went into his closet to have the pleasure of contemplating and
admiring Aladdin’s palace; but when he first looked that way, and,
instead of a palace, saw an empty space such as it was before the
palace was built, he thought he was mistaken, and rubbed his eyes:
he looked again, and saw nothing more the second time than the
first, though the weather was fine, the sky clear, and the daybreak
beginning to appear, had made all objects very distinct. He looked
through the two openings on the right and left, and saw nothing more
than he had formerly been used to see out of them. His amazement was
so great, that he stood for some time turning his eyes to the spot
where the palace had stood, but where it was no longer to be seen.
He could not comprehend how so large a palace as Aladdin’s, which
he saw plainly every day, and but the day before, should vanish so
soon, and not leave the least remains behind. Certainly, said he to
himself, I am not mistaken; it stood there: if it had tumbled down,
the materials would have lain in heaps; and if it had been swallowed
up by an earthquake, there would be some mark left. Whatever was the
case, though he was convinced that no palace stood there, he could
not help staying there some time, to see whether he might not be
mistaken. At last he retired to his apartment, not without looking
behind him before he quitted the spot, and ordered the grand vizier
to be fetched in all haste; and, in the mean time, sat down, his
mind agitated by so many different thoughts, that he knew not what
to resolve on.
The grand vizier did not make the sultan wait long for him, but came
with so much precipitation, that neither he nor his attendants, as
they passed by, missed Aladdin’s palace; neither did the porters,
when they opened the palace gates, observe any alteration.
When he came into the sultan’s presence, he said to him, Sir, the
haste in which your majesty sent for me makes me believe something
very extraordinary has happened, since you know this is council-day,
and I shall not fail attending you there very soon. Indeed, said the
sultan, it is something very extraordinary, as you say, and you will
allow it to be so: tell me what has become of Aladdin’s palace.
Aladdin’s palace! replied the grand vizier, in great amazement; I
thought, as I passed by it, it stood in its usual place: such
substantial buildings are not so easily removed. Go into my closet,
said the sultan, and tell me if you can see it.
The grand vizier went into the closet, where he was struck with no
less amazement than the sultan had been. When he was well assured
that there was not the least appearance of this palace, he returned
to the sultan. Well, said the sultan, have you seen Aladdin’s
palace? Sir, answered the vizier, your majesty may remember that I
had the honour to tell you, that that palace, which was the subject
of your admiration, with all its immense riches, was only the work
of magic and a magician; but your majesty would not pay the least
attention to what I said.
The sultan, who could not deny what the grand vizier had represented
to him, flew into the greater passion. Where is that impostor, that
wicked wretch, said he, that I may have his head cut off
immediately? Sir, replied the grand vizier, it is some days since he
came to take his leave of your majesty; he ought to be sent to, to
know what is become of his palace, since he cannot be ignorant of
what has been transacted. That is too great an indulgence, replied
the sultan; go and order a detachment of thirty horse, to bring him
to me loaded with chains. The grand vizier went and gave orders for
a detachment of thirty horse, and instructed the officer who
commanded them, how they were to act, that Aladdin might not escape
them. The detachment pursued their orders; and, about five or six
leagues from the town, met him returning from hunting. The officer
went up to him, and told him that the sultan was so impatient to see
him, that he had sent them to accompany him home.
Aladdin had not the least suspicion of the true reason of their
meeting him, but pursued his way hunting; but when he came within
half a league of the city, the detachment surrounded him, and the
officer addressed himself to him, and said, Prince Aladdin, it is
with great regret that I declare to you the sultan’s order to
arrest you, and to carry you before him as a criminal. I beg of you
not to take it ill that we acquit ourselves of our duty, and to
forgive us.
Aladdin, who felt himself innocent, was very much surprised at this
declaration, and asked the officer if he knew what crime he was
accused of, who replied he did not. Then Aladdin, finding that his
retinue was much inferior to this detachment, alighted off his
horse, and said to the officer, Execute your orders; I am not
conscious that I have committed any crime against the sultan’s
person or government. A large long chain was immediately put about
his neck, and fastened round his body, so that both his arms were
pinioned down; then the officer put himself at the head of the
detachment, and one of the troopers taking hold of the end of the
chain, and proceeding after the officer, led Aladdin, who was
obliged to follow him on foot, into the town.
When this detachment entered the suburbs, the people, who saw
Aladdin thus led as a state criminal, never doubted but that his
head was to be cut off; and as he was generally beloved, some took
sabres and other arms; and those who had none, gathered stones, and
followed the detachment. The last five of the detachment faced about
to disperse them; but their numbers presently increased so much,
that the detachment began to think that it would be well if they
could get into the sultan’s palace before Aladdin was rescued; to
prevent which, according to the different extent of the streets,
they took care to cover the ground by extending or closing. In this
manner they arrived at the palace square, and there drew up in a
line, and faced about till their officer and the trooper that led
Aladdin had got within the gates, which were immediately shut.
Aladdin was carried before the sultan, who waited for him, attended
by the grand vizier, in a balcony; and as soon as he saw him, he
ordered the executioner, who waited there on purpose, to cut off his
head without hearing him, or giving him leave to clear himself.
As soon as the executioner had taken off the chain that was fastened
about Aladdin’s neck and body, and laid down a skin stained with
the blood of the many criminals he had executed, he made Aladdin
kneel down, and tied a bandage over his eyes. Then drawing his
sabre, he took his measures to strike the blow, by flourishing it
three times in the air, waiting for the sultan’s giving the signal
to separate his head from his body.
At that instant the grand vizier perceiving that the populace had
forced the guard of horse, and crowded the great square before the
palace, and were scaling the walls in several places, and beginning
to pull them down to force their way in, he said to the sultan,
before he gave the signal, I beg of your majesty to consider what
you are going to do, since you will hazard your palace being forced;
and who knows what fatal consequence may attend it? My palace
forced! replied the sultan; who can have that boldness? Sir,
answered the grand vizier, if your majesty but cast your eyes
towards the great square, and on the palace walls, you will know the
truth of what I say.
The sultan was so frightened when he saw so great a crowd, and
perceiving how enraged they were, that he ordered the executioner to
put his sabre immediately in the scabbard, and to unbind Aladdin;
and at the same time, bid the chiaoux declare to the people that the
sultan had pardoned him and that they might retire.
Then all those who had already got upon the walls, and were
witnesses of what had passed, abandoned their design, and got
quickly down, overjoyed that they had saved the life of a man they
dearly loved, published the news among the rest, which was presently
confirmed by the chiaoux from the top of the terraces. The justice
which the sultan had done to Aladdin soon disarmed the populace of
their rage; the tumult abated, and the mob dispersed.
When Aladdin found himself at liberty, he turned towards the
balcony, and perceiving the sultan, raised his voice, and said to
him in a moving manner, I beg of your majesty to add one favour more
to that which I have already received, which is, to let me know my
crime. Your crime! answered the sultan; perfidious wretch! do you
not know it? Come up hither, and I will show it you.
Aladdin went up, and presenting himself to the sultan, the latter
going before him without looking at him, said, Follow me; and then
led him into his closet. When he came to the door, he said, Go in;
you ought to know whereabouts your palace stood; look around, and
tell me what is become of it.
Aladdin looked round, but saw nothing. He perceived very well the
spot of ground his palace had stood on; but not being able to divine
how it should disappear, this extraordinary and surprising event
threw him into so great confusion and amazement, that he could not
return one word of answer.
The sultan growing impatient, said to him again, Where is your
palace, and what is become of my daughter? Then Aladdin breaking
silence, said to him, Sir, I see very well, and own that the palace
which I have built is not in the same place it was, but is vanished;
neither can I tell your majesty where it may be, but can assure you
I have no hand in it.
I am not so much concerned about your palace, replied the sultan; I
value my daughter ten thousand times before it, and would have you
find her out, otherwise I will cause your head to be struck off, and
no consideration shall prevent it.
I beg of your majesty, answered Aladdin, to grant me forty days to
make my inquiries; and if in that time I have not the success I wish
for, I will come again, and offer my head at the foot of your
throne, to be disposed of at your pleasure. I give you the forty
days you ask for, said the sultan; but think not to abuse the favour
I show you, by imagining you shall escape my resentment; for I will
find you out in whatsoever part of the world you are.
Aladdin went out of the sultan’s presence with great humiliation,
and in a condition worthy of pity. He crossed the courts of the
palace, hanging down his head, and in so great confusion that he
durst not lift up his eyes. The principal officers of the court, who
had all professed themselves his friends, and whom he had never
disobliged, instead of going up to him to comfort him, and offer him
a retreat in their houses, turned their backs on him, as much to
avoid seeing him, as lest he should know them. But had they accosted
him with a word of comfort, or offer of service, they would have no
more known Aladdin. He did not know himself, and was no longer in
his senses, as plainly appeared by asking every body he met, and at
every house, if they had seen his palace, or could tell him any news
of it.
These questions made every body believe that Aladdin was mad. Some
laughed at him, but people of sense and humanity, particularly those
who had had any connexion of business or friendship with him, really
pitied him. For three days he rambled about the city after this
manner, without coming to any resolution, or eating any thing but
what some good people forced him to take out of charity.
At last, as he could no longer, in his unhappy condition, stay in a
city where he had formerly made so fine a figure, he quitted it, and
took the road to the country; and after he had traversed several
fields in a frightful uncertainty, at the approach of night he came
to a river side. There, possessed by his despair, he said to
himself, Where shall I seek my palace? In what province, country, or
part of the world, shall I find that and my dear princess whom the
sultan expects from me? I shall never succeed; I had better free
myself at once from so much fruitless fatigue and such bitter grief
which preys upon me. He was just going to throw himself into the
river, but as a good Mussulman, true to his religion, he thought he
could not do it without first saying his prayers. Going to prepare
himself, he went first to the river side to wash his hands and face,
according to custom. But that place being steep and slippery, by
reason of the water beating against it, he slid down and had
certainly fallen into the river, but for a little rock which
projected about two feet out of the earth. Happily also for him, he
still had on the ring which the African magician put on his finger
before he went down into the subterraneous abode to fetch the
precious lamp, which had not been taken from him. In slipping down
the bank he rubbed the ring so hard by holding on the rock, that
immediately the same genie appeared whom he saw in the cave where
the magician left him. What wouldst thou have? said the genie. I am
ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all those that
have that ring on their finger; both I and the other slaves of the
ring.
Aladdin, agreeably surprised at an apparition he so little expected
in the despair he was in, replied, Save my life, genie, a second
time, either by showing me the place where the palace I have caused
to be built now stands, or immediately transport it back where it
first stood. What you command me, answered the genie, is not in my
power; I am only the slave of the ring; you must address yourself to
the slave of the lamp. If it be so, replied Aladdin, I command thee
by the power of the ring to transport me to the place where my
palace stands, in what part of the world soever it is, and set me
down under the princess Badroulboudour’s window. These words were
no sooner out of his mouth, but the genie transported him into
Africa, to the midst of a large meadow, where his palace stood, a
small distance from a great city, and set him exactly under the
windows of the princess’s apartments, and then left him. All this
was done almost in an instant.
Aladdin, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, knew his palace
and the princess Badroulboudour’s apartment again very well; but
as the night was far advanced, and all was quiet in the palace, he
retired to some distance, and sat down at the foot of a large tree.
There, full of hopes, and reflecting on his happiness, for which he
was indebted to pure chance, he found himself in a much more
peaceable situation than when he was arrested and carried before the
sultan, and delivered from the danger of losing his life. He amused
himself some time with these agreeable thoughts; but not having
slept for five or six days, he was not able to resist the drowsiness
which came upon him, but fell fast asleep where he was.
The next morning, as soon as day appeared, Aladdin was agreeably
awakened not only by the singing of the birds which had roosted in
the tree under which he had passed the night, but all those which
perched in the thick groves of the palace garden. When he cast his
eyes on that wonderful edifice, he felt an inexpressible joy to
think he should soon be master of it again, and once more possess
his dear princess Badroulboudour. Pleased with these hopes, he
immediately got up, went towards the princess’s apartment, and
walked some time under her window, in expectation of her rising,
that he might see her. During this expectation, he began to consider
with himself from whence the cause of his misfortunes proceeded; and
after mature reflection, he no longer doubted that it was owing to
his having put his lamp out of his sight. He accused himself of
negligence, and the little care he took of it, to let it be a moment
away from him. But what puzzled him most was, he could not imagine
who had been so jealous of his happiness. He would soon have guessed
this, if he had known that both he and his palace were in Africa,
the very name of which would soon have made him remember the
magician, his declared enemy; but the genie, the slave of the ring,
had not made the least mention of the name of the place, nor had
Aladdin asked him.
The princess Badroulboudour rose earlier that morning than she had
done since her transportation into Africa by the magician, whose
presence she was forced to support once a day, because he was master
of the palace; but she had always treated him so harshly, that he
dared not reside in it. As she was dressing, one of the women
looking through the window, perceived Aladdin, and presently ran and
told her mistress. The princess, who could not believe the news,
went that moment herself to the window, and seeing Aladdin,
immediately opened it. The noise the princess made in opening the
window made Aladdin turn his head that way, who, knowing the
princess, saluted her with an air that expressed his joy. To lose no
time, said she to him, I have sent to have the private door opened
for you; enter, and then come up; she then shut the window.
The private door, which was just under the princess’s apartment,
was soon opened, and Aladdin was conducted up into the princess’s
chamber. It is impossible to express the joy of those lovers at
seeing each other, after a separation which they both thought was
for ever. They embraced several times, and showed all the marks of a
sincere love and tenderness, after an event so unforeseen and
melancholy. After these embracings, and shedding tears of joy, they
sat down, and Aladdin assuming the discourse, said, I beg of you,
princess, in God’s name, before we talk of any thing else, to tell
me, both for your own sake, and the sultan your father’s, and
mine, what is become of an old lamp which I left upon the cornice in
the hall of the four-and-twenty windows, before I went to hunting?
Alas! dear husband, answered the princess, I am afraid our
misfortune is owing to that lamp: and what grieves me most is, that
I have been the cause of it. Princess, replied Aladdin, do not blame
yourself, since it was entirely my fault, and I ought to have taken
more care of it. But let us now think only of repairing the loss;
tell me what has happened, and into whose hands it has fallen.
Then the princess Badroulboudour gave Aladdin an account how she
changed the old lamp for a new one, which she ordered to be fetched,
that he might see it, and how the next morning she found herself in
the unknown country they were then in, which she was told was Africa
by the traitor who had transported her thither by his magic art.
Princess, said Aladdin, interrupting her, you have informed me who
the traitor is, by telling me we are in Africa. He is the most
perfidious of all men; but this is neither a time nor place to give
you a full account of his villanies. I desire you only to tell me
what he has done with the lamp, and where he has put it. He carries
it carefully wrapt up in his bosom, said the princess; and this I
can assure you, because he pulled it out before me, and showed it to
me in triumph.
Princess, said Aladdin, do not be displeased that I trouble you with
so many questions, since they are equally important both to you and
me. But to come to what most particularly concerns me. Tell me, I
conjure you, how so wicked and perfidious a man treats you. Since I
have been here, replied the princess, he comes once every day to see
me; and I am persuaded the little satisfaction he receives from his
visits makes him come no oftener. All his discourse tends to
persuade me to break that faith I have pledged to you, and to take
him for a husband; giving me to understand, I ought not to entertain
any hopes of ever seeing you again, for that you were dead, and had
had your head struck off by the sultan my father’s order. He
added, to justify himself, that you were an ungrateful wretch; that
your good fortune was owing to him, and a great many other things of
that nature, which I forbear to repeat: but as he received no answer
from me but grievous complaints and tears, he was always forced to
retire with as little satisfaction as he came. I doubt not his
intention is to allow me time to vanquish my grief, in hopes
afterwards that I may change my sentiments; and if I persevere in an
obstinate refusal, to use violence. But my dear husband’s presence
removes all my disquiets.
I am confident it is not in vain, replied Aladdin, since my
princess’s fears are removed, and I think I have found the means
to deliver you from both your enemy and mine: to execute this
design, it is necessary for me to go to the town. I shall return by
noon, and then will communicate my design to you, and tell you what
must be done by you to ensure success. But that you may not be
surprised, I think it proper to acquaint you that I shall change my
apparel, and beg of you to give orders that I may not wait long at
the private door, but that it may be opened at the first knock: all
which the princess promised to observe.
When Aladdin was got out of the palace by that door, he looked round
about him on all sides, and perceiving a peasant going into the
country, he hastened after him; and when he had overtaken him, made
a proposal to him to change clothes, which the man agreed to: they
went behind a hedge, and there made the exchange. The countryman
went about his business, and Aladdin to the city. After traversing
several streets, he came to that part of the town where all sorts of
merchants and artisans had their particular streets according to
their trades. He went into that of the druggists; and going into one
of the largest and best furnished shops, asked the druggist if he
had a certain powder which he named.
The druggist looking upon Aladdin by his habit to be very poor, and
that he had not money enough to pay for it, told him he had it, but
that it was very dear; upon which Aladdin, penetrating into his
thoughts, pulled out his purse, and allowing him some gold, asked
for half a drachm of the powder; which the druggist weighed, and
wrapt up in a piece of paper, and gave him, telling him the price
was a piece of gold. Aladdin put the money into his hand, and
staying no longer in the town but just to get a little refreshment,
returned to the palace, where he waited not long at the private
door. When he came into the princess’s apartment, he said to her,
Princess, perhaps the aversion you tell me you have for your
ravisher, may be an objection to your executing what I am going to
propose to you; but give me leave to tell you, it is proper that you
should at this juncture dissemble a little, and do violence to your
inclinations, if you would deliver yourself from him, and give my
lord the sultan your father the satisfaction of seeing you again.
If you will take my advice, continued he, dress yourself this moment
in one of your richest habits, and when the African magician comes,
make no difficulty to give him the best reception; receive him with
an open countenance, without affectation or constraint, yet so as
that, if there remains any cloud of affliction, he may imagine time
will dissipate it. In your conversation, let him understand that you
strive to forget me; and that he may be the more fully convinced of
your sincerity, invite him to sup with you, and give him to
understand you should be glad to taste some of the best wines of his
country. He will presently go to fetch you some. During his absence,
put into one of the cups like that you are accustomed to drink out
of, this powder, and setting it by, charge the slave you design that
night to attend you, upon a signal you shall agree upon with her, to
bring that cup to you. When the magician and you have eaten and
drank as much as you choose, let her bring you the cup, and change
cups with him. He will take it as so great a favour that he will not
refuse you, and will empty the cup; but no sooner will he have drank
it off, than you will see him fall backwards. If you have any
reluctance to drink out of his cup, you may pretend only to do it,
without fear of being discovered; for the effect of the powder is so
quick, that he will not have time enough to know whether you drink
or not.
When Aladdin had finished, I own, answered the princess, I shall do
myself a great violence in consenting to make the magician such
advances as I see are absolutely necessary for me to make; but what
cannot one resolve to do against a cruel enemy? I will therefore
follow your advice, since both my repose and yours depend on it.
After the princess had agreed to the measures proposed by Aladdin,
he took his leave of her, and went and spent the rest of the day in
the neighbourhood of the palace till it was night, when he might
safely return to the private door.
The princess Badroulboudour, who was not only inconsolable to be
separated from her dear husband, whom she loved from the first
moment, and still continued to love more out of inclination than
duty, but also from the sultan her father, who had always showed a
tender and paternal love for her, had, ever since that cruel
separation, lived in great neglect of her person. She had almost, as
one may say, forgot the neatness so becoming persons of her sex and
quality, particularly after the first time the magician paid her a
visit; and she understood by some of the women, who knew him again,
that it was he who took the old lamp in exchange for a new one,
which notorious cheat rendered the sight of him more abhorred.
However, the opportunity of taking the revenge he deserved sooner
than she durst hope for, made her resolve to gratify Aladdin. As
soon, therefore, as he was gone, she sat down at her toilet, and was
dressed by her women to the best advantage, in the richest habit,
most suitable to her design. Her girdle was of the finest and
largest diamonds set in gold, which she suited with a necklace of
pearls, six on a side, so well proportioned to that in the middle,
which was the largest and most valuable, that the greatest
sultanesses and queens would have been proud to have been adorned
with only two of the smallest. Her bracelets, which were of diamonds
and rubies intermixed, answered admirably to the richness of the
girdle and necklace.
When the princess Badroulboudour was completely dressed, she
consulted her glass and women upon her adjustment; and when she
found she wanted no charms to flatter the foolish passion of the
African magician, she sat down on a sofa, expecting his arrival.
The magician came at the usual hour, and as soon as he entered the
great hall, where the princess waited to receive him, she rose up in
all her beauty and charms, and pointed with her hand to the most
honourable place, waiting till he sat down, that she might sit at
the same time, which was a piece of civility she had never shown him
before.
The African magician, dazzled more with the lustre of the
princess’s eyes than the glittering of the jewels with which she
was adorned, was very much surprised. The majestic and graceful air
with which she received him, so opposite to her former behaviour,
quite confounded him.
When he was sat down, the princess, to free him from his
embarrassment, broke silence first, looking at him all the time in a
manner sufficient to make him believe that he was not so odious to
her as she had given him to understand before, said to him, You are
doubtless amazed to find me so much altered to-day from what I used
to be; but your surprise will not be so great when I acquaint you
that I am naturally of a disposition so opposite to melancholy and
grief, sorrow and uneasiness, that I always strive to put them as
far away as possible when I find the subject of them is past. I have
reflected on what you told me of Aladdin’s fate, and know the
sultan my father’s temper so well, that I am persuaded, with you,
that Aladdin could not escape the terrible effects of his rage;
therefore, should I continue to lament him all my life --my tears
cannot recall him. For this reason, after I have paid all the duties
my love requires of me to his memory, now he is in the grave, I
think I ought to endeavour to comfort myself. These are the motives
of the change you see in me; and to begin to cast off all
melancholy, I am resolved to banish it entirely; and persuaded you
will bear me company to-night, I have ordered a supper to be
prepared; but as I have no wines but of China, I have a great desire
to taste of the product of Africa, where I now am, and doubt not you
will get some of the best.
The African magician, who looked upon the happiness of coming so
soon and so easily into the princess Badroulboudour’s good graces
as impossible, could not think of words expressive enough to testify
how sensible he was of her favours; but to put an end the sooner to
a conversation which would have embarrassed him, if he had engaged
farther in it, he turned it upon the wines of Africa, and said, of
all the advantages Africa can boast, that of producing the most
excellent wines is one of the principal. I have a vessel of seven
years old, which has never been broached; and it is indeed not
praising it too much to say it is the finest wine in the world. If
my princess, added he, will give me leave, I will go and fetch two
bottles, and return again immediately. I should be sorry to give you
that trouble, replied the princess, you had better send for them. It
is necessary I should go myself, answered the African magician; for
nobody but myself knows where the key of the cellar is laid, or has
the secret to unlock the door. If it be so, said the princess, make
haste back again; for the longer you stay, the greater will be my
impatience, and we shall sit down to supper as soon as you come back.
The African magician, full of hopes of his expected happiness,
rather flew than ran, and returned quickly with the wine. --The
princess not doubting in the least but he would make haste, put with
her own hand the powder Aladdin gave her into the cup that was set
apart for that purpose. They sat down at the table opposite to each
other, the magician’s back towards the beaufet. The princess
presented him with the best at the table, and said to him, If you
please, I will entertain you with a concert of vocal and
instrumental music; but as we are only two. I think conversation may
be more agreeable. This the magician took as a new favour.
After they had eaten some time, the princess called for some wine,
and drank the magician’s health; and afterwards said to him,
Indeed you was in the right to commend your wine, since I never
tasted of any so delicious in my life. Charming princess, said he,
holding in his hand the cup which had been presented to him, my wine
becomes more exquisite by your approbation of it. Then drink my
health, replied the princess; you will find I understand wines. He
drank the princess’s health, and returning the cup, said, I think
myself happy, princess, that I reserved this wine for so good an
occasion; and I own I never before drank any so excellent in every
respect.
When they had drank two or three cups more a-piece, the princess,
who had completely charmed the African magician by her civility and
obliging behaviour, gave the signal to the slave who served them
with wine, bidding her bring the cup which had been filled for
herself, and at the same time bring the magician a full cup. When
they both had their cups in their hands, she said to him, I know not
how you here express your love when drinking together as we are:
with us in China, the lover and his mistress reciprocally exchange
cups, and drink each other’s health; at the same time she
presented to him the cup which was in her hand, and held out her
hand to receive his. He for his part hastened to make the exchange
with the more pleasure, as he looked upon this favour as the most
certain token of an entire conquest over the princess, which raised
his happiness to its height. Before he drank, he said to her, with
the cup in his hand, Indeed, princess, we Africans are not so
refined in the art of love as you Chinese; and instructing me in a
lesson I was ignorant of, informs me how sensible I ought to be of
the favour done me. I shall never, lovely princess, forget my
recovering, by drinking out of your cup, that life, which your
cruelty, had it continued, would have made me despair of.
The princess Badroulboudour, who began to be tired with this
barefaced declaration of the African magician, interrupted him, and
said, Let us drink first, and then say what you will afterwards; and
at the same time set the cup to her lips, while the African
magician, who was eager to get his wine off first, drank up the very
last drop. In finishing it, he had reclined his head back to show
his eagerness, and remained some time in that state. The princess
kept her cup at her lips, till she saw his eyes turn in his head,
and he fell backwards lifeless.
The princess had no occasion to order the back-door to be opened to
Aladdin; for her women were so disposed from the great hall to the
foot of the staircase, that the word was no sooner given, that the
African magician was fallen backwards, but the door opened that
instant.
As soon as Aladdin entered the hall, he saw the magician stretched
backwards on the sofa. The princess Badroulboudour rose from her
seat and ran overjoyed to him to embrace him; but he stopped her,
and said, Princess, it is not yet time; oblige me by retiring to
your apartment, and let me be left alone a moment, while I endeavour
to transport you back to China as soon as you were brought from
thence.
When the princess, her women, and eunuchs, were gone out of the
hall, Aladdin shut the door, and going directly to the dead body of
the magician, opened his vest, and took out the lamp carefully wrapt
up, as the princess told him, and unfolding and rubbing it, the
genie immediately appeared. Genie, said Aladdin, I have called thee
to command thee on the part of thy good mistress this lamp, to
transport this palace presently into China, to the same place from
whence it was brought hither. The genie bowed his head in token of
obedience, and disappeared. Immediately the palace was transported
into China, and its removal was only felt by two little shocks, the
one when it was lifted up, the other when it was set down, and both
in a very short interval of time.
Aladdin went down to the princess’s apartment, and embracing her,
said, I can assure you, princess, that your joy and mine will be
complete to-morrow morning. The princess, who had not quite supped,
guessing that Aladdin might be hungry, ordered the meats that were
served up in the hall, and were scarcely touched, to be brought
down. The princess and Aladdin eat as much as they thought fit, and
drank in like manner of the African magician’s old wine; during
which time their discourse could not be any otherwise than
satisfactory, and then they retired to their own chamber.
From the time of the transportation of Aladdin’s palace, and of
the princes Badroulboudour in it, the sultan, that princess’s
father, was inconsolable for the loss of her, as he considered it.
He hardly slept night or day, and instead of taking measures to
avoid every thing that could keep up his affliction, he, on the
contrary, indulged it; for whereas before he used to go every
morning into his closet to please himself with that agreeable
prospect, he went now many times in the day to renew his tears, and
plunge himself into the deepest melancholy, by the idea of no more
seeing that which once gave him so much pleasure, and reflecting how
he had lost what was the most dear to him in this world.
The very morning of the return of Aladdin’s palace, the sultan
went, by break of day, into his closet to indulge his sorrows.
Collected in himself, and in a pensive mood, he cast his eyes in a
melancholy manner towards the place where he remembered the palace
once stood, expecting only to see an open space; but perceiving that
vacuum filled up, he at first imagined it to be the effect of a fog;
but looking more attentively, he was convinced beyond the power of
doubt that it was his son-in-law’s palace. Then joy and gladness
succeeded to sorrow and grief. He returned immediately into his
apartment, and ordered a horse to be saddled and brought to him in
all haste, which he mounted that instant, thinking he could not make
haste enough to get to Aladdin’s palace.
Aladdin, who foresaw what would happen, rose that morning by
daybreak, put on one of the most magnificent habits his wardrobe
afforded, and went up into the hall of twenty-four windows, from
whence he perceived the sultan coming, and got down soon enough to
receive him at the foot of the great staircase, and to help him to
dismount. Aladdin, said the sultan, I cannot speak to you till I
have seen and embraced my daughter.
He led the sultan into the princess Badroulboudour’s apartment,
who having been told by him when he rose, that she was no longer in
Africa, but in China, and in the capital of the sultan her father,
had just done dressing herself. The sultan embraced her with his
face bathed in tears of joy; and the princess, on her side, gave him
all the testimonies of the extreme pleasure the sight of him gave
her.
The sultan was some time before he could open his lips, so great was
his surprise and joy to find his daughter again, after he had given
her up for lost; and the princess, after seeing her father, let fall
tears of joy.
At last the sultan broke silence, and said, I would believe,
daughter, your joy to see me makes you seem so little changed, as if
no misfortune had befallen you; for a large palace cannot be so
suddenly transported as yours has been, without great fright and
terrible anguish. I would have you tell me all that has happened,
and conceal nothing from me.
The princess, who took great pleasure in giving the sultan the
satisfaction he demanded, said, Sir, if I appear so little altered,
I beg of your majesty to consider, that I received new life
yesterday morning by the presence of my dear husband and deliverer
Aladdin, whom I looked upon and bewailed as lost to me; and the
happiness of seeing and embracing whom has almost recovered me to my
former state of health. But my greatest trouble was only to find
myself forced from your majesty, and my dear husband; not only in
resect to the inclination I bore to my husband, but from the
uneasiness I laboured under besides, for fear that he, though
innocent, should feel the effects of your anger, to which I knew he
was left exposed. I suffered but little from the insolence of the
wretch who had carried me off; for having secured the ascendant over
him, I always put a stop to his disagreeable discourse, and was as
little constrained as I am at present.
As to what relates to my transportation, Aladdin had no hand in it;
I myself am the innocent cause of it. To persuade the sultan of the
truth of what she said, she gave him a full account how the African
magician disguised himself like a seller of lamps, and offered to
change new lamps for old ones; and how she amused herself in making
that exchange, being entirely ignorant of the secret and importance
of that lamp; how the palace and herself were carried away and
transported into Africa, with the African magician, who was
recollected by two of her women, and the eunuch who made the
exchange of the lamp, when he had the boldness to pay her the first
visit, after the success of his audacious enterprise, to propose
himself for her husband; how he persecuted her till Aladdin’s
arrival; how he and she concerted measures together to get the lamp
from him again, which he carried about him; and the success they
had; and particularly by her dissimulation, inviting him to supper,
and giving him the cup with the powder prepared for him. For the
rest, added she, I leave it to Aladdin to give you an account.
Aladdin had not much to tell the sultan, but only said, When the
private door was opened, I went up into the great hall, where I
found the magician lying dead on the sofa; as I thought it not
proper for the princess to stay there any longer, I desired her to
go down into her own apartment, with her women and eunuchs. As soon
as I was alone, and had taken the lamp out of the magician’s
breast, I made use of the same secret he had done, to remove the
palace, and carry off the princess; and by that means the palace was
brought into the same place where it stood before; and I have the
happiness to bring back the princess to your majesty, as you
commanded me. But that your majesty may not think that I impose upon
you, if you will give yourself the trouble to go up into the hall,
you shall see the magician punished as he deserved.
The sultan, to be assured of the truth, rose up instantly, and went
up into the hall, where, when he saw the African magician dead, and
his face already livid by the strength of the poison, he embraced
Aladdin with great tenderness, and said, My son, be not displeased
at my proceedings against you; they arose from my paternal love, and
therefore you ought to forgive the excesses to which it hurried me.
Sir, replied Aladdin, I have not the least reason to complain of
your majesty’s conduct, since you did nothing but what your duty
required of you. This infamous magician, the basest of men, was the
sole cause of my misfortune. When your majesty has leisure, I will
give you an account of another villanous action he was guilty of to
me, which was no less black and base than this, from which I was
preserved by the grace of God in a very particular manner. I will
take an opportunity, and that very shortly, replied the sultan, to
hear it; but in the mean time let us think only of rejoicing, and
the removal of this odious object.
Aladdin ordered the magician’s dead carcass to be removed and
thrown on the dunghill, for the birds and beasts to prey upon. In
the mean time the sultan commanded the drums, trumpets, cymbals, and
other instruments of music, to announce the public joy, and a feast
of ten days to be proclaimed for joy of the return of the princess
Badroulboudour, and Aladdin with his palace.
Thus Aladdin escaped a second time the almost inevitable danger of
losing his life: but this was not the last, since he ran as great a
hazard a third time; the circumstances of which I shall relate.
The African magician had a younger brother, who was as great a
necromancer, and even surpassed him in villany, and pernicious
designs. As they did not live together, or in the same city, but
oftentimes when one was in the east the other was in the west, they
failed not every year to inform themselves, by their art of
necromancy, where each other was, how they did, and whether they
stood in need of each other’s assistance.
Some time after the African magician had failed in his enterprise
against Aladdin’s happiness, his younger brother, who had not
heard any tidings of him for a year, and was not in Africa, but in a
distant country, had the curiosity to know in what part of the world
he was, how he did, and what he was doing; and as he, as well as his
brother, always carried a geomantic square instrument about him, he
prepared the sand, [98] cast the points, and drew the figures. On
examining the houses, he found that his brother was no longer
living; by another house, that he had been poisoned, and died
suddenly; and by another, that it was in the capital of the kingdom
of China; and that the person who poisoned him was of mean birth,
and married to a princess, a sultan’s daughter.
When the magician had after this manner informed himself of his
brother’s fate, he lost no time in useless regret, which could not
restore him to life again; but resolving immediately to revenge his
death, he took horse, and set forwards for China: where, after
crossing plains, rivers, mountains, deserts, and a long tract of
country, without stopping, he arrived after incredible fatigues.
When he came to the capital of China, which his knowledge of
geomancy pointed out to him, and being certain he had not mistaken
any other kingdom for it, he took a lodging. The next day he went
out, and walked through the town, not so much to observe the
beauties, which were indifferent to him, but with an intention to
take proper measures to execute his pernicious designs. He
introduced himself into the most frequented places, where he
listened to every body’s discourse. In a place where people
resorted to divert themselves with all sorts of games, and where
some are conversing while others play, he heard some persons talk of
the virtue and piety of a woman called Fatima, who was retired from
the world, and of the miracles she performed. As he fancied that
this woman might be serviceable to him in the project he had in his
head, he took one of the company aside, and desired him to tell him
more particularly who that holy woman was, and what sort of miracles
she performed.
What! said the person to whom he addressed himself, have you never
seen or heard talk of her? She is the admiration of the whole town;
first, for her fasting, her austerities, and her exemplary life.
Except Mondays and Fridays, she never stirs out of her little cell;
and on those days on which she comes into the town, she does an
infinite deal of good; for there is not a person who has the
head-ache, but is cured by her laying her hand upon them.
The magician wanted no further information. He only asked the person
in what part of the town this holy woman’s cell was. After he had
shown him it, and he had concluded and determined on the detestable
design he had in his head, and that he might know the way again, and
be fully informed, he watched all her steps the first day she went
out after he had made this inquiry, without losing sight of her till
evening, when he saw her re-enter her cell. When he had fully
observed the place, he went to one of those houses where they sell a
certain hot liquor, and where any person may pass the night,
particularly in the great heats, when the people of that country
prefer lying on a mat to a bed. About midnight, after the magician
had satisfied the master of the house for what little he had called
for, he went out, and proceeded directly to the cell of Fatima, the
holy woman, the name she was known by throughout the town. He had no
difficulty to open the door, which was only fastened with a latch,
and he shut it again after he had got in, without any noise; and
when he entered the cell, perceived Fatima by moonlight lying in the
air on a sofa, covered only by an old mat, with her head leaning
against the wall. He awakened her and clapped a dagger to her breast.
Poor Fatima, opening her eyes, was very much surprised to see a man
with a dagger at her breast ready to stab her, and who said to her,
If you cry out, or make the least noise, I will kill you; but get up
and do as I bid you.
Fatima, who had lain down in her clothes, got up trembling with
fear. Do not be so much frightened, said the magician; I only want
your habit; give it me presently, and take mine. Accordingly Fatima
and he changed clothes. Then he said, colour my face as yours is,
that I may be like you; but perceiving that the poor creature could
not help trembling, to encourage her, he said, I tell you again, you
need not fear any thing: I swear by the name of God I will not take
away your life. Fatima lighted her lamp, made him come into the
cell, and taking a pencil and dipping it into a certain liquor,
rubbed it over his face, and assured him the colour would not
change, and that his face was of the same dye as her own: after
which she put her own head-dress on his head, with a veil, with
which she showed him how to hide his face as he passed through the
town. After this, she put a long string of beads about his neck,
which hung down to the middle of his body, and giving him the stick
she used to walk with, in his hand, brought him a looking-glass, and
bid him look if he was not as like her as possible. The magician
found himself disguised as he wished to be; but he did not keep the
oath he so solemnly swore to the good Fatima; but instead of
stabbing her, for fear the blood might discover him, he strangled
her; and when he found she was dead, threw her body into a cistern
just by the cell.
The magician thus disguised like the holy woman Fatima, spent the
remainder of the night in the cell, after he had committed so horrid
a murder. The next morning, two hours after sunrise, though it was
not a day the holy woman used to go out on, he crept out of the
cell, being well persuaded that nobody would ask him any questions
about it; or, if they should, he had an answer ready for them. As
one of the first things he did after his arrival was to find out
Aladdin’s palace, where he was to execute his designs, he went
directly thither.
As soon as the people saw the holy woman, as they imagined him to
be, they presently gathered about him in a great crowd. Some begged
his blessing, others kissed his hand, and others more reserved, only
the hem of his garment; while others, whether their heads ached, or
they had a mind to be preserved against that distemper, stooped for
him to lay his hands upon them; which he did, muttering some words
in form of prayer: and, in short, counterfeited so well, that every
body took him for the holy woman.
After frequently stopping to satisfy these kind of people, who
received neither good nor harm from this imposition of hands, he
came at last to the square before Aladdin’s palace. The crowd was
so great that the eagerness to get at him increased in proportion.
Those who were the most zealous and strong forced their way through
the crowd to get room. There were such quarrels, and so great a
noise, that the princess, who was in the hall of four-and-twenty
windows, heard it, and asked what was the matter; but nobody being
able to give her an account, she ordered them to go and see, and
inform her. One of her women looked out of a window, and then told
her it was a great crowd of people that were gathering about the
holy woman, to be cured of the head-ache by the imposition of her
hands.
The princess, who had for a long time heard a great deal of this
holy woman, but had never seen her, conceived a great curiosity to
have some conversation with her, which the chief of the eunuchs
perceiving, told her it was an easy matter to bring her to her, if
she desired and commanded it; and the princess showing a desire, he
immediately sent four eunuchs for the pretended holy woman.
As soon as the crowd saw the eunuchs coming, they made way, and the
magician perceiving also that they were coming for him, advanced to
meet them, overjoyed to find his plot took so well. Holy woman, said
one of the eunuchs, the princess wants to see you, and has sent us
for you. The princess does me too great an honour, replied the false
Fatima. I am ready to obey her command, and at the same time
followed the eunuchs to the palace.
When the magician, who under a holy garment disguised a wicked
heart, was introduced into the great hall, and perceived the
princess, he began a prayer, which contained a long enumeration of
vows and good wishes for the princess’s health and prosperity, and
that she might have every thing she desired. Then he displayed all
his deceitful, hypocritical rhetoric, to insinuate himself into the
princess’s favour under the cloak of piety, which it was no hard
matter for him to do; for as the princess herself was naturally
good, she was easily persuaded that all the world was like her,
especially those who made profession of serving God in solitary
retreat.
When the pretended Fatima had made an end of his long harangue, the
princess said to him, I thank you, good mother, for your prayers; I
have great confidence in them, and hope God will hear them. Come,
and sit by me. The false Fatima sat down with affected modesty: then
the princess resuming her discourse, said, My good mother, I have
one thing to ask you, which you must not refuse me; which is, to
stay with me, that you may entertain me with your way of living; and
that I may learn from your good example how to serve God. Princess,
said the counterfeit Fatima, I beg of you not to ask what I cannot
consent to, without neglecting my prayers and devotion. That shall
be no hindrance to you, answered the princess; I have a great many
apartments unoccupied; you shall choose which you like best, and
shall have as much liberty to perform your devotions, as if you were
in your own cell.
The magician, who wanted nothing more than to introduce himself into
Aladdin’s palace, where it would be a much easier matter for him
to execute his pernicious designs, under the favour and protection
of the princess, than if he had been forced to come and go from the
cell to the palace, did not urge much to excuse himself from
accepting the obliging offer the princess made him. Princess, said
he, whatever resolution a poor wretched woman, as I am, may have
made to renounce the pomp and grandeur of this world, I dare not
presume to oppose the will and commands of so pious and charitable a
princess.
Upon this the princess rising up, said, Come along with me, I will
show you what empty apartments I have, that you may make choice of
which you like best. The magician followed the princess
Badroulboudour, and of all the apartments she showed him, made
choice of that which was the worst furnished, saying, That it was
too good for him, and that he only accepted of it to please her.
Afterwards the princess would have brought him back again into the
great hall to make him dine with her; but he considering that then
he should be obliged to show his face, which he had always taken
care to hide; and fearing that the princess should find out that he
was not Fatima, he begged of her earnestly to dispense with him,
telling her that he never eat any thing but bread and dried fruits,
and desiring to eat that slight repast in his own apartment; that
the princess granted him, saying, You may be as free here, good
mother, as if you were in your own cell: I will order you a dinner,
But remember I expect you as soon as you have finished your repast.
After the princess had dined, and the false Fatima had been informed
by one of the eunuchs that she was risen from the table, he failed
not to wait upon her. My good mother, said the princess, I am
overjoyed to have the company of so holy a woman as yourself, who
will confer a blessing upon this palace. But now I am speaking of
this palace, pray how do you like it? And before I show you it all,
tell me first what you think of this hall.
Upon this question, the counterfeit Fatima, who, to act his part the
better, affected to hang down his head, without so much as ever once
lifting it up, at last looked up, and surveying the hall from one
end to the other, when he had examined it well, said to the
princess, As far as such a solitary being as I can judge, who am
unacquainted with what the world calls beautiful, this hall is truly
admirable and most beautiful; there wants but one thing. What is
that, good mother? answered the princess Badroulboudour; tell me, I
conjure you. For my part I always believed, and have heard say, it
wanted nothing; but if it does, it shall be supplied.
Princess, said the false Fatima, with great dissimulation, forgive
me for the liberty I have taken; but my opinion is, if it can be of
any importance, that if a roc’s egg was hung up in the middle of
this dome, this hall would have no parallel in the four quarters of
the world, and your palace would be the wonder of the universe.
My good mother, said the princess, what bird is a roc, and where may
one get an egg? Princess, replied the pretended Fatima, it is a bird
of prodigious size, which inhabits the top of mount Caucasus: the
architect who built your palace can get you one.
After the princess Badroulboudour had thanked the false Fatima for
what she believed her good advice, she conversed with her upon other
matters; but could not forget the roc’s egg, which she made
account to tell Aladdin of when he returned from hunting. He had
been gone six days, which the magician knew, and therefore took
advantage of his absence: but he returned that evening, after the
false Fatima had taken leave of the princess, and retired to his
apartment. As soon as he arrived, he went directly up to the
princess’s apartment, saluted and embraced her, but she seemed to
receive him coldly. My princess, said he, I think you are not so
cheerful as you used to be; has any thing happened during my
absence, which has displeased you, or given you any trouble or
dissatisfaction? In the name of God, do not conceal it from me; I
will leave nothing undone that is in my power to please you. It is a
trifling matter, replied the princess, which gives me so little
concern that I could not have thought you could have perceived it in
my countenance; but since you have unexpectedly discovered some
alteration, I will no longer disguise a matter of so little
consequence from you.
I always believed, as well as you, continued the princess
Badroulboudour, that our palace was the most superb, magnificent,
and complete in the world: but I will tell you now what I find fault
with, upon examining the hall of four-and-twenty windows. Do not you
think with me, that it would be complete, if a roc’s egg was hung
up in the midst of the dome? Princess, replied Aladdin, it is enough
that you think there wants such a thing; you shall see by the
diligence used to repair that deficiency, that there is nothing
which I would not do for your sake.
Aladdin left the princess Badroulboudour that moment, and went up
into the hall of four-and-twenty windows, where pulling out of his
bosom the lamp, which, after the danger he had been exposed to, he
always carried about him, he rubbed it; upon which the genie
immediately appeared. Genie, said Aladdin, there wants a roc’s egg
to be hung up in the midst of the dome: I command thee, in the name
of this lamp, to repair the deficiency. Aladdin had no sooner
pronounced these words, but the genie gave so loud and terrible a
cry, that the hall shook, and Aladdin could scarce stand upright.
What! wretch, said the genie, in a voice that would have made the
most undaunted man tremble, is it not enough that I and my
companions have done every thing for you, but you, by an unheard-of
ingratitude, must command me to bring my master, and hang him up in
the midst of this dome? This attempt deserves that you, your wife,
and your palace, should be immediately reduced to ashes; but you are
happy in not being the author of this request, and that it does not
come from yourself. Know then, that the true author is the brother
of the African magician, your enemy, whom you have destroyed as he
deserved. He is now in your palace, disguised in the clothes of the
holy woman Fatima, whom he murdered; and it is he who has suggested
to your wife to make this pernicious demand. His design is to kill
you, therefore take care of yourself. After these words, the genie
disappeared.
Aladdin lost not a word of what the genie had said. He had heard
talk of the holy woman Fatima, and how she pretended to cure the
head-ache. He returned to the princess’s apartment, and without
mentioning a word of what had happened, he sat down, and complained
of a great pain which had suddenly seized his head; upon which the
princess ordered the holy woman to be presently fetched, and then
told him how that holy woman came to the palace, and that she had
appointed her an apartment.
When the pretended Fatima came, Aladdin said, Come hither, good
mother; I am glad to see you here at so fortunate a time: I am
tormented with a violent pain in my head, and request your
assistance, by the confidence I have in your good prayers, and hope
you will not refuse me that favour which you do to so many persons
afflicted with this distemper. So saying, he rose up, but held down
his head. The counterfeit Fatima advanced towards him, with his hand
all the time on a dagger concealed in his girdle under his gown;
which Aladdin observing, he seized his hand before he had drawn it,
pierced him to the heart with his own dagger, and then threw him
down on the floor dead.
My dear husband, what have you done? cried the princess in surprise.
You have killed the holy woman. No, my princess, answered Aladdin,
without emotion, I have not killed Fatima, but a wicked wretch, that
would have assassinated me, if I had not prevented him. This wicked
man, added he, uncovering his face, has strangled Fatima, whom you
accused me of killing, and disguised himself in her clothes, to come
and murder me: but that you may know him better, he is brother to
the African magician. Then Aladdin told her how he came to know
those particulars, and afterwards ordered the dead body to be taken
away.
Thus was Aladdin delivered from the persecution of two brothers, who
were magicians. Within a few years afterwards the sultan died in a
good old age, and as he left no male children, the princess
Badroulboudour, as lawful heir of the crown, succeeded him, and
communicating the power to Aladdin, they reigned together many
years, and left a numerous and illustrious posterity behind them.
Sir, said the sultaness Scheherazade, after she had finished the
story of the Wonderful Lamp, your majesty without doubt has observed
in the person of the African magician a man abandoned to the
unbounded passion for possessing immense treasures by the most
unworthy means. On the contrary, your majesty sees in Aladdin, a
person of mean birth raised to the regal dignity by making use of
the same treasures, which came to him without his seeking, but just
as he had an occasion for them to compass the end proposed; and in
the sultan you will have learnt what dangers a just and equitable
monarch runs, even to the risk of being dethroned, when, by crying
injustice, and against all the rules of equity, he dares, by an
unreasonable precipitation, condemn an innocent person to death,
without giving him leave to justify himself. In short, you must
abhor those two wicked magicians, one of whom sacrificed his life to
attain great riches, the other his life and religion to revenge him,
and both received the chastisements they deserved.
The sultan of the Indies signified to his spouse the sultaness
Scheherazade, that he was very much delighted with the prodigies he
had heard of the Wonderful Lamp, and that the stories which she told
him every night gave him a great deal of pleasure. Indeed they were
all diverting, and for the most part seasoned with a good moral. He
found that the sultaness knew how to introduce them, and was not
sorry that she gave him an opportunity of suspending, by this means,
the execution of a vow he had made, never to keep a woman above one
night, and put her to death next day. His only thought was to see if
he could exhaust her store.
With this intention, the next morning he prevented Dinarzade, and
awakened the sultaness himself, asking her if she was at the end of
all her stories. --At the end of my stories, sir! replied the
sultaness, surprised at the question, I am far from that and the
number of them is so great, that I cannot tell your majesty how many
I have yet left; but am afraid you will be sooner tired with
hearing, than I with telling them.
Do not let that fear disturb you, answered the sultan; but let us
hear what you have now to tell me.
The sultaness Scheherazade, encouraged with these words, said, I
have often entertained your majesty with the adventures of the
famous caliph Haroun Alraschid, who had a great many in his time;
but, among the rest, I think none more worthy of your hearing than
the following:
The Adventures of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid.
Your majesty cannot be insensible, but must have experienced, that
we are sometimes in such extraordinary transports of joy, that we
presently communicate that passion to those about us, or easily
partake of theirs; and sometimes our melancholy is so great, that we
are insupportable to ourselves, and are so incapable of giving any
one a reason, that should ask it, that we cannot account for it
ourselves.
The caliph was one day in one of these latter fits, when his
faithful and favourite grand vizier Giafar came to him. That
minister finding him alone, which was seldom the case, and
perceiving as he came nearer to him, that he was in a very
melancholy humour, and never lifted up his eyes, he stopt till he
would vouchsafe to look at him.
At last the caliph cast his eyes upon Giafar, but presently turned
them away again, and remained in the same posture, motionless as
before.
The grand vizier observing nothing in the caliph’s eyes which
regarded him personally, took the liberty to speak to him, and said,
Commander of the faithful, will your majesty give me leave to ask
whence proceeds this melancholy, of which you always seemed to me so
little susceptible?
Indeed, vizier, answered the caliph, clearing up his countenance, I
am very little subject to it, and had not perceived it but for you,
and will remain no longer in it. If no new affair brought you
hither, you will do me a pleasure by inventing something to dispel
it.
Commander of the faithful, replied the grand vizier, my duty obliged
me to wait on you, and I take the liberty to remind your majesty,
that this is the day which you have appointed to inform yourself of
the good government of your capital and its environs; and this
occasion very opportunely presents itself to dispel those clouds
which obscure your natural gaiety.
You do well to remind me, replied the caliph, for I had entirely
forgotten it: go and change your dress, while I do the same.
They each put on the habit of a foreign merchant, and under that
disguise went out by a private door of the palace-garden, which led
into the fields. After they had gone round the outside of the city
to the banks of the Euphrates, at a sufficient distance from the
city gate, on that side, without having observed any thing
disorderly, they crossed the river in the first boat they met with,
and making another tour on the other side, came over the bridge,
which formed the communication betwixt the two parts of the town.
At the foot of the bridge they met with an old blind man, who asked
alms of them; the caliph turned about, and put a piece of gold into
his hand. The blind man presently caught hold of his hand, and
stopped him. Charitable person, said he, whoever you are, whom God
hath inspired to bestow alms on me, do not refuse the favour I ask
you, to give me a box on the ear, for I deserve that and a greater
punishment. After these words, he let the caliph’s hand go, that
he might strike, but, for fear he should pass on without doing it,
held him fast by his clothes.
The caliph, surprised both at the request and action of the blind
man, said, I cannot acquiesce with your request. I will not lessen
the merit of my charity, by treating you as you would have me. After
these words, he endeavoured to get away from the blind man.
The blind man, who expected this reluctance of his benefactor, by
the long experience he had, exerted himself to hold him. Sir, said
he, forgive my boldness and importunity; I desire you would either
give me a box on the ear, or take your alms back again, for I cannot
receive it but on that condition, without breaking a solemn oath
which I have sworn to God; and if you knew the reason, you would
agree with me, that the punishment is very slight.
The caliph, not caring to be detained any longer, yielding to the
importunity of the blind man, gave him a very slight blow: whereupon
he immediately let him go, and thanked and blessed him. When the
caliph and vizier had got some small distance from the blind man,
the caliph said to the vizier, This blind man must certainly have
some very substantial reasons, which make him behave himself in this
manner to all who give him alms. I should be glad to know them;
therefore return and tell him who I am, and bid him not fail to come
to my palace about prayer-time in the afternoon, that I may have
some talk with him.
The grand vizier went back, bestowed his alms on the blind man, and
after he had given him a box on the ear, told him the caliph’s
order, and then returned again to the caliph.
When they came into the town, they found in a square a great
concourse of spectators, looking at a handsome well-shaped young
man, who was mounted on a mare, which he rode full speed round the
place, spurring and whipping the poor creature so barbarously, that
she was all over sweat and blood.
The caliph, amazed at the inhumanity of the young man, stopped to
ask the people if they knew why he used the mare so ill; but could
learn nothing, except that for some time past he had every day, at
the same hour, treated her after the same manner.
As they went along, the caliph bid the grand vizier take particular
notice of the place, and not fail to order the young man to come the
next day, at the hour appointed to the blind man. But before the
caliph got to his palace, he observed in a street, which he had not
passed through a long time before, an edifice newly built, which
seemed to him to be the palace of some of the great lords of the
court. He asked the grand vizier if he knew to whom it belonged; who
answered he did not, but would inquire; and thereupon asked a
neighbour, who told him that the house was one Cogia Hassan’s,
surnamed Alhabbal, upon account of his profession of rope-making,
which he had seen him work at himself, when poor, and that without
knowing how fortune had favoured him, he had got such great wealth,
that he defrayed honourably and splendidly the expenses he had been
at in building.
The grand vizier rejoined the caliph, and gave him a full account of
what he had heard. I must see this Cogia Hassan Alhabbal, said the
caliph, therefore go and tell him, vizier, to come to my palace, at
the same hour you have ordered the other two. Accordingly the vizier
obeyed.
The next day, after afternoon prayers, the caliph retired to his own
apartment, and the grand vizier introduced the three persons we have
been speaking of, and presented them to the caliph.
They all three prostrated themselves before the caliph, and when
they rose up again, the caliph asked the blind man his name, who
answered, it was Baba Abdalla.
Baba Abdalla, replied the caliph, your manner of asking alms seemed
so strange to me yesterday, that if it had not been for some certain
considerations, I should not have complied with your request, but
should have prevented you from giving any more offence to the
public. I ordered you to come hither, to know from yourself what
induced you to make that indiscreet oath you have told me of, that I
may judge whether you have done well, and if I ought to suffer you
to continue a practice that appears to me to set so ill an example.
Tell me freely how so extravagant a thought came into your head, and
do not disguise any thing from me, for I will absolutely know the
truth.
Baba Abdalla, intimidated by this reprimand, cast himself a second
time at the foot of the caliph’s throne, with his face to the
ground, and when he rose up again, said, Commander of the faithful,
I most humbly ask your majesty’s pardon for my boldness, in daring
to require, and almost force you to do a thing which indeed appears
so contrary to reason. I acknowledge my crime; but as I did not then
know your majesty, I implore your clemency, and hope you will
consider my ignorance.
As to the extravagance of my action, I own it, and that it must seem
strange to mankind; but in the eye of God it is a very slight
penance I have enjoined myself, for an enormous crime I am guilty
of, and for which, if all the people in the world were each to give
me a box on the ear, it would not be a sufficient atonement. Your
majesty will judge of it yourself, when, in telling my story, in
obedience to your commands, I shall let you know what that heinous
crime was.
The Story of the Blind Man Baba Abdalla.
Commander of the faithful, continued Baba Abdalla, I was born at
Bagdad, and had a pretty fortune left me by my father and mother,
who died a few days after each other. Though I was then but very
young, I did not squander away my fortune as most young men do, in
idle expenses and debauchery; on the contrary, I neglected no
opportunity to increase it by my industry. At last I became rich
enough to purchase fourscore camels, which I let out to merchants
for caravans, who paid me well for every journey I went with them
throughout the extent of your majesty’s dominions.
In the midst of this happiness, and with an ardent desire of growing
much richer, as I was returning one day with my camels unloaded from
Balsora, whither I had carried some merchandises that were to be
embarked for the Indies, I met with good pasturage, at some distance
from any habitation; made a halt there, and let them graze for some
time. While I was seated, a dervise, who was walking to Balsora,
came and sat down by me to rest himself. I asked him from whence he
came, and where he was going, and he put the same questions to me;
and when we had satisfied each other’s curiosity, we produced our
provisions and eat together.
During our repast, after we had talked of many indifferent things,
the dervise told me that he knew of a treasure a small distance from
thence, where there were such immense riches, that if all my
fourscore camels were loaded with gold and jewels that might be
taken from it, it would not seem as if any thing had been taken away.
This good news surprised and charmed me at the same time; and I was
so overjoyed, that I could scarce contain myself. I could not
believe that the dervise was capable of telling me a falsity;
therefore I fell upon his neck, and said, Good dervise, I know you
value not the riches of this world, therefore what service can the
knowledge of this treasure be to you? You are alone, and cannot
carry much of it away with you; show me where it is; I will load all
my camels, and as an acknowledgement of the favour done me, will
present you with one of them.
Indeed I offered very little, but after he had communicated that
secret to me, my desire of riches was become so violent, that I
thought it a great deal, and looked upon the seventy-nine camel
loads which I reserved for myself, as nothing in comparison of what
I allowed him.
The dervise, though he saw my avarice, was not however angry at the
unreasonable offer I had made him, but replied, without the least
concern, You are sensible, brother, that what you offer me is not
proportionable to the kindness you ask of me. I might have chosen
whether I would communicate my secret to you, and have kept the
treasure to myself: but what I have told you is sufficient to show
you my good intentions, and that it is still in my power to oblige
you, and make you remember me, by making both our fortunes. I have
another proposition more just and equitable to make to you; it lies
in your own breast whether or no you will agree to it.
You say, continued the dervise, that you have fourscore camels: I am
ready to carry you to the place where the treasure lies, and we will
load them with as much jewels and gold as they can well carry, on
condition, that when they are so loaded, you will let me have one
half, and you take the other; after which we will separate, and
carry our camels where we think fit. You see there is nothing but
what is strictly equitable in this division; for if you give me
forty camels, you will get by my means wherewithal to purchase
thousands more.
I could not but agree there was a great deal of justice in what the
dervise said: but, without considering what riches I should gain in
accepting of the condition he proposed, I could not without
reluctance think of parting with my forty camels, especially when I
considered that the dervise would then be as rich as myself, and
that I was beforehand making an ungrateful return for a favour,
purely gratuitous, which I had not yet received from the dervise.
But there was no time to hesitate; I must either accept of the
proposal, or resolve to repent all my lifetime after of losing, by
my own fault, an opportunity of obtaining a great fortune. That
instant I went and collected all my camels; and after we had
travelled some time, we came into a large spacious valley, the
entrance into which was so narrow, that two camels could not go
abreast. The two mountains which formed this valley terminated in a
semicircle, but were so high, craggy, and impracticable, that there
was no fear of being seen by any one.
When we came between these two mountains, the dervise said to me,
Stop your camels, and make them lie down, that we may load them the
easier, and I will proceed to discover the treasure.
I did as the dervise bid me; and going to him soon after, found him
with a match in one hand, gathering sticks to light a fire; which he
had no sooner done, than he cast some incense into it, and
pronouncing certain words, which I did not understand, there
presently arose a thick cloud. He divided this cloud, when the rock,
though of a prodigious perpendicular height, opened like two
folding-doors, and exposed to view a magnificent palace in the
hollow of the mountain, which seemed to be rather the workmanship of
genies than men; for no man could ever have thought of such a bold
and surprising work.
But this, I must tell your majesty, was an after-thought, which did
not occur to me at the moment. I did not even stop to admire the
immense riches which I saw on all sides; and, without staying to
observe the just regularity in which the treasures were ranged, like
an eagle seizing her prey, I fell upon the first heap of golden
money that I was near to, and began to fill the sack I had in my
hand as full as I could carry it. The sacks were all large, and with
my good-will I would have filled them all; but I was obliged to
proportion my burden to the strength of my camels. The dervise did
the same; but I perceived he paid more attention to the jewels, and
as he told me the reason, I followed his example, and we took away
much more jewels than gold --When we had filled our sacks, and
loaded our camels, we had nothing left to do but to shut up the
treasure, and go our way.
But before we parted, the dervise went again into the treasury,
where there were a great many wrought vessels of gold of different
shapes and materials. I observed that he took out of one of these
vessels a little box of a certain wood, which I knew not, and put it
into his breast; but first showed me that it contained only a kind
of pomatum.
The dervise used the same ceremony to shut the treasury as he had
done to open it; and after he pronounced some certain words, the
doors of the treasury shut again, and the rock seemed as whole and
entire as before.
Then we divided our camels. I put myself at the head of the forty
which I reserved for myself, and the dervise at the head of the rest
which I had given him. We came out of the valley by the same way we
went in, and travelled together till we came to the great road,
where we were to part; the dervise to go to Balsora, and I to
Bagdad. To thank him for so great a kindness, I made use of the most
expressive terms, testifying my gratitude for the preference he had
given me before all other men, in letting me have a share of such
riches. We embraced each other with great joy, and taking our leave,
went our different ways.
I had not gone many paces to overtake my camels, which went on the
track I put them into, before the demon of ingratitude and envy took
possession of my heart, and I deplored the loss of my forty camels,
and much more the riches wherewith they were loaded. The dervise,
said I to myself, has no occasion for all these riches; he is master
of the treasure, and may have as much as he pleases. So I gave
myself up to the blackest ingratitude, and determined immediately to
take the camels with their loading from him.
To execute this design, I first stopped my own camels, and
afterwards ran after the dervise, and called to him as loud as I
could, giving him to understand that I had something material to say
to him, and made a sign to him to stop his, and stay for me; which
he accordingly did.
When I came up to him, I said, Brother, I had no sooner parted from
you, but a thought came into my head, which neither of us had
reflected on before. You are a good dervise, used to live in
tranquillity, disengaged from all the cares of the world, and intent
only upon serving God. You know not, perhaps, what trouble you have
taken upon yourself, to take care of so many camels. If you would
take my advice, you would keep but thirty; you will find them
sufficiently troublesome to manage. Take my word; I have had
experience.
I believe you are right, replied the dervise, who found he was not
able to contend with me; I own I never thought of it. I begin
already to be uneasy at what you have represented to me. Choose
which ten you please, and take them, and go on in God’s keeping.
I set ten apart; and after I had driven them off, I put them in the
road to follow my others. I could not have imagined that the dervise
would be so easily persuaded to part with his camels, which
increased my covetousness, and made me flatter myself that it would
be no hard matter to get ten more. Wherefore, instead of thanking
him for his present, I said to him again, Brother, the interest I
take in your repose is so great, that I cannot resolve to part with
you without desiring you to consider once more how difficult a thing
it is to govern thirty loaded camels, especially for you, who are
not used to such work; you will find it much better to return me as
many more back as you have done already. What I tell you is not for
my own sake and interest, but to do you the greater pleasure. Ease
yourself then of the camels, and leave them to me, who can manage a
hundred as well as one.
My discourse had the desired effect upon the dervise, who gave me,
without any hesitation, the other ten camels; so that he had but
twenty left, and I was master of sixty, and might boast of greater
riches than many sovereign princes. Any one would have thought I
should now have been content; but, as a person afflicted with a
dropsy, the more he drinks the more thirsty he is, so I became more
greedy and desirous of the other twenty camels.
I redoubled my solicitations, prayers, and importunities, to make
the dervise condescend to grant me ten of the twenty, which he did
with a good grace; and as to the other ten he had left, I embraced
him, kissed him, and caressed him, conjuring him not to refuse me,
but to complete the obligation I should ever have to him, so that he
crowned my joy by giving me them also. Make a good use of them,
brother, said the dervise: and remember that God can take away
riches as well as give them, if we do not assist the poor, whom he
reduces to their situation on purpose that the rich may merit by
their charity a greater recompense in the other world.
My blindness was so great that I could not profit by so wholesome
advice. I was not content, though I had my forty camels again, and
knew they were loaded with an inestimable treasure. But a thought
came into my head, that the little box of pomatum which the dervise
showed me had something in it more precious than all the riches
which I was obliged to him for. The place from whence the dervise
took it, said I to myself, and his care to secure it, makes me
believe there is something mysterious in it. This determined me to
do something to obtain it. I had just embraced him, and bade him
adieu; and as I turned about from him, I said, What will you do with
that little box of pomatum? It seems such a trifle, said I, it is
not worth your carrying away. I entreat you to make me a present of
it; for what occasion has a dervise, as you are, who has renounced
the vanities of the world, for pomatum?
Would to heaven he had refused me that box! But if he had, I was
stronger than him, and was resolved to have taken it from him by
force; that for my complete satisfaction it might not be said he had
carried away the smallest part of the treasure.
The dervise, far from denying me, presently pulled it out of his
bosom, and presenting it to me with the best grace in the world,
said, Here, take it, brother, and be content: if I could do more for
you, you needed but to have asked for it; I am ready to satisfy you.
When I had the box in my hand, I opened it, and looking at the
pomatum, said to him, Since you are so good, I am sure you will not
refuse me this one favour, to tell me the particular use of this
pomatum.
The use is very surprising and wonderful, replied the dervise: if
you apply a little of this pomatum round the left eye, and upon the
lid, you will see all the treasures contained in the bosom of the
earth; but if you apply it to the right eye, it will make you blind.
I would make the experiment myself: Take the box, said I to the
dervise, and apply some of this pomatum to my left eye; you
understand now to do it better than I, for I long to experience what
seems so incredible to me. Accordingly, I shut my left eye, and the
dervise took the trouble to apply the pomatum. When he had done, I
opened my eye, and was convinced he had told me truth. I saw immense
treasures, and such prodigious riches, so diversified, that it is
impossible for me to give an account of them; but as I was obliged
to keep my right eye shut with my hand, and that tired me, I desired
the dervise to apply some of the pomatum to that eye.
I am ready to do it, said the dervise; but you must remember what I
told you, that if you put any of it upon your right eye, you would
immediately be blind; such is the virtue of the pomatum.
Far from being persuaded of the truth of what the dervise said, I
imagined, on the contrary, that there was some new mystery which he
meant to hide from me. Brother, replied I, smiling, I see plainly
you wish to mislead me: it is not natural that this pomatum should
have two such contrary effects.
The thing is as I tell you, replied the dervise, taking the name of
God to bear witness; you ought to believe me, for I cannot disguise
the truth.
I would not believe the dervise, who spoke like an honest man. My
insurmountable desire of seeing at my ease all the treasures in the
world, and perhaps of enjoying that pleasure as often as I had a
mind, had such an effect upon me, that I could not hearken to his
remonstrances, nor be persuaded of what was, however, but too true,
as to my great misfortune I soon experienced.
I persuaded myself that if that pomatum, by being applied to the
left eye, had the virtue of showing me all the treasures of the
earth, by being applied to the right, it might have the power of
putting them in my disposal. Possessed with this thought, I
obstinately pressed the dervise to apply the pomatum to my right
eye; but he as positively refused me. Brother, said he, after I have
done you so much service, I cannot resolve to do you so great an
injury: consider with yourself what a misfortune it is to be
deprived of one’s eye-sight; do not reduce me to the hard
necessity of obliging you in a thing which you will repent of all
your life after.
I persisted in my obstinacy, and said to him, in strong terms,
Brother, I earnestly desire you to lay aside all the difficulties
you start. You have granted me most generously all that I have asked
of you hitherto, and would you have me go away dissatisfied with you
at last about a thing of so little consequence? For God’s sake,
grant me this last favour: whatever happens, I will not lay the
blame on you, but take it upon myself alone.
The dervise made all the resistance possible; but seeing that I was
able to force him to do it, he said, Since you will absolutely have
it so, I will satisfy you; and thereupon he took a little of the
fatal pomatum, and applied it to my right eye, which I kept shut;
but, alas! when I came to open it, I could distinguish nothing with
either eye but thick darkness, and became blind as you see me now.
Ah! dervise, cried I that moment, what you foretold me is but too
true. Fatal curiosity! added I, insatiable desire of riches! into
what an abyss of miseries have you cast me! I am now sensible what a
misfortune I have brought upon myself; but you, dear brother, cried
I, addressing myself to the dervise, who are so charitable and good,
among the many wonderful secrets you are acquainted with, have you
not one to restore to me my sight again?
Miserable wretch! answered the dervise, if you would have been
advised by me, you would have avoided this misfortune, but you have
your deserts; the blindness of your mind was the cause of the loss
of your eyes. It is true I have secrets, and you, in the little time
I have been with you, might know I have; but I have none to restore
you to your sight. Pray to God, if you believe there is one; it is
He alone that can restore it to you. He gave you riches, of which
you were unworthy, and takes them from you again, and will, by my
hands, give them to men not so ungrateful as you.
The dervise said no more, and I had nothing to reply. He left me to
myself, overwhelmed with confusion, and plunged in inexpressible
grief. After he had collected my camels, he carried them away, and
pursued the road to Balsora.
I desired him not to leave me in that miserable condition, but to
conduct me at least to the first caravan; but he was deaf to my
prayers and entreaties. Thus, deprived of sight, and all I had in
the world, I should have died with affliction and hunger, if the
next day a caravan returning from Balsora had not received me
charitably, and brought me back to Bagdad.
After this manner was I reduced without remedy from a condition
worthy the envy of princes for riches and magnificence, though not
for power, to beggary without resource. I had no other way to
subsist, but must resolve to ask charity, which I have done till
now. But to expiate my offence against God, I enjoined myself, by
way of penance, a box on the ear from every charitable person that
should commiserate my condition.
This, commander of the faithful, is the motive which seemed so
strange to your majesty yesterday, and for which I ought to incur
your indignation. I ask your pardon once more as your slave, and
submit to receive the chastisement I deserve. And if you vouchsafe
to pronounce any thing on the penance I have imposed upon myself, I
am ready to undergo it, since I am persuaded you think it too slight
and much too little for my crime.
When the blind man had made an end of his story, the caliph said,
Baba Abdalla, your sin is great; but God be praised, you know both
the enormity of that; and your penance --It is enough. You must
continue it henceforth, not ceasing to ask of God pardon for it in
every prayer your religion obliges you to say daily; and that you
may not be prevented by the care of getting your living, I will
settle a charity on you during your life of four silver drachmas a
day, which my grand vizier shall give you; therefore do not go away,
but wait till he has executed my orders.
At these words, Baba Abdalla prostrated himself before the
caliph’s throne, and rising up, returned him thanks, and wished
him all happiness and prosperity.
The caliph Haroun Alraschid, very well satisfied with the story of
Baba Abdalla and the dervise, addressed himself to the young man who
used his mare so ill, and asked him his name; to which he replied,
it was Sidi Nonman. [99]
Sidi Nonman, then, said the caliph, I have seen horses exercised all
my life, and have often exercised them myself, but never after so
barbarous a manner as you yesterday treated your mare in the full
square, to the great offence of all the spectators, who murmured
loudly at it. I myself was not less displeased, and had like,
contrary to my intention, to have discovered who I was, to have
remedied that disorder. By your air and behaviour you do not seem to
be a barbarous and cruel man; and therefore I would fain believe
that you had reason for what you did, since I am informed that this
was not the first time, but that you practise the same thing every
day. I would know what is the cause, and sent for you for that
purpose, that you should tell me the truth, and disguise nothing
from me.
Sidi Nonman soon understood what the caliph demanded of him. The
relation was painful to him. He changed colour several times, and
could not help showing how greatly he was embarrassed. However, he
must resolve to tell his story; but before he spoke, he prostrated
himself before the caliph’s throne, and after he rose up again,
endeavoured to speak, to satisfy the caliph, but was so confounded,
not so much at the presence of the caliph, as by the nature of his
relation, that he was speechless.
The caliph, notwithstanding his natural impatience to be obeyed,
showed not the least anger at Sidi Nonman’s silence: he saw
plainly, that he either had not assurance to speak before him, or
was intimidated by the tone of his voice; or, in short, that there
was something to be concealed in his story.
Sidi Nonman, said the caliph, to encourage him, recollect yourself;
but tell your story as if you were speaking, not to me, but to your
most familiar friend. If there is any thing in your relation which
troubles you, and you think I may be offended at it, I pardon you
now: therefore be not uneasy, but speak boldly and freely, and
disguise nothing.
Sidi Nonman, encouraged by these last words of the caliph, said,
Commander of the faithful, whatever apprehensions a man may be under
at your majesty’s presence, I am sensible that respectful
apprehension would not deprive me of the use of my speech, so as to
fail in my obedience to you, in giving you satisfaction in any other
matter but this you now ask of me. I dare not say I am the most
perfect of men; yet I am not wicked enough to have committed, or to
have had an intention of committing any thing against the laws, to
fear their severity; and yet I cannot say I am exempt from sin
through ignorance. In this case I do not say that I depend upon your
majesty’s pardon, but will submit myself to your justice, and
receive the punishment I deserve. I own that the manner in which I
have for some time treated my mare, and which your majesty was
witness of, is strange and cruel, and sets an ill example: but I
hope you will think the motive well grounded, and that I am more
worthy of compassion than chastisement: but not to keep your majesty
any longer in suspense by a long preamble, I will tell you my story.
[Illustration: BABA ABDALLAH PUNISHED.]
The Story of Sidi Nonman.
Commander of the faithful, said Sidi Nonman, I shall not trouble
your majesty with my birth, which is not illustrious enough to merit
your attention. For my fortune, my parents, by their good economy,
left me enough to live on like an honest man, free from ambition, or
being burdensome to any one.
With these advantages, the only thing that I wanted to render my
happiness complete, was an amiable wife, who might share them with
me; but that was a blessing it did not please God to grant me: on
the contrary, it was my misfortune to have one, who, the very next
day after our wedding, began to exercise my patience in a manner not
to be conceived by any one that has not had the same trial.
As it is a custom for us to marry without seeing or knowing whom we
are to marry, your majesty is sensible that a husband has no reason
to complain, when he finds that the wife that has been chosen for
him, is not horribly ugly and deformed, and that her carriage, wit,
and behaviour, make amends for any slight imperfections of the body.
The first time I saw my wife with her face uncovered, after she was
brought home with the usual ceremonies to my house, I rejoiced to
find that I had not been imposed upon in the description of her
person, which pleased me, and she was perfectly agreeable to my
inclination.
The next day after our wedding, when our dinner was served up, which
consisted of several dishes, I went into the room where the cloth
was laid, and not finding my wife there, ordered her to be called.
After making me wait a long time, at last she came. I dissembled my
impatience, and we sat down to table, and I began with the rice,
which I took up with a spoon, as usual.
On the other hand, my wife, instead of making use of a spoon, as
every body does, pulled a little case out of her pocket, and took
out of it a kind of ear-picker, with which she picked up the rice,
and put it into her mouth, grain by grain.
Surprised at this manner of eating, I said to her, Amina, which was
her name, are you used to eat rice so in your family, or do you do
it because you are a little eater, or would you count the grains,
that you may not eat more at one time than another? If you do it out
of savingness, or to teach me not to be extravagant, you have no
reason to fear that, and I can assure you we shall not ruin
ourselves that way. We have, God be thanked, enough to live at our
ease, without depriving ourselves of necessaries. Do not restrain
yourself, my dear Amina, but eat as you see me eat. The kind manner
in which I made these remonstrances might have produced some
obliging answer; but she, without saying a word, continued to eat
after the same manner. At last, to make me the more uneasy, she ate
a grain of rice occasionally; and instead of eating any of the other
meats with me, she only now and then put some crumbs of bread into
her mouth, but not so much as a sparrow would have eaten.
I was very much provoked at her obstinacy; but yet, to indulge and
excuse her, I imagined that she had not been used to eat with men,
much more with a husband, before whom she might perhaps have been
taught to restrain herself; but at the same time thought she carried
it too far out of pure simplicity. I fancied again that she might
have breakfasted late, or that she might have a mind to eat alone,
and more at liberty. These considerations prevented me from saying
any more to her then, to ruffle her temper, or to show any sign of
dissatisfaction. After dinner I left her, but not with an air that
showed any displeasure.
At supper she did the same thing; and the next day, and every time
we ate together, behaved herself after the same manner. I knew it
was impossible for a woman to live on so little food as she took,
and that there was some mystery in it, which I did not understand.
This made me resolve to dissemble; I appeared to take no notice of
her actions, in hopes that time would bring her to live with me as I
desired she should. But my hopes were in vain, and it was not long
before I was convinced they were so.
One night, when Amina thought me fast asleep, she got out of bed
softly, dressed herself with great precaution, avoiding any noise
for fear of waking me. I could not comprehend what her design was,
but curiosity made me feign a sound sleep; and as soon as she had
dressed herself, she went softly out of the room without making any
noise.
As soon as she was gone out, I got up, threw my gown over my
shoulders, and had time enough to see by a window, that looked into
my court-yard, that she opened the street-door and went out.
I ran presently down to the door, which she left half open, and
followed her by moonlight, till I saw her go into a burying-ground
just by our house. I got to the end of the wall, taking care not to
be seen, and looking over, saw Amina with a goule.
Your majesty knows that the goules of both sexes are wandering
demons, which generally infest old buildings; from whence they rush
out, by surprise, on people that pass by, kill them, and eat their
flesh; and for want of such prey, will sometimes go in the night
into burying-grounds, and feed upon dead bodies, which they dig up.
I was in a terrible surprise to see my wife with this goule. They
dug up a dead body which had been buried but that day, and the goule
cut off pieces of the flesh, which they ate together by the
grave-side, conversing together very quietly during their cruel and
inhuman repast. But I was too far off to hear their discourse, which
must have been as strange as their repast, the remembrance of which
still makes me shudder.
When they had made an end of this horrible feast, they threw the
dead body into the grave again, and filled it up with the earth they
had dug out. I left them at their work, and made haste home, and
leaving the door half open, as I found it, went into my chamber, and
to bed again, where I pretended to be fast asleep.
Soon afterwards Amina returned without the least noise, undressed
herself, and came to bed again, rejoiced, as I imagined, that she
had succeeded so well without being discovered.
My mind was so full of the idea of so barbarous and abominable an
action as I had seen, that I felt a great reluctance to lie by a
person who had been guilty of it, and was a long time before I could
fall asleep again. However. I got a short nap; but waked at the
first call to public prayers at daybreak, got up, dressed myself,
and went to the mosque.
After prayers, I went out of the town, and spent the morning in
walking in the gardens, and thinking what I should do to oblige my
wife to change her manner of life. I rejected all the violent
measures that came into my thoughts, and I resolved to use all
gentle means to cure that unhappy inclination of hers; and these
thoughts brought me insensibly home by dinner-time.
As soon as Amina saw me come in, she ordered dinner to be served up;
and as I saw she persisted in the same manner of eating rice by
single grains, I said to her, with all the moderation possible, You
know, Amina, what reason I have to be surprised, when the next day
after our marriage I saw you eat rice in so small a quantity, and in
a manner which would have offended any other husband but me: you
know also, I contented myself with telling you, that I was uneasy at
it, and desired you to eat of the other meats, which I ordered to be
dressed several ways, to endeavour to suit your taste: and I am sure
my table did not want for variety: but all my remonstrances have had
no effect upon you, and you persist in your old way. I have said
nothing, because I would not constrain you, and should be sorry that
any thing I now say should make you uneasy; but tell me, Amina, I
conjure you, are not the meats served up at my table better than
dead flesh?
I had no sooner pronounced these last words, but Amina, who
perceived that I had watched her last night, flew into a rage beyond
imagination. Her face was as red as scarlet, her eyes ready to start
out of her head, and she foamed with passion.
The terrible condition I saw her in frightened me so much, that I
stood motionless, and was not able to defend myself against the
horrible wickedness she meditated against me, and which will
surprise your majesty. In the violence of her passion, she dipped
her hand into a basin of water, which stood just by her, and
muttering between her teeth some words, which I could not hear, she
threw some water in my face, and said to me in a furious tone,
Wretch, receive the punishment of thy curiosity, and become a dog.
No sooner had Amina, whom I knew not to be a sorceress till then,
pronounced these diabolical words, but I was immediately changed
into a dog. My amazement and surprise at so sudden and unexpected a
change prevented my thinking at first of providing for my safety,
till she took up a great stick to beat me, with which she laid on
such heavy blows, that I wonder they did not kill me. I thought to
have escaped her rage, by running into the yard: but she pursued me
with the same fury, and, notwithstanding all my activity, I could
not avoid her blows. At last, when she was tired of running after me
and beating me, and in despair that she had not killed me, as she
desired, she thought of a new way to do it: she half opened the
street-door, that she might squeeze me to death in it, as I ran out
to preserve my life. Dog as I was, I presently perceived her
pernicious design; and as present danger inspires a presence of
mind, to elude her vigilance I watched her face and motions so well,
that I took my opportunity, and passed through quick enough to save
my life and escape her malice, though she pinched the end of my tail.
The pain I felt made me cry out and howl as I ran along the streets,
which brought all the dogs out upon me, and I got bit by several of
them; but to avoid their pursuit, I ran into the shop of a man who
sold boiled sheep’s heads, tongues, and feet, where I saved myself.
The man at first took my part with much compassion, by driving away
the dogs that followed me, and would have run into his house. My
first care was to creep into a corner to hide myself; but I found
not the sanctuary and protection I hoped for. My host was one of
those extravagantly superstitious persons, who think dogs unclean
creatures, and if by chance one should happen to touch them in the
streets, cannot use soap and water enough to wash their garments
clean. After the dogs who chased me were all dispersed and gone, he
did all he could to drive me out of his house that day; but I was
hid, and out of his reach, and spent that night in his shop in spite
of him; and indeed I had need of rest, to recover after Amina’s
ill treatment.
But not to weary your majesty with trifling circumstances, I shall
not particularize the melancholy reflections I made on my
metamorphosis; but only tell you, that my host going out the next
morning to lay in a stock of sheep’s heads, tongues, and trotters,
when he returned he opened his shop, and while he was laying out his
goods, I crept out of my corner, and got among some other dogs of
the neighbourhood, who had followed my host by the scent of his
meat, and surrounded the shop, in expectation of having some thrown
to them. I joined them, and put myself among them in a begging
posture. My host observing me, and considering that I had eaten
nothing while I lay in the shop, distinguished me from the rest, by
throwing me larger pieces of meat, and oftener than the other dogs.
After he had given me as much as he thought fit, I looked at him
earnestly, and wagged my tail, to show him I begged he would repeat
his favours. But he was inflexible, and opposed my entrance with a
stick in his hand, and with so unkind a look, that I was forced to
go and seek a new habitation.
Some houses farther I stopped at a baker’s shop, who was of a
lively gay temper, quite the reverse of the other man, who was eaten
up with melancholy. He was then at breakfast, and though I made no
sign that I asked for any thing, he threw me a bit of bread. Instead
of catching it up greedily, as other dogs do, I looked at him,
moving my head and wagging my tail, to show my gratitude; at which
he was mightily pleased, and smiled. Though I was not hungry, I ate
the piece of bread to please him, and I ate slowly, to show him that
it was out of respect to him. He observed this, and let me continue
near the shop. I sat down and turned myself to the street, to show
him I only then wanted his protection; which he not only granted,
but by his caresses encouraged me to come into the house. This I did
in a way that showed it was with his leave. He was pleased, and
showed me a place where to lie, which I took possession of, and kept
while I lived with him. I was always well treated; and whenever he
breakfasted, dined, or supped, I had my share of provisions; and,
for my part, I loved him, and was as faithful as gratitude required
of me. I always had my eyes upon him, and he scarce stirred out of
doors, or went into the city on business, but I was at his heels. I
was the more exact, because I perceived my attention pleased him;
for whenever he went out, without giving me time to see him, he
would call Chance, which was the name he gave me.
At this name I used to spring from my place, jump, and caper, and
run before the door, and never cease fawning on him till he went
out; and then I always either followed him, or ran before him,
always looking at him to show my joy.
I had lived some time with this baker, when a woman came one day
into the shop to buy some bread, and giving my master a piece of bad
money, among some good, he perceived it, returned it, and asked for
another.
The woman refused to take it again, and affirmed it to be good. The
baker maintained the contrary, and in the dispute told the woman he
was sure that the piece of money was so visibly false, that his dog
could distinguish it; upon which he called Chance, Chance, and I
jumped immediately on the counter, and the baker throwing the money
down before me, said, See, and tell me which of these pieces is bad!
I looked over all the pieces of money, and then set my paw upon that
which was bad, separated it from the rest, looking in my master’s
face to show it him.
The baker, who only called me to banter the woman, was very much
surprised to see me so immediately pitch upon the bad money. The
woman, thus convicted, had nothing to say for herself, but was
obliged to give another piece instead of the bad one. As soon as she
was gone, my master called in some neighbours, and enlarged very
much upon my capacity, telling them what had happened.
The neighbours all desired to make the experiment, and of all the
bad money they showed me, mixed with good, there was not one on
which I did not set my paw, and separate the bad money from the good.
The woman, for her part, was sure to tell every body she met what
had happened; insomuch that the fame of my skill in distinguishing
good money from bad was not only spread throughout the
neighbourhood, but over all that part of the town, and insensibly
through the whole city.
I had business enough every day; for I was obliged to show my skill
to all customers that came to buy bread of my master. In short, my
reputation procured my master more business than he could manage,
and brought him customers from the most distant parts of the town;
and this run of business lasted so long, that my master owned to his
friends and neighbours, that I was a treasure to him.
My little knowledge made many people envy my master’s good
fortune, and lay traps to steal me away, which obliged him always to
keep me in his sight. One day a woman came out of curiosity to buy
some bread like the rest, and seeing me sit upon the counter, threw
down before me six pieces of money, among which was one that was
bad. I separated it presently from the good, and setting my paw upon
it, looked in the woman’s face, as much as to say, is it not so?
The woman looking at me, replied, Yes, you are in the right; it is
bad; and staying some time in the shop, to look at and admire me, at
last paid my master for his bread, and when she went out of the
shop, made a sign, unknown to him, for me to follow her.
I was always attentive to any means to deliver myself out of so
strange a metamorphosis, and had observed that the woman examined me
with an extraordinary attention. I imagined that she might know
something of my misfortune, and the melancholy condition I was
reduced to: however, I let her go, and contented myself with looking
at her. After walking two or three steps, she turned about, and
seeing that I only looked at her, without stirring out of my place,
she made me another sign to follow her.
Without deliberating any longer, and observing that my master the
baker was busy cleaning his oven to put bread into it, and did not
mind me, I jumped off the counter, and followed the woman, who
seemed overjoyed.
After I had got some way, she stopped at a house, opened the door,
and called to me to come in, saying, You will not repent following
me. When I had got in, she shut the door, and carried me to her
chamber, where I saw a beautiful young lady working embroidery. This
lady, who was daughter to the charitable woman who had brought me
from the baker’s shop, was a very skilful magician, as I found
afterwards.
Daughter, said the mother, I have brought you the famous baker’s
dog, that can tell good money from bad. You know I gave you my
thoughts on that matter when I first heard of him, and told you, I
fancied he was a man changed into a dog by some wicked trick. To-day
I bethought myself of going to buy some bread of that baker, and was
myself a witness of the wonders performed by this dog, who has made
such extraordinary noise in Bagdad. What say you, daughter, am I
deceived in my conjecture? Mother, you are not, answered the
daughter, and I will make it appear so.
The young lady immediately got up, put her hand into a basin of
water, and throwing some upon me, said, If thou wert born a dog,
remain so; but if thou wert born a man, resume thy former shape by
the virtue of this water. At that instant the enchantment was
broken, and I became a man as before.
Penetrated with the greatness of this kindness, I threw myself at my
deliverer’s feet; and after I had kissed the hem of her garment, I
said, My dear deliverer, I am so sensible of your exceeding and
unparalleled goodness towards a stranger, as I am, that I beg of you
to tell me yourself what I shall do to show my gratitude; or rather
dispose of me as a slave, to whom you have a just right, since I am
no more my own, but entirely yours: and that you may know who I am,
I will tell you my story in as few words as possible.
After I had told her who I was, I gave her an account of my marriage
with Amina, of the complaisance I showed her, my patience in bearing
with her humour, her extraordinary behaviour, and the indignity with
which she treated me out of inconceivable wickedness, and finished
my story with my transformation, and thanking her mother for the
inexpressible happiness she had procured me.
Sidi Nonman, said the daughter to me, let us not talk of the
obligation you say you owe me; it is enough for me that I have done
any service to so honest a man as you are. But let us talk a little
of Amina your wife. I was acquainted with her before your marriage;
and as I know her to be a magician, she also is sensible that I have
some knowledge of that art, since we both learnt it of the same
mistress. We often meet at the baths, but as our tempers are
different, I avoid all opportunities of contracting an intimacy with
her, which is no difficult matter, as she does the same by me. I am
not at all surprised at her wickedness; but what I have already done
for you is not sufficient; I will complete what I have begun. It is
not enough to have broken the enchantment by which she has excluded
you from the society of men. You must punish her as she deserves, by
going home again, and assuming the authority which belongs to you. I
will give you the proper means. Converse a little with my mother
till I come back.