said to the jeweller, “The setting is conformable to my wishes, but the
stone is not to my liking. I have a handsomer than this: so take the
seal-ring and give it to one of thy slave-women.” Then he gave him a
fourth stone and an hundred dinars, saying, “Take thy hire and excuse
the trouble we have given thee.” Obayd replied, “O merchant, all the
trouble thou hast given us thou hast requited us and hast overwhelmed us
with thy great bounties: and indeed my heart is taken with love of thee
and I cannot brook parting from thee. So, Allah upon thee, be thou my
guest this night and heal my heart.” He rejoined, “So be it; but needs
must I go to my Khan, that I may give a charge to my domestics and tell
them that I shall sleep abroad to-night, so they may not expect me.”
“Where dost thou lodge?” asked the jeweller; and he answered, “In such a
Khan.” Quoth Obayd, “I will come for thee there;” and quoth the other,
“’Tis well.” So the jeweller repaired to the Khan before sundown,
fearing lest his wife should be anangered with him, if he returned home
without his guest; and, carrying Kamar al-Zaman to his house, seated him
in a saloon that had not its match. Halimah saw him, as he entered, and
was ravished with him. They talked till supper was served when they ate
and drank; after which appeared coffee and sherbets, and the jeweller
ceased not to entertain him with talk till eventide, when they prayed
the obligatory prayers. Then entered a handmaid with two cups[410] of
night drink, which when they had drunk, drowsiness overcame them and
they slept. Presently in came the jeweller’s wife and seeing them
asleep, looked upon Kamar al-Zaman’s face and her wit was confounded at
his beauty. Said she, “How can he sleep who loveth the fair?” and,
turning him over on his back, sat astraddle upon his breast. Then, in
the mania of her passion for him, she rained down kisses on his cheeks,
till she left a mark upon them and they became exceeding red and his
cheek bones shone; and, she sucked his lips, till the blood ran out into
her mouth; but with all this, her fire was not quenched nor her thirst
assuaged. She ceased not to kiss and clip him and twine leg with leg,
till the fore-brow of Morn grew white and the dawn broke forth in light;
when she put in his pocket four cockals[411] and went away. Then she
sent her maid with something like snuff, which she applied to their
nostrils and they sneezed and awoke, when the slave-girl said, “O my
lords, prayer is a duty; so rise ye and pray the dawn-prayer.” And she
brought them basin and ewer.[412] Quoth Kaman al-Zamar “O master, ’tis
late and we have overslept ourselves;” and quoth the jeweller, “O my
friend verily the air of this room is heavy; for, whenever I sleep in
it, this happens to me.” Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, “True,” and proceeded
to make the Wuzu ablution; but, when he put the water to his face, his
cheeks and lips burned him. Cried he, “Prodigious! If the air of the
room be heavy and we have been drowned in sleep, what aileth my cheeks
and lips that they burn me?” And he said to the jeweller, “O master, my
cheeks and lips burn me.” The other replied, “I guess this cometh of the
mosquito-bites.” “Strange!” said Kamar al-Zaman. “Hath this thing
happened to thee?” Replied Obayd, “No! But whenever I have by me a guest
like thee, he complaineth in the morning of the mosquito-bites, and this
happeneth only when he is like thee beardless. If he be bearded the
mosquitoes sting him not, and naught hindereth them from me but my
beard. It seems mosquitoes love not bearded men.”[413] Rejoined Kamar
al-Zaman, “True.” Then the maid brought them early breakfast and they
broke their fast and went out. Kamar al-Zaman betook himself to the old
woman, who exclaimed, when she saw him, “I see the marks of joyance on
thy face: tell me what thou hast seen.” Said he, “I have seen nothing.
Only I supped with the house-master in a saloon and prayed the
night-prayer, after which we fell asleep and woke not till morning.” She
laughed and said, “What be those marks on thy cheeks and lips?” He
answered, “’Twas the mosquitoes of the saloon that did this with me;”
and she rejoined, “’Tis well. But did the same thing betide the house
master?” He retorted, “Nay; but he told me that the mosquitoes of that
saloon molest not bearded men, but sting those only who have no hair on
face, and that whenever he hath for guest one who is beardless, the
stranger awaketh complaining of the mosquito-bites; whereas an he have a
beard, there befalleth him naught of this.” Said she, “Sooth thou
speakest: but say me, sawest thou aught save this?” And he answered, “I
found four cockals in my pocket.” Quoth she, “Show them to me.” So he
gave them to her and she laughed and said, “Thy mistress laid these in
thy pocket.” He asked, “How so?” And she answered, “’Tis as if she said
to thee, in the language of signs:[414]—An thou wert in love, thou
wouldst not sleep, for a lover sleepeth not: but thou has not ceased to
be a child and fit for nothing but to play with these cockals. So what
drave thee to fall in love with the fair? Now she came to thee by night
and finding thee asleep, scored thy cheeks with her kisses and left thee
this sign. But that will not suffice her of thee and she will certainly
send her husband to invite thee again to-night; so, when thou goest home
with him, hasten not to fall asleep, and on the morrow bring me five
hundred dinars and come and acquaint me with what hath passed, and I
will perfect for thee the device.” Answered he, “I hear and obey,” and
went back to the Khan. Thus it befel him; but as regards the jeweller’s
wife, she said to her husband, “Is the guest gone?” Answered he, “Yes,
but, O Halimah,[415] the mosquitoes plagued him last night and scarified
his cheeks and lips, and indeed I was abashed before him.” She rejoined,
“This is the wont of the mosquitoes of our saloon; for they love none
save the beardless. But do thou invite him again to-night.” So he
repaired to the Khan where the youth abode, and bidding him, carried him
to his house, where they ate and drank and prayed the night-prayer in
the saloon, after which the slave-girl entered and gave each of them a
cup of night-drink,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the slave-girl
went in to the twain and gave each of them a cup of night-drink, and
they drank and fell asleep. Presently, in came Halimah and said, “O
good-for-nothing, how canst thou sleep and call thyself a lover? A lover
sleepeth not!” Then she mounted on his breast and ceased not to come
down upon him with kisses and caresses, biting and sucking his lips and
so forth, till the morning, when she put in his pocket a knife and sent
her handmaid to arouse them. And when the youth awoke, his cheeks were
on fire, for excess of redness, and his lips like coral, for dint of
sucking and kissing. Quoth the jeweller, “Did the mosquitoes plague thee
last night?”; and quoth the other, “Nay!”; for he now knew the conceit
and left complaining. Then he felt the knife in his pocket and was
silent; but when he had broken his fast and drunk coffee, he left the
jeweller and going to the Khan; took five hundred dinars of gold and
carried them to the old woman, to whom he related what had passed,
saying, “I slept despite myself, and when I woke at dawn I found nothing
but a knife in my pocket.” Exclaimed the old trot, “May Allah protect
thee from her this next night! For she saith to thee by this sign, An
thou sleep again, I will cut thy throat. Thou wilt once more be bidden
to the jeweller’s house to-night,[416] and if thou sleep, she will slay
thee.” Said he, “What is to be done?”; and said she, “Tell me what thou
atest and drankest before sleeping.” Quoth he, “We supped as was our
wont and prayed the night-prayer, after which there came in to us a
maid, who gave each of us a cup of night-drink, which when I had drunk,
I fell asleep and awoke not till the morning.” Quoth the old woman, “The
mischief is in the cup: so, when the maid giveth it to thee, take it
from her, but drink not and wait till the master of the house have
drunken and fallen asleep; then say to her, Give me a draught of water,
and she will go to fetch thee the gugglet. Then do thou empty the cup
behind the pillow and lie down and feign sleep. So when she cometh back
with the gugglet, she will deem that thou hast fallen asleep, after
having drunk off the cup, and will leave thee; and presently the case
will appear to thee; but beware of disobeying my bidding.” Answered he,
“I hear and I obey,” and returned to the Khan. Meanwhile the jeweller’s
wife said to her husband, “A guest’s due honour is three nights’
entertainment: so do thou invite him a third time”; whereupon he betook
himself to the youth and inviting him, carried him home and sat down
with him in the saloon. When they had supped and prayed the
night-prayer, behold, in came the handmaid and gave each of them a cup.
Her master drank and fell asleep; but Kamar al-Zaman forbore to drink,
whereupon quoth the maid, “Wilt thou not drink, O my lord?” Answered he,
“I am athirst, bring me the gugglet.” Accordingly she went to fetch it,
and he emptied the cup behind the pillow and lay down. When the slave
girl returned, she saw him lying down and going to her mistress said,
“He hath drunk off the cup and fallen asleep;” whereupon quoth Halimah
to herself, “Verily, his death is better than his life.” Then, taking a
sharp knife, she went in to him, saying, “Three times, and thou notedst
not the sign, O fool![417] So now I will rip up thy maw.” When he saw
her making for him knife in hand, he opened his eyes and rose, laughing;
whereupon said she, “’Twas not of thine own wit, that thou camest at the
meaning of the sign, but by the help of some wily cheat; so tell me
whence thou hadst this knowledge.” “From an old woman,” replied he,
“between whom and me befel such and such;” and he told her all that had
passed. Quoth she, “To-morrow go thou forth from us and seek her and
say, Hast thou any further device in store? And if she answer, I have,
do thou rejoin, Then do thy best that I may enjoy her publicly. But, if
she say, I have no means of doing that, and this is the last of my
devices, put her away from thy thought, and to-morrow night my husband
will come to thee and invite thee. Do thou come with him and tell me and
I will consider what remaineth to be done.” Answered he, “There is no
harm in that!” Then he spent the rest of the night with her in embracing
and clipping, plying the particle of copulation in concert[418] and
joining the conjunctive with the conjoined,[419] whilst her husband was
as a cast-out nunnation of construction.[420] And they ceased not to be
thus till morning, when she said to him, “’Tis not a night of thee that
will content me, nor a day; no, nor yet a month nor a year; but it’s my
intent to abide with thee the rest of my life. Wait, however, till I
play my husband a trick which would baffle the keenest-witted and win
for us our wishes. I will cause doubt to enter into him, so that he
shall divorce me, whereupon I will marry thee and go with thee to thine
own country; I will also transport all his monies and hoards to thy
lodging and will contrive thee the ruin of his dwelling-place and the
blotting out of his traces. But do thou hearken to my speech and obey me
in that I shall say to thee and gainsay me not.” He replied, “I hear and
I obey: in me there is none opposition.” Then said she, “Go to the Khan
and, when my husband cometh to thee and inviteth thee, say to him:—O my
brother, a son of Adam is apt to be burdensome, and when his visits grow
over frequent, both generous and niggard loathe him.[421] How then shall
I go with thee every night and lie I and thee, on the saloon? An thou
wax not chagrined with me, thy Harim will bear me grudge, for that I
hinder thee from thine. Therefore if thou have a mind to my company,
take me a house beside thine own and we will abide thus, now I sitting
with thee till the time of sleep, and now with me thou. Then I will go
to my place and thou to thy Harim and this will be a better rede than
that I hinder thee from thy Harim every night. Then will he come to me
and take counsel with me, and I will advise him to turn out our
neighbour, for the house wherein he liveth is our house and he renteth
it of us; and once thou art in the house, Allah will make easy to us the
rest of our scheme.” And presently she added, “Go now and do as I bid
thee.” Answered he, “I hear and obey;” whereupon she left him and went
away, whilst he lay down and feigned to be asleep. Presently, the
handmaid came and aroused them; and when the jeweller awoke, he said to
his guest, “O merchant have the mosquitoes worried thee?” He replied,
“No,” and Obayd said, “Belike thou art grown used to them.” Then they
broke their fast and drank coffee, after which they fared forth to their
affairs, and Kamar al-Zaman betook himself to the old crone, and related
to her what had passed,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman betook himself to the old crone, he related to her what had
passed, saying, “She spake to me this and that, and I answered her thus
and thus. Now say me, hast thou any farther device for bringing me to
enjoy her publicly?” Quoth she, “O my son, here endeth my contrivance,
and now I am at the term of my devices.” Upon this he left her and
returned to the Khan where, as eventide evened, the jeweller came to him
and invited him. He said, “I cannot go with thee.” Asked the merchant,
“Why so? I love thee and cannot brook separation from thee. Allah upon
thee come with me!” The other replied, “An it be thy wish to continue
our comradeship and keep up the friendship betwixt thee and me, take me
a house by the side of thine own, and when thou wilt, thou shalt pass
the evening with me and I with thee; but, as soon as the time of sleep
cometh, each of us shall hie him to his own home and lie there.” Quoth
Obayd, “I have a house adjoining mine, which is my own property: so go
thou with me to-night and to-morrow I will have the house untenanted for
thee.” Accordingly he went with him and they supped and prayed the
night-prayer, after which the jeweller drank the cup of drugged[422]
liquor and fell asleep: but in Kamar al-Zaman’s cup there was no trick;
so he drank it and slept not. Then came the jeweller’s wife and sat
chatting with him through the dark hours, whilst her husband lay like a
corpse. When he awoke in the morning as of wont, he sent for his tenant
and said to him, “O man, quit me the house, for I have need of it.” “On
my head and eyes,” answered the other and voided the house to him,
whereupon Kamar al-Zaman took up his abode therein and transported
thither all his baggage. The jeweller passed that evening with him, then
went to his own house. On the next day, his wife sent for a cunning
builder and bribed him with money to make her an underground-way[423]
from her chamber to Kamar al-Zaman’s house, with a trap-door under the
earth. So, before the youth was ware, she came in to him with two bags
of money and he said to her, “Whence comest thou?” She showed him the
tunnel and said to him, “Take these two bags of his money.” Then she sat
with him, the twain toying and tumbling together till the morning, when
she said, “Wait for me, till I go to him and wake him, so he may go to
his shop, and I return to thee.” He sat expecting her, whilst she went
away and awoke her husband, who made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed and
went to his shop. As soon as he was gone, she took four bags and,
carrying them through the Souterrain to Kamar al-Zaman, said to him,
“Store these up;” then she sat with him awhile, after which she retired
to her home and he betook himself to the bazar. When he returned at
sundown, he found in his house ten purses and jewels and much besides.
Presently the jeweller came to him and carried him to his own house,
where they passed the evening in the saloon, till the handmaid came in
according to custom, and brought them the drink. Her master drank and
fell asleep, whilst naught betided Kamar al-Zaman for that his cup was
wholesome and there was no trick therein. Then came Halimah who sat down
a-toying with him, whilst the slave-girl transported the jeweller’s
goods to Kamar al-Zaman’s house by the secret passage. Thus they did
till morning, when the handmaid awoke her lord and gave them to drink
coffee, after which they went each his own way. On the third day the
wife brought out to him a knife of her husband’s, which he had chased
and wrought with his own hand, and which he priced at five hundred
dinars. But there was no knife like it and because of the eagerness with
which folk sought it of him, he had laid it up in a chest and could not
bring himself to sell it to any one in creation. Quoth she, “Take this
knife and set it in thy waist-shawl and go to my husband and sit with
him. Then pull out the knife and say to him, “O master, look at this
knife I bought to-day and tell me if I have the worst or the best of the
bargain. He will know it, but will be ashamed to say to thee, This is my
knife; so he will ask thee, Whence didst thou buy it and for how much?;
and do thou make answer:—I saw two Levantines[424] disputing and one
said to the other, Where hast thou been? Quoth his companion, I have
been with my mistress, and whenever I foregather with her, she giveth me
ten dirhams; but this day she said to me, My hand is empty of silver for
thee to-day, but take this knife of my husband’s. So I took it and
intend to sell it. The knife pleased me and hearing his tale I said to
him, Wilt thou sell it to me? when he replied, Buy. So I got it of him
for three hundred gold pieces and I wonder whether it was cheap or dear.
And note what he will say to thee. Then talk with him awhile and rise
and come back to me in haste. Thou wilt find me awaiting thee at the
tunnel-mouth, and do thou give me the knife.” Replied Kamar al-Zaman, “I
hear and I obey,” and taking the knife set it in his waist-shawl. Then
he went to the shop of the jeweller, who saluted him with the salam and
welcomed him and made him sit down. He spied the knife in his
waist-shawl, at which he wondered and said to himself, “That is my
knife: who can have conveyed it to this merchant?” And he fell a-musing
and saying in his mind, “I wonder an it be my knife or a knife like it!”
Presently Kamar al-Zaman pulled it out and said to him, “Harkye, master;
take this knife and look at it.” Obayd took it and knew it right well,
but was ashamed to say, “This is my knife;”——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
jeweller took the knife from Kamar al-Zaman, he knew it, but was ashamed
to say, “This is my knife.” So he asked, “Where didst thou buy it?”
Kamar al-Zaman answered as Halimah had charged him, and the jeweller
said, “The knife was cheap at that price, for it is worth five hundred
dinars.” But fire flamed in his heart and his hands were tied from
working at his craft. Kamar al-Zaman continued to talk with him, whilst
he was drowned in the sea of solicitudes, and for fifty words wherewith
the youth bespoke him, he answered him but one; for his heart ached and
his frame was racked and his thoughts were troubled and he was even as
saith the poet:—
I have no words though folk would have me talk ✿ And who bespeak me find
me thought-waylaid:
Plunged in the Care-sea’s undiscovered depths, ✿ Nor aught of difference
see ’twixt man and maid!
When Kamar al-Zaman saw his case thus changed, he said to him, “Belike
thou art busy at this present,” and leaving him, returned in hottest
haste to his own house, where he found Halimah standing at the
passage-door awaiting him. Quoth she “Hast thou done as I bade thee?”;
and quoth he, “Yes.” She asked, “What said he to thee?”; and he
answered, “He told me that the knife was cheap at that price, for that
it was worth five hundred dinars: but I could see that he was troubled;
so I left him and know not what befel him after that.” Cried she, “Give
me the knife and reck thou not of him.” Then she took the knife and
restoring it to its place, sat down. Now after Kamar al-Zaman’s
departure fire flamed in the jeweller’s heart and suspicion was sore
upon him and he said to himself, “Needs must I get up and go look for
the knife and cut down doubt with certainty.” So he rose and repaired to
his house and went in to his wife, snorting like a dragon;[425] and she
said to him, “What mattereth thee, O my lord?” He asked, “Where is my
knife?” and she answered, “In the chest,” and smote hand upon breast,
saying, “O my grief! Belike thou hast fallen out with some one and art
come to fetch the knife to smite him withal.” Said he, “Give me the
knife. Let me see it.” But said she, “Not till thou swear to me that
thou wilt not smite any one therewith.” So he swore this to her and she
opened the chest and brought out to him the knife and he fell to turning
it over, saying, “Verily, this is a wondrous thing!” Then quoth he to
her, “Take it and lay it back in its place;” and she, “Tell me the
meaning of all this.” He answered, “I saw with our friend a knife like
this,” and told her all that had passed between himself and the youth,
adding, “But, when I saw it in the chest, my suspicion ended in
certainty.” Said she, “Haply thou misdoubtedst of me and deemedst that I
was the Levantine’s mistress and had given him the knife.” He replied,
“Yes; I had my doubts of this; but, when I saw the knife, suspicion was
lifted from my heart.” Rejoined she, “O man, there is now no good in
thee!” And he fell to excusing himself to her, till he appeased her;
after which he fared forth and returned to his shop. Next day, she gave
Kamar al-Zaman her husband’s watch, which he had made with his own hand
and whereof none had the like, saying, “Go to his shop and sit by his
side and say to him:—I saw again to-day him whom I saw yesterday. He had
a watch in his hand and said to me, Wilt thou buy this watch? Quoth I,
Whence hadst thou it?; and quoth he, I was with my mistress and she gave
me this watch. So I bought it of him for eight-and-fifty gold pieces.
Look at it: is it cheap at that price or dear? Note what he shall say to
thee; then return to me in haste and give me the watch.” So Kamar
al-Zaman repaired to the jeweller and did with him as she had charged
him. When Obayd saw the watch, he said, “This is worth seven hundred
ducats;” and suspicion entered into him. Then the youth left him and
returning to the wife, gave her back the watch. Presently, her husband
suddenly came in snorting, and said to her, “Where is my watch?” Said
she, “Here it is;” and he cried, “Give it to me.” So she brought it to
him and he exclaimed, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great!”; and she too exclaimed, “O man, there
is something the matter with thee. Tell me what it is.” He replied,
“What shall I say? Verily, I am bewildered by these chances!” And he
recited these couplets[426]:—
Although the Merciful be doubtless with me,
Yet am I sore bewildered, for new griefs
Have compassed me about, or ere I knew it,
I have endured till Patience self became
Impatient of my patience.—I have endured
Waiting till Heaven fulfil my destiny.—
I have endured till e’en endurance owned
How I bore up with her; (a thing more bitter
Than bitter aloes) yet though a bitterer thing
Is not, than is that drug, it were more bitter
To me should Patience leave me unsustained.
Then said he to his wife, “O woman, I saw with the merchant our friend,
first my knife, which I knew, for that its fashion was a device of my
own wit, nor doth its like exist; and he told me of it a story that
troubled the heart: so I came back and found it at home. Again to-day I
see him with the watch, whose fashion also is of my own device, nor is
there the fellow of it in Bassorah, and of this also he told me a story
that saddened my heart. Wherefore I am bewildered in my wit and know not
what is to come to me.” Quoth she, “The purport of thy speech is that
thou suspectedst me of being the friend of that merchant and his leman,
and eke of giving him thy good; so thou camest to question me and make
proof of my perfidy; and, had I not shown thee the knife and the watch,
thou hadst been certified of my treason. But since, O man, thou deemest
me this ill deme, henceforth I will never again break with thee bread
nor drain with thee drink, for I loathe thee with the loathing of
prohibition.[427]” So he gentled her and excused himself till he had
appeased her and returned, repenting him of having bespoken her thus, to
his shop, where he sat——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,