ordered one of his Wazirs to be in attendance upon him whithersoever he
might wend. One day the youth set out for the chase accompanied by his
father's Minister; and, as they jogged on together, a big wild beast
came in sight. Cried the Wazir to the King's son, "Up and at yon noble
quarry!" So the Prince followed it until he was lost to every eye and
the chase got away from him in the waste; whereby he was confused and
he knew not which way to turn, when lo! a damsel appeared ahead and she
was in tears. The King's son asked, "Who art thou?" and she answered,
"I am daughter to a King among the Kings of Hind, and I was travelling
with a caravan in the desert when drowsiness overcame me, and I fell
from my beast unwittingly; whereby I am cut off from my people and sore
bewildered." The Prince, hearing these words, pitied her case and,
mounting her on his horse's crupper, travelled until he passed by an
old ruin,[95] when the damsel said to him, "O my master, I wish to obey
a call of nature": he therefore set her down at the ruin where she
delayed so long that the King's son thought that she was only wasting
time; so he followed her without her knowledge and behold, she was a
Ghúlah,[96] a wicked Ogress, who was saying to her brood, "O my
children, this day I bring you a fine fat youth[97] for dinner;"
whereto they answered, "Bring him quick to us, O our mother, that we
may browse upon him our bellies full." The Prince hearing their talk,
made sure of death and his side-muscles quivered in fear for his life,
so he turned away and was about to fly. The Ghulah came out and seeing
him in sore affright (for he was trembling in every limb) cried,
"Wherefore art thou afraid?" and he replied, "I have hit upon an enemy
whom I greatly fear." Asked the Ghulah, "Diddest thou not say:—I am a
King's son?" and he answered, "Even so." Then quoth she, "Why dost not
give thine enemy something of money and so satisfy him?" Quoth he, "He
will not be satisfied with my purse but only with my life, and I
mortally fear him and am a man under oppression." She replied, "If thou
be so distressed, as thou deemest, ask aid against him from Allah, who
will surely protect thee from his ill-doing and from the evil whereof
thou art afraid." Then the Prince raised his eyes heavenwards and
cried, "O Thou who answerest the necessitous when he calleth upon Thee
and dispellest his distress; O my God! grant me victory over my foe and
turn him from me, for Thou over all things art Almighty." The Ghulah,
hearing his prayer, turned away from him, and the Prince returned to
his father, and told him the tale of the Wazir; whereupon the King
summoned the Minister to his presence and then and there slew him.
"Thou likewise, O King, if thou continue to trust this leach, shalt be
made to die the worst of deaths. He verily thou madest much of and whom
thou entreatedest as an intimate, will work thy destruction. Seest thou
not how he healed the disease from outside thy body by something
grasped in thy hand? Be not assured that he will not destroy thee by
something held in like manner!" Replied King Yunan, "Thou hast spoken
sooth, O Wazir, it may well be as thou hintest O my well-advising
Minister; and belike this Sage hath come as a spy searching to put me
to death; for assuredly if he cured me by a something held in my hand,
he can kill me by a something given me to smell." Then asked King
Yunan, "O Minister, what must be done with him?" and the Wazir
answered, "Send after him this very instant and summon him to thy
presence; and when he shall come strike him across the neck; and thus
shalt thou rid thyself of him and his wickedness, and deceive him ere
he can deceive thee." "Thou hast again spoken sooth, O Wazir," said the
King and sent one to call the Sage who came in joyful mood for he knew
not what had appointed for him the Compassionate; as a certain poet
saith by way of illustration:—
O Thou who fearest Fate, confiding fare, ✿ Trust all to Him who built
the world, and wait:
What Fate saith "Be" perforce must be, my lord! ✿ And safe art thou
from th' undecreed of Fate.
As Duban the physician entered he addressed the King in these lines:—
An fail I of my thanks to thee nor thank thee day by day ✿ For whom
composed I prose and verse, for whom my say and lay?
Thou lavishedst thy generous gifts ere they were craved by me ✿ Thou
lavishedst thy boons unsought sans pretext or delay
How shall I stint my praise of thee, how shall I cease to laud ✿ The
grace of thee in secresy and patentest display?
Nay; I will thank thy benefits, for aye thy favours lie ✿ Light on my
thought and tongue, though heavy on my back they weigh.
And he said further on the same theme:—
Turn thee from grief nor care a jot! ✿ Commit thy needs to Fate and
Lot!
Enjoy the Present passing well ✿ And let the Past be clean forgot;
For whatso haply seemeth worse ✿ Shall work thy weal as Allah wot:
Allah shall do whate'er He wills ✿ And in His will oppose Him not.
And further still:—
To th' All-wise Subtle One trust worldly things ✿ Rest thee from all
whereto the worldling clings:
Learn wisely well naught cometh by thy will ✿ But e'en as willeth
Allah, King of Kings.
And lastly:—
Gladsome and gay forget thine every grief ✿ Full often grief the wisest
hearts outwore:
Thought is but folly in the feeble slave ✿ Shun it and so be savèd
evermore.
Said the King for sole return, "Knowest thou why I have summoned thee?"
and the Sage replied, "Allah Most Highest alone kenneth hidden things!"
But the King rejoined, "I summoned thee only to take thy life and
utterly to destroy thee." Duban the Wise wondered at this strange
address with exceeding wonder and asked, "O King, and wherefore
wouldest thou slay me, and what ill have I done thee?" and the King
answered, "Men tell me thou art a spy sent hither with intent to slay
me; and lo! I will kill thee ere I be killed by thee;" then he called
to his Sworder, and said, "Strike me off the head of this traitor and
deliver us from his evil practices." Quoth the Sage, "Spare me and
Allah will spare thee; slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." And he
repeated to him these very words, even as I to thee, O Ifrit, and yet
thou wouldst not let me go, being bent upon my death. King Yunan only
rejoined, "I shall not be safe without slaying thee; for, as thou
healedst me by something held in hand, so am I not secure against thy
killing me by something given me to smell or otherwise." Said the
physician, "This then, O King, is thy requital and reward; thou
returnest only evil for good." The King replied, "There is no help for
it; die thou must and without delay." Now when the physician was
certified that the King would slay him without waiting, he wept and
regretted the good he had done to other than the good. As one hath said
on this subject:—
Of wit and wisdom is Maymúnah[98] bare ✿ Whose sire in wisdom all the
wits outstrippeth:
Man may not tread on mud or dust or clay ✿ Save by good sense, else
trippeth he and slippeth.
Hereupon the Sworder stepped forward and bound the Sage Duban's eyes
and bared his blade, saying to the King, "By thy leave;" while the
physician wept and cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee, and slay
me not or Allah shall slay thee," and began repeating:—
I was kind and 'scapèd not, they were cruel and escaped; ✿ And my
kindness only led me to Ruination Hall;
If I live I'll ne'er be kind; if I die, then all be damned ✿ Who follow
me, and curses their kindliness befal.
"Is this," continued Duban, "the return I meet from thee? Thou givest
me, meseems, but crocodile-boon." Quoth the King, "What is the tale of
the crocodile?", and quoth the physician, "Impossible for me to tell it
in this my state; Allah upon thee, spare me, as thou hopest Allah shall
spare thee." And he wept with exceeding weeping. Then one of the King's
favourites stood up and said, "O King! grant me the blood of this
physician; we have never seen him sin against thee, or doing aught save
healing thee from a disease which baffled every leach and man of
science." Said the King, "Ye wot not the cause of my putting to death
this physician, and this it is. If I spare him, I doom myself to
certain death; for one who healed me of such a malady by something held
in my hand, surely can slay me by something held to my nose; and I fear
lest he kill me for a price, since haply he is some spy whose sole
purpose in coming hither was to compass my destruction. So there is no
help for it; die he must, and then only shall I be sure of my own
life." Again cried Duban, "Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and
slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." But it was in vain. Now when the
physician, O Ifrit, knew for certain that the King would kill him, he
said, "O King, if there be no help but I must die, grant me some little
delay that I may go down to my house and release myself from mine
obligations and direct my folk and my neighbours where to bury me and
distribute my books of medicine. Amongst these I have one, the rarest
of rarities, which I would present to thee as an offering: keep it as a
treasure in thy treasury." "And what is in the book?" asked the King
and the Sage answered, "Things beyond compt; and the least of secrets
is that if, directly after thou hast cut off my head, thou open three
leaves and read three lines of the page to thy left hand, my head shall
speak and answer every question thou deignest ask of it." The King
wondered with exceeding wonder and shaking[99] with delight at the
novelty, said, "O physician, dost thou really tell me that when I cut
off thy head it will speak to me?" He replied, "Yes, O King!" Quoth the
King, "This is indeed a strange matter!" and forthwith sent him closely
guarded to his house, and Duban then and there settled all his
obligations. Next day he went up to the King's audience hall, where
Emirs and Wazirs, Chamberlains and Nabobs, Grandees and Lords of Estate
were gathered together, making the presence-chamber gay as a garden of
flower-beds. And lo! the physician came up and stood before the King,
bearing a worn old volume and a little étui of metal full of powder,
like that used for the eyes.[100] Then he sat down and said, "Give me a
tray." So they brought him one and he poured the powder upon it and
levelled it and lastly spake as follows: "O King, take this book but do
not open it till my head falls; then set it upon this tray, and bid
press it down upon the powder, when forthright the blood will cease
flowing. That is the time to open the book." The King thereupon took
the book and made a sign to the Sworder, who arose and struck off the
physician's head, and placing it on the middle of the tray, pressed it
down upon the powder. The blood stopped flowing, and the Sage Duban
unclosed his eyes and said, "Now open the book, O King!" The King
opened the book, and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his
finger to his mouth and, by moistening it, he easily turned over the
first leaf, and in like way the second, and the third, each leaf
opening with much trouble; and when he had unstuck six leaves he looked
over them and, finding nothing written thereon, said, "O physician,
there is no writing here!" Duban replied, "Turn over yet more;" and he
turned over three others in the same way. Now the book was poisoned;
and before long the venom penetrated his system, and he fell into
strong convulsions and he cried out, "The poison hath done its work!"
Whereupon the Sage Duban's head began to improvise:—
There be rulers who have ruled with a foul tyrannic sway ✿ But they
soon became as though they had never, never been:
Just, they had won justice: they oppressed and were opprest ✿ By
Fortune, who requited them with ban and bane and teen:
So they faded like the morn, and the tongue of things repeats ✿ "Take
this for that, nor vent upon Fortune's ways thy spleen."
No sooner had the head ceased speaking than the King rolled over dead.
Now I would have thee know, O Ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the
Sage Duban, Allah would have spared him; but he refused so to do and
decreed to do him dead, wherefore Allah slew him; and thou too, O
Ifrit, if thou hadst spared me, Allah would have spared thee.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say: then quoth Dunyazad, "O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale and
how tasteful; how sweet, and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is
this compared with what I could tell thee this coming night, if I live
and the King spare me?" Said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not
slay her until I hear the rest of her story, for truly it is wondrous."
They rested that night in mutual embrace until dawn: then the King went
forth to his Darbar; the Wazirs and troops came in and the
audience-hall was crowded; so the King gave orders and judged and
appointed and deposed and bade and forbade the rest of that day, when
the court broke up, and King Shahryar entered his palace.
Now when it was the Sixth Night,
Her sister, Dunyazad, said to her. "Pray finish for us thy story;" and
she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." "Say on," quoth the
King. And she continued:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that
when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "If thou hadst spared me I would
have spared thee, but nothing would satisfy thee save my death; so now
I will do thee die by jailing thee in this jar, and I will hurl thee
into this sea." Then the Marid roared aloud and cried, "Allah upon
thee, O Fisherman don't! Spare me, and pardon my past doings; and, as I
have been tyrannous, so be thou generous, for it is said among sayings
that go current:—O thou who doest good to him who hath done thee evil,
suffice for the ill-doer his ill-deeds, and do not deal with me as did
Umamah to 'Atikah."[101] Asked the Fisherman, "And what was their
case?" and the Ifrit answered, "This is not the time for story-telling
and I in this prison; but set me free and I will tell thee the tale."
Quoth the Fisherman, "Leave this language: there is no help but that
thou be thrown back into the sea nor is there any way for thy getting
out of it for ever and ever. Vainly I placed myself under thy
protection,[102] and I humbled myself to thee with weeping, while thou
soughtest only to slay me, who had done thee no injury deserving this
at thy hands; nay, so far from injuring thee by any evil act, I worked
thee nought but weal in releasing thee from that jail of thine. Now I
knew thee to be an evil-doer when thou diddest to me what thou didst,
and know, that when I have cast thee back into this sea, I will warn
whomsoever may fish thee up of what hath befallen me with thee, and I
will advise him to toss thee back again; so shalt thou abide here under
these waters till the End of Time shall make an end of thee." But the
Ifrit cried aloud, "Set me free; this is a noble occasion for
generosity and I make covenant with thee and vow never to do thee hurt
and harm; nay, I will help thee to what shall put thee out of want."
The Fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions, not to trouble
him as before, but on the contrary to do him service; and, after making
firm the plight and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah Most Highest he
opened the cucurbit. Thereupon the pillar of smoke rose up till all of
it was fully out; then it thickened and once more became an Ifrit of
hideous presence, who forthright administered a kick to the bottle and
sent it flying into the sea. The Fisherman, seeing how the cucurbit was
treated and making sure of his own death, piddled in his clothes and
said to himself, "This promiseth badly;" but he fortified his heart,
and cried, "O Ifrit, Allah hath said"[103]:—Perform your covenant; for
the performance of your covenant shall be inquired into hereafter. Thou
hast made a vow to me and hast sworn an oath not to play me false lest
Allah play thee false, for verily he is a jealous God who respiteth the
sinner, but letteth him not escape. I say to thee as said the Sage
Duban to King Yunan, "Spare me so Allah may spare thee!" The Ifrit
burst into laughter and stalked away, saying to the Fisherman, "Follow
me;" and the man paced after him at a safe distance (for he was not
assured of escape) till they had passed round the suburbs of the city.
Thence they struck into the uncultivated grounds, and crossing them
descended into a broad wilderness, and lo! in the midst of it stood a
mountain-tarn. The Ifrit waded in to the middle and again cried,
"Follow me;" and when this was done he took his stand in the centre and
bade the man cast his net and catch his fish. The Fisherman looked into
the water and was much astonished to see therein vari-coloured fishes,
white and red, blue and yellow; however he cast his net and, hauling it
in, saw that he had netted four fishes, one of each colour. Thereat he
rejoiced greatly and more when the Ifrit said to him, "Carry these to
the Sultan and set them in his presence; then he will give thee what
shall make thee a wealthy man; and now accept my excuse, for by Allah
at this time I wot none other way of benefiting thee, inasmuch I have
lain in this sea eighteen hundred years and have not seen the face of
the world save within this hour. But I would not have thee fish here
save once a day." The Ifrit then gave him Godspeed, saying, "Allah
grant we meet again;"[104] and struck the earth with one foot,
whereupon the ground clove asunder and swallowed him up. The Fisherman,
much marvelling at what had happened to him with the Ifrit, took the
fish and made for the city; and as soon as he reached home he filled an
earthen bowl with water and therein threw the fish which began to
struggle and wriggle about. Then he bore off the bowl upon his head
and, repairing to the King's palace (even as the Ifrit had bidden him)
laid the fish before the presence; and the King wondered with exceeding
wonder at the sight, for never in his lifetime had he seen fishes like
these in quality or in conformation. So he said, "Give those fish to
the stranger slave-girl who now cooketh for us," meaning the
bond-maiden whom the King of Roum had sent to him only three days
before, so that he had not yet made trial of her talents in the
dressing of meat. Thereupon the Wazir carried the fish to the cook and
bade her fry them,[105] saying, "O damsel, the King sendeth this say to
thee:—I have not treasured thee, O tear o' me! save for stress-time of
me; approve, then, to us this day thy delicate handiwork and thy
savoury cooking; for this dish of fish is a present sent to the Sultan
and evidently a rarity." The Wazir, after he had carefully charged her,
returned to the King, who commanded him to give the Fisherman four
hundred dinars: he gave them accordingly, and the man took them to his
bosom and ran off home stumbling and falling and rising again and
deeming the whole thing to be a dream. However, he bought for his
family all they wanted and lastly he went to his wife in huge joy and
gladness. So far concerning him; but as regards the cookmaid, she took
the fish and cleansed them and set them in the frying-pan, basting them
with oil till one side was dressed. Then she turned them over and,
behold, the kitchen wall clave asunder, and therefrom came a young
lady, fair of form, oval of face, perfect in grace, with eyelids which
Kohl-lines enchase.[106] Her dress was a silken head-kerchief fringed
and tasseled with blue: a large ring hung from either ear; a pair of
bracelets adorned her wrists; rings with bezels of priceless gems were
on her fingers; and she hent in hand a long rod of rattan-cane which
she thrust into the frying-pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant
to your covenant?" When the cook-maiden saw this apparition she swooned
away. The young lady repeated her words a second time and a third time,
and at last the fishes raised their heads from the pan, and saying in
articulate speech "Yes! Yes!" began with one voice to recite:—
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ And if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
After this the young lady upset the frying-pan and went forth by the
way she came in and the kitchen wall closed upon her. When the
cook-maiden recovered from her fainting-fit, she saw the four fishes
charred black as charcoal, and crying out, "His staff brake in his
first bout,"[107] she again fell swooning to the ground. Whilst she was
in this case the Wazir came for the fish, and looking upon her as
insensible she lay, not knowing Sunday from Thursday, shoved her with
his foot and said, "Bring the fish for the Sultan!" Thereupon
recovering from her fainting-fit she wept and informed him of her case
and all that had befallen her. The Wazir marvelled greatly and
exclaiming, "This is none other than a right strange matter!", he sent
after the Fisherman and said to him, "Thou, O Fisherman, must needs
fetch us four fishes like those thou broughtest before." Thereupon the
man repaired to the tarn and cast his net; and when he landed it, lo!
four fishes were therein exactly like the first. These he at once
carried to the Wazir, who went in with them to the cook-maiden and
said, "Up with thee and fry these in my presence, that I may see this
business." The damsel arose and cleansed the fish, and set them in the
frying-pan over the fire; however they remained there but a little
while ere the wall clave asunder and the young lady appeared, clad as
before and holding in hand the wand which she again thrust into the
frying-pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your olden
covenant?" And behold, the fish lifted their heads, and repeated "Yes!
Yes!" and recited this couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ But if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
Now when it was the Seventh Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
fishes spoke, and the young lady upset the frying-pan with her rod, and
went forth by the way she came and the wall closed up, the Wazir cried
out, "This is a thing not to be hidden from the King," So he went and
told him what had happened, whereupon quoth the King, "There is no help
for it but that I see this with mine own eyes." Then he sent for the
Fisherman and commanded him to bring four other fish like the first and
to take with him three men as witnesses. The Fisherman at once brought
the fish: and the King, after ordering them to give him four hundred
gold pieces, turned to the Wazir and said, "Up and fry me the fishes
here before me!" The Minister, replying "To hear is to obey," bade
bring the frying-pan, threw therein the cleansed fish and set it over
the fire; when lo! the wall clave asunder, and out burst a black slave
like a huge rock or a remnant of the tribe Ad[108] bearing in hand a
branch of a green tree; and he cried in loud and terrible tones, "O
fish! O fish! be ye all constant to your antique covenant?" whereupon
the fishes lifted their heads from the frying-pan and said, "Yes! Yes!
we be true to our vow;" and they again recited the couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ But if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!