Then, when it was the tenth night, her sister Dunyazad said: `Finish your story.' `With pleasure,' she replied, and she continued:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the
girls produced three names for the porter, while he kissed, bit and embraced
them until he was satisfied. They went on laughing until they said: `What is
its name, then, brother?' `Don't you know?' `No.' `This is the mule that breaks
barriers, browses on the mint of the dykes, eats the husked sesame and that passes
the night in the khan of Abu Mansur.' The girls laughed until they fell over
backwards and then they continued with their drinking party, carrying on until
nightfall.
At this point, they told the porter that it
was time for him to get up, put on his gaiters and go `Show us the width of
your shoulders.' `By God,' said the porter, `if the breath of life were to
leave me, it would be easier for me to bear than having to part from you. Let
me link night with day, and in the morning we can all go our separate ways.'
The girl who had bought the provisions pleaded with the others: `Let him sleep here
so that we can laugh at him. Who knows whether in all our lives we shall meet
someone else like him, both wanton and witty.' They then said: `You can only
spend the night with us on condition that you accept our authority and that you
don't ask about anything you see or the reason for it.' The porter agreed to
this, and they then told him: `Get up and read what is written over the door.'
He went to the door and there he found written above it in gold leaf: `Whoever
talks about what does not concern him will hear what will not please him.' `I
call you to witness,' he said, `that I shall not talk about what is no concern
of mine.' witness,' he said, `that I shall not talk about what is no concern of
mine.'
The housekeeper got up and prepared a meal
for them, which they ate, and then they lit candles and lamps, dipping
ambergris and aloes into the candles. They sat drinking and talking of past
loves, after having reset the table with fresh fruits and more wine. They
continued for a time, eating, drinking, carousing together over their dessert,
laughing and teasing each other, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
This did not disrupt the party, however,
and one of the girls went by herself to the door and returned to report: `Our
happiness is complete tonight.' `How is that?' the others asked. She told them:
`At the door are three Persian dervishes, with shaven chins, heads and
eyebrows. By a very remarkable coincidence, each of them has lost his left eye.
They have only just arrived after a journey; they are showing the signs of travel
and this is the first time that they have been to our city, Baghdad. They
knocked on our door because they couldn't find a lodging for the night and they
had said to themselves: "Perhaps the owner of this house would give us the
key to a stable or to a hut in which we could pass the night." For they
had been caught out by nightfall, and, being strangers, they had no
acquaintance who might give them shelter and, sisters, each of them is of a
ludicrous appearance.'
She continued to persuade and cajole until
the others agreed to let the Persians come in on condition that they would not
talk about what did not concern them lest they hear what would not please them.
The girl went off joyfully and came back with the three one-eyed men, with shaven
beards and moustaches. They spoke words of greeting, bowed and hung back. The girls
got up to welcome them and, after congratulating them on their safe arrival,
told them to be seated.
What the visitors saw was a pleasant and
clean room, furnished with greenery, where there were lighted candles, incense
rising into the air, dessert, fruits and wine, together with three virgin
girls. `This is good, by God,' they all agreed. Then they turned to the porter
and found him cheerfully tired out and drunk. They thought, on seeing him, that
he must be one of their own kinds and said: `This is a dervish like us, either a
foreigner or an Arab.' Hearing this, the porter glowered at them and said: `Sit
down and don't be inquisitive. Didn't you read what is written over the door?
It is not for poor men who arrive like you to let loose your tongues at us.'
The newcomers apologized submissively, and the girls laughed and made peace
between them and the porter, after which food was produced for the new
arrivals, which they ate.
They then sat drinking together, with the
doorkeeper pouring the wine and the wine cup circulating among them. The porter
then asked the visitors whether they had some story or anecdote to tell. Heated
by wine, they, in their turn, asked for musical instruments and were brought a
tambourine, a lute and a Persian harp by the doorkeeper. They then got up and
tuned the instruments, after which each one took one of them, struck a note and
began to sing. The girls added a shrill accompaniment and the noise rose. Then,
while this was going on, there was a knock at the door and the doorkeeper got
up to see what was going on.
The reason for this knocking was that the
caliph Harun al-Rashid was in the habit of going around disguised as a merchant
and he had come down from his palace that night on an excursion to listen to
the latest news, accompanied by his vizier, Jafar, and Masrur, his executioner.
On his way through the city, he and his companions had happened to pass that
house, where they heard music and singing. He had said to Jafar: `I want to go
in here so that we may listen to these voices and see their owners.' Jafar had
replied: `Commander of the Faithful, these people are drunk and I am afraid
that they may do us some harm.' The caliph had then said: `I must enter and I
want you to think of some scheme to get us in.' `To hear is to obey,' Jafar had
replied, before going up and knocking on the door. When it was opened by the
doorkeeper, Jafar advanced and kissed the ground. `Lady,' he said, `we are traders
from Tiberias who have been in Baghdad for ten days. We have sold our goods and
are staying at the merchants' khan, but this evening we were invited out by a
colleague. We went to his house and, after he had given us a meal, we sat
drinking with him for a time, but when he let us go night had fallen and, as we
are strangers here, we could not find our way back to our hostel. Of your
charity, and may God reward you, would you let us come in and spend the night
with you?'
The girl looked at them and saw that they
were dressed as merchants and appeared to be respectable people. So she went
back to her sisters and passed on Jafar's message. The others sympathized with
the visitors' plight and told her: `Let them in,' after which she went back and
opened the door. The caliph, Jafar and Masrur came in and when the girls saw them,
they stood up, seated their visitors and ministered to their needs, saying:
`Welcome to our guests, but we lay a condition on you.' `What is that?' they
asked. `That you do not speak of what does not concern you, lest you hear what
will not please you.' `We agree,' they replied, and they sat down to drink
together.
Looking at the three dervishes, the caliph
was surprised to find that each of them had lost his left eye. He was also thrown
into confusion by the beauty and grace of the girls, which prompted his
admiration. They began to drink together and to talk, but when the girls
invited the caliph began to drink together and to talk, but when the girls
invited the caliph to drink, he said: `I am proposing to go on the pilgrimage
to Mecca.' The doorkeeper then got up and brought him an embroidered table
cloth on which she set a china jar in which she poured willow-flower water, adding
some snow and a sugar lump. The caliph thanked her and said to himself: `By
God, I shall reward her tomorrow for the good that she has done me.'
Then they all occupied themselves with
drinking, and when the drink had gained the upper hand, the lady of the house
got up, bowed to the company and then, taking the housekeeper by the hand, she
said: `Sisters, come, we must settle our debt.' `Yes,' agreed the other two
girls, and at that, the doorkeeper got up in front of them and first cleared
the table, removed the debris, replaced the perfumes and cleared a space in the
middle of the room. The dervishes were made to sit on a bench on one side of
the room and the caliph, Jafar and Masrur on a bench on the other side. Then
the lady of the house called to the porter: `Your friendship does not amount to
much. You are not a stranger, but one of the household.' The porter got up,
tightened his belt and asked: `What do you want?' `Stay where you are,' she said.
Then the housekeeper stood up and set a chair in the middle of the room, opened
a cupboard and said to the porter: `Come and help me.'
In the cupboard he saw two black bitches,
with chains around their necks. `Take them,' said the girl, and he took them
and brought them to the centre of the room. Then the lady of the house got up,
rolled back her sleeves and took up a whip. `Bring one of them,' she told the
porter, and he did this, pulling the bitch by its chain, as it whimpered and
shook its head at the girl. It howled as she struck it on the head, and she continued
to beat it until her arms were tired. She then threw away the continued to beat
it until her arms were tired. She then threw away the whip, pressed the bitch
to her breast and wiped away its tears with her hand, kissing its head. Then
she said to the porter: `Take this one away and bring the other.' This he did
and she treated the second bitch in the same way as the first.
The caliph was concerned and troubled by
this. Unable to contain his curiosity about the story of the two bitches, he
winked at Jafar, but the latter turned to him and gestured to him to remain
silent. Then the lady of the house turned to the doorkeeper and said: `Get up
and do your duty.' `Yes,' she replied and, getting up, she went to the couch,
which was made of juniper wood with panels of gold and silver. Then the lady of
the house said to the other two girls: `Bring out what you have.' The doorkeeper
sat on a chair by her side, while the housekeeper went into a closet and came
out with a satin bag with green fringes and two golden discs. She stood in front
of the lady of the house, unfastened the bag and took from it a lute whose
strings she tuned and whose pegs she tightened, until it was all in order. Then
she recited:
You are the object of my whole desire;
Union with you, beloved, is unending bliss,
While absence from you is like fire.
You madden me, and throughout time
In you is centred the infatuation of my
love.
It brings me no disgrace that I love you.
The veils that cover me are torn away by
love,
And love continues shamefully to rend all
veils.
I clothe myself in sickness; my excuse is
clear.
For through my love, you lead my heart
astray.
For through my love, you lead my heart
astray.
Flowing tears serve to bring my secret out
and make it plain.
The tearful flood reveals it, and they try
To cure the violence of this sickness, but
it is you
Who are for me both the disease and its
cure.
For those whose cure you are, the pains
last long.
I pine away through the light shed by your
eyes,
And it is my own love whose sword kills me,
A sword that has destroyed many good men.
Love has no end for me nor can I turn to
consolation.
Love is my medicine and my code of law;
Secretly and openly it serves to adorn me.
You bring good fortune to the eye that
looks
Its fill on you, or manages a glance.
Yes, and its choice of love distracts my
heart.
When the lady of the house heard these
lines, she cried: `Oh! Oh! Oh!', tore her clothes and fell to the ground in a faint.
The caliph was astonished to see weal’s caused by the blows of a whip on her
body, but then the doorkeeper got up, sprinkled water over her and clothed her
in a splendid dress that she had fetched for her sister. When they saw that, all
the men present were disturbed, as they had no idea what lay behind it. The
caliph said to Jafar: `Don't you see this girl and the marks of a beating that
she shows? I can't keep quiet without knowing the truth of the matter and
without finding out about this girl and the two black bitches.' Jafar replied:
`Master, they made it a condition that we should not talk about what did not
concern us, lest we hear what we do not like.'
At this point, the doorkeeper said:
`Sister, keep your promise and come to me.' `Willingly,' said the housekeeper,
and she took the lute, cradled it to her breasts, touched it with her fingers
and recited:
If I complain of the beloved's absence, what
am I to say?
Where can I go to reach what I desire?
I might send messengers to explain my love,
But this complaint no messenger can carry.
I may endure, but after he has lost
His love, the lover's life is short.
Nothing remains but sorrow and then grief,
With tears that flood the cheeks.
You may be absent from my sight but you
have still
A settled habitation in my heart.
I wonder, do you know our covenant?
Like flowing water, it does not stay long.
Have you forgotten that you loved a slave,
Who finds his cure in tears and wasted
flesh?
Ah, if this love unites us once again,
I have a long complaint to make to you.
When the doorkeeper heard this second poem,
she cried out and said: `That is good, by God.' Then she put her hand to her
clothes and tore them, as the first girl had done, and fell to the ground in a
faint. The housekeeper got up and, after sprinkling her with water, clothed her
in a new dress. The doorkeeper then rose and took her seat before saying: `Give
me more and pay off the debt you owe me.' So the housekeeper brought her lute
and recited:
How long will you so roughly turn from me?
Have I not poured out tears enough?
How long do you plan to abandon me?
If this is thanks to those who envy me,
Their envy has been cured.
Were treacherous Time to treat a lover
fairly,
He would not pass the night wakeful and
wasted by your love.
Treat me with gentleness; your harshness
injures me.
My sovereign, is it not time for mercy to
be shown?
To whom shall I tell of my love, you who
kill me?
How disappointed are the hopes of the one
who complains,
When faithfulness is in such short supply!
My passion for you and my tears increase,
While the successive days you shun me are
drawn out.
Muslims, revenge the lovesick, sleepless
man,
The pasture of whose patience has scant
grass.
Does love's code permit you, you who are my
desire,
To keep me at a distance while another one
Is honoured by your union? What delight or
ease
Can the lover find through nearness to his
love,
Who tries to see that he is weighted down
by care?
When the doorkeeper heard this poem, she
put her hand on her dress and ripped it down to the bottom. She then fell
fainting to the ground, showing marks of a beating. The dervishes said: `It
would have been better to have slept on a dunghill rather than to have come
into this house, where our stay has been clouded by something that cuts at the heart.'
`Why is that?' asked the caliph, turning to them. `This affair has distressed
us,' they replied. `Do you not belong to this household?' he asked. `No,' they
replied. `We have never seen the place before.' The caliph was surprised and
said, gesturing at the porter: `This man with you may know about them.' When
they asked him, however, he said: `By Almighty God, love makes us all equal. I
have grown up in Baghdad but this is the only time in my life that I ever
entered this house and how I came to be here with these girls is a remarkable
story.'
The others said: `By God, we thought that
you were one of them, but now we see that you are like us.' The caliph then
pointed out: `We are seven men and they are three women. There is no fourth. So
ask them about themselves, and if they don't reply willingly, we will force
them to do so.' Everyone agreed except for Jafar, who said: `Let them be; we
are their guests and they made a condition which we accepted, as you know. It
would be best to let the matter rest, for there is only a little of the night
left and we can then go on our ways.' He winked at the caliph and added: `There
is only an hour left and tomorrow we can summon them to your court and ask for
their story.' The caliph raised his head and shouted angrily: `I cannot bear to
wait to hear about them; let the dervishes question them.' `I don't agree,'
said Jafar, and the two of them discussed and argued about who should ask the
questions until they both agreed that it should be the porter.
The lady of the house asked what the noise
was about and the porter got up and said to her: `My lady, these people would
like you to tell them the story of the two bitches and how you come to beat
them and then to weep and kiss them. They also want to know about your sister and
why she has been beaten with rods like a man. These are there and why she has
been beaten with rods like a man. These are their questions to you.' `Is it
true what he says about you?' the lady of the house asked the guests, and all of
them said yes, except for Jafar, who stayed silent. When the lady heard this,
she told them: `By God, you have done us a great wrong. We started by making it
a condition that if any of you talked about what did not concern him, he would
hear what would not please him. Wasn't it enough for you that we took you into our
house and shared our food with you? But the fault is not so much yours as that
of the one who brought you in to us.'
Then she rolled her sleeve back above the
wrist and struck the floor three times, saying: `Hurry.' At this, the door of a
closet opened and out came seven black slaves, with drawn swords in their
hands. `Tie up these men who talk too much,' she said, `and bind them one to
the other.' This the slaves did, after which they said: `Lady, give us the
order to cut off their heads.' She replied: `Let them have some time so that I
may ask them about their circumstances before their heads are cut off.' `God
save me,' said the porter. `Don't kill me, lady, for someone else's fault. All
the rest have done wrong and have committed a fault except me. By God, it would
have been a pleasant night had we been saved from these dervishes who entered a
prosperous city and then ruined it.' He recited:
How good it is when a powerful man forgives,
Particularly when those forgiven have no
helper.
By the sanctity of the love we share,
Do not spoil what came first by what then
follows it.
When the porter had finished reciting these
lines, the girl laughed... Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what
she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the eleventh night, she
continued:
I have heard, O auspicious king that the
girl laughed in spite of her anger. She then went up to the men and said: `Tell
me about yourselves, for you have no more than one hour to live, and were you
not people of rank, leaders or governors among your peoples, you would not have
been so daring.' `Damn you, Jafar,' the caliph said. `Tell her about us or else
we shall be killed by mistake, and speak softly to her before we become victims
of misfortune.' `That is part of what you deserve,' replied
Jafar, but the caliph
shouted at him: `There is a time for joking, but now is when we must be
serious.' The lady then went to the dervishes and asked them whether they were
brothers. `No, by God,' they said, `we are only faqirs and foreigners.' She
next asked one of them whether he had been born one-eyed. `No, by God,' he said,
`but I have a strange and wonderful story about the loss of my eye, which, were
it written with needles on the inner corners of the eyeballs, would serve as a
warning to those who take heed.' The second and the third dervish, when asked, made
the same reply, and they then said: `By God, lady, each of us comes from a
different country and each is the son of a king and is a ruler over lands and
subjects.'
She turned to them and said: `Each of you
is to tell his story and explain why he came here and he can then touch his
forelock and go on his way.' The first to come forward was the porter, who
said: `Lady, I am a porter and this girl, who bought you your provisions, told
me to carry them from the wine seller to the fruiterer, from the fruiterer to
the butcher, from the butcher to the grocer, from the grocer to the sweetmeat
seller and the perfumer, and then here. You know what happened to me with you.
This is my story, and that's all there is.' The girl laughed and said: `Touch
your forelock and go.' `By God,' he said, `I am not going to leave until I have
heard the stories of my companions.'
THE FIRST DERVISH
THEN CAME FORWARD AND SAID:
Lady, know that the reason why my chin is
shaven and my eye has been plucked out is that my father was a king, who had a
brother, also a king, who reigned in another city. His son and I were born on
the same day. Years later, when we had grown up, I had got into the habit of visiting
my uncle every so often, and I would stay with him for some months. My cousin
treated me with the greatest generosity, and would kill sheep for me and pour
out wine that he strained for me. Once, when we were sitting drinking and were
both under the influence of the wine, he said to me: `Cousin, there is something
that I need from you. Please don't refuse to do what I want.' `I shall obey you
with pleasure,' I said. After binding me with the most solemn of oaths, he got
up straight away and left for a short while. Back he came then with a lady,
veiled, perfumed and wearing the most expensive of clothes, who stood behind him
as he turned to me and said: `Take this woman and go ahead of me to
such-and-such a cemetery' a place that I recognized from his description.
`Take her to the burial enclosure and wait for me there.'
Because of the oath that I had sworn, I
could not disobey him or refuse his request and so I went off with the woman
and we both went into the enclosure. While we were sitting there, my cousin
arrived with a bowl of water, a bag containing plaster, and a carpenter's axe.
Taking this axe, he went to a tomb in the middle of the enclosure and started
to open it up, moving its stones to one side. Then he used the axe to prod about
in the soil of the tomb until he uncovered an iron cover the size of a small
door. He raised this, revealing beneath it a vaulted staircase. Turning to the
woman, he said: `Now you can do what you have chosen to do,' at which she went
down the stairs. My cousin then looked at me and said: `In order to complete
the favour that you are doing me, when I go down there myself, I ask you to put
back the cover and to replace the soil on top of it as it was before. Use the
mortar that is in this bag and the water in the bowl to make a paste and coat
the circle of the stones in the enclosure so that it looks as it did before,
without anyone being able to say: "The inner part is old but there is a
new opening here." I have been working on this for a full year and no one
but God knows what I have been doing. This is what I need from you.' He then
took his leave of me, wishing me well, and went down the stairs. When he was
out of sight, I got up and replaced the cover and followed his instructions, so
that the place looked just as it had before.
I then went back like a drunken man to the
palace of my uncle, who was away hunting. In the morning, after a night's
sleep, I thought of what had happened to my cousin the evening before and, when
repentance was of no use, I repented of what I had done and of how I had obeyed
him. Thinking that it might have been a dream, I started to ask after my
cousin, but nobody could tell me where he was. I went out to the cemetery,
looking for the enclosure, but I could not find it. I kept on going round
enclosure after enclosure and grave after grave until nightfall, but I still
failed in my search. I returned to the palace, but I could neither eat nor
drink, for my thoughts were taken up with my cousin, as I did not know how he
was, and I was intensely distressed. I passed a troubled night until morning
came, when I went for a second time to the cemetery, thinking over what my
cousin had done and regretting that I had listened to him. I went round all the
enclosures but, to my regret, I still could not find the right one or recognize
the grave.
For seven days I went on with my fruitless
quest, and my misgivings increased until I was almost driven mad. The only
relief I could find was to leave and go back to my father, but as soon as I
reached the gate of his city, I was attacked by a group of men who tied me up.
I was astonished, seeing that I was the son of the city's ruler and they were
my father's servants, and in my alarm I said to myself: `What can have happened
to my father?' I asked my captors why they were doing this. At first they did
not answer, but after a time one of them, who had been a servant of mine, said:
`Your father has fallen victim to the treachery of Time. The army conspired
against him and he was killed by the vizier, who has taken his place. It was on
his orders that we were watching out for you.'
I was stunned by what I heard about my
father and fearful because I had a long-standing quarrel with the vizier,
before whom my captors now brought me. I had been passionately fond of shooting
with a pellet bow and the quarrel arose from this. One day when I was standing
on the roof of my palace, a bird settled on the roof of the palace of the vizier.
I intended to shoot it, but the pellet missed and, as had been decreed by fate,
it struck out the eye of the vizier. This was like the proverb expressed in the
old lines:
We walked with a pace that was decreed for us,
And this is how those under fate's control
must walk.
A man destined to die in a certain land
A man destined to die in a certain land
Will not find death in any other.
When the vizier lost his eye, he could not
say anything because my father was the king of the city, and this was why he
was my enemy. When I now stood before him with my hands tied, he ordered my
head to be cut off. `For what crime do you kill me?' I asked. `What crime is greater
than this?' he replied, pointing to his missing eye. `I did that by accident,'
I protested. `If you did it by accident,' he replied, `I am doing this
deliberately.' Then he said: `Bring him forward.' The guards brought me up in
front of him, and sticking his finger into my right eye, the vizier plucked it
out, leaving me from that time on one-eyed, as you can see. Then he had me tied
up and put in a box, telling the executioner: `Take charge of him; draw your
sword and when you have brought him outside the city, kill him and let the
birds and beasts eat him.'
The executioner took me out of the city to
the middle of the desert and then he removed me from the box, bound as I was,
hand and foot. He was about to bandage my eyes before going on to kill me, but
I wept so bitterly that I moved him to tears. Then, looking at him, I recited:
I thought of you as a strong coat of mail
To guard me from the arrows of my foes,
But you are now the arrow head.
I pinned my hopes on you in all calamities
When my right hand could no longer aid my
left.
Leave aside what censurers say,
And let my enemies shoot their darts at me.
If you do not protect me from my foes,
At least your silence neither hurts me nor
helps them.
There are also other
lines:
I thought my brothers were a coat of mail;
They were, but this was for the enemy.
I thought of them as deadly shafts;
They were, but their points pierced my
heart.
The executioner had been in my father's
service and I had done him favours, so when he heard these lines, he said:
`Master, what can I do? I am a slave under command.' But then he added: `Keep
your life, but don't come back to this land or else you will be killed and you
will destroy me, together with yourself. As one of the poets has said:
If you should meet injustice, save your
life
And let the house lament its builder.
You can replace the country that you leave,
But there is no replacement for your life.
I
wonder at those who live humiliated
When God's earth is so wide.
Send out no messenger on any grave affair,
For only you yourself will give you good
advice.
The necks of lions would not be so thick
Were others present to look after them.'
I kissed his hands, scarcely believing that
I had escaped death, in comparison with which I found the loss of my eye
insignificant. So I comparison with which I found the loss of my eye
insignificant. So I travelled to my uncle's city and, after presenting myself
to him, I told him what had happened to my father, as well as how I had come to
lose my eye. He burst into tears and said: `You have added to my cares and my
sorrows. For your cousin disappeared days ago and I don't know what has happened
to him, nor can anyone bring me news.' He continued to weep until he fainted
and I was bitterly sorry for him. He then wanted to apply some medicaments to
my eye, but when he saw that it was like an empty walnut shell, he said:
`Better to lose your eye, my boy, than to lose your life.'
At that, I could no longer stay silent about
the affair of my cousin, his son, and so I told him all that had happened. When
he heard my news, he was delighted and told me to come and show him the
enclosure. `By God, uncle,' I said, `I don't know where it is. I went back a
number of times after that and searched, but I couldn't find the place.' Then, however,
he and I went to the cemetery and, after looking right and left, to our great
joy I recognized the place. The two of us went into the enclosure and, after
removing the earth, we lifted the cover. We climbed down fifty steps and when
we had reached the bottom, we were met by blinding smoke. `There is no might
and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent,' exclaimed my uncle
words that can never put to shame anyone who speaks them. We walked on and
found ourselves in a hall filled with flour, grain, eatables and so on, and
there in the middle of it we saw a curtain hanging down over a couch. My uncle
looked and found his son and the woman who had gone down with him locked in an
embrace, but they had become black charcoal, as though they had been thrown
into a pit of fire.
On seeing this, my uncle spat in his son's
face and said: `You deserve this, you pig. This is your punishment in this
world, but there remains the punishment of the next world, which will be
harsher and stronger.' Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she
had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the twelfth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the
dervish said to the lady of the house, to Jafar and the caliph and the rest of
the company that were listening: `My uncle struck his son with his shoe, as he
lay there, burned black as charcoal.' HE WENT ON:
This astonished me and I was filled with
grief for my cousin and at the fate that had overtaken him and the girl. `By
God, uncle,' I said, `remove rancour from your heart. My heart and mind are
filled with concern; I am saddened by what has happened to my cousin, and by
the fact that he and this girl have been left like charcoal. Is their fate not enough
for you that you strike your son with your shoe?' He said: `Nephew, from his
earliest days this son of mine was passionately in love with his sister. I used
to keep him away from her and I would tell myself: "They are only children,"
but when they grew up they committed a foul sin. I heard of this and, although
I did not believe it, I seized him and reproached him bitterly, saying: "Beware
of doing what no one has done before you or will do after you and which will
remain as a source of disgrace and disparagement among the kings until the end of
time, as the news is carried by the caravans. Take care not to act like this or
else I shall be angry with you and kill you."
`I kept him away from her and kept her from
him, but the damned girl was deeply in love with him and Satan got the upper
hand and made their actions seem good to them. When my son saw that I was
keeping him from his sister, he constructed this underground chamber, set it in
order and provisioned it, as you see. Then, taking me unawares when I had gone
out hunting, he came here, but the Righteous God was jealous of them and
consumed them both with fire, while their punishment in the next world will be
harsher and stronger.'
He then wept and I wept with him, and he
looked at me and said: `You are my son in his place.' I thought for a time
about this world and its happenings and of how my father had been killed by his
vizier, who had then taken his place and who had plucked out my eye, and I
thought of the strange fate of my cousin. I wept and my uncle wept with me. Then
we climbed back up and replaced the cover and the earth and restored the tomb
as it had been, after which we returned to the palace. Before we had sat down,
however, we heard the noise of drums, kettledrums and trumpets, the clatter of
lances, the shouting of men, the clink of bridles and the neighing of horses.
The sky was darkened by sand and dust kicked up by horses' hooves and we were
bewildered, not knowing what had happened. When we asked, we were told that the
vizier who had taken my father's kingdom had fitted out his troops, collected
men, hired Bedouin, and come with an army like the sands that could not be
numbered and which no one could withstand. They had made a surprise attack on
the city, which had proved unable to resist and which had surrendered to them.
After this, my uncle was killed and I fled
to the edge of the city, saying to myself: `If I fall into this man's hands, he
will kill me.' Fresh sorrows were piled on me; I remembered what had happened
to my father and to my uncle and I wondered what to do, for if I showed myself,
the townspeople and my father's men would recognize me and I would be killed.
The only way of escape that I could find was to shave off my beard and my
moustache, which I did, and after that I changed my clothes and went out of the
city. I then came here, hoping that someone might take me to the Commander of
the Faithful, the caliph of the Lord of creation, so that I might talk to him
and tell him the story of what had happened to me. I got here tonight and was
at a loss to know where to go when I came to where this dervish was standing. I
greeted him and told him that I was a stranger, at whom he said: `I too am a stranger.'
While we were talking, our third companion here came up to us, greeted us,
introducing himself as a stranger, to which we made the same reply. We then
walked on as darkness fell and fate led us to you. This is the story of why my
beard and moustache have been shaved and of how I lost my eye.
The lady said: `Touch
your forelock and go.' `Not before I hear someone else's tale,' the man
replied. The others wondered at his story and the caliph said to Jafar: `By
God, I have never seen or heard the like of what has happened to this dervish.'
The second dervish then came forward and kissed the ground. HE SAID:
Lady, I was not born one-eyed and my story
is a marvellous one which, were it written with needles on the inner corners of
the eyes of men, would serve as a warning to those who take heed. I was a king,
the son of a king. I studied the seven readings of the Quran; I read books and discussed
them with men of learning; I studied astronomy, poetry and all other branches
of knowledge until I surpassed all the people of my time, while my calligraphy
was unrivalled. My fame spread through all lands and among all kings. So it was
that the king of India heard of me and he sent a messenger to my father,
together with gifts and presents suitable for royalty, to ask for me. My father
equipped me with six ships and after a full month's voyage we came to land.
We unloaded the horses that we had taken on
board with us and we loaded ten camels with presents, but we had only travelled
a short way when suddenly we saw a dust cloud which rose and spread until it
filled the sky. After a while, it cleared away to show beneath it fifty
mail-clad horsemen like scowling lions, and on closer inspection we could see
that they were Bedouin highwaymen. When they saw our small numbers, and that we
had ten camels laden with gifts for the king of India, they rushed at us with
levelled lances. We gestured to them with our fingers and said: `We are envoys
on our way to the great king of India, so do not harm us.' `We don't live in
his country,' they told us, `and are no subjects of his.' Then they killed some
of my servants, while the rest took flight. I was badly wounded and I too fled,
but the Bedouin did not pursue me, being too busy sorting through the money and
the gifts that we had brought with us.
Having been cast down from my position of
power, I went off with no notion of where I was going, and I carried on until I
reached the top of a mountain, where I took refuge in a cave until daybreak. I
continued travelling like this until I came to a strong and secure city, from
which cold winter had retreated, while spring had come with its roses. Flowers were
blooming; there were gushing streams and the birds were singing. It fitted the
description of the poet:
A place whose citizens are subject to no
fear,
And safety is the master there.
For its people it is a decorated shield,
Its wonders being plain to see.
As I was tired out with walking and pale
with care, I was glad to get there. With my changed circumstances, I had no
idea where to go. Passing by a tailor in his shop, I greeted him and he
returned my greeting and welcomed me with cheerful friendliness. When he asked
me why I had left my own country, I told him what had happened to me from
beginning to end. He was sorry for me and said: `Young man, don't tell anyone
about yourself, as I am afraid lest the king of this city might do you some
harm as he is one of your father's greatest enemies and has a blood feud with
him.' He then produced food and drink and he and I ate together. I chatted with
him that night and he gave me a place to myself at the side of his shop and
fetched me what I needed in the way of bedding and blankets.
I stayed with him for three days, and he
then asked: `Do you know any craft by which to make your living?' I told him:
`I am a lawyer, a scientist, a scribe, a mathematician and a calligrapher.'
`There is no market for that kind of thing here,' he replied. `No one in this
city has any knowledge of science or of writing and their only concern is
making money.' `By God,' I said, `I know nothing apart from what I have told you.'
He said: `Tighten your belt, take an axe and a rope and bring in firewood from
the countryside. This will give you a livelihood until God brings you relief,
but don't let people know who you are or else you will be killed.' He then
brought me an axe and a rope and handed me over to some woodcutters, telling
them to look after me. I went out with them and collected wood for a whole day,
after which I carried back a load on my head and sold it for half a dinar. With
part of this I bought food and the rest I saved.
I went on like this for a year, and then
when the year was up, I came out to the countryside one day, as usual, and as I
was wandering there alone I found a tree-filled hollow where there was wood
aplenty. Going down into the hollow, I came across a thick tree stump and dug
round it, removing the soil. My axe then happened to strike against a copper
ring and, on clearing away the earth, I discovered a wooden trapdoor, which I
opened. Below it appeared a flight of steps, and when I reached the bottom of
these, I saw a door, on entering which I saw a most beautiful palace set with
pillars. In it I found a girl like a splendid pearl, one to banish from the
heart all trace of care, sorrow and distress, while her words would dispel
worries and would leave a man, however intelligent and sensible, robbed of his
senses. She was of medium height, with rounded breasts and soft cheeks; she was
radiant and beautifully formed, with a face shining in the black night of her
hair, while the gleam of her mouth was reflected on her breast. She was as the poet
said:
Dark-haired and slim-waisted,
Her buttocks were like sand dunes
And her figure likes that of a ban tree.
There is another
verse:
There are four things never before united
Except to pierce my heart and shed my
blood:
A radiant forehead, hair like night,
A rosy cheek, and a slim form.
When I looked at her, I praised the Creator
for the beauty and loveliness that He had produced in her. She looked at me in
turn and asked: `What are you, a human or one of the jinn?' `A human,' I told
her, and she asked: `Who brought you to this place where I have been for twenty-five
years without ever seeing a fellow human?' I found her speech so sweet that it
filled my heart, and I said, `It was my lucky stars that brought me here, my
lady, to drive away my cares and sorrows.' Then I told her from beginning to
end what had happened to me and she found my plight hard to bear and wept. `I,
for my part,' she said, `will now tell you my own story. You must know that I
am the daughter of King Iftamus, lord of the Ebony Islands. He had given me in
marriage to my cousin, but on my wedding night I was snatched away by an `ifrit
named Jirjis, son of Rajmus, the son of the maternal aunt of Iblis. He flew off
with me and brought me down into this place, where he fetched everything that
was needed clothes, ornaments, fabrics, furniture, food, drink and everything
else. He comes once every ten days, sleeps here for the night and then goes on
his way, as he took me without the permission of his own people. He has
promised me that if I need anything night or day, and if I touch with my hand
these two lines inscribed on the inside of this dome, before I take my hand
away he shall appear before me. Today is the fourth day since he was here, and so
there are six left until he comes again. Would you like to stay with me for
five days and you can then leave one day before he returns?' `Yes,' I replied.
`How splendid it is when dreams come true!'
This made her glad and, rising to her feet,
she took me by the hand and led me through an arched door to a fine, elegant
bath. When I saw this, I took off my clothes and she took off hers. After
bathing, she stepped out and sat on a bench with me by her side. Then she
poured me out wine flavoured with musk and brought food. We ate and talked, until
she said: `Sleep, rest, for you are tired.' Forgetting all my troubles, I thanked
her and fell asleep. When I woke, I found her massaging my feet. `God bless
you,' I said and we sat there talking for a time. `By God,' she said, `I was
unhappy, living by myself under the ground, with no one to talk to me for
twenty-five years. Praise is to God, Who has sent you to me.' Then she asked me
whether I would like some wine, and when I said yes, she went to a cupboard and
produced old wine in a sealed flask. She then set out some green branches, took
the wine and recited:
Had I known you were coming, I would have
spread
My heart's blood or the pupils of my eyes.
My cheeks would have been a carpet when we
met
So that you could have walked over my
eyelids.
When she had finished these lines, I
thanked her; love of her had taken possession of my heart and my cares and
sorrows were gone. We sat drinking together until nightfall, and I then passed
with her a night the like of which I had never known in my life. When morning
came we were still joining delights to delights, and this went on until midday.
I was so drunk that I had lost my senses and I got up, swaying right and left,
and I said: `Get up, my beauty, and I will bring you out from under the earth
and free you from this `ifrit.' She laughed and said: `Be content with what you
have and stay silent. Out of every ten days he will have one and nine will be
for you.' But drunkenness had got the better of me and I said: `I shall now
smash the dome with the inscription; let him come, so that I may kill him, for
I am accustomed to killing `ifrits.' On hearing this, she turned pale and
exclaimed: `By God, don't do it!' Then she recited:
If there is something that will destroy
you,
Protect yourself from it.
She added more lines:
You look for separation, but rein in
The horse that seeks to head the field.
Patience, for Time's nature is treacherous,
And at the end companions part.
She
finished her poem but, paying no attention to her words of warning, I aimed a
violent kick at the dome.
Morning
now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then,
when it was the thirteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that THE
SECOND DERVISH SAID TO THE
LADY OF THE HOUSE:
As soon as I had delivered my violent kick,
it grew dark; there was thunder and lightning; the earth shook and everything
went black. My head cleared immediately and I asked the girl: `What has
happened?' `The `ifrit has come,' she said. `Didn't I warn you? By God, you
have brought harm on me, but save yourself and escape by the way that you came.'
I was so terrified that I forgot my shoes and my axe. Then, when I had climbed
up two steps, I turned to look back and I caught sight of a cleft appearing in
the earth from which emerged a hideous `ifrit. `Why did you disturb me?' he
asked the girl, `and what has happened to you?' `Nothing has happened to me,'
she said, `but I was feeling depressed and I wanted to cheer myself by having a
drink. So I drank a little, and then I was about to relieve myself, but my head
was heavy and I fell against the dome.' `Whore, you are lying,' said the
`ifrit, and he looked through the palace, right and left, and caught sight of
the shoes and the axe. `These must belong to a man!' he exclaimed. `Who was it
who came to you?' `I have only just seen these things,' she said. `You must
have brought them with you.' `Nonsense; that doesn't deceive me, you harlot!' he
cried.
Then he stripped her naked and stretched
her out, fastening her to four pegs. He started to beat her to force her to
confess, and as I could not bear to listen to her weeping, I climbed up the
staircase, trembling with fear, and when I got to the top I put the trapdoor
back in its place and covered it with earth. I bitterly repented what I had
done, and I remembered how beautiful the girl was and how this damned `ifrit
was torturing her, how she had been there for twenty-five years and what had
happened to her because of me. I also thought about my father and his kingdom,
and how I had become a woodcutter, and how my cloudless days had darkened. I
then recited:
If one day Time afflicts you with disaster,
Ease and hardship come each in turn.
I walked away and returned to my friend the
tailor, whom I found waiting for me in a fever of anxiety. `My heart was with
you all last night,' he said, `and I was afraid lest you had fallen victim to a
wild beast or something else, but praise be to God that you are safe.' I thanked
him for his concern and entered my own quarters, where I started to think over
what had happened to me, blaming myself for the impulsiveness that had led me
to kick the dome. While I was thinking this over, the tailor came in to tell me
that outside there was a Persian shaikh looking for me, who had with him my axe
and my shoes. He had taken them to the woodcutters and had told them that, at
the call of the muezzin, he had gone out to perform the dawn prayer and had
found the shoes when he had got back. As he did not know whose they were, he asked
about their owner. `The woodcutters recognized your axe,' said the tailor, `and
so told him where you were. He is sitting in my shop and you should go to thank
him and take back your axe and your shoes.'
On hearing these words, I turned pale and
became distraught. While I was in this state, the floor of my room split open
and from it emerged the `Persian', who turned out to be none other than the
`ifrit. In spite of the severest of tortures that he had inflicted on the girl,
she had made no confession. He had then taken the axe and the shoes and had
told her: `As certainly as I am Jirjis of the seed of Iblis, I will fetch the
owner of this axe and these shoes.' He then went with his story to the woodcutters,
after which he came on to me. Without pausing, he snatched me up and flew off
with me into the air, and before I knew what was happening he came down and
plunged under the earth. He took me to the palace where I had been before and
my eyes brimmed with tears as I saw the girl, staked out naked with the blood
pouring from her sides.
The `ifrit took hold of her and said: `Whore,
is this your lover?' She looked at me and said: `I don't recognize him and I
have never seen him before.' `In spite of this punishment, are you not going to
confess?' he asked. She insisted: `I have never seen this man in my life and
God's law does not allow me to tell lies against him.' `If you don't know him,'
said the `ifrit, `then take this sword and cut off his head.' She took the
sword, came to me and stood by my head. I gestured to her with my eyebrows, while
tears ran down my cheeks. She understood my gesture and replied with one of her
own, as if to say: `You have done all this to us.' I made a sign to say: `Now
is the time for forgiveness,' and inwardly I was reciting:
My glance expresses the words that are on
my tongue,
And my love reveals what is concealed
within.
We met as the tears were falling;
Though I was silent, my eyes spoke of you.
She gestured and I understood the meaning
in her eyes;
I signed to her with my fingers and she
understood.
Our eyebrows settled the affair between us,
And we kept silence, but love spoke.
When
I had finished the poem, the girl threw down the sword and said: `How can I cut
off the head of someone whom I do not know and who has done me no harm? My
religion does not allow this.' Then she stepped back, and the `ifrit said: `It
is not easy for you to kill your lover, and because he spent a night with you,
you endure this punishment and do not admit what he did. Like feels pity for
like.' Then he turned to me and said: `Young man, I suppose that you too don't
recognize her?' I said: `Who is she? I have never seen her before.' `Then take
this sword,' he said, `and cut off her head. By this, I shall be sure that you
don't know her at all, and I shall then allow you to go free without doing you any
harm.' `Yes,' I said, and taking the sword, I advanced eagerly and raised my
hand, but the girl gestured to me with her eyebrows: `I did not fail you. Is
this the way that you repay me?' I understood her meaning and signed to her
with my eyes: `I shall ransom you with my life,' and it was as though our inner
tongues were reciting:
How many a lover has used his eyes to tell
His loved one of the secret that he kept,
With a glance that said: `I know what
happened.'
How beautiful is the glance! How elegant
the expressive eye!
The one writes with his eyelids;
The other recites with the pupil of the
eye.
My
eyes filled with tears and I threw away the sword and said: `O powerful `ifrit,
great hero, if a woman, defective as she is in understanding and in religious
faith, thinks that it is not lawful to cut off my head, how can it be lawful
for me to cut off hers when I have not seen her before? I shall never do that
even if I have to drain the cup of death.' The `ifrit said: `The two of you know
how to pay each other back for favours, but I shall show you the consequence of
what you have done.' Then he took the sword and cut off one of the girl's
hands, after which he cut off the other. With four blows he cut off her hands
and her feet, as I watched, convinced that I was going to die, while she took farewell
of me with her eyes. `You are whoring with your eyes,' said the `ifrit, and he
struck off her head.
Then he turned to me and said: `Mortal, our
code allows us to kill an unfaithful wife. I snatched away this girl on her
wedding night when she was twelve years old and she has known no one but me. I
used to visit her for one night in every ten in the shape of a Persian. When I
was sure that she had betrayed me, I killed her. As for you, I am not certain
that you have played me false, but I cannot let you go unscathed, so make a wish.'
Lady, I was delighted and asked: `What wish shall I make?' `You can tell me
what shape you want me to transform you into,' he said, `that of a dog, an ass
or an ape.' I was hoping that he would forgive me and so I said: `By God, if
you forgive me, God will forgive you, because you have spared a Muslim who has done
you no harm.' I went on to implore him with the greatest humility, and,
standing before him, I cried: `I am wronged.' `Don't talk so much,' he said. `I
am not far from killing you, but I will give you one chance.' `Forgiveness
befits you better, `ifrit,' I said, `so forgive me as the envied forgive the
envier.' `How was that?' he asked, AND I REPLIED:
It is said, O `ifrit, that in a certain city
there were two men living in two houses joined by a connecting wall. One of
these two envied the other and because of this he used the evil eye against him
and did all he could to injure him. So far did this envy increase that the
envier lost appetite and no longer enjoyed the pleasure of sleep, while the man
whom he envied grew more and more prosperous, and the more the envier tried to
gain the upper hand, the more the other's prosperity increased and spread. On
hearing of his neighbour's envy and of his attempts to injure him, he moved
away from the district, leaving the country and saying: `By God, I shall abandon
worldly things for his sake.' He settled in another city and bought a piece of
land there in which was a well with an old water wheel. On this land he endowed
a small mosque for which he bought everything that was needed, and there he devoted
himself with all sincerity to the worship of Almighty God. Faqirs and the poor
flocked there from every quarter, and his fame spread in that city until
eventually his envious neighbour heard how he had prospered and how the leading
citizens would go to visit him. So he came to the mosque where the object of
his envy gave him a warm welcome and showed him the greatest honour.
The envier then said: `I have something to
tell you and this is why I have made the journey to see you. So get up and come
with me.' The other did this and, taking the envier's hand, he walked to the
farthest end of the mosque. `Tell the faqirs to go to their rooms,' said the
envier, `for I can only speak to you in private where no one can hear us.' This
the envied did, and the faqirs went to their rooms as they were told. The two
then walked on a little until they came to the old well and there the envier
pushed his victim into it without anyone knowing. He himself then left the
mosque and went on his way, thinking that he had killed his former neighbour.
The well, however, was inhabited by jinn,
who caught the falling man and lowered him gently on to the bedrock. They then
asked each other whether any of them knew who he was. Most said no, but one of
them said: `This is the man who fled from his envier and who settled in this city
where he founded this mosque. We have listened with delight to his invocations
and to his reading of the Quran. The envier travelled to meet him and by a
trick threw him down into our midst. But news of him has reached the king, who
is intending to visit him tomorrow on the matter of his daughter.' `What is
wrong with his daughter?' asked one of the jinn. `She is possessed by an evil
spirit,' replied the other, `for the jinni Marwan ibn Damdam is in love with
her. If this man knew how to treat her, he could cure her, for the treatment is
the easiest possible.' `What is it?' asked the other. `The black cat that he
has with him in the mosque has a white spot as big as a dirham at the end of
its tail. If he takes seven of its white hairs and uses them to fumigate the
girl, the evil spirit will leave her head and never return and she will be
cured there and then.'
The man was listening to all this, and so
it was that the next morning, when dawn broke and the faqirs came, they found
the shaikh rising out of the well, and as a result he became a figure of awe to
them. Since he had no other medicines, he took seven hairs from the white spot
at the end of the black cat's tail and carried them away with him. The sun had scarcely
risen when the king arrived with his escort and his great officers of state. He
told his men to wait and went in to visit the shaikh, who welcomed him warmly
and said: `Shall I tell you why you have come to me?' `Please do,' replied the
king. The man said: `You have come to visit me in order to ask me about your
daughter.' `That is true, good shaikh,' the king agreed. `Send someone to fetch
her,' said the man, `and I hope, if God Almighty wills it, that she will be
cured immediately.' The king gladly sent for his daughter, who was brought tied
up and manacled. The man sat her down and spread a curtain over her, after
which he produced the seven cat hairs and used them to fumigate her. The evil spirit
that was in her head cried out and left. She then recovered her senses, covered
her face and said: `What is all this? Who has brought me here?'
The joy that the king felt was not to be
surpassed. He kissed his daughter's eyes and then the hands of the shaikh,
after which he turned to his state officials and said: `What do you say? What
does the man who cured my daughter deserve?' `He should marry her,' they said.
`You are right,' said the king, and he married the man to his daughter, making him
his son-in-law. Shortly afterwards, the vizier died and when the king asked who
should replace him, the courtiers said: `Your son-in-law.' So he was appointed
vizier and when, soon after that, the king himself died and people asked who
should be made king, the answer was: `The vizier.' Accordingly he was enthroned
and ruled as king.
One day, as he was riding out, the envier
happened to be passing by and saw the man he envied in his imperial state among
his emirs, viziers and officers of state. The king's eye fell on him and,
turning to one of his viziers, he said: `Bring me that man, but do not alarm
him.' When his envious neighbour was brought to him, he said: `Give this man a thousand
coins of gold from my treasury; load twenty camels for him with trade goods,
and send a guard with him to escort him to his land.' Then he took his leave of
the man who envied him, turned away from him and did not punish him for what he
had done.
`See
then, `ifrit, how the envied forgave the envious, who had started by envying
him, then injured him, followed him, and eventually threw him into the well,
intending to kill him. His victim did not pay him back for these injuries but
forgave and pardoned him.' At this point, lady, I wept most bitterly before him
and recited:
Forgive those who do wrong, for the wise
man
Forgives wrongdoers for their evil deeds.
If every fault is mine,
Every forgiveness should be yours.
Who hopes that his superior will pardon him
Has to forgive inferiors their faults.
The `ifrit said: `I shall not kill you, but
neither shall I forgive you. Instead, I shall cast a spell on you.' Then he
plucked me from the ground and flew up into the air with me until I could see
the earth looking like a bowl set in the middle of water. He set me down on a
mountain and, taking some earth, he muttered over it, cast a spell and
scattered it over me, saying: `Leave this shape of yours and become an ape.'
Instantly, I became a hundred-year-old ape, and when I saw myself in this ugly form,
I wept over my plight, but I had to endure Time's tyranny, knowing that no one
is Time's master. After climbing down from the mountain top, I found a wide
plain across which I travelled for a month before ending at the shore of the
salt sea. I stayed there for some time until suddenly I caught sight of a ship
out at sea that was making for the shore with a fair breeze. I hid myself behind
a rock and waited until it came by, when I jumped down into it. `Remove this
ill-omened beast,' cried one of the merchants on board. `Let's kill it,' said
the captain. `I'll do that with this sword,' said another. I clung to the hem
of the captain's clothes and wept copious tears.
The captain now felt pity for me and told
the merchants: `This ape has taken refuge with me and I have granted it to him.
He is now under my protection, so let no one trouble or disturb him.' He then
began to treat me with kindness, and as I could understand whatever he said, I did
everything that he wanted and acted as his servant on the ship, so that he
became fond of me. The ship had a fair wind for fifty days, after which we
anchored by a large city, with a vast population. As soon as we had arrived and
the ship had anchored, mamluks sent by the local king came on board. They
congratulated the merchants on their safe voyage and passed on further
congratulations from the king. Then they said: `The king has sent you this
scroll of paper, on which each one of you is to write one line. The king's
vizier was a calligrapher and as he is now dead, the king has taken the most
solemn of oaths that he will only appoint as his successor someone who can
write as well as he did.'
The merchants were then handed a scroll
which was ten cubits long and one cubit in breadth. Every last one of them, who
knew how to write, did so, and then I, in my ape's form, snatched the scroll
from their hands. They were afraid that I was going to tear it and they tried
to stop me, but I gestured to them to tell them I could write, and the captain signalled
to them to leave me alone. `If he makes a mess of it,' he said, `we can drive
him away, but if he can write well, I shall take him as a son, for I have never
seen a more intelligent ape.' Then I took the pen, dipped it in the inkwell and
wrote in the ruka`i script:
Time has recorded the excellence of the
generous
But up till now your excellence has not
been written down.
May God not orphan all mankind of you,
Who are the mother and father of every
excellence.
Then I wrote in the
raihani script:
He has a pen that serves every land;
Its benefits are shared by all mankind.
The Nile cannot rival the loveliness
That your five fingers extend to every
part.
Then in the thuluth
script I wrote:
The writer perishes but what he writes
Remains recorded for all time.
Write only what you will be pleased to see
When
the Day of Resurrection comes.
I then wrote in
naskh:
When we were told you were about to leave,
As Time's misfortunes had decreed,
We brought to the mouths of inkwells with
the tongues of pens
What we complained of in the pain of parting.
Then I wrote in tumar
script:
No one holds the caliphate for ever:
If you do not agree, where is the first
caliph?
So plant the shoots of virtuous deeds,
And when you are deposed, no one will
depose them.
And when you are deposed, no one will
depose them.
Then I wrote in
muhaqqaq script:
Open the inkwell of grandeur and of
blessings;
Make generosity and liberality your ink.
When you are able, write down what is good;
This will be taken as your lineage and that
of your pen.
I
then handed over the scroll and, after everyone had written a line, it was
taken and presented to the king. When he looked at it, mine was the only script
of which he approved and he said to his courtiers: `Go to the one who wrote
this, mount him on a mule and let a band play as you bring him here. Then dress
him in splendid clothes and bring him to me.' When they heard this, they
smiled. The king was angry and exclaimed: `Damn you, I give you an order and
you laugh at me!' `There is a reason for our laughter,' they said. `What is
it?' he asked. `You order us to bring you the writer, but the fact is that this
was written by an ape and not a man, and he is with the captain of the ship,'
they told him. `Is this true?' he asked. `Yes, your majesty,' they said.
The king was both amazed and delighted. He
said: `I want to buy this ape from the captain,' and he sent a messenger to the
ship, with a mule, a suit of clothes and the band. `Dress him in these
clothes,' he said, `mount him on the mule and bring him here in a procession.'
His men came to the ship, took me from the captain, dressed me and mounted me on
the mule. The people were astonished and the city was turned upside down
because of me, as the citizens flocked to look at me. When I was brought before
the king, I thrice kissed the ground before him, and when he told me to sit, I
squatted on my haunches. Those present were astonished at my good manners and
the most astonished of all was the king. He then told the people to disperse,
which they did, leaving me with him, his eunuch and a young mamluk.
At the king's command, a table was set for
me on which was everything that frisks or flies or mates in nests, such as sand
grouse, quails, and all other species of birds. The king gestured to me that I should
eat with him, so I got up, kissed the ground in front of him and joined him in
the meal. Then, when the table cloth was removed, I washed my hands seven
times, took the inkwell and the pen, and wrote these lines:
Turn aside with the chickens in the spring
camp of the saucers
And weep for the loss of fritters and the
partridges.
Mourn the daughters of the sandgrouse,
Whom I do not cease to lament,
Together with fried chickens and the stew.
Alas for the two sorts of fish served on a
twisted loaf.
How splendid and how tasty was the roasted
meat,
With fat that sank into the vinegar in the
pots.
Whenever hunger shakes me, I spend the
night
Applying myself to a pie, as bracelets
glint.
I am reminded of this merry meal when I eat
On tables strewn with various brocades.
Endure, my soul; Time is the lord of
wonders.
One day is straitened, but the next may
bring relief.
I
then got up and took my seat some way off. The king looked at what I had
written and read it with astonishment. `How marvellous!' he exclaimed. `An ape
with such eloquence and a master of calligraphy! By God, this is a wonder of
wonders.' Then some special wine was brought in a glass, which he drank before
passing it to me. I kissed the ground, drank and then wrote:
They burned me with fire to make me speak,
But found I could endure misfortune.
For this reason, hands have lifted me,
And I kiss the mouths of lovely girls.
I added the lines:
Dawn has called out to the darkness, so
pour me wine
That leaves the intelligent as a fool.
It is so delicate and pure that I cannot
tell
Whether it is in the glass or the glass is
in it.
When the king read the lines, he sighed and
said: `Were a man as cultured as this, he would surpass all the people of his
age.' He then brought out a chessboard and asked whether I would play with him.
I nodded yes and came forward to set out the pieces. I played two games with
him and beat him, to his bewilderment. Then I took the inkwell and the pen and
wrote these lines on the chessboard:
Two armies fight throughout the day,
The battle growing fiercer every hour,
But when night's darkness covers them,
Both sleep together in one bed.
On reading this, the king was moved to
wonder, delight and astonishment and told a servant: `Go to your mistress, Sitt
al-Husn, and tell her that I want her to come here to see this wonderful ape.'
The eunuch went off and came back with the lady. When she saw me, she covered
her face and said: `Father, how can you think it proper to send for me in order
to show me to men?' `Sitt al-Husn,' he said, `there is no one here except for
this little mamluk, the eunuch who brought you up, and I, your father. So from
whom are you veiling your face?' She said: `This ape is a young man, the son of
a king, who has been put under a spell by the `ifrit Jirjis, of the stock of
Iblis, who killed his own wife, the daughter of King Iftamus, the lord of the
Ebony Islands. You think that he is an ape, but in fact he is a wise and
intelligent man.'
The king was astonished by his daughter and
he looked at me and said: `Is what she says about you true?' I nodded yes and
broke into tears. `How did you know that he was under a spell?' the king asked
his daughter. `When I was young,' she replied, `I had with me a cunning old woman
who had knowledge of magic, a craft she passed on to me. I remembered what she
taught me and have become so skilled in magic that I know a hundred and seventy
spells, the least of which could leave the stones of your city behind Mount Qaf
and turn it into a deep sea, with its people swimming as fish in the middle of
it.' `By my life, daughter,' said the king, `please free this young man so that
I can make him my vizier, for he has wit and intelligence.' `Willingly,' she
replied, and taking a knife in her hand, she cut out a circle...
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