It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there dwelt during times of
yore, and years and ages long gone before, in a certain city of
China,[FN#496] a Tailor who was an open handed man that loved
pleasuring and merry making; and who was wont, he and his wife, to
solace themselves from time to time with public diversions and
amusements. One day they went out with the first of the light and were
returning in the evening when they fell in with a Hunchback, whose
semblance would draw a laugh from care and dispel the horrors of
despair. So they went up to enjoy looking at him and invited him to go
home with them and converse and carouse with them that night. He
consented and accompanied them afoot to their home; whereupon the
Tailor fared forth to the bazar (night having just set in) and bought a
fried fish and bread and lemons and dry sweetmeats for dessert; and set
the victuals before the Hunchback and they ate. Presently the Tailor's
wife took a great fid of fish and gave it in a gobbet to the Gobbo,
stopping his mouth with her hand and saying, "By Allah, thou must down
with it at a single gulp; and I will not give thee time to chew it." So
he bolted it; but therein was a stiff bone which stuck in his gullet
and, his hour being come, he died.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Twenty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Tailor's
wife gave the Hunchback that mouthful of fish which ended his term of
days he died on the instant. Seeing this the Tailor cried aloud, "There
is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! Alas, that this poor
wretch should have died in so foolish fashion at our hands!" and the
woman rejoined, "Why this idle talk? Hast thou not heard his saying who
said:—
Why then waste I my time in grief, until I * find no friend to bear my
weight of woe
How sleep upon a fire that flames unquenched? * Upon the flames to rest
were hard enow!"
Asked her husband, "And what shall I do with him?"; and she answered,
"Rise and take him in thine arms and spread a silken kerchief over him;
then I will fare forth, with thee following me this very night and if
thou meet any one say, 'This is my son, and his mother and I are
carrying him to the doctor that he may look at him.'" So he rose and
taking the Hunchback in his arms bore him along the streets, preceded
by his wife who kept crying, "O my son, Allah keep thee! what part
paineth thee and where hath this small-pox[FN#497] attacked thee?" So
all who saw them said "'Tis a child sick of small-pox." [FN#498] They
went along asking for the physician's house till folk directed them to
that of a leach which was a Jew. They knocked at the door, and there
came down to them a black slave girl who opened and, seeing a man
bearing a babe, and a woman with him, said to them, "What is the
matter?" "We have a little one with us," answered the Tailor's wife,
"and we wish to show him to the physician: so take this quarter dinar
and give it to thy master and let him come down and see my son who is
sore sick." The girl went up to tell her master, whereupon the Tailor's
wife walked into the vestibule and said to her husband, "Leave the
Hunchback here and let us fly for our lives." So the Tailor carried the
dead man to the top of the stairs and propped him upright against the
wall and ran away, he and his wife. Meanwhile the girl went in to the
Jew and said to him, "At the door are a man and a woman with a sick
child and they have given me a quarter dinar for thee, that thou mayest
go down and look at the little one and prescribe for it." As soon as
the Jew saw the quarter dinar he rejoiced and rose quickly in his greed
of gain and went forth hurriedly in the dark; but hardly had he made a
step when he stumbled on the corpse and threw it over, when it rolled
to the bottom of the staircase. So he cried out to the girl to hurry up
with the light, and she brought it, whereupon he went down and
examining the Hunchback found that he was stone dead. So he cried out,
"O for Esdras![FN#499] O for Moses! O for Aaron! O for Joshua, son of
Nun! O the Ten Commandments! I have stumbled against the sick one and
he hath fallen downstairs and he is dead! How shall I get this man I
have killed out of my house? O by the hoofs of the ass of Esdras!" Then
he took up the body and, carrying it into the house, told his wife what
had happened and she said to him, "Why dost thou sit still? If thou
keep him here till day break we shall both lose our lives. Let us two
carry him to the terrace roof and throw him over into the house of our
neighbour, the Moslem, for if he abide there a night the dogs will come
down on him from the adjoining terraces and eat him up." Now his
neighbour was a Reeve, the controller of the Sultan's kitchen, and was
wont to bring back great store of oil and fat and broken meats; but the
cats and rats used to eat it, or, if the dogs scented a fat sheep's
tail they would come down from the nearest roofs and tear at it; and on
this wise the beasts had already damaged much of what he brought home.
So the Jew and his wife carried the Hunchback up to the roof; and,
letting him down by his hands and feet through the wind-shaft[FN#500]
into the Reeve's house, propped him up against the wall and went their
ways. Hardly had they done this when the Reeve, who had been passing an
evening with his friends hearing a recitation of the Koran, came home
and opened the door and, going up with a lighted candle, found a son of
Adam standing in the corner under the ventilator. When he saw this, he
said, "Wah! by Allah, very good forsooth! He who robbeth my stuff is
none other than a man." Then he turned to the Hunchback and said, "So
'tis thou that stealest the meat and the fat! I thought it was the cats
and dogs, and I kill the dogs and cats of the quarter and sin against
them by killing them. And all the while 'tis thou comest down from the
house terrace through the wind shaft. But I will avenge myself upon
thee with my own hand!" So he snatched up a heavy hammer and set upon
him and smote him full on the breast and he fell down. Then he examined
him and, finding that he was dead, cried out in horror, thinking that
he had killed him, and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" And he feared for his life,
and added "Allah curse the oil and the meat and the grease and the
sheep's tails to boot! How hath fate given this man his quietus at my
hand!" Then he looked at the body and seeing it was that of a Gobbo,
said, "Was it not enough for thee to be a hunchback,[FN#501] but thou
must likewise be a thief and prig flesh and fat! O thou Veiler,[FN#502]
deign to veil me with Thy curtain of concealment!" So he took him up on
his shoulders and, going forth with him from his house about the latter
end of the night, carried him to the nearest end of the bazar, where he
set him up on his feet against the wall of a shop at the head of a dark
lane, and left him and went away. After a while up came a
Nazarene,[FN#503] the Sultan's broker who, much bemused with liquor,
was purposing for the Hammam bath as his drunkenness whispered in his
ear, "Verily the call to matins[FN#504] is nigh." He came plodding
along and staggering about till he drew near the Hunchback and squatted
down to make water[FN#505] over against him; when he happened to glance
around and saw a man standing against the wall. Now some person had
snatched off the Christian's turband[FN#506] in the first of the night;
so when he saw the Hunchback hard by he fancied that he also meant to
steal his headdress. Thereupon he clenched his fist and struck him on
the neck, felling him to the ground, and called aloud to the watchman
of the bazar, and came down on the body in his drunken fury and kept on
belabouring and throttling the corpse. Presently the Charley came up
and, finding a Nazarene kneeling on a Moslem and frapping him, asked,
"What harm hath this one done?"; and the Broker answered, "The fellow
meant to snatch off my turband." "Get up from him," quoth the watch
man. So he arose and the Charley went up to the Hunchback and finding
him dead, exclaimed, "By Allah, good indeed! A Christian killing a
Mahometan!" Then he seized the Broker and, tying his hands behind his
back, carried him to the Governor's house,[FN#507] and all the while
the Nazarene kept saying to himself, "O Messiah! O Virgin! how came I
to kill this fellow? And in what a hurry he must have been to depart
this life when he died of a single blow!" Presently, as his drunkenness
fled, came dolour in its stead. So the Broker and the body were kept in
the Governor's place till morning morrowed, when the Wali came out and
gave order to hang the supposed murderer and commanded the
executioner[FN#508] make proclamation of the sentence. Forthwith they
set up a gallows under which they made the Nazarene stand and the torch
bearer, who was hangman, threw the rope round his neck and passed one
end through the pulley, and was about to hoist him up[FN#509] when lo!
the Reeve, who was passing by, saw the Broker about to be hanged; and,
making his way through the people, cried out to the executioner, "Hold!
Hold! I am he who killed the Hunchback!" Asked the Governor, "What made
thee kill him?"; and he answered, "I went home last night and there
found this man who had come down the ventilator to steal my property;
so I smote him with a hammer on the breast and he died forthright. Then
I took him up and carried him to the bazar and set him up against the
wall in such a place near such a lane;" adding, "Is it not enough for
me to have killed a Moslem without also killing a Christian? So hang
none other but me." When the Governor heard these words he released the
Broker and said to the torch bearer, "Hang up this man on his own
confession." So he loosed the cord from the Nazarene's neck and threw
it round that of the Reeve and, making him stand under the gallows
tree, was about to string him up when behold, the Jewish physician
pushed through the people and shouted to the executioner, "Hold! Hold!
It was I and none else killed the Hunchback! Last night I was sitting
at home when a man and a woman knocked at the door carrying this Gobbo
who was sick, and gave my handmaid a quarter dinar, bidding her hand me
the fee and tell me to come down and see him. Whilst she was gone the
man and the woman brought him into the house and, setting him on the
stairs, went away; and presently I came down and not seeing him, for I
was in the dark, stumbled over him and he fell to the foot of the
staircase and died on the moment. Then we took him up, I and my wife,
and carried him on to the top terrace; and, the house of this Reeve
being next door to mine, we let the body down through the ventilator.
When he came home and found the Hunchback in his house, he fancied he
was a thief and struck him with a hammer, so that he fell to the
ground, and our neighbour made certain that he had slain him. Now is it
not enough for me to have killed one Moslem unwittingly, without
burdening myself with taking the life of another Moslem wittingly?"
When the Governor heard this he said to the hangman, "Set free the
Reeve and hang the Jew." Thereupon the torch bearer took him and slung
the cord round his neck when behold, the Tailor pushed through the
people, and shouted to the executioner, "Hold! Hold! It was I and none
else killed the Hunchback; and this was the fashion thereof. I had been
out a pleasuring yesterday and, coming back to supper, fell in with
this Gobbo, who was drunk and drumming away and singing lustily to his
tambourine. So I accosted him and carried him to my house and bought a
fish, and we sat down to eat. Presently my wife took a fid of fish and,
making a gobbet of it,[FN#510] crammed it into his mouth; but some of
it went down the wrong way or stuck in his gullet and he died on the
instant. So we lifted him up, I and my wife, and carried him to the
Jew's house where the slave girl came down and opened the door to us
and I said to her, 'Tell thy master that there are a man and a woman
and a sick person for thee to see!' I gave her a quarter dinar and she
went up to tell her master; and, whilst she was gone, I carried the
Hunchback to the head of the staircase and propped him up against the
wall, and went off with my wife. When the Jew came down he stumbled
over him and thought that he had killed him." Then he asked the Jew,
"Is this the truth?"; and the Jew answered, "Yes." Thereupon the Tailor
turned to the Governor, and said, "Leave go the Jew and hang me." When
the Governor heard the Tailor's tale he marvelled at the matter of this
Hunchback and exclaimed. "Verily this is an adventure which should be
recorded in books!" Then he said to the hangman, "Let the Jew go and
hang the Tailor on his own confession." The executioner took the Tailor
and put the rope around his neck and said, "I am tired of such slow
work: we bring out this one and change him for that other, and no one
is hanged after all!" Now the Hunchback in question was, they relate,
jester to the Sultan of China who could not bear him out of his sight;
so when the fellow got drunk and did not make his appearance that night
or the next day till noon, the Sultan asked some of his courtiers about
him and they answered, "O our lord, the Governor hath come upon him
dead and hath ordered his murderer to be hanged; but, as the hangman
was about to hoist him up there came a second and a third and a fourth
and each one said, 'It is I, and none else killed the Hunchback!' and
each gave a full and circumstantial account of the manner of the jester
being killed." When the King heard this he cried aloud to the
Chamberlain in waiting, "Go down to the Governor and bring me all four
of them." So the Chamberlain went down at once to the place of
execution, where he found the torch bearer on the point of hanging the
Tailor and shouted to him, "Hold! Hold!" Then he gave the King's
command to the Governor who took the Tailor, the Jew, the Nazarene and
the Reeve (the Hunchback's body being borne on men's shoulders) and
went up with one and all of them to the King. When he came into the
presence, he kissed the ground and acquainted the ruler with the whole
story which it is needless to relate for, as they say, There is no
avail in a thrice told tale. The Sultan hearing it marvelled and was
moved to mirth and commanded the story to be written in letters of
liquid gold, saying to those present, "Did ye ever hear a more wondrous
tale than that of my Hunchback?" Thereupon the Nazarene broker came
forward and said, "O King of the age, with thy leave I will tell thee a
thing which happened to myself and which is still more wondrous and
marvellous and pleasurable and delectable than the tale of the
Hunchback." Quoth the King "Tell us what thou hast to say!" So he began
in these words
The Nazarene Broker’s Story.
O King of the age, I came to this thy country with merchandise and
Destiny stayed me here with you: but my place of birth was Cairo, in
Egypt, where I also was brought up, for I am one of the Copts and my
father was a broker before me. When I came to man's estate he departed
this life and I succeeded to his business. One day, as I was sitting in
my shop, behold, there came up to me a youth as handsome as could be,
wearing sumptuous raiment and riding a fine ass.[FN#511] When he saw me
he saluted me, and I stood up to do him honour: then he took out a
kerchief containing a sample of sesame and asked, "How much is this
worth per Ardabb?";[FN#512] whereto I answered, "An hundred dirhams."
Quoth he, "Take porters and gaugers and metesmen and come tomorrow to
the Khan al-Jawáli,[FN#513] by the Gate of Victory quarter where thou
wilt find me." Then he fared forth leaving with me the sample of sesame
in his kerchief; and I went the round of my customers and ascertained
that every Ardabb would fetch an hundred and twenty dirhams. Next day I
took four metesmen and walked with them to the Khan, where I found him
awaiting me. As soon as he saw me he rose and opened his magazine, when
we measured the grain till the store was empty; and we found the
contents fifty Ardabbs, making five thousand pieces of silver. Then
said he, "Let ten dirhams on every Ardabb be thy brokerage; so take the
price and keep in deposit four thousand and five hundred dirhams for
me; and, when I have made an end of selling the other wares in my
warehouses, I will come to thee and receive the amount." "I will well,"
replied I and kissing his hand went away, having made that day a profit
of a thousand dirhams. He was absent a month, at the end of which he
came to me and asked, "Where be the dirhams?" I rose and saluted him
and answered to him, "Wilt thou not eat somewhat in my house?" But he
refused with the remark, "Get the monies ready and I will presently
return and take them." Then he rode away. So I brought out the dirhams
and sat down to await him, but he stayed away for another month, when
he came back and said to me, "Where be the dirhams?" I rose and
saluting him asked, "Wilt thou not eat some thing in my house?" But he
again refused adding, "Get me the monies ready and I will presently
return and take them." Then he rode off. So I brought out the dirhams
and sat down to await his return; but he stayed away from me a third
month, and I said, "Verily this young man is liberality in incarnate
form." At the end of the month he came up, riding a mare mule and
wearing a suit of sumptuous raiment; he was as the moon on the night of
fullness, and he seemed as if fresh from the baths, with his cheeks
rosy bright, and his brow flower white, and a mole spot like a grain of
ambergris delighting the sight; even as was said of such an one by the
poet:—
Full moon with sun in single mansion * In brightest sheen and fortune
rose and shone,
With happy splendour changing every sprite: * Hail to what guerdons
prayer with blissfull boon!
Their charms and grace have gained perfection's height, * All hearts
have conquered and all wits have won.
Laud to the Lord for works so wonder strange, * And what th' Almighty
wills His hand hath done!
When I saw him I rose to him and invoking blessings on him asked, O my
lord, wilt thou not take thy monies?" "Whence the hurry?"[FN#514] quoth
he, "Wait till I have made an end of my business and then I will come
and take them." Again he rode away and I said to myself, "By Allah,
when he comes next time needs must I make him my guest; for I have
traded with his dirhams and have gotten large gains thereby." At the
end of the year he came again, habited in a suit of clothes more
sumptuous than the former; and, when I conjured him by the Evangel to
alight at my house and eat of my guest food, he said, "I consent, on
condition that what thou expendest on me shall be of my monies still in
thy hands. I answered, "So be it," and made him sit down whilst I got
ready what was needful of meat and drink and else besides; and set the
tray before him, with the invitation "Bismillah"![FN#515] Then he drew
near the tray and put out his left hand[FN#516] and ate with me; and I
marvelled at his not using the right hand. When we had done eating, I
poured water on his hand and gave him wherewith to wipe it. Upon this
we sat down to converse after I had set before him some sweetmeats; and
I said to him, "O my master, prithee relieve me by telling me why thou
eatest with thy left hand? Perchance something aileth thy other hand?"
When he heard my words, he repeated these verses:—
"Dear friend, ask not what burneth in my breast, * Lest thou see fiery
pangs eye never saw:
Wills not my heart to harbour Salma in stead * Of Layla's[FN#517] love,
but need hath ne'er a law!"
And he put out his right arm from his sleeve and behold, the hand was
cut off, a wrist without a fist. I was astounded at this but he said,
"Marvel not, and think not that I ate with my left hand for conceit and
insolence, but from necessity; and the cutting off my right hand was
caused by an adventure of the strangest." Asked I, "And what caused
it?"; and he answered:—"Know that I am of the sons of Baghdad and my
father was of notables of that city. When I came to man's estate I
heard the pilgrims and wayfarers, travellers and merchants talk of the
land of Egypt and their words sank deep into my mind till my parent
died, when I took a large sum of money and furnished myself for trade
with stuffs of Baghdad and Mosul and, packing them up in bales, set out
on my wanderings; and Allah decreed me safety till I entered this your
city. Then he wept and began repeating:—
The blear eyed 'scapes the pits * Wherein the lynx eyed fall:
A word the wise man slays * And saves the natural:
The Moslem fails of food * The Kafir feasts in hall:
What art or act is man's? * God's will obligeth all!
Now when he had ended his verse he said, So I entered Cairo and took
off my loads and stored my stuffs in the Khan "Al-Masrúr."[FN#518] Then
I gave the servant a few silvers wherewith to buy me some food and lay
down to sleep awhile. When I awoke I went to the street called "Bayn
al-Kasrayn"—Between the two Palaces—and presently returned and rested
my night in the Khan. When it was morning I opened a bale and took out
some stuff saying to myself, "I will be off and go through some of the
bazars and see the state of the market." So I loaded the stuff on some
of my slaves and fared forth till I reached the Kaysariyah or Exchange
of Jaharkas;[FN#519] where the brokers who knew of my coming came to
meet me. They took the stuffs and cried them for sale, but could not
get the prime cost of them. I was vexed at this, however the Shaykh of
the brokers said to me, "O my lord, I will tell thee how thou mayest
make a profit of thy goods. Thou shouldest do as the merchants do and
sell thy merchandise at credit for a fixed period, on a contract drawn
up by a notary and duly witnessed; and employ a Shroff to take thy dues
every Monday and Thursday. So shalt thou gain two dirhams and more, for
every one; and thou shalt solace and divert thyself by seeing Cairo and
the Nile." Quoth I, "This is sound advice," and carried the brokers to
the Khan. They took my stuffs and went with them on 'Change where I
sold them well taking bonds for the value. These bonds I deposited with
a Shroff, a banker, who gave me a receipt with which I returned to the
Khan. Here I stayed a whole month, every morning breaking my fast with
a cup of wine and making my meals on pigeon's meat, mutton and
sweetmeats, till the time came when my receipts began to fall due. So,
every Monday and Thursday I used to go on 'Change and sit in the shop
of one or other of the merchants, whilst the notary and money changer
went round to recover the monies from the traders, till after the time
of mid afternoon prayer, when they brought me the amount, and I counted
it and, sealing the bags, returned with them to the Khan. On a certain
day which happened to be a Monday,[FN#520] I went to the Hammam and
thence back to my Khan, and sitting in my own room[FN#521] broke my
fast with a cup of wine, after which I slept a little. When I awoke I
ate a chicken and, perfuming my person, repaired to the shop of a
merchant hight Badr al-Din al-Bostáni, or the Gardener,[FN#522] who
welcomed me; and we sat talking awhile till the bazar should open.
Presently, behold, up came a lady of stately figure wearing a
head-dress of the most magnificent, perfumed with the sweetest of
scents and walking with graceful swaying gait; and seeing me she raised
her mantilla allowing me a glimpse of her beautiful black eyes. She
saluted Badr al-Din who returned her salutation and stood up, and
talked with her; and the moment I heard her speak, the love of her got
hold of my heart. Presently she said to Badr al-Din, "Hast thou by thee
a cut piece of stuff woven with thread of pure gold?" So he brought out
to her a piece from those he had bought of me and sold it to her for
one thousand two hundred dirhams; when she said, "I will take the piece
home with me and send thee its price." "That is impossible, O my lady,"
the merchant replied, "for here is the owner of the stuff and I owe him
a share of profit." "Fie upon thee!" she cried, "Do I not use to take
from thee entire rolls of costly stuff, and give thee a greater profit
than thou expectest, and send thee the money?" "Yes," rejoined he; "but
I stand in pressing need of the price this very day." Hereupon she took
up the piece and threw it back upon his lap, saying "Out on thee! Allah
confound the tribe of you which estimates none at the right value;" and
she turned to go. I felt my very soul going with her; so I stood up and
stayed her, saying, "I conjure thee by the Lord, O my lady, favour me
by retracing thy gracious steps." She turned back with a smile and
said, "For thy sake I return," and took a seat opposite me in the shop.
Then quoth I to Badr al-Din, "What is the price they asked thee for
this piece?"; and quoth he, "Eleven hundred dirhams." I rejoined, "The
odd hundred shall be thy profit: bring me a sheet of paper and I will
write thee a discharge for it." Then I wrote him a receipt in my own
handwriting and gave the piece to the lady, saying, "Take it away with
thee and, if thou wilt, bring me its price next bazar day; or better
still, accept it as my guest gift to thee." "Allah requite thee with
good," answered she, "and make thee my husband and lord and master of
all I have!"[FN#523] And Allah favoured her prayer. I saw the Gates of
Paradise swing open before me and said, "O my lady, let this piece of
stuff be now thine and another like it is ready for thee, only let me
have one look at thy face." So she raised her veil and I saw a face the
sight of which bequeathed to me a thousand sighs, and my heart was so
captivated by her love that I was no longer ruler of my reason. Then
she let fall her face veil and taking up the piece of stuff said, "O my
lord make me not desolate by thine absence!" and turned away and
disappeared from my sight. I remained sitting on 'Change till past the
hour of after noon prayer, lost to the world by the love which had
mastered me, and the violence of my passion compelled me to make
enquiries concerning her of the merchant, who answered me, "This is a
lady and a rich: she is the daughter of a certain Emir who lately died
and left her a large fortune." Then I took leave of him and returned
home to the Khan where they set supper before me; but I could not eat
for thinking of her and when I lay down to sleep, sleep came not near
me. So I watched till morning, when I arose and donned a change of
raiment and drank a cup of wine and, after breaking my fast on some
slight matter, I went to the merchant's shop where I saluted him and
sat down by him. Presently up came the lady as usual, followed by a
slave girl and wearing a dress more sumptuous than before; and she
saluted me without noticing Badr al-Din and said in fluent graceful
speech (never heard I voice softer or sweeter), "Send one with me to
take the thousand and two hundred dirhams, the price of the piece."
"Why this hurry?" asked I and she answered, "May we never lose
thee!"[FN#524] and handed me the money. Then I sat talking with her and
presently I signed to her in dumb show, whereby she understood that I
longed to enjoy her person,[FN#525] and she rose up in haste with a
show of displeasure. My heart clung to her and I went forth from the
bazar and followed on her track. As I was walking suddenly a black
slave girl stopped me and said, "O my master, come speak with my
mistress."[FN#526] At this I was surprised and replied, "There is none
who knows me here;" but she rejoined, "O my lord, how soon hast thou
forgotten her! My lady is the same who was this day at the shop of such
a merchant." Then I went with her to the Shroff's, where I found the
lady who drew me to her side and said, "O my beloved, thine image is
firmly stamped upon my fancy, and love of thee hath gotten hold of my
heart: from the hour I first saw thee nor sleep nor food nor drink hath
given me aught of pleasure." I replied, "The double of that suffering
is mine and my state dispenseth me from complaint." Then said she, "O
my beloved, at thy house, or at mine?" "I am a stranger here and have
no place of reception save the Khan, so by thy favour it shall be at
thy house." "So be it; but this is Friday[FN#527] night and nothing can
be done till tomorrow after public prayers; go to the Mosque and pray;
then mount thine ass, and ask for the Habbániyah[FN#528] quarter; and,
when there, look out for the mansion of Al-Nakib[FN#529] Barakát,
popularly known as Abu Shámah the Syndic; for I live there: so do not
delay as I shall be expecting thee." I rejoiced with still greater joy
at this; and took leave of her and returned to my Khan, where I passed
a sleepless night. Hardly was I assured that morning had dawned when I
rose, changed my dress, perfumed myself with essences and sweet scents
and, taking fifty dinars in a kerchief, went from the Khan Masrúr to
the Zuwaylah[FN#530] gate, where I mounted an ass and said to its
owner, "Take me to the Habbaniyah." So he set off with me and brought
up in the twinkling of an eye at a street known as Darb al-Munkari,
where I said to him, "Go in and ask for the Syndic's mansion." He was
absent a while and then returned and said, "Alight." "Go thou before me
to the house," quoth I, adding, "Come back with the earliest light and
bring me home;" and he answered, "In Allah's name;" whereupon I gave
him a quarter dinar of gold, and he took it and went his ways. Then I
knocked at the door and out came two white slave girls, both young;
high-bosomed virgins, as they were moons, and said to me, "Enter, for
our mistress is expecting thee and she hath not slept the night long
for her delight in thee." I passed through the vestibule into a saloon
with seven doors, floored with parti-coloured marbles and furnished
with curtains and hangings of coloured silks: the ceiling was cloisonné
with gold and corniced with inscriptions[FN#531] emblazoned in lapis
lazuli; and the walls were stuccoed with Sultání gypsum[FN#532] which
mirrored the beholder's face. Around the saloon were latticed windows
overlooking a garden full of all manner of fruits; whose streams were
railing and rilling and whose birds were trilling and shrilling; and in
the heart of the hall was a jetting fountain at whose corners stood
birds fashioned in red gold crusted with pearls and gems and spouting
water crystal clear. When I entered and took a seat.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Twenty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
merchant continued, When I entered and took a seat, the lady at once
came in crowned with a diadem[FN#533] of pearls and jewels; her face
dotted with artificial moles in indigo,[FN#534] her eyebrows pencilled
with Kohl and her hands and feet reddened with Henna. When she saw me
she smiled in my face and took me to her embrace and clasped me to her
breast; then she put her mouth to my mouth and sucked my tongue[FN#535]
(and I did likewise) and said, "Can it be true, O my little darkling,
thou art come to me?" adding, "Welcome and good cheer to thee! By
Allah, from the day I saw thee sleep hath not been sweet to me nor hath
food been pleasant." Quoth I, "Such hath also been my case: and I am
thy slave, thy negro slave." Then we sat down to converse and I hung my
head earthwards in bashfulness, but she delayed not long ere she set
before me a tray of the most exquisite viands, marinated meats,
fritters soaked in bee's[FN#536] honeys and chickens stuffed with sugar
and pistachio nuts, whereof we ate till we were satisfied. Then they
brought basin and ewer and I washed my hands and we scented ourselves
with rose water musk'd and sat down again to converse. So she began
repeating these couplets[FN#537]:
"Had we wist of thy coming, thy way had been strown
With the blood of our heart and the balls of our sight:
Our cheek as a foot cloth to greet thee been thrown,
That thy step on our eyelids should softly alight."
And she kept plaining of what had befallen her and I of what had
betided me; and love of her gat so firm hold of my heart that all my
wealth seemed a thing of naught in comparison with her. Then we fell to
toying and groping and kissing till night fall, when the handmaidens
set before us meats and a complete wine service, and we sat carousing
till the noon of night, when we lay down and I lay with her; never in
my life saw I a night like that night. When morning morrowed I arose
and took leave of her, throwing under the carpet bed the kerchief
wherein were the dinars[FN#538] and as I went out she wept and said, "O
my lord, when shall I look upon that lovely face again?" "I will be
with thee at sunset," answered I, and going out found the donkey boy,
who had brought me the day before, awaiting at the door. So I mounted
ass and rode to the Khan of Masrur where I alighted and gave the man a
half dinar, saying, "Return at sunset;" and he said "I will." Then I
breakfasted and went out to seek the price of my stuffs; after which I
returned, and taking a roast lamb and some sweetmeats, called a porter
and put the provision in his crate, and sent it to the lady paying the
man his hire.[FN#539] I went back to my business till sunset, when the
ass driver came to me and I took fifty dinars in a kerchief and rode to
her house where I found the marble floor swept, the brasses burnisht,
the branch lights burning, the wax candles ready lighted, the meat
served up and the wine strained.[FN#540] When my lady saw me she threw
her arms about my neck, and cried, "Thou hast desolated me by thine
absence." Then she set the tables before me and we ate till we were
satisfied, when the slave girls carried off the trays and served up
wine. We gave not over drinking till half the night was past; and,
being well warmed with drink, we went to the sleeping chamber and lay
there till morning. I then arose and fared forth from her leaving the
fifty dinars with her as before; and, finding the donkey boy at the
door, rode to the Khan and slept awhile. After that I went out to make
ready the evening meal and took a brace of geese with gravy on two
platters of dressed and peppered rice, and got ready
colocasia[FN#541]-roots fried and soaked in honey, and wax candles and
fruits and conserves and nuts and almonds and sweet scented flowers;
and I sent them all to her. As soon as it was night I again tied up
fifty dinars in a kerchief and, mounting the ass as usual, rode to the
mansion where we ate and drank and lay together till morning when I
threw the kerchief and dinars to her[FN#542] and rode back to the Khan.
I ceased not doing after that fashion till, after a sweet night, I woke
one fine morning and found myself beggared, dinar-less and dirhamless.
So said I to myself "All this be Satan's work;" and began to recite
these couplets:—
"Poverty dims the sheen of man whate'er his wealth has been, * E'en as
the sun about to set shines with a yellowing light
Absent he falls from memory, forgotten by his friends; * Present he
shareth not their joys for none in him delight
He walks the market shunned of all, too glad to hide his head, * In
desert places tears he sheds and moans his bitter plight
By Allah, 'mid his kith and kin a man, however good, * Waylaid by want
and penury is but a stranger wight!"
I fared forth from the Khan and walked down "Between the Palaces"
street till I came to the Zuwaylah Porte, where I found the people
crowding and the gateway blocked for the much folk. And by the decree
of Destiny I saw there a trooper against whom I pressed
unintentionally, so that my hand came upon his bosom pocket and I felt
a purse inside it. I looked and seeing a string of green silk hanging
from the pocket knew it for a purse; and the crush grew greater every
minute and just then, a camel laden with a load of fuel happened to
jostle the trooper on the opposite side, and he turned round to fend it
off from him, lest it tear his clothes; and Satan tempted me, so I
pulled the string and drew out a little bag of blue silk, containing
something which chinked like coin. But the soldier, feeling his pocket
suddenly lightened, put his hand to it and found it empty; whereupon he
turned to me and, snatching up his mace from his saddle bow, struck me
with it on the head. I fell to the ground, whilst the people came round
us and seizing the trooper's mare by the bridle said to him, "Strikest
thou this youth such a blow as this for a mere push!" But the trooper
cried out at them, "This fellow is an accursed thief!" Whereupon I came
to myself and stood up, and the people looked at me and said, "Nay, he
is a comely youth: he would not steal anything;" and some of them took
my part and others were against me and question and answer waxed loud
and warm. The people pulled at me and would have rescued me from his
clutches; but as fate decreed behold, the Governor, the Chief of
Police, and the watch[FN#543] entered the Zuwaylah Gate at this moment
and, seeing the people gathered together around me and the soldier, the
Governor asked, "What is the matter?" "By Allah! O Emir," answered the
trooper, "this is a thief! I had in my pocket a purse of blue silk
lined with twenty good gold pieces and he took it, whilst I was in the
crush." Quoth the Governor, "Was any one by thee at the time?"; and
quoth the soldier, "No." Thereupon the Governor cried out to the Chief
of Police who seized me, and on this wise the curtain of the Lord's.
protection was withdrawn from me. Then he said "Strip him;" and, when
they stripped me, they found the purse in my clothes. The Wali took it,
opened it and counted it; and, finding in it twenty dinars as the
soldier had said, waxed exceeding wroth and bade his guard bring me
before him. Then said he to me, "Now, O youth, speak truly: didst thou
steal this purse?"[FN#544] At this I hung my head to the ground and
said to myself, "If I deny having stolen it, I shall get myself into
terrible trouble." So I raised my head and said, "Yes, I took it." When
the Governor heard these words he wondered and summoned witnesses who
came forward and attested my confession. All this happened at the
Zuwaylah Gate. Then the Governor ordered the link bearer to cut off my
right hand, and he did so; after which he would have struck off my left
foot also; but the heart of the soldier softened and he took pity on me
and interceded for me with the Governor that I should not be
slain.[FN#545] Thereupon the Wali left me, and went away and the folk
remained round me and gave me a cup of wine to drink. As for the
trooper he pressed the purse upon me, and said, "Thou art a comely
youth and it befitteth not thou be a thief." So I repeated these
verses:—
"I swear by Allah's name, fair sir! no thief was I, * Nor, O thou best
of men! was I a bandit bred:
But Fortune's change and chance o'erthrew me suddenly, * And cark and
care and penury my course misled:
I shot it not, indeed, 'twas Allah shot the shaft * That rolled in dust
the Kingly diadem from my head."[FN#546]
The soldier turned away after giving me the purse; and I also went my
ways having wrapped my hand in a piece of rag and thrust it into my
bosom. My whole semblance had changed, and my colour had waxed yellow
from the shame and pain which had befallen me. Yet I went on to my
mistress's house where, in extreme perturbation of spirit I threw
myself down on the carpet bed. She saw me in this state and asked me,
"What aileth thee and why do I see thee so changed in looks?"; and I
answered, "My head paineth me and I am far from well." Whereupon she
was vexed and was concerned on my account and said, "Burn not my heart,
O my lord, but sit up and raise thy head and recount to me what hath
happened to thee today, for thy face tells me a tale." "Leave this
talk," replied I. But she wept and said, "Me seems thou art tired of
me, for I see thee contrary to thy wont." But I was silent; and she
kept on talking to me albeit I gave her no answer, till night came on.
Then she set food before me, but I refused it fearing lest she see me
eating with my left hand and said to her, "I have no stomach to eat at
present." Quoth she, "Tell me what hath befallen thee to day, and why
art thou so sorrowful and broken in spirit and heart?" Quoth I, "Wait
awhile; I will tell thee all at my leisure." Then she brought me wine,
saying, "Down with it, this will dispel thy grief: thou must indeed
drink and tell me of thy tidings." I asked her, "Perforce must I tell
thee?"; and she answered, "Yes." Then said I, "If it needs must be so,
then give me to drink with thine own hand." She filled and
drank,[FN#547] and filled again and gave me the cup which I took from
her with my left hand and wiped the tears from my eyelids and began
repeating:
"When Allah willeth aught befall a man * Who hath of ears and eyes and
wits full share:
His ears He deafens and his eyes He blinds * And draws his wits e'en as
we draw a hair[FN#548]
Till, having wrought His purpose, He restores * Man's wits, that warned
more circumspect he fare."
When I ended my verses I wept, and she cried out with an exceeding loud
cry, "What is the cause of thy tears? Thou burnest my heart! What makes
thee take the cup with thy left hand?" Quoth I, "Truly I have on my
right hand a boil;" and quoth she, "Put it out and I will open it for
thee."[FN#549] "It is not yet time to open it," I replied, "so worry me
not with thy words, for I will not take it out of the bandage at this
hour." Then I drank off the cup, and she gave not over plying me with
drink until drunkenness overcame me and I fell asleep in the place
where I was sitting; whereupon she looked at my right hand and saw a
wrist without a fist. So she searched me closely and found with me the
purse of gold and my severed hand wrapped up in the bit of rag.[FN#550]
With this such sorrow came upon her as never overcame any and she
ceased not lamenting on my account till the morning. When I awoke I
found that she had dressed me a dish of broth of four boiled chickens,
which she brought to me together with a cup of wine. I ate and drank
and laying down the purse, would have gone out; but she said to me,
"Whither away?"; and I answered, "Where my business calleth me;" and
said she, "Thou shalt not go: sit thee down." So I sat down and she
resumed, "Hath thy love for me so overpowered thee that thou hast
wasted all thy wealth and hast lost thine hand on my account? I take
thee to witness against me and also Allah be my witness that I will
never part with thee, but will die under thy feet; and soon thou shalt
see that my words are true." Then she sent for the Kazi and witnesses
and said to them, "Write my contract of marriage with this young man,
and bear ye witness that I have received the marriage
settlement."[FN#551] When they had drawn up the document she said, "Be
witness that all my monies which are in this chest and all I have in
slaves and handmaidens and other property is given in free gift to this
young man." So they took act of this statement enabling me to assume
possession in right of marriage; and then withdrew, after receiving
their fees. Thereupon she took me by the hand and, leading me to a
closet, opened a large chest and said to me, "See what is herein;" and
I looked and behold, it was full of kerchiefs. Quoth she, "This is the
money I had from thee and every kerchief thou gavest me, containing
fifty dinars, I wrapped up and cast into this chest; so now take thine
own, for it returns to thee, and this day thou art become of high
estate. Fortune and Fate afflicted thee so that thou didst lose thy
right hand for my sake; and I can never requite thee; nay, although I
gave my life 'twere but little and I should still remain thy debtor."
Then she added, "Take charge of thy property."; so I transferred the
contents of her chest to my chest, and added my wealth to her wealth
which I had given her, and my heart was eased and my sorrow ceased. I
stood up and kissed her and thanked her; and she said, "Thou hast given
thy hand for love of me and how am I able to give thee an equivalent?
By Allah, if I offered my life for thy love, it were indeed but little
and would not do justice to thy claim upon me." Then she made over to
me by deed all that she possessed in clothes and ornaments of gold and
pearls, and goods and farms and chattels, and lay not down to sleep
that night, being sorely grieved for my grief, till I told her the
whole of what had befallen me. I passed the night with her. But before
we had lived together a month's time she fell sorely sick and illness
increased upon her, by reason of her grief for the loss of my hand, and
she endured but fifty days before she was numbered among the folk of
futurity and heirs of immortality. So I laid her out and buried her
body in mother earth and let make a pious perlection of the
Koran[FN#552] for the health of her soul, and gave much money in alms
for her; after which I turned me from the grave and returned to the
house. There I found that she had left much substance in ready money
and slaves, mansions, lands and domains, and among her store houses was
a granary of sesame seed, whereof I sold part to thee; and I had
neither time nor inclination to take count with thee till I had sold
the rest of the stock in store; nor, indeed, even now have I made an
end of receiving the price. So I desire thou baulk me not in what I am
about to say to thee: twice have I eaten of thy food and I wish to give
thee as a present the monies for the sesame which are by thee. Such is
the cause of the cutting off my right hand and my eating with my left."
"Indeed," said I, "thou hast shown me the utmost kindness and
liberality." Then he asked me, "Why shouldst thou not travel with me to
my native country whither I am about to return with Cairene and
Alexandrian stuffs? Say me, wilt thou accompany me?"; and I answered "I
will." So I agreed to go with him at the head of the month, and I sold
all I had and bought other merchandise; then we set out and travelled,
I and the young man, to this country of yours, where he sold his
venture and bought other investment of country stuffs and continued his
journey to Egypt But it was my lot to abide here, so that these things
befell me in my strangerhood which befell last night, and is not this
tale, O King of the age, more wondrous and marvellous than the story of
the Hunchback? "Not so," quoth the King, "I cannot accept it: there is
no help for it but that you be hanged, every one of you."—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King of
China declared "There is no help for it but that you be hanged," the
Reeve of the Sultan's Kitchen came forward and said, "If thou permit me
I will tell thee a tale of what befell me just before I found this
Gobbo, and, if it be more wondrous than his story, do thou grant us our
lives." And when the King answered "Yes" he began to recount
The Reeve’s Tale.
Know, O King, that last night I was at a party where they made a
perlection of the Koran and got together doctors of law and religion
skilled in recitation and intoning; and, when the readers ended, the
table was spread and amongst other things they set before us was a
marinated ragout[FN#553] flavoured with cumin seed. So we sat down, but
one of our number held back and refused to touch it. We conjured him to
eat of it but he swore he would not; and, when we again pressed him, he
said, "Be not instant with me; sufficeth me that which hath already
befallen me through eating it", and he began reciting:
"Shoulder thy tray and go straight to thy goal; * And, if suit thee
this Kohl why,-use this Kohl!"[FN#554]
When he ended his verse we said to him, "Allah upon thee, tell us thy
reason for refusing to eat of the cumin ragout?" “If so it be,” he
replied, "and needs must I eat of it, I will not do so except I wash my
hand forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times
with galangale,[FN#555] the total being one hundred and twenty
washings." Thereupon the hospitable host bade his slaves bring water
and whatso he required; and the young man washed his hand as afore
mentioned. Then he sat down, as if disgusted and frightened withal, and
dipping his hand in the ragout, began eating and at the same time
showing signs of anger. And we wondered at him with extreme wonderment,
for his hand trembled and the morsel in it shook and we saw that his
thumb had been cut off and he ate with his four fingers only. So we
said to him, "Allah upon thee, what happened to thy thumb? Is thy hand
thus by the creation of God or hath some accident befallen it?" "O my
brothers," he answered, "it is not only thus with this thumb, but also
with my other thumb and with both my great toes, as you shall see." So
saying he uncovered his left hand and his feet, and we saw that the
left hand was even as the right and in like manner that each of his
feet lacked its great toe. When we saw him after this fashion, our
amazement waxed still greater and we said to him, "We have hardly
patience enough to await thy history and to hear the manner of the
cutting off of thy thumbs, and the reason of thy washing both hands one
hundred and twenty times." Know then, said he, that my father was chief
of the merchants and the wealthiest of them all in Baghdad city during
the reign of the Caliph Harun al Rashid; and he was much given to wine
drinking and listening to the lute and the other instruments of
pleasaunce; so that when he died he left nothing. I buried him and had
perlections of the Koran made for him, and mourned for him days and
nights: then I opened his shop and found that he had left in it few
goods, while his debts were many. However I compounded with his
creditors for time to settle their demands and betook myself to buying
and selling, paying them something from week to week on account; and I
gave not over doing this till I had cleared off his obligations in full
and began adding to my principal. One day, as I sat in my shop,
suddenly and unexpectedly there appeared before me a young lady, than
whom I never saw a fairer, wearing the richest raiment and ornaments
and riding a she mule, with one negro slave walking before her and
another behind her. She drew rein at the head of the exchange bazar and
entered followed by an eunuch who said to her, "O my lady come out and
away without telling anyone, lest thou light a fire which will burn us
all up." Moreover he stood before her guarding her from view whilst she
looked at the merchants' shops. She found none open but mine; so she
came up with the eunuch behind her and sitting down in my shop saluted
me; never heard I aught fairer than her speech or sweeter than her
voice. Then she unveiled her face, and I saw that she was like the moon
and I stole a glance at her whose sight caused me a thousand sighs, and
my heart was captivated with love of her, and I kept looking again and
again upon her face repeating these verses:—
"Say to the charmer in the dove hued veil, * Death would be welcome to
abate thy bale!
Favour me with thy favours that I live: * See, I stretch forth my palm
to take thy vail!