I was one day abroad on business with certain of my comrades; and, as we
walked along behold, we fell in with a company of women, as they were
moons, and among them one, the tallest of them and the handsomest. When
I saw her and she saw me, she lagged behind her companions and waited
for me till I came up to her and bespake her. Quoth she, “O my lord
(Allah favour thee!) I saw thee prolong thy looking on me and I fancied
that thou knewest me. An it be thus, let me learn more of thee.” Quoth
I, “By Allah, I know thee not, save that the Most High Lord hath cast
the love of thee into my heart and the goodliness of thy qualities hath
confounded me; and that wherewith the Almighty hath gifted thee of those
eyes that shoot with shafts hath captivated me.” And she rejoined, “By
Allah, indeed I feel the like of that which thou feelest; ay, and even
more; so that meseemeth I have known thee from childhood.” Then said I,
“A man cannot well effect all whereof he hath need in the
market-places.” She asked me, “Hast thou a house?” and I answered, “No,
by Allah, nor is this city my dwelling-place.” Rejoined she, “By Allah,
nor have I a place; but I will contrive for thee.” Then she went on
before me and I followed her till she came to a lodging-house[49] and
said to the Housekeeper, “Hast thou an empty room?” The other replied,
“Yes:”[50] and my mistress said, “Give us the key.” So we took the key
and going up to see the room, entered to inspect it; after which she
went out to the Housekeeper and giving her a dirham, said to her “Take
the _douceur_ of the key[51] for the chamber pleaseth us, and here is
another dirham for thy trouble. Go, fetch us a gugglet of water, so we
may refresh ourselves and rest till siesta-time pass and the heat
decline, when the man will depart and bring our bag and baggage.”
Therewith the Housekeeper rejoiced and brought us a mat, two gugglets of
water on a tray, a fan and a leather rug. We abode thus till the
setting-in of mid-afternoon, when she said, “Needs must I make the
Ghusl-ablution ere I fare.”[52] Said I, “Get water wherewith we may both
wash,” and drew forth from my pocket a score or so of dirhams, thinking
to give them to her; but she cried, “Refuge with Allah!” and brought out
of her pocket a handful of silver, saying, “But for destiny and that the
Almighty hath caused the love of thee fall into my heart, there had not
happened that which hath happened.” Quoth I, “Accept this in requital of
that which thou hast spent;” and quoth she, “O my lord, by and by,
whenas mating is prolonged between us, thou wilt see if the like of me
looketh unto money and means or no.” Then the lady took a jar of water
and going into the lavatory, made the Ghusl-ablution[53] and presently
coming forth, prayed the mid-afternoon prayer and craved pardon of Allah
Almighty for the sin into which she had fallen. Now I had asked her name
and she answered, “Rayhánah,”[54] and described to me her
dwelling-place. When I saw her make the ablution, I said within myself,
“This woman doth on this wise, and shall I not do the like of her
doing?” Then quoth I to her, “Peradventure[55] thou wilt seek us another
jar of water?” Accordingly she went out to the Housekeeper and said to
her, “O my sister, take this Nusf and fetch us for it water wherewith we
may wash the flags.”[56] So the Housekeeper brought two jars of water
and I took one of them and giving her my clothes, entered the lavatory
and bathed. When I had made an end of bathing, I cried out, saying,
“Harkye, my lady Rayhanah!” However none answered me. So I went out and
found her not; but I did find that she had taken my clothes and all that
was in them of silver, to wit, four hundred dirhams. She had also
carried off my turband and my kerchief and I lacked the wherewithal to
veil my shame; so I suffered somewhat than which death is less grievous
and abode looking about the place, hoping that haply I might espy a rag
wherewith to hide my nakedness. Then I sat a little and presently going
up to the door, smote upon it; whereat up came the Housekeeper and I
said to her, “O my sister, what hath Allah done with the woman who was
here?” She replied, “The lady came down just now and said:—I’m going to
cover the boys with the clothes, adding, and I have left him sleeping;
an he awake, tell him not to stir till the clothes come to him.” Then
cried I, “O my sister, secrets are safe with the fair-dealing and the
freeborn. By Allah, this woman is not my wife, nor ever in my life have
I seen her before this day!” And I recounted to her the whole affair and
begged of her to cover me, informing her that my private parts were
clean unconcealed. She laughed and cried out to the women of the
lodging-house, saying, “Ho, Fátimah! Ho, Khadíjah! Ho, Harífah! Ho,
Sanínah!” Whereupon all those who were in the place of women and
neighbours flocked to me and fell a-mocking me and saying, “O pimp,[57]
what hadst thou to do with gallantry?” Then one of them came and looked
in my face and laughed, and another said, “By Allah, thou mightest have
known that she lied, from the time she said she liked thee and was in
love with thee? What is there in thee to love?” A third said, “This is
an old man without wisdom;” and all vied one with other in exercising
their wits upon me, I suffering mighty sore chagrin. However, one of the
women took compassion on me after a while, and brought me a rag of thin
stuff and cast it on me. With this I covered my shame, and no more, and
abode awhile thus: then said I in myself, “The husbands of these women
will presently gather together upon me and I shall be disgraced.” So I
went out by another door of the lodging-house, and young and old crowded
about me, running after me and crying, “A madman! A madman!”[58] till I
came to my house and knocked at the door; whereupon out came my wife and
seeing me naked, tall, bare of head, cried out and ran in again, saying,
“This is a maniac, a Satan!” But, when my family and spouse knew me,
they rejoiced and said to me, “What aileth thee?” I told them that
thieves had taken my clothes and stripped me and had been like to slay
me; and when I assured them that the rogues would have slaughtered me,
they praised Allah Almighty and gave me joy of my safety. So consider
the craft this woman practised upon me, and I pretending to cleverness
and wiliness. Those present marvelled at this story and at the doings of
women; then came forward a fourth constable and said, “Now that which
hath betided me of strange adventures is yet stranger than this, and
’twas after the following fashion.”