King where her house was and appointed him for the same time as the
Wali, the Kazi and the Wazir. Then she left him and betaking herself to
a man which was a carpenter, said to him, “I would have thee make me a
cabinet with four compartments one above other, each with its door for
locking up. Let me know thy hire and I will give it thee.” Replied he,
“My price will be four dinars; but, O noble lady and well-protected, if
thou wilt vouchsafe me thy favours, I will ask nothing of thee.”
Rejoined she, “An there be no help but that thou have it so, then make
thou five compartments with their padlocks;” and she appointed him to
bring it exactly on the day required. Said he, “It is well; sit down, O
my lady, and I will make it for thee forthright, and after I will come
to thee at my leisure.” So she sat down by him, whilst he fell to work
on the cabinet, and when he had made an end of it she chose to see it at
once carried home and set up in the sitting-chamber. Then she took four
gowns and carried them to the dyer, who dyed them each of a different
colour; after which she applied herself to making ready meat and drink;
fruits, flowers and perfumes. Now when the appointed trysting day came,
she donned her costliest dress and adorned herself and scented herself,
then spread the sitting-room with various kinds of rich carpets and sat
down to await who should come. And behold, the Kazi was the first to
appear, devancing the rest, and when she saw him, she rose to her feet
and kissed the ground before him; then, taking him by the hand, made him
sit down by her on the couch and lay with him and fell to jesting and
toying with him. By and by, he would have her do his desire, but she
said, “O my lord, doff thy clothes and turband and assume this yellow
cassock and this head-kerchief,[212] whilst I bring thee meat and drink;
and after thou shalt win thy will.” So saying, she took his clothes and
turband and clad him in the cassock and the kerchief; but hardly had she
done this, when lo! there came a knocking at the door. Asked he, “Who is
that rapping at the door?” and she answered, “My husband.” Quoth the
Kazi, “What is to be done, and where shall I go?” Quoth she, “Fear
nothing, I will hide thee in this cabinet;” and he, “Do as seemeth good
to thee.” So she took him by the hand and pushing him into the lowest
compartment, locked the door upon him. Then she went to the house-door,
where she found the Wali; so she bussed ground before him and taking his
hand brought him into the saloon, where she made him sit down and said
to him, “O my lord, this house is thy house; this place is thy place,
and I am thy handmaid: thou shalt pass all this day with me; wherefore
do thou doff thy clothes and don this red gown, for it is a sleeping
gown.” So she took away his clothes and made him assume the red gown and
set on his head an old patched rag she had by her; after which she sat
by him on the divan and she sported with him while he toyed with her
awhile, till he put out his hand to her. Whereupon she said to him, “O
our lord, this day is thy day and none shall share in it with thee; but
first, of thy favour and benevolence, write me an order for my brother’s
release from gaol that my heart may be at ease.” Quoth he, “Hearkening
and obedience: on my head and eyes be it!”; and wrote a letter to his
treasurer, saying:—“As soon as this communication shall reach thee, do
thou set such an one free, without stay or delay; neither answer the
bearer a word.” Then he sealed it and she took it from him, after which
she began to toy again with him on the divan when, behold, some one
knocked at the door. He asked, “Who is that?” and she answered, “My
husband.” “What shall I do?” said he, and she, “Enter this cabinet, till
I send him away and return to thee.” So she clapped him into the second
compartment from the bottom and padlocked the door on him; and meanwhile
the Kazi heard all they said. Then she went to the house-door and opened
it, whereupon lo! the Wazir entered. She bussed the ground before him
and received him with all honour and worship, saying, “O my lord, thou
exaltest us by thy coming to our house; Allah never deprive us of the
light of thy countenance!” Then she seated him on the divan and said to
him, “O my lord, doff thy heavy dress and turband and don these lighter
vestments.” So he put off his clothes and turband and she clad him in a
blue cassock and a tall red bonnet, and said to him, “Erst thy garb was
that of the Wazirate; so leave it to its own time and don this light
gown, which is better fitted for carousing and making merry and sleep.”
Thereupon she began to play with him and he with her, and he would have
done his desire of her; but she put him off, saying, “O my lord, this
shall not fail us.” As they were talking there came a knocking at the
door, and the Wazir asked her, “Who is that?”: to which she answered,
“My husband.” Quoth he, “What is to be done?” Quoth she, “Enter this
cabinet, till I get rid of him and come back to thee and fear thou
nothing.” So she put him in the third compartment and locked the door on
him, after which she went out and opened the house-door when lo and
behold! in came the King. As soon as she saw him she kissed ground
before him, and taking him by the hand, led him into the saloon and
seated him on the divan at the upper end. Then said she to him, “Verily,
O King, thou dost us high honour, and if we brought thee to gift the
world and all that therein is, it would not be worth a single one of thy
steps us-wards.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King
entered the lady’s house she said to him, “Had we brought thee to gift
the world and all which is therein, it would not be worth a single one
of thy steps us-wards.” And when he had taken his seat upon the divan
she said, “Give me leave to speak one word.” “Say what thou wilt,”
answered he, and she said, “O my lord, take thine ease and doff thy
dress and turband.” Now his clothes were worth a thousand dinars; and
when he put them off she clad him in a patched gown, worth at the very
most ten dirhams, and fell to talking and jesting with him; all this
while the folk in the cabinet hearing everything that passed, but not
daring to say a word. Presently, the King put his hand to her neck and
sought to do his desire of her; when she said, “This thing shall not
fail us, but I had first promised myself to entertain thee in this
sitting-chamber, and I have that which shall content thee.” Now as they
were speaking, some one knocked at the door and he asked her, “Who is
that?” “My husband,” answered she, and he, “Make him go away of his own
good will, or I will fare forth to him and send him away perforce.”
Replied she, “Nay, O my lord, have patience till I send him away by my
skilful contrivance.” “And I, how shall I do?” enquired the King;
whereupon she took him by the hand and making him enter the fourth
compartment of the cabinet, locked it upon him. Then she went out and
opened the house door when behold, the carpenter entered and saluted
her. Quoth she, “What manner of thing is this cabinet thou hast made
me?” “What aileth it, O my lady?” asked he, and she answered, “The top
compartment is too strait.” Rejoined he, “Not so;” and she, “Go in
thyself and see; it is not wide enough for thee.” Quoth he, “It is wide
enough for four,” and entered the fifth compartment, whereupon she
locked the door on him. Then she took the letter of the Chief of Police
and carried it to the treasurer who, having read and understood it,
kissed it and delivered her lover to her. She told him all she had done
and he said, “And how shall we act now?” She answered, “We will remove
hence to another city, for after this work there is no tarrying for us
here.” So the twain packed up what goods they had and, loading them on
camels, set out forthright for another city. Meanwhile, the five abode
each in his compartment of the cabinet without eating or drinking three
whole days, during which time they held their water until at last the
carpenter could retain his no longer; so he staled on the King’s head,
and the King urined on the Wazir’s head, and the Wazir piddled on the
Wali and the Wali pissed on the head of the Kazi; whereupon the Judge
cried out and said, “What nastiness[213] is this? Doth not what strait
we are in suffice us, but you must make water upon us?” The Chief of
Police recognised the Kazi’s voice and answered, saying aloud, “Allah
increase thy reward, O Kazi!” And when the Kazi heard him, he knew him
for the Wali. Then the Chief of Police lifted up his voice and said,
“What means this nastiness?” and the Wazir answered, saying, “Allah
increase thy reward, O Wali!” whereupon he knew him to be the Minister.
Then the Wazir lifted up his voice and said, “What means this
nastiness?” But when the King heard and recognised his Minister’s voice,
he held his peace and concealed his affair. Then said the Wazir, “May
God damn[214] this woman for her dealing with us! She hath brought
hither all the Chief Officers of the state, except the King.” Quoth the
King, “Hold your peace, for I was the first to fall into the toils of
this lewd strumpet.” Whereat cried the carpenter, “And I, what have I
done? I made her a cabinet for four gold pieces, and when I came to seek
my hire, she tricked me into entering this compartment and locked the
door on me.” And they fell to talking with one another, diverting the
King and doing away his chagrin. Presently the neighbours came up to the
house and, seeing it deserted, said one to other, “But yesterday our
neighbour, the wife of such an one, was in it; but now no sound is to be
heard therein nor is soul to be seen. Let us break open the doors and
see how the case stands, lest it come to the ears of the Wali or the
King and we be cast into prison and regret not doing this thing before.”
So they broke open the doors and entered the saloon, where they saw a
large wooden cabinet and heard men within groaning for hunger and
thirst. Then said one of them, “Is there a Jinni in this cabinet?” and
his fellow, “Let us heap fuel about it and burn it with fire.” When the
Kazi heard this, he bawled out to them, “Do it not!”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
neighbours proposed to heap fuel about the cabinet and to burn it the
Kazi bawled out to them, “Do it not!” And they said to one another,
“Verily the Jinn make believe to be mortals and speak with men’s
voices.” Thereupon the Kazi repeated somewhat of the Sublime Koran and
said to the neighbours, “Draw near to the cabinet wherein we are.” So
they drew near, and he said, “I am so and so the Kazi, and ye are such
an one and such an one, and we are here a company.” Quoth the
neighbours. “Who brought you here?” And he told them the whole case from
beginning to end. Then they fetched a carpenter, who opened the five
doors and let out Kazi, Wazir, Wali, King and carpenter in their queer
disguises; and each, when he saw how the others were accoutred, fell
a-laughing at them. Now she had taken away all their clothes; so every
one of them sent to his people for fresh clothes and put them on and
went out, covering himself therewith from the sight of the folk.
Consider, therefore, O our lord the King (said the Wazir), what a trick
this woman played off upon the folk! And I have heard tell also a tale
of
_THE THREE WISHES,[215] OR THE MAN WHO LONGED TO SEE THE NIGHT OF
POWER_.
A certain man had longed all his life to look upon the Night of
Power,[216] and one night it befel that he gazed at the sky and saw the
angels, and Heaven’s gates thrown open; and he beheld all things
prostrating themselves before their Lord, each in its several stead. So
he said to his wife, “Harkye, such an one, verily Allah hath shown me
the Night of Power, and it hath been proclaimed to me, from the
invisible world, that three prayers will be granted unto me; so I
consult thee for counsel as to what shall I ask.” Quoth she, “O man, the
perfection of man and his delight is in his prickle; therefore do thou
pray Allah to greaten thy yard and magnify it.” So he lifted up his
hands to heaven and said, “O Allah, greaten my yard and magnify it.”
Hardly had he spoken when his tool became as big as a column and he
could neither sit nor stand nor move about nor even stir from his stead;
and when he would have carnally known his wife, she fled before him from
place to place. So he said to her, “O accursed woman, what is to be
done? This is thy list, by reason of thy lust.” She replied, “No, by
Allah, I did not ask for this length and huge bulk, for which the gate
of a street were too strait. Pray Heaven to make it less.” So he raised
his eyes to Heaven and said, “O Allah, rid me of this thing and deliver
me therefrom.” And immediately his prickle disappeared altogether and he
became clean smooth. When his wife saw this, she said, “I have no
occasion for thee, now thou are become pegless as a eunuch, shaven and
shorn;” and he answered her, saying, “All this comes of thine ill-omened
counsel and thine imbecile judgment. I had three prayers accepted of
Allah, wherewith I might have gotten me my good, both in this world and
in the next, and now two wishes are gone in pure waste, by thy lewd
will, and there remaineth but one.” Quoth she, “Pray Allah the Most High
to restore thee thy yard as it was.” So he prayed to his Lord and his
prickle was restored to its first estate. Thus the man lost his three
wishes by the ill counsel and lack of wit in the woman; “And this, O
King” (said the Wazir), “have I told thee, that thou mightest be
certified of the thoughtlessness of women and their inconsequence and
silliness and see what cometh of hearkening to their counsel. Wherefore
be not persuaded by them to slay thy son, thy heart’s core, who shall
cause thy remembrance to survive thee.” The King gave ear to his
Minister’s words and forebore to put his son to death; but, on the
seventh day, the damsel came in, shrieking, and after lighting a great
fire in the King’s presence, made as she would cast herself therein;
whereupon they laid hands on her and brought her before him. He asked
her, “Why hast thou done this?” and she answered, “Except thou do me
justice on thy son, I will cast myself into this very fire and accuse
thee of this on the Day of Resurrection, for I am aweary of my life, and
before coming into thy presence I wrote my last will and testament and
gave alms of my goods and resolved upon death. And thou wilt repent with
all repentance, even as did the King of having punished the pious woman
who kept the Hammam.” Quoth the King, “How was that?” and quoth she:—I
have heard tell, O King, this tale concerning
_THE STOLEN NECKLACE_.
There was once a devotee, a recluse, a woman who had devoted herself to
religion. Now she used to resort to a certain King’s palace,[217] whose
dwellers were blessed by her presence and she was held of them in high
honour. One day she entered that palace according to her custom and sat
down beside the King’s wife. Presently the Queen gave her a necklace,
worth a thousand dinars, saying, “Keep this for me, O woman, whilst I go
to the Hammam.” So she entered the bath, which was in the palace, and
the pious woman remaining in the place where the Queen was and awaiting
her return laid the necklace on the prayer-carpet and stood up to pray.
As she was thus engaged, there came a magpie[218] which snatched up the
necklace, while she went out to obey a call of nature and carrying it
off, hid it inside a crevice in a corner of the palace-walls. When the
Queen came out of the bath, she sought the necklace of the recluse, who
also searched for it, but found it not nor could light on any trace of
it; so she said to the King’s wife, “By Allah, O my daughter, none hath
been with me. When thou gavest me the necklace, I laid it on the
prayer-carpet, and I know not if one of the servants saw it and took it
without my heed, whilst I was engaged in prayer. Almighty Allah only
knoweth what is come of it!” When the King heard what had happened, he
bade his Queen put the bath-woman to the question by fire and grievous
blows,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King bade
his Queen question the bath-woman with fire and grievous blows, they
tortured her with all manner tortures, but could not bring her to
confess or to accuse any. Then he commanded to cast her into prison and
manacle and fetter her; and they did as he bade. One day, after this, as
the King sat in the inner court of his palace, with the Queen by his
side and water flowing around him, he saw the pie fly into a crevice in
a corner of the wall and pull out the necklace, whereupon he cried out
to a damsel who was with him, and she caught the bird and took the
necklace from it. By this the King knew that the pious bath-woman had
been wronged and repented of that he had done with her. So he sent for
her to the presence and fell to kissing her head and with many tears
sought pardon of her. Moreover, he commanded much treasure to be given
to her, but she refused and would none of it. However, she forgave him
and went away, swearing never again to enter any one’s house. So she
betook herself to wandering in the mountains and valleys and worshipped
God until she died, and Almighty Allah have mercy upon her! And for an
instance of the malice of the male sex (continued the damsel), I have
heard, O King, tell this tale of
_THE TWO PIGEONS_.[219]
A pair of pigeons once stored up wheat and barley in their nest during
the winter, and when the summer came, the grain shrivelled and became
less; so the male pigeon said to his wife, “Thou hast eaten of this
grain.” Replied she, “No, by Allah, I have never touched it!” But he
believed not her words and beat her with his wings and pecked her with
his bill, till he killed her. When the cold season returned, the corn
swelled out and became as before, whereupon he knew that he had slain
his wife wrongously and wickedly, and he repented whenas repentance
availed him naught. Then he lay down by her side, mourning over her and
weeping for grief, and left meat and drink, till he fell sick and died.
“But” (added the damsel), “I know a story of the malice of men more
extraordinary than either of these.” Quoth the King, “Let us hear what
thou hast to tell;” and quoth she:—I have heard tell, O King, this
_STORY OF PRINCE BEHRAM AND THE PRINCESS AL-DATMA_.
There was once a King’s daughter, who had no equal in her time for
beauty and loveliness and symmetrical stature and grace, brilliancy,
amorous lace and the art of ravishing the wits of the masculine race and
her name was Al-Datmá. She used to boast, “Indeed there is none like me
in this age.” Nor was there one more accomplished than she in
horsemanship and martial exercises and all that behoveth a cavalier. So
all the Kings’ sons sought her to wife; but she would take none of them,
saying, “No man shall marry me except he overcome me at lunge of lance
and stroke of sword in fair field and patent plain. If any can do this,
I will willingly wed him; but, if I overcome him, I will take his horse
and clothes and arms and write with fire upon his forehead:—This is the
freed man of Al-Datma.” Now the sons of the Kings flocked to her from
every quarter far and near, and she overcame them and put them to shame,
stripping them of their arms and branding them with fire. Presently the
son of a King of the Kings of the Persians, by name Behram ibn Tájí,
heard of her and journeyed from afar to her father’s court, bringing
with him men and horses and great store of wealth and royal treasures.
When he drew near the city, he sent her parent a rich present and the
King came out to meet him and honoured him with the utmost honour. Then
the King’s son sent a message to him by his Wazir, demanding his
daughter’s hand in marriage; but the King answered, saying, “O my son,
as regards my daughter Al-Datma, I have no power over her, for she hath
sworn by her soul to marry none except he overcome her in the listed
field.” Quoth the Prince, “I journeyed hither from my father’s court
with no other object but this; I came here to woo and for thine alliance
to sue;” quoth the King, “Thou shalt meet her to-morrow.” So next day he
sent to bid his daughter who, making ready for battle, donned her
harness of war, and the folk, hearing of the coming joust, flocked from
all sides to the field. Presently the Princess rode into the lists,
armed cap-à-pie and belted and with vizor down, and the Persian King’s
son came out single-handed to meet her, equipped at all points after the
fairest of fashions. Then they drove at each other and fought a great
while, wheeling and falsing, advancing and retreating, till the
Princess, finding in him such courage and cavalarice as she had seen in
none else, began to fear for herself lest he put her to shame before the
bystanders and knew that he would assuredly overcome her. So she
resolved to trick him and, raising her vizor, lo! her face appeared more
brilliant than the full moon, which when he saw, he was confounded by
her beauty and his strength failed and his spirit faltered. When she
perceived this, she fell upon him at unawares in his moment of weakness,
and tare him from his saddle, and he became in her hands as he were a
sparrow in the clutches of an eagle, knowing not what was done with him
for amazement and confusion. So she took his steed and clothes and
armour and, branding him with fire, let him wend his ways. When he
recovered from his stupor, he abode several days without meat or drink
or sleep for despite and love of the girl which had taken hold upon his
heart. Then he sent a letter by certain of his slaves to his father,
advising him that he could not return home till he had won his will of
the Princess or died for want of her. When his sire got the letter, he
was sore concerned for his son and would have succoured him by sending
troops and soldiers; but his Wazirs dissuaded him from this and exhorted
him to patience; so he committed his affair to Almighty Allah.
Meanwhile, the Prince cast about for a means of coming to his desire;
and presently, disguising himself as a decrepit old man, with a white
beard over his own black beard repaired to a garden of the Princess
wherein she used to walk most of her days. Here he sought out the
gardener and said to him, “I am a stranger from a far country and from
my youth upwards I have been a gardener, and in the grafting of trees
and the culture of fruits and flowers and care of the vine none is more
skilled than I.” When the gardener heard this, he rejoiced in him with
exceeding joy and carried him into the garden, where he commended him to
his underlings, and the Prince betook himself to the service of the
garden and the tending of the trees and the bettering of their fruits
and improving the Persian water-wheels and disposing the
irrigation-channels. One day, as he was thus employed, lo! he saw some
slaves enter the garden, leading mules laden with carpets and vessels,
and asked them the meaning of this, to which they answered, “The
Princess is minded to take her pleasure.” When he heard these words he
hastened to his lodging and, fetching some of the jewels and ornaments
he had brought with him from home, sat down in the garden and spread
somewhat of them out before him, shaking and making a show of extreme
old age——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,