{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_3438/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_3438","id":"gutenberg_3438","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3438","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales","Tales -- Arab countries"],"text":"*******************************************************************\nTHIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES PRODUCED AT A\nTIME WHEN PROOFING METHODS AND TOOLS WERE NOT WELL DEVELOPED. THERE\nIS AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY BE VIEWED AS EBOOK\n(#53254) at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53254\n*******************************************************************\n\n\n\n\nThis etext was scanned by J.C. Byers and proofread by Doris Ringbloom\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT\n\nA Plain and Literal Translation\n\nof the Arabian Nights Entertainments\n\n\nTranslated and Annotated by Richard F. Burton\n\nVOLUME FOUR\n\nTo Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot.\n\nMy Dear Arbuthnot,\n\nI have no fear that a friend, whose friendship has lasted nearly a\nthird of a century, will misunderstand my reasons for inscribing his\nname upon these pages. You have lived long enough in the East and, as\nyour writings show, observantly enough, to detect the pearl which lurks\nin the kitchen-midden, and to note that its lustre is not dimmed nor\nits value diminished by its unclean surroundings.\n\n                    Ever yours sincerely,\n\n\n                    Richard F. Burton.\n\n\n\nAthen\u0436um Club, October 1, 1885\n\n\nContents of the Fourth Volume\n\n\nContents\n\n\n Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman (continued) a.   Ni'amar Bin Al-Rabi'a and\n Naomi His Slave-girl b.   Conclusion of the Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman 22.\n  Ala Al-Din Abu Al-Shamat 23.  Hatim of the Trive of Tayy 24.  Ma'an\n the Son of Zaidah 25.  Ma'an the Son of Zaidah and the Badawi 26.  The\n City of Labtayt 27.  The Caliph Hisham and the Arab Youth 28.  Ibrahim\n Bin Al-Mahdi and the Barber-Surgeon 29.  The City of Many-Columned\n Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kilabah 30.  Isaac of Mosul 31.  The\n Sweep and the Noble Lady 32.  The Mock Caliph 33.  Ali the Persian 34.\n  Haru Al-Rashid and the Slave-Girl and the Iman Abu Yusuf 35.  The\n Lover Who Feigned Himself A Thief 36.  Ja'afar the Barmecide and the\n Bean-Seller 37.  Abu Mohammed Hight Lazybones 38.  Generous Dealing of\n Yahya Bin Kh\u0431lid The Barmecide with Mansur 39.  Generous Dealing of\n Yahya Son of Kh\u0431lid with a Man Who Forged a Letter in his Name 40. \n Caliph Al-Maamum and the Strange Scholar 41.  Ali Shar and Zumurrud\n 42.  The Loves of Jubayr Bin Umayr and the Lady Budur 43.  The Man of\n Al-Yaman and His Six Slave-Girls 44.  Harun Al-Rashid and the Damsel\n and Abu Nowas 45.  The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog\n Ate 46.  The Sharper of Alexandria and the Chief of Police 47. \n Al-Malik Al-Nasir and the Three Chiefs of Police a.   Story of the\n Chief of Police of Cairo b.   Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police\n c.   Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police 48.  The Thief and the\n Shroff 49.  The Chief of the Kus Police and the Sharper 50.  Ibrahim\n Bin Al-Mahdi and the Merchant's Sister 51.  The Woman Whose Hands were\n Cut Off For Giving Alms to the Poor 52.  The Devout Israelite 53.  Abu\n Hassan Al-Ziyadi and the Khorasan 54.  The Poor Man and His Friend in\n Need 55.  The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream 56. \n Caliph Al-Mutawakkil and His Concubine Mahbubah 57.  Wardan the\n Butcher; His Adventure With the Lady and the Bear 58.  The King's\n Daughter and the Ape\n\n\n\nThe Book of the Thousand Nights and A Night\n\n\n\nNi'amah bin al-Rabi'a and Naomi his Slave-girl.\n\nThere lived once in the city of Cufa[FN#1] a man called Al-Rab\u043d'a bin\nH\u0431tim, who was one of the chief men of the town, a wealthy and a\nhealthy, and Heaven had vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Ni'amah\nAllah.[FN#2] One day, being in the slave-brokers' mart, he saw a woman\nexposed for sale with a little maid of wonderful beauty and grace on\nher arm. So he beckoned to the broker and asked him, \"How much for this\nwoman and her daughter?\" He answered \"Fifty dinars.\" Quoth Al-Rabi'a\n\"Write the contract of sale and take the money and give it to her\nowner.\" Then he gave the broker the price and his brokerage and taking\nthe woman and her child, carried them to his house. Now when the\ndaughter of his uncle who was his wife saw the slave, she said to her\nhusband, \"O my cousin, what is this damsel?\" He replied, \"Of a truth, I\nbought her for the sake of the little one on her arm; for know that,\nwhen she groweth up, there will not be her like for beauty, either in\nthe land of the Arabs or the Ajams.\" His wife remarked, \"Right was thy\nrede\", and said to the woman \"What is thy name?\" She replied, \"O my\nlady, my name is Taufl\u043dk.[FN#3]\" \"And what is thy daughter's name?\"\nasked she? Answered the slave, \"Sa'ad, the happy.\" Rejoined her\nmistress; \"Thou sayst sooth, thou art indeed happy, and happy is he who\nhath bought thee.\" Then quoth she to her husband, \"O my cousin, what\nwilt thou call her?\"; and quoth he, \"Whatso thou chooses\"; so she said,\n\"Then let us call her Naomi,\" and he rejoined \"Good is thy device.\" The\nlittle Naomi was reared with Al-Rabi'a's son Ni'amah in one cradle, so\nto speak, till the twain reached the age of ten and each grew handsomer\nthan the other; and the boy used to address her, \"O my sister!\" and\nshe, \"O my brother!\", till they came to that age when Al-Rabi'a said to\nNi'amah, \"O my son, Naomi is not thy sister but thy slave. I bought her\nin thy name whilst thou wast yet in the cradle; so call her no more\nsister from this day forth.\" Quoth Ni'amah, \"If that be so, I will take\nher to wife.\" Then he went to his mother and told her of this, and she\nsaid to him, \"O my son, she is thy handmaid.\" So he wedded and went in\nunto Naomi and loved her; and two[FN#4] years passed over them whilst\nin this condition, nor was there in all Cufa a fairer girl than Naomi,\nor a sweeter or a more graceful. As she grew up she learnt the Koran\nand read works of science and excelled in music and playing upon all\nkinds of instruments; and in the beauty of her singing she surpassed\nall the folk of her time. Now one day as she sat with her husband in\nthe wine chamber, she took the lute, tightened the strings, and sang\nthese two couplets,\n\n\"While thou'rt my lord whose bounty's my estate, * A sword\n\n\n     whereby my woes to annihilate,\n\n\nRecourse I never need to Amru or Zayd,[FN#5] * Nor aught save\n\n\n     thee if way to me grow strait!\"\n\n\n\nNi'amah was charmed with these verses and said to her, \"By my life, O\nNaomi, sing to us with the tambourine and other instruments!\" So she\nsang these couplets to a lively measure,\n\n\"By His life who holds my guiding rein, I swear * I'll meet on\n\n\n     love ground parlous foe nor care:\n\n\nGood sooth I'll vex revilers, thee obey * And quit my slumbers\n\n\n     and all joy forswear:\n\n\nAnd for thy love I'll dig in vitals mine * A grave, nor shall my\n\n\n     vitals weet 'tis there!\"\n\n\n\nAnd Ni'amah exclaimed, \"Heaven favoured art thou, O Naomi!\" But whilst\nthey led thus the most joyous life, behold! Al-Hajj\u0431j,[FN#6] the\nViceroy of Cufa said to himself, \"Needs must I contrive to take this\ngirl named Naomi and send her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd\nal-Malik bin Marw\u0431n, for he hath not in his palace her like for beauty\nand sweet singing.\" So he summoned an old woman of the duennas of his\nwives and said to her, \"Go to the house of Al-Rabi'a and foregather\nwith the girl Naomi and combine means to carry her off; for her like is\nnot to be found on the face of the earth.\" She promised to do his\nbidding; the next morning she donned the woollen clothes of a devotee\nand hung around her neck a rosary of beads by the thousand; and,\nhenting in hand a staff and a leather water bottle of Yamani\nmanufacture.\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old woman\npromised to do the bidding of Al-Hajjaj, and whenas it was morning she\ndonned the woollen clothes of a devotee[FN#7] and hung around her neck\na rosary of beads by the thousand and hent in hand a staff and a\nleather water bottle of Yamani manufacture and fared forth crying,\n\"Glory be to Allah! Praised be Allah! There is no god but the God!\nAllah is Most Great! There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in\nAllah, the Glorious, the Great!\" Nor did she leave off her lauds and\nher groaning in prayer whilst her heart was full of guile and wiles,\ntill she came to the house of Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a at the hour of noon\nprayer, and knocked at the door. The doorkeeper opened and said to her,\n\"What dost thou want?\" Quoth she, \"I am a poor pious woman, whom the\ntime of noon prayer hath overtaken, and fief would I pray in this\nblessed place.\" Answered the porter, \"O old woman, this is no mosque\nnor oratory, but the house of Ni'amah son of al Rabi'a.\" She replied,\n\"I know there is neither cathedral-mosque nor oratory like the house of\nNi'amah bin al-Rabi'a. I am a chamberwoman of the palace of the Prince\nof True Believers and am come out for worship and the visitation of\nHoly Places.\" But the porter rejoined, \"Thou canst not enter;\" and many\nwords passed between them, till at last she caught hold and hung to him\nsaying, \"Shall the like of me be denied admission to the house of\nNi'amah bin al-Rabi'a, I who have free access to the houses of Emirs\nand Grandees?\" Anon, out came Ni'amah and, hearing their loud language,\nlaughed and bade the old woman enter after him. So she followed him\ninto the presence of Naomi, whom she saluted after the godliest and\ngoodliest fashion, and, when she looked on her, she was confounded at\nher exceeding seemliness and said to her, \"O my lady, I commend thee to\nthe safeguard of Allah, who made thee and thy lord fellows in beauty\nand loveliness!\" Then she stood up in the prayer niche and betook\nherself to inclination and prostration and prayer, till day departed\nand night darkened and starkened, when Naomi said to her, \"O my mother,\nrest thy legs and feet awhile.\" Replied the old woman \"O my lady, whoso\nseeketh the world to come let him weary him in this world, and whoso\nwearieth not himself in this world shall not attain the dwellings of\nthe just in the world to come.\" Then Naomi brought her food and said to\nher, \"Eat of my bread and pray Heaven to accept my penitence and to\nhave mercy on me.\" But she cried, \"O my lady, I am fasting. As for\nthee, thou art but a girl and it befitteth thee to eat and drink and\nmake merry; Allah be indulgent to thee!; for the Almighty saith: All\nshall be punished except him who shall repent and believe and shall\nwork a righteous work.\"[FN#8] So Naomi continued sitting with the old\nwoman in talk and presently said to Ni'amah, \"O my lord, conjure this\nancient dame to sojourn with us awhile, for piety and devotion are\nimprinted on her countenance.\" Quoth he, \"Set apart for her a chamber\nwhere she may say her prayers; and suffer no one to go in to her:\nperadventure, Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) shall prosper us by\nthe blessing of her presence and never separate us.\" So the old woman\npassed her night in praying and reciting the Koran; and when Allah\ncaused the morn to dawn, she went in to Ni'amah and Naomi and, giving\nthem good morning, said to them, \"I pray Allah have you in His holy\nkeeping!\" Quoth Naomi, \"Whither away, O my mother? My lord hath bidden\nme set apart for thee a chamber, where thou mayst seclude thee for thy\ndevotions.\" Replied the old woman, \"Allah give him long life, and\ncontinue His favour to you both! But I would have you charge the\ndoorkeeper not to stay my coming in to you; and, Inshallah! I will go\nthe round of the Holy Places and pray for you two at the end of my\ndevotions every day and night.\" Then she went out (whilst Naomi wept\nfor parting with her knowing not the cause of her coming), and returned\nto Al-Hajjaj who said to her, \"As thou do my bidding soon, thou shalt\nhave of me abundant good.\" Quoth she, \"I ask of thee a full month;\" and\nquoth he \"Take the month.\" Thereupon the old hag fell to daily visiting\nNi'amah's house and frequented his slave-wife, Naomi.\u2014 And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old hag fell\nto visiting daily Ni'amah's house and frequenting his slave wife,\nNaomi; and both ceased not to honour her, and she used to go in to them\nmorning and evening and all in the house respected her till, one day,\nbeing alone with Naomi, she said to her, \"O my lady! by Allah, when I\ngo to the Holy Places, I will pray for thee; and I only wish thou wert\nwith me, that thou mightest look on the Elders of the Faith who resort\nthither, and they should pray for thee, according to thy desire.\" Naomi\ncried, \"I conjure thee by Allah take me with thee!\"; and she replied,\n\"Ask leave of thy mother in law, and I will take thee.\" So Naomi said\nto her husband's mother, \"O my lady, ask my master to let us go forth,\nme and thee, one day with this my old mother, to prayer and worship\nwith the Fakirs in the Holy Places.\" Now when Ni'amah came in and sat\ndown, the old woman went up to him and would have kissed his hand, but\nhe forbade her; so she invoked blessings[FN#9] on him and left the\nhouse. Next day she came again, in the absence of Ni'amah, and she\naddressed Naomi, saying, \"We prayed for thee yesterday; but arise now\nand divert thyself and return ere thy lord come home.\" So Naomi said to\nher mother-in-law, \"I beseech thee, for Allah's sake, give me leave to\ngo with this pious woman, that I may sight the saints of Allah in the\nHoly Places, and return speedily ere my lord come back.\" Quoth\nNi'amah's mother, \"I fear lest thy lord know;\" but said the old woman,\n\"By Allah, I will not let her take seat on the floor; no, she shall\nlook, standing on her feet, and not tarry.\" So she took the damsel by\nguile and, carrying her to Al-Hajjaj's palace, told him of her coming,\nafter placing her in a lonely chamber; whereupon he went in to her and,\nlooking upon her, saw her to be the loveliest of the people of the day,\nnever had he beheld her like. Now when Naomi caught sight of him she\nveiled her face from him; but he left her not till he had called his\nChamberlain, whom he commanded to take fifty horsemen; and he bade him\nmount the damsel on a swift dromedary, and bear her to Damascus and\nthere deliver her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin\nMarwan. Moreover, he gave him a letter for the Caliph, saying, \"Bear\nhim this letter and bring me his answer and hasten thy return to me.\"\nSo the Chamberlain, without losing time, took the damsel (and she\ntearful for separation from her lord) and, setting out with her on a\ndromedary, gave not over journeying till he reached Damascus. There he\nsought audience of the Commander of the Faithful and, when it was\ngranted, the Chamberlain delivered the damsel and reported the\ncircumstance. The Caliph appointed her a separate apartment and going\ninto his Harim, said to his wife, \"Al Hajjaj hath bought me a\nslave-girl of the daughters of the Kings of Cufa[FN#10] for ten\nthousand dinars, and hath sent me this letter.\"\u2014 And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fortieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph\nacquainted his wife with the story of the slave-girl, she said to him,\n\"Allah increase to thee His favour!\" Then the Caliph's sister went in\nto the supposed slave-girl and, when she saw her, she said, \"By Allah,\nnot unlucky is the man who hath thee in his house, were thy cost an\nhundred thousand dinars!\" And Naomi replied, \"O fair of face, what\nKing's palace is this, and what is the city?\" She answered, \"This is\nthe city of Damascus, and this is the palace of my brother, the\nCommander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan.[FN#11]\" Then she\nresumed, \"Didst thou not know all this?\" Naomi said, \"By Allah, O my\nlady, I had no knowledge of it!\"; when the other asked, \"And he who\nsold thee and took thy price did he not tell thee that the Caliph had\nbought thee?\" Now when Naomi heard these words, she shed tears and said\nto herself, \"Verily, I have been tricked and the trick hath succeeded,\"\nadding to herself, \"If I speak, none will credit me; so I will hold my\npeace and take patience, for I know that the relief of Allah is near.\"\nThen she bent her head for shame, and indeed her cheeks were tanned by\nthe journey and the sun. So the Caliph's sister left her that day and\nreturned to her on the morrow with clothes and necklaces of jewels, and\ndressed her; after which the Caliph came in to her and sat down by her\nside, and his sister said to him, \"Look on this handmaid in whom Allah\nhath conjoined every perfection of beauty and loveliness.\" So he said\nto Naomi, \"Draw back the veil from thy face;\" but she would not unveil,\nand he beheld not her face. However, he saw her wrists and love of her\nentered his heart; and he said to his sister, \"I will not go in unto\nher for three days, till she be cheered by thy converse.\" Then he arose\nand left her, but Naomi ceased not to brood over her case and sigh for\nher separation from her master, Ni'amah, till she fell sick of a fever\nduring the night and ate not nor drank; and her favour faded and her\ncharms were changed. They told the Caliph of this and her condition\ngrieved him; so he visited her with physicians and men of skill, but\nnone could come at a cure for her. This is how it fared with her; but\nas regards Ni'amah, when he returned home he sat down on his bed and\ncried, \"Ho, Naomi!\" But she answered not; so he rose in haste and\ncalled out, yet none came to him, as all the women in the house had\nhidden themselves for fear of him. Then he went out to his mother, whom\nhe found sitting with her cheek on her hand, and said to her, \"O my\nmother, where is Naomi?\" She answered, \"O my son, she is with one who\nis worthier than I to be trusted with her, namely, the devout old\nwoman; she went forth with her to visit devotionally the Fakirs and\nreturn.\" Quoth Ni'amah, \"Since when hath this been her habit and at\nwhat hour went she forth?\" Quoth his mother, \"She went out early in the\nmorning.\" He asked, \"And how camest thou to give her leave for this?\";\nand she answered, \"O my son, 'twas she persuaded me.\" \"There is no\nMajesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!\"\nexclaimed Ni'amah and, going forth from his home in a state of\ndistraction, he repaired to the Captain of the Watch to whom said he,\n\"Doss thou play tricks upon me and steal-my slave-girl away from my\nhouse? I will assuredly complain of thee to the Commander of the\nFaithful.\" Said the Chief of Police, \"Who hath taken her?\" and Ni'amah\nreplied, \"An old woman of such and such a mien, clad in woollen raiment\nand carrying a rosary of beads numbered by thousands.\" Rejoined the\nother, \"Find me the old woman and I will get thee back thy slave-girl.\"\n\"And who knows the old woman?\" retorted Ni'amah. \"And who knows the\nhidden things save Allah (may He be extolled and exalted!)?\" cried the\nChief, who knew her for Al-Hajjaj's procuress. Cried Ni'amah, \"I look\nto thee for my slave-girl, and Al-Hajjaj shall judge between thee and\nme;\" and the Master of Police answered, \"Go to whom thou wilt.\" So\nNi'amah went to the palace of Al-Hajjaj, for his father was one of the\nchief men of Cufa; and, when he arrived there, the Chamberlain went in\nto the Governor and told him the case; whereupon Al-Hajjaj said,\n\"Hither with him!\" and when he stood before him enquired, \"What be thy\nbusiness?\" Said Ni'amah, \"Such and such things have befallen me;\" and\nthe Governor said, \"Bring me the Chief of Police, and we will commend\nhim to seek for the old woman.\" Now he knew that the Chief of Police\nwas acquainted with her; so, when he came, he said to him, \"I wish thee\nto make search for the slave-girl of Ni'amah son of Al-Rabi'a.\" And he\nanswered, \"None knoweth the hidden things save Almighty Allah.\"\nRejoined Al-Hajjaj, \"There is no help for it but thou send out horsemen\nand look for the damsel in all the roads, and seek for her in the\ntowns.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-First Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Al-Hajjaj said to\nthe Captain of the Watch, \"There is no help for it but thou send out\nhorsemen, and look for the damsel on all the roads and seek for her in\nthe towns.\" Then he turned to Ni'amah and said to him, \"And thy\nslave-girl return not, I will give thee ten slave-girls from my house\nand ten from that of the Chief of Police.\" And he again bade the\nCaptain of the Watch, \"Go and seek for the girl.\" So he went out, and\nNi'amah returned home full of trouble and despairing of life; for he\nhad now reached the age of fourteen and there was yet no hair on his\nside cheeks. So he wept and lamented and shut himself up from his\nhousehold; and ceased not to weep and lament, he and his mother, till\nthe morning, when his father came in to him and said, \"O my son, of a\ntruth, Al-Hajjaj hath put a cheat upon the damsel and hath taken her;\nbut from hour to hour Allah giveth relief.\" However grief redoubled on\nNi'amah, so that he knew not what he said nor knew he who came in to\nhim, and he fell sick for three months his charms were changed, his\nfather despaired of him and the physicians visited him and said, \"There\nis no remedy for him save the damsel.\" Now as his father was sitting\none day, behold he heard tell of a skillful Persian physician, whom the\nfolk gave out for perfect in medicine and astrology and geomancy. So\nAl-Rabi'a sent for him and, seating him by his side, entreated him with\nhonour and said to him, \"Look into my son's case.\" Thereupon quoth he\nto Ni'amah, \"Give me thy hand.\" The young man gave him his hand and he\nfelt his pulse and his joints and looked in his face; then he laughed\nand, turning to his father, said, \"Thy son's sole ailment is one of the\nheart.\"[FN#12] He replied, Thou sayest sooth, O sage, but apply thy\nskill to his state and case, and acquaint me with the whole thereof and\nhide naught from me of his condition.\" Quoth the Persian, \"Of a truth\nhe is enamoured of a slave-girl and this slave-girl is either in\nBassorah or Damascus; and there is no remedy for him but reunion with\nher.\" Said Al-Rabi'a, \"An thou bring them together, thou shalt live all\nthy life in wealth and delight.\" Answered the Persian, \"In good sooth\nthis be an easy matter and soon brought about,\" and he turned to\nNi'amah and said to him, \"No hurt shall befall thee; so be of good\ncheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear.\" Then quoth he to Al-Rabi'a,\n\"Bring me out four thousand dinars of your money;\" so he gave them to\nhim, and he added, \"I wish to carry thy son with me to Damascus; and\nAlmighty Allah willing, I will not return thence but with the damsel.\"\nThen he turned to the youth and asked, \"What is thy name?\"; and he\nanswered \"Ni'amah.\" Quoth the Persian, \"O Ni'amah, sit up and be of\ngood heart, for Allah will reunite thee with the damsel.\" And when he\nsat up the leach continued, \"Be of good cheer for we set out for\nDamascus this very day: put thy trust in the Lord and eat and drink and\nbe cheerful so as to fortify thyself for travel.\" Upon this the Persian\nbegan making preparation of all things needed, such as presents and\nrarities; and he took of Al-Rabi'a in all the sum of ten thousand\ndinars, together with horses and camels and beasts of burden and other\nrequisites. Then Ni'amah farewelled his father and mother and journeyed\nwith the physician to Aleppo. They could find no news of Naomi there so\nthey fared on to Damascus, where they abode three days, after which the\nPersian took a shop and he adorned even the shelves with vessels of\ncostly porcelain, with covers of silver, and with gildings and stuffs\nof price. Moreover, he set before himself vases and flagons of glass\nfull of all manner of ointments and ups, and he surrounded them with\ncups of crystal\u2014and, placing astrolabe and geomantic tablet facing him,\nhe donned a physician's habit and took his seat in the shop. Then he\nset Ni'amah standing before him clad in a shirt and gown of silk and,\ngirding his middle with a silken kerchief gold-embroidered, said to\nhim, \"O Ni'amah, henceforth thou art my son; so call me naught but\nsire, and I will call thee naught but son.\" And he replied, \"I hear and\nI obey.\" Thereupon the people of Damascus flocked to the Persian's shop\nthat they might gaze on the youth's goodliness and the beauty of the\nshop and its contents, whilst the physician spoke to Ni'amah in Persian\nand he answered him in the same tongue, for he knew the language, after\nthe wont of the sons of the notables. So that Persian doctor soon\nbecame known among the townsfolk and they began to acquaint him with\ntheir ailments, and he to prescribe for them remedies. Moreover, they\nbrought him the water of the sick in phials,[FN#13] and he would test\nit and say, \"He, whose water this is, is suffering from such and such a\ndisease,\" and the patient would declare, \"Verily this physician sayeth\nsooth.\" So he continued to do the occasions of the folk and they to\nflock to him, till his fame spread throughout the city and into the\nhouses of the great. Now, one day as he sat in his-shop, behold, there\ncame up an old woman riding on an ass with a stuffed saddle of brocade\nembroidered with jewels; and, stopping before the Persian's shop, drew\nrein and beckoned him, saying, \"Take my hand.\" He took her hand, and\nshe alighted and asked him \"Art thou the Persian physician from Irak?\"\n\"Yes,\" answered he, and she said, \"Know that I have a sick daughter.\"\nThen she brought out to him a phial\u2014and the Persian looked at it and\nsaid to her, \"O my mistress, tell me thy daughter's name, that I may\ncalculate her horoscope and learn the hour in which it will befit her\nto drink medicine.\" She replied, \"O my brother the Persian,[FN#14] her\nname is Naomi.\"\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Persian\nheard the name of Naomi, he fell to calculating and writing on his hand\nand presently said, \"O my lady, I cannot prescribe a medicine for her\ntill I know what country woman she is, because of the difference of\nclimate: so tell me in what land she was brought up and what is her\nage.\" The old woman replied \"She is fourteen years old and she was\nbrought up in Cufa of Irak.\" He asked, \"And how long hath she sojourned\nin this country?\" \"But a few months,\" answered she. Now when Ni'amah\nheard the old woman's words and recognised the name of his slave- girl,\nhis heart fluttered and he was like to faint. Then said the Persian,\n\"Such and such medicines will suit her case;\" and the old woman\nrejoined, \"Then make them up and give me what thou hast mentioned, with\nthe blessing of Almighty Allah.\" So saying, she threw upon the shop\nboard ten gold pieces, and he looked at Ni'amah and bade him prepare\nthe necessary drugs; whereupon she also looked at the youth and\nexclaimed, \"Allah have thee in his keeping, O my son! Verily, she\nfavoureth thee in age and mien.\" Then said she to the physician, \"O my\nbrother the Persian, is this thy slave or thy son?\" \"He is my son,\"\nanswered he. So Ni'amah put up the medicine and, placing it in a little\nbox, took a piece of paper and wrote thereon these two couplets,[FN#15]\n\n\"If Naomi bless me with a single glance, * Let Su'ad\u0431 sue and\n\n\n     Juml joy to\n\n\nThey said, \"Forget her: twenty such thou'lt find.\" * But none is\n\n\n     like her\u2014I will not forget!\"\n\n\n\nHe pressed the paper into the box and, sealing it up, wrote upon the\ncover the following words in Cufic characters, \"I am Ni'amah of\nal-Rabi'a of Cufa.\" Then he set it before the old woman who took it and\nbade them farewell and returned to the Caliph's palace, and when she\nwent up with the drugs to the damsel she placed the little box of\nmedicine at her feet, saying, \"O my lady, know that there is lately\ncome to our town a Persian physician, than whom I never saw a more\nskilful nor a better versed in matters of malady. I told him thy name,\nafter showing him the water-bottle, and forthwith he knew thine ailment\nand prescribed a remedy. Then he bade his son make thee up this\nmedicine; and there is not in Damascus a comelier or a seemlier youth\nthan this lad of his, nor hath anyone a shop the like of his shop.\" So\nNaomi took the box and, seeing the names of her lord and his father\nwritten on the cover, changed colour and said to herself, \"Doubtless,\nthe owner of this shop is come in search of me.\" So she said to the old\nwoman, \"Describe to me this youth.\" Answered the old woman, \"His name\nis Ni'amah, he hath a mole on his right eyebrow, is richly clad and is\nperfectly handsome.\" Cried Naomi, \"Give me the medicine, whereon be the\nblessing and help of Almighty Allah!\" So she drank off the potion (and\nshe laughing) and said, \"Indeed, it is a blessed medicine!\" Then she\nsought in the box and, finding the paper, opened it, read it,\nunderstood it and knew that this was indeed her lord, whereas her heart\nwas solaced and she rejoiced. Now when the old woman saw her laughing,\nshe exclaimed, \"This is indeed a blessed day!\"; and Naomi said, \"O\nnurse, I have a mind for something to eat and drink.\" The old woman\nsaid to the serving women, \"Bring a tray of dainty viands for your\nmistress;\" whereupon they set food before her and she sat down to eat.\nAnd behold in came the Caliph who, seeing her sitting at meat,\nrejoiced; and the old woman said to him, \"O Commander of the Faithful,\nI give thee joy of thy hand maid Naomi's recovery! And the cause is\nthat there is lately come to this our city a physician than whom I\nnever saw a better versed in diseases and their remedies. I fetched her\nmedicine from him and she hath drunken of it but once and is restored\nto health.\" Quoth he, \"Take a thousand dinars and apply thyself to her\ntreatment, till she be completely recovered.\" And he went away,\nrejoicing in the damsel's recovery, whilst the old woman betook herself\nto the Persian's house and delivered the thousand dinars, giving him to\nknow that she was become the Caliph's slave and also handing him a\nletter which Naomi had written. He took it and gave the letter to\nNi'amah, who at first sight knew her hand and fell down in a swoon.\nWhen he revived he opened the letter and found these words written\ntherein: \"From the slave despoiled of her Ni'amah, her delight; her\nwhose reason hath been beguiled and who is parted from the core of her\nheart. But afterwards of a truth thy letter hath reached me and hath\nbroadened my breast, and solaced my soul, even as saith the poet,\n\n\"Thy note came: long lost hungers wrote that note, * Till drop\n\n\n     they sweetest scents for what they wrote:\n\n\nTwas Moses to his mother's arms restored; * 'Twas Jacob's eye-\n\n\n     sight cured by Joseph's coat!\"[FN#16]\n\n\n\nWhen Ni'amah read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and the\nold woman said to him, \"What maketh thee to weep, O my son? Allah never\ncause thine eye to shed tears!\" Cried the Persian, \"O my lady, how\nshould my son not weep, seeing that this is his slave-girl and he her\nlord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and her health dependeth on her\nseeing him, for naught aileth her but loving him.\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian cried\nout to the old woman, \"How shall my son not weep, seeing that this is\nhis slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and\nthe health of this damsel dependeth on her seeing him and naught aileth\nher but loving him. So, do thou, O my lady, take these thousand dinars\nto thyself and thou shalt have of me yet more than this; only look on\nus with eyes of rush; for we know not how to bring this affair to a\nhappy end save through thee.\" Then she said to Ni'amah, \"Say, art thou\nindeed her lord?\" He replied, \"Yes,\" and she rejoined, \"Thou sayest\nsooth; for she ceaseth not continually to name thee.\" Then he told her\nall that had passed from first to last, and she said, \"O youth, thou\nshalt owe thy reunion with her to none but myself.\" So she mounted and,\nat once returning to Naomi, looked in her face and laughed saying, \"It\nis just, O my daughter, that thou weep and fall sick for thy separation\nfrom thy master, Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a of Cufa.\" Quoth Naomi,\n\"Verily, the veil hath been withdrawn for thee and the truth revealed\nto thee.\" Rejoined the old woman, \"Be of good cheer and take heart, for\nI will assuredly bring you together, though it cost me my life.\" Then\nshe returned to Ni'amah and said to him, \"I went to thy slave- girl and\nconversed with her, and I find that she longeth for thee yet more than\nthou for her; for although the Commander of the Faithful is minded to\nbecome intimate with her, she refuseth herself to him. But if thou be\nstout of purpose and firm of heart, I will bring you together and\nventure my life for you, and play some trick and make shift to carry\nthee into the Caliph's palace, where thou shalt meet her, for she\ncannot come forth.\" And Ni'amah answered, \"Allah requite thee with\ngood!\" Then she took leave of him and went back to Naomi and said, \"Thy\nlord is indeed dying of love for thee and would fain see thee and\nforegather with thee. What sayest thou?\" Naomi replied, \"And I too am\nlonging for his sight and dying for his love.\" Whereupon the old woman\ntook a parcel of women's clothes and ornaments and, repairing to\nNi'amah, said to him, \"Come with me into some place apart.\" So he\nbrought her into the room behind the shop where she stained his hands\nand decked his wrists and plaited his hair, after which she clad him in\na slave-girl's habit and adorned him after the fairest fashion of\nwoman's adornment, till he was as one of the Houris of the Garden of\nHeaven, and when she saw him thus she exclaimed, \"Blessed be Allah,\nbest of Creators! By Allah, thou art handsomer than the damsel.[FN#17]\nNow, walk with thy left shoulder forwards and thy right well behind,\nand sway thy hips from side to side.\"[FN#18] So he walked before her,\nas she bade him; and, when she saw he had caught the trick of woman's\ngait, she said to him, \"Expect me tomorrow night, and Allah willing, I\nwill take and carry thee to the palace. But when thou seest the\nChamberlains and the Eunuchs be bold, and bow thy head and speak not\nwith any, for I will prevent their speech; and with Allah is success!\"\nAccordingly, when the morning dawned, she returned and, carrying him to\nthe palace, entered before him and he after her step by step. The\nChamberlain would have stopped his entering, but the old woman said to\nhim, \"O most ill omened of slaves, this is the handmaid of Naomi, the\nCaliph's favourite. How durst thou stay her when she would enter?\" Then\nsaid she, \"Come in, O damsel!\"; and the old woman went in and they\nceased not faring on, till they drew near the door leading to the inner\npiazza of the palace, when she said to him, \"O Ni'amah, hearten thyself\nand take courage and enter and turn to the left: then count five doors\nand pass through the sixth, for it is that of the place prepared for\nthee. Fear nothing, and if any speak to thee, answer not, neither\nstop.\" Then she went up with him to the door, and the Chamberlain there\non guard accosted her, saying \"What damsel is this?\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nChamberlain accosted the old woman, saying, \"What damsel is this?\";\nquoth the ancient dame, \"Our lady hath a mind to buy her;\" and he\nrejoined, \"None may enter save by leave of the Commander of the\nFaithful; so do thou go back with her. I can not let her pass for thus\nam I commanded.\" Replied the old woman, \"O Chief Chamberlain, use thy\nreason. Thou knowest that Naomi, the Caliph's slave-girl, of whom he is\nenamoured, is but now restored to health and the Commander of the\nFaithful hardly yet crediteth her recovery. She is minded to buy this\nhand maid; so oppose thou not her entrance, lest haply it come to\nNaomi's knowledge and she be wroth with thee and suffer a relapse and\nthis cause thy head to be cut off.\" Then said she to Ni'amah, \"Enter, O\ndamsel; pay no heed to what he saith and tell not the Queen-consort\nthat her Chamberlain opposed thine entrance.\" So Ni'amah bowed his head\nand entered the palace, and would have turned to the left, but mistook\nthe direction and walked to his right; and, meaning to count five doors\nand enter the sixth, he counted six and entering the seventh, found\nhimself in a place whose floor was carpeted with brocade and whose\nwalls were hung with curtains of gold- embroidered silk. And therein\nstood censers of aloes-wood and ambergris and strong-scented musk, and\nat the upper end was a couch bespread with cloth of gold on which he\nseated himself, marvelling at the magnificence he saw and knowing not\nwhat was written for him in the Secret Purpose. As he sat musing on his\ncase, the Caliph's sister, followed by her handmaid, came in upon him;\nand, seeing the youth seated there took him for a slave-girl and\naccosted him and said, \"Who art thou O damsel? and what is thy case and\nwho brought thee hither?\" He made no reply, and was silent, when she\ncontinued, \"O damsel! if thou be one of my brother's concubines and he\nbe wroth with thee, I will intercede with him for thee and get thee\ngrace.\" But he answered her not a word; so she said to her slave-girl,\n\"Stand at the door and let none enter.\" Then she went up to Ni'amah and\nlooking at him was amazed at his beauty and said to him, \"O lady, tell\nme who thou art and what is thy name and how thou camest here; for I\nhave never seen thee in our palace.\" Still he answered not, whereat she\nwas angered and, putting her hand to his bosom, found no breasts and\nwould have unveiled him, that she might know who he was; but he said to\nher, \"O my lady, I am thy slave and I cast myself on thy protection: do\nthou protect me.\" She said, \"No harm shall come to thee, but tell me\nwho thou art and who brought thee into this my apartment.\" Answered he,\n\"O Princess, I am known as Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a of Cufa and I have\nventured my life for the sake of my slave-girl, Naomi, whom Al-Hajjaj\ntook by sleight and sent hither.\" Said she, \"Fear not: no harm shall\nbefall thee;\" then, calling her maid, she said to her, \"Go to Naomi's\nchamber and send her to me.\" Meanwhile the old woman went to Naomi's\nbedroom and said to her, \"Hath thy lord come to thee?\" \"No, by Allah!\"\nanswered Naomi, and the other said, \"Belike he hath gone astray and\nentered some chamber other than thine and lost himself.\" So Naomi\ncried, \"There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the\nGlorious, the Great! Our last hour is come and we are all lost.\" And\nwhile they were sitting and sadly enough pondering their case, in came\nthe Princess's handmaid and saluting Naomi said to her, \"My lady\nbiddeth thee to her banquet.\" \"I hear and I obey,\" answered the damsel\nand the old woman said, \"Belike thy lord is with the Caliph's sister\nand the veil of secrecy hath been rent.\" So Naomi at once sprang up and\nbetook herself to the Princess, who said to her, \"Here is thy lord\nsitting with me; it seemeth he hath mistaken the place; but, please\nAllah, neither thou nor he has any cause for fear.\" When Naomi heard\nthese words, she took heart of grace and went up to Ni'amah; and her\nlord when he saw her.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ni'amah saw\nhis handmaid Naomi, he rose to meet her and strained her to his bosom\nand both fell to the ground fainting. As soon as they came to\nthemselves, the Caliph's sister said to them, \"Sit ye down and take we\ncounsel for your deliverance from this your strait.\" And they answered,\n\"O our lady, we hear and obey: it is thine to command.\" Quoth she, \"By\nAllah, no harm shall befall you from us!\" Then she bade her handmaids\nbring meat and drink which was done, and they sat down and ate till\nthey had enough, after which they sat drinking. Then the cup went round\namongst them and their cares ceased from them; but Ni'amah said, \"Would\nI knew how this will end.\" The Princess asked, \"O Ni'amah, dost thou\nlove thy slave Naomi?\"; and he answered, \"Of a truth it is my passion\nfor her which hath brought me to this state of peril for my life.\" Then\nsaid she to the damsel, \"O Naomi, dost thou love thy lord Ni'amah?\";\nand she replied, \"O my lady, it is the love of him which hath wasted my\nbody and brought me to evil case.\" Rejoined the Princess, \"By Allah,\nsince ye love each other thus, may he not be who would part you! Be of\ngood cheer and keep your eyes cool and clear.\" At this they both\nrejoiced and Naomi called for a lute and, when they brought it, she\ntook it and tuned it and played a lively measure which enchanted the\nhearers, and after the prelude sang these couplets,\n\n\"When the slanderers cared but to part us twain, * We owed no\n\n\n     blood-debt could raise their ire\n\n\nAnd they poured in our ears all the din of war, * And aid failed\n\n\n     and friends, when my want was dire:\n\n\nI fought them hard with mine eyes and tears; * With breath and\n\n\n     sword, with the stream and fire!\"\n\n\n\nThen Naomi gave the lute to her master, Ni'amah, saying, \"Sing thou to\nus some verse.\" So he took it and playing a lively measure, intoned\nthese couplets,\n\n\"Full Moon if unfreckled would favour thee, * And Sun uneclipsed\n\n\n     would reflect thy blee:\n\n\nI wonder (but love is of wonders full * And ardour and passion\n\n\n     and ecstasy)\n\n\nHow short the way to my love I fare, * Which, from her faring, so\n\n\n     long I see.\"\n\n\n\nNow when he had made an end of his song, Naomi filled the cup and gave\nit to him, and he took it and drank it off; then she filled again and\ngave the cup to the Caliph's sister who also emptied it; after which\nthe Princess in her turn took the lute and tightened the strings and\ntuned it and sang these two couplets,\n\n\"Grief, cark and care in my heart reside, * And the fires of love\n\n\n     in my breast\n\n\nMy wasted form to all eyes shows clear; * For Desire my body hath\n\n\n     mortified.\"\n\n\n\nThen she filled the cup and gave it to Naomi, who drank it off and\ntaking the lute, sang these two couplets,\n\n\"O to whom I gave soul which thou tortures\", * And in vain I'd\n\n\n     recover from fair Unfaith\n\n\nDo grant thy favours my care to cure * Ere I die, for this be my\n\n\n     latest breath.\"\n\n\n\nAnd they ceased not to sing verses and drink to the sweet sound of the\nstrings, full of mirth and merriment and joy and jollity till behold!\nin came the Commander of the Faithful. Now when they saw him, they rose\nand kissed the ground before him; and he, seeing Naomi with the lute in\nher hand, said to her, \"O Naomi, praised be Allah who hath done away\nfrom thee sickness and suffering!\" Then he looked at Ni'amah (who was\nstill disguised as a woman), and said to the Princess, \"O my sister,\nwhat damsel is this by Naomi's side?\" She replied, \"O Commander of the\nFaithful, thou hast here a handmaid, one of thy concubines and the\nbosom friend of Naomi who will neither eat nor drink without her.\" And\nshe repeated the words of the poet,\n\n\"Two contraries, and both concur in opposite charms, * And charms so\ncontraried by contrast lovelier show.\"\n\nQuoth the Caliph, \"By Allah Omnipotent, verily she is as handsome as\nNaomi, and to-morrow I will appoint her a separate chamber beside that\nof her friend and send her furniture and stuffs and all that befitteth\nher, in honour of Naomi.\" Then the Princess called for food and set it\nbefore her brother, who ate and made himself at home in their place and\ncompany. Then filling a cup he signed to Naomi to sing; so she took the\nlute, after draining two of them and sang these two couplets,\n\n\"Since my toper-friend in my hand hath given * Three cups that\n\n\n     brim and bubble, e'er since\n\n\nI've trailed my skirts throughout night for pride * As tho',\n\n\n     Prince of the Faithful, I were thy Prince!\"\n\n\n\nThe Prince of True Believers was delighted and filling another cup,\ngave it to Naomi and bade her sing again; so after draining the cup and\nsweeping the strings, she sang as follows:\u2014\n\n\"O most noble of men in this time and stound, * Of whom none may\n\n\n     boast he is equal-found!\n\n\nO matchless in greatness of soul and gifts, * O thou Chief, O\n\n\n     thou King amongst all renowned:\n\n\nLord, who dealest large boons to the Lords of Earth, * Whom thou\n\n\n     vexest not nor dost hold them bound\n\n\nThe Lord preserve thee, and spoil thy foes, * And ne'er cease thy\n\n\n     lot with good Fortune crowned!\"\n\n\n\nNow when the Caliph heard these couplets, he exclaimed, \"By Allah,\ngood! By Allah, excellent! Verily the Lord hath been copious[FN#19] to\nthee, O Naomi! How clever is thy tongue and how dear is thy speech!\"\nAnd they ceased not their mirth and good cheer till midnight, when the\nCaliph's sister said to him, \"Give ear, O Commander of the Faithful to\na tale I have read in books of a certain man of rank.\" \"And what is\nthis tale?\" quoth he. Quoth she \"Know, O Prince of the Faithful that\nthere lived once in the city of Cufa a youth called Ni'amah, son of\nAl-Rabi'a, and he had a slave-girl whom he loved and who loved him.\nThey had been reared in one bed; but when they grew up and mutual-love\nget hold of them, Fortune smote them with her calamities and Time, the\ntyrant, brought upon them his adversity and decreed separation unto\nthem. Thereupon designing and slanderous folk enticed her by sleight\nforth of his house and, stealing her away from his home, sold her to\none of the Kings for ten thousand dinars. Now the girl loved her lord\neven as he loved her, so he left kith and kin and house and home and\nthe gifts of fortune, and set out to search for her and when she was\nfound he devised means to gain access to her\".\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph's\nsister said, \"And Ni'amah ceased not absenting himself from his kith\nand kin and patrial-stead, that he might gain access to his handmaid,\nand he incurred every peril and lavished his life till he gained access\nto her, and her name was Naomi, like this slave-girl. But the interview\nwas short; they had not been long in company when in came the King, who\nhad bought her of her kidnapper, and hastily ordered them to be slain,\nwithout doing justice by his own soul and delaying to enquire into the\nmatter before the command was carried out. Now what sayest thou, O\nCommander of the Faithful, of this King's wrongous conduct?\" Answered\nthe Caliph; \"This was indeed a strange thing: it behoved that King to\npardon when he had the power to punish; and he ought to have regarded\nthree things in their favour. The first was that they loved each other;\nthe second that they were in his house and in his grasp; and the third\nthat it befitteth a King to be deliberate in judging and ordering\nbetween folk, and how much more so in cases where he himself is\nconcerned! Wherefore this King thus did an unkingly deed.\" Then said\nhis sister, \"O my brother, by the King of the heavens and the earth, I\nconjure thee, bid Naomi sing and hearken to that she shall sing!\" So he\nsaid \"O Naomi, sing to me;\" whereupon she played a lively measure and\nsang these couplets,\n\n\"Beguiled us Fortune who her guile displays, * Smiting the heart,\n\n\n     bequeathing thoughts that craze\n\n\nAnd parting lovers whom she made to meet, * Till tears in torrent\n\n\n     either cheek displays:\n\n\nThey were and I was and my life was glad, * While Fortune often\n\n\n     joyed to join our ways;\n\n\nI will pour tear flood, will rain gouts of blood, * Thy loss\n\n\n     bemoaning through the nights and days!\"\n\n\n\nNow when the Commander of the Faithful heard this verse, he was moved\nto great delight and his sister said to him, \"O my brother, whoso\ndecideth in aught against himself, him it behoveth to abide by it and\ndo according to his word; and thou hast judged against thyself by this\njudgement.\" Then said she, \"O Ni'amah, stand up and do thou likewise up\nstand, O Naomi!\" So they stood up and she continued, \"O Prince of True\nBelievers, she who standeth before thee is Naomi the stolen, whom\nAl-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi kidnapped and sent to thee, falsely\npretending in his letter to thee that he had bought her for ten\nthousand gold pieces. And this other who standeth before thee is her\nlord, Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a; and I beseech thee, by the honour of\nthy pious forebears and by Hamzah and Ukayl and Abbas,[FN#20] to pardon\nthem both and overlook their offence and bestow them one on the other,\nthat thou mayst win rich reward in the next world of thy just dealing\nwith them; for they are under thy hand and verily they have eaten of\nthy meat and drunken of thy drink; and behold, I make intercession for\nthem and beg of thee the boon of their blood.\" Thereupon quoth the\nCaliph, \"Thou speakest sooth: I did indeed give judgement as thou\nsayst, and I am not one to pass sentence and to revoke it.\" Then said\nhe, \"O Naomi, say, be this thy lord?\" And she answered \"Even so, O\nCommander of the Faithful.\" Then quoth he, \"No harm shall befall you, I\ngive you each to other;\" adding to the young man, \"O Ni'amah, who told\nthee where she was and taught thee how to get at this place?\" He\nreplied, \"O Commander of the Faithful, hearken to my tale and give ear\nto my history; for, by the virtue of thy pious forefathers, I will hide\nnothing from thee!\" And he told him all that had passed between himself\nand the Persian physician and the old nurse, and how she had brought\nhim into the palace and he had mistaken the doors; whereat the Caliph\nwondered with exceeding wonder and said, \"Fetch me the Persian.\" So\nthey brought him into the presence and he was made one of his chief\nofficers. Moreover the King bestowed on him robes of honour and ordered\nhim a handsome present, saying, \"When a man hath shown like this man\nsuch artful management, it behoveth us to make him one of our chief\nofficers.\" The Caliph also loaded Ni'amah and Naomi with gifts and\nhonours and rewarded the old nurse; and they abode with him seven days\nin joy and content and all delight of life, when Ni'amah craved leave\nto return to Cufa with his slave-girl. The Caliph gave them permission\nand they departed and arrived in due course at Cufa, where Ni'amah was\nrestored to his father and mother, and they abode in all the joys and\njollities of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights\nand the Sunderer of societies. Now when Amjad and As'ad heard from\nBahram this story, they marvelled with extreme marvel and said, \"By\nAllah, this is indeed a rare tale!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad and\nAs'ad heard this story from Bahram the Magian who had become a Moslem,\nthey marvelled with extreme marvel and thus passed that night; and when\nthe next morning dawned, they mounted and riding to the palace, sought\nan audience of the King who granted it and received them with high\nhonour. Now as they were sitting together talking, of a sudden they\nheard the towns folk crying aloud and shouting to one another and\ncalling for help; and the Chamberlain came in to the King and said to\nhim, \"Some King hath encamped before the city, he and his host, with\narms and weapons displayed, and we know not their object and aim.\" The\nKing took counsel with his Wazir Amjad and his brother As'ad; and Amjad\nsaid, \"I will go out to him and learn the cause of his coming.\" So he\ntook horse and, riding forth from the city, repaired to the stranger's\ncamp, where he found the King and with him a mighty many and mounted\nMamelukes. When the guards saw him, they knew him for an envoy from the\nKing of the city; so they took him and brought him before their Sultan.\nThen Amjad kissed the ground before him; but lo! the King was a Queen,\nwho was veiled with a mouth-veil, and she said to Amjad, \"Know that I\nhave no design on this your city and that I am come hither only in\nquest of a beardless slave of mine, whom if I find with you, I will do\nyou no harm, but if I find him not, then shall there befall sore\nonslaught between me and you.\" Asked Amjad, \"O Queen, what like is thy\nslave and what is his story and what may be his name?\" Said she, \"His\nname is As'ad and my name is Marjanah, and this slave came to my town\nin company of Bahram, a Magian, who refused to sell him to me; so I\ntook him by force, but his master fell upon him by night and bore him\naway by stealth and he is of such and such a favour.\" When Amjad heard\nthat, he knew it was indeed his brother As'ad whom she sought and said\nto her, \"O Queen of the age, Alhamdolillah, praised be Allah, who hath\nbrought us relief! Verily this slave whom thou seekest is my brother.\"\nThen he told her their story and all that had befallen them in the land\nof exile, and acquainted her with the cause of their departure from the\nIslands of Ebony, whereat she marvelled and rejoiced to have found\nAs'ad. So she bestowed a dress of honour upon Amjad and he returned\nforthright to the King and told him what had passed, at which they all\nrejoiced and the King went forth with Amjad and As'ad to meet Queen\nMarjanah. When they were admitted to her presence and sat down to\nconverse with her and were thus pleasantly engaged, behold, a dust\ncloud rose and flew and grew, till it walled the view. And after a\nwhile it lifted and showed beneath it an army dight for victory, in\nnumbers like the swelling sea, armed and armoured cap-\u0430-pie who, making\nfor the city, encompassed it around as the ring encompasseth the little\nfinger;[FN#21] and a bared brand was in every hand. When Amjad and\nAs'ad saw this, they exclaimed, \"Verily to Allah we belong and to Him\nwe shall return! What is this mighty host? Doubtless, these are\nenemies, and except we agree with this Queen Marjanah to fight them,\nthey will take the town from us and slay us. There is no resource for\nus but to go out to them and see who they are.\" So Amjad arose and took\nhorse and passed through the city gate to Queen Marjanah's camp; but\nwhen he reached the approaching army he found it to be that of his\ngrand sire, King Ghayur, father of his mother Queen Budur.\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad\nreached the approaching host, he found it to be that of his grandsire,\nLord of the Isles and the Seas and the Seven Castles; and when he went\ninto the presence, he kissed the ground between his hands and delivered\nto him the message. Quoth the King, \"My name is King Ghayur and I come\nwayfaring in quest of my daughter Budur whom fortune hath taken from\nme, for she left me and returned not to me, nor have I heard any\ntidings of her or of her husband Kamar al-Zaman. Have ye any news of\nthem?\" When Amjad heard this, he hung his head towards the ground for a\nwhile in thought till he felt assured that this King was none other\nthan his grandfather, his mother's father; where upon he raised his\nhead and, kissing ground before him, told him that he was the son of\nhis daughter Budur; on hearing which Ghayur threw himself upon him and\nthey both fell a weeping.[FN#22] Then said Ghayur, \"Praised be Allah, O\nmy son, for safety, since I have foregathered with thee,\" and Amjad\ntold him that his daughter Budur was safe and sound, and her husband\nKamar al-Zaman likewise, and acquainted him that both abode in a city\ncalled the City of Ebony. Moreover, he related to him how his father,\nbeing wroth with him and his brother, had commended that both be put to\ndeath, but that his treasurer had taken pity on them and let them go\nwith their lives. Quoth King Ghayur, \"I will go back with thee and thy\nbrother to your father and make your peace with him.\" So Amjad kissed\nthe ground before him in huge delight and the King bestowed a dress of\nhonour upon him, after which he returned, smiling, to the King of the\nCity of the Magians and told him what he had learnt from King Ghayur,\nwhereat he wondered with exceeding wonder. Then he despatched\nguest-gifts of sheep and horses and camels and forage and so forth to\nKing Ghayur, and did the like by Queen Marjanah; and both of them told\nher what chanced; whereupon quoth she, \"I too will accompany you with\nmy troops and will do my endeavour to make this peace.\" Meanwhile\nbehold, there arose another dust cloud and flew and grew till it walled\nthe view and blackened the day's bright hue; and under it they heard\nshouts and cries and neighing of steeds and beheld sword glance and the\nglint of levelled lance. When this new host drew near the city and saw\nthe two other armies, they beat their drums and the King of the Magians\nexclaimed, \"This is indeed naught but a blessed day. Praised be Allah\nwho hath made us of accord with these two armies; and if it be His\nwill, He shall give us peace with yon other as well.\" Then said he to\nAmjad and As'ad, \"Fare forth and fetch us news of these troops, for\nthey are a mighty host, never saw I a mightier.\" So they opened the\ncity gates, which the King had shut for fear of the beleaguering\narmies, and Amjad and As'ad went forth and, coming to the new host,\nfound that it was indeed a mighty many. But as soon as they came to it\nbehold, they knew that it was the army of the King of the Ebony\nIslands, wherein was their father, King Kamar al-Zaman in person. Now\nwhen they looked upon him, they kissed ground and wept; but, when he\nbeheld them, he threw himself upon them weeping, with sore weeping, and\nstrained them to his breast for a full hour. Then he excused himself to\nthem and told them what desolation he had suffered for their loss and\nexile; and they acquainted him with King Ghayur's arrival, whereupon he\nmounted with his chief officers and taking with him his two sons,\nproceeded to that King's camp. As they drew near, one of the Princes\nrode forward and informed King Ghayur of Kamar al-Zaman's coming,\nwhereupon he came out to meet him and they joined company, marvelling\nat these things and how they had chanced to foregather in that place.\nThen the townsfolk made them banquets of all manner of meats and\nsweetmeats and presented to them horses and camels and fodder and other\nguest-gifts and all that the troops needed. And while this was doing,\nbehold, yet another cloud of dust arose and flew till it walled the\nview, whilst earth trembled with the tramp of steed and tabors sounded\nlike stormy winds. After a while, the dust lifted and discovered an\narmy clad in coats of mail and armed cap-\u0430-pie; but all were in black\ngarb, and in their midst rode a very old man whose beard flowed down\nover his breast and he also was clad in black. When the King of the\ncity and the city folk saw this great host, he said to the other Kings,\n\"Praised be Allah by whose omnipotent command ye are met here, all in\none day, and have proved all known one to the other! But what vast and\nvictorious army is this which hemmeth in the whole land like a wall?\"\nThey answered, \"Have no fear of them; we are three Kings, each with a\ngreat army, and if they be enemies, we will join thee in doing battle\nwith them, were they three times as many as they now are.\" Meanwhile,\nup came an envoy from the approaching host, making for the city. So\nthey brought him before Kamar al-Zaman, King Ghayur, Queen Marjanah and\nthe King of the city; and he kissed the ground and said, \"My liege lord\ncometh from Persia-land; for many years ago he lost his son and he is\nseeking him in all countries. If he find him with you, well and good;\nbut if he find him not, there will be war between him and you and he\nwill waste your city.\" Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, \"It shall not come to\nthat; but how is thy master called in Ajam land?\" Answered the envoy,\n\"He is called King Shahriman, lord of the Kh\u0431lidan Islands; and he hath\nlevied these troops in the lands traversed by him, whilst seeking his\nson.\" No-vv when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he cried out with a\ngreat cry and fell down in a fainting fit which lasted a long while;\nand anon coming to himself he wept bitter tears and said to Amjad and\nAs'ad, \"Go ye, O my sons, with the herald, salute your grandfather and\nmy father, King Shahriman and give him glad tidings of me, for he\nmourneth my loss and even to the present time he weareth black raiment\nfor my sake.\" Then he told the other Kings all that had befallen him in\nthe days of his youth, at which they wondered and, going down with him\nfrom the city, repaired to his father, whom he saluted, and they\nembraced and fell to the ground senseless for excess of joy. And when\nthey revived after a while, Kamar al-Zaman acquainted his father with\nall his adventures and the other Kings saluted Shahriman. Then, after\nhaving married Marjanah to As'ad, they sent her back to her kingdom,\ncharging her not to cease correspondence with them; so she took leave\nand went her way. Moreover they married Amjad to Bostan, Bahram's\ndaughter, and they all set out for the City of Ebony. And when they\narrived there, Kamar al-Zaman went in to his father-in-law, King\nArmanus, and told him all that had befallen him and how he had found\nhis sons; whereat Armanus rejoiced and gave him joy of his safe return.\nThen King Ghayur went in to his daughter, Queen Budur,[FN#23] and\nsaluted her and quenched his longing for her company, and they all\nabode a full month's space in the City of Ebony; after which the King\nand his daughter returned to their own country.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say,\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Ghayur set\nout with his daughter and his host for his own land, and they took with\nthem Amjad and returned home by easy marches. And when Ghayur was\nsettled again in his kingdom, he made his grandson King in his stead;\nand as to Kamar al-Zaman he also made As'ad king in his room over the\ncapital of the Ebony Islands, with the consent of his grandfather, King\nArmanus and set out himself, with his father, King Shahriman, till the\ntwo made the Islands of Kh\u0431lidan. Then the lieges decorated the city in\ntheir honour and they ceased not to beat the drums for glad tidings a\nwhole month; nor did Kamar al-Zaman leave to govern in his father's\nplace, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the\nSunderer of societies; and Allah knoweth all things! Quoth King\nShahryar, \"O Shahrazad, this is indeed a most wonderful tale!\" And she\nanswered, \"O King, it is not more wonderful than that of\n\n\n\nALA AL-DIN ABU AL-SHAMAT.[FN#24]\n\n\"What is that?\" asked he, and she said, It hath reached me that there\nlived, in times of yore and years and ages long gone before, a merchant\nof Cairo[FN#25] named Shams al-Din, who was of the best and truest\nspoken of the traders of the city; and he had eunuchs and servants and\nnegro-slaves and handmaids and Mame lukes and great store of money.\nMoreover, he was Consul[FN#26] of the Merchants of Cairo and owned a\nwife, whom he loved and who loved him; except that he had lived with\nher forty years, yet had not been blessed with a son or even a\ndaughter. One day, as he sat in his shop, he noted that the merchants,\neach and every, had a son or two sons or more sitting in their shops\nlike their sires. Now the day being Friday, he entered the Hammam-bath\nand made the total-ablution: after which he came out and took the\nbarber's glass and looked in it, saying, \"I testify that there is no\ngod but the God and I testify that Mohammed is the Messenger of God!\"\nThen he considered his beard and, seeing that the white hairs in it\ncovered the black, bethought himself that hoariness is the harbinger of\ndeath. Now his wife knew the time of his coming home and had washed and\nmade herself ready for him, so when he came in to her, she said, \"Good\nevening,\" but he replied \"I see no good.\" Then she called to the\nhandmaid, \"Spread the supper-tray;\" and when this was done quoth she to\nher husband \"Sup, O my lord.\" Quoth he, \"I will eat nothing,\" and\npushing the tray away with his foot, turned his back upon her. She\nasked, \"Why dost thou thus? and what hath vexed thee?\"; and he\nanswered, \"Thou art the cause of my vexation.\"\u2014And Shahrazed perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shams al-Din said\nto his wife, \"Thou art the cause of my vexation.\" She asked,\n\"Wherefore?\" and he answered, \"When I opened my shop this morning, I\nsaw that each and every of the merchants had with him a son or two sons\nor more, sitting in their shops like their fathers; and I said to\nmyself:\u2014He who took thy sire will not spare thee. Now the night I first\nvisited thee,[FN#27] thou madest me swear that I would never take a\nsecond wife over thee nor a concubine, Abyssinian or Greek or handmaid\nof other race; nor would lie a single night away from thee: and behold,\nthou art barren, and having thee is like boring into the rock.\"\nRejoined she, \"Allah is my witness that the fault lies with thee, for\nthat thy seed is thin.\" He asked, \"And what showeth the man whose semen\nis thin?\" And she answered, \"He cannot get women with child, nor beget\nchildren.\" Quoth he, \"What thickeneth the seed? tell me and I will buy\nit: haply, it will thicken mine.\" Quoth she, \"Enquire for it of the\ndruggists.\" So he slept with her that night and arose on the morrow,\nrepenting of having spoken angrily to her; and she also regretted her\ncross words. Then he went to the market and, finding a druggist,\nsaluted him; and when his salutation was returned said to him, \"Say,\nhast thou with thee a seed-thickener?\" He replied, \"I had it, but am\nout of it: enquire thou of my neighbour.\" Then Shams al-Din made the\nround till he had asked every one, but they all laughed at him, and\npresently he returned to his shop and sat down, sore troubled. Now\nthere was in the bazar a man who was Deputy Syndic of the brokers and\nwas given to the use of opium and electuary and green hashish.[FN#28]\nHe was called Shaykh Mohammed Samsam and being poor he used to wish\nShams al-Din good morrow every day. So he came to him according to his\ncustom and saluted him. The merchant returned his salute, but in\nill-temper, and the other, seeing him vexed, said, \"O my lord, what\nhath crossed thee?\" Thereupon Shams al-Din told him all that occurred\nbetween himself and his wife, adding, \"These forty years have I been\nmarried to her yet hath she borne me neither son nor daughter; and they\nsay:\u2014The cause of thy failure to get her with child is the thinness of\nthy seed; so I have been seeking a some thing wherewith to thicken my\nsemen but found it not.\" Quoth Shaykh Mohammed, \"O my lord, I have a\nseed-thickener, but what wilt thou say to him who causeth thy wife to\nconceive by thee after these forty years have passed?\" Answered the\nmerchant, \"If thou do this, I will work thy weal\u2014and reward thee.\"\n\"Then give me a dinar,\" rejoined the broker, and Shams al-Din said,\n\"Take these two dinars.\" He took them and said, \"Give me also yonder\nbig bowl of porcelain.\" So he gave it to him and the broker betook\nhimself to a hashish-seller, of whom he bought two ounces of\nconcentrated Roumi opium and equal-parts of Chinese cubebs, cinnamon,\ncloves, cardamoms, ginger, white pepper and mountain skink[FN#29]; and,\npounding them all together, boiled them in sweet olive-oil; after which\nhe added three ounces of male frankincense in fragments and a cupful of\ncoriander-seed; and, macerating the whole, made it into an electuary\nwith Roumi bee honey. Then he put the confection in the bowl and\ncarried it to the merchant, to whom he delivered it, saying, \"Here is\nthe seed-thickener, and the manner of using it is this. Take of my\nelectuary with a spoon after supping, and wash it down with a sherbet\nmade of rose conserve; but first sup off mutton and house pigeon\nplentifully seasoned and hotly spiced.\" So the merchant bought all this\nand sent the meat and pigeons to his wife, saying, \"Dress them deftly\nand lay up the seed-thickener until I want it and call for it.\" She did\nhis bidding and, when she served up the meats, he ate the evening meal,\nafter which he called for the bowl and ate of the electuary. It pleased\nhim well, so he ate the rest and knew his wife. That very night she\nconceived by him and, after three months, her courses ceased, no blood\ncame from her and she knew that she was with child. When the days of\nher pregnancy were accomplished, the pangs of labour took her and they\nraised loud lullilooings and cries of joy. The midwife delivered her\nwith difficulty, by pronouncing over the boy at his birth the names of\nMohammed and Ali, and said, \"Allah is Most Great!\"; and she called in\nhis ear the call to prayer. Then she wrapped him up and passed him to\nhis mother, who took him and gave him the breast; and he sucked and was\nfull and slept. The midwife abode with them three days, till they had\nmade the mothering-cakes of sugared bread and sweetmeats; and they\ndistributed them on the seventh day. Then they sprinkled salt against\nthe evil eye and the merchant, going in to his wife, gave her joy of\nher safe delivery, and said, \"Where is Allah's deposit?\" So they\nbrought him a babe of surpassing beauty, the handiwork of the Orderer\nwho is ever present and, though he was but seven days old, those who\nsaw him would have deemed him a yearling child. So the merchant looked\non his face and, seeing it like a shining full moon, with moles on\neither cheek, said he to his wife, \"What hast thou named him?\" Answered\nshe, \"If it were a girl I had named her; but this is a boy, so none\nshall name him but thou.\" Now the people of that time used to name\ntheir children by omens; and, whilst the merchant and his wife were\ntaking counsel of the name, behold, one said to his friend, \"Ho my\nlord, Ala al-Din!\" So the merchant said, \"We will call him Ala al-Din\nAb\u044a al-Sh\u0431m\u0431t.\"[FN#30] Then he committed the child to the nurse, and he\ndrank milk two years, after which they weaned him and he grew up and\nthrove and walked upon the floor. When he came to seven years old, they\nput him in a chamber under a trap-door, for fear of the evil eye, and\nhis father said, \"He shall not come out, till his beard grow.\" So he\ngave him in charge to a handmaid and a blackamoor; the girl dressed him\nhis meals and the slave carried them to him. Then his father\ncircumcised him and made him a great feast; after which he brought him\na doctor of the law, who taught him to write and read and repeat the\nKoran, and other arts and sciences, till he became a good scholar and\nan accomplished. One day it so came to pass that the slave, after\nbringing him the tray of food went away and left the trap door open: so\nAla al-Din came forth from the vault and went in to his mother, with\nwhom was a company of women of rank. As they sat talking, behold, in\ncame upon them the youth as he were a white slave drunken[FN#31] for\nthe excess of his beauty; and when they saw him, they veiled their\nfaces and said to his mother, \"Allah requite thee, O such an one! How\ncanst thou let this strange Mameluke in upon us? Knowest thou not that\nmodesty is a point of the Faith?\" She replied, \"Pronounce Allah's\nname[FN#32] and cry Bismillah! this is my son, the fruit of my vitals\nand the heir of Consul Shams al-Din, the child of the nurse and the\ncollar and the crust and the crumb.\"[FN#33] Quoth they, \"Never in our\ndays knew we that thou hadst a son\"; and quoth she, \"Verily his father\nfeared for him the evil eye and reared him in an under-ground\nchamber;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din's\nmother said to her lady-friends, \"Verily his father feared for him the\nevil eye and reared him in an underground chamber; and haply the slave\nforgot to shut the door and he fared forth; but we did not mean that he\nshould come out, before his beard was grown.\" The women gave her joy of\nhim, and the youth went out from them into the court yard where he\nseated himself in the open sitting room; and behold, in came the slaves\nwith his father's she mule, and he said to them, \"Whence cometh this\nmule?\" Quoth they, \"We escorted thy father when riding her to the shop,\nand we have brought her back.\" He asked, \"What may be my father's\ntrade?\"; and they answered, \"Thy father is Consul of the merchants in\nthe land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs.\" Then he went in\nto his mother and said to her, \"O my mother, what is my father's\ntrade?\" Said she, \"O my son, thy sire is a merchant and Consul of the\nmerchants in the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. His\nslaves consult him not in selling aught whose price is less than one\nthousand gold pieces, but merchandise worth him an hundred and less\nthey sell at their own discretion; nor cloth any merchandise whatever,\nlittle or much, leave the country without passing through his hands and\nhe disposeth of it as he pleaseth; nor is a bale packed and sent abroad\namongst folk but what is under his disposal. And \"Almighty Allah, O my\nson, hath given thy father monies past compt.\" He rejoined, \"O my\nmother, praised be Allah, that I am son of the Sultan of the Sons of\nthe Arabs and that my father is Consul of the merchants! But why, O my\nmother, do ye put me in the underground chamber and leave me prisoner\nthere?\" Quoth she, \"O my son, we imprisoned thee not save for fear of\nfolks' eyes: 'the evil eye is a truth,'[FN#34] and most of those in\ntheir long homes are its victims.\" Quoth he, \"O my mother, and where is\na refuge-place against Fate? Verily care never made Destiny forbear;\nnor is there flight from what is written for every wight. He who took\nmy grandfather will not spare myself nor my father; for, though he live\nto day he shall not live tomorrow. And when my father dieth and I come\nforth and say, 'I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams al-Din the merchant',\nnone of the people will believe me, but men of years and standing will\nsay, 'In our lives never saw we a son or a daughter of Shams al-Din.'\nThen the public Treasury will come down and take my father's estate,\nand Allah have mercy on him who said, 'The noble dieth and his wealth\npasseth away, and the meanest of men take his women.' Therefore, O my\nmother, speak thou to my father, that he carry me with him to the bazar\nand open for me a shop; so may I sit there with my merchandise, and\nteach me to buy and sell and take and give.\" Answered his mother, \"O my\nson, as soon as thy sire returneth I will tell him this.\" So when the\nmerchant came home, he found his son Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat sitting\nwith his mother and said to her, \"Why hast thou brought him forth of\nthe underground chamber?\" She replied, \"O son of my uncle, it was not I\nthat brought him out; but the servants forgot to shut the door and left\nit open; so, as I sat with a company of women of rank, behold, he came\nforth and walked in to me.\" Then she went on to repeat to him his son's\nwords; so he said, \"O my son, to-morrow, Inshallah! I will take thee\nwith me to the bazar; but, my boy, sitting in markets and shops\ndemandeth good manners and courteous carriage in all conditions.\" Ala\nal-Din passed the night rejoicing in his father's promise and, when the\nmorrow came, the merchant carried him to the Hammam and clad him in a\nsuit worth a mint of money. As soon as they had broken their fast and\ndrunk their sherbets, Shams al-Din mounted his she mule and putting his\nson upon another, rode to the market, followed by his boy. But when the\nmarket folk saw their Consul making towards them, foregoing a youth as\nhe were a slice of the full moon on the fourteenth night, they said,\none to other, \"See thou yonder boy behind the Consul of the merchants;\nverily, we thought well of him, but he is, like the leek, gray of head\nand green at heart.\"[FN#35] And Shaykh Mohammed Samsam, Deputy Syndic\nof the market, the man before mentioned, said to the dealers, \"O\nmerchants, we will not keep the like of him for our Shaykh; no, never!\"\nNow it was the custom anent the Consul when he came from his house of a\nmorning and sat down in his shop, for the Deputy Syndic of the market\nto go and recite to him and to all the merchants assembled around him\nthe F\u0431tihah or opening chapter of the Koran,[FN#36] after which they\naccosted him one by one and wished him good morrow and went away, each\nto his business place. But when Shams al-Din seated himself in his shop\nthat day as usual, the traders came not to him as accustomed; so he\ncalled the Deputy and said to him, \"Why come not the merchants together\nas usual?\" Answered Mohammed Samsam, \"I know not how to tell thee these\ntroubles, for they have agreed to depose thee from the Shaykh ship of\nthe market and to recite the Fatihah to thee no more.\" Asked Shams\nal-Din, \"What may be their reason?\"; and asked the Deputy, \"What boy is\nthis that sitteth by thy side and thou a man of years and chief of the\nmerchants? Is this lad a Mameluke or akin to thy wife? Verily, I think\nthou lovest him and inclines lewdly to the boy.\" Thereupon the Consul\ncried out at him, saying, \"Silence, Allah curse thee, genus and\nspecies! This is my son.\" Rejoined the Deputy, \"Never in our born days\nhave we seen thee with a son,\" and Shams al-Din answered, \"When thou\ngavest me the seed-thickener, my wife conceived and bare this youth;\nbut I reared him in a souterrain for fear of the evil eye, nor was it\nmy purpose that he should come forth, till he could take his beard in\nhis hand.[FN#37] However, his mother would not agree to this, and he on\nhis part begged I would stock him a shop and teach him to sell and\nbuy.\" So the Deputy Syndic returned to the other traders and acquainted\nthem with the truth of the case, whereupon they all arose to accompany\nhim; and, going in a body to Shams al-Din's shop, stood before him and\nrecited the \"Opener\" of the Koran; after which they gave him joy of his\nson and said to him, \"The Lord prosper root and branch! But even the\npoorest of us, when son or daughter is born to him, needs must cook a\npan-full of custard[FN#38] and bid his friends and kith and kin; yet\nhast thou not done this.\" Quoth he, \"This I owe you; be our meeting in\nthe garden.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-second Night,\n\nHer sister Dunyazad said to her, \"Pray continue thy story for us, as\nthou be awake and not inclined to sleep.\" Quoth she:\u2014With pleasure and\ngoodwill: it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Consul of the\nmerchants promised them a banquet and said \"Be our meeting in the\ngarden.\" So when morning dawned he despatched the carpet layer to the\nsaloon of the garden-pavilion and bade him furnish the two. Moreover,\nhe sent thither all that was needful for cooking, such as sheep and\nclarified butter and so forth, according to the requirements of the\ncase; and spread two tables, one in the pavilion and another in the\nsaloon. Then Shams al-Din and his boy girded themselves, and he said to\nAla al-Din \"O my son, whenas a greybeard entereth, I will meet him and\nseat him at the table in the pavilion; and do thou, in like manner,\nreceive the beardless youths and seat them at the table in the saloon.\"\nHe asked, \"O my father, why dost thou spread two tables, one for men\nand another for youths?\"; and he answered, \"O my son, the beardless is\nashamed to eat with the bearded.\" And his son thought this his answer\nfull and sufficient. So when the merchants arrived, Shams al-Din\nreceived the men and seated them in the pavilion, whilst Ala al-Din\nreceived the youths and seated them in the saloon. Then the food was\nset on and the guests ate and drank and made merry and sat over their\nwine, whilst the attendants perfumed them with the smoke of scented\nwoods, and the elders fell to conversing of matters of science and\ntraditions of the Prophet. Now there was amongst them a merchant called\nMahm\u044ad of Balkh, a professing Moslem but at heart a Magian, a man of\nlewd and mischievous life who loved boys. And when he saw Ala al-Din\nfrom whose father he used to buy stuffs and merchandise, one sight of\nhis face sent him a thousand sighs and Satan dangled the jewel before\nhis eyes, so that he was taken with love-longing and desire and\naffection and his heart was filled with mad passion for him. Presently\nhe arose and made for the youths, who stood up to receive him; and at\nthis moment Ala Al-Din being taken with an urgent call of Nature,\nwithdrew to make water; whereupon Mahmud turned to the other youths and\nsaid to them, \"If ye will incline Ala al-Din's mind to journeying with\nme, I will give each of you a dress worth a power of money.\" Then he\nreturned from them to the men's party; and, as the youths were sitting,\nAla al-Din suddenly came back, when all rose to receive him and seated\nhim in the place of highest honour. Presently, one of them said to his\nneighbour, \"O my lord Hasan, tell me whence came to thee the\ncapital\u2014whereon thou trades\".\" He replied, \"When I grew up and came to\nman's estate, I said to my sire, 'O my father, give me merchandise.'\nQuoth he, 'O my son, I have none by me; but go thou to some merchant\nand take of him money and traffic with it; and so learn to buy and\nsell, give and take.' So I went to one of the traders and borrowed of\nhim a thousand dinars, wherewith I bought stuffs and carrying them to\nDamascus, sold them there at a profit of two for one. Then I bought\nSyrian stuffs and carrying them to Aleppo, made a similar gain of them;\nafter which I bought stuffs of Aleppo and repaired with them to\nBaghdad, where I sold them with like result, two for one; nor did I\ncease trading upon my capital till I was worth nigh ten thousand\nducats.\" Then each of the others told his friend some such tale, till\nit came to Ala al-Din's turn to speak, when they said to him, \"And\nthou, O my lord Ala al-Din?\" Quoth he, \"I was brought up in a chamber\nunderground and came forth from it only this week; and I do but go to\nthe shop and return home from the shop.\" They remarked, \"Thou art used\nto wone at home and wottest not the joys of travel, for travel is for\nmen only.\" He replied, \"I reck not of voyaging and wayfaring cloth not\ntempt me.\" Whereupon quoth one to the other, \"This one is like the\nfish: when he leaveth the water he dieth.\" Then they said to him, \"O\nAla al Din, the glory of the sons of the merchants is not but in travel\nfor the sake of gain.\" Their talk angered him; so he left them\nweeping-eyed and heavy-hearted and mounting his mule returned home. Now\nhis mother saw him in tears and in bad temper and asked him, \"What hath\nmade thee weep, O my son?\"; and he answered, \"Of a truth, all the sons\nof the merchants put me to shame and said, 'Naught is more glorious for\na merchant's son than travel for gain and to get him gold.'\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din said\nto his mother, \"Of a truth all the sons of the merchants put me to\nshame and said, 'Naught is more honourable for a merchant's son than\ntravel for gain.'\" \"O my son, hast thou a mind to travel?\" \"Even so!\"\n\"And whither wilt thou go?\" \"To the city of Baghdad; for there folk\nmake double the cost price on their goods.\" \"O my son, thy father is a\nvery rich man and, if he provide thee not with merchandise, I will\nsupply it out of my own monies.\" \"The best favour is that which is\nsoonest bestowed; if this kindness is to be, now is the time.\" So she\ncalled the slaves and sent them for cloth packers, then, opening a\nstore house, brought out ten loads of stuffs, which they made up into\nbales for him. Such was his case; but as regards his father, Shams\nal-Din, he looked about and failed to find Ala al-Din in the garden and\nenquiring after him, was told that he had mounted mule and gone home;\nso he too mounted and followed him. Now when he entered the house, he\nsaw the bales ready bound and asked what they were; whereupon his wife\ntold him what had chanced between Ala al-Din and the sons of the\nmerchants; and he cried, \"O my son, Allah's malison on travel and\nstranger-hood! Verily Allah's Apostle (whom the Lord bless and\npreserve!) hath said, 'It is of a man's happy fortune that he eat his\ndaily bread in his own land', and it was said of the ancients, 'Leave\ntravel, though but for a mile.'\" Then quoth he to his son, \"Say, art\nthou indeed resolved to travel and wilt thou not turn back from it?\"\nQuoth the other, \"There is no help for it but that I journey to Baghdad\nwith merchandise, else will I doff clothes and don dervish gear and\nfare a-wandering over the world.\" Shams al-Din rejoined, \"I am no\npenniless pauper but have great plenty of wealth;\" then he showed him\nall he owned of monies and stuffs and stock-in-trade and observed,\n\"With me are stuffs and merchandise befitting every country in the\nworld.\" Then he showed him among the rest, forty bales ready bound,\nwith the price, a thousand dinars, written on each, and said, \"O my son\ntake these forty loads, together with the ten which thy mother gave\nthee, and set out under the safeguard of Almighty Allah. But, O my\nchild, I fear for thee a certain wood in thy way, called the Lion's\nCopse,[FN#39] and a valley highs the Vale of Dogs, for there lives are\nlost without mercy.\" He said, \"How so, O my father?\"; and he replied,\n\"Because of a Badawi bandit named Ajlan.\" Quoth Ala al-Din, \"Such is\nAllah's luck; if any share of it be mine, no harm shall hap to me.\"\nThen they rode to the cattle bazar, where behold, a cameleer[FN#40]\nalighted from his she mule and kissing the Consul's hand, said to him,\n\"O my lord, it is long, by Allah, since thou hast employed us in the\nway of business.\" He replied, \"Every time hath its fortune and its\nmen,[FN#41] and Allah have truth on him who said,\n\n'And the old man crept o'er the worldly ways * So bowed, his\n\n\n     beard o'er his knees down flow'th:\n\n\nQuoth I, 'What gars thee so doubled go?' * Quoth he (as to me his\n\n\n     hands he show'th)\n\n\n'My youth is lost, in the dust it lieth; * And see, I bend me to\n\n\n     find my youth.'\"[FN#42]\n\n\n\nNow when he had ended his verses, he said, \"O chief of the caravan, it\nis not I who am minded to travel, but this my son.\" Quoth the cameleer,\n\"Allah save him for thee.\" Then the Consul made a contract between Ala\nal-Din and the man, appointing that the youth should be to him as a\nson, and gave him into his charge, saying, \"Take these hundred gold\npieces for thy people.\" More-over he bought his son threescore mules\nand a lamp and a tomb-covering for the Sayyid Abd al-Kadir of\nG\u043dl\u0431n[FN#43] and said to him, \"O my son, while I am absent, this is thy\nsire in my stead: whatsoever he biddeth thee, do thou obey him.\" So\nsaying, he returned home with the mules and servants and that night\nthey made a Khitmah or perfection of the Koran and held a festival\u2014in\nhonour of the Shaykh Abd al-Kadir al-Jil\u0431ni. And when the morrow\ndawned, the Consul gave his son ten thousand dinars, saying, \"O my son,\nwhen thou comest to Baghdad, if thou find stuffs easy of sale, sell\nthem; but if they be dull, spend of these dinars.\" Then they loaded the\nmules and, taking leave of one another, all the wayfarers setting out\non their journey, marched forth from the city. Now Mahmud of Balkh had\nmade ready his own venture for Baghdad and had moved his bales and set\nup his tents without the walls, saying to himself, \"Thou shalt not\nenjoy this youth but in the desert, where there is neither spy nor\nmarplot to trouble thee.\" It chanced that he had in hand a thousand\ndinars which he owed to the youth's father, the balance of a\nbusiness-transaction between them; so he went and bade farewell to the\nConsul, who charged him, \"Give the thousand dinars to my son Ala\nal-Din;\" and commended the lad to his care, saying, \"He is as it were\nthy son.\" Accordingly, Ala al-Din joined company with Mahmud of\nBalkh.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din joined\ncompany with Mahmud of Balkh who, before beginning the march, charged\nthe youth's cook to dress nothing for him, but himself provided him and\nhis company with meat and drink. Now he had four houses, one in Cairo,\nanother in Damascus, a third in Aleppo and a fourth in Baghdad. So they\nset out and ceased not journeying over waste and wold till they drew\nnear Damascus when Mahmud sent his slave to Ala al-Din, whom he found\nsitting and reading. He went up to him and kissed his hands, and Ala\nal-Din having asked him what he wanted, he answered, \"My master\nsaluteth thee and craveth thy company to a banquet at his place.\" Quoth\nthe youth, \"Not till I consult my father Kamal al-Din, the captain of\nthe caravan.\" So he asked advice of the Makaddam,[FN#44] who said, \"Do\nnot go.\" Then they left Damascus and journeyed on till they came to\nAleppo, where Mahmud made a second entertainment and sent to invite Ala\nal-Din; but he consulted the Chief Cameleer who again forbade him. Then\nthey marched from Aleppo and fared on, till there remained between them\nand Baghdad only a single stage. Here Mahmud prepared a third feast and\nsent to bid Ala al-Din to it: Kamal-al-Din once more forbade his\naccepting it, but he said, \"I must needs go.\" So he rose and, slinging\na sword over his shoulder, under his clothes, repaired to the tent of\nMahmud of Balkh, who came to meet him and saluted him. Then he set\nbefore him a sumptuous repast and they ate and drank and washed hands.\nAt last Mahmud bent towards Ala al-Din to snatch a kiss from him, but\nthe youth received the kiss on the palm of his hand and said to him,\n\"What wouldest thou be at?\" Quoth Mahmud, \"In very sooth I brought thee\nhither that I might take my pleasure with thee in this jousting ground,\nand we will comment upon the words of him who saith,\n\n'Say, canst not come to us one momentling, * Like milk of ewekin\n\n\n     or aught glistening\n\n\nAnd eat what liketh thee of dainty cake, * And take thy due of\n\n\n     fee in silverling,\n\n\nAnd bear whatso thou wilt, without mislike, * Of spanling,\n\n\n     fistling or a span long thing?'\"\n\n\n\nThen Mahmud of Balkh would have laid hands on Ala al-Din to ravish him;\nbut he rose and baring his brand, said to him, \"Shame on thy gray\nhairs! Hast thou no fear of Allah, and He of exceeding awe?[FN#45] May\nHe have mercy on him who saith,\n\n'Preserve thy hoary hairs from soil and stain, * For whitest colours\nare the easiest stained!'\"\n\nAnd when he ended his verses he said to Mahmud of Balkh, \"Verily this\nmerchandise[FN#46] is a trust from Allah and may not be sold. If I sold\nthis property to other than thee for gold, I would sell it to thee for\nsilver; but by Allah, O filthy villain, I will never again company with\nthee; no, never!\" Then he returned to Kamal-Al-Din the guide and said\nto him, \"Yonder man is a lewd fellow, and I will no longer consort with\nhim nor suffer his company by the way.\" He replied, \"O my son, did I\nnot say to thee, 'Go not near him'? But if we part company with him, I\nfear destruction for ourselves; so let us still make one caravan.\" But\nAla al-Din cried, \"It may not be that I ever again travel with him.\" So\nhe loaded his beasts and journeyed onwards, he and his company, till\nthey came to a valley, where Ala al-Din would have halted, but the\nCameleer said to him, \"Do not halt here; rather let us fare forwards\nand press our pace, so haply we make Baghdad before the gates are\nclosed, for they open and shut them with the sun, in fear lest the\nRejectors[FN#47] should take the city and throw the books of religious\nlearning into the Tigris.\" But Ala al Din replied to him, \"O my father,\nI came not forth from home with this merchandise, or travelled hither\nfor the sake of traffic, but to divert myself with the sight of foreign\nlands and folks;\" and he rejoined, \"O my son, we fear for thee and for\nthy goods from the wild Arabs.\" Whereupon the youth answered \"Harkye,\nfellow, art thou master or man? I will not enter Baghdad till the\nmorning, that the sons of the city may see my merchandise and know me.\"\n\"Do as thou wilt,\" said the other \"I have given thee the wisest advice,\nbut thou art the best judge of thine own case.\" Then Ala al-Din bade\nthem unload the mule; and pitch the tent; so they did his bidding and\nabode there till the middle of the night, when he went out to obey a\ncall of nature and suddenly saw something gleaming afar off. So he said\nto Kamal-al-Din, \"O captain, what is yonder glittering?\" The Cameleer\nsat up and, considering it straitly, knew it for the glint of spear\nheads and the steel of Badawi weapons and swords. And lo and behold!\nthis was a troop of wild Arabs under a chief called Ajl\u0431n Ab\u044a N\u0431ib,\nShaykh of the Arabs, and when they neared the camp and saw the bales\nand baggage, they said one to another, \"O night of loot!\" Now when\nKamal-al-Din heard these their words he cried, \"Avaunt, O vilest of\nArabs!\" But Abu Naib so smote him with his throw spear in the breast,\nthat the point came out gleaming from his back, and he fell down dead\nat the tent door. Then cried the water carrier,[FN#48] \"Avaunt, O\nfoulest of Arabs!\" and one of them smote him with a sword upon the\nshoulder, that it issued shining from the tendons of the throat, and he\nalso fell down dead. (And all this while Ala Al-Din stood looking on.)\nThen the Badawin surrounded and charged the caravan from every side and\nslew all Ala al-Din's company without sparing a man: after which they\nloaded the mules with the spoil and made off. Quoth Ala al-Din to\nhimself, \"Nothing will slay thee save thy mule and thy dress!\"; so he\narose and put off his gown and threw it over the back of a mule,\nremaining in his shirt and bag trousers only; after which he looked\ntowards the tent door and, seeing there a pool of gore flowing from the\nslaughtered, wallowed in it with his remaining clothes till he was as a\nslain man drowned in his own blood. Thus it fared with him; but as\nregards the Shaykh of the wild Arabs, Ajlan, he said to his banditti,\n\"O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for Baghdad or from Baghdad\nfor Egypt?\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Badawi\nasked his banditti, \"O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for\nBaghdad or from Baghdad for Egypt?\"; they answered, \"'Twas bound from\nEgypt for Baghdad;\" and he said, \"Return ye to the slain, for methinks\nthe owner of this caravan is not dead.\" So they turned back to the\nslain and fell to prodding and slashing them with lance and sword till\nthey came to Ala al-Din, who had thrown himself down among the corpses.\nAnd when they came to him, quoth they, \"Thou dost but feign thyself\ndead, but we will make an end of thee,\" and one of the Badawin levelled\nhis javelin and would have plunged it into his breast when he cried\nout, \"Save me, O my lord Abd al-Kadir, O Saint of Gilan!\" and behold,\nhe saw a hand turn the lance away from his breast to that of\nKamal-al-Din the cameleer, so that it pierced him and spared\nhimself.[FN#49] Then the Arabs made off; and, when Ala al-Din saw that\nthe birds were flown with their god send, he sat up and finding no one,\nrose and set off running; but, behold! Abu N\u0431ib the Badawi looked back\nand said to his troop, \"I see somewhat moving afar off, O Arabs!\" So\none of the bandits turned back and, spying Ala al-Din running, called\nout to him, saying, \"Flight shall not forward thee and we after thee;\"\nand he smote his mare with his heel and she hastened after him. Then\nAla al-Din seeing before him a watering tank and a cistern beside it,\nclimbed up into a niche in the cistern and, stretching himself at full\nlength, feigned to be asleep and said, \"O gracious Protector, cover me\nwith the veil of Thy protection which may not be torn away!\" And lo!\nthe Badawi came up to the cistern and, standing in his stirrup irons\nput out his hand to lay hold of Ala al-Din; but he said, \"O my lady\nNaf\u043dsah[FN#50]! Now is thy time!\" And behold, a scorpion stung the\nBadawi in the palm and he cried out, saying, \"Help, O Arabs! I am\nstung;\" and he alighted from his mare's back. So his comrades came up\nto him and mounted him again, asking, \"What hath befallen thee?\"\nwhereto he answered, \"A young scorpion[FN#51] stung me.\" So they\ndeparted, with the caravan. Such was their case; but as regards Ala\nal-Din, he tarried in the niche, and Mahmud of Balkh bade load his\nbeasts and fared forwards till he came to the Lion's Copse where he\nfound Ala al-Din's attendants all lying slain. At this he rejoiced and\nwent on till he reached the cistern and the reservoir. Now his mule was\nathirst and turned aside to drink, but she saw Ala al-Din's shadow in\nthe water and shied and started; whereupon Mahmud raised his eyes and,\nseeing Ala al-Din lying in the niche, stripped to his shirt and bag\ntrousers, said to him, \"What man this deed to thee hath dight and left\nthee in this evil plight?\" Answered Ala alDin, \"The Arabs,\" and Mahmud\nsaid, \"O my son, the mules and the baggage were thy ransom; so do thou\ncomfort thyself with his saying who said,\n\n'If thereby man can save his head from death, * His good is worth him\nbut a slice of nail!'\n\nBut now, O my son, come down and fear no hurt.\" Thereupon he descended\nfrom the cistern-niche and Mahmud mounted him on a mule, and they fared\non till they reached Baghdad, where he brought him to his own house and\ncarried him to the bath, saying to him, \"The goods and money were the\nransom of thy life, O my son; but, if thou wilt hearken to me, I will\ngive thee the worth of that thou hast lost, twice told.\" When he came\nout of the bath, Mahmud carried him into a saloon decorated with gold\nwith four raised floors, and bade them bring a tray with all manner of\nmeats. So they ate and drank and Mahmud bent towards Ala al-Din to\nsnatch a kiss from him; but he received it upon the palm of his hand\nand said, \"What, dost thou persist in thy evil designs upon me? Did I\nnot tell thee that, were I wont to sell this merchandise to other than\nthee for gold, I would sell it thee for silver?\" Quoth Mahmud, \"I will\ngive thee neither merchandise nor mule nor clothes save at this price;\nfor I am gone mad for love of thee, and bless him who said,\n\n'Told us, ascribing to his Shaykhs, our Shaykh * Ab\u044a Bil\u0431l, these\n\n\n     words they wont to utter:[FN#52]\n\n\nUnhealed the lover wones of love desire, * By kiss and clip, his\n\n\n     only cure's to futter!'\"\n\n\n\nAla al-Din replied, \"Of a truth this may never be, take back thy dress\nand thy mule and open the door that I may go out.\" So he opened the\ndoor, and Ala al-Din fared forth and walked on, with the dogs barking\nat his heels, and he went forwards through the dark when behold, he saw\nthe door of a mosque standing open and, entering the vestibule, there\ntook shelter and concealment; and suddenly a light approached him and\non examining it he saw that it came from a pair of lanthorns borne by\ntwo slaves before two merchants. Now one was an old man of comely face\nand the other a youth; and he heard the younger say to the elder, \"O my\nuncle,, I conjure thee by Allah, give me back my cousin!\" The old man\nreplied, \"Did I not forbid thee, many a time, when the oath of divorce\nwas always in thy mouth, as it were Holy Writ?\" Then he turned to his\nright and, seeing Ala al-Din as he were a slice of the full moon, said\nto him, \"Peace be with thee! who art thou, O my son?\" Quoth he,\nreturning the salutation of peace, \"I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams\nal-Din, Consul of the merchants for Egypt. I besought my father for\nmerchandise; so he packed me fifty loads of stuffs and goods.\"\u2014And\nShahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din\ncontinued, \"So he packed me fifty loads of goods and gave me ten\nthousand dinars, wherewith I set out for Baghdad; but when I reached\nthe Lion's Copse, the wild Arabs came out against me and took all my\ngoods and monies. So I entered the city knowing not where to pass the\nnight and, seeing this place, I took shelter here.\" Quoth the old man,\n\"O my son, what sayest thou to my giving thee a thousand dinars and a\nsuit of clothes and a mule worth other two thousand?\" Ala al-Din asked,\n\"To what end wilt thou give me these things, O my uncle?\" and the other\nanswered, 'This young man who accompanieth me is the son of my brother\nand an only son; and I have a daughter called Zubaydah[FN#53] the\nlutist, an only child who is a model of beauty and loveliness, so I\nmarried her to him. Now he loveth her, but she loatheth him; and when\nhe chanced to take an oath of triple divorcement and broke it,\nforthright she left him. Whereupon he egged on all the folk to\nintercede with me to restore her to him; but I told him that this could\nnot lawfully be save by an intermediate marriage, and we have agreed to\nmake some stranger the intermediary[FN#54] in order that none may taunt\nand shame him with this affair. So, as thou art a stranger, come with\nus and we will marry thee to her; thou shalt lie with her to-night and\non the morrow divorce her and we will give thee what I said.\" Quoth Ala\nal-Din to himself, \"By Allah, to bide the night with a bride on a bed\nin a house is far better than sleeping in the streets and vestibules!\"\nSo he went with them to the Kazi whose heart, as soon as he saw Ala\nal-Din, was moved to love him, and who said to the old man, \"What is\nyour will?\" He replied, \"We wish to make this young man an intermediary\nhusband for my daughter; but we will write a bond against him binding\nhim to pay down by way of marriage-settlement ten thousand gold pieces.\nNow if after passing the night with her he divorce her in the morning,\nwe will give him a mule and dress each worth a thousand dinars, and a\nthird thousand of ready money; but if he divorce her not, he shall pay\ndown the ten thousand dinars according to contract.\" So they agreed to\nthe agreement and the father of the bride-to-be received his bond for\nthe marriage-settlement. Then he took Ala al-Din and, clothing him\nanew, carried him to his daughter's house and there he left him\nstanding at the door, whilst he himself went in to the young lady and\nsaid, \"Take the bond of thy marriage-settlement, for I have wedded thee\nto a handsome youth by name Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat: so do thou use\nhim with the best of usage.\" Then he put the bond into her hands and\nleft her and went to his own lodging. Now the lady's cousin had an old\nduenna who used to visit Zubaydah, and he had done many a kindness to\nthis woman, so he said to her, \"O my mother, if my cousin Zubaydah see\nthis handsome young man, she will never after accept my offer; so I\nwould fain have thee contrive some trick to keep her and him apart.\"\nShe answered, \"By the life of thy youth,[FN#55] I will not suffer him\nto approach her!\" Then she went to Ala al-Din and said to him, \"O my\nson, I have a word of advice to give thee, for the love of Almighty\nAllah and do thou accept my counsel, as I fear for thee from this young\nwoman: better thou let her lie alone and feel not her person nor draw\nthee near to her.\" He asked, \"Why so?\"; and she answered, \"Because her\nbody is full of leprosy and I dread lest she infect thy fair and seemly\nyouth.\" Quoth he, \"I have no need of her.\" Thereupon she went to the\nlady and said the like to her of Ala al-Din, and she replied, \"I have\nno need of him, but will let him lie alone, and on the morrow he shall\ngang his gait.\" Then she called a slave-girl and said to her, \"Take the\ntray of food and set it before him that he may sup.\" So the handmaid\ncarried him the tray of food and set it before him and he ate his fill:\nafter which he sat down and raised his charming voice and fell to\nreciting the chapter called Y. S.[FN#56] The lady listened to him and\nfound his voice as melodious as the psalms of David sung by David\nhimself,[FN#57] which when she heard, she exclaimed, \"Allah disappoint\nthe old hag who told me that he was affected with leprosy! Surely this\nis not the voice of one who hath such a disease; and all was a lie\nagainst him.\"[FN#58] Then she took a lute of India-land workmanship\nand, tuning the strings, sang to it in a voice so sweet its music would\nstay the birds in the heart of heaven; and began these two couplets,\n\n\"I love a fawn with gentle white black eyes, * Whose walk the\n\n\n     willow-wand with envy kills:\n\n\nForbidding me he bids for rival-mine, * 'Tis Allah's grace who\n\n\n     grants to whom He wills!\"\n\n\n\nAnd when he heard her chant these lines he ended his recitation of the\nchapter, and began also to sing and repeated the following couplet,\n\n\"My Sal\u0431m to the Fawn in the garments concealed, * And to roses in\ngardens of cheek revealed.\"\n\nThe lady rose up when she heard this, her inclination for him redoubled\nand she lifted the curtain; and Ala al-Din, seeing her, recited these\ntwo couplets,\n\n\"She shineth forth, a moon, and bends, a willow wand, * And\n\n\n     breathes out ambergris, and gazes, a gazelle.\n\n\nMeseems as if grief loved my heart and when from her *\n\n\n     Estrangement I abide possession to it fell.\"[FN#59]\n\n\n\nThereupon she came forward, swinging her haunches and gracefully\nswaying a shape the handiwork of Him whose boons are hidden; and each\nof them stole one glance of the eyes that cost them a thousand sighs.\nAnd when the shafts of the two regards which met rankled in his heart,\nhe repeated these two couplets,\n\n\"She 'spied the moon of Heaven, reminding me * Of nights when met\n\n\n     we in the meadows li'en:\n\n\nTrue, both saw moons, but sooth to say, it was * Her very eyes I\n\n\n     saw, and she my eyne.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when she drew near him, and there remained but two paces between\nthem, he recited these two couplets,\n\n\"She spread three tresses of unplaited hair * One night, and\n\n\n     showed me nights not one but four;\n\n\nAnd faced the moon of Heaven with her brow, * And showed me two-\n\n\n    fold moons in single hour.\"\n\n\n\nAnd as she was hard by him he said to her, \"Keep away from me, lest\nthou infect me.\" Whereupon she uncovered her wrist[FN#60] to him, and\nhe saw that it was cleft, as it were in two halves, by its veins and\nsinews and its whiteness was as the whiteness of virgin silver. Then\nsaid she, \"Keep away from me, thou! for thou art stricken with leprosy,\nand maybe thou wilt infect me.\" He asked, \"Who told thee I was a\nleper?\" and she answered, \"The old woman so told me.\" Quoth he, \"'Twas\nshe told me also that thou wast afflicted with white scurvy;\" and so\nsaying, he bared his forearms and showed her that his skin was also\nlike virgin silver. Thereupon she pressed him to her bosom and he\npressed her to his bosom and the twain embraced with closest embrace,\nthen she took him and, lying down on her back, let down her petticoat\ntrousers, and in an instant that which his father had left him rose up\nin rebellion against him and he said, \"Go it, O Shayth Zachary[FN#61]\nof shaggery, O father of veins!\"; and putting both hands to her flanks,\nhe set the sugar-stick[FN#62] to the mouth of the cleft and thrust on\ntill he came to the wicket called \"Pecten.\" His passage was by the Gate\nof Victories[FN#63] and therefrom he entered the Monday market, and\nthose of Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday,[FN#64] and, finding the\ncarpet after the measure of the dais floor,[FN#65] he plied the box\nwithin its cover till he came to the end of it. And when morning dawned\nhe cried to her, \"Alas for delight which is not fulfilled! The\nraven[FN#66] taketh it and flieth away!\" She asked, \"What meaneth this\nsaying?\"; and he answered, \"O my lady, I have but this hour to abide\nwith thee.\" Quoth she \"Who saith so?\" and quoth he, \"Thy father made me\ngive him a written bond to pay ten thousand dinars to thy\nwedding-settlement; and, except I pay it this very day, they will\nimprison me for debt in the Kazi's house; and now my hand lacketh\none-half dirham of the sum.\" She asked, \"O my lord, is the\nmarriage-bond in thy hand or in theirs?\"; and he answered, \"O my lady,\nin mine, but I have nothing.\" She rejoined, \"The matter is easy; fear\nthou nothing. Take these hundred dinars: an I had more, I would give\nthee what thou lackest; but of a truth my father, of his love for my\ncousin, hath transported all his goods, even to my jewellery from my\nlodging to his. But when they send thee a serjeant of the\nEcclesiastical Court,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young lady\nrejoined to Ala al-Din, \"And when they send thee at an early hour a\nserjeant of the Ecclesiastical-Court, and the Kazi and my father bid\nthee divorce me, do thou reply, By what law is it lawful and right that\nI should marry at nightfall and divorce in the morning? Then kiss the\nKazi's hand and give him a present, and in like manner kiss the\nAssessors' hands and give each of them ten gold pieces. So they will\nall speak with thee, and if they ask thee, 'Why dost thou not divorce\nher and take the thousand dinars and the mule and suit of clothes,\naccording to contract duly contracted?' do thou answer, 'Every hair of\nher head is worth a thousand ducats to me and I will never put her\naway, neither will I take a suit of clothes nor aught else.' And if the\nKazi say to thee, 'Then pay down the marriage-settlement,' do thou\nreply, 'I am short of cash at this present;' whereupon he and the\nAssessors will deal in friendly fashion with thee and allow thee time\nto pay.\" Now whilst they were talking, behold, the Kazi's officer\nknocked at the door; so Ala al-Din went down and the man said to him,\n\"Come, speak the Efendi,[FN#67] for thy fatherinlaw summoneth thee.\" So\nAla al-Din gave him five dinars and said to him, \"O Summoner, by what\nlaw am I bound to marry at nightfall and divorce next morning?\" The\nserjeant answered, \"By no law of ours at all, at all; and if thou be\nignorant of the religious law, I will act as thine advocate.\" Then they\nwent to the divorce court and the Kazi said to Ala al-Din, \"Why dost\nthou not put away the woman and take what falleth to thee by the\ncontract?\" Hearing this he went up to the Kazi; and, kissing his hand,\nput fifty dinars in it and said, \"O our lord the Kazi, by what law is\nit lawful and right that I should marry at nightfall and divorce in the\nmorning in my own despite?\" The Kazi, answered, \"Divorce as a\ncompulsion and by force is sanctioned by no school of the Moslems.\"\nThen said the young lady's father, \"If thou wilt not divorce, pay me\nthe ten thousand dinars, her marriage-settlement.\" Quoth Ala al-Din,\n\"Give me a delay of three days;\" but the Kazi, said, \"Three days is not\ntime enough; he shall give thee ten.\" So they agreed to this and bound\nhim after ten days either to pay the dowry or to divorce her. And after\nconsenting he left them and taking meat and rice and clarified\nbutter[FN#68] and what else of food he needed, returned to the house\nand told the young woman all that had passed; whereupon she said,\n\"'Twixt night and day, wonders may display; and Allah bless him for his\nsay:\u2014\n\n'Be mild when rage shall come to afflict thy soul; * Be patient\n\n\n     when calamity breeds ire;\n\n\nLookye, the Nights are big with child by Time, * Whose pregnancy\n\n\n     bears wondrous things and dire.'\"\n\n\n\nThen she rose and made ready food and brought the tray, and they two\nate and drank and were merry and mirthful. Presently Ala al-Din\nbesought her to let him hear a little music; so she took the lute and\nplayed a melody that had made the hardest stone dance for glee, and the\nstrings cried out in present ecstacy, \"O Loving One!'';[FN#69] after\nwhich she passed from the adagio into the presto and a livelier\nmeasure. As they thus spent their leisure in joy and jollity and mirth\nand merriment, behold, there came a knocking at the door and she said\nto him; \"Go see who is at the door.\" So he went down and opened it and\nfinding four Dervishes standing without, said to them, \"What want ye?\"\nThey replied, \"O my lord, we are foreign and wandering religious\nmendicants, the viands of whose souls are music and dainty verse, and\nwe would fain take our pleasure with thee this night till morning cloth\nappear, when we will wend our way, and with Almighty Allah be thy\nreward; for we adore music and there is not one of us but knoweth by\nheart store of odes and songs and ritornellos.\"[FN#70] He answered,\n\"There is one I must consult;\" and he returned and told Zubaydah who\nsaid, \"Open the door to them.\" So he brought them up and made them sit\ndown and welcomed them; then he fetched them food, but they would not\neat and said, \"O our lord, our meat is to repeat Allah's name in our\nhearts and to hear music with our ears: and bless him who saith,\n\n'Our aim is only converse to enjoy, * And eating joyeth only\ncattle-kind.'[FN#71]\n\nAnd just now we heard pleasant music in thy house, but when we entered,\nit ceased; and fain would we know whether the player was a slave-girl,\nwhite or black, or a maiden of good family.\" He answered, \"It was this\nmy wife,\" and told them all that had befallen him, adding, \"Verily my\nfather-in-law hath bound me to pay a marriage-settlement of ten\nthousand dinars for her, and they have given me ten days' time.\" Said\none of the Dervishes, \"Have no care and think of naught but good; for I\nam Shaykh of the Convent and have forty Dervishes under my orders. I\nwill presently collect from them the ten thousand dinars and thou shalt\npay thy father-in-law the wedding settlement. But now bid thy wife make\nus music that we may be gladdened and pleasured; for to some folk music\nis meat, to others medicine and to others refreshing as a fan.\" Now\nthese four Dervishes were none other than the Caliph Harun al-Rashid,\nhis Wazir Ja'afar the Barmecide, Abu al-Now\u0431s al-Hasan son of\nH\u0431ni[FN#72] and Masrur the sworder; and the reason of their coming to\nthe house was that the Caliph, being heavy at heart, had summoned his\nMinister and said, \"O Wazir! it is our will to go down to the city and\npace its streets, for my breast is sore straitened.\" So they all four\ndonned dervish dress and went down and walked about, till they came to\nthat house where, hearing music, they were minded to know the cause.\nThey spent the night in joyance and harmony and telling tale after tale\nuntil morning dawned, when the Caliph laid an hundred gold pieces under\nthe prayer-carpet and all taking leave of Ala al-Din, went their way.\nNow when Zubaydah lifted the carpet she found beneath it the hundred\ndinars and she said to her husband, \"Take these hundred dinars which I\nhave found under the prayer-carpet; assuredly the Dervishes when about\nto leave us laid them there, without our knowledge.\" So Ala al-Din took\nthe money and, repairing to the market, bought therewith meat and rice\nand clarified butter and all they required. And when it was night, he\nlit the wax-candles and said to his wife, \"The mendicants, it is true,\nhave not brought the ten thousand dinars which they promised me; but\nindeed they are poor men.\" As they were talking, behold, the Dervishes\nknocked at the door and she said, \"Go down and open to them.\" So he did\nher bidding and bringing them up, said to them, \"Have you brought me\nthe ten thousand dinars you promised me?\" They answered, \"We have not\nbeen able to collect aught thereof as yet; but fear nothing: Inshallah,\ntomorrow we will compound for thee some alchemical-cookery. But now bid\nthy wife play us her very best pieces and gladden our hearts for we\nlove music.\" So she took her lute and made them such melody that had\ncaused the hardest rocks to dance with glee; and they passed the night\nin mirth and merriment, converse and good cheer, till morn appeared\nwith its sheen and shone, when the Caliph laid an hundred gold pieces\nunder the prayer-carpet and all, after taking leave of Ala al-Din, went\ntheir way. And they ceased not to visit him thus every night for nine\nnights; and each morning the Caliph put an hundred dinars under the\nprayer carpet, till the tenth night, when they came not. Now the reason\nof their failure to come was that the Caliph had sent to a great\nmerchant, saying to him, \"Bring me fifty loads of stuffs, such as come\nfrom Cairo,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Prince of\nTrue Believers said to that merchant, \"Bring me fifty loads of stuffs\nsuch as come from Cairo, and let each one be worth a thousand dinars,\nand write on each bale its price; and bring me also a male Abyssinian\nslave.\" The merchant did the bidding of the Caliph who committed to the\nslave a basin and ewer of gold and other presents, together with the\nfifty loads; and wrote a letter to Ala al-Din as from his father Shams\nal-Din and said to him, \"Take these bales and what else is with them,\nand go to such and such a quarter wherein dwelleth the Provost of the\nmerchants and say, 'Where be Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat?' till folk\ndirect thee to his quarter and his house.\" So the slave took the letter\nand the goods and what else and fared forth on his errand. Such was his\ncase; but as regards Zubaydah's cousin and first husband, he went to\nher father and said to him, \"Come let us go to Ala al-Din and make him\ndivorce the daughter of my uncle.\" So they set out both together and,\nwhen they came to the street in which the house stood, they found fifty\nhe mules laden with bales of stuffs, and a blackamoor riding on a she\nmule. So they said to him, \"Whose loads are these?\" He replied, \"They\nbelong to my lord Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; for his father equipped him\nwith merchandise and sent him on a journey to Baghdad-city; but the\nwild Arabs came forth against him and took his money and goods and all\nhe had. So when the ill news reached his father, he despatched me to\nhim with these loads, in lieu of those he had lost; besides a mule\nladen with fifty thousand dinars, a parcel of clothes worth a power of\nmoney, a robe of sables[FN#73] and a basin and ewer of gold.\" Whereupon\nthe lady's father said, \"He whom thou seekest is my son-in-law and I\nwill show thee his house.\" Meanwhile Ala al-Din was sitting at home in\nhuge concern, when lo! one knocked at the door and he said, \"O\nZubaydah, Allah is all-knowing! but I fear thy father hath sent me an\nofficer from the Kazi or the Chief of Police.\" Quoth she, \"Go down and\nsee what it is.\" So he went down; and, opening the door, found his\nfather-in-law, the Provost of the merchants with an Abyssinian slave,\ndusky complexioned and pleasant of favour, riding on a mule. When the\nslave saw him he dismounted and kissed his hands, and Ala al-Din said,\n\"What dost thou want?\" He replied, \"I am the slave of my lord Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat, son of Shams al-Din, Consul of the merchants for\nthe land of Egypt, who hath sent me to him with this charge.\" Then he\ngave him the letter and Ala al-Din opening it found written what\nfolloweth:[FN#74]\n\n\"Ho thou my letter! when my friend shall see thee, * Kiss thou\n\n\n     the ground and buss his sandal-shoon:\n\n\nLook thou hie softly and thou hasten not, * My life and rest are\n\n\n     in those hands so boon.\n\n\n\n\"After hearty salutations and congratulations and high estimation from\nShams al-Din to his son, Abu al-Shamat. Know, O my son, that news hath\nreached me of the slaughter of thy men and the plunder of thy monies\nand goods; so I send thee herewith fifty loads of Egyptian stuffs,\ntogether with a suit of clothes and a robe of sables and a basin and\newer of gold. Fear thou no evil, and the goods thou hast lost were the\nransom of thy life; so regret them not and may no further grief befall\nthee. Thy mother and the people of the house are doing well in health\nand happiness and all greet thee with abundant greetings. Moreover, O\nmy son, it hath reached me that they have married thee, by way of\nintermediary, to the lady Zubaydah the lutist and they have imposed on\nthee a marriage-settlement of ten thousand dinars; wherefore I send\nthee also fifty thousand dinars by the slave Sal\u043dm.\"[FN#75] Now when\nAla al-Din had made an end of reading the letter, he took possession of\nthe loads and, turning to the Provost, said to him, \"O my\nfather-in-law, take the ten thousand dinars, the marriage-settlement of\nthy daughter Zubaydah, and take also the loads of goods and dispose of\nthem, and thine be the profit; only return me the cost price.\" He\nanswered, \"Nay, by Allah, I will take nothing; and, as for thy wife's\nsettlement, do thou settle the matter with her.\" Then, after the goods\nhad been brought in, they went to Zuhaydah and she said to her sire, \"O\nmy father, whose loads be these?\" He said, \"These belong to thy\nhusband, Ala al-Din: his father hath sent them to him instead of those\nwhereof the wild Arabs spoiled him. Moreover, he hath sent him fifty\nthousand dinars with a parcel of clothes, a robe of sables, a she mule\nfor riding and a basin and ewer of gold. As for the marriage-settlement\nthat is for thy recking.\" Thereupon Ala al-Din rose and, opening the\nmoney box, gave her her settlement and the lady's cousin said, \"O my\nuncle, let him divorce to me my wife;\" but the old man replied, \"This\nmay never be now; for the marriage tie is in his hand.\" Thereupon the\nyoung man went out, sore afflicted and sadly vexed and, returning home,\nfell sick, for his heart had received its death blow; so he presently\ndied. But as for Ala al-Din, after receiving his goods he went to the\nbazar and buying what meats and drinks he needed, made a banquet as\nusual\u2014against the night, saying to Zubaydah, \"See these lying\nDervishes; they promised us and broke their promises.\" Quoth she, \"Thou\nart the son of a Consul of the merchants, yet was thy hand short of\nhalf a dirham; how then should it be with poor Dervishes?\" Quoth he,\n\"Almighty Allah hath enabled us to do without them; but if they come to\nus never again will I open the door to them.\" She asked, \"Why so,\nwhenas their coming footsteps brought us good luck; and, moreover, they\nput an hundred dinars under the prayer carpet for us every night?\nPerforce must thou open the door to them an they come.\" So when day\ndeparted with its light and in gloom came night, they lighted the wax\ncandles and he said to her, \"Rise, Zubaydah, make us music;\" and\nbehold, at this moment some one knocked at the door, and she said, \"Go\nand look who is at the door.\" So he went down and opened it and seeing\nthe Dervishes, said, \"Oh, fair welcome to the liars! Come up.\"\nAccordingly they went up with him and he seated them and brought them\nthe tray of food; and they ate and drank and became merry and mirthful,\nand presently said to him, \"O my lord, our hearts have been troubled\nfor thee: what hath passed between thee and thy father-in-law?\" He\nanswered, \"Allah compensated us beyond and above our desire.\" Rejoined\nthey, \"By Allah, we were in fear for thee\".\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and and Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Dervishes\nthus addressed Ala al-Din, \"By Allah, we were in fear for thee and\nnaught kept us from thee but our lack of cash and coin.\" Quoth he,\n\"Speedy relief hath come to me from my Lord; for my father hath sent me\nfifty thousand dinars and fifty loads of stuffs, each load worth a\nthousand dinars; besides a riding-mule, a robe of sables, an Abyssinian\nslave and a basin and ewer of gold. Moreover, I have made my peace with\nmy father-in-law and my wife hath become my lawful wife by my paying\nher settlement; so laud to Allah for that!\" Presently the Caliph rose\nto do a necessity; whereupon Ja'afar bent him towards Ala al-Din and\nsaid, \"Look to thy manners, for thou art in the presence of the\nCommander of the Faithful \" Asked he, \"How have I failed in good\nbreeding before the Commander of the Faithful, and which of you is he?\"\nQuoth Ja'afar, \"He who went out but now to make water is the Commander\nof the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and I am the Wazir Ja'afar; and this\nis Masrur the executioner and this other is Abu Nowas Hasan bin Hani..\nAnd now, O Ala al-Din, use thy reason and bethink thee how many days'\njourney it is between Cairo and Baghdad.\" He replied, \"Five and forty\ndays' journey;\" and Ja'afar rejoined, \"Thy baggage was stolen only ten\ndays ago; so how could the news have reached thy father, and how could\nhe pack thee up other goods and send them to thee five-and-forty days'\njourney in ten days' time?\" Quoth Ala al-Din, \"O my lord and whence\nthen came they?\" \"From the Commander of the Faithful,\" replied Ja'afar,\n\"of his great affection for thee.\" As they were speaking, lo! the\nCaliph entered and Ala al-Din rising, kissed the ground before him and\nsaid, \"Allah keep thee, O Prince of the Faithful, and give thee long\nlife; and may the lieges never lack thy bounty and beneficence!\"\nReplied the Caliph, \"O Ala al-Din, let Zubaydah play us an air, by way\nof house-warming[FN#76] for thy deliverance.\" Thereupon she played him\non the lute so rare a melody that the very stones shook for glee, and\nthe strings cried out for present ecstasy, \"O Loving One!\" They spent\nthe night after the merriest fashion, and in the morning the Caliph\nsaid to Ala al-Din, \"Come to the Divan to-morrow.\" He answered,\n\"Hearkening and obedience, O Commander of the Faithful; so Allah will\nand thou be well and in good case!\" On the morrow he took ten trays\nand, putting on each a costly present, went up with them to the palace;\nand the Caliph was sitting on the throne when, behold, Ala al-Din\nappeared at the door of the Divan, repeating these two couplets,\n\n\"Honour and Glory wait on thee each morn! * Thine enviers' noses\n\n\n     in the dust be set!\n\n\nNe'er cease thy days to be as white as snow; * Thy foeman's days\n\n\n     to be as black as jet!\"\n\n\n\n\"Welcome, O Ala Al-Din!\" said the Caliph, and he replied, \"O Commander\nof the Faithful, the Prophet (whom Allah bless and assain!)[FN#77] was\nwont to accept presents; and these ten trays, with what is on them, are\nmy offering to thee.\" The Caliph accepted his gift and, ordering him a\nrobe of honour, made him Provost of the merchants and gave him a seat\nin the Divan. And as he was sitting behold, his father-in-law came in\nand, seeing Ala al-Din seated in his place and clad in a robe of\nhonour, said to the Caliph, \"O King of the age, why is this man sitting\nin my place and wearing this robe of honour?\" Quoth the Caliph, \"I have\nmade him Provost of the merchants, for offices are by investiture and\nnot in perpetuity, and thou art deposed.\" Answered the merchant, \"Thou\nhast done well, O Commander of the Faithful, for he is ours and one of\nus. Allah make the best of us the managers of our affairs! How many a\nlittle one hath become great!\" Then the Caliph wrote Ala al-Din a\nFirman[FN#78] of investiture and gave it to the Governor who gave it to\nthe crier,[FN#79] and the crier made proclamation in the Divan saying,\n\"None is Provost of the merchants but Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and his\nword is to be heard, and he must be obeyed with due respect paid, and\nhe meriteth homage and honour and high degree!\" Moreover, when the\nDivan broke up, the Governor went down with the crier before Ala\nAl-Din!\" and the crier repeated the proclamation and they carried Ala\nal-Din through the thoroughfares of Baghdad, making proclamation of his\ndignity. Next day, Ala al-Din opened a shop for his slave Salim and set\nhim therein, to buy and sell, whilst he himself rode to the palace and\ntook his place in the Caliph's Divan.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixtieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din rode\nto the palace and took his place in the Caliph's Divan. Now it came to\npass one day, when he sat in his stead as was his wont, behold, one\nsaid to the Caliph, \"O Commander of the Faithful, may thy head survive\nsuch an one the cup-companion!; for he is gone to the mercy of Almighty\nAllah, but be thy life prolonged!\"[FN#80] Quoth the Caliph, \"Where is\nAla al-Din Abu al-al-Shamat?\" So he went up to the Commander of the\nFaithful, who at once clad him in a splendid dress of honour and made\nhim his boon-companion; appointing him a monthly pay and allowance of a\nthousand dinars. He continued to keep him company till, one day, as he\nsat in the Divan, according to his custom attending upon the Caliph, lo\nand behold! an Emir came up with sword and shield in hand and said, \"O\nCommander of the Faithful, may thy head long outlive the Head of the\nSixty, for he is dead this day;\" whereupon the Caliph ordered Ala\nal-Din a dress of honour and made him Chief of the Sixty, in place of\nthe other who had neither wife nor son nor daughter. So Ala al-Din laid\nhands on his estate and the Caliph said to him, \"Bury him in the earth\nand take all he hath left of wealth and slaves and handmaids.\"[FN#81]\nThen he shook the handkerchief[FN#82] and dismissed the Divan,\nwhereupon Ala al-Din went forth, attended by Ahmad al-Danaf, captain of\nthe right, and Hasan Sh\u044am\u0431n, captain of the left, riding at his either\nstirrup, each with his forty men.[FN#83] Presently, he turned to Hasan\nShuman and his men and said to them, \"Plead ye for me with the Captain\nAhmad al-Danaf that he please to accept me as his son by covenant\nbefore Allah.\" And Ahmad assented, saying, \"I and my forty men will go\nbefore thee to the Divan every morning.\" Now after this Ala al-Din\ncontinued in the Caliph's service many days; till one day it chanced\nthat he left the Divan and returning home, dismissed Ahmad al-Danaf and\nhis men and sat down with his wife Zubaydab, the lute-player, who\nlighted the wax candles and went out of the room upon an occasion.\nSuddenly he heard a loud shriek; so he rose up and running in haste to\nsee what was the matter, found that it was his wife who had cried out.\nShe was lying at full length on the ground and, when he put his hand to\nher breast, he found her dead. Now her father's house faced that of Ala\nal-Din, and he, hearing the shriek, came in and said, \"What is the\nmatter, O my lord Ala al-Din?\" He replied, \"O my father, may thy head\noutlive thy daughter Zubaydah! But, O my father, honour to the dead is\nburying them.\" So when the morning dawned, they buried her in the earth\nand her husband and father condoled with and mutually consoled each\nother. Thus far concerning her; but as regards Ala al-Din he donned\nmourning dress and declined the Divan, abiding tearful-eyed and\nheavy-hearted at home. After a while, the Caliph said to Ja'afar, \"O\nWatir, what is the cause of Ala al-Din's absence from the Divan?\" The\nMinister answered, \"O Commander of the Faithful, he is in mourning for\nhis wife Zubaydah; and is occupied in receiving those who come to\nconsole him;\" and the Caliph said, \"It behoveth us to pay him a visit\nof condolence.\" \"I hear and I obey,\" replied Ja'afar. So they took\nhorse, the Caliph and the Minister and a few attendants, and rode to\nAla al-Din's house and, as he was sitting at home, behold, the party\ncame in upon him; whereupon he rose to receive them and kissed the\nground before the Caliph, who said to him, \"Allah make good thy loss to\nthee!\" Answered Ala Al-Din, \"May Allah preserve thee to us, O Commander\nof the Faithful!\" Then said the Caliph, \"O Ala al-Din, why hast thou\nabsented thyself from the Divan?\" And he replied, \"Because of my\nmourning for my wife, Zubaydah, O Commander of the Faithful.\" The\nCaliph rejoined, \"Put away grief from thee: verily she is dead and gone\nto the mercy of Almighty Allah and mourning will avail thee nothing;\nno, nothing.\" But Ala al-Din said \"O Commander of the Faithful, I shall\nnever leave mourning for her till I die and they bury me by her side.\"\nQuoth the Caliph, \"In Allah is compensation for every decease, and\nneither device nor riches can deliver from death; and divinely gifted\nwas he who said,\n\n'All sons of woman, albe long preserved, * Are borne upon the\n\n\n     bulging bier some day.[FN#84]\n\n\nHow then shall 'joy man joy or taste delight, * Upon whose cheeks\n\n\n     shall rest the dust and clay?'\"\n\n\n\nWhen the Caliph had made an end of condoling with him, he charged him\nnot to absent himself from the Divan and returned to his palace. And\nAla Al-Din, after a last sorrowful night, mounted early in the morning\nand, riding to the court, kissed the ground before the Commander of the\nFaithful who made a movement if rising from the throne[FN#85] to greet\nand welcome him; and bade him take his appointed place in the Divan,\nsaying, \"O Ala al-Din, thou art my guest to-night.\" So presently he\ncarried him into his serraglio and calling a slave-girl named K\u044at\nal-Kul\u044ab, said to her, \"Ala al-Din had a wife called Zubaydah, who used\nto sing to him and solace him of cark and care; but she is gone to the\nmercy of Almighty Allah, and now I would have thee play him an air upon\nthe lute,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph said\nto the damsel Kut al-Kulub, \"I would have thee play him upon the lute\nan air, of fashion sweet and rare, that he may be solaced of his cark\nand care.\" So she rose and made sweet music; and the Caliph said to Ala\nal-Din, \"What sayst thou of this damsel's voice?\" He replied, \"Verily,\nO Commander of the Faithful, Zubaydah's voice was the finer; but she is\nskilled in touching the lute cunningly and her playing would make a\nrock dance with glee.\" The Caliph asked, \"Doth she please thee?'' and\nhe answered, \"She doth, O Commander of the Faithful;\" whereupon the\nKing said, \"By the life of my head and the tombs of my forefathers, she\nis a gift from me to thee, she and her waiting- women!\" Ala al-Din\nfancied that the Caliph was jesting with him; but, on the morrow, the\nKing went in to Kut al-Kulub and said to her, \"I have given thee to Ala\nAl-Din, whereat she rejoiced, for she had seen and loved him. Then the\nCaliph returned from his serraglio palace to the Divan; and, calling\nporters, said to them, \"Set all the goods of Kut al-Kulub and her\nwaiting-women in a litter, and carry them to Ala al-Din's home.\" So\nthey conducted her to the house and showed her into the pavilion,\nwhilst the Caliph sat in the hall of audience till the dose of day,\nwhen the Divan broke up and he retired to his harem. Such was his case;\nbut as regards Kut al-Kulub, when she had taken up her lodging in Ala\nal-Din's mansion, she and her women, forty in all, besides the\neunuchry, she called two of these caponised slaves and said to them,\n\"Sit ye on stools, one on the right and another on the left hand of the\ndoor; and, when Ala al-Din cometh home, both of you kiss his hands and\nsay to him, \"Our mistress Kut al-Kulub requesteth thy presence in the\npavilion, for the Caliph hath given her to thee, her and her women.\"\nThey answered, \"We hear and obey;\" and did as she bade them. So, when\nAla al-Din returned, he found two of the Caliph's eunuchs sitting at\nthe door and was amazed at the matter and said to himself, \"Surely,\nthis is not my own house; or else what can have happened?\" Now when the\neunuchs saw him, they rose to him and, kissing his hands, said to him,\n\"We are of the Caliph's household and slaves to Kut al-Kulub, who\nsaluteth thee, giving thee to know that the Caliph hath bestowed her on\nthee, her and her women, and requesteth thy presence.\" Quoth Ala\nal-Din, \"Say ye to her, 'Thou art welcome; but so long as thou shalt\nabide with me, I will not enter the pavilion wherein thou art, for what\nwas the master's should not become the man's;' and furthermore ask her,\n'What was the sum of thy day's expenditure in the Caliph's palace?'\" So\nthey went in and did his errand to her, and she answered, \"An hundred\ndinars a day;\" whereupon quoth he to himself, \"There was no need for\nthe Caliph to give me Kut al-Kulub, that I should be put to such\nexpense for her; but there is no help for it.\" So she abode with him\nawhile and he assigned her daily an hundred dinars for her maintenance;\ntill, one day, he absented himself from the Divan and the Caliph said\nto Ja'afar, \"O Watir, I gave not Kut al-Kulub unto Ala al-Din but that\nshe might console him for his wife; why, then, doth he still hold aloof\nfrom us?\" Answered Ja'afar, \"O Commander of the Faithful, he spake\nsooth who said, 'Whoso findeth his fere, forgetteth his friends.'\"\nRejoined the Caliph, \"Haply he hath not absented himself without\nexcuse, but we will pay him a visit.\" Now some days before this, Ala\nal-Din had said to Ja'afar, \"I complained to the Caliph of my grief and\nmourning for the loss of my wife Zubaydah and he gave me Kut al-Kulub;\"\nand the Minister replied, \"Except he loved thee, he had not given her\nto thee. Say hast thou gone in unto her, O Ala al-Din?\" He rejoined,\n\"No, by Allah! I know not her length from her breadth.\" He asked \"And\nwhy?\" and he answered, \"O Wazir, what befitteth the lord befitteth not\nthe liege.\" Then the Caliph and Ja'afar disguised themselves and went\nprivily to visit Ala al-Din; but he knew them and rising to them kissed\nthe hands of the Caliph, who looked at him and saw signs of sorrow in\nhis face. So he said to him, \"O Al-Din, whence cometh this sorrow\nwherein I see thee? Hast thou not gone in unto Kut al-Kulub?\" He\nreplied, \"O Commander of the Faithful, what befitteth the lord\nbefitteth not the thrall. No, as yet I have not gone in to visit her\nnor do I know her length from her breadth; so pray quit me of her.\"\nQuoth the Caliph, \"I would fain see her and question her of her case;\"\nand quoth Ala al-Din, \"I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful.\"\nSo the Caliph went in,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph went\nin to Kut al-Kulub, who rose to him on sighting him and kissed the\nground between his hands; when he said to her, \"Hath Ala al-Din gone in\nunto thee?\" and she answered, \"No, O Commander of the Faithful, I sent\nto bid him come, but he would not.\" So the Caliph bade carry her back\nto the Harim and saying to Ala Al-Din, \"Do not absent thyself from us,\"\nreturned to his palace. Accordingly, next morning, Ala Al-Din, mounted\nand rode to the Divan, where he took his seat as Chief of the Sixty.\nPresently the Caliph ordered his treasurer to give the Wazir Ja'afar\nten thousand dinars and said when his order was obeyed, \"I charge thee\nto go down to the bazar where handmaidens are sold and buy Ala Al-Din,\na slave-girl with this sum.\" So in obedience to the King, Ja'afar took\nAla al-Din and went down with him to the bazar. Now as chance would\nhave it, that very day, the Emir Kh\u0431lid, whom the Caliph had made\nGovernor of Baghdad, went down to the market to buy a slave-girl for\nhis son and the cause of his going was that his wife, Kh\u0431t\u044an by name,\nhad borne him a son called Habzalam Baz\u0431zah,[FN#86] and the same was\nfoul of favour and had reached the age of twenty, without learning to\nmount horse; albeit his father was brave and bold, a doughty rider\nready to plunge into the Sea of Darkness.[FN#87] And it happened that\non a certain night he had a dream which caused nocturnal-pollution\nwhereof he told his mother, who rejoiced and said to his father, \"I\nwant to find him a wife, as he is now ripe for wedlock.\" Quoth Kh\u0431lid,\n\"The fellow is so foul of favour and withal-so rank of odour, so sordid\nand beastly that no woman would take him as a gift.\" And she answered,\n\"We will buy him a slave-girl.\" So it befell, for the accomplishing of\nwhat Allah Almighty had decreed, that on the same day, Ja'afar and Ala\nal-Din, the Governor Kh\u0431lid and his son went down to the market and\nbehold, they saw in the hands of a broker a beautiful girl, lovely\nfaced and of perfect shape, and the Wazir said to him, \"O broker, ask\nher owner if he will take a thousand dinars for her.\" And as the broker\npassed by the Governor with the slave, Hahzalam Bazazah cast at her one\nglance of the eyes which entailed for himself one thousand sighs; and\nhe fell in love with her and passion got hold of him and he said, \"O my\nfather, buy me yonder slave-girl.\" So the Emir called the broker, who\nbrought the girl to him, and asked her her name. She replied, \"My name\nis Jessamine;\" and he said to Hahzalam Bazazah, \"O my son, as she\nplease thee, do thou bid higher for her.\" Then he asked the broker,\n\"What hath been bidden for her?\" and he replied, \"A thousand dinars.\"\nSaid the Governor's son, \"She is mine for a thousand pieces of gold and\none more;\" and the broker passed on to Ala al-Din who bid two thousand\ndinars for her; and as often as the Emir's son bid another dinar, Ala\nal-Din bid a thousand. The ugly youth was vexed at this and said, \"O\nbroker! who is it that outbiddeth me for the slave-girl?\" Answered the\nbroker, \"It is the Wazir Ja'afar who is minded to buy her for Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat.\" And Ala al-Din continued till he brought her\nprice up to ten thousand dinars, and her owner was satisfied to sell\nher for that sum. Then he took the girl and said to her, \"I give thee\nthy freedom for the love of Almighty Allah;\" and forthwith wrote his\ncontract of marriage with her and carried her to his house. Now when\nthe broker returned, after having received his brokerage, the Emir's\nson summoned him and said to him, \"Where is the girl?\" Quoth he, \"She\nwas bought for ten thousand dinars by Ala al-Din, who hath set her free\nand married her.\" At this the young man was greatly vexed and cast down\nand, sighing many a sigh, returned home, sick for love of the damsel;\nand he threw himself on his bed and refused food, for love and longing\nwere sore upon him. Now when his mother saw him in this plight, she\nsaid to him, \"Heaven assain thee, O my son! What aileth thee?\" And he\nanswered, \"Buy me Jessamine, O my mother.\" Quoth she, \"When the\nflower-seller passeth I will buy thee a basketful of jessamine.\" Quoth\nhe, \"It is not the jessamine one smells, but a slave-girl named\nJessamine, whom my father would not buy for me.\" So she said to her\nhusband, \"Why and wherefore didest thou not buy him the girl?\" and he\nreplied, \"What is fit for the lord is not fit for the liege and I have\nno power to take her: no less a man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief\nof the Sixty.\" Then the youth's weakness redoubled upon him, till he\ngave up sleeping and eating, and his mother bound her head with the\nfillets of mourning. And while in her sadness she sat at home,\nlamenting over her son, behold, came in to her an old woman, known as\nthe mother of Ahmad Kam\u0431kim[FN#88] the arch-thief, a knave who would\nbore through a middle wall and scale the tallest of the tall and steal\nthe very kohl off the eye-ball.[FN#89] From his earliest years he had\nbeen given to these malpractices, till they made him Captain of the\nWatch, when he stole a sum of money; and the Chief of Police, coming\nupon him in the act, carried him to the Caliph, who bade put him to\ndeath on the common execution-ground.[FN#90] But he implored protection\nof the Wazir whose intercession the Caliph never rejected, so he\npleaded for him with the Commander of the Faithful who said, \"How canst\nthou intercede for this pest of the human race?\" Ja'afar answered, \"O\nCommander of the Faithful, do thou imprison him; whoso built the first\njail was a sage, seeing that a jail is the grave of the living and a\njoy for the foe.\" So the Caliph bade lay him in bilboes and write\nthereon, \"Appointed to remain here until death and not to be loosed but\non the corpse washer's bench;\" and they cast him fettered into limbo.\nNow his mother was a frequent visitor to the house of the Emir Kh\u0431lid,\nwho was Governor and Chief of Police; and she used to go in to her son\nin jail and say to him, \"Did I not warn thee to turn from thy wicked\nways?''[FN#91] And he would always answer her, \"Allah decreed this to\nme; but, O my mother, when thou visitest the Emir's wife make her\nintercede for me with her husband.\" So when the old woman came into the\nLady Khatun, she found her bound with the fillets of mourning and said\nto her, \"Wherefore dost thou mourn?\" She replied, \"For my son Habzalam\nBazazah;\" and the old woman exclaimed, \"Heaven assain thy son!; what\nhath befallen him?\" So the mother told her the whole story, and she\nsaid, \"What thou say of him who should achieve such a feat as would\nsave thy son?\" Asked the lady, \"And what feat wilt thou do?\" Quoth the\nold woman, \"I have a son called Ahmad Kamakim, the arch-thief, who\nlieth chained in jail and on his bilboes is written, 'Appointed to\nremain till death'; so do thou don thy richest clothes and trick thee\nout with thy finest jewels and present thyself to thy husband with an\nopen face and smiling mien; and when he seeketh of thee what men seek\nof women, put him off and baulk him of his will and say, 'By Allah,\n'tis a strange thing! When a man desireth aught of his wife he dunneth\nher till she doeth it; but if a wife desire aught of her husband, he\nwill not grant it to her.' Then he will say, 'What dost thou want?';\nand do thou answer, 'First swear to grant my request.' If he swear to\nthee by his head or by Allah, say to him, 'Swear to me the oath of\ndivorce', and do not yield to him, except he do this. And whenas he\nhath sworn to thee the oath of divorce, say to him, 'Thou keepest in\nprison a man called Ahmad Kamakim, and he hath a poor old mother, who\nhath set upon me and who urgeth me in the matter and who saith, 'Let\nthy husband intercede for him with the Caliph, that my son may repent\nand thou gain heavenly guerdon.'\" And the Lady Khatun replied, \"I hear\nand obey.\" So when her husband came into her\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Governor came\nin to his wife, who spoke to him as she had been taught and made him\nswear the divorce-oath before she would yield to his wishes. He lay\nwith her that night and, when morning dawned, after he had made the\nGhusl-ablution and prayed the dawn- prayer, he repaired to the prison\nand said, \"O Ahmad Kamakim, O thou arch-thief, dost thou repent of thy\nworks?\"; whereto he replied, \"I do indeed repent and turn to Allah and\nsay with heart and tongue, 'I ask pardon of Allah.'\" So the Governor\ntook him out of jail and carried him to the Court (he being still in\nbilboes) and, approaching the Caliph, kissed ground before him. Quoth\nthe King, \"O Emir Kh\u0431lid, what seekest thou?\"; whereupon he brought\nforward Ahmad Kamakim, shuffling and tripping in his fetters, and the\nCaliph said to him, \"What! art thou yet alive, O Kamakim?\" He replied,\n\"O Commander of the Faithful, the miserable are long-lived.\" Quoth the\nCaliph to the Emir, \"Why hast thou brought him hither?\"; and quoth he,\n\"O Commander of the Faithful, he hath a poor old mother cut off from\nthe world who hath none but this son and she hath had recourse to thy\nslave, imploring him to intercede with thee to strike off his chains,\nfor he repenteth of his evil courses; and to make him Captain of the\nWatch as before.\" The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim, \"Doss thou repent of\nthy sins?\" \"I do indeed repent me to Allah, O Commander of the\nFaithful,\" answered he; whereupon the Caliph called for the blacksmith\nand made him strike off his irons on the corpse- washer's bench.[FN#92]\nMoreover, he restored him to his former office and charged him to walk\nin the ways of godliness and righteousness. So he kissed the Caliph's\nhands and, being invested with the uniform of Captain of the Watch, he\nwent forth, whilst they made proclamation of his appointment. Now for a\nlong time he abode in the exercise of his office, till one day his\nmother went in to the Governor's wife, who said to her, \"Praised be\nAllah who hath delivered thy son from prison and restored him to health\nand safety! But why dost thou not bid him contrive some trick to get\nthe girl Jessamine for my son Hahzalam Bazazah?\" \"That will I,\"\nanswered she and, going out from her, repaired to her son. She found\nhim drunk with wine and said to him, \"O my son, no one caused thy\nrelease from jail but the wife of the Governor, and she would have thee\nfind some means to slay Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat and get his slave-girl\nJessamine for her son Habzalam Bazazah.\" He answered, \"That will be the\neasiest of things; and I must needs set about it this very night.\" Now\nthis was the first night of the new month, and it was the custom of the\nCaliph to spend that night with the Lady Zubaydah, for the setting free\nof a slave-girl or a Mameluke or something of the sort. Moreover, on\nsuch occasions he used to doff his royal-habit, together with his\nrosary and dagger-sword and royal-signet, and set them all upon a chair\nin the sitting- saloon: and he had also a golden lanthorn, adorned with\nthree jewels strung on a wire of gold, by which he set great store; and\nhe would commit all these things to the charge of the eunuchry, whilst\nhe went into the Lady Zubaydah's apartment. So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakin\nwaited till midnight, when Canopus shone bright, and all creatures to\nsleep were dight whilst the Creator veiled them with the veil of night.\nThen he took his drawn sword in his right and his grappling hook in his\nleft and, repairing to the Caliph's sitting-saloon planted his scaling\nladder and cast his grapnel on to the side of the terrace-roof; then,\nraising the trap-door, let himself down into the saloon, where he found\nthe eunuchs asleep. He drugged them with hemp-fumes;[FN#93] and, taking\nthe Caliph's dress; dagger, rosary, kerchief, signet-ring and the\nlanthorn whereupon were the pearls, returned whence he came and betook\nhimself to the house of Ala al-Din, who had that night celebrated his\nwedding festivities with Jessamine and had gone in unto her and gotten\nher with child. So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim climbed over into his\nsaloon and, raising one of the marble slabs from the sunken part of the\nfloor,[FN#94] dug a hole under it and laid the stolen things therein,\nall save the lanthorn, which he kept for himself. Then he plastered\ndown the marble slab as it before was, and returning whence he came,\nwent back to his own house, saying, \"I will now tackle my drink and set\nthis lanthorn before me and quaff the cup to its light.\"[FN#95] Now as\nsoon as it was dawn of day, the Caliph went out into the\nsitting-chamber; and, seeing the eunuchs drugged with hemp, aroused\nthem. Then he put his hand to the chair and found neither dress nor\nsignet nor rosary nor dagger-sword nor kerchief nor lanthorn; whereat\nhe was exceeding wroth and donning the dress of anger, which was a\nscarlet suit,[FN#96] sat down in the Divan. So the Wazir Ja'afar came\nforward and kissing the ground before him, said, \"Allah avert all evil\nfrom the Commander of the Faithful!\" Answered the Caliph, \"O Wazir, the\nevil is passing great!\" Ja'afar asked, \"What has happened?\" so he told\nhim what had occurred; and, behold, the Chief of Police appeared with\nAhmad Kamakim the robber at his stirrup, when he found the Commander of\nthe Faithful sore enraged. As soon as the Caliph saw him, he said to\nhim, \"O Emir Kh\u0431lid, how goes Baghdad?\" And he answered, \"Safe and\nsecure.\" Cried he \"Thou liest!\" \"How so, O Prince of True Believers?\"\nasked the Emir. So he told him the case and added, \"I charge thee to\nbring me back all the stolen things.\" Replied the Emir, \"O Commander of\nthe Faithful, the vinegar worm is of and in the vinegar, and no\nstranger can get at this place.\"[FN#97] But the Caliph said, \"Except\nthou bring me these things, I will put thee to death.\" Quoth he, \"Ere\nthou slay me, slay Ahmad Kamakim, for none should know the robber and\nthe traitor but the Captain of the Watch.\" Then came forward Ahmad\nKamakim and said to the Caliph, \"Accept my intercession for the Chief\nof Police, and I will be responsible to thee for the thief and will\ntrack his trail till I find him; but give me two Kazis and two\nAssessors for he who did this thing feareth thee not, nor cloth he fear\nthe Governor nor any other.\" Answered the Caliph, \"Thou shalt have what\nthou wantest; but let search be made first in my palace and then in\nthose of the Wazir and the Chief of the Sixty.\" Rejoined Ahmad Kamakim,\n\"Thou sayest well, O Commander of the Faith ful; belike the man that\ndid this ill deed be one who hath been reared in the King's household\nor in that of one of his officers.\" Cried the Caliph, \"As my head\nliveth, whosoever shall have done the deed I will assuredly put him to\ndeath, be it mine own son!\" Then Ahmad Kamakim received a written\nwarrant to enter and perforce search the houses;\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ahmad Kamakim got\nwhat he wanted, and received a written warrant to enter and perforce\nsearch the houses; so he fared forth, taking in his hand a rod[FN#98]\nmade of bronze and copper, iron and steel, of each three equal-parts.\nHe first searched the palace of the Caliph, then that of the Wazir\nJa'afar; after which he went the round of the houses of the\nChamberlains and the Viceroys till he came to that of Ala al-Din. Now\nwhen the Chief of the Sixty heard the clamour before his house, he left\nhis wife Jessamine and went down and, opening the door, found the\nMaster of Police without in the midst of a tumultuous crowd. So he\nsaid, \"What is the matter, O Emir Kh\u0431lid?\" Thereupon the Chief told him\nthe case and Ala al-Din said, \"Enter my house and search it.\" The\nGovernor replied, \"Pardon, O my lord; thou art a man in whom trust is\nreposed and Allah forfend that the trusty turn traitor!\" Quoth Ala\nal-Din, \"There is no help for it but that my house be searched.\" So the\nChief of Police entered, attended by the Kazi and his Assessors;\nwhereupon Ahmad Kamakim went straight to the depressed floor of the\nsaloon and came to the slab, under which he had buried the stolen goods\nand let the rod fall upon it with such violence that the marble broke\nin sunder and behold something glittered underneath. Then said he,\n\"Bismillah; in the name of Allah! Mashallah; whatso Allah willeth! By\nthe blessing of our coming a hoard hath been hit upon, wait while we go\ndown into this hiding-place and see what is therein.\" So the Kazi and\nAssessors looked into the hole and finding there the stolen goods, drew\nup a statement[FN#99] of how they had discovered them in Ala al-Din's\nhouse, to which they set their seals. Then, they bade seize upon Ala\nal-Din and took his turban from his head, and officially registered all\nhis monies and effects which were in the mansion. Meanwhile, arch-thief\nAhmad Kamakim laid hands on Jessamine, who was with child by Ala\nal-Din, and committed her to his mother, saying, \"Deliver her to\nKhatun, the Governor's lady:\" so the old woman took her and carried her\nto the wife of the Master of Police. Now as soon as Habzalam Bazazah\nsaw her, health and heart returned to him and he arose without stay or\ndelay and joyed with exceeding joy and would have drawn near her; but\nshe plucks a dagger from her girdle and said, \"Keep off from me, or I\nwill kill thee and kill myself after.\" Exclaimed his mother, \"O\nstrumpet, let my son have his will of thee!\" But Jessamine answered \"O\nbitch, by what law is it lawful for a woman to marry two men; and how\nshall the dog be admitted to the place of the lion?\" With this, the\nugly youth's love-longing redoubled and he sickened for yearning and\nunfulfilled desire; and refusing food returned to his pillow. Then said\nhis mother to her, \"O harlot, how canst thou make me thus to sorrow for\nmy son? Needs must I punish thee with torture, and as for Ala al-Din,\nhe will assuredly be hanged.\" \"And I will die for love of him,\"\nanswered Jessamine. Then the Governor's wife arose and stripped her of\nher jewels and silken raiment and, clothing her in petticoat-trousers\nof sack-cloth and a shift of hair-cloth, sent her down into the kitchen\nand made her a scullery-wench, saying, \"The reward for thy constancy\nshall be to break up fire-wood and peel onions and set fire under the\ncooking-pots.\" Quoth she, \"I am willing to suffer all manner of\nhardships and servitude, but I will not suffer the sight of thy son.\"\nHowever, Allah inclined the hearts of the slave-girls to her and they\nused to do her service in the kitchen. Such was the case with\nJessamine; but as regards Ala al-Din they carried him, together with\nthe stolen goods, to the Divan where the Caliph still sat upon his\nthrone. And behold, the King looked upon his effects and said, \"Where\ndid ye find them?\" They replied, \"In the very middle of the house\nbelonging to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat;\" whereat the Caliph was filled\nwith wrath and took the things, but found not the lanthorn among them\nand said, \"O Ala al-Din, where is the lanthorn?\" He answered \"I stole\nit not, I know naught of it; I never saw it; I can give no information\nabout it!\" Said the Caliph, \"O traitor, how cometh it that I brought\nthee near unto me and thou hast cast me out afar, and I trusted in thee\nand thou betrayest me?\" And he commanded to hang him. So the Chief of\nPolice took him and went down with him into the city, whilst the crier\npreceded them proclaiming aloud and saying, \"This is the reward and the\nleast of the reward he shall receive who doth treason against the\nCaliphs of True Belief!\" And the folk flocked to the place where the\ngallows stood. Thus far concerning him; but as regards Ahmad al-Danaf,\nAla al-Din's adopted father, he was sitting making merry with his\nfollowers in a garden, and carousing and pleasuring when lo! in came\none of the water-carriers of the Divan and, kissing the hand of Ahmad\nal-Danaf, said to him, \"O Captain Ahmad, O Danaf! thou sittest at thine\nease with water flowing at thy feet,[FN#100] and thou knowest not what\nhath happened.\" Asked Ahmad, \"What is it?\" and the other answered,\n\"They have gone down to the gallows with thy son Ala al-Din, adopted by\na covenant before Allah!\" Quoth Ahmad, \"What is the remedy here, O\nHasan Shuuman, and what sayst thou of this?\" He replied, \"Assuredly Ala\nal-Din is innocent and this blame hath come to him from some one\nenemy.\"[FN#101] Quoth Ahmad, \"What counsellest thou?\" and Hasan said,\n\"We must rescue him, Inshallah!\" Then he went to the jail and said to\nthe gaolor, \"Give us some one who deserveth death.\" So he gave him one\nthat was likest of men to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; and they covered\nhis head and carried him to the place of execution between Ahmad\nal-Danaf and Ali al-Zaybak of Cairo.[FN#102] Now they had brought Ala\nal-Din to the gibbet, to hang him, but Ahmad al-Danaf came forward and\nset his foot on that of the hangman, who said, \"Give me room to do my\nduty.\" He replied, \"O accursed, take this man and hang him in Ala\nal-Din's stead; for he is innocent and we will ransom him with this\nfellow, even as Abraham ransomed Ishmael with the ram.\"[FN#103] So the\nhangman seized the man and hanged him in lieu of Ala al-Din; whereupon\nAhmad and Ali took Ala al-Din and carried him to Ahmad's quarters and,\nwhen there, Ala al-Din turned to him and said, \"O my sire and chief,\nAllah requite thee with the best of good!\" Quoth he, \"O Ala al-Din\"\u2014\nAnd Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Calamity Ahmad\ncried, \"O Ala al-Din, what is this deed thou hast done? The mercy of\nAllah be on him who said, 'Whoso trusteth thee betray him not, e'en if\nthou be a traitor.' Now the Caliph set thee in high place about him and\nstyled thee 'Trusty' and 'Faithful'; how then couldst thou deal thus\nwith him and steal his goods?\" \"By the Most Great Name, O my father and\nchief,\" replied Ala al-Din, \"I had no hand in this, nor did I such\ndeed, nor know I who did it.\" Quoth Ahmad, \"Of a surety none did this\nbut a manifest enemy and whoso doth aught shall be requited for his\ndeed; but, O Ala al-Din, thou canst sojourn no longer in Baghdad, for\nKings, O my son, may not pass from one thing to another, and when they\ngo in quest of a man, ah! longsome is his travail.\" \"Whither shall I\ngo, O my chief?\" asked Ala al-Din; and he answered, \"O my son, I will\nbring thee to Alexandria, for it is a blessed place; its threshold is\ngreen and its sojourn is agreeable.\" And Ala al-Din rejoined, \"I hear\nand I obey, O my chief.\" So Ahmad said to Hasan Shuuman, \"Be mindful\nand, when the Caliph asketh for me, say, 'He is gone touring about the\nprovinces'.\" Then, taking Ala al-Din, he went forth of Baghdad and\nstayed not going till they came to the outlying vineyards and gardens,\nwhere they met two Jews of the Caliph's tax-gatherers, riding on mules.\nQuoth Ahmad Al-Danaf to these, \"Give me the black-mail.\"[FN#104] and\nquoth they, \"Why should we pay thee black mail?\" whereto he replied,\n\"Because I am the watchman of this valley.\" So they gave him each an\nhundred gold pieces, after which he slew them and took their mules, one\nof which he mounted, whilst Ala al-Din bestrode the other. Then they\nrode on till they came to the city of Ay\u0431s[FN#105] and put up their\nbeasts for the night at the Khan. And when morning dawned, Ala al-Din\nsold his own mule and committed that of Ahmad to the charge of the\ndoor-keeper of the caravanserai, after which they took ship from Ayas\nport and sailed to Alexandria. Here they landed and walked up to the\nbazar and behold, there was a broker crying a shop and a chamber behind\nit for nine hundred and fifty dinars. Upon this Ala al-Din bid a\nthousand which the broker accepted, for the premises belonged to the\nTreasury; and the seller handed over to him the keys and the buyer\nopened the shop and found the inner parlour furnished with carpets and\ncushions. Moreover, he found there a store-room full of sails and\nmasts, cordage and seamen's chests, bags of beads and cowrie[FN#106]-\nshells, stirrups, battle-axes, maces, knives, scissors and such\nmatters, for the last owner of the shop had been a dealer in\nsecond-hand goods.[FN#107]ook his seat in the shop and Ahmad al-Danaf\nsaid to him, \"O my son, the shop and the room and that which is therein\nare become thine; so tarry thou here and buy and sell; and repine not\nat thy lot for Almighty Allah blesseth trade.\" After this he abode with\nhim three days and on the fourth he took leave of him, saying, \"Abide\nhere till I go back and bring thee the Caliph's pardon and learn who\nhath played thee this trick.\" Then he shipped for Ayas, where he took\nthe mule from the inn and, returning to Baghdad met Pestilence Hasan\nand his followers, to whom said he, \"Hath the Caliph asked after me?\";\nand he replied, \"No, nor hast thou come to his thought.\" So he resumed\nhis service about the Caliph's person and set himself to sniff about\nfor news of Ala al-Din's case, till one day he heard the Caliph say to\nthe Watir, \"See, O Ja'afar, how Ala al-Din dealt with me!\" Replied the\nMinister, \"O Commander of the Faithful, thou hast requited him with\nhanging and hath he not met with his reward?\" Quoth he, \"O Wazir, I\nhave a mind to go down and see him hanging;\" and the Wazir answered,\n\"Do what thou wilt, O Commander of the Faithful.\" So the Caliph,\naccompanied by Ja'afar, went down to the place of execution and,\nraising his eyes, saw the hanged man to be other than Ala al-Din Abu\nal-Shamat, surnamed the Trusty, and said, \"O Wazir, this is not Ala\nal-Din!\" \"How knowest thou that it is not he?\" asked the Minister, and\nthe Caliph answered, \"Ala al-Din was short and this one is tall \" Quoth\nJa'afar, \"Hanging stretcheth.\" Quoth the Caliph, \"Ala al-Din was fair\nand this one's face is black.\" Said Ja'afar \"Knowest thou not, O\nCommander of the Faithful, that death is followed by blackness?\" Then\nthe Caliph bade take down the body from the gallows tree and they found\nthe names of the two Shaykhs, Abu Bakr and Omar, written on its\nheels[FN#108] whereupon cried the Caliph, \"O Wazir, Ala al Din was a\nSunnite, and this fellow is a Rejecter, a Shi'ah.\" He answered, \"Glory\nbe to Allah who knoweth the hidden things, while we know not whether\nthis was Ala al-Din or other than he.\" Then the Caliph bade bury the\nbody and they buried it; and Ala al-Din was forgotten as though he\nnever had been. Such was his case; but as regards Habzalam Bazazah, the\nEmir Kh\u0431lid's son, he ceased not to languish for love and longing till\nhe died and they joined him to the dust. And as for the young wife\nJessamine, she accomplished the months of her pregnancy and, being\ntaken with labour-pains, gave birth to a boy-child like unto the moon.\nAnd when her fellow slave-girls said to her, \"What wilt thou name him?\"\nshe answered, \"Were his father well he had named him; but now I will\nname him Asl\u0431n.\"[FN#109] She gave him suck for two successive years,\nthen weaned him, and he crawled and walked. Now it so came to pass that\none day, whilst his mother was busied with the service of the kitchen,\nthe boy went out and, seeing the stairs, mounted to the\nguest-chamber.[FN#110] And the Emir Kh\u0431lid who was sitting there took\nhim upon his lap and glorified his Lord for that which he had created\nand fashioned then closely eyeing his face, the Governor saw that he\nwas the likest of all creatures to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat. Presently,\nhis mother Jessamine sought for him and finding him not, mounted to the\nguest-chamber, where she saw the Emir seated, with the child playing in\nhis lap, for Allah had inclined his heart to the boy. And when the\nchild espied his mother, he would have thrown himself upon her; but the\nEmir held him tight to his bosom and said to Jessamine, \"Come hither, O\ndamsel.\" So she came to him, when he said to her, \"Whose son is this?\";\nand she replied, \"He is my son and the fruit of my vitals.\" \"And who is\nhis father?\" asked the Emir; and she answered, \"His father was Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat, but now he is become thy son.\" Quoth Kh\u0431lid, \"In\nvery sooth Ala al-Din was a traitor.\" Quoth she, \"Allah deliver him\nfrom treason! the Heavens forfend and forbid that the 'Trusty' should\nbe a traitor!\" Then said he, \"When this boy shall grow up and reach\nman's estate and say to thee, 'Who is my father?' say to him, 'Thou art\nthe son of the Emir Kh\u0431lid, Governor and Chief of Police.'\" And she\nanswered, \"I hear and I obey.\" Then he circumcised the boy and reared\nhim with the goodliest rearing, and engaged for him a professor of law\nand religious science, and an expert penman who taught him to read and\nwrite; so he read the Koran twice and learnt it by heart and he grew\nup, saying to the Emir, \"O my father!\" Moreover, the Governor used to\ngo down with him to the tilting-ground and assemble horsemen and teach\nthe lad the fashion of fight and fray, and the place to plant\nlance-thrust and sabre-stroke; so that by the time he was fourteen\nyears old, he became a valiant wight and accomplished knight and gained\nthe rank of Emir. Now it chanced one day that Aslan fell in with Ahmad\nKamakim, the arch-thief, and accompanied him as cup- companion to the\ntavern[FN#111] and behold, Ahmad took out the jewelled lanthorn he had\nstolen from the Caliph and, setting it before him, pledged the wine cup\nto its light, till he became drunken. So Aslan said to him, \"O Captain,\ngive me this lanthorn;\" but he replied, \"I cannot give it to thee.\"\nAsked Aslan, \"Why not?\"; and Ahmad answered, \"Because lives have been\nlost for it.\" \"Whose life?\" enquired Aslan; and Ahmad rejoined, \"There\ncame hither a man who was made Chief of the Sixty; he was named Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat and he lost his life through this lanthorn.\" Quoth\nAslan, \"And what was that story, and what brought about his death?\"\nQuoth Ahmad Kamakim, \"Thou hadst an elder brother by name Hahzalam\nBazazah, and when he reached the age of sixteen and was ripe for\nmarriage, thy father would have bought him a slave-girl named\nJessamine.\" And he went on to tell him the whole story from first to\nlast of Habzalam Bazazah's illness and what befell Ala al-Din in his\ninnocence. When Aslan heard this, he said in thought, \"Haply this\nslave-girl was my mother Jessamine, and my father was none other than\nAla al-Din Abu al-Shamat.\" So the boy went out from him sorrowful, and\nmet Calamity Ahmad, who at sight of him exclaimed, \"Glory be to Him\nunto whom none is like!\" Asked Hasan the Pestilence, \"Whereat dost thou\nmarvel, O my chief?\" and Ahmad the Calamity replied, \"At the make of\nyonder boy Aslan, for he is the likest of human creatures to Ala al-Din\nAbu al-Shamat.\" Then he called the lad and said to him, \"O Aslan what\nis thy mother's name?\"; to which he replied, \"She is called the damsel\nJessamine;\" and the other said, \"Harkye, Aslan, be of good cheer and\nkeep thine eyes cool and clear; for thy father was none other than Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat: but, O my son, go thou in to thy mother and\nquestion her of thy father.\" He said, \"Hearkening and obedience,\" and,\ngoing in to his mother put the question; whereupon quoth she, \"Thy sire\nis the Emir Kh\u0431lid!\" \"Not so,\" rejoined he, \"my father was none other\nthan Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat.\" At this the mother wept and said, \"Who\nacquainted thee with this, O my son?\" And he answered \"Ahmad al-Danaf,\nCaptain of the Guard.\" So she told him the whole story, saying, \"O my\nson, the True hath prevailed and the False hath failed:[FN#112] know\nthat Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat was indeed thy sire, but it was none save\nthe Emir Kh\u0431lid who reared thee and adopted thee as his son. And now, O\nmy child, when thou seest Ahmad al-Danaf the captain, do thou say to\nhim, 'I conjure thee, by Allah, O my chief, take my blood-revenge on\nthe murderer of my father Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat!'\" So he went out\nfrom his mother,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Aslan went out\nfrom his mother and, betaking himself to Calamity Ahmad, kissed his\nhand. Quoth the captain, \"What aileth thee, O Aslan?\" and quoth he, \"I\nknow now for certain that my father was Ali al-Din Abu al-Shamat and I\nwould have thee take my blood-revenge on his murderer.\" He asked, \"And\nwho was thy father's murderer?\" whereto Aslan answered, \"Ahmad Kamakim\nthe arch-thief.\" \"Who told thee this?\" enquired he, and Aslan rejoined,\n\"I saw in his hand the jewelled lanthorn which was lost with the rest\nof the Caliph's gear, and I said to him, 'Give me this lanthorn!' but\nhe refused, saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this'; and told\nme it was he who had broken into the palace and stolen the articles and\ndeposited them in my father's house.\" Then said Ahmad al-Danaf, \"When\nthou seest the Emir Kh\u0431lid don his harness of war, say to him, 'Equip\nme like thyself and take me with thee.' Then do thou go forth and\nperform some feat of prowess before the Commander of the Faithful, and\nhe will say to thee, 'Ask a boon of me, O Aslan!' And do thou make\nanswer, 'I ask of thee this boon, that thou take my blood-revenge on my\nfather's murderer.' If he say, 'Thy father is yet alive and is the Emir\nKh\u0431lid, the Chief of the Police'; answer thou, 'My father was Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat, and the Emir Kh\u0431lid hath a claim upon me only as\nthe foster-father who adopted me.' Then tell him all that passed\nbetween thee and Ahmad Kamakim and say, 'O Prince of True Believers,\norder him to be searched and I will bring the lanthorn forth from his\nbosom.'\" Thereupon said Aslan to him, \"I hear and obey;\" and, returning\nto the Emir Kh\u0431lid, found him making ready to repair to the Caliph's\ncourt and said to him, \"I would fain have thee arm and harness me like\nthyself and take me with thee to the Divan.\" So he equipped him and\ncarried him thither. Then the Caliph sallied forth of Baghdad with his\ntroops and they pitched tents and pavilions without the city; whereupon\nthe host divided into two parties and forming ranks fell to playing\nPolo, one striking the ball with the mall, and another striking it back\nto him. Now there was among the troops a spy, who had been hired to\nslay the Caliph; so he took the ball and smiting it with the bat drove\nit straight at the Caliph's face, when behold, Aslan fended it off and\ncatching it drove it back at him who smote it, so that it struck him\nbetween the shoulders and he fell to the ground. The Caliph exclaimed,\n\"Allah bless thee, O Aslan!\" and they all dismounted and sat on chairs.\nThen the Caliph bade them bring the smiter of the ball before him and\nsaid, \"Who tempted thee to do this thing and art thou friend or foe?\"\nQuoth he, \"I am thy foe and it was my purpose to kill thee.\" Asked the\nCaliph \"And wherefore? Art not a Moslem?\" Replied the spy; \"No' I am a\nRejecter.''[FN#113] So the Caliph bade them put him to death and said\nto Aslan, \"Ask a boon of me.\" Quoth he, \"I ask of thee this boon, that\nthou take my blood-revenge on my father's murderer.\" He said, \"Thy\nfather is alive and there he stands on his two feet.\" \"And who is he?\"\nasked Aslan, and the Caliph answered, \"He is the Emir Kh\u0431lid, Chief of\nPolice.\" Rejoined Aslan, \"O Commander of the Faithful, he is no father\nof mine, save by right of fosterage; my father was none other than Ala\nal-Din Abu al Shamat.\" \"Then thy father was a traitor,\" cried the\nCaliph. \"Allah forbid, O Commander of the Faithful,\" rejoined Aslan,\n\"that the 'Trusty' should be a traitor! But how did he betray thee?\"\nQuoth the Caliph, \"He stole my habit and what was therewith.\" Aslan\nretorted, \"O Commander of the Faithful, Allah forfend that my father\nshould be a traitor! But, O my lord, when thy habit was lost and found\ndidst thou likewise recover the lanthorn which was stolen from thee?\"\nAnswered the Caliph, \"We never got it back,\" and Aslan said, \"I saw it\nin the hands of Ahmad Kamakim and begged it of him; but he refused to\ngive it me, saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this.' Then he\ntold me of the sickness of Habzalam Bazazah, son of the Emir Kh\u0431lid, by\nreason of his passion for the damsel Jessamine, and how he himself was\nreleased from bonds and that it was he who stole the habit and the\nlamp: so do thou, O Commander of the Faithful, take my blood-revenge\nfor my father on him who murdered him.\" At once the Caliph cried,\n\"Seize ye Ahmad Kamakim!\" and they seized him, whereupon he asked,\n\"Where be the Captain, Ahmad al-Danaf?\" And when he was summoned the\nCaliph bade him search Kamakim; so he put his hand into the thief's\nbosom and pulled out the lanthorn. Said the Caliph, \"Come hither, thou\ntraitor: whence hadst thou this lanthorn?\" and Kamakim replied, \"I\nbought it, O Commander of the Faithful!\" The Caliph rejoined, \"Where\ndidst thou buy it?\" Then they beat him till he owned that he had stolen\nthe lanthorn, the habit and the rest, and the Caliph said \"What moved\nthee to do this thing O traitor, and ruin Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the\nTrusty and Faithful?\" Then he bade them lay hands on him and on the\nChief of Police, but the Chief said, \"O Commander of the Faithful,\nindeed I am unjustly treated thou badest me hang him, and I had no\nknowledge of this trick, for the plot was contrived between the old\nwoman and Ahmad Kamakim and my wife. I crave thine\nintercession,[FN#114] O Aslan.\" So Aslan interceded for him with the\nCaliph, who said, \"What hath Allah done with this youngster's mother?\"\nAnswered Kh\u0431lid, \"She is with me,\" and the Caliph continued, \"I command\nthat thou order thy wife to dress her in her own clothes and ornaments\nand restore her to her former degree, a lady of rank; and do thou\nremove the seals from Ala al-Din's house and give his son possession of\nhis estate.\" \"I hear and obey,\" answered Kh\u0431lid; and, going forth, gave\nthe order to his wife who clad Jessamine in her own apparel; whilst he\nhimself removed the seals from Ala al-Din's house and gave Aslan the\nkeys. Then said the Caliph, \"Ask a boon of me, O Aslan;\" and he\nreplied, \"I beg of thee the boon to unite me with my father.\" Whereat\nthe Caliph wept and said, \"Most like thy sire was he that was hanged\nand is dead; but by the life of my forefathers, whoso bringeth me the\nglad news that he is yet in the bondage of this life, I will give him\nall he seeketh!\" Then came forward Ahmad al-Danaf and, kissing the\nground between his hands, said, \"Grant me indemnity, O Commander of the\nFaithful!\" \"Thou hast it,\" answered the Caliph; and Calamity Ahmad\nsaid, \"I give thee the good news that Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the\nTrusty, the Faithful, is alive and well.\" Quoth the Caliph \"What is\nthis thou sayest?\" Quoth Al-Danaf, \"As thy head liveth I say sooth; for\nI ransomed him with another, of those who deserved death; and carried\nhim to Alexandria, where I opened for him a shop and set him up as a\ndealer in second hand goods.\" Then said the Prince of True\nBelievers,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph\nordered Calamity Ahmad, saying, \"I charge thee fetch him to me;\" and\nthe other replied, \"To hear is to obey;\" whereupon the Caliph bade them\ngive him ten thousand gold pieces and he fared forth for Alexandria. On\nthis wise it happed with Aslan; but as regards his father, Ala al-Din\nAbu al-Shamat, he sold in course of time all that was in his shop\nexcepting a few things and amongst them a long bag of leather. And\nhappening to shake the bag there fell out a jewel which filled the palm\nof the hand, hanging to a chain of gold and having many facets but\nespecially five, whereon were names and talismanic characters, as they\nwere ant-tracks. So he rubbed each face; but none answered him[FN#115]\nand he said to himself, \"Doubtless it is a piece of variegated onyx;\"\nand then hung it up in the shop. And behold, a Consul[FN#116] passed\nalong the street; and, raising his eyes, saw the jewel hanging up; so\nhe seated himself over against the shop and said to Ala al-Din, \"O my\nlord, is the jewel for sale?\" He answered, \"All I have is for sale.\"\nThereupon the Frank said, \"Wilt thou sell me that same for eighty\nthousand dinars?\" \"Allah open!\" replied Ala al-Din. The Frank asked,\n\"Wilt thou sell it for an hundred thousand dinars?\", and he answered,\n\"I sell it to thee for a hundred thousand dinars; pay me down the\nmonies.\" Quoth the Consul, \"I cannot carry about such sum as its price,\nfor there be robbers and sharpers in Alexandria; but come with me to my\nship and I will pay thee the price and give thee to boot a bale of\nAngora wool, a bale of satin, a bale of velvet and a bale of\nbroadcloth.\" So Ala al-Din rose and locked up his shop, after giving\nthe jewel to the Frank, and committed the keys to his neighbour,\nsaying, \"Keep these keys in trust for me, whilst I go with this Consul\nto his ship and return with the price of my jewel. If I be long absent\nand there come to thee Ahmad al-Danaf, the Captain who stablished me in\nthis shop, give him the keys and tell him where I am.\" Then he went\nwith the Consul to his ship and no sooner had he boarded it than the\nPrank set him a stool and, making him sit down, said to his men, \"Bring\nthe money.\" So they brought it and he paid him the price of the jewel\nand gave him the four bales he had promised him and one over; after\nwhich he said to him, \"O my lord, honour me by accepting a bite or a\nsup.\" And Ala al-Din answered, \"If thou have any water, give me to\ndrink.\" So the Frank called for sherbets and they brought drink drugged\nwith Bhang, of which no sooner had Ala al-Din drunk, than he fell over\non his back; whereupon they stowed away the chairs and shipped the\nshoving-poles and made sail. Now the wind blew fair for them till it\ndrove them into blue water, and when they were beyond sight of land the\nKapt\u0431n[FN#117] bade bring Ala al-Din up out of the hold and made him\nsmell the counter-drug of Bhang; whereupon he opened his eyes and said,\n\"Where am I?\" He replied, \"Thou art bound and in my power and if thou\nhadst said, Allah open! to an hundred thousand dinars for the jewel, I\nwould have bidden thee more.\" \"What art thou?\" asked Ala al-Din, and\nthe other answered, \"I am a sea-captain and mean to carry thee to my\nsweetheart.\" Now as they were talking, behold, a strip hove in sight\ncarrying forty Moslem merchants; so the Frank captain attacked the\nvessel and made fast to it with grappling-irons; then he boarded it\nwith his men and took it and plundered it; after which he sailed on\nwith his prize, till he reached the city of Genoa. There the Kaptan,\nwho was carrying off Ala al-Din, landed and repaired to a palace whose\npastern gave upon the sea, and behold, there came down to him a damsel\nin a chin-veil who said, \"Hast thou brought the jewel and the owner?\"\n\"I have brought them both,\" answered he; and she said, \"Then give me\nthe jewel.\" So he gave it to her; and, returning to the port, fired his\ncannon to announce his safe return; whereupon the King of the city,\nbeing notified of that Kaptan's arrival, came down to receive him and\nasked him, \"How hath been this voyage?\" He answered, \"A right\nprosperous one, and while voyaging I have made prize of a ship with\none-and-forty Moslem merchants.\" Said the King, \"Land them at the\nport:\" so he landed the merchants in irons and Ala al-Din among the\nrest; and the King and the Kaptan mounted and made the captives walk\nbefore them till they reached the audience-chamber, when the Franks\nseated themselves and caused the prisoners to pass in parade order, one\nby one before the King who said to the first, \"O Moslem, whence comest\nthou?\" He answered, \"From Alexandria;\" whereupon the King said, \"O\nheadsman, put him to death.\" So the sworder smote him with the sword\nand cut off his head: and thus it fared with the second and the third,\ntill forty were dead and there remained but Ala al-Din, who drank the\ncup of his comrades' sighs and agony and said to himself, \"Allah have\nmercy on thee, O Ala al-Din Thou art a dead man.\" Then said the King to\nhim, \"And thou, what countryman art thou?\" He answered, \"I am of\nAlexandria,\" and the King said, \"O headsman, strike off his head.\" So\nthe sworder raised arm and sword, and was about to strike when behold,\nan old woman of venerable aspect presented herself before the King, who\nrose to do her honour, and said to him, \"O King, did I not bid thee\nremember, when the Captain came back with captives, to keep one or two\nfor the convent, to serve in the church?\" The King replied, \"O my\nmother, would thou hadst come a while earlier! But take this one that\nis left.\" So she turned to Ala al-Din and said to him, \"Say, wilt thou\nserve in the church, or shall I let the King slay thee?\" Quoth he, \"I\nwill serve in the church.\" So she took him and carried him forth of the\ncourt and went to the church, where he said to her, \"What service must\nI do?\" She replied, \"Thou must rise with the dawn and take five mules\nand go with them to the forest and there cut dry fire-wood and saw it\nshort and bring it to the convent-kitchen. Then must thou take up the\ncarpets and sweep and wipe the stone and marble pavements and lay the\ncarpets down again, as they were; after which thou must take two\nbushels and a half of wheat and bolt it and grind it and knead it and\nmake it into cracknels[FN#118] for the convent; and thou must take also\na bushel of lentils[FN#119] and sift and crush and cook them. Then must\nthou fetch water in barrels and fill the four fountains; after which\nthou must take three hundred and threescore and six wooden bowls and\ncrumble the cracknels therein and pour of the lentil-pottage over each\nand carry every monk and patriarch his bowl.\" Said Ala al-Din,[FN#120]\n\"Take me back to the King and let him kill me, it were easier to me\nthan this service.\" Replied the old woman, \"If thou do truly and\nrightly the service that is due from thee thou shalt escape death; but,\nif thou do it not, I will let the King kill thee.\" And with these words\nAla al-Din was left sitting heavy at heart. Now there were in the\nchurch ten blind cripples, and one of them said to him, \"Bring me a\npot.\" So he brought it him and he cacked and eased himself therein and\nsaid, \"Throw away the ordure.\" He did so, and the blind man said, \"The\nMessiah's blessing be upon thee, O servant of the church!\" Presently\nbehold, the old woman came in and said to him, \"Why hast thou not done\nthy service in the church?\" Answered he, \"How many hands have I, that I\nshould suffice for all this work?\" She rejoined, 'Thou fool, I brought\nthee not hither except to work;\" and she added, \"Take, O my son, this\nrod (which was of copper capped with a cross) and go forth into the\nhighway and, when thou meetest the governor of the city, say to him, 'I\nsummon thee to the service of the church, in the name of our Lord the\nMessiah.' And he will not disobey thee. Then make him take the wheat,\nsift, grind, bolt, knead, and bake it into cracknels; and if any\ngainsay thee, beat him and fear none.\" \"To hear is to obey,\" answered\nhe and did as she said, and never ceased pressing great and small into\nhis service; nor did he leave to do thus for the space of seventeen\nyears. Now one day as he sat in church, lo! the old woman came to him\nand said, \"Go forth of the convent.\" He asked, \"Whither shall I go?\"\nand she answered, \"Thou canst pass the night in a tavern or with one of\nthy comrades.\" Quoth he, \"Why dost thou send me forth of the church?\"\nand quote she, \"The Princess Husn Maryam, daughter of Yohann\u0431,[FN#121]\nKing of this city, purposeth to visit the church and it befitteth not\nthat any abide in her way.\" So he made a show of obeying her orders and\nrose up and pretended that he was leaving the church; but he said in\nhis mind, \"I wonder whether the Princess is like our women or fairer\nthan they! At any rate I will not go till I have had a look at her.\" So\nhe hid himself in a closet with a window looking into the church and,\nas he watched, behold, in came the King's daughter. He cast at her one\nglance of eyes that cost him a thousand sighs, for he found her like\nthe full moon when it cometh swimming out of the clouds; and he saw\nwith her a young lady,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ala al-Din\nlooked at the King's daughter, he saw with her a young lady to whom he\nheard her say, \"Thy company hath cheered me, O Zubaydah.\" So he looked\nstraitly at the damsel and found her to be none other than his dead\nwife, Zubaydah the Lutist. Then the Princess said to Zubaydah, \"Come,\nplay us an air on the lute.\" But she answered, \"I will make no music\nfor thee, till thou grant my wish and keep thy word to me.\" Asked the\nPrincess, \"And what did I promise thee?\"; and Zubaydah answered, \"That\nthou wouldst reunite me with my husband Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the\nTrusty, the Faithful.\" Rejoined the Princess, \"O Zubaydah, be of good\ncheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear; play us a piece as a\nthank-offering and an ear-feast for reunion with thy husband Ala\nal-Din.\" \"Where is he?\" asked Zubaydah, and Maryam answered, \"He is in\nyonder closet listening to our words.\" So Zubaydah played on the lute a\nmelody which had made a rock dance for glee; and when Ala al-Din heard\nit, his bowels yearned towards her and he came forth from the closet\nand, throwing himself upon his wife Zubaydah, strained her to his\nbosom. She also knew him and the twain embraced and fell to the ground\nin a swoon. Then came forward the Princess Husn Maryam and sprinkled\nrose water on them, till they revived when she said to them, \"Allah\nhath reunited you.\" Replied Ala al-Din, \"By thy kind of offices, O\nlady.\" Then, turning to his wife, he said to her, \"O Zubaydah, thou\ndidst surely die and we tombed thee in the tomb: how then returnedst\nthou to life and camest thou to this place?\" She answered, \"O my lord,\nI did not die; but an Aun[FN#122] of the Jinn snatched me up and dew\nwith me hither. She whom thou buriedst was a Jinniyah, who shaped\nherself to my shape and feigned herself dead; but when you entombed her\nshe broke open the tomb and came forth from it and returned to the\nservice of this her mistress, the Princess Husn Maryam. As for me I was\npossessed[FN#123] and, when I opened my eyes, I found myself with this\nPrincess thou seest; so I said to her, 'Why hast thou brought me\nhither?' Replied she, 'I am predestined to marry thy husband, Ala\nal-Din Abu al-Shamat: wilt thou then, O Zubaydah, accept me to\nco-consort, a night for me and a night for thee?' Rejoined I, 'To hear\nis to obey, O my lady, but where is my husband?' Quoth she, 'Upon his\nforehead is written what Allah hath decreed to him; as soon as the\nwriting which is there writ is fulfilled to him, there is no help for\nit but he come hither, and we will beguile the time of our separation\nfrom him with songs and playing upon instruments of music, till it\nplease Allah to unite us with him.' So I abode all these days with her\ntill Allah brought us together in this church.\" Then Husn Maryam turned\nto him and said, \"O my lord, Ala al-Din, wilt thou be to me baron and I\nbe to thee femme?\" Quoth he, \"O my lady, I am a Moslem and thou art a\nNazarene; so how can I intermarry with thee?\" Quoth she, \"Allah forbid\nthat I should be an infidel! Nay, I am a Moslemah; for these eighteen\nyears I have held fast the Faith of Al-Islam and I am pure of any creed\nother than that of the Islamite.\" Then said he, \"O my lady, I desire a\nreturn to my native land;\" and she replied, \"Know that I see written on\nthy forehead things which thou must needs accomplish, and then thou\nshalt win to thy will. Moreover, be fief and fain, O Ala al-Din, that\nthere hath been born to thee a son named Aslan; who now being arrived\nat age of discretion, sitteth in thy place with the Caliph. Know also\nthat Truth hath prevailed and that Falsehood naught availed; and that\nthe Lord hath withdrawn the curtain of secrecy from him who stole the\nCaliph's goods, that is, Ahmad Kamakim the arch-thief and traitor; and\nhe now lieth bound and in jail. And know further 'twas I who sent thee\nthe jewel and had it put in the bag where thou foundest it, and 'twas I\nwho sent the captain that brought thee and the jewel; for thou must\nknow that the man is enamoured of me and seeketh my favours and would\npossess me; but I refused to yield to his wishes or let him have his\nwill of me; and I said him, 'Thou shalt never have me till thou bring\nme the jewel and its owner.' So I gave him an hundred purses and\ndespatched him to thee, in the habit of a merchant, whereas he is a\ncaptain and a war-man; and when they led thee to thy death after\nslaying the forty captives, I also sent thee this old woman to save\nthee from slaughter.\" Said he, \"Allah requite thee for us with all\ngood! Indeed thou hast done well.\" Then Husn Maryam renewed at his\nhands her profession of Al-Islam; and, when he was assured of the truth\nof her speech, he said to her, O my lady, tell me what are the virtues\nof this jewel and whence cometh it?\" She answered, \"This jewel came\nfrom an enchanted hoard, and it hath five virtues which will profit us\nin time of need. Now my lady grandmother, the mother of my father, was\nan enchantress and skilled in solving secrets and finding hidden\ntreasures from one of which came the jewel into her hands. And as I\ngrew up and reached the age of fourteen, I read the Evangel and other\nbooks and I found the name of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!)\nin the four books, namely the Evangel, the Pentateuch, the Psalms and\nthe Koran;[FN#124] so I believed in Mohammed and became a Moslemah,\nbeing certain and assured that none is worship worth save Allah\nAlmighty, and that to the Lord of all mankind no faith is acceptable\nsave that of Al-Islam. Now when my lady-grandmother fell sick, she gave\nme this jewel and taught me its five virtues. Moreover, before she\ndied, my father said to her, 'Take thy tablets of geomancy and throw a\nfigure, and tell us the issue of my affair and what will befal-me.' And\nshe foretold him that the far off one[FN#125] should die, slain by the\nhand of a captive from Alexandria. So he swore to kill every prisoner\nfrom that place and told the Kaptan of this, saying, 'There is no help\nfor it but thou fall on the ships of the Moslems and seize them and\nwhomsoever thou findest of Alexandria, kill him or bring him to me.'\nThe Captain did his bidding until he had slain as many in number as the\nhairs of his head. Then my grandmother died and I took a geomantic\ntablet, being minded and determined to know the future, and I said to\nmyself, 'Let me see who will wed me!' Whereupon I threw a figure and\nfound that none should be my husband save one called Ala al-Din Abu\nal-Shamat, the Trusty, the Faithful. At this I marvelled and waited\ntill the times were accomplished and I foregathered with thee.\" So Ala\nal-Din took her to wife and said to her, \"I desire to return to my own\ncountry.\" Quoth she, \"If it be so, rise up and come with me.\" Then she\ntook him and, hiding him in a closet of her palace, went in to her\nfather, who said to her, \"O my daughter, my heart is exceeding heavy\nthis day; sit down and let us make merry with wine, I and thou.\" So she\nsat down with him and he called for a table of wine; and she plied him\ntill he lost his wits, when she drugged a cup with Bhang and he drank\nit off and fell upon his back. Then she brought Ala al-Din out of the\ncloset and said to him, \"Come; verily thine enemy lieth prostrate, for\nI made him drunk and drugged him; so do thou with him as thou wilt.\"\nAccordingly Ala al-Din went to the King and, finding him lying drugged\nand helpless, pinioned him fast and manacled and fettered him with\nchains. Then he gave him the counter-drug and he came to himself,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din gave\nthe antidote of Bhang to King Yohanna, father of Husn Maryam, and he\ncame to himself and found Ala al-Din and his daughter sitting on his\nbreast. So he said to her, \"O my daughter, dost thou deal thus with\nme?\" She answered \"If I be indeed thy daughter, become a Moslem, even\nas I became a Moslemah, for the truth was shown to me and I attested\nit; and the false, and I deserted it. I have submitted myself unto\nAllah, The Lord of the Three Worlds, and am pure of all faiths contrary\nto that of Al-Islam in this world and in the next world. Wherefore, if\nthou wilt become a Moslem, well and good; if not, thy death were better\nthan thy life.\" Ala al-Din also exhorted him to embrace the True Faith;\nbut he refused and was contumacious; so Ala al-Din drew a dagger and\ncut his throat from ear to ear.[FN#126] Then he wrote a scroll, setting\nforth what had happened and laid it on the brow of the dead, after\nwhich they took what was light of load and weighty of worth and turned\nfrom the palace and returned to the church. Here the Princess drew\nforth the jewel and, placing her hand upon the facet where was figured\na couch, rubbed it; and behold, a couch appeared before her and she\nmounted upon it with Ala al-Din and his wife Zubaydah, the lutist,\nsaying, \"I conjure thee by the virtue of the names and talismans and\ncharacts engraver on this jewel, rise up with us, O Couch!\" And it rose\nwith them into the air and flew, till it came to a Wady wholly bare of\ngrowth, when the Princess turned earthwards the facet on which the\ncouch was figured, and it sank with them to the ground. Then she turned\nup the face where on was fashioned a pavilion and tapping it said, \"Let\na pavilion be pitched in this valley;\" and there appeared a pavilion,\nwherein they seated themselves. Now this Wady was a desert waste,\nwithout grass or water; so she turned a third face of the jewel towards\nthe sky, and said, \"By the virtue of the names of Allah, let trees\nupgrow here and a river flow beside them!\" And forthwith trees sprang\nup and by their side ran a river plashing and dashing. They made the\nablution and prayed and drank of the stream; after which the Princess\nturned up the three other facets till she came to the fourth, whereon\nwas portrayed a table of good, and said, \"By the virtue of the names of\nAllah, let the table be spread!\" And behold, there appeared before them\na table, spread with all manner of rich meats, and they ate and drank\nand made merry and were full of joy. Such was their case; but as\nregards Husn Maryam's father, his son went in to waken him and found\nhim slain; and, seeing Ala al-Din's scroll, took it and read it, and\nreadily understood it. Then he sought his sister and finding her not,\nbetook himself to the old woman in the church, of whom he enquired for\nher, but she said, \"Since yesterday I have not seen her.\" So he\nreturned to the troops and cried out, saying, \"To horse, ye horsemen!\"\nThen he told them what had happened, so they mounted and rode after the\nfugitives, till they drew near the pavilion. Presently Husn Maryam\narose and looked up and saw a cloud of dust which spread till it walled\nthe view, then it lifted and flew, and lo! stood disclosed her brother\nand his troops, crying aloud, \"Whither will ye fly, and we on your\ntrack!\" Then said she to Ala al-Din, \"Are thy feet firm in fight?\" He\nreplied, \"Even as the stake in bran, I know not war nor battle, nor\nswords nor spears.\" So she pulled out the jewel and rubbed the fifth\nface, that on which were graven a horse and his rider, and behold,\nstraightway a cavalier appeared out of the desert and ceased not to do\nbattle with the pursuing host and smite them with the sword, till he\nrouted them and put them to flight. Then the Princess asked Ala al-Din,\n\"Wilt thou go to Cairo or to Alexandria?\"; and he answered, \"To\nAlexandria.\" So they mounted the couch and she pronounced over it the\nconjuration, whereupon it set off with them and, in the twinkling of an\neye, brought them to Alexandria. They alighted without the city and Ala\nal-Din hid the women in a cavern, whilst he went into Alexandria and\nfetched them outer clothing, wherewith he covered them. Then he carried\nthem to his shop and, leaving them in the \"ben\"[FN#127] walked forth to\nfetch them the morning-meal, and behold he met Calamity Ahmad who\nchanced to be coming from Baghdad. He saw him in the street and\nreceived him with open arms, saluting him and welcoming him. Whereupon\nAhmad al-Danaf gave him the good news of his son Aslan and how he was\nnow come to the age of twenty: and Ala al-Din, in his turn, told the\nCaptain of the Guard all that had befallen him from first to last,\nwhereat he marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then he brought him to his\nshop and sitting room where they passed the night; and next day he sold\nhis place of business and laid its price with other monies. Now Ahmad\nal-Danaf had told him that the Caliph sought him; but he said, \"I am\nbound first for Cairo, to salute my father and mother and the people of\nmy house.\" So they all mounted the couch and it carried them to Cairo\nthe God-guarded; and here they alighted in the street called\nYellow,[FN#128] where stood the house of Shams al-Din. Then Ala al-Din\nknocked at the door, and his mother said, \"Who is at the door, now that\nwe have lost our beloved for evermore?\" He replied, \" 'Tis I! Ala\nal-Din!\" whereupon they came down and embraced him. Then he sent his\nwives and baggage into the house and entering himself with Ahmad\nal-Danaf, rested there three days, after which he was minded to set out\nfor Baghdad. His father said, \"Abide with me, O my son;\" but he\nanswered; \"I cannot bear to be parted from my child Aslan.\" So he took\nhis father and mother and fared forth for Baghdad. Now when they came\nthither, Ahmad al-Danaf went in to the Caliph and gave him the glad\ntidings of Ala al-Din's arrival\u2014and told him his story whereupon the\nKing went forth to greet him taking the youth Aslan, and they met and\nembraced each other. Then the Commander of the Faithful summoned the\narch-thief Ahmad Kamakim and said to Ala al-Din, \"Up and at thy foe!\"\nSo he drew his sword and smote off Ahmad Kamakim's head. Then the\nCaliph held festival for Ala al-Din and, summoning the Kazis and\nwitnesses, wrote the contract and married him to the Princess Husn\nMaryam; and he went in unto her and found her an unpierced pearl.\nMoreover, the Caliph made Aslan Chief of the Sixty and bestowed upon\nhim and his father sumptuous dresses of honour; and they abode in the\nenjoyment of all joys and joyance of life, till there came to them the\nDestroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. But the tales of\ngenerous men are manifold and amongst them is the story of\n\n\n\nHATIM OF THE TRIBE OF TAYY.\n\nIt is told of H\u0431tim of the tribe of Tayy,[FN#129] that when he died,\nthey buried him on the top of a mountain and set over his grave two\ntroughs hewn out of two rocks and stone girls with dishevelled hair. At\nthe foot of the hill was a stream of running water, and when wayfarers\ncamped there, they heard loud crying and keening in the night, from\ndark till daybreak; but when they arose in the morning, they found\nnothing but the girls carved in stone. Now when Z\u044a 'l-Kur\u0431'a,[FN#130]\nKing of Himyar, going forth of his tribe, came to that valley, he\nhalted to pass the night there,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zu 'l-\nKura'a passed by the valley he righted there, and, when he drew near\nthe mountain, he heard the keening and said, \"What lamenting is that on\nyonder hill?\" They answered him, saying, \"Verily this be the tomb of\nHatim al-T\u0431yy, over which are two troughs of stone and stone figures of\ngirls with dishevelled hair; and all who camp in this place by night\nhear this crying and keening.\" So he said jestingly, \"O Hatim of Tayy!\nwe are thy guests this night, and we are lank with hunger.\" Then sleep\novercame him, but presently he awoke in affright and cried out, saying,\n\"Help, O Arabs! Look to my beast!\" So they came to him, and finding his\nshe-camel struggling and struck down, they stabbed her in the throat\nand roasted her flesh and ate. Then they asked him what had happened\nand he said, \"When I closed my eyes, I saw in my sleep Hatim of Tayy\nwho came to me sword in hand and cried, 'Thou comest to us and we have\nnothing by us.' Then he smote my she- camel with his sword, and she had\nsurely died even though ye had not come to her and slaughtered\nher.\"[FN#131] Now when morning dawned the King mounted the beast of one\nof his companions and, taking the owner up behind him, set out and\nfared on till midday, when they saw a man coming towards them, mounted\non a camel and leading another, and said to him, \"Who art thou?\" He\nanswered, \"I am Adi,[FN#132] son of Hatim of Tayy; where is Zu\n'l-Kura'a, Emir of Himyar?\" Replied they, \"This is he;\" and he said to\nthe prince, \"Take this she-camel in place of thy beast which my father\nslaughtered for thee.\" Asked Zu 'l Kura'a, \"Who told thee of this?\" and\nAdi answered, \"My father appeared to me in a dream last night and said\nto me, 'Harkye, Adi; Zu 'l Kura'a King of Himyar, sought the guest-rite\nof me and I, having naught to give him, slaughtered his she-camel, that\nhe might eat: so do thou carry him a she-camel to ride, for I have\nnothing.'\" And Zu 'l-Kura'a took her, marvelling at the generosity of\nHatim of Tayy alive and dead. And amongst instances of generosity is\nthe\n\n\n\nTALE OF MA'AN THE SON OF ZAIDAH.[FN#133]\n\nIt is told of Ma'an bin Z\u0431idah that, being out one day a-chasing and\na-hunting, he became athirst but his men had no water with them; and\nwhile thus suffering behold, three damsels met him bearing three skins\nof water;\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-first Night,[FN#134]\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that three girls met\nhim bearing three skins of water; so he begged drink of them, and they\ngave him to drink. Then he sought of his men somewhat to give the\ndamsels but they had no money; so he presented to each girl ten golden\npiled arrows from his quiver. Whereupon quoth one of them to her\nfriend, \"Well-a-day! These fashions pertain to none but Ma'an bin\nZaidah! so let each one of us say somewhat of verse in his praise.\"\nThen quoth the first,\n\n\"He heads his arrows with piles of gold, * And while shooting his\n\n\n     foes is his bounty doled:\n\n\nAffording the wounded a means of cure, * And a sheet for the\n\n\n     bider beneath the mould!\"\n\n\n\nAnd quoth the second,\n\n\"A warrior showing such open hand, * His boons all friends and\n\n\n     all foes enfold:\n\n\nThe piles of his arrows of or are made, * So that battle his\n\n\n     bounty may not withhold!\"\n\n\n\nAnd quoth the third,\n\n\"From that liberal-hand on his foes he rains * Shafts aureate-\n\n\n    headed and manifold:\n\n\nWherewith the hurt shall chirurgeon pay, * And for slain the\n\n\n     shrouds round their corpses roll'd.\"[FN#135]\n\n\n\nAnd there is also told a tale of\n\n\n\nMA'AN SON OF ZAIDAH AND THE BADAWI.\n\nNow Ma'an bin Z\u0431idah went forth one day to the chase with his company,\nand they came upon a herd of gazelles; so they separated in pursuit and\nMa'an was left alone to chase one of them. When he had made prize of it\nhe alighted and slaughtered it; and as he was thus engaged, he espied a\nperson[FN#136] coming forth out of the desert on an ass. So he\nremounted and riding up to the new- comer, saluted him and asked him,\n\"Whence comest thou?\" Quoth he, \"I come from the land of Kuz\u0431'ah, where\nwe have had a two years' dearth; but this year it was a season of\nplenty and I sowed early cucumbers.[FN#137] They came up before their\ntime, so I gathered what seemed the best of them and set out to carry\nthem to the Emir Ma'an bin Zaidah, because of his well-known\nbeneficence and notorious munificence.\" Asked Ma'an, \"How much dost\nthou hope to get of him?\"; and the Badawi answered, \"A thousand\ndinars.\" Quoth the Emir, \"What if he say this is too much?\" Said the\nBadawi, \"Then I will ask five hundred dinars.\" \"And if he say, too\nmuch?\" \"Then three hundred!\" \"And if he say yet, too much?\" \"Then two\nhundred!\" \"And if he say yet, too much?\" \"Then one hundred!\" \"And if he\nsay yet, too much?\" \"Then, fifty!\" \"And if he say yet, too much?\" \"Then\nthirty!\" \"And if he say still, too much?\" asked Ma'an bin Zaidah.\nAnswered the Badawi, \"I will make my ass set his four feet in his\nHonour's home[FN#138] and return to my people, disappointed and empty-\nhanded.\" So Ma'an laughed at him and urged his steed till he came up\nwith his suite and returned to his place, when he said to his\nchamberlain, \"An there come to thee a man with cucumbers and riding on\nan ass admit him to me.\" Presently up came the Badawi and was admitted\nto Ma'an's presence; but knew not the Emir for the man he had met in\nthe desert, by reason of the gravity and majesty of his semblance and\nthe multitude of his eunuchs and attendants, for he was seated on his\nchair of state with his officers ranged in lines before him and on\neither side. So he saluted him and Ma'an said to him \"What bringeth\nthee, O brother of the Arabs?\" Answered the Badawi, \"I hoped in the\nEmir, and have brought him curly cucumbers out of season.\" Asked Ma'an,\n\"And how much dost thou expect of us?\" \"A thousand dinars,\" answered\nthe Badawi. \"This is far too much,\" quoth Ma'an. Quoth he, \"Five\nhundred.\" \"Too much!\" \"Then three hundred.\" \"Too much!\" \"Two hundred.\"\n\"Too much!\" \"One hundred.\" \"Too much!\" \"Fifty.\" \"Too much!\" At last the\nBadawi came down to thirty dinars; but Ma'an still replied, \"Too much!\"\nSo the Badawi cried, \"By Allah, the man who met me in the desert\nbrought me bad luck! But I will not go lower than thirty dinars.\" The\nEmir laughed and said nothing; whereupon the wild Arab knew that it was\nhe whom he had met and said, \"O my lord, except thou bring the thirty\ndinars, see ye, there is the ass tied ready at the door and here sits\nMa'an, his honour, at home.\" So Ma'an laughed, till he fell on his\nback; and, calling his steward, said to him, \"Give him a thousand\ndinars and five hundred and three hundred and two hundred and one\nhundred and fifty and thirty; and leave the ass tied up where he is.\"\nSo the Arab to his amazement, received two thousand one hundred and\neighty dinars, and Allah have mercy on them both and on all generous\nmen! And I have also heard, O auspicious King, a tale of\n\n\n\nTHE CITY OF LABTAYT.[FN#139]\n\nThere was once a royal-city in the land of Roum, called the City of\nLabtayt wherein stood a tower which was always shut. And whenever a\nKing died and another King of the Greeks took the Kingship after him,\nhe set on the tower a new and strong lock, till there were\nfour-and-twenty locks upon the gate, according to the number of the\nKings. After this time, there came to the throne a man who was not of\nthe old royal-house, and he had a mind to open these locks, that he\nmight see what was within the tower. The grandees of his kingdom\nforbade him this and pressed him to desist and reproved him and blamed\nhim; but he persisted saying, \"Needs must this place be opened.\" Then\nthey offered him all that their hands possessed of monies and treasures\nand things of price, if he would but refrain; still he would not be\nbaulked,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the grandees\noffered that King all their hands possessed of monies and treasures if\nhe would but refrain; still he would not be baulked and said \"There is\nno help for it but I open this tower.\" So he pulled off the locks and\nentering, found within the tower figures of Arabs on their horses and\ncamels, habited in turbands[FN#140] hanging down at the ends, with\nswords in baldrick-belts thrown over their shoulders and bearing long\nlances in their hands. He found there also a scroll which he greedily\ntook and read, and these words were written therein, \"Whenas this door\nis opened will conquer this country a raid of the Arabs, after the\nlikeness of the figures here depicted; wherefore beware, and again\nbeware of opening it.\" Now this city was in Andalusia; and that very\nyear T\u0431rik ibn Ziy\u0431d conquered it, during the Caliphate of Al-Wal\u043dd son\nof Abd al-Malik[FN#141] of the sons of Umayyah; and slew this King\nafter the sorriest fashion and sacked the city and made prisoners of\nthe women and boys therein and got great loot. Moreover, he found there\nimmense treasures; amongst the rest more than an hundred and seventy\ncrowns of pearls and jacinths and other gems of price; and he found a\nsaloon, wherein horsemen might throw the spears, full of vessels of\ngold and silver, such as no description can comprise. Moreover, he\nfound there the table of food for the Prophet of Allah, Solomon, son of\nDavid (peace with both of them!), which is extant even now in a city of\nthe Greeks, it is told that it was of grass-green emerald with vessels\nof gold and platters of jasper. Likewise he found the Psalms written in\nthe old Ionian[FN#142] characters on leaves of gold bezel'd with\njewels; together with a book setting forth the properties of stones and\nherbs and minerals, as well as the use of characts and talismans and\nthe canons of the art of alchymy; and he found a third volume which\ntreated of the art of cutting and setting rubies and other precious\nstones and of the preparation of poisons and theriacks. There found he\nalso a mappa mundi figuring the earth and the seas and the different\ncities and countries and villages of the world; and he found a vast\nsaloon full of hermetic powder, one drachm of which elixir would turn a\nthousand drachms of silver into fine gold; likewise a marvellous\nmirror, great and round, of mixed metals, which had been made for\nSolomon, son of David (on the twain be peace!) wherein whoso looked\nmight see the counterfeit presentment of the seven climates of the\nworld; and he beheld a chamber full of Brahmini[FN#143] jacinths for\nwhich no words can suffice. So he despatched all these things to Walid\nbin Abd al-Malik, and the Arabs spread all over the cities of Andalusia\nwhich is one of the finest of lands. This is the end of the story of\nthe City of Labtayt. And a tale is also told of\n\n\n\nTHE CALIPH HISHAM AND THE ARAB YOUTH.\n\nThe Caliph Hish\u0431m bin Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, was hunting one day,\nwhen he sighted an antelope and pursued it with his dogs. As he was\nfollowing the quarry, he saw an Arab youth pasturing sheep and said to\nhim, \"Ho boy, up and after yonder antelope, for it escapeth me!\" The\nyouth raised his head to him and replied, \"O ignorant of what to the\ndeserving is due, thou lookest on me with disdain and speakest to me\nwith contempt; thy speaking is that of a tyrant true and thy doing what\nan ass would do.\" Quoth Hisham, \"Woe to thee, dost thou not know me?\"\nRejoined the youth, \"Verily thine unmannerliness hath made thee known\nto me, in that thou spakest to me, without beginning by the\nsalutation.\"[FN#144] Repeated the Caliph, \"Fie upon thee! I am Hisham\nbin Abd al-Malik.\" \"May Allah not favour thy dwelling-place,\" replied\nthe Arab, \"nor guard thine abiding place! How many are thy words and\nhow few thy generous deeds!\" Hardly had he ended speaking, when up came\nthe troop from all sides and surrounded him as the white encircleth the\nblack of the eye, all and each saying, \"Peace be with thee, O Commander\nof the Faithful!\" Quoth Hisham, \"Cut short this talk and seize me\nyonder boy.\" So they laid hands on him; and when he saw the multitude\nof Chamberlains and Wazirs and Lords of State, he was in nowise\nconcerned and questioned not of them, but let his chin drop on his\nbreast and looked where his feet fell, till they brought him to the\nCaliph[FN#145] when he stood before him, with head bowed groundwards\nand saluted him not and spoke him not. So one of the eunuchs said to\nhim, \"O dog of the Arabs, what hindereth thy saluting the Commander of\nthe Faithful?\" The youth turned to him angrily and replied, \"O\npacksaddle of an ass, it was the length of the way that hindered me\nfrom this and the steepness of the steps and the profuseness of my\nsweat.\" Then said Hisham (and indeed he was exceeding wroth), \"O boy,\nverily thy days are come to their latest hour; thy hope is gone from\nthee and thy life is past out of thee.\" He answered, \"By Allah, O\nHisham, verily an my life-term be prolonged and Fate ordain not its\ncutting short, thy words irk me not, be they long or short.\" Then said\nthe Chief Chamberlain to him, \"Doth it befit thy degree, O vilest of\nthe Arabs, to bandy words with the Commander of the Faithful?\" He\nanswered promptly, \"Mayest thou meet with adversity and may woe and\nwailing never leave thee! Hast thou not heard the saying of Almighty\nAllah?, 'One day, every soul shall come to defend itself.'\"[FN#146]\nHereupon Hisham rose, in great wrath, and said, \"O headsman, bring me\nthe head of this lad; for indeed he exceedeth in talk, such as passeth\nconception.\" So the sworder took him and, making him kneel on the\ncarpet of blood, drew his sword above him and said to the Caliph, \"O\nCommander of the Faithful, this thy slave is misguided and is on the\nway to his grave; shall I smite off his head and be quit of his blood?\"\n\"Yes,\" replied Hisham. He repeated his question and the Caliph again\nanswered in the affirmative. Then he asked leave a third time; and the\nyouth, knowing that, if the Caliph assented yet once more, it would be\nthe signal of his death, laughed till his wisdom-teeth showed;\nwhereupon Hisham's wrath redoubled and he said to him, \"O boy, meseems\nthou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to depart the world?\nWhy then dost thou laugh in mockery of thyself?\" He replied, \"O\nCommander of the Faithful, if a larger life-term befell me, none can\nhurt me, great or small; but I have bethought me of some couplets,\nwhich do thou hear, for my death cannot escape thee.\" Quoth Hisham,\n\"Say on and be brief;\" so the Arab repeated these couplets,\n\n\"It happed one day a hawk pounced on a bird, * A wildling sparrow\n\n\n     driven by destiny;\n\n\nAnd held in pounces spake the sparrow thus, * E'en as the hawk\n\n\n     rose ready home to hie:\u2014\n\n\n'Scant flesh have I to fill the maw of thee * And for thy lordly\n\n\n     food poor morsel I.\n\n\nThen smiled the hawk in flattered vanity * And pride, so set the\n\n\n     sparrow free to fly.\n\n\n\nAt this Hisham smiled and said, \"By the truth of my kinship to the\nApostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!), had he spoken this\nspeech at first and asked for aught except the Caliphase, verily I\nwould have given it to him. Stuff his mouth with jewels,[FN#147] O\neunuch and entreat him courteously;\" so they did as he bade them and\nthe Arab went his way. And amongst pleasant tales is that of\n\n\n\nIBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE BARBER-SURGEON.\n\nThey relate that Ibrah\u043dm, son of al-Mahd\u043d,[FN#148] brother of Harun\nal-Rashid, when the Caliphate devolved to Al-Maamun, the son of his\nbrother Harun, refused to acknowledge his nephew and betook himself to\nRayy[FN#149]; where he claimed the throne and abode thus a year and\neleven months and twelve days. Meanwhile his nephew, Al-Maamun, awaited\nhis return to allegiance and his accepting a dependent position till,\nat last, despairing of this, he mounted with his horsemen and footmen\nand repaired to Rayy in quest of him. Now when the news came to\nIbrahim, he found nothing for it but to flee to Baghdad and hide there,\nfearing for his life; and Maamun set a price of a hundred thousand gold\npieces upon his head, to be paid to whoso might betray him. (Quoth\nIbrahim) \"When I heard of this price I feared for my head\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim\ncontinued, \"Now when I heard of this price I feared for my head and\nknew not what to do: so I went forth of my house in disguise at\nmid-day, knowing not whither I should go. Presently I entered a broad\nstreet which was no thoroughfare and said in my mind, 'Verily, we are\nAllah's and unto Him we are returning! I have exposed my life to\ndestruction. If I retrace my steps, I shall arouse suspicion.' Then,\nbeing still in disguise I espied, at the upper end of the street, a\nnegro-slave standing at his door; so I went up to him and said to him,\n'Hast thou a place where I may abide for an hour of the day?' 'Yes,'\nanswered he, and opening the door admitted me into a decent house,\nfurnished with carpets and mats and cushions of leather. Then he shut\nthe door on me and went away; and I misdoubted me he had heard of the\nreward offered for me, and said to myself, 'He hath gone to inform\nagainst me.' But, as I sat pondering my case and boiling like cauldron\nover fire, behold, my host came back, accompanied by a porter loaded\nwith bread and meat and new cooking-pots and gear and a new jar and new\ngugglets and other needfuls. He made the porter set them down and,\ndismissing him, said to me, 'I offer my life for thy ransom! I am a\nbarber-surgeon, and I know it would disgust thee to eat with me'\nbecause of the way in which I get my livelihood;[FN#150] so do thou\nshift for thyself and do what thou please with these things whereon no\nhand hath fallen.' (Quoth Ibrahim), Now I was in sore need of food so I\ncooked me a pot of meat whose like I remember not ever to have eaten;\nand, when I had satisfied my want, he said to me, 'O my lord, Allah\nmake me thy ransom! Art thou for wine?; for indeed it gladdeneth the\nsoul and doeth away care.' 'I have no dislike to it,' replied I, being\ndesirous of the barber's company; so he brought me new flagons of glass\nwhich no hand had touched and a jar of excellent wine, and said to me,\n'Strain for thyself, to thy liking;' whereupon I cleared the wine and\nmixed me a most delectable draught. Then he brought me a new cup and\nfruits and flowers in new vessels of earthenware; after which he said\nto me, 'Wilt thou give me leave to sit apart and drink of my own wine\nby myself, of my joy in thee and for thee?' 'Do so,' answered I. So I\ndrank and he drank till the wine began to take effect upon us, when the\nbarber rose and, going to a closet, took out a lute of polished wood\nand said to me, 'O my lord, it is not for the like of me to ask the\nlike of thee to sing, but it behoveth thine exceeding generosity to\nrender my respect its due; so, if thou see fit to honour thy slave,\nthine is the high decision.' Quoth I (and indeed I thought not that he\nknew me), 'How knowest thou that I excel in song?' He replied, 'Glory\nbe to Allah, our lord is too well renowned for that! Thou art my lord\nIbrahim, son of Al-Mahdi, our Caliph of yesterday, he on whose head\nAl-Maamun hath set a price of an hundred thousand dinars to be paid to\nthy betrayer: but thou art in safety with me.' (Quoth Ibrahim), When I\nheard him say this, he was magnified in my eyes and his loyalty and\nnoble nature were certified to me; so I complied with his wish and took\nthe lute and tuned it, and sang. Then I bethought me of my severance\nfrom my children and my family and I began to say,\n\n'Belike Who Y\u044asuf to his kin restored * And honoured him in goal,\n\n\n     a captive wight,\n\n\nMay grant our prayer to reunite our lots, * For Allah, Lord of\n\n\n     Worlds, hath all of might.'\n\n\n\nWhen the barber heard this, exceeding joy took possession of him. and\nhe was of great good cheer; for it is said that when Ibrahim's\nneighbours heard him only sing out, 'Ho, boy, saddle the mule!' they\nwere filled with delight. Then, being overborne by mirth, he said to\nme, 'O my lord, wilt thou give me leave to say what is come to my mind,\nalbeit I am not of the folk of this craft?' I answered, 'Do so; this is\nof thy great courtesy and kindness.' So he took the lute and sang these\nverses,\n\n'To our beloveds we moaned our length of night; * Quoth they,\n\n\n     'How short the nights that us benight!'\n\n\n'Tis for that sleep like hood enveils their eyes * Right soon,\n\n\n     but from our eyes is fair of flight:\n\n\nWhen night-falls, dread and drear to those who love, * We mourn;\n\n\n     they joy to see departing light:\n\n\nHad they but dree'd the weird, the bitter dole * We dree, their\n\n\n     beds like ours had bred them blight.'\n\n\n\n(Quoth Ibrahim), So I said to him, 'By Allah, thou hast shown me a\nkindness, O my friend, and hast done away from me the pangs of sorrow.\nLet me hear more trifles of thy fashion.' So he sang these couplets,\n\n'When man keeps honour bright without a stain, * Pair sits\n\n\n     whatever robe to robe he's fain!\n\n\nShe jeered at me because so few we are; * Quoth I:\u2014'There's ever\n\n\n     dearth of noble men!'\n\n\nNaught irks us we are few, while neighbour tribes * Count many;\n\n\n     neighbours oft are base-born strain:\n\n\nWe are a clan which holds not Death reproach, * Which A'mir and\n\n\n     Sam\u044al[FN#151] hold illest bane:\n\n\nLeads us our love of death to fated end; * They hate that ending\n\n\n     and delay would gain:\n\n\nWe to our neighbours' speech aye give the lie, * But when we\n\n\n     speak none dare give lie again.'\n\n\n\n(Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard these lines, I was filled with huge\ndelight and marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then I slept and awoke not\ntill past night-fall, when I washed my face, with a mind full of the\nhigh worth of this barber-surgeon and his passing courtesy; after which\nI wakened him and, taking out a purse I had by me containing a number\nof gold pieces, threw it to him, saying, 'I commend thee to Allah, for\nI am about to go forth from thee, and pray thee to expend what is in\nthis purse on thine requirements; and thou shalt have an abounding\nreward of me, when I am quit of my fear.' (Quoth Ibrahim), But he\nresumed the bag to me, saying, 'O my lord, paupers like myself are of\nno value in thine eyes; but how, with due respect to my own generosity,\ncan I take a price for the boon which fortune hath vouchsafed me of thy\nfavour and thy visit to my poor abode? Nay, if thou repeat thy words\nand throw the purse to me again I will slay myself.' So I put in my\nsleeve[FN#152] the purse whose weight was irksome to me.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of\nAl-Mahdi continued, \"So I put in my sleeve the purse whose weight was\nirksome to me; and turned to depart, but when I came to the house door\nhe said, 'O my lord, of a truth this is a safer hiding-place for thee\nthan any other, and thy keep is no burden to me; so do thou abide with\nme, till Allah be pleased grant thee relief.' Accordingly, I turned\nback, saying, 'On condition that thou spend of the money in this\npurse.' He made me think that he consented to this arrangement, and I\nabode with him some days in the utmost comfort; but, perceiving that he\nspent none of the contents of the purse, I revolted at the idea of\nabiding at his charge and thought it shame to be a burthen on him; so I\nleft the house disguised in women's apparel, donning short yellow\nwalking- boots[FN#153] and veil. Now as soon as I found myself in the\nstreet, I was seized with excessive fear, and going to pass the bridge\nbehold, I came to a place sprinkled with water,[FN#154] where a\ntrooper, who been in my service, looked at me and knowing me, cried\nout, saying, 'This is he whom Al-Maamun wanteth.' Then he laid hold of\nme but the love of sweet life lent me strength and I gave him and his\nhorse a push which threw them down in that slippery place, so that he\nbecame an example to those who will take example; and the folk hastened\nto him. Meanwhile, I hurried my pace over the bridge and entered a main\nstreet, where I saw the door of a house open and a woman standing upon\nthe threshold. So I said to her, 'O my lady, have pity on me and save\nmy life; for I am a man in fear.' Quoth she, 'Enter and welcome;' and\ncarried me into an upper dining-room, where she spread me a bed and\nbrought me food, saying 'Calm thy fear, for not a soul shall know of\nthee.' As she spoke lo! there came a loud knocking at the door; so she\nwent and opened, and suddenly, my friend, whom I had thrown down on the\nbridge, appeared with his head bound up, the blood running down upon\nhis clothes and without his horse. She asked, 'O so and so, what\naccident hath befallen thee?'; and he answered, 'I made prize of the\nyoung man whom the Caliph seeketh and he escaped from me;' whereupon he\ntold her the whole story. So she brought out tinder[FN#155] and,\nputting it into a piece of rag bandaged his head; after which she\nspread him a bed and he lay sick. Then she came up to me and said,\n'Methinks thou art the man in question?' 'Even so,' answered I, and she\nsaid, 'Fear not: no harm shall befall thee,' and redoubled in kindness\nto me. So I tarried with her three days, at the end of which time she\nsaid to me, 'I am in fear for thee, lest yonder man happen upon thee\nand betray thee to what thou dreadest; so save thyself by flight.' I\nbesought her to let me stay till nightfall, and she said, 'There is no\nharm in that.' So, when the night came, I put on my woman's gear and\nbetook me to the house of a freed-woman who had once been our slave.\nWhen she saw me she wept and made a show of affliction and praised\nAlmighty Allah for my safety. Then she went forth, as if she would go\nto market intent on hospitable thoughts, and I fancied all was right;\nbut, ere long, suddenly I espied Ibrahim al-Mosili[FN#156] for the\nhouse amongst his troopers and servants, and led by a woman on foot;\nand looking narrowly at her behold, she was the freed-woman, the\nmistress of the house, wherein I had taken refuge. So she delivered me\ninto their hands, and I saw death face to face. They carried me, in my\nwoman's attire, to Al-Maamun who called a general-council and had me\nbrought before him. When I entered I saluted him by the title of\nCaliph, saying, 'Peace be on thee, O Commander of the Faithful!' and he\nreplied, 'Allah give thee neither peace nor long life.' I rejoined,\n'According to thy good pleasure, O Commander of the Faithful!; it is\nfor the claimant of blood- revenge[FN#157] to decree punishment or\npardon; but mercy is nigher to piety; and Allah hath set thy pardon\nabove all other pardon, even as He made my sin to excel all other sin.\nSo, if thou punish, it is of thine equity, and if thou pardon, it is of\nthy bounty.' And I repeated these couplets,\n\n'My sin to thee is great, * But greater thy degree:\n\n\nSo take revenge, or else * Remit in clemency:\n\n\nAn I in deeds have not* Been generous, generous be!\n\n\n\n(Quoth Ibrahim), At this Al-Maamun raised his head to me and I hastened\nto add these two couplets,\n\n'I've sinned enormous sin, * But pardon in thee lies:\n\n\nIf pardon thou, 'tis grace; * Justice an thou chastise!'\n\n\n\nThen Al-Maamun bowed his head and repeated,\n\n'I am (when friend would raise a rage that mote * Make spittle\n\n\n     choke me, sticking in my throat)\n\n\nHis pardoner, and pardon his offense, * Fearing lest I should\n\n\n     live a friend without.'\n\n\n\n(Quoth Ibrahim), Now when I heard these words I scented mercy, knowing\nhis disposition to clemency.[FN#158] Then he turned to his son Al Abbas\nand his brother Abu Ishak and all his chief officers there present and\nsaid to them, 'What deem ye of his case?' They all counselled him to do\nme dead, but they differed as to the manner of my death. Then said he\nto his Wazir Ahmad bin al-Kh\u0431lid, 'And what sayest thou, O Ahmad?' He\nanswered, 'O Commander of the Faithful, an thou slay him, we find the\nlike of thee who hath slain the like of him; but an thou pardon him, we\nfind not the like of thee that hath pardoned the like of him.'\"\u2014 And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al Maamun,\nPrince of the Faithful, heard the words of Ahmad bin al-Kh\u0431lid, he\nbowed his head and began repeating,\n\n\"My tribe have slain that brother mine, Umaym, * Yet would shoot\n\n\n     back what shafts at them I aim:\n\n\nIf I deal-pardon, noble pardon 'tis; * And if I shoot, my bones\n\n\n     'twill only maim.\"[FN#159]\n\n\n\nAnd he also recited,\n\n\"Be mild to brother mingling * What is wrong with what is right:\n\nKindness to him continue * Whether good or graceless wight:\n\n\nAbstain from all reproaching, * An he joy or vex thy sprite:\n\n\nSeest not that what thou lovest * And what hatest go unite?\n\n\nThat joys of longer life-tide * Ever fade with hair turned\n\n\n     white?\n\n\nThat thorns on branches growing * For the plucks fruit catch thy\n\n\n     sight?\n\n\nWho never hath done evil,* Doing good for sole delight?\n\n\nWhen tried the sons of worldli-* ness they mostly work upright.\"\n\n\n\nQuoth Ibrahim, \"Now when I heard these couplets, I withdrew my woman's\nveil from my head and cried out, with my loudest voice, 'Allah is Most\nGreat! By Allah, the Commander of the Faithful pardoneth me!' Quoth he,\n'No harm shall come to thee, O uncle;' and I rejoined, 'O Commander of\nthe Faithful, my sin is too sore for me to excuse it and thy mercy is\ntoo much for me to speak thanks for it.' And I chanted these couplets\nto a lively motive,\n\n'Who made all graces all collected He * In Adam's loins, our\n\n\n     Seventh Imam, for thee,[FN#160]\n\n\nThou hast the hearts of men with reverence filled, * Enguarding\n\n\n     all with heart-humility\n\n\nRebelled I never by delusion whelmed * For object other than thy\n\n\n     clemency ;[FN#161]\n\n\nAnd thou hast pardoned me whose like was ne'er * Pardoned before,\n\n\n     though no man pled my plea:\n\n\nHast pitied little ones like Kat\u0431's[FN#162] young, * And mother's\n\n\n     yearning heart a son to see.'\n\n\n\nQuoth Maamun, 'I say, following our lord Joseph (on whom and on our\nProphet be blessing and peace!) let there be no reproach cast on you\nthis day. Allah forgiveth you; for He is the most merciful of those who\nshow mercy.[FN#163] Indeed I pardon thee, and restore to thee thy goods\nand lands, O uncle, and no harm shall befall thee.' So I offered up\ndevout prayers for him and repeated these couplets,\n\n'Thou hast restored my wealth sans greed, and ere * So didst,\n\n\n     thou deign\u0438dest my blood to spare:\n\n\nThen if I shed my blood and wealth, to gain * Thy grace, till\n\n\n     even shoon from foot I tear,\n\n\nTwere but repaying what thou lentest me, * And what unloaned no\n\n\n     man to blame would care:\n\n\nWere I ungrateful for thy lavish boons, * Baser than thou'rt\n\n\n     beneficent I were!'\n\n\n\nThen Al-Maamun showed me honour and favour and said to me, 'O uncle,\nAbu Ishak and Al-Abbas counselled me to put thee to death.' So I\nanswered, 'And they both counselled thee right, O Commander of the\nFaithful, but thou hast done after thine own nature and hast put away\nwhat I feared with what I hoped.' Rejoined Al Maamun, 'O uncle, thou\ndidst extinguish my rancour with the modesty of thine excuse, and I\nhave pardoned thee without making thee drink the bitterness of\nobligation to intercessors.' Then he prostrated himself in prayer a\nlong while, after which he raised his head and said to me, 'O uncle,\nknowest thou why I prostrated myself?' Answered I, 'Haply thou didst\nthis in thanksgiving to Allah, for that He hath given thee the mastery\nover thine enemy.' He replied, 'Such was not my design, but rather to\nthank Allah for having inspired me to pardon thee and for having\ncleared my mind towards thee. Now tell me thy tale.' So I told him all\nthat had befallen me with the barber, the trooper and his wife and with\nmy freed-woman who had betrayed me. So he summoned the freed-woman, who\nwas in her house, expecting the reward to be sent to her, and when she\ncame before him he said to her, 'What moved thee to deal thus with thy\nlord?' Quoth she, 'Lust of money.' Asked the Caliph 'Hast thou a child\nor a husband?'; and she answered 'No;' whereupon he bade them give her\nan hundred stripes with a whip and imprisoned her for life. Then he\nsent for the trooper and his wife and the barber-surgeon and asked the\nsoldier what had moved him to do thus. 'Lust of money,' quoth he;\nwhereupon quoth the Caliph, 'It befitteth thee to be a\nbarber-cupper,'[FN#164] and committed him to one whom he charged to\nplace him in a barber-cupper's shop, where he might learn the craft.\nBut he showed honour to the trooper's wife and lodged her in his\npalace, saying, 'This is a woman of sound sense and fit for matters of\nmoment.' Then said he to the barber-cupper, 'Verily, thou hast shown\nworth and generosity which call for extraordinary honour.' So he\ncommanded the trooper's house and all that was therein to be given him\nand bestowed on him a dress of honour and in addition fifteen thousand\ndinars to be paid annually. And men tell the following tale concerning\n\n\n\nTHE CITY OF MANY COLUMNED IRAM AND ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[FN#165]\n\nIt is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kil\u0431bah went forth in quest of a\nshe-camel which had strayed from him; and, as he was wandering in the\ndeserts of Al-Yaman and the district of Sab\u0431,[FN#166] behold, he came\nupon a great city girt by a vast castle around which were palaces and\npavilions that rose high into middle air. He made for the place\nthinking to find there folk of whom he might ask concerning his\nshe-camel; but, when he reached it, he found it desolate, without a\nliving soul in it. So (quoth he) \"I alighted and, hobbling my\ndromedary,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah bin Abi\nKilabah continued, \"I dismounted and hobbling my dromedary, and\ncomposing my mind, entered into the city. Now when I came to the\ncastle, I found it had two vast gates (never in the world was seen\ntheir like for size height) inlaid with all manner of jewels and\njacinths, white and red, yellow and green. Beholding this I marvelled\nwith great marvel and thought the case mighty wondrous; then entering\nthe citadel in a flutter of fear and dazed with surprise and affright,\nI found it long and wide, about equalling Al-Medinah[FN#167] in point\nof size; and therein were lofty palaces laid out in pavilions all built\nof gold and silver and inlaid with many-coloured jewels and jacinths\nand chrysolites and pearls. And the door-leaves in the pavilions were\nlike those of the castle for beauty; and their floors were strewn with\ngreat pearls and balls, no smaller than hazel nuts, of musk and\nambergris and saffron. Now when I came within the heart of the city and\nsaw therein no created beings of the Sons of Adam I was near swooning\nand dying for fear. Moreover, I looked down from the great roofs of the\npavilion-chambers and their balconies and saw rivers running under\nthem; and in the main streets were fruit-laden trees and tall palms;\nand the manner of their building was one brick of gold and one of\nsilver. So I said in myself, 'Doubtless this is the Paradise promised\nfor the world to come.' Then I loaded me with the jewels of its gravel\nand the musk of its dust as much as I could carry and returned to my\nown country, where I told the folk what I had seen. After a time the\nnews reached Mu'\u0431wiyah, son of Abu Sufy\u0431n, who was then Caliph in\nAl-Hijaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in San'\u0431 of Al-Yaman to send\nfor the teller of the story and question him of the truth of the case.\nAccordingly the lieutenant summoned me and questioned me of my\nadventure and of all appertaining to it; and I told him what I had\nseen, whereupon he despatched me to Mu'awiyah, before whom I repeated\nthe story of the strange sights; but he would not credit it. So I\nbrought out to him some of the pearls and balls of musk and ambergris\nand saffron, in which latter there was still some sweet savour; but the\npearls were grown yellow and had lost pearly colour.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah son of\nAbu Kilabah continued, \"But the pearls were grown yellow and had lost\npearly colour. Now Mu'awiyah wondered at this and, sending for Ka'ab\nal-Ahbar[FN#168] said to him, 'O Ka'ab, I have sent for thee to\nascertain the truth of a certain matter and hope that thou wilt be able\nto certify me thereof.' Asked Ka'ab, 'What is it, O Commander of the\nFaithful?'; and Mu'awiyah answered, 'Wottest thou of any city founded\nby man which is builded of gold and silver, the pillars whereof are of\nchrysolite and rubies and its gravel pearls and balls of musk and\nambergris and saffron?' He replied, 'Yes, O Commander of the Faithful,\nthis is 'Iram with pillars decked and dight, the like of which was\nnever made in the lands,'[FN#169] and the builder was Shaddad son of Ad\nthe Greater.' Quoth the Caliph, 'Tell us something of its history,' and\nKa'ab said, 'Ad the Greater[FN#170] had two sons, Shad\u043dd and Shadd\u0431d\nwho, when their father died, ruled conjointly in his stead, and there\nwas no King of the Kings of the earth but was subject to them. After\nawhile Shadid died and his brother Shaddad reigned over the earth\nalone. Now he was fond of reading in antique books; and, happening upon\nthe description of the world to come and of Paradise, with its\npavilions and galleries and trees and fruits and so forth, his soul\nmoved him to build the like thereof in this world, after the fashion\naforesaid. Now under his hand were an hundred thousand Kings, each\nruling over an hundred thousand chiefs, commanding each an hundred\nthousand warriors; so he called these all before him and said to them,\n'I find in ancient books and annals a description of Paradise, as it is\nto be in the next world, and I desire to build me its like in this\nworld. Go ye forth therefore to the goodliest tract on earth and the\nmost spacious and build me there a city of gold and silver, whose\ngravel shall be chrysolite and rubies and pearls; and for support of\nits vaults make pillars of jasper. Fill it with palaces, whereon ye\nshall set galleries and balconies and plant its lanes and thoroughfares\nwith all manner trees bearing yellow-ripe fruits and make rivers to run\nthrough it in channels of gold and silver.' Whereat said one and all,\n'How are we able to do this thing thou hast commanded, and whence shall\nwe get the chrysolites and rubies and pearls whereof thou speakest?'\nQuoth he, 'What! weet ye not that the Kings of the world are subject to\nme and under my hand and that none therein dare gainsay my word?'\nAnswered they, 'Yes, we know that.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lieges\nanswered, \"Yes, we know that;\" whereupon the King rejoined, \"Fare ye\nthen to the mines of chrysolites and rubies and pearls and gold and\nsilver and collect their produce and gather together all of value that\nis in the world and spare no pains and leave naught; and take also for\nme such of these things as be in men's hands and let nothing escape\nyou: be diligent and beware of disobedience.\" And thereupon he wrote\nletters to all the Kings of the world and bade them gather together\nwhatso of these things was in their subjects' hands, and get them to\nthe mines of precious stones and metals, and bring forth all that was\ntherein, even from the abysses of the seas. This they accomplished in\nthe space of 20 years, for the number of rulers then reigning over the\nearth was three hundred and sixty Kings, and Shaddad presently\nassembled from all lands and countries architects and engineers and men\nof art and labourers and handicraftsmen, who dispersed over the world\nand explored all the wastes and words and tracts and holds. At last\nthey came to an uninhabited spot, a vast and fair open plain clear of\nsand-hills and mountains, with founts flushing and rivers rushing, and\nthey said, \"This is the manner of place the King commanded us to seek\nand ordered us to find.\" So they busied themselves in building the city\neven as bade them Shaddad, King of the whole earth in its length and\nbreadth; leading the fountains in channels and laying the foundations\nafter the prescribed fashion. Moreover, all the Kings of earth's\nseveral-reigns sent thither jewels and precious stones and pearls large\nand small and carnelian and refined gold and virgin silver upon camels\nby land, and in great ships over the waters, and there came to the\nbuilders' hands of all these materials so great a quantity as may\nneither be told nor counted nor conceived. So they laboured at the work\nthree hundred years; and, when they had brought it to end, they went to\nKing Shaddad and acquainted him therewith. Then said he, \"Depart and\nmake thereon an impregnable castle, rising and towering high in air,\nand build around it a thousand pavilions, each upon a thousand columns\nof chrysolite and ruby and vaulted with gold, that in each pavilion a\nWazir may dwell.\" So they returned forthwith and did this in other\ntwenty years; after which they again presented themselves before King\nShaddad and informed him of the accomplishment of his will. Then he\ncommanded his Wazirs, who were a thousand in number, and his Chief\nOfficers and such of his troops and others as he put trust in, to\nprepare for departure and removal to Many-columned Iram, in the suite\nand at the stirrup of Shaddad, son of Ad, King of the World; and he\nbade also such as he would of his women and his Harim and of his\nhandmaids and eunuchs make them ready for the journey. They spent\ntwenty years in preparing for departure, at the end of which time\nShaddad set out with his host.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shaddad bin Ad\nfared forth, he and his host, rejoicing in the attainment of his desire\ntill there remained but one day's journey between him and Iram of the\nPillars. Then Allah sent down on him and on the stubborn unbelievers\nwith him a mighty rushing sound from the Heavens of His power, which\ndestroyed them all with its vehement clamour, and neither Shaddad nor\nany of his company set eyes on the city.[FN#171] Moreover, Allah\nblotted out the road which led to the city, and it stands in its stead\nunchanged until the Resurrection Day and the Hour of Judgement.\" So\nMu'awiyah wondered greatly at Ka'ab al-Ahbar's story and said to him,\n\"Hath any mortal ever made his way to that city?\" He replied, \"Yes; one\nof the companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!) reached\nit, doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this man here\nseated.\" \"And (quoth Al-Sha'abi[FN#172]) it is related, on the\nauthority of learned men of Himyar in Al-Yaman that Shaddad, when\ndestroyed with all his host by the sound, was succeeded in his Kingship\nby his son Shaddad the Less, whom he left vice-regent in\nHazramaut[FN#173] and Saba, when he and his marched upon Many-columned\nIram. Now as soon as he heard of his father's death on the road, he\ncaused his body to be brought back from the desert to Hazramaut and\nbade them hew him out a tomb in a cave, where he laid the body on a\nthrone of gold and threw over the corpse threescore and ten robes of\ncloth of gold, purfled with precious stones. Lastly at his sire's head\nhe set up a tablet of gold whereon were graven these verses,\n\n     'Take warning O proud, * And in length o' life vain!\n\n\n     I'm Shadd\u0431d son of Ad, * Of the forts castellain;\n\n\n     Lord of pillars and power,* Lord of tried might and main,\n\n\n     Whom all earth-sons obeyed* For my mischief and bane\n\n\n     And who held East and West* In mine awfullest reign.\n\n\n     He preached me salvation * Whom God did assain,[FN#174]\n\n\n     But we crossed him and asked * 'Can no refuge be ta'en?'\n\n\n     When a Cry on us cried * From th' horizon plain,\n\n\n     And we fell on the field * Like the harvested grain,\n\n\n     And the Fixt Day await * We, in earth's bosom lain!'\"\n\n\n\nAl-Sa'alibi also relateth, \"It chanced that two men once entered this\ncave and found steps at its upper end; so they descended and came to an\nunderground chamber, an hundred cubits long by forty wide and an\nhundred high. In the midst stood a throne of gold, whereon lay a man of\nhuge bulk, filling the whole length and breadth of the throne. He was\ncovered with jewels and raiment gold-and-silver wrought, and at his\nhead was a tablet of gold bearing an inscription. So they took the\ntablet and carried it off, together with as many bars of gold and\nsilver and so forth as they could bear away.\" And men also relate the\ntale of\n\n\n\nISAAC OF MOSUL.\n\nQuoth Isaac of Mosul,[FN#175] \"I went out one night from Al Maamun's\npresence, on my way to my house; and, being taken with a pressing need\nto make water, I turned aside into a by-street and stood in the middle\nfearing lest something might hurt me, if I squatted against a\nwall.[FN#176] Presently, I espied something hanging down from one of\nthe houses; so I felt it to find out what it might be and found that it\nwas a great four-handled basket,[FN#177] covered with brocade. Said I\nto myself, 'There must be some reason for this,' and knew not what to\nthink; then drunkenness led me to seat myself in the basket, and\nbehold, the people of the house pulled me up, thinking me to be the\nperson they expected. Now when I came to the top of the wall; lo! four\ndamsels were there, who said to me, 'Descend and welcome and joy to\nthee!' Then one of them went before me with a wax candle and brought me\ndown into a mansion, wherein were furnished sitting- chambers, whose\nlike I had never seen save in the palace of the Caliphate. So I sat\ndown and, after a while, the curtains were suddenly drawn from one side\nof the room and, behold, in came damsels walking in procession and\nhending hand lighted flambeaux of wax and censers full of Sumatran\naloes-wood, and amongst them a young lady as she were the rising full\nmoon. So I stood up to her and she said, 'Welcome to thee for a\nvisitor!' and then she made me sit down again and asked me how I came\nthither. Quoth I, 'I was returning home from the house of an intimate\nfriend and went astray in the dark; then, being taken in the street\nwith an urgent call to make water, I turned aside into this lane, where\nI found a basket let down. The strong wine which I had drunk led me to\nseat myself in it and it was drawn up with me into this house, and this\nis my story.' She rejoined, 'No harm shall befall thee, and I hope thou\nwilt have cause to praise the issue of thine adventure.' Then she\nadded, 'But what is thy condition?' I said, 'A merchant in the Baghdad\nbazar' and she, 'Canst thou repeat any verses?' 'Some small matter,'\nquoth I. Quoth she 'Then call a few to mind and let us hear some of\nthem.' But I said, 'A visitor is bashful and timid; do thou begin.'\n'True,' replied she and recited some verses of the poets, past and\npresent, choosing their choicest pieces; and I listened not knowing\nwhether more to marvel at her beauty and loveliness or at the charm of\nher style of declamation. Then said she, 'Is that bashfulness of thine\ngone?' and I said, 'Yes, by Allah!' so she rejoined, 'Then, if thou\nwilt, recite us somewhat.' So I repeated to her a number of poems by\nold writers, and she applauded, saying, 'By Allah, I did not think to\nfind such culture among the trade folk, the sons of the bazar!' Then\nshe called for food\" Whereupon quoth Shahrazad's sister Dunyazad, \"How\npleasant is this tale and enjoyable and sweet to the ear and sound to\nthe sense!\" But she answered, \"And what is this story compared with\nthat which thou shalt hear on the morrow's night, if I be alive and the\nKing deign spare me!\" Then Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eightieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of Mosul\ncontinued, \"Then the damsel called for food and, when it was served to\nher, she fell to eating it and setting it before me; and the sitting\nroom was full of all manner sweet-scented flowers and rare fruits, such\nas are never found save in Kings' houses. Presently, she called for\nwine and drank a cup, after which she filled another and gave it to me,\nsaying, 'Now is the time for converse and story-telling.' So I\nbethought myself and began to say, 'It hath reached me that such and\nsuch things happened and there was a man who said so and so,' till I\nhad told her a number of pleasing tales and adventures with which she\nwas delighted and cried, ''Tis marvellous that a merchant should bear\nin memory such store of stories like these, for they are fit for\nKings.' Quoth I, 'I had a neighbour who used to consort with Kings and\ncarouse with them; so, when he was at leisure, I visited his house and\nhe hath often told me what thou hast heard.' Thereupon she exclaimed\n'By my life, but thou hast a good memory!' So we continued to converse\nthus, and as often as I was silent, she would begin, till in this way\nwe passed the most part of the night, whilst the burning aloes-wood\ndiffused its fragrance and I was in such case that if Al-Maamun had\nsuspected it, he would have flown like a bird with longing for it. Then\nsaid she to me, 'Verily, thou art one of the most pleasant of men,\npolished, passing well-bred and polite; but there lacketh one thing.'\n'What is that?' asked I, and she answered, If thou only knew how to\nsing verses to the lute!' I answered, 'I was passionately fond of this\nart aforetime, but finding I had no taste for it, I abandoned it,\nthough at times my heart yearneth after it. Indeed, I should love to\nsing somewhat well at this moment and fulfil my night's enjoyment.'\nThen said she, 'Meseemeth thou hintest a wish for the lute to be\nbrought?' and I, 'It is thine to decide, if thou wilt so far favour me,\nand to thee be the thanks.' So she called for a lute and sang a song in\na voice whose like I never heard, both for sweetness of tone and skill\nin playing, and perfection of art. Then said she, Knowest thou who\ncomposed this air and whose are the words of this song?'\"No,\" answered\nI; and she said, The words are so and so's and the air is Isaac's.' I\nasked 'And hath Isaac then (may I be thy sacrifice!) such a talent?'\nShe replied, 'Bravo![FN#178] Bravo, Isaac! indeed, he excelleth in this\nart.' I rejoined, 'Glory be to Allah who hath given this man what he\nhath vouchsafed unto none other!' Then she said 'And how would it be,\nan thou heard this song from himself?' This wise we went on till break\nof day dawn, when there came to her an old woman, as she were her\nnurse, and said to her, 'Verily, the time is come.' So she rose in\nhaste and said to me, 'Keep what hath passed between us to thyself; for\nsuch meetings are in confidence;'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel\nwhispered, \"'Keep what hath passed between us to thyself, for such\nmeetings are in confidence;' and I replied, 'May I be thy ransom! I\nneeded no charge to this.' Then I took leave of her and she sent a\nhandmaid to show me the way and open the house door; so I went forth\nand returned to my own place, where I prayed the morning prayer and\nslept. Now after a time there came to me a messenger from Al-Maamun, so\nI went to him and passed the day in his company. And when the night\nfell I called to mind my yesternight's pleasure, a thing from which\nnone but an ignoramus would abstain, and betook myself to the street,\nwhere I found the basket, and seating myself therein, was drawn up to\nthe place in which I had passed the previous night. When the lady saw\nme, she said, 'Indeed, thou hast been assiduous;' and I answered,\n'Meseemeth rather that I am neglectful.' Then we fell to discoursing\nand passed the night as before in general-conversation and reciting\nverses and telling rare tales, each in turn, till daybreak, when I\nwended me home; and I prayed the dawn prayer and slept. Presently there\ncame to me a messenger from Al-Maamun; so I went to him and spent my\nday with him till nightfall, when the Commander of the Faithful said to\nme, 'I conjure thee to sit here, whilst I go out for a want and come\nback.' As soon as the Caliph was gone, and quite gone, my thoughts\nbegan to tempt and try me and, calling to mind my late delight, I\nrecked little what might befal me from the Prince of True Believers. So\nI sprang up and turning my back upon the sitting-room, ran to the\nstreet aforesaid, where I sat down in the basket and was drawn up as\nbefore. When the lady saw me, she said, 'I begin to think thou art a\nsincere friend to us.' Quoth I, 'Yea, by Allah!' and quoth she, 'Hast\nthou made our house thine abiding-place?' I replied, 'May I be thy\nransom! A guest claimeth guest right for three days and if I return\nafter this, ye are free to spill my blood.' Then we passed the night as\nbefore; and when the time of departure drew near, I bethought me that\nAl Maamun would assuredly question me nor would ever be content save\nwith a full explanation: so I said to her, 'I see thee to be of those\nwho delight in singing. Now I have a cousin, the son of my father's\nbrother, who is fairer than I in face and higher of rank and better of\nbreeding; and he is the most intimate of Allah's creatures with Isaac.'\nQuoth she, 'Art thou a parasite[FN#179] and an importunate one?' Quoth\nI, 'It is for thee to decide in this matter;' and she, 'If thy cousin\nbe as thou hast described him, it would not mislike us to make\nacquaintance with him.' Then, as the time was come, I left her and\nreturned to my house, but hardly had I reached it, ere the Caliph's\nrunners came down on me and carried me before him by main force and\nroughly enough.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of Mosul\ncontinued, \"And hardly had I reached my house ere the Caliph's runners\ncame down upon me and carried me before him by main force and roughly\nenough. I found him seated on a chair, wroth with me, and he said to\nme, 'O Isaac, art thou a traitor to thine allegiance?' replied I, 'No,\nby Allah, O Commander of the Faithful!' and he rejoined, 'What hast\nthou then to say? tell me the whole truth;' and I, 'Yes, I will, but in\nprivate.' So he signed to his attendants, who withdrew to a distance,\nand I told him the case, adding, 'I promised her to bring thee,' and he\nsaid, 'Thou didst well.' Then we spent the day in our usual-pleasures,\nbut Al-Maamun's heart was taken up with her, and hardly was the\nappointed time come, when we set out. As we went along, I cautioned\nhim, saying, 'Look that thou call me not by my name before her; and I\nwill demean myself like thine attendant.' And having agreed upon this,\nwe fared forth till we came to the place, where we found two baskets\nhanging ready. So we sat down in them and were drawn up to the\nusual-place, where the damsel came forward and saluted us. Now when Al\nMaamun saw her, he was amazed at her beauty and loveliness; and she\nbegan to entertain him with stories and verses. Presently, she called\nfor wine and we fell to drinking she paying him special attention and\nhe repaying her in kind. Then she took the lute and sang these verses,\n\n'My lover came in at the close of night, * I rose till he sat and\n\n\n     remained upright;\n\n\nAnd said 'Sweet heart, hast thou come this hour? * Nor feared on\n\n\n     the watch and ward to 'light:'\n\n\nQuoth he 'The lover had cause to fear, * But Love deprived him of\n\n\n     wits and fright.'\n\n\n\nAnd when she ended her song she said to me, 'And is thy cousin also a\nmerchant?' I answered, 'Yes,' and she said, 'Indeed, ye resemble each\nother nearly.' But when Al-Maamun had drunk three pints,[FN#180] he\ngrew merry with wine and called out, saying, 'Ho, Isaac!' And I\nreplied, 'Labbayk, Adsum, O Commander of the Faithful,' whereupon quoth\nhe, 'Sing me this air.' Now when the young lady learned that he was the\nCaliph, she withdrew to another place and disappeared; and, as I had\nmade an end of my song, Al-Maamun said to me, 'See who is the master of\nthis house', whereupon an old woman hastened to make answer, saying,\n'It belongs to Hasan bin Sahl.'[FN#181] 'Fetch him to me,' said the\nCaliph. So she went away and after a while behold, in came Hasan, to\nwhom said Al-Maamun 'Hast thou a daughter?' He said, 'Yes, and her name\nis Khadijah.' Asked the Caliph, 'Is she married?' Answered Hasan, 'No,\nby Allah!' Said Al-Maamun, Then I ask her of thee in marriage.' Replied\nher father, 'O Commander of the Faithful, she is thy handmaid and at\nthy commandment.' Quoth Al-Maamun, 'I take her to wife at a present\nsettlement of thirty thousand dinars, which thou shalt receive this\nvery morning, and, when the money has been paid thee, do thou bring her\nto us this night.' And Hasan answered, 'I hear and I obey.' Thereupon\nwe went forth and the Caliph said to me, 'O Isaac, tell this story to\nno one.' So I kept it secret till Al-Maamun's death. Surely never did\nman's life gather such pleasures as were mine these four days' time,\nwhenas I companied with Al-Maamun by day and Khadijah by night; and, by\nAllah, never saw I among men the like of Al-Maamun nor among women have\nI ever set eyes on the like of Khadijah; no, nor on any that came near\nher in lively wit and pleasant speech! And Allah is All knowing. But\namongst stories is that of\n\n\n\nTHE SWEEP AND THE NOBLE LADY.\n\nDuring the season of the Meccan pilgrimage, whilst the people were\nmaking circuit about the Holy House and the place of compassing was\ncrowded, behold, a man laid hold of the covering of the Ka'abah[FN#182]\nand cried out, from the bottom of his heart, saying, 'I beseech thee, O\nAllah, that she may once again be wroth with her husband and that I may\nknow her!' A company of the pilgrims heard him and seized him and\ncarried him to the Emir of the pilgrims, after a sufficiency of blows;\nand, said they, 'O Emir, we found this fellow in the Holy Places,\nsaying thus and thus.' So the Emir commanded to hang him; but he cried,\n'O Emir, I conjure thee, by the virtue of the Apostle (whom Allah bless\nand preserve!), hear my story and then do with me as thou wilt.' Quoth\nthe Emir, 'Tell thy tale forthright.' 'Know then, O Emir,' quoth the\nman, 'that I am a sweep who works in the sheep- slaughterhouses and\ncarries off the blood and the offal to the rubbish-heaps outside the\ngates. And it came to pass as I went along one day with my ass loaded,\nI saw the people running away and one of them said to me, 'Enter this\nalley, lest haply they slay thee.' Quoth I, 'What aileth the folk\nrunning away?' and one of the eunuchs, who were passing, said to me,\n'This is the Harim[FN#183] of one of the notables and her eunuchs drive\nthe people out of her way and beat them all, without respect to\npersons.' So I turned aside with the donkey'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the man,\n\"So I turned aside with the donkey and stood still awaiting the\ndispersal of the crowd; and I saw a number of eunuchs with staves in\ntheir hands, followed by nigh thirty women slaves, and amongst them a\nlady as she were a willow-wand or a thirsty gazelle, perfect in beauty\nand grace and amorous languor, and all were attending upon her. Now\nwhen she came to the mouth of the passage where I stood, she turned\nright and left and, calling one of the Castratos, whispered in his ear;\nand behold, he came up to me and laid hold of me, whilst another eunuch\ntook my ass and made off with it. And when the spectators fled, the\nfirst eunuch bound me with a rope and dragged me after him till I knew\nnot what to do; and the people followed us and cried out, saying, 'This\nis not allowed of Allah! What hath this poor scavenger done that he\nshould be bound with ropes?' and praying the eunuchs, 'Have pity on him\nand let him go, so Allah have pity on you!' And I the while said in my\nmind, 'Doubtless the eunuchry seized me, because their mistress smelt\nthe stink of the offal and it sickened her. Belike she is with child or\nailing; but there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah,\nthe Glorious, the Great!' So I continued walking on behind them, till\nthey stopped at the door of a great house; and, entering before me,\nbrought me into a big hall\u2014I know not how I shall describe its\nmagnificence\u2014furnished with the finest furniture. And the women also\nentered the hall; and I bound and held by the eunuch and saying to\nmyself, 'Doubtless they will torture me here till I die and none know\nof my death.' However, after a while, they carried me into a neat\nbath-room leading out of the hall; and as I sat there, behold, in came\nthree slave-girls who seated themselves round me and said to me, 'Strip\noff thy rags and tatters.' So I pulled off my threadbare clothes and\none of them fell a-rubbing my legs and feet whilst another scrubbed my\nhead and a third shampooed my body. When they had made an end of\nwashing me, they brought me a parcel of clothes and said to me, 'Put\nthese on'; and I answered, 'By Allah, I know not how!' So they came up\nto me and dressed me, laughing together at me the while; after which\nthey brought casting-bottles full of rose-water, and sprinkled me\ntherewith. Then I went out with them into another saloon; by Allah, I\nknow not how to praise its splendour for the wealth of paintings and\nfurniture therein; and entering it, I saw a person seated on a couch of\nIndian rattan\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the sweep\ncontinued, \"When I entered that saloon I saw a person seated on a couch\nof Indian rattan, with ivory feet and before her a number of damsels.\nWhen she saw me she rose to me and called me; so I went up to her and\nshe seated me by her side. Then she bade her slave-girls bring food,\nand they brought all manner of rich meats, such as I never saw in all\nmy life; I do not even know the names of the dishes, much less their\nnature. So I ate my fill and when the dishes had been taken away and we\nhad washed our hands, she called for fruits which came without stay or\ndelay and ordered me eat of them; and when we had ended eating she bade\none of the waiting-women bring the wine furniture. So they set on\nflagons of divers kinds of wine and burned perfumes in all the censers,\nwhat while a damsel like the moon rose and served us with wine to the\nsound of the smitten strings; and I drank, and the lady drank, till we\nwere seized with wine and the whole time I doubted not but that all\nthis was an illusion of sleep. Presently, she signed to one of the\ndamsels to spread us a bed in such a place, which being done, she rose\nand took me by the hand and led me thither, and lay down and I lay with\nher till the morning, and as often as I pressed her to my breast I\nsmelt the delicious fragrance of musk and other perfumes that exhaled\nfrom her and could not think otherwise but that I was in Paradise or in\nthe vain phantasies of a dream. Now when it was day, she asked me where\nI lodged and I told her, 'In such a place;' whereupon she gave me leave\nto depart, handing to me a kerchief worked with gold and silver and\ncontaining somewhat tied in it, and took leave of me, saying, 'Go to\nthe bath with this.' I rejoiced and said to myself, 'If there be but\nfive coppers here, it will buy me this day my morning meal.' Then I\nleft her, as though I were leaving Paradise, and returned to my poor\ncrib where I opened the kerchief and found in it fifty miskals of gold.\nSo I buried them in the ground and, buying two farthings' worth of\nbread and 'kitchen,'[FN#184] seated me at the door and broke my fast;\nafter which I sat pondering my case and continued so doing till the\ntime of afternoon, prayer, when lo! a slave-girl accosted me saying,\n'My mistress calleth for thee.' I followed her to the house aforesaid\nand, after asking permission, she carried me into the lady, before whom\nI kissed the ground, and she commanded me to sit and called for meat\nand wine as on the previous day; after which I again lay with her all\nnight. On the morrow, she gave me a second kerchief, with other fifty\ndinars therein, and I took it and going home, buried this also. In such\npleasant condition I continued eight days running, going in to her at\nthe hour of afternoon prayer and leaving her at daybreak; but, on the\neighth night, as I lay with her, behold, one of her slave-girls came\nrunning in and said to me, 'Arise, go up into yonder closet.' So I rose\nand went into the closet, which was over the gate, and presently I\nheard a great clamour and tramp of horse; and, looking out of the\nwindow which gave on the street in front of the house, I saw a young\nman as he were the rising moon on the night of fulness come riding up\nattended by a number of servants and soldiers who were about him on\nfoot. He alighted at the door and entering the saloon found the lady\nseated on the couch; so he kissed the ground between her hands then\ncame up to her and kissed her hands; but she would not speak to him.\nHowever, he continued patiently to humble himself, and soothe her and\nspeak her fair, till he made his peace with her, and they lay together\nthat night.\"\u2014And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the scavenger\ncontinued, \"Now when her husband had made his peace with the young\nlady, he lay with her that night; and next morning, the soldiers came\nfor him and he mounted and rode away; whereupon she drew near to me and\nsaid, 'Sawst thou yonder man?' I answered, 'Yes;' and she said, 'He is\nmy husband, and I will tell thee what befell me with him. It came to\npass one day that we were sitting, he and I, in the garden within the\nhouse, and behold, he rose from my side and was absent a long while,\ntill I grew tired of waiting and said to myself: Most like, he is in\nthe privy. So I arose and went to the water-closet, but not finding him\nthere, went down to the kitchen, where I saw a slave-girl; and when I\nenquired for him, she showed him to me lying with one of the cookmaids.\nHereupon, I swore a great oath that I assuredly would do adultery with\nthe foulest and filthiest man in Baghdad; and the day the eunuch laid\nhands on thee, I had been four days going round about the city in quest\nof one who should answer to this description, but found none fouler nor\nfilthier than thy good self. So I took thee and there passed between us\nthat which Allah fore ordained to us; and now I am quit of my oath.'\nThen she added, 'If, however, my husband return yet again to the\ncookmaid and lie with her, I will restore thee to thy lost place in my\nfavours.' Now when I heard these words from her lips, what while she\npierced my heart with the shafts of her glances, my tears streamed\nforth, till my eyelids were chafed sore with weeping, and I repeated\nthe saying of the poet,\n\n'Grant me the kiss of that left hand ten times; * And learn it\n\n\nhath than right hand higher grade;[FN#185]\n\n\nFor 'tis but little since that same left hand * Washed off Sir\n\n\nReverence when ablution made.'\n\n\n\nThen she made them give me other fifty dinars (making in all four\nhundred gold pieces I had of her) and bade me depart. So I went out\nfrom her and came hither, that I might pray Allah (extolled and exalted\nbe He!) to make her husband return to the cookmaid, that haply I might\nbe again admitted to her favours.' When the Emir of the pilgrims heard\nthe man's story, he set him free and said to the bystanders, 'Allah\nupon you, pray for him, for indeed he is excusable.'\" And men also tell\nthe tale of\n\n\n\nTHE MOCK CALIPH.\n\nIt is related that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was one night restless\nwith extreme restlessness, so he summoned his Wazir Ja'afar the\nBarmecide, and said to him, \"My breast is straitened and I have a\ndesire to divert myself to-night by walking about the streets of\nBaghdad and looking into folks' affairs; but with this precaution that\nwe disguise ourselves in merchants' gear, so none shall know us.\" He\nanswered, \"Hearkening and obedience.\" They rose at once and doffing the\nrich raiment they wore, donned merchants' habits and sallied forth\nthree in number, the Caliph, Ja'afar and Masrur the sworder. Then they\nwalked from place to place, till they came to the Tigris and saw an old\nman sitting in a boat; so they went up to him and saluting him, said,\n\"O Shaykh, we desire thee of thy kindness and favour to carry us a-\npleasuring down the river, in this thy boat, and take this dinar to thy\nhire.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when they said to\nthe old man, \"We desire thee to carry us a-pleasuring in this thy boat\nand take this dinar;\" he answered, \"Who may go a- pleasuring on the\nTigris? The Caliph Harun al-Rashid every night cometh down Tigris\nstream in his state-barge[FN#186] and with him one crying aloud: 'Ho,\nye people all, great and small, gentle and simple, men and boys, whoso\nis found in a boat on the Tigris by night, I will strike off his head\nor hang him to the mast of his craft!' And ye had well nigh met him;\nfor here cometh his carrack.\" But the Caliph and Ja'afar said, \"O\nShaykh, take these two dinars, and run us under one of yonder arches,\nthat we may hide there till the Caliph's barge have passed.\" The old\nman replied, \"Hand over your gold and rely we on Allah, the Almighty!\"\nSo he took the two dinars and embarked them in the boat; and he put off\nand rowed about with them awhile, when behold, the barge came down the\nriver in mid-stream, with lighted flambeaux and cressets flaming\ntherein. Quoth the old man, \"Did not I tell you that the Caliph passed\nalong the river every night?\"; and ceased not muttering, \"O Protector,\nremove not the veils of Thy protection!\" Then he ran the boat under an\narch and threw a piece of black cloth over the Caliph and his\ncompanions, who looked out from under the covering and saw, in the bows\nof the barge, a man holding in hand a cresset of red gold which he fed\nwith Sumatran lign-aloes and the figure was clad in a robe of red\nsatin, with a narrow turband of Mosul shape round on his head, and over\none of his shoulders hung a sleeved cloak[FN#187] of cramoisy satin,\nand on the other was a green silk bag full of the aloes-wood, with\nwhich he fed the cresset by way of firewood. And they sighted in the\nstern another man, clad like the first and bearing a like cresset, and\nin the barge were two hundred white slaves, standing ranged to the\nright and left; and in the middle a throne of red gold, whereon sat a\nhandsome young man, like the moon, clad in a dress of black,\nembroidered with yellow gold. Before him they beheld a man, as he were\nthe Wazir Ja'afar, and at his head stood an eunuch, as he were Masrur,\nwith a drawn sword in his hand; besides a score of cup-companions. Now\nwhen the Caliph saw this, he turned and said, \"O Ja'afar,\" and the\nMinister replied, \"At thy service, O Prince of True Believers.\" Then\nquoth the Caliph, \"Belike this is one of my sons, Al Amin or\nAl-Maamun.\" Then he examined the young man who sat on the throne and\nfinding him perfect in beauty and loveliness and stature and symmetric\ngrace, said to Ja'afar, \"Verily, this young man abateth nor jot nor\ntittle of the state of the Caliphate! See, there standeth before him\none as he were thyself, O Ja'afar; yonder eunuch who standeth at his\nhead is as he were Masrur and those courtiers as they were my own. By\nAllah, O Ja'afar, my reason is confounded and I am filled with\namazement this matter!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph\nsaw this spectacle his reason was confounded and he cried, \"By Allah, I\nam filled with amazement at this matter!\" and Ja'afar replied, \"And I\nalso, by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful.\" Then the barge passed on\nand disappeared from sight whereupon the boatman pushed out again into\nthe stream, saying, \"Praised be Allah for safety, since none hath\nfallen in with us!\" Quoth the Caliph, \"O old man, doth the Caliph come\ndown the Tigris-river every night?\" The boatman answered, \"Yes, O my\nlord; and on such wise hath he done every night this year past.\" \"O\nShaykh,\" rejoined Al-Rashid, \"we wish thee of thy favour to await us\nhere to-morrow night and we will give thee five golden dinars, for we\nare stranger folk, lodging in the quarter Al-Khandak, and we have a\nmind to divert ourselves.\" Said the oldster, \"With joy and good will!\"\nThen the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur left the boatman and returned to\nthe palace; where they doffed their merchants' habits and, donning\ntheir apparel of state, sat down each in his several-stead; and came\nthe Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and Officers, and the Divan\nassembled and was crowded as of custom. But when day ended and all the\nfolk had dispersed and wended each his own way, the Caliph said to his\nWazir, \"Rise, O Ja'afar, let us go and amuse ourselves by looking on\nthe second Caliph.\" At this, Ja'afar and Masrur laughed, and the three,\ndonning merchants' habits, went forth by a secret pastern and made\ntheir way through the city, in great glee, till they came to the\nTigris, where they found the graybeard sitting and awaiting them. They\nembarked with him in the boat and hardly had they sat down before up\ncame the mock Caliph's barge; and, when they looked at it attentively,\nthey saw therein two hundred Mamelukes other than those of the previous\nnight, while the link- bearers cried aloud as of wont. Quoth the\nCaliph, \"O Wazir, had I heard tell of this, I had not believed it; but\nI have seen it with my own sight.\" Then said he to the boatman, \"Take,\nO Shaykh' these ten dinars and row us along abreast of them, for they\nare in the light and we in the shade, and we can see them and amuse\nourselves by looking on them, but they cannot see us.\" So the man took\nthe money and pushing off ran abreast of them in the shadow of the\nbarge,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun\nal-Rashid said to the old man, \"Take these ten dinars and row us\nabreast of them;\" to which he replied, \"I hear and I obey.\" And he\nfared with them and ceased not going in the blackness of the barge,\ntill they came amongst the gardens that lay alongside of them and\nsighted a large walled enclosure; and presently, the barge cast anchor\nbefore a postern door, where they saw servants standing with a she mule\nsaddled and bridled. Here the mock Caliph landed and, mounting the\nmule, rode away with his courtiers and his cup-companions preceded by\nthe cresset-bearers crying aloud, and followed by his household which\nbusied itself in his service. Then Harun al-Rashid, Ja'afar and Masrur\nlanded also and, making their way through the press of servants, walked\non before them. Presently, the cresset-bearers espied them and seeing\nthree persons in merchants' habits, and strangers to the country, took\noffense at them; so they pointed them out and brought them before the\nother Caliph, who looked at them and asked, \"How came ye to this place\nand who brought you at this tide?\" They answered, \"O our lord, we are\nforeign merchants and far from our homes, who arrived here this day and\nwere out a- walking to-night, and behold, ye came up and these men laid\nhands on us and brought us to thy presence; and this is all our story.\"\nQuoth the mock Caliph, \"Since ye be stranger folk no harm shall befall\nyou; but had ye been of Baghdad, I had struck off your heads.\" Then he\nturned to his Wazir and said to him, \"Take these men with thee; for\nthey are our guests to-night.\" \"To hear is to obey, O our lord,\"\nanswered he; and they companied him till they came to a lofty and\nsplendid palace set upon the firmest base; no Sultan possesseth such a\nplace; rising from the dusty mould and upon the merges of the clouds\nlaying hold. Its door was of Indian teak-wood inlaid with gold that\nglowed; and through it one passed into a royal-hall in whose midst was\na jetting fount girt by a raised estrade. It was provided with carpets\nand cushions of brocade and small pillows and long settees and hanging\ncurtains; it was furnished with a splendour that dazed the mind and\ndumbed the tongue, and upon the door were written these two couplets,\n\n\"A Palace whereon be blessings and praise! * Which with all their\n\n\n     beauty have robed the Days:\n\n\nWhere marvels and miracle-sights abound, * And to write its\n\n\n     honours the pen affrays.\"\n\n\n\nThe false Caliph entered with his company, and sat down on a throne of\ngold set with jewels and covered with a prayer carpet of yellow silk;\nwhilst the boon-companions took their seats and the sword bearer of\nhigh works stood before him. Then the tables were laid and they ate;\nafter which the dishes were removed and they washed their hands and the\nwine-service was set on with flagons and bowls in due order. The cup\nwent round till it came to the Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who refused the\ndraught, and the mock Caliph said to Ja'afar, \"What mattereth thy\nfriend that he drinketh not?\" He replied, \"O my lord, indeed 'tis a\nlong while he hath drunk naught of this.\" Quoth the sham Caliph, \"I\nhave drink other than this, a kind of apple-wine,[FN#188] that will\nsuit thy companion.\" So he bade them bring the cider which they did\nforthright; when the false Caliph, coming up to Harun al-Rashid, said\nto him, \"As often as it cometh to thy turn drink thou of this.\" Then\nthey continued to drink and make merry and pass the cup till the wine\nrose to their brains and mastered their wits;\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the false Caliph\nand his co sitters sat at their cups and gave not over drinking till\nthe wine rose to their brains and mastered their wits; and Harun\nal-Rashid said to the Minister, \"O Ja'afar, by Allah, we have no such\nvessels as these. Would to Heaven I knew what manner of man this youth\nis!\" But while they were talking privily the young man cast a glance\nupon them and seeing the Wazir whisper the Caliph said, \"'Tis rude to\nwhisper.\" He replied, \"No rudeness was meant: this my friend did but\nsay to me, 'Verily I have travelled in most countries and have caroused\nwith the greatest of Kings and I have companied with noble captains;\nyet never saw I a goodlier ordering than this entertainment nor passed\na more delightful night; save that the people of Baghdad are wont to\nsay, Wine without music often leaves you sick.'\"When the second Caliph\nheard this, he smiled pleasantly and struck with a rod he had in his\nhand a round gong;[FN#189] and behold, a door opened and out came a\neunuch, bearing a chair of ivory, inlaid with gold glittering fiery red\nand followed by a damsel of passing beauty and loveliness, symmetry and\ngrace. He set down the chair and the damsel seated herself on it, as\nshe were the sun shining sheen in a sky serene. In her hand she had a\nlute of Hindu make, which she laid in her lap and bent down over it as\na mother bendeth over her little one, and sang to it, after a prelude\nin four-and-twenty modes, amazing all wits. Then she returned to the\nfirst mode and to a lively measure chanted these couplets,\n\n\"Love's tongue within my heart speaks plain to thee, * Telling\n\n\n     thee clearly I am fain of thee\n\n\nWitness the fevers of a tortured heart, * And ulcered eyelid\n\n\n     tear-flood rains for thee\n\n\nGod's fate o'ertaketh all created things! * I knew not love till\n\n\n     learnt Love's pain of thee.\"\n\n\n\nNow when the mock Caliph heard these lines sung by the damsel, he cried\nwith a great cry and rent his raiment to the very skirt, whereupon they\nlet down a curtain over him and brought him a fresh robe, handsomer\nthan the first. He put it on and sat as before, till the cup came round\nto him, when he struck the gong a second time and lo! a door opened and\nout of it came a eunuch with a chair of gold, followed by a damsel\nfairer than the first, bearing a lute, such as would strike the envious\nmute. She sat down on the chair and sang to her instrument these two\ncouplets,\n\n\"How patient bide, with love in sprite of me, * And tears in\n\n\n     tempest[FN#190] blinding sight of me?\n\n\nBy Allah, life has no delight of me! * How gladden heart whose\n\n\n     core is blight of me?\"\n\n\n\nNo sooner had the youth heard this poetry than he cried out with a loud\ncry and rent his raiment to the skirt: whereupon they let down the\ncurtain over him and brought him another suit of clothes. He put it on\nand, sitting up as before, fell again to cheerful talk, till the cup\ncame round to him, when he smote once more upon the gong and out came a\neunuch with a chair, followed by a damsel fairer than she who forewent\nher. So she sat down on the chair, with a lute in her hand, and sang\nthereto these couplets,\n\n\"Cease ye this farness; 'bate this pride of you, * To whom my\n\n\n     heart clings, by life-tide of you!\n\n\nHave ruth on hapless, mourning, lover-wretch, * Desire-full,\n\n\n     pining, passion-tried of you:\n\n\nSickness hath wasted him, whose ecstasy * Prays Heaven it may be\n\n\n     satisfied of you:\n\n\nOh fullest moons[FN#191] that dwell in deepest heart! * How can I\n\n\n     think of aught by side of you?\"\n\n\n\nNow when the young man heard these couplets, he cried out with a great\ncry and rent his raiment, whereupon they let fall the curtain over him\nand brought him other robes. Then he returned to his former case with\nhis boon-companions and the bowl went round as before, till the cup\ncame to him, when he struck the gong a fourth time and the door\nopening, out came a page-boy bearing a chair followed by a damsel. He\nset the chair for her and she sat down thereon and taking the lute,\ntuned it and sang to it these couplets,\n\n\"When shall disunion and estrangement end? * When shall my bygone\n\n\n     joys again be kenned?\n\n\nYesterday we were joined in same abode; * Conversing heedless of\n\n\n     each envious friend:[FN#192]\n\n\nTrickt us that traitor Time, disjoined our lot * And our waste\n\n\n     home to desert fate condemned:\n\n\nWouldst have me, Grumbler! from my dearling fly? * I find my\n\n\n     vitals blame will not perpend:\n\n\nCease thou to censure; leave me to repine; * My mind e'er findeth\n\n\n     thoughts that pleasure lend.\n\n\nO Lords[FN#193] of me who brake our troth and plight, * Deem not\n\n\n     to lose your hold of heart and sprite!\"\n\n\n\nWhen the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried out with a loud\noutcry and rent his raiment,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninetieth Night,\n\nShe said, When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried with a\nloud outcry and rent his raiment and fell to the ground fainting;\nwhereupon they would have let down the curtain over him, as of custom;\nbut its cords stuck fast and Harun al-Rashid, after considering him\ncarefully, saw on his body the marks of beating with palm-rods and said\nto Ja'afar, \"By Allah, he is a handsome youth, but a foul thief!\"\n\"Whence knowest thou that, O Commander of the Faithful?\" asked Ja'afar,\nand the Caliph answered, \"Sawest thou not the whip-scars on his ribs?\"\nThen they let fall the curtain over him and brought him a fresh dress,\nwhich he put on and sat up as before with his courtiers and cup-\ncompanions. Presently he saw the Caliph and Ja'afar whispering together\nand said to them, \"What is the matter, fair sirs?\" Quoth Ja'afar, \"O my\nlord, all is well,[FN#194] save that this my comrade, who (as is not\nunknown to thee) is of the merchant company and hath visited all the\ngreat cities and countries of the world and hath consorted with kings\nand men of highest consideration, saith to me: 'Verily, that which our\nlord the Caliph hath done this night is beyond measure extravagant,\nnever saw I any do the like doings in any country; for he hath rent\nsuch and such dresses, each worth a thousand dinars and this is surely\nexcessive unthriftiness.'\" Replied the second Caliph, \"Ho thou, the\nmoney is my money and the stuff my stuff, and this is by way of\nlargesse to my suite and servants; for each suit that is rent belongeth\nto one of my cup-companions here present, and I assign to them with\neach suit of clothes the sum of five hundred dinars.\" The Wazir Ja'afar\nreplied, \"Well is whatso thou doest, O our lord,\" and recited these two\ncouplets,\n\n\"Virtue in hand of thee hath built a house, * And to mankind thou\n\n\n     dost thy wealth expose:\n\n\nIf an the virtues ever close their doors, * That hand would be a\n\n\n     key the lock to unclose.\"\n\n\n\nNow when the young man heard these verses recited by the Minister\nJa'afar, he ordered him to be gifted with a thousand dinars and a dress\nof honour. Then the cup went round among them and the wine was sweet to\nthem; but, after a while quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, \"Ask him of the\nmarks on his sides, that we may see what he will say by way of reply.\"\nAnswered Ja'afar, \"Softly, O my lord, be not hasty and soothe thy mind,\nfor patience is more becoming.\" Rejoined the Caliph, \"By the life of my\nhead and by the revered tomb of Al Abbas,[FN#195] except thou ask him,\nI will assuredly stop thy breath!\" With this the young man turned\ntowards the Minister and said to him, \"What aileth thee and thy friend\nto be whispering together? Tell me what is the matter with you.\" \"It is\nnothing save good,\" replied Ja'afar; but the mock Caliph rejoined, \"I\nconjure thee, by Allah, tell me what aileth you and hide from me\nnothing of your case.\" Answered the Wazir \"O my lord, verily this one\nhere saw on thy sides the marks of beating with whips and palm-fronds\nand marvelled thereat with exceeding marvel, saying, 'How came the\nCaliph to be beaten?'; and he would fain know the cause of this.\" Now\nwhen the youth heard this, he smiled and said, \"Know ye that my story\nis wondrous and my case marvellous; were it graven with needles on the\neye corners, it would serve as a warner to whoso would be warned.\" And\nhe sighed and repeated these couplets,\n\n\"Strange is my story, passing prodigy; * By Love I swear, my ways\n\n\n     wax strait on me!\n\n\nAn ye desire to hear me, listen, and * Let all in this assembly\n\n\n     silent be.\n\n\nHeed ye my words which are of meaning deep, * Nor lies my speech;\n\n\n     'tis truest verity.\n\n\nI'm slain[FN#196] by longing and by ardent love; * My slayer's\n\n\n     the pearl of fair virginity.\n\n\nShe hath a jet black eye like Hindi blade, * And bow\u0438d eyebrows\n\n\n     shoot her archery\n\n\nMy heart assures me our Imam is here, * This age's Caliph, old\n\n\n     nobility:\n\n\nYour second, Ja'afar highs, is his Wazir; * A Sahib,[FN#197]\n\n\n     Sahib-son of high degree:\n\n\nThe third is called Masrur who wields the sword: * Now, if in\n\n\n     words of mine some truth you see\n\n\nI have won every wish by this event * Which fills my heart with\n\n\n     joy and gladdest greet\"\n\n\n\nWhen they heard these words Ja'afar swore to him an ambiguous oath that\nthey were not those he named, whereupon he laughed and said: \"Know, O\nmy lords, that I am not the Commander of the Faithful and that I do but\nstyle myself thus, to win my will of the sons of the city. My true name\nis Mohammed Ali, son of Ali the Jeweller, and my father was one of the\nnotables of Baghdad, who left me great store of gold and silver and\npearls and coral and rubies and chrysolites and other jewels, besides\nmessuages and lands, Hammam-baths and brickeries, orchards and flower-\ngardens. Now as I sat in my shop one day surrounded by my eunuchs and\ndependents, behold, there came up a young lady, mounted on a she-mule\nand attended by three damsels like moons. Riding up to my shop she\nalighted and seated herself by my side and said 'Art thou Mohammed the\nJeweller?' Replied I, 'Even so! I am he, thy Mameluke, thy chattel.'\nShe asked, 'Hast thou a necklace of jewels fit for me?' and I answered,\n'O my lady, I will show thee what I have; and lay all before thee and,\nif any please thee, it will be of thy slave's good luck; if they please\nthee not, of his ill fortune.' Now I had by me an hundred necklaces and\nshowed them all to her; but none of them pleased her and she said, 'I\nwant a better than those I have seen.' I had a small necklace which my\nfather had bought at an hundred thousand dinars and whose like was not\nto be found with any of the great kings; so I said to her, 'O my lady,\nI have yet one necklace of fine stones fit for bezels, the like of\nwhich none possesseth, great or small. Said she, Show it to me,' so I\nshowed it to her, and she said, 'This is what I wanted and what I have\nwished for all my life;' adding, 'What is its price?' Quoth I, 'It cost\nmy father an hundred thousand dinars;' and she said, 'I will give thee\nfive thousand dinars to thy profit.' I answered, 'O my lady, the\nnecklace and its owner are at thy service and I cannot gainsay thee.'\nBut she rejoined, 'Needs must thou have the profit, and I am still most\ngrateful to thee.' Then she rose without stay or delay; and, mounting\nthe mule in haste, said to me, 'O my lord, in Allah's name, favour us\nwith thy company to receive the money; for this thy day with us is\nwhite as milk.'[FN#198] So I shut the shop and accompanied her, in all\nsecurity, till we came to a house, on which were manifest the signs of\nwealth and rank; for its door was wrought with gold and silver and\nultramarine, and thereon were written these two couplets,\n\n'Hole, thou mansion! woe ne'er enter thee; * Nor be thine owner\n\n\n     e'er misused of Fate\n\n\nExcellent mansion to all guests art thou, * When other mansions\n\n\n     to the guest are strait.'\n\n\n\nThe young lady dismounted and entered the house, bidding me sit down on\nthe bench at the gate, till the money-changer should arrive. So I sat\nawhile, when behold, a damsel came out to me and said, 'O my lord,\nenter the vestibule; for it is a dishonour that thou shouldst sit at\nthe gate.' Thereupon I arose and entered the vestibule and sat down on\nthe settle there, and, as I sat, lo! another damsel came out and said\nto me, 'O my lord my mistress biddeth thee enter and sit down at the\ndoor of the saloon, to receive thy money.' I entered and sat down, nor\nhad I sat a moment when behold, a curtain of silk which concealed a\nthrone of gold was drawn aside, and I saw seated thereon the lady who\nhad made the purchase, and round her neck she wore the necklace which\nlooked pale and wan by the side of a face as it were the rounded moon;\nAt her sight, my wit was troubled and my mind confounded, by reason of\nher exceeding beauty and loveliness, but when she saw me she rose from\nher throne and coming close up to me, said, 'O light of mine eyes, is\nevery handsome one like thee pitiless to his mistress?' I answered, 'O\nmy lady, beauty, all of it, is in thee and is but one of thy hidden\ncharms.' And she rejoined, 'O Jeweller, know that I love thee and can\nhardly credit that I have brought thee hither.' Then she bent towards\nme and I kissed her and she kissed me and, as she caressed me, drew me\ntowards her and to her breast she pressed me.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Jeweller\ncontinued: \"Then she bent towards me and kissed and caressed me; and,\nas she caressed me, drew me towards her and to her breast she pressed\nme. Now she knew by my condition that I had a mind to enjoy her; so she\nsaid to me, 'O my lord, wouldst thou foregather with me unlawfully? By\nAllah, may he not live who would do the like of this sin and who takes\npleasure in talk unclean! I am a maid, a virgin whom no man hath\napproached, nor am I unknown in the city. Knowest thou who I am?' Quoth\nI, 'No, by Allah, O my lady!'; and quoth she, 'I am the Lady Duny\u0431,\ndaughter of Y\u0431hy\u0431 bin Kh\u0431lid the Barmecide and sister of Ja'afar, Wazir\nto the Caliph.' Now as I heard this, I drew back from her, saying, 'O\nmy lady, it is no fault of mine if I have been over- bold with thee; it\nwas thou didst encourage me to aspire to thy love, by giving me access\nto thee.' She answered, 'No harm shall befal-thee, and needs must thou\nattain thy desire in the only way pleasing to Allah. I am my own\nmistress and the Kazi shall act as my guardian in consenting to the\nmarriage contract; for it is my will that I be to thee wife and thou be\nto me man.' Then she sent for the Kazi and the witnesses and busied\nherself with making ready; and, when they came, she said to them,\n'Mohammed Ali, bin Ali the Jeweller, seeketh me in wedlock and hath\ngiven me the necklace to my marriage-settlement; and I accept and\nconsent.' So they wrote out the contract of marriage between us; and\nere I went in to her the servants brought the wine-furniture and the\ncups passed round after the fairest fashion and the goodliest ordering;\nand, when the wine mounted to our heads, she ordered a damsel, a\nlute-player,[FN#199] to sing. So she took the lute and sang to a\npleasing and stirring motive these couplets,\n\n'He comes; and fawn and branch and moon delight these eyne *\n\n\n     Fie[FN#200] on his heart who sleeps o' nights without repine\n\n\nPair youth, for whom Heaven willed to quench in cheek one light,\n\n\n     * And left another light on other cheek bright li'en:\n\n\nI fain finesse my chiders when they mention him, * As though the\n\n\n     hearing of his name I would decline;\n\n\nAnd willing ear I lend when they of other speak; * Yet would my\n\n\n     soul within outflow in foods of brine:\n\n\nBeauty's own prophet, he is all a miracle * Of heavenly grace,\n\n\n     and greatest shows his face for sign.[FN#201]\n\n\nTo prayer Bil\u0431l-like cries that Mole upon his cheek * To ward\n\n\n     from pearly brow all eyes of ill design:[FN#202]\n\n\nThe censors of their ignorance would my love dispel * But after\n\n\n     Faith I can't at once turn Infidel.'\n\n\n\nWe were ravished by the sweet music she made striking the strings, and\nthe beauty of the verses she sang; and the other damsels went on to\nsing and to recite one after another, till ten had so done; when the\nLady Dunya took the lute and playing a lively measure, chanted these\ncouplets,\n\n'I swear by swayings of that form so fair, * Aye from thy parting\n\n\n     fiery\n\n\nPity a heart which burneth in thy love, * O bright as fullest\n\n\n     moon in blackest air!\n\n\nVouchsafe thy boons to him who ne'er will cease * In light of\n\n\n     wine-cup all thy charms declare,\n\n\nAmid the roses which with varied hues * Are to the myrtle-\n\n\n    bush[FN#203] a mere despair.'\n\n\n\nWhen she had finished her verse I took the lute from her hands and,\nplaying a quaint and not vulgar prelude sang the following verses,\n\n'Laud to my Lord who gave thee all of loveliness; * Myself amid\n\n\n     thy thralls I willingly confess:\n\n\nO thou, whose eyes and glances captivate mankind, * Pray that I\n\n\n     'scape those arrows shot with all thy stress!\n\n\nTwo hostile rivals water and enflaming fire * Thy cheek hath\n\n\n     married, which for marvel I profess:\n\n\nThou art Sa'\u043dr in heart of me and eke Na'\u043dm;[FN#204] * Thou agro-\n\n\n    dolce, eke heart's sweetest bitterness.'\n\n\n\nWhen she heard this my song she rejoiced with exceeding joy; then,\ndismissing her slave women, she brought me to a most goodly place,\nwhere they had spread us a bed of various colours. She did off her\nclothes and I had a lover's privacy of her and found her a pearl\nunpierced and a filly unridden. So I rejoiced in her and never in my\nborn days spent I a more delicious night.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed bin Ali\nthe Jeweller continued: \"So I went in unto the Lady Dunya, daughter of\nYahya bin Kh\u0431lid the Barmecide, and I found her a pearl unthridden and\na filly unridden. So I rejoiced in her and repeated these couplets,\n\n'O Night here stay! I want no morning light; * My lover's face to\n\n\n     me is lamp and light:[FN#205]\n\n\nAs ring of ring-dove round his necks my arm; * And made my palm\n\n\n     his mouth-veil, and, twas right.\n\n\nThis be the crown of bliss, and ne'er we'll cease * To clip, nor\n\n\n     care to be in other plight.'\n\n\n\nAnd I abode with her a whole month, forsaking shop and family and home,\ntill one day she said to me, 'O light of my eyes, O my lord Mohammed, I\nhave determined to go to the Hammam to day; so sit thou on this couch\nand rise not from thy place, till I return to thee.' 'I hear and I\nobey,' answered I, and she made me swear to this; after which she took\nher women and went off to the bath. But by Allah, O my brothers, she\nhad not reached the head of the street ere the door opened and in came\nan old woman, who said to me, 'O my lord Mohammed, the Lady Zubaydah\nbiddeth thee to her, for she hath heard of thy fine manners and\naccomplishments and skill in singing.' I answered, 'By Allah, I will\nnot rise from my place till the Lady Dunya come back.' Rejoined the old\nwoman, 'O my lord, do not anger the Lady Zubaydah with thee and vex her\nso as to make her thy foe: nay, rise up and speak with her and return\nto thy place.' So I rose at once and followed her into the presence of\nthe Lady Zubaydah and, when I entered her presence she said to me, 'O\nlight of the eye, art thou the Lady Dunya's beloved?' 'I am thy\nMameluke, thy chattel,' replied I. Quoth she, 'Sooth spake he who\nreported thee possessed of beauty and grace and good breeding and every\nfine quality; indeed, thou surpassest all praise and all report. But\nnow sing to me, that I may hear thee.' Quoth I, 'Hearkening and\nobedience;' so she brought me a lute, and I sang to it these couplets,\n\n'The hapless lover's heart is of his wooing weary grown, * And\n\n\n     hand of sickness wasted him till naught but skin and bone\n\n\nWho should be amid the riders which the haltered camels urge, *\n\n\n     But that same lover whose beloved cloth in the litters wone:\n\n\nTo Allah's charge I leave that moon-like Beauty in your tents *\n\n\n     Whom my heart loves, albe my glance on her may ne'er be\n\n\n     thrown.\n\n\nNow she is fain; then she is fierce: how sweet her coyness shows;\n\n\n     * Yea sweet whatever cloth or saith to lover loved one!'\n\n\n\nWhen I had finished my song she said to me, 'Allah assain thy body and\nthy voice! Verily, thou art perfect in beauty and good breeding and\nsinging. But now rise and return to thy place, ere the Lady Dunya come\nback, lest she find thee not and be wroth with thee.' Then I kissed the\nground before her and the old woman forewent me till I reached the door\nwhence I came. So I entered and, going up to the couch, found that my\nwife had come back from the bath and was lying asleep there. Seeing\nthis I sat down at her feet and rubbed them; whereupon she opened her\neyes and seeing me, drew up both her feet and gave me a kick that threw\nme off the couch,[FN#206] saying, 'O traitor, thou hast been false to\nthine oath and hast perjured thyself. Thou swarest to me that thou\nwouldst not rise from thy place; yet didst thou break thy promise and\ngo to the Lady Zubaydah. By Allah, but that I fear public scandal, I\nwould pull down her palace over her head!' Then said she to her black\nslave, 'O Saw\u0431b, arise and strike off this lying traitor's head, for we\nhave no further need of him.' So the slave came up to me and, tearing a\nstrip from his skirt, bandaged with it my eyes[FN#207] and would have\nstruck off my head;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed the\nJeweller continued: \"So the slave came up to me and, tearing a strip\nfrom his skirt, bandaged with it my eyes and would have struck off my\nhead, but all her women, great and small, rose and came up to her and\nsaid to her, 'O our lady, this is not the first who hath erred: indeed,\nhe knew not thy humour and hath done thee no offence deserving death.'\nReplied she, 'By Allah, I must needs set my mark on him.' And she bade\nthem bash me; so they beat me on my ribs and the marks ye saw are the\nscars of that fustigation. Then she ordered them to cast me out, and\nthey carried me to a distance from the house and threw me down like a\nlog. After a time I rose and dragged myself little by little to my own\nplace, where I sent for a surgeon and showed him my hurts; and he\ncomforted me and did his best to cure me. As soon as I was recovered I\nwent to the Hammam and, as my pains and sickness had left me, I\nrepaired to my shop and took and sold all that was therein. With the\nproceeds, I bought me four hundred white slaves, such as no King ever\ngot together, and caused two hundred of them to ride out with me every\nday. Then I made me yonder barge whereon I spent five thousand gold\npieces; and styled myself Caliph and appointed each of my servants to\nthe charge of some one of the Caliph's officers and clad him in\nofficial habit. Moreover, I made proclamation, 'Whoso goeth\na-pleasuring on the Tigris by night, I will strike off his head,\nwithout ruth or delay;' and on such wise have I done this whole year\npast, during which time I have heard no news of the lady neither\nhappened upon any trace of her.\" Then wept he copiously and repeated\nthese couplets,\n\n\"By Allah! while the days endure ne'er shall forget her I, * Nor\n\n\n     draw to any nigh save those who draw her to me nigh\n\n\nLike to the fullest moon her form and favour show to me, * Laud\n\n\n     to her All-creating Lord, laud to the Lord on high,\n\n\nShe left me full of mourning, sleepless, sick with pine and pain\n\n\n     * And ceaseth not my heart to yearn her mystery[FN#208] to\n\n\n     espy.\"\n\n\n\nNow when Harun al-Rashid heard the young man's story and knew the\npassion and transport and love lowe that afflicted him, he was moved to\ncompassion and wonder and said, \"Glory be to Allah, who hath appointed\nto every effect a cause!\" Then they craved the young man's permission\nto depart; which being granted, they took leave of him, the Caliph\npurposing to do him justice meet, and him with the utmost munificence\nentreat; and they returned to the palace of the Caliphate, where they\nchanged clothes for others befitting their state and sat down, whilst\nMasrur the Sworder of High Justice stood before them. After awhile,\nquoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, \"O Wazir, bring me the young man'\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Two hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the Caliph\nto his Minister, \"Bring me the young man with whom we were last night.\"\n\"I hear and obey,\" answered Ja'afar and, going to the youth, saluted\nhim, saying, \"Obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful, the\nCaliph Harun al-Rashid.\" So he returned with him to the palace, in\ngreat anxiety by reason of the summons; and, going in to the King,\nkissed ground before him; and offered up a prayer for the endurance of\nhis glory and prosperity, for the accomplishment of his desires, for\nthe continuance of his beneficence and for the cessation of evil and\npunishment; ordering his speech as best he might and ending by saying,\n\"Peace be on thee, O Prince of True Believers and Protector of the folk\nof the Faith!\" Then he repeated these two couplets,\n\n\"Kiss thou his fingers which no fingers are; * Keys of our daily\n\n\n     bread those fingers ken:\n\n\nAnd praise his actions which no actions are, * But precious\n\n\n     necklaces round necks of men.\"\n\n\n\nSo the Caliph smiled in his face and returned his salute, looking on\nhim with the eye of favour; then he bade him draw near and sit down\nbefore him and said to him, \"O Mohammed Ali, I wish thee to tell me\nwhat befel thee last night, for it was strange and passing strange.\"\nQuoth the youth, \"Pardon, O Commander of the Faithful, give me the\nkerchief of immunity, that my dread may be appeased and my heart\neased.\" Replied the Caliph, \"I promise thee safety from fear and woes.\"\nSo the young man told him his story from first to last, whereby the\nCaliph knew him to be a lover and severed from his beloved and said to\nhim, \"Desirest thou that I restore her to thee?\" \"This were of the\nbounty of the Commander of the Faithful,\" answered the youth and\nrepeated these two couplets.\n\n\"Ne'er cease thy gate be Ka'abah to mankind; * Long may its\n\n\n     threshold dust man's brow beseem!\n\n\nThat o'er all countries it may be proclaimed, * This is the Place\n\n\n     and thou art Ibrahim.\"[FN#209]\n\n\n\nThereupon the Caliph turned to his Minister and said to him, \"O\nJa'afar, bring me thy sister, the Lady Dunya, daughter of the Wazir\nYahya bin Kh\u0431lid!\" \"I hear and I obey,\" answered he and fetched her\nwithout let or delay. Now when she stood before the Caliph he said to\nher, \"Doss thou know who this is?\"; and she replied, \"O Commander of\nthe Faithful, how should women have knowledge of men?\"[FN#210] So the\nCaliph smiled and said, \"O Dunya this is thy beloved, Mohammed bin Ali\nthe Jeweller. We are acquainted with his case, for we have heard the\nwhole story from beginning to end, and have apprehended its inward and\nits outward; and it is no more hidden from me, for all it was kept in\nsecrecy.\" Replied she, \"O Commander of the Faithful, this was written\nin the Book of Destiny; I crave the forgiveness of Almighty Allah for\nthe wrong I have wrought, and pray thee to pardon me of thy favour.\" At\nthis the Caliph laughed and, summoning the Kazi and witnesses, renewed\nthe marriage-contract between the Lady Dunya and her husband, Mohammed\nAli son of the Jeweller, whereby there betided them, both her and him\nthe utmost felicity, and to their enviers mortification and misery.\nMoreover, he made Mohammed Ali one of his boon-companions, and they\nabode in joy and cheer and gladness, till there came to them the\nDestroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. And men also\nrelate the pleasant tale of\n\n\n\nALI THE PERSIAN.\n\nIt is said that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, being restless one night,\nsent for his Wazir and said to him, \"O Ja'afar, I am sore wakeful and\nheavy-hearted this night, and I desire of thee what may solace my\nspirit and cause my breast to broaden with amuse meet.\" Quoth Ja'afar,\n\"O Commander of the Faithful, I have a friend, by name Ali the Persian,\nwho hath store of tales and plea sent stories, such as lighten the\nheart and make care depart.\" Quoth the Caliph, \"Fetch him to me,\" and\nquoth Ja'afar, \"Hearkening and obedience;\" and, going out from before\nhim, sent to seek Ali the Persian and when he came said to him, \"Answer\nthe summons of the Commander of the Faithful.\" \"To hear is to obey,\"\nanswered Ali;\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian\nreplied, \"To hear is to obey;\" and at once followed the Wazir into the\npresence of the Caliph who bade him be seated and said to him, \"O Ali,\nmy heart is heavy within me this night and it hath come to my ear that\nthou hast great store of tales and anecdotes; so I desire of thee that\nthou let me hear what will relieve my despondency and brighten my\nmelancholy.\" Said he, \"O Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee\nwhat I have seen with my eyes or what I have heard with my ears?\" He\nreplied, \"An thou have seen aught worth the telling, let me hear that.\"\nReplied Ali: \"Hearkening and obedience. Know thou, O Commander of the\nFaithful, that some years ago I left this my native city of Baghdad on\na journey, having with me a lad who carried a light leathern bag.\nPresently we came to a certain city, where, as I was buying and\nselling, behold, a rascally Kurd fell on me and seized my wallet\nperforce, saying, 'This is my bag, and all which is in it is my\nproperty.' Thereupon, I cried aloud 'Ho Moslems,[FN#211] one and all,\ndeliver me from the hand of the vilest of oppressors!' But the folk\nsaid, 'Come, both of you, to the Kazi and abide ye by his judgment with\njoint consent.' So I agreed to submit myself to such decision and we\nboth presented ourselves before the Kazi, who said, 'What bringeth you\nhither and what is your case and your quarrel?' Quoth I, 'We are men at\ndifference, who appeal to thee and make complaint and submit ourselves\nto thy judgment.' Asked the Kazi, 'Which of you is the complainant?';\nso the Kurd came forward[FN#212] and said, 'Allah preserve our lord the\nKazi! Verily, this bag is my bag and all that is in it is my swag. It\nwas lost from me and I found it with this man mine enemy.' The Kazi\nasked, 'When didst thou lose it?'; and the Kurd answered, 'But\nyesterday, and I passed a sleepless night by reason of its loss.' 'An\nit be thy bag,' quoth the Kazi, 'tell me what is in it.' Quoth the\nKurd, 'There were in my bag two silver styles for eye-powder and\nantimony for the eyes and a kerchief for the hands, wherein I had laid\ntwo gilt cups and two candlesticks. Moreover it contained two tents and\ntwo platters and two spoons and a cushion and two leather rugs and two\newers and a brass tray and two basins and a cooking-pot and two water-\njars and a ladle and a sacking-needle and a she-cat and two bitches and\na wooden trencher and two sacks and two saddles and a gown and two fur\npelisses and a cow and two calves and a she-goat and two sheep and an\newe and two lambs and two green pavilions and a camel and two\nshe-camels and a lioness and two lions and a she-bear and two jackals\nand a mattress and two sofas and an upper chamber and two saloons and a\nportico and two sitting-rooms and a kitchen with two doors and a\ncompany of Kurds who will bear witness that the bag is my bag.' Then\nsaid the Kazi to me, 'And thou, sirrah, what sayest thou?' So I came\nforward, O Commander of the Faithful (and indeed the Kurd's speech had\nbewildered me) and said, 'Allah advance our lord the Kazi! Verily,\nthere was naught in this my wallet, save a little ruined tenement and\nanother without a door and a dog house and a boys' school and youths\nplaying dice and tents and tent-ropes and the cities of Bassorah and\nBaghdad and the palace of Shaddad bin Ad and an ironsmith's forge and a\nfishing-net and cudgels and pickets and girls and boys and a thousand\npimps who will testify that the bag is my bag.' Now when the Kurd heard\nmy words, he wept and wailed and said, 'O my lord the Kazi, this my bag\nis known and what is in it is a matter of renown; for in this bag there\nbe castles and citadels and cranes and beasts of prey and men playing\nchess and draughts. Furthermore, in this my bag is a brood-mare and two\ncolts and a stallion and two blood-steeds and two long lances; and it\ncontaineth eke a lion and two hares and a city and two villages and a\nwhore and two sharking panders and an hermaphrodite and two gallows\nbirds and a blind man and two wights with good sight and a limping\ncripple and two lameters and a Christian ecclesiastic and two deacons\nand a patriarch and two monks and a Kazi and two assessors, who will be\nevidence that the bag is my bag.' Quoth the Kazi to me, 'And what sayst\nthou, O Ali?' So, O Commander of the Faithful, being filled with rage,\nI came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi!'\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian\ncontinued: \"So being filled with rage, O Commander of the Faithful, I\ncame forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi I had in this my\nwallet a coat of mail and a broadsword and armouries and a thousand\nfighting rams and a sheep-fold with its pasturage and a thousand\nbarking dogs and gardens and vines and flowers and sweet smelling herbs\nand figs and apples and statues and pictures and flagons and goblets\nand fair-faced slave-girls and singing-women and marriage-feasts and\ntumult and clamour and great tracts of land and brothers of success,\nwhich were robbers, and a company of daybreak-raiders with swords and\nspears and bows and arrows and true friends and dear ones and Intimates\nand comrades and men imprisoned for punishment and cup-companions and a\ndrum and flutes and flags and banners and boys and girls and brides (in\nall their wedding bravery), and singing-girls and five Abyssinian women\nand three Hindi maidens and four damsels of Al-Medinah and a score of\nGreek girls and eighty Kurdish dames and seventy Georgian ladies and\nTigris and Euphrates and a fowling net and a flint and steel and\nMany-columned Iram and a thousand rogues and pimps and horse-courses\nand stables and mosques and baths and a builder and a carpenter and a\nplank and a nail and a black slave with his flageolet and a captain and\na caravan leader and towns and cities and an hundred thousand dinars\nand Cufa and Anb\u0431r[FN#213] and twenty chests full of stuffs and twenty\nstorehouses for victuals and Gaza and Askalon and from Damietta to\nAl-Saw\u0431n[FN#214]; and the palace of Kisra Anushirwan and the kingdom of\nSolomon and from Wadi Nu'um\u0431n to the land of Khoras\u0431n and Balkh and\nIspah\u0431n and from India to the Sud\u0431n. Therein also (may Allah prolong\nthe life of our lord the Kazi!) are doublets and cloths and a thousand\nsharp razors to shave off the Kazi's beard, except he fear my\nresentment and adjudge the bag to be my bag.' Now when the Kazi heard\nwhat I and the Kurd avouched, he was confounded and said, 'I see ye\ntwain be none other than two pestilent fellows, atheistical-villains\nwho make sport of Kazis and magistrates and stand not in fear of\nreproach. Never did tongue tell nor ear hear aught more extraordinary\nthan that which ye pretend. By Allah, from China to Shajarat Umm\nGhayl\u0431n, nor from Fars to Sudan nor from Wadi Nu'uman to Khorasan, was\never heard the like of what ye avouch or credited the like of what ye\naffirm. Say, fellows, be this bag a bottomless sea or the Day of\nResurrection that shall gather together the just and unjust?' Then the\nKazi bade them open the bag; so I opened it and behold, there was in it\nbread and a lemon and cheese and olives. So I threw the bag down before\nthe Kurd and ganged my gait.\" Now when the Caliph heard this tale from\nAli the Persian, he laughed till he fell on his back and made him a\nhandsome present.[FN#215] And men also relate a\n\n\n\nTALE OF HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE SLAVE-GIRL AND THE IMAM ABU YUSUF.\n\nIt is said that Ja'afar the Barmecide was one night carousing with Al\nRashid, who said, \"O Ja'afar, it hath reached me that thou hast bought\nsuch and such a slave-girl. Now I have long sought her for she is\npassing fair; and my heart is taken up with love of her, so do thou\nsell her to me.\" He replied, \"I will not sell her, O Commander of the\nFaithful.\" Quoth he, \"Then give her to me.\" Quoth the other, \"Nor will\nI give her.\" Then Al-Rashid exclaimed, \"Be Zubaydah triply divorced an\nthou shall not either sell or give her to me!\" Then Ja'afar exclaimed,\n\"Be my wife triply divorced an I either sell or give her to thee!\"\nAfter awhile they recovered from their tipsiness and were aware of\nhaving fallen into a grave dilemma, but knew not by what device to\nextricate themselves. Then said Al-Rashid, \"None can help us in this\nstrait but Ab\u044a Y\u044asuf.\"[FN#216] So they sent for him, and this was in\nthe middle of the night; and when the messenger reached him, he arose\nin alarm, saying to himself, \"I should not be sent for at this tide and\ntime, save by reason of some question of moment to Al-Islam.\" So he\nwent out in haste and mounted his she-mule, saying to his servant,\n\"Take the mule's nose-bag with thee; it may be she hath not finished\nher feed; and when we come to the Caliph's palace, put the bag on her,\nthat she may eat what is left of her fodder, during the last of the\nnight.\" And the man replied, \"I hear and obey.\" Now when the Imam was\nadmitted to the presence, Al-Rashid rose to receive him and seated him\non the couch beside himself (where he was wont to seat none save the\nKazi), and said to him, \"We have not sent for thee at this untimely\ntime and tide save to advise us upon a grave matter, which is such and\nsuch and wherewith we know not how to deal.\" And he expounded to him\nthe case. Abu Yusuf answered, \"O Commander of the Faithful, this is the\neasiest of things.\" Then he turned to Ja'afar and said, \"O Ja'afar,\nsell half of her to the Commander of the Faithful and give him the\nother half; so shall ye both be quit of your oaths.\" The Caliph was\ndelighted with this and both did as he prescribed. Then said Al-Rashid,\n\"Bring me the girl at once,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun\nal-Rashid commanded, \"Bring me the girl at once, for I long for her\nexceedingly.\" So they brought her and the Caliph said to Abu Yusuf, I\nhave a mind to have her forthright, for I cannot bear to abstain from\nher during the prescribed period of purification; now how is this to be\ndone?\" Abu Yusuf replied, \"Bring me one of thine own male slaves who\nhath never been manumitted.\" So they brought one and Abu Yusuf said,\n\"Give me leave to marry her to him; then let him divorce her before\nconsummation; and thus shall it be lawful for thee to lie with her\nbefore purification.\" This second expedient pleased the Caliph yet more\nthan the first; he sent for the Mameluke and, whenas he came, said to\nthe Kazi \"I authorise thee to marry her to him.\" So the Imam proposed\nthe marriage to the slave, who accepted it, and performed the ceremony;\nafter which he said to the slave, \"Divorce her, and thou shalt have an\nhundred dinars.\" But he replied, \"I won't do this;\" and the Imam went\non to increase his offer, and the slave to refuse till he bid him a\nthousand dinars. Then the man asked him, \"Doth it rest with me to\ndivorce her, or with thee or with the Commander of the Faithful?\" He\nanswered, \"It is in thy hand.\" \"Then by Allah,\" quoth the slave, \"I\nwill never do it; no, never!\" Hearing these words the Caliph was\nexceeding wroth and said to the Imam, \"What is to be done, O Abu\nYusuf?\" Replied he, \"Be not concerned, O Commander of the Faithful; the\nthing is easy. Make this slave the damsel's chattel.\" Quoth Al-Rashid,\n\"I give him to her;\" and the Imam said to the girl, \"Say: I accept.\" So\nshe said, I accept;\" whereon quoth Abu Yusuf, \"I pronounce separation\nfrom bed and board and divorce between them, for that he hath become\nher property, and so the marriage is annulled.\" With this, Al-Rashid\nrose to his feet and exclaimed, \"It is the like of thee that shall be\nKazi in my time.\" Then he called for sundry trays of gold and emptied\nthem before Abu Yusuf, to whom he said, \"Hast thou wherein to put\nthis?\" The Imam bethought him of the mule's nose-bag; so he sent for it\nand, filling it with gold, took it and went home. And on the morrow, he\nsaid to his friends, \"There is no easier nor shorter road to the goods\nof this world and the next, than that of religious learning; for, see,\nI have gotten all this money by answering two or three questions.\" So\nconsider thou, O polite reader,[FN#217] the pleasantness of this\nanecdote, for it compriseth divers goodly features, amongst which are\nthe complaisance of Ja'afar to Al Rashid, and the wisdom of the Caliph\nwho chose such a Kazi and the excellent learning of Abu Yusuf, may\nAlmighty Allah have mercy on their souls one and all! And they also\ntell the\n\n\n\nTALE OF THE LOVER WHO FEIGNED HIMSELF A THIEF.\n\nWhen Kh\u0431lid bin Abdallah al-Kasri[FN#218] was Emir of Bassorah, there\ncame to him one day a company of men dragging a youth of exceeding\nbeauty and lofty bearing and perfumed attire; whose aspect expressed\ngood breeding, abundant wit and dignity of the gravest. They brought\nhim before the Governor, who asked what it was and they replied, \"This\nfellow is a thief, whom we caught last night in our dwelling-house.\"\nWhereupon Kh\u0431lid looked at him and was pleased with his\nwell-favouredness and elegant aspect; so he said to the others, \"Loose\nhim,\" and going up to the young man, asked what he had to say for\nhimself. He replied, \"Verily the folk have spoken truly and the case is\nas they have said.\" Quoth Kh\u0431lid, \"And what moved thee to this and thou\nso noble of port and comely of mien?\" Quoth the other \"The lust after\nworldly goods, and the ordinance of Allah (extolled exalted be He!).\"\nRejoined Kh\u0431lid, \"Be thy mother bereaved of thee![FN#219] Hadst thou\nnot, in thy fair face and sound sense and good breeding, what should\nrestrain thee from thieving?\" Answered the young man, \"O Emir, leave\nthis talk and proceed to what Almighty Allah hath ordained; this is\nwhat my hands have earned, and, 'God is not unjust towards\nmankind.'\"[FN#220] So Kh\u0431lid was silent awhile considering the matter\nthen he bade the young man draw near him and said, \"Verily, thy\nconfession before witnesses perplexeth me, for I cannot believe thee to\nbe a thief: haply thou hast some story that is other than one of theft;\nand if so tell it me.\" Replied the youth \"O Emir, imagine naught other\nthan what I have confessed to in thy presence; for I have no tale to\ntell save that verily I entered these folks' house and stole what I\ncould lay hands on and they caught me and took the stuff from me and\ncarried me before thee.\" Then Khalid bade clap him in gaol and\ncommended a crier to cry throughout Bassorah, \"O yes! O yes! Whoso be\nminded to look upon the punishment of such an one, the thief, and the\ncutting-off of his hand, let him be present to- morrow morning at such\na place!\" Now when the young man found himself in prison, with irons on\nhis feet, he sighed heavily and with tears streaming from his eyes\nextemporized these couplets,\n\n\"When Kh\u0431lid menaced off to strike my hand * If I refuse to tell\n\n\n     him of her case;\n\n\nQuoth I, 'Far, far fro' me that I should tell * A love, which\n\n\n     ever shall my heart engrace;\n\n\nLoss of my hand for sin I have confessed * To me were easier than\n\n\n     to shame her face.'\"\n\n\n\nThe warders heard him and went and told Kh\u0431lid who, when it was dark\nnight, sent for the youth and conversed with him. He found him clever\nand well-bred, intelligent, lively and a pleasant companion; so he\nordered him food and he ate. Then after an hour's talk said Kh\u0431lid, \"I\nknow indeed thou hast a story to tell that is no thief's; so when the\nKazi shall come to-morrow morning and shall question thee about this\nrobbery, do thou deny the charge of theft and avouch what may avert the\npain and penalty of cutting off thy hand; for the Apostle (whom Allah\nbless and keep!) saith, 'In cases of doubt, eschew punishment.'\" Then\nhe sent him back to prison,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kh\u0431lid, after\nconversing with the youth, sent him back to prison, where he passed the\nnight. And when morning dawned the folk assembled to see his hand cut\noff, nor was there a soul in Bassorah, man or woman, but was present to\nlook upon the punishment of that handsome youth. Then Kh\u0431lid mounted in\ncompany of the notables of the city and others; and, summoning all four\nKazis, sent for the young man, who came hobbling and stumbling in his\nfetters. There was none saw him but wept over him and the women all\nlifted up their voices in lamentation as for the dead. Then the Kazi\nbade silence the women and said to the prisoner, \"These folk avouch\nthat thou didst enter their dwelling-house and steal their goods:\nbelike thou stolest less than a quarter dinar[FN#221]?\" Replied he,\n\"Nay, I stole that and more.\" \"Peradventure,\" rejoined the Kazi \"thou\nart partner with the folk in some of the goods?\" Quoth the young man;\n\"Not so: it was all theirs, and I had no right in it.\" At this the\nKh\u0431lid was wroth and rose and smote him on the face with his whip,\napplying to his own case this couplet,\n\n\"Man wills his wish to him accorded be; * But Allah naught accords save\nwhat He wills.\"\n\nThen he called for the butcher to do the work, who came and drew forth\nhis knife and taking the prisoner's hand set the blade to it, when,\nbehold, a damsel pressed through the crowd of women, clad in tattered\nclothes,[FN#222] and cried out and threw herself on the young man. Then\nshe unveiled and showed a face like the moon whereupon the people\nraised a mighty clamour and there was like to have been a riot amongst\nthem and a violent scene. But she cried out her loudest, saying, \"I\nconjure thee, by Allah, O Emir, hasten not to cut off this man's hand,\ntill thou have read what is in this scroll!\" So saying, she gave him a\nscroll, and Kh\u0431lid took it and opened it and read therein these\ncouplets,\n\n\"Ah Kh\u0431lid! this one is a slave of love distraught, * And these\n\n\n     bowed eye-lashes sent shaft that caused his grief:\n\n\nShot him an arrow sped by eyes of mine, for he, * Wedded to\n\n\n     burning love of ills hath no relief:\n\n\nHe hath avowed a deed he never did, the while * Deeming this\n\n\n     better than disgrace of lover fief:\n\n\nBear then, I pray, with this distracted lover mine * Whose noble\n\n\n     nature falsely calls himself a thief!\"\n\n\n\nWhen Kh\u0431lid had read these lines he withdrew himself from the people\nand summoned the girl and questioned her; and she told him that the\nyoung man was her lover and she his mistress; and that thinking to\nvisit her he came to the dwelling of her people and threw a stone into\nthe house, to warn her of his coming. Her father and brothers heard the\nnoise of the stone and sallied out on him; but he, hearing them coming,\ncaught up all the household stuff and made himself appear a robber to\ncover his mistress's honour. \"Now when they saw him they seized him\n(continued she), crying:\u2014A thief! and brought him before thee,\nwhereupon he confessed to the robbery and persisted in his confession,\nthat he might spare me disgrace; and this he did, making himself a\nthief, of the exceeding nobility and generosity of his nature.\" Kh\u0431lid\nanswered, \"He is indeed worthy to have his desire;\" and, calling the\nyoung man to him, kissed him between the eyes. Then he sent for the\ngirl's father and bespoke him, saying, \"O Shaykh, we thought to carry\nout the law of mutilation in the case of this young man; but Allah (to\nwhom be Honour and Glory!) hath preserved us from this, and I now\nadjudge him the sum of ten thousand dirhams, for that he would have\ngiven his hand for the preservation of thine honour and that of thy\ndaughter and for the sparing of shame to you both. Moreover, I adjudge\nother ten thousand dirhams to thy daughter, for that she made known to\nme the truth of the case; and I ask thy leave to marry her to him.\"\nRejoined the old man, \"O Emir, thou hast my consent.\" So Kh\u0431lid praised\nAllah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by preaching a goodly\nsermon and a prayerful;\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kh\u0431lid praised\nAllah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by preaching a goodly\nsermon and a prayerful; after which he said to the young man, \"I give\nthee to wife the damsel, such an one here present, with her own\npermission and her father's consent; and her wedding settlement shall\nbe this money, to wit, ten thousand dirhams.\" \"I accept this marriage\nat thy hands,\" replied the youth; and Kh\u0431lid bade them carry the money\non brass trays in procession to the young man's house, whilst the\npeople dispersed, fully satisfied. \"And surely (quoth he who tells the\ntale[FN#223]) never saw I a rarer day than this, for that it began with\ntears and annoy; and it ended with smiles and joy.\" And in contrast of\nthis story is this piteous tale of\n\n\n\nJA'AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN SELLER.\n\nWhen Harun al-Rashid crucified Ja'afar the Barmecide[FN#224] he\ncommended that all who wept or made moan for him should also be\ncrucified; so the folk abstained from that. Now it chanced that a wild\nArab, who dwelt in a distant word, used every year to bring to the\naforesaid Ja'afar an ode[FN#225] in his honour, for which he rewarded\nhim with a thousand dinars; and the Badawi took them and, returning to\nhis own country, lived upon them, he and his family, for the rest of\nthe year. Accordingly, he came with his ode at the wonted time and,\nfinding that Ja'afar had been crucified, betook himself to the place\nwhere his body was hanging, and there made his camel kneel down and\nwept with sore weeping and mourned with grievous mourning; and he\nrecited his ode and fell asleep. Presently Ja'afar the Barmecide\nappeared to him in a vision and said, \"Verily thou hast wearied thyself\nto come to us and findest us as thou seest; but go to Bassorah and ask\nfor a man there whose name is such and such, one of the merchants of\nthe town, and say to him, 'Ja'afar, the Barmecide, saluteth thee and\nbiddeth thee give me a thousand dinars, by the token of the bean.'\" Now\nwhen the wild Arab awoke, he repaired to Bassorah, where he sought out\nthe merchant and found him and repeated to him what Ja'afar had said in\nthe dream; whereupon he wept with weeping so sore that he was like to\ndepart the world. Then he welcomed the Badawi and seated him by his\nside and made his stay pleasant and entertained him three days as an\nhonoured guest; and when he was minded to depart he gave him a thousand\nand five hundred dinars, saying, \"The thousand are what is commanded to\nthee, and the five hundred are a gift from me to thee; and every year\nthou shalt have of me a thousand gold pieces.\" Now when the Arab was\nabout to take leave, he said to the merchant, \"Allah upon thee, tell me\nthe story of the bean, that I may know the origin of all this.\" He\nanswered: \"In the early part of my life I was poor and hawked hot\nbeans[FN#226] about the streets of Baghdad to keep me alive. So I went\nout one raw and rainy day, without clothes enough on my body to protect\nme from the weather; now shivering for excess of cold and now stumbling\ninto the pools of rain-water, and altogether in so piteous a plight as\nwould make one shudder with goose-skin to look upon. But it chanced\nthat Ja'afar that day was seated with his officers and his concubines,\nin an upper chamber overlooking the street when his eyes fell on me; so\nhe took pity on my case and, sending one of his dependents to fetch me\nto him, said as soon as he saw me, 'Sell thy beans to my people.' So I\nbegan to mete out the beans with a measure I had by me; and each who\ntook a measure of beans filled the measure with gold pieces till all my\nstore was gone and my basket was clean empty. Then I gathered together\nthe gold I had gotten, and Ja'afar said to me, 'Hast thou any beans\nleft?' 'I know not,' answered I, and then sought in the basket, but\nfound only one bean. So Ja'afar took from me the single bean and,\nsplitting it in twain, kept one half himself and gave the other to one\nof his concubines, saying, 'For how much wilt thou buy this half bean?'\nShe replied, 'For the tale of all this gold twice-told;' whereat I was\nconfounded and said to myself, 'This is impossible.' But, as I stood\nwondering, behold, she gave an order to one of her hand-maids and the\ngirl brought me the sum of the collected monies twice-told. Then said\nJa'afar, 'And I will buy the half I have by me for double the sum of\nthe whole,' presently adding, 'Now take the price of thy bean.' And he\ngave an order to one of his servants, who gathered together the whole\nof the money and laid it in my basket; and I took it and went my ways.\nThen I betook myself to Bassorah, where I traded with the monies and\nAllah prospered me amply, to Him be the praise and the thanks! So, if I\ngive thee every year a thousand dinars of the bounty of Ja'afar, it\nwill in no wise injure me. Consider then the munificence of Ja'afar's\nnature and how he was praised both alive and dead, the mercy of Allah\nAlmighty be upon him! And men also recount the tale of\n\n\n\nABU MOHAMMED HIGHT LAZYBONES.\n\nIt is told that Harun al-Rashid was sitting one day on the throne of\nthe Caliphate, when there came in to him a youth of his eunuchry,\nbearing a crown of red gold, set with pearls and rubies and all manner\nof other gems and jewels, such as money might not buy; and, bussing the\nground between his hands, said, \"O Commander of the Faithful, the Lady\nZubaydah kisseth the earth before thee\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. Whereupon quoth her\nsister Dunyazad, \"How pleasant is thy tale and profitable; and how\nsweet is thy speech and how delectable!\" \"And where is this,\" replied\nShahrazad, \"compared with what I shall tell you next night an I live\nand the King grant me leave!\" Thereupon quoth the King to himself, \"By\nAllah, I will not slay her until I hear the end of her tale.\"\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundredth Night,\n\nQuoth Dunyazad, \"favour us, O my sister, with thy tale,\" and she\nreplied, 'With joy and good will, if the King accord me leave;\"\nwhereupon the King said, \"Tell thy tale, O Shahrazad.\" So she pursued:\nIt hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth said to the\nCaliph, \"The Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth before thee and saith to\nthee, Thou knowest she hath bidden make this crown, which lacketh a\ngreat jewel for its dome-top; and she hath made search among her\ntreasures, but cannot find a jewel of size to suit her mind.\" Quoth the\nCaliph to his Chamberlains and Viceregents, Make search for a great\njewel, such as Zubaydah desireth.\" So they sought, but found nothing\nbefitting her and told the Caliph who, vexed and annoyed thereat,\nexclaimed, \"How am I Caliph and King of the Kings of the earth and\ncannot find so small a matter as a jewel? Woe to you! Ask of the\nmerchants.\" So they enquired of the traders, who replied, \"Our lord the\nCaliph will not find a jewel such as he requireth save with a man of\nBassorah, by name Ab\u044a Mohammed highs Lazybones.\" Thereupon they\nacquainted the Caliph with this and he bade his Wazir Ja'afar send a\nnote to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubayd\u043d, Governor of Bassorah, commanding\nhim to equip Abu Mohammed Lazybones and bring him into the presence of\nthe Commander of the Faithful. The Minister accordingly wrote a note to\nthat effect and despatched it by Masrur, who set out forthright for the\ncity of Bassorah, and went in to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydi, who\nrejoiced in him and treated him with the high-most honour. Then Masrur\nread him the mandate of the Prince of True Believers, Harun al-Rashid,\nto which he replied, \"I hear and I obey,\" and forthwith despatched him,\nwith a company of his followers, to Abu Mohammed's house. When they\nreached it, they knocked at the door, whereupon a page came out and\nMasrur said to him, \"Tell thy lord, The Commander of the Faithful\nsummoneth thee.\" The servant went in and told his master, who came out\nand found Masrur, the Caliph's Chamberlain, and a company of the\nGovernor's men at the door. So he kissed ground before Masrur and said,\n\"I hear and obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful; but\nfirst enter ye my house.\" They replied, \"We cannot do that, save in\nhaste; even as the Prince of True Believers commanded us, for he\nawaiteth thy coming.\" But he said, \"Have patience with me a little,\ntill I set my affairs in order.\" So after much pressure and abundant\npersuasion, they entered the house with him and found the vestibule\nhung with curtains of azure brocade, purfled with red gold, and Abu\nMohammed Lazybones bade one of his servants carry Masrur to the private\nHammam. Now this bath was in the house and Masrur found its walls and\nfloors of rare and precious marbles, wrought with gold and silver, and\nits waters mingled with rose-water. Then the servants served Masrur and\nhis company with the perfection of service; and, on their going forth\nof the Hammam, clad them in robes of honour, brocade-work interwoven\nwith gold. And after leaving the bath Masrur and his men went in to Abu\nMohammed Lazybones and found him seated in his upper chamber; and over\nhis head hung curtains of gold-brocade, wrought with pearls and jewels,\nand the pavilion was spread with cushions, embroidered in red gold. Now\nthe owner was sitting softly upon a quilted cloth covering a settee\ninlaid with stones of price; and, when he saw Masrur, he went forward\nto meet him and bidding him welcome, seated him by his side. Then he\ncalled for the food-trays; so they brought them, and when Masrur saw\nthe tables, he exclaimed, \"By Allah, never did I behold the like of\nthese appointments in the palace of the Commander of the Faithful!\" For\nindeed the trays contained every manner of meat all served in dishes of\ngilded porcelain.[FN#227] \"So we ate and drank and made merry till the\nend of the day (quoth Masrur) when the host gave to each and every of\nus five thousand dinars, and on the morrow he clad us in dresses of\nhonour of green and gold and entreated us with the utmost worship.\"\nThen said Masrur to him, \"We can tarry no longer for fear of the\nCaliph's displeasure.\" Answered Abu Mohammed Lazybones, \"O my lord,\nhave patience with us till the morrow, that we may equip ourselves, and\nwe will then depart with you.\" So they tarried with him that day and\nslept the night; and next morning Abu Mohammed's servants saddled him a\nshe mule with selle and trappings of gold, set with all manner of\npearls and stones of price; whereupon quoth Masrur to himself, \"I\nwonder, when Abu Mohammed shall present himself in such equipage, if\nthe Caliph will ask him how he came by all this wealth.\" Thereupon they\ntook leave of Al-Zubaydi and, setting out from Bassorah, fared on,\nwithout ceasing to fare till they reached Baghdad-city and presented\nthemselves before the Caliph, who bade Abu Mohammed be seated. He sat\ndown and addressed the Caliph in courtly phrase, saying, \"O Commander\nof the Faithful, I have brought with me an humble offering by way of\nhomage: have I thy gracious permission to produce it?\" Al-Rashid\nreplied, \"There is no harm in that,\"[FN#228] whereupon Abu Mohammed\nbade his men bring in a chest, from which he took a number of rarities,\nand amongst the rest, trees of gold with leaves of white\nemeraid,[FN#229] and fruits of pigeon blood rubies and topazes and new\npearls and bright. And as the Caliph was struck with admiration he\nfetched a second chest and brought out of it a tent of brocade, crowned\nwith pearls and jacinths and emeralds and jaspers and other precious\nstones; its poles were of freshly cut Hindi aloes-wood, and its skirts\nwere set with the greenest smaragds. Thereon were depicted all manner\nof animals such as beasts and birds, spangled with precious stones,\nrubies, emeralds, chrysolites and balasses and every kind of precious\nmetal. Now when Al-Rashid saw these things, he rejoiced with exceeding\njoy and Abu Mohammed Lazybones said to him, \"O Commander of the\nFaithful, deem not that I have brought these to thee, fearing aught or\ncoveting anything; but I knew myself to be but a man of the people and\nthat such things befitted none save the Commander of the Faithful. And\nnow, with thy leave, I will show thee, for thy diversion, something of\nwhat I can do.\" Al-Rashid replied, \"Do what thou wilt, that we may\nsee.\" \"To hear is to obey,\" said Abu Mohammed and, moving his lips,\nbeckoned the palace battlements,[FN#230] whereupon they inclined to\nhim; then he made another sign to them, and they returned to their\nplace. Presently he made a sign with his eye, and there appeared before\nhim closets with closed doors, to which he spoke, and lo! the voices of\nbirds answered him from within. The Caliph marvelled with passing\nmarvel at this and said to him, \"How camest thou by all this, seeing\nthat thou art known only as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and they tell me\nthat thy father was a cupper serving in a public Hammam, who left thee\nnothing?\" Whereupon he answered, \"Listen to my story\" And Shahrazed\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and First Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed\nLazybones thus spake to the Caliph: \"O Prince of True Believers, listen\nto my story, for it is a marvellous and its particulars are wondrous;\nwere it graven with graver-needles upon the eye-corners it were a\nwarner to whose would be warned.\" Quoth Al-Rashid, \"Let us hear all\nthou hast to say, O Abu Mohammed!\" So he began \"Know then, O Commander\nof the Faithful (Allah prolong to thee glory and dominion!), the report\nof the folk; that I am known as the Lazybones and that my father left\nme nothing, is true; for he was, as thou hast said, nothing but a\nbarber-cupper in a Hammam. And I throughout my youth was the idlest\nwight on the face of the earth; indeed, so great was my sluggishness\nthat, if I lay at full length in the sultry season and the sun came\nround upon me, I was too lazy to rise and remove from the sun to the\nshade. And thus I abode till I reached my fifteenth year, when my\nfather deceased in the mercy of Allah Almighty and left me nothing.\nHowever, my mother used to go out a-charing and feed me and give me to\ndrink, whilst I lay on my side. Now it came to pass that one day she\ncame in to me with five silver dirhams, and said to me, 'O my son, I\nhear that Shaykh Ab\u044a al-Muzaffar[FN#231] is about to go a voyage to\nChina.' (Now this Shaykh was a good and charitable man who loved the\npoor.) 'So come, my son, take these five silver bits; and let us both\ncarry them to him and beg him to buy thee therewith somewhat from the\nland of China; so haply thou mayst make a profit of it by the bounty of\nAllah, whose name be exalted!' I was too idle to move for her; but she\nswore by the Almighty that, except I rose and went with her, she would\nbring me neither meat nor drink nor come in to me, but would leave me\nto die of hunger and thirst. Now when I heard her words, O Commander of\nthe Faithful, I knew she would do as she threatened for her knowledge\nof my sluggishness; so I said to her, 'Help me to sit up.' She did so,\nand I wept the while and said to her, 'Bring me my shoes.' Accordingly,\nshe brought them and I said, 'Put them on my feet.' She put them on my\nfeet and I said, 'Lift me up off the ground.' So she lifted me up and I\nsaid, 'Support me, that I may walk.' So she supported me and I\ncontinued to fare a foot, at times stumbling over my skirts, till we\ncame to the river bank, where we saluted the Shaykh and I said to him,\n'O my uncle, art thou Abu al-Muzaffar?' 'At thy service,' answered he,\nand I, 'Take these dirhams and with them buy me somewhat from the land\nof China: haply Allah may vouchsafe me a profit of it.' Quoth the\nShaykh to his companions, 'Do ye know this youth?' They answered, 'Yes,\nhe is known as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and we never saw him stir from\nhis house till this moment.' Then said he to me, 'O my son, give me the\nsilver with the blessing of Almighty Allah!' So he took the money,\nsaying, 'Bismillah in the name of Allah!' and I returned home with my\nmother. Presently Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar set sail, with a company of\nmerchants, and stayed not till they reached the land of China, where he\nand his bought and sold; and, having won what they wished, set out on\ntheir homeward voyage. When they had been three days at sea, the Shaykh\nsaid to his company, 'Stay the vessel!' They asked, 'What dost thou\nwant?' and he answered, 'Know that I have forgotten the commission\nwherewith Abu Mohammed Lazybones charged me; so let us turn back that\nwe may lay out his money on somewhat whereby he may profit.' They\ncried, 'We conjure thee, by Allah Almighty turn not back with us; for\nwe have traversed a long distance and a sore, and while so doing we\nhave endured sad hardship and many terrors.' Quoth he, 'There is no\nhelp for it but we return;' and they said, 'Take from us double the\nprofit of the five dirhams, and turn us not back.' He agreed to this\nand they collected for him an ample sum of money. Thereupon they sailed\non, till they came to an island wherein was much people; when they\nmoored thereto and the merchants went ashore, to buy thence a stock of\nprecious metals and pearls and jewels and so forth. Presently Abu\nal-Muzaffar saw a man seated, with many apes before him, and amongst\nthem one whose hair had been plucked off; and as often as their owner's\nattention was diverted from them, the other apes fell upon the plucked\none and beat him and threw him on their master; whereupon the man rose\nand bashed them and bound them and punished them for this; and all the\napes were wroth with the plucked ape on this account and funded him the\nmore. When Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar saw this, he felt for and took\ncompassion upon the plucked ape and said to his master, 'Wilt thou sell\nme yonder monkey?' Replied the man, 'Buy,' and Abu al-Muzaffar\nrejoined, 'I have with me five dirhams, belonging to an orphan lad.\nWilt thou sell it me for that sum?' Answered the monkey-merchant, 'It\nis a bargain; and Allah give thee a blessing of him!' So he made over\nthe beast and received his money; and the Shaykh's slaves took the ape\nand tied him up in the ship. Then they loosed sail and made for another\nisland, where they cast anchor; and there came down divers, who plunged\nfor precious stones, pearls and other gems; so the merchants hired them\nto dive for money and they dived. Now when the ape saw them doing this,\nhe loosed himself from his bonds and, jumping off the ship's side,\nplunged with them, whereupon quoth Abu al-Muzaffar, 'There is no\nMajesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!\nThe monkey is lost to us with the luck of the poor fellow for whom we\nbought him.' And they despaired of him; but, after a while, the company\nof divers rose to the surface, and behold, among them was the ape, with\nhis hands full of jewels of price, which he threw down before Abu\nal-Muzaffar. The Shaykh marvelled at this and said, 'There is much\nmystery in this monkey!' Then they cast off and sailed till they came\nto a third island, called the Isle of the Zun\u044aj,[FN#232] who are a\npeople of the blacks, which eat the flesh of the sons of Adam. When the\nblacks saw them, they boarded them in dug-outs[FN#233] and, taking all\nin the vessel, pinioned them and carried them to their King, who bade\nslaughter certain of the merchants. So they slaughtered them by cutting\ntheir throats and ate their flesh; and the rest of the traders passed\nthe night in bonds and were in sore concern. But when it was midnight,\nthe ape arose and going up to Abu al-Muzaffar, loosed his bonds; and,\nas the others saw him free, they said, 'Allah grant our deliverance may\nbe at thy hands, O Abu al-Muzaffar!' But he replied, 'Know that he who\ndelivered me, by leave of Allah Almighty, was none other than this\nmonkey'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Muzaffar\ndeclared, \"None loosed me, by leave of Allah Al-mighty, save this\nmonkey and I buy my release of him at a thousand dinars!\" whereupon the\nmerchants rejoined, 'And we likewise, each and every, will pay him a\nthousand dinars if he release us.' With this the ape arose and went up\nto them and loosed their bonds one by one, till he had freed them all,\nwhen they made for the vessel and boarding her, found all safe and\nnothing missing from her. So they cast off and set sail; and presently\nAbu al-Muzaffar said to them, 'O merchants, fulfil your promise to the\nmonkey.' 'We hear and we obey,' answered they; and each one paid him\none thousand dinars, whilst Abu al-Muzaffar brought out to him the like\nsum of his own monies, so that a great heap of coin was collected for\nthe ape. Then they fared on till they reached Bassorah-city where their\nfriends came out to meet them; and when they had landed, the Shaykh\nsaid, 'Where is Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' The news reached my mother,\nwho came to me as I lay asleep and said to me, 'O my son, verily the\nShaykh Abu al-Muzaffar hath come back and is now in the city; so rise\nand go thou to him and salute him and enquire what he hath brought\nthee; it may be Allah Almighty have opened to thee the door of fortune\nwith somewhat.' Quoth I, 'Lift me from the ground and prop me up,\nwhilst I go forth and walk to the river bank.' After which I went out\nand walked on, stumbling over my skirts, till I met the Shaykh, who\nexclaimed at sight of me, 'Welcome to him whose money hath been the\nmeans of my release and that of these merchants, by the will of\nAlmighty Allah.' Then he continued, 'Take this monkey I bought for thee\nand carry him home and wait till I come to thee.' So I took the ape and\nwent off, saying in my mind, 'By Allah, this is naught but rare\nmerchandise!' and led it home, where I said to my mother, 'Whenever I\nlie down to sleep, thou biddest me rise and trade; see now this\nmerchandise with thine own eyes.' Then I sat me down and as I sat, up\ncame the slaves of Abu al-Muzaffar and said to me, 'Art thou Abu\nMohammed Lazybones?' 'Yes' answered I; and behold, Abu al-Muzaffar\nappeared behind them. So I rose up to him and kissed his hands: and he\nsaid, 'Come with me to my home.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I\nand accompanied him to his house, where he bade his servants bring me\nwhat money the monkey had earned for me. So they brought it and he said\nto me, 'O my son, Allah hath blessed thee with this wealth, by way of\nprofit on thy five dirhams.' Then the slaves set down the treasure in\nchests, which they had carried on their heads, and Abu al-Muzaffar gave\nme the keys saying, 'Go before the slaves to thy house; for in sooth\nall this wealth is thine.' So I returned to my mother, who rejoiced in\nthis and said to me, 'O my son, Allah hath blessed thee with all these\nriches; so put off thy laziness and go down to the bazar and sell and\nbuy.' At once I shook off my dull sloth, and opened a shop in the\nbazar, where the ape used to sit on the same divan with me eating with\nme when I ate and drinking when I drank. But, every day, he was absent\nfrom dawn till noon, when he came back bringing with him a purse of a\nthousand dinars, which he laid by my side, and sat down; and he ceased\nnot so doing for a great while, till I amassed much wealth, wherewith,\nO Commander of the Faithful, I purchased houses and lands, and I\nplanted gardens and I bought me white slaves and negroes and\nconcubines. Now it came to pass one day, as I sat in my shop, with the\nape sitting at my side on the same carpet, behold, he began to turn\nright and left, and I said to myself, 'What aileth the beast?' Then\nAllah made the ape speak with a ready tongue, and he said to me, 'O Abu\nMohammed!' Now when I heard him speak, I was sore afraid; but he said\nto me, 'Fear not; I will tell thee my case. I am a Marid of the Jinn\nand came to thee because of thy poor estate; but today thou knowest not\nthe amount of thy wealth; and now I have need of thee and if thou do my\nwill, it shall be well for thee.' I asked, 'What is it?' and he\nanswered, 'I have a mind to marry thee to a girl like the full moon.'\nQuoth I, 'How so?'; and quoth he, 'Tomorrow don thou thy richest dress\nand mount thy mule, with the saddle of gold and ride to the Haymarket.\nThere enquire for the shop of the Sharif[FN#234] and sit down beside\nhim and say to him, 'I come to thee as a suitor craving thy daughter's\nhand.' 'If he say to thee, 'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor\nfamily'; pull out a thousand dinars and give them to him, and if he ask\nmore, give him more and tempt him with money.' Whereto I replied, 'To\nhear is to obey; I will do thy bidding, Inshallah!' So on the next\nmorning I donned my richest clothes, mounted my she mule with trappings\nof gold and rode to the Haymarket where I asked for the Sharif's shop,\nand finding him there seated, alighted and saluted him and seated\nmyself beside him\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed\nLazybones continued: \"So I alighted and, saluting him, seated myself\nbeside him, and my Mamelukes and negro-slaves stood before me. Said the\nSharif, 'Haply, thou hast some business with us which we may have\npleasure of transacting?' Replied I, 'Yes, I have business with thee.'\nAsked he, 'And what is it?'; and I answered, 'I come to thee as a\nsuitor for thy daughter's hand.' So he said, 'Thou hast neither cash\nnor rank nor family;' whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a thousand\ndinars, red gold, and said to him, 'This is my rank[FN#235] and my\nfamily; and he (whom Allah bless and keep!) hath said, The best of\nranks is wealth. And how well quoth the poet,\n\n'Whoso two dithams hath, his lips have learnt * Speech of all\n\n\n     kinds with eloquence bedight:\n\n\nDraw near[FN#236] his brethren and crave ear of him, * And him\n\n\n     thou seest haught in pride-full height:\n\n\nWere 't not for dirhams wherein glories he, * Hadst found him\n\n\n     'mid man kind in sorry plight.\n\n\nWhen richard errs in words they all reply, * \"Sooth thou hast\n\n\n     spoken and hast said aright!\"\n\n\nWhen pauper speaketh truly all reply * 'Thou liest;' and they\n\n\n     hold his sayings light.[FN#237]\n\n\nVerily dirhams in earth's every stead * Clothe men with rank and\n\n\n     make them fair to sight\n\n\nGold is the very tongue of eloquence; * Gold is the best of arms\n\n\n     for might who'd fight!'\n\n\n\nNow when the Sharif heard these my words and understood my verse, he\nbowed his head awhile groundwards then raising it, said, 'If it must be\nso, I will have of thee other three thousand gold pieces.' 'I hear and\nI obey,' answered I, and sent one of my Mamelukes home for the money.\nAs soon as he came back with it, I handed it to the Sharif who, when he\nsaw it in his hands, rose, and bidding his servants shut his shop,\ninvited his brother merchants of the bazar the wedding; after which he\ncarried me to his house and wrote out my contract of marriage with his\ndaughter saying to me, 'After ten days, I will bring thee to pay her\nthe first visit.' So I went home rejoicing and, shutting myself up with\nthe ape, told him what had passed; and he said 'Thou hast done well.'\nNow when the time appointed by the Sharif drew near, the ape said to\nme, 'There is a thing I would have thee do for me; and thou shalt have\nof me (when it is done) whatso thou wilt.' I asked, 'What is that?' and\nhe answered, 'At the upper end of the chamber wherein thou shalt meet\nthy bride, the Sharif's daughter, stands a cabinet, on whose door is a\nring-padlock of copper and the keys under it. Take the keys and open\nthe cabinet in which thou shalt find a coffer of iron with four flags,\nwhich are talismans, at its corners; and in its midst stands a brazen\nbasin full of money, wherein is tied a white cock with a cleft comb;\nwhile on one side of the coffer are eleven serpents and on the other a\nknife. Take the knife and slaughter the cock; cut away the flags and\nupset the chest, then go back to the bride and do away her maidenhead.\nThis is what I have to ask of thee.' 'Hearkening and obedience,'\nanswered I, and betook myself to the house of the Sharif. So as soon as\nI entered the bride-chamber, I looked for the cabinet and found it even\nas the ape had described it. Then I went in unto the bride and\nmarvelled at her beauty and loveliness and stature and\nsymmetrical-grace, for indeed they were such as no tongue can set\nforth. I rejoiced in her with exceeding joy; and in the middle of the\nnight, when my bride slept, I rose and, taking the keys, opened the\ncabinet. Then I seized the knife and slew the cock and threw down the\nflags and upset the coffer, whereupon the girl awoke and, seeing the\ncloset open and the cock with cut throat, exclaimed, 'There is no\nMajesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!\nThe Marid hath got hold of me!' Hardly had she made an end of speaking,\nwhen the Marid swooped down upon the house and, snatching up the bride,\nflew away with her; whereupon there arose a mighty clamour and behold,\nin came the Sharif, buffetting his face and crying, 'O Abu Mohammed,\nwhat is this deed thou hast done? Is it thus thou requiitest us? I made\nthis talisman in the cabinet fearing for my daughter from this accursed\none who, for these six years, hath sought to steal-away the girl, but\ncould not. But now there is no more abiding for thee with us, so wend\nthy ways.' Thereupon I went forth and returned to my own house, where I\nmade search for the ape but could not find him nor any trace of him;\nwhereby I knew that it was he who was the Marid, and that he had\ncarried off my wife and had tricked me into destroying the talisman and\nthe cock, the two things which hindered him from taking her, and I\nrepented, rending my raiment and cuffing my face. And there was no land\nbut was straitened upon me; so I made for the desert forthright and\nceased not wandering on till night overtook me, for I knew not whither\nI was going. And whilst I was deep in sad thought behold, I met two\nserpents, one tawny and the other white, and they were fighting to kill\neach other. So I took up a stone and with one cast slew the tawny\nserpent, which was the aggressor; whereupon the white serpent glided\naway and was absent for a while, but presently she returned accompanied\nby ten other white serpents which glided up to the dead serpent and\ntore her in pieces, so that only the head was left. Then they went\ntheir ways and I fell prostrate for weariness on the ground where I\nstood; but as I lay, pondering my case lo! I heard a Voice though I saw\nno one and the Voice versified with these two couplets,\n\n'Let Fate with slackened bridle fare her pace, * Nor pass the\n\n\n     night with mind which cares an ace\n\n\nBetween eye-closing and its opening, * Allah can foulest change\n\n\n     to fairest case.'\n\n\n\nNow when I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, great concern get\nhold of me and I was beyond measure troubled, and behold, I heard a\nVoice from behind me extemporise these couplets,\n\n'O Moslem! thou whose guide is Alcor\u0431n, * Joy in what brought\n\n\n     safe peace to thee, O man.\n\n\nFear not what Satan haply whispered thee, * And in us see a\n\n\n     Truth-believing\n\n\n\nThen said I, 'I conjure thee, by the truth of Him thou wore shippest,\nlet me know who thou art!' Thereupon the Invisible Speaker assumed the\nform of a man and said, 'Fear not; for the report of thy good deed hath\nreached us, and we are a people of the true-believing Jinn. So, if thou\nlack aught, let us know it that we may have the pleasure of fulfilling\nthy want.' Quoth I, 'Indeed I am in sore need, for I am afflicted with\na grievous affliction and no one was ever afflicted as I am!' Quoth he,\n'Perchance thou art Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' and I replied, 'Yes.' He\nrejoined, 'I, O Abu Mohammed, am the brother of the white serpent,\nwhose foe thou slewest, we are four brothers by one father and mother,\nand we are all indebted to thee for thy kindness. And know thou that he\nwho played this trick on thee in the likeness of an ape, is a Marid of\nthe Marids of the Jinn; and had he not used this artifice, he had never\nbeen able to get the girl; for he hath loved her and had a mind to take\nher this long while, but he was hindered of that talisman; and had it\nremained as it was, he could never have found access to her. However,\nfret not thyself for that; we will bring thee to her and kill the\nMarid; for thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he cried out with a\nterrible outcry\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit\ncontinued, \"'Verily thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he cried\nout with a terrible outcry in a horrible voice, and behold, there\nappeared a troop of the Jinn, of whom he enquired concerning the ape;\nand one of them said, 'I know his abiding- place;' and the other asked\n'Where abideth he?' Said the speaker 'He is in the City of Brass\nwhereon sun riseth not.' Then said the first Jinni to me, 'O Abu\nMohammed, take one of these our slaves, and he will carry thee on his\nback and teach thee how thou shalt get back the girl; but know that\nthis slave is a Marid of the Marids and beware, whilst he is carrying\nthee, lest thou utter the name of Allah, or he will flee from thee and\nthou wilt fall and be destroyed.' 'I hear and obey,' answered I and\nchose out one of the slaves, who bent down and said to me, 'Mount.' So\nI mounted on his back, and he flew up with me into the firmament, till\nI lost sight of the earth and saw the stars as they were the mountains\nof earth fixed and firm[FN#238] and heard the angels crying, 'Praise be\nto Allah,' in heaven while the Marid held me in converse, diverting me\nand hindering me from pronouncing the name of Almighty Allah.[FN#239]\nBut, as we flew, behold, One clad in green raiment,[FN#240] with\nstreaming tresses and radiant face, holding in his hand a javelin\nwhence flew sparks of fire, accosted me, saying, 'O Abu Mohammed,\nsay:\u2014There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God; or\nI will smite thee with this javelin.' Now already I felt heart-broken\nby my forced silence as regards calling on the name of Allah; so I\nsaid, 'There is no god but the God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God.\nWhereupon the shining One smote the Marid with his javelin and he\nmelted away and became ashes; whilst I was thrown from his back and\nfell headlong towards the earth, till I dropped into the midst of a\ndashing sea, swollen with clashing surge. And behold I fell hard by a\nship with five sailors therein, who seeing me, made for me and took me\nup into the vessel; and they began to speak to me in some speech I knew\nnot; but I signed to them that I understood not their speech. So they\nfared on till the last of the day, when they cast out a net and caught\na great fish and they broiled it and gave me to eat; after which they\nceased not sailing on till they reached their city and carried me to\ntheir King and set me in his presence. So I kissed ground before him,\nand he bestowed on me a dress of honour and said to me in Arabic (which\nhe knew well), 'I appoint thee one of my officers.' Thereupon I asked\nhim the name of the city, and he replied, 'It is called Han\u0431d[FN#241]\nand is in the land of China.' Then he committed me to his Wazir,\nbidding him show me the city, which was formerly peopled by Infidels,\ntill Almighty Allah turned them into stones; and there I abode a\nmonth's space, diverting myself with viewing the place, nor saw I ever\ngreater plenty of trees and fruits than there. And when this time had\npast, one day, as I sat on the bank of a river, behold, there accosted\nme a horseman, who said to me, 'Art thou not Abu Mohammed Lazybones?'\n'Yes,' answered I; whereupon, he said, 'Fear not, for the report of thy\ngood deed hath reached us.' Asked I, 'Who art thou?' and he answered,\n'I am a brother of the white serpent, and thou art hard by the place\nwhere is the damsel whom thou seekest.' So saying, he took off his\nclothes and clad me therein, saying, 'Fear not, for the slave who\nperished under thee was one of our slaves.' Then the horseman took me\nup behind him and rode on with me to a desert place, when he said,\n'Dismount now and walk on between these two mountains, till thou seest\nthe City of Brass;[FN#242] then halt afar off and enter it not, ere I\nreturn to thee and tell thee how thou shalt do.' 'To hear is to obey,'\nreplied I and, dismounting from behind him, walked on till I came to\nthe city, the walls whereof I found of brass. Then I began to pace\nround about it, hoping to find a gate, but found none; and presently as\nI persevered, behold, the serpent's brother rejoined me and gave me a\ncharmed sword which should hinder any from seeing me,[FN#243] then went\nhis way. Now he had been gone but a little while, when lo! I heard a\nnoise of cries and found myself in the midst of a multitude of folk\nwhose eyes were in their breasts; and seeing me quoth they, 'Who art\nthou and what cast thee into this place?' So I told them my story, and\nthey said, 'The girl thou seekest is in this city with the Marid; but\nwe know not what he hath done with her. Now we are brethren of the\nwhite serpent,' adding, 'Go thou to yonder spring and note where the\nwater entereth, and enter thou with it; for it will bring thee into the\ncity.' I did as they bade me, and followed the water-course, till it\nbrought me to a Sardab, a vaulted room under the earth, from which I\nascended and found myself in the midst of the city. Here I saw the\ndamsel seated upon a throne of gold, under a canopy of brocade, girt\nround by a garden full of trees of gold, whose fruits were jewels of\nprice, such as rubies and chrysolites, pearls and coral. And the moment\nshe saw me, she knew me and accosted me with the Moslem salutation,\nsaying, 'O my lord, who guided thee hither?' So I told her all that had\npassed, and she said, 'Know, that the accursed Marid, of the greatness\nof his love for me, hath told me what bringeth him bane and what\nbringeth him gain; and that there is here a talisman by means whereof\nhe could, an he would, destroy the city and all that are therein; and\nwhoso possesseth it, the Ifrits will do his commandment in everything.\nIt standeth upon a pillar'\u2014Whereat I asked her, 'And where is the\npillar?' and she answered, 'It is in such a place.' 'And what manner of\nthing may the talisman be?' said I: said she, 'It is in the semblance\nof a vulture[FN#244] and upon it is a writing which I cannot read. So\ngo thou thither and seize it, and set it before thee and, taking a\nchafing dish, throw into it a little musk, whereupon there will arise a\nsmoke which will draw the Ifrits to thee, and they will all present\nthemselves before thee, nor shall one be absent; also they shall be\nsubject to thy word and, whatsoever thou biddest them, that will they\ndo. Arise therefore and fall to this thing, with the blessing of\nAlmighty Allah.' I answered, 'Hearkening and obedience' and, going to\nthe column, did as she bade me, where- upon the Ifrits all presented\nthemselves before me saying, 'Here are we, O our lord! Whatsoever thou\nbiddest us, that will we do.' Quoth I, 'Bind the Marid who brought the\ndamsel hither from her home.' Quoth they, 'We hear and obey,' and off\nthey flew and bound that Marid in straitest bonds and returned after a\nwhile, saying, 'We have done thy bidding.' Then I dismissed them and,\nrepairing to my wife, told her what had happened and said to her, 'O my\nbride, wilt thou go with me?' 'Yes,' answered she. So I carried her\nforth of the vaulted chamber whereby I had entered the city and we\nfared on, till we fell in with the folk who had shown me the way to\nfind her.\" And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that he continued on\nthis wise: \"And we fared on till we fell in with the folk who had shown\nme the way to her. So I said to them, 'Point me out a path which shall\nlead me to my home,' and they did accordingly, and brought us a-foot to\nthe sea-shore and set us aboard a vessel which sailed on before us with\na fair wind, till we reached Bassorah-city. And when we entered the\nhouse of my father-in-law and her people saw my wife, they rejoiced\nwith exceeding joy. Then I fumigated the vulture with musk and lo! the\nIfrits flocked to me from all sides, saying, 'At thy service what wilt\nthou have us do?' So I bade them transport all that was in the City of\nBrass of monies and noble metals and stones of price to my house in\nBassorah, which they did; and I then ordered them to bring me the ape.\nThey brought him before me, abject and contemptible, and I said to him,\n'O accursed, why hast thou dealt thus perfidiously with me?' Then I com\nmended the Ifrits to shut him in a brazen vessel[FN#245] so they put\nhim in a brazen cucurbite and sealed it with lead. But I abode with my\nwife in joy and delight; and now, O Commander of the Faithful, I have\nunder my hand precious things in such measure and rare jewels and other\ntreasure and monies on such wise as neither reckoning may express nor\nmay limits comprise; and, if thou lust after wealth or aught else, I\nwill command the Jinn at once to do thy desire. But all this is of the\nbounty of Almighty Allah.\" Thereupon the Commander of the Faithful\nwondered greatly and bestowed on him imperial gifts, in exchange for\nhis presents, and entreated him with the favour he deserved. And men\nalso tell the tale of the\n\n\n\nGENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE WITH MANSUR.\n\nIt is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became jealous\nof the Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Salih by name, and\nsaid to him, \"O S\u0431lih, go to Mans\u044ar[FN#246] and say to him: 'Thou owest\nus a thousand thousand dirhams and we require of thee immediate payment\nof this amount.' And I command thee, O Salih, unless he pay it between\nthis hour and sundown, sever his head from his body and bring it to\nme.\" \"To hear is to obey,\" answered Salih and, going to Mansur,\nacquainted him with what the Caliph had said, whereupon quoth he, \"I am\na lost man, by Allah; for all my estate and all my hand owneth, if sold\nfor their utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred\nthousand dirhams. Whence then, O Salih, shall I get the other nine\nhundred thousand?\" Salih replied, \"Contrive how thou mayst speedily\nacquit thyself, else thou art a dead man; for I cannot grant thee an\neye-twinkling of delay after the time appointed me by the Caliph; nor\ncan I fail of aught which the Prince of True Believers hath enjoined on\nme. Hasten, therefore, to devise some means of saving thyself ere the\ntime expire.\" Quoth Mansur, \"O Salih, I beg thee of thy favour to bring\nme to my house, that I may take leave of my children and family and\ngive my kinsfolk my last injunctions.\" Now Salih relateth: \"So I went\nwith him to his house where he fell to bidding his family farewell, and\nthe house was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations and\ncalling for help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, 'I have\nbethought me that Allah may haply vouchsafe thee relief at the hands of\nthe Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Y\u0431hy\u0431 bin Kh\u0431lid.' So\nwe went to Yahya's house, and Mansur told him his case, whereat he was\nsore concerned and bowed him groundwards for a while, then raising his\nhead, he called his treasurer and said to him, 'How much have we in our\ntreasury?' 'A matter of five thousand dirhams,' answered the treasurer,\nand Yahya bade him bring them and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl,\nsaying, 'I am offered for sale a splendid estate which may never be\nlaid waste; so send me somewhat of money.' Al-Fazl sent him a thousand\nthousand dirhams, and he despatched a mes senger with a like message to\nhis son Ja'afar, saying, 'We have a matter of much moment and for it we\nwant money;' whereupon Ja'afar at once sent him a thousand thousand\ndirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to his kinsmen of the Barmecides,\ntill he had collected from them a great sum of money for Mansur. But\nSalih and the debtor knew not of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, 'O my\nlord, I have laid hold upon thy skirt, for I know not whither to look\nfor the money but to thee, in accordance with thy wonted generosity; so\ndischarge thou the rest of my debt for me and make me thy freed slave.'\nThereupon Yahya hung down his head and wept; then he said to a page,\n'Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave our slave- girl\nDan\u0431n\u043dr a jewel of great price: go thou to her and bid her send it to\nus.' The page went out and presently returned with the jewel, whereupon\nquoth Yahya, 'O Mansur, I bought this jewel of the merchant for the\nCommander of the Faithful, at a price of two hundred thousand\ndinars,[FN#247] and he gave it to our slave-girl Dananir, the\nlute-player; and when he sees it with thee, he will know it and spare\nthy blood and do thee honour for our sake; and now, O Mansur, verily\nthy money is complete.' (Salih continued) So I took the money and the\njewel and carried them to al-Rashid together with Mansur, but on the\nway I heard him repeat this couplet, applying it to his own case,\n\n\u2018'Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; * 'Twas that I feared me\nlest they shoot their shafts!'\n\nNow when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his depravity\nand mischief-making and his ignoble birth and provenance and, turning\nupon him, I said, 'There is none on the face of the earth better or\nmore righteous than the Barmecides, nor any baser nor more wrongous\nthan thou; for they bought thee off from death and delivered thee from\ndestruction, giving thee what should save thee; yet thou thankest them\nnot nor praises\" them, neither acquittest thee after the manner of the\nnoble; nay, thou meetest their benevolence with this speech.' Then I\nwent to Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed\" And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Salih con tinued:\n\"So I acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all that passed and\nAl-Rashid marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of Yahya and the\nvileness and ingratitude of Mansur, and bade restore the jewel to\nYahya, saying, 'Whatso we have given it befitteth us not to take\nagain.' After that Salih returned to Yahya and acquainted him with the\ntale of Mansur and his ill-conduct; whereupon replied he, 'O Salih,\nwhen a man is in want, sick at heart and sad of thought, he is not to\nbe blamed for aught that falleth from him; for it cometh not from the\nheart;' and on this wise he took to seeking excuse for Mansur. But\nSalih wept and exclaimed, 'Never shall the revolving heavens bring\nforth into being the like of thee, O Yahya! Alas, and well- away, that\none of such noble nature and generosity should be laid in the dust!'\nAnd he repeated these two couplets,\n\n'Haste to do kindness thou cost intend; * Thou canst not always\n\n\n     on boons expend:\n\n\nHow many from bounty themselves withheld, * Till means of bounty\n\n\n     had come to end!'\"\n\n\n\nAnd men tell another tale of the\n\n\n\nGENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA SON OF KH\u0411LID WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER\nIN HIS NAME.\n\nThere was between Y\u0431hy\u0431 bin Kh\u0431lid and Abdullah bin M\u0431lik al-\nKhuz\u0431'i,[FN#248] an enmity which they kept secret; the reason of the\nhatred being that Harun al-Rashid loved Abdullah with exceeding love,\nso that Yahya and his sons were wont to say that he had bewitched the\nCommander of the Faithful. And thus they abode a long while, with\nrancour in their hearts, till it fell out that the Caliph invested\nAbdullah with the government of Armenia[FN#249] and despatched him\nthither. Now soon after he had settled himself in his seat of\ngovernment, there came to him one of the people of Irak, a man of good\nbreeding and excellent parts and abundant cleverness; but he had lost\nhis money and wasted his wealth and his estate was come to ill case; so\nhe forged a letter to Abdullah bin Malik in the name of Yahya bin\nKh\u0431lid and set out therewith for Armenia. Now when he came to the\nGovernor's gate, he gave the letter to one of the Chamberlains, who\ntook it and carried it to his master. Abdullah opened it and read it\nand, considering it attentively, knew it to be forged; so he sent for\nthe man, who presented himself before him and called down blessings\nupon him and praised him and those of his court. Quoth Abdullah to him,\n\"What moved thee to weary thyself on this wise and bring me a forged\nletter? But be of good heart; for we will not disappoint thy travail.\"\nReplied the other, \"Allah prolong the life of our lord the Wazir! If my\ncoming annoy thee, cast not about for a pretext to repel me, for\nAllah's earth is wide and He who giveth daily bread still liveth.\nIndeed, the letter I bring thee from Yahya bin Khalid is true and no\nforgery.\" Quoth Abdullah, \"I will write a letter to my agent[FN#250] at\nBaghdad and command him enquire concerning this same letter. If it be\ntrue, as thou sayest, and genuine and not forged by thee, I will bestow\non thee the Emirship of one of my cities; or, if thou prefer a present,\nI will give thee two hundred thousand dirhams, besides horses and\ncamels of price and a robe of honour. But, if the letter prove a\nforgery, I will order thou be beaten with two hundred blows of a stick\nand thy beard be shaven.\" So Abdullah bade confine him in a chamber and\nfurnish him therein with all he needed, till his case should be made\nmanifest. Then he despatched a letter to his agent at Baghdad, to the\nfollowing effect: \"There is come to me a man with a letter purporting\nto be from Yahya bin Kh\u0431lid. Now I have my suspicions of this letter:\ntherefore delay thou not in the matter, but go thyself and look\ncarefully into the case and let me have an answer with all speed, in\norder that we may know what is true and what is untrue.\" When the\nletter reached Baghdad, the agent mounted at once,\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the agent of\nAbdullah, son of Malik al-Khuza'i, on receipt of the letter at Baghdad,\nmounted at once and repaired to the house of Yahya bin Kh\u0431lid, whom he\nfound sitting with his officers and boon- companions. After the usual\nsalute he gave him the letter and Yahya read it and said to the agent,\n\"Come back to me tomorrow for my written answer.\" Now when the agent\nhad gone away, Yahya turned to his companions and said, \"What doth he\ndeserve who forgeth a letter in my name and carrieth it to my foe?\"\nThey answered all and each, saying this and that, and every one\nproposing some kind of punishment; but Yahya said, \"Ye err in that ye\nsay and this your counsel is of the baseness of your spirits and the\nmeanness of your minds. Ye all know the close favour of Abdullah with\nthe Caliph and ye weet of what is between him and us of anger and\nenmity; and now Almighty Allah hath made this man the means of\nreconciliation between us; and hath fitted him for such purpose and\nhath appointed him to quench the fire of ire in our hearts, which hath\nbeen growing these twenty years; and by his means our differences shall\nbe adjusted. Wherefore it behoveth me to requite such man by verifying\nhis assertion and amending his estate; so I will write him a letter to\nAbdullah son of Malik, praying that he may use him with increase of\nhonour and continue to him his liberality.\" Now when his companions\nheard what he said, they called down blessings on him and marvelled at\nhis generosity and the greatness of his magnanimity. Then he called for\npaper and ink and wrote Abdullah a letter in his own hand, to the\nfollowing effect: \"In the name of Allah, the Compassionating' the\nCompassionate! Of a truth thy letter hath reached me (Allah give thee\nlong life!) and I am glad to hear of thy safety and am pleased to be\nassured of thine immunity and prosperity. It was thy thought that a\ncertain worthy man had forged a letter in my name and that he was not\nthe bearer of any message from the same; but the case is not so, for\nthe letter I myself wrote, and it was no forgery; and I hope, of thy\ncourtesy and consideration and the nobility of thy nature, that thou\nwilt gratify this generous and excellent man of his hope and wish, and\nhonour him with the honour he deserveth and bring him to his desire and\nmake him the special-object of thy favour and munificence. Whatso thou\ndost with him, it is to me that thou dost the kindness, and I am\nthankful to thee accordingly.\" Then he superscribed the letter and\nafter sealing it, delivered it to the agent, who despatched it to\nAbdullah. Now when the Governor read it, he was charmed with its\ncontents, and sending for the man, said to him, \"Whichever of the two\npromised boons is the more acceptable to thee that will I give thee.\"\nThe man replied, \"The money gift were more acceptable to me than aught\nelse,\" whereupon Abdullah ordered him two hundred thousand dirhams and\nten Arab horses, five with housings of silk and other five with richly\nornamented saddles, used in state processions; besides twenty chests of\nclothes and ten mounted white slaves and a proportionate quantity of\njewels of price. Moreover, he bestowed on him a dress of honour and\nsent him to Baghdad in great splendour. So when he came thither, he\nrepaired to the door of Yahya's house, before he went to his own folk,\nand craved permission to enter and have audience. The Chamberlain went\nin to Yahya and said to him, \"O my lord, there is one at the door who\ncraveth speech of thee; and he is a man of apparent wealth, courteous\nin manner, comely of aspect and attended by many servants.\" Then Yahya\nbade admit him; and, when he entered and kissed the ground before him,\nYahya asked him, \"Who art thou?\" He answered, \"Hear me, O my lord, I am\nhe who was done dead by the tyranny of fortune, but thou didst raise me\nto life again from the grave of calamities and exalt me to the paradise\nof my desires. I am the man who forged a letter in thy name and carried\nit to Abdullah bin Malik al-Khuza'i.\" Yahya asked, \"How hath he dealt\nwith thee and what did he give thee?\"; and the man answered, \"He hath\ngiven me, thanks to thy hand and thy great liberality and benevolence\nand to thy comprehensive kindness and lofty magnanimity and thine\nall-embracing generosity, that which hath made me a wealthy man and he\nhath distinguished me with his gifts and favours. And now I have\nbrought all that he gave me and here it is at thy door; for it is thine\nto decide and the command is in thy hand.\" Rejoined Yahya, \"Thou hast\ndone me better service than I did thee and I owe thee a heavy debt of\ngratitude and every gift the white hand[FN#251] can give, for that thou\nhast changed into love and amity the hate and enmity that were between\nme and a man whom I respect and esteem. Wherefore I will give thee the\nlike of what Abdullah bin Malik gave thee.\" Then he ordered him money\nand horses and chests of apparel, such as Abdullah had given him; and\nthus that man's fortune was restored to him by the munificence of these\ntwo generous ones. And folk also relate the tale of the\n\n\n\nCALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE STRANGE SCHOLAR.\n\nIt is said of Al-Maamun that, among the Caliphs of the house of Abbas,\nthere was none more accomplished in all branches of knowledge than he.\nNow on two days in each week, he was wont to preside at conferences of\nthe learned, when the lawyers and theologians disputed in his presence,\neach sitting in his several-rank and room. One day as he sat thus,\nthere came into the assembly a stranger, clad in ragged white clothes,\nwho took seat in an obscure place behind the doctors of the law. Then\nthe assembly began to speak and debate difficult questions, it being\nthe custom that the various propositions should be submitted to each in\nturn, and that whoso bethought him of some subtle addition or rare\nconceit, should make mention of it. So the question went round till it\ncame to the strange man, who spake in his turn and made a goodlier\nanswer than any of the doctors' replies; and the Caliph approved his\nspeech.\u2014\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph\nAl-Maamun approved his speech and ordered him to come up from his low\nplace to a high stead. Now when the second question came to him, he\nmade a still more notable answer, and Al-Maamun ordered him to be\npreferred to a yet higher seat; and when the third question reached\nhim, he made answer more justly and appropriately than on the two\nprevious occasions, and Al-Maamun bade him come up and sit near\nhimself. Presently the discussion ended when water was brought and they\nwashed their hands after which food was set on and they ate; and the\ndoctors arose and withdrew; but Al-Maamun forbade the stranger to\ndepart with them and, calling him to himself, treated him with\nespecial-favour and promised him honour and profit. Thereupon they made\nready the s\u0439ance of wassail; the fair-faced cup-companions came and the\npure wine[FN#252] went round amongst them, till the cup came to the\nstranger, who rose to his feet and spake thus, \"If the Commander of the\nFaithful permit me, I will say one word.\" Answered the Caliph, \"Say\nwhat thou wilt.\" Quoth the man \"Verily the Exalted Intelligence (whose\neminence Allah increase!) knoweth that his slave was this day, in the\naugust assembly, one of the unknown folk and of the meanest of the\ncompany; and the Commander of the Faithful raised his rank and brought\nhim near to himself, little as were the wit and wisdom he displayed,\npreferring him above the rest and advancing him to a station and a\ndegree where to his thought aspired not. But now he is minded to part\nhim from that small portion of intellect which raised him high from his\nlowness and made him great after his littleness. Heaven forfend and\nforbid that the Commander of the Faithful should envy his slave what\nlittle he hath of understanding and worth and renown! Now, if his slave\nshould drink wine, his reason would depart far from him and ignorance\ndraw near to him and steal-away his good breeding, so would he revert\nto that low and contemptible degree, whence he sprang, and become\nridiculous and despicable in the eyes of the folk. I hope, therefore,\nthat the August Intelligence, of his power and bounty and\nroyal-generosity and magnanimity, will not despoil his slave of this\njewel.\" When the Caliph Al-Maamun heard his speech, he praised him and\nthanked him and making him sit down again in his place, showed him high\nhonour and ordered him a present of an hundred thousand silver pieces.\nMoreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich apparel; and in\nevery assembly he was wont to exalt him and show him favour over all\nthe other doctors of law and religion till he became the highest of\nthem all in rank. And Allah is All knowing.[FN#253] Men also tell a\ntale of\n\n\n\nALI SHAR[FN#254] AND ZUMURRUD.\n\nThere lived once in the days of yore and the good old times long gone\nbefore, in the land of Khorasan, a merchant called Majd al-D\u043dn, who had\ngreat wealth and many slaves and servants, white and black, young and\nold; but he had not been blessed with a child until he reached the age\nof threescore, when Almighty Allah vouchsafed him a son, whom he named\nAl\u043d Sh\u0431r. The boy grew up like the moon on the night of fulness; and\nwhen he came to man's estate and was endowed with all kinds of\nperfections, his father fell sick of a death-malady and, calling his\nson to him, said, \"O my son, the fated hour of my decease is at hand,\nand I desire to give thee my last injunctions.\" He asked, \"And what are\nthey, O my father?\"; and he answered, \"O my son, I charge thee, be not\nover-familiar with any[FN#255] and eschew what leadeth to evil and\nmischief. Beware lest thou sit in company with the wicked; for he is\nlike the blacksmith; if his fire burn thee not, his smoke shall bother\nthee: and how excellent is the saying of the poet,[FN#256]\n\n'In thy whole world there is not one,\n\n\nWhose friendship thou may'st count upon,\n\n\nNor plighted faith that will stand true,\n\n\nWhen times go hard, and hopes are few.\n\n\nThen live apart and dwell alone,\n\n\nNor make a prop of any one,\n\n\nI've given a gift in that I've said,\n\n\nWill stand thy friend in every stead:'\n\n\n\nAnd what another saith,\n\n'Men are a hidden malady; * Rely not on the sham in them:\n\n\nFor perfidy and treachery * Thou'lt find, if thou examine them.'\n\n\n\nAnd yet a third saith,\n\n'Converse with men hath scanty weal, except * To while away the\n\n\n     time in chat and prate:\n\n\nThen shun their intimacy, save it be * To win thee lore, or\n\n\n     better thine estate.'\n\n\n\nAnd a fourth saith,\n\n'If a sharp-witted wight e'er tried mankind, * I've eaten that\n\n\n     which only tasted he:[FN#257]\n\n\nTheir amity proved naught but wile and guile, * Their faith I\n\n\n     found was but hypocrisy.'\"\n\n\n\nQuoth Ali, \"O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee what\nmore shall I do?\" Quoth he, \"Do good whereas thou art able; be ever\nkind and courteous to men and regard as riches every occasion of doing\na good turn; for a design is not always easily carried out; and how\nwell saith the poet,\n\n\"Tis not at every time and tide unstable, * We can do kindly acts\n\n\n     and charitable:\n\n\nWhen thou art able hasten thee to act, * Lest thine endeavour\n\n\n     prove anon unable!'\"\n\n\n\nSaid Ali, \"I have heard thee and I will obey thee.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth\nreplied, \"I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?\" And his\nsire continued, \"Be thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so shall He be\nmindful of thee. Ward thy wealth and waste it not; for an thou do, thou\nwilt come to want the least of mankind. Know that the measure of a\nman's worth is according to that which his right hand hendeth: and how\nwell saith the poet,[FN#258]\n\n'When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, * And when\n\n\n     it waxeth all men friendship show:\n\n\nHow many a foe for wealth became my friend, * Wealth lost, how\n\n\n     many a friend became a foe!'\"\n\n\n\nAsked Ali, \"What more?\" And Majd al-Din answered, \"O my son, take\ncounsel of those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy\nheart's desire. Have compassion on those who are below thee, so shall\nthose who are above thee have compassion on thee; and oppress none,\nlest Allah empower one who shall oppress thee. How well saith the poet,\n\n'Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, * For man's true\n\n\n     course hides not from minds of two\n\n\nMan is a mirror which but shows his face, * And by two mirrors he\n\n\n     his back shall view.'\n\n\n\nAnd as saith another,[FN#259]\n\n'Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast,\n\n\nTo gain the purpose that thou hast\n\n\nAnd be thou kindly to all men\n\n\nSo kindly thou'lt be called again;\n\n\nFor not a deed the hand can try,\n\n\nSave 'neath the hand of God on high,\n\n\nNor tyrant harsh work tyranny,\n\n\nUncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.'\n\n\n\nAnd as saith yet another,[FN#260]\n\n'Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the\n\n\n     tyrannical-is in danger of revenges.\n\n\nThine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down\n\n\n     curses on thee, and God's eye sleepeth not.'\n\n\n\nBeware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it doeth\naway the reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it; and how well\nsaith the poet,\n\n'By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul * Join body,\n\n\n     nor while speech the words of me explain:\n\n\nNo day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze[FN#261] *\n\n\n     Nor choose a friend save those who are of cups unfair.'\n\n\n\nThis, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and Allah\nstand to thee in my stead.\" Then he swooned away and kept silent\nawhile; and, when he came to himself, he besought pardon of Allah and\npronounced the profession of the Faith, and was admitted to the mercy\nof the Almighty. So his son wept and lamented for him and presently\nmade proper preparation for his burial; great and small walked in his\nfuneral-procession and Koran readers recited Holy Writ about his bier;\nnor did Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they\nprayed over him and committed him to the dust and wrote these two\ncouplets upon his tomb,\n\n'Thou west create of dust and cam'st to life, * And learned'st in\n\n\n     eloquence to place thy trust;\n\n\nAnon, to dust returning, thou becamest * A corpse, as though\n\n\n     ne'er taken from the dust.\"\n\n\n\nNow his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him\nwith the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep\nthe loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards,\nwhen he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the\nshop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah's\ncreatures, in accordance with his father's injunction. This wise he\ncontinued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to\nhim by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he\nturned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of\nrighteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair\nwomen night and day; for he said to himself, \"Of a truth my father\namassed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I\nleave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet,\n\n'An through the whole of life * Thou gett'st and gain'st for\n\n\n     self;\n\n\nSay, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?'\"\n\n\n\nAnd Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and\nall watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his\nriches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his\nshop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his\nbody, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and\nthoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day,\nwhen he had sat from day-break to mid-afternoon without breaking his\nfast, he said in his mind, \"I will go round to those on whom I spent my\nmonies: perchance one of them will feed me this day.\" So he went the\nround of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one's door of\nthem, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached\nwith hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling\nhis stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants' bazar\nwhere he found a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to\nhimself, \"I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By\nAllah, I will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!\"\nSo he made his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for\nsale who was five feet tall,[FN#262] beautifully proportioned, rosy of\ncheek and high of breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time\nin beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one,\ndescribing her,\n\n\"As she will\u0438d she was made, and in such a way that when * She\n\n\n     was cast in Nature's mould neither short nor long was she:\n\n\nBeauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *\n\n\n     Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:\n\n\nThe full moon is her face[FN#263]and the branchlet is her shape,\n\n\n     * And the musk-pod is her scent\u2014what like her can there be?\n\n\n'Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in\n\n\n     every lovely limblet another moon we see!\"\n\n\n\nAnd her name was Zumurrud\u2014the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he\nmarvelled at her beauty and grace and said, \"By Allah, I will not stir\nhence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!\"\nSo he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he\nhad a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his\nparents. Then the broker stood at the damsel's head and said, \"Ho,\nmerchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for\nthis damsel, the mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the\ncurtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the delight of the\ndesirous? Open the biddings' door and on the opener be nor blame nor\nreproach for evermore.\" Thereupon quoth one merchant, \"Mine for five\nhundred dinars;\" \"And ten,\" quoth another. \"Six hundred,\" cried an old\nman named Rash\u043dd al-Din, blue of eye[FN#264] and foul of face. \"And\nten,\" cried another. \"I bid a thousand,\" rejoined Rashid al-Din;\nwhereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace\nand the broker took counsel with the girl's owner, who said, \"I have\nsworn not to sell her save to whom she shall choose: so consult her.\"\nThereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and said to her, \"O mistress\nof moons this merchant hath a mind to buy thee.\" She looked at Rashid\nal-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, \"I will not be sold to\na gray-beard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah\ninspired his saying who saith,\n\n'I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My\n\n\n     hoary hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display'd;\n\n\nShe proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:\u2014\n\n\n     * 'No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath\n\n\n     made\n\n\nFor hoary head and grizzled chin I've no especial-love: * What!\n\n\n     stuff my mouth with cotton[FN#265] ere in sepulchre I'm\n\n\n     laid?'\"\n\n\n\nNow when the broker heard her words he said, \"By Allah, thou art\nexcusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!\" So he told her\nowner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said,\n\"Consult her concerning another.\" Thereupon a second man came forward\nand said, \"Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she\nwould have none of;\" but she looked at him and seeing that his beard\nwas dyed, said \"What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening\nof the hoary face?\" And she made a great show of wonderment and\nrepeated these couplets,\n\n\"Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *\n\n\n     A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite[FN#266]\n\n\nA beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *\n\n\n     A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and\n\n\n     bite.[FN#267]\n\n\nO thou enravish\" by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so\n\n\n     translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?\n\n\nDyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And\n\n\n     hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!\n\n\nThou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *\n\n\n     Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by\n\n\n     night.[FN#268]\n\n\n\nAnd how well saith another'\n\nQuoth she, 'I see thee dye thy hoariness:'[FN#269] * 'To hide, O\n\n\n     ears and eyes! from thee,' quoth I:\n\n\nShe roared with laugh and said, 'Right funny this; * Thou art so\n\n\n     lying e'en\n\n\n\nNow when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, \"By Allah thou hast\nspoken sooth!\" The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated\nthe verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was\nwrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said,\n\"Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;\" but, when he did so,\nshe looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, \"This man\nis one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith,[FN#270]\n\n'Consort not with the Cyclops e'en a day; * Beware his falsehood\n\n\n     and his mischief fly:\n\n\nHad this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne'er brought\n\n\n     blindness to his eye!'\"\n\n\n\nThen said the broker, pointing to another bidder, \"Wilt thou be sold to\nthis man?\" She looked at him and seeing that he was short of\nstature[FN#271] and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, \"This\nis he of whom the poet speaketh,\n\n'I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length\n\n\n     unroll'd:\n\n\n'Tis like a certain[FN#272] winter night, * Longsome and\n\n\n     darksome, drear and cold.'\"\n\n\n\nSaid the broker, \"O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are\npresent, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him.\" So she looked\nround the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies,\ntill her glance fell on Ali Shar,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl's\nglance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes,\nwhich cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for\nthat he was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or\nnorthern air; and she said, \"O broker, I will be sold to none but to\nthis my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet\nthus describeth,\n\n'Displaying that fair face * The tempted they assailed\n\n\nWho, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!'\n\n\n\nFor none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water\nof his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[FN#273] his spittle is a cure for the\nsick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one\nof him,\n\n'His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those\n\n\n     teeth, smile shown, are camphor's hue:\n\n\nRizw\u0431n[FN#274] hath turned him out o' doors, for fear * The\n\n\n     Houris lapse from virtue at the view\n\n\nMen blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full\n\n\n     moon sails, excuse is due.'\n\n\n\nLord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look of\nwhom saith the poet,\n\n'The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant\n\n\n     waxed and heart unstirred:\n\n\nHis eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their\n\n\n     languish,[FN#275] can he keep his word?'\n\n\n\nAnd as saith another,\n\n'Quoth they, 'Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst\n\n\n     thou love him and a side-beard see?'\n\n\nQuoth I, 'Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be\n\n\n     letters 'tis a forgery:'\n\n\nGather his charms all growths of Eden garth * Whereto those\n\n\n     Kausar[FN#276]-lips bear testimony.'\"\n\n\n\nWhen the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali\nShar, he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of\nher beauty; but her owner said to him, \"Marvel not at her splendour\nwhich shameth the noonday sun, nor that her memory is stored with the\nchoicest verses of the poets; for besides this, she can repeat the\nglorious Koran, according to the seven readings,[FN#277] and the august\nTraditions, after ascription and authentic transmission; and she\nwriteth the seven modes of handwriting[FN#278] and she knoweth more\nlearning and knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are\nbetter than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth\nthem for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to\nmake a curtain.\" Exclaimed the broker, \"O happy the man who hath her in\nhis house and maketh her of his choicest treasures!\"; and her owner\nsaid to him, \"Sell her to whom she will.\" So the broker went up to Ali\nShar and, kissing his hands, said to him, \"O my lord, buy thou this\ndamsel, for she hath made choice of thee.\"[FN#279] Then he set forth to\nhim all her charms and accomplishments, and added, \"I give thee joy if\nthou buy her, for this be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His\ngiving.\" Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile, laughing at\nhimself and secretly saying, \"Up to this hour I have not broken my\nfast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have no money\nwherewith to buy her.\" The damsel, seeing him hang down his head, said\nto the broker, \"Take my hand and lead me to him, that I may show my\nbeauty to him and tempt him to buy me; for I will not be sold to any\nbut to him.\" So the broker took her hand and stationed her before Ali\nShar, saying, \"What is thy good pleasure, O my lord?\" But he made him\nno answer, and the girl said to him, \"O my lord and darling of my\nheart, what aileth thee that thou wilt not bid for me? Buy me for what\nthou wilt and I will bring thee good fortune.\" So he raised his eyes to\nher and said, \"Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand dinars.\"\nSaid she, \"Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred.\" He cried, \"No,\"\nand she rejoined, \"Then for eight hundred;\" and though he again said,\n\"Nay,\" she ceased not to abate the price, till she came to an hundred\ndinars. Quoth he, \"I have not by me a full hundred.\" So she laughed and\nasked, \"How much dost thou lack of an hundred?\" He answered, \"By Allah,\nI have neither an hundred dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither\nwhite coin nor red cash, neither dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for\nanother and a better customer.\" And when she knew that he had nothing,\nshe said to him, \"Take me by the hand and carry me aside into a by-\nlane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily.\" He did so and she drew\nfrom her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which she gave\nhim, saying, \"Pay down nine hundred to my price and let the hundred\nremain with thee by way of provision.\" He did as she bid him and,\nbuying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down the price from her own\npurse and carried her to his house. When she entered it, she found a\ndreary desolate saloon without carpets or vessels; so she gave him\nother thousand dinars, saying, \"Go to the bazar and buy three hundred\ndinars' worth of furniture and vessels for the house and three dinars'\nworth of meat and drink.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that quoth the\nslave-girl, \"Bring us meat and drink for three dinars, furthermore a\npiece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern\nthread and sewing silk of seven colours.\" Thus he did, and she\nfurnished the house and they sat down to eat and drink; after which\nthey went to bed and took their pleasure one of the other. And they lay\nthe night embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the\npoet,[FN#280]\n\n\"Cleave fast to her thou lovestand let the envious rail amain,\n\n\n     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.\n\n\nLo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And,\n\n\n     from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did\n\n\n     drain.\n\n\nYea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And 'spite\n\n\n     the envier, thereto I surely will attain.\n\n\nThere is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon, Than\n\n\n     when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.\n\n\nEach to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight,\n\n\n     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks\n\n\n     enchain\n\n\nLo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But\n\n\n     on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.\n\n\nThou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, Canst thou\n\n\n     assain a heart diseased or heal-a cankered brain?\n\n\nIf in thy time thou kind but one to love thee and be true, I rede\n\n\n     thee cast the world away and with that one remain.\"\n\n\n\nSo they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed\nfirmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the\ncurtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and purpled it with\nsilver and gold thread and she added thereto a border depicting round\nabout it all manner of birds and beasts; nor is there in the world a\nferal but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in eight days,\ntill she had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and\nironed it and gave it to her lord, saying, \"Carry it to the bazar and\nsell it to one of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou\nsell it to a passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and\nthee, for we have foes who are not unthoughtful of us.\" \"I hear and I\nobey,\" answered he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a\nmerchant, as she bade him; after which he bought a piece of silk for\nanother curtain and gold and silver and silken thread as before and\nwhat they needed of food, and brought all this to her, giving her the\nrest of the money. Now every eight days she made a curtain, which he\nsold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed a whole year. At the end\nof that time, he went as usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he\ngave to the broker; and there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him\nsixty dinars for it; but he refused, and the Christian continued\nbidding higher and higher, till he came to an hundred dinars and bribed\nthe broker with ten ducats. So the man returned to Ali Shar and told\nhim of the proffered price and urged him to accept the offer and sell\nthe article at the Nazarene's valuation, saying, \"O my lord, be not\nafraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt.\" The\nmerchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to the\nChristian, albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the money, set off\nto return home. Presently, as he walked, he found the Christian walking\nbehind him; so he said to him, \"O Nazarene,[FN#281] why dost thou\nfollow in my footsteps?\" Answered the other \"O my lord, I want a\nsomething at the end of the street, Allah never bring thee to want!\";\nbut Ali Shar had barely reached his place before the Christian overtook\nhim; so he said to him, \"O accursed, what aileth thee to follow me\nwherever I go?\" Replied the other, \"O my lord, give me a draught of\nwater, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!\"[FN#282] Quoth\nAli Shar to himself, \"Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth tribute\nand claimeth our protection[FN#283] and he asketh me for a draught of\nwater; by Allah, I will not baulk him!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to\nhimself, \"This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a\ndraught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!\" So he entered the\nhouse and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him\nand said to him, \"O my love, hast thou sold the curtain?\" He replied,\n\"Yes;\" and she asked, \"To a merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart\npresageth a parting.\" And he answered, \"To whom but to a merchant?\"\nThereupon she rejoined, \"Tell me the truth of the case, that I may\norder my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?\" And he, To give\nthe broker to drink,\" upon which she exclaimed, There is no Majesty and\nthere is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!\"; and she\nrepeated these two couplets,[FN#284]\n\n\"O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the\n\n\n     embrace of the beloved deceive thee!\n\n\nAct leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the\n\n\n     end of every union is disjunction.\n\n\n\nThen he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian within the\nvestibule and said to him, \"How comest thou here and how darest thou, O\ndog, enter my house without my leave?\" Answered he, \"O my lord, there\nis no difference between the door and the vestibule, and I never\nintended to stir hence, save to go out; and my thanks are due to thee\nfor thy kindness and favour, thy bounty and generosity.\" Then he took\nthe mug and emptying it, returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and\nwaited for him to rise up and to go; but he did not move. So Ali said\nto him, \"Why dost thou not rise and wend thy way?\"; and he answered, \"O\nmy lord, be not of those who do a kindness and then make it a reproach,\nnor of those of whom saith the poet,[FN#285]\n\n'They're gone who when thou stoodest at their door * Would for\n\n\n     thy wants so generously cater:\n\n\nBut stand at door of churls who followed them, * They'd make high\n\n\n     favour of a draught of water!'\"\n\n\n\nAnd he continued, \"O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have thee\ngive me to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but a bit of\nbread or a biscuit with an onion.\" Replied Ali Shar, \"Begone, without\nmore chaffer and chatter; there is nothing in the house.\" He persisted,\n\"O my lord, if there be nothing in the house, take these hundred dinars\nand bring us something from the market, if but a single scone, that\nbread and salt may pass between us.\"[FN#286] With this, quoth Ali Shar\nto himself, \"This Christian is surely mad; I will take his hundred\ndinars and bring him somewhat worth a couple of dirhams and laugh at\nhim.\" And the Nazarene added, \"O my lord, I want but a small matter to\nstay my hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the best food\nis that which doeth away appetite, not rich viands; and how well saith\nthe poet,\n\n'Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, * How is it then[FN#287]\n\n\n     in woes of want I wone?\n\n\nDeath is all-justest, lacking aught regard * For Caliph-king and\n\n\n     beggar woe-begone.'\"\n\n\n\nThen quoth Ali Shar, \"Wait here, while I lock the saloon and fetch thee\nsomewhat from the market;\" and quoth the Christian, \"To hear is to\nobey.\" So Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking the door with a\npadlock, put the key in his pocket: after which he went to market and\nbought fried cheese and virgin honey and bananas[FN#288] and bread,\nwith which he returned to the house. Now when the Christian saw the\nprovision, he said, \"O my lord, this is overmuch; 'tis enough for half\na score of men and I am alone; but belike thou wilt eat with me.\"\nReplied Ali, \"Eat by thyself, I am full;\" and the Christian rejoined,\n\"O my lord, the wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a\nwhore.\" Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat\ndown and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his\nhand;\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fourteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar sat down\nand ate a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; but\nthe Nazarene privily took a banana and peeled it; then, splitting it in\ntwain, put into one half concentrated Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm\nwhereof would over throw an elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and\ngave it to Ali Shar, saying, \"O my lord, by the truth of thy religion,\nI adjure thee to take this.\" So Ali Shar, being ashamed to make him\nforsworn, took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it settled well in\nhis stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as though\nhe had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, rose to\nhis feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o'-mount[FN#289] at bay\nand, taking the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and ran off to\nrejoin his brother. And the cause of his so doing was that the\nNazarene's brother was the same decrepit old man who purposed to buy\nZumurrud for a thousand dinars, but she would none of him and jeered\nhim in verse. He was an Unbeliever inwardly, though a Moslem outwardly,\nand had called himself Rashid al-Din;[FN#290] and when Zumurrud mocked\nhim and would not accept of him, he complained to his brother the\naforesaid Christian who played this sleight to take her from her master\nAli Shar; whereupon his brother, Barsum by name said to him, \"Fret not\nthyself about the business, for I will make shift to seize her for\nthee, without expending either diner or dirham. Now he was a skilful\nwizard, crafty and wicked; so he watched his time and ceased not his\npractices till he played Ali Shar the trick before related; then,\ntaking the key, he went to his brother and acquainted him with what had\npassed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din mounted his she mule and repaired with\nhis brother and his servants to the house of Ali Shar, taking with him\na purse of a thousand dinars, wherewith to bribe the Chief of Police,\nshould he meet him. He opened the saloon door and the men who were with\nhim rushed in upon Zumurrud and forcibly seized her, threatening her\nwith death, if she spoke, but they left the place as it was and took\nnothing therefrom. Lastly they left Ali Shar lying in the vestibule\nafter they had shut the door on him and laid the saloon key by his\nside. Then the Christian carried the girl to his own house and setting\nher amongst his handmaids and concubines, said to her, \"O strumpet, I\nam the old man whom thou didst reject and lampoon; but now I have thee,\nwithout paying diner or dirham.\" Replied she (and her eyes streamed\nwith tears), \"Allah requite thee, O wicked old man, for sundering me\nand my lord!\" He rejoined, \"Wanton minx and whore that thou art, thou\nshalt see how I will punish thee! By the truth of the Messiah and the\nVirgin, except thou obey me and embrace my faith, I will torture thee\nwith all manner of torture!\" She replied, \"By Allah, though thou cut my\nflesh to bits I will not forswear the faith of Al-Islam! It may be\nAlmighty Allah will bring me speedy relief, for He cloth even as He is\nfief, and the wise say: 'Better body to scathe than a flaw in faith.'\"\nThereupon the old man called his eunuchs and women, saying, \"Throw her\ndown!\" So they threw her down and he ceased not to beat her with\ngrievous beating, whilst she cried for help and no help came; then she\nno longer implored aid but fell to saying, \"Allah is my sufficiency,\nand He is indeed all-sufficient!\" till her groans ceased and her breath\nfailed her and she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his heart was\nsoothed by bashing her, he said to the eunuchs, \"Drag her forth by the\nfeet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her nothing to eat.\"\nAnd after quietly sleeping that night, on the morrow the accursed old\nman sent for her and beat her again, after which he bade the Castrato\nreturn her to her place. When the burning of the blows had cooled, she\nsaid, \"There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God!\nAllah is my sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!\" And she called\nfor succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud called\nfor succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!). Such\nwas her case; but as regards Ali Shar, he ceased not sleeping till next\nday, when the Bhang quitted his brain and he opened his eyes and cried\nout, \"O Zumurrud\"; but no one answered him. So he entered the saloon\nand found the empty air and the fane afar;[FN#291] whereby he knew that\nit was the Nazarene who had played him this trick. And he groaned and\nwept and lamented and again shed tears, repeating these couplets,\n\n\"O Love thou'rt instant in thy cruellest guise; * Here is my\n\n\n     heart 'twixt fears and miseries:\n\n\nPity, O lords, a thrall who, felled on way * Of Love, erst\n\n\n     wealthy now a beggar lies:\n\n\nWhat profits archer's art if, when the foe * Draw near, his\n\n\n     bowstring snap ere arrow {lies:\n\n\nAnd when griefs multiply on generous man * And urge, what fort\n\n\n     can fend from destinies?\n\n\nHow much and much I warded parting, but * 'When Destiny descends\n\n\n     she blinds our eyes?'\"\n\n\n\nAnd when he had ended his verse, he sobbed with loud sobs and repeated\nalso these couplets,\n\n\"Enrobes with honour sands of camp her foot step wandering lone,\n\n\n     * Pines the poor mourner as she wins the stead where wont to\n\n\n     wane\n\n\nShe turns to resting-place of tribe, and yearns thereon to view *\n\n\n     The spring-camp lying desolate with ruins overstrown\n\n\nShe stands and questions of the site, but with the tongue of case\n\n\n     * The mount replies, 'There is no path that leads to union,\n\n\n     none!\n\n\n'Tis as the lightning flash erewhile bright glittered o'er the\n\n\n     camp * And died in darkling air no more to be for ever\n\n\n     shown.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd he repented when repentance availed him naught, and wept and rent\nhis raiment. Then he hent in hand two stones and went round about the\ncity, beating his breast with the stones and crying \"O Zumurrud!\"\nwhilst the small boys flocked round him, calling out, \"A madman! A\nmadman!\" and all who knew him wept for him, saying, \"This is such an\none: what evil hath befallen him?\" Thus he continued doing all that day\nand, when night darkened on him, he lay down in one of the city lanes\nand sleet till morning On the morrow, he went round about town with the\nstones till eventide, when he returned to his saloon to pass therein\nthe night. Presently, one of his neighbours saw him, and this worthy\nold woman said to him, \"O my son, Heaven give thee healing! How long\nhast thou been mad?\" And he answered her with these two\ncouplets,[FN#292]\n\n\"They said, Thou revest upon the person thou lovest. * And I\n\n\n     replied, The sweets of life are only for the mad.\n\n\nDrop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave *\n\n\n     If she cure my madness do not blame me.\"\n\n\n\nSo his old neighbour knew him for a lover who had lost his beloved and\nsaid, \"There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the\nGlorious, the Great! O my son, I wish thou wouldest acquaint me with\nthe tale of thine affliction. Peradventure Allah may enable me to help\nthee against it, if it so please Him.\" So he told her all that had\nbefallen him with Barsum the Nazarene and his brother the wizard who\nhad named himself Rashid al-Din and, when she understood the whole\ncase, she said, \"O my son, indeed thou hast excuse.\" And her eyes\nrailed tears and she repeated these two couplets,\n\n\"Enough for lovers in this world their ban and bane: * By Allah,\n\n\n     lover ne'er in fire of Sakar fries:\n\n\nFor, sure, they died of love-desire they never told * Chastely,\n\n\n     and to this truth tradition testifies.\"[FN#293]\n\n\n\nAnd after she had finished her verse, she said, \"O my son, rise at once\nand buy me a crate, such as the jewel-pedlars carry; buy also bangles\nand seal-rings and bracelets and ear-rings and other gewgaws wherein\nwomen delight and grudge not the cash. Put all the stock into the crate\nand bring it to me and I will set it on my head and go round about, in\nthe guise of a huckstress and make search for her in all the houses,\ntill I happen on news of her\u2014 Inshallah!\" So Ali Shar rejoiced in her\nwords and kissed her hands, then, going out, speedily brought her all\nshe required; whereupon she rose and donned a patched gown and threw\nover her head a honey-yellow veil, and took staff in hand and, with the\nbasket on her head, began wandering about the passages and the houses.\nShe ceased not to go from house to house and street to street and\nquarter to quarter, till Allah Almighty led her to the house of the\naccursed Rashid al-Din the Nazarene where, hearing groans within, she\nknocked at the door,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old\nwoman heard groans within the house, she knocked at the door, whereupon\na slave-girl came down and opening to her, saluted her. Quoth the old\nwoman, \"I have these trifles for sale: is there any one with you who\nwill buy aught of them?\" \"Yes,\" answered the damsel and, carrying her\nindoors, made her sit down; whereupon all the slave-girls came round\nher and each bought something of her. And as the old woman spoke them\nfair and was easy with them as to price, all rejoiced in her, because\nof her kind ways and pleasant speech. Meanwhile, she looked narrowly at\nthe ins and outs of the place to see who it was she had heard groaning,\ntill her glance fell on Zumurrud, when she knew her and she began to\nshow her customers yet more kindness. At last she made sure that\nZumurrud was laid prostrate; so she wept and said to the girls, \"O my\nchildren, how cometh yonder young lady in this plight?\" Then the\nslave-girls told her all what had passed, adding, \"Indeed this matter\nis not of our choice; but our master commanded us to do thus, and he is\nnow on a journey.\" She said, \"O my children, I have a favour to ask of\nyou, and it is that you loose this unhappy damsel of her bonds, till\nyou know of your lord's return, when do ye bind her again as she was;\nand you shall earn a reward from the Lord of all creatures.\" \"We hear\nand obey,\" answered they and at once loosing Zumurrud, gave her to eat\nand drink. Thereupon quoth the old woman, \"Would my leg had been\nbroken, ere I entered your house!\" And she went up to Zumurrud and said\nto her, \"O my daughter, Heaven keep thee safe; soon shall Allah bring\nthee relief.\" Then she privily told her that she came from her lord,\nAli Shar, and agreed with her to be on the watch for sounds that night,\nsaying, \"Thy lord will come and stand by the pavilion-bench and\nwhistle[FN#294] to thee; and when thou hearest him, do thou whistle\nback to him and let thyself down to him by a rope from the window, and\nhe will take thee and go away with thee.\" So Zumurrud thanked the old\nwoman, who went forth and returned to Ali Shar and told him what she\nhad done, saying, \"Go this night, at midnight, to such a quarter, for\nthe accursed carle's house is there and its fashion is thus and thus.\nStand under the window of the upper chamber and whistle; whereupon she\nwill let herself down to thee; then do thou take her and carry her\nwhither thou wilt.\" He thanked her for her good offices and with\nflowing tears repeated these couplets,\n\n\"Now with their says and saids[FN#295] no more vex me the chiding\n\n\n     race; * My heart is weary and I'm worn to bone by their\n\n\n     disgrace:\n\n\nAnd tears a truthful legend[FN#296] with a long ascription-chain\n\n\n     * Of my desertion and distress the lineage can trace.\n\n\nO thou heart-whole and free from dole and dolours I endure, * Cut\n\n\n     short thy long persistency nor question of my case:\n\n\nA sweet-lipped one and soft of sides and cast in shapeliest mould\n\n\n     * Hath stormed my heart with honied lure and honied words of\n\n\n     grace.\n\n\nNo rest my heart hath known since thou art gone, nor ever close *\n\n\n     These eyes, nor patience aloe scape the hopes I dare to\n\n\n     trace:\n\n\nYe have abandoned me to be the pawn of vain desire, * In squalid\n\n\n     state 'twixt enviers and they who blame to face:\n\n\nAs for forgetting you or love 'tis thing I never knew; * Nor in\n\n\n     my thought shall ever pass a living thing but you.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when he ended his verses, he sighed and shed tears and repeated\nalso these couplets,\n\n\"Divinely were inspired his words who brought me news of you; *\n\n\n     For brought he unto me a gift was music in mine ear:\n\n\nTake he for gift, if him content, this worn-out threadbare robe,\n\n\n     * My heart, which was in pieces torn when parting from my\n\n\n     fete.\"\n\n\n\nHe waited till night darkened and, when came the appointed time, he\nwent to the quarter she had described to him and saw and recognised the\nChristian's house; so he sat down on the bench under the gallery.\nPresently drowsiness overcame him and he slept (Glory be to Him who\nsleepeth not!?, for it was long since he had tasted sleep, by reason of\nthe violence of his passion, and he became as one drunken with slumber.\nAnd while he was on this wise,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventeenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that while he lay\nasleep, behold, a certain thief, who had come out that night and\nprowled about the skirts of the city to steal-somewhat, happened by the\ndecree of Destiny, on the Nazarene's house. He went round about it, but\nfound no way of climbing up into it, and presently on his circuit he\ncame to the bench, where he saw Ali Shar asleep and stole his turband;\nand, as he was taking it suddenly Zumurrud looked out and seeing the\nthief standing in the darkness, took him for her lord; whereupon she\nlet herself down to him by the rope with a pair of saddle-bags full of\ngold. Now when the robber saw that, he said to himself, \"This is a\nwondrous thing, and there must needs be some marvellous cause to it.\"\nThen he snatched up the saddle-bags, and threw Zumurrud over his\nshoulders and made off with both like the blinding lightening. Quoth\nshe, \"Verily, the old woman told me that thou west weak with illness on\nmy account; and here thou art, stronger than a horse.\" He made her no\nreply; so she put her hand to his face and felt a beard like the broom\nof palm-frond used for the Hammam,[FN#297] as if he were a hog which\nhad swallowed feathers and they had come out of his gullet; whereat she\ntook fright and said to him, \"What art thou?\" \"O strumpet,\" answered\nhe, \"I am the sharper Jaw\u0431n[FN#298] the Kurd, of the band of Ahmad\nal-Danaf; we are forty sharpers, who will all piss our tallow into thy\nwomb this night, from dusk to dawn.\" When she heard his words, she wept\nand beat her face, knowing that Fate had gotten the better of her and\nthat she had no resource but resignation and to put her trust in Allah\nAlmighty. So she took patience and submitted herself to the ordinance\nof the Lord, saying, \"There is no god but the God! As often as we\nescape from one woe, we fall into a worse.\" Now the cause of Jawan's\ncoming thither was this: he had said to Calamity-Ahmad, \"O\nSharper-captain,[FN#299] I have been in this city before and know a\ncavern without the walls which will hold forty souls; so I will go\nbefore you thither and set my mother therein. Then will I return to the\ncity and steal-somewhat for the luck of all of you and keep it till you\ncome; so shall you be my guests and I will show you hospitality this\nday.\" Replied Ahmad al-Danaf, \"Do what thou wilt.\" So Jawan went forth\nto the place before them and set his mother in the cave; but, as he\ncame out he found a trooper lying asleep, with his horse picketed\nbeside him; so he cut his throat and, taking his clothes and his\ncharger and his arms, hid them with his mother in the cave, where also\nhe tethered the horse. Then he betook himself to the city and prowled\nabout, till he happened on the Christian's house and did with Ali\nShar's turband and Zumurrud and her saddle-bags as we have said. He\nceased not to run, with Zumurrud on his back, till he came to the\ncavern, where he gave her in charge of his mother, saying, \"Keep thou\nwatch over her till I return to thee at first dawn of day,\" and went\nhis ways.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Kurdish\nJawan to his mother, \"Keep thou watch over her till I come back to thee\nat first dawn of day,\" and went his ways. Now Zumurrud said to herself,\n\"Why am I so heedless about saving my life and wherefore await till\nthese forty men come?: they will take their turns to board me, till\nthey make me like a water- logged ship at sea.\" Then she turned to the\nold woman, Jawan's mother, and said to her, \"O my aunt, wilt thou not\nrise up and come without the cave, that I may louse thee in the\nsun?\"[FN#300] Replied the old woman, \"Ay, by Allah, O my daughter: this\nlong time have I been out of reach of the bath; for these hogs cease\nnot to carry me from place to place.\" So they went without the cavern,\nand Zumurrud combed out her head hair and killed the lice on her locks,\ntill the tickling soothed her and she fell asleep; whereupon Zumurrud\narose and, donning the clothes of the murdered trooper, girt her waist\nwith his sword and covered her head with his turband, so that she\nbecame as she were a man. Then, mounting the horse after she had taken\nthe saddle-bags full of gold, she breathed a prayer, \"O good Protector,\nprotect me I adjure thee by the glory of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and\npreserve!),\" adding these words in thought, \"If I return to the city\nbelike one of the trooper's folk will see me, and no good will befal\nme.\" So she turned her back on the town and rode forth into the wild\nand the waste. And she ceased not faring forth with her saddle-bags and\nthe steed, eating of the growth of the earth and drinking of its\nwaters, she and her horse, for ten days and, on the eleventh, she came\nin sight of a city pleasant and secure from dread, and established in\nhappy stead. Winter had gone from it with his cold showers, and Prime\nhad come to it with his roses and orange- blossoms and varied flowers;\nand its blooms were brightly blowing; its streams were merrily flowing\nand its birds warbled coming and going. And she drew near the dwellings\nand would have entered the gate when she saw the troops and Emirs and\nGrandees of the place drawn up, whereat she marvelled seeing them in\nsuch unusual-case and said to herself, \"The people of the city are all\ngathered at its gate: needs must there be a reason for this.\" Then she\nmade towards them; but, as she drew near, the soldiery dashed forward\nto meet her and, dismounting all, kissed the ground between her hands\nand said, \"Aid thee Allah, O our lord the Sultan!\" Then the notables\nand dignitaries ranged themselves before her in double line, whilst the\ntroops ordered the people in, saying, \"Allah aid thee and make thy\ncoming a blessing to the Moslems, O Sultan of all creatures! Allah\nestablish thee, O King of the time and union-pearl of the day and the\ntide!\" Asked Zumurrud, \"What aileth you, O people of this city?\" And\nthe Head Chamberlain answered, \"Verily, He hath given to thee who is no\nniggard in His giving; and He hath been bountiful to thee and hath made\nthee Sultan of this city and ruler over the necks of all who are\ntherein; for know thou it is the custom of the citizens, when their\nKing deceaseth leaving no son, that the troops should sally forth to\nthe suburbs and sojourn there three days: and whoever cometh from the\nquarter whence thou hast come, him they make King over them. So praised\nbe Allah who hath sent us of the sons of the Turks a well-favoured man;\nfor had a lesser than thou presented himself, he had been Sultan.\" Now\nZumurrud was clever and well-advised in all she did: so she said,\n\"Think not that I am of the common folk of the Turks! nay, I am of the\nsons of the great, a man of condition; but I was wroth with my family,\nso I went forth and left them. See these saddle-bags full of gold which\nI have brought under me that, by the way, I might give alms thereof to\nthe poor and the needy.\" So they called down blessings upon her and\nrejoiced in her with exceeding joy and she also joyed in them and said\nin herself, \"Now that I have attained to this\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Zumurrud to\nherself, \"Now that I have attained to this case, haply Allah will\nreunite me with my lord in this place, for He can do whatso He\nwilleth.\" Then the troops escorted her to the city and, all\ndismounting, walked before her to the palace. Here she alighted and the\nEmirs and Grandees, taking her under both armpits,[FN#301] carried her\ninto the palace and seated her on the throne; after which they all\nkissed ground before her. And when duly enthroned she bade them open\nthe treasuries and gave largesse to all the troops, who offered up\nprayers for the continuance of her reign, and all the townsfolk\naccepted her rule and all the lieges of the realm. Thus she abode\nawhile bidding and forbidding, and all the people came to hold her in\nexceeding reverence and heartily to love her, by reason of her\ncontinence and generosity; for taxes she remitted and prisoners she\nreleased and grievances she redressed; but, as often as she bethought\nher of her lord, she wept and besought Allah to reunite her and him;\nand one night, as she chanced to be thinking of him and calling to mind\nthe days she had passed with him, her eyes ran over with tears and she\nversified in these two couplets,\n\n\"My yearning for thee though long is fresh, * And the tears which\n\n\n     chafe these eyelids increase\n\n\nWhen I weep, I weep from the burn of love, * For to lover\n\n\n     severance is decease.\"[FN#302]\n\n\n\nAnd when she had ended her verse, she wiped away her tears and\nrepairing to the palace, betook herself to the Harim, where she\nappointed to the slave-girls and concubines separate lodgings and\nassigned them pensions and allowances, giving out that she was minded\nto live apart and devote herself to works of piety. So she applied\nherself to fasting and praying, till the Emirs said, \"Verily this\nSultan is eminently devout;\" nor would she suffer any male attendants\nabout her, save two little eunuchs to serve her. And on this wise she\nheld the throne a whole year, during which time she heard no news of\nher lord, and failed to hit upon his traces, which was exceeding\ngrievous to her; so, when her distress became excessive, she summoned\nher Wazirs and Chamberlains and bid them fetch architects and builders\nand make her in front of the palace a horse-course, one parasang long\nand the like broad. They hastened to do her bidding, and lay out the\nplace to her liking; and, when it was completed, she went down into it\nand they pitched her there a great pavilion, wherein the chairs of the\nEmirs were ranged in due order. Moreover, she bade them spread on the\nracing-plain tables with all manners of rich meats and when this was\ndone she ordered the Grandees to eat. So they ate and she said to them,\n\"It is my will that, on seeing the new moon of each month, ye do on\nthis wise and proclaim in the city that no man shall open his shop, but\nthat all our lieges shall come and eat of the King's banquet, and that\nwhoso disobeyeth shall be hanged over his own door.\"[FN#303] So they\ndid as she bade them, and ceased not so to do till the first new moon\nof the second year appeared; when Zumurrud went down into the\nhorse-course and the crier proclaimed aloud, saying, \"Ho, ye lieges and\npeople one and all, whoso openeth store or shop or house shall straight\nway be hanged over his own door; for it behoveth you to come in a body\nand eat of the King's banquet.\" And when the proclamation became known,\nthey laid the tables and the subjects came in hosts; so she bade them\nsit down at the trays and eat their fill of all the dishes. Accordingly\nthey sat down and she took place on her chair of state, watching them,\nwhilst each who was at meat said to himself, \"Verily the King looketh\nat none save me.\" Then they fell to eating and the Emirs said to them,\n\"Eat and be not ashamed; for this pleaseth the King.\" So they ate their\nfill and went away, blessing the Sovereign and saying, one to the\nother, \"Never in our days saw we a Sultan who loved the poor as doth\nthis Sultan.\" And they wished him length of life. Upon this Zumurrud\nreturned to her palace,\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twentieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Zumurrud\nreturned to her palace, rejoicing in her device and saying to herself,\n\"Inshallah, I shall surely by this means happen on news of my lord Ali\nShar.\" When the first day of the second month came round, she did as\nbefore and when they had spread the tables she came down from her\npalace and took place on her throne and commanded the lieges to sit\ndown and fall to. Now as she sat on her throne, at the head of the\ntables, watching the people take their places company by company and\none by one, behold her eye fell on Barsum, the Nazarene who had bought\nthe curtain of her lord; and she knew him and said in her mind, \"This\nis the first of my joy and the winning of my wish.\" Then Barsum came up\nto the table and, sitting down with the rest to eat, espied a dish of\nsweet rice, sprinkled with sugar; but it was far from him, so he pushed\nup to it through the crowd and, putting out his hand to it, seized it\nand set it before himself. His next neighbour said to him, \"Why dost\nthou not eat of what is before thee? Is not this a disgrace to thee?\nHow canst thou reach over for a dish which is distant from thee? Art\nthou not ashamed?\" Quoth Barsum, \"I will eat of none save this same.\"\nRejoined the other, \"Eat then, and Allah give thee no good of it!\" But\nanother man, a Hashish-eater, said, \"Let him eat of it, that I may eat\nwith him.\" Replied his neighbour, \"O unluckiest of Hashish- eaters,\nthis is no meat for thee; it is eating for Emirs. Let it be, that it\nmay return to those for whom it is meant and they eat it.\" But Barsum\nheeded him not and took a mouthful of the rice and put it in his mouth;\nand was about to take a second mouthful when the Queen, who was\nwatching him, cried out to certain of her guards, saying, \"Bring me\nyonder man with the dish of Sweet rice before him and let him not eat\nthe mouthful he hath read but throw it from his hand.\"[FN#304] So four\nof the guards went up to Barsum and haled him along on his face, after\nthrowing the mouthful of rice from his hand, and set him standing\nbefore Zumurrud, whilst all the people left eating and said to one\nanother, By Allah, he did wrong in not eating of the food meant for the\nlikes of him.\" Quoth one, \"For me I was content with this\nporridge[FN#305] which is before me.\" And the Hashish-eater said,\n\"Praised be Allah who hindered me from eating of the dish of sugared\nrice for I expected it to stand before him and was waiting only for him\nto have his enjoyment of it, to eat with him, when there befel him what\nwe see.\" And the general said, one to other, \"Wait till we see what\nshall befal him.\" Now as they brought him before Queen Zumurrud she\ncried, \"Woe to thee, O blue eyes! What is thy name and why comest thou\nto our country?\" But the accursed called himself out of his name having\na white turband[FN#306] on, and answered, \"O King, my name is Ali; I\nwork as a weaver and I came hither to trade.\" Quoth Zumurrud, \"Bring me\na table of sand and a pen of brass,\" and when they brought her what she\nsought, she took the sand and the pen, and struck a geomantic figure in\nthe likeness of a baboon; then, raising her head, she looked hard at\nBarsum for an hour or so and said to him, \"O dog, how darest thou lie\nto Kings? Art thou not a Nazarene, Barsum by name, and comest thou not\nhither in quest of somewhat? Speak the truth, or by the glory of the\nGodhead, I will strike off thy head!\" At this Barsum was confounded and\nthe Emirs and bystanders said, \"Verily, this King understandeth\ngeomancy: blessed be He who hath gifted him!\" Then she cried out upon\nthe Christian and said, 'Tell me the truth, or I will make an end of\nthee!\" Barsum replied, \"Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as\nregards the table, for the far one[FN#307] is indeed a Nazarene,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Barsum replied,\n\"Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as regards the table, for\nthy slave is indeed a Nazarene.\" Whereupon all present, gentle and\nsimple, wondered at the King's skill in hitting upon the truth by\ngeomancy, and said, \"Verily this King is a diviner, whose like there is\nnot in the world.\" Thereupon Queen Zumurrud bade flay the Nazarene and\nstuff his skin with straw and hang it over the gate of the race-course.\nMoreover, she commended to dig a pit without the city and burn therein\nhis flesh and bones and throw over his ashes offal and ordure. \"We hear\nand obey,\" answered they, and did with him all she bade; and, when the\nfolk saw what had befallen the Christian, they said, \"Serve him right;\nbut what an unlucky mouthful was that for him!\" And another said, \"Be\nthe far one's wife divorced if this vow be broken: never again to the\nend of my days will I eat of sugared rice!\"; and the Hashish-eater\ncried \"Praised be Allah, who spared me this fellow's fate by saving me\nfrom eating of that same rice!\" Then they all went out, holding it\nthenceforth unlawful to sit over against the dish of sweet rice as the\nNazarene had sat. Now when the first day of the third month came, they\nlaid the tables according to custom, and covered them with dishes and\nchargers, and Queen Zumurrud came down and sat on her throne, with her\nguards in attendance, as of wont, in awe of her dignity and majesty.\nThen the townsfolk entered as before and went round about the tables,\nlooking for the place of the dish of sweet rice, and quoth one to\nanother, \"Hark ye, O H\u0431j\u043d[FN#308] Khalaf!\"; and the other answered, \"At\nthy service, O H\u0431j\u043d Kh\u0431lid.\" Said Kh\u0431lid, \"Avoid the dish of sweet rice\nand look thou eat not thereof; for, if thou do, by early morning thou\nwill be hanged.\"[FN#309] Then they sat down to meat around the table;\nand, as they were eating, Queen Zumurrud chanced to look from her\nthrone and saw a man come running in through the gate of the\nhorse-course; and having considered him attentively, she knew him for\nJawan the Kurdish thief who murdered the trooper. Now the cause of his\ncoming was this: when he left his mother, he went to his comrades and\nsaid to them, \"I did good business yesterday; for I slew a trooper and\ntook his horse. Moreover there fell to me last night a pair of\nsaddle-bags, full of gold, and a young lady worth more than the money\nin pouch; and I have left all that with my mother in the cave.\" At this\nthey rejoiced and repaired to the cavern at night-fall, whilst Jawan\nthe Kurd walked in front and the rest behind; he wishing to bring them\nthe booty of which he had boasted. But he found the place clean empty\nand questioned his mother, who told him all that had befallen her;\nwhereupon he bit his hands for regret and exclaimed, \"By Allah, I will\nassuredly make search for the harlot and take her, wherever she is,\nthough it be in the shell of a pistachio-nut,[FN#310] and quench my\nmalice on her!\" So he went forth in quest of her and ceased not\njourneying from place to place, till he came to Queen Zumurrud's city.\nOn entering he found the town deserted and, enquiring of some women\nwhom he saw looking from the windows, they told him that it was the\nSultan's custom to make a banquet for the people on the first of each\nmonth and that all the lieges were bound to go and eat of it.\nFurthermore the women directed him to the racing-ground, where the\nfeast was spread. So he entered at a shuffling trot; and, finding no\nplace empty, save that before the dish of sweet rice already noticed,\ntook his seat right opposite it and stretched out his hand towards the\ndish; whereupon the folk cried out to him, saying, \"O our brother, what\nwouldst thou do?\" Quoth he, \"I would eat my fill of this dish.\"\nRejoined one of the people, \"If thou eat of it thou wilt assuredly find\nthyself hanged to-morrow morning.\" But Jawan said, \"Hold thy tongue and\ntalk not so unpleasantly.\" Then he stretched out his hand to the dish\nand drew it to him; but it so chanced that the Hashish-eater of whom we\nhave spoken, was sitting by him; and when he saw him take the dish, the\nfumes of the Hashish left his head and he fled from his place and sat\ndown afar off, saying, \"I will have nothing to do with yonder dish.\"\nThen Jawan the Kurd put out his hand (which was very like a raven's\nclaws,[FN#311] scooped up therewith half the dishful and drew out his\nneave as it were a camel's hoof,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jawan the Kurd\ndrew his neave from the dish as it were a camel's hoof and rolled the\nlump of rice in the palm of his hand, till it was like a big orange,\nand threw it ravenously into his mouth; and it rolled down his gullet,\nwith a rumble like thunder and the bottom of the deep dish appeared\nwhere said mouthful had been. Thereupon quoth to him one sitting by his\nside, \"Praised be Allah for not making me meat between thy hands; for\nthou hast cleared the dish at a single mouthful;\" and quoth the\nHashish-eater, \"Let him eat; methinks he hath a hanging face.\" Then,\nturning to Jawan he added, \"Eat and Allah give thee small good of it.\"\nSo Jawan put out his hand again and taking another mouthful, was\nrolling it in his palm like the first, when behold, the Queen cried out\nto the guards saying, \"Bring me yonder man in haste and let him not eat\nthe mouthful in his hand.\" So they ran and seizing him as he hung over\nthe dish, brought him to her, and set him in her presence, whilst the\npeople exulted over his mishap and said one to the other, \"Serve him\nright, for we warned him, but he would not take warning. Verily, this\nplace is bound to be the death of whoso sitteth therein, and yonder\nrice bringeth doom to all who eat of it.\" Then said Queen Zumurrud to\nJawan, \"What is thy name and trade and wherefore comest thou to our\ncity?\" Answered he, \"O our lord the Sultan, my name is Othman; I work\nas a gardener and am come hither in quest of somewhat I have lost.\"\nQuoth Zumurrud, \"Here with a table of sand!\" So they brought it, and\nshe took the pen and drawing a geomantic scheme, considered it awhile,\nthen raising her head, exclaimed, \"Woe to thee, thou loser! How darest\nthou lie to Kings? This sand telleth me that of a truth thy name is\nJawan the Kurd and that thou art by trade a robber, taking men's goods\nin the way of unright and slaying those whom Allah hath forbidden to\nslay save for just cause.\" And she cried out upon him, saying, \"O hog,\ntell me the truth of thy case or I will cut off thy head on the spot.\"\nNow when he heard these words, he turned yellow and his teeth\nchattered; then, deeming that he might save himself by truth-telling,\nhe replied, \"O King, thou sayest sooth; but I repent at thy hands\nhenceforth and turn to Allah Almighty!\" She answered, \"It were not\nlawful for me to leave a pest in the way of Moslems;\" and cried to her\nguards, \"Take him and skin him and do with him as last month ye did by\nhis like.\" They obeyed her commandment; and, when the Hashish- eater\nsaw the soldiers seize the man, he turned his back upon the dish of\nrice, saying, \"'Tis a sin to present my face to thee!\" And after they\nhad made an end of eating, they dispersed to their several homes and\nZumurrud returned to her palace and dismissed her attendants. Now when\nthe fourth month came round, they went to the race-course and made the\nbanquet, according to custom, and the folk sat awaiting leave to begin.\nPresently Queen Zumurrud entered and, sitting down on her throne,\nlooked at the tables and saw that room for four people was left void\nbefore the dish of rice, at which she wondered. Now as she was looking\naround, behold, she saw a man come trotting in at the gate of the\nhorse- course; and he stayed not till he stood over the food-trays;\nand, finding no room save before the dish of rice, took his seat there.\nShe looked at him and knowing him for the accursed Christian who called\nhimself Rashid al-Din, said in her mind, \"How blessed is this device of\nthe food,[FN#312] into whose toils this infidel hath fallen\" Now the\ncause of his coming was extraordinary, and it was on this wise. When he\nreturned from his travels,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\naccursed, who had called himself Rashid al-Din, returned from travel,\nhis household informed him that Zumurrud was missing and with her a\npair of saddle-bags full of money; on hearing which ill tidings he rent\nhis raiment and buffeted his face and plucked out his beard. Then he\ndespatched his brother Barsum in quest of her to lands adjoining and,\nwhen he was weary of awaiting news of him, he went forth himself, to\nseek for him and for the girl, whenas fate led him to the city of\nZumurrud. He entered it on the first day of the month and finding the\nstreets deserted and the shops shut and women idling at the windows, he\nasked them the reason why, and they told him that the King made a\nbanquet on the first of each month for the people, all of whom were\nbound to attend it, nor might any abide in his house or shop that day;\nand they directed him to the racing-plain. So he betook himself thither\nand found the people crowding about the food, and there was never a\nplace for him save in front of the rice-dish now well-known. Here then\nhe sat and put forth his hand to eat thereof, whereupon Zumurrud cried\nout to her guards, saying, \"Bring me him who sitteth over against the\ndish of rice.\" So they knew him by what had before happened and laid\nhands on him and brought him before Queen Zumurrud, who said to him,\n\"Out on thee! What is thy name and trade, and what bringeth thee to our\ncity?\" Answered he, \"O King of the age, my name is Rustam[FN#313] and I\nhave no occupation, for I am a poor dervish.\" Then said she to her\nattendants, \"Bring me table of sand and pen of brass.\" So they brought\nher what she sought, as of wont; and she took the pen and made the dots\nwhich formed the figure and considered it awhile, then raising her head\nto Rashid al-Din, she said, \"O dog, how darest thou lie to Kings? Thy\nname is Rashid al-Din the Nazarene, thou art outwardly a Moslem, but a\nChristian at heart, and thine occupation is to lay snares for the\nslave-girls of the Moslems and make them captives. Speak the truth, or\nI will smite off thy head.\" He hesitated and stammered, then replied,\n\"Thou sayest sooth, O King of the age!\" Whereupon she commanded to\nthrow him down and give him an hundred blows with a stick on each sole\nand a thousand stripes with a whip on his body; after which she bade\nflay him and stuff his skin with herds of flax and dig a pit without\nthe city, wherein they should burn his corpse and cast on his ashes\noffal-and ordure. They did as she bade them and she gave the people\nleave to eat. So they ate and when they had eaten their fill they went\ntheir ways, while Queen Zumurrud returned to her palace, saying, \"I\nthank Allah for solacing my heart of those who wronged me.\" Then she\npraised the Creator of the earth and the heavens and repeated these\ncouplets,\n\n\"They ruled awhile and theirs was harsh tyrannic rule, * But soon\n\n\n     that rule went by as though it never were:\n\n\nIf just they had won justice; but they sinned, and so * The world\n\n\n     collected all its bane for them to bear:\n\n\nSo died they and their case's tongue declares aloud * This is for\n\n\n     that so of the world your blaming spare.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when her verse was ended she called to mind her lord Ali Shar and\nwept flowing tears; but presently recovered herself and said, \"Haply\nAllah, who hath given mine enemies into my hand, will vouchsafe me the\nspeedy return of my beloved;\" and she begged forgiveness of Allah (be\nHe extolled and exalted')\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen begged\nforgiveness of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!), and said, \"Haply He\nwill vouchsafe me speedy reunion with my beloved Ali Shar for He can do\nwhat He willeth and to His servants showeth grace, ever mindful of\ntheir case!\" Then she praised Allah and again besought forgiveness of\nHim, submitting herself to the decrees of destiny, assured that each\nbeginning hath his end, and repeating the saying of the poet,\n\n\"Take all things easy; for all worldly things * In Allah's hand\n\n\n     are ruled by Destiny:\n\n\nNe'er shall befal thee aught of things forbidden, * Nor what is\n\n\n     bidden e'er shall fail to thee!\"\n\n\n\nAnd what another saith.\n\n\"Roll up thy days[FN#314] and easy shall they roll * Through\n\n\n     life, nor haunt the house of grief and dole:\n\n\nFull many a thing, which is o'er hard to find,* Next hour shall\n\n\n     bring thee to delight thy soul.\"\n\n\n\nAnd what a third saith,[FN#315]\n\n\"Be mild what time thou'rt ta'en with anger and despite * And\n\n\n     patient, if there fall misfortune on thy head.\n\n\nIndeed, the nights are quick and great with child by Time * And\n\n\n     of all wondrous things are hourly brought to bed.\"\n\n\n\nAnd what a fourth saith,\n\n\"Take patience which breeds good if patience thou can learn; * Be\n\n\n     calm soured, scaping anguish-draughts that gripe and bren:\n\n\nKnow, that if patience with good grace thou dare refuse, * With\n\n\n     ill-graced patience thou shalt bear what wrote the Pen.\"\n\n\n\nAfter which she abode thus another whole month's space, judging the\nfolk and bidding and forbidding by day, and by night weeping and\nbewailing her separation from her lord Ali Shar. On the first day of\nthe fifth month, she bade them spread the banquet on the race-plain,\naccording to custom, and sat down at the head of the tables, whilst the\nlieges awaited the signal to fall to, leaving the place before the dish\nof rice vacant. She sat with eyes fixed upon the gate of the\nhorse-course, noting all who entered and saying in her soul, \"O Thou\nwho restoredest Joseph to Jacob and diddest away the sorrows of\nJob,[FN#316] vouchsafe of Thy might and Thy majesty to restore me my\nlord Ali Shar; for Thou over all things art Omnipotent, O Lord of the\nWorlds! O Guide of those who go astray! O Hearer of those that cry! O\nAnswerer of those who pray, answer Thou my prayer, O Lord of all\ncreatures.\" Now hardly had she made an end of her prayer and\nsupplication when behold, she saw entering the gate of the horse-plain\na young man, in shape like a willow branch, the comeliest of youths and\nthe most accomplished, save that his face was wan and his form wasted\nby weariness. Now as he entered and came up to the tables, he found no\nseat vacant save that over against the dish of sweet rice so he sat\ndown there; and, when Zumurrud looked upon him, her heart fluttered\nand, observing him narrowly, she knew him for her lord Ali Shar, and\nwas like to have cried out for joy, but restrained herself, fearing\ndisgrace before the folk and, albeit her bowels yearned over him and\nher heart beat wildly, she hid what she felt. Now the cause of his\ncoming thither was on this wise. After he fell asleep upon the bench\nand Zumurrud let herself down to him and Jawan the Kurd seized her, he\npresently awoke and found himself lying with his head bare, so he knew\nthat some one had come upon him and had robbed him of his turband\nwhilst he slept. So he spoke the saying which shall never shame its\nsayer and, which is, \"Verily, we are Allah's and to Him are we\nreturning!\" and, going back to the old woman's house, knocked at the\ndoor. She came out and he wept before her, till he fell down in a\nfainting fit. Now when he came to himself, he told her all that had\npassed, and she blamed him and chid him for his foolish doings saying,\n\"Verily thine affliction and calamity come from thyself.\" And she gave\nnot over reproaching him, till the blood streamed from his nostrils and\nhe again fainted away. When he recovered from his swoon,\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ali Shar\nrecovered from his swoon he saw the old woman bewailing his griefs and\nweeping over him; so he complained of his hard lot and repeated these\ntwo couplets,\n\n\"How bitter to friends is a parting, * And a meeting how sweet to\n\n\n     the lover!\n\n\nAllah join all the lovers He parteth, * And save me who of love\n\n\n     ne'er recover.\"[FN#317]\n\n\n\nThe old woman mourned over him and said to him, \"Sit here, whilst I go\nin quest of news for thee and return to thee in haste.\" \"To hear is to\nobey,\" answered he. So she left him on her good errand and was absent\ntill midday, when she returned and said to him, \"O Ali, I fear me thou\nmust die in thy grief; thou wilt never see thy beloved again save on\nthe bridge Al-Sir\u0431t;[FN#318] for the people of the Christian's house,\nwhen they arose in the morning, found the window giving on the garden\ntorn from its hinges and Zumurrud missing, and with her a pair of\nsaddle-bags full of the Christian's money. And when I came thither, I\nsaw the Chief of Police standing at the door, he and his many, and\nthere is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious,\nthe Great!\" Now, as Ali Shar heard these words, the light in his sight\nwas changed to the darkness of night and he despaired of life and made\nsure of death; nor did he leave weeping, till he lost his senses. When\nhe revived, love and longing were sore upon him; there befel him a\ngrievous sickness and he kept his house a whole year; during which the\nold woman ceased not to bring him doctors and ply him with ptisanes and\ndiet-drinks and make him savoury broths till, after the twelve-month\nended, his life returned to him. Then he recalled what had passed and\nrepeated these couplets,\n\n\"Severance-grief nighmost, Union done to death, * Down-railing\n\n\n     tear-drops, heart fire tortureth!\n\n\nRedoubleth pine in one that hath no peace * For love and wake and\n\n\n     woe he suffereth:\n\n\nO Lord, if there be thing to joy my soul * Deign Thou bestow it\n\n\n     while I breathe my breath.\"\n\n\n\nWhen the second year began, the old woman said to him, \"O my son, all\nthis thy weeping and wailing will not bring thee back thy mistress.\nRise, therefore, gird the loins of resolution and seek for her in the\nlands: peradventure thou shalt light on some news of her.\" And she\nceased not to exhort and hearten him, till he took courage and she\ncarried him to the Hammam. Then she made him drink strong wine and eat\nwhite meats, and thus she did with him for a whole month, till he\nregained strength; and setting out journeyed without ceasing till he\narrived at Zumurrud's city where he went to the horse-course, and sat\ndown before the dish of sweet rice and put out his hand to eat of it.\nNow when the folk saw this, they were concerned for him and said to\nhim, \"O young man, eat not of that dish, for whoso eateth thereof,\nmisfortune befalleth him.\" Answered he, \"Leave me to eat of it, and let\nthem do with me what they will, so haply shall I be at rest from this\nwearying life.\" Accordingly he ate a first mouthful, and Zumurrud was\nminded to have him brought before her, but then she bethought her that\nbelike he was an hungered and said to herself, \"It were properer to let\nhim eat his fill.\" So he went on eating, whilst the folk looked at him\nin astonishment, waiting to see what would betide him; and, when he had\nsatisfied himself, Zumurrud said to certain of her eunuchry, \"Go to\nyonder youth who eateth of the rice and bring him to me in courteous\nguise, saying: 'Answer the summons of the King who would have a word\nwith thee on some slight matter.'\" They replied, \"We hear and obey,\"\nand going straightways up to Ali Shar, said to him, \"O my lord, be\npleased to answer the summons of the King and let thy heart be at\nease.\" Quoth he, \"Hearkening and obedience;\" and followed the\neunuchs,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar\nrejoined, \"Hearkening and obedience;\" and followed the eunuchs, whilst\nthe people said to one another, \"There is no Majesty and there is no\nMight save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I wonder what the King\nwill do with him!\" And others said, \"He will do him naught but good:\nfor had he intended to harm him, he had not suffered him to eat his\nfill.\" Now when the Castratos set him in presence of Zumurrud he\nsaluted and kissed the earth before her, whilst she returned his\nsalutation and received him with honour. Then she asked him, \"What may\nbe thy name and trade, and what brought thee to our city?\"; and he\nanswered, \"O King my name is Ali Shar; I am of the sons of the\nmerchants of Khorasan; and the cause of my coming hither is to seek for\na slave-girl whom I have lost for she was dearer to me than my hearing\nand my seeing, and indeed my soul cleaveth to her, since I lost her;\nand such is my tale.\" So saying he wept, till he swooned away;\nwhereupon she bade them sprinkle rose-water on his face, which they did\ntill he revived, when she said, \"Here with the table of sand and the\nbrass pen.\" So they brought them and she took the pen and struck a\ngeomantic scheme which she considered awhile; and then cried, \"Thou\nhast spoken sooth, Allah will grant thee speedy reunion with her; so be\nnot troubled.\" Upon this she commanded her head- chamberlain to carry\nhim to the bath and afterwards to clothe him in a handsome suit of\nroyal-apparel, and mount him on one of the best of the King's horses\nand finally bring him to the palace at the last of the day. So the\nChamberlain, after saying \"I hear and I obey,\" took him away, whilst\nthe folk began to say to one another, \"What maketh the King deal thus\ncourteously with yonder youth?\" And quoth one, \"Did I not tell you that\nhe would do him no hurt?; for he is fair of aspect; and this I knew,\never since the King suffered him to eat his fill.\" And each said his\nsay; after which they all dispersed and went their ways. As for\nZumurrud, she thought the night would never come, that she might be\nalone with the beloved of her heart. As soon as it was dark, she\nwithdrew to her sleeping-chamber and made her attendants think her\novercome with sleep; and it was her wont to suffer none to pass the\nnight with her save those two little eunuchs who waited upon her. After\na while when she had composed herself, she sent for her dear Ali Shar\nand sat down upon the bed, with candles burning over her head and feet,\nand hanging lamps of gold lighting up the place like the rising sun.\nWhen the people heard of her sending for Ali Shar, they marvelled\nthereat and each man thought his thought and said his say; but one of\nthem declared, \"At all events the King is in love with this young man,\nand to- morrow he will make him generalissimo of the army.\"[FN#319] Now\nwhen they brought him into her, he kissed the ground between her hands\nand called down blessings her, and she said in her mind, \"There is no\nhelp for it but that I jest with him awhile, before I make myself known\nto him.''[FN#320] Then she asked him, \"O Ali, say me, hast thou been to\nthe Hammam?\"[FN#321] and he answered, \"Yes, O my lord.\" Quoth she,\n\"Come, eat of this chicken and meat, and drink of this wine and sherbet\nof sugar; for thou art weary; and after that come thou hither.\" \"I hear\nand I obey,\" replied he and did as she commanded him do. Now when he\nhad made an end of eating and drinking, she said to him, \"Come up with\nme on the couch and shampoo[FN#322] my feet.\" So he fell to rubbing\nfeet and kneading calves, and found them softer than silk. Then said\nshe, \"Go higher with the massage;\" and he, \"Pardon me, O my lord, to\nthe knee but no farther!\" Whereupon quoth she, \"Durst thou disobey me?:\nit shall be an ill-omened night for thee!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud cried to\nher lord, Ali Shar, \"Durst thou disobey me?: it shall be an ill-omened\nnight for thee! Nay, but it behoveth thee to do my bidding and I will\nmake thee my minion and appoint thee one of my Emirs.\" Asked Ali Shar,\n\"And in what must I do thy bidding, O King of the age?\" and she\nanswered, \"Doff thy trousers and lie down on thy face.\" Quoth he, \"That\nis a thing in my life I never did; and if thou force me thereto, verily\nI will accuse thee thereof before Allah on Resurrection-day. Take\neverything thou hast given me and let me go from thy city.\" And he wept\nand lamented; but she said, \"Doff thy trousers and lie down on thy\nface, or I will strike off thy head.\" So he did as she bade him and she\nmounted upon his back; and he felt what was softer than silk and\nsmoother than cream and said in himself, \"Of a truth, this King is\nnicer than all the women!\" Now for a time she abode on his back, then\nshe turned over on the bed, and he said to himself, \"Praised be Allah!\nIt seemeth his yard is not standing.\" Then said she, \"O Ali, it is of\nthe wont of my prickle that it standeth not, except they rub it with\ntheir hands; so, come, rub it with thy hand, till it be at stand, else\nwill I slay thee.\" So saying, she lay down on her back and taking his\nhand, set it to her parts, and he found these same parts softer than\nsilk; white, plumply-rounded, protuberant, resembling for heat the hot\nroom of the bath or the heart of a lover whom love-longing hath wasted.\nQuoth Ali in himself, \"Verily, our King hath a coynte; this is indeed a\nwonder of wonders!\" And lust get hold on him and his yard rose and\nstood upright to the utmost of its height; which when Zumurrud saw, she\nburst out laughing and said to him, \"O my lord, all this happeneth and\nyet thou knowest me not!\" He asked \"And who art thou, O King?\"; and she\nanswered, \"I am thy slave- girl Zumurrud.\" Now whenas he knew this and\nwas certified that she was indeed his very slave-girl, Zumurrud, he\nkissed her and embraced her and threw himself upon her as the lion upon\nthe lamb. Then he sheathed his steel rod in her scabbard and ceased not\nto play the porter at her door and the preacher in her pulpit and the\npriest[FN#323] at her prayer niche, whilst she with him ceased not from\ninclination and prostration and rising up and sitting down,\naccompanying her ejaculations of praise and of \"Glory to Allah!\" with\npassionate movements and wrigglings and claspings of his member[FN#324]\nand other amorous gestures, till the two little eunuchs heard the\nnoise. So they came and peeping from behind the curtains saw the King\nlying on his back and upon him Ali Shar, thrusting and slashing whilst\nshe puffed and blew and wriggled. Quoth they, \"Verily, this be no man's\nwriggle: belike this King is a woman.''[FN#325] But they concealed\ntheir affair and discovered it to none. And when the morrow came,\nZumurrud summoned all the troops and the lords of the realm and said to\nthem, \"I am minded to journey to this man's country; so choose you a\nviceroy, who shall rule over you till I return to you.\" And they\nanswered, \"We hear and we obey.\" Then she applied herself to making\nready the wants of the way, to wit provaunt and provender, monies and\nrarities for presents, camels and mules and so forth; after which she\nset out from her city with Ali Shar, and they ceased not faring on,\ntill they arrived at his native place, where he entered his house and\ngave many gifts to his friends and alms and largesse to the poor. And\nAllah vouchsafed him children by her, and they both lived the gladdest\nand happiest of lives, till there came to them the Destroyer of\ndelights and the Severer of societies and the Garnerer of graves. And\nglorified be He the Eternal without cease, and praised be He in every\ncase! And amongst other tales they tell one of\n\n\n\nTHE LOVES OF JUBAYR BIN UMAYR AND THE LADY BUDUR.\n\nIt is related that the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid was\nuneasy[FN#326] one night and could not sleep; so that he ceased not to\ntoss from side to side for very restlessness, till, growing weary of\nthis, he called Masrur and said to him, \"Ho, Masrur, find me some one\nwho may solace me in this my wakefulness.\" He answered, \"O Prince of\nTrue Believers, wilt thou walk in the palace-garden and divert thyself\nwith the sight of its blooms and gaze upon the stars and constellations\nand note the beauty of their ordinance and the moon among them rising\nin sheen over the water?\" Quoth the Caliph, \"O Masrur, my heart\ninclineth not to aught of this.\" Quoth he, \"O my lord, there are in thy\npalace three hundred concubines, each of whom hath her separate\nchamber. Do thou bid all and every retire into her own apartment and\nthen do thou go thy rounds and amuse thyself with gazing on them\nwithout their knowledge.\" The Caliph replied, \"O Masrur, the palace is\nmy palace and the girls are my property: furthermore my soul inclineth\nnot to aught of this.\" Then Masrur rejoined, \"O my lord, summon the\ndoctors of law and religion and the sages of science and poets, and bid\nthem contend before thee in argument and disputation and recite to thee\nsongs and verses and tell thee tales and anecdotes.\" Replied the\nCaliph, \"My soul inclineth not to aught of this;\" and Masrur rejoined,\n\"O my lord, bid pretty boys and the wits and the cup-companions attend\nthee and solace thee with witty sallies.\" \"O Masrur,\" ejaculated the\nCaliph, \"indeed my soul inclineth not to aught of this.\" \"Then, O my\nlord,\" cried Masrur, \"strike off my head;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Masrur cried out\nto the Caliph, \"O my lord, strike off my head; haply that will dispel\nthine unease and do away the restlessness that is upon thee.\" So\nAl-Rashid laughed at his saying and said, \"See which of the\nboon-companions is at the door.\" Thereupon he went out and returning,\nsaid, \"O my lord, he who sits without is Ali bin Mansur of Damascus,\nthe Wag.\"[FN#327] \"Bring him to me,\" quoth Harun: and Masrur went out\nand returned with Ibn Mansur, who said, on entering, \"Peace be with\nthee, O Commander of the Faithful!\" The Caliph returned his salutation\nand said to him, \"O Ibn Mansur, tell us some of thy stories.\" Said the\nother, \"O Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen\nwith my eyes or what I have only heard tell?\" Replied the Caliph, \"If\nthou have seen aught worth telling, let us hear it; for hearing is not\nlike seeing.\" Said Ibn Mansur, \"O Commander of the Faithful, lend me\nthine ear and thy heart;\" and he answered, \"O Ibn Mansur, behold, I am\nlistening to thee with mine ears and looking at thee with mine eyes and\nattending to thee with my heart.\" So Ibn Mansur began: \"Know then, O\nCommander of the Faithful, that I receive a yearly allowance from\nMohammed bin Sulaym\u0431n al-H\u0431shimi, Sultan of Bassorah; so I went to him\nonce upon a time, as usual, and found him ready to ride out hunting and\nbirding. I saluted him and he returned my salute, and said, 'O son of\nMansur, mount and come with us to the chase:' but I said, 'O my lord, I\ncan no longer ride; so do thou station me in the guest-house and give\nthy chamberlains and lieutenants charge over me.' And he did so and\ndeparted for his sport. His people entreated me with the utmost honour\nand entertained me with the greatest hospitality; but said I to myself,\n'By Allah, it is a strange thing that for so long I have been in the\nhabit of coming from Baghdad to Bassorah, yet know no more of this town\nthan from palace to garden and from garden to palace. When shall I find\nan occasion like this to view the different parts and quarters of\nBassorah? I will rise forthwith and walk forth alone and divert myself\nand digest what I have eaten.' Accordingly I donned my richest dress\nand went out a walking about Bassorah. Now it is known to thee, O\nCommander of the Faithful, that it hath seventy streets, each seventy\nleagues[FN#328] long, the measure of Irak; and I lost myself in its\nby-streets and thirst overcame me. Presently, as I went along, O Prince\nof True Believers, behold, I came to a great door, whereon were two\nrings of brass,[FN#329] with curtains of red brocade drawn before it.\nAnd on either side of the door was a stone bench and over it was a\ntrellis, covered with a creeping vine that hung down and shaded the\ndoor way. I stood still to gaze upon the place, and presently heard a\nsorrowful voice, proceeding from a heart which did not rejoice, singing\nmelodiously and chanting these cinquains,\n\n'My body bides the sad abode of grief and malady, * Caused by a\n\n\n     fawn whose land and home are in a far countrie:\n\n\nO ye two Zephyrs of the wold which caused such pain in me * By\n\n\n     Allah, Lord of you! to him my heart's desire, go ye\n\n\n           And chide him so perchance ye soften him I pray.\n\n\n\nAnd tell us all his words if he to hear your speech shall deign,\n\n\n     * And unto him the tidings bear of lovers 'twixt you twain:\n\n\nAnd both vouchsafe to render me a service free and fain, * And\n\n\n     lay my case before him showing how I e'er complain:\n\n\n          And say, 'What ails thy bounder thrall this wise to\n\n\n               drive away,\n\n\n\nWithout a fault committed and without a sin to show; * Or heart\n\n\n     that leans to other wight or would thy love forego:\n\n\nOr treason to our plighted troth or causing thee a throe?' * And\n\n\n     if he smile then say ye twain in accents soft and slow,\n\n\n          'An thou to him a meeting grant 'twould be the kindest\n\n\n               way!\n\n\n\nFor he is gone distraught for thee, as well indeed, he might *\n\n\n     His eyes are wakeful and he weeps and wails the livelong\n\n\n     night :'\n\n\nIf seem he satisfied by this why then 'tis well and right, * But\n\n\n     if he show an angry face and treat ye with despite,\n\n\n          Trick him and 'Naught we know of him!' I beg you both\n\n\n               to say.'\n\n\n\nQuoth I to myself, 'Verily, if the owner of this voice be fair, she\nconjoineth beauty of person and eloquence and sweetness of voice.' Then\nI drew near the door, and began raising the curtain little by little,\nwhen lo! I beheld a damsel, white as a full moon when it mooneth on its\nfourteenth night, with joined eyebrows twain and languorous lids of\neyne, breasts like pomegranates twin and dainty, lips like double\ncarnelian, a mouth as it were the seal-of Solomon, and teeth ranged in\na line that played with the reason of proser and rhymer, even as saith\nthe poet,\n\n'O pearly mouth of friend, who set those pretty pearls in line, *\n\n\n     And filled thee full of whitest chamomile and reddest wine?\n\n\nWho lent the morning-glory in thy smile to shimmer and shine *\n\n\n     Who with that ruby-padlock dared thy lips to seal-and sign!\n\n\nWho looks on thee at early morn with stress of joy and bliss *\n\n\n     Goes mad for aye, what then of him who wins a kiss of\n\n\n     thine?'[FN#330]\n\n\n\nAnd as saith another,\n\n    'O pearl-set mouth of friend * Pity poor Ruby's cheek\n\n\n     Boast not o'er one who owns * Thee, union and unique.'\n\n\n\nIn brief she comprised all varieties of loveliness and was a seduction\nto men and women, nor could the gazer satisfy himself with the sight of\nher charms; for she was as the poet hath said of her,\n\n'When comes she, slays she; and when back he turns, * She makes\n\n\n     all men regard with loving eyes:\n\n\nA very sun! a very moon! but still * Prom hurt and harmful ills\n\n\n     her nature flies.\n\n\nOpes Eden's garden when she shows herself, * And full moon see we\n\n\n     o'er her necklace rise.'\n\n\n\nHow as I was looking at her through an opening of the curtain, behold,\nshe turned; and, seeing me standing at the door, said to her handmaid,\n'See who is at the door.' So the slave-girl came up to me and said, 'O\nShaykh, hast thou no shame, or do impudent airs suit hoary hairs?'\nQuoth I, 'O my mistress, I confess to the hoary hairs, but as for\nimpudent airs, I think not to be guilty of unmannerliness.' Then the\nmistress broke in, 'And what can be more unmannerly than to intrude\nthyself upon a house other than thy house and gaze on a Harim other\nthan thy Harim?' I pleaded, 'O my lady, I have an excuse;' and when she\nasked, 'And what is thine excuse?' I answered, 'I am a stranger and so\nthirsty that I am well nigh dead of thirst.' She rejoined, 'We accept\nthine excuse,' \u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen It was the Three Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young lady\nrejoined, 'We accept thine excuse,' and calling one of her slave maids,\nsaid to her, 'O Lutf,[FN#331] give him to drink in the golden tankard.'\nSo she brought me a tankard of red gold, set with pearls and gems of\nprice, full of water mingled with virgin musk and covered with a napkin\nof green silk, and I addressed myself to drink and was long about my\ndrinking, for I stole glances at her the while, till I could prolong my\nstay no longer. Then I returned the tankard to the girl, but did not\noffer to go; and she said to me, 'O Shaykh, wend thy way.' But I said,\n'O my lady, I am troubled in mind.' She asked me 'for what?' and I\nanswered, 'For the turns of Time and the change of things.' Replied\nshe, 'Well mayst thou be troubled thereat for Time breedeth wonders.\nBut what hast thou seen of such surprises that thou shouldst muse upon\nthem?' Quoth I, 'I was thinking of the whilom owner of this house, for\nhe was my intimate in his lifetime.' Asked she, 'What was his name?';\nand I answered, 'Mohammed bin Ali the Jeweller and he was a man of\ngreat wealth. Tell me did he leave any children?' Said she, 'Yes, he\nleft a daughter, Budur by name, who inherited all his wealth?' Quoth I,\n'Meseemeth thou art his daughter?' 'Yes,' answered she, laughing; then\nadded, 'O Shaykh, thou best talked long enough; now wend thy ways.'\nReplied I, 'Needst must I go, but I see thy charms are changed by being\nout of health; so tell me thy case; it may be Allah will give thee\ncomfort at my hands.' Rejoined she, 'O Shayth, if thou be a man of\ndiscretion, I will discover to thee my secret; but first tell me who\nthou art, that I may know whether thou art worthy of confidence or not;\nfor the poet saith,[FN#332]\n\n'None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of\n\n\n     mankind remaineth concealed.\n\n\nI have kept my secret in a house with a lock, whose key is lost\n\n\n     and whose door is sealed.'\n\n\n\nThereto I replied, 'O my lady, an thou wouldest know who I am, I am Ali\nbin Mans\u044ar of Damascus, the Wag, cup-companion to the Commander of the\nFaithful, Harun al-Rashid.' Now when she heard my name, she came down\nfrom her seat and saluting me, said, 'Welcome, O Ibn Mansur! Now will I\ntell thee my case and entrust thee with my secret. I am a lover\nseparated from her beloved.' I answered, 'O my lady, thou art fair and\nshouldest be on love terms with none but the fair. Whom then dost thou\nlove?' Quoth she, 'I love Jubayr bin Umayr al-Shayb\u0431ni, Emir of the\nBan\u044a Shayb\u0431n;[FN#333]' and she described to me a young man than whom\nthere was no prettier fellow in Bassorah. I asked, 'O my lady, have\ninterviews or letters passed between you?' and she answered 'Yes, but\nour love was tongue-love souls, not heart and souls- love; for he kept\nnot his trust nor was he faithful to his troth.' Said I, 'O my lady,\nand what was the cause of your separation?', and she replied, 'I was\nsitting one day whilst my handmaid here combed my hair. When she had\nmade an end of combing it, she plaited my tresses, and my beauty and\nloveliness charmed her; so she bent over me and kissed my\ncheek.[FN#334] At that moment he came in unawares, and, seeing the girl\nkiss my cheek, straightways turned away in anger, vowing\neternal-separation and repeating these two couplets,\n\n'If another share in the thing I love, * I abandon my love and\n\n\n     live lorn of love.\n\n\nMy beloved is worthless if aught she will, * Save that which her\n\n\n     lover doth most approve.\n\n\n\nAnd from the time he left me to this present hour, O Ibn Mansur, he\nhath neither written to me nor answered my letters.' Quoth I, 'And what\npurposes\" thou to do?' Quoth she, 'I have a mind to send him a letter\nby thee. If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt have of me five\nhundred gold pieces; and if not, then an hundred for thy trouble in\ngoing and coming.' I answered, 'Do what seemeth good to thee; I hear\nand I obey thee.' Whereupon she called to one of her slave-girls,\n'Bring me ink case and paper,' and she wrote thereon these couplets,\n\n'Beloved, why this strangeness, why this hate? * When shall thy\n\n\n     pardon reunite us two?\n\n\nWhy dost thou turn from me in severance? * Thy face is not the\n\n\n     face I am wont to know.\n\n\nYes, slanderers falsed my words, and thou to them * Inclining,\n\n\n     madest spite and envy grow.\n\n\nAn hast believed their tale, the Heavens forbid * Now thou\n\n\n     believe it when dost better bow!\n\n\nBy thy life tell what hath reached thine ear, * Thou know'st what\n\n\n     said they and so justice show.\n\n\nAn it be true I spoke the words, my words * Admit interpreting\n\n\n     and change allow:\n\n\nGiven that the words of Allah were revealed, * Folk changed the\n\n\n     Torah[FN#335] and still changing go:\n\n\nWhat slanders told they of mankind before! * Jacob heard Joseph\n\n\n     blamed by tongue of foe.\n\n\nYea, for myself and slanderer and thee * An awful day of\n\n\n     reckoning there shall be.'\n\n\n\nThen she sealed the letter and gave it to me; and I took it and carried\nit to the house of Jubayr bin Umayr, whom I found absent a hunting. So\nI sat down to wait for him; and behold, he returned from the chase; and\nwhen I saw him, O Prince of True Believers, come riding up, my wit was\nconfounded by his beauty and grace. As soon as he sighted me sitting at\nthe house-door, he dismounted and coming up to me embraced me and\nsaluted me; and meseemed I embraced the world and all therein. Then he\ncarried me into his house and, seating me on his own couch, called for\nfood. They brought a table of Khalanj-wood of Khorasan with feet of\ngold, whereon were all manners of meats, fried and roasted and the\nlike. So I seated myself at the table and examining it with care found\nthese couplets engraved upon it:\"[FN#336]\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali son of\n\n\nMansur continued: \"So I seated myself at the table of Jubayr bin\n\n\nUmayr al-Shaybani and, examining it with care, found these\n\n\ncouplets engraved upon it,\n\n\n\n          'On these which once were-chicks,\n\n\n          Your mourning glances fix,\n\n\nLate dwellers in the mansion of the cup,\n\n\n          Now nearly eaten up!\n\n\n               Let tears bedew\n\n\n          The memory of that stew,\n\n\n          Those partridges, once roast,\n\n\n               Now lost!\n\n\n\nThe daughters of the grouse in plaintive strain\n\n\nBemourn, and still bemourn, and mourn again!\n\n\n          The children of the fry,\n\n\n               We lately saw\n\n\n          Half smothered in pilau\n\n\nWith buttery mutton fritters smoking by!\n\n\n          Alas! my heart, the fish!\n\n\n               Who filled his dish,\n\n\n\nWith flaky form in varying colours spread\n\n\nOn the round pastry cake of household bread!\n\n\n          Heaven sent us that kabob!\n\n\n               For no one could\n\n\n          (Save heaven he should rob)\n\n\nProduce a thing so excellently good,\n\n\n          Or give us roasted meat\n\n\nWith basting oil so savourily replete!\n\n\n\nBut, oh! mine appetite, alas! for thee!\n\n\n          Who on that furmeaty\n\n\nSo sharpset west a little while ago\u2014\n\n\nThat furmeaty, which mashed by hands of snow,\n\n\n          A light reflection bore,\n\n\nOf the bright bracelets that those fair hands wore;\n\n\n          Again remembrance glads my sense\n\n\n          With visions of its excellence!\n\n\n\n          Again I see the cloth unrolled\n\n\n          Rich worked in many a varied fold!\n\n\n          Be patient, oh! my soul, they say\n\n\n          Fortune rules all that's new and strange,\n\n\n          And though she pinches us to day,\n\n\nTo-morrow brings full rations, and a change!'[FN#337]\n\n\n\nThen said Jubayr, 'Put forth thy hand to our food and ease our heart by\neating of our victual.' Answered I, 'By Allah, I will not eat a\nmouthful, till thou grant me my desire.' He asked, 'What is thy\ndesire?'; so I brought out the letter and gave it to him; but, when he\nhad read it and mastered its contents, he tore it in pieces and\nthrowing it on the floor, said to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee\nwhatever thou askest save thy desire which concerneth the writer of\nthis letter, for I have no answer to her.' At this I rose in anger; but\nhe caught hold of my skirts, saying, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will tell thee\nwhat she said to thee, albeit I was not present with you.' I asked,\n'And what did she say to me?'; and he answered, 'Did not the writer of\nthis letter say to thee, If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt\nhave of me five hundred ducats; and if not, an hundred for thy pains?'\n'Yes,' replied I; and he rejoined, 'Abide with me this day and eat and\ndrink and enjoy thyself and make merry, and thou shalt have thy five\nhundred ducats.' So I sat with him and ate and drank and made merry and\nenjoyed myself and entertained him with talk deep in to the\nnight;[FN#338] after which I said to him, 'O my master, is there no\nmusic in thy house.' He answered, 'Verily for many a day we have drunk\nwithout music.' Then he called out, saying, 'Ho, Shajarat al-Durr?'\nWhereupon a slave- girl answered him from her chamber and came in to\nus, with a lute of Hindu make, wrapped in a silken bag. And she sat\ndown and, laying the lute in her lap, preluded in one and twenty modes;\nthen, returning to the first, she sang to a lively measure these\ncouplets,\n\n'We have ne'er tasted of Love's sweets and bitter draught, * No\n\n\n     difference kens 'twixt presence-bliss and absence-stress;\n\n\nAnd so, who hath declined from Love's true road, * No diference\n\n\n     kens 'twixt smooth and ruggedness:\n\n\nI ceased not to oppose the votaries of love, * Till I had tried\n\n\n     its sweets and bitters not the less:\n\n\nHow many a night my pretty friend conversed with me * And sipped\n\n\n     I from his lips honey of love liesse:\n\n\nNow have I drunk its cup of bitterness, until * To bondman and to\n\n\n     freedman I have proved me base.\n\n\nHow short-aged was the night together we enjoyed, * When seemed\n\n\n     it daybreak came on nightfall's heel to press!\n\n\nBut Fate had vowed to disunite us lovers twain, * And she too\n\n\n     well hath kept her vow, that votaress.\n\n\nFate so decreed it! None her sentence can withstand: * Where is\n\n\n     the wight who dares oppose his Lord's command?'\n\n\n\nHardly had she finished her verses, when her lord cried out with a\ngreat cry and fell down in a fit; whereupon exclaimed the damsel, 'May\nAllah not punish thee, O old man! This long time have we drunk without\nmusic, for fear the like of this falling sickness befal our lord. But\nnow go thou to yonder chamber and there sleep.' So I went to the\nchamber which she showed me and slept till the morning, when behold, a\npage brought me a purse of five hundred dinars and said to me, 'This is\nwhat my master promised thee; but return thou not to the damsel who\nsent thee, god let it be as though neither thou nor we had ever heard\nof this matter.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I and taking the\npurse, went my way. Still I said to myself, 'The lady must have\nexpected me since yesterday; and by Allah there is no help but I return\nto her and tell her what passed between me and him: otherwise she will\nrevile me and revile all who come from my country.' So I went to her\nand found her standing behind the door; and when she saw me she said,\n'O Ibn Mansur, thou hast done nothing for me?' I asked, 'Who told thee\nof this?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, yet another thing hath been\nrevealed to me;[FN#339] and it is that, when thou handedst him the\nletter, he tore it in pieces. and throwing it on the floor, said to\nthee: 'O Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy\ndesire which concerneth the writer of this letter; for I have no answer\nto her missive.' Then didst thou rise from beside him in anger; but he\nlaid hold of thy skirts, saying: 'O son of Mansur, abide with me to\nday, for thou art my guest, and eat and drink and make merry; and thou\nshalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So thou didst sit with him, eating\nand drinking and making merry, and entertainedst him with talk deep\ninto the night and a slave- girl sang such an air and such verses,\nwhereupon he fell down in a fit.' So, O Commander of the Faithful, I\nasked her 'West thou then with us?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur,\nhast thou not heard the saying of the poet,\n\n'The hearts of lovers have eyes I ken, * Which see the unseen by vulgar\nmen.'\n\nHowever, O Ibn Mansur, the night and day shift not upon anything but\nthey bring to it change.'\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady\nexclaimed, 'O Ibn Mansur, the night and the day shift not upon anything\nbut they bring to it change!' Then she raised her glance to heaven and\nsaid, 'O my God and my Leader and my Lord, like as Thou hast afflicted\nme with love of Jubayr bin Umayr, even so do Thou afflict him with love\nof me, and transfer the passion from my heart to his heart!'[FN#340]\nThen she gave me an hundred sequins for my trouble in going and coming\nand I took it and returned to the palace, where I found the Sultan come\nhome from the chase; so I got my pension of him and fared back to\nBaghdad. And when next year came, I repaired to Bassorah, as usual, to\nseek my pension, and the Sultan paid it to me; but, as I was about to\nreturn to Baghdad, I bethought me of the Lady Budur and said to myself,\n'By Allah, I must needs go to her and see what hath befallen between\nher and her lover!' So I went to her house and finding the street\nbefore her door swept and sprinkled and eunuchs and servants and pages\nstanding before the entrance, said to myself, 'Most like grief hath\nbroken the lady's heart and she is dead, and some Emir or other hath\ntaken up his abode in her house.' So I left it and went on to the house\nof Jubayr, son of Umayr the Shaybani, where I found the benches of the\nporch broken down and ne'er a page at the door, as of wont and said to\nmyself, 'Haply he too is dead.' Then I stood still before the door of\nhis house and with my eyes running over with tears, bemoaned it in\nthese couplets,\n\n'O Lords of me, who fared but whom my heart e'er followeth, *\n\n\n     Return and so my festal-days with you shall be renewed!\n\n\nI stand before the home of you, bewailing your abode; * Quiver\n\n\n     mine eyelids and my eyes with tears are ever dewed:\n\n\nI ask the house and its remains that seem to weep and wail, *\n\n\n     'Where is the man who whilom wont to lavish goods and\n\n\ngood?''\n\n\nIt saith, 'Go, wend thy way; those friends like travellers have\n\n\n     fared * From Springtide-camp, and buried lie of earth and\n\n\n     worms the food!'\n\n\nAllah ne'er desolate us so we lose their virtues' light * In\n\n\n     length and breadth, but ever be the light in spirit viewed!'\n\n\n\nAs I, O Prince of True Believers, was thus keening over the folk of the\nhouse,[FN#341] behold, out came a black slave therefrom and said to me,\n'Hold thy peace, O Shaykh! May thy mother be reft of thee! Why do I see\nthee bemoaning the house in this wise?' Quoth I, 'I frequented it of\nyore, when it belonged to a good friend of mine.' Asked the slave,\n'What was his name?'; and I answered, 'Jubayr bin Umayr the Shaybani.'\nRejoined he, And what hath befallen him? Praised be Allah, he is yet\nhere with us in the enjoyment of property and rank and prosperity,\nexcept that Allah hath stricken him with love of a damsel called the\nLady Budur;, and he is so whelmed by his love of her and his longing\nfor her, that he is like a great rock cumbering the ground. If he\nhunger, he saith not, 'Give me meat;' nor, if he thirst, doth he say,\n'Give me drink.' Quoth I, 'Ask leave for me to go in to him.' Said the\nslave, 'O my lord, wilt thou go in to one who understandeth or to one\nwho understandeth not?'; and I said 'There is no help for it but I see\nhim whatever be the case.' Accordingly he went in to ask and presently\nreturned with permission for me to enter, whereupon I went in to Jubayr\nand found him like a rock that cumbereth the ground, understanding\nneither sign nor speech; and when I spoke to him he answered me not.\nThen said one of his servants, 'O my lord, if thou remember aught of\nverse, repeat it and raise thy voice; and he will be aroused by this\nand speak with thee.' So I versified in these two couplets,\n\n'Hast quit the love of Moons[FN#342] or dost persist? * Dost wake\n\n\n     o' nights or close in sleep thine eyes?\n\n\nIf aye thy tears in torrents flow, then learn * Eternal-thou\n\n\n     shalt dwell in Paradise.'[FN#343]\n\n\n\nWhen he heard these verses he opened his eyes and said; 'Welcome, O son\nof Mansur! Verily, the jest is become earnest.' Quoth I, 'O my lord, is\nthere aught thou wouldst have me do for thee?' Answered he, 'Yes, I\nwould fain write her a letter and send it to her by thee. If thou bring\nme back her answer, thou shalt have of me a thousand dinars; and if\nnot, two hundred for thy pains.' So I said, 'Do what seemeth good to\nthee;'\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibn Mansur\ncontinued: \"So I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;' whereupon he\ncalled to one of his slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and paper;' and\nwrote these couplets,\n\n'I pray in Allah's name, O Princess mine, be light * On me, for\n\n\n     Love hath robbed me of my reason's sight'\n\n\n'Slaved me this longing and enthralled me love of you; * And clad\n\n\n     in sickness garb, a poor and abject wight.\n\n\nI wont ere this to think small things of Love and hold, * O\n\n\n     Princess mine, 'twas silly thing and over-slight.\n\n\nBut when it showed me swelling surges of its sea, * To Allah's\n\n\n     hest I bowed and pitied lover's plight.\n\n\nAn will you, pity show and deign a meeting grant, * An will you\n\n\n     kill me still forget not good requite.'[FN#344]\n\n\n\nThen he sealed the letter and gave it to me. So I took it and,\nrepairing to Budur's house, raised the door-curtain little by little,\nas before, and looking in behold, I saw ten damsels, high-bosomed\nvirgins, like moons, and the Lady Budur as she were the full moon among\nthe stars, sitting in their midst, or the sun, when it is clear of\nclouds and mist; nor was there on her any trace of pain or care. And as\nI looked and marvelled at her case, she turned her glance upon me and,\nseeing me standing at the door, said to me, 'Well come, and welcome and\nall hail to thee, O Ibn Mansur! Come in.' So I entered and saluting her\ngave her the letter; and she read it and when she understood it, she\nsaid laughingly to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, the poet lied not when he sang,\n\n'Indeed I'll bear my love for thee with firmest soul, * Until from thee\nto me shall come a messenger.\n\n'Look'ye, O Ibn Mansur, I will write thee an answer, that he may give\nthee what he promised thee.' And I answered, 'Allah requite thee with\ngood!' So she called out to a handmaid, 'Bring inkcase and paper,' and\nwrote these couplets,\n\n'How comes it I fulfilled my vow the while that vow broke you? *\n\n\n     And, seen me lean to equity, iniquity wrought you?\n\n\n'Twas you initiated wrongous dealing and despite: * You were the\n\n\n     treachetour and treason came from only you!\n\n\nI never ceased to cherish mid the sons of men my troth, * And\n\n\n     keep your honour brightest bright and swear by name of you\n\n\nUntil I saw with eyes of me what evil you had done; * Until I\n\n\n     heard with ears of me what foul report spread you.\n\n\nShall I bring low my proper worth while raising yours so high? *\n\n\n     By Allah had you me eke I had honoured you!\n\n\nBut now uprooting severance I will fain console my heart, * And\n\n\n     wring my fingers clean of you for evermore to part!'\n\n\n\nQuoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, between him and death there is but the\nreading of this letter!' So I tore it in pieces and said to her, 'Write\nhim other than these lines.' 'I hear and obey answered she and wrote\nthe following couplets,\n\n'Indeed I am consol\u0438d now and sleep without a tear, * And all\n\n\n     that happened slandering tongues have whispered in mine ear:\n\n\nMy heart obeyed my hest and soon forgot thy memory, * And learnt\n\n\n     mine eyelids 'twas the best to live in severance sheer:\n\n\nHe lied who said that severance is a bitterer thing than gall: *\n\n\n     It never disappointed me, like wine I find it cheer:\n\n\nI learnt to hate all news of thee, e'en mention of thy name, *\n\n\n     And turn away and look thereon with loathing pure and mere:\n\n\nLookye! I cast thee out of heart and far from vitals mine; * Then\n\n\n     let the slanderer wot this truth and see I am sincere.'\n\n\n\nQuoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, when he shall read these verses, his\nsoul will depart his body!' Quoth she, 'O Ibn Mansur, is passion indeed\ncome to such a pass with him that thou sayest this saying?' Quoth I,\n'Had I said more than this verily it were but the truth: but mercy is\nof the nature of the noble.' Now when she heard this her eyes brimmed\nover with tears and she wrote him a note, I swear by Allah, O Commander\nof the Faithful, there is none in thy Chancery could write the like of\nit; and therein were these couplets,\n\n'How long shall I thy coyness and thy great aversion see? * Thou\n\n\n     hast satisfied my censurers and pleased their enmity:\n\n\nI did amiss and wot it not; so deign to tell me now * Whatso they\n\n\n     told thee, haply 'twas the merest calumny.\n\n\nI wish to welcome thee, dear love, even as welcome I * Sleep to\n\n\n     these eyes and eyelids in the place of sleep to be.\n\n\nAnd since 'tis thou hast made me drain th' unmix\u0438d cup of love, *\n\n\n     If me thou see with wine bemused heap not thy blame on me!'\n\n\n\nAnd when she had written the missive,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Budur had\nwritten the missive, she sealed it and gave it to me; and I said, 'O my\nlady, in good sooth this thy letter will make the sick man whole and\nease the thirsting soul.' Then I took it and went from her, when she\ncalled me back and said to me, 'O son of Mansur, say to him: 'She will\nbe thy guest this night.' At this I joyed with exceeding great joy and\ncarried the letter to Jubayr, whom I found with his eyes fixed intently\non the door, expecting the reply and as soon as I gave him the letter\nand he opened and read it and understood it, he uttered a great cry and\nfell down in a fainting fit. When he came to himself, he said to me, 'O\nIbn Mansur, did she indeed write this note with her hand and feel it\nwith her fingers?' Answered I, 'O my lord, do folk write with their\nfeet?' And by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I had not done\nspeaking these words, when we heard the tinkle-tinkle of her anklets in\nthe vestibule and she entered. And seeing her he sprang to his feet as\nthough nothing pained or ailed him and embraced her like the letter L\nembraceth the letter A;[FN#345] and the infirmity, that erst would not\ndepart at once left him.[FN#346] Then he sat down, but she abode\nstanding and I said to her, 'O my lady, why dost thou not sit?' Said\nshe, 'O Ibn Mansur, save on a condition that is between us, I will not\nsit.' I asked, 'And what is that?'; and she answered, 'None may know\nlovers' secrets,' and putting her mouth to Jubayr's ear whispered to\nhim; where upon he replied, 'I hear and I obey.' Then he rose and said\nsomewhat in a whisper to one of his slaves, who went out and returned\nin a little while with a Kazi and two witnesses. Thereupon Jubayr stood\nup and taking a bag containing an hundred thousand dinars, said, O\nKazi, marry me to this young lady and write this sum to her\nmarriage-settlement.' Quoth the Kazi to her, 'Say thou, I consent to\nthis.' 'I consent to this,' quoth she, whereupon he drew up the\ncontract of marriage and she opened the bag; and, taking out a handful\nof gold, gave it to the Kazi and the witnesses and handed the rest to\nJubayr. Thereupon the Kazi and the witnesses withdrew, and I sat with\nthem, in mirth and merriment, till the most part of the night was past,\nwhen I said in my mind, 'These are lovers and they have been this long\nwhile separated. I will now arise and go sleep in some place afar from\nthem and leave them to their privacy, one with other.' So I rose, but\nshe caught hold of my skirts, saying, 'What thinkest thou to do?'\n'Nothing but so and so,' answered I; upon which she rejoined, 'Sit thee\ndown; and when we would be rid of thee, we will send thee away.' So I\nsat down with them till near daybreak, when she said to me, 'O Ibn\nMansur, go to yonder chamber; for we have furnished it for thee and it\nis thy sleeping-place.' Thereupon I arose and went thither and slept\ntill morning, when a page brought me basin and ewer, and I made the\nablution and prayed the dawn-prayer. Then I sat down and presently,\nbehold, Jubayr and his beloved came out of the bath in the house, and I\nsaw them both wringing their locks.[FN#347] So I wished them good\nmorning and gave them joy of their safety and reunion, saying to\nJubayr, 'That which began with constraint and conditions hath ended in\ncordial-contentment.' He answered, 'Thou sayest well, and indeed thou\ndeservest thy honorarium;' and he called his treasurer, and said,\n'Bring hither three thousand dinars.' So he brought a purse containing\nthe gold pieces and Jubayr gave it to me, saying, 'Favour us by\naccepting this.' But I replied, 'I will not accept it till thou tell me\nthe manner of the transfer of love from her to thee, after so huge an\naversion.' Quoth he, 'Hearkening and obedience! Know that we have a\nfestival-called New Year's day,[FN#348] when all the people fare forth\nand take boat and go a-pleasuring on the river. So I went out with my\ncomrades, and saw a skiff, wherein were ten damsels like moons and\namongst them, the Lady Budur lute in hand. She preluded in eleven\nmodes, then, returning to the first, sang these two couplets,\n\n'Fire is cooler than fires in my breast, * Rock is softer than\n\n\n     heart of my lord\n\n\nMarvel I that he's form\u0438d to hold * In water soft frame heart\n\n\n     rock-hard!'\n\n\n\nSaid I to her, 'Repeat the couplets and the air!' But she would\nnot:'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Jubayr\ncontinued, 'So cried I to her, Repeat the couplets and the air!' But\nshe would not; whereupon I bade the boatmen pelt her with oranges, and\nthey pelted her till we feared her boat would founder Then she went her\nway, and this is how the love was transferred from her heart to mine.'\nSo I wished them joy of their union and, taking the purse with its\ncontents, I returned to Baghdad.\" Now when the Caliph heard Ibn\nMansur's story his heart was lightened and the restlessness and\noppression from which he suffered forsook him. And they also tell the\ntale of\n\n\n\nTHE MAN OF AI-YAMAN AND HIS SIX SlAVE-GIRLS.\n\nThe Caliph Al-Maamun was sitting one day in his palace, surrounded by\nhis Lords of the realm and Officers of state, and there were present\nalso before him all his poets and cup- companions amongst the rest one\nnamed Mohammed of Bassorah. Presently the Caliph turned and said to\nhim, \"O Mohammed, I wish thee forthwith to tell me something that I\nhave never before heard.\" He replied, \"O Commander of the Faithful,\ndost thou wish me to tell thee a thing I have heard with my ears or a\nthing I have seen with my eyes?\" Quoth Al-Maamun, \"Tell me whichever is\nthe rarer; so Mohammed al-Basri began: \"Know, then, O Commander of the\nFaithful that there lived once upon a time wealthy man, who was a\nnative of Al-Yaman;but he emigrated from his native land and came to\nthis city of Baghdad, whose sojourn so pleased him that he transported\nhither his family and possessions. Now he had six slave-girls, like\nmoons one and all; the first white, the second brown, the third fat,\nthe fourth lean, the fifth yellow and the sixth lamp-black; and all six\nwere comely of countenance and perfect in accomplishments and skilled\nin the arts of singing and playing upon musical-instruments. Now it so\nchanced that, one day, he sent for the girls and called for meat and\nwine; and they ate and drank and were mirthful and made merry Then he\nfilled the cup and, taking it in his hand, said to the blonde girl, 'O\nnew moon face, let us hear somewhat of thy pleasant songs.' So she took\nthe lute and tuning it, made music thereon with such sweet melody that\nthe place danced with glee; after which she played a lively measure and\nsang these couplets,\n\n'I have a friend, whose form is fixed within mine eyes,[FN#349] *\n\n\n     Whose name deep buried in my very vitals lies:\n\n\nWhenas remembers him my mind all heart am I, * And when on him my\n\n\n     gaze is turned I am all eyes.\n\n\nMy censor saith, 'Forswear, forget, the love of him,' * 'Whatso\n\n\n     is not to be, how shall's be?' My reply is.\n\n\nQuoth I, 'O Censor mine, go forth from me, avaunt! * And make not\n\n\n     light of that on humans heavy lies.'\n\n\n\nHereat their master rejoiced and, drinking off his cup, gave the\ndamsels to drink, after which he said to the berry-brown girl, 'O\nbrasier-light[FN#350] and joy of the sprite, let us hear thy lovely\nvoice, whereby all that hearken are ravished with delight.' So she took\nthe lute and thereon made harmony till the place was moved to glee;\nthen, captivating all hearts with her graceful swaying, she sang these\ncouplets,\n\n'I swear by that fair face's life, I'll love but thee * Till\n\n\n     death us part, nor other love but thine I'll see:\n\n\nO full moon, with thy loveliness mantilla'd o'er, * The loveliest\n\n\n     of our earth beneath thy banner be:\n\n\nThou, who surpassest all the fair in pleasantness * May Allah,\n\n\n     Lord of worlds, be everywhere with thee!'\n\n\n\nThe master rejoiced and drank off his cup and gave the girls to drink;\nafter which he filled again; and, taking the goblet in his hand, signed\nto the fat girl and bade her sing and play a different motive. So she\ntook the lute and striking a grief- dispelling measure, sang these\ncouplets,\n\n'An thou but deign consent, O wish to heart affied! * I care not\n\n\n     wrath and rage to all mankind betide.\n\n\nAnd if thou show that fairest face which gives me life, * I reck\n\n\n     not an dimimshed heads the Kings go hide.\n\n\nI seek thy favours only from this 'versal-world: * O thou in whom\n\n\n     all beauty cloth firm-fixt abide!'\n\n\n\nThe man rejoiced and, emptying his cup, gave the girls to drink. Then\nhe signed to the thin girl and said to her, 'O Houri of Paradise, feed\nthou our ears with sweet words and sounds.' So she took the lute; and,\ntuning it, preluded and sang these two couplets,\n\n'Say me, on Allah's path[FN#351] hast death not dealt to me, *\n\n\n     Turning from me while I to thee turn patiently:\n\n\nSay me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, * And do me\n\n\n     justice wronged, mine enemy, by thee?'\n\n\n\nTheir lord rejoiced and, emptying the cup, gave the girls to drink.\nThen filling another he signed to the yellow girl and said to her, O\nsun of the day, let us hear some nice verses.' So she took the lute\nand, preluding after the goodliest fashion, sang these couplets,\n\n'I have a lover and when drawing him, * He draws on me a sword-\n\n\n    blade glancing grim:\n\n\nAllah avenge some little of his wrongs, * Who holds my heart yet\n\n\n     wreaks o erbearing whim\n\n\nOft though I say, 'Renounce him, heart!' yet heart * Will to none\n\n\n     other turn excepting him.\n\n\nHe is my wish and will of all men, but * Fate's envious hand to\n\n\n     me's aye grudging him.'\n\n\n\nThe master rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then he\nfilled the cup and taking it in hand, signed to the black girl, saying,\n'O pupil of the eye, let us have a taste of thy quality, though it be\nbut two words.' So she took the lute and tuning it and tightening the\nstrings, preluded in various modes, then returned to the first and sang\nto a lively air these couplets,\n\n'Ho ye, mine eyes, let prodigal-tears go free; * This ecstasy\n\n\n     would see my being unbe:[FN#352]\n\n\nAll ecstasies I dreefor sake of friend * I fondle, maugre\n\n\n     enviers' jealousy:\n\n\nCensors forbid me from his rosy cheek, * Yet e'er inclines my\n\n\n     heart to rosery:\n\n\nCups of pure wine, time was, went circuiting * In joy, what time\n\n\n     the lute sang melody,\n\n\nWhile kept his troth the friend who madded me, * Yet made me\n\n\n     rising star of bliss to see:\n\n\nBut\u2014with Time, turned he not by sin of mine; * Than such a turn\n\n\n     can aught more bitter be?\n\n\nUpon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, * Nay two, whereof\n\n\n     grant Allah one to me!\n\n\nAn were prostration[FN#353] by our law allowed * To aught but\n\n\n     Allah, at his feet I had bowed.'\n\n\n\nThereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their lord,\nsaid to him, 'Do thou justice between us, O our lord!' So he looked at\ntheir beauty and loveliness and the contrast of their colours and\npraised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. Then said he, 'There is none\nof you but hath learnt the Koran by heart, and mastered the musical-art\nand is versed in the chronicles' of yore and the doings of peoples\nwhich have gone before; so it is my desire that each one of you rise\nand, pointing finger at her opposite, praise herself and dispraise her\nco-concubine; that is to: say, let the blonde point to the brunette,\nthe plump to the slenderer and the yellow to the black girl; after\nwhich the rivals, each in her turn, shall do the like with the former;\nand be this illustrated with citations from Holy Writ and somewhat of\nanecdotes and,; verse, so as to show forth your fine breeding and\nelegance of your pleading.' And they answered him, 'We hear and we\nobey!;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the handmaids\nanswered the man of Al-Yaman, \"'We hear and we obey!' Accordingly the\nblonde rose first and, pointing at the black girl, said to her: 'Out on\nthee, blackamoor! It is told by tradition that whiteness saith, 'I am\nthe shining light, I am the rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue\nis patent and my brow is resplendent and of my beauty quoth the poet,'\n\n'White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks * As if a pearl\n\n\n     concealed by Beauty's boon:\n\n\nHer stature Alif-like;[FN#354] her smile like M\u043dm[FN#355] * And\n\n\n     o'er her eyes two brows that bend like N\u044an.[FN#356]\n\n\n'Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows * Bows ever bent to\n\n\n     shoot Death-dart eftsoon:\n\n\nIf cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find * Rose,\n\n\n     myrtle, basil and Narcissus wone.\n\n\nMen wont in gardens plant and set the branch, * How many garths\n\n\n     thy stature-branch cloth own!'\n\n\n\n'So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly culled\norange spray and the star of sparkling ray;[FN#357] and indeed quoth\nAlmighty Allah, in His precious Book, to his prophet Moses (on whom be\npeace!), Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white,\nwithout hurt.'[FN#358] And again He saith, But they whose faces shall\nbecome white, shall be in the mercy of Allah; therein shall they remain\nforever.'[FN#359] My colour is a sign, a miracle, and my loveliness\nsupreme and my beauty a term extreme. It is on the like of me that\nraiment showeth fair and fine and to the like of me that hearts\nincline. Moreover, in whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the\nsnow falleth white from heaven, and it is traditional-that the\nbeautifullest of a colours white. The Moslems also glory in white\nturbands, but I should be tedious, were I to tell all that may be told\nin praise of white; little and enough is better than too much of\nunfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O black, O\ncolour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like the raven\nwhich bringeth about the parting of lovers. Verily, the poet saith in\npraise of white and blame of black,\n\n'Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, * But with a\n\n\n     dirham buy we coals in load?\n\n\nAnd while white faces enter Paradise, * Black faces crowd\n\n\n     Gehenna's black abode.'\n\n\n\nAnd indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of\ndevout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with\nhis sons Cham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and,\nlifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and\nlaughed and did not cover him: but Shem arose and covered him.\nPresently, their sire awoke and learning, what had been done by his\nsons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. So Shem's face was whitened and\nfrom him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst\nCham's face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia,\nand of his lineage came the blacks.[FN#360] All people are of one mind\nin affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the\nadage, 'How shall one find a black with a mind?' Quoth her master, 'Sit\nthee down, thou hast given us sufficient and even excess.' Thereupon he\nsigned to the negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde,\nsaid: Dost thou not know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and\napostle, is transmitted the saying of God the Most High, 'By the night\nwhen it covereth all things with darkness; by the day when it shineth\nforth!'[FN#361] If the night were not the more illustrious, verily\nAllah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of the day. And\nindeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this. Knowest thou not that\nblack is the ornament of youth and that, when hoariness descendeth upon\nthe head, delights pass away and the hour of death draweth in sight?\nWere not black the most illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in\nthe core of the heart[FN#362] and the pupil of the eye; and how\nexcellent is the saying of the poet,\n\n'I love not black girls but because they show * Youth's colour,\n\n\n     tinct of eye and heartcore's hue;\n\n\nNor are in error who unlove the white, * And hoary hairs and\n\n\n     winding-sheet eschew.'\n\n\n\nAnd that said of another,\n\n'Black[FN#363] girls, not white, are they * All worthy love I\n\n\n     see:\n\n\nBlack girls wear dark-brown lips;[FN#364] * Whites, blotch of\n\n\n     leprosy.'\n\n\n\nAnd of a third,\n\n'Black girls in acts are white, and 'tis as though * Like eyes,\n\n\n     with purest shine and sheen they show;\n\n\nIf I go daft for her, be not amazed; * Black bile[FN#365] drives\n\n\n     melancholic-mad we know\n\n\n'Tis as my colour were the noon of night; * For all no moon it\n\n\n     be, its splendours glow.\n\n\n\nMoreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night? Let\nthis quality and profit suffice thee. What protecteth lovers from spies\nand censors like the blackness of night's darkness; and what causeth\nthem to fear discovery like the whiteness of the dawn's brightness? So,\nhow many claims to honour are there not in blackness and how excellent\nis the saying of the poet,\n\n'I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me * Seconding love, but\ndawn-white is mine enemy.'\n\nAnd that of another,\n\n'How many a night I've passed with the beloved of me, * While\n\n\n     gloom with dusky tresses veil\u0438d our desires:\n\n\nBut when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; * And I\n\n\n     to Morning said, 'Who worship light are liars!'[FN#366]\n\n\n\nAnd saith a third,\n\n'He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, * Hasting\n\n\n     his steps as wended he in cautious plight.\n\n\nI rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, * Abject, and\n\n\n     trailed my skirt to hide it from his sight;\n\n\nBut rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show * The\n\n\n     world our loves like nail-slice raying radiant\n\n\n     light:[FN#367]\n\n\nThen what befel befel: I need not aught describe; * But think thy\n\n\n     best, and ask me naught of wrong or right.\n\n\nMeet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander * The Sun's\n\n\n     a tittle-tattler and the Moon's a pander.'\n\n\n\nAnd a fifth,\n\n'I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; * The\n\n\n     maid for me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.\n\n\nI'd rather ride a colt that's darn upon the day * Of race, and\n\n\n     set my friends upon the elephant.'\n\n\n\nAnd a sixth,\n\nMy lover came to me one night, * And clips we both with fond\n\n\n     embrace;\n\n\nAnd lay together till we saw * The morning come with swiftest\n\n\n     pace.\n\n\nNow I pray Allah and my Lord * To reunite us of His grace\n\n\nAnd make night last me long as he * Lies in the arms that tightly\n\n\n     lace.'\n\n\n\nWere I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would be\ntedious; but little and enough is better than too much of unfilling\nstuff. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine\nembrace is suffocation;[FN#368] and it is of report that hoar-frost and\nicy cold[FN#369] are in Gehenna for the torment of the wicked. Again,\nof things black and excellent is ink, wherewith is written Allah's\nword; and were it not for black ambergris and black musk, there would\nbe no perfumes to carry to Kings. How many glories I may not mention\ndwell in blackness, and how well saith the poet,\n\n'Seest not that musk, the nut brown musk, e'er claims the highest\n\n\n     price * Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than\n\n\n     dirham bids?\n\n\nAnd while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, *\n\n\n     Black eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from\n\n\n     their lids.'\n\n\n\nQuoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down\nand he signed to the fat girl, who rose\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the man of\nAl-Yaman, the master of the handmaids, signed to the fat girl who rose\nand, pointing her finger at the slim girl, bared her calves and wrists\nand uncovered her stomach, showing its dimples and the plump rondure of\nher navel. Then she donned a shift of fine stuff, that exposed her\nwhole body, and said: 'Praised be Allah who created me, for that He\nbeautified my face and made me fat and fair of the fattest and fairest;\nand likened me to branches laden with fruit, and bestowed upon me\nabounding beauty and brightness: and praised be He no less, for that He\nhath given me the precedence and honoured me, when He mentioneth me in\nHis holy Book! Quoth the Most High, 'And he brought a fatted\ncalf.'[FN#370] And He hath made me like unto a vergier full of peaches\nand pomegranates. In very sooth even as the townsfolk long for fat\nbirds and eat of them and love not lean birds, so do the sons of Adam\ndesire fat meat and eat of it. How many vauntful attributes are there\nnot in fatness, and how well saith the poet,\n\n'Farewell thy love, for see, the Cafilah's[FN#371] on the move: *\n\n\n     O man, canst bear to say adieu and leave thy love?\n\n\n'Tis as her going were to seek her neighbour's tent, * The gait\n\n\n     of fat fair maid, whom hearts shall all approve.'\n\n\n\nSawest thou ever one stand before a flesher's stall but sought of him\nfat flesh? The wise say, 'Joyance is in three things, eating meat and\nriding meat and putting meat into meat.'[FN#372] As for thee, O thin\none, thy calves are like the shanks of sparrows or the pokers of\nfurnaces; and thou art a cruciform plank of a piece of flesh poor and\nrank; there is naught in thee to gladden the heart; even as saith the\npoet,\n\n'With Allah take I refuge from whatever driveth me * To bed with\n\n\n     one like footrasp[FN#373] or the roughest ropery:\n\n\nIn every limb she hath a horn that butteth me whene'er * I fain\n\n\n     would rest, so morn and eve I wend me wearily.'\n\n\n\nQuoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down\nand he signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were a willow-wand,\nor a rattan-frond or a stalk of sweet basil, and said: 'Praised be\nAllah who created me and beautified me and made my embraces the end of\nall desire and likened me to the branch, whereto all hearts incline. If\nI rise, I rise lightly; if I sit, I sit prettily; I am nimble-witted at\na jest and merrier-souled than mirth itself. Never heard I one describe\nhis mistress, saying, 'My beloved is the bigness of an elephant or like\na mountain long and broad;' but rather, 'My lady hath a slender waist\nand a slim shape.'[FN#374] Furthermore a little food filleth me and a\nlittle water quencheth my thirst; my sport is agile and my habit\nactive; for I am sprightlier than the sparrow and lighter-skipping than\nthe starling. My favours are the longing of the lover and the delight\nof the desirer; for I am goodly of shape, sweet of smile and graceful\nas the bending willow-wand or the rattan-cane[FN#375] or the stalk of\nthe basil- plant; nor is there any can compare with me in loveliness,\neven as saith one of me,\n\n'Thy shape with willow branch I dare compare, * And hold thy\n\n\n     figure as my fortunes fair:\n\n\nI wake each morn distraught, and follow thee, * And from the\n\n\n     rival's eye in fear I fare.'\n\n\n\nIt is for the like of me that amourists run mad and that those who\ndesire me wax distracted. If my lover would draw me to him, I am drawn\nto him; and if he would have me incline to him, I incline to him and\nnot against him. But now, as for thee, O fat of body, thine eating is\nthe feeding of an elephant, and neither much nor little filleth thee.\nWhen thou liest with a man who is lean, he hath no ease of thee; nor\ncan he anyways take his pleasure of thee; for the bigness of thy belly\nholdeth him off from going in unto thee and the fatness of thy thighs\nhindereth him from coming at thy slit. What goodness is there in thy\ngrossness, and what courtesy or pleasantness in thy coarseness? Fat\nflesh is fit for naught but the flasher, nor is there one point therein\nthat pleadeth for praise. If one joke with thee, thou art angry; if one\nsport with thee, thou art sulky; if thou sleep, thou snorest if thou\nwalk, thou lollest out thy tongue! if thou eat, thou art never filled.\nThou art heavier than mountains and fouler than corruption and crime.\nThou hast in thee nor agility nor benedicite nor thinkest thou of aught\nsave meat and sleep. When thou pissest thou swishes\"; if thou turd thou\ngruntest like a bursten wine skin or an elephant transmogrified. If\nthou go to the water closet, thou needest one to wash thy gap and pluck\nout the hairs which overgrow it; and this is the extreme of sluggish\nness and the sign, outward and visible, of stupidity[FN#376] In short,\nthere is no good thing about thee, and indeed the poet Title of thee,\n\n'Heavy and swollen like an urine-bladder blown, * With hips and\n\n\n     thighs like mountain propping piles of stone;\n\n\nWhene'er she walks in Western hemisphere, her tread * Makes the\n\n\n     far Eastern world with weight to moan and groan.'\n\n\n\nQuoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this sufficeth;' so she sat down and\nhe signed to the yellow girl, who rose to her feet and praised Allah\nAlmighty and magnified His name, calling down peace and blessing on\nMohammed the best of His creatures; after which she pointed her finger\nat the brunette and said to her,\" And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the yellow\ngirl stood up and praised Almighty Allah and magnified His name; after\nwhich she pointed her finger at the brown girl and said to her: 'I am\nthe one praised in the Koran, and the Compassionate hath described my\ncomplexion and its excellence over all other hues in His manifest Book,\nwhere Allah saith, 'A yellow, pure yellow, whose colour gladdeneth the\nbeholders.'[FN#377] Wherefore my colour is a sign and portent and my\ngrace is supreme and my beauty a term extreme; for that my tint is the\ntint of a ducat and the colour of the planets and moons and the hue of\nripe apples. My fashion is the fashion of the fair, and the dye of\nsaffron outvieth all other dyes; so my semblance is wondrous and my\ncolour marvellous. I am soft of body and of high price, comprising all\nqualities of beauty. My colour is essentially precious as virgin gold,\nand how many boasts and glories cloth it not unfold! Of the like of me\nquoth the poet,\n\n'Her golden yellow is the sheeny sun's; * And like gold sequins\n\n\n     she delights the sight:\n\n\nSaffron small portion of her glance can show; * Nay,[FN#378] she\n\n\n     outvies the moon when brightest bright.'\n\n\n\nAnd I shall at once begin in thy dispraise, O berry-brown girl! Thy\ntincture is that of the buffalo, and all souls shudder at thy sight. If\nthy colour be in any created thing, it is blamed; if it be in food, it\nis poisoned; for thy hue is the hue of the dung- fly; it is a mark of\nugliness even in dogs; and among the colours it is one which strikes\nwith amazement and is of the signs of mourning. Never heard I of brown\ngold or brown pearls or brown gems. If thou enter the privy, thy colour\nchangeth, and when thou comest out, thou addest ugliness to ugliness.\nThou art a non- descript; neither black, that thou mayst be recognised,\nnor white, that thou mayst be described; and in thee there is no good\nquality, even as saith the poet,\n\n'The hue of dusty motes is hers; that dull brown hue of hers * Is\n\n\n     mouldy like the dust and mud by Cossid's foot\n\n\n     upthrown:[FN#379]\n\n\n I never look upon her brow, e'en for eye-twinkling's space, *\n\n\n     But in brown study fall I and my thoughts take browner\n\n\n     tone.'\n\n\n\nQuoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much sufficeth;' so she sat down\nand he signed to the brunette. Now she was a model of beauty and\nloveliness and symmetry and perfect grace; soft of skin, slim of shape,\nof stature rare, and coal-black hair; with cheeks rosy-pink, eyes black\nrimmed by nature's hand, face fair, and eloquent tongue; moreover\nslender-waisted and heavy-hipped. So she rose and said: 'Praise be to\nAllah who hath created me neither leper-white nor bile-yellow nor\ncharcoal-black, but hath made my colour to be beloved of men of wit and\nwisdom, for all the poets extol berry-brown maids in every tongue and\nexalt their colour over all other colours. To 'brown of hue (they say)\npraise is due;' and Allah bless him who singeth,\n\n'And in brunettes is mystery, could'st\" thou but read it right, *\n\n\n     Thy sight would never dwell on others, be they red or white:\n\n\nFree-flowing conversation, amorous coquettishness * Would teach\n\n\n     H\u0431rut himself a mightier spell of magic might.'\n\n\n\nAnd saith another,\n\n'Give me brunettes, so limber, lissom, lithe of sway, * Brunettes\n\n\n     tall, slender straight like Samhar's nut-brown\n\n\n     lance;[FN#380]\n\n\nLanguid of eyelids and with silky down on either cheek, * Who\n\n\n     fixed in lover's heart work to his life mischance.'\n\n\n\nAnd yet another,\n\n'Now, by my life, brown hue hath point of comeliness * Leaves\n\n\n     whiteness nowhere and high o'er the Moon takes place;\n\n\nBut an of whiteness aught it borrowed self to deck, * 'Twould\n\n\n     change its graces and would pale for its disgrace:\n\n\nNot with his must[FN#381] I'm drunken, but his locks of musk *\n\n\n     Are wine inebriating all of human race.\n\n\nHis charms are jealous each of each, and all desire * To be the\n\n\n     down that creepeth up his lovely face.'\n\n\n\nAnd again another,\n\n'Why not incline me to that show of silky down, * On cheeks of\n\n\n     dark brunette, like bamboo spiring brown?\n\n\nWhenas high rank in beauty poets sing, they say * Brown ant-like\n\n\n     specklet worn by nenuphar in crown.\n\n\nAnd see I sundry lovers tear out others' eyne * For the brown\n\n\n     mole beneath that jetty pupil shown,\n\n\nThen why do censors blame me for one all a mole? * Allah I pray\n\n\n     demolish each molesting clown!'[FN#382]\n\n\n\nMy form is all grace and my shape is built on heavy base; Kings desire\nmy colour which all adore, rich and poor. I am pleasant, active,\nhandsome, elegant, soft of skin and prized for price: eke I am perfect\nin seemlibead and breeding and eloquence; my aspect is comely and my\ntongue witty; my temper is bright and my play a pretty sight. As for\nthee, thou art like unto a mallow growing about the L\u044ak Gate;[FN#383]\nin hue sallow and streaked-yellow and made all of sulphur. Aroynt thee,\nO copper-worth of jaundiced sorrel, O rust of brass-pot, O face of owl\nin gloom, and fruit of the Hell-tree Zakk\u044am;[FN#384] whose bedfellow,\nfor heart-break, is buried in the tomb. And there is no good thing in\nthee, even as saith the poet of the like of thee,\n\n'Yellowness, tincturing her tho' nowise sick or sorry, *\n\n\n     Straitens my hapless heart and makes my head sore ache;\n\n\nAn thou repent not, Soul! I'll punish thee with kissing[FN#385] *\n\n\n     Her lower face that shall mine every grinder break!'\n\n\n\nAnd when she ended her lines, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this\nmuch sufficeth!'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when the yellow\ngirl ended her recitation, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much\nsufficeth!' Then he made peace between them and clad them all in\nsumptuous robes of honour and hanselled them with precious jewels of\nland and sea. And never have I seen, O Commander of the Faithful, any\nwhen or any where, aught fairer than these six damsels fair.\" Now when\nAl-Maamun heard this story from Mohammed of Bassorah, he turned to him\nand said, \"O Mohammed, knowest thou the abiding-place of these damsels\nand their master, and canst thou contrive to buy them of him for us?\"\nHe answered, \"O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have heard that\ntheir lord is wrapped up in them and cannot bear to be parted from\nthem.\" Rejoined the Caliph, \"Take thee ten thousand gold pieces for\neach girl, that is sixty thousand for the whole purchase; and carry the\ncoin to his house and buy them of him.\" So Mohammed of Bassorah took\nthe money and, betaking himself to the Man of Al-Yaman, acquainted him\nwith the wish of the Prince of True Believers. He consented to part\nwith them at that price to pleasure the Caliph; and despatched them to\nAl-Maamun, who assigned them an elegant abode and therein used to sit\nwith them as cup-companions; marvelling at their beauty and loveliness,\nat their varied colours and at the excellence of their conversation.\nThus matters stood for many a day; but, after awhile, when their former\nowner could no longer bear to be parted from them, he sent a letter to\nthe Commander of the Faithful complaining to him of his own ardent\nlove-longing for them and containing, amongst other contents, these\ncouplets,\n\n\"Captured me six, all bright with youthful blee; * Then on all\n\n\n     six be best salams from me!\n\n\nThey are my hearing, seeing, very life; * My meat, my drink, my\n\n\n     joy, my jollity:\n\n\nI'll ne'er forget the favours erst so charmed * Whose loss hath\n\n\n     turned my sleep to insomny:\n\n\nAlack, O longsome pining and O tears! * Would I had farewelled\n\n\n     all humanity:\n\n\nThose eyes, with bowed and well arched eyebrows[FN#386] dight, *\n\n\n     Like bows have struck me with their archery.\"\n\n\n\nNow when the letter came to the hands of Al-Maamun, he robed the six\ndamsels in rich raiment; and, giving them threescore thousand dinars,\nsent them back to their lord who joyed in them with exceeding\njoy[FN#387] (more especially for the monies they brought him), and\nabode with them in all the comfort and pleasance of life, till there\ncame to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of societies.\nAnd men also recount the tale of\n\n\n\nHARUN AL-RASHID AND THE DAMSEL AND ABU NOWAS.\n\nThe Caliph, Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, being one night\nexceedingly restless and thoughtful with sad thought, rose from his\ncouch and walked about the by-ways of his palace, till he came to a\nchamber, over whose doorway hung a curtain. He raised that curtain and\nsaw, at the upper end of the room, a bedstead whereon lay something\nblack, as it were a man asleep, with a wax taper on his right hand and\nanother on his left; and as the Caliph stood wondering at the sight,\nbehold, he remarked a flagon full of old wine whose mouth was covered\nby the cup. The Caliph wondered even more at this, saying, \"How came\nthis black by such wine-service?\" Then, drawing near the bedstead, he\nfound that it was a girl lying asleep there, curtained by her hair; so\nhe uncovered her face and saw that it was like the moon, on the night\nof his fulness.[FN#388] So the Caliph filled himself a cup of wine and\ndrank it to the roses of her cheeks; and, feeling inclined to enjoy\nher, kissed a mole on her face, whereupon she started up from sleep,\nand cried out, \"O Trusted of Allah,[FN#389] what may this be?\" Replied\nhe, \"A guest who knocketh at thy door, hoping that thou wilt give him\nhospitality till the dawn;\" and she answered; \"Even so! I will serve\nhim with my hearing and my sight.\" So she brought forward the wine and\nthey drank together, after which she took the lute and tuning the\nstrings, preluded in one-and-twenty modes, then returning to the first,\nplayed a lively measure and sang these couplets,\n\n\"The tongue of love from heart bespeaks my sprite, * Telling I\n\n\n     love thee with love infinite:\n\n\nI have an eye bears witness to my pain, * And fluttering heart\n\n\n     sore hurt by parting-plight.\n\n\nI cannot hide the love that harms my life; * Tears ever roll and\n\n\n     growth of pine I sight:\n\n\nI knew not what love was ere loving thee; * But Allah's destiny\n\n\n     to all is dight.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when her verses were ended she said, \"O Commander of the Faithful,\nI have been wronged!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel cried,\n\"O Commander of the Faithful, I have been wronged!\" Quoth he, \"How so,\nand who hath wronged thee?\" Quoth she \"Thy son bought me awhile ago,\nfor ten thousand dirhams, meaning to give me to thee; but thy wife, the\ndaughter of thine uncle, sent him the said price and bade him shut me\nup from thee in this chamber.\" Whereupon said the Caliph, \"Ask a boon\nof me,\" and she, \"I ask thee to lie with me to-morrow night.\" Replied\nthe Caliph, \"Inshallah!\" and leaving her, went away. Now as soon as it\nwas morning, he repaired to his sitting-room and called for Abu Nowas,\nbut found him not and sent his chamberlain to ask after him. The\nchamberlain found him in a tavern, pawned and pledged for a score of a\nthousand dirhams, which he had spent on a certain beardless youth, and\nquestioned him of his case. So he told him what had betided him with\nthe comely boy and how he had spent upon him a thousand silver pieces;\nwhereupon quoth the chamberlain, \"Show him to me; and if he be worth\nthis, thou art excused.\" He answered, \"Patience, and thou shalt see him\npresently.' As they were talking together, up came the lad, clad in a\nwhite tunic, under which was another of red and under this yet another\nblack. Now when Abu Nowas saw him, he sighed a loud sigh and improvised\nthese couplets,\n\n\"He showed himself in shirt of white, * With eyes and eyelids\n\n\n     languor-digit.\n\n\nQuoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Though were thy greeting\n\n\n     a delight?\n\n\nBlest He who clothed in rose thy cheeks, * Creates what wills He\n\n\n     by His might!'\n\n\nQuoth he, 'Leave prate, forsure my Lord * Of works is wondrous\n\n\n     infinite:\n\n\nMy garment's like my face and luck; * All three are white on\n\n\n     white on white.'\"\n\n\n\nWhen the beardless one heard these words, he doffed the white tunic and\nappeared in the red; and when Abu Nowas saw him he redoubled in\nexpressions of admiration and repeated these couplets,\n\n\"He showed in garb anemone-red, * A foeman 'friend' entitul\u0438d:\n\n\nQuoth I in marvel, 'Thou'rt full moon * Whose weed shames rose\n\n\n     however red:\n\n\nHath thy cheek stained it red, or hast * Dyed it in blood by\n\n\n     lovers bled?'\n\n\nQuoth he, 'Sol gave me this for shirt * When hasting down the\n\n\n     West to bed\n\n\nSo garb and wine and hue of cheek * All three are red on red on\n\n\n     red.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd when the verses came to an end, the beardless one doffed the red\ntunic and stood in the black; and, when Abu Nowas saw him, he redoubled\nin attention to him and versified in these couplets,\n\n\"He came in sable-hu\u0438d sacque * And shone in dark men's heart to\n\n\n     rack:\n\n\nQuoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Joying the hateful\n\n\n     envious pack?\n\n\nThy garment's like thy locks and like * My lot, three blacks on\n\n\n     black on black.'\"\n\n\n\nSeeing this state of things and understanding the case of Abu Nowas and\nhis love-longing, the Chamberlain returned to the Caliph and acquainted\nhim therewith; so he bade him pouch a thousand dirhams and go and take\nhim out of pawn. Thereupon the Chamberlain returned to Abu Nowas and,\npaying his score, carried him to the Caliph, who said, \"Make me some\nverses containing the words, O Trusted of Allah, what may this be?\"\nAnswered he, \"I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful.\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fortieth Night,\n\nShe said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Nowas\nanswered, \"I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful!\" and\nforthwith he improvised these couplets,\n\n\"Long was my night for sleepless misery; * Weary of body and of\n\n\n     thought ne'er free:\n\n\nI rose and in my palace walked awhile, * Then wandered thro' the\n\n\n     halls of Haremry:\n\n\nTill chanced I on a blackness, which I found * A white girl hid\n\n\n     in hair for napery:\n\n\nHere to her for a moon of brightest sheen! * Like willow-wand and\n\n\n     veiled in pudency:\n\n\nI quaffed a cup to her; then drew I near, * And kissed the\n\n\n     beauty-spot on cheek had she:\n\n\nShe woke astart, and in her sleep's amaze, * Swayed as the\n\n\n     swaying branch in rain we see;\n\n\nThen rose and said to me, 'O Trusted One * Of Allah, O Amin, what\n\n\n     may this be?\n\n\nQuoth I, 'A guest that cometh to thy tents * And craves till morn\n\n\n     thy hospitality.'\n\n\nShe answered, 'Gladly I, my lord, will grace * And honour such a\n\n\n     guest with ear and eye.'\"\n\n\n\nCried the Caliph, \"Allah strike thee dead! it is as if thou hadst been\npresent with us.''[FN#390] Then he took him by the hand and carried him\nto the damsel and, when Abu Nowas saw her clad in a dress and veil of\nblue, he expressed abundant admiration and improvised these couplets,\n\n\"Say to the pretty one in veil of blue, * 'By Allah, O my life,\n\n\n     have ruth on dole!\n\n\nFor, when the fair entreats her lover foul, * Sighs rend his\n\n\n     bosom and bespeak his soul\n\n\nBy charms of thee and whitest cheek I swear thee, * Pity a heart\n\n\n     for love lost all control\n\n\nBend to him, be his stay 'gainst stress of love, * Nor aught\n\n\n     accept what saith the ribald fool.'\"\n\n\n\nNow when he ended his verse, the damsel set wine before the Caliph;\nand, taking the lute, played a lively measure and sang these couplets,\n\n\"Wilt thou be just to others in thy love, and do * Unright, and\n\n\n     put me off, and take new friend in lieu?\n\n\nHad lovers Kazi unto whom I might complain * Of thee, he'd\n\n\n     peradventure grant the due I sue:\n\n\nIf thou forbid me pass your door, yet I afar * Will stand, and\n\n\n     viewing you waft my salams to you!\"\n\n\n\nThe Caliph bade her ply Abu Nowas with wine, till he lost his right\nsenses, thereupon he gave him a full cup, and he drank a draught of it\nand held the cup in his hand till he slept. Then the Commander of the\nFaithful bade the girl take the cup from his grasp and hide it; so she\ntook it and set it between her thighs, moreover he drew his scymitar\nand, standing at the head of Abu Nowas, pricked him with the point;\nwhereupon he awoke and saw the drawn sword and the Caliph standing over\nhim. At this sight the fumes of the wine fled from his head and the\nCaliph said to him, \"Make me some verses and tell me therein what is\nbecome of thy cup; or I will cut off thy head.\" So he improvised these\ncouplets,\n\n\"My tale, indeed, is tale unlief; * 'Twas yonder fawn who play'd\n\n\n     the thief!\n\n\nShe stole my cup of wine, before * The sips and sups had dealt\n\n\n     relief,\n\n\nAnd hid it in a certain place, * My heart's desire and longing\n\n\n     grief.\n\n\nI name it not, for dread of him * Who hath of it command-in-\n\n\n    chief.\"\n\n\n\nQuoth the Caliph, \"Allah strike thee dead![FN#391] How knewest thou\nthat? But we accept what thou sayst.\" Then he ordered him a dress of\nhonour and a thousand dinars, and he went away rejoicing. And among\ntales they tell is one of\n\n\n\nTHE MAN WHO STOLE THE DISH OF GOLD WHEREIN THE DOG ATE.\n\nSometime erst there was a man, who had accumulated debts, and his case\nwas straitened upon him, so that he left his people and family and went\nforth in distraction; and he ceased not wandering on at random till he\ncame after a time to a city tall of walls and firm of foundations. He\nentered it in a state of despondency and despair, harried by hunger and\nworn with the weariness of his way. As he passed through one of the\nmain streets, he saw a company of the great going along; so he followed\nthem till they reached a house like to a royal-palace. He entered with\nthem, and they stayed not faring forwards till they came in presence of\na person seated at the upper end of a saloon, a man of the most\ndignified and majestic aspect, surrounded by pages and eunuchs, as he\nwere of the sons of the Wazirs.When he saw the visitors, he rose to\ngreet them and received them with honour; but the poor man aforesaid\nwas confounded at his own boldness, when beholding\u2014\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the poor man\naforesaid was confounded at his own boldness, when beholding the\ngoodliness of the place and the crowd of servants and attendants; so\ndrawing back, in perplexity and fear for his life sat down apart in a\nplace afar off. where none should see him. Now it chanced that whilst\nhe was sitting, behold, in came a man with four sporting-dogs, whereon\nwere various kinds of raw silk and brocade[FN#392] and wearing round\ntheir necks collars of gold with chains of silver, and tied up each dog\nin a place set privy for him; after which he went out and presently\nreturned with four dishes of gold, full of rich meats, which he set\nseverally before the dogs, one for each. Then he went away and left\nthem, whilst the poor man began to eye the food, for stress of hunger,\nand longed to go up to one of the dogs and eat with him, but fear of\nthem withheld him. Presently, one of the dogs looked at him and Allah\nAlmighty inspired the dog with a knowledge of his case; so he drew back\nfrom the platter and signed to the man, who came and ate till he was\nfilled. Then he would have withdrawn, but the dog again signed to him\nto take for himself the dish and what food was left in it, and pushed\nit towards him with his fore-paw. So the man took the dish and leaving\nthe house, went his way, and none followed him. Then he journeyed to\nanother city where he sold the dish and buying with the price a\nstock-in-trade, returned to his own town. There he sold his goods and\npaid his debts; and he throve and became affluent and rose to perfect\nprosperity. He abode in his own land; but after some years had passed\nhe said to himself, \"Needs must I repair to the city of the owner of\nthe dish, and, carry him a fit and handsome present and pay him the\nmoney-value of that which his dog bestowed upon me.\" So he took the\nprice of the dish and a suitable gift; and, setting out, journeyed day\nand night, till he came to that city; he entered it and sought the\nplace where the man lived; but he found there naught save ruins\nmouldering in row and croak of crow, and house and home desolate and\nall conditions in changed state. At this, his heart and soul were\ntroubled, and he repeated the saying of him who saith,\n\n\"Void are the private rooms of treasury: * As void were hearts of\n\n\n     fear and piety:\n\n\nChanged is the Wady nor are its gazelles * Those fawns, nor sand-\n\n\n    hills those I wont to see.\"\n\n\n\nAnd that of another,\n\n\"In sleep came Su'ad\u0431's[FN#393] shade and wakened me * Near dawn,\n\n\n     when comrades all a-sleeping lay:\n\n\nBut waking found I that the shade was fled, * And saw air empty\n\n\n     and shrine far away.\"\n\n\n\nNow when the man saw these mouldering ruins and witnessed what the hand\nof time had manifestly done with the place, leaving but traces of the\nsubstantial-things that erewhiles had been, a little reflection made it\nneedless for him to enquire of the case; so he turned away. Presently,\nseeing a wretched man, in a plight which made him shudder and feel\ngoose-skin, and which would have moved the very rock to rush, he said\nto him, \"Ho thou! What have time and fortune done with the lord of this\nplace? Where are his lovely faces, his shining full moons and splendid\nstars; and what is the cause of the ruin that is come upon his abode,\nso that nothing save the walls thereof remain?\" Quoth the other, \"He is\nthe miserable thou seest mourning that which hath left him naked. But\nknowest thou not the words of the Apostle (whom Allah bless and keep!),\nwherein is a lesson to him who will learn by it and a warning to whoso\nwill be warned thereby and guided in the right way, 'Verily it is the\nway of Allah Almighty to raise up nothing of this world, except He cast\nit down again?'[FN#394] If thou question of the cause of this accident,\nindeed it is no wonder, considering the chances and changes of Fortune.\nI was the lord of this place and I builded it and founded it and owned\nit; and I was the proud possessor of its full moons lucent and its\ncircumstance resplendent and its damsels radiant and its garniture\nmagnificent, but Time turned and did away from me wealth and servants\nand took from me what it had lent (not given); and brought upon me\ncalamities which it held in store hidden. But there must needs be some\nreason for this thy question: so tell it me and leave wondering.\"\nThereupon, the man who had waxed wealthy being sore concerned, told him\nthe whole story, and added, \"I have brought thee a present, such as\nsouls desire, and the price of thy dish of gold which I took; for it\nwas the cause of my affluence after poverty, and of the replenishment\nof my dwelling-place, after desolation, and of the dispersion of my\ntrouble and straitness.\" But the man shook his head, and weeping and\ngroaning and complaining of his lot answered, \"Ho thou! methinks thou\nart mad; for this is not the way of a man of sense. How should a dog of\nmine make generous gift to thee of a dish of gold and I meanly take\nback the price of what a dog gave? This were indeed a strange thing!\nWere I in extremest unease and misery, by Allah, I would not accept of\nthee aught; no, not the worth of a nail-paring! So return whence thou\ncamest in health and safety.\"[FN#395] Whereupon the merchant kissed his\nfeet and taking leave of him, returned whence he came, praising him and\nreciting this couplet,\n\n\"Men and dogs together are all gone by, * So peace be with all of them!\ndogs and men!'\n\nAnd Allah is All knowing! Again men tell the tale of\n\n\n\nTHE SHARPER OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE CHIEF OF POLICE.\n\nThere was once in the coast-fortress of Alexandria, a Chief of Police,\nHus\u0431m al-Din highs, the sharp Scymitar of the Faith. Now one night as\nhe sat in his seat of office, behold, there came in to him a\ntrooper-wight who said, \"Know, O my lord the Chief, that I entered your\ncity this night and alighted at such a khan and slept there till a\nthird part of the night was past when I awoke and found my saddle-bags\nsliced open and a purse of a thousand gold pieces stolen from them.\" No\nsooner had he done speaking than the Chief summoned his chief officials\nand bade them lay hands on all in the khan and clap them in limbo till\nthe morning; and on the morrow, he caused bring the rods and whips used\nin punishment, and, sending for the prisoners, was about to flog them\ntill they confessed in the presence of the owner of the stolen money\nwhen, lo! a man broke through the crowd till he came up to the Chief of\nPolice,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Chief was\nabout to flog them when lo! a man broke through the crowd till he came\nup to the Chief of Police and the trooper and said; \"Ho! Emir, let\nthese folk go, for they are wrongously accused. It was I who robbed\nthis trooper, and see, here is the purse I stole from his saddle-bags.\"\nSo saying, he pulled out the purse from his sleeve and laid it before\nHusam al-Din, who said to the soldier, \"Take thy money and pouch it;\nthou now hast no ground of complaint against the people of the khan.\"\nThereupon these folk and all who were present fell to praising the\nthief and blessing him; but he said, \"Ho! Emir, the skill is not in\nthat I came to thee in person and brought thee the purse; the\ncleverness was in taking it a second time from this trooper.\" Asked the\nChief, \"And how didst thou do to take it, O sharper?\"; and the robber\nreplied, \"O Emir, I was standing in the Shroff's[FN#396] bazar at\nCairo, when I saw this soldier receive the gold in change and put it in\nyonder purse; so I followed him from by-street to by- street, but found\nno occasion of stealing it. Then he travelled from Cairo and I followed\nhim from town to town, plotting and planning by the way to rob him, but\nwithout avail, till he entered this city and I dogged him to the khan.\nI took up my lodging beside him and watched him till he fell asleep and\nI heard him sleeping; when I went up to him softly, softly; and I slit\nopen his saddle-bags with this knife, and took the purse in the way I\nam now taking it.\" So saying, he put out his hand and took the purse\nfrom before the Chief of Police and the trooper, both of whom, together\nwith the folk, drew back watching him and thinking he would show them\nhow he took the purse from the saddle-bags. But, behold! he suddenly\nbroke into a run and threw himself into a pool of standing\nwater[FN#397] hard by. So the Chief of the Police shouted to his\nofficers, \"Stop thief!\" and many made after him; but before they could\ndoff their clothes and descend the steps, he had made off; and they\nsought for him, but found him not; for that the by-streets and lanes of\nAlexandria all communicate. So they came back without bringing the\npurse; and the Chief of Police said to the trooper, \"Thou hast no\ndemand upon the folk; for thou fondest him who robbed thee and\nreceivedst back thy money, but didst not keep it.\" So the trooper went\naway, having lost his money, whilst the folk were delivered from his\nhands and those of the Chief of Police, and all this was of the favour\nof Almighty Allah.[FN#398] And they also tell the tale of\n\n\n\nAL-MALIK AL-NASIR AND THE THREE CHIEFS OF POLICE.\n\nOnce upon a time Al-Malik al-N\u0431sir[FN#399] sent for the W\u0431lis or Chiefs\nof Police of Cairo, Bulak, and Fostat[FN#400] and said to them, \"I\ndesire each of you to recount me the marvellousest thing that hath\nbefallen him during his term of office.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Al-Malik\nal-Nasir to the three Walis, \"I desire each of you to recount me the\nmarvellousest thing which hath befallen him during his term of office.\"\nSo they answered, \"We hear and we obey.\" Then said the Chief of the\nPolice of Cairo, \"Know thou, O our lord the Sultan, the most wonderful\nthing that befel me, during my term of office, was on this wise:\" and\nhe began\n\n\n\nThe Story of the Chief of Police of Cairo.\n\n\"There were in this city two men of good repute fit to bear\nwitness[FN#401] in matters of murder and wounds; but they were both\nsecretly addicted to intrigues with low women and to wine- bibbing and\nto dissolute doings, nor could I succeed (do what I would) in bringing\nthem to book, and I began to despair of success. So I charged the\ntaverners and confectioners and fruiterers and candle-chandlers and the\nkeepers of brothels and bawdy houses to acquaint me of these two good\nmen whenever they should anywhere be engaged in drinking or other\ndebauchery, or together or apart; and ordered that, if they both or if\neither of them bought at their shops aught for the purpose of wassail\nand carousel, the vendors should not conceal-it from me. And they\nreplied, 'We hear and obey.' Presently it chanced that one night, a man\ncame to me and said, 'O my master, know that the two just men, the two\nwitnesses, are in such a street in such a house, engaged in abominable\nwickedness.' So I disguised myself, I and my body-servant, and ceased\nnot trudging till I came to the house and knocked at the door,\nwhereupon a slave-girl came out and opened to me, saying, 'Who art\nthou?' I entered without answering her and saw the two legal-witnesses\nand the house-master sitting, and lewd women by their side and before\nthem great plenty of wine. When they saw me, they rose to receive me,\nand made much of me, seating me in the place of honour and saying to\nme, 'Welcome for an illustrious guest and well come for a pleasant cup-\ncompanion!' And on this wise they met me without showing a sign of\nalarm or trouble. Presently, the master of the house arose from amongst\nus and went out and returned after a while with three hundred dinars,\nwhen the men said to me, without the least fear, 'Know, O our lord the\nWali, it is in thy power to do even more than disgrace and punish us;\nbut this will bring thee in return nothing but weariness: so we reck\nthou wouldest do better to take this much money and protect us; for\nAlmighty Allah is named the Protector and loveth those of His servants\nwho protect their Moslem neighbours; and thou shalt have thy reward in\nthis world and due recompense in the world to come.' So I said to\nmyself, 'I will take the money and protect them this once, but, if ever\nagain I have them in my power, I will take my wreak of them;' for, you\nsee, the money had tempted me. Thereupon I took it and went away\nthinking that no one would know it; but, next day, on a sudden one of\nthe Kazi's messengers came to me and said to me, 'O Wali, be good\nenough to answer the summons of the Kazi who wanteth thee.' So I arose\nand accompanied him, knowing not the meaning of all this; and when I\ncame into the judge's presence, I saw the two witnesses and the master\nof the house, who had given me the money, sitting by his side.\nThereupon this man rose and sued me for three hundred dinars, nor was\nit in my power to deny the debt; for he produced a written obligation\nand his two companions, the legal witnesses, testified against me that\nI owed the amount. Their evidence satisfied the Kazi and he ordered me\nto pay the sum, nor did I leave the Court till they had of me the three\nhundred gold pieces. So I went away, in the utmost wrath and shame,\nvowing mischief and vengeance against them and repenting that I had not\npunished them. Such, then is the most remarkable event which befel me\nduring my term of office.\" Thereupon rose the Chief of the Bulak Police\nand said, \"As for me, O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing\nthat happened to me, since I became Wali, was as follows:\" and he began\n\n\n\nThe Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police.\n\n\"I was once in debt to the full amount of three hundred thousand gold\npieces;[FN#402] and, being distressed thereby, I sold all that was\nbehind me and what was before me and all I hent in hand, but I could\ncollect no more than an hundred thousand dinars\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali of Bulak\ncontinued: \"So I sold all that was behind and before me, but could\ncollect no more than an hundred thousand dinars and remained in great\nperplexity. Now one night, as I sat at home in this state, behold,\nthere came a knocking; so I said to one of my servants, 'See who is at\nthe door.' He went out and returned, wan of face, changed in\ncountenance and with his side-muscles a- quivering; so I asked him,\n'What aileth thee?'; and he answered, 'There is a man at the door; he\nis half naked, clad in skins, with sword in hand and knife in girdle,\nand with him are a company of the same fashion and he asketh for thee.'\nSo I took my sword and going out to see who these were, behold, I found\nthem as the boy had reported and said to them, 'What is your business?'\nThey replied, 'Of a truth we be thieves and have done fine work this\nnight; so we appointed the swag to thy use, that thou mayst pay\ntherewith the debts which sadden thee and deliver thee from thy\ndistress.' Quoth I, 'Where is the plunder?'; and they brought me a\ngreat chest, full of vessels of gold and silver; which when I saw, I\nrejoiced and said to myself, 'Herewith I will settle all claims upon me\nand there will remain as much again.' So I took the money and going\ninside said in my mind, 'It were ignoble to let them fare away\nempty-handed.' Whereupon I brought out the hundred thousand dinars I\nhad by me and gave it to them, thanking them for their kindness; and\nthey pouched the monies and went their way, under cover of the night so\nthat none might know of them. But when morning dawned I examined the\ncontents of the chest, and found them copper and tin[FN#403] washed\nwith gold worth five hundred dirhams at the most; and this was grievous\nto me, for I had lost what monies I had and trouble was added to my\ntrouble. Such, then, is the most remarkable event which befel me during\nmy term of office.\" Then rose the Chief of the Police of Old Cairo and\nsaid, \"O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened\nto me, since I became Wali, was on this wise;\" and he began\n\n\n\nThe Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police.\n\n\"I once hanged ten thieves each on his own gibbet, and especially\ncharged the guards to watch them and hinder the folk from taking any\none of them down. Next morning when I came to look at them, I found two\nbodies hanging from one gallows and said to the guards, 'Who did this,\nand where is the tenth gibbet?' But they denied all knowledge of it,\nand I was about to beat them till they owned the truth, when they said,\n'Know, O Emir, that we fell asleep last night, and when we awoke, we\nfound that some one had stolen one of the bodies, gibbet and all; so we\nwere alarmed and feared thy wrath. But, behold, up came a\npeasant-fellow driving his ass; whereupon we laid hands on him and\nkilled him and hanged his body upon this gallows, in the stead of the\nthief who had been stolen.'[FN#404] Now when I heard this, I marvelled\nand asked them, 'What had he with him?'; and they answered, 'He had a\npair of saddle-bags on the ass.' Quoth I, 'What was in them?'; quoth\nthey, 'We know not.' So I said, 'Bring them hither;' and when they\nbrought them to me I bade open them, behold, therein was the body of a\nmurdered man, cut in pieces. Now as soon as I saw this, I marvelled at\nthe case and said in myself, 'Glory to God! The cause of the hanging of\nthis peasant was none other but his crime against this murdered man;\nand thy Lord is not unjust towards His servants.'\"[FN#405] And men also\ntell the tale of\n\n\n\nTHE THIEF AND THE SHROFF.\n\nA certain Shroff, bearing a bag of gold pieces, once passed by a\ncompany of thieves, and one of these sharpers said to the others, \"I,\nand I only, have the power to steal yonder purse.\" So they asked, \"How\nwilt thou do it?\"; and he answered, \"Look ye all!\"; and followed the\nmoney-changer, till he entered his house, when he threw the bag on a\nshelf[FN#406] and, being affected with diabetes, went into the chapel\nof ease to do his want, calling to the slave-girl, \"Bring me an ewer of\nwater.\" She took the ewer and followed him to the privy, leaving the\ndoor open, whereupon the thief entered and, seizing the money-bag, made\noff with it to his companions, to whom he told what had passed.\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the thief took\nthe money-bag and made off with it to his companions to whom he told\nwhat had passed. Said they, \"By Allah, thou hast played a clever trick!\n''tis not every one could do it; but, presently the money-changer will\ncome out of the privy; and missing the bag of money, he will beat the\nslave-girl and torture her with grievous torture. 'Tis as though thou\nhast at present done nothing worthy of praise; so, if thou be indeed a\nsharper, return and save the girl from being beaten and questioned.\"\nQuoth he, ' Inshallah! I will save both girl and purse.\" Then the prig\nwent back to the Shroff's house and found him punishing the girl\nbecause of the purse; so he knocked at the door and the man said, \"Who\nis there?\" Cried the thief, \"I am the servant of thy neighbour in the\nExchange;\" whereupon he came out to him and said, \"What is thy\nbusiness?\" The thief replied, \"My master saluteth thee and saith to\nthee: 'Surely thou art deranged and thoroughly so, to cast the like of\nthis bag of money down at the door of thy shop and go away and leave\nit.' Had a stranger hit upon it he had made off with it and, except my\nmaster had seen it and taken care of it, it had assuredly been lost to\nthee.\" So saying, he pulled out the purse and showed it to the Shroff\nwho on seeing it said, \"That is my very purse,\" and put out his hand to\ntake it; but the thief said, \"By Allah, I will not give thee this same,\ntill thou write me a receipt declaring that thou hast received it! for\nindeed I fear my master will not believe that thou hast recovered the\npurse, unless I bring him thy writing to that effect, and sealed with\nthy signet-seal.\" The money changer went in to write the paper\nrequired; and in the meantime the thief made off with the bag of money\nand thus was the slave-girl saved her beating. And men also tell a tale\nof\n\n\n\nTHE CHIEF OF THE KUS POLICE AND THE SHARPER.\n\nIt is related that Al\u0431 al-D\u043dn, Chief of Police at K\u044as,[FN#407] was\nsitting one night in his house, when behold, a personage of handsome\nappearance and dignified aspect came to the door, accompanied by a\nservant bearing a chest upon his head and, standing there said to one\nof the Wali's young men, \"Go in and tell the Emir that I would have\naudience of him on some privy business.\" So the servant went in and\ntold his master, who bade admit the visitor. When he entered, the Emir\nsaw him to be a man of handsome semblance and portly presence; so he\nreceived him with honour and high distinction, seating him beside\nhimself, and said to him, \"What is thy wish?\" Replied the stranger, \"I\nam a highwayman and am minded to repent at thy hands and turn to\nAlmighty Allah; but I would have thee help me to this, for that I am in\nthy district and under thine inspection. Now I have here a chest,\nwherein are matters worth some forty thousand dinars; and none hath so\ngood a right to it as thou; so do thou take it and give me in exchange\na thousand dinars, of thine own monies lawfully gotten, that I may have\na little capital, to aid me in my repentance,[FN#408] and save me from\nresorting to sin for my subsistence; and with Allah Almighty be thy\nreward!\" Speaking thus he opened the chest and showed the Wali that it\nwas full of trinkets and jewels and bullion and ring-gems and pearls,\nwhereat he was amazed and rejoiced with great joy. So he cried out to\nhis treasurer, saying, \"Bring hither a certain purse containing a\nthousand dinars,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali cried\nout to his treasurer, saying \"Bring hither a certain purse containing a\nthousand dinars; and gave it to the highwayman, who took it and\nthanking him, went his way under cover of the night. Now when it was\nthe morrow, the Emir sent for the chief of the goldsmiths and showed\nhim the chest and what was therein; but the goldsmith found it nothing\nbut tin and brass, and the jewels and bezel stones and pearls all of\nglass; whereat the Wali was sore chagrined and sent in quest of the\nhighwayman; but none could come at him. And men also tell the tale of\n\n\n\nIBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE MERCHANT'S SISTER.\n\nThe Caliph Al-Maam\u044an once said to his uncle Ibrahim bin Al-Mahd\u043d, \"Tell\nus the most remarkable thing that thou hast ever seen.\" Answered he: \"I\nhear and obey, O Commander of the Faithful. Know that I rode out one\nday, a-pleasuring, and my ride brought me to a place where I smelt the\nreek of food. So my soul longed for it and I halted, O Prince of True\nBelievers, perplexed and unable either to go on or to go in. Presently,\nI raised my eyes and lo! I espied a lattice-window and behind it a\nwrist, than which I never beheld aught lovelier. The sight turned my\nbrain and I forgot the smell of the food and began to plan and plot how\nI should get access to the house. After awhile, I observed a tailor\nhard by and going up to him, saluted him. He returned my salam and I\nasked him, 'Whose house is that?' And he answered, 'It belongeth to a\nmerchant called such an one, son of such an one, who consorteth with\nnone save merchants.' As we were talking, behold, up came two men, of\ncomely aspect with intelligent countenances, riding on horseback; and\nthe tailor told me that they were the merchant's most intimate friends\nand acquainted me with their names. So I urged my beast towards them\nand said to them, 'Be I your ransom! Abu Ful\u0431n[FN#409] awaiteth you!';\nand I rode with them both to the gate, where I entered and they also.\nNow when the master of the house saw me with them he doubted not but I\nwas their friend; so he welcomed me and seated me in the highest stead.\nThen they brought the table of food and I said in myself, 'Allah hath\ngranted me my desire of the food; and now there remain the hand and the\nwrist.' After awhile, we removed for carousel to another room, which I\nfound tricked out with all manner of rarities; and the host paid me\nparticular attention, addressing his talk to me, for that he took me to\nbe a guest of his guests; whilst in like manner these two made much of\nme, taking me for a friend of their friend the house-master. Thus I was\nthe object of politest attentions till we had drunk several cups of\nwine and there came into us a damsel as she were a willow wand of the\nutmost beauty and elegance, who took a lute and playing a lively\nmeasure, sang these couplets,\n\n'Is it not strange one house us two contain * And still thou\n\n\n     draw'st not near, or talk we twain?\n\n\nOnly our eyes tell secrets of our souls, * And broken hearts by\n\n\n     lovers' fiery pain;\n\n\nWinks with the eyelids, signs the eyebrow knows; * Languishing\n\n\n     looks and hand saluting fain.'\n\n\n\nWhen I heard these words my vitals were stirred, O Commander of the\nFaithful, and I was moved to delight, for her excessive loveliness and\nthe beauty of the verses she sang; and I envied her her skill and said,\n'There lacketh somewhat to thee, O damsel!' Whereupon she threw the\nlute from her hand in anger, and cried, 'Since when are ye wont to\nbring ill-mannered louts into your assemblies?' Then I repented of what\nI had done, seeing the company vexed with me, and I said in my mind,\n'My hopes are lost by me'; and I weeted no way of escaping blame but to\ncall for a lute, saying, 'I will show you what escaped her in the air\nshe played.' Quoth the folk, 'We hear and obey'; so they brought me a\nlute and I tuned the strings and sang these verses,\n\n'This is thy friend perplexed for pain and pine, * Th' enamoured,\n\n\n     down whose breast course drops of brine:\n\n\nHe hath this hand to the Compassionate raised * For winning wish,\n\n\n     and that on hearts is lien:\n\n\nO thou who seest one love-perishing, * His death is caused by\n\n\n     those hands and eyne!'[FN#410]\n\n\n\nWhereupon the damsel sprang up and throwing herself at my feet, kissed\nthem and said, 'It is thine to excuse, O my Master! By Allah, I knew\nnot thy quality nor heard I ever the like of this performance!' And all\nbegan extolling me and making much of me, being beyond measure\ndelighted' and at last they besought me to sing again. So I sang a\nmerry air, whereupon they all became drunken with music and wine, their\nwits left them and they were carried off to their homes, while I abode\nalone with the host and the girl. He drank some cups with me and then\nsaid, 'O my lord, my life hath been lived in vain for that I have not\nknown the like of thee till the present. Now, by Allah, tell me who\nthou art, that I may ken who is the cup-companion whom Allah hath\nbestowed on me this night.' At first I returned him evasive answers and\nwould not tell him my name; but he conjured me till I told him who I\nwas, whereupon he sprang to his feet\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of\nAl-Mahdi continued: \"Now when the housemaster heard my name he sprang\nto his feet and said, 'Indeed I wondered that such gifts should belong\nto any but the like of thee; and Fortune hath done me a good turn for\nwhich I cannot thank her too much. But, haply, this is a dream; for how\ncould I hope that one of the Caliphate house should visit my humble\nhome and carouse with me this night?' I conjured him to be seated; so\nhe sat down and began to question me as to the cause of my visit in the\nmost courteous terms. So I told him the whole affair, first and last,\nhiding naught, and said to him, 'Now as to the food I have had my will,\nbut of the hand and wrist I have still to win my wish.' Quoth he, 'Thou\nshalt have thy desire of the hand and wrist also, Inshallah!' Then said\nhe to the slave-girl, 'Ho, such an one, bid such an one come down.' And\nhe called his slave-girls down, one by one and showed them to me; but I\nsaw not my mistress among them, and he said, 'O my lord, there is none\nleft save my mother and sister; but, by Allah, I must needs have them\nalso down and show them to thee.' So I marvelled at his courtesy and\nlarge heartedness and said, 'May I be thy sacrifice! Begin with the\nsister;' and he answered, 'With joy and goodwill.' So she came down and\nhe showed me her hand and behold, she was the owner of the hand and\nwrist. Quoth I, 'Allah make me thy ransom! this is the damsel whose\nhand and wrist I saw at the lattice.' Then he sent his servants without\nstay or delay for witnesses and bringing out two myriads[FN#411] of\ngold pieces, said to the witnesses, 'This our lord and master, Ibrahim\nson of Al-Mahdi, paternal-uncle of the Commander of the Faithful,\nseeketh in marriage my sister such an one; and I call you to witness\nthat I give her in wedlock to him and that he hath settled upon her ten\nthousand dinars.' And he said to me, 'I give thee my sister in\nmarriage, at the portion aforesaid.' 'I consent,' answered I, 'and am\nherewith content.' Whereupon he gave one of the bags to her and the\nother to the witnesses, and said to me, 'O our lord, I desire to adorn\na chamber for thee, where thou mayst sleep with thy wife.' But I was\nabashed at his generosity and was ashamed to lie with her in his house;\nso I said, 'Equip her and send her to my place.' And by thy being, O\nCommander of the Faithful, he sent me with her such an equipage that my\nhouse, for all its greatness, was too strait to hold it! And I begot on\nher this boy that standeth in thy presence.\" Then Al-Maamun marvelled\nat the man's generosity and said, \"Gifted of Allah is he! Never heard I\nof his like.\" And he bade Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi bring him to court, that\nhe might see him. He brought him and the Caliph conversed with him; and\nhis wit and good breeding so pleased him that he made him one of his\nchief officers. And Allah is the Giver, the Bestower! Men also relate\nthe tale of\n\n\n\nTHE WOMAN WHOSE HANDS WERE CUT OFF FOR GIVING ALMS TO THE POOR.\n\nA certain King once made proclamation to the people of his realm\nsaying, \"If any of you give alms of aught, I will verily and assuredly\ncut off his hand;\" wherefore all the people abstained from alms-deed,\nand none could give anything to any one. Now it chanced that one day a\nbeggar accosted a certain woman (and indeed hunger was sore upon him),\nand said to her, \"Give me an alms\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was Three Hundred and Forty-eighth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, quoth the beggar\nto the woman, \"Give me an alms however small.\" But she answered him,\n\"How can I give thee aught, when the King cutteth off the hands of all\nwho give alms?\" Then he said, \"I conjure thee by Allah Almighty, give\nme an alms;\" so when he adjured her by the Holy Name of Allah, she had\nruth on him and gave him two scones. The King heard of this; whereupon\nhe called her before him and cut off her hands, after which she\nreturned to her house. Now it chanced after a while that the King said\nto his mother, \"I have a mind to take a wife; so do thou marry me to a\nfair woman.\" Quoth she, \"There is among our female slaves one who is\nunsurpassed in beauty; but she hath a grievous blemish.\" The King\nasked, \"What is that?\" and his mother answered, \"She hath had both her\nhands cut off.\" Said he, \"Let me see her.\" So she brought her to him,\nand he was ravished by her and married her and went in unto her; and\nbegat upon her a son. Now this was the woman who had given two scones\nas an alms to the asker, and whose hands had been cut off therefor; and\nwhen the King married her, her fellow-wives envied her and wrote to the\ncommon husband that she was an unchaste, having just given birth to the\nboy; so he wrote to his mother, bidding her carry the woman into the\ndesert and leave her there. The old Queen obeyed his commandment and\nabandoned the woman and her son in the desert; whereupon she fell to\nweeping for that which had befallen her and wailing with exceeding sore\nwail. As she went along, she came to a river and knelt down to drink,\nbeing overcome with excess of thirst, for fatigue of walking and for\ngrief; but, as she bent her head, the child which was at her neck fell\ninto the water. Then she sat weeping bitter tears for her child, and as\nshe wept, behold came up two men, who said to her, \"What maketh thee\nweep?\" Quoth she, \"I had a child at my neck, and he hath fallen into\nthe water.\" They asked, \"Wilt thou that we bring him out to thee?\" and\nshe answered, \"Yes.\" So they prayed to Almighty Allah, and the child\ncame forth of the water to her, safe and sound. Then said they, \"Wilt\nthou that Allah restore thee thy hands as they were?\" \"Yes,\" replied\nshe: whereupon they prayed to Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) and\nher hands were restored to her, goodlier than before. Then said they,\n\"Knowest thou who we are?\"; and she replied, \"Allah is all\nknowing;\"[FN#412] and they said, \"We are thy two Scones of Bread, which\nthou gayest in alms to the asker and which were the cause of the\ncutting off of thy hands.[FN#413] So praise thou Allah Almighty for\nthat He hath restored to thee thy hands and thy child.\" Then she\npraised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. And men relate a tale of\n\n\n\nTHE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.\n\nThere was once a devout man of the Children of Israel,[FN#414] whose\nfamily span cotton-thread; and he used every day to sell the yarn and\nbuy fresh cotton, and with the profit he laid in daily bread for his\nhousehold. One morning he went out and sold the day's yarn as wont,\nwhen there met him one of his brethren, who complained to him of need;\nso he gave him the price of the thread and returned, empty-handed, to\nhis family, who said to him, \"Where is the cotton and the food?\" Quoth\nhe, \"Such an one met me and complained to me of want; whereupon I gave\nhim the price of the yarn.\" And they said, \"How shall we do? We have\nnothing to sell.\" Now they had a cracked trencher[FN#415] and a jar; so\nhe took them to the bazar but none would buy them of him. However\npresently, as he stood in the market, there passed by a man with a\nfish,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took the\ntrencher and jar to the bazar, but none would buy them of him. However\nthere presently passed by a man with a fish which was so stinking and\nso swollen that no one would buy it of him, and he said to the Jew,\n\"Wilt thou sell me thine unsaleable ware for mine?\" \"Yes,\" answered the\nJew; and, giving him the wooden trencher and jar, took the fish and\ncarried it home to his family, who said, \"What shall we do with this\nfish?\" Quoth he, \"We will broil it and eat it, till it please Allah to\nprovide bread for us.\" So they took it and ripping open its belly,\nfound therein a great pearl and told the head of the household who\nsaid, \"See ye if it be pierced: if so, it belongeth to some one of the\nfolk; if not, 'tis a provision of Allah for us.\" So they examined it\nand found it unpierced. Now when it was the morrow, the Jew carried it\nto one of his brethren which was an expert in jewels, and the man\nasked, \"O such an one! whence haddest thou this pearl?\"; whereto the\nJew answered, \"It was a gift of Almighty Allah to us,\" and the other\nsaid, \"It is worth a thousand dirhams and I will give thee that; but\ntake it to such an one, for he hath more money and skill than I.\" So\nthe Jew took it to the jeweller, who said, \"It is worth seventy\nthousand dirhams and no more.\" Then he paid him that sum and the Jew\nhired two porters to carry the money to his house. As he came to his\ndoor, a beggar accosted him, saying, \"Give me of that which Allah hath\ngiven thee.\" Quoth the Jew to the asker, \"But yesterday we were even as\nthou; take thee half this money:\" so he made two parts of it, and each\ntook his half. Then said the beggar, \"Take back thy money and Allah\nbless and prosper thee in it; I am a Messenger,[FN#416] whom thy Lord\nhath sent to try thee.\" Quoth the Jew, \"To Allah be the praise and the\nthanks!\" and abode in all delight of life he and his household till\ndeath. And men recount this story of\n\n\n\nABU HASSAN AL-ZIYADI AND THE KHORASAN.\n\nQuoth Ab\u044a Hass\u0431n al-Ziy\u0431di[FN#417]: \"I was once in straitened case and\nso needy that the grocer, the baker and other tradesmen dunned and\nimportuned me; and my misery became extreme, for I knew of no resource\nnor what to do. Things being on this wise there came to me one day\ncertain of my servants and said to me, 'At the door is a pilgrim wight,\nwho seeketh admission to thee.' Quoth I, 'Admit him.' So he came in and\nbehold, he was a Khoras\u0431n\u043d. We exchanged salutations and he said to me,\n'Tell me, art thou Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?'; and I replied, 'Yes, what is\nthy wish?' Quoth he, 'I am a stranger and am minded to make the\npilgrimage; but I have with me a great sum of money, which is\nburdensome to bear: so I wish to deposit these ten thousand dirhams\nwith thee whilst I make my pilgrimage and return. If the caravan march\nback and thou see me not, then know that I am dead, in which case the\nmoney is a gift from me to thee; but if I come back, it shall be mine.'\nI answered, 'Be it as thou wilt, an thus please Allah Almighty.' So he\nbrought out a leather bag and I said to the servant, 'Fetch the\nscales;' and when he brought them the man weighed out the money and\nhanded it to me, after which he went his way. Then I called the\npurveyors and paid them my liabilities\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fiftieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Abu Hassan\nal-Ziyadi: \"I called the purveyors and paid them my liabilities and\nspent freely and amply, saying to myself, 'By the time he returns,\nAllah will have relieved me with one or other of the bounties He hath\nby Him.' However, on the very next day, the servant came in to me and\nsaid, 'Thy friend the Khorasan man is at the door.' 'Admit him,'\nanswered I. So he came in and said to me, 'I had purposed to make the\npilgrimage; but news hath reached me of the decease of my father, and I\nhave resolved to return; so give me the monies I deposited with thee\nyesterday.' When I heard this, I was troubled and perplexed beyond\nmeasure of perplexity known to man and wotted not what reply to make\nhim; for, if I denied it, he would put me on my oath, and I should be\ndisgraced in the world to come; whilst, if I told him that I had spent\nthe money, he would make an outcry and dishonour me before men. So I\nsaid to him, 'Allah give thee health! This my house is no stronghold\nnor site of safe custody for this money. When I received thy leather\nbag, I sent it to one with whom it now is; so do thou return to us\nto-morrow and take thy money, Inshallah!'[FN#418] So he went away and I\npassed the night in great concern, because of his return to me; sleep\nvisited me not nor could I close my eyes; so I rose and bade the boy\nsaddle me the she-mule. Answered he, 'O my lord, it is yet but the\nfirst third of the night and indeed we have hardly had time to rest.' I\nreturned to my bed, but sleep was forbidden to me and I ceased not to\nawaken the boy, and he to put me off, till break of day, when he\nsaddled me the mule, and I mounted and rode out, not knowing whither to\ngo. I threw the reins on the mule's shoulders and gave myself up to\nregrets and melancholy thoughts, whilst she fared on with me to the\neastward of Baghdad. Presently, as I went along, behold, I saw a number\nof people approaching me and turned aside into another path to avoid\nthem; but seeing that I wore a turband in preacher-fashion,[FN#419]\nthey followed me and hastening up to me, said, 'Knowest thou the\nlodging of Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?' 'I am he,' answered I; and they\nrejoined, 'Obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful.' Then\nthey carried me before Al-Maamun, who said to me, 'Who art thou?' Quoth\nI, 'An associate of the Kazi Abu Y\u044asuf and a doctor of the law and\ntraditions.' Asked the Caliph, 'By what surname art thou\nknown?'[FN#420] and I answered, 'Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi;' whereupon quoth\nhe, 'Expound to me thy case.' So I recounted to him my case and he wept\nsore and said to me, 'Out on thee! The Apostle of Allah (whom Allah\nbless and assain!) would not let me sleep this night, because of thee;\nfor in early darkness[FN#421] he appeared to me and said, 'Succour Abu\nHassan al-Ziyadi.' Whereupon I awoke and, knowing thee not, went to\nsleep again; but he came to me a second time and said to me, 'Woe to\nthee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.' I awoke a second time, but knowing\nthee not I went to sleep again; and he came to me a third time and\nstill I knew thee not and went to sleep again. Then he came to me once\nmore and said, 'Out on thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi!' After that\nI dared not sleep any more, but watched the rest of the night and\naroused my people and sent them on all sides in quest of thee.' Then he\ngave me one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'This is for the Khorasani,' and\nother ten thousand, saying, 'Spend freely of this and amend thy case\ntherewith, and set thine affairs in order.' Moreover, he presented me\nwith thirty thousand dirhams, saying, 'Furnish thyself with this, and\nwhen the Procession-day[FN#422] is being kept, come thou to me, that I\nmay invest thee with some office.' So I went forth from him with the\nmoney and returned home, where I prayed the dawn-prayer; and behold,\npresently came the Khorasani, so I carried him into the house and\nbrought out to him one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'Here is thy money.'\nQuoth he, 'It is not my very money; how cometh this?' So I told him the\nwhole story, and he wept and said, 'By Allah, haddest thou told me the\nfact at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not\naccept aught of this money'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the\nKhorasani to Al-Ziyadi, \"'By Allah, haddest thou told me the fact at\nfirst, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not accept\naught of this money and thou art lawfully quit of it.' So saying, he\nwent away and I set my affairs in order and repaired on the\nProcession-day to Al-Maamun's Gate, where I found him seated. When he\nsaw me present myself he called me to him and, bringing forth to me a\npaper from under his prayer-carpet, said to me, 'This is a patent,\nconferring on thee the office of Kazi of the western division of\nAl-Medinah, the Holy City, from the Bab al-Sal\u0431m[FN#423] to the\nfurthest limit of the township; and I appoint thee such and such\nmonthly allowances. So fear Allah (to whom be honour and glory!) end be\nmindful of the solicitude of His Apostle (whom may He bless and keep!)\non thine account.' Then the folk marvelled at the Caliph's words and\nasked me their meaning; whereupon I told them the story from beginning\nto end and it spread abroad amongst the people.\" \"And\" (quoth he who\ntelleth the tale) \"Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi ceased not to be Kazi of\nAl-Medinah, the Holy City, till he died in the days of Al-Maamun the\nmercy of Allah be on him!\" And among the tales men tell is one of\n\n\n\nTHE POOR MAN AND HIS FRIEND IN NEED.\n\nThere was once a rich man who lost all he had and became destitute,\nwhereupon his wife advised him to ask aid and assistance of one of his\nintimates. So he betook himself to a certain friend of his and\nacquainted him with his necessities; and he lent him five hundred\ndinars to trade withal. Now in early life he had been a jeweller; so he\ntook the gold and went to the jewel-bazar, where he opened a shop to\nbuy and sell. Presently, as he sat in his shop three men accosted him\nand asked for his father, and when he told them that he was deceased,\nthey said, \"Say, did he leave issue?\" Quoth the jeweller, \"He left the\nslave who is before you.\" They asked, \"And who knoweth thee for his\nson?\"; and he answered, \"The people of the bazar whereupon they said,\n\"Call them together, that they may testify to us that thou art his very\nson.\" So he called them and they bore witness of this; whereupon the\nthree men delivered to him a pair of saddle- bags, containing thirty\nthousand dinars, besides jewels and bullion of high value, saying,\n\"This was deposited with us in trust by thy father.\" Then they went\naway; and presently there came to him a woman, who sought of him\ncertain of the jewels, worth five hundred dinars which she bought and\npaid him three thousand for them. Upon this he arose and took five\nhundred dinars and carrying them to his friend who had lent him the\nmoney, said to him, \"Take the five hundred dinars I borrowed of thee;\nfor Allah hath opened to me the gate of prosperity.\" Quoth the other,\n\"Nay; I gave them to thee outright, for the love of Allah; so do thou\nkeep them. And take this paper, but read it not till thou be at home,\nand do according to that which is therein.\" So he took the money and\nthe paper and returned home, where he opened the scroll and found\ntherein inscribed these couplets,\n\n\"Kinsmen of mine were those three men who came to thee; * My sire\n\n\n     and uncles twain and S\u0431lih bin Ali.\n\n\nSo what for cash thou coldest, to my mother 'twas * Thou soldest\n\n\n     it, and coin and gems were sent by me.\n\n\nThus doing I desired not any harm to thee * But in my presence\n\n\n     spare thee and thy modesty.\"\n\n\n\nAnd they also recount the story of\n\n\n\nTHE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN THROUGH A DREAM.[FN#424]\n\nThere lived once in Baghdad a wealthy man and made of money, who lost\nall his substance and became so destitute that he could earn his living\nonly by hard labour. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and\nheavy hearted, and saw in a dream a Speaker[FN#425] who said to him,\n\"Verily thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither and seek it.\" So he set out\nfor Cairo; but when he arrived there evening overtook him and he lay\ndown to sleep in a mosque Presently, by decree of Allah Almighty, a\nband of bandits entered the mosque and made their way thence into an\nadjoining house; but the owners, being aroused by the noise of the\nthieves, awoke and cried out; whereupon the Chief of Police came to\ntheir aid with his officers. The robbers made off; but the Wali entered\nthe mosque and, finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold of\nhim and beat him with palm-rods so grievous a beating that he was\nwell-nigh dead. Then they cast him into jail, where he abode three\ndays; after which the Chief of Police sent for him and asked him,\n\"Whence art thou?\"; and he answered, \"From Baghdad.\" Quoth the Wali,\n\"And what brought thee to Cairo?\"; and quoth the Baghdadi, \"I saw in a\ndream One who said to me, Thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither to it.\nBut when I came to Cairo the fortune which he promised me proved to be\nthe palm-rods thou so generously gavest to me.\" The Wali laughed till\nhe showed his wisdom-teeth and said, \"O man of little wit, thrice have\nI seen in a dream one who said to me: 'There is in Baghdad a house in\nsuch a district and of such a fashion and its courtyard is laid out\ngarden-wise, at the lower end whereof is a jetting-fountain and under\nthe same a great sum of money lieth buried. Go thither and take it.'\nYet I went not; but thou, of the briefness of thy wit, hast journeyed\nfrom place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but an idle\ngalimatias of sleep.\" Then he gave him money saying, \"Help thee back\nherewith to thine own country;\"\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen It was the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali gave the\nBaghdad man some silver, saying, \"Help thee back herewith to thine own\ncountry;\" and he took the money and set out upon his homewards march.\nNow the house the Wali had described was the man's own house in\nBaghdad; so the wayfarer returned thither and, digging underneath the\nfountain in his garden, discovered a great treasure. And thus Allah\ngave him abundant fortune; and a marvellous coincidence occurred. And a\nstory is also current of\n\n\n\nCALIPH AL-MUTAWAKKIL AND HIS CONCUBINE MAHBUBAH.\n\nThere were in the palace of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil ala'llah[FN#426]\nfour thousand concubines, whereof two thousand were Greeks and other\ntwo thousand slave born Arabians[FN#427] and Abyssinians; and 'Obayd\nibn T\u0431hir[FN#428] had given him two hundred white girls and a like\nnumber of Abyssinian and native girls. Among these slave-borns was a\ngirl of Bassorah, hight Mahb\u044abah, the Beloved, who was of surpassing\nbeauty and loveliness, elegance and voluptuous grace. Moreover, she\nplayed upon the lute and was skilled in singing and making verses and\nwrote a beautiful hand; so that Al-Mutawakkil fell passionately in love\nwith her and could not endure from her a single hour. But when she saw\nthis affection, she presumed upon his favour to use him arrogantly,\nwherefore he waxed exceeding wroth with her and forsook her, forbidding\nthe people of the palace to speak with her. She abode on this wise some\ndays, but the Caliph still inclined to her; and he arose one morning\nand said to his courtiers, \"I dreamt, last night, that I was reconciled\nto Mahhubah.\" They answered, \"Would Allah this might be on wake!\"; and\nas they were talking, behold, in came one of the Caliph's maidservants\nand whispered him; so he rose from his throne and entered the\nSerraglio; for the whisper had said, \"Of a truth we heard singing and\nlute-playing in Mahbubah's chamber and we knew not what this meant.\" So\nhe went straight to her apartment, where he heard her playing upon the\nlute and singing the following verses,\n\n\"I wander through the palace, but I sight there not a soul * To\n\n\n     whom I may complain or will 'change a word with me.\n\n\nIt is as though I'd done so grievous rebel-deed * Wherefrom can\n\n\n     no contrition e'er avail to set me free.\n\n\nHave we no intercessor here to plead with King, who came * In\n\n\n     sleep to me and took me back to grace and amity;\n\n\nBut when the break of day arose and showed itself again, * Then\n\n\n     he departing sent me back to dree my privacy?\"\n\n\n\nNow when the Caliph heard her voice, he marvelled at the verse and yet\nmore at the strange coincidence of their dreams and entered the\nchamber. As soon as she perceived him, she hastened to rise and throw\nherself at his feet, and kissing them, said, \"By Allah, O my lord, this\nhap is what I dreamt last night; and, when I awoke, I made the couplets\nthou hast heard.\" Replied Al- Mutawakkil, \"By Allah, I also dreamt the\nlike!\" Then they embraced and made friends and he abode with her seven\ndays with their nights. Now Mahbubah had written upon her cheek, in\nmusk, the Caliph's name, which was Ja'afar: and when he saw this, he\nimprovised the following,\n\n\"One wrote upon her cheek with musk, his name was Ja'afar highs;\n\n\n     * My soul for hers who wrote upon her cheek the name I\n\n\n     sight!\n\n\nIf an her fingers have inscribed one line upon her cheek, * Full\n\n\n     many a line in heart of mine those fingers did indite:\n\n\nO thou, whom Ja'afar sole of men possesseth for himself, * Allah\n\n\n     fill Ja'afar[FN#429] stream full draught, the wine of thy\n\n\n     delight!\"\n\n\n\nWhen Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him, all save\nMahhubah,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when\nAl-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him all save Mahbubah who\nceased not to mourn for him, till she deceased and was buried by his\nside, the mercy of Allah be on them both! And men also tell the tale of\n\n\n\nWARDAN[FN#430] THE BUTCHER; HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE LADY AND THE BEAR.\n\n\nThere lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Caliph Al-H\u0431kim bi'\nAmri'llah, a butcher named Ward\u0431n, who dealt in sheep's flesh; and\nthere came to him every day a lady and gave him a dinar, whose weight\nwas nigh two and a half Egyptian dinars, saying, \"Give me a lamb.\" So\nhe took the money and gave her the lamb, which she delivered to a\nporter she had with her; and he put it in his crate and she went away\nwith him to her own place. Next day she came in the forenoon and this\nwent on for a long time, the butcher gaining a dinar by her every day,\ntill at last he began to be curious about her case and said to himself,\n\"This woman buyeth of me a ducat-worth of meat every morning, paying\nready money, and never misseth a single day. Verily, this is a strange\nthing!\" So he took an occasion of questioning the porter, in her\nabsence, and asked him, \"Whither goest thou every day with yonder\nwoman?\"; and he answered, \"I know not what to make of her for surprise;\ninasmuch as every day, after she hath taken the lamb of thee, she\nbuyeth necessaries of the table, fresh and dried fruits and wax-candles\na dinar's worth, and taketh of a certain person, which is a Nazarene,\ntwo flagons of wine, worth another dinar; and then she leadeth me with\nthe whole and I go with her to the Wazir's Gardens, where she\nblindfoldeth me, so that I cannot see on what part of earth I set my\nfeet; and, taking me by the hand, she leadeth me I know not whither.\nPresently, she sayeth, 'Set down here;' and when I have done so, she\ngiveth me an empty crate she hath ready and, taking my hand, leadeth me\nback to the Wazir's Gardens, the place where she bound my eyes, and\nthere removeth the bandage and giveth me ten silver bits.\" \"Allah be\nher helper!\" quoth Wardan; but he redoubled in curiosity about her\ncase; disquietude increased upon him and he passed the night in\nexceeding restlessness. And quoth the butcher, \"Next morning she came\nto me as of custom and taking the lamb, for which she paid the dinar,\ndelivered it to the porter and went away. So I gave my shop in charge\nto a lad and followed her without her seeing me;\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Wardan the\nbutcher continued: \"So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed\nher without her seeing me; nor did I cease to keep her in sight, hiding\nbehind her, till she left Cairo and came to the Wazir's Gardens. Then I\nhid myself whilst she bandaged the porter's eyes and followed her again\nfrom place to place till she came to the mountain[FN#431] and stopped\nat a spot where there was a great stone. Here she made the porter set\ndown his crate, and I waited whilst she conducted him back to the\nWazir's Gardens, after which she returned and, taking out the contents\nof the basket, instantly disappeared. Then I went up to that stone and\nwrenching it up entered the hole and found behind the stone an open\ntrap-door of brass and a flight of steps leading downwards. So I\ndescended, little by little, till I came to a long corridor,\nbrilliantly lighted and followed it, till I made a closed door, as it\nwere the door of a saloon. I looked about the wall sides near the\ndoorway till I discovered a recess, with steps therein; then climbed up\nand found a little niche with a bulls-eye giving upon a saloon. Thence\nI looked inside and saw the lady cut off the choicest parts of the lamb\nand laying them in a saucepan, throw the rest to a great big bear, who\nate it all to the last bite. Now when she had made an end of cooking,\nshe ate her fill, after which she set on the fruits and confections and\nbrought out the wine and fell to drinking a cup herself and giving the\nbear to drink in a basin of gold. And as soon as she was heated with\nwine, she put off her petticoat-trousers and lay down on her back;\nwhereupon the bear arose and came up to her and stroked her, whilst she\ngave him the best of what belongeth to the sons of Adam till he had\nmade an end, when he sat down and rested. Presently, he sprang upon her\nand rogered her again; and when he ended he again sat down to rest, and\nhe ceased not so doing till he had futtered her ten times and they both\nfell to the ground in a fainting-fit and lay without motion. Then quoth\nI to myself, 'Now is my opportunity,' and taking a knife I had with me,\nthat would cut bones before flesh,[FN#432] went down to them and found\nthem motionless, not a muscle of them moving for their hard swinking\nand swiving. So I put my knife to the bear's gullet and pressed upon\nit, till I finished him by severing his head from his body, and he gave\na great snort like thunder, whereat the lady started up in alarm; and,\nseeing the bear slain and me standing whittle in hand, she shrieked so\nloud a shriek that I thought the soul had left her body. Then she\nasked, 'O Wardan, is this how thou requites me my favours?' And I\nanswered, 'O enemy of thine own soul, is there a famine of men[FN#433]\nthat thou must do this damnable thing?' She made no answer but bent\ndown over the bear, and looked fondly upon him; then finding his head\ndivided from his body, said to me, 'O Wardan, which of the two courses\nwouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means\nof thine own safety'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the lady, \"\n'O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me\nin what I shall say and be the means of thine own safety and competency\nto the end of thy days, or gainsay me and so cause thine own\ndestruction?'[FN#434] Answered I, 'I choose rather to hearken unto\nthee: say what thou wilt.' Quoth she, 'Then slay me, as thou hast slain\nthis bear, and take thy need of this hoard and wend thy ways.' Quoth I,\n'I am better than this bear: so return thou to Allah Almighty and\nrepent, and I will marry thee, and we will live on this treasure the\nrest of our lives.' She rejoined, 'O Wardan, far be it from me! How\nshall I live after him? By Allah, an thou slay me not I will assuredly\ndo away thy life! So leave bandying words with me, or thou art a lost\nman: this is all I have to say to thee and peace be with thee!' Then\nsaid I, 'I will kill thee, and thou shalt go to the curse of Allah.' So\nsaying, I caught her by the hair and cut her throat; and she went to\nthe curse of Allah and of the angels and of all mankind. And after so\ndoing I examined the place and found there gold and bezel-stones and\npearls, such as no one king could bring together. So I filled the\nporter's crate with as much as I could carry and covered it with the\nclothes I had on me. Then I shouldered it and, going up out of the\nunderground treasure- chamber, fared homewards and ceased not faring\non, till I came to the gate of Cairo, where behold, I fell in with ten\nof the bodyguard of Al-Hakim bi' Amri'llah[FN#435] followed by the\nPrince himself who said to me, 'Ho, Wardan!' 'At thy service, O King,'\nreplied I; when he asked, 'Hast thou killed the bear and the lady?' and\nI answered, 'Yes.' Quoth he, 'Set down the basket from thy head and\nfear naught, for all the treasure thou hast with thee is thine, and\nnone shall dispute it with thee.' So I set down the crate before him,\nand he uncovered it and looked at it; then said to me, 'Tell me their\ncase, albe I know it, as if I had been present with you.' So I told him\nall that had passed and he said, 'Thou hast spoken the truth,' adding,\n'O Wardan, come now with me to the treasure.' So I returned with him to\nthe cavern, where he found the trap-door closed and said to me, 'O\nWardan, lift it; none but thou can open the treasure, for it is\nenchanted in thy name and nature.'[FN#436] Said I, 'By Allah, I cannot\nopen it,' but he said, 'Go up to it, trusting in the blessing of\nAllah.' So I called upon the name of Almighty Allah and, advancing to\nthe trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it came up as it had been\nof the lightest. Then said the Caliph, 'Go down and bring hither what\nis there; for none but one of thy name and semblance and nature hath\ngone down thither since the place was made, and the slaying of the bear\nand the woman was appointed to be at thy hand. This was chronicled with\nme and I was awaiting its fulfilment.'[FN#437] Accordingly (quoth\nWardan) I went down and brought up all the treasure, whereupon the\nCaliph sent for beasts of burden and carried it away, after giving me\nmy crate, with what was therein. So I bore it home and opened me a shop\nin the market.\" And (saith he who telleth the tale) \"this market is\nstill extant and is known as Wardan's Market.\" And I have heard recount\nanother story of\n\n\n\nTHE KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.\n\nThere was once a Sultan's daughter, whose heart was taken with love of\na black slave: he abated her maidenhead and she became passionately\naddicted to futtering, so that she could not do without it a single\nhour and complained of her case to one of her body women, who told her\nthat no thing poketh and stroketh more abundantly than the\nbaboon.[FN$438] Now it so chanced one day, that an ape-leader passed\nunder her lattice, with a great ape; so she unveiled her face and\nlooking upon the ape, signed to him with her eyes, whereupon he broke\nhis bonds and chain and climbed up to the Princess, who hid him in a\nplace with her, and night and day he abode there, eating and drinking\nand copulating. Her father heard of this and would have killed her;\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Sultan\nheard of this work he would have slain his daughter; but she smoked his\ndesign; and, disguising herself in Mameluke's dress, mounted horse\nafter loading a mule with gold and bullion, and precious stuffs past\nall account; then carrying with her the ape, she fled to Cairo, where\nshe took up her abode in one of the houses without the city and upon\nthe verge of the Suez-desert. Now, every day, she used to buy meat of a\nyoung man, a butcher, but she came not to him till after noonday; and\nthen she was so yellow and disordered in face that he said in his mind,\n\"There must indeed hang some mystery by this slave.\" \"Accordingly\n(quoth the butcher) one day when she came to me as usual, I went out\nafter her secretly, and ceased not to follow her from place to place,\nso as she saw me not, till she came to her lodging on the edge of her\nwaste and entered; and I looked in upon her through a cranny, and saw\nher as soon as she was at home, kindle a fire and cook the meat, of\nwhich she ate enough and served up the rest to a baboon she had by her\nand he did the same. Then she put off the slave's habit and donned the\nrichest of women's apparel; and so I knew that she was a lady. After\nthis she set on wine and drank and gave the ape to drink; and he\nstroked her nigh half a score times without drawing till she swooned\naway, when he spread over her a silken coverlet and returned to his\nplace. Then I went down in the midst of the place and the ape, becoming\naware of me, would have torn me in pieces; but I made haste to pull out\nmy knife and slit his paunch and his bowels fell out. The noise aroused\nthe young lady, who awoke terrified and trembling; and, when she saw\nthe ape in this case, she shrieked such a shriek that her soul well\nnigh fled her body. Then she fell down in a fainting-fit and when she\ncame to herself, she said to me, 'What moved thee to do thus? Now Allah\nupon thee, send me after him!' But I spoke her fair for a while and\npledged myself to stand in the ape's stead in the matter of much\npoking, till her trouble subsided and I took her to wife. But when I\ncame to perform my promise I proved a failure and I fell short in this\nmatter and could not endure such hard labour: so I complained of my\ncase and mentioned her exorbitant requirements to a certain old woman\nwho engaged to manage the affair and said to me, 'Needs must thou bring\nme a cooking-pot full of virgin vinegar and a pound of the herb\npellitory called wound-wort.'[FN#439] So I brought her what she sought,\nand she laid the pellitory in the pot with the vinegar and set it on\nthe fire, till it was thoroughly boiled. Then she bade me futter the\ngirl, and I futtered her till she fainted away, when the old woman took\nher up (and she unconscious), and set her parts to the mouth of the\ncooking-pot. The steam of the pot entered her slit and there fell from\nit somewhat which I examined; and behold, it was two small worms, one\nblack and the other yellow. Quoth the old, woman, ''The black was bred\nof the strokings of the negro and the yellow of stroking with the\nbaboon.' Now when she recovered from her swoon she abode with me, in\nall delight and solace of life, and sought not swiving as before, for\nAllah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man\ncontinued: \"In truth Allah had done away from her this appetite;\nwhereat I marvelled and acquainted her with the case. Thereupon I lived\nwith her and she took the old woman to be to her in the stead of her\nmother.\" \"And\" (said he who told me the tale) \"the old woman and the\nyoung man and his wife abode in joy and cheer till there came to them\nthe Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies; and glory be\nto the Ever-living One, who dieth not and in whose hand is Dominion of\nthe world visible and invisible!''[FN#440] And another tale they tell\nis that of\n\nEnd of Arabian Nights Volume 4.\n\n                    Arabian Nights, Volume 4\n\n\n                           Footnotes\n\n\n\n[FN#1] The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the\ntown or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was\nfounded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital-Mad\u0431in (Ctesiphon)\nopposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four\ndays' march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saff\u0431h, the first\nAbbaside, made it his Capital\u2014and it became a famous seat of Moslem\nlearning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as\ntheir opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the \"Cufic\"\ncharacters which are, however, of much older date.\n\n[FN#2] \"Ni'amat\" = a blessing, and the word is perpetually occurring in\nMoslem conversation, \"Ni'amatu'll\u0431h\" (as pronounced) is also a\nfavourite P.N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the\nscandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni'amatu 'llah, who had been sent to\nEngland by Nana Sahib. Nu'm = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N.\nlike the Heb. \"Naomi.\"\n\n[FN#3] i.e. \"causing to be prosperous\", the name, corrupted by the\nTurks to \"Tevfik,\" is given to either sex, e.g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt,\nto whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification\ncertainly does not apply.\n\n[FN#4] Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.\n\n[FN#5] i.e. \"to Tom, Dick or Harry:\" the names like John Doe and\nRichard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have\nnoted that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the\nConqueror of Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem would be\ntaken only by a trium literarum homo, with three letters in his name\nsent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called Holy City at once\ncapitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore and the\nLord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to\nCombermore for some time after the successful siege.\n\n[FN#6] BinY\u044asuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and\neighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hij az and Al-Irak under\nthe fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of\nthe Moslems' Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled\ndown the Ka'abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is.\nAl-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn\nOmar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet's\ncompanions by \"sealing them in the necks and hands,\" that is he tied a\nthong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he\nshowed himself equally masterful, but an iron hand was required by the\nrevolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in\nrescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners\nby Dahir of Debal (Tath\u0431 in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man\nthe Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi'ahs hates him\nand have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men respect manly\nmeasures, not the hysterical, philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of\nour modern government which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziy\u0431d\nbin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu'awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of\nthieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword\nand advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden,\nunder pain of teeth, to walk the streets after prayers, on the first\nnight two hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards.\nCompare this with our civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of\nbrigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and unknown to this century, have\nstarted up, where crime has doubled in quantity and quality, and where\n\"Christian rule\" has thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land.\n\n[FN#7] The old bawd's portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in\nthe East have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners\nare the same amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical-female ascetic in\nthe Katha, p. 287) as amongst the Moslems; men of the world at once\nrecognise her and the prudent keep out of her way. She is found in the\ncities of Southern Europe, ever pious, ever prayerful; and she seems to\ndo her work not so much for profit as for pure or impure enjoyment. In\nthe text her task was easy, as she had to do with a pair of innocents.\n\n[FN#8] Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale's version.\n\n[FN#9] Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying \"Thank you;\"\nthey express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have a right to\nyour surplus: daily bread is divided, they say and, eating yours, they\nconsider it their own. I have discussed this matter in Pilgrimage i.\n75-77, in opposition to those who declare that \"gratitude\" is unknown\nto Moslems.\n\n[FN#10] Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a \"King,\"\n\n\nbut as the Hindu says, \" Delhi is far\" it is a far cry to Loch\n\n\nAwe. Here we can hardly understand \"Malik\" as Governor or\n\n\nViceroy: can it be syn. with Z\u044a-m\u0431l-(moneyed)?\n\n\n\n[FN#11] Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the \"Sweat of a\nStone,\" etc. He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son, Al-Walid, and\none of his sayings is still remembered. \"He who desireth to take a\nfemale slave for carnal-enjoyment, let him take a native of Barbary; if\nhe need one for the sake of children, let him have a Persian; and whoso\ndesireth one for service, let him take a Greek.\" Moderns say, \"If you\nwant a brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you wealth an\nAbyssinian and if you want an ass (for labour) a S\u0431wah\u043dli, or Zanzibar\nnegroid.\"\n\n[FN#12] Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and\n\n\nStratonice, with an addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.\n\n\n\n[FN#13] Arab, \"K\u0431r\u044arah\": the \"water-doctor\" has always been an\ninstitution in the east and he has lately revived in Europe especially\nat the German baths and in London.\n\n[FN#14] Lane makes this phrase \"O brother of the Persians!\" synonymous\nwith \"O Persian!\" I think it means more, a Persian being generally\nconsidered \"too clever by half.\"\n\n[FN#15] The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon women's\nnames, Naomi (the blessing) Su'ad\u0431 or Su'\u0431d (the happy, which Mr.\nRedhouse, in Ka'ab's Mantle-poem, happily renders Beatrice); and Juml\n(a sum or total) the two latter, moreover, being here fictitious.\n\n[FN#16] \"And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, 'O how I am grieved\nfor Joseph' And his eyes became white with mourning. \u2026 (Quoth Joseph to\nhis brethren), 'Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father's\nface and he shall recover his sight.' . . . So, when the messenger of\ngood tidings came (to Jacob) he threw it (the shirt) over his face and\nhe recovered his eye-sight.\" Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators,\nby way of improvement, assure us that the shirt was that worn by\nAbraham when thrown into the fire (Koran, chaps. xvi.) by Nimrod (!).\nWe know little concerning \"Jacob's daughters\" who named the only bridge\nspanning the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine tomb near\nJewish \"Safe\" (North of Tiberias), one of the four \"Holy Cities.\" The\nJews ignore these \"daughters of Jacob\" and travellers neglect them.\n\n[FN#17] Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic truth\nthat the animal-man is handsomer than woman and that \"fair sex\" is\ntruly only of skin-colour. The same is the general-rule throughout\ncreation, for instance the stallion compared with the mare, the cock\nwith the hen; while there are sundry exceptions such as the Falconidae.\n\n[FN#18] The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the gait of\na woman who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of Spain) with the\nslightly swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare, bending her graceful\nneck and looking from side to side at objects as she passes.\n\n[FN#19] Li'll\u0431hi (darr') al-k\u0431il, a characteristic idiom. \"Darr\"=giving\n(rich) milk copiously and the phrase expresses admiration, \"To Allah be\nascribed (or Allah be praised for) his rich eloquence who said etc.\nSome Hebraists would render it, \"Divinely (well) did he speak who\nsaid,\" etc., holding \"Allah\" to express a superlative like \"Yah\" Jah)\nin Gen. iv. 1; x. 9. Nimrod was a hunter to the person (or presence) of\nYah, i.e. mighty hunter.\n\n[FN#20] Hamzah and Abb\u0431s were the famous uncles of Mohammed often\nnoticed: Ukayl is not known; possibly it may be Ak\u043dl, a son of the\nfourth Caliph, Ali.\n\n[FN#21] The Eastern ring is rarely plain; and, its use being that of a\nsignet, it is always in intaglio: the Egyptians invented engraving\nhieroglyphics on wooden stamps for marking bricks and applied the\nprocess to the ring. Moses B. C. 1491 (Exod. xxviii. 9) took two\nonyx-stones, and graved on them the names of the children of Israel.\nFrom this the signet ring was but a step. Herodotus mentions an emerald\nseal-set in gold, that of Polycrates, the work of Theodorus, son of\nTelecles the Samian (iii. 141). The Egyptians also were perfectly\nacquainted with working in cameo (anaglyph) and rilievo, as may be seen\nin the cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs. The Greeks\nborrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems (e.g. Tryphon's in\nthe Marlborough collection), and they bequeathed the art to the Romans.\nWe read in a modern book \"Cameo means an onyx, and the most famous\ncameo in the world is the onyx containing the Apotheosis of Augustus.\"\nThe ring is given in marriage because it was a seal\u2014by which orders\nwere signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18 and Esther iii. 10-12). I may note that\nthe seal-ring of Cheops (Khufu), found in the Greatest Pyramid, was in\nthe possession of my old friend, Doctor Abbott, of Auburn (U.S.), and\nwas sold with his collection. It is the oldest ring in the world, and\nsettles the Cheops-question.\n\n[FN#22] This habit of weeping when friends meet after long parting is\ncustomary, I have noted, amongst the American \"Indians,\" the Badawin of\nthe New World; they shed tears thinking of the friends they have lost.\nLike most primitive people they are ever ready to weep as was \u0416neas or\nShakespeare's saline personage,\n\n          \"This would make a man, a man of salt\n\n\n            To use his eyes for garden waterpots.\"\n\n\n                                           (King Lear, iv. 6.)\n\n\n\n[FN#23] Here poetical-justice is not done; in most Arab tales the two\nadulterous Queens would have been put to death.\n\n[FN#24] Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Sh\u0431m\u0431t.\n\n[FN#25] Arab. \"Misr,\" vulg. Masr: a close connection of Misraim the\n\"two Misrs,\" Egypt, upper and lower.\n\n[FN#26] The Persians still call their Consuls \"Shah-bander,\" lit. king\nof the Bandar or port.\n\n[FN#27] Arab. \"Dukh\u044al,\" the night of going in, of seeing the bride\nunveiled for the first time, etcaetera.\n\n[FN#28] Arab. \"Barsh\" or \"Bars,\" the commonest kind. In India it is\ncalled Ma'j\u044an (=electuary, generally): it is made of Ganja or young\nleaves, buds, capsules and florets of hemp (C. saliva), poppy-seed and\nflowers of the thorn-apple (daiura) with milk and auger-candy, nutmegs,\ncloves, mace and saffron, all boiled to the consistency of treacle\nwhich hardens when cold. Several-recipes are given by Herklots\n(Glossary s.v. Majoon). These electuaries are usually prepared with\n\"Charas,\" or gum of hemp, collected by hand or by passing a blanket\nover the plant in early morning, and it is highly intoxicating. Another\nintoxicant is \"Sabzi,\" dried hemp-leaves, poppy-seed, cucumber heed,\nblack pepper and cardamoms rubbed down in a mortar with a wooden\npestle, and made drinkable by adding milk, ice-cream, etc. The Hashish\nof Arabia is the Hindustani Bhang, usually drunk and made as follows.\nTake of hemp-leaves, well washed, 3 drams black pepper 45 grains and of\ncloves, nutmeg and mace (which add to the intoxication) each 12 grains.\nTriturate in 8 ounces of water or the juice of watermelon or cucumber,\nstrain and drink. The Egyptian Zab\u043dbah is a preparation of hemp\nflorets, opium and honey, much affected by the lower orders, whence the\nproverb: \"Temper thy sorrow with Zabibah. In Al-Hijaz it is mixed with\nraisins (Zab\u043db) and smoked in the water-pipe. (Burck hardt No. 73.)\nBesides these there is (1) \"Post\" poppy-seed prepared in various ways\nbut especially in sugared sherbets; (2) Datura (stramonium) seed, the\nproduce of the thorn-apple breached and put into sweetmeats by\ndishonest confectioners; it is a dangerous intoxicant, producing\nspectral-visions, delirium tremens, etc., and (3) various preparations\nof opium especially the \"Madad,\" pills made up with toasted betel-leaf\nand smoked. Opium, however, is usually drunk in the shape of \"Kusumba,\"\na pill placed in wet cotton and squeezed in order to strain and clean\nit of the cowdung and other filth with which it is adulterated.\n\n[FN#29] Arab. \"Sikank\u044ar\" (Gr. {Greek letters}, Lat. Scincus) a lizard\n(S. officinalis) which, held in the hand, still acts as an aphrodisiac\nin the East, and which in the Middle Ages was considered a\nuniversal-medicine. In the \"Adja'ib al-Hind\" (Les Merveilles de l'Inde)\nwe find a notice of a bald-headed old man who was compelled to know his\nwife twice a day and twice a night in consequence of having eaten a\ncertain fish. (Chaps. Ixxviii. of the translation by M. L. Marcel\nDevic, from a manuscript of the tenth century, Paris Lemaire, 1878.)\nEuropeans deride these prescriptions, but Easterns know better: they\naffect the fancy, that is the brain, and often succeed in temporarily\nrelieving impotence. The recipes for this evil, which is incurable only\nwhen it comes from heart-affections, are innumerable in the East; and\nabout half of every medical-work is devoted to them. Many a quack has\nmade his fortune with a few bottles of tincture of cantharides, and a\nman who could discover a specific would become a millionaire in India\nonly. The curious reader will consult for specimens the Ananga-Ranga\nShastra by Koka Pandit; or the \"Ruj\u044a 'al-Shaykh ila 'l-Sab\u0431h fi Kuwwati\n'l-B\u0431h\" (the Return of the Old Man to Youth in power of Procreation) by\nAhmad bin Sulaym\u0431n known as Ibn Kam\u0431l-B\u0431sh\u0431, in 139 chapters\nlithographed at Cairo. Of these aphrodisiacs I shall have more to say.\n\n[FN#30] Al\u0431 al-Din (our old friend Aladdin) = Glory of the Faith, a\nname of which Mohammed who preferred the simplest, like his own, would\nhave highly disapproved. The most grateful names to Allah are Abdallah\n(Allah's Slave) and Abd al-Rahman (Slave of the Compassionate); the\ntruest are Al-H\u0431rith (the gainer, \"bread winner\") and Al-Hamm\u0431m (the\ngriever); and the hatefullest are Al-Harb (witch) and Al-Murrah\n(bitterness, Abu Murrah being a kunyat or by-name of the Devil). Abu\nal-Sh\u0431m\u0431t (pronounced Abushsh\u0431m\u0431t)=Father of Moles, concerning which I\nhave already given details. These names ending in -Din (faith) began\nwith the Caliph Al-Muktadi bi-Amri 'llah (regn. A.H. 467= 1075), who\nentitled his Wazir \"Zah\u043dr al-Din (Backer or Defender of the Faith) and\nthis gave rise to the practice. It may be observed that the\nsuperstition of naming by omens is in no way obsolete.\n\n[FN#31] Meaning that he appeared intoxicated by the pride of his beauty\nas though it had been strong wine.\n\n[FN#32] i.e. against the evil eye.\n\n[FN#33] Meaning that he had been delicately reared.\n\n[FN#34] A traditional-saying of Mohammed.\n\n[FN#35] So Boccaccio's \"Capo bianco\" and \"Coda verde.\" (Day iv.,\n\n\nIntroduct.)\n\n\n\n[FN#36] The opening chapter is known as the \"Mother of the Book\" (as\nopposed to Y\u0431 S\u043dn, the \"heart of the Koran\"), the \"Surat (chapter) of\nPraise,\" and the \"Surat of repetition\" (because twice revealed?) or\nthanksgiving, or laudation (Ai-Mas\u0431ni) and by a host of other names for\nwhich see Mr. Rodwell who, however, should not write \"Fatthah\" (p.\nxxv.) nor \"Fathah\" (xxvii.). The F\u0431tihah, which is to Al-Islam much\nwhat the \"Paternoster\" is to Christendom, consists of seven verses, in\nthe usual-Saj'a or rhymed prose, and I have rendered it as follows:\n\nIn the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! * Praise be to\nAllah who all the Worlds made * The Compassionating, the Compassionate\n* King of the Day of Faith! * Thee only do we adore and of Thee only do\nwe crave aid * Guide us to the path which is straight * The path of\nthose for whom Thy love is great, not those on whom is hate, nor they\nthat deviate * Amen! O Lord of the World's trine.\n\nMy Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim) will supply instances of its\napplication; how it is recited with open hands to catch the blessing\nfrom Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face (Ibid. i. 286), and\nother details,\n\n[FN#37] i.e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon children.\nStrangers in Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly dressed leading\nby the hand a filthy little boy (rarely a girl) in rags, which at home\nwill be changed to cloth of gold.\n\n[FN#38] Arab. \"As\u043ddah\" flour made consistent by boiling in water with\nthe addition of \"Same\" clarified butter) and honey: more like pap than\ncustard.\n\n[FN#39] Arab. \"Gh\u0431bah\" = I have explained as a low-lying place where\nthe growth is thickest and consequently animals haunt it during the\nnoon-heats\n\n[FN#40] Arab. \"Akk\u0431m,\" one who loads camels and has charge of the\nluggage. He also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or camel-hirer\n(Pilgrimage i. 339), and hence the word Moucre (Moucres) which, first\nused by La Brocqui\u0438re (A.D. 1432), is still the only term known to the\nFrench.\n\n[FN#41] i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.\n\n[FN#42] Taken from Al-Asma'i, the \"Romance of Antar,\" and the episode\nof the Asafir Camels.\n\n[FN#43] A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the K\u0431dir\u043d\norder (the oldest and chiefest of the four universally recognised), to\nwhich I have the honour to belong, teste my diploma (Pilgrimage,\nAppendix i.). Visitation is still made to his tomb at Baghdad. The\nArabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter to \"J\u043dl\u0431n\" the name of his\nbirth-place \"Gilan,\" a tract between the Caspian and the Black Seas.\n\n[FN#44] The well-known Anglo-Indian \"Mucuddum;\" lit. \"one placed before\n(or over) others\"\n\n[FN#45] Koran xiii. 14.\n\n[FN#46] i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to infamous\nproposals is very characteristic: ruder races would use their fists.\n\n[FN#47] Arab. \"R\u0431fiz\u043d\"=the Shi'ah (tribe, sect) or Persian schismatics\nwho curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken from their own\nsaying \"Inn\u0431 rafizn\u0431-hum\"=verily we have rejected them. The feeling\nbetween Sunni (the so-called orthodox) and Shi'ah is much like the\nChristian love between a Catholic of Cork and a Protestant from the\nBlack North. As Al-Siyuti or any historian will show, this sect became\nexceedingly powerful under the later Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom\nconformed to it and adopted its tractices and innovations (as in the\nAzan or prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their co-religionists.\nEven in the present day the hatred between these representatives of\nArab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I have given\nsundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the Persians attempt to\npollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.\n\n[FN#48] Arab. \"Sakk\u0431,\" the Indian \"Bihisht\u043d\" (man from Heaven):\n\n\nEach party in a caravan has one or more.\n\n\n\n[FN#49] These \"Kir\u0431m\u0431t\" or Saints' miracles, which Spiritualists will\nreadily accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have half a\ndozen to tell, each of his \"P\u043dr\" or patron, including the Istidr\u0431j or\nprodigy of chastisement. (Dabistan, iii. 274.)\n\n[FN#50] Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo and famed\nfor \"Kir\u0431m\u0431t.\" Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was imprisoned by\nAl-Mansur and restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She was married to a son\nof the Imam Ja'afar al-Sadik and lived a life of devotion in Cairo,\ndying in A.H. 218=824. The corpse of the Imam al-Shafi'i was carried to\nher house, now her mosque and mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-Sab\u044aa\nwhich formerly divided Old from New Cairo and is now one of the\nlatter's suburbs. Lane (M. E. chaps. x.) gives her name but little\nmore. The mention of her shows that the writer of the tale or the\ncopyist was a Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the\n\"Sitt.\"\n\n[FN#51] Arab. \"Farkh akrab\" for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.\n\n[FN#52] The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his abomination as\nif it were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet with due ascription.\n\n[FN#53] A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter, \"creamkin.\"\n\n[FN#54] Arab. \"Mustahall,\" \"Mustahill' and vulg. \"Muhallil\" (=one who\nrenders lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose who marries pro\nforma and after wedding, and bedding with actual-consummation, at once\ndivorces the woman. He is held the reverse of respectable and no\nwonder. Hence, probably, Mandeville's story of the Islanders who, on\nthe marriage-night, \"make another man to lie by their wives, to have\ntheir maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much thanks. And\nthere are certain men in every town that serve for no other thing; and\nthey call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of despair, because\nthey believe their occupation is a dangerous one.\" Burckhardt gives the\nproverb (No. 79), \"A thousand lovers rather than one Mustahall,\" the\nlatter being generally some ugly fellow picked up in the streets and\ndisgusting to the wife who must permit his embraces.\n\n[FN#55] This is a woman's oath. not used by men.\n\n[FN#56] Pronounced \"Y\u0431 S\u043dn\" (chaps. xxxvi.) the \"heart of the\n\n\nKoran\" much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in\n\n\nEgypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for\n\n\nthe dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.\n\n\n\n[FN#57] Arab. \"\u0411l-D\u0431\u044ad\"=the family of David, i.e. David himself, a\npopular idiom. The prophet's recitation of the \"Maz\u0431mir\" (Psalter)\nworked miracles.\n\n[FN#58] There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy which at\nonce betrays the hideous disease.\n\n[FN#59] These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote\n\n\nMr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.\n\n\n\n[FN#60] Where the \"Juz\u0431m\" (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus sacrum, etc.\netc.) is supposed first to show: the swelling would alter the shape.\nLane (ii. 267) translates \"her wrist which was bipartite.\"\n\n[FN#61] Arab. \"Zakariy\u0431\" (Zacharias): a play upon the term \"Zakar\"=the\nsign of \"masculinity.\" Zacharias, mentioned in the Koran as the\neducator of the Virgin Mary (chaps. iii.) and repeatedly referred to\n(chaps. xix. etc.), is a well-known personage amongst Moslems and his\nchurch is now the great Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.\n\n[FN#62] Arab. \" Ark al-Hal\u0431wat \" = vein of sweetness.\n\n[FN#63] Arab. \"Fut\u044ah,\" which may also mean openings, has before\noccurred.\n\n[FN#64] i.e. four times without withdrawing.\n\n[FN#65] i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many rules are\ngiven in the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly declares that\ndiscrepancy breeds matrimonial-troubles.\n\n[FN#66] Arab. \"Ghur\u0431b al-Bayn\"= raven of the waste or the parting:\nhence the bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is also called\nAl-bayn). The Raven (Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat. Corvus, one of the\nprehistoric words) is supposed to be seen abroad earlier than any other\nbird; and it is entitled \"Abu Zajir,\" father of omens, because lucky\nwhen flying towards the right and v.v. It is opposed in poetry to the\n(white) pigeon, the emblem of union, peace and happiness. The vulgar\ndeclare that when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept calling to his\npursuers, \"Gh\u0431r! Gh\u0431r!\" (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet condemned\nhim to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the traitorous words.\nThis is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo (Ovid, lib. ii.).\n\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\" who blacked the raven o'er And bid him prate in his white plumes\nno more.\"\n\n[FN#67] This use of a Turkish title \"Efendi\" being=our esquire, and\ninferior to a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the copyist.\n\n[FN#68] Arab. \"Samn\"=Hind. \"Ghi\" butter melted, skimmed and allowed to\ncool.\n\n[FN#69] Arab. \"Ya Wad\u044ad,\" a title of the Almighty: the Mac.\n\n\nEdit. has \"O David!\"\n\n\n\n[FN#70] Arab. \"Muwashshahah;\" a complicated stanza of which specimens\nhave occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a \"ballad,\" which would be a \"Kunyat\nal-Zidd.\"\n\n[FN#71] Arab. \"Bah\u0431im\" (plur. of Bah\u043dmah=Heb. Behemoth), applied in\nEgypt especially to cattle. A friend of the \"Oppenheim\" house, a name\nthe Arabs cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as \"Jack\nal-bah\u0431im\" (of the cows).\n\n[FN#72] Lit. \"The father of side-locks,\" a nickname of one of the Tobba\nKings. This \"Hasan of: the ringlets\" who wore two long pig-tails\nhanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of his age: his\nname is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore verse and the wildest\ndebauchery. D'Herbelot's sketch of his life is very meagre. His poetry\nhas survived to the present day and (unhappily) we shall] hear more of\n\"Abu Now\u0431s.\" On the subject of these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt,\nchaps. iv.) has a strange remark that \"Abu D\u0431\u044ad i' not the Father of\nD\u0431\u044ad or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) D\u0431\u044ad or\nAli.\" Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a\ngenitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.\n\n[FN#73] Arab. \"Sam\u044ar,\" applied in slang language to cats and dogs,\nhence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester)\ninto \"Sam\u044ar.\"\n\n[FN#74] The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model even\nin the present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but gentlemanly\nand courteous.\n\n[FN#75] Arab. \"Sal\u043dm\" (not S\u0439-lim) meaning the \"Safe and sound.\"\n\n[FN#76] Arab. \"Hal\u0431wah\"=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such as men\ngive to their friends after sickness or a journey. it is technically\ncalled as above, \"The Sweetmeat of Safety.\"\n\n[FN#77] Arab. \"Sal\u0431t\" which from Allah means mercy, from the\n\n\nAngels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing.\n\n\nConcerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see\n\n\nPilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man\n\n\nis in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say \" Bless the\n\n\nProphet!\" and he does so by ejaculating \"Sa'am.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#78] Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied to a\nWazirial-order as opposed to the \" Ir\u0431dah,\" the Sultan's order.\n\n[FN#79] Arab. \" Mash\u0431'il\u043d\" lit. the cresses-bearer who has before\nappeared as hangman.\n\n[FN#80] Another polite formula for announcing a death.\n\n[FN#81] As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.\n\n[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action\nsuggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense to \"throwing\nthe kerchief,\" a pseudo-Oriental practice whose significance is\ngenerally understood in Europe.\n\n[FN#83] The body-guard being of two divisions.\n\n[FN#84] Arab. \"Hadb\u0431,\" lit. \"hump-backed;\" alluding to the Badawi bier;\na pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to denote the\nprotuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier which before was\nflat. The quotation is from Ka'ab's Mantle-Poem (Burdah v . 37), \"Every\nson of a female, long though his safety may be, is a day borne upon a\nridged implement,\" says Mr. Redhouse, explaining the latter as a \"bier\nwith a ridged lid.\" Here we differ: the Jan\u0431zah with a lid is not a\nBadawi article: the wildlings use the simplest stretcher; and I would\ntranslate the lines,\n\n          \"The son of woman, whatso his career\n\n\n           One day is borne upon the gibbous bier.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#85] This is a high honour to any courtier.\n\n[FN#86] \"Khatun\" in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows\nthe name, e.g. F\u0431timah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed to be a\nfanciful compound, uncouth as the named; the first word consisting of\n\"Habb\" seed, grain; and \"Zalam\" of Zulm=seed of tyranny. Can it be a\ntravesty of \"Absalom\" (Ab Sal\u0431m, father of peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and\nPayne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and Hebezlem.\n\n[FN#87] Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.\n\n[FN#88] Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.\n\n[FN#89] A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.\n\n[FN#90] Arab. \"Buka'at Ad-bum\": lit. the \"low place of blood\" (where it\nstagnates): so Al-Buk\u0431'ah = C\u045alesyria.\n\n[FN#91] That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism and\nself-esteem, \"I told you so,\" is even more common in the na\u043fve East\nthan in the West. In this case the son's answer is far superior to the\nmother's question.\n\n[FN#92] In order to keep his oath to the letter.\n\n[FN#93] \"Tabannuj; \" literally \"hemping\" (drugging with hemp or\nhenbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our \"an\u0436sthetics.\" These\nhave been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries before\nether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised West.\n\n[FN#94] Arab. \"Durk\u0431'ah,\" the lower part of the floor, opposed to the\n\"liw\u0431n\" or da\u043fs. Liw\u0431n =Al-Ayw\u0431n (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including\nthe da\u043fs and the sunken parts)\n\n[FN#95] i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.\n\n[FN#96] This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and Fath\nAli Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some horrible\ncruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a sign of wrath\nand sending a blood red dress to a subject meant that he would be\nslain.\n\n[FN#97] That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some one\nbelonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of Egypt\nbeing famous in those days. \"Optimum et laudatissimum acetum a Romanis\nhabebatur \u0416gyptum\" (Facciolati); and possibly it was sweetened: the\nGesta (Tale xvii.) mentions \"must and vinegar.\" In Arab Proverbs, One\nmind by vinegar and another by wine\"=each mind goes its own way, (Arab.\nProv. . 628); or, \"with good and bad,\" vinegar being spoilt wine.\n\n[FN#98] We have not heard the last of this old \"dowsing rod\": the\nlatest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the United\nStates.\n\n[FN#99] This is the proc\u0438s verbal always drawn up on such occasions.\n\n[FN#100] The sight of running water makes a Persian long for strong\ndrink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel hungry.\n\n[FN#101] Arab. \"Min wahid aduww \" a peculiarly Egyptian or rather\n\n\nCairene phrase.\n\n\n\n[FN#102] Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be Ahmad\nthe Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan \"Shuuman\"=a\npestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies again and again: see\nthe Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night dccviii., a sequel to The\nRogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.\n\n[FN#103] For the \"Sacrifice-place of Ishmael\" (not Isaac) see my\nPilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being the\neldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I have noted\nthat this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and their cousins\nthe Hebrews.\n\n[FN#104] This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah\n\n\n(Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.\n\n\n\n[FN#105] The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the\n\n\nGulf of Scanderoon.\n\n\n\n[FN#106] Arab. \" Wada'\u0431\" = the concha veneris, then used as small\nchange.\n\n[FN#107] Arab. \"Sakati\"=a dealer in \"castaway\" articles, such es old\nmetal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.\n\n[FN#108] The popular tale of Burckhardt's death in Cairo was that the\nnames of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his\nslipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema. It\nis the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery in the\nhouse of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside the Bab\nal-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by the late Rogers Bey\n(Pilgrimage i. 123).\n\n[FN#109] Prob. a mis-spelling for Arsl\u0431n, in Turk. a lion, and in slang\na piastre.\n\n[FN#110] Arab. \"Maka'ad;\" lit. = sitting-room.\n\n[FN#111] Arab. \"Khamm\u0431rah\"; still the popular term throughout Egypt for\na European Hotel. It is not always intended to be insulting but it is,\nmeaning the place where Franks meet to drink forbidden drinks.\n\n[FN#112] A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka'abah of its 360\nidols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung, etc. pp.\n270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon all fell to the\nground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84), \"Truth is come, and\nfalsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a thing that vanisheth\"\n(magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the \"idols\" are said to have been a\nstatue of Abraham and the horns of the ram sacrificed in lieu of\nIshmael, which (if true) would prove conclusively that the Abrahamic\nlegend at Meccah is of ancient date and not a fiction of Al-Islam.\nHence, possibly, the respect of the Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland for\nthe Ka'abah. (Pilgrimage, iii. 295.)\n\n[FN#113] This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Sh\u043d'ahs claim to\nbe the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story (ii. 329). It\nsuggests the common question in the South of Europe, \"Are you a\nChristian or a Protestant?\"\n\n[FN#114] Arab. \"Ana f\u043d j\u043drat-ak!\" a phrase to be remembered as useful\nin time of danger.\n\n[FN#115] i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to answer.\n\n[FN#116] Arab. \"Kuns\u044al\" (pron. \"Gunsul\") which here means a well-to-do\nFrank, and shows the modern date of the tale as it stands.\n\n[FN#117] From the Ital. \"Capitano.\" The mention of cannon and other\nterms in this tale shows that either it was written during the last\ncentury or it has been mishandled by copyists.\n\n[FN#118] Arab. \"Min\u043dnah\"; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.\n\n[FN#119] Arab. \"Waybah\"; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7\n\n\nEnglish gallons.\n\n\n\n[FN#120] He speaks in half-jest \u0430 la fellah; and reminds us of\n\n\n\"Hangman, drive on the cart!\"\n\n\n\n[FN#121] Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is\nprobably a copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea\nKhan, Hea the fish. The Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs \"Yohann\u0431\"\n(contracted to \"Hann\u0431,\" Christian) and \"Y\u0431by\u0431\" (Moslem). Prester\n(Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian prince conquered and\nslain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of \"John\" is\nvery extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and derivation'\nof the name. \"Husn Maryam\" the beauty (spiritual. etc.) of the B.V.\n\n[FN#122] Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant, etc.\nAlso a tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with \"M\u0431rid,\" evil\ncontrouls, hostile to men: modern spiritualists would regard them as\npolluted souls not yet purged of their malignity. The text insinuates\nthat they were at home amongst Christians and in Genoa.\n\n[FN#123] Arab. \"Sar'a\" = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always\nconfounded with \"possession\" (by evil spirits) or \"obsession.\"\n\n[FN#124] Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called \"Sacred\nbooks.\" Here the Koran is called \"Furk\u0431n.\" Sale (sect. iii.) would\nassimilate this to the Hebr. \"Perek\" or \"Pirka,\" denoting a section or\nportion of Scripture; but Moslems understand it to be the \"Book which\ndistinguisheth (faraka, divided) the true from the false.\" Thus Caliph\nOmar was entitled \"F\u0431r\u044ak\" = the Distinguisher (between right and\nwrong). Lastly, \"Furk\u0431n,\" meanings as in Syr. and Ethiop. deliverance,\nrevelation, is applied alike to the Pentateuch and Koran.\n\n[FN#125] Euphemistic for \"thou shalt die.\"\n\n[FN#126] Lit. \"From (jugular) vein to vein\" (Arab. \"War\u043dd\"). Our old\nfriend Lucretius again: \"Tantane relligio,\" etc.\n\n[FN#127] As opposed to the \"but\" or outer room.\n\n[FN#128] Arab. \"Darb al-Asfar\" in the old Jamal\u043dyah or Northern part of\nCairo.\n\n[FN#129] A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and\nsettled in Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before Mohammed's\nbirth, was Al-Hatim (the \"black crow\"), a model of Arab manliness and\nmunificence; and although born in the Ignorance he will enter Heaven\nwith the Moslems. Hatim was buried on the hill called Ow\u0431rid: I have\nalready noted this favourite practice of the wilder Arabs and the\naffecting idea that the Dead may still look upon his kith and kin.\nThere is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a book upon Arabia which does\nnot contain the name of Hatim: he is mentioned as unpleasantly often as\nAristides.\n\n[FN#130] Lord of \"Cattle-feet,\" this King's name is unknown; but the\nK\u0431m\u044as mentions two Kings called Zu 'l Kal\u0431'a, the Greater and the Less.\nLane's Shaykh (ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded Hatim's\nhospitality was one Abu'l-Khaybari.\n\n[FN#131] The camel's throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case of\nother animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered by the\n\"nahr,\" i.e. thrusting a knife into the hollow at the commissure of the\nchest. (Pilgrimage iii. 303.)\n\n[FN#132] Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the\n\n\nProphet.\n\n\n\n[FN#133] A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising his\npatron's generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and dimmed that\nof Ma'an (D'Herbelot). He was a high official-under the last Ommiade,\nMarw\u0431n al-Him\u0431r (the \"Ass,\" or the \"Century,\" the duration of Ommiade\nrule) who was routed and slain in A.H. 132=750. Ma'an continued to\nserve under the Abbasides and was a favourite with Al-Mans\u044ar. \"More\ngenerous or bountiful than Ka'ab\" is another saying (A. P., i. 325);\nKa'ab ibn M\u0431mah was a man who, somewhat like Sir Philip Sidney at\nZutphen, gave his own portion of drink while he was dying of thirst to\na man who looked wistfully at him, whence the saying \"Give drink to thy\nbrother the N\u0431miri\" (A. P., i. 608). Ka'ab could not mount, so they put\ngarments over him to scare away the wild beasts and left him in the\ndesert to die. \"Scatterer of blessings\" (N\u0431shir al-Ni'am) was a title\nof King Malik of Al-Yaman, son of Sharhab\u043dl, eminent for his\nliberality. He set up the statue in the Western Desert, inscribed\n\"Nothing behind me,\" as a warner to others.\n\n[FN#134] Lane (ii. 352) here introduces, between Nights cclxxi. and\nccxc., a tale entitled in the Bresl. Edit. (iv. 134) \"The Sleeper and\nthe Waker,\" i.e. the sleeper awakened; and he calls it: The Story of\nAbu-l-Hasan the Wag. It is interesting and founded upon\nhistorical-fact; but it can hardly be introduced here without breaking\nthe sequence of The Nights. I regret this the more as Mr. Alexander J.\nCotheal-of New York has most obligingly sent me an addition to the\nBreslau text (iv. 137) from his MS. But I hope eventually to make use\nof it.\n\n[FN#135] The first girl calls gold \"Titer\" (pure, unalloyed metal); the\nsecond \"Asjad\" (gold generally) and the third \"Ibr\u043dz\" (virgin ore, the\nGreek {Greek letters}. This is a law of Arab rhetoric never to repeat\nthe word except for a purpose and, as the language can produce\n1,200,000 (to 100,000 in English) the copiousness is somewhat painful\nto readers.\n\n[FN#136] Arab. \"Shakes\" before noticed.\n\n[FN#137] Arab. \"Kuss\u0431'\u0431\"=the curling cucumber: the vegetable is of the\ncheapest and the poorer classes eat it as \"kitchen\" with bread.\n\n[FN#138] Arab. \"Haram-hu,\" a double entendre. Here the Barlawi means\nhis Harem the inviolate part of the house; but afterwards he makes it\nmean the presence of His Honour.\n\n[FN#139] Toledo? this tale was probably known to Washington Irving. The\n\"Land of Roum \" here means simply Frank-land as we are afterwards told\nthat its name was Andalusia the old Vandal-land, a term still applied\nby Arabs to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.\n\n[FN#140] Arab. \"Am\u0431im\" (plur. of Im\u0431mah) the common word for turband\nwhich I prefer to write in the old unclipt fashion. We got it through\nthe Port. Turbante and the old French Tolliban from the (now obsolete)\nPersian term Dolband=a turband or a sash.\n\n[FN#141] Sixth Ommiade Caliph, A.D. 705-716, from \"T\u0431rik\" we have\n\n\n\"Gibraltar\"=Jabal-al-T\u0431rik.\n\n\n\n[FN#142] Arab. \"Yun\u0431n\" = Ionia, applied to ancient Greece as\n\n\n\"Roum\" is to the Gr\u0436co-Roman Empire.\n\n\n\n[FN#143] Arab. \"Bahram\u0431ni ;\" prob. alluding to the well-known\n\n\nlegend of the capture of Somanath (Somnauth) from the Hindus by\n\n\nMahmud of Ghazni. In the Aj\u0431'ib al-Hind (before quoted) the\n\n\nBrahmins are called Abrahamah.\n\n\n\n[FN#144] i.e. \"Peace be with thee!\"\n\n[FN#145] i.e. in the palace when the hunt was over. The bluntness and\nplain-speaking of the Badawi, which caused the revelation of the\nKoranic chapter \"Inner Apartments\" (No. xlix.) have always been\nfavourite themes with Arab tale-tellers as a contrast with citizen\nsuavity and servility. Moreover the Badawi, besides saying what he\nthinks, always tells the truth (unless corrupted by commerce with\nforeigners); and this is a startling contrast with the townsfolk. To\nride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwal\u0431 is much like being\nsuddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of Mediterranean people\nto the bluff society of the Scandinavian North. And the reason why the\nTurk will never govern the Arab in peace is that the former is always\ntrying to finesse and to succeed by falsehood, when the truth, the\nwhole truth and nothing but the truth is wanted.\n\n[FN#146] Koran. xvi. 112.\n\n[FN#147] A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which\n\"spoke poetry.\" The Jewels are often pearls.\n\n[FN#148] Ibrahim Abu Ish\u0431k bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the Caliphate\nof well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence\n\"Al-Tann\u043dn\"=the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii. 336),\n\"Al-Tin\"= the fig. His adventurous history will be found in Ibn\nKhallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.\n\n[FN#149] The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha\n(Tobit, Judith, etc.), the old capital-of Media Proper, and seat of\ngovernment of Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which was\nbuilt out of its remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang the primeval-king\nwho first sawed wood, made doors and dug metal. It is called Rayy\nal-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there. Harun al-Rashid was\nalso born in it (A.H. 145). It is mentioned by a host of authors and\nnames one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.\n\n[FN#150] Human blood being especially impure.\n\n[FN#151] Jones, Brown and Robinson.\n\n[FN#152] Arab. \"Kumm ,\" the Moslem sleeve is mostly (like his trousers)\nof ample dimensions and easily converted into a kind of carpet-bag by\ndepositing small articles in the middle and gathering up the edge in\nthe hand. In this way carried the weight would be less irksome than\nhanging to the waist. The English of Queen Anne's day had regular\nsleeve-pockets for memoranda, etc., hence the saying, to have in one's\nsleeve.\n\n[FN#153] Arab. \"Khuff\" worn under the \"B\u0431b\u044ag\" (a corruption of the\nPersian p\u0431-push=feet-covers, papooshes, slippers). [Lane M. E. chaps.\ni.]\n\n[FN#154] Done in hot weather throughout the city, a dry line for camels\nbeing left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts slipping. The\nwatering of the Cairo streets of late years has been excessive; they\nare now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter and the effluvia\nfrom the droppings of animals have, combined with other causes,\nseriously deteriorated the once charming climate. The only place in\nLower Egypt, which has preserved the atmosphere of 1850, is Suez.\n\n[FN#155] Arab. \"Hur\u0431k:\" burnt rag, serving as tinder for flint and\nsteel, is a common styptic.\n\n[FN#156] Of this worthy, something has been said and there will be more\nin a future page.\n\n[FN#157] i.e. the person entitled to exact the blood-wite.\n\n[FN#158] Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism One of\nhis sayings is preserved \"Odious is contentiousness in Kings, more\nodious vexation in judges uncomprehending a case; yet more odious is\nshallowness of doctors in religions and most odious are avarice in the\nrich, idleness in youth, jesting in age and cowardice in the soldier.\"\n\n[FN#159] The second couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. but Lane's\n\n\nShaykh has supplied it (ii. 339)\n\n\n\n[FN#160] Adam's loins, the \"Day of Alast,\" and the Imam (who stands\nbefore the people in prayer) have been explained. The \"Seventh Imam\"\nhere is Al-Maamun, the seventh Abbaside the Ommiades being, as usual,\nignored.\n\n[FN#161] He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned, which is\npoetical-and hardly practical-or probable.\n\n[FN#162] The Kat\u0431 (sand-grouse) always enters into Arab poetry because\nit is essentially a desert bird, and here the comparison is good\nbecause it lays its eggs in the waste far from water which it must\ndrink morning and evening. Its cry is interpreted \"man sakat, salam\"\n(silent and safe), but it does not practice that precept, for it is\nusually betrayed by its piping \" Kata! Kata!\" Hence the proverb, \"More\nveracious than the sand-grouse,\" and \"speak not falsely, for the Kata\nsayeth sooth,\" is Komayt's saying. It is an emblem of swiftness: when\nthe brigand poet Shanfara boasts, \"The ash-coloured Katas can drink\nonly my leavings, after hastening all night to slake their thirst in\nthe morning,\" it is a hyperbole boasting of his speed. In Sind it is\ncalled the \"rock pigeon\" and it is not unlike a grey partridge when on\nthe wing.\n\n[FN#163] Joseph to his brethren, Koran, xii. 92, when he gives them his\n\"inner garment\" to throw over his father's face.\n\n[FN#164] Arab. \"Hajj\u0431m\"=a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs, a\nbleeder, a (blood-) sucker. The slang use of the term is to thrash,\nlick, wallop. (Burckhardt. Prov. 34.)\n\n[FN#165] The Bresl. Edit. (vii. 171-174) entitles this tale, \"Story of\nShadd\u0431d bin Ad and the City of Iram the Columned ;\" but it relates\nchiefly to the building by the King of the First Adites who, being\npromised a future Paradise by Prophet H\u044ad, impiously said that he would\nlay out one in this world. It also quotes Ka'ab al-Ahb\u0431r as an\nauthority for declaring that the tale is in the \"Pentateuch of Moses.\"\nIram was in al-Yaman near Adan (our Aden) a square of ten parasangs (or\nleagues each= 18,000 feet) every way, the walls were of red (baked)\nbrick 500 cubits high and 20 broad, with four gates of corresponding\ngrandeur. It contained 300,000 Kasr (palaces) each with a thousand\npillars of gold-bound jasper, etc. (whence its title). The whole was\nfinished in five hundred years, and, when Shaddad prepared to enter it,\nthe \"Cry of Wrath\" from the Angel of Death slew him and all his many.\nIt is mentioned in the Koran (chaps. Ixxxix. 6-7) as \"Irem adorned with\nlofty buildings (or pillars).\" But Ibn Khaldun declares that\ncommentators have embroidered the passage; Iram being the name of a\npowerful clan of the ancient Adites and \"im\u0431d\" being a tent-pole: hence\n\"Iram with the numerous tents or tent-poles.\" Al-Bayzawi tells the\nstory of Abdullah ibn Kilabah (D'Herbelot's Colabah). At Aden I met an\nArab who had seen the mysterious city on the borders of Al-Ahk\u0431f, the\nwaste of deep sands, west of Hadramaut; and probably he had, the mirage\nor sun-reek taking its place. Compare with this tale \"The City of\nBrass\" (Night dlxv.).\n\n[FN#166] The biblical-\"Sheba,\" named from the great-grandson of Joctan,\nwhence the Queen (Bilkis) visited Solomon It was destroyed by the Flood\nof M\u0431rib.\n\n[FN#167] The full title of the Holy City is \"Madinat al-Nab)\" = the\nCity of the Prophet, of old Yasrib (Yathrib) the Iatrippa of the Greeks\n(Pilgrimage, ii. 119). The reader will remember that there are two\n\"Yasribs:\" that of lesser note being near Hujr in the Yam\u0431mah province.\n\n[FN#168] \"Ka'ab of the Scribes,\" a well-known traditionist and\nreligious poet who died (A.H. 32) in the Caliphate of Osman. He was a\nJew who islamised; hence his name (Ahb\u0431r, plur. of Hibr, a Jewish\nscribe, doctor of science, etc. Jarrett's El-Siyuti, p. 123). He must\nnot be confounded with another Ka'ab al-Ahb\u0431r the Poet of the (first)\nCloak-poem or \"Burdah,\" a noble Arab who was a distant cousin of\nMohammed, and whose tomb at Hums (Emesa) is a place of pious\nvisitation. According to the best authorities (no Christian being\nallowed to see them) the cloak given to the bard by Mohammed is still\npreserved together with the Khirkah or Sanjak Sherif (\"Holy Coat\" or\nBanner, the national oriflamme) at Stambul in the Upper Seraglio.\n(Pilgrimage, i. 213.) Many authors repeat this story of Mu'awiyah, the\nCaliph, and Ka'ab of the Burdah, but it is an evident anachronism, the\npoet having been dead nine years before the ruler's accession (A.H.\n41).\n\n[FN#169] Koran, lxxxix. 6-7.\n\n[FN#170] Arab. \"Kahram\u0431n\" from Pers., braves, heroes.\n\n[FN#171] The Deity in the East is as whimsical-a despot as any of his\n\"shadows\" or \"vice regents.\" In the text Shadd\u0431d is killed for mere\njealousy a base passion utterly unworthy of a godhead; but one to which\nAllah was greatly addicted.\n\n[FN#172] Some traditionist, but whether Sha'abi, Shi'abi or\n\n\nShu'abi we cannot decide.\n\n\n\n[FN#173] The Hazarmaveth of Genesis (x. 26) in South Eastern Arabia.\nIts people are the Adramitae (mod. Hazrami) of Ptolemy who places in\ntheir land the Arabi\u0436 Emporium, as Pliny does his Massola. They border\nupon the Homerit\u0436 or men of Himyar, often mentioned in The Nights.\nHazramaut is still practically unknown to us, despite the excursions of\nmany travellers; and the hard nature of the people, the Swiss of\nArabia, offers peculiar obstacles to exploration.\n\n[FN#174] i.e. the prophet Hud generally identified (?) with Heber. He\nwas commissioned (Koran, chaps. vii.) to preach Al-Islam to his tribe\nthe Adites who worshipped four goddesses, S\u0431kiyah (the rain-giver),\nR\u0431zikah (food-giver), H\u0431fizah (the saviouress) and S\u0431limah (who healed\nsickness). As has been seen he failed, so it was useless to send him.\n\n[FN#175] Son of Ibraham al-Mosili, a musician poet and favourite with\nthe Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and Al-Maamun. He made his name immortal-by\nbeing the first who reduced Arab harmony to systematic rules, and he\nwrote a biography of musicians referred to by Al-Hariri in the S\u0439ance\nof Singar.\n\n[FN#176] This must not be confounded with the \"pissing against the\nwall\" of I Kings, xiv. 10, where watering against a wall denotes a man\nas opposed to a woman.\n\n[FN#177] Arab. \"Zamb\u043dl\" or \"Zimb\u043dl,\" a limp basket made of plaited\npalm-leaves and generally two handled. It is used for many purposes,\nfrom carrying poultry to carrying earth.\n\n[FN#178] Here we have again the Syriac ''Bakhkh -un-Bakhkh-un-''=well\ndone! It is the Pers \u0411fer\u043dn and means \"all praise be to him.\"\n\n[FN#179] Arab. \"A Tufayli?\" So the Arab. Prov. (ii. 838) \"More\nintrusive than Tufayl\" (prob. the P.N. of a notorious sponger). The\nBadawin call \"W\u0431rish\" a man who sits down to meat unbidden and to drink\nW\u0431ghil; but townsfolk apply the latter to the \"W\u0431rish.\"\n\n[FN#180] Arab. \"Art\u0431l\"=rotoli, pounds; and\n\n               \"A pint is a pound\n\n\n                All the world round;\"\n\n\n\nexcept in highly civilised lands where the pint has a curious power of\nshrinking.\n\n[FN#181] One of Al-Maamun's Wazirs. The Caliph married his daughter\nwhose true name was B\u044ar\u0431n; but this tale of girl's freak and courtship\nwas invented (?) by Ishak. For the splendour of the wedding and the\nmunificence of the Minister see Lane, ii. 350-352.\n\n[FN#182] I have described this scene, the wretch clinging to the\ncurtain and sighing and crying as if his heart would break (Pilgrimage\niii. 216 and 220). The same is done at the place Al-Multazam'\"the\nattached to;\" (ibid. 156) and various spots called Al-Mustaj\u0431b, \"where\nprayer is granted\" (ibid. 162). At Jerusalem the Wailing place of the\nJews\" shows queer scenes; the worshippers embrace the wall with a\npeculiar wriggle crying out in Hebrew, \"O build Thy House, soon,\nwithout delay,\" etc.\n\n[FN#183] i.e. The wife. The scene in the text was common at Cairo\ntwenty years ago; and no one complained of the stick. See Pilgrimage\ni., 120.\n\n[FN#184] Arab. \"Udm, Udum\" (plur. of Id\u0431m) = \"relish,\" olives, cheese,\npickled cucumbers, etc.\n\n[FN#185] I have noticed how the left hand is used in the East. In the\nsecond couplet we have \"Istinj\u0431\"=washing the fundament after stool. The\nlines are highly appropriate for a nightman. Easterns have many foul\nbut most emphatic expressions like those in the text I have heard a\nmother say to her brat, \"I would eat thy merde!\" (i.e. how I love\nthee!).\n\n[FN#186] Arab. \"Harr\u0431k,\" whence probably our \"Carack\" and\n\n\n\"Carrack\" (large ship), in dictionaries derived from Carrus\n\n\nMarinus.\n\n\n\n[FN#187] Arab. \"Gh\u0431shiyah\"=lit. an \u0439tui, a cover; and often a\nsaddle-cover carried by the groom.\n\n[FN#188] Arab. \"Shar\u0431b al-tuff\u0431h\" = melapio or cider.\n\n[FN#189] Arab. \"Mudawwarah,\" which generally means a small round\ncushion, of the Marocco-work well known in England. But one does not\nstrike a cushion for a signal, so we must revert to the original-sense\nof the word \"something round,\" as a circular plate of wood or metal, a\ngong, a \"bell\" like that of the Eastern Christians.\n\n[FN#190] Arab. \"T\u044af\u0431n\" (from the root tauf, going round) a storm, a\ncircular gale, a cyclone the term universally applied in Al-lslam to\nthe \"Deluge,\" the \"Flood\" of Noah. The word is purely Arabic; with a\nquaint likeness to the Gr. {Greek letters}, in Pliny typhon, whirlwind,\na giant (Typh\u045aus) whence \"Typhon\" applied to the great Egyptian god\n\"Set.\" The Arab word extended to China and was given to the hurricanes\nwhich the people call \"Tee foong,\" great winds, a second\nwhimsical-resemblance. But Sir John Davis (ii. 383) is hardly correct\nwhen he says, \"the name typhoon, in itself a corruption of the Chinese\nterm, bears a singular (though we must suppose an accidental)\nresemblance to the Greek {Greek letters}. \"\n\n[FN#191] Plurale majestatis acting superlative; not as Lane supposes\n(ii. 224) \"a number of full moons, not only one.\" Eastern tongues\nabound in instances beginning with Genesis (i. 1), \"Gods (he) created\nthe heaven,\" etc. It is still preserved in Badawi language and a\nwildling greatly to the astonishment of the citizens will address his\nfriend \"Y\u0431 Rij\u0431l\"= O men!\n\n[FN#192] Arab. \"H\u0431sid\" = an envier: in the fourth couplet \"Az\u044al\"\n(Azz\u0431l, etc.) = a chider, blamer; elsewhere \"Laww\u0431m\" = accuser, censor,\nslanderer; \"W\u0431sh\u043d,\"=whisperer, informer; \"Rakib\"=spying, envious rival;\n\"Gh\u0431bit\"=one emulous without envy; and \"Sh\u0431mit\"= a \"blue\" (fierce)\nenemy who rejoices over another's calamities. Arabic literature abounds\nin allusions to this unpleasant category of \"damned ill-natured\nfriends;\" and Spanish and Portuguese letters, including Brazilian, have\nthoroughly caught the trick. In the Eastern mind the \"blamer\" would be\naided by the \"evil eye.\"\n\n[FN#193] Another plural for a singular, \"O my beloved!\"\n\n[FN#194] Arab. \"Khayr\"=good news, a euphemistic reply even if the\ntidings be of the worst.\n\n[FN#195] Abb\u0431s (from 'Abs, being austere; and meaning the \"grim faced\")\nson of Abd al-Muttalib; uncle to Mohammed and eponym of the Abbaside\nKhalifahs. A.D. 749=1258.\n\n[FN#196] Kat\u043dl = the Irish \"kilt.\"\n\n[FN#197] This hat been explained as a wazirial title of the time.\n\n[FN#198] The phrase is intelligible in all tongues: in Arabic it is\nopposed to \"dark as night,\" \"black as mud\" and a host of unsavoury\nantitheses.\n\n[FN#199] Arab. \"Aww\u0431dah,\" the popular word; not Ud\u043dyyah as in Night\ncclvi. \"Ud\" liter.= rood and \"Al-Ud\"=the wood is, I have noted, the\norigin of our 'lute.\" The Span. 'laud\" is larger and deeper than the\nguitar, and its seven strings are played upon with a plectrum of\nbuffalo-horn.\n\n[FN#200] Arab. \"Tabban lahu!\"=loss (or ruin) to him. So \"bu'dan\nlahu\"=away with him, abeat in malam rem; and \"Suhkan lahu\"=Allah and\nmercy be far from him, no hope for him I\n\n[FN#201] Arab. \"\u0411yah\"=Koranic verses, sign, miracle.\n\n[FN#202] The mole on cheek calls to prayers for his preservation; and\nit is black as Bilal the Abyssinian. Fajran may here mean either\n\"A.-morning\" or \"departing from grace.\"\n\n[FN#203] i.e. the young beard (myrtle) can never hope to excel tile\nbeauties of his cheeks (roses).\n\n[FN#204] i.e. Hell and Heaven.\n\n[FN#205] The first couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. (ii. 171)\n\n\nwhich gives only a single couplet but it is found in the Bres.\n\n\nEdit. which entitles this tale \"Story of the lying (or false k\u0431zib)\n\n\nKhal\u043dfah.\" Lane (ii. 392) of course does not translate it.\n\n\n\n[FN#206] In the East cloth of frieze that mates with cloth of gold must\nexpect this treatment. Fath Ali Shah's daughters always made their\nhusbands enter the nuptial-bed by the foot end.\n\n[FN#207] This is always done and for two reasons; the first humanity,\nthat the blow may fall unawares; and, secondly, to prevent the sufferer\nwincing, which would throw out the headsman.\n\n[FN#208] Arab. \"Ma'\u0431ni-h\u0431,\" lit. her meanings, i.e. her inner woman\nopposed to the formal-seen by every one.\n\n[FN#209] Described in my Pilgrimage (iii. 168, 174 and 175): it is the\nstone upon which the Patriarch stood when he built the Ka'abah and is\nsaid to show the impress of the feet but unfortunately I could not\nafford five dollars entrance-fee. Caliph Omar placed the station where\nit now is; before his time it adjoined the Ka'abah. The meaning of the\ntext is, Be thy court a place of pious visitation, etc. At the \"Station\nof Abraham\" prayer is especially blessed and expects to be granted.\n\"This is the place where Abraham stood; and whoever entereth therein\nshall be safe\" (Koran ii. 119). For the other fifteen places where\npetitions are favourably heard by Heaven see ibid. iii. 211-12.\n\n[FN#210] As in the West, so in the East, women answer an unpleasant\nquestion by a counter question.\n\n[FN#211] This \"Cry of Haro\" often occurs throughout The Nights. In\nreal-life it is sure to colece a crowd. especially if an Infidel (non\nMoslem) be its cause.\n\n[FN#212] In the East a cunning fellow always makes himself the claimant\nor complainant.\n\n[FN#213] On the Euphrates some 40 miles west of Baghdad The word is\nwritten \"Anb\u0431r\" and pronounced \"Amb\u0431r\" as usual with the \"n\" before\n\"b\"; the case of the Greek double Gamma.\n\n[FN#214] Syene on the Nile.\n\n[FN#215] The tale is in the richest Rabelaisian humour; and the\nrequisitions of the \"Saj'a\" (rhymed prose) in places explain the\ngrotesque combinations. It is difficult to divine why Lane omits it:\nprobably he held a hearty laugh not respectable.\n\n[FN#216] A lawyer of the eighth century, one of the chief pupils of the\nImam Abu Hanifah, and Kazi of Baghdad under the third, fourth and fifth\nAbbasides. The tale is told in the quasi- historical-Persian work\n\"Nig\u0431rist\u0431n\" (The Picture gallery), and is repeated by Richardson,\nDiss. 7, xiii. None seem to have remarked that the distinguished\nlegist, Abu Yusuf, was on this occasion a law-breaker; the Kazi's duty\nbeing to carry out the code not to break it by the tricks of a cunning\nattorney. In Harun's day, however, some regard was paid to justice, not\nunder his successors, one of whom, Al-Muktadir bi 'll\u0431h (A.H. 295=907),\nmade the damsel Yamika President of the Diw\u0431n al-Maz\u0431lim (Court of the\nWronged), a tribunal which took cognizance of tyranny and oppression in\nhigh places.\n\n[FN#217] Here the writer evidently forgets that Shahrazad is telling\nthe story to the king, as Boccaccio (ii. 7) forgets that Pamfilo is\nspeaking. Such inconsequences are common in Eastern story-books and a\ngoody-goody sentiment is always heartily received as in an English\ntheatre.\n\n[FN#218] In the Mac. Edit. (ii. 182) \"Al-Kushayri.\" Al-Kasri was\n\n\nGovernor of the two Iraks (I.e. Bassorah and Cufa) in the reign of\n\n\nAl-Hisham, tenth Ommiade (A.D. 723-741)\n\n\n\n[FN#219] Arab. \"Thakalata k Ummak!\" This is not so much a curse as a\nplayful phrase, like \"Confound the fellow.\" So \"K\u0431tala k Allah\" (Allah\nslay thee) and \"L\u0431 ab\u0431 lak\" (thou hast no father or mother). These\nwords are even complimentary on occasions, as a good shot or a fine\nrecitation, meaning that the praised far excels the rest of his tribe.\n\n[FN#220] Koran, iii. 178.\n\n[FN#221] Arab. \"Al-Nis\u0431b\"=the minimum sum (about half-a crown) for\nwhich mutilation of the hand is prescribed by religious law. The\npunishment was truly barbarous, it chastised a rogue by means which\nprevented hard honest labour for the rest of his life.\n\n[FN#222] To show her grief.\n\n[FN#223] Ab\u044a Sa'\u043dd Abd al-Malik bin Kurayb, surnamed Al-Asma'i from his\ngrandfather, flor. A.H. 122-306 (=739-830) and wrote amongst a host of\ncompositions the well-known Romance of Antar. See in D'Herbelot the\nright royal-directions given to him by Harun al-Rashid.\n\n[FN#224] There are many accounts of his death, but it is generally held\nthat he was first beheaded. The story in the text is also variously\ntold and the Persian \"Nig\u0431rist\u0431n\" adds some unpleasant comments upon\nthe House of Abbas. The Persians, for reasons which will be explained\nin the terminal-Essay, show the greatest sympathy with the Barmecides;\nand abominate the Abbasides even more than the latter detested the\nOmmiades.\n\n[FN#225] Not written, as the European reader would suppose.\n\n[FN#226] Arab. \"F\u044al al-h\u0431rr\" = beans like horsebeans soaked and boiled\nas opposed to the \"F\u044al Mudammas\" (esp. of Egypt)=unshelled beans\nsteamed and boiled all night and eaten with linseed oil as \"kitchen\" or\nrelish. Lane (M.E., chaps. v.) calls them after the debased Cairene\npronunciation, Mudemmes. A legend says that, before the days of Pharaoh\n(always he of Moses), the Egyptians lived on pistachios which made them\na witty, lively race. But the tyrant remarking that the domestic ass,\nwhich eats beans, is degenerate from the wild ass, uprooted the\npistachio-trees and compelled the lieges to feed on beans which made\nthem a heavy, gross, cowardly people fit only for burdens. Badawis\nderide \"beaneaters\" although they do not loathe the pulse like onions.\nThe principal-result of a bean diet is an extraordinary development of\nflatulence both in stomach and intestines: hence possibly, Pythagoras\nwho had studied ceremonial-purity in Egypt, forbade the use, unless he\nreferred to venery or political-business. I was once sitting in the\nGreek quarter of Cairo dressed as a Moslem when arose a prodigious\nhubbub of lads and boys, surrounding, a couple of Fellahs. These men\nhad been working in the fields about a mile east of Cairo and, when\nreturning home, one had said to the other, \"If thou wilt carry the hoes\nI will break wind once for every step we take.\" He was as good as his\nword and when they were to part he cried, \"And now for thy bakhshish!\"\nwhich consisted of a volley of fifty, greatly to the delight of the\nboys.\n\n[FN#227] No porcelain was ever, as far as we can discover, made in\nEgypt or Syria of the olden day; but, as has been said, there was a\nregular caravan-intercourse with China At Damascus I dug into the huge\nrubbish-heaps and found quantities of pottery, but no China. The same\nhas lately been done at Clysma, the artificial-mound near Suez, and the\nglass and pottery prove it to have been a Roman work which defended the\nmouth of the old classical-sweet-water canal.\n\n[FN#228] Arab. \"L\u0431 baas ba-z\u0431lik,\" conversational-for \"L\u0431 jaram\"= there\nis no harm in it, no objection to it, and, sometimes, \"it is a matter\nof course.\"\n\n[FN#229] A white emerald is yet unknown; but this adds only to the\nOriental-extravagance of the picture. I do not think with Lane (ii.\n426) that \"abyaz\" here can mean \"bright.\" Dr. Steingass suggests a\nclerical-error for \"khazar\" (green).\n\n[FN#230] Arab. \"Shar\u0431rif\" plur. of Shurr\u0431fah=crenelles or battlements;\nmostly trefoil-shaped; remparts coquets which a six-pounder would\ncrumble.\n\n[FN#231] Pronounce Abul-Muzaffar=Father of the Conqueror.\n\n[FN#232] I have explained the word in my \"Zanzibar, City, Island and\nCoast,\" vol. i. chaps. v There is still a tribe, the Wadoe, reputed\ncannibal-on the opposite low East African shore These blacks would\nhardly be held \" sons of Adam.\" \"Zanj \" corrupted to \"Zinj \" (plur\nZun\u044aj) is the Persian \"Zany\" or \"Zangi,\" a black, altered by the Arabs,\nwho ignore the hard g; and, with the suffixion of the Persian -b\u0431r\n(region, as in Malabar) we have Zang- bar which the Arabs have\nconverted to \"Zanjibar,\" in poetry \"Murk al-Zun\u044aj\"=Land of the Zang.\nThe term is old; it is the Zingis or Zingisa of Ptolemy and the Zingium\nof Cosmas Indicopleustes; and it shows the influence of Persian\nnavigation in pre-Islamitic ages. For further details readers will\nconsult \"The Lake Regions of Central-Africa\" vol. i. chaps. ii\n\n[FN#233] Arab. \"Kaw\u0431rib\" plur. of \"K\u0431rib\" prop. a dinghy, a small boat\nbelonging to a ship Here it refers to the canoe (a Carib word) pop.\n\"dug-out\" and classically \"monoxyle,\" a boat made of a single\ntree-trunk hollowed by fire and trimmed with axe and adze. Some of\nthese rude craft which, when manned, remind one of saturnine Caliph\nOmar's \"worms floating on a log of wood,\" measure 60 feet long and\nmore.\n\n[FN#234] i.e. A descendant of Mohammed in general-and especially\nthrough Husayn Ali-son. Here the text notes that the chief of the bazar\nwas of this now innumerable stock, who inherit the title through the\nmother as well as through the father.\n\n[FN#235] Arab. \"Hasab\" (=quaneity), the honour a man acquires for\nhimself; opposed to \"Nasab\" (genealogy) honours inherited from\nancestry: the Arabic well expresses my old motto (adopted by Chinese\nGordon), \"Honour, not Honours.\"\n\n[FN#236] Note the difference between \"Takaddum\" ( = standing in\npresence of, also superiority in excellence) and \"Tak\u0431dum\" (priority in\ntime).\n\n[FN#237] Lane (ii. 427) gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of this\nsaying.\n\n[FN#238] A Koranic fancy; the mountains being the pegs which keep the\nearth in place. \"And he hath thrown before the earth, mountains firmly\nrooted, lest it should move with you.\" (Koran, chaps. xvi.) The earth\nwhen first created was smooth and thereby liable to a circular motion,\nlike the celestial-orbs; and, when the Angels asked who could stand on\nso tottering a frame, Allah fixed it the next morning by throwing the\nmountains in it and pegging them down. A fair prolepsis of the\nNeptunian theory.\n\n[FN#239] Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying \"by God,\" but\nthis common incident in Moslem folk-lore appeals to the peoples who are\nconstantly using the word Allah Wallah, Billah, etc. The Koran\nexpressly says, \"Make not Allah the scope (object, lit. arrow-butt) of\nyour oaths\" (chaps. ii. 224), yet the command is broken every minute.\n\n[FN#240] This must be the ubiquitous Khizr, the Green Prophet; when Ali\nappears, as a rule he is on horseback.\n\n[FN#241] The name is apparently imaginary; and a little below we find\nthat it was close to Jinn land. China was very convenient for this\npurpose: the medieval-Moslems, who settled in considerable numbers at\nCanton and elsewhere, knew just enough of it to know their own\nignorance of the vast empire. Hence the Druzes of the Libanus still\nhold that part of their nation is in the depths of the\nCelestial-Empire.\n\n[FN#242] I am unwilling to alter the old title to \"City of Copper\" as\nit should be; the pure metal having been technologically used long\nbefore the alloy of copper and zinc. But the Maroccan City (Night\ndlxvi. et seq.) was of brass (not copper). The Hindus of Upper India\nhave an Iram which they call Hari Chand's city (Colonel Tod); and I\nneed hardly mention the Fata Morgana, Island of Saint Borondon; Cape\nFly-away; the Flying Dutchman, etc. etc., all the effect of \"looming.\"\n\n[FN#243] This sword which makes men invisible and which takes place of\nSiegfried's Tarnkappe (invisible cloak) and of \"Fortunatus' cap\" is\ncommon in Moslem folk-lore. The idea probably arose from the venerable\npractice of inscribing the blades with sentences, verses and magic\nfigures.\n\n[FN#244] Arab. \"'Uk\u0431b,\" in books an eagle (especially black) and P. N.\nof constellation but in Pop. usage= a vulture. In Egypt it is the\nNeophron Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the Dij\u0431jat\nFar'aun or Pharaoh's hen. This bird has been known to kill the B\u0431shah\nsparrow-hawk (Jerdon i. 60); yet, curious to say, the reviewers of my\n\"Falconry in the Valley of the Indus\" questioned the fact, known to so\nmany travellers, that the falcon is also killed by this \"tiger of the\nair,\" despite the latter's feeble bill (pp. 35-38). I was faring badly\nat their hands when the late Mr. Burckhardt Barker came to the rescue.\nFalconicide is popularly attributed, not only to the vulture, but also\nto the crestless hawk-eagle (Nis\u0436tus Bonelli) which the Hindus call\nMor\u0431ng\u0431=peacock slayer.\n\n[FN#245] Here I translate \"Nah\u0431s\"=brass, as the \"kumkum\" (cucurbite) is\nmade of mixed metal, not of copper.\n\n[FN#246] Mansur al-Nimr\u043d, a poet of the time and a prot\u0439g\u0439 of\n\n\nYahya's son, Al-Fazl.\n\n\n\n[FN#247] This was at least four times Mansur's debt.\n\n[FN#248] Intendant of the Palace to Harun al-Rashid. The Bres. Edit.\n(vii. 254) begins They tell that there arose full enmity between\nJa'afar Barmecide and a Sahib of Misr\" (Wazir or Governor of Egypt).\nLane (ii. 429) quotes to this purpose amongst Arab; historians Fakhr\nal-Din. (De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe i., p. 26, edit. ii.)\n\n[FN#249] Arab. \"Arman\u043dyah\" which Egyptians call after their mincing\nfashion \"Irminiyeh\" hence \"Ermine\" (Mus Ponticus). Armaniyah was much\nmore extensive than our Armenia, now degraded to a mere province of\nTurkey, and the term is understood to include the whole of the old\nParthian Empire.\n\n[FN#250] Even now each Pasha-governor must keep a \"Wak\u043dl\" in\n\n\nConstantinople to intrigue and bribe for him at head-quarters.\n\n\n\n[FN#251] The symbol of generosity, of unasked liberality, the \"black\nhand\" being that of niggardness.\n\n[FN#252] Arab. R\u0431h =pure (and old) wine. Arabs, like our classics,\nusually drank their wine tempered. So Imr al-Keys in his Mu'allakah\nsays, \"Bring the well tempered wine that seems to be saffron-tinctured;\nand, when water-mixed, o'erbrims the cup.\" (v. 2.)\n\n[FN#253] There is nothing that Orientals relish more than these\n\"goody-goody\" preachments; but they read and forget them as readily as\nWesterns.\n\n[FN#254] Lane (ii. 435) ill-advisedly writes \"Sher,\" as \"the word is\nevidently Persian signifying a Lion.\" But this is only in the debased\nIndian dialect, a Persian, especially a Shirazi, pronounces \"Sh\u043dr.\" And\nthis is how it is written in the Bresl. Edit., vii. 262. \"Sh\u0431r\" is\nevidently a fancy name, possibly suggested by the dynastic name of the\nGhurjistan or Georgian Princes.\n\n[FN#255] Again old experience, which has learned at a heavy cost how\nmany a goodly apple is rotten at the core.\n\n[FN#256] This couplet has occurred in Night xxi. I give Torrens (p.\n206) by way of specimen.\n\n[FN#257] Arab. \"Z\u0431ka\" = merely tasting a thing which may be sweet with\na bitter after-flavour\n\n[FN#258] This tetraseich was in Night xxx. with a difference.\n\n[FN#259] The lines have occurred in Night xxx. I quote Torrens, p. 311.\n\n[FN#260] This tetrastich is in Night clxix. I borrow from Lane (ii.\n62).\n\n[FN#261] The rude but effective refrigerator of the desert Arab who\nhangs his water-skin to the branch of a tree and allows it to swing in\nthe wind.\n\n[FN#262] Arab \"Khum\u0431siyah\" which Lane (ii. 438) renders \"of quinary\nstature.\" Usually it means five spans, but here five feet, showing that\nthe girl was young and still growing. The invoice with a slave always\nnotes her height in spans measured from ankle-bone to ear and above\nseven she loses value as being full grown. Hence Sud\u0431si (fem.\nSud\u0431siyah) is a slave six spans high, the Shibr or full span (9 inches)\nnot the Fitr or short span from thumb to index. Faut is the\ninterval-between every finger, Ratab between index and medius, and Atab\nbetween medius and annularis.\n\n[FN#263] \"Moon faced\" now sounds sufficiently absurd to us, but it was\nnot always so. Solomon (Cant. vi. 10) does not disdain the image \"fair\nas the moon, clear as the sun,\" and those who have seen a moon in the\nsky of Arabia will thoroughly appreciate it. We find it amongst the\nHindus, the Persians, the Afghans, the Turks and all the nations of\nEurope. We have, finally, the grand example of Spenser,\n\n\"Her spacious forehead, like the clearest moon, etc.\"\n\n[FN#264] Blue eyes have a bad name in Arabia as in India: the witch\nZark\u0431 of Al-Yamamah was noted for them; and \"blue eyed\" often means\n\"fierce-eyed,\" alluding to the Greeks and Daylamites, mortal-enemies to\nIshmael. The Arabs say \"ruddy of mustachio, blue of eye and black of\nheart.\"\n\n[FN#265] Before explained as used with camphor to fill the dead man's\nmouth.\n\n[FN#266] As has been seen, slapping on the neck is equivalent to our\n\"boxing ears,\" but much less barbarous and likely to injure the child.\nThe most insulting blow is that with shoe sandal-or slipper because it\nbrings foot in contact with head. Of this I have spoken before.\n\n[FN#267] Arab. \"Hib\u0431l\" (= ropes) alluding to the A'ak\u0431l-fillet which\nbinds the K\u044afiyah-kerchief on the Badawi's head. (Pilgrimage, i. 346.)\n\n[FN#268] Arab. \"Khiy\u0431l\"; afterwards called Kara Gyuz (= \"black eyes,\"\nfrom the celebrated Turkish Wazir). The mise-en-sc\u0438ne was like that of\nPunch, but of transparent cloth, lamp lit inside and showing\nsilhouettes worked by hand. Nothing could be more Fescenntne than Kara\nGyuz, who appeared with a phallus longer than himself and made all the\nConsuls-General-periodically complain of its abuse, while the dialogue,\nmostly in Turkish, as even more obscene. Most ingenious were Kara\nGyuz's little ways of driving on an Obstinate donkey and of tackling a\nhuge Anatolian pilgrim. He mounted the Neddy's back face to tail, and\ninserting his left thumb like a clyster, hammered it with his right\nwhen the donkey started at speed. For the huge pilgrim he used a\nladder. These shows now obsolete, used to enliven the Ezbekiyah Gardens\nevery evening and explain Ovid's Words,\n\n\"Delicias videam, Nile jocose, tuas!\"\n\n[FN#269] Mohammed (Mishk\u0431t al-Mas\u0431bih ii. 360-62) says, \"Change the\nwhiteness of your hair but not with anything black.\" Abu Bakr, who was\ntwo years and some months older than the Prophet, used tincture of\nHenna and Katam. Old Turkish officers justify black dyes because these\nmake them look younger and fiercer. Henna stains white hair orange red;\nand the Persians apply after it a paste of indigo leaves, the result is\nsuccessively leek-green, emerald-green, bottle-green and lastly\nlamp-black. There is a stage in life (the youth of old age) when man\nuses dyes: presently he finds that the whole face wants dye; that the\ncontrast between juvenile coloured hair and ancient skin is ridiculous\nand that it is time to wear white.\n\n[FN#270] This prejudice extends all over the East: the Sanskrit saying\nis \"Kvachit k\u0431n\u0431 bhaveta s\u0431dhus\" now and then a monocular is honest.\nThe left eye is the worst and the popular idea is, I have said, that\nthe damage will come by the injured member\n\n[FN#271] The Arabs say like us, \"Short and thick is never quick\" and\n\"Long and thin has little in.\"\n\n[FN#272] Arab. \"Ba'azu lay\u0431li,\" some night when his mistress failed\nhim.\n\n[FN#273] The fountain in Paradise before noticed.\n\n[FN#274] Before noticed as the Moslem St. Peter (as far as the keys\ngo).\n\n[FN#275] Arab. \"Munkasir\" = broken, frail, languishing the only form of\nthe maladive allowed. Here again we have masculine for feminine: the\neyelids show love-desire, but, etc.\n\n[FN#276] The river of Paradise.\n\n[FN#277] See Night xii. \"The Second Kalandar's Tale \" vol. i. 113.\n\n[FN#278] Lane (ii. 472) refers for specimens of calligraphy to Herbin's\n\"D\u0439veloppements, etc.\" There are many more than seven styles of writing\nas I have shown in Night xiii.; vol. i. 129.\n\n[FN#279] Amongst good Moslems this would be a claim upon a man.\n\n[FN#280] These lines have occurred twice already: and first appear in\nNight xxii. I have borrowed from Mr. Payne (iv. 46).\n\n[FN#281] Arab. \"Ya Nasr\u0431ni\", the address is not intrinsically slighting\nbut it may easily be made so. I have elsewhere noted that when Julian\n(is said to have) exclaimed \"Vicisti Nazarene!\" he was probably\nthinking in Eastern phrase \"Nasarta, y\u0431 Nasr\u0431ni!\"\n\n[FN#282] Thirst is the strongest of all pleas to an Eastern, especially\nto a Persian who never forgets the sufferings of his Imam, Husayn, at\nKerbela: he would hardly withhold it from the murderer of his father.\nThere is also a Hadis, \"Thou shalt not refuse water to him who\nthirsteth in the desert.\"\n\n[FN#283] Arab. \"Zimmi\" which Lane (ii. 474) aptly translates a\n\"tributary.\" The Koran (chaps. ix.) orders Unbelievers to Islamize or\nto \"pay tribute by right of subjection\" (lit. an yadin=out of hand, an\nexpression much debated). The least tribute is one dinar per annum\nwhich goes to the poor-rate. and for this the Kafir enjoys protection\nand almost all the civil rights of Moslems. As it is a question of\n\"loaves and fishes\" there is much to say on the subject; \"loaves and\nfishes\" being the main base and foundation of all religious\nestablishments.\n\n[FN#284] This tetrastich has before occurred, so I quote Lane (ii.\n444).\n\n[FN#285] In Night xxxv. the same occurs with a difference.\n\n[FN#286] The old rite, I repeat, has lost amongst all but the noblest\nof Arab tribes the whole of its significance; and the traveller must be\ncareful how he trusts to the phrase \"Nahnu m\u0431lihin\" we are bound\ntogether by the salt.\n\n[FN#287] Arab. \"Al\u0431ma\" = Al\u0431-m\u0431 = upon what ? wherefore ?\n\n[FN#288] Arab. \"Mauz\"; hence the Linnean name Musa (paradisiaca, etc.).\nThe word is explained by Sale (Koran, chaps. xxxvii. 146) as \"a small\ntree or shrub;\" and he would identify it with Jonah's gourd.\n\n[FN#289] Lane (ii. 446) \"bald wolf or empowered fate,\" reading (with\nMac.) Kaz\u0431 for Kattan (cat).\n\n[FN#290] i.e. \"the Orthodox in the Faith.\" R\u0431shid is a proper name,\nwitness that scourge of Syria, R\u0431shid Pasha. Born in 1830, of the Haji\nNazir Agha family, Darrah-Beys of Macedonian Draina, he was educated in\nParis where he learned the usual-hatred of Europeans: he entered the\nEgyptian service in 1851, and, presently exchanging it for the Turkish,\nbecame in due time Wali (Governor-General) of Syria which he plundered\nmost shamelessly. Recalled in 1872, he eventually entered the Ministry\nand on June 15 1876, he was shot down, with other villains like\nhimself, by gallant Captain Hasan, the Circassian (Yarham-hu 'll\u0431h !).\n\n[FN#291] Quoted from a piece of verse, of which more presently.\n\n[FN#292] This tetrastich has occurred before (Night cxciii.). I quote\nLane (ii. 449), who quotes Dryden's Spanish Friar,\n\n          \"There is a pleasure sure in being mad\n\n\n           Which none but madmen know.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#293] Lane (ii. 449) gives a tradition of the Prophet, \"Whoso is in\nlove, and acteth chastely, and concealeth (his passion) and dieth,\ndieth a martyr.\" Sakar is No. 5 Hell for Magi Guebres, Parsis, etc., it\nis used in the comic Persian curse, \"Fi'n-n\u0431ri wa Sakar al-jadd\nw'al-pidar\"=ln Hell and Sakar his grandfather and his father.\n\n[FN#294] Arab. \"Sifr\": I have warned readers that whistling is\nconsidered a kind of devilish speech by the Arabs, especially the\nBadawin, and that the traveller must avoid it. It savours of idolatry:\nin the Koran we find (chaps. viii. 35), \"Their prayer at the House of\nGod (Ka'abah) is none other than whistling and hand-clapping;\" and\ntradition says that they whistled through their fingers. Besides many\nof the Jinn have only round holes by way of mouths and their speech is\nwhistling a kind of bird language like sibilant English.\n\n[FN#295] Arab. 'K\u043dl wa k\u0431l\"=lit. \"it was said and he said;\" a popular\nphrase for chit chat, tittle-tattle, prattle and prate, etc.\n\n[FN#296] Arab. \"Hadis.\" comparing it with a tradition of the\n\n\nProphet.\n\n\n\n[FN#297] Arab. \"Mikashshah,\" the thick part of a midrib of a palm-frond\nsoaked for some days in water and beaten out till the fibres separate.\nIt makes an exceedingly hard, although not a lasting broom.\n\n[FN#298] Persian, \"the youth, the brave;\" Sansk. Yuv\u0431n: and Lat.\nJuvenis. The Kurd, in tales, is generally a sturdy thief; and in\nreal-life is little better.\n\n[FN#299] Arab. \"Y\u0431 Shatir ;\" lit. O clever one (in a bad sense).\n\n[FN#300] Lane (ii. 453) has it. \"that I may dress thy hair'\" etc.\n\n\nThis is Bowdlerising with a witness.\n\n\n\n[FN#301] The sign of respect when a personage dismounts.\n\n\n(Pilgrimage i. 77.)\n\n\n\n[FN#302] So the Hindus speak of \"the defilement of separation\" as if it\nwere an impurity.\n\n[FN#303] Lane (i. 605) gives a long and instructive note on these\npublic royal-banquets which were expected from the lieges by Moslem\nsubjects. The hanging-penalty is, perhaps, a tattle exaggerated; but we\nfind the same excess in the priestly Gesta Romanorum.\n\n[FN#304] Had he eaten it he would have become her guest. Amongst the\nolder Badawin it was sufficient to spit upon a man (in entreaty) to\nclaim his protection: so the horse-thieves when caught were placed in a\nhole in the ground covered over with matting to prevent this happening.\nSimilarly Saladin (Sal\u0431h al-Din) the chivalrous would not order a cup\nof water for the robber, Reynald de Ch\u0432tillon, before putting him to\ndeath\n\n[FN#305] Arab. \"Kishk\" properly \"Kashk\"=wheat-meal-coarsely ground and\neaten with milk or broth. It is de rigueur with the Egyptian Copts on\nthe \"Friday of Sorrow\" (Good Friday): and Lane gives the recipe for\nmaking it (M. E. chaps. xxvi.)\n\n[FN#306] In those days distinctive of Moslems.\n\n[FN#307] The euphemism has before been noticed: the Moslem reader would\nnot like to pronounce the words \"I am a Nazarene.\" The same formula\noccurs a little lower down to save the reciter or reader from saying\n\"Be my wife divorced,\" etc.\n\n[FN#308] Arab, \"H\u0431jj,\" a favourite Egyptianism. We are wrong to write\nHajji which an Eastern would pronounce H\u0431j-j\u043d.\n\n[FN#309] This is Cairene \"chaff.\"\n\n[FN#310] Whose shell fits very tight.\n\n[FN#311] His hand was like a raven's because he ate with thumb and two\nfingers and it came up with the rice about it like a camel's hoof in\ndirty ground. This refers to the proverb (Burckhardt, 756), \"He comes\ndown a crow-claw (small) and comes up a camel-hoof (huge and round).\"\n\n[FN#312] Easterns have a superstitious belief in the powers of food: I\nknew a learned man who never sat down to eat without a ceremonious\nsalam to his meat.\n\n[FN#313] Lane (ii. 464), uses the vile Turkish corruption \"Rustum,\"\nwhich, like its fellow \"Rustem,\" would make a Persian shudder.\n\n[FN#314] Arab. \"Darrij\" i.e. let them slide (Americanic\u0438).\n\n[FN#315] This tetrastich has occurred before: so I quote Mr. Payne (in\nloco).\n\n[FN#316] Shaykh of Al-Butnah and J\u0431biyah, therefore a Syrian of the\nHauran near Damascus and grandson to Is\u044a (Esau). Arab mystics (unlike\nthe vulgar who see only his patience) recognise that inflexible\nintegrity which refuses to utter \"words of wind\" and which would not,\nagainst his conscience, confess to wrong-doing merely to pacify the\nLord who was stronger than himself. The Classics taught this noble\nlesson in the case of Prometheus versus Zeus. Many articles are called\nafter Job e.g. Ra'ar\u0431' Ayyub or Ghubayr\u0431 (inula Arabica and undulata),\na creeper with which he rubbed himself and got well: the Copts do the\nsame on \"Job's Wednesday,\" i.e. that before Whit Sunday O.S. Job's\nfather is a nickname of the camel, etc. etc.\n\n[FN#317] Lane (in loco) renders \"I am of their number.\" But \"f\u043d\nal-siy\u0431k\" means popularly \"(driven) to the point of death.\"\n\n[FN#318] Lit. = \"pathway, road\"; hence the bridge well known as \"finer\nthan a hair and sharper than a sword,\" over which all (except Khadijah\nand a chosen few) must pass on the Day of Doom; a Persian apparatus\nbodily annexed by Al-Islam. The old Guebres called it Puli Chin\u0431var or\nChin\u0431vad and the Jews borrowed it from them as they did all their\nfancies of a future life against which Moses had so gallantly fought.\nIt is said that a bridge over the grisly \"brook Kedron\" was called\nSir\u0431t (the road) and hence the idea, as that of hell-fire from\nGe-Hinnom (Gehenna) where children were passed through the fire to\nMoloch. A doubtful Hadis says, \"The Prophet declared Al-Sir\u0431t to be the\nname of a bridge over hell- fire, dividing Hell from Paradise\" (pp. 17,\n122, Reynold's trans. of Al-Siyuti's Traditions, etc.). In Koran i. 5,\n\"Sirat\" is simply a path, from sarata, he swallowed, even as the way\ndevours (makes a lakam or mouthful of) those who travel it. The word\nwas orig. written with S\u043dn but changed for easier articulation to S\u0431d,\none of the four Hur\u044af al-Mutabbak\u0431t, \"the flattened,\" formed by the\nbroadened tongue in contact with the palate. This Sad also by the\nfigure Ishm\u0431m (=conversion) turns slightly to a Z\u0431, the intermediate\nbetween Sin and Sad.\n\n[FN#319] The rule in Turkey where catamites rise to the highest rank:\nC'est un homme de bonne famille (said a Turkish officer in Egypt) il a\n\u0439t\u0439 achet\u0439. Hence \"Alfi\" (one who costs a thousand) is a well-known\ncognomen. The Pasha of the Syrian caravan, with which I travelled' had\nbeen the slave of a slave and he was not a solitary instance.\n(Pilgrimage i. 90.)\n\n[FN#320] The device of the banquet is dainty enough for any old Italian\nnovella; all that now comes is pure Egyptian polissonnerie speaking to\nthe gallery and being answered by roars of laughter.\n\n[FN#321] i.e. \"art thou ceremonially pure and therefore fit for\nhandling by a great man like myself?\"\n\n[FN#322] In past days before Egypt was \"frankified\" many overlanders\nused to wash away the traces of travel by a Turkish bath which mostly\nended in the appearance of a rump wriggling little lad who offered to\nshampoo them. Many accepted his offices without dreaming of his\nusual-use or misuse.\n\n[FN#323] Arab. \"Im\u0431m.\" This is (to a Moslem) a most offensive\ncomparison between prayer and car. cop.\n\n[FN#324] Arab. \"Fi zaman-hi,\" alluding to a peculiarity highly prized\nby Egyptians; the use of the constrictor vagin\u0436 muscles, the sphincter\nfor which Abyssinian women are famous. The \"Kabb\u0431zah\" ( = holder), as\nshe is called, can sit astraddle upon a man and can provoke the\nvenereal-orgasm, not by wriggling and moving but by tightening and\nloosing the male member with the muscles of her privities, milking it\nas it were. Consequently the cassenoisette costs treble the money of\nother concubines. (Arranga-Ranga, p. 127.)\n\n[FN#325] The little eunuchs had evidently studied the Harem.\n\n[FN#326] Lane (ii. 494) relates from Al-Makrizi, that when Kham\u0431rawayh,\nGovernor of Egypt (ninth century), suffered from insomnia, his\nphysician ordered a pool of quicksilver 50 by 50 cubits, to be laid out\nin front of his palace, now the Rumaylah square. \"At the corners of the\npool were silver pegs, to which were attached by silver rings strong\nbands of silk, and a bed of skins, inflated with air, being thrown upon\nthe pool and secured by the bands remained in a continual-state of\nagreeable vacillation.\" We are not told that the Prince was thereby\nsalivated like the late Colonel Sykes when boiling his mercury for\nthermometric experiments,\n\n[FN#327] The name seems now unknown. \"Al-Khah\u043d'a\" is somewhat stronger\nthan \"Wag,\" meaning at least a \"wicked wit.\" Properly it is the Span.\n\"perdido,\" a youth cast off (Khala') by his friends; though not so\nstrong a term as \"Harf\u044ash\"=a blackguard.\n\n[FN#328] Arab. \"Farsakh\"=parasang.\n\n[FN#329] Arab. \"Nah\u0431s asfar\"=yellow copper, brass as opposed to Nah\u0431s\nahmar=copper The reader who cares to study the subject will find much\nabout it in my \"Book of The Sword,\" chaps. iv.\n\n[FN#330] Lane (ii. 479) translates one stanza of this mukhammas\n(pentastich) and speaks of \"five more,\" which would make six.\n\n[FN#331] A servile name. Delicacy, Elegance.\n\n[FN#332] These verses have occurred twice (Night ix. etc.): so I give\nLane's version (ii. 482).\n\n[FN#333] A Badawi tribe to which belonged the generous Ma'an bin\n\n\nZa'idab, often mentioned The Nights.\n\n\n\n[FN#334] Wealthy harems, I have said, are hot-beds of Sapphism and\nTribadism. Every woman past her first youth has a girl whom she calls\nher \"Myrtle\" (in Damascus). At Agbome, capital-of Dahome, I found that\na troop of women was kept for the use of the \"Amazons\" (Mission to\nGelele, ii. 73). Amongst the wild Arabs, who ignore Socratic and\nSapphic perversions, the lover is always more jealous of his beloved's\ngirl-friends than of men rivals. In England we content ourselves with\nsaying that women corrupt women more than men do.\n\n[FN#335] The Hebrew Pentateuch; Roll of the Law.\n\n[FN#336] I need hardly notice the brass trays, platters and\ntable-covers with inscriptions which are familiar to every reader:\nthose made in the East for foreign markets mostly carry imitation\ninscriptions lest infidel eyes fall upon Holy Writ.\n\n[FN#337] These six distichs are in Night xiii. I borrow Torrens (p.\n125) to show his peculiar treatment of spinning out 12 lines to 38.\n\n[FN#338] Arab. \"Mus\u0431mirah\"=chatting at night. Easterns are inordinately\nfond of the practice and the wild Arabs often sit up till dawn, talking\nover the affairs of the tribe, indeed a Shaykh is expected to do so.\n\"Early to bed and early to rise\" is a civilised, not a savage or a\nbarbarous saying. Sam\u043dr is a companion in night talk; Raf\u043dk of the\nroad; Rah\u043db in riding horse or camel, K\u0431'id in sitting, Shar\u043db and\nRaf\u043ds at drink, and Nad\u043dm at table: Ah\u043dd is an ally. and Shar\u043dk a\npartner all on the model of \"Fa'\u043dl.\"\n\n[FN#339] In both lover and beloved the excess of love gave them this\nclairvoyance.\n\n[FN#340] The prayer will be granted for the excess (not the purity) of\nher love.\n\n[FN#341] This wailing over the Past is one of the common-places of\nBadawi poetry. The traveller cannot fail, I repeat, to notice the\nchronic melancholy of peoples dwelling under the brightest skies.\n\n[FN#342] Moons=Bud\u044ar\n\n[FN#343] in Paradise as a martyr.\n\n[FN#344] i.e. to intercede for me in Heaven; as if the young woman were\nthe prophet.\n\n[FN#345] The comparison is admirable as the two letters are written. It\noccurs in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Ramlah).\n\n\"So I embraced him close as L\u0431m cleaves to Alif:\"\n\nAnd again;\n\n     \"She laid aside reluctance and I embraced her close\n\n\n     As if I were Lam and my love Alif.\"\n\n\n\nThe Lomad Olaph in Syriac is similarly colligated.\n\n[FN#346] Here is a double entendre \"and the infirm letters (viz. a, w\nand y) not subject to accidence, left him.\" The three make up the root\n\"Awi\"=pitying, condoling.\n\n[FN#347] Showing that consummation had taken place. It was a sign of\ngood breeding to avoid all \"indecent hurry\" when going to bed. In some\nMoslem countries the bridegroom does not consummate the marriage for\nseven nights; out of respect for (1) father (2) mother (3) brother and\nso forth. If he hurry matters he will be hooted as an \"impatient man\"\nand the wise will quote, \"Man is created of precipitation\" (Koran\nchaps. xxi. 38), meaning hasty and inconsiderate. I remark with\npleasure that the whole of this tale is told with commendable delicacy.\nO si sic omnia!\n\n[FN#348] Pers. \"Nauroz\"(=nau roz, new day):here used in the Arab.\nplur.'Naw\u0431riz, as it lasted six days. There are only four:\nuniversal-festivals; the solstices and the equinoxes; and every\nsuccessive religion takes them from the sun and perverts them to its\nown private purposes. Lane (ii. 496) derives the venerable Nauroz whose\nbirth is hid in the outer glooms of antiquity from the \"Jewish\nPassover\"(!)\n\n[FN#349] Again the \"babes\" of the eyes.\n\n[FN#350] i.e. whose glance is as the light of the glowing braise or\n(embers). The Arab. \"Mikb\u0431s\"=pan or pot full of small charcoal, is an\narticle well known in Italy and Southern Europe. The word is apparently\nused here because it rhymes with \"Anf\u0431s\" (souls, spirits).\n\n[FN#351] i.e. martyrdom; a Koranic term \"fi sab\u043dli 'llahi\" = on the way\nof Allah\n\n[FN#352] These rhymes in -y, -ee and -ie are purposely affected, to\nimitate the cadence of the Arabic.\n\n[FN#353] Arab. \"Suj\u044ad,\" the ceremonial-prostration, touching the ground\nwith the forehead So in the Old Testament \"he bowed (or fell down) and\nworshipped\" (Gen. xxiv., 26 Mat. ii., 11), of which our translation\ngives a wrong idea.\n\n[FN#354] A girl is called \"Alfiyyah \" = A-shaped.\n\n[FN#355] i.e. the medial-form of m.\n\n[FN#356] i.e. the inverted n.\n\n[FN#357] It may also mean a \"Sevign\u0439 of pearls.\"\n\n[FN#358] Koran xxvii. 12. This was one of the nine \"signs\" to wicked\n\"Pharaoh.\" The \"hand of Moses\" is a symbol of power and ability (Koran\nvii. 105). The whiteness was supernatural-beauty, not leprosy of the\nJews (Exod. iv. 6); but brilliancy, after being born red or black:\naccording to some commentators, Moses was a negro.\n\n[FN#359] Koran iii. 103; the other faces become black. This explains I\nhave noticed the use of the phrases in blessing and cursing.\n\n[FN#360] Here we have the naked legend of the negro's origin, one of\nthose nursery tales in which the ignorant of Christendom still believe\nBut the deduction from the fable and the testimony to the negro's lack\nof intelligence, though unpleasant to our ignorant negrophils, are\nfactual-and satisfactory.\n\n[FN#361] Koran, xcii. 1, 2: an oath of Allah to reward and punish with\nHeaven and Hell.\n\n[FN#362] Alluding to the \"black drop\" in the heart: it was taken from\nMohammed's by the Archangel Gabriel. The fable seems to have arisen\nfrom the verse ' Have we not opened thy breast?\" (Koran, chaps. xciv.\n1). The popular tale is that Hal\u043dmah, the Badawi nurse of Mohammed, of\nthe Banu Sa'ad tribe, once saw her son, also a child, running towards\nher and asked him what was the matter. He answered, 'My little brother\nwas seized by two men in white who stretched him on the ground and\nopened his bellyl\" For a full account and deductions see the Rev. Mr.\nBadger's article, \"Muhammed\" (p. 959) in vol. in. \"Dictionary of\nChristian Biography.\"\n\n[FN#363] Arab. \"Sumr,\" lit. brown (as it is afterwards used), but\npolitely applied to a negro: \"Y\u0431 Abu Sumrah!\" O father of brownness.\n\n[FN#364] Arab. 'Lum\u0431\"=dark hue of the inner lips admired by the Arabs\nand to us suggesting most umpleasant ideas. Mr. Chenery renders it\n\"dark red,' and \"ruddy\" altogether missing the idea.\n\n[FN#365] Arab. \"Saud\u0431,\" feminine of aswad (black), and meaning black\nbile (melancholia) as opposed to leucocholia,\n\n[FN#366] i.e. the Magians, Sabians, Zoroastrians.\n\n[FN#367] The \"Unguinum fulgor\" of the Latins who did not forget to\ncelebrate the shining of the nails although they did not Henna them\nlike Easterns. Some, however, have suggested that alludes to colouring\nmatter.\n\n[FN#368] Women with white skins are supposed to be heating and\nunwholesome: hence the Hindu Rajahs slept with dark girls in the hot\nseason.\n\n[FN#369] Moslems sensibly have a cold as well as a hot Hell, the former\ncalled Zamharir (lit. \"intense cold\")or AI-Barah\u044at, after a well in\nHazramaut; as Gehenna (Arab. \"Jahannam\") from the furnace-like ravine\nEast of Jerusalem (Night cccxxv.). The icy Hell is necessary in\nterrorem for peoples who inhabit cold regions and who in a hot Hell\nonly look forward to an eternity of \"coals and candles\" gratis. The\nsensible missionaries preached it in Iceland till foolishly forbidden\nby Papal-Bull.\n\n[FN#370] Koran ii. 26; speaking of Abraham when he entertained the\nangels unawares.\n\n[FN#371] Arab. \"Rakb,\" usually applied to a fast-going caravan of\ndromedary riders (Pilgrimage ii. 329). The \"Cafilah\" is Arab.:\n\"Caravan\" is a corruption of the Pers. \"Karw\u0431n.\"\n\n[FN#372] A popular saying. It is interesting to contrast this dispute\nbetween fat and thin with the Shakespearean humour of Falstaff and\nPrince Henry.\n\n[FN#373] Arab. \"Dalak\" vulg. Hajar al-Hammam (Hammam-stone). The\ncomparison is very apt: the rasps are of baked clay artificially\nroughened (see illustrations in Lane M. E. chaps. xvi.). The rope is\ncalled \"Masad,\" a bristling line of palm-fibre like the coir now\nfamiliarly known in England.\n\n[FN#374] Although the Arab's ideal-of beauty, as has been seen and\nsaid, corresponds with ours the Egyptians (Modern) the Maroccans and\nother negrofied races like \"walking tun-butts\" as Clapperton called his\namorous widow.\n\n[FN#375] Arab. \"Khayzar\" or \"Khayzar\u0431n\" the rattan-palm. Those who have\nseen this most graceful \"palmijuncus\" in its native forest will\nrecognize the neatness of the simile.\n\n[FN#376] This is the popular idea of a bushy \"veil of nature\" in women:\nit is always removed by depilatories and vellication. When Bilkis Queen\nof Sheba discovered her legs by lifting her robe (Koran xxvii.),\nSolomon was minded to marry her, but would not do so till the devils\nhad by a depilatory removed the hair. The popular preparation (called\nN\u044arah) consists of quicklime 7 parts, and Zirn\u043dk or orpiment, 3 parts:\nit is applied in the Hammam to a perspiring skin, and it must be washed\noff immediately the hair is loosened or it burns and discolours. The\nrest of the body-pile (Sha'arat opp. to Sha'ar=hair) is eradicated by\napplying a mixture of boiled honey with turpentine or other gum, and\nrolling it with the hand till the hair comes off. Men I have said\nremove the pubes by shaving, and pluck the hair of the arm-pits, one of\nthe vestiges of pre-Adamite man. A good depilatory is still a\ndesideratum, the best perfumers of London and Paris have none which\nthey can recommend. The reason is plain: the hair bulb can be\neradicated only by destroying the skin.\n\n[FN#377] Koran, ii. 64: referring to the heifer which the Jews were\nordered to sacrifice,\n\n[FN#378] Arab. \"kall\u0431,\" a Koranic term possibly from Kull (all) and l\u0431\n(not) =prorsus non-altogether not!\n\n[FN#379] \"Hab\u0431b\" or \"Hab\u0431,\" the fine particles of dust, which we call\nmotes. The Cossid (Arab. \"K\u0431sid\") is the Anglo-Indian term for a\nrunning courier (mostly under Government), the Persian \"Sh\u0431tir\" and the\nGuebre R\u0431vand.\n\n[FN#380] Arab. \"Sambari\" a very long thin lance so called after Samhar,\nthe maker, or the place of making. See vol. ii. p. 1. It is supposed to\ncast, when planted in the ground, a longer shadow in proportion to its\nheight, than any other thing of the kind.\n\n[FN#381] Arab. \"Sul\u0431fah ;\" properly prisane which flows from the grapes\nbefore pressure. The plur. \"Saw\u0431lif\" also means tresses of hair and\npast events: thus there is a \"triple entendre.\" And again \"he\" is used\nfor \"she.\"\n\n[FN#382] There is a pun in the last line, \"Kh\u0431lun (a mole) khallauni\"\n(rid me), etc.\n\n[FN#383] Of old Fust\u0431t, afterwards part of Southern Cairo, a\nproverbially miserable quarter hence the saying, \"They quoted Misr to\nK\u0431hirah (Cairo), whereon Bab al-Luk rose with its grass,\" in derision\nof nobodies who push themselves forward. Burckhardt, Prov. 276.\n\n[FN#384] Its fruits are the heads of devils; a true Dantesque fancy.\nKoran, chaps. xvii. 62, \"the tree cursed in the Koran\" and in chaps.\nxxxvii., 60, \"is this better entertainment, or the tree of Al-Zakk\u044am?\"\nCommentators say that it is a thorn bearing a bitter almond which grows\nin the Tehamah and was therefore promoted to Hell.\n\n[FN#385] Arab. \"Lasm\" (lathm) as opposed to Bausah or boseh (a buss)\nand Kublah (a kiss,\n\n[FN#386] Arab. \"Juf\u044an\" (plur. of Jafn) which may mean eyebrows or\neyelashes and only the context can determine which. [FN#387] Very\ncharacteristic of Egyptian manners is the man who loves six girls\nequally well, who lends them, as it were, to the Caliph; and who takes\nback the goods as if in no wise damaged by the loan.\n\n[FN#388] The moon is masculine possibly by connection with the\n\n\nAssyrian Lune-god \"Sin\"; but I can find no cause for the Sun\n\n\n(Shams) being feminine.\n\n\n\n[FN#389] Arab. \"Al-Amin,\" a title of the Prophet. It is usually held\nthat this proud name \"The honest man,\" was applied by his\nfellow-citizens to Mohammed in early life; and that in his twenty-fifth\nyear, when the Eighth Ka'abah was being built, it induced the tribes to\nmake him their umpire concerning the distinction of placing in position\nthe \"Black Stone\" which Gabriel had brought from Heaven to be set up as\nthe starting-post for the seven circuitings. He distributed the honour\namongst the clans and thus gave universal satisfaction. His Christian\nbiographers mostly omit to record an anecdote which speaks so highly in\nMohammed's favour. (Pilgrimage iii. 192.)\n\n[FN#390] The idea is that Abu Nowas was a thought-reader such being the\nprerogative of inspired poets in the East. His drunkenness and\ndebauchery only added to his power. I have already noticed that \"Allah\nstrike thee dead\" (K\u0431tala-k Allah) is like our phrase \"Confound the\nfellow, how clever he is.\"\n\n[FN#391] Again said facetiously, \"Devil take you!\"\n\n[FN#392] In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs,\nmorning and evening especially: otherwise they soon die of rheumatism\nand loin disease.\n\n[FN#393] =Beatrice. A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.\n\n\nSee also Night dcclxxxi.\n\n\n\n[FN#394] The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a \"jealous God\" from\ntheir kinsmen, the Jews. Every race creates its own Deity after the\nfashion of itself: Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew, the Christian Theos\nis originally a Jud\u0436o-Greek and Allah a half-Badawi Arab. In this tale\nAllah, despotic and unjust, brings a generous and noble-minded man to\nbeggary, simply because he fed his dogs off gold plate. Wisdom and\nmorality have their infancy and youth: the great value of such tales as\nthese is to show and enable us to measure man's development.\n\n[FN#395] In Tr\u0439butien (Lane ii. 501) the merchant says to ex-Dives,\n\"Thou art wrong in charging Destiny with injustice. If thou art\nignorant of the cause of thy ruin I will acquaint thee with it. Thou\nfeddest the dogs in dishes of gold and leftest the poor to die of\nhunger.\" A superstition, but intelligible.\n\n[FN#396] Arab. \"Sarr\u0431f\" = a money changer.\n\n[FN#397] Arab. \"Birkah,\" a common feature in the landscapes of Lower\nEgypt: it is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of the Nile;\nor, as in the text, a built-up tank, like the \"T\u0431l\u0431b\" for which India\nis famous. Sundry of these Birkahs are or were in Cairo itself; and\nsome are mentioned in The Nights.\n\n[FN#398] This sneer at the \"military\" and the \"police\" might come from\nan English convict's lips.\n\n[FN#399] Lit. \"The conquering King;\" a dynastic title assumed by Sal\u0431h\nal-D\u043dn (Saladin) and sundry of the Ayy\u044abi (Eyoubite) sovereigns of\nEgypt, whom I would call the \"Soldans.\"\n\n[FN#400] \"K\u0431hirah\" (i.e. City of Mars the Planet) is our Cairo: Bulak\nis the port suburb on the Nile, till 1858 wholly disjoined from the\nCity; and Fostat is the outlier popularly called Old Cairo. The latter\nterm is generally translated \"town of leathern tents;\" but in Arabic\n\"fust\u0431t\" is an abode of Sha'ar=hair, such as horse-hair, in fact any\nhair but \"Wabar\"=soft hair, as the camel's. See Lane, Lex.\n\n[FN#401] Arab. \"Adl\"=just: a legal-witness to whose character there is\nno tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law. Here \"Adl\"\nis evidently used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal\n\n[FN#402] Lane (ii. 503) considers three thousand dinars (the figure in\nthe Bres. Edit.) \"a more probable sum.\" Possibly: but, I repeat,\nexaggeration is one of the many characteristics of The Nights.\n\n[FN#403] Calc. Edit. \"Kazir:\" the word is generally written\n\n\n\"Kazd\u043dr,\" Sansk. Kastira, born probably from the Greek .\n\n\n\n[FN#404] This would have passed for a peccadillo in the \"good old\ndays.\" As late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to \"pot\" any peasant\nwho dared to ride (instead of walking) past their barracks. Life is\ncheap in hot countries.\n\n[FN#405] Koran, xii. 46 \u2014 a passage expounding the doctrine of free\nwill: \"He who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own soul; and\nhe who doth evil, doth it against the same; for thy Lord,\" etc.\n\n[FN#406] Arab. \"Suffah\"; whence our Sofa. In Egypt it is a raised shelf\ngenerally of stone, about four feet high and headed with one or more\narches. It is an elaborate variety of the simple \"T\u0431k\" or niche, a mere\nhollow in the thickness of the wall. Both are used for such articles as\nbasin. ewer and soap; coffee cups, water bottles etc.\n\n[FN#407] In Upper Egypt (Apollinopolis Parva) pronounced \"Goos,\" the\nCoptic Kos-Birbir, once an emporium of the Arabian trade.\n\n[FN#408] This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.\n\n[FN#409] i.e. \"the father of a certain person\"; here the merchant whose\nname may have been Abu'l Hasan, etc. The useful word (thingumbob, what\nd'ye call him, donchah, etc.) has been bodily transferred into Spanish\nand Portuguese Fulano. It is of old genealogy, found in the Heb. Fulun\u043d\nwhich applies to a person only in Ruth iv. I, but is constantly so\nemployed by Rabbinic writers. The Greek use {Greek letters}.\n\n[FN#410] Lit. \"by his (i.e. her) hand,\" etc. Hence Lane (ii. 507) makes\nnonsense of the line.\n\n[FN#411] Arab. \"Badrah,\" as has been said, is properly a weight of\n10,000 dirhams or drachmas; but popularly used for largesse thrown to\nthe people at festivals.\n\n[FN#412] Arab. \"Allaho A'alam\"; (God knows!) here the popular phrase\nfor our, \"I know not;\" when it would be rude to say bluntly \"M'adri\"=\n\"don't know.\"\n\n[FN#413] There is a picturesque Moslem idea that good deeds become\nincarnate and assume human shapes to cheer the doer in his grave, to\ngreet him when he enters Paradise and so forth. It was borrowed from\nthe highly imaginative faith of the Guebre, the Zoroastrian. On\nChinavad or Chanyud-pul (Sir\u0431t), the Judgement bridge, 37 rods (rasan)\nlong, straight and 37 fathoms broad for the good, and crooked and\nnarrow as sword-edge for the bad, a nymph-like form will appear to the\nvirtuous and say, \"I am the personification of thy good deeds!\" In Hell\nthere will issue from a fetid gale a gloomy figure with head like a\nminaret, red eyeballs, hooked nose, teeth like pillars, spear-like\nfangs, snaky locks etc. and when asked who he is he will reply, \"I am\nthe personification of thine evil acts!\" (Dabistan i. 285.) The Hindus\nalso personify everything.\n\n[FN#414] Arab. \"Ban\u044a Isra\u043dl;\" applied to the Jews when theirs was the\nTrue Faith i.e. before the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, whose mission\ncompleted that of Moses and made it obsolete (Matr\u044ak) even as the\nmission of Jesus was completed and abrogated by that of Mohammed. The\nterm \"Yah\u044ad\"=Jew is applied scornfully to the Chosen People after they\nrejected the Messiah, but as I have said \"Israelite\" is used on certain\noccasions, Jew on others.\n\n[FN#415] Arab. \"Kasa'ah,\" a wooden bowl, a porringer; also applied to a\nsaucer.\n\n[FN#416] Arab. \"Ras\u044al\"=one sent, an angel, an \"apostle;\" not to be\ntranslated, as by the vulgar, \"prophet.\" Moreover Rasul is higher than\nNab\u043d (prophet), such as Abraham, Isaac, etc., depositaries of Al-Islam,\nbut with a succession restricted to their own families. Nabi-mursil\n(Prophet-apostle) is the highest of all, one sent with a book: of these\nare now only four, Moses, David, Jesus and Mohammed, the writings of\nthe rest having perished. In Al-Islam also angels rank below men, being\nonly intermediaries (= , nuncii, messengers) between the Creator and\nthe Created. This knowledge once did me a good turn at Harar, not a\nsafe place in those days. (First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 349.)\n\n[FN#417] A doctor of law in the reign of Al-Maamun.\n\n[FN#418] Here the exclamation is= D.V.; and it may be assumed generally\nto have that sense.\n\n[FN#419] Arab. \"Taylas\u0431n,\" a turban worn hood-fashion by the \"Khat\u043db\"\nor preacher. I have sketched it in my Pilgrimage and described it (iii.\n315). Some Orientalists derive Taylasan from Atlas=satin, which is\npeculiarly inappropriate. The word is apparently barbarous and possibly\nPersian like Kalansuwah, the Dervish cap. \"Thou son of a Taylas\u0431n\"=a\nbarbarian. (De Sacy, Chrest. Arab. ii. 269.)\n\n[FN#420] Arab. \" Kinyah\" vulg. \"Kunyat\" = patronymic or matronymic; a\nname beginning with \"Abu\" (father) or with \"Umm\" (mother). There are so\nfew proper names in Al-Islam that such surnames, which, as will be\nseen, are of infinite variety, become necessary to distinguish\nindividuals. Of these sobriquets I shall give specimens further on.\n\n[FN#421] \"Whoso seeth me in his sleep, seeth me truly; for Satan cannot\nassume my semblance,\" said (or is said to have said) Mohammed. Hence\nthe vision is true although it comes in early night and not before\ndawn. See Lane M. E., chaps. ix.\n\n[FN#422] Arab. \"Al-Maukab ;\" the day when the pilgrims march out of the\ncity; it is a holiday for all, high and low.\n\n[FN#423] \"The Gate of Salutation ;\" at the South-Western corner of the\nMosque where Mohammed is buried. (Pilgrimage ii. 60 and plan.) Here\n\"Visitation\" (Ziy\u0431rah) begins.\n\n[FN#424] The tale is told by Al-Ish\u0431ki in the reign of Al-Maamun.\n\n[FN#425] The speaker in dreams is the Heb. \"Waggid,\" which the learned\nand angry Graetz (Geschichte, etc. vol. ix.) absurdly translates \"Traum\nsouffleur.\"\n\n[FN#426] Tenth Abbaside. A.D. 849-861\n\n[FN#427] Arab. \"Muwallad\" (fem. \"Muwalladah\"); a rearling, a slave born\nin a Moslem land. The numbers may appear exaggerated, but even the\npetty King of Ashanti had, till the last war, 3333 \"wives.\"\n\n[FN#428] The Under-prefect of Baghdad.\n\n[FN#429] \"Ja'afar,\" our old Giaffar (which is painfully like \"Gaffer,\"\ni.e. good father) means either a rushing river or a rivulet.\n\n[FN#430] A regular Fellah's name also that of a village\n\n\n(Pilgrimage i. 43) where a pleasant story is told about one Haykal.\n\n\n\n[FN#431] The \"Mountain\" means the rocky and uncultivated ground South\nof Cairo, such as Jabal-al-Ahmar and the geological-sea-coast flanked\nby the old Cairo-Suez highway.\n\n[FN#432] A popular phrase=our \"sharp as a razor.\"\n\n[FN#433] i.e. are men so few; a favourite Persian phrase.\n\n[FN#434] She is a woman of rank who would cause him to be assassinated.\n\n[FN#435] This is not Al-Hakimbi' Amri'llah the famous or infamous\nfounder of the Druze ((Dur\u044az)) faith and held by them to be, not an\nincarnation of the Godhead, but the Godhead itself in propri\u0432 person\u0432,\nwho reigned A.D. 926-1021: our Hakim is the orthodox Abbaside Caliph of\nEgypt who dated from two centuries after him (A.D. 1261). Had the\nformer been meant, it would have thrown back this part of The Nights to\nan earlier date than is generally accepted. But in a place still to\ncome I shall again treat of the subject.\n\n[FN#436] For an account of a similar kind which was told to me during\nthe last few years see \"Midian Revisited,\" i. 15. These hiding-places\nare innumerable in lands of venerable antiquity like Egypt; and, if\nthere were any contrivance for detecting hidden treasure, it would make\nthe discoverer many times a millionaire.\n\n[FN#437] i.e. it had been given to him or his in writing, like the book\nleft to the old woman before quoted in \"Midian,\" etc.\n\n[FN#438] Arab. \"Kird\" (pron. in Egypt \"Gird\"). It is usually the\nhideous Abyssinian cynocephalus which is tamed by the ape-leader\npopularly called Kuraydati (Lane, M.E., chaps. xx.). The beast has a\nnatural-penchant for women ; I heard of one which attempted to rape a\ngirl in the public street and was prevented only by a sentinel's\nbayonet. They are powerful animals and bite like greyhounds.\n\n[FN#439] Easterns attribute many complaints (such as toothache) to\nworms, visible as well as microscopic, which may be held a fair\nprolepsis of the \"germ-theory\" the bacterium. the bacillus, the\nmicrobe. Nymphomania, the disease alluded to in these two tales is\nalways attributed to worms in the vagina.\n\n[FN#440] Bestiality, very rare in Arabia is fatally common amongst\nthose most debauched of debauched races, the Egyptian proper and the\nSindis. Hence the Pentateuch, whose object was to breed a larger\npopulation of fighting men, made death the penalty for lying with a\nbeast (Deut. xxvii. 21). C. S. Sonnini (Travels, English translation,\np. 663) gives a curious account of Fellah lewdness. \"The female\ncrocodile during congress is turned upon her back ( ?) and cannot rise\nwithout difficulty. Will it be believed that there are men who take\nadvantage of the helpless situation of the female, drive off the male,\nand supplant him in this frightful intercourse ? Horrible embraces, the\nknowledge of which was wanting to complete the disgusting history of\nhuman perversity!\" The French traveller forgets to add the\nsuperstitious explanation of this congress which is the sovereignest\ncharm for rising to rank and riches. The Aj\u0431ib al-Hind tells a tale\n(chaps. xxxix.) of a certain Mohammed bin Bullishad who had issue by a\nshe-ape: the young ones were hairless of body and wore quasi-human\nfaces; and the father's sight had become dim by his bestial-practice.","title":"The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night \u2014 Volume 04 (of 10)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":133268}