Ye must know that a company, amongst whom was a friend of mine, once
invited me to an entertainment; so I went with him, and when we came
into his house and sat down on his couch, he said to me, “This is a
blessed day and a day of gladness, and who is he that liveth to see the
like of this day? I desire that thou practise with us and disapprove not
our proceedings, for that thou hast been accustomed to fall in with
those who offer this.”[80] I consented thereto and their talk happened
upon the like of this subject.[81] Presently, my friend, who had invited
me, arose from among them and said to them, “Listen to me and I will
acquaint you with an adventure which happened to me. There was a certain
person who used to visit me in my shop, and I knew him not nor he knew
me, nor ever in his life had he seen me; but he was wont, whenever he
wanted a dirham or two, by way of loan, to come to me and ask me,
without acquaintance or introduction between me and him, and I would
give him what he required. I told none of him, and matters abode thus
between us a long while till he began a-borrowing at a time ten or
twenty dirhams, more or less. One day, as I stood in my shop, behold, a
woman suddenly came up to me and stopped before me; and she was a
presence as she were the full moon rising from among the constellations,
and the place was a-light by her light. When I saw her, I fixed my eyes
on her and stared in her face; and she fell to bespeaking me with soft
voice. When I heard her words and the sweetness of her speech, I lusted
after her; and as soon as she saw that I longed for her, she did her
errand and promising me an assignation, went away, leaving my thoughts
occupied with her and fire a-flame in my heart. Accordingly I abode,
perplexed and pondering my affair, the fire still burning in my heart,
till the third day, when she came again and I could hardly credit her
coming.” When I saw her, I talked with her and cajoled her and courted
her and craved her favour with speech and invited her to my house; but,
hearing all this, she only answered, “I will not go up into any one’s
house.” Quoth I, “I will go with thee” and quoth she, “Arise and come
with me.” So I rose and putting into my sleeve a kerchief, wherein was a
fair sum of silver and a considerable, followed the woman, who forwent
me and ceased not walking till she brought me to a lane and to a door,
which she bade me unlock. I refused and she opened it and led me into
the vestibule. As soon as I had entered, she bolted the entrance door
from within and said to me, “Sit here till I go in to the slave-girls
and cause them enter a place whence they shall not see me.” “’Tis well,”
answered I and sat down: whereupon she entered and was absent from me an
eye-twinkling, after which she returned to me, without a veil, and
straightway said, “Arise and enter in the name of Allah.” So I arose and
went in after her and we gave not over going till we reached a saloon.
When I examined the place, I found it neither handsome nor pleasant, but
desolate and dreadful without symmetry or cleanliness; indeed, it was
loathsome to look upon and there was in it a foul smell. After this
inspection I seated myself amiddlemost the saloon, misdoubting; and lo
and behold! as I sat, there came down on me from the daïs a body of
seven naked men, without other clothing than leather belts about their
waists. One of them walked up to me and took my turband, whilst another
seized my kerchief that was in my sleeve, with my money, and a third
stripped me of my clothes; after which a fourth came and bound my hands
behind my back with his belt. Then they all took me up, pinioned as I
was, and casting me down, fell a-haling me towards a sink-hole that was
there and were about to cut my throat, when suddenly there came a
violent knocking at the door. As they heard the raps, they were afraid
and their minds were diverted from me by affright; so the woman went out
and presently returning, said to them, “Fear not; no harm shall betide
you this day. ’Tis only your comrade who hath brought you your dinner.”
With this the new-comer entered, bringing with him a roasted lamb; and
when he came in to them, he asked, “What is to do with you, that ye have
tucked up sleeves and bag-trousers?” Replied they, “This is a head of
game we’ve caught.” As he heard these words, he came up to me and
peering in my face, cried out and said, “By Allah, this is my brother,
the son of my mother and father! Allah! Allah!” Then he loosed me from
my pinion-bonds and bussed my head, and behold it was my friend who used
to borrow silver of me. When I kissed his head, he kissed mine and said,
“O my brother, be not affrighted;” and he called for my clothes and coin
and restored all to me nor was aught missing. Also, he brought me a
porcelain bowl full of sherbet of sugar, with lemons therein, and gave
me to drink; and the company came and seated me at a table. So I ate
with them and he said to me, “O my lord and my brother, now have bread
and salt passed between us and thou hast discovered our secret and our
case; but secrets with the noble are safe.” I replied, “As I am a
lawfully-begotten child and a well-born, I will not name aught of this
nor denounce you!” They assured themselves of me by an oath; then they
brought me out and I went my way, very hardly crediting but that I was
of the dead. I lay ill in my house a whole month; after which I went to
the Hammam and coming out, opened my shop and sat selling and buying as
was my wont, but saw no more of that man or that woman till, one day,
there stopped before my shop a young Turkoman,[82] as he were the full
moon; and he was a sheep-merchant and had with him a leathern bag,
wherein was money, the price of sheep he had sold. He was followed by
the woman, and when he stopped over against my shop, she stood by his
side and cajoled him, and indeed he inclined to her with great
inclination. As for me, I was dying of solicitude for him and began
casting furtive glances at him and winked at him, till he chanced to
look round and saw me signing to him; whereupon the woman gazed at me
and made a signal with her hand and went away. The Turkoman followed her
and I deemed him dead without a doubt; wherefore I feared with exceeding
fear and shut my shop. Then I journeyed for a year’s space and
returning, opened my shop; whereupon, behold, the woman as she walked by
came up to me and said, “This is none other than a great absence.” I
replied, “I have been on a journey;” and she asked, “Why didst thou wink
at the Turkoman?” I answered, “Allah forfend! I did not wink at him.”
Quoth she, “Beware lest thou thwart me;” and went away. Awhile after
this a familiar of mine invited me to his house and when I came to him,
we ate and drank and chatted. Then he asked me, “O my friend, hath there
befallen thee aught of sore trouble in the length of thy life?” Answered
I, “Tell me first, hath there befallen thee aught?” He rejoined:—Know
that one day I espied a fair woman; so I followed her and sued her to
come home with me. Quoth she, I will not enter any one’s house but my
own; so come thou to my home, an thou wilt, and be it on such a day.
Accordingly, on the appointed day, her messenger[83] came to me,
proposing to carry me to her; and when he announced his purpose I arose
and went with him, till we arrived at a goodly house and a great door.
He opened the door and I entered, whereupon he bolted it behind me and
would have gone in; but I feared with exceeding fear and foregoing him
to the second door, whereby he would have had me enter, bolted it and
cried out at him, saying, “By Allah, an thou open not to me, I will slay
thee;[84] for I am none of those whom thou canst readily cozen?” “What
deemest thou of cozening?” “Verily, I am startled by the loneliness of
the house and the lack of any keeper at its door; for I see none
appear.” “O my lord, this is a private door.” “Private or public, open
to me.” So he opened to me and I went out and had gone but a little way
from the door when I met a woman, who said to me, “A long life was
fore-ordained to thee; else hadst thou never come forth of yonder
house.” I asked, “How so?” and she answered, “Enquire of thy friend
Such-an-one,” (naming thee), “and he will acquaint thee with strange
things. So, Allah upon thee, O my friend, tell me what befel thee of
wondrous and marvellous, for I have told thee what befel me.” “O my
brother, I am bound by a solemn oath.” “O my friend, false thine oath
and tell me.”[85] “Indeed, I dread the issue of this.” But he urged me
till I told him all, whereat he marvelled. Then I went away from him and
abode a long while, without further news. One day, I met another of my
friends who said to me, “A neighbour of mine hath invited me to hear
singers” but I said:—“I will not foregather with any one.” However, he
prevailed upon me; so we repaired to the place and found there a person,
who came to meet us and said, “Bismillah!”[86] Then he pulled out a key
and opened the door, whereupon we entered and he locked the door after
us. Quoth I, “We are the first of the folk; but where be the singers’
voices?” He replied, “They’re within the house: this is but a private
door; so be not amazed at the absence of the folk.” My friend said to
me, “Behold, we are two, and what can they dare to do with us?” Then he
brought us into the house, and when we entered the saloon, we found it
desolate exceedingly and dreadful of aspect. Quoth my friend, “We are
fallen into a trap; but there is no Majesty and there is no Might save
in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!” And quoth I, “May God never requite
thee for me with good!”[87] Then we sat down on the edge of the daïs and
suddenly I espied a closet beside me; so I peered into it and my friend
asked me, “What seest thou?” I answered, “I see there wealth in store
and corpses of murdered men galore. Look.” So he looked and cried, “By
Allah, we are down among the dead!” and we fell a-weeping, I and he. As
we were thus, behold, four men came in upon us, by the door at which we
had entered, and they were naked, wearing only leather belts about their
waists, and made for my friend. He ran at them and dealing one of them a
blow with his sword-pommel, knocked him down, whereupon the other three
rushed upon him. I seized the opportunity to escape while they were
occupied with him, and espying a door by my side, slipped into it and
found myself in an underground room, without issue, even a window. So I
made sure of death, and said, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!” Then I looked at the top of the
vault and saw in it a range of glazed and coloured lunettes;[88] so I
clambered up for dear life, till I reached the lunettes, and I out of my
wits for fear. I made shift to remove the glass and scrambling out
through the setting, found behind them a wall which I bestrode. Thence I
saw folk walking in the street; so I cast myself down to the ground and
Allah Almighty preserved me, and when I reached the face of earth,
unhurt, the folk flocked round me and I acquainted them with my
adventure. Now as Destiny decreed, the Chief of Police was passing
through the market-street; so the people told him what was to do and he
made for the door and bade raise it off its hinges. We entered with a
rush and found the thieves, as they had thrown my friend down and cut
his throat; for they occupied not themselves with me, but said, “Whither
shall yonder fellow wend? Verily, he is in our grasp.” So the Wali hent
them with the hand[89] and questioned them of their case, and they
confessed against the woman and against their associates in Cairo. Then
he took them and went forth, after he had locked up the house and sealed
it; and I accompanied him till he came without the first house. He found
the door bolted from within; so he bade raise it and we entered and
found another door. This also he caused pull up, enjoining his men to
silence till the doors should be lifted, and we entered and found the
band occupied with new game, whom the woman had just brought in and
whose throat they were about to cut. The Chief released the man and gave
him back whatso the thieves had taken from him; and he laid hands on the
woman and the rest and took forth of the house a mint of money, with
which they found the purse of the Turkoman sheep-merchant. They at once
nailed up the thieves against the house-wall, whilst, as for the woman,
they wrapped her in one of her mantillas and nailing her to a board, set
her upon a camel and went round about the town with her. Thus Allah
razed their dwelling-places and did away from me that which I feared
from them. All this befel, whilst I looked on, and I saw not my friend
who had saved me from them the first time, whereat I wondered to the
utterest of wonderment. However, some days afterward, he came up to me,
and indeed he had renounced the world and donned a Fakir’s dress; and he
saluted me and went away.[90] Then he again began to pay me frequent
visits and I entered into conversation with him and questioned him of
the band and how he came to escape, he alone of them all. He replied, “I
left them from the day on which Allah the Most High delivered thee from
them, for that they would not obey my say; so I sware I would no longer
consort with them.” Quoth I, “By Allah, I marvel at thee, for that
assuredly thou wast the cause of my preservation!” Quoth he, “The world
is full of this sort; and we beseech the Almighty to send us safety, for
that these wretches practice upon men with every kind of malpractice.”
Then said I to him, “Tell me the rarest adventure of all that befel thee
in this villainy thou wast wont to work.” And he answered, “O my
brother, I was not present when they did such deeds, for that my part
with them was to concern myself with selling and buying and feeding
them; but it hath reached me that the rarest thing which befel them was
on this wise.”