his mother, “Of a truth all the sons of the merchants put me to shame
and said:—Naught is more honourable for a merchant’s son than travel for
gain.” “O my son, hast thou a mind to travel?” “Even so!” “And whither
wilt thou go?” “To the city of Baghdad; for there folk make double the
cost price on their goods.” “O my son, thy father is a very rich man
and, if he provide thee not with merchandise, I will supply it out of my
own monies.” “The best favour is that which is soonest bestowed; if this
kindness is to be, now is the time.” So she called the slaves and sent
them for cloth-packers; then, opening a store-house, brought out ten
loads of stuffs, which they made up into bales for him. Such was his
case; but as regards his father, Shams al-Din, he looked about and
failed to find Ala al-Din in the garden and enquiring after him, was
told that he had mounted mule and gone home; so he too mounted and
followed him. Now when he entered the house, he saw the bales ready
bound and asked what they were; whereupon his wife told him what had
chanced between Ala al-Din and the sons of the merchants; and he cried,
“O my son, Allah’s malison on travel and stranger-hood! Verily Allah’s
Apostle (whom the Lord bless and preserve!) hath said:—It is of a man’s
happy fortune that he eat his daily bread in his own land; and it was
said of the ancients:—Leave travel, though but for a mile.” Then quoth
he to his son, “Say, art thou indeed resolved to travel and wilt thou
not turn back from it?” Quoth the other, “There is no help for it but
that I journey to Baghdad with merchandise, else will I doff clothes and
don dervish gear and fare a-wandering over the world.” Shams al-Din
rejoined, “I am no penniless pauper but have great plenty of wealth;”
then he showed him all he owned of monies and stuffs and stock-in-trade
and observed, “With me are stuffs and merchandise befitting every
country in the world.” Then he showed him among the rest, forty bales
ready bound, with the price, a thousand dinars, written on each, and
said, “O my son take these forty loads, together with the ten which thy
mother gave thee, and set out under the safeguard of Almighty Allah.
But, O my child, I fear for thee a certain wood in thy way, called the
Lion’s Copse,[39] and a valley hight the Vale of Dogs, for there lives
are lost without mercy.” He said, “How so, O my father?”; and he
replied, “Because of a Badawi bandit named Ajlán.” Quoth Ala al-Din,
“Such is Allah’s luck; if any share of it be mine, no harm shall hap to
me.” Then they rode to the cattle-bazar, where behold, a cameleer[40]
alighted from his she-mule and kissing the Consul’s hand, said to him,
“O my lord, it is long, by Allah, since thou hast employed us in the way
of business.” He replied, “Every time hath its fortune and its men,[41]
and Allah have ruth on him who said:—
And the old man crept o’er the worldly ways ✿ So bowed, his beard o’er
his knees down flow’th:
Quoth I:—What gars thee so doubled go? ✿ Quoth he (as to me his hands he
show’th)
My youth is lost, in the dust it lieth; ✿ And see, I bend me to find my
youth.”[42]
Now when he had ended his verses, he said, “O chief of the caravan, it
is not I who am minded to travel, but this my son.” Quoth the cameleer,
“Allah save him for thee.” Then the Consul made a contract between Ala
al-Din and the man, appointing that the youth should be to him as a son,
and gave him into his charge, saying, “Take these hundred gold pieces
for thy people.” Moreover he bought his son threescore mules and a lamp
and a tomb-covering for the Sayyid Abd al-Kadir of Gílán[43] and said to
him, “O my son, while I am absent, this is thy sire in my stead:
whatsoever he biddeth thee, do thou obey him.” So saying, he returned
home with the mules and servants and that night they made a Khitmah or
perlection of the Koran and held a festival in honour of the Shaykh Abd
al-Kadir al-Jiláni. And when the morrow dawned, the Consul gave his son
ten thousand dinars, saying, “O my son, when thou comest to Baghdad, if
thou find stuffs easy of sale, sell them; but if they be dull, spend of
these dinars.” Then they loaded the mules and, taking leave of one
another, all the wayfarers setting out on their journey, marched forth
from the city. Now Mahmud of Balkh had made ready his own venture for
Baghdad and had moved his bales and set up his tents without the walls,
saying in himself, “Thou shalt not enjoy this youth but in the desert,
where there is neither spy nor marplot to trouble thee.” It chanced that
he had in hand a thousand dinars which he owed to the youth’s father,
the balance of a business-transaction between them; so he went and bade
farewell to the Consul, who charged him, “Give the thousand dinars to my
son Ala al-Din;” and commended the lad to his care, saying, “He is as it
were thy son.” Accordingly, Ala al-Din joined company with Mahmud of
Balkh——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that Ala al-Din joined
company with Mahmud of Balkh who, before beginning the march, charged
the youth’s cook to dress nothing for him, but himself provided him and
his company with meat and drink. Now he had four houses, one in Cairo,
another in Damascus, a third in Aleppo and a fourth in Baghdad. So they
set out and ceased not journeying over waste and wold till they drew
near Damascus, when Mahmud sent his slave to Ala al-Din, whom he found
sitting and reading. He went up to him and kissed his hands, and Ala
al-Din having asked him what he wanted, he answered, “My master saluteth
thee and craveth thy company to a banquet at his place.” Quoth the
youth, “Not till I consult my father Kamál al-Din, the captain of the
caravan.” So he asked advice of the Makaddam,[44] who said, “Do not go.”
Then they left Damascus and journeyed on till they came to Aleppo, where
Mahmud made a second entertainment and sent to invite Ala al-Din; but he
consulted the Chief Cameleer who again forbade him. Then they marched
from Aleppo and fared on, till there remained between them and Baghdad
only a single stage. Here Mahmud prepared a third feast and sent to bid
Ala al-Din to it: Kamal al-Din once more forbade his accepting it, but
he said, “I must needs go.” So he rose and, slinging a sword over his
shoulder, under his clothes, repaired to the tent of Mahmud of Balkh,
who came to meet him and saluted him. Then he set before him a sumptuous
repast and they ate and drank and washed hands. At last Mahmud bent
towards Ala al-Din to snatch a kiss from him, but the youth received the
kiss on the palm of his hand and said to him, “What wouldest thou be
at?” Quoth Mahmud, “In very sooth I brought thee hither that I might
take my pleasure with thee in this jousting-ground, and we will comment
upon the words of him who saith:—
Say, canst not come to us one momentling, ✿ Like milk of ewekin or aught
glistening,
And eat what liketh thee of dainty cate, ✿ And take thy due of fee in
silverling,
And bear whatso thou wilt, without mislike, ✿ Of spanling, fistling or a
spanlong thing?”
Then Mahmud of Balkh would have laid hands on Ala al-Din to ravish him;
but he rose and baring his brand, said to him, “Shame on thy gray hairs!
Hast thou no fear of Allah, and He of exceeding awe?[45] May He have
mercy on him who saith:—
Preserve thy hoary hairs from soil and stain, ✿ For whitest colours are
the easiest stained!”
And when he ended his verses he said to Mahmud of Balkh, “Verily this
merchandise[46] is a trust from Allah and may not be sold. If I sold
this property to other than thee for gold, I would sell it to thee for
silver; but by Allah, O filthy villain, I will never again company with
thee; no, never!” Then he returned to Kamal al-Din the guide and said to
him, “Yonder man is a lewd fellow, and I will no longer consort with him
nor suffer his company by the way.” He replied, “O my son, did I not say
to thee:—Go not near him? But if we part company with him, I fear
destruction for ourselves; so let us still make one caravan.” But Ala
al-Din cried, “It may not be that I ever again travel with him.” So he
loaded his beasts and journeyed onwards, he and his company, till they
came to a valley, where Ala al-Din would have halted, but the Cameleer
said to him, “Do not halt here; rather let us fare forwards and press
our pace, so haply we make Baghdad before the gates are closed, for they
open and shut them with the sun, in fear lest the Rejectors[47] should
take the city and throw the books of religious learning into the
Tigris.” But Ala al-Din replied to him, “O my father, I came not forth
from home with this merchandise, or travelled hither for the sake of
traffic, but to divert myself with the sight of foreign lands and
folks;” and he rejoined, “O my son, we fear for thee and for thy goods
from the wild Arabs.” Whereupon the youth answered, “Harkye, fellow, art
thou master or man? I will not enter Baghdad till the morning, that the
sons of the city may see my merchandise and know me.” “Do as thou wilt,”
said the other; “I have given thee the wisest advice, but thou art the
best judge of thine own case.” Then Ala al-Din bade them unload the
mules and pitch the tent; so they did his bidding and abode there till
the middle of the night, when he went out to obey a call of nature and
suddenly saw something gleaming afar off. So he said to Kamal al-Din, “O
captain, what is yonder glittering?” The Cameleer sat up and,
considering it straitly, knew it for the glint of spear-heads and the
steel of Badawi weapons and swords. And lo and behold! this was a troop
of wild Arabs under a chief called Ajlán Abú Náib, Shaykh of the Arabs,
and when they neared the camp and saw the bales and baggage, they said
one to another, “O night of loot!” Now when Kamal al-Din heard these
their words he cried, “Avaunt, O vilest of Arabs!” But Abu Naib so smote
him with his throw-spear in the breast, that the point came out gleaming
from his back, and he fell down dead at the tent-door. Then cried the
water-carrier,[48] “Avaunt, O foulest of Arabs!” and one of them smote
him with a sword upon the shoulder, that it issued shining from the
tendons of the throat, and he also fell down dead. (And all this while
Ala al-Din stood looking on.) Then the Badawin surrounded and charged
the caravan from every side and slew all Ala al-Din’s company without
sparing a man: after which they loaded the mules with the spoil and made
off. Quoth Ala al-Din to himself, “Nothing will slay thee save thy mule
and thy dress!”; so he arose and put off his gown and threw it over the
back of a mule, remaining in his shirt and bag-trousers only; after
which he looked towards the tent-door and, seeing there a pool of gore
flowing from the slaughtered, wallowed in it with his remaining clothes
till he was as a slain man drowned in his own blood. Thus it fared with
him; but as regards the Shaykh of the wild Arabs, Ajlan, he said to his
banditti, “O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for Baghdad or
from Baghdad for Egypt?”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that when the Badawi
asked his banditti, “O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for
Baghdad or from Baghdad for Egypt?”; they answered, “’Twas bound from
Egypt for Baghdad;” and he said, “Return ye to the slain, for methinks
the owner of this caravan is not dead.” So they turned back to the slain
and fell to prodding and slashing them with lance and sword till they
came to Ala al-Din, who had thrown himself down among the corpses. And
when they came to him, quoth they, “Thou dost but feign thyself dead,
but we will make an end of thee,” and one of the Badawin levelled his
javelin and would have plunged it into his breast when he cried out,
“Save me, O my lord Abd al-Kadir, O Saint of Gilan!” and behold, he saw
a hand turn the lance away from his breast to that of Kamal al-Din the
cameleer, so that it pierced him and spared himself.[49] Then the Arabs
made off; and, when Ala al-Din saw that the birds were flown with their
god-send, he sat up and finding no one, rose and set off running; but,
behold Abu Náib the Badawi looked back and said to his troop, “I see
somewhat moving afar off, O Arabs!” So one of the bandits turned back
and, spying Ala al-Din running, called out to him, saying, “Flight shall
not forward thee and we after thee;” and he smote his mare with his heel
and she hastened after him. Then Ala al-Din seeing before him a watering
tank and a cistern beside it, climbed up into a niche in the cistern
and, stretching himself at full length, feigned to be asleep and said,
“O gracious Protector, cover me with the veil of Thy protection which
may not be torn away!” And lo! the Badawi came up to the cistern and,
standing in his stirrup-irons put out his hand to lay hold of Ala
al-Din; but he said, “O my lady Nafísah[50]! Now is thy time!” And
behold, a scorpion stung the Badawi in the palm and he cried out,
saying, “Help, O Arabs! I am stung;” and he alighted from his mare’s
back. So his comrades came up to him and mounted him again, asking,
“What hath befallen thee?” whereto he answered, “A young scorpion[51]
stung me.” So they departed, with the caravan. Such was their case; but
as regards Ala al-Din, he tarried in the niche, and Mahmud of Balkh bade
load his beasts and fared forwards till he came to the Lion’s Copse
where he found Ala al-Din’s attendants all lying slain. At this he
rejoiced and went on till he reached the cistern and the reservoir. Now
his mule was athirst and turned aside to drink, but she saw Ala al-Din’s
shadow in the water and shied and started; whereupon Mahmud raised his
eyes and, seeing Ala al-Din lying in the niche, stripped to his shirt
and bag-trousers, said to him, “What man this deed to thee hath dight
and left thee in this evil plight?” Answered Ala al-Din, “The Arabs,”
and Mahmud said, “O my son, the mules and the baggage were thy ransom;
so do thou comfort thyself with his saying who said:—
If thereby man can save his head from death, ✿ His good is worth him but
a slice of nail!
But now, O my son, come down and fear no hurt.” Thereupon he descended
from the cistern-niche and Mahmud mounted him on a mule, and they fared
on till they reached Baghdad, where he brought him to his own house and
carried him to the bath, saying to him, “The goods and money were the
ransom of thy life, O my son; but, if thou wilt hearken to me, I will
give thee the worth of that thou hast lost, twice told.” When he came
out of the bath, Mahmud carried him into a saloon decorated with gold
with four raised floors, and bade them bring a tray with all manner of
meats. So they ate and drank and Mahmud bent towards Ala al-Din to
snatch a kiss from him; but he received it upon the palm of his hand and
said, “What, dost thou persist in thy evil designs upon me? Did I not
tell thee that, were I wont to sell this merchandise to other than thee
for gold, I would sell it thee for silver?” Quoth Mahmud, “I will give
thee neither merchandise nor mule nor clothes save at this price; for I
am gone mad for love of thee, and bless him who said:—
Told us, ascribing to his Shaykhs, our Shaykh ✿ Abú Bilál, these words
they wont to utter:[52]
Unhealed the lover wones of love desire, ✿ By kiss and clip; his only
cure’s to futter!”
Ala al-Din replied, “Of a truth this may never be, take back thy dress
and thy mule and open the door that I may go out.” So he opened the
door, and Ala al-Din fared forth and walked on, with the dogs barking at
his heels, and he went forwards through the dark when behold, he saw the
door of a mosque standing open and, entering the vestibule, there took
shelter and concealment; and suddenly a light approached him and on
examining it he saw that it came from a pair of lanthorns borne by two
slaves before two merchants. Now one was an old man of comely face and
the other a youth; and he heard the younger say to the elder, “O my
uncle, I conjure thee by Allah, give me back my cousin!” The old man
replied, “Did I not forbid thee, many a time, when the oath of divorce
was always in thy mouth, as it were Holy Writ?” Then he turned to his
right and, seeing Ala al-Din as he were a slice of the full moon, said
to him, “Peace be with thee! who art thou, O my son?” Quoth he,
returning the salutation of peace, “I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams
al-Din, Consul of the merchants for Egypt. I besought my father for
merchandise; so he packed me fifty loads of stuffs and goods,”——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
continued, “So he packed me fifty loads of goods and gave me ten
thousand dinars, wherewith I set out for Baghdad; but when I reached the
Lion’s Copse, the wild Arabs came out against me and took all my goods
and monies. So I entered the city knowing not where to pass the night
and, seeing this place, I took shelter here.” Quoth the old man, “O my
son, what sayest thou to my giving thee a thousand dinars and a suit of
clothes and a mule worth other two thousand?” Ala al-Din asked, “To what
end wilt thou give me these things, O my uncle?” and the other answered,
“This young man who accompanieth me, is the son of my brother and an
only son; and I have a daughter called Zubaydah[53] the lutist, an only
child who is a model of beauty and loveliness, so I married her to him.
Now he loveth her, but she loatheth him; and when he chanced to take an
oath of triple divorcement and broke it, forthright she left him.
Whereupon he egged on all the folk to intercede with me to restore her
to him; but I told him that this could not lawfully be save by an
intermediate marriage, and we have agreed to make some stranger the
intermediary[54] in order that none may taunt and shame him with this
affair. So, as thou art a stranger, come with us and we will marry thee
to her; thou shalt lie with her to-night and on the morrow divorce her
and we will give thee what I said.” Quoth Ala al-Din to himself, “By
Allah, to bide the night with a bride on a bed in a house is far better
than sleeping in the streets and vestibules!” So he went with them to
the Kazi whose heart, as soon as he saw Ala al-Din, was moved to love
him, and who said to the old man, “What is your will?” He replied, “We
wish to make this young man an intermediary husband for my daughter; but
we will write a bond against him binding him to pay down by way of
marriage-settlement ten thousand gold pieces. Now if after passing the
night with her he divorce her in the morning, we will give him a mule
and dress each worth a thousand dinars, and a third thousand of ready
money; but if he divorce her not, he shall pay down the ten thousand
dinars according to contract.” So they agreed to the agreement and the
father of the bride to be received his bond for the marriage-settlement.
Then he took Ala al-Din and, clothing him anew, carried him to his
daughter’s house and there he left him standing at the door, whilst he
himself went in to the young lady and said, “Take the bond of thy
marriage-settlement, for I have wedded thee to a handsome youth by name
Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat: so do thou use him with the best of usage.”
Then he put the bond into her hands and left her and went to his own
lodging. Now the lady’s cousin had an old duenna who used to visit
Zubaydah, and he had done many a kindness to this woman, so he said to
her, “O my mother, if my cousin Zubaydah see this handsome young man,
she will never after accept my offer; so I would fain have thee contrive
some trick to keep her and him apart.” She answered, “By the life of thy
youth,[55] I will not suffer him to approach her!” Then she went to Ala
al-Din and said to him, “O my son, I have a word of advice to give thee,
for the love of Almighty Allah and do thou accept my counsel, as I fear
for thee from this young woman: better thou let her lie alone and feel
not her person nor draw thee near to her.” He asked, “Why so?”; and she
answered, “Because her body is full of leprosy and I dread lest she
infect thy fair and seemly youth.” Quoth he, “I have no need of her.”
Thereupon she went to the lady and said the like to her of Ala al-Din;
and she replied, “I have no need of him, but will let him lie alone, and
on the morrow he shall gang his gait.” Then she called a slave-girl and
said to her, “Take the tray of food and set it before him that he may
sup.” So the handmaid carried him the tray of food and set it before him
and he ate his fill: after which he sat down and raised his charming
voice and fell to reciting the chapter called Y. S.[56] The lady
listened to him and found his voice as melodious as the psalms of David
sung by David himself,[57] which when she heard, she exclaimed, “Allah
disappoint the old hag who told me that he was affected with leprosy!
Surely this is not the voice of one who hath such a disease; and all was
a lie against him.”[58] Then she took a lute of India-land workmanship
and, tuning the strings, sang to it in a voice so sweet its music would
stay the birds in the heart of heaven; and began these two couplets:—
I love a fawn with gentle white-black eyes, ✿ Whose walk the willow-wand
with envy kills:
Forbidding me he bids for rival mine, ✿ Tis Allah’s grace who grants to
whom He wills!
And when he heard her chant these lines he ended his recitation of the
chapter, and began also to sing and repeated the following couplet:—
My Salám to the Fawn in the garments concealed, ✿ And to roses in
gardens of cheek revealed.
The lady rose up when she heard this, and her inclination for him
redoubled and she lifted the curtain; and Ala al-Din, seeing her,
recited these two couplets:—
She shineth forth, a moon, and bends, a willow-wand, ✿ And breathes out
ambergris, and gazes, a gazelle.
Meseems as if grief loved my heart and when from her ✿ Estrangement I
abide possession to it fell.[59]
Thereupon she came forward, swinging her haunches and gracefully swaying
a shape the handiwork of Him whose boons are hidden; and each of them
stole one glance of the eyes that cost them a thousand sighs. And when
the shafts of the two regards which met rankled in his heart, he
repeated these two couplets:—
She ‘spied the moon of Heaven, reminding me ✿ Of nights when met we in
the meadows li’en:
True, both saw moons, but sooth to say, it was ✿ Her very eyes I saw,
and she my eyne.
And when she drew near him, and there remained but two paces between
them, he recited these two couplets:—
She spread three tresses of unplaited hair ✿ One night, and showed me
nights not one but four;
And faced the moon of Heaven with her brow, ✿ And showed me two-fold
moons in single hour.
And as she was hard by him he said to her, “Keep away from me, lest thou
infect me.” Whereupon she uncovered her wrist[60] to him, and he saw
that it was cleft, as it were in two halves, by its veins and sinews and
its whiteness was as the whiteness of virgin silver. Then said she,
“Keep away from me, thou! for thou art stricken with leprosy, and may be
thou wilt infect me.” He asked, “Who told thee I was a leper?” and she
answered, “The old woman so told me.” Quoth he, “’Twas she told me also
that thou wast afflicted with white scurvy;” and so saying, he bared his
forearms and showed her that his skin was also like virgin silver.
Thereupon she pressed him to her bosom and he pressed her to his bosom
and the twain embraced with closest embrace, then she took him and,
lying down on her back, let down her petticoat-trousers, and in an
instant that which his father had left him rose up in rebellion against
him and he said, “Go it, O Shaykh Zachary[61] of shaggery, O father of
veins!”; and putting both hands to her flanks, he set the
sugar-stick[62] to the mouth of the cleft and thrust on till he came to
the wicket called “Pecten.” His passage was by the Gate of Victories[63]
and therefrom he entered the Monday market, and those of Tuesday and
Wednesday and Thursday,[64] and, finding the carpet after the measure of
the daïs-floor,[65] he plied the box within its cover till he came to
the end of it. And when morning dawned he cried to her, “Alas for
delight which is not fulfilled! The raven[66] taketh it and flieth
away!” She asked, “What meaneth this saying?”; and he answered, “O my
lady, I have but this hour to abide with thee.” Quoth she, “Who saith
so?” and quoth he, “Thy father made me give him a written bond to pay
ten thousand dinars to thy wedding-settlement; and, except I pay it this
very day, they will imprison me for debt in the Kazi’s house; and now my
hand lacketh one half-dirham of the sum.” She asked, “O my lord, is the
marriage-bond in thy hand or in theirs?”; and he answered, “O my lady,
in mine, but I have nothing.” She rejoined, “The matter is easy; fear
thou nothing. Take these hundred dinars: an I had more, I would give
thee what thou lackest; but of a truth my father, of his love for my
cousin, hath transported all his goods, even to my jewellery, from my
lodging to his. But when they send thee a serjeant of the Ecclesiastical
Court,”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,