in the middle of the clashing sea, swollen with dashing billows.
So I took a piece of a white shroud I had with me and, tying it to a staff, ran along the seashore making signals with it and calling out to the people in the ship, until they saw me and, hearing my shouts, sent a boat to fetch me off.
When it drew near the crew called out to me, saying, "Who are you, and how did you come to be on this mountain, where we have never seen anybody in all our born days?"
I answered, "I am a gentleman and a merchant who was shipwrecked and saved himself on one of the ship's planks with some of his goods; and by the blessing of the Almighty and the decrees of Destiny, and by my own strength and skill, after a great deal of toil and trouble I have landed with my gear in this place, where I have been waiting for some passing ship to take me off."
So they took me into their boat, together with the bundles I had made of the jewels and the valuables from the cavern, tied up in clothes and shrouds, and rowed back with me to the ship; where the captain said to me:
"How did you come, man, to that place on that mountain, behind which lies a great city? All my life I have sailed these seas and passed to and fro close by these heights, and yet I never saw any living thing here except wild animals and birds."
I repeated to him the story I had told the sailors, but told him nothing of what had happened to me in the city and the cavern, in case there should be any of the islanders aboard the ship.
Then I took out some of the best pearls I had with me and offered them to the captain, saying, "My lord, you have been the means of saving me off that mountain. I have no ready money; but take this from me in return for your kindness and your good offices."
But he refused to accept it from me, saying, "When we find a shipwrecked man on the seashore or on an island, we take him up and give him food and drink; and if he is naked we clothe him; and we take nothing from him. On the contrary, when we reach a safe port we set him ashore with a present of our own money and treat him kindly and charitably, for the love of Allah the Most High."
So I prayed that his life might be long in the land, and rejoiced at my escape, trusting to be delivered from my troubles and to forget my past misfortunes; for every time I remembered being let down into that cave with my dead wife I shuddered with horror.
Then we went on with our voyage and sailed from island to island and sea to sea, until we came to the Island of the Bell, which contains a city two days' journey across; from where, after a six-day run, we reached the Island of Kala, close to the land of India.
This place is governed by a powerful and mighty King, and it produces excellent camphor and an abundance of Indian rattan; there is a lead mine here too.
At last, by the decree of Allah, we arrived safely at the town of Basra, where I stayed a few days and then went on to the city of Baghdad; and finding my own quarter, went into my house with lively pleasure.
There I met up with my family and my friends, who rejoiced at my happy return and wished me joy of my safety. I laid up in my storehouses all the goods I had brought with me, and gave alms and largesse to holy beggars and the poor, and clothed the widow and the orphan.
Then I gave myself up to pleasure and enjoyment, going back to my old merry way of living.
Such, then, are the most marvellous adventures of my fourth voyage; but tomorrow, if you will kindly come to me, I will tell you what happened to me on my fifth voyage, which was rarer still and more marvellous than the ones before it. And you, my brother Sindbad the Landsman, shall have supper with me as usual.
(Says the teller of the tale:) When Sindbad the Seaman had finished his story he called for supper; so they spread the table and the guests ate the evening meal; after which he gave the porter a hundred dinars as usual, and he and the rest of the company went their ways, glad at heart and marvelling at the tales they had heard — for every story was more extraordinary than the one before it.
Sindbad the Porter passed the night in his own house in all joy and cheer and wonderment; and as soon as morning came with its brightness and shone, he prayed the dawn prayer and went to the house of Sindbad the Seaman, who welcomed him and told him to sit with him until the rest of the company arrived; when they ate and drank and made merry, and the talk went round among them.
Presently their host began the narrative of the fifth voyage:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the host began, in these words, the narrative of
Know, my brothers, that when I had been a while ashore after my fourth voyage — and when, in my comfort and my pleasures and my merrymaking, and in my rejoicing over my large gains and profits, I had forgotten everything I had endured of perils and sufferings — the flesh took hold of me again with the longing to travel and see foreign countries and islands.
Accordingly I bought costly merchandise suited to my purpose, and making it up into bales, went to Basra; where I walked about the river quay until I found a fine tall ship, newly built, with unused gear and fitted out ready for sea.
She pleased me; so I bought her, and putting my goods aboard, hired a master and a crew and set some of my slaves and servants over them as inspectors. A number of merchants also brought their goods aboard and paid me freight and passage money; and then, after reciting the opening chapter of the Koran, we set sail over Allah's pool in all joy and cheer, promising ourselves a prosperous voyage and a good profit.
We sailed from city to city and from island to island and from sea to sea, viewing the cities and countries we passed, and selling and buying in a good many of them — until one day we came to a great uninhabited island, deserted and desolate, on which was a white dome of the biggest bulk, half buried in the sand.
The merchants landed to examine this dome, leaving me in the ship; and when they came near it — it was a huge roc's egg. They fell to beating it with stones, not knowing what it was, and presently broke it open; at which a great deal of water ran out of it and the young roc appeared inside. So they pulled it out of the shell and cut its throat and took a great store of meat off it.
Now I was in the ship and did not know what they were doing; but presently one of the passengers came up to me and said, "My lord, come and look at the egg we took for a dome."
So I looked, and seeing the merchants beating it with stones, called out to them, "Stop! Stop! Do not meddle with that egg, or the roc will come out and break our ship and destroy us."
But they paid no attention to me and did not leave off striking the egg — when the day grew dark and dun and the sun was hidden from us, as though some great cloud had passed over the sky.
So we raised our eyes, and saw that what we had taken for a cloud was the roc, poised between us and the sun; and it was his wings that darkened the day.
When he came and saw his egg broken he cried a loud cry, at which his mate came flying up; and the two of them began circling round the ship, crying out at us with voices louder than thunder.
I called to the captain and the crew, "Put out to sea and look for safety in flight, before we are all destroyed!"
So the merchants came aboard and we cast off and made haste away from the island to reach the open sea. When the rocs saw this they flew off, and we crowded all sail on the ship, thinking to get clear of their country; but presently the two of them reappeared and flew after us and stood over us, each carrying in its claws a huge boulder it had brought from the mountains.
As soon as the male roc came up with us he let fall the rock he held in his talons; but the master put the ship about, so that the rock missed her by a very little and plunged into the waves with such violence that the ship pitched high and then sank into the trough of the sea, and the bottom of the ocean appeared to us.
Then the female roc let fall her rock, which was bigger than her mate's; and as Destiny had decreed, it fell on the poop of the ship and crushed it, the rudder flying into twenty pieces; at which the vessel foundered and everything and everybody aboard was thrown into the sea.
As for me, I struggled for sweet life until Almighty Allah threw in my way one of the ship's planks, which I clung to; and getting astride it, fell to paddling with my feet.
Now the ship had gone down close to an island in the middle of the sea, and the winds and the waves carried me on until, by permission of the Most High, they cast me up on the shore of that island, at my last gasp from toil and distress and half dead with hunger and thirst.
So I landed more like a corpse than a living man, and throwing myself down on the beach, lay there a while until I began to revive and recover my spirits; when I walked about the island and found it like one of the enclosed gardens of Paradise.
Its trees, in abundance dressed, bore ripe yellow fruit for their freight; its streams ran clear and bright; its flowers were fair to smell and to sight, and its birds warbled with delight the praises of Him to whom belong permanence and all might.
So I ate my fill of the fruit and slaked my thirst with the water of the streams until I could take no more; and I gave thanks to the Most High and glorified Him:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
So when I had escaped drowning and reached the island, which gave me fruit to eat and water to drink, I gave thanks to the Most High and glorified Him; after which I sat until nightfall, hearing no voice and seeing no inhabitant.
Then I lay down, very nearly dead with labour and trouble and terror, and slept without a break until morning; when I got up and walked about under the trees, until I came to the channel of a draw-well fed by a spring of running water; and by this well sat an old man of venerable appearance, girt about with a waistcloth made of the fibre of palm fronds.
I said to myself, "Perhaps this old man is one of the people who were wrecked in the ship and has made his way to this island."
So I came up to him and greeted him, and he returned my greeting by signs but did not speak; and I said to him, "Uncle, what makes you sit here?"
He shook his head and moaned and signed to me with his hands, as much as to say, "Take me on your shoulders and carry me across to the other side of the well channel."
And I said in my mind, "I will deal kindly with him and do what he wants; perhaps I shall earn a reward in Heaven for it, since he may be a paralytic."
So I took him on my back and carried him to the place he pointed at, and said, "Get down at your leisure."
But he would not get off my back, and wound his legs about my neck. I looked at them, and seeing that they were like a buffalo's hide for blackness and roughness, I was frightened and would have thrown him off; but he clung to me and gripped my neck with his legs until I was very nearly choked, and the world went black in my sight and I fell senseless to the ground like a dead man.
But he still kept his seat; and raising his legs, drummed with his heels and beat my back and shoulders harder than palm rods, until he forced me to get up for the excess of the pain.
Then he signed to me with his hand to carry him this way and that among the trees that bore the best fruit; and if ever I refused to do what he wanted, or loitered, or took my time, he beat me with his feet more grievously than if I had been beaten with whips.
He did not stop signalling with his hand wherever he had a mind to go; so I carried him about the island like a captive slave, and he fouled my shoulders and my back, and never dismounted night or day; and when he wanted to sleep he wound his legs about my neck and leaned back and slept a while, then got up and beat me — at which I sprang up in a hurry, unable to gainsay him because of the pain he inflicted on me.
And indeed I blamed myself and bitterly regretted having taken pity on him; and I went on in this condition, suffering an exhaustion beyond describing, until I said to myself, "I did him a good turn and he has paid me back with harm. By Allah, never again will I do any man a service as long as I live!"
And again and again I begged the Most High that I might die, for the stress of my weariness and my misery. And so I went on a long while — until one day I came with him to a place where there were plenty of gourds, many of them dry.
So I took a great dry gourd and, cutting the head open, scooped out the inside and cleaned it; after which I gathered grapes from a vine that grew close by and squeezed them into the gourd until it was full of the juice.
Then I stopped up the mouth and set it in the sun, where I left it some days, until it became strong wine; and every day I used to drink some of it, to comfort and sustain me under my labours with that perverse and obstinate fiend. And as often as I drank myself drunk I forgot my troubles and took new heart.
One day he saw me drinking and signed to me with his hand, as much as to say, "What is that?"
Said I, "It is an excellent cordial, which cheers the heart and revives the spirits."
Then, being heated with the wine, I ran and danced with him among the trees, clapping my hands and singing and making merry; and I staggered under him on purpose.
When he saw this he signed to me to give him the gourd so that he could drink; and I was afraid of him and gave it to him. So he took it and, draining it to the dregs, threw it on the ground; at which he grew frolicsome and began to clap his hands and jig to and fro on my shoulders, and he made water over me so copiously that all my clothes were drenched.
But presently the fumes of the wine rose to his head and he became helplessly drunk, and the muscles of his sides and his limbs relaxed and he swayed to and fro on my back.
When I saw that he had lost his senses with drunkenness I put my hand to his legs and, loosing them from my neck, stooped down almost to the ground and threw him off at full length:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
So I threw the devil off my shoulders, hardly able to believe in my deliverance from him and afraid he might shake off his drunkenness and do me a mischief.
Then I took up a great stone from among the trees and, coming up to him, struck him on the head with it with all my might and crushed in his skull as he lay dead drunk. At which his flesh and his fat and his blood being all in a pulp, he died and went to what he deserved, the Fire — no mercy of Allah be on him.
I then went back, with an easy heart, to my old station on the seashore, and stayed on that island many days, eating its fruit and drinking its water and keeping a lookout for passing ships — until one day, as I sat on the beach recalling everything that had happened to me and saying, "I wonder whether Allah will keep me alive and restore me to my home and my family and my friends" — a ship came making for the island through the dashing sea and the clashing waves.
Presently it cast anchor and the passengers landed; so I made for them, and when they saw me they all hurried up to me and, gathering round me, questioned me about my case and how I came to be there.
I told them everything that had happened to me, at which they marvelled beyond all marvelling and said, "The one who rode on your shoulder is called the Shaykh al-Bahr, the Old Man of the Sea; and nobody has ever felt his legs on his neck and come off alive except you; and those who die under him he eats. So praise be to Allah for your safety!"
Then they set some food in front of me, of which I ate my fill; and gave me some clothes, with which I clothed myself afresh and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship.
And we sailed days and nights, until fate brought us to a place called the City of Apes, built with lofty houses, all of which looked out on the sea, and having a single gate studded and strengthened with iron nails.
Now every night, as soon as it is dusk, the people who live in this city come out through the gates and, putting out to sea in boats and ships, pass the night on the water for fear the apes should come down on them from the mountains.
Hearing this I was badly troubled, remembering what I had suffered before from the ape-kind.
Presently I landed to amuse myself in the city; but meanwhile the ship set sail without me, and I regretted having gone ashore; and calling to mind my companions and what had happened to me with the apes, first and last, I sat down and fell to weeping and lamenting.
Presently one of the townspeople came up to me and said, "My lord, it seems to me you are a stranger to these parts?"
"Yes," I answered, "I am indeed a stranger, and a poor one, who came here in a ship that cast anchor here; and I landed to see the town, but when I would have gone aboard again, I found they had sailed without me."
Said he, "Come and embark with us; for if you spend the night in the city the apes will destroy you."
"Hearing and obedience," I replied; and getting up, embarked at once with him in one of the boats; at which they pushed off from the shore, and anchoring a mile or so from land, passed the night there.
At daybreak they rowed back to the city and landed and went each about his business. They did this every night; for if anybody stayed in the town by night the apes came down on him and killed him. As soon as it was day the apes left the place and ate the fruit in the gardens, then went back to the mountains and slept there until nightfall, when they came down on the city again.
Now this place was in the farthest part of the Land of the Blacks; and one of the strangest things that happened to me during my stay in the city was this.
One of the company I passed the night with in the boat asked me, "My lord, you are plainly a stranger in these parts; have you any trade you can work at?"
And I answered, "By Allah, brother, I have no trade and I know no handicraft; for I was a merchant and a man of money and substance, and had a ship of my own loaded with a great store of goods and merchandise. But it foundered at sea and everybody was drowned except me, who saved myself on a piece of plank that Allah granted me of His favour."
At this he brought me a cotton bag and, giving it to me, said, "Take this bag and fill it with pebbles from the beach, and go out with a company of the townspeople, to whom I will give instructions about you. Do as they do, and perhaps you will earn something that may help you towards the voyage home to your own country."
Then he carried me to the beach, where I filled my bag with pebbles large and small; and presently we saw a company of people come out of the town, each carrying a bag like mine filled with pebbles.
To these he committed me, commending me to their care and saying, "This man is a stranger; take him with you and teach him how to gather, so that he may earn his daily bread, and you will earn your reward and recompense in Heaven."
"On our head and eyes be it," they answered; and bidding me welcome, went on with me until we came to a spacious valley, full of tall trees with trunks so smooth that nobody could climb them.
Now sleeping under these trees were a great many apes, which when they saw us got up and fled from us and swarmed up among the branches; at which my companions began pelting them with what they had in their bags, and the apes fell to plucking the fruit off the trees and throwing it at the people.
I looked at the fruit they were throwing at us and found it to be coconuts; so I picked out a great tree full of apes, and going up to it, began pelting them with stones; and they pelted me back with nuts, which I collected as the rest did — so that even before I had finished my bagful of pebbles I had got a great plenty of nuts.
And as soon as my companions had likewise got as many nuts as they could carry, we went back to the city, where we arrived at the tail end of the day.
Then I went in to the kindly man who had put me in company with the nut-gatherers, and gave him everything I had got, thanking him for his kindness; but he would not accept them, saying, "Sell them and make a profit on the price."
And presently he added, giving me the key of a storeroom in his house, "Store your nuts in this safe place, and go out every morning and gather them as you have done today; and pick out the worst of them for sale and for your own keep, and lay up the rest here — so that perhaps you may collect enough to serve you for your journey home."
"Allah reward you!" I answered; and I did as he advised me, going out every day with the coconut gatherers, who recommended me to one another and showed me the best-stocked trees.
I did this for some time, until I had laid up a great store of excellent nuts, besides a large sum of money from the price of those I had sold. So I became comfortably off, and bought everything I saw and had a mind to, and passed my time pleasantly, greatly enjoying my stay in the city — until one day, as I stood on the beach, a great ship steering through the heart of the sea presently cast anchor by the shore and landed a company of merchants, who set about selling and buying and bartering their goods for coconuts and other commodities.
Then I went to my friend and told him the ship had come and that I had a mind to go back to my own country; and he said, "It is for you to decide."
So I thanked him for his kindnesses and took my leave of him; then, going to the captain of the ship, I agreed with him for my passage and put my coconuts and everything else I had aboard.
We weighed anchor:—
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
So I left the City of the Apes and put my coconuts and everything else I had aboard. We weighed anchor the same day and sailed from island to island and sea to sea; and wherever we stopped I sold and traded with my coconuts, and the Lord repaid me more than I had before and lost.
Among other places we came to an island abounding in cloves and cinnamon and pepper; and the country people told me that beside every bunch of pepper there grows a great leaf which shades it from the sun and casts the water off it in the wet season, but that when the rain stops the leaf turns over and droops down at the side of the bunch.
Here I took in a great store of pepper and cloves and cinnamon in exchange for coconuts; and from there we passed to the Island of Al-Usirat, where the Comorin aloes-wood comes from, and then to another island five days' journey in length, where the Chinese aloes-wood grows, which is better than the Comorin. But the people of this island are fouler in their conduct and their religion than those of the other, for they love fornication and wine-bibbing, and know neither prayer nor the call to prayer.
From there we came to the pearl fisheries, and I gave the divers some of my coconuts and said to them, "Dive for my luck and my lot!"
They did so, and brought up from the deep water a great store of large and priceless pearls; and they said to me, "By Allah, my master, your luck is a lucky one!"
Then we sailed on with the blessing of Allah, whose name be exalted; and did not stop sailing until we arrived safely at Basra.
There I stayed a little and then went on to Baghdad, where I came into my own quarter and found my house and met up with my family and greeted my friends, who wished me joy of my safe return; and I laid up all my goods and valuables in my storehouses.
Then I distributed alms and largesse and clothed the widow and the orphan and made presents to my relations and my comrades; for the Lord had repaid me fourfold what I had lost. After which I went back to my old merry way of living, and forgot everything I had suffered, in the great profit and gain I had made.
Such, then, is the history of my fifth voyage and its wonders; and now to supper. And tomorrow come again, and I will tell you what happened to me on my sixth voyage; for it was more wonderful still than this.
(Says the teller of the tale:) Then he called for food; and the servants spread the table; and when they had eaten the evening meal, he ordered a hundred golden dinars to be given to Sindbad the porter; and the Landsman went home and lay down to sleep, marvelling greatly at everything he had heard.
Next morning, as soon as it was light, he prayed the dawn prayer; and after blessing Mohammed, the Cream of all creatures, went to the house of Sindbad the Seaman and wished him a good day.
The merchant told him to sit down and talked with him until the rest of the company arrived. Then the servants spread the table; and when they had eaten and drunk well and were mirthful and merry, Sindbad the Seaman began, in these words, the narrative of
Know, my brothers and friends and companions all, that after I came home from my fifth voyage I lived some time in great comfort and satisfaction, in mirth and merriment, in joy and enjoyment; and I forgot everything I had suffered, seeing what a great profit I had made by it.
Then one day, as I sat making merry with my friends, there came in to me a company of merchants with the look of travel about them, who talked to me of voyages and adventures and of the greatness of money and gain. And at that I remembered the days of my return from abroad, and my delight at seeing my native land again and being back among my family and my friends; and my soul began to yearn for travel and trade.
So, driven by Fate and Fortune, I made up my mind to undertake another voyage; and, buying fine and costly merchandise suitable for foreign trade, I made it up into bales and carried it from Baghdad to Basra. There I found a great ship ready for sea, full of merchants and men of standing who had valuable goods with them; so I put my bales aboard, and we left Basra in safety and good spirits under the protection of the King, the Preserver.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
And after loading my bales and leaving Basra in safety and good spirits, we continued our voyage from place to place and from city to city, buying and selling and making a profit and amusing ourselves with the sight of countries where strange people live. And Fortune and the voyage both smiled on us — until one day, as we went along, the captain suddenly gave a great cry and flung his turban down on the deck. Then he beat his own face like a woman and tore out his beard, and fell down in the waist of the ship half fainting with grief and rage, calling out, "Oh, alas for the ruin of my house and the orphaning of my poor children!"
So all the merchants and the sailors gathered round him and asked, "Master, what is the matter?" — for the daylight had turned to night before their eyes.
And he answered, "Know, good people, that we have wandered off our course and left the sea whose ways we know, and come into a sea whose ways I do not know at all; and unless Allah grants us some means of escape, we are all dead men. So pray to the Most High that He deliver us out of this strait. Perhaps there is one righteous man among you whose prayers the Lord will accept."
Then he got up and climbed the mast to see whether there was any way out of the strait, and he would have loosed the sails; but the wind blew twice as hard against the ship and spun her round three times and drove her backwards, so that her rudder broke and she fell away towards a high mountain.
At this the captain came down from the mast, saying, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! No man can prevent what fate has laid down beforehand. By Allah, we have fallen upon a place of certain destruction; there is no way of escape for us, and not one of us can be saved."
Then we all began to weep over ourselves and to bid one another farewell, for our days were at an end and we had given up all hope of life. And presently the ship struck the mountain and broke up, and everything and everybody aboard her was plunged into the sea. Some of the merchants were drowned and others managed to reach the shore and save themselves on the mountain, myself among them.
When we got ashore we found a great island — or rather a peninsula — whose base was strewn with the wreckage of ships and with goods and gear cast up by the sea out of broken vessels whose passengers had drowned; and the quantity of it defeated counting and reckoning.
So I climbed the cliffs into the interior of the island and walked on inland, until I came to a stream of sweet water that welled up at the nearest foot of the mountains and disappeared into the earth under the range of hills on the opposite side. But all the other passengers went over the mountains into the inner parts of the island, and, scattering here and there, were bewildered by what they saw and became like madmen at the sight of the wealth and the treasures strewn along the shores.
As for me, I looked into the bed of the stream I have mentioned, and saw in it a great abundance of rubies, and great royal pearls, and every kind of jewel and precious stone, lying like gravel in the beds of the rivulets that ran through the fields; and the sands sparkled and glittered with gems and precious ores. Moreover we found on the island a great quantity of the finest aloes-wood, both Chinese and Comorin.
And there is a spring of raw ambergris there too, which flows out like wax or gum over the banks of the stream in the great heat of the sun, and runs down to the seashore, where the monsters of the deep come up and swallow it and go back into the sea. But it burns in their bellies, so they bring it up again, and it hardens on the surface of the water, and by this its colour and its quantity are changed; and at last the waves throw it ashore, and the travellers and merchants who know it collect it and sell it. But as for the raw ambergris which is not swallowed, it flows over the channel and hardens on the banks; and when the sun shines on it, it melts and scents the whole valley with a fragrance like musk, and then, when the sun leaves it, it hardens again. But nobody can get to the place where the raw ambergris is, because of the mountains that shut in the island on every side, which no man's foot can climb.
We went on exploring the island in this way, marvelling at the wonderful works of Allah and at the riches we found there, but badly troubled about our own case and dismayed at our prospects. Now we had picked up a little food on the beach from the wreck, and we hoarded it carefully, eating only once every day or two out of fear that it would fail us and we should die miserably of hunger or of terror. Moreover we were weak with the cramps that come of seasickness and poor food, and my companions died one after another, until only a small company of us was left.
Each man who died we washed and wrapped in some of the clothes and linen the tide had cast ashore; and after a little the rest of my fellows perished too, one by one, until I had buried the last of the party and was left alone on the island with very little food remaining — I, who had been used to having so much.
And I wept over myself, saying, "I wish to Heaven I had died before my companions, and that they had washed me and buried me. It would have been better than this, that I should die and nobody wash me and shroud me and bury me. But there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on, in these words:
Now, after I had buried the last of my party and was left alone on the island, I got up and dug myself a deep grave on the seashore, saying to myself, "When I grow weak and know that death is coming to me, I will get down into the grave and die there, and the wind will drift the sand over me and cover me, and I shall be buried."
Then I fell to reproaching myself for my lack of sense, in leaving my own country and taking to travel again after everything I had suffered on my first five voyages — not one of which I had made without meeting more horrible dangers and worse hardships than the one before it — and now with no hope at all of getting out of my present trouble. And I repented my folly and lamented over myself, all the more because I had no need of money, seeing that I had enough and more than enough, and could not have spent what I had, no, nor half of it, in a whole lifetime.
However, after a while Allah put a thought into my head, and I said to myself, "By God, this stream must have an end as well as a beginning, and so it must come out somewhere; and very likely its course leads to some inhabited place. So my best plan is to make myself a little boat, just big enough to sit in, and carry it down and launch it on the river and get in and drift with the stream. If I escape, I escape, by God's leave; and if I die, better to die in the river than here."
Then, sighing for myself, I set to work gathering a number of pieces of Chinese and Comorin aloes-wood, and bound them together with ropes from the wreckage; then I picked out from the broken-up ships straight planks of an even size and fixed them firmly on top of the aloes-wood, making myself a boat-raft a little narrower than the channel of the stream; and I tied it as tightly and firmly as if it had been nailed.
Then I loaded it with the goods, the precious ores and the jewels, and the pearls that lay about like gravel, and the best of the ambergris, raw and pure, together with what I had collected on the island and what was left to me of food and wild herbs. Last of all I lashed a piece of wood on either side to serve me for oars, and launched it and got aboard, doing as the poet says:
Run for your life when the danger is on you; let the house stand and tell how its builder died. Land after land you may look for and find, but no second life is waiting on the far side. Do not wear out your soul with your thoughts in the night; every sorrow comes to an end, soon or late. The man born in one country will die in that country, and nowhere else, and there he will meet his fate. Never trust the great business of your life to another: the soul has only the soul for a confederate.
My boat-raft drifted along with the stream while I sat pondering how the business would end; and it went on drifting until it came to the place where the water disappeared under the mountain. I rowed my craft into the opening, where it was intensely dark, and the current carried the raft with it down the underground channel. The narrow stream bore me on through a tunnel so tight that the raft touched both sides at once and my head rubbed against the roof, and there was no possibility of turning back.
Then I blamed myself for having risked my life like this, and said, "If this passage gets any narrower the raft will hardly get through, and I cannot turn round; so I shall certainly die a miserable death in this place." And I threw myself down flat on my face on the raft, because the channel was so low, while the stream carried me along, and I could not tell night from day for the thickness of the gloom all around me and my terror and dread for myself.
And so I went on down the channel, which now widened and now grew tighter, until, worn out with a darkness you could feel, I fell asleep as I lay face-down on the raft; and I slept, not knowing whether the time was long or short.
When I woke at last, I found myself in the light of Heaven; and opening my eyes I saw that I was on a broad river, with the raft moored to an island among a number of Indians and Abyssinians. As soon as they saw that I was awake they came up to me and spoke to me in their own language; but I did not understand what they said, and I thought this was a dream and a vision that had come to me out of my anxiety and misery. But I was delighted to have escaped from the river.
When they saw that I did not understand them and gave them no answer, one of them came forward and said to me in Arabic, "Peace be with you, brother! Who are you, and where have you come from? How did you get into this river, and what sort of land lies behind those mountains? For we never knew anybody make his way from there to us."
I said, "And peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessing! Who are you, and what country is this?"
"Brother," he answered, "we are farmers and tillers of the soil, who came out to water our fields and our plantations; and, finding you asleep on this raft, we took hold of it and made it fast beside us, to wait until you should wake in your own good time. So tell us how you came here."
I answered, "For Allah's sake, sir, before I speak give me something to eat, for I am starving; and afterwards ask me what you like."
So he hurried to fetch me food, and I ate my fill until I was refreshed and my fear was quieted by a full stomach and my life came back to me. Then I gave thanks to the Most High for mercies great and small, glad to be out of the river and glad to be among these people; and I told them all my adventures from first to last, and especially my troubles in the narrow channel.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
When I had landed and found myself among the Indians and Abyssinians and had taken some rest, they consulted among themselves and said to one another, "There is nothing for it but to take him with us and present him to our King, so that he may hear his adventures."
So they took me, together with the raft and its cargo of money and merchandise, jewels, minerals and golden gear, and brought me to their King, who was the King of Sarandib, telling him what had happened; and he greeted me and made me welcome. Then he questioned me about my situation and my adventures through the man who had spoken Arabic, and I repeated my story to him from beginning to end, at which he marvelled greatly and congratulated me on my escape.
After that I went and fetched from the raft a great store of precious ores and jewels and ambergris and aloes-wood and presented them to the King, who accepted them and treated me with the utmost honour, giving me a lodging in his own palace. So I kept company with the chief men of the islanders, and they showed me the greatest respect; and I did not leave the royal palace.
Now the island of Sarandib lies under the equator, its night and its day both measuring twelve hours. It is eighty leagues long by thirty broad, and its breadth is bounded by a lofty mountain and a deep valley. The mountain can be seen from three days' distance, and it contains many kinds of rubies and other minerals, and spice trees of every sort. Its surface is covered with emery, the stuff gems are cut and shaped with; diamonds are in its rivers and pearls are in its valleys. I climbed that mountain and refreshed myself with a view of its marvels, which are beyond describing, and afterwards came back to the King.
After that, all the travellers and merchants who came to the place questioned me about the affairs of my native land and about the Caliph Harun al-Rashid and his rule; and I told them about him and about the things he was famous for, and they praised him because of it; while I in my turn questioned them about the manners and the customs of their own countries and got the knowledge I wanted.
One day the King himself asked me about the fashions and the form of government of my country, and I told him how the Caliph ruled in the city of Baghdad and how just his rule was. The King marvelled at my account of his arrangements and said, "By Allah, the Caliph's ordinances are wise indeed and his ways are praiseworthy, and you have made me love him by what you tell me; so I have a mind to make him a present and send it by you."
I said, "To hear is to obey, my lord; I will carry your gift to him and tell him that you are his sincere admirer and his true friend."
Then I stayed with the King in great honour and regard and consideration for a long while, until one day, as I sat in his palace, I heard news of a company of merchants who were fitting out a ship for Basra; and I said to myself, "I cannot do better than sail with these men."
So I got up without pause or delay and kissed the King's hand and told him how I longed to set out with the merchants, since I was pining for my own people and my own country.
He said, "You are your own master; and yet, if you will stay with us, it shall be on our head and eyes, for you gladden us with your company."
"By Allah, my lord," I answered, "you have overwhelmed me with your favours and your kindnesses; but I am hungry for a sight of my friends and my family and my native country."
When he heard this, he sent for the merchants in question and commended me to their care, paying my freight and my passage money. Then he bestowed great riches on me out of his treasuries and charged me with a magnificent present for the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Moreover he gave me a sealed letter, saying, "Carry this with your own hand to the Commander of the Faithful, and give him many greetings from us!"
"To hear is to obey," I replied.
The letter was written on the skin of the khawi, which is finer than lambskin parchment and yellow in colour, with ink of ultramarine; and the contents were as follows:
Peace be with you from the King of Al-Hind, before whom stand a thousand elephants, and upon whose palace battlements are a thousand jewels. And after that (praise be to the Lord and blessings on His Prophet): we send you a trifling gift, which we hope you will be pleased to accept. You are a brother to us and a sincere friend, and great is the love we bear you in our heart; so favour us with a reply. The gift is not worthy of your dignity; but we beg you, our brother, to be gracious and accept it. And peace be with you.
And the present was: a cup of ruby a span high, the inside of it set all over with precious pearls; and a bed covered with the skin of the serpent that swallows the elephant, a skin whose spots are each of them the size of a gold dinar, and whoever sits on it never falls sick; and a hundred thousand miskals of Indian aloes-wood; and a slave girl like a shining moon.
Then I took leave of him and of all my friends and acquaintances on the island, and embarked with the merchants I have mentioned. We sailed with a fair wind, committing ourselves to the care of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!), and by His leave arrived at Basra, where I spent a few days and nights getting myself equipped and packing up my bales.
Then I went on to Baghdad, the House of Peace, where I asked for an audience with the Caliph and laid the King's presents before him. He asked me where they came from, and I said, "By Allah, Commander of the Faithful, I do not know the name of the city, nor the way there!"
Then he asked, "Sindbad, is this true, what the King writes?"
And I answered, after kissing the ground, "My lord, I saw in his kingdom a great deal more than he has written in his letter. On state occasions a throne is set for him on the back of a huge elephant eleven cubits high; and on this he sits, with his great lords and his officers and his guests standing in two ranks, on his right hand and on his left. At his head is a man holding a golden javelin, and behind him another with a great mace of gold whose head is an emerald a span long and as thick as a man's thumb. And when he takes horse, a thousand horsemen mount with him, dressed in gold brocade and silk; and as the King goes by, a man walks in front of him crying, 'This is the King of great dignity, of high authority!' And he goes on repeating his praises in words I do not remember, saying at the end of the speech, 'This is the King who owns the crown whose like neither Solomon nor the Mihrjan ever possessed.' Then he falls silent, and one behind him proclaims, saying, 'He will die! Again I say, he will die!' And the other adds, 'Extolled be the perfection of the Living One who does not die!' Moreover, by reason of his justice and his good ordering and his intelligence, there is no judge in his city at all, and every one of his subjects can tell truth from falsehood for himself."
The Caliph said, "How great this King is! His letter has shown me that; and as for the might of his dominion, you have told us what you saw with your own eyes. By Allah, he has been endowed with wisdom as well as with wide rule."
Then I related to the Commander of the Faithful everything that had happened to me on my last voyage, at which he wondered exceedingly, and gave orders to his historians to write my story down and store it up in his treasuries for the instruction of everybody who might see it. After that he conferred very great favours on me, and I went back to my own quarter and into my own house, where I warehoused all my goods and possessions. Presently my friends came to me, and I distributed presents among my family and gave alms and largesse; after which I gave myself up to joy and enjoyment, mirth and merrymaking, and forgot everything I had suffered.
Such, then, my brothers, is the history of what happened to me on my sixth voyage; and tomorrow, God willing, I will tell you the story of my seventh and last voyage, which is more wonderful and marvellous still than any of the first six.
(Says the teller of the tale:) Then he ordered the table to be laid, and the company had supper with him; after which he gave the porter a hundred dinars, as usual, and they all went their ways, marvelling beyond measure at what they had heard.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-third Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Sindbad the Seaman had related the history of what happened to him on his sixth voyage, and all the company had scattered, Sindbad the Landsman went home and slept as usual. Next day he got up and prayed the dawn prayer and went to his namesake's house, where, after the company had all assembled, the host began to relate
Know, my friends, that after I came home from my sixth voyage, which brought me abundant profit, I took up my old life again in every possible joy and enjoyment and mirth and merrymaking, day and night; and I stayed a while in this comfort and satisfaction, until my soul began once more to long to sail the seas and see foreign countries and keep company with merchants and hear new things.
So, having made up my mind, I packed up in bales a quantity of costly stuffs suitable for sea trade, and carried them from Baghdad to Basra, where I found a ship ready for sea with a company of substantial merchants aboard her. I took passage with them, and we became friends, and we set out on our venture in health and safety, sailing with a fair wind until we came to a city called Madinat al-Sin, the City of China.
But after we had left it, as we went along in all cheerfulness and confidence, talking of trade and travel, there sprang up a violent head wind and a storm of rain fell on us and soaked us and our goods through. So we covered the bales with our cloaks and our clothes and coarse cloth and canvas, so that the rain should not spoil them, and gave ourselves up to prayer and supplication to Almighty Allah, humbling ourselves before Him to be delivered from the danger we were in.
But the captain got up and tightened his belt and tucked up his skirts and, after taking refuge with Allah from Satan the stoned, climbed to the masthead, from where he looked out to the right and to the left; and then, gazing down at the passengers and the crew, he fell to beating his face and tearing out his beard.
So we cried out to him, "Captain, what is the matter?"
And he answered, "Ask the Most High to deliver you out of the strait we have fallen into, and mourn for yourselves and take leave of one another; for you must know that the wind has got the mastery of us and has driven us into the uttermost of all the seas of the world."
Then he came down from the masthead and, opening his sea chest, pulled out a bag of blue cotton, from which he took a powder like ashes. This he put in a saucer wetted with a little water, and after waiting a short time he smelt it and tasted it; and then he took a small book out of the chest and read in it a while, and said, weeping:
"Know, passengers, that in this book there is a marvellous matter set down, which shows that whoever comes to this place will surely die, with no hope of escape; for this ocean is called the Sea of the Region of the King, and in it is the tomb of our lord Solomon son of David (on both be peace!); and in it are serpents of enormous size and dreadful appearance. And whatever ship comes into these waters, there rises to her a great fish out of the sea and swallows her up with everything and everybody on board her."
When we heard these words from the captain we were greatly astonished; but he had hardly finished speaking when the ship was lifted clean out of the water and dropped back again, and we set about praying the prayer for the dying and committing our souls to Allah.
Presently we heard a terrible great cry like a loud peal of thunder, at which we were struck with terror and became like dead men, giving ourselves up for lost. And then there came up to us a huge fish, as big as a tall mountain, at the sight of which we went wild with fright and, weeping bitterly, made ready to die, marvelling at its vast size and its grim shape — when a second fish appeared, and we had never seen anything more monstrous than that. So we mourned for our lives and said farewell to one another; and then suddenly up came a third fish, bigger than the first two; at which we lost the power of thought and reason altogether and were stupefied with the excess of our fear and horror.
Then the three fish began circling round the ship, and the third and biggest opened his mouth to swallow it; and we looked into his mouth, and it was wider than the gate of a city, and his throat was like a long valley. So we called upon the Almighty and cried out for help to His Apostle (on whom be blessing and peace!) — when all at once a violent squall of wind rose and struck the ship, which lifted out of the water and came down on a great reef, the haunt of sea monsters, where she broke up and fell apart into planks, and everything and everybody aboard was plunged into the sea.
As for me, I tore off all my clothes except my gown and swam a little way, until I came upon one of the ship's planks, which I clung to and then got astride like a horse, while the winds and the waters played with me and the waves lifted me up and threw me down; and I was in a most pitiable state for fear and misery and hunger and thirst.
Then I reproached myself for what I had done, and my soul was sick after a life of ease and comfort; and I said to myself, "Sindbad, Sindbad the Seaman, you never repent, and yet you are always suffering hardships and disasters; and still you will not give up sea travel — or if you do say, 'I give it up,' you lie when you say it. Bear patiently, then, what you suffer, for you deserve every bit of what happens to you!"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on:
But when I had got astride the plank, I said to myself, "You deserve everything that happens to you. All this is decreed for me by Allah (whose name be exalted!) to turn me away from my greed for gain, which is the source of everything I endure — for I have wealth and to spare."
Then I came to my senses and said, "Truly, this time I repent to the Most High, with a sincere repentance, of my hunger for profit and adventure; and never again will I so much as name travel with my tongue or in my thoughts." And I went on humbling myself before Almighty Allah and weeping and lamenting over myself, remembering my former condition of comfort and satisfaction and mirth and merriment and joy.
So I remained two days, at the end of which I came to a great island with plenty of trees and streams on it. There I landed and ate of the fruit of the island and drank of its waters, until I was refreshed and my life came back to me and my strength and spirits were restored; and I recited:
When your affairs show a knotted and tangled skein, Fate comes down out of Heaven and straightens every ply. Hold your soul in patience till your lot comes clear: He who ties the knot can also untie.
Then I walked about until I found, on the far side, a great river of sweet water running with a strong current; and this brought to my mind the boat-raft I had made before, and I said to myself, "I must make another; perhaps I can get myself out of this strait. If I escape, I have what I want, and I vow to Almighty Allah to swear off travelling; and if I die, I shall be at peace and shall rest from all my toil and trouble."
So I got up and gathered a great quantity of pieces of wood from the trees, which were all of the finest sandalwood, the like of which is not to be found — though at the time I did not know it; and I managed to twist creepers and tree twigs into a kind of rope, with which I bound the logs together and so contrived a raft.
Then, saying, "If I am saved, it is by God's grace," I got aboard it and committed myself to the current; and it carried me on for the first day and the second and the third after I left the island, while I lay on the raft, eating nothing and drinking, when I was thirsty, the water of the river, until I was as weak and giddy as a chicken with the stress of exhaustion and starvation and fear.
At the end of this time I came to a high mountain with the river running underneath it; and when I saw it I feared for my life, remembering how narrow a passage I had suffered through on my last journey; and I would gladly have stopped the raft and got ashore on the mountainside. But the current was too strong for me and drew the raft into the underground passage like an archway; at which I gave myself up for lost and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
However, after a little the raft slid out into the open air, and I saw before me a wide valley into which the river fell with a noise like rolling thunder and a swiftness like the rushing of the wind. I held on to the raft for fear of falling off it, while the waves tossed me right and left; and the craft went on down with the current, and I could neither stop it nor turn it towards the bank, until it came to a halt with me at a great and handsome city, splendidly built and full of people.
And when the townspeople saw me on the raft, coming down with the current, they threw me ropes, which I had not the strength to hold; then they tossed a net over the craft and drew it ashore with me on it, whereupon I fell on the ground in the middle of them like a dead man, from sheer fear and hunger and lack of sleep.
After a while there came up to me out of the crowd an old man of dignified appearance, well on in years, who welcomed me and threw over me a quantity of handsome clothes, with which I covered myself. Then he took me to the baths and brought me refreshing sherbets and delicious perfumes; and when I came out, he carried me to his house, where his people made much of me and, seating me in a pleasant place, set rich food in front of me, of which I ate my fill and gave thanks to God the Most High for my deliverance.
Then his pages fetched me hot water and I washed my hands, and his handmaids brought me silk napkins with which I dried them and wiped my mouth. The old gentleman also set aside a room for me in a part of his house, and instructed his pages and his slave girls to wait on me and do whatever I wanted and supply whatever I needed. They were diligent in my service, and I stayed with him in the guest chamber three days, taking my ease with good food and good drink and good scents, until life came back to me and my terrors quieted down and my heart grew calm and my mind was at rest.
On the fourth day my host came in to me and said, "You cheer us with your company, my son, and praise be to Allah for your safety! Tell me: will you come down with me now to the shore and the bazaar and sell your goods and take the price of them? You might buy something to trade with. I have told my servants to bring your stock in trade up out of the sea, and they have piled it on the beach."
I was silent for a while, and said to myself, "What does he mean by this, and what goods do I have?"
Then he said, "My son, do not be troubled or anxious, but come with me to the market; and if anyone offers a price for your goods that satisfies you, take it; and if you are not satisfied, I will store them for you in my warehouse until a better occasion for selling comes round."
So I thought over my situation and said to myself, "Do as he says, and see what these goods are." And I said to him, "Uncle, I hear and I obey; I cannot go against you in anything, for Allah's blessing is upon everything you do."
So he led me to the market street, where I found that he had taken to pieces the raft that had carried me, which was made of sandalwood, and I heard the broker calling it up for sale.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman took up his tale in these words:
I found that the old gentleman had taken my raft to pieces where it lay on the beach, and that the broker was crying the sandalwood for sale. Then the merchants came and opened the bidding for the wood, and bid against one another until the price reached a thousand dinars, when they stopped bidding.
And my host said to me, "Listen, my son: this is the going rate for your goods in hard times like these. Will you sell them for this, or shall I store them for you in my warehouses until prices go up?"
"My lord," I answered, "the business is in your hands: do as you think best."
Then he asked, "Will you sell the wood to me, my son, for a hundred gold pieces over and above what the merchants have bid for it?"
And I answered, "Yes, I have sold it to you, and the money is received."
So he ordered his servants to carry the wood off to his warehouses and, taking me back to his house, sat me down and counted out the purchase money to me; after which he put it away in bags and, setting them in a private place, locked them up with an iron padlock and gave me the key.
Some days after this the old gentleman said to me, "My son, I have something to put to you, and I hope you will do as I ask."
I said, "What is it?"
He said, "I am a very old man and I have no son; but I have a daughter who is young in years and lovely to look at, and endowed with great wealth and beauty. Now I have a mind to marry her to you, so that you may live with her here in this country of ours; and I will make you master of everything I have in hand, for I am an old man and you shall stand in my place."
I was silent for shame and gave him no answer, so he went on: "Do as I wish in this, my son, for I want nothing but your good; and if you will only do as I say, you shall have her at once and be as a son to me, and everything that is in my hands or that comes to me shall be yours. And if you have a mind to trade and travel to your own country, nobody shall stop you, and your property will be entirely at your own disposal; so do as you please."
"By Allah, uncle," I answered, "you have become like a father to me; and I am a stranger here and have gone through a great many hardships, and with the stress of everything I have suffered I have no judgment or understanding left. It is for you, then, to decide what I should do."
At this he sent his servants for the judge and the witnesses, and married me to his daughter, making us a noble wedding feast and a great celebration. When I went in to her I found her perfect in beauty and loveliness and grace and proportion, dressed in rich clothes and covered with a profusion of ornaments and necklaces and other trinkets of gold and silver and precious stones, worth a mint of money, a price nobody could pay. She pleased me and we loved each other; and I lived with her in comfort and delight of life, until her father was taken to the mercy of Almighty Allah.
So we washed him and shrouded him and buried him, and I took possession of the whole of his property, and all his servants and slaves became mine. Moreover, the merchants installed me in his office, for he had been their headman and their chief, and none of them bought anything except with his knowledge and by his leave; and now his rank passed to me.
When I came to know the townspeople better, I found that at the beginning of each month they were transformed: their faces changed and they became like birds, and they put out wings on which they flew up into the upper regions of the sky, and nobody was left in the city but the women and the children.
And I said in my mind, "When the first of the month comes, I will ask one of them to carry me with them, wherever it is they go."
So when the time came and their colour changed and their shapes altered, I went to one of the townspeople and said to him, "Allah be upon you! Carry me with you, so that I may enjoy myself with the rest and come back with you."
"That cannot be done," he answered; but I would not stop pressing him, and I kept at him until he agreed.
Then I went out in his company, without telling any of my family or my servants or my friends; and he took me on his back and flew up with me so high in the air that I heard the angels glorifying God in the dome of heaven, at which I marvelled and cried out, "Praised be Allah! Extolled be the perfection of Allah!"
I had hardly finished pronouncing the tasbih — praised be Allah! — when there came a fire out of heaven that all but consumed the whole company; whereupon they fled from it and came down cursing me, and, throwing me down on a high mountain, went away in great anger and left me there alone.
Finding myself in this plight, I repented of what I had done and reproached myself for having taken on something I was not equal to, saying, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! No sooner am I delivered out of one affliction than I fall into a worse one."
And I stayed there in this state, not knowing where I ought to go, when two young men came up, as beautiful as two moons, each of them using a rod of red gold for a staff. So I went over to them and greeted them; and when they had returned my greeting I said, "Allah be upon you both! Who are you, and what are you?"
They said, "We are servants of Allah the Most High, living on this mountain"; and, giving me a rod of red gold that they had with them, they went on their way and left me.
I walked along the mountain ridge, steadying my steps with the staff and thinking about the two young men, when a serpent came out from under the mountain with a man in her jaws, whom she had swallowed as far as below his navel, and he was calling out and saying, "Whoever delivers me, Allah will deliver him from every adversity!"
So I went up to the serpent and struck her on the head with the golden staff, at which she threw the man out of her mouth.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Sindbad the Seaman went on in these words:
When I struck the serpent on the head with my golden staff she threw the man out of her mouth. Then I struck her a second time and she turned and fled; whereupon he came up to me and said, "Since it was at your hands that I was delivered from that serpent, I will never leave you, and you shall have me for your comrade on this mountain."
"And welcome," I answered. So we went on together along the mountain until we fell in with a company of people; and I looked and saw among them the very man who had carried me and thrown me down there. I went up to him and spoke him fair, apologising to him and saying, "Comrade, this is not how a friend should treat a friend."
He said, "It was you who nearly destroyed us all with your tasbih and your glorifying God on my back."
I said, "Forgive me, for I knew nothing about this business; but if you will take me with you, I swear not to say a word."
So he relented and agreed to carry me with him, but he made it an express condition that as long as I was on his back I should say no tasbih and do no glorifying of God at all.
Then I gave the golden wand to the man I had delivered from the serpent and said goodbye to him, and my friend took me on his back and flew with me as before, until he brought me to the city and set me down in my own house.
My wife came to meet me and greeted me and congratulated me on my safety, and then said, "Take care not to go out with those people again, and do not keep company with them, for they are brothers of the devils, and they do not know how to speak the name of Almighty Allah, nor do they worship Him."
"And how did your father get on with them?" I asked.
And she answered, "My father was not one of them and did not do as they do. And now that he is dead, I think you would do better to sell everything we have and buy merchandise with the price of it and travel to your own country and your own people, and I will go with you; for I have no wish to stay on in this city, now that my father and my mother are both dead."
So I sold off the old gentleman's property piece by piece, and looked out for somebody who might be travelling from there to Basra, so that I could join him. And while I was doing this I heard of a company of the townspeople who had a mind to make the voyage but could not find a ship; so they bought timber and built themselves a great ship, in which I took passage with them and paid the whole of the hire.
Then we embarked, my wife and I, with all our movable goods, leaving our houses and our lands and the rest of it, and set sail; and we went on sailing from island to island and from sea to sea, with a fair and favouring wind, until we arrived at Basra safe and sound.
I made no stay there, but chartered another vessel and, transferring my goods to her, set out at once for Baghdad, where I arrived safely; and going into my own quarter and to my own house, I met up with my family and my friends and my familiars, who stored my goods away in my warehouses.
Now my people, reckoning up how long I had been away on this seventh voyage, had made it twenty-seven years, and had given up all hope of me; so when they heard of my return they came to welcome me and congratulate me on my safety, and I told them everything that had happened to me, at which they marvelled exceedingly.
Then I swore off travel and vowed to Allah the Most High that I would venture no more by land or by sea, for this seventh and last voyage had given me a surfeit of travel and adventure; and I thanked the Lord (be He praised and glorified!) and blessed Him for having restored me to my kith and kin and my country and my home.
"Consider, then, Sindbad the Landsman," Sindbad the Seaman went on, "what sufferings I have gone through and what dangers and hardships I endured before I came to my present state."
"Allah be upon you, my lord!" answered Sindbad the Landsman. "Forgive me the wrong I did you."
And they never left off friendship and fellowship, living in all cheerfulness and pleasure and comfort of life, until there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies, the Leveller of palaces and the Filler of graveyards — that is to say, the Cup of Death. And glory be to the Living One who does not die!
[Editor's note: The seventh voyage is the one place where the manuscripts part company outright. What follows is not a variant reading of the tale just told but a different story altogether, told in the Calcutta edition of the Nights in place of the flying men and the sandalwood raft. Burton printed both. So does this edition.]
Know, my brothers and friends and companions all, that when I gave up voyaging and trading I said to myself, "What has happened to me is enough"; and I spent my time in comfort and pleasure.
Then one day, as I sat at home, there came a knock at the door, and when the doorkeeper opened it a page came in and said, "The Caliph summons you."
I went with him to His Majesty and kissed the ground and greeted him; and he welcomed me and treated me with honour and said, "Sindbad, I have a piece of business for you: will you do it?"
So I kissed his hand and asked, "My lord, what business has the master for the slave?"
And he answered, "It is my wish that you should travel to the King of Sarandib and carry him our letter and our gift, since he has sent a present and a letter to us."
I trembled at these words and replied, "By Allah the Omnipotent, my lord, I have come to loathe travelling; when I so much as hear the words 'voyage' or 'journey' my limbs shake with the memory of the hardships and horrors I have been through. I have no desire for this whatever — the more so as I have bound myself by an oath never to leave Baghdad."
Then I told the Caliph everything I had gone through from first to last, and he marvelled exceedingly and said, "By the Almighty, Sindbad, in all the ages of the world such misfortunes as happened to you were never known to happen to any man, and you do quite right never even to speak of travel. But for our sake you will go this one time and carry our present and our letter to the King of Sarandib; and, God willing, you shall be back quickly, and in this way we shall be under no obligation to him."
I answered that I heard and obeyed, since I could not oppose his command; so he gave me the gifts and the letter, with money for my expenses, and I kissed his hands and left his presence.
Then I went down from Baghdad to the Gulf and embarked with some other merchants, and our ship sailed before a fair wind many days and nights until, by Allah's help, we reached the island of Sarandib. As soon as we had made fast we landed, and I took the present and the letter and went in with them to the King and kissed the ground before him.
When he saw me he said, "Welcome, Sindbad! By Allah the Omnipotent, we have been longing to see you; and glory be to God, who has shown us your face again!"
Then he took me by the hand and made me sit beside him, delighted, and welcomed me with familiar kindness and treated me as a friend. After this he began to talk with me and addressed me courteously and asked, "What was the reason for your coming to us, Sindbad?"
So, after kissing his hand and thanking him, I answered, "My lord, I have brought you a present from my master, the Caliph Harun al-Rashid"; and I offered him the present and the letter, which he read and was overjoyed at.
The present was: a mare worth ten thousand dinars, with a golden saddle set with jewels; a book; a sumptuous suit of clothes; a hundred different kinds of white Cairo cloths and silks of Suez, Kufa and Alexandria; Greek carpets; and a hundred maunds weight of linen and raw silk. Moreover there was a wonderful rarity — a marvellous cup of crystal, in the middle of which was the figure of a lion facing a kneeling man who grasped a bow with the arrow drawn back to the head — together with the food tray of Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!).
The letter ran as follows:
Peace from King al-Rashid, whom Allah has aided (and has granted to him and to his forefathers noble rank and wide-spread glory), be upon the fortunate Sultan. And after: your letter came to our hands and we rejoiced at it; and we have sent you the book entitled Delight of the Intelligent and, for Friends, the Rare Present, together with various curiosities suitable for Kings; so be so good as to accept them. And peace be with you.
Then the King heaped wealth on me and treated me with every honour; so I prayed for him and thanked him for his generosity.
Some days later I asked his leave to depart, but could not get it except by a great deal of pressing; whereupon I said goodbye to him and set out from his city with merchants and other companions, bound for home with no desire at all for travel or for trade.
We went on voyaging and coasting along a good many islands; but when we were half-way we were surrounded by a number of canoes full of men like devils, armed with bows and arrows, swords and daggers, and dressed in mail coats and other armour. They fell on us and wounded and killed everybody who resisted them; and then, having captured the ship and everything in her, they carried us off to an island, where they sold us for the meanest price.
Now I was bought by a wealthy man, who took me to his house and gave me food and drink and clothing and treated me in the friendliest way; so I took heart, and rested a little.
One day he asked me, "Do you know any art or trade?"
And I answered, "My lord, I am a merchant, and I know nothing but buying and selling."
"Do you know," he asked, "how to use a bow and arrow?"
"Yes," I said, "I know that much."
At this he brought me a bow and arrows and mounted me behind him on an elephant; then he set out when the night was nearly over and, passing through a forest of huge trees, came to a tall and sturdy one, up which he made me climb. Then he gave me the bow and the arrows, saying, "Sit here now; and when the elephants come trooping past in the early morning, shoot at them. You may well hit one; and if he falls, come and tell me." And with that he left me.
I hid myself in the tree, in great terror, and trembled there until the sun rose; and when the elephants appeared and wandered about among the trees I shot my arrows at them, and kept on until I had shot one of them down. In the evening I reported my success to my master, who was delighted with me and treated me with great honour; and next morning he took the dead elephant away.
I went on like this, shooting an elephant every morning which my master would carry off, until one day, as I sat hidden up in the tree, there came on suddenly and without warning a countless host of elephants, whose screaming and trumpeting were such that I thought the earth was shaking under them. They all surrounded my tree, which was some fifty cubits round, and one enormous monster came up to it and wound his trunk about the trunk of it and hauled it up by the roots and dashed it to the ground.
I fell down in a faint among the beasts, and then the monster elephant wound his trunk about me and, setting me on his back, went off with me, the others going along with us. He carried me, still unconscious, until he reached the place he was making for, when he rolled me off his back and presently went his way, and the others followed him.
So I rested a little; and when my terror had died down I looked about me, and found myself among the bones of elephants — from which I concluded that this was their burial place, and that the monster elephant had brought me here on account of the tusks.
So I got up and walked a whole day and night until I came to my master's house. He saw how my colour was changed with fright and hunger, and he rejoiced at my return and said, "By Allah, you have made my heart sore! I went to look when you were missing and found the tree torn up, and I thought the elephants had killed you. Tell me how it went with you."
I told him everything that had happened to me, at which he wondered greatly and was very glad; and at last he asked, "Do you know the place?"
"Yes, master," I answered.
So we mounted an elephant and went until we came to the spot; and when my master saw the heaps of tusks he rejoiced greatly, and, carrying away as many as he wanted, went home with me.
After this he treated me with even greater favour and said, "My son, you have shown us the way to great riches, and may Allah reward you for it! You are free, for the Almighty's sake and before His face! The elephants used to destroy a great many of us, because we hunted them for their ivory; but Allah has preserved you from them, and you have made our fortunes with the heaps you have led us to."
"Master," I answered, "may God free your neck from the fire! And do you, master, graciously give me leave to go back to my own country."
"Yes," he said, "you shall have that permission. But we hold a fair once a year, when merchants come to us from all quarters to buy up this ivory. The time is drawing near; and when they have finished their business I will send you in their charge and give you what you need to reach your home."
So I blessed him and thanked him and stayed with him, treated with respect and honour, for some days; and then the merchants came as he had said, and bought and sold and bartered. And when they had made ready to go back, my master came to me and said, "Get up and prepare yourself to travel with the traders on their way to your country."
They had bought a great many tusks, which they had tied up together in loads and were putting aboard, when my master sent me off with them, paying for my passage and settling all my debts; and besides that he made me a large present in goods.
We set out and voyaged from island to island until we had crossed the sea and landed on the shores of the Persian Gulf, where the merchants brought out their stores and sold them. I sold what I had at a high profit too, and bought some of the prettiest things in the place for presents, and beautiful curiosities, and everything else I wanted. I also bought myself a mount; and we set off and crossed the deserts from country to country until I reached Baghdad.
Here I went in to the Caliph and, after greeting him and kissing his hands, told him everything that had happened to me; whereupon he rejoiced at my safety and thanked Almighty Allah, and ordered my story to be written down in letters of gold.
Then I went into my house and met my family and my brothers; and that is the end of the history of what happened to me in the course of my seven voyages. Praise be to Allah, the One, the Creator, the Maker of all things in Heaven and Earth!
Now when Shahrazad had finished her story of the two Sindbads, Dunyazad exclaimed, "Sister, how pleasant your tale is, and how tasteful! How sweet and how welcome!"
She answered, "And what is this compared with what I could tell you tomorrow night?"
The King said, "What might that be?"
And she said: It is a tale touching
It is told that long ago, in years and ages long gone by, there was at Damascus in Syria a Caliph called Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, the fifth of the house of Umayya.
As this Commander of the Faithful sat one day in his palace, talking with his sultans and kings and the great men of his empire, the conversation turned upon the legends of past peoples and the traditions of our lord Solomon, son of David (on the two of them be peace!), and upon what Almighty Allah had given him of lordship and dominion over men and jinn and birds and beasts and reptiles and the wind and all other created things.
And the Caliph said, "Truly we hear from those who went before us that the Lord (extolled and exalted be He!) granted to nobody the like of what He granted to our lord Solomon, and that he attained to what no other man ever attained — in that he used to imprison jinn and marids and satans in jars of copper, and stop them with lead, and seal them with his ring."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan sat talking with the great men of his court about our lord Solomon, and they remarked upon what Allah had given him of lordship and dominion, the Commander of the Faithful said, "Indeed he attained to what no other man ever attained, in that he used to imprison jinn and marids and satans in jars of copper, and stop them with lead, and seal them with his ring."
Then Talib bin Sahl spoke up — a man who hunted for treasure, and had books that revealed to him hoards and wealth hidden under the earth — and said:
"Commander of the Faithful — may Allah make your dominion endure and exalt your dignity in this world and the next! — my father told me, on the authority of my grandfather, that he once took ship with a company bound for the island of Sicily, and sailed until a contrary wind rose against them and drove them off their course and brought them, after a month, to a great mountain in one of the lands of Allah the Most High; though what land it was they did not know.
"My grandfather said: This was in the darkness of the night; and as soon as it was day there came out to us from the caves of the mountain a people black-skinned and naked, who understood not one word that was said to them; nor was there one of them who knew Arabic except their King, who was of their own kind.
"When he saw the ship he came down to it with a company of his followers and greeted us and made us welcome, and asked us about our condition and our faith. We told him everything about ourselves, and he said, Be of good cheer, for no harm shall come to you. And when we in our turn asked them about their faith, we found that each of them held one of the many creeds that were current before the preaching of Islam and the mission of Mohammed, whom may Allah bless and keep. So my shipmates said, We do not know what you are talking about.
"Then the King said, No son of Adam has ever come to our land before you; but do not be afraid, and be assured of your safety and of your return to your own country. Then he entertained us three days, feeding us on the flesh of birds and wild beasts and fishes, for they had no other meat; and on the fourth day he took us down to the beach so that we might amuse ourselves watching the fishermen.
"There we saw a man casting his net for fish; and presently he pulled it up, and in it was a jar of copper, stopped with lead and sealed with the seal ring of Solomon son of David, on whom be peace! He brought the vessel ashore and broke it open, and there came out of it a smoke which rose twisting and blue to the top of the sky, and we heard a horrible voice saying, I repent! I repent! Pardon, Prophet of Allah! Never again will I go back to what I did before.
"Then the smoke became a terrible giant, frightful in shape, whose head was level with the mountaintops; and he vanished from our sight, while our hearts were nearly torn out of us for terror. But the black people thought nothing of it.
"So we went back to the King and asked him about the matter; and he said, Know that this was one of the jinn whom Solomon son of David, being angry with them, shut up in these vessels and threw into the sea, after stopping their mouths with molten lead. Our fishermen often bring up such bottles in their nets; and when they are broken open, out come jinn who, supposing that Solomon is still alive and can pardon them, make their submission to him and say, I repent, Prophet of Allah!"
The Caliph marvelled at Talib's story and said, "Glory be to God! Truly, a mighty dominion was given to Solomon."
Now al-Nabighah al-Zubyani was present, and he said, "Talib has spoken the truth, as the words of the All-wise, the Everlasting One, prove:
And Solomon, when Allah said to him, Rise, be my Caliph, rule with righteous sway; Honour the man who honours and obeys you, And whoever rebels, imprison him for aye —
so he used to put them in copper bottles and throw them into the sea."
The poet's words pleased the Caliph, and he said, "By Allah, I long to look on some of these vessels of Solomon's, which must be a warning to anyone willing to be warned."
"Commander of the Faithful," replied Talib, "it is in your power to do so without stirring from home. Send to your brother Abd al-Aziz bin Marwan, so that he may write to Musa bin Nusayr, governor of the Maghrib, telling him to ride from there to the mountains I have spoken of and fetch you as many of these jars as you have a mind for; for those mountains adjoin the frontiers of his province."
The Caliph approved his advice and said, "You have spoken the truth, Talib; and I wish you to be my messenger to Musa bin Nusayr in this matter. You shall have the White Flag, and whatever you like of money and honours and the rest; and I will look after your family while you are away."
"With love and gladness, Commander of the Faithful!" answered Talib.
"Go, with the blessing of Allah and His help," said the Caliph; and he ordered a letter written to his brother Abd al-Aziz, his viceroy in Egypt, and another to Musa bin Nusayr, his viceroy in North-West Africa, telling him to go himself in search of the bottles of Solomon, leaving his son to govern in his place. Moreover he charged him to engage guides, and to spare neither men nor money, and not to be slack in the business, since he would accept no excuse.
Then he sealed the two letters and handed them to Talib bin Sahl, telling him to have the royal ensigns carried before him and to make all possible speed; and he gave him treasure and horsemen and footmen to help him on his way, and provided for the needs of his household while he was gone.
So Talib set out, and arrived in due course at Cairo.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Talib bin Sahl set out with his escort and crossed the desert country between Syria and Egypt, where the Governor came out to meet him and treated him and his company with high honour while they stayed with him. Then he gave them a guide to bring them up to the Sa'id, which is Upper Egypt, where the Emir Musa had his residence.
And when the son of Nusayr heard that Talib was coming, he went out to meet him and was delighted with him. Talib gave him the Caliph's letter, and he took it reverently and laid it on his head and cried, "I hear and I obey the Commander of the Faithful!"
Then he thought it best to call his chief officers together; and when they were all present he told them what was in the Caliph's letter and asked their advice about how he should act.
"Emir," they answered, "if you are looking for somebody to guide you to the place, send for the Shaykh Abd al-Samad, son of Abd al-Kuddus, al-Samudi; for he is a man of wide learning, who has travelled far and knows from experience all the seas and deserts and lands and countries of the world, and the peoples and the wonders in them. Send for him, and he will surely guide you to what you want."
So Musa sent for him; and he proved to be a very ancient man, far gone in years and broken down with the passage of time. The Emir greeted him and said, "Shaykh Abd al-Samad, our lord the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, has given me such and such an order. I have little knowledge of the country where the thing he wants is to be found; but I am told that you know it well, and the roads to it. Will you come with me, then, and help me to accomplish the Caliph's need? If it please Allah the Most High, your trouble and your travelling shall not go for nothing."
The Shaykh replied, "I hear and obey the command of the Commander of the Faithful. But know, Emir, that the road there is long and difficult, and there are few ways to it."
"How far is it?" asked Musa.
And the Shaykh answered, "It is a journey of two years and some months going, and as long coming back; and the way is full of hardships and terrors and things wonderful and strange. Now you are a champion of the Faith, and our country lies close to the enemy's; and it may be that the Christians will come out against us while you are gone. So you ought to leave somebody to govern in your place."
"That is well said," answered the Emir; and he appointed his son Harun governor for the time of his absence, requiring the troops to swear allegiance to him and ordering them to obey him in everything he commanded. And they heard his words and promised obedience. Now this Harun was a man of great prowess, a renowned warrior and a formidable knight.
And the Shaykh Abd al-Samad let Harun believe that the place they were making for was only four months' journey away along the seashore, with camping places all the way, one adjoining the next, and grass and springs; adding, "Allah will certainly make the matter easy for us, through your blessing, deputy of the Commander of the Faithful!"
The Emir Musa said, "Do you know whether any of the kings have trodden this land before us?"
And the Shaykh said, "Yes; it belonged in the old days to Darius the Greek, King of Alexandria." But he said to Musa privately, "Emir, take with you a thousand camels loaded with food, and a great store of porous earthenware water jars."
The Emir asked, "And what are we to do with those?"
And the Shaykh answered, "On our way lies the desert of Kayrawan, which is a vast waste four days' journey across and has no water in it; nor does the sound of a voice ever sound there, nor is a living soul ever to be seen. Moreover the simoom blows there, and the other hot winds they call al-Juwayb, which dry up the waterskins; but if the water is in earthenware, no harm can come to it."
"Right," said Musa; and he sent to Alexandria and had a great quantity of the jars brought from there.
Then he took with him his vizier and two thousand cavalry, in mail from head to foot, and set out, with no other guide but Abd al-Samad, who went before them riding on his hackney.
The party pressed on, now passing through inhabited lands, now through ruins, now crossing frightful wastes and thirsty deserts, and now mountains that towered up into the air; and they did not leave off travelling for a whole year, until one morning, at daybreak, after they had journeyed all night, the Shaykh found himself in a country he did not know, and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
The Emir said, "What is the matter, Shaykh?"
And he answered, "By the Lord of the Kaaba, we have wandered off our road!"
"How did that happen?" asked Musa.
And Abd al-Samad replied, "The stars were covered with cloud, and I could not steer by them."
"Where on God's earth are we now?" asked the Emir.
And the Shaykh answered, "I do not know; for I never set eyes on this land until this moment."
Musa said, "Guide us back to the place where we went astray."
But the other said, "I know it no longer."
Then Musa said, "Let us push on; perhaps Allah will guide us to it, or set us right by His power."
So they went on until the hour of the noon prayer, when they came out on a fine open plain, wide and level and smooth as the sea in a calm; and presently there appeared to them on the horizon something great and high and black, in the middle of which was what looked like smoke rising to the edge of the sky.
They made for this, and did not stop until they came near it — and behold, it was a lofty castle, firm-founded and huge and grim, like a towering mountain, built all of black stone, with frowning battlements and a door of gleaming Chinese steel that dazzled the eyes and dazed the wits. Round about it were a thousand steps; and the thing that had looked like smoke from far off was a central dome of lead, a hundred cubits high.
When the Emir saw this he marvelled greatly, and marvelled that the place should be empty of inhabitants; and the Shaykh, when he had satisfied himself about it, said, "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God!"
Musa said, "I hear you praising the Lord and calling Him holy, and it seems to me you are glad."
"Emir," answered Abd al-Samad, "be glad; for Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) has delivered us out of the frightful wastes and the thirsty deserts."
"How do you know that?" said Musa.
And the other said, "I know it because my father told me, on the authority of my grandfather, that he said: We were once travelling in this country and strayed from the road, and came to this palace, and from it to the City of Brass; and between that city and the place you are seeking is two full months' travel. But you must take to the seashore and not leave it, for there are watering places and wells and camping grounds along it, established by King Alexander the Two-Horned, who, when he went to the conquest of Mauretania, found thirsty deserts and wastes and wilds on the way, and dug water pits in them and built cisterns."
Musa said, "May Allah gladden you for your good news!"
And the Shaykh said, "Come, let us go and look at that palace and its marvels, for it is a lesson to anybody willing to be taught."
So the Emir went up to the palace with the Shaykh and his officers; and coming to the gate, they found it open. Now this gate was built with lofty columns and porticoes whose walls and ceilings were inlaid with gold and silver and precious stones; and there were flights of steps leading up to it, among them two wide staircases of coloured marble the like of which was never seen; and over the doorway was a tablet with letters of gold graven on it in the old Ionian character.
"Emir," asked the Shaykh, "shall I read?"
And Musa answered, "Read, and God bless you; for everything that happens to us on this journey depends upon your blessing."
So the Shaykh, who was a very learned man and versed in all tongues and scripts, went up to the tablet and read what was written on it, and it was verse like this:
The signs that here portray their mighty works warn us that all must tread the selfsame way. You who stand in this place to hear the news of a people whose power has passed for ever away: enter this palace gate, and ask what became of greatness fallen into dust and clay. Death has destroyed them and scattered their might, and in the dust they lost their rich display — as if they had only set their burdens down to rest a while, and then had ridden away.
When the Emir Musa heard these lines he wept until he lost his senses, and said, "There is no god but God, the Living, the Eternal, who does not cease!"
Then he entered the palace and was astounded at its beauty and the excellence of its building. He amused himself a while looking at the pictures and figures in it, until he came to another door, over which verses were written too; and he said to the Shaykh, "Come, read me these."
So he went forward and read as follows:
Under these domes how many a company halted of old, and went on without stay. See what a power Time shows over other men, Time with his changes, that could such lords waylay. They shared out among them everything they had gathered, then left their joys behind and went the way of decay. What joys they had! What food they ate! And now in the dust they are eaten, and the worm has his prey.
At this the Emir Musa wept bitterly, and the world turned yellow before his eyes, and he said, "Truly, we were created for a mighty matter!"
Then they went on exploring the palace and found it deserted and empty of any living thing, its courtyards desolate and its dwellings laid waste. In the middle of it stood a lofty pavilion with a dome rising high into the air, and around it were four hundred tombs built of yellow marble.
The Emir went up to these, and among them was a great tomb, wide and long, with a tablet of white marble standing at the head of it, on which these lines were graven:
How often have I fought, and how many have I killed! How much have I seen of blessing and of bane! How much have I eaten, and how much have I drunk! How often have I listened to a singing girl's strain! How much have I commanded, how much have I forbidden! How many a castle, and how many a castellain have I besieged and searched, and the cloistered maids deep in its walls were taken as my captives then! But it was in ignorance that I sinned, to win rewards that, once won, proved nothing and brought me no gain. So reckon your reckoning, man, and be wise, before you drain the cup of death and doom; for it is only a little while before they strew the dust on your head, and your life goes down to the tomb.
The Emir and his companions wept; then, going up to the pavilion, they saw that it had eight doors of sandalwood, studded with nails of gold and stars of silver and inlaid with every kind of precious stone. On the first door these verses were written:
What I left, I did not leave out of nobility of soul, but by the sentence and decree appointed to every man. While I lived happy, with a haughty and lofty temper, defending my hoard like a lion in the fight, I took no rest, and greed forbade me to give away one grain of mustard seed to save my soul from the fire — until I was struck one day, as by an arrow, by the decree of the Maker, the Fashioner, the Lord of Might and Right. When my death was appointed, I could not keep my life by all my stratagems, my cunning and my sleight; the troops I had gathered availed me nothing, and none of my friends and my neighbours had power to mend my plight. All my life long I was weaned by journeying towards death, in hardship or in comfort, in joy or in despite. So when the money bags are bloated, and you add dinar to dinar, all of it may leave you in a night; and the driver of a camel and the digger of a grave are what your heirs shall fetch before the morning is bright. And on the Day of Judgment you shall stand alone before your Lord, overloaded with your sins and your crimes and your fright. Do not let the world seduce you with its luring, but look at the measure it has dealt out to your family and your neighbours.
When Musa heard these verses he wept so hard that he fainted away; then, coming to himself, he went into the pavilion and saw in it a long tomb, awesome to look at, on which was a tablet of Chinese steel; and the Shaykh Abd al-Samad drew near it and read this inscription:
In the name of the Everlasting Allah, the Never-beginning, the Never-ending; in the name of Allah, who does not beget and is not begotten, and to whom there is no like; in the name of Allah, the Lord of Majesty and Might; in the name of the Living One who is never appointed to death!
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Shaykh Abd al-Samad, having read what is set down above, found this written also:
You who come to this place, take warning from what you see of the accidents of Time and the turns of Fortune, and do not be deceived by the world and its pomps and vanities and fallacies and falsehoods and empty lures; for it is flattering and deceitful and treacherous, and the things in it are only a loan to us, which it will borrow back from every borrower. It is like the dreams of a dreamer and the visions of a sleeper, or like the mirage in the desert, which the thirsty man takes for water; and Satan makes it seem fair to men, right up to their death. These are the ways of the world; so do not put your trust in it, nor lean towards it, for it betrays the man who leans on it and commits his affairs to it. Do not fall into its snares, nor take hold of its skirts, but take warning from my example. I owned four thousand bay horses and a proud palace, and I had a thousand daughters of kings to wife, high-bosomed girls like so many moons. I was blessed with a thousand sons like fierce lions, and I lived a thousand years, glad in heart and mind, and I amassed treasures beyond the means of all the kings of all the regions of the earth, supposing that my delight would go on for ever. But there fell on me unawares the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies, the Desolator of dwellings and the Spoiler of inhabited places, the Murderer of great and small, of babies and children and mothers; who has no pity on the poor man for his poverty, and no fear of the King for all his commanding and forbidding. Truly, we lived safe and secure in this palace until there came down on us the judgment of the Lord of the Three Worlds, the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the Earths, and the vengeance of the Manifest Truth overtook us; when two of us died every day, until a great company of us had perished. When I saw that destruction had come into our houses and settled down with us, and had drowned us in the sea of deaths, I called for a writer and told him to compose these verses and lessons and warnings, which I had graven, with rule and compass, on these doors and tablets and tombs. Now I had an army of a thousand thousand bridles, men of warlike bearing with strong keen forearms, armed with spears and shining mail coats and swords that gleamed; so I ordered them to put on their long hauberks and gird on their biting blades and mount their high-mettled horses and level their dreadful lances. And when the doom of the Lord of heaven and earth fell on us, I said to them: Ho, all you soldiers and troopers, can you turn aside what has fallen on me from the Omnipotent King? But the soldiers and the troopers could do nothing, and they said: How shall we do battle with Him whom no chamberlain bars access to — the Lord of the door that has no doorkeeper? Then I said to them: Bring me my treasures. Now I had in my treasuries a thousand cisterns, and in each of them a thousand hundredweight of red gold and as much white silver, besides pearls and jewels of every kind and other precious things beyond the reach of the kings of the earth. So they did as I said; and when they had laid all the treasure before me, I said to them: Can you ransom me with all this treasure? Can you buy me one single day of life with it? But they could not. So they resigned themselves to Fate and Fortune as they had been ordained, and I submitted to the judgment of Allah, bearing patiently the affliction He decreed for me, until He took my soul and made me dwell in my grave. And if you ask my name: I am Kush, son of Shaddad, son of Ad the Greater.
And on the tablets these lines were engraved:
If you would know my name, whose day is done with the shifts of time and the chances under the sun: know that I am the son of Shaddad, who ruled mankind and held dominion over all the earth as one. Every stubborn people was made abject to me, from Syria to Cairo and the lands of Adnan; I reigned in glory and conquered many kings, and every people went in fear of my mischief. Yes, I saw tribes and armies in my hand, and the whole world dreaded me, both friend and foe. When I took horse, I looked upon my numbered troops: a million bridles on neighing steeds in a row. And I had wealth that nobody could tell or count, all of it hoarded against the day of woe. Gladly would I have bought my life with all my wealth, and shunned my death for the space of a breath or so; but God would have nothing except what His purpose willed, and so I was cut off from my brothers and left alone. And Death, who sunders men, exchanged my lot for a pauper's hut, out of a mansion's grandeur; and there I found all my actions gone and past, for which I stand pledged, and by my own sin undone. So fear, O man, who walk along the edge of a brink, the turns of Fortune and the chances of Change.
The Emir Musa was wounded to the heart and sick of his own life for what he saw of the places where these people had been cut down; and as they went about the highways and byways of the palace, looking at its sitting rooms and its pleasure grounds, they came upon a table of yellow onyx supported on four feet of juniper wood, with these words graven on it:
At this table have eaten a thousand kings blind in the right eye, and a thousand blind in the left, and yet another thousand sound in both eyes — all of whom have left the world and taken up their lodging in the tombs and the catacombs.
The Emir wrote all this down, and left the palace, carrying away nothing with him but the table.
Then he went on with his troops for three days under the guidance of the Shaykh Abd al-Samad, until they came to a high hill on which stood a horseman of brass. In his hand he held a lance with a broad head, bright as blinding lightning, on which was graven:
You who come to me: if you do not know the way to the City of Brass, rub the hand of this rider, and he will turn round and presently stop. Then take the direction he faces, and go without fear, for it will bring you, without hardship, to the city.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventieth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Emir Musa rubbed the horseman's hand, he spun round like dazzling lightning and stopped facing in a different direction from the one they had been travelling in. So they took the road he pointed to — which was the right way — and, finding it a beaten track, went on through their days and nights until they had covered a wide stretch of country.
Then they came upon a pillar of black stone like the chimney of a furnace, in which there was somebody sunk up to his armpits. He had two great wings and four arms — two of them like the arms of the sons of Adam, and the other two like a lion's paws with claws of iron — and he was black and tall and frightful to look at, with hair like horses' tails and eyes like blazing coals set upright in his face. Moreover he had in the middle of his forehead a third eye, like a lynx's, out of which flew sparks of fire; and he was crying out and saying, "Glory to my Lord, who has adjudged me this grievous torment and this sore punishment until the Day of Doom!"
When the party saw him they lost their reason with fright and turned to run; so the Emir Musa asked the Shaykh Abd al-Samad, "What is this?"
And he answered, "I do not know."
Musa said, "Go closer and question him about his condition; perhaps he will tell you his case."
"Allah keep you, Emir! Indeed, I am afraid of him," replied the Shaykh.
But the Emir answered, "Do not be afraid; he is prevented from reaching you, or anybody else, by the thing he is in."
So Abd al-Samad went up to the pillar and said to the one who was inside it, "Creature, what is your name, and what are you, and how did you come to be here like this?"
"I am an ifrit of the jinn," he replied, "and my name is Dahish, son of al-A'amash; and I am confined here by the Almighty, imprisoned here by Providence and punished by the judgment of Allah, until it pleases Him, to whom belong Might and Majesty, to release me."
Then Musa said, "Ask him why he is shut up in this column."
So the Shaykh asked him about it, and the ifrit replied:
Truly, my tale is a wonder and my case a marvel, and it is this. One of the sons of Iblis had an idol of red carnelian, of which I was the guardian; and there served that idol a King of the Kings of the sea, a prince of great power and famous for his prowess, who ruled over a thousand thousand warriors of the jann, who struck with swords before him and answered his summons in time of need. All of these were under my command and obeyed my orders, and every one of them was a rebel against Solomon son of David, on whom be peace! And I used to get inside the belly of the idol, and give them their orders from there.
Now this King's daughter loved the idol and was constant in bowing down to it and diligent in its service; and she was the loveliest woman of her day, perfect in beauty and grace, in elegance and charm. She was described to Solomon, and he sent to her father, saying, "Give me your daughter in marriage, and break your idol of carnelian, and bear witness, saying: There is no god but God, and Solomon is the Prophet of Allah! If you do this, what is due to us shall be due to you, and your debt shall be our debt. But if you refuse, prepare to answer the summons of the Lord and put on your grave clothes, for I will come against you with an army nothing can resist, which shall fill the waste places of the earth and make you like yesterday, which is past and will never come back."
When this message reached the King he grew insolent and rebellious, full of pride and defiance, and he cried out to his viziers, "What do you say to this? You know that Solomon son of David has sent demanding that I give him my daughter in marriage, and break my idol of carnelian, and enter his faith!"
And they answered, "Mighty King, how shall Solomon do such a thing to you? Even if he could come at you in the middle of this vast ocean, he could not prevail against you; for the marids of the jann will fight on your side, and you will ask help of your idol whom you serve, and he will help you and give you victory over him. So you would do well to consult your Lord about this matter" — meaning the idol — "and hear what he says. If he says, Fight him, then fight him; and if not, not."
So the King went in to his idol without pause or delay and offered up sacrifices and slaughtered victims; after which he fell down before it, prostrate and weeping, and repeated these verses:
O my Lord, well I know your powerful hand: Solomon would break you and see you banned. O my Lord, I stand here to beg your aid; command, and I bow to your high command.
Then I — the ifrit went on, addressing the Shaykh and those around him — out of my ignorance and my want of wit, and my recklessness about Solomon's commandment and my lack of any knowledge of his power, got inside the belly of the idol and answered as follows:
As for me, of him I feel no fright, for my learning and my wisdom are infinite. If he wants war, I will show him a fight, and out of his body I will tear his sprite!
When the King heard my boastful answer he hardened his heart and resolved to make war on the Prophet and offer him battle; so he beat the messenger with a severe beating and returned a foul answer to Solomon, threatening him and saying, "Truly, your soul has suggested a vain thing to you. Do you threaten me with lying words? Gird yourself for battle; for if you do not come to me, I shall certainly come to you."
So the messenger went back to Solomon and told him everything that had passed and everything that had happened to him. And when the Prophet heard it, he raged like Doomsday and set himself to the fight, and raised armies of men and jann and birds and reptiles. He commanded his vizier al-Dimiryat, King of the Jann, to gather together the marids of the jinn from every quarter, and he collected six hundred thousand thousand devils for him. Moreover, by his order, his vizier Asaf bin Barkhiya raised him an army of men to the number of a thousand thousand and more. All these he furnished with arms and armour; and mounting, with his host, upon his carpet, he took flight through the air, while the beasts went along under him and the birds flew overhead, until he came down on the island of the rebel King and encircled it about, filling the earth with his hosts.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-first Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the ifrit went on:
So when Solomon the prophet (on whom be peace!) had come down with his host on the island, he sent to our King, saying, "Behold, I am come. Defend your life against what has fallen on you, or else make your submission to me and confess that I am the Apostle of Allah, and give me your daughter in lawful marriage, and break your idol and worship the one God, who alone is worthy of worship; and bear witness, you and yours, and say: There is no god but God, and Solomon is the Apostle of Allah! If you do this you shall have pardon and peace; and if not, it will do you no good to fortify yourself on this island, for Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) has commanded the wind to obey me, and I will order it to carry me to you on my carpet and make you a warning and an example to deter others."
But the King answered his messenger, saying, "It cannot be in any way as he demands of me; so tell him I am coming out to him."
With this answer the messenger went back to Solomon, who thereupon gathered together all the jinn under his hand, to the number of a thousand thousand, and added to them others besides — marids and satans from the islands of the sea and the tops of the mountains — and, drawing them up on parade, opened his armouries and distributed arms and armour to them.
Then the Prophet drew up his host in order of battle, dividing the beasts into two bodies, one on the right wing of the men and the other on the left, and ordering them to tear the enemies' horses apart. Furthermore, he ordered the birds that were on the island to hover over their heads, and, when the assault was made, to swoop down and tear out the enemy's eyes with their beaks and beat their faces with their wings; and they answered, "We hear and we obey Allah and you, Prophet of Allah!"
Then Solomon seated himself on a throne of alabaster studded with precious stones and plated with red gold; and, commanding the wind to lift him into the air, set his vizier Asaf bin Barkhiya and the kings of mankind on his right, and his vizier al-Dimiryat and the kings of the jinn on his left, and arrayed the beasts and the vipers and the serpents in the van.
Then they all fell on us together, and we gave them battle for two days over a vast plain; but on the third day disaster came upon us and the judgment of Allah the Most High was carried out on us. Now the first to charge them were my troops and I; and I said to my companions, "Stay where you are, while I go out to them and challenge al-Dimiryat to single combat."
And behold, he came out to the duel like a vast mountain, with his fires flaming and his smoke going up in a spire, and shot a falling star of fire at me; but I swerved aside from it and it missed me. Then I cast a flame of fire at him in my turn, and struck him; but his shaft overcame my fire, and he gave such a terrible cry at me that it seemed to me the skies had fallen flat on top of me, and the mountains trembled at his voice.
Then he ordered his hosts to charge; and they rushed on us and we rushed on them, each side crying out against the other; and the battle reared its crest, rising in volumes with the smoke going up in columns and hearts nearly splitting. The birds and the flying jinn fought in the air, and the beasts and the men and the foot-going jann in the dust; and I fought with al-Dimiryat until I was worn out, and he no less.
At last I grew weak and turned to flee from him, whereupon my companions and my tribesmen took to flight as well, and my hosts were routed; and Solomon cried out, saying, "Take that furious tyrant, the accursed, the infamous!"
Then man fell on man and jinni on jinni, and the armies of the Prophet charged down on us, with the wild beasts and the lions on their right hand and on their left, tearing our horses apart and rending our men; while the birds hovered overhead in the air, pecking out our eyes with their claws and beaks and beating our faces with their wings, and the serpents struck us with their fangs, until most of our people lay flat on the face of the earth like the trunks of date palms. So defeat came upon our King, and we became a spoil for Solomon.
As for me, I fled before al-Dimiryat, but he followed me for three months' journey, until I fell down from weariness and he overtook me and pounced on me and made me his prisoner.
I said, "By the virtue of Him who has exalted you and abased me, spare me and bring me into the presence of Solomon, on whom be peace!"
So he carried me before Solomon, who received me in the foulest fashion and ordered this pillar to be brought and hollowed out. Then he put me inside it and chained me and sealed me with his seal ring; and al-Dimiryat carried me to this place where you see me. Moreover, he charged a great angel to guard me; and this pillar is my prison until the Day of Judgment.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the jinni imprisoned in the pillar had told them his tale from first to last, the party marvelled at his story and at the frightfulness of his appearance, and the Emir Musa said, "There is no god but God! Truly Solomon was gifted with a mighty dominion."
Then the Shaykh Abd al-Samad said to the jinni, "You there! I should like to ask you about something; tell us about it."
"Ask what you like," answered the ifrit Dahish.
And the Shaykh said, "Are there anywhere hereabouts any of the ifrits imprisoned in jars of copper from the time of Solomon, on whom be peace?"
"Yes," replied the jinni. "There are such in the sea of al-Karkar, on the shores of which lives a people descended from Noah, on whom be peace; for their country was not reached by the Flood, and they are cut off there from the other sons of Adam."
Abd al-Samad said, "And which is the way to the City of Brass and the place where the jars of Solomon are, and what distance is there between us and it?"
The ifrit said, "It is near at hand"; and he directed them on the way there.
So they left him and went forward, until there appeared to them far off a great blackness with two fires in it facing one another; and the Emir Musa asked the Shaykh, "What is that vast blackness and its twin fires?"
And the guide answered, "Rejoice, Emir, for this is the City of Brass, as it is described in the Book of Hidden Treasures which I have with me. Its walls are of black stone, and it has two towers of Andalusian brass, which look to anybody in the distance like two fires; and that is why it is called the City of Brass."
Then they went on without stopping until they drew near the city — and behold, it was like a piece of a mountain, or a mass of iron cast in a mould, impenetrable for the height of its walls and bulwarks; while nothing could be more beautiful than its buildings and the ordering of them.
So they dismounted and looked for a way in, but saw none, and could not find a trace of any opening in the walls — for although there were twenty-five gates to the city, not one of them was visible from outside.
Then the Emir said, "Shaykh, I can see no sign of any gate to this city."
And he said, "Emir, so it is described in my Book of Hidden Treasures. It has twenty-five gates, but not one of them can be opened except from inside the city."
Musa asked, "And how shall we manage to get into the city and see its wonders?"
And Talib son of Sahl, his vizier, answered, "Allah keep the Emir! Let us rest here two or three days, and, God willing, we shall find a way to get inside the walls."
Then Musa said to one of his men, "Mount your camel and ride round the city; perhaps you may come upon a gate, or some place a little lower than this in front of us, or, God willing, a breach we can get in by."
So he mounted his beast, taking water and food with him, and rode round the city for two days and two nights without drawing rein to rest; but he found the wall of it like a single block, with no breach and no way in. And on the third day he came in sight of his companions again, dazed and astonished at what he had seen of the size and the height of the place, and said, "Emir, the easiest place to get at is the one where you have halted."
Then Musa took Talib and Abd al-Samad and climbed the highest hill overlooking the city. When they reached the top they saw below them a city — and eyes never saw a greater or a finer — with dwellings and mansions of towering height, and palaces and pavilions and domes gleaming gloriously bright, and lamps and bulwarks of infinite strength; and its streams were flowing and its flowers blowing and its fruits glowing. It was a city with impregnable gates; but empty and still, without a voice and without one living soul to cheer it. The owl hooted in its quarters; the bird went skimming in circles over its squares; and the raven croaked in its great thoroughfares, weeping and lamenting for the people who once lived there.
The Emir stood a while, marvelling and grieving over the desolation of the city, and saying, "Glory to Him whom no ages and no changes and no times can wither — Him who created all things by His Might!"
Presently he happened to look aside and caught sight of seven tablets of white marble a long way off. So he went up to them, and finding inscriptions graven on them, called the Shaykh and told him to read them. So he came forward, and examining the inscriptions, found that they held matter of admonition and warning, and examples and restraint for people of understanding.
On the first tablet was inscribed, in the ancient Greek character:
Son of Adam, how heedless you are of what lies before you! Truly your years and your months and your days have distracted you from it. Do you not know that the cup of death is filled for your undoing, and that in a little while you shall drain it to the dregs? Look to your doom before you go into your tomb. Where are the Kings who held dominion over the lands and humbled the servants of Allah and built these palaces and had armies under their command? By Allah, the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies and the Devastator of dwelling places came down on them and carried them from the spaciousness of their palaces to the narrowness of their burial places.
And at the foot of the tablet these verses were written:
Where are the kings who peopled the earth — where are they? They left what they had built and settled, for ever and aye. They are entombed, and still pledged for actions past, and after their death decay came upon them to stay. Where are their troops? They failed to ward and guard. Where is the wealth that in their treasuries lay? The Lord of the Highest Heaven surprised them with one word, and neither wealth nor refuge could their doom delay.
When the Emir heard this he cried out, and the tears ran down his cheeks, and he exclaimed, "By Allah, to abstain from the world is the wisest course and the only cure!" And he called for a pen case and paper and wrote down what was graven on the first tablet.
Then he went up to the second tablet and found these words graven on it:
Son of Adam, what has seduced you away from the service of the Ancient of Days, and made you forget that one day you must pay the debt of death? Do you not know that this is a place you pass through, in which nobody stays? And yet you give your thought to the world and cling fast to it. Where are the kings who peopled Iraq and possessed the four quarters of the globe? Where are those who lived in Isfahan and the land of Khorasan? The voice of the Summoner of Death called them and they answered him, and the Herald of Destruction hailed them and they replied, Here we are! Truly, what they built and fortified profited them nothing; nor did what they had gathered and laid by serve for their defence.
And at the foot of the tablet these verses were graven:
Where are the men who built and fortified high places whose like no man ever espied? In fear of Fate they levied troops and hosts, which availed them nothing when the time and the tide came round. Where are the Chosroes in their strongest walls? As though they had never been in the homes they tried.
The Emir Musa wept and exclaimed, "By Allah, we are indeed created for a grave matter!" Then he copied the inscription and passed on to the third tablet.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Emir Musa passed on to the third tablet, on which was written:
Son of Adam, the things of this world you love and prize, and the command of your Lord you spurn and despise. All the days of your life go by, and you are content to have it so. Make ready your provision for the journey against the day appointed for you to see, and prepare to answer the Lord of every creature that shall be.
And at the foot were written these verses:
Where is the man who peopled, in the years gone past, the lands of Hind and Sind, and played the tyrant there? Who bound Zanj and Abyssinia beneath his yoke, and curbed Nubia and laid its power bare? Do not look for news of what is in his grave: he is too far off to help your seeing there. The stroke of death fell on him sharp and sure, and neither palace saved him nor the lands he swayed.
At this Musa wept bitterly, and going on to the fourth tablet he read inscribed on it:
Son of Adam, how long shall your Lord bear with you, while every day you are sunk in the sea of your own folly? Has it been established, then, that some day you shall not die? Son of Adam, do not let the deceits of your days and nights and times and hours delude you with their delights; but remember that death lies ready for you in ambush, eager to spring on your shoulders; and not a day passes but he wakes with you in the morning and lies down with you at night. Beware, then, of his onslaught, and make provision against it. As it was with me, so it is with you: you waste your whole life and squander the joys your days are full of. Listen, then, to my words and put your trust in the Lord of Lords; for in the world there is no stability — it is no more to you than a spider's web.
And at the foot of the tablet these couplets were written:
Where is the man who plied all this labour, who founded and built and reared these walls on high? Where are the lords of the castles? Those who dwelt in them went out and left them lying in decay. They are all entombed, in pledge against the day when every sin shall show to every eye. None but the Lord Most High has endurance, whose Might and Majesty shall never die.
When the Emir read this he fainted away, and presently, coming to himself, marvelled greatly and wrote it down. Then he went up to the fifth tablet, and behold, on it was graven:
Son of Adam, what is it that distracts you from obedience to your Creator and the Author of your being — Him who raised you when you were little, and fed you when you were grown? You are ungrateful for His bounty, although He watches over you with His favours and lets down the curtain of His protection over you. There must come to you an hour bitterer than aloes and hotter than live coals. Provide against it, then; for who shall sweeten its gall or quench its fires? Think of the peoples and the heroes who went before you, and take warning by them, before you perish.
And at the foot of the tablet these couplets were graven:
Where are the kings of the earth, who from the place they lived sped off to the graveyards with their hoardings in tow? Once, on their days of mounting, you would have seen hosts that hid the ground they rode on, row on row. How many a king they humbled in their day! How many a host they led and laid on low! But from the Lord of the Highest Heaven there came one word in haste, and joy turned grief before the morning's glow.
The Emir marvelled at this and wrote it down; after which he passed on to the sixth tablet, and behold, on it was inscribed:
Son of Adam, do not think that safety will last for ever and always, seeing that death is sealed to your head at every hour. Where are your fathers, where are your brothers, where are your friends and the people you loved? They have all gone to the dust of the tombs and presented themselves before the Glorious One, the Forgiving, as if they had never eaten or drunk; and they are held in pledge for what they earned. So look to yourself, before your tomb comes upon you.
And at the foot of the tablet were these couplets:
Where are the kings who ruled the Franks of old? Where is the king who peopled the land of Tangier? Their works are written down in a book, and He, the One, the Father of all, shall hold it as witness there.
At this the Emir Musa marvelled and wrote it down, saying, "There is no god but God! Indeed, how fine these people were!"
Then he went up to the seventh tablet, and behold, on it was written:
Glory to Him who has fore-ordained death for everything He creates, the Living One, who does not die! Son of Adam, do not let your days and their delights delude you, nor your hours and the pleasures of their time; and know that death is coming to you and sits upon your shoulder. Beware, then, of his assault, and be ready for his onslaught. As it was with me, so it is with you: you are wasting the sweetness of your life and the joy of your hours. Give ear, then, to my counsel and put your trust in the Lord of Lords, and know that in the world there is no stability, but it is like a spider's web to you, and everything in it shall die and cease to be. Where is the man who laid the foundation of Amid and built it, and built Farikin and exalted it? Where are the peoples of the strong places? When they had lived in them, after all their might they went down into the tombs. They have been carried off by death, and we shall be afflicted by doom in the same way. Nobody remains except Allah the Most High, for He is Allah the Forgiving One.
The Emir Musa wept and copied all this; and indeed the world had grown small in his eyes.
Then he came down the hill and rejoined his host, with whom he spent the rest of the day casting about for a way into the city. And he said to his vizier Talib bin Sahl and to the chief officers about him, "How shall we manage to get into this city and see its marvels? Perhaps we shall find in it something to win us the favour of the Commander of the Faithful."
"Allah prolong the Emir's fortune!" replied Talib. "Let us make a ladder and climb the wall with it; then perhaps we may get at the gate from the inside."
The Emir said, "That is exactly what occurred to me too, and it is admirable advice!"
Then he called for carpenters and blacksmiths and told them to shape wood and build a ladder plated and banded with iron. So they made a strong ladder, and a great many men worked at it for a whole month.
Then the whole company took hold of it and set it up against the wall, and it reached the top as exactly as if it had been built for it beforehand. The Emir marvelled and said, "The blessing of Allah be upon you! It looks as though you had taken the measure of the wall, so excellent is your work."
Then he said to his men, "Which of you will go up the ladder and walk along the wall and look for a way of getting down into the city, so as to see how things stand and let us know how we may open the gate?"
At which one of them said, "I will go up, Emir, and go down and open it for you."
And Musa answered, "Go, and the blessing of Allah go with you!"
So the man climbed the ladder; but when he came to the top of the wall he stood up and gazed steadily down into the city, and then clapped his hands and cried out at the top of his voice, "By Allah, you are fair!" — and threw himself down into the place.
And Musa cried, "By Allah, he is a dead man!"
But another came up to him and said, "Emir, this man was mad, and no doubt his madness got the better of him and destroyed him. I will go up and open the gate for you, if it be the will of Allah the Most High."
"Go up," replied Musa, "and Allah be with you! But take care not to lose your head, as your comrade did."
Then the man climbed the ladder; but no sooner had he reached the top of the wall than he laughed aloud, saying, "Well done! Well done!" and, clapping his hands, threw himself down into the city and died on the spot.
When the Emir saw this he said, "If that is what a reasonable man does, what will a madman do? If all our men behave like this we shall have none left, and we shall fail in our errand and in the errand of the Commander of the Faithful. Get ready to march: we have no business with this city."
But a third man of the company said, "Perhaps somebody else may be steadier than they were." So a third climbed the wall, and a fourth and a fifth, and every one of them cried out and threw himself down, exactly as the first had done; nor did they leave off doing so until a dozen had perished in the same way.
Then the Shaykh Abd al-Samad came forward and took heart and said, "This business is for nobody but me; for a man with experience is not like a man without it."
The Emir said, "Indeed you shall not do it, and I will not have you go up. If you die, we shall all be cut off to the last man, since you are our guide."
But he answered, "It may be that what we are looking for will be accomplished at my hands, by the grace of God Most High."
So the whole company agreed to let him climb the ladder; and he got up and took heart and said, "In the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate!" and went up the ladder, calling on the name of the Lord and reciting the Verses of Safety.
When he reached the top of the wall he clapped his hands and gazed steadily down into the city; at which the people below all cried out to him with one voice, saying, "Shaykh Abd al-Samad, for the Lord's sake, do not throw yourself down!" and they added, "Truly, we belong to Allah and to Him we are returning! If the Shaykh falls, we are all dead men."
Then he laughed beyond all measure, and sat for a long hour reciting the names of Almighty Allah and repeating the Verses of Safety; and then he got up and cried out at the top of his voice, saying, "Emir, have no fear; no harm shall come to you, for Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty!) has turned aside from me the wiles and the malice of Satan, by the blessing of the words, In the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate!"
Musa asked, "What did you see, Shaykh?"
And Abd al-Samad answered, "I saw ten girls like the houris of Heaven, calling to me with their hands."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Shaykh Abd al-Samad answered:
"I saw ten girls like the houris of Heaven, calling and signalling, Come to us! And it seemed to me there was a lake of water below me. So I thought I would throw myself down — when I caught sight of my twelve companions lying dead; so I held myself back and recited something of Allah's Book, whereupon He dispelled the girls' witching wiles and malicious guiles, and they disappeared. And no doubt this was an enchantment devised by the people of the city, to drive off anybody who should try to look into the place or enter it. And it has succeeded in killing our companions."
Then he walked on along the wall until he came to the two towers of brass, and saw in them two gates of gold, without padlocks or any visible means of opening. Here he paused as long as Allah pleased, and looked about him a while, until he caught sight, in the middle of one of the gates, of a horseman of brass with his hand stretched out as if pointing, and something written on his palm. So he went up to it and read these words:
You who come to this place: if you would enter, turn the pin in my navel twelve times, and the gate will open.
So he examined the horseman, and finding in his navel a pin of gold, firmly set and fast fixed, he turned it twelve times; whereupon the horseman revolved like blinding lightning and the gate swung open with a noise like thunder.
He went in and found himself in a long passage, which brought him down some steps into a guardroom furnished with fine wooden benches, on which sat men who were dead, with handsome shields hanging over their heads, and keen blades, and bent bows, and arrows ready notched.
From there he came to the main gate of the city; and finding it secured with iron bars and elaborately worked locks and bolts and chains and other fastenings of wood and metal, he said to himself, "Very likely the keys are with those dead men."
So he went back to the guardroom, and seeing among the dead an old man sitting on a high wooden bench who seemed to be the chief of them, he said in his mind, "Who knows but the keys are with this Shaykh? No doubt he was the warden of the city and these others were under his hand."
So he went up to him and lifted his gown — and behold, the keys were hanging at his belt; at which he rejoiced exceedingly and was ready to fly for gladness.
Then he took them and went to the gateway and undid the padlocks and drew back the bolts and the bars, whereupon the great leaves flew open with a crash like a peal of thunder, so huge and so terrible were they. At this he cried out, "Allahu akbar — God is most great!" And the people outside answered him with the same words, rejoicing and thanking him for what he had done.
The Emir Musa was delighted too at the Shaykh's safety and at the opening of the city gate, and the troops all pressed forward to go in; but Musa cried out to them, "Good people, if we all go in at once we shall not be safe from some mishap that may befall us. Let half go in and the other half wait outside."
So he pushed forward with half his men, carrying their weapons of war; and finding their comrades lying dead, they buried them. And they saw the doorkeepers and the eunuchs and the chamberlains and the officers reclining on couches of silk, and every one of them a corpse.
Then they went on until they came to the chief market place, full of lofty buildings, not one of which overtopped the others; and they found all its shops open, with the scales hung out and the brass vessels set in order and the caravanserais full of goods of every kind. And they saw the merchants sitting on the shop boards, dead, with shrivelled skin and rotted bones — a warning to those who can take warning; and here they saw four separate markets, all of them full of wealth.
Then they left the great bazaar and went on until they came to the silk market, where they found silks and brocades embroidered with red gold and figured with white silver on every kind of colour, and the owners lying dead on mats of scented goatskin, looking as if they were about to speak.
After that they crossed the market street of pearls and rubies and other jewels, and came to the street of the money-changers, whom they saw sitting dead on carpets of raw silk and dyed stuffs, in shops full of gold and silver.
From there they passed on to the perfumers' bazaar, where they found the shops filled with drugs of all kinds, and bladders of musk and ambergris and nadd-perfume and camphor and other scents, in vessels of ivory and ebony and khalanj-wood and Andalusian copper, which is equal in value to gold; and various kinds of rattan and Indian cane. But the shopkeepers all lay dead, and there was nothing whatever of food with them.
And close by this drug market they came upon a palace, imposingly built and magnificently decorated; so they went in and found in it banners displayed and drawn sword blades and strung bows and shields hanging by chains of gold and silver, and helmets gilded with red gold. In the vestibules stood benches of ivory plated with glittering gold and covered with silken stuffs, on which lay men whose skin had dried on their bones; a fool would have thought they were asleep, but for want of food they had perished and tasted the cup of death.
Now when the Emir Musa saw this he stood still, glorifying Allah the Most High and calling Him holy, and contemplating the beauty of the palace and the massiveness of its masonry and the fine perfection of its ordering; for it was built in the finest and most solid fashion, and most of its decoration was of green lapis lazuli. And on the inner door, which stood open, these couplets were written in characters of gold and ultramarine:
Consider, man, what these places have shown you, and be on your guard before you travel the same road; and make ready good provision that may serve your turn some day, for every dweller in the house must go with those who have gone. Consider how this people adorned their palaces, and in the dust have been held in pledge for the seed of the acts they sowed. They built, but their building did not avail them, and their hoards neither saved their lives nor put off the day of Destiny. How often they hoped for things that were not decreed, and passed on to their tombs before Hope had shown its bounty! And from a high and awful state, all of a sudden, they were sent to the narrowness of the grave — and oh, how base is their abode! Then a Crier came to them after burial and cried: What good were the thrones to you, or the crowns, or the gold you were given? Where now are the faces that were hidden by curtain and by veil, whose charms were told in proverbs — those beauties in the fashion? The tombs reply aloud to the questioners, and cry: The canker and decay of Death corrode those rosy cheeks. Long they ate and drank, but their rejoicing had a term; and the eater in his turn was eaten, and the worm ate him.
When the Emir read this he wept until he was nearly fainting.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Emir wept until he was nearly fainting, and gave orders for the verses to be written down; after which he passed on into the inner palace and came to a vast hall, at each of whose four corners stood a pavilion, lofty and spacious, washed with gold and silver and painted in various colours.
In the heart of the hall was a great jetting fountain of alabaster, surmounted by a canopy of brocade; and in each pavilion was a sitting place, and each place had its richly worked fountain and its tank paved with marble, and streams running in channels along the floor and meeting in a great and splendid cistern of many-coloured marbles.
The Emir said to the Shaykh Abd al-Samad, "Come, let us visit that pavilion!"
So they went into the first and found it full of gold and silver and pearls and jacinths and other precious stones and metals, besides chests filled with brocades, red and yellow and white.
Then they went to the second pavilion, and, opening a closet there, found it full of arms and armour — gilded helmets and Davidean hauberks and Indian swords and Arabian spears and Khwarazmian maces and other gear of fight and fray.
From there they passed to the third pavilion, where they saw closets padlocked and covered with curtains worked with every kind of embroidery. They opened one of these and found it full of weapons elaborately ornamented with openwork and with gold and silver damascening and jewels.
Then they went into the fourth pavilion, and opening one of the closets there, saw in it a great store of eating and drinking vessels of gold and silver, with platters of crystal and goblets set with fine pearls and cups of carnelian and the like. So they all fell to taking whatever suited their taste, and each of the soldiers carried off what he could.
When they left the pavilions they saw, in the middle of the palace, a door of teak inlaid with ivory and ebony and plated with glittering gold, over which hung a silk curtain bordered with every kind of embroidery; and on this door were locks of white silver that opened by a trick, without a key. The Shaykh Abd al-Samad went boldly up to it and by the help of his knowledge and skill opened the locks, whereupon the door let them into a corridor paved with marble and hung with veil-like tapestries embroidered with figures of every kind of beast and bird, whose bodies were of red gold and white silver and their eyes of pearls and rubies, amazing everybody who looked at them.
Going on, they came to a hall built all of polished marble inlaid with jewels, which looked to anybody standing there as if the floor were running water, so that whoever walked on it slipped. The Emir told the Shaykh to strew something over it, so that they could walk across; and when this was done they managed to get forward, until they came to a great domed pavilion of stone gilded with red gold and crowned with a cupola of alabaster, around which were set lattice windows, carved and jewelled with rods of emerald beyond the means of any king.
Under this dome was a canopy of brocade, resting on pillars of red gold and worked with figures of birds whose feet were of emerald, and beneath each bird was a network of fresh-coloured pearls. The canopy was spread over a jetting fountain of ivory and carnelian, plated with glittering gold; and beside it stood a couch set with pearls and rubies and other jewels, and beside the couch a pillar of gold. On the capital of the column stood a bird made of red rubies, holding in his bill a pearl that shone like a star.
And on the couch lay a girl like the shining sun, and eyes never saw a fairer. She wore a close-fitting robe of fine pearls, with a crown of red gold on her head, banded with gems; and on her forehead were two great jewels whose light was like the light of the sun. On her breast she wore a jewelled amulet, filled with musk and ambergris and worth the empire of the Caesars; and round her neck hung a collar of rubies and great pearls, hollowed and filled with sweet-smelling musk. And it seemed as though she looked at them, to the right and to the left.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the girl seemed to be gazing at the party to the right and to the left. The Emir Musa marvelled at her extraordinary beauty and was astonished at the blackness of her hair and the redness of her cheeks, which made anybody looking at her think she was alive and not dead; and he said to her, "Peace be with you, girl!"
But Talib ibn Sahl said to him, "Allah preserve you, Emir! This girl is dead and there is no life in her; so how should she return your greeting?" And he added, "Indeed, she is only a corpse embalmed with extraordinary art. Her eyes were taken out after her death and quicksilver set under them, after which they were put back in their sockets. That is why they glisten; and when the air moves her lashes she seems to blink, and it looks to anybody watching as though she were looking at him, dead though she is."
At this the Emir marvelled beyond measure and said, "Glory be to God, who subjects His creatures to the dominion of Death!"
Now the couch the girl lay on had steps, and on them stood two statues of Andalusian copper representing slaves, one white and the other black. The first held a mace of steel and the second a sword of watered steel that dazzled the eye; and between them, on one of the steps of the couch, lay a golden tablet, on which these words were written in characters of white silver:
In the name of God, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! Praise be to Allah, the Creator of mankind; and He is the Lord of Lords, the Causer of Causes! In the name of Allah, the Never-beginning, the Everlasting, the Ordainer of Fate and Fortune! Son of Adam, what has fooled you into this long hoping? What has made you forget the mischance of the Day of Death? Do you not know that Death is calling for you and hurrying to seize your soul? Be ready, then, for the road, and provide yourself for your departure from the world; for you shall certainly leave it without delay. Where is Adam, the first of mankind? Where is Noah with his descendants? Where are the Kings of India and the plain of Iraq, and those who reigned over the widest regions of the earth? Where do the Amalekites live now, and the giants and the tyrants of old? Truly, the dwelling places are empty of them, and they have departed from their kindred and their homes. Where are the Kings of the Arabs and of the Persians? They are dead, every one, and gone, and have become rotten bones. Where are the lords who stood so high? They are all done and dead. Where are Korah and Haman? Where is Shaddad son of Ad? Where are Canaan and the Lord of the Stakes? By Allah, the Reaper of lives has reaped them and emptied the lands of them. Did they provide against the Day of Resurrection, or make ready to answer the Lord of men? You there — if you do not know me, I will tell you my name. I am Tadmurah, daughter of the Kings of the Amalekites, of those who held dominion over the lands in fairness and brought low the necks of mankind. I possessed what no king ever possessed, and I was righteous in my rule and did justice among my subjects; yes, I gave gifts and largesse, and freed slaves both men and women. So I lived many years in all the ease and delight of life, until Death knocked at my door and calamities beyond counting fell on me and on my people. And it happened in this way. There came upon us seven successive years of drought, in which not a drop of rain fell on us from the skies and not a green thing sprouted for us on the face of the earth. So we ate what food we had by us, and then we fell upon the cattle and ate them, until nothing was left. Then I had my treasures brought out and measured by the measure, and sent out trusted men to buy food. They went round all the lands looking for it and left no city unsearched, but they did not find it to be bought, and came back to us with the treasure after a long absence, and let us know that they had not been able to barter fine pearls for poor wheat, bushel for bushel, weight for weight. So when we despaired of help, we displayed all our riches and things of price and, shutting the gates of the city and its strong places, resigned ourselves to the judgment of our Lord and committed our case to our King. And then we all died, as you see us, and left everything we had built and everything we had hoarded. This, then, is our story; and after the substance nothing remains but the trace.
Then they looked at the foot of the tablet and read these couplets:
Child of Adam, do not let hope mock you and jeer at you: from everything your hands have treasured you shall be removed. I see you coveting the world and the fleeting charms of the world, and the races that are past and gone did the same as you, I see. They got wealth lawful and unlawful; but all their hoarded store, when their term was accomplished, delayed nothing of Destiny's decree. They led armies and mighty men and won themselves gold in plenty; then left their wealth and their palaces, compelled by Fate to flee to the narrowness of the graveyard and the humble bed of dust, from which, held in pledge for every word and deed, they never win free. They are like a company of travellers who had unloaded in the night at a house that lacked food and was not overfond of company, whose owner says, Good people, there is no lodging here for you; so those who had just unpacked packed up and went off hurriedly, disliking the march, and neither the journey nor the halt had anything of pleasant chance or anything of a good greeting. So make ready good provision, stored up for tomorrow's journey: nothing but a righteous and honest life shall avail you with the Lord.
And the Emir Musa wept as he read on:
By Allah, the fear of the Lord is the best of all property, the pillar of certainty and the only sure support. Truly, Death is the manifest truth and the sure command, and in it, O you, is the goal and the plain place of return. Take warning, then, by those who went off into the dust and hurried along the road to the appointed end. Do you not see that grey hairs are summoning you to the tomb, and that the whiteness of your locks is lamenting your doom? So be awake and ready for your departure and for the settling of your account. Son of Adam, what has hardened your heart in this hateful way? What has seduced you from the service of your Lord? Where are the peoples of the old time? They are a warning to whoever will be warned. Where are the Kings of China and the lords of majestic bearing? Where is Shaddad son of Ad and everything he built and established? Where is Nimrod, who revolted against Allah and defied Him? Where is Pharaoh, who rebelled against God and denied Him? Death followed hard on the trail of all of them and laid them low, sparing neither great nor small, male nor female; and the Reaper of Mankind cut them off — yes, by Him who makes the night come round upon the day! Know, you who come to this place, that the woman you see here was not deluded by the world and its frail delights, for it is faithless and treacherous, a house of ruin, empty and false; and it is good for a creature to remember his sins. So she feared her Lord and made her dealings fair and provided herself with provisions against the appointed day of marching. Whoever comes to our city, and Allah grants him the means to enter it, let him take of the treasure all he can; but let him not touch anything that is on my body, for it is the covering of my shame and the outfit for the last journey. So let him fear Allah and strip none of it away, or else he will destroy his own self. This I have set out for him as a warning from me and a solemn trust to keep. And with that, peace be with you; and I pray Allah to keep you from sickness and calamity.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Emir Musa read this he wept exceedingly until he fainted away; and presently, coming to himself, he wrote down everything he had seen and took to heart everything he had witnessed.
Then he said to his men, "Fetch the camels and load them with these treasures and vases and jewels."
"Emir," asked Talib, "are we to leave our girl here with all that is on her — things that have no equal, whose like is not to be found, and more perfect than anything else you are taking? You could not find a finer offering to win the favour of the Commander of the Faithful."
But Musa answered, "Man, did you not hear what the lady says on this tablet? All the more since she gives it in trust to us, and we are no traitors."
"And are we," retorted the vizier Talib, "because of these words, to leave all these riches and jewels behind, seeing that she is dead? What should she do with things that are the adornment of the world and the ornament of the worldly, when a single garment of cotton would be enough to cover her? We have more right to them than she has."
And so saying he mounted the steps of the couch between the pillars; but when he came within reach of the two slaves, the mace-bearer struck him on the back and the other struck him with the sword he held in his hand and cut off his head, and he dropped down dead.
The Emir said, "Allah have no mercy on your resting place! Indeed, there was enough in these treasures; and greed for gain certainly degrades a man."
Then he ordered the troops to be let in; so they came in and loaded the camels with those treasures and precious ores; after which they went out, and the Emir ordered them to shut the gate as it had been before.
They travelled along the seashore a whole month, until they came in sight of a high mountain overlooking the sea and full of caves, in which lived a tribe of black people, dressed in hides with hooded cloaks of hide as well, and speaking a language nobody knew. When they saw the troops they started like shying horses and fled into the caves, while their women and children stood at the cave mouths looking at the strangers.
"Shaykh Abd al-Samad," asked the Emir, "who are these people?"
And he answered, "They are the people we are looking for, on behalf of the Commander of the Faithful."
So they dismounted and set down their loads and pitched their tents; and almost before they had finished, down came the King of these people from the mountain and drew near the camp. Now he understood Arabic; so when he came to the Emir he greeted him with the salaam, and Musa returned his greeting and treated him with honour.
Then the King said to the Emir, "Are you men, or jinn?"
"We are men, certainly," said Musa; "but no doubt you are jinn, to judge by your living apart on this mountain, which is cut off from mankind, and by your enormous size."
"Not at all," answered the King. "We too are children of Adam, of the lineage of Ham, son of Noah (on whom be peace!); and this sea is called al-Karkar."
Musa asked, "King, what is your religion, and what do you worship?"
And he answered, "We worship the God of the heavens, and our religion is the religion of Mohammed, whom Allah bless and preserve!"
"And how did you come by the knowledge of that," asked the Emir, "seeing that no prophet was ever inspired to visit this country?"
"Know, Emir," replied the King, "that a long while ago there appeared to us out of the sea a man from whom came a light that lit up the horizons, and he cried out in a voice that was heard by men far and near, saying: Children of Ham, reverence Him who sees and is not seen, and say: There is no god but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God! And he added: I am Abu al-Abbas al-Khizr.
"Before that we used to worship one another, but he called us to the service of the Lord of all creatures; and he taught us to repeat these words: There is no god but God alone, who has no partner; His is the kingdom and His is the praise. He gives life and death, and He is Almighty over all things. Nor do we draw near to Allah (be He exalted and extolled!) except with these words, for we know no others. But every eve before Friday we see a light on the face of the earth, and we hear a voice saying: Holy and glorious, Lord of the Angels and the Spirit! What He wills, is; and what He does not will, is not. Every blessing is of His grace, and there is neither Majesty nor is there Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
"But you," said the King, "who and what are you, and what brings you to this land?"
Musa said, "We are officers of the Sovereign of Islam, the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, who has heard tell of the lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be peace!) and of the supreme dominion the Most High gave him: how he held sway over jinn and beast and bird, and how, when he was angry with one of the marids, he used to shut him in a jar of copper and stop its mouth on him with lead, on which he stamped his seal ring, and throw it into the sea of al-Karkar. Now we have heard that this sea is near your land; so the Commander of the Faithful has sent us here to bring him some of these jars, that he may look at them and take pleasure in the sight of them. Such is our case, then, and what we want of you, King; and we hope you will help us to accomplish the errand the Commander of the Faithful has laid on us."
"With love and gladness," replied the King; and taking them to the guest house, he treated them with the utmost honour and provided them with everything they needed, feeding them on fish.
They stayed like this three days, and then he ordered his divers to fetch some of the vessels of Solomon up out of the sea. So they dived and brought up twelve jars, at which the Emir and the Shaykh and all the company rejoiced that the Caliph's need had been met.
Then Musa gave the King many great gifts; and he in his turn made him a present of one of the wonders of the deep — fishes in human form — saying, "Your food these three days has been the flesh of these fish."
The Emir said, "We must certainly carry some of these to the Caliph, for the sight of them will please him more than the jars of Solomon."
Then they took their leave of the King and, setting out on their homeward journey, travelled until they came to Damascus, where Musa went in to the Commander of the Faithful and told him everything he had seen and heard of verses and legends and examples, and how Talib bin Sahl had died.
And the Caliph said, "I wish I had been with you, so that I might have seen what you saw!"
Then he took the copper vessels and opened them one after another, whereupon the devils came out of them, saying, "We repent, Prophet of Allah! Never again will we go back to the like of this — never!" And the Caliph marvelled at it.
As for the daughters of the deep that the King had presented to them, they made them cisterns of planks full of water and laid them in there; but they died of the great heat.
Then the Caliph sent for the spoils of the City of Brass and divided them among the Faithful.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Caliph marvelled greatly at the jars and their contents; and then he sent for the spoils and divided them among the Faithful, saying, "Never did Allah give to anybody the like of what He bestowed upon Solomon son of David!"
Thereupon the Emir Musa asked his leave to appoint his son governor of the province in his place, so that he might take himself off to the Holy City of Jerusalem and worship Allah there. So the Commander of the Faithful invested his son Harun with the government, and Musa went off to the Glorious and Holy City, where he died.
This, then, is all that has come down to us of the story of the City of Brass; and God is All-knowing.
Now, said Shahrazad, I have another tale to tell, about
[Editor's note: Aladdin and Ali Baba, which close this selection, are the two most famous stories in the Nights and the two that are not in it. Neither appears in any Arabic manuscript older than the eighteenth century. Both reached Europe through Antoine Galland, who took them down in Paris in 1709 from a young Syrian traveller named Hanna Diyab, and only afterwards were they written back into Arabic and printed. Burton translated them from that later Arabic. They carry their own night numbering, which is why the count starts again here instead of going on from the tale before.]
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that there lived in a city of the cities of China a man who was a tailor, and a poor one; and he had one son, whose name was Aladdin.
Now this boy had been a good-for-nothing and a scapegrace from his babyhood; and when he reached his tenth year his father wanted to teach him his own trade — for he was too poor to spend money on having him taught any other work or craft or apprenticeship — and took the lad into his shop to learn tailoring.
But as Aladdin was a scapegrace and a good-for-nothing, and used to play at all hours with the gutter boys of the quarter, he would not sit in the shop for a single day. He would wait for his father to leave it on some errand or other, such as going to meet a creditor, and then he would run straight off and away to the gardens with the other scapegraces and low companions who were his friends.
That was how things stood; advice and beatings were no use, and he would not obey either parent in anything, nor learn any trade at all. And presently, out of sadness and sorrow at his son's shiftless idleness, the tailor fell ill and died.
Aladdin carried on in his old bad ways; and when his mother saw that her husband was dead and her son was a scapegrace and good for nothing whatever, she sold the shop and everything in it and took to spinning cotton yarn. By this hard work she fed herself and found food for her son Aladdin the scapegrace — who, finding himself free of his father's severities, grew more idle and low in his habits than ever, and would never stay at home except at mealtimes, while his poor wretched mother lived on nothing but what her hands could spin. And so it went on until the boy had reached his fifteenth year.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Aladdin had come to his fifteenth year, it happened one day, as he was hanging about the quarter playing with the vagabond boys, that a dervish from the Maghrib, the Land of the Setting Sun, came up and stood watching the lads for his amusement; and he looked hard at Aladdin and studied his face carefully, hardly noticing his companions at all.
Now this dervish was a Moor from the interior of Morocco, and he was a magician who could heap hill upon hill by his magic, and he was an adept in astrology too. So after examining Aladdin closely he said to himself, "This is truly the lad I need, and the one I left my native country to find."
Presently he drew one of the children aside and questioned him about the scapegrace, saying, "Whose son is he?" And he asked for every scrap of information about his circumstances and everything to do with him.
After that he walked up to Aladdin and, taking him aside, asked, "My son, are you not the child of such-and-such a tailor?"
And the lad answered, "Yes, sir; but he died a long time ago."
When the Moroccan magician heard these words he threw himself upon Aladdin and wound his arms round his neck and fell to kissing him, weeping all the while, with the tears running down his cheeks.
But when the lad saw the state the Moroccan was in he was greatly surprised, and questioned him, saying, "What is making you weep, sir? And how did you come to know my father?"
"How can you ask me such a question, my son," replied the Moroccan, in a soft voice full of feeling, "after telling me that your father — my brother — is dead? For he was my own brother; and now I have come from my adopted country, and after a long exile I was rejoicing at the hope of seeing him once more and talking over old times with him — and now you tell me he is gone. But blood does not hide from blood, and it revealed to me that you are my nephew, my brother's son; and I knew you out of all the lads, although your father, when I parted from him, was not yet married."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician said to the tailor's orphan, "My son Aladdin, I have missed the mourning ceremonies now, and lost the joy I looked for in meeting your father, my brother, whom after my long banishment I had hoped to see once more before I die. But the great distance did me this injury; and a creature has no refuge from the Creator, and no trick to play against the commandments of Almighty Allah."
Then he clasped Aladdin to his bosom again, crying, "My son, I have nobody left to grieve with now except yourself; and you stand in your father's place, being his offspring and his representative — and whoever leaves offspring does not die, my child!"
So saying, the magician put his hand to his purse and pulled out ten gold pieces and gave them to the lad, asking, "My son, where is your house, and where does she live — your mother, my brother's widow?"
Aladdin got up with him at once and showed him the way to their home; and as they went, the wizard said, "My son, take this money and give it to your mother, with my greetings, and let her know that your uncle, your father's brother, has come back from his exile; and that tomorrow, God willing, I will visit her and greet her with the salaam, and see the house my brother lived in, and look at the place where he lies buried."
At this Aladdin kissed the Moroccan's hand, and then ran in his joy at top speed to his mother's house and went in to her, quite contrary to his custom, since he never came near her except at mealtimes. And when he found her, the lad exclaimed in his delight, "Mother, I bring you good news of my uncle, who has come back from his exile and who now sends me to greet you!"
"My son," she replied, "it seems to me you are making fun of me. Who is this uncle? How can you have an uncle in the land of the living?"
He answered, "How can you say, mother, that I have no living uncles and no kinsmen, when this man is my father's own brother? Indeed he embraced me and kissed me, shedding tears all the while, and told me to let you know about it."
She retorted, "My son, I know very well that you had an uncle; but he is dead now, and I am not aware that you have another."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician went out the next morning and set about finding Aladdin, for his heart would no longer let him be parted from the lad; and as he was going to and fro about the city streets he came face to face with him, amusing himself as usual among the vagabonds and the scapegraces.
So he went up to him and, taking his hand, embraced him and kissed him; then he pulled two dinars out of his pocket and said, "Off you go to your mother and give her these two gold pieces, and tell her that your uncle would like to have supper with you. So take the two coins and get us a good supper ready. But before anything else, show me the way to your house once more."
"On my head and on my eyes be it, uncle," replied the lad, and went in front of him, pointing out the street that led to the house. Then the Moroccan left him and went his way, and Aladdin ran home and gave his mother the news and the two coins, saying, "My uncle is coming to supper with us."
So she got up at once and went to the market street and bought everything she needed; then, coming back to the house, she borrowed from the neighbours whatever was wanted in the way of pans and dishes and so on. And when the meal was cooked and suppertime came, she said to Aladdin, "My child, the food is ready, but perhaps your uncle does not know the way to our house; so go out and meet him on the road."
He answered, "To hear is to obey"; and before the two of them had finished talking there was a knock at the door.
Aladdin went out and opened it, and there was the Moroccan magician, with a servant carrying the wine and the dessert fruit; so the lad led them in, and the servant went off about his business.
The Moroccan, on entering, greeted his sister-in-law with the salaam, and then began to shed tears and to question her, saying, "Where is the place where my brother used to sit?"
She showed it to him, and he went up to it and prostrated himself in prayer and kissed the floor, crying, "Ah, how small my satisfaction is and how luckless my lot, that I have lost you, my brother, vein of my eye!" And he went on in this fashion, weeping and wailing, until he fainted away from the violence of his sobbing and lamenting; so that Aladdin's mother was quite convinced he was telling the truth.
So she came up to him and raised him from the floor and said, "What good is there in killing yourself?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin's mother set about consoling the Moroccan magician and settled him on the divan; and as soon as he was comfortably seated, and before the food trays were brought in, he fell to talking with her and saying:
"Wife of my brother, it must seem a wonder to you that in all your days you never saw me, nor heard anything about me during the lifetime of my brother, who has found mercy. The reason is that forty years ago I left this town and exiled myself from my birthplace, and wandered over all the lands of India and Sind, and went into Egypt and settled a long time in its magnificent city, which is one of the wonders of the world; until at last I made my way to the regions of the Setting Sun and lived thirty years in the interior of Morocco.
"Now one day, sister-in-law, as I was sitting alone at home, I fell to thinking of my own country and my birthplace and my brother, who has found mercy; and my longing to see him grew so strong that I wept and bewailed being a stranger and so far away from him. And at last my longings drove me homewards, until I made up my mind to travel to the country where my head shall fall and where my homestead is, so that I might see my brother again.
"And I said to myself: Man, how long will you wander like a desert Arab, away from your birthplace and your native soil? Moreover, you have one brother and no more; so up with you and travel and look at him before you die, for who knows the woes of the world and the changes of the days? It would be the saddest regret if you lay down to die without ever seeing your brother — and Allah (praise be to the Lord!) has granted you ample wealth; and it may be that he is in straitened and poor circumstances, and then you will be able to help your brother as well as see him.
"So I got up at once and equipped myself for the journey and recited the Fatihah; and then, when Friday prayers were over, I mounted and travelled to this town, after suffering all sorts of toils and troubles which I bore patiently, while the Lord (to whom be honour and glory!) covered me with the veil of His protection.
"So I arrived; and while I was wandering about the streets, the day before yesterday, I saw my brother's son Aladdin playing with the boys. And by God the Great, sister-in-law, the moment I saw him this heart of mine went out to him — for blood yearns to blood — and my soul felt and told me that he was my very nephew. So I forgot all my toils and troubles at once at the sight of him, and I was ready to fly for joy. But when he told me that the dear one had departed to the mercy of Almighty Allah, I fainted away from the shock of my grief and disappointment. Perhaps my nephew has told you of the pains that overcame me. But I am consoled after a fashion by the sight of Aladdin, the legacy left to us by him who has found mercy; for whoever leaves offspring is not wholly dead."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician said to Aladdin's mother, "Whoever leaves offspring is not wholly dead." And when he looked at his sister-in-law she wept at these words of his; so he turned to the lad, to make her forget the mention of her husband — as a way of comforting her, and also of completing his deception — and asked him, "My son Aladdin, what have you learned in the way of work, and what is your business? Tell me, have you mastered any trade by which you can earn a living for yourself and for your mother?"
The lad was abashed and put to shame, and he hung his head and bowed his face towards the ground. But his mother spoke out: "How, indeed? By Allah, he knows nothing at all. Such an ungracious child I never yet saw — no, never! All day long he idles away his time with the boys of the quarter, vagabonds like himself; and his father — oh, my grief! — died of nothing but sorrow over him. And I am now in a pitiful state myself: I spin cotton and toil at my distaff night and day, so that I may earn a couple of loaves of bread which we eat together. That is how things are, brother-in-law; and, by your life, he never comes near me except at mealtimes, and at no other. Indeed, I am thinking of locking the house door and never opening to him again, but leaving him to go and find a living he can live on; for I am a woman getting on in years now and have no strength left to work and go about earning a keep in this way. O Allah, I am forced to provide him with his daily bread when it is I who need providing for!"
At this the Moroccan turned to Aladdin and said, "Why is this, son of my brother? Why do you go about so ungraciously? It is a disgrace to you and unbecoming in a man like yourself. You are a lad with sense, my son, and the child of honest folk; so it is a shame for you that your mother, a woman in years, should struggle to support you. And now that you have grown to a man's estate it is for you to contrive some way of living, my child.
"Look around you — and praise be to Allah, in this town of ours there are many teachers of every kind of craft, and nowhere are there more of them. So choose some calling that pleases you, and I will set you up in it; and when you are grown, my son, you shall have a business to live by. Perhaps your father's trade is not to your liking; and if so, choose some other handicraft that suits your fancy, and let me know, and I will help you with everything I can, my son."
But when the Moroccan saw that Aladdin kept silence and made him no answer, he knew that the lad wanted no occupation but the life of a scapegrace; so he said to him, "Son of my brother, do not let my words seem hard and harsh to you; for if, in spite of everything I say, you still dislike learning a trade, I will open you a merchant's shop stocked with the costliest stuffs, and you shall become famous among people and take and give and buy and sell and be well known in the city."
Now when Aladdin heard his uncle the Moroccan's words, and his plan of making him a merchant and a gentleman, he was overjoyed, knowing that such people dress handsomely and live delicately. So he looked at the Moroccan, smiling and drooping his head towards the ground, and saying, in the language of the situation, that he was content.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twentieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician looked at Aladdin and saw him smiling, by which he understood that the lad was content to become a trader. So he said to him, "Since you are content that I should open you a merchant's shop and make a gentleman of you, then, son of my brother, prove yourself a man; and, God willing, tomorrow I will take you to the bazaar in the first place and have a fine suit of clothes cut out for you, the sort of thing merchants wear; and in the second place I will look out a shop for you and keep my word."
Now Aladdin's mother had had some doubts about the Moroccan being her brother-in-law; but as soon as she heard him promise to open a merchant's shop for her son and set him up with goods and capital and the rest of it, the woman decided and determined in her mind that this Moroccan was truly her husband's brother, seeing that no stranger would do such a good turn for her son.
So she began directing the lad into the right road, and teaching him to cast the ignorance out of his head and prove himself a man; moreover, she told him always to obey his excellent uncle as though he were his son, and to make up for the time he had wasted in wilfulness with his friends.
After this she got up and spread the table and served the supper; so they all sat down and fell to eating and drinking, while the Moroccan talked with Aladdin about matters of business and the like, delighting him to such a degree that he got no sleep that night.
But when the Moroccan saw that the dark hours were passing and the wine was drunk, he got up and hurried off to his own place; but before he went he agreed to come back next morning and take Aladdin and see to a suit of merchant's clothes being cut out for him.
And as soon as it was dawn, there was the Moroccan rapping at the door, which was opened by Aladdin's mother. He would not come in, though, but asked to take the lad with him to the market street. So Aladdin went out to his uncle and wished him good morning and kissed his hand; and the Moroccan took him by the hand and went with him to the bazaar.
There he went into a clothier's shop stocked with all kinds of clothes, and asked for the most sumptuous suit in it; and the merchant brought out what he wanted, all fashioned and ready sewn, and the Moroccan said to the lad, "Choose whatever pleases you, my child."
Aladdin was overjoyed to see that his uncle had given him his choice, so he picked out the suit that most took his fancy, and the Moroccan paid the merchant the price of it in ready money. Then he took the lad to the baths, where they bathed; and then they came out and drank sherbets, after which Aladdin got up and put on his new clothes in enormous joy and delight, and went up to his uncle and kissed his hand and thanked him for his kindness.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician, after leaving the baths with Aladdin, took him and walked with him to the merchants' bazaar; and, having entertained him by showing him the market and its buying and selling, said to him, "My son, it becomes you to get to know people, and merchants especially, so that you may learn the merchant's trade from them, seeing that it is your calling now."
Then he led him out and showed him the city and its great mosques, along with all the pleasant sights in it; and last of all he took him into a cook's shop. Here dinner was served to them on plates of silver, and they dined well and ate and drank their fill, after which they went on their way.
Presently the Moroccan pointed out to Aladdin the pleasure grounds and the noble buildings, and went in with him to the Sultan's palace and entertained him by showing him all the apartments, which were exceedingly fine and grand; and finally he led him to the merchants' caravanserai where he was lodging himself. Then he invited several of the traders who were staying there; and they came and sat down to supper, when he informed them that the youth was his nephew, Aladdin by name.
And after they had eaten and drunk and night had fallen, he got up and took the lad with him and led him back to his mother; who, the moment she saw her boy looking like one of the merchants, was out of her wits and grew almost sad from sheer gladness.
Then she fell to thanking her supposed relative, the Moroccan, for all his kindnesses, and said to him, "Brother-in-law, I could never say enough if I thanked you for the rest of your days and praised you for the good deeds you have done to this child of mine."
At which the Moroccan said, "Wife of my brother, do not think this mere kindness on my part; the lad is my own son, and it is my duty to stand in the place of my brother, his father. So be quite satisfied."
And she said, "I pray Allah, by the honour of the saints, the ancients and the moderns, that He preserve you and let you continue, brother-in-law, and prolong your life for my sake; so that you shall be a wing spread over this orphan boy, and he shall always be obedient to your orders and do nothing except what you tell him."
The Moroccan replied, "Wife of my brother, Aladdin is a young man of sense now, and the son of good people, and I hope to Allah that he will follow in his father's footsteps and be a comfort to your eyes. But I am sorry that tomorrow, being Friday, I shall not be able to open his shop, since it is the day of assembly, when all the merchants go out to the gardens and pleasure grounds after congregational prayer. On Saturday, though, God willing, we will do our business. Meanwhile I will come to you early tomorrow and take Aladdin for a pleasant walk to the gardens and pleasure grounds outside the city, which he may perhaps not have seen before. There he shall see the merchants and the notables who go out to amuse themselves, so that he may get to know them and they him."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan went away and slept that night in his lodgings; and early next morning he came to the tailor's house and rapped at the door.
Now Aladdin — what with the joy of the new clothes he had put on, and the previous day's enjoyment in the baths and in eating and drinking and looking at the people, and what with expecting his uncle to come at dawn and carry him off on an outing to the gardens — had not slept a wink that night nor closed his eyelids, and could hardly believe it when the day broke. But hearing the knock at the door he went out at once in a great hurry, like a spark of fire, and opened it and saw his uncle the magician, who embraced him and kissed him.
Then, taking his hand, the Moroccan said to him as they set off together, "Son of my brother, today I will show you a sight you never saw in all your life"; and he began to make the lad laugh and to cheer him with pleasant talk.
So they went out of the city gate, and the Moroccan took to walking about the gardens with Aladdin, pointing out for his pleasure the exceedingly fine pleasure grounds and the marvellous tall pavilions. And whenever they stopped to stare at a garden or a mansion or a palace, the Moroccan would say to his companion, "Does this please you, son of my brother?"
Aladdin was nearly flying with delight at seeing sights he had never seen in all his born days; and they went on strolling about and enjoying themselves until they grew tired, when they came into a very grand garden nearby, a place that delighted the heart and lit up the sight, for its swift-running rills flowed among the flowers and the water jetted from the jaws of lions moulded in yellow brass like gold.
So they sat down opposite a little lake and rested a while; and Aladdin enjoyed himself exceedingly and fell to joking with his uncle and making merry with him, as though the magician really were his father's brother.
Presently the Moroccan got up and, loosening his belt, drew out from under it a bag full of food, dried fruit and so on, saying to Aladdin, "Nephew, perhaps you have grown hungry; so come and eat what you need."
So the lad fell on the food and the Moroccan ate with him, and they were gladdened and cheered by the rest and the good cheer.
Then the magician said, "Get up, son of my brother, if you are rested, and let us stroll on a little and reach the end of our walk."
So Aladdin got up, and the Moroccan walked with him from garden to garden until they had left them all behind and reached the foot of a high, bare hill; when the lad — who had never in all his days been outside the city gate, and had never in his life walked such a walk as this — said to the Moroccan, "Uncle, where are we going? We have left the gardens behind us one and all and got into barren hill country; and if the way is still long, I have no strength left for walking. Indeed I am ready to drop with tiredness. There are no gardens ahead of us, so let us turn back and go home to town."
The magician said, "No, my son, this is the right road, and the gardens are not ended; for we are going to look at one that has no equal among the gardens of kings, and everything you have seen is nothing beside it. So screw up your courage to walk; you are a man now, praise be to Allah!"
Then the Moroccan fell to soothing Aladdin with soft words and telling him wonderful tales, lies as well as truth, until they reached the spot the African magician had in mind — the spot he had travelled from the Land of the Setting Sun to the regions of China for.
And when they got there the Moroccan said to Aladdin, "Son of my brother, sit down and take your rest, for this is the place we have been looking for; and, God willing, I will soon entertain you by showing you marvels the like of which nobody in the world ever saw, and no one has ever had the pleasure of gazing on what you are about to see."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan wizard said to Aladdin, "No created being has ever enjoyed the sights you are about to see. But when you are rested, get up and look for some wood chips and kindling sticks, small ones and dry, so that we may light a fire; and then I will show you, son of my brother, matters beyond the range of matter."
Now when the lad heard these words he longed to see what his uncle was going to do; and, forgetting how tired he was, he got straight up and fell to gathering small wood chips and dry sticks, and went on until the Moroccan called to him, "That is enough, son of my brother!"
Presently the magician brought out from his breast pocket a casket, which he opened, and took out of it as much incense as he needed; and then he fumigated and conjured and pronounced spells, muttering words nobody could understand. And immediately the ground split apart, after a thick gloom and a quaking of the earth and bellowings of thunder.
At this Aladdin was startled, and so terrified that he tried to run away. But when the African magician saw what he meant to do, he flew into a terrible rage; for without the lad his work would profit him nothing, since the hidden hoard he was trying to open could not be opened except by means of Aladdin.
So, noticing this attempt to run off, the magician got up and raised his hand and struck Aladdin such a blow on the head that his back teeth were nearly knocked out, and he fell to the ground in a faint. But after a time he came round by the magician's magic, and cried out, weeping all the while, "Uncle, what have I done to deserve a blow like that from you?"
At this the Moroccan fell to soothing him, and said, "My son, my intention is to make a man of you; so do not go against me, for I am your uncle and like a father to you. Obey me, then, in everything I tell you, and very soon you will forget all this labour and toil, when you look at the marvels I am about to show you."
And soon after the ground had split apart in front of the Moroccan, it showed a marble slab with a copper ring set in it. The Moroccan struck a geomantic table and turned to Aladdin and said, "If you do everything I tell you, you shall certainly become richer than any of the kings. And this, my son, is the reason I struck you: because there lies a hoard here that is stored in your name, and yet you meant to leave it and make off. But now collect your thoughts, and see how I have opened the earth by my spells and my conjurations."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician said to Aladdin:
"My son, now collect your thoughts! Under that stone with the ring set in it lies the treasure I told you about. So put your hand on the ring and lift the slab; for nobody among all the people except yourself has the power to open it, and no mortal born but you may set foot inside this enchanted treasury, which has been kept for you. But you must learn from me everything I am going to charge you with, and not go against a single syllable of my words. All this, my child, is for your own good; the hoard is of immense value, such as the kings of the world never gathered — and remember that it is for you and for me."
So poor Aladdin forgot his weariness and the blow and his tears; and he was struck dumb and dazzled by the Moroccan's words, and rejoiced that he was fated to become rich in such measure that not even the Sultans would be richer than he was. So he cried, "Uncle, tell me to do whatever you please, for I will be obedient to your bidding."
The Moroccan replied, "Nephew, you are to me like my own child and even dearer, being my brother's son, and since I have no other kith or kin except yourself; and you, my child, are my heir and my successor."
So saying, he went up to Aladdin and kissed him and said, "Who is it I intend all this labour of mine for? Truly, every bit of it is for your sake, my son, so that I may leave you a rich man and one of the very greatest. So do not go against me in anything I say to you. And now go up to that ring and lift it up as I told you."
Aladdin answered, "Uncle, this ring is too heavy for me: I cannot lift it single-handed, so come forward yourself and lend me your strength and your help in lifting it, for indeed I am young in years."
The Moroccan replied, "Son of my brother, we shall find it impossible to do anything at all if I help you, and all our efforts will be wasted. But put your hand on the ring and pull it up, and you shall raise the slab at once — and indeed I told you that nobody can touch it except yourself. But while you are hauling at it, do not stop saying your own name and the names of your father and your mother, and it will come up to you immediately and you will not feel the weight of it."
At this the lad summoned up his strength and girded the loins of resolution and did as the Moroccan had told him, and heaved up the slab with perfect ease when he pronounced his own name and the names of his parents, exactly as the magician had bidden him. And as soon as the stone was up, he threw it aside.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that after Aladdin had raised the slab from over the entrance to the hoard, there appeared before him an underground vault, with a flight of some twelve stairs leading down into it; and the Moroccan said:
"Aladdin, collect your thoughts, and do whatever I tell you down to the smallest detail, and do not fail in any part of it.
"Go down into that vault with all care until you reach the bottom, and there you will find a space divided into four halls; and in each of these you will see four jars of gold, and others of pure gold and silver. Take care, though, not to take anything from them or touch them, and do not even let your gown or its skirts so much as brush the jars or the walls. Leave them alone and go forward until you reach the fourth hall, without pausing for a single moment on the way; and if you do anything contrary to this, you will be transformed on the spot and become a black stone.
"When you reach the fourth hall you will find a door in it, which you must open; and, pronouncing the names you spoke over the slab, go through it into a garden planted everywhere with fruit-bearing trees. You must cross this by a path you will see in front of you, about fifty cubits long, beyond which you will come upon an open hall with a ladder in it of some thirty rungs. And you will also see, hanging from its ceiling —"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician went on teaching Aladdin how he was to go down into the hoard, and continued:
"When you reach the hall you will find there a Lamp hanging from the ceiling. So climb the ladder and take that Lamp and put it in your breast pocket, after pouring out what is in it; and have no fear of harm to your clothes from it, because what is in it is not ordinary oil. And on your way back you are allowed to pick from the trees whatever you please, for it is all yours so long as the Lamp is in your hand."
Now when the Moroccan had finished his instructions to Aladdin, he drew off a seal ring and put it on the lad's forefinger, saying, "My son, this ring will free you from all hurt and all fear that may threaten you — but only on condition that you keep in mind everything I have told you. So get up straight away and go down the stairs, strengthening your purpose and girding the loins of resolution; and moreover have no fear, for you are a man now and no longer a child. And in a very short time, my son, you shall win yourself immense riches and become the wealthiest man in the world."
So Aladdin got up and went down into the vault, where he found the four halls, each with its four jars of gold; and these he passed by, as the Moroccan had told him, with the utmost care and caution. From there he went on into the garden and walked along the length of it until he came into the hall, where he climbed the ladder and took the Lamp, which he put out, pouring away the oil that was in it, and placed it in his breast pocket.
Then, coming down the ladder, he went back into the garden, where he fell to gazing at the trees, on which birds sat glorifying their great Creator with loud voices. Now he had not noticed them as he went in; but all these trees bore costly gems for fruit, and each had its own kind of growth and jewels of its own particular sort. And these were of every colour — green and white, yellow, red and other brilliant hues — and the radiance flashing from these gems put the rays of the mid-morning sun in the shade. Furthermore, the size of each stone was so far beyond describing that no king among the kings of the world owned a single gem equal to the larger sort, nor could boast of even one half the size of the smaller kind.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin walked among the trees and gazed at them and at other things that surprised the sight and bewildered the wits; and as he studied them, he saw that instead of ordinary fruit their produce was of very fine jewels and precious stones — emeralds and diamonds, rubies, spinels and balas rubies, pearls and other such gems, astounding to the mind's eye of any man.
And since the lad had never in all his born days seen anything like these, nor reached the years of discretion that would have taught him what such valuables were worth — he being still only a little lad — he supposed that all these jewels were made of glass or crystal.
So he collected them until he had filled his breast pockets, and began to satisfy himself as to whether they were or were not ordinary fruits, such as grapes and figs and other things one could eat. But finding them to be of a glassy substance, and being ignorant of precious stones and their prices, he gathered into his breast pockets every kind of growth the trees had to offer; and, having failed in his purpose of finding them to be food, he said in his mind, "I will collect a lot of these glass fruits to play with at home."
So he fell to picking them in quantities and cramming them into his pockets and his breast pockets until they were stuffed full; after which he picked more, which he put in his waist shawl, and then, girding himself with it, he carried off all he could manage, meaning to put them about the house as ornaments — and, as has been said, never imagining that they were anything but glass.
Then he hurried his pace, for fear of his uncle the Moroccan, until he had passed through the four halls and finally, on his way back, reached the vault, where he did not cast a glance at the jars of gold, although he was able and permitted to take some of what was in them on his way out.
But when he came to the vault stairs and climbed the steps until there was nothing left but the last one, he found this one higher than all the others, and he was unable, alone and unassisted and loaded down as he was, to get up it. So he said to the Moroccan, "Uncle, give me your hand and help me to climb."
But the Moroccan answered, "My son, give me the Lamp and lighten your load; it may well be that that is what is weighing you down."
The lad answered, "Uncle, it is not the Lamp weighing me down at all; but do give me a hand, and as soon as I reach the ground I will give it to you."
At this the Moroccan magician, whose only object was the Lamp and nothing else, began to insist on Aladdin giving it to him at once. But the lad, having put it at the bottom of his breast pocket, and his other pouches being full of gems and bulging outwards, could not get his fingers to it to hand it over. So the wizard, after a great deal of useless insistence on being given what his nephew was unable to give, fell to raging with a furious rage and demanding the Lamp, while Aladdin could not get at it.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin could not get at the Lamp to hand it to his uncle the Moroccan, that false villain; so the magician grew foolish with fury at being unable to get what he wanted. And yet the lad had promised truthfully that he would give it up as soon as he could reach the ground, with no lying thought and no ill intent.
But when the Moroccan saw that he would not hand it over, he grew exceedingly angry and gave up all hope of winning it; so he conjured and pronounced spells and threw incense into the middle of the fire, and immediately the slab made a lid of itself and by the power of magic closed the entrance; the earth buried the stone as it had been before, and Aladdin, unable to get out, was left underground.
Now the sorcerer was a stranger and, as we have said, no uncle of Aladdin's at all; he had misrepresented himself and put forward a lying claim, so that he might get hold of the Lamp by means of the lad for whom the hoard had been stored up. So the accursed man heaped the earth over him and left him to die of hunger.
For this Moroccan was an African of Africa proper, born in the interior of the Land of the Setting Sun; and from his earliest years he had been addicted to witchcraft and had studied and practised every kind of occult science, for which unholy learning the city of Africa is notorious. And he never left off reading and hearing lectures until he had become a past master of all such knowledge.
And out of the abounding skill in spells and conjurations that he had acquired by forty years of reading and being taught, one day he discovered by devilish inspiration that there lay in a far city of the cities of China, named al-Kalas, an immense hoard, the like of which none of the kings of this world had ever gathered; and, moreover, that the most marvellous article in this enchanted treasure was a wonderful Lamp, of which whoever had possession could not possibly be surpassed by any man on earth, either in high rank or in wealth and riches; nor could the mightiest monarch in the universe attain to the all-sufficiency of this Lamp with all its magical power.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Moroccan had assured himself by his science and had seen that this hoard could only be opened by the presence of a lad named Aladdin, of a poor family and living in that very city, and had learned how easy the taking of it would be and free of hardships, he immediately and without pause or delay equipped himself for the voyage to China, as we have already told; and he did what he did with Aladdin, fancying that he would become Lord of the Lamp.
But his attempt and his hopes were baffled and his work was entirely wasted; whereupon, determining to put the lad to death, he heaped the earth over him by sorcery, so that the unfortunate boy might perish, reflecting that a live man has nobody to murder him. And secondly, he did it with the intention that, since Aladdin could not come out from underground, he would also be powerless to bring the Lamp out of the vault.
So presently he went his way and retired to his own country, Africa, a sadder man, and disappointed of all his expectations.
Such was the case with the wizard. But as for Aladdin, when the earth was heaped over him he began shouting to the Moroccan, whom he still believed to be his uncle, begging him to lend a hand so that he might get out of the vault and come back up to the surface of the earth; but however loudly he cried, nobody was found to answer.
At that moment he understood the trick the Moroccan had played on him, and that the man was no uncle but a liar and a wizard. Then the unhappy boy despaired of life, and learned to his sorrow that there was no way out for him; so he fell to weeping bitterly at the calamity that had come upon him.
And after a while he stood up and went down the stairs to see whether Almighty Allah had lightened his load of grief by leaving a way out. So he turned to the right and to the left, but he saw nothing except darkness, and four walls shut upon him; for the magician had by his magic locked all the doors and had even shut up the garden the lad had walked through, in case it should offer him some means of getting out onto the surface of the earth, so that he should be sure to die.
Then Aladdin's weeping grew more bitter and his wailing louder, when he found all the doors fast shut; for he had thought to console himself for a while in the garden. But when he found that everything was locked, he fell to shedding tears and lamenting like a man who has lost his every hope, and went back to sit on the stairs of the flight he had come down into the vault by.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin sat down on the stair of the vault, weeping and wailing and wanting all hope.
But it is a light matter for Allah (be He exalted and extolled!), when He intends anything, to say "Be", and it comes to be; for He creates joy in the middle of annoyance. And so it was with Aladdin.
While the Moroccan magician was sending him down into the vault, he had put a seal ring on his finger by way of a gift, and had said, "Truly, this ring shall save you out of every strait, if you fall into calamity and the ill turns of time; and it shall take away from you all hurt and harm, and help you with a strong arm wherever you may be set down."
Now this was by the destiny of God the Great, that it might be the means of Aladdin's escape. For while he sat wailing and weeping over his situation, and had thrown away all hope of life, and utter misery had overwhelmed him, he rubbed his hands together in the excess of his sorrow, as unhappy people do; and then, raising them in supplication to Allah, he cried:
"I testify that there is no God but You alone, the Most Great, the Omnipotent, the All-Conquering, the Quickener of the dead, the Creator of man's need and the Granter of it, the Resolver of his difficulties and his distress and the Bringer of joy and not of annoyance. You are my sufficiency, and You are the Truest of Trustees. And I bear witness that Mohammed is Your servant and Your Apostle; and I beg You, my God, by his favour with You, to free me from this foul plight I am in."
And while he was imploring the Lord and chafing his hands in the soreness of his sorrow for what had happened to him, his fingers happened to rub the Ring — when, lo and behold, its familiar rose up before him and cried, "Here I am! Your slave stands between your hands. Ask whatever you want, for I am the servant of him who has the Ring on his hand, the seal ring of my lord and master."
At this the lad looked at him and saw standing in front of him a marid like one of the ifrits of our lord Solomon's jinn. He trembled at the terrible sight; but, hearing the Slave of the Ring say, "Ask whatever you want; truly I am your servant, seeing that my lord's ring is on your finger," he got his spirits back and remembered the Moroccan's words when he gave him the Ring.
So he rejoiced greatly and grew brave, and cried, "You there, Slave of the Lord of the Ring, I want you to set me on the face of the earth."
And he had hardly finished speaking when the ground split apart and he found himself at the door of the hoard, outside it and in full view of the world.
Now for three whole days he had been sitting in the darkness of the treasury underground, and when the light of day and the shining of the sun struck his face he found he could not keep his eyes open; so he began to open the lids a little and shut them a little, until his eyeballs got their strength back and grew used to the light and were purged of the foul murk.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell me one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin, having come out of the treasury, opened his eyes after a short time and saw himself on the surface of the earth, which delighted him exceedingly. And yet he was astonished to find himself outside the hoard door he had gone in by when it was opened by the Moroccan magician — especially as the opening had been lidded over and the ground smoothed out, with no sign at all of any entrance.
At this his surprise grew until he half thought he was in some other place, and his mind was not convinced that the spot was the same until he saw the place where they had kindled the fire of wood chips and dried sticks, and where the African wizard had conjured over the incense. Then he turned to right and left and caught sight of the gardens far off, and his eyes recognised the road he had come by.
So he gave thanks to Almighty Allah, who had restored him to the face of the earth and freed him from death after he had given up all hope of life. Then he got up and walked along the way to the town, which he now knew well, until he came into the streets and went on to his own home.
Then he went in to his mother; and at the sight of her, with the overwhelming stress of joy at his escape, and the memory of his past fright and the hardships he had endured and the pangs of hunger, he fell to the ground in front of her in a dead faint.
Now his mother had been utterly wretched since the time he left her, and he found her moaning and crying about him; and on seeing him come into the house she rejoiced exceedingly, but was at once overwhelmed with grief when he sank to the ground in a swoon before her eyes.
Still, she did not neglect the matter or treat it lightly, but hurried at once to sprinkle water on his face, and afterwards asked the neighbours for some scents, which she made him breathe in.
And when he had come round a little, he begged her to bring him something to eat, saying, "Mother, it is three days now since I ate anything at all."
At this she got up and brought him what she had by her; and then, setting it in front of him, said, "Come along, my son; eat and be cheered; and when you have rested you shall tell me what has happened to you and upset you so, my child. Just now I will not question you, for you are truly worn out."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell me one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin ate and drank and was cheered; and after he had rested and got his spirits back, he cried:
"Ah, mother, I have a bitter grievance against you for leaving me to that accursed creature who tried to bring about my destruction and meant to take my life. Know that I saw Death with my own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom you assured me was my uncle; and if Almighty Allah had not rescued me from him, both you and I, mother, would have been cheated by the excess of this accursed man's promises to do me good, and by the great show of affection he made to us.
"Understand, mother, that this fellow is a sorcerer, a Moor, an accursed man, a liar, a traitor and a hypocrite; nor do I believe that the devils under the earth are as damnable as he is. Allah abase him in his every book!
"Listen, then, mother, to what this abominable man did; and everything I tell you will be true and certain. See how the damned villain broke every promise he made, assuring me that he would soon bring me nothing but good; and consider the fondness he showed me and the things he did for me — and all of it only to get what he wanted, for his design was to destroy me. And praise be to the Lord for my deliverance! Listen and learn, mother, how this accursed man treated me."
Then Aladdin told his mother everything that had happened to him, weeping all the while for the stress of his gladness — how the Moroccan had led him to a hill in which the hoard was hidden, and how he had conjured and fumigated. And he added:
"After that, mother, a mighty fear took hold of me when the hill split and the earth gaped in front of me by his wizardry; and I trembled with terror at the rolling of the thunder in my ears and the murk that fell on us when he fumigated and muttered spells. Seeing these horrors, in my fright I meant to run away; but when he understood what I intended he abused me and struck me such a blow that it made me faint.
"However, seeing that the treasury could only be opened by means of me, mother, he could not go down into it himself, it being in my name and not in his; and since he is an ill-omened magician, he understood that I was necessary to him, and that was his need of me."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell me one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin acquainted his mother with everything that had happened to him at the hands of the Moroccan magician, and said:
"After he had struck me, he thought it best to soothe me so that he could send me down into the enchanted treasury; and first he drew a Ring off his own finger and put it on mine. So I went down and found four halls, all full of gold and silver, which counted for nothing, and the accursed man had charged me not to touch any of it. Then I went into a very fine flower garden, decked out everywhere with tall trees whose leaves and fruit bewildered the wits — for all of them, mother, were of many-coloured glass — and at last I reached the hall where this Lamp was hanging. So I took it straight away and put it out and poured out what was in it."
And so saying, Aladdin drew the Lamp out of his breast pocket and showed it to his mother, along with the gems and jewels he had brought from the garden; and there were two large bagfuls of precious stones, not one of which was to be found among the kings of the world. But the lad knew nothing about their worth, supposing them to be glass or crystal.
And presently he went on: "After this, mother, I reached the hoard door carrying the Lamp, and shouted to the accursed sorcerer, who called himself my uncle, to give me a hand and haul me up, since I could not get up the last step by myself for the great weight of my load. But he would not, and only said, 'First hand me the Lamp!' However, as I had put it at the bottom of my breast pocket, and the other pouches bulged out beyond it, I could not get at it, and said, 'Uncle, I cannot reach you the Lamp, but I will give it to you when I am outside the treasury.'
"His only need was the Lamp, and he meant, mother, to snatch it from me and after that kill me — as indeed he did his best to do, by heaping the earth over my head. That, then, is what happened to me at the hands of this foul sorcerer."
At this Aladdin fell to abusing the magician in hot anger and with a burning heart, crying, "Away with him! I take refuge from this damned creature, the ill-omened, the wrongdoer, the perjurer, the man lost to all humanity, the arch-traitor, the hypocrite, the annihilator of pity and mercy!"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Aladdin's mother heard his words and what had happened to him at the hands of the Moroccan magician, she said, "Yes indeed, my son, he is a miscreant and a hypocrite who murders people by his magic; but it was the grace of Almighty Allah, my child, that saved you from the tricks and the treachery of this accursed sorcerer, whom I took to be truly your uncle."
Then, as the lad had not slept a wink for three days and found himself nodding, he went to get his natural rest, and his mother did the same; nor did he wake until about noon on the second day.
As soon as he had shaken off his sleep he called for something to eat, being very hungry indeed; but his mother said, "My son, I have no food for you, since yesterday you ate everything there was in the house. But wait patiently a while: I have spun a little yarn which I will carry to the market street and sell, and buy you some food with whatever it fetches."
"Mother," said he, "keep your yarn and do not sell it; but fetch me the Lamp I brought here, so that I may go and sell it and buy provisions with the price of it; for I think it will bring in more money than the spinning."
So Aladdin's mother got up and fetched the Lamp for her son; but while she was doing it she saw that it was exceedingly dirty, and so she said, "My son, here is the Lamp, but it is very filthy: once we have washed it and polished it, it will sell better."
Then, taking a handful of sand, she began to rub it — and she had hardly begun when there appeared to her one of the jann, whose face was frightful and whose bulk was horribly big, and he was gigantic as one of the giants. And straight away he cried to her, "Say what you want of me! Here I am, your slave, and the slave of whoever holds the Lamp — and not I alone, but all the Slaves of the Wonderful Lamp you have there in your hand."
She quaked, and terror was heavy on her when she looked at that frightful figure; and her tongue was tied so that she could make no reply at all, never having been used to seeing anything of the sort.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin's mother was too terrified to make any answer to the marid; indeed she fell to the ground, overcome with fright.
Now her son was standing a little way off, and he had already seen the jinni of the Ring which he had rubbed inside the treasury; so when he heard the slave speaking to his mother he hurried forward and, snatching the Lamp out of her hand, said, "Slave of the Lamp, I am hungry, and it is my wish that you fetch me something to eat — and let it be something tasty, beyond our means."
The jinni disappeared for the twinkling of an eye and came back with a very fine tray and a costly one, for it was all of virgin silver; and on it stood twelve golden dishes of all kinds of meats and delicate dainties, with bread whiter than snow; also two silver cups and two flagons of wine, clear-strained and long-stored. And after setting all these in front of Aladdin, he vanished out of sight.
At this the lad went and sprinkled rose water on his mother's face and made her breathe in pure sharp perfumes, and said to her when she came round, "Get up, mother, and let us eat some of this food, with which Almighty Allah has eased our poverty."
But when she saw that very fine silver tray she fell to marvelling at the business, and said, "My son, who is this generous, this open-handed person who has taken away our hunger pains and our poverty? We are truly under an obligation to him; and it seems to me it is the Sultan who, hearing of our mean condition and our misery, has sent us this tray of food."
He said, "Mother, this is no time for questions: get up, and let us eat, for we are both starving."
So they sat down to the tray and fell to eating; and Aladdin's mother tasted meats whose like she had never touched in all her life. So they devoured them with sharpened appetites and with all the capacity that comes of extreme hunger; and, besides, the food was such as marks the tables of kings. But neither of them knew whether the tray was valuable or not, for never in their born days had they set eyes on anything like it.
As soon as they had finished the meal — leaving enough food, all the same, for supper and for the next day too — they got up and washed their hands and sat down to talk; and the mother turned to her son and said, "Tell me, my child, what happened to you with the slave, the jinni? For now, praise be to the Lord, we have eaten our fill of the good things He has favoured us with, and you have no excuse for saying to me, 'I am hungry.'"
So Aladdin told her everything that had passed between him and the slave while she had lain on the ground in a faint from sheer terror; and at this she was seized with great astonishment, and said, "That is true; for the jinn do present themselves before the sons of Adam. But I, my son, never saw them in all my life; and it seems to me that this is the same one who saved you when you were inside the enchanted hoard."
"This is not he, mother: this one who appeared to you is the Slave of the Lamp!"
"And who may that be, my son?"
"This is a slave of another kind and shape from him. That one was the familiar of the Ring; and this fellow of his that you saw was the slave of the Lamp you were holding in your hand."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin said, "Truly, mother, the jinni who appeared to you was the slave of the Lamp."
And when his mother heard these words she cried, "There! There! So this accursed creature who showed himself to me and came near to killing me with fright is attached to the Lamp!"
"Yes," he replied.
And she answered, "Now I beg you, my son, by the milk I suckled you with, to throw this Lamp and this Ring away from you; because they can bring us nothing but the most extreme terror, and I in particular can never bear to set eyes on them a second time. Besides, all dealings with them are unlawful, for the Prophet (whom Allah save and keep!) warned us against them with threats."
He replied, "Your commands, mother, are upon my head and my eyes; but as for this thing you have said, it is impossible for me to part either with the Lamp or with the Ring. You have seen yourself what good the slave did us when we were starving. And understand, mother, that the Moroccan, the liar, the magician, when he sent me down into the hoard, wanted neither the silver nor the gold that filled the four halls, but charged me to bring him the Lamp and nothing else — because in truth he had learned what its priceless value was. And if he had not been certain of it, he would never have endured all that toil and trouble, nor travelled from his own country to ours in search of it; nor would he have shut me up in the treasury when he despaired of the Lamp I would not hand over to him.
"So it becomes us, mother, to keep this Lamp and take every care of it, and not to disclose its secrets to anybody; for this is our means of living now, and this is what shall make us rich. And as for the Ring, I will never take it off my finger, seeing that but for this you would never have seen me alive again — no, I should have died inside the hoard underground. How then could I possibly take it off my finger? And who knows what may happen to me as time goes by, what slips or calamities or injurious mishaps this Ring may deliver me from? However, out of regard for your feelings I will put the Lamp away, and never let it be seen by you again."
Now when his mother heard his words and thought them over she knew they were true, and said to him, "Do whatever you like, my son; for my part I never wish to see them again, nor ever to set eyes on that frightful spectacle I saw before."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin and his mother went on eating the food the jinni had brought them for two full days, until it was finished. But when he found that no food was left for them, he got up and took one of the dishes the slave had brought on the tray. Now they were all of the finest gold, but the lad knew nothing about that.
So he carried it to the bazaar, and there, seeing a dealer, a Jewish man, he offered it to him for sale. When the dealer caught sight of it he took the lad aside where nobody could see him, and looked the dish over and studied it until he was certain that it was of refined gold. But he did not know whether Aladdin was aware of its value or was a raw boy in such matters, so he asked him, "How much for this dish, sir?"
And the other answered, "You know what it is worth."
The dealer debated with himself how much he should offer, since Aladdin had given him a tradesman's answer; and he thought of the lowest possible valuation, while at the same time he was afraid that the lad might know its worth and expect a considerable sum. So he said in his mind, "Very likely the fellow is an ignoramus in these matters and does not know the price of the dish."
Whereupon he pulled a dinar out of his pocket; and Aladdin, seeing the gold piece lying in his palm, took it hastily and went his way — by which the dealer was assured that his customer knew nothing whatever about such things, and repented with entire repentance that he had given him a gold dinar instead of a copper coin, a bright-polished groat.
Aladdin, however, made no delay, but went straight to the baker's, where he bought bread and got change for the coin; and then, going to his mother, he gave her the loaves and the small change that was left, and said, "Mother, off you go and buy everything we need."
So she got up and walked to the bazaar and laid in the necessary stock; after which they ate and were cheered.
And whenever the price of the dish was spent, Aladdin would take another and carry it to the same dealer, who bought every one of them at a pitiful price; and he would have paid even less, only that, having given a dinar for the first, he was afraid to offer a smaller sum in case the lad should go and sell to some rival in the trade and so lose him his profits.
Now when all the golden dishes had been sold there remained only the silver tray they had stood on; and, as it was large and heavy, Aladdin brought the dealer to his house and produced the article, and the buyer, seeing the size of it, gave him ten dinars; and these being accepted, he went his way.
Aladdin and his mother lived on the coins until they were spent; and then he brought out the Lamp and rubbed it, and immediately there appeared the slave who had shown himself before.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the jinni, the slave of the Lamp, on appearing to Aladdin said, "Ask, my lord, whatever you want; for I am your slave and the servant of whoever has the Lamp."
And the lad said, "I want you to bring me a tray of food like the one you brought me before, for I am starving."
So in the glance of an eye the slave produced a similar tray carrying twelve dishes of the most sumptuous kind, furnished with everything required; and on it stood clean bread and several glass bottles of strained wine.
Now Aladdin's mother had gone out when she knew he was about to rub the Lamp, so that she should not have to look at the jinni again; but after a while she came back, and when she caught sight of the tray covered with silver dishes and smelt the savour of the rich meats spreading through the house, she marvelled and rejoiced.
At this he said, "Look, mother! You told me to throw the Lamp away — see now what its virtues are."
And she said, "My son, Allah increase his welfare; but I would rather not look at him."
Then the lad sat down with his mother to the tray, and they ate and drank until they were satisfied; after which they put away what was left for the next day.
As soon as the food was eaten, Aladdin got up and stowed one of the dishes away under his clothes and went out to find the dealer, meaning to sell it to him. But by the decree of Fate he passed the shop of an old jeweller, an honest man and a pious one who feared Allah.
When the old man saw the lad he asked him, "My son, what is it you want? For I have seen you pass this way many times and do business with that dealer, and I have watched you hand over various articles to him; and now I fancy you have something for sale and are looking for him as a buyer. But you do not know, my child, that this man holds it lawful to take the goods of anybody who comes to him, and always defrauds them; and you have fallen into his hands. If, then, my son, you have anything you want to sell, show it to me and have no fear, for I will give you the full price of it, by the truth of Almighty Allah."
At this Aladdin brought out the dish; and when the old goldsmith saw it he took it and weighed it in his scales and asked the lad, "Was it the fellow of this that you sold to him?"
"Yes, its fellow and its brother," he answered.
And the old man said, "What price did he pay you?"
And the lad said, "One dinar."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the old goldsmith heard from Aladdin that the dealer used to give him only one dinar as the price of a dish, he cried, "Ah! I take refuge from a man who cheats the servants of Almighty Allah!"
Then, looking at the lad, he exclaimed, "My son, that tricky fellow has swindled you and laughed at you; for this dish is pure silver and virgin, and I have weighed it and found it worth seventy dinars. And if you care to take its value, take it."
At this the old man counted out seventy gold pieces to him, which he accepted; and presently he thanked him for his kindness in exposing the dealer's rascality.
And after this, whenever the price of a dish was spent he would bring another; and in this way he and his mother were soon in better circumstances. Yet they went on living in their old style, as middle-class people, without spending too much on food or squandering money.
But Aladdin had now thrown off the ungraciousness of his boyhood: he shunned the company of scapegraces and began to keep company with good men and true, going every day to the merchants' market street and there associating with the great and the small of them, asking about matters of merchandise and learning the price of investments and so on. He also frequented the bazaars of the goldsmiths and the jewellers, where he would sit and amuse himself by inspecting their precious stones and by noting how jewels were bought and sold there.
And so presently he became aware that the fruits of those trees, which he had filled his pockets with when he went into the enchanted treasury, were neither glass nor crystal but gems, rich and rare; and he understood that he had come by immense wealth, such as kings can never possess. He then considered all the precious stones there were in the jewellers' quarter, and found that their biggest was not worth his smallest.
In this way he went on, going to the bazaar every day and making himself familiar with the people and winning their good will, and asking about selling and buying, giving and taking, the dear and the cheap — until one day, when, after getting up at dawn and putting on his clothes, he went out as usual to the jewellers' bazaar; and as he was passing along it he heard the crier crying as follows:
"By command of our magnificent master, the King of the Time and the Lord of the Age and the Tide: let all the people lock up their shops and their stores and go inside their houses, for the Lady Badr al-Budur, the Sultan's daughter, intends to visit the baths; and whoever disobeys the order shall be punished with the death penalty, and his blood be on his own neck!"
But when Aladdin heard the proclamation he longed to look upon the King's daughter, and said in his mind, "Indeed, all the people talk of her beauty and loveliness, and the end of my desires is to see her."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fortieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin fell to contriving some way of getting a look at the Princess Badr al-Budur, and at last judged it best to take up his station behind the door of the baths, where he could see her face as she went in.
So without pause or delay he went off to the baths before she was expected, and stood at the back of the entrance, in a place where none of the people happened to be looking.
Now when the Sultan's daughter had gone the rounds of the city and its main streets, and had enjoyed herself sightseeing, she came at last to the baths; and as she was going in she raised her veil, and her face rose before the sight like a pearl of price or a shining sun; and she was one of whom the poet sang:
Magic kohl enchants the bright glances of her; we pluck roses in posies from the rosy cheeks of her. The gloom of the hair of her is the gloomiest hue of night, and her bright brow lights up all the murk of the night of her.
(Says the reciter:) when the Princess raised the veil from her face and Aladdin saw her looks, he said, "In very truth her fashioning magnifies her Almighty Fashioner; and glory be to Him who created her and adorned her with this beauty and loveliness."
His strength was struck down from the moment he saw her, and his thoughts were scattered; his gaze was dazzled and the love of her took hold of the whole of his heart; and when he went home to his mother he was like a man in a trance.
His mother spoke to him, but he neither answered nor denied; and when she set the morning meal before him he was still the same. So she said, "My son, what can have happened to you? Tell me, is anything wrong with you? Let me know what harm has come to you; for, quite unlike your custom, you do not speak when I speak to you."
At this Aladdin — who used to think that all women were like his mother, and who, although he had heard of the charms of Badr al-Budur, the Sultan's daughter, had no idea what "beauty" and "loveliness" might mean — turned to his mother and exclaimed, "Let me be!"
However, she went on begging him to come and eat; so he did as she asked, but hardly touched the food; after which he lay at full length on his bed all night long, deep in thought, until the morning came. And he was in the same condition the next day, when his mother was perplexed at the state of her son and unable to find out what had happened to him.
So, thinking that perhaps he was ill, she came close to him and asked, "My son, if you feel any pain or anything of that kind, let me know, so that I may go out and fetch you the doctor; and today there is in this city of ours a physician from the Land of the Arabs, whom the Sultan has sent to summon, and rumour has it he is exceedingly skilful. So if you are ill, let me go and bring him to you."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin, hearing his mother offer to send for the physician, said, "Mother, I am well in body and in no way ill. But I always thought that all women were like you, until yesterday, when I saw the Lady Badr al-Budur, the Sultan's daughter, as she was going to the baths."
Then he told her everything that had happened to him, and added, "Perhaps you too heard the crier crying, 'Let no man open a shop or stand in the street, so that the Lady Badr al-Budur may go to the baths without an eye seeing her.' But I have looked upon her just as she is, for she raised her veil at the door; and when I saw her face and beheld that noble work of the Creator, a violent fit of ecstasy fell on me, mother, for love of her; and a firm resolve to win her has opened its way into every limb of me, and there is no rest possible for me unless I win her. So I intend to ask the Sultan her father for her hand in lawful marriage."
When Aladdin's mother heard her son's words she thought little of his wits, and cried, "My child, the name of Allah be upon you! It seems to me you have lost your senses. Be rightly guided, my son, and do not be like the men the jinn have maddened!"
He replied, "No, mother, I am not out of my mind, nor am I one of the madmen; and what you say will not alter one jot of what is in my thoughts, for rest is impossible to me until I have won the darling of my heart's core, the beautiful Lady Badr al-Budur. And now I am resolved to ask her of her father the Sultan."
She answered, "My son, by my life upon you, do not talk like this, in case anybody overhears you and says you are insane; so throw such nonsense away from you! Who would undertake a business like this, or make such a request of the King? Indeed, supposing this talk of yours were serious, I do not know how you would manage to beg such a favour of the Sultan, or through whom you would want to put it forward."
He retorted, "Through whom should I ask it, mother, when you are here? And who is there who loves me and is more faithful to me than you are? So my plan is that you yourself shall put forward this petition of mine."
She said, "My son, Allah keep me far from it! What — have I lost my wits like you? Throw the thought away, and a long way from your heart. Remember whose son you are, my child — the orphan boy of a tailor, the poorest and meanest of all the tailors working in this city; and I, your mother, come of poor and needy people too. How then do you dare ask for the Sultan's daughter in marriage, when her father would not condescend to marry her to the sons of kings and sovereigns unless they were his peers in honour and grandeur and majesty — and if they were even one degree lower, he would refuse her to them?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin waited patiently until his mother had said her say, and then said, "Mother, everything you have called to mind is known to me; and moreover I know perfectly well that I am the child of poor parents. Nevertheless these words of yours do not turn me from my purpose at all, not at all. And I still hope of you, if I am your son and you truly love me, that you will grant me this favour; otherwise you will destroy me, for present Death is hovering over my head unless I win my will of my heart's darling; and I, mother, am your child whatever happens."
Hearing these words, his mother wept out of her sorrow for him and said, "My child! Yes, indeed I am your mother, and I have no son and no lifeblood of my liver except yourself, and the end of my wishes is to get you a wife and take joy in you. But suppose I looked for a bride among our own likes and equals: her people would at once ask whether you had any land or garden, any merchandise or trade, by which you could support her; and what answer could I make?
"Then, if I cannot possibly answer poor people like ourselves, how shall I be bold enough, my son, to ask for the daughter of the Sultan of China, who has no equal either behind him or before him? So weigh this matter in your mind. And who is to ask her in marriage for the son of a tailor? I know very well that saying anything of the sort will only increase our misfortunes; for it may be the cause of our falling into mortal danger from the Sultan — perhaps even death, for you and for me.
"And as far as I am concerned, how am I to venture on such a rash and perilous deed, my son? In what way am I to ask the Sultan for his daughter to be your wife; and, indeed, how am I ever to get near him at all? And if I do succeed in that, what am I to answer if they ask me about your means? Very likely the King will take me for a madwoman. And, last of all, suppose I do get an audience with the Sultan — what offering is there that I can lay before the King's majesty?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin's mother went on to her son: "It is true, my child, that the Sultan is mild and merciful, and never turns away anybody who comes to him asking for justice or pity or protection, nor anybody who begs him for a present; for he is generous and lavishes his favours on far and near. But he deals out his gifts to those who deserve them — to men who have done some daring deed in battle before his eyes, or have rendered some great service to his state as civilians.
"But you! Tell me what feat you have performed in his presence or before the public, that you should deserve such a favour from him? And, secondly, this boon you are ambitious for is not for one of our condition, nor is it possible that the King should grant you the goal of your aspiration. For whoever goes to the Sultan and begs a favour of him ought to take in hand something that suits the royal majesty, as indeed I warned you before. How, then, are you to risk yourself standing before the Sultan and asking for his daughter in marriage, when you have nothing with you to offer him that befits his exalted station?"
To this Aladdin replied, "Mother, you speak to the point and have reminded me rightly, and it is proper that I should turn over in my mind everything you have reminded me of. But, mother, the love of Princess Badr al-Budur has entered into the core of my heart, and I cannot rest unless I win her. However, you have also called back to my mind something I had forgotten, and it is this that emboldens me to ask the King for his daughter. Although you declare, mother, that I have no gift I can lay before the Sultan, as the way of the world is, yet in very truth I have an offering and a present whose equal, mother, I do not believe any of the kings possesses — no, nor anything like it."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin said to his mother:
"Because in fact what I took for glass or crystal was nothing but precious stones; and I hold that all the kings of the world have never possessed anything like one of the smallest of them. For by going about among the jewellers I have learned that they are the costliest gems, and these are what I brought back in my pockets from the hoard; so, if you please, set your mind at rest.
"We have in the house a bowl of Chinese porcelain; so get up and fetch it, and I will fill it with these jewels, which you shall carry as a gift to the King; and you shall stand in his presence and ask him for what I want. I am certain that by this means the business will become easy for you. And if you are unwilling, mother, to make the effort to win what I wish for as regards the Lady Badr al-Budur, know that I shall certainly die.
"And do not imagine that this gift is anything but the costliest of stones; and be assured, mother, that in my many visits to the jewellers' bazaar I have watched the merchants selling, for sums beyond a man's judgment, jewels whose beauty is not worth a quarter of a carat of what we have. Seeing which, I was certain that ours are beyond all price. So get up, mother, as I asked you, and bring me that porcelain bowl, so that I may arrange some of these gems in it and we can see what they look like."
So she brought him the Chinese bowl, saying to herself, "I shall know what to do when I find out whether my child's words about these jewels are true or not"; and she set it in front of her son, who pulled the stones out of his pockets and arranged them in the bowl, and went on arranging gems of all sorts in it until he had filled it.
And when it was brimful she could not fix her eyes steadily on it; on the contrary, she winked and blinked at the dazzle of the stones and their radiance and the excess of their lightning-like flash; and her wits were bewildered by it. Only, she was not convinced that their value was really as enormous as she had been told. And yet she reflected that possibly her son had spoken rightly when he declared that their like was not to be found with kings.
Then Aladdin turned to her and said, "You have seen, mother, that this present intended for the Sultan is magnificent, and I am certain it will get you high honour with him, and that he will receive you with all respect. And now, mother, you have no excuse; so compose your thoughts and get up; take this bowl and away with it to the palace."
His mother answered, "My son, it is true that the present is exceedingly high-priced and the costliest of the costly, and also that, as you say, nobody owns its like. But who would have the boldness to go and ask the Sultan for his daughter, the Lady Badr al-Budur? I certainly dare not say to him, 'I want your daughter!' when he asks me, 'What is it you want?' — for you must understand, my son, that my tongue will be tied.
"And granting that Allah helps me and I embolden myself to say to him, 'My wish is to become a connection of yours by the marriage of your daughter, the Lady Badr al-Budur, to my son Aladdin' — they will certainly decide on the spot that I am demented, and will throw me out in disgrace and despised. I will not tell you that I shall thereby fall into danger of death, for it will not only be me but you as well.
"However, my son, out of regard for your inclination, I must embolden myself and go there. And yet, my child, if the King receives me and honours me on account of the gift, and asks me what it is you want —"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin's mother said to her son, "— and in answer I ask him for what you want in the matter of your marriage with his daughter, how am I to answer him if he asks me, as men do, What estates have you, and what income? And perhaps, my son, he will ask me that before he asks me about you."
Aladdin replied, "It is not possible that the Sultan should make such a demand at the moment when he is looking at the jewels and their magnificence; nor is it right to think about things like these which may never happen. Now just get up and set this present of precious stones before him and ask him for his daughter for me, and do not sit there making so much of the difficulty in your imagination.
"You have learned by now, mother, that this Lamp of ours has become a steady income to us, and that whatever I want of it is supplied to me; and my hope is that by means of it I shall learn how to answer the Sultan, if he asks me about what you say."
Then Aladdin and his mother went on talking the subject over all that night; and when morning came the good woman got up and heartened her heart, especially as her son had explained to her a little of the powers of the Lamp and its virtues — namely, that it would supply everything they asked of it.
Aladdin, however, seeing his mother take courage when he explained to her the workings of the Lamp, was afraid she might chatter to people about it; so he said to her, "Mother, take care how you speak to anybody about the properties of the Lamp and the profit of it, for this is our one great blessing. Guard your thoughts, in case you say too much about it in front of others, whoever they may be; or we may lose it, and lose the good fortune we have and the benefits we look for, since they come from it."
His mother replied, "Have no fear of that, my son"; and she got up and took the bowl full of jewels, which she wrapped in a fine kerchief, and went out early so as to reach the Divan before it got crowded.
When she came into the palace the reception was not yet fully attended, and she saw the viziers and various lords of the land going into the presence chamber; and after a short time, when the Divan was made complete by the ministers and high officials and chieftains and emirs and grandees, the Sultan appeared, and the viziers made their obeisance and so did the nobles and the notables.
The King seated himself on the throne of his kingship, and everybody present at the reception stood before him with folded arms, waiting for his command to sit; and when they got it, each took his place according to his rank. Then the petitioners came before the Sultan, who gave judgment in his usual way, until the Divan came to an end; when the King got up and withdrew into the palace and all the rest went their ways.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin's mother, having come earliest of all, found means of getting in without anybody speaking to her or offering to lead her to the presence; and she went on standing there until the Divan ended, when the Sultan got up and withdrew into the palace and all the rest went about their business.
And when she saw the throne empty and the King going into his harem, she went off too, and returned home. But as soon as her son caught sight of her, bowl in hand, he thought that perhaps something unfortunate had happened to her; but he would not ask anything until she had set the bowl down, when she told him what had occurred, and ended by adding:
"Praise be to the Lord, my child, that I found courage enough and secured myself a standing place at the reception today. And although I was too frightened to speak to the King, yet, God willing, I will address him tomorrow. Even today there were many who, like me, could not get an audience with the Sultan. But be of good cheer, my son; tomorrow I really must speak to him for your sake. And what has not happened may yet happen."
When Aladdin heard his mother's words he was overjoyed; and although, in the excess of his love and longing for the Lady Badr al-Budur, he expected the business to be settled from one hour to the next, yet he possessed his soul in patience.
They slept well that night; and early next morning Aladdin's mother got up and went with her bowl to the King's court, which she found shut. So she asked the people, and they told her that the Sultan did not hold a reception every day, but only three times a week; so she decided to go home again.
And after this, whenever she saw the court open she would stand before the King until the reception ended; and when it was shut she would go to make sure of it; and this went on for a whole month.
The Sultan noticed her presence at every reception; but on the last day, when she took up her station as usual before the Council, she let it close and lacked the boldness to come forward and speak a single syllable.
Now as the King, having risen, was making for his harem in the company of the Grand Vizier, he turned to him and said, "Vizier, for the last six or seven reception days I have seen that old woman present herself at every audience, and I have also noticed that she always carries something under her cloak. Tell me, Vizier, do you know anything about her and what she intends?"
"My lord the Sultan," said the other, "women are truly weak of wit, and very likely this good woman comes here to complain to you against her husband or somebody of her family."
But this answer was far from satisfying the Sultan; on the contrary, he ordered the Vizier to set her before him if she should come again; and the minister immediately put his hand on his head and exclaimed, "To hear is to obey, my lord the Sultan!"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin's mother made a practice of going to the Divan every day and passing into the room and standing opposite the King; and although she was sorrowful and thoroughly worn out, still, for her son's sake, she did her best to make light of all her difficulties.
Now one day, when she was doing as she usually did, the Sultan cast his eyes on her as she stood before him and said to his Grand Vizier, "This is the very woman I spoke to you about yesterday; so bring her before me at once, that I may see what her suit is and grant her what she needs."
So the minister introduced her immediately; and when she was in the presence she saluted the King by kissing her fingertips and raising them to her forehead, and, praying for the Sultan's glory and long continuance and the permanence of his prosperity, kissed the ground before him.
At this he said, "Woman, for several days I have seen you attending the reception without a word said; so tell me if you have some request that I may grant."
She kissed the ground a second time, and after blessing him answered, "Yes indeed, as your head lives, O King of the Age, I have a want; but before anything else, be pleased to grant me a promise of safety, so that I may put my suit to the ears of our lord the Sultan; for your Highness may perhaps find it a strange one."
The King, wanting to know what she needed, and being a man of unusual mildness and clemency, gave his word for her safety and ordered everybody about him to be dismissed at once, so that nobody was left but the Grand Vizier. Then he turned to his petitioner and said, "Tell me your suit: you have the safeguard of Almighty Allah."
"O King of the Age," she replied, "I ask your pardon too."
And he said, "Allah pardon you, even as I do."
Then she said, "Our lord the Sultan, I have a son called Aladdin; and one day, having heard the crier ordering all men to shut up their shops and keep off the streets, because the Lady Badr al-Budur, the Sultan's daughter, was going to the baths, he felt an uncontrollable longing to look at her, and hid himself in a place where he could see her very well; and that place was behind the door of the baths.
"When she came in he saw her and studied her as much as he wished — and only too well; for from the time he looked at her, O King of the Age, until this hour, life has not been pleasant to him. And he has required of me that I ask your Highness for her as his wife; nor could I drive this fancy out of his head, because love of her has mastered his vitals, and to such a degree that he said to me, 'Understand, mother, that if I do not get my wish I shall certainly die.'
"And so I hope that your Highness will be pleased to be mild and merciful and pardon this boldness on my part and my child's, and refrain from punishing us for it."
When the Sultan heard her tale he looked at her kindly, and, laughing aloud, asked her, "What is that you are carrying, and what is in that kerchief?"
And she, seeing the Sultan laugh instead of growing angry at her words, opened the wrapper at once and set the bowl of jewels before him — at which the audience hall was lit up as though by chandeliers and candelabra; and he was dazed and amazed at the radiance of the rare gems, and fell to marvelling at their size and beauty and excellence.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the King saw the gems he was seized with surprise and cried, "Never at all until this day have I seen anything like these jewels for size and beauty and excellence; nor do I believe there is a single one like them to be found in my treasury."
Then he turned to his minister and asked, "What do you say, Vizier? Tell me, have you ever in your time seen such very fine jewels as these?"
The other answered, "Never have I seen the like, our lord the Sultan; nor do I think there is in the treasuries of my lord the Sultan the fellow of the least of them."
The King went on, "Now indeed, whoever has presented me with such jewels deserves to become the bridegroom of my daughter Badr al-Budur; because, as far as I can see, nobody is more deserving of her than he is."
When the Vizier heard the Sultan's words he was tongue-tied with worry and grieved bitterly, for the King had promised to give the Princess in marriage to his son. So after a little while he said, "O King of the Age, your Highness was pleased to promise me that the Lady Badr al-Budur should be my son's wife; so it is only right that your exalted Highness should grant us a delay of three months, during which time, God willing, my son may obtain and present an offering costlier still than this."
So the King, although he knew that such a thing could not be done, either by the Vizier or by the greatest of his grandees, yet out of his grace and kindness granted him the delay he asked for.
Then he turned to the old woman, Aladdin's mother, and said, "Go to your son and tell him I have pledged my word that my daughter shall be in his name; only, I must make the necessary preparations of wedding furniture for her use, and so it is only proper that he should be patient for the next three months."
Getting this answer, Aladdin's mother thanked the Sultan and blessed him; and then, going out in the greatest haste, like one flying for joy, she went home. And when her son saw her come in with a smiling face he was gladdened at the sign of good news, especially as she had come back without delay, as she did on the days when the court was shut, and had not brought the bowl back with her.
Presently he asked her, "God willing, you bring me good news, mother? Perhaps the jewels and their value have done their work, and perhaps you have been kindly received by the King, and he has shown you favour and listened to your request?"
So she told him the whole tale — how the Sultan had treated her well and had marvelled at the extraordinary size of the gems and their surpassing water, as had the Vizier too — and added, "And he promised that his daughter should be yours. Only, my child, the Vizier spoke of a secret agreement made with him by the Sultan before he pledged himself to me; and, after speaking privately, the King put me off to the end of three months. So I have grown fearful that the Vizier may be ill-disposed towards you, and may perhaps try to change the Sultan's mind."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Aladdin heard his mother's words, and how the Sultan had promised him his daughter — putting the wedding off, however, until after the third month — his mind was gladdened and he rejoiced exceedingly, and said, "Since the King has given his word for three months' time — well, it is a long while! — at any rate my gladness is very great."
Then he thanked his mother, showing her how her good work had gone beyond all her toil and trouble; and said to her, "By Allah, mother, until now I was as it were in my grave, and you have drawn me out of it; and I praise Almighty Allah, because at this moment I am certain that no man in the world is happier than I am, or more fortunate."
Then he possessed himself in patience until two of the three months had gone by.
Now one day his mother went out about sundown to the bazaar to buy some oil, and she found all the market shops fast shut and the whole city decorated, and people putting wax tapers and flowers in their windows; and she saw the soldiers and the household troops and the officers riding in procession, and torches and lamps flaming and flaring; and she wondered at the marvellous sight and the glamour of the scene.
So she went into an oil seller's shop that was still open and bought what she needed from him, and said, "By your life, uncle, tell me what the news in town is today, that people have made all these decorations, and every house and market street is adorned, and the troops are all standing on guard?"
The oil seller asked her, "Woman, I suppose you are a stranger and not one of this city?"
And she answered, "No, I am your fellow townswoman."
He retorted, "You a townswoman, and yet you do not know that this very night the son of the Grand Vizier is going in to the Lady Badr al-Budur, the Sultan's daughter! He is at the baths now, and all this force of soldiery is on guard and standing under arms to wait for him to come out, when they will carry him in bridal procession to the palace, where the Princess is expecting him."
As Aladdin's mother heard these words she grieved, and was distracted in her mind and perplexed how to tell her son of this sorrowful event, knowing well that the poor youth was looking, hour by hour, to the end of the three months.
But she went straight home to him, and when she had come in she said, "My son, I have some news for you, but the sorrow it will cause you will be hard for me."
He cried, "Let me know what your news is."
And she replied, "Truly the Sultan has broken his promise to you in the matter of the Lady Badr al-Budur, and this very night the Grand Vizier's son is going in to her. And for some time, my son, I have suspected that the minister would change the King's mind, just as I told you how he had spoken privately to him in front of me."
Aladdin asked, "How did you learn that the Vizier's son is to pay his first visit to the Princess tonight?"
So she told him the whole tale — how, when she went to buy oil, she had found the city decorated and the eunuch officials and lords of the land with the troops under arms waiting for the bridegroom to come from the baths, and that the first visit was appointed for that very night.
Hearing this, Aladdin was seized with a fever of jealousy brought on by his grief; but after a short while he remembered the Lamp, and, recovering his spirits, said, "By your life, mother, believe me that the Vizier's son will not enjoy her as you think. But let us leave this subject now; get up and serve the supper, and after we have eaten let me go to my own room, and all will be well and happy."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that after Aladdin had eaten his supper he went to his room and, locking the door, brought out the Lamp and rubbed it; whereupon its familiar appeared to him at once and said, "Ask whatever you want, for I am your slave and the slave of him who holds the Lamp in his hand — I and all the Slaves of the Lamp."
He replied, "Listen to me. I begged the Sultan for his daughter in marriage, and he promised her to me after three months; but he has not kept his word — no, he has given her to the Vizier's son, and this very night the bridegroom will go in to her. Therefore I order you, if you are a trustworthy servant of the Lamp, when you see bride and bridegroom bedded together tonight, to take them up at once and carry them here, bed and all; and this is what I want of you."
The marid replied, "Hearing and obeying; and if you have any other service besides this, ask me for everything you want."
Aladdin said, "At present I require nothing except what I have told you to do."
Whereupon the slave disappeared, and Aladdin went back to spend the rest of the evening with his mother.
But at the hour when he knew the servant would be coming, he got up and went to his room; and after a little while, behold, the marid came, bringing him the newly wedded couple on their bridal bed.
Aladdin was overjoyed to see them; then he cried to the slave, "Carry that gallows bird away and lay him out at full length in the privy."
His order was carried out at once; but before leaving him the slave blew such a cold blast upon the bridegroom that it shrivelled him, and the plight of the Vizier's son was pitiful.
Then the servant, coming back to Aladdin, said to him, "If you need anything else, tell me of it."
And Aladdin said, "Come back in the morning, so that you may put them back where they belong."
To which the marid said, "I hear and obey," and vanished.
Presently Aladdin got up, hardly able to believe that the affair had gone so well for him; but when he looked at the Lady Badr al-Budur lying under his own roof, although he had long burned with love of her, still he kept his respect for her, and said, "Princess of fair ones, do not think that I brought you here to lessen your honour. Heaven forbid! No, it was only to prevent the wrong man having you, since your father the Sultan promised you to me. So rest here in peace."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Lady Badr al-Budur, the Sultan's daughter, saw herself in that mean and dark lodging, and heard Aladdin's words, she was seized with fear and trembling and became utterly distraught, and could make no reply at all.
Presently the youth got up and, stripping off his outer clothes, laid a sword between them and lay down on the bed beside the Princess; and he did nothing villainous, for it was enough for him to have prevented the consummation of her marriage with the Vizier's son.
The Lady Badr al-Budur, on the other hand, passed the worst night of all nights, nor had she seen a worse in all her born days; and it was the same with the minister's son, who lay in the privy and dared not stir for the fear of the jinni that overwhelmed him.
As soon as it was morning the slave appeared before Aladdin, without the Lamp having been rubbed, and said to him, "My lord, if you require anything, command me, and I will do it upon my head and my eyes."
He said, "Go, take up the bride and bridegroom and carry them to their own apartment."
So the servant did as he was told in the glance of an eye, and bore the pair away and put them in the palace where they had been before, without anybody seeing them; but they both nearly died of fright when they found themselves being carried from place to place.
And the marid had barely time to set them down and go on his way before the Sultan came on a visit of congratulation to his daughter; and when the Vizier's son heard the doors thrown open he sprang out of bed at once and put his clothes on, for he knew that nobody but the King could come in at that hour. And yet it was exceedingly hard for him to leave his bed, in which he had wanted to warm himself a little after the cold night in the water closet he had just come from.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Sultan went in to his daughter Badr al-Budur and, kissing her between the eyes, bade her good morning and asked her about her bridegroom, and whether she was pleased and satisfied with him.
But she made no reply whatever, and looked at him with an angry eye; and although he repeated his words again and again, she held her peace and did not speak a single syllable to him.
So the King left her and, going to the Queen, told her what had passed between him and his daughter; and the mother, not wanting to leave the Sultan angry with their child, said to him, "O King of the Age, this is the way with most newly married couples, at least during their first days of marriage, for they are bashful and rather shy. So be pleased to excuse her, and after a little while she will become herself again and talk to people as she did before; whereas now, O King of the Age, it is her shyness that keeps her silent. However, I should like to go and see her."
At this the Queen got up and put on her clothes; then, going to her daughter, she wished her good morning and kissed her between the eyes. But still the Princess would make no answer at all; whereupon the Queen said to herself, "No doubt something strange has happened to trouble her like this."
So she asked her, "My daughter, what has brought you to this state? Let me know what has happened to you, that when I come and bid you good morning you have not a word to say to me?"
At this the Lady Badr al-Budur raised her head and said, "Forgive me, mother; it was my duty to meet you with all respect and honour, seeing that you have honoured me with this visit. But I beg you to hear the cause of my condition, and to see how the night I have just spent has been the worst of nights to me.
"Hardly had we lain down, mother, when somebody — whose shape I do not know — lifted up our bed and carried it to a dark place, foul and mean."
Then the Princess related to the Queen mother everything that had happened to her that night: how they had taken her bridegroom away and left her alone and lonely; and how after a while another young man came and lay down beside her in the bridegroom's place, after putting his sword between her and himself.
"And in the morning," she went on, "the one who carried us off came back and took us straight back to our own place. But the moment he got here he left us; and suddenly my father the Sultan came in at the very hour and moment of our arrival, and I had neither heart nor tongue to speak to him with, for the stress of the terror and trembling that had come over me. Perhaps such a want of duty may have seemed hard to him; so I hope, mother, that you will tell him the cause of my condition, and that he will pardon me for not answering him, and will not blame me but rather accept my excuses."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Queen heard these words from Princess Badr al-Budur she said to her, "My child, compose your thoughts. If you tell such a tale in front of anybody, he will very likely say, 'Truly, the Sultan's daughter has lost her wits.' And you did quite right not to choose to tell your adventure to your father; and beware, and again I say beware, my daughter, of letting him know about it."
The Princess replied, "Mother, I have spoken to you like somebody sound in her senses, and I have not lost my wits: this is what happened to me; and if you do not believe it coming from me, ask my bridegroom."
To which the Queen replied, "Get up at once, my daughter, and banish such fancies from your thoughts; and dress yourself and come out to look at the wedding feasts and festivities they are holding in the city for your sake and your marriage; and listen to the drumming and the singing and look at the decorations, all of them meant to honour your marriage, my daughter."
So saying, the Queen at once summoned the tirewomen, who dressed and prepared the Lady Badr al-Budur; and presently she went in to the Sultan and assured him that their daughter had suffered all through her wedding night from bad dreams and nightmares, and said to him, "Do not be severe with her for not answering you."
Then the Queen sent privately for the Vizier's son and asked him about the matter, saying, "Tell me, are these words of the Lady Badr al-Budur true or not?"
But he, in his fear of losing his bride there and then, answered, "My lady, I know nothing of what you are speaking about."
And so the mother made sure that her daughter had been seeing visions and dreams.
The marriage feasts lasted all that day, with dancing girls and singers and the striking of every kind of instrument of mirth and merriment, while the Queen and the Vizier and his son strove their hardest to enhance the festivities so that the Princess might enjoy herself; and that day they left nothing that excites pleasure unperformed in her presence, so that she might forget what was on her mind and take more joy in it all.
Yet none of this had any effect on her at all; on the contrary, she sat in silence, sad in her thoughts and badly perplexed at what had happened to her the night before.
It is true that the Vizier's son had suffered even more, because he had spent his sleeping hours lying in the water closet; he, however, had lied about the story and had cast the memory of the night out of his mind — in the first place for fear of losing his bride, and with her the honour of a connection that brought him so much consideration and for which men envied him so much; and, secondly, on account of the wonderful loveliness of the Lady Badr al-Budur and her marvellous beauty.
Aladdin also went out that day and looked at the merrymaking that ran through the whole city as well as the palace; and he fell to laughing, especially when he heard people chattering about the high honour that had come to the son of the Vizier and the prosperity of his fortunes in becoming son-in-law to the Sultan, and the great consideration shown by the wedding celebrations. And he said in his mind, "Indeed you have no idea, you miserable creatures, what happened to him last night, that you should envy him!"
But after darkness fell and it was time for sleep, Aladdin got up and, going to his room, rubbed the Lamp; whereupon the slave appeared immediately.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the slave appeared before Aladdin he was ordered to bring him the Sultan's daughter along with her bridegroom, as on the night before, before the Vizier's son could take her maidenhead.
So the marid vanished without pause or delay for a little while, until the appointed time, when he came back carrying the bed on which the Lady Badr al-Budur and the Vizier's son were lying; and he did with the bridegroom as he had done before — that is, he took him up and laid him at full length in the privy, and left him there dried up with the excess of his fear and trembling.
Then Aladdin got up and, laying the sword between himself and the Princess, lay down beside her; and when day broke the slave restored the pair to their own place, leaving Aladdin filled with delight at the state of the minister's son.
Now when the Sultan woke that morning he resolved to visit his daughter and see whether she would treat him as she had the day before; so, shaking off his sleep, he sprang up and dressed himself and, going to the Princess's apartment, ordered the door opened.
At this the Vizier's son got up at once and came down out of bed and began putting his clothes on, while his ribs were wrung with cold; for the slave had only just brought him back when the King came in.
The Sultan, raising the curtain, went up to his daughter as she lay in bed and bade her good morning; then, kissing her between the eyes, he asked her how she was. But he saw her looking sour and sad, and she did not answer him at all, only glowering at him like somebody angry; and her condition was pitiable.
At this the Sultan grew furious with her for not replying, and he suspected that something evil had happened to her; whereupon he bared his sword and cried to her, blade in hand, "What is this that has come over you? Either tell me what has happened, or this very moment I will take your life! Is this the sign of honour and respect I expect of you — that I speak to you and you do not answer me a word?"
When the Lady Badr al-Budur saw her father in high indignation, with the naked blade in his grip, she was freed from her earlier fear; so she raised her head and said to him, "My beloved father, do not be angry with me, and do not be hasty in your hot passion, for I am excusable in what you shall see of my case. So lend an ear to what has happened to me; and I know well that after hearing my account of what befell me these last two nights, you will pardon me, and your Highness will be softened into pitying me, as I claim of you affection for your child."
Then the Princess told her father everything that had happened to her, and added, "Father, if you do not believe me, ask my bridegroom, and he will tell your Highness the whole adventure; for I did not know what they would do with him when they carried him away from my side, nor where they would put him."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Sultan heard his daughter's words he was saddened, and his eyes brimmed with tears; then he sheathed his sword and kissed her, saying, "My daughter, why did you not tell me what happened the night before, so that I might have guarded you against this torture and terror that visited you a second time? But it is no matter now. Get up and throw off all such care; and tonight I will set a watch to guard you, and no mishap shall ever make you miserable again."
Then the Sultan went back to his palace and immediately ordered the Grand Vizier summoned, and asked him, as he stood before him in attendance, "Vizier, how do you look at this business? Perhaps your son has told you what happened to him and to my daughter."
The minister replied, "O King of the Age, I have not seen my son either yesterday or today."
At this the Sultan told him everything that had afflicted the Princess, and added, "It is my wish that you go at once and get news from your son about the facts of the case: it may be that out of her fear my daughter is not fully aware of what really happened to her — although I hold every word she said to be truthful."
So the Grand Vizier got up and, going out, ordered his son summoned and asked him whether everything his lord had told him was true or untrue.
The youth replied, "My father the Vizier, Heaven forbid that the Lady Badr al-Budur should speak falsely: indeed everything she said was true, and these two nights proved to us the worst of our nights instead of being nights of pleasure and marriage joys. But what happened to me was the greater evil, because instead of sleeping in bed with my bride I lay in the wardrobe — a black hole, frightful, foul-smelling, truly damnable; and my ribs were bursting with cold."
In short, the young man told his father the whole tale, and added as he finished it, "Dear father, I beg you to speak to the Sultan and have him set me free from this marriage. Yes indeed, it is a high honour for me to be the Sultan's son-in-law, and especially since love of the Princess has got hold of my vitals; but I have no strength left to endure a single night like these last two."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Vizier, hearing his son's words, was exceedingly saddened and sorrowful, for it had been his plan to advance and promote his child by making him son-in-law to the Sultan. So he became thoughtful and perplexed about the affair and about how to manage it; and it was very grievous to him to break off the marriage, since it had been a rare pleasure to him to have fallen upon such high good fortune.
So he said, "Be patient, my son, until we see what may happen tonight, when we will set watchmen to guard you; and do not give up the exalted distinction that has fallen to nobody but yourself."
Then the Vizier left him and, going back to his sovereign, reported that everything the Lady Badr al-Budur had told him was a true tale; whereupon the Sultan said, "Since the affair stands like this, we need no delay"; and he at once ordered all the rejoicings to stop and the marriage to be broken off.
This made the people and the citizens marvel at the business, especially when they saw the Grand Vizier and his son leaving the palace in a pitiable state for grief and stress of feeling; and everybody fell to asking, "What has happened, and what is the reason for the wedding being made null and void?" Nor did anybody know a thing about the truth of it except Aladdin, the lover who laid claim to the Princess's hand; and he laughed in his sleeve.
But even after the marriage was dissolved, the Sultan forgot, and never even called to mind, the promise he had made to Aladdin's mother; and it was the same with the Grand Vizier, while neither of them had the least inkling of where the thing that had happened to them had come from.
So Aladdin waited patiently for the three months to pass, after which the Sultan had pledged himself to give him his daughter in marriage; but the moment the term came round, he sent his mother to the Sultan to require him to keep his covenant.
So she went to the palace; and when the King appeared in the Divan and saw the old woman standing before him, he remembered his promise to her about the marriage after a term of three months, and he turned to the minister and said, "Vizier, this is the old lady who presented me with the jewels, and to whom we pledged our word that when the three months had gone by we would summon her to our presence before all others."
So the minister went out and fetched her; and when she came into the Sultan's presence she saluted him and prayed for his glory and the permanence of his prosperity. At this the King asked her whether she needed anything, and she answered, "O King of the Age, the three months' term you assigned me is finished, and this is the time for you to marry my son Aladdin to your daughter, the Lady Badr al-Budur."
The Sultan was thrown into confusion by this demand, especially when he saw the old woman's poverty-stricken condition, one of the meanest of her kind; and yet the offering she had brought him had been of the most magnificent, far beyond his power to pay the price of. So he turned to the Grand Vizier and said, "What plan have you? Truly I did pass my word; and yet it seems to me they are poor people and not persons of high condition."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Grand Vizier, who was dying of envy and who was particularly saddened by what had happened to his son, said to himself, "How shall a man like this marry the King's daughter, and my son lose this highest of honours?"
So he answered his sovereign, speaking privately, "My lord, it is an easy matter to keep off a poor devil like this, for he is not worthy that your Highness should give your daughter to a fellow whom nobody knows anything about."
"By what means," asked the Sultan, "shall we put the man off, when I have pledged my promise? And the word of kings is their bond."
The Vizier replied, "My lord, my advice is that you demand of him forty platters made of pure gold and full of gems, such as the woman brought you before, with forty white slave girls to carry the platters and forty black eunuch slaves."
The King answered, "By Allah, Vizier, you have spoken to the purpose, seeing that such a thing is not possible, and by this means we shall be free of him."
Then he said to Aladdin's mother, "Go and tell your son that I am a man of my word, just as I pledged it to him — but on condition that he has the power to pay the dowry of my daughter. And what I require of him is a settlement consisting of forty platters of virgin gold, all brimming with gems like the ones you brought me, and as many white handmaids to carry them, and forty black eunuch slaves to attend and escort the bearers. If your son can manage this, I will marry him to my daughter."
At this she went home wagging her head and saying in her mind, "Where can my poor boy get these platters and jewels? And granting that he went back to the enchanted treasury and picked them off the trees — which, however, I hold to be impossible — yet even if he brought them, where is he to come by the girls and the black slaves?"
Nor did she stop communing with herself until she reached her house, where she found Aladdin waiting for her; and she lost no time in saying, "My son, did I not tell you never to imagine that your power would stretch as far as the Lady Badr al-Budur, and that such a thing is not possible for people like ourselves?"
"Tell me the news," he said.
So she said, "My child, truly the Sultan received me with all honour, as he usually does, and it seems to me his intentions towards us are friendly. But your enemy is that accursed Vizier. For after I addressed the King in your name, as you told me to say — 'In very truth the promised term is past,' adding, 'It would be well if your Highness would be pleased to give the order for the betrothal of your daughter the Lady Badr al-Budur to my son Aladdin' — he turned and spoke to the minister, who answered him privately; after which the Sultan gave me his reply."
Then she went through the King's demands and said, "My son, he certainly expects an immediate answer from you; but I fancy we have no answer for him."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Aladdin heard these words he laughed and said, "Mother, you declare that we have no answer, and you think the case exceedingly difficult; but compose your thoughts and get up and bring me something to eat; and after we have dined, if the Compassionate is willing, you shall see my reply.
"The Sultan too thinks, as you do, that he has demanded a prodigious dowry in order to turn me away from his daughter — whereas the fact is that he has asked me for a great deal less than I expected. But go out at once and buy the provisions, and leave me to get you an answer."
So she went out to fetch what she needed from the bazaar, and Aladdin went to his room and, taking the Lamp, rubbed it; whereupon its slave appeared to him at once and said, "Ask, my lord, whatever you want."
He replied, "I have asked the Sultan for his daughter in marriage, and he has required of me forty bowls of the purest gold, each weighing ten pounds and all to be filled with gems such as we find in the gardens of the hoard; and furthermore, that they be carried on the heads of as many white handmaids, each attended by her black eunuch slave, forty of them in full number. So I want you to bring all these into my presence."
"Hearing and obeying, my lord," said the slave; and, disappearing for the space of an hour or so, he presently came back bringing the platters and the jewels, the handmaids and the eunuchs; and, setting them before him, the marid said, "This is what you demanded of me: tell me now if you want any other matter or service besides this."
Aladdin answered, "I need nothing else; but if I do, I will summon you and let you know."
The slave now disappeared; and after a little while Aladdin's mother came home, and on entering the house saw the black slaves and the handmaids. At this she marvelled and exclaimed, "All this comes from the Lamp — which may Allah preserve to my son!"
But before she could take off her cloak Aladdin said to her, "Mother, this is your moment, before the Sultan goes into his private palace: carry him what he asked for, and go with it at once, so that he may know that I can supply everything he wants and more; and also that he has been misled by his Grand Vizier, and that the two of them vainly imagined they would baffle me."
Then he got up at once and opened the house door, and the handmaids and black slaves paced out two by two, each girl with her eunuch beside her, until they crowded the whole quarter, with Aladdin's mother going in front of them.
And when the people of that district caught sight of such a very fine sight and marvellous spectacle, they all stood and gazed, and studied the forms and figures of the handmaids and marvelled at their beauty and loveliness; for every one of them wore robes worked with gold and studded with jewels, no dress being worth less than a thousand dinars. They stared just as hard at the bowls; and although these were covered with pieces of brocade, themselves embroidered with gold and set with precious stones, yet the brilliance that shot out from them dulled the shine of the sun.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the people, and especially the people of the quarter, stood marvelling at this extraordinary scene.
Then Aladdin's mother walked forward, and all the handmaids and eunuchs paced behind her in the best of order and arrangement, and the citizens gathered to gaze at the beauty of the girls and glorify God the Most Great, until the train reached the palace and went into it in the company of the tailor's widow.
Now when the officers and chamberlains and army officers saw them, they were all seized with surprise, particularly at the sight of the handmaids, any one of whom would have ravished the reason of a hermit. And although the royal chamberlains and officials were men of family, the sons of grandees and emirs, still they could not help wondering at the costly dresses of the girls and the platters carried on their heads; nor could they look at them with their eyes open, because of the exceeding brilliance and radiance.
Then the officials went in and reported to the King, who immediately ordered them admitted to the presence chamber; and Aladdin's mother went in with them.
When they stood before the Sultan they all saluted him with every sign of respect and honour and prayed for his glory and prosperity; then they set the bowls down from their heads at his feet and, having taken off the brocade covers, stood with their arms folded behind them.
The Sultan marvelled exceedingly and was distracted by the beauty of the handmaids and their loveliness, which was beyond praise; and his wits were bewildered when he looked at the golden bowls brimful of gems that captured a man's sight; and he was so perplexed at the marvel of it that he became like a dumb man, unable to utter a syllable for the excess of his wonder. And his senses were stupefied still more when he considered that within an hour or so all these treasures had been collected.
Presently he ordered the slave girls to carry their loads inside, as the Princess's dowry; and when they had done as he bade them, Aladdin's mother came forward and said to the Sultan, "My lord, this is not much with which to honour the Lady Badr al-Budur, for she deserves all these things multiplied many times over."
At this the sovereign turned to the minister and asked, "What do you say, Vizier? Is not a man who could produce such wealth in so short a time — is he not, I say, worthy to become the Sultan's son-in-law and take the King's daughter to wife?"
Then the minister — although he marvelled at these riches even more than the Sultan did — whose envy was killing him and growing greater by the hour, seeing his liege lord satisfied with the money and the dowry, and yet being unable to fight against fact, answered, "It is not worthy of her."
And with that he fell to devising a scheme against the King, so that he might keep the Lady Badr al-Budur from Aladdin; and accordingly he went on, "My liege, all the treasures of the universe are not worth a nail-paring of your daughter: indeed your Highness has valued these things far too highly in comparison with her."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the King heard the words of his Grand Vizier he knew that the speech was prompted by excess of envy; so, turning to the mother of Aladdin, he said, "Woman, go to your son and tell him that I have accepted the dowry from him and stand by my bargain, and that my daughter shall be his bride and he my son-in-law. Furthermore, tell him to come and present himself at once, so that I may become acquainted with him: he shall see nothing from me but honour and consideration, and this night shall be the beginning of the marriage festivities. Only, as I said to you, let him come to me and not delay."
At this Aladdin's mother went home with the speed of a storm wind, so as to hurry as fast as she could to congratulate her son; and she flew with joy at the thought that her boy was about to become son-in-law to the Sultan.
After she had gone, the King dismissed the Divan and, going into the Princess's palace, ordered the bowls and the handmaids to be brought before him and before her, so that she might inspect them too.
But when the Lady Badr al-Budur looked at the jewels she was overcome and cried, "It seems to me that in all the treasuries of the world there is not one jewel to rival these!"
Then she looked at the handmaids and marvelled at their beauty and loveliness, and knew that all this came from her new bridegroom, who had sent them to serve her. So she was gladdened, although she had been grieved and saddened on account of her former husband, the Vizier's son; and she rejoiced exceedingly as she gazed at the girls and their charms. Nor was her father the Sultan less pleased and heartened when he saw his daughter relieved of all her mourning and melancholy; and his own vanished at the sight of her enjoyment.
Then he asked her, "My daughter, do these things divert you? Indeed I think this suitor of yours is more suitable for you than the Vizier's son; and very soon, God willing, my daughter, you shall have fuller joy of him."
So it was with the King. But as for Aladdin, as soon as he saw his mother coming into the house with her face laughing from the stress of her joy, he rejoiced at the sign of good news and cried, "To Allah alone be praise! Everything I desired is accomplished."
His mother answered, "Be glad at my good news, my son, and hearten your heart and cool your eyes at the winning of your wish. The Sultan has accepted your offering — I mean the money and the dowry of the Lady Badr al-Budur, who is now your betrothed bride; and this very night, my child, is your marriage and your first visit to her. For the King, so as to assure me of his word, has proclaimed to the world that you are his son-in-law, and has promised this night for the going in. But he also said to me, 'Let your son come here at once, so that I may become acquainted with him and receive him with all honour and respect.' And now here I am, my son, at the end of my labours; and whatever happens, the rest is upon your shoulders."
At this Aladdin got up and kissed his mother's hand and thanked her and praised her kindly service; then he left her and, going into his room, took the Lamp and rubbed it — when, lo and behold, its slave appeared and cried, "Here I am! Ask whatever you want."
The young man replied, "It is my desire that you take me to a bath whose like is not in the world; and then fetch me a suit of clothes so costly and so kingly that no royalty ever owned its fellow."
The marid replied, "I hear and I obey"; and carried him off to baths such as were never seen by the kings of Persia, for the building was all of alabaster and carnelian and it contained marvellous paintings that captured the sight; and the great hall was studded with precious stones. There was not a soul in it; but when Aladdin went in, one of the jann in human shape washed him and bathed him exactly as he wished.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin, after being washed and bathed, left the baths and went into the great hall, where he found that his old clothes had been taken away and replaced by a suit of the most precious and princely kind. Then he was served with sherbets and coffee scented with ambergris; and after drinking he got up, and a party of black slaves came forward and dressed him in the costliest of clothing, and then perfumed him and fumigated him.
It is known that Aladdin was the son of a tailor, a poor man; yet now nobody would have thought him anything of the kind — no, everybody would have said, "This is the greatest of the offspring of kings: praise be to Him who changes and who is not changed!"
Presently the jinni came and lifted him up and carried him to his home, and asked, "My lord, tell me, do you need anything?"
He answered, "Yes. It is my wish that you bring me forty-eight mamelukes, of whom two dozen shall go before me and the rest follow me, the whole number with their war chargers and their clothing and accoutrements; and everything upon them and their horses must be of nothing but the highest worth and the costliest kind, such as is not to be found in the treasuries of kings.
"Then fetch me a stallion fit for the riding of the kings of Persia, and let his furniture, every bit of it, be of gold crusted with the finest gems. Fetch me also forty-eight thousand dinars, so that each white slave may carry a thousand gold pieces. It is my intention now to go to the Sultan, so do not delay; for without all the requisites I have told you of I cannot visit him.
"Moreover, set before me a dozen slave girls, unique in beauty and dressed in the most magnificent clothes, to go with my mother to the royal palace; and let every handmaid be robed in clothing that befits a queen's wearing."
The slave replied, "To hear is to obey"; and, disappearing for the twinkling of an eye, brought everything he had been told to bring, and led by the hand a stallion that had no rival among the Arabs of Arabia, whose saddlecloth was of splendid brocade worked with gold.
At this, without pause or delay, Aladdin sent for his mother and gave her the clothes she was to wear, and put in her charge the twelve slave girls who were to form her suite to the palace. Then he sent one of the mamelukes whom the jinni had brought to see whether the Sultan had left the palace or not. The white slave went off lighter than the lightning, and coming back just as fast, said, "My lord, the Sultan is waiting for you!"
At this Aladdin got up and took horse, his mamelukes riding in front of him and behind him; and they were such that everybody had to cry out, "Praise to the Lord who created them and clothed them with such beauty and loveliness!" And they scattered gold among the crowd in front of their master, who surpassed them all in comeliness and good looks — and there is no need to ask about the sons of kings; praise be to the Bountiful, the Eternal!
All this came of the virtues of the Wonderful Lamp, which gifted whoever possessed it with the fairest face and the finest figure, with wealth and with wisdom.
The people admired Aladdin's liberality and exceeding generosity, and everybody was distracted by his charm and elegance, his gravity and his good manners; they glorified the Creator for this noble creation, and blessed him one and all; and, although they knew him for the son of such-and-such a tailor, still not a man envied him — no, everybody agreed that he deserved his great good fortune.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the people were bewildered at Aladdin and his liberality and generosity; and everybody, high and low, blessed him and prayed for him as he rode towards the palace with the mamelukes before and behind him, scattering gold over the heads of the crowd.
Now the Sultan had assembled the lords of the land and, telling them of the promise he had passed to Aladdin about the marriage of his daughter, had ordered them to await his arrival and then go out, one and all, to meet him and greet him. So the emirs and viziers, the chamberlains, the officials and the army officers took their stations, waiting for him at the palace gate.
Aladdin would gladly have dismounted at the outer entrance; but one of the nobles whom the King had appointed to the duty came up to him and said, "My lord, it is the royal command that you ride in and not dismount until you reach the door of the Divan."
Then they all went before him in a body and escorted him to the appointed place, where they crowded round him, some to hold his stirrup and some supporting him on either side, while others took him by the hands and helped him dismount; after which all the emirs and nobles went ahead of him into the Divan and led him right up to the royal throne.
At this the Sultan came down at once from his seat of state and, forbidding him to kiss the carpet, embraced and kissed him and seated him at his own right hand, beside him.
Aladdin did whatever is proper in the case of kings, by way of salutation and offering of blessings, and said, "Our lord the Sultan, truly the generosity of your Highness required that you should be pleased to grant me the hand of your daughter, the Lady Badr al-Budur, although I am undeserving of the greatness of such a gift, being only the humblest of your slaves. I pray Allah grant you prosperity and long continuance; but in very truth, O King, my tongue is helpless to thank you for the fullness of the favour, beyond all measure, that you have bestowed on me. And I hope of your Highness that you will give me a piece of ground suitable for a pavilion that shall befit your daughter, the Lady Badr al-Budur."
The Sultan was struck with admiration when he saw Aladdin in his princely suit and looked at him and considered his beauty and loveliness, and noticed the mamelukes standing to serve him in their comeliness and good looks; and his wonder grew still more when Aladdin's mother came up to him in costly and sumptuous clothes, dressed as though she were a queen, and when he gazed at the twelve handmaids standing before her with folded arms, doing her service with all respect and reverence.
He noticed too Aladdin's eloquence and his delicacy of speech, and he was astounded at it, he and all his court who were present at the reception.
At this a fire was kindled in the Grand Vizier's heart out of envy of Aladdin, until he was ready to die of it; and it was worse when the Sultan, after hearing the youth's succession of prayers and seeing his high dignity of bearing — respectful with it — and his eloquence and elegance of language, clasped him to his bosom and kissed him and cried, "Alas, my son, that I have not enjoyed your conversation before this day!"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Sultan saw Aladdin in this fashion, he rejoiced in him with very great joy and immediately ordered the music and the bands to strike up; then he got up and, taking the youth, led him into the palace where supper had been prepared, and the eunuchs at once laid the tables.
So the sovereign sat down and seated his son-in-law at his right side, and the viziers and high officials and lords of the land took their places, each according to his rank; whereupon the bands played and a very fine wedding feast was spread out in the palace.
The King now applied himself to making friends with Aladdin and talked with the youth, who answered him with all courtesy and eloquence, as though he had been brought up in the palaces of kings or had lived among them all his life. And the longer the talk went on between them, the more the Sultan's pleasure and delight increased, hearing his son-in-law's readiness of reply and his sweet flow of language.
But after they had eaten and drunk and the trays had been taken away, the King ordered the judges and witnesses summoned; and they presently attended and knitted the knot and wrote out the contract between Aladdin and the Lady Badr al-Budur.
And presently the bridegroom got up and would have gone out, when his father-in-law held him back and asked, "Where are you off to, my child? The bridal feasts have begun and the marriage is made and the tie is tied and the deed is written."
He replied, "My lord the King, it is my wish to build for the Lady Badr al-Budur a pavilion befitting her station and high degree, nor can I visit her before I have done so. But, God willing, the building shall be finished in the shortest possible time, by the utmost efforts of your slave and by the kindly regard of your Highness. And although I do — yes indeed! — long to enjoy the society of the Lady Badr al-Budur, still it is my duty to serve her first, and it becomes me to set about the work at once."
"Look around you, my son," replied the Sultan, "for whatever ground you think suitable to your design, and take everything into your own hands; but I think the best for you will be that broad plain facing my palace, and, if it pleases you, build your pavilion on it."
"And this," answered Aladdin, "is the sum of my wishes, that I may be near your Highness."
So saying, he said farewell to the King and took horse, with his mamelukes riding before him and behind him, and all the world blessed him and cried, "By Allah, he deserves it!" until he reached his home.
Then he got down from his stallion and, going to his room, rubbed the Lamp; and behold, the slave stood before him and said, "Ask, my lord, whatever you want."
And Aladdin answered, "I require of you a grave and important service, which you must do for me; and it is that you build me, with all urgency, a pavilion facing the palace of the Sultan; and it must be a marvel, for it shall be provided with every requisite, such as royal furniture and so forth."
The slave replied, "To hear is to obey."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the slave vanished, and before the next dawn broke came back to Aladdin and said, "My lord, the pavilion is finished to the utmost of your fancy; and if you would like to inspect it, get up at once and come with me."
So he rose, and the slave carried him in the glance of an eye to the pavilion; which, when Aladdin looked at it, struck him with surprise at such building, all its stones being of jasper and alabaster and porphyry and mosaic work.
Then the slave led him into the treasury, which was full of gold and silver and costly gems of every kind, past counting or computing, pricing or estimating. From there to another place, where Aladdin saw everything needed for the tables — plates and dishes, spoons and ladles, basins and covers, cups and goblets, the whole of precious metal. From there to the kitchen, where they found the cooks provided with everything they needed and with cooking pans, likewise of gold and silver. From there to a storehouse piled with chests packed full of royal clothing, stuffs that captured the reason, such as gold-worked brocades from India and China and cloths embroidered with gold. From there to many apartments furnished beyond describing. From there to the stables, containing horses whose like was not to be met with among the kings of the universe; and lastly they went to the harness rooms, all hung with saddlecloths and costly saddles and other gear, studded everywhere with pearls and precious stones.
And all this was the work of a single night.
Aladdin was wonder-struck and astounded by that magnificent display of wealth, which not even the mightiest monarch on earth could have produced; and more so to see his pavilion fully provided with eunuchs and handmaids whose beauty would have seduced a saint.
Yet the chief marvel of the pavilion was an upper belvedere with twenty-four windows, all made of emeralds and rubies and other gems; and one window was left unfinished, at Aladdin's own requirement, so that the Sultan might prove himself unable to complete it.
When the youth had inspected the whole building he was exceedingly pleased and gladdened; then, turning to the slave, he said, "I require one thing more of you, which is still wanting and which I forgot to tell you of."
"Ask what you want, my lord," said the servant.
And the other said, "I ask of you a carpet of the finest brocade, all worked with gold, which, when it is unrolled and stretched out, shall reach from here to the Sultan's palace, so that the Lady Badr al-Budur, when she comes here, may walk upon it and not tread on the common earth."
The slave went away for a short while and said on his return, "My lord, truly what you asked for is here."
Then he took him and showed him a carpet that bewildered the wits, and it stretched from palace to pavilion; and after this the servant carried Aladdin off and set him down in his own home.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the slave, after showing Aladdin the carpet, carried him home.
Now the day was brightening, so the Sultan rose from his sleep and, throwing open the casement, looked out and saw, opposite his palace, a palatial pavilion ready built. At this he fell to rubbing his eyes and opening them their widest and studying the scene; and he was soon certain that the new building was very fine and grand enough to bewilder the wits. And with just as much amazement he saw the carpet spread out between palace and pavilion; and, like their lord, the royal doorkeepers and the whole household were dazed and amazed at the spectacle.
Meanwhile the Vizier came in, and as he entered he caught sight of the newly built pavilion and the carpet, at which he wondered too; and when he went in to the Sultan the two of them fell to talking about this marvellous matter, with great surprise at a sight that distracted the gazer and attracted the heart. They said at last, "In very truth, we think that none of the royalties could build the fellow of this pavilion."
And the King, turning to the minister, asked him, "Do you see now that Aladdin is worthy to be the husband of the Princess my daughter? Have you looked at and considered this right royal building, this magnificence of wealth, which the thought of man cannot contain?"
But the Vizier, in his envy of Aladdin, replied, "O King of the Age, truly this foundation and this building and this wealth cannot be except by means of magic; nor can any man in the world, be he the richest in goods or the greatest in power, manage to found and finish such a building as this in a single night."
The Sultan retorted, "I am surprised to see how you go on harping continually on your evil opinion of Aladdin; but I hold that it is caused by your envy and jealousy. You were present when I gave him the ground at his own request for a place where he might build a pavilion to lodge my daughter, and I myself favoured him with a site for it, and that too before your very face. But however that may be — shall a man who could send me such a store of such stones for the Princess's dowry, of which kings have never obtained even a few, shall he, I say, be unable to build a building like this?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Vizier heard the Sultan's words he knew that his lord loved Aladdin exceedingly; so his envy and malice increased; only, as he could do nothing against the youth, he sat silent and powerless to make any reply.
But Aladdin, seeing that it was broad day and that the appointed time had come for him to go to the palace — where his wedding was being celebrated, and where the emirs and viziers and grandees were gathered about the Sultan to be present at the ceremony — got up and rubbed the Lamp; and when its slave appeared and said, "My lord, ask whatever you want, for I stand before you and at your service," he said, "I mean to go to the palace at once, this day being my wedding festival, and I want you to supply me with ten thousand dinars."
The slave vanished for the twinkling of an eye and came back bringing the money; whereupon Aladdin took horse with his mamelukes before and behind him and rode on his way, scattering gold pieces among the people as he went, until they were all fondly disposed towards him and his dignity was enhanced.
But when he drew near the palace, and the emirs and officers and army officers who were standing to await him noticed his approach, they hurried straight to the King and gave him the news; whereupon the Sultan rose and went to meet his son-in-law, and after embracing and kissing him led him, still holding his hand, into his own apartment, where he sat down and seated him at his right side.
The city was all decorated, and music rang through the palace and the singers sang, until the King ordered the midday meal brought, when the eunuchs and mamelukes hurried to spread the tables and trays, which were such as are served to kings.
Then the Sultan and Aladdin and the lords of the land and the grandees of the realm took their seats and ate and drank until they were satisfied. And it was a very fine wedding, in city and palace alike, and the high nobles all rejoiced in it and the common people of the kingdom were just as gladdened, while the governors of provinces and rulers of districts flocked in from far regions to see Aladdin's marriage and its processions and festivities.
The Sultan too marvelled in his mind to look at Aladdin's mother and to remember how she used to visit him in her poverty-stricken state, while her son could command all this wealth and magnificence.
And when the spectators who crowded the royal palace to enjoy the wedding feasts looked at Aladdin's pavilion and the beauties of the building, they were seized with immense surprise that so vast a building as this could have been raised up in a single night; and they blessed the youth and cried, "Allah gladden him! By Allah, he deserves all this! Allah bless his days!"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when dinner was over, Aladdin rose and, taking his leave of the Sultan, took horse with his mamelukes and rode to his own pavilion to prepare to receive his bride, the Lady Badr al-Budur, in it.
And as he passed, all the people shouted their good wishes with one voice, and their words were, "Allah gladden you! Allah increase your glory! Allah grant you length of life!" while immense crowds gathered to swell the marriage procession; and they escorted him to his new home, he showering gold on them the whole time.
When he reached his pavilion he dismounted and walked in and sat down on the divan, while his mamelukes stood before him with folded arms; and after a short delay they brought him sherbets; and when these had been drunk, he ordered his white slaves and handmaids and eunuchs and everybody in the pavilion to make ready to receive the Lady Badr al-Budur.
Moreover, as soon as mid-afternoon came and the air had cooled and the great heat of the sun had lessened, the Sultan ordered his army officers and emirs and viziers to go down to the plain of the maydan, where he rode too. And Aladdin also took horse with his mamelukes, mounting a stallion whose like was not among the horses of the Arabs of Arabia; and he showed his horsemanship on the parade ground and so played at the javelin game that nobody could withstand him — while his bride sat watching him from the latticed balcony of her bower and, seeing in him such beauty and such horsemanship, fell headlong in love with him and was ready to fly for joy.
And after they had ridden their horses in rings on the maydan, and each had displayed what he could of horsemanship, and Aladdin had proved himself the best man of them all, they rode in a body to the Sultan's palace, and the youth went back to his own pavilion.
But when evening came, the viziers and nobles took the bridegroom and, falling into order, escorted him to the royal baths, where he was bathed and perfumed. As soon as he came out he put on a dress more magnificent than the last and took horse, with the emirs and the officers riding before him and forming a grand procession, in which four of the viziers carried naked swords about him. All the citizens and the strangers and the troops marched before him in ordered throng, carrying wax candles and kettledrums and pipes and other instruments of mirth and merriment, until they escorted him to his pavilion.
Here he dismounted and walked in and took his seat, and seated the viziers and emirs who had escorted him; and the mamelukes brought sherbets and sugared drinks, which they also passed to the people who had followed in his train. It was a world of people, past all telling; and with it all Aladdin ordered his mamelukes to stand outside the pavilion doors and shower gold on the crowd.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Sultan came back from the plain of the maydan to his palace, he ordered the household, men and women alike, to form a cavalcade at once for his daughter, with all ceremony, and carry her to her bridegroom's pavilion.
So the nobles and officers who had followed and escorted the bridegroom mounted at once, and the handmaids and eunuchs went out with wax candles and made a very fine procession for the Lady Badr al-Budur; and they paced on in front of her until they came into Aladdin's pavilion, with Aladdin's mother walking beside the bride. In front of the Princess went the wives of the viziers and emirs, grandees and notables; and in attendance on her were the forty-eight slave girls presented to her before by her bridegroom, each holding in her hand a huge candle scented with camphor and ambergris and set in a candlestick of gem-studded gold.
And reaching Aladdin's pavilion they led her to her bower in the upper storey and changed her robes and enthroned her; then, as soon as the displaying was over, they took her to Aladdin's apartments, and presently he paid her the first visit.
Now his mother was with the bride; and when the bridegroom came up and took off her veil, the old lady fell to studying the beauty of the Princess and her loveliness; and she looked around at the pavilion, which was all lit up by gold and gems, besides the many candelabra of precious metals encrusted with emeralds and jacinths. So she said in her mind, "Once upon a time I thought the Sultan's palace was very fine; but this pavilion is a thing apart. Nor do I believe that any of the greatest kings of Persia ever attained anything like it in his day; and I am certain that all the world together could not build a match for it."
And no less did the Lady Badr al-Budur fall to gazing at the pavilion and marvelling at its magnificence.
Then the tables were spread, and they all ate and drank and were gladdened; after which eighty girls came before them, each holding an instrument of mirth and merriment in her hand; and then they moved their fingertips deftly and touched the strings, striking them into song, most musical and most melancholy, until they tore the hearts of the hearers.
At this the Princess marvelled more than ever, and said to herself, "In all my life I never heard songs like these" — until she left off eating, the better to listen.
And at last Aladdin poured out wine for her and passed it to her with his own hand; so great joy and jubilation went round among them, and it was a notable night, such a one as Alexander, Lord of the Two Horns, never spent in his time.
When they had finished eating and drinking and the tables had been taken away from before them, Aladdin got up and went in to his bride.
As soon as morning came he left his bed, and the treasurer brought him a costly suit and a very fine one, of the most sumptuous robes worn by kings. Then, after drinking coffee flavoured with ambergris, he ordered the horses saddled and, mounting with his mamelukes before and behind him, rode to the Sultan's palace; and as he came into its courtyard the eunuchs went in and reported his coming to their lord.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Sultan heard of Aladdin's approach he got up at once to receive him, and embraced and kissed him as though he were his own son; then, seating him at his right, he blessed and prayed for him, as did the viziers and emirs, the lords of the land and the grandees of the realm.
Presently the King ordered the morning meal brought, which the attendants served up; and they all broke their fast together; and when they had eaten and drunk their fill and the tables had been taken away by the eunuchs, Aladdin turned to the Sultan and said, "My lord, would your Highness be pleased to honour me today at dinner in the house of the Lady Badr al-Budur, your beloved daughter, and to come accompanied by all your ministers and the grandees of the realm?"
The King replied — and he was delighted with his son-in-law — "You are surpassing in liberality, my son!"
Then he gave orders to all those invited and rode out with them, Aladdin riding beside him, until they reached the pavilion; and as he went in and considered its construction, its architecture and its stonework, all jasper and carnelian, his sight was dazed and his wits amazed at such grandeur and magnificence of wealth.
Then, turning to the minister, he said, "What do you say? Tell me, have you ever in all your time seen anything like this among the mightiest of earth's monarchs, for the abundance of gold and gems we are looking at now?"
The Grand Vizier replied, "My lord the King, this is a feat that cannot be accomplished by the might of any monarch among the sons of Adam; nor could all the peoples of the whole world put together build a palace like this; no, not even builders could be found to make anything resembling it, except — as I said to your Highness — by force of sorcery."
These words made the King certain that his minister spoke from nothing but envy and jealousy of Aladdin, and wanted to establish in the royal mind that all this splendour was not made by man but by means of magic and with the aid of the black art. So he said to him, "That is enough from you, Vizier: you have no other word to say, and I know very well what cause drives you to say what you say."
Then Aladdin went ahead of the Sultan until he had led him to the upper belvedere, where he saw its skylights, windows and latticed casements and shutters wholly made of emeralds and rubies and other costly gems; at which his mind was perplexed and his wits bewildered and his thoughts distracted.
Presently he took to strolling round the belvedere and enjoying these sights that captured the eye, until he happened to cast a glance at the window that Aladdin had deliberately left unworked and unfinished like the rest; and when he noticed that it was incomplete he cried, "Woe and alas for you, window, for your imperfection!"
And, turning to his minister, he asked, "Do you know the reason for leaving this window and its frame incomplete?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Vizier said to the Sultan, "My lord, I imagine that the want of finish in this window comes of your Highness having pushed on Aladdin's marriage, so that he had no leisure to complete it."
Now at that time Aladdin had gone in to his bride, the Lady Badr al-Budur, to tell her that her father was there; and when he came back the King asked him, "My son, what is the reason that the window of this belvedere was not made perfect?"
"O King of the Age, seeing how sudden my wedding was," he answered, "I could not find craftsmen to finish it."
The Sultan said, "I have a mind to complete it myself."
And Aladdin said, "Allah perpetuate your glory, O King; so shall your memory endure in your daughter's pavilion."
The Sultan immediately ordered jewellers and goldsmiths summoned, and gave orders that they should be supplied from the treasury with everything they needed of gold and gems and precious ores; and when they were gathered together he commanded them to complete the work still wanting in the belvedere window.
Meanwhile the Princess came out to meet her father the Sultan, who noticed her smiling face as she drew near; so he embraced her and kissed her, and then led her into the pavilion, and they all went in together.
Now this was the hour of the midday meal, and one table had been spread for the sovereign, his daughter and his son-in-law, and a second for the viziers, the lords of the land, the grandees of the realm, the chief officers of the army, the chamberlains and the officials.
The King took his seat between the Princess and her husband; and when he put out his hand to the food and tasted it, he was struck with surprise at the flavour of the dishes and their savoury and sumptuous cooking. Moreover, there stood before him the eighty girls, each and every one of them saying to the full moon, "Get up, and let me sit in your place!" All held instruments of mirth and merriment, and they tuned them and deftly moved their fingertips and struck the strings into song, most musical and most melodious, which expanded the heart of any mourner.
At this the Sultan was gladdened and the time was good to him; and in his high enjoyment he exclaimed, "In very truth this thing is beyond the compass of King or Caesar."
Then they fell to eating and drinking, and the cup went round until they had drunk enough, when sweetmeats and fruits of all sorts and other such things were served, the dessert being laid out in a different room, to which they moved and enjoyed these pleasures to their satisfaction.
Presently the Sultan got up to see whether the work of his jewellers and goldsmiths matched that of the pavilion; so he went upstairs to them and inspected their work and how they had done it; but he noticed a very great difference, and his men were far from being able to make anything like the rest of Aladdin's pavilion.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that after the King had inspected the work of his jewellers and goldsmiths, they told him how all the gems stored in the Lesser Treasury had been brought to them and used, and that the whole lot had proved insufficient; whereupon he ordered the Greater Treasury opened and gave the workmen everything they wanted of him. Moreover he allowed them, if that was not enough, to take the jewels Aladdin had given him.
They carried off the whole lot and pushed on with their labours, but they found the gems failing them, even though they had not yet finished half of what was wanting to the belvedere window. At this the King ordered them to seize all the precious stones owned by the viziers and grandees of the realm; but although they did as he bade them, the supply still fell short of what they needed.
Next morning Aladdin got up to look at the jewellers' work, and noticed that they had not finished half of what was wanting to the belvedere window; so he ordered them at once to undo everything they had done and give the jewels back to their owners.
So they pulled out the precious stones and sent the Sultan's to the Sultan and the viziers' to the viziers. Then the jewellers went to the King and told him what Aladdin had ordered; so he asked them, "What did he say to you, and what was his reason, and why was he not content to have the window finished, and why did he undo the work you had done?"
They answered, "Our lord, we have no idea at all; he simply told us to take out everything we had done."
At this the Sultan called for his horse at once and, mounting, took the road to the pavilion; while Aladdin, having dismissed the goldsmiths and jewellers, had gone into his private room and rubbed the Lamp.
At this its servant appeared to him at once and said, "Ask whatever you want: your slave is between your hands."
And Aladdin said, "It is my wish that you finish the window that was left unfinished."
The marid replied, "On my head be it, and on my eyes!" — and then vanished, and after a little while came back saying, "My lord, truly what you commanded me to do is done."
So Aladdin went upstairs to the belvedere and found the whole window in a wholly finished state; and while he was still studying it, behold, a eunuch came in to him and said, "My lord, the Sultan has ridden out to visit you and is coming through the pavilion gate."
So Aladdin went straight down and received his father-in-law.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Sultan, on catching sight of his son-in-law, cried to him, "Why, my child, have you done this, and not let the jewellers complete the belvedere window, leaving an unfinished place in the pavilion?"
Aladdin replied, "O King of the Age, I left it imperfect only for a design of my own; nor was I incapable of perfecting it, nor could I intend that your Highness should honour me by visiting a pavilion in which there was anything deficient. And so that you may know I am not unable to make it perfect, let your Highness be pleased to walk upstairs with me and see whether anything remains to be done to it or not."
So the Sultan went up with him and, entering the belvedere, fell to looking right and left; but he saw no fault at all in any of the windows — no, he noticed that they were all perfect. So he marvelled at the sight and embraced Aladdin and kissed him, saying, "My son, what is this extraordinary feat? You can do in a single night what the jewellers could not do in months. By Allah, I believe you have neither brother nor rival in this world."
Aladdin said, "Allah prolong your life and preserve you for ever! Your slave does not deserve such praise."
And the King said, "By Allah, my child, you deserve all praise for a feat that all the craftsmen of the world were incapable of."
Then the Sultan came down and went into the apartments of his daughter the Lady Badr al-Budur to take a rest beside her, and he saw that she was exceedingly joyful at the glory and grandeur she lived in; and then, after resting a while, he went back to his palace.
Now Aladdin used to go through the city streets every day with his mamelukes riding in front of him and behind him, showering gold right and left upon the people; and all the world, stranger and neighbour, far and near, was filled with love of him for the excess of his liberality and generosity.
Moreover he increased the pensions of the poor religious and the paupers, and he would distribute alms to them with his own hand; by which good deed he won a high reputation throughout the realm; and most of the lords of the land and the emirs would eat at his table, and men swore by nothing except his precious life.
Nor did he leave off going out to the chase and to the parade ground, and riding horses and playing at the javelin game in the Sultan's presence; and whenever the Lady Badr al-Budur watched him disporting himself on horseback, she loved him all the more, and thought to herself that Allah had done her abundant good by causing what happened with the Vizier's son to happen, and by preserving her virginity intact for her true bridegroom, Aladdin.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin won for himself a fairer fame and a rarer reputation day by day, while affection for him increased in the hearts of all the people and he grew greater in the eyes of men.
Moreover it happened in those days that certain enemies took horse and attacked the Sultan, who armed and equipped an army to drive them off and made Aladdin its commander. So he marched out with his men and did not stop marching until he drew near the enemy, whose forces were exceedingly many; and presently, when the action began, he bared his sword and charged home upon them.
Then battle and slaughter broke out and violent was the uproar; but at last Aladdin broke the hostile host and put them all to flight, killing the best part of them and plundering their money and cattle, their property and possessions; and he despoiled them of spoils that could not be counted or computed.
Then he came back victorious after a noble victory, and entered the capital, which had decorated herself in his honour out of her delight in him; and the Sultan went out to meet him and, congratulating him, embraced him and kissed him; and throughout the kingdom high festival was held with great joy and gladness.
Presently the sovereign and his son-in-law went to the pavilion, where they were met by the Princess Badr al-Budur, who rejoiced in her husband and, after kissing him between the eyes, led him to her apartments. After a time the Sultan came too, and they sat down while the slave girls brought them sherbets and confections, which they ate and drank.
Then the Sultan commanded that the whole kingdom be decorated for the triumph of his son-in-law and his victory over the invader; and the subjects and the soldiery and all the people knew only Allah in heaven and Aladdin on earth; for their love, won by his liberality, was increased by his noble horsemanship and his successful fighting for the country and putting the enemy to flight.
Such, then, was the high fortune of Aladdin. But as for the Moroccan magician, after going back to his own country he spent all this time bewailing what he had endured of toil and travail to win the Lamp, and above all that his trouble had gone for nothing and that the morsel, when it was almost at his lips, had flown out of his grasp.
He pondered all this and mourned and reviled Aladdin out of the excess of his rage against him; and at times he would exclaim, "I am well satisfied with this bastard's death underground, and I only hope that at some time or other I may get hold of the Lamp, seeing how it is still safe."
Now one day he struck a table of sand and dotted down the figures and carefully considered what they came to; then he transferred them to paper so that he might study them and make sure of Aladdin's destruction and of the safety of the Lamp preserved beneath the earth. Presently he firmly established the sequence of the figures, mothers as well as daughters, but still he did not see the Lamp.
At this rage overrode him, and he made another trial to be sure of Aladdin's death; but he did not see him in the enchanted treasure. At this his anger grew still more, and it grew greater when he ascertained that the youth had come up out of the ground and was now on the surface of the earth alive and alert — and furthermore, that he had become the owner of the Lamp, for which he himself had endured such toil and travail and troubles as a man cannot bear except for so great an object.
So he said to himself, "I have suffered pains and penalties that nobody else could have endured, for the sake of the Lamp, only for somebody other than me to carry it off; and this accursed boy has taken it without any difficulty. And who knows whether he knows the virtues of the Lamp, than whose owner nobody in the world should be wealthier?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan magician, having considered and ascertained that Aladdin had escaped from the vault and had got the prize of the Lamp, said to himself, "There is nothing for it but that I work for his destruction."
He then struck another geomantic table and, examining the figures, saw that the lad had won himself immeasurable riches and had married the daughter of his King; so, out of envy and jealousy, he was fired with the flame of wrath; and, getting up without let or delay, he equipped himself and set out for China, where he arrived in due season.
Now when he had reached the King's capital, where Aladdin was, he put up at one of the caravanserais; and when he had rested from the weariness of the journey he put on his clothes and went down to wander about the streets, where he never passed a group without hearing them chattering about the pavilion and its grandeur and praising Aladdin's beauty, his good looks, his liberality and generosity, his fine manners and his good morals.
Presently he went into an establishment where men were drinking a certain warm beverage; and, going up to one of those who were loud in their praises, he said to him, "Fine young man, who may this be that you all describe and commend?"
"Evidently you are a foreigner," answered the other, "and you have come from a far country. But even granting that, how does it happen that you have not heard of the Emir Aladdin, whose renown, I fancy, has filled the universe, and whose pavilion, known by report to far and near, is one of the Wonders of the World? How, then, has nothing of this ever come to your ears, nor the name of Aladdin — whose glory and enjoyment may our Lord increase! — nor his fame?"
The Moroccan replied, "The sum of my wishes is to look upon this pavilion; and if you would do me a favour, please guide me to it, for I am a foreigner."
The man answered, "To hear is to obey"; and, going ahead of him, pointed out Aladdin's pavilion; whereupon the Moroccan fell to studying it and understood at once that it was the work of the Lamp.
So he cried, "Ah! Ah! I must dig a pit for this accursed boy, this son of a tailor, who could not once earn himself so much as an evening meal; and if the Fates help me, I will certainly destroy his life and send his mother back to spinning at her wheel, as she used to do before."
So saying, he went back to his caravanserai in a sorry state of grief and melancholy and regret, bred by his envy and hatred of Aladdin.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Moroccan magician got back to his caravanserai he took his astrological gear and his geomantic table to discover where the Lamp might be; and he found that it was in the pavilion and not on Aladdin's person. So he rejoiced at this exceedingly and exclaimed, "Now indeed it will be an easy task to take the life of this accursed boy, and I see my way to getting the Lamp."
Then he went to a coppersmith and said to him, "Make me a set of lamps, and take the full price of them from me and more; only I would have you hurry to finish them."
The smith replied, "Hearing and obeying," and fell to work to keep his word; and when they were ready the Moroccan paid him what price he asked; then, taking them, he carried them to the inn and set them in a basket.
Presently he began wandering about the highways and market streets of the capital, crying aloud, "New lamps for old! Ho! Who will give old lamps for new lamps?"
But when people heard him crying in this fashion they laughed at him and said, "No doubt this man is jinn-mad, going about offering new for old"; and a whole world followed him, and the children of the quarter chased him from place to place laughing at him, and he neither forbade them nor cared how they treated him.
And he did not stop strolling about the streets until he came under Aladdin's pavilion, where he shouted at the top of his voice, and the boys screamed after him, "A madman! A madman!"
Now Destiny had decreed that the Lady Badr al-Budur should be sitting in her belvedere, from which she heard somebody crying like a crier and the children bawling at him; only she did not understand what was going on. So she gave orders to one of her slave girls, saying, "Go and see who it is that is crying, and what his cry is."
The girl went out and looked, and saw a man crying, "New lamps for old! Ho! Who will give old lamps for new lamps?" — and the little ones chasing him and laughing at him; and the Princess laughed as loudly when this strange business was told to her.
Now Aladdin had carelessly left the Lamp in his pavilion without hiding it and locking it up in his strongbox; and one of the slave girls who had seen it said, "My lady, I think I noticed an old lamp in my lord Aladdin's apartment; so let us give it in exchange for a new lamp to this man, and see whether his cry is truth or a lie."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that at this the Princess said to the slave girl, "Bring me the old lamp you say you saw in your lord's apartment."
Now the Lady Badr al-Budur knew nothing about the Lamp and its peculiar properties, which had raised Aladdin her husband to such high rank and grandeur; and her only end and aim was to find out by experiment what was in the mind of a man who would give new in exchange for old.
So the handmaid went out and up to Aladdin's apartment and came back with the Lamp to her lady, who, like all the rest of them, knew nothing of the Moroccan's cunning tricks and his crafty device.
Then the Princess ordered one of the eunuch officers to go down and barter the old lamp for a new one. So he obeyed her order and, after taking a new lamp from the man, came back and laid it before his lady; who, looking at it and seeing that it was brand new, fell to laughing at the Moroccan's wits.
But the Moroccan, when he had the thing in his hand and recognised it for the Lamp of the enchanted treasury, put it at once into his breast pocket and left all the other lamps to the people who were bartering with him.
Then he went off running until he was clear of the city, when he walked at leisure over the level ground; and he waited patiently until night fell on him in open country where there was nobody but himself.
There he brought out the Lamp, when suddenly the marid appeared to him and said, "Here I am! Your slave stands between your hands: ask of me whatever you want."
"It is my desire," the Moroccan replied, "that you lift up Aladdin's pavilion from where it is now, with the people in it and everything it contains — not forgetting me — and set it down in my own land, Africa. You know my town, and I want the building placed in the gardens close by it."
The marid slave replied, "Hearing and obedience: shut your eyes and open your eyes, and you will find yourself together with the pavilion in your own country."
This was done; and in the twinkling of an eye the Moroccan and the pavilion and everything in it were carried away to the land of Africa.
Such, then, was the work of the Moroccan magician. But now let us go back to the Sultan and his son-in-law.
It was the custom of the King, because of his attachment to his daughter and his affection for her, every morning when he had shaken off sleep to open the latticed casement and look out from it, so that he might catch sight of where she lived. So that day he got up and did as he always did.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Sultan came up to the latticed casement of his palace and looked out towards Aladdin's pavilion, he saw nothing at all: no, the site was smooth as a well-trodden highway and just as it had been before, and he could find neither building nor outbuildings.
So astonishment covered him like a garment, and his wits were bewildered, and he began rubbing his eyes in case they were dimmed or darkened, and gazing intently; but at last he was certain that no trace of the pavilion remained and no sign that it had ever been, nor did he know the why or the wherefore of its disappearance.
So his surprise increased and he struck hand upon hand, and the tears trickled down his cheeks over his beard, because he did not know what had become of his daughter. Then he sent out officials at once and summoned the Grand Vizier, who attended immediately; and, seeing him in this pitiable state, said, "Pardon, O King of the Age; may Allah keep every ill from you! Why are you in such sorrow?"
The sovereign exclaimed, "I suppose you do not know what has happened to me?"
And the minister said, "Not at all, our lord: by Allah, I know nothing whatever about it."
"Then," resumed the Sultan, "it is plain you have not looked in the direction of Aladdin's pavilion today."
"True, my lord," said the Vizier; "it must still be locked and fast shut."
And the King said, "Since you have no inkling of anything, get up and look out of the window and see Aladdin's pavilion, that you say is locked and fast shut."
The minister obeyed him, but he could see nothing at all, neither pavilion nor anything else; so, with mind and thoughts sorely perplexed, he came back to his liege lord, who asked him, "Have you learned the reason of my distress now, and noticed that palace of yours, locked and fast shut?"
The Vizier answered, "O King of the Age, some time ago I represented to your Highness that this pavilion and all these matters were magic."
At this the Sultan, fired with anger, cried, "Where is Aladdin?"
And the minister replied, "He has gone hunting."
Whereupon the King commanded, without pause or delay, that certain of his officers and army officers should go and bring his son-in-law to him chained and with his elbows pinioned.
So they went out until they found Aladdin, when they said to him, "Our lord Aladdin, excuse us and do not be angry with us; for the King has commanded that we carry you before him pinioned and fettered, and we hope for pardon from you, because we are under royal orders which we cannot go against."
Aladdin, hearing these words, was seized with surprise; and, not knowing the reason for it, remained tongue-tied for a time; after which he turned to them and asked, "Good people, do you know nothing at all about the motive for the royal command? I know very well that my soul is innocent, and that I have never sinned against king or against kingdom."
"Our lord," they answered, "we have no idea whatever."
So Aladdin got down from his horse and said to them, "Do whatever the Sultan told you to do, for the King's command is upon the head and the eyes."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the officers, having bound Aladdin and pinioned his elbows behind his back, dragged him along in chains and carried him into the city.
But when the people saw him pinioned and in irons, they understood that the Sultan meant to strike off his head; and, since they loved him exceedingly, they all gathered together and seized their weapons; and then, swarming out of their houses, followed the soldiers to see what was going on.
And when the troops arrived with Aladdin at the palace they went in and informed the Sultan, whereupon he immediately commanded the executioner to cut off his son-in-law's head.
Now as soon as the subjects knew of this order they barricaded the gates and shut the doors of the palace and sent a message to the King, saying, "At this very moment we will level your house over the heads of everybody in it and over your own, if the least hurt or harm comes to Aladdin."
So the Vizier went in and reported to the Sultan, "O King of the Age, your command is about to seal the roll of our lives; and it would be better if you pardoned your son-in-law, in case some sore mischance comes upon us; for the people love him far more than they love us."
Now the executioner had already spread out the carpet of blood and, having seated Aladdin on it, had bandaged his eyes; moreover he had walked round him several times, waiting for his lord's last orders, when the King looked out of the window and saw his subjects — who had suddenly attacked him — swarming up the walls and meaning to tear them down.
So he immediately ordered the executioner to stay his hand from Aladdin, and commanded the crier to go out to the crowd and cry aloud that he had pardoned his son-in-law and taken him back into favour.
But when Aladdin found himself free and saw the Sultan seated on his throne, he went up to him and said, "My lord, since your Highness has favoured me all my life, be pleased of your grace to let me know now how and in what I have sinned against you."
"Traitor," cried the King, "until this moment I knew of no sin of yours"; then, turning to the Vizier, he said, "Take him and make him look out of the window, and afterwards let him tell us where his pavilion is."
And when the royal order was obeyed, Aladdin saw the place as level as a well-trodden road, exactly as it had been before the foundation of the building was laid, without the faintest trace of any building at all.
At this he was astonished and perplexed, not knowing what had happened; but when he came back into the presence the King asked him, "What is it you have seen? Where is your pavilion, and where is my daughter, the core of my heart, my only child, than whom I have no other?"
Aladdin answered, "O King of the Age, I know nothing of it, nor anything of what has happened."
And the Sultan retorted, "You must understand, Aladdin, that I have pardoned you only so that you may go out and look into this affair and enquire after my daughter for me. And never show yourself in my presence unless she is with you; and if you do not bring her, by the life of my head I will cut off your head."
The other replied, "To hear is to obey: only grant me a delay and respite of forty days; after which, if I do not produce her, strike off my head and do with me whatever you wish."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Sultan said to Aladdin, "Truly I have granted your request, a delay of forty days; but do not imagine you can fly out of my hand, for I would bring you back even if you were above the clouds instead of only on the surface of the earth."
Aladdin replied, "My lord the Sultan, as I said to your Highness, if I fail to bring her within the appointed term I will present myself to have my head struck off."
Now when the people and all the subjects saw Aladdin at liberty they rejoiced exceedingly and were delighted at his release; but the shame of his treatment, and his embarrassment before his friends, and the envious exultation of his enemies had bowed down Aladdin's head; so he went off wandering through the streets of the city, perplexed about his situation and not knowing what had happened to him.
He lingered about the capital for two days in the saddest state, not knowing what to do to find his wife and his pavilion; and during this time various people privately brought him food and drink.
When the two days were over he left the city to wander about the waste and open lands outside the walls, with no notion where he ought to go; and he walked on aimlessly until the path brought him beside a river, where, under the stress of the sorrow that overwhelmed him, he gave himself up to despair and thought of throwing himself into the water.
Being, however, a good Muslim who professed the unity of the Godhead, he feared Allah in his soul; and, standing on the bank, he prepared to perform the ritual ablution. But as he was scooping up the water in his right hand and rubbing his fingers, it so happened that he also rubbed the Ring.
At this its marid appeared and said to him, "Here I am! Your slave stands between your hands: ask of me whatever you want."
Seeing the marid, Aladdin rejoiced exceedingly and cried, "Slave, I want you to bring my pavilion before me, and my wife the Lady Badr al-Budur in it, together with everything it contains."
"My lord," replied the marid, "it is very hard on me that you ask a service I cannot manage: this matter depends on the Slave of the Lamp, and I dare not even attempt it."
Aladdin answered, "Since the matter is beyond your competence, I do not require it of you; but at least take me up and set me down beside my pavilion, in whatever land that may be."
The slave exclaimed, "Hearing and obeying, my lord"; and, lifting him high in the air, in the space of a glance set him down beside his pavilion in the land of Africa, at a spot facing his wife's apartment.
Now this was at nightfall; yet one look was enough for him to recognise his home; whereby his cares and worries were cleared away, and he recovered his trust in Allah, after having cut off all hope of ever seeing his wife again.
Then he fell to pondering the secret and mysterious favours of the Lord (glorified be His omnipotence!), and how, after despair had mastered him, the Ring had come to gladden him; and how, when all his hopes were cut off, Allah had been pleased to bless him with the services of its slave.
So he rejoiced and his melancholy left him; and then, since he had gone four days without sleep for the excess of his cares and sorrows and the stress of his thoughts, he went up close to his pavilion and slept under a tree beside the building, which, as we said, had been set down among the gardens outside the city of Africa.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eightieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin lay that night under a tree beside his pavilion in complete restfulness; but a man who carries his head next door to the headsman cannot sleep at night except when slumber gets the better of him.
He slumbered until Morning showed her face; and when he was woken by the warbling of the small birds he got up and went down to the bank of the river that ran past there into the city; and here he washed his hands and face again and afterwards finished his ablution. Then he prayed the dawn prayer; and when he had ended his devotions he came back and sat down under the windows of the Princess's bower.
Now the Lady Badr al-Budur, out of her extreme sorrow at being parted from her husband and her father the Sultan, and at the great misfortune that had come upon her from the accursed Moroccan magician, had got into the habit of rising in the darkness before dawn and sitting in tears, since she could not sleep at nights and had sworn off food and drink.
Her favourite slave girl used to come into her chamber at the hour of the prayer salutation in order to dress her; and this time, by the decree of Destiny, when she threw open the window to let her lady comfort and console herself by looking at the trees and the streams, and peered out of the lattice herself, she caught sight of her master sitting below, and told the Princess, saying, "My lady! My lady! Here is my lord Aladdin sitting at the foot of the wall!"
So her mistress got up hurriedly and, gazing from the casement, saw him; and her husband, raising his head, saw her; so she greeted him and he greeted her, both of them ready to fly for joy.
Presently she said, "Up and come in to me by the private side door, for the accursed man is not here now"; and she gave orders to the slave girl, who went down and opened it for him.
Then Aladdin came through it and was met by his wife, and they embraced and exchanged kisses with all delight until they wept for sheer joy.
After this they sat down, and Aladdin said to her, "My lady, before anything else it is my wish to ask you a question. I used to keep an old copper lamp in a certain part of my pavilion; what became of it?"
When the Princess heard these words she sighed and cried, "My darling, it was that very Lamp that made us fall into this calamity!"
Aladdin asked her, "How did the affair happen?"
And she answered by recounting to him everything that had passed, first and last, and especially how they had given an old lamp in exchange for a new one, adding, "And the next day we had hardly seen one another at dawn before we found ourselves in this country; and the man who deceived us and took the lamp by way of barter told me that he had done the deed by the might of his magic and by means of the Lamp; that he is a Moor from Africa; and that we are now in his native country."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Lady Badr al-Budur had finished speaking, Aladdin went on, "Tell me what this accursed man intends with regard to you; also what he says to you, and what he wants of you."
She replied, "He comes to visit me once every day and no more. He would woo me to his love, and he begs me to take him for my husband instead of you, and to forget you and console myself for the loss of you. And he tells me that the Sultan my father has cut off my husband's head, adding that you, the son of poor parents, were made rich by him. And he coaxes me with talk; but he never gets anything from me except weeping and wailing, nor has he heard one sugar-sweet word from me."
Aladdin said, "Tell me where he has put the Lamp, if you know anything about it."
And she said, "He carries it about on his body always, nor is it possible for him to leave it for a single hour; and moreover, once, when he was telling me what I have just told you, he brought it out of his breast pocket and let me look at it."
When Aladdin heard these words he rejoiced exceedingly and said, "My lady, listen to me. It is my plan to go away from you at once, and to come back only after changing these clothes of mine; so do not be surprised when you see me altered, but tell one of your women to stand by the private side door all the time, and to open it the moment she sees me coming. And now I will contrive a scheme for killing this damned fool."
With that he got up and, going out of the pavilion door, walked on until he met a farm labourer on the way, to whom he said, "Man, take my clothes and give me your garments."
But the peasant refused; so Aladdin stripped him of his clothes by force and put them on, leaving the man his own rich gear by way of a gift.
Then he followed the highway leading to the neighbouring city, and, entering it, went to the perfumers' bazaar, where he bought from one of them some rarely potent bhang, the kind that works in a minute, paying two dinars for two drams of it; and he came back in disguise by the same road until he reached the pavilion.
Here the slave girl opened the private side door to him, and he went in to the Lady Badr al-Budur.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when Aladdin came in disguised to his wife he said:
"Listen to me. I want you to dress and adorn yourself in your best and cast off every outward show and appearance of care; and when the accursed Moroccan visits you, receive him with a 'Welcome and fair welcome,' and meet him with a smiling face, and invite him to come and have supper with you. Moreover, let him see that you have forgotten Aladdin your beloved, and your father too, and that you have learned to love him with a great love, showing him every kind of joy and pleasure.
"Then ask him for wine, which must be red, and pledge him to his secret wishes in a meaningful draught; and when you have given him two or three cupfuls and made him careless, then drop these drops into his cup and fill it up with wine. He will no sooner drink it than he will fall on his back senseless as a dead man."
Hearing these words, the Princess exclaimed, "It is exceedingly hard for me to do such a thing; and yet I must do it, so that we may escape the defilement of this accursed man who tortured me by parting me from you and from my father. So the killing of this accursed man is lawful and right."
Then Aladdin ate and drank with his wife enough to keep off his hunger, and then, getting up without pause or delay, went out of the pavilion.
So the Lady Badr al-Budur summoned her tirewoman, who robed her and arrayed her in her finest clothes and adorned her and perfumed her; and while she was like this, behold, the accursed Moroccan came in.
He was greatly delighted to see her in such a state, and more delighted still when she faced him, quite against her custom, with a laughing face; and his love-longing increased, and his desire to have her.
Then she took him and, seating him beside her, said, "My darling, do come to me tonight, if you are willing, and let us have supper together. My sorrow has been enough for me; for if I were to sit mourning for a thousand years or even two thousand, Aladdin would never come back to me from the tomb. And I rely on what you said yesterday, namely that my father the Sultan killed him in his stress of sorrow at being parted from me.
"And do not be surprised that I am changed today from what I was yesterday; the reason for it is that I have decided to take you for my friend and companion in Aladdin's place and succession, for now I have no other man but you. So I hope for your company tonight, that we may have supper together and drink a little wine with one another; and especially I should like you to let me taste the wine of your native soil, the land of Africa, because it may well be better than any of the wine of China that we drink. I have some wine by me, but it is the growth of my own country, and I very much want to taste what yours produces."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that when the Moroccan saw the love lavished on him by the Lady Badr al-Budur, and noticed how changed she was from the sorrowful, melancholy woman she used to be, he thought she had cut off all hope of Aladdin; and he was overjoyed and said to her, "I hear and obey, my lady, whatever you wish and everything you command. I have at home a jar of our country's wine, which I have carefully kept and stored deep in the earth for eight years; and I will go now and fill our need from it and come back to you in all haste."
But the Princess, so as to wheedle him more and more, replied, "My darling, do not go and leave me alone; send one of the eunuchs to fill some for us, and stay sitting here beside me, so that I may find my consolation in you."
He answered, "My lady, nobody knows where the jar is buried but myself, and I will not be long away from you."
So saying, the Moroccan went out, and after a short time brought back as much wine as they wanted; whereupon the Princess said to him, "You have taken pains and trouble to serve me, and I have suffered for your sake, my beloved."
He said, "Not at all, eyes of mine; I hold myself honoured by serving you."
Then the Lady Badr al-Budur sat down with him at table, and the two fell to eating; and presently the Princess said she would like to drink, when the handmaid filled her a cup at once and then crowned another for the Moroccan. So she drank to his long life and his secret wishes, and he drank to her life too.
Then the Princess, who was unmatched in eloquence and delicacy of speech, fell to making a drinking companion of him, and beguiled him by addressing him in the sweetest terms, full of hidden meaning. This was done only so that he might become more madly in love with her; but the Moroccan thought it came of a real inclination for him, and did not know it was a snare set to kill him.
So his longing for her increased, and he was dying of love for her when he saw her speaking to him with such tenderness of words and thoughts, and his head began to swim and all the world seemed as nothing in his eyes.
But when they came to the end of the supper, and the wine had mastered his brains, and the Princess saw this in him, she said, "With us there is a custom throughout our country, but I do not know whether it is the usage of yours or not."
The Moroccan replied, "And what may that be?"
So she said to him, "At the end of supper each lover in turn takes the cup of the beloved and drinks it off"; and at once she crowned one with wine and told the handmaid to carry him her own cup, in which the drink was mixed with the bhang.
Now she had taught the slave girl what to do; and all the handmaids and eunuchs in the pavilion longed for the sorcerer's slaughter and were at one with the Princess in that matter.
So the girl handed him the cup; and when he heard her words and saw her drinking from his cup and passing hers to him, and noticed all this show of love, he fancied himself Alexander, Lord of the Two Horns.
Then she said to him, swaying gracefully from side to side and putting her hand in his hand, "My life, here is your cup with me and my cup with you; and this is how lovers drink from each other's cups."
Then she kissed the brim and drained it to the dregs, and again kissed its lip and offered it to him.
At this he flew for joy, and meaning to do the same, raised her cup to his mouth and drank off the whole contents, without considering whether there was anything harmful in it or not.
And immediately he rolled over on his back in a deathlike condition, and the cup dropped out of his grasp; whereupon the Lady Badr al-Budur and the slave girls ran hurriedly and opened the pavilion door to their lord Aladdin, who came in disguised as a labourer.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin, entering his pavilion, went up to his wife's apartment, where he found her still sitting at table, and facing her lay the Moroccan like a man slaughtered; so he went straight up to her and kissed her and thanked her for it.
Then, rejoicing exceedingly, he turned to her and said, "Take yourself and your handmaids to the inner rooms, and leave me alone for the present so that I may take counsel about my business."
The Princess did not hesitate but went away at once, she and her women; then Aladdin got up and, after locking the door on them, walked up to the Moroccan and put his hand to his breast pocket and drew out the Lamp; after which he unsheathed his sword and killed the villain.
Presently he rubbed the Lamp, and the marid slave appeared and said, "Here I am, my lord; what is it you want?"
"I want you," said Aladdin, "to take up my pavilion out of this country and carry it to the land of China, and there set it down on the site where it stood before, facing the Sultan's palace."
The marid replied, "Hearing and obeying, my lord."
Then Aladdin went and sat down with his wife and, throwing his arms round her neck, kissed her, and she kissed him; and they sat talking together, while the jinni carried the pavilion and everything in it to the appointed place.
Presently Aladdin told the handmaids to spread the table before him, and he and the Lady Badr al-Budur took their seats at it and fell to eating and drinking in all joy and gladness, until they had enough; when, moving to the room of wine and conversation, they sat there and caroused in fair companionship and each kissed the other with all the gladness of love.
It had been long and long since they had enjoyed any pleasure; so they went on like this until the sun of the wine rose in their heads and sleep took hold of them, at which point they went to their bed in all ease and comfort.
Early next morning Aladdin woke and woke his wife, and the slave girls came in and put on her dress and prepared her and adorned her, while her husband arrayed himself in his costliest clothes; and the two of them were ready to fly for joy at their reunion after being parted. Moreover the Princess was especially joyful and glad because that day she expected to see her beloved father.
Such was the case with Aladdin and the Lady Badr al-Budur. But as for the Sultan, after he had driven his son-in-law away he never stopped grieving for the loss of his daughter; and every hour of every day he would sit and weep for her as women weep, because she was his only child and he had nobody else to take to his heart. And as he shook off sleep, morning after morning, he would hurry to the window and throw it open and peer in the direction where Aladdin's pavilion used to stand, and pour out tears until his eyes were dried up and their lids were ulcerated.
Now on that day he got up at dawn and, as he always did, looked out — when, lo and behold, he saw a building in front of him; so he rubbed his eyes and studied it curiously until he became certain that it was his son-in-law's pavilion.
So he called for a horse without let or delay; and as soon as his beast was saddled he mounted and made for the place. And Aladdin, when he saw his father-in-law coming, went down and met him halfway; then, taking his hand, helped him up the stairs to his daughter's apartment.
And the Princess, being just as eager to see her father, came down and greeted him at the foot of the staircase facing the ground-floor hall. At this the King folded her in his arms and kissed her, shedding tears of joy; and she did the same, until at last Aladdin led them up to the upper hall, where they took their seats and the Sultan fell to asking her how she was and what had happened to her.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Lady Badr al-Budur began to inform the Sultan of everything that had happened to her, saying, "My father, I did not come back to life until yesterday, when I saw my husband; and it was he who freed me from the bondage of that Moroccan, that magician, that accursed man, than whom I believe there is nobody viler on the face of the earth. And but for my beloved, I should never have escaped him, nor would you have seen me for the rest of my days.
"But great sadness and sorrow got hold of me, father, not only for losing you but for the loss of a husband under whose kindness I shall live all my life long, seeing that he freed me from that foul sorcerer."
Then the Princess began repeating to her father everything that had happened to her, and telling him how the Moroccan had tricked her in the guise of a lamp seller who offered new for old; how she had given him the Lamp, whose worth she did not know; and how she had bartered it away only to laugh at the lamp man's folly.
"And next morning, father," she went on, "we found ourselves and everything the pavilion contained in the land of Africa — until my husband came to us and contrived a scheme by which we escaped; and if it had not been for Aladdin hurrying to our aid, the accursed man was determined to have me by force."
Then she told him of the drops of bhang given to the African in his wine, and concluded, "Then my husband came back to me; and how I do not know, but we were moved from the land of Africa to this place."
Aladdin in his turn recounted how, finding the wizard dead drunk, he had sent his wife and her women away out of the polluted place into the inner apartments; how he had taken the Lamp out of the sorcerer's breast pocket, where his wife had told him to look; how he had killed the villain; and finally how, making use of the Lamp, he had summoned its slave and ordered him to carry the pavilion back to its proper site — ending his tale with, "And if your Highness has any doubt about my words, come with me and look at the accursed magician."
The King did so; and, having examined the Moroccan, ordered the body to be carried away at once and burnt and its ashes scattered in the air.
Then he took to embracing Aladdin and kissing him, and said, "Pardon me, my son, for I was about to destroy your life through the foul deeds of this damned enchanter, who threw you into such a pit of peril; and I may be excused, my child, for what I did to you, because I found myself bereft of my daughter, my only one, who is dearer to me than my very kingdom. You know how the hearts of parents yearn towards their children, especially when, as with me, they have one and no other to love."
And in this fashion the Sultan went on excusing himself and kissing his son-in-law.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin said to the Sultan, "O King of the Time, you did nothing to me contrary to Holy Law, and I did not sin against you either; but all the trouble came from that Moroccan, the impure, the magician."
Thereupon the Sultan ordered the city decorated, and they obeyed him and held high feast and festivities. He also commanded the crier to cry about the streets, saying, "This day is a mighty great festival, on which public rejoicings must be held throughout the realm for a full month of thirty days, in honour of the return home of the Lady Badr al-Budur and her husband Aladdin."
So it happened with Aladdin and the Moroccan. But for all that, the King's son-in-law had not escaped entirely from the accursed man, although his body had been burnt and its ashes scattered in the air.
For the villain had a brother, more villainous still than himself, and a greater adept in necromancy, geomancy and astrology; and, as the old saying has it, "a bean, and it was split" — so each of them lived in his own quarter of the globe, that he might fill it with his sorcery, his fraud and his treason.
Now one day it happened that the Moroccan's brother wanted to learn how things fared with him; so he brought out his sandboard and dotted it and produced the figures; which, when he had considered them and studied them carefully, gave him to know that the man he was looking for was dead and housed in the tomb.
So he grieved and was certain of his death; but he dotted a second time, seeking to learn the manner of the death and where it had happened; and so he found that the place was the land of China and the manner the foulest kind of slaughter; and furthermore, that the man who had killed him was a young man named Aladdin.
Seeing this, he got up at once and equipped himself for the journey; then he set out and crossed wilds and woods and heights for the space of many months, until he reached China and the capital of the Sultan, where the slayer of his brother was.
He put up at the so-called Strangers' Inn and, hiring himself a cell, rested there a while; then he went out and wandered about the highways so that he might find some path that would help him to win his ill-minded wish, which was to take blood-revenge upon Aladdin for his brother.
Presently he went into a coffee house, a fine building that stood in the marketplace and that gathered a throng of people to play, some at mankalah, others at backgammon, others at chess and whatever else.
There he sat down and listened to the men sitting beside him; and they happened to be talking about an ancient and holy dame named Fatimah, who lived always at her devotions in a hermitage outside the town, and never came into it except two days in each month. They mentioned too that she had performed many saintly miracles.
When the Moroccan necromancer heard this he said to himself, "Now I have found what I was looking for. God willing, by means of this old woman I shall win my wish."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan necromancer went up to the people who were talking about the miracles performed by the devout old woman and said to one of them, "Uncle, I heard you all talking about the wonders of a certain holy woman named Fatimah: who is she, and where might she live?"
"Marvellous!" exclaimed the man. "How can you be in our city and yet never have heard about the miracles of the Lady Fatimah? Evidently, you poor fellow, you are a foreigner, since the fastings of this devout woman and her asceticism in worldly matters and the beauties of her piety have never come to your ears."
The Moroccan answered, "That is true, sir: yes, I am a stranger, and I only came to this city of yours last night. And I hope you will tell me about the saintly miracles of this virtuous woman and where she lives, for I have fallen into a calamity, and it is my wish to visit her and beg for her prayers; so that perhaps Allah, to whom be honour and glory, may through her blessings deliver me from my trouble."
At this the man recounted to him the marvels of Fatimah the devout and her piety and the beauties of her worship; and then, taking him by the hand, went with him outside the city and showed him the way to where she lived, which was a cave on the top of a hill.
The necromancer acknowledged his kindness in many words and, thanking him for his good offices, went back to his cell in the caravanserai.
Now by the decree of Fate, the very next day Fatimah came down into the city; and the Moroccan necromancer happened to leave his lodging in the morning, when he saw the people swarming and crowding; so he went up to find out what was going on, and found the holy woman standing in the middle of the throng, with everybody who suffered from pain or sickness flocking to her, asking a blessing and begging for her prayers; and every one she touched became whole of his illness.
The Moroccan necromancer followed her about until she went back to her cave; then, waiting until the evening had drawn in, he got up and went to a wine seller's shop, where he drank a cup of wine.
After this he went out of the city and, finding the holy woman's cave, went in and saw her lying flat on her back on a strip of matting. So he came forward and mounted upon her belly; then he drew his dagger and shouted at her; and when she woke and opened her eyes she saw a Moorish man with an unsheathed dagger sitting on her middle as though about to kill her.
She was troubled and badly terrified; but he said to her, "Listen! If you cry out or say a word I will kill you this very moment. Get up now and do everything I tell you." Then he swore her an oath that if she obeyed his orders, whatever they might be, he would not put her to death.
So saying, he got up off her, and Fatimah got up too; when he said to her, "Give me your gear and take my clothes"; whereupon she gave him her clothing and her headbands, her face veil and her cloak.
Then he said, "It is also necessary that you rub me with something that will make the colour of my face like yours."
So she went into the inner part of the cave and, bringing out a jar of ointment, spread some of it on her palm and with it smeared his face until its colour matched her own; then she gave him her staff and, showing him how to walk and what to do when he went into the city, hung her rosary round his neck.
Last of all she handed him a mirror and said, "Now look! You are no different from me at all"; and he saw himself the double of Fatimah, as though she had never gone or come.
But having got everything he wanted, he broke his oath and asked for a cord, which she brought him; then he seized her and strangled her in the cave; and presently, when she was dead, dragged the body outside and threw it into a pit nearby.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan, after murdering Fatimah, threw her body into a pit and went back to sleep in her cave; and when the day broke he got up and, going to the town, took his stand under the walls of Aladdin's pavilion.
At this the people flocked about him, all of them certain that he was Fatimah the devout; and he fell to doing whatever she used to do: he laid hands on these in pain, and recited a chapter of the Koran for those, and made prayers for a third.
Presently the thronging of the people and the clamour of the crowd were heard by the Lady Badr al-Budur, who said to her handmaids, "Look and see what is going on and what the cause of this uproar is."
At this the chief of the eunuchs went out to see what the matter might be, and came back presently and said, "My lady, this clamour is caused by the Lady Fatimah; and if you are pleased to command it, I will bring her to you, and so you may gain a blessing through her."
The Princess answered, "Go and bring her; for many a day now I have kept hearing of her miracles and her virtues, and I long to see her and get a blessing by her intervention, for people tell of her manifestations in many cases of difficulty."
The eunuch went out and brought in the Moroccan necromancer, dressed in Fatimah's clothing; and when the wizard stood before the Lady Badr al-Budur he began, at first sight, to bless her with a string of prayers; nor did any one of those present doubt for a moment that he was the holy woman herself.
The Princess got up and greeted him with the salaam; then, seating him beside her, said, "My Lady Fatimah, it is my wish that you should stay with me always, so that I may be blessed through you, and may also learn from you the paths of worship and piety and follow your example, which makes for salvation."
Now all this was a foul deception on the part of the accursed African, and he planned to complete his trickery; so he went on, "My lady, I am a poor woman and a religious, who lives in the desert; and one like me does not deserve to live in the palaces of kings."
But the Princess replied, "Have no worry at all, my Lady Fatimah; I will set aside an apartment of my pavilion for you, so that you may worship in it and nobody shall ever come and trouble you; and you will be able to worship Allah in my house better than in your cave."
The Moroccan answered, "Hearing and obedience, my lady; I will not oppose your order, for the commands of the children of kings may not be gainsaid or refused. Only I hope that my eating and drinking and sitting may be inside my own room, which shall be kept wholly private; nor do I require or wish for delicacies of diet, but do me the favour of sending your handmaid every day with a bit of bread and a sup of water; and when I feel like food, let me eat by myself in my own room."
Now what the accursed man meant by this was to avoid the danger of having to raise his face veil at mealtimes, when his purpose might be defeated by his beard and moustaches showing that he was a man.
The Princess replied, "My Lady Fatimah, be of good heart; nothing shall happen except what you wish. But now get up and let me show you the apartment in the palace that I would prepare for your stay with us."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Lady Badr al-Budur got up and, taking the necromancer who had disguised himself as the holy woman, showed him into the place she had kindly promised him for a home, and said, "My Lady Fatimah, here you shall live with every comfort about you, in all privacy and repose; and the place shall be named after your name."
Whereupon the Moroccan acknowledged her kindness and prayed for her.
Then the Princess showed him the lattices and the jewelled belvedere with its twenty-four windows, and said to him, "What do you think, my Lady Fatimah, of this marvellous pavilion?"
The Moroccan replied, "By Allah, my daughter, it is indeed exceedingly fine and wondrous; nor do I believe its equal is to be found in the whole universe. But alas for the lack of one thing that would enhance its beauty and its decoration!"
The Princess asked, "My Lady Fatimah, what does it lack, and what is this thing that would add to its adornment? Tell me about it, for I always believed it to be wholly perfect."
The Moroccan answered, "My lady, all it wants is that there should be hanging from the middle of the dome the egg of a bird called the roc; and if that were done, the pavilion would have no equal anywhere in the world."
The Princess asked, "What is this bird, and where can we find her egg?"
And the Moroccan answered, "My lady, the roc is indeed a giant bird, which carries off camels and elephants in her claws and flies away with them, such is her size and her strength; and this bird is mostly found on Mount Kaf; and the architect who built this pavilion is able to bring you one of her eggs."
Then they left off such talk, since it was the hour for the midday meal; and when the handmaid had spread the table, the Lady Badr al-Budur sent down to invite the accursed African to eat with her. But he would not accept, and for a good reason would on no account agree; no, he got up and retired to the room the Princess had assigned him, and the slave girls carried his dinner there.
Now when evening came on, Aladdin got back from the chase and met his wife, who greeted him with the salaam; and he clasped her to his bosom and kissed her. Presently, looking at her face, he saw a shade of sadness on it, and he noticed that, contrary to her custom, she did not laugh; so he asked her, "What has happened to you, my darling? Tell me — has anything happened to trouble your thoughts?"
"Nothing whatever," she answered; "but, my beloved, I used to imagine that our pavilion lacked nothing at all; and yet, eyes of mine, Aladdin, if the dome of the upper storey were hung with an egg of the bird called the roc, there would be nothing like it in the universe."
Her husband answered, "And you are saddened over this trifle, when it is the easiest of all matters to me! So cheer yourself; and whatever you want, it is enough that you tell me of it, and I will bring it from the depths of the earth in the quickest time and at the earliest hour."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Aladdin, after refreshing his Princess's spirits by promising her everything she could wish for, went straight to his room and, taking the Lamp, rubbed it; when the marid appeared without let or delay, saying, "Ask whatever you want."
The other said, "I want you to fetch me an egg of the bird roc and hang it from the crown of the dome of this pavilion of mine."
But when the marid heard these words his face grew fierce, and he shouted with a mighty loud and frightful voice, and cried:
"Denier of kindly deeds! Is it not enough for you that I and all the Slaves of the Lamp are for ever at your service, but you must also require me to bring you our Liege Lady for your pleasure, and hang her up at the dome of your pavilion for the enjoyment of you and your wife? Now by Allah, you deserve, you and she, that I should reduce you to ashes this very moment and scatter you on the air. But since the two of you are ignorant of this matter, and do not know its inner meaning from its outer, I will pardon you, for indeed you are only innocents.
"The offence comes from that accursed necromancer, brother to the Moroccan magician, who is living here representing himself to be Fatimah the devout, after taking her dress and her belongings and murdering her in the cave. Indeed he came here seeking to kill you by way of blood-revenge for his brother; and it is he who taught your wife to require this thing of me."
So saying, the marid vanished.
But when Aladdin heard these words his wits fled his head and his joints trembled at the marid's terrible shout; and yet he strengthened his purpose and, getting up at once, went out of his room and into his wife's.
There he pretended to have an aching head, since he knew how famous Fatimah was for the art and mystery of healing all such pains; and when the Lady Badr al-Budur saw him sitting with his hand to his head and complaining of feeling unwell, she asked him the cause, and he answered, "I know of nothing else, except that my head aches exceedingly."
At this she immediately ordered Fatimah summoned, so that the holy woman might lay her hand on his head; and Aladdin asked her, "Who may this Fatimah be?"
So she told him it was Fatimah the devout, to whom she had given a home in the pavilion.
Meanwhile the slave girls had gone out and summoned the Moroccan; and when the accursed man made his appearance, Aladdin got up to him and, acting like a man who knew nothing of his purpose, greeted him as though he were the real Fatimah and, kissing the hem of his sleeve, welcomed him and treated him with honour and said, "My Lady Fatimah, I hope you will bless me with a favour, for I know well how you practise the healing of pains: I have got a mighty ache in my head."
The accursed Moroccan could hardly believe he was hearing such words, this being all he had wanted.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-first Night,
Dunyazad said, "Sister, if you are not sleepy, do tell us one of your pleasant tales." And Shahrazad replied, "With love and good will."
It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the Moroccan necromancer, dressed as Fatimah the devout, came up to Aladdin to put his hand on his head and heal his ache; so he laid on one hand and, putting the other under his gown, drew out a dagger to kill him with.
But Aladdin was watching him and, waiting patiently until he had wholly unsheathed the weapon, seized him with a powerful grip; and, wrenching the dagger out of his grasp, plunged it deep into his heart.
When the Lady Badr al-Budur saw him do this she shrieked and cried out, "What has this virtuous and holy woman done, that you have loaded your neck with the heavy burden of her blood, wrongfully shed? Have you no fear of Allah, that you kill Fatimah, this saintly woman, whose miracles are famous far and wide?"
"No," replied Aladdin. "I have not killed Fatimah. I have killed only Fatimah's killer, the man who is the brother of the accursed Moroccan magician who carried you off by his black art and transported my pavilion to the land of Africa. And this damnable brother of his came to our city and worked these wiles, murdering Fatimah and taking her clothes, only so that he might avenge his brother's blood on me; and it was he too who taught you to require a roc's egg of me, so that my death might come of the request. But if you doubt what I say, come here and look at the person I have killed."
At this Aladdin drew aside the Moroccan's face veil, and the Lady Badr al-Budur saw the likeness of a man with a full beard that nearly covered his features. She knew the truth at once and said to her husband, "My beloved, twice now I have cast you into risk of death!"
But he answered, "No harm in that, my lady, by the blessing of your loving eyes: I accept with all joy everything you bring me."
The Princess, hearing these words, hurried to fold him in her arms and kissed him, saying, "My darling, all this comes of my love for you, and I knew nothing about it; but truly I do not think lightly of your affection."
So Aladdin kissed her and pressed her to his breast, and the love between them grew greater still.
At that moment the Sultan appeared, and they told him everything that had happened and showed him the body of the Moroccan necromancer; whereupon the King ordered it to be burned and the ashes scattered on the air, exactly as had been done with the wizard's brother.
And Aladdin lived with his wife, the Lady Badr al-Budur, in all pleasure and joy of life, and from then on escaped every danger; and after a while, when the Sultan died, his son-in-law was seated on the throne of the kingdom; and he ruled and dealt justice to the people, so that they all loved him; and he lived with his wife in all comfort and happiness, until there came to him the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies.
Dunyazad said, "Sister, how rare and delightful your tale is!"
And Shahrazad said, "And what is this compared with what I could tell you tomorrow night, if my lord the King is pleased to leave me alive?"
So Shahryar said to himself, "Indeed I will not kill her until she has told me the whole tale."
When it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
Shahrazad began to relate the adventures of
In days of old, and in times and tides long gone before, there lived in a certain town of Persia two brothers, one named Kasim and the other Ali Baba, who at their father's death had divided the little wealth he left them fairly between them, and had lost no time in wasting and spending all of it.
The elder, however, presently took a wife, the daughter of a wealthy merchant; so that when his father-in-law went to the mercy of Almighty Allah he became the owner of a large shop full of rare goods and costly wares, and of a storehouse stocked with precious stuffs, and likewise of a great deal of gold buried in the ground. And so he was known throughout the city as a man of substance.
But the woman Ali Baba had married was poor and needy; so they lived in a mean hovel, and Ali Baba scraped a scanty living by selling firewood, which he gathered every day in the jungle and carried about the town to the bazaar on his three donkeys.
Now it happened one day that Ali Baba had cut as many dead branches and as much dry fuel as he needed, and had put the load on his beasts, when suddenly he saw a cloud of dust spiralling high in the air to his right and moving rapidly towards him; and when he looked at it closely he made out a troop of horsemen riding hard and about to reach him.
At this sight he was badly alarmed; and, fearing that they might perhaps be a band of robbers who would kill him and drive off his donkeys, in his fright he began to run. But since they were close at hand and he could not get out of the forest, he drove his animals with their loads of fuel into a side path among the bushes and swarmed up the thick trunk of a huge tree to hide himself in it; and he sat on a branch from which he could see everything below him, while nobody below could catch a glimpse of him above; and that tree grew close beside a rock that towered high overhead.
The horsemen — young, active, hardy riders — came right up to the rock face and all dismounted; at which Ali Baba took good note of them, and he was soon quite persuaded, by their look and their manner, that they were a troop of highwaymen who had fallen on a caravan and robbed it and carried off the spoil, and had brought their booty to this place meaning to hide it safely in some cache.
Moreover he observed that there were forty of them.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ali Baba saw the robbers, as soon as they came under the tree, each unbridle his horse and hobble it; and then all of them took off their saddlebags, which proved to be full of gold and silver.
The man who seemed to be the captain presently pushed forward, load on shoulder, through thorns and thickets, until he came to a certain spot, where he spoke these strange words: "Open, Sesame!"
And immediately a wide doorway appeared in the face of the rock. The robbers went in, and last of all their chief, and then the door shut of itself.
They stayed inside the cave a long while, and Ali Baba was obliged to stay perched up in the tree, reflecting that if he came down the band might perhaps come out that very moment and seize him and kill him. At last he had determined to mount one of the horses and, driving on his donkeys, to head back to town — when suddenly the door flew open.
The robber chief was the first to come out; then, standing at the entrance, he watched and counted his men as they came out; and lastly he spoke the magic words, "Shut, Sesame!" — whereupon the door closed of itself.
When they had all passed muster and review, each slung on his saddlebags and bridled his own horse; and as soon as they were ready they rode off, led by their leader, in the direction they had come from.
Ali Baba stayed perched in the tree and watched them go; nor would he come down until they were completely out of sight, in case one of them should come back and look around and spot him.
Then he thought to himself, "I too will try the virtue of those magic words, and see whether the door will open and close at my bidding." So he called out loudly, "Open, Sesame!"
And no sooner had he spoken than the door flew open at once, and he went inside.
He saw a large vaulted cavern, as high as the height of a full-grown man, hewn out of the living stone and lit by light that came through air holes and skylights in the upper surface of the rock that formed the roof. He had expected to find nothing but outer darkness in this robbers' den, and he was surprised to see the whole room filled with bales of every kind of stuff, and heaped from floor to ceiling with camel-loads of silks and brocades and embroidered cloths, and mound upon mound of many-coloured carpets; besides which he saw coins of gold and silver beyond measure or reckoning, some piled on the ground and others tied up in leather bags and sacks.
Seeing these goods and moneys in such abundance, Ali Baba decided in his mind that not for a few years only, but for many generations, thieves must have been storing their gains and their spoils in this place.
When he was standing inside the cave the door had closed behind him; and yet he was not dismayed, since he had kept the magic words in his memory. And he took no notice of the precious stuffs around him, but applied himself only and entirely to the sacks of gold coins. Of these he carried out as many as he judged a sufficient load for his beasts; then he loaded them on his animals and covered the plunder with sticks and firewood, so that nobody might see the bags, but might think he was carrying home his usual goods.
Last of all he called out, "Shut, Sesame!" — and immediately the door closed; for the spell worked in such a way that whenever anybody went into the cave the door shut of itself behind him, and when he came out of it, it would neither open nor close again until he had pronounced the words.
Presently, having loaded his donkeys, Ali Baba drove them ahead of him with all speed to the city; and reaching home he drove them into the yard and, shutting the outer door fast, took down first the sticks and then the bags of gold, which he carried in to his wife.
She felt them, and finding them full of coin suspected that Ali Baba had been robbing, and fell to scolding and blaming him for doing such an ill thing.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ali Baba said to his wife, "Indeed I am no robber; you had far better rejoice with me at our good fortune."
At this he told her of his adventure and began to pour the gold out of the bags in heaps before her; and her sight was dazzled by the sheen of it and her heart delighted by his story and his adventures. Then she began counting the gold; at which Ali Baba said, "Silly woman, how long will you go on turning over the coin? Let me dig a hole now to hide this treasure in, so that nobody may learn the secret of it."
She said, "Your advice is right! Still, I should like to weigh the money and have some idea of the amount of it."
And he replied, "As you please — but see that you tell nobody."
So she hurried off to Kasim's house to borrow weights and scales with which she might balance the gold coins and make some reckoning of their value; and when she could not find Kasim she said to his wife, "Lend me your scales, I beg you, for a moment."
Her sister-in-law replied, "Do you need the bigger balance, or the smaller?"
And the other answered, "I do not need the large scales; give me the little ones."
And her sister-in-law cried, "Wait here a moment while I look about and find what you want."
With this excuse Kasim's wife went aside and secretly smeared wax and suet over the pan of the balance, so that she might learn what it was that Ali Baba's wife wanted to weigh; for she felt sure that whatever it might be, some bit of it would stick to the wax and the fat. So the woman took this chance to satisfy her curiosity; and Ali Baba's wife, suspecting nothing of it, carried the scales home and began to weigh the gold, while Ali Baba went on digging; and when the money had been weighed, the two of them stowed it into the hole, which they carefully filled up with earth.
Then the good wife took the scales back to her kinswoman, not knowing at all that a gold coin had stuck to the cup of the scales; but when Kasim's wife spotted the gold coin she seethed with envy and anger, saying to herself, "So ho! They borrowed my balance to weigh out gold coins?" And she marvelled greatly where a man as poor as Ali Baba could have got such a store of wealth that he had to weigh it with a pair of scales.
Now after pondering the matter a long while, when her husband came home at evening she said to him, "Husband, you think yourself a man of wealth and substance; but look — your brother Ali Baba is an emir beside you, and far richer than you are. He has such heaps of gold that he has to weigh his money out with scales, while you, forsooth, are satisfied to count your coin."
"How do you know this?" asked Kasim.
And in answer his wife told him all about the pair of scales, and how she had found a gold coin stuck to them, and showed him the coin, which bore the mark and inscription of some ancient king.
Kasim got no sleep at all that night, out of envy and jealousy and covetousness; and next morning he got up early and, going to Ali Baba, said, "Brother, to all appearances you are poor and needy; but in fact you have a store of wealth so abundant that you are obliged to weigh your gold with scales."
Ali Baba said, "What is this you are saying? I do not understand you; make your meaning plain."
And Kasim said, with ready anger, "Do not pretend to be ignorant of what I am saying, and do not think to deceive me." Then, showing him the gold coin, he cried, "You have laid by thousands of gold coins like this one; and meanwhile my wife found this one stuck to the cup of the scales."
Then Ali Baba understood that both Kasim and his wife knew he had a store of gold, and said in his mind that it would do him no good to keep the matter hidden, but would rather cause ill-will and mischief; and so he was induced to tell his brother every bit of it, about the bandits and about the treasure found in the cave.
When he had heard the story, Kasim exclaimed, "I want you to tell me exactly where you found the money; and the magic words too, by which the door opened and closed. And I warn you: if you do not tell me the whole truth, I will give notice of those gold coins to the governor, and then you will forfeit all your wealth and be disgraced and thrown into gaol."
Thereupon Ali Baba told him his tale, not forgetting the magic words; and Kasim, who kept careful note of all these matters, set out the next day driving ten mules he had hired, and readily found the place Ali Baba had described to him.
And when he came to the rock and the tree Ali Baba had hidden himself in, and had made sure of the door, he cried in great joy, "Open, Sesame!"
The door yawned wide at once, and Kasim went in and saw the piles of jewels and treasures ranged all around; and as soon as he was standing among them the door shut behind him, as it always did.
He walked about in ecstasy, marvelling at the treasures; and when he was weary of admiring he gathered together bags of gold coins, a sufficient load for his ten mules, and put them by the entrance ready to be carried outside and loaded on the beasts.
But by the will of Almighty Allah he had clean forgotten the magic words, and cried out, "Open, Barley!" — whereupon the door refused to move.
Astonished and confused beyond measure, he named the names of every kind of grain except sesame, which had slipped out of his memory as though he had never heard the word; and in his dire distress he paid no attention to the gold coins heaped at the entrance, but paced to and fro, backwards and forwards, inside the cave, sorely puzzled and perplexed. The wealth whose sight had a little while before filled his heart with joy and gladness was now the cause of bitter grief and sadness.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Kasim gave up all hope of the life he had put in such peril by his greed and his envy.
It happened that at noon the robbers, coming back that way, saw from a distance some mules standing beside the entrance, and they marvelled much at what had brought the beasts to that place; for, since Kasim had by mischance failed to tether or hobble them, they had strayed about the jungle and were browsing here and there.
However, the thieves paid little attention to the strays and did not care to secure them, but only wondered by what means they had wandered so far out of the town. Then, reaching the cave, the captain and his troop dismounted and, going up to the door, repeated the formula, and at once it flew open.
Now Kasim had heard from inside the cave the hooves of the horses drawing nearer and nearer, and he had fallen to the ground in a fit of fear, never doubting that this was the clatter of the bandits, who would kill him without fail. Even so, he presently took heart of grace, and at the moment when the door flew open he rushed out, hoping to make good his escape.
But the unhappy man ran full tilt into the captain, who was standing in front of the band, and knocked him to the ground; whereupon a robber standing near his chief at once bared his sword and with one cut clove Kasim clean in two.
Thereupon the robbers rushed into the cavern and put back where they had been the bags of gold that Kasim had heaped up at the doorway ready for taking away; nor did they take any notice of the ones Ali Baba had removed, so dazed and amazed were they to discover by what means the strange man had got in.
They all knew it was not possible for anybody to drop through the skylights, so tall and steep was the rock's face and so slippery to climb; and also that nobody could come in by the door unless he knew the magic words that opened it.
However, they presently quartered Kasim's dead body and hung it up on the door inside the cavern, two parts to the right jamb and two to the left, so that the sight might be a warning of coming doom to anybody who dared to enter the cave. Then, coming out, they shut the door of the hoard and rode away about their usual work.
Now when night fell and Kasim did not come home, his wife grew uneasy and, running round to Ali Baba, said, "Brother, Kasim has not come back: you know where he went, and I am sorely afraid some misfortune has come to him."
Ali Baba also guessed that some mishap had happened to prevent his return; but nonetheless he tried to comfort his sister-in-law with cheering words, and said, "Wife of my brother, very likely Kasim is being cautious and, avoiding the city, is coming by a roundabout road and will be here soon. That, I do believe, is the reason he is so long."
At this, comforted in her spirits, Kasim's wife went home and sat waiting for her husband's return; but when half the night was gone and still he had not come, she was like one out of her mind. She was afraid to cry aloud in her grief, in case the neighbours should hear her and come and learn the secret; so she wept in silence, and, reproaching herself, fell to thinking, "Why did I tell him this secret, and breed envy and jealousy of Ali Baba? This is the fruit of it, and this is the disaster that has come down on me."
She spent the rest of the night in bitter tears, and early next morning hurried in the greatest haste to Ali Baba and begged him to go out in search of his brother; so he tried to console her and set out at once with his donkeys for the forest.
Presently, reaching the rock, he wondered to see stains of freshly shed blood; and, not finding his brother or the ten mules, he foresaw a calamity from so evil a sign. Then he went to the door and, saying, "Open, Sesame!", pushed in and saw Kasim's dead body, two parts hanging to the right and the rest to the left of the entrance.
Although he was frightened beyond all measure of fright, he wrapped the quarters in two cloths and laid them on one of his donkeys, hiding them carefully with sticks and firewood so that nobody should see them. Then he put the bags of gold on the two other animals and covered them just as carefully; and when everything was ready he closed the cave door with the magic words and set off homewards with all care and watchfulness.
The donkeys with the load of gold he handed over to his wife, telling her to bury the bags diligently; but he did not tell her the condition he had found his brother Kasim in.
Then he went with the other donkey — the one with the body on its back — to the widow's house and knocked gently at the door.
Now Kasim had a slave girl, shrewd and sharp-witted, named Morgiana. She undid the bolt just as softly and let Ali Baba and the donkey into the courtyard of the house, where he let the body down from the beast's back and said, "Morgiana, hurry and make ready to perform the rites for your master's burial. I am going now to tell the news to your mistress, and I will come back quickly to help you in the business."
At that moment Kasim's widow, seeing her brother-in-law, exclaimed, "Ali Baba, what news do you bring me of my husband? Alas, I see the tokens of grief written on your face. Tell me quickly what has happened."
Then he recounted to her how it had gone with her husband, and how he had been killed by the robbers, and in what way he had brought the dead body home.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ali Baba went on: "My lady, what was to happen has happened; but we must keep this matter secret, for our lives depend upon its being kept private."
She wept bitterly and answered, "It has gone with my husband according to the decree of Fate; and now, for your own safety's sake, I give you my word to keep the affair concealed."
He replied, "Nothing can avail when Allah has decreed. Rest patiently until the days of your widowhood are accomplished; after which time I will take you to wife, and you shall live in comfort and happiness; and have no fear that my first wife will vex you or show any jealousy, for she is kindly and tender-hearted."
The widow, lamenting her loss noisily, cried, "Let it be just as you please."
Then Ali Baba took his leave of her, weeping and wailing for her husband; and, joining Morgiana, took counsel with her about how to manage his brother's burial. So, after much consultation and many warnings, he left the slave girl and went off home, driving his donkey before him.
As soon as Ali Baba had gone, Morgiana went quickly to a druggist's shop; and, so as to deceive him the better and not make the matter known, she asked him for a drug often given to men who are ill with a dangerous fever. He gave it, saying, "Who is there in your house so ill as to need this medicine?"
And she said, "My master Kasim is sick almost to death: for many days he has neither spoken nor tasted any food, so that we almost despair of his life."
Next day Morgiana went again and asked the druggist for more medicine and for the essences that are given to the sick when they are at death's door, so that a dying man may perhaps rally before his last breath. The man gave her the potion, and she, taking it, sighed aloud and wept, saying, "I am afraid he may not have the strength to drink this draught: I think everything will be over with him before I get back to the house."
Meanwhile Ali Baba was anxiously waiting to hear the sounds of wailing and lamentation in Kasim's house, so that at that signal he might hurry there and take part in the funeral ceremonies.
Early on the second day Morgiana went with her face veiled to one Baba Mustafa, a tailor well on in years whose trade was making shrouds and grave clothes; and as soon as she saw him open his shop she gave him a gold piece and said, "Bind a bandage over your eyes and come along with me."
Mustafa acted as though he would not go; whereupon Morgiana put a second gold coin in his palm and begged him to come with her. The tailor presently consented, for greed of gain; so, tying a kerchief tightly over his eyes, she led him by the hand to the house where her master's dead body lay.
Then, taking off the bandage in the darkened room, she told him to sew the quarters of the corpse together, limb to limb; and, throwing a cloth over the body, said to the tailor, "Make haste and sew a shroud to the size of this dead man, and I will give you yet another gold piece for it."
Baba Mustafa quickly made the grave cloth of the right length and breadth, and Morgiana paid him the promised coin; then, bandaging his eyes once more, she led him back to the place she had brought him from.
After this she hurried home and, with Ali Baba's help, washed the body in warm water and, putting on the shroud, laid the corpse in a clean place ready for burial.
This done, Morgiana went to the mosque and gave notice to an imam that a funeral was waiting for the mourners at a certain house, and begged him to come and read the prayers for the dead; and the imam went back with her.
Then four neighbours took up the bier and carried it on their shoulders and set out with the imam and the others who were used to helping at such funerals. After the funeral prayers were ended, four other men carried off the coffin; and Morgiana walked in front of it bare-headed, striking her breast and weeping and wailing with exceedingly loud lamentation, while Ali Baba and the neighbours came behind.
In this order they came into the cemetery and buried him; and then, leaving him to Munkar and Nakir, the Questioners of the Dead, they all went their ways.
Presently the women of the quarter, according to the custom of the city, gathered together in the house of mourning and sat an hour with Kasim's widow, comforting her and condoling with her, and presently left her somewhat resigned and cheered.
Ali Baba stayed forty days at home in ceremonial mourning for the loss of his brother; so that nobody in the town except himself and his wife and Kasim's widow and Morgiana knew anything about the secret.
And when the forty days of mourning were over, Ali Baba moved all the dead man's property to his own quarters and openly married the widow; and then he appointed his nephew, his brother's eldest son — who had lived a long time with a wealthy merchant and was thoroughly knowledgeable in all matters of trade, in selling and buying — to take charge of the dead man's shop and carry on the business.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that it chanced one day, when the robbers came to the treasure cave as they usually did, that they marvelled exceedingly to find no sign or trace of Kasim's body, while they noticed that a great deal of the gold had been carried off.
The captain said, "Now we must make enquiry into this matter; or else we shall suffer great loss, and this treasure of ours, which we and our forefathers have amassed over the course of many years, will be wasted and spoiled little by little."
To this they all assented, and with one mind agreed that the man they had killed had known the magic words by which the door was made to open; and moreover, that somebody besides him knew the spell too, and had carried off the body and a great deal of the gold as well; and so they must make diligent search and find out who the man might be.
Then they took counsel and decided that one of them, who should be shrewd and quick-witted, must put on the clothes of some merchant from foreign parts; and then, going to the city, must go about from quarter to quarter and from street to street and learn whether any townsman had lately died, and if so where he had lived, so that with this clue they might be able to find the man they were looking for.
At this one of the robbers said, "Give me leave to go and find out such news in the town and bring you word of it; and if I fail in my purpose, I hold my life forfeit."
So that bandit, after disguising himself in his dress, pushed into the town at night; and early next morning he went to the market square and saw that none of the shops had been opened yet, except only that of Baba Mustafa the tailor, who sat on his working stool with thread and needle in hand.
The thief bade him good day and said, "It is still dark: how can you see to sew?"
The tailor said, "I can tell you are a stranger. In spite of my years my eyesight is so keen that only yesterday I sewed a dead body together while sitting in a room that was quite dark."
At this the bandit said to himself, "I shall get something of what I want out of this tailor"; and to get a further clue he said, "It seems to me you are joking with me, and that you mean a shroud for a corpse was stitched by you and that your business is sewing shrouds."
The tailor answered, "It is no matter to you: ask me no more questions."
Thereupon the robber placed a gold coin in his hand and went on, "I do not wish to uncover anything you are hiding — my breast, like every honest man's, is the grave of secrets; and this only would I learn from you: in what house did you do that job? Can you direct me to it, or take me there yourself?"
The tailor took the gold greedily and cried, "I have not seen the way to that house with my own eyes. A certain slave woman led me to a place I know very well, and there she bandaged my eyes and guided me to some building, and finally took me into a darkened room where the dead body lay dismembered. Then she unbound the kerchief and told me to sew first the corpse and then the shroud; which having done, she blindfolded me again and led me back to the place she had brought me from and left me there. So you see I am not able to tell you where you will find the house."
The robber said, "Even though you do not know the dwelling you speak of, still you can take me to the place where you were blindfolded; then I will tie a kerchief over your eyes and lead you as you were led — and in this way you may perhaps hit upon the spot. If you will do me this favour, look: here is another gold coin for you."
Thereupon the bandit slipped a second gold coin into the tailor's palm, and Baba Mustafa thrust it into his pocket with the first; then, leaving his shop as it was, he walked to the place where Morgiana had tied the kerchief round his eyes, and with him went the robber, who, after binding on the bandage, led him by the hand.
Baba Mustafa, who was clever and keen-witted, presently struck the street he had walked along with the handmaid, and walked on counting step by step; then, stopping suddenly, he said, "This far I came with her"; and the two of them stopped in front of Kasim's house, where his brother Ali Baba now lived.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the robber then made marks with white chalk on the door, so that he might find it easily at some future time; and, taking the bandage off the tailor's eyes, said, "Baba Mustafa, I thank you for this favour; and may Almighty Allah reward you for your goodness. Tell me now, I beg you, who lives in that house?"
He said, "In very truth I do not know, for I have little knowledge of this quarter of the city."
And the bandit, understanding that he could get no further clue from the tailor, sent him back to his shop with abundant thanks, and hurried back to the meeting place in the jungle where the band was waiting for him.
Not long afterwards it happened that Morgiana, going out on some errand, marvelled exceedingly at seeing the chalk marks showing white on the door. She stood a while deep in thought and presently guessed that some enemy had made the signs so that he might recognise the house and play some trick on her lord. So she chalked the doors of all her neighbours in the same way, and kept the matter secret, never confiding it either to her master or to her mistress.
Meanwhile the robber told his comrades the tale of his adventure and how he had found the clue; so the captain, and the whole band with him, went one after another by different ways until they came into the city; and the man who had put the mark on Ali Baba's door went with the chief to point out the place.
He led him straight to the house and, pointing at the sign, exclaimed, "Here lives the man we are looking for!"
But when the captain looked around him he saw that all the houses bore chalk marks in the same fashion; and he wondered and said, "By what means do you know which house, of all these houses that bear the same signs, is the one you spoke of?"
At this the robber guide was confounded beyond all measure of confusion and could make no answer; then with an oath he cried, "I certainly did set a sign on a door; but I do not know where all the marks on the other doors came from, nor can I say for certain which was the one I chalked."
Thereupon the captain went back to the marketplace and said to his men, "We have toiled and laboured in vain, and we have not found the house we came to look for. Let us go back to the forest, our rendezvous; I shall go there too."
Then they all trooped off and gathered together inside the treasure cave; and when the robbers had all met, the captain judged that the man who had spoken falsely and led them through the city to no purpose deserved punishment. So he imprisoned him in the presence of them all; and then he said, "I will show special favour to the one among you who will go to town and bring me intelligence by which we may lay hands on the plunderer of our property."
At this another of the company came forward and said, "I am ready to go and enquire into the case; and it is I who will bring you to your wish."
The captain, after giving him presents and promises, sent him off on his errand; and by the decree of Destiny, which nobody may gainsay, this second robber went first to the house of Baba Mustafa the tailor, exactly as the thief before him had done. In the same way he persuaded the tailor with gifts of gold coin to be led blindfold; and so he too was guided to Ali Baba's door.
Here, noting his predecessor's work, he fixed a mark on the doorpost in red chalk, the better to distinguish it from the others, which still showed white. Then he made his way back in stealth to his company; but Morgiana on her part also spotted the red sign on the door and, with subtle forethought, marked all the others in the same fashion; nor did she tell anybody what she had done.
Meanwhile the bandit rejoined his band and said boastfully, "Captain, I have found the house and put a mark on it by which I shall tell it clearly from all its neighbours."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the captain sent another of his men to the city, and he found the place; but, as before, when the troop went there they saw every single house marked with signs of red chalk. So they came back disappointed, and the captain, growing exceedingly displeased and distracted, clapped this spy into gaol too.
Then the chief said to himself, "Two men have failed in their attempt and have got their rightful reward of punishment; and I imagine none of the rest of my band will try to follow up their search; so I will go and find this fellow's house myself."
So he went along and, helped by the tailor Baba Mustafa, who had gained a good deal of gold in this business, he hit upon the house of Ali Baba; and here he made no outward show or sign, but marked it on the tablet of his heart and impressed the picture of it on the page of his memory.
Then, returning to the jungle, he said to his men, "I have full knowledge of the place and have drawn it clearly in my mind, so that now there will be no difficulty in finding it. Go out straight away and buy and bring here nineteen mules, together with one large leather jar of mustard oil and thirty-seven vessels of the same kind quite empty.
"Not counting me and the two locked up in gaol, you number thirty-seven souls; so I will stow you away, armed and equipped, each inside his jar, and will load two on each mule; and on the nineteenth mule there shall be a man in an empty jar on one side, and on the other the jar full of oil.
"I for my part, in the guise of an oil merchant, will drive the mules into the town, arriving at the house by night, and will ask leave of its master to stay there until morning. After this we shall find our chance during the dark hours to get up and fall on him and kill him."
And the captain went on to say, "When we have made an end of him we shall recover the gold and treasure he robbed us of, and bring it back on the mules."
This plan pleased the robbers, who went out at once and bought mules and huge leather jars, and did as the captain had told them. And after a delay of three days, shortly before nightfall, they got up; and, smearing all the jars over with mustard oil, each hid himself inside an empty vessel.
The chief then disguised himself in a trader's clothes and placed the jars on the nineteen mules — that is, the thirty-seven vessels, in each of which lay a robber armed and equipped, and the one that was full of oil.
This done, he drove the beasts before him, and presently reached Ali Baba's place at nightfall; when it happened that the master of the house was strolling to and fro in front of his home after supper.
The captain greeted him with the salaam and said, "I come from such and such a village with oil; and I have often been here selling oil, but now, to my grief, I have arrived too late, and I am sorely troubled and perplexed about where I shall spend the night. If you have pity on me, I beg you to let me stay here in your courtyard and ease the mules by taking down the jars and giving the beasts a little fodder."
Although Ali Baba had heard the captain's voice when he was perched in the tree, and had seen him go into the cave, still, because of the disguise, he did not know him for the leader of the thieves, and granted his request with a hearty welcome and gave him full leave to stop there for the night.
He then pointed out an empty shed to tether the mules in, and told one of the slave boys to go and fetch grain and water. He also gave orders to the slave girl Morgiana, saying, "A guest has come here and is staying tonight. Busy yourself with all speed about his supper and make the guest bed ready for him."
Presently, when the captain had let down all the jars and had fed and watered his mules, Ali Baba received him with all courtesy and kindness, and, summoning Morgiana, said in his presence, "See that you do not fail in the service of this stranger of ours, nor let him lack for anything. Tomorrow early I want to go to the baths and bathe; so give my slave boy Abdullah a suit of clean white clothes that I may put on after washing; and moreover make ready some broth overnight, that I may drink it after I get home."
She replied, "I will have everything ready as you have told me."
So Ali Baba went off to his rest; and the captain, having had his supper, went to the shed and saw that all the mules had their food and drink for the night.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the captain, after seeing to the mules and to the jars, which Ali Baba and his household believed to be full of oil, and finding himself completely private, whispered to his men who were lying in ambush, "Tonight at midnight, when you hear my voice, open the leather jars quickly from top to bottom with your sharp knives and come out without delay."
Then, passing through the kitchen, he reached the room where a bed had been spread for him, Morgiana showing the way with a lamp.
She said, "If you need anything else, I beg you to command your servant, who is always ready to obey what you say."
He answered, "I need nothing else"; and then, putting out the light, he lay down on the bed to sleep a while before the time came to rouse his men and finish off the work.
Meanwhile Morgiana did as her master had told her: she first took out a suit of clean white clothes and handed it over to Abdullah, who had not yet gone to bed; then she put the pot on the hearth to boil the broth, and blew the fire until it burnt briskly.
After a short while she needed to see whether the broth was boiling; but by that time all the lamps had gone out, and she found that the oil was spent and there was nowhere she could get a light.
The slave boy Abdullah noticed that she was troubled and perplexed at this, and said to her, "Why make such a fuss? In that shed there are plenty of jars of oil: go now and take as much of it as you like."
Morgiana thanked him for the suggestion; and Abdullah, who was lying at his ease in the hall, went off to sleep so that he might wake early and attend Ali Baba at the bath.
So the handmaid got up and, with the oil can in her hand, walked to the shed where the leather jars stood ranged in rows. Now as she drew near one of the vessels, the thief who was hidden in it, hearing the tread of footsteps, thought it must be his captain, whose summons he was waiting for; so he whispered, "Is it time for us to come out now?"
Morgiana started back, frightened at the sound of a human voice; but since she was bold and quick-witted she replied, "The time is not yet come" — and said to herself, "These jars are not full of oil, and I perceive some mystery here. Perhaps the oil merchant is hatching some treacherous plot against my lord; so may Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate, protect us from his snares!"
So she answered in a voice made like the captain's, "Not yet; the time has not come." Then she went to the next jar and gave the same reply to the man inside it, and so on to all the vessels, one by one.
Then she said to herself, "Praise be to the Lord! My master took this fellow in, believing him to be an oil merchant; but look — he has let in a band of robbers, who are only waiting for the signal to fall on him and plunder the place and put him to death."
Then she went on to the furthest jar and, finding it brimming with oil, filled her can and, going back to the kitchen, trimmed the lamp and lit the wicks; then, bringing out a large cauldron, she set it on the fire and, filling it with oil out of the jar, heaped wood on the hearth and fanned it into a fierce flame, the more readily to boil what was in it.
When this was done she baled it out in potfuls and poured it, seething hot, into the leather vessels one by one — while the thieves, unable to escape, were scalded to death, and every jar held a corpse.
So did this slave girl by her subtle wit make a clean end of them all, noiselessly and without even the people in the house knowing about it.
Now when she had satisfied herself that every one of the men had been killed, she went back to the kitchen and, shutting the door, sat brewing Ali Baba's broth.
Hardly an hour had passed before the captain woke from his sleep; and, opening his window wide, saw that everything was dark and silent; so he clapped his hands as a signal for his men to come out, but not a sound was heard in return. After a while he clapped again and called aloud, but got no answer; and when he cried out a third time with no reply, he was perplexed and went out to the shed where the jars stood.
He thought to himself, "Perhaps they have all fallen asleep, when the time for action is at hand; so I must wake them without pause or delay."
Then, going up to the nearest jar, he was startled by a smell of oil and seething flesh; and touching it on the outside he felt it reeking hot; then, going to the others one by one, he found them all in the same condition.
At this he knew for certain what fate had befallen his band; and, fearing for his own safety, he climbed onto the wall and, dropping from there into a garden, made his escape in high dudgeon and sore disappointment.
Morgiana waited a while to see the captain come back from the shed, but he did not come; at which she knew that he had scaled the wall and taken to flight, since the street door was double-locked; and, the thieves being all disposed of in this way, Morgiana lay down and slept in perfect ease and peace of mind.
When two hours of darkness were still left, Ali Baba woke and went to the baths, knowing nothing of the night's adventure, for the gallant slave girl had not woken him — nor indeed had she thought such a thing wise, because if she had looked for a chance to report her plan to him she might well have lost her opportunity and spoiled the whole project.
The sun was high over the horizon when Ali Baba walked back from the baths; and he marvelled greatly to see the jars still standing under the shed, and said, "How does it come about that the oil merchant, my guest, has not taken his mules and his jars of oil to market?"
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ali Baba presently asked Morgiana what had become of the oil merchant, his guest, whom he had put in her charge; and she answered, "Almighty Allah grant you a hundred and twenty years of safety! I will tell you about this merchant in private."
So Ali Baba went aside with his slave girl, who, taking him outside the house, first locked the courtyard door; then, showing him a jar, said, "Please look into this and see whether there is oil in it or something else."
At this, peering inside it, he saw a man; at which sight he cried out and would gladly have run away in his fright.
Morgiana said, "Do not fear him; this man no longer has the strength to do you harm. He is dead, and stone dead."
Hearing such words of comfort and reassurance, Ali Baba asked, "Morgiana, what evils have we escaped, and by what means has this wretch become the quarry of Fate?"
She answered, "Praise be to Almighty Allah! I will tell you all about the case; but hush, do not speak aloud, in case the neighbours learn the secret and it ends in our ruin. Now look into all the jars, one by one from first to last."
So Ali Baba examined them each in turn and found in each a man fully armed and equipped, all of them scalded to death.
At this, speechless with sheer amazement, he stared at the jars; but presently, recovering himself, he asked, "And where is he, the oil merchant?"
She answered, "I will tell you about him too. The villain was no trader but a treacherous assassin, whose honeyed words would have trapped you to your doom; and now I will tell you what he was and what has happened. But meanwhile you are fresh from the baths, and you should first drink some of this broth for your stomach's sake and your health's."
So Ali Baba went inside and Morgiana served up the dish; after which her master said, "I should very much like to hear this wonderful story: please tell it to me and set my heart at ease."
At this the handmaid fell to relating everything that had happened, in these words:
"Master, when you told me to boil the broth and went off to bed, your servant, obeying your command, took out a suit of clean white clothes and gave it to the boy Abdullah; then kindled the fire and set the broth on. As soon as it was ready I needed to light a lamp so that I could see to skim it; but all the oil was spent, and, learning this, I told the slave boy Abdullah what I needed, and he advised me to draw some from the jars standing under the shed.
"So I took a can and went to the first vessel, when suddenly I heard a voice inside it whisper very cautiously, 'Is it time for us to come out now?' I was amazed at this and judged that the pretended merchant had laid some plot to kill you; so I replied, 'The time is not yet come.' Then I went to the second jar and heard another voice, to which I made the same answer, and so on with all of them.
"By now I was certain that these men were only waiting for some signal from their chief, whom you had taken in as a guest within your walls, supposing him to be a merchant in oil; and that, after you had received him hospitably, the wretch had brought these men to murder you and plunder your goods and spoil your house. But I gave him no opportunity to win his wish.
"The last jar I found full of oil; and, taking some from it, I lit the lamp; then, putting a large cauldron on the fire, I filled it up with oil that I brought from the jar and made a fierce blaze under it; and when the contents were seething hot I took out several cansful, meaning to scald them all to death, and, going to each jar in due order, poured boiling oil into them one by one.
"Having destroyed them utterly in this way, I went back to the kitchen and, putting out the lamps, stood by the window watching what might happen and how that false merchant would act next.
"Not long after I had taken up my station, the robber captain woke and signalled to his thieves several times. Then, getting no reply, he came downstairs and went out to the jars; and, finding that all his men were dead, he fled through the darkness — where, I do not know. So when he had completely disappeared I was sure that, the door being double-locked, he had scaled the wall and dropped into the garden and made his escape. And then, with my heart at rest, I slept."
And Morgiana, after telling her story to her master, presently added, "This is the whole truth that I have told you. For some days indeed I have had an inkling of something of this kind, but I kept it from you, thinking it unwise to risk the chance of its reaching the neighbours' ears; now, however, there is nothing for it but to tell you.
"One day, as I came to the house door, I saw a white chalk mark on it; and the next day a red sign beside the white. I did not know what the marks were made for; nevertheless I put others on the doors of several neighbours, judging that some enemy had done this in order to bring about my master's destruction. So I made the marks on all the other doors in such perfect conformity with those I had found that it would be hard to tell them apart."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Morgiana went on to Ali Baba:
"Judge now and see whether these signs and all this villainy are not the work of the bandits of the forest, who marked our house so that they might know it again. Of these forty thieves there are still two others left, about whose case I know nothing; so beware of them, but chiefly of the third one still remaining, their captain, who fled from here alive. Take good heed and be cautious of him; for if you fall into his hands he will in no way spare you, but will certainly murder you. I will do everything in my power to save your life and your property from hurt and harm, nor shall your servant be found wanting in any service to my lord."
Hearing these words, Ali Baba rejoiced exceedingly and said to her, "I am well pleased with you for this conduct of yours; and tell me what you would have me do on your behalf. I shall not fail to remember your brave deed as long as I have breath in me."
She said, "Before everything else, we must bury these bodies in the ground at once, so that the secret may not become known to anybody."
At this Ali Baba took his slave boy Abdullah with him into the garden, and there under a tree they dug a deep pit for the corpses of the thieves, of a size to fit its contents; and they dragged the bodies to the trench — having first carried off their weapons — and threw them in; and then, covering up the remains of the thirty-seven robbers, they made the ground look level and clean as it usually was.
They also hid the leather jars and the gear and the arms; and presently Ali Baba sent the mules by ones and twos to the bazaar and sold them all, with the able help of his slave boy Abdullah.
So the matter was hushed up and did not reach anybody's ears; and yet Ali Baba never stopped being uneasy, in case the captain or the two surviving robbers should wreak their vengeance on his head. He kept himself private with all caution and took care that nobody should learn a word of what had happened, or of the wealth he had carried off from the bandits' cave.
Meanwhile the captain of the thieves, having escaped with his life, fled to the forest in hot anger and sore vexation of mind, and his senses were scattered and the colour of his face vanished like rising smoke.
Then he thought the matter over again and again, and at last firmly resolved that he must take Ali Baba's life, or else he would lose all the treasure, which his enemy, knowing the magic words, would carry away and turn to his own use. Furthermore, he determined that he would undertake the business single-handed; and that, after getting rid of Ali Baba, he would gather another band of robbers together and carry on his career of brigandage, as indeed his forefathers had done for many generations.
So he lay down to rest that night, and, getting up early in the morning, put on a suitable-looking outfit; then, going to the city, he put up at a caravanserai, thinking to himself, "No doubt the murder of so many men has reached the governor's ears, and Ali Baba has been seized and brought to justice, and his house is levelled and his goods confiscated. The townsfolk must surely have heard news of all this."
So he asked the keeper of the inn straight away, "What strange things have happened in the city these last few days?" — and the man told him everything he had seen and heard; but the captain could not learn a jot of what most concerned him.
By this he understood that Ali Baba was wary and wise, and that he had not only carried off such a store of treasure but had also destroyed so many lives and come off unscathed into the bargain; and furthermore, that he himself would need to have all his wits about him not to fall into his enemy's hands and perish.
With this resolve the captain hired a shop in the bazaar, to which he brought whole bales of the finest stuffs and fine merchandise from his forest treasure house; and presently he took his seat in the store and fell to doing a merchant's business.
By chance his place faced the shop of the late Kasim, where his son, Ali Baba's nephew, now traded; and the captain, who called himself Khwajah Hasan, soon struck up an acquaintance and friendship with the shopkeepers around him and treated them all with lavish civilities — but he was especially gracious and cordial to Kasim's son, a handsome and well-dressed youth, and would often sit and chat with him for a long while.
A few days later it happened that Ali Baba, as he sometimes did, came to see his nephew, whom he found sitting in his shop. The captain saw and recognised him at sight; and one morning he asked the young man, "Tell me, please: who is the man who comes to you now and then at your place of business?"
To which the youth answered, "He is my uncle, my father's brother."
Whereupon the captain showed him greater favour and affection still, the better to deceive him for his own purposes, and gave him presents and had him sit at meat with him and fed him with the daintiest of dishes.
Presently Ali Baba's nephew thought it was only right and proper that he should invite the merchant to supper in his turn; but since his own house was small, and he was cramped for room and could not put on a show of splendour as Khwajah Hasan did, he took counsel with his uncle about it.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ali Baba replied to his nephew:
"You are quite right: you ought to entertain your friend as handsomely as he has entertained you. Tomorrow, which is Friday, shut your shop as all merchants of repute do; then, after the early meal, take Khwajah Hasan out to smell the air, and as you walk lead him here without his knowing. Meanwhile I will give orders that Morgiana shall make ready the best of dishes and everything needful for a feast against his coming. Do not trouble yourself in any way, but leave the matter in my hands."
So the next day, that is Friday, Ali Baba's nephew took Khwajah Hasan to walk about the garden; and as they were coming back he led him along the street where his uncle lived.
When they came to the house the youth stopped at the door and, knocking, said, "My lord, this is my second home: my uncle has heard a great deal about you and about your goodness to me, and wants exceedingly to meet you; so if you would consent to come in and visit him, I should be truly glad and grateful to you."
Although Khwajah Hasan rejoiced in his heart that he had found a means of getting into his enemy's house and household, and although he hoped soon to gain his end by treachery, still he hesitated to go in, and stood there making his excuses and preparing to walk away.
But when the door was opened by the slave porter, Ali Baba's nephew seized his companion's hand and, after a great deal of persuasion, led him in; at which he entered with a great show of cheerfulness, as though much pleased and honoured.
The master of the house received him with all favour and respect and asked after his welfare, and said to him, "My lord, I am obliged and grateful to you for having shown favour to my brother's son; and I perceive that you regard him with an affection even fonder than my own."
Khwajah Hasan replied with pleasant words and said, "Your nephew greatly takes my fancy, and I am well pleased with him; for although he is young in years, Allah has endowed him with a great deal of wisdom."
So the two of them talked together in friendly conversation; and presently the guest rose to leave and said, "My lord, your servant must now say goodbye to you; but on some future day, God willing, he will wait upon you again."
Ali Baba, however, would not let him go, and asked, "Where are you off to, my friend? I would invite you to my table, and I beg you to sit at meat with us and afterwards go home in peace. Perhaps the dishes are not as delicate as those you are used to eating; still, be pleased to grant me this request, I beg you, and refresh yourself with my food."
Khwajah Hasan said, "My lord, I am beholden to you for your gracious invitation, and I would gladly sit at meat with you; but for a particular reason I must excuse myself. Allow me, then, to go, for I may not stay any longer nor accept your gracious offer."
To this the host replied, "I beg you, my lord, tell me what this reason may be, that is so urgent and weighty."
And Khwajah Hasan answered, "The cause is this: by order of the physician who lately cured me of my complaint, I must not eat any food prepared with salt."
Ali Baba said, "If that is all, do not deprive me, I beg you, of the honour your company will do me: since the dishes are not yet cooked, I will forbid the cook to use any salt at all. Stay here a while and I will come back to you presently."
So saying, Ali Baba went in to Morgiana and told her not to put salt into any one of the dishes; and she, busy with her cooking, fell to marvelling greatly at such an order and asked her master, "Who is this man who eats food with no salt in it?"
He answered, "What does it matter to you who he is? Just do as I tell you."
She replied, "Very well; everything shall be as you wish" — but in her mind she wondered at the man who made such a strange request, and very much wanted to get a look at him.
So when all the dishes were ready to be served up, she helped the slave boy Abdullah to lay the table and set out the meal; and no sooner did she see Khwajah Hasan than she knew who he was, although he had disguised himself in the dress of a foreign merchant. And furthermore, when she looked at him attentively she spotted a dagger hidden under his robe.
"So ho!" she said to herself. "This is the reason the villain does not eat salt — because he is looking for an opportunity to kill my master, whose mortal enemy he is. But I will be beforehand with him and finish him off before he finds a chance to harm my lord."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Morgiana, having spread a white cloth on the table and served up the meal, went back to the kitchen and thought out her plot against the robber captain.
Now when Ali Baba and Khwajah Hasan had eaten their fill, the slave boy Abdullah brought Morgiana word to serve the dessert; and she cleared the table and set out fruit, fresh and dried, in dishes; then she placed beside Ali Baba a small stand with three cups and a flagon of wine; and lastly she went off with the slave boy Abdullah into another room, as though she meant to have her own supper.
Then Khwajah Hasan — that is, the captain of the robbers — perceiving that the coast was clear, exulted mightily, saying to himself, "The time has come for me to take my full revenge. With one thrust of my dagger I will finish this fellow off, then escape across the garden and go my way. His nephew will not venture to stay my hand; for if he so much as moves a finger or a toe with that intent, another stab will settle his earthly account. Still, I must wait a while until the slave boy and the cook maid have eaten and lain down to rest in the kitchen."
Morgiana, however, was watching him closely, and, guessing his purpose, said in her mind, "I must not let this villain get the advantage of my lord; and by some means I must make his plan come to nothing and put an end to his life at once."
So the trusty slave girl changed her clothes with all haste and put on the sort of dress that dancers wear; she veiled her face with a costly kerchief; round her head she bound a fine turban, and about her middle she tied a waist cloth worked with gold and silver, in which she stuck a dagger whose hilt was rich with filigree and jewels.
Disguised in this way, she said to the slave boy Abdullah, "Take your tambourine now, so that we may play and sing and dance in honour of our master's guest."
So he did as she told him, and the two of them went into the room, the lad playing and the girl following. Then, making a low bow, they asked leave to perform and entertain and play; and Ali Baba gave them permission, saying, "Dance now, and do your best, so that this guest of ours may be mirthful and merry."
Khwajah Hasan said, "My lord, you do indeed provide very pleasant entertainment."
Then the slave boy Abdullah, standing by, began to strike the tambourine, while Morgiana rose up and showed her perfect art and pleased them greatly with her graceful steps and her sportive motion; and suddenly, drawing the dagger from her belt, she brandished it and paced from side to side — a spectacle that pleased them most of all. At times, too, she stood in front of them, now clapping the sharp-edged dagger under her armpit and now setting it against her breast.
Lastly she took the tambourine from the slave boy Abdullah and, still holding the dagger in her right hand, went round for largesse, as is the custom among entertainers. First she stood in front of Ali Baba, who threw a gold coin into the tambourine, and his nephew put in a gold coin too; then Khwajah Hasan, seeing her about to come up to him, fell to pulling out his purse — when she heartened her heart and, quick as blinding lightning, plunged the dagger into his vitals, and the villain fell back on the instant, stone dead.
Ali Baba was dismayed and cried out in his anger, "Wretched girl, what is this deed you have done, to bring about my ruin!"
But she replied, "No, my lord — it was to save you and not to do you harm that I killed this man. Loosen his clothes and see what you find underneath."
So Ali Baba searched the dead man's dress and found a dagger hidden in it.
Then Morgiana said, "This wretch was your deadly enemy. Look at him well: he is none other than the oil merchant, the captain of the band of robbers. When he came here meaning to take your life, he would not eat your salt; and when you told me that he wanted none in the food I suspected him, and at first sight I was sure that he would certainly put you to death. Almighty Allah be praised — it is just as I thought."
Then Ali Baba lavished thanks and expressions of gratitude on her, saying, "See now, twice you have saved me from his hand"; and, falling on her neck, he cried, "You are free; and as a reward for this loyalty of yours, I have married you to my nephew."
Then, turning to the youth, he said, "Do as I tell you and you shall prosper. I want you to marry Morgiana, who is a model of duty and loyalty. You see now that this Khwajah Hasan sought your friendship only so that he might find an opportunity to take my life; but this girl, with her good sense and her wisdom, has killed him and saved us."
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that Ali Baba's nephew consented at once to marry Morgiana.
After which the three of them raised the dead body and carried it out with all care and vigilance and buried it privately in the garden; and for many years nobody knew anything about it.
In due time Ali Baba married his brother's son to Morgiana with great pomp, and spread a wedding feast in the most sumptuous fashion for his friends and neighbours, and made merry with them and enjoyed singing and every kind of dancing and amusement.
He prospered in every undertaking, and Time smiled on him, and a new source of wealth was opened to him.
For fear of the thieves he had not once visited the cave in the jungle where the treasure lay, since the day he had carried out his brother Kasim's body. But some time afterwards he mounted his horse one morning and rode there with all care and caution; and, finding no sign of man or horse, and reassured in his mind, he ventured to go up to the door.
Then, dismounting from his beast, he tied it to a tree and, going to the entrance, spoke the words he had not forgotten: "Open, Sesame!"
At this, as it always did, the door flew open; and, going in by it, he saw the goods and the hoard of gold and silver untouched and lying just as he had left them. So he was assured that not one of all the thieves was left alive, and that apart from himself there was not a soul who knew the secret of the place.
At once he tied up in his saddlecloth a load of gold coins, as much as his horse could carry, and brought it home; and in later days he showed the hoard to his sons and his sons' sons, and taught them how the door could be made to open and shut.
So Ali Baba and his household lived all their lives in wealth and gladness in that city where once he had been a pauper; and by the blessing of that secret treasure he rose to high rank and dignity.
And Shahrazad saw the dawn breaking, and fell silent.
When it was the Six Hundred and Fortieth Night,
she said: It has reached me, O fortunate King — and so Shahrazad went on telling the King her tales, night after night, until the thousand nights and a night were fulfilled.
Now during all this time Shahrazad had borne the King three boy children; so when she had made an end of her tales she rose to her feet and, kissing the ground before him, said:
"O King of the time, and unique one of the age and the tide: I am your handmaid, and for these thousand nights and a night I have entertained you with stories of the people who went before us and with cautionary instances of the men of old. May I then make bold to beg a boon of your Highness?"
He replied, "Ask, Shahrazad, and it shall be granted you."
Whereupon she cried out to the nurses and the eunuchs, saying, "Bring me my children."
So they brought them to her in haste, and they were three boy children, one walking, one crawling and one at the breast. She took them and, setting them before the King, kissed the ground again and said:
"O King of the age, these are your children; and I beg you to release me from the doom of death, as a gift to these infants; for if you kill me they will be motherless, and will find no woman to rear them as they ought to be reared."
When the King heard this he wept and, pressing the boys to his bosom, said, "By Allah, Shahrazad, I pardoned you before ever these children came, because I found you chaste, pure, honest and pious. Allah bless you, and your father and your mother, and your root and your branch! I take the Almighty to witness against me that I exempt you from anything that could harm you."
So she kissed his hands and his feet and rejoiced exceedingly, saying, "May the Lord make your life long and increase you in dignity and majesty!" — and presently added:
"You marvelled at what happened to you at the hands of women; and yet greater and more grievous misfortunes than yours befell the kings of Persia before you. Indeed I have set out for you what happened to caliphs and kings and others with their women; but the telling is long and the hearing of it grows tedious, and in what I have told there is warning enough for the man of wits and admonishment enough for the wise."
Then she stopped speaking; and when King Shahryar had heard her words and profited by what she said, he summoned up his powers of reason and cleansed his heart and made his understanding come back to him, and turned to Almighty Allah and said to himself:
"Since more than has befallen me befell the kings of Persia, never, while I live, shall I stop blaming myself for the past. As for this Shahrazad, her like is not to be found in the lands; so praise be to Him who appointed her a means of delivering His creatures from oppression and slaughter!"
Then he rose from where he sat and kissed her head; at which she rejoiced exceedingly, she and her sister Dunyazad.
When the morning came, the King went out and, sitting down on the throne of his kingship, summoned the lords of his land; whereupon the chamberlains and officials and captains of the army came in to him and kissed the ground before him.
He distinguished the vizier, Shahrazad's father, with special favour, and bestowed on him a costly and splendid robe of honour, and treated him with the utmost kindness, and said to him, "Allah protect you, for that you gave me your noble daughter to wife, who has been the means of my repenting of killing other people's daughters. Indeed I have found her pure and pious, chaste and honest; and Allah has granted me three boy children by her; so praised be He for His surpassing favour."
Then he bestowed robes of honour on his viziers and emirs and chief officers, and set out briefly to them what had happened to him with Shahrazad, and how he had turned from his former ways and repented of what he had done, and how he intended to take the vizier's daughter Shahrazad to wife and have the marriage contract drawn up with her.
When those who were present heard this they kissed the ground before him and blessed him and his betrothed Shahrazad, and the vizier thanked her.
Then Shahryar brought his sitting to an end in all well-being, whereupon the people dispersed to their homes, and the news was noised abroad that the King intended to marry the vizier's daughter Shahrazad.
Then he set about making ready the wedding gear, and presently sent for his brother, King Shah Zaman, who came; and King Shahryar went out to meet him with his troops.
Furthermore they decorated the city in the finest fashion and spread scents from censers and burnt aloes-wood and other perfumes in all the markets and thoroughfares, and rubbed themselves with saffron, while the drums beat and the flutes and pipes sounded and mimes and mountebanks played and plied their arts, and the King lavished gifts and largesse on them; and indeed it was a notable day.
When they came to the palace, King Shahryar gave orders to spread the tables with beasts roasted whole and sweetmeats and every kind of food, and told the crier to cry to the people that they should come up to the Divan and eat and drink, and that this should be a means of reconciliation between him and them. So high and low, great and small, came up to him; and they stayed like that, eating and drinking, seven days and seven nights.
Then the King shut himself up with his brother and told him what had happened to him with the vizier's daughter Shahrazad over the past three years, and told him what he had heard from her of proverbs and parables, chronicles and pleasantries, quips and jests, stories and anecdotes, dialogues and histories and elegies and other verses; at which King Shah Zaman marvelled with the uttermost marvel and said:
"I should like to take her younger sister to wife, so that we may be two brothers married to two sisters, and they in the same way sisters to us. For the calamity that befell me was the cause of our discovering what had befallen you; and all this time, these three years past, I have taken no delight in any woman, except that I lie each night with a girl of my kingdom and every morning I put her to death. But now I want to marry your wife's sister Dunyazad."
When King Shahryar heard his brother's words he rejoiced exceedingly and, getting up at once, went in to his wife Shahrazad and told her what his brother intended, namely that he sought her sister Dunyazad in marriage.
Whereupon she answered, "O King of the age, we ask one condition of him, and that is that he take up his home with us; for I cannot bear to be parted from my sister for an hour, since we were brought up together and cannot endure to be separated from one another. If he accepts this bargain, she is his servant."
King Shahryar went back to his brother and told him what Shahrazad had said; and he replied, "Indeed, this is exactly what was in my mind; for I wish never again to be parted from you for a single hour. As for the kingdom, Allah the Most High shall send it whomever He chooses, for I have no desire for kingship any longer."
When King Shahryar heard his brother's words he rejoiced exceedingly and said, "Truly this is what I wished, my brother. So praised be Allah, who has brought about union between us."
Then he sent for the judges and the learned men, the captains and the notables, and they married the two brothers to the two sisters. The contracts were written out, and the two kings bestowed robes of honour of silk and satin on all who were present, while the city was decorated and the rejoicings were renewed.
The King commanded every emir and vizier and chamberlain and officer to decorate his palace, and the people of the city were gladdened by the promise of happiness and contentment. King Shahryar also ordered sheep slaughtered and kitchens set up, and made wedding feasts and fed all comers, high and low; and he gave alms to the poor and needy and extended his bounty to great and small.
Then the eunuchs went out to perfume the baths for the brides; so they scented them with rosewater and willow-flower water and pods of musk, and fumigated them with eaglewood and ambergris.
Then Shahrazad went in, she and her sister Dunyazad, and they cleansed their heads and trimmed their hair. When they came out of the baths they put on clothes and ornaments such as men used to prepare for the kings of Persia; and among Shahrazad's clothes was a dress bordered with red gold and worked with images of birds and beasts.
And the two sisters encircled their necks with necklaces of precious jewels, the like of which Alexander never rejoiced in, for in them were great jewels that amazed the wit and dazzled the eye; and the imagination was bewildered at their charms, for indeed each of them was brighter than the sun and the moon.
Before them they lit brilliant torches of wax in candelabra of gold; but their faces outshone the torches, for they had eyes sharper than unsheathed swords, and the lashes of their eyelids bewitched all hearts. Their cheeks were rosy red and their necks and their figures swayed gracefully, and their eyes played like a gazelle's; and the slave girls came to meet them with instruments of music.
Then the two kings went into the baths, and when they came out they sat down on a couch set with pearls and gems, whereupon the two sisters came up and stood between their hands, like two moons, bending and leaning from side to side in their beauty and loveliness.
Presently they brought Shahrazad forward and displayed her, in the first dress, in a suit of red; whereupon King Shahryar rose to look at her, and the wits of everybody present, men and women alike, were bewitched; for she was just as one of those who described her said of her:
A sun on a wand in a knoll of sand she showed, clad in her crimson-coloured chemisette; of the honey-dew of her lips she gave me drink, and with her rosy cheeks quenched the fire she set.
Then they dressed Dunyazad in a dress of blue brocade, and she became like the full moon when it shines out. So they displayed her in this, in the first dress, before King Shah Zaman, who rejoiced in her and nearly fainted away with love-longing and desire; yes, he was distracted with passion for her the moment he saw her, because she was as one of those who described her said of her in these lines:
She comes dressed in a vest of azure, ultramarine, as the skies are decked and dight; I viewed the unparalleled sight, which showed my eyes a summer moon upon a winter night.
Then they went back to Shahrazad and displayed her in the second dress, a suit of surpassing fineness, and veiled her face with her hair like a chin-veil. Moreover they let down her side locks, and she was as one of those who described her said of her in these lines:
Hail to him whose locks overshadow his cheeks, who slew my life by cruel hard despite! I said, "Have you veiled the Morning in Night?" He said, "No — I veil the Moon in the hue of Night."
Then they displayed Dunyazad in a second and a third and a fourth dress, and she paced forward like the rising sun, and swayed to and fro in the insolence of her beauty; and she was as the poet says of her in these lines:
The sun of beauty she to all appears, and, lovely and coy, she mocks all loveliness; and when he meets her face and her smile in the morning, the sun of day must dress in clouds.
Then they displayed Shahrazad in the third dress and the fourth and the fifth, and she became like a supple willow branch or a thirsting gazelle, lovely of face and perfect in every attribute of grace, just as one says of her in these lines:
She comes like the fullest moon on a happy night, taper of waist, with a shape of magic might; she has an eye whose glances quell mankind, and the ruby on her cheeks reflects its light. The blackness of her hair enveils her hips — beware of curls that bite with a viper's bite! Her sides are silken-soft, and all the while the heart behind that surface is mere rock, escaping sight. From the fringed curtains of her eyes she shoots shafts that at the furthest range still strike the white.
Then they went back to Dunyazad and displayed her in the fifth dress and in the sixth, which was green; and she surpassed with her loveliness the fair ones of the four quarters of the world, and outdid, with the brightness of her face, the full moon at its rising; for she was as the poet says of her in these lines:
A girl she was whom the dresser's art had decked with snare and sleight, and robed with rays as though the sun had borrowed her own light. She came before us wondrously clad in a chemisette of green, as, veiled behind his leafy screen, the pomegranate hides from sight. And when he said, "What do you call the fashion of your dress?" she answered us in a pleasant way, with a double meaning dight: "We call this garment heartbreak; and rightly is it named, for many a heart we broke with this, and harried many a sprite."
Then they displayed Shahrazad in the sixth and seventh dresses and clad her in a young man's clothes; whereupon she came forward swaying from side to side and moving coquettishly, and indeed she ravished wits and hearts and bewitched all eyes with her glances. She shook her sides and swayed her haunches, then put her hair up under a sword hilt and went up to King Shahryar, who embraced her as a hospitable host embraces his guest, and threatened her in her ear with the taking of the sword; and she was as the poet says of her in these words:
Were the darkness of a beard not male, and fairer than the feminine, the tirewomen would have grudged the bride who made herself a beard and whiskers wear.
And they did the same with her sister Dunyazad; and when they had made an end of the display, the King bestowed robes of honour on everybody present and sent the brides to their own apartments.
Then Shahrazad went in to King Shahryar and Dunyazad to King Shah Zaman, and each of them solaced himself with the company of his beloved wife, and the hearts of the people were comforted.
When morning came, the vizier came in to the two kings and kissed the ground before them; and they thanked him and were generous in their bounty to him. Presently they went out and sat down on the couches of kingship, while all the viziers and emirs and grandees and lords of the land presented themselves and kissed the ground. King Shahryar ordered them robes of honour and largesse, and they prayed for the permanence and prosperity of the King and his brother.
Then the two sovereigns appointed their father-in-law the vizier to be viceroy in Samarkand and assigned him five of the chief emirs to go with him, charging them to attend him and do him service. The minister kissed the ground and prayed that they might be granted length of life; then he went in to his daughters, with the eunuchs and ushers walking before him, and greeted them and said goodbye to them. They kissed his hands and gave him joy of his kingship and bestowed immense treasures on him; after which he took his leave of them and set out, and travelled days and nights until he came near Samarkand, where the townspeople met him three days' journey out and rejoiced in him exceedingly.
So he entered the city, and they decorated the houses, and it was a notable day. He sat down on the throne of his kingship, and the viziers did him homage, and the grandees and emirs of Samarkand, and they all prayed that he might be granted justice and victory and long continuance. So he bestowed robes of honour on them and treated them with distinction, and they made him Sultan over them.
As soon as his father-in-law had left for Samarkand, King Shahryar summoned the grandees of his realm and made them a stupendous banquet of every kind of delicious food and exquisite sweetmeat. He also bestowed robes of honour on them and rewarded them, and divided the kingdoms between himself and his brother in their presence; at which the people rejoiced.
Then the two kings lived on, each ruling a day in turn, and they were always in harmony with one another; while in the same way their wives continued in the love of Almighty Allah and in thanksgiving to Him; and the peoples and the provinces were at peace, and the preachers prayed for them from the pulpits, and their fame was noised abroad, and travellers carried news of them to every land.
In due time King Shahryar summoned chroniclers and copyists and told them to write down everything that had happened to him with his wife, first and last; so they wrote it, and named it The Stories of the Thousand Nights and a Night. The book came to thirty volumes, and these the King laid up in his treasury.
And the two brothers lived with their wives in all pleasure and comfort of life and its delights, for indeed Allah the Most High had changed their annoyance into joy; and in this way they went on until there took them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies, the Desolator of dwelling places and the Garnerer of graveyards; and they were carried away to the mercy of Almighty Allah. Their houses fell into waste and their palaces lay in ruins, and other kings inherited their riches.
Then there reigned after them a wise ruler, who was just and keen-witted and accomplished, and who loved tales and legends, and especially those that chronicle the doings of sovereigns and sultans; and he found in the treasury these marvellous stories and wonderful histories, contained in the thirty volumes.
So he read in them a first book and a second and a third, and so on to the last of them; and each book astounded and delighted him more than the one before it, until he came to the end of them. Then he admired everything he had read in them of description and discourse and rare traits and anecdotes and moral instances and reminiscences, and ordered the people to copy them and spread them over all lands and climes; and so their fame was noised abroad, and the people named them The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand Nights and a Night.
This is all that has come down to us of the origin of this book, and Allah is All-knowing.
So glory be to Him whom the shifts of Time do not waste away, nor does anything of chance or change affect His sway; whom one case does not divert from another case, and who is alone in the attributes of perfect grace. And prayer and peace be upon the Lord's Pontiff and Chosen One among His creatures, our lord Mohammed, the Prince of mankind, through whom we beg of Him a goodly and a godly end.