There was once a rich man, who lost all he had and became poor,
whereupon his wife counselled him to seek aid of one of his
friends. So he betook himself to a certain friend of his and
acquainted him with his strait; and he lent him five hundred
dinars to trade withal. Now he had aforetime been a jeweller;
so he took the money and went to the jewel-bazaar, where he
opened a shop to buy and sell. Presently, three men accosted
him, as he sat in his shop, and asked for his father. He told
them that he was dead, and they said, 'Did he leave any
offspring?' Quoth the jeweller, 'He left a son, your servant.'
'And who knoweth thee for his son?' asked they. 'The people of
the bazaar,' replied he; and they said, 'Call them together,
that they may testify to us that thou art his son.' So he
called them and they bore witness of this; whereupon the three
men delivered to him a pair of saddle-bags, containing thirty
thousand dinars, besides jewels and bullion, saying, 'This was
deposited with us in trust by thy father.' Then they went away;
and presently there came to him a woman, who sought of him
certain of the jewels, worth five hundred dinars, and paid him
three thousand for them.
So he took five hundred dinars and carrying them to his friend,
who had lent him the money, said to him, 'Take the five hundred
dinars I borrowed of thee; for God hath aided and prospered
me.' 'Not so,' quoth the other. 'I gave them to thee outright,
for the love of God; so do thou keep them. And take this paper,
but read it not, till thou be at home, and do according to that
which is therein.' So he took the paper and returned home,
where he opened it and read therein the following verses:
The men who came to thee at first my kinsmen were, my sire, His
brother and my dam's, Salih ben Ali is his name.
Moreover, she to whom thou soldst the goods my mother was, And
eke the jewels and the gold, from me, to boot, they came;
Nor, in thus ordering myself to thee, aught did I seek Save of
the taking it from me to spare thee from the shame.
THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN
THROUGH A DREAM.
There lived once in Baghdad a very wealthy man, who lost all
his substance and became so poor, that he could only earn his
living by excessive labour. One night, he lay down to sleep,
dejected and sick at heart, and saw in a dream one who said to
him, 'Thy fortune is at Cairo; go thither and seek it.' So he
set out for Cairo; but, when he arrived there, night overtook
him and he lay down to sleep in a mosque. Presently, as fate
would have it, a company of thieves entered the mosque and made
their way thence into an adjoining house; but the people of the
house, being aroused by the noise, awoke and cried out;
whereupon the chief of the police came to their aid with his
officers. The robbers made off; but the police entered the
mosque and finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold
of him and beat him with palm rods, till he was well-nigh dead.
Then they cast him into prison, where he abode three days,
after which the chief of the police sent for him and said to
him, 'Whence art thou?' 'From Baghdad,' answered he. 'And what
brought thee to Cairo?' asked the magistrate. Quoth the
Baghdadi, 'I saw in a dream one who said to me, "Thy fortune is
at Cairo; go thither to it." But when I came hither, the
fortune that he promised me proved to be the beating I had of
thee.'
The chief of the police laughed, till he showed his jaw-teeth,
and said, 'O man of little wit, thrice have I seen in a dream
one who said to me, "There is in Baghdad a house of such a
fashion and situate so-and-so, in the garden whereof is a
fountain and thereunder a great sum of money buried. Go thither
and take it." Yet I went not; but thou, of thy little wit, hast
journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream, which
was but an illusion of sleep.' Then he gave him money, saying,
'This is to help thee back to thy native land.' Now the house
he had described was the man's own house in Baghdad; so the
latter returned thither, and digging underneath the fountain in
his garden, discovered a great treasure; and [thus] God gave
him abundant fortune.
THE KHALIF EL MUTAWEKKIL AND HIS
FAVOURITE MEHBOUBEH.
There were in the palace of the Khalif El Mutawekkil ala Allah
[FN#63] four thousand concubines, whereof two thousand were
Greeks [and other foreigners] and other two thousand native
Arabians[FN#64] and Abyssinians; and Obeid ibn Tahir[FN#65]
had given him two hundred white girls and a like number of
Abyssinian and native girls[FN#66]. Among these latter was a
girl of Bassora, Mehboubeh by name, who was of surpassing
beauty and elegance and voluptuous grace. Moreover, she played
upon the lute and was skilled in singing and making verses and
wrote excellent well; so that El Mutawekkil fell passionately
in love with her and could not endure from her a single hour.
When she saw this, she presumed upon his favour to use him
haughtily and capriciously, so that he waxed exceeding wroth
with her and forsook her, forbidding the people of the palace
to speak with her.
On this wise she abode some days, but the Khalif still inclined
to her; and he arose one morning and said to his courtiers,
'I dreamt, last night, that I was reconciled to Mehboubeh.'
'Would God this might be on wake!' answered they. As they were
talking, in came one of the Khalif's maidservants and whispered
him that they had heard a noise of singing and luting in
Mehboubeh's chamber and knew not what this meant. So he rose
and entering the harem, went straight to Mehboubeh's apartment,
where he heard her playing wonder-sweetly upon the lute and
singing the following verses:
I wander through the halls, but not a soul I see, To whom I may
complain or who will speak with me.
It is as though I'd wrought so grievous an offence, No
penitence avails myself therefrom to free.
Will no one plead my cause with a king, who came to me In sleep
and took me back to favour and to gree;
But with the break of day to rigour did revert And cast me off
from him and far away did flee?
When the Khalif heard these verses, he marvelled at the strange
coincidence of their dreams and entered the chamber. As soon as
she was ware of him, she hastened to throw herself at his feet,
and kissing them, said, 'By Allah, O my lord, this is what I
dreamt last night; and when I awoke, I made the verses thou
hast heard.' ''By Allah,' replied El Mutawekkil, 'I also dreamt
the like!' Then they embraced and made friends and he abode
with her seven days and nights.
Now she had written upon her cheek, in musk, the Khalif's name,
which was Jaafer: and when he saw this, he made the following
verses:
One wrote on her cheek, with musk, a name, yea, Jaafer to wit:
My soul be her ransom who wrote on her cheek what I see on
it!
If her fingers, indeed, have traced a single line on her cheek,
I trow, in my heart of hearts full many a line she hath
writ
O thou, whom Jaafer alone of men possesses, may God Grant
Jaafer to drink his fill of the wine of thy beauty and
wit!
When El Mutawekkil died, all his women forgot him save
Mehboubeh, who ceased not to mourn for him, till she died and
was buried by his side, the mercy of God be on them both!
WERDAN THE BUTCHER HIS ADVENTURE WITH
THE LADY AND THE BEAR.
There lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Khalif El Hakim
bi Amrillah, a butcher named Werdan, who dealt in sheep's
flesh; and there came to him every forenoon a lady and gave him
a diner, whose weight was nigh two and a half Egyptian diners,
saying, 'Give me a lamb.' So he took the money and gave her the
lamb, which she delivered to a porter she had with her; and he
put it in his basket and she went away with him to her own
place. This went on for some time, the butcher profiting a
dinar by her every day, till at last he began to be curious
about her and said to himself, 'This woman buys a diner's worth
of meat of me every day, paying ready money, and never misses a
day. Verily, this is a strange thing!' So he took an occasion
of questioning the porter, in her absence, and said to him,
'Whither goest thou every day with yonder woman?' 'I know not
what to make of her,' answered the porter; 'for, every day,
after she hath taken the lamb of thee, she buys fresh and dried
fruits and wax candles and other necessaries of the table, a
dinar's worth, and takes of a certain Nazarene two flagons of
wine, for which she pays him another diner. Then she loads me
with the whole and I go with her to the Vizier's Gardens, where
she blindfolds me, so that I cannot see where I set my feet,
and taking me by the hand, leads me I know not whither.
Presently, she says, "Set down here;" and when I have done so,
she gives me an empty basket she has ready and taking my hand,
leads me back to the place, where she bound my eyes, and there
does off the bandage and gives me ten dirhems.' 'God be her
helper!' quoth Werdan; but he redoubled in curiosity about her
case; disquietude increased upon him and he passed the night in
exceeding restlessness.
Next morning, [quoth Werdan,] she came to me as of wont and
taking the lamb, delivered it to the porter and went away. So I
gave my shop in charge to a boy and followed her, unseen of
her; nor did I cease to keep her in sight, hiding behind her,
till she left Cairo and came to the Vizier's Gardens. Then I
hid, whilst she bound the porter's eyes, and followed her again
from place to place, till she came to the mountain and stopped
at a place where there was a great stone. Here she made the
porter set down his crate, and I waited, whilst she carried him
back to the Vizier's Gardens, after which she returned and
taking out the contents of the basket, disappeared behind the
stone. Then I went up to the stone and pulling it away,
discovered behind it an open trap-door of brass and a flight of
steps leading downward. So I descended, little by little, into
a long corridor, brilliantly lighted, and followed it, till I
came to a [closed] door, as it were the door of a room. I
looked about till I discovered a recess, with steps therein;
then climbed up and found a little niche with an opening
therein giving upon a saloon.
So I looked in and saw the lady cut off the choicest parts of
the lamb and laying them in a saucepan, throw the rest to a
huge great bear, who ate it all to the last bit. When she had
made an end of cooking, she ate her fill, after which she set
on wine and fruits and confections and fell to drinking, using
a cup herself and giving the bear to drink in a basin of gold,
till she was heated with wine, when she put off her trousers
and lay down. Thereupon the bear came up to her and served her,
whilst she gave him the best of what belongeth to mankind, till
he had made an end, when he sat down and rested. Presently, he
sprang to her and served her again; and thus he did, till he
had furnished half a score courses, and they both fell down in
a swoon and abode without motion.
Then said I to myself, "Now is my opportunity," and taking a
knife I had with me, that would cut bones before flesh, went
down to them and found them motionless, not a muscle of them
moving for their much swink. So I put my knife to the bear's
gullet and bore upon it, till I severed his head from his body,
and he gave a great snort like thunder, whereat she started up
in alarm and seeing the bear slain and me standing with the
knife in my hand, gave such a shriek that I thought the soul
had left her body. Then said she, "O Werdan, is this how thou
requitest me my favours?" "O enemy of thine own soul," replied
I, "dost thou lack of men that thou must do this shameful
thing?" She made me no answer, but bent down to the bear, and
finding his head divided from his body, said to me, "O Werdan,
which were the liefer to thee, to hearken to what I shall say
to thee and be the means of thine own safety and enrichment to
the end of thy days, or gainsay me and so bring about thine own
destruction?" "I choose rather to hearken unto thee," answered
I. "Say what thou wilt." "Then," said she, "kill me, as thou
hast killed this bear, and take thy need of this treasure and
go thy way." Quoth I, "I am better than this bear. Return to
God the Most High and repent, and I will marry thee, and we
will live on this treasure the rest of our lives." "O Werdan,"
rejoined she, "far be it from me! How shall I live after him?
An thou kill me not, by Allah, I will assuredly do away thy
life! So leave bandying words with me, or thou art a lost man.
This is all I have to say to thee and peace be on thee." Then
said I, "I will slay thee, and thou shalt go to the malediction
of God." So saying, I caught her by the hair and cut her
throat; and she went to the malediction of God and of the
angels and of all mankind.
Then I examined the place and found there gold and pearls and
jewels, such as no king could bring together. So I filled the
porter's crate with as much as I could carry and covered it
with the clothes I had on me. Then I shouldered it and going up
out of the underground place, set out homeward and fared on,
till I came to the gate of Cairo, where I fell in with ten of
the Khalif's body-guard, followed by El Hakim[FN#67] himself,
who said to me. "Ho, Werdan!" "At thy service, O King," replied
I. "Hast thou killed the woman and the bear?" asked he and I
answered, "Yes." Quoth he, "Set down the basket and fear
naught, for all the treasure thou hast with thee is thine, and
none shall dispute it with thee." So I set down the basket, and
he uncovered it and looked at it; then said to me, "Tell me
their case, though I know it, as if I had been present with
you." So I told him all that had passed and he said, "Thou hast
spoken the truth, O Werdan. Come now with me to the treasure."
So I returned with him to the cavern, where he found the
trap-door closed and said to me, "O Werdan, lift it; none but
thou can open the treasure, for it is enchanted in thy name and
favour." "By Allah," answered I, "I cannot open it;" but he
said, "Go up to it, trusting in the blessing of God." So I
called upon the name of God the Most High and going up to the
trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it came up, as it had
been the lightest of things. Then said the Khalif, "Go down and
bring up what is there; for none but one of thy name and favour
and quality hath gone down there since the place was made, and
the slaying of the bear and the woman was appointed to be at
thy hand. This was recorded with me and I was awaiting its
fulfilment." Accordingly, I went down and brought up all the
treasure, whereupon the Khalif sent for beasts of burden and
carried it away, after giving me the porter's crate, with what
was therein. So I carried it home and opened me a shop in the
market. And [quoth he who tells the tale] this market is still
extant and is known as Werdan's Market.