The Khalif El Hakim bi Amrillah was riding out in state one day,
when he came to a garden, in which he saw a man, surrounded by
slaves and servants. He asked him for a draught of water, and
the man gave him to drink, saying, 'Peradventure, the Commander
of the Faithful will honour me by alighting in this my garden.'
So the Khalif dismounted and entered the garden with his suite;
whereupon the man brought out to them a hundred carpets and a
hundred leather mats and a hundred cushions and set before them
a hundred dishes of fruits, a hundred saucers of sweetmeats and
a hundred bowls full of sherbets of sugar; whereat the Khalif
marvelled and said to his host, 'O man, this thy case is a
strange one. Didst thou know of our coming and make this
preparation for us?' 'No, by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful,'
answered the other, 'I knew not of thy coming and am but a
merchant of the rest of thy subjects. But I have a hundred
concubines; so, when the Commander of the Faithful honoured
me by alighting with me, I sent to each of them, bidding her
send me the morning-meal here. So they sent me each of her
furniture and of the excess of her meat and drink: and every
day each sends me a dish of meat and another of marinades, also
a plate of fruits and a saucer of sweetmeats and a bowl of
sherbet. This is my every- day noon-meal, nor have I added
aught thereto for thee.'
The Khalif prostrated himself in thanksgiving to God the Most
High and said, 'Praised be God, who hath been so bountiful to
one of our subjects, that he entertaineth the Khalif and his
suite, without making ready for them, but of the surplus of his
day's victual!' Then he sent for all the dirhems in the
treasury, that had been struck that year,--and they were in
number three thousand and seven hundred thousand;--nor did he
mount, till the money came, when he gave it to the merchant,
saying, 'Use this for the maintenance of thy state; and thy
desert is more than this.' Then he mounted and rode away.
KING KISRA ANOUSHIRWAN AND THE VILLAGE
DAMSEL.
The just King, Kisra Anoushirwan,[FN#113] was hunting one day
and became separated from his suite, in pursuit of an antelope.
Presently, he caught sight of a hamlet, near at hand, and being
sore athirst, made for the door of a house, that stood by the
wayside, and asked for a draught of water. A damsel came out
and looked at him; then, going back into the house, pressed the
juice from a sugar-cane into a tankard and mixed it with water;
after which she strewed on the top somewhat of perfume, as it
were dust, and carried it to the King. He took it and seeing in
it what resembled dust, drank it, little by little, till he
came to the end. Then said he to her, 'O damsel, the drink is
good and sweet, but for this dust in it, that troubles it.' 'O
guest,' answered she, 'I put that in, of intent.' 'And why
didst thou thus?' asked he; and she replied, 'I saw that thou
wast exceeding thirsty and feared that thou wouldst swallow the
whole at one draught and that this would do thee a mischief;
and so hadst thou done, but for this dust that troubled the
drink.' The King wondered at her wit and good sense and said to
her, 'How many sugar-canes didst thou press for this draught?'
'One,' answered she; whereat the King marvelled and calling for
the roll of the taxes of the village, saw that its assessment
was but little and bethought him to increase it, on his return
to his palace, saying in himself, 'Why is a village so lightly
taxed, where they get this much juice out of one sugar-cane?'
Then he left the village and pursued his chase. As he came back
at the end of the day, he passed alone by the same door and
called again for drink; whereupon the same damsel came out and
knowing him, went in to fetch him drink. It was some time
before she returned and the King wondered at this and said to
her, 'Why hast thou tarried?' Quoth she, 'Because one sugar-
cane yielded not enough for thy need. So I pressed three; but
they yielded not so much as did one aforetime.' 'What is the
cause of that?' asked the King; and she answered, 'The cause of
it is that the King's mind is changed.' Quoth he, 'How knewst
thou that?' 'We hear from the wise,' replied she, 'that, when
the King's mind is changed against a folk, their prosperity
ceaseth and their good waxeth less.' Anoushirwan laughed and
put away from his mind that which he had purposed against the
people of the village. Moreover, he took the damsel to wife
then and there, being pleased with her much wit and acuteness
and the excellence of her speech.
THE WATER-CARRIER AND THE GOLDSMITH'S
WIFE.
There was once, in the city of Bokhara, a water-carrier, who
used to carry water to the house of a goldsmith and had done
thus thirty years. Now the goldsmith had a wife of exceeding
beauty and elegance and withal renowned for modesty, chastity
and piety. One day, the water-carrier came, as of wont, and
poured the water into the cisterns. Now the woman was standing
in the midst of the court; so he went up to her and taking her
hand, stroked it and pressed it, then went away and left her.
When her husband came home from the bazaar, she said to him, 'I
would have thee tell me what thou hast done in the bazaar,
today, to anger God the Most High.' Quoth he, 'I have done
nothing.' 'Nay,' rejoined she, 'but, by Allah, thou hast indeed
done something to anger God; and except thou tell me the truth,
I will not abide in thy house, and thou shalt not see me, nor
will I see thee.' 'I will tell thee the truth,' answered he.
'As I was sitting in my shop this day, a woman came up to me
and bade me make her a bracelet. Then she went away and I
wrought her a bracelet of gold and laid it aside. Presently,
she returned and I brought her out the bracelet. She put out
her hand and I clasped the bracelet on her wrist; and I
wondered at the whiteness of her hand and the beauty of her
wrist and recalled what the poet says:
Bracelets, upon her wrists, of glittering virgin gold She hath,
like fire ablaze on running water cold.
It is as if the wrists and bracelets thereabout Were water girt
with fire, right wondrous to behold.
So I took her hand and pressed it and squeezed it.' 'God is
Most Great!' exclaimed the woman. 'Why didst thou this ill
thing? Know that the water-carrier, who has come to our house
these thirty years, nor sawst thou ever any treason in him,
took my hand to day and pressed and squeezed it.' Quoth her
husband, 'O woman, let us crave pardon of God! Verily, I repent
of what I did, and do thou ask forgiveness of God for me.' 'God
pardon me and thee,' said she, 'and vouchsafe to make good the
issue of our affair!'
Next day, the water-carrier came in to the jeweller's wife and
throwing himself at her feet, grovelled in the dust and
besought pardon of her, saying, 'O my lady, acquit me of that
which Satan deluded me to do; for it was he that seduced me and
led me astray.' 'Go thy ways,' answered she; 'the fault was not
in thee, but in my husband, for that he did what he did in his
shop, and God hath retaliated upon him in this world.' And it
is related that the goldsmith, when his wife told him how the
water-carrier had used her, said, 'Tit for tat! If I had done
more, the water-carrier had done more.' And this became a
current byword among the folk.
So it behoveth a wife to be both outward and inward with her
husband, contenting herself with little from him, if he cannot
give her much, and taking pattern by Aaisheh[FN#114] the
Truthful and Fatimeh[FN#115] the Clean Maid, (may God the Most
High accept of them), that she may be of the company of the
righteous.[FN#116]