diversion?” Hereupon the fisherman called out, “O my son, up with thee
and straightway take this Mermaid and marry her and abate her pucelage
and be blessed with her and enjoy thy joy with her during all the days
of thy life-tide: doubtless, O my child, thou art in all boon fortune,
seeing that what good befel thee never betided any before thee nor will
become the lot of one after thee.” So the youth arose and for his
delight hardly believing in his conquest, married her and lay with her
and did away her maidenhead and on that very night she conceived by him.
After nine months she bare him issue and the couple ceased not to be
after this fashion till she had become a mother of seven. But the Wazir,
of his stress and excess of the trouble and the travail he endured, said
to himself, “How long shall last this toil and torment wherewith I am
liver-smitten and that too by mine own consent? So e’en will I arise and
hie me to this sea and hurl me thereinto and whatso shall become of me
let it be: haply I may find rest from these torments into which I have
fallen.” And forthright he arose and sought the shore and did as he had
devised, when a wave enveloped him and cast him deep into the depths and
he was like to choke, when suddenly his head protruded from the
chauldron and he was seated as before he had ducked it. Hereupon he saw
the Caliph sitting in state with the Sage by his side and all the Lords
of the land and the Notables of the commons awaiting the end of his
adventure. So he gazed at them and showed a smiling face[267] and
laughed aloud when the Prince of True Believers asked him saying, “What
hast thou seen, O Wazir?” So he repeated to the Sovran all he had
sighted and everything that had come down upon his head, presently
adding, “O Caliph of the Age and the sum and substance of the Time and
the Tide, what be these marvels wrought by this Sage? Verily I have
beheld the garths of Paradise[268] with maidens of the Húr and the
youths of Heaven, and wonderments galore unlooked upon by mankind at
all, at all. But, an thou be pleased, O Commander of the Faithful, to
espy these rare spectacles and marvellous conditions with thine own
eyes, deign go down into the water; so shalt thou divert thyself with
peregrine matters and adventures seld-seen.” The Sultan, delighted at
this rede, arose and doffed his dress; then, girding his loins with a
zone, he entered the chauldron whereat the Sage cried out to him, “O my
lord, sit thee down and duck thy head.” But when this was done the
Caliph found himself in a bottomless sea and wide-dispread and never at
rest by any manner of means, so he fell to swimming therein, when a huge
breaker threw him high ashore and he walked up the beach mother-naked
save for his zone. So he said in his mind, “Let me see what hath been
wrought with me by the Sage and the Wazir who have thus practised upon
me and have cast me in this place; and haply they have married my
daughter to the youth, and they have stolen my kingdom, the Sage
becoming Sultan in my stead. And now let me ask myself, What had I to do
with such damned diversion as this?” But as he brooded over these
thoughts and the like of them behold, a bevy of maidens came forwards to
fill their pitchers from a fountain and a pool of sweet water lying
beside the sea; and sighting him they exclaimed, “Thou, who art thou?
say sooth be thou of mankind or rather haply of Jinn-kind?” He replied,
“I am a mortal and of the noblest-born; withal I am a stranger in the
land and I wot not whither I should wend.” “Of what country art thou?”
asked they, and he answered, “I am from Baghdad.” “Up with thee,” quoth
one of the damsels, “to yonder knoll, then down to the flat on the
further side, and thou shalt sight a city whose name is ’Omán,[269]
whereinto do thou enter.” The Caliph did her bidding, and no sooner had
the people seen him stripped than they said one to other, “This man is a
merchant who hath been shipwrecked;” so they gave him by way of
alms-gift a Tobe[270] all tattered and torn wherewith he veiled his
shame. And after so doing he fell to wandering about the city for
pastime, and while walking about he passed into a Bazar and there
sighted a cook, before whom he stood open-mouthed (for indeed famine had
thinned him), and he bethought him of what to do, and he knew not how to
act. However the cook at first sight was certified of his being a
foreigner, and haply a shipwrecked mariner so he asked him, “O my
brother, why dost thou not come in and sit thee down, for thou art a
stranger and without means; so in the way of Allah I would engage thy
services and will pay thee daily two dirhams to provide thee with meat
and drink.” Answered the Caliph, “Hearing and obeying,” after which he
abode with the cook and served him and stinted not to serve him for a
long time, saying in himself the while, “This for that is tit for tat!
and after the Caliphate and commandment and happiness and honour, this
day art thou left to lick the platters. What had I to do with such
diversion as this? Withal ’tis fairer than the spectacle that anyone
even my Wazir ever saw and the more excellent, for that I after being
the Caliph of the Age, and the choice gift of the Time and Tide have now
become the hireling of a cook. Would to Heaven I wot the sin which
brought me hereto?”[271] Now as he abode with the cook it befel him that
one day he threaded the Jewellers’ Bazar; for about that city was a
sea-site whereinto the duckers and divers went down and whence they
brought up pearls and corals and precious stones; and as he stood in the
market-place, quoth he to himself, “Let me here become a broker in this
market-street and find rest from my groaning in labour and my licking of
platters.” As soon as morning morrowed he did on such wise, when
suddenly a merchant approached him, hending in hand a costly gem whose
light burned like a lamp or rather like a ray of sunshine, and ’twas
worth the tribute of Egypt and Syria. Hereat the Caliph marvelled with
exceeding marvel, and quoth he to the trader, “Say me, wilt thou sell
this jewel?” and quoth the other, “Yes.” So the Sultan taking it from
him went about with it amongst the merchants, who seeing and considering
it, wondered greatly at its beauty. Accordingly they bid for it fifty
thousand dinars, but the royal broker ceased not to bear it about and
the buyers to increase their biddings till they offered an hundred
thousand gold pieces. Thereupon the Caliph returned with it to the owner
and accosted him saying, “Wilt thou sell it for the sum named?” and when
the merchant consented, he continued, “I now go to receive its price,
wherewith I will come back to thee.” Then the broker went up to the
buyer and said, “Bring hither its value and set it in my hand;” but the
man asked him, “Where be its owner?” and the Caliph answered, “Its owner
hath commissioned me to receive its price, after which he will come and
recover the same from me.” However the bidder retorted, “This be not
fitting nor is it according to Holy Law: do thou bring me its owner;
then come and let him pouch the price, for ’tis he hath sold it to me
and thou art only our agent.” Hereupon the Caliph went forth to seek the
proprietor and wandered about a long while without finding him; after
which he again accosted the purchaser, and said to him, “I am the
rightful proprietor: place the price in my hand.” The buyer arose to pay
his debt, but before so doing he considered the jewel and saw that it
was a bit of dark Sandarach;[272] whereat he was sore perplext and cried
out to the Caliph, “O Satan, dost thou palm off false wares, the
market-place of the merchants being under the orders of the Sultan?” But
when the traders heard these words, they flocked around the pretended
broker and having seized him they pinioned his elbows and dragged him
before the Sovran of that city who, when they set the prisoner before
him, asked, “What be the offence of this man?” “O our honoured lord,”
answered they, “this wight palmeth off false wares and swindleth the
traders in the royal Bazar.” So the King commanded them to hang him,
whereat they charged his neck with chains and bared his head, and bade
the cryer cry, “This be his award and the least of awards who forgeth
counterfeits and who tricketh the merchant-folk in the market-place of
the Sultan.” Hereat quoth the Caliph to himself, “I was not content with
platter-licking, which now appeareth to me a mighty pleasant calling but
e’en I must become a broker and die _sus. per coll_. This be for that
tit for tat; however, scant blame to the Time which hath charged me with
this work.” Now when they brought him to the hanging-place and threw the
loop around his neck and fell to hoisting him up, as he rose from the
ground his eyes were opened and he found himself emerging from the
chauldron, whilst the Wazir and the Sage and the youth were sitting and
considering him. And the Minister catching sight of his lord sprang to
his feet and kissed ground before him, and laughed aloud, and the
Commander of the Faithful asked him, “Why this laughter?” Answered he,
“O thou, the Prince of True Believers and God-guarded Sovran, my
laughter and my gladness are for myself, seeing that I have recovered my
identity after becoming a woman and being wedded to a ploughman, who
eared the ground, and after bearing to him seven babes.” Cried the
Caliph, “Woe to thee, O dog, O son of a dog, thou wast married and
rejoicedst in children, whereas I this very moment from the
hanging-place have come down.” Then he informed the Wazir of all that
had befallen him and the Minister did on like guise, whereat all those
present laughed consumedly and marvelled at the words of the Warlock,
and his proficiency in occult knowledge. Then the Kazi and witnesses
were summoned with their writing-gear and were bidden draw up the
marriage-contract of the young Cook and the Caliph’s daughter. After
this the Sage sojourned with the Commander of the Faithful in highmost
degree and most honourable dignity, and they abode eating and drinking
and living the most delectable of lives and the most enjoyable with all
manner of joy and jollity, till came to them the Destroyer of delights
and the Divider of man’s days and they departed life one and all.
FINIS.
[Illustration]
THE PLEASANT HISTORY OF THE COCK AND THE FOX.
=Here we begin to indite the pleasant History which befel between the
Cock and the Fox.=[273]
It is said that there abode in such a village a man which was a Shaykh
of long standing, one gifted with fair rede and right understanding. Now
he had on his farm a plenty of poultry, male and female, and these he
was wont to breed and to eat of their eggs and their chickens. But
amongst his cocks was a Chanticleer, well advanced of age and wily of
wit, who had long fought with Fortune and who had become wise and ware
in worldly matters and in the turns and shifts of Time. It fortuned one
day that this Cock went forth to wander about the farm-lands pecking and
picking up as he went such grains of wheat and barley and holcus[274]
and sesame and millet as chanced fall in his way; but, being careless of
himself, he had left the village afar off without thinking of what he
did, and ere he took counsel with himself he found him amiddlemost the
wilderness. So he turned him rightwards and leftwards but espied nor
friend nor familiar, whereat he stood perplext as to his affair and his
breast was straitened and still he knew not what to do. Now while thus
bewildered in his wits touching his next step, behold, his glance fell
upon a Fox[275] who was approaching him from afar, whereat he feared and
trembled and was agitated with mighty great agitation. At once he turned
him about and presently espied a high wall arising from the waste,
whereto was no place of ascending for his foe; so he spread his wings
and flew up and perched upon the coping where he took his station.
Presently the Fox came forward to the foot of the wall, and, finding no
means of climbing it and getting at the fowl, he raised his head and
said, “The Peace be upon thee, ho thou the soothfast brother and
suitable friend!” But as the Cock would not turn towards him nor return
aught of reply to his salutation, the Fox resumed, “What is to do with
thee, O dear my brother, that my greeting thou acknowledgest not and to
my words inclinest thee not?” Still the Cock requited not his courtesy
and declined to reply, whereat the Fox resumed, “Wottest thou not, O my
brother, the glad tidings wherewith I came theewards, with what suitable
intelligence and counsel veridical and information at once sincere and
self-evident? and, didst know what it is hath come to mine ears, verily
thou hadst embraced me and kissed me on the mouth.” But the Cock feigned
absence of mind and ignored him and answered him naught, but stood with
rounded eyes and fixed upon the far when the Fox resumed, “O my brother,
the King of the Beasts which be the Lion and the King of the Birds which
be the Eagle have alighted from a journey upon the meads where grass is
a-growing and by the marge where waters are a-flowing and blossoms are
a-blowing and browsing gazelles are a-to-ing and a-fro-ing; and the
twain have gathered together all manner of ferals, lions and hyenas,
leopards and lynxes, wild cattle and antelopes and jackals and even
hares, brief, all the wild beasts of the world; and they have also
collected every kind of bird, eagle and vulture, crow and raven,[276]
wild pigeon and turtle-dove, poultry and fowls and Katás and quails[277]
and other small deer, and these two liege lords have bidden the herald
proclaim, throughout the tracts of the upland wold and the wild lowland,
safety and security and confraternity and peace with honour and sympathy
and familiar friendship and affection and love amongst wild beasts and
cattle and birds; also that enmity be done away with and wrongs be
forbidden nor might one transgress against other; nay, if any chance to
injure his fellow this offence might be for his scourging a reason, and
for his death by tearing to pieces a justification. The order hath also
come forth that all do feed and browse in one place whichever they
please, never venturing to break the peace but dwelling in all amity and
affection and intimacy one with other. Moreover they have commissioned
me, very me, to overroam the wastes and gladden with good tidings the
peoples of the wilds and proclaim that one and all without exception
must assemble together, and also that whoso delayeth or refuseth
obedience shall not escape punishment[278] nor let each and every fail
to make act of presence and to kiss hands. And of thee, O my brother, I
especially require that thou descend from thy high stead in safety and
security and satisfaction, and that henceforward thy heart be not
startled nor thy limbs shake for fear.” All this description was
described by the Fox to the Cock who paid no heed to him as though he
had never heard the news; and he remained silent without return of reply
or without so much as turning to regard him; nay, he only kept his head
raised and gazed afar. Hereat quoth to him the Fox (for indeed his heart
burned with desire to know how he could seize and devour him), “O
brother mine, why and wherefore dost thou not acknowledge me by an
answer or address to me a word or even turn thy face towards me who am a
Commissioner sent by Leo, Sovran of the beasts, and Aquila, Sultan of
the birds? Sore I fear lest thou refuse to accompany me and thus come
upon thee censure exceeding and odium excessive seeing that all are
assembled in the presence and are browsing upon the verdant mead.” Then
he added (as Chanticleer regarded him not), “O my brother, I bespeak
thee and thou unheedest me and my speech; and, if thou refuse to fare
with me, at least let me know what may be thy reply.” Hereupon the Cock
inclined towards him and said, “Sooth hast thou spoken, O my brother,
and well I wot thou be an Envoy and a Commissioner from our King, and
the special Messenger of him: but my condition is changed by that which
hath befallen me.” “And what calamity, O my brother, hath betided thee?”
“Dost thou espy what I am at present espying?” “And what is it thou
espiest?” “Verily, I see a dust-cloud lowering and the Saker-falcons in
circles towering;” and quoth the Fox (whose heart throbbed with fear),
“Look straitly, O my brother, lest there happen to us a mishap.” So
Chanticleer gazed as one distraught for a full-told hour, after which he
turned to the Fox and said, “O my brother, I behold and can distinguish
a bird flying and a dust-trail hieing.” “Consider them narrowly, O my
brother,” cried the Fox (whose side-muscles quivered), “lest this be
sign of greyhound;” and the other replied, “The Truth is known to Allah
alone, yet I seem now to see a something lengthy of leg, lean of flank,
loose of ears, fine of forehand and full of quarter, and at this moment
it draweth near and is well nigh upon us—O fine!”[279] Now when the Fox
heard these words he cried to the Cock, “O my brother, I must farewell
thee!” and so saying he arose and committed his legs to the wind and he
had recourse to the Father of Safety.[280] Seeing this, the Cock also
cried, “Why thus take to flight when thou hast no spoiler thy heart to
affright?” Replied the Fox, “I have a fear of the Greyhound, O my
brother, for that he is not of my friends or of my familiars;” and the
Cock rejoined, “Didst thou not tell me thou camest as Commissioner of
the Kings to these wastes proclaiming a peace and safety amongst all the
beasts and the birds?” “O my brother Chanticleer,” retorted the other,
“this feral, Greyhound hight, was not present at the time when
pacification was proclaimed, nor was his name announced in the Congress
of the beasts; and I for my part have no love lost with him, nor between
me and him is there aught of security.” So saying the Fox turned
forthright to fly, routed with the foulest of routing, and the Cock
escaped the foe by his sleight and sagacity with perfect safety and
security. Now after the Fox had turned tail and fled from him
Chanticleer came down from the wall and regained his farm, lauding Allah
Almighty who had conveyed him unharmed to his own place. And here he
related unto his fellows what had befallen him with the Fox and how he
had devised that cunning device and thereby freed himself from a strait
wherein, but for it, the foe had torn him limb by limb.
FINIS.
HISTORY OF WHAT BEFEL THE FOWL-LET WITH THE FOWLER.
=Here we begin to indite the History of what befel the Fowl-let from the
Fowler.=[281]
They relate (but Allah is All-knowing) that there abode in
Baghdad-city a huntsman-wight in venerie trained aright. Now one day
he went forth to the chase taking with him nets and springes and other
gear he needed and fared to a garden-site with trees bedight and
branches interlaced tight wherein all the fowls did unite; and
arriving at a tangled copse he planted his trap in the ground and he
looked around for a hiding-place and took seat therein concealed.
Suddenly a Birdie approaching the trap-side began scraping the earth
and, wandering round about it, fell to saying in himself, “What may
this be? Would Heaven I wot, for it seemeth naught save a marvellous
creation of Allah!” Presently he considered the decoy which was half
buried in the ground and salam’d to it from afar to the far and the
Trap returned his salutation, adding thereto, “And the ruth of Allah
and His blessings;” and presently pursued, “Welcome and fair welcome
to the brother dear and the friend sincere and the companionable fere
and the kindly compeer, why stand from me so far when I desire thou
become my neighbour near and I become of thine intimates the faithful
and of thy comrades the truthful? So draw thee nigh to me and be of
thy safety trustful and prove thee not of me fearful.” Quoth the
Fowl-let, “I beseech thee by Allah, say me who art thou so I may not
of thee feel affright and what be thy bye-name and thy name and to
which of the tribes dost trace thy tree?” And quoth the Trap, “My name
is Holdfast[282] and my patronymic is Bindfast and my tribe is hight
the Sons of Fallfast.” Replied the Birdie, “Sooth thou sayest; for
such name is truly thy name and such bye-name is without question thy
bye-name nor is there any doubt of thy tribe being the noblest of the
tribes.” The Trap answered him saying, “Alhamdolillah—laud to the
Lord—that me thou hast recognised and that I be of thy truest friends
thou hast acknowledged, for where shalt thou find a familiar like unto
me, a lover soothful and truthful and my fellow in mind? And indeed I
a devotee of religious bent and from vain gossip and acquaintances and
even kith and kin abstinent; nor have I any retreat save upon the
heads of hills and in the bellies of dales which be long and deep; and
from mundane tidings I am the true Holdfast and in worldly joys the
real Bindfast.” The Fowl replied, “Sooth hast spoken, O my lord; and
all hail to thee; how pious and religious and of morals and manners
gracious art thou? Would to Heaven I were a single hair upon thy
body.” Rejoined the Trap, “Thou in this world art my brother and in
the next world my father;” and the other retorted, “O my brother, fain
would I question thee concerning matters concealed within thy
thoughts;” whereto the Trap, “Enquire of whatso thou requirest, that I
make manifest to thee what in heart thou desirest; for I will truly
declare to thee mine every aim and disclose to thee soothly all my
case and my thoughts concealed, nor shall remain unrevealed of mine
intent aught.” So the Birdie began, “O my brother, why and wherefore
see I thee on this wise abiding in the dust and dwelling afar from
relations and companeers and thou hast parted from thy family and
peers and hast departed from the fondness of thy dears?” “Hast thou
not learned, O my brother,” answered the Trap, “that retirement is
permanent heal and farness from folk doth blessings deal and
separation from the world is bodily weal;” and on this matter hath one
of the poets said, and said right well:—
Fly folk, in public ne’er appearing, ✿ And men shall name thee man
God-fearing;[283]
Nor say I’ve brother, mate and friend: ✿ Try men with mind still
persevering:
Yea, few are they as thou couldst wish: ✿ Scorpions they prove when most
endearing.[284]
And one of the Sages hath said, “Solitude and not ill associate.” Also
quoth they to Al-Bahlúl,[285] Why this tarrying of thine amid the homes
of the dead and why this sojourning in a barren stead and wherefore this
farness from kinsmen and mate and lack of neighbourly love for brother
and intimate? But quoth he, “Woe to you! my folk did I dwell amongst
them would some day unlove me and the while I abide far from them will
never reprove me; nor indeed would they remember my affection nor would
they desire my predilection; and so satisfied with my solitude am I that
an I saw my family I should start away as in fear of them, and were my
parents quickened anew and longed for my society verily I would take
flight from them.” Replied the Fowl-let, “In good sooth, O my brother,
truth thou hast pronounced in all by thee announced and the best of rede
did from thee proceed; but tell me, prithee, anent that cord about thy
middle wound and despite thine expending efforts that abound why thou
art neither a-standing nor a-sitting on ground?” To him replied the
Trap, “O my brother, learn that I spend every night of every month in
prayer, during which exercise whenever sleep would seize me I tighten
this cord about my waist and drive slumber from my eyes and become
therefrom the more wide-awake for my orisons. Know thou also that Allah
(be He glorified and magnified!) affectioneth his servants when devout
are they, and stand in worship alway, ever dight to pray and praise Him
by night and by day; and who turn on their sides loving the Lord to obey
in desire and dismay and doling their good away. And quoth Allah (be He
glorified and magnified!):—‘And for scanty while of the night they take
not gentle rest and at rising morn His pardon they obtest and their Lord
granteth unto them their request.’[286] And wottest thou not, O my
brother, what said the poet?—