Shah, who had grown old, without being blessed with a son. So he
summoned the physicists and physicians and said to them, “I am now in
years and ye know my case and the state of the kingdom and its
ordinance; and I fear for my subjects after me; for that up to this
present I have not been vouchsafed a son.” Thereupon they replied, “We
will compound thee a somewhat of drugs wherein shall be efficacy, if it
please Almighty Allah!” So they mixed him drugs, which he used and knew
his wife carnally, and she conceived by leave of the Most High Lord, who
saith to a thing, “Be,” and it becometh. When her months were
accomplished, she gave birth to a male child like the moon, whom his
father named Ardashir,[262] and he grew up and throve and applied
himself to the study of learning and letters, till he attained the age
of fifteen. Now there was in Al-Irak a King called Abd al-Kádir who had
a daughter, by name Hayát al-Nufús, and she was like the rising full
moon; but she had an hatred for men and the folk very hardly dared name
mankind in her presence. The Kings of the Chosroës had sought her in
marriage of her sire; but, when he spoke with her thereof, she said,
“Never will I do this; and if thou force me thereto, I will slay
myself.” Now Prince Ardashir heard of her fame and fell in love with her
and told his father who, seeing his case, took pity on him and promised
him day by day that he should marry her. So he despatched his Wazir to
demand her in wedlock, but King Abd al-Kadir refused, and when the
Minister returned to King Sayf al-A’azam and acquainted him with what
had befallen his mission and the failure thereof, he was wroth with
exceeding wrath and cried, “Shall the like of me send to one of the
Kings on a requisition and he accomplish it not?” Then he bade a herald
make proclamation to his troops, bidding them bring out the tents and
equip them for war with all diligence, though they should borrow money
for the necessary expenses; and he said, “I will on no wise turn back,
till I have laid waste King Abd al-Kadir’s dominions and slain his men
and plundered his treasures and blotted out his traces!” When the report
of this reached Ardashir he rose from his carpet-bed, and going in to
his father, kissed ground[263] between his hands and said, “O mighty
King, trouble not thyself with aught of this thing”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Twentieth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when report
of this reached the Prince he went in to his sire the King and, kissing
ground between his hands, said, “O mighty King, trouble not thy soul
with aught of this thing and levy not thy champions and armies neither
spend thy monies. Thou art stronger than he, and if thou loose upon him
this thy host, thou wilt lay waste his cities and dominions and spoil
his good and slay his strong men and himself; but when his daughter
shall come to know what hath befallen her father and his people by
reason of her, she will slay herself, and I shall die on her account;
for I can never live after her; no, never.” Asked the King, “And what
then thinkest thou to do, O my son?” and the Prince answered, “I will
don a merchant’s habit and cast about how I may win to the Princess and
compass my desire of her.” Quoth Sayf al-A’azam, “Art thou determined
upon this?”; and quoth the Prince, “Yes, O my sire;” whereupon the King
called to his Wazir, and said to him, “Do thou journey with my son, the
core of my heart, and help him to win his will and watch over him and
guide him with thy sound judgment, for thou standest to him even in my
stead.” “I hear and obey,” answered the Minister; and the King gave his
son three hundred thousand dinars in gold and great store of jewels and
precious stones and goldsmiths’ ware and stuffs and other things of
price. Then Prince Ardashir went in to his mother and kissed her hands
and asked her blessing. She blessed him and, forthright opening her
treasures, brought out to him necklaces and trinkets and apparel and all
manner of other costly objects hoarded up from the time of the bygone
Kings, whose price might not be evened with coin. Moreover, he took with
him of his Mamelukes and negro-slaves and cattle all that he needed for
the road and clad himself and the Wazir and their company in traders’
gear. Then he farewelled his parents and kinsfolk and friends; and,
setting out, fared on over wolds and wastes all hours of the day and
watches of the night; and whenas the way was longsome upon him he
improvised these couplets:—
My longing bred of love with mine unease for ever grows; ✿ Nor against
all the wrongs of time one succourer arose:
When Pleiads and the Fishes show in sky the rise I watch, ✿ As
worshipper within whose breast a pious burning glows:
For Star o’ Morn I speer until at last when it is seen, ✿ I’m madded
with my passion and my fancy’s woes and throes:
I swear by you that never from your love have I been loosed; ✿ Naught am
I save a watcher who of slumber nothing knows!
Though hard appear my hope to win, though languor aye increase, ✿ And
after thee my patience fails and ne’er a helper shows;
Yet will I wait till Allah shall be pleased to join our loves; ✿ I’ll
mortify the jealous and I’ll mock me of my foes.
When he ended his verse he swooned away and the Wazir sprinkled
rose-water on him, till the Prince came to himself, when the Minister
said to him, “O King’s son, possess thy soul in patience; for the
consequence of patience is consolation, and behold, thou art on the way
to whatso thou wishest.” And he ceased not to bespeak him fair and
comfort him till his trouble subsided; and they continued their journey
with all diligence. Presently, the Prince again became impatient of the
length of the way and bethought him of his beloved and recited these
couplets:—
Longsome is absence, restlessness increaseth and despite; ✿ And burn my
vitals in the blaze my love and longings light:
Grows my hair gray from pains and pangs which I am doomèd bear ✿ For
pine, while tear-floods stream from eyes and sore offend my sight:
I swear, O Hope of me, O End of every wish and will, ✿ By Him who made
mankind and every branch with leafage dight,
A passion-load for thee, O my Desire, I must endure, ✿ And boast I that
to bear such load no lover hath the might.
Question the Night of me and Night thy soul shall satisfy ✿ Mine eyelids
never close in sleep throughout the livelong night.
Then he wept with sore weeping and ’plained of that he suffered for
stress of love-longing; but the Wazir comforted him and spoke him fair,
promising him the winning of his wish; after which they fared on again
for a few days, when they drew near to the White City, the capital of
King Abd al-Kadir, soon after sunrise. Then said the Minister to the
Prince, “Rejoice, O King’s son, in all good; for see, yonder is the
White City, that which thou seekest.” Whereat the Prince rejoiced with
exceeding joy and recited these couplets:—
My friends, I yearn in heart distraught for him; ✿ Longing abides and
with sore pains I brim:
I mourn like childless mother, nor can find ✿ One to console me when the
light grows dim;
Yet when the breezes blow from off thy land, ✿ I feel their freshness
shed on heart and limb;
And rail mine eyes like water-laden clouds, ✿ While in a tear-sea shed
by heart I swim.
Now when they entered the White City they asked for the Merchants’ Khan,
a place of moneyed men; and when shown the hostelry they hired three
magazines and on receiving the keys[264] they laid up therein all their
goods and gear. They abode in the Khan till they were rested, when the
Wazir applied himself to devise a device for the Prince,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Prince and
the Minister alighted at the Khan and lodged their goods in the
ground-floor magazines and there settled their servants. Then they
tarried awhile till they had rested when the Wazir arose and applied
himself to devise a device for the Prince, and said to him, “I have
bethought me of somewhat wherein, methinks, will be success for thee, so
it please Almighty Allah.” Quoth Ardashir, “O thou Wazir of good
counsel, do what cometh to thy mind, and may the Lord direct thy rede
aright!” Quoth the Minister, “I purpose to hire thee a shop in the
market-street of the stuff-sellers and set thee therein; for that all,
great and small, have recourse to the bazar and, meseems, when the folk
see thee with their own eyes sitting in the shop their hearts will
incline to thee and thou wilt thus be enabled to attain thy desire, for
thou art fair of favour and souls incline to thee and sight rejoiceth in
thee.” The other replied, “Do what seemeth good to thee.” So the Wazir
forthright began to robe the Prince and himself in their richest raiment
and, putting a purse of a thousand dinars in his breast-pocket, went
forth and walked about the city, whilst all who looked upon them
marvelled at the beauty of the King’s son, saying, “Glory be to Him who
created this youth ’of vile water’[265]! Blessed be Allah excellentest
of Creators!” Great was the talk anent him and some said, “This is no
mortal, ’this is naught save a noble angel’”;[266] and others, “Hath
Rizwán, the doorkeeper of the Eden-garden, left the gate of Paradise
unguarded, that this youth hath come forth?” The people followed them to
the stuff-market, where they entered and stood, till there came up to
them an old man of dignified presence and venerable appearance, who
saluted them, and they returned his salam. Then the Shaykh said to them,
“O my lords, have ye any need, that we may have the honour of
accomplishing?”; and the Wazir asked him, “Who art thou, O elder?” He
answered, “I am the Overseer of the market.” Quoth the Wazir, “Know
then, O Shaykh, that this youth is my son and I wish to hire him a shop
in the bazar, that he may sit therein and learn to sell and buy and take
and give, and come to ken merchants’ ways and habits.” “I hear and I
obey,” replied the Overseer and brought them without stay or delay the
key of a shop, which he caused the brokers sweep and clean. And they did
his bidding. Then the Wazir sent for a high mattress, stuffed with
ostrich-down, and set it up in the shop, spreading upon it a small
prayer-carpet, and a cushion fringed with broidery of red gold. Moreover
he brought pillows and transported thither so much of the goods and
stuffs that he had brought with him as filled the shop. Next morning the
young Prince came and opening the shop, seated himself on the divan, and
stationed two Mamelukes, clad in the richest of raiment before him and
two black slaves of the goodliest of the Abyssinians in the lower part
of the shop. The Wazir enjoined him to keep his secret from the folk, so
thereby he might find aid in the winning of his wishes; then he left him
and charging him to acquaint him with what befel him in the shop, day by
day returned to the Khan. The Prince sat in the shop till night as he
were the moon at its fullest, whilst the folk, hearing tell of his
comeliness, flocked to the place, without errand, to gaze on his beauty
and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace and glorify the Almighty
who created and shaped him, till none could pass through that bazar for
the excessive crowding of the folk about him. The King’s son turned
right and left, abashed at the throng of people that stared at him,
hoping to make acquaintance with some one about the court, of whom he
might get news of the Princess; but he found no way to this, wherefore
his breast was straitened. Meanwhile, the Wazir daily promised him the
attainment of his desire and the case so continued for a time till, one
morning, as the youth sat in the shop, there came up an old woman of
respectable semblance and dignified presence clad in raiment of
devotees[267] and followed by two slave-girls like moons. She stopped
before the shop and, having considered the Prince awhile, cried, “Glory
be to God who fashioned that face and perfected that figure!” Then she
saluted him and he returned her salam and seated her by his side. Quoth
she, “Whence cometh thou, O fair of favour?”; and quoth he, “From the
parts of Hind, O my mother; and I have come to this city to see the
world and look about me.” “Honour to thee for a visitor! What goods and
stuffs hast thou? Show me something handsome, fit for Kings.” “If thou
wish for handsome stuffs, I will show them to thee; for I have wares
that beseem persons of every condition.” “O my son, I want somewhat
costly of price and seemly to sight; brief, the best thou hast.” “Thou
must needs tell me for whom thou seekest it, that I may show thee goods
according to the rank of the requirer.” “Thou speakest sooth, O my son,”
said she, “I want somewhat for my mistress Hayat al-Nufus, daughter of
Abd al-Kadir, lord of this land and King of this country.” Now when
Ardashir heard his mistress’s name, his reason flew for joy and his
heart fluttered and he gave no order to slave or servant, but, putting
his hand behind him, pulled out a purse of an hundred dinars and offered
it to the old woman, saying, “This is for the washing of thy clothes.”
Then he again put forth his hand and brought out of a wrapper a dress
worth ten thousand dinars or more and said to her, “This is of that
which I have brought to your country.” When the old woman saw it, it
pleased her and she asked, “What is the price of this dress, O perfect
in qualities?” Answered he, “I will take no price for it!” whereupon she
thanked him and repeated her question; but he said, “By Allah, I will
take no price for it. I make thee a present of it, an the Princess will
not accept it and ’tis a guest-gift from me to thee. Alhamdolillah—Glory
be to God—who hath brought us together, so that, if one day I have a
want, I shall find thee a helper to me in winning it!” She marvelled at
the goodliness of his speech and the excess of his generosity and the
perfection of his courtesy and said to him, “What is thy name, O my
lord?” He replied, “My name is Ardashir;” and she cried, “By Allah this
is a rare name! Therewith are Kings’ sons named, and thou art in a guise
of the sons of the merchants!” Quoth he, “Of the love my father bore me,
he gave me this name, but a name signifieth naught;” and quoth she in
wonder, “O my son, take the price of thy goods.” But he swore that he
would not take aught. Then the old lady said to him, “O my dear one,
Truth (I would have thee know) is the greatest of all things and thou
hadst not dealt thus generously by me but for a special reason: so tell
me thy case and thy secret thought; belike thou hast some wish to whose
winning I may help thee.” Thereupon he laid his hand in hers and, after
exacting an oath of secrecy, told her the whole story of his passion for
the Princess and his condition by reason thereof. The old woman shook
her head and said, “True; but O my son, the wise say, in the current
adage:—An thou wouldest be obeyed, abstain from ordering what may not be
made; and thou, my son, thy name is Merchant, and though thou hadst the
keys of the Hidden Hoards, yet wouldst thou be called naught but
Merchant. An thou wouldst rise to high rank, according to thy station,
then seek the hand of a Kazi’s daughter or even an Emir’s; but why, O my
son, aspirest thou to none but the daughter of the King of the age and
the time, and she a clean maid, who knoweth nothing of the things of the
world and hath never in her life seen anything but her palace wherein
she dwelleth? Yet, for all her tender age, she is intelligent, shrewd,
vivacious, penetrating, quick of wit, sharp of act and rare of rede: her
father hath no other child and she is dearer to him than his life and
soul. Every morning he cometh to her and giveth her good-morrow, and all
who dwell in the palace stand in dread of her. Think not, O my son, that
any dare bespeak her with aught of these words; nor is there any way for
me thereto. By Allah, O my son, my heart and vitals love thee and were
it in my power to give thee access to her, I would assuredly do it; but
I will tell thee somewhat, wherein Allah may haply appoint the healing
of thy heart, and will risk life and goods for thee, till I win thy will
for thee.” He asked, “And what is that, O my mother”; and she answered,
“Seek of me the daughter of a Wazir or an Emir, and I will grant thy
request; but it may not be that one should mount from earth to heaven at
one bound.” When the Prince heard this, he replied to her with courtesy
and sense, “O my mother, thou art a woman of wit and knowest how things
go. Say me doth a man, when his head irketh him, bind up his hand?”
Quoth she, “No, by Allah, O my son”; and quoth he, “Even so my heart
seeketh none but her and naught slayeth me but love of her. By Allah, I
am a dead man, and I find not one to counsel me aright and succour me!
Allah upon thee, O my mother, take pity on my strangerhood and the
streaming of my tears!”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ardashir, the
King’s son said to the old woman, “Allah upon thee, O my mother, take
pity on my strangerhood and the streaming of my tears.” Replied she, “By
Allah, O my son, thy words rend my heart, but my hand hath no cunning
wherewith to help thee.” Quoth he, “I beseech thee of thy favour, carry
her a letter and kiss her hands for me.” So she had compassion on him
and said, “Write what thou wilt and I will bear it to her.” When he
heard this, he was ready to fly for joy and calling for ink-case and
paper, wrote these couplets:—
O Hayát al-Nufús, be gen’rous, and incline ✿ To one who loving thee for
parting’s doomed to pine.
I was in all delight, in gladsomest of life, ✿ But now I am distraught
with sufferings condign.
To wakefulness I cling through longsomeness of night ✿ And with me
sorrow chats[268] through each sad eve of mine;
Pity a lover sad, a sore afflicted wretch ✿ Whose eyelids ever ulcered
are with tearful brine;
And when the morning comes at last, the real morn ✿ He finds him drunken
and distraught with passion’s wine.
Then he folded the scroll and kissing it, gave it to the old woman;
after which he put his hand to a chest and took out a second purse
containing an hundred dinars, which he presented to her, saying, “Divide
this among the slave girls.” She refused it and cried, “By Allah, O my
son, I am not with thee for aught of this!”; however, he thanked her and
answered, “There is no help but that thou accept of it.” So she took it
and kissing his hands, returned home; and going in to the Princess,
cried, “O my lady, I have brought thee somewhat the like whereof is not
with the people of our city, and it cometh from a handsome young man,
than whom there is not a goodlier on earth’s face!” She asked, “O my
nurse, and whence cometh the youth?” and the old woman answered, “From
the parts of Hind; and he hath given me this dress of gold brocade,
embroidered with pearls and gems and worth the Kingdom of Chosroës and
Cæsar.” Thereupon she opened the dress and the whole palace was
illuminated by its brightness, because of the beauty of its fashion and
the wealth of unions and jewels wherewith it was broidered, and all who
were present marvelled at it. The Princess examined it and, judging it
to be worth no less than a whole year’s revenue of her father’s kingdom,
said to the old woman, “O my nurse, cometh this dress from him or from
another?”[269] Replied she, “From him;” and Hayat al-Nufus asked, “Is
this trader of our town or a stranger?” The old woman answered, “He is a
foreigner, O my lady, newly come hither; and by Allah he hath servants
and slaves; and he is fair of face, symmetrical of form, well mannered,
open-handed and open-hearted, never saw I a goodlier than he, save
thyself.” The King’s daughter rejoined, “Indeed this is an extraordinary
thing, that a dress like this, which money cannot buy, should be in the
hands of a merchant! What price did he set on it, O my nurse?” Quoth
she, “By Allah, he would set no price on it, but gave me back the money
thou sentest by me and swore that he would take naught thereof,
saying:—’Tis a gift from me to the King’s daughter; for it beseemeth
none but her; and if she will not accept it, I make thee a present of
it.” Cried the Princess, “By Allah, this is indeed marvellous generosity
and wondrous munificence! But I fear the issue of his affair, lest
haply[270] he be brought to necessity. Why didst thou not ask him, O my
nurse, if he had any desire, that we might fulfil it for him?” The nurse
replied, “O my lady, I did ask him, and he said to me:—I have indeed a
desire; but he would not tell me what it was. However, he gave me this
letter and said:—Carry it to the Princess.” So Hayat al-Nufus took the
letter and opened and read it to the end; whereupon she was sore chafed;
and lost temper and changing colour for anger she cried out to the old
woman, saying, “Woe to thee, O nurse! What is the name of this dog who
durst write this language to a King’s daughter? What affinity is there
between me and this hound that he should address me thus? By Almighty
Allah, Lord of the well Zemzem and of the Hatim Wall,[271] but that I
fear the Omnipotent, the Most High, I would send and bind the cur’s
hands behind him and slit his nostrils, and shear off his nose and ears
and after, by way of example, crucify him on the gate of the bazar
wherein is his booth!” When the old woman heard these words, she waxed
yellow; her side muscles[272] quivered and her tongue clave to her
mouth; but she heartened her heart and said, “Softly, O my lady! What is
there in his letter to trouble thee thus? Is it aught but a memorial
containing his complaint to thee of poverty or oppression, from which he
hopeth to be relieved by thy favour?” Replied she, “No, by Allah, O my
nurse, ’tis naught of this; but verses and shameful words! However, O my
nurse, this dog must be in one of three cases: either he is Jinn-mad,
and hath no wit, or he seeketh his own slaughter, or else he is assisted
to his wish of me by some one of exceeding puissance and a mighty
Sultan. Or hath he heard that I am one of the baggages of the city, who
lie a night or two with whosoever seeketh them, that he writeth me
immodest verses to debauch my reason by talking of such matters?”
Rejoined the old woman, “By Allah, O my lady, thou sayst sooth! But reck
not thou of yonder ignorant hound, for thou art seated in thy lofty,
firm-builded and unapproachable palace, to which the very birds cannot
soar neither the wind pass over it, and as for him, he is clean
distraught. Wherefore do thou write him a letter and chide him angrily
and spare him no manner of reproof, but threaten him with dreadful
threats and menace him with death and say to him:—Whence hast thou
knowledge of me, that thou durst write me, O dog of a merchant, O thou
who trudgest far and wide all thy days in wilds and wolds for the sake
of gaining a dirham or a dinar? By Allah, except thou awake from thy
sleep and put off thine intoxication, I will assuredly crucify thee on
the gate of the market-street wherein is thy shop!” Quoth the Princess,
“I fear lest he presume, if I write to him”; and quoth the nurse, “And
pray what is he and what is his rank that he should presume to us?
Indeed, we write him but to the intent that his presumption may be cut
off and his fear magnified.” And she ceased not craftily to persuade
her, till she called for ink-case and paper and wrote him these
couplets:—
O thou who claimest to be prey of love and ecstasy; ✿ Thou, who for
passion spendest nights in grief and saddest gree:
Say, dost thou (haughty one!) desire enjoyment of the moon? ✿ Did man
e’er sue the moon for grace whate’er his lunacy?
I verily will counsel thee with rede the best to hear: ✿ Cut short this
course ere come thou nigh sore risk, nay death, to dree!
If thou to this request return, surely on thee shall fall ✿ Sore
punishment, for vile offence a grievous penalty.
Be reasonable then, be wise, hark back unto thy wits; ✿ Behold, in very
truth I speak with best advice to thee:
By Him who did all things that be create from nothingness; ✿ Who dressed
the face of heaven with stars in brightest radiancy:
If in the like of this thy speech thou dare to sin again! ✿ I’ll surely
have thee crucified upon a trunk of tree.
Then she rolled up the letter and gave it to the old woman who took it
and, repairing to Ardashir’s shop, delivered it to him,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Twenty-third Night,