Syria two men which were brothers and whereof one was wealthy and the
other was needy. Now the rich man had a lovesome daughter and a lovely,
whilst the poor man had a son who gave his heart to his cousin as soon
as his age had reached his tenth year. But at that time his father the
pauper died and he was left an orphan without aught of the goods of this
world; the damsel his cousin, however, loved him with exceeding love and
ever and anon would send him a somewhat of dirhams and this continued
till both of them attained their fourteenth years. Then the youth was
minded to marry the daughter of his uncle, so he sent a party of friends
to her home by way of urging his claim that the father might wed her to
him, but the man rejected them and they returned disappointed. However,
when it was the second day a body of warm men and wealthy came to ask
for the maid in marriage, and they conditioned the needful conditions
and stood agreed upon the nuptials. Presently the tidings reached the
damsel who took patience till the noon o’ night, when she arose and
sought the son of her uncle, bringing with her a sum of two thousand
dinars which she had taken of her father’s good and she knocked softly
at the door. Hereupon the youth started from sleep and went forth and
found his cousin who was leading a she-mule and an ass, so the twain
bestrode either beast and travelled through the remnant of the night
until the morning morrowed. Then they alighted to drink and to hide
themselves in fear of being seen until the second night fell when they
mounted and rode for two successive days, at the end of which they
entered a town seated on the shore of the sea. Here they found a ship
equipped for voyage, so they repaired to the Ra’is and hired for
themselves a sitting place; after which the cousin went forth to sell
the ass and the she-mule, and disappeared for a short time. Meanwhile
the ship had sailed with the daughter of his uncle and had left the
youth upon the strand and ceased not sailing day after day for the space
of ten days, and lastly made the port she purposed and there cast
anchor.[18] Thus it befel them; but as regards the youth, when he had
sold the beasts he returned to the ship and found her not, and when he
asked tidings thereof they told him that she had put to sea; and hearing
this he was mazed as to his mind and sore amated as to his affair, nor
wot he whither he should wend. So he turned him inland sore dismayed.
Now when the vessel anchored in that port quoth the damsel to the
captain, “O Ra’is,[19] hie thee ashore and bring for us a portion of
flesh and fresh bread,” and quoth he, “Hearkening and obedience,”
whereupon he betook himself to the town. But as soon as he was far from
the vessel she arose and donning male’s dress said to the sailors, “Do
ye weigh anchor and set sail,” and she shouted at them with the shouting
of seamen. Accordingly they did as she bade them and the wind being fair
and the weather favourable, ere an hour had sped they passed beyond
sight of land.[20] Presently the captain returned bringing bread and
meat but he found ne’er a ship, so he asked tidings of her and they
answered, “Verily she is gone.” Hereupon he was perplext and he fell to
striking hand upon hand and crying out, “O my good and the good of
folk!” and he repented whenas repentance availed him naught.
Accordingly, he returned to the town unknowing whither he should wend
and he walked about like one blind and deaf for the loss of his craft.
But as regards the vessel, she ceased not sailing with those within till
she cast anchor near a city wherein was a King; and no sooner was she
made fast than the damsel arose and donning her most sumptuous dress and
decorations fell to scattering money amongst the crew and saying to
them, “Hearten your hearts and be not afraid on any wise!” In due time
the news of a fresh arrival reached the Ruler, and he ordered his men to
bring him tidings concerning that vessel, and when they went for her and
boarded her they found that her captain was a damsel of virginal
semblance exceeding in beauty and loveliness. So they returned and
reported this to the King who despatched messengers bidding her lodge
with him for they had heightened their praises of her and the excess of
her comeliness, and he said in his mind, “By Allah, an she prove as they
describe her, needs must I marry her.” But the damsel sent back saying,
“I am a clean maid, nor may I land alone but do thou send to me forty
girls, virgins like myself when I will disembark together with
them.”——And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent
and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad,
“How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and
delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would
relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?” Now
when it was the next night and that was
The Five Hundred and Third Night,
Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other
than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching
of this our latter night!” She replied:——With love and good will! It
hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding,
lord of the rede, which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and
worthy celebrating, that the damsel demanded of the King forty clean
maids and said, “We will land, I and they together,” whereto he replied,
“The right is with her.” Hereupon he ordered all those about him, the
Lords of his land and the Commons, that each and every who had in the
house a virginal daughter, should bring her to him until the full tale
of forty (the daughter of the Wazir being amongst them) was told and he
sent them on board the ship where the damsel was about sitting down to
supper. But as soon as the maidens came she met them in her finest
attire, none of the number being more beauteous than herself, and she
salam’d to them and invited them into the cuddy[21] where she bade food
be served to them and they ate and were cheered and solaced, after which
they sat down to converse till it was the middle of the night. Now when
sleep prevailed over the girls they retired to their several berths, and
when they were drowned in slumber, the damsel arose softly and arousing
the crew bade them leave their moorings and shake out their canvas; nor
did daylight dawn to them ere they had covered a far distance. As soon
as the maidens awoke they saw themselves on board a ship amid the
billows of the main, and as they asked the Captainess she answered,
“Fear not for yourselves or for the voyage you are making;”[22] and she
gentled them and solaced them until whatso was in their hearts was
allayed. However, touching the affair of the King, when morrowed the
morn he sent to the ship with an order for the damsel to land with the
forty virgins, but they found not the craft and they returned and
reported the same to their lord, who cried, “By Allah, this be the
discreetest of deeds which none other save she could have done.” So he
arose without stay or delay and taking with him the Wazir (both being in
disguise), he went down to the shore and looked around but he could not
find what had become of them. And as regards the vessel carrying the
virgins she ceased not sailing until she made port beside a ruined city
wherein was none inhabitant, and here the crew cast anchor and furled
their sails when behold, a gang of forty pirate[23] men, ever ready to
cut the highway and their friends to betray, boarded them, crying in
high glee, “Let us slay all in her and carry off whatso we find.” When
they appeared before the damsel they would have effected their intent;
but she welcomed them and said, “Do ye return ashore: we be forty maids
and ye forty men and to each of you shall befal one and I will belong to
your Shaykh, for that I am the Captainess.” Now when they heard this
they rejoiced with excessive joy and they said, “Walláhi, our night
shall be a blessed one by virtue of your coming to us;” whereto she
asked, “Have you with you aught of sheep?” They answered, “We have,” and
quoth she, “Do ye slay of them somewhat for supper and fetch the meat
that we may cook it for you.” So a troop of pirates went off and brought
back ten lambs which they slaughtered and flayed and brittled. Then the
damsel and those with her tucked up their sleeves and hung up their
chauldrons[24] and cooked the meat after delicatest fashion, and when it
was thoroughly done and prepared, they spread the trays and the pirates
came forward one and all, and ate and washed their hands and they were
in high spirits each and every saying, “This night I will take to me a
girl.” Lastly she brought to them coffee which they drank, but hardly
had it settled in their maws when the Forty Thieves fell to the ground,
for she had mixed up with it flying Bhang[25] and those who had drunk
thereof became like unto dead men. Hereupon the damsel arose without
loss of time and taking in her hand a sharp-grided sword fell to cutting
off their heads and casting them into the sea until she came to the
Shaykh of the Pirates and in his case she was satisfied with shaving his
beard and tearing out his eye-teeth and bidding the crew cast him
ashore. They did as she commanded, after which she conveyed the property
of all the caitiffs and having distributed the booty amongst the
sailors, bade them weigh anchor and shake out their canvas. On this wise
they left that ruined city until they had made the middle of the main
and they fared for a number of days athwart the billowy deep nor could
they hit upon their course amongst the courses of the sea until Destiny
cast them beside a city. They made fast to the anchorage-ground, and the
damsel arose and donning Mameluke’s dress and arraying the Forty Virgins
in the same attire all walked together and paced about the shore and
they were like garden blooms. When they entered the streets they found
all the folk a-sorrowing, so they asked one of them and he answered,
“The Sultan who over-reigneth this city is dead and the reign lacketh
rule.” Now in that stead and under the hand of the Wazir, was a Bird
which they let loose at certain times, and whenever he skimmed round and
perched upon the head of any man to him they would give the
Sultanate.[26] By the decree of the Decreer they cast the fowl high in
air at the very hour when the damsel was landing and he hovered above
her and settled upon her head (she being in slave’s attire), and the
city folk and the lords of the land cried out, “Strange! passing
strange!” So they flushed the bird from the place where he had alighted
and on the next day they freed him again at a time when the damsel had
left the ship, and once more he came and settled upon her head. They
drove him away, crying, “Oh rare! oh rare!” but as often as they started
him from off her head he returned to it and alighted there again.
“Marvellous!” cried the Wazir, “but Allah Almighty hath done this[27]
and none shall object to what He doeth nor shall any reject what He
decreeth.” Accordingly, they gave her the Sultanate together with the
signet-ring of governance and the turband of commandment and they seated
her upon the throne of the reign. Hereupon she fell to ordering the
Forty Virgins who were still habited as Mamelukes and they served the
Sultan for a while of time, till one day of the days when the Wazir came
to the presence and said, “O King of the Age, I have a daughter, a model
of beauty and loveliness and I am desirous of wedding her with the
Sovran because one such as thou should not remain in single
blessedness.”——And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell
silent, and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister
Dunyazad, “How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and how
enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with
that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me
to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was
The Five Hundred and Fifth Night.
Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other
than sleepy finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of
this our latter night!” She replied:——With love and good will! It hath
reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of
the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy
celebrating, that quoth the Wazir to the Sultan, “I have a daughter, a
model of beauty and loveliness, and I am desirous of wedding her with
the Sultan, because one such as thou should not remain in single
blessedness.” “Do whatso thou wishest,” quoth the King, “and Allah
prosper thy doing.” Hereupon the Wazir fell to preparing the
marriage-portion[28] of his daughter, and of forwarding her affair with
the Sultan, until her wedding appointments[29] and other matters were
completed. After this he caused the marriage-tie be tied, and he brought
her to the supposed Sultan where she lay for the first night, but the
damsel having performed the Wuzú ablution did naught but pray through
the hours of darkness. When dawned the day the Wazir’s wife which was
the mother of the maiden came to look upon her daughter and asked her of
her case, and the bride answered, “All the livelong night hath he passed
in orisons, nor came he near me even once.” Quoth the mother, “O my
daughter, this be the first night, and assuredly he was ashamed, for he
is young in years, and he knoweth not what to do; haply also his heart
hangeth not upon thee; and he is but a raw lad.[30] However, on the
coming night ye shall both enjoy your desire.” But as soon as it was the
evening of the next day the Sultan went in to his Harim and made the
minor ablution, and abode in prayer through the night until the morrow
morrowed, when again the mother came to see how matters stood, and she
asked her daughter, who answered, “All the dark hours he hath passed in
devotion, and he never approached me.” Now on the third night it
happened after like fashion, so the mother said, “O my daughter,
whenever thou shalt see thy husband sitting by thy side, do thou throw
thyself upon his bosom.” The bride did as she was bidden, and casting
herself upon his breast cried, “O King of the Age, haply I please thee
not at all;” whereat said the other, “O light of mine eyes, thou art a
joy to me for ever; but I am about to confide to thee somewhat and say
me canst thou keep a secret?” Quoth she, “Who is there like me for
hiding things in my heart?” and quoth the other, “I am a clean maid, and
my like is thy like, but the reason for my being in man’s habit is that
the son of my uncle, who is my betrothed, hath been lost from me and I
have been lost from him, but when Allah shall decree the reunion of our
lots he shall marry thee first and he shall not pay the bridegroom’s
visit save unto thee, and after that to myself.” The Wazir’s daughter
accepted the excuse, and then arising went forth and brought a pigeon
whose weazand she split and whose blood she daubed upon the snow-white
sheet.[31] And when it was morning and her mother again visited her, the
bride showed her this proof of her pucelage, and she rejoiced thereat
and her father rejoiced also. After this the Sultan ruled for a while of
time, but she was ever in deep thought concerning what device could be
devised in order to obtain tidings of her father and her cousin and what
had wrought with them the changes of times and tides. So she bade edify
a magnificent Hammám and by its side a coffee house,[32] both nearhand
to the palace, and forthwith she summoned architects and masons and
plasterers and painters, and when all came between her hands she said to
them, “Do ye take a long look at my semblance and mark well my features
for I desire that you make me a carven image[33] which shall resemble me
in all points, and that you fashion it according to my form and figure,
and you adorn it aright and render it to represent my very self in all
proportions, and then bring it to me.” They obeyed her order and brought
her a statue which was herself to a nail, so she looked upon it and was
pleased therewith. Then she ordered them set the image over the
Hammam-door, so they placed it there, and after she issued a firman and
caused it to be cried through the city that whoso should enter that Bath
to bathe and drink coffee, should do so free and gratis and for naught.
When this was done the tongues of the folk were loosed with benison, and
they fell to praying for the Sultan and the endurance of his glory, and
the permanence of his governance till such time as the bruit was spread
abroad by the caravans and travellers, and the folk of all regions had
heard of the Hammam and the coffee-house. Meanwhile the Sultan had
summoned two eunuchs and ordered them and repeatedly enjoined them that
whoso might approach the statue and consider it straitly him should they
seize and bring before the presence. Accordingly, the slaves fared forth
and took their seats before the doors of the baths. After a while of
time the father of the damsel who had become Sultan wandered forth to
seek her,[34] and arrived at that city, where he heard that whoso
entered the Hammam to bathe and afterwards drank coffee did this without
cost; so he said in his mind, “Let me go thither and enjoy myself.” Then
he repaired to the building and designed to enter, when behold, he
looked at the statue over the gateway, and he stood still and considered
it with the tears flowing adown his cheeks, and he cried, “Indeed this
figure be like her!” But when the eunuchs saw him they seized him and
carried him away until they had led him to the Sultan his daughter, who,
seeing him, recognised him forthright, and bade set apart for him an
apartment and appointed to him rations for the time being. The next that
appeared was the son of her uncle, who also had wandered as far as that
city seeking his cousin, and he also having heard the folk speaking
anent a free entrance to the Baths, said in himself, “Do thou get thee
like others to that Hammam and solace thyself.” But when he arrived
there he also cast a look at that image and stood before it and wept for
an hour or so as he devoured it with his eyes, when the eunuchry
beholding him seized and carried him off to the Sultan, who knew him at
first sight. So she bade prepare a place for him and appointed to him
rations for the time being. Then also came the Ra’is of the ship, who
had reached that city seeking his lost vessel, and when the fame of the
free Hammam came to his ears, he said in his mind, “Go thou to the Baths
and solace thyself.” And when he arrived there and looked upon the
statue and fixed his glance upon it he cried out, “Walláhi! ’tis her
very self.” Hereupon the eunuchry seized him and carried him to the
Sultan who seeing him recognized him and placed him in a place apart for
a while of time. Anon the King and the Wazir, who were responsible for
the Forty Virgins came to that city.——And Shahrazad was surprised by the
dawn of day, and fell silent, and ceased to say her permitted say. Then
quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and
how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared
with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer
me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was
The Five Hundred and Seventh Night,
Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other
than sleepy finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of
this our latter night?” She replied:——With love and good will! It hath
reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of
the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy
celebrating that the King accompanied by the Wazir came to that city
seeking the lost Forty Virgins and when the twain had settled there and
were stablisht at ease their souls longed for the Baths and they said
each to other, “Hie we to the Hammam that we may wash away the dirt
which be the result of travel.” So they repaired to the place and as
they entered the gateway they looked up and fixed their eyes upon the
statue; and, as they continued to gaze thereupon, the eunuchs who
sighted them seized them and carried them off to the Sultan.[35] When
they stood between her hands and they beheld the Forty Mamelukes who
were also before her, the Wazir’s glance happened to fall upon his
daughter who was on similar wise in slave’s habit, and he looked at her
with the tears flowing adown his cheeks and he said in his mind,
“Walláhi! Verily this Mameluke is like my child as like can be.”
Hereupon the Sultan considered the twain[36] and asked them of their
case[37] and they answered, “We be Such-and-such and we are wandering
about to seek our daughter and her nine-and-thirty maidens.” Hereupon
she assigned to them also lodgings and rations for the present. Lastly
appeared the Pirate which had been Shaykh and comrade of the Forty
Thieves also seeking that city, and albeit he was aweary and perplext
yet he ceased not to wander that he might come upon the damsel who had
slain his associates and who had shaved his beard and had torn out his
eye teeth. He also when he heard of the Hammam without charge and the
free coffee-house said in himself, “Hie thee to that place!” and as he
was entering the gateway he beheld the image and stood still and fell to
speaking fulsome speech and crying aloud and saying, “By Allah, this
statue is likest to her in stature and size and, by the Almighty, if I
can only lay my hand upon her and seize her I will slaughter her even as
one cutteth a mutton’s throat. Ah! Ah! an I could but catch hold of
her.” As he spake these words the eunuchry heard him; so they seized him
and dragged him along and carried him before the Sultan who no sooner
saw him and knew him than she ordered him to jail. And they imprisoned
him for he had not come to that city save for the shortening of his days
and the lavishing of his life-blood and he knew not what was predestined
to him and in very sooth he deserved all that befel him. Hereupon the
damsel bade bring before her, her father and her cousin and the Ra’is
and the King and the Wazir and the Pirate (while she still bore herself
as one who administered the Sultanate), and when it became night time
all began to converse one with other and presently quoth she to them, “O
folk, let each and every who hath a tale solace us with telling it.”
Hereat quoth one and all of them, “We wist not a recital nor can we
recount one;” and she rejoined, “I will relate unto you an adventure.”
They cried, “O King of the Age, pardon us! for how shalt thou rehearse
us an history and we sit listening thereto?”[38] and she replied,
“Forasmuch as you have no say to say, I will speak in your stead that we
may shorten this our night.” Then she continued, “There was a merchant
man and a wealthy with a brother which was needy, and the richard had a
daughter while the pauper had a son. But when the poor man died he left
only the boy who sought to marry the girl his cousin: his paternal
uncle, however, refused him maugre that she loved him and she was
beloved of him. Presently there came a party of substantial merchants
who demanded her in wedlock and obtained her and agreed upon the
conditions; when her sire was minded to marry her to their man. This was
hard upon the damsel and sore grievous to her so she said:—By Allah, I
will mate with none save with my uncle’s son. Then she came to him at
midnight leading a she-mule and an ass and bringing somewhat of her
father’s moneys and she knocked at the youth’s door and he came out to
her and both went forth, he and she, in the outer darkness of that murky
night and the Veiler veiled her way.” Now when the father and the cousin
heard this adventure they threw themselves on her neck,[39] and rejoiced
in her until the turn came for her recounting the tale of the
merchant-captain and he also approved her and was solaced by her words.
Then, as she related the history concerning the King and the Wazir, they
said, “By Allah, this indeed is a sweet story and full of light and
leading and our lord the Sultan deserveth for this recital whatso he may
require.” But when she came to the Pirate he cried, “Walláhi, O our lord
the Sultan, this adventure is a grievous, and Allah upon thee, tell us
some other tale;” whereat all the hearers rejoined, “By Allah, in very
sooth the recital is a pleasing.” She continued to acquaint them with
the adventure of the Bird which invested her with the monarchy and she
ended with relating the matter of the Hammam, at all whereof the
audience wondered and said, “By Allah, this is a delectable matter and a
dainty;” but the Pirate cried aloud, “Such story pleaseth me not in any
way for ’tis heavy upon my heart!”——And Shahrazad was surprised by the
dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then
quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister
mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this
compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the
Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that
was
The Five Hundred and Ninth Night,