As I sat one day in my shop, there came up to me a fair woman, as she
were the moon at its rising, and with her a hand-maid. Now I was a
handsome man in my time; so that lady sat down on my shop[471] and
buying stuffs of me, paid the price and went her ways. I asked the girl
anent her and she answered, “I know not her name.” Quoth I, “Where is
her abode?” Quoth she, “In heaven;” and I, “She is presently on the
earth; so when doth she ascend to heaven and where is the ladder by
which she goeth up?”[472] The girl retorted, “She hath her lodging in a
palace between two rivers,[473] that is, in the palace of Al-Maamún
al-Hákim bi-Amri ’llah.”[474] Then said I, “I am a dead man, without a
doubt;” but she replied, “Have patience, for needs must she return to
thee and buy other stuffs of thee.” I asked, “And how cometh it that the
Commander of the Faithful trusteth her to go out?” and she answered, “He
loveth her with exceeding love and is wrapped up in her and crosseth her
not.” Then the slave-girl went away, running after her mistress;
whereupon I left the shop and followed them, so I might see her
abiding-place. I kept them in view all the way, till she disappeared
from mine eyes, when I returned to my place, with heart a-fire. Some
days after, she came to me again and bought stuffs of me: I refused to
take the price and she cried, “We have no need of thy goods.” Quoth I,
“O my lady, accept them from me as a gift;” but quoth she, “Wait till I
try thee and make proof of thee.” Then she brought out of her pocket a
purse and gave me therefrom a thousand dinars, saying, “Trade with this
till I return to thee.” So I took the purse and she went away and
returned not till six months had passed. Meanwhile, I traded with the
money and sold and bought and made other thousand dinars profit on it.
At last she came to me again and I said to her, “Here is thy money and I
have gained with it other thousand ducats;” and she, “Let it lie by thee
and take these other thousand dinars. As soon as I have departed from
thee, go thou to Al-Rauzah, the Garden-holm, and build there a goodly
pavilion, and when the edifice is accomplished, give me to know
thereof.” So saying, she left me and went away. As soon as she was gone,
I betook myself to Al-Rauzah and fell to building the pavilion, and when
it was finished, I furnished it with the finest of furniture and sent to
tell her that I had made an end of the edifice; whereupon she sent back
to me, saying, “Let him meet me to-morrow about daybreak at the Zuwaylah
gate and bring with him a strong ass.” I did as she bade and, betaking
myself to the Zuwaylah gate, at the appointed time, found there a young
man on horseback, awaiting her, even as I awaited her. As we stood,
behold, up she came, and with her a slave-girl. When she saw that young
man, she asked him, “Art thou here?” and he answered, “Yes, O my lady.”
Quoth she, “To-day I am invited by this man: wilt thou wend with us?”
and quoth he, “Yes.” Then said she, “Thou hast brought me hither against
my will and parforce. Wilt thou go with us in any case?”[475] He cried,
“Yes, yes,” and we fared on, all three, till we came to Al-Rauzah and
entered the pavilion. The dame diverted herself awhile with viewing its
ordinance and furniture, after which she doffed her walking-dress and
sat down with the young man in the goodliest and chiefest place. Then I
fared forth and brought them what they should eat at the first of the
day; presently I again went out and fetched them what they should eat at
the last of the day and brought for the twain wine and dessert and
fruits and flowers. After this fashion I abode in their service,
standing on my feet, and she said not unto me, “Sit,” nor “Take, eat,”
nor “Take, drink,” while she and the young man sat toying and laughing,
and he fell to kissing her and pinching her and hopping over the
ground[476] and laughing. They remained thus awhile and presently she
said, “Hitherto we have not become drunken; let me pour out.” So she
took the cup, and crowning it, gave him to drink and plied him with
wine, till he lost his wits, when she took him up and carried him into a
closet. Then she came out, with the head of that youth in her hand,
while I stood silent, fixing not mine eyes on her eyes neither
questioning her of the case; and she asked me, “What be this?” “I wot
not,” answered I; and she said, “Take it and throw it into the river.” I
accepted her commandment and she arose and stripping herself of her
clothes, took a knife and cut the dead man’s body in pieces, which she
laid in three baskets, and said to me, “Throw them into the river.” I
did her bidding and when I returned, she said to me, “Sit, so I may
relate to thee yonder fellow’s case, lest thou be affrighted at what
accident hath befallen him. Thou must know that I am the Caliph’s
favourite concubine, nor is there any higher in honour with him than I;
and I am allowed six nights in each month, wherein I go down into the
city and tarry with my whilome mistress who reared me; and when I go
down thus, I dispose of myself as I will. Now this young man was the son
of certain neighbours of my mistress, when I was a virgin girl. One day,
my mistress was sitting with the chief officers of the palace and I was
alone in the house, and as the night came on, I went up to the
terrace-roof in order to sleep there, but ere I was ware, this youth
came up from the street and falling upon me knelt on my breast. He was
armed with a dagger and I could not get free of him till he had taken my
maidenhead by force; and this sufficed him not, but he must needs
disgrace me with all the folk for, as often as I came down from the
palace, he would stand in wait for me by the way and futtered me against
my will and follow me whithersoever I went. This, then, is my story, and
as for thee, thou pleasest me and thy patience pleaseth me and thy good
faith and loyal service, and there abideth with me none dearer than
thou.” Then I lay with her that night and there befel what befel between
us till the morning, when she gave me abundant wealth and took to
meeting me at the pavilion six days in every month. After this wise we
passed a whole year, at the end of which she cut herself off from me a
month’s space, wherefore fire raged in my heart on her account. When it
was the next month, behold, a little eunuch presented himself to me and
said, “I am a messenger to thee from Such-an-one, who giveth thee to
know that the Commander of the Faithful hath ordered her to be drowned,
her and those who are with her, six-and-twenty slave-girls, on such a
day at Dayr al-Tin,[477] for that they have confessed of lewdness, one
against other and she sayeth to thee, Look how thou mayst do with me and
how thou mayst contrive to deliver me, even an thou gather together all
my money and spend it upon me, for that this be the time of
manhood.”[478] Quoth I, “I know not this woman; belike it is other than
I to whom this message is sent; so beware, O Eunuch, lest thou cast me
into a cleft.” Quoth he, “Behold, I have told thee that I had to say,”
and went away, leaving me in sore concern on her account. Now when the
appointed day came, I arose and changing my clothes and favour, donned
sailor’s apparel; then I took with me a purse full of gold and buying a
right good breakfast, accosted a boatman at Dayr al-Tin and sat down and
ate with him; after which I asked him, “Wilt thou hire me thy boat?”
Answered he, “The Commander of the Faithful hath commanded me to be
here;” and he told me the tale of the concubines and how the Caliph
purposed to drown them that day. When I heard this from him, I brought
out to him ten gold pieces and discovered to him my case, whereupon he
said to me, “O my brother, get thee empty gourds, and when thy mistress
cometh, give me to know of her and I will contrive the trick.” So I
kissed his hand and thanked him and, as I was walking about, waiting, up
came the guards and eunuchs escorting the women, who were weeping and
shrieking and farewelling one another. The Castratos cried out to us,
whereupon we came with the boat, and they said to the sailor, “Who be
this?” Said he, “This be my mate whom I have brought to help me, so one
of us may keep the boat, whilst another doth your service.” Then they
brought out to us the women, one by one, saying, “Throw them in by the
Island;” and we replied, “’Tis well.” Now each of them was shackled and
they had made fast about her neck a jar of sand. We did as the neutrals
bade us and ceased not to take the women, one after other, and cast them
in, till they gave us my mistress and I winked to my mate. So we took
her and carried her out into mid-stream, where I threw to her the empty
gourds[479] and said to her, “Wait for me at the mouth of the
Canal.”[480] Then we cast her in alongside the boat, after we had loosed
the jar of sand from her legs[481] and done off her shackles, and
returned. Now there remained one woman after her: so we took her and
drowned her and the eunuchs went away, whilst we dropped down the river
with the craft till we came to the mouth of Khalij, where I saw my
mistress awaiting me. We haled her up into the canoe and returned to our
pavilion on Al-Rauzah. Then I rewarded the sailor and he took his boat
and went away; whereupon quoth she to me, “Thou art indeed the friend
ever faithful found for the shifts of Fortune.”[482] And I sojourned
with her some days; but the shock wrought upon her so that she sickened
and fell to wasting away and redoubled in languor and weakness till she
died. I mourned for her with exceeding mourning and buried her; after
which I removed all that was in the pavilion to my own house and
abandoned the building. Now she had brought to that pavilion a little
coffer of copper and laid it in a place whereof I knew not; so, when the
Inspector of Inheritances[483] came, he rummaged the house and found the
coffer, with the key in the lock. Presently he opened it and seeing it
full of jewels and jacinths and earrings and seal-rings and precious
stones (and ’twas a matter such as is not found save with kings and
sultans), took it, and me with it, and he and his men ceased not to put
me to the question with beating and torment till I confessed to them the
whole affair, from beginning to end. Thereupon they carried me to the
Caliph and I told him all that had passed between me and her; and he
said to me, “O man, depart this city, for I release thee on account of
thy courage and because of thy constancy in keeping thy secret and thy
daring in exposing thyself to death.” So I arose forthwith and fared
from his city; and this is what befel me.
[Illustration]
_NOTE._
_Here end my labours with the Supplemental Tales of the Breslau text;
and now I take the opportunity of introducing_ MR. CLOUSTON _to my
readers_.