There was once a merchant, who had much substance and traded
largely in foreign countries. One day, as he was riding through a
certain country, whither he had gone to collect what was due to
him, there overtook him the heat of the day and presently he
espied a garden[FN#8] before him; so he made towards it for
shelter and alighting, sat down under a walnut tree, by a spring
of water. Then he put his hand to his saddle bags and took out a
cake of bread and a date and ate them and threw away the date
stone, when behold, there started up before him a gigantic Afrit,
with a naked sword in his hand, who came up to him and said,
'Arise, that I may slay thee, even as thou hast slain my son.'
'How did I slay thy son?' asked the merchant, and the genie
replied, 'When thou threwest away the date stone, it smote my
son, who was passing at the time, on the breast, and he died
forthright.' When the merchant heard this, he said, 'Verily we
are God's and to Him we return! There is no power and no virtue
but in God, the Most High, the Supreme! If I killed him, it was
by misadventure, and I prithee pardon me.' But the genie said,
'There is no help for it but I must kill thee.' Then he seized
him and throwing him down, raised his sword to strike him:
whereupon the merchant wept and said, 'I commit my affair to
God!' and recited the following verses:
Fate has two days, untroubled one, the other lowering, And life
two parts, the one content, the other sorrowing.
Say unto him that taunteth us with fortune's perfidy, 'At whom
but those whose heads are high doth Fate its arrows fling?'
If that the hands of Time have made their plaything of our life,
Till for its long protracted kiss ill-hap upon us spring,
Dost thou not see the hurricane, what time the wild winds blow,
Smite down the stately trees alone and spare each lesser
thing?
Lo! in the skies are many stars, no one can tell their tale, But
to the sun and moon alone eclipse brings darkening.
The earth bears many a pleasant herb and many a plant and tree:
But none is stoned save only those to which the fair fruit
cling.
Look on the sea and how the waifs float up upon the foam, But in
its deepest depths of blue the pearls have sojourning.
'Cut short thy speech,' said the genie, 'for, by Allah, there is
no help for it but I must kill thee.' 'Know, O Afrit,' replied
the merchant, 'that I have a wife and children and much
substance, and I owe debts and hold pledges: so let me return
home and give every one his due, and I vow by all that is most
sacred that I will return to thee at the end of the year, that
thou mayest do with me as thou wilt, and God is witness of what I
say.' The genie accepted his promise and released him, whereupon
he returned to his dwelling-place and paid his debts and settled
all his affairs. Moreover, he told his wife and children what had
happened and made his last dispositions, and tarried with his
family till the end of the year. Then he rose and made his
ablutions[FN#9] and took his winding sheet under his arm and
bidding his household and kinsfolk and neighbours farewell, set
out, much against his will, to perform his promise to the genie;
whilst his family set up a great noise of crying and lamentation.
He journeyed on till he reached the garden, where he had met with
the genie, on the first day of the new year, and there sat down
to await his doom. Presently, as he sat weeping over what had
befallen him, there came up an old man, leading a gazelle by a
chain, and saluted the merchant, saying, 'What ails thee to sit
alone in this place, seeing that it is the resort of the
Jinn?'[FN#10] The merchant told him all that had befallen him
with the Afrit, and he wondered and said, 'By Allah, O my
brother, thy good faith is exemplary and thy story is a
marvellous one! If it were graven with needles on the corners of
the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can profit by
example.' Then he sat down by his side, saying, 'By Allah, O my
brother, I will not leave thee till I see what befalls thee with
this Afrit.' So they sat conversing, and fear and terror got hold
upon the merchant and trouble increased upon him, notwithstanding
the old man's company. Presently another old man came up, leading
two black dogs, and saluting them, inquired why they sat in a
place known to be haunted by Jinn, whereupon the merchant
repeated his story to him. He had not sat long with them when
there came up a third old man leading a dappled she-mule, and
after putting to them the same question and receiving a like
answer, sat down with them to await the issue of the affair. They
had sat but a little while longer, when behold, there arose a
cloud of dust and a great whirling column approached from the
heart of the desert. Then the dust lifted and discovered the
genie, with a drawn sword in his hand and sparks of fire issuing
from his eyes. He came up to them and dragged the merchant from
amongst them, saying, 'Rise, that I may slay thee as thou slewest
my son, the darling of my heart!' Whereupon the merchant wept and
bewailed himself and the three old men joined their cries and
lamentations to his. Then came forward the first old man, he of
the gazelle, and kissed the Afrit's hand and said to him, 'O
genie and crown of the kings of the Jinn, if I relate to thee my
history with this gazelle and it seem to thee wonderful, wilt
thou grant me a third of this merchant's blood?' 'Yes, O old
man,' answered the genie, 'if thou tell me thy story and I find
it wonderful, I will remit to thee a third of his blood.' Then
said the old man, 'Know, O Afrit, that
The First Old Man's Story.
This gazelle is the daughter of my father's brother and my own
flesh and blood. I married her whilst she was yet of tender age
and lived with her near thirty years, without being blessed with
a child by her. So I took me a concubine and had by her a son
like the rising full moon, with eyes and eyebrows of perfect
beauty; and he grew up and flourished till he reached the age of
fifteen, when I had occasion to journey to a certain city, and
set out thither with great store of merchandise. Now my wife had
studied sorcery and magic from her youth: so, I being gone, she
turned my son into a calf and his mother into a cow and delivered
them both to the cowherd: and when, after a long absence, I
returned from my journey and inquired after my son and his
mother, my wife said to me, "Thy slave died and her son ran
away, whither I know not." I abode for the space of a year,
mournful-hearted and weeping-eyed, till the coming of the Greater
Festival, when I sent to the herdsman and bade him bring me a fat
cow for the purpose of sacrifice. So he brought me the very cow
into which my wife had changed my concubine by her art; and I
tucked up my skirts and taking the knife in my hand, went up to
the cow to slaughter her; but she lowed and moaned so piteously,
that I was seized with wonder and compassion and held my hand
from her and said to the herd, "Bring me another cow." "Not so!"
cried my wife. "Slaughter this one, for we have no finer nor
fatter." So I went up to her again, but she cried out, and I left
her and ordered the herdsman to kill her and skin her. So he
killed her and flayed her, but found on her neither fat nor
flesh, only skin and bone. Then I was sorry for having slain her,
when repentance availed me not; and I gave her to the herd and
said to him, "Bring me a fat calf." So he brought me my son in
the guise of a calf; and when he saw me, he broke his halter and
came up to me and fawned on me and moaned and wept, till I took
pity on him and said to the man, "Bring me a cow and let this
calf go." But my wife cried out at me and said, "Not so: thou
must sacrifice this calf and none other to-day: for it is a holy
and a blessed day, on which it behoves us to offer up none but a
good thing, and we have no calf fatter or finer than this one."
Quoth I, "Look at the condition of the cow I slaughtered by thine
order; we were deceived in her, and now I will not be persuaded
by thee to slay this calf this time." "By the great God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful," answered she, "thou must without
fail sacrifice this calf on this holy day! Else thou art no
longer my husband nor am I thy wife." When I heard this harsh
speech from her, I went up to the calf, knowing not what she
aimed at, and took the knife in my hand.'" Here Shehrzad perceived
the day and was silent; and her sister said to her, "What a
charming and delightful story!" Quoth Shehrzad, "This is nothing
to what I will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me
live." And the King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill
her, till I hear the rest of the story!" So they lay together
till morning, when the King went out to his hall of audience and
the Vizier came in to him, with the winding-sheet under his arm.
Then the King ordered and appointed and deposed, without telling
the Vizier aught of what had happened, much to the former's
surprise, until the end of the day, when the Divan broke up and
he retired to his apartments.