THE ARABIAN NIGHTS TALES OF 1001 NIGHTS Part -10

 

Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the thirty-first night, SHE CONTINUED:

 

    I have heard, O auspicious king that the qadi said to the servants: `What has your master done that I should kill him?' THE YOUNG MAN WENT ON:

 

    `Here is my house standing open before you,' added the qadi. `You beat him just now with whips,' said the barber, `and I heard him screaming.' `What had he done that I should kill him?' repeated the qadi. `Who brought him to my house? Where did he come from? Where did he go?' `Don't play the sinister old man,' said the barber. `I know the whole story. Your daughter loves him and he loves her. When you found out that he had come into your house, you ordered your servants to beat him. I shall get the caliph to judge which of us is right, unless you produce our master so that his family can take him off, before I go in and bring him out, putting you to shame.' The qadi's tongue was bridled and, feeling himself shamed before the crowd, he said: `If you are telling the truth, come in yourself and fetch him out.'

 

    Encouraged by this, in came the barber, and when I saw this, I looked for a way to escape, but could not find one. Then in the part of the house where I was I saw a large chest and I got into this, closing the lid on top of me and holding my breath. The barber came into the hall, but scarcely had he entered it, when he came up to the room where I was, and after turning right and then left, he came up to my chest and carried it off on his head, driving me out of my mind. He started off in a hurry and, realizing that he would not leave me alone, I pulled myself together, opened the chest and threw myself out on to the ground, so breaking my leg. The door was open, and I saw a crowd of people there. In my sleeve, I was carrying a quantity of gold in readiness for a day or a crisis like this. So I began to scatter it among the people to distract their attention, which it did, as they picked it up. Then I started to make my way through the lanes of Baghdad, turning right and left, but always with this damned barber on my heels. Into whatever place I went, on he came after me, repeating: `They wanted to rob me of my master. Praise be to God who gave me the upper hand over them and freed my master from their hands!'

 

    Then he told me: `You continued to distress me by what you were planning and eventually you brought all this on yourself. If God in His grace had not sent me to you, you would never have escaped from the disaster into which you had fallen, but would have fallen into another, from which you would not have escaped. You wanted to go by yourself, but I don't hold your folly against you, as you are an impatient young man of limited intelligence.' I said: `Isn't what you have done enough for you, that you run after me and talk to me like this in the market?' My soul had almost left my body, so enraged was I, and going into the shop of a weaver in the centre of the market, I asked for his help. The weaver kept the barber away from me, while I sat in the storeroom and said to myself: `I shall never be able to get away from this damned man. He will stay with me night and day and if I have to look at him I shall have no breath of life left in me.'

 

    So, on the spot, I sent for the notaries and drew up a legal document for my family, dividing up my wealth and appointing a trustee for them, instructing him to sell my house and my properties and to look after the members of the household, both young and old. From that day on, I have been off on my travels so as to escape from this pimp. I came and settled down in your city, where I have been for some time. Then you invited me and I came, only to see the pimp damn him­ sitting with you at the head of the table. How can I stay here cheerfully among you with a man who has done all this to me and who was the cause of my broken leg? The young man refused to take a seat and when we had heard his story, we asked the barber: `Is what he says about you true?' HE REPLIED:

 

    I acted like that with him out of knowledge, intelligence and a sense of chivalry. Had it not been for me, he would be dead, and the fact that he escaped is due to me alone. It was lucky for him that it was his leg that was broken and he did not lose his life. Where I a man of many words, I would not have done him this favour, and now I shall tell you a story of something that happened to me, so that you may know for certain that I am a man of few words without curiosity, unlike my six brothers.

 

    I was in Baghdad in the time of al-Mustansir bi'llah, who was then caliph. He loved the poor and the unfortunate, and would sit with men of learning and virtue. It happened that one feast day he became angry with ten men and ordered the prefect of Baghdad to bring them to him, they being thieves and highwaymen. The prefect went out, arrested them, and sent them off in a boat. I saw this and said to myself: `These people must have gathered together for a banquet. I suppose that they are going to spend the day eating and drinking on their boat, and no one but I shall be their companion.' So I got up, and thanks to my sense of chivalry and the soundness of my intellect, I boarded this boat and mixed with them. They crossed the river and disembarked on the far bank. Then the watch and the guards brought chains which they placed round their necks, and they did the same to me. All this, my friends, was caused by my sense of chivalry and the fact that, as a man of few words, I kept silence and did not allow myself to speak.

 

    The guards then took us by our chains and brought us before al-Mustansir bi'llah, the Commander of the Faithful, who gave orders that the ten should have their heads cut off. The executioner made us sit the ten should have their heads cut off. The executioner made us sit before him on the execution mat and, having drawn his sword, he cut off the heads of the ten, one after the other, leaving me. The caliph looked and said to the executioner: `Why have you only cut off nine heads?' `God forbid that I should only cut off nine after you had ordered me to cut off ten,' the man replied. `I think that you have only cut off nine,' insisted the caliph, `and this man in front of you is the tenth.' `By your favour,' said the executioner, `there were ten of them.'

 

    The caliph ordered a count to be made, and it turned out that there were ten. He then looked at me and said: `What led you to stay silent at a time like this? How did you come to be with these criminals, and what is the reason for this, you being an old man of little brain?' When I heard what he said, I told him: `You must know, Commander of the Faithful, that I am the silent shaikh. I have a large store of wisdom, and the soundness of my intelligence, the excellence of my understanding and my taciturnity are without bounds. By profession I am a barber. Early yesterday morning, I saw these ten men on their way to a boat, and I joined them, thinking that they had gathered together for a banquet. Shortly afterwards, the guards came and put chains around their necks, and they chained me together with the others. Because of my great sense of chivalry, I stayed silent and did not say a word, this being a simple matter of honour. They then took us off and brought us before you and you ordered the execution of the ten. I stayed there in front of the executioner without telling you who I was. It was a hugely honourable act on my part to share in their execution, but all my days I have been doing favours of this kind to people, in spite of the fact that they repay me in the most brutish of ways.'

 

    On hearing this, the caliph saw at once that I was a taciturn man with a great sense of chivalry, lacking in inquisitiveness, contrary to the claim made by this young man whom I saved from fearful danger. In fact, the caliph laughed so much that he fell over, and he asked me: `Silent man, are your six brothers as wise, learned and taciturn as you?' `May they not stay alive,' I said, `if they are like me? You are denigrating me, Commander of the Faithful, and you should not compare my brothers to me, as thanks to their loquacity and lack of honour, each of them has some physical deformity. One of them has lost an eye, while another is completely blind, a third is semi-paralysed, a fourth has had his ears and a fifth his lips cut off, while the sixth is a hunchback. You should not think, Commander of the Faithful, that I am a man of many words, but I must explain to you that I have a greater sense of honour than they do, and each of them has a story, which I must tell you, explaining how he

came to be disabled.' AND I WENT ON:

 

    The first of them, the hunchback, was by trade a tailor in Baghdad. He used to do his sewing in a shop which he rented from a wealthy man who lived over the shop, while in the basement another man worked a mill. One day, when my brother the hunchback was sitting sewing in his shop, he raised his head and saw in the window of the house a woman like the full moon as it rises. She was looking out at the passers-by and when my brother saw her, love for her became fixed in his heart. He spent that day staring at her and doing no more work until evening. The next morning, he opened his shop and sat sewing, but after every stitch he would glance up at the window and see her looking out as before, so strengthening his love.

 

    On the third day, as he sat in his place looking at her, the woman caught sight of him and realized that he had been captivated by love for her. She smiled at him and he smiled at her. She then disappeared from sight and sent her maid to him with a bundle containing a quantity of red figured silk. When the maid came, she said: `My mistress greets you and asks you to use your skill to cut out a shift for her from this material and to sew it elegantly.' My brother agreed to this and he cut out the shift and finished sewing it on that same day. Early the next morning, the maid came to him and said: `My mistress greets you and asks how you passed the night, as she herself was not able to sleep because she was concerned for you.' Then she produced for him some yellow satin and said: `My mistress asks you to cut out for her from this material a pair of harem trousers and to sew them up today.' My brother agreed and said: `Give her many greetings from me and tell her: "Your slave is obedient to your commands, so give him what orders you wish." '

 

    Then he started to cut out the material and he worked hard sewing up the trousers. Sometime later, she looked out at him from her window and gestured a greeting, at times lowering her eyes and at times smiling at him, leading him to think that he would make a conquest of her. She then disappeared from view, and the maid came and took away the trousers which he handed to her. When night came, he threw himself down on his bed and spent the hours until morning twisting and turning. When morning came, he got up and sat in his place. This time, when the maid came to him, she said: `My master summons you.' When my brother heard that, he was extremely afraid. Noticing this, the maid reassured him: `No harm will come to you, but only good, for my mistress has told my master about you.'

 

    My brother was delighted and, after accompanying the maid, he came into the presence of her master, the husband of her mistress, and kissed into the presence of her master, the husband of her mistress, and kissed the ground. The man returned his greeting and then gave him a quantity of material, telling him to cut out a shirt from it and to sew it up. My brother agreed and he went on working, without stopping for anything to eat, until he had cut out twenty shirts by supper time. When he was asked what his fee was for this, he said: `Twenty dirhams and the husband called to the maid to fetch the money. My brother said nothing, but the lady made signs to him that he should take none of it. So he said: `By God, I shall not ask anything from you,' after which he took his work things and went out.

 

    In fact, he had not a penny to his name and for three days he had been working so hard at sewing those clothes that he had had little to eat and drink. The maid had then come and asked him how the work was going. `The shirts are finished,' he had replied, and he had then taken them to the people upstairs, handing them over to the husband and leaving immediately. Although my brother hadn't known it, the lady had told her husband about the state that my brother was in, and the two of them had agreed to make him the butt of a joke by getting him to sew things for them without charge. So the next morning, when my brother went to his shop, the maid came to tell him to have another word with her master. He went with her and was asked by the man to cut out five mantles for him. He did this and then left, taking the material with him. When he had sewed the mantles, he brought them to the man, who admired his work and called for a purse. There was money in it and my brother had stretched out his hand when the lady, standing behind her husband, gestured to him not to take anything. So my brother said to the husband: `There is no need to hurry, sir; there is ample time.'

 

    He then went out more submissively than a donkey, urging himself on in spite of the fact that he was suffering from five things ­ love, bankruptcy, hunger, nakedness and drudgery. When he had finished all the work that they wanted done, they played another trick on him and married him to the maid. On the night that he was due to sleep with her, they told him: `It will be better if you spend the night in the mill and wait for tomorrow.' My brother believed that this was sound advice and so he spent the night alone in the mill, but the lady's husband maliciously told the miller about him in order to get him to turn the millwheel. At midnight, the miller came in and started to say: `This bull is lazy; he has stopped and isn't turning the wheel tonight, in spite of the fact that we have a great deal of corn.' He came down to the mill, filled the trough with grain, and then went up to my brother carrying a rope which he tied round his neck. `Hup,' he cried, `turn the millstone over the grain. All you do is eat and leave your droppings and your urine.' He then took up a whip and lashed my brother with it. My brother wept and cried out, but could find no one to help him, and the grinding continued until it was almost morning.

 

    The owner of the house then came but went off again after seeing my brother tethered to the millwheel. Early in the day, the maid arrived and professed to be shocked by what had happened to him: `My mistress and I were worried about you.' Because of his tiredness and the severity of his beating, my brother could give no answer in return. When he got back to his lodging, in came the official who had drawn up the marriage contract. The man greeted him and said: `God give you long life. This is a face that tells of delights, dalliance and night-long embraces.' `May God give no blessing to the liar, you thousand-time cuckold,' retorted my brother. `By God, I have been doing nothing but grind corn in place of the bull until morning.' The official asked him to tell his story, which he did, and the man then said: `Your star did not match hers, but if you like, I can alter the contract for you.' He then added: `Watch out lest they play another trick on you.'

 

    After that, he left my brother, who went to his shop to see if anyone would bring him work from which he could get money to buy food. Again, the maid came and asked him to go to her mistress, but this time he said: `Go away, my good girl; I will have no further dealings with your mistress.' The girl went off and told her mistress of this, and before my brother knew what was happening, she was looking out at him from her window, weeping and saying: `My darling, why will you have nothing more to do with me?' He made no reply, and she then swore that nothing that had happened in the mill had been of her choosing and that she hadn't had anything to do with it.

 

    When my brother looked at her loveliness and grace and listened to her sweet words, he forgot his sufferings, accepted her excuse and took pleasure in gazing at her. He greeted her and talked with her, after which he sat for a time doing his sewing. When the maid came this time, she said: `My mistress greets you and tells you that her husband is intending to spend the night with friends. When he goes to them, you can come to us and pass the most delicious of nights with her until morning.' In fact, her husband had asked her how they could get my brother to leave her alone, and she had said: `Let me play another trick on him and I will see that his shame is known throughout this city.'

 

    My brother knew nothing of women's wiles, and so when the maid came that evening, he went off with her. When the lady saw him, she said: `I am full of passionate longing for you.' `For God's sake,' he said, `give me a kiss at once,' but before he had finished speaking, in came her husband from another room. `By God,' he said to my brother, `I'm going to take you straight to the chief of police.' Paying no attention to my brother's pleadings, he carried him off to the wali, who had him beaten with whips, mounted on a camel and taken round the city, with the people shouting at him: `This is the reward of someone who violates the harems of others!' He was banished from the city and went out without knowing where to go, but, as I was afraid for him, I caught up with him and stayed with him. Then I brought him back and lodged him in my house, where he still is.

 

                                                

The caliph laughed at my story and said: `Well done, you silent and taciturn man.' He ordered me to be rewarded and to leave, but I said that I would not accept anything from him until I had told him what happened to my other brothers, adding: `But do not think that I am loquacious.' I CONTINUED:

 

    You must know, Commander of the Faithful, that my second brother is called the Babbler and it is he who is semi-paralysed. One day when he was walking along on some errand of his, he met an old woman who asked him to stop for a moment so that she could propose something to him, adding: `And if you like the sound of it, then do it for me, with God's guidance.' He stopped and she went on: `I shall tell you of something and guide you to it, but you must not question me too much.' `Tell me,' said my brother, and she asked: `What do you say to a beautiful house with a pleasant garden, flowing streams, fruit, wine, a beautiful face and someone to embrace you from evening until morning? If you do what I shall suggest to you, you will find something to please you.'

 

    When my brother heard this, he said: `My lady, how is it that you have singled me out from everybody else in this affair, and what is it about me that has pleased you?' `Didn't I tell you not to talk too much?' she said. `Be quiet and come with me.' She then turned back and my brother followed her, hoping to see what she had described. They entered a spacious house with many servants, and after she had taken him from the bottom to the top of it, he saw that it was an elegant mansion. When the members of the household saw him, they asked: `Who has brought you here?' `Don't talk to him,' said the old woman, `and don't worry him. He is a craftsman and we need him.'

 

    She then took him to a beautifully decorated room, as lovely as eye had ever seen. When they entered, the women there got up, welcomed him and made him sit beside them. Immediately he heard a great commotion, and in came maids, in the middle of whom was a girl like the moon on the night it comes to the full. My brother turned to look at her and then got up and made his obeisance. She welcomed him, telling him to sit down, and after he had done this, she went up to him and said: `May God honour you, is all well with you?' `Very well indeed,' replied my brother. Then she ordered food to be brought, and a delicious meal was produced for him. She sat and joined him in eating it, but all the while she could not stop laughing, although whenever he looked at her, she turned away to her maids as though she was laughing at them.

 

    She made a show of affection for him and joked with him, while he, donkey that he is, understood nothing. He was so far under the influence of desire that he thought that the girl was in love with him and that she would allow him his wish. After they had finished eating, wine was produced, and then ten maids like moons came with stringed lutes in their hands and they started to sing with great emotion. Overcome by delight, my brother took a glass from the girl's hand and drained it, before standing up. The girl then drank a glass. `Good health,' said my brother, and he made her another obeisance. She then gave him a second glass to drink, but when he did this, she slapped him on the nape of his neck. At that my brother left the room as fast as he could, but the old woman followed him and started winking at him, as if to tell him to go back. So back he went, and when the girl told him to sit down, he sat without a word. She then slapped him again on the nape of his neck and, not content with that, she ordered all her maids to slap him. All the while he was saying to the old woman: `I have never seen anything finer than this,' while she was exclaiming to her mistress that that was enough.

 

    But the maids went on slapping him until he was almost unconscious. When he had to get up to answer the call of nature, the old woman caught up with him and said: `A little endurance and you will get what you want.' `How long do I have to endure,' he asked, `now that I have been slapped almost unconscious?' `When she gets drunk,' the old woman told him, `you will get what you want.' So my brother went back and sat down in his place. All the maids stood up and their mistress told them to perfume my brother and to sprinkle rosewater over his face. When they had done this, the girl said: `May God bring you honour. You have entered my house and endured the condition I imposed. Whoever disobeys me, I expel, but whoever endures reaches his goal.' `I am your disobeys me, I expel, but whoever endures reaches his goal.' `I am your slave, lady,' said my brother, `and you hold me in the palm of your hand.' `Know,' she replied, `that God has made me passionately fond of amusement, and those who indulge me in this get what they seek.'

 

    On her orders, the maids sang with loud voices until all present were filled with delight. She then said to one of them: `Take your master, do what needs to be done to him and then bring him back immediately.' The maid took my brother, little knowing what was going to be done to him. He was joined by the old woman, who said: `Be patient; you will not have to wait long.' His face cleared and he went with the maid, heeding the words of the old woman telling him that patience would bring him his desire. He then asked: `What is the maid going to do?' `No harm will come to you,' said the old woman, `may I be your ransom. She is going to dye your eyebrows and pluck out your moustache.' `Dye on the eyebrows can be washed away,' said my brother, `but plucking out a moustache is a painful business.' `Take care not to disobey her,' said the old lady, `for her heart is fixed on you.' So my brother patiently allowed his eyebrows to be dyed and his moustache plucked. The maid went to her mistress and told her of this, but her mistress said: `There is one thing more. You have to shave his chin so as to leave him beardless.'

 

    The maid returned to tell my brother of her mistress's order, and he, the fool, objected: `But won't this make me a public disgrace?' The old woman explained: `She only wants to do that to you so that you may be smooth and beardless, with nothing on your face that might prick her, for she has fallen most deeply in love with you. So be patient, for you will get what you want.' Patiently my brother submitted to the maid and let his beard be shaved. The girl then had him brought out, with his dyed eyebrows, his shorn moustache, his shaven chin and his red face. At first, the lady recoiled from him in alarm, but then she laughed until she fell over. `My master,' she said, `you have won me by your good nature.' Then she urged him to get up and dance, which he did, and there was not a cushion in the room that she did not throw at him, while the maids began to pelt him with oranges, lemons and citrons, until he fell fainting from the blows, the cuffs that he had suffered on the back of his neck and the things that had been thrown at him.

 

    `Now,' said the old woman, `you have achieved your goal. There will be no more blows, and there is only one thing left. It is a habit of my mistress that, when she is drunk, she will not let anyone have her until she has stripped off her clothes, including her harem trousers, and is entirely naked. Then she will tell you to remove your own clothes and to start running, while she runs in front of you as though she was trying to escape from you. You must follow her from place to place until you have an erection, and she will then let you take her.'

 

    She told him to strip, and he got up in a daze and took off all his clothes until he was naked...

 

Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the thirty-second night, SHE CONTINUED:

 

    I have heard, O auspicious king, that the old woman told the barber's brother to strip and he got up in a daze and took off all his clothes until he was naked. THE BARBER WENT ON:

 

    `Get up now,' the lady told my brother, `and when you start running, I'll run, too.' She, too, stripped and said: `If you want me, then come and get me.' Off she ran, with my brother following. She started to go into one room after another, before dashing off somewhere else, with my brother behind her, overcome by lust, his penis rampant, like a madman. In she went to a darkened room, but when my brother ran in after her, he trod on a thin board that gave way beneath him, and before he knew what was happening, he was in the middle of a lane in the market of the leather sellers, who were calling their wares and buying and selling. When they saw him in that state, naked, with an erection, a shaven chin, dyed eyebrows and reddened cheeks, they cried out against him, slapped him with their hands and started to beat him in his nakedness with leather straps, until he fainted. Then they sat him on a donkey and took him to the wali. When the wali asked about him, they said: `He fell down in this state from Shams al-Din's house.' The wali sentenced him to a hundred lashes and banished him from Baghdad, but I went out after him and brought him back in secret. I have given him an allowance for his food, but were it not for my sense of honour, I could not put up with a man like him.

 

My third brother is called the Jabberer, and he is blind. One day, fate led him to a large house, at whose door he knocked, hoping to speak to its owner and to beg some alms from him. The owner called out: `Who is at the door?' but he made no reply. He then heard the owner calling loudly: `Who is there?' but again he made no answer. He heard footsteps as the owner came to the door, opened it and asked him what he wanted. `Alms for the love of God Almighty,' my brother replied. `Are you blind?' the man asked and my brother said yes. `Give me your hand,' the man told him, and my brother did this, thinking that he was going to give him something. Instead, holding him by the hand, the man led him into the house and, taking him up stair after stair, he brought him to the flat roof. My brother was saying to himself: `Surely he will give me some food or some money?' But when the owner reached the top of the house, he repeated: `What do you want, blind man?' `Alms for the love of Almighty God,' replied my brother. `May God open the gates of profit for you,' the man said. `Why didn't you tell me that when I was downstairs?' said my brother. `Scum, why didn't you speak the first time that I called?' replied the man. `What are you going to do with me now?' asked my brother. `I have nothing in the house to give you,' said the man. `At least take me down the stairs,' said my brother. `The way is in front of you,' replied the man. So my brother moved forward and went on down the stairs until there were only twenty steps left between him and the door, but then his foot slipped and he fell down as far as the door, breaking open his head.

 

    He went out, dazed and not knowing where he was going, until he was joined by two blind companions of his. `What did you get today?' they asked, and he told them what had happened. Then he said: `Brothers, I want to take out some of the money that I still have and spend it on myself.' His companions agreed to do the same. The owner of the house was following them and listening to what they said, although neither my brother nor his companions realized this. My brother then came to his lodgings and as he entered, unbeknown to him, the man slipped in behind. My brother sat down, waiting for his companions, and when they came in he told them to lock the door and to search the house, in case they had been followed by some stranger. On hearing this, the man got up and clung to a rope that was dangling from the roof. As a man got up and clung to a rope that was dangling from the roof. As a result, although the blind men went around the whole room, they found no one. Then they went back and took their seats by my brother, after which they brought out what money that they had and this, when they counted it, turned out to be twelve thousand dirhams. They left it in a corner of the room; each man took what he needed, and what remained was buried. They then produced some food and sat eating, but my brother heard the sounds of a stranger chewing beside him. He warned his companions of this and, stretching out his hand, he caught hold of the house owner and he and the others fell to beating him.

 

    After a time, they called out: `Muslims, a thief has got in, wanting to steal our money.' A large crowd gathered, but, for his part, the house owner seized hold of the blind men, accusing them of what they had accused him. He closed his eyes until he looked so like one of them that no one doubted that he was blind. `Muslims,' he cried out, `I appeal to God and to the sultan. I appeal to God and to the wali. Listen to what I have to tell.' Before my brother knew what was happening, all of them had been surrounded and taken to the wali's house.

 

    When they were brought before him, the wali asked what the matter was. The house owner said: `Ask as much as you like, but you will find out nothing except by torture. So start by torturing me and this fellow, who is our leader' ­ and he pointed at my brother. They stretched the man out and gave him four hundred painful strokes on the backside. He then opened one eye, and when they went on beating him, he opened the other. `What's this, you damned fellow?' said the wali. `Give me a guarantee of protection,' said the man, and he went on: `We four pretend to be blind and we prey on people, entering their homes, looking at their women and corrupting them. This has proved very profitable and we have collected twelve thousand dirhams. I told my companions to give me my share, that is three thousand dirhams, but instead, they beat me and took my money. I take refuge with God and with you, but I have a greater right to my share. I want you to realize that I am telling you the truth, so beat each one of them more than you beat me and they will open their eyes.'

 

    At that, the wali ordered the blind men to be beaten, starting with my brother. They tied him to a whipping frame and the wali said to them all: `You evil men, do you deny the grace of God and pretend to be blind?' `God, God, by God,' cried my brother, `not one of us can see,' but they beat him until he fainted. `Leave him until he recovers,' said the wali, `and then beat him again.' He went on to order that each of the others be given more than three hundred lashes, while the house owner kept urging: `Open your eyes, or else you will be beaten again.' Then he said to the wali: `Send someone with me to fetch the money, for these men will not open their eyes as they are afraid of public disgrace.' The wali did this and, after getting the money, he gave the house owner three thousand dirhams which he had claimed as his share, keeping the rest for himself, and he then exiled the three blind men. I went out and caught up with my brother and asked him what had happened to him. When he told me the story that I have just told you, I took him back into the city secretly and, still in secret, I gave him an allowance for food and drink.

 

The caliph laughed at the story and ordered that I should be given a reward and allowed to leave, but I told him: `By God, I will not take anything until I tell the Commander of the Faithful what happened to my other brothers, for I am a taciturn man.' THEN I SAID:

 

    My fourth brother, who is now one-eyed, was a butcher in Baghdad who sold meat and raised rams. Men of importance and wealth used to seek him out and buy meat from him, as a result of which he became very wealthy and acquired both riding beasts and houses. This good fortune lasted for a long time. Then one day, when he was sitting in his shop, an old man with a long beard stopped beside him, gave him some money and asked for its value in meat. When the exchange of money and meat had been made, the old man went off.

 

    On looking at the silver that he been given, my brother saw that the dirhams were glistening white, so he stored them by themselves. For five months, the old man kept coming back and my brother went on putting his dirhams in a box by themselves. He then wanted to take them out in order to buy some sheep, but when he opened the box, he found that all it contained was white paper cut in pieces. He struck his face and cried out, and when a crowd gathered around him he told them his story, which filled them with astonishment. Following his usual practice, my brother then got up and slaughtered a ram whose carcass he hung up in his shop, while the meat that he had sliced from it he hung up outside, saying as he did so: `O God, let that ill-omened old man come.' In fact, sometime later, the man did arrive, bringing silver with him. My brother got up and, holding on to him, shouted: `Muslims, come here and listen to what I have to tell you about this evil-doer.' When the old man heard this, he said to my brother: `Which would you prefer to leave me alone or to be publicly shamed by me?' `How can you shame me?' asked my brother. `By showing that you are selling human flesh as mutton,' said the old man. `You are lying, you damned fellow,' my mutton,' said the old man. `You are lying, you damned fellow,' my brother replied. `The one who is damned is the one who has a man hung up in his shop.' `If that is so,' said my brother, `then my money and my blood are lawfully yours.'

 

    At that, the old man called to the bystanders: `If you want to check what I say to find that I am telling the truth, then come into his shop.' The people surged forward and found that the ram had become a man, whose corpse was hanging there. When they saw that, they laid hold of my brother and shouted at him: `Infidel, villain,' while his dearest friend started hitting and slapping him and saying: `Do you give us human flesh to eat?' The old man struck him on the eye and knocked it out. Then the people took the corpse to the chief of police, to whom the old man said: `Emir, this man slaughters people and sells their flesh as mutton. We have brought him to you, so do you punish him in accordance with the law of the Omnipotent and All-powerful God.' My brother tried to defend himself, but the police chief would not listen and ordered him to be given five hundred lashes. All his money was confiscated, and had it not been for the money, he would have been killed.

 

    He then fled away as fast as he could and eventually he reached a large city where he thought it best to set up as a shoemaker. He opened a shop and sat working for his daily bread. One day, he went out on some errand. Hearing the sound of horses' hooves, he asked what was happening, and he was told that the king was going out hunting. My brother was gazing at his splendour when, on noticing him, the king lowered his head and said: `God is my refuge from the evil of this day.' He turned his horse about and rode back with all his retinue. He then gave orders to his servants, who got hold of my brother and beat him so painfully that he almost died.

 

    My brother didn't know why they had done this and returned home in a state of near collapse. Later he approached one of the king's household and told him what had happened. The man laughed until he fell over and then said: `Brother, you must know that the king cannot bear to look at a one-eyed man, especially if it is the right eye that he has lost, in which case he doesn't let him go free, but kills him.' On hearing this, my brother made up his mind to flee from the city. He got up and left for another part where no one knew him, and there he stayed for a long time. Then, while thinking over his situation, he went out one day to see the sights, but on hearing the sound of horses behind him, he cried: `My fate has come upon me!' He looked for a place to hide, but could find nothing until he caught sight of a door. Pushing it open, he went in. There he saw a long hallway, which he entered, but before he knew what was going on, two men had laid hold on him. `Praise to God,' they said, `for thanks to Him we have laid our hands on you, you enemy of God. For three nights now, thanks to you, we have had no sleep and no rest, and you have given us a taste of the pangs of death.' `What is the matter with you people?' asked my brother. `You have been raiding us,' they said, `wanting to disgrace us, scheming and trying to murder the owner of the house. Isn't it enough for you that you and your friends have ruined him? Hand over the knife that you have been using to threaten us each night.' They then searched my brother and found a knife in his waistband. `For God's sake, show mercy,' implored my brother, `for you must know that mine is a strange story.'

 

    They asked what his story might be, and he told them in the hope that they would free him, but when they heard what he had to say, they paid no attention but struck him and tore his clothes. When they found the scars of the beating on his sides, they said: `You damned man. These are the marks of a beating.' They took him to the wali and my brother said to himself: `My sins have caught up with me and only Almighty God can save me.' `You villain,' said the wali to him, `what led you to do this, to enter this house with intent to kill?' `Emir,' said my brother, `I ask you in God's Name to listen to what I have to say and not to judge me hastily.' `Am I to listen to a thief,' asked the wali, `a man who has reduced people to poverty and who still bears the scars of a beating on his back? You would not have been beaten like this except for some serious crime.' On his orders, my brother then received a hundred lashes, after which he was mounted on a camel, with guards proclaiming: `This is the reward, and the least of the rewards, for one who attacks the houses of others.' He was then expelled from the city and he fled away. When I heard of this, I went out to him and asked him what had happened. He told me his story and I stayed with him. People kept shouting at him, but they eventually let him go and I took him off and brought him secretly to the city, where I have made him an allowance for food and drink.

 

As for my fifth brother, whose ears have been cut off, Commander of the Faithful, he was a poor man who used to beg from the people by night and spend what he got by day. Our father was a very old man and when he fell ill and died, he left us seven hundred dirhams, of which each of us took a hundred. When my fifth brother got his share, he was bewildered and didn't know what to do with it. Still in a state of confusion, it occurred to him to get glassware of all kinds and make a profit from it. He spent a hundred dirhams on buying this glass, which profit from it. He spent a hundred dirhams on buying this glass, which he set out on a large tray and, to sell it, he sat down beside a wall. As he sat, leaning against the wall, he thought to himself: `This glass represents my capital of a hundred dirhams. I shall sell it for two hundred and then use the two hundred to buy more, which I shall sell for four hundred. I shall go on buying and selling until I have great wealth, and then I shall buy all kinds of goods, jewels and perfumes, and make an enormous profit. After that, I shall buy a fine house, with mamluks, horses and saddles of gold. I shall eat and drink and invite home every singer in the city, whether male or female. My capital, God willing, will come to a hundred thousand dirhams.'

 

    All this was going through his mind while his glassware was spread out on its tray in front of him. He went on to musing to himself: `When my capital reaches a hundred thousand dirhams, I shall send out the marriage brokers who can arrange alliances with the daughters of kings and viziers. It is the hand of Shams al-Din's daughter for which I shall ask, as I hear that her beauty is perfect and that she is marvellously graceful. I shall offer a dowry of a thousand dinars for her, and if her father accepts, well and good, but if he does not, then I shall take her by force to spite him. When I have her in my house, I shall buy ten little eunuchs for myself, together with a robe such as is worn by kings and sultans, and I shall have a golden saddle made, studded with precious gems. I shall mount, with my mamluks walking around and in front of me, and as I go about the city, people will greet me and call down blessings on me. I shall come into the presence of Shams al-Din, the girl's father, with my mamluks behind and in front of me, as well as to my right and my left. When he sees me, Shams al-Din will get up and seat me in his place, while he himself sits below me, as he is to be my relative by marriage. With me will be two eunuchs carrying two purses, each of which will contain a thousand dinars. I shall give him a thousand as his daughter's dowry and then I shall hand him another thousand so that he may learn of my chivalry, generosity and magnanimity, as well as my scorn for worldly things. If he addresses me in ten words, I shall reply in two.

 

    `Then I shall go to my own house, and if any messenger comes to me from my bride, I shall give him money and a robe of honour, while if he brings me a gift, I shall return it to him, refusing to accept it, so that people may know that I am a proud man and only allow myself to relax when it is appropriate. My servants will then be told to dress me suitably and when they have done that, I shall order them to arrange for the wedding ceremony. My house will be splendidly decorated and when the time comes for the unveiling of the bride, I shall wear my most sumptuous clothes and recline in a robe of brocade, looking neither to right nor to left because of the greatness of my mind and the soundness of my understanding.

 

    `My bride, with her jewellery and her robes, will be standing before me like a full moon, but in my pride and haughtiness, I shall not glance at her until all those present say: "Master, your wife, your servant, is standing before you. Spare her a glance, because this standing is tiring her." They will kiss the ground before me a number of times and at that I shall lift my head, cast a single glance at her, and then look down towards the ground. They will then take me to the bedroom, where I shall change my clothes and put on something even more splendid. When they bring the bride a second time, I shall not look at her until they beg me many times, and after looking, I shall again look down towards the ground and I shall continue in this way until her unveiling has been completed.'

 

Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the thirty-third night,