Moorman, the Chinaman, was wont to tell wondrous tales amongst which was
the following. He was on a voyage in the China seas with a company of
merchants, when they sighted an island from afar; so they steered for it
and, making fast thereto, saw that it was large and spacious. The ship’s
crew went ashore to get wood and water, taking with them hatchets and
ropes and waterskins (the travellers accompanying them), and presently
espied a great dome, white and gleaming, an hundred cubits long. So they
made towards it and drawing near, found that it was an egg of the Rukh
and fell on it with axes and stones and sticks till they uncovered the
young bird and found the chick as it were a firm-set hill. So they
plucked out one of the wing-feathers, but could not do so, save by
helping one another, for all the quills were not full grown; after which
they took what they could carry of the young bird’s flesh and cutting
the quill away from the vane, returned to the ship. Then they set sail
and putting out to sea, voyaged with a fair wind all that night, till
the sun rose; and while everything went well, they saw the Rukh come
flying after them, as he were a vast cloud, with a rock in his talons,
like a great heap bigger than the ship. As soon as he poised himself in
air over the vessel, he let fall the rock upon it; but the craft, having
great way on her, outwent the rock, which fell into the sea with a loud
crash and a horrible. So Allah decreed their deliverance and saved them
from doom; and they cooked the young bird’s flesh and ate it. Now there
were amongst them old white-bearded men; and when they awoke on the
morrow, they found that their beards had turned black, nor did any who
had eaten of the young Rukh grow gray ever after. Some said the cause of
the return of youth to them and the ceasing of hoariness from them was
that they had heated the pot with arrow-wood, whilst others would have
it that it came of eating the Rukh-chick’s flesh; and this is indeed a
wonder of wonders.[177] And a story is related of
-----
Footnote 176:
The older “Roc” which may be written “Rukh” or “Rukhkh.” Colonel Yule,
the learned translator of Marco Polo, has shown that “Roc’s” feathers
were not uncommon curiosities in mediæval ages; and holds that they
were mostly fronds of the palm Raphia vinifera, which has the largest
leaf in the vegetable kingdom and which the Moslems of Zanzibar call
“Satan’s date-tree.” I need hardly quote “Frate Cipolla and the Angel
Gabriel’s Feather.” (Decameron vi. 10.)
Footnote 177:
The tale is told in a bald, disjointed style and will be repeated in
Sindbad the Seaman; where I shall again notice the “Roc.” See Night
dxxxvii., etc.
ADI BIN ZAYD AND THE PRINCESS HIND.
Al-Nu’uman bin al-Munzir, King of the Arabs of Irak, had a daughter
named Hind, who went out one Pasch, which is a feast day of the
Nazarenes, to the White Church, to take the sacrament; she was eleven
years old and was the loveliest woman of her age and time; and it so
chanced that on the same day came to Hírah[178] a young man called ‘Adí
bin Zayd[179] with presents from the Chosroë to Al-Nu’uman, and he also
went to the White Church, to communicate. He was tall of stature and
fair of favour, with handsome eyes and smooth cheeks, and had with him a
company of his people. Now there was with Hind bint al-Nu’uman a
slave-girl named Máriyah, who was enamoured of Adi, but had not been
able to foregather with him. So, when she saw him in the church, she
said to Hind, “Look at yonder youth. By Allah, he is handsomer than all
thou seest!” Hind asked, “And who is he?” and Mariyah answered, “Adi bin
Zayd.” Quoth Al-Nu’uman’s daughter, “I fear lest he know me, if I draw
nearer to look on him.” Quoth Mariyah, “How should he know thee when he
hath never seen thee?” So she drew near him and found him jesting with
the youths his companions; and indeed he surpassed them all, not only in
his personal charms but in the excellence of his speech, the eloquence
of his tongue and the richness of his raiment. When the Princess saw
him, she was ravished with him, her reason was confounded and her colour
changed; and Mariyah, seeing her inclination to him, said to her, “Speak
to him.” So she spoke to him and went away. Now when he looked upon her
and heard her speech, he was captivated by her and his wit was dazed;
his heart fluttered, and his colour changed, so that his companions
suspected him, and he whispered one of them to follow her and find out
who she was. The young man went after her and returning informed him
that she was Princess Hind, daughter of Al-Nu’uman. So Adi left the
church, knowing not whither he went, for excess of love, and reciting
these two couplets:—
O friends of me, one favour more I pray: ✿ Unto the convents[180] find
once more your way:
Turn me that so I face the land of Hind; ✿ Then go, and fairest
greetings for me say.
Then he went to his lodging and lay that night, restless and without
appetite for the food of sleep.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Adi ended his
verses he went to his lodging and lay that night restless and without
appetite for the food of sleep. Now on the morrow Mariyah accosted him
and he received her kindly, though before he would not incline to her,
and said to her, “What is thy will?” Quoth she, “I have a want of thee;”
and quoth he, “Name it, for by Allah, thou shalt not ask me aught, but I
will give it thee!” So she told him that she loved him, and her want of
him was that he would grant her a lover’s privacy; and he agreed to do
her will, on condition that she would serve him with Hind and devise
some device to bring them together. Then he took her into a vintner’s
tavern in one of the by-streets of Hirah, and lay with her; after which
she returned to Hind and asked her, “Dost thou not long to see Adi?” She
answered, “How can this be? indeed my longing for him makes me restless,
and no repose is left me since yesterday.” Quoth Mariyah, “I will
appoint him to be in such a place, where thou canst look on him from the
palace.” Quoth Hind, “Do what thou wilt,” and agreed with her upon the
place. So Adi came, and the Princess looked out upon him; and, when she
saw him, she was like to topple down from the palace-top and said, “O
Mariyah, except thou bring him in to me this night, I shall die.” So
saying, she fell to the ground in a fainting-fit, and her serving-women
lifted her up and bore her into the palace; whilst Mariyah hastened to
Al-Nu’uman and discovered the whole matter to him with perfect truth,
telling him that indeed she was mad for the love of Adi; and except he
marry her to him, she must be put to shame and die of love for him,
which would disgrace her father among the Arabs, adding at the end,
“There is no cure for this but wedlock.” The King bowed his head awhile
in thought and exclaimed again and again, “Verily, we are Allah’s and
unto Him we are returning!” Then said he, “Woe to thee! How shall the
marriage be brought about, seeing I mislike to open the matter?” And she
said, “He is yet more ardently in love and yet more desireful of her
than she is of him; and I will so order the affair that he shall be
unaware of his case being known to thee; but do not betray thyself, O
King.” Then she went to Adi and, after acquainting him with everything
said, “Make a feast and bid the King thereto; and, when the wine hath
gotten the better of him, ask of him his daughter, for he will not
refuse thee.” Quoth Adi, “I fear lest this enrage him against me and be
the cause of enmity between us.” But quoth she, “I came not to thee,
till I had settled the whole affair with him.” Then she returned to
Al-Nu’uman and said to him, “Seek of Adi that he entertain thee in his
house.” Replied the King, “There is no harm in that;” and after three
days, besought Adi to give him and his lords the morning-meal in his
house. He consented and the King went to him; and when the wine had
taken effect on Al-Nu’uman, Adi rose and sought of him his daughter in
wedlock. He consented and married them and brought her to him after
three days; and they abode at Al-Nu’uman’s court, in all solace of life
and its delight——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Adi abode with
Hind bint Al-Nu’uman bin Munzir three years in all solace of life and
its delight, after which time the King was wroth with Adi and slew him.
Hind mourned for him with grievous mourning and built her an hermitage
outside the city, whither she retired and became a religious, weeping
and bewailing her husband till she died. And her hermitage is seen to
this day in the suburbs of Hirah. They also tell a tale of
-----
Footnote 178:
Hírah in Mesopotamia was a Christian city and principality subject to
the Persian monarchs; and a rival to the Roman kingdom of Ghassán. It
has a long history, for which see D’Herbelot.
Footnote 179:
A pre-Islamite poet.
Footnote 180:
Arab. “Biká’a,” alluding to the pilgrimages made to monasteries and
here equivalent to, “Address ye to the road,” etc.
DI’IBIL AL-KHUZA’I WITH THE LADY AND MUSLIM BIN AL-WALID.
(Quoth Di’ibil al-Khuzá’i[181]), I was sitting one day at the gate of
Al-Karkh,[182] when a damsel came past, never saw I a fairer faced or
better formed than she, walking with a voluptuous swaying gait and
ravishing all beholders with her lithe and undulating pace. Now as my
eyes fell on her, I was captivated by her and my vitals trembled and
meseemed my heart flew forth of my breast; so I stood before her and I
accosted her with this verse:—
The tears of these eyes find easy release; ✿ But sleep flies these
eyelids without surcease.
Whereon she turned her face and looking at me, straightway made answer
with this distich:—
A trifle this an his eyes be sore, ✿ When her eyes say “yes” to his
love-caprice!
I was astounded at the readiness of her reply and the fluency of her
speech and rejoined with this verse:—
Say, doth heart of my fair incline to him ✿ Whose tears like a swelling
stream increase?
And she answered me without hesitation, thus:—
If thou crave our love, know that love’s a loan; ✿ And a debt to be paid
by us twain a-piece.
Never entered my ears aught sweeter than her speech nor ever saw I
brighter than her face: so I changed rhyme and rhythm to try her, in my
wonder at her words, and repeated this couplet:—
Will Fate with joy of union ever bless our sight, ✿ And one desireful
one with other one unite.
She smiled at this (never saw I fairer than her mouth nor sweeter than
her lips), and answered me, without stay or delay, in the following
distich:—
Pray, tell me what hath Fate to do betwixt us twain? ✿ Thou’rt Fate: so
bless our eyne with union and delight.
At this, I sprang up and fell to kissing her hands and cried, “I had not
thought that Fortune would vouchsafe me such occasion. Do thou follow
me, not of bidding or against thy will, but of the grace of thee and thy
favour to me.” Then I went on and she after me. Now at that time I had
no lodging I deemed fit for the like of her; but Muslim bin
al-Walíd[183] was my fast friend, and he had a handsome house. So I made
for his abode and knocked at the door, whereupon he came out, and I
saluted him, saying, “‘Tis for time like this that friends are treasured
up”; and he replied, “With love and gladness! Come in you twain.” So we
entered but found money scarce with him: however, he gave me a kerchief,
saying, “Carry it to the bazar and sell it and buy food and what else
thou needest.” I took the handkerchief, and hastening to the market,
sold it and bought what we required of victuals and other matters; but
when I returned, I found that Muslim had retired with her to an
underground chamber.[184] When he heard my step he hurried out and said
to me, “Allah requite thee the kindness thou hast done me, O Abu Ali and
reward thee in time to come and reckon it of thy good deeds on the Day
of Doom!” So saying, he took from me the food and wine and shut the door
in my face. His words enraged me and I knew not what to do; but he stood
behind the door, shaking for mirth; and, when he saw me thus, he said to
me, “I conjure thee on my life, O Abu Ali, tell who it was composed this
couplet?”—
I lay in her arms all night, leaving him ✿ To sleep foul-hearted but
clean of staff.
At this my rage redoubled, and I replied, “He who wrote this other
couplet”:—
One, I wish him in belt a thousand horns, ✿ Exceeding in mighty height
Manáf.[185]
Then I began to abuse him and reproach him with the foulness of his
action and his lack of honour; and he was silent never uttering a word.
But, when I had finished, he smiled and said, “Out on thee, O fool! Thou
hast entered my house and sold my kerchief and spent my silver: so, with
whom art thou wroth, O pimp?”[186] Then he left me and went away to her,
whilst I said, “By Allah, thou art right to twit me as nincompoop and
pander!” Then I left his door and went away in sore concern, and I feel
its trace in my heart to this very day; for I never had my will of her
nor, indeed, ever heard of her more. And amongst other tales is that
about
-----
Footnote 181:
Whose by name was Abu Ali, a poet under the Abbasides (eighth and
ninth centuries).
Footnote 182:
A well-known quarter of Baghdad, often mentioned in The Nights.
Footnote 183:
Another well-known poet of the time.
Footnote 184:
Arab. “Sardáb”: noticed before.
Footnote 185:
A gigantic idol in the Ka’abah, destroyed by Mohammed: it gave name to
a tribe.
Footnote 186:
Arab. “Ya Kawwád:” hence the Port. and Span. Alcoviteiro.
ISAAC OF MOSUL AND THE MERCHANT.
(Quoth Ishak bin Ibrahim al-Mausili), It so chanced that, one day
feeling weary of being on duty at the Palace and in attendance upon the
Caliph, I mounted horse and went forth, at break of dawn, having a mind
to ride out in the open country and take my pleasure. So I said to my
servants, “If there come a messenger from the Caliph or another, say
that I set out at daybreak, upon a pressing business, and that ye know
not whither I am gone.” Then I fared forth alone and went round about
the city, till the sun waxed hot, when I halted in a great thoroughfare
known as Al-Haram,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ishak bin Ibrahim
the Mausili continued:—When the sun waxed hot I halted in a great
thoroughfare known as Al-Haram, to take shelter in the shade and found
it in a spacious wing of a house which projected over the street. And I
stood there but a little while before there came up a black slave,
leading an ass bestridden by a damsel; and under her were housings set
with gems and pearls and upon her were the richest of clothes, richness
can go no farther; and I saw that she was elegant of make with
languorous look and graceful mien. I asked one of the passers-by who she
was, and he said, “She is a singer,” so I fell in love with her at first
sight: hardly could I keep my seat on horseback. She entered the house
at whose gate I stood; and, as I was planning a device to gain access to
her, there came up two men young and comely who asked admission and the
housemaster gave them leave to enter. So they alighted and I also and
they entered and I with them, they supposing that the master of the
house had invited me; and we sat awhile, till food was brought and we
ate. Then they set wine before us, and the damsel came out, with a lute
in her hand. She sang and we drank, till I rose to obey a call of
nature. Thereupon the host questioned the two others of me, and they
replied that they knew me not; whereupon quoth he, “This is a
parasite[187]; but he is a pleasant fellow, so treat him courteously.”
Then I came back and sat down in my place, whilst the damsel sang to a
pleasing air these two couplets:—
Say to the she-gazelle, who’s no gazelle, ✿ And Kohl’d ariel who’s no
ariel.[188]
Who lies with male, and yet no female is, ✿ Whose gait is female most
unlike the male.
She sang it right well, and the company drank and her song pleased them.
Then she carolled various pieces to rare measures, and amongst the rest
one of mine, which consisted of this distich:—
Bare hills and camp-ground desolate ✿ And friends who all have ganged
their gait.
How severance after union leaves ✿ Me and their homes in saddest state!
Her singing this time was even better than the first; then she chanted
other rare pieces, old and new, and amongst them, another of mine with
the following two couplets:—
Say to angry lover who turns away, ✿ And shows thee his side whatso thou
say,
“Thou wroughtest all that by thee was wrought, ✿ Albe ‘twas haply thy
sport and play.”
I prayed her to repeat the song, that I might correct it for her;
whereupon one of the two men accosted me and said, “Never saw we a more
impudent lick-platter than thou. Art thou not content with spunging, but
thou must eke meddle and muddle? Of very sooth, in thee is the saying
made true, Parasite and pushing wight.” So I hung down my head for shame
and made him no answer, whilst his companion would have withheld him
from me; but he would not be restrained. Presently, they rose to pray,
but I lagged behind a little and, taking the lute, screwed up the sides
and brought it into perfect tune. Then I stood up in my place to pray
with the rest; and when we had ended praying, the same man fell again to
blaming me and reviling me and persisted in his rudeness, whilst I held
my peace. Thereupon the damsel took the lute and touching it, knew that
it had been altered, and said, “Who hath touched my lute?” Quoth they,
“None of us hath touched it.” Quoth she, “Nay, by Allah, some one hath
touched it, and he is an artist, a past master in the craft; for he hath
arranged the strings and tuned them like one who is a perfect
performer.” Said I, “It was I tuned it;” and said she, “Then, Allah upon
thee, take it and play on it!” So I took it; and, playing a piece so
difficult and so rare, that it went nigh to deaden the quick and quicken
the dead, I sang thereto these couplets:—
I had a heart, and with it lived my life: ✿ ‘Twas seared with fire and
burnt with loving-lowe:
I never won the blessing of her love; ✿ God would not on His slave such
boon bestow:
If what I’ve tasted be the food of Love, ✿ Must taste it all men who
Love-food would know.
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ishak of Mosul
thus continued:—Now when I had finished my verse, there was not one of
the company but sprang from his place and sat down like schoolboys
before me, saying, “Allah upon thee, O our lord, sing us another song.”
“With pleasure” said I, and playing another measure in masterly fashion,
sang thereto these couplets:—
Ho thou whose heart is melted down by force of Amor’s fire, ✿ And griefs
from every side against thy happiness conspire:
Unlawful is that he who pierced my vitals with his shaft, ✿ My blood
between my midriff and my breast-bone[189] he desire,
‘Twas plain, upon our severance-day, that he had set his mind ✿ On an
eternal parting, moved by tongue of envious liar:
He sheds my blood he ne’er had shed except by wound of love; ✿ Will none
demand my blood of him, my wreak of him require?
When I had made an end of this song, there was not one of them but rose
to his feet and threw himself upon the ground for excess of delight.
Then I cast the lute from my hand, but they said, “Allah upon thee, do
not on this wise, but let us hear another song, so Allah Almighty
increase thee of His bounty!” Replied I, “O folk, I will sing you
another song and another and another and will tell you who I am. I am
Ishak bin Ibrahim al-Mausili, and by Allah, I bear myself proudly to the
Caliph when he seeketh me. Ye have to-day made me hear abuse from an
unmannerly carle such as I loathe; and by Allah, I will not speak a word
nor sit with you, till ye put yonder quarrelsome churl out from among
you!” Quoth the fellow’s companion to him, “This is what I warned thee
against, fearing for thy good name.” So they hent him by the hand and
thrust him out; and I took the lute and sang over again the songs of my
own composing which the damsel had sung. Then I whispered the host that
she had taken my heart and that I had no patience to abstain from her.
Quoth he, “She is thine on one condition.” I asked, “What is that?” and
he answered, “It is that thou abide with me a month, when the damsel and
all belonging to her of raiment and jewellery shall be thine.” I
rejoined, “It is well, I will do this.” So I tarried with him a whole
month, whilst none knew where I was and the Caliph sought me everywhere,
but could come by no news of me; and at the end of this time, the
merchant delivered to me the damsel, together with all that pertained to
her of things of price and an eunuch to attend upon her. So I brought
all that to my lodging, feeling as I were lord of the whole world, for
exceeding delight in her; then I rode forthright to Al-Maamun. And when
I stood in the presence, he said, “Woe to thee, O Ishak, where hast thou
been?” So I acquainted him with the story and he said, “Bring me that
man at once.” Thereupon I told him where he lived and he sent and
fetched him and questioned him of the case; when he repeated the story
and the Caliph said to him, “Thou art a man of right generous mind, and
it is only fitting that thou be aided in thy generosity.” Then he
ordered him an hundred thousand dirhams and said to me, “O Ishak, bring
the damsel before me.” So I brought her to him, and she sang and
delighted him; and being greatly gladdened by her he said to me, “I
appoint her turn of service every Thursday, when she must come and sing
to me from behind the curtain.” And he ordered her fifty thousand
dirhams, so by Allah, I profited both myself and others by my ride. And
amongst the tales they tell is one of
-----
Footnote 187:
Arab. “Tufayli,” a term before noticed; the class was as well known in
Baghdad and Cairo as in ancient Rome.
Footnote 188:
Arab. “Jauzar” = a bubalus (Antilope defessa), also called “Ayn” from
the large black eyes. This bovine antelope is again termed Bakar
al-Wahsh (wild cattle) or “Bos Sylvestris” (incerti generis, Forsk.).
But Jauzar also signifies hart, so I render it by “Ariel” (the
well-known antelope).
Footnote 189:
Arab. “Taráib” plur. of taríbah. The allusion is to the heart, and
“the little him’s a her.”
THE THREE UNFORTUNATE LOVERS.
(Quoth Al-‘Utbí,[190]) I was sitting one day with a company of educated
men, telling stories of the folk, when the talk turned upon legends of
lovers and each of us said his say thereanent. Now there was in our
company an old man, who remained silent, till all had spoken and had no
more to say, when quoth he, “Shall I tell you a thing, the like of which
you never heard; no, never?” “Yes,” quoth we; and he said, “Know, then,
that I had a daughter, who loved a youth, but we knew it not; while the
youth loved a singing-girl, who in her turn loved my daughter. One day,
I was present at an assembly, wherein were also the youth”——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Tenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh
continued:—One day, I was present at an assembly wherein were also the
youth and the singing-girl and she chanted to us these couplets:—
Prove how Love bringeth low ✿ Lover those tears that run;
Lowering him still the more ✿ When pity finds he none.
Cried the youth, “By Allah, thou hast said well, O my mistress! Dost
thou incite me to die?” Answered the girl from behind the curtain, “Yes,
if thou be a true lover.” So he laid his head on a cushion and closed
his eyes; and when the cup came round to him, we shook him and behold,
he was dead.[191] Therewith we all flocked to him, and our pleasure was
troubled and we grieved and broke up at once. When I came home, my
people took in bad part my returning before the appointed time, and I
told them what had befallen the youth, thinking that thereby I should
greatly surprise them. My daughter heard my words and rising, went from
the sitting-chamber into another, whither I followed her and found her
lying with her head on a cushion, even as I had told of the young man.
So I shook her and lo! she was dead. Then we laid her out and set forth
next morning to bury her, whilst the friends of the young man set forth
in like guise to bury him. As we were on the way to the burial-place, we
met a third funeral and asking whose it was, were told that it was that
of the singing-girl who, hearing of my daughter’s death, had done even
as she did and was dead. So we buried them all three on one day, and
this is the rarest tale that ever was heard of lovers. And they also
tell a tale of
-----
Footnote 190:
A well-known poet of the ninth century (A.D.)
Footnote 191:
These easy deaths for love are a _lieu commun_: See sundry of them in
the Decameron (iv. 7, etc.); and, in the Heptameron (Nouv. lxx.), the
widow who lay down and died of love and sorrow that her passion had
become known. For the fainting of lovers see Nouvelle xix.
HOW ABU HASAN BRAKE WIND.
They recount that in the City Kaukabán of Al-Yaman there was a man of
the Fazlí tribe who had left Badawi life, and become a townsman for many
years and was a merchant of the most opulent merchants. His wife had
deceased when both were young; and his friends were instant with him to
marry again, ever quoting to him the words of the poet:—
Go, gossip! re-wed thee, for Prime draweth near:
A wife is an almanac—good for the year.