Morning
now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then,
when it was the eighteenth night, SHE SAID:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the
lady continued to prompt him to leave with her until he said yes. THE LADY WENT
ON:
I spent the night at his feet, unable to
believe what had happened to me because of my joy. In the morning, we got up
and, going to the treasuries, we took what was both light to carry and
valuable, after which we left the castle and went down to the city. There we
met the slaves and the ship's captain, who were searching for me and who were filled
with joy when they saw me. I told them, to their astonishment, what I had seen
and explained to them the story of the young man and the reason for the curse
that had struck the city, as well as what had happened to its people. When my
sisters, now these two bitches, saw me with the young man, they became jealous
of me and angry, and they secretly schemed against me. We boarded the ship
gaily, overjoyed at the profit we had made, although I was more pleased because
of the young man. We stayed waiting for a wind, and when it blew fair, we made
sail and set off. My sisters sat with me and we started to talk. `What are you
going to do with this handsome young man?' they asked. `I intend to take him as
my husband,' I replied. Then, turning, I went up to him and said: `Sir, I want
to say something to you and I would ask you not to refuse me. When we reach Baghdad,
our city, I shall propose myself to you in marriage; you shall be my husband
and I shall be your wife.' He agreed to this, and I turned to my sisters and
said: `This young man is enough for me, so whatever profit others have made,
they can keep.' `That is well done of you,' they said, but secretly they
continued to plot against me.
On we sailed with a fair wind until we left
the Sea of Fear and reached safety. After a few more days of sailing, we came
in sight of the walls of Basra. Evening fell and we settled down to sleep, but
then my sisters got up, carried me on my mattress and threw me into the sea. They
did the same thing with the young man, and as he could not swim well, he was
drowned and God entered him in the roll of the martyrs. I wish that I had
drowned with him, but God decreed that I should be saved, and so while I was
floating in the sea, He provided me with a plank of wood on to which I climbed.
The waves then swept me along until they threw me up on the shore of an island.
There I walked for the rest of the night and, when morning came, I saw a track
just broad enough for a human foot that connected the island to the mainland. enough
for a human foot that connected the island to the mainland.
The sun had now risen and I dried my
clothes in the sunlight, ate some of the island fruits and drank from its
water. Then I set off on the track and went on walking until I was close to the
mainland and only two hours away from the city. Suddenly, I saw a snake as
thick as a palm tree darting towards me, and as it came I could see it swerving
to right and to left until it reached me. Its tongue was trailing along the
ground for the length of a span and it was sweeping aside the dust with the whole
length of its body. It was being pursued by a dragon, thin and long as a lance.
In its flight the snake turned to the right and the left, but the dragon seized
its tail. The snake shed tears and its tongue lolled out because of its violent
efforts to escape. Feeling sorry for it, I picked up a stone and threw it at
the dragon's head, killing it instantly, after which the snake unfolded a pair
of wings and flew up into the sky until it passed out of my sight.
I sat there in amazement, but I was tired
and sleepy and so, for a time, I fell asleep where I was. When I awoke I found
at my feet a girl with two bitches who was massaging my feet. I felt
embarrassed by her presence and so I sat up and said: `Sister, who are you?'
`How quickly you have forgotten me,' she replied. `I am the one to whom you did
a service, killing my foe and sowing the seed of gratitude. I am the snake whom
you saved from the dragon. I am one of the jinn, as was the dragon. He was my
enemy and it was only because of you that I escaped from him. After that, I
flew on the wind to the ship from which your sisters threw you overboard, and
after taking all its cargo to your house, I sank it. As for your sisters, I
turned them into two black bitches, for I know the whole story of their
dealings with you, but as for the young man, he had already drowned.' She then
carried me off, together with the bitches, and set me down on the roof of my
house, in the middle of which I could see all the goods that had been on the
ship, not one thing being missing.
Then the snake girl said: `By the inscription
on the ring of our lord Solomon, on whom be peace, if you do not give each of
these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I shall come and turn you into a
bitch like them.' I told her that I would obey, and so, Commander of the Faithful,
I have gone on beating them, although I feel pity for them and they realize
that this is not my fault and accept my excuse. This is my story.
The
caliph was filled with wonder, and he then asked the doorkeeper the reason for
the whip scars on her body. `Commander of the Faithful,' she replied, `when my
father died he left a great quantity of wealth, and soon afterwards I married
the wealthiest man of his time.' she went on:
I stayed with him for a year, but he too then
died and from him I inherited eighty thousand gold dinars, this being my
portion in accordance with Islamic law. I was then exceedingly rich; my
reputation spread, and I had ten costumes made, each worth a thousand dinars.
As I was sitting one day, in came an old woman with pendulous cheeks, thinning
eyebrows, popping eyes, broken teeth and a blotched face. She was bleary-eyed,
with a head that looked as though it had been covered in plaster, grey hair and
a bent body covered in scabs. Her skin was discoloured and she was dribbling
mucus, as the poet has described:
An old woman of evil omen may God have no
mercy on her
youth
Or pardon her sins the day she comes to die
She could lead a thousand bolting mules
With a spider's web for reins, so
domineering is she.
On entering, this woman greeted me and
after she had kissed the ground before me, she said: `I have a fatherless
daughter and tonight is her wedding and the ceremony of her unveiling. We are strangers
with no acquaintances in this city and our hearts are broken. Were you to come
to the wedding, you would win reward and recompense from God, as the ladies of
the city would hear that you were going and would come themselves. You would
then mend my daughter's broken heart, for her only helper is God.' She then
wept, kissed my feet and recited the lines:
Your presence there would honour us,
And that we would acknowledge.
While if you do not come,
We have no substitute and no replacement.
Moved by pity and compassion, I agreed,
saying: `I shall do something for her, if God wills, and she shall be married
in my clothes with my jewellery and my finery.' The old woman was delighted:
she bent down to kiss my feet and said: `May God reward you and mend your heart
as you have mended mine. But do not trouble yourself to do this service now. If
you are ready in the evening, I will come and fetch you.' She then kissed my
hand and left. I was ready when she came back and she said: `My ladies, the women
of the town have come. I told them that you were going to be there and they
were delighted and are waiting for you were going to be there and they were delighted
and are waiting for you to arrive.' So I drew my veil and got up, taking my
maids with me, and I went on until we came to a lane that had been swept and
sprinkled with water, and where a cool breeze was blowing. There we arrived at
an arched gate with a strongly built marble dome, leading to the door of a palace
that soared from the ground to touch the clouds. Over the gate these lines were
inscribed:
I am a house built for pleasure
And consecrated for all time to joy and
relaxation.
In my centre is a fountain with gushing
waters
That clear away all sorrows.
Flowers border it anemones and the rose,
Myrtle, narcissus blooms and camomile.
When we got to the door, the old woman
knocked, and when it was opened, we went in to find a hall spread with carpets,
in which lighted lamps were hanging and candles were ranged, with gems and
precious stones. We walked through the hall until we came to a room of unparalleled
splendour, spread with silken rugs and lit by hanging lamps and two rows of
candles. In the centre of it there was a couch of juniper wood studded with
pearls and gems and covered with a buttoned canopy of satin. Before we knew
what was happening, out came a girl. I looked at her, Commander of the
Faithful, and saw that she was more perfect than the moon at its full, with a
forehead brighter than daybreak, as the poet has said:
In the palaces of the Caesars she is a
maiden
From among the bashful ones of the
Chosroes' courts.
On her cheeks are rosy tokens;
How beautiful are those red cheeks.
A slender girl with a languid, sleepy
glance,
She encompasses all beauty's graces.
The lock of hair that hangs above her
forehead
Is the night of care set over joyful dawn.
She emerged from beneath the canopy and
greeted me as her dear and revered sister, giving me a thousand welcomes and
reciting:
Were the house to know who comes to visit
it,
It would kiss in joyfulness the place where
you have trod.
And call out with its silent voice:
`Welcome to the generous and noble one.'
She
then sat down and said: `Sister, I have a brother who has seen you at a number
of weddings and festivals. He is a young man more handsome than I am, and he is
deeply in love with you because of the richness of beauty and grace that you
possess. He has heard that you are the mistress of your people, as he is the
master of his. Because he wished to attach himself to you, he played this trick
in order that I should meet you. He wants to marry you in accordance with the
ordinance of God and of His Apostle, and there is no disgrace in what is lawful.'
When I heard what she had to say and saw that I was now inside the house, I told
her that I would agree. She was delighted and, after clapping her hands, she
opened a door from which emerged a young man in the bloom of his youth,
immaculately dressed, well built, handsome, graceful, splendid and perfect,
with engaging manners. His eyebrows were like an archer's bow and his eyes
could steal hearts with licit magic, as the poet's description has it:
His face is like a crescent moon,
Where marks of good fortune are like
pearls.
How excellent also
are the lines:
Blessed is his beauty and blessed is our
God.
How great is He who formed and shaped this
man!
Alone he has acquired all loveliness,
And in his beauty all mankind strays lost.
Upon his cheek beauty has written these
words:
`I testify there is no handsome man but
he.'
When I looked at him, my heart turned to
him and I fell in love. He sat beside me and I talked to him for an hour, after
which the girl clapped her hands for a second time. The door of a side room
opened and from it emerged a qadi with four witnesses, who greeted us and then sat
down. The marriage contract between me and the young man was drawn up, after
which the others withdrew. `May this be a blessed night,' said my bridegroom,
turning to me. `But, my lady,' he added, `I impose one condition on you.' `What
is that?' I asked. He got up and fetched a copy of the Quran and said: `Swear
that you will not look at any other man but me, or incline to him.' I swore to
that, to his great joy. He embraced me and my whole heart was filled with love
for him. Servants then set out a table and we ate and drank our fill. Night
fell and he took me to bed, where we continued to kiss and embrace until
morning.
We continued in this state for a month,
living in happiness and joy, and at the end of that time I asked my husband's
leave to go to market to buy some material. After he had given me permission, I
put on an outdoor mantle, and taking with me the old woman and a servant girl,
I went down to the market. There I sat in the shop of a young merchant who was
known to the old woman. She told me that he was a youth whose father had died,
leaving him a huge amount of money. `He has a great stock of goods,' she added.
`You will find whatever you want, and no trader in the market has finer fabrics.'
Then she told the man to produce for me the most expensive stuff that he had
and he replied: `To hear is to obey.' The old woman then began to sing his
praises, but I told her: `There is no necessity for this. All we want is to get
what we need and then to go back home.'
The man brought out what we were looking
for and we produced the money for him, but he refused to take anything and
said: `This is a guest gift for you today from me.' I said to the old woman:
`If he refuses to accept the money, and then give him back the stuff.' `By
God,' he said, `I shall not accept anything from you, and all this is a gift
from me in exchange for a single kiss, which is of more value to me than
everything that is in my shop.' `What good will a kiss does you?' asked the old
woman, but then she told me: `You heard what he said, daughter. What harm will
a kiss do you, and you can then take what you want?' `Don't you know that I
have sworn an oath?' I asked, but she went on: `Stay silent and let him kiss
you. You will have done nothing wrong and you can take back this money.' She
continued to inveigle me, until I fell into the trap and agreed. I then covered
my eyes and hid myself from the passers-by with the edge of my veil. He put his
mouth on my cheek beneath my veil and, after kissing me, he bit me hard,
piercing the skin of my cheek so that I fainted.
The old woman held me to her breast and
when I recovered my senses, I found the shop closed, with her grieving over me
and saying: `God has averted what could have been worse.' Then she said to me: `Come
back to the house with me and pull yourself together, lest you be shamed. When
you get home, go to bed, pretend to be sick and cover yourself up. I will fetch
you something with which to treat this bite and it will soon be better.' After
a while, I got up, full of care and extremely fearful, and I walked very slowly
home, where I acted as though I was sick. At nightfall, in came my husband. He
asked: `My lady, what happened to you while you were out?' `I'm not well,' I
said, `and I have a headache.' He looked at me, lit a candle and came up to me.
`What is this wound on your tender cheek?' he asked. `After receiving your permission
to go out today to buy materials, I left the house but was pushed by a camel
carrying firewood; my veil was torn and, as you can see, I got this wound on my
cheek, for the streets are narrow here.' `Tomorrow I will go to the governor,'
he said, `and tell him to hang everyone who sells firewood in the city.' I
implored him not to burden himself with the guilt of wronging someone, adding:
`I was riding on a donkey which threw me and I fell on the ground where I
struck a piece of wood which grazed my cheek and wounded me.' He said:
`Tomorrow I shall go to Ja`far the Barmecide and tell him what happened to you,
so that he may put every donkey driver in this city to death.' `Are you going
to kill everyone because of me?' I asked. `What happened was a matter of fate
and destiny.' `It must be done,' he said, and he kept on insisting on this
until, when he got up, I turned around and spoke sharply to him.
At that, Commander of the Faithful, he
realized what had happened to me. `You have been false to your oath,' he said,
letting out a great cry.
The
door opened and seven black slaves came in. On his orders, they dragged me from
my bed and threw me down in the middle of the room. He told one of them to hold
my shoulders and to sit on my head, while another was to sit on my knees and hold
my feet. A third came with a sword in his hand and my husband ordered him to
strike me with the sword and cut me in two and then said: `Let each of you take
a piece and throw it into the Tigris as food for the fish. This is the reward
of those who betray their oaths and are false to their love.' He grew even
angrier and recited these verses:
If I must have a partner in my love,
Even though passion slays me, I shall drive
love from my soul.
I say to my soul: `Die nobly,
For there is no good in a love that is
opposed.'
Then he told the slave: `Strike, Sa`d.' When
the slave was sure that his master meant what he said, he sat over me and said:
`Lady, recite the confession of faith, and if there is anything that you want done,
tell me, for this is the end of your life.' `Wait a little, good slave,' I
said, `so that I can give you my last instructions.' Then I raised my head and
saw the state that I was in and how I had fallen from greatness to degradation.
My tears flowed and I wept bitterly, but my husband recited angrily:
Say to one who has tired of union and
turned from me,
Being pleased to take another partner in
love:
`I had enough of you before you had enough
of me,
And what has passed between us is enough
for me.'
When I heard that, Commander of the
Faithful, I wept and, looking at him, I recited:
You have abandoned me in my love and have
sat back;
You
have left my swollen eyelids sleepless and have slept.
You made a pact between my eyes and
sleeplessness.
My heart does not forget you, nor are my
tears concealed.
You promised to be faithful in your love,
But played the traitor when you won my
heart.
I loved you as a child who did not know of
love,
So do not kill me now that I am learning
it.
I ask you in God's Name that, if I die,
You write upon my tomb: `Here lies a slave
of love.'
It may be that a sad one who knows love's
pangs
Will pass this lover's heart of mine and
feel compassion.
On
finishing these lines, I shed more tears, but when my husband heard them and
saw my tears, he became even angrier and recited:
I left the darling of my heart not having
tired of her,
But for a sin that she was guilty of.
She wanted a partner to share in our love,
But my heart's faith rejects a plural god.
When he had finished his lines, I pleaded
with him tearfully, telling myself that if I could get round him with words, he
might spare my life, even if he were to take everything that I had. So I
complained to him of my sufferings and recited:
Treat me with justice and do not kill me;
The sentence of separation is unjust.
You loaded me with passion's heavy weight,
Although even one shirt is too much for my
strength.
I am not surprised that my life should be
lost;
My wonder is how, after your loss, my body
can be recognized.
I
finished the lines weeping, but he looked at me and rebuffed and reviled me,
reciting:
You left me for another and made clear
You were forsaking me; this is not how we
were.
I shall abandon you as you abandoned me,
Enduring without you as you endure my loss.
I cease to occupy myself with you,
For you have occupied yourself with someone
else.
The severance of our love is set at your
door, not at mine.
On
finishing these lines, he shouted at the slave: `Cut her in half and let us be
rid of her, for there is no good to be got from her.' While we were sparring
with each other in this exchange of verses and I had become certain I would
die, despairing of life and commending my affair to Almighty God, suddenly in
came the old woman, who threw herself at my husband's feet, kissed them and said
tearfully: `My son, I have brought you up and served you. I conjure you by this
to spare this girl, for she has not committed a crime that deserves death. You
are very young and I am afraid lest she involve you in sin as the saying
goes, "Every killer is killed." What is this slut? Cast her off from
you, from your mind and from your heart.' Then she wept and she kept on
pressing him until he agreed and said: `I shall spare her life, but I must mark
her in a way that will stay with her for the rest of her life.' On his orders,
the slaves then dragged me off, stripped me of my clothes and stretched me out.
They sat on me while he fetched a rod from a quince tree and set about beating
me. He went on striking my back and sides so severely that I lost
consciousness, giving up hope of life. He then told the slaves that when night
fell they should take the old woman with them as a guide, carry me off and
throw me into my old house. They did as they were told and after throwing me
into the house, they went off.
It was not until daybreak that I recovered
from my faint and I then tried to soothe my wounds, treating my body with
salves and medicines. As you can see, my ribs continued to look as though they
had been struck with clubs, and for four months I remained weak and bedridden, tending
to my own wounds until I recovered and was cured. I then went to the house that
had been the scene of my downfall, only to find it ruined and reduced to a pile
of rubble, with the lane in which it stood totally demolished. I could find no
news of what had happened and so I came to my half-sister, with whom I found
these two black bitches. After came to my half-sister, with whom I found these
two black bitches. After greeting her, I told her everything that had happened
to me. `My sister,' she said, `who is unscathed by the misfortunes of Time?
Praise be to God who brought a safe ending to this affair,' and she started to
recite:
This is how Time acts, so show endurance
Whether you be stripped of wealth or parted
from your love.
She
then told me her own story, of what had happened to her with her sisters and
how they had ended up. I stayed there with her and the word `marriage' never
crossed our lips. We were then joined by this girl who acts as our housekeeper,
going out each day to buy what we need for the next twenty-four hours. Things
went on like this until last night. Our sister had gone out as usual to buy our
food when she returned with the porter, and the three dervishes arrived shortly
afterwards. We talked with them, brought them in and treated them well. After only
a little of the night had passed, we were joined by three respectable merchants
from Mosul. They told us their story and we talked with them, but we had
imposed a condition on all our visitors, which they broke. We paid them back
for this breach and asked them all for their stories, which they recited. We
then forgave them and they left. Today, before we knew what was happening, we
were brought before you. This is our story.
The
caliph was filled with amazement at this and had the account written down and
placed in his archives. Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what
she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the nineteenth night, SHE
CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king that the
caliph ordered their story to be written down in the records and placed in the
royal archives. He then asked the first girl: `Have you any news of the jinn
lady who bewitched your sisters?' `Commander of the Faithful,' she replied,
`she gave me a lock of her hair and told me that when I wanted her I should
burn a single hair and she would come quickly, even if she were on the far side
of Mount Qaf.' The caliph asked her to produce the lock of hair, which she did,
and he then took a single strand and burned it. When the smell of the burning
spread, the palace was rocked by a tremor; there was a sound like a peal of
thunder and there stood the lady. As she was a Muslim, she greeted the caliph,
who replied: `Peace be on you and the mercy and blessings of God.' `Know,' she
went on, `that this girl sowed the seed of gratitude for a good deed that she
did me, for which I could not repay her, when she saved me from death and
killed my enemy. I then saw what her sisters had done to her. At first I wanted
to kill them but I was afraid that this might distress her, so then I thought
that I should take revenge by turning them by magic into dogs. If you now want
them to be set free, Commander of the Faithful, I shall release them as a
favour to you and to her, for I am a Muslim.' `Do so,' he said, `and after that
I shall begin to investigate the affair of the girl who was beaten. If it turns
out that she was telling the truth, we shall avenge her on whoever wronged
her.'
`Commander of the Faithful,' said the lady,
`I shall release the two and then tell you who it was who wronged this girl and
seized her wealth someone who is your closest relation.' She then took a bowl
of water, cast a spell over it and recited some unintelligible words. She sprinkled
water on the faces of the two bitches and said: `Return to your former shapes
as humans,' which they did. `Commander of the Faithful,' she then said, `the
young man who beat the girl is your own son, al-Amin, the brother of al-Ma'mun.
He had heard of her great beauty and set a trap for her. But he married her
legally and was within his rights to beat her, as he had imposed a condition on
her and got her to swear a solemn oath that she would do nothing to break it.
Break it she did, however, and he was going to kill her, but for fear of God he
beat her instead and sent her back to her own house. This is the story of the second
girl, but God knows better.'
When the caliph heard what she had to say
and learned how the girl had come to be beaten, he was filled with astonishment
and said: `Glory be to God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent, Who has granted me the
favour of learning this girl's history and rescued these two others from
sorcery and torture. By God, I shall do something that will be recorded after
me.' Then he had his son al-Amin brought before him and he questioned him about
the second girl, questions to which al-Amin returned a truthful answer. He then
brought in qadis and notaries, as well as the three dervishes, together with
the first girl and her two sisters who had been bewitched. He married the three
of them to the three dervishes, who had told him that they were kings, and whom
he now appointed as chamberlains at his court, giving them all they needed and
assigning them allowances, as well as lodgings in the palace of Baghdad. He returned
the girl who had been beaten to his son al-Amin, renewing their marriage
contract, giving her a great store of wealth and ordering that their house
should be rebuilt with the greatest splendour. He himself married the
housekeeper and slept with her that night and in the morning he gave her a
chamber of her own among his concubines, together with slave girls to serve her
and regular allowances. The people were astonished at his magnanimity, generosity
and wisdom. His orders were that all these stories should be written down.
Dunyazad
said to her sister: `Shahrazad, by God, no one has heard so fine and pleasant a
story, but tell me another to pass what remains of this wakeful night.'
`Willingly,' Shahrazad replied, `if the king gives me leave.' `Tell your story
at once,' he said, AND SHE BEGAN:
It is said, king of the age and lord of our
times, that one night the caliph Harun al-Rashid summoned his vizier Ja`far and
said: `I want to go down into the city to ask the common people about the
governors who have charge of them, so as to depose any of whom they complain and
promote those to whom they are grateful.' `To hear is to obey,' replied Ja`far.
So the caliph, Ja`far and Masrur left the
palace and made their way through the city, walking in the markets and streets
until they passed a lane. There they saw a very old man carrying on his head a
fishing net and a basket, and holding a stick in his hand. He was walking
slowly and reciting:
They said to me: `Among mankind
You with your wisdom are a moonlit night.'
I said: `Do not say this to me;
There is no wisdom without power.
Were they to try to pawn me and my wisdom,
Together with my books and my inkstand,
For one day's worth of food, it would not
work
And such a bargain would be thought
contemptible.
The poor, their state, their life,
How dark they are with troubles!
In summer they cannot find food, and in the
cold
They have to warm themselves over a
brazier.
Street dogs attack them and they are the
butt
Of every despicable man.
When one of them complains about his lot,
There is none to excuse him among all
mankind
Such is the life of the poor man;
It will be best for him when he is in his
grave.'
When the caliph heard what the man was
reciting, he said to Ja`far: `Look at this man and note his verses, which show
that he is in need.' The caliph then went up to the man and said: `Shaikh, what
is your craft?' `I am a fisherman,' he replied. `I left home at midday, but up
till now God has not provided me with anything with which I can feed my family.
I am tired of life and I wish that I were dead.' `Would you go back with us to
the Tigris, stand on the bank and trust in my luck as you cast your net.
Whatever comes up I will buy for a hundred dinars.' When he heard this, the old
man agreed with delight. He went with the three of them back to the river, cast
his net and waited before pulling in the cord and dragging it in. Up it came
with a heavy, locked chest. The caliph looked at the chest, handled it and
noted its weight, after which he gave the fisherman his hundred dinars, and the
man went off.
The caliph himself then left, accompanied
by Masrur, who was carrying the chest, and they brought it up to the palace.
Candles were lit and after the chest had been placed in front of the caliph,
Ja`far and Masrur came forward and broke it open. In it they found a basket of palm
leaves sewn up with threads of red wool, and after they had cut this open, they
found a carpet. When they had lifted this out, they discovered a shawl and
wrapped in this was a girl like a silver ingot, who had been killed and cut in
pieces a sight that so distressed the caliph that his tears flowed over his
cheeks. He turned to Ja`far and said: `Dog of a vizier, are people to be murdered
and thrown into the river during my reign, so that I am to be held responsible
for them on the Day of Judgement? By God, I must make the murderer pay for this
girl's death and I shall put him to the cruelest of deaths.' He then told
Ja`far in his furious rage: `It is as true as is my descent from the `Abbasid caliphs
that if you do not produce the murderer for my justice, I will hang you at the
palace gate together with forty of your cousins.'
Before leaving his presence, Ja`far asked
for a three-day delay, which the caliph granted. He then went down sadly into
the city, saying to himself: `How can I find out who killed this girl and bring
him to the caliph? If I bring the wrong person, I shall be held responsible for
him. I don't know what to do.' For three days, he sat at home and on the fourth
the caliph sent a chamberlain to fetch him. When he came to the caliph and was
asked where the murderer was, he said: `Commander of the Faithful, am I the
monitor of murder victims that I should know who killed the girl?' The caliph
was enraged and gave orders that he should be hanged below the palace. A town
crier was ordered to call out in the streets of Baghdad: `Whoever wants to see
the hanging of Ja`far the Barmecide, the caliph's vizier, and the hanging of
his Barmecide cousins at the palace gate, let him come to watch.' People came
out from all quarters of the city to see the execution, although they did not
know why the Barmecides were being hanged. The gallows were set up and the
victims were made to stand beneath.
The executioners were waiting for the
agreed signal from the caliph and the crowd was weeping for Ja`far and his
cousins. At this point, however, out came a young man handsome, well dressed,
with a face bright as the moon, dark eyes, radiant forehead, red cheeks and a
mole like a disc of ambergris. He cleared a way for himself through the people and
kept on until he stood before Ja`far. `Lord of the emirs and sheltered of the
poor,' he said, `you are saved from this plight. The killer of the murdered
girl whom you found in the chest is I, so hang me in retaliation for her death
and take revenge for her on me.'
When Ja`far heard this, he was glad that he
himself had escaped death, but he felt sorry for the young man. While they were
talking, an old man, stricken in years, made his way through the crowd until he
reached the two of them. He greeted them and said: `My lord, great vizier,
don't believe what this young man says. No one but I killed the girl, so avenge
her death on me; if you do not, I will demand justice from you in the presence
of Almighty God.' `Vizier,' said the youth, `this is the maundering of an old
man who doesn't know what he is saying. It was I and I alone who killed her, so
make me pay for her death.' `My son,' said the old man, `you are young and this
world is still attractive to you, while I am old and have had my fill of it. I
shall give my life to ransom you and I shall ransom the vizier and his cousins,
for I killed the ransom you and I shall ransom the vizier and his cousins, for
I killed the girl and I conjure you by God to hang me quickly, as there is no
life for me now that she is dead.'
The vizier was astonished to see what was
happening and he took the young man and the old one to the caliph. He kissed
the ground and said: `Commander of the Faithful, I have brought you the
murderer of the girl.' `Which is he?' asked the caliph. `This young man says
that he killed her, while the old man here says that that is a lie and that he
himself is the killer. Here are the two of them before you.' The caliph looked
at them and asked: `Which of you did kill her?' `I did,' said the young man. `I
am the killer,' protested the old man. `Take the two of them,' said the caliph
to Ja`far, `and hang them both.' `If only one of them killed her,' said Ja`far,
`then to hang the other would be unjust.' The young man insisted: `By the truth
of the One God Who raised up the heavens and spread out the earth, it was I who
killed her and this was how she was killed.' He described what the caliph had
found, which made him sure that the young man was indeed the murderer.
Filled with wonder at what the two had
said, the caliph asked the young man: `Why it was that you unjustly killed this
girl and what led you to confess to the murder without being beaten? Why did
you come yourself just now to tell me to avenge her on you?' THE YOUNG MAN
REPLIED:
You must know, Commander of the Faithful,
that this girl was my cousin and my wife, while this old man is her father and
my uncle. I married her when she was a virgin and God gave me three sons by
her. She used to love me and wait on me and I saw no fault in her, while I for my
part loved her dearly. At the beginning of this month, she fell seriously ill,
but I brought her doctors and gradually she got better. I wanted to take her to
the baths but she said that before going, there was something that she wanted
for which she had been longing. I said that I would willingly get it and asked
what it was. `I have a longing for an apple,' she said, `that I can smell and from
which I can take a bite.' I went straight away to the city and searched for
apples, but I couldn't find a single one to buy, even for a dinar. I went back
home in distress and told my wife of my failure. This upset her; she had been
weak before, and that night she became much weaker.
I spent the night brooding over the problem
and when morning came, I left my house and did the rounds of the orchards, one
after the other, without finding any apples in them. Then I met an old gardener
and, when I asked him, he told me: `There are few or no apples to be found, except
in Basra, in the orchard of the Commander of the Faithful, where they are in
the charge of his gardener who keeps them for his master.' I went back home and
my love and affection for my wife led me to make myself ready to set out on a
journey to Basra. I travelled for fifteen days and nights there and back,
bringing my wife three apples which I had bought from the gardener at Basra for
one dinar each. I went in and gave them to her, but they gave her no pleasure
and she put them aside. Her weakness and fever had grown worse and this went on
for ten days, after which she recovered.
I then left my house and went to my shop,
where I sat buying and selling. At midday, while I was sitting there, a black
slave passed by holding one of those three apples in his hand and playing with
it. When I asked him about the apple, pretending that I wanted to get one like
it, he laughed and told me that he had got it from his mistress. `I had been away,'
he explained, `and when I got back, I found her sick. She had three apples with
her and she told me that her cuckold of a husband had gone to Basra for them
and had bought them for three dinars. It was one of these that I took.'
When I heard what the slave had to say,
Commander of the Faithful, the world turned black for me. I got up, closed my
shop and returned home, out of my mind with anger. Looking at the apples, I
could see only two. `Where is the third?' I asked my wife, and when she said:
`I don't know,' I was certain that the slave had told me the truth, so I picked
up a knife, and coming from behind her, without a word I knelt on her breast
and slit her throat with the knife. Then I cut off her head and quickly put her
in a basket, covering her with a shawl. I wrapped her in a piece of carpet,
sewed the whole thing up and put it in a chest, which I locked. I then loaded
it on to my mule and threw it with my own hands into the Tigris. In God's Name,
Commander of the Faithful, I implore you to hang me quickly, as I am afraid
that my wife will demand restitution from me on the Day of Judgement. For when
I had thrown her into the river without anyone knowing what I had done, I went
back home and there I found my eldest son in tears, although he did not know
what I had done to his mother. When I asked him why he was crying, he told me
that he had taken one of his mother's apples and had gone into the lane to play
with his brothers. He said: `But a tall black slave snatched it from me and
asked me where I had got it. I told him that my father had gone to Basra to
bring it for my mother who was sick and that he had bought three apples for
three dinars. The slave took the apple and paid no attention to me, even though
I told him this a second and a third time, and then he hit me and went off with
it. I was afraid that my mother would beat me because of it and so my brothers and
I went off out of the city. Evening came and I was still afraid of what she
might do to me. For God's sake, father, don't say anything to her that may make
her ill again.'
When I heard what the boy had to say, I
realized that this slave was the one who had made up a lying story to hurt my
wife and I was certain that I had killed her unjustly. While I was weeping
bitterly, this old man, her father, arrived and, when I told him what had
happened, he sat down beside me and wept. We went on weeping until midnight,
and for five days until now we have been mourning her and regretting her unjust
death. All the blame for this rests on the slave and it is he who is responsible
for her death. I implore you, by your ancestors' honour, to kill me quickly, as
there is no life for me now she is dead. So avenge her death on me.
When
the caliph heard the young man's story, he was filled with astonishment and
said: `By God, I shall hang no one except this damned slave and I shall do a
deed which will cure the sick and please the Glorious King.'
Morning
now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then,
when it was the twentieth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king that the
caliph swore that he would hang no one but the slave, as what the young man had
done was excusable. Then he turned to Ja`far and said: `Fetch me this damned slave
who was responsible for all this, and if you fail, you will take his slave who
was responsible for all this, and if you fail, you will take his place.' Ja`far
went away weeping and saying: `Twice I have been threatened with death; the
pitcher does not always escape unbroken. There is nothing that I can do about
this but hope that He who saved me on the first occasion may save me on the
second. By God, I shall not leave my house for three days, and the True God
will do what He sees fit.'
Accordingly, he stayed inside for three
days and on the fourth he brought in the qadis and the notaries and took a
tearful farewell of his children. At that moment, a messenger arrived from the
caliph, saying: `The Commander of the Faithful is furiously angry and has sent
for you, saying that before the day is over you will be hanged.' When Ja`far heard
that, he wept, as did his children, his slaves and his whole household. When he
had finished taking leave of the others, he went up to his youngest daughter,
whom he loved more than all his other children, to say goodbye to her. He
clasped her to his breast, kissed and wept at parting from her. In her pocket
he could feel something round and he asked her what it was. `An apple, father,'
she told him, `inscribed with the name of our lord, the caliph. Our slave Raihan
brought it four days ago and would not give it to me until I paid him two
dinars.'
When Ja`far heard about the slave and the
apple, he was overjoyed. Putting his hand into his daughter's pocket, he
brought out the apple and recognized it, exclaiming: `O God, Whose deliverance
is near at hand!' He then ordered the slave to be brought, and when he had come
Ja`far asked him where he had got the apple. `By God, master,' he replied, `if
lies can save a man once, truth can save him twice. I didn't steal it from your
palace, from the imperial palace or from the Commander of the Faithful's
orchard. Five days ago, while I was out walking, I went into a lane in the city
where I saw some children playing. One of them had this apple and I snatched it
away from him and hit him. He cried and told me that it belonged to his sick
mother.
"She wanted my
father to get her an apple," he told me, "and my father went to Basra
and bought her three of them, for which he paid three dinars. I stole one of
the three to play with." I paid no attention to the child's tears and took
the apple and came here. Then my little mistress paid two gold dinars for it.
That is my story.'
When Ja`far heard this, he was amazed that
the mischief involving the death of the girl had been caused by his own slave.
He was sorry for his connection with him but delighted at his own escape,
reciting these lines:
When a slave brings disaster on you,
Use him as a ransom for your life.
You can get many other slaves,
But you will never find another life.
Grasping the slave by the hand, he brought
him to the caliph and told him his story from beginning to end. The caliph was
full of astonishment and laughed until he fell over. He ordered that the story
should be written down and spread among the people, but Ja`far said: `Do not wonder
at this tale for it is not more astonishing than the story of the vizier Nur
al-Din `Ali, the Egyptian, and Shams al-Din Muhammad, his brother.' `Tell it to
me,' said the caliph, `although what can be more wonderful than the story we
have just heard?' `I shall not tell it to you,' said Ja`far, `unless you
promise not to execute my slave.' `If it is really more remarkable than what
has just happened, I shall grant you his life, but if not, then I shall have
him killed.' JA`FAR BEGAN:
Know then, Commander of the Faithful that
in the old days there was in Egypt a just and upright sultan who loved the poor
and would sit with men of learning. He had an intelligent and experienced
vizier, with knowledge of affairs and of administration. This vizier was a very
old man and he had two sons, fair as moons, unequalled in comeliness and beauty.
The name of the elder was Shams al-Din Muhammad, while the younger was Nur
al-Din `Ali. Nur al-Din was more conspicuously graceful and handsome than his
brother, so much so that his fame had spread in other lands, and people came to
Egypt to see his beauty.
It then happened that their father died. He
was mourned by the sultan, who went to the sons, brought them close to him and
gave them robes of honour. `Do not be distressed,' he said, `for you will take
your father's place.' This delighted them and they kissed the ground in front of
him. After a month of mourning for their father, they entered into office as
joint viziers, sharing between themselves the power that had been in their
father's hands, with one of them accompanying the sultan whenever he went on
his travels.
It happened that the sultan was about to
leave on a journey in the morning and it was the turn of the elder brother to
go with him. On the night before, the two brothers were talking together and
the elder said to the younger: `Brother, it is my intention that you and I
should marry on the same night.' `Do what you want,' said his brother, `for I
agree to your suggestion.' When they had made this agreement, the elder said:
`If God so decrees, we shall marry two girls and consummate the marriage on one
and the same night. Then they will give birth on the same day and, one and the
same night. Then they will give birth on the same day and, God willing, your
wife will produce a boy and mine a girl. We shall then marry them to each other
and they will be husband and wife.' `What dowry will you ask from my son for
your daughter?' asked Nur al-Din. `I shall take from your son,' replied Shams al-Din,
`three thousand dinars, three orchards and three estates. On no other terms
will the marriage contract be valid.'
When he heard this, Nur al-Din said: `What
is this dowry that you want to impose as a condition on my son? Don't you know
that we two are brothers and that both of us, by God's grace, are joint
viziers, equal in rank? You should give your daughter to my son without asking
for any dowry at all, and if there must be one, and then it should be fixed at something
that will merely show people that a payment has been made. You know that the
male is better than the female. My son is a male and it is through him and not
through your daughter that we shall be remembered.' `What about my daughter,
then?' asked Shams al-Din? `It will not be through her that we shall be
remembered among the emirs,' his brother told him, and added: `You want to deal
with me like the man in the story that approached one of his friends to ask for
something. "I swear by the Name of God," said his friend, "that
I shall do what you ask, but tomorrow." In reply, the other recited:
If favours are put off until next day,
For those who know, that is rejection.'
Shams al-Din said: `I see that you are
selling me short and making out that your son is better than my daughter. It is
clear that you lack intelligence and have no manners. You talk about our shared
vizierate, but I only let you share out of pity for you, so that you might help
me as an assistant and I might not cause you disappointment. Now, by God, after
what you have said, I shall not marry my daughter to your son, even if you were
to pay out her weight in gold.' Nur al-Din was angry when he heard this and
said: `I'm no longer willing to marry my son to your daughter.' `And I'm not
prepared to accept him as a husband for her,' repeated Shams al-Din, adding:
`Were I not going off on a journey I would make an example of you, but when I
get back, I shall let you see what my honour requires.'
On hearing what his brother had to say, Nur
al-Din was beside himself with anger, but he managed to conceal this. The two
of them spent the night in separate quarters and in the morning the sultan set
out on his journey, going by Giza and making for the Pyramids, accompanied by
the vizier Shams al-Din. As for Shams al-Din's brother, Nur al-Din, after
spending the night in a furious rage, he got up and performed the Morning
Prayer. Then he went to his strong room and, taking out a small pair of
saddlebags, he filled them with gold. Remembering his brother's contemptuous
remarks, he started to recite these lines:
Go, and you will replace the one you leave
behind;
Work hard, for in this lies life's
pleasure.
The stay-at-home is humble, arriving at no
goal
Except distress, so leave your land and go.
I see that water left to stand goes bad;
If it flows, it is sweet, but if not, it is
not.
Was the full moon not to wane?
The watcher would not always follow it.
Lions that do not leave their lair will
find no prey;
Arrows not shot from bows can strike no
target.
Gold dust when in the mine is worth no more
than earth,
And aloes wood in its own land is merely
used for fires.
When taken from the mine, gold is a
precious object of demand,
While elsewhere in
the world it is outranked by aloes wood.
When Nur al-Din had finished these lines,
he told one of his servants to prepare the official mule with its quilted
saddle. This beast, coloured like a starling, had a high, dome-like back; its
saddle was of gold and its stirrups of Indian steel; its trappings were like
those of the Chosroes; and it looked like a bride unveiled. Nur al-Din ordered that
a silk carpet and a prayer rug should be put on it, with the saddlebags being
placed under the rug. He then told his servants and slaves that he was going on
a pleasure trip outside the city. `I shall go towards Qalyub,' he said, `and spend
three nights away. None of you are to follow me, for I am feeling depressed.'
He quickly mounted the mule, taking with
him only a few provisions, and he then left Cairo, making for open country. By
noon he had reached Bilbais, where he dismounted, rested and allowed the mule
to rest too. He took and ate some of his provisions, and in Bilbais he bought more
food for himself and fodder for his mule. He then set out into the country, and
when night fell, he had come to a place called al-Sa`diya. Here he spent the night,
getting out some food, placing the saddlebags beneath his head and spreading
out the carpet. He slept there in the desert, still consumed with anger, and
after his night's sleep, he rode off in the morning, urging on his mule until
he came to Aleppo. There he stayed for three days in one of the khans, looking
around the place at his leisure until both he and the mule were rested. Then he
decided to move on and, mounting his mule, he rode out of the city without
knowing where he was heading. His journey continued until, without knowing where
he was, he reached Basra. He stopped at a khan, unloaded the saddlebags from
the mule and spread out the prayer mat. He then handed over the mule with all
its gear to the gatekeeper of the khan, asking him to exercise it, which he
did.
It happened that the vizier of Basra was
sitting at the window of his palace. He looked at the mule with its costly
trappings and thought that it might be a ceremonial beast, the mount of viziers
or kings. Perplexed by this, he told one of his servants to bring him the
gatekeeper of the city. The servant did as he was told, and the gatekeeper came
to him and kissed the ground. The vizier, who was a very old man, asked him who
the mule's owner might be and what he was like. `Master,' said the gatekeeper,
`the owner of this mule is a very young man of the merchant class, impressive
and dignified, with elegant manners, the son of a merchant.' On hearing this,
the vizier got up and after riding to the khan, he approached Nur al-Din who,
seeing him coming, rose to meet him. He greeted the vizier who, in turn, welcomed
him, dismounted from his horse, and embraced him, making him sit beside him.
`My son,' he said, `where have you come from and what do you want?' `Master,'
replied Nur al-Din, `I have come from Cairo. I was the son of a vizier there,
but my father moved from this world to the mercy of Almighty God.' He then told
his story from beginning to end, adding: `I have made up my mind that I shall
never return until I have passed through every city and every land.' `My son,'
said the vizier when he heard this, `do not obey the promptings of pride or you
will destroy yourself. The lands are desolate and I am afraid lest Time bring
misfortunes on you.'
He then had Nur al-Din's saddlebags placed
on the mule and, taking the carpet and the prayer mat, he brought him to his
house where he lodged him in elegant quarters and showed him honour, kindness
and much affection. `My boy,' he said to him, `I am an old man and I have no son,
but God has provided me with a daughter who is your match in beauty and whose
hand I have refused to many suitors. I have conceived love for you in my heart
and so I ask whether you would be willing to take her to serve you, while you
become her husband. If you accept, I shall bring you to the sultan of Basra and
tell him that you are the son of my brother, and I shall get him to appoint you
as his vizier in my place. I shall then stay at home, for I am an old man.'
When Nur al-Din heard what he had to say,
he bowed his head and said: `To hear is to obey.' The vizier was delighted and
he told his servants to set out food and to decorate the main reception hall
where the weddings of the emirs were held. He collected his friends and invited
the great officials of state together with the merchants of Basra. When they
came, he told them: `I had a brother, the vizier of Egypt. God provided him
with two sons, while, as you know, He gave me a daughter. My brother had
enjoined me to marry her to one of his sons. I agreed to this, and when the
appropriate time for marriage came, he sent me one of his sons this young man
who is here with us. Now that he has arrived, I want to draw up the marriage
contract between him and my daughter that the marriage may be consummated here,
for he has a greater right to her hand than a stranger. After that, if he wants
he has a greater right to her hand than a stranger. After that, if he wants he can
stay here, or if he prefers to leave, I shall send him and his wife off to his
father.'
Everyone there approved of the plan and,
looking at Nur al-Din, they admired what they saw. The vizier then brought in
the qadis and the notaries, who drew up the contract. Incense was scattered,
sugared drinks served and rosewater sprinkled, after which the guests left. The
vizier then told his servants to take Nur al-Din to the baths. He gave him a
special robe of his own and sent him towels, bowls and censers, together with
everything else that he might need. When he left the baths wearing the robes,
he was like the moon when it is full on the fourteenth night. He mounted his
mule and rode on until he reached the vizier's palace, where he dismounted.
Entering the vizier's presence, he kissed his hand and was welcomed...
0 Comments
If you have any Misunderstanding Please let me know