by Clark Ashton Smith
During the reign of the Caliph Vathek, a young man of good repute and
family, named Noureddin Hassan, was haled before the Cadi Ahmed ben
Becar at Bussorah. Now Noureddin was a comely youth, of open and
gentle mien; and great was the astonishment of the Cadi and of all
others present when they heard the charges that were preferred against
him. He was accused of having slain seven people, one by one, on seven
successive nights, and of having left the corpses in a cemetery near
Bussorah, where they were found lying with their bodies and members
devoured in a fearsome manner, as if by jackals. Of the people he was
said to have slain three were women, two were travelling merchants,
one was a mendicant, and one a grave-digger.
Ahmed ben Becar was filled with the learning and wisdom of honorable
years, and withal was possessed of much perspicacity. But he was
deeply perplexed by the strangeness and atrocity of these crimes and
by the mild demeanor and well-bred aspect of Noureddin Hassan, which
he could in no wise reconcile with them. He heard in silence the
testimony of witnesses who had seen Noureddin bearing on his shoulders
the body of a woman at yester-eve in the cemetery; and others who on
several occasions had observed him coming from the neighborhood at
unseemly hours when only thieves and murderers would be abroad. Then,
having considered all these, he questioned the youth closely.
"Noureddin Hassan," he said, "thou hast been charged with crimes of
exceeding foulness, which thy bearing and thy lineaments belie. Is
there haply an explanation of these things by which thou canst wholly
clear thyself, or in some measure mitigate the heinousness of thy
deeds, if so it be that thou art guilty? I adjure thee to tell me the
truth in this matter."
Now Noureddin Hassan arose before the Cadi; and the heaviness of
extreme shame and sorrow was visible on his countenance.
"Alas, O Cadi," he replied, "for the charges that have been brought
against me are indeed true. It was I and none other, who slew these
people; nor can I offer any extenuation of my act."
The Cadi was sorely grieved and astonished when he heard this answer.
"I must perforce believe thee," he said sternly. "But thou hast
confessed a thing which will make thy name hence forward an
abomination in the ears and mouths of men. I command thee to tell me
why these crimes were committed, and what offense these persons had
given thee, or what injury they had done to thee; or if perchance thou
slewest them for gain, like a common robber."
"There was neither offense given nor injury wrought by any of them
against me," replied Noureddin. "And I did not kill them for their
money or belongings or apparel, since I had no need of such things,
and, aside from that, have always been an honest man."
"Then," cried Ahmed ben Becar, greatly puzzled, "what was thy reason
if it was none of these?"
Now the face of Noureddin Hassan grew heavier still with sorrow; and
he bowed his head in a shamefaced manner that bespoke the utterness of
profound remorse. And standing thus before the Cadi, he told this
story:
The reversals of fortune, O Cadi, are swift and grievous, and beyond
the foreknowing or advertence of men. Alas! for less than a fortnight
agone I was the happiest and most guiltless of mortals, with no
thought of wrongdoing toward anyone. I was wedded to Amina, the
daughter of the jewel-merchant Aboul Cogia; and I loved her deeply and
was much beloved by her in turn; and moreover we were at this time
anticipating the birth of our first child. I had inherited from my
father a rich estate and many slaves; the cares of life were light
upon my shoulders; and I had, it would seem, every reason to count
myself among those whom Allah has blest with an earthly foretaste of
Heaven.
Judge, then, the excessive nature of my grief when Amina died in the
same hour when she was to have been delivered. From that time, in the
dire extremity of my lamentation, I was as one bereft of light and
knowledge; I was deaf to all those who sought to condole with me, and
blind to their friendly offices.
After the burial of Amina my sorrow became a veritable madness, and I
wandered by night to her grave in the cemetery near Bussorah and flung
myself prostrate before the newly lettered tombstone, on the earth
that been digged that very day. My senses deserted me, and I knew not
how long I remained on the damp clay beneath the cypresses, while the
horn of a decrescent moon arose in the heavens.
Then, in my stupor of abandonment, I heard a terrible voice that bade
me rise from the ground on which I was lying. And lifting my head a
little, I saw a hideous demon of gigantic frame and stature, with eyes
of scarlet fire beneath brows that were coarse as tangled rootlets,
and fangs that overhung a cavernous mouth, and earth-black longer and
sharper than those of the hyena. And the demon said to me:
"I am a ghoul, and it is my office to devour the bodies of the dead. I
have now come to claim the corpse that was interred today beneath the
soil on which thou art lying in a fashion so unmannerly. Begone, for I
have fasted since yester-night, and I am much anhungered."
Now, at the sight of this demon, and the sound of his dreadful voice,
and the still more dreadful meaning of his words, I was like to have
swooned with terror on the cold clay. But I recovered myself in a
manner, and besought him, saying:
"Spare this grave, I implore thee; for she who lies buried therein it
dearer to me than any living mortal; and I would not that her fair
body should be the provender of an unclean demon such as thou."
At this the ghoul was angered, and I thought that he would have done
me some bodily violence. But again I besought him, swearing by Allah
and Mohammed with many solemn oaths that I would grant him anything
procurable and would do for him any favor that lay in the power of man
if he would leave undespoiled the new-made grave of Amina. And the
ghoul was somewhat mollified, and he said:
"If thou wilt indeed perform for me a certain service, I shall do as
thou askest." And I replied:
"There is no service, whatsoever its nature, that I will not do for
thee in this connection, and I pray thee to name thy desire."
Then the ghoul said: "It is this, that thou shalt bring to me each
night, for eight successive nights, the body of one whom thou hast
slain with thine own hand. Do this, and I shall neither devour nor dig
the body that lies interred hereunder."
Now was I seized by utter horror and despair, since I had bound myself
in all honor to grant the ghoul his hideous requirement. And I begged
him to change the terms of the stipulation, saying to him:
"Is it needful to thee, O eater of corpses, that the bodies should be
those of people whom I myself have slain?"
And the ghoul said: "Yea, for all others would be the natural
provender of myself or of my kin in any event. I adjure thee by the
promise thou hast given to meet me here tomorrow night, when darkness
has wholly fallen or as soon thereafter as thou art able, bringing the
first of the eight bodies."
So saying, he strode off among the cypresses, and began to dig in
another newly made grave at a little distance from that of Amina.
I left the graveyard in even direr anguish than when I had come
thinking, of that which I must do in fulfilment of my sworn promise,
to preserve the body of Amina from the demon. I know not how I
survived the ensuing day, torn as I was between sorrow for the dead
and my horror of the coming night with its repugnant duty.
When darkness had descended, I went forth by stealth to a lonely road
near the cemetery; and waiting there amid the low-grown branches of
the trees, I slew the first passer with a sword and carried his body
to the spot appointed by the ghoul. And each night thereafter, for six
more nights, I returned to the same vicinity and repeated this deed,
slaying always the very first who came, whether man or woman, or
merchant or beggar or grave-digger. And the ghoul awaited me on each
occasion, and would begin to devour his provender in my presence, with
small thanks and scant ceremony. Seven persons did I slay in all, till
only one was wanting to complete the agreed number; and the person
whom I slew yester-night was a woman, even as the witnesses have
testified. All this I did with utmost repugnance and regret, and
sustained only by the remembrance of my plighted word and the fate
which would befall the corpse of Amina if I should break the bond.
This, O Cadi, is all my story. Alas! for these lamentable crimes have
availed me not, and I have failed in wholly keeping my bargain with
the demon, who will doubtless this night consume the body of Amina in
lien of the one corpse that is still lacking. I resign myself to thy
judgement, O Ahmed ben Becar, and I beseech thee for no other mercy
than that of death, wherewith to terminate my double grief and my
twofold remorse.
When Noureddin Hassan had ended his narrative, the amazement of all
who had heard him was verily multiplied, since no man could remember
hearing a stranger tale. And the Cadi pondered for a long time and
then gave judgment, saying:
"I must needs marvel at thy story, but the crimes thou hast committed
are none the less heinous, and Iblis himself would stand aghast before
them. However, some allowance must be made for the fact that thou
hadst given thy word to the ghoul and wast bound as it were in honor
to fulfill his demand, no matter how horrible its nature. And
allowance must likewise be made for thy connubial grief which caused
thee to forfend thy wife's body from the demon. Yet I cannot adjudge
thee guiltless, though I know not the punishment which is merited in a
case so utterly without parallel. Therefore, I set thee free, with
this injunction, that thou shalt make atonement for thy crimes in the
fashion that seemeth best to thee, and shalt render justice to thyself
and to others in such degree as thou art able."
"I thank thee for this mercy," replied Noureddin Hassan; and he then
withdrew from the court amid the wonderment of all who were present.
There was much debate when he had gone, and many were prone to
question the wisdom of the Cadi's decision. Some there were who
maintained that Noureddin should have been sentenced to death without
delay for his abominable actions though others argued for the sanctity
of his oath to the ghoul, and would have exculpated him altogether or
in part. And tales were told and instances were cited regarding the
habits of ghouls and the strange plight of men who had surprised such
demons in their nocturnal delvings. And again the discussion returned
to Noureddin, and the judgment of the Cadi was once more upheld or
assailed with divers arguments. But amid all this, Ahmed Ben Becar was
silent, saying only:
"Wait, for this man will render justice to himself and to all other
concerned, as far as the rendering thereof is possible."
So indeed it happened, for on the morning of the next day another body
was found in the cemetery near Bussorah lying half-devoured on the
grave of Noureddin Hassan's wife, Amina. And the body was that of
Noureddin, self-slain, who in this manner had not only fulfilled the
injunction of the Cadi but had also kept his bargain with the ghoul by
providing the required number of corpses.