Quoth Shahrazad [FN#1]:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King of intelligence
penetrating, that there was, amongst the Kings of Bassorah[FN#2], a King who
loved the poor and needy and cherished his lieges, and gave of his wealth to
all who believed in Mohammed (whom Allah bless and assain!), and he was even as
one of the poets described him,
"A King who when hosts of the foe invade, * Receives them with lance-lunge and
sabre-sway;
Writes his name on bosoms in thin red lines, * And scatters the horsemen in
wild dismay."[FN#3]
His name was King Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, and he had two Wazirs, one
called Al-Mu'ín, son of Sáwí and the other Al-Fazl son of Khákán. Now Al-Fazl
was the most generous of the people of his age, upright of life, so that all
hearts united in loving him and the wise flocked to him for counsel; whilst the
subjects used to pray for his long life, because he was a compendium of the
best qualities, encouraging the good and lief, and preventing evil and
mischief. But the Wazir Mu'ín bin Sáwí on the contrary hated folk [FN#4] and
loved not the good and was a mere compound of ill; even as was said of him,
"Hold to nobles, sons of nobles! 'tis ever Nature's test * That nobles born of nobles shall excel in noble deed:
And shun the mean of soul, meanly bred, for 'tis the law, * Mean deeds come of men who are mean of blood and breed."
And as much as the people loved and fondly loved Al-Fazl bin Khákán, so they
hated and thoroughly hated the mean and miserly Mu'ín bin Sáwí. It befel one
day by the decree of the Decreer, that King Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni,
being seated on his throne with his officers of state about him, summoned his
Wazir Al-Fazl and said to him, "I wish to have a slave-girl of passing beauty,
perfect in loveliness, exquisite in symmetry and endowed with all praiseworthy
gifts." Said the courtiers, "Such a girl is not to be bought for less than ten
thousand gold pieces:" whereupon the Sultan called out to his treasurer and
said, "Carry ten thousand dinars to the house of Al-Fazl bin Khákán." The
treasurer did the King's bidding; and the Minister went away, after receiving
the royal charge to repair to the slave-bazar every day, and entrust to brokers
the matter aforesaid. Moreover the King issued orders that girls worth above a
thousand gold pieces should not be bought or sold without being first displayed
to the Wazir. Accordingly no broker purchased a slave-girl ere she had been
paraded before the minister; but none pleased him, till one day a dealer came
to the house and found him taking horse and intending for the palace. So he
caught hold of his stirrup saying,
"O thou, who givest to royal state sweet savour, * Thou'rt a Wazir shalt never fail of favour!
Dead Bounty thou hast raised to life for men; * Ne'er fail of Allah's grace such high endeavour!"
Then quoth he, "O my lord, that surpassing object for whom the gracious mandate
was issued is at last found; [FN#5]" and quoth the Wazir, "Here with her to
me!" So he went away and returned after a little, bringing a damsel in richest
raiment robed, a maid spear-straight of stature and five feet tall; budding of
bosom with eyes large and black as by Kohl traced, and dewy lips sweeter than
syrup or the sherbet one sips, a virginette smooth cheeked and shapely faced,
whose slender waist with massive hips was engraced; a form more pleasing than
branchlet waving upon the top-most trees, and a voice softer and gentler than
the morning breeze, even as saith one of those who have described her,
"Strange is the charm which dights her brows like Luna's disk that shine; * O sweeter taste than sweetest Robb[FN#6] or raisins of the vine.
A throne th'Empyrean keeps for her in high and glorious state, * For wit and wisdom, wandlike form and graceful bending line:
She in the Heaven of her face[FN#7] the seven-fold stars displays, * That guard her cheeks as satellites against the spy's design:
If man should cast a furtive glance or steal far look at her, * His heart is burnt by devil-bolts shot by those piercing eyne."
When the Wazir saw her she made him marvel with excess of admiration, so he
turned, perfectly pleased, to the broker and asked, "What is the price of this
girl?"; whereto he answered, "Her market-value stands at ten thousand dinars,
but her owner swears that this sum will not cover the cost of the chickens she
hath eaten, the wine she hath drunken and the dresses of honour bestowed upon
her instructor: for she hath learned calligraphy and syntax and etymology; the
commentaries of the Koran; the principles of law and religion; the canons of
medicine, and the calendar and the art of playing on musical
instruments."[FN#8] Said the Wazir, "Bring me her master." So the broker
brought him at once and, behold, he was a Persian of whom there was left only
what the days had left; for he was as a vulture bald and scald and a wall
trembling to its fall. Time had buffetted him with sore smart, yet was he not
willing this world to depart; even as said the poet,
"Time hath shattered all my frame, * Oh! how time hath shattered me.
Time with lordly might can tame * Manly strength and vigour free.
Time was in my youth, that none * Sped their way more fleet and fast:
Time is and my strength is gone, * Youth is sped, and speed is past.[FN#9]"
The Wazir asked him, "Art thou content to sell this slave-girl to the Sultan
for ten thousand dinars?"; and the Persian answered, "By Allah, if I offer her
to the King for naught, it were but my devoir."[FN#10] So the Minister bade
bring the monies and saw them weighed out to the Persian, who stood up before
him and said, "By the leave of our lord the Wazir, I have somewhat to say;" and
the Wazir replied, "Out with all thou hast!" "It is my opinion," continued the
slave-dealer, "that thou shouldst not carry the maid to the King this day; for
she is newly off a journey; the change of air[FN#11] hath affected her and the
toils of trouble have fretted her. But keep her quiet in thy palace some ten
days, that she may recover her looks and become again as she was. Then send
her to the Hammam and clothe her in the richest of clothes and go up with her
to the Sultan: this will be more to thy profit." The Wazir pondered the
Persian's words and approved of their wisdom; so he carried her to his palace,
where he appointed her private rooms, and allowed her every day whatever she
wanted of meat and drink and so forth. And on this wise she abode a while.
Now the Wazir Al-Fazl had a son like the full moon when sheeniest dight, with
face radiant in light, cheeks ruddy-bright, and a mole like a dot of ambergris
on a downy site; as said of him the poet and said full right,
"A moon which blights you[FN#12] if you dare behold; * A branch which folds you in its waving fold:
Locks of the Zanj[FN#13] and golden glint of hair; * Sweet gait and form a spear to have and hold:
Ah! hard of heart with softest slenderest waist, * That evil to this weal why not remould?[FN#14]
Were thy form's softness placed in thy heart, * Ne'er would thy lover find thee harsh and cold:
Oh thou accuser! be my love's excuser, * Nor chide if love-pangs deal me woes untold!
I bear no blame: 'tis all my hear and eyne; * So leave thy blaming, let me yearn and pine."
Now the handsome youth knew not the affair of the damsel; and his father had
enjoined her closely, saying, "Know, O my daughter, that I have bought thee as
a bedfellow for our King, Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni; and I have a son who
is a Satan for girls and leaves no maid in the neighbourhood without taking her
maidenhead; so be on thy guard against him and beware of letting him see thy
face or hear thy voice." "Hearkening and obedience," said the girl; and he
left her and fared forth. Some days after this it happened by decree of
Destiny, that the damsel repaired to the baths in the house, where some of the
slave women bathed her; after which she arrayed herself in sumptuous raiment;
and her beauty and loveliness were thereby redoubled. Then she went in to the
Wazir's wife and kissed her hand; and the dame said to her, "Naiman! May it
benefit thee,[FN#15] O Anis al- Jalis![FN#16] Are not our baths handsome?" "O
my mistress," she replied, "I lacked naught there save thy gracious presence."
Thereupon the lady said to her slave-women, "Come with us to the Hammam, for it
is some days since we went there:" they answered, "To hear is to obey!" and
rose and all accompanied her. Now she had set two little slave-girls to keep
the door of the private chamber wherein was Anis al-Jalis and had said to them,
"Suffer none go in to the damsel." Presently, as the beautiful maiden sat
resting in her rooms, suddenly came in the Wazir's son whose name was Nur
al-Din Ali,[FN#17] and asked after his mother and her women, to which the two
little slave-girls replied, "They are in the Hammam." But the damsel, Anis
al-Jalis, had heard from within Nur al-Din Ali's voice and had said to herself,
"O would Heaven I saw what like is this youth against whom the Wazir warned me,
saying that he hath not left a virgin in the neighbourhood without taking her
virginity: by Allah, I do long to have sight of him!" So she sprang to her
feet with the freshness of the bath on her and, stepping to the door, looked at
Nur al-Din Ali and saw a youth like the moon in its full and the sight
bequeathed her a thousand sighs. The young man also glanced at her and the look
make him heir to a thousand thoughts of care; and each fell into Love's ready
snare. Then he stepped up to the two little slave-girls and cried aloud at
them; whereupon both fled before him and stood afar off to see what he would
do. And behold, he walked to the door of the damsel's chamber and, opening it,
went in and asked her "Art thou she my father bought for me?" and she answered
"Yes." Thereupon the youth, who was warm with wine, came up to her and embraced
her; then he took her legs and passed them round his waist and she wound her
arms about his neck, and met him with kisses and murmurs of pleasure and
amorous toyings. Next he sucked her tongue and she sucked his, and lastly, he
loosed the strings of her petticoat-trousers and abated her maidenhead. When
the two little slave-girls saw their young master get in unto the damsel, Anis
al-Jalis, they cried out and shrieked; so as soon as the youth had had his
wicked will of her, he rose and fled forth fearing the consequences of his
ill-doing. When the Wazir's wife heard the slave-girls' cries, she sprang up
and came out of the baths with the perspiration pouring from her face, saying,
"What is this unseemly clamour in the house[FN#18]?" Then she came up to the
two little slave- girls and asked them saying, "Fie upon you! what is the
matter?"; and both answered, "Verily our lord Nur al-Din came in and beat us,
so we fled; then he went up to Anis al-Jalis and threw his arms round her and
we know not what he did after that; but when we cried out to thee he ran away."
Upon this the lady went to Anis al-Jalis and said to her, "What tidings?" "O
my lady," she answered, "as I was sitting here lo! a handsome young man came in
and said to me:—Art thou she my father bought for me?; and I answered Yes; for,
by Allah, O mistress mine, I believed that his words were true; and he
instantly came in and embraced me." "Did he nought else with thee but this?"
quoth the lady, and quoth she, "Indeed he did! But he did it only three
times." "He did not leave thee without dishonouring thee!" cried the Wazir's
wife and fell to weeping and buffetting her face, she and the girl and all the
handmaidens, fearing lest Nur al-Din's father should kill him.[FN#19] Whilst
they were thus, in came the Wazir and asked what was the matter, and his wife
said to him, "Swear that whatso I tell thee thou wilt attend to it." "I will,"
answered he. So she related to him what his son had done, whereat he was much
concerned and rent his raiment and smote his face till his nose bled, and
plucked out his beard by the handful. "Do not kill thyself," said his wife, "I
will give thee ten thousand dinars, her price, of my own money." But he raised
his head and cried, "Out upon thee! I have no need of her purchase-money: my
fear is lest life as well as money go." "O my lord, and how is that?" "Wottest
thou not that yonder standeth our enemy Al Mu'ín bin Sáwí who, as soon as he
shall hear of this matter, will go up to the Sultan"—And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Thirty-fifth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir said to
his wife, "Wottest thou not that yonder standeth our enemy Al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí
who, as soon as he hears of this matter will go up to the Sultan and say to
him, 'Thy Wazir who, thou wilt have it loveth thee, took from thee ten thousand
ducats and bought therewith a slave-girl whose like none ever beheld; but when
he saw her, she pleased him and he said to his son, 'Take her: thou art
worthier of her than the Sultan.' So he took her and did away with her
virginity and she is now in his house.' The King will say, 'Thou liest!' to
which he will reply, 'With thy leave I will fall upon him unawares and bring
her to thee.' The King will give him warranty for this and he will come down
upon the house and will take the girl and present her to the Sultan, who will
question her and she will not be able to deny the past. Then mine enemy will
say, 'O my lord, thou wottest that I give thee the best of counsel; but I have
not found favour in thine eyes.' Thereupon the Sultan will make an example of
me, and I shall be a gazing-stock to all the people and my life will be lost."
Quoth his wife, "Let none know of this thing which hath happened privily, and
commit thy case to Allah and trust in Him to save thee from such strait; for He
who knoweth the future shall provide for the future." With this she brought
the Wazir a cup of wine and his heart was quieted, and he ceased to feel wrath
and fear. Thus far concerning him; but as regards his son Nur al-Din Ali,
fearing the consequence of his misdeed he abode his day long in the flower
garden and came back only at night to his mother's apartment where he slept;
and, rising before dawn, returned to the gardens. He ceased not to do thus for
two whole months without showing his face to his parent, till at last his
mother said to his father, "O my lord, shall we lose our boy as well as the
girl? If matters continue long in this way he will flee from us." "And what
to do?" asked he; and she answered, "Do thou watch this night; and, when he
cometh, seize on him and frighten him: I will rescue him from thee and do thou
make peace with him and give him the damsel to wife, for she loveth him as he
loveth her. And I will pay thee her price." So the Minister say up that night
and, when his son came, he seized him and throwing him down knelt on his breast
and showed as thou he would cut his throat; but his mother ran to the youth's
succour and asked her husband, "What wouldest thou do with him?" He answered
her, "I will split his weasand." Said the son to the father, "Is my death,
then, so light a matter to thee?"; and his father's eyes welled with tears, for
natural affection moved him, and he rejoined, "O my son, how light was to thee
the loss of my good and my life!" Quoth Nur al-Din, "Hear, O my father, what
the poet hath said,
‘Forgive me! thee-ward sinned I, but the wise * Ne'er to the sinner shall deny his grace:
Thy foe may pardon sue when lieth he * In lowest, and thou holdest highest place!'"
Thereupon the Wazir rose from off his son's breast saying, "I forgive thee!";
for his heart yearned to him; and the youth kissed the hand of his sire who
said, "O my son, were I sure that thou wouldest deal justly by Anis al-Jalis, I
would give her to thee." "O my father, what justice am I to do to her?" "I
enjoin thee, O my son, not to take another wife or concubine to share with her,
nor sell her." "O my father! I swear to thee that verily I will not do her
injustice in either way." Having sworn to that effect Nur al-Din went in to
the damsel and abode with her a whole year, whilst Allah Almighty caused the
King to forget the matter of the maiden; and Al-Mu'ín, though the affair came
to his ears, dared not divulge it by reason of the high favour in which his
rival stood with the Sultan. At the end of the year Al-Fazl went one day to
the public baths; and, as he came out whilst he was still sweating, the air
struck him[FN#20] and he caught a cold which turned to a fever; then he took to
his bed. His malady gained ground and restlessness was longsome upon him and
weakness bound him like a chain; so he called out, "Hither with my son;" and
when Nur al-Din Ali came he said to him, "O my son, know that man's lot and
means are distributed and decreed; and the end of days by all must be dree'd;
and that every soul drain the cup of death is nature's need." The he repeated
these lines,
"I die my death, but He alone is great who dieth not! * And well I wot, soon shall I die, for death was made my lot:
A King there's not that dies and holds his kingdom in his hand, * For Sovranty the Kingdom is of Him who dieth not."
Then he continued, "O my son, I have no charge to leave thee save that thou
fear Allah and look to the issues of thine acts and bear in mind my injunctions
anent Anis al-Jalis." "O my father!" said Nur al-Din, "who is like unto thee?
Indeed thou art famed for well doing and preachers offer prayers for thee in
their pulpits!" Quoth Al-Fazl, "O my son, I hope that Allah Almighty may grant
me acceptance!" Then he pronounced the Two Testimonies,[FN#21] or Professions
of the Faith, and was recorded among the blessed. The palace was filled with
crying and lamentation and the news of his death reached the King, and the
city-people wept, even those at their prayers and women at household cares and
the school-children shed tears for Bin- Khákán. Then his son Nur al-Din Ali
arose and made ready his funeral, and the Emirs and Wazirs and high Officers of
State and city-notables were present, amongst them the Wazir al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí.
And as the bier went forth from the house some one in the crowd of mourners
began to chant these lines,
"On the fifth day I quitted al my friends for evermore, * And they laid me out and washed me on a slab without my door:[FN#22]
They stripped me of the clothes I was ever wont to wear, * And they clothed me in the clothes which till then I never wore.
On four men's necks they bore me and carried me from home * To chapel; and some prayed for him on neck they bore:
They prayed for me a prayer that no prostration knows;[FN#23] * They prayed for me who praisèd me and were my friends of yore;
And they laid me in a house with a ceiling vaulted o'er, * And Time shall be no more ere it ope to me its door."
When they had shovelled in the dust over him and the crowd had dispersed, Nur
al-Din returned home and he lamented with sobs and tears; and the tongue of the
case repeated these couplets,
"On the fifth day at even-tide they went away from me: * I farewelled them as faring they made farewell my lot:
But my spirit as they went, with them went and so I cried, * 'Ah return ye!' but replied she, 'Alas! return is not
To a framework lere and lorn that lacketh blood and life, * A frame whereof remaineth naught but bones that rattle and rot:
Mine eyes are blind and cannot see quencht by the flowing tear! * Mine ears are dull and lost to sense: they have no power to hear!'"
He abode a long time sorrowing for his father till, one day, as he was sitting
at home, there came a knocking at the door; so he rose in haste and opening let
in a man, one of his father's intimates and who had been the Wazir's
boon-companion. The visitor kissed Nur al-Din's hand and said to him, "O my
lord, he who hath left the like of thee is not dead; and this way went also the
Chief of the Ancients and the Moderns. [FN#24] O my lord Ali, be comforted and
leave sorrowing." Thereupon Nur al-Din rose and going to the guest-saloon
transported thither all he needed. Then he assembled his companions and took
his handmaid again; and, collecting round him ten of the sons of the merchants,
began to eat meat and drink wine, giving entertainment after entertainment and
lavishing his presents and his favours. One day his Steward came to him and
said, "O my lord Nur al-Din, hast thou not heard the saying, Whoso spendeth and
reckoneth not, to poverty wendeth and recketh not?" And he repeated what the
poet wrote,
"I look to my money and keep it with care, * For right well I wot 'tis my buckler and brand:
Did I lavish my dirhams on hostilest foes,[FN#25] * I should truck my good luck by mine ill luck trepanned:
So I'll eat it and drink it and joy in my wealth; * And no spending my pennies on others I'll stand:
I will keep my purse close 'gainst whoever he be; * And a niggard in grain a true friend ne'er I fand:
Far better deny him than come to say:—Lend, * And five-fold the loan shall return to thy hand!
And he turns face aside and he sidles away, * While I stand like a dog disappointed, unmanned.
Oh, the sorry lot his who hath yellow-boys none, * Though his genius and virtues shine bright as the sun!
"O my master," continued the Steward, "this lavish outlay and these magnificent
gifts waste away wealth." When Nur al-Din Ali heard these words he looked at
his servant and cried, "Of all thou hast spoken I will not heed one single
word, for I have heard the saying of the poet who saith,
'An my palm be full of wealth and my wealth I ne'er bestow, * A palsy take my hand and my foot ne'er rise again!
Show me niggard who by niggardise e'er rose to high degree, * Or the generous in gifts generosity hath slain.'"
And he pursued, "Know, O Steward, it is my desire that so long as thou hast
money enough for my breakfast, thou trouble me not with taking thought about my
supper." Thereupon the Steward asked, "Must it be so?"; and he answered, "It
must." So the honest man went his way and Nur al-Din Ali devoted himself to
extravagance; and, if any of his cup-companions chanced to say, "This is a
pretty thing;" he would reply, "'Tis a gift to thee!"; or if another said, "O
my lord, such a house is handsome;" he would answer, "Take it: it is thine!"
After this reckless fashion he continued to live for a whole year, giving his
friends a banquet in the morning and a banquet in the evening and a banquet at
midnight, till one day, as the company was sitting together, the damsel Anis
al-Jalis repeated these lines,
"Thou deemedst well of Time when days went well, * And feardest not what ills might deal thee Fate:
Thy nights so fair and restful cozened thee, * For peaceful nights bring woes of heavy weight."
When she had ended her verse behold, somebody knocked at the door. So Nur
al-Din rose to open it and one of his boon- companions followed him without
being perceived. At the door he found his Steward and asked him, "What is the
matter?"; and he answered, "O my lord, what I dreaded for thee hath come to
pass!" "How so?" "Know that there remains not a dirham's worth, less or more
in my hands. Here are my Daftars and account books showing both income and
outlay and the registers of thine original property." When Nur al-Din heard
these words he bowed his head and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah!" When the man who had followed him privily to spy on him
heard the Steward's words, he returned to his friends and warned them saying,
"Look ye well to what ye do: Nur al-Din is penniless;" and, as the young host
came back to his guests, vexation showed itself in his face. Thereupon one of
the intimates rose; and, looking at the entertainer, said to him, "O my lord,
may be thou wilt give me leave to retire?" "And why so early retirement this
day?"; asked he and the other answered him, "My wife is in childbirth and I may
not be absent from her: indeed I must return and see how she does." So he gave
him leave, whereupon another rose and said, "O my lord Nur al-Din, I wish now
to go to my brother's for he circumciseth his son to- day."[FN#26] In short
each and every asked permission to retire on some pretence or other, till all
the ten were gone leaving Nur al-Din alone. Then he called his slave-girl and
said to her, "O Anis al-Jalis, hast thou seen what case is mine?" And he
related to her what the Steward had told him. Then quoth she, "O my lord, for
many nights I had it in my mind to speak with thee of this matter, but I heard
thee repeating,
'When the World heaps favours on thee, pass on * Thy favours to friends ere her hand she stay:
Largesse never let her when fain she comes, * Nor niggardise kept her from turning away!'
When I heard these verses I held my peace and cared not to exchange a word with
thee." "O Anis al-Jalis," said Nur al-Din, "thou knowest that I have not
wasted my wealth save on my friends, especially these ten who have now left me
a pauper, and I think they will not abandon and desert me without relief." "By
Allah," replied she, "they will not profit thee with aught of aid." Said he,
"I will rise at once and go to them; and knock at their doors; it may be I shall
get from them somewhat wherewith I may trade and leave pastime and pleasuring."
So he rose without stay or delay, and repaired to a street wherein all his ten
friends lived. He went up to the nearest door and knocked; whereupon a
handmaid came out and asked him, "Who art thou?"; and he answered, "Tell thy
master that Nur al-Din Ali standeth at the door and saith to him, 'Thy slave
kisseth thy hand and awaiteth thy bounty.'" The girl went in and told her
master, who cried at her, "Go back and say, 'My master is not at home.'" So
she returned to Nur al-Din, and said to him, "O my lord, my master is out."
Thereupon he turned away and said to himself, "If this one be a whoreson knave
and deny himself, another may not prove himself such knave and whoreson." Then
he went up to the next door and sent in a like message to the house-master, who
denied himself as the first had done, whereupon he began repeating,
"He is gone who when to his gate thou go'st, * Fed thy famisht maw with his
boiled and roast."
When he had ended his verse he said, "By Allah, there is no help but that I
make trial of them all: perchance there be one amongst them who will stand me
in the stead of all the rest." So he went the round of the ten, but not one of
them would open his door to him or show himself or even break a bit of bread
before him; whereupon he recited,
"Like a tree is he who in wealth doth wone, * And while fruits he the folk to his fruit shall run:
But when bared the tree of what fruit it bare, * They leave it to suffer from dust and sun.
Perdition to all of this age! I find * Ten rogues for every righteous one."
Then he returned to his slave-girl and his grief had grown more grievous and
she said to him, "O my lord, did I not tell thee, none would profit thee with
aught of aid?" And he replied, "By Allah, not one of them would show me his
face or know me!" "O my lord," quoth she, "sell some of the moveables and
household stuff, such as pots and pans, little by little; and expend the
proceeds until Allah Almighty shall provide." So he sold all of that was in
the house till nothing remained when he turned to Anis al-Jalis and asked her
"What shall we do now?"; and she answered, "O my lord, it is my advice that
thou rise forthwith and take me down to the bazar and sell me. Thou knowest
that they father bought me for ten thousand dinars: haply Allah may open thee a
way to get the same price, and if it be His will to bring us once more
together, we shall meet again." "O Anis al- Jalis," cried he, "by Allah it is
no light matter for me to be parted from thee for a single hour!" "By Allah, O
my lord," she replied, "nor is it easy to me either, but Need hath its own law,
as the poet said,
'Need drives a man into devious roads, * And pathways doubtful of trend and scope:
No man to a rope[FN#27] will entrust his weight, * Save for cause that calleth for case of rope.'"
Thereupon he rose to his feet and took her,[FN#28] whilst the tears rolled down
his cheek like rain; and he recited with the tongue of the case these lines,
"Stay! grant one parting look before we part, * Nerving my heart this severance to sustain:
But, an this parting deal thee pain and bane, * Leave me to die of love and spare thee pain!"
Then he went down with her to the bazar and delivered her to the broker and
said to him, "O Hájj Hasan,[FN#29] I pray thee note the value of her thou hast
to cry for sale." "O my lord Nur al- Din," quoth the broker, "the fundamentals
are remembered;"[FN#30] adding, "Is not this the Anis al-Jalis whom thy father
bought of me for ten thousand dinars?" "Yes," said Nur al-Din. Thereupon the
broker went round to the merchants, but found that all had not yet assembled.
So he waited till the rest had arrived and the market was crowded with
slave-girls of all nations, Turks, Franks and Circassians; Abyssinians, Nubians
and Takrúrís;[FN#31] Tartars, Georgians and others; when he came forward and
standing cried aloud, "O merchants! O men of money! every round thing is not a
walnut and every long thing a banana is not; all reds are not meat nor all
whites fat, nor is every brown thing a date![FN#32] O merchants, I have here
this union-pearl that hath no price: at what sum shall I cry her?" "Cry her at
four thousand five hundred dinars," quoth one of the traders. The broker opened
the door of sale at the sum named and, as he was yet calling, lo! the Wazir
Al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí passed through the bazar and, seeing Nur al-Din Ali waiting
at one side, said to himself, "Why is Khákán's son[FN#33] standing about here?
Hath this gallows-bird aught remaining wherewith to buy slave-girls?" Then he
looked round and, seeing the broker calling out in the market with all the
merchants around him, said to himself, "I am sure that he is penniless and hath
brought hither the damsel Anis al-Jalis for sale;" adding, "O how cooling and
grateful is this to my heart!" Then he called the crier, who came up and kissed
the ground before him; and he said to him, "I want this slave-girl whom thou
art calling for sale." The broker dared not cross him, so he answered, "O my
lord, Bismillah! in Allah's name so be it;" and led forward the damsel and
showed her to him. She pleased him much whereat he asked, "O Hasan, what is
bidden for this girl?" and he answered, "Four thousand five hundred dinars to
open the door of sale." Quoth Al-Mu'ín, "Four thousand five hundred is MY bid."
When the merchants heard this, they held back and dared not bid another
dirham, wotting what they did of the Wazir's tyranny, violence and treachery.
So Al-Mu'ín looked at the broker and said to him, "Why stand still? Go and
offer four thousand dinars for me and the five hundred shall be for thyself."
Thereupon the broker went to Nur al-Din and said, "O my lord, thy slave is
going for nothing!" "And how so?" asked he. The broker answered, "We had
opened the biddings for her at four thousand five hundred dinars; when that
tyrant, Al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí, passed through the bazar and, as he saw the damsel
she pleased him, so he cried to me, 'Call me the buyer at four thousand dinars
and thou shalt have five hundred for thyself.' I doubt not but that he knoweth
that the damsel is thine, and if he would pay thee down her price at once it
were well; but I know his injustice and violence; he will give thee a written
order upon some of his agents and will send after thee to say to them, 'Pay him
nothing.' So as often as though shalt go in quest of the coin they will say,
'We'll pay thee presently!' and they will put thee off day after day, and thou
art proud of spirit; till at last, when they are wearied with thine
importunity, they will say, 'Show us the cheque.' Then, as soon as they have
got hold of it they will tear it up and so thou wilt lose the girl's price."
When Nur al-Din heard this he looked at the broker and asked him, "How shall
this matter be managed?"; and he answered, "I will give thee a counsel which,
if thou follow, it shall bring thee complete satisfaction." "And what is that?"
quoth Nur al-Din. Quoth the broker, "Come thou to me anon when I am standing in
the middle of the market and, taking the girl from my hand, give her a sound
cuffing and say to her, 'Thou baggage, I have kept my vow and brought thee down
to the slave-market, because I swore an oath that I would carry thee from home
to the bazar, and make brokers cry thee for sale.' If thou do this, perhaps
the device will impose upon the Wazir and the people, and they will believe
that thou broughtest her not to the bazar but for the quittance of thine
oath." He replied, "Such were the best way." Then the broker left him and,
returning into the midst of the market, took the damsel by the hand, and signed
to the Wazir and said, "O my lord, here is her owner." With this up came Nur
al-Din Ali and, snatching the girl from the broker's hand, cuffed her soundly
and said to her, "Shame on thee, O thou baggage! I have brought thee to the
bazar for quittance of mine oath; now get thee home and thwart me no more as is
thy wont. Woe to thee! do I need thy price, that I should sell thee? The
furniture of my house would fetch thy value many times over!" When Al-Mu'ín saw
this he said to Nur al-Din, "Out on thee! Hast thou anything left for selling
or buying?" And he would have laid violent hands upon him, but the merchants
interposed (for they all loved Nur al-Din), and the young man said to them,
"Here am I in your hands and ye all know his tyranny." "By Allah," cried the
Wazir, "but for you I had slain him!" Then all signed with significant eyes to
Nur al-Din as much as to say, "Take thy wreak of him; not one of us will come
between thee and him." Thereupon Nur al-Din, who was stout of heart as he was
stalwart of limb, went up to the Wazir and, dragging him over the pommel of his
saddle, threw him to the ground. Now there was in that place a puddling- pit
for brick- clay,[FN#34] into the midst of which he fell, and Nur al-Din kept
pummelling and fisti-cuffing him, and one of the blows fell full on his teeth,
and his beard was dyed with his blood. Also there were with the minister ten
armed slaves who, seeing their master entreated after this fashion, laid hand
on sword-hilt and would have bared blades and fallen on Nur al-Din to cut him
down; but the merchants and bystanders said to them, "This is a Wazir and that
is the son of a Wazir; haply they will make friends some time or other, in
which case you will forfeit the favour of both. Or perchance a blow may befal
your lord, and you will all die the vilest of deaths; so it were better for you
not to interfere." Accordingly they held aloof and, when Nur al-Din had made an
end of thrashing the Wazir, he took his handmaid and fared homewards. Al-Mu'ín
also went his ways at once, with his raiment dyed of three colours, black with
mud, red with blood and ash coloured with brick-clay. When he saw himself in
this state, he bound a bit of matting[FN#35] round his neck and, taking in hand
two bundles of coarse Halfah-grass,[FN#36] went up to the palace and standing
under the Sultan's windows cried aloud, "O King of the age, I am a wronged man!
I am foully wronged!" So they brought him before the King who looked at him;
and behold, it was the chief Minister; whereupon he said, "O Wazir who did this
deed by thee?" Al-Mu'ín wept and sobbed and repeated these lines,
"Shall the World oppress me when thou art in't? * In the lion's presence shall wolves devour?
Shall the dry all drink of thy tanks and I * Under rain-cloud thirst for the cooling shower?"
"O my lord," cried he, "the like will befal every one who loveth and serveth
thee well." "Be quick with thee," quoth the Sultan, "and tell me how this came
to pass and who did this deed by one whose honour is part of my honour." Quoth
the Wazir, "Know, O my lord, that I went out this day to the slave-market to
buy me a cookmaid, when I saw there a damsel, never in my life long saw I a
fairer; and I designed to buy her for our lord the Sultan; so I asked the
broker of her and of her owner, and he answered, "She belongeth to Ali son of
Al-Fazl bin Khákán. Some time ago our lord the Sultan gave his father ten
thousand dinars wherewith to buy him a handsome slave-girl, and he bought this
maiden who pleased him; so he grudged her to our lord the Sultan and gave her
to his own son. When the father died, the son sold all he had of houses and
gardens and household gear, and squandered the price till he was penniless.
Then he brought the girl to the market that he might sell her, and he handed
her over to the broker to cry and the merchants bid higher and higher on her,
until the price reached four thousand dinars; whereupon quoth I to myself, 'I
will buy this damsel for our lord the Sultan, whose money was paid for her.'
So I said to Nur al-Din, 'O my son, sell her to me for four thousand dinars.'
When he heard my words he looked at me and cried, 'O ill-omened oldster, I will
sell her to a Jew or to a Nazarene, but I will not sell her to thee!' 'I do
not buy her for myself,' said I, 'I buy her for our lord and benefactor the
Sultan.' Hearing my words he was filled with rage; and, dragging me off my
horse (and I a very old man), beat me unmercifully with his fists and buffeted
me with his palms till he left me as thou seest, and all this hath befallen me
only because I thought to buy this damsel for thee!" Then the Wazir threw
himself on the ground and lay there weeping and shivering. When the Sultan saw
his condition and heard his story, the vein of rage started out between his
eyes[FN#37] and he turned to his body-guard who stood before him, forty white
slaves, smiters with the sword, and said to them, "Go down forthright to the
house built by the son of Khákán and sack it and raze it and bring to me his
son Nur al-Din with the damsel; and drag them both on their faces with their
arms pinioned behind them." They replied, "To hear is to obey;" and, arming
themselves, they set out for the house of Nur al-Din Ali. Now about the Sultan
was a Chamberlain, Alam[FN#38] al-Din Sanjar hight, who had aforetime been
Mameluke to Al-Fazl; but he had risen in the world and the Sultan had advanced
him to be one of his Chamberlains. When he heard the King's command and saw
the enemies make them ready to slay his old master's son, it was grievous to
him: so he went out from before the Sultan and, mounting his beast, rode to Nur
al- Din's house and knocked at the door. Nur al-Din came out and knowing him
would have saluted him: but he said, "O my master this is no time for greeting
or treating. Listen to what the poet said,
'Fly, fly with thy life if by ill overtaken!
Let thy house speak thy death by its builder forsaken!
For a land else than this land thou may'st reach, my brother,
But thy life tho'lt ne'er find in this world another.'"[FN#39]
"O Alam al-Din what cheer?" asked Nur al-Din, and he answered, "Rise quickly
and fly for thy life, thou and the damsel; for Al- Mu'ín hath set a snare for
you both; and, if you fall into his hands, he will slay you. The Sultan hath
despatched forty sworders against you and I counsel you to flee ere harm can
hurt you." Then Sanjar put his hand to his purse and finding there forty gold
pieces took them; and gave them to Nur al-Din, saying, "O my lord receive these
and journey with them. Had I more I would give them to thee, but this is not
the time to take exception." Thereupon Nur al-Din went in to the damsel and
told her what had happened, at which she wrung her hands. Then they fared
forth at once from the city, and Allah spread over them His veil of protection,
so that they reached the river-bank where they found a vessel ready for sea.
Her skipper was standing amidships and crying, "Whoso hath aught to do, whether
in the way of provisioning or taking leave of his people; or whoso hath
forgotten any needful thing, let him do it at once and return, for we are about
to sail"; and all of them saying, "There is naught left to be done by us, O
captain!", he cried to his crew, "Hallo there! cast off the cable and pull up
the mooring- pole!"[FN#40] Quoth Nur al-Din, "Whither bound, O captain?" and
quoth he, "To the House of Peace, Baghdad,"—-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Thirty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the skipper
answered, "To the House of Peace, Baghdad," Nur al-Din Ali and the damsel went
on board, and they launched the craft and shook out the sails, and the ship
sped forth as though she were a bird on wing; even as said one of them; and said
right well,
"Watch some tall ship, she'll joy the sight of thee, * The breeze outstripping in her haste to flee;
As when a bird, with widely-spreading wings, * Leaveth the sky to settle on the sea."
So the vessel sailed on her fastest and the wind to her was fairest. Thus far
concerning them; but as regards the Mamelukes, they went to Nur al-Din's
mansion and, breaking open the doors, entered and searched the whole place, but
could find no trace of him and the damsel; so they demolished the house and,
returning to the Sultan, reported their proceedings; whereupon quoth he, "Make
search for them both, wherever they may be;" and they answered, "Hearing is
obeying." The Wazir Al-Mu'ín had also gone home after the Sultan had bestowed
upon him a robe of honour, and had set his heart at rest by saying, "None shall
take blood-wreak for thee save I;" and he had blessed the King and prayed for
his long life and prosperity. Then the Sultan bade proclaim about the city,
"Oyez, O ye lieges one and all! It is the will of our lord the Sultan that
whoso happeneth on Nur al-Din Ali son of Al- Fazl bin Khákán, and bringeth him
to the Sultan, shall receive a robe of honour and one thousand gold pieces; and
he who hideth him or knoweth his abiding place and informeth not, deserveth
whatsoever pains and penalties shall befal him." So all began to search for
Nur al-Din Ali, but they could find neither trace nor tidings of him.
Meanwhile he and his handmaid sailed on with the wind right aft, till they
arrived in safety at Baghdad, and the captain said to them, "This is Baghdad
and 'tis the city where security is to be had: Winter with his frosts hath
turned away and Prime hath come his roses to display; and the flowers are a-
glowing and the trees are blowing and the streams are flowing." So Nur al-Din
landed, he and his handmaid and, giving the captain five dinars, walked on a
little way till the decrees of Destiny brought them among the gardens, and they
came to a place swept and sprinkled, with benches along the walls and hanging
jars filled with water.[FN#41] Overhead was a trellis of reed-work and canes
shading the whole length of the avenue, and at the upper end was a garden gate,
but this was locked. "By Allah," quoth Nur al-Din to the damsel, "right
pleasant is this place!"; and she replied, "O my lord sit with me a while on
this bench and let us take our ease." So they mounted and sat them down on the
bench, after which they washed their faces and hands; and the breeze blew cool
on them; and they fell asleep and glory be to Him who never sleepeth! Now this
garden was named the Garden of Gladness[FN#42] and therein stood a belvedere
hight the Palace of Pleasure and the Pavilion of Pictures, the whole belonging
to the Caliph Harun al-Rashid who was wont, when his breast was straitened with
care, to frequent garden and palace and there to sit. The palace had eighty
latticed windows and fourscore lamps hanging round a great candelabrum of gold
furnished with wax- candles; and, when the Caliph used to enter, he would order
the handmaids to throw open the lattices and light up the rooms; and he would
bid Ishak bin Ibrahim the cup-companion and the slave- girls to sing till his
breast was broadened and his ailments were allayed. Now the keeper of the
garden, Shaykh Ibrahim, was a very old man, and he had found from time to time,
when he went out on any business, people pleasuring about the garden gate with
their bona robas; at which he was angered with exceeding anger.[FN#43] But he
took patience till one day when the Caliph came to his garden; and he
complained of this to Harun al-Rashid who said, "Whomsoever thou surprisest
about the door of the garden, deal with him as thou wilt." Now on this day the
Gardener chanced to be abroad on some occasion and returning found these two
sleeping at the gate covered with a single mantilla; whereupon said he, "By
Allah, good! These twain know not that the Caliph hath given me leave to slay
anyone I may catch at the door; but I will give this couple a shrewd whipping,
that none may come near the gate in future." So he cut a green
palm-frond[FN#44] and went up to them; and, raising his arm till the white of
his arm-pit appeared, was about to strike them, when he bethought himself and
said, "O Ibrahim, wilt thou beat them unknowing their case? Haply they are
strangers or of the Sons of the Road,[FN#45] and the decrees of Destiny have
thrown them here. I will uncover their faces and look at them." So he lifted
up the mantilla from their heads and said, "They are a handsome couple; it were
not fitting that I should beat them." Then he covered their faces again and,
going to Nur al-Din's feet, began to rub and shampoo them,[FN#46] whereupon the
youth opened his eyes and, seeing an old man of grave and reverend aspect
rubbing his feet, he was ashamed and drawing them in, sat up. Then he took
Shaykh Ibrahim's hand and kissed it. Quoth the old man, "O my son, whence art
thou?"; and quoth he, "O my lord, we two are strangers," and the tears started
from his eyes. "O my son," said Shaykh Ibrahim, "know that the Prophet (whom
Allah bless and preserve!) hath enjoined honour to the stranger;" and added,
"Wilt not thou arise, O my son, and pass into the garden and solace thyself by
looking at it and gladden thy heart?" "O my lord," said Nur al-Din, "to whom
doth this garden belong?;" and the other replied, "O my son, I have inherited
it from my folk." Now his object in saying this was to set them at their ease
and induce them to enter the garden. So Nur al-Din thanked him and rose, he
and the damsel, and followed him into the garden; and lo! it was a garden, and
what a garden! The gate was arched like a great hall and over walls and roof
ramped vines with grapes of many colours; the red like rubies and the black
like ebonies; and beyond it lay a bower of trelliced boughs growing fruits
single and composite, and small birds on branches sang with melodious recite,
and the thousand-noted nightingale shrilled with her varied shright; the turtle
with her cooing filled the site; the blackbird whistled like human wight[FN#47]
and the ring-dove moaned like a drinker in grievous plight. The trees grew in
perfection all edible growths and fruited all manner fruits which in pairs were
bipartite; with the camphor- apricot, the almond-apricot and the apricot
"Khorasani" hight; the plum, like the face of beauty, smooth and bright; the
cherry that makes teeth shine clear by her sleight, and the fig of three
colours, green, purple and white. There also blossomed the violet as it were
sulphur on fire by night; the orange with buds like pink coral and marguerite;
the rose whose redness gars the loveliest cheeks blush with despight; and
myrtle and gilliflower and lavender with the blood-red anemone from Nu'uman
hight. The leaves were all gemmed with tears the clouds had dight; the
chamomile smiled showing teeth that bite, and Narcissus with his negro[FN#48]
eyes fixed on Rose his sight; the citrons shone with fruits embowled and the
lemons like balls of gold; earth was carpeted with flowers tinctured infinite;
for Spring was come brightening the place with joy and delight; and the streams
ran ringing, to the birds' gay singing, while the rustling breeze upspringing
attempered the air to temperance exquisite. Shaykh Ibrahim carried them up
into the pavilion, and they gazed on its beauty, and on the lamps
aforementioned in the latticed windows; and Nur al-Din, remembering his
entertainments of time past, cried, "By Allah, this is a pleasant place; it
hath quenched in me anguish which burned as a fire of Ghaza-wood.[FN#49]" Then
they sat down and Shaykh Ibrahim set food before them; and they ate till they
were satisfied and washed their hands: after which Nur al-Din went up to one of
the latticed windows, and, calling to his handmaid fell to gazing on the trees
laden with all manner fruits. Presently he turned to the Gardener and said to
him, "O Shaykh Ibrahim hast thou no drink here, for folk are wont to drink
after eating?" The Shaykh brought him sweet water, cool and pleasant, but he
said, "This is not the kind of drink I wanted." "Perchance thou wishest for
wine?" "Indeed I do, O Shaykh!" "I seek refuge from it with Allah: it is
thirteen years since I did this thing, for the Prophet (Abhak[FN#50]) cursed
its drinker, presser, seller and carrier!" "Hear two words of me." "Say on."
"If yon cursed ass[FN#51] which standeth there be cursed, will aught of his
curse alight upon thee?" "By no means!" "Then take this dinar and these two
dirhams and mount yonder ass and, halting afar from the wine-shop, call the
first man thou seest buying liquor and say to him, 'Take these two dirhams for
thyself, and with this dinar buy me some wine and set it on the ass.' So shalt
thou be neither the presser, nor the buyer, nor the carrier; and no part of the
curse will fall upon thee." At this Shaykh Ibrahim laughed and said, "By
Allah, O my son, I never saw one wilier of wit than thou art, nor heard aught
sweeter than thy speech." So he did as he was bidden by Nur al- Din who
thanked him and said, "We two are now dependent on thee, and it is only meet
that thou comply with our wishes; so bring us here what we require." "O my
son," replied he, "this is my buttery before thee" (and it was the store-room
provided for the Commander of the Faithful); "so go in, and take whatso thou
wilt, for there is over and above what thou wantest." Nur al-Din then entered
the pantry and found therein vessels of gold and silver and crystal set with
all kinds of gems, and was amazed and delighted with what he saw. Then he took
out what he needed and set it on and poured the wine into flagons and glass
ewers, whilst Shaykh Ibrahim brought them fruit and flowers and aromatic herbs.
Then the old man withdrew and sat down at a distance from them, whilst they
drank and made merry, till the wine got the better of them, so that their
cheeks reddened and their eyes wantoned like the gazelle's; and their locks
became dishevelled and their brightness became yet more beautiful. Then said
Shaykh Ibrahim to himself, "What aileth me to sit apart from them? Why should
I not sit with them? When shall I ever find myself in company with the like of
these two that favour two moons?" So he stepped forward and sat down on the
edge of the daïs, and Nur al- Din said to him, "O my lord, my life on thee,
come nearer to us!" He came and sat by them, when Nur al-Din filled a cup and
looked towards the Shaykh and said to him, "Drink, that thou mayest try the
taste of it!" "I take refuge from it with Allah!" replied he; "for thirteen
years I have not done a thing of the kind." Nur al-Din feigned to forget he
was there and, drinking off the cup, threw himself on the ground as if the
drink had overcome him; whereupon Anis al-Jalis glanced at him and said, "O
Shaykh Ibrahim see how this husband of mine treateth me;" and he answered, "O
my lady, what aileth him?" "This is how he always serveth me," cried she, "he
drinketh awhile, then falleth asleep and leaveth me alone with none to bear me
company over my cup nor any to whom I may sing when the bowl goeth round."
Quoth the Shaykh (and his mien unstiffened for that his soul inclined towards
her), "By Allah, this is not well!" Then she crowned a cup and looking towards
him said, "By my life thou must take and drink it, and not refuse to heal my
sick heart!" So he put forth his hand and took it and drank it off and she
filled a second and set it on the chandelier and said, "O master mine, there is
still this one left for thee." "By Allah, I cannot drink it;" cried he, "what
I have already drunk is enough for me;" but she rejoined, "By Allah, there is
no help for it." So he took the cup and drank; and she filled him a third
which he took and was about to drink when behold, Nur al-Din rolled round and
sat upright,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the Thirty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Nur al-Din sat upright
and said, "Ho, Shaykh Ibrahim, what is this? Did I not adjure thee a while ago
and thou refusedst, saying, 'What, I! 'tis thirteen years ago since I have done
such a thing!'" "By Allah," quoth the Shaykh (and indeed he was abashed), "no
sin of mine this, she forced me to do it." Nur al-Din laughed and they sat down
again to wine and wassail, but the damsel turned to her master and said in a
whisper, "O my lord, drink and do not press him, that I may show thee some
sport with him." Then she began to fill her master's cup and he hers and so
they did time after time, till at last Shaykh Ibrahim looked at them; and said,
"What fashion of good fellowship is this? Allah curse the glutton who keepeth
the cup to himself! Why dost thou not give me to drink, O my brother? What
manners are these, O blessed one?" At this the two laughed until they fell on
their backs; then they drank and gave him to drink and ceased not their
carousal till a third part of the night was past. Then said the damsel, "O
Shaykh Ibrahim, with thy leave I will get up and light one of these candles."
"Do so," he replied, "but light no more than one." So she sprang to her feet
and, beginning with one candle, lighted all the eighty and sat down again.
Presently Nur al-Din said, "O Shaykh Ibrahim, in what favour am I with thee?
May I not light one of these lamps?" "Light one," replied he, "and bother me no
more in thy turn!" So he rose and lighted one lamp after another, till he had
lighted the whole eight and the palace seemed to dance with brilliancy. Quoth
the Shaykh (and indeed intoxication had overcome him), "Ye two are bolder than
I am." Then he rose to his feet and opened all the lattices and sat down again;
and they fell to carousing and reciting verses till the place rang with their
noisy mirth. Now Allah, the Decreer who decreeth all things and who for every
effect appointeth a cause, had so disposed that the Caliph was at that moment
sitting in the light of the moon at one of the windows of his palace
overlooking the Tigris. He saw the blaze of the lamps and wax candles
reflected in the river and, lifting his eyes, perceived that it came from the
Garden Palace which was all ablaze with brilliancy. So he cried, "Here to me
with Ja'afar the Barmaki!"; and the last word was hardly spoken ere the Wazir
was present before the Commander of the Faithful, who cried at him, "O dog of a
Minister, hast thou taken from me this city of Baghdad without saying aught to
me?" "What words are these words?" asked Ja'afar; and the Caliph answered, "If
Baghdad city were not taken from me, the Palace of Pictures would not be
illuminated with lamps and candles, nor would its windows be thrown open. Woe
to thee! who durst do a deed like this except the Caliphate had been taken from
me?" Quoth Ja'afar (and indeed his side-muscles trembled as he spoke), "Who
told thee that the Palace of Pictures was illuminated and the windows thrown
open?" "Come hither and see," replied the Caliph. Then Ja'afar came close to
the Caliph and, looking towards the garden, saw the palace blazing with
illumination that rayed through the gloom of the night; and, thinking that this
might have been permitted by the keeper for some reason of his own, he wished
to make an excuse for him; so quoth he, "O Commander of the Faithful, Shaykh
Ibrahim said to me last week, 'O my lord Ja'afar, I much wish to circumcise my
sons during the life of the Commander of the Faithful and thy life.' I asked,
'What dost thou want?'; and he answered, 'Get me leave from the Caliph to hold
the festival in the Garden Palace.' So said I to him, 'Go circumcise them; and I
will see the Caliph and tell him.' Thereupon he went away and I forgot to let
thee know." "O Ja'afar," said the Caliph, "thou hast committed two offences
against me; first in that thou didst no report to me, secondly, thou didst not
give him what he sought; for he came and told thee this only as excuse to ask
for some small matter of money, to help him with the outlay; and thou gavest
him nothing nor toldest me." "O Commander of the Faithful," said Ja'afar, "I
forgot." "Now by the rights of my forefathers and the tombs of my forbears,"
quoth the Caliph, "I will not pass the rest of this night save in company with
him; for truly he is a pious man who frequenteth the Elders of the Faith and
the Fakirs and other religious mendicants and entertaineth them; doubtless they
are not assembled together and it may be that the prayer of one of them will
work us weal both in this world and in the next. Besides, my presence may
profit and at any rate be pleasing to Shaykh Ibrahim." "O Commander of the
Faithful," quoth Ja'afar, "the greater part of the night is passed, and at this
time they will be breaking up." Quoth the Caliph, "It matters not: I needs
must go to them." So Ja'afar held his peace, being bewildered and knowing not
what to do. Then the Caliph rose to his feet and, taking with him Ja'afar and
Masrur the eunuch sworder, the three disguised themselves in merchants' gear
and leaving the City-palace, kept threading the streets till they reached the
garden. The Caliph went up to the gate and finding it wide open, was surprised
and said, "See, O Ja'afar, how Shaykh Ibrahim hath left the gate open at this
hour contrary to his custom!" They went in and walked on till they came under
the pavilion, when the Caliph said, "O Ja'afar, I wish to look in upon them
unawares before I show myself, that I may see what they are about and get sight
of the elders; for hitherto I have heard no sound from them, nor even a Fakir
calling upon the name of Allah.[FN#52]" Then he looked about and, seeing a tall
walnut-tree, said to Ja'afar, "I will climb this tree, for its branches are
near the lattices and so look in upon them." Thereupon he mounted the tree and
ceased not climbing from branch to branch, till he reached a bough which was
right opposite one of the windows, and here he took seat and looked inside the
palace. He saw a damsel and a youth as they were two moons (glory be to Him who
created them; and fashioned them!), and by them Shaykh Ibrahim seated cup in
hand and saying, "O Princess of fair ones, drinking without music is nothing
worth; indeed I have heard a poet say,
'Round with big and little, the bowl and cup, * Take either that moon[FN#53] in his sheen hath crowned:
Nor drink without music, for oft I've seen, * The horse drink best to the whistle's sound!'"
When the Caliph saw this, the vein of wrath started up between his eyes and he
came down and said to the Wazir, "O Ja'afar, never beheld I yet men of piety in
such case; so do thou mount this tree and look upon them, lest the blessings of
the blest be lost to thee." Ja'afar, hearing the words of the Commander of the
Faithful and being confounded by them, climbed to the tree- top and looking in,
saw Nur al-Din and the damsel, and Shaykh Ibrahim holding in his hand a
brimming bowl. At this sight he made sure of death and, descending, stood
before the Commander of the Faithful, who said to him, "O Ja'afar, praise be to
Allah who hath made us of those that observe external ordinances of Holy Law
and hath averted from us the sin of disguising ourselves after the manner of
hypocrites!"[FN#54] But Ja'afar could not speak a word for excess of
confusion; so the Caliph looked at him and said, "I wonder how they came
hither, and who admitted them into my pavilion! But aught like the beauty of
this youth and this damsel my eyes never yet saw!" "Thou sayest sooth, O our
Lord the Sultan!" replied Ja'afar (and he hoped to propitiate the Caliph Harun
al-Rashid). Then quoth the Caliph, "O Ja'afar, let us both mount the branch
opposite the window, that we may amuse ourselves with looking at them." So the
two climbed the tree and, peering in, heard Shaykh Ibrahim say, "O my lady, I
have cast away all gravity mine by the drinking of wine, but 'tis not sweet
save with the soft sounds of the lute-strings it combine." "By Allah," replied
Anis al-Jalis, "O Shaykh Ibrahim, an we had but some instrument of music our
joyance were complete." Hearing this he rose to his feet and the Caliph said
to Ja'afar, "I wonder what he is about to do!" and Ja'afar answered, "I know
not." The Shaykh disappeared and presently reappeared bringing a lute; and the
Caliph took note of it and knew it for that of Abu Ishak the
Cup-companion.[FN#55] "By Allah," said the Caliph, "if this damsel sing ill I
will crucify all of you; but if she sing well I will forgive them; and only
gibbet thee." "O Allah cause her to sing vilely!" quoth Ja'afar. Asked the
Caliph, "Why so?"; and he answered, "If thou crucify us all together, we shall
keep one another company." The Caliph laughed at his speech. Presently the
damsel took the lute and, after looking at it and tuning it, she played a
measure which made all hearts yearn to her; then she sang these lines,
"O ye that can aid me, a wretched lover, * Whom longing burns nor can rest restore me!
Though all you have done I have well deserved, * I take refuge with you, so exult not o'er me:
True, I am weak and low and vile, * But I'll bear your will and whatso you bore me:
My death at your hands what brings it of glory? * I fear but your sin which of life forlore me!"
Quoth the Caliph, "By Allah, good! O Ja'afar, never in my life have I heard a
voice so enchanting as this." "Then haply the Caliph's wrath hath passed
away," said Ja'afar, and he replied, "Yes, 'tis gone." Thereupon they
descended from the tree, and the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "I wish to go in and
sit with them; and hear the damsel sing before me." "O Commander of the
Faithful," replied Ja'afar, "if thou go in to them they will be terribly
troubled, and Shaykh Ibrahim will assuredly die of fright." But the Caliph
answered, "O Ja'afar, thou must teach me some device wherewith to delude them
and whereby I can foregather with them without their knowing me." So they
walked towards the Tigris pondering the matter, and presently came upon a
fisherman who stood fishing under the pavilion windows. Now some time before
this, the Caliph (being in the pavilion) had called to Shaykh Ibrahim and asked
him, "What noise is this I hear under the windows?" and he had answered, "It is
voices of fisher folk catching fish:" so quoth the Caliph, "Go down and forbid
them this place;" and he forbade them accordingly. However that night a
fisherman named Karim, happening to pass by and seeing the garden gate open,
said to himself, "This is a time of negligence; and I will take advantage of it
to do a bit of fishing." So he took his net and cast it, but he had hardly
done so when behold, the Caliph come up single-handed and, standing hard by,
knew him and called aloud to him, "Ho, Karim!" The fisherman, hearing himself
named, turned round, and seeing the Caliph, trembled and his side-muscles
quivered, as he cried, "By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I did it not in
mockery of the mandate; but poverty and a large family drove me to what thou
seest!" Quoth the Caliph, "Make a cast in my name." At this the fisherman was
glad and going to the bank threw his net, then waiting till it had spread out
at full stretch and settled down, hauled it up and found in it various kinds of
fish. The Caliph was pleased and said, "O Karim, doff thy habit." So he put
off a gaberdine of coarse woollen stuff patched in an hundred places whereon
the lice were rampant, and a turband which had never been untwisted for three
years but to which he had sewn every rag he came upon. The Caliph also pulled
off his person two vests of Alexandrian and Ba'lbak silk, a loose inner robe
and a long-sleeved outer coat, and said to the fisherman, "Take them; and put
them on," while he assumed the foul gaberdine and filthy turband and drew a
corner of the head-cloth as a mouth-veil[FN#56] before his face. Then said he
to the fisherman, "Get thee about thy business!"; and the man kissed the
Caliph's feet and thanked him and improvised the following couplets,
"Thou hast granted more favours than ever I craved; * Thou hast satisfied needs which my heart enslaved:
I will thank thee and thank whileas life shall last, * And my bones will praise thee in grave engraved!"
Hardly had the fisherman ended his verse, when the lice began to crawl over the
Caliph's skin, and he fell to catching them on his neck with his right and left
and throwing them from him, while he cried, "O fisherman, woe to thee! what be
this abundance of lice on thy gaberdine." "O my lord," replied he, "they may
annoy thee just at first, but before a week is past thou wilt not feel them nor
think of them." The Caliph laughed and said to him, "Out on thee! Shall I
leave this gaberdine of thine so long on my body?" Quoth the fisherman, "I
would say a word to thee but I am ashamed in presence of the Caliph!"; and
quoth he, "Say what thou hast to say." "It passed through my thought, O
Commander of the Faithful," said the fisherman, "that, since thou wishest to
learn fishing so thou mayest have in hand an honest trade whereby to gain thy
livelihood, this my gaberdine besitteth thee right well."[FN#57] The Commander
of the Faithful laughed at this speech, and the fisherman went his way. Then
the Caliph took up the basket of fish and, strewing a little green grass over
it, carried it to Ja'afar and stood before him. Ja'afar thinking him to be
Karim the fisherman feared for him and said, "O Karim, what brought thee
hither? Flee for thy life, for the Caliph is in the garden to-night and, if he
see thee, thy neck is gone." At this the Caliph laughed and Ja'afar recognized
him and asked, "Can it be thou, our lord the Sultan?"; and he answered, "Yes, O
Ja'afar, and thou art my Wazir and I and thou came hither together; yet thou
knowest me not; so how should Shaykh Ibrahim know me, and he drunk? Stay here,
till I came back to thee." "To hear is to obey," said Ja'afar. Then the
Caliph went up to the door of the pavilion and knocked a gentle knock,
whereupon said Nur al-Din," O Shaykh Ibrahim, some one taps at the door." "Who
goes there?" cried the Shaykh and the Caliph replied, "It is I, O Shaykh
Ibrahim!" "Who art thou," quoth he, and quoth the other, "I am Karim the
fisherman: I hear thou hast a feast, so I have brought thee some fish, and of a
truth 'tis good fish." When Nur al-Din heard the mention of fish, he was glad,
he and the damsel, and they both said to the Shaykh, "O our lord, open the door
and let him bring us his fish." So Shaykh Ibrahim opened and the Caliph came in
(and he in fisherman guise), and began by saluting them. Said Shaykh Ibrahim,
"Welcome to the blackguard, the robber, the dicer! Let us see thy fish." So
the Caliph showed them his catch and behold, the fishes were still alive and
jumping, whereupon the damsel exclaimed, "By Allah! O my lord, these are
indeed fine fish: would they were fried!" and Shaykh Ibrahim rejoined, "By
Allah, O my lady, thou art right." Then said he to the Caliph, "O fisherman,
why didst thou not bring us the fish ready fried? Up now and cook them; and
bring them back to us." "On my head be thy commands!" said the Caliph, "I will
fry thee a dish and bring it." Said they, "Look sharp." Thereupon he went and
ran till he came up to Ja'afar when he called to him, "Hallo, Ja'afar!"; and he
replied, "Here am I, O Commander of the Faithful, is all well?" "They want the
fish fried," said the Caliph, and Ja'afar answered, "O Commander of the
Faithful, give it to me and I'll fry it for them." "By the tombs of my
forbears," quoth the Caliph, "none shall fry it but I, with mine own hand!" So
he went to the gardener's hut, where he searched and found all that he
required, even to salt and saffron and wild marjoram and else besides. Then he
turned to the brasier and, setting on the frying-pan, fried a right good fry.
When it was done, he laid it on a banana-leaf, and gathering from the garden
wind-fallen fruits, limes and lemons, carried the fish to the pavilion and set
the dish before them. So the youth and the damsel and Shaykh Ibrahim came
forward and ate; after which they washed their hands and Nur al-Din said to the
Caliph, "By Allah, O fisherman, thou hast done us a right good deed this
night." Then he put hand in pouch and, taking out three of the dinars which
Sanjar had given him, said, "O fisherman, excuse me. By Allah had I known thee
before that which hath lately befallen me, I had done away the bitterness of
poverty from thy heart; but take thou this as the best I can do for thee."
Then he threw the gold pieces to the Caliph, who took them; and kissed them; and
put them in pouch. Now his sole object in doing all this was to hear the damsel
sing; so he said to Nur al-Din, "Thou hast rewarded me most liberally, but I
beg of thy boundless bounty that thou let this damsel sing an air, that I may
hear her."[FN#58] So Nur al- Din said, "O Anis al-Jalis!" and she answered
"Yes!" and he continued, "By my life, sing us something for the sake of this
fisherman who wisheth so much to hear thee." Thereupon she took the lute and
struck the strings, after she had screwed them tight and tuned them, and sang
these improvised verses,
"The fawn of a maid hent her lute in hand * And her music made us right mettlesome:
For her song gave hearing to ears stone-deaf, * While Brava! Brava! exclaimed the dumb."
Then she played again and played so ravishingly, that she charmed their wits
and burst out improvising and singing these couplets,
"You have honoured us visiting this our land, * And your splendour illumined the glooms that blent:
So 'tis due that for you I perfume my place * With rose-water, musk and the camphor-scent!"
Hereupon the Caliph was agitated, and emotion so overpowered him that he could
not command himself for excess of pleasure, and he exclaimed, "By Allah, good!
by Allah, good! by Allah, good!"[FN#59] Asked Nur al-Din, "O fisherman, doth
this damsel please thee?" and the Caliph answered, "Ay, by Allah!" Whereupon
said Nur al-Din, "She is a gift to thee, a gift of the generous who repenteth
him not of his givings and who will never revoke his gift!" Then he sprang to
his feet and, taking a loose robe, threw it over the fisherman and bade him
receive the damsel and be gone. But she looked at him and said, "O my lord,
art thou faring forth without farewell? If it must be so, at least stay till I
bid thee good-bye and make known my case." And she began versifying in these
verses,
"When love and longing and regret are mine, * Must not this body show of ills a sign?
My love! say not, 'Thou soon shalt be consoled'; * When state speaks state none shall allay my pine.
If living man could swim upon his tears, * I first should float on waters of these eyne:
O thou, who in my heart infusedst thy love, * As water mingles in the cup with wine,
This was the fear I feared, this parting blow. * O thou whose love my heart-core ne'er shall tyne!
O Bin Khákán! my sought, my hope, my will, * O thou whose love this breast made wholly thine!
Against thy lord the King thou sinn'dst for me, * And winnedst exile in lands peregrine:
Allah ne'er make my lord repent my loss * To cream[FN#60] o' men thou gavest me, one right digne."
When she had ended her verses, Nur al-Din answered her with these lines,
"She bade me farewell on our parting day, * And she wept in the fire of our bane and pains:
'What wilt thou do when fro' thee I'm gone?' * Quoth I, 'say this to whom life remains!'"
When the Caliph heard her saying in her verse,
"To Karim, the cream of men thou gavest me;"
his inclination for her redoubled and it seemed a hard matter and a grievous to
part them; so quoth he to the youth, "O my lord, truly the damsel said in her
verses that thou didst transgress against her master and him who owned her; so
tell me, against whom didst thou transgress and who is it hath a claim on
thee?" "By Allah, O fisherman," replied Nur al-Din, "there befel me and this
damsel a wondrous tale and a marvellous matter: an 't were graven with
needle-gravers on the eye-corners it would be a warner to whoso would be
warned." Cried the Caliph, "Wilt thou not tell me thy story and acquaint me
with thy case? Haply it may bring thee relief, for Allah's aid is ever
nearhand." "O fisherman," said Nur al-Din, "Wilt thou hear our history in verse
or in prose?" "Prose is a wordy thing, but verses," rejoined the Caliph, "are
pearls on string." Then Nur al-Din bowed his head, and made these couplets,
"O my friend! reft of rest no repose I command, * And my grief is edoubled in this far land:
Erst I had a father, a kinder ne'er was; * But he died and to Death paid the deodand:
When he went from me, every matter went wrong * Till my heart was nigh-broken, my nature unmanned:
He bought me a handmaid, a sweeting who shamed * A wand of the willow by Zephyr befanned:
I lavisht upon her mine heritage, * And spent like a nobleman puissant and grand:
Then to sell her compelled, my sorrow increased; * The parting was sore but I mote not gainstand:
Now as soon as the crier had called her, there bid * A wicked old fellow, a fiery brand:
So I raged with a rage that I could not restrain, * And snatched her from out of his hireling's hand;
When the angry curmudgeon made ready for blows, * And the fire of a fight kindled he and his band,
I smote him in fury with right and with left, * And his hide, till well satisfied, curried and tanned:
Then in fear I fled forth and lay hid in my house, * To escape from the snares which my foeman had spanned:
So the King of the country proclaimed my arrest; * When access to me a good Chamberlain fand:
And warned me to flee from the city afar, * Disappear, disappoint what my enemies planned:
Then we fled from our home 'neath the wing of the night, * And sought us a refuge by Baghdad strand:
Of my riches I've nothing on thee to bestow, * O Fisher, except the fair gift thou hast scanned:
The loved of my soul, and when I from her part, * Know for sure that I give thee the blood of my heart."[FN#61]
When he had ended his verse, the Caliph said to him, "O my lord Nur al-Din,
explain to me thy case more fully," So he told him the whole story from
beginning to end, and the Caliph said to him, "Whither dost thou now intend?"
"Allah's world is wide," replied he. Quoth the Caliph, "I will write thee a
letter to carry to the Sultan Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, which when he
readeth, he will not hurt nor harm thee in aught."—-And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Thirty-eighth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph said
to Nur al-Din Ali, "I will write thee a letter to carry to the Sultan Mohammed
bin Sulayman al-Zayni, which when he readeth, he will not hurt nor harm thee in
aught," Nur al-Din asked "What! is there in the world a fisherman who writeth
to Kings? Such a thing can never be!"; and the Caliph answered, "Thou sayest
sooth, but I will tell thee the reason. Know that I and he learnt in the same
school under one schoolmaster, and that I was his monitor. Since that time
Fortune befriended him and he is become a Sultan, while Allah hath abased me
and made me a fisherman; yet I never send to him to ask aught but he doeth my
desire; nay, though I should ask of him a thousand favours every day, he would
comply." When Nur al-Din heard this he said, "Good! write that I may see." So
the Caliph took ink-case and reed-pen and wrote as follows,—"In the name of
Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! But after.[FN#62] This letter
is written by Harun al-Rashid, son of Al-Mahdi, to his highness Mohammed bin
Sulayman al-Zayni, whom I have encompassed about with my favour and made my
viceroy in certain of my dominions. The bearer of these presents is Nur al-Din
Ali, son of Fazl bin Khákán the Wazir. As soon as they come to thy hand divest
thyself forthright of the kingly dignity and invest him therewith; so oppose
not my commandment and peace be with thee." He gave the letter to Nur al-Din,
who took it and kissed it, then put it in his turband and set out at once on
his journey. So far concerning him; but as regards the Caliph, Shaykh Ibrahim
stared at him (and he still in fisher garb) and said, "O vilest of fishermen,
thou hast brought us a couple of fish worth a score of half-dirhams,[FN#63] and
hast gotten three dinars for them; and thinkest thou to take the damsel to
boot?" When the Caliph heard this, he cried out at him, and signed to Masrur
who discovered himself and rushed in upon him. Now Ja'afar had sent one of the
gardener-lads to the doorkeeper of the palace to fetch a suit of royal raiment
for the Prince of the Faithful; so the man went and, returning with the suit,
kissed the ground before the Caliph and gave it him. Then he threw off the
clothes he had on[FN#64] and donned kingly apparel. Shaykh Ibrahim was still
sitting upon his chair and the Caliph tarried to behold what would come next.
But seeing the Fisherman become the Caliph, Shaykh Ibrahim was utterly
confounded and he could do nothing but bite his finger- ends[FN#65] and say,
"Would I knew whether am I asleep or am I awake!" At last the Caliph looked at
him and cried, "O Shaykh Ibrahim, what state is this in which I see thee?"
Thereupon he recovered from his drunkenness and, throwing himself upon the
ground, repeated these verses,
"Pardon the sinful ways I did pursue; * Ruth from his lord to every slave is due:
Confession pays the fine that sin demands; * Where, then, is that which grace and mercy sue?"[FN#66]
The Caliph forgave him and bade carry the damsel to the city- palace, where he
set apart for her an apartment and appointed slaves to serve her, saying to
her, "Know that we have sent thy lord to be Sultan in Bassorah and, Almighty
Allah willing, we will dispatch him the dress of investiture and thee with it."
Meanwhile, Nur al-Din Ali ceased not travelling till he reached Bassorah, where
he repaired to the Sultan's palace and he shouted a loud shout.[FN#67] The
Sultan heard him and sent for him; and when he came into his presence, he
kissed the ground between his hands and, producing the letter, presented it to
him. Seeing the superscription in the writing of the Commander of the
Faithful, the Sultan rose to his feet and kissed it three times; and after
reading it said, "I hear and I obey Allah Almighty and the Commander of the
Faithful!" Then he summoned the four Kazis[FN#68] and the Emirs and was about
to divest himself of the rule royal, when behold, in came Al Mu'ín bin Sáwí.
The Sultan gave him the Caliph's letter and he read it, then tore it to pieces
and putting it into his mouth, chewed it[FN#69] and spat it out. "Woe to
thee," quoth the Sultan (and indeed he was sore angered); "what induced thee to
do this deed?" "Now by thy life! O our lord the Sultan," replied Mu'ín, "this
man hath never foregathered with the Caliph nor with his Wazir; but he is a
gallows-bird, a limb of Satan, a knave who, having come upon a written paper in
the Caliph's hand, some idle scroll, hath made it serve his own end. The
Caliph would surely not send him to take the Sultanate from thee without the
imperial autograph[FN#70] and the diploma of investiture, and he certainly
would have despatched with him a Chamberlain or a Minister. But he hath come
alone and he never came from the Caliph, no, never! never! never!" "What is to
be done?" asked the Sultan, and the Minister answered, "Leave him to me and I
will take him and keep him away from thee, and send him in charge of a
Chamberlain to Baghdad-city. Then, if what he says be sooth, they will bring
us back autograph and investiture; and if not, I will take my due out of this
debtor." When the Sultan heard the Minister's words he said, "Hence with thee
and him too." Al Mu'ín took trust of him from the King and, carrying him to his
own house, cried out to his pages who laid him flat and beat him till he
fainted. Then he let put upon his feet heavy shackles and carried him to the
jail, where he called the jailor, one Kutayt,[FN#71] who came and kissed the
ground before him. Quoth the Wazir, "O Kutayt, I wish thee to take this fellow
and throw him into one of the underground cells[FN#72] in the prison and
torture him night and day." "To hear is to obey," replied the jailor and,
taking Nur al-Din into the prison, locked the door upon him. Then he gave
orders to sweep a bench behind the door and, spreading on it a sitting-rug and
a leather-cloth, seated Nur al-Din thereon and loosed his shackles and
entreated him kindly. The Wazir sent every day enjoining the jailor to beat
him, but he abstained from this, and so continued to do for forty days. On the
forty-first day there came a present from the Caliph; which when the Sultan
saw, it pleased him and he consulted his Ministers on the matter, when one of
them said, "Perchance this present was for the new Sultan." Cried Al-Mu'ín,
"We should have done well had we put him to death at his first coming;" and the
Sultan cried "By Allah, thou hast reminded me of him! Go down to the prison
and fetch him, and I will strike off his head." "To hear is to obey," replied
Al-Mu'ín: then he stood up and said, "I will make proclamation in the
city:—Whoso would solace himself with seeing the beheading of Nur al-Din bin
al-Fazl bin Khákán, let him repair to the palace! So follower and followed,
great and small will flock to the spectacle, and I shall heal my heart and harm
my foe." "Do as thou wilt," said the Sultan. The Wazir went off (and he was
glad and gay), and ordered the Chief of Police to make the afore-mentioned
proclamation. When the people heard the crier, they all sorrowed and wept, even
the little ones at school and the traders in their shops; and some strove to
get places for seeing the sight, whilst others went to the prison with the
object of escorting him thence. Presently, the Wazir came with ten Mamelukes
to the jail and Kutayt the jailor asked him, "Whom seekest thou, O our lord the
Wazir?"; whereto he answered, "Bring me out that gallows- bird." But the
jailor said, "He is in the sorriest of plights for the much beating I have
given him." Then he went into the prison and found Nur al-Din repeating these
verses,
"Who shall support me in calamities, * When fail all cures and greater cares arise?
Exile hath worn my heart, my vitals torn; The World to foes hath turned my firm allies.
O folk, will not one friend amidst you all * Wail o'er my woes, and cry to hear my cries?
Death and it agonies seem light to me, * Since life has lost all joys and jollities:
O Lord of Mustafá,[FN#73] that Science-sea, * Sole Intercessor, Guide all-ware, all-wise!
I pray thee free me and my fault forego, * And from me drive mine evil and my woe."
The jailor stripped off his clean clothes and, dressing him in two filthy
vests, carried him to the Wazir. Nur al-Din looked at him and saw it was his
foe that sought to compass his death; so he wept and said, "Art thou, then, so
secure against the World? Hast thou not heard the saying of the poet,
'Kisras and Caesars in a bygone day * Stored wealth; where is it, and ah! where
are they?'
"O Wazir," he continued, "know that Allah (be He extolled and exalted!) will do
whatso He will!" "O Ali," replied he, "thinkest thou to frighten me with such
talk? I mean this very day to smite thy neck despite the noses of the Bassorah
folk and I care not; let the days do as they please; nor will I turn me to thy
counsel but rather to what the poet saith,
'Leave thou the days to breed their ban and bate, * And make thee strong t'
upbear the weight of Fate.'
And also how excellently saith another,
'Whoso shall see the death-day of his foe, * One day surviving, wins his
bestest wish.'"
Then he ordered his attendants to mount Nur al-Din upon the bare back of a
mule; and they said to the youth (for truly it was irksome to them), "Let us
stone him and cut him down though our lives go for it." But Nur al-Din said to
them, "Do not so: have ye not heard the saying of the poet,
'Needs must I bear the term by Fate decreed, * And when that day be dead needs must I die:
If lions dragged me to their forest-lair, * Safe should I live till draw my death-day nigh.'"
Then they proceeded to proclaim before Nur al-Din, "This is the least of the
retribution for him who imposeth upon Kings with forgeries." And they ceased
not parading him round about Bassorah, till they made him stand beneath the
palace-windows and set him upon the leather of blood,[FN#74] and the sworder
came up to him and said, "O my lord, I am but a slave commanded in this matter:
an thou have any desire, tell it me that I may fulfil it, for now there
remaineth of they life only so much as may be till the Sultan shall put his
face out of the lattice." Thereupon Nur al-Din looked to the right and to the
left, and before him and behind him and began improvising,
"The sword, the sworder and the blood-skin waiting me I sight, * And cry, Alack, mine evil fate! ah, my calamity!
How is't I see no loving friend with eye of sense or soul? * What! no one here? I cry to all: will none reply to me?
The time is past that formed my life, my death term draweth nigh, * Will no man win the grace of God showing me clemency;
And look with pity on my state, and clear my dark despair, * E'en with a draught of water dealt to cool death's agony?"
The people fell to weeping over him; and the headsman rose and brought him a
draught of water; but the Wazir sprang up from his place and smote the gugglet
with his hand and broke it: then he cried out at the executioner and bade him
strike off Nur al-Din's head. So he bound the eyes of the doomed man and folk
clamoured at the Wazir and loud wailings were heard and much questioning of man
and man. At this moment behold, rose a dense dust-cloud filling sky and wold;
and when the Sultan, who was sitting in the palace, descried this, he said to
his suite, "Go and see what yon cloud bringeth:" Replied Al Mu'ín, "Not till
we have smitten this fellow's neck;" but the Sultan said, "Wait ye till we see
what this meaneth." Now the dust-cloud was the dust of J'afar the Barmecide,
Wazir to the Caliph, and his host; and the cause of his coming was as follows.
The Caliph passed thirty days without calling to mind the matter of Nur al-Din
Ali,[FN#75] and none reminded him of it, till one night, as he passed by the
chamber of Anis al-Jalis, he heard her weeping and singing with a soft sweet
voice these lines of the poet,
"In thought I see thy form when farthest far or nearest near; * And on my
tongue there dwells a name which man shall ne'er unhear."
Then her weeping redoubled; when lo! the Caliph opened the door and, entering
the chamber, found Anis al-Jalis in tears. When she saw him she fell to the
ground and kissing his feet three times repeated these lines,
"O fertile root and noble growth of trunk; * Ripe-fruitful branch of never sullied race;
I mind thee of what pact thy bounty made; * Far be 't from thee thou should'st forget my case!"
Quoth the Caliph, "Who art thou?" and she replied, "I am she whom Ali bin
Khákán gave thee in gift, and I wish the fulfilment of thy promise to send me
to him with the robe of honour; for I have now been thirty days without tasting
the food of sleep." Thereupon the Caliph sent for Ja'afar and said to him, "O
Ja'afar, 'tis thirty days since we have had news of Nur al-Din bin Khákán, and
I cannot but suppose that the Sultan hath slain him; but, by the life of my head
and by the sepulchres of my forefathers, if aught of foul play hath befallen
him, I will surely make an end of him who was the cause of it, though he be the
dearest of all men to myself! So I desire that thou set out for Bassorah within
this hour and bring me tidings of my cousin, King Mohammed bin Sulayman
al-Zayni, and how he had dealt with Nur al-Din Ali bin Khákán;" adding, "If
thou tarry longer on the road than shall suffice for the journey, I will strike
off thy head. Furthermore, do thou tell the son of my uncle the whole story of
Nur al-Din, and how I sent him with my written orders; and if thou find, O my
cousin,[FN#76] that the King hath done otherwise than as I commanded, bring him
and the Wazir Al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí to us in whatsoever guise thou shalt find
them."[FN#77] "Hearing and obedience," replied Ja'afar and, making ready on the
instant, he set out for Bassorah where the news of his coming had foregone him
and had reached to the ears of King Mohammed. When Ja'afar arrived and saw the
crushing and crowding of the lieges, he asked, "What means all this gathering?"
so they told him what was doing in the matter of Nur al-Din; whereupon he
hastened to go to the Sultan and saluting him, acquainted him with the cause
why he came and the Caliph's resolve, in case of any foul play having befallen
the youth, to put to death whoso should have brought it about. Then he took
into custody the King and the Wazir and laid them in ward and, giving order for
the release of Nur al-Din Ali, enthroned him as Sultan in the stead of Mohammed
bin Sulayman. After this Ja'afar abode three days in Bassorah, the usual
guest-time, and on the morning of the fourth day, Nur al-Din Ali turned to him
and said, "I long for the sight of the Commander of the Faithful." Then said
Ja'afar to Mohammed bin Sulayman, "Make ready to travel, for we will say the
dawn-prayer and mount Baghdad-wards;" and he replied, "To hear is to obey."
Then they prayed and they took horse and set out, all of them, carrying with
them the Wazir, Al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí, who began to repent him of what he had done.
Nur al-Din rode by Ja'afar's side and they stinted not faring on till they
arrived at Baghdad, the House of Peace, and going in to the Caliph told him how
they had found Nur al-Din nigh upon death. Thereupon the Caliph said to the
youth, "Take this sword and smite with it the neck of thine enemy." So he took
the sword from his hand and stepped up to Al-Mu'ín who looked at him and said,
"I did according to my mother's milk, do thou according to thine."[FN#78] Upon
this Nur al-Din cast the sword from his hand and said to the Caliph, "O
Commander of the Faithful, he hath beguiled me with his words;" and he repeated
this couplet,
"By craft and sleight I snared him when he came; * A few fair words aye trap
the noble-game!"
"Leave him then," cried the Caliph and, turning to Masrur said, "Rise thou and
smite his neck." So Masrur drew his sword and struck off his head. Then quoth
the Caliph to Nur al-Din Ali, "Ask a boon of me." "O my lord," answered he, "I
have no need of the Kingship of Bassorah; my sole desire is to be honoured by
serving thee and by seeing thy countenance." "With love and gladness," said the
Caliph. Then he sent for the damsel, Anis al-Jalis, and bestowed plentiful
favours upon them both and gave them one of his palaces in Baghdad, and
assigned stipends and allowances, and made Nur al-Din Ali bin Fazl bin Khákán,
one of his cup-companions; and he abode with the Commander of the Faithful
enjoying the pleasantest of lives till death overtook him. "Yet (continued
Shahrazad) is not his story in any wise more wondrous than the history of the
merchant and his children." The King asked "And what was that?" and Shahrazad
began to relate the
Tale of Ghanim bin Ayyub[FN#79], the Distraught, the Thrall o' Love.
It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that in times of yore and in years and
ages long gone before, there lived in Damascus a merchant among the merchants,
a wealthy man who had a son like the moon on the night of his fulness[FN#80]
and withal sweet of speech, who was named Ghánim bin ‘Ayyúb surnamed the
Distraught, the Thrall o' Love. He had also a daughter, own sister to Ghanim,
who was called Fitnah, a damsel unique in beauty and loveliness. Their father
died and left them abundant wealth.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Thirty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the merchant left his two
children abundant wealth and amongst other things an hundred loads[FN#81] of
silks and brocades, musk-pods and mother o' pearl; and there was written on
every bale, "This is of the packages intended for Baghdad," it having been his
purpose to make the journey thither, when Almighty Allah took him to Himself,
which was in the time of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. After a while his son took
the loads and, bidding farewell to his mother and kindred and townsfolk, went
forth with a company of merchants, putting his trust in Allah Almighty, who
decreed him safety, so that he arrived without let or stay at Baghdad. There he
hired for himself a fair dwelling house which he furnished with carpets and
cushions, curtains and hangings; and therein stored his bales and stabled his
mules and camels, after which he abode a while resting. Presently the merchants
and notables of Baghdad came and saluted him, after which he took a bundle
containing ten pieces of costly stuffs, with the prices written on them, and
carried it to the merchants' bazar, where they welcomed and saluted him and
showed him all honour; and, making him dismount from his beast, seated him in
the shop of the Syndic of the market, to whom he delivered the package. He
opened it and drawing out the pieces of stuff, sold them for him at a profit
of two dinars on every dinar of prime cost. At this Ghanim rejoiced and kept
selling his silks and stuffs one after another, and ceased not to do on this
wise for a full year. On the first day of the following year he went, as was
his wont, to the Exchange which was in the bazar, but found the gate shut; and
enquiring the reason was told, "One of the merchants is dead and all the others
have gone to follow his bier,[FN#82] and why shouldst thou not win the meed of
good deeds by walking with them?"[FN#83] He replied "Yes," and asked for the
quarter where the funeral was taking place, and one directed him thereto. So he
purified himself by the Wuzu-ablution[FN#84] and repaired with the other
merchants to the oratory, where they prayed over the dead, then walked before
the bier to the burial-place, and Ghanim, who was a bashful man, followed them
being ashamed to leave them. They presently issued from the city, and passed
through the tombs until they reached the grave where they found that the
deceased's kith and kin had pitched a tent over the tomb and had brought
thither lamps and wax-candles. So they buried the body and sat down while the
readers read out and recited the Koran over the grave; and Ghanim sat with
them, being overcome with bashfulness and saying to himself "I cannot well go
away till they do." They tarried listening to the Koranic perlection till
nightfall, when the servants set supper and sweetmeats[FN#85] before them; and
they ate till they were satisfied; then they washed their hands and again took
their places. But Ghanim's mind was preoccupied with his house and goods, being
in fear of robbers, and he said to himself, "I am a stranger here and supposed
to have money; if I pass the night abroad the thieves will steal my money-bags
and my bales to boot." So when he could no longer control his fear he arose and
left the assembly, having first asked leave to go about some urgent business;
and following the signs of the road he soon came to the city-gate. But it was
midnight and he found the doors locked and saw none going or coming nor heard
aught but the hounds baying and the wolves howling. At this he exclaimed,
"There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! I was in fear for my
property and came back on its account, but now I find the gate shut and I am in
mortal fear for my life!" Then he turned back and, looking out for a place
where he could sleep till morning, presently found a Santon's tomb, a square of
four walls with a date-tree in the central court and a granite gateway. The
door was wide open; so he entered and would fain have slept, but sleep came not
to him; and terror and a sense of desolation oppressed him, for that he was
alone amidst the tombs. So he rose to his feet and, opening the door, looked
out and lo! he was ware of a light afar off in the direction of the city-gate;
then walking a little way towards it, he saw that it was on the road whereby he
had reached the tomb. This made him fear for his life, so he hastily shut the
door and climbed to the top of the date-tree where he hid himself in the heart
of the fronds. The light came nearer and nearer till it was close to the tomb;
then it stopped and he saw three slaves, two bearing a chest and one with a
lanthorn, an adze and a basket containing some mortar. When they reached the
tomb, one of those who were carrying the case said, "What aileth thee O
Sawáb?"; and said the other, "What is the matter O Káfúr?"[FN#86] Quoth he,
"Were we not here at supper-tide and did we not leave the door open?" "Yes,"
replied the other, "that is true.'' "See," said Kafur, "now it is shut and
barred." "How weak are your wits!" cried the third who bore the adze and his
name was Bukhayt,[FN#87] "know ye not that the owners of the gardens use to
come out from Baghdad and tend them; and, when evening closes upon them, they
enter this place and shut the door, for fear lest the wicked blackmen, like
ourselves, should catch them; and roast 'em and eat 'em."[FN#88] "Thou sayest
sooth," said the two others, "but by Allah, however that may be, none amongst
us is weaker of wits than thou." "If ye do not believe me," said Bukhayt, "let
us enter the tomb and I will rouse the rat for you; for I doubt not but that,
when he saw the light and us making for the place, he ran up the date-tree and
hid there for fear of us." When Ghanim heard this, he said in himself, "O
curstest of slaves! May Allah not have thee in His holy keeping for this thy
craft and keenness of wit! There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great! How shall I win free of these blackamoors?"
Then said the two who bore the box to him of the adze, "Swarm up the wall and
open the gate for us, O Bukhayt, for we are tired of carrying the chest on our
necks; and when thou hast opened the gate thou shalt have one of those we catch
inside, a fine fat rat which we will fry for thee after such excellent fashion
that not a speck of his fat shall be lost." But Bukhayt answered, "I am afraid
of somewhat which my weak wits have suggested to me: we should do better to
throw the chest over the gateway; for it is our treasure." "If we throw it
'twill break," replied they; and he said, "I fear lest there be robbers within
who murder folk and plunder their goods, for evening is their time of entering
such places and dividing their spoil." "O thou weak o' wits," said both the
bearers of the box, "how could they ever get in here!"[FN#89] Then they set
down the chest and climbing over the wall dropped inside and opened the gate,
whilst the third slave (he that was called Bukhayt) stood by them holding the
adze, the lanthorn and the hand-basket containing the mortar. After this they
locked the gate and sat down; and presently one of them said, "O my brethren,
we are wearied with walking and with lifting up and setting down the chest, and
with unlocking and locking the gate; and now 'tis midnight, and we have no
breath left to open a tomb and bury the box: so let us rest here two or three
hours, then rise and do the job. Meanwhile each of us shall tell how he came to
be castrated and all that befel him from first to last, the better to pass away
our time while we take our rest." Thereupon the first, he of the lanthorn and
whose name was Bukhayt, said, "I'll tell you my tale." "Say on," replied they;
so he began as follows the
Tale of the First Eunuch, Bukhayt.
Know, O my brothers, that when I was a little one, some five years old, I was
taken home from my native country by a slave-driver who sold me to a certain
Apparitor.[FN#90] My purchaser had a daughter three years old, with whom I was
brought up, and they used to make mock of me, letting me play with her and
dance for her[FN#91] and sing to her, till I reached the age of twelve and she
that of ten; and even then they did not forbid me seeing her. One day I went in
to her and found her sitting in an inner room, and she looked as if she had
just come out of the bath which was in the house; for she was scented with
essences and reek of aromatic woods, and her face shone like a circle of the
moon on the fourteenth night. She began to sport with me, and I with her. Now I
had just reached the age of puberty; so my prickle stood at point, as it were a
huge key. Then she threw me on my back and, mounting astraddle on my breast,
fell a-wriggling and a-bucking upon me till she had uncovered my yard. When she
saw it standing with head erect, she hent it in hand and began rubbing it upon
the lips of her little slit[FN#92] outside her petticoat-trousers. Thereat hot
lust stirred in me and I threw my arms round her, while she wound hers about my
neck and hugged me to her with all her might, till, before I knew what I did,
my pizzle split up her trousers and entered her slit and did away her
maidenhead. When I saw this, I ran off and took refuge with one of my comrades.
Presently her mother came in to her; and, seeing her in this case, fainted
clean away. However she managed the matter advisedly and hid it from the girl's
father out of good will to me; nor did they cease to call to me and coax me,
till they took me from where I was. After two months had passed by, her mother
married her to a young man, a barber who used to shave her papa, and portioned
and fitted her out of her own monies; whilst the father knew nothing of what
had passed. On the night of consummation they cut the throat of a pigeon-poult
and sprinkled the blood on her shift.[FN#93] After a while they seized me
unawares and gelded me; and, when they brought her to her bridegroom, they made
me her Agha,[FN#94] her eunuch, to walk before her wheresoever she went,
whether to the bath or to her father's house. I abode with her a long time
enjoying her beauty and loveliness by way of kissing and clipping and coupling
with her,[FN#95] till she died, and her husband and mother and father died
also; when they seized me for the Royal Treasury as being the property of an
intestate, and I found my way hither, where I became your comrade. This, then,
O my brethren, is the cause of my cullions being cut off; and peace be with
you! He ceased and his fellow began in these words the
Tale of the Second Eunuch, Kafur.
Know, O my brothers that, when beginning service as a boy of eight, I used to
tell the slave-dealers regularly and exactly one lie every year, so that they
fell out with one another, till at last my master lost patience with me and,
carrying me down to the market, ordered the brokers to cry, "Who will buy this
slave, knowing his blemish and making allowance for it?" He did so and they
asked him, "Pray, what may be his blemish?" and he answered, "He telleth me one
single lie every year." Now a man that was a merchant came up and said to the
broker, "How much do they allow for him with his blemish?" "They allow six
hundred dirhams," he replied; and said the other, "Thou shalt have twenty
dirhams for thyself." So he arranged between him and the slave-dealer who took
the coin from him and the broker carried me to the merchant's house and
departed, after receiving his brokerage. The trader clothed me with suitable
dress, and I stayed in his service the rest of my twelvemonth, until the new
year began happily. It was a blessed season, plenteous in the produce of the
earth, and the merchants used to feast every day at the house of some one among
them, till it was my master's turn to entertain them in a flower-garden without
the city. So he and the other merchants went to the garden, taking with them
all that they required of provaunt and else beside, and sat eating and
carousing and drinking till mid-day, when my master, having need of some matter
from his home, said to me, "O slave, mount the she-mule and hie thee to the
house and bring from thy mistress such and such a thing and return quickly." I
obeyed his bidding and started for the house but, as I drew near it, I began to
cry out and shed tears, whereupon all the people of the quarter collected,
great and small; and my master's wife and daughters, hearing the noise I was
making, opened the door and asked me what was the matter. Said I, "My master
was sitting with his friends beneath an old wall, and it fell on one and all of
them; and when I saw what had happened to them, I mounted the mule and came
hither in haste to tell you." When my master's daughters and wife heard this,
they screamed and rent their raiment and beat their faces, whilst the
neighbours came around them. Then the wife overturned the furniture of the
house, one thing upon another, and tore down the shelves and broke the windows
and the lattices and smeared the walls with mud and indigo, saying to me, "Woe
to thee, O Kafur! come help me to tear down these cupboards and break up these
vessels and this china ware,[FN#96] and the rest of it." So I went to her and
aided her to smash all the shelves in the house with whatever stood upon them,
after which I went round about the terrace-roofs and every part of the place,
spoiling all I could and leaving no china in the house unbroken till I had laid
waste the whole, crying out the while "Well away! my master!" Then my mistress
fared forth bare-faced wearing a head-kerchief and naught else, and her
daughters and the children sallied out with her, and said to me, "O Kafur, go
thou before us and show us the place where thy master lieth dead, that we may
take him from under the fallen wall and lay him on a bier and bear him to the
house and give him a fine funeral." So I went forth before them crying out,
"Alack, my master!"; and they after me with faces and heads bare and all
shrieking, "Alas! Alas for the man!" Now there remained none in the quarter,
neither man nor woman, nor epicene, nor youth nor maid, nor child nor old trot,
but went with us smiting their faces and weeping bitterly, and I led them
leisurely through the whole city. The folk asked them what was the matter,
whereupon they told them what they had heard from me, and all exclaimed, "There
is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah!" Then said one of them, "He
was a personage of consequence; so let us go to the Governor and tell him what
hath befallen him." When they told the Governor,—And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.