them. After this, I waited with the greatest impatience for the
arrival of the eunuch, but it was some days before he made his
appearance. At length, however, he arrived.
“I conducted myself in the most kind and friendly manner towards
him; and made many inquiries after the health of his mistress:
‘You certainly are,’ he said, ‘the happiest lover in all the
world: she is absolutely dying for love of you. It is impossible you
can be more anxious to see her, than she is for your company: and if
she were able to follow her own inclinations, and act as she likes,
she would instantly come to you, and gladly pass every moment of her
future life with you.’--‘From her noble air and manner,’ I
replied, ‘I have concluded, she is a lady of great rank and
consequence.’--‘Nor are you deceived in this opinion;’ said
the eunuch, ‘she is the favourite of Zobeidè, the caliph’s
wife, who is the more strongly attached to her, as she brought her
up from her earliest infancy; and her confidence in her is so great,
that she employs her in every commission she wishes to have
executed. From the desire which she has of being married, she has
told her mistress, Zobeidè, that she has cast her eyes upon you;
and has asked her consent to the match. Zobeidè has agreed to it,
but has requested, in the first instance, to see you, that she may
judge whether her favorite has made a good choice; and in case she
approves of you, she will herself be at the expense of the wedding.
You may be sure, therefore, that your happiness is certain. As you
have pleased the favorite, you will equally please her mistress,
whose sole wish is to afford her pleasure; and who has not the least
desire of putting any restraint upon her inclination. The only
thing, therefore, to be done, is to go to the palace; and this was
the reason of my coming here. You must now tell me on what you will
resolve.’--‘My resolution is already taken,’ I replied, ‘and
I am ready to follow you, when, and wherever you choose to conduct
me.’--‘That is well,’ said the eunuch, ‘but you must
recollect, that no man is permitted to enter the apartments in the
palace belonging to the ladies; and that you can be introduced there
only by such means as will keep it a profound secret. The favourite
has taken her measures for the purpose; and you must, on your part,
do every thing to facilitate it; but, above all things, you must be
discreet, or it may cost you your life.’
“I assured him that I would do every thing exactly as he ordered
me. ‘You must then,’ he added, ‘this evening, at the very
close of day, go to the mosque, which the lady Zobeidè has ordered
to be built on the banks of the Tigris; and you must wait there till
we come to you.’ I agreed to every thing he wished, and waited
with the greatest impatience till the day was passed. When the
evening commenced, I set out, and went to prayers, which began an
hour and a half before sun-set, at the appointed mosque; and
remained there till the very last.
“Almost immediately after prayers, I saw a boat come to shore, in
which all the rowers were eunuchs. They landed, and brought a great
number of chests into the mosque. This being done, they all went
away, except one, whom I soon recognised to be the same that had
accompanied the lady; and who had spoken with me that very morning.
Directly after I saw the lady herself come in. I went up to her, and
was informing her, that I was ready to obey all her orders, when she
said, ‘We have no time to lose in conversation.’ She then opened
one of the chests and ordered me to get in. ‘It is,’ she added,
‘absolutely necessary, both for your safety and mine. Fear
nothing, and leave me to manage every thing.’ I had gone too far
to recede at this moment: I did, therefore, as she desired, and she
immediately shut down the top of the chest and locked it. The
eunuch, who was in her confidence, then called the other eunuchs,
who had brought the chests, and ordered them to be carried on board
the boat again. The lady and the eunuch then embarked, and they
began to row towards the apartments of Zobeidè.
“While I was in this situation, I had leisure to make the most
serious reflections; and considering the danger I was in, I repented
most heartily of having exposed myself to it. I both swore and
prayed, but one was now as equally useless, and out of season, as
the other.
“The boat came to shore exactly before the gate of the caliph’s
palace: they landed the chests, which were all carried to the
apartment of the officer of the eunuchs, who keeps the key of that
belonging to the ladies, and who never permits any thing to be
carried in, without having first examined it. The officer was gone
to bed; it was therefore necessary to wake him and make him get up.
He was, however, excessively out of humor at having his rest thus
disturbed and broken in upon; he quarrelled with the favorite,
because she returned so late: ‘You shall not finish your business
so soon as you think,’ said he to her, ‘for not one of these
chests shall pass, till I have opened and examined them most
narrowly.’ He at the same time commanded the eunuch to bring them
to him one after the other, that he might open them. They began by
taking that in which I was shut up, and set it down before him. At
this I was more terrified than I can express, and thought the last
moment of my life was approaching.
“The favorite, who had the key, declared she would not give it
him, nor suffer that chest to be opened. ‘You very well know,’
she said, ‘that I do not bring any thing in here, but what is for
our mistress, Zobeidè. This chest is filled with very valuable
articles, that have been intrusted to me by some merchants, who are
just arrived. There are also a great many bottles of water from the
fountain of Zemsem, at Mecca; [4] and if any one of them should
happen to be broken, all the other things will be spoiled, and you
will have to be answerable for them. The wife of the Commander of
the Faithful too will know how to punish your insolence.’ She
spoke this in so peremptory a tone, that the officer had not courage
to persist in his resolution of opening either the chest in which I
was, or any of the others, ‘Get along then,’ he angrily cried
out, ‘go.’ The door of the ladies’ apartment was immediately
opened, and the chests were all carried in.
“They were scarcely deposited there, before I suddenly heard the
cry of ‘Here’s the caliph; the caliph is come.’ These words
increased my fears to a still greater degree, and I was almost ready
to die on the spot. It was in fact the caliph himself. ‘What have
you got in those chests?’ said he to the Favourite.--‘Commander
of the Faithful,’ she replied, ‘they are some stuffs lately
arrived, which your majesty’s lady wished to have shewn to
her.’--‘Open them,’ said he, ‘and let me see them
also.’--She endeavoured to excuse herself, by saying they were
only fit for females, and that it would deprive Zobeidè of the
pleasure of seeing them before any one else.--‘Open them, I tell
you,’ he answered, ‘I command you.’--She still remonstrated,
and said, ‘that the queen would be very angry, if she did as his
majesty ordered.’--‘No, no,’ he replied, ‘I will promise
you, that she shall not reproach you: only open them, and do not
make me wait so long.’
“It was then absolutely necessary to obey: my fears were again
excited, and I tremble, even now, every time I think of it. The
caliph seated himself, and the Favourite ordering all the chests,
one after the other, to be brought, opened them, and displayed the
stuffs before him. In order to prolong the business as much as
possible, she pointed out to him the peculiar beauties of each
individual stuff, in hopes of tiring his patience quite out; but she
did not succeed. As the Favourite was not less anxious than myself
not to have that chest opened in which I was, she did not hurry in
having them brought to her. There now remained only one to examine.
‘Come,’ said the caliph, ‘let us make haste and finish: we
have now only to see what is in that chest.’ At this instant I
knew not whether I was alive or dead; nor could I possibly hope to
escape so great a danger.
“When the Favourite saw that the caliph was determined she should
open the chest in which I was, she said, ‘Your majesty must
absolutely excuse me, and must do me the favour not to see what is
in that chest: there are some things which I cannot shew except in
the presence of the queen, my mistress.’--‘Well, then,’
replied the caliph, ‘I am content: let them carry the chests
in.’--The eunuchs immediately took them up and placed them in her
chamber, where I again began, as it were, to breathe.
“As soon as the eunuchs, who brought the chests in, were retired,
she quickly opened that in which I was a prisoner. ‘Come out,’
she cried, and showing me a staircase, which led to a chamber above,
‘Go up, and wait for me there.’ She had hardly shut the door
after me, when the caliph came in, and sat down upon the very chest
in which I had been locked up. The motive of this visit was a
certain fit of curiosity, which did not in the least relate to me.
This prince only wished to ask the Favourite some questions as to
what she had seen and heard in the city. They conversed a long time
together: he at last left her, and went back to his own apartment.
“She was no sooner at liberty, than she came into the apartment in
which I was, and made a thousand excuses for the alarms she had
caused me. ‘My anxiety and fear,’ she said, ‘was not less than
your own: of this you ought not to doubt, since I suffered both for
you, from my great regard for you, and for myself, on account of the
great danger I ran from a discovery. Any other, in my place, would
not, I think, have had the address and courage to extricate
themselves from so delicate a situation. It required not less
boldness than presence of mind; or rather, it was necessary to feel
the love for you I do, to get out of such an embarrassment; but
compose yourself now, there is nothing more to fear.’ After we had
entertained ourselves some time with mutual proofs of our affection,
‘But,’ she said, ‘you want repose; you are to sleep here, and
I will not fail to present you to my mistress, Zobeidè, some time
to-morrow. This is a very easy matter, as the caliph is with her
only at night.’ Encouraged by this account, I slept with the
greatest tranquillity; or, if my rest was at all interrupted, it was
by the pleasant ideas that arose in my mind from the thoughts of
possessing a lady of so much understanding and beauty.
“The next morning, before the Favourite of Zobeidè introduced me
to her mistress, she instructed me how I ought to conduct myself in
her presence. She informed me almost word for word what Zobeidè
would ask me, and dictated such answers as I should make to her. She
then led me into a hall, where every thing was very magnificent,
very rich, and very appropriate. I had not been long there, before
twenty female slaves, of a certain age, all dressed in rich and
uniform habits, came out from the cabinet of Zobeidè, and
immediately ranged themselves before the throne in two equal rows,
with the greatest modesty and propriety. They were followed by
twenty other female slaves, very young, and dressed exactly like the
first, with the difference only, that their dress were much gayer.
Zobeidè appeared in the midst of the latter with the most majestic
air. She was so loaded with precious stones and jewels, that she
could scarcely walk. She went immediately and seated herself upon
the throne. I must not forget to mention, that her favourite lady
accompanied her, and remained standing close on her right hand,
while the female slaves were crowded altogether at a greater
distance on both sides the throne.
“As soon as the consort of the caliph was seated, the slaves, who
came in first, made a sign for me to approach. I advanced in the
midst of two ranks, which they formed for that purpose, and
prostrated myself, till my head touched the carpet which was under
the feet of the princess. She ordered me to rise, and honoured me so
far as to ask my name, my family, and the state of my fortune; in my
answers to all of which I gave her perfect satisfaction. I was
confident of this, not only from her manner, but she herself gave
evident proofs of it, by a thousand kind things she had the
condescension to say to me, ‘I have great satisfaction,’ said
she, ‘in finding that my daughter, (this was the title by which
she distinguished her Favourite), for as such I shall ever regard
her, after the care I have taken of her education, has made such a
choice. I entirely approve of it, and agree to your marriage. I will
myself give orders for the preparations necessary in this affair.
But before the ceremony takes place, I have occasion for my daughter
for the next ten days, and during this time, I will take an
opportunity of speaking to the caliph, and obtain his consent; till
this period has passed, you shall remain here, and shall be well
taken care of.’
“I spent these ten days in the female apartments, and during the
whole of this time, I was deprived of the pleasure of seeing the
Favourite, even for one moment: but I was so well treated through
her orders, that I had great reason to be satisfied in every other
respect.
“Zobeidè in the mean time informed the caliph of the
determination she had taken to marry her Favourite; and this prince
not only left her at liberty to act as she pleased in this matter,
but even gave a large sum of money to the Favourite, as his share
towards the formation of her establishment. The intermediate time at
length elapsed, and Zobeidè had got a proper contract of marriage
prepared, with all the necessary forms. Preparations for the
nuptials were made; musicians and dancers of both sexes were ordered
to hold themselves in readiness, and even nine days were spent, in
which the greatest joy and festivity reigned through the palace. The
tenth was the day appointed for the concluding ceremony of the
marriage; the Favourite was conducted to a bath on one side, and I
to one on the other. In the evening I sat down to table, and they
served me with all sorts of dishes and ragouts; and among other
things, there was a ragout made with garlic, similar to that you
have now forced me to eat of. I found it so excellent, that I hardly
touched any other dish. But, unfortunately for me, when I rose from
table, I satisfied myself with only wiping my hands, instead of well
washing them; this was a negligence that I believe I had never been
before guilty of.
“As it was now night, they supplied the place of day-light by a
grand illumination in all the ladies’ apartments. Instruments of
music resounded through the building; they danced, they played a
thousand sports, and all the palace re-echoed with exclamations of
joy and pleasure. They introduced my bride and myself into a large
hall, where we were seated upon two thrones. The females, who
attended on her, changed her dress several times, as was the general
practice on these occasions; and they also painted her face in
different ways, according to a custom, peculiar to the day of
marriage. Every time they thus changed her dress, they presented her
to me.
“When all these ceremonies were finished, they conducted us into
the bridal chamber, where we were no sooner left by ourselves than I
approached my bride to embrace her. But instead of returning my
transports, she forcibly repulsed me, and called out in the most
lamentable and violent manner; so much so, that the women all rushed
into the apartment, desirous of learning the reason of her screams.
As for myself, my astonishment was so great, that I stood quite
motionless, without having even power to ask the cause of all this.
‘What can possibly have happened to you,’ they said to my bride,
‘in the short time since we left you? inform us pray, that we may
help you.’--‘Take away,’ she cried, ‘instantly take from my
sight that infamous man.’--‘Alas, madam,’ I exclaimed, ‘how
can I possibly have deservedly incurred your anger?’--‘You are a
villain,’ said she, in the greatest rage. ‘You have eaten of
garlic, and have not washed your hands. Do you think I will suffer a
man, who can be guilty of so dirty and so filthy a negligence, to
approach and stifle me with his embraces. Lay him on the ground,’
she added, speaking to the women, ‘and bring me a whip.’--They
immediately threw me down; and while some held me by the arms, and
others by the feet, my wife, who had been very diligently attended
to, beat me without the least mercy, as long as she had any strength
remaining. She then said to the females, ‘Take him to an officer
of the police, and order him to cut off that hand with which he fed
himself with the garlic ragout.’
“At these words I exclaimed, ‘Merciful God! I have been beaten
and whipped, and, to complete my misfortune, I am still farther
punished by having my hand cut off; and all for what? Because,
truly, I have eaten of a ragout made with garlic, and have forgotten
to wash my hands! What a trifling cause for such anger and revenge.
Plague on the garlic ragout; I wish that the cook that made it, and
the slave that served it up, were all at the bottom of the sea.’
“Every one of the women, however, who were present, and had seen
me already so severely punished, pitied me very much, when they
heard the Favourite talk of having my hand cut off. ‘My dear
sister, and my good lady,’ said they to her, ‘do not carry your
resentment so far. It is true, that he is a man who does not
understand how to conduct himself, and who seems ignorant of your
rank, and the respect that is due to you. We entreat you, however,
not to take any farther notice of the fault he has committed, but to
pardon him.’--‘I am not yet satisfied,’ she cried, ‘I wish
to teach him how to live; and that he should bear such powerful
marks of his ill-breeding, that he will never forget, as long as he
lives, the having eaten garlic without remembering to wash his hands
after it.’ They were not discouraged by this refusal; they threw
themselves at her feet, and kissing her hand, ‘My good lady,’
they cried, ‘in the name of God, moderate your anger, and grant us
the favour we ask of you.’ She did not answer them a single word;
but got up, and after abusing me again, went out of the apartment.
All the women followed her, and left me quite alone, in the greatest
affliction imaginable.
“I remained here ten days, without ever seeing a soul except an
old slave, who brought me something by way of food. I asked her for
some information about the Favourite. ‘She is very ill,’ she
said, ‘on account of the poisonous odour you made her breathe. Why
did you not take care to wash your hands after eating of that
diabolical ragout?’--‘Is it possible then,’ I answered,
‘that the delicacy and sensibility of these ladies is so great;
and that they can be so vindictive for so slight a fault.’ I
nevertheless still loved my wife in spite of her cruelty: and could
not help pitying her.
“One day the old slave said to me, ‘Your bride is cured, she is
gone to the bath, and she told me, that she intended to come and
visit you to-morrow. Have therefore a little patience; and endeavour
to accommodate yourself to her humour. She is very wise, and,
indeed, very reasonable: and is moreover very much beloved by all
the females that are in the service of Zobeidè, our respectable
mistress.’
“My wife, in fact, came to see me the next day: and she
immediately said to me, ‘You must necessarily think me very good
to come and see you again, after the offence you have given me; but
I cannot bring myself to be reconciled to you, till I have punished
you as you deserve, for not washing your hands after having eaten of
the ragout with garlic.’ She had no sooner said this, than she
called to the women, who instantly entered, and laid me down upon
the ground, according to her orders; and after they had bound me,
she took a razor, and had the barbarity to cut off my two thumbs,
and two great toes, with her own hands. One of the women immediately
applied a certain root to stop the blood; but this did not prevent
me from fainting, in consequence of both the quantity I lost, before
the remedy took effect, and the great pain I suffered.
“When I recovered from my fainting fit, they gave me some wine, in
order to recruit my strength and spirits. ‘Ah, madam,’ I then
said to my wife, ‘if it should ever fall to my lot again to
partake of a ragout with garlic, I swear to you, that instead of
once, I will wash my hands one hundred and twenty times; with
alkali, with the ashes of the plant from which alkali is made, and
with soap.’--‘Well then,’ replied my wife, ‘on this
condition I will forget what has passed, and live with you as my
husband.’
“‘This is the reason,’ continued the merchant of Bagdad,
addressing himself to all the company, ‘why I refused to eat of
the garlic ragout which was before me.’
“The women not only applied the root to my wounds, as I have
before said, to stop the blood, but they also put some balsam of
Mecca to them, which was certain of being unadulterated, since it
came from the caliph’s own store. Through the virtue of this
excellent balsam I was perfectly cured in a very few days. After
this, my wife and I lived together as happily as if I had never
tasted the garlic ragout. As, however, I had always been in the
habit of enjoying my liberty, I began to grow excessively weary of
being constantly shut up in the palace of the caliph; I did not,
nevertheless, give my wife any reason to suspect that this was the
case, for fear of displeasing her. At last, however, she perceived
it; nor indeed did she wish to leave the palace less anxiously than
myself. Gratitude alone kept her near Zobeidè. She possessed,
however, both courage and ingenuity; and she so well represented to
her mistress the constraint I felt myself under, in not being able
to live in the city, and associate with men in a similar condition
to myself, as I had always been accustomed to do, that this
excellent princess had more gratification in depriving herself of
the pleasure of having her Favourite near her, than in not complying
with what we both equally wished.
“It was on this account that, about a month after our marriage, I
one day perceived my wife come in, followed by many eunuchs, each of
whom carried a bag of money. When they were retired, my wife said to
me, ‘You have not, it is true, remarked to me the uneasiness and
langour which so long a residence in the palace has caused you; but
I have nevertheless perceived it; and I have fortunately found out a
method to satisfy you. My mistress Zobeidè has permitted us to
leave the palace, and here are fifty thousand sequins, which she has
presented us with, that we may begin to live comfortably and
commodiously in the city. Take ten thousand, and go and purchase a
house.’
“I very soon found one for this sum, and after furnishing it most
magnificently, we went to live there. We took with us a great number
of slaves of both sexes, and we dressed them in the handsomest
manner possible. In short, we began to live the most pleasant kind
of life; but, alas! it was not of long duration. At the end of a
year my wife was taken ill, and a very few days put a period to her
existence.
“I should certainly have married again, and continued to live in
the most honourable manner at Bagdad; but the desire I felt to see
the world, inspired me with other views. I sold my house; and after
purchasing different sorts of merchandize, I attached myself to a
caravan, and travelled into Persia. From thence I took the road to
Samarcand, and at last came and established myself in this city.
“This, sire,” said the purveyor to the sultan of Casgar, “is
the history which the merchant of Bagdad related to the company
where I was yesterday.”--“And it truly comprises some very
extraordinary things,” replied the sultan, “but yet it is not
comparable to that of my little hunchback.” The Jewish physician
then advanced, and prostrated himself before the throne of the
prince; and in getting up, he said to him, “If your majesty will
have the goodness to listen to me, I flatter myself, that you will
be very well satisfied with the history I shall have the honour to
relate.”--“Speak, then,” said the sultan, “but, if it be not
more wonderful than that of the hunchback, do not hope I shall
suffer thee to live.
THE STORY
TOLD BY THE JEWISH PHYSICIAN.