exclaimed, "O Allah, I beseech Thee of Thy knowledge of hidden things,
that thou make this young man's life the work of my hands!" And he
ceased not to nurse him for three days, giving him to drink of sherbet
of sugar and willow-flower water and rose-water; and doing him all
manner of service and kindness, till health began to return to his body
and Zau al-Makan opened his eyes. Presently came in the Fireman and,
seeing him sitting up and showing signs of amendment, said to him, "What
is now thy state, O my son?" "Praise be to Allah," replied Zau al-Makan,
"I am well and like to recover, if such be the will of Allah Almighty at
this time." The Stoker praised the Lord of All for this and, wending
fast to the market, bought ten chickens, which he carried to his wife
and said, "Kill two of these for him every day, one at dawn of day and
the other at fall of day." So she rose up and killed a fowl and brought
it to him boiled, and fed him with the flesh and made him drink its
broth. When he had done eating, she fetched hot water and he washed his
hands and lay back upon the pillow, whereupon she covered him up with
the coverlet, and he slept till the time of the mid-afternoon prayer.
Then she arose and killed another fowl and boiled it; after which she
cut it up and, bringing it to Zau al-Makan, said, "Eat, O my son!" While
he was eating; behold, her husband entered and seeing her feeding him,
sat down at his head and said to him, "How is it with thee now, O my
son?" "Thanks be to Allah for recovery!" he replied: "may the Almighty
requite thee thy kindness to me." At this the Fireman rejoiced and going
out, bought sherbet of violets and rose-water and made him drink it. Now
the Stoker used to work at the Hammam all day for a wage of five
dirhams, whereof he spent every day, for Zau al-Makan, one dirham upon
sugar and sherbet of rose-water and willow-flower water,[236] and
another dirham for fowls; and he ceased not to entreat him thus kindly
during a whole month, till the traces of illness ceased from him and he
was once more sound and whole. Thereupon the Fireman and his wife
rejoiced and asked him, "O my son, wilt thou go with me to the bath?";
whereto he answered, "Yes!" So the Stoker went to the bazar and fetched
a donkey-boy, and he mounted Zau al-Makan on the ass and supported him
in the saddle till they came to the bath. Then he made him sit down and
seated the donkey-boy in the furnace-room and went forth to the market
and bought lote-leaves and lupin-flour,[237] with which he returned to
the bath and said to Zau al-Makan, "O my master, in Allah's name, walk
in and I will wash thy body." So they entered the inner room of the
bath, and the Fireman took to rubbing Zau al-Makan's legs and began to
wash his body with the leaves and meal, when there came to them a
bathman, whom the bath-keeper had sent to Zau al-Makan; and he, seeing
the Stoker washing and rubbing him, said, "This is doing injury to the
keeper's rights." Replied the Fireman, "The master overwhelmeth us with
his favours!" Then the bathman proceeded to shave Zau al-Makan's head,
after which he and the Stoker washed themselves and returned to the
house, where he clad Zau al-Makan in a shirt of fine stuff and a robe of
his own; and gave him a handsome turband and girdle and a light kerchief
which he wound about his neck. Meanwhile the Fireman's wife had killed
and cooked two chickens; so, as soon as Zau al-Makan entered and seated
himself on the carpet, the husband arose and, dissolving sugar in
willow-flower water, made him drink of it. Then he brought the food-tray
and, cutting up the chickens, fed him with the flesh and gave him the
broth to drink till he was satisfied; when he washed his hands and
praised Allah for recovery, and said to the Fireman, "Thou art he whom
the Almighty vouchsafed to me and made the cause of my cure!" "Leave
this talk," replied the other, "and tell us the cause of thy coming to
this city and whence thou art. Thy face showeth signs of gentle
breeding." "Tell me first how thou camest to fall in with me," said Zau
al-Makan; "and after I will tell thee my story." Rejoined the Fireman,
"As for that, I found thee lying on the rubbish-heap by the door of the
fire-house, as I went to my work near the morning, and knew not who had
thrown thee there. So I carried thee home with me; and this is all my
tale." Quoth Zau al-Makan, "Glory to Him who quickeneth the bones,
though they be rotten! Indeed, O my brother, thou hast not done good
save to one worthy of it, and thou shalt presently gather its fruitage."
And he added, "But where am I now?" "Thou art in the city of Jerusalem,"
replied the Stoker; whereupon Zau al-Makan called to mind his
strangerhood and remembered his separation from his sister and wept.
Then he discovered his secret to the Fireman and told him his story and
began repeating:
In love they bore me further than my force would go, ✿ And for
them made me suffer resurrection-throe:
Oh, have compassion, cruel! on this soul of mine ✿ Which, since
ye fared, is pitied by each envious foe;
Nor grudge the tender mercy of one passing glance ✿ My case to
lighten, easing this excess of woe:
Quoth I "Heart, bear this loss in patience!" Patience cried ✿
"Take heed! no patience in such plight I'm wont to show."
Then he redoubled his weeping, and the Fireman said to him, "Weep not,
but rather praise Allah for safety and recovery." Asked Zau al-Makan,
"How far is it hence to Damascus?" Answered the other, "Six days'
journey." Then quoth Zau al-Makan, "Wilt thou send me thither?" "O my
lord," quoth the Stoker, "how can I allow thee to go alone, and thou a
youth and a stranger to boot? If thou would journey to Damascus, I am
one who will go with thee; and if my wife will listen to and obey me and
accompany me, I will take up my abode there; for it is no light matter
to part with thee." Then said he to his wife, "Wilt thou travel with me
to Damascus of Syria or wilt thou abide here, whilst I lead this my lord
thither and return to thee? For he is bent upon going to Damascus of
Syria and, by Allah, it is hard to me to part with him, and I fear for
him from highway-men." Replied she, "I will go with you both;" and he
rejoined, "Praised be Allah for accord, and we have said the last word!"
Then he rose and selling all his own goods and his wife's gear——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five-and-Fiftieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Fireman and
his wife agreed with Zau al-Makan to travel with him Damascus-wards.
Then the Stoker sold his goods and his wife's gear and bought a camel
and hired an ass for Zau al-Makan; and they set out, and ceased not
wayfaring for six days till they reached Damascus. And they arrived
there towards eventide; when the Fireman went forth and, as was his
wont, bought some meat and drink. They had dwelt but five days in
Damascus, when his wife sickened and, after a short illness, was
translated to the mercy of Almighty Allah. Her death was a heavy matter
to Zau al-Makan, for he was grown used to her as she had tended him
assiduously; and the Fireman grieved for her with excessive grief.
Presently the Prince turned to the Stoker and finding him mourning, said
to him, "Grieve not, for at this gate we must all go in." Replied he,
"Allah make weal thy lot, O my son! Surely He will compensate us with
His favours and cause our mourning to cease. What sayst thou, O my son,
about our walking abroad to view Damascus and cheer thy spirits?"
Replied Zau al-Makan, "Thy will is mine." So the Fireman arose and
placed his hand in that of Zau al-Makan and the two walked on till they
came to the stables of the Viceroy of Damascus, where they found camels
laden with chests and carpets and brocaded stuffs, and horses ready
saddled and Bactrian dromedaries, while Mamelukes and negro slaves and
folk in a hubbub were running to and fro. Quoth Zau al-Makan, "I wonder
to whom belong all these chattels and camels and stuffs!" So he asked
one of the eunuchs, "Whither this dispatching?" and he answered, "These
are presents sent by the Emir of Damascus to King Omar bin al-Nu'uman,
with the tribute of Syria." Now when Zau al-Makan heard his father's
name, his eyes brimmed over with tears, and he began repeating:—
Oh ye gone from the gaze of these lidded eyne, ✿ Ye whose sight in
my spirit shall ever dwell!
Your charms are gone, but this heart of me ✿ Hath no sweet, and
no pleasures its sour dispel;
If Allah's grace make us meet again, ✿ In long-drawn love-tale my
love I'll tell.
And when he had ended his verse, he wept and the Fireman said to him, "O
my son, we hardly believed that thy health had returned;[238] so take
heart and do not weep, for I fear a relapse for thee." And he ceased not
comforting and cheering him, whilst Zau al-Makan sighed and moaned over
his strangerhood and separation from his sister and his family; and
tears streamed from his eyes and he recited these couplets:—
Get thee provaunt in this world ere thou wend upon thy way; ✿ And
know how surely Death descends thy life-lot to waylay:
All thy worldly goods are pride and the painfullest repine; ✿ All
thy worldly life is vexing of thy soul in vain display:
Say is not worldly wone like a wanderer's place of rest, ✿ Where
at night he "nakhs[239]" his camels and moves off at dawn of day?
And he continued to weep and wail over his separation; whilst the
Fireman also bewept the loss of his wife, yet ceased not to comfort Zau
al-Makan till morning dawned. When the sun rose, he said to him,
"Meseemeth thou yearnest for thy native land?" "Yes," replied Zau
al-Makan, "and I can no longer tarry here; so I will commend thee to
Allah's care and set out with these folk and journey with them, little
by little, till I come to my motherland." Said the Stoker, "And I with
thee; for of a truth I cannot bear to part with thee. I have done thee
kindly service and I mean to complete it by tending thee on thy travel."
At this, Zau al-Makan rejoiced and said, "Allah abundantly requite thee
for me!" and was pleased with the idea of their travelling together. The
Fireman at once went forth and bought another ass, selling the camel;
and laid in his provaunt and said to Zau al-Makan, "This is for thee to
ride by the way; and, when thou art weary of riding, thou canst dismount
and walk." Said Zau al-Makan, "May Allah bless thee and aid me to
requite thee! for verily thou hast dealt with me more lovingly than one
with his brother." Then he waited till it was dark night, when he laid
the provisions and baggage on that ass and set forth upon their journey.
This much befel Zau al-Makan and the Fireman; but as regards what
happened to his sister Nuzhat al-Zaman, when she left her brother in the
Khan where they abode and, wrapped in the old camlet, went out to seek
service with some one, that she might earn wherewithal to buy him the
roast meat he longed for, she fared on, weeping and knowing not whither
to go, whilst her mind was occupied with thoughts of her brother and of
her family and her native land. So she implored Allah Almighty to do
away with these calamities from them and began versifying:—
Dark falls the night and Passion comes sore pains to gar me dree, ✿
And pine upstirs those ceaseless pangs which work my tormentry,
And cease not separation-flames my vitals to consume, ✿ And drives
me on destruction-way this sorrow's ecstacy;
And longing breeds me restlessness; desire for ever fires, ✿ And
tears to all proclaim what I would keep in secrecy:
No cunning shift is known to me a meeting to secure, ✿ That I may
quit this sickly state, may cure my malady:
The love which blazeth in my heart is fed with fancy-fuel, ✿ The
lover from its hell of fire must bear Hell's agony![240]
O thou who blamest me for all befel me, 'tis enough, ✿ Patient I
bear whatever wrote the Reed of Doom for me:
By Love I swear I'll never be consoled, no, never more; ✿ I swear
the oath of Love's own slaves who know no perjury:
O Night, to chroniclers of Love the news of me declare; ✿ That
sleep hath fed mine eyelids of thy knowledge witness bear!
Then she walked on, weeping and turning right and left as she went, when
behold, there espied her an old Badawi[241] who had come into the town
from the desert with wild Arabs other five. The old man took note of her
and saw that she was lovely, but she had nothing on her head save a
piece of camlet, and, marvelling at her beauty, he said to himself,
"This charmer dazzleth men's wits but she is in squalid condition, and
whether she be of the people of this city or she be a stranger, I needs
must have her." So he followed her, little by little, till he met her
face to face and stopped the way before her in a narrow lane, and called
out to her, asking her case, and said, "Tell me, O my little daughter!
art thou a free-woman or a slave?" When she heard this, she said to him,
"By thy life, do not add to my sorrows!" Quoth he, "Allah hath blessed
me with six daughters, of whom five died and only one is left me, the
youngest of all; and I came to ask thee if thou be of the folk of this
city or a stranger; that I might take thee and carry thee to her, to
bear her company so as to divert her from pining for her sisters. If
thou have no kith and kin, I will make thee as one of them and thou and
she shall be as my two children." Nuzhat al-Zaman bowed her head in
bashfulness when she heard what he said and communed with herself,
"Haply I may trust myself to this old man." Then she said to him, "O
nuncle, I am a maiden of the Arabs and a stranger and I have a sick
brother; but I will go with thee to thy daughter on one condition, which
is, that I may spend only the day with her and at night may return to my
brother. If thou strike this bargain I will fare with thee, for I am a
stranger and I was high in honour among my tribe, and I awoke one
morning to find myself vile and abject. I came with my brother from the
land of Al-Hijaz and I fear lest he know not where I am." When the
Badawi heard this, he said to himself, "By Allah, I have got my desire!"
Then he turned to her and replied, "There shall none be dearer to me
than thou; I wish thee only to bear my daughter company by day and thou
shalt go to thy brother at earliest nightfall. Or, if thou wilt, bring
him over to dwell with us." And the Badawi ceased not to console her
heart and coax her, till she trusted in him and agreed to serve him.
Then he walked on before her and, when she followed him, he winked to
his men to go in advance and harness the dromedaries and load them with
their packs and place upon them water and provisions, ready for setting
out as soon as he should come up with the camels. Now this Badawi was a
base-born churl, a highway thief and a traitor to the friend he held
most lief, a rogue in grain, past master of plots and chicane. He had no
daughter and no son and was only passing through the town when, by the
decree of the Decreer, he fell in with this unhappy one. And he ceased
not to hold her in converse on the highway till they came without the
city of Jerusalem and, when outside, he joined his companions and found
they had made ready the dromedaries. So the Badawi mounted a camel,
having seated Nuzhat al-Zaman behind him and they rode on all night.
Then she knew that the Badawi's proposal was a snare and that he had
tricked her; and she continued weeping and crying out the whole night
long, while they journeyed on making for the mountains, in fear any
should see them. Now when it was near dawn, they dismounted from their
dromedaries and the Badawi came up to Nuzhat al-Zaman and said to her,
"O city-strumpet, what is this weeping? By Allah, an thou hold not thy
peace, I will beat thee to death, O thou town-filth!" When she heard
this she loathed life and longed for death; so she turned to him and
said, "O accursed old man, O gray-beard of hell, how have I trusted thee
and thou hast played me false, and now thou wouldst torture me?" When he
heard her reply he cried out, "O lazy baggage, dost thou dare to bandy
words with me?" And he stood up to her and beat her with a whip, saying,
"An thou hold not thy peace, I will kill thee!" So she was silent
awhile, then she called to mind her brother and the happy estate she had
been in and she shed tears secretly. Next day, she turned to the Badawi
and said to him, "How couldst thou play me this trick and lure me into
these bald and stony mountains, and what is thy design with me?" When he
heard her words he hardened his heart and said to her, "O lazy baggage
of ill-omen and insolent! wilt thou bandy words with me?" and he took
the whip and came down with it on her back till she felt faint. Then she
bowed down over his feet and kissed[242] them; and he left beating her
and began reviling her and said, "By the rights of my bonnet,[243] if I
see or hear thee weeping, I will cut out thy tongue and stuff it up thy
coynte, O thou city-filth!" So she was silent and made him no reply, for
the beating pained her; but sat down with her arms round her knees and,
bowing her head upon her collar, began to look into her case and her
abasement after her lot of high honour; and the beating she had endured;
and she called to mind her brother and his sickness and forlorn
condition, and how they were both strangers in a far country, which
drave her tears down her cheeks and she wept silently and began
repeating:—
Time hath for his wont to upraise and debase, ✿ Nor is
lasting condition for human race:
In this world each thing hath appointed turn; ✿ Nor may man
transgress his determined place:
How long these perils and woes? Ah woe ✿ For a life, all woeful
in parlous case!
Allah bless not the days which have laid me low ✿ I' the world,
with disgrace after so much grace!
My wish is baffled, my hopes cast down, ✿ And distance forbids me
to greet his face:
O thou who passeth that dear one's door, ✿ Say for me, these
tears shall flow evermore!
When she had finished her verses, the Badawi came up to her and, taking
compassion on her, bespoke her kindly and wiped away her tears. Then he
gave her a barley-scone and said, "I love not one who answereth at times
when I am in wrath: so henceforth give me no more of these impertinent
words and I will sell thee to a good man like myself, who will do well
with thee, even as I have done." "Yes; whatso thou doest is right,"
answered she; and when the night was longsome upon her and hunger burnt
her, she ate very little of that barley bread. In the middle of the
night the Badawi gave orders for departure——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Six-and-Fiftieth Night.
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Badawi
gave the barley scone to Nuzhat al-Zaman and promised he would sell her
to a good man like himself, she replied, "Whatso thou doest is right!"
and, about midnight, when hunger burned her,[244] she ate a very little
of that barley-bread and the Badawi ordered his party to set out; so
they loaded their loads and he mounted a camel setting Nuzhat al-Zaman
behind him. Then they journeyed and ceased not journeying for three
days, till they entered the city of Damascus and alighted at the
Sultan's Khan, hard by the Viceroy's Gate. Now she had lost her colour
by grief and the fatigue of such travelling, and she ceased not to weep
over her misfortunes. So the Badawi came up to her and said, "O thou
city-filth, by the right of my bonnet, if thou leave not this weeping, I
will sell thee to none but a Jew!" Then he arose and took her by the
hand and carried her to a chamber, and walked off to the bazar, and he
went round to the merchants who dealt in slave-girls, and began to
parley with them, saying, "I have brought a slave-girl whose brother
fell ill, and I sent him to my people about Jerusalem, that they might
tend him till he is cured. As for her I want to sell her, but after the
dog her brother fell sick, the separation from him was grievous to her,
and since then she doth nothing but weep, and now I wish that whoso is
minded to buy her of me speak softly to her and say:—Thy brother is with
me in Jerusalem ill; and I will be easy with him about her price." Then
one of the merchants came up to him and asked, "How old is she?" He
answered "She is a virgin, just come to marriageable age, and she is
endowed with sense and breeding and wit and beauty and loveliness. But
from the day I sent her brother to Jerusalem, her heart hath been
yearning for him, so that her beauty is fallen away and her value
lessened." Now when the merchant heard this, he set forth with the
Badawi and said, "O Shaykh[245] of the Arabs, I will go with thee and
buy of thee this girl whom thou praisest so highly for wit and manners
and beauty and loveliness; and I will pay thee her price but it must be
upon conditions which if thou accept, I will give thee ready money, and
if thou accept not I will return her to thee." Quoth the Badawi, "An
thou wilt, take her up to the Sultan Sharrkan, son of Omar bin
al-Nu'uman lord of Baghdad and of the land of Khorasan, and condition me
any conditions thou likest, for when thou hast brought her before King
Sharrkan, haply she will please him, and he will pay thee her price and
a good profit for thyself to boot." Rejoined the merchant, "It happens
that I have just now something to ask from him, and it is this that he
write me an order upon the office, exempting me from custom-dues and
also that he write me a letter of recommendation to his father, King
Omar bin al-Nu'uman. So if he take the girl, I will weigh[246] thee out
her price at once." "I agree with thee to this condition," answered the
Badawi. So they returned together to the place where Nuzhat al-Zaman was
and the wild Arab stood at the chamber door and called out, saying, "O
Nájiyah[247]!" which was the name wherewith he had named her. When she
heard him, she wept and made no answer. Then he turned to the merchant
and said to him, "There she sitteth; go to her and look at her and speak
to her kindly as I enjoined thee." So the trader went up to her in
courteous wise and saw that she was wondrous beautiful and loveable,
especially as she knew the Arabic tongue; and he said to the Badawi, "If
she be even as thou saidest, I shall get of the Sultan what I will for
her." Then he bespake her, "Peace be on thee, my little maid! How art
thou?" She turned to him and replied, "This also was registered in the
Book of Destiny." Then she looked at him and, seeing him to be a man of
respectable semblance with a handsome face, she said to herself, "I
believe this one cometh to buy me;" and she continued, "If I hold aloof
from him, I shall abide with my tyrant and he will do me to death with
beating. In any case, this person is handsome of face and maketh me hope
for better treatment from him than from my brute of a Badawi. May be he
cometh only to hear me talk; so I will give him a fair answer." All this
while her eyes were fixed on the ground; then she raised them to him and
said in a sweet voice, "And upon thee be peace, O my lord, and Allah's
mercy and His benediction![248] This is what is commanded of the
Prophet, whom Allah bless and preserve! As for thine enquiry how I am,
if thou wouldst know my case, it is such as thou wouldst not wish but to
thy foe." And she held her peace. When the merchant heard what she said,
his fancy took wings for delight in her and, turning to the Badawi, he
asked him, "What is her price, for indeed she is noble?" Thereupon the
Badawi waxed angry and answered, "Thou wilt turn me the girl's head with
this talk! Why dost thou say that she is noble,[249] while she is of the
scum of slave-girls and of the refuse of folk? I will not sell her to
thee!" When the merchant heard this, he knew the man to be weak of wits
and said to him, "Calm thyself, for I will buy her of thee with these
blemishes thou mentionest." "And how much wilt thou give me for her?"
enquired the Badawi. Replied the merchant, "Name thy price for her: none
should name the son save his sire." Rejoined the Badawi, "None shall
name it but thou thyself." Quoth the merchant to himself, "This wildling
is a rudesby and a maggotty head. By Allah, I cannot tell her price, for
she hath won my heart with her fair speech and good looks; and, if she
can read and write, it will be complete fair luck to her and to her
purchaser. But this Badawi does not know her worth." Then he turned and
said to him, "O Shaykh of the Arabs, I will give thee in ready money,
clear of the tax and the Sultan's dues, two hundred gold pieces." Now
when the Badawi heard this, he flew into a violent rage and cried at the
merchant, saying, "Get up and go thy ways! By Allah, wert thou to offer
me two hundred dinars for the bit of camlet she weareth, I would not
sell it to thee. And now I will not sell her, but will keep her by me,
to pasture the camels and grind my grist." And he cried out to her,
saying, "Come here, thou stinkard! I will not sell thee." Then he turned
to the merchant and said to him, "I used to think thee a man of
judgment; but, by the right of my bonnet, if thou begone not from me, I
will let thee hear what shall not please thee!" Quoth the merchant to
himself, "Of a truth this Badawi is mad and knoweth not her value, and I
will say no more to him about her price at the present time; for by
Allah, were he a man of sense, he would not say:—By the rights of my
bonnet! By the Almighty, she is worth the kingdom of the Chosroes and I
have not her price by me, but if he ask even more, I will give him what
he will, though it be all my goods." Then he turned and said to him, "O
Shaykh of the Arabs, take patience and calm thyself and tell me what
clothes she hath with thee?" Cried the Badawi, "And what hath the
baggage to do with clothes? By Allah, this camlet in which she is
wrapped is ample for her." "With thy leave," said the merchant, "I will
unveil her face and examine her even as folk examine slave-girls whom
they think of buying."[250] Replied the other, "Up and do what thou wilt
and Allah keep thy youth! Examine her outside and inside and, if thou
wilt, strip off her clothes and look at her when she is naked." Quoth
the trader, "Allah forfend! I will look at naught save her face."[251]
Then he went up to her and was put to shame by her beauty and
loveliness,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Fifty-seventh Night,