There was once a Sage of the sages, who had three sons and sons'
sons, and when they waxed many and their, seed multiplied, there
befel dissension between them. So he assembled them and said to
them, "Be ye single-handed against all others and despise not one
another lest the folk despise you, and know that your case is the
case of the man and the rope which he cut easily, when it was
single; then he doubled it and could not cut it: on this wise is
division and union.[FN#356] And beware lest ye seek help of
others against your own selves or ye will fall into perdition,
for by what means soever ye win your wish at his hand, his word
will rank higher than your word. Now I have money which I will
presently bury in a certain place, that it may be a store for you
against the time of your need." Then they left him and dispersed
and one of the sons fell to spying upon his sire, so that he saw
him hide the hoard outside the city. When he had made an end of
burying it, the Sage returned to his house; and as soon as the
morning morrowed, his son repaired to the place where he had seen
his father bury the treasure and dug and took all the wealth he
found and fared forth. When the old man felt that his
death[FN#357] drew nigh, he called his sons to him and acquainted
them with the place where he had hidden his hoard. As soon as he
was dead, they went and dug up the treasure and came upon much
wealth, for that the money, which the first son had taken singly
and by stealth, was on the surface and he knew not that under it
were other monies. So they carried it off and divided it and the
first son claimed his share with the rest and added it to that
which he had before taken, behind the backs of his father and his
brethren. Then he married his cousin, the daughter of his
father's brother, and was blessed through her with a male-child,
who was the goodliest of the folk of his time. When the boy grew
up, his father feared for him poverty and decline of case, so he
said to him, "Dear my son, know that during my green days I
wronged my brothers in the matter of our father's good, and I see
thee in weal; but, an thou come to want, ask not one of them nor
any other than they, for I have laid up for thee in yonder
chamber a treasure; but do not thou open it until thou come to
lack thy daily bread." Then the man died, and his money, which
was a great matter, fell to his son. The young man had not
patience to wait till he had made an end of that which was with
him, but rose and opened the chamber, and behold, it was empty
and its walls were whitened, and in its midst was a rope hanging
down as for a bucket and ten bricks, one upon other, and a
scroll, wherein was written, "There is no help against death; so
hang thyself and beg not of any, but kick away the bricks with
thy toes, that there may be no escape for thy life, and thou
shalt be at rest from the exultation of enemies and enviers and
the bitterness of beggary." Now when the youth saw this, he
marvelled at that which his father had done and said, "This is an
ill treasure." Then he went forth and fell to eating and drinking
with the folk, till naught was left him and he passed two days
without tasting food, at the end of which time he took a
handkerchief and selling it for two dirhams, bought bread and
milk with the price and left it on the shelf and went out. Whilst
he was gone, a dog came and seized the bread and polluted the
milk, and when the young man returned and saw this, he beat his
face, and fared forth distraught. Presently, he met a friend, to
whom he discovered his case, and the other said to him, "Art thou
not ashamed to talk thus? How hast thou wasted all this wealth
and now comest telling lies and saying, The dog hath mounted on
the shelf, and talking such nonsense?" And he reviled him. So the
youth returned to his house, and verily the world had waxed black
in his eyes and he cried, "My sire said sooth." Then he opened
the chamber door and piling up the bricks under his feet, put the
rope about his neck and kicked away the bricks and swung himself
off; whereupon the rope gave way with him and he fell to the
ground and the ceiling clave asunder and there poured down on him
a world of wealth. So he knew that his sire meant to chasten him
by means of this and he invoked Allah's mercy on him. Then he got
him again that which he had sold of lands and houses and what not
else and became once more in good case; his friends also returned
to him and he entertained them for some time. Then said he to
them one day "There was with us bread and the locusts ate it; so
we set in its place a stone, one cubit long and the like broad,
and the locusts came and nibbled away the stone, because of the
smell of the bread." Quoth one of his friends (and it was he who
had given him the lie concerning the dog and the bread and milk),
"Marvel not at this, for rats and mice do more than that."
Thereupon he said, "Get ye home! In the days of my poverty I was
a liar when I told you of the dogs jumping upon the shelf and
eating the bread and defiling the milk; and to-day, because I am
rich again, I say sooth when I tell you that locusts devoured a
stone one cubit long and one cubit broad." They were abashed by
his speech and departed from him; and the youth's good prospered
and his case was amended. "Nor" (continued the Wazir), "is this
stranger or more seld-seen than the story of the Prince who fell
in love with the picture." Quoth the king, Shah Bakht, "Haply, an
I hear this story, I shall gain wisdom from it: so I will not
hasten in the slaying of this Minister, nor will I do him die
before the thirty days have expired." Then he gave him leave to
withdraw, and he hied away to his own house.
The Sixth Night of the Month.
When the day absconded and the evening arrived, the king sat
private in his chamber and, summoning the Wazir, who presented
himself to him, questioned him of the story. So the Minister
said, "Hear, O auspicious king,
The Tale of the Prince who Fell in Love with the Picture.
There was once, in a province of Persia, a king of the kings, who
was great of degree, a magnifico, endowed with majesty and girt
by soldiery; but he was childless. Towards the end of his life,
his Lord vouchsafed him a male-child, and that boy grew up and
was comely and learned all manner of lere. He made him a private
place, which was a towering palace, edified with coloured marbles
and jewels and paintings. When the Prince entered the palace, he
saw in its ceiling the picture of a maiden, than whom he had
never beheld a fairer of aspect, and she was surrounded by
slave-girls; whereupon he fell down in a fainting fit and became
distracted for love of her. Then he sat under the picture till
his father came in to him one day, and finding him lean of limb
and changed of complexion (which was by reason of his continual
looking on that picture), imagined that he was ill and summoned
the sages and the leaches, that they might medicine him. He also
said to one of his cup-companions, "An thou canst learn what
aileth my son, thou shalt have of me the white hand."[FN#358]
Thereupon he went in to him and spake him fair and cajoled him,
till he confessed to him that his malady was caused by the
picture. Then the courtier returned to the king and told him what
ailed his son, whereupon he transported the Prince to another
palace and made his former lodging the guest-house; and whoso of
the Arabs was entertained therein, him he questioned of the
picture, but none could give him tidings thereof, till one day,
when there came a wayfarer who seeing the picture, cried, "There
is no god but the God! My brother painted this portrait." So the
king sent for him and questioned him of the affair of the picture
and where was he who had painted it. He replied, "O my lord, we
are two brothers and one of us went to the land of Hind and fell
in love with the Indian king's daughter, and 'tis she who is the
original of the portrait. He is wont in every city he entereth to
limn her likeness, and I follow him, and longsome is my way."
When the king's son heard this, he said, "Needs must I travel to
this damsel." So he took all manner rare store and riches galore
and journeyed days and nights till he entered the land of Hind,
nor did he reach it save after sore travail. Then he asked of the
King of Hind who also heard of him, and invited him to the
palace. When the Prince came before him, he sought of him his
daughter in marriage, and the king said, "Indeed, thou art her
match, but there is one objection, to wit, none dare name a male
before her because of her hate for men." So he pitched his tents
under her palace windows, till one day of the days he gat hold of
a girl, one of her favourite slave-girls, and gave her a mint of
money. Quoth she to him, "Hast thou a need?" and quoth he, "Yes,"
and presently acquainted her with his case; when she said, "In
very sooth, thou puttest thyself in peril." Then he tarried,
flattering himself with false hopes, till all that he had with
him was gone and the servants fled from him; whereupon he said to
one in whom he trusted, "I am minded to repair to my country and
fetch what may suffice me and return hither." The other answered,
"'Tis for thee to judge." So they set out to return, but the way
was long to them and all that the Prince had with him was spent
and his company died and there abode but one with him whom he
loaded with the little that remained of the victual and they left
the rest and fared on. Then there came out a lion and devoured
the servant, and the king's son found himself alone. He went on,
till his hackney stood still, whereupon he left it and walked
till his feet swelled. Presently he came to the land of the
Turks,[FN#359] and he naked, hungry, nor having with him aught
but somewhat of jewels, bound about his fore-arm.[FN#360] So he
went to the bazar of the goldsmiths and calling one of the
brokers gave him the gems. The broker looked and seeing two great
rubies, said to him, "Follow me." Accordingly, he followed him,
till he brought him to a goldsmith, to whom he gave the jewels,
saying, "Buy these." He asked, "Whence hadst thou these?" and the
broker answered, "This youth is the owner of them." Then said the
goldsmith to the Prince, "Whence hadst thou these rubies?" and he
told him all that had befallen him and that he was a king's son.
The goldsmith sat astounded at his adventures and bought of him
the rubies for a thousand gold pieces. Then said the Prince to
him, "Equip thyself to go with me to my country." So he made
ready and went with him till the king's son drew near the
frontiers of his sire's kingdom, where the people received him
with most honourable reception and sent to acquaint his father
with his son's arrival. The king came out to meet him and they
entreated the goldsmith with respect and regard. The Prince abode
a while with his sire, then set out, he and the goldsmith, to
return to the country of the fair one, the daughter of the king
of Hind; but there met him highwaymen by the way and he fought
the sorest of fights and was slain. The goldsmith buried him and
set a mark[FN#361] on his grave and returned to his own country
sorrowing and distraught, without telling any of the Prince's
violent death. Such was the case of the king's son and the
goldsmith; but as regards the Indian king's daughter of whom the
Prince went in quest and on whose account he was slain, she had
been wont to look out from the topmost terrace of her palace and
to gaze on the youth and on his beauty and loveliness; so she
said to her slave-girl one day, "Out on thee! What is become of
the troops which were camped beside my palace?" The maid replied,
"They were the troops of the youth, son to the Persian king, who
came to demand thee in wedlock, and wearied himself on thine
account, but thou hadst no ruth on him." Cried the Princess, "Woe
to thee! Why didst thou not tell me?" and the damsel replied, "I
feared thy fury." Then she sought an audience of the king her
sire and said to him, "By Allah, I will go in quest of him, even
as he came in quest of me; else should I not do him justice as
due." So she equipped herself and setting out, traversed the
wastes and spent treasures till she came to Sistan, where she
called a goldsmith to make her somewhat of ornaments. Now as soon
as the goldsmith saw her, he knew her (for that the Prince had
talked with him of her and had depictured her to him), so he
questioned her of her case, and she acquainted him with her
errand, whereupon he buffeted his face and rent his raiment and
hove dust on his head and fell a-weeping. Quoth she, "Why dost
thou all this?" And he acquainted her with the Prince's case and
how he was his comrade and told her that he was dead; whereat she
grieved for him and faring on to his father and mother,
acquainted them with the case. Thereupon the Prince's father and
his uncle and his mother and the lords of the land repaired to
his grave and the Princess made mourning over him, crying aloud.
She abode by the tomb a whole month; then she caused fetch
painters and bade them limn her likeness and the portraiture of
the king's son. She also set down in writing their story and that
which had befallen them of perils and afflictions and placed it,
together with the pictures, at the head of the grave; and after a
little, they departed from the spot. "Nor" (continued the Wazir),
"is this stranger, O king of the age, than the story of the
Fuller and his Wife and the Trooper and what passed between
them." With this the king bade the Minister hie away to his
lodging, and when he arose in the morning, he abode his day in
his house.
The Seventh Night of the Month.
At eventide the king sat in his wonted seat and sending for the
Wazir, said to him, "Tell me the story of the Fuller and his
Wife." The Minister replied, "With joy and goodly gree!" So he
came forward and said, "Hear, O king of the age,