incline to you where’er you be.
My glance for ever turns towards your hearth and home ✿ And mourns my
heart the bygone days you woned with me,
How many a night foregathered we withouten fear ✿ One loving, other
faithful ever fain and free!
When her sister saw her fold her children to her bosom, saying, “’Tis I
who have done thus with myself and my children and have ruined my own
house!” she saluted her not, but said to her, “O whore, whence haddest
thou these children? Say, hast thou married unbeknown to thy sire or
hast thou committed fornication?[157] An thou have played the piece, it
behoveth thou be exemplarily punished; and if thou have married sans our
knowledge, why didst thou abandon thy husband and separate thy sons from
thy sire and bring them hither?”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Nur
al-Huda, the Queen, to her sister Manar al-Sana, the Princess, “An thou
have married sans our knowledge, why didst thou abandon thy husband and
separate thy sons from their sire and bring them to our land? Thou hast
hidden thy children from us. Thinkest thou we know not of this? Allah
Almighty, He who is cognisant of the concealed, hath made known to us
thy case and revealed thy condition and bared thy nakedness.” Then she
bade her guards seize her and pinion her elbows and shackle her with
shackles of iron. So they did as she commanded and she beat her with a
grievous beating, so that her skin was torn, and hanged her up by the
hair; after which she cast her in prison and wrote the King her father a
writ acquainting him with her case and saying, “There hath appeared in
our land a man, a mortal, by name Hasan, and our sister Manar al-Sana
avoucheth that she is lawfully married to him and bare him two sons,
whom she hath hidden from us and thee; nor did she discover aught of
herself till there came to us this man and informed us that he wedded
her and she tarried with him a long while; after which she took her
children and departed, without his knowledge, bidding as she went his
mother tell her son, whenas longing began to rack to come to her in the
Islands of Wak. So we laid hands on the man and sent the old woman
Shawahi to fetch her and her offspring, enjoining her to bring us the
children in advance of her. And she did so, whilst Manar al-Sana
equipped herself and set out to visit me. When the boys were brought to
me and ere the mother came, I sent for Hasan the mortal who claimeth her
to wife, and he on entering and at first sight knew them and they knew
him; whereby was I certified that the children were indeed his children
and that she was his wife and I learned that the man’s story was true
and he was not to blame, but that the reproach and the infamy rested
with my sister. Now I feared the rending of our honour-veil before the
folk of our Isles; so, when this wanton, this traitress, came in to me,
I was incensed against her and cast her into prison and bastinado’d her
grievously and hanged her up by the hair. Behold, I have acquainted thee
with her case and it is thine to command, and whatso thou orderest us
that we will do. Thou knowest that in this affair is dishonour and
disgrace to our name and to thine, and haply the islanders will hear of
it, and we shall become amongst them a byword; wherefore it besitteth
thou return us an answer with all speed.” Then she delivered the letter
to a courier and he carried it to the King who, when he read it, was
wroth with exceeding wrath with his daughter Manar al-Sana and wrote to
Nur al-Huda, saying, “I commit her case to thee and give thee command
over her life; so, if the matter be as thou sayest, kill her without
consulting me.” When the Queen had received and read her father’s
letter, she sent for Manar al-Sana and they set before her the prisoner
drowned in her blood and pinioned with her hair, shackled with heavy
iron shackles and clad in hair-cloth; and they made her stand in the
presence abject and abashed. When she saw herself in this condition of
passing humiliation and exceeding abjection, she called to mind her
former high estate and wept with sore weeping and recited these two
couplets[1]:—
O Lord my foes are fain to slay me in despight ✿ Nor deem I anywise to
find escape by flight:
I have recourse to Thee t’ annul what they have done; ✿ Thou art th’
asylum, Lord, of fearful suppliant wight.
Then wept she grievously, till she fell down in a swoon, and presently
coming to herself, repeated these two couplets[158]:—
Troubles familiar with my heart are grown and I with them, ✿ erst
shunning; for the generous are sociable still.
Not one mere kind alone of woe doth lieger with me lie; ✿ Praised be
God! There are with me thousands of kinds of ill.
And also these:—
Oft times Mischance shall straiten noble breast ✿ With grief, whence
issue is for Him to shape:
But when the meshes straitest, tightest, seem ✿ They loose, though
deemed I ne’er to find escape.
——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Twentieth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Queen Nur
al-Huda ordered into the presence her sister Princess Manar al-Sana,
they set her between her hands and she, pinioned as she was recited the
verses aforesaid. Then the Queen[159] sent for a ladder of wood and made
the eunuchs lay her on her back, with her arms spread out and bind her
with cords thereto; after which she bared her head and wound her hair
about the ladder-rungs and indeed all pity for her was rooted out from
her heart. When Manar al-Sana saw herself in this state of abjection and
humiliation, she cried out and wept; but none succoured her. Then said
she to the Queen, “O my sister, how is thy heart hardened against me?
Has thou no mercy on me nor pity on these little children?” But her
words only hardened her sister’s heart and she insulted her, saying, “O
Wanton! O harlot! Allah have no ruth on whoso sueth for thee! How should
I have compassion on thee, O traitress?” Replied Manar al-Sana who lay
stretched on the ladder, “I appeal from thee to the Lord of the Heavens,
concerning that wherewith thou revilest me and whereof I am innocent! By
Allah, I have done no whoredom, but am lawfully married to him, and my
Lord knoweth an I speak sooth or not! Indeed, my heart is wroth with
thee, by reason of thine excessive hardheartedness against me! How canst
thou cast at me the charge of harlotry, without knowledge? But my Lord
will deliver me from thee and if that whoredom whereof thou accusest me
be true, may He presently punish me for it!” Quoth Nur al-Huda after a
few moments of reflection “How durst thou bespeak me thus?” and rose and
beat her till she fainted away[160]; whereupon they sprinkled water on
her face till she revived; and in truth her charms were wasted for
excess of beating and the straitness of her bonds and the sore insults
she had suffered. Then she recited these two couplets:—
If aught I’ve sinned in sinful way, ✿ Or done ill deed and gone astray,
The past repent I and I come ✿ To you and for your pardon pray!
When Nur al-Huda heard these lines, her wrath redoubled and she said to
her, “Wilt speak before me in verse, O whore, and seek to excuse thyself
for the mortal sins thou hast sinned? ’Twas my desire that thou shouldst
return to thy husband, that I might witness thy wickedness and matchless
brazen-facedness; for thou gloriest in thy lewdness and wantonness and
mortal heinousness.” Then she called for a palm-stick and, whenas they
brought the Jaríd, she arose and baring arms to elbows, beat her sister
from head to foot; after which she called for a whip of plaited thongs,
wherewith if one smote an elephant, he would start off at full speed,
and came down therewith on her back and her stomach and every part of
her body, till she fainted. When the old woman Shawahi saw this, she
fled forth from the Queen’s presence, weeping and cursing her; but Nur
al-Huda cried out to her eunuchs, saying, “Fetch her to me!” So they ran
after her and seizing her, brought her back to the Queen, who bade throw
her on the ground and making them lay hold of her, rose and took the
whip, with which she beat her, till she swooned away, when she said to
her waiting-women, “Drag this ill-omened beldam forth on her face and
put her out.” And they did as she bade them. So far concerning them; but
as regards Hasan, he walked on beside the river, in the direction of the
desert, distracted, troubled, and despairing of life; and indeed he was
dazed and knew not night from day for stress of affliction. He ceased
not faring on thus, till he came to a tree whereto he saw a scroll
hanging: so he took it and found written thereon these couplets:—
When in thy mother’s womb thou wast, ✿ I cast thy case the bestest best;
And turned her heart to thee, so she ✿ Fosterèd thee on fondest breast.
We will suffice thee in whate’er ✿ Shall cause thee trouble or unrest;
We’ll aid thee in thine enterprise ✿ So rise and bow to our behest.
When he had ended reading this scroll, he made sure of deliverance from
trouble and of winning reunion with those he loved. Then he walked
forward a few steps and found himself alone in a wild and perilous wold
wherein there was none to company with him; upon which his heart sank
within him for horror and loneliness and his side-muscles trembled, for
that fearsome place, and he recited these couplets:—
O Zephyr of Morn, an thou pass where the dear ones dwell, ✿ Bear
greeting of lover who ever in love-longing wones!
And tell them I’m pledged to yearning and pawned to pine ✿ And the might
of my passion all passion of lovers unthrones.
Their sympathies haply shall breathe in a Breeze like thee ✿ And quicken
forthright this framework of rotting bones.[161]
——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Hasan read
the scroll he was certified of deliverance from his trouble and made
sure of winning reunion with those he loved. Then he walked forward a
couple of steps and stopped finding himself alone in a wild and perilous
wold wherein was none to company with him, so he wept sore and recited
the verses before mentioned. Then he walked on a few steps farther
beside the river, till he came upon two little boys of the sons of the
sorcerers, before whom lay a rod of copper graven with talismans, and
beside it a skull-cap[162] of leather, made of three gores and wroughten
in steel with names and characts. The cap and rod were upon the ground
and the boys were disputing and beating each other, till the blood ran
down between them; whilst each cried, “None shall take the wand but I.”
So Hasan interposed and parted them, saying, “What is the cause of your
contention?” and they replied, “O uncle, be thou judge of our case, for
Allah the Most High hath surely sent thee to do justice between us.”
Quoth Hasan, “Tell me your case, and I will judge between you;” and
quoth one of them, “We twain are brothers-german and our sire was a
mighty magician, who dwelt in a cave on yonder mountain. He died and
left us this cap and rod; and my brother saith:—None shall have the rod
but I, whilst I say the like; so be thou judge between us and deliver us
each from other.” Hasan asked, “What is the difference between the rod
and the cap and what is their value? The rod appears to be worth six
coppers[163] and the cap three;” whereto they answered, “Thou knowest
not their properties.” “And what are their properties?” “Each of them
hath a wonderful secret virtue, wherefore the rod is worth the revenue
of all the Islands of Wak and their provinces and dependencies, and the
cap the like!” “By Allah, O my sons, discover to me their secret
virtues.” So they said, “O uncle, they are extraordinary; for our father
wrought an hundred and thirty and five years at their contrivance, till
he brought them to perfection and ingrafted them with secret attributes
which might serve him extraordinary services and engraved them after the
likeness of the revolving sphere, and by their aid he dissolved all
spells; and when he had made an end of their fashion, Death, which all
needs must suffer, overtook him. Now the hidden virtue of the cap is,
that whoso setteth it on his head is concealed from all folk’s eyes, nor
can any see him, whilst it remaineth on his head; and that of the rod is
that whoso owneth it hath authority over seven tribes of the Jinn, who
all serve the order and ordinance of the rod; and whenever he who
possesseth it smiteth therewith on the ground, their Kings come to do
him homage, and all the Jinn are at his service.” Now when Hasan heard
these words, he bowed his head groundwards awhile, then said in himself,
“By Allah, I shall conquer every foe by means of this rod and cap,
Inshallah! and I am worthier of them both than these two boys. So I will
go about forthright to get them from the twain by craft, that I may use
them to free myself and my wife and children from yonder tyrannical
Queen, and then we will depart from this dismal stead, whence there is
no deliverance for mortal man nor flight. Doubtless, Allah caused me not
to fall in with these two lads, but that I might get the rod and cap
from them.” Then he raised his head and said to the two boys, “If ye
would have me decide the case, I will make trial of you and see what
each of you deserveth. He who overcometh his brother shall have the rod
and he who faileth shall have the cap.” They replied, “O uncle, we
depute thee to make trial of us and do thou decide between us as thou
deems fit.” Hasan asked, “Will ye hearken to me and have regard to my
words?”; and they answered, “Yes.” Then said he, “I will take a stone
and throw it and he who out-runneth his brother thereto and picketh it
up shall take the rod, and the other who is outraced shall take the
cap.” And they said, “We accept and consent to this thy proposal.” Then
Hasan took a stone and threw it with his might, so that it disappeared
from sight. The two boys ran under and after it and when they were at a
distance, he donned the cap and hending the rod in hand, removed from
his place that he might prove the truth of that which the boys had said,
with regard to their scant properties. The younger outran the elder and
coming first to the stone, took it and returned with it to the place
where they had left Hasan, but found no signs of him. So he called to
his brother, saying, “Where is the man who was to be umpire between us?”
Quoth the other, “I espy him not neither wot I whether he hath flown up
to heaven above or sunk into earth beneath.” Then they sought for him,
but saw him not, though all the while he was standing in his stead hard
by them. So they abused each other, saying, “Rod and Cap are both gone;
they are neither mine nor thine: and indeed our father warned us of this
very thing; but we forgot whatso he said.” Then they retraced their
steps and Hasan also entered the city, wearing the cap and bearing the
rod; and none saw him. Now when he was thus certified of the truth of
their speech, he rejoiced with exceeding joy and making the palace, went
up into the lodging of Shawahi, who saw him not, because of the cap.
Then he walked up to a shelf[164] over her head upon which were vessels
of glass and chinaware, and shook it with his hand, so that what was
thereon fell to the ground. The old woman cried out and beat her face;
then she rose and restored the fallen things, to their places,[165]
saying in herself, “By Allah, methinks Queen Nur al-Huda hath sent a
Satan to torment me, and he hath tricked me this trick! I beg Allah
Almighty deliver me from her and preserve me from her wrath, for, O
Lord, if she deal thus abominably with her half-sister, beating and
hanging her, dear as she is to her sire, how will she do with a stranger
like myself, against whom she is incensed?”——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the ancient Lady
of Calamities cried, “When Queen Nur al-Huda doeth such misdeed to her
sister, what will she do to a stranger like myself, against whom she is
incensed?” Then said she, “I conjure thee, O devil, by the Most
Compassionate, the Bountiful-great, the High of Estate, of Dominion
Elate who man and Jinn did create, and by the writing upon the seal of
Solomon David-son (on both be the Peace!) speak to me and answer me;”
Quoth Hasan, “I am no devil; I am Hasan, the afflicted, the distraught.”
Then he raised the cap from his head and appeared to the old woman, who
knew him and taking him apart, said to him, “What is come to thy reason,
that thou returnest hither? Go hide thee; for, if this wicked woman have
tormented thy wife with such torments, and she her sister, what will she
do, an she light on thee?” Then she told him all that had befallen his
spouse and that wherein she was of travail and torment and tribulation,
and straitly described all the pains she endured adding, “And indeed the
Queen repenteth her of having let thee go and hath sent one after thee,
promising him an hundred-weight of gold and my rank in her service; and
she hath sworn that, if he bring thee back, she will do thee and thy
wife and children dead.” And she shed tears and discovered to Hasan what
the Queen had done with herself, whereat he wept and said, “O my lady,
how shall I do to escape from this land and deliver myself and my wife
and children from this tyrannical Queen and how devise to return with
them in safety to my own country?” Replied the old woman, “Woe to thee!
Save thyself.” Quoth he, “There is no help but I deliver her and my
children from the Queen perforce and in her despite;” and quoth Shawahi,
“How canst thou forcibly rescue them from her? Go and hide thyself, O my
son, till Allah Almighty empower thee.” Then Hasan showed her the rod
and the cap, whereat she rejoiced with joy exceeding and cried, “Glory
be to Him who quickeneth the bones, though they be rotten! By Allah, O
my son, thou and thy wife were but of lost folk; now, however, thou art
saved, thou and thy wife and children! For I know the rod and I know its
maker, who was my Shaykh in the science of Gramarye. He was a mighty
magician and spent an hundred and thirty and five years working at this
rod and cap, till he brought them to perfection, when Death the
Inevitable overtook him. And I have heard him say to his two boys:—O my
sons, these two things are not of your lot, for there will come a
stranger from a far country, who will take them from you by force, and
ye shall not know how he taketh them. Said they:—O our father, tell us
how he will avail to take them. But he answered:—I wot not.” “And O my
son,” added she, “how availedst thou to take them?” So he told her how
he had taken them from the two boys, whereat she rejoiced and said, “O
my son, since thou hast gotten the whereby to free thy wife and
children, give ear to what I shall say to thee. For me there is no
woning with this wicked woman, after the foul fashion in which she durst
use me; so I am minded to depart from her to the caves of the Magicians
and there abide with them until I die. But do thou, O my son, don the
cap and bend the rod in hand and enter the place where thy wife and
children are. Unbind her bonds and smite the earth with the rod
saying:—Be ye present, O servants of these names! whereupon the servants
of the rod will appear; and if there present himself one of the Chiefs
of the Tribes, command him whatso thou shalt wish and will.” So he
farewelled her and went forth donning the cap and hending the rod and
entered the place where his wife was. He found her well-nigh lifeless
bound to the ladder by her hair, tearful-eyed and woeful-hearted, in the
sorriest of plights, knowing no way to deliver herself. Her children
were playing under the ladder, whilst she looked at them and wept for
them and herself, because of the barbarities and sore treatings and
bitter penalties which had befallen her; and he heard her repeat these
couplets[166]:—
There remaineth not aught save a fluttering, breath and an eye whose
owner is confounded.
And a desirous lover whose bowels are burned with fire notwithstanding
which she is silent.
The exulting foe pitieth her at the sight of her. Alas for her whom the
exulting foe pitieth!
When Hasan saw her in this state of torment and misery and ignominy and
infamy, he wept till he fainted; and when he recovered, he saw his
children playing and their mother a-swoon for excess of pain; so he took
the cap from his head and the children saw him and cried out, “O our
father!” Then he covered his head again and the Princess came to
herself, hearing their cry, but saw only her children weeping and
shrieking, “O our father!” When she heard them name their sire and weep,
her heart was broken and her vitals rent asunder and she said to them,
“What maketh you in mind of your father at this time?” And she wept sore
and cried out, from a bursten liver and an aching bosom, “Where are ye
and where is your father?” Then she recalled the days of her union with
Hasan and what had befallen her since her desertion of him and wept with
sore weeping till her cheeks were seared and furrowed and her face was
drowned in a briny flood. Her tears ran down and wetted the ground and
she had not a hand loose to wipe them from her cheeks, whilst the flies
fed their fill on her skin, and she found no helper but weeping and no
solace but improvising verses. Then she repeated these couplets:—
I call to mind the parting-day that rent our loves in twain, When, as I
turned away, the tears in very streams did rain.
The cameleer urged on his beasts with them, what while I found Nor
strength nor fortitude, nor did my heart with me remain.
Yea, back I turned, unknowing of the road nor might shake off The trance
of grief and longing love that numbed my heart and brain;
And worst of all betided me, on my return, was one Who came to me, in
lowly guise, to glory in my pain.
Since the belovéd’s gone, O soul, forswear the sweet of life Nor covet
its continuance, for, wanting him, ’twere vain.
List, O my friend, unto the tale of love, and God forbid That I should
speak and that thy heart to hearken should not deign!
As ’twere El Asmaï himself, of passion I discourse Fancies rare and
marvellous, linked in an endless chain.[167]
——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
She continued, When Hasan went in to his wife he saw his children and
heard her repeating the verses afore mentioned.[168] Then she turned
right and left, seeking the cause of her children’s crying out, “O our
father!” but saw no one and marvelled that her sons should name their
sire at that time and call upon him. But when Hasan heard her verses, he
wept till he swooned away and the tears railed down his cheeks like
rain. Then he drew near the children and raised the cap from his head
unseen of his wife, whereupon they saw him and they knew him and cried
out, saying, “O our father!” Their mother fell a-weeping again, when she
heard them name their sire’s name and said, “There is no avoiding the
doom which Almighty Allah hath decreed!” adding, “O Strange! What
garreth them think of their father at this time and call upon him,
albeit it is not of their wont?” Then she wept and recited these
couplets:—
The land of lamping moon is bare and drear; ✿ O eyne of me pour forth
the brimming tear!
They marched: how shall I now be patient? ✿ That I nor heart nor
patience own I swear!
O ye, who marched yet bide in heart of me, ✿ Will you, O lords of me,
return to that we were?
What harm if they return and I enjoy ✿ Meeting, and they had ruth on
tears of care?
Upon the parting-day they dimmed these eyne, ✿ For sad surprise, and lit
the flames that flare.
Sore longed I for their stay, but Fortune stayed ✿ Longings and turned
my hope to mere despair.
Return to us (O love!) by Allah, deign! ✿ Enow of tears have flowed for
absence-bane.