and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; but
the Nazarene privily took a banana and peeled it; then, splitting it in
twain, put into one half concentrated Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm
whereof would overthrow an elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and
gave it to Ali Shar, saying, “O my lord, by the truth of thy religion, I
adjure thee to take this.” So Ali Shar, being ashamed to make him
forsworn, took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it settled well in
his stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as though he
had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, he rose to his
feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o’-mount[289] at bay and,
taking the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and ran off to rejoin his
brother. And the cause of his so doing was that the Nazarene’s brother
was the same decrepit old man who purposed to buy Zumurrud for a
thousand dinars, but she would none of him and jeered him in verse. He
was an Unbeliever inwardly, though a Moslem outwardly, and had called
himself Rashid al-Din;[290] and when Zumurrud mocked him and would not
accept of him, he complained to his brother, the aforesaid Christian who
played this sleight to take her from her master Ali Shar; whereupon his
brother, Barsúm by name, said to him, “Fret not thyself about the
business; for I will make shift to seize her for thee, without expending
either dinar or dirham.” Now he was a skilful wizard, crafty and wicked;
so he watched his time and ceased not his practices till he played Ali
Shar the trick before related; then, taking the key, he went to his
brother and acquainted him with what had passed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din
mounted his she-mule and repaired with his brother and his servants to
the house of Ali Shar, taking with him a purse of a thousand dinars,
wherewith to bribe the Chief of Police, should he meet him. He opened
the saloon-door, and the men who were with him rushed in upon Zumurrud
and forcibly seized her, threatening her with death, if she spoke; but
they left the place as it was and took nothing therefrom. Lastly, they
left Ali Shar lying in the vestibule after they had shut the door on him
and laid the saloon key by his side. Then the Christian carried the girl
to his own house and setting her amongst his handmaids and concubines,
said to her, “O strumpet, I am the old man whom thou didst reject and
lampoon; but now I have thee, without paying dinar or dirham.” Replied
she (and her eyes streamed with tears), “Allah requite thee, O wicked
old man, for sundering me and my lord!” He rejoined, “Wanton minx and
whore that thou art, thou shalt see how I will punish thee! By the truth
of the Messiah and the Virgin, except thou obey me and embrace my faith,
I will torture thee with all manner of torture!” She replied, “By Allah,
though thou cut my flesh to bits I will not forswear the faith of
Al-Islam! It may be Almighty Allah will bring me speedy relief, for He
doth even as He is lief, and the wise say:—Better body to scathe than a
flaw in faith.” Thereupon the old man called his eunuchs and women,
saying, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down and he ceased not to
beat her with grievous beating, whilst she cried for help and no help
came; then she no longer implored aid but fell to saying, “Allah is my
sufficiency, and He is indeed all-sufficient!” till her groans ceased
and her breath failed her and she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his
heart was soothed by bashing her, he said to the eunuchs, “Drag her
forth by the feet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her nothing
to eat.” And after quietly sleeping that night, on the morrow the
accursed old man sent for her and beat her again, after which he bade
the Castrato return her to her place. When the burning of the blows had
cooled, she said, “There is no God but _the_ God and Mohammed is the
Apostle of God! Allah is my sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!”
And she called for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and
keep!)——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud called
for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!). Such
was her case; but as regards Ali Shar, he ceased not sleeping till next
day, when the Bhang quitted his brain and he opened his eyes, and cried
out, “O Zumurrud”; but no one answered him. So he entered the saloon and
found the empty air and the fane afar;[291] whereby he knew that it was
the Nazarene who had played him this trick. And he groaned and wept and
lamented and again shed tears, repeating these couplets:—
O Love thou’rt instant in thy cruellest guise; ✿ Here is my heart ‘twixt
fears and miseries:
Pity, O lords, a thrall who, felled on way ✿ Of Love, erst wealthy now a
beggar lies:
What profits archer’s art if, when the foe ✿ Draw near, his bowstring
snap ere arrow flies:
And when griefs multiply on generous man ✿ And urge, what fort can fend
from destinies?
How much and much I warded parting, but ✿ ‘When Destiny descends she
blinds our eyes?’
And when he had ended his verse, he sobbed with loud sobs and repeated
also these couplets:—
Enrobes with honour sands of camp her foot-step wandering lone; ✿ Pines
the poor mourner as she wins the stead where wont to wone:
She turns to resting-place of tribe, and yearns thereon to view ✿ The
spring-camp lying desolate with ruins overstrown:
She stands and questions of the site, but with the tongue of case ✿ The
mount replies, ‘There is no path that leads to union, none!
‘Tis as the lightning flash erewhile bright glittered o’er the camp ✿
And died in darkling air no more to be for ever shown.’
And he repented when repentance availed him naught, and wept and rent
his raiment. Then he hent in hand two stones and went round about the
city, beating his breast with the stones and crying, “O Zumurrud!”
whilst the small boys flocked round him, calling out, “A madman! A
madman!” and all who knew him wept for him, saying, “This is such an
one: what evil hath befallen him?” Thus he continued doing all that day
and, when night darkened on him, he lay down in one of the city-lanes
and slept till morning. On the morrow, he went round about town with the
stones till eventide, when he returned to his saloon to pass therein the
night. Presently, one of his neighbours saw him, and this worthy old
woman said to him, “O my son, Heaven give thee healing! How long hast
thou been mad?” And he answered her with these two couplets:[292]—
They said, Thou ravest upon the person thou lovest. And I replied, The
sweets of life are only for the mad.
Drop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave. If she
cure my madness do not blame me.
So his old neighbour knew him for a lover who had lost his beloved and
said, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! O my son, I wish thou wouldest acquaint me with the
tale of thine affliction. Peradventure Allah may enable me to help thee
against it, if it so please Him.” So he told her all that had befallen
him with Barsum the Nazarene and his brother the wizard who had named
himself Rashid al-Din and, when she understood the whole case, she said,
“O my son, indeed thou hast excuse.” And her eyes railed tears and she
repeated these two couplets:—
Enough for lovers in this world their ban and bane: ✿ By Allah, lover
ne’er in fire of Sakar fries:
For, sure, they died of love-desire they never told ✿ Chastely, and to
this truth tradition testifies.[293]
And after she had finished her verse, she said, “O my son, rise at once
and buy me a crate, such as the jewel-pedlars carry; buy also bangles
and seal-rings and bracelets and ear-rings and other gew-gaws wherein
women delight and grudge not the cash. Put all the stock into the crate
and bring it to me and I will set it on my head and go round about, in
the guise of a huckstress and make search for her in all the houses,
till I happen on news of her—Inshallah!” So Ali Shar rejoiced in her
words and kissed her hands, then, going out, speedily brought her all
she required; whereupon she rose and donned a patched gown and threw
over her head a honey-yellow veil, and took staff in hand and, with the
basket on her head, began wandering about the passages and the houses.
She ceased not to go from house to house and street to street and
quarter to quarter, till Allah Almighty led her to the house of the
accursed Rashid al-Din the Nazarene where, hearing groans within, she
knocked at the door,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old woman
heard groans within the house, she knocked at the door, whereupon a
slave-girl came down and opening to her, saluted her. Quoth the old
woman, “I have these trifles for sale: is there any one with you who
will buy aught of them?” “Yes,” answered the damsel and, carrying her
indoors, made her sit down; whereupon all the slave-girls came round her
and each bought something of her. And as the old woman spoke them fair
and was easy with them as to price, all rejoiced in her, because of her
kind ways and pleasant speech. Meanwhile, she looked narrowly at the ins
and outs of the place to see who it was she had heard groaning, till her
glance fell on Zumurrud, when she knew her and she began to show her
customers yet more kindness. At last she made sure that Zumurrud was
laid prostrate; so she wept and said to the girls, “O my children, how
cometh yonder young lady in this plight?” Then the slave-girls told her
all what had passed, adding, “Indeed this matter is not of our choice;
but our master commanded us to do thus, and he is now on a journey?” She
said, “O my children, I have a favour to ask of you, and it is that you
loose this unhappy damsel of her bonds, till you know of your lord’s
return, when do ye bind her again as she was; and you shall earn a
reward from the Lord of all creatures.” “We hear and obey,” answered
they and at once loosing Zumurrud, gave her to eat and drink. Thereupon
quoth the old woman, “Would my leg had been broken, ere I entered your
house!” And she went up to Zumurrud and said to her, “O my daughter,
Heaven keep thee safe; soon shall Allah bring thee relief.” Then she
privily told her that she came from her lord, Ali Shar, and agreed with
her to be on the watch for sounds that night, saying, “Thy lord will
come and stand by the pavilion-bench and whistle[294] to thee; and when
thou hearest him, do thou whistle back to him and let thyself down to
him by a rope from the window, and he will take thee and go away with
thee.” So Zumurrud thanked the old woman, who went forth and returned to
Ali Shar and told him what she had done, saying, “Go this night, at
midnight, to such a quarter, for the accursed carle’s house is there and
its fashion is thus and thus. Stand under the window of the upper
chamber and whistle; whereupon she will let herself down to thee; then
do thou take her and carry her whither thou wilt.” He thanked her for
her good offices and with flowing tears repeated these couplets:—
Now with their says and saids[295] no more vex me the chiding race; ✿ My
heart is weary and I’m worn to bone by their disgrace:
And tears a truthful legend[296] with a long ascription-chain ✿ Of my
desertion and distress the lineage can trace.
O thou heart-whole and free from dole and dolours I endure, ✿ Cut short
thy long persistency nor question of my case:
A sweet-lipped one and soft of sides and cast in shapeliest mould ✿ Hath
stormed my heart with honied lure and honied words of grace.
No rest my heart hath known since thou art gone, nor ever close ✿ These
eyes, nor patience-aloe scape the hopes I dare to trace:
Ye have abandoned me to be the pawn of vain desire, ✿ In squalid state
‘twixt enviers and they who blame to face:
As for forgetting you or love ‘tis thing I never knew; ✿ Nor in my
thought shall ever pass a living thing but you.
And when he ended his verses, he sighed and shed tears and repeated also
these couplets:—
Divinely were inspired his words who brought me news of you; ✿ For
brought he unto me a gift was music in mine ear:
Take he for gift, if him content, this worn-out threadbare robe, ✿ My
heart, which was in pieces torn when parting from my fere.
He waited till night darkened and, when came the appointed time, he went
to the quarter she had described to him and saw and recognised the
Christian’s house; so he sat down on the bench under the gallery.
Presently drowsiness overcame him and he slept (Glory be to Him who
sleepeth not!), for it was long since he had tasted sleep, by reason of
the violence of his passion, and he became as one drunken with slumber.
And while he was on this wise——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that while he lay
asleep, behold, a certain thief, who had come out that night and prowled
about the skirts of the city to steal somewhat, happened by the decree
of Destiny, on the Nazarene’s house. He went round about it, but found
no way of climbing up into it, and presently on his circuit he came to
the bench, where he saw Ali Shar asleep and stole his turband; and, as
he was taking it, suddenly Zumurrud looked out and seeing the thief
standing in the darkness, took him for her lord; whereupon she let
herself down to him by the rope with a pair of saddle-bags full of gold.
Now when the robber saw that, he said to himself, “This is a wondrous
thing, and there must needs be some marvellous cause to it.” Then he
snatched up the saddle-bags, and threw Zumurrud over his shoulders and
made off with both like the blinding lightning. Quoth she, “Verily, the
old woman told me that thou wast weak with illness on my account; and
here thou art, stronger than a horse.” He made her no reply; so she put
her hand to his face and felt a beard like the broom of palm-frond used
for the Hammam,[297] as if he were a hog which had swallowed feathers
and they had come out of his gullet; whereat she took fright and said to
him, “What art thou?” “O strumpet,” answered he, “I am the sharper
Jawán[298] the Kurd, of the band of Ahmad al-Danaf; we are forty
sharpers, who will all piss our tallow into thy womb this night, from
dusk to dawn.” When she heard his words, she wept and beat her face,
knowing that Fate had gotten the better of her and that she had no
resource but resignation and to put her trust in Allah Almighty. So she
took patience and submitted herself to the ordinance of the Lord,
saying, “There is no god but _the_ God! As often as we escape from one
woe, we fall into a worse.” Now the cause of Jawan’s coming thither was
this: he had said to Calamity-Ahmad, “O Sharper-captain,[299] I have
been in this city before and know a cavern without the walls which will
hold forty souls; so I will go before you thither and set my mother
therein. Then will I return to the city and steal somewhat for the luck
of all of you and keep it till you come; so shall you be my guests and I
will show you hospitality this day.” Replied Ahmad al-Danaf, “Do what
thou wilt.” So Jawan went forth to the place before them and set his
mother in the cave; but, as he came out he found a trooper lying asleep,
with his horse picketed beside him; so he cut his throat and, taking his
clothes and his charger and his arms, hid them with his mother in the
cave, where also he tethered the horse. Then he betook himself to the
city and prowled about, till he happened on the Christian’s house and
did with Ali Shar’s turband and Zumurrud and her saddle-bags as we have
said. He ceased not to run, with Zumurrud on his back, till he came to
the cavern, where he gave her in charge of his mother, saying, “Keep
thou watch over her till I return to thee at first dawn of day,” and
went his ways.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Kurdish
Jawan to his mother, “Keep thou watch over her till I come back to thee
at first dawn of day,” and went his ways. Now Zumurrud said to herself,
“Why am I so heedless about saving my life and wherefore await till
these forty men come?: they will take their turns to board me, till they
make me like a water-logged ship at sea.” Then she turned to the old
woman, Jawan’s mother, and said to her, “O my aunt, wilt thou not rise
up and come without the cave, that I may louse thee in the sun?”[300]
Replied the old woman, “Ay, by Allah, O my daughter: this long time have
I been out of reach of the bath; for these hogs cease not to carry me
from place to place.” So they went without the cavern, and Zumurrud
combed out her head hair and killed the lice on her locks, till the
tickling soothed her and she fell asleep; whereupon Zumurrud arose and,
donning the clothes of the murthered trooper, girt her waist with his
sword and covered her head with his turband, so that she became as she
were a man. Then, mounting the horse, after she had taken the saddle
bags full of gold she breathed a prayer, “O good Protector, protect me I
adjure thee by the glory of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!),”
adding these words in thought, “If I return to the city belike one of
the trooper’s folk will see me, and no good will befal me.” So she
turned her back on the town and rode forth into the wild and the waste.
And she ceased not faring forth with her saddle-bags and the steed,
eating of the growth of the earth and drinking of its waters, she and
her horse, for ten days and, on the eleventh, she came in sight of a
city pleasant and secure from dread, and stablished in happy stead.
Winter had gone from it with his cold showers, and Prime had come to it
with his roses and orange-blossoms and varied flowers; and its blooms
were brightly blowing; its streams were merrily flowing and its birds
warbled coming and going. And she drew near the dwellings and would have
entered the gate when she saw the troops and Emirs and Grandees of the
place drawn up, whereat she marvelled seeing them in such unusual case
and said to herself, “The people of the city are all gathered at its
gate: needs must there be a reason for this.” Then she made towards
them; but, as she drew near, the soldiery dashed forward to meet her
and, dismounting all, kissed the ground between her hands and said, “Aid
thee Allah, O our lord the Sultan!” Then the notables and dignitaries
ranged themselves before her in double line, whilst the troops ordered
the people in, saying, “Allah aid thee and make thy coming a blessing to
the Moslems, O Sultan of all creatures! Allah establish thee, O King of
the time and union-pearl of the day and the tide!” Asked Zumurrud, “What
aileth you, O people of this city?” And the Head Chamberlain answered,
“Verily, He hath given to thee who is no niggard in His giving; and He
hath been bountiful to thee and hath made thee Sultan of this city and
ruler over the necks of all who are therein; for know thou it is the
custom of the citizens, when their King deceaseth leaving no son, that
the troops should sally forth to the suburbs and sojourn there three
days: and whoever cometh from the quarter whence thou hast come, him
they make King over them. So praised be Allah who hath sent us of the
sons of the Turks a well-favoured man; for had a lesser than thou
presented himself, he had been Sultan.” Now Zumurrud was clever and
well-advised in all she did: so she said, “Think not that I am of the
common folk of the Turks! nay, I am of the sons of the great, a man of
condition; but I was wroth with my family, so I went forth and left
them. See these saddle-bags full of gold which I have brought under me
that, by the way, I might give alms thereof to the poor and the needy.”
So they called down blessings upon her and rejoiced in her with
exceeding joy and she also joyed in them and said in herself, “Now that
I have attained to this”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Zumurrud to
herself, “Now that I have attained to this case, haply Allah will
reunite me with my lord in this place, for He can do whatso He willeth.”
Then the troops escorted her to the city and, all dismounting, walked
before her to the palace. Here she alighted and the Emirs and Grandees,
taking her under both armpits,[301] carried her into the palace and
seated her on the throne; after which they all kissed ground before her.
And when duly enthroned she bade them open the treasuries and gave
largesse to all the troops, who offered up prayers for the continuance
of her reign, and all the townsfolk accepted her rule and all the lieges
of the realm. Thus she abode awhile bidding and forbidding, and all the
people came to hold her in exceeding reverence and heartily to love her,
by reason of her continence and generosity; for taxes she remitted and
prisoners she released and grievances she redressed; but, as often as
she bethought her of her lord, she wept and besought Allah to reunite
her and him; and one night, as she chanced to be thinking of him and
calling to mind the days she had passed with him, her eyes ran over with
tears and she versified in these two couplets:—
My yearning for thee though long is fresh, ✿ And the tears which chafe
these eyelids increase:
When I weep, I weep from the burn of love, ✿ For to lover severance is
decease.[302]
And when she had ended her verse, she wiped away her tears and repairing
to the palace, betook herself to the Harim, where she appointed to the
slave-girls and concubines separate lodgings and assigned them pensions
and allowances, giving out that she was minded to live apart and devote
herself to works of piety. So she applied herself to fasting and
praying, till the Emirs said, “Verily, this Sultan is eminently devout;”
nor would she suffer any male attendants about her, save two little
eunuchs to serve her. And on this wise she held the throne a whole year,
during which time she heard no news of her lord, and failed to hit upon
his traces, which was exceeding grievous to her; so, when her distress
became excessive, she summoned her Wazirs and Chamberlains and bid them
fetch architects and builders and make her in front of the palace a
horse-course, one parasang long and the like broad. They hastened to do
her bidding, and lay out the place to her liking; and, when it was
completed, she went down into it and they pitched her there a great
pavilion, wherein the chairs of the Emirs were ranged in due order.
Moreover, she bade them spread on the racing-plain tables with all
manners of rich meats and when this was done she ordered the Grandees to
eat. So they ate and she said to them, “It is my will that, on seeing
the new moon of each month, ye do on this wise and proclaim in the city
that no man shall open his shop, but that all our lieges shall come and
eat of the King’s banquet, and that whoso disobeyeth shall be hanged
over his own door.”[303] So they did as she bade them, and ceased not so
to do till the first new moon of the second year appeared; when Zumurrud
went down into the horse-course and the crier proclaimed aloud, saying,
“Ho, ye lieges and people one and all, whoso openeth store or shop or
house shall straightway be hanged over his own door; for it behoveth you
to come in a body and eat of the King’s banquet.” And when the
proclamation became known, they laid the tables and the subjects came in
hosts; so she bade them sit down at the trays and eat their fill of all
the dishes. Accordingly they sat down and she took place on her chair of
state, watching them, whilst each who was at meat said to himself,
“Verily the King looketh at none save me.” Then they fell to eating and
the Emirs said to them, “Eat and be not ashamed; for this pleaseth the
King.” So they ate their fill and went away, blessing the Sovereign and
saying, one to the other, “Never in our days saw we a Sultan who loved
the poor as doth this Sultan.” And they wished him length of life. Upon
this Zumurrud returned to her palace,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Twentieth Night,