"When drew she near to bid adieu with heart unstrung, * While care and
longing on that day her bosom wrung
Wet pearls she wept and mine like red carnelians rolled * And, joined
in sad rivière, around her neck they hung."
When I saw her weeping I said, "By Allah I will never open that
fortieth door, never and no wise!" and I bade her farewell. Thereupon
all departed flying away like birds; signalling with their hands
farewells as they went and leaving me alone in the palace. When evening
drew near I opened the door of the first chamber and entering it found
myself in a place like one of the pleasaunces of Paradise. It was a
garden with trees of freshest green and ripe fruits of yellow sheen;
and its birds were singing clear and keen and rills ran wimpling
through the fair terrene. The sight and sounds brought solace to my
sprite; and I walked among the trees, and I smelt the breath of the
flowers on the breeze; and heard the birdies sing their melodies
hymning the One, the Almighty in sweetest litanies; and I looked upon
the apple whose hue is parcel red and parcel yellow; as said the poet:—
Apple whose hue combines in union mellow * My fair's red cheek, her
hapless lover's yellow.
Then I looked upon the quince, and inhaled its fragrance which putteth
to shame musk and ambergris, even as the poet hath said :
Quince every taste conjoins; in her are found * Gifts which for queen
of fruits the Quince have crowned
Her taste is wine, her scent the waft of musk; * Pure gold her hue, her
shape the Moon's fair round.
Then I looked upon the pear whose taste surpasseth sherbet and sugar;
and the apricot[FN#294] whose beauty striketh the eye with admiration,
as if she were a polished ruby. Then I went out of the place and locked
the door as it was before. When it was the morrow I opened the second
door; and entering found myself in a spacious plain set with tall date
palms and watered by a running stream whose banks were shrubbed with
bushes of rose and jasmine, while privet and eglantine, oxe-eye, violet
and lily, narcissus, origane and the winter gilliflower carpeted the
borders; and the breath of the breeze swept over these sweet smelling
growths diffusing their delicious odours right and left, perfuming the
world and filling my soul with delight. After taking my pleasure there
awhile I went from it and, having closed the door as it was before,
opened the third door wherein I saw a high open hall pargetted with
parti-coloured marbles and pietra dura of price and other precious
stones, and hung with cages of sandal-wood and eagle-wood; full of
birds which made sweet music, such as the Thousand voiced,[FN#295] and
the cushat, the merle, the turtle-dove and the Nubian ring dove. My
heart was filled with pleasure thereby; my grief was dispelled and I
slept in that aviary till dawn. Then I undocked the door of the fourth
chamber and therein found a grand saloon with forty smaller chambers
giving upon it. All their doors stood open: so I entered and found them
full of pearls and jacinths and beryls and emeralds and corals and car
buncles, and all manner precious gems and jewels, such as tongue of man
may not describe. My thought was stunned at the sight and I said to
myself, "These be things methinks united which could not be found save
in the treasuries of a King of Kings, nor could the monarchs of the
world have collected the like of these!" And my heart dilated and my
sorrows ceased, "For," quoth I, "now verily am I the monarch of the
age, since by Allah's grace this enormous wealth is mine; and I have
forty damsels under my hand nor is there any to claim them save
myself." Then I gave not over opening place after place until nine and
thirty days were passed and in that time I had entered every chamber
except that one whose door the Princesses had charged me not to open.
But my thoughts, O my mistress, ever ran on that forbidden
fortieth[FN#296] and Satan urged me to open it for my own undoing; nor
had I patience to forbear, albeit there wanted of the trysting time but
a single day. So I stood before the chamber aforesaid and, after a
moment's hesitation, opened the door which was plated with red gold,
and entered. I was met by a perfume whose like I had never before
smelt; and so sharp and subtle was the odour that it made my senses
drunken as with strong wine, and I fell to the ground in a fainting fit
which lasted a full hour. When I came to myself I strengthened my heart
and, entering, found myself in a chamber whose floor was bespread with
saffron and blazing with light from branched candelabra of gold and
lamps fed with costly oils, which diffused the scent of musk and
ambergris. I saw there also two great censers each big as a
mazer-bowl,[FN#297] flaming with lign-aloes, nadd-perfume,[FN#298]
ambergris and honied scents; and the place was full of their fragrance.
Presently, O my lady, I espied a noble steed, black as the murks of
night when murkiest, standing, ready saddled and bridled (and his
saddle was of red gold) before two mangers, one of clear crystal
wherein was husked sesame, and the other also of crystal containing
water of the rose scented with musk. When I saw this I marvelled and
said to myself, "Doubtless in this animal must be some wondrous
mystery;" and Satan cozened me, so I led him without the palace end
mounted him, but he would not stir from his place. So I hammered his
sides with my heels, but he moved not, and then I took the rein
whip,[FN#299] and struck him withal. When he felt the blow, he neighed
a neigh with a sound like deafening thunder and, opening a pair of
wings[FN#300] flew up with me in the firmament of heaven far beyond the
eyesight of man. After a full hour of flight he descended and alighted
on a terrace roof and shaking me off his back lashed me on the face
with his tail and gouged out my left eye causing it roll along my
cheek. Then he flew away. I went down from the terrace and found myself
again amongst the ten one eyed youths sitting upon their ten couches
with blue covers; and they cried out when they saw me, "No welcome to
thee, nor aught of good cheer! We all lived of lives the happiest and
we ate and drank of the best; upon brocades and cloths of gold we took
our rest and we slept with our heads on beauty's breast, but we could
not await one day to gain the delights of a year!" Quoth I, "Behold I
have become one like unto you and now I would have you bring me a tray
full of blackness, wherewith to blacken my face, and receive me into
your society." "No, by Allah," quoth they, "thou shalt not sojourn with
us and now get thee hence!" So they drove me away. Finding them reject
me thus I foresaw that matters would go hard with me, and I remembered
the many miseries which Destiny had written upon my forehead; and I
fared forth from among them heavy hearted and tearful eyed, repeating
to myself these words, "I was sitting at mine ease but my frowardness
brought me to unease." Then I shaved beard and mustachios and eye
brows, renouncing the world, and wandered in Kalandar garb about
Allah's earth; and the Almighty decreed safety for me till I arrived at
Baghdad, which was on the evening of this very night. Here I met these
two other Kalandars standing bewildered; so I saluted them saying, "I
am a stranger!" and they answered, "And we likewise be strangers!" By
the freak of Fortune we were like to like, three Kalandars and three
monoculars all blind of the left eye. Such, O my lady, is the cause of
the shearing of my beard and the manner of my losing an eye. Said the
lady to him, "Rub thy head and wend thy ways;" but he answered, "By
Allah, I will not go until I hear the stories of these others." Then
the lady, turning towards the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur, said to
them, "Do ye also give an account of yourselves, you men!" Whereupon
Ja'afar stood forth and told her what he had told the portress as they
were entering the house; and when she heard his story of their being
merchants and Mosul men who had outrun the watch, she said, "I grant
you your lives each for each sake, and now away with you all." So they
all went out and when they were in the street, quoth the Caliph to the
Kalandars, "O company, whither go ye now, seeing that the morning hath
not yet dawned?" Quoth they, "By Allah, O our lord, we know not where
to go." "Come and pass the rest of the night with us," said the Caliph
and, turning to Ja'afar, "Take them home with thee and tomorrow bring
them to my presence that we may chronicle their adventures." Ja'afar
did as the Caliph bade him and the Commander of the Faithful returned
to his palace; but sleep gave no sign of visiting him that night and he
lay awake pondering the mishaps of the three Kalandar princes and
impatient to know the history of the ladies and the two black bitches.
No sooner had morning dawned than he went forth and sat upon the throne
of his sovereignty; and, turning to Ja'afar, after all his Grandees and
Officers of state were gathered together, he said, "Bring me the three
ladies and the two bitches and the three Kalandars." So Ja'afar fared
forth and brought them all before him (and the ladies were veiled);
then the Minister turned to them and said in the Caliph's name, "We
pardon you your maltreatment of us and your want of courtesy, in
consideration of the kindness which forewent it, and for that ye knew
us not: now however I would have you to know that ye stand in presence
of the fifth[FN#301] of the sons of Abbas, Harun al-Rashid, brother of
Caliph Músá al-Hádi, son of Al-Mansúr; son of Mohammed the brother of
Al-Saffáh bin Mohammed who was first of the royal house. Speak ye
therefore before him the truth and the whole truth!" When the ladies
heard Ja afar's words touching the Commander of the Faithful, the
eldest came forward and said, "O Prince of True Believers, my story is
one which, were it graven with needle-gravers upon the eye corners were
a warner for whoso would be warned and an example for whoso can take
profit from example."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Seventeenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that she stood forth
before the Commander of the Faithful and began to tell
The Eldest Lady’s Tale.
Verily a strange tale is mine and 'tis this:—Yon two black bitches are
my eldest sisters by one mother and father; and these two others, she
who beareth upon her the signs of stripes and the third our procuratrix
are my sisters by another mother. When my father died, each took her
share of the heritage and, after a while my mother also deceased,
leaving me and my sisters german three thousand dinars; so each
daughter received her portion of a thousand dinars and I the same, albe
the youngest. In due course of time my sisters married with the usual
festivities and lived with their husbands, who bought merchandise with
their wives monies and set out on their travels together. Thus they
threw me off. My brothers in law were absent with their wives five
years, during which period they spent all the money they had and,
becoming bankrupt, deserted my sisters in foreign parts amid stranger
folk. After five years my eldest sister returned to me in beggar's gear
with her clothes in rags and tatters[FN#302] and a dirty old
mantilla;[FN#303] and truly she was in the foulest and sorriest plight.
At first sight I did not know my own sister; but presently I recognised
her and said "What state is this?" "O our sister," she replied, "Words
cannot undo the done; and the reed of Destiny hath run through what
Allah decreed." Then I sent her to the bath and dressed her in a suit
of mine own, and boiled for her a bouillon and brought her some good
wine and said to her, "O my sister, thou art the eldest, who still
standest to us in the stead of father and mother; and, as for the
inheritance which came to me as to you twain, Allah hath blessed it and
prospered it to me with increase; and my circumstances are easy, for I
have made much money by spinning and cleaning silk; and I and you will
share my wealth alike." I entreated her with all kindliness and she
abode with me a whole year, during which our thoughts and fancies were
always full of our other sister. Shortly after she too came home in yet
fouler and sorrier plight than that of my eldest sister; and I dealt by
her still more honorably than I had done by the first, and each of them
had a share of my substance. After a time they said to me, 'O our
sister, we desire to marry again, for indeed we have not patience to
drag on our days without husbands and to lead the lives of widows
bewitched;" and I replied, "O eyes of me![FN#304] ye have hitherto seen
scanty weal in wedlock, for now-a-days good men and true are become
rarities and curiosities; nor do I deem your projects advisable, as ye
have already made trial of matrimony and have failed." But they would
not accept my advice and married without my consent: nevertheless I
gave them outfit and dowries out of my money; and they fared forth with
their mates. In a mighty little time their husbands played them false
and, taking whatever they could lay hands upon, levanted and left them
in the lurch. Thereupon they came to me ashamed and in abject case and
made their excuses to me, saying, Pardon our fault and be not wroth
with us;[FN#305] for although thou art younger in years yet art thou
older in wit; henceforth we will never make mention of marriage; so
take us back as thy hand maidens that we may eat our mouthful." Quoth
I, "Welcome to you, O my sisters, there is naught dearer to me than
you." And I took them in and redoubled my kindness to them. We ceased
not to live after this loving fashion for a full year, when I resolved
to sell my wares abroad and first to fit me a conveyance for Bassorah;
so I equipped a large ship, and loaded her with merchandise and
valuable goods for traffic, and with provaunt and all needful for a
voyage, and said to my sisters, "Will ye abide at home whilst I travel,
or would ye prefer to accompany me on the voyage?" "We will travel with
thee," answered they, "for we cannot bear to be parted from thee." So I
divided my monies into two parts, one to accompany me and the other to
be left in charge of a trusty person, for, as I said to myself, "Haply
some accident may happen to the ship and yet we remain alive; in which
case we shall find on our return what may stand us in good stead." I
took my two sisters and we went a voyaging some days and nights; but
the master was careless enough to miss his course, and the ship went
astray with us and entered a sea other than the sea we sought. For a
time we knew naught of this; and the wind blew fair for us ten days,
after which the look out man went aloft to see about him and cried,
"Good news!" Then he came down rejoicing and said, "I have seen what
seemeth to be a city as 'twere a pigeon." Hereat we rejoiced and, ere
an hour of the day had passed, the buildings showed plain in the offing
and we asked the Captain, "What is the name of yonder city?" and he
answered By Allah I wot not, for I never saw it before and never sailed
these seas in my life: but, since our troubles have ended in safety,
remains for you only to land there with your merchandise and, if you
find selling profitable, sell and make your market of what is there;
and if not, we will rest here two days and provision ourselves and fare
away." So we entered the port and the Captain went up town and was
absent awhile, after which he returned to us and said, "Arise; go up
into the city and marvel at the works of Allah with His creatures and
pray to be preserved from His righteous wrath!" So we landed and going
up into the city, saw at the gate men hending staves in hand; but when
we drew near them, behold, they had been translated[FN#306] by the
anger of Allah and had become stones. Then we entered the city and
found all who therein woned into black stones enstoned: not an
inhabited house appeared to the espier, nor was there a blower of
fire.[FN#307] We were awe struck at the sight and threaded the market
streets where we found the goods and gold and silver left lying in
their places; and we were glad and said, "Doubtless there is some
mystery in all this." Then we dispersed about the thorough-fares and
each busied himself with collecting the wealth and money and rich
stuffs, taking scanty heed of friend or comrade. As for myself I went
up to the castle which was strongly fortified; and, entering the King's
palace by its gate of red gold, found all the vaiselle of gold and
silver, and the King himself seated in the midst of his Chamberlains
and Nabobs and Emirs and Wazirs; all clad in raiment which confounded
man's art. I drew nearer and saw him sitting on a throne incrusted and
inlaid with pearls and gems; and his robes were of gold-cloth adorned
with jewels of every kind, each one flashing like a star. Around him
stood fifty Mamelukes, white slaves, clothed in silks of divers sorts
holding their drawn swords in their hands; but when I drew near to them
lo! all were black stones. My understanding was confounded at the
sight, but I walked on and entered the great hall of the Harim,[FN#308]
whose walls I found hung with tapestries of gold striped silk and
spread with silken carpets embroidered with golden cowers. Here I saw
the Queen lying at full length arrayed in robes purfled with fresh
young[FN#309] pearls; on her head was a diadem set with many sorts of
gems each fit for a ring[FN#310] and around her neck hung collars and
necklaces. All her raiment and her ornaments were in natural state but
she had been turned into a black stone by Allah's wrath. Presently I
espied an open door for which I made straight and found leading to it a
flight of seven steps. So I walked up and came upon a place pargetted
with marble and spread and hung with gold-worked carpets and tapestry,
amiddlemostof which stood a throne of juniper wood inlaid with pearls
and precious stones and set with bosses of emeralds. In the further
wall was an alcove whose curtains, bestrung with pearls, were let down
and I saw a light issuing therefrom; so I drew near and perceived that
the light came from a precious stone as big as an ostrich egg, set at
the upper end of the alcove upon a little chryselephantine couch of
ivory and gold; and this jewel, blazing like the sun, cast its rays
wide and side. The couch also was spread with all manner of silken
stuffs amazing the gazer with their richness and beauty. I marvelled
much at all this, especially when seeing in that place candles ready
lighted; and I said in my mind, "Needs must some one have lighted these
candles." Then I went forth and came to the kitchen and thence to the
buttery and the King's treasure chambers; and continued to explore the
palace and to pace from place to place; I forgot myself in my awe and
marvel at these matters and I was drowned in thought till the night
came on. Then I would have gone forth, but knowing not the gate I lost
my way, so I returned to the alcove whither the lighted candles
directed me and sat down upon the couch; and wrapping myself in a
coverlet, after I had repeated somewhat from the Koran, I would have
slept but could not, for restlessness possessed me. When night was at
its noon I heard a voice chanting the Koran in sweetest accents; but
the tone thereof was weak; so I rose, glad to hear the silence broken,
and followed the sound until I reached a closet whose door stood ajar.
Then peeping through a chink I considered the place and lo! it was an
oratory wherein was a prayer niche[FN#311] with two wax candles burning
and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In it too was spread a prayer
carpet whereupon sat a youth fair to see; and before him on its
stand[FN#312] was a copy of the Koran, from which he was reading. I
marvelled to see him alone alive amongst the people of the city and
entering saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my
salam. Quoth I, "Now by the Truth of what thou readest in Allah's Holy
Book, I conjure thee to answer my question." He looked upon me with a
smile and said, "O handmaid of Allah, first tell me the cause of thy
coming hither, and I in turn will tell what hath befallen both me and
the people of this city, and what was the reason of my escaping their
doom." So I told him my story whereat he wondered; and I questioned him
of the people of the city, when he replied, "Have patience with me for
a while, O my sister!" and, reverently closing the Holy Book, he laid
it up in a satin bag. Then he seated me by his side; and I looked at
him and behold, he was as the moon at its full, fair of face and rare
of form, soft sided and slight, of well proportioned height, and cheek
smoothly bright and diffusing light; in brief a sweet, a sugar
stick,[FN#313]. even as saith the poet of the like of him in these
couplets:—
That night th' astrologer a scheme of planets drew, * And lo! a
graceful shape of youth appeared in view:
Saturn had stained his locks with Saturninest jet, * And spots of nut
brown musk on rosy side face blew:[FN#314]
Mars tinctured either cheek with tinct of martial red; * Sagittal shots
from eyelids Sagittarius threw:
Dowered him Mercury with bright mercurial wit; * Bore off the
Bear[FN#315] what all man's evil glances grew:
Amazed stood Astrophil to sight the marvel birth * When louted low the
Moon at full to buss the Earth.
And of a truth Allah the Most High had robed him in the raiment of
perfect grace and had purfled and fringed it with a cheek all beauty
and loveliness, even as the poet saith of such an one:—
By his eyelids shedding perfume and his fine slim waist I swear, * By
the shooting of his shafts barbed with sorcery passing rare;
By the softness of his sides,[FN#316] and glances' lingering light, *
And brow of dazzling day-tide ray and night within his hair;
By his eyebrows which deny to who look upon them rest, * Now bidding
now forbidding, ever dealing joy and care;
By the rose that decks his cheek, and the myrtle of its moss,[FN#317] *
By jacinths bedded in his lips and pearl his smile lays bare;
By his graceful bending neck and the curving of his breast, * Whose
polished surface beareth those granados, lovely pair;
By his heavy hips that quiver as he passeth in his pride, * Or he
resteth with that waist which is slim beyond compare;
By the satin of his skin, by that fine unsullied sprite; * By the
beauty that containeth all things bright and debonnair;
By that ever open hand; by the candour of his tongue; * By noble blood
and high degree whereof he's hope and heir;
Musk from him borrows muskiness she loveth to exhale * And all the airs
of ambergris through him perfume the air;
The sun, methinks, the broad bright sun, before my love would pale *
And sans his splendour would appear a paring of his nail.[FN#318]
I glanced at him with one glance of eyes which caused me a thousand
sighs; and my heart was at once taken captive wise, so I asked him, "O
my lord and my love, tell me that whereof I questioned thee;" and he
answered, "Hearing is obeying! Know O handmaid of Allah, that this city
was the capital of my father who is the King thou sawest on the throne
transfigured by Allah's wrath to a black stone, and the Queen thou
foundest in the alcove is my mother. They and all the people of the
city were Magians who fire adored in lieu of the Omnipotent
Lord[FN#319] and were wont to swear by lowe and heat and shade and
light and the spheres revolving day and night. My father had ne'er a
son till he was blest with me near the last of his days; and he reared
me till I grew up and prosperity anticipated me in all things. Now it
so fortuned that there was with us an old woman well stricken in years,
a Moslemah who, inwardly believing in Allah and His Apostle, conformed
outwardly with the religion of my people; and my father placed thorough
confidence in her for that he knew her to be trustworthy and virtuous;
and he treated her with ever increasing kindness believing her to be of
his own belief. So when I was well nigh grown up my father committed me
to her charge saying:—Take him and educate him and teach him the rules
of our faith; let him have the best instructions and cease not thy
fostering care of him. So she took me and taught me the tenets of
Al-Islam with the divine ordinances[FN#320] of the Wuzu ablution and
the five daily prayers and she made me learn the Koran by rote, often
repeating:—Serve none save Allah Almighty! When I had mastered this
much of knowledge she said to me:—O my son, keep this matter concealed
from thy sire and reveal naught to him lest he slay thee. So I hid it
from him and I abode on this wise for a term of days when the old woman
died, and the people of the city redoubled in their impiety[FN#321] and
arrogance and the error of their ways. One day, while they were as
wont, behold, they heard a loud and terrible sound and a crier crying
out with a voice like roaring thunder so every ear could hear, far and
near, "O folk of this city, leave ye your fire worshipping and adore
Allah the All-compassionate King!" At this, fear and terror fell upon
the citizens and they crowded to my father (he being King of the city)
and asked him, "What is this awesome voice we have heard, for it hath
confounded us with the excess of its terror?" and he answered, "Let not
a voice fright you nor shake your steadfast sprite nor turn you back
from the faith which is right." Their hearts inclined to his words and
they ceased not to worship the fire and they persisted in rebellion for
a full year from the time they heard the first voice; and on the
anniversary came a second cry, and a third at the head of the third
year, each year once Still they persisted in their malpractises till
one day at break of dawn, judgment and the wrath of Heaven descended
upon them with all suddenness, and by the visitation of Allah all were
metamorphosed into black stones,[FN#322] they and their beasts and
their cattle; and none was saved save myself who at the time was
engaged in my devotions. From that day to this I am in the case thou
seest, constant in prayer and fasting and reading and reciting the
Koran; but I am indeed grown weary by reason of my loneliness, having
none to bear me company." Then said I to him (for in very sooth he had
won my heart and was the lord of my life and soul), "O youth, wilt thou
fare with me to Baghdad city and visit the Olema and men learned in the
law and doctors of divinity and get thee increase of wisdom and
understanding and theology? And know that she who standeth in thy
presence will be thy handmaid, albeit she be head of her family and
mistress over men and eunuchs and servants and slaves Indeed my life
was no life before it fell in with thy youth. I have here a ship laden
with merchandise; and in very truth Destiny drove me to this city that
I might come to the knowledge of these matters, for it was fated that
we should meet." And I ceased not to persuade him and speak him fair
and use every art till he consented.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Eighteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady
ceased not persuading with soft speech the youth to depart with her
till he consented and said "Yes." She slept that night lying at his
feet and hardly knowing where she was for excess of joy. As soon as the
next morning dawned (she pursued, addressing the Caliph), I arose and
we entered the treasuries and took thence whatever was light in weight
and great in worth; then we went down side by side from the castle to
the city, where we were met by the Captain and my sisters and slaves
who had been seeking for me. When they saw me they rejoiced and asked
what had stayed me, and I told them all I had seen and related to them
the story of the young Prince and the transformation wherewith the
citizens had been justly visited. Hereat all marvelled, but when my two
sisters (these two bitches, O Commander of the Faithful!) saw me by the
side of my young lover they jaloused me on his account and were wroth
and plotted mischief against me. We awaited a fair wind and went on
board rejoicing and ready to fly for joy by reason of the goods we had
gotten, but my own greatest joyance was in the youth; and we waited
awhile till the wind blew fair for us and then we set sail and fared
forth. Now as we sat talking, my sisters asked me, "And what wilt thou
do with this handsome young man?"; and I answered, "I purpose to make
him my husband!" Then I turned to him and said, "O my lord, I have that
to propose to thee wherein thou must not cross me; and this it is that,
when we reach Baghdad, my native city, I offer thee my life as thy
handmaiden in holy matrimony, and thou shalt be to me baron and I will
be femme to thee." He answered, "I hear and I obey!; thou art my lady
and my mistress and whatso thou doest I will not gainsay." Then I
turned to my sisters and said, "This is my gain; I content me with this
youth and those who have gotten aught of my property let them keep it
as their gain with my good will." "Thou sayest and doest well,"
answered the twain, but they imagined mischief against me. We ceased
not spooning before a fair wind till we had exchanged the sea of peril
for the seas of safety and, in a few days, we made Bassorah city, whose
buildings loomed clear before us as evening fell. But after we had
retired to rest and were sound alseep, my two sisters arose and took me
up, bed and all, and threw me into the sea: they did the same with the
young Prince who, as he could not swim, sank and was drowned and Allah
enrolled him in the noble army of Martyrs.[FN#323] As for me would
Heaven I had been drowned with him, but Allah deemed that I should be
of the saved; so when I awoke and found myself in the sea and saw the
ship making off like a dash of lightning, He threw in my way a piece of
timber which I bestrided, and the waves tossed me to and fro till they
cast me upon an island coast, a high land and an uninhabited. I landed
and walked about the island the rest of the night and, when morning
dawned, I saw a rough track barely fit for child of Adam to tread,
leading to what proved a shallow ford connecting island and mainland.
As soon as the sun had risen I spread my garments to dry in its rays;
and ate of the fruits of the island and drank of its waters; then I set
out along the foot track and ceased not walking till I reached the
mainland. Now when there remained between me and the city but a two
hours' journey behold, a great serpent, the bigness of a date palm,
came fleeing towards me in all haste, gliding along now to the right
then to the left till she was close upon me, whilst her tongue lolled
ground wards a span long and swept the dust as she went. She was
pursued by a Dragon[FN#324] who was not longer than two lances, and of
slender build about the bulk of a spear and, although her terror lent
her speed, and she kept wriggling from side to side, he overtook her
and seized her by the tail, whereat her tears streamed down and her
tongue was thrust out in her agony. I took pity on her and, picking up
a stone and calling upon Allah for aid, threw it at the Dragon's head
with such force that he died then and there; and the serpent opening a
pair of wings flew into the lift and disappeared from before my eyes. I
sat down marvelling over that adventure, but I was weary and,
drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for a while. When I awoke
I found a jet black damsel sitting at my feet shampooing them; and by
her side stood two black bitches (my sisters, O Commander of the
Faithful!). I was ashamed before her[FN#325] and, sitting up, asked
her, "O my sister, who and what art thou?"; and she answered, "How soon
hast thou forgotten me! I am she for whom thou wroughtest a good deed
and sowedest the seed of gratitude and slewest her foe; for I am the
serpent whom by Allah's aidance thou didst just now deliver from the
Dragon. I am a Jinniyah and he was a Jinn who hated me, and none saved
my life from him save thou. As soon as thou freedest me from him I flew
on the wind to the ship whence thy sisters threw thee, and removed all
that was therein to thy house. Then I ordered my attendant Marids to
sink the ship and I transformed thy two sisters into these black
bitches; for I know all that hath passed between them and thee; but as
for the youth, of a truth he is drowned." So saying, she flew up with
me and the bitches, and presently set us down on the terrace roof of my
house, wherein I found ready stored the whole of what property was in
my ship, nor was aught of it missing. "Now (continued the serpent that
was), I swear by all engraven on the seal-ring of Solomon[FN#326] (with
whom be peace!) unless thou deal to each of these bitches three hundred
stripes every day I will come and imprison thee forever under the
earth." I answered, "Hearkening and obedience!"; and away she flew. But
before going she again charged me saying, "I again swear by Him who
made the two seas flow[FN#327] (and this be my second oath) if thou
gainsay me I will come and transform thee like thy sisters." Since then
I have never failed, O Commander of the Faithful, to beat them with
that number of blows till their blood flows with my tears, I pitying
them the while, and well they wot that their being scourged is no fault
of mine and they accept my excuses. And this is my tale and my history!
The Caliph marvelled at her adventures and then signed to Ja'afar who
said to the second lady, the Portress, "And thou, how camest thou by
the welts and wheals upon thy body?" So she began the
Tale of the Portress.
Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that I had a father who, after
fulfilling his time, deceased and left me great store of wealth. I
remained single for a short time and presently married one of the
richest of his day. I abode with him a year when he also died, and my
share of his property amounted to eighty thousand dinars in gold
according to the holy law of inheritance.[FN#328] Thus I became passing
rich and my reputation spread far and wide, for I had made me ten
changes of raiment, each worth a thousand dinars One day as I was
sitting at home, behold, there came in to me an old woman[FN#329] with
lantern jaws and cheeks sucked in, and eyes rucked up, and eyebrows
scant and scald, and head bare and bald; and teeth broken by time and
mauled, and back bending and neck nape nodding, and face blotched, and
rheum running, and hair like a snake black and white speckled, in
complexion a very fright, even as saith the poet of the like of her:—
Ill-omened hag! unshriven be her sins * Nor mercy visit her on dying
bed:
Thousand head strongest he mules would her guiles, * Despite their
bolting lead with spider thread.