under a tent of hair[168] in the desert where, as is the fashion of
Arabs, he used to shift from site to site for the purpose of pasturing
his camels. Now the woman was of exceeding beauty and comeliness and
perfection, and she had a friend (also a Badawi man) who at all times
would come to her and have his wicked will of her, after which he would
wend his ways. But one day of the days her lover visited her and said,
“Walláhi, ’tis not possible but that what time we sleep together, I and
thou, we make merry with thy husband looking on.”——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 Fifty-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 the man which was the friend of the Badawi’s
wife said to her, “Walláhi, ’tis not possible but that when we make
merry, I and thou, thy husband shall look upon us.” Quoth she, “Why
should we suffer at such time of our enjoyment either my husband or any
wight to be present?” and quoth he, “This must needs be, and unless thou
consent I will take to me a mistress other than thyself.” Then said she,
“How shall we enjoy ourselves with my husband looking on? This is a
matter which may not be managed.” Hereupon the woman sat down and took
thought of her affair and how she should do for an hour or so, and
presently she arose and dug her amiddlemost the tent a hole[169] which
would contain a man, wherein she concealed her lover. Now, hard by the
tent was a tall sycamore tree,[170] and as the noodle her husband was
returning from the wild the woman said to him, “Ho thou, Such-an-one!
climb up this tree and bring me therefrom a somewhat of figs that we may
eat them.” Said he, “’Tis well;” and arising he swarmed up the
tree-trunk, when she signed to her lover who came out and mounted and
fell to riding upon her. But her mate considered her and cried aloud,
“What is this, O whore: doth a man cavalcade thee before me and the
while I am looking at thee?” Then he came down from the tree in haste,
but he saw no one, for as soon as the lover had finished his business
the good-wife thrust him into the hole amiddlemost the tent and covered
him with a mat. When the husband went inside to the booth and met his
wife he found no stranger with her so said she to him, “O man, thou hast
sinned against me, saying:—Verily, some one is riding thee; and thou
hast slandered me by falsely charging me with folly.” Quoth he, “By
Allah I saw thee with my own eyes;” but quoth she, “Do thou sit here the
while I have a look.” Hereupon she arose and swarmed up the trunk and
sat upon one of the branches, and as she peered at her spouse she
shrieked aloud crying, “O man, do thou have some regard for thine
honour. Why do on this wise and lie down and allow a man to ride thee,
and at this moment he worketh his will on thee.” Said her husband,
“Beside me there is neither man nor boy.” And said she, “Here I am[171]
looking at thee from the top of this tree.” Quoth he, “O woman, this
place must be haunted,[172] so let us remove hence;” and quoth she, “Why
change our place? rather let us remain therein.” Hereupon the Caliph
said to Manjab, “By Allah, verily, this woman was an adulteress;” and
the youth replied, “Amongst womankind indeed are many more whorish than
this. But of that anon; and now do thou hear from me and learn of me
this marvellous tale anent
_THE LOVES OF AL-HAYFA AND YUSUF._”
_NOTE CONCERNING THE “TIRREA BEDE,” NIGHT 655._
Scott refers to a tale in the “Bahar-Danush” (Bahár-i-Dánish); or,
“Garden of Knowledge,” translated by himself, story viii. lesson 4;
chapter xii. vol. iii. pp. 64–68. Cadell & Co., Strand, London,
1799. Five women come from a town to draw water at a well; and,
finding there a young Brahmin, become his teachers and undertake to
instruct him in the “Tirrea” or fifth “Veda”—there being only four
of these Hindu Scriptures. Each lesson consists of an adventure
showing how to cornute a husband, and the fourth runs as follows. I
leave them in Scott’s language:—
The fourth lady through dread of the arrow of whose cunning the
warrior of the fifth heaven[173] trembled in the sky, like the reed,
having bestowed her attention on the pilgrim bramin (Brahman),
despatched him to an orchard; and having gone home, said to her
husband, “I have heard that in the orchard of a certain husbandman
there is a date tree, the fruit of which is of remarkably fine
flavour; but what is yet stranger, whoever ascends it, sees many
wonderful objects. If to-day, going to visit this orchard, we gather
dates from this tree, and also see the wonders of it, it will not be
unproductive of amusement.” In short, she so worked upon her husband
with flattering speeches and caresses, that nolens volens he went to
the orchard, and at the instigation of his wife, ascended the tree.
At this instant she beckoned to the bramin, who was previously
seated, expectantly, in a corner of the garden.
The husband, from the top of the tree, beholding what was not fit to
be seen, exclaimed in extreme rage, “Ah! thou shameless
Russian-born[174] wretch, what abominable action is this?” The wife
making not the least answer, the flames of anger seized the mind of
the man, and he began to descend from the tree; when the bramin with
activity and speed having hurried over the fourth section of the
Tirrea Bede,[175] went his way.
VERSE.
_The road to repose is that of activity and quickness._
The wife during her husband’s descent from the tree having arranged
her plan, said, “Surely, man, frenzy must have deprived thy brain of
the fumes of sense, that having foolishly set up such a cry, and not
reflecting upon thy own disgrace (for here, excepting thyself, what
male is present?), thou wouldst fix upon me the charge of
infidelity?” The husband, when he saw no person near, was
astonished, and said to himself, “Certainly, this vision must have
been miraculous.”
The completely artful wife, from the hesitation of her husband,
guessed the cause, and impudently began to abuse him. Then instantly
tying her vest round her waist she ascended the tree. When she had
reached the topmost branch, she suddenly cried out, “O thou
shameless man, what abominable action is this! If thy evil star hath
led thee from the path of virtue, surely thou mightest have in
secret ventured upon it. Doubtless to pull down the curtain of
modesty from thy eyes, and with such impudence to commit such a
wicked deed is the very extreme of debauchery.”
The husband replied, “Woman, do not ridiculously cry out, but be
silent; for such is the property of this tree, that whoever ascends
it, sees man or woman below in such situations.” The cunning wife
now came down, and said to her husband, “What a charming garden and
amusing spot is this! where one can gather fruit, and at the same
time behold the wonders of the world.” The husband replied,
“Destruction seize the wonders which falsely accuse man of
abomination!” In short the devilish wife, notwithstanding the
impudence of such an action, escaped safely to her house, and the
next day, according to custom, attending at the well, introduced the
bramin to the ladies, and informed them of her worthy
contrivance.[176]
[Illustration]
THE LOVES OF AL-HAYFA AND YUSUF.[177]
I had a familiar in the Northern region who was called ’Abd al-Jawád and
he was one of the greatest of merchants there and made of money; also he
loved voyage and travel, and at whatever time I visited him and we
forgathered, I and he, we exchanged citations of poetry. Now one day my
heart yearned to visit him, so I repaired to his place and found him
there; and as we came together we both sat down in friendly converse, I
and he; and he said to me:—“O my brother, do thou hear what happened and
was accomplished for me in these times. I travelled to the land of
Al-Yaman and therein met a familiar who, when we sat down to talk, I and
he, said:—O my brother, verily there befel me and betided me in the land
of Al-Hind a case that was strange and an adventure that was admirable
and it ran as follows. There was erewhile a King of the kings of India
and one of her greatest, who was abundant in money and troops and guards
and he was called Al-Mihrján.”[178] This same was a lord of high degree
and a majestic and he had lived for a long while of his age without
having issue male or female. Wherefor he was full of cark and care
wanting one who after him would preserve his memory, so he said in his
mind one night of the nights, “Whenas I die cut off shall be my name,
and effaced shall be my fame nor shall anyone remember me.” So saying he
raised both hands to Heaven and humbled himself before Allah (be He
extolled and exalted!) to vouchsafe him a child who should outlive him
with the view that man might not lose the memory of him. Now one night
as he was sleeping a-bed dreaming and drowned in slumber behold, he
heard a Voice (without seeing any form) which said to him, “O Mihrjan
the Sage, and O King of the Age, arouse thee this moment and go to thy
wife and lie with her and know her carnally, for she shall indeed
conceive of thee at this very hour and bear thee a child which, an it be
a boy shall become thine aider in all thine affairs but will, an it
prove a girl, cause thy ruin and thy destruction and the uprooting of
thy traces.” When Al-Mihrjan heard from the Speaker these words and such
sayings, he left his couch without stay or delay in great joy and
gladness and he went to his wife and slept with her and swived her and
as soon as he arose from off her she said, “O King of the Age, verily I
feel that I have become pregnant; and (Inshallah—if Almighty Allah
please!) this shall prove the case.”[179] When Al-Mihrjan heard the
words of his wife he was glad and rejoiced at good news and he caused
that night be documented in the archives of his kingdom. Then, when it
was morning he took seat upon the throne of his kingship and summoned
the Astrologers and the Scribes of characts and Students of the skies
and told them what had been accomplished to him in his night and what
words he had heard from the Voice; whereupon the Sages one and all
struck tables of sand and considered the ascendant. But each and every
of them concealed his thought and hid all he had seen nor would any
return a reply or aught of address would supply; and said they, “O King
of the Age, verily appearances in dreams hit the mark at times and at
times fly wide; for when a man is of a melancholic humour he seeth in
his sleep things which be terrible and horrible and he waxeth startled
thereat: haply this vision thou hast beheld may be of the imbroglios of
dreams so do thou commit the reins to Him who all overreigns and the
best Worker is He of all that wisheth and willeth He.” Now when
Al-Mihrjan heard these words of the Sages and the Star-gazers he gifted
and largessed them and he freed the captives in prison mewed and he
clothed the widows and the poor and nude. But his heart remained in sore
doubt concerning what he had heard from the Voice and he was thoughtful
over that matter and bewildered and he knew not what to do; and on such
wise sped those days. Now, however, returneth the tale to the Queen his
Consort who, when her months had gone by, proved truly to be pregnant
and her condition showed itself, so she sent to inform her husband
thereof. He was gladdened and rejoiced in the good news and when the
months of gestation were completed the labour-pains set in and she was
delivered of a girl-child (praise be to Him who had created and had
perfected what He had produced in this creation!), which was winsome of
face and lovesome of form and fair fashioned of limbs, with cheeks
rosaceous and eyne gracious and eyebrows continuous and perfect in
symmetrical proportion. Now after the midwives delivered her from the
womb and cut her navel-string and kohl’d her eyes, they sent for King
Al-Mihrjan and informed him that his Queen had borne a maid-babe, but
when the Eunuchs gave this message, his breast was narrowed and he was
bewildered in his wits, and rising without stay or delay he went to his
wife. Here they brought to him the new-born when he uncovered her face
and, noting her piquancy and elegancy and beauty and brilliancy and size
and symmetry, his vitals fluttered and he was seized with yearning
sorrow for her fate; and he named her Al-Hayfá[180] for her seemlihead.
Then he gifted the midwife——And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of
day 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
[Illustration]
The Six Hundred and Sixty-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 King Al-Mihrjan largessed a robe of honour to
the midwife and gifted her with a thousand gold pieces and went forth
from beside his daughter. Then they committed her to wetnurses and
drynurses and governesses who reared her with the fairest rearing, and
after she had reached the age of four they brought to her divines who
lessoned her in the art of writing and of making selections[181] and
presently she approved herself sharp of wits, clever, loquent of tongue,
eloquent of speech, sweet spoken of phrase; and every day she increased
in beauty and loveliness and stature and perfect grace. And when she
reached the age of fourteen she was well read in science and she had
perused the annals of the past and she had mastered astrology and
geomancy and she wrote with caligraphic pen all the seven handwritings
and she was mistress of metres and modes of poetry and still she grew in
grace of speech. Now as her age reached her fourteenth year her sire the
Sultan chose for her a palace and settled her therein and placed about
her slave-girls, high-bosomed virgins numbering an hundred, and each and
every famous for beauty and loveliness; and presently she selected of
them a score who were all maidenhoods, illustrious for comeliness and
seemliness. These she taught in verse and poetry and in the
strangenesses of history and in striking instruments of mirth and
merriment until they surpassed all the folk of their day; and she
assiduously enjoined upon them the drinking of wine pure and new and
boon-companionship with choice histories and strange tales and the rare
events of the time. Such was the case with Al-Hayfa; but as regards her
father, King Al-Mihrjan, as one night he was lying abed pondering what
he had heard from the Voice, suddenly there addressed him a sound
without a form and said, “O King of the Age,” whereat he was fully
aroused by sore terror and his vitals fluttered and his wits were
bewildered and he was perplexed as to his affair. So he took refuge with
Allah from Satan the Stoned and repeated somewhat of the Koran and
fenced himself about with certain of the holy names of Allah the
Munificent; then he would have returned to his couch but was unable,
even to place cheek on pillow. Presently sounded the Voice a second
time, saying, “O King of the Age, O Mihrjan, verily shalt thou die by
reason of her;” and forthwith improvised the following couplets:—
“Ho thou! Hear, O Mihrjan, what to thee shall be said ✿ Learn the drift
of my words in these lines convey’d:
Thy daughter, Al-Hayfa (the girded round ✿ With good, and with highest
of grade array’d)
Shall bring with right hand to thee ruin-bowl ✿ And reave thee of realm
with the sharp-biting blade.”[182]
Now when Al-Mihrjan had heard what the Voice had spoken of verse and had
produced for him of prose, he was wholly aroused from his sleep and
became like one drunken with wine who knew not what he did and his
vitals fluttered and increased his cark and care and anxious thought. So
he removed from that site into another stead and was stirred up and went
awandering about. Then he set his head upon the pillow but was unable to
close his eyelids and the Voice drew nearer and cried upon him in
frightful accents and said, “O Mihrjan, dost thou not hearken to my
words and understand my verse; to wit, that thy daughter Al-Hayfa shall
bequeath to thee shame and thou shalt perish by cause of her?” Then the
Unseen One recited these couplets[183]:—
“I see thee, O Mihrjan, careless-vain ✿ Who from hearing the words of
the wise dost abstain:
I see Al-Hayfa, by potent lord ✿ Upraised in her charms and speech sweet
of strain,
Who shall home thee in grave sans a doubt and she ✿ Shall seize thy
kingship and reave thy reign.”
But when Al-Mihrjan had heard the words of the Voice and what it had
urged upon him of poetry and of prose-addresses, he arose from his rest
in haste and anxiety until Allah caused the morn to morrow and break in
its sheen and it shone, whereupon the King summoned the Mathematicians
and the Interpreters of dreams and the Commentators on the Koran; and,
when they came between his hands, he related to them his vision, fully
and formally, and they practised their several arts, making all apparent
to them; but they concealed the truth and would not reveal it, saying to
him, “Indeed the consequence of thy vision is auspicious.”——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 Sixty-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 the Astrologers said to King Al-Mihrjan,
“Verily the consequence of thy vision is auspicious;” and on the second
night Iblis the Accursed appeared to him under the bodily form of a
handsome man and said, “Ho thou the King, I am he who terrified thee
yesternight in thy dream, for the reason that thou hast ruined the
Monastery of the Archers[184] wherein I lay homed. However an thou wilt
edify it again I will favour thee with my counsel, ho thou the King!”
Al-Mihrjan replied, “Upon me be its rebuilding an thou wilt honour me
with thy advice, ho thou the Voice!” Hereupon Iblis fell to lying with
him and saying, “Verily I am thine aider in building thee a palace by
the river Al-Kawá’ib,[185] O thou will of me and desire of me!” (Now the
folk heard these words spoken aloud.) Then Al-Mihrjan arose from his
sleep joyful and cheerful and when morning came he summoned the
Mathematicians and Architects and Masons and bade them rebuild the
Monastery of the Archers; so they obeyed his bidding until they had
completed it in the handsomest fashion and with the best of workmanship.
After that the King ordered they construct for his daughter Al-Hayfa a
palace unsurpassed by any edifice and perfectly builded and decorated,
hard by the river Al-Kawa’ib; moreover that it should be situate in a
wady, a hill-girt plain through which meandered the stream. So they
obeyed his bidding and laid its foundations and marked with large stones
the lines thereof which measured a parasang of length by a parasang of
breadth. Then they showed their design to the King, who gathering
together his army returned with them to the city. Presently the
Architects and Master-masons fell to building it square of corners and
towering in air over the height of an hundred ells and an ell; and
amiddlemost thereof stood a quadrangular hall with four-fold saloons,
one fronting other, whilst in each was set apart a cabinet for private
converse. At the head of every saloon a latticed window projected over
the garden whereof the description shall follow in its place; and they
paved the ground with vari-coloured marbles and alabastrine slabs which
were dubbed with bezel stones and onyx[186] of Al-Yaman. The ceilings
were inlaid with choice gems and lapis lazuli and precious metals: the
walls were coated with white stucco painted over with ceruse[187] and
the frieze was covered with silver and gold and ultramarine and costly
minerals. Then they set up for the latticed windows colonnettes of gold
and silver and noble ores, and the doors of the sitting chamber were
made of chaunders-wood alternating with ebony which they studded with
jewels and arabesque’d with gold and silver. Also they placed in each
sitting-room a pillar of Comorin lign-aloes and the best of sandal-wood
encrusted with gems; and over the speak-room they threw cupolas
supported upon arches and connecting columns and lighted in the upper
part by skylights of chrystal and carnelian and onyx. And at the head of
each saloon was a couch of juniper-wood whose four legs were of
elephants’ ivories studded with rubies and over each was let down a
hanging[188] of golden weft and a network of gems, whilst higher than
the whole was a latticed casement adorned with pearls which were
threaded upon golden wire and curtains bearing scented satchels of
ambergris. The furniture of the divans was of raw silk stuffed with
ostrich-down and the cushions were purfled with gold. The floors of all
the saloons were spread with carpets and rugs embroidered with sendal,
and in the heart of the Great Hall amiddlemost the four saloons rose a
marble jet-d’eau, square of shape, whose corners were cunningly wrought
and whose floor and marge were set with gems of every hue. They also
placed upon the edges of that fountain figures fashioned of gold and
silver representing all manner birds and beasts, each modelled according
to his several tint and peculiar form; their bellies too were hollow and
from the fountain was conducted a conduit which led the water into their
insides and caused it gush from their mouths so that they jetted one at
other like two hosts about to do battle. After this the same water
returned to the middle of the fountain and thence flowed into the
gardens, of which a description will follow in its place.[189] Also the
walls of the Great Hall were variegated with wondrous pictures in gold
and lapis lazuli and precious materials of every kind, and over the
doors of the sitting-places they hung candelabra of chrystal with chains
of gold wherein were set jewels and jacinths and the costliest stones;
after which they inscribed upon the entrance of the speak-rooms couplets
to the following purport:—
“Clear and clean is our séance from slanderous foe; ✿ And from envious
rival whose aim is blame:
None hither may come save the cup-boy, and eke ✿ Cup-comrades who never
our fame defame.”
Upon the chandeliers themselves were inscribed these lines:—
“I am raised in reverence high o’er head ✿ For they see that my gift is
the boon of light:
I’m a pleasure to eyesight, so up with you all, ✿ O Seers, and joy ye
the joys of my sight.”
And upon the Palace-door was inscribed the following quatrain:—
“This Mansion’s adorned ✿ As delight to man’s eye;
O’er its door writ is ’Welcome,’ ✿ So safely draw nigh.”