It is related, O auspicious King, that there was a merchant of the
merchants who had much wealth, and business in various cities. Now on a
day he mounted horse and went forth to recover monies in certain towns,
and the heat sore oppressed him; so he sat beneath a tree and, putting
his hand into his saddle bags, took thence some broken bread and dry
dates and began to break his fast. When he had ended eating the dates
he threw away the stones with force and lo! an Ifrit appeared, huge of
stature and brandishing a drawn sword, wherewith he approached the
merchant and said, "Stand up that I may slay thee, even as thou slewest
my son!" Asked the merchant, "How have I slain thy son?" and he
answered, "When thou atest dates and threwest away the stones they
struck my son full in the breast as he was walking by, so that he died
forthwith."[FN#40] Quoth the merchant, "Verily from Allah we proceeded
and unto Allah are we returning. There is no Majesty, and there is no
Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! If I slew thy son, I slew
him by chance medley. I pray thee now pardon me." Rejoined the Jinni,
"There is no help but I must slay thee." Then he seized him and dragged
him along and, casting him to the earth, raised the sword to strike
him; whereupon the merchant wept, and said, "I commit my case to
Allah," and began repeating these couplets:—
Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing that of bane * And
holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure that of pain.
See'st not when blows the hurricane, sweeping stark and striking strong
* None save the forest giant feels the suffering of the strain?
How many trees earth nourisheth of the dry and of the green * Yet none
but those which bear the fruits for cast of stone complain.
See'st not how corpses rise and float on the surface of the tide *
While pearls o'price lie hidden in the deepest of the main!
In Heaven are unnumbered the many of the stars * Yet ne'er a star but
Sun and Moon by eclipse is overta'en.
Well judgedst thou the days that saw thy faring sound and well * And
countedst not the pangs and pain whereof Fate is ever fain.
The nights have kept thee safe and the safety brought thee pride * But
bliss and blessings of the night are 'genderers of bane!
When the merchant ceased repeating his verses the Jinni said to him,
"Cut thy words short, by Allah! needs must I slay thee." But the
merchant spake him thus, "Know, O thou Ifrit, that I have debts due to
me and much wealth and children and a wife and many pledges in hand; so
permit me to go home and discharge to every claimant his claim; and I
will come back to thee at the head of the new year. Allah be my
testimony and surety that I will return to thee; and then thou mayest
do with me as thou wilt and Allah is witness to what I say." The Jinni
took sure promise of him and let him go; so he returned to his own city
and transacted his business and rendered to all men their dues and
after informing his wife and children of what had betided him, he
appointed a guardian and dwelt with them for a full year. Then he
arose, and made the Wuzu ablution to purify himself before death and
took his shroud under his arm and bade farewell to his people, his
neighbours and all his kith and kin, and went forth despite his own
nose.[FN#41] They then began weeping and wailing and beating their
breasts over him; but he travelled until he arrived at the same garden,
and the day of his arrival was the head of the New Year. As he sat
weeping over what had befallen him, behold, a Shaykh,[FN#42] a very
ancient man, drew near leading a chained gazelle; and he saluted that
merchant and wishing him long life said, "What is the cause of thy
sitting in this place and thou alone and this be a resort of evil
spirits?" The merchant related to him what had come to pass with the
Ifrit, and the old man, the owner of the gazelle, wondered and said,
"By Allah, O brother, thy faith is none other than exceeding faith and
thy story right strange; were it graven with gravers on the eye
corners, it were a warner to whoso would be warned." Then seating
himself near the merchant he said, "By Allah, O my brother, I will not
leave thee until I see what may come to pass with thee and this Ifrit."
And presently as he sat and the two were at talk the merchant began to
feel fear and terror and exceeding grief and sorrow beyond relief and
ever growing care and extreme despair. And the owner of the gazelle was
hard by his side; when behold, a second Shaykh approached them, and
with him were two dogs both of greyhound breed and both black. The
second old man after saluting them with the salam, also asked them of
their tidings and said "What causeth you to sit in this place, a
dwelling of the Jann?"[FN#43] So they told him the tale from beginning
to end, and their stay there had not lasted long before there came up a
third Shaykh, and with him a she mule of bright bay coat; and he
saluted them and asked them why they were seated in that place. So they
told him the story from first to last: and of no avail, O my master, is
a twice told tale! There he sat down with them, and lo! a dust cloud
advanced and a mighty sand-devil appeared amidmost of the waste.
Presently the cloud opened and behold, within it was that Jinni hending
in hand a drawn sword, while his eyes were shooting fire sparks of
rage. He came up to them and, haling away the merchant from among them,
cried to him, "Arise that I may slay thee, as thou slewest my son, the
life stuff of my liver."[FN#44] The merchant wailed and wept, and the
three old men began sighing and crying and weeping and wailing with
their companion. Presently the first old man (the owner of the gazelle)
came out from among them and kissed the hand of the Ifrit and said, "O
Jinni, thou Crown of the Kings of the Jann! were I to tell thee the
story of me and this gazelle and thou shouldst consider it wondrous
wouldst thou give me a third part of this merchant's blood?" Then quoth
the Jinni "Even so, O Shaykh ! if thou tell me this tale, and I hold it
a marvellous, then will I give thee a third of his blood." Thereupon
the old man began to tell
The First Shaykh’s Story.
Know O Jinni! that this gazelle is the daughter of my paternal uncle,
my own flesh and blood, and I married her when she was a young maid,
and I lived with her well nigh thirty years, yet was I not blessed with
issue by her. So I took me a concubine[FN#45] who brought to me the
boon of a male child fair as the full moon, with eyes of lovely shine
and eyebrows which formed one line, and limbs of perfect design. Little
by little he grew in stature and waxed tall; and when he was a lad
fifteen years old, it became needful I should journey to certain cities
and I travelled with great store of goods. But the daughter of my uncle
(this gazelle) had learned gramarye and egromancy and clerkly
craft[FN#46] from her childhood; so she bewitched that son of mine to a
calf, and my handmaid (his mother) to a heifer, and made them over to
the herdsman's care. Now when I returned after a long time from my
journey and asked for my son and his mother, she answered me, saying
"Thy slave girl is dead, and thy son hath fled and I know not whither
he is sped." So I remained for a whole year with grieving heart, and
streaming eyes until the time came for the Great Festival of
Allah.[FN#47] Then sent I to my herdsman bidding him choose for me a
fat heifer; and he brought me one which was the damsel, my handmaid,
whom this gazelle had ensorcelled. I tucked up my sleeves and skirt
and, taking a knife, proceeded to cut her throat, but she lowed aloud
and wept bitter tears. Thereat I marvelled and pity seized me and I
held my hand, saying to the herd, "Bring me other than this." Then
cried my cousin, "Slay her, for I have not a fatter nor a fairer!" Once
more I went forward to sacrifice her, but she again lowed aloud upon
which in ruth I refrained and commanded the herdsman to slay her and
flay her. He killed her and skinned her but found in her neither fat
nor flesh, only hide and bone; and I repented when penitence availed me
naught. I gave her to the herdsman and said to him, "Fetch me a fat
calf;" so he brought my son ensorcelled. When the calf saw me, he brake
his tether and ran to me, and fawned upon me and wailed and shed tears;
so that I took pity on him and said to the herdsman, "Bring me a heifer
and let this calf go!" Thereupon my cousin (this gazelle) called aloud
at me, saying, "Needs must thou kill this calf; this is a holy day and
a blessed, whereon naught is slain save what be perfect pure; and we
have not amongst our calves any fatter or fairer than this!" Quoth I,
"Look thou upon the condition of the heifer which I slaughtered at thy
bidding and how we turn from her in disappointment and she profited us
on no wise; and I repent with an exceeding repentance of having killed
her: so this time I will not obey thy bidding for the sacrifice of this
calf." Quoth she, "By Allah the Most Great, the Compassionating, the
Compassionate! there is no help for it; thou must kill him on this holy
day, and if thou kill him not to me thou art no man and I to thee am no
wife." Now when I heard those hard words, not knowing her object I went
up to the calf, knife in hand—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.[FN#48] Then quoth her sister to
her, "How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how
tasteful!" And Shahrazad answered her, "What is this to that I could
tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would spare
me?" Then said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not slay her,
until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." So they slept the rest
of that night in mutual embrace till day fully brake. Then the King
went forth to his audience hall[FN#49] and the Wazir went up with his
daughter's shroud under his arm. The King issued his orders, and
promoted this and deposed that, until the end of the day; and he told
the Wazir no whit of what had happened. But the Minister wondered
thereat with exceeding wonder; and when the Court broke up King
Shahryar entered his palace.
When it was the Second Night,
said Dunyazad to her sister Shahrazad, "O my sister, finish for us that
story of the Merchant and the Jinni;" and she answered "With joy and
goodly gree, if the King permit me." Then quoth the King, "Tell thy
tale;" and Shahrazad began in these words: It hath reached me, O
auspicious King and Heaven directed Ruler! that when the merchant
purposed the sacrifice of the calf but saw it weeping, his heart
relented and he said to the herdsman, "Keep the calf among my cattle."
All this the old Shaykh told the Jinni who marvelled much at these
strange words. Then the owner of the gazelle continued:—O Lord of the
Kings of the Jann, this much took place and my uncle's daughter, this
gazelle, looked on and saw it, and said, "Butcher me this calf, for
surely it is a fat one;" but I bade the herdsman take it away and he
took it and turned his face homewards. On the next day as I was sitting
in my own house, lo! the herdsman came and, standing before me said, "O
my master, I will tell thee a thing which shall gladden thy soul, and
shall gain me the gift of good tidings."[FN#50] I answered, "Even so."
Then said he, "O merchant, I have a daughter, and she learned magic in
her childhood from an old woman who lived with us. Yesterday when thou
gavest me the calf, I went into the house to her, and she looked upon
it and veiled her face; then she wept and laughed alternately and at
last she said:—O my father, hath mine honour become so cheap to thee
that thou bringest in to me strange men? I asked her:—Where be these
strange men and why wast thou laughing, and crying?; and she answered,
Of a truth this calf which is with thee is the son of our master, the
merchant; but he is ensorcelled by his stepdame who bewitched both him
and his mother: such is the cause of my laughing; now the reason of his
weeping is his mother, for that his father slew her unawares. Then I
marvelled at this with exceeding marvel and hardly made sure that day
had dawned before I came to tell thee." When I heard, O Jinni, my
herdsman's words, I went out with him, and I was drunken without wine,
from the excess of joy and gladness which came upon me, until I reached
his house. There his daughter welcomed me and kissed my hand, and
forthwith the calf came and fawned upon me as before. Quoth I to the
herdsman's daughter, "Is this true that thou sayest of this calf?"
Quoth she, "Yea, O my master, he is thy son, the very core of thy
heart." I rejoiced and said to her, "O maiden, if thou wilt release him
thine shall be whatever cattle and property of mine are under thy
father's hand." She smiled and answered, "O my master, I have no greed
for the goods nor will I take them save on two conditions; the first
that thou marry me to thy son and the second that I may bewitch her who
bewitched him and imprison her, otherwise I cannot be safe from her
malice and malpractices." Now when I heard, O Jinni, these, the words
of the herdsman's daughter, I replied, "Beside what thou askest all the
cattle and the household stuff in thy father's charge are thine and, as
for the daughter of my uncle, her blood is lawful to thee." When I had
spoken, she took a cup and filled it with water: then she recited a
spell over it and sprinkled it upon the calf, saying, "If Almighty
Allah created thee a calf, remain so shaped, and change not; but if
thou be enchanted, return to thy whilom form, by command of Allah Most
Highest!" and lo! he trembled and became a man. Then I fell on his neck
and said, "Allah upon thee, tell me all that the daughter of my uncle
did by thee and by thy mother." And when he told me what had come to
pass between them I said, " O my son, Allah favoured thee with one to
restore thee, and thy right hath returned to thee." Then, O Jinni, I
married the herdsman's daughter to him, and she transformed my wife
into this gazelle, saying:—Her shape is a comely and by no means
loathsome. After this she abode with us night and day, day and night,
till the Almighty took her to Himself. When she deceased, my son fared
forth to the cities of Hind, even to the city of this man who hath done
to thee what hath been done;[FN#51] and I also took this gazelle (my
cousin) and wandered with her from town to town seeking tidings of my
son, till Destiny drove me to this place where I saw the merchant
sitting in tears. Such is my tale! Quoth the Jinni, "This story is
indeed strange, and therefore I grant thee the third part of his
blood." Thereupon the second old man, who owned the two greyhounds,
came up and said, " O Jinni, if I recount to thee what befel me from my
brothers, these two hounds, and thou see that it is a tale even more
wondrous and marvellous than what thou hast heard, wilt thou grant to
me also the third of this man's blood?" Replied the Jinni, "Thou hast
my word for it, if thine adventures be more marvellous and wondrous."
Thereupon he thus began
The Second Shaykh’s Story.
Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jann! that these two dogs are my
brothers and I am the third. Now when our father died and left us a
capital of three thousand gold pieces,[FN#52] I opened a shop with my
share, and bought and sold therein, and in like guise did my two
brothers, each setting up a shop. But I had been in business no long
while before the elder sold his stock for a thousand dinars, and after
buying outfit and merchandise, went his ways to foreign parts. He was
absent one whole year with the caravan; but one day as I sat in my
shop, behold, a beggar stood before me asking alms, and I said to him,
"Allah open thee another door!"[FN#53] Whereupon he answered, weeping
the while, "Am I so changed that thou knowest me not?" Then I looked at
him narrowly, and lo! it was my brother, so I rose to him and welcomed
him; then I seated him in my shop and put questions concerning his
case. "Ask me not," answered he; "my wealth is awaste and my state hath
waxed unstated!" So I took him to the Hammam bath[FN#54] and clad him
in a suit of my own and gave him lodging in my house. Moreover, after
looking over the accounts of my stock in trade and the profits of my
business, I found that industry had gained me one thousand dinars,
while my principal, the head of my wealth, amounted to two thousand. So
I shared the whole with him saying, "Assume that thou hast made no
journey abroad but hast remained at home; and be not cast down by thine
ill luck." He took the share in great glee and opened for himself a
shop; and matters went on quietly for a few nights and days. But
presently my second brother (yon other dog), also setting his heart
upon travel, sold off what goods and stock in trade he had, and albeit
we tried to stay him he would not be stayed: he laid in an outfit for
the journey and fared forth with certain wayfarers. After an absence of
a whole year he came back to me, even as my elder brother had come
back; and when I said to him, "O my brother, did I not dissuade thee
from travel?" he shed tears and cried, "O my brother, this be destiny's
decree: here I am a mere beggar, penniless[FN#55] and without a shirt
to my back." So I led him to the bath, O Jinni, and clothing him in new
clothes of my own wear, I went with him to my shop and served him with
meat and drink. Furthermore I said to him, "O my brother, I am wont to
cast up my shop accounts at the head of every year, and whatso I shall
find of surplusage is between me and thee."[FN#56] So I proceeded, O
Ifrit, to strike a balance and, finding two thousand dinars of profit,
I returned praises to the Creator (be He extolled and exalted!) and
made over one half to my brother, keeping the other to myself.
Thereupon he busied himself with opening a shop and on this wise we
abode many days. After a time my brothers began pressing me to travel
with them; but I refused saying, "What gained ye by travel voyage that
I should gain thereby?" As I would not give ear to them we went back
each to his own shop where we bought and sold as before. They kept
urging me to travel for a whole twelvemonth, but I refused to do so
till full six years were past and gone when I consented with these
words, "O my brothers, here am I, your companion of travel: now let me
see what monies you have by you." I found, however, that they had not a
doit, having squandered their substance in high diet and drinking and
carnal delights. Yet I spoke not a word of reproach; so far from it I
looked over my shop accounts once more, and sold what goods and stock
in trade were mine; and, finding myself the owner of six thousand
ducats, I gladly proceeded to divide that sum in halves, saying to my
brothers, "These three thousand gold pieces are for me and for you to
trade withal," adding, "Let us bury the other moiety underground that
it may be of service in case any harm befal us, in which case each
shall take a thousand wherewith to open shops." Both replied, "Right is
thy recking;" and I gave to each one his thousand gold pieces, keeping
the same sum for myself, to wit, a thousand dinars. We then got ready
suitable goods and hired a ship and, having embarked our merchandise,
proceeded on our voyage, day following day, a full month, after which
we arrived at a city, where we sold our venture; and for every piece of
gold we gained ten. And as we turned again to our voyage we found on
the shore of the sea a maiden clad in worn and ragged gear, and she
kissed my hand and said, "O master, is there kindness in thee and
charity? I can make thee a fitting return for them." I answered, "Even
so; truly in me are benevolence and good works, even though thou render
me no return." Then she said, "Take me to wife, O my master, and carry
me to thy city, for I have given myself to thee; so do me a kindness
and I am of those who be meet for good works and charity: I will make
thee a fitting return for these and be thou not shamed by my
condition." When I heard her words, my heart yearned towards her, in
such sort as willed it Allah (be He extolled and exalted!); and took
her and clothed her and made ready for her a fair resting place in the
vessel, and honourably entreated her. So we voyaged on, and my heart
became attached to her with exceeding attachment, and I was separated
from her neither night nor day, and I paid more regard to her than to
my brothers. Then they were estranged from me, and waxed jealous of my
wealth and the quantity of merchandise I had, and their eyes were
opened covetously upon all my property. So they took counsel to murder
me and seize my wealth, saying, "Let us slay our brother and all his
monies will be ours;" and Satan made this deed seem fair in their
sight; so when they found me in privacy (and I sleeping by my wife's
side) they took us both up and cast us into the sea. My wife awoke
startled from her sleep and, forthright becoming an Ifritah,[FN#57] she
bore me up and carried me to an island and disappeared for a short
time; but she returned in the morning and said, "Here am I, thy
faithful slave, who hath made thee due recompense; for I bore thee up
in the waters and saved thee from death by command of the Almighty.
Know—that I am a Jinniyah, and as I saw thee my heart loved thee by
will of the Lord, for I am a believer in Allah and in His Apostle (whom
Heaven bless and preserve!). Thereupon I came to thee conditioned as
thou sawest me and thou didst marry me, and see now I have saved thee
from sinking. But I am angered against thy brothers and assuredly I
must slay them." When I heard her story I was surprised and, thanking
her for all she had done, I said, "But as to slaying my brothers this
must not be." Then I told her the tale of what had come to pass with
them from the beginning of our lives to the end, and on hearing it
quoth she, "This night will I fly as a bird over them and will sink
their ship and slay them." Quoth I, "Allah upon thee, do not thus, for
the proverb saith, O thou who doest good to him that doth evil, leave
the evil doer to his evil deeds. Moreover they are still my brothers."
But she rejoined, "By Allah, there is no help for it but I slay them."
I humbled myself before her for their pardon, whereupon she bore me up
and flew away with me till at last she set me down on the terrace roof
of my own house. I opened the doors and took up what I had hidden in
the ground; and after I had saluted the folk I opened my shop and
bought me merchandise. Now when night came on I went home, and there I
saw these two hounds tied up; and, when they sighted me, they arose and
whined and fawned upon me; but ere I knew what happened my wife said,
"These two dogs be thy brothers!" I answered, "And who hath done this
thing by them?" and she rejoined, "I sent a message to my sister and
she entreated them on this wise, nor shall these two be released from
their present shape till ten years shall have passed." And now I have
arrived at this place on my way to my wife's sister that she may
deliver them from this condition, after their having endured it for
half a score of years. As I was wending onwards I saw this young man,
who acquainted me with what had befallen him, and I determined not to
fare hence until I should see what might occur between thee and him.
Such is my tale! Then said the Jinni, "Surely this is a strange story
and therefor I give thee the third portion of his blood and his crime."
Thereupon quoth the third Shaykh, the master of the mare mule, to the
Jinni, "I can tell thee a tale more wondrous than these two, so thou
grant me the remainder of his blood and of his offense," and the Jinni
answered, "So be it!" Then the old man began
The Third Shaykh’s Story.
Know, O Sultan and head of the Jann, that this mule was my wife. Now it
so happened that I went forth and was absent one whole year; and when I
returned from my journey I came to her by night, and saw a black slave
lying with her on the carpet bed and they were talking, and dallying,
and laughing, and kissing and playing the close buttock game. When she
saw me, she rose and came hurriedly at me with a gugglet[FN#58] of
water; and, muttering spells over it, she besprinkled me and said,
"Come forth from this thy shape into the shape of a dog;" and I became
on the instant a dog. She drove me out of the house, and I ran through
the doorway nor ceased running until I came to a butcher's stall, where
I stopped and began to eat what bones were there. When the stall owner
saw me, he took me and led me into his house, but as soon as his
daughter had sight of me she veiled her face from me, crying out, "Dost
thou bring men to me and dost thou come in with them to me?" Her father
asked, "Where is the man?"; and she answered, "This dog is a man whom
his wife hath ensorcelled and I am able to release him." When her
father heard her words, he said, "Allah upon thee, O my daughter,
release him." So she took a gugglet of water and, after uttering words
over it, sprinkled upon me a few drops, saying, "Come forth from that
form into thy former form." And I returned to my natural shape. Then I
kissed her hand and said, "I wish thou wouldest transform my wife even
as she transformed me." Thereupon she gave me some water, saying, "As
soon as thou see her asleep, sprinkle this liquid upon her and speak
what words thou heardest me utter, so shall she become whatsoever thou
desirest." I went to my wife and found her fast asleep; and, while
sprinkling the water upon her, I said, "Come forth from that form into
the form of a mare mule." So she became on the instant a she mule, and
she it is whom thou seest with thine eyes, O Sultan and head of the
Kings of the Jann! Then the Jinni turned towards her and said, "Is this
sooth?" And she nodded her head and replied by signs, "Indeed, 'tis the
truth: for such is my tale and this is what hath befallen me." Now when
the old man had ceased speaking the Jinni shook with pleasure and gave
him the third of the merchant's blood. And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth Dunyazad, "O. my
sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful; how sweet and how
grateful!" She replied, "And what is this compared with that I could
tell thee, the night to come, if I live and the King spare me?"[FN#59]
Then thought the King, "By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the
rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." So they rested that night
in mutual embrace until the dawn. After this the King went forth to his
Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and the court was
crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed,
bidding and forbidding during the rest of the day. Then the Divan broke
up, and King Shahryar entered his palace.
When it was the Third Night,
And the King had had his will of the Wazir's daughter, Dunyazad, her
sister, said to her, "Finish for us that tale of thine;" and she
replied, "With joy and goodly gree! It hath reached me, O auspicious
King, that when the third old man told a tale to the Jinni more
wondrous than the two preceding, the Jinni marvelled with exceeding
marvel, and, shaking with delight, cried, Lo! I have given thee the
remainder of the merchant's punishment and for thy sake have I released
him." Thereupon the merchant embraced the old men and thanked them, and
these Shaykhs wished him joy on being saved and fared forth each one
for his own city. Yet this tale is not more wondrous than the
fisherman's story." Asked the King, "What is the fisherman's story?"
And she answered by relating the tale of