with blackest blee:—
“O Night shall thy murk bring me ne’er a chum ✿ To tumble and futter
this coynte of me?”
And she smote that part with her palm and sighed ✿ Sore sighs and a
weeping continued she:—
“As the toothstick beautifies teeth e’en so ✿ Must prickle to coynte as
a toothstick be.
O Moslems, is never a stand to your tools, ✿ To assist a woman’s
necessity?”
Thereat rose upstanding beneath its clothes ✿ My yard, as crying, “At
thee! at thee!”
And I loosed her trouser-string, startling her: ✿ “Who art thou?” and I
said, “A reply to thy plea!”
And began to stroke her with wrist-thick yard, ✿ Hurting hinder cheeks
by its potency:
And she cried as I rose after courses three ✿ “Suit thy gree the
stroke!” and I—“suit thy gree!”
And how excellent is the saying of another![287]—
A fair one, to idolaters if she her face should show, They’d leave their
idols and her face for only Lord would know.
If in the Eastward she appeared unto a monk, for sure, He’d cease from
turning to the West and to the East bend low;
And if into the briny sea one day she chanced to spit, Assuredly the
salt sea’s floods straight fresh and sweet would grow.
And that of another:—
I looked at her one look and that dazed me ✿ Such rarest gifts of mind
and form to see,
When doubt inspired her that I loved her, and ✿ Upon her cheeks the
doubt showed showily.
I saluted her and she said to me, “Well come and welcome, and fair
welcome!”; and taking me by the hand, O Prince of True Believers, made
me sit down by her side; whereupon, of the excess of my desire, I fell
a-weeping for fear of severance and pouring forth the tears of the eye,
recited these two couplets:—
I love the nights of parting though I joy not in the same ✿ Time haply
may exchange them for the boons of Union-day:
And the days that bring Union I unlove for single thought, ✿ Seeing
everything in life lacking steadfastness of stay.
Then she strave to solace me with soft sweet speech, but I was drowned
in the deeps of passion, fearing even in union the pangs of disunion,
for excess of longing and ecstasy of passion; and I bethought me of the
lowe of absence and estrangement and repeated these two couplets:—
I thought of estrangement in her embrace ✿ And my eyes rained tears
red as ’Andam-wood.
So I wiped the drops on that long white neck; ✿ For camphor[288] is wont
to stay flow of blood.
Then she bade bring food and there came four damsels, high-bosomed girls
and virginal, who set before us food and fruits and confections and
flowers and wine, such as befit none save kings. So, O Commander of the
Faithful, we ate, and sat over our wine, compassed about with blooms and
herbs of sweet savour, in a chamber suitable only for kings. Presently,
one of her maids brought her a silken bag, which she opened and taking
thereout a lute, laid it in her lap and smote its strings, whereat it
complained as child complaineth to mother, and she sang these two
couplets:—
Drink not pure wine except from hand of slender youth ✿ Like wine for
daintiness and like him eke the wine:
For wine no joyance brings to him who drains the cup ✿ Save bring the
cup-boy cheek as fair and fain and fine.
So, I abode with her, O Commander of the Faithful, month after month in
similar guise, till all my money was spent; wherefore I began to bethink
me of separation as I sat with her one day and my tears railed down upon
my cheeks like rills, and I became not knowing night from light. Quoth
she, “Why dost thou weep?”; and quoth I, “O light of mine eyes, I weep
because of our parting.” She asked, “And what shall part me and thee, O
my lord?”; and I answered, “By Allah, O my lady, from the day I came to
thee, thy father hath taken of me, for every night, five hundred dinars,
and now I have nothing left. Right soothfast is the saw:—Penury maketh
strangerhood at home and money maketh a home in strangerhood; and indeed
the poet speaks truth when he saith:—
Lack of good is exile to man at home; ✿ And money shall house him
where’er he roam.”
She replied, “Know that it is my father’s custom, whenever a merchant
abideth with him and hath spent all his capital, to entertain him three
days; then doth he put him out and he may return to us nevermore. But
keep thou thy secret and conceal thy case and I will so contrive that
thou shalt abide with me till such time as Allah will;[289] for, indeed,
there is in my heart a great love for thee. Thou must know that all my
father’s money is under my hand and he wotteth not its full tale; so,
every morning, I will give thee a purse of five hundred dinars which do
thou offer to my sire, saying:—Henceforth, I will pay thee only day by
day. He will hand the sum to me, and I will give it to thee again, and
we will abide thus till such time as may please Allah.”[289] Thereupon I
thanked her and kissed her hand; and on this wise, O Prince of True
Believers, I abode with her a whole year, till it chanced on a certain
day that she beat one of her handmaids grievously and the slave-girl
said, “By Allah, I will assuredly torture thy heart, even as thou hast
tortured me!” So she went to the girl’s father and exposed to him all
that had passed, first and last, which when Tahir ibn Alaa heard he
arose forthright and coming in to me, as I sat with his daughter, said,
“Ho, such an one!”; and I said, “At thy service.” Quoth he, “’Tis our
wont, when a merchant grow poor with us, to give him hospitality three
days; but thou hast had a year with us, eating and drinking and doing
what thou wouldst.” Then he turned to his pages and cried to them, “Pull
off his clothes.” They did as he bade them and gave me ten dirhams and
an old suit worth five silvers; after which he said to me, “Go forth; I
will not beat thee nor abuse thee; but wend thy ways and if thou tarry
in this town, thy blood be upon thine own head.” So I went forth, O
Commander of the Faithful, in my own despite, knowing not whither to
hie, for had fallen on my heart all the trouble in the world and I was
occupied with sad thought and doubt. Then I bethought me of the wealth
which I had brought from Oman and said in myself, “I came hither with a
thousand thousand dinars, part price of thirty ships, and have made away
with it all in the house of yonder ill-omened man, and now I go forth
from him, bare and broken-hearted! But there is no Majesty and there is
no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!” Then I abode three
days in Baghdad, without tasting meat or drink, and on the fourth day
seeing a ship bound for Bassorah, I took passage in her of the owner,
and when we reached our port, I landed and went into the bazar, being
sore anhungered. Presently, a man saw me, a grocer, whom I had known
aforetime, and coming up to me, embraced me, for he had been my friend
and my father’s friend before me. Then he questioned me of my case,
seeing me clad in those tattered clothes; so I told him all that had
befallen me, and he said, “By Allah, this is not the act of a sensible
man! But after this that hath befallen thee what dost thou purpose to
do?” Quoth I, “I know not what I shall do,” and quoth he, “Wilt thou
abide with me and write my outgo and income and thou shalt have two
dirhams a day, over and above thy food and drink?” I agreed to this and
abode with him, O Prince of True Believers, selling and buying, till I
had gotten an hundred dinars; when I hired me an upper chamber by the
river-side, so haply a ship should come up with merchandise, that I
might buy goods with the dinars and go back with them to Baghdad. Now it
fortuned that one day, there came ships with merchandise, and all the
merchants resorted to them to buy, and I went with them on board, when
behold, there came two men out of the hold and setting themselves chairs
on the deck, sat down thereon. The merchants addressed themselves to the
twain with intent to buy, and the man said to one of the crew, “Bring
the carpet.” Accordingly he brought the carpet and spread it, and
another came with a pair of saddle-bags, whence he took a budget and
emptied it on the carpet; and our sights were dazzled with that which
issued therefrom of pearls and corals and jacinths and carnelians and
other jewels of all sorts and colours.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
merchant, after recounting to the Caliph the matter of the bag and its
containing jewels of all sorts, continued:—Presently, O Commander of the
Faithful, said one of the men on the chairs, “O company of merchants, we
will sell but this to-day, by way of spending-money, for that we are
weary.” So the merchants fell to bidding one against other for the
jewels and bid till the price reached four hundred dinars. Then said to
me the owner of the bag (for he was an old acquaintance of mine, and
when he saw me, he came down to me and saluted me), “Why dost thou not
speak and bid like the rest of the merchants?” I said, “O my lord, by
Allah, the shifts of fortune have run against me and I have lost my
wealth and have only an hundred dinars left in the world.” Quoth he, “O
Ománi, after this vast wealth, can only an hundred dinars remain to
thee?” And I was abashed before him and my eyes filled with tears;
whereupon he looked at me and indeed my case was grievous to him. So he
said to the merchants, “Bear witness against me that I have sold all
that is in this bag of various gems and precious stones to this man for
an hundred gold pieces, albeit I know them to be worth so many thousand
dinars, and this is a present from me to him.” Then he gave me the
saddle-bag and the carpet, with all the jewels that were thereon, for
which I thanked him, and each and every of the merchants present praised
him. Presently I carried all this to the jewel-market and sat there to
sell and buy. Now among the precious stones was a round amulet of the
handiwork of the masters,[290] weighing half a pound: it was red of the
brightest, a carnelian on both whose sides were graven characts and
characters, like the tracks of ants; but I knew not its worth. I sold
and bought a whole year, at the end of which I took the amulet[291] and
said, “This hath been with me some while, and I know not what it is nor
what may be its value.” So I gave it to the broker who took it and went
round with it and returned, saying, “None of the merchants will give me
more than ten dirhams for it.” Quoth I, “I will not sell it at that
price;” and he threw it in my face and went away. Another day I again
offered it for sale and its price reached fifteen dirhams; whereupon I
took it from the broker in anger and threw it back into the tray. But a
few days after, as I sat in my shop, there came up to me a man, who bore
the traces of travel, and saluting me, said, “By thy leave, I will turn
over what thou hast of wares.” Said I, “’Tis well,” and indeed, O
Commander of the Faithful, I was still wroth by reason of the lack of
demand for the talisman. So the man fell to turning over my wares, but
took nought thereof save the amulet, which when he saw, he kissed his
hand and cried, “Praised be Allah!” Then said he to me, “O my lord, wilt
thou sell this?”; and I replied, “Yes,” being still angry. Quoth he,
“What is its price?” And I asked, “How much wilt thou give?” He
answered, “Twenty dinars”: so I thought he was making mock of me and
exclaimed, “Wend thy ways.” But he resumed, “I will give thee fifty
dinars for it.” I made him no answer, and he continued, “A thousand
dinars.” But I was silent, declining to reply, whilst he laughed at my
silence and said, “Why dost thou not return me an answer?” “Hie thee
home,” repeated I and was like to quarrel with him. But he bid thousand
after thousand, and I still made him no reply, till he said, “Wilt thou
sell it for twenty thousand dinars?” I still thought he was mocking me;
but the people gathered about me and all of them said, “Sell to him, and
if he buy not, we will all up and at him and drub him and thrust him
forth the city.” So quoth I to him, “Wilt thou buy or dost thou jest?”;
and quoth he, “Wilt thou sell or dost thou joke?” I said, “I will sell
if thou wilt buy;” then he said, “I will buy it for thirty thousand
dinars; take them and make the bargain;” so I cried to the bystanders,
“Bear witness against him,” adding to him, “But on condition that thou
acquaint me with the virtues and profit of this amulet for which thou
payest all this money.” He answered, “Close the bargain, and I will tell
thee this;” I rejoined, “I sell it to thee;” and he retorted, “Allah be
witness of that which thou sayst and testimony!” Then he brought out the
gold and giving it to me took the amulet, and set it in his bosom; after
which he turned to me and asked, “Art thou content?” Answered I, “Yes,”
and he said to the people, “Bear witness against him that he hath closed
the bargain and touched the price, thirty thousand dinars.” Then he
turned to me and said, “Harkye, my poor fellow, hadst thou held back
from selling, by Allah I would have bidden thee up to an hundred
thousand dinars, nay, even to a thousand thousand!” When I heard these
words, O Commander of the Faithful, the blood fled my face, and from
that day there overcame it this pallor thou seest. Then said I to him,
“Tell me the reason of this and what is the use of this amulet.” And he
answered, saying, “Know that the King of Hind hath a daughter, never was
seen a thing fairer than she, and she is possessed with a falling
sickness.[292]” So the King summoned the Scribes and men of science and
Divines, but none of them could relieve her of this. Now I was present
in the assembly; so I said to him, “O King, I know a man called
Sa’adu’lláh the Babylonian, than whom there is not on the face of the
earth one more masterly in these matters, and if thou see fit to send me
to him, do so.” Said he, “Go to him;” and quoth I, “Bring me a piece of
carnelian.” Accordingly he gave me a great piece of carnelian and an
hundred thousand dinars and a present, which I took, and with which I
betook myself to the land of Babel. Then I sought out the Shaykh and
when he was shown to me I delivered to him the money and the present,
which he accepted and sending for a lapidary, bade him fashion the
carnelian into this amulet. Then he abode seven months in observation of
the stars, till he chose out an auspicious time for engraving it, when
he graved upon it these talismanic characters which thou seest, and I
took it and returned with it to the King.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man
said to the Commander of the Faithful:—So after the Shaykh had spoken, I
took this talisman and returned with it to the King. Now the Princess
was bound with four chains, and every night a slave-girl lay with her
and was found in the morning with her throat cut. The King took the
amulet and laid it upon his daughter who was straightway made whole. At
this he rejoiced with exceeding joy and invested me with a vest of
honour and gave alms of much money; and he caused set the amulet in the
Princess’s necklace. It chanced, one day, that she embarked with her
women in a ship and went for a sail on the sea. Presently, one of her
maids put out her hand to her, to sport with her, and the necklace brake
asunder and fell into the waves. From that hour the possessor[293] of
the Princess returned to her, wherefore great grief betided the King and
he gave me much money, saying, “Go thou to Shaykh Sa’adu’llah and let
him make her another amulet, in lieu of that which is lost.” I journeyed
to Babel, but found the old man dead; whereupon I returned and told the
King, who sent me and ten others to go round about in all countries, so
haply we might find a remedy for her: and now Allah hath caused me
happen on it with thee.” Saying these words, he took from me the amulet,
O Commander of the Faithful, and went his ways. Such, then, is the cause
of the wanness of my complexion. As for me, I repaired to Baghdad,
carrying all my wealth with me, and took up my abode in the lodgings
where I lived whilome. On the morrow, as soon as it was light, I donned
my dress and betook myself to the house of Tahir ibn al-Alaa, that haply
I might see her whom I loved, for the love of her had never ceased to
increase upon my heart. But when I came to his home, I saw the balcony
broken down and the lattice builded up; so I stood awhile, pondering my
case and the shifts of Time, till there came up a serving-man, and I
questioned him, saying, “What hath God done with Tahir ibn al-Alaa?” He
answered, “O my brother, he hath repented to Almighty Allah.[294]” Quoth
I, “What was the cause of his repentance?”; and quoth he, “O my brother,
in such a year there came to him a merchant, by name Abu al-Hasan the
Omani, who abode with his daughter awhile, till his wealth was all
spent, when the old man turned him out, broken-hearted. Now the girl
loved him with exceeding love, and when she was parted from him, she
sickened of a sore sickness and came nigh upon death. As soon as her
father knew how it was with her, he sent after and sought for Abu
al-Hasan through the lands, pledging himself to bestow upon whoso should
produce him an hundred thousand dinars; but none could find him nor come
on any trace of him; and she is now hard upon death.” Quoth I, “And how
is it with her sire?” and quoth the servant, “He hath sold all his
girls, for grief of that which hath befallen him, and hath repented to
Almighty Allah.” Then asked I, “What wouldst thou say to him who should
direct thee to Abu al-Hasan the Omani?”; and he answered, “Allah upon
thee, O my brother, that thou do this and quicken my poverty and the
poverty of my parents[295]!” I rejoined, “Go to her father and say to
him, Thou owest me the reward for good news, for that Abu al-Hasan the
Omani standeth at the door.” With this he set off trotting, as he were a
mule loosed from the mill, and presently came back, accompanied by
Shaykh Tahir himself, who no sooner saw me than he returned to his house
and gave the man an hundred thousand dinars which he took and went away
blessing me. Then the old man came up and embraced me and wept, saying,
“O my lord, where hast thou been absent all this while? Indeed, my
daughter hath been killed by reason of her separation from thee; but
come with me into the house.” So we entered and he prostrated himself in
gratitude to the Almighty, saying, “Praised be Allah who hath reunited
us with thee!” Then he went in to his daughter and said to her, “The
Lord hath healed thee of this sickness;” and said she, “O my papa, I
shall never be whole of my sickness, save I look upon the face of Abu
al-Hasan.” Quoth he, “An thou wilt eat a morsel and go to the Hammam, I
will bring thee in company with him.” Asked she, “Is it true that thou
sayst?”; and he answered, “By the Great God, ’tis true!” She rejoined,
“By Allah, if I look upon his face, I shall have no need of eating!”
Then said he to his page, “Bring in thy lord.” Thereupon I entered, and
when she saw me, O Prince of True Believers, she fell down in a swoon,
and presently coming to herself, recited this couplet:—
Yea, Allah hath joinèd the parted twain, ✿ When no thought they thought
e’er to meet again.
Then she sat upright and said, “By Allah, O my lord, I had not deemed to
see thy face ever more, save it were in a dream!” So she embraced me and
wept, and said, “O Abu al-Hasan, now will I eat and drink.” The old man
her sire rejoiced to hear these words and they brought her meat and
drink and we ate and drank, O Commander of the Faithful. After this, I
abode with them awhile, till she was restored to her former beauty, when
her father sent for the Kazi and the witnesses and bade write out the
marriage-contract between her and me and made a mighty great
bride-feast; and she is my wife to this day and this is my son by her.”
So saying he went away and returned with a boy of rare beauty and
symmetry of form and favour to whom said he, “Kiss the ground before the
Commander of the Faithful.” He kissed ground before the Caliph, who
marvelled at his beauty and glorified his Creator; after which Al-Rashid
departed, he and his company, saying, “O Ja’afar, verily, this is none
other than a marvellous thing, never saw I nor heard I aught more
wondrous.” When he was seated in the palace of the Caliphate, he cried,
“O Masrur!” who replied, “Here am I, O my lord!” Then said he, “Bring
the year’s tribute of Bassorah and Baghdad and Khorasan, and set it in
this recess.[296]” Accordingly he laid the three tributes together and
they were a vast sum of money, whose tale none might tell save Allah.
Then the Caliph bade draw a curtain before the recess and said to
Ja’afar, “Fetch me Abu al-Hasan.” Replied Ja’afar, “I hear and obey,”
and going forth, returned presently with the Omani, who kissed ground
before the Caliph, fearing lest he had sent for him because of some
fault that he had committed when he was with him in his house. Then said
Al-Rashid, “Harkye, O Omani!” and he replied, “Adsum, O Prince of True
Believers! May Allah ever bestow his favours upon thee!” Quoth the
Caliph, “Draw back yonder curtain.” Thereupon Abu al-Hasan drew back the
curtain from the recess and was confounded and perplexed at the mass of
money he saw there. Said Al-Rashid, “O Abu al-Hasan, whether is the
more, this money or that thou didst lose by the amulet[297]?”; and he
answered, “This is many times the greater, O Commander of the Faithful!”
Quoth the Caliph, “Bear witness, all ye who are present, that I give
this money to this young man.” So Abu al-Hasan kissed ground and was
abashed and wept before the Caliph for excess of joy. Now when he wept,
the tears ran down from his eyelids upon his cheeks and the blood
returned to its place and his face became like the moon on the night of
its fulness. Whereupon quoth the Caliph, “There is no god but _the_ God!
Glory be to Him who decreeth change upon change and is Himself the
Everlasting who changeth not!” Saying these words, he bade fetch a
mirror and showed Abu al-Hasan his face therein, which when he saw, he
prostrated himself, in gratitude to the Most High Lord. Then the Caliph
bade transport the money to Abu al-Hasan’s house and charged the young
man not to absent himself from him, so he might enjoy his company as a
cup-companion. Accordingly he paid him frequent visits, till Al-Rashid
departed to the mercy of Almighty Allah; and glory be to Him who dieth
not the Lord of the Seen and the Unseen! And among tales they tell is
one touching
-----
Footnote 276:
_i.e._ Ishak of Mosul, for whom see vol. iv. 119. The Bresl. Edit. has
Fazíl for Fazl.
Footnote 277:
Abu Dalaf al-Ijili, a well-known soldier equally famed for liberality
and culture.
Footnote 278:
Arab. “Takhmísh,” alluding to the familiar practice of tearing face
and hair in grief for a loss, a death, etc.
Footnote 279:
_i.e._ When he is in the very prime of life and able to administer
_fiers coups de canif_.
For ladies e’en of most uneasy virtue
Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty.
Don Juan 1. 62.
Footnote 280:
Arab. “Lázuward:” see vol. iii. 33
Footnote 281:
Arab. “Sidillah.” The Bresl. Edit. (v. 99), has, “a couch of ivory and
ebony, whereon was that which befitted it of mattresses and cushions *
* * * and on it five damsels.”
Footnote 282:
_i.e._ As she untunes the lute by “pinching” the strings
over-excitedly with her right, her other hand retunes it by turning
the pegs.
Footnote 283:
_i.e._ The slim cupbearer (Zephyr) and fair-faced girl (Moon) handed
round the bubbling bowl (star).
Footnote 284:
Arab. “Al-Sath” whence the Span. Azotea. The lines that follow are
from the Bresl. Edit. v. 110.
Footnote 285:
This “’Ar’ar” is probably the Callitris quadrivalvis whose resin
(“Sandarac”) is imported as varnish from African Mogador to England.
Also called the Thuja, it is of cypress shape, slow growing and finely
veined in the lower part of the base. Most travellers are agreed that
it is the Citrus-tree of Roman Mauritania, concerning which Pliny
(xiii. 29) gives curious details, a single table costing from a
million sesterces (£900) to 1,400,000. For other details see p. 95.
“Morocco and the Moors,” by my late friend Dr. Leared (London: Sampson
Low, 1876).
Footnote 286:
_i.e._ Kings might sigh for her in vain.
Footnote 287:
These lines are in vol. viii. 279. I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 288:
A most unsavoury comparison to a Persian who always connects camphor
with the idea of a corpse.
Footnote 289:
Arab. “Ilà má sháa’ lláh” _i.e._ as long as you like.
Footnote 290:
_i.e._ of gramarye.
Footnote 291: