There was once in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before,
in Ajam-land a King Shahrimán[FN#302] hight, whose abiding place was
Khorásán. He owned an hundred concubines, but by none of them had he
been blessed with boon of child, male or female, all the days of his
life. One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell
lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had
not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he
had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof
there betided him sore cark and care and chagrin exceeding. As he sat
thus one of his Mamelukes came in to him and said, “O my lord, at the
door is a slave-girl with her merchant, and fairer than she eye hath
never seen.” Quoth the King, “Hither to me with merchant and maid!”;
and both came in to him. Now when Shahriman beheld the girl, he saw
that she was like a Rudaynian lance,[FN#303] and she was wrapped in a
veil of gold-purfled silk. The merchant uncovered her face, whereupon
the place was illumined by her beauty and her seven tresses hung down
to her anklets like horses’ tails. She had Nature-kohl’d eyes, heavy
hips and thighs and waist of slenderest guise; her sight healed all
maladies and quenched the fire of sighs, for she was even as the poet
cries,
“I love her madly for she is perfect fair, * Complete in
gravity and gracious way;
Nor overtall nor overshort, the while * Too full for trousers
are those hips that sway:
Her shape is midmost ’twixt o’er small and tall; * Nor long to
blame nor little to gainsay:
O’erfall her anklets tresses black as night * Yet in her face
resplends eternal day.”
The King seeing her marvelled at her beauty and loveliness, her
symmetry and perfect grace and said to the merchant, “O Shaykh, how
much for this maiden?” Replied the merchant, “O my lord, I bought her
for two thousand dinars of the merchant who owned her before myself,
since when I have travelled with her three years and she hath cost me,
up to the time of my coming hither, other three thousand gold pieces;
but she is a gift from me to thee.” The King robed him with a splendid
robe of honour and ordered him ten thousand ducats, whereupon he kissed
his hands, thanking him for his bounty and beneficence, and went his
ways. Then the King committed the damsel to the tire-women, saying,
“Amend ye the case of this maiden[FN#304] and adorn her and furnish her
a bower and set her therein.” And he bade his chamberlains carry her
everything she needed and shut all the doors upon her. Now his capital
wherein he dwelt, was called the White City and was seated on the
sea-shore; so they lodged her in a chamber, whose latticed casements
overlooked the main.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King after
taking the maiden, committed her to the tire-women bidding them amend
her case and set her in a bower, and ordered his chamberlains to shut
all the doors upon her when they had lodged her in a chamber whose
latticed casements overlooked the main. Then Shahriman went in to her;
but she spake not to him neither took any note of him.[FN#305] Quoth
he, “’Twould seem she hath been with folk who have not taught her
manners.” Then he looked at the damsel and saw her surpassing beauty
and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace, with a face like the
rondure of the moon at its full or the sun shining in the sheeny sky.
So he marvelled at her charms of favour and figure and he praised Allah
the Creator (magnified be His might!), after which he walked up to her
and sat him down by her side; then he pressed her to his bosom and
seating her on his thighs, sucked the dew of her lips, which he found
sweeter than honey. Presently he called for trays spread with richest
viands of all kinds and ate and fed her by mouthfuls, till she had
enough; yet she spoke not one word. The King began to talk to her and
asked her of her name; but she abode still silent and uttered not a
syllable nor made him any answer, neither ceased to hang down her head
groundwards; and it was but the excess of her beauty and loveliness and
the amorous grace that saved her from the royal wrath. Quoth he to
himself, “Glory be to God, the Creator of this girl! How charming she
is, save that she speaketh not! But perfection belongeth only to Allah
the Most High.” And he asked the slave-girls whether she had spoken,
and they said, “From the time of her coming until now she hath not
uttered a word nor have we heard her address us.” Then he summoned some
of his women and concubines and bade them sing to her and make merry
with her, so haply she might speak. Accordingly they played before her
all manner instruments of music and sports and what not and sang, till
the whole company was moved to mirth, except the damsel, who looked at
them in silence, but neither laughed nor spoke. The King’s breast was
straitened; thereupon he dismissed the women and abode alone with that
damsel: after which he doffed his clothes and disrobing her with his
own hand, looked upon her body and saw it as it were a silvern ingot.
So he loved her with exceeding love and falling upon her, took her
maidenhead and found her a pure virgin; whereat he rejoiced with
excessive joy and said in himself, “By Allah, ’tis a wonder that a girl
so fair of form and face should have been left by the merchants a clean
maid as she is!”[FN#306] Then he devoted himself altogether to her,
heeding none other and forsaking all his concubines and favourites, and
tarried with her a whole year as it were a single day. Still she spoke
not till, one morning he said to her (and indeed the love of her and
longing waxed upon him), “O desire of souls, verily passion for thee is
great with me, and I have forsaken for thy sake all my slave-girls and
concubines and women and favourites and I have made thee my portion of
the world and had patience with thee a whole year; and now I beseech
Almighty Allah, of His favour, to soften thy heart to me, so thou mayst
speak to me. Or, an thou be dumb, tell me by a sign, that I may give up
hope of thy speech. I pray the Lord (extolled be He!) to vouchsafe me
by thee a son child, who shall inherit the kingdom after me; for I am
old and lone and have none to be my heir. Wherefore, Allah upon thee,
an thou love me, return me a reply.” The damsel bowed her head awhile
in thought, and presently raising it, smiled in his face, whereat it
seemed to him as if lightning filled the chamber. Then she said, “O
magnanimous liege lord, and valorous lion, Allah hath answered thy
prayer, for I am with child by thee and the time of my delivery is near
at hand, though I know not if the unborn babe be male or
female.[FN#307] But, had I not conceived by thee, I had not spoken to
thee one word.” When the King heard her speech, his face shone with joy
and gladness and he kissed her head and hands for excess of delight,
saying, “Alhamdolillah—laud to Lord—who hath vouchsafed me the things I
desired!, first, thy speech, and secondly, thy tidings that thou art
with child by me.” Then he rose up and went forth from her and, seating
himself on the throne of his kingship, in an ecstasy of happiness, bade
his Wazir distribute to the poor and needy and widows and others an
hundred thousand dinars, by way of thank-offering to Allah Most High
and alms on his own account. The Minister did as bidden by the King
who, returning to the damsel, sat with her and embraced and pressed her
to his breast, saying, “O my lady, my queen, whose slave I am, prithee
what was the cause of this thy silence? Thou hast been with me a whole
year, night and day, waking and sleeping, yet hast not spoken to me
till this day.” She replied, “Hearken, O King of the Age, and know that
I am a wretched exile, broken-hearted and far-parted from my mother and
my family and my brother.” When the King heard her words, he knew her
desire and said, “As for thy saying that thou art wretched, there is
for such speech no ground, inasmuch as my kingdom and good and all I
possess are at thy service and I also am become thy bondman; but, as
for thy saying, ‘I am parted from my mother and brother and family’,
tell me where they are and I will send and fetch them to thee.”
Thereupon she answered, “Know, then, O auspicious King, that I am
called Julnár[FN#308] the Sea-born and that my father was of the Kings
of the Main. He died and left us his reign, but while we were yet
unsettled, behold, one of the other Kings arose against us and took the
realm from our hands. I have a brother called Sálih, and my mother also
is a woman of the sea; but I fell out with my brother ‘The Pious’ and
swore that I would throw myself into the hands of a man of the folk of
the land. So I came forth of the sea and sat down on the edge of an
island in the moonshine[FN#309], where a passer-by found me and,
carrying me to his house, besought me of love-liesse; but I smote him
on the head, so that he all but died; whereupon he carried me forth and
sold me to the merchant from whom thou hadst me, and this was a good
man and a virtuous; pious, loyal and generous. Were it not that thy
heart loved me and that thou promotedest me over all thy concubines, I
had not remained with thee a single hour, but had cast myself from this
window into the sea and gone to my mother and family; but I was ashamed
to fare themwards, being with child by thee; for they would have deemed
evilly of me and would not have credited me, even although I swore to
them, an I told them that a King had bought me with his gold and made
me his portion of the world and preferred me over all his wives and
every thing that his right hand possessed. This then is my story
and—the Peace!”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Fortieth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Julnar[FN#310] the Sea-born, answering the question of King Shahriman,
told him her past from first to last, the King thanked her and kissed
her between the eyes, saying, “By Allah, O my lady and light of mine
eyes, I cannot bear to be parted from thee one hour; and given thou
leave me, I shall die forthright. What then is to be done?” Replied
she, “O my lord, the time of my delivery is at hand and my family needs
must be present, that they may tend me; for the women of the land know
not the manner of child-bearing of the women of the sea, nor do the
daughters of the ocean know the manner of the daughters of the earth;
and when my people come, I shall be reconciled to them and they will be
reconciled to me.” Quoth the King, “How do the people of the sea walk
therein, without being wetted?”; and quoth she, “O King of the Age, we
walk in the waters with our eyes open, as do ye on the ground, by the
blessing of the names graven upon the seal-ring of Solomon David-son
(on whom be peace!). But, O King, when my kith and kin come, I will
tell them how thou boughtest me with thy gold, and hast entreated me
with kindness and benevolence. It behoveth that thou confirm my words
to them and that they witness thine estate with their own eyes and they
learn that thou art a King, son of a King.” He rejoined, “O my lady, do
what seemeth good to thee and what pleaseth thee and I will consent to
thee in all thou wouldst do.” The damsel continued, “Yes, we walk in
the sea and see what is therein and behold the sun, moon, stars and
sky, as it were on the surface of earth; and this irketh us naught.
Know also that there be many peoples in the main and various forms and
creatures of all kinds that are on the land, and that all that is on
the land compared with that which is in the main is but a very small
matter.” And the King marvelled at her words. Then she pulled out from
her bosom two bits of Comorin lign-aloes and, kindling fire in a
chafing-dish, chose somewhat of them and threw it in, then she whistled
a loud whistle and spake words none understood. Thereupon arose a great
smoke and she said to the King, who was looking on, “O my lord, arise
and hide thyself in a closet, that I may show thee my brother and
mother and family, whilst they see thee not; for I design to bring them
hither, and thou shalt presently espy a wondrous thing and shalt marvel
at the several creatures and strange shapes which Almighty Allah hath
created.” So he arose without stay or delay and entering a closet, fell
a-watching what she should do. She continued her fumigations and
conjurations till the sea foamed and frothed turbid and there rose from
it a handsome young man of a bright favour, as he were the moon at its
full, with brow flower-white, cheeks of ruddy light and teeth like the
marguerite. He was the likest of all creatures to his sister and the
tongue of the case spoke in his praise these two couplets,
“The full moon groweth perfect once a month * But thy face
each day we see perfectèd.
And the full moon dwelleth in single sign, * But to thee all
hearts be a dwelling stead.”
After him there came forth of the sea an ancient dame with hair
speckled gray and five maidens, as they were moons, bearing a likeness
to the damsel hight Julnar. The King looked upon them as they all
walked upon the face of the water, till they drew near the window and
saw Julnar, whereupon they knew her and went in to her. She rose to
them and met them with joy and gladness, and they embraced her and wept
with sore weeping. Then said they to her, “O Julnar, how couldst thou
leave us four years, and we unknowing of thine abiding place? By Allah
the world hath been straitened upon us for stress of severance from
thee, and we have had no delight of food or drink; no, not for one day,
but have wept with sore weeping night and day for the excess of our
longing after thee!” Then she fell to kissing the hands of the youth
her brother and her mother and cousins, and they sat with her awhile,
questioning her of her case and of what had betided her, as well as of
her present estate. “Know,” replied she, “that, when I left you, I
issued from the sea and sat down on the shore of an island, where a man
found me and sold me to a merchant, who brought me to this city and
sold me for ten thousand dinars to the King of the country, who
entreated me with honour and forsook all his concubines and women and
favourites for my sake and was distracted by me from all he had and all
that was in his city.” Quoth her brother, “Praised be Allah, who hath
reunited us with thee! But now, O my sister, ’tis my purpose that thou
arise and go with us to our country and people.” When the King heard
these words, his wits fled him for fear lest the damsel accept her
brother’s words and he himself avail not to stay her, albeit he loved
her passionately, and he became distracted with fear of losing her. But
Julnar answered, “By Allah, O my brother, the mortal who bought me is
lord of this city and he is a mighty King and a wise man, good and
generous with extreme generosity. Moreover, he is a personage of great
worth and wealth and hath neither son nor daughter. He hath entreated
me with honour and done me all manner of favour and kindness; nor, from
the day of his buying me to this time have I heard from him an ill word
to hurt my heart: but he hath never ceased to use me courteously; doing
nothing save with my counsel, and I am in the best of case with him and
in the perfection of fair fortune. Furthermore, were I to leave him, he
would perish; for he cannot endure to be parted from me an hour; and if
I left him, I also should die, for the excess of the love I bear him,
by reason of his great goodness to me during the time of my sojourn
with him; for, were my father alive, my estate with him would not be
like my estate with this great and glorious and puissant potentate. And
verily, ye see me with child by him and praise be to Allah, who hath
made me a daughter of the Kings of the sea, and my husband the
mightiest of the Kings of the land, and Allah, in very sooth, he hath
compensated me for whatso I lost.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Forty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Julnar the Sea
born told her brother all her tale, adding “Allah hath not cut me off,
but hath compensated me for whatso I lost. Now this King hath no issue,
male or female, so I pray the Almighty to vouchsafe me a son who shall
inherit of this mighty sovran that which the Lord hath bestowed upon
him of lands and palaces and possessions.” Now when her brother and the
daughters of her uncle heard this her speech, their eyes were cooled
thereby and they said, “O Julnar, thou knowest thy value with us and
thou wottest the affection we bear thee and thou art certified that
thou art to us the dearest of all creatures and thou art assured that
we seek but ease for thee, without travail or trouble. Wherefore, an
thou be in unease, arise and go with us to our land and our folk; but,
an thou be at thine ease here, in honour and happiness, this is our
wish and our will; for we desire naught save thy welfare in any
case.”[FN#311] Quoth she, “By Allah, I am here in the utmost ease and
solace and honour and grace!” When the King heard what she said, he
joyed with a heart set at rest and thanked her silently for this; the
love of her redoubled on him and entered his heart-core and he knew
that she loved him as he loved her and that she desired to abide with
him, that she might see his child by her. Then Julnar bade her women
lay the tables and set on all sorts of viands, which had been cooked in
kitchen under her own eyes, and fruits and sweetmeats, whereof she ate,
she and her kinsfolk. But, presently, they said to her, “O Julnar, thy
lord is a stranger to us, and we have entered his house, without his
leave or weeting. Thou hast extolled to us his excellence and eke thou
hast set before us of his victual whereof we have eaten; yet have we
not companied with him nor seen him, neither hath he seen us nor come
to our presence and eaten with us, so there might be between us bread
and salt.” And they all left eating and were wroth with her, and fire
issued from their mouths, as from cressets; which when the King saw,
his wits fled for excess of fear of them. But Julnar arose and soothed
them and going to the closet where was the King her lord, said to him,
“O my lord, hast thou seen and heard how I praised thee and extolled
thee to my people and hast thou noted what they said to me of their
desire to carry me away with them?” Quoth he, “I both heard and saw:
May the Almighty abundantly requite thee for me! By Allah, I knew not
the full measure of thy fondness until this blessed hour, and now I
doubt not of thy love to me!” Quoth she, “O my lord, is the reward of
kindness aught but kindness? Verily, thou hast dealt generously with me
and hast entreated me with worship and I have seen that thou lovest me
with the utmost love, and thou hast done me all manner of honour and
kindness and preferred me above all thou lovest and desirest. So how
should my heart be content to leave thee and depart from thee, and how
should I do thus after all thy goodness to me? But now I desire of thy
courtesy that thou come and salute my family, so thou mayst see them
and they thee and pure love and friendship may be between you; for
know, O King of the Age, that my brother and mother and cousins love
thee with exceeding love, by reason of my praises of thee to them, and
they say, ‘We will not depart from thee nor go to our homes till we
have foregathered with the King and saluted him.’ For indeed they
desire to see thee and make acquaintance with thee.” The King replied,
“To hear is to obey, for this is my very own wish.” So saying, he rose
and went in to them and saluted them with the goodliest salutation; and
they sprang up to him and received him with the utmost worship, after
which he sat down in the palace and ate with them; and he entertained
them thus for the space of thirty days. Then, being desirous of
returning home, they took leave of the King and Queen and departed with
due permission to their own land, after he had done them all possible
honour. Awhile after this, Julnar completed the days of her pregnancy
and the time of her delivery being come, she bore a boy, as he were the
moon at its full; whereat the utmost joy betided the King, for that he
had never in his life been vouchsafed son or daughter. So they held
high festival and decorated the city seven days, in the extreme of joy
and jollity: and on the seventh day came Queen Julnar’s mother,
Faráshah hight,[FN#312] and brother and cousins, whenas they knew of
her delivery.——And Shahrazad perceived the light of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Forty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Julnar was
brought to bed and was visited by her people, the King received them
with joy at their coming and said to them, “I said that I would not
give my son a name till you should come and name him of your
knowledge.” So they named him Badr Básim,[FN#313] and all agreed upon
this name. Then they showed the child to his uncle Salih, who took him
in his arms and arising began to walk about the chamber with him in all
directions right and left. Presently he carried him forth of the palace
and going down to the salt sea, fared on with him, till he was hidden
from the King’s sight. Now when Shahriman saw him take his son and
disappear with him in the depth of the sea, he gave the child up for
lost and fell to weeping and wailing; but Julnar said to him, “O King
of the Age, fear not, neither grieve for thy son, for I love my child
more than thou and he is with my brother, so reck thou not of the sea
neither fear for him drowning. Had my brother known that aught of harm
would betide the little one, he had not done this deed; and he will
presently bring thee thy son safe, Inshallah—an it please the
Almighty.” Nor was an hour past before the sea became turbid and
troubled and King Salih came forth and flew from the sea till he came
up to them with the child lying quiet and showing a face like the moon
on the night of fulness. Then, looking at the King he said, “Haply thou
fearedst harm for thy son, whenas I plunged into the sea with him?”
Replied the father, “Yes, O my lord, I did indeed fear for him and
thought he would never be saved therefrom.” Rejoined Salih, “O King of
the land, we pencilled his eyes with an eye powder we know of and
recited over him the names graven upon the seal-ring of Solomon
David-son (on whom be the Peace!), for this is what we use to do with
children newly born among us; and now thou needst not fear for him
drowning or suffocation in all the oceans of the world, if he should go
down into them; for, even as ye walk on the land, so walk we in the
sea.” Then he pulled out of his pocket a casket, graven and sealed and,
breaking open the seals, emptied it; whereupon there fell from it
strings of all manner jacinths and other jewels, besides three hundred
bugles of emerald and other three hundred hollow gems, as big as
ostrich eggs, whose light dimmed that of sun and moon. Quoth Salih, “O
King of the Age, these jewels and jacinths are a present from me to
thee. We never yet brought thee a gift, for that we knew not Julnar’s
abiding place neither had we of her any tidings or trace; but now that
we see thee to be united with her and we are all become one thing, we
have brought thee this present; and every little while we will bring
thee the like thereof, Inshallah! for that these jewels and jacinths
are more plentiful with us than pebbles on the beach and we know the
good and the bad of them and their whereabouts and the way to them, and
they are easy to us.” When the King saw the jewels, his wits were
bewildered and his sense was astounded and he said, “By Allah, one
single gem of these jewels is worth my realm!” Then he thanked for his
bounty Salih the Sea-born and, looking towards Queen Julnar, said, “I
am abashed before thy brother, for that he hath dealt munificently by
me and bestowed on me this splendid gift, which the folk of the land
were unable to present.” So she thanked her brother for his deed and he
said, “O King of the Age, thou hast the prior claim on us and it
behoves us to thank thee, for thou hast entreated our sister with
kindness and we have entered thy dwelling and eaten of thy victual; and
the poet saith[FN#314],
‘Had I wept before she did in my passion for Saada, * I had
healed my soul before repentance came.
But she wept before I did: her tears drew mine; and I said, *
The merit belongs to the precedent.’”
“And” (resumed Salih the Pious) “if we stood on our faces in thy
service, O King of the Age, a thousand years, yet had we not the might
to requite thee, and this were but a scantling of thy due.” The King
thanked him with heartiest thanks and the Merman and Merwomen abode
with him forty days’ space, at the end of which Salih arose and kissed
the ground before his brother in law, who asked “What wantest thou, O
Salih?” He answered, “O King of the Age, indeed thou hast done us
overabundant favours, and we crave of thy bounties that thou deal
charitably with us and grant us permission to depart; for we yearn
after our people and country and kinsfolk and our homes; so will we
never forsake thy service nor that of my sister and my nephew; and by
Allah, O King of the Age, ’tis not pleasant to my heart to part from
thee; but how shall we do, seeing that we have been reared in the sea
and that the sojourn of the shore liketh us not?” When the King heard
these words he rose to his feet and farewelled Salih the Sea-born and
his mother and his cousins, and all wept together, because of parting
and presently they said to him, “Anon we will be with thee again, nor
will we forsake thee, but will visit thee every few days.” Then they
flew off and descending into the sea, disappeared from sight.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Forty-third Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
relations of Julnar the Sea-born farewelled the King and her, weeping
together because of parting; then they flew off and descending into the
depths disappeared from sight. After this King Shahriman showed the
more kindness to Julnar and honoured her with increase of honour; and
the little one grew up and flourished, whilst his maternal uncle and
grandam and cousins visited the King every few days and abode with him
a month or two months at a time. The boy ceased not to increase in
beauty and loveliness with increase of years, till he attained the age
of fifteen and was unique in his perfection and symmetry. He learnt
writing and Koran reading; history, syntax and lexicography; archery,
spearplay and horsemanship and what not else behoveth the sons of
Kings; nor was there one of the children of the folk of the city, men
or women, but would talk of the youth’s charms, for he was of
surpassing beauty and perfection, even such an one as is praised in the
saying of the poet,[FN#315]
“The whiskers write upon his cheek, with ambergris on pearl, *
Two lines, as ’twere with jet upon an apple, line for
line.
Death harbours in his languid eye and slays with every glance,
* And in his cheek is drunkenness, and not in any wine.”