Princesses said to Hasan, “Put forth thy hand to Heaven and when thou
reach thither, then shalt thou win to wife and children,” thereat the
tears ran down his cheeks like rain and wet his clothes, and he recited
these couplets:—
Pink cheeks and eyes enpupil’d black have dealt me sore despight; ✿ And
whenas wake overpowered sleep my patience fled in fright:
The fair and sleek-limbed maidens hard of heart withal laid waste ✿ My
very bones till not a breath is left for man to sight:
Houris, who fare with gait of grace as roes o’er sandy-mound: ✿ Did
Allah’s saints behold their charms they’d doat thereon forthright;
Faring as fares the garden breeze that bloweth in the dawn, ✿ For love
of them a sore unrest and troubles rack my sprite:
I hung my hopes upon a maid, a loveling fair of them, ✿ For whom my
heart still burns with lowe in Lazá-hell they light;—
A dearling soft of sides and haught and graceful in her gait, ✿ Her
grace is white as morning, but her hair is black as night:
She stirreth me! But ah, how many heroes have her cheeks ✿ Upstirred for
love, and eke her eyes that mingle black and white.
Then he wept, whilst the Princesses wept for his weeping, and they were
moved to compassion and jealousy for him. So they fell to comforting him
and exhorting him to patience and offering up prayers for his reunion
with his wife; whilst his sister said to him, “O my brother, be of good
cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear and be patient; so shalt thou
win thy will; for whoso hath patience and waiteth, that he seeketh
attaineth. Patience holdeth the keys of relief and indeed the poet
saith:—
Let destiny with slackened rein its course appointed fare! And lie thou
down to sleep by night, with heart devoid of care;
For ’twixt the closing of an eye and th’ opening thereof, God hath it in
His power to change a case from foul to fair.[104]
So hearten thy heart and brace up thy resolve, for the son of ten years
dieth not in the ninth.[105] Weeping and grief and mourning gender
sickness and disease; wherefore do thou abide with us till thou be
rested, and I will devise some device for thy winning to thy wife and
children, Inshallah—so it please Allah the Most High!” And he wept sore
and recited these verses:—
An I be healed of disease in frame, ✿ I’m unhealed of illness in heart
and sprite:
There is no healing disease of love, ✿ Save lover and loved one to
reunite.
Then he sat down beside her and she proceeded to talk with him and
comfort him and question him of the cause and the manner of his wife’s
departure. So he told her and she said, “By Allah, O my brother, I was
minded to bid thee burn the feather-dress, but Satan made me forget it.”
She ceased not to converse with him and caress him and company with him
other ten days, whilst sleep visited him not and he delighted not in
food; and when the case was longsome upon him and unrest waxed in him,
he versified with these couplets:—
A beloved familiar o’erreigns my heart ✿ And Allah’s ruling reigns
evermore:
She hath all the Arabs’ united charms ✿ This gazelle who feeds on my
bosom’s core.
Though my skill and patience for love of her fail, ✿ I weep whilst I wot
that ’tis vain to deplore.
The dearling hath twice seven years, as though ✿ She were moon of five
nights and of five plus four.[106]
When the youngest Princess saw him thus distracted for love and
longing-for passion and the fever-heat of desire, she went in to her
sisterhood weeping-eyed and woeful-hearted, and shedding copious tears
threw herself upon them, kissed their feet and besought them to devise
some device for bringing Hasan to the Islands of Wak and effecting his
reunion with his wife and wees. She ceased not to conjure them to
further her brother in the accomplishment of his desire and to weep
before them, till she made them weep and they said to her, “Hearten thy
heart: we will do our best endeavour to bring about his reunion with his
family, Inshallah!” And he abode with them a whole year, during which
his eyes never could retain their tears. Now the sisterhood had an
uncle, brother-german to their sire and his name was Abd al-Kaddús, or
Slave of the Most Holy; and he loved the eldest with exceeding love and
was wont to visit her once a year and do all she desired. They had told
him of Hasan’s adventure with the Magian and how he had been able to
slay him; whereat he rejoiced and gave the eldest Princess a pouch[107]
which contained certain perfumes, saying, “O daughter of my brother, an
thou be in concern for aught, or if aught irk thee, or thou stand in any
need, cast of these perfumes upon fire naming my name and I will be with
thee forthright and will do thy desire.” This speech was spoken on the
first of Moharram[108]; and the eldest Princess said to one of the
sisterhood, “Lo, the year is wholly past and my uncle is not come. Rise,
bring me the fire-sticks and the box of perfumes.” So the damsel arose
rejoicing and, fetching what she sought, laid it before her sister, who
opened the box and taking thence a little of the perfume, cast it into
the fire, naming her uncle’s name; nor was it burnt out ere appeared a
dust-cloud at the farther end of the Wady; and presently lifting, it
discovered a Shaykh riding on an elephant, which moved at a swift and
easy pace, and trumpeted under the rider. As soon as he came within
sight of the Princesses, he began making signs to them with his hands
and feet; nor was it long ere he reached the castle and, alighting from
the elephant, came in to them, whereupon they embraced him and kissed
his hands and saluted him with the salam. Then he sat down, whilst the
girls talked with him and questioned him of his absence. Quoth he, “I
was sitting but now with my wife, your aunt, when I smelt the perfumes
and hastened to you on this elephant. What wouldst thou, O daughter of
my brother?” Quoth she, “O uncle, indeed we longed for thee, as the year
is past and ’tis not thy wont to be absent from us more than a
twelvemonth.” Answered he, “I was busy, but I purposed to come to you
to-morrow.” Wherefore they thanked him and blessed him and sat talking
with him.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundredth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girls sat
down to chat with their uncle the eldest said to him, “O my uncle, we
told thee the tale of Hasan of Bassorah, whom Bahram the Magian brought
and how he slew the wizard and how, after enduring all manner of
hardships and horrors, he made prize of the Supreme King’s daughter and
took her to wife and journeyed with her to his native land?” Replied he,
“Yes, and what befel him after that?” Quoth the Princess, “She played
him false after he was blest with two sons by her; for she took them in
his absence and fled with them to her own country, saying to his
mother:—Whenas thy son returneth to thee and asketh for me and upon him
the nights of severance longsome shall be and he craveth reunion and
meeting to see and whenas the breezes of love and longing shake him
dolefully, let him come in the Islands of Wak to me.” When Abd al-Kaddus
heard this, he shook his head and bit his forefinger; then, bowing his
brow groundwards he began to make marks on the earth with his
finger-tips;[109] after which he again shook his head and looked right
and left and shook his head a third time, whilst Hasan watched him from
a place where he was hidden from him. Then said the Princesses to their
uncle, “Return us some answer, for our hearts are rent in sunder.” But
he shook his head at them, saying, “O my daughters, verily hath this man
wearied himself in vain and cast himself into grievous predicament and
sore peril; for he may not gain access to the Islands of Wak.” With this
the Princesses called Hasan, who came forth and, advancing to Shaykh Abd
al-Kaddus, kissed his hand and saluted him. The old man rejoiced in him
and seated him by his side; whereupon quoth the damsels, “O uncle,
acquaint our brother Hasan with that thou hast told us.” So he said to
Hasan, “O my son, put away from thee this _peine forte et dure_; for
thou canst never gain access to the Islands of Wak, though the Flying
Jinn and the Wandering Stars were with thee; for that betwixt thee and
these islands are seven Wadys and seven seas and seven mighty mountains.
How then canst thou come at this stead and who shall bring thee thither?
Wherefore, Allah upon thee, O my son, do thou reckon thy spouse and sons
as dead and turn back forthright and weary not thy sprite! Indeed, I
give thee good counsel, an thou wilt but accept it.” Hearing these words
from the Shaykh, Hasan wept till he fainted, and the Princesses sat
round him, weeping for his weeping, whilst the youngest sister rent her
raiment and buffeted her face, till she swooned away. When Shaykh Abd
al-Kaddus saw them in this transport of grief and trouble and mourning,
he was moved to ruth for them and cried, “Be ye silent!” Then said he to
Hasan, “O my son, hearten thy heart and rejoice in the winning of thy
wish, an it be the will of Allah the Most High;” presently adding,
“Rise, O my son, take courage and follow me.” So Hasan arose forthright
and after he had taken leave of the Princesses followed him, rejoicing
in the fulfilment of his wish. Then the Shaykh called the elephant and
mounting, took Hasan up behind him and fared on three days with their
nights, like the blinding leven, till he came to a vast blue mountain,
whose stones were all of azure hue and amiddlemost of which was a
cavern, with a door of Chinese iron. Here he took Hasan’s hand and let
him down and alighting dismissed the elephant. Then he went up to the
door and knocked, whereupon it opened and there came out to him a black
slave, hairless, as he were an Ifrit, with brand in right hand and targe
of steel in left. When he saw Abd al-Kaddus, he threw sword and buckler
from his grip and coming up to the Shaykh kissed his hand. Thereupon the
old man took Hasan by the hand and entered with him, whilst the slave
shut the door behind them; when Hasan found himself in a vast cavern and
a spacious, through which ran an arched corridor and they ceased not
faring on therein a mile or so, till it abutted upon a great open space
and thence they made for an angle of the mountain wherein were two huge
doors cast of solid brass. The old man opened one of them and said to
Hasan, “Sit at the door, whilst I go within and come back to thee in
haste, and beware lest thou open it and enter.” Then he fared inside
and, shutting the door after him, was absent during a full sidereal
hour, after which he returned, leading a black stallion, thin of flank
and short of nose, which was ready bridled and saddled, with velvet
housings; and when it ran it flew, and when it flew, the very dust in
vain would pursue; and brought it to Hasan, saying, “Mount!” So he
mounted and Abd al-Kaddus opened the second door, beyond which appeared
a vast desert. Then the twain passed through the door into that desert
and the old man said to him, “O my son, take this scroll and wend thou
whither this steed will carry thee. When thou seest him stop at the door
of a cavern like this, alight and throw the reins over the saddle-bow
and let him go. He will enter the cavern, which do thou not enter with
him, but tarry at the door five days, without being weary of waiting. On
the sixth day there will come forth to thee a black Shaykh, clad all in
sable, with a long white beard, flowing down to his navel. As soon as
thou seest him kiss his hands and seize his skirt and lay it on thy head
and weep before him, till he take pity on thee and he will ask thee what
thou wouldst have. When he saith to thee, “What is thy want?” give him
this scroll which he will take without speaking and go in and leave
thee. Wait at the door other five days, without wearying, and on the
sixth day expect him; and if he come out to thee himself, know that thy
wish will be won, but, if one of his pages come forth to thee, know that
he who cometh forth to thee, purposeth to kill thee; and—the Peace![110]
For know, O my son, that whoso self imperilleth doeth himself to
death;”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and First Night,
She continued, “It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that after
handing the scroll to Hasan, Shaykh Abd al-Kaddus told him what would
befal him and said, “Whoso self imperilleth doeth himself to death;” but
also “who ventureth naught advantageth naught.” However an thou fear for
thy life, cast it not into danger of destruction; but, an thou fear not,
up and do thy will, for I have expounded to thee the whole case. Yet
shouldest thou be minded to return to thy friends the elephant is still
here and he will carry thee to my nieces, who will restore thee to thy
country and return thee to thy home, and Allah will vouchsafe thee a
better than this girl, of whom thou art enamoured.” Hasan answered the
Shaykh, saying, “And how shall life be sweet to me, except I win my
wish? By Allah, I will never turn back, till I regain my beloved or my
death overtake me!” And he wept and recited these couplets:—
For loss of lover mine and stress of love I dree, ✿ I stood bewailing
self in deep despondency.
Longing for him, the Spring-camp’s dust I kissed and kissed, ✿ But this
bred more of grief and galling reverie.
God guard the gone, who in our hearts must e’er abide ✿ With nearing
woes and joys which still the farther flee.
They say me, “Patience!” But they bore it all away: ✿ On parting-day,
and left me naught save tormentry.
And naught affrighted me except the word he said, ✿ “Forget me not when
gone nor drive from memory.”
To whom shall turn I? hope in whom when you are lost? ✿ Who were my only
hopes and joys and woes of me?
But ah, the pang of home-return when parting thus! ✿ How joyed at seeing
me return mine enemy.
Then well-away! this ’twas I guarded me against! ✿ And ah, thou lowe of
Love double thine ardency![111]
An fled for aye my friends I’ll not survive the flight; ✿ Yet an they
deign return, Oh joy! Oh ecstacy!
Never, by Allah tears and weeping I’ll contain ✿ For loss of you, but
tears on tears and tears will rain.
When Abd al-Kaddus heard his verse he knew that he would not turn back
from his desire nor would words have effect on him, and was certified
that naught would serve him but he must imperil himself, though it lose
him his life. So he said to him, “Know, O my son, that the Islands of
Wak are seven islands, wherein is a mighty host, all virgin girls, and
the Inner Isles are peopled by Satans and Marids and warlocks and
various tribesmen of the Jinn; and whoso entereth their land never
returneth thence; at least none hath done so to this day. So, Allah upon
thee, return presently to thy people, for know that she whom thou
seekest is the King’s daughter of all these islands; and how canst thou
attain to her? Hearken to me, O my son, and haply Allah will vouchsafe
thee in her stead a better than she.” “O my lord,” answered Hasan,
“though for the love of her I were cut in pieces yet should I but
redouble in love and transport! There is no help but that I enter the
Wak Islands and come to the sight of my wife and children; and
Inshallah, I will not return save with her and with them.” Said the
Shaykh, “Then nothing will serve thee but thou must make the journey?”
Hasan replied, “Nothing! and I only ask of thee thy prayers for help and
aidance; so haply Allah will reunite me with my wife and children right
soon.” Then he wept for stress of longing and recited these couplets:—
You are my wish, of creatures brightest-light ✿ I deem you lief as
hearing, fain as sight:
You hold my heart which hath become your home ✿ And since you left me,
lords, right sore’s my plight:
Then think not I have yielded up your love, ✿ Your love which set this
wretch in fierce affright:
You went and went my joy whenas you went; ✿ And waned and waxèd wan the
brightest light:
You left me lone to watch the stars in woe: ✿ Railing tears likest
rain-drops infinite.
Thou’rt longsome to the wight, who pining lies ✿ On wake, moon-gazing
through the night, O Night!
Wind! an thou pass the tribe where they abide ✿ Give them my greeting,
life is fain of flight.
And tell them somewhat of the pangs I bear: ✿ The loved one kenneth not
my case aright
Then he wept with sore weeping till he fainted away; and when he came to
himself, Shaykh Abd al-Kaddus said to him, “O my son, thou hast a
mother; make her not taste the torment of thy loss.” Hasan replied, “By
Allah, O my lord, I will never return except with my wife, or my death
shall overtake me.” And he wept and wailed and recited these couplets:—
By Love’s right! naught of farness thy slave can estrange ✿ Nor am _I_
one to fail in my fealty:
I suffer such pains did I tell my case ✿ To folk, they’d cry, “Madness!
clean witless is he!”
Then ecstasy, love-longing, transport and lowe! ✿ Whose case is such
case how shall ever he be?
With this the old man knew that he would not turn from his purpose,
though it cost him his life; so he handed him the scroll and prayed for
him and charged him how he should do, saying “I have in this letter
given a strict charge concerning thee to Abú al-Ruwaysh,[112] son of
Bilkís, daughter of Mu’ín, for he is my Shaykh and my teacher, and all,
men and Jinn, humble themselves to him and stand in awe of him. And now
go with the blessing of God.” Hasan forthright set out giving the horse
the rein, and it flew off with him swiftlier than lightning, and stayed
not in its course ten days, when he saw before him a vast loom black as
night, walling the world from East to West. As he neared it, the
stallion neighed under him, whereupon there flocked to it horses in
number as the drops of rain, none could tell their tale or against them
prevail, and fell to rubbing themselves against it. Hasan was affrighted
at them and fared forwards surrounded by the horses, without drawing
rein till he came to the cavern which Shaykh Abd al-Kaddus had described
to him. The steed stood still at the door and Hasan alighted and bridged
the bridle over the saddle-bow[113]; whereupon the steed entered the
cavern, whilst the rider abode without, as the old man had charged him,
pondering the issue of his case in perplexity and distraction and
unknowing what would befal him.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Second Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Hasan,
dismounting from the steed, stood at the cavern-mouth pondering the
issue of his case and unknowing what might befal him. He abode standing
on the same spot five days with their nights, sleepless, mournful,
tearful-eyed; distracted, perplexed, pondering his severance from home
and family, comrades and friends, with weeping eyelids and heavy heart.
Then he bethought him of his mother and of what might yet happen to him
and of his separation from his wife and children and of all that he had
suffered, and he recited these couplets:—
With you is my heart-cure a heart that goes; ✿ And from hill-foot of
eyelids the tear-rill flows:
And parting and sorrow and exile and dole ✿ And farness from country and
throe that o’erthrows:
Naught am I save a lover distracted by love, ✿ Far parted from loved one
and wilted by woes.
And ’tis Love that hath brought me such sorrow, say where ✿ Is the noble
of soul who such sorrow unknows?
Hardly had Hasan made an end of his verses, when out came the Shaykh Abu
al-Ruwaysh, a blackamoor and clad in black raiment, and at first sight
he knew him by the description that Abd al-Kaddus had given him. He
threw himself at his feet and rubbed his cheeks on them and seizing his
skirt, laid it on his head and wept before him. Quoth the old man, “What
wantest thou, O my son?” Whereupon he put out his hand to him with the
letter, and Abu al-Ruwaysh took it and re-entered the cavern, without
making him any answer. So Hasan sat down at the cave-mouth in his place
other five days as he had been bidden, whilst concern grew upon him and
terror redoubled on him and restlessness gat hold of him, and he fell to
weeping and bemoaning himself for the anguish of estrangement and much
watching. And he recited these couplets:—
Glory to Him who guides the skies! ✿ The lover sore in sorrow lies.
Who hath not tasted of Love’s food ✿ Knows not what mean its miseries.
Did I attempt to stem my tears ✿ Rivers of blood would fount and rise.
How many an intimate is hard ✿ Of heart, and pains in sorest wise!
An she with me her word would keep, ✿ Of tears and sighs I’d fain
devise,
But I’m forgone, rejected quite ✿ Ruin on me hath cast her eyes.
At my fell pangs fell wildlings weep ✿ And not a bird for me but cries.
Hasan ceased not to weep till dawn of the sixth day, when Shaykh Abu
al-Ruwaysh came forth to him, clad in white raiment, and with his hand
signed[114] to him to enter. So he went in, rejoicing and assured of the
winning of his wish, and the old man took him by the hand and leading
him into the cavern, fared on with him half a day’s journey, till they
reached an arched doorway with a door of steel. The Shaykh opened the
door and they two entered a vestibule vaulted with onyx stones and
arabesqued with gold, and they stayed not walking till they came to a
great hall and a wide, paved and walled with marble. In its midst was a
flower-garden containing all manner trees and flowers and fruits, with
birds warbling on the boughs and singing the praises of Allah the
Almighty Sovran; and there were four daïses, each facing other, and in
each daïs a jetting fountain, at whose corners stood lions of red gold,
spouting gerbes from their mouths into the basin. On each daïs stood a
chair, whereon sat an elder, with exceeding store of books before
him[115] and censers of gold, containing fire and perfumes, and before
each elder were students, who read the books to him. Now when the twain
entered, the elders rose to them and did them honour; whereupon Abu
al-Ruwaysh signed to them to dismiss their scholars and they did so.
Then the four arose and seating themselves before that Shaykh, asked him
of the case of Hasan to whom he said, “Tell the company thy tale and all
that hath betided thee from the beginning of thine adventure to the
end.” So Hasan wept with sore weeping and related to them his story with
Bahram; whereupon all the Shaykhs cried out and said, “Is this indeed he
whom the Magian caused to climb the Mountain of Clouds by means of the
vultures, sewn up in the camel-hide?” And Hasan said, “Yes.” So they
turned to the Shaykh, Abu al-Ruwaysh and said to him, “O our Shaykh of a
truth Bahram contrived his mounting to the mountain-top; but how came he
down and what marvels saw he there?” And Abu al-Ruwaysh said, “O Hasan,
tell them how thou camest down and acquaint them with what thou sawest
of marvels.” So he told them all that had befallen him, first and last;
how he had gotten the Magian into his power and slain him, how he had
delivered the youth from him and sent him back to his own country, and
how he had captured the King’s daughter of the Jinn and married her; yet
had she played him false and taken the two boys she had borne him and
flown away; brief, he related to them all the hardships and horrors he
had undergone; whereat they marvelled, each and every, and said to Abu
al-Ruwaysh, “O elder of elders, verily by Allah, this youth is to be
pitied! But belike thou wilt aid him to recover his wife and wees.”——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Third Night,