with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep
the loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards,
when he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the
shop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah's
creatures, in accordance with his father's injunction. This wise he
continued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to
him by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he
turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of
righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair
women night and day; for he said to himself, "Of a truth my father
amassed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I
leave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet,
'An through the whole of life * Thou gett'st and gain'st for
self;
Say, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?'"
And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and
all watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his
riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his
shop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his
body, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and
thoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day,
when he had sat from day-break to mid-afternoon without breaking his
fast, he said in his mind, "I will go round to those on whom I spent my
monies: perchance one of them will feed me this day." So he went the
round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one's door of
them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached
with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants,—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling
his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants' bazar
where he found a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to
himself, "I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By
Allah, I will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!"
So he made his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for
sale who was five feet tall,[FN#262] beautifully proportioned, rosy of
cheek and high of breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time
in beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one,
describing her,
"As she willиd she was made, and in such a way that when * She
was cast in Nature's mould neither short nor long was she:
Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *
Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:
The full moon is her face[FN#263]and the branchlet is her shape,
* And the musk-pod is her scent—what like her can there be?
'Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in
every lovely limblet another moon we see!"
And her name was Zumurrud—the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he
marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, "By Allah, I will not stir
hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!"
So he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he
had a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his
parents. Then the broker stood at the damsel's head and said, "Ho,
merchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for
this damsel, the mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the
curtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the delight of the
desirous? Open the biddings' door and on the opener be nor blame nor
reproach for evermore." Thereupon quoth one merchant, "Mine for five
hundred dinars;" "And ten," quoth another. "Six hundred," cried an old
man named Rashнd al-Din, blue of eye[FN#264] and foul of face. "And
ten," cried another. "I bid a thousand," rejoined Rashid al-Din;
whereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace
and the broker took counsel with the girl's owner, who said, "I have
sworn not to sell her save to whom she shall choose: so consult her."
Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and said to her, "O mistress
of moons this merchant hath a mind to buy thee." She looked at Rashid
al-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, "I will not be sold to
a gray-beard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah
inspired his saying who saith,
'I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My
hoary hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display'd;
She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:—
* 'No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath
made
For hoary head and grizzled chin I've no especial-love: * What!
stuff my mouth with cotton[FN#265] ere in sepulchre I'm
laid?'"
Now when the broker heard her words he said, "By Allah, thou art
excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!" So he told her
owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said,
"Consult her concerning another." Thereupon a second man came forward
and said, "Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she
would have none of;" but she looked at him and seeing that his beard
was dyed, said "What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening
of the hoary face?" And she made a great show of wonderment and
repeated these couplets,
"Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *
A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite[FN#266]
A beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *
A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and
bite.[FN#267]
O thou enravish" by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so
translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?
Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And
hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!
Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *
Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by
night.[FN#268]
And how well saith another'
Quoth she, 'I see thee dye thy hoariness:'[FN#269] * 'To hide, O
ears and eyes! from thee,' quoth I:
She roared with laugh and said, 'Right funny this; * Thou art so
lying e'en
Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, "By Allah thou hast
spoken sooth!" The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated
the verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was
wrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said,
"Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;" but, when he did so,
she looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, "This man
is one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith,[FN#270]
'Consort not with the Cyclops e'en a day; * Beware his falsehood
and his mischief fly:
Had this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne'er brought
blindness to his eye!'"
Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, "Wilt thou be sold to
this man?" She looked at him and seeing that he was short of
stature[FN#271] and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, "This
is he of whom the poet speaketh,
'I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length
unroll'd:
'Tis like a certain[FN#272] winter night, * Longsome and
darksome, drear and cold.'"
Said the broker, "O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are
present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him." So she looked
round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies,
till her glance fell on Ali Shar,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl's
glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes,
which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for
that he was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or
northern air; and she said, "O broker, I will be sold to none but to
this my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet
thus describeth,
'Displaying that fair face * The tempted they assailed
Who, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!'
For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water
of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[FN#273] his spittle is a cure for the
sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one
of him,
'His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those
teeth, smile shown, are camphor's hue:
Rizwбn[FN#274] hath turned him out o' doors, for fear * The
Houris lapse from virtue at the view
Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full
moon sails, excuse is due.'
Lord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look of
whom saith the poet,
'The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant
waxed and heart unstirred:
His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their
languish,[FN#275] can he keep his word?'
And as saith another,
'Quoth they, 'Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst
thou love him and a side-beard see?'
Quoth I, 'Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be
letters 'tis a forgery:'
Gather his charms all growths of Eden garth * Whereto those
Kausar[FN#276]-lips bear testimony.'"
When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali
Shar, he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of
her beauty; but her owner said to him, "Marvel not at her splendour
which shameth the noonday sun, nor that her memory is stored with the
choicest verses of the poets; for besides this, she can repeat the
glorious Koran, according to the seven readings,[FN#277] and the august
Traditions, after ascription and authentic transmission; and she
writeth the seven modes of handwriting[FN#278] and she knoweth more
learning and knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are
better than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth
them for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to
make a curtain." Exclaimed the broker, "O happy the man who hath her in
his house and maketh her of his choicest treasures!"; and her owner
said to him, "Sell her to whom she will." So the broker went up to Ali
Shar and, kissing his hands, said to him, "O my lord, buy thou this
damsel, for she hath made choice of thee."[FN#279] Then he set forth to
him all her charms and accomplishments, and added, "I give thee joy if
thou buy her, for this be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His
giving." Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile, laughing at
himself and secretly saying, "Up to this hour I have not broken my
fast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have no money
wherewith to buy her." The damsel, seeing him hang down his head, said
to the broker, "Take my hand and lead me to him, that I may show my
beauty to him and tempt him to buy me; for I will not be sold to any
but to him." So the broker took her hand and stationed her before Ali
Shar, saying, "What is thy good pleasure, O my lord?" But he made him
no answer, and the girl said to him, "O my lord and darling of my
heart, what aileth thee that thou wilt not bid for me? Buy me for what
thou wilt and I will bring thee good fortune." So he raised his eyes to
her and said, "Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand dinars."
Said she, "Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred." He cried, "No,"
and she rejoined, "Then for eight hundred;" and though he again said,
"Nay," she ceased not to abate the price, till she came to an hundred
dinars. Quoth he, "I have not by me a full hundred." So she laughed and
asked, "How much dost thou lack of an hundred?" He answered, "By Allah,
I have neither an hundred dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither
white coin nor red cash, neither dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for
another and a better customer." And when she knew that he had nothing,
she said to him, "Take me by the hand and carry me aside into a by-
lane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily." He did so and she drew
from her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which she gave
him, saying, "Pay down nine hundred to my price and let the hundred
remain with thee by way of provision." He did as she bid him and,
buying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down the price from her own
purse and carried her to his house. When she entered it, she found a
dreary desolate saloon without carpets or vessels; so she gave him
other thousand dinars, saying, "Go to the bazar and buy three hundred
dinars' worth of furniture and vessels for the house and three dinars'
worth of meat and drink."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that quoth the
slave-girl, "Bring us meat and drink for three dinars, furthermore a
piece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern
thread and sewing silk of seven colours." Thus he did, and she
furnished the house and they sat down to eat and drink; after which
they went to bed and took their pleasure one of the other. And they lay
the night embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the
poet,[FN#280]
"Cleave fast to her thou lovestand let the envious rail amain,
For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.
Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And,
from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did
drain.
Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And 'spite
the envier, thereto I surely will attain.
There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon, Than
when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.
Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight,
Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
enchain
Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.
Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, Canst thou
assain a heart diseased or heal-a cankered brain?
If in thy time thou kind but one to love thee and be true, I rede
thee cast the world away and with that one remain."
So they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed
firmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the
curtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and purpled it with
silver and gold thread and she added thereto a border depicting round
about it all manner of birds and beasts; nor is there in the world a
feral but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in eight days,
till she had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and
ironed it and gave it to her lord, saying, "Carry it to the bazar and
sell it to one of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou
sell it to a passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and
thee, for we have foes who are not unthoughtful of us." "I hear and I
obey," answered he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a
merchant, as she bade him; after which he bought a piece of silk for
another curtain and gold and silver and silken thread as before and
what they needed of food, and brought all this to her, giving her the
rest of the money. Now every eight days she made a curtain, which he
sold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed a whole year. At the end
of that time, he went as usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he
gave to the broker; and there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him
sixty dinars for it; but he refused, and the Christian continued
bidding higher and higher, till he came to an hundred dinars and bribed
the broker with ten ducats. So the man returned to Ali Shar and told
him of the proffered price and urged him to accept the offer and sell
the article at the Nazarene's valuation, saying, "O my lord, be not
afraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt." The
merchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to the
Christian, albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the money, set off
to return home. Presently, as he walked, he found the Christian walking
behind him; so he said to him, "O Nazarene,[FN#281] why dost thou
follow in my footsteps?" Answered the other "O my lord, I want a
something at the end of the street, Allah never bring thee to want!";
but Ali Shar had barely reached his place before the Christian overtook
him; so he said to him, "O accursed, what aileth thee to follow me
wherever I go?" Replied the other, "O my lord, give me a draught of
water, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!"[FN#282] Quoth
Ali Shar to himself, "Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth tribute
and claimeth our protection[FN#283] and he asketh me for a draught of
water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!"—And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to
himself, "This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a
draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!" So he entered the
house and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him
and said to him, "O my love, hast thou sold the curtain?" He replied,
"Yes;" and she asked, "To a merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart
presageth a parting." And he answered, "To whom but to a merchant?"
Thereupon she rejoined, "Tell me the truth of the case, that I may
order my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?" And he, To give
the broker to drink," upon which she exclaimed, There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; and she
repeated these two couplets,[FN#284]
"O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the
embrace of the beloved deceive thee!
Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the
end of every union is disjunction.
Then he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian within the
vestibule and said to him, "How comest thou here and how darest thou, O
dog, enter my house without my leave?" Answered he, "O my lord, there
is no difference between the door and the vestibule, and I never
intended to stir hence, save to go out; and my thanks are due to thee
for thy kindness and favour, thy bounty and generosity." Then he took
the mug and emptying it, returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and
waited for him to rise up and to go; but he did not move. So Ali said
to him, "Why dost thou not rise and wend thy way?"; and he answered, "O
my lord, be not of those who do a kindness and then make it a reproach,
nor of those of whom saith the poet,[FN#285]
'They're gone who when thou stoodest at their door * Would for
thy wants so generously cater:
But stand at door of churls who followed them, * They'd make high
favour of a draught of water!'"
And he continued, "O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have thee
give me to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but a bit of
bread or a biscuit with an onion." Replied Ali Shar, "Begone, without
more chaffer and chatter; there is nothing in the house." He persisted,
"O my lord, if there be nothing in the house, take these hundred dinars
and bring us something from the market, if but a single scone, that
bread and salt may pass between us."[FN#286] With this, quoth Ali Shar
to himself, "This Christian is surely mad; I will take his hundred
dinars and bring him somewhat worth a couple of dirhams and laugh at
him." And the Nazarene added, "O my lord, I want but a small matter to
stay my hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the best food
is that which doeth away appetite, not rich viands; and how well saith
the poet,
'Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, * How is it then[FN#287]
in woes of want I wone?
Death is all-justest, lacking aught regard * For Caliph-king and
beggar woe-begone.'"
Then quoth Ali Shar, "Wait here, while I lock the saloon and fetch thee
somewhat from the market;" and quoth the Christian, "To hear is to
obey." So Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking the door with a
padlock, put the key in his pocket: after which he went to market and
bought fried cheese and virgin honey and bananas[FN#288] and bread,
with which he returned to the house. Now when the Christian saw the
provision, he said, "O my lord, this is overmuch; 'tis enough for half
a score of men and I am alone; but belike thou wilt eat with me."
Replied Ali, "Eat by thyself, I am full;" and the Christian rejoined,
"O my lord, the wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a
whore." Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat
down and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his
hand;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar sat down
and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; but
the Nazarene privily took a banana and peeled it; then, splitting it in
twain, put into one half concentrated Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm
whereof would over throw an elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and
gave it to Ali Shar, saying, "O my lord, by the truth of thy religion,
I adjure thee to take this." So Ali Shar, being ashamed to make him
forsworn, took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it settled well in
his stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as though
he had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, rose to
his feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o'-mount[FN#289] at bay
and, taking the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and ran off to
rejoin his brother. And the cause of his so doing was that the
Nazarene's brother was the same decrepit old man who purposed to buy
Zumurrud for a thousand dinars, but she would none of him and jeered
him in verse. He was an Unbeliever inwardly, though a Moslem outwardly,
and had called himself Rashid al-Din;[FN#290] and when Zumurrud mocked
him and would not accept of him, he complained to his brother the
aforesaid Christian who played this sleight to take her from her master
Ali Shar; whereupon his brother, Barsum by name said to him, "Fret not
thyself about the business, for I will make shift to seize her for
thee, without expending either diner or dirham. Now he was a skilful
wizard, crafty and wicked; so he watched his time and ceased not his
practices till he played Ali Shar the trick before related; then,
taking the key, he went to his brother and acquainted him with what had
passed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din mounted his she mule and repaired with
his brother and his servants to the house of Ali Shar, taking with him
a purse of a thousand dinars, wherewith to bribe the Chief of Police,
should he meet him. He opened the saloon door and the men who were with
him rushed in upon Zumurrud and forcibly seized her, threatening her
with death, if she spoke, but they left the place as it was and took
nothing therefrom. Lastly they left Ali Shar lying in the vestibule
after they had shut the door on him and laid the saloon key by his
side. Then the Christian carried the girl to his own house and setting
her amongst his handmaids and concubines, said to her, "O strumpet, I
am the old man whom thou didst reject and lampoon; but now I have thee,
without paying diner or dirham." Replied she (and her eyes streamed
with tears), "Allah requite thee, O wicked old man, for sundering me
and my lord!" He rejoined, "Wanton minx and whore that thou art, thou
shalt see how I will punish thee! By the truth of the Messiah and the
Virgin, except thou obey me and embrace my faith, I will torture thee
with all manner of torture!" She replied, "By Allah, though thou cut my
flesh to bits I will not forswear the faith of Al-Islam! It may be
Almighty Allah will bring me speedy relief, for He cloth even as He is
fief, and the wise say: 'Better body to scathe than a flaw in faith.'"
Thereupon the old man called his eunuchs and women, saying, "Throw her
down!" So they threw her down and he ceased not to beat her with
grievous beating, whilst she cried for help and no help came; then she
no longer implored aid but fell to saying, "Allah is my sufficiency,
and He is indeed all-sufficient!" till her groans ceased and her breath
failed her and she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his heart was
soothed by bashing her, he said to the eunuchs, "Drag her forth by the
feet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her nothing to eat."
And after quietly sleeping that night, on the morrow the accursed old
man sent for her and beat her again, after which he bade the Castrato
return her to her place. When the burning of the blows had cooled, she
said, "There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God!
Allah is my sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!" And she called
for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,