When the merchant saw that the genie was going to cut off his head,
he cried out aloud, and said to him, For heaven’s sake, hold your
hand! Allow me one word: be so good as to grant me some respite;
allow me but time to bid my wife and children adieu, and to divide
my estate among them by will, that they may not go to law with one
another, after my death; and when I have done so, I will come back
to the same place, and submit to whatever you shall please to order
concerning me. But, says the genie, if I grant you the time you
demand, I doubt you will never return. If you will believe my oath,
answers the merchant, I swear by all that is sacred that I will come
and meet you here without fail. What time do you demand then?
replies the genie. I ask a year, says the merchant; I cannot have
less to order my affairs, and to prepare myself to die without
regret. But I promise you, that this day twelvemonths I will return
under those trees, to put myself into your hands. Do you take heaven
to be witness to this promise? says the genie. I do, answers the
merchant, and repeat it, and you may rely upon my oath. Upon this,
the genie left him near the fountain, and disappeared.
The merchant, being recovered from his fright, mounted his horse,
and set forward on his journey; and as he was glad, on the one hand,
that he had escaped so great a danger, so he was mortally sorry, on
the other, when he thought on his fatal oath. When he came home, his
wife and children received him with all the demonstrations of
perfect joy; but he, instead of making them suitable returns, fell
to weeping bitterly; from whence they readily conjectured that
something extraordinary had befallen him. His wife asked the reason
of his excessive grief and tears: We are all overjoyed, says she, at
your return, but you frighten us to see you in this condition; pray
tell us the cause of your sorrow. Alas! replies the husband, the
cause of it is, that I have but a year to live; and then he told
what had passed between him and the genie, and that he had given him
his oath to return at the end of the year, to receive death from his
hands.
When they had heard this sad news, they all began to lament
heartily. His wife made a pitiful outcry, beat her face, and tore
her hair. The children, all in tears, made the house resound with
their groans: and the father, not being able to overcome nature,
mingled his tears with theirs; so that, in a word, it was the most
affecting spectacle that any man could behold.
Next morning, the merchant applied himself to put his affairs in
order, and, first of all, to pay his debts. He made presents to his
friends; gave great alms to the poor; set his slaves of both sexes
at liberty; divided his estate among his children; appointed
guardians for such of them as were not come of age; and, restoring
to his wife all that was due to her by contract of marriage, he gave
her, over and above, all that he could do by law.
At last the year expired, and go he must. He put his burial clothes
in his portmanteau; but never was there such grief seen as when he
came to bid his wife and children adieu. They could not think of
parting, but resolved to go and die with him; but finding that he
must be forced to part with those dear objects, he spoke to them
thus: My dear wife and children, says he, I obey the order of Heaven
in quitting you; follow my example, submit courageously to this
necessity, and consider that it is the destiny of man to die. Having
said these words, he went out of the hearing of the cries of his
family; and taking his journey, arrived at the place where he
promised to meet the genie on the day appointed. He alighted, and
setting himself down by the fountain, waited the coming of the genie
with all the sorrow imaginable. Whilst he languished in this cruel
expectation, a good old man, leading a hind, appeared, and drew near
him. They saluted one another; after which the old man says to him,
Brother, may I ask you why you are come into this desert place,
where there is nothing but evil spirits, and by consequence you
cannot be safe? To look upon these fine trees, indeed, one would
think the place inhabited; but it is a true wilderness, where it is
not safe to stay long.
The merchant satisfied his curiosity, and told him the adventure
which obliged him to be there. The old man listened to him with
astonishment, and when he had done, cried out, This is the most
surprising thing in the world; and you are bound with the most
inviolable oath; however, I will be witness of your interview with
the genie. And sitting down by the merchant, they talked together.
But I see day, says Scheherazade, and must leave off; yet the best
of the story is to come. The sultan, resolving to hear the end of
it, suffered her to live that day also.