the merchants went in to Ali the Cairene, son of Hasan the Jeweller,
they recommended him to accompany them to the bazar, till he yielded,
that the will of Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) might be fulfilled;
and he left the house of mourning with them. Presently they said, “Mount
thy she-mule and ride with us to such a garden, that we may solace us
there and that thy grief and despondency may depart from thee.” So he
mounted and taking his slave, went with them to the garden in question;
and when they entered one of them went and making ready the
morning-meal, brought it to them there. So they ate and were merry and
sat in talk, till the end of the day, when they mounted and returned
each to his own lodging, where they passed the night. As soon as the
morrow dawned, they again visited Ali and said, “Come with us.” Asked
he, “Whither?”; and they answered, “To such a garden; for it is finer
than the first and more pleasurable.” So he went with them to the
garden, and one of them, going away, made ready the morning-meal and
brought it to them, together with strong heady wine; and after eating
they brought out the wine, when quoth Ali, “What is this?” and quoth
they, “This is what dispelleth sadness and brighteneth gladness.” And
they ceased not to commend it to him, till they prevailed upon him and
he drank with them. Then they sat, drinking and talking, till the end of
the day, when each returned home. But as for Ali, the Cairene, he was
giddy with wine and in this plight went in to his wife, who said to him,
“What aileth thee that thou art so changed?” He said, “We were making
merry to-day, when one of my companions brought us liquor; so my friends
drank and I with them, and this giddiness came upon me.” And she
replied, “O my lord, say me, hast thou forgotten thy father’s injunction
and done that from which he forbade thee, in consorting with doubtful
folk?” Answered he, “These be of the sons of the merchants; they are no
suspicious folk, only lovers of mirth and good cheer.” And he continued
to lead this life with his friends, day after day, going from place to
place and feasting with them and drinking, till they said to him, “Our
turns are ended, and now it is thy turn.” “Well come, and welcome and
fair cheer!” cried he; so on the morrow, he made ready all that the case
called for of meat and drink, two-fold what they had provided, and
taking cooks and tent-pitchers and coffee-makers,[262] repaired with the
others to Al-Rauzah[263] and the Nilometer, where they abode a whole
month, eating and drinking and hearing music and making merry. At the
end of the month, Ali found that he had spent a great sum of money; but
Iblis the Accursed deluded him and said to him, “Though thou shouldst
spend every day a like sum yet wouldst thou not miss aught of it.” So he
took no account of money expenses and continued this way of life for
three years, whilst his wife remonstrated with him and reminded him of
his father’s charge; but he hearkened not to her words, till he had
spent all the ready monies he had, when he fell to selling his jewels
and spending their price, until they also were all gone. Then he sold
his houses, fields, farms and gardens, one after other, till they
likewise were all gone and he had nothing left but the tenement wherein
he lived. So he tore out the marble and wood-work and sold it and spent
of its price, till he had made an end of all this also, when he took
thought with himself and, finding that he had nothing left to expend,
sold the house itself and spent the purchase-money. After that, the man
who had bought the house came to him and said “Seek out for thyself a
lodging, as I have need of my house.” So he bethought himself and,
finding that he had no want of a house, except for his wife, who had
borne him a son and daughter (he had not a servant left), he hired a
large room in one of the mean courts[264] and there took up his abode,
after having lived in honour and luxury, with many eunuchs and much
wealth; and he soon came to want one day’s bread. Quoth his wife, “Of
this I warned thee and exhorted thee to obey thy father’s charge, and
thou wouldst not hearken to me; but there is no Majesty and there is no
Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Whence shall the little
ones eat? Arise then, go round to thy friends, the sons of the
merchants: belike they will give thee somewhat on which we may live this
day.” So he arose and went to his friends one by one; but they all hid
their faces from him and gave him injurious words revolting to hear, but
naught else; and he returned to his wife and said to her, “They have
given me nothing.” Thereupon she went forth to beg of her neighbours the
wherewithal to keep themselves alive——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the wife of Ali
the Cairene, seeing her husband return empty-handed, went forth to beg
of her neighbours the wherewithal to keep themselves alive and repaired
to a woman, whom she had known in former days. When she came in to her
and she saw her case, she rose and receiving her kindly, wept and said,
“What hath befallen you?” So she told her all that her husband had done,
and the other replied, “Well come and welcome and fair cheer!; whatever
thou needest, seek it of me, without price.” Quoth she, “Allah requite
thee abundantly!”[265] Then her friend gave her as much provision as
would suffice herself and her family a whole month, and she took it and
returned to her lodging. When her husband saw her, he wept and asked,
“Whence hadst thou that?”; and she answered, “I got it of such a woman;
for, when I told her what had befallen us, she failed me not in aught,
but said, Seek of me all thou needest.” Whereupon her husband rejoined,
“Since thou hast this much I will betake myself to a place I have in my
mind; peradventure Allah Almighty will bring us relief.”[266] With these
words he took leave of her and kissed his children and went out, not
knowing whither he should go, and he continued walking on till he came
to Bulák, where he saw a ship about to sail for Damietta.[267] Here he
met a man, between whom and his father there had been friendship, and he
saluted him and said to him, “Whither now?” Replied Ali, “To Damietta: I
have friends there, whom I would enquire after and visit them and then
return.” The man took him home and treated him honourably; then,
furnishing him with vivers for the voyage and giving him some gold
pieces, embarked him on board the vessel bound for Damietta. When they
reached it, Ali landed, not knowing whither to go; but as he was walking
along, a merchant saw him and had pity on him, and carried him to his
house. Here he abode awhile, after which he said in himself, “How long
this sojourning in other folk’s homes?” Then he left the merchant’s
place and walked to the wharf where, after enquiry, he found a ship
ready to sail for Syria. His hospitable host provided him with provision
and embarked him in the ship; and it set sail and Ali reached in due
season the Syrian shores where he disembarked and journeyed till he
entered Damascus. As he walked about the great thoroughfare behold, a
kindly man saw him and took him to his house, where he tarried for a
time till, one day, going abroad, he saw a caravan about to start for
Baghdad and bethought himself to journey thither with it. Thereupon he
returned to his host and taking leave of him, set out with the Cafilah.
Now Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) inclined to him the heart of one
of the merchants, so that he took him with him, and Ali ate and drank
with him, till they came within one day’s journey of Baghdad. Here,
however, a company of highwaymen fell upon the caravan and took all they
had and but few of the merchants escaped. These made each for a separate
place of refuge; but as for Ali the Cairene he fared for Baghdad, where
he arrived at sundown, as the gatekeepers were about to shut the gates,
and said to them, “Let me in with you.” They admitted him and asked him,
“Whence come, and whither wending?” and he answered, “I am a man from
Cairo-city and have with me mules laden with merchandise and slaves and
servants. I forewent them, to look me out a place wherein to deposit my
goods: but, as I rode along on my she-mule, there fell upon me a company
of banditti, who took my mule and gear; nor did I escape from them but
at my last gasp.” The gate-guard entreated him honourably and bade him
be of good cheer, saying, “Abide with us this night, and in the morning
we will look thee out a place befitting thee.” Then he sought in his
breast-pocket and, finding a dinar of those given to him by the merchant
at Bulak, handed it to one of the gatekeepers, saying, “Take this and
change it and bring us something to eat.” The man took it and went to
the market, where he changed it, and brought Ali bread and cooked meat:
so he ate, he and the gate-guards, and he lay the night with them. Now
on the morrow, one of the warders carried him to a certain of the
merchants of Baghdad, to whom he told the same story, and he believed
him, deeming that he was a merchant and had with him loads of
merchandise. Then he took him up into his shop and entreated him with
honour; moreover, he sent to his house for a splendid suit of his own
apparel for him and carried him to the Hammam. So, quoth Ali of Cairo:—I
went with him to the bath, and when we came out, he took me and brought
me to his house, where he set the morning-meal before us, and we ate and
made merry. Then said he to one of his black slaves, “Ho Mas’úd, take
this thy lord: show him the two houses standing in such a place, and
whichever pleaseth him, give him the key of it and come back.” So I went
with the slave, till we came to a street-road where stood three houses
side by side, newly built and yet shut up. He opened the first and I
looked at it; and we did the same to the second; after which he said to
me “Of which shall I give thee the key?” “To whom doth the big house
belong?” “To us!” “Open it, that I may view it.” “Thou hast no business
there.” “Wherefore?” “Because it is haunted, and none nighteth there but
in the morning he is a dead man; nor do we use to open the door, when
removing the corpse, but mount the terrace-roof of one of the other two
houses and take it up thence. For this reason my master hath abandoned
the house and saith:—I will never again give it to any one.” “Open it,”
I cried, “that I may view it;” and I said in my mind, “This is what I
seek; I will pass the night there and in the morning be a dead man and
be at peace from this my case.” So he opened it and I entered and found
it a splendid house, without its like; and I said to the slave, “I will
have none other than this house; give me its key.” But he rejoined, “I
will not give thee this key till I consult my master,”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the negro
(continued Ali of Cairo) rejoined, “I will not give thee its key till I
consult my master,” and going to him, reported, “The Egyptian trader
saith:—I will lodge in none but the big house.” Now when the merchant
heard this, he rose and coming to Ali, spake thus to him, “O my lord,
thou hast no need of this house.” But he answered, “I will lodge in none
other than this; for I care naught for this silly saying.” Quoth the
other, “Write me an acknowledgment that, if aught happen to thee, I am
not responsible.” Quoth Ali, “So be it;” whereupon the merchant fetched
an assessor from the Kazi’s court and, taking the prescribed
acknowledgment, delivered to him the key wherewith he entered the house.
The merchant sent him bedding by a blackamoor who spread it for him on
the built bench behind the door[268] and walked away. Presently Ali went
about and, seeing in the inner court a well with a bucket, let this down
and drew water, wherewith he made the lesser ablution and prayed the
obligatory prayers. Then he sat awhile, till the slave brought him the
evening meal from his master’s house, together with a lamp, a candle and
candlestick, a basin and ewer and a gugglet[269]; after which he left
him and returned home. Ali lighted the candle, supped at his ease and
prayed the night-prayer; and presently he said to himself, “Come, take
the bedding and go upstairs and sleep there; ‘twill be better than
here.” So he took the bed and carried it upstairs, where he found a
splendid saloon, with gilded ceiling and floor and walls cased with
coloured marbles. He spread his bed there and sitting down, began to
recite somewhat of the Sublime Koran, when (ere he was ware) he heard
one calling to him and asking, “O Ali, O son of Hasan, say me, shall I
send thee down the gold?” And he answered, “Where be the gold thou hast
to send?” But hardly had he spoken, when gold pieces began to rain down
on him, like stones from a catapult, nor ceased till the saloon was
full. Then, after the golden shower, said the Voice, “Set me free, that
I may go my way; for I have made an end of my service and have delivered
unto thee that which was entrusted to me for thee.” Quoth Ali, “I adjure
thee, by Allah the Almighty, to tell me the cause of this gold-rain.”
Replied the Voice, “This is a treasure that was talisman’d to thee of
old time, and to every one who entered the house, we used to come and
say:—O Ali, O son of Hasan, shall we send thee down the gold? Whereat he
would be affrighted and cry out, and we would come down to him and break
his neck and go away. But, when thou camest and we accosted thee by thy
name and that of thy father, saying, Shall we send thee down the gold?
and thou madest answer to us, And where be the gold? we knew thee for
the owner of it and sent it down. Moreover, there is yet another hoard
for thee in the land of Al-Yaman and thou wouldst do well to journey
thither and fetch it. And now I would fain have thee set me free, that I
may go my way.” Said Ali, “By Allah, I will not set thee free, till thou
bring me hither the treasure from the land of Al-Yaman!” Said the Voice,
“An I bring it to thee, wilt thou release me and eke the servant of the
other hoard?” “Yes,” replied Ali, and the Voice cried, “Swear to me.” So
he swore to him, and he was about to go away, when Ali said to him, “I
have one other need to ask of thee;” and he, “What is that?” Quoth Ali,
“I have a wife and children at Cairo in such a place; thou needs must
fetch them to me, at their ease and without their unease.” Quoth he, “I
will bring them to thee in a mule-litter[270] and much state, with a
train of eunuchs and servants, together with the treasure from Al-Yaman,
Inshallah!”[271] Then he took of him leave of absence for three days,
when all this should be with him, and vanished. As soon as it was
morning Ali went round about the saloon, seeking a place wherein to
store the gold, and saw on the edge of the dais a marble slab with a
turning-pin; so he turned the pin and the slab sank and showed a door
which he opened and entering, found a great closet, full of bags of
coarse stuff carefully sewn. So he began taking out the bags and fell to
filling them with gold and storing them in the closet, till he had
transported thither all the hoarded gold, whereupon he shut the door and
turning the pin, the slab returned to its place. Then he went down and
seated himself on the bench behind the door; and presently there came a
knock; so he opened and found the merchant’s slave who, seeing him
comfortably sitting, returned in haste to his master——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
house-owner’s black slave returned and knocked at the door, Ali the
Cairene, son of the merchant Hasan, opened it to him and the negro,
seeing him comfortably sitting, returned in haste to his master with the
good tidings, saying, “O my Lord, the merchant, who is lodged in the
house inhabited by the Jinn,[272] is alive and well and sitteth on the
bench behind the door.” Then the merchant rose joyfully and went to the
house, taking breakfast with him; and, when he saw Ali, he embraced him
and kissed him between the eyes, asking, “How hath Allah dealt with
thee?”; and Ali answered, “Right well, I slept upstairs in the marble
saloon.” Quoth the merchant, “Did aught come to thee or didst thou see
any thing?” and quoth Ali, “No, I recited some little of the Sublime
Koran and slept till morning, when I arose and, after making the minor
ablution and praying, seated myself on the bench behind the door.”
“Praised be Allah for safety!” exclaimed the merchant, then left him and
presently sent him black slaves and white Mamelukes and handmaidens with
household gear. They swept the house from top to bottom and furnished it
with magnificent furniture; after which three white slaves and three
blacks and four slave-girls remained with him, to serve him, while the
rest returned to their master’s house. Now when the merchants heard of
him, they sent him presents of all manner things of price, even to food
and drink and clothes, and took him with them to the market, asking,
“When will thy baggage arrive?” And he answered, “After three days it
will surely come.” When the term had elapsed, the servant of the first
hoard, the golden rain, came to him and said, “Go forth and meet the
treasure I have brought thee from Al-Yaman together with thy Harim; for
I bring part of the wealth in the semblance of costly merchandise; but
the eunuchs and Mamelukes and the mules and horses and camels are all of
the Jánn.” Now the Jinni, when he betook himself to Cairo, found Ali’s
wife and children in sore misery, naked and hungry; so he carried them
out of the city in a travelling-litter and clad them in sumptuous
raiment of the stuffs which were in the treasure of Al-Yaman. So when
Ali heard this, he arose and repairing to the merchants, said to them,
“Rise and go forth with us from the city, to meet the caravan bringing
my merchandise, and honour us with the presence of your Harims, to meet
my Harim.” “Hearkening and obedience,” answered they and, sending for
their Harims, went forth all together and took seat in one of the
city-gardens; and as they sat talking, behold, a dust-cloud arose out of
the heart of the desert, and they flocked forth to see what it was.
Presently it lifted and discovered mules and muleteers, tent-pitchers
and linkmen, who came on, singing and dancing, till they reached the
garden, when the chief of the muleteers walked up to Ali and kissing his
hand, said to him, “O my master, we have been long on the way, for we
purposed entering yesterday; but we were in fear of the bandits, so
abode in our station four days, till Almighty Allah rid us of them.”
Thereupon the merchants mounted their mules and rode forward with the
caravan, the Harims waiting behind, till Ali’s wife and children mounted
with them; and they all entered in splendid train. The merchants
marvelled at the number of mules laden with chests, whilst the women of
the merchants wondered at the richness of the apparel of his wife and
the fine raiment of her children; and kept saying each to other,
“Verily, the King of Baghdad hath no such gear; no, nor any other of the
kings or lords or merchants!” So they ceased not to fare forwards in
high great state, the men with Ali of Cairo and the Harims with his
Harim, till they came to the mansion,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that they ceased not to
fare forwards in high state, the men with Ali’s men and the women with
his wife, till they came to the mansion, where they alighted and brought
the mules and their burdens into the midst of the courtyard. Then they
unloaded them and warehoused the goods whilst the merchants’ wives went
up with Ali’s family to the saloon, which they found as it were a
luxuriant garden, spread with magnificent furniture. They sat in mirth
and good cheer till noon, when they brought them up the midday meal, all
manner meats and sweetmeats of the very best; and they ate and drank
costly sherbets and perfumed themselves thereafter with rose-water and
scented woods. Then they took leave and went home, men and women; and,
when the merchants returned to their places, they sent presents to the
husband according to their conditions; and their wives likewise sent
presents to the wife, so that there came to them great store of
handmaids and negroes and Mamelukes; and all kinds of goods, such as
grain, sugar and so forth, in abundance beyond account. As for the
Baghdad merchant, the landlord of the house, he abode with Ali and
quitted him not, but said to him, “Let the black slaves and servants
take the mules and the common cattle into one of my other houses, to
rest.” Quoth Ali, “They set out again to-night for such a place.” Then
he gave them leave to go forth and camp outside the city, that they
might start on their journey at night-come; whereupon, hardly believing
that they were dismissed, they took leave of him and departing to the
outliers of the city, flew off through the air to their several abodes.
So Ali and his house-owner sat together till a third of the night was
past, when their colloquy ended and the merchant returned to his own
house and Ali went up to his wife and children and after saluting them,
said, “What hath befallen you in my absence all this time?” So she told
him what they had suffered of hunger and nakedness and travail, and he
said, “Praised be Allah for safety! How did ye come?” Answered she, “O
my lord, I was asleep with my children yesternight, when suddenly and
unexpectedly one raised us from the ground and flew with us through the
firmament without doing us any hurt, nor did he leave flying with us,
till he set us down in a place as it were an Arab camping-ground, where
we saw laden mules and a travelling litter borne upon two great mules,
and around it servants, all boys and men. So I asked them:—Who are ye
and what are these loads and where are we?; and they answered:—We are
the servants of the merchant Ali of Cairo, son of the merchant-jeweller,
who hath sent us to fetch you to him at Baghdad. Quoth I, Tell me, is it
far or near, hence to Baghdad? They replied, Near: there lieth between
us and the city but the darkness of the night. Then they mounted us in
the litter and, when the morrow dawned, we found ourselves with thee,
without having suffered any hurt whatever.” Quoth he, “Who gave you
these dresses;” and quoth she, “The chief of the caravan opened one of
the boxes on the mules and taking out thereof these clothes, clad me and
thy children each in a suit; after which he locked the case and gave me
the key, saying, Take care of it, till thou give it to thy husband. And
here it is safe by me.” So saying, she gave him the key, and he said,
“Dost thou know the chest?” Said she, “Yes, I know it.” So he took her
down to the magazine and showed her the boxes, when she cried, “This is
the one whence the dresses were taken;” upon which he put the key in the
lock and opened the chest, wherein he found much raiment and the keys of
all the other cases. So he took them and fell to opening them, one after
another, and feasting his eyes upon the gems and precious ores they
contained, whose like was not found with any of the kings; after which
he locked them again, took the keys, and returned to the saloon, saying
to his wife, “This is of the bounty of Almighty Allah!” Then bringing
her to the secret slab he turned the pin and opened the door of the
closet, into which he entered with her and showed her the gold he had
laid up therein. Quoth she, “Whence came all this to thee?” “It came to
me by the grace of my Lord,” answered he:——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-first Night,