She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Dervishes
thus addressed Ala al-Din, "By Allah, we were in fear for thee and
naught kept us from thee but our lack of cash and coin." Quoth he,
"Speedy relief hath come to me from my Lord; for my father hath sent me
fifty thousand dinars and fifty loads of stuffs, each load worth a
thousand dinars; besides a riding-mule, a robe of sables, an Abyssinian
slave and a basin and ewer of gold. Moreover, I have made my peace with
my father-in-law and my wife hath become my lawful wife by my paying
her settlement; so laud to Allah for that!" Presently the Caliph rose
to do a necessity; whereupon Ja'afar bent him towards Ala al-Din and
said, "Look to thy manners, for thou art in the presence of the
Commander of the Faithful " Asked he, "How have I failed in good
breeding before the Commander of the Faithful, and which of you is he?"
Quoth Ja'afar, "He who went out but now to make water is the Commander
of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and I am the Wazir Ja'afar; and this
is Masrur the executioner and this other is Abu Nowas Hasan bin Hani..
And now, O Ala al-Din, use thy reason and bethink thee how many days'
journey it is between Cairo and Baghdad." He replied, "Five and forty
days' journey;" and Ja'afar rejoined, "Thy baggage was stolen only ten
days ago; so how could the news have reached thy father, and how could
he pack thee up other goods and send them to thee five-and-forty days'
journey in ten days' time?" Quoth Ala al-Din, "O my lord and whence
then came they?" "From the Commander of the Faithful," replied Ja'afar,
"of his great affection for thee." As they were speaking, lo! the
Caliph entered and Ala al-Din rising, kissed the ground before him and
said, "Allah keep thee, O Prince of the Faithful, and give thee long
life; and may the lieges never lack thy bounty and beneficence!"
Replied the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din, let Zubaydah play us an air, by way
of house-warming[FN#76] for thy deliverance." Thereupon she played him
on the lute so rare a melody that the very stones shook for glee, and
the strings cried out for present ecstasy, "O Loving One!" They spent
the night after the merriest fashion, and in the morning the Caliph
said to Ala al-Din, "Come to the Divan to-morrow." He answered,
"Hearkening and obedience, O Commander of the Faithful; so Allah will
and thou be well and in good case!" On the morrow he took ten trays
and, putting on each a costly present, went up with them to the palace;
and the Caliph was sitting on the throne when, behold, Ala al-Din
appeared at the door of the Divan, repeating these two couplets,
"Honour and Glory wait on thee each morn! * Thine enviers' noses
in the dust be set!
Ne'er cease thy days to be as white as snow; * Thy foeman's days
to be as black as jet!"
"Welcome, O Ala Al-Din!" said the Caliph, and he replied, "O Commander
of the Faithful, the Prophet (whom Allah bless and assain!)[FN#77] was
wont to accept presents; and these ten trays, with what is on them, are
my offering to thee." The Caliph accepted his gift and, ordering him a
robe of honour, made him Provost of the merchants and gave him a seat
in the Divan. And as he was sitting behold, his father-in-law came in
and, seeing Ala al-Din seated in his place and clad in a robe of
honour, said to the Caliph, "O King of the age, why is this man sitting
in my place and wearing this robe of honour?" Quoth the Caliph, "I have
made him Provost of the merchants, for offices are by investiture and
not in perpetuity, and thou art deposed." Answered the merchant, "Thou
hast done well, O Commander of the Faithful, for he is ours and one of
us. Allah make the best of us the managers of our affairs! How many a
little one hath become great!" Then the Caliph wrote Ala al-Din a
Firman[FN#78] of investiture and gave it to the Governor who gave it to
the crier,[FN#79] and the crier made proclamation in the Divan saying,
"None is Provost of the merchants but Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and his
word is to be heard, and he must be obeyed with due respect paid, and
he meriteth homage and honour and high degree!" Moreover, when the
Divan broke up, the Governor went down with the crier before Ala
Al-Din!" and the crier repeated the proclamation and they carried Ala
al-Din through the thoroughfares of Baghdad, making proclamation of his
dignity. Next day, Ala al-Din opened a shop for his slave Salim and set
him therein, to buy and sell, whilst he himself rode to the palace and
took his place in the Caliph's Divan.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din rode
to the palace and took his place in the Caliph's Divan. Now it came to
pass one day, when he sat in his stead as was his wont, behold, one
said to the Caliph, "O Commander of the Faithful, may thy head survive
such an one the cup-companion!; for he is gone to the mercy of Almighty
Allah, but be thy life prolonged!"[FN#80] Quoth the Caliph, "Where is
Ala al-Din Abu al-al-Shamat?" So he went up to the Commander of the
Faithful, who at once clad him in a splendid dress of honour and made
him his boon-companion; appointing him a monthly pay and allowance of a
thousand dinars. He continued to keep him company till, one day, as he
sat in the Divan, according to his custom attending upon the Caliph, lo
and behold! an Emir came up with sword and shield in hand and said, "O
Commander of the Faithful, may thy head long outlive the Head of the
Sixty, for he is dead this day;" whereupon the Caliph ordered Ala
al-Din a dress of honour and made him Chief of the Sixty, in place of
the other who had neither wife nor son nor daughter. So Ala al-Din laid
hands on his estate and the Caliph said to him, "Bury him in the earth
and take all he hath left of wealth and slaves and handmaids."[FN#81]
Then he shook the handkerchief[FN#82] and dismissed the Divan,
whereupon Ala al-Din went forth, attended by Ahmad al-Danaf, captain of
the right, and Hasan Shъmбn, captain of the left, riding at his either
stirrup, each with his forty men.[FN#83] Presently, he turned to Hasan
Shuman and his men and said to them, "Plead ye for me with the Captain
Ahmad al-Danaf that he please to accept me as his son by covenant
before Allah." And Ahmad assented, saying, "I and my forty men will go
before thee to the Divan every morning." Now after this Ala al-Din
continued in the Caliph's service many days; till one day it chanced
that he left the Divan and returning home, dismissed Ahmad al-Danaf and
his men and sat down with his wife Zubaydab, the lute-player, who
lighted the wax candles and went out of the room upon an occasion.
Suddenly he heard a loud shriek; so he rose up and running in haste to
see what was the matter, found that it was his wife who had cried out.
She was lying at full length on the ground and, when he put his hand to
her breast, he found her dead. Now her father's house faced that of Ala
al-Din, and he, hearing the shriek, came in and said, "What is the
matter, O my lord Ala al-Din?" He replied, "O my father, may thy head
outlive thy daughter Zubaydah! But, O my father, honour to the dead is
burying them." So when the morning dawned, they buried her in the earth
and her husband and father condoled with and mutually consoled each
other. Thus far concerning her; but as regards Ala al-Din he donned
mourning dress and declined the Divan, abiding tearful-eyed and
heavy-hearted at home. After a while, the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "O
Watir, what is the cause of Ala al-Din's absence from the Divan?" The
Minister answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, he is in mourning for
his wife Zubaydah; and is occupied in receiving those who come to
console him;" and the Caliph said, "It behoveth us to pay him a visit
of condolence." "I hear and I obey," replied Ja'afar. So they took
horse, the Caliph and the Minister and a few attendants, and rode to
Ala al-Din's house and, as he was sitting at home, behold, the party
came in upon him; whereupon he rose to receive them and kissed the
ground before the Caliph, who said to him, "Allah make good thy loss to
thee!" Answered Ala Al-Din, "May Allah preserve thee to us, O Commander
of the Faithful!" Then said the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din, why hast thou
absented thyself from the Divan?" And he replied, "Because of my
mourning for my wife, Zubaydah, O Commander of the Faithful." The
Caliph rejoined, "Put away grief from thee: verily she is dead and gone
to the mercy of Almighty Allah and mourning will avail thee nothing;
no, nothing." But Ala al-Din said "O Commander of the Faithful, I shall
never leave mourning for her till I die and they bury me by her side."
Quoth the Caliph, "In Allah is compensation for every decease, and
neither device nor riches can deliver from death; and divinely gifted
was he who said,
'All sons of woman, albe long preserved, * Are borne upon the
bulging bier some day.[FN#84]
How then shall 'joy man joy or taste delight, * Upon whose cheeks
shall rest the dust and clay?'"
When the Caliph had made an end of condoling with him, he charged him
not to absent himself from the Divan and returned to his palace. And
Ala Al-Din, after a last sorrowful night, mounted early in the morning
and, riding to the court, kissed the ground before the Commander of the
Faithful who made a movement if rising from the throne[FN#85] to greet
and welcome him; and bade him take his appointed place in the Divan,
saying, "O Ala al-Din, thou art my guest to-night." So presently he
carried him into his serraglio and calling a slave-girl named Kъt
al-Kulъb, said to her, "Ala al-Din had a wife called Zubaydah, who used
to sing to him and solace him of cark and care; but she is gone to the
mercy of Almighty Allah, and now I would have thee play him an air upon
the lute,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph said
to the damsel Kut al-Kulub, "I would have thee play him upon the lute
an air, of fashion sweet and rare, that he may be solaced of his cark
and care." So she rose and made sweet music; and the Caliph said to Ala
al-Din, "What sayst thou of this damsel's voice?" He replied, "Verily,
O Commander of the Faithful, Zubaydah's voice was the finer; but she is
skilled in touching the lute cunningly and her playing would make a
rock dance with glee." The Caliph asked, "Doth she please thee?'' and
he answered, "She doth, O Commander of the Faithful;" whereupon the
King said, "By the life of my head and the tombs of my forefathers, she
is a gift from me to thee, she and her waiting- women!" Ala al-Din
fancied that the Caliph was jesting with him; but, on the morrow, the
King went in to Kut al-Kulub and said to her, "I have given thee to Ala
Al-Din, whereat she rejoiced, for she had seen and loved him. Then the
Caliph returned from his serraglio palace to the Divan; and, calling
porters, said to them, "Set all the goods of Kut al-Kulub and her
waiting-women in a litter, and carry them to Ala al-Din's home." So
they conducted her to the house and showed her into the pavilion,
whilst the Caliph sat in the hall of audience till the dose of day,
when the Divan broke up and he retired to his harem. Such was his case;
but as regards Kut al-Kulub, when she had taken up her lodging in Ala
al-Din's mansion, she and her women, forty in all, besides the
eunuchry, she called two of these caponised slaves and said to them,
"Sit ye on stools, one on the right and another on the left hand of the
door; and, when Ala al-Din cometh home, both of you kiss his hands and
say to him, "Our mistress Kut al-Kulub requesteth thy presence in the
pavilion, for the Caliph hath given her to thee, her and her women."
They answered, "We hear and obey;" and did as she bade them. So, when
Ala al-Din returned, he found two of the Caliph's eunuchs sitting at
the door and was amazed at the matter and said to himself, "Surely,
this is not my own house; or else what can have happened?" Now when the
eunuchs saw him, they rose to him and, kissing his hands, said to him,
"We are of the Caliph's household and slaves to Kut al-Kulub, who
saluteth thee, giving thee to know that the Caliph hath bestowed her on
thee, her and her women, and requesteth thy presence." Quoth Ala
al-Din, "Say ye to her, 'Thou art welcome; but so long as thou shalt
abide with me, I will not enter the pavilion wherein thou art, for what
was the master's should not become the man's;' and furthermore ask her,
'What was the sum of thy day's expenditure in the Caliph's palace?'" So
they went in and did his errand to her, and she answered, "An hundred
dinars a day;" whereupon quoth he to himself, "There was no need for
the Caliph to give me Kut al-Kulub, that I should be put to such
expense for her; but there is no help for it." So she abode with him
awhile and he assigned her daily an hundred dinars for her maintenance;
till, one day, he absented himself from the Divan and the Caliph said
to Ja'afar, "O Watir, I gave not Kut al-Kulub unto Ala al-Din but that
she might console him for his wife; why, then, doth he still hold aloof
from us?" Answered Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, he spake
sooth who said, 'Whoso findeth his fere, forgetteth his friends.'"
Rejoined the Caliph, "Haply he hath not absented himself without
excuse, but we will pay him a visit." Now some days before this, Ala
al-Din had said to Ja'afar, "I complained to the Caliph of my grief and
mourning for the loss of my wife Zubaydah and he gave me Kut al-Kulub;"
and the Minister replied, "Except he loved thee, he had not given her
to thee. Say hast thou gone in unto her, O Ala al-Din?" He rejoined,
"No, by Allah! I know not her length from her breadth." He asked "And
why?" and he answered, "O Wazir, what befitteth the lord befitteth not
the liege." Then the Caliph and Ja'afar disguised themselves and went
privily to visit Ala al-Din; but he knew them and rising to them kissed
the hands of the Caliph, who looked at him and saw signs of sorrow in
his face. So he said to him, "O Al-Din, whence cometh this sorrow
wherein I see thee? Hast thou not gone in unto Kut al-Kulub?" He
replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, what befitteth the lord
befitteth not the thrall. No, as yet I have not gone in to visit her
nor do I know her length from her breadth; so pray quit me of her."
Quoth the Caliph, "I would fain see her and question her of her case;"
and quoth Ala al-Din, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful."
So the Caliph went in,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph went
in to Kut al-Kulub, who rose to him on sighting him and kissed the
ground between his hands; when he said to her, "Hath Ala al-Din gone in
unto thee?" and she answered, "No, O Commander of the Faithful, I sent
to bid him come, but he would not." So the Caliph bade carry her back
to the Harim and saying to Ala Al-Din, "Do not absent thyself from us,"
returned to his palace. Accordingly, next morning, Ala Al-Din, mounted
and rode to the Divan, where he took his seat as Chief of the Sixty.
Presently the Caliph ordered his treasurer to give the Wazir Ja'afar
ten thousand dinars and said when his order was obeyed, "I charge thee
to go down to the bazar where handmaidens are sold and buy Ala Al-Din,
a slave-girl with this sum." So in obedience to the King, Ja'afar took
Ala al-Din and went down with him to the bazar. Now as chance would
have it, that very day, the Emir Khбlid, whom the Caliph had made
Governor of Baghdad, went down to the market to buy a slave-girl for
his son and the cause of his going was that his wife, Khбtъn by name,
had borne him a son called Habzalam Bazбzah,[FN#86] and the same was
foul of favour and had reached the age of twenty, without learning to
mount horse; albeit his father was brave and bold, a doughty rider
ready to plunge into the Sea of Darkness.[FN#87] And it happened that
on a certain night he had a dream which caused nocturnal-pollution
whereof he told his mother, who rejoiced and said to his father, "I
want to find him a wife, as he is now ripe for wedlock." Quoth Khбlid,
"The fellow is so foul of favour and withal-so rank of odour, so sordid
and beastly that no woman would take him as a gift." And she answered,
"We will buy him a slave-girl." So it befell, for the accomplishing of
what Allah Almighty had decreed, that on the same day, Ja'afar and Ala
al-Din, the Governor Khбlid and his son went down to the market and
behold, they saw in the hands of a broker a beautiful girl, lovely
faced and of perfect shape, and the Wazir said to him, "O broker, ask
her owner if he will take a thousand dinars for her." And as the broker
passed by the Governor with the slave, Hahzalam Bazazah cast at her one
glance of the eyes which entailed for himself one thousand sighs; and
he fell in love with her and passion got hold of him and he said, "O my
father, buy me yonder slave-girl." So the Emir called the broker, who
brought the girl to him, and asked her her name. She replied, "My name
is Jessamine;" and he said to Hahzalam Bazazah, "O my son, as she
please thee, do thou bid higher for her." Then he asked the broker,
"What hath been bidden for her?" and he replied, "A thousand dinars."
Said the Governor's son, "She is mine for a thousand pieces of gold and
one more;" and the broker passed on to Ala al-Din who bid two thousand
dinars for her; and as often as the Emir's son bid another dinar, Ala
al-Din bid a thousand. The ugly youth was vexed at this and said, "O
broker! who is it that outbiddeth me for the slave-girl?" Answered the
broker, "It is the Wazir Ja'afar who is minded to buy her for Ala
al-Din Abu al-Shamat." And Ala al-Din continued till he brought her
price up to ten thousand dinars, and her owner was satisfied to sell
her for that sum. Then he took the girl and said to her, "I give thee
thy freedom for the love of Almighty Allah;" and forthwith wrote his
contract of marriage with her and carried her to his house. Now when
the broker returned, after having received his brokerage, the Emir's
son summoned him and said to him, "Where is the girl?" Quoth he, "She
was bought for ten thousand dinars by Ala al-Din, who hath set her free
and married her." At this the young man was greatly vexed and cast down
and, sighing many a sigh, returned home, sick for love of the damsel;
and he threw himself on his bed and refused food, for love and longing
were sore upon him. Now when his mother saw him in this plight, she
said to him, "Heaven assain thee, O my son! What aileth thee?" And he
answered, "Buy me Jessamine, O my mother." Quoth she, "When the
flower-seller passeth I will buy thee a basketful of jessamine." Quoth
he, "It is not the jessamine one smells, but a slave-girl named
Jessamine, whom my father would not buy for me." So she said to her
husband, "Why and wherefore didest thou not buy him the girl?" and he
replied, "What is fit for the lord is not fit for the liege and I have
no power to take her: no less a man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief
of the Sixty." Then the youth's weakness redoubled upon him, till he
gave up sleeping and eating, and his mother bound her head with the
fillets of mourning. And while in her sadness she sat at home,
lamenting over her son, behold, came in to her an old woman, known as
the mother of Ahmad Kamбkim[FN#88] the arch-thief, a knave who would
bore through a middle wall and scale the tallest of the tall and steal
the very kohl off the eye-ball.[FN#89] From his earliest years he had
been given to these malpractices, till they made him Captain of the
Watch, when he stole a sum of money; and the Chief of Police, coming
upon him in the act, carried him to the Caliph, who bade put him to
death on the common execution-ground.[FN#90] But he implored protection
of the Wazir whose intercession the Caliph never rejected, so he
pleaded for him with the Commander of the Faithful who said, "How canst
thou intercede for this pest of the human race?" Ja'afar answered, "O
Commander of the Faithful, do thou imprison him; whoso built the first
jail was a sage, seeing that a jail is the grave of the living and a
joy for the foe." So the Caliph bade lay him in bilboes and write
thereon, "Appointed to remain here until death and not to be loosed but
on the corpse washer's bench;" and they cast him fettered into limbo.
Now his mother was a frequent visitor to the house of the Emir Khбlid,
who was Governor and Chief of Police; and she used to go in to her son
in jail and say to him, "Did I not warn thee to turn from thy wicked
ways?''[FN#91] And he would always answer her, "Allah decreed this to
me; but, O my mother, when thou visitest the Emir's wife make her
intercede for me with her husband." So when the old woman came into the
Lady Khatun, she found her bound with the fillets of mourning and said
to her, "Wherefore dost thou mourn?" She replied, "For my son Habzalam
Bazazah;" and the old woman exclaimed, "Heaven assain thy son!; what
hath befallen him?" So the mother told her the whole story, and she
said, "What thou say of him who should achieve such a feat as would
save thy son?" Asked the lady, "And what feat wilt thou do?" Quoth the
old woman, "I have a son called Ahmad Kamakim, the arch-thief, who
lieth chained in jail and on his bilboes is written, 'Appointed to
remain till death'; so do thou don thy richest clothes and trick thee
out with thy finest jewels and present thyself to thy husband with an
open face and smiling mien; and when he seeketh of thee what men seek
of women, put him off and baulk him of his will and say, 'By Allah,
'tis a strange thing! When a man desireth aught of his wife he dunneth
her till she doeth it; but if a wife desire aught of her husband, he
will not grant it to her.' Then he will say, 'What dost thou want?';
and do thou answer, 'First swear to grant my request.' If he swear to
thee by his head or by Allah, say to him, 'Swear to me the oath of
divorce', and do not yield to him, except he do this. And whenas he
hath sworn to thee the oath of divorce, say to him, 'Thou keepest in
prison a man called Ahmad Kamakim, and he hath a poor old mother, who
hath set upon me and who urgeth me in the matter and who saith, 'Let
thy husband intercede for him with the Caliph, that my son may repent
and thou gain heavenly guerdon.'" And the Lady Khatun replied, "I hear
and obey." So when her husband came into her—And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-third Night,