There was once in a certain city a woman fair of favour, who had
to lover a trooper. Her husband was a fuller, and when he went
out to his business, the trooper used to come to her and abide
with her till the time of the fuller's return, when he would go
away. On this wise they abode awhile, till one day the trooper
said to his mistress, 'I mean to take me a house near unto thine
and dig an underground passage from my house to thy house, and do
thou say to thy husband, "My sister hath been absent with her
husband and now they have returned from their travels; and I have
made her take up her sojourn in my neighbourhood, so I may
foregather with her at all times. So go thou to her husband the
trooper and offer him thy wares [for sale], and thou wilt see my
sister with him and wilt see that she is I and I am she, without
doubt. So, Allah, Allah, go to my sister's husband and give ear
to that which he shall say to thee."'
Accordingly, the trooper bought him a house near at hand and made
therein an underground passage communicating with his mistress's
house. When he had accomplished his affair, the wife bespoke her
husband as her lover had lessoned her and he went out to go to
the trooper's house, but turned back by the way, whereupon quoth
she to him, 'By Allah, go forthright, for that my sister asketh
of thee.' So the dolt of a fuller went out and made for the
trooper's house, whilst his wife forewent him thither by the
secret passage, and going up, sat down beside her lover.
Presently, the fuller entered and saluted the trooper and his
[supposed] wife and was confounded at the coincidence of the
case.[FN#230] Then doubt betided him and he returned in haste to
his dwelling; but she forewent him by the underground passage to
her chamber and donning her wonted clothes, sat [waiting] for him
and said to him, 'Did I not bid thee go to my sister and salute
her husband and make friends with them?' Quoth he, 'I did this,
but I misdoubted of my affair, when I saw his wife.' And she
said, 'Did I not tell thee that she resembleth me and I her, and
there is nought to distinguish between us but our clothes? Go
back to her.'
So, of the heaviness of his wit, he believed her and turning
back, went in to the trooper; but she had foregone him, and when
he saw her beside her lover, he fell to looking on her and
pondering. Then he saluted her and she returned him the
salutation; and when she spoke, he was bewildered. So the trooper
said to him, 'What ails thee to be thus?' And he answered, 'This
woman is my wife and the voice is her voice.' Then he rose in
haste and returning to his own house, saw his wife, who had
foregone him by the secret passage. So he went back to the
trooper's house and saw her sitting as before; whereupon he was
abashed before her and sitting down in the trooper's
sitting-chamber, ate and drank with him and became drunken and
abode without sense all that day till nightfall, when the trooper
arose and shaving off some of the fuller's hair (which was long
and flowing) after the fashion of the Turks, clipped the rest
short and clapped a tarboush on his head.
Then he thrust his feet into boots and girt him with a sword and
a girdle and bound about his middle a quiver and a bow and
arrows. Moreover, he put money in his pocket and thrust into his
sleeve letters-patent addressed to the governor of Ispahan,
bidding him assign to Rustem Khemartekeni a monthly allowance of
a hundred dirhems and ten pounds of bread and five pounds of meat
and enrol him among the Turks under his commandment. Then he took
him up and carrying him forth, left him in one of the mosques.
The fuller gave not over sleeping till sunrise, when he awoke and
finding himself in this plight, misdoubted of his affair and
imagined that he was a Turk and abode putting one foot forward
and drawing the other back. Then said he in himself, 'I will go
to my dwelling, and if my wife know me, then am I Ahmed the
fuller; but, if she know me not, I am a Turk.' So he betook
himself to his house; but when the artful baggage his wife saw
him, she cried out in his face, saying, 'Whither away, O trooper?
Wilt thou break into the house of Ahmed the fuller, and he a man
of repute, having a brother-in-law a Turk, a man of high standing
with the Sultan? An thou depart not, I will acquaint my husband
and he will requite thee thy deed.'
When he heard her words, the dregs of the drunkenness wrought in
him and he imagined that he was indeed a Turk. So he went out
from her and putting his hand to his sleeve, found therein a
scroll and gave it to one who read it to him. When he heard that
which was written in the scroll, his mind was confirmed in the
false supposition; but he said in himself, 'Maybe my wife seeketh
to put a cheat on me; so I will go to my fellows the fullers; and
if they know me not, then am I for sure Khemartekeni the Turk.'
So he betook himself to the fullers and when they espied him afar
off, they thought that he was one of the Turks, who used to wash
their clothes with them without payment and give them nothing.
Now they had complained of them aforetime to the Sultan, and he
said, 'If any of the Turks come to you, pelt them with stones.'
So, when they saw the fuller, they fell upon him with sticks and
stones and pelted him; whereupon quoth he [in himself], 'Verily,
I am a Turk and knew it not.' Then he took of the money in his
pocket and bought him victual [for the journey] and hired a
hackney and set out for Ispahan, leaving his wife to the trooper.
Nor," added the vizier, "is this more extraordinary than the
story of the merchant and the old woman and the king."
The vizier's story pleased King Shah Bekht and his heart clave to
the story of the merchant and the old woman; so he bade Er Rehwan
withdraw to his lodging, and he went away to his house and abode
there the next day.