Confide thy case to Him, the Lord who made mankind; * Quit cark and
care and cultivate content of mind;
Ask not the Past or how or why it came to pass: * All human things by
Fate and Destiny were designed!
The King marvelled and asked him, "What maketh thee weep, O young man?"
and he answered, "How should I not weep, when this is my case!"
Thereupon he put out his hand and raised the skirt of his garment, when
lo! the lower half of him appeared stone down to his feet while from
his navel to the hair of his head he was man. The King, seeing this his
plight, grieved with sore grief and of his compassion cried, "Alack and
well away! in very sooth, O youth, thou heapest sorrow upon my sorrow.
I was minded to ask thee the mystery of the fishes only: whereas now I
am concerned to learn thy story as well as theirs. But there is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
Great![FN#116] Lose no time, O youth, but tell me forthright thy whole
tale." Quoth he, "Lend me thine ears, thy sight and thine insight;" and
quoth the King, "All are at thy service!" Thereupon the youth began,
"Right wondrous and marvellous is my case and that of these fishes; and
were it graven with gravers upon the eye corners it were a warner to
whoso would be warned." "How is that?" asked the King, and the young
man began to tell
The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince.
Know then, O my lord, that whilome my sire was King of this city, and
his name was Mahmud, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of
what are now these four mountains. He ruled three score and ten years,
after which he went to the mercy of the Lord and I reigned as Sultan in
his stead. I took to wife my cousin, the daughter of my paternal
uncle,[FN#117] and she loved me with such abounding love that whenever
I was absent she ate not and she drank not until she saw me again. She
cohabited with me for five years till a certain day when she went forth
to the Hammam bath; and I bade the cook hasten to get ready all
requisites for our supper. And I entered this palace and lay down on
the bed where I was wont to sleep and bade two damsels to fan my face,
one sitting by my head and the other at my feet. But I was troubled and
made restless by my wife's absence and could not sleep; for although my
eyes were closed my mind and thoughts were wide awake. Presently I
heard the slave girl at my head say to her at my feet, "O Mas'udah, how
miserable is our master and how wasted in his youth and oh! the pity of
his being so betrayed by our mistress, the accursed whore!"[FN#118] The
other replied, "Yes indeed: Allah curse all faithless women and
adulterous; but the like of our master, with his fair gifts, deserveth
something better than this harlot who lieth abroad every night." Then
quoth she who sat by my head, "Is our lord dumb or fit only for
bubbling that he questioneth her not!" and quoth the other, "Fie on
thee! doth our lord know her ways or doth she allow him his choice?
Nay, more, doth she not drug every night the cup she giveth him to
drink before sleep time, and put Bhang[FN#119] into it? So he sleepeth
and wotteth not whither she goeth, nor what she doeth; but we know that
after giving him the drugged wine, she donneth her richest raiment and
perfumeth herself and then she fareth out from him to be away till
break of day; then she cometh to him, and burneth a pastile under his
nose and he awaketh from his deathlike sleep." When I heard the slave
girl's words, the light became black before my sight and I thought
night would never-fall. Presently the daughter of my uncle came from
the baths; and they set the table for us and we ate and sat together a
fair half hour quaffing our wine as was ever our wont. Then she called
for the particular wine I used to drink before sleeping and reached me
the cup; but, seeming to drink it according to my wont, I poured the
contents into my bosom; and, lying down, let her hear that I was
asleep. Then, behold, she cried, "Sleep out the night, and never wake
again: by Allah, I loathe thee and I loathe thy whole body, and my soul
turneth in disgust from cohabiting with thee; and I see not the moment
when Allah shall snatch away thy life!" Then she rose and donned her
fairest dress and perfumed her person and slung my sword over her
shoulder; and, opening the gates of the palace, went her ill way. I
rose and followed her as she left the palace and she threaded the
streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke words I
understood not, and the padlocks dropped of themselves as if broken and
the gate leaves opened. She went forth (and I after her without her
noticing aught) till she came at last to the outlying mounds[FN#120]
and a reed fence built about a round roofed hut of mud bricks. As she
entered the door, I climbed upon the roof which commanded a view of the
interior, and lo! my fair cousin had gone in to a hideous negro slave
with his upper lip like the cover of a pot, and his lower like an open
pot; lips which might sweep up sand from the gravel-floor of the cot.
He was to boot a leper and a paralytic, lying upon a strew of sugar
cane trash and wrapped in an old blanket and the foulest rags and
tatters. She kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head so as
to see her and said, "Woe to thee! what call hadst thou to stay away
all this time? Here have been with me sundry of the black brethren, who
drank their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not content to
drink because of thine absence." Then she, "O my lord, my heart's love
and coolth of my eyes,[FN#121] knowest thou not that I am married to my
cousin whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company?
And did not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise
before making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and
howlet hoot, and jackal and wolf harbour and loot; nay I had removed
its very stones to the back side of Mount Kaf." [FN#122] Rejoined the
slave, Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valour and
honour of blackamoor men (and deem not our manliness to be ; the poor
manliness of white men), from today forth if thou stay away till this
hour, I will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with
thy body and strum and belly bump Dost play fast and loose with us,
thou cracked pot, that we may satisfy thy dirty lusts? stinkard! bitch!
vilest of the vile whites!" When I heard his words, and saw with my own
eyes what passed between these two wretches, the world waxed dark
before my face and my soul knew not in what place it was. But , my wife
humbly stood up weeping before and wheedling the slave, and saying, O
my beloved, and very fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me
but thy dear self; and, if thou cast me off who shall take me in, O my
beloved, O light of my eyes?" And she ceased not weeping and abasing
herself to him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she
right glad and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat
trousers, and said, "0 my master what hast thou here for thy handmaiden
to eat? Uncover the basin," he grumbled, "and thou shalt find at the
bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on, pick at them, and
then go to that slop pot where thou shalt find some leavings of beer
[FN#123] which thou mayest drink." So she ate and drank and washed her
hands, and went and lay down by the side of the slave, upon the cane
trash and, stripping herself stark naked, she crept in with him under
his foul coverlet and his rags and tatters. When I saw my wife, my
cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this deed[FN#124] I clean lost my
wits, and climbing down from the roof, I entered and took the sword
which she had with her and drew it, determined to cut down the twain. I
first struck at the slave's neck and thought that the death decree had
fallen on him:"And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Eighth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
ensorcelled Prince said to the King, "When I smote the slave with
intent to strike off his head, I thought that I had slain him; for he
groaned a loud hissing groan, but I had cut only the skin and flesh of
the gullet and the two arteries! It awoke the daughter of my uncle, so
I sheathed the sword and fared forth for the city; and, entering the
palace, lay upon my bed and slept till morning when my wife aroused me
and I saw that she had cut off her hair and had donned mourning
garments. Quoth she:—O son of my uncle, blame me not for what I do; it
hath just reached me that my mother is dead, and my father hath been
killed in holy war, and of my brothers one hath lost his life by a
snake sting and the other by falling down some precipice; and I can and
should do naught save weep and lament. When I heard her words I
refrained from all reproach and said only:—Do as thou list; I certainly
will not thwart thee. She continued sorrowing, weeping and wailing one
whole year from the beginning of its circle to the end, and when it was
finished she said to me.—I wish to build me in thy palace a tomb with a
cupola, which I will set apart for my mourning and will name the House
of Lamentations.[FN#125] Quoth I again:—Do as thou list! Then she
builded for herself a cenotaph wherein to mourn, and set on its centre
a dome under which showed a tomb like a Santon's sepulchre. Thither she
carried the slave and lodged him; but he was exceeding weak by reason
of his wound, and unable to do her love service; he could only drink
wine and from the day of his hurt he spake not a word, yet he lived on
because his appointed hour[FN#126] was not come. Every day, morning and
evening, my wife went to him and wept and wailed over him and gave him
wine and strong soups, and left not off doing after this manner a
second year; and I bore with her patiently and paid no heed to her. One
day, however, I went in to her unawares; and I found her weeping and
beating her face and crying:—Why art thou absent from my sight, O my
heart's delight? Speak to me, O my life; talk with me, O my love? Then
she recited these verses:—
For your love my patience fails and albeit you forget * I may not, nor
to other love my heart can make reply:
Bear my body, bear my soul wheresoever you may fare * And where you
pitch the camp let my body buried lie:
Cry my name above my grave, and an answer shall return * The moaning of
my bones responsive to your cry.[FN#127]