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 Manjab continued to the Caliph:—Verily I came forward
and ate with her, but I was so dazed of my wits and so sore amazed at
her beauty and loveliness that as I took up a mouthful to carry it to my
mouth behold, I would carry it to my eyes in consequence of what befel
me from seeing that was in this young lady. And presently she fell to
laughing at me and inclining towards me in her haughtiness and in
beauty’s pride, saying at the same time, “By Allah, indeed this man is a
maniac and a Bahlúl:[135] where is thy mouth and how far from thine
eye?” So said I, “By Allah, O lady of loveliness, I am nor a madman nor
a Bahlúl, but whilst looking at thy beauty my wits have fled and I am in
condition of unknowing how I ate.” Then she asked me, “Do I please thee,
O Manjab?” and I answered her “Yes! Walláhi, O my lady, indeed thou
dost.” Quoth she, “What should be the penalty of him who owning me and
my white beauties[136] shall then forsake me to take other than myself?”
and quoth I, “His award should be a thousand stripes upon his right side
and as many upon his left ribs, together with the cutting off of his
tongue and his two hands and the plucking out of either eye.” She cried,
“Wilt thou marry me upon this condition?” and I replied, “O my lady,
dost thou mock and laugh at me?” Said she, “No, by Allah, my word is
naught save a true word;” and said I, “I am satisfied and I accept this
compact; however do thou make haste and delay not.” But when she looked
at me and heard mine intent regarding the marriage she shook with joy
and pride and she inclined towards me as she sat before me and my senses
were like to take flight. Then she rose up and left me for an hour and
came back dressed in sumptuous garments and fairer than before, and
perfumes reeked from her sides as she walked between four handmaidens
like unto the refulgent moon. But I, when I looked upon her in this
condition, cried out with a loud outcry and fell fainting to the ground
for what befel me from her beauty and perfection: and she had no design
therein, O Commander of the Faithful, save her favour for me. When I
came to myself she said, “O Manjab, what dost thou say of my beauty and
comeliness?” and I replied, “By Allah, O lady of loveliness, there is
none in this time can be thy peer.” Then quoth she, “An I please thee
thou wilt be content with these conditions?” whereto quoth I, “Content!
CONTENT!! CONTENT!!!” Thereupon she bade summon the Kazi and the
assessors who came without stay or delay and she said to the Judge “Do
thou listen to the condition of this marriage and write from his word of
mouth a bond on oath and under penalty for breaking it, to the effect
that if he betray me and mate with other or by way of right or of
unright, I will smite him a thousand stripes on his right side and as
many on his left ribs and I will cut off his tongue and his two hands
and I will pluck out his either eye.” Said the Kazi to me, “Shall we
bear witness against thee with this condition?” and when I answered
“Yes,” he wrote out, O Commander of the Faithful, his testimony together
with the penalty, while I hardly believed in all this. Presently, she
brought out a tray, whereupon were a thousand miskals of gold and a
thousand dirhams of silver which she scattered among the Kazi and
witnesses; so they took them and went their ways having duly tied the
marriage-knot and indited the penalty thereto attached. Then they served
up food and we ate and drank and I lay with her that night in the
pleasantest of nighting and the gladsomest of living and I only desired
that morning would never appear for the stress of what befel me of
joyance and delight; and, verily, I never saw and never heard and never
knew any that was the like of her. So I abode with her, O Prince of True
Believers, for seven days which passed away as one watch,[137] and on
the eighth she said to me, “O thou Manjab named and for friend of
friends enfamed, do thou take this purse wherein are a thousand dinars
and buy with it merchandise of necklaces and gems and fine clothes
wherewith to beautify thy shop and other things that befit thee; for
’tis my will that thou become the greatest of men in the Bazar and that
none therein shall boast of more good than thyself. Moreover ’tis my
wish, O Manjab, that thou fare to thy store at early dawn and return to
me about noon-tide, lest my breast be straitened by thine absence.”
Replied I, “Hearkening and obedience;” but, O Commander of the Faithful,
it was mine intent and desire never to fare forth from her, or by night
or by day, from the stress of what befel me of enjoyment with my bride.
Now she was wont every hour to go don a dress other than that which was
upon her, and when I saw her in that condition I could not contain my
passion, so I would arise and fulfil my need of her and she would do
likewise. Also, as soon as morn appeared I would repair to my shop and
open it and take seat therein until midday, at which time my mule would
be brought me to ride homewards when she would meet me alone at the
threshold whereupon opened the door of her apartment. And I would throw
my arms round her neck as soon as she appeared to me till she and I
entered the Harem where I had no patience from her but was fain to enjoy
my desire. After this she would cry to her women and bid them bring us
dinner whereof I ate with her, and in due time she would arise and
command her slave-girls to clean the Hammam and perfume it with pastiles
of lign-aloes and ambergris adding a sufficiency of rosewater. Then we
would enter it, I and she, and doff our dresses when I again lost
patience until I had my will of her twice or three times.[138] Anon we
would wash and wipe ourselves with apron napkins of thick silk and
drying towels of palm-fibre, after which she would cry aloud to the
women who, coming to us at her call, would bring sherberts and we would
drink, I and she, until mid-afternoon. Then I would mount my she-mule
and return to my store and as evening fell I would order the slave to
padlock the door and I would return to my house. Now I abode in such
case for ten months, but it fortuned one day of the days that, as I was
sitting upon my shop-board, suddenly I saw a Badawi woman bestriding a
she-dromedary and she was marked with a Burka’[139] of brocade and her
eyes danced under her face-veil as though they were the wantoning eyes
of a gazelle. When I looked upon her, O Commander of the Faithful, I was
perplexed as to my affair.——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 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 Six Hundred and Forty-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 Manjab to the Caliph:—O Prince of True
Believers, when I beheld the eyes of the Badawi woman under her Burka’
which were like those of a gazelle they tempted my passions hereto and I
forgot my oath and its penalty and the Kazi and witnesses. Then she
approached me and said, “Allah give thee long life, O Chief of the
Arabs;” and said I, “To thee too, O most seemly of semblance!” Cried
she, “O comely of countenance, say me, hast thou a necklace fine enough
for the like of me;” whereto I rejoined, “Yes.” Then I arose and brought
out one to her, but she seeing it said, “Hast thou naught better than
this?” So I displayed to her, O Commander of the Faithful, all the
necklaces I had by me in the shop but, none of them pleasing her, I
said, “In all the stores there is naught finer than these.” Then, O
Prince of True Believers, she brought out to me from off her neck a
carcanet and said, “I want one such;” and, as I looked upon it, I knew
that there was nothing like it in my store, and that all I had by me of
collars and jewels and other goods were not worth a single grain of that
carcanet. So I said to her, “O Winsome of Eyes, this is a thing whereto
none of this time can avail save it be with the Commander of the
Faithful or with his Wazir Ja’afar bin Yahyá the Barmaki.” Quoth she,
“Wilt thou buy it of me?” and quoth I, “I have no power to its price,”
when she exclaimed, “I require no payment for this necklace, and I want
from thee nothing save a kiss upon thy cheek.” Then said I, “O Lady of
loveliness, bussing without treading I trow is like a bowyer sans a
bow,” and she replied, “Whoso kisseth surely treadeth.” Then, O Prince
of True Believers, she sprang from off her dromedary and seated herself
beside me within my store, so I arose with her and went into the inner
room, she following me (albeit I expected not this from her), and when
we were safely inside she clasped me to her bosom and encountered me
with her breasts never withal withdrawing her veil from her face. Hereat
I lost all power over my senses and when I felt her strain me to her
bosom I also strained her to mine, and fulfilled of her my desire after
the fairest fashion. And when this was done she sprang to her feet even
as springeth the lion from his lair, and flying to the door of the shop
swiftlier than a bird and leaving the necklace with me, she mounted her
dromedary and went her ways. I imagined, O Prince of True Believers,
that she would never return to me at all; so my heart rejoiced in the
necklace which she had left and I was of that fancy and opinion anent
the matter and manner of her going, when suddenly my pages brought me
the she-mule, and said to me, “O our lord, rise up and fare to the
house, for that our lady hath required thee at this very hour and she
hath caused dinner to be served and sore we fear lest it wax cold.”
Therefore, O Commander of the Faithful, I found it impossible to
bathe[140] by reason of the pages which were standing with the mule at
the door of my shop; so I mounted and rode home. I entered my house
according to my usual habit when my wife met me and said to me “O my
dearling, my heart hath been occupied with thee this day, for thou has
tarried away from me so long a time and contrary to thy custom is
delaying on such a day as this.” Said I, “This morning the Bazar was
crowded exceedingly and all the merchants were sitting in their shops,
nor was it possible for me to rise from my store whilst the market was
so warm.” Quoth she, “O my dearling and coolth of mine eyes, I was at
this moment sitting and reading in the Sublime Volume when there befel
me a doubt concerning a word in the chapter ’Yá Sín’[141] and I desire
that thou certify it to me that I may learn it by heart from thee.”
Quoth I, “O lady of loveliness, I am unable to touch The Book much less
may I read the Koran;” and quoth she, “What is the cause of that?”
Replied I, “I was sleeping at the side of my shop when I had a polluting
dream;” and she rejoined, “An this thy speech be sooth-fast thy
bag-trowsers must be fouled, so draw them off that I may see to their
washing.” I retorted, “Indeed my trowsers are not bewrayed because I
doffed them before lying down to sleep.” Now when she heard these my
words, O Commander of the Faithful, she said to a slave of my slaves
whose name was Rayhán, “O man, go and open the shop and bring the
kerchief that is therein.”[142] Then said I, “O lady of lovelings, I
presented it in alms-gift to an old woman who was naked of head and her
condition pained me and her poverty, so I largessed it to her.” Rejoined
she, “Say me, was the old woman she who was mounted on the dromedary,
the owner of the valuable necklace which she sold to thee for a kiss
when thou saidst to her:—O Winsome of Eyes, bussing without treading I
trow, is as a bowyer sans bow.” Now when her words were ended, O
Commander of the Faithful, she turned to her women and cried to them,
“Bring hither this moment Sa’ídíyah, the kitchen-wench,” and when she
came between her hands behold, she was a slave-girl, a negress, and she
was the same in species and substance who came to me under the form of a
Badawi woman with a face-veil of brocade covering her features. Hereupon
my wife drew the Burka’ from before the woman’s face and caused her doff
her dress, and when she was stripped she was black as a bit of charcoal.
Now as soon as I saw this, O Viceregent of Allah, my wits were
bewildered and I considered my affair and I knew not what to do,
thinking of the conditions whereto I had consented——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 Six Hundred and Forty-sixth 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 Manjab continued:—And I thought of the
conditions whereto I had consented and the penalty which had been
written for me by the Kazi in the presence of his assessors, so I
wandered from my right mind when she looked at me and said, “Is this our
compact, O Manjab hight, thou dogs’ trysting-site?” and when I heard her
speech, O Commander of the Faithful, I hanged my head groundwards and
could not return a reply, nor even attempt to address her could I. Said
she, “Woe to thee, did I not say to thee:—O Manjab hight, thou who with
curs dost unite and no foregatherer with friendly wight? Woe to thee,
and he lied not who said that in men-kind there be no trust. But how, O
Manjab, didst thou prefer this slave-girl before me and make her my
equal in dress and semblance? However, O ye women, do ye send and bring
the Kazi and the assessors at this moment and instant.” So they fetched
them without stay or delay, and they produced the obligation which had
been written, with the penalty duly attested by testimony. Then she said
to the witnesses, “Read all that for him,” and they did so and asked me,
“What hast thou to say about this obligation and the punishment for
breaking it?” Answered I, “The document is right and fair, nor have I
aught to utter thereanent.” Hereupon, O Prince of True Believers, she
summoned the Governor and his officials, and I confessed before them and
bore witness against myself, when they reviled me and abused me, and I
told them the tale full and complete. But they would not excuse me and
they all cried, “Verily, thou deservest splitting or quartering;[143]
thou who wouldst abandon this beauty and perfection and brilliancy and
stature and symmetry and wouldst throw thyself upon a slave-girl black
as charcoal; thou who wouldst leave this semblance which is like the
splendours of moonlight and wouldst follow yon fulsome figure which
resembleth the murks of night.” Hereupon, O Prince of True Believers,
she said to the Governor, “Hearken unto what I tell thee. I bear witness
against myself that I have excused him the cutting off his hand and
tongue and the plucking out his eyes; but do ye redeem my rights of him
by one condition.” “And what may that be?” asked they; and she answered,
“A thousand stripes upon his right side, and as many upon his left
ribs.” Hereupon, O Commander of the Faithful, they seized me and smote
me upon my right flank until I was estranged from the world,[144] and
after they took a handful of salt, which they rubbed upon the
wounds.[145] Then they applied a thousand stripes to my left ribs, and
threw over me a ragged robe wherewith to veil my shame. But my flanks
had been torn open by such a bastinado, nor did I recover for a space of
three days, when I found myself lying cast-out upon a dunghill. Seeing
this my condition, I pulled myself together, and arising walked to the
mansion wherein I was wont to wone; but I found the door locked with
three padlocks and it was empty and void, nor was voice or sound to be
heard therein at all, and ’twas, as said one of the poets in this
couplet:—
“The chambers were like a beehive well stocked; when the bees quitted
them they became empty.”[146]
So I lingered there an hour of time, when a woman suddenly came out from
one of the neighbouring houses and asked me, “What dost thou want, O
asker; and what seekest thou?” I answered, “We are in quest of the
owners of this mansion;” and said she, “Here they were in crowds and
then they abandoned it, and may Allah have mercy upon him who spake
these two couplets:—
“They fared and with faring fled rest from me ✿ And my parted heart no
repose can see:
Have ruth on a wight with a heart weighed by woes ✿ Seest not how their
door is without a key?”
Then indeed I repented, O Commander of the Faithful, over that I had
done and regretted what had befallen me and what had proceeded from me
of ill-deeds, and quoth I to the woman who had addressed me, “Allah upon
thee, O my mistress, say me, hast thou of their traces any
tidings?”——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 Six Hundred and Forty-eighth 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 Manjab, speaking to the woman, said, “O my
lady; say me, dost thou know of their traces any tidings, and hast thou
come upon any manifest news?” Said she, “This thing was to befal thee of
old, O thou poor fellow, even as quoth the poet in the following
couplets:—
“My tears flow fast, my heart knows no rest ✿ And melts my soul and
cares aye molest:
Would Heaven mine eyeballs their form beheld ✿ And flies my life, and
ah! who shall arrest?
’Tis wondrous the while shows my form to sight, ✿ Fire burns my vitals
with flamey crest!
Indeed for parting I’ve wept, and yet ✿ No friend I find to mine aid
addrest:
Ho thou the Moon in a moment gone ✿ From sight, wilt thou rise to a
glance so blest?
An thou be ’stranged of estrangement who ✿ Of men shall save me? Would
God I wist!
Fate hath won the race in departing me ✿ And who with Fate can avail
contest?”
Then, O Commander of the Faithful, my longings grew and I poured fast
tears in torrents and I was like to choke with my sobs, so I arose to
walk about the city highways and I clung from wall to wall for what
befel me of despight and affright at the disappearance of them,[147] and
as I wandered about I repeated these verses:—
“To man I’m humbled when my friends lost I ✿ And missed the way of right
where hardships lie:
Sorrow and sickness long have been my lot ✿ To bear, when need was
strong to justify:
Say me, shall any with their presence cheer— ✿ Pity my soul? Then bless
my friend who’s nigh!
I kiss your footprints for the love of you, ✿ I greet your envoy e’en
albeit he lie.”
After this, O Prince of True Believers, I remained immersed in cark and
care and anxious thought, and as ever I wandered about behold, a man met
me and said, “’Tis now three days since they marched away and none
wotteth where they have alighted.”[148] So I returned once more to the
mansion door and I sat beside it to take my rest when my glance was
raised and fell upon the lintel and I saw attached to it a folded paper
which I hent in hand and found written therein these lines:—
“Scant shall avail with judgement just the tear ✿ When at love-humbled
heart man dareth jeer:
I was thy dearling, fain with thee to dwell ✿ But thou transgressedst
nor return canst speer:
And if by every means thou find me not, ✿ From thee I fled and other
hold I dear:
I come in dreams to see if sore thy heart; ✿ Let it take patience in its
woe sincere:
Thou dost beweep our union fled, but I ✿ Wist that such weeping brings
no profit clear:
Ho, stander at my door, once honoured guest, ✿ Haply my tidings thou
some day shalt hear.”
Thereupon, O Commander of the Faithful, I returned to my mother and
sister and told them the tale of what had betided me, first and last,
and the twain wept over me and my parent said, “I thought not, O my son,
that such case as this would come down upon thee; withal every calamity
save Death is no calamity at all; so be thou of long-suffering, O my
child, for the compensation of patience is upon Allah; and indeed this
that hath happened to thee hath happened unto many the likes of thee,
and know thou that Fate is effectual and Sort is sealed. Hast thou not
heard the words of the poet who spoke these couplets:[149]—
The world aye whirleth with its sweet and sour ✿ And Time aye trippeth
with its joy and stowre:
Say him to whom life-change is wilful strange ✿ Right wilful is the
world and risks aye low’r:
See’st now how Ocean overwhelms his marge ✿ And stores the pearl-drop in
his deepest bow’r:
On Earth how many are of leafy trees, ✿ But none we harvest save what
fruit and flow’r:
See’st not the storm-winds blowing fierce and wild ✿ Deign level nothing
save the trees that tow’r?
In Heaven are stars and planets numberless ✿ But none save Sun and Moon
eclipse endure.
Thou judgest well the days when Time runs fair ✿ Nor fearest trouble
from Fate’s evil hour:
Thou wast deceived what time the Nights were fain, ✿ But in the bliss o’
nights ’ware days of bane.”
Now when I heard these words of my mother, O Prince of True Believers,
and what she addressed to me of wise sayings and poetry, I took patience
and rendered account to Allah;——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 was
The Six Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,