Dinarzade, according to custom, did not forget to call the sultaness
when it was time. Madam, said she, I know not what is the matter
with me, but I know very well, that one of the stories which you
tell so agreeably would be a great relief against that melancholy
which eats me up. Scheherazade, without answering her, began
immediately, and told the sultan the following story:
The Story of the Three Calendars, [3] sons of Kings, and of the Five
Ladies of Bagdad.
Sir, said she, in the reign of Caliph Haroun Alraschid, there was at
Bagdad, the place of his residence, a porter, who, notwithstanding
his mean and laborious business, was a fellow of wit and good
humour. One morning, as he was at the place where he usually plied,
with a great basket, waiting for employment, a handsome young lady,
covered with a great muslin veil, accosted him, and said, with a
pleasant air, Hark ye, porter, take your basket, and follow me. The
porter, charmed with those few words, pronounced in so agreeable a
manner, took his basket immediately, set it on his head, and
followed the lady, saying, O, happy day! O, day of good luck!
The lady stopped presently before a gate that was shut, and knocked:
a Christian, with a venerable long white beard, opened the gate, and
she put money into his hand, without speaking one word: but the
Christian, who knew what she wanted, went in, and in a little time
after brought a large jug of excellent wine. Take this jug, said the
lady to the porter, and put it in your basket. This being done, she
commanded him to follow her; and as she went on, the porter said
still, O, happy day! this is a day of agreeable surprise and joy!
The lady stopped at a fruit shop, where she bought several sorts of
apples, apricots, peaches, quinces, lemons, citrons, oranges,
myrtles, sweet basil, lilies, jessamin, and some other sorts of
flowers and fragrant plants; she bade the porter put all into his
basket, and follow her. As she went by a butcher’s stall, she made
him weigh her twenty-five pounds of his best meat, which she ordered
the porter to put also into his basket. At another shop she took
capers, tarragon, cucumbers, sasafras, and other herbs, to be
preserved in vinegar; at another shop she bought pistachios,
walnuts, filberts, almonds, kernels of pine apples, and such other
fruits; and at another she bought all sorts of confectionary. When
the porter had put all those things into his basket, and perceived
that it grew full, My good lady, said he, you ought to have given me
notice that you had so much provision to carry, and then I would
have got a horse, or rather a camel, to have carried them; for if
you buy ever so little more, I shall not be able to carry it. The
lady laughed at the fellow’s pleasant humour, and ordered him
still to follow her.
Then she went to a druggist, where she furnished herself with all
manner of sweet-scented waters, cloves, musk, pepper, ginger, and a
great piece of ambergris, and several other Indian spices. This
quite filled the porter’s basket, and she ordered him to follow
her. They walked till they came to a magnificent house, whose front
was adorned with fine columns, and which had a gate of ivory. There
they stopped, and the lady knocked softly. Here Scheherazade,
perceiving day, broke off.
I must own, sister, says Dinarzade, the beginning of this story has
a great deal of curiosity; I fancy the sultan will not deprive
himself of the pleasure of hearing the rest of it. And, indeed,
Schahriar was so far from ordering the sultaness to be put to death,
that he longed impatiently for next night, to know what passed in
the fine house.