while she refused herself to him saying, "Thou canst not possess me."
They ceased not to make love and enjoy their wine and wassail, whilst
Ghanim was drowned in the sea of love and longing; but she redoubled in
coyness and cruelty till the night brought on the darkness and let fall
on them the skirts of sleep. Thereupon Ghanim rose and lit the lamps and
wax-candles, and refreshed the room and removed the table; then he took
her feet and kissed them and, finding them like fresh cream, pressed his
face[112] on them and said to her, "O my lady, take pity on one thy love
hath ta'en and thine eyes hath slain; for indeed I were heart-whole but
for thy bane!" And he wept somewhat. "O my lord, and light of my eyes,"
quoth she, "by Allah, I love thee in very sooth and I trust to thy
truth, but I know that I may not be thine." "And what is the obstacle?"
asked he; when she answered, "To-night I will tell thee my tale, that
thou mayst accept my excuse." Then she threw herself upon him and
winding her arms like a necklace about his neck, kissed him and caressed
him and promised him her favours; and they ceased not playing and
laughing till love gat the firmest hold upon both their hearts. And so
it continued a whole month, both passing the night on a single
carpet-bed, but whenever he would enjoy her, she put him off; whilst
mutual love increased upon them and each could hardly abstain from
other. One night, as he lay by her side, and both were warm with wine,
Ghanim passed his hand over her breasts and stroked them; then he
slipped it down to her waist as far as her navel. She awoke and, sitting
up, put her hand to her trousers and finding them fast tied, once more
fell asleep. Presently, he again felt her and sliding his hand down to
her trouser-string, began pulling at it, whereupon she awoke and sat
upright. Ghanim also sat up by her side and she asked him, "What dost
thou want?" "I want to lie with thee," he answered, "and that we may
deal openly and frankly with each other." Quoth she, "I must now declare
to thee my case, that thou mayst know my quality; then will my secret be
disclosed to thee and my excuse become manifest to thee." Quoth he, "So
be it!" Thereat she opened the skirt of her shift and, taking up her
trouser-string, said to him, "O my lord, read what is worked on the flat
of this string:" so he took it in hand, and saw these words broidered on
it in gold, "I AM THINE, AND THOU ART MINE, O COUSIN OF THE
APOSTLE!"[113] When he read this, he withdrew his hand and said to her,
"Tell me who thou art!" "So be it," answered she; "know that I am one of
the concubines of the Commander of the Faithful, and my name is Kut
al-Kulub—the Food of Hearts. I was brought up in his palace and, when I
grew to woman's estate, he looked on me and, noting what share of beauty
and loveliness the Creator had given me, loved me with exceeding love,
and assigned me a separate apartment, and gave me ten slave-girls to
wait on me and all these ornaments thou seest me wearing. On a certain
day he set out for one of his provinces, and the Lady Zubaydah came to
one of the slave-girls in my service and said to her:—I have something
to require of thee. What is it, O my lady? asked she and the Caliph's
wife answered:—When thy mistress Kut al-Kulub is asleep, put this piece
of Bhang into her nostrils or drop it into her drink, and thou shalt
have of me as much money as will satisfy thee. With love and gladness;
replied the girl and took the Bhang from her, being a glad woman because
of the money and because aforetime she had been one of Zubaydah's
slaves. So she put the Bhang in my drink, and when it was night I drank,
and the drug had no sooner settled in my stomach than I fell to the
ground, my head touching my feet, and knew naught of my life but that I
was in another world. When her device succeeded, she bade put me in this
chest, and secretly brought in the slaves and the doorkeepers and bribed
them; and, on the night when thou wast perched upon the date-tree, she
sent the blacks to do with me as thou sawest. So my delivery was at thy
hands, and thou broughtest me to this house and hast entreated me
honourably and with thy kindest. This is my story, and I wot not what is
become of the Caliph during my absence. Know then my condition and
divulge not my case." When Ghanim heard her words and knew that she was
a concubine of the Caliph, he drew back, for awe of the Caliphate beset
him, and sat apart from her in one of the corners of the place, blaming
himself and brooding over his affair and patiencing his heart bewildered
for love of one he could not possess. Then he wept for excess of
longing, and plained him of Fortune and her injuries, and the world and
its enmities (and praise be to Him who causeth generous hearts to be
troubled with love and the beloved, and who endoweth not the minds of
the mean and miserly with so much of it as eveneth a grain-weight!). So
he began repeating:—
The lover's heart for his beloved must meet ✿ Sad pain, and from
her charms bear sore defeat:
What is Loves taste? They asked and answered I, ✿ Sweet is the
taste but ah! 'tis bitter-sweet.
Thereupon Kut al-Kulub arose and took him to her bosom and kissed him;
for the love of him was firm fixed in her heart, so that she disclosed
to him her secret and all the affection she felt; and, throwing her arms
round Ghanim's neck like a collar of pearls, kissed him again and yet
again. But he held off from her in awe of the Caliph. Then they talked
together a long while (and indeed both were drowned in the sea of their
mutual love); and, as the day broke, Ghanim rose and donned his clothes
and going to the bazar, as was his wont, took what the occasion required
and returned home. He found her weeping; but when she saw him she
checked herself and, smiling through her tears, said, "Thou hast
desolated me, O beloved of my heart. By Allah, this hour of absence hath
been to me like a year![114] I have explained to thee my condition in
the excess of my eager love for thee; so come now near me, and forget
the past and have thy will of me." But he interrupted her crying, "I
seek refuge with Allah! This thing may never be. How shall the dog sit
in the lion's stead? What is the lord's is unlawful to the slave!" So he
withdrew from her, and sat down on a corner of the mat. Her passion for
him increased with his forbearance; so she seated herself by his side
and caroused and played with him, till the two were flushed with wine,
and she was mad for her own dishonour. Then she sang these verses:—
[Illustration]
The lover's heart is like to break in twain: ✿ Till when these
coy denials ah! till when?
O thou who fliest me sans fault of mine, ✿ Gazelles are wont at
times prove tame to men:
Absence, aversion, distance and disdain, ✿ How shall young lover
all these ills sustain?
Thereupon Ghanim wept and she wept at his weeping, and they ceased not
drinking till nightfall, when he rose and spread two beds, each in its
place. "For whom is this second bed?" asked she, and he answered her,
"One is for me and the other is for thee: from this night forth we must
not sleep save thus, for that which is the lord's is unlawful to the
thrall." "O my master!" cried she, "let us have done with this, for all
things come to pass by Fate and Fortune." But he refused, and the fire
was lighted in her heart and, as her longing waxed fiercer, she clung to
him and cried, "By Allah, we will not sleep save side by side!" "Allah
forefend!" he replied and prevailed against her and lay apart till the
morning, when love and longing redoubled on her and distraction and
eager thirst of passion. They abode after this fashion three full-told
months, which were long and longsome indeed, and every time she made
advances to him, he would refuse himself and say, "Whatever belongeth to
the master is unlawful to the man." Now when time waxed tiresome and
tedious to her and anguish and distress grew on her, she burst out from
her oppressed heart with these verses:—
How long, rare beauty! wilt do wrong to me? ✿ Who was it bade thee
not belong to me?
With outer charms thou weddest inner grace ✿ Comprising every point
of piquancy:
Passion thou hast infused in every heart, ✿ From eyelids driven
sleep by deputy:
Erst was (I wot) the spray made thin of leaf ✿ O Cassia-spray!
Unlief thy sin I see:[115]
The hart erst hunted I: how is't I spy ✿ The hunter hunted (fair
my hart!) by thee?
Wondrouser still I tell thee aye that I ✿ Am trapped while never up
to trap thou be!
Ne'er grant my prayer! For if I grudge thyself ✿ To thee, I grudge
my _me_ more jealously;
And cry so long as life belong to me, ✿ Rare beauty how, how long
this wrong to me?
They abode in this state a long time, and fear kept Ghanim aloof from
her. So far concerning these two; but as regards the Lady Zubaydah,
when, in the Caliph's absence she had done this deed by Kut al-Kulub she
became perplexed, saying to herself, "What shall I tell my cousin when
he comes back and asks for her? What possible answer can I make to him?"
Then she called an old woman, who was about her and discovered her
secret to her saying, "How shall I act seeing that Kut al-Kulub died by
such untimely death?" "O my lady," quoth the old crone, "the time of the
Caliph's return is near; so do thou send for a carpenter and bid him
make thee a figure of wood in the form of a corpse. We will dig a grave
for it midmost the palace and there bury it: then do thou build an
oratory over it and set therein lighted candles and lamps, and order
each and every in the palace to be clad in black.[116] Furthermore
command thy handmaids and eunuchs as soon as they know of the Caliph's
returning from his journey, to spread straw over the vestibule-floors
and, when the Commander of the Faithful enters and asks what is the
matter, let them say:—Kut al-Kulub is dead, and may Allah abundantly
compensate thee for the loss of her![117]; and, for the high esteem in
which she was held of our mistress, she hath buried her in her own
palace. When he hears this he will weep and it shall be grievous to him;
then will he cause perlections of the Koran to be made for her and he
will watch by night at her tomb. Should he say to himself:—Verily
Zubaydah, the daughter of my uncle, hath compassed in her jealousy the
death of Kut al-Kulub; or, if love-longing overcome him and he bid her
be taken out of her tomb, fear thou not; for when they dig down and come
to the image in human shape he will see it shrouded in costly
grave-clothes; and, if he wish to take off the winding-sheet that he may
look upon her, do thou forbid him or let some other forbid him,
saying:—The sight of her nakedness is unlawful. The fear of the world to
come will restrain him and he will believe that she is dead and will
restore the figure to its place and thank thee for thy doings; and thus
thou shalt escape, please Almighty Allah, from this slough of despond."
When the Lady Zubaydah heard her words, she commended the counsel and
gave her a dress of honour and a large sum of money, ordering her to do
all she had said. So the old woman set about the business forthright and
bade the carpenter make her the aforesaid image; and, as soon as it was
finished, she brought it to the lady Zubaydah, who shrouded it and
buried it and built a sepulchre over it, wherein they lighted candles
and lamps, and laid down carpets about the tomb. Moreover she put on
black and she spread abroad in the Harim that Kut al-Kulub was dead.
After a time the Caliph returned from his journey and went up to the
palace, thinking only of Kut al-Kulub. He saw all the pages and eunuchs
and handmaids habited in black, at which his heart fluttered with
extreme fear; and, when he went in to the Lady Zubaydah, he found her
also garbed in black. So he asked the cause of this and they gave him
tidings of the death of Kut al-Kulub, whereon he fell a-swooning. As
soon as he came to himself, he asked for her tomb, and the Lady Zubaydah
said to him, "Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that for especial honour I
have buried her in my own palace." Then he repaired in his
travelling-garb[118] to the tomb that he might wail over her, and found
the carpets spread and the candles and lamps lighted. When he saw this,
he thanked Zubaydah for her good deed and abode perplexed, halting
between belief and unbelief till at last suspicion overcame him and he
gave order to open the grave and take out the body. When he saw the
shroud and would have removed it to look upon her, the fear of Allah
Almighty restrained him, and the old woman (taking advantage of the
delay) said, "Restore her to her place." Then he sent at once for Fakirs
and Koran-readers, and caused perlections to be made over her tomb and
sat by the side of the grave, weeping till he fainted; and he continued
to frequent the tomb and sit there for a whole month,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Forty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph ceased
not to frequent the tomb for the period of a whole month, at the end of
which time it so happened one day that he entered the Serraglio, after
dismissing the Emirs and Wazirs, and lay down and slept awhile; and
there sat at his head a slave-girl fanning him, and at his feet a second
rubbing and shampooing them. Presently he awoke and, opening his eyes,
shut them again and heard the handmaid at his head saying to her who was
at his feet, "A nice business this, O Khayzarán!" and the other answered
her "Well, O Kazíb al-Bán?"[119] "Verily" said the first, "our lord
knoweth naught of what hath happened and sitteth waking and watching by
a tomb wherein is only a log of wood carved by the carpenter's art."
"And Kut al-Kulub," quoth the other, "what hath befallen her?" She
replied, "Know that the Lady Zubaydah sent a pellet of Bhang by one of
the slave-women who was bribed to drug her; and when sleep overpowered
her she let put her in a chest, and ordered Sawab and Kafur and Bukhayt
to throw her amongst the tombs." "What dost thou say, O Kazíb al-Bán;"
asked Khayzarán, "is not the lady Kut al-Kulub dead?" "Nay, by Allah!"
she answered "and long may her youth be saved from death! but I have
heard the Lady Zubaydah say that she is in the house of a young merchant
named Ghanim bin Ayyub of Damascus, hight the Distraught, the Thrall o'
Love; and she hath been with him these four months, whilst our lord is
weeping and watching by night at a tomb wherein is no corpse." They kept
on talking this sort of talk, and the Caliph gave ear to their words;
and, by the time they had ceased speaking, he knew right well that the
tomb was a feint and a fraud, and that Kut al-Kulub had been in Ghanim's
house for four months. Whereupon he was angered with exceeding anger and
rising up, he summoned the Emirs of his state; and his Wazir Ja'afar the
Barmaki came also and kissed the ground between his hands. The Caliph
said to him in fury; "Go down, O Ja'afar, with a party of armed men and
ask for the house of Ghanim son of Ayyub: fall upon it and spoil it and
bring him to me with my slave-girl, Kut al-Kulub, for there is no help
but that I punish him!" "To hear is to obey," said Ja'afar; and setting
out with the Governor and the guards and a world of people, repaired to
Ghanim's house. Now about that time the youth happened to have brought
back a pot of dressed meat and was about to put forth his hand to eat of
it, he and Kut al-Kulub, when the lady, happening to look out saw
calamity surrounding the house on every side; for the Wazir and the
Governor, the night-guard and the Mamelukes with swords drawn had girt
it as the white of the eye girdeth the black. At this she knew that
tidings of her had reached the Caliph, her lord; and she made sure of
ruin, and her colour paled and her fair features changed and her favour
faded. Then she turned to Ghanim and said to him, "O my love? fly for
thy life!" "What shall I do," asked he, "and whither shall I go, seeing
that my money and means of maintenance are all in this house?"; and she
answered, "Delay not lest thou be slain and lose life as well as
wealth." "O my loved one and light of mine eyes!" he cried, "How shall I
do to get away when they have surrounded the house?" Quoth she, "Fear
not;" and, stripping off his fine clothes, dressed him in ragged old
garments, after which she took the pot and, putting in it bits of broken
bread and a saucer of meat,[120] placed the whole in a basket and
setting it upon his head said, "Go out in this guise and fear not for me
who wotteth right well what thing is in my hand for the Caliph."[121] So
he went out amongst them, bearing the basket with its contents, and the
Protector vouchsafed him His protection and he escaped the snares and
perils that beset him, by the blessing of his good conscience and pure
conduct. Meanwhile Ja'afar dismounted and entering the house, saw Kut
al-Kulub who had dressed and decked herself in splendid raiments and
ornaments and filled a chest with gold and jewellery and precious stones
and rarities and what else was light to bear and of value rare. When she
saw Ja'afar come in, she rose and, kissing the ground before him, said,
"O my lord, the Reed hath written of old the rede which Allah
decreed!"[122] "By Allah, O my lady," answered Ja'afar, "he gave me an
order to seize Ghanim son of Ayyub;" and she rejoined, "O my lord, he
made ready his goods and set out therewith for Damascus and I know
nothing more of him; but I desire thee take charge of this chest and
deliver it to me in the Harim of the Prince of the Faithful." "Hearing
and obedience," said Ja'afar, and bade his men bear it away to the
head-quarters of the Caliphate together with Kut al-Kulub, commanding
them to entreat her with honour as one in high esteem. They did his
bidding after they had wrecked and plundered Ghanim's house. Then
Ja'afar went in to the Caliph and told him all that had happened, and he
ordered Kut al-Kulub to be lodged in a dark chamber and appointed an old
woman to serve her, feeling convinced that Ghanim had debauched her and
slept with her. Then he wrote a mandate to the Emir Mohammed bin
Sulayman al-Zayni, his viceroy in Damascus, to this effect:—"The instant
thou shalt receive this our letter, seize upon Ghanim bin Ayyub and send
him to us." When the missive came to the viceroy, he kissed it and laid
it on his head; then he let proclaim in the bazars, "Whoso is desirous
to plunder, away with him to the house of Ghanim son of Ayyub."[123] So
they flocked thither, when they found that Ghanim's mother and sister
had built him a tomb[124] in the midst of the house and sat by it
weeping for him; whereupon they seized the two without telling them the
cause and, after spoiling the house, carried them before the viceroy. He
questioned them concerning Ghanim and both replied, "For a year or more
we have had no news of him." So they restored them to their place. Thus
far concerning them; but as regards Ghanim, when he saw his wealth
spoiled and his ruin utterest he wept over himself till his heart
well-nigh brake. Then he fared on at random till the last of the day,
and hunger grew hard on him and walking wearied him. So coming to a
village he entered a mosque[125] where he sat down upon a mat and
propped his back against the wall; but presently he sank to the ground
in his extremity of famine and fatigue. There he lay till dawn, his
heart fluttering for want of food; and, owing to his sweating, the
lice[126] coursed over his skin; his breath waxed fetid and his whole
condition was changed. When the villagers came to pray the dawn-prayer,
they found him prostrate, ailing, hunger-lean, yet showing evident signs
of former affluence. As soon as prayers were over, they drew near him;
and, understanding that he was starved with hunger and cold, they gave
him an old robe with ragged sleeves and said to him, "O stranger, whence
art thou and what sickness is upon thee?" He opened his eyes and wept
but returned no answer; whereupon one of them, who saw that he was
starving, brought him a saucer of honey and two barley scones. He ate a
little and they sat with him till sun-rise, when they went to their
work. He abode with them in this state for a month, whilst sickness and
weakliness grew upon him; and they wept for him and, pitying his
condition, took counsel with one another upon his case and agreed to
forward him to the hospital in Baghdad.[127] Meanwhile behold, two
beggar-women, who were none other than Ghanim's mother and sister,[128]
came into the mosque and, when he saw them, he gave them the bread that
was at his head; and they slept by his side that night but he knew them
not. Next day the villagers brought a camel and said to the cameleer,
"Set this sick man on thy beast and carry him to Baghdad and put him
down at the Spital-door; so haply he may be medicined and be healed and
thou shalt have thy hire."[129] "To hear is to comply," said the man. So
they brought Ghanim, who was asleep, out of the mosque and set him, mat
and all, on the camel; and his mother and sister came out among the
crowd to gaze upon him, but they knew him not. However, after looking at
him and considering him carefully they said, "Of a truth he favours our
Ghanim, poor boy!; can this sick man be he?" Presently, he woke and
finding himself bound with ropes on a camel's back, he began to weep and
complain,[130] and the village-people saw his mother and sister weeping
over him, albeit they knew him not. Then they fared forth for Baghdad,
but the camel-man forewent them and, setting Ghanim down at the
Spital-gate, went away with his beast. The sick man lay there till dawn
and, when the folk began to go about the streets, they saw him and stood
gazing on him, for he had become as thin as a toothpick, till the Syndic
of the bazar came up and drove them away from him, saying, "I will gain
Paradise through this poor creature; for if they take him into the
Hospital, they will kill him in a single day."[131] Then he made his
young men carry him to his house, where they spread him a new bed with a
new pillow,[132] and he said to his wife, "Tend him carefully;" and she
replied, "Good! on my head be it!" Thereupon she tucked up her sleeves
and warming some water, washed his hands, feet and body; after which she
clothed him in a robe belonging to one of her slave-girls and made him
drink a cup of wine and sprinkled rose-water over him. So he revived and
complained, and the thought of his beloved Kut al-Kulub made his grief
redouble. Thus far concerning him; but as regards Kut al-Kulub, when the
Caliph was angered against her,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Forty-third Night,