{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_3439/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_3439","id":"gutenberg_3439","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3439","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(#54257) at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54257\n*******************************************************************\n\n\n\n\nThis etext was scanned by J.C. Byers and proofread by Doris Ringbloom.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF THE\n THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT\n\n\n\nA Plain and Literal Translation\n\nof the Arabian Nights Entertainments\n\n\nTranslated and Annotated by\n Richard F. Burton \n\n\n\nVOLUME FIVE\n\n\nPrivately Printed By The Burton Club\n\n\n\nTo Doctor George Bird.\n\n\n\nMy Dear Bird, This is not a strictly medical work, although in places treating\nof subjects which may modestly be called hygienic. I inscribe it to you\nbecause your knowledge of Egypt will enable you to appreciate its finer\ntouches; and for another and a yet more cogent reason, namely, that you are one\nof my best and oldest friends.\n\n\n\nEver yours sincerely,\n\n\n\nRichard F. Burton\n\n\n\nAthen\u00e6um Club, October 20, 1885.\n\n\nContents of the Fifth Volume\n\n\n 59. The Ebony Horse\n 60. Uns Al-Wujud and the Wazir's Daughter Al-Ward Fi'l-Akmam or Rose-In-Hood\n 61. Abu Nowas With the Three Boys and the Caliph Harun Al-Rashid\n 62. Abdallah Bin Ma'amar With the Man of Bassorah and His Slave Girl\n 63. The Lovers of the Banu Ozrah\n 64. The Wazir of Al-Yaman and His Younger Brother\n 65. The Loves of the Boy and Girl at School\n 66. Al-Mutalammis and His Wife Umaymah\n 67. The Caliph Marun Al-Rashid and Queen Zubaydah in the Bath\n 68. Harun Al-Rashid and the Three Poets\n 69. Mus'ab Bin Al-Zubayr and Ayishah His Wife\n 70. Abu Al-Aswad and His Slave-Girl\n 71. Harun Al-Rashid and the Two Slave-Girls\n 72. The Caliph Harun Al-Rashid and the Three Slave-Girls\n 73. The Miller and His Wife\n 74. The Simpleton and the Sharper\n 75. The Kazi Abu Yusuf With Harum Al-Rashid and Queen Zubaydah\n 76. The Caliph Al-Hakim and the Merchand\n 77. King Kisra Anushirwan and the Village Damsel\n 78. The Water-Carrier and the Goldsmith's Wife\n 79. Khusrau and Shirin and the Fisherman\n 80. Yahya Bin Khalid the Barmecide and the Poor Man\n 81. Mohammed Al-Amin and the Slave-Girl\n 82. The Sons of Yahya Bin Khalid and Sa'id Bin Salim Al-Bahili\n 83. The Woman's Trick Against Her Husband\n 84. The Devout Woman and the Two Wicked Elders\n 85. Ja'afar the Barmecide and the Old Badawi\n 86. The Caliph Omar Bin Al-Khattab and the Young Badawi\n 87. The Caliph Al-Maamum and the Pyramids of Egypt\n 88. The Thief and the Merchant\n 89. Masrur the Eunuch and Ibn Al-Karibi\n 90. The Devotee Prince\n 91. The Unwise Schoolmaster Who Fell in Love by Report\n 92. The Foolish Dominie\n 93. The Illiterate Who Set Up For a Schoolmaster\n 94. The King and the Virtuous Wife\n 95. Abd Al-Rahman the Maghribi's Story of the Rukh\n 96. Adi Bin Zayd and the Princess Hind\n 97. Di'ibil Al-Khuza'i With the Lady and Muslim Bin Al-Walid\n 98. Isaac of Mosul and the Merchant\n 99. The Three Unfortunate Lovers\n 100. How Abu Hasan Brake Wind\n 101. The Lovers of the Banu Tayy\n 102. The Mad Lover\n 103. The Prior Who Became A Moslem\n 104. The Loves of Abu Isa and Jurrat Al-Ayn\n 105. Al-Amin Son of Al-Rashid and His Uncle Ibrahim Bin Al-Mahdi\n 106. Al-Fath Bin Khakan and Al-Mutawakkil\n 107. The Man's Dispute With the Learned Woman Concerning the Relative Excellence of Male and Female\n 108. Abu Suwayd and the Pretty Old Woman\n 109. The Emir ali Bin Tahir and the Girl Muunis\n 110. The Woman Who had a Boy and the Other Who had a Man to Lover\n 111. Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad\n 112. The Pilgrim Man and the Old Woman\n 113. Abu Alhusn and His Slave-Girl Tawaddud\n 114. The Angel of Death With the Proud King and the Devout Man\n 115. The Angel of Death and the Rich King\n 116. The Angel of Death and the King of the Children of Israel\n 117. Iskandar Zu Al-Karnayn and a Certain Tribe of Poor Folk\n 118. The Righteousness of King Anushirwan\n 119. The Jewish Kazi and His Pious Wife\n 120. The Shipwrecked Woman and Her Child\n 121. The Pious Black Slave\n 122. The Devout Tray-Maker and His Wife\n 123. Al-Jajjaj and the Pious Man\n 124. The Blacksmith Who Could Handle Fire Without Hurt\n 125. The Devotee To Whom Allah Gave a Cloud for Service and the Devout King\n 126. The Moslem Champion and the Christian Damsel\n 127. The Christian King's Daughter and the Moslem\n 128. The Prophet and the Justice of Providence\n 129. The Ferryman of the Nile and the Hermit\n 130. The Island King and the Pious Israelite\n 131. Abu Al-Hasan and Abu Ja'afar the Leper\n 132. The Queen of Serpents\n a. The Adventures of Bulukiya\n b. The Story of Jansha\n\n\n\nThe Book Of The\n\nTHOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT\n\n\n\nTHE EBONY HORSE.[FN#1]\n\nThere was once in times of yore and ages long gone before, a great and\npuissant King, of the Kings of the Persians, S\u03b1b\u03car by name, who was the\nrichest of all the Kings in store of wealth and dominion and surpassed\neach and every in wit and wisdom. He was generous, open handed and\nbeneficent, and he gave to those who sought him and repelled not those\nwho resorted to him; and he comforted the broken-hearted and honourably\nentreated those who fled to him for refuge. Moreover, he loved the poor\nand was hospitable to strangers and did the oppressed justice upon the\noppressor. He had three daughters, like full moons of shining light or\nflower-gardens blooming bright; and a son as he were the moon; and it\nwas his wont to keep two festivals in the twelve- month, those of the\nNau-Roz, or New Year, and Mihrg\u03b1n the Autumnal Equinox,[FN#2] on which\noccasions he threw open his palaces and gave largesse and made\nproclamation of safety and security and promoted his chamberlains and\nviceroys; and the people of his realm came in to him and saluted him\nand gave him joy of the holy day, bringing him gifts and servants and\neunuchs. Now he loved science and geometry, and one festival-day as he\nsat on his kingly throne there came in to him three wise men, cunning\nartificers and past masters in all manner of craft and inventions,\nskilled in making things curious and rare, such as confound the wit;\nand versed in the knowledge of occult truths and perfect in mysteries\nand subtleties. And they were of three different tongues and countries,\nthe first a Hindi or Indian,[FN#3] the second a Roumi or Greek and the\nthird a Farsi or Persian. The Indian came forwards and, prostrating\nhimself before the King, wished him joy of the festival and laid before\nhim a present befitting his dignity; that is to say, a man of gold, set\nwith precious gems and jewels of price and hending in hand a golden\ntrumpet. When Sabur[FN#4] saw this, he asked, \"O sage, what is the\nvirtue of this figure?\"; and the Indian answered, \"O my lord, if this\nfigure be set at the gate of thy city, it will be a guardian over it;\nfor, in an enemy enter the place, it will blow this clarion against him\nand he will be seized with a palsy and drop down dead.\" Much the King\nmarvelled at this and cried, \"By Allah, O sage, an this thy word be\ntrue, I will grant thee thy wish and thy desire.\" Then came forward the\nGreek and, prostrating himself before the King, presented him with a\nbasin of silver, in whose midst was a peacock of gold, surrounded by\nfour-and-twenty chicks of the same metal. Sabur looked at them and\nturning to the Greek, said to him, \"O sage, what is the virtue of this\npeacock?\" \"O my lord,\" answered he, \"as often as an hour of the day or\nnight passeth, it pecketh one of its young and crieth out and flappeth\nits wings, till the four-and-twenty hours are accomplished; and when\nthe month cometh to an end, it will open its mouth and thou shalt see\nthe crescent therein.\" And the King said, \"An thou speak sooth, I will\nbring thee to thy wish and thy desire.\" Then came forward the Persian\nsage and, prostrating himself before the King, presented him with a\nhorse[FN#5] of the blackest ebony-wood inlaid with gold and jewels, and\nready harnessed with saddle, bridle and stirrups such as befit Kings;\nwhich when Sabur saw, he marvelled with exceeding marvel and was\nconfounded at the beauty of its form and the ingenuity of its fashion.\nSo he asked, \"What is the use of this horse of wood, and what is its\nvirtue and what the secret of its movement?\"; and the Persian answered,\n\"O my lord, the virtue of this horse is that, if one mount him, it will\ncarry him whither he will and fare with its rider through the air and\ncover the space of a year in a single day.\" The King marvelled and was\namazed at these three wonders, following thus hard upon one another on\nthe same day, and turning to the sage, said to him, \"By Allah the\nOmnipotent, and our Lord the Beneficent, who created all creatures and\nfeedeth them with meat and drink, an thy speech be veritable and the\nvirtue of thy contrivance appear, I will assuredly give thee whatsoever\nthou lustest for and will bring thee to thy desire and thy wish!\"[FN#6]\nThen he entertained the sages three days, that he might make trial of\ntheir gifts; after which they brought the figures before him and each\ntook the creature he had wroughten and showed him the mystery of its\nmovement. The trumpeter blew the trump; the peacock pecked its chicks\nand the Persian sage mounted the ebony house, whereupon it soared with\nhim high in air and descended again. When King Sabur saw all this, he\nwas amazed and perplexed and felt like to fly for joy and said to the\nthree sages, \"Now I am certified of the truth of your words and it\nbehoveth me to quit me of my promise. Ask ye, therefore, what ye will,\nand I will give you that same.\" Now the report of the King's daughters\nhad reached the sages, so they answered, \"If the King be content with\nus and accept of our gifts and allow us to prefer a request to him, we\ncrave of him that he give us his three daughters in marriage, that we\nmay be his sons-in-law; for that the stability of Kings may not be\ngainsaid.\" Quoth the King, \"I grant you that which you wish and you\ndesire,\" and bade summon the Kazi forthright, that he might marry each\nof the sages to one of his daughters. Now it fortuned that the\nPrincesses were behind a curtain, looking on; and when they heard this,\nthe youngest considered her husband to be and behold, he was an old\nman,[FN#7] an hundred years of age, with hair frosted, forehead\ndrooping, eyebrows mangy, ears slitten, beard and mustachios stained\nand dyed; eyes red and goggle; cheeks bleached and hollow; flabby nose\nlike a brinjall, or egg- plant[FN#8]; face like a cobbler's apron,\nteeth overlapping and lips like camel's kidneys, loose and pendulous;\nin brief a terror, a horror, a monster, for he was of the folk of his\ntime the unsightliest and of his age the frightfullest; sundry of his\ngrinders had been knocked out and his eye-teeth were like the tusks of\nthe Jinni who frighteneth poultry in hen-houses. Now the girl was the\nfairest and most graceful of her time, more elegant than the gazelle\nhowever tender, than the gentlest zephyr blander and brighter than the\nmoon at her full; for amorous fray right suitable; confounding in\ngraceful sway the waving bough and outdoing in swimming gait the pacing\nroe; in fine she was fairer and sweeter by far than all her sisters.\nSo, when she saw her suitor, she went to her chamber and strewed dust\non her head and tore her clothes and fell to buffeting her face and\nweeping and wailing. Now the Prince, her brother, Kamar al-Akm\u03b1r, or\nthe Moon of Moons hight, was then newly returned from a journey and,\nhearing her weeping and crying came in to her (for he loved her with\nfond affection, more than his other sisters) and asked her, \"What\naileth thee? What hath befallen thee? Tell me and conceal naught from\nme.\" So she smote her breast and answered, \"O my brother and my dear\none, I have nothing to hide. If the palace be straitened upon thy\nfather, I will go out; and if he be resolved upon a foul thing, I will\nseparate myself from him, though he consent not to make provision for\nme; and my Lord will provide.\" Quoth he, \"Tell me what meaneth this\ntalk and what hath straitened thy breast and troubled thy temper.\" \"O\nmy brother and my dear one,\" answered the Princess, \"Know that my\nfather hath promised me in marriage to a wicked magician who brought\nhim, as a gift, a horse of black wood, and hath bewitched him with his\ncraft and his egromancy; but, as for me, I will none of him, and would,\nbecause of him, I had never come into this world!\" Her brother soothed\nher and solaced her, then fared to his sire and said, \"What be this\nwizard to whom thou hast given my youngest sister in marriage, and what\nis this present which he hath brought thee, so that thou hast\nkilled[FN#9] my sister with chagrin? It is not right that this should\nbe.\" Now the Persian was standing by and, when he heard the Prince's\nwords, he was mortified and filled with fury and the King said, \"O my\nson, an thou sawest this horse, thy wit would be confounded and thou\nwouldst be amated with amazement.\" Then he bade the slaves bring the\nhorse before him and they did so; and, when the Prince saw it, it\npleased him. So (being an accomplished cavalier) he mounted it\nforthright and struck its sides with the shovel-shaped stirrup-irons;\nbut it stirred not and the King said to the Sage, \"Go show him its\nmovement, that he also may help thee to win thy wish.\" Now the Persian\nbore the Prince a grudge because he willed not he should have his\nsister; so he showed him the pin of ascent on the right side of the\nhorse and saying to him, \"Trill this,\" left him. Thereupon the Prince\ntrilled the pin and lo! the horse forthwith soared with him high in\nether, as it were a bird, and gave not overflying till it disappeared\nfrom men's espying, whereat the King was troubled and perplexed about\nhis case and said to the Persian, \"O sage, look how thou mayest make\nhim descend.\" But he replied, \"O my lord, I can do nothing, and thou\nwilt never see him again till Resurrection-day, for he, of his\nignorance and pride, asked me not of the pin of descent and I forgot to\nacquaint him therewith.\" When the King heard this, he was enraged with\nsore rage; and bade bastinado the sorcerer and clap him in jail, whilst\nhe himself cast the crown from his head and beat his face and smote his\nbreast. Moreover, he shut the doors of his palaces and gave himself up\nto weeping and keening, he and his wife and daughters and all the folk\nof the city; and thus their joy was turned to annoy and their gladness\nchanged into sore affliction and sadness. Thus far concerning them; but\nas regards the Prince, the horse gave not over soaring with him till he\ndrew near the sun, whereat he gave himself up for lost and saw death in\nthe skies, and was confounded at his case, repenting him of having\nmounted the horse and saying to himself, \"Verily, this was a device of\nthe Sage to destroy me on account of my youngest sister; but there is\nno Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the\nGreat! I am lost without recourse; but I wonder, did not he who made\nthe ascent-pin make also a descent-pin?\" Now he was a man of wit and\nknowledge and intelligence; so he fell to feeling all the parts of the\nhorse, but saw nothing save a screw, like a cock's head, on its right\nshoulder and the like on the left, when quoth he to himself, \"I see no\nsign save these things like buttons.\" Presently he turned the\nright-hand pin, whereupon the horse flew heavenwards with increased\nspeed. So he left it and looking at the sinister shoulder and finding\nanother pin, he wound it up and immediately the steed's upwards motion\nslowed and ceased and it began to descend, little by little, towards\nthe face of the earth, while the rider became yet more cautious and\ncareful of his life.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prince\nwound up the sinister screw, the steed's upward motion slowed and\nceased, and it began to descend, little by little, towards the earth\nwhile the rider became yet more cautious and careful of his life. And\nwhen he saw this and knew the uses of the horse, his heart was filled\nwith joy and gladness and he thanked Almighty Allah for that He had\ndeigned deliver him from destruction. Then he began to turn the horse's\nhead whithersoever he would, making it rise and fall at pleasure, till\nhe had gotten complete mastery over its every movement. He ceased not\nto descend the whole of that day, for that the steed's ascending flight\nhad borne him afar from the earth; and, as he descended, he diverted\nhimself with viewing the various cities and countries over which he\npassed and which he knew not, never having seen them in his life.\nAmongst the rest, he descried a city ordered after the fairest fashion\nin the midst of a verdant and riant land, rich in trees and streams,\nwith gazelles pacing daintily over the plains; whereat he fell a-musing\nand said to himself, \"Would I knew the name of yon town and in what\nland it is!\" And he took to circling about it and observing it right\nand left. By this time, the day began to decline and the sun drew near\nto its downing; and he said in his mind, \"Verily I find no goodlier\nplace to night in than this city; so I will lodge here and early on the\nmorrow I will return to my kith and kin and my kingdom; and tell my\nfather and family what hath passed and acquaint him with what mine eyes\nhave seen.\" Then he addressed himself to seeking a place wherein he\nmight safely bestow himself and his horse and where none should descry\nhim, and presently behold, he espied a-middlemost of the city a palace\nrising high in upper air surrounded by a great wall with lofty\ncrenelles and battlements, guarded by forty black slaves, clad in\ncomplete mail and armed with spears and swords, bows and arrows. Quoth\nhe, \"This is a goodly place,\" and turned the descent-pin, whereupon the\nhorse sank down with him like a weary bird, and alighted gently on the\nterrace-roof of the palace. So the Prince dismounted and ejaculating\n\"Alhamdolillah\"\u2014praise be to Allah[FN#10]\u2014he began to go round about\nthe horse and examine it, saying, \"By Allah, he who fashioned thee with\nthese perfections was a cunning craftsman, and if the Almighty extend\nthe term of my life and restore me to my country and kinsfolk in safety\nand reunite me with my father, I will assuredly bestow upon him all\nmanner bounties and benefit him with the utmost beneficence.\" By this\ntime night had overtaken him and he sat on the roof till he was assured\nthat all in the palace slept; and indeed hunger and thirst were sore\nupon him, for that he had not tasted food nor drunk water since he\nparted from his sire. So he said within himself, \"Surely the like of\nthis palace will not lack of victual;\" and, leaving the horse above,\nwent down in search of somewhat to eat. Presently, he came to a\nstaircase and descending it to the bottom, found himself in a court\npaved with white marble and alabaster, which shone in the light of the\nmoon. He marvelled at the place and the goodliness of its fashion, but\nsensed no sound of speaker and saw no living soul and stood in\nperplexed surprise, looking right and left and knowing not whither he\nshould wend. Then said he to himself, \"I may not do better than return\nto where I left my horse and pass the night by it; and as soon as day\nshall dawn I will mount and ride away.\"\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the king's\nson to himself, \"I may not do better than pass the night by my horse;\nand as soon as day shall dawn I will mount and ride away.\" However, as\nhe tarried talking to himself, he espied a light within the palace, and\nmaking towards it, found that it came from a candle that stood before a\ndoor of the Harim, at the head of a sleeping eunuch, as he were one of\nthe Ifrits of Solomon or a tribesman of the Jinn, longer than lumber\nand broader than a bench. He lay before the door, with the pommel of\nhis sword gleaming in the flame of the candle, and at his head was a\nbag of leather[FN#11] hanging from a column of granite. When the Prince\nsaw this, he was affrighted and said, \"I crave help from Allah the\nSupreme! O mine Holy One, even as Thou hast already delivered me from\ndestruction, so vouchsafe me strength to quit myself of the adventure\nof this palace!\" So saying, he put out his hand to the budget and\ntaking it, carried it aside and opened it and found in it food of the\nbest. He ate his fill and refreshed himself and drank water, after\nwhich he hung up the provision-bag in its place and drawing the\neunuch's sword from its sheath, took it, whilst the slave slept on,\nknowing not whence destiny should come to him. Then the Prince fared\nforwards into the palace and ceased not till he came to a second door,\nwith a curtain drawn before it; so he raised the curtain and behold, on\nentering he saw a couch of the whitest ivory, inlaid with pearls and\njacinths and jewels, and four slave-girls sleeping about it. He went up\nto the couch, to see what was thereon, and found a young lady lying\nasleep, chemised with her hair[FN#12] as she were the full moon\nrising[FN#13] over the Eastern horizon, with flower-white brow and\nshining hair-paring and cheeks like blood-red anemones and dainty moles\nthereon. He was amazed at her as she lay in her beauty and loveliness,\nher symmetry and grace, and he recked no more of death. So he went up\nto her, trembling in every nerve and, shuddering with pleasure, kissed\nher on the right cheek; whereupon she awoke forthright and opened her\neyes, and seeing the Prince standing at her head, said to him, \"Who art\nthou and whence comest thou?\" Quoth he, \"I am thy slave and thy lover.\"\nAsked she, \"And who brought thee hither?\" and he answered, \"My Lord and\nmy fortune.\" Then said Shams al-Nah\u03b1r[FN#14] (for such was her name),\n\"Haply thou art he who demanded me yesterday of my father in marriage\nand he rejected thee, pretending that thou wast foul of favour. By\nAllah, my sire lied in his throat when he spoke this thing, for thou\nart not other than beautiful.\" Now the son of the King of Hind had\nsought her in marriage, but her father had rejected him, for that he\nwas ugly and uncouth, and she thought the Prince was he. So, when she\nsaw his beauty and grace (for indeed he was like the radiant moon) the\nsyntheism[FN#15] of love gat hold of her heart as it were a flaming\nfire, and they fell to talk and converse. Suddenly, her waiting-women\nawoke and, seeing the Prince with their mistress, said to her, \"Oh my\nlady, who is this with thee?\" Quoth she, \"I know not; I found him\nsitting by me, when I woke up: haply 'tis he who seeketh me in marriage\nof my sire.\" Quoth they, \"O my lady, by Allah the All-Father, this is\nnot he who seeketh thee in marriage, for he is hideous and this man is\nhandsome and of high degree. Indeed, the other is not fit to be his\nservant.\"[FN#16] Then the handmaidens went out to the eunuch, and\nfinding him slumbering awoke him, and he started up in alarm. Said\nthey, \"How happeth it that thou art on guard at the palace and yet men\ncome in to us, whilst we are asleep?\" When the black heard this, he\nsprang in haste to his sword, but found it not; and fear took him and\ntrembling. Then he went in, confounded, to his mistress and seeing the\nPrince sitting at talk with her, said to him, \"O my lord, art thou man\nor Jinni?\" Replied the Prince, \"Woe to thee, O unluckiest of slaves:\nhow darest thou even the sons of the royal Chosroes[FN#17] with one of\nthe unbelieving Satans?\" And he was as a raging lion. Then he took the\nsword in his hand and said to the slave, \"I am the King's son-in-law,\nand he hath married me to his daughter and bidden me go in to her.\" And\nwhen the eunuch heard these words he replied, \"O my lord, if thou be\nindeed of kind a man as thou avouchest, she is fit for none but for\nthee, and thou art worthier of her than any other.\" Thereupon the\neunuch ran to the King, shrieking loud and rending his raiment and\nheaving dust upon his head; and when the King heard his outcry, he said\nto him, \"What hath befallen thee?: speak quickly and be brief; for thou\nhast fluttered my heart.\" Answered the eunuch, \"O King, come to thy\ndaughter's succour; for a devil of the Jinn, in the likeness of a\nKing's son, hath got possession of her; so up and at him!\" When the\nKing heard this, he thought to kill him and said, \"How camest thou to\nbe careless of my daughter and let this demon come at her?\" Then he\nbetook himself to the Princess's palace, where he found her slave-women\nstanding to await him and asked them, \"What is come to my daughter?\" \"O\nKing,\" answered they, \"slumber overcame us and, when we awoke, we found\na young man sitting upon her couch in talk with her, as he were the\nfull moon; never saw we aught fairer of favour than he. So we\nquestioned him of his case and he declared that thou hadst given him\nthy daughter in marriage. More than this we know not, nor do we know if\nhe be a man or a Jinni; but he is modest and well bred, and doth\nnothing unseemly or which leadeth to disgrace.\" Now when the King heard\nthese words, his wrath cooled and he raised the curtain little by\nlittle and looking in, saw sitting at talk with his daughter a Prince\nof the goodliest with a face like the full moon for sheen. At this\nsight he could not contain himself, of his jealousy for his daughter's\nhonour; and, putting aside the curtain, rushed in upon them drawn sword\nin hand like a furious Ghul. Now when the Prince saw him he asked the\nPrincess, \"Is this thy sire?\"; and she answered, \"Yes.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixtieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Price\nsaw the King rushing in upon them, drawn sword in hand, like a furious\nGhul he asked the Princess, \"Is this thy sire?\"; and she answered,\n\"Yes.\" Whereupon he sprang to his feet and, seizing his sword, cried\nout at the King with so terrible a cry that he was confounded. Then the\nyouth would have fallen on him with the sword; but the King seeing that\nthe Prince was doughtier than he, sheathed his scymitar and stood till\nthe young man came up to him, when he accosted him courteously and said\nto him, \"O youth, art thou a man or a Jinni?\" Quoth the Prince, \"Did I\nnot respect thy right as mine host and thy daughter's honour, I would\nspill thy blood! How darest thou fellow me with devils, me that am a\nPrince of the sons of the royal Chosroes who, had they wished to take\nthy kingdom, could shake thee like an earthquake from thy glory and thy\ndominions and spoil thee of all thy possessions?\" Now when the King\nheard his words, he was confounded with awe and bodily fear of him and\nrejoined, \"If thou indeed be of the sons of the Kings, as thou\npretendest, how cometh it that thou enterest my palace without my\npermission, and smirchest mine honour, making thy way to my daughter\nand feigning that thou art her husband and claiming that I have given\nher to thee to wife, I that have slain Kings and Kings' sons, who\nsought her of me in marriage? And now who shall save thee from my might\nand majesty when, if I cried out to my slaves and servants and bade\nthem put thee to the vilest of deaths they would slay thee forthright?\nWho shall deliver thee out of my hand?\" When the Prince heard this\nspeech of the King he answered, \"Verily, I wonder at thee and at the\nshortness and denseness of thy wit! Say me, canst covet for thy\ndaughter a mate comelier than myself, and hast ever seen a stouter\nhearted man or one better fitted for a Sultan or a more glorious in\nrank and dominion than I?\" Rejoined the King, \"Nay, by Allah! but I\nwould have had thee, O youth, act after the custom of Kings and demand\nher from me to wife before witnesses, that I might have married her to\nthee publicly; and now, even were I to marry her to thee privily, yet\nhast thou dishonoured me in her person.\" Rejoined the Prince, \"Thou\nsayest sooth, O King, but if thou summon thy slaves and thy soldiers\nand they fall upon me and slay me, as thou pretendest, thou wouldst but\npublish thine own disgrace, and the folk would be divided between\nbelief in thee and disbelief in thee. Wherefore, O King, thou wilt do\nwell, meseemeth, to turn from this thought to that which I shall\ncounsel thee.\" Quoth the King, \"Let me hear what thou hast to advise;\"\nand quoth the Prince, \"What I have to propose to thee is this: either\ndo thou meet me in combat singular, I and thou; and he who slayeth his\nadversary shall be held the worthier and having a better title to the\nkingdom; or else, let me be this night and, whenas dawns the morn, draw\nout against me thy horsemen and footmen and servants; but first tell me\ntheir number.\" Said the King, \"They are forty thousand horse, beside my\nown slaves and their followers,[FN#18] who are the like of them in\nnumber.\" Thereupon said the Prince, \"When the day shall break, do thou\narray them against me and say to them\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-first Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the\nPrince, \"When day shall break, do thou array them against me and say to\nthem: 'This man is a suitor to me for my daughter's hand, on condition\nthat he shall do battle single-handed against you all; for he\npretendeth that he will overcome you and put you to the rout, and\nindeed that ye cannot prevail against him.' After which, leave me to do\nbattle with them: if they slay me, then is thy secret surer guarded and\nthine honour the better warded; and if I overcome them and see their\nbacks, then is it the like of me a King should covet to his\nson-in-law.\" So the King approved of his opinion and accepted his\nproposition, despite his awe at the boldness of his speech and amaze at\nthe pretensions of the Prince to meet in fight his whole host, such as\nhe had described to him, being at heart assured that he would perish in\nthe fray and so he should be quit of him and freed from the fear of\ndishonour. Thereupon he called the eunuch and bade him go to his Wazir\nwithout stay and delay and command him to assemble the whole of the\narmy and cause them don their arms and armour and mount their steeds.\nSo the eunuch carried the King's order to the Minister, who\nstraightaway summoned the Captains of the host and the Lords of the\nrealm and bade them don their harness of derring-do and mount horse and\nsally forth in battle array. Such was their case; but as regards the\nKing, he sat a long while conversing with the young Prince, being\npleased with his wise speech and good sense and fine breeding. And when\nit was day-break he returned to his palace and, seating himself on his\nthrone, commanded his merry men to mount and bade them saddle one of\nthe best of the royal steeds with handsome selle and housings and\ntrappings and bring it to the Prince. But the youth said, \"O King, I\nwill not mount horse, till I come in view of the troops and review\nthem.\" \"Be it as thou wilt,\" replied the King. Then the two repaired to\nthe parade-ground, where the troops were drawn up, and the young Prince\nlooked upon them and noted their great number; after which the King\ncried out to them, saying, \"Ho, all ye men, there is come to me a youth\nwho seeketh my daughter in marriage; and in very sooth never have I\nseen a goodlier than he; no, nor a stouter of heart nor a doughtier of\narm, for he pretendeth that he can overcome you, single-handed, and\nforce you to flight and that, were ye an hundred thousand in number,\nyet for him would ye be but few. Now when he chargeth down on you, do\nye receive him upon point of pike and sharp of sabre; for, indeed, he\nhath undertaken a mighty matter.\" Then quoth the King to the Prince,\n\"Up, O my son, and do thy devoir on them.\" Answered he, \"O King, thou\ndealest not justly and fairly by me: how shall I go forth against them,\nseeing that I am afoot and the men be mounted?\" The King retorted, \"I\nbade thee mount, and thou refusedst; but choose thou which of my horses\nthou wilt.\" Then he said, \"Not one of thy horses pleaseth me, and I\nwill ride none but that on which I came.\" Asked the King, \"And where is\nthy horse?\" \"Atop of thy palace.\" \"In what part of my palace?\" \"On the\nroof.\" Now when the King heard these words, he cried, \"Out on thee!\nthis is the first sign thou hast given of madness. How can the horse be\non the roof? But we shall at once see if thou speak the truth or lies.\"\nThen he turned to one of his chief officers and said to him, \"Go to my\npalace and bring me what thou findest on the roof.\" So all the people\nmarvelled at the young Prince's words, saying one to other, \"How can a\nhorse come down the steps from the roof? Verily this is a thing whose\nlike we never heard.\" In the meantime the King's messenger repaired to\nthe palace and mounting to the roof, found the horse standing there and\nnever had he looked on a handsomer; but when he drew near and examined\nit, he saw that it was made of ebony and ivory. Now the officer was\naccompanied by other high officers, who also looked on and they laughed\nto one another, saying, \"Was it of the like of this horse that the\nyouth spake? We cannot deem him other than mad; however, we shall soon\nsee the truth of his case.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the high\nofficials looked upon the horse, they laughed one to other and said,\n\"Was it of the like of his horse that the youth spake? We cannot deem\nhim other than mad; however, we shall soon see the truth of his case.\nPeradventure herein is some mighty matter, and he is a man of high\ndegree.\" Then they lifted up the horse bodily and, carrying it to the\nKing, set it down before him, and all the lieges flocked round to look\nat it, marvelling at the beauty of its proportions and the richness of\nits saddle and bridle. The King also admired it and wondered at it with\nextreme wonder; and he asked the Prince, \"O youth, is this thy horse?\"\nHe answered, \"Yes, O King, this is my horse, and thou shalt soon see\nthe marvel it showeth.\" Rejoined the King, \"Then take and mount it,\"\nand the Prince retorted, \"I will not mount till the troops withdraw\nafar from it.\" So the King bade them retire a bowshot from the horse;\nwhereupon quoth its owner, \"O King, see thou; I am about to mount my\nhorse and charge upon thy host and scatter them right and left and\nsplit their hearts asunder.\" Said the King, \"Do as thou wilt; and spare\nnot their lives, for they will not spare thine.\" Then the Prince\nmounted, whilst the troops ranged themselves in ranks before him, and\none said to another, \"When the youth cometh between the ranks, we will\ntake him on the points of our pikes and the sharps of our sabres.\"\nQuoth another, \"By Allah, this a mere misfortune: how shall we slay a\nyouth so comely of face and shapely of form?\" And a third continued,\n\"Ye will have hard work to get the better of him; for the youth had not\ndone this, but for what he knew of his own prowess and pre- eminence of\nvalour.\" Meanwhile, having settled himself in his saddle, the Prince\nturned the pin of ascent; whilst all eyes were strained to see what he\nwould do, whereupon the horse began to heave and rock and sway to and\nfro and make the strangest of movements steed ever made, till its belly\nwas filled with air and it took flight with its rider and soared high\ninto the sky. When the King saw this, he cried out to his men, saying,\n\"Woe to you! catch him, catch him, ere he 'scape you!\" But his Wazirs\nand Viceroys said to him, \"O King, can a man overtake the flying bird?\nThis is surely none but some mighty magician or Marid of the Jinn or\ndevil, and Allah save thee from him. So praise thou the Almighty for\ndeliverance of thee and of all thy host from his hand.\" Then the King\nreturned to his palace after seeing the feat of the Prince and, going\nin to his daughter, acquainted her with what had befallen them both on\nthe parade-ground. He found her grievously afflicted for the Prince and\nbewailing her separation from him; wherefore she fell sick with violent\nsickness and took to her pillow. Now when her father saw her on this\nwise, he pressed her to his breast and kissing her between the eyes,\nsaid to her, \"O my daughter, praise Allah Almighty and thank Him for\nthat He hath delivered us from this crafty enchanter, this villain,\nthis low fellow, this thief who thought only of seducing thee!\" And he\nrepeated to her the story of the Prince and how he had disappeared in\nthe firmament; and he abused him and cursed him knowing not how dearly\nhis daughter loved him. But she paid no heed to his words and did but\nredouble in her tears and wails, saying to herself, \"By Allah, I will\nneither eat meat nor drain drink, till Allah reunite me with him!\" Her\nfather was greatly concerned for her case and mourned much over her\nplight; but, for all he could do to soother her, love-longing only\nincreased on her.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King mourned\nmuch over his daughter's plight but, for all he could do to soothe her,\nlove-longing only increased on her. Thus far concerning the King and\nPrincess Shams al-Nah\u03b1r; but as regards Prince Kamar al-Akmar, when he\nhad risen high in air, he turned his horse's head towards his native\nland, and being alone mused upon the beauty of the Princess and her\nloveliness. Now he had enquired of the King's people the name of the\ncity and of its King and his daughter; and men had told him that it was\nthe city of Sana'\u03b1.[FN#19] So he journeyed with all speed, till he drew\nnear his father's capital and, making an airy circuit about the city,\nalighted on the roof of the King's palace, where he left his horse,\nwhilst he descended into the palace and seeing its threshold strewn\nwith ashes, though that one of his family was dead. Then he entered, as\nof wont, and found his father and mother and sisters clad in mourning\nraiment of black, all pale of faces and lean of frames. When his sire\ndescried him and was assured that it was indeed his son, he cried out\nwith a great cry and fell down in a fit, but after a time coming to\nhimself, threw himself upon him and embraced him, clipping him to his\nbosom and rejoicing in him with exceeding joy and extreme gladness. His\nmother and sisters heard this; so they came in and seeing the Prince,\nfell upon him, kissing him and weeping, and joying with exceeding\njoyance. Then they questioned him of his case; so he told them all that\nhad passed from first to last, and his father said to him, \"Praised be\nAllah for thy safety, O coolth of my eyes and core of my heart!\" Then\nthe King bade hold high festival, and the glad tidings flew through the\ncity. So they beat drums and cymbals and, doffing the weed of mourning,\nthey donned the gay garb of gladness and decorated the streets and\nmarkets; whilst the folk vied with one another who should be the first\nto give the King joy, and the King proclaimed a general pardon and\nopening the prisons, released those who were therein prisoned.\nMoreover, he made banquets for the people, with great abundance of\neating and drinking, for seven days and nights and all creatures were\ngladsomest; and he took horse with his son and rode out with him, that\nthe folk might see him and rejoice. After awhile the Prince asked about\nthe maker of the horse, saying, \"O my father, what hath fortune done\nwith him?\"; and the King answered, \"Allah never bless him nor the hour\nwherein I set eyes on him! For he was the cause of thy separation from\nus, O my son, and he hath lain in gaol since the day of thy\ndisappearance.\" Then the King bade release him from prison and, sending\nfor him, invested him in a dress of satisfaction and entreated him with\nthe utmost favour and munificence, save that he would not give him his\ndaughter to wife; whereat the Sage raged with sore rage and repented of\nthat which he had done, knowing that the Prince had secured the secret\nof the steed and the manner of its motion. Moreover, the King said to\nhis son, \"I reck thou wilt do will not to go near the horse henceforth\nand more especially not to mount it after this day; for thou knowest\nnot its properties, and belike thou art in error about it.\" Not the\nPrince had told his father of his adventure with the King of Sana'a and\nhis daughter and he said, \"Had the King intended to kill thee, he had\ndone so; but thine hour was not yet come.\" When the rejoicings were at\nan end, the people returned to their places and the King and his son to\nthe palace, where they sat down and fell to eating and drinking and\nmaking merry. Now the King had a handsome handmaiden who was skilled in\nplaying the lute; so she took it and began to sweep the strings and\nsing thereto before the King and his son of separation of lovers, and\nshe chanted the following verses:\u2014\n\n\"Deem not that absence breeds in me aught of forgetfulness; *\n\n\n     What should remember I did you fro' my remembrance wane?\n\n\nTime dies but never dies the fondest love for you we bear; *\n\n\n     And in your love I'll die and in your love I'll arise\n\n\n     again.\"[FN#20]\n\n\n\nWhen the Prince heard these verses, the fires of longing flamed up in\nhis heart and pine and passion redoubled upon him. Grief and regret\nwere sore upon him and his bowels yearned in him for love of the King's\ndaughter of Sana'a; so he rose forthright and, escaping his father's\nnotice, went forth the palace to the horse and mounting it, turned the\npin of ascent, whereupon bird-like it flew with him high in air and\nsoared towards the upper regions of the sky. In early morning his\nfather missed him and, going up to the pinnacle of the palace, in great\nconcern, saw his son rising into the firmament; whereat he was sore\nafflicted and repented in all penitence that he had not taken the horse\nand hidden it; and he said to himself, \"By Allah, if but my son return\nto me, I will destroy the horse, that my heart may be at rest\nconcerning my son.\" And he fell again to weeping and bewailing\nhimself.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King again\nfell to weeping and bewailing himself for his son. Such was his case;\nbut as regards the Prince, he ceased not flying on through air till he\ncame to the city of Sana'a and alighted on the roof as before. Then he\ncrept down stealthily and, finding the eunuch asleep, as of wont,\nraised the curtain and went on little by little, till he came to the\ndoor of the Princess's alcove-[FN#21]chamber and stopped to listen;\nwhen lo! he heard her shedding plenteous tears and reciting verses,\nwhilst her women slept round her. Presently, overhearing her weeping\nand wailing quoth they, \"O our mistress, why wilt thou mourn for one\nwho mourneth not for thee?\" Quoth she, \"O ye little of wit, is he for\nwhom I mourn of those who forget or who are forgotten?\" And she fell\nagain to wailing and weeping, till sleep overcame her. Hereat the\nPrince's heart melted for her and his gall-bladder was like to burst,\nso he entered and, seeing her lying asleep without covering,[FN#22]\ntouched her with his hand; whereupon she opened her eyes and espied him\nstanding by her. Said he, \"Why all this crying and mourning?\" And when\nshe knew him, she threw herself upon him, and took him around the neck\nand kissed him and answered, \"For thy sake and because of my separation\nfrom thee.\" Said he, \"O my lady, I have been made desolate by thee all\nthis long time!\" But she replied, \"'Tis thou who hast desolated me; and\nhadst thou tarried longer, I had surely died!\" Rejoined he, \"O my lady,\nwhat thinkest thou of my case with thy father and how he dealt with me?\nWere it not for my love of thee, O temptation and seduction of the\nThree Worlds, I had certainly slain him and made him a warning to all\nbeholders; but, even as I love thee, so I love him for thy sake.\" Quoth\nshe, \"How couldst thou leave me: can my life be sweet to me after\nthee?\" Quoth he, \"Let what hath happened suffice: I am now hungry, and\nthirsty.\" So she bade her maidens make ready meat and drink, and they\nsat eating and drinking and conversing till night was well nigh ended;\nand when day broke he rose to take leave of her and depart, ere the\neunuch should awake. Shams al-Nahar asked him, \"Whither goest thou?\";\nand he answered, \"To my father's house, and I plight thee my troth that\nI will come to thee once in every week.\" But she wept and said, \"I\nconjure thee, by Allah the Almighty, take me with thee whereso thou\nwendest and make me not taste anew the bittergourd[FN#23] of separation\nfrom thee.\" Quoth he, \"Wilt thou indeed go with me?\" and quoth she,\n\"Yes.\" \"Then,\" said he, \"arise that we depart.\" So she rose forthright\nand going to a chest, arrayed herself in what was richest and dearest\nto her of her trinkets of gold and jewels of price, and she fared\nforth, her handmaids recking naught. So he carried her up to the roof\nof the palace and, mounting the ebony horse, took her up behind him and\nmade her fast to himself, binding her with strong bonds; after which he\nturned the shoulder-pin of ascent, and the horse rose with him high in\nair. When her slave-women saw this, they shrieked aloud and told her\nfather and mother, who in hot haste ran to the palace-roof and looking\nup, saw the magical horse flying away with the Prince and Princess. At\nthis the King was troubled with ever-increasing trouble and cried out,\nsaying, \"O King's son, I conjure thee, by Allah, have ruth on me and my\nwife and bereave us not of our daughter!\" The Prince made him no reply;\nbut, thinking in himself that the maiden repented of leaving father and\nmother, asked her, \"O ravishment of the age, say me, wilt thou that I\nrestore thee to thy mother and father?\": whereupon she answered, \"By\nAllah, O my lord, that is not my desire: my only wish is to be with\nthee, wherever thou art; for I am distracted by the love of thee from\nall else, even from my father and mother.\" Hearing these words the\nPrince joyed with great joy, and made the horse fly and fare softly\nwith them, so as not to disquiet her; nor did they stay their flight\ntill they came in sight of a green meadow, wherein was a spring of\nrunning water. Here they alighted and ate and drank; after which the\nPrince took horse again and set her behind him, binding her in his fear\nfor her safety; after which they fared on till they came in sight of\nhis father's capital. At this, the Prince was filled with joy and\nbethought himself to show his beloved the seat of his dominion and his\nfather's power and dignity and give her to know that it was greater\nthan that of her sire. So he set her down in one of his father's\ngardens without the city where his parent was wont to take his\npleasure; and, carrying her into a domed summer-house prepared there\nfor the King, left the ebony horse at the door and charged the damsel\nkeep watch over it, saying, \"Sit here, till my messenger come to thee;\nfor I go now to my father, to make ready a palace for thee and show\nthee my royal estate.\" She was delighted when she heard these words and\nsaid to him, \"Do as thou wilt;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the maiden was\ndelighted when she heard these words and said to him, \"Do as thou\nwilt;\" for she thereby understood that she should not enter the city\nbut with due honour and worship, as became her rank. Then the Prince\nleft her and betook himself to the palace of the King his father, who\nrejoiced in his return and met him and welcomed him; and the Prince\nsaid to him, \"Know that I have brought with me the King's daughter of\nwhom I told thee; and have left her without the city in such a garden\nand come to tell thee, that thou mayst make ready the procession of\nestate and go forth to meet her and show her thy royal dignity and\ntroops and guards.\" Answered the King, \"With joy and gladness\"; and\nstraightaway bade decorate the town with the goodliest adornment. Then\nhe took horse and rode out in all magnificence and majesty, he and his\nhost, high officers and household, with drums and kettle-drums, fifes\nand clarions and all manner instruments; whilst the Prince drew forth\nof his treasuries jewellery and apparel and what else of the things\nwhich Kings hoards and made a rare display of wealth and splendour:\nmoreover he got ready for the Princess a canopied litter of brocades,\ngreen, red and yellow, wherein he set Indian and Greek and Abyssinian\nslave- girls. Then he left the litter and those who were therein and\npreceded them to the pavilion where he had set her down; and searched\nbut found naught, neither Princess nor horse. When he saw this, he beat\nhis face, and rent his raiment and began to wander round about the\ngarden, as he had lost his wits; after which he came to his senses and\nsaid to himself, \"How could she have come at the secret of this horse,\nseeing I told her nothing of it? Maybe the Persian sage who made the\nhorse hath chanced upon her and stolen her away, in revenge for my\nfather's treatment of him.\" Then he sought the guardians of the garden\nand asked them if they had seen any pass the precincts; and said, \"Hath\nany one come in here? Tell me the truth and the whole truth or I will\nat once strike off your heads.\" They were terrified by his threats; but\nthey answered with one voice, \"We have seen no man enter save the\nPersian sage, who came to gather healing herbs.\" So the Prince was\ncertified that it was indeed he that had taken away the maiden,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prince\nheard their answer, he was certified that the Sage had taken away the\nmaiden and abode confounded and perplexed concerning his case. And he\nwas abashed before the folk and, turning to his sire, told him what had\nhappened and said to him, \"Take the troops and march them back to the\ncity. As for me, I will never return till I have cleared up this\naffair.\" When the King heard this, he wept and beat his breast and said\nto him, \"O my son, calm thy choler and master thy chagrin and come home\nwith us and look what King's daughter thou wouldst fain have, that I\nmay marry thee to her.\" But the Prince paid no heed to his words and\nfarewelling him departed, whilst the King returned to the city and\ntheir joy was changed into sore annoy. Now, as Destiny issued her\ndecree, when the Prince left the Princess in the garden-house and\nbetook himself to his father's palace, for the ordering of his affair,\nthe Persian entered the garden to pluck certain simples and, scenting\nthe sweet savour of musk and perfumes that exhaled from the Princess\nand impregnated the whole place, followed it till he came to the\npavilion and saw standing at the door the horse which he had made with\nhis own hands. His heart was filled with joy and gladness, for he had\nbemourned its loss much since it had gone out of his hand: so he went\nup to it and, examining its every part, found it whole and sound;\nwhereupon he was about to mount and ride away, when he bethought\nhimself and said, \"Needs must I first look what the Prince hath brought\nand left here with the horse.\" So he entered the pavilion and, seeing\nthe Princess sitting there, as she were the sun shining sheen in the\nsky serene, knew her at the first glance to be some high-born lady and\ndoubted not but the Prince had brought her thither on the horse and\nleft her in the pavilion, whilst he went to the city, to make ready for\nher entry in state procession with all splendor. Then he went up to her\nand kissed the earth between her hands, whereupon she raised her eyes\nto him and, finding him exceedingly foul of face and favour, asked,\n\"Who art thou?\"; and he answered, \"O my lady, I am a messenger sent by\nthe Prince who hath bidden me bring thee to another pleasance nearer\nthe city; for that my lady the Queen cannot walk so far and is\nunwilling, of her joy in thee, that another should forestall her with\nthee.\" Quoth she, \"Where is the Prince?\"; and quoth the Persian, \"He is\nin the city, with his sire and forthwith he shall come for thee in\ngreat state.\" Said she, \"O thou! say me, could he find none handsomer\nto send to me?\"; whereat loud laughed the Sage and said, \"Yea verily,\nhe hath not a Mameluke as ugly as I am; but, O my lady, let not the\nill-favour of my face and the foulness of my form deceive thee. Hadst\nthou profited of me as hath the Prince, verily thou wouldst praise my\naffair. Indeed, he chose me as his messenger to thee, because of my\nuncomeliness and loathsomeness in his jealous love of thee; else hath\nhe Mamelukes and negro slaves, pages, eunuchs and attendants out of\nnumber, each goodlier than other.\" Whenas she heard this, it commended\nitself to her reason and she believed him; so she rose forthright;\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Persian\nsage acquainted the Princess with the case of the King's son, she\nbelieved him; so she rose forthright; and, putting her hand in his,\nsaid, \"O my father, what hast thou brought me to ride?\" He replied, \"O\nmy lady, thou shalt ride the horse thou camest on;\" and she, \"I cannot\nride it by myself.\" Whereupon he smiled and knew that he was her master\nand said, \"I will ride with thee myself.\" So he mounted and, taking her\nup behind him bound her to himself with firm bonds, while she knew not\nwhat he would with her. Then he turned the ascent-pin, whereupon the\nbelly of the horse became full of wind and it swayed to and fro like a\nwave of the sea, and rose with them high in air nor slackened in its\nflight, till it was out of sight of the city. Now when Shams al-Nahir\nsaw this, she asked him, \"Ho thou! what is become of that thou toldest\nme of my Prince, making me believe that he sent thee to me?\" Answered\nthe Persian, \"Allah damn the Prince! he is a mean and skin-flint\nknave.\" She cried, \"Woe to thee! How darest thou disobey thy lord's\ncommandment?\" Whereto the Persian replied, \"He is no lord of mine:\nknowest thou who I am?\" Rejoined the Princess, \"I know nothing of thee\nsave what thou toldest me;\" and retorted he, \"What I told thee was a\ntrick of mine against thee and the King's son: I have long lamented the\nloss of this horse which is under us; for I constructed it and made\nmyself master of it. But now I have gotten firm hold of it and of thee\ntoo, and I will burn his heart even as he hath burnt mine; nor shall he\never have the horse again; no, never! So be of good cheer and keep\nthine eyes cool and clear; for I can be of more use to thee than he;\nand I am generous as I am wealthy; my servants and slaves shall obey\nthee as their mistress; I will robe thee in finest raiment and thine\nevery wish shall be at thy will.\" When she heard this, she buffeted her\nface and cried out, saying, \"Ah, well-away! I have not won my beloved\nand I have lost my father and mother!\" And she wept bitter tears over\nwhat had befallen her, whilst the Sage fared on with her, without\nceasing, till he came to the land of the Greeks[FN#24] and alighted in\na verdant mead, abounding in streams and trees. Now this meadow lay\nnear a city wherein was a King of high puissance, and it chanced that\nhe went forth that day to hunt and divert himself. As he passed by the\nmeadow, he saw the Persian standing there, with the damsel and the\nhorse by his side; and, before the Sage was ware, the King's slaves\nfell upon him and carried him and the lady and the horse to their\nmaster who, noting the foulness of the man's favour and his\nloathsomeness and the beauty of the girl and her loveliness, said, \"O\nmy lady, what kin is this oldster to thee?\" The Persian made haste to\nreply, saying, \"She is my wife and the daughter of my father's\nbrother.\" But the lady at once gave him the lie and said, \"O King, by\nAllah, I know him not, nor is he my husband; nay, he is a wicked\nmagician who hath stolen me away by force and fraud.\" Thereupon the\nKing bade bastinado the Persian and they beat him till he was well-nigh\ndead; after which the King commanded to carry him to the city and cast\nhim into jail; and, taking from him the damsel and the ebony horse\n(though he knew not its properties nor the secret of its motion), set\nthe girl in his serraglio and the horse amongst his hoards. Such was\nthe case with the Sage and the lady; but as regards Prince Kamar\nal-Akmar, he garbed himself in travelling gear and taking what he\nneeded of money, set out tracking their trail in very sorry plight; and\njourneyed from country to country and city to city seeking the Princess\nand enquiring after the ebony horse, whilst all who heard him marvelled\nat him and deemed his talk extravagant. Thus he continued doing a long\nwhile; but, for all his enquiry and quest, he could hit on no new news\nof her. At last he came to her father's city of Sana'a and there asked\nfor her, but could get no tidings of her and found her father mourning\nher loss. So he turned back and made for the land of the Greeks,\ncontinuing to enquire concerning the twain as he went,\u2014 And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King's son\nmade for the land of the Greeks, continuing to enquire concerning the\ntwo as he went along, till, as chance would have it, he alighted at a\ncertain Khan and saw a company of merchants sitting at talk. So he sat\ndown near them and heard one say, \"O my friends, I lately witnessed a\nwonder of wonders.\" They asked, \"What was that?\" and he answered, \"I\nwas visiting such a district in such a city (naming the city wherein\nwas the Princess), and I heard its people chatting of a strange thing\nwhich had lately befallen. It was that their King went out one day\nhunting and coursing with a company of his courtiers and the lords of\nhis realm; and, issuing from the city, they came to a green meadow\nwhere they espied an old man standing, with a woman sitting hard by a\nhorse of ebony. The man was foulest-foul of face and loathly of form,\nbut the woman was a marvel of beauty and loveliness and elegance and\nperfect grace; and as for the wooden horse, it was a miracle, never saw\neyes aught goodlier than it nor more gracious than its make.\" Asked the\nothers, \"And what did the King with them?\"; and the merchant answered,\n\"As for the man the King seized him and questioned him of the damsel\nand he pretended that she was his wife and the daughter of his paternal\nuncle; but she gave him the lie forthright and declared that he was a\nsorcerer and a villain. So the King took her from the old man and bade\nbeat him and cast him into the trunk-house. As for the ebony horse, I\nknow not what became of it.\" When the Prince heard these words, he drew\nnear to the merchant and began questioning him discreetly and\ncourteously touching the name of the city and of its King; which when\nhe knew, he passed the night full of joy. And as soon as dawned the day\nhe set out and travelled sans surcease till he reached that city; but,\nwhen he would have entered, the gate-keepers laid hands on him, that\nthey might bring him before the King to question him of his condition\nand the craft in which he was skilled and the cause of his coming\nthither-such being the usage and custom of their ruler. Now it was\nsupper-time when he entered the city, and it was then impossible to go\nin to the King or take counsel with him respecting the stranger. So the\nguards carried him to the jail, thinking to lay him by the heels there\nfor the night; but, when the warders saw his beauty and loveliness,\nthey could not find it in their hearts to imprison him: they made him\nsit with them without the walls; and, when food came to them, he ate\nwith them what sufficed him. As soon as they had made an end of eating,\nthey turned to the Prince and said, \"What countryman art thou?\" \"I come\nfrom Fars,\" answered he, \"the land of the Chosro\u03bbs.\" When they heard\nthis they laughed and one of them said, \"O Chosroan,[FN#25] I have\nheard the talk of men and their histories and I have looked into their\nconditions; but never saw I or heard I a bigger liar than the Chosroan\nwhich is with us in the jail.\" Quoth another, \"And never did I see\naught fouler than his favour or more hideous than his visnomy.\" Asked\nthe Prince. \"What have ye seen of his lying?\"; and they answered, \"He\npretendeth that he is one of the wise! Now the King came upon him, as\nhe went a- hunting, and found with him a most beautiful woman and a\nhorse of the blackest ebony, never saw I a handsomer. As for the\ndamsel, she is with the King, who is enamoured of her and would fain\nmarry her; but she is mad, and were this man a leach as he claimeth to\nbe, he would have healed her, for the King doth his utmost to discover\na cure for her case and a remedy for her disease, and this whole year\npast hath he spent treasure upon physicians and astrologers, on her\naccount; but none can avail to cure her. As for the horse, it is in the\nroyal hoard-house, and the ugly man is here with us in prison; and as\nsoon as night falleth, he weepeth and bemoaneth himself and will not\nlet us sleep.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the warders\nhad recounted the case of the Persian egromancer they held in prison\nand his weeping and wailing, the Prince at once devised a device\nwhereby he might compass his desire; and presently the guards of the\ngate, being minded to sleep, led him into the jail and locked the door.\nSo he overheard the Persian weeping and bemoaning himself, in his own\ntongue, and saying, \"Alack, and alas for my sin, that I sinned against\nmyself and against the King's son, in that which I did with the damsel;\nfor I neither left her nor won my will of her! All this cometh of my\nlack of sense, in that I sought for myself that which I deserved not\nand which befitted not the like of me; for whoso seeketh what suiteth\nhim not at all, falleth with the like of my fall.\" Now when the King's\nson heard this, he accosted him in Persian, saying, \"How long will this\nweeping and wailing last? Say me, thinkest thou that hath befallen thee\nthat which never befel other than thou?\" Now when the Persian heard\nthis, he made friends with him and began to complain to him of his case\nand misfortunes. And as soon as the morning morrowed, the warders took\nthe Prince and carried him before their King, informing him that he had\nentered the city on the previous night, at a time when audience was\nimpossible. Quoth the King to the Prince, \"Whence comest thou and what\nis thy name and trade and why hast thou travelled hither?\" He replied,\n\"As to my name I am called in Persian Harjah;[FN#26] as to my country I\ncome from the land of Fars; and I am of the men of art and especially\nof the art of medicine and healing the sick and those whom the Jinns\ndrive mad. For this I go round about all countries and cities, to\nprofit by adding knowledge to my knowledge, and whenever I see a\npatient I heal him and this is my craft.\"[FN#27] Now when the King\nheard this, he rejoiced with exceeding joy and said, \"O excellent Sage,\nthou hast indeed come to us at a time when we need thee.\" Then he\nacquainted him with the case of the Princess, adding, \"If thou cure her\nand recover her from her madness, thou shalt have of me everything thou\nseekest.\" Replied the Prince, \"Allah save and favour the King: describe\nto me all thou hast seen of her insanity and tell me how long it is\nsince the access attacked her; also how thou camest by her and the\nhorse and the Sage.\" So the King told him the whole story, from first\nto last, adding, \"The Sage is in goal.\" Quoth the Prince, \"O auspicious\nKing, and what hast thou done with the horse?\" Quoth the King, \"O\nyouth, it is with me yet, laid up in one of my treasure-chambers,\"\nwhereupon said the Prince within himself, \"The best thing I can do is\nfirst to see the horse and assure myself of its condition. If it be\nwhole and sound, all will be well and end well; but, if its motor-works\nbe destroyed, I must find some other way of delivering my beloved.\"\nThereupon he turned to the King and said to him, \"O King, I must see\nthe horse in question: haply I may find in it somewhat that will serve\nme for the recovery of the damsel.\" \"With all my heart,\" replied the\nKing, and taking him by the hand, showed him into the place where the\nhorse was. The Prince went round about it, examining its condition, and\nfound it whole and sound, whereat he rejoiced greatly and said to the\nKing, \"Allah save and exalt the King! I would fain go in to the damsel,\nthat I may see how it is with her; for I hope in Allah to heal her by\nmy healing hand through means of the horse.\" Then he bade them take\ncare of the horse and the King carried him to the Princess's apartment\nwhere her lover found her wringing her hands and writhing and beating\nherself against the ground, and tearing her garments to tatters as was\nher wont; but there was no madness of Jinn in her, and she did this but\nthat none might approach her. When the Prince saw her thus, he said to\nher, \"No harm shall betide thee, O ravishment of the three worlds;\" and\nwent on to soothe her and speak her fair, till he managed to whisper,\n\"I am Kamar al-Akmar;\" whereupon she cried out with a loud cry and fell\ndown fainting for excess of joy; but the King thought this was\nepilepsy[FN#28] brought on by her fear of him, and by her suddenly\nbeing startled. Then the Prince put his mouth to her ear and said to\nher, \"O Shams al-Nahar, O seduction of the universe, have a care for\nthy life and mine and be patient and constant; for this our position\nneedeth sufferance and skilful contrivance to make shift for our\ndelivery from the tyrannical King. My first move will be now to go out\nto him and tell him that thou art possessed of a Jinn and hence thy\nmadness; but that I will engage to heal thee and drive away the evil\nspirit, if he will at once unbind thy bonds. So when he cometh in to\nthee, do thou speak him smooth words, that he may think I have cured\nthee, and all will be done for us as we desire.\" Quoth she, \"Hearkening\nand obedience;\" and he went out to the King in joy and gladness, and\nsaid to him, \"O august King, I have, by thy good fortune, discovered\nher disease and its remedy, and have cured her for thee. So now do thou\ngo in to her and speak her softly and treat her kindly, and promise her\nwhat may please her; so shall all thou desirest of her be accomplished\nto thee.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prince\nfeigned himself a leach and went in to the damsel and made himself\nknown to her and told her how he purposed to deliver her, she cried\n\"Hearkening and obedience!\" He then fared forth from her and sought the\nKing and said, \"Go thou in to her and speak her softly and promise her\nwhat may please her; so shall all thou desirest of her be accomplished\nto thee.\" Thereupon the King went in to her and when she saw him, she\nrose and kissing the ground before him, bade him welcome and said, \"I\nadmire how thou hast come to visit thy handmaid this day;\" whereat he\nwas ready to fly for joy and bade the waiting-women and the eunuchs\nattend her and carry her to the Hammam and make ready for her dresses\nand adornment. So they went in to her and saluted her, and she returned\ntheir salams with the goodliest language and after the pleasantest\nfashion; whereupon they clad her in royal apparel and, clasping a\ncollar of jewels about her neck, carried her to the bath and served her\nthere. Then they brought her forth, as she were the full moon; and,\nwhen she came into the King's presence, she saluted him and kissed\nground before him; whereupon he joyed in her with joy exceeding and\nsaid to the Prince, \"O Sage, O philosopher, all this is of thy\nblessing. Allah increase to us the benefit of thy healing\nbreath!\"[FN#29] The Prince replied, \"O King, for the completion of her\ncure it behoveth that thou go forth, thou and all thy troops and\nguards, to the place where thou foundest her, not forgetting the beast\nof black wood which was with her; for therein is a devil; and, unless I\nexorcise him, he will return to her and afflict her at the head of\nevery month.\" \"With love and gladness,\" cried the King, \"O thou Prince\nof all philosophers and most learned of all who see the light of day.\"\nThen he brought out the ebony horse to the meadow in question and rode\nthither with all his troops and the Princess, little weeting the\npurpose of the Prince. Now when they came to the appointed place, the\nPrince, still habited as a leach, bade them set the Princess and the\nsteed as far as eye could reach from the King and his troops, and said\nto him, \"With thy leave, and at thy word, I will now proceed to the\nfumigations and conjurations, and here imprison the adversary of\nmankind, that he may never more return to her. After this, I shall\nmount this wooden horse which seemeth to be made of ebony, and take the\ndamsel up behind me; whereupon it will shake and sway to and fro and\nfare forwards, till it come to thee, when the affair will be at an end;\nand after this thou mayst do with her as thou wilt.\" When the King\nheard his words, he rejoiced with extreme joy; so the Prince mounted\nthe horse and, taking the damsel up behind him, whilst the King and his\ntroops watched him, bound her fast to him. Then he turned the\nascending-pin and the horse took flight and soared with them high in\nair, till they disappeared from every eye. After this the King abode\nhalf the day, expecting their return; but they returned not. So when he\ndespaired of them, repenting him greatly of that which he had done and\ngrieving sore for the loss of the damsel, he went back to the city with\nhis troops. He then sent for the Persian who was in prison and said to\nhim, \"O thou traitor, O thou villian, why didst thou hide from me the\nmystery of the ebony horse? And now a sharper hath come to me and hath\ncarried it off, together with a slave-girl whose ornaments are worth a\nmint of money, and I shall never see anyone or anything of them again!\"\nSo the Persian related to him all his past, first and last, and the\nKing was seized with a fit of fury which well-nigh ended his life. He\nshut himself up in his palace for a while, mourning and afflicted; but\nat last his Wazirs came in to him and applied themselves to comfort\nhim, saying, \"Verily, he who took the damsel is an enchanter, and\npraised be Allah who hath delivered thee from his craft and sorcery!\"\nAnd they ceased not from him, till he was comforted for her loss. Thus\nfar concerning the King; but as for the Prince, he continued his career\ntowards his father's capital in joy and cheer, and stayed not till he\nalighted on his own palace, where he set the lady in safety; after\nwhich he went in to his father and mother and saluted them and\nacquainted them with her coming, whereat they were filled with solace\nand gladness. Then he spread great banquets for the towns-folk,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King's son\nspread great banquets for the towns-folk and they held high festival a\nwhole month, at the end of which time he went in to the Princess and\nthey took their joy of each other with exceeding joy. But his father\nbrake the ebony horse in pieces and destroyed its mechanism for flight;\nmoreover the Prince wrote a letter to the Princess's father, advising\nhim of all that had befallen her and informing him how she was now\nmarried to him and in all health and happiness, and sent it by a\nmessenger, together with costly presents and curious rarities. And when\nthe messenger arrived at the city which was Sana'a and delivered the\nletter and the presents to the King, he read the missive and rejoiced\ngreatly thereat and accepted the presents, honouring and rewarding the\nbearer handsomely. Moreover, he forwarded rich gifts to his son-in-law\nby the same messenger, who returned to his master and acquainted him\nwith what had passed; whereat he was much cheered. And after this the\nPrince wrote a letter every year to his father-in-law and sent him\npresents till, in course of time, his sire King Sabur deceased and he\nreigned in his stead, ruling justly over his lieges and conducting\nhimself well and righteously towards them, so that the land submitted\nto him and his subjects did him loyal service; and Kamar al-Akmar and\nhis wife Shams al-Nahar abode in the enjoyment of all satisfaction and\nsolace of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of deligights and\nSunderer of societies; the Plunderer of palaces, the Caterer for\ncemeteries and the Garnerer of graves. And now glory be to the Living\nOne who dieth not and in whose hand is the dominion of the worlds\nvisible and invisible! Moreover I have heard tell the tale of\n\n\n\n\nUNS AL-WUJUD AND THE WAZIR'S DAUGHTER AL-WARD FI'L-AKMAM OR\nROSE-IN-HOOD.[FN#30]\n\nThere was once, in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before,\na King of great power and lord of glory and dominion galore; who had a\nWazir Ibrahim hight, and this Wazir's daughter was a damsel of\nextraordinary beauty and loveliness, gifted with passing brilliancy and\nthe perfection of grace, possessed of abundant wit, and in all good\nbreeding complete. But she loved wassail and wine and the human face\ndivine and choice verses and rare stories; and the delicacy of her\ninner gifts invited all hearts to love, even as saith the poet,\ndescribing her,\n\n     \"Like moon she shines amid the starry sky, *\n\n\n          Robing in tresses blackest ink outvie.\n\n\n     The morning-breezes give her boughs fair drink, *\n\n\n          And like a branch she sways with supple ply:\n\n\n     She smiles in passing us. O thou that art *\n\n\n          Fairest in yellow robed, or cramoisie,\n\n\n     Thou playest with my wit in love, as though *\n\n\n          Sparrow in hand of playful boy were I.\"[FN#31]\n\n\n\nHer name was Rose-in-Hood and she was so named for her young and tender\nbeauty and the freshness of her brilliancy; and the King loved her in\nhis cups because of her accomplishments and fine manners. Now it was\nthe King's custom yearly to gather together all the nobles of his realm\nand play with the ball.[FN#32] So when the day came round whereon the\nfolk assembled for ballplay, the Minister's daughter seated herself at\nher lattice, to divert herself by looking on at the game; and, as they\nwere at play, her glance fell upon a youth among the guards than whom\nnever was seen a comelier face nor a goodlier form; for he was bright\nof favour showing white teeth when he smiled, tall-statured and\nbroad-shouldered. She looked at him again and again and could not take\nher fill of gazing; and presently said to her nurse, \"What is the name\nof yonder handsome young man among the troops?\" Replied the nurse, \"O\nmy daughter, the dear fellows are all handsome. Which of them dost thou\nmean?\" Said Rose-in-Hood, \"Wait till he come past and I will point him\nout to thee.\" So she took an apple and as he rode by dropped it on him,\nwhereupon he raised his head, to see who did this, and espied the\nWazir's daughter at the window, as she were the moon of fullest light\nin the darkness of the night; nor did he withdraw his eyes, till his\nheart was utterly lost to her, and he recited these lines,\n\n     \"Was't archer shot me, or was't thine eyes *\n\n\n          Ruined lover's heart that thy charms espies?\n\n\n     Was the notched shaft[FN#33] from a host outshot, *\n\n\n          Or from latticed window in sudden guise?\"\n\n\n\nWhen the game was at an end, and all had left the ground, she asked her\nnurse, \"What is the name of that youth I showed thee?\"; and the good\nwoman answered, \"His name is Uns al-Wujud;\" whereat Rose-in-Hood shook\nher head and lay down on her couch, with thoughts a-fire for love.\nThen, sighing deeply, she improvised these couplets,\n\n     \"He missed not who dubbed thee, 'World's delight,' *\n\n\n          A world's love conjoining to bounty's light:[FN#34]\n\n\n     O thou, whose favour the full moon favours, *\n\n\n          Whose charms make life and the living bright!\n\n\n     Thou hast none equal among mankind; *\n\n\n          Sultan of Beauty, and proof I'll cite:\n\n\n     Thine eye-brows are likest a well-formed N\u03can,[FN#35] *\n\n\n          And thine eyes a S\u03b1d,[FN#36] by His hand indite;\n\n\n     Thy shape is the soft, green bough that gives *\n\n\n          When asked to all with all-gracious sprite:\n\n\n     Thou excellest knights of the world in stowre, *\n\n\n          With delight and beauty and bounty dight.\"\n\n\n\nWhen she had finished her verses, she wrote them on a sheet of paper,\nwhich she folded in a piece of golf-embroidered silk and placed under\nher pillow. Now one of her nurses had seen her; so she came up to her\nand held her in talk till she slept, when she stole the scroll from\nunder her pillow; and, after reading it, knew that she had fallen in\nlove with Uns al-Wujud. Then she returned the scroll to its place and\nwhen her mistress awoke, she said to her, \"O my lady, indeed I am to\nthee a true counsellor and am tenderly anxious on thy account. Know\nthat love is a tyrant and the hiding it melteth iron and entaileth\nsickness and unease; nor for whoso confesseth it is there aught of\nreproach.\" Rejoined Rose-in-Hood, \"And what is the medicine of passion,\nO nurse mine?\" Answered the nurse, \"The medicine of passion is\nenjoyment\" Quoth she, \"And how may one come by enjoyment?\" Quoth the\nother, \"By letters and messages, my lady; by whispered words of\ncompliment and by greetings before the world;[FN#37] all this bringeth\nlovers together and makes hard matters easy. So if thou have aught at\nheart, mistress mine, I am the fittest to keep thy secret and do thy\ndesires and carry thy letters.\" Now when the damsel heard this, her\nreason flew and fled for joy; but she restrained herself from speech\ntill she should see the issue of the matter, saying within herself,\n\"None knoweth this thing of me, nor will I trust this one with my\nsecret, till I have tried her.\" Then said the woman, \"O my lady, I saw\nin my sleep as though a man came to me and said: 'Thy mistress and Uns\nal-Wujud love each other; so do thou serve their case by carrying their\nmessages and doing their desires and keeping their secrets; and much\ngood shall befal thee.' So now I have told thee my vision and it is\nthine to decide.\" Quoth Rose-in-Hood, after she heard of the dream,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Rose-in- Hood\nasked her nurse after hearing of the dream, \"Tell me, canst thou keep a\nsecret, O my nurse?\"; whereto she answered, \"And how should I not keep\nsecrecy, I that am of the flower of the free?\"[FN#38] Then the maiden\npulled out the scroll, whereon she had written the verses and said,\n\"Carry me this my letter to Uns al-Wujud and bring me his reply.\" The\nnurse took the letter and, repairing to Uns al-Wujud, kissed his hands\nand greeted him right courteously, then gave him the paper; and he read\nit and, comprehending the contents, wrote on the back these couplets,\n\n     \"I soothe my heart and my love repel; *\n\n\n          But my state interprets my love too well:\n\n\n     When tears flow I tell them mine eyes are ill, *\n\n\n          Lest the censor see and my case fortell,\n\n\n     I was fancy-free and unknew I Love; *\n\n\n          But I fell in love and in madness fell.\n\n\n     I show you my case and complain of pain, *\n\n\n          Pine and ecstasy that your ruth compel:\n\n\n     I write you with tears of eyes, so belike *\n\n\n          They explain the love come my heart to quell;\n\n\n     Allah guard a face that is veiled with charms, *\n\n\n          Whose thrall is Moon and the Stars as well:\n\n\n     In her beauty I never beheld the like; *\n\n\n          From her sway the branches learn sway and swell:\n\n\n     I beg you, an 'tis not too much of pains, *\n\n\n          To call;[FN#39] 'twere boon without parallel.\n\n\n     I give you a soul you will haply take. *\n\n\n          To which Union is Heaven, Disunion Hell.\"\n\n\n\nThen he folded the letter and kissing it, gave it to the go- between\nand said to her, \"O nurse, incline the lady's heart to me.\" \"To hear is\nto obey,\" answered she and carried the script to her mistress, who\nkissed it and laid it on her head, then she opened it and read it and\nunderstood it and wrote at the foot of it these couplets,\n\n     \"O whose heart by our beauty is captive ta'en, *\n\n\n          Have patience and all thou shalt haply gain!\n\n\n     When we knew that thy love was a true affect, *\n\n\n          And what pained our heart to thy heart gave pain,\n\n\n     We had granted thee wished-for call and more; *\n\n\n          But hindered so doing the chamberlain.\n\n\n     When the night grows dark, through our love's excess *\n\n\n          Fire burns our vitals with might and main:\n\n\n     And sleep from our beds is driven afar, *\n\n\n          And our bodies are tortured by passion-bane.\n\n\n     'Hide Love!' in Love's code is the first command; *\n\n\n          And from raising his veil thy hand restrain:\n\n\n     I fell love-fulfilled by yon gazelle: *\n\n\n          Would he never wander from where I dwell!\"\n\n\n\nThen she folded the letter and gave it to the nurse, who took it and\nwent out from her mistress to seek the young man; but, as she would\nfare forth, the chamberlain met her and said to her, \"Whither away?\"\n\"To the bath,\" answered she; but in her fear and confusion, she dropped\nthe letter, without knowing it, and went off unrecking what she had\ndone; when one of the eunuchs, seeing it lying in the way, picked it\nup. When the nurse came without the door, she sought for it, but found\nit not, so turned back to her mistress and told her of this and what\nhad befallen her. Meanwhile, the Wazir came out of the Harim and seated\nhimself on his couch; whereupon behold, the eunuch, who had picked up\nthe letter, came in to him, hending it in hand and said, \"O my lord, I\nfound this paper lying upon the floor and picked it up.\" So the\nMinister took it from his hand, folded as it was, and opening it, read\nthe verses as above set down. Then, after mastering the meaning, he\nexamined the writing and knew it for his daughter's hand; whereupon he\nwent to her mother, weeping so abundant tears that his beard was\nwetted. His wife asked him, \"What maketh thee weep, O my lord?\"; and he\nanswered, \"Take this letter and see what is therein.\" So she took it\nand found it to be a love-letter from her daughter Rose-in-Hood to Uns\nal-Wujud: whereupon the ready drops sprang to her eyes; but she\ncomposed her mind, and, gulping down her tears, said to her husband, \"O\nmy lord, there is no profit in weeping: the right course is to cast\nabout for a means of keeping thine honour and concealing the affair of\nthy daughter.\" And she went on to comfort him and lighten his trouble;\nbut he said, \"I am fearful for my daughter by reason of this new\npassion. Knowest thou not that the Sultan loveth Uns al- Wujud with\nexceeding love? And my fear hath two causes. The first concerneth\nmyself; it is, that she is my daughter: the second is on account of the\nKing; for that Uns al-Wujud is a favourite with the Sultan and\nperadventure great troubles shall come out of this affair. What deemest\nthou should be done?\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir, after\nrecounting the affair of his daughter, asked his wife, \"What deemest\nthou should be done?\" And she answered, \"Have patience whilst I pray\nthe prayer for right direction.\" So she prayed a two-bow prayer\naccording to the prophetic[FN#40] ordinance for seeking divine\nguidance; after which she said to her husband, \"In the midst of the Sea\nof Treasures[FN#41] standeth a mountain named the Mount of the Bereaved\nMother (the cause of which being so called shall presently follow in\nits place, Inshallah!); and thither can none have access, save with\npains and difficulty and distress: do thou make that same her\nabiding-place.\" Accordingly the Minister and his wife agreed to build\non that mountain a virgin castle and lodge their daughter therein with\nthe necessary provision to be renewed year by year and attendants to\ncheer and to serve her. Accordingly he collected carpenters, builders\nand architects and despatched them to the mountain, where they builded\nher an impregnable castle, never saw eyes the like thereof. Then he\nmade ready vivers and carriage for the journey and, going in to his\ndaughter by night, bade her prepare to set out on a pleasure-excursion.\nThereupon her heart presaged the sorrows of separation and, when she\nwent forth and saw the preparations for the journey, she wept with sore\nweeping and wrote that upon the door which might acquaint her lover\nwith what had passed and with the transports of passion and grief that\nwere upon her, transports such as would make the flesh to shiver and\nhair to stare, and melt the hardest stone with care, and tear from\nevery eye a tear. And what she wrote were these couplets,\n\n   \"By Allah, O thou house, if my beloved a morn go by, *\n\n\n      And greet with signs and signals lover e'er is wont to fly,\n\n\n   I pray thee give him our salams in pure and fragrant guise, *\n\n\n      For he indeed may never know where we this eve shall lie.\n\n\n   I wot not whither they have fared, thus bearing us afar *\n\n\n      At speed, and lightly-quipt, the lighter from one love to\n\n\n      fly:\n\n\n   When starkens night, the birds in brake or branches snugly\n\n\n      perched * Wail for our sorrow and announce our hapless\n\n\n      destiny:\n\n\n   The tongue of their condition saith, 'Alas, alas for woe, *\n\n\n      And heavy brunt of parting-blow two lovers must aby':\n\n\n   When viewed I separation-cups were filled to the brim *\n\n\n      And us with merest sorrow-wine Fate came so fast to ply,\n\n\n   I mixed them with becoming share of patience self to excuse, *\n\n\n      But Patience for the loss of you her solace doth refuse.\"\n\n\n\nNow when she ended her lines, she mounted and they set forward with\nher, crossing and cutting over wold and wild and riant dale and rugged\nhill, till they came to the shore of the Sea of Treasures; here they\npitched their tents and built her a great ship, wherein they went down\nwith her and her suite and carried them over to the mountain. The\nMinister had ordered them, on reaching the journey's end, to set her in\nthe castle and to make their way back to the shore, where they were to\nbreak up the vessel. So they did his bidding and returned home, weeping\nover what had befallen. Such was their case; but as regards Uns al-\nWujud, he arose from sleep and prayed the dawn-prayer, after which he\ntook horse and rode forth to attend upon the Sultan. On his way, he\npassed by the Wazir's house, thinking perchance to see some of his\nfollowers as of wont; but he saw no one and, looking upon the door, he\nread written thereon the verses aforesaid. At this sight, his senses\nfailed him; fire was kindled in his vitals and he returned to his\nlodging, where he passed the day in trouble and transports of grief,\nwithout finding ease or patience, till night darkened upon him, when\nhis yearning and love-longing redoubled. Thereupon, by way of\nconcealment, he disguised himself in the ragged garb of a Fakir,[FN#42]\nand set out wandering at random through the glooms of night, distracted\nand knowing not whither he went. So he wandered on all that night and\nnext day, till the heat of the sun waxed fierce and the mountains\nflamed like fire and thirst was grievous upon him. Presently, he espied\na tree, by whose side was a thin thread of running water; so he made\ntowards it and sitting down in the shade, on the bank of the rivulet,\nessayed to drink, but found that the water had no taste in his\nmouth;[FN#43] and, indeed his colour had changed and his face had\nyellowed, and his feet were swollen with travel and travail. So he shed\ncopious tears and repeated these couplets,\n\n   \"The lover is drunken with love of friend; *\n\n\n      On a longing that groweth his joys depend:\n\n\n   Love-distracted, ardent, bewildered, lost *\n\n\n      From home, nor may food aught of pleasure lend:\n\n\n   How can life be delightsome to one in love, *\n\n\n      And from lover parted, 'twere strange, unkenned!\n\n\n   I melt with the fire of my pine for them, *\n\n\n      And the tears down my cheek in a stream descend.\n\n\n   Shall I see them, say me, or one that comes *\n\n\n      From the camp, who th' afflicted heart shall tend?\"\n\n\n\nAnd after thus reciting he wept till he wetted the hard dry ground; but\nanon without loss of time he rose and fared on again over waste and\nwold, till there came out upon him a lion, with a neck buried in\ntangled mane, a head the bigness of a dome, a mouth wider than the door\nthereof and teeth like elephants' tusks. Now when Uns al-Wujud saw him,\nhe gave himself up for lost, and turning[FN#44] towards the Temple of\nMeccah, pronounced the professions of the faith and prepared for death.\nHe had read in books that whoso will flatter the lion, beguileth\nhim,[FN#45] for that he is readily duped by smooth speech and gentled\nby being glorified; so he began and said, \"O Lion of the forest! O Lord\nof the waste! O terrible Leo! O father of fighters! O Sultan of wild\nbeasts! Behold, I am a lover in longing, whom passion and severance\nhave been wronging; since I parted from my dear, I have lost my\nreasoning gear; wherefore, to my speech do thou give ear and have ruth\non my passion and hope and fear.\" When the lion heard this, he drew\nback from him and sitting down on his hindquarters, raised his head to\nhim and began to frisk tail and paws; which when Uns al-Wujud saw, he\nrecited these couplets,\n\n   \"Lion of the wold wilt thou murther me, *\n\n\n      Ere I meet her who doomed me to slavery?\n\n\n    I am not game and I bear no fat; *\n\n\n      For the loss of my love makes me sickness dree;\n\n\n   And estrangement from her hath so worn me down *\n\n\n      I am like a shape in a shroud we see.\n\n\n   O thou sire of spoils,[FN#46] O thou lion of war, *\n\n\n      Give not my pains to the blamer's gree.\n\n\n   I burn with love, I am drowned in tears *\n\n\n      For a parting from lover, sore misery!\n\n\n   And my thoughts of her in the murk of night *\n\n\n      For love hath make my being unbe.\"\n\n\n\nAs he had finished his lines the lion rose,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as Uns al- Wujud\nended his lines, the lion arose and stalked slowly up to him, with eyes\ntear-railing and licked him with his tongue, then walked on before him,\nsigning to him as though saying, \"Follow me.\" So he followed him, and\nthe beast ceased not leading him on for a while till he brought him up\na mountain, and guided him to the farther side, where he came upon the\ntrack of a caravan over the desert, and knew it to be that of\nRose-in-Hood and her company. Then he took the trail and, when the lion\nsaw that he knew the track for that of the party which escorted her, he\nturned back and went his way; whilst Uns al-Wujud walked along the\nfoot-marks day and night, till they brought him to a dashing sea,\nswollen with clashing surge. The trail led down to the sandy shore and\nthere broke off; whereby he knew that they had taken ship and had\ncontinued their journey by water. So he lost hope of finding his lover\nand with hot tears he repeated these couplets,\n\n   \"Far is the fane and patience faileth me; *\n\n\n      How can I seek them[FN#47] o'er the abyssmal sea;\n\n\n   Or how be patient, when my vitals burn *\n\n\n      For love of them, and sleep waxed insomny?\n\n\n   Since the sad day they left the home and fled, *\n\n\n      My heart's consumed by love's ardency:\n\n\n   Sayhun, Jayhun,[FN#48] Euphrates-like my tears, *\n\n\n      Make flood no deluged rain its like can see:\n\n\n   Mine eyelids chafed with running tears remain, *\n\n\n      My heart from fiery sparks is never free;\n\n\n   The hosts of love and longing pressed me *\n\n\n      And made the hosts of patience break and flee.\n\n\n   I've risked my life too freely for their love; *\n\n\n      And risk of life the least of ills shall be.\n\n\n   Allah ne'er punish eye that saw those charms *\n\n\n      Enshrined, and passing full moon's brilliancy!\n\n\n   I found me felled by fair wide-opened eyes, *\n\n\n      Which pierced my heart with stringless archery:\n\n\n   And soft, lithe, swaying shape enraptured me *\n\n\n      As sway the branches of the willow-tree:\n\n\n   Wi' them I covet union that I win, *\n\n\n      O'er love-pains cark and care, a mastery.\n\n\n   For love of them aye, morn and eve I pine, *\n\n\n      And doubt all came to me from evil eyne.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when his lines were ended he wept, till he swooned away, and abode\nin his swoon a long while; but as soon as he came to himself, he looked\nright and left and seeing no one in the desert, he became fearful of\nthe wild beasts; so he clomb to the top of a high mountain, where he\nheard the voice of a son of Adam speaking within a cave. He listened\nand lo! they were the accents of a devotee, who had forsworn the world\nand given himself up to pious works and worship. He knocked thrice at\nthe cavern-door, but the hermit made him no answer, neither came forth\nto him; wherefore he groaned aloud and recited these couplets.\n\n   \"What pathway find I my desire t'obtain, *\n\n\n      How 'scape from care and cark and pain and bane?\n\n\n   All terrors join to make me old and hoar *\n\n\n      Of head and heart, ere youth from me is ta'en:\n\n\n   Nor find I any aid my passion, nor *\n\n\n      A friend to lighten load of bane and pain.\n\n\n   How great and many troubles I've endured! *\n\n\n      Fortune hath turned her back I see unfain.\n\n\n   Ah mercy, mercy on the lover's heart, *\n\n\n      Doomed cup of parting and desertion drain!\n\n\n   A fire is in his heart, his vitals waste, *\n\n\n      And severance made his reason vainest vain.\n\n\n   How dread the day I came to her abode *\n\n\n      And saw the writ they wrote on doorway lain!\n\n\n   I wept, till gave I earth to drink my grief; *\n\n\n      But still to near and far[FN#49] I did but feign:\n\n\n   Then strayed I till in waste a lion sprang *\n\n\n      On me, and but for flattering words had slain:\n\n\n   I soothed him: so he spared me and lent me aid, *\n\n\n      He too might haply of love's taste complain.\n\n\n   O devotee, that idlest in thy cave, *\n\n\n      Meseems eke thou hast learned Love's might and main;\n\n\n   But if, at end of woes, with them I league, *\n\n\n      Straight I'll forget all suffering and fatigue.\"\n\n\n\nHardly had he made an end of these verses when, behold! the door of the\ncavern opened and he heard one say, \"Alas, the pity of it!\"[FN#50] So\nhe entered and saluted the devotee, who returned his salam and asked\nhim, \"What is thy name?\" Answered the young man, \"Uns al-Wujud.\" \"And\nwhat caused thee to come hither?\" quoth the hermit. So he told him his\nstory in its entirety, omitting naught of his misfortunes; whereat he\nwept and said, \"O Uns al- Wujud, these twenty years have I passed in\nthis place, but never beheld I any man here, until yesterday, when I\nheard a noise of weeping and lamentation and, looking forth in the\ndirection of the sound, saw many people and tents pitched on the\nsea-shore; and the party at once proceeded to build a ship, in which\ncertain of them embarked and sailed over the waters. Then some of the\ncrew returned with the ship and breaking it up, went their way; and I\nsuspect that those who embarked in the ship and returned not, are they\nwhom thou seekest. In that case, O Uns al-Wujud, thy grief must needs\nbe great and sore and thou art excusable, though never yet was lover\nbut suffered love-longing.\" Then he recited these couplets,\n\n   \"Uns al-Wujud, dost deem me fancy-free, *\n\n\n      When pine and longing slay and quicken me?\n\n\n   I have known love and yearning from the years *\n\n\n      Since mother-milk I drank, nor e'er was free.\n\n\n    Long struggled I with Love, till learnt his might; *\n\n\n      Ask thou of him, he'll tell with willing gree.\n\n\n   Love-sick and pining drank I passion-cup, *\n\n\n      And well-nigh perished in mine agony.\n\n\n   Strong was I, but my strength to weakness turned, *\n\n\n      And eye-sword brake through Patience armoury:\n\n\n   Hope not to win love-joys, without annoy; *\n\n\n      Contrary ever links with contrary.\n\n\n   But fear not change from lover true; be true *\n\n\n      Unto thy wish, some day thine own 'twill be.\n\n\n   Love hath forbidden to his votaries *\n\n\n      Relinquishment as deadliest heresy.\"\n\n\n\nThe eremite, having ended his verse, rose and, coming up to Uns\nal-Wujud, embraced him,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the eremite\nhaving ended his verse, rose and coming up to Uns al-Wujud embraced\nhim, and they wept together, till the hills rang with their cries and\nthey fell down fainting. When they revived, they swore\nbrotherhood[FN#51] in Allah Almighty; after which said Uns al-Wujud,\n\"This very night will I pray to God and seek of Him direction[FN#52]\nanent what thou shouldst do to attain thy desire.\" Thus it was with\nthem; but as regards Rose-in-Hood, when they brought her to the\nmountain and set her in the castle and she beheld its ordering, she\nwept and exclaimed, \"By Allah, thou art a goodly place, save that thou\nlackest in thee the presence of the beloved!\"[FN#53] Then seeing birds\nin the island, she bade her people set snares for them and put all they\ncaught in cages within the castle; and they did so. But she sat at a\nlattice and bethought her of what had passed, and desire and passion\nand distraction redoubled upon her, till she burst into tears and\nrepeated these couplets,\n\n   \"O to whom now, of my desire complaining sore, shall I *\n\n\n      Bewail my parting from my fere compell\u03b8d thus to fly?\n\n\n   Flames rage within what underlies my ribs, yet hide them I *\n\n\n      In deepest secret dreading aye the jealous hostile spy:\n\n\n   I am grown as lean, attenuate as any pick of tooth,[FN#54] *\n\n\n      By sore estrangement, absence, ardour, ceaseless sob and\n\n\n      sigh.\n\n\n   Where is the eye of my beloved to see how I'm become *\n\n\n      Like tree stripped bare of leafage left to linger and to\n\n\n      die.\n\n\n   They tyrannised over me whom they confined in place *\n\n\n      Whereto the lover of my heart may never draw him nigh:\n\n\n   I beg the Sun for me to give greetings a thousandfold, *\n\n\n      At time of rising and again when setting from the sky,\n\n\n   To the beloved one who shames a full moon's loveliness, *\n\n\n      When shows that slender form that doth the willow-branch\n\n\n      outvie.\n\n\n   If Rose herself would even with his cheek, I say of her *\n\n\n      'Thou art not like it if to me my portion thou\n\n\n      deny:'[FN#55]\n\n\n   His honey-dew of lips is like the grateful water draught *\n\n\n      Would cool me when a fire in heart upflameth fierce and\n\n\n      high:\n\n\n   How shall I give him up who is my heart and soul of me, *\n\n\n      My malady my wasting cause, my love, sole leach of me?\"\n\n\n\nThen, as the glooms of night closed around her, her yearning increased\nand she called to mind the past and recited also these couplets,\n\n   \"'Tis dark: my transport and unease now gather might and main,\n\n\n      * And love-desire provoketh me to wake my wonted pain:\n\n\n   The pang of parting takes for ever place within my breast, *\n\n\n      And pining makes me desolate in destitution lain.\n\n\n   Ecstasy sore maltreats my soul and yearning burns my sprite, *\n\n\n      And tears betray love's secresy which I would lief contain:\n\n\n   I weet no way, I know no case that can make light my load, *\n\n\n      Or heal my wasting body or cast out from me this bane.\n\n\n   A hell of fire is in my heart upflames with lambent tongue *\n\n\n      And Laza's furnace-fires within my liver place have ta'en.\n\n\n   O thou, exaggerating blame for what befel, enough *\n\n\n      I bear with patience whatsoe'er hath writ for me the Pen!\n\n\n   I swear, by Allah, ne'er to find aught comfort for their loss;\n\n\n      * \"Tis oath of passion's children and their oaths are ne'er\n\n\n      in vain.\n\n\n   O Night! Salams of me to friends and let to them be known *\n\n\n      Of thee true knowledge how I wake and waking ever wone.\"\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, the hermit said to Uns al-Wujud, \"Go down to the palm- grove\nin the valley and fetch some fibre.\"[FN#56] So he went and returned\nwith the palm-fibre, which the hermit took and, twisting into ropes,\nmake therewith a net,[FN#57] such as is used for carrying straw; after\nwhich he said, \"O Uns al-Wujud, in the heart of the valley groweth a\ngourd, which springeth up and drieth upon its roots. Go down there and\nfill this sack therewith; then tie it together and, casting it into the\nwater, embark thereon and make for the midst of the sea, so haply thou\nshalt win thy wish; for whoso never ventureth shall not have what he\nseeketh.\" \"I hear and obey,\" answered Uns al-Wujud. Then he bade the\nhermit farewell after the holy man had prayed for him; and, betaking\nhimself to the sole of the valley, did as his adviser had counselled\nhim; made the sack, launched it upon the water, and pushed from shore.\nThen there arose a wind, which drave him out to sea, till he was lost\nto the eremite's view; and he ceased not to float over the abysses of\nthe ocean, one billow tossing him up and another bearing him down (and\nhe beholding the while the dangers and marvels of the deep), for the\nspace of three days. At the end of that time Fate cast him upon the\nMount of the Bereft Mother, where he landed, giddy and tottering like a\nchick unfledged, and at the last of his strength for hunger and thirst;\nbut, finding there streams flowing and birds on the branches cooing and\nfruit-laden trees in clusters and singly growing, he ate of the fruits\nand drank of the rills. Then he walked on till he saw some white thing\nafar off, and making for it, found that it was a strongly fortified\ncastle. So he went up to the gate and seeing it locked, sat down by it;\nand there he sat for three days when behold, the gate opened and an\neunuch came out, who finding Uns al-Wujud there seated, said to him,\n\"Whence camest thou and who brought thee hither?\" Quoth he, \"From\nIspahan and I was voyaging with merchandise when my ship was wrecked\nand the waves cast me upon the farther side of this island.\" Whereupon\nthe eunuch wept and embraced him, saying, \"Allah preserve thee, O thou\nfriendly face! Ispahan is mine own country and I have there a cousin,\nthe daughter of my father's brother, whom I loved from my childhood and\ncherished with fond affection; but a people stronger than we fell upon\nus in foray and taking me among other booty, cut off my yard[FN#58] and\nsold me for a castrato, whilst I was yet a lad; and this is how I came\nto be in such case.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the eunuch who\ncame forth from the castle, where Rose-in-Hood was confined, told Uns\nal-Wujud all his tale and said:\u2014\"The raiders who captured me cut off my\nyard and sold me for a castrato; and this is how I came to be in such\ncase.\"[FN#59] And after saluting him and wishing him long life, the\neunuch carried him into the courtyard of the castle, where he saw a\ngreat tank of water, surrounded by trees, on whose branches hung cages\nof silver, with doors of gold, and therein birds were warbling and\nsinging the praises of the Requiting King. And when he came to the\nfirst cage he looked in and lo! a turtle dove, on seeing him, raised\nher voice and cried out, saying, \"O Thou Bounty-fraught!\" Whereat he\nfell down fainting and after coming to himself, he sighed heavily and\nrecited these couplets,\n\n   \"O turtle dove, like me art thou distraught? *\n\n\n      Then pray the Lord and sing 'O Bounty-fraught!'\n\n\n   Would I knew an thy moan were sign of joy, *\n\n\n      Or cry of love-desire in heart inwrought,\u2014\n\n\n   An moan thou pining for a lover gone *\n\n\n      Who left thee woe begone to pine in thought,\u2014\n\n\n   Or if like me hast lost thy fondest friend, *\n\n\n      And severance long desire to memory brought?\n\n\n   O Allah, guard a faithful lover's lot *\n\n\n      I will not leave her though my bones go rot!\"\n\n\n\nThen, after ending his verses, he fainted again; and, presently\nreviving he went on to the second cage, wherein he found a ringdove.\nWhen it saw him, it sang out, \"O Eternal, I thank thee!\" and he groaned\nand recited these couplets,\n\n   \"I heard a ringdove chanting plaintively, *\n\n\n      'I thank Thee, O Eternal for this misery!'\n\n\n   Haply, perchance, may Allah, of His grace, *\n\n\n      Send me by this long round my love to see.\n\n\n   Full oft[FN#60] she comes with honeyed lips dark red, *\n\n\n      And heaps up lowe upon love's ardency.\n\n\n   Quoth I (while longing fires flame high and fierce *\n\n\n      In heart, and wasting life's vitality,\n\n\n   And tears like gouts of blood go railing down *\n\n\n      In torrents over cheeks now pale of blee),\n\n\n   'None e'er trod earth that was not born to woe, *\n\n\n      But I will patient dree mine agony,\n\n\n   So help me Allah! till that happy day *\n\n\n      When with my mistress I unite shall be:\n\n\n   Then will I spend my good on lover-wights, *\n\n\n      Who're of my tribe and of the faith of me;\n\n\n   And loose the very birds from jail set free, *\n\n\n      And change my grief for gladdest gree and glee!'\"\n\n\n\nThen he went on to the third cage, wherein he found a\nmockingbird[FN#61] which, when it saw him, set up a song, and he\nrecited the following couplets,\n\n   \"Pleaseth me yon Hazar of mocking strain *\n\n\n      Like voice of lover pained by love in vain.\n\n\n   Woe's me for lovers! Ah how many men *\n\n\n      By nights and pine and passion low are lain!\n\n\n   As though by stress of love they had been made *\n\n\n      Morn-less and sleep-less by their pain and bane.\n\n\n   When I went daft for him who conquered me *\n\n\n      And pined for him who proved of proudest strain,\n\n\n   My tears in streams down trickled and I cried *\n\n\n      'These long-linkt tears bind like an adamant-chain:'\n\n\n   Grew concupiscence, severance long, and I *\n\n\n      Lost Patience' hoards and grief waxed sovereign:\n\n\n   If Justice bide in world and me unite *\n\n\n      With him I love and Allah veil us deign,\n\n\n   I'll strip my clothes that he my form shall sight *\n\n\n      With parting, distance, grief, how poor of plight!\"\n\n\n\nThen he went to the fourth cage, where he found a Bulbul[FN#62] which,\nat sight of him, began to sway to and fro and sing its plaintive\ndescant; and when he heard its complaint, he burst into tears and\nrepeated these couplets.\n\n   \"The Bulbul's note, whenas dawn is nigh, *\n\n\n      Tells the lover from strains of strings to fly:\n\n\n   Complaineth for passion Uns al-Wujud, *\n\n\n      For pine that would being to him deny.\n\n\n   How many a strain do we hear, whose sound *\n\n\n      Softens stones and the rock can mollify:\n\n\n   And the breeze of morning that sweetly speaks *\n\n\n      Of meadows in flowered greenery.\n\n\n   And scents and sounds in the morning-tide *\n\n\n      Of birds and zephyrs in fragrance vie;\n\n\n   But I think of one, of an absent friend, *\n\n\n      And tears rail like rain from a showery sky;\n\n\n   And the flamy tongues in my breast uprise *\n\n\n      As sparks from gleed that in dark air fly.\n\n\n   Allah deign vouchsafe to a lover distraught *\n\n\n      Someday the face of his dear to descry!\n\n\n   For lovers, indeed, no excuse is clear, *\n\n\n      Save excuse of sight and excuse of eye.\"\n\n\n\nThen he walked on a little and came to a goodly cage, than which was no\ngoodlier there, and in it a culver of the forest, that is to say, a\nwood-pigeon,[FN#63] the bird renowned among birds as the minstrel of\nlove-longing, with a collar of jewels about its neck marvellous fine\nand fair. He considered it awhile and, seeing it absently brooding in\nits cage, he shed tears and repeated these couplets,\n\n   \"O culver of copse,[FN#64] with salams I greet; *\n\n\n      O brother of lovers who woe must weet!\n\n\n   I love a gazelle who is slender-slim, *\n\n\n      Whose glances for keenness the scymitar beat:\n\n\n   For her love are my heart and my vitals a-fire, *\n\n\n      And my frame consumes in love's fever-heat.\n\n\n   The sweet taste of food is unlawful for me, *\n\n\n      And forbidden is slumber, unlawfullest sweet.\n\n\n   Endurance and solace have travelled from me, *\n\n\n      And love homes in my heart and grief takes firm seat:\n\n\n   How shall life deal joy when they flee my sight *\n\n\n      Who are joy and gladness and life and sprite?\"\n\n\n\nAs soon as Uns al-Wujud had ended his verse,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as soon as Uns\nal-Wujud had ended his verse, the wood-culver awoke from its brooding\nand cooed a reply to his lines and shrilled and trilled with its\nthrilling notes till it all but spake with human speech;[FN#65] and the\ntongue of the case talked for it and recited these couplets,\n\n   \"O lover, thou bringest to thought a tide *\n\n\n      When the strength of my youth first faded and died;\n\n\n   And a friend of whose form I was 'namoured, *\n\n\n      Seductive and dight with beauty's pride;\n\n\n   Whose voice, as he sat on the sandhill-tree, *\n\n\n      From the Nay's[FN#66] sweet sound turned my heart aside;\n\n\n   A fowler snared him in net, the while *\n\n\n      'O that man would leave me at large!' he cried;\n\n\n   I had hoped he might somewhat of mercy show *\n\n\n      When a hapless lover he so espied;\n\n\n   But Allah smite him who tore me away, *\n\n\n      In his hardness of heart, from my lover's side;\n\n\n   But aye my desire for him groweth more, *\n\n\n      And my heart with the fires of disjunction is fried:\n\n\n   Allah guard a true lover, who strives with love, *\n\n\n      And hath borne the torments I still abide!\n\n\n   And, seeing me bound in this cage, with mind *\n\n\n      Of ruth, release me my love to find.\"\n\n\n\nThen Uns al-Wujud turned to his companion, the Ispahahi, and said,\n\"What palace is this? Who built it and who abideth in it?\" Quoth the\neunuch, \"The Wazir of a certain King built it to guard his daughter,\nfearing for her the accidents of Time and the incidents of Fortune, and\nlodged her herein, her and her attendants; nor do we open it save once\nin every year, when their provision cometh to them.\" And Uns al-Wujud\nsaid to himself, \"I have gained my end, though I may have long to\nwait.\" Such was his case; but as regards Rose-in-Hood, of a truth she\ntook no pleasure in eating or drinking, sitting or sleeping; but her\ndesire and passion and distraction redoubled on her, and she went\nwandering about the castle-corners, but could find no issue; wherefore\nshe shed tears and recited these couplets,\n\n   \"They have cruelly ta'en me from him, my beloved, *\n\n\n      And made me taste anguish in prison ta'en:\n\n\n   They have fired my heart with the flames of love, *\n\n\n      Barred all sight of him whom to see I'm fain:\n\n\n   In a lofty palace they prisoned me *\n\n\n      On a mountain placed in the middle main.\n\n\n   If they'd have me forget him, right vain's their wish, *\n\n\n      For my love is grown of a stronger strain.\n\n\n   How can I forget him whose face was cause *\n\n\n      Of all I suffer, of all I 'plain?\n\n\n   The whole of my days in sorrow's spent, *\n\n\n      And in thought of him through the night I'm lain.\n\n\n   Remembrance of him cheers my solitude, *\n\n\n      While I lorn of his presence and lone remain.\n\n\n   Would I knew if, after this all, my fate *\n\n\n      To oblige the desire of my hear will deign.\"\n\n\n\nWhen her verses were ended, she ascended to the terrace-roof of the\ncastle after donning her richest clothes and trinkets and throwing a\nnecklace of jewels around her neck. Then binding together some dresses\nof Ba'albak[FN#67] stuff by way of rope, she tied them to the crenelles\nand let herself down thereby to the ground. And she fared on over\nwastes and waterless wilds, till she came to the shore, where she saw a\nfisherman plying here and there over the sea, for the wind had driven\nhim on to the island. When he saw her, he was affrighted[FN#68] and\npushed off again, flying from her; but she cried out and made pressing\nsigns to him to return, versifying with these couplets,\n\n   \"O fisherman no care hast thou to fear, *\n\n\n      I'm but an earth-born maid in mortal sphere;\n\n\n   I pray thee linger and my prayer grant *\n\n\n      And to my true unhappy tale give ear:\n\n\n   Pity (so Allah spare thee!) warmest love; *\n\n\n      Say, hast thou seen him-my beloved fere?\n\n\n   I love a lovely youth whose face excels *\n\n\n      Sunlight, and passes moon when clearest clear:\n\n\n   The fawn, that sees his glance, is fain to cry *\n\n\n      'I am his thrall' and own himself no peer:\n\n\n   Beauty hath written, on his winsome cheek, *\n\n\n      Rare lines of pregnant sense for every seer;\n\n\n   Who sights the light of love his soul is saved; *\n\n\n      Who strays is Infidel to Hell anear:\n\n\n   An thou in mercy show his sight, O rare![FN#69] *\n\n\n      Thou shalt have every wish, the dearest dear,\n\n\n   Of rubies and what likest are to them *\n\n\n      Fresh pearls and unions new, the seashell's tear:\n\n\n   My friend, thou wilt forsure grant my desire *\n\n\n      Whose heart is melted in love's hottest fire.\n\n\n\nWhen the fisherman heard her words, he wept and made moan and lamented;\nthen, recalling what had betided himself in the days of his youth, when\nlove had the mastery over him and longing and desire and distraction\nwere sore upon him and the fires of passion consumed him, replied with\nthese couplets,\n\n   \"What fair excuse is this my pining plight, *\n\n\n      With wasted limbs and tears' unceasing blight;\n\n\n   And eyelids open in the nightly murk, *\n\n\n      And heart like fire-stick[FN#70] ready fire to smite;\n\n\n   Indeed love burdened us in early youth, *\n\n\n      And true from false coin soon we learned aright:\n\n\n   Then did we sell our soul on way of love, *\n\n\n      And drunk of many a well[FN#71] to win her sight;\n\n\n   Venturing very life to gain her grace, *\n\n\n      And make high profit perilling a mite.\n\n\n   'Tis Love's religion whoso buys with life *\n\n\n      His lover's grace, with highest gain is dight.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when he ended his verse, he moored his boat to the beach and said\nto her, \"Embark, so may I carry thee whither thou wilt.\" Thereupon she\nembarked and he put off with her; but they had not gone far from land,\nbefore there came out a stern-wind upon the boat and drove it swiftly\nout of sight of shore. Now the fisherman knew not whither he went, and\nthe strong wind blew without ceasing three days, when it fell by leave\nof Allah Almighty, and they sailed on and ceased not sailing till they\ncame in sight of a city sitting upon the sea-shore,\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nfisherman's craft, carrying Rose-in-Hood, made the city sitting upon\nthe sea-shore, the man set about making fast to the land. Now the King\nof the city was a Prince of pith and puissance named Dirbas, the Lion;\nand he chanced at that moment to be seated, with his son, at a window\nin the royal palace giving upon the sea; and happening to look out\nseawards, they saw the fishing- boat make the land. They observed it\nnarrowly and espied therein a young lady, as she were the full moon\noverhanging the horizon- edge, with pendants in her ears of costly\nbalass-rubies and a collar of precious stones about her throat. Hereby\nthe King knew that this must indeed be the daughter of some King or\ngreat noble and, going forth of the sea-gate of the palace, went down\nto the boat, where he found the lady asleep and the fisherman busied in\nmaking fast to shore. So he went up to her and aroused her, whereupon\nshe awoke, weeping; and he asked her, \"Whence comest thou and whose\ndaughter art thou and what be the cause of thy coming hither?\"; and she\nanswered, \"I am the daughter of Ibrahim, Wazir to King Shamikh; and the\nmanner of my coming hither is wondrous and the cause thereof\nmarvellous.\" And she told him her whole story first and last, hiding\nnaught from him; then she groaned aloud and recited these couplets,\n\n\"Tear-drops have chafed mine eyelids and rail down in wondrous\n\n\n     wise, * For parting pain that fills my sprite and turns to\n\n\n     springs mine eyes,\n\n\nFor sake of friend who ever dwells within my vitals homed, * And\n\n\n     I may never win my wish of him in any guise.\n\n\nHe hath a favour fair and bright, and brilliant is his face, *\n\n\n     Which every Turk and Arab wight in loveliness outvies:\n\n\nThe Sun and fullest Moon lout low whenas his charms they sight, *\n\n\n     And lover-like they bend to him whene'er he deigneth rise.\n\n\nA wondrous spell of gramarye like Kohl bedecks his eyne, * And\n\n\n     shows thee bow with shaft on string make ready ere it flies:\n\n\nO thou, to whom I told my case expecting all excuse, * Pity a\n\n\n     lover-wight for whom Love-shafts such fate devise!\n\n\nVerily, Love hath cast me on your coast despite of me * Of will\n\n\n     now weak, and fain I trust mine honour thou wilt prize:\n\n\nFor noble men, whenas perchance alight upon their bounds, *\n\n\n     Grace-worthy guests, confess their worth and raise to\n\n\n     dignities. Then,\n\n\nO thou hope of me, to lovers' folly veil afford * And be to them\n\n\n     reunion cause, thou only liefest lord!\"\n\n\n\nAnd when she had ended her verses, she again told the King her sad tale\nand shed plenteous tears and recited these couplets bearing on her\ncase,\n\n\"We lived till saw we all the marvels Love can bear; * Each month\n\n\n     to thee we hope shall fare as Rajab[FN#72] fare:\n\n\nIs it not wondrous, when I saw them march amorn * That I with\n\n\n     water o' eyes in heart lit flames that flare?\n\n\nThat these mine eyelids rain fast dropping gouts of blood? * That\n\n\n     now my cheek grows gold where rose and lily were?\n\n\nAs though the safflower hue, that overspread my cheeks, * Were\n\n\n     Joseph's coat made stain of lying blood to wear.\"\n\n\n\nNow when the King heard her words he was certified of her love and\nlonging and was moved to ruth for her; so he said to her, \"Fear nothing\nand be not troubled; thou hast come to the term of thy wishes; for\nthere is no help but that I win for thee thy will and bring thee to thy\ndesire.\" And he improvised these couplets,\n\n     \"Daughter of nobles, who thine aim shalt gain; *\n\n\n          Hear gladdest news nor fear aught hurt of bane!\n\n\n     This day I'll pack up wealth, and send it on *\n\n\n          To Sh\u03b1mikh, guarded by a champion-train;\n\n\n     Fresh pods of musk I'll send him and brocades, *\n\n\n          And silver white and gold of yellow vein:\n\n\n     Yes, and a letter shall inform him eke *\n\n\n          That I of kinship with that King am fain:\n\n\n     And I this day will lend thee bestest aid, *\n\n\n          That all thou covetest thy soul assain.\n\n\n     I, too, have tasted love and know its taste *\n\n\n          And can excuse whoso the same cup drain.\"[FN#73]\n\n\n\nThen, ending his verse, he went forth to his troops and summoned his\nWazir; and, causing him to pack up countless treasure, commanded him\ncarry it to King Shamikh and say to him, \"Needs must thou send me a\nperson named Uns al-Wujud;\" and say moreover \"The King is minded to\nally himself with thee by marrying his daughter to Uns al-Wujud, thine\nofficer. So there is no help but thou despatch him to me, that the\nmarriage may be solemnized in her father's kingdom.\" And he wrote a\nletter to King Shamikh to this effect, and gave it to the Minister,\ncharging him strictly to bring back Uns al-Wujud and warning him, \"An\nthou fail thou shalt be deposed and degraded.\" Answered the Wazir, \"I\nhear and obey;\" and, setting out forthright with the treasures, in due\ncourse arrived at the court of King Shamikh whom he saluted in the name\nof King Dirbas and delivered the letter and the presents. Now when King\nShamikh read the letter and saw the name of Uns al-Wujud, he burst into\ntears and said to the Wazir \"And where, or where, is Uns al-Wujud?; he\nwent from us and we know not his place of abiding; only bring him to\nme, and I will give thee double the presents thou hast brought me.\" And\nhe wept and groaned and lamented, saying these couplets,\n\n     \"To me restore my dear; * I want not wealth untold:\n\n\n     Nor crave I gifts of pearls * Or gems or store of gold:\n\n\n     He was to us a moon * In beauty's heavenly fold.\n\n\n     Passing in form and soul; * With roe compare withhold!\n\n\n     His form a willow-wand, * His fruit, lures manifold;\n\n\n     But willow lacketh power * Men's hearts to have and hold.\n\n\n     I reared him from a babe * On cot of coaxing roll'd;\n\n\n     And now I mourn for him * With woe in soul ensoul'd.\"\n\n\n\nThen, turning to the Wazir who had brought the presents and the\nmissive, he said, \"Go back to thy liege and acquaint him that Uns\nal-Wujud hath been missing this year past, and his lord knoweth not\nwhither he is gone nor hath any tidings of him.\" Answered the Minister\nof King Dirbas, \"O my lord, my master said to me, 'An thou fail to\nbring him back, thou shalt be degraded from the Wazirate and shall not\nenter my city. How then can I return without him?'\" So King Shamikh\nsaid to his Wazir Ibrahim, \"Take a company and go with him and make ye\nsearch for Uns al-Wujud everywhere.\" He replied, \"Hearkening and\nobedience;\" and, taking a body of his own retainers, set out\naccompanied by the Wazir of King Dirbas seeking Uns al-Wujud.\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim, Wazir to\nKing Shamikh, took him a body of his retainers and, accompanied by the\nMinister of King Dirbas, set out seeking Uns al-Wujud. And as often as\nthey fell in with wild Arabs or others they asked of the youth, saying,\n\"Tell us have ye seen a man whose name is so and so and his semblance\nthus and thus?\" But they all answered, \"We know him not.\" Still they\ncontinued their quest, enquiring in city and hamlet and seeking in\nfertile plain and stony hall and in the wild and in the wold, till they\nmade the Mountain of the Bereaved Mother; and the Wazir of King Dirbas\nsaid to Ibrahim, \"Why is this mountain thus called?\" He answered, \"Once\nof old time, here sojourned a Jinniyah, of the Jinn of China, who loved\na mortal with passionate love; and, being in fear of her life from her\nown people, searched all the earth over for a place, where she might\nhide him from them, till she happened on this mountain and, finding it\ncut off from both men and Jinn, there being no access to it, carried\noff her beloved and lodged him therein. There, when she could escape\nnotice of her kith and kin, she used privily to visit him, and\ncontinued so doing till she had borne him a number of children; and the\nmerchants, sailing by the mountain, in their voyages over the main,\nheard the weeping of the children, as it were the wailing of a woman\nbereft of her babes, and said, 'Is there here a mother bereaved of her\nchildren?' For which reason the place was named the Mountain of the\nBereaved Mother.\" And the Wazir of King Dirbas marvelled at his words.\nThen they landed and, making for the castle, knocked at the gate which\nwas opened to them by an eunuch, who knew the Wazir Ibrahim and kissed\nhis hands. The Minister entered and found in the courtyard, among the\nserving- men, a Fakir, which was Uns al-Wujud, but he knew him not and\nsaid, \"Whence cometh yonder wight?\" Quoth they, \"He is a merchant, who\nhath lost his goods, but saved himself; and he is an ecstatic.\"[FN#74]\nSo the Wazir left him and went on into the castle, where he found no\ntrace of his daughter and questioned her women, who answered, \"We wot\nnot how or whither she went; this place misliked her and she tarried in\nit but a short time.\" Whereupon he wept sore and repeated these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"Ho thou, the house, whose birds were singing gay, *\n\n\n          Whose sills their wealth and pride were wont display!\n\n\n     Till came the lover wailing for his love, *\n\n\n          And found thy doors wide open to the way;\n\n\n     Would Heaven I knew where is my soul that erst *\n\n\n          Was homed in house, whose owners fared away!\n\n\n     'Twas stored with all things bright and beautiful, *\n\n\n          And showed its porters ranged in fair array:\n\n\n     They clothed it with brocades a bride become;[FN#75] *\n\n\n          Would I knew whither went its lords, ah, say!\"\n\n\n\nAfter ending his verses he again shed tears, and groaned and bemoaned\nhimself, exclaiming, \"There is no deliverance from the destiny decreed\nby Allah; nor is there any escape from that which He hath predestined!\"\nThen he went up to the roof and found the strips of Ba'albak stuff tied\nto the crenelles and hanging down to the ground, and thus it was he\nknew that she had descended thence and had fled forth, as one\ndistracted and demented with desire and passion. Presently, he turned\nand seeing there two birds, a gor-crow and an owl he justly deemed this\nan omen of ill; so he groaned and recited these couplets,\n\n     \"I came to my dear friends' door, of my hopes the goal, *\n\n\n          Whose sight mote assuage my sorrow and woes of soul:\n\n\n     No friends found I there, nor was there another thing *\n\n\n          To find, save a corby-crow and an ill-omened owl.\n\n\n     And the tongue o' the case to me seemed to say, *\n\n\n          'Indeed This parting two lovers fond was cruel and\n\n\n          foul!\n\n\n     So taste thou the sorrow thou madest them taste and live *\n\n\n          In grief: wend thy ways and now in thy sorrow prowl!'\"\n\n\n\nThen he descended from the castle-roof, weeping, and bade the servants\nfare forth and search the mount for their mistress; so they sought for\nher, but found her not. Such was their case; but as regards Uns\nal-Wujud, when he was certified that Rose-in-Hood was indeed gone, he\ncried with a great cry and fell down in a fainting-fit, nor came to\nhimself for a long time, whilst the folk deemed that his spirit had\nbeen withdrawn by the Compassionating One; and that he was absorbed in\ncontemplation of the splendour, majesty and beauty of the Requiting\nOne. Then, despairing of finding Uns al-Wujud, and seeing that the\nWazir Ibrahim was distracted for the loss of his daughter, the Minister\nof King Dirbas addressed himself to return to his own country, albeit\nhe had not attained the object of his journey, and while bidding his\ncompanion adieu, said to him, \"I have a mind to take the Fakir with me;\nit may be Allah Almighty will incline the King's heart to me by his\nblessing, for that he is a holy man; and thereafter, I will send him to\nIspahan, which is near our country.\" \"Do as thou wilt,\" answered\nIbrahim. So they took leave of each other and departed, each for his\nown mother land, the Wazir of King Dirbas carrying with him Uns\nal-Wujud,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eightieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir of King\nDirbas carried with him Uns al-Wujud who was still insensible. They\nbore him with them on mule-back (he unknowing if he were carried or\nnot) for three days, when he came to himself and said, \"Where am I?\"\n\"Thou art in company with the Minister of King Dirbas,\" replied they\nand went and gave news of his recovering to the Wazir, who sent him\nrose-water and sherbet of sugar, of which they gave him to drink and\nrestored him. Then they ceased not faring on till they drew near King\nDirbas's capital and the King, being advised of his Wazir's coming,\nwrote to him, saying, \"If Uns al-Wujud be not with thee, come not to me\never.\" Now when the Wazir read the royal mandate, it was grievous to\nhim, for he knew not that Rose-in-Hood was with the King, nor why he\nhad been sent in quest of Uns al-Wujud, nor the King's reason for\ndesiring the alliance; whilst Uns al-Wujud also knew not whither they\nwere bearing him or that the Wazir had been sent in quest of him; nor\ndid the Wazir know that the Fakir he had with him was Uns al-Wujud\nhimself. And when the Minister saw that the sick man was whole, he said\nto him, \"I was despatched by the King on an errand, which I have not\nbeen able to accomplish. So, when he heard of my return, he wrote to\nme, saying, 'Except thou have fulfilled my need enter not my city.'\"\n\"And what is the King's need?\" asked Uns al-Wujud. So the Wazir told\nhim the whole tale, and he said, \"Fear nothing, but go boldly to the\nKing and take me with thee; and I will be surety to thee for the coming\nof Uns al-Wujud.\" At this the Wazir rejoiced and cried, \"Is this true\nwhich thou sayest?\" \"Yes,\" replied he; whereupon the Wazir mounted and\ncarried him to King Dirbas who, after receiving their salutations said\nto him, \"Where is Uns al-Wujud?\" Answered the young man, \"O King, I\nknow where he is.\" So the King called him to him and said, \"Where?\"\nReturned Uns al-Wujud, \"He is near-hand and very near; but tell me what\nthou wouldst with him, and I will fetch him into thy presence.\" The\nKing replied, \"With joy and good gree, but the case calleth for\nprivacy.\" So he ordered the folk to withdraw and, carrying Uns al-Wujud\ninto his cabinet, told him the whole story; whereupon quoth the youth,\n\"Robe me in rich raiment, and I will forthright bring Uns al-Wujud to\nthee.\" So they brought him a sumptuous dress, and he donned it and\nsaid, \"I am Uns al-Wujud, the World's Delight, and to the envious a\ndespite\"; and presently he smote with his glances every sprite, and\nbegan these couplets to recite,\n\n\"My loved one's name in cheerless solitude aye cheereth me * And\n\n\n     driveth off my desperance and despondency:\n\n\nI have no helper[FN#76] but my tears that ever flow in fount, *\n\n\n     And as they flow, they lighten woe and force my grief to\n\n\n     flee.\n\n\nMy longing is so violent naught like it ere was seen; * My love-\n\n\n     tale is a marvel and my love a sight to see:\n\n\nI spend the night with lids of eye that never close in sleep, *\n\n\n     And pass in passion twixt the Hells and Edens heavenly.\n\n\nI had of patience fairish store, but now no more have I; * And\n\n\n     love's sole gift to me hath been aye-growing misery:\n\n\nMy frame is wasted by the pain of parting from my own, * And\n\n\n     longing changed my shape and form and made me other be.\n\n\nMine eyelids by my torrent tears are chafed, and ulcerate, * The\n\n\n      tears, whose flow to stay is mere impossibility.\n\n\nMy manly strength is sore impaired for I have lost my heart; *\n\n\n     How many griefs upon my griefs have I been doomed to dree!\n\n\nMy heart and head are like in age with similar hoariness * By\n\n\n     loss of Beauty's lord,[FN#77] of lords the galaxy:\n\n\nDespite our wills they parted us and doomed us parted wone, *\n\n\n     While they (our lords) desire no more than love in unity.\n\n\nThen ah, would Heaven that I wot if stress of parting done, *\n\n\n     The world will grant me sight of them in union fain and\n\n\n     free\u2014\n\n\nRoll up the scroll of severance which others would unroll\u2014 *\n\n\n     Efface my trouble by the grace of meeting's jubilee!\n\n\nAnd shall I see them homed with me in cup-company, * And change\n\n\n     my melancholic mood for joy and jollity?\"\n\n\n\nAnd when he had ended his verses the King cried aloud, \"By Allah, ye\nare indeed a pair of lovers true and fain and in Beauty's heaven of\nshining stars a twain: your story is wondrous and your case\nmarvellous.\" Then he told him all that had befalled Rose-in- Hood; and\nUns al-Wujud said, \"Where is she, O King of the age?\" \"She is with me\nnow,\" answered Dirbas and, sending for the Kazi and the witnesses, drew\nup the contract of marriage between her and him. Then he honoured Uns\nal-Wujud with favours and bounties and sent to King Shamikh acquainting\nhim with what had befallen, whereat this King joyed with exceeding joy\nand wrote back the following purport. \"Since the ceremony of contract\nhath been performed at thy court, it behoveth that the marriage and its\nconsummation be at mine.\" Then he made ready camels, horses and men and\nsent them in quest of the pair; and when the embassy reached King\nDirbas, he gave the lovers much treasure and despatched them to King\nShamikh's court with a company of his own troops. The day of their\narrival was a notable day, never was seen a grander; for the King\ngathered together all the singing- women and players on instruments of\nmusic and made wedding banquets and held high festival seven days; and\non each day he gave largesse to the folk and bestowed on them sumptuous\nrobes of honour. Then Uns al-Wujud went in to Rose-in-Hood and they\nembraced and sat weeping for excess of joy and gladness, whilst she\nrecited these couplets,\n\n     \"Joyance is come, dispelling cark and care; *\n\n\n          We are united, enviers may despair.\n\n\n     The breeze of union blows, enquickening *\n\n\n          Forms, hearts and vitals, fresh with fragrant air:\n\n\n     The splendour of delight with scents appears, *\n\n\n          And round us[FN#78] flags and drums show gladness rare.\n\n\n     Deem not we're weeping for our stress of grief;*\n\n\n          It is for joy our tears as torrents fare:\n\n\n     How many fears we've seen that now are past! *\n\n\n          And bore we patient what was sore to bear:\n\n\n     One hour of joyance made us both forget *\n\n\n          What from excess of terror grey'd our hair.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when the verses were ended, they again embraced and ceased not from\ntheir embrace, till they fell down in a swoon,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Uns al- Wujud and\nRose-in-Hood embraced when they foregathered and ceased not from their\nembrace, till they fell down in a swoon for the delight of reunion; and\nwhen they came to themselves, Uns al- Wujud recited these couplets,\n\n     \"How joyously sweet are the nights that unite, *\n\n\n          When my dearling deigns keep me the troth she did\n\n\n          plight;\n\n\n     When union conjoins us in all that we have, *\n\n\n          And parting is severed and sundered from sight,\n\n\n     To us comes the world with her favour so fair, *\n\n\n          After frown and aversion and might despight!\n\n\n     Hath planted her banner Good Fortune for us, *\n\n\n          And we drink of her cup in the purest delight.\n\n\n     We have met and complained of the pitiful Past, *\n\n\n          And of nights a full many that doomed us to blight.\n\n\n     But now, O my lady, the Past is forgot; *\n\n\n          The Compassionate pardon the Past for unright!\n\n\n     How sweet is existence, how glad is to be! *\n\n\n          This union my passion doth only incite.\"\n\n\n\nAnd when he ended his verses they once more embraced, drowned in the\nsea of passion; and lay down together in the private apartment\ncarousing and conversing and quoting verses and telling pleasant tales\nand anecdotes. On this wise seven days passed over them whilst they\nknew not night from day and it was to them, for very stress of gaiety\nand gladness, pleasure and possession, as if the seven days were but\none day with ne'er a morrow. Not did they know the seventh day,[FN#79]\nbut by the coming of the singers and players on instruments of music;\nwhereat Rose-in-Hood beyond measure wondered and improvised these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"In spite of enviers' jealousy, at end *\n\n\n          We have won all we hoped of the friend:\n\n\n     We've crowned our meeting with a close embrace *\n\n\n          On quilts where new brocades with sendal blend;\n\n\n     On bed of perfumed leather, which the spoils *\n\n\n          Of downy birds luxuriously distend.\n\n\n     But I abstain me from unneeded wine, *\n\n\n          When honey-dews of lips sweet musk can lend:\n\n\n     Now from the sweets of union we unknow *\n\n\n          Time near and far, if slow or fast it wend,\n\n\n     The seventh night hath come and gone, O strange! *\n\n\n          How went the nights we never reckt or kenned;\n\n\n     Till, on the seventh wishing joy they said, *\n\n\n          'Allah prolong the meet of friend with friend!'\"\n\n\n\nWhen she had finished her song, Uns al-Wujud kissed her, more than an\nhundred times, and recited these couplets,\n\n     \"O day of joys to either lover fain! *\n\n\n          The loved one came and freed from lonely pain:\n\n\n     She blest me with all inner charms she hath; *\n\n\n          And companied with inner grace deep lain:\n\n\n     She made me drain the wine of love till I, *\n\n\n          Was faint with joys her love had made me drain:\n\n\n     We toyed and joyed and on each other lay; *\n\n\n          Then fell to wine and soft melodious strain:\n\n\n     And for excess of joyance never knew, *\n\n\n          How went the day and how it came again.\n\n\n     Fair fall each lover, may he union win *\n\n\n          And gain of joy like me the amplest gain;\n\n\n     Nor weet the taste of severance' bitter fruit *\n\n\n          And joys assain them as they us assain!\"\n\n\n\nThen they went forth and distributed to the folk alms and presents of\nmoney and raiment and rare gifts and other tokens of generosity; after\nwhich Rose-in-Hood bade clear the bath for her[FN#80] and, turning to\nUns al-Wujud said to him, \"O coolth of my eyes, I have a mind to see\nthee in the Hammam, and therein we will be alone together.\" He joyfully\nconsented to this, and she let scent the Hammam with all sorts of\nperfumed woods and essences, and light the wax-candles. Then of the\nexcess of her contentment she recited these couplets,\n\n     \"O who didst win my love in other date *\n\n\n          (And Present e'er must speak of past estate);\n\n\n     And, oh! who art my sole sufficiency, *\n\n\n          Nor want I other friends with me to mate:\n\n\n     Come to the Hammam, O my light of eyes, *\n\n\n          And enter Eden through Gehenna-gate!\n\n\n     We'll scent with ambergris and aloes-wood *\n\n\n          Till float the heavy clouds with fragrant freight;\n\n\n     And to the World we'll pardon all her sins *\n\n\n          And sue for mercy the Compassionate;\n\n\n     And I will cry, when I descry thee there, *\n\n\n          'Good cheer, sweet love, all blessings on thee\n\n\n          wait!'\"[FN#81]\n\n\n\nWhereupon they arose and fared to the bath and took their pleasure\ntherein; after which they returned to their palace and there abode in\nthe fulness of enjoyment, till there came to them the Destroyer of\nDelights and the Sunderer of societies; and glory be to Him who\nchangeth not neither ceaseth, and to whom everything returneth! And\nthey also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nABU NOWAS WITH THE THREE BOYS AND THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID[FN#82]\n\nAbu Nowas one day shut himself up and, making ready a richly-furnished\nfeast, collected for it meats of all kinds and of every colour that\nlips and tongue can desire. Then he went forth, to seek a minion worthy\nof such entertainment, saying, \"Allah, my Lord and my Master, I beseech\nThee to send me one who befitteth this banquet and who is fit to\ncarouse with me this day!\" Hardly had he made an end of speaking when\nhe espied three youths handsome and beardless, as they were of the boys\nof Paradise,[FN#83] differing in complexion but fellows in incomparable\nbeauty; and all hearts yearned with desire to the swaying of their\nbending shapes, even to what saith the poet,\n\n     \"I passed a beardless pair without compare *\n\n\n          And cried, 'I love you, both you ferly fir!'\n\n\n     'Money'd?' quoth one: quoth I, 'And lavish too;' *\n\n\n          Then said the fair pair, 'Pere, c'est notre affaire.'\"\n\n\n\nNow Abu Nowas was given to these joys and loved to sport and make merry\nwith fair boys and cull the rose from every brightly blooming check,\neven as saith the bard,\n\n     Full many a reverend Shaykh feels sting of flesh, *\n\n\n          Loves pretty faces, shows at Pleasure's depot:\n\n\n     Awakes in Mosul,[FN#84] land of purity; *\n\n\n          And all the day dreams only of Aleppo.[FN#85]\n\n\n\nSo he accosted them with the salutation, and they returned his greeting\nwith civility and all honour and would have gone their several ways,\nbut he stayed them, repeating these couplets,\n\n    \"Steer ye your steps to none but me *\n\n\n         Who hath a mine of luxury:-\n\n\n    Old wine that shines with brightest blee *\n\n\n         Made by the monk in monastery;\n\n\n    And mutton-meat the toothsomest *\n\n\n         And birds of all variety.\n\n\n    Then eat of these and drink of those *\n\n\n         Old wines that bring you jollity:\n\n\n    And have each other, turn by turn, *\n\n\n         Shampooing this my tool you see.\"[FN#86]\n\n\n\nThereupon the youths were beguiled by his verses and consented to his\nwishes,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three hundred and Eighty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Abu Nowas\nbeguiled the youths with his wishes, saying, \"We hear and obey;\" and\naccompanied him to his lodging, where they found all ready that he had\nset forth in his couplets. They sat down and ate and drank and made\nmerry awhile, after which they appealed to Abu Nowas to decide which of\nthem was handsometh of face and shapliest of form. So he pointed to one\nof them and, having kissed him twice over, recited the following\nverses,\n\n     \"I'll ransom that beauty-spot with my soup; *\n\n\n          Where's it and where is a money-dole?[FN#87]\n\n\n     Praise Him who hairless hath made that cheek *\n\n\n          And bid Beauty bide in that mole, that mole!\"\n\n\n\nThen he pointed to another and, kissing his lips, repeated these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"And loveling weareth on his cheek a mole *\n\n\n          Like musk, which virgin camphor ne'er lets off it:\n\n\n     My peepers marvel such a contrast seeing; *\n\n\n          And cried the Mole to me, 'Now bless the\n\n\n          Prophet.'\"[FN#88]\n\n\n\nThen he pointed to the third and, after kissing him half a score times\nrepeated these couplets,\n\n     \"Melted pure gold in silvern bowl to drain *\n\n\n          The youth, whose fingers wore a winey stain:\n\n\n     He with the drawers[FN#89] served one cup of wine, *\n\n\n          And served his wandering eyes the other twain.\n\n\n     A loveling, of the sons of Turks,[FN#90] a fawn *\n\n\n          Whose waist conjoins the double Mounts Honayn.[FN#91]\n\n\n     Could Eve's corrupting daughers[FN#92] tempt my heart *\n\n\n          Content with two-fold lure 'twould bear the bane.\n\n\n     Unto Diyar-I-Bakr ('maid-land '[FN#93] this one lures; *\n\n\n          That lures to two-mosqued cities of the plain.\"[FN#94]\n\n\n\nNow each of the youths had drunk two cups, and when it came to the turn\nof Abu Nowas, he took the goblet and repeated these couplets,\n\n\"Drink not strong wine save at the slender dearling's hand; *\n\n\n     Each like to other in all gifts the spirt grace:\n\n\nFor wine can never gladden toper's heart and soul, *\n\n\n     Unless the cup-boy show a bright and sparkling face.\"\n\n\n\nThen he drank off his cup and the bowl went round, and when it came to\nAbu Nowas again, joyance got the mastery of him and he repeated these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"For cup-friends cup succeeding cup assign, *\n\n\n          Brimming with grape-juice, brought in endliess line,\n\n\n     By hand of brown-lipped[FN#95] Beauty who is sweet *\n\n\n          At wake as apple or musk finest fine.[FN#96]\n\n\n     Drink not the wine except from hand of fawn *\n\n\n          Whose cheek to kiss is sweeter than the wine.\"\n\n\n\nPresently the drink got into his noddle, drunkenness mastered him and\nhe knew not hand from head, so that he lolled from side to side in joy\nand inclined to the youths one and all, anon kissing them and anon\nembracing them leg overlying leg. And he showed no sense of sin or\nshame, but recited these couplets,\n\n     \"None wotteth best joyance but generous youth *\n\n\n          When the pretty ones deign with him company keep:\n\n\n     This sings to him, sings to him that, when he wants *\n\n\n          A pick-me-up[FN#97] lying there all of a heap:\n\n\n     And when of a loveling he needeth a kiss, *\n\n\n          He takes from his lips or a draught or a nip;\n\n\n     Heaven bless them! How sweetly my day with them sped; *\n\n\n          A wonderful harvest of pleasure I reap:\n\n\n     Let us drink our good liquor both watered and pure, *\n\n\n          And agree to swive all who dare slumber and sleep.\"\n\n\n\nWhile they were in this deboshed state behold, there came a knocking at\nthe door; so they bade him who knocked enter, and behold, it was the\nCommander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid. When they saw him, they all\nrose and kissed ground before him; and Abu Nowas threw off the fumes of\nthe wine for awe of the Caliph, who said to him, \"Holla, Abu Nowas!\" He\nreplied, \"Adsum, at thy service, O Commander of the Faithful, whom\nAllah preserve!\" The Caliph asked, \"What state is this?\" and the poet\nanswered, \"O Prince of True Believers, my state indubitably dispenseth\nwith questions.\" Quoth the Caliph, \"O Abu Nowas, I have sought\ndirection of Allah Almighty and have appointed thee Kazi of pimps and\npanders.\" Asked he, \"Dost thou indeed invest me with that high office,\nO Commander of the Faithful?\"; and the Caliph answered \"I do;\"\nwhereupon Abu Nowas rejoined, \"O Commander of the Faithful, hast thou\nany suit to prefer to me?\" Hereat the Caliph was wroth and presently\nturned away and left them, full of rage, and passed the night sore\nan-angered against Abu Nowas, who amid the party he had invited spent\nthe merriest of nights and the jolliest and joyousest. And when\nday-break dawned and the star of morn appeared in sheen and shone, he\nbroke up the sitting and, dismissing the youths, donned his court-dress\nand leaving his house set out for the palace of the Caliph. Now it was\nthe custom of the Commander of the Faithful, when the Divan broke up,\nto withdraw to his sitting-saloon and summon thither his poets and\ncup-companions and musicians, each having his own place, which he might\nnot overpass. So it happened that day, he retired to his saloom, and\nthe friends and familiars came and seated themselves, each in his rank\nand degree. Presently, in walked Abu Nowas and was about to take his\nusual seat, when the Caliph cried to Masrur, the sworder, and bade him\nstrip the poet of his clothes and bind an ass's packsaddle on his back\nand a halter about his head and a crupper under his rump and lead him\nround to all the lodgings of the slave-girls, \u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three hundred and Eighty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph\ncommanded Masrur, the sworder, to strip Abu Nowas of his court-suit and\nbind an ass's packsaddle on his back and a halter about his head, and a\ncrupper under his rump and lead him round to all the lodgings of the\nslave-girls, and the chambers of the Harim, that the women might make\nmock of him; then cut off his head and bring it to him. \"Hearkening and\nobedience,\" replied Masrur and, doing with Abu Nowas as the Caliph had\nbidden him, led him round all the chambers whose number equalled the\ndays of the year; but Abu Nowas was a funny fellow, so he made all the\ngirls laugh with his buffooneries and each gave him something whereby\nhe returned not save with a pocketful of money. And while this was\ngoing on behold, Ja'afar the Barmecide, who had been absent on an\nimportant business for the Commander of the Faithful, entered and\nrecognising the poet, albeit in this plight, said to him, \"Holla, Abu\nNowas!\" He said, \"Here at thy service, O our lord.\" Ja'afar asked,\n\"What offence hast thou committed to bring this punishment on thee?\"\nThereupon he answered, \"None whatsoever, except that I made our lord\nthe Caliph a present of the best of my poetry and he presented me, in\nreturn, with the best of his raiment.\" When the Prince of True\nBelievers head this, he laughed, from a heart full of wrath,[FN#98] and\npardoned Abu Nowas, and also gave him a myriad of money. And they also\nrecount the tale of\n\n\n\n\nABDALLAH BIN MA'AMAR WITH THE MAN OF BASSORAH AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL.\n\nA certain man of Bassorah once bought a slave-girl and reared and\neducated her right well. Moreover, he loved her very dearly and spent\nall his substance in pleasuring and merry-making with her, til he had\nnaught left and extreme poverty was sore upon him. So she said to him,\n\"O my master, sell me; for thou needest my price and it maketh my heart\nache to see thy sorry and want-full plight. If thou vend me and make\nuse of my value, 'twill be better for thee than keeping me by thee, and\nhaply Almighty Allah will ample thee and amend thy fortune.\" He agreed\nto this for the straitness of his case, and carried her to the bazar,\nwhere the broker offered her for sale to the Governor of Bassorah, by\nname Abdallah bin Ma'amar al-Taymi, and she pleased him. So he bought\nher, for five hundred dinars and paid the sum to her master; but when\nhe book the money and was about to go away, the girl burst into tears\nand repeated these two couplets,\n\n     \"May coins though gainest joy in heart instil; *\n\n\n          For me remaineth naught save saddest ill:\n\n\n     I say unto my soul which sorely grieves, *\n\n\n          'Thy friend departeth an thou will nor nill.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd when her master heard this, he groaned and replied in these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"Albeit this thy case lack all resource, *\n\n\n          Nor findeth aught but death's doom, pardon still;\n\n\n     Evening and morning, thoughts of thee will dole *\n\n\n          Comfort to heart all woes and griefs full fill:\n\n\n     Peace be upon thee! Meet we now no more *\n\n\n          Nor pair except at Ibn Ma'amar's will.\"\n\n\n\nNow when Abdullah bin Ma'amar heard these verses and saw their\naffection, he exclaimed, \"By Allah, I will not assist fate in\nseparating you; for it is evident to me that ye two indeed love each\nother. So take the money and the damsel, O man, and Allah bless thee in\nboth; for verily parting be grievous to lovers.\" So they kissed his\nhand and going away, ceased not to dwell together, till death did them\npart; and glory be to Him whom death over-taketh not! And amonst\nstories is that of\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOVERS OF THE BANU[FN#99] OZRAH\n\nThere was once, among the Banu Ozrah, a handsome and accomplished man,\nwho was never a single day out of love, and it chanced that he became\nenamoured of a beauty of his own tribe and sent her many messages; but\nshe ceased not to entreat him with cruelty and disdain; till, for\nstress of love and longing and desire and distraction, he fell sick of\na sore sickness and took to his pillow and murdered sleep. His malady\nredoubled on him and his torments increased and he was well nigh dead\nwhen his case became known among the folk and his passion\nnotorious;\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took to\nhis pillow and murdered sleep. So his case became known and his passion\nnotorious; and his infirmity grew upon him and his pains redoubled\nuntil he was well nigh dead. His family and hers were urgent with her\nto visit him, but she refused, till he was at the point of death when,\nbeing told of this, she relented towards him and vouchsafed him a\nvisit. As soon as he saw her, his eyes ran over with tears and he\nrepeated from a broken heart,\n\n     \"An, by thy life, pass thee my funeral train, *\n\n\n          A bier upborne upon the necks of four,\n\n\n     Wilt thou not follow it, and greet the grave *\n\n\n          Where shall my corpse be graved for evermore?\"\n\n\n\nHearing this, she wept with sore weeping and said to him, \"By Allah, I\nsuspected not that passion had come to such a pass with thee, as to\ncast thee into the arms of death! Had I wist of this, I had been\nfavourable to thy wish, and thou shouldst have had thy will.\" At this\nhis tears streamed down even as the clouds rail rain, and he repeated\nthis verse,\n\n     \"She drew near whenas death was departing us, *\n\n\n          And deigned union grant when twas useless all.\"\n\n\n\nThen he groaned one groan and died. So she fell on him, kissing him and\nweeping and ceased not weeping until she swooned away; and when she\ncame to herself, she charged her people to bury her in his grave and\nwith streaming eyes recited these two couplets,\n\n     \"We lived on earth a life of fair content; *\n\n\n          And tribe and house and home of us were proud;\n\n\n     But Time in whirling flight departed us, *\n\n\n          To join us now in womb of earth and shroud.[FN#100]\"\n\n\n\nThen she fell again to weeping, nor gave over shedding tears and\nlamenting till she fainted away; and she lay three days, senseless.\nThen she died and was buried in his grave. This is one of the strange\nchances of love.[FN#101] And I have heard related a tale of the\n\n\n\n\nWAZIR OF AL-YAMAN AND HIS YOUNG BROTHER\n\nIt is said that Badr al-Din, Wazir of Al-Yaman, had a young brother of\nsingular beauty and kept strait watch over him; so he applied himself\nto seek a tutor for him and, coming upon a Shaykh of dignified and\nreverend aspect, chaste and religious, lodged him in a house next his\nown. This lasted a long time, and he used to come daily from his\ndwelling to that of S\u03b1hib[FN#102] Badr al-Din and teach the young\nbrother. After a while, the old man's heart was taken with love for the\nyouth, and longing grew upon him and his vitals were troubled, till one\nday, he bemoaned his case to the boy, who said, \"What can I do, seeing\nthat I may not leave my brother night or day? and thou thyself seest\nhow careful he is over me.\" Quoth the Shaykh, \"My lodging adjoineth\nthine; so there will be no difficulty, when thy brother sleepeth, to\nrise and, entering the privy, feign thyself asleep. Then come to the\nparapet[FN#103] of the terrace-roof and I will receive thee on the\nother side of the wall; so shalt thou sit with me an eye-twinkling and\nreturn without thy brother's knowledge.\" \"I hear and obey,\" answered\nthe lad; and the tutor began to prepare gifts suitable to his degree.\nNow when a while of the night was past, he entered the water-closet and\nwaited until his brother lay down on his bed and took patience till he\nwas drowned in sleep, when he rose and going to the parapet of the\nterrace-roof, found standing there to await him the old man, who gave\nhim his hand and carried him to the sitting-chamber, where he had made\nready various dainties for his entertainment, and they sat down to\ncarouse. Now it was the night of the full moon and, as they sat with\nthe wine-cup going round, her rays shone upon them, and the governor\nfell to singing. But, whilst they were thus in joy and jollity and\nmirth and merriment, such as confoundeth the wit and the sight and\ndefieth description, lo! the Wazir awoke and, missing his brother,\narose in affright and found the door open. So he went up to the roof\nand hearing a noise of talk, climbed over the parapet to the adjoining\nterrace and saw a light shining from the lodging. He looked in from\nbehind the wall, and espied his brother and his tutor sitting at\ncarouse; but the Shaykh became aware of him and sang cup in hand, to a\nlively measure these couplets,\n\n     \"He made me drain his wine of honeyed lips, *\n\n\n          Toasting with cheeks which rose and myrtle smother:\n\n\n     Then nighted in embrace, cheek to my cheek, *\n\n\n          A loveling midst mankind without another.\n\n\n     When the full moon arose on us and shone *\n\n\n          Pray she traduce us not to the big brother.\"\n\n\n\nAnd it proved the perfect politeness of the Wazir Badr al-Din that,\nwhen he heard this, he said, \"By Allah, I will not betray you!\" And he\nwent away and left them to their diversions. They also tell a tale\nconcerning\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOVES OF THE BOY AND GIRL AT SCHOOL\n\nA free boy and a slave-girl once learnt together in school, and the boy\nfell passionately in love with the girl.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-Fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lad fell\npassionately in love with the slave-lass: so one day, when the other\nboys were heedless, he took her tablet[FN#104] and wrote on it these\ntwo couplets,\n\n     \"What sayest thou of him by sickness waste, *\n\n\n          Until he's clean distraught for love of thee?\n\n\n     Who in the transport of his pain complains, *\n\n\n          Nor can bear load of heart in secrecy?\"\n\n\n\nNow when the girl took her tablet, she read the verses written thereon\nand understanding them, wept for ruth of him; then she wrote thereunder\nthese two couplets,\n\n     \"An if we behold a lover love-fordone *\n\n\n          Desiring us, our favours he shall see:\n\n\n     Yea, what he wills of us he shall obtain, *\n\n\n          And so befal us what befalling be.\"\n\n\n\nNow it chanced that the teacher came in on them and taking the tablet,\nunnoticed, read what was written thereon. So he was moved to pity of\ntheir case and wrote on the tablet beneath those already written these\ntwo couplets addressed to the girl,\n\n     \"Console thy lover, fear no consequence; *\n\n\n          He is daft with loving lowe's insanity;\n\n\n     But for the teacher fear not aught from him; *\n\n\n          Love-pain he learned long before learnt ye.\"\n\n\n\nPresently it so happened that the girl's owner entered the school about\nthe same time and, finding the tablet, read the above verses indited by\nthe boy, the girl and the schoolmaster; and wrote under them these two\ncouplets,\n\n     \"May Allah never make you parting dree *\n\n\n          And be your censurer shamed wearily!\n\n\n     But for the teacher ne'er, by Allah, eye *\n\n\n          Of mine beheld a bigger pimp than he!\"\n\n\n\nThen he sent for the Kazi and witnesses and married them on the spot.\nMoreover, he made them a wedding-feast and treated them with exceeding\nmunificence; and they ceased not abiding together in joy and happiness,\ntill there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of\nsocieties. And equally pleasant is the story of\n\n\n\n\nAL-MUTALAMMIS AND HIS WIFE UMAYMAH\n\nIt is related Al-Mutalammis[FN#105] once fled from Al-Nu'uman bin\nMunzir[FN#106] and was absent so long that folk deemed him dead. Now he\nhad a beautiful wife, Umaymah by name, and her family urged her to\nmarry again; but she refused, for that she loved her husband\nAl-Mutalammis very dearly. However, they were urgent with her, because\nof the multitude of her suitors, and importuned with her till at last\nshe consented, albe reluctantly; and they espoused her to a man of her\nown tribe. Now on the night of the wedding, Al-Mutalammis came back\nand, hearing in the camp a noise of pipes and tabrets and seeing signs\nof a wedding festival, asked some of the children what was the\nmerry-making, to which they replied, \"They have married Umaymah wife of\nAl-Mutalammis, to such an one, and he goes in to her this night.\" When\nhe heard this, he planned to enter the house amongst the mob of women\nand saw the twain seated on the bridal couch.[FN#107] By and by, the\nbridegroom came up to her, whereupon she sighed heavily and weeping,\nrecited this couplet,\n\n\"Would Heaven I knew (but many are the shifts of joy and woe) *\n\n\n     In what far distant land thou art, my Mutalammis, oh!\"\n\n\n\nNow Al-Mutalammis was a renowned poet; so he answered her saying;\n\n\"Right near at hand, Umaymah mine! when'er the caravan *\n\n\n     Halted, I never ceased for thee to pine, I would thou know.\"\n\n\n\nWhen the bridegroom heard this, he guess how the case stood and went\nforth from them in hast improvising,\n\n\"I was in bestest luck, but now my luck goes contrary: *\n\n\n     A hospitable house and room contain your loves, you two!\"\n\n\n\nAnd he returned not but left the twain to their privacy. So Al-\nMutalammis and his wife abode together in all comfort and solace of\nlife and in all its joys and jollities till death parted them. And\nglory be to Him at whose command the earth and the heavens shall arise!\nAnd among other tales is that of\n\n\n\n\nTHE CALIPH HARUM AL-RASHID AND QUEEN ZUBAYDAH IN THE BATH\n\nThe Caliph Harun al-Rashid loved the Lady Zubaydah with exceeding love\nand laid out for her a pleasaunce, wherein he made a great tank and set\nthereabouts a screen of trees and led thither water from all sides;\nhence the trees grew and interlaced over the basin so densely, that one\ncould go in and wash, without being seen of any, for the thickness of\nthe leafage. It chanced, one day, that Queen Zubaydah entered the\ngarden and, coming to the swimming-bath,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, \"O auspicious King, that Queen Zubaydah\nentered the garden one day and, coming to the swimming- bath, gazed\nupon its goodliness; and the sheen of the water and the overshading of\nthe trees pleased her. Now it was a day of exceeding heat; so she\ndoffed her clothes and, entering the tank, which was not deep enough to\ncover the whole person, fell to pouring the water over herself from an\newer of silver. It also happened that the Caliph heard she was in the\npool; so he left his palace and came down to spy upon her through the\nscreen of the foliage. He stood behind the trees and espied her mother-\nnude, showing everything that is kept hidden. Presently, she became\naware of him and turning, saw him behind the trees and was ashamed that\nhe should see her naked. So she laid her hands on her parts, but the\nMount of Venus escaped from between them, by reason of its greatness\nand plumpness; and the Caliph at once turned and went away, wondering\nand reciting this couplet,\n\n     \"I looked on her with loving eyne *\n\n\n          And grew anew my old repine:\"\n\n\n\nBut he knew not what to say next; so he sent for Abu Nowas and said to\nhim, \"Make me a piece of verse commencing with this line.\" \"I hear and\nobey,\" replied the poet and in an eye- twinkling extemporised these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"I looked on her with longing eyne *\n\n\n          And grew anew my old repine\n\n\n     For the gazelle, who captured me *\n\n\n          Where the two lotus-trees incline:\n\n\n     There was the water poured on it *\n\n\n          From ewer of the silvern mine;\n\n\n     And seen me she had hidden it *\n\n\n          But twas too plump for fingers fine.\n\n\n     Would Heaven that I were on it, *\n\n\n          An hour, or better two hours, li'en.\"[FN#108]\n\n\n\nThereupon the Commander of the Faithful smiled and made him a handsome\npresent and he went away rejoicing. And I have heard another story of\n\n\n\n\nHARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE POETS\n\nThe Prince of True Believers, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was exceeding\nrestless one night; so he rose and walked about his palace, till he\nhappened upon a handmaid overcome with wine. Now he was prodigiously\nenamoured of this damsel; so he played with her and pulled her to him,\nwhereupon her zone fell down and her petticoat-trousers were loosed and\nhe besought her of amorous favour. But she said to him, \"O Commander of\nthe Faithful wait till to-morrow night, for I am unprepared for thee,\nknowing not of thy coming.\" So he left her and went away. But, when the\nmorrow showed its light and the sun shone bright, he sent a page to her\nsaying, \"The Commander of the Faithful is about to visit thine\napartment;\" but she replied, \"Day doth away with the promise of night.\"\nSo he said to his courtiers, \"Make me somewhat of verse, introducing\nthese words, The Promise of Night is effaced by Day.'\" Answered they,\n\"We hear and obey,\" and Al- Rak\u03b1shi[FN#109] came forward and recited\nthe following couplets,\n\n     \"By Allah, couldst thou but feel my pain, *\n\n\n          Thy rest had turned and had fled away.\n\n\n     Hath left me in sorrow and love distraught, *\n\n\n          Unseen and unseeing, that fairest may:\n\n\n     She promised me grace, then jilted and said, *\n\n\n          The promise of night is effaced by day!'\"\n\n\n\nThen Abu Mus'ab came forward and recited these couplets,\n\n     \"When wilt thou be wise and love-heat allay *\n\n\n          That from food and sleeping so leads astray?\n\n\n     Suffices thee not ever weeping eye, *\n\n\n          And vitals on fire when thy name they say?\n\n\n     He must smile and laugh and in pride must cry *\n\n\n          The promise of Night is effaced by Day.'\"\n\n\n\nLast came Abu Nowas and recited the following couplets,\n\n     \"As love waxt longer less met we tway *\n\n\n          And fell out, but ended the useless fray;\n\n\n     One night in the palace I found her fou'; *\n\n\n          Yet of modesty still there was some display:\n\n\n     The veil from her shoulders had slipt; and showed *\n\n\n          Her loosened trousers Love's seat and stay:\n\n\n     And rattled the breezes her huge hind cheeks *\n\n\n          And the branch where two little pomegranates lay:\n\n\n     Quoth I, Give me tryst;' whereto quoth she *\n\n\n          To-morrow the fane shall wear best array:'\n\n\n     Next day I asked her, Thy word?' Said she *\n\n\n          The promise of Night is effaced by Day.'\"\n\n\n\nThe Caliph bade give a myriad of money each to Al-Rakashi and Abu\nMus'ab, but bade strike off the head of Abu Nowas, saying, \"Thou wast\nwith us yesternight in the palace.\" Said he, \"By Allah, I slept not but\nin my own house! I was directed to what I said by thine own words as to\nthe subject of the verse; and indeed quoth Almighty Allah (and He is\nthe truest of all speakers): As for poets (devils pursue them!) dost\nthou not see that they rove as bereft of their senses through every\nvalley and that they say that which they do not?'\"[FN#110] So the\nCaliph forgave him and gave him two myriads of money. And another tale\nis that of\n\n\n\n\nMUS'AB BIN AL-ZUBAYR AND AYISHAH HIS WIFE\n\nIt is told of Mus'ab bin al-Zubayr[FN#111] that he met in Al- Medinah\nIzzah, who was one of the shrewdest of women, and said to her, \"I have\na mind to marry Ayishah[FN#112] daughter of Talhah, and I should like\nthee to go herwards and spy out for me how she is made.\" So she went\naway and returning to Mus'ab, said, \"I have seen her, and her face is\nfairer than health; she hath large and well-opened eyes and under them\na nose straight and smooth as a cane; oval cheeks and a mouth like a\ncleft pomegranate, a neck as a silver ewer and below it a bosom with\ntwo breasts like twin- pomegranates and further down a slim waist and a\nslender stomach with a navel therein as it were a casket of ivory, and\nback parts like a hummock of sand; and plumply rounded thighs and\ncalves like columns of alabaster; but I saw her feet to be large, and\nthou wilt fall short with her in time of need.\" Upon this report he\nmarried her,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-seventh Day\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Izzah this\nwise reported of Ayishah bint Talhah, Mus'ab married her and went in to\nher. And presently Izzah invited Ayishah and the women of the tribe\nKuraysh to her house, when Ayishah sang these two couplets with Mus'ab\nstanding by,\n\n     \"And the lips of girls, that are perfume sweet; *\n\n\n          So nice to kiss when with smiles they greet:\n\n\n     Yet ne'er tasted I them, but in thought of him; *\n\n\n          And by thought the Ruler rules worldly seat.\"\n\n\n\nThe night of Mus'ab's going in unto her, he departed not from her, till\nafter seven bouts; and on the morrow, a freewoman of his met him and\nsaid to him, \"May I be thy sacrifice! Thou art perfect, even in this.\"\nAnd a certain woman said, \"I was with Ayishah, when her husband came in\nto her, and she lusted for him; so he fell upon her and she snarked and\nsnorted and made use of all wonder of movements and marvellous new\ninventions, and I the while within hearing. So, when he came out from\nher, I said to her, How canst thou do thus with thy rank and nobility\nand condition, and I in thy house?' Quoth she, Verily a woman should\nbring her husband all of which she is mistress, by way of excitement\nand rare buckings and wrigglings and motitations.[FN#113] What\ndislikest thou of this?' And I answered I would have this by nights.'\nRejoined she, Thus is it by day and by night I do more than this; for\nwhen he seeth me, desire stirreth him up and he falleth in heat; so he\nputteth it out to me and I obey him, and it is as thou seest.'\" And\nthere also hath reached me an account of\n\n\n\n\nABU AL-ASWAD AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL\n\nAbu al-Aswad bought a native-born slave-girl, who was blind of an eye,\nand she pleased him; but his people decried her to him; whereat he\nwondered and, turning the palms of his hands upwards,[FN#114] recited\nthese two couplets,\n\n     \"They find me fault with her where I default ne'er find, *\n\n\n          Save haply that a speck in either eye may show:\n\n\n     But if her eyes have fault, of fault her form hath none, *\n\n\n          Slim-built above the waist and heavily made below.\"\n\n\n\nAnd this is also told of\n\n\n\n\nHARUN AL-RASHID AND THE TWO SLAVE-GIRLS\n\nThe Caliph Harun al-Rashid lay one night between two slave-girls, one\nfrom Al-Medinah and the other from Cufa and the Cufite rubbed his\nhands, whilst the Medinite rubbed his feet and made his concern[FN#115]\nstand up. Quoth the Cufite, \"I see thou wouldst keep the whole of the\nstock-in-trade to thyself; give me my share of it.\" And the other\nanswered, \"I have been told by M\u03b1lik, on the authority of Hish\u03b1m ibn\nOrwah,[FN#116] who had it of his (grand) father, that the Prophet said,\nWhoso quickeneth the dead, the dead belongeth to him and is his.' But\nthe Cufite took her unawares and, pushing her away, seized it all in\nher own hand and said, \"Al-A'amash telleth us, on the authority of\nKhaysamah, who had it of Abdallah bin Mas'ud, that the Prophet\ndeclared, Game belongeth to him who taketh it, not to him who raiseth\nit.'\" And this is also related of\n\n\n\n\nTHE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE SLAVE-GIRLS\n\nThe Caliph Harun al-Rashid once slept with three slave-girls, a Meccan,\na Medinite and an Irakite. The Medinah girl put her hand to his yard\nand handled it, whereupon it rose and the Meccan sprang up and drew it\nto herself. Quoth the other, \"What is this unjust aggression? A\ntradition was related to me by M\u03b1lik[FN#117] after Al-Zuhri, after\nAbdallah ibn S\u03b1lim, after Sa'\u03bdd bin Zayd, that the Apostle of Allah\n(whom Allah bless and keep!) said: Whoso enquickeneth a dead land, it\nis his.' And the Meccan answered, \"It is related to us by Sufy\u03b1n, from\nAbu Zan\u03b1d, from Al-A'araj, from Abu Horayrah, that the Apostle of Allah\nsaid: The quarry is his who catcheth it, not his who starteth it.'\" But\nthe Irak girl pushed them both away and taking it to herself, said,\n\"This is mine, till your contention be decided.\" And they tell a tale\nof\n\n\n\n\nTHE MILLER AND HIS WIFE\n\nThere was a miller, who had an ass to turn his mill; and he was married\nto a wicked wife, whom he loved, while she hated him because she was\nsweet upon a neighbour, who misliked her and held aloof from her. One\nnight, the miller saw, in his sleep, one who said to him, \"Dig in such\na spot of the ass's round in the mill, and thou shalt find a hoard.\"\nWhen he awoke, he told his wife the vision and bade her keep the\nsecret; but she told her neighbour,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three hundred and Eighty-eighth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the miller's wife\ntold the secret to the neighbour whom she loved, thinking to win his\nfavour; and he agreed with her to come to her by night. So he came and\nthey dug in the mill and found the treasure and took it forth. Then he\nasked her, \"How shall we do with this?\" and she answered; \"We will\ndivide it into two halves and will share it equally between us, and do\nthou leave thy wife and I will cast about to rid me of my husband. Then\nshalt thou marry me and, when we are conjoined, we will join the two\nhalves of the treasure one to other, and all will be in our hands.\"\nQuoth he, \"I fear lest Satan seduce thee and thou take some other man\nother than myself; for gold in the house is like the sun in the world.\nI reck, therefore, it were right that the money be all in my hands, so\nthou give thy whole mind to getting free of thy husband and coming to\nme.\" Quoth she, \"I fear even as thou fearest, nor will I yield up my\npart to thee; for it was I directed thee to it.\" When he heard this,\ngreed of gain prompted him to kill her; so he slew her and threw her\nbody into the empty hoard-hole; but day overtook him and hindered him\nfrom covering it up; he therefore took the money and went his way. Now\nafter a while the miller awoke and, missing his wife, went into the\nmill, where he fastened the ass to the beam and shouted to it. It went\non a little, then stopped; whereupon he beat it grievously; but the\nmore he bashed it, the more it drew back; for it was affrighted at the\ndead woman and could not go forward. Thereupon the Miller, unknowing\nwhat hindered the donkey, took out a knife and goaded it again and\nagain, but still it would not budge. Then he was wroth with it, knowing\nnot the cause of its obstinacy, and drove the knife into its flanks,\nand it fell down dead. But when the sun rose, he saw his donkey lying\ndead and likewise his wife in the place of the treasure, and great was\nhis rage and sore his wrath for the loss of his hoard and the death of\nhis wife and his ass. All this came of his letting his wife into his\nsecret and not keeping it to himself.[FN#118] And I have heard this\ntale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE SIMPLETON AND THE SHARPER\n\nA certain simpleton was once walking along, haling his ass after him by\nthe halter, when a pair of sharpers saw him and one said to his fellow,\n\"I will take that ass from yonder wight.\" Asked the other, \"How wilt\nthou do that?\" \"Follow me and I will show thee how,\" answered the\nfirst. So the cony-catcher went up to the ass and, loosing it from the\nhalter, gave the beast to his fellow; then he haltered his own head and\nfollowed Tom Fool till he knew the other had got clean off with the\nass, when he stood still. The oaf haled at the halter, but the rascal\nstirred not; so he turned and seeing the halter on a man's neck, said\nto him, \"What art thou?\" Quoth the sharper, \"I am thine ass and my\nstory is a wonderous one and tis this. Know that I have a pious old\nmother and come in to her one day, drunk; and she said to me: O my son,\nrepent to the Almighty of these thy transgressions.' But I took my\nstaff and beat her, whereupon she cursed me and Allah changed me into\nan ass and caused me fall into thy hands, where I have remained till\nthis moment. However, to-day, my mother called me to mind and her heart\nyearned towards me; so she prayed for me and the Lord restored me to my\nformer shape amongst the sons of Adam.\" Cried the silly one, \"There is\nno Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the\nGreat! Allah upon thee, O my brother, acquit me of what I have done\nwith thee in the way of riding and so forth.\" Then he let the\ncony-catcher go and returned home, drunken with chagrin and concern as\nwith wine. His wife asked him, \"What aileth thee and where is the\ndonkey?\"; and he answered, \"Thou knowest not what was this ass; but I\nwill tell thee.\" So he told her the story, and she exclaimed, \"Alack\nand alas for the punishment we shall receive from Almighty Allah! How\ncould we have used a man as a beast of burden, all this while? And she\ngave alms by way of atonement and prayed pardon of Heaven.[FN#119] Then\nthe man abode awhile at home, idle and feckless, till she said to him,\n\"How long wilt thou sit at home doing naught? Go to the market and buy\nus an ass and ply thy work with it.\" Accordingly, he went to the market\nand stopped by the ass-stand, where behold, he saw his own ass for\nsale. So he went up to it and clapping his mouth to its ear, said to\nit, \"Woe to thee, thou ne'er-do-well! Doubtless thou hast been getting\ndrunk again and beating thy mother! But, by Allah, I will never buy\nthee more.\"[FN#120] and he left it and went away. And they tell a tale\nconcerning\n\n\n\n\nTHE KAZI ABU YUSUF WITH HARUN AL-RASHID AND QUEEN ZUBAYDAH\n\nThe Caliph Harun al-Rashid went up one noon-tide to his couch, to lie\ndown; and mounting, found upon the bed-clothes semen freshly emitted;\nwhereat he was startled and troubled with sore trouble. So he called\nthe Lady Zubaydah and said to her, \"What is that spilt on the bed?\" She\nlooked at it and replied, \"O Commander of the Faithful, it is semen.\"\nQuoth he, \"Tell me truly what this meaneth or I will lay violent hands\non thee forthright.\" Quoth she, \"By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful,\nindeed I know not how it came there and I am guiltless of that whereof\nyou suspectest me.\" So he sent for the Kazi Ab\u03ca Y\u03casuf and acquainted\nhim of the case. The Judge raised his eyes to the ceiling and, seeing a\ncrack therein, said to the Caliph, \"O Commander of the Faithful, in\nvery sooth the bat hath seed like that of a man,[FN#121] and this is\nbat's semen.\" Then he called for a spear and thrust it into the\ncrevice, whereupon down fell the bat. In this manner the Caliph's\nsuspicions were dispelled,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three hundred and Eighty-ninth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Kazi Abu\nYusuf took the spear and thrust it into the crevice, down fell the bat,\nand thus the Caliph's suspicions were dispelled and the innocence of\nZubaydah was made manifest; whereat she gave loud and liberal vent to\nher joy and promised Abu Yusuf a magnificent reward. Now there were\nwith her certain delicious fruits, out of their season, and she knew of\nothers in the garden; so she asked Abu Yusuf, \"O Imam of the Faith,\nwhich wouldst thou rather have of the two kinds of fruits, those that\nare here or those that are not here?\" And he answered, \"Our code\nforbiddeth us to pronounce judgement on the absent; whenas they are\npresent, we will give our decision.\" So she let bring the two kinds of\nfruits before him; and he ate of both. Quoth she, \"What is the\ndifference between them?\" and quoth he, \"As often as I think to praise\none kind, the adversary putteth in its claim.\" The Caliph laughed at\nhis answer[FN#122] and made him a rich present; and Zubaydah also gave\nhim what she had promised him, and he went away, rejoicing. See, then\nthe virtues of this Im\u03b1m and how his hands were manifest the truth and\nthe innocence of the Lady Zubaydah. And amongst other stories is that\nof\n\n\n\n\nTHE CALIPH AL-HAKIM[FN#123] AND THE MERCHANT\n\nThe Caliph Al-H\u03b1kim bi-Amri'llah was riding out in state procession one\nday, when he passed along a garden, wherein he saw a man, surrounded by\nnegro-slaves and eunuchs. He asked him for a draught of water, and the\nman gave him to drink, saying, \"Belike, the Commander of the Faithful\nwill honour me by alighting in this my garden.\" So the Caliph\ndismounted and with his suite entered the garden; whereupon the said\nman brought out to them an hundred rugs and an hundred leather mats and\nan hundred cushions; and set before them an hundred dishes of fruits,\nan hundred bowls of sweetmeats and an hundred jars of sugared sherbets;\nat which the Caliph marvelled with much amaze and said to his host, \"O\nman, verily this thy case is wondrous: didst thou know of our coming\nand make this preparation for us?\" He replied, \"No by Allah, O\nCommander of the Faithful, I knew not of thy coming and I am a merchant\nof the rest of thy subjects; but I have an hundred concubines; so, when\nthe Commander of the Faithful honoured me by alighting with me, I sent\nto each of them, bidding her send me her morning-meal in the garden. So\nthey sent me each of her furniture and the surplus of her meat and\ndrink: and every day each sendeth me a dish of meat and another of\ncooling marinades, also a platter of fruits and a bowl of sweetmeats\nand a jar of sherbet. This is my noon-day dinner, nor have I added\naught thereto for thee.\" Then the Commander of the Faithful, Al-Hakim\nbi-Amri'llah prostrated himself in thanksgiving to the Almighty\n(extolled and exalted be His name!) and said, \"Praise be Allah, who\nhath been so bountiful to one of our lieges, that he entertaineth the\nCaliph and his host, without making ready for them; nay, he feedeth\nthem with the surplusage of his day's provision!\" Then he sent for all\nthe dirhams in the treasury, that had been struck that year (and they\nwere in number three thousand and seven hundred thousand); nor did he\nmount until the money came, when he gave it to the merchant, saying,\n\"Use this as thy state may require; and thy generosity deserveth more\nthan this.\" Then he took horse and rode away. And I have heard a story\nconcerning\n\n\n\n\nKING KISRA ANUSHIRWAN[FN#124] AND THE VILLAGE DAMSEL\n\nThe Just King, Kisr\u03b1 An\u03cashirw\u03b1n, one day rode forth to the chase and,\nin pursuit of a deer, became separated from his suite. Presently, he\ncaught sight of a hamlet near hand and being sore athirst, he made for\nit and presenting himself at the door of a house that lay by the\nwayside, asked for a draught of water. So a damsel came out and looked\nat him; then, going back into the house, pressed the juice from a\nsingle sugar-cane into a bowl and mixed it with water; after which she\nstrewed on the top some scented stuff, as it were dust, and carried it\ntot he King. Thereupon he seeing in it what resembled dust, drank it,\nlittle by little, till he came to the end; when said he to her, \"O\ndamsel, the drink is good, and how sweet it had been but for this dust\nin it that troubleth it.\" Answered she, \"O guest, I put in that powder\nfor a purpose;\" and he asked, \"And why didst thou thus?\"; so she\nreplied, \"I saw thee exceedingly thirsty and feared that thou wouldst\ndrain the whole at one draught and that this would thee mischief; and\nbut for this dust that troubled the drink so hadst thou done.\" The Just\nKing wondered at her words, knowing that they came of her wit and good\nsense, and said to her, \"From how many sugar canes didst thou express\nthis draught?\" \"One,\" answered she; whereat Anushirwan marvelled and,\ncalling for the register of the village taxes, saw that its assessment\nwas but little and bethought him to increase it, on his return to his\npalace, saying in himself, \"A village where they get this much juice\nout of one sugar-cane, why is it so lightly taxed?\" He then left the\nvillage and pursued his chase; and, as he came back at the end of the\nday, he passed alone by the same door and called again for drink;\nwhereupon the same damsel came out and, knowing him at a look, went in\nto fetch him water. It was some time before she returned and Anushirwan\nwondered thereat and said to her, \"Why hast thou tarried?\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three hundred and Ninetieth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Anushirwan\nhurried the damsel and asked her, \"Why hast thou tarried?\" she\nanswered, \"Because a single sugar-cane gave not enough for thy need; so\nI pressed three; but they yielded not to much as one did before.\"\nRejoined he, \"What is the cause of that?\"; and she replied, \"The cause\nof it is that when the Sultan's[FN#125] mind is changed against a folk,\ntheir prosperity ceaseth and their good waxeth less.\" So Anushirwan\nlaughed and dismissed from his mind that which he had purposed against\nthe villagers. Moreover, he took the damsel to wife then and there,\nbeing pleased with her much wit and acuteness and the excellence of her\nspeech. And they tell another tale of the\n\n\n\n\nWATER-CARRIER[FN#126] AND THE GOLDSMITH'S WIFE\n\nThere was once, in the city of Bokhara, a water-carrier, who used to\ncarry water to the house of a goldsmith and had done this thirty years.\nNow that goldsmith had a wife of exceeding beauty and loveliness,\nbrilliancy and perfect grace; and she was withal renowned for piety,\nchastity and modesty. One day the water- carrier came, as of custom,\nand poured the water into the cisterns. Now the woman was standing in\nthe midst of the court; so he went close up to her and taking her hand,\nstroked it and pressed it, then went away and left her. When her\nhusband came home from the bazar, she said to him, \"I would have thee\ntell me what thing thou hast done in the market this day, to anger\nAlmighty Allah.\" Quoth he, \"I have done nothing to offend the Lord.\"\n\"Nay,\" rejoined she, \"but, by Allah, thou hast indeed done something to\nanger Him; and unless thou tell me the whole truth, I will not abide in\nthy house, and thou shalt not see me, nor will I see thee.\" So he\nconfessed, \"I will tell thee the truth of what I did this day. It so\nchanced that, as I was sitting in my shop, as of wont, a woman came up\nto me and bade me make her a bracelet of gold. Then she went away and I\nwrought her a bracelet and laid it aside. But when she returned and I\nbrought her out the bracelet, she put forth her hand and I clasped the\nbracelet on her wrist; and I wondered at the whiteness of her hand and\nthe beauty of her wrist, which would captivate any beholder; and I\nrecalled what the poet saith,\n\n     Her fore-arms, dight with their bangles, show *\n\n\n          Like fire ablaze on the waves a-flow;\n\n\n     As by purest gold were the water girt, *\n\n\n          And belted around by a living lowe.'\n\n\n\nSo I took her hand and pressed it and squeezed it.\" Said the woman,\n\"Great God! Why didst thou this ill thing? Know that the water-carrier,\nwho hath come to our house these thirty years, nor sawst thou ever any\ntreason in him took my hand this day and pressed and squeezed it.\" Said\nher husband, \"O woman, let us crave pardon of Allah! Verily, I repent\nof what I did, and do thou ask forgiveness of the Lord for me.\" She\ncried, \"Allah pardon me and thee, and receive us into his holy\nkeeping.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three hundred and Ninety-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the goldsmith's\nwife cried out, \"Allah pardon me and thee, and receive us into his holy\nkeeping!\" And on the next day, the water-carrier came in to the\njeweller's wife and, throwing himself at her feet, grovelled in the\ndust and besought pardon of her, saying, \"O my lady, acquit me of that\nwhich Satan deluded me to do; for it was he that seduced me and led me\nastray.\" She answered, \"Go thy ways, the sin was not in thee, but in my\nhusband, for that he did what he did in his shop, and Allah hath\nretaliated upon him in this world.\" And it related that the goldsmith,\nwhen his wife told him how the water-carrier had used her, said, \"Tit\nfor tat, and blow for blow!; had I done more the water-carrier had done\nmore\";\u2014which became a current byword among the folk. Therefore it\nbehoveth a wife to be both outward and inward with her husband;\ncontenting herself with little from him, if he cannot give her much,\nand taking pattern by Ayishah the Truthful and Fatimah the virgin\nmother (Allah Almighty accept of them the twain!), that she may be of\nthe company of the righteous ancestry.[FN#127] And I have heard the\nfollowing tale of\n\n\n\n\nKHUSRAU AND SHIRIN AND THE FISHERMAN\n\nKing Khusrau[FN#128] Shahinshah of Persia loved fish; and one day, as\nhe sat in his saloon, he and Shirin his wife, there came a fisherman,\nwith a great fish, and he laid it before the King, who was pleased and\nordered the man four thousand dirhams.[FN#129] Thereupon Shirin said to\nthe King, \"Thou hast done ill.\" Asked he, \"And why?\", and she answered,\n\"Because if, after this, though give one of thy courtiers a like sum,\nhe will disdain it and say, He hath but given me the like of what he\ngave the fisherman.' And if thou give him less, the same will say, He\ndespiseth me and giveth me less than he gave the fisherman.'\" Rejoined\nKhusrau, \"Thou art right, but it would dishonour a king to go back on\nhis gift; and the thing is done.\" Quoth Shirin, \"If thou wilt, I will\ncontrive thee a means to get it back from him.\" Quoth he, \"How so?\";\nand she said, \"Call back, if thou so please, the fisherman and ask him\nif the fish be male or female. If he say, Male,' say thou, We want a\nfemale,' and if he say, Female,' say, We want a male.'\" So the King\nsent for the fisherman, who was a man of wit and astuteness, and said\nto him, \"Is this fish male or female?\" whereupon the fisherman kissed\nthe ground and answered, \"This fish is an hermaphrodite,[FN#130]\nneither male nor female.\" Khusrau laughed at his clever reply and\nordered him other four thousand dirhams. So the fisherman went to the\ntreasurer and, taking his eight thousand dirhams, put them in a sack he\nhad with him. Then, throwing it over his shoulder, he was going away,\nwhen he dropped a dirham; so he laid the bag off his back and stooped\ndown to pick it up. Now the King and Shirin were looking on, and the\nQueen said, \"O King, didst thou note the meanness of the man, in that\nhe must needs stoop down to pick up the one dirham, and could not bring\nhimself to leave it for any of the King's servants?\" When the King\nheard these words, he was exceeding wroth with the fisherman and said,\n\"Thou art right, O Shirin!\" So he called the man back and said to him,\n\"Thou low-minded carle! Thou art no man! How couldst thou put the bag\nwith all this money off thy back and bend thee groundwards to pick up\nthe one dirham and grudge to leave it where it fell?\" Thereupon the\nfisherman kissed the earth before him and answered, \"May Allah prolong\nthe King's life! Indeed, I did not pick up the dirham off the ground\nbecause of its value in my eyes; but I raised it off the earth because\non one of its faces is the likeness of the King and on the other his\nname; and I feared lest any should unwittingly set foot upon it, thus\ndishonouring the name and presentment of the King, and I be blamed for\nthis offence.\" The King wondered at his words and approved of his wit\nand shrewdness, and ordered him yet another four thousand dirhams.\nMoreover, he bade cry abroad in his kingdom, saying, \"It behoveth none\nto be guided by women's counsel; for whoso followeth their advice,\nloseth, with his one dirham, other twain.\"[FN#131] And here is the tale\nthey tell of\n\n\n\n\nYAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE AND THE POOR MAN\n\nYahya bin Kh\u03b1lid the Barmecide was returning home, one day, from the\nCaliph's palace, when he saw, at the gate of his mansion, a man who\nrose as he drew near and saluted him, saying, \"O Yahya, I am in sore\nneed of that which is in they hand, and I make Allah my intermediary\nwith thee.\" So Yahya caused a place to be set aside for him in his\nhouse and bade his treasurer carry him a thousand dirhams every day and\nordered that his diet be of the choicest of his own meat. The man abode\nin this case a whole month, at the end of which time, having received\nin all thirty thousand dirhams and fearing lest Yahya should take the\nmoney from him, because of the greatness of the sum, he departed by\nstealth.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man, taking\nwith him the money, departed by stealth. But when they told Yahya of\nthis, he said, \"By Allah, though he had tarried with me to the end of\nhis days, yet had I not stinted him of my largesse nor cut off from him\nthe bounties of my hospitality!\" For, indeed, the excellences of the\nBarmecides were past count nor can their virtues be committed to\ndescription, especially those of Yahya bin Khalid, for he was an\nocean[FN#132] of noble qualities, even as saith the poet of him,\n\n     \"I asked of Bounty, Art thou free?' Quoth she, *\n\n\n          No, I am slave to Yahy\u03b1 Kh\u03b1lid-son!'\n\n\n     Boughten?' asked I. Allah forfend,' quoth she, *\n\n\n          By heirship, sire to sire's transmission!'\"\n\n\n\nAnd the following is related of\n\n\n\n\nMOHAMMED AL-AMIN AND THE SLAVE-GIRL\n\nJa'afar bin Mus\u03b1 al-H\u03b1di[FN#133] once had a slave-girl, a lutist,\ncalled Al-Badr al-Kab\u03bdr, than whom there was not in her time a fairer\nof face nor shapelier of shape nor a more elegant of manners nor a more\naccomplished in the art of singing and striking the strings; she was\nindeed perfect in beauty and extreme in every charm. Now Mohammed\nal-Am\u03bdn,[FN#134] son of Zubaydah, heard of her and was urgent with\nJa'afar to sell her to him; but he replied, \"Thou knowest it beseemeth\nnot one of my rank to sell slave-girls nor set prices on concubines;\nbut were she not a rearling I would send her to thee, as a gift, not\ngrudge her to thee.\" And Mohammed al-Amin, some days after this went to\nJa'afar's house, to make merry; and the host set before him that which\nit behoveth to set before true friends and bade the damsel Al-Badr\nal-Kabir sing to him and gladden him. So she tuned the lute and sang\nwith a ravishing melody; whilst Mohammed al-Amin fell to drinking and\njollity and bade the cupbearers ply Ja'afar with much wine, till they\nmade him drunken, when he took the damsel and carried her to his own\nhouse, but laid not a finger on her. And when the morrow dawned he bade\ninvite Ja'afar; and when he came, he set wine before him and made the\ngirl sing to him, from behind the curtain. Ja'afar knew her voice and\nwas angered at this, but, of the nobleness of his nature and the\nmagnanimity of his mind he showed no change. Now when the carousal was\nat an end, Al-Amin commanded one of his servants to fill the boat,\nwherein Ja'afar had come, with dirhams and dinars and all manner of\njewels and jacinths and rich raiment and goods galore. So he laid\ntherein a thousand myriads of money and a thousand fine pearls, each\nworth twenty thousand dirhams; nor did he give over loading the barge\nwith all manner of things precious and rare, till the boatmen cried out\nfor help, saying, \"The boat can't hold any more;\" whereupon he bade\nthem carry all this to Ja'afar's palace. Such are the exploits of the\nmagnanimous, Allah have mercy on them! And a tale is related of\n\n\n\n\nTHE SONS OF YAHYA BIN KHALID AND SA'ID BIN SALIM AL-BAHILI\n\nQuoth Sa'\u03bdd bin S\u03b1lim al'B\u03b1hil\u03bd,[FN#135] I was once in very narrow\ncase, during the days of Harun al-Rashid, and debts accumulated upon\nme, burdening my back, and these I had no means of discharging. I was\nat my wits' end what to do, for my doors were blocking up with\ncreditors and I was without cease importuned for payment by claimants,\nwho dunned me in crowds till at last I was sore perplexed and troubled.\nSo I betook myself to Abdallah bin M\u03b1lik al-Khuza'\u03bd[FN#136] and\nbesought him to extend the hand of aid with his judgement and direct me\nof his good counsel to the door of relief; and he said, None can save\nthee from this thy strait and sorrowful state save the Barmecides.'\nQuoth I, Who can brook their pride and put up patiently with their\narrogant pretensions?' and quoth he, Thou wilt put up with all this for\nthe bettering of thy case.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-third Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdallah ibn\nMalik al-Khuza'i said to Sa'id bin Salim, \"Thou wilt put up with all\nthis for the bettering of thy case.\" \"So I left him suddenly (continued\nSa'id) and went straight to Al-Fazl and Ja'afar, sons of Yahy\u03b1 bin\nKh\u03b1lid, to whom I related my circumstances; whereto they replied, Allah\ngive thee His aid, and render thee by His bounties independent of His\ncreatures and vouchsafe thee abundant weal and bestow on thee what\nshall suffice thee, without the need of any but Himself; for whatso He\nwilleth that He can, and He is gracious with His servants and knoweth\ntheir wants.' So I went out from the twain and returned to Abdallah,\nwith straitened breast and mind perplexed and heavy of heart, and\nrepeated to him what they had said. Quoth he, Thou wouldst do well to\nabide with us this day, that we may see what Allah Almighty will\ndecree.' So I sat with him awhile, when lo! up came my servant, who\nsaid to me, O my lord, there are at our door many laden mules and with\nthem a man, who says he is the agent of Al-Fazl and Ja'afar bin Yahya.'\nQuoth Abdallah, I trust that relief is come to thee: rise up and go see\nwhat is the matter.' So I left him and, hastening to my house, found at\nthe door a man who gave me a note wherein was written the following:\nAfter thou hadst been with us and we heard thy case, we betook\nourselves to the Caliph and informed him that ill condition had reduced\nthee to the humiliation of begging; where upon he ordered us to supply\nthee with a thousand thousand dirhams from the Treasury. We represented\nto him: The debtor will spend this money in paying off creditors and\nwiping off debt; whence then shall he provide for his subsistence? So\nhe ordered thee other three hundred thousand, and each of us hath also\nsent thee, of his proper wealth, a thousand thousand dirhams: so that\nthou hast now three thousand thousand and three hundred thousand\ndirhams wherewithal to order and amend thine estate.'\" See, then, the\nmunificence of these magnificos: Almighty Allah have mercy on them! And\na tale is told of\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOMAN'S TRICK AGAINST HER HUSBAND\n\nA man brought his wife a fish one Friday and, bidding her to cook it\nagainst the end of the congregational prayers, went out to his craft\nand business. Meanwhile in came her friend who bade her to a wedding at\nhis house; so she agreed and, laying the fish in a jar of water, went\noff with him and was absent a whole week till the Friday\nfollowing;[FN#137] whilst her husband sought her from house to house\nand enquired after her; but none could give him any tidings of her. Now\non the next Friday she came home and he fell foul of her; but she\nbrought out to him the fish alive from the jar and assembled the folk\nagainst him and told them her tale.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the woman brought\nout the fish alive from the water-jar and assembled the folk against\nher husband, and told them her tale. He also told his; but they\ncredited him not and said, \"It cannot be that the fish should have\nremained alive all this while.\" So they proved him mad and imprisoned\nhim and mocked at him, where upon he shed tears in floods and recited\nthese two couplets,\n\n     \"Old hag, of high degree in filthy life, *\n\n\n          Whose face her monstrous lewdness witnesses.\n\n\n     When menstuous she bawds; when clean she whores; *\n\n\n          And all her time bawd or adulteress is.\"\n\n\n\nAnd a tale is related of the\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEVOUT WOMAN AND THE TWO WICKED ELDERS[FN#138]\n\nThere was in times of yore and in ages long gone before, a virtuous\nwoman among the children of Israel, who was pious and devout and used\nevery day to go out to the place of prayer, first entering a garden,\nwhich adjoined thereto, and there making the minor ablution. Now there\nwere in this garden two old men, its keepers, and both Shaykhs fell in\nlove with her and sought her favours; but she refused, whereupon said\nthey, \"Unless thou yield thy body to us, we will bear witness against\nthee of fornication.\" Quoth she, \"Allah will preserve me from your\nfrowardness!\" Then they opened the garden-gate and cried out, and the\nfolk came to them from all places, saying \"What aileth you?\" Quoth\nthey, \"We found this damsel in company with a youth who was doing\nlewdness with her; but he escaped from our hands.\" Now it was the wont\nof the people in those days to expose adulterer and adulteress to\npublic reproach for three days, and after stone them. So they cried her\nname in the public streets for three days, while the two elders came up\nto her daily and, laying their hands on her head, said, \"Praised be\nAllah who hath sent down on thee His righteous indignation!\" Now on the\nfourth day, when they bore her away to stone her, they were followed by\na lad named Daniel, who was then only twelve years old, and this was to\nbe the first of his miracles (upon our Prophet and upon him the\nblessing and peace!). And he ceased not following them to the place of\nexecution, till he came up with them and said to them, \"Hasten not to\nstone her, till I judge between them.\" So they set him a chair and he\nsat down and summoned the old men separately. (Now he was the first\never separated witnesses.) Then said he to the first, \"What sawest\nthou?\"[FN#139] So he repeated to him his story, and Daniel asked, \"In\nwhat part of the garden did this befal?\" and he answered, \"On the\neastern side, under a pear-tree.\" Then he called the other old man and\nasked him the same question, and he replied, \"On the western side of\nthe garden, under an apple-tree.\" Meanwhile the damsel stood by, with\nher hands and eyes raised heavenwards, imploring the Lord for\ndeliverance. Then Allah Almighty sent down His blasting leven-fire upon\nthe elders and consumed them, and on this wise the Lord made manifest\nthe innocence of the damsel. Such was the first of the miracles of the\nProphet Daniel, on whom be blessing and peace! And they relate a tale\nof\n\n\n\n\nJA'AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE OLD BADAWL\n\nThe Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, went out one day, with\nAbu Ya'K\u03cab the cup-companion[FN#140] and Ja'afar the Barmecide and Abu\nNowas, into the desert, where they fell in with an old man, propt\nagainst his ass. The Caliph bade Ja'afar learn of him whence he came;\nso he asked him, \"Whence comest thou?\" and he answered, \"From\nBassorah.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ja'afar\nasked the man, \"Whence comest thou?\"; he answered \"From Bassorah.\"\nQuoth Ja'afar, \"And whither goest thou?\" Quoth the other, \"To Baghdad.\"\nThen Ja'afar enquired \"And what wilt thou do there?\" and the old man\nreplied, \"I go to seek medicine for my eye.\" Said the Caliph, \"O\nJa'afar, make thou sport with him,\" and answered Ja'afar, \"I shall hear\nwhat I shall exceedingly mislike.\"[FN#141] But Al-Rashid rejoined, \"I\ncharge thee on my authority, jest with him.\" Thereupon Ja'afar said to\nthe Badawi, \"If I prescribe thee a medicine that shall profit thee,\nwhat wilt thou give me in return?\" Quoth the other, \"Allah Almighty\nwill requite the kindness with what is better for thee than any\nrequital of mine.\" Continued Ja'afar, \"Now lend me an ear and I will\ngive thee a prescription, which I have given to none but thee.\" \"What\nis that?\" asked the Badawi; and Ja'afar answered, \"Take three ounces of\nwind-breaths and the like of sunbeams and the same of moonshine and as\nmuch of lamp-light; mix them well together and let them lie in the wind\nthree months. Then place them three months in a mortar without a bottom\nand pound them to a fine powder and after trituration set them in a\ncleft platter, and let it stand in the wind other three months; after\nwhich use of this medicine three drachms every night in thy sleep, and,\nInshallah! thou shalt be healed and whole.\" Now when the Badawi heard\nthis, he stretched himself out to full length on the donkey's back and\nlet fly a terrible loud fart[FN#142] and said to Ja'afar, \"Take this\nfart in payment of thy prescription. When I have followed it, if Allah\ngrant me recovery, I will give thee a slave-girl, who shall serve thee\nin they lifetime a service, wherewith Allah shall cut short thy term;\nand when thou diest and the Lord hurrieth thy soul to hell-fire, she\nshall blacken thy face with her skite, of her mourning for thee, and\nshall keen and beat her face, saying O frosty-beard, what a fool thou\nwast?'\"[FN#143] thereupon Harun al-Rashid laughed till he fell\nbackward, and ordered the Badawi three thousand silver pieces. And a\ntale is told of\n\n\n\n\nTHE CALIPH OMAR BIN AL-KHATTAB AND THE YOUNG BADAWI\n\nThe Sharif Husayn bin Rayy\u03b1n relateth that the Caliph Omar bin\nAl-Khatt\u03b1b was sitting one day judging the folk and doing justice\nbetween his subjects, attended by the best and wisest of his\ncounsellors, when there came up to him a youth comely and cleanly\nattired, upon whom two very handsome youths had laid hold and were\nhaling by the collar till they set him in the presence. Whereupon the\nCommander of the Faithful, Omar, looked at him and them and bade them\nloose him; then, calling him near to himself, asked the twain, \"What is\nyour case with him?\" They answered, \"O Prince of True Believers, we are\ntwo brothers by one mother and as followers of verity known are we. We\nhad a father, a very old man of good counsel, honoured by the tribes,\nsound of baseness renowned for goodliness, who reared us tenderly in\nchildhood, and loaded us with favours in manhood;\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the two youths\nsaid to the Commander of the Faithful, Omar son of Al- Khattab, \"Our\nfather was a man honoured by the tribes, sound of baseness and renowned\nfor goodliness, who reared us delicately in childhood and loaded us\nwith favours in manhood; in fine, a sea of noble and illustrious\nqualities, worthy of the poet's praise,\n\n     Is Aub's-Sakr of Shayb\u03b1n[FN#144]?' they asked; *\n\n\n          Quoth I, Nay, by my life, of him's Shayb\u03b1n:\n\n\n     How many a sire rose high by a noble son, *\n\n\n          As Allah's prophet glorified Adnan!'[FN#145]\n\n\n\nNow he went forth this day to his garden, to refresh himself amongst\nits trees and pluck the ripe fruits, when this young man slew him\nwrongously and swerved from the road of righteousness; wherefore we\ndemand of thee the retribution of his crime and call upon thee to pass\njudgement upon him, according to the commandment of Allah.\" Then Omar\ncast a terrible look at the accused youth and said to him, \"Verily thou\nhearest the complaint these two young men prefer; what hast thou in\nreply to aver?\" But he was brave of heart and bold of speech, having\ndoffed the robe of pusillanimity and put off the garb of cowardry; so\nhe smiled and spake in the most eloquent and elegant words; and, after\npaying the usual ceremonial compliments to the Caliph, said, \"\"By\nAllah, O Commander of the Faithful, I have indeed given ear to their\ncomplaint, and they have told the truth in that which they tell, so far\nas they have set out what befel; and the commandment of Allah is a\ndecreed decree.[FN#146] but I will forthright state my case between\nthey hands, and it is for thee to give commands. Know then, O Prince of\nthe Faithful, that I am a very Arab of the Arabies,[FN#147] the noblest\nof those that are beneath the skies. I grew up in the dwellings of the\nwold and fell, till evil times my tribe befel, when I came to the\noutskirts of this town, with my family and whatso goods I own: and, as\nI went along one of the paths leading to its gardens, orchards and\ngarths, with my she-camels highly esteemed and by me most precious\ndeemed, and midst them a stallion of noble blood and shape right good,\na plenteous getter of brood, by whom the females abundantly bore and\nwho walked among them as though a kingly crown he wore, one of the\nshe-camels broke away; and, running to the garden of these young men's\nfather, where the trees showed above the wall, put forth her lips and\nbegan to feed as in stall. I ran to her, to drive her away, when\nbehold, there appeared, at a breach of the wall, an old man and grey,\nwhose eyes sparkled with angry ray, holding in his right a stone to\nthrow and swaying to and fro, with a swing like a lion ready for a\nspring. He cast the stone at my stallion, and it killed him for it\nstruck a vital part. When I saw the stallion drop dead beside me, I\nfelt live coals of anger kindled in my heart; so I took up the very\nsame stone and throwing it at the old man, it was the cause of his bane\nand ban: thus his own wrongful act returned to him anew, and the man\nwas slain of that wherewith he slew. When the stone struck him, he\ncried out with a great cry and shrieked out a terrible shriek,\nwhereupon I hastened from the spot; but these two young men hurried\nafter me and laid hands on me and before thee carried me.\" Quoth Omar\n(Almighty Allah accept of him!), \"Thou hast confessed what thou\ncommittedest, and of acquittal there is no possible occasion; for\nurgent is the law of retaliation and they cried for mercy but it was\nnot a time to escape.\"[FN#148] the youth answered, \"I hear and obey the\njudgement of the Imam, and I consent to all required by the law of\nAl-Islam; but I have a young brother, whose old father, before his\ndecease, appointed to him wealth in great store and gold galore, and\ncommitted his affair to me before Allah, saying: I give this into thy\nhand for thy brother; keep it for him with all thy might.' So I took\nthe money and buried it; nor doth any know of it but I. Now, if thou\nadjudge me to be justiced forthright, the money will lost and thou\nshalt be the cause of its loss; wherefore the child will sue thee for\nhis due on the day when the Creator shall judge between His creatures.\nBut, if thou wilt grant me three days' delay, I will appoint some\nguardian to administer the affairs of the boy and return to answer my\ndebt; and I have one who will be my surety for the fulfillment of this\nmy promise.\" So the Commander of the Faithful bowed his head awhile,\nthen raised it and looking round upon those present, said, \"Who will\nstand surety by me for his return to this place?\" And the youth looked\nat the faces of those who were in company and pointing to Abu\nZarr,[FN#149] in preference to all present, said, \"This man shall\nanswer for me and be my bail.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the youth\npointed to Abu Zarr and said, \"This man shall answer for me and be my\nbail,\" Omar (Allah accept of him!) said, O Abu Zarr, dost thou hear\nthese words and wilt thou be surety to me for the return of this\nyouth?\" He answered, \"Yes, O Commander of the Faithful, I will be\nsurety for him for three days.\" So the Caliph accepted his guarantee\nand let the young man go. Now when the appointed time passed and the\ndays of grace were nearly or quite at end yet the youth came not, the\nCaliph took seat in his council, with the Companions surrounding him,\nlike the constellations about the moon, Abu Zarr and the plaintiffs\nbeing also present; and the avengers said, \"Where is the defendant, O\nAbu Zarr, and how shall he return, having once fled? But we will not\nstir from our places till thou bring him to us, that we may take of him\nour blood revenge.\" Replied Abu Zarr, \"By the truth of the All-Wise\nKing, if the three days of grace expire and the young man returneth\nnot, I will fulfill my warranty and surrender my person to the Imam;\"\nand added Omar (whom Allah accept!), \"By the Lord, if the young man\nappear not, I will assuredly execute on Abu Zarr that which is\nprescribed by the law of Al-Islam!\"[FN#150] thereupon the eyes of the\nbystanders ran over with tears; those who looked on groaned aloud and\ngreat was the clamour. Then the chiefs of the Companions urged the\nplaintiffs to accept the blood-wit and deserve the thanks of the folk;\nbut they both refused and would accept nothing save the talion.\nHowever, as the folk were swaying to and fro like waves and loudly\nbemoaning Abu Zarr, behold, up came the young Badawi; and, standing\nbefore the Imam, saluted him right courteously (with sweat-beaded face\nand shining with the crescent's grace) and said to him, \"I have given\nthe lad in charge to his mother's brothers and have made them\nacquainted with all that pertaineth to his affairs and let them into\nthe secrets of his monies; after which I braved the heats of noon and\nhave kept my word as a free- born man.\" Thereupon the folk marvelled,\nseeing his good faith and loyalty and his offering himself to death\nwith so stout a heart; and one said to him, \"How noble a youth art thou\nand how loyal to thy word of honour and thy devoir!\" Rejoined he, \"Are\nye not convinced that when death presenteth itself, none can escape\nfrom it? And indeed, I have kept my word, that it be not said, Good\nfaith is gone from among mankind.' \" Said Abu Zarr, \"By Allah, O\nCommander of the Faithful, I became warrant for this young man, without\nknowing to what tribe he belonged, nor had I seen him before that day;\nbut, when he turned away from all who were present and singled me out,\nsaying, This man shall answer for me and be my bail,' I thought it not\nright to refuse him, and generosity forbade to disappoint his desire,\nthere being no harm in compliance therewith, that it be not bruited\nabroad, Benevolence is gone from among mankind.\" Then said the two\nyoung men, \"O Commander of the Faithful, we forgive this youth our\nfather's blood, seeing that he hath changed desolation into\ncheerfulness; that it be not said, Humanity is gone from among\nmankind.\" So the Caliph rejoiced in the acquittance of the youth and\nhis truth and good faith; moreover, he magnified the generosity of Abu\nZarr, extolling it over all his companions, and approved the resolve of\nthe two young men for its benevolence, giving them praise with thanks\nand applying to their case the saying of the poet,\n\n     \"Who doth kindness to men shall be paid again; *\n\n\n          Ne'er is kindness lost betwixt God and men.\"\n\n\n\nThen he offered to pay them, from the Treasury, the blood-wit for their\nfather; but they refused, saying, \"We forgave him only of our desire\nunto Allah,[FN#151] the Bountiful, the Exalted; and he who is thus\nintentioned followeth not his benefits with reproach or with\nmischief.\"[FN#152] and amongst the tales they relate is that of\n\n\n\n\nTHE CALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE PYRAMIDS[FN#153] OF EGYPT\n\nIt is told that the Caliph Al-Maamun, son of Harun al-Rashid, when he\nentered the God-guarded city of Cairo, was minded to pull down the\nPyramids, that he might take what was therein; but, when he went about\nto do this, he could not succeed, albeit his best was done. He expended\na mint of money in the attempt,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred Ninety-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Al-Maamun\nattempting to pull down the Pyramids, expended his mint of money, but\nsucceeded only in opening up a small tunnel in one of them, where in it\nis said he found treasure to the exact amount of the monies he had\nspent in the works, neither more nor less; whereat he marvelled and\ntaking what he found there, desisted from his determination. Now the\nPyramids are three, and they are one of the Wonders of the World; nor\nis there on the face of earth aught like them for height and fashion\nand mysteries[FN#154]; for they are built of huge rocks, and the\nbuilders proceeded by piercing one block of stone and setting therein\nupright rods of iron[FN#155]; after which they pierced a second block\nof stone and lowered it upon the first. Then they poured melted lead\nupon the clamps and set the blocks in geometrical order, till the\nbuilding was complete. Now the height of each pyramid was an hundred\ncubits, of the normal measure of the day, and it had four faces, each\nthree hundred cubits long from the base and thence battering upwards to\na point. The ancients say that, in the western Pyramid, are thirty\nchambers of parti-coloured syenite, full of precious gems and treasures\ngalore and rare images and utensils and costly weapons which are\nanointed with egromantic unguents, so that they may not rust until the\nday of Resurrection.[FN#156] Therein, also, are vessels of glass which\nbend and break not, containing various kinds of compound drugs and\nsympathetic waters. In the second Pyramid are the records of the\npriests, written on tablets of syenite, to each priest his tablet,\nwhereon are engraved the wonders of his craft and his feats; and on the\nwalls are the human figures like idols, working with their hands at all\nmanner of mechanism and seated on stepped thrones. Moreover, to each\nPyramid there is a guardian treasurer who keepeth watch over it and\nwardeth it, to all eternity, against the ravages of time and the shifts\nof events; and indeed the marvels of these Pyramids astound all who\nhave sight and insight. Many are the poems that describe them, thou\nshalt thereby profit no small matter, and among the rest, quoth one of\nthem,\n\n     \"If Kings would see their high emprize preserved, *\n\n\n          Twill be by tongues of monuments they laid:\n\n\n     Seest not the Pyramids? These two endure *\n\n\n          Despite what change Time and Change have made.\"\n\n\n\nAnd quoth another,\n\n     \"Look on the Pyramids, and hear the twain *\n\n\n          Recount their annals of the long-gone Past:\n\n\n     Could they but speak, high marvels had they told *\n\n\n          Of what Time did to man from first to last.\"\n\n\n\nAnd quoth a third,\n\n     \"My friend I prithee tell me, 'neath the sky *\n\n\n          Is aught with Egypt's Pyramids can compare?\n\n\n     Buildings which frighten Time, albe what dwells *\n\n\n          On back of earth in fear of Time must fare:\n\n\n     If on their marvels rest my sight no more, *\n\n\n          Yet these I ever shall in memory bear.\"\n\n\n\nAnd quoth a fourth,\n\n     \"Where is the man who built the Pyramids? *\n\n\n          What was his tribe, what day and where his tomb?\n\n\n     The monuments survive the men who built *\n\n\n          Awhile, till overthrown by touch of Doom.\"\n\n\n\nAnd men also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIEF AND THE MERCHANT\n\nThere was once a thief who repented to Almighty Allah with sincere\npenitence; so he opened himself a shop for the sale of stuffs, where he\ncontinued to trade awhile. It so chanced one day that he locked his\nshop and went home, and in the night there came to the bazar an artful\nthief disguised in the habit of the merchant, and pulling out keys from\nhis sleeve, said to the watchman of the market, \"Light me this\nwax-candle.\" The watchman took the taper and went to light it,\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the watchman took\nthe taper and went to light it, whilst the thief opened the shop and\nlit another candle he had by him. When the watchman came back, he found\nhim seated in the shop, account- books inhand, and reckoning with his\nfingers; nor did he cease to do thus till point of day, when he said to\nthe man, \"Fetch me a camel-driver and his camel, to carry some goods\nfor me.\" So the man fetched him a camel, and the thief took four\nbales[FN#157] of stuffs and gave them to the cameleer, who loaded them\non his beast. Then he gave the watchman two dirhams and went away after\nthe camel-driver, leaving the watchman believing him to be the owner of\nthe shop. Now when the morning dawned and day broke the merchant came\nand the watchman began greeting him with blessings, because of the two\ndirhams; but the shop-keeper wondered at his words as one not knowing\nwhat he meant. When he opened his shop, he saw the droppings of the wax\nand the account-book lying on the floor, and looking round, found four\nbales of stuffs missing. So he asked the watchman what had happened and\nhe told him what has passed in the night and what had been said to the\ncameleer, whereupon the merchant bade him fetch the man and asked him,\n\"Whither didst thou carry the stuffs this morning?\" Answered the\ndriver, \"To such a landing-place, and I stowed them on board such a\nvessel.\" Said the merchant, \"Come with me thither;\" so the camel-driver\ncarried him to the landing-place and said to him, \"This be the barque\nand this be her owner.\" Quoth the merchant to the seaman, \"Whither\ndidst thou carry the merchant and the stuff?\" Answered the boat-master,\n\"To such a place, where he fetched a camel-driver and, setting the\nbales on the camel, went his ways I know not whither.\" \"Fetch me the\ncameleer who carried the goods,\" said the merchant; so he fetched him\nand the merchant said to him, \"Whither didst thou carry the bales of\ngoods from the ship?\" \"To such a Khan,\" answered he; and the merchant\nrejoined, \"Come thither with me and show it to me.\" So the camel-man\nwent with him to a place far distant from the shore and showed him the\nKhan where he had set down the stuffs, and at the same time the false\nmerchant's magazine, which he opened and found therein his four bales\nbound up as they had been packed. The thief had laid his cloak over\nthem; so the merchant took the cloak as well as the bales and delivered\nthem to the camel- driver, who laid them on his camel; after which he\nlocked the magazine and went away with the cameleer. On the way, he was\nconfronted with the thief who followed him, till he had shipped the\nbales, when he said to him, \"O my brother (Allah have thee in His holy\nkeeping!), thou hast indeed recovered thy goods and naught of them is\nlost; so give me back my cloak.\" The merchant laughed and, giving him\nback his cloak, let him go unhindered; whereupon both went their ways.\nAnd they tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nMASRUR THE EUNUCH AND IBN AL-KARIBI\n\nThe Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, was exceedingly\nrestless one night; so he said to his Wazir Ja'afar, \"I am sleepless\nto-night and my breast is straitened and I know not what to do.\" Now\nhis castrato Masr\u03car was standing before him, and he laughed: whereupon\nthe Caliph said \"At whom laughest thou? Is it to make mock of me or\nhath madness seized thee?\" Answered Masrur, \"Nay, by Allah, O Commander\nof the Faithful,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundredth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Harun al- Rashid\nsaid to Masrur the Sworder, \"Dost thou laugh to make mock of me or hath\nmadness seized thee?\" Answered Masrur, \"Nay, by Allah, O Commander of\nthe Faithful, I swear by thy kinship to the Prince of Apostles, I did\nit not of my free will; but I went out yesterday to walk within sight\nof the palace and, coming to the bank of the Tigris, saw there the folk\ncollected; so I stopped and found a man, Ibn al-K\u03b1rib\u03bd hight, who was\nmaking them laugh; but just now I recalled what he said, and laughter\ngot the better of me; and I crave pardon of thee, O Commander of the\nFaithful!\" Quoth the Caliph, \"Bring him to me forthright;\" so Masrur\nrepaired in all haste to Ibn al-Karibi and said to him, \"Answer the\nsummons of the Commander of the Faithful,\" whereto he replied, \"I hear\nand obey.\" \"But on condition,\" added Masrur, \"that, if he give thee\naught, thou shalt have a quarter and the rest shall be mine.\" Replied\nthe droll, \"Nay, thou shalt have half and I half.\" Rejoined Masrur,\n\"Not so, I will have three- quarters.\" Lastly said Ibn al-Karibi, \"Thou\nshalt have two- thirds and I the other third;\" to which Masrur agreed,\nafter much higgling and haggling, and they returned to the palace\ntogether. Now when Ibn al-Karibi came into the Caliph's presence he\nsaluted him as men greet the Caliphate, and stood before him; whereupon\nsaid Al-Rashid to him, \"If thou do not make me laugh, I will give thee\nthree blows with this bag.\" Quoth Ibn al-Karibi in his mind, \"And a\nsmall matter were blows with that bag, seeing that beating with whips\nhurteth me not;\" for he thought the bag was empty. Then he began to\ndeal out his drolleries, such as would make the dismallest jemmy\nguffaw, and gave vent to all manner of buffooneries; but the Caliph\nlaughed not neither smiled, whereat Ibn al-Karibi marvelled and was\nchagrined and affrighted. Then said the Commander of the Faithful, \"Now\nhast thou earned the beating,\" and gave him a blow with the bag,\nwherein were four pebbles each two rotols in weight. The blow fell on\nhis neck and he gave a great cry, then calling to mind his compact with\nMasrur, said, \"Pardon, O Commander of the Faithful! Hear two words from\nme.\" Quoth the Caliph, \"Say on,\" and quoth Ibn al- Karibi, \"Masrur made\nit a condition with me and I a covenant with him, that whatsoever\nlargesse might come to me of the bounties of the Commander of the\nFaithful, one-third thereof should be mine and the rest his; nor did he\nagree to leave me so much as one- third, save after much higgling and\nhaggling. I have had my share and here standeth he, ready to receive\nhis portion; so pay him the two other blows.\" Now when the Caliph heard\nthis, he laughed until he fell on his back; then calling Masrur, he\ngave him a blow, whereat he cried out and said, \"O Commander of the\nFaithful, the one-third sufficeth me: give him the two-thirds.\"\u2014 And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and First Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Masrur cried out,\n\"O Commander of the Faithful! The one-third sufficeth me; give him the\ntwo-thirds.\" So the Caliph laughed at them and ordered them a thousand\ndinars each, and they went away, rejoicing at the largesse. And of the\ntales they tell is one of\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEVOTEE PRINCE\n\nThe Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, had a son who, from the\ntime he attained the age of sixteen, renounced the world and walked in\nthe way[FN#158] of ascetics and devotees. He was wont to go out to the\ngraveyards and say, \"Ye once ruled the world, but that saved you not\nfrom death, and now are ye come to your sepulchres! Would Heaven I knew\nwhat ye said and what is said to you!\"[FN#159] and he wept as one\nweepeth who is troubled with fear and apprehension, and repeated the\nworlds of the poet,\n\n     \"Affright me funerals at every time; *\n\n\n          And wailing women grieve me to the soul!\"\n\n\n\nNow it chanced one day, as he sat among the tombs, according to his\ncustom, his father passed by in all his state, surrounded by his Wazirs\nand Lords of the realm and the Officers of his household, who seeing\nthe Caliph's son with a gown of woollen stuff on his body and a twist\nof wool on his head by way of turband, said to one another, \"Verily\nthis youth dishonoureth the Commander of the Faithful among Kings: but,\nif he reproved him, he would leave his present way of life.\" The Caliph\nheard these words; so quoth he to his son, \"O my dear child, of a truth\nthou disgracest me by thy present way of life.\" The young man looked at\nhim and made no reply: then he beckoned to a bird perched on the\nbattlements of the palace, and said to it, \"O thou bird, I conjure thee\nby Him who created thee, alight upon my hand.\" Whereupon straightway it\nswooped down and perched on his finger. Then quoth he, \"Return to thy\nplace;\" and it did so. Presently he said, \"Alight on the hand of the\nCommander of the Faithful;\" but it refused there to perch, and he cried\nto his father, \"It is thou that disgracest me amongst the Holy[FN#160]\nOnes, by the love of the world; and now I am resolved to part from\nthee, never to return to thee, save in the world to come.\" Then he went\ndown to Bassorah, where he took to working with those which wrought in\nclay,[FN#161] receiving, as his day's hire, but a dirham and a\ndanik;[FN#162] and with the danik he fed himself and gave alms of the\ndirham. (Quoth Ab\u03ca Amir of Bassorah) \"There fell down a wall in my\nhouse; so I went forth to the station of the artisans to find a man who\nshould repair it for me, and my eyes fell on a handsome youth of a\nradiant countenance. So I saluted him and asked him, O my friend, dost\nthou seek work?' Yes,' answered he; and I said, Come with me and build\na wall.' He replied, On certain conditions I will make with thee.'\nQuoth I What are they, O my friend?'; and quoth he, My wage must be a\ndirham and a danik, and again when the Mu'ezzin calleth to prayer, thou\nshalt let me go pray with the congregation.' It is well,' answered I\nand carried him to my lace, where he fell to work, such work as I never\nsaw the like of. Presented I named to him the morning-meal; but he\nsaid, No;' and I knew that he was fasting.[FN#163] When he heard the\ncall to prayer, he said to me, Thou knowest the condition?' Yes,'\nanswered i. So he loosed his girdle and, applying himself to the lesser\nablution, made it after a fashion than which I never saw a\nfairer;[FN#164] then he went to the mosque and prayed with the\ncongregation and returned to his work. He did the same upon the call to\nmid- afternoon prayer, and when I saw him fall to work again\nthereafterward, I said to him, O my friend, verily the hours of labour\nare over; a workman's day is but till the time of afternoon-prayer.'\nBut he replied, Praise to the Lord, my service is till the night.' And\nhe ceased not to work till nightfall, when I gave him two dirhams;\nwhereupon he asked What is this!'; and I answered, By Allah, this is\nbut part of thy wage, because of thy diligence in my service.' But he\nthrew them back to me saying, I will have no more than was agreed upon\nbetween us twain.' I urged him to take them, but could not prevail upon\nhim; so I gave him the dirham and the danik, and he went away. And when\nmorning dawned, I went to the station but found him not; so I enquired\nfor him and was told, He cometh thither only on Sabbaths.' Accordingly,\nwhen Saturday came, I betook me to the market and finding him there,\nsaid to him, Bismillah, do me the favour to come and work for me.' Said\nhe, Upon the conditions thou wottest;' and I answered Yes!' Then\ncarrying him to my house I stood to watch him where he could not see\nme; and he took a handful of puddled clay and laid it on the wall,\nwhen, behold, the stones ranged themselves one upon other; and I said,\nOn this wise are Allah's holy ones.' he worked out his day and did even\nmore than before; and when it was night, I gave him his hire, and he\ntook it and walked away. Now when the third Saturday came round, I went\nto the place of standing, but found him not; so I asked after him and\nthey told me, He is sick and lying in the shanty of such a woman.' Now\nthis was an old wife, renowned for piety, who had a hovel of reeds in\nthe burial- ground. So I fared thither and found him stretched on the\nfloor which was bare, with a brick for a pillow and his face beaming\nlike the new moon with light. I saluted him and he returned my salam;\nand I sat down at his head weeping over his fair young years and\nabsence from home and submission to the will of his Lord. Then said I\nto him, Hast thou any need?' Yes,' answered he; and I said, What is\nit?' He replied, Come hither to-morrow in the forenoon and thou wilt\nfind me dead. Wash me and dig my grave and tell none thereof: but\nshroud me in this my gown, after thou hast unsewn it and taken out what\nthou shalt find in the bosom-pocket, which keep with thee. Then, when\nthou hast prayed over me and laid me in the dust, go to Baghdad and\nwatch for the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, till he come forth, when do thou\ngive him what thou shalt find in the breast of my gown and bear him my\nsalutation.' Then he ejaculated the profession of the Faith and\nglorified his God in the most eloquent of words, reciting these\ncouplets,\n\n     Carry the trust of him whom death awaits *\n\n\n          To Al-Rashid and God reward thy care!\n\n\n     And say An exile who desired thy sight *\n\n\n          Long loving, from afar sends greeting fair.\n\n\n     Nor hate nor irk (No!) him from thee withdrew, *\n\n\n          Kissing thy right to Heaven brought him near.[FN#165]\n\n\n     But what estranged his soul, O sire, from thee *\n\n\n          Is that thy worldly joys it would not share!'\n\n\n\nThen he betook himself to prayer, asking pardon of Allah'\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth then\nbetook himself to asking pardon of Allah and to invoking prayer and\npraise upon the Apostle and the Lord of the Just and repeating verses\nof the Koran; after which he recited these couplets,\n\n     \"O sire, be not deceived by worldly joys; *\n\n\n          For life must pass, and joy must learn to mourn;\n\n\n     When thou art told of folk in evil plight, *\n\n\n          Think thou must answer for all hearts forlorn;\n\n\n     And when thou bear thy dead towards the tombs, *\n\n\n          Know thou wilt likewise on that way be bourne.\"\n\n\n\nContinued Abu the Basri, \"Now when the youth had ended his charge and\nhis verses I left him and went home. On the morrow, I returned, at the\nappointed hour, and found him indeed dead, the mercy of Allah be upon\nhim! So I washed him and, unsewing his gown, found in the bosom a ruby\nworth thousands of gold pieces and said to myself, By Allah, this youth\nwas indeed weaned from worldly things!' After I had buried him, I made\nmy way to Baghdad and, going to the Caliph's palace, waited till he\ncame forth, when I addressed him in one of the streets and gave him the\nruby, which when he saw, he knew and fell down in a fainting- fit. His\nattendants laid hands on me, but he revived and said to them, Release\nhim and bring him courteously to the palace.' They did his bidding, and\nwhen he returned, he sent for me and carrying me into his chamber said\nto me, How doth the owner of this ruby?' Quoth I, Verily, he is dead;'\nand told him what had passed; whereupon he fell a-weeping and said, The\nson hath gained; but the sire hath lost.' Then he called out, saying,\nHo, such an one!'; and behold there came out to him a lady who, when\nshe saw me, would have withdrawn; but he cried to her, Come, and mind\nhim not.' So she entered and saluted, and he threw her the ruby, which\nwhen she saw and she knew, she shrieked a great shriek and fell down in\na swoon. As soon as she came to herself, she said, O Commander of the\nFaithful, what hath Allah done with my son?'; and he said to me, Do\nthou tell her his case' (as he could not speak for weeping).\nAccordingly, I repeated the story to her, and she began to shed tears\nand say in a faint and wailing voice, How I have longed for thy sight,\nO solace of mine eyes![FN#166] Would I might have given thee to drink,\nwhen thou hadst none to slake thy thirst! Would I might have cheered\nthee, whenas thou foundest never a cheerer!' And she poured forth tears\nand recited these couplets,\n\n     I weep for one whose lot a lonely death befel; *\n\n\n          Without a friend to whom he might complain and moan:\n\n\n     And after glory and glad union with his friends, *\n\n\n          He woke to desolation, friendless, lorn and lone;\n\n\n     What Fortune hides a while she soon to all men shall show; *\n\n\n          Death never spared a man; no, not a single one:\n\n\n     O absent one, my Lord decreed thee strangerhood, *\n\n\n          Far from thy nearest friends and to long exile gone:\n\n\n     Though Death forbid my hope of meeting here again, *\n\n\n          On Doom-day's morrow we shall meet again, my\n\n\nson![FN#167]\n\n\n\nQuoth I, O Commander of the Faithful, was he indeed thy son?' Quoth he,\nYes, and indeed, before I succeeded to this office, he was wont to\nvisit the learned and company with the devout; but, when I became\nCaliph, he grew estranged from me and withdrew himself apart.[FN#168]\nThen said I to his mother, Verily this thy son hath cut the world and\ndevoted his life to Almighty Allah, and it may be that hard times shall\nbefal him and he be smitten with trial of evil chance; wherefore do\nthou given him this ruby, which he may find useful in hour of need.' So\nshe gave it him, conjuring him to take it, and he obeyed her bidding.\nThen he left to us the things of our world and removed himself from us;\nnor did he cease to be absent from us, till he went to the presence of\nAllah (to whom be Honour and Glory!), pious and pure.' Then said he,\nCome, show me his grave.' So, I travelled with him to Bassorah and\nshowed him his son's grave; and when he saw it, he wept and lamented,\ntill he fell down in a swoon; after which he recovered and asked pardon\nof the Lord, saying, We are Allah's and unto Him we are returning!';\nand involved blessings on the dead. Then he asked me to become his\ncompanion, but I said to him, \"O Commander of the Faithful, verily, in\nthy son's case is for me the most momentous of admonitions!' And I\nrecited these couplets,\n\n     \"Tis I am the stranger, visited by none; *\n\n\n          I am the stranger though in town my own:\n\n\n     Tis I am the stranger! Lacking kith and son, *\n\n\n          And friend to whom I mote for aidance run.\n\n\n     I house in mosques which are my only home; *\n\n\n          My heart there wones and shall for ever wone:\n\n\n     Then laud ye Allah, Lord of Worlds, as long *\n\n\n          As soul and body dwell in union!'\"\n\n\n\nAnd a famous tale is told of\n\n\n\n\nTHE UNWISE SCHOOLMASTER WHO FELL IN LOVE BY REPORT\n\nQuoth one of the learned, \"I passed once by a school, wherein a\nschoolmaster was teaching children; so I entered, finding him a\ngood-looking man and a well-dressed; when he rose to me and made me sit\nwith him. Then I examined him in the Koran and in syntax and prosody\nand lexicography; and behold, he was perfect in all required of him, so\nI said to him, Allah strengthen thy purpose! Thou art indeed versed in\nall that is requisite,' thereafter I frequented him a while,\ndiscovering daily some new excellence in him, and quoth I to myself,\nThis is indeed a wonder in any dominie; for the wise are agreed upon a\nlack of wit in children's teachers.' Then I separated myself from him\nand sought him and visited him only every few days, till coming to see\nhim one day as of wont, I found the school shut and made enquiry of his\nneighbors, who replied, Some one is dead in his house.' So I said in my\nmind, It behoveth me to pay him a visit of condolence,' and going to\nhis house, knocked at the door, when a slave-girl came out to me and\nasked, What dost thou want?' and I answered, I want thy master.' She\nreplied, He is sitting alone, mourning;' and I rejoined, Tell him that\nhis friend so and so seeketh to console him.' She went in and told him;\nand he said, Admit him.' So she brought me in to him, and I found him\nseated alone and his head bound with mourning fillets. So I said to\nhim, Allah requite thee amply! this is a path all must perforce tread,\nand it behoveth thee to take patience;' adding, But who is dead unto\nthee?' He answered, One who was dearest of the folk to me, and best\nbeloved.' Perhaps thy father?' No!' Thy brother?' \"No!' \"One of thy\nkindred?' No!' Then asked I, What relation was the dead to thee?'; and\nhe answered, My lover.' Quoth I to myself, This is the first proof to\nswear by his lack of wit.' So I said to him, Assuredly there be others\nthan she and fairer;' and he made answer, I never saw her, that I might\njudge whether or no there be others fairer than she.' Quoth I to\nmyself, This is another proof positive.' Then I said to him, And how\ncouldst thou fall in love with one thou hast never seen?' He replied\nKnow that I was sitting one day at the window, when lo! there passed by\na man, singing the following distich,\n\n     Umm Amr',[FN#169] thy boons Allah repay! *\n\n\n          Give back my heart be't where it may!'\"\n\n\n\nAnd Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the schoolmaster\ncontinued, \" When I heard the man humming these words as he passed\nalong the street, I said to myself Except this Umm Amru were without\nequal in the world, the poets had not celebrated her in ode and\ncanzon.' So I fell in love with her; but, two days after, the same man\npassed, singing the following couplet,\n\n     Ass and Umm Amr' went their way; *\n\n\n          Nor she, nor ass returned for aye.'\n\n\n\nThereupon I knew she was dead and mourned for her. This was three days\nago, and I have been mourning ever since. So I left him, (concluded the\nlearned one) and fared forth, having assured myself of the weakness of\nthe gerund-grinder's wit.\" And they tell another and a similar tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOOLISH DOMINIE[FN#170]\n\nOnce upon a time, a schoolmaster was visited by a man of letters who\nentered a school and, sitting down by the host's side, entered into\ndiscourse with him and found him an accomplished theologian, poet\ngrammarian, philologist and poet; intelligent, well bred and pleasant\nspoken; whereat he wondered, saying in himself, \"It cannot be that a\nman who teacheth children in a school, should have a perfect wit.\" Now\nwhen he was about to go away, the pedant said to him, \"Thou are my\nguest to-night;\" and he consented to receive hospitality and\naccompanied him to his house, where he made much of him and set food\nbefore him. They ate and drank and sat talking, till a third part of\nthe night was past when the host spread his guest a bed and went up to\nhis Harim. The stranger lay down and addressed himself to sleep, when,\nbehold, there arose a great clamour in the women's rooms. He asked what\nwas the matter and they said, \"A terrible thing hath befallen the\nShaykh and he is at the last gasp.\" Said he, \"Take me up to him\"; so\nthey took him up to the pedagogue whom he found lying insensible, with\nhis blood streaming down. He sprinkled water on his face and when he\nrevived, he asked him, \"What hath betided thee? When thou leftest me,\nthou wast in all good cheer and whole of body,\" and he answered, \"O my\nbrother, after I left thee, I sat meditating on the creative works of\nAlmighty Allah, and said to myself: In every thing the Lord hath\ncreated for man, there is an use; for He (to Whom be glory!) made the\nhands to seize, the feet to walk, the eyes to see, the ears to hear and\nthe penis to increase and multiply; and so on with all the members of\nthe body, except these two ballocks; there is no use in them.' So I\ntook a razor I had by me and cut them off; and there befel me what thou\nseest.\" So the guest left him and went away, saying, \"He was in the\nright who said, Verily no schoolmaster who teacheth children can have a\nperfect wit, though he know all the sciences.'\" And they tell a\npleasant tale of the\n\n\n\n\nILLITERATE WHO SET UP FOR A SCHOOLMASTER\n\nThere was once, among the menials[FN#171] of a certain mosque, a man\nwho knew not how to write or even to read and who gained his bread by\ngulling folk. One day, it occurred to him to open a school and teach\nchildren; so he got together writing-tablets and written papers and\nhung them up in a high place. Then he greatened his turband[FN#172] and\nsat down at the door of the school; and when the people, who passed by,\nsaw his huge head- gear and tablets and scrolls, they thought he must\nbe a very learned pedagogue; so they brought him their children; and he\nwould say to this, \"Write,\" and to that \"Read\"; and thus the little\nones taught each other. Now one day, as he sat as of wont, at the door\nof the school, behold, up came a woman letter in hand, and he said in\nhis mind, \"This woman doubtless seeketh me, that I may read her the\nmissive she hath in her hand: how shall I do with her, seeing I cannot\nread writing?\" And he would fain have gone down and fled from her; but,\nbefore he could do this, she overtook him and said to him, \"Whither\naway?\" Quoth he, \"I purpose to pray the noon-prayer and return.\" Quoth\nshe, \"Noon is yet distant, so read me this letter.\" He took the letter\nand turning it upside down, fell to looking at it, now shaking his head\ntill his turband quivered, then dancing his eyebrows and anon showing\nanger and concern. Now the letter came from the woman's husband, who\nwas absent; and when she saw the dominie do on this wise, she said to\nherself, \"Doubtless my husband is dead, and this learned doctor of law\nand religion is ashamed to tell me so.\" So she said to him, \"O my lord,\nif he be dead, tell me;\" but he shook his head and held his peace. Then\nsaid she, \"Shall I rend my raiment?\" \"Rend!\" replied he. \"Shall I beat\nmy face?\" asked she; and he answered, \"Beat!\" So she took the letter\nfrom his hand and returned home fell a-weeping, she and her children.\nPresently, one of her neighbours heard her sobbing and asking what\naileth her, was answered, \"Of a truth she hath gotten a letter, telling\nher that her husband is dead.\" Quoth the man, \"This is a falsehood; for\nI had a letter from him but yesterday, advising me that he is whole and\nin good health and will be with her after ten days.\" So he rose\nforthright and going in to her, said, \"Where is the letter which came\nto thee?\" She brought it to him, and he took it and read it; and lo! it\nran as follows, \"After the usual salutations, I am well and in good\nhealth and whole and will be with you all after ten days. Meanwhile, I\nsend you a quilt and an extinguisher.\"[FN#173] So she took the letter\nand, returning to the schoolmaster, said to him, \"What induced thee to\ndeal thus with me?\" And she repeated to him what her neighbour had told\nher of her husband's well- being and of his having sent her a quilt and\nan extinguisher. Answered he, \"Thou art in the right, O good woman; for\nI was, at the time\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the pedagogue\nreplied, \"Verily I was at that time fashed and absent- minded and,\nseeing the extinguisher wrapped up in the quilt, I thought that he was\ndead and they had shrouded him.\" The woman, not smoking the cheat,\nsaid, \"Thou art excused,\" and taking the letter, went her ways.[FN#174]\nAnd they relate a story of\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING AND THE VIRTUOUS WIFE.\n\nA certain King once went forth in disguise, to look into the affairs of\nhis lieges. Presently, he came to a great village which he entered\nunattended and being athirst, stopped at the door of a house and asked\nfor water. There came out to him a fair woman with a gugglet, which she\ngave him, and he drank. When he looked at her, he was ravished with her\nand besought her favours. Now she knew him; so she led him into the\nhouse and, making him sit down, brought out a book and said to him,\n\"Look therein whilst I order my affair and return to thee.\" So he\nlooked into the book, and behold, it treated of the Divine prohibition\nagainst advoutry and of the punishments which Allah hath prepared for\nthose who commit adulterous sin. When he read this, his flesh quaked\nand his hair bristled and he repented to Almighty Allah: then he called\nthe woman and, giving her the book, went away. Now her husband was\nabsent and when he returned, she told him what had passed, whereat he\nwas confounded and said in himself, \"I fear lest the King's desire have\nfallen upon her.\" And he dared not have to do with her and know her\ncarnally after this. When some time had past, the wife told her\nkinsfolk of her husband's conduct, and they complained of him to the\nKing, saying, \"Allah advance the King! This man hired of us a piece of\nland for tillage, and tilled it awhile; then left it fallow and neither\ntilled it nor forsook it, that we might let it to one who would till\nit. Indeed, harm is come to the field, and we fear its corruption, for\nsuch land as that if it be not sown, spoileth.\" Quoth the King to the\nman, \"What hindereth thee from sowing thy land?\" Answered he, \"Allah\nadvance the King! It reached me that the lion entered the field\nwherefore I stood in awe of him and dared not draw near it, since\nknowing that I cannot cope with the lion, I stand in fear of him.\" The\nKing understood the parable and rejoined, saying, \"O man, the lion trod\nand trampled not thy land, and it is good for seed so do thou till it\nand Allah prosper thee in it, for the lion hath done it no hurt.\" Then\nhe bade give the man and his wife a handsome present and sent them\naway.[FN#175] And amongst the stories is that of\n\n\n\n\nABD AL-RAHMAN THE MAGHRIBI'S STORY OF THE RUKH.[FN#176]\n\nThere was once a man of the people of West Africa who had journeyed far\nand wide and traversed many a desert and a tide. He was once cast upon\nan island, where he abode a long while and, returning thence to his\nnative country, brought with him the quill of a wing feather of a young\nRukh, whilst yet in egg and unhatched; and this quill was big enough to\nhold a goat skin of water, for it is said that the length of the Rukh\nchick's wing, when he cometh forth of the egg, is a thousand fathoms.\nThe folk marvelled at this quill, when they saw it, and the man who was\ncalled Abd al-Rahman the Moor (and he was known, to boot, as the\nChinaman, for his long sojourn in Cathay), related to them the\nfollowing adventure, one of many of his traveller's tales of marvel. He\nwas on a voyage in the China seas\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abd al- Rahman,\nthe Moorman, the Chinaman, was wont to tell wondrous tales amongst\nwhich was the following. He was on a voyage in the China seas with a\ncompany of merchants, when they sighted an island from afar; so they\nsteered for it and, making fast thereto, saw that it was large and\nspacious. The ship's crew went ashore to get wood and water, taking\nwith them hatchets and ropes and water skies (the travellers\naccompanying them), and presently espied a great dome, white and\ngleaming, an hundred cubits long. So they made towards it and drawing\nnear, found that it was an egg of the Rukh and fell on it with axes and\nstones and sticks till they uncovered the young bird and found the\nchick as it were a firm set hill. So they plucked out one of the wing\nfeathers, but could not do so, save by helping one another, for all the\nquills were not full grown, after which they took what they could carry\nof the young bird's flesh and cutting the quill away from the vane,\nreturned to the ship. Then they set sail and putting out to sea,\nvoyaged with a fair wind all that night, till the sun rose; and while\neverything went well, they saw the Rukh come flying after them, as he\nwere a vast cloud, with a rock in his talons, like a great heap bigger\nthan the ship. As soon as he poised himself in air over the vessel, he\nlet fall the rock upon it; but the craft, having great way on her,\noutwent the rock, which fell into the sea with a loud crash and a\nhorrible. So Allah decreed their deliverance and saved them from doom;\nand they cooked the young bird's flesh and ate it. Now there were\namongst them old white bearded men; and when they awoke on the morrow,\nthey found that their beards had turned black, nor did any who had\neaten of the young Rukh grow gray ever after. Some said the cause of\nthe return of youth to them and the ceasing of hoariness from them was\nthat they had heated the pot with arrow wood, whilst others would have\nit that it came of eating the Rukh chick's flesh; and this is indeed a\nwonder of wonders.[FN#177] And a story is related of\n\n\n\n\nADI BIN ZAYD AND THE PRINCESS HIND.\n\nAl-Nu'uman Bin Al-Munzir, King of the Arabs of Irak, had a daughter\nnamed Hind, who went out one Pasch, which is a feast day of the\nNazarenes, to the White Church, to take the sacrament; she was eleven\nyears old and was the loveliest woman of her age and time; and it so\nchanced that on the same day came to Hirah[FN#178] a young man called\n'Ad\u03bd bin Zayd[FN#179] with presents from the Chosro\u03bb to Al-Nu'uman, and\nhe also went to the White Church, to communicate. He was tall of\nstature and fair of favour, with handsome eyes and smooth cheeks, and\nhad with him a company of his people. Now there was with Hind bint\nal-Nu'uman a slave girl named M\u03b1riyah, who was enamoured of Adi, but\nhad not been able to foregather with him. So, when she saw him in the\nchurch, she said to Hind, \"Look at yonder youth. By Allah, he is\nhandsomer than all thou seest!\" Hind asked, \"And who is he?\" and\nMariyah answered, \"Adi bin Zayd.\" Quoth Al-Nu'uman's daughter, \"I fear\nlest he know me, if I draw nearer to look on him.\" Quoth Mariyah, \"How\nshould he know thee when he hath never seen thee?\" So she drew near him\nand found him jesting with the youths his companions; and indeed he\nsurpassed them all, not only in his personal charms but in the\nexcellence of his speech, the eloquence of his tongue and the richness\nof his raiment. When the Princess saw him, she was ravished with him,\nher reason was confounded and her colour changed; and Mariyah, seeing\nher inclination to him, said to her, \"Speak him.\" So she spoke to him\nand went away. Now when he looked upon her and heard her speech, he was\ncaptivated by her and his wit was dazed; his heart fluttered, and his\ncolour changed so that his companions suspected him, and he whispered\none of them to follow her and find out who she was. The young man went\nafter her and returning informed him that she was princess Hind,\ndaughter of Al-Nu'uman. So Adi left the church, knowing not whither he\nwent, for excess of love, and reciting these two couplets,\n\n     \"O friends of me, one favour more I pray: *\n\n\n          Unto the convents[FN#180] find more your way:\n\n\n      Turn me that so I face the land of Hind; *\n\n\n          Then go, and fairest greetings for me say.\"\n\n\n\nThen he went to his lodging and lay that night, restless and without\nappetite for the food of sleep.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Adi ended\nhis verses he went to his lodging and lay that night restless and\nwithout appetite for the food of sleep. Now on the morrow Mariyah\naccosted him and he received her kindly, though before he would not\nincline to her, and said to her, \"What is thy will?\" Quoth she, \"I have\na want of thee;\" and quoth he, \"Name it, for by Allah, thou shalt not\nask me aught, but I will give it thee!\" So she told him that she loved\nhim, and her want of him was that he would grant her a lover's privacy;\nand he agreed to do her will, on condition that she would serve him\nwith Hind and devise some device to bring them together. Then he took\nher into a vintner's tavern in one of the by streets of Hirah, and lay\nwith her; after which she returned to Hind and asked her, \"Dost thou\nnot long to see Adi?\" She answered, \"How can this be? Indeed my longing\nfor him makes me restless, and no repose is left me since yesterday.\"\nQuoth Mariyah, \"I will appoint him to be in such a place, where thou\ncanst look on him from the palace.\" Quoth Hind, \"Do what thou wilt,\"\nand agreed with her upon the place. So Adi came, and the Princess\nlooked out upon him; and, when she saw him, she was like to topple down\nfrom the palace top and said, \"O Mariyah, except thou bring him in to\nme this night, I shall die.\" So saying, she fell to the ground in a\nfainting fit, and her serving women lifted her up and bore her into the\npalace; whilst Mariyah hastened to Al-Nu'uman and discovered the whole\nmatter to him with perfect truth, telling him that indeed she was mad\nfor the love of Adi; and except he marry her to him she must be put to\nshame and die of love for him, which would disgrace her father among\nthe Arabs, adding at the end, \"There is no cure for this but wedlock.\"\nThe King bowed his head awhile in thought and exclaimed again and\nagain, \"Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are returning!\" Then\nsaid he \"Woe to thee! How shall the marriage be brought about, seeing I\nmislike to open the matter?\" And she said, \"He is yet more ardently in\nlove and yet more desireful of her than she is of him; and I will so\norder the affair that he shall be unaware of his case being known to\nthee; but do not betray thyself, O King.\" Then she went to Adi and,\nafter acquainting him with everything said, \"Make a feast and bid the\nKing thereto; and, when the wine hath gotten the better of him, ask of\nhim his daughter, for he will not refuse thee.\" Quoth Adi, \"I fear lest\nthis enrage him against me and be the cause of enmity between us.\" But\nquoth she, \"I came not to thee, till I had settled the whole affair\nwith him.\" Then she returned to Al- Nu'uman and said to him, \"Seek of\nAdi that he entertain thee in his house.\" Replied the King, \"There is\nno harm in that;\" and after three days, besought Adi to give him and\nhis lords the morning meal in his house. He consented and the King went\nto him; and when the wine had taken effect on Al-Nu'uman, Adi rose and\nsought of him his daughter in wedlock. He consented and married them\nand brought her to him after three days; and they abode at Al-Nu'uman's\ncourt, in all solace of life and its delight\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Adi abode with\nHind bint Al-Nu'uman bin Munzir three years in all solace of life and\nits delight, after which time the King was wroth with Adi and slew him.\nHind mourned for him with grievous mourning and built her an hermitage\noutside the city, whither she retired and became a religious, weeping\nand bewailing her husband till she died. And her hermitage is seen to\nthis day in the suburbs of Hirah. They also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nDI'IBIL AL-KHUZA'I WITH THE LADY AND MUSLIM BIN AL-WALID.\n\nQuoth Di'ibil al Khuz\u03b1'i[FN#181], \"I was sitting one day at the gate of\nAl Karkh,[FN#182] when a damsel came past. Never saw I a fairer faced\nor better formed than she, walking with a voluptuous swaying gait and\nravishing all beholders with her lithe and undulating pace. Now as my\neyes fell on her, I was captivated by her and my vitals trembled and\nmeseemed my heart flew forth of my breast; so I stood before her and I\naccosted her with this verse,\n\n     'The tears of these eyes find easy release; *\n\n\n          But sleep flies these eyelids without surcease.'\n\n\n\nWhereon she turned her face and looking at me, straightway made answer\nwith this distich,\n\n     'A trifle this an his eyes be sore, *\n\n\n          When her eyes say 'yes' to his love's caprice!'\n\n\n\nI was astounded at the readiness of her reply and the fluency of her\nspeech and rejoined with this verse,\n\n     'Say, cloth heart of my fair incline to him *\n\n\n          Whose tears like a swelling stream increase?'\n\n\n\nAnd she answered me without hesitation, thus,\n\n     'If thou crave our love, know that love's a loan; *\n\n\n          And a debt to be paid by us twain a piece.'\n\n\n\nNever entered my ears aught sweeter than her speech nor ever saw I\nbrighter than her face: so I changed rhyme and rhythm to try her, in my\nwonder at her words, and repeated this couplet,\n\n     'Will Fate with joy of union ever bless our sight, *\n\n\n          And one desireful one with other one unite.'\n\n\n\nShe smiled at this (never saw I fairer than her mouth nor sweeter than\nher lips), and answered me, without stay or delay, in the following\ndistich,\n\n     \"Pray, tell me what hath Fate to do betwixt us twain? *\n\n\n          Thou'rt Elate: so bless our eyne with union and\n\n\n          delight.'\n\n\n\nAt this, I sprang up and fell to kissing her hands and cried, 'I had\nnot thought that Fortune would vouchsafe me such occasion. Do thou\nfollow me, not of bidding or against thy will, but of the grace of thee\nand thy favour to me.' Then I went on and she after me. Now at that\ntime I had no lodging I deemed fit for the like of her; but Muslim bin\nal-Wal\u03bdd[FN#183] was my fast friend, and he had a handsome house. So I\nmade for his abode and knocked at the door, whereupon he came out, and\nI saluted him, saying, 'Tis for time like this that friends are\ntreasured up'; and he replied, 'With love and gladness! Come in you\ntwain.' So we entered but found money scarce with him: however, he gave\nme a kerchief, saying, 'Carry it to the bazar and sell it and buy food\nand what else thou needest.' I took the handkerchief, and hastening to\nthe market, sold it and bought what we required of victuals and other\nmatters; but when I returned, I found that Muslim had retired, with her\nto an underground chamber.[FN#184] When he heard my step he hurried out\nand said to me, 'Allah requite thee the kindness thou hast done me, O\nAbu Ali and reward thee in time to come and reckon it of thy good deeds\non the Day of Doom!' So saying, he took from me the food and wine and\nshut the door in my face. His words enraged me and I knew not what to\ndo, but he stood behind the door, shaking for mirth; and, when he saw\nme thus, he said to me, 'I conjure thee on my life, O Abu Ali, tell who\nit was composed this couplet?,\n\n     'I lay in her arms all night, leaving him *\n\n\n          To sleep foul-hearted but clean of staff.'\n\n\n\nAt this my rage redoubled, and I replied, 'He who wrote this other\ncouplet',\n\n     'One, I wish him in belt a thousand horns, *\n\n\n          Exceeding in mighty height Manaf.'[FN#185]\n\n\n\nThen I began to abuse him and reproach him with the foulness of his\naction and his lack of honour; and he was silent, never uttering a\nword. But, when I had finished, he smiled and said, 'Out on thee, O\nfool! Thou hast entered my house and sold my kerchief and spent my\nsilver: so, with whom art thou wroth, O pimp?'[FN#186] Then he left me\nand went away to her, whilst I said, 'By Allah, thou art right to twit\nme as nincompoop and pander!' Then I left his door and went away in\nsore concern, and I feel its trace in my heart to this very day; for I\nnever had my will of her nor, indeed, ever heard of her more.\" And\namongst other tales is that about\n\n\n\n\nISAAC OF MOSUL AND THE MERCHANT.\n\nQuoth Ishak bin Ibrahim al Mausili, \"It so chanced that, one day\nfeeling weary of being on duty at the Palace and in attendance upon the\nCaliph, I mounted horse and went forth, at break of dawn, having a mind\nto ride out in the open country and take my pleasure. So I said to my\nservants, 'If there come a messenger from the Caliph or another, say\nthat I set out at day break, upon a pressing business, and that ye know\nnot whither I am gone.' Then I fared forth alone and went round about\nthe city, till the sun waxed hot, when I halted in a great thoroughfare\nknown as Al Haram,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ishak bin Ibrahim\nthe Mausili continued: \"When the sun waxed hot I halted in a great\nthoroughfare known as Al-Haram, to take shelter in the shade and found\nit in a spacious wing of a house which projected over the street. And I\nstood there but a little while before there came up a black slave,\nleading an ass bestridden by a damsel; and under her were housings set\nwith gems and pearls and upon her were the richest of clothes, richness\ncan go no farther; and I saw that she was elegant of make with\nlanguorous look and graceful mien. I asked one of the passers by who\nshe was, and he said, 'She is a singer,' so I fell in love with her at\nfirst sight: hardly could I keep my seat on horseback. She entered the\nhouse at whose gate I stood; and, as I was planning a device to gain\naccess to her, there came up two men young and comely who asked\nadmission and the housemaster gave them leave to enter. So they\nalighted and I also and they entered and I with them, they supposing\nthat the master of the house had invited me; and we sat awhile, till\nfood was brought and we ate. Then they set wine before us, and the\ndamsel came out, with a lute in her hand. She sang and we drank, till I\nrose to obey a call of nature. Thereupon the host questioned the two\nothers of me, and they replied that they knew me not; whereupon quoth\nhe, 'This is a parasite[FN#187]; but he is a pleasant fellow, so treat\nhim courteously.' Then I came back and sat down in my place, whilst the\ndamsel sang to a pleasing air these two couplets,\n\n     'Say to the she gazelle, who's no gazelle, *\n\n\n          And Kohl'd ariel who's no ariel.[FN#188]\n\n\n     Who lies with male, and yet no female is, *\n\n\n          Whose gait is female most unlike the male.'\n\n\n\nShe sang it right well, and the company drank and her song pleased\nthem. Then she carolled various pieces to rare measures, and amongst\nthe rest one of mine, which consisted of this distich,\n\n     'Bare hills and campground desolate *\n\n\n          And friends who all have ganged their gait.\n\n\n     How severance after union leaves *\n\n\n          Me and their homes in saddest state!'\n\n\n\nHer singing this time was even better than the first; then she chanted\nother rare pieces, old and new, and amongst them, another of mine with\nthe following two couplets,\n\n     'Say to angry lover who turns away, *\n\n\n          And shows thee his side whatso thou\n\n\n     'Thou wroughtest all that by thee was wrought, *\n\n\n          Albe 'twas haply thy sport and play.'\n\n\n\nI prayed her to repeat the song, that I might correct it for her;\nwhereupon one of the two men accosted me and said, 'Never saw we a more\nimpudent lick platter than thou. Art thou not content with sponging,\nbut thou must eke meddle and muddle? Of very sooth, in thee is the\nsaying made true, Parasite and pushing wight.' So I hung down my head\nfor shame and made him no answer, whilst his companion would have\nwithheld him from me, but he would not be restrained. Presently, they\nrose to pray, but I lagged behind a little and, taking the lute,\nscrewed up the sides and brought it into perfect tune. Then I stood up\nin my place to pray with the rest; and when we had ended praying, the\nsame man fell again to blaming me and reviling me and persisted in his\nrudeness, whilst I held my peace. Thereupon the damsel took the lute\nand touching it, knew that it had been altered, and said, 'Who hath\ntouched my lute?' Quoth they, 'None of us hath touched it.' Quoth she,\n'Nay, by Allah, some one hath touched it, and he is an artist, a past\nmaster in the craft; for he hath arranged the strings and tuned them\nlike one who is a perfect performer.' Said I, 'It was I tuned it;' and\nsaid she, 'Then, Allah upon thee, take it and play on it!' So I took\nit; and, playing a piece so difficult and so rare, that it went nigh to\ndeaden the quick and quicken the dead, I sang thereto these couplets,\n\n     'I had a heart, and with it lived my life: *\n\n\n          'Twas seared with fire and burnt with loving-lowe:\n\n\n     I never won the blessing of her love; *\n\n\n          God would not on His slave such boon bestow:\n\n\n     If what I've tasted be the food of Love, *\n\n\n          Must taste it all men who love food would know.'\"\n\n\n\n\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ishak of Mosul\nthus continued: \"Now when I had finished my verse, there was not one of\nthe company but sprang from his place and sat down like schoolboys\nbefore me, saying, 'Allah upon thee, O our lord, sing us another song.'\n'With pleasure,' said I, and playing another measure in masterly\nfashion, sang thereto these couplets,\n\n'Ho thou whose heart is melted down by force of Amor's fire, *\n\n\n     And griefs from every side against thy happiness conspire:\n\n\nUnlawful is that he who pierced my vitals with his shaft, * My\n\n\n     blood between my midriff and my breast bone[FN#189] he\n\n\n     desire,\n\n\n'Twas plain, upon our severance day, that he had set his mind *\n\n\n     On an eternal parting, moved by tongue of envious liar:\n\n\nHe sheds my blood he ne'er had shed except by wound of love, *\n\n\n     Will none demand my blood of him, my wreck of him require?'\n\n\n\nWhen I had made an end of this song, there was not one of them but rose\nto his feet and threw himself upon the ground for excess of delight.\nThen I cast the lute from my hand, but they said, 'Allah upon thee, do\nnot on this wise, but let us hear another song, so Allah Almighty\nincrease thee of His bounty!' Replied I, 'O folk, I will sing you\nanother song and another and another and will tell you who I am. I am\nIshak bin Ibrahim al Mausili, and by Allah, I bear myself proudly to\nthe Caliph when he seeketh me. Ye have today made me hear abuse from an\nunmannerly carle such as I loathe; and by Allah, I will not speak a\nword nor sit with you, till ye put yonder quarrelsome churl out from\namong you!' Quoth the fellow's companion to him, 'This is what I warned\nthee against, fearing for thy good name.' So they hent him by the hand\nand thrust him out; and I took the lute and sang over again the songs\nof my own composing which the damsel had sung. Then I whispered the\nhost that she had taken my heart and that I had no patience to abstain\nfrom her. Quoth he 'She is thine on one condition.' I asked, 'What is\nthat?' and he answered, 'It is that thou abide with me a month, when\nthe damsel and all belonging to her of raiment and jewellery shall be\nthine.' I rejoined, 'It is well, I will do this.' So I tarried with him\na whole month, whilst none knew where I was and the Caliph sought me\neverywhere, but could come by no news of me; and at the end of this\ntime, the merchant delivered to me the damsel, together with all that\npertained to her of things of price and an eunuch to attend upon her.\nSo I brought all that to my lodging, feeling as I were lord of the\nwhole world, for exceeding delight in her; then I rode forthright to\nAl-Maamun. And when I stood in the presence, he said, 'Woe to thee, O\nIshak, where hast thou been?' So I acquainted him with the story and he\nsaid, 'Bring me that man at once.' Thereupon I told him where he lived\nand he sent and fetched him and questioned him of the case; when he\nrepeated the story and the Caliph said to him, 'Thou art a man of right\ngenerous mind, and it is only fitting that thou be aided in thy\ngenerosity.' Then he ordered him an hundred thousand dirhams and said\nto me, 'O Ishak, bring the damsel before me.' So I brought her to him,\nand she sang and delighted him; and being greatly gladdened by her he\nsaid to me, 'I appoint her turn of service every Thursday, when she\nmust come and sing to me from behind the curtain.' And he ordered her\nfifty thousand dirhams, so by Allah, I profited both myself and others\nby my ride.\" And amongst the tales they tell is one of\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE UNFORTUNATE LOVERS.\n\nQuoth Al-'Utb\u03bd[FN#190], \"I was sitting one day with a company of\neducated men, telling stories of the folk, when the talk turned upon\nlegends of lovers and each of us said his say thereanent. Now there was\nin our company an old man, who remained silent, till all had spoken and\nhad no more to say, when quoth he, 'Shall I tell you a thing, the like\nof which you never heard; no, never?' 'Yes,' quoth we; and he said,\n'Know, then, that I had a daughter, who loved a youth, but we knew it\nnot; while the youth loved a singing girl, who in her turn loved my\ndaughter. One day, I was present at an assembly, wherein were also the\nyouth'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Tenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh\ncontinued: 'One day, I was present at an assembly wherein were also the\nyouth and the singing girl and she chanted to us these couplets,\n\n     'Prove how Love bringeth low * Lover those tears that run\n\n\n     Lowering him still the more * When pity finds he none.'\n\n\n\nCried the youth, 'By Allah, thou hast said well, O my mistress.' Dost\nthou incite me to die?' Answered the girl from behind the curtain,\n'Yes, if thou be a true lover.' So he laid his head on a cushion and\nclosed his eyes; and when the cup came round to him, we shook him and\nbehold, he was dead.[FN#191] Therewith we all flocked to him, and our\npleasure was troubled and we grieved and broke up at once. When I came\nhome, my people took in bad part my returning before the appointed\ntime, and I told them what had befallen the youth, thinking that\nthereby I should greatly surprise them. My daughter heard my words and\nrising, went from the sitting chamber into another, whither I followed\nher and found her lying with her head on a cushion, even as I had told\nof the young man. So I shook her and lo! she was dead. Then we laid her\nout and set forth next morning to bury her, whilst the friends of the\nyoung man set forth in like guise to bury him. As we were on the way to\nthe burial place, we met a third funeral and asking whose it was, were\ntold that it was that of the singing girl who, hearing of my daughter's\ndeath, had done even as she did and was dead. So we buried them all\nthree on one day, and this is the rarest tale that ever was heard of\nlovers.\" And they also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nHOW ABU HASAN BRAKE WIND.\n\nThey recount that in the City Kaukab\u03b1n of Al-Yaman there was a man of\nthe Fazl\u03bd tribe who had left Badawi life, and become a townsman for\nmany years and was a merchant of the most opulent merchants. His wife\nhad deceased when both were young; and his friends were instant with\nhim to marry again, ever quoting to him the words of the poet,\n\n     \"Go, gossip! re-wed thee, for Prime draweth near:\n\n\n      A wife is an almanac\u2014good for the year.\"\n\n\n\nSo being weary of contention, Abu Hasan entered into negotiations with\nthe old women who procure matches, and married a maid like Canopus when\nhe hangeth over the seas of Al-Hind. He made high festival therefor,\nbidding to the wedding banquet kith and kin, Olema and Fakirs; friends\nand foes and all his acquaintances of that countryside. The whole house\nwas thrown open to feasting: there were rices of five several colours,\nand sherbets of as many more; and kids stuffed with walnuts and almonds\nand pistachios and a camel colt[FN#192] roasted whole. So they ate and\ndrank and made mirth and merriment; and the bride was displayed in her\nseven dresses and one more, to the women, who could not take their eyes\noff her. At last, the bridegroom was summoned to the chamber where she\nsat enthroned; and he rose slowly and with dignity from his divan; but\nin so doing, for that he was over full of meat and drink, lo and\nbehold! he let fly a fart, great and terrible. Thereupon each guest\nturned to his neighbour and talked aloud and made as though he had\nheard nothing, fearing for his life. But a consuming fire was lit in\nAbu Hasan's heart; so he pretended a call of nature; and, in lieu of\nseeking the bride chamber, he went down to the house court and saddled\nhis mare and rode off, weeping bitterly, through the shadow of the\nnight. In time he reached L\u03b1hej where he found a ship ready to sail for\nIndia; so he shipped on board and made Calicut of Malabar. Here he met\nwith many Arabs, especially Hazram\u03bds[FN#193], who recommended him to\nthe King; and this King (who was a Kafir) trusted him and advanced him\nto the captainship of his body guard. He remained ten years in all\nsolace and delight of life; at the end of which time he was seized with\nhome sickness; and the longing to behold his native land was that of a\nlover pining for his beloved; and he came near to die of yearning\ndesire. But his appointed day had not dawned; so, after taking the\nfirst bath of health, he left the King without leave, and in due course\nlanded at Makall\u03b1 of Hazramaut. Here he donned the rags of a religious;\nand, keeping his name and case secret, fared for Kaukaban afoot;\nenduring a thousand hardships of hunger, thirst and fatigue; and\nbraving a thousand dangers from the lion, the snake and the Ghul. But\nwhen he drew near his old home, he looked down upon it from the hills\nwith brimming eyes, and said in himself, \"Haply they might know thee;\nso I will wander about the outskirts, and hearken to the folk. Allah\ngrant that my case be not remembered by them!\" He listened carefully\nfor seven nights and seven days, till it so chanced that, as he was\nsitting at the door of a hut, he heard the voice of a young girl\nsaying, \"O my mother, tell me the day when I was born; for such an one\nof my companions is about to take an omen[FN#194] for me.\" And the\nmother answered, \"Thou was born, O my daughter, on the very night when\nAbu Hasan farted.\" Now the listener no sooner heard these words than he\nrose up from the bench, and fled away saying to himself, \"Verily thy\nfart hath become a date, which shall last for ever and ever; even as\nthe poet said,\n\n     'As long as palms shall shift the flower; *\n\n\n          As long as palms shall sift the flour.'[FN#195]\n\n\n\nAnd he ceased not travelling and voyaging and returned to India; and\nthere abode in self exile till he died; and the mercy of Allah be upon\nhim![FN#196] And they tell another story of\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOVERS OF THE BANU TAYY.\n\nK\u03b1sim, son of Adi, was wont to relate that a man of the Ban\u03ca Tam\u03bdm\nspake as follows: \"I went out one day in search of an estray and,\ncoming to the waters of the Banu Tayy, saw two companies of people near\none another, and behold, those of one company were disputing among\nthemselves even as the other. So I watched them and observed, in one of\nthe companies, a youth wasted with sickness, as he were a worn-out\ndried-up waterskin. And as I looked on him, lo! he repeated these\ncouplets,\n\n     'What ails the Beauty she returneth not? *\n\n\n          Is't Beauty's irk or grudging to my lot?\n\n\n     I sickened and my friends all came to call; *\n\n\n          What stayed thee calling with the friendly knot?\n\n\n     Hadst thou been sick, I had come running fast *\n\n\n          To thee, nor threats had kept me from the spot:\n\n\n     Mid them I miss thee, and I lie alone; *\n\n\n          Sweetheart, to lose thy love sad loss I wot!'\n\n\n\nHis words were heard by a damsel in the other company who hastened\ntowards him, and when her people followed her, she fought them off.\nThen the youth caught sight of her and sprang up and ran towards her,\nwhilst the people of his party ran after him and laid hold of him.\nHowever he haled and freed himself from them, and she in like manner\nloosed herself; and, when they were free, each ran to other and meeting\nbetween the two parties, embraced and fell dead upon the ground.\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred ante Eleventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the young man\nand the maid met between the two parties and embraced and both fell\ndead upon the ground; whereat came there out an old man from one of the\ntents and stood over them exclaiming, 'Verily, we are Allah's and unto\nHim we are returning!' Then weeping sore he said, 'Allah have ruth on\nyou both! by the Almighty, though you were not united in your lives, I\nwill at least unite you after your deaths.' And he bade lay them out:\nso they washed them and shrouded them in one shroud and dug for them\none grave and prayed one prayer over them both and buried them in one\ntomb; nor was there man or woman in the two parties but I saw weeping\nover them and buffeting their faces. Then I questioned the Shaykh of\nthem, and he said, 'She was my daughter and he my brother's son; and\nlove brought them to the pass thou seest.' I exclaimed, 'Allah amend\nthee! but why didst thou not marry them to each other?' Quoth he, 'I\nfeared shame[FN#197] and dishonour; and now I am fallen into both.' \"\nAnd they tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAD LOVER.\n\nQuoth Abu 'l-Abb\u03b1s al-Mubarrad,[FN#198] \"I set out one day with a\ncompany to Al-B\u03b1rid on an occasion and, coming to the monastery of\nHirakl,[FN#199] we alighted in its shade. Presently a man came out to\nus and said, 'There are madmen in the monastery,[FN#200] and amongst\nthem one who speaketh wisdom; if ye saw him, ye would marvel at his\nspeech.' So we arose all and went into the monastery' where we saw a\nman seated on a skin mat in one of the cells, with bare head and eyes\nintently fixed upon the wall. We saluted him, and he returned our\nsalaam, without looking at us, and one said to us, 'Repeat some verses\nto him; for, when he heareth verse, he speaketh.' So I repeated these\ntwo couplets,\n\n     'O best of race to whom gave Hawwa[FN#201] boon of birth, *\n\n\n          Except for thee the world were neither sweet nor fair!\n\n\n     Thou'rt he, whose face, by Allah shown to man, *\n\n\n          Doth ward off death, decay and hoary hair.'\n\n\n\nWhen he heard from me this praise of the Apostle he turned towards us\nand repeated these lines,\n\n     'Well Allah wotteth I am sorely plagued: *\n\n\n          Nor can I show my pain to human sight.\n\n\n     Two souls have I, one soul is here contained, *\n\n\n          While other woneth in another site.\n\n\n     Meseems the absent soul's like present soul, *\n\n\n          And that she suffers what to me is dight.'\n\n\n\nThen he asked us. 'Have I said well or said ill? And we answered, 'Thou\nhast said the clean contrary of ill, well and right well.' Then he put\nout his hand to a stone, that was by him and took it up; whereupon\nthinking he would throw it at us we fled from him; but he fell to\nbeating upon his breast therewith violent blows and said to us, 'Fear\nnot, but draw near and hear somewhat from me and receive it from me.'\nSo we came back, and he repeated these couplets,\n\n'When they made their camels yellow white kneel down at dawning\n\n\n     grey * They mounted her on crupper and the camel went his\n\n\n     way,\n\n\nMine eye balls through the prison wall beheld them, and I cried *\n\n\n     With streaming eyelids and a heart that burnt in dire dismay\n\n\nO camel driver turn thy beast that I farewell my love! * In\n\n\n     parting and farewelling her I see my doomed day\n\n\nI'm faithful to my vows of love which I have never broke, * Would\n\n\n     Heaven I kenned what they have done with vows that vowed\n\n\n     they!'\n\n\n\nThen he looked at me and said, 'Say me, dost thou know what they\ndid?'[FN#202] Answered I, 'Yes, they are dead; Almighty Allah have\nmercy on them!' At this his face changed and he sprang to his feet and\ncried out, 'How knowest thou they be dead?;' and I replied, 'Were they\nalive they had not left thee thus.' Quoth he, 'By Allah, thou art\nright, and I care not to live after them.' Then his side muscles\nquivered and he fell on his face; and we ran up to him and shook him\nand found him dead, the mercy of the Almighty be on him! At this we\nmarvelled and mourned for him and, sore mourning, laid him out and\nburied him\".\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twelfth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that al-Mubarrad thus\ncontinued: \"When the man fell we mourned over him with sore mourning\nand laid him out and buried him. And when I returned to Baghdad and\nwent in to the Caliph al-Mutawakkil, he saw the trace of tears on my\nface and said to me, 'What is this?' So I told him what had passed and\nit was grievous to him and he cried, 'What moved thee to deal thus with\nhim?[FN#203] By Allah, if I thought thou didst not repent it and regret\nhim I would punish thee therefor!' And he mourned for him the rest of\nthe day.\" And amongst the tales they tell is one of\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRIOR WHO BECAME A MOSLEM.\n\nQuoth Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Al-Anb\u03b1ri[FN#204]: \"I once left Anb\u03b1r on a\njourney to 'Am\u03car\u03bdyah,[FN#205] where there came out to me the prior of\nthe monastery and superior of the monkery, Abd al-Mas\u03bdh hight, and\nbrought me into the building. There I found forty religious, who\nentertained me that night with fair guest rite, and I left them after\nseeing among them such diligence in adoration and devotion as I never\nbeheld the like of in any others. Next day I farewelled them and fared\nforth and, after doing my business at 'Amuriyah, I returned to my home\nat Anbar. And next year I made pilgrimage to Meccah and as I was\ncircumambulating the Holy House I saw Abd al-Masih the monk also\ncompassing the Ka'abah, and with him five of his fellows, the\nshavelings. Now when I was sure that it was indeed he, I accosted him,\nsaying, 'Art thou not Abd al-Masih, the Religious?' and he replied,\n'Nay, I am Abdallah, the Desirous.'[FN#206] Therewith I fell to kissing\nhis grey hairs and shedding tears; then, taking him by the hand, I led\nhim aside into a corner of the Temple and said to him, 'Tell me the\ncause of thy conversion to al-Islam;' and he made reply, 'Verily, 'twas\na wonder of wonders, and befell thus. A company of Moslem devotees came\nto the village wherein is our convent, and sent a youth to buy them\nfood. He saw, in the market, a Christian damsel selling bread, who was\nof the fairest of women; and he was struck at first sight with such\nlove of her, that his senses failed him and he fell on his face in a\nfainting fit. When he revived, he returned to his companions and told\nthem what had befallen him, saying, 'Go ye about your business; I may\nnot go with you.' They chided him and exhorted him, but he paid no heed\nto them; so they left him whilst he entered the village and seated\nhimself at the door of the woman's booth.[FN#207] She asked him what he\nwanted, and he told her that he was in love with her whereupon she\nturned from him; but he abode in his place three days without tasting\nfood, keeping his eyes fixed on her face. Now whenas she saw that he\ndeparted not from her, she went to her people and acquainted them with\nhis case, and they set on him the village boys, who stoned him and\nbruised his ribs and broke his head; but, for all this, he would not\nbudge. Then the villagers took counsel together to slay him; but a man\nof them came to me and told me of his case, and I went out to him and\nfound him lying prostrate on the ground. So I wiped the blood from his\nface and carried him to the convent, and dressed his wounds; and there\nhe abode with me fourteen days. But as soon as he could walk, he left\nthe monastery\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdallah the\nReligious continued: \"So I carried him to the convent and dressed his\nwounds, and he abode with me fourteen days. But as soon as he could\nwalk, he left the monastery and returned to the door of the woman 's\nbooth, where he sat gazing on her as before. When she saw him she came\nout to him and said, 'By Allah thou movest me to pity! wilt thou enter\nmy faith that I may marry thee?' He cried, 'Allah forbid that I should\nput off the faith of Unity and enter that of Plurality!'[FN#208] Quoth\nshe, 'Come in with me to my house and take thy will of me and wend thy\nways in peace.' Quoth he, 'Not so, I will not waste the worship of\ntwelve years for the lust of an eye-twinkle.' Said she, 'Then depart\nfrom me forthwith;' and he said, 'My heart will not suffer me to do\nthat;' whereupon she turned her countenance from him. Presently the\nboys found him out and began to pelt him with stones; and he fell on\nhis face, saying, 'Verily, Allah is my protector, who sent down the\nBook of the Koran; and He protecteth the Righteous![FN#209] At this I\nsallied forth and driving away the boys, lifted his head from the\nground and heard him say, 'Allah mine, unite me with her in Paradise!'\nThen I carried him to the monastery, but he died, before I could reach\nit, and I bore him without the village and I dug for him a grave and\nburied him. And next night when half of it was spent, the damsel cried\nwith a great cry (and she in her bed); so the villagers flocked to her\nand questioned her of her case. Quoth she, 'As I slept, behold the\nMoslem man came in to me and taking me by the hand, carried me to the\ngate of Paradise; but the Guardian denied me entrance, saying, 'Tis\nforbidden to unbelievers.' So I embraced Al Islam at his hands and,\nentering with him, beheld therein pavilions and trees, such as I cannot\ndescribe to you. Moreover, he brought me to a pavilion of jewels and\nsaid to me, 'Of a truth this is my pavilion and thine, nor will I enter\nit save with thee; but, after five nights thou shalt be with me\ntherein, if it be the will of Allah Almighty.' Then he put forth his\nhand to a tree which grew at the door of the pavilion and plucked there\nfrom two apples and gave them to me, saying, 'Eat this and keep the\nother, that the monks may see it.' So I ate one of them and never\ntasted I aught sweeter.' \"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fourteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the woman\ncontinued: \"'So he plucked two apples and gave them to me, saying, 'Eat\nthis and keep the other that the monks may see it.' So I ate one of\nthem and never tasted I aught sweeter. Then he took my hand and fared\nforth and carried me back to my house; and, when I awoke, I found the\ntaste of the apple in my mouth and the other in my hand.' So saying she\nbrought out the apple, and in the darkness of the night it shone as it\nwere a sparkling star. So they carried her (and the apple with her) to\nthe monastery, where she repeated her vision and showed it to us; never\nsaw we its like among all the fruits of the world. Then I took a knife\nand cut the apple into pieces according as we were folk in company; and\nnever knew we aught more delicious than its savour nor more delightsome\nthan its scent; but we said, 'Haply this was a devil that appeared unto\nher to seduce her from her faith.' Thereupon her people took her and\nwent away; but she abstained from eating and drinking and on the fifth\nnight she rose from her bed, and going forth the village to the grave\nof her Moslem lover threw herself upon it and died, her family not\nknowing what was come of her. But, on the morrow, there came to the\nvillage two Moslem elders, clad in hair cloth, and with them two women\nin like garb, and said, 'O people of the village, with you is a woman\nSaint, a Waliyah of the friends of Allah, who died a Moslemah; and we\nwill take charge of her in lieu of you.' So the villagers sought her\nand found her dead on the Moslem's grave; and they said, 'This was one\nof us and she died in our faith; so we will take charge of her.'\nRejoined the two old men, 'Nay, she died a Moslemah and we claim her.'\nAnd the dispute waxed to a quarrel between them, till one of the\nShaykhs said, 'Be this the test of her faith: the forty monks of the\nmonastery shall come and try to lift her from the grave. If they\nsucceed, then she died a Nazarene; if not, one of us shall come and\nlift her up and if she be lifted by him, she died a Moslemah.' The\nvillagers agreed to this and fetched the forty monks, who heartened one\nanother, and came to her to lift her, but could not. Then we tied a\ngreat rope round her middle and haled at it; but the rope broke in\nsunder, and she stirred not; and the villagers came and did the like,\nbut could not move her from her place.[FN#210] At last, when all means\nfailed, we said to one of the two Shaykhs, 'Come thou and lift her.' So\nhe went up to the grave and, covering her with his mantle, said, 'In\nthe name of Allah the Compassionating, the Compassionate, and of the\nFaith of the Apostle of Allah, on whom be prayers and peace!' Then he\nlifted her and, taking her in his bosom, betook himself with her to a\ncave hard by, where they laid her, and the two women came and washed\nher and shrouded her. Then the two elders bore her to her Moslem\nlover's grave and prayed over her and buried her by his side and went\ntheir ways. Now we were eye witnesses of all this; and, when we were\nalone with one another, we said, 'In sooth, the truth is most worthy to\nbe followed;'[FN#211] and indeed the verity hath been made manifest to\nus, nor is there a proof more patent of the truth of al-Islam than that\nwe have seen this day with our eyes.' So I and all the monks became\nMoslems and on like wise did the villagers; and we sent to the people\nof Mesopotamia for a doctor of the law, to instruct us in the\nordinances of al-Islam and the canons of the Faith. They sent us a\nlearned man and a pious, who taught us the rites of prayer and the\ntenets of the faith; and we are now in ease abounding; so to Allah be\nthe praise and the thanks!\" And they also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOVES OF ABU ISA AND KURRAT AL-AYN.\n\nQuoth Amr\u03ca bin Masa'dah:[FN#212] \"Ab\u03ca Is\u03b1, son of al-Rash\u03bdd and brother\nto al-Maamun, was enamoured of one Kurrat al-Ayn, a slave girl\nbelonging to Ali bin Hish\u03b1m,[FN#213] and she also loved him; but he\nconcealed his passion, complaining of it to none neither discovering\nhis secret to anyone, of his pride and magnanimity; for he had used his\nutmost endeavour to purchase her of her master, but he had failed. At\nlast when his patience was at an end and his passion was sore on him\nand he was helpless in the matter, he went in to al-Maamun, one day of\nstate after the folk had retired, and said to him, 'O Commander of the\nFaithful, if thou wilt this day make trial of thine Alcaydes by taking\nthem unawares, thou wilt know the generous from the mean and note each\none's place, after the quality of his mind.' But, in saying this he\npurposed only to sit with Kurrat al-Ayn in her lord's house. Quoth\nal-Maamun, 'Right is thy recking,' and bade make ready a barge, called\n'the Flyer,' wherein he embarked with Abu Isa and a party of his chief\nofficers. The first mansion he visited unexpectedly was that of Ham\u03bdd\nal-Tawil of T\u03cas, whom he found seated\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that al-Maamun\nembarked with his chief officers and fared on till they reached the\nmansion of Ham\u03bdd al-Tawil of T\u03cas; and, unexpectedly entering they found\nhim seated on a mat and before him singers and players with lutes and\nflageolets and other instruments of music in their hands. So Al Maamun\nsat with him awhile and presently he set before him dishes of nothing\nbut flesh meat, with no birds among them. The Caliph would not taste\nthereof and Abu Isa said to him, \"O Commander of the Faithful, we have\ntaken the owner of this place unawares, and he knew not of thy coming;\nbut now let us go to another place which is prepared for thee and\nfitted for thee.\" Thereupon the Caliph arose and betook himself with\nhis brother Abu Isa and his suite, to the abode of Ali son of Hisham\nwho, on hearing of their approach, came out and received them with the\ngoodliest of reception, and kissed the earth before the King. Then he\nbrought them into his mansion and opened to them a saloon than which\nseer never saw a goodlier. Its floors, pillars and walls were of many\ncoloured marbles, adorned with Greek paintings: and it was spread with\nmatting of Sind[FN#214] whereon were carpets and tapestry of Bassorah\nmake, fitted to the length and breadth of the room. So the Caliph sat\nawhile, examining the house and its ceilings and walls, then said,\n\"Give us somewhat to eat.\" So they brought him forthwith nearly an\nhundred dishes of poultry besides other birds and brewises, fritters\nand cooling marinades. When he had eaten, he said, \"Give us some thing\nto drink, O Ali;\" and the host set before him, in vessels of gold and\nsilver and crystal, raisin wine boiled down to one third with fruits\nand spices; and the cupbearers were pages like moons, clad in garments\nof Alexandrian stuff interwoven with gold and bearing on their breasts\nbeakers of crystal, full of rose water mingled with musk. So al-Maamun\nmarvelled with exceeding marvel at all he saw and said, \"Ho thou, Abu\nal-Hasan!\" Whereupon Ali sprang to the Caliph's carpet and kissing it,\nsaid, \"At thy service, O Commander of the Faithful!\" and stood before\nhim. Quoth al-Maamun, \"Let us hear some pleasant and merry song.\"\nReplied Ali, \"I hear and obey, O Commander of the Faithful,\" and said\nto one of his eunuchs, \"Fetch the singing women.\" So the slave went out\nand presently returned, followed by ten castratos, bearing ten stools\nof gold, which they set down in due order; and after these came ten\ndamsels, concubines of the master, as they were shining full moons or\ngardens full of bloom, clad in black brocade, with crowns of gold on\ntheir heads; and they passed along the room till they sat down on the\nstools, when sang they sundry songs. Al-Maamun looked at one of them;\nand, being captivated by her elegance and fair favour, asked her, \"What\nis thy name, O damsel?\"; and she answered, \"My name is Saj\u03b1h\u03bd,[FN#215]\nO Commander of the Faithful,\" and he said, \"Sing to us, O Sajahi!\" So\nshe played a lively measure and sang these couplets,\n\n     \"I walk, for fear of interview, the weakling's walk *\n\n\n          Who sees two lion whelps the fount draw nigh:\n\n\n     My cloak acts sword, my heart's perplex'd with fright, *\n\n\n          Lest jealous hostile eyes th' approach descry:\n\n\n     Till sudden hapt I on a delicate maid *\n\n\n          Like desert-doe that fails her fawns to espy.\"\n\n\n\nQuoth the Caliph, \"Thou hast done well, O damsel! whose are these\nlines?\" She answered, \"Written by Amru bin Ma'di Karib al\n-Zubaydi,[FN#216] and the air is Ma'abid's.\"[FN#217] Then the Caliph\nand Abu Isa and Ali drank and the damsels went away and were succeeded\nby other ten, all clad in flowered silk of Al-Yaman, brocaded with\ngold, who sat down on the chairs and sang various songs. The Caliph\nlooked at one of the concubines, who was like a wild heifer of the\nwaste, and said to her, \"What is thy name, O damsel?\" She replied, \"My\nname is Zabiyah,[FN#218] 0 Commander of the Faithful;\" and he, \"Sing to\nus Zabiyah;\" so she warbled like a bird with many a trill and sang\nthese two couplets,\n\n     \"Houris, and highborn Dames who feel no fear of men, *\n\n\n          Like Meccan game forbidden man to slam:[FN#219]\n\n\n     Their soft sweet voices make you deem them whores, *\n\n\n          But bars them from all whoring Al-Islam.\"\n\n\n\nWhen she had finished, al-Maamun cried, \"favoured of Allah art\nthou!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the slave\ngirl finished her song, al-Maamun cried, \"Favoured of Allah art thou!\nWhose is this verse?\" and she answered, \"Jar\u03bdr's[FN#220] and the air is\nBy Ibn Surayj.\" Then the Caliph and his company drank, whilst the girls\nwent away and there came forth yet other ten, as they were rubies,\nrobed in red brocade inwoven with gold and purfled with pearls and\njewels whilst all their heads were bare. They sat down on the stools\nand sang various airs; so the Caliph looked at one of them, who was\nlike the sun of the day, and asked her, \"What is thy name, O damsel?\";\nand she answered, \"O Commander of the Faithful, my name is F\u03b1tin.\"\n\"Sing to us, O Fatin,\" quoth he; whereat she played a lively measure\nand sang these couplets,\n\n     \"Deign grant thy favours; since 'tis time I were engraced; *\n\n\n          Tnough of severance hath it been my lot to taste.\n\n\n     Thou'rt he whose face cloth every gift and charm unite, *\n\n\n          Yet is my patience spent for that 'twas sore misplaced:\n\n\n     I've wasted life in loving thee; and would high Heaven *\n\n\n          Grant me one meeting hour for all this wilful waste.\"\n\n\n\n\"Well sung, O Fatin!'' exclaimed the Caliph; \"whose verse is this?\" And\nshe answered, \"Adi bin Zayd's, and the air is antique.\" Then all three\ndrank, whilst the damsels retired and were succeeded by other ten\nmaidens, as they were sparkling stars, clad in flowered silk\nembroidered with red gold and girt with jewelled zones. They sat down\nand sang various motives; and the Caliph asked one of them, who was\nlike a wand of willow, \"What is thy name, O damsel?\"; and she answered,\n\"My name is Rashaa,[FN#221] 0 Commander of the Faithful.\" \"Sing to us,\nO Rashaa,\" quoth he; so she played a lively measure and sang these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"And wand-like Houri, who can passion heal *\n\n\n          Like young gazelle that paceth o'er the plain:\n\n\n     I drain this wine cup on the toast, her cheek, *\n\n\n          Each cup disputing till she bends in twain\n\n\n     Then sleeps the night with me, the while I cry *\n\n\n          'This is the only gain my Soul would gain!' \"\n\n\n\nSaid the Caliph, \"Well done, O damsel! Sing us something more.\" So she\nrose and kissing the ground before him, sang the following distich,\n\n     \"She came out to gaze on the bridal at ease *\n\n\n          In a shift that reeked of ambergris.\"\n\n\n\nThe Caliph was highly pleased with this couplet and, when the slave\ngirl saw how much it delighted him, she repeated it several times. Then\nsaid al-Maamun, \"Bring up 'the Flyer,'\" being minded to embark and\ndepart: but Ali bin Hisham said to him, \"O Commander of the Faithful, I\nhave a slave girl, whom I bought for ten thousand diners; she hath\ntaken my heart in whole and part, and I would fain display her to the\nCommander of the Faithful. If she please him and he will accept of her,\nshe is his: and if not, let him hear something from her.\" Said the\nCaliph, \"Bring her to me;\" and forth came a damsel, as she were a\nbranchlet of willow, with seducing eyes and eyebrows set like twin\nbows; and on her head she wore a crown of red gold crusted with pearls\nand jewelled, under which was a fillet bearing this couplet wrought in\nletters of chrysolite,\n\n     \"A Jinniyah this, with her Jinn, to show *\n\n\n          How to pierce man's heart with a stringless bow!\"\n\n\n\nThe handmaiden walked, with the gait of a gazelle in flight and fit to\ndamn a devotee, till she came to a chair, whereon she seated\nherself.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventeenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the hand maiden\nwalked with the gait of a gazelle in flight, fit to damn a devotee,\ntill she came to a chair whereon she seated herself. And Al-Maamun\nmarvelled at her beauty and loveliness; but, when Abu Isa saw her, his\nheart throbbed with pain, his colour changed to pale and wan and he was\nin evil case. Asked the Caliph, \"O Abu Isa, what aileth thee to change\nthus?\"; and he answered, \"O Commander of the Faithful, it is because of\na twitch that seizeth me betimes.\" Quoth the Caliph, \"Hast thou known\nyonder damsel before to day?\" Quoth he, \"Yes, O Commander of the\nFaithful, can the moon be concealed?\" Then said al-Maamun to her, \"What\nis thy name, O damsel?\"; and she replied, \"My name is Kurrat al-Ayn. O\nCommander of the Faithful,\" and he rejoined, \"Sing to us, O Kurrat\nal-Ayn.\" So she sang these two couplets,\n\n     \"The loved ones left thee in middle night, *\n\n\n          And fared with the pilgrims when dawn shone bright:\n\n\n     The tents of pride round the domes they pitched, *\n\n\n          And with broidered curtains were veiled fro' sight.\"\n\n\n\nQuoth the Caliph, \"Favoured of Heaven art thou, O Kurrat al-Ayn! Whose\nsong is that?\"; whereto she answered \"The words are by Di'ibil\nal-Khuza'i, and the air by Zurz\u03car al-Sagh\u03bdr.\" Abu Isa looked at her and\nhis tears choked him; so that the company marvelled at him. Then she\nturned to al-Maamun and said to him, \"O Commander of the Faithful, wilt\nthou give me leave to change the words?\" Said he, \"Sing what thou\nwilt;\" so she played a merry measure and carolled these couplets,\n\n     \"If thou should please a friend who pleaseth thee *\n\n\n          Frankly, in public practise secrecy.\n\n\n     And spurn the slanderer's tale, who seldom[FN#222] *\n\n\n          seeks Except the severance of true love to see.\n\n\n     They say, when lover's near, he tires of love, *\n\n\n          And absence is for love best remedy:\n\n\n     Both cures we tried and yet we are not cured, *\n\n\n          Withal we judge that nearness easier be:\n\n\n     Yet nearness is of no avail when he *\n\n\n          Thou lovest lends thee love unwillingly.\"\n\n\n\nBut when she had finished, Abu Isa said, \"O Commander of the Faithful,\"\n\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kurrat\nal-Ayn had finished her verse, Abu Isa said, \"O Commander of the\nFaithful, though we endure disgrace, we shall be at ease.[FN#223] Dost\nthou give me leave to reply to her?\" Quoth the Caliph, \"Yes, say what\nthou wilt to her.\" So he swallowed his tears and sang these two\ndistichs,\n\n     \"Silent I woned and never owned my love; *\n\n\n          But from my heart I hid love's blissful boon;\n\n\n     Yet, if my eyes should manifest my love, *\n\n\n          'Tis for my nearness to the shining moon.\"\n\n\n\nThen Kurrat al-Ayn took the lute and played a lively tune and rejoined\nwith these couplets,\n\n     \"An what thou claimest were the real truth, *\n\n\n          With only Hope content thou hadst not been\n\n\n     Nor couldest patient live without the girl *\n\n\n          So rare of inner grace and outward mien.\n\n\n     But there is nothing in the claim of thee *\n\n\n          At all, save tongue and talk that little mean.\"\n\n\n\nWhen Abu Isa heard this he fell to weeping and wailing and evidencing\nhis trouble and anguish. Then he raised his eyes to her and sighing,\nrepeated these couplets,\n\n     \"Under my raiment a waste body lies, *\n\n\n          And in my spirit all comprising prize.\n\n\n     I have a heart, whose pain shall aye endure, *\n\n\n          And tears like torrents pour these woeful eyes.\n\n\n     Whene'er a wise man spies me, straight he chides *\n\n\n          Love, that misleads me thus in ways unwise:\n\n\n     O Lord, I lack the power this dole to bear: *\n\n\n          Come sudden Death or joy in bestest guise!\"\n\n\n\nWhen he had ended, Ali bin Hisham sprang up and kissing his feet, said,\n\"O my lord, Allah hearing thy secret hath answered thy prayer and\nconsenteth to thy taking her with all she hath of things rare and fair,\nso the Commander of the Faithful have no mind to her.\" Quoth Al Maamun,\n\"Had we a mind to her, we would prefer Abu Isa before ourselves and\nhelp him to his desire.\" So saying, he rose and embarking, went away,\nwhilst Abu Isa tarried for Kurrat al-Ayn, whom he took and carried to\nhis own house, his breast swelling with joy. See then the generosity of\nAli son of Hisham! And they tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nAL-AMIN SON OF AL-RASHID AND HIS UNCLE IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI.\n\nAl-Amin,[FN#224] brother of al-Maamun, once entered the house of his\nuncle Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi, where he saw a slave girl playing upon the\nlute; and, she being one of the fairest of women, his heart inclined to\nher. Ibrahim, seeing how it was with him, sent the girl to him, with\nrich raiment and precious ornaments. When he saw her, he thought that\nhis uncle had lain with her; so he was loath to have to do with her,\nbecause of that, and accepting what came with her sent her back to\nIbrahim. His uncle learnt the cause of this from one of al-Amin's\neunuchs; so he took a shift of watered silk and worked upon its skirt,\nin letters of gold, these two couplets,\n\n     \"No! I declare by Him to whom all bow, *\n\n\n          Of nothing 'neath her petticoat I trow:\n\n\n     Nor meddle with her mouth; nor aught did I *\n\n\n          But see and hear her, and it was enow!\"\n\n\n\nThen he clad her in the shift and, giving her a lute, sent her back\nagain to his nephew. When she came into al-Amin's presence, she kissed\nground before him and tuning the lute, sang thereto these two couplets,\n\n     \"Thy breast thou baredst sending back the gift; *\n\n\n          Showing unlove for me withouten shift:\n\n\n     An thou bear spite of Past, the Past forgive, *\n\n\n          And for the Caliphate cast the Past adrift.\"\n\n\n\nWhen she had made an end of her verse, Al-Amin looked at her and,\nseeing what was upon her skirt, could no longer control him self, And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Nineteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al-Amin\nlooked at the damsel and saw what was upon her skirt, he could no\nlonger control himself, but drew near unto her and kissed her and\nappointed her a separate lodging in his palace. Moreover, he thanked\nhis uncle for this and bestowed on him the government of Rayy. And a\ntale is told of\n\n\n\n\nAL-FATH BIN KHAKAN AND THE CALIPH AL-MUTAWAKKIL.\n\nAl-Mutawakkil[FN#225] was once taking medicine, and folk sent him by\nway of solace all sorts of presents and rarities and things costly and\nprecious. Amongst others, al-Fath bin Kh\u03b1k\u03b1n[FN#226] sent him a virgin\nslave, high breasted, of the fairest among women of her time, and with\nher a vase of crystal, containing ruddy wine, and a goblet of red gold,\nwhereon were graven in black these couplets,\n\n     \"Since our Imam came forth from medicine, *\n\n\n          Which made him health and heartiness rewin,\n\n\n     There is no healing draught more sovereign *\n\n\n          Than well boiled wine this golden goblet in:\n\n\n     Then let him break the seal for him secured; *\n\n\n          'Tis best prescription after medicine[FN#227]\n\n\n\nNow when the damsel entered, the physician Yohann\u03b1[FN#228] was with the\nCaliph, and as he read the couplets, he smiled and said, \"By Allah, O\nCommander of the Faithful, Fath is better versed than I in the art of\nhealing: so let not the Prince of True Believers gainsay his\nprescription.\" Accordingly, the Caliph followed the recipe contained in\nthe poetry and was made whole by the blessing of Allah and won his\nevery wish. And among tales they tell is one of\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAN'S DISPUTE WITH THE LEARNED WOMAN CONCERNING THE RELATIVE\nEXCELLENCE OF MALE AND FEMALE.\n\nQuoth a certain man of learning, \"I never saw amongst woman kind one\nwittier, and wiser, better read and by nature more generously bred; and\nin manners and morals more perfected than a preacher of the people of\nBaghdad, by name Sitt al-Mash\u03b1'ikh.[FN#229] It chanced that she came to\nHamah city in the year of the Flight five hundred and sixty and\none[FN#230]; and there delivered salutary exhortations to the folk from\nthe professorial chair. Now there used to visit her house a number of\nstudents of divinity and persons of learning and polite letters, who\nwould discuss with her questions of theology and dispute with her on\ncontroversial points. I went to her one day, with a friend of mine, a\nman of years and education; and when we had taken our seats, she set\nbefore us a dish of fruit and seated herself behind a curtain. Now she\nhad a brother, a handsome youth, who stood behind us, to serve us. And\nwhen we had eaten we fell to disputing upon points of divinity, and I\npropounded to her a theological question bearing upon a difference\nbetween the Imams, the Founders of the Four Schools. She proceeded to\nspeak in answer, whilst I listened; but all the while my friend fell to\nlooking upon her brother's face and admiring his beauties without\npaying any heed to what she discoursed. Now as she was watching him\nfrom behind the curtain; when she had made an end of her speech, she\nturned to him and said, 'Methinks thou be of those who give men the\npreference over women!' He replied, 'Assuredly,' and she asked, 'And\nwhy so?'; whereto he answered, 'For that Allah hath made the masculine\nworthier than the feminine,'\" \u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twentieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh\nreplied, \" 'For that Allah hath made the masculine worthier than the\nfeminine; and I like the excelling and mislike the excelled.' She\nlaughed and presently said, 'Wilt thou deal fairly with me in debate,\nif I battle the matter with thee?' and he rejoined, 'Yes.' Then quoth\nshe, 'What is the evidence of the superiority of the male to the\nfemale?' Quoth he, 'It is of two kinds, traditional and reasonable. The\nauthoritative part deriveth from the Koran and the Traditions of the\nApostle. As for the first we have the very words of Almighty Allah,\n'Men shall have the pre-eminence above women because of those\nadvantages wherein Allah hath caused the one of them to excel the\nother;[FN#231] and again, 'If there be not two men, let there be one\nman and two women;'[FN#232] and again, when treating of inheritance,\n'If there be brothers and sisters let a male have as much as the\nportion of two females.'[FN#233] Thus Allah (extolled and exalted be\nHe!) hath in these places preferred the male over the female and\nteacheth that a woman is as the half of a man, for that he is worthier\nthan she. As for the Sunnah traditions, is it not reported of the\nProphet (whom Allah save and assain!) that he appointed the blood money\nfor a woman to be half that of a man. And as for the evidence of\nreason, the male is the agent and active and the female the patient and\npassive.'[FN#234] Rejoined she, 'Thou hast said well, O my lord, but,\nby Allah, thou hast proved my contention with thine own lips and hast\nadvanced evidence which telleth against thee, and not for thee. And\nthus it is: Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) preferred the male\nabove the female solely because of the inherent condition and essential\nquality of masculinity; and in this there is no dispute between us. Now\nthis quality of male-hood is common to the child, the boy, the youth,\nthe adult and the old man; nor is there any distinction between them in\nthis. If, then, the superior excellence of male masculant belong to him\nsolely by virtue of manhood, it behoveth that thy heart incline and thy\nsole delight in the graybeard, equally with the boy; seeing that there\nis no distinction between them, in point of male-hood. But the\ndifference between thee and me turneth upon the accident of qualities\nthat are sought as constituting the pleasure of intercourse and its\nenjoyment; and thou hast adduced no proof of the superiority of the\nyouth over the young girl in this matter of non-essentials.' He made\nanswer, 'O reverend lady, knowest thou not that which is peculiar to\nthe youth of limber shape and rosy cheeks and pleasant smile and\nsweetness of speech? Youths are, in these respects superior to women;\nand the proof of this is what they traditionally report of the Prophet\n(whom Allah bless and preserve!) that he said, 'Stay not thy gaze upon\nthe beardless, for in them is a momentary eye glance at the black eyed\ngirls of Paradise.' Nor indeed is the superiority of the lad over the\nlass hidden to any of mankind, and how well saith Abu Nowas,[FN#235]\n\n     'The least of him is the being free *\n\n\n          From monthly courses and pregnancy.'\n\n\n\nAnd the saying of another poet,\n\n     'Quoth our Imam, Abu Nowas, who was *\n\n\n          For mad debauch and waggishness renowned:\n\n\n     'O tribe that loves the cheeks of boys, take fill *\n\n\n          Of joys in Paradise shall ne'er be found!'\n\n\n\nSo if any one enlarge in praise of a slave girl and wish to enhance her\nvalue by the mention of her beauties, he likeneth her to a youth,'\"\n\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh\ncontinued, \"'So if any one enlarge in praise of a slave girl and wish\nto enhance her value by the mention of her beauties, he likeneth her to\na youth, because of the illustrious qualities that belong to the male,\neven as saith the poet,\n\n     'Boy like of backside, in the deed of kind, *\n\n\n          She sways, as sways the wand like boughs a-wind.'\n\n\n\nAn youths, then, were not better and fairer than girls, why should\nthese be likened to them? And know also (Almighty Allah preserve thee!)\nthat a youth is easy to be led, adapting himself to every rede,\npleasant of converse and manners, inclining to assent rather than\ndissent, especially when his side face is newly down'd and his upper\nlip is first embrowned, and the purple lights of youth on his cheeks\nabound, so that he is like the full moon sound; and how goodly is the\nsaying of Abu Tamm\u03b1m[FN#236],\n\n     'The slanderers said 'There's hair upon his cheeks'; *\n\n\n          Quoth I, 'Exceed not, that's no blemish there.'\n\n\n     When he could bear that haling of his hips *\n\n\n          And pearl-beads shaded by mustachio hair;[FN#237]\n\n\n     And Rose swore solemn, holiest oath that is, *\n\n\n          From that fair cheek she nevermore would fare\n\n\n     I spoke with eyelids without need of speech, *\n\n\n          And they who answered me his eyebrows were.\n\n\n     He's even fairer than thou knewest him, *\n\n\n          And cheek down guards from all would overdare.\n\n\n     Brighter and sweeter now are grown his charms, *\n\n\n          Since down robes lip and cheek before were bare.\n\n\n     And those who blame me for my love of him, *\n\n\n          When him they mention say of him, 'Thy Fair'!'\n\n\n\nAnd quoth al-Hariri[FN#238] and quoth excellently well,\n\n     'My censors say, 'What means this pine for him? *\n\n\n          Seest not the flowing hair on cheeks a flowing?'\n\n\n     I say, 'By Allah, an ye deem I dote, *\n\n\n          Look at the truth in those fine eyes a-showing!\n\n\n     But for the down that veils his cheek and chin, *\n\n\n          His brow had dazed all eyes no sight allowing:\n\n\n     And whoso sojourns in a growthless land, *\n\n\n          How shall he move from land fair growths a-growing?'\n\n\n\nAnd quoth another,\n\n     'My blamers say of me, 'He is consoled,' And lie! *\n\n\n          No consolation comes to those who pine and sigh.\n\n\n     I had no solace when Rose bloomed alone on cheek, *\n\n\n          Now Basil blooms thereon and now consoled am I.'\n\n\n\nAnd again,\n\n     'Slim waisted one, whose looks with down of cheek *\n\n\n          In slaughtering mankind each other hurtle\n\n\n     With the Narcissus blade he sheddeth blood, *\n\n\n          The baldrick of whose sheath is freshest\n\n\n          myrtle.'[FN#239]\n\n\n\nAnd again,\n\n     'Not with his must I'm drunk, but verily *\n\n\n          Those curls turn manly heads like newest wine[FN#240]\n\n\n     Each of his beauties envies each, and all *\n\n\n          Would be the silky down on side face li'en.'\n\n\n\nSuch are the excellencies of the youth which women do not own, and they\nmore than suffice to give those the preference over these.' She\nreplied, 'Allah give thee health! verily, thou hast imposed the debate\nupon thyself; and thou hast spoken and hast not stinted and hast\nbrought proofs to support every assertion. But, 'Now is the truth\nbecome manifest;'[FN#241] so swerve thou not from the path thereof;\nand, if thou be not content with a summary of evidence, I will set it\nbefore thee in fullest detail. Allah upon thee, where is the youth\nbeside the girl and who shall compare kid and wild cow? The girl is\nsoft of speech, fair of form, like a branchlet of basil, with teeth\nlike chamomile-petals and hair like halters wherefrom to hang hearts.\nHer cheeks are like blood-red anemones and her face like a pippin: she\nhath lips like wine and breasts like pomegranates twain and a shape\nsupple as a rattan-cane. Her body is well formed and with sloping\nshoulders dight; she hath a nose like the edge of a sword shining\nbright and a forehead brilliant white and eyebrows which unite and eyes\nstained by Nature's hand black as night. If she speak, fresh young\npearls are scattered from her mouth forthright and all hearts are\nravished by the daintiness of her sprite; when she smileth thou wouldst\nween the moon shone out her lips between and when she eyes thee, sword\nblades flash from the babes of her eyes. In her all beauties to\nconclusion come, and she is the centre of attraction to traveller and\nstay-at-home. She hath two lips of cramoisy, than cream smoother and of\ntaste than honey sweeter,'\" \u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the preacher\nwoman thus pursued her theme in the praise of fair maids, \"'She hath\ntwo lips of cramoisy, than cream smoother and than honey sweeter;'\nadding, 'And she hath a bosom, as it were a way two hills between which\nare a pair of breasts like globes of ivory sheen; likewise, a stomach\nright smooth, flanks soft as the palm-spathe and creased with folds and\ndimples which overlap one another, and liberal thighs, which like\ncolumns of pearl arise, and back parts which billow and beat together\nlike seas of glass or mountains of glance, and two feet and hands of\ngracious mould like unto ingots of virgin gold. So, O miserable! where\nare mortal men beside the Jinn? Knowest thou not that puissant princes\nand potent Kings before women ever humbly bend and on them for delight\ndepend? Verily, they may say, 'We rule over necks and rob hearts.'\nThese women! how many a rich man have they not paupered, how many a\npowerful man have they not prostrated and how many a superior man have\nthey not enslaved! Indeed, they seduce the sage and send the saint to\nshame and bring the wealthy to want and plunge the fortune favoured\ninto penury. Yet for all this, the wise but redouble in affection of\nthem and honour; nor do they count this oppression or dishonour. How\nmany a man for them hath offended his Maker and called down on him self\nthe wrath of his father and mother! And all this because of the\nconquest of their love over hearts. Knowest thou not, O wretched one,\nthat for them are built pavilions, and slave girls are for\nsale;[FN#242] that for them tear floods rail and for them are collected\njewels of price and ambergris and musk odoriferous; and armies are\narrayed and pleasaunces made and wealth heaped up and smitten off is\nmany a head? And indeed he spoke sooth in the words, 'Whoso saith the\nworld meaneth woman.' Now as for thy citation from the Holy Traditions,\nit is an argument against thee and not for thee in that the Prophet\n(whom Allah bless and preserve!) compareth the beardless with the black\neyed girls of Paradise. Now, doubtless, the subject of comparison is\nworthier than the object there with compared; so, unless women be the\nworthier and the goodlier, wherefore should other than they be likened\nto them? As for thy saying that girls are likened to boys, the case is\nnot so, but the contrary: boys are likened to girls; for folk say,\nYonder boy is like a girl. As for what proof thou quotest from the\npoets, the verses were the product of a complexion unnatural in this\nrespect; and as for the habitual sodomites and catamites, offenders\nagainst religion, Almighty Allah hath condemned them in His Holy\nBook,[FN#243] herein He denounceth their filthy practices, saying, 'Do\nye approach unto the males among mankind[FN#244] and leave your wives\nwhich your Lord hath created for you? Surely ye are a people who\ntransgress!' These it is that liken girls to boys, of their exceeding\nprofligacy and ungraciousness and inclination to follow the fiend and\nown lusts, so that they say, 'She is apt for two tricks,'[FN#245] and\nthese are all wanderers from the way of right and the righteous. Quoth\ntheir chief Abu Nowas,\n\n     'Slim waist and boyish wits delight *\n\n\n          Wencher, as well as Sodomite,'[FN#246]\n\n\n\nAs for what thou sayest of a youth's first hair on cheek and lips and\nhow they add to his beauty and loveliness, by Allah, thou strayest from\nthe straight path of sooth and sayest that which is other than the\ntruth; for whiskers change the charms of the comely into ugliness\n(quoting these couplets),\n\n     'That sprouting hair upon his face took wreak *\n\n\n          For lovers' vengeance, all did vainly seek.\n\n\n     I see not on his face a sign fuli- *\n\n\n          genous, except his curls are hue of reek.\n\n\n     If so his paper[FN#247] mostly be begrimed *\n\n\n          Where deemest thou the reed shall draw a streak?\n\n\n     If any raise him other fairs above, *\n\n\n          This only proves the judge of wits is weak.'\n\n\n\nAnd when she ended her verse she resumed, 'Laud be to Allah Almighty,'\"\n\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the preacher\nwoman ended her verse she resumed, addressing the man, \" 'Laud to Allah\nAlmighty! how can it be hid from thee that the perfect pleasure is in\nwomen and that abiding blessings are not to be found but with them,\nseeing that Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) hath promised His\nprophets and saints black eyed damsels in Paradise and hath appointed\nthese for a recompense of their godly works. And had the Almighty known\nthat the joy supreme was in the possession of other than women, He had\nrewarded them therewith and promised it to them. And quoth he (whom\nAllah bless and preserve!), 'The things I hold dearest of the things of\nyour world are three: women and perfume and the solace of my eyes in\nprayer.' Verily Allah hath appointed boys to serve his prophets and\nsaints in Paradise, because Paradise is the abode of joy and delight,\nwhich could not be complete without the service of youths; but, as to\nthe use of them for aught but service, it is Hell's putridity[FN#248]\nand corruption and turpitude. How well saith the poet,\n\n    'Men's turning unto bums of boys is bumptious; *\n\n\n          Whoso love noble women show their own noblesse.\n\n\n    How many goodly wights have slept the night, enjoying *\n\n\n          Buttocks of boys, and woke at morn in foulest mess\n\n\n    Their garments stained by safflower, which is yellow merde; *\n\n\n          Their shame proclaiming, showing colour of distress.\n\n\n    Who can deny the charge, when so bewrayed are they *\n\n\n          That e'en by day light shows the dung upon their dress?\n\n\n    What contrast wi' the man, who slept a gladsome night *\n\n\n          By Houri maid for glance a mere enchanteress,\n\n\n    He rises off her borrowing wholesome bonny scent; *\n\n\n          That fills the house with whiffs of perfumed\n\n\n          goodliness.\n\n\n    No boy deserved place by side of her to hold; *\n\n\n          Canst even aloes wood with what fills pool of\n\n\n          cess!'[FN#249]\n\n\n\nThen said she, 'O folk ye have made me to break the bounds of modesty\nand the circle of free born women and indulge in idle talk of\nchambering and wantonness, which beseemeth not people of learning. But\nthe breasts of free-borns are the sepulchres of secrets' and such\nconversations are in confidence. Moreover, actions are according to\nintentions,[FN#250] and I crave pardon of Allah for myself and you and\nall Moslems, seeing that He is the Pardoner and the Compassionate.'\nThen she held her peace and thereafter would answer us of naught; so we\nwent our way, rejoicing in that we had profited by her contention and\nyet sorrowing to part from her.\" And among the tales they tell is one\nof\n\n\n\n\nABU SUWAYD AND THE PRETTY OLD WOMAN.\n\nQuoth Abu Suwayd, \"I and a company of my friends, entered a garden one\nday to buy somewhat of fruit; and we saw in a corner an old woman, who\nwas bright of face, but her head-hair was white, and she was combing it\nwith an ivory comb. We stopped before her, yet she paid no heed to us\nneither veiled her face: so I said to her, 'O old woman,[FN#251] wert\nthou to dye thy hair black, thou wouldst be handsomer than a girl: what\nhindereth thee from this?' She raised her head towards me\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Suwayd\ncontinued: \"When I spake these words to the ancient dame she raised her\nhead towards me and, opening wide her eyes, recited these two couplets,\n\n     'I dyed what years have dyed, but this my staining *\n\n\n          Lasts not, while that of days is aye remaining:\n\n\n     Days when beclad in gear of youth I fared, *\n\n\n          Raked fore and aft by men with joy unfeigning.'\n\n\n\nI cried, 'By Allah, favoured art thou for an old woman! How sincere art\nthou in thine after-pine for forbidden pleasures and how false is thy\npretence of repentance from frowardness!'\" And another tale is that of\n\n\n\n\nTHE EMIR ALI BIN TAHIR AND THE GIRL MUUNIS.\n\nOnce on a time was displayed for sale to Ali bin Mohammed bin Abdallah\nbin T\u03b1hir[FN#252] a slave-girl called Muunis who was superior to her\nfellows in beauty and breeding, and to boot an accomplished poetess;\nand he asked her of her name. Replied she, \"Allah advance the Emir, my\nname is Muunis.\"[FN#253] Now he knew this before; so he bowed his head\nawhile, then raising his eyes to her, recited this verse,\n\n     \"What sayest of one by a sickness caught *\n\n\n          For the love of thy love till he waxed distraught?\"\n\n\n\nAnswered she, \"Allah exalt the Emir!\" and recited this verse in reply,\n\n     \"If we saw a lover who pains as he ought, *\n\n\n          Wi' love we would grant him all favours he sought.\"\n\n\n\nShe pleased him: so he bought her for seventy thousand dirhams and\nbegat on her Obayd' Allah bin Mohammed, afterwards minister of\nPolice.[FN#254] And we are told by Abu al-Ayn\u03b1[FN#255] a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOMAN WHO HAD A BOY AND THE OTHER WHO HAD A MAN TO LOVER.\n\nQuoth Abu al-Ayn\u03b1, \"There were in our street two women, one of whom had\nfor lover a man and the other a beardless youth, and they foregathered\none night on the terrace-roof of a house adjoining mine, knowing not\nthat I was near. Quoth the boy's lover to the other, 'O my sister, how\ncanst thou bear with patience the harshness of thy lover's beard as it\nfalleth on thy breast, when he busseth thee and his mustachios rub thy\ncheek and lips?' Replied the other, 'Silly that thou art, what decketh\nthe tree save its leaves and the cucumber but its warts?[FN#256] Didst\never see in the world aught uglier than a scald-head bald of his beard?\nKnowest thou not that the beard is to men as the sidelocks to women;\nand what is the difference between chin and cheek?[FN#257] Knowest thou\nnot that Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) hath created an angel in\nHeaven, who saith: 'Glory be to Him who ornamenteth men with beards and\nwomen with long hair?' So, were not the beard even as the tresses in\ncomeliness, it had not been coupled with them, O silly! How shall I\nspread-eagle myself under a boy, who will emit long before I can go off\nand forestall me in limpness of penis and clitoris; and leave a man\nwho, when he taketh breath clippeth close and when he entereth goeth\nleisurely, and when he hath done, repeateth, and when he pusheth poketh\nhard, and as often as he withdraweth, returneth?' The boy's leman was\nedified by her speech and said, 'I forswear my lover by the lord of the\nKa'abah!'\" And amongst tales is one of\n\n\n\n\nALI THE CAIRENE AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN BAGHDAD.\n\nThere lived once, in the city of Cairo, a merchant who had great store\nof monies and bullion, gems and jewels, and lands and houses beyond\ncount, and his name was Hasan the Jeweller, the Baghdad man.\nFurthermore Allah had blessed him with a son of perfect beauty and\nbrilliancy; rosy-cheeked, fair of face and well-figured, whom he named\nAli of Cairo, and had taught the Koran and science and elocution and\nthe other branches of polite education, till he became proficient in\nall manner of knowledge. He was under his father's hand in trade but,\nafter a while, Hasan fell sick and his sickness grew upon him, till he\nmade sure of death; so he called his son to him,\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nJeweller, the Baghdadi, fell sick and made sure of death, he called to\nhim his son, named Ali of Cairo, and said, \"O my son, verily this world\npasseth away; but the next world endureth for aye. Every soul shall\ntaste of death;[FN#258] and now, O my son, my decease is at hand and I\ndesire to charge thee with a charge, which if thou observe, thou shalt\nabide in safety and prosperity, till thou meet Almighty Allah; but if\nthou follow it not, there shall befal thee much weariness and thou wilt\nrepent of having transgressed mine injunctions.\" Replied Ali, \"O my\nfather, how shall I do other than hearken to thy words and act\naccording to thy charge, seeing that I am bounden by the law of the\nFaith to obey thee and give ear to thy command?\" Rejoined his father,\n\"O my son, I leave thee lands and houses and goods and wealth past\ncount; so that wert thou each day to spend thereof five hundred dinars,\nthou wouldst miss naught of it. But, O my son, look that thou live in\nthe fear of Allah and follow His Chosen One, Mustafa, (whom may He\nbless and preserve!) in whatso he is reported to have bidden and\nforbidden in his traditional law.[FN#259] Be thou constant in\nalms-deeds and the practice of beneficence and in consorting with men\nof worth and piety and learning; and look that thou have a care for the\npoor and needy and shun avarice and meanness and the conversation of\nthe wicked or those of suspicious character. Look thou kindly upon thy\nservants and family, and also upon thy wife, for she is of the\ndaughters of the great and is big with child by thee; haply Allah will\nvouchsafe thee virtuous issue by her.\" And he ceased not to exhort him\nthus, weeping and saying, \"O my son, I beseech Allah the Bountiful, the\nLord of the glorious Empyrean[FN#260] to deliver thee from all straits\nthat may encompass thee and grant thee His ready relief!\" Thereupon his\nson wept with sore weeping and said, \"O my father, I am melted by thy\nwords, for these are as the words of one that saith farewell.\" Replied\nthe merchant, \"Yes, O my son, I am aware of my condition: forget thou\nnot my charge.\" Then he fell to repeating the two professions of the\nFaith and to reciting verses of the Koran, until the appointed hour\narrived, when he said, \"Draw near unto me, O my son.\" So Ali drew near\nand he kissed him; then he sighed and his soul departed his body and he\nwent to the mercy of Almighty Allah.[FN#261] Therewith great grief fell\nupon Ali; the clamour of keening arose in his house and his father's\nfriends flocked to him. Then he betook himself to preparing the body\nfor burial and made him a splendid funeral. They bore his bier to the\nplace of prayer and prayed over him, then to the cemetery, where they\nburied him and recited over him what suited of the sublime Koran; after\nwhich they returned to the house and condoled with the dead man's son\nand wended each his own way. Moreover, Ali prayed the Friday prayer for\nhis father and had perlections of the Koran every day for the normal\nforty, during which time he abode in the house and went not forth, save\nto the place of prayer; and every Friday he visited his father's tomb.\nSo he ceased not from his praying and reciting for some time, until his\nfellows of the sons of the merchants came in to him one day and\nsaluting him, said, \"How long this thy mourning and neglecting thy\nbusiness and the company of thy friends? Verily, this is a fashion\nwhich will bring thee weariness, and thy body will suffer for it\nexceedingly.\" Now when they came in to him, Iblis the Accursed was with\nthem, prompting them; and they went on to recommend him to accompany\nthem to the bazar, whilst Iblis tempted him to consent to them, till he\nyielded,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the sons of\nthe merchants went in to Ali the Cairene, son of Hasan the Jeweller,\nthey recommended him to accompany them to the bazar, till he yielded,\nthat the will of Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) might be\nfulfilled; and he left the house of mourning with them. Presently they\nsaid, \"Mount thy she-mule and ride with us to such a garden, that we\nmay solace us there and that thy grief and despondency may depart from\nthee.\" So he mounted and taking his slave, went with them to the garden\nin question; and when they entered one of them went and making ready\nthe morning-meal, brought it to them there. So they ate and were merry\nand sat in talk, till the end of the day, when they mounted and\nreturned each to his own lodging, where they passed the night. As soon\nas the morrow dawned, they again visited Ali and said, \"Come with us.\"\nAsked he, \"Whither?\"; and they answered, \"To such a garden; for it is\nfiner than the first and more pleasurable.\" So he went with them to the\ngarden, and one of them, going away, made ready the morning-meal and\nbrought it to them, together with strong heady wine; and after eating,\nthey brought out the wine, when quoth Ali, \"What is this? and quoth\nthey, \"This is what dispelleth sadness and brighteneth gladness. And\nthey ceased not to commend it to him, till they prevailed upon him and\nhe drank with them. Then they sat, drinking and talking, till the end\nof the day, when each returned home. But as for Ali, the Cairene, he\nwas giddy with wine and in this plight went in to his wife, who said to\nhim, \"What aileth thee that thou art so changed?\" He said, \"We were\nmaking merry to-day, when one of my companions brought us liquor; so my\nfriends drank and I with them, and this giddiness came upon me.\" And\nshe replied, \"O my lord, say me, hast thou forgotten thy father's\ninjunction and done that from which he forbade thee, in consorting with\ndoubtful folk?\" Answered he, \"These be of the sons of the merchants;\nthey are no suspicious folk, only lovers of mirth and good cheer.\" And\nhe continued to lead this life with his friends, day after day, going\nfrom place to place and feasting with them and drinking, till they said\nto him, \"Our turns are ended, and now it is thy turn.\" \"Well come, and\nwelcome and fair cheer!\" cried he; so on the morrow, he made ready all\nthat the case called for of meat and drink, two-fold what they had\nprovided, and taking cooks and tent-pitchers and coffee-makers,[FN#262]\nrepaired with the others to Al-Rauzah[FN#263] and the Nilometer, where\nthey abode a whole month, eating and drinking and hearing music and\nmaking merry. At the end of the month, Ali found that he had spent a\ngreat sum of money; but Iblis the Accursed deluded him and said to him,\n\"Though thou shouldst spend every day a like sum yet wouldst thou not\nmiss aught of it.\" So he took no account of money expenses and\ncontinued this way of life for three years, whilst his wife\nremonstrated with him and reminded him of his father's charge; but he\nhearkened not to her words, till he had spent all the ready monies he\nhad, when he fell to selling his jewels and spending their price, until\nthey also were all gone. Then he sold his houses, fields, farms and\ngardens, one after other, till they likewise were all gone and he had\nnothing left but the tenement wherein he lived. So he tore out the\nmarble and wood-work and sold it and spent of its price, till he had\nmade an end of all this also, when he took thought with himself and,\nfinding that he had nothing left to expend, sold the house itself and\nspent the purchase-money. After that, the man who had bought the house\ncame to him and said \"Seek out for thyself a lodging, as I have need of\nmy house.\" So he bethought himself and, finding that he had no want of\na house, except for his wife, who had borne him a son and daughter (he\nhad not a servant left), he hired a large room in one of the mean\ncourts[FN#264] and there took up his abode, after having lived in\nhonour and luxury, with many eunuchs and much wealth; and he soon came\nto want one day's bread. Quoth his wife, \"Of this I warned thee and\nexhorted thee to obey thy father's charge, and thou wouldst not hearken\nto me; but there is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah,\nthe Glorious, the Great! Whence shall the little ones eat? Arise then,\ngo round to thy friends, the sons of the merchants: belike they will\ngive thee somewhat on which we may live this day.\" So he arose and went\nto his friends one by one; but they all hid their faces from him and\ngave him injurious words revolting to hear, but naught else; and he\nreturned to his wife and said to her, \"They have given me nothing.\"\nThereupon she went forth to beg of her neighbours the wherewithal to\nkeep themselves alive,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the wife of Ali\nthe Cairene, seeing her husband return empty-handed, went forth to beg\nof her neighbours the wherewithal to keep themselves alive and repaired\nto a woman, whom she had known in former days. When she came in to her\nand she saw her case, she rose and receiving her kindly, wept and said,\n\"What hath befallen you?\" So she told her all that her husband had\ndone, and the other replied, \"Well come and welcome and fair cheer!;\nwhatever thou needest, Seek it of me, without price.\" Quoth she, \"Allah\nrequite thee abundantly!\"[FN#265] Then her friend gave her as much\nprovision as would suffice herself and her family a whole month, and\nshe took it and returned to her lodging. When her husband saw her, he\nwept and asked, \"Whence hadst thou that?\"; and she answered, \"I got it\nof such a woman; for, when I told her what had befallen us, she failed\nme not in aught, but said, 'Seek of me all thou needest.'\" Whereupon\nher husband rejoined, \"Since thou hast this much I will betake myself\nto a place I have in my mind; peradventure Allah Almighty will bring us\nrelief.\"[FN#266] With these words he took leave of her and kissed his\nchildren and went out, not knowing whither he should go, and he\ncontinued walking on till he came to Bul\u03b1k, where he saw a ship about\nto sail for Damietta.[FN#267] Here he met a man, between whom and his\nfather there had been friendship, and he saluted him and said to him,\n\"Whither now?\" Replied Ali, \"To Damietta: I have friends there, whom I\nwould enquire after and visit them and then return.\" The man took him\nhome and treated him honourably; then, furnishing him with vivers for\nthe voyage and giving him some gold pieces, embarked him on board the\nvessel bound for Damietta. When they reached it, Ali landed, not\nknowing whither to go; but as he was walking along, a merchant saw him\nand had pity on him, and carried him to his house. Here he abode\nawhile, after which he said in himself, \"How long this sojourning in\nother folk's homes?\" Then he left the merchant's place and walked to\nthe wharf where, after enquiry, he found a ship ready to sail for\nSyria. His hospitable host provided him with provision and embarked him\nin the ship; and it set sail and Ali reached in due season the Syrian\nshores where he disembarked and journeyed till he entered Damascus. As\nhe walked about the great thoroughfare behold, a kindly man saw him and\ntook him to his house, where he tarried for a time till, one day, going\nabroad, he saw a caravan about to start for Baghdad and bethought\nhimself to journey thither with it. Thereupon he returned to his host\nand taking leave of him, set out with the Cafilah. Now Allah (extolled\nand exalted be He!) inclined to him the heart of one of the merchants,\nso that he took him with him, and Ali ate and drank with him, till they\ncame within one day's journey of Baghdad. Here, however, a company of\nhighwaymen fell upon the caravan and took all they had and but few of\nthe merchants escaped. These made each for a separate place of refuge;\nbut as for Ali the Cairene he fared for Baghdad, where he arrived at\nsundown, as the gatekeepers were about to shut the gates, and said to\nthem, \"Let me in with you.\" They admitted him and asked him, \"Whence\ncome, and whither wending?\" and he answered, \"I am a man from\nCairo-city and have with me mules laden with merchandise and slaves and\nservants. I forewent them, to look me out a place wherein to deposit my\ngoods: but, as I rode along on my she-mule, there fell upon me a\ncompany of banditti, who took my mule and gear; nor did I escape from\nthem but at my last gasp.\" The gate-guard entreated him honourably and\nbade him be of good cheer, saying, \"Abide with us this night, and in\nthe morning we will look thee out a place befitting thee.\" Then he\nsought in his breast-pocket and, finding a dinar of those given to him\nby the merchant at Bulak, handed it to one of the gatekeepers, saying,\n\"Take this and change it and bring us something to eat.\" The man took\nit and went to the market, where he changed it, and brought Ali bread\nand cooked meat: so he ate, he and the gate-guards, and he lay the\nnight with them. Now on the morrow, one of the warders carried him to a\ncertain of the merchants of Baghdad, to whom he told the same story,\nand he believed him, deeming that he was a merchant and had with him\nloads of merchandise. Then he took him up into his shop and entreated\nhim with honour; moreover, he sent to his house for a splendid suit of\nhis own apparel for him and carried him to the Hammam. \"So,\" quoth Ali\nof Cairo: \"I went with him to the bath, and when we came out, he took\nme and brought me to his house, where he set the morning-meal before\nus, and we ate and made merry. Then said he to one of his black slaves,\n'Ho Mas'dd, take this thy lord: show him the two houses standing in\nsuch a place, and whichever pleaseth him, give him the key of it and\ncome back.' So I went with the slave, till we came to a street-road\nwhere stood three houses side by side, newly built and yet shut up. He\nopened the first and I looked at it; and we did the same to the second;\nafter which he said to me 'Of which shall I give thee the key?' 'To\nwhom doth the big house belong?' 'To us!' 'Open it, that I may view\nit.' 'Thou hast no business there.' 'Wherefore?' 'Because it is\nhaunted, and none nighteth there but in the morning he is a dead man;\nnor do we use to open the door, when removing the corpse, but mount the\nterrace-roof of one of the other two houses and take it up thence. For\nthis reason my master hath abandoned the house and saith: 'I will never\nagain give it to any one.' 'Open it,' I cried, 'that I may view it;'\nand I said in my mind, 'This is what I seek; I will pass the night\nthere and in the morning be a dead man and be at peace from this my\ncase.' So he opened it and I entered and found it a splendid house,\nwithout its like; and I said to the slave, 'I will have none other than\nthis house; give me its key.' But he rejoined, 'I will not give thee\nthis key till I consult my master,'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the negro\n(continued Ali of Cairo) \"rejoined, 'I will not give thee its key till\nI consult my master,'\" and going to him, reported, \"'The Egyptian\ntrader saith, 'I will lodge in none but the big house.'\" Now when the\nmerchant heard this, he rose and coming to Ali, spake thus to him, \"O\nmy lord, thou hast no need of this house.\" But he answered, \"I will\nlodge in none other than this; for I care naught for this silly\nsaying.\" Quoth the other, \"Write me an acknowledgment that, if aught\nhappen to thee, I am not responsible.\" Quoth Ali, \"So be it;\" whereupon\nthe merchant fetched an assessor from the Kazi's court and, taking the\nprescribed acknowledgment, delivered to him the key wherewith he\nentered the house. The merchant sent him bedding by a blackamoor who\nspread it for him on the built bench behind the door[FN#268] and walked\naway. Presently Ali went about and, seeing in the inner court a well\nwith a bucket, let this down and drew water, wherewith he made the\nlesser ablution and prayed the obligatory prayers. Then he sat awhile,\ntill the slave brought him the evening meal from his master's house,\ntogether with a lamp, a candle and candlestick, a basin and ewer and a\ngugglet[FN#269]; after which he left him and returned home. Ali lighted\nthe candle, supped at his ease and prayed the night-prayer; and\npresently he said to himself, \"Come, take the bedding and go upstairs\nand sleep there; 'twill be better than here.\" So he took the bed and\ncarried it upstairs, where he found a splendid saloon, with gilded\nceiling and floor and walls cased with coloured marbles. He spread his\nbed there and sitting down, began to recite somewhat of the Sublime\nKoran, when (ere he was ware) he heard one calling to him and asking,\n\"O Ali, O son of Hasan, say me, shall I send thee down the gold?\" And\nhe answered, \"Where be the gold thou hast to send?\" But hardly had he\nspoken, when gold pieces began to rain down on him, like stones from a\ncatapult, nor ceased till the saloon was full. Then, after the golden\nshower, said the Voice, \"Set me free, that I may go my way; for I have\nmade an end of my service and have delivered unto thee that which was\nentrusted to me for thee.\" Quoth Ali, \"I adjure thee, by Allah the\nAlmighty, to tell me the cause of this gold-rain.\" Replied the Voice,\n\"This is a treasure that was talisman'd to thee of old time, and to\nevery one who entered the house, we used to come and say: 'O Ali, O son\nof Hasan, shall we send thee down the gold?' Whereat he would be\naffrighted and cry out, and we would come down to him and break his\nneck and go away. But, when thou camest and we accosted thee by thy\nname and that of thy father, saying, 'Shall we send thee down the\ngold?' and thou madest answer to us, 'And where be the gold?' we knew\nthee for the owner of it and sent it down. Moreover, there is yet\nanother hoard for thee in the land of Al-Yaman and thou wouldst do well\nto journey thither and fetch it. And now I would fain have thee set me\nfree, that I may go my way.\" Said Ali, \"By Allah, I will not set thee\nfree, till thou bring me hither the treasure from the land of\nAl-Yaman!\" Said the Voice, \"An I bring it to thee, wilt thou release me\nand eke the servant of the other hoard?\" \"Yes,\" replied Ali, and the\nVoice cried, \"Swear to me.\" So he swore to him, and he was about to go\naway, when Ali said to him, \"I have one other need to ask of thee;\" and\nhe, \"What is that?\" Quoth Ali, \"I have a wife and children at Cairo in\nsuch a place; thou needs must fetch them to me, at their ease and\nwithout their unease.\" Quoth he, \"I will bring them to thee in a\nmule-litter[FN#270] and much state, with a train of eunuchs and\nservants, together with the treasure from Al-Yaman, Inshallah!\"[FN#271]\nThen he took of him leave of absence for three days, when all this\nshould be with him, and vanished. As soon as it was morning Ali went\nround about the saloon, seeking a place wherein to store the gold, and\nsaw on the edge of the dais a marble slab with a turning-pin; so he\nturned the pin and the slab sank and showed a door which he opened and\nentering, found a great closet, full of bags of coarse stuff carefully\nsewn. So he began taking out the bags and fell to filling them with\ngold and storing them in the closet, till he had transported thither\nall the hoarded gold, whereupon he shut the door and turning the pin,\nthe slab returned to its place. Then he went down and seated himself on\nthe bench behind the door; and presently there came a knock; so he\nopened and found the merchant's slave who, seeing him comfortably\nsitting, returned in haste to his master,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nhouse-owner's black slave returned and knocked at the door, Ali the\nCairene, son of the merchant Hasan, opened it to him and the negro,\nseeing him comfortably sitting, returned in haste to his master with\nthe good tidings, saying, \"O my Lord, the merchant, who is lodged in\nthe house inhabited by the Jinn,[FN#272] is alive and well and sitteth\non the bench behind the door.\" Then the merchant rose joyfully and went\nto the house, taking breakfast with him; and, when he saw Ali, he\nembraced him and kissed him between the eyes, asking, \"How hath Allah\ndealt with thee?\"; and Ali answered, \"Right well, I slept upstairs in\nthe marble saloon.\" Quoth the merchant, \"Did aught come to thee or\ndidst thou see any thing?\" and quoth Ali \"No, I recited some little of\nthe Sublime Koran and slept till morning, when I arose and, after\nmaking the minor ablution and praying, seated myself on the bench\nbehind the door.\" \"Praised be Allah for safety!\" exclaimed the\nmerchant, then left him and presently sent him black slaves and white\nMamelukes and handmaidens with household gear. They swept the house\nfrom top to bottom and furnished it with magnificent furniture; after\nwhich three white slaves and three blacks and four slave-girls remained\nwith him, to serve him, while the rest returned to their master's\nhouse. Now when the merchants heard of him, they sent him presents of\nall manner things of price, even to food and drink and clothes, and\ntook him with them to the market, asking, \"When will thy baggage\narrive?\" And he answered, \"After three days it will surely come.\" When\nthe term had elapsed, the servant of the first hoard, the golden rain,\ncame to him and said, \"Go forth and meet the treasure I have brought\nthee from Al-Yaman together with thy Harim; for I bring part of the\nwealth in the semblance of costly merchandise; but the eunuchs and\nMamelukes and the mules and horses and camels are all of the Jann.\" Now\nthe Jinni, when he betook himself to Cairo, found Ali's wife and\nchildren in sore misery, naked and hungry; so he carried them out of\nthe city in a travelling-litter and clad them in sumptuous raiment of\nthe stuffs which were in the treasure of Al-Yaman. So when Ali heard\nthis, he arose and repairing to the merchants, said to them, \"Rise and\ngo forth with us from the city, to meet the caravan bringing my\nmerchandise, and honour us with the presence of your Harims, to meet my\nHarim.\" \"Hearkening and obedience,\" answered they and, sending for\ntheir Harims, went forth all together and took seat in one of the\ncity-gardens; and as they sat talking, behold, a dust-cloud arose out\nof the heart of the desert, and they flocked forth to see what it was.\nPresently it lifted and discovered mules and muleteers, tent-pitchers\nand linkmen, who came on, singing and dancing, till they reached the\ngarden, when the chief of the muleteers walked up to Ali and kissing\nhis hand, said to him, \"O my master, we have been long on the way, for\nwe purposed entering yesterday; but we were in fear of the bandits, so\nabode in our station four days, till Almighty Allah rid us of them.\"\nThereupon the merchants mounted their mules and rode forward with the\ncaravan, the Harims waiting behind, till Ali's wife and children\nmounted with them; and they all entered in splendid train. The\nmerchants marvelled at the number of mules laden with chests, whilst\nthe women of the merchants wondered at the richness of the apparel of\nhis wife and the fine raiment of her children; and kept saying each to\nother, \"Verily, the King of Baghdad hath no such gear; no, nor any\nother of the kings or lords or merchants!\" So they ceased not to fare\nforwards in high great state, the men with Ali of Cairo and the Harims\nwith his Harim, till they came to the mansion,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirtieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that they ceased not\nto fare forwards in high state, the men with Ali's men and the women\nwith his wife, till they came to the mansion, where they alighted and\nbrought the mules and their burdens into the midst of the courtyard.\nThen they unloaded them and warehoused the goods whilst the merchants'\nwives went up with Ali's family to the saloon, which they found as it\nwere a luxuriant garden, spread with magnificent furniture. They sat in\nmirth and good cheer till noon, when they brought them up the midday\nmeal, all manner meats and sweetmeats of the very best; and they ate\nand drank costly sherbets and perfumed themselves thereafter with\nrose-water and scented woods. Then they took leave and went home, men\nand women; and, when the merchants returned to their places, they sent\npresents to the husband according to their conditions; and their wives\nlikewise sent presents to the wife, so that there came to them great\nstore of handmaids and negroes and Mamelukes; and all kinds of goods,\nsuch as grain, sugar and so forth, in abundance beyond account. As for\nthe Baghdad merchant, the landlord of the house, he abode with Ali and\nquitted him not, but said to him, \"Let the black slaves and servants\ntake the mules and the common cattle into one of my other houses, to\nrest.\" Quoth Ali, \"They set out again to-night for such a place.\" Then\nhe gave them leave to go forth and camp outside the city, that they\nmight start on their journey at night-come; whereupon, hardly believing\nthat they were dismissed, they took leave of him and departing to the\noutliers of the city, flew off through the air to their several abodes.\nSo Ali and his house-owner sat together till a third of the night was\npast, when their colloquy ended and the merchant returned to his own\nhouse and Ali went up to his wife and children and after saluting them,\nsaid, \"What hath befallen you in my absence all this time?\" So she told\nhim what they had suffered of hunger and nakedness and travail, and he\nsaid, \"Praised be Allah for safety! How did ye come?\" Answered she, \"O\nmy lord, I was asleep with my children yesternight, when suddenly and\nunexpectedly one raised us from the ground and flew with us through the\nfirmament without doing us any hurt, nor did he leave flying with us,\ntill he set us down in a place as it were an Arab camping-ground, where\nwe saw laden mules and a travelling litter borne upon two great mules,\nand around it servants, all boys and men. So I asked them, 'Who are ye\nand what are these loads and where are we?;' and they answered, 'We are\nthe servants of the merchant Ali of Cairo, son of the merchant-\njeweller, who hath sent us to fetch you to him at Baghdad.' Quoth I,\n'Tell me, is it far or near, hence to Baghdad?' They replied, 'Near:\nthere lieth between us and the city but the darkness of the night.'\nThen they mounted us in the litter and, when the morrow dawned, we\nfound ourselves with thee, without having suffered any hurt whatever.\"\nQuoth he, \"Who gave you these dresses?;\" and quoth she, \"The chief of\nthe caravan opened one of the boxes on the mules and taking out thereof\nthese clothes, clad me and thy children each in a suit; after which he\nlocked the case and gave me the key, saying, 'Take care of it, till\nthou give it to thy husband.' And here it is safe by me.\" So saying,\nshe gave him the key, and he said, \"Dost thou know the chest?\" Said\nshe, \"Yes, I know it.\" So he took her down to the magazine and showed\nher the boxes, when she cried, \"This is the one whence the dresses were\ntaken;\" upon which he put the key in the lock and opened the chest,\nwherein he found much raiment and the keys of all the other cases. So\nhe took them and fell to opening them, one after another, and feasting\nhis eyes upon the gems and precious ores they contained, whose like was\nnot found with any of the kings; after which he locked them again, took\nthe keys, and returned to the saloon, saying to his wife, \"This is of\nthe bounty of Almighty Allah!\" Then bringing her to the secret slab he\nturned the pin and opened the door of the closet, into which he entered\nwith her and showed her the gold he had laid up therein. Quoth she,\n\"Whence came all this to thee?\" \"It came to me by the grace of my\nLord,\" answered he:\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ali's wife\nhad looked upon the gold she said to him, \"Whence came all this to\nthee?\" \"It came to me by the grace of my Lord,\" answered he: \"When I\nleft thee in my trouble, I shipped at Bulak for Damietta and met a\nfriend there who forwarded me to Damascus\": in brief he told her all\nthat had befallen him, from first to last. Said she, \"O my lord, all\nthis cometh by boon of thy father's blessing and orisons when he prayed\nfor thee, before his death, saying, 'I beseech Allah to cast thee into\nno straits except He grant thee ready relief!' So praised be Allah\nAlmighty for that He hath brought thee deliverance and hath requited\nthee with more than went from thee! But Allah upon thee, O my lord,\nreturn not to thy practice of associating with doubtful folk; but look\nthou fear Allah (whose name be exalted!) both in private and in\npublic.\" And as she went on to admonish him, he said, \"I accept thine\nadmonition and beg the Almighty to remove the froward from amongst us\nand stablish us in His obedience and in the observance of the law and\npractice of His Prophet, on whom be blessings and peace!\" After that\nAli and his wife and children were in all solace of life and gladness;\nand he opened him a shop in the merchants' bazar and, stocking it with\na somewhat of jewels and bullion, sat therein with his children and\nwhite servants. Presently he became the most considerable of the\nmerchants of Baghdad, and his report reached the King of that\ncity,[FN#273] who sent a messenger to command his attendance, saying,\n\"Answer the summons of the King who requireth thee.\" He replied, \"I\nhear and obey,\" and straightway prepared his present and he took four\ntrays of red gold and, filling them with jewels and precious metals,\nsuch as no King possessed, went up to the palace and presenting himself\nbefore the presence, kissed the ground between his hands and wished him\nendurance of goods and glory in the finest language he could command.\nSaid the King, \"O merchant, thou cheerest our city with thy presence!\"\nand Ali rejoined, \"O King of the age, thy slave hath brought thee a\ngift and hopeth for acceptance thereof from thy favour.\" Then he laid\nthe four trays before the King, who uncovered them and seeing that they\ncontained gems, whose fellows he possessed not and whose worth equalled\ntreasuries of money, said, \"Thy present is accepted, O merchant, and\nInshallah! we will requite thee with its like.\" And Ali kissed his\nhands and went away; whereupon the King called his grandees and said to\nthem, \"How many of the Kings have sought my daughter in marriage?\"\n\"Many,\" answered they; and he asked, \"Hath any of them given me the\nlike of this gift?\"; whereto they replied, \"Not one, for that none of\nthem hath its like;\" and he said, \"I have consulted Allah Almighty by\nlot as to marrying my daughter to this merchant. What say ye?\" \"Be it\nas thou reckest,\" answered they. Then he bade the eunuch carry the four\ntrays into his serraglio and going in to his wife, laid them before\nher. She uncovered them and seeing therein that whose like she\npossessed not; no, nor a fraction thereof, said to him, \"From which of\nthe Kings hadst thou these?: perchance of one of the royalties that\nseek thy daughter in marriage?\" Said he, \"Not so, I had them of an\nEgyptian merchant, who is lately come to this our city. Now when I\nheard of his coming I sent to command him to us, thinking to make his\nacquaintance, so haply we might find with him somewhat of jewels and\nbuy them of him for our daughter's trousseau. He obeyed our summons and\nbrought us these four trays, as a present, and I saw him to be a\nhandsome youth of dignified aspect and intelligent as elegant, almost\nsuch as should be the sons of Kings. Wherefore my heart inclined to him\nat sight, and my heart rejoiced in him and I thought good to marry my\ndaughter to him. So I showed the gift to my grandees, who agreed with\nme that none of the Kings hath the like of these and I told them my\nproject. But what sayst thou?\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-second Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King of\nBaghdad, after showing the presents to his wife and highly praising\nAli, the merchant-jeweller, and informing her of the proposed marriage,\nasked, \"But what sayst thou?\" She replied, \"O King of the age, the\nordering this affair is in Allah's hand, and thine, and whatso Allah\nwilleth shall come to pass.\" Rejoined the King, \"If it be His will, I\nwill marry her to none other than this young man.\" He slept on this\nresolve and on the morrow, he went out to his Divan and summoned Ali\nand the rest of the merchants of Baghdad, and when all came bade them\nbe seated. Then said he, \"Bring me the Kazi of the Divan\" and they\nbrought him; whereupon the King said to him, \"O Kazi, write the\ncontract of marriage between my daughter and the merchant Ali the\nCairene.\" But Ali said, \"Thy pardon, O our lord the Sultan! It\nbefitteth not that a trader such as I, be the King's son-in-law.\" Quoth\nthe King, \"It is my will to bestow this favour upon thee, as well as\nthe Wazirate;\" and he invested him forthwith in the Wazir's office and\nministerial robes. Then Ali sat down in the chair of the Wazirate and\nsaid, \"O King of the age, thou hast bestowed on me this; and indeed I\nam honoured by thy bounties; but hear one word I have to say to thee!\"\nHe replied, \"Say on, and fear not.\" Quoth Ali, \"Since it is thine\naugust resolution to marry thy daughter, thou wouldst do better to\nmarry her to my son. Quoth the King, \"Hast thou then a son?\"; and Ali\nreplied, \"Yes.\" \"Send for him forthwith,\" said the King. Thereupon\nanswered Ali \"Hearkening and obedience!\", and despatched a servant to\nfetch his son, who came and kissing the ground before the King, stood\nin an attitude of respect. The King looked at him and seeing him to be\nyet comelier than his daughter and goodlier than she in stature and\nproportion and brightness and perfection, said to him, \"What is thy\nname, O my son?\" \"My name is Hasan, O our lord the Sultan,\" replied the\nyoung man, who was then fourteen years old. Then the Sultan said to the\nKazi, \"Write the contract of marriage between my daughter Husn al-Wujdd\nand Hasan, son of the merchant Ali the Cairene.\" So he wrote the\nmarriage-contract between them, and the affair was ended in the\ngoodliest fashion; after which all in the Divan went their ways and the\nmerchants followed the Wazir Ali, escorting him to his house, where\nthey gave him joy of his advancement and departed. Then he went in to\nhis wife, who seeing him clad in the Wazir's habit, exclaimed, \"What is\nthis?\"; when he told her all that had passed from first to last and she\njoyed therein with exceeding joy. So sped the night and on the morrow,\nhe went up to the Divan, where the King received him with especial\nfavour and seating him close by his side, said, \"O Wazir, we purpose to\nbegin the wedding festivities and bring thy son in to our daughter.\"\nReplied Ali, \"O our lord the Sultan, whatso thou deemest good is good.\"\nSo the Sultan gave orders to celebrate the festivities, and they\ndecorated the city and held high festival for thirty days, in all joy\nand gladness; at the end of which time, Hasan, son of the Wazir Ali,\nwent in to the Princess and enjoyed her beauty and loveliness. When the\nQueen saw her daughter's husband, she conceived a warm affection for\nhim, and in like manner she rejoiced greatly in his mother. Then the\nKing bade build for his son-in-law Hasan Ali-son a palace beside his\nown; so they built him with all speed a splendid palace in which he\ntook up his abode; and his mother used to tarry with him some days and\nthen go down to her own house. After awhile the Queen said to her\nhusband, \"O King of the age, Hasan's lady-mother cannot take up her\nabode with her son and leave the Wazir; neither can she tarry with the\nWazir and leave her son.\" \"Thou sayest sooth,\" replied the King, and\nbade edify a third palace beside that of Hasan, which being done in a\nfew days he caused remove thither the goods of the Wazir, and the\nMinister and his wife took up their abode there. Now the three palaces\ncommunicated with one another, so that when the King had a mind to\nspeak with the Wazir by night, he would go to him or send to fetch him;\nand so with Hasan and his father and mother. On this wise they dwelt in\nall solace and in the greatest happiness\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King and the\nWazir and his son ceased not to dwell in all solace and in the greatest\nhappiness awhile, till the King fell ill and his sickness grew on him.\nSo he summoned the lords of his realm and said to them, \"There is come\nupon me a sore malady, peradventure a mortal; and I have therefore\nsummoned you to consult you respecting a certain matter, on which I\nwould have you counsel me as you deem well.\" They asked, \"What is the\nmatter of which thou wouldst take counsel with us, O King?\"; and he\nanswered, \"I am old and sickly and I fear for the realm after me from\nits enemies; so I would have you all agree upon some one, that I may\nproclaim him King in my lifetime and so ye may be at ease.\" Whereupon\nquoth they with one voice, \"We all approve of thy daughter's husband\nHasan, son of the Wazir Ali; for we have seen his wit and perfect\nunderstanding, and he knoweth the place of all, great and small.\" Asked\nthe King, \"Are ye indeed agreed upon this?\" and they answered, \"Yes.\"\nRejoined he \"Peradventure ye all say this to my face, of respect for\nme; but behind my back ye will say otherwise.\" However, they all\nreplied, \"By Allah, our word is one and the same in public and in\nprivate, and we accept him frankly and with heartiness of heart and\nbreadth of breast.\" Quoth he, \"Since the case is thus, bring the Kazi\nof the Holy Law and all the Chamberlains and Viceroys and Officers of\nstate before me to-morrow, and we will order the affair after the\ngoodliest fashion.\" \"We hear and we obey,\" answered they and\nwithdrawing, notified all the Olema,[FN#274] the doctors of the law and\nthe chief personages among the Emirs. So when the morrow dawned, they\ncame up to the Divan and, having craved and obtained permission to\nenter, they saluted the King, saying, \"Here are we all in thy\npresence.\" Whereto he made reply, \"O Emirs of Baghdad, whom will ye\nhave to be King over you after me, that I may inaugurate him during my\nlifetime, before the presence of you all?\" Quoth they with one voice,\n\"We are agreed upon thy daughter's husband Hasan, son of the Wazir\nAli.\" Quoth he, \"If it be so, go all of you and bring him before me.\"\nSo they all arose and, repairing to Hasan's palace, said to him, \"Rise,\ncome with us to the King.\" \"Wherefore?\" asked he, and they answered,\n\"For a thing that will benefit both us and thee.\" So he went in with\nthem to the King and kissed the ground before his father-in-law who\nsaid to him, \"Be seated, O my son!\" He sat down and the King continued,\n\"O Hasan, all the Emirs have approved of thee and agreed to make thee\nKing over them after me; and it is my purpose to proclaim thee, whilst\nI yet live, and so make an end of the business.\" But Hasan stood up\nand, kissing the ground once more before the King, said to him, \"O our\nlord the King, among the Emirs there be many who are older than I and\ngreater of worth; acquit me therefore of this thing.\" But all the Emirs\ncried out saying, \"We consent not but that thou be King over us.\" Then\nsaid Hasan, \"My father is older than I, and I and he are one thing; and\nit befits not to advance me over him.\" But Ali said, \"I will consent to\nnothing save whatso contenteth my brethren; and they have all chosen\nand agreed upon thee; wherefore gainsay thou not the King's commandment\nand that of thy brethren.\" And Hasan hung his head abashed before the\nKing and his father. Then said the King to the Emirs, \"Do ye all accept\nof him?\" \"We do,\" answered they and recited thereupon seven\nF\u03b1tihahs.[FN#275] So the King said, \"O Kazi, draw up a legal instrument\ntestifying of these Emirs that they are agreed to make King over them\nmy daughter's husband Hasan.\" The Kazi wrote the act and made it\nbinding on all men,[FN#276] after they had sworn in a body the oath of\nfealty to Hasan. Then the King did likewise and bade him take his seat\non the throne of kingship; whereupon they all arose and kissed King\nHasan's hands and did homage to him, and swore lealty to him. And the\nnew King dispensed justice among the people that day in fashion right\nroyal, and invested the grandees of the realm in splendid robes of\nhonour. When the Divan broke up, he went in to and kissed the hands of\nhis father-in-law who spake thus to him, \"O my son, look thou rule the\nlieges in the fear of Allah;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Hasan\nwas quit of the Divan, he went in to and kissed the hands of his wife's\nfather, who spake thus to him, \"O my son, look thou rule the lieges in\nthe fear of Allah;\" whereto he replied, \"O my father, through thy\nprayers for me, the grace and guidance of Allah will come to me.\" Then\nhe entered his own palace and was met by his wife and her mother and\ntheir attendants, who kissed his hands and gave him joy of his\nadvancement, saying, \"Be this day blessed!\" Next he went in to his\nfather and mother, who joyed with exceeding joy in that which Allah had\nvouchsafed him of his advancement to the kingship, and his father\ncharged him to fear Allah and to deal mercifully with his subjects. He\npassed the night in glee and gladness, and on the morrow, having prayed\nthe obligatory prayers ending with the usual short chapters[FN#277] of\nthe Koran, he went up to the Divan, whither came all his officers and\ndignitaries. He passed the day in dispensing justice among the folk,\nbidding to graciousness and forbidding ungraciousness and appointing to\nplace and displacing, till day- end, when the Divan broke up, after the\ngoodliest fashion, and all the troops withdrew and each went his own\nway. Then he arose and repaired to the palace, where he found his\nfather-in-law's sickness grown heavy upon him and said to him, \"May no\nill befal thee!\" At this the old King opened his eyes and said, \"O\nHasan!\" and he replied, \"At thy service, O my lord.\" Quoth the old King\n\"Mine appointed hour is at hand: be thou careful of thy wife and her\nmother, and look thou fear Allah and honour thy parents; and bide in\nawe of the majesty of the Requiting King and bear in mind that He\ncommandeth justice and good works.\" And King Hasan replied, \"I hear and\nobey.\" Now after this the old King lingered three days and then\ndeparted into the mercy of Almighty Allah. So they laid him out and\nshrouded and buried him and held over him readings and perlections of\nthe Koran, to the end of the customary forty days. And King Hasan, son\nof the Wazir, reigned in his stead, and his subjects joyed in him and\nall his days were gladness; moreover, his father ceased not to be his\nchief Wazir on his right hand, and he took to himself another Wazir, to\nbe at his left hand. His reign was a prosperous and well ordered, and\nhe lived a long life as King of Baghdad; and Allah blessed him, by the\nold King's daughter, with three sons who inherited the kingdom after\nhim; and they abode in the solace of life and its pleasures till there\ncame to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of societies.\nAnd the glory be to Him who is eternal and in whose hand are annulling\nand confirming. And of the tales they tell is one of\n\n\n\n\nTHE PILGRIM MAN AND THE OLD WOMAN.\n\nA man of the pilgrims once slept a long sleep and awaking, found no\ntrace of the caravan. So he rose up and walked on, but lost his way and\npresently came to a tent, where he saw an old woman standing at the\nentrance and by her side a dog asleep. He went up to the tent and,\nsaluting the old woman, sought of her food, when she replied, \"Go to\nyonder Wady and catch thy sufficiency of serpents, that I may broil of\nthem for thee and give thee to eat.\" Rejoined the pilgrim, \"I dare not\ncatch serpents nor did I ever eat them.\" Quoth the old woman, \"I will\ngo with thee and catch some; fear not.\" So she went with him, followed\nby the dog, to the valley and, catching a sufficient number of\nserpents, proceeded to broil them. He saw nothing for it (saith the\nstory teller) but to eat, in fear of hunger and exhaustion; so he ate\nof the serpents.[FN#278] Then he was athirst and asked for water to\ndrink; and she answered, \"Go to the spring and drink.\" Accordingly, he\nwent to the spring and found the water thereof bitter; yet needs must\nhe drink of it despite its bitterness, because of the violence of his\nthirst. Presently he returned to the old woman and said to her, \"I\nmarvel, O ancient dame, at thy choosing to sojourn in this place\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\npalmer-man drank the bitter draught for stress of thirst, he returned\nand said \"I marvel, O ancient dame, at thy choosing to sojourn in this\nplace and thy putting up with such meat and drink!\" She asked, \"And how\nis it then in thy country?\"; whereto he answered, \"In my country are\nhouses wide and spacious and fruits ripe and delicious and waters sweet\nand viands savorous and of goodly use and meats fat and full of juice\nand flocks innumerous and all things pleasant and all the goods of\nlife, the like whereof are not, save in the Paradise which Allah the\nOmnipotent hath promised to His servants pious.\" Replied she, \"All this\nhave I heard: but tell me, have ye a Sultan who ruleth over you and is\ntyrannical in his rule and under whose hand you are; one who, if any of\nyou commit an offence, taketh his goods and ruineth him and who, whenas\nhe will, turneth you out of house and home and uprooteth you, stock and\nbranch?\" Replied the man, \"Indeed that may be;\" and she rejoined, \"If\nso, by Allah, these your delicious food and life of daintyhood and\ngifts however good, with tyranny and oppression, are but a searching\npoison, while our coarse meat which in freedom and safety we eat is a\nhealthful medicine. Hast thou not heard that the best of boons, after\nAl-Islam, the true Faith, are sanity and security?\"[FN#279] \"Now such\nboons (quoth he who telleth the tale) may be by the just rule of the\nSultan, Vice-regent of Allah on His earth, and the goodness of his\npolity. The Sultan of time past needed but little awfulness, for when\nthe lieges saw him, they feared him; but the Sultan of these days hath\nneed of the most accomplished polity and the utmost majesty, because\nmen are not as men of by-gone time and this our age is one of folk\nopprobrious, and is greatly calamitous, noted for folly and hardness of\nheart and inclined to hate and enmity. If, therefore, the Sultan (which\nAlmighty Allah forfend!) be weak or wanting in polity and majesty, this\nwill be the assured cause of his country's ruin. Quoth the proverb, 'An\nhundred years of the Sultan's tyranny, but not one year of the people's\ntyranny one over other.' When the lieges oppress one another, Allah\nsetteth over them a tyrannical Sultan and a terrible King. Thus it is\ntold in history that one day there was sent to Al-Hajj\u03b1j bin Y\u03casuf a\nslip of paper, whereon was written, 'Fear Allah and oppress not His\nservants with all manner of oppression.' When he read this, he mounted\nthe pulpit (for he was eloquent and ever ready of speech), and said, 'O\nfolk, Allah Almighty hath made me ruler over you, by reason of your\nfrowardness;'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Hajjaj\nYousuf-son read the paper he mounted the pulpit and said, \"O folk,\nAllah Almighty hath made me ruler over you by reason of your\nfrowardness; and indeed, though I die yet will ye not be delivered from\noppression, with these your ill deeds; for the Almighty hath created\nlike unto me many an one. If it be not I, 'twill be one more\nmischievous than I and a mightier in oppression and a more merciless in\nhis majesty; even as saith the poet:[FN#280]\u2014\n\n          'For not a deed the hand can try\n\n\n          Save 'neath the hand of God on high,\n\n\n          Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny\n\n\n          Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.'\n\n\n\nTyranny is feared: but justice is the best of all things. We beg\n\n\nAllah to better our case!\" And among tales is that of\n\n\n\n\nABU AL-HUSN AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL TAWADDUD.[FN#281]\n\nThere was once in Baghdad a man of consequence and rich in monies and\nimmoveables, who was one of the chiefs of the merchants; and Allah had\nlargely endowed him with worldly goods, but had not vouchsafed him what\nhe longed for of offspring; and there passed over him a long space of\ntime, without his being blessed with issue, male or female. His years\nwaxed great; his bones became wasted and his back bent; weakness and\nweariness grew upon him, and he feared the loss of his wealth and\npossessions, seeing he had no child whom he might make his heir and by\nwhom his name should be remembered. So he betook himself with\nsupplication to Almighty Allah, fasting by day and praying through the\nnight. Moreover, he vowed many vows to the Living, the Eternal; and\nvisited the pious and was constant in supplication to the Most Highest,\ntill He gave ear to him and accepted his prayer and took pity on his\nstraining and complaining; so that, before many days were past, he knew\ncarnally one of his women and she conceived by him the same night. In\ndue time she finished her months and, casting her burden, bore a male\nchild as he were a slice of the moon; whereupon the merchant fulfilled\nhis vows in his gratitude to Allah, (to whom be honour and glory!) and\ngave alms and clothed the widow and the orphan. On the seventh night\nafter the boy's birth, he named him Abu al-Husn,[FN#282] and the\nwet-nurses suckled him and the dry-nurses dandled him and the servants\nand the slaves carried him and handled him, till he shot up and grew\ntall and throve greatly and learnt the Sublime Koran and the ordinances\nof Al-Islam and the Canons of the True Faith; and calligraphy and\npoetry and mathematics and archery. On this wise he became the\nunion-pearl of his age and the goodliest of the folk of his time and\nhis day; fair of face and of tongue fluent, carrying himself with a\nlight and graceful gait and glorying in his stature proportionate and\namorous graces which were to many a bait: and his cheeks were red and\nflower-white was his forehead and his side face waxed brown with tender\ndown, even as saith one, describing him,\n\n\"The spring of the down on cheeks right clearly shows: * And how\n\n\n     when the Spring is gone shall last the rose?\n\n\nDost thou not see that the growth upon his cheek * Is violet-\n\n\n     bloom that from its leaves outgrows.\"\n\n\n\nHe abode awhile in ease and happiness with his father, who rejoiced and\ndelighted in him, till he came to man's estate, when the merchant one\nday made him sit down before him and said, \"O my son, the appointed\nterm draweth near; my hour of death is at hand and it remaineth but to\nmeet Allah (to whom belong Majesty and Might!). I leave thee what shall\nsuffice thee, even to thy son's son, of monies and mansions, farms and\ngardens; wherefore, fear thou Almighty Allah, O my son, in dealing with\nthat which I bequeath to thee and follow none but those who will help\nthee to the Divine favour.\" Not long after, he sickened and died; so\nhis son ordered his funeral,[FN#283] after the goodliest wise, and\nburying him, returned to his house and sat mourning for him many days\nand nights. But behold, certain of his friends came in to him and said\nto him, \"Whoso leaveth a son like thee is not dead; indeed, what is\npast is past and fled and mourning beseemeth none but the young maid\nand the wife cloistered.\" And they ceased not from him till they\nwrought on him to enter the Hammam and break off his mourning.\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Abu al-Husn\nwas visited by his friends and taken to the Hamman and persuaded to\nbreak off his mourning, he presently forgot his father's charge, and\nhis head was turned by his riches; he thought fortune would always wone\nwith him as it was, and that wealth would ever wax and never wane. So\nhe ate and drank and made merry and took his pleasure and gave gifts of\ngear and coin and was profuse with gold and addrest himself up to\neating fowls and breaking the seals of wine-flasks and listening to the\ngiggle of the daughter of the vine, as she gurgled from the flagon and\nenjoying the jingle of the singing-girls; nor did he give over this way\nof life, till his wealth was wasted and the case worsened and all his\ngoods went from him and he bit his hands[FN#284] in bitter penitence.\nFor of a truth he had nothing left, after that which he had squandered,\nbut a concubine, a slave-girl whom his father had bequeathed to him\nwith the rest of his estate: and she had no equal in beauty and\nloveliness and brightness and liveliness and symmetric stature and\nperfect grace. She was past mistress in every manner of arts and\naccomplishments and endowed with many excellences, surpassing all the\nfolk of her age and time. She was grown more notorious than a\nway-mark,[FN#285] for her seductive genius, and outdid the fair both in\ntheory and practice, and she was noted for her swimming gait, flexile\nand delicate, albeit she was full five feet in height and by all the\nboons of fortune deckt and dight, with strait arched brows twain, as\nthey were the crescent moon of Sha'ab\u03b1n,[FN#286] and eyes like\ngazelles' eyne; and nose like the edge of scymitar fine and cheeks like\nanemones of blood-red shine; and mouth like Solomon's seal and sign and\nteeth like necklaces of pearls in line; and navel holding an ounce of\noil of benzoin and waist more slender than his body whom love hath\nwasted and whom concealment hath made sick with pine and hind parts\nheavier than two hills of sand; briefly she was a volume of charms\nafter his saying who saith,\n\n\"Her fair shape ravisheth, if face to face she did appear, * And\n\n\n     if she turn, for severance from her she slayeth sheer.\n\n\nSun-like, full-moon-like, sapling-like, unto her character *\n\n\n     Estrangement no wise appertains nor cruelty austere.\n\n\nUnder the bosom of her shift the garths of Eden are * And the\n\n\n     full-moon revolveth still upon her neck-rings'\n\n\n     sphere.\"[FN#287]\n\n\n\nShe seemed a full moon rising and a gazelle browsing, a girl of nine\nplus five[FN#288] shaming the moon and sun, even as saith of her the\nsayer eloquent and ingenious,\n\n\"Semblance of full-moon Heaven bore, * When five and five are\n\n\n     conjoined by four;\n\n\n'Tis not my sin if she made of me * Its like when it riseth\n\n\n     horizon o'er.\"[FN#289]\n\n\n\nClean of skin, odoriferous of breath, it seemed as if she were of fire\nfashioned and of crystal moulded; rose-red was the cheek of her and\nperfect the shape and form of her; even as one saith of her, describing\nher,\n\n\"Scented with sandal[FN#290] and musk, right proudly doth she go,\n\n\n     * With gold and silver and rose and saffron-colour aglow.\n\n\nA flower in a garden she is, a pearl in an ouch of gold * Or an\n\n\n     image in chapel[FN#291] set for worship of high and low.\n\n\nSlender and shapely she is; vivacity bids her arise, * But the\n\n\n     weight of her hips says, 'Sit, or softly and slowly go.'\n\n\nWhenas her favours I seek and sue for my heart's desire, * 'Be\n\n\n     gracious,' her beauty says; but her coquetry answers, 'No.'\n\n\nGlory to Him who made beauty her portion, and that * Of her lover\n\n\n     to be the prate of the censurers, heigho!\"[FN#292]\n\n\n\nShe captivated all who saw her, with the excellence of her beauty and\nthe sweetness of her smile,[FN#293] and shot them down with the shafts\nshe launched from her eyes; and withal she was eloquent of speech and\nexcellently skilled in verse. Now when Abu al-Husn had squandered all\nhis gold, and his ill-plight all could behold, and there remained to\nhim naught save this slave-girl, he abode three days without tasting\nmeat or taking rest in sleep, and the handmaid said to him, \"O my lord,\ncarry me to the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid,\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the\nslave-girl to her master, \"O my lord, carry me to Harun al-Rashid,\nfifth of the sons of Abbas, and seek of him to my price ten thousand\ndinars. If he deem me dear, say to him: 'O Prince of True Believers, my\nhandmaid is worth more than this: do but prove her, and her value will\nbe magnified in thine eyes; for this slave-girl hath not her equal, and\nshe were unfit to any but thou.'\" And she added, \"Beware, O my lord, of\nselling me at less than the sum I have named; indeed 'tis but little\nfor the like of me.\" Now her owner knew not her worth nor that she had\nno equal in her day; but he carried her to the Caliph and set her in\nthe presence and repeated what she had bidden him say. The Caliph asked\nher, \"What is thy name?\"; to which she answered, \"My name is\nTawaddud.\"[FN#294] He then enquired, \"O Tawaddud, in what branches of\nknowledge dost thou excel?\"; and she replied, \"O my lord, I am versed\nin syntax and poetry and jurisprudence and exegesis and philosophy; and\nI am skilled in music and the knowledge of the Divine ordinances and in\narithmetic and geodesy and geometry and the fables of the ancients. I\nknow the Sublime Koran by heart and have read it according to the\nseven, the ten and the fourteen modes. I know the number of its\nchapters and versets and sections and words; and its halves and fourths\nand eighths and tenths; the number of prostrations which occur in it\nand the sum total of its letters; and I know what there is in it of\nabrogating and abrogated[FN#295]; also what parts of it were revealed\nat Al-Medinah and what at Meccah and the cause of the different\nrevelations. I know the Holy Traditions of the Apostle's sayings,\nhistorical and legendary, the established and those whose ascription is\ndoubtful; and I have studied the exact sciences, geometry and\nphilosophy and medicine and logic and rhetoric and composition; and I\nhave learnt many things by rote and am passionately fond of poetry. I\ncan play the lute and know its gamut and notes and notation and the\ncrescendo and diminuendo. If I sing and dance, I seduce, and if I dress\nand scent myself, I slay. In fine, I have reached a pitch of perfection\nsuch as can be estimated only by those of them who are firmly rooted in\nknowledge.\"[FN#296] Now when the Caliph heard these words spoken by one\nso young, he wondered at her eloquence, and turning to Abu al-Husn,\nsaid, \"I will summon those who shall discuss with her all she claimeth\nto know; if she answer correctly, I will give thee the price thou\naskest for her and more; and if not, thou art fitter to have her than\nI.\" \"With gladness and goodly gree, O Commander of the Faithful,\"\nreplied Abu al-Husn. So the Caliph wrote to the Viceroy of Bassorah, to\nsend him Ibrahim bin Siyy\u03b1r the prosodist, who was the first man of his\nday in argument and eloquence and poetry and logic, and bade him bring\nwith him readers of the Koran and learned doctors of the law and\nphysicians and astrologers and scientists and mathematicians and\nphilosophers; and Ibrahim was more learned than all. In a little while\nthey arrived at the palace of the Caliphate, knowing not what was to\ndo, and the Caliph sent for them to his sitting-chamber and ordered\nthem to be seated. So they sat down and he bade bring the damsel\nTawaddud who came and unveiling, showed herself, as she were a\nsparkling star.[FN#297] The Caliph set her a stool of gold; and she\nsaluted, and speaking with an eloquent tongue, said, \"O Commander of\nthe Faithful, bid the Olema and the doctors of law and leaches and\nastrologers and scientists and mathematicians and all here present\ncontend with me in argument.\" So he said to them, \"I desire of you that\nye dispute with this damsel on the things of her faith, and stultify\nher argument in all she advanceth;\" and they answered, saying, \"We hear\nand we obey Allah and thee, O Commander of the Faithful.\" Upon this\nTawaddud bowed her head and said, \"Which of you is the doctor of the\nlaw, the scholar, versed in the readings of the Koran and in the\nTraditions?\" Quoth one of them, \"I am the man thou seekest.\" Quoth she,\n\"Then ask me of what thou wilt.\" Said the doctor, \"Hast thou read the\nprecious book of Allah and dost thou know its cancelling and cancelled\nparts and hast thou meditated its versets and its letters?\" \"Yes,\"\nanswered she. \"Then,\" said he, \"I will proceed to question thee of the\nobligations and the immutable ordinances: so tell me of these, O\ndamsel, and who is thy Lord, who thy prophet, who thy Guide, what is\nthy point of fronting in prayer, and who be thy brethren? Also what thy\nspiritual path and what thy highway?\" Whereto she replied, \"Allah is my\nLord, and Mohammed (whom Allah save and assain!) my prophet, and the\nKoran is my guide and the Ka'abah my fronting; and the True-believers\nare my brethren. The practice of good is my path and the Sunnah my\nhighway.\" The Caliph again marvelled at her words so eloquently spoken\nby one so young; and the doctor pursued, \"O damsel, with what do we\nknow Almighty Allah?\" Said she, \"With the understanding.\" Said he, \"And\nwhat is the understanding?\" Quoth she, \"It is of two kinds, natural and\nacquired.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel\ncontinued, \"The understanding is of two kinds, natural and acquired.\nThe natural is that which Allah (to whom be honour and glory!) created\nfor the right direction of His servants after His will; and the\nacquired is that which men accomplish by dint of study and fair\nknowledge.\" He rejoined, \"Thou hast answered well.\" Q \"Where is the\nseat of the understanding?\"\u2014\"Allah casteth it in the heart whence its\nlustrous beams ascend to the brain and there become fixed.\" Q \"How\nknowest thou the Prophet of Allah?\" \"By the reading of Allah's Holy\nBook and by signs and proofs and portents and miracles!\" Q \"What are\nthe obligations and the immutable ordinances?\" \"The obligations are\nfive. (1) Testification that there is no il\u03b1h[FN#298] but Allah, no god\nbut the God alone and One, which for partner hath none, and that\nMohammed is His servant and His apostle. (2) The standing in\nprayers.[FN#299] (3) The payment of the poor-rate. (4) Fasting Ramazan.\n(5) The Pilgrimage to Allah's Holy House for all to whom the journey is\npossible. The immutable ordinances are four; to wit, night and day and\nsun and moon, the which build up life and hope; nor any son of Adam\nwotteth if they will be destroyed on the Day of Judgment.\" Q \"What are\nthe obligatory observances of the Faith?\" \"They are five, prayer,\nalmsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage, fighting for the Faith and abstinence\nfrom the forbidden.\" Q \"Why dost thou stand up to pray?\" \"To express\nthe devout intent of the slave acknowledging the Deity.\" Q \"What are\nthe obligatory conditions which precede standing in prayer?\"\n\"Purification, covering the shame, avoidance of soiled clothes,\nstanding on a clean place, fronting the Ka'abah, an upright posture,\nthe intent[FN#300] and the pronouncing 'Allaho Akbar' of\nprohibition.\"[FN#301] Q \"With what shouldest thou go forth from thy\nhouse to pray?\" \"With the intent of worship mentally pronounced.\" Q\n\"With what intent shouldest thou enter the mosque?\" \"With an intent of\nservice.\" Q \"Why do we front the Kiblah[FN#302]?\" \"In obedience to\nthree Divine orders and one Traditional ordinance.\" Q \"What are the\nbeginning, the consecration and the end of prayer?\" \"Purification\nbeginneth prayer, saying the Allaho Akbar of prohibition consecrateth,\nand the salutation endeth prayer.\" Q \"What deserveth he who neglecteth\nprayer?\" \"It is reported, among the authentic Traditions of the\nProphet, that he said, 'Whoso neglecteth prayer wilfully and purposely\nhath no part in Al-Islam.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fortieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that after the damsel\nhad repeated the words of that Holy Tradition the doctor cried, \"Thou\nhast replied aright: now say me, what is prayer?\" \"Prayer is communion\nbetween the slave and his lord, and in it are ten virtues: (1) it\nillumineth the heart; (2) it maketh the face shine; (3) it pleaseth the\nCompassionate One; (4) it angereth Satan; (5) it conjureth calamity;\n(6) it wardeth off the mischief of enemies; (7) it multiplieth mercy;\n(8) it forfendeth vengeance and punishment; (9) it bringeth the slave\nnigh unto his lord; and (10) it restraineth from lewdness and\nfrowardness. Hence it is one of the absolute requisites and obligatory\nordinances and the pillar of the Faith.\" Q \"What is the key of prayer?\"\n\"Wuzd or the lesser ablution.\"[FN#303] Q \"What is the key to the lesser\nablution?\" \"Intention and naming the Almighty.\" Q \"What is the key of\nnaming the Almighty?\" \"Assured faith.\" Q \"What is the key of faith?\"\n\"Trust in the Lord.\" Q \"What is the key of trust in the Lord?\" \"Hope.\"\nQ \"What is the key of hope?\" \"Obedience.\" Q \"What is the key of\nobedience?\" \"The confession of the Unity and the acknowledgment of the\ndivinity of Allah.\" Q \"What are the Divine ordinances of Wuzu, the\nminor ablution?\" \"They are six, according to the canon of the Imam\nal-Sh\u03b1fi'\u03bd Mohammed bin Idris (of whom Allah accept!): (1) intent while\nwashing the face; (2) washing the face; (3) washing the hands and\nforearms; (4) wiping part of the head; (5) washing the feet and heels;\nand (6) observing due order.[FN#304] And the traditional statutes are\nten: (1) nomination; (2) and washing the hands before putting them into\nthe water-pot; (3) and mouth-rinsing; (4) and snuffing;[FN#305] (5) and\nwiping the whole head; (6) and wetting the ears within and without with\nfresh water; (7) and separating a thick beard; (8) and separating the\nfingers and toes;[FN#306] (9) and washing the right foot before the\nleft and (10) doing each of these thrice and all in unbroken order.\nWhen the minor ablution is ended, the worshipper should say, I testify\nthat there is no god but the God, the One, which for partner hath none,\nand I testify that Mohammed is His servant and His apostle. O my Allah,\nmake me of those who repent and in purity are permanent! Glory to Thee,\nO my God, and in Thy praise I bear witness, that there is no god save\nThou! I crave pardon of Thee and I repent to Thee! For it is reported,\nin the Holy Traditions, that the Prophet (whom Allah bless and\npreserve!) said of this prayer, 'Whoso endeth every ablution with this\nprayer, the eight gates of Paradise are open to him; he shall enter at\nwhich he pleaseth.'\" Q \"When a man purposeth ablution, what betideth\nhim from the angels and the devils?\" \"When a man prepareth for\nablution, the angels come and stand on his right and the devils on his\nleft hand.[FN#307] If he name Almighty Allah at the beginning of the\nablution, the devils flee from him and the angels hover over him with a\npavilion of light, having four ropes, to each an angel glorifying Allah\nand craving pardon for him, so long as he remaineth silent or calleth\nupon the name of Allah. But if he omit to begin washing with naming\nAllah (to whom belong might and majesty!), neither remain silent, the\ndevils take command of him; and the angels depart from him and Satan\nwhispereth evil thoughts unto him, till he fall into doubt and come\nshort in his ablution. For (quoth he on whom be blessing and peace!),\n'A perfect ablution driveth away Satan and assureth against the tyranny\nof the Sultan'; and again quoth he, 'If calamity befal one who is not\npure by ablution; verily and assuredly let him blame none but\nhimself.'\" Q \"What should a man do when he awaketh from sleep?\" \"He\nshould wash his hands thrice, before putting them into the water\nvessel.\" Q \"What are the Koranic and traditional orders anent Ghusl,\nthe complete ablution[FN#308]?\" \"The divine ordinances are intent and\n'crowning'[FN#309] the whole body with water, that is, the liquid shall\ncome at every part of the hair and skin. Now the traditional ordinances\nare the minor ablution as preliminary; rubbing the body; separating the\nhair and deferring in words[FN#310] the washing of the feet till the\nend of the ablution.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nhad recounted to the doctor what were the divine and traditional orders\nanent Ghusl or total ablution, quoth he, \"Thou hast replied aright: now\ntell me what are the occasions for Tayammum, or making the ablution\nwith sand and dust; and what are the ordinances thereof, divine and\nhuman?\" \"The reasons are seven, viz.: want of water; fear lest water\nlack; need thereto; going astray on a march; sickness; having broken\nbones in splints and having open wounds.[FN#311] As for its ordinances,\nthe divine number four, viz., intent, dust, clapping it to the face and\nclapping it upon the hands; and the human number two, nomination and\npreferring the right before the left hand.\" Q \"What are the conditions,\nthe pillars or essentials, and the traditional statutes of prayer?\"\n\"The conditions are five: (1) purification of the members; (2) covering\nof the privy parts; (3) observing the proper hours, either of certainty\nor to the best of one's belief; (4) fronting the Kiblah; and (5)\nstanding on a clean place. The pillars or essentials number twelve: (1)\nintent; (2) the Takb\u03bdr or magnification of prohibition; (3) standing\nwhen able to stand[FN#312]; (4) repeating the Fatihah or opening\nchapter of the Koran and saying, 'In the name of Allah, the\nCompassionating, the Compassionate!' with a verse thereof according to\nthe canon of the Imam Al-Shafi'i; (5) bowing the body and keeping it\nbowed; (6) returning to the upright posture and so remaining for the\ntime requisite; (7) prostration and permanence therein; (8) sitting\nbetween two prostrations and permanence therein; (9) repeating the\nlatter profession of the Faith and sitting up therefor; (10) invoking\nbenediction on the Prophet (whom Allah bless and preserve!) (11) the\nfirst Salutation,[FN#313] and (12) the intent of making an end of\nprayer expressed in words. But the traditional statutes are the call to\nprayer; the standing posture; raising the hands (to either side of the\nface) whilst pronouncing the prohibition; uttering the magnification\nbefore reciting the Fatihah; seeking refuge with Allah[FN#314]; saying,\n'Amen'; repeating the chapter of the Koran after the Fatihah, repeating\nthe magnifications during change of posture; saying, 'May Allah hear\nhim who praiseth Him! and O our Lord, to Thee be the praise!'; praying\naloud in the proper place[FN#315] and praying under the breath prayers\nso prescribed; the first profession of unity and sitting up thereto;\nblessing the Prophet therein; blessing his family in the latter\nprofession and the second Salutation.\" Q \"On what is the Zak\u03b1t or\nobligatory poor-rate taxable?\" \"On gold and silver and camels and oxen\nand sheep and wheat and barley and holcus and millet and beans and\nvetches and rice and raisins and dates.\" Q \"What is the Zak\u03b1t or\npoor-rate on gold?\" \"Below twenty miskals or dinars, nothing; but on\nthat amount half a dinar for every score and so on\nproportionally.[FN#316]\" Q \"On silver?\" \"Under two hundred dirhams\nnothing, then five dirhams on every two hundred and so forth.\" Q \"On\ncamels?\" \"For every five, an ewe, or for every twenty-five a pregnant\ncamel.\" Q \"On sheep?\" \"An ewe for every forty head,\" Q \"What are the\nordinances of the Ramazan Fast?\" \"The Koranic are intent; abstinence\nfrom eating, drinking and carnal copulation, and the stoppage of\nvomiting. It is incumbent on all who submit to the Law, save women in\ntheir courses and forty days after childbirth; and it becomes\nobligatory on sight of the new moon or on news of its appearance,\nbrought by a trustworthy person and commending itself as truth to the\nhearer's heart; and among its requisites is that the intent be\npronounced at nightfall. The traditional ordinances of fasting are,\nhastening to break the fast at sundown; deferring the fore-dawn\nmeal,[FN#317] and abstaining from speech, save for good works and for\ncalling on the name of Allah and reciting the Koran.\" Q \"What things\nvitiate not the fast?\" \"The use of unguents and eye-powders and the\ndust of the road and the undesigned swallowing of saliva and the\nemission of seed in nocturnal pollution or at the sight of a strange\nwoman and blooding and cupping; none of these things vitiates the\nfast.\" Q \"What are the prayers of the two great annual Festivals?\" \"Two\none-bow prayers, which be a traditional ordinance, without call to\nprayer or standing up to pronounce the call;[FN#318] but let the Moslem\nsay, 'Prayer is a collector of all folk!'[FN#319] and pronounce 'Allaho\nAkbar' seven times in the first prayer, besides the Takbir of\nprohibition; and, in the second, five times, besides the magnification\nof rising up (according to the doctrine of the Imam Al-Shafi'i, on whom\nAllah have mercy!) and make the profession of the Faith.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nhad answered the doctor anent the Festival-prayers, quoth he, \"Thou\nhast replied aright: now tell me what are the prayers prescribed on the\noccasion of an eclipse of the sun or moon?\" \"Two one-bow prayers\nwithout call to prayer or standing thereto by the worshipper, who shall\nmake in each two-bow prayer double standing up and double inclinations\nand two-fold prostrations, then sit and testify and salute.\" Q \"What is\nthe ritual of prayer for rain?\" \"Two one-bow prayers without call to\nprayer or standing thereto; then shall the Moslem make the profession\nand salute. Moreover the Imam shall deliver an exhortation and ask\npardon of Allah, in place of the magnification, as in the two sermons\nof the Festivals and turn his mantle upper edge downwards and pray and\nsupplicate.\" Q \"What are the Witr, the additional or occasional\nprayers?\" \"The least is a one-bow prayer and the most eleven.\" Q \"What\nis the forenoon prayer?\" \"At least, two one-bow prayers and at most,\ntwelve.\" Q \"What hast thou to say of the I'itik\u03b1f or retreat[FN#320]?\"\n\"It is a matter of traditional ordinance.\" Q \"What are its conditions?\"\n\"(1) intent; (2) not leaving the mosque save of necessity; (3) not\nhaving to do with a woman; (4) fasting; and (5) abstaining from\nspeech.\" Q \"Under what conditions is the Hajj or Pilgrimage[FN#321]\nobligatory?\" \"Manhood, and understanding and being a Moslem and\npracticability; in which case it is obligatory on all, once before\ndeath.\" Q \"What are the Koranic statutes of the Pilgrimage?\" \"(1) The\nIhr\u03b1m or pilgrim's habit; (2) the standing at Arafat; (3)\ncircumambulating the Ka'abah; (4) running between Saf\u03b1 and\nMarwah[FN#322]; and (5) shaving or clipping the hair.\" Q \"What are the\nKoranic statutes of the 'Umrah[FN#323] or lesser pilgrimage?\" \"Assuming\nthe pilgrim's habit and compassing and running.\" Q \"What are the\nKoranic ordinances of the assumption of the pilgrim's habit?\"[FN#324]\n\"Doffing sewn garments, forswearing perfume and ceasing to shave the\nhead or pare the nails, and avoiding the killing of game, and eschewing\ncarnal copulation.\" Q \"What are the traditional statutes of the\npilgrimage?\" \"(1) The crying out 'Labbay'ka, Adsum, Here am I, O our\nLord, here am I!'[FN#325]4 (2) the Ka'abah-circuitings[FN#326] of\narrival and departure; (3) the passing the night at the Mosque of\nMuzdalifah and in the valley of Mina, and (4) the lapidation.[FN#327]\"\nQ \"What is the Jih\u03b1d or Holy War and its essentials?\" \"Its essentials\nare: (1) the descent of the Infidels upon us; (2) the presence of the\nImam; (3) a state of preparation; and (4) firmness in meeting the foe.\nIts traditional ordinance is incital to battle, in that the Most High\nhath said, 'O thou my Prophet, incite the faithful to fight!'[FN#328]\"\nQ \"What are the ordinances of buying and selling?\" \"The Koranic are:\n(1) offer and acceptance and (2) if the thing sold be a white slave, by\nwhom one profiteth, all possible endeavour to convert him to Al-Islam;\nand (3) to abstain from usury; the traditional are: making void[FN#329]\nand option before not after separating, according to his saying (whom\nAllah bless and preserve!), 'The parties to a sale shall have the\noption of cancelling or altering terms whilst they are yet\nunseparated.'\", Q \"What is it forbidden to sell for what?\" \"On this\npoint I mind me of an authentic tradition, reported by N\u03b1f'i[FN#330] of\nthe Apostle of Allah, that he forbade the barter of dried dates for\nfresh and fresh figs for dry and jerked for fresh meat and cream for\nclarified butter; in fine, all eatables of one and the same kind, it is\nunlawful to buy or barter some for other some.[FN#331]\" Now when the\ndoctor of law heard her words and knew that she was wit-keen,\npenetrative, ingenious and learned in jurisprudence and the Traditions\nand the interpretation of the Koran and what not else, he said in his\nmind, \"Needs must I manoeuvre with her, that I may overcome her in the\nassembly of the Commander of the Faithful.\" So he said to her, \"O\ndamsel, what is the lexicographical meaning of Wuzu?\" And she answered,\n\"Philologically it signifieth cleanliness and freedom from impurities.\"\nQ \"And of Sal\u03b1t or prayer?\" \"An invocation of good\" Q \"And of Ghusl?\"\n\"Purification.\" Q \"And of Saum or fasting?\" \"Abstention.\" Q \"And of\nZak\u03b1t?\" \"Increase. Q \"And of Hajj or pilgrimage?\" \"Visitation.\" Q \"And\nof Jih\u03b1d?\" \"Repelling.\" With this the doctor's arguments were cut\noff,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the doctor's\narguments were cut off, he rose to his feet and said, \"Bear witness\nagainst me, O Commander of the Faithful, that this damsel is more\nlearned in the Law than I am.\" Quoth she, \"I will ask thee somewhat,\nwhich do thou answer me speedily, an thou be indeed a learned man.\"\nQuoth he, \"Say on;\" and she said, \"What are the arrows of the Faith?\"\nAnswered he, \"They number ten: (1) Testification, that is, religion;\n(2) Prayer, that is, the covenant; (3) Alms, that is, purification; (4)\nFasting, that is, defensive armour; (5) Pilgrimage, that is, the Law;\n(6) Fighting for the Faith, that is, a general duty; (7) Bidding to\nbeneficence and (8) Forbidding from frowardness, both of which are a\nman's honour; (9) Commune,[FN#332] that is, sociableness of the\nFaithful; and (10) Seeking knowledge, that is, the praiseworthy path.\"\nShe rejoined, \"Thou hast replied aright and now remaineth but one\nquestion, 'What be the roots or fundamentals of Al-Islam?'\" He said\n\"They are four: sincerity of belief, truth of intent, observance of the\nlawful limit and keeping the covenant.\" Then said she, \"I have one more\nquestion to ask thee, which if thou answer, it is well; else, I will\ntake thy clothes.\" Quoth he, \"Speak, O damsel;\" and she said, \"What are\nthe branches or superstructure of Al-Islam?\" But he was silent awhile\nand made no reply: so she cried \"Doff thy clothes and I will expound\nthem to thee.\" Quoth the Caliph \"Expound them, and I will make him put\noff his clothes for thee.\" She said, \"There are two-and-twenty\nbranches: (1) holding fast to the Book of Allah the Most Highest; (2)\ntaking example by His Apostle (whom Allah bless and preserve!); (3)\nabstaining from evil doing; (4) eating what is lawful and (5) avoiding\nwhat is unlawful; (6) restitution of things wrongfully taken; (7)\nrepentance; (8) knowledge of the Law; (9) love of the Friend,[FN#333]\n(10) and of the followers of the true Revelation; (11) belief in the\napostles of Al-Islam; (12) fear of apostacy; (13) preparation for\ndeparting this life; (14) force of conviction; (15) mercy on all\npossible occasions; (16) strength in time of weakness; (17) patience\nunder trials; (18) knowledge of Allah Almighty and (19) of what His\nProphet hath made known to us; (20) thwarting Iblis the accursed; (21)\nstriving earnestly against the lusts of the soul and warring them down,\nand (22) devotion to the one God.\" Now when the Commander of the\nFaithful heard her words, he bade the professor put off his clothes and\nhooded turband; and so did that doctor and went forth, beaten and\nconfounded, from the Caliph's presence. Thereupon another man stood up\nand said to her, \"O damsel, hear a few questions from me.\" Quoth she,\n\"Say on;' and he asked, \"What are the conditions of purchase by\nadvance?\" whereto she answered, \"That the price be fixed, the kind be\nfixed and the period of delivery be fixed and known.\" Q \"What are the\nKoranic and the traditional canons of eating?\" \"The confession that\nAllah Almighty provideth the eater and giveth him meat and drink, with\nthanksgiving to Him therefor.\" Q \"What is thanksgiving?\" \"The use by\nthe creature of that which the Creator vouchsafeth to him, according as\nit was created for the creature.\" Q \"What are the traditional canons of\neating?\" \"The Bismillah[FN#334] and washing both hands; sitting on the\nleft of the hind part; eating with three fingers, and eating of that\nwhich hath been duly masticated.[FN#335]\" Q \"What are good manners in\neating?\" \"Taking small mouthfuls and looking little at one's\ntable-companion.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nhad answered concerning good manners in eating, the doctor who was\ntrying her, rejoined, \"Thou hast replied aright. Now tell me what are\nthe stays of the heart and their supports?\"[FN#336] \"The stays and\nsupports both number three: (1) holding fast to the Faith, the support\nwhereof is the shunning of infidelity; (2) holding fast to the\nTraditional Law, and its support the shunning of innovation; and (3)\nholding fast to obedience, and its support the shunning of\ndisobedience.\" Q \"What are the conditions of Wuzu?\" \"(1) being a\nMoslem; (2) discernment of good and evil; (3) purity of the water, and\n(4) absence of material or religious impediments.\" Q \"What is belief?\"\n\"It is divided into nine parts: (1) belief in the One worshipped; (2)\nbelief in the condition of slavery of the worshipper; (3) belief in the\npersonality of the Deity; (4) belief in the Two Handfuls;[FN#337] (5)\nbelief in Providence which allotteth to man his lot; (6) belief in the\nAbrogating and (7) in the Abrogated; (8) belief in Allah, His angels\nand apostles; and (9) in fore-ordained Fate, general and individual,\nits good and ill, its sweet and bitter.\" Q \"What three things do away\nother three?\" \"It is told of Sufy\u03b1n al-Saur\u03bd[FN#338] that he said,\n'Three things do away with other three. Making light of the pious doth\naway the future life; making light of Kings doth away this life; and,\nmaking light of expenditure doth away wealth.'\" Q \"What are the keys of\nthe heavens, and how many gates have they.?\" \"Quoth Almighty Allah,\n'And the heaven shall be opened and be full of portals;'[FN#339] and\nquoth he whom Allah bless and preserve!, 'None knoweth the number of\nthe gates of heavens, save He who created the heavens, and there is no\nson of Adam but hath two gates allotted to him in the heavens, one\nwhereby his daily bread descendeth and another wherethrough his works\nascend. The first gate is not closed, save when his term of life cometh\nto an end, nor the gate of works, good and evil, till his soul ascend\nfor judgment.'\" Q \"Tell me of a thing and a half thing and a no-thing.\"\n\"The thing is the Moslem; the half thing the hypocrite,[FN#340] and the\nno-thing the miscreant.\" Q \"Tell me of various kinds of hearts.\" \"There\nis the whole heart, the sick heart, the contrite heart, the vowed heart\nand the enlightened heart. Now the whole heart is that of Abraham, the\nFriend of Allah; the sick heart is that of the Unbeliever in Al-Islam;\nthe contrite heart is that of the pious who fear the Lord; the vowed\nheart is that of our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!) and the\nilluminated heart is that of his followers. Furthermore, the hearts of\nlearned Olema are of three kinds, the heart which is in love with this\nworld; the heart which loveth the next world, and the heart which\nloveth its Lord; and it is said that hearts are three, the suspended,\nthat of the infidel; the non-existent, that of the hypocrite; and the\nconstant, that of the True-believer. Moreover, it is said that the firm\nheart is of three kinds, viz., the heart dilated with light and faith,\nthe heart wounded with fear of estrangement, and the heart which\nfeareth to be forsaken of its Supreme Friend.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the second\ndoctor declared. \"Thou hast said well,\" quoth she to the Caliph, \"O\nCommander of the Faithful, he hath questioned me, till he is weary, and\nnow I will ask of him two questions. If he answer them both, it is\nwell; and if not, I will take his clothes and he shall wend in peace.\"\nQuoth the doctor, \"Ask me what thou wilt,\" and she said, \"What sayest\nthou religion is?\" Answered he, \"Religion is confession of Faith with\nthe tongue and conviction with the heart and correspondent action with\nthe members. He (upon whom be blessings and peace!) hath said, 'The\nbeliever is not perfect in belief, except he perfect himself in five\nqualities, namely: trust in Allah,[FN#341] committal of his affair to\nAllah, submission to the commands of Allah, acquiescence in the decrees\nof Allah; and that all he doth be done for sake of Allah; so is he of\nthose who are acceptable to the Deity, and who give to Him and withhold\nfor Him; and such man is perfect in belief.'\" Then said she, \"What is\nthe Divine ordinance of ordinances and the ordinance which is the\ninitiator of all ordinances and that of which all others stand in need\nand that which comprehendeth all others; and what is the traditional\nordinance that entereth into the Koranic, and the prophetic practice\nwhereby the Divine is completed?\" But he was silent and made no reply;\nwhereupon the Caliph bade her expound and ordered him to doff his\nclothes and give them to her. Said she, \"O doctor, the Koranic\nordinance of ordinances is the knowledge of Allah Almighty; that, which\nis the initiative of all others, is the testifying there is no god but\nthe God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God; that, of which all others\nhave need, is the Wuzu-ablution; that, which compriseth all others, is\nthe Ghusl-ablution from defilement[FN#342]; the Traditional ordinance\nthat entereth into the Koranic, is the separation of the fingers and\nthe thick beard;[FN#343] and that, wherewith all Koranic ordinances are\ncompleted, is circumcision.\"[FN#344] Therewith was made manifest the\ndefeat of the doctor, who rose to his feet and said, \"I call Allah to\nwitness, O Commander of the Faithful, that this damsel is more learned\nthan I in theology and what pertaineth to the Law.\" So saying, he put\noff his clothes and went away ignominiously worsted. Then she turned to\nthe rest of the learned men present and said, \"O masters, which of you\nis the Koranist, the reader and reciter of the Koran, versed in the\nseven readings and in syntax and in lexicography?\" Thereupon a\nprofessor arose and, seating himself before her, said \"Hast thou read\nthe Book of Almighty Allah and made thyself thoroughly acquainted with\nits signs, that is its verses, and its abrogating parts and abrogated\nportions, its unequivocal commands and its ambiguous; and the\ndifference of its revelations, Meccan and Medinan? Dost thou understand\nits interpretation and hast thou studied it, according to the various\ntraditions and origins?\" \"Yes,\" answered she; and he said, \"What then\nis the number of its chapters, how many are the decades and versets,\nhow many words and how many letters and how many acts of prostration\nand how many prophets and how many chapters are Medinan and how many\nare Meccan and how many birds are mentioned in it?\" Replied she, \"O my\nlord, its chapters are an hundred and fourteen, whereof seventy were\nrevealed at Meccah and forty-four at Al-Medinah; and it containeth six\nhundred and twenty-one decades; six thousand three hundred and\nthirty-six versets;[FN#345] seventy-nine thousand four hundred and\nthirty-nine words and three hundred and twenty-three thousand and six\nhundred and seventy letters; and to the reader thereof, for every\nletter, are given ten benefits. The acts of prostration it compriseth\nare fourteen.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nprofessor of Koranic exegesis questioned the damsel, she continued, \"As\nregards the Prophets named in the Book there be five-and-twenty, to\nwit, Adam, Noah,[FN#346] Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Lot,\nElisha, Jonah, Salih,[FN#347] or Heber, H\u03cad,[FN#348] Shua'yb or\nJethro,[FN#349] David, Solomon, Z\u03ca'l-kafl or Joshua, Idr\u03bds, Elias,\nYahy\u03b1 or John the Baptist, Zacharias, Job, Moses, Aaron, Jesus and\nMohammed,[FN#350] the peace of Allah and His blessing be on them all!\nMoreover, nine flying things are mentioned in the Koran, namely, the\ngnat, the bee, the fly, the ant, the hoopoe, the crow, the locust, the\nswallow and the bird of Jesus[FN#351] (on whom be peace!), to wit, the\nbat.\" Q \"Which is the most excellent chapter of the Koran?\" \"That of\nThe Cow.[FN#352]\" Q \"Which is the most magnificent verse?\" \"That of the\nThrone; it hath fifty words, bearing in each fifty blessings.\" Q \"What\nsign or verse hath in it nine signs or wonders?\" \"That in which quoth\nAllah Almighty, 'Verily, in the creation of the Heaven and the Earth:\nand in the vicissitude of night, and day; and in the ship which saileth\nthrough the sea laden with what is profitable for mankind; and in the\nrain-water which God sendeth down from Heaven, quickening thereby the\ndead ground and replenishing the same with all sorts of cattle; and in\nthe change of winds and in the clouds that are compelled to do service\nbetween the Heaven and the Earth;[FN#353]\u2014are signs to people of\nunderstanding.'\" Q \"Which verse is the most just?\" \"That in which Allah\nsaith, 'Verily, Allah enjoineth justice and the doing of good, and the\ngiving unto kindred what shall be necessary; and He forbiddeth\nwickedness and iniquity and oppression'\"[FN#354] Q \"Which is the most\ngreedy?\" \"That in which quoth Allah, 'Is it that every man of them\ngreedeth to enter the Garden of Delight?'\"[FN#355] Q \"Which is the most\nhopeful?\" \"That in which quoth Almighty Allah, 'Say: O my servants who\nhave transgressed against your own souls, despair not of the mercy of\nAllah; seeing, that Allah forgiveth all sins; aye Gracious, Merciful is\nHe.'\"[FN#356] Q \"By what school of intonation dost thou read?\" \"By that\nof the people of Paradise, to wit, the version of N\u03b1f'i.\" Q \"In which\nverse doth Allah make prophets lie?\"[FN#357] \"In that wherein He saith,\n'They (the brothers of Joseph) brought his inner garment stained with\nfalse blood.'\"[FN#358] Q \"In which doth He make unbelievers speak the\ntruth?\" \"In that wherein He saith, 'The Jews say, 'The Christians are\ngrounded on nothing,' and the Christians say, 'The Jews are grounded on\nnothing'; and yet they both read the Scriptures;'[FN#359] and, so\nsaying, all say sooth.\" Q \"In which doth God speak in his own person?\"\n\"In that in which he saith, 'I have not created Genii and men for any\nother end than that they should serve me.'\"[FN#360] Q \"In which verse\ndo the angels speak?\" \"In that which saith, 'But we celebrate Thy\npraise and extol Thy holiness.'\"[FN#361] Q \"What sayest thou of the\nformula:\u2014I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the Stoned?\" \"It is\nobligatory by commandment of Allah on all before reading the Koran, as\nappeareth by His saying, 'When thou readest the Koran, seek refuge with\nAllah from Satan the Stoned.'\"[FN#362] Q \"What signify the words\n'seeking refuge'[FN#363] and what are the variants of the formula?\"\n\"Some say, 'I take refuge with Allah the All-hearing and All-knowing,'\nand others, 'With Allah the Strong;' but the best is that whereof the\nSublime Koran speaketh and the Traditions perpetuate. And he (whom\nAllah bless and keep!) was used to ejaculate, 'I seek refuge with Allah\nfrom Satan the Stoned.' And quoth a Tradition, reported by Naf'i on the\nauthority of his adopted father, 'The apostle of Allah, was wont when\nhe rose in the night to pray, to say aloud, 'Allaho Akbar'; God is Most\nGreat, with all Majesty! Praise be to Allah abundantly! Glory to Allah\nmorn and even be!' Then would he say, 'I seek refuge with Allah from\nSatan the Stoned and from the delusions of the Devils and their evil\nsuggestions.' And it is told of Ibn Abbas[FN#364] (of whom Allah\naccept!) that he said, 'The first time Gabriel came down to the Prophet\nwith revelation he taught him the 'seeking refuge,' saying, 'O\nMohammed, say, I seek refuge with Allah the All-hearing and\nAll-knowing;' then say, 'In the name of Allah the Compassionating, the\nCompassionate!' Read, in the name of thy Lord who created;\u2014created man\nof blood-clots.\"[FN#365] Now when the Koranist heard her words he\nmarvelled at her expressions, her eloquence, her learning, her\nexcellence, and said, \"O damsel, what sayst thou of the verse 'In the\nname of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate'? Is it one of\nthe verses of the Koran?\" \"Yes; it is a verset of 'The Ant'[FN#366]\noccurring also at the head of the first and between every two following\nchapters; and there is much difference of opinion, respecting this,\namong the learned.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nhad told the professor concerning the difference of opinion among the\nlearned touching the \"Basmalah,\" he said, \"Thou hast replied aright:\nnow tell me why is not the formula written at the head of the chapter\nof Immunity[FN#367]?\"; and she answered, \"When this chapter was\nrevealed from on high for the dissolution of the alliance between the\nProphet and the idolaters, He (whom Allah bless and preserve!) sent\nAli[FN#368] ibn Ab\u03bd T\u03b1lib (whose face Allah honour!) therewith, and he\nread the chapter to them, but did not read the Basmalah.\"[FN#369] Q\n\"What of the excellence of the formula and its blessing?\" \"It is told\nof the Prophet that he said, 'Never is the Basmalah pronounced over\naught, but there is a blessing in it;' and it is reported, on authority\nof Him (whom Allah bless and preserve!) that the Lord of Glory swore by\nHis glory that never should the Basmalah be pronounced over a sick\nperson, but he should be healed of his sickness. Moreover, it is said\nthat, when Allah created the empyrean, it was agitated with an\nexceeding agitation; but He wrote on it, 'Bismillah' and its agitation\nsubsided. When the formula first descended from heaven to the Prophet,\nhe said, 'I am safe from three things, earthquake and metamorphosis and\ndrowning; and indeed its boons are great and its blessings too many to\nenumerate. It is told of Allah's Apostle that he said, 'There will be\nbrought on the Judgment-day a man with whom He shall reckon and finding\nno good deed to his account, shall order him to the Fire; but the man\nwill cry, 'O my God, Thou hast not dealt justly by me!' Then shall\nAllah (to whom be honour and glory!) say, 'How so?' and the man shall\nanswer, O Lord, for that Thou callest Thyself the Compassionating, the\nCompassionate, yet wilt Thou punish me with the Fire!' And Allah\n(magnified be His Majesty!) shall reply, 'I did indeed name myself the\nCompassionating, the Compassionate. Carry My servant to Paradise, of My\nmercy, for I am the most Merciful of the mercifuls!'\" Q \"What was the\norigin of the use of the Basmalah?\" \"When Allah sent down from Heaven\nthe Koran, they wrote, 'In Thy name, O my God!'; when Allah revealed\nthe words, 'Say: Call upon Allah, or call upon the Compassionating,\nwhat days ye pray, for hath He the most excellent names,'[FN#370] they\nwrote, 'In the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate;\nand, when He revealed the words, 'Your God is one God, there is no God\nbut He, the Compassionating, the Compassionate,'[FN#371] they wrote,\n'In the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate!'\" Now\nwhen the Koranist heard her reply, he hung down his head and said to\nhimself, \"This be a marvel of marvels! How hath this slave-girl\nexpounded the origin of the Basmalah? But, by Allah, needs must I go a\nbout with her and haply defeat her.\" So he asked, \"Did Allah reveal the\nKoran all at once or at times manifold?\" She answered, \"Gabriel the\nFaithful (on whom be peace!) descended with it from the Lord of the\nWorlds upon His Prophet Mohammed, Prince of the Apostles and Seal of\nthe Prophets, by detached versets: bidding and forbidding, covenanting\nand comminating, and containing advices and instances in the course of\ntwenty years as occasion called for it.\" Q \"Which chapter was first\nrevealed?\" \"According to Ibn Abbas, that entituled 'Congealed\nBlood':[FN#372] and, according to J\u03b1bir bin Abdillah,[FN#373] that\ncalled 'The Covered' which preceded all others.[FN#374]\" Q \"Which\nverset was the last revealed?\" \"That of 'Usury',[FN#375] and it is also\nsaid, the verse, 'When there cometh Allah's succour and\nvictory.'\"[FN#376]\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\ntold the Koranist which was the last verse he said, \"Thou hast replied\naright; now tell me the names of the Companions who collected the\nKoran, in the lifetime of the Apostle of Allah.\" And she answered \"They\nwere four, Ubay ibn Ka'ab, Zayd ibn S\u03b1bit, Ab\u03ca Obaydah 'Aamir bin\nJarr\u03b1h, and Othm\u03b1n bin Aff\u03b1n[FN#377] (Allah accept of them one and\nall!)\" Q \"Who are the readers, from whom the accepted reading of the\nKoran is taken?\" \"They number four, Abdallah bin Mas'\u03cad, Ubay bin\nKa'ab, Ma'az bin Jabal and S\u03b1lim bin Abdillah.\" Q \"What sayest thou of\nthe words of the Most High, 'That which is sacrificed to\nstones'\"?[FN#378] \"The stones are idols, which are set up and\nworshipped, instead of Allah the Most High, and from this we seek\nrefuge with Allah.\" Q \"What sayest thou of the words of the Most High\n'Thou knowest what is in my soul, and I know not what is in Thy\nsoul'\"?[FN#379] \"They mean, 'Thou knowest the truth of me and what is\nin me, and I know not what is in Thee;' and the proof of this are His\nwords,[FN#380] 'Thou art He who wottest the hidden things'; and it is\nsaid, also, 'Thou knowest my essence, but I know not Thine essence.'\" Q\n\"What sayst thou of the words of the Most High, 'O true believers,\nforbid not yourselves the good things which Allah hath allowed\nyou?'\"[FN#381] \"My Shaykh (on whom Allah have mercy!) told me that the\nCompanion Al-Zahh\u03b1k related: 'There was a people of the True-believers\nwho said, 'We will dock our members masculine and don sackcloth;'\nwhereupon this verse was revealed. But Al-Kut\u03b1dah declareth that it was\nrevealed on account of sundry Companions of the Apostle of Allah,\nnamely, Ali ibn Ab\u03bd T\u03b1lib and Othm\u03b1n bin Musa'ab and others, who said,\n'We will geld ourselves and don hair cloth and make us monks.'\" Q \"What\nsayest thou of the words of the Most Highest, 'And Allah took Abraham\nfor His friend'\"?[FN#382] \"The friend of Allah is the needy, the poor,\nand (according to another saying) he is the lover, he who is detached\nfrom the world in the love of Allah Almighty and in whose attachment\nthere is no falling away.\" Now when the Koranist[FN#383] saw her pass\non in speech with the passage of the clouds and that she stayed not in\nreply, he rose to his feet and said, \"I take Allah to witness, O\nCommander of the Faithful, that this damsel is more learned than I in\nKoranic exegesis and what pertaineth thereto.\" Then said she, \"I will\nask thee one question, which if thou answer it is well; but if thou\nanswer not, I will strip off thy clothes.\" Quoth the Commander of the\nFaithful, \"Ask on,\" and she enquired, \"Which verset of the Koran hath\nin it three-and-twenty K\u03b1fs, which sixteen M\u03bdms, which an hundred and\nforty 'Ayns[FN#384] and which section[FN#385] lacketh the formula, 'To\nWhom belong glory and glorification and majesty[FN#386]?'\" The Koranist\ncould not reply, and she said to him, \"Put off thy clothes.\" So he\ndoffed them, and she continued, \"O Commander of the Faithful, the\nverset of the sixteen Mims is in the chapter H\u03cad and is the saying of\nthe Most High, 'It was said, O Noah, go down in peace from us, and\nblessing upon thee!'[FN#387] that of the three-and-twenty Kafs is the\nverse called of the Faith, in the chapter of The Cow; that of the\nhundred and forty Ayns is in the chapter of Al-A'ar\u03b1f,[FN#388] where\nthe Lord saith, 'And Moses chose seventy men of his tribe to attend our\nappointed time;[FN#389] to each man a pair of eyes.'[FN#390] And the\nlesson, which lacketh the formula, 'To Whom be glory and\nglorification,' is that which comprises the chapters, The Hour draweth\nnigh and the Moon shall be cloven in twain[FN#391]; The Compassionate\nand The Event.\"[FN#392] Thereupon the professor departed in\nconfusion.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\ndefeated the Koranist and took off his clothes and sent him away\nconfused, then came forward the skilled physician and said to her, \"We\nare free of theology and come now to physiology. Tell me, therefore,\nhow is man made; how many veins, bones and vertebrae are there in his\nbody; which is the first and chief vein and why Adam was named Adam?\"\nShe replied, \"Adam was called Adam, because of his udmah, that is, the\nwheaten colour of his complexion and also (it is said) because he was\ncreated of the adim of the earth, that is to say, of the surface-soil.\nHis breast was made of the earth of the Ka'abah, his head of earth from\nthe East and his legs of earth from the West. There were created for\nhim seven doors in his head, viz., the eyes, the ears, the nostrils and\nthe mouth, and two passages, before and behind. The eyes were made the\nseat of the sight-sense, the ears the seat of the hearing-sense, the\nnostrils the seat of the smell-sense, the mouth the seat of the\ntaste-sense and the tongue to utter what is in the heart of\nman.[FN#393] Now Adam was made of a compound of the four elements,\nwhich be water, earth, fire and air. The yellow bile is the humour of\nfire, being hot-dry; the black bile that of earth, being cold-dry; the\nphlegm that of water, being cold-moist, and the blood that of air,\nbeing hot-moist.[FN#394] There were made in man three hundred and sixty\nveins, two hundred and forty-nine bones, and three souls[FN#395] or\nspirits, the animal, the rational and the natural, to each of which is\nallotted its proper function. Moreover, Allah made him a heart and\nspleen and lungs and six intestines and a liver and two kidneys and\nbuttocks and brain and bones and skin and five senses; hearing, seeing,\nsmell, taste, touch. The heart He set on the left side of the breast\nand made the stomach the guide and governor thereof. He appointed the\nlungs for a fan to the heart and stablished the liver on the right\nside, opposite thereto. Moreover, He made, besides this, the diaphragm\nand the viscera and set up the bones of the breast and latticed them\nwith the ribs.\" Q \"How many ventricles are there in a man's head?\"\n\"Three, which contain five faculties, styled the intrinsic senses, to\nwit, common sense, imagination, the thinking faculty, perception and\nmemory.\" Q \"Describe to me the configuration of the bones.\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fiftieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nphysicist said to her, \"Describe to me the configuration of the bones,\"\nshe replied, \"Man's frame consists of two hundred and forty bones,\nwhich are divided into three parts, the head, the trunk and the\nextremities. The head is divided into calvarium and face. The skull is\nconstructed of eight bones, and to it are attached the four osselets of\nthe ear. The face is furnished with an upper jaw of eleven bones and a\nlower jaw of one; and to these are added the teeth two-and-thirty in\nnumber, and the os hyoides.[FN#396] The trunk is divided into spinal\ncolumn, breast and basin. The spinal column is made up of\nfour-and-twenty bones, called Fik\u03b1r or vertebr\u03b6; the breast, of the\nbreastbone and the ribs, which are four-and-twenty in number, twelve on\neach side; and the basin of the hips, the sacrum[FN#397] and os\ncoccygis. The extremities divided into upper and lower, arms and legs.\nThe arms are again divided: firstly into shoulder, comprising shoulder\nblades and collar bone; secondly into the upper arm which is one bone;\nthirdly into fore-arm, composed of two bones, the radius and the ulna;\nand fourthly into the hand, consisting of the wrist, the metacarpus of\nfive and the fingers, which number five, of three bones each, called\nthe phalanges, except the thumb, which hath but two. The lower\nextremities are divided: firstly into thigh, which is one bone;\nsecondly into leg, composed of three bones, the tibia, the fibula and\nthe patella; and thirdly into the foot, divided, like the hand, into\ntarsus, metatarsus and toes; and is composed of seven bones, ranged in\ntwo rows, two in one and five in the other; and the metatarsus is\ncomposed of five bones and the toes number five, each of three\nphalanges except the big toe which hath only two.\" Q \"Which is the root\nof the veins?\" \"The aorta, from which they ramify, and they are many,\nnone knoweth the tale of them save He who created them; but I repeat,\nit is said that they number three hundred and sixty.[FN#398] Moreover,\nAllah hath appointed the tongue as interpreter for the thought, the\neyes to serve as lanterns, the nostrils to smell with, and the hands\nfor prehensors. The liver is the seat of pity, the spleen of\nlaughter[FN#399] and the kidneys of craft; the lungs are ventilators,\nthe stomach the store-house, and the heart the prop and pillar of the\nbody. When the heart is sound, the whole body is sound, and when the\nheart is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt.\" Q \"What are the outward\nsigns and symptoms evidencing disease in the members of the body, both\nexternal and internal?\" \"A physician, who is a man of understanding,\nlooketh into the state of the body and is guided by the feel of the\nhands,[FN#400] according as they are firm or flabby, hot or cool, moist\nor dry. Internal disorders are also indicated by external symptoms,\nsuch as yellowness of the white of the eyes, which denoteth jaundice,\nand bending of the back, which denoteth disease of the lungs.\" And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nhad described to the doctor the outer signs and symptoms quoth he,\n\"Thou hast replied aright! now what are the internal symptoms of\ndisease?\" \"The science of the diagnosis of disease by internal symptoms\nis founded upon six canons: (1) the patient's actions; (2) what is\nevacuated from his body; (3) the nature of the pain; and (4) the site\nthereof; (5) swelling; and (6) the effluvia given off his person.\" Q\n\"How cometh hurt to the head?\" \"By the ingestion of food upon food,\nbefore the first be digested, and by fullness upon fullness; this it is\nthat wasteth peoples. He who would live long, let him be early with the\nmorning-meal and not late with the evening-meal; let him be sparing of\ncommerce with women and chary of such depletory measures as cupping and\nblood-letting; and let him make of his belly three parts, one for food,\none for drink and the third for air; for that a man's intestines are\neighteen spans in length and it befitteth that he appoint six for meat,\nsix for drink, and six for breath. If he walk, let him go gently; it\nwill be wholesomer for him and better for his body and more in\naccordance with the saying of the Almighty, 'Walk not proudly on the\nearth.'\"[FN#401] Q \"What are the symptoms of yellow bile and what is to\nbe feared therefrom?\" \"The symptoms are sallow complexion and bitter\ntaste in the mouth with dryness; failure of the appetite, venereal and\nother, and rapid pulse; and the patient hath to fear high fever and\ndelirium and eruptions and jaundice and tumour and ulcers of the bowels\nand excessive thirst.\" Q \"What are the symptoms of black bile and what\nhath the patient to fear from it, an it get the mastery of the body?\"\n\"The symptoms are false appetite and great mental disquiet and cark and\ncare; and it behoveth that it be evacuated, else it will generate\nmelancholia[FN#402] and leprosy and cancer and disease of the spleen\nand ulceration of the bowels.\" Q \"Into how many branches is the art of\nmedicine divided?\" \"Into two: the art of diagnosing diseases, and that\nof restoring the diseased body to health.\" Q \"When is the drinking of\nmedicine more efficacious than otherwhen?\" \"When the sap runs in the\nwood and the grape thickens in the cluster and the two auspicious\nplanets, Jupiter and Venus, are in the ascendant; then setteth in the\nproper season for drinking of drugs and doing away of disease.\" Q \"What\ntime is it, when, if a man drink water from a new vessel, the drink is\nsweeter and lighter or more digestible to him than at another time, and\nthere ascendeth to him a pleasant fragrance and a penetrating?\" \"When\nhe waiteth awhile after eating, as quoth the poet,\n\n'Drink not upon thy food in haste but wait awhile; * Else thou\n\n\n     with halter shalt thy frame to sickness lead:\n\n\nAnd patient bear a little thirst from food, then drink; * And\n\n\n     thus, O brother, haply thou shalt win thy need.[FN#403]'\"\n\n\n\nQ \"What food is it that giveth not rise to ailments?\" \"That which is\nnot eaten but after hunger, and when it is eaten, the ribs are not\nfilled with it, even as saith J\u03b1l\u03bdn\u03cas or Galen the physician, 'Whoso\nwill take in food, let him go slowly and he shall not go wrongly.' And\nto conclude with His saying (on whom be blessing and peace!), 'The\nstomach is the house of disease, and diet is the head of healing; for\nthe origin of all sickness is indigestion, that is to say, corruption\nof the meat'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-second Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\ndamsel said to the doctor, \"'The stomach is the house of disease and\ndiet is the head of healing; for the origin of all sickness is\nindigestion, that is to say, corruption of the meat in the stomach;'\"\nhe rejoined, \"Thou hast replied aright! what sayest thou of the\nHammam?\" \"Let not the full man enter it. Quoth the Prophet, 'The bath\nis the blessing of the house, for that it cleanseth the body and\ncalleth to mind the Fire.'\" Q \"What Hammams are best for bathing in?\"\n\"Those whose waters are sweet and whose space is ample and which are\nkept well aired; their atmosphere representing the four seasons\u2014autumn\nand summer and winter and spring.\" Q \"What kind of food is the most\nprofitable?\" \"That which women make and which hath not cost overmuch\ntrouble and which is readily digested. The most excellent of food is\nbrewis[FN#404] or bread sopped in broth; according to the saying of the\nProphet, 'Brewis excelleth other food, even as Ayishah excelleth other\nwomen.'\" Q \"What kind of kitchen, or seasoning, is most profitable?\"\n\"'Flesh meat' (quoth the Prophet) 'is the most excellent of kitchen;\nfor that it is the delight of this world and the next world.'\" Q \"What\nkind of meat is the most profitable?\" \"Mutton; but jerked meat is to be\navoided, for there is no profit in it.\" Q \"What of fruits?\" \"Eat them\nin their prime and quit them when their season is past.\" Q \"What sayest\nthou of drinking water?\" \"Drink it not in large quantities nor swallow\nit by gulps, or it will give thee head-ache and cause divers kinds of\nharm; neither drink it immediately after leaving the Hammam nor after\ncarnal copulation or eating (except it be after the lapse of fifteen\nminutes for a young man and forty for an old man), nor after waking\nfrom sleep.\" Q \"What of drinking fermented liquors?\" \"Doth not the\nprohibition suffice thee in the Book of Almighty Allah, where He saith,\n'Verily, wine and lots and images, and the divining arrows are an\nabomination, of Satan's work; therefore avoid them, that ye may\nprosper'?[FN#405] And again, 'They will ask thee concerning wine and\nlots': Answer, 'In both there is great sin and also some things of use\nunto men: but their sinfulness is greater than their use.'[FN#406]\nHence quoth the poet,\n\n'O bibber of liquor, art not ashamed * To drink what Allah\n\n\n     forbade thee drain?\n\n\nPut it far from thee and approach it not; * It holds what Allah\n\n\n     forbade as bane.'\n\n\n\nAnd quoth another to the same purport,\n\n'I drank the sin till my reason fled: * Ill drink that reason to loss\nmisled!'\n\nAs for the advantages that be therein, it disperseth stone and gravel\nfrom the kidneys and strengtheneth the viscera and banisheth care, and\nmoveth to generosity and preserveth health and digestion; it conserveth\nthe body, expelleth disease from the joints, purifieth the frame of\ncorrupt humours, engendereth cheerfulness, gladdeneth the heart of man\nand keepeth up the natural heat: it contracteth the bladder, enforceth\nthe liver and removeth obstructions, reddeneth the cheeks, cleareth\naway maggots from the brain and deferreth grey hairs. In short, had not\nAllah (to whom be honour and glory!) forbidden it,[FN#407] there were\nnot on the face of the earth aught fit to stand in its stead. As for\ngambling by lots, it is a game of hazard such as diceing, not of\nskill.\" Q \"What wine is best?\" \"That which is pressed from white grapes\nand kept eighty days or more after fermentation: it resembleth not\nwater and indeed there is nothing on the surface of the earth like unto\nit.\" Q \"What sayest thou of cupping?\" \"It is for him who is over full\nof blood and who hath no defect therein; and whoso would be cupped, let\nit be during the wane of the moon, on a day without cloud, wind or rain\nand on the seventeenth of the month. If it fall on a Tuesday, it will\nbe the more efficacious, and nothing is more salutary for the brain and\neyes and for clearing the intellect than cupping.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nenumerated the benefits of cupping, quoth the doctor, \"What is the best\ntime for cupping?\" \"One should be cupped 'on the spittle,' that is, in\nthe morning before eating, for this fortifieth the wit and the memory.\nIt is reported of the Prophet that, when anyone complained to him of a\npain in the head or legs, he would bid him be cupped and after cupping\nnot eat salt food, fasting, for it engendereth scurvy; neither eat sour\nthings as curded milk[FN#408] immediately after cupping.\" Q \"When is\ncupping to be avoided?\" \"On Sabbaths or Saturdays and Wednesdays; and\nlet him who is cupped on these days blame none but himself. Moreover,\none should not be cupped in very hot weather nor in very cold weather;\nand the best season for cupping is springtide.\" Quoth the doctor, \"Now\ntell me of carnal copulation.\" Hereupon Tawaddud hung her head, for\nshame and confusion before the Caliph's majesty; then said, \"By Allah,\nO Commander of the Faithful, it is not that I am at fault, but that I\nam ashamed; though, indeed, the answer is on the edge of my tongue.\"\nSaid the Caliph; \"Speak, O damsel,\" whereupon said she, \"Copulation\nhath in it many and exceeding virtues and praiseworthy qualities,\namongst which are, that it lighteneth a body full of black bile and\ncalmeth the heat of love and induceth affection and dilateth the heart\nand dispelleth the sadness of solitude; and the excess of it is more\nharmful in summer and autumn than in spring and winter.\" Q \"What are\nits good effects?\" \"It banisheth trouble and disquiet, calmeth love and\nwrath and is good for ulcers, especially in a cold and dry humour; on\nthe other hand excess of it weakeneth the sight and engendereth pains\nin the legs and head and back: and beware, beware of carnal connection\nwith old women, for they are deadly. Quoth the Iman Ali[FN#409] (whose\nface Allah honour!), 'Four things kill and ruin the body: entering the\nHammam on a full stomach; eating salt food; copulation on a plethora of\nblood and lying with an ailing woman; for she will weaken thy strength\nand infect thy frame with sickness; and an old woman is deadly poison.'\nAnd quoth one of them, 'Beware of taking an old woman to wife, though\nshe be richer in hoards than K\u03b1r\u03can'\"[FN#410] Q \"What is the best\ncopulation?\" \"If the woman be tender of years, comely of shape, fair of\nface, swelling of breast and of noble race, she will add to thee\nstrength and health of body; and let her be even as saith a certain\npoet describing her,\n\n'Seeing thy looks wots she what thou desir'st, * By inspiration;\n\n\n     wants nor word nor sign;\n\n\nAnd, when thou dost behold her rarest grace, * The charms of\n\n\n     every garden canst decline.'\n\n\n\nQ \"At what time is copulation good?\" \"If by night, after food digested\nand if by day, after the morning meal.\" Q \"What are the most excellent\nfruits?\" \"Pomegranate and citron.\" Q \"Which is the most excellent of\nvegetables?\" \"Endive.[FN#411]\" Q \"Which of sweet-scented flowers?\"\n\"Rose and Violet.\" Q \"How is the seed of man secreted?\" \"There is in\nman a vein which feedeth all the other veins. Now water is collected\nfrom the three hundred and sixty veins and, in the form of red blood,\nentereth the left testicle, where it is decocted, by the heat of\ntemperament inherent in the son of Adam, into a thick, white liquid,\nwhose odour is as that of the palm-spathe.\" Q \"What flying thing is it\nthat emitteth seed and menstruateth?\" \"The flitter-mouse,[FN#412] that\nis the bat.\" Q \"What is that which, when confined and shut out from the\nair liveth, and when let out to smell the air dieth?\" \"The fish.\" Q\n\"What serpent layeth eggs?\" \"The Su'ban or dragon.[FN#413]\" With this\nthe physician waxed weary with much questioning, and held his peace,\nwhen Tawaddud said to the Caliph, \"O Commander of the Faithful, he hath\nquestioned me till he is tired out and now I will ask him one question,\nwhich if he answer not, I will take his clothes as lawful prize.\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\ndamsel said to the Commander of the Faithful, \"Verily he hath\nquestioned me till he is tired out, and now I will ask him one\nquestion, which if he answer not I will take his clothes as lawful\nprize,\" the Caliph cried, \"Ask on.\" So quoth she to the physician,\n\"What is that thing which resembleth the earth in roundness, whose\nresting-place and whose spine are hidden from men's eyes; little of\nprice and estimation; narrow of chest and shackled as to throat though\nit be nor runaway slave nor pestilent thief; thrust through and\nthrough, though not in fray, and wounded, though not in fight: time\neateth its vigour and water wasteth it away; now it is beaten without\nblemish, and then made to serve without stint; united after separation;\nsubmissive, but not to him who caresseth it; pregnant without child in\nbelly; drooping, yet not leaning on its side; becoming dirty yet\npurifying itself; cleaving to its fere, yet changing; copulating\nwithout a yard, wrestling without arms: resting and taking its ease;\nbitten, yet not crying out: now more complaisant than a cup-companion\nand then more troublesome than summer-heat; leaving its mate by night\nand embracing her by day and having its abode in the corners of the\nmansions of the noble?\" The physician was silent awhile in perplexity\nand his colour changed and he bowed his head and made no reply;\nwhereupon she said to him, \"Ho, sir doctor, speak or doff thy dress.\"\nAt this, he rose and said, \"O Commander of the Faithful, bear witness\nagainst me that this damsel is more learned than I in medicine and what\nelse, and that I cannot cope with her.\" And he put off his clothes and\nfled forth. Quoth the Caliph to Tawaddud, \"Ree us thy riddle,\" and she\nreplied, \"O Commander of the Faithful, it is the button and the\nbutton-loop.[FN#414]\"\u2014Then she undertook the astronomers and said, \"Let\nhim of you who is an astronomer rise and come forward.\" So the\nastronomer advanced and sat down before her; and, when she saw him, she\nlaughed and said, \"Art thou the astronomer, the mathematician, the\nscribe?\" \"Yes,\" answered he. Quoth she, \"Ask of what thou wilt; success\nresteth with Allah.\" So he said, \"Tell me of the sun and its rising and\nsetting.\" And she replied: \"Know that the sun riseth from the shadows\nin the Eastern hemisphere and setteth in the shadows of the Western,\nand each hemisphere compriseth one hundred and eighty degrees. Quoth\nAllah Almighty, 'I swear by the Lord of the East and of the\nWest.'[FN#415] And again, 'He it is who hath ordained the sun to shine\nby day, and the moon for a light by night; and hath appointed her\nstation that ye might know the number of years and the computation of\ntime.'[FN#416] The moon is Sultan of the night and the sun Sultan of\nthe day, and they vie with each other in their courses and follow\nwithout overtaking each other. Quoth Almighty Allah, 'It is not\nexpedient that the sun overtake the moon in her course; neither doth\nthe night outstrip the day, but each of these luminaries moveth in a\npeculiar orbit.'\"[FN#417] Q \"When the day cometh, what becometh of the\nnight; and what of the day, when the night cometh?\" \"He causeth the\nnight to enter in upon the day, and He causeth the day to enter in upon\nthe night.\"[FN#418] Q \"Enumerate to me the mansions of the\nmoon?\"[FN#419] \"They number eight-and-twenty, to wit, Sharat\u03b1n, Butayn,\nSuray\u03b1, Dabar\u03b1n, Hak'ah, Han'ah, Zir\u03b1'a, Nasrah, Tarf, Jabhah, Zubrah,\nSarfah, 'Aww\u03b1, Sim\u03b1k, Ghafar, Zub\u03b1n\u03bd, Ikl\u03bdl, Kalb, Shaulah, Na'am,\nBaldah, Sa'ad al-Z\u03b1bih, Sa'ad al-Bul'a, Sa'ad al-Su'\u03cad, Sa'ad\nal-Akhbiyah, Fargh the Former and Fargh the Latter; and Rish\u03b1a. They\nare disposed in the order of the letters of the Abjad-hawwaz or older\nalphabet,[FN#420] according to their numerical power, and in them are\nsecret virtues which none knoweth save Allah (extolled and exalted be\nHe!) and the stablished in science. They are divided among the twelve\nSigns of the Zodiac, two Mansions and a third of a Mansion to each\nSign. Thus Sharatan, Butayn and one-third of Sur\u03b1y\u03b1, belong to Aries,\nthe other two-thirds of Sur\u03b1y\u03b1, Dabaran and two-thirds of Hak'ah to\nTaurus, the other third of Hak'ah, Han'ah and Zira'a to Gemini; Nasrah,\nTarf and a third of Jabhah to Cancer, the other two-thirds of Jabhah,\nZubrah and two-thirds of Sarfah to Leo; the other third of Sarfah,\n'Aww\u03b1 and Sim\u03b1k to Virgo; Ghafar, Zub\u03b1ni and one-third of Ikl\u03bdl to\nLibra; the other two-thirds of Iklil, Kalb and two-thirds of Shaulah to\nScorpio; the other third of Shaulah, Na'\u03b1im and Baldah to Sagittarius;\nSa'ad al-Z\u03b1bih, Sa'ad al-Bul'a and one-third of Sa'ad al-Su'ud to\nCapricorn, the other two-thirds of Sa'ad al-Su'dd, Sa'ad al-Akhbiyah\nand two-thirds of Fargh the Former to Aquarius, the other third of\nFargh the Former, Fargh the Latter and Rish\u03b1a to Pisces.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nenumerated the Mansions and distributed them into their Signs, the\nastronomer said, \"Thou hast replied aright; now tell me of the planets\nand their natures, also of their sojourn in the Zodiacal Signs, their\naspects, auspicious and sinister, their houses, ascendants and\ndescendants. She answered, \"The sitting is narrow for so large a\nmatter, but I will say as much as I can. Now the planets number seven;\nwhich are, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.\nThe Sun, hot-dry, sinister in conjunction, favourable in opposition,\nabideth thirty days in each Sign. The Moon, cold-moist and favourable\nof aspect, tarrieth in each Sign two days and a third of another day.\nMercury is of a mixed nature, favourable in conjunction with the\nfavourable, and sinister in conjunction with the sinister aspects, and\nabideth in each sign seventeen days and a half day. Venus, temperate\nand favourable, abideth in each sign five-and-twenty days. Mars is\nsinister and woneth in each sign ten months. Jupiter is auspicious and\nabideth in each sign a year. Saturn, cold-dry and sinister, tarrieth in\neach sign thirty months. The house of the Sun is Leo, her ascendant is\nAries, and her descendant Aquarius. The Moon's house is Cancer, his\nascendant Taurus, his descendant Scorpio and his sinister aspect\nCapricorn. Saturn's house is Capricorn-Aquarius, his ascendant Libra,\nhis descendant Aries and his sinister aspects Cancer and Leo. Jupiter's\nhouse is Pisces-Sagittarius, his ascendant Cancer, his descendant\nCapricorn and his sinister aspects Gemini and Leo. Venus's house is\nTaurus, her ascendant Pisces, her descendant Libra, and her sinister\naspects Aries and Scorpio. Mercury's house is Gemini-Virgo, his\nascendant Virgo, his descendant Pisces, and his sinister aspect Taurus.\nMars' house is Aries-Scorpio, his ascendant Capricorn, his descendant\nCancer and his sinister aspect Libra.\" Now when the astronomer saw her\nacuteness and comprehensive learning and heard her fair answers, he\nbethought him for a sleight to confound her before the Commander of the\nFaithful, and said to her, \"O damsel, tell me, will rain fall this\nmonth?\" At this she bowed her head and pondered so long, that the\nCaliph thought her at a loss for an answer and the astronomer said to\nher, \"Why dost thou not speak?\" Quoth she, \"I will not speak except the\nCommander of the Faithful give me leave.\" So the Caliph laughed and\nsaid, \"How so?\" Cried she \"I would have thee give me a sword, that I\nmay strike off his head, for he is an Infidel, an Agnostic, an\nAtheist.[FN#421]\" At this, loud laughed the Caliph and those about him\nlaughed, and she continued \"O astronomer, there are five things that\nnone knoweth save Allah Almighty;\" and she repeated the verset; \"'Aye!\nAllah!\u2014with Him is the knowledge of the hour and He causeth the rain to\ndescend at His own appointed time \u2014and He knoweth what is in the wombs\nof females\u2014but no soul knoweth what it shall have gotten on the morrow;\nneither wotteth any soul in what land it shall die: Verily Allah is\nknowing, informed of all.'\"[FN#422] Quoth the astronomer, \"Thou hast\nsaid well, and I, by Allah, thought only to try thee.\" Rejoined she,\n\"Know that the almanack-makers have certain signs and tokens, referring\nto the planets and constellations relative to the coming in of the\nyear; and folk have learned something by experience.\" Q \"What be that?\"\n\"Each day hath a planet that ruleth it: so if the first day in the year\nfall on First Day (Sunday) that day is the Sun's and this portendeth\n(though Allah alone is All-knowing!) oppression of kings and sultans\nand governors and much miasma and lack of rain; and that people will be\nin great tumult and the grain-crop will be good, except lentils, which\nwill perish, and the vines will rot and flax will be dear and wheat\ncheap from the beginning of T\u03cabah to the end of Barmah\u03b1t.[FN#423] And,\nin this year there will be much fighting among kings, and there shall\nbe great plenty of good in this year, but Allah is All-knowing!\" Q\n\"What if the first day fall on Second Day (Monday)?\" \"That day\nbelongeth to the Moon and portendeth righteousness in administrators\nand officials and that it will be a year of much rain and grain-crops\nwill be good, but linseed will decay and wheat will be cheap in the\nmonth Kiy\u03b1hk;[FN#424] also the plague will rage and the sheep and goats\nwill die, grapes will be plentiful and honey scarce and cotton cheap;\nand Allah is omniscient!\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nended her notice of Second Day the astronomer said to her \"Now tell me\nwhat will occur if New Year's day fall on Third Day (Tuesday).\" She\nreplied, \"That is Mars' day and portendeth death of great men and much\ndestruction and deluge of blood and dearness of grain; lack of rain and\nscarcity of fish, which will anon be in excess and anon fail. Lentils\nand honey in this year will be cheap and linseed dear and only barley\nwill thrive, to the exception of all other cereals: great will be the\nfighting among kings and death will be in the blood and there will be\nmuch mortality among asses.\" Q \"What if it fall on Fourth Day?\" \"That\nis Mercury's day and portendeth great tumult among the folk and much\nenmity and, though rains be moderate, rotting of some of the green\ncrops; also that there will be sore mortality among cattle and young\nchildren and much fighting by sea; that wheat will be dear from\nBarm\u03cadah to Misra[FN#425] and other grains cheap; thunder and lightning\nwill abound and honey will be dear, palm- trees will thrive and bear\nabundantly and flax and cotton will be plentiful, while radishes and\nonions will be dear; but Allah is All-knowing!\" Q \"What if it fall on\nFifth Day?\" \"That is Jupiter's day and portendeth equity in Wazirs and\nrighteousness in Kazis and Fakirs and the Ministers of religion; and\nthat good will be plentiful: rains and fruit and trees and grain will\nabound, and flax, cotton, honey, grapes and fish be cheap; and Allah is\nOmniscient!\" Q \"What if it fall on Meeting Day or Friday?\" \"That day\nappertaineth to Venus and portendeth oppression in the chiefs of the\nJinn and talk of forgery and back-biting; there will be much dew; the\nautumn crops will be good in the land and there will be cheapness in\none town and not in another: ungraciousness will be rife by land and\nsea; linseed will be dear, also wheat, in H\u03b1t\u03car, but cheap in Amsh\u03bdr;\nhoney will be dear and grapes and water-melons will rot; and Allah is\nOmniscient!\" Q \"What if it fall on the Sabbath (Saturday)?\" \"That is\nSaturn's day and portendeth the preferment of slaves and Greeks and\nthose in whom there is no good, neither in their neighbourhood; there\nwill be great drought and dearth; clouds will abound and death will be\nrife among the sons of Adam and woe to the people of Egypt and Syria\nfrom the oppression of the Sultan and failure of blessing upon the\ngreen crops and rotting of grain; and Allah is All-knowing!\"[FN#426]\nNow with this, the astronomer hung his head very low, and she said to\nhim, \"O astronomer, I will ask thee one question, which if thou answer\nnot, I will take thy clothes.\" \"Ask,\" replied he. Quoth she, \"Where is\nSaturn's dwelling-place?\"; and he answered, \"In the seventh heaven.\" Q\n\"And that of Jupiter?\" \"In the sixth heaven.\" Q \"And that of Mars?\" \"In\nthe fifth heaven.\" Q \"And that of the Sun?\" \"In the fourth heaven.\" Q\n\"And that of Venus?\" \"In the third heaven.\" Q \"And that of Mercury?\"\n\"In the second heaven.\" Q \"And that of the Moon?\" \"In the first\nheaven.\" Quoth she, \"Well answered; but I have one more question to ask\nthee;\" and quoth he, \"Ask!\" Accordingly she said, \"Now tell me\nconcerning the stars, into how many parts are they divided.\" But he was\nsilent and answered nothing; and she cried to him, \"Put off thy\nclothes.\" So he doffed them and she took them; after which the Caliph\nsaid to her, \"Tell us the answer to thy question.\" She replied: \"O\nCommander of the Faithful, the stars are divided into three parts,\nwhereof one-third is hung in the sky of the earth,[FN#427] as it were\nlamps, to give light to the earth, and a part is used to shoot the\ndemons withal, when they draw near by stealth to listen to the talk in\nheaven. Quoth Allah Almighty, 'Verily, we have dight the sky of the\nearth with the adornment of the stars; and have appointed them for\nprojectiles against every rebellious Satan.'[FN#428] And the third part\nis hung in air to illuminate the seas and give light to what is\ntherein.\" Quoth the astronomer, \"I have one more question to ask, which\nif she answer, I will avow myself beaten.\" \"Say on,\" answered she.\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the\nastronomer said, \"Now tell me what four contraries are based upon other\nfour contraries?\" Replied she, \"The four qualities of Caloric and\nFrigoric, Humidity and Siccity; for of heat Allah created fire, whose\nnature is hot-dry; of dryness, earth, which is cold-dry; of cold, water\nwhich is cold-wet; of moisture, air, which is hot-wet. Moreover, He\ncreated twelve Signs of the Zodiac, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo,\nVirgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces; and\nappointed them of the four humours; three fiery, Aries, Leo, and\nSagittarius; three earthly, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn; three airy,\nGemini, Libra and Aquarius; and three watery, Cancer, Scorpio and\nPisces.\" Hereupon the astronomer rose, and saying, \"Bear witness\nagainst me that she is more learned than I,\" away he went beaten. Then\nquoth the Caliph, \"Where is the philosopher[FN#429]?\"; at which one\nrose hastily and came forward and said to Tawaddud, \"What is Time and\nwhat be its limits, and its days, and what things bringeth it?\" Replied\nshe, \"Time is a term applied to the hours of the night and day, which\nare but the measures of the courses of the sun and moon in their\nseveral heavens, even as Allah Almighty telleth us when he saith, 'A\nsign to them also is the Night, from which we strip off the day, and\nlo! they are plunged in darkness, and the Sun runneth to her place of\nrest; this is the ordinance of the Sublime, the All-knowing.'\"[FN#430]\nQ \"How cometh unbelief to the son of Adam?\" \"It is reported of the\nApostle (whom Allah bless and preserve!) that he said, 'Unbelief in a\nman runneth as the blood runneth in his veins, when he revileth the\nworld and Time and night and the Hour.' And again, 'Let none of you\nrevile Time, for Time is God; neither revile the world, for she saith,\n'May Allah not aid him who revileth me!;' neither revile the hour, for,\n'The Hour is surely coming, there is no doubt thereof';[FN#431] neither\nrevile the earth, for it is a portent, according to the saying of the\nMost High, 'Out of the ground have we created you, and into the same\nwill we cause you to return, and we will bring you forth yet thence\nanother time.'\"[FN#432] Q \"What are the five that ate and drank, yet\ncame not out of loins nor womb?\" \"Adam and Simeon[FN#433] and Salih's\nshe-camel[FN#434] and Ishmael's ram and the bird that Abu Bakr the\nTruth-teller saw in the cave.[FN#435]\" Q \"Tell me of five that are in\nParadise and are neither humans, Jinns nor angels?\" \"Jacob's wolf and\nthe Seven Sleepers' dog and Esdras's ass and Salih's camel and Duldul\nthe mule of the Prophet (upon whom be blessings and peace!).\" Q \"What\nman prayed a prayer neither on earth nor in heaven?\" \"Solomon, when he\nprayed on his carpet, borne by the wind.\" Q \"Ree me this riddle:\u2014A man\nonce looked at a handmaid during dawn-prayer, and she was unlawful to\nhim; but, at noonday she became lawful to him: by mid-afternoon,, she\nwas again unlawful, but at sundown, she was lawful to him: at supper\ntime she was a third time unlawful, but by daybreak, she became once\nmore lawful to him.\" \"This was a man who looked at another's slave-girl\nin the morning, and she was then unlawful to him; but at midday he\nbought her, and she became lawful to him: at mid-afternoon he freed\nher, and she became unlawful to him; but at sundown he married her and\nshe was again lawful to him. At nightfall he divorced her and she was\nthen a third time unlawful to him; but, next morning at daybreak, he\ntook her back, and she became once more lawful to him.\" Q \"Tell me what\ntomb went about with him that lay buried therein?\" \"Jonah's whale, when\nit had swallowed him.\" Q \"What spot of lowland is it, upon which the\nsun shone once, but will never again shine till Judgment-Day?\" \"The\nbottom of the Red Sea, when Moses smote it with his staff, and the sea\nclave asunder in twelve places, according to the number of the\ntribes;[FN#436] then the sun shone on the bottom and will do so\nnevermore until Judgment-Day.\" And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the philosopher\nthen addressed the damsel saying, \"What was the first skirt that\ntrailed over the face of the earth?\" She replied, \"That of Hagar, out\nof shame before Sarah; and it became a custom among the Arabs.\" Q \"What\nis that which breatheth without life?\" \"Quoth Almighty Allah, 'By the\nmorning when it breatheth!'\"[FN#437] Q \"Ree me this riddle:\u2014A number of\npigeons came to a high tree and lighted, some on the tree and others\nunder it. Said those on the tree to those on the ground, 'If one of you\ncome up to us, ye will be a third part of us all in number; and if one\nof us descend to you, we shall be like unto you in number,' How many\npigeons were there in all?\" \"Twelve: seven alighted on the tree and\nfive beneath; and, if one go up, those above would be eight to four;\nand, if one go down, both would be six and Allah is\nall-knowing.\"[FN#438] With this the philosopher put off his clothes and\nfled: whereupon the next contest took place, for she turned to the\nOlema present and said, \"Which of you is the rhetorician that can\ndiscourse of all arts and sciences?\" There came forward a sage hight\nIbrahim bin Siyy\u03b1r and said to her, \"Think me not like the rest.\" Quoth\nshe, \"It is the more assured to me that thou wilt be beaten, for that\nthou art a boaster; and Allah will help me to victory over thee, that I\nmay strip thee of thy clothes. So, if thou sentest one to fetch thee\nwherewithal to cover thyself, 'twould be well for thee.\" Cried he, \"By\nAllah, I will assuredly conquer thee and make thee a byword among the\npeoples, generation after generation!\" Rejoined she, \"Do penance in\nadvance for thy broken oath.\" Then he asked, \"What five things did\nAllah create before he made man?\"; and she answered, \"Water and earth\nand light and darkness and the fruits of the earth.\" Q \"What did Allah\ncreate with the hand of omnipotence?\" \"The 'Arsh, throne of God or the\nempyreal heaven and the tree T\u03cab\u03b1[FN#439] and Adam and the garden of\nEden; these Allah created with the hand of His omnipotence; but to all\nother created things He said, 'Be,'\u2014and they were.\" Q \"Who is thy\nfather in Al-Islam?\" \"Mohammed, whom Allah bless and preserve!\" Q \"Who\nwas the father in Al-Islam of Mohammed?\" \"Abraham, the Friend of God.\"\nQ \"What is the Faith of Al-Islam?\" \"The professing that there is no god\nbut the God and that Mohammed is the apostle of God.\" Q \"What is thy\nfirst and thy last?\" \"My first is man's seed in the shape of foul water\nand my last filthy carrion: the first of me is dust and the last of me\nis dust. Quoth the poet,\n\n'Of dust was I created, and man did I become, * In question ever\n\n\n     ready and aye fluent in reply,\n\n\nThen, I unto the dust return'd, became of it again, * For that,\n\n\n     in very deed, of dust at first create was I.'\"\n\n\n\nHe continued, \"What thing was it, whose first state was wood and its\nlast life?\" \"Moses' staff,[FN#440] when he cast it on the valley-ground\nand it became, by permission of Allah, a writhing serpent.\" Q \"What is\nthe meaning of the word of the Lord, 'And I have other occasion for\nit?'\"[FN#441] \"He, Moses, was wont to plant his staff in the ground,\nand it would flower and fruit and shade him from the heat and from the\ncold. Moreover, it would carry him when he was weary, and whilst he\nslept, guard his sheep from lions and wild beasts.\" Q \"What woman was\nborn of a man alone and what man of a woman alone?\" \"Eve of Adam and\nJesus of Mary.[FN#442]\" Q \"Tell me of the four fires, what fire eateth\nand drinketh; what fire eateth but drinketh not; what fire drinketh but\neateth not and what other neither eateth nor drinketh?\" \"The fire of\nthe world eateth but drinketh not; the fire which eateth and drinketh\nis Hell-fire; the fire of the sun drinketh but eateth not, and the fire\nof the moon neither eateth nor drinketh.\" Q \"Which is the open door and\nwhich the shut?\" \"The Traditional Ordinances are the open door, the\nKoranic the shut door.\" Q \"Of what doth the poet speak, when he saith,\n\n'And dweller in the tomb whose food is at his head, * When he\n\n\n     eateth of that meat, of words he waxeth fain:\n\n\nHe riseth and he walketh and he talketh without tongue; * And\n\n\n     returneth to the tomb where his kith and kin are lain.\n\n\nNo living wight is he, yet, in honour he abides; * Nor dead yet\n\n\n     he deserveth that Allah him assain.'\"\n\n\n\nShe replied, \"The reed-pen.\"[FN#443] Quoth he \"What doth the poet refer\nto in these verses,\n\n'Two vests in one; blood flowing easiest wise; * Rosy red ears\n\n\n     and mouth wide open lies;\n\n\nIt hath a cock-like form, its belly pecks * And, if you price it,\n\n\n     half a dirham buys.'\"\n\n\n\nShe replied, \"The ink-case.\" Quoth he, \"And in these,\n\n'Ho say to men of wisdom, wit and lore * To sapient, reverend,\n\n\n     clever counsellor:\n\n\nTell me what was't you saw that bird bring forth * When wandering\n\n\n     Arab-land and Ajam o'er?\n\n\nNo flesh it beareth and it hath no blood, * Nor down nor any\n\n\n     feathers e'er it wore.\n\n\n'Tis eaten cooked and eke 'tis eaten cold; * 'Tis eaten buried\n\n\n     'neath the flames that roar:\n\n\nIt showeth twofold colours, silver white * And yellow brighter\n\n\n     than pure golden ore:\n\n\n'Tis not seen living or we count it dead: * So ree my riddle rich\n\n\n     in marvel-store!'\"\n\n\n\nShe replied, \"Thou makest longsome the questioning anent an egg worth a\nmite.\" Q \"And this?,\n\n'I waved to and fro and he waved to and fro, * With a motion so\n\n\n     pleasant, now fast and now slow;\n\n\nAnd at last he sunk down on my bosom of snow; * 'Your lover\n\n\n     friend?'\"\n\n\n\n\"No friend, my fan;\"[FN#444] said she. Q \"How many words did Allah\nspeak to Moses?\" \"It is related of the Apostle that he said, 'God spoke\nto Moses fifteen hundred and fifteen words.'\" Q \"Tell me of fourteen\nthings that speak to the Lord of the Worlds?\" \"The seven heavens and\nthe seven earths, when they say, 'We come obedient to Thy\ncommand.'\"[FN#445]\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nmade the answer, the philosopher continued, \"Tell me of Adam and how he\nwas first created?\" and she said, \"Allah created Adam of clay: the clay\nHe made of foam and the foam of the sea, the sea of darkness, darkness\nof light, light of a fish, the fish of a rock, the rock of a ruby, the\nruby of water, and the water He created by His Omnipotence according to\nHis saying (exalted be His name!), 'His commandment when He willeth\naught, is but to say, BE,\u2014and IT IS.'\"[FN#446] Q \"What is meant by the\npoet in these verses,\n\n'And eater lacking mouth and even maw; * Yet trees and beasts to\n\n\n     it are daily bread:\n\n\nWell fed it thrives and shows a lively life, * But give it water\n\n\n     and you do it dead?'\"\n\n\n\n\"This,\" quoth she, \"is Fire.\" \"And in these;\" he asked,\n\n\"Two lovers barred from every joy and bliss, * Who through the\n\n\n     livelong night embracing lie:\n\n\nThey guard the folk from all calamities, * But with the rising\n\n\n     sun apart they fly?\"\n\n\n\nShe answered, \"The leaves of a door.\" Quoth he, \"Tell me of the gates\nof Gehenna?\" Quoth she, \"They are seven in number and their names are\ncomprised in these two couplets,\n\n'Jahannam, next Laz\u03b1, and third Hat\u03bdm; * Then count Sa'\u03bdr and\n\n\n     Sakar eke, five-fold,\n\n\nSixth comes Jah\u03bdm and H\u03b1wiyah the seventh; * Here are seven Hells\n\n\n     in four lines briefly told.'\"\n\n\n\nQuoth he \"To what doth the poet refer when he saith,\n\n'She wears a pair of ringlets long let down * Behind her, as she\n\n\n     comes and goes at speed,\n\n\nAnd eye that never tastes of sleep nor sheds * A tear, for ne'er\n\n\n     a drop it hath at need;\n\n\nThat never all its life wore stitch of clothes; * Yet robes\n\n\n     mankind in every-mode of weed?'\"\n\n\n\nQuoth she, \"A needle.\" Q \"What is the length and what the breadth of\nthe bridge Al-Sir\u03b1t?\" \"Its length is three thousand years' journey, a\nthousand in descent and a thousand in ascent and a thousand level: it\nis sharper than a sword and finer than a hair.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixtieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nhad described to him Al-Sirat, the philosopher said, \"Inform me how\nmany intercessions with Allah hath the Prophet for each soul?\"[FN#447]\n\"Three.\" Q \"Was Abu Bakr the first who embraced Al-Islam?\" \"Yes.\" Q\n\"Yet Ali became a Moslem before him?\" \"Ali came to the Prophet, when he\nwas a boy of seven years old, for Allah vouchsafed him knowledge of the\nway of salvation in his tender youth, so that he never prostrated\nhimself to idols.\" Quoth he, \"Tell me which is the more excellent, Ali\nor Abb\u03b1s?\" Now she knew that, in propounding this question, Ibrahim was\nlaying a trap for her; for if she said, \"Ali is more excellent than\nAbbas,\" she would lack excuse with the Caliph for undervaluing his\nancestor; so she bowed her head awhile, now reddening, then paling, and\nlastly said, \"Thou askest me of two excellent men, each having his own\nexcellence. Let us return to what we were about.\" When the Caliph Harun\nal-Rashid heard her, he stood up and said, \"Thou hast spoken well, by\nthe Lord of the Ka'abah, O Tawaddud!\" Then quoth Ibrahim the\nrhetorician, \"What meaneth the poet when he saith,\n\n'Slim-wasted one, whose taste is sweetest-sweet, * Likest a lance\n\n\n     whereon no head we scan:\n\n\nAnd all the lieges find it work them weal, * Eaten of afternoon\n\n\n     in Ramazan.'\"\n\n\n\nShe answered, \"The sugar-cane;\" and he said, \"Tell me of many things.\"\nAsked she, \"What are they?\" and he said, \"What is sweeter than honey;\nwhat is sharper than the sword; what is swifter than poison; what is\nthe delight of a moment and what the contentment of three days; what is\nthe pleasantest of days; what is the joy of a week; what is that debt\nthe worst debtor denieth not; what is the prison of the tomb; what is\nthe joy of the heart; what is the snare of the soul; what is\ndeath-in-life; what is the disease that may not be healed; what is the\nshame that may not be wiped off; what is the beast that woneth not in\ncultivated fields, but lodgeth in waste places and hateth the sons of\nAdam and hath in him somewhat of the make of seven strong and violent\nbeasts?\" Quoth she, \"Hear what I shall say in reply; then put off thy\nclothes, that I may explain to thee;\" and the Caliph said, \"Expound,\nand he shall doff his clothes.\" So she said, \"Now that, which is\nsweeter than honey, is the love of pious children to their two parents;\nthat, which is sharper than the sword, is the tongue; that, which is\nswifter than poison, is the Envier's eye; the delight of a moment is\ncarnal copulation and the contentment of three days is the depilatory\nfor women; the pleasantest of days is that of profit on merchandise;\nthe joy of a week is the bride; the debt, which the worst debtor\ndenieth not, is death; the prison of the tomb is a bad son; the joy of\nthe heart is a woman obedient to her husband (and it is said also that,\nwhen fleshmeat descendeth upon the heart, it rejoiceth therein); the\nsnare of the soul is a disobedient slave; death-in-life is poverty; the\ndisease that may not be healed is an ill-nature, and the shame that may\nnot be wiped away is an ill daughter; lastly, the beast that woneth not\nin cultivated fields, but lodgeth in waste places and hateth the sons\nof Adam and hath in him somewhat of the make of seven strong and\nviolent beasts, is the locust, whose head is as the head of a horse,\nits neck as the neck of the bull, its wings as the wings of the\nvulture, its feet as the feet of the camel, its tail as the tail of the\nserpent, its belly as the belly of the scorpion and its horns as the\nhorns of the gazelle.\" The Caliph was astounded at her quickness and\nunderstanding, and said to the rhetorician, \"Doff thy clothes.\" So he\nrose up and cried, \"I call all who are present in this assembly to\nwitness that she is more learned than I and every other learned man.\"\nAnd he put off his clothes and gave them to her, saying, \"Take them and\nmay Allah not bless them to thee!\" So the Caliph ordered him fresh\nclothes and said, \"O Tawaddud, there is one thing left of that for\nwhich thou didst engage, namely, chess.\" And he sent for experts of\nchess and cards[FN#448] and trictrac. The chess-player sat down before\nher, and they set the pieces, and he moved and she moved; but, every\nmove he made she speedily countered,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the damsel\nwas playing chess with the expert in presence of the Commander of the\nFaithful, Harun al-Rashid, whatever move he made was speedily countered\nby her, till she beat him and he found himself checkmated. Quoth he, \"I\ndid but lead thee on, that thou mightest think thyself skilful: but set\nup again, and thou shalt see.\" So they placed the pieces a second time,\nwhen he said in himself, \"Open thine eyes or she will beat thee.\" And\nhe fell to moving no piece, save after calculation, and ceased not to\nplay, till she said, \"Thy King is dead!\u2014Checkmate.\" When he saw this he\nwas confounded at her quickness and understanding; but she laughed and\nsaid, \"O professor, I will make a wager with thee on this third game. I\nwill give thee the queen and the right-hand castle and the left-hand\nknight; if thou beat me, take my clothes, and if I beat thee, I will\ntake thy clothes.\" Replied he, \"I agree to this;\" and they replaced the\npieces, she removing queen, castle and knight.[FN#449] Then said she,\n\"Move, O master.\" So he moved, saying to himself, \"I cannot but beat\nher, with such odds,\" and planned a combination; but, behold, she moved\non, little by little, till she made one of her pawns[FN#450] a queen\nand pushing up to him pawns and other pieces, to take off his\nattention, set one in his way and tempted him to take it. Accordingly,\nhe took it and she said to him, \"The measure is meted and the loads\nequally balanced.[FN#451] Eat till thou are over-full; naught shall be\nthy ruin, O son of Adam, save thy greed. Knowest thou not that I did\nbut tempt thee, that I might finesse thee? See: this is check-mate!\"\nadding, \"So doff off thy clothes.\" Quoth he, \"Leave me my bag-trousers,\nso Allah repay thee;\" and he swore by Allah that he would contend with\nnone, so long as Tawaddud abode in the realm of Baghdad. Then he\nstripped off his clothes and gave them to her and went away. Thereupon\ncame the backgammon-player, and she said to him, \"If I beat thee, this\nday, what wilt thou give me?\" Quoth he, \"I will give thee ten suits of\nbrocade of Constantinople, figured with gold, and ten suits of velvet\nand a thousand gold pieces; and if I beat thee, I ask nothing but that\nthou write me an acknowledgment of my victory.\" Quoth she, \"To it,\nthen, and do thy best.\" So they played, and he lost and went away,\nchattering in Frankish jargon and saying, \"By the bounty of the\nCommander of the Faithful, there is not her like in all the regions of\nthe world!\" Then the Caliph summoned players on instruments of music\nand asked her, \"Dost thou know aught of music?\"; when she answered,\n\"Even so!\" He bade bring a worn lute, polished by use, whose owner\nforlorn and lone was by parting trodden down; and of which quoth one,\ndescribing it\n\n\"Allah watered a land, and upsprang a tree * Struck root deep\n\n\n     down, and raised head a-sky:\n\n\nThe birds o'ersang it when green its wood; * And the Fair\n\n\n     o'ersing now the wood is dry.\"\n\n\n\nSo they brought the lute in a bag of red satin, with tassels of\nsaffron-coloured silk: and she opened the bag, and took it out and\nbehold on it was graven,\n\n\"Oft hath a tender bough made lute for maid, * whose swift sweet\n\n\n     lays at feast men's hearts invade:\n\n\nShe sings; it follows on her song, as though * The\n\n\n     Bulbuls[FN#452] taught her all the modes she played.\"\n\n\n\nShe laid her lute in her lap and with bosom inclining over it, bent to\nit with the bending of a mother who suckleth her child; then she\npreluded in twelve different modes, till the whole assembly was\nagitated with delight, like a waving sea, and she sang the following,\n\n\"Cut short this strangeness, leave unruth of you; * My heart\n\n\n     shall love you aye, by youth of you!\n\n\nHave ruth on one who sighs and weeps and moans, * Pining and\n\n\n     yearning for the troth of you.\"\n\n\n\nThe Caliph was ravished and exclaimed, \"Allah bless thee and be\nmerciful to him who taught thee!\": whereupon she rose and kissed the\nground before him. Then he sent for money and paid her master Abu\nal-Husn an hundred thousand gold pieces to her price; after which he\nsaid to her, \"O Tawaddud, ask a boon of me!\" Replied she, \"I ask of\nthee that thou restore me to my lord who sold me.\" \"'Tis well,\"\nanswered the Caliph and restored her to her master and gave her five\nthousand dinars for herself. Moreover, he appointed Abu al-Husn one of\nhis cup-companions for a permanence,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph gave\nthe damsel five thousand dinars for herself and restored her to her\nmaster whom he appointed one of his cup-companions for a permanence and\nassigned him a monthly stipend of a thousand dinars so long as he\nshould live; and he abode with the damsel Tawaddud in all solace and\ndelight of life. Marvel then, O King, at the eloquence of this damsel\nand the hugeness of her learning and understanding and her perfect\nexcellence in all branches of art and science; and consider the\ngenerosity of the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, in that\nhe gave her master this money and said to her, \"Ask a boon of me;\" and\nshe besought him to restore her to her lord. So he restored her to him\nand gave her five thousand dinars for herself and made him one of his\nboon-companions. Where is such generosity to be found after the\nAbbaside Caliphs?\u2014May Allah Almighty have mercy upon them, one and all!\nAnd they tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE ANGEL OF DEATH WITH THE PROUD KING AND THE DEVOUT MAN.\n\nIt is related, O auspicious King, that one of the olden monarchs was\nonce minded to ride out in state with the Officers of his realm and the\nGrandees of his retinue and display to the folk the marvels of his\nmagnificence. So he ordered his Lords and Emirs equip them therefor and\ncommanded his keeper of the wardrobe to bring him of the richest of\nraiment, such as befitted the King in his state; and he bade them bring\nhis steeds[FN#453] of the finest breeds and pedigrees every man heeds;\nwhich being done, he chose out of the raiment what rejoiced him most\nand of the horses that which he deemed best; and, donning the clothes,\ntogether with a collar set with margarites and rubies and all manner\njewels, mounted and set forth in state, making his destrier prance and\ncurvet among his troops and glorying in his pride and despotic power.\nAnd Iblis came to him and, laying his hand upon his nose, blew into his\nnostrils the breath of hauteur and conceit, so that he magnified and\nglorified himself and said in his heart, \"Who among men is like unto\nme?\" And he became so puffed up with arrogance and self-sufficiency,\nand so taken up with the thought of his own splendour and magnificence,\nthat he would not vouchsafe a glance to any man. Presently, there stood\nbefore him one clad in tattered clothes and saluted him, but he\nreturned not his salam; whereupon the stranger laid hold of his horse's\nbridle. \"Lift thy hand,\" cried the King, \"thou knowest not whose\nbridle-rein it is whereof thou takest hold.\" Quoth the other, I have a\nneed of thee.\" Quoth the King, \"Wait till I alight and then name thy\nneed.\" Rejoined the stranger, \"It is a secret and I will not tell it\nbut in thine ear.\" So the King bowed his head to him and he said, \"I am\nthe Angel of Death and I purpose to take thy soul.\" Replied the King,\n\"Have patience with me a little, whilst I return to my house and take\nleave of my people and children and neighbours and wife.\" \"By no means\nso,\" answered the Angel; \"thou shalt never return nor look on them\nagain, for the fated term of thy life is past.\" So saying, he took the\nsoul of the King (who fell off his horse's back dead) and departed\nthence. Presently the Death Angel met a devout man, of whom Almighty\nAllah had accepted, and saluted him. He returned the salute, and the\nAngel said to him, \"O pious man, I have a need of thee which must be\nkept secret.\" \"Tell it in my ear,\" quoth the devotee; and quoth the\nother, \"I am the Angel of Death.\" Replied the man, \"Welcome to thee!\nand praised be Allah for thy coming! I am aweary of awaiting thine\narrival; for indeed long hath been thine absence from the lover which\nlongeth for thee.\" Said the Angel, \"If thou have any business, make an\nend of it;\" but the other answered, saying, \"There is nothing so urgent\nto me as the meeting with my Lord, to whom be honour and glory!\" And\nthe Angel said \"How wouldst thou fain have me take thy soul? I am\nbidden to take it as thou willest and choosest.\" He replied, \"Tarry\ntill I make the Wuzu-ablution and pray; and, when I prostrate myself,\nthen take my soul while my body is on the ground.\"[FN#454] Quoth the\nAngel, \"Verily, my Lord (be He extolled and exalted!) commanded me not\nto take thy soul but with thy consent and as thou shouldst wish; so I\nwill do thy will.\" Then the devout man made the minor ablution[FN#455]\nand prayed: and the Angel of Death took his soul in the act of\nprostration and Almighty Allah transported it to the place of mercy and\nacceptance and forgiveness. And they tell another tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE ANGEL OF DEATH AND THE RICH KING.\n\nA certain King had heaped up coin beyond count and gathered store of\nall precious things, which Allah the Most Highest hath created. So, in\norder that he might take his pleasure whenas he should find leisure to\nenjoy all this abounding wealth he had collected, he built him a palace\nwide and lofty such as befitteth and beseemeth Kings; and set thereto\nstrong doors and appointed, for its service and its guard, servants and\nsoldiers and doorkeepers to watch and ward. One day, he bade the cooks\ndress him somewhat of the goodliest of food and assembled his household\nand retainers and boon-companions and servants to eat with him, and\npartake of his bounty. Then he sat down upon the sofa of his kingship\nand dominion; and, propping his elbow upon the cushion, addressed\nhimself, saying, \"O soul, thou hast gathered together all the wealth of\nthe world; so now take thy leisure therein and eat of this good at\nthine ease, in long life and prosperity ever rife!\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that hardly had the\nKing made an end of saying to himself, \"Eat of this weal at thine ease,\nin long life and prosperity ever rife!\" when a man clad in tattered\nraiment, with an asker's wallet hanging at his neck, as he were one who\ncame to beg food, knocked with the door-ring a knock so loud and\nterrible that the whole palace shook as with quake of earth and the\nKing's throne trembled. The servants were affrighted and rushed to the\ndoor, and when they saw the man who had knocked they cried out at him,\nsaying, \"Woe to thee! what manner of unmannerly fashion be this? Wait\ntill the King eateth and we will then give thee of what is left.\" Quoth\nhe, \"Tell your lord to come out and speak with me, for I have of him a\npressing need and a matter to heed.\" They cried, \"Away, fool! who art\nthou that we should bid our lord come forth to thee?\" But he said,\n\"Tell him of this.\" So they went in and told the King, who said, \"Did\nye not rebuke him and draw upon him and threaten him!\" Now as he spoke,\nbehold, there came another knock at the gate, louder than the first\nknock, whereupon the servants sprang at the stranger with staves and\nweapons, to fall upon him and slay him; but he shouted at them, saying,\n\"Bide in your steads, for I am the Angel of Death.\" Hereat their hearts\nquaked and their wits forsook them; their understandings were in\nconfusion, their side-muscles quivered in perturbation and their limbs\nlost the power of motion. Then said the King to them, \"Tell him to take\na substitute[FN#456] in my place and one to relieve me in this case.\"\nBut the Angel answered, saying, \"I will take no substitute, and I come\nnot but on thine account, to cause separation between thee and the\ngoods thou hast gathered together and the riches thou hast heaped up\nand entreasured.\" When the King heard this, he wept and groaned,\nsaying, \"Allah curse the treasure which hath deluded and undone me and\ndiverted me from the service of my Lord! I deemed it would profit me,\nbut to-day it is a regret for me and a calamity to me, and behold, I go\nforth, empty-handed of it, and leave it to my foes.\" Thereupon Allah\ncaused the Treasure to speak out and it said, \"Wherefore cursest thou\nme?[FN#457] Curse thyself, for Allah created both me and eke thyself of\nthe dust and appointed me to be in thine hand, that thou mightest\nprovide thee with me a viaticum for the next world and give alms with\nme to the poor and the needy and the sick; and build mosques and\nhospices and bridges and aqueducts, so might I be an aidance unto thee\nin the world to come. But thou didst garner me and hoard me up and on\nthine own vanities bestowedst me, neither gavest thou thanks for me, as\nwas due, but wast ungrateful to me; and now thou must leave me to thy\nfoes and thou hast naught save thy regretting and thy repenting. But\nwhat is my sin, that thou shouldest revile me?\" Then the Angel of Death\ntook the King's soul as he sat on his throne before he ate of the food,\nand he fell down dead. Quoth Allah Almighty, \"While they were rejoicing\nfor that which had been given them, we suddenly laid hold on them; and,\nbehold, they were seized with despair.\"[FN#458] And they tell another\ntale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE ANGEL OF DEATH AND THE KING OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.\n\nThere was a puissant despot among the Kings of the Ban\u03ca Isr\u03b1\u03bdl, who sat\none day upon the throne of his kingship, when he saw come in to him, by\nthe gate of the hall, a man of forbidding aspect and horrible presence.\nThe King was affrighted at his sudden intrusion and his look terrified\nhim; so he sprang up before him and said, \"Who art thou, O man? Who\ngave thee leave to come in to me and who invited thee to enter my\nhouse?\" Quoth the stranger, \"Verily the Lord of the House sent me to\nthee, nor can any doorkeeper exclude me, nor need I leave to come in to\nKings; for I reck not of a Sultan's majesty neither of the multitude of\nhis guards. I am he from whom no tyrant is at rest, nor can any man\nescape from my grasp: I am the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer\nof societies.\" Now when the King heard this a palsy crept over\nhim[FN#459] and he fell on his face in a swoon; but presently coming to\nhimself, he asked, \"Art thou then the Angel of Death?\"; and the\nstranger answered, \"Yes.\" \"I conjure thee, by Allah,\" quoth the King,\n\"grant me one single day's respite, that I may pray pardon of my sins\nand ask absolution of my Lord and restore to their rightful owners the\nmonies which are in my treasures, so I may not be burdened with the woe\nof a reckoning nor with the misery of punishment therefor.\" Replied the\nAngel, \"Well-away! well-away! this may be in no way.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the\nDeath-messenger to the King, \"Well-away, well-away! this may be in no\nway. How can I grant thee a reprieve when the days of thy life are\ncounted and thy breaths numbered and thy moments fixed and written?\"\n\"Grant me an hour,\" asked the King; but the Angel answered saying, \"The\nhour was in the account and hath sped, and thou unheeding aught; and\nhath fled, and thou taking no thought: and now thy breathings are\naccomplished, and there remaineth to thee but one breath.\" Quoth the\nKing, \"Who will be with me when I am transported to my tomb?\" Quoth the\nAngel, \"Naught will be with thee but thy works good or evil.\" \"I have\nno works,\" said the King; and the Angel, \"Doubtless thy long home will\nbe in hell-fire and thy doom the wrath of the Almighty.\" Then he seized\nthe soul of the King, and he fell off his throne and dropped on the\nearth dead. And there arose a mighty weeping and wailing and clamour of\nkeening for him among the people of his court, and had they known that\nto which he went of the wrath of his Lord, their weeping for him had\nbeen sorer and their wailing louder and more abounding. And a story is\ntold of\n\n\n\n\nISKANDAR ZU AL-KARNAYN[FN#460] AND A CERTAIN TRIBE OF POOR FOLK.\n\nIt is related that Iskandar Zu al-Karnayn[FN#461] once came, in his\njourneyings, upon a tribe of small folk, who owned naught of the weals\nof the world and who dug their graves over against the doors of their\nhouses and were wont at all times to visit them and sweep the earth\nfrom them and keep them clean and pray at them and worship Almighty\nAllah at them; and they had no meat save grasses and the growth of the\nground. So Iskandar sent a man to summon their King, but he refused to\ncome, saying, \"I have no need of him.\" Thereupon Iskandar went to him\nand said, \"How is it with you and what manner of men are ye?; for I see\nwith you forsooth naught of gold or silver, nor find I with you aught\nof the weals of the world.\" Answered the King, \"None hath his fill of\nthe weals of the world.\" Iskandar then asked \"Why do you dig your\ngraves before your house-doors?\"; and the King answered, \"That they may\nbe the prospective of our eye-glances; so we may look on them and ever\nrenew talk and thought of death, neither forget the world to come; and\non this wise the love of the world be banished from our hearts and we\nbe not thereby distracted from the service of our Lord, the Almighty.\"\nQuoth Iskandar, \"Why do ye eat grasses?\"; and the other replied,\n\"Because we abhor to make our bellies the tombs of animals and because\nthe pleasure of eating outstrippeth not the gullet.\" Then putting forth\nhis hand he brought out a skull of a son of Adam and, laying it before\nIskandar, said, \"O Zu al-Karnayn, Lord of the Two Horns, knowest thou\nwho owned this skull?\" Quoth he, \"Nay;\" and quoth the other, \"He who\nowned this skull was a King of the Kings of the world, who dealt\ntyrannously with his subjects, specially wronging the weak and wasting\nhis time in heaping up the rubbish of this world, till Allah took his\nsprite and made the fire his abiding-site; and this is his head.\" He\nthen put forth his hand and produced another skull and, laying it\nbefore Iskandar, said to him, \"Knowest thou this?\" \"No,\" answered the\nconqueror; and the other rejoined, \"This is the skull of another King,\nwho dealt justly by his lieges and was kindly solicitous for the folk\nof his realm and his dominions, till Allah took his soul and lodged him\nin His Garden and made high his degree in Heaven.\" Then laying his\nhands on Iskandar's head he said, \"Would I knew which of these two art\nthou.\" Whereupon Iskandar wept with sore weeping and straining the King\nto his bosom cried, \"If thou be minded to company with me, I will\ncommit to thee as Wazir the government of my affairs and share with\nthee my kingdom.\" Cried the other, \"Well-away, well-away! I have no\nmind to this.\" \"And why so?\" asked Iskandar, and the King answered,\n\"Because all men are thy foes by reason of the wealth and the worlds\nthou hast won: while all men are my true friends, because of my\ncontentment and pauperdom, for that I possess nothing, neither covet\naught of the goods of life; I have no desire to them nor wish for them,\nneither reck I aught save contentment.\" So Iskandar pressed him to his\nbreast and kissed him between the eyes and went his way.[FN#462] And\namong the tales they tell is one concerning\n\n\n\n\nTHE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF KING ANUSHIRWAN.[FN#463]\n\nIt is told of Anushirwan, the Just King, that once upon a time he\nfeigned himself sick, and bade his stewards and intendants go round\nabout the provinces of his empire and the quarters of his dominion and\nseek him out a mud-brick thrown away from some ruined village, that he\nmight use it as medicine, informing his intimates that the leaches had\nprescribed this to him. So they went the round of the provinces of his\nreign and of all the lands under his sway and said to him on return,\n\"In all the realm we have found nor ruined site nor castaway\nmud-brick.\" At this Anushirwan rejoiced and rendered thanks to the\nLord, saying, \"I was but minded to try my kingdom and prove mine\nempire, that I might know if any place therein remained ruined and\ndeserted, so I might rebuild and repeople it; but, since there be no\nplace in it but is inhabited, the affairs of the reign are\nbest-conditioned and its ordinance is excellent; and its\npopulousness[FN#464] hath reached the pitch of perfection.\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the high\nofficials returned and reported, \"We have found in the empire nor\nruined site nor rotten brick,\" the Just King thanked his God and said,\n\"Verily the affairs of the realm are best-conditioned and its ordinance\nis excellent and its populousness hath reached the pink of perfection.\"\nAnd ken thou, O King, continued Shahrazad, that these olden Kings\nstrave not and toiled not for the peopling of their possessions, but\nbecause they knew that the more populous a country is, the more\nabundant is that which is desired therein; and because they wist the\nsaying of the wise and the learned to be true without other view,\nnamely, \"Religion dependeth on the King, the King on the troops, the\ntroops on the treasury, the treasury on the populousness of the country\nand its prosperity on the justice done to the lieges.\" Wherefore they\nupheld no one in tyranny or oppression; neither suffered their\ndependants and suite to work injustice, knowing that kingdoms are not\nestablished upon tyranny, but that cities and places fall into ruin\nwhen oppressors are set as rulers over them, and their inhabitants\ndisperse and flee to other governments; whereby ruin falleth upon the\nrealm, the imports fail, the treasuries become empty and the pleasant\nlives of the subjects are perturbed; for that they love not a tyrant\nand cease not to offer up successive prayers against him; so that the\nKing hath no ease of his kingdom, and the vicissitudes of fortune\nspeedily bring him to destruction. And they tell a tale concerning\n\n\n\n\nTHE JEWISH KAZI AND HIS PIOUS WIFE.\n\nAmong the Children of Israel one of the Kazis had a wife of surpassing\nbeauty, constant in fasting and abounding in patience and\nlong-suffering; and he, being minded to make the pilgrimage to\nJerusalem, appointed his own brother Kazi in his stead, during his\nabsence, and commended his wife to his charge. Now this brother had\nheard of her beauty and loveliness and had taken a fancy to her. So no\nsooner was his brother gone than he went to her and sought her\nlove-favours; but she denied him and held fast to her chastity. The\nmore she repelled him, the more he pressed his suit upon her; till,\ndespairing of her and fearing lest she should acquaint his brother with\nhis misconduct whenas he should return, he suborned false witnesses to\ntestify against her of adultery; and cited her and carried her before\nthe King of the time who adjudged her to be stoned. So they dug a pit,\nand seating her therein stoned her, till she was covered with stones,\nand the man said, \"Be this hole her grave!\" But when it was dark a\npasser-by, making for a neighbouring hamlet, heard her groaning in sore\npain; and, pulling her out of the pit, carried her home to his wife,\nwhom he bade dress her wounds. The peasant woman tended her till she\nrecovered and presently gave her her child to be nursed; and she used\nto lodge with the child in another house by night. Now a certain thief\nsaw her and lusted after her. So he sent to her seeking her\nlove-favours, but she denied herself to him; wherefore he resolved to\nslay her and, making his way into her lodging by night (and she\nsleeping), thought to strike at her with a knife; but it smote the\nlittle one and killed it. Now when he knew his misdeed, fear overtook\nhim and he went forth the house and Allah preserved from him her\nchastity. But as she awoke in the morning, she found the child by her\nside with throat cut; and presently the mother came and seeing her boy\ndead, said to the nurse, \"Twas thou didst murther him.\" Therewith she\nbeat her a grievous beating and purposed to put her to death; but her\nhusband interposed and delivered the woman, saying, \"By Allah, thou\nshalt not do on this wise.\" So the woman, who had somewhat of money\nwith her, fled forth for her life, knowing not whither she should wend.\nPresently, she came to a village, where she saw a crowd of people about\na man crucified to a tree-stump, but still in the chains of life. \"What\nhath he done?\" she asked, and they answered, \"He hath committed a\ncrime, which nothing can expiate but death or the payment of such a\nfine by way of alms.\" So she said to them, \"Take the money and let him\ngo;\" and, when they did so, he repented at her hands and vowed to serve\nher, for the love of Almighty Allah till death should release him. Then\nhe built her a cell and lodged her therein; after which he betook\nhimself to woodcutting and brought her daily her bread. As for her, she\nwas constant in worship, so that there came no sick man or demoniac to\nher, but she prayed for him and he was straightway healed.\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the woman's\ncell was visited by folk (and she constant in worship), it befel by\ndecree of the Almighty that He sent down upon her husband's brother\n(the same who had caused her to be stoned), a cancer in the face, and\nsmote the villager's wife (the same who had beaten her) with leprosy,\nand afflicted the thief (the same who had murthered the child) with\npalsy. Now when the Kazi returned from his pilgrimage, he asked his\nbrother of his wife, and he told him that she was dead, whereat he\nmourned sore and accounted her with her Maker. After awhile, very many\nfolk heard of the pious recluse and flocked to her cell from all parts\nof the length and breadth of the earth; whereupon said the Kazi to his\nbrother, \"O my brother, wilt thou not seek out yonder pious woman?\nHaply Allah shall decree thee healing at her hands!\" and he replied, \"O\nmy brother, carry me to her\" Moreover, the husband of the leprous woman\nheard of the pious devotee and carried his wife to her, as did also the\npeople of the paralytic thief; and they all met at the door of the\nhermitage. Now she had a place wherefrom she could look out upon those\nwho came to her, without their seeing her; and they waited till her\nservant came, when they begged admittance and obtained permission.\nPresently she saw them all and recognized them; so she veiled and\ncloaked face and body and went out and stood in the door, looking at\nher husband and his brother and the thief and the peasant-woman; but\nthey could not recognize her. Then said she to them, \"Ho folk, ye shall\nnot be relieved of what is with you till ye confess your sins; for,\nwhen the creature confesseth his sins the Creator relenteth towards him\nand granteth him that wherefore he resorteth to him.\" Quoth the Kazi to\nhis brother, \"O my brother, repent to Allah and persist not in thy\nfrowardness, for it will be more helpful to thy relief.\" And the tongue\nof the case spake this speech,\n\n\"This day oppressor and oppressed meet, * And Allah sheweth\n\n\n     secrets we secrete:\n\n\nThis is a place where sinners low are brought; * And Allah\n\n\n     raiseth saint to highest seat.\n\n\nOur Lord and Master shows the truth right clear, * Though sinner\n\n\n     froward be or own defeat:\n\n\nAlas[FN#465] for those who rouse the Lord to wrath, * As though\n\n\n     of Allah's wrath they nothing weet!\n\n\nO whoso seekest honours, know they are * From Allah, and His fear\n\n\n     with love entreat.\"\n\n\n\n(Saith the relator), Then quoth the brother, \"Now I will tell the\ntruth: I did thus and thus with thy wife;\" and he confessed the whole\nmatter, adding, \"And this is my offence.\" Quoth the leprous woman, \"As\nfor me, I had a woman with me and imputed to her that of which I knew\nher to be guiltless, and beat her grievously; and this is my offence.\"\nAnd quoth the paralytic, \"And I went in to a woman to kill her, after I\nhad tempted her to commit adultery and she had refused; and I slew a\nchild that lay by her side; and this is my offence.\" Then said the\npious woman, \"O my God, even as Thou hast made them feel the misery of\nrevolt, so show them now the excellence of submission, for Thou over\nall things art Omnipotent!\" And Allah (to whom belong Majesty and\nMight!) made them whole. Then the Kazi fell to looking on her and\nconsidering her straitly, till she asked him why he looked so hard and\nhe said, \"I had a wife and were she not dead, I had said thou art she.\"\nHereupon, she made herself known to him and both began praising Allah\n(to whom belong Majesty and Might!) for that which He had vouchsafed\nthem of the reunion of their loves; but the brother and the thief and\nthe villager's wife joined in imploring her forgiveness. So she forgave\nthem one and all, and they worshipped Allah in that place and rendered\nher due service, till Death parted them. And one of the Sayyids[FN#466]\nhath related this tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE SHIPWRECKED WOMAN AND HER CHILD.\n\n\"I was circuiting the Ka'abah one dark night, when I heard a plaintive\nvoice, speaking from a contrite heart and saying, 'O Bountiful One, Thy\npast boon! Indeed, by my heart shall Thy covenant never be undone.'\nHearing this voice, my heart fluttered so that I was like to die; but I\nfollowed the sound and behold, it came from a woman, to whom I said,\n'Peace be with thee, O handmaid of Allah;' whereto she replied, 'And\nwith thee be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings!' Quoth I,\n'I conjure thee, by Allah the Most Great, tell me what is the covenant\nto which thy heart is constant.' Quoth she, 'But that thou adjurest me\nby the Omnipotent, I would not tell thee my secrets. See what is before\nme.' So I looked and lo! there was a child lying asleep before her and\nbreathing heavily in his slumber. Said she, \"Know, that I set forth,\nbeing big with this boy, to make the pilgrimage to this House and took\npassage in a ship; but the waves rose against us and the winds blew\ncontrary and the vessel broke up. I saved myself on a plank; and, on\nthat bit of wood, I gave birth to this child; and while he lay on my\nbosom and the waves beating upon me,'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the woman\ncontinued, \"'Now while the boy lay on my bosom and the waves beat upon\nme, there swam up to me one of the sailors, who climbed on the plank\nand said, 'By Allah, I desired thee whilst thou wast yet in the ship,\nand now I have come at thee: so yield thy body to me, or I will throw\nthee into the sea.' Said I, 'Out on thee! hast thou no memory of that\nwhich thou hast seen and is it no warning to thee?' Quoth he, 'I have\nseen the like of this many a time and come off safe and care not.'\nQuoth I, 'O fellow, we are now in a calamity, whence we hope to be\ndelivered by obedience to Allah and not by disobedience.' But he\npersisted with me, and I feared him and thought to put him off; so I\nsaid to him, 'Wait till this babe shall sleep'; but he took the child\noff my lap and threw him into the sea. Now when I saw this desperate\ndeed, my heart sank and sorrow was sore upon me; so I raised my eyes\nheavenwards and said, 'O Thou that interposest between a man and his\nheart, intervene between me and this leonine brute; for Thou over all\nthings art Omnipotent!' And by Allah, hardly had I spoken when a beast\nrose out of the sea and snatched him off the plank. When I saw myself\nalone my sorrows redoubled and my grief and longing for my child, and I\nrecited,\n\n'My coolth of eyes, the darling child of me * Is lost, and racked\n\n\n     my heart with agony;\n\n\nMy body wrecked, and red-hot coals of love * Burning my liver\n\n\n     with sore pangs, I see.\n\n\nIn this my sorrow shows no gleam of joy; * Save Thy high grace\n\n\n     and my expectancy:\n\n\nHast seen, O Lord, what unto me befel; * My son aye lost and\n\n\n     parting pangs I dree:\n\n\nTake ruth on us and make us meet again; * For now my stay and\n\n\n     only hope's in Thee!'\n\n\n\nI abode in this condition a day and a night; and, when morning dawned,\nI caught sight of the sails of a vessel shining afar off, nor did the\nwaves cease to drive me and the winds to waft me on, till I reached the\nship, whose sails I had sighted. The sailors took me up and I looked\nand behold, my babe was amongst them: so I threw myself upon him and\nsaid, 'O folk, this is my child: how and whence came ye by him?' Quoth\nthey, 'Whilst we were sailing along the seas the ship suddenly stood\nstill and lo! that which stayed us was a beast, as it were a great\ncity, and this babe on its back, sucking his thumbs. So we took him\nup.' Now when I heard this, I told them my tale and all that had\nbetided me and returned thanks to my Lord for His goodness, and vowed\nto Him that never, whilst I lived, would I stir from His House nor\nswerve from His service; and since then I have never asked of Him aught\nbut He hath given it me.' Now when she had made an end of her story\n(quoth the Sayyid), I put my hand to my alms-pouch and would have given\nto her, but she exclaimed, \"Away from me, thou idle man! Have I not\ntold thee of His mercies and the graciousness of His dealings and shall\nI take an alms from other than His hand?\" And I could not prevail with\nher to accept aught of me: so I left her and went away, reciting these\ncouplets\n\n'How many boons conceals the Deity, * Eluding human sight in\n\n\n     mystery:\n\n\nHow many graces come on heels of stresses, * And fill the burning\n\n\n     heart with jubilee:\n\n\nHow many a sorrow in the morn appears, * And turns at night-tide\n\n\n     into gladdest gree:\n\n\nIf things go hard with thee some day, yet trust * Th' Eterne, th'\n\n\n     Almighty God of Unity:\n\n\nAnd pray the Prophet that he intercede; * Through intercession\n\n\n     every wish shalt see.'\n\n\n\nAnd she left not the service of her Lord, cleaving unto His House, till\ndeath came to her.\" And a tale is also told by M\u03b1lik bin D\u03bdn\u03b1r[FN#467]\n(Allah have mercy on him!) of\n\n\n\n\nTHE PIOUS BLACK SLAVE.\n\n\"We were once afflicted with drought at Bassorah and went forth sundry\ntimes to pray for rain, but saw no sign of our prayers being accepted.\nSo I went, I and 'Itaa al-Salam\u03bd and S\u03b1bit al-Ban\u03b1ni and Naja al-Bak\u03b1a\nand Mohammed bin W\u03b1si'a and Ayy\u03cab al-Sukhtiy\u03b1ni and Hab\u03bdb al-Farsi and\nHass\u03b1n bin Abi Sin\u03b1n and 'Otbah al-Ghul\u03b1m and S\u03b1lih al-Muzani,[FN#468]\ntill we reached the oratory,[FN#469] when the boys came out of the\nschools and we prayed for rain, but saw no sign of acceptance. So about\nmid-day the people went away and I and Sabit al-Banani tarried in the\nplace of prayer till nightfall, when we saw a black of comely face,\nslender of shank[FN#470] and big of belly, approach us, clad in a pair\nof woollen drawers; if all he wore had been priced, it would not have\nfetched a couple of dirhams. He brought water and made the minor\nablution, then, going up to the prayer-niche, prayed two inclinations\ndeftly, his standing and bowing and prostration being exactly similar\nin both. Then he raised his glance heavenwards, and said, 'O my God and\nmy Lord and Master, how long wilt Thou reject Thy servants in that\nwhich offereth no hurt to Thy sovereignty? Is that which is with Thee\nwasted or are the treasuries of Thy Kingdom annihilated? I conjure\nThee, by Thy love to me forthwith to pour out upon us Thy rain-clouds\nof grace!' He spake and hardly had he made an end of speaking, when the\nheavens clouded over and there came a rain, as if the mouths of\nwaterskins had been opened; and when we left the oratory, we were\nknee-deep in water,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"hardly had he\nspoken when the heavens clouded over and there came a rain, as if the\nmouths of waterskins had been opened. And when we left the oratory we\nwere knee-deep in water, and we were lost in wonder at the black. So I\naccosted him and said to him, 'Woe to thee, O black, art thou not\nashamed of what thou saidst?' He turned to me and asked, 'What said\nI?'; and I, 'Thy saying to Allah, 'By Thy love of me;' and what giveth\nthee to know that He loveth thee?' Replied he, 'Away from me, O thou\ndistracted by the world from the care of thine own soul. Where was I,\nwhen He gave me strength to profess the unity of the Godhead and\nvouchsafed unto me the knowledge of Him? How deemest thou that He aided\nme thus except of His love to me?' adding, 'Verily, His love to me is\nafter the measure of my love to Him.' Quoth I, 'Tarry awhile with me,\nso may Allah have mercy on thee!' But he said, 'I am a chattel and the\nBook enjoineth me to obey my lesser master.' So we followed him afar\noff, till we saw him enter the house of a slave-broker. Now the first\nhalf of the night was past and the last half was longsome upon us, so\nwe went away; but next morning, we repaired to the slave-dealer and\nsaid to him, 'Hast thou a lad to sell us for service?' He answered,\n'Yes, I have an hundred lads or so and they are all for sale.' Then he\nshowed us slave after slave; till he had shown us some seventy; but my\nfriend was not amongst them, and the dealer said, 'These are all I\nhave.' But, as we were going out from him we saw a ruinous hut behind\nhis house and going in behold, we found the black standing there. I\ncried, ''Tis he, by the Lord of the Ka'abah!' and turning to the\ndealer, said to him, 'Sell me yonder slave.' Replied he, 'O Abu Yahya,\nthis is a pestilent unprofitable fellow, who hath no concern by night\nbut weeping and by day but repentance.' I rejoined, 'It is for that I\nwant him.' So the dealer called him, and he came out, showing\ndrowsiness. Quoth his master, 'Take him at thine own price, so thou\nhold me free of all his faults.' I bought him for twenty dinars and\nasked 'What is his name?' and the dealer answered 'Maymun, the monkey;'\nand I took him by the hand and went out with him, intending to go home;\nbut he turned to me and said, 'O my lesser lord, why and wherefore\ndidst thou buy me? By Allah, I am not fit for the service of God's\ncreatures!' Replied I, 'I bought thee that I might serve thee myself;\nand on my head be it.' Asked he, 'Why so?' and I answered, 'Wast thou\nnot in company with us yesterday in the place of prayer?' Quoth he,\n'And didst thou hear me?'; and quoth I, 'It was I accosted thee\nyesterday and spoke with thee.' Thereupon he advanced till we came to a\nmosque, where he entered and prayed a two-bow prayer; after which he\nsaid, 'O my God and my Lord and Master, the secret that was between me\nand Thee Thou hast discovered unto Thy creatures and hast brought me to\nshame before the worldling. How then shall life be sweet to me, now\nthat other than Thou hath happened upon that which is between Thee and\nme? I conjure Thee to take my soul to Thee forthright.[FN#471] So\nsaying, he prostrated himself, and I awaited awhile without seeing him\nraise his head; so I shook him and behold, he was indeed dead, the\nmercy of Almighty Allah be upon him! I laid him out stretching his arms\nand legs and looked at him, and lo! he was smiling. Moreover, whiteness\nhad got the better of blackness on his brow, and his face was radiant\nwith light like a young moon. As we wondered at his case, the door\nopened and a young man came in to us and said, 'Peace be with you! May\nAllah make great our reward and yours for our brother Maymun! Here is\nhis shroud: wrap him in it.' So saying, he gave us two robes, never had\nwe seen the like of them, and we shrouded him therein. And now his tomb\nis a place whither men resort to pray for rain and ask their\nrequirements of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!); and how\nexcellently well saith the poet on this theme,\n\n     'The heart of Gnostic[FN#472] homed in heavenly Garth *\n\n\n          Heaven decks, and Allah's porters aid afford.\n\n\n     Lo! here they drink old wine commingled with *\n\n\n          Tasn\u03bdm,[FN#473] the wine of union with the Lord.\n\n\n     Safe is the secret 'twixt the Friend and them; *\n\n\n          Safe from all hearts but from that Heart adored.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd they recount another anecdote of\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEVOUT TRAY-MAKER AND HIS WIFE.\n\nThere was once, among the Children of Israel, a man of the worthiest,\nwho was strenuous in the service of his Lord and abstained from things\nworldly and drave them away from his heart. He had a wife who was a\nhelpmate meet for him and who was at all times obedient to him. They\nearned their living by making trays[FN#474] and fans, whereat they\nwrought all through the light hours; and, at nightfall, the man went\nout into the streets and highways seeking a buyer for what they had\nmade. They were wont to fast continually by day[FN#475] and one morning\nthey arose, fasting, and worked at their craft till the light failed\nthem, when the man went forth, according to custom, to find purchasers\nfor his wares, and fared on till he came to the door of the house of a\ncertain man of wealth, one of the sons of this world, high in rank and\ndignity. Now the tray-maker was fair of face and comely of form, and\nthe wife of the master of the house saw him and fell in love with him\nand her heart inclined to him with exceeding inclination; so, her\nhusband being absent, she called her handmaid and said to her,\n\"Contrive to bring yonder man to us.\" Accordingly the maid went out to\nhim and and called him and stopped him as though she would buy what he\nheld in hand.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the maid-servant\nwent out to the man and asked him, \"Come in; my lady hath a mind to buy\nsome of thy wares, after she hath tried them and looked at them.\" The\nman thought she spoke truly and, seeing no harm in this, entered and\nsat down as she bade him; and she shut the door upon him. Whereupon her\nmistress came out of her room and, taking him by the gaberdine,[FN#476]\ndrew him within and said, \"How long shall I seek union of thee? Verily\nmy patience is at an end on thine account. See now, the place is\nperfumed and provision prepared and the householder is absent this\nnight, and I give to thee my person without reserve, I whose favours\nkings and captains and men of fortune have sought this long while, but\nI have regarded none of them.\" And she went on talking thus to him,\nwhilst he raised not his eyes from the ground, for shame before Allah\nAlmighty and fear of the pains and penalties of His punishment; even as\nsaith the poet,\n\n\"'Twixt me and riding many a noble dame, * Was naught but shame\n\n\n     which kept me chaste and pure:\n\n\nMy shame was cure to her; but haply were * Shame to depart, she\n\n\n     ne'er had known a cure.\"\n\n\n\nThe man strove to free himself from her, but could not; so he said to\nher, \"I want one thing of thee.\" She asked, \"What is that?\": and he\nanswered, \"I wish for pure water that I may carry it to the highest\nplace of thy house and do somewhat therewith and cleanse myself of an\nimpurity, which I may not disclose to thee.\" Quoth she, \"The house is\nlarge and hath closets and corners and privies at command.\" But he\nreplied, \"I want nothing but to be at a height.\" So she said to her\nslave-girl, \"Carry him up to the belvedere on the house-terrace.\"\nAccordingly the maid took him up to the very top and, giving him a\nvessel of water, went down and left him. Then he made the ablution and\nprayed a two-bow prayer; after which he looked at the ground, thinking\nto throw himself down, but seeing it afar off, feared to be dashed to\npieces by the fall.[FN#477] Then he bethought him of his disobedience\nto Allah, and the consequences of his sin; so it became a light matter\nto him to offer up his life and shed his blood; and he said, \"O my God\nand my Lord, Thou seest that which is fallen on me; neither is my case\nhidden from Thee. Thou indeed over all things art Omnipotent and the\ntongue of my case reciteth and saith,\n\n'I show my heart and thoughts to Thee, and Thou * Alone my\n\n\n     secret's secrecy canst know.\n\n\nIf I address Thee fain I cry aloud; * Or, if I'm mute, my signs\n\n\n     for speech I show.\n\n\nO Thou to whom no second be conjoined! * A wretched lover seeks\n\n\n     Thee in his woe.\n\n\nI have a hope my thoughts as true confirm; * And heart that\n\n\n     fainteth as right well canst trow.\n\n\nTo lavish life is hardest thing that be, * Yet easy an Thou bid\n\n\n     me life forego;\n\n\nBut, an it be Thy will to save from stowre, * Thou, O my Hope, to\n\n\n     work this work hast power!'\"\n\n\n\nThen the man cast himself down from the belvedere; but Allah sent an\nangel who bore him up on his wings and brought him down to the ground,\nwhole and without hurt or harm. Now when he found himself safe on the\nground, he thanked and praised Allah (to whom belong Majesty and\nMight!) for His merciful protection of his person and his chastity; and\nhe went straight to his wife who had long expected him, and he\nempty-handed. Then seeing him, she asked him why he had tarried and\nwhat was come of that he had taken with him and why he returned\nempty-handed; whereupon he told her of the temptation which had\nbefallen him, and she said, \"Alhamdolillah\u2014praised be God-for\ndelivering thee from seduction and intervening between thee and such\ncalamity!\" Then she added, \"O man, the neighbours use to see us light\nour oven every night; and, if they see us fireless this night, they\nwill know that we are destitute. Now it behoveth in gratitude to Allah,\nthat we hide our destitution and conjoin the fast of this night to that\nof the past and continue it for the sake of Allah Almighty.\" So she\nrose and, filling the oven with wood, lighted it, to baffle the\ncuriosity of her woman-neighbours, reciting these couplets,\n\n\"Now I indeed will hide desire and all repine; * And light up\n\n\n     this my fire that neighbours see no sign:\n\n\nAccept I what befals by order of my Lord; * Haply He too accept\n\n\n     this humble act of mine.\"\n\n\n\n\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that after the\ngoodwife had lit the fire to baffle the curiosity of her\nwomen-neighbours, she and her husband made the Wuzu-ablution and stood\nup to pray, when behold, one of the neighbours' wives came and asked\nleave to take a fire-brand from the oven. \"Do what thou wilt with the\noven,\" answered they; but, when she came to the fire, she cried out,\nsaying, \"Ho, such an one (to the tray-maker's wife) take up thy bread\nere it burn!\" Quoth the wife to her husband, \"Hearest thou what she\nsaith?\" Quoth he, \"Go and look.\" So she went up to the oven, and\nbehold, it was full of fine bread and white. She took up the scones and\ncarried them to her husband, thanking Allah (to whom belong Majesty and\nMight!) for His abounding good and great bounty; and they ate of the\nbread and drank water and praised the Almighty. Then said the woman to\nher husband, \"Come let us pray to Allah the Most Highest, so haply He\nmay vouchsafe us what shall enable us to dispense with the weariness of\nworking for daily bread and devote ourselves wholly to worshipping and\nobeying Him.\" The man rose in assent and prayed, whilst his wife said,\n\"Amen,\" to his prayer, when the roof clove in sunder and down fell a\nruby, which lit the house with its light. Hereat, they redoubled in\npraise and thanksgiving to Allah praying what the Almighty\nwilled,[FN#478] and rejoiced at the ruby with great joy. And the night\nbeing far spent, they lay down to sleep and the woman dreamt that she\nentered Paradise and saw therein many chairs ranged and stools set in\nrows. She asked what the seats were and it was answered her, \"These are\nthe chairs of the prophets and those are the stools of the righteous\nand the pious.\" Quoth she, \"Which is the stool of my husband such an\none?\"; and it was said to her, \"It is this.\" So she looked and seeing a\nhole in its side asked, \"What may be this hole?\"; and the reply came,\n\"It is the place of the ruby that dropped upon you from your\nhouse-roof.\" Thereupon she awoke, weeping and bemoaning the defect in\nher husband's stool among the seats of the Righteous; so she told him\nthe dream and said to him, \"Pray Allah, O man, that this ruby return to\nits place; for endurance of hunger and poverty during our few days here\nwere easier than a hole in thy chair among the just in\nParadise.\"[FN#479] Accordingly, he prayed to his Lord, and lo! the ruby\nflew up to the roof and away whilst they looked at it. And they ceased\nnot from their poverty and their piety, till they went to the presence\nof Allah, to whom be Honour and Glory! And they also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nAL-HAJJAJ AND THE PIOUS MAN.\n\nAl-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi had been long in pursuit of a certain man\nof the notables, and when at last he was brought before him, he said,\n\"O enemy of Allah, He hath delivered thee over to me;\" and cried, \"Hale\nhim to prison and lay him by the heels in heavy fetters and build a\ncloset over him, that he may not come forth of it nor any go into him.\"\nSo they bore him to jail and summoned the blacksmith with the irons;\nand every time the smith gave a stroke with his hammer, the prisoner\nraised his eyes to heaven and said, \"Is not the whole Creation and the\nEmpire thereof His?\"[FN#480] Then the gaolers built the cage[FN#481]\nover him and left him therein, lorn and lone, whereupon longing and\nconsternation entered into him and the tongue of his case recited in\nextempore verse,\n\n\"O, Wish of wistful men, for Thee I yearn; * My heart seeks grace\n\n\n     of one no heart shall spurn.\n\n\nUnhidden from thy sight is this my case; * And for one glance of\n\n\n     thee I pine and burn.\n\n\nThey jailed and tortured me with sorest pains: * Alas for lone\n\n\n     one can no aid discern!\n\n\nBut, albe lone, I find Thy name befriends * And cheers, though\n\n\n     sleep to eyes shall ne'er return:\n\n\nAn thou accept of me, I care for naught; * And only Thou what's\n\n\n     in my heart canst learn!\"\n\n\n\nNow when night fell dark, the gaoler left his watchmen to guard him and\nwent to his house; and on the morrow, when he came to the prison, he\nfound the fetters lying on the ground and the prisoner gone; whereat he\nwas affrighted and made sure of death. So he returned to his place and\nbade his family farewell, after which he took in his sleeve his shroud\nand the sweet herbs for his corpse, and went in to Al-Hajjaj. And as he\nstood before the presence, the Governor smelt the perfumes and asked,\n\"What is that?\" when the gaoler answered, \"O my lord, it is I who have\nbrought it.\" \"And what moved thee to that?\" enquired the Governor;\nwhereupon he told him his case,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the gaoler\ntold his case to Al-Hajjaj, the Governor cried, \"Woe to thee! Didst\nthou hear him say aught?\" Answered the gaoler, \"Yes! whilst the\nblacksmith was hammering his irons, he ceased not to look up\nheavenwards and say, 'Is not the whole Creation and the Empire thereof\nHis?'\" Rejoined Al-Hajjaj, \"Dost thou not know that He, on whom he\ncalled in thy presence, delivered him in thine absence?\" And the tongue\nof the case recited on this theme,\n\n\"O Lord, how many a grief from me hast driven * Nor can I sit or\n\n\n     stand without Thy hold:\n\n\nHow many many things I cannot count, * Thou sav'st from many many\n\n\n     and manifold!\"\n\n\n\nAnd they also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLACKSMITH WHO COULD HANDLE FIRE WITHOUT HURT.\n\nIt reached the ears of a certain pious man that there abode in such a\ntown a blacksmith, who could put his hand into the fire and pull out\nthe iron red-hot, without the flames doing him aught of hurt.[FN#482]\nSo he set out for the town in question and asked for the blacksmith;\nand, when the man was shown to him, he watched him at work and saw him\ndo as had been reported to him. He waited till he had made and end of\nhis day's work; then, going up to him, saluted him with the salam and\nsaid, \"I would be thy guest this night.\" Replied the smith, \"With\ngladness and goodly gree!\" and carried him to his place, where they\nsupped together and lay down to sleep. The guest watched, but saw no\nsign in his host of praying through the night or of special devoutness\nand said in his mind, \"Haply he hideth himself from me.\" So he lodged\nwith him a second and a third night, but found that he did not exceed\nthe devotions prescribed by the law and custom of the Prophet and rose\nbut little in the dark hours to pray. At last he said to him, \"O my\nbrother, I have heard of the gift with which Allah hath favoured thee\nand have seen the truth of it with mine eyes. Moreover, I have taken\nnote of thine assiduity in religious exercises, but find in thee no\nsuch piety as distinguisheth those who work saintly miracles: whence,\nthen, cometh this to thee?\" \"I will tell thee,\" answered the smith,\n\"Know that I was once passionately enamoured of a slave-girl and\nofttimes sued her for love-liesse, but could not prevail upon her,\nbecause she still held fast by her chastity. Presently there came a\nyear of drought and hunger and hardship; food failed and there befel a\nsore famine. As I was sitting one day at home, somebody knocked at the\ndoor; so I went out and behold, she was standing there; and she said to\nme, 'O my brother, I am sorely an-hungered and I lift mine eyes to\nthee, beseeching thee to feed me for Allah's sake!' Quoth I, 'Wottest\nthou not how I love thee and what I have suffered for thy sake? Now I\nwill not give thee one bittock of bread except thou yield thy person to\nme.' Quoth she, 'Death, but not disobedience to the Lord!' Then she\nwent away and returned after two days with the same prayer for food as\nbefore. I made her a like answer, and she entered and sat down in my\nhouse being nigh upon death. I set food before her, whereupon her eyes\nbrimmed with tears and she cried, 'Give me meat for the love of Allah,\nto whom belong Honour and Glory!' But I answered, 'Not so, by Allah,\nexcept thou yield thyself to me.' Quoth she, 'Better is death to me\nthan the wrath and wreak of Allah the Most Highest;' and she rose and\nleft the food untouched\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the man set\nfood before her, the woman said, \"Give me meat for the love of Allah to\nwhom be Honour and Glory!' But I answered, 'Not so, by Allah, except\nthou yield to me thy person.' Quoth she, 'Better is death than the\nwrath and wreak of Allah;' and she rose and left the food untouched and\nwent away repeating these couplets,\n\n'O Thou, the One, whose grace doth all the world embrace; * Thine\n\n\n     ears have heard, Thine eyes have seen my case!\n\n\nPrivation and distress have dealt me heavy blows; * The woes that\n\n\n     weary me no utterance can trace.\n\n\nI am like one athirst who eyes the landscape's eye, * Yet may not\n\n\n     drink a draught of streams that rail and race.\n\n\nMy flesh would tempt me by the sight of savoury food * Whose joys\n\n\n     shall pass away and pangs maintain their place.'\n\n\n\nShe then disappeared for two days, when she again came and knocked at\nthe door; so I went out to her, and lo! hunger had taken away her\nvoice; but, after a rest she said, 'O my brother, I am worn out with\nwant and know not what to do, for I cannot show my face to any man but\nto thee. Say, wilt thou feed me for the love of Allah Almighty?' But I\nanswered, 'Not so, except thou yield to me thy person.' And she entered\nmy house and sat down. Now I had no food ready; but, when the meat was\ndressed and I laid it in a saucer, behold, the grace of Almighty Allah\nentered into me and I said to myself, 'Out on thee! This woman, weak of\nwit and faith, hath refrained from food till she can no longer, for\nstress of hunger; and, while she refuseth time after time, thou canst\nnot forbear from disobedience to the Lord!' And I said, 'O my God, I\nrepent to Thee of that which my flesh purposed!' Then I took the food\nand carrying it to her, said, 'Eat, for no harm shall betide thee: this\nis for the love of Allah, to whom belong Honour and Glory!' Then she\nraised her eyes to heaven and said, 'O my God, if this man say sooth, I\npray Thee forbid fire to harm him in this world and the next, for Thou\nover all things art Omnipotent and Prevalent in answering the prayer of\nthe penitent!' Then I left her and went to put out the fire in the\nbrasier.[FN#483] Now the season was winter and the weather cold, and a\nlive coal fell on my body: but by the decree of Allah (to whom be\nHonour and Glory!) I felt no pain and it became my conviction that her\nprayer had been answered. So I took the coal in my hand, and it burnt\nme not; and going in to her, I said, 'Be of good cheer, for Allah hath\ngranted thy prayer!'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the blacksmith\ncontinued: \"So I went in to her and said, 'Be of good cheer, for Allah\nhath granted thy prayer!' Then she dropped the morsel from her hand and\nsaid, 'O my God, now that Thou hast shown me my desire of him and hast\ngranted me my prayer for him, take Thou my soul, for Thou over all\nthings art Almighty!' And straightway He took her soul to Him, the\nmercy of Allah be upon her!\" And the tongue of the case extemporised\nand spake on this theme,\n\n\"She prayed: the Lord of grace her prayer obeyed; * And spared\n\n\n     the sinner, who for sin had prayed:\n\n\nHe showed her all she prayed Him to grant; * And Death (as prayed\n\n\n     she) her portion made:\n\n\nUnto his door she came and prayed for food, * And sued his ruth\n\n\n     for what her misery made:\n\n\nHe leant to error following his lusts, * And hoped to enjoy her\n\n\n     as her wants persuade;\n\n\nBut he knew little of what Allah willed; * Nor was Repentance,\n\n\n     though unsought, denayed.\n\n\nFate comes to him who flies from Fate, O Lord, * And lot and\n\n\n     daily bread by Thee are weighed.\"\n\n\n\nAnd they also tell of\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEVOTEE TO WHOM ALLAH GAVE A CLOUD FOR SERVICE AND THE DEVOUT KING.\n\nThere was once, among the children of Israel, a man of the devout, for\npiety acclaimed and for continence and asceticism enfamed, whose\nprayers were ever granted and who by supplication obtained whatso he\nwanted; and he was a wanderer in the mountains and was used to pass the\nnight in worship. Now Almighty Allah had subjected to him a cloud which\ntravelled with him wherever he went, and poured on him its\nwater-treasures in abundance that he might make his ablutions and\ndrink. After a long time when things were thus, his fervour somewhat\nabated, whereupon Allah took the cloud away from him and ceased to\nanswer his prayers. On this account, great was his grief and long was\nhis woe, and he ceased not to regret the time of grace and the miracle\nvouchsafed to him and to lament and bewail and bemoan himself, till he\nsaw in a dream one who said to him, \"An thou wouldest have Allah\nrestore to thee thy cloud, seek out a certain King, in such a town, and\nbeg him to pray for thee: so will Allah (be He extolled and exalted!)\ngive thee back thy cloud and bespread it over thee by virtue of his\npious prayers.\" And he began repeating these couplets,\n\n\"Wend to that pious prayerful Emir, * Who can with gladness thy\n\n\n     condition cheer;\n\n\nAn he pray Allah, thou shalt win thy wish; * And heavy rain shall\n\n\n     drop from welkin clear.\n\n\nHe stands all Kings above in potent worth; * Nor to compare with\n\n\n     him doth aught appear:\n\n\nNear him thou soon shalt hap upon thy want, * And see all joy and\n\n\n     gladness draw thee near:\n\n\nThen cut the wolds and wilds unfounted till * The goal thou goest\n\n\n     for anigh shalt speer!\"\n\n\n\nSo the hermit set out for the town named to him in the dream; and,\ncoming thither after long travel, enquired for the King's palace which\nwas duly shown to him. And behold, at the gate he found a slave-officer\nsitting on a great chair and clad in gorgeous gear; so he stood to him\nand saluted him; and he returned his salam and asked him, \"What is thy\nbusiness?\" Answered the devotee, \"I am a wronged man, and come to\nsubmit my case to the King.\" Quoth the officer, \"Thou hast no access to\nhim this day; for he hath appointed unto petitioners and enquirers one\nday in every seven\" (naming the day), \"on which they may go in to him;\nso wend thy ways in welfare till then.\" The hermit was vexed with the\nKing for thus veiling himself from the folk and said in thought, \"How\nshall this man be a saint of the saints of Allah (to whom belong\nMajesty and Might!) and he on this wise?\" Then he went away and awaited\nthe appointed day. \"Now\" (quoth he)\"when it came, I repaired to the\npalace, where I found a great number of folk at the gate, expecting\nadmission; and I stood with them, till there came out a Wazir robed in\ngorgeous raiment and attended by guards and slaves, who said, 'Let\nthose, who have petitions to present, enter.' So I entered with the\nrest and found the King seated facing his officers and grandees who\nwere ranged according to their several ranks and degrees. The Wazir\ntook up his post and brought forward the petitioners, one by one, till\nit came to my turn, when the King looked on me and said, 'Welcome to\nthe 'Lord of the Cloud'! Sit thee down till I make leisure for thee.' I\nwas confounded at his words and confessed his dignity and superiority;\nand, when the King had answered the petitioners and had made an end\nwith them, he rose and dismissed his Wazirs and Grandees; then, taking\nmy hand he led me to the door of the private palace, where we found a\nblack slave, splendidly arrayed, with helm on head, and on his right\nhand and his left, bows and coats of mail. He rose to the King; and,\nhastening to obey his orders and forestall his wishes, opened the door.\nWe went in, hand in hand, till we came to a low wicket, which the King\nhimself opened and led me into a ruinous place of frightful desolation\nand thence passed into a chamber, wherein was naught but a\nprayer-carpet, an ewer for ablution and some mats of palm-leaves. Here\nthe King doffed his royal robes and donned a coarse gown of white wool\nand a conical bonnet of felt. Then he sat down and making me sit,\ncalled out to his wife, 'Ho, such an one!' and she answered from within\nsaying, 'Here am I.' Quoth he, 'Knowest thou who is our guest to-day?'\nReplied she, 'Yes, it is the Lord of the Cloud.' The King said, 'Come\nforth: it mattereth not for him.' And behold, there entered a woman, as\nshe were a vision, with a face that beamed like the new moon; and she\nwore a gown and veil of wool.\"-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that 'when the King\ncalled to his wife, she came forth from the inner room; and her face\nbeamed like the new moon; and she wore a gown and a veil of wool. Then\nsaid the King, 'O my brother, dost thou desire to hear our story or\nthat we should pray for thee and dismiss thee?' Answered the hermit;\n'Nay, I wish to hear the tale of you twain, for that to me were\npreferable.' Said the King, 'My forefathers handed down the throne, one\nto the other, and it descended from great one to great one, in unbroken\nsuccession, till the last died and it came to me. Now Allah had made\nthis hateful to me, for I would fain have gone awandering over earth\nand left the folk to their own affairs; but I feared lest they should\nfall into confusion and anarchy and misgovernment so as to swerve from\ndivine law, and the union of the Faith be broken up. Wherefore,\nabandoning my own plans, I took the kingship and appointed to every\nhead of them a regular stipend; and donned the royal robes; and posted\nslave-officers at the doors, as a terror to the dishonest and for the\ndefence of honest folk and the maintenance of law and limitations. Now\nwhen free of this, I entered this place and, doffing my royal habit,\ndonned these clothes thou seest; and this my cousin, the daughter of my\nfather's brother, hath agreed with me to renounce the world and helpeth\nme to serve the Lord. So we are wont to weave these palm-leaves and\nearn, during the day, a wherewithal to break our fast at nightfall; and\nwe have lived on this wise nigh upon forty years. Abide thou with us\n(so Allah have mercy on thee!) till we sell our mats; and thou shalt\nsup and sleep with us this night and on the morrow wend thy ways with\nthat thou wishest, Inshallah!' So he tarried with them till the end of\nthe day, when there came a boy five years old who took the mats they\nhad made and carrying them to the market, sold them for a\ncarat;[FN#484] and with this bought bread and beans and returned with\nthem to the King. The hermit broke his fast and lay down to sleep with\nthem; but in the middle of the night they both arose and fell to\npraying and weeping. When daybreak was near, the King said, \"O my God,\nthis Thy servant beseecheth Thee to return him his cloud; and to do\nthis Thou art able; so, O my God, let him see his prayer granted and\nrestore him his cloud.\" The Queen amen'd to his orisons and behold, the\ncloud grew up in the sky; whereupon the King gave the hermit joy and\nthe man took leave of them and went away, the cloud companying him as\nof old. And whatsoever he required of Allah after this, in the names of\nthe pious King and Queen, He granted it without fail and the man made\nthereon these couplets,\n\n\"My Lord hath servants fain of piety; * Hearts in the Wisdom-\n\n\n    garden ranging free:\n\n\nTheir bodies' lusts at peace, and motionless * For breasts that\n\n\n     bide in purest secresy.\n\n\nThou seest all silent, awesome of their Lord, * For hidden things\n\n\n     unseen and seen they see.\"\n\n\n\nAnd they tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE MOSLEM CHAMPION AND THE CHRISTIAN DAMSEL.\n\nThe Commander of the Faithful, Omar bin al-Khatt\u03b1b (whom Allah\naccept!), once levied for holy war an army of Moslems, to encounter the\nfoe before Damascus, and they laid close siege to one of the\nChristians' strongholds. Now there were amongst the Moslems two men,\nbrothers, whom Allah had gifted with fire and bold daring against the\nenemy; so that the commander of the besieged fortress said to his\nchiefs and braves, \"Were but yonder two Moslems ta'en or slain, I would\nwarrant you against the rest of their strain.\" Wherefore they left not\nto set for them all manner of toils and snares and ceased not to\nmanoeuvre and lie in wait and ambush for them, till they took one of\nthem prisoner and slew the other, who died a martyr. They carried the\ncaptive to the Captain of the fort, who looked at him and said,\n\"Verily, to kill this man were indeed a pity; but his return to the\nMoslem would be a calamity.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the enemy\ncarried their Moslem captive before the Captain of the fort, the\nChristian looked at him and said, \"Verily to kill this man were a pity\nindeed; but his return to the Moslem would be a calamity. Oh that he\nmight be brought to embrace the Nazarene Faith and be to us an aid and\nan arm!\" Quoth one of his Patrician Knights, \"O Emir, I will tempt him\nto abjure his faith, and on this wise: we know that the Arabs are much\naddicted to women, and I have a daughter, a perfect beauty, whom when\nhe sees, he will be seduced by her.\" Quoth the Captain, \"I give him\ninto thy charge.\" So he carried him to his place and clad his daughter\nin raiment, such as added to her beauty and loveliness. Then he brought\nthe Moslem into the room and set before him food and made the fair girl\nstand in his presence, as she were a handmaid obedient to her lord and\nawaiting his orders that she might do his bidding. When the Moslem saw\nthe evil sent down upon him, he commended himself to Allah Almighty and\nclosing his eyes, applied himself to worship and to reciting the Koran.\nNow he had a pleasant voice and a piercing wit; and the Nazarene damsel\npresently loved him with passionate love and pined for him with extreme\nrepine. This lasted seven days, at the end of which she said to\nherself, \"Would to Heaven he would admit me into the Faith of\nAl-Islam!\" And the tongue of her case recited these couplets,\n\n\"Wilt turn thy face from heart that's all thine own, * This heart\n\n\n     thy ransom and this soul thy wone?\n\n\nI'm ready home and kin to quit for aye, * And every Faith for\n\n\n     that of sword[FN#485] disown:\n\n\nI testify that Allah hath no mate: * This proof is stablished and\n\n\n     this truth is known.\n\n\nHaply shall deign He union grant with one * Averse, and hearten\n\n\n     heart love-overthrown;\n\n\nFor ofttimes door erst shut, is opened wide, * And after evil\n\n\n     case all good is shown.\"\n\n\n\nAt last her patience failed her and her breast was straitened and she\nthrew herself on the ground before him, saying, \"I conjure thee by thy\nFaith, that thou give ear to my words!\" Asked he, \"What are they?\" and\nshe answered, \"Expound unto me Al-Islam.\" So he expounded to her the\ntenets of the Faith, and she became a Moslemah, after which she was\ncircumcised[FN#486] and he taught her to pray. Then said she to him, \"O\nmy brother, I did but embrace Al-Islam for thy sake and to win thy\nfavours.\" Quoth he, \"The law of Al-Islam forbiddeth sexual commerce\nsave after a marriage before two legal witnesses, and a dowry and a\nguardian are also requisite. Now I know not where to find witnesses or\nfriend or parapherne; but, an thou can contrive to bring us out of this\nplace, I may hope to make the land of Al-Islam, and pledge myself to\nthee that none other than thou in all Al-Islam shall be wife to me.\"\nAnswered she, \"I will manage that\"; and, calling her father and mother,\nsaid to them, \"Indeed this Moslem's heart is softened and he longeth to\nenter the faith, so I will grant him that which he desireth of my\nperson; but he saith: 'It befitteth me not to do this in a town where\nmy brother was slain. Could I but get outside it my heart would be\nsolaced and I would do that which is wanted of me.' Now there is no\nharm in letting me go forth with him to another town, and I will be a\nsurety to you both and to the Emir for that which ye wish of him.\"\nTherefore her father went to their Captain and told him this, whereat\nhe joyed with exceeding joy and bade him carry them forth to a village\nthat she named. So they went out and made the village where they abode\nthe rest of their day, and when night fell, they got ready for the\nmarch and went their way, even as saith the poet,\n\n\"'The time of parting,' cry they, 'draweth nigh': * 'How oft this\n\n\n     parting-threat?' I but reply:\n\n\nI've naught to do but cross the wild and wold * And, mile by\n\n\n     mile, o'er fountless wastes to fly,\n\n\nIf the beloved seek another land * Sons of the road, whereso they\n\n\n     wend, wend I.\n\n\nI make desire direct me to their side, * The guide to show me\n\n\n     where the way doth lie.\"\n\n\n\nAnd Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the prisoner and\nthe lady abode in the village the rest of their day and, when night\nfell, made ready for the march and went upon their way; and travelled\nall night without stay or delay. The young Moslem, mounting a swift\nblood-horse and taking up the maiden behind him, ceased not devouring\nthe ground till it was bright morning, when he turned aside with her\nfrom the highway and, alighting, they made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed\nthe dawn-prayer. Now as they were thus engaged behold, they heard the\nclank of swords and clink of bridles and men's voices and tramp of\nhorse; whereupon he said to her, \"Ho, such an one, the Nazarenes are\nafter us! What shall we do?: the horse is so jaded and broken down that\nhe cannot stir another step.\" Exclaimed she, \"Woe to thee! art thou\nthen afraid and affrighted?\" \"Yes,\" answered he; and she said, \"What\ndidst thou tell me of the power of thy Lord and His readiness to\nsuccour those who succour seek? Come, let us humble ourselves before\nHim and beseech Him: haply He shall grant us His succour and endue us\nwith His grace, extolled and exalted be He!\" Quoth he, \"By Allah, thou\nsayest well!\" So they began humbling themselves and supplicating\nAlmighty Allah and he recited these couplets,\n\n\"Indeed I hourly need thy choicest aid, * And should, though\n\n\n     crown were placed upon my head:\n\n\nThou art my chiefest want, and if my hand * Won what it wisheth,\n\n\n     all my wants were sped.\n\n\nThou hast not anything withholdest Thou; * Like pouring rain Thy\n\n\n     grace is showered:\n\n\nI'm shut therefrom by sins of me, yet Thou, * O Clement, deignest\n\n\n     pardon-light to shed.\n\n\nO Care-Dispeller, deign dispel my grief! * None can, save Thou,\n\n\n     dispel a grief so dread.\"\n\n\n\nWhilst he was praying and she was saying, \"Amen,\" and the thunder of\nhorse-tramp nearing them, lo! the brave heard the voice of his dead\nbrother, the martyr, speaking and saying, \"O my brother, fear not, nor\ngrieve! for the host whose approach thou hearest is the host of Allah\nand His Angels, whom He hath sent to serve as witnesses to your\nmarriage. Of a truth Allah hath made His Angels glorify you and He\nbestoweth on you the meed of the meritorious and the martyrs; and He\nhath rolled up the earth for you as it were a rug so that, by morning,\nyou will be in the mountains of Al-Medinah. And thou, when thou\nforegatherest with Omar bin al-Khattab (of whom Allah accept!) give him\nmy salutation and say to him: 'Allah abundantly requite thee for\nAl-Islam, because thou hast counselled faithfully and hast striven\ndiligently.'\" Thereupon the Angels lifted up their voices in salutation\nto him and his bride, saying, \"Verily, Almighty Allah appointed her in\nmarriage to thee two thousand years before the creation of your father\nAdam (with whom be peace evermore!).\" Then joy and gladness and peace\nand happiness came upon the twain; confidence was confirmed and\nestablished was the guidance of the pious pair. So when dawn appeared,\nthey prayed the accustomed prayer and fared forward. Now it was the\nwont of Omar, son of Al-Khattab (Allah accept him!), to rise for\nmorning-prayer in the darkness before dawn and at times he would stand\nin the prayer-niche with two men behind him, and begin reciting the\nChapter entitled \"Cattle\"[FN#487] or that entitled \"Women,\"[FN#488]\nwhereupon the sleeper awoke and he who was making his Wuzu-ablution\naccomplished it and he who was afar came to prayer; nor had he made an\nend of the first bow, ere the mosque was full of folk; then he would\npray his second bow quickly, repeating a short chapter. But, on that\nmorning he hurried over both first and second inclinations, repeating\nin each a short chapter; then, after the concluding salutation, turning\nto his companions, he said to them, \"Come, let us fare forth to meet\nthe bride and bridegroom\"; at which they wondered, not understanding\nhis words. But he went out and they followed him, till they came to the\ngate of the city, where they met the young Moslem who, when the day\nbroke and the standards of Al-Medinah appeared to him, had pushed\nforward for the gate closely followed by his bride. There he was met by\nOmar who bade make a marriage feast; and the Moslems came and ate. Then\nthe young Moslem went in unto his bride and Almighty Allah vouchsafed\nhim children,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Omar (on whom be\npeace!) bade make a marriage-feast; and the Moslems came and ate. Then\nthe young Moslem went in unto his bride and Almighty Allah vouchsafed\nhim children, who fought in the Lord's way and preserved genealogies,\nfor they gloried therein. And how excellent is what is said on such\ntheme,\n\n\"I saw thee weep before the gates and 'plain, * Whilst only\n\n\n     curious wight reply would deign:\n\n\nHath eye bewitcht thee, or hath evil lot * 'Twixt thee and door\n\n\n     of friend set bar of bane?\n\n\nWake up this day, O wretch, persist in prayer, * Repent as wont\n\n\n     repent departed men.\n\n\nHaply shall wash thy sins Forgiveness-showers; * And on thine\n\n\n     erring head some ruth shall rain:\n\n\nAnd prisoner shall escape despite his bonds; * And slave from\n\n\n     thraldom freedom shall attain.\"\n\n\n\nAnd they ceased not to be in all solace and delight of life, till there\ncame to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies.\nAnd a tale is told by S\u03bddi Ibrahim bin Al-Khaww\u03b1s[FN#489](on whom be\nthe mercy of Allah!) concerning himself and\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE MOSLEM.\n\n\"My spirit urged me, once upon a time, to go forth into the country of\nthe Infidels; and I strove with it and struggled to put away from me\nthis inclination; but it would not be rejected. So I fared forth and\njourneyed about the land of the Unbelievers and traversed it in all its\nparts; for divine grace enveloped me and heavenly protection\nencompassed me, so that I met not a single Nazarene but he turned away\nhis eyes and drew off from me, till I came to a certain great city at\nwhose gate I found a gathering of black slaves, clad in armour and\nbearing iron maces in their hands. When they saw me, they rose to their\nfeet and asked me, 'Art thou a leach?'; and I answered, 'Yes.' Quoth\nthey, 'Come speak to our King,' and carried me before their ruler, who\nwas a handsome personage of majestic presence. When I stood before him,\nhe looked at me and said, 'Art a physician, thou?' 'Yes,' quoth I; and\nquoth he to his officers, 'Carry him to her, and acquaint him with the\ncondition before he enter.' So they took me out and said to me, 'Know\nthat the King hath a daughter, and she is stricken with a sore disease,\nwhich no doctor hath been able to cure: and no leach goeth in to her\nand treateth, without healing her, but the King putteth him to death.\nSo bethink thee what thou seest fitting to do.' I replied, 'The King\ndrove me to her; so carry me to her.' Thereupon they brought me to her\ndoor and knocked; and behold, I heard her cry out from within, saying,\n'Admit to me the physician, lord of the wondrous secret!' And she began\nreciting,\n\n'Open the door! the leach now draweth near; * And in my soul a\n\n\n     wondrous secret speer:\n\n\nHow many of the near far distant are![FN#490] * How many distant\n\n\n     far are nearest near!\n\n\nI was in strangerhood amidst you all: * But willed the\n\n\n     Truth[FN#491] my solace should appear.\n\n\nJoined us the potent bonds of Faith and Creed; * We met as\n\n\n     dearest fere greets dearest fere:\n\n\nHe sued for interview whenas pursued * The spy, and blamed us\n\n\n     envy's jibe and jeer:\n\n\nThen leave your chiding and from blame desist, * For fie upon\n\n\n     you! not a word I'll hear.\n\n\nI care for naught that disappears and fleets; * My care's for\n\n\n     Things nor fleet nor disappear.'\n\n\n\nAnd lo! a Shaykh, a very old man, opened the door in haste and said to\nme, 'Enter.' So I entered and found myself in a chamber strewn with\nsweet-scented herbs and with a curtain drawn across one corner, from\nbehind which came a sound of groaning and grame, weak as from an\nemaciated frame. I sat down before the curtain and was about to offer\nmy salam when I bethought me of his words (whom Allah save and\nassain!), 'Accost not a Jew nor a Christian with the salam\nsalutation;[FN#492] and, when ye meet them in the way, constrain them\nto the straitest part thereof.' So I withheld my salutation, but she\ncried out from behind the curtain, saying, 'Where is the salutation of\nUnity and Indivisibility, O Khawwas?' I was astonished at her speech\nand asked, 'How knowest thou me?'; whereto she answered, 'When the\nheart and thoughts are whole, the tongue speaketh eloquently from the\nsecret recesses of the soul. I begged Him yesterday to send me one of\nHis saints, at whose hands I might have deliverance, and behold, it was\ncried to me from the dark places of my house, 'Grieve not; for we soon\nwill send thee Ibrahim the Basket-maker.' Then I asked her, 'What of\nthee?' and she answered, 'It is now four years since there appeared to\nme the Manifest Truth, and He is the Relator and the Ally, and the\nUniter and the Sitter-by; whereupon my folk looked askance upon me with\nan evil eye and taxed me with insanity and suspected me of depravity,\nand there came not in to me doctor but terrified me, nor visitor but\nconfounded me.' Quoth I, 'And who led thee to the knowledge of what\nthou wottest?' Quoth she, 'The manifest signs and visible portents of\nAllah; and, when the path is patent to thee, thou espiest with thine\nown eyes both proof and prover.' Now whilst we were talking, behold, in\ncame the old man appointed to guard her and said, 'What doth thy\ndoctor?'; and she replied, 'He knoweth the hurt and hath hit upon the\nhealing.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when the Shaykh,\nher guardian, went in to her he said, 'What doth thy doctor?'; and she\nreplied, 'He knoweth the hurt and hath hit upon the healing.' Hereupon\nhe manifested joy and gladness and accosted me with a cheerful\ncountenance, then went and told the King, who enjoined to treat me with\nall honour and regard. So I visited her daily for seven days, at the\nend of which time she said to me, 'O Abu Ishak, when shall be our\nflight to the land of Al-Islam?' 'How canst thou go forth,' replied I,\n'and who would dare to aid thee?' Rejoined she, 'He who sent thee to\nme, driving thee as it were;' and I observed, 'Thou sayest sooth.' So\nwhen the morrow dawned, we fared forth by the city-gate and all eyes\nwere veiled from us, by commandment of Him who when He desireth aught,\nsaith to it, 'Be,' and it becometh;[FN#493] so that I journeyed with\nher in safety to Meccah, where she made a home hard by the Holy House\nof Allah and lived seven years; till the appointed day of her death.\nThe earth of Meccah was her tomb, and never saw I any more steadfast in\nprayer and fasting than she; Allah send down upon her His mercies and\nhave compassion on him who saith,\n\n'When they to me had brought the leach (and surely showed *\n\n\n     The signs of flowing tears and pining malady),\n\n\nThe face-veil he withdrew from me, and 'neath it naught *\n\n\n     Save breath of one unsouled, unbodied, could he see.\n\n\nQuoth he, 'This be a sickness Love alone shall cure; *\n\n\n     Love hath a secret from all guess of man wide free.'\n\n\nQuoth they, 'An folk ignore what here there be with him *\n\n\n     Nature of ill and eke its symptomology,\n\n\nHow then shall medicine work a cure?' At this quoth I *\n\n\n     'Leave me alone; I have no guessing specialty.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd they tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHET AND THE JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.\n\nA certain Prophet[FN#494] made his home for worship on a lofty\nmountain, at whose foot was a spring of running water, and he was wont\nto sit by day on the summit, that no man might see him, calling upon\nthe name of Allah the Most Highest and watching those who frequented\nthe spring. One day, as he sat looking upon the fountain, behold, he\nespied a horseman who came up and dismounted thereby and taking a bag\nfrom his neck, set it down beside him, after which he drank of the\nwater and rested awhile, then he rode away, leaving behind him the bag\nwhich contained gold pieces. Presently up came another man to drink of\nthe spring, who saw the bag and finding it full of money took it up;\nthen, after satisfying his thirst, he made off with it in safety. A\nlittle after came a woodcutter wight with a heavy load of fuel on his\nback, and sat down by the spring to drink, when lo! back came the first\nhorseman in great trouble and asked him, \"Where is the bag which was\nhere?\" and when he answered, \"I know nothing of it,\" the rider drew his\nsword and smote him and slew him. Then he searched his clothes, but\nfound naught; so he left him and wended his ways. Now when the Prophet\nsaw this, he said, \"O Lord, one man hath taken a thousand dinars and\nanother man hath been slain unjustly.\" But Allah answered him, saying,\n\"Busy thyself with thy devotions, for the ordinance of the universe is\nnone of thine affair. The father of this horseman had violently\ndespoiled of a thousand dinars the father of the second horseman; so I\ngave the son possession of his sire's money. As for the woodcutter, he\nhad slain the horseman's father, wherefore I enabled the son to obtain\nretribution for himself.\" Then cried the Prophet, \"There is none other\ngod than Thou! Glory be to Thee only! Verily, Thou art the Knower of\nSecrets.\"[FN#495]\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prophet\nwas bidden by inspiration of Allah to busy himself with his devotions\nand learned the truth of the case, he cried, \"There is none other god\nbut Thou! Glory be to Thee only! Verily, Thou and Thou alone wottest\nhidden things.\" Furthermore, one of the poets hath made these verses on\nthe matter,\n\n\"The Prophet saw whatever eyes could see, * And fain of other\n\n\n     things enquired he;\n\n\nAnd, when his eyes saw things misunderstood, * Quoth he, 'O Lord,\n\n\n     this slain from sin was free.\n\n\nThis one hath won him wealth withouten work; * Albe appeared he\n\n\n     garbed in penury.\n\n\nAnd that in joy of life was slain, although * O man's Creator\n\n\n     free of sin he be.'\n\n\nGod answered ''Twas his father's good thou saw'st * Him take; by\n\n\n     heirship not by roguery;\n\n\nYon woodman too that horseman's sire had slain; * Whose son\n\n\n     avenged him with just victory:\n\n\nPut off, O slave of Me, this thought for I * In men have set\n\n\n     mysterious secrecy!\n\n\nBow to Our Law and humble thee, and learn * For good and evil\n\n\n     issues Our decree.'\"[FN#496]\n\n\n\nAnd a certain pious man hath told us the tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE FERRYMAN OF THE NILE AND THE HERMIT.\n\n\"I was once a ferryman on the Nile and used to ply between the eastern\nand the western banks. Now one day, as I sat in my boat, there came up\nto me an old man of a bright and beaming countenance, who saluted me\nand I returned his greeting; and he said to me, 'Wilt thou ferry me\nover for the love of Allah Almighty?' I answered, 'Yes,' and he\ncontinued, 'Wilt thou moreover give me food for Allah's sake?'; to\nwhich again I answered, 'With all my heart.' So he entered the boat and\nI rowed him over to the eastern side, remarking that he was clad in a\npatched gown and carried a gourd-bottle and a staff. When he was about\nto land, he said to me, 'I desire to lay on thee a heavy trust.' Quoth\nI, 'What is it?' Quoth he, 'It hath been revealed to me that my end is\nnearhand and that to-morrow about noon thou wilt come and find me dead\nunder yonder tree. Wash me and wrap me in the shroud thou wilt see\nunder my head and after thou hast prayed over me, bury me in this sandy\nground and take my gown and gourd and staff, which do thou deliver to\none who shall come and demand them of thee.' I marvelled at his words,\nand I slept there. On the morrow I awaited till noon the event he had\nannounced, and then I forgot what he had said till near the hour of\nafternoon-prayer, when I remembered it and hastening to the appointed\nplace, found him under the tree, dead, with a new shroud under his\nhead, exhaling a fragrance of musk. So I washed him and shrouded him\nand prayed over him, then dug a hole in the sand and buried him, after\nI had taken his ragged gown and bottle and staff, with which I crossed\nthe Nile to the western side and there nighted. As soon as morning\ndawned and the city gate opened, I sighted a young man known to me as a\nloose fellow, clad in fine clothes and his hands stained with Henna,\nwho said to me, 'Art thou not such an one?' 'Yes,' answered I; and he\nsaid, 'Give me the trust.' Quoth I, 'What is that?' Quoth he, 'The\ngown, the gourd and the staff.' I asked him, 'Who told thee of them?'\nand he answered, 'I know nothing save that I spent yesternight at the\nwedding of one of my friends singing and carousing till daylight, when\nI lay me down to sleep and take my rest; and behold, there stood by me\na personage who said, 'Verily Allah Almighty hath taken such a saint to\nHimself and hath appointed thee to fill his place; so go thou to a\ncertain person (naming the ferryman), and take of him the dead man's\ngown and bottle and staff, for he left them with him for thee.' So I\nbrought them out and gave them to him; whereupon he doffed his clothes\nand, donning the gown, went his way and left me.[FN#497] And when the\nglooms closed around me, I fell a-weeping; but, that night, while\nsleeping I saw the Lord of Holiness (glorified and exalted be He!) in a\ndream saying, 'O my servant, is it grievous to thee that I have granted\nto one of My servants to return to Me? Indeed, this is of My bounty,\nthat I vouchsafe to whom I will, for I over all things am Almighty.' So\nI repeated these couplets,\n\n'Lover with loved[FN#498] loseth will and aim! * All choice (an\n\n\n     couldst thou know) were sinful shame.\n\n\nOr grant He favour and with union grace, * Or from thee turn\n\n\n     away, He hath no blame.\n\n\nAn from such turning thou no joy enjoy * Depart! the place for\n\n\n     thee no place became.\n\n\nOr canst His near discern not from His far? * Then Love's in vain\n\n\n     and thou'rt a-rear and lame.\n\n\nIf pine for Thee afflict my sprite, or men * Hale me to death,\n\n\n     the rein Thy hand shall claim!\n\n\nSo turn Thee to or fro, to me 'tis one; * What Thou ordainest\n\n\n     none shall dare defame:\n\n\nMy love hath naught of aim but Thine approof * And if Thou say we\n\n\n     part I say the same.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd of the tales they tell is one concerning\n\n\n\n\nTHE ISLAND KING AND THE PIOUS ISRAELITE.\n\nThere was once a notable of the Children of Israel, a man of wealth who\nhad a pious and blessed son. When his last hour drew nigh, his son sat\ndown at his head and said to him, \"O my lord, give me an injunction.\"\nQuoth the father, \"O dear son, I charge thee, swear not by Allah or\ntruly or falsely.\" Then he died and certain lewd fellows of the\nChildren of Israel heard of the charge he had laid on his son and began\ncoming to the latter and saying, \"Thy father had such and such monies\nof mine, and thou knowest it; so give me what was entrusted to him or\nelse make oath that there was no trust.\" The good son would not disobey\nhis sire's injunction, so gave them all they claimed; and they ceased\nnot to deal thus with him, till his wealth was spent and he fell into\nstraitest predicament. Now the young man had a pious and blessed wife,\nwho had borne him two little sons; so he said to her, \"The folk have\nmultiplied their demands on me and, while I had the wherewithal to free\nmyself of debt, I rendered it freely; but naught is now left us, and if\nothers make demands upon me, we shall be in absolute distress, I and\nthou; our best way were to save ourselves by fleeing to some place,\nwhere none knoweth us, and earn our bread among the lower of the folk.\"\nAccordingly, he took ship with her and his two children, knowing not\nwhither he should wend; but, \"When Allah judgeth, there is none to\nreverse His judgment;\"[FN#499] and quoth the tongue of the case,\n\n\"O flier from thy home when foes affright! * Whom led to weal and\n\n\n     happiness such flight,\n\n\nGrudge not this exile when he flees abroad * Where he on wealth\n\n\n     and welfare may alight.\n\n\nAn pearls for ever did abide in shell, * The kingly crown they\n\n\n     ne'er had deckt and dight.\"\n\n\n\nThe ship was wrecked, yet the man saved himself on a plank and his wife\nand children also saved themselves, but on other planks. The waves\nseparated them and the wife was cast up in one country and one of the\nboys in another. The second son was picked up by a ship, and the surges\nthrew the father on a desert island, where he landed and made the\nWuzu-ablution. Then he called the prayer-call,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eightieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the man\nlanded upon the island, he made the Wuzu-ablution to free himself from\nthe impurities of the sea and called the call to prayer and stood up to\nhis devotions, when, behold, there came forth of the sea, creatures of\nvarious kinds and prayed with him. When he had finished, he went up to\na tree and stayed his hunger with its fruits; after which he found a\nspring of water and drank thereof and praised Allah, to whom be honour\nand glory! He abode thus three days and whenever he stood up to pray,\nthe sea-creatures came out and prayed in the same manner as he prayed.\nNow after the third day, he heard a voice crying aloud and saying, \"O\nthou just man, and pious, who didst so honour thy father and revere the\ndecrees of thy Lord, grieve not, for Allah (be He extolled and\nexalted!) shall restore to thee all which left thy hand. In this isle\nare hoards and monies and things of price which the Almighty willeth\nthou shalt inherit, and they are in such a part of this place. So bring\nthou them to light; and verily, we will send ships unto thee; and do\nthou bestow charity on the folk and bid them to thee.\" So he sought out\nthat place, and the Lord discovered to him the treasures in question.\nThen ships began resorting to him, and he gave abundant largesse to the\ncrews, saying to them, \"Be sure ye direct the folk unto me and I will\ngive them such and such a thing and appoint to them this and that.\"\nAccordingly, there came folk from all parts and places, nor had ten\nyears passed over him ere the island was peopled and the man became its\nKing.[FN#500] No one came to him but he entreated him with munificence,\nand his name was noised abroad, through the length and breadth of the\nearth. Now his elder son had fallen into the hands of a man who reared\nhim and taught him polite accomplishments; and, in like manner, the\nyounger was adopted by one who gave him a good education and brought\nhim up in the ways of merchants. The wife also happened upon a trader\nwho entrusted to her his property and made a covenant with her that he\nwould not deal dishonestly by her, but would aid her to obey Allah (to\nwhom belong Majesty and Might!); and he used to make her the companion\nof his voyages and his travels. Now the elder son heard the report of\nthe King and resolved to visit him, without knowing who he was; so he\nwent to him and was well received by the King, who made him his\nsecretary. Presently the other son heard of the King's piety and\njustice and was also taken into his service as a steward. Then the\nbrothers abode awhile, neither knowing the other, till it chanced that\nthe merchant, in whose home was their mother, also hearing of the\nKing's righteous and generous dealing with the lieges, freighted a ship\nwith rich stuffs and other excellent produce of the land, and taking\nthe woman with him, set sail for the island. He made it in due course\nand landing, presented himself with his gift before the King; who\nrejoiced therein with exceeding joy and ordered him a splendid\nreturn-present. Now, there were, among the gifts, certain aromatic\nroots of which he would have the merchant acquaint him with the names\nand uses; so he said to him, \"Abide with us this night.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King\nsaid, \"Abide with us this night,\" the merchant replied, \"We have in the\nship one to whom I have promised to entrust the care of her to none\nsave myself; and the same is a holy woman whose prayers have brought me\nweal and I have felt the blessing of her counsels.\" Rejoined the King,\n\"I will send her some trusty men, who shall pass the night in the ship\nand guard her and all that is with her.\" The merchant agreed to this\nand abode with the King, who called his secretary and steward and said\nto them, \"Go and pass the night in this man's ship and keep it safe,\nInshallah!\" So they went up into the ship and seating themselves, this\non the poop and that on the bow, passed a part of the night in\nrepeating the names of Allah (to whom belong Majesty and Might!). Then\nquoth one to the other, \"Ho, such an one! The King bade us keep watch\nand I fear lest sleep overtake us; so, come, let us discourse of\nstories of fortune and of the good we have seen and the trials of\nlife.\" Quoth the other, \"O my brother, as for my trials Fate parted me\nfrom my mother and a brother of mine, whose name was even as thine; and\nthe cause of our parting was this. My father took ship with us from\nsuch a place, and the winds rose against us and were contrary, so that\nthe ship was wrecked and Allah broke our fair companionship.\" Hearing\nthis the first asked, \"What was the name of thy mother, O my brother?\";\nand the second answered, \"So and so.\" Thereat brother threw himself\nupon brother saying, \"By Allah, thou art my very brother!\" And each\nfell to telling the other what had befallen him in his youth, whilst\nthe mother heard all they said, but held her peace and in patience\npossessed her soul. Now when it was morning, one said to the other,\n\"Come, brother, let us go to my lodging and talk there;\" and the other\nsaid, \"'Tis well.\" So they went away and presently, the merchant came\nback and finding the woman in great trouble, said to her, \"What hath\nbefallen thee and why this concern?\" Quoth she, \"Thou sentest to me\nyesternight men who tempted me to evil, and I have been in sore annoy\nwith them.\" At this, he was wroth and, repairing to the King, reported\nthe conduct of his two trusty wights. The King summoned the twain\nforthwith, as he loved them for their fidelity and piety; and, sending\nfor the woman, that he might hear from her own lips what she had to say\nagainst them, thus bespake her, \"O woman, what hath betided thee from\nthese two men in whom I trust?\" She replied, \"O King, I conjure thee by\nthe Almighty, the Bountiful One, the Lord of the Empyrean, bid them\nrepeat the words they spoke yesternight.\" So he said to them, \"Say what\nye said and conceal naught thereof.\" Accordingly, they repeated their\ntalk, and lo! the King rising from his throne, gave a great cry and\nthrew himself upon them, embracing them and saying, \"By Allah, ye are\nmy very sons!\" Therewith the woman unveiled her face and said, \"And by\nAllah, I am their very mother.\" So they were united and abode in all\nsolace of life and its delight till death parted them; and so glory be\nto Him who delivereth His servant when he restoreth to Him, and\ndisappointeth not his hope in Him and his trust! And how well saith the\npoet on the subject,\n\n\"Each thing of things hath his appointed tide * When 'tis, O\n\n\n     brother, granted or denied.\n\n\nRepine not an affliction hit thee hard; * For woe and welfare aye\n\n\n     conjoint abide:\n\n\nHow oft shall woman see all griefs surround * Yet feel a joyance\n\n\n     thrill what lies inside!\n\n\nHow many a wretch, on whom the eyes of folk * Look down, shall\n\n\n     grace exalt to pomp and pride!\n\n\nThis man is one long suffering grief and woe; * Whom change and\n\n\n     chance of Time hath sorely tried:\n\n\nThe World divided from what held he dearest, * After long union\n\n\n     scattered far and wide;\n\n\nBut deigned his Lord unite them all again, * And in the Lord is\n\n\n     every good descried.\n\n\nGlory to Him whose Providence rules all * Living, as surest\n\n\n     proofs for us decide.\n\n\nNear is the Near One; but no wisdom clearer * Shows him, nor\n\n\n     distant wayfare brings Him nearer.\"\n\n\n\nAnd this tale is told of\n\n\n\n\nABU AL-HASAN AND ABU JA'AFAR THE LEPER.[FN#501]\n\n\"I had been many times to Meccah (Allah increase its honour!) and the\nfolk used to follow me for my knowledge of the road and remembrance of\nthe water-stations. It happened one year that I was minded to make the\npilgrimage to the Holy House and visitation of the Tomb of His Prophet\n(on whom be blessing and peace!) and I said in myself, 'I well know the\nway and will fare alone.' So I set out and journeyed till I came to\nAl-Kadis\u03bdyah[FN#502] and, entering the mosque there, saw a man\nsuffering from black leprosy seated in the prayer-niche. Quoth he on\nseeing me, 'O Abu al-Hasan, I crave thy company to Meccah.' Quoth I to\nmyself, 'I fled from all my companions, and how shall I company with\nlepers?' So I said to him, 'I will bear no man company'; and he was\nsilent at my words. Next day I walked on alone, till I came to\nAl-Akabah,[FN#503] where I entered the mosque and found the leper\nseated in the prayer-niche. So I said to myself, 'Glory be to Allah!\nhow hath this fellow preceded me hither?' But he raised his head to me\nand said with a smile, 'O Abu al-Hasan, He doth for the weak that which\nsurpriseth the strong!' I passed that night confounded at what I had\nseen; and, as soon as morning dawned, set out again by myself; but when\nI came to Arafat[FN#504] and entered the mosque, behold, there was the\nleper seated in the niche! So I threw myself upon him and kissing his\nfeet said, 'O my lord, I crave thy company.' But he answered, 'This may\nin no way be.' Then I began weeping and wailing at the loss of his\nconverse, when he said, 'Spare thy tears which will avail thee\nnaught!'\"-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Hasan\ncontinued: \"Now when I saw the leper-man seated in the prayer-niche, I\nthrew myself upon him and said, 'O my lord, I crave thy company;' and\nfell to kissing his feet. But he answered, 'This may in no way be!'\nThen I began weeping and wailing at the loss of his company when he\nsaid, 'Spare thy tears which will avail thee naught!'; and he recited\nthese couplets,\n\n'Why dost thou weep when I depart and thou didst parting claim; *\n\n\n     And cravest union when we ne'er shall reunite the same?\n\n\nThou lookedest on nothing save my weakness and disease; * And\n\n\n     saidst 'Nor goes nor comes, or night or day, this sickly\n\n\n     frame.\n\n\nSeest not how Allah (glorified His glory ever be!) * Deigneth to\n\n\n     grant His slave's petition wherewithal he came.\n\n\nIf I, to eyes of men be that and only that they see, * And this\n\n\n     my body show itself so full of grief and grame,\n\n\nAnd have I naught of food that shall supply me to the place *\n\n\n     Where crowds unto my Lord resort impelled by single aim,\n\n\nI have a high Creating Lord whose mercies aye are hid; * A Lord\n\n\n     who hath none equal and no fear is known to Him.\n\n\nSo fare thee safe and leave me lone in strangerhood to wone * For\n\n\n     He, the only One, consoles my loneliness so lone.'\n\n\n\nAccordingly, I left him; but every station I came to, I found he had\nforegone me, till I reached Al-Medinah, where I lost sight of him and\ncould hear no tidings of him. Here I met Abu Yaz\u03bdd al-Bust\u03b1mi and Abu\nBakr al-Shibli and a number of other Shaykhs and learned men, to whom\nwith many complaints, I told my case and they said, 'Heaven forbid that\nthou shouldst gain his company after this! He was Abu Ja'afar the\nleper, in whose name folk at all times pray for rain and by whose\nblessing-prayers their end attain.' When I heard their words, my desire\nfor his company redoubled and I implored the Almighty to reunite me\nwith him. Whilst I was standing on Arafat,[FN#505] one pulled me from\nbehind, so I turned and behold, it was my man. At this sight I cried\nout with a loud cry and fell down in a fainting fit; but, when I came\nto myself he had disappeared from my sight. This increased my yearning\nfor him and the ceremonies were tedious to me and I prayed Almighty\nAllah to give me sight of him; nor was it but a few days after, when\nlo! one pulled me from behind, and I turned and it was he again.\nThereupon he said, 'Come, I conjure thee and ask thy want of me.' So I\nbegged him to pray for me three prayers; first, that Allah would make\nme love poverty; secondly, that I might never lie down at night upon\nprovision assured to me; and thirdly, that He would vouchsafe me to\nlook upon His bountiful Face. So he prayed for me as I wished, and\ndeparted from me. And indeed Allah hath granted me what the devotee\nasked in prayer: to begin with He hath made me so love poverty that, by\nthe Almighty! there is naught in the world dearer to me than it, and\nsecondly since such a year, I have never lain down to sleep upon\nassured provision; withal hath He never let me lack aught. As for the\nthird prayer, I trust that He will vouchsafe me that also, even as He\nhath granted the two precedent, for right Bountiful and Beneficent is\nHis Godhead, and Allah have mercy on him who said:[FN#506]-\n\nGarb of Fakir, renouncement, lowliness;\n\n\nHis robe of tatters and of rags his dress;\n\n\n\nAnd pallor ornamenting brow as though\n\n\n'Twere wanness such as waning crescents show.\n\n\n\nWasted him prayer a-through the long-lived night,\n\n\nAnd flooding tears ne'er cease to dim his sight.\n\n\n\nMemory of Him shall cheer his lonely room:\n\n\nTh' Almighty nearest is in nightly gloom.\n\n\n\nThe Refuge helpeth such Fakir in need;\n\n\nHelp e'en the cattle and the winged breed:\n\n\n\nAllah for sake of him of wrath is fain,\n\n\nAnd for the grace of him shall fall the rain;\n\n\n\nAnd if he pray one day for plague to stay,\n\n\n'Twill stay, and 'bate man's wrong and tyrants slay.\n\n\n\nWhile folk are sad, afflicted one and each,\n\n\nHe in his mercy's rich, the generous leach:\n\n\n\nBright shines his brow; an thou regard his face\n\n\nThy heart illumined shines by light of grace.\n\n\n\nO thou who shunnest souls of worth innate\n\n\nDeparts thee (woe to thee!) of sins the weight.\n\n\n\nThou thinkest to overtake them, while thou bearest\n\n\nFollies, which slay thee whatso way thou farest.\n\n\n\nDidst wot their worth thou hadst all honour showed,\n\n\nAnd tears in streamlets from thine eyes had flowed.\n\n\n\nTo catarrh-troubled men flowers lack their smell;\n\n\nAnd brokers ken for how much clothes can sell;\n\n\n\nSo haste and with thy Lord reunion sue,\n\n\nAnd haply Fate shall lend thee aidance due,\n\n\n\nRest from rejection and estrangement-stress,\n\n\nAnd Joy thy wish and will shall choicely bless.\n\n\n\nHis court wide open for the suer is dight:\u2014\n\n\nOne, very God, the Lord, th' Almighty might.'\"\n\n\n\nAnd they also tell a tale of\n\n\n\n\nTHE QUEEN OF THE SERPENTS.[FN#507]\n\nThere was once, in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before,\na Grecian sage called Daniel, who had disciples and scholars and the\nwise men of Greece were obedient to his bidding and relied upon his\nlearning. Withal had Allah denied him a man child. One night, as he lay\nmusing and weeping over the lack of a son who might inherit his lore,\nhe bethought him that Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) heareth the\nprayer of those who resort to Him and that there is no doorkeeper at\nthe door of His bounties and that He favoureth whom He will without\ncompt and sendeth no supplicant empty away; nay He filleth their hands\nwith favours and benefits. So he besought the Almighty, the Bountiful,\nto vouchsafe him a son to succeed him, and to endow him abundantly with\nHis beneficence. Then he returned home and carnally knew his wife who\nconceived by him the same night.\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Grecian sage\nreturned home and knew his wife who conceived by him the same night. A\nfew days after this he took ship for a certain place, but the ship was\nwrecked and he saved himself on one of her planks, while only five\nleaves remained to him of all the books he had. When he returned home,\nhe laid the five leaves in a box and locking it, gave the key to his\nwife (who then showed big with child), and said to her, \"Know that my\ndecease is at hand and that the time draweth nigh for my translation\nfrom this abode temporal to the home which is eternal. Now thou art\nwith child and after my death wilt haply bear a son: if this be so,\nname him H\u03b1sib Kar\u03bdm al-D\u03bdn[FN#508] and rear him with the best of\nrearing. When the boy shall grow up and shall say to thee, 'What\ninheritance did my father leave me?'' give him these five leaves, which\nwhen he shall have read and understood, he will be the most learned man\nof his time.\" Then he farewelled her and heaving one sigh, departed the\nworld and all that is therein\u2014the mercy of Allah the Most Highest be\nupon Him! His family and friends wept over him and washed him and bore\nhim forth in great state and buried him; after which they wended their\nways home. But few days passed ere his widow bare a handsome boy and\nnamed him Hasib Karim al-Din, as her husband charged her; and\nimmediately after his birth she summoned the astrologers, who\ncalculated his ascendants and drawing his horoscope, said to her,\n\"Know, O woman! that this birth will live many a year; but that will be\nafter a great peril in the early part of his life, wherefrom can he\nescape, he will be given the knowledge of all the exact sciences.\" So\nsaying they went their ways. She suckled him two years,[FN#509] then\nweaned him, and when he was five years old, she placed him in a school\nto learn his book, but he would read nothing. So she took him from\nschool and set him to learn a trade; but he would not master any craft\nand there came no work from his hands. The mother wept over this and\nthe folk said to her, \"Marry him: haply he will take heart for his wife\nand learn him a trade.\" So she sought out a girl and married him to\nher; but, despite marriage and the lapse of time, he remained idle as\nbefore, and would do nothing. One day, some neighbours of hers, who\nwere woodcutters, came to her and said, \"Buy thy son an ass and cords\nand an axe and let him go with us to the mountain and we will all of us\ncut wood for fuel. The price of the wood shall be his and ours, and he\nshall provide thee and his wife with his share.\" When she heard this,\nshe joyed with exceeding joy and bought her son an ass and cords and\nhatchet; then, carrying him to the woodcutters, delivered him into\ntheir hands and solemnly committed him to their care. Said they, \"Have\nno concern for the boy, our Lord will provide for him: he is the son of\nour Shaykh.\" So they carried him to the mountain, where they cut\nfirewood and loaded their asses therewith; then returned to the city\nand, selling what they had cut, spent the monies on their families.\nThis they did on the next day and the third and ceased not for some\ntime, till it chanced one day, a violent storm of rain broke over them,\nand they took refuge in a great cave till the downfall should pass\naway. Now Hasib Karim al-Din went apart from the rest into a corner of\nthe cavern and sitting down, fell to smiting the floor with his axe.\nPresently he noted that the ground sounded hollow under the hatchet; so\nhe dug there awhile and came to a round flagstone with a ring in it.\nWhen he saw this, he was glad and called his comrades the\nwoodcutters,\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Hasib Karim\nal-Din saw the flagstone with the ring, he was glad and called his\ncomrades the woodcutters, who came to him and, finding it was fact,\nsoon pulled up the stone and discovered under it a trap-door, which,\nbeing opened, showed a cistern full of bees' honey.[FN#510] Then said\nthey to one another, \"This is a large store and we have nothing for it\nbut to return to the city and fetch vessels wherein to carry away the\nhoney, and sell it and divide the price, whilst one of us stands by the\ncistern, to guard it from outsiders.\" Quoth Hasib, \"I will stay and\nkeep watch over it till you bring your pots and pans.\" So they left him\non guard there and, repairing to the city, fetched vessels, which they\nfilled with honey and loading their asses therewith, carried them to\nthe streets and sold the contents. They returned on the morrow and thus\nthey did several days in succession, sleeping in the town by night and\ndrawing off the stuff by day, whilst Hasib abode on guard by it till\nbut little remained, when they said one to other, \"It was Hasib Karim\nal-Din found the honey, and tomorrow he will come down to the city and\ncomplain against us and claim the price of it, saying, Twas I found\nit;' nor is there escape for us but that we let him down into the\ncistern, to bale out the rest of the honey, and leave him there; so\nwill he die of hunger, and none shall know of him.\" They all fell in\nwith this plot as they were making for the place; and, when they\nreached it, one said to him, \"O Hasib, go down into the pit and bale\nout for us the rest of the honey.\" So he went down and passed up to\nthem what remained of the honey, after which he said to them, \"Draw me\nup, for there is nothing left.\" They made him no answer; but, loading\ntheir asses, went off to the city and left him alone in the cistern.\nThereupon he fell to weeping and crying, \"There is no Majesty and there\nis no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!\" Such was his case;\nbut as regards his comrades, when they reached the city and sold the\nhoney, they repaired to Hasib's mother, weeping, and said to her, \"May\nthy head outlive thy son Hasib!\" She asked, \"What brought about his\ndeath?\" and they answered, \"We were cutting wood on the mountain- top,\nwhen there fell on us a heavy downfall of rain and we took shelter from\nit in a cavern; and suddenly thy son's ass broke loose and fled into\nthe valley, and he ran after it, to turn it back, when there came out\nupon them a great wolf, who tore thy son in pieces and ravined the\nass.\" When the mother heard this, she beat her face and strewed dust on\nher head and fell to mourning for her son; and she kept life and soul\ntogether only by the meat and drink which they brought her every day.\nAs for the woodcutters they opened them shops and became merchants and\nspent their lives in eating and drinking and laughing and frolicking.\nMeanwhile Hasib Karim al-Din, who ceased not to weep and call for help,\nsat down upon the cistern edge when behold, a great scorpion fell down\non him; so he rose and killed it. Then he took thought and said, \"The\ncistern was full of honey; how came this scorpion here?\" Accordingly he\ngot up and examined the well right and left, till he found a crevice\nfrom which the scorpion had fallen and saw the light of day shining\nthrough it. So he took out his woodman's knife and enlarged the hole,\ntill it was big as a window, then he crept through it and, after\nwalking for some time, came to a vast gallery, which led him to a huge\ndoor of black iron bearing a padlock of silver wherein was a key of\ngold. He stole up to the door and, looking through the chink, saw a\ngreat light shining within; so he took the key and, opening the door,\nwent on for some time, till he came to a large artificial lake, wherein\nhe caught sight of something that shimmered like silver. He walked up\nto it and at last he saw, hard by a hillock of green jasper and on the\nhill top, a golden throne studded with all manner gems,\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Hasib\nreached the hillock he found it of green jasper surmounted by a golden\nthrone studded with all manner gems, round which were set many stools,\nsome of gold, some of silver and others of leek green emerald. He clomb\nthe hillock and, counting the stools, found them twelve thousand in\nnumber; then he mounted the throne which was set on the centre and,\nseating himself thereon, fell to wondering at the lake and the stools,\nand he marvelled till drowsiness overcame him and he drops asleep.\nPresently, he was aroused by a loud snorting and hissing and rustling,\nso he opened his eyes; and, sitting up, saw each stool occupied by a\nhuge serpent, an hundred cubits in length. At this sight, great fear\nget hold of him; his spittle dried up for the excess of his dread and\nhe despaired of life, as all their eyes were blazing like live coals.\nThen he turned towards the lake and saw that what he had taken for\nshimmering water was a multitude of small snakes, none knoweth their\ncompt save Allah the Most High. After awhile, there came up to him a\nserpent as big as a mule, bearing on its back a tray of gold, wherein\nlay another serpent which shone like crystal and whose face was as that\nof a woman[FN#511] and who spake with human speech. And as soon as she\nwas brought up to Hasib, she saluted him and he returned the\nsalutation. There upon, one of the serpents seated on the stools came\nup and, lifting her off the tray, set her on one of the seats and she\ncried out to the other serpents in their language, whereupon they all\nfell down from their stools and did her homage. But she signed to them\nto sit and they did so. Then she addressed Hasib, saying, \"Have no fear\nof us, O youth; for I am the Queen of the Serpents and their Sult\u03b1nah.\"\nWhen he heard her speak on this wise, he took heart and she bade the\nserpents bring him somewhat of food.[FN#512] So they brought apples and\ngrapes and pomegranates and pistachio-nuts and filberts and walnuts and\nalmonds and bananas and set them before him, and the Queen-serpent\nsaid, \"Welcome, O youth! What is thy name?\" Answered he, \"Hasib Karim\nal-Din;\" and she rejoined, \"O Hasib, eat of these fruits, for we have\nno other meat and fear thou have nothing from us at all.\" Hearing this,\nhe ate his fill and praised Allah Almighty; and presently they took\naway the trays from before him, and the Queen said, \"Tell me, O Hasib,\nwhence thou art and how camest thou hither and what hath befallen\nthee.\" So he told her his story from first to last, the death of his\nfather; his birth; his being sent to school where he learnt nothing;\nhis becoming a wood cutter; his finding the honey- cistern; his being\nabandoned therein; his killing the scorpion; his widening the crevice;\nhis finding the iron door and his coming upon the Queen, and he ended\nhis long tale with saying, \"These be my adventures from beginning to\nend and only Allah wotteth what will betide me after all this!\" Quoth\nthe Queen, after listening to his words, \"Nothing save good shall\nbetide thee:\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the\nSerpent-queen had heard his story she said, \"Nothing save good shall\nbetide thee: but I would have thee, O Hasib, abide with me some time,\nthat I may tell thee my history and acquaint thee with the wondrous\nadventures which have happened to me.\" \"I hear and obey thy hest,\"\nanswered he; and she began to tell in these words,\n\n\n\n\nThe Adventures of Bulukiya.\n\n\"Know thou, O Hasib, there was once in the city of Cairo a King of the\nBanu Isra'\u03bdl, a wise and a pious, who was bent double by poring over\nbooks of learning, and he had a son named Bul\u03cakiy\u03b1. When he grew old\nand weak and was nigh upon death, his Grandees and Officers of state\ncame up to salute him, and he said to them, 'O folk, know that at hand\nis the hour of my march from this world to the next, and I have no\ncharge to lay on you, save to commend to your care my son Bulukiya.'\nThen said he, 'I testify that there is no god save the God;' and,\nheaving one sigh, departed the world the mercy of Allah be upon him!\nThey laid him out and washed him and buried him with a procession of\ngreat state. Then they made his son Bulukiya Sultan in his stead; and\nhe ruled the kingdom justly and the people had peace in his time. Now\nit befell one day that he entered his father's treasuries, to look\nabout him, and coming upon an inner compartment and finding the\nsemblance of a door, opened it and passed in. And lo! he found himself\nin a little closet, wherein stood a column of white marble, on the top\nof which was a casket of ebony; he opened this also and saw therein\nanother casket of gold, containing a book. He read the book and found\nin it an account of our lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!)\nand how he should be sent in the latter days[FN#513] and be the lord of\nthe first Prophets and the last. On seeing the personal description\nBulukiya's heart was taken with love of him, so he at once assembled\nall the notables of the Children of Israel, the Cohens or diviners, the\nscribes and the priests, and acquainted them with the book, reading\nportions of it to them and, adding, 'O folk, needs must I bring my\nfather out of his grave and burn him.' The lieges asked, 'Why wilt thou\nburn him?'; and he answered, 'Because he hid this book from me and\nimparted it not to me.' Now the old King had excerpted it from the\nTorah or Pentateuch and the Books of Abraham; and had set it in one of\nhis treasuries and concealed it from all living. Rejoined they, 'O\nKing, thy father is dead; his body is in the dust and his affair is in\nthe hands of his Lord; thou shalt not take him forth of his tomb.' So\nhe knew that they would not suffer him to do this thing by his sire and\nleaving them he repaired to his mother, to whom said he, 'O my mother,\nI have found, in one of my father's treasuries, a book containing a\ndescription of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!), a prophet who\nshall be sent in the latter days; and my heart is captivated with love\nof him. Wherefore am I resolved to wander over the earth, till I\nforegather with him; else I shall die of longing for his love.' Then he\ndoffed his clothes and donned an Aba gown of goat's hair and coarse\nsandals, saying, 'O my mother, forget me not in thy prayers.' She wept\nover him and said, 'What will become of us after thee?'; but Bulukiya\nanswered, 'I can endure no longer, and I commit my affair and thine to\nAllah who is Almighty.' Then he set out on foot Syria wards without the\nknowledge of any of his folk, and coming to the sea board found a\nvessel whereon he shipped as one of the crew. They sailed till he made\nan island, where Bulukiya landed with the crew, but straying away from\nthe rest he sat down under a tree and sleep got the better of him. When\nhe awoke, he sought the ship but found that she had set sail without\nhim, and in that island he saw serpents as big as camels and palm\ntrees, which repeated the names of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!)\nand blessed Mohammed (whom the Lord assain and save!), proclaiming the\nUnity and glorifying the Glorious; whereat he wondered.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Bulukiya\nsaw the serpents glorifying God and proclaiming the Unity, he wondered\nwith extreme wonder. When they saw him, they flocked to him and one of\nthem said to him, 'Who and whence art thou and whither goest thou. and\nwhat is thy name?' Quoth he, 'My name is Bulukiya; I am of the Children\nof Israel and, being distracted for love of Mohammed (whom Allah bless\nand keep!), I come in quest of him. But who are ye, O noble creatures?'\nAnswered they, 'We are of the dwellers in the Jahannam-hell; and\nAlmighty Allah created us for the punishment of Kafirs.' 'And how came\nye hither?' asked he, and the Serpents answered, 'Know, O Bulukiya,\nthat Hell[FN#514] of the greatness of her boiling, breatheth twice a\nyear, expiring in the summer and inspiring in the winter, and hence the\nsummer heat and winter cold. When she exhaleth, she casteth us forth of\nher maw, and we are drawn in again with her inhaled breath.' Quoth\nBulukiya, 'Say me, are there greater serpents than you in Hell?'; and\nthey said, 'Of a truth we are cast out with the expired breath but by\nreason of our smallness; for in Hell every serpent is so great, that\nwere the biggest of us to pass over its nose it would not feel\nus.[FN#515]' Asked Bulukiya, 'Ye sing the praises of Allah and invoke\nblessings on Mohammed, whom the Almighty assain and save! Whence wot ye\nof Mohammed?'; and they answered, 'O Bulukiya, verily his name is\nwritten on the gates of Paradise; and, but for him, Allah had not\ncreated the worlds[FN#516] nor Paradise, nor heaven nor hell nor earth,\nfor He made all things that be, solely on his account, and hath\nconjoined his name with His own in every place; wherefore we love\nMohammed, whom Allah bless and preserve!' Now hearing the serpents'\nconverse did but inflame Bulukiya's love for Mohammed and yearning for\nhis sight; so he took leave of them; and, making his way to the\nsea-shore, found there a ship made fast to the beach; he embarked\ntherein as a seaman and sailed nor ceased sailing till he came to\nanother island. Here he landed and walking about awhile found serpents\ngreat and small, none knoweth their number save Almighty Allah, and\namongst them a white Serpent, clearer than crystal, seated in a golden\ntray borne on the back of another serpent as big as an elephant. Now\nthis, O Hasib, was the Serpent-queen, none other than myself.\" Quoth\nHasib, \"And what answer didst thou make him?\" Quoth she, \"Know, O\nHasib, that when I saw Bulukiya, I saluted him with the salam, and he\nreturned my salutation, and I said to him, 'Who and what art thou and\nwhat is thine errand and whence comest thou and whither goest thou?'\nAnswered he, 'I am of the Children of Israel; my name is Bulukiya, and\nI am a wanderer for the love of Mohammed, whose description I have read\nin the revealed scriptures, and of whom I go in search. But what art\nthou and what are these serpents about thee?' Quoth I, 'O Bulukiya, I\nam the Queen of the Serpents; and when thou shalt foregather with\nMohammed (whom Allah assain and save!) bear him my salutation.' Then\nBulukiya took leave of me and journeyed till he came to the Holy City\nwhich is Jerusalem. Now there was in that stead a man who was deeply\nversed in all sciences, more especially in geometry and astronomy and\nmathematics, as well as in white magic[FN#517] and Spiritualism; and he\nhad studied the Pentateuch and the Evangel and the Psalms and the Books\nof Abraham. His name was Affan; and he had found in certain of his\nbooks, that whoso should wear the seal ring of our lord Solomon, men\nand Jinn and birds and beasts and all created things would be bound to\nobey him. Moreover, he had discovered that our lord Solomon had been\nburied in a coffin which was miraculously transported beyond the Seven\nSeas to the place of burial;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Affan had found\nin certain books that none, mortal or spirit, could pluck the seal ring\nfrom the lord Solomon's finger; and that no navigator could sail his\nship upon the Seven Seas over which the coffin had been carried.\nMoreover, he had found out by reading that there was a herb of herbs\nand that if one express its juice and anoint therewith his feet, he\nshould walk upon the surface of any sea that Allah Almighty had created\nwithout wetting his soles, but none could obtain this herb, without he\nhad with him the Serpent-queen. When Bulukiya arrived at the Holy City,\nhe at once sat down to do his devotions and worship the Lord; and,\nwhilst he was so doing, Affan came up and saluted him as a True\nBeliever. Then seeing him reading the Pentateuch and adoring the\nAlmighty, he accosted him saying, 'What is thy name, O man; and whence\ncomest thou and whither goest thou?' He answered, 'My name is Bulukiya;\nI am from the city of Cairo and am come forth wandering in quest of\nMohammed, whom Allah bless and preserve!' Quoth Affan, 'Come with me to\nmy lodging that I may entertain thee.' 'To hear is to obey,' replied\nBulukiya So the devotee took him by the hand and carried him to his\nhouse where he entreated him with the utmost honour and presentry said\nto him, 'Tell me thy history, O my brother, and how thou camest by the\nknowledge of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!) that thy heart hath\nbeen taken with love of him and compelled thee to fare forth and seek\nhim; and lastly tell me who it was directed thee in this road.' So he\nrelated to him his tale in its entirety; whereupon Affan, who well nigh\nlost his wits for wonder, said to him, 'Make tryst for me with the\nQueen of the Serpents and I will bring thee in company with Mohammed,\nalbeit the date of his mission is yet far distant. We have only to\nprevail upon the Queen and carry her in a cage to a certain mountain\nwhere the herbs grow; and, as long as she is with us, the plants as we\npass them will parley with human speech and discover their virtues by\nthe ordinance of Allah the Most High. For I have found in my books that\nthere is a certain herb and all who express its juice and anoint\ntherewith their feet shall walk upon whatsoever sea Almighty Allah hath\nmade, without wetting sole. When we have found the magical herb, we\nwill let her go her way; and then will we anoint our feet with the\njuice and cross the Seven Seas, till we come to the burial place of our\nlord Solomon. Then we will take the ring off his finger and rule even\nas he ruled and win all our wishes; we will enter the Main of\nMurks[FN#518] and drink of the Water of Life, and so the Almighty will\nlet us tarry till the End of Time and we shall foregather with\nMohammed, whom Allah bless and preserve!' Hearing these words Bulukiya\nreplied, 'O Affan, I will make tryst for thee with the Serpent-queen\nand at once show thee her abiding place.' So Affan made him a cage of\niron; and, providing himself with two bowls, one full of wine and the\nother of milk, took ship with Bulukiya and sailed till they came to the\nisland, where they landed and walked upon it. Then Affan set up the\ncage, in which he laid a noose and withdrew after placing in it the two\nbowls; when he and Bulukiya concealed themselves afar off. Presently,\nup came the Queen of the Serpents (that is, myself) and examined the\ncage. When she (that is I) smelt the savour of the milk, she came down\nfrom the back of the snake which bore her tray and, entering the cage,\ndrank up the milk. Then she went to the bowl of wine and drank of it,\nwhereupon her head became giddy and she slept. When Affan saw this, he\nran up and locking the cage upon her, set it on his head and made for\nthe ship, he and Bulukiya. After awhile she awoke and finding herself\nin a cage of iron on a man's head and seeing Bulukiya walking beside\nthe bearer, said to him, 'This is the reward of those who do no hurt to\nthe sons of Adam.' Answered he, 'O Queen, have no fear of us, for we\nwill do thee no hurt at all. We wish thee only to show us the herb\nwhich, when pounded and squeezed yieldeth a juice, and this rubbed upon\nthe feet conferreth the power of walking dryshod upon what sea soever\nAlmighty Allah hath created; and when we have found that, we will\nreturn thee to thy place and let thee wend thy way.' Then Affan and\nBulukiya fared on for the hills where grew the herbs; and, as they went\nabout with the Queen, each plant they passed began to speak and avouch\nits virtues by permission of Allah the Most High. As they were thus\ndoing and the herbs speaking right and left, behold, a plant spoke out\nand said, 'I am the herb ye seek, and all who gather and crush me and\nanoint their feet with my juice, shall fare over what sea soever Allah\nAlmighty hath created and yet ne'er wet sole.' When Affan heard this,\nhe set down the cage from his head and, gathering what might suffice\nthem of the herb, crushed it and filling two vials with the juice kept\nthem for future use; and with what was left they anointed their feet.\nThen they took up the Serpent-queen's cage and journeyed days and\nnights, till they reached the island, where they opened the cage and\nlet out her that is me. When I found myself at liberty, I asked them\nwhat use they would make of the juice; and they answered, 'We design to\nanoint our feet and to cross the Seven Seas to the burial place of our\nlord Solomon[FN#519] and take the seal ring from his finger.' Quoth I,\n'Far, far is it from your power to possess yourselves of the ring!'\nThey enquired, 'Wherefore?' and I replied, 'Because Almighty Allah\nvouchsafed unto our lord Solomon the gift of this ring and\ndistinguished him thereby, for that he said to him, 'O Lord, give me a\nkingdom which may not be obtained after me; for Thou verily art the\nGiver of kingdoms.[FN#520]' 'So that ring is not for you.' And I added,\n'Had ye twain taken the herb, whereof all who eat shall not die until\nthe First Blast,[FN#521] it had better availed you than this ye have\ngotten; for ye shall nowise come at your desire thereby.' Now when they\nheard this, they repented them with exceeding penitence and went their\nways.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Bulukiya\nand Affan heard these words, they repented them with exceeding\npenitence and went their ways. Such was their case; but as regards\nmyself\" (continued the Serpent-queen) \"I went in quest of my host and\nfound it fallen in piteous case, the stronger of them having grown weak\nin my absence and the weaker having died. When they saw me, they\nrejoiced and flocking about me, asked, 'What hath befallen thee, and\nwhere hast thou been?' So I told them what had passed, after which I\ngathered my forces to \"ether and repaired with them to the mountain\nKaf, where I was wont to winter, summer-freshing in the place where\nthou now seest me, O Hasib Karim al-Din. This, then, is my story and\nwhat befell me.\" Thereupon Hasib marvelled at her words and said to\nher, \"I beseech thee, of thy favour, bid one of thy guards bear me\nforth to the surface of the earth, that I may go to my people.\" She\nreplied, \"O Hasib, thou shalt not have leave to depart from us till\nwinter come, and needs must thou go with us to the Mountain Kaf and\nsolace thyself with the sight of the hills and sands and trees and\nbirds magnifying the One God, the Victorious; and look upon Marids and\nIfrits and Jinn, whose number none knoweth save Almighty Allah.\" When\nHasib heard this, he was sore chafed and chagrined: then he said to\nher, \"Tell me of Affan and Bulukiya; when they departed from thee and\nwent their way, did they cross the Seven Seas and reach the\nburial-place of our lord Solomon or not; and if they did had they power\nto take the ring or not?\" Answered she, \"Know, that when they left me,\nthey anointed their feet with the juice; and, walking over the water,\nfared on from sea to sea, diverting themselves with the wonders of the\ndeep, nor ceased they faring till they had traversed the Seven Seas and\ncame in sight of a mountain, soaring high in air, whose stones were\nemeralds and whose dust was musk; and in it was a stream of running\nwater. When they made it they rejoiced, saying each to the other,\n'Verily we have won our wish'; and they entered the passes of the\nmountain and walked on, till they saw from afar a cavern surmounted by\na great dome, shining with light. So they made for the cavern, and\nentering it beheld therein a throne of gold studded with all manner\njewels, and about it stools whose number none knoweth save Allah\nAlmighty. And they saw lying at full length upon the throne our lord\nSolomon, clad in robes of green silk inwoven with gold and broidered\nwith jewels and precious minerals: his right hand was passed over his\nbreast and on the middle finger was the seal ring whose lustre outshone\nthat of all other gems in the place. Then Affan taught Bulukiya\nadjurations and conjurations galore and said to him, 'Repeat these\nconjurations and cease not repeating until I take the ring.' Then he\nwent up to the throne; but, as he drew near unto it lo' c mighty\nserpent came forth from beneath it and cried out at him with so\nterrible a cry that the whole place trembled and sparks flew from its\nmouth, saying, 'Begone, or thou art a dead man' But Affan busied\nhimself with his incantations and suffered himself not to be startled\nthereby. Then the serpent blew such a fiery blast at him, that the\nplace was like to be set on fire, and said to him, Woe to thee! Except\nthou turn back, I will consume thee' Hearing these words Bulukiya left\nthe cave, but Affan, who suffered himself not to be troubled, went up\nto the Prophet: then he put out his hand to the ring and touched it and\nstrove to draw it off the lord Solomon's finger; and behold, the\nserpent blew on him once more and he became a heap of ashes. Such was\nhis case; but as regards Bulukiya he fell down in a swoon.\"\u2014 And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninetieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"When Bulukiya saw Affan burnt up by the fire and become a\nheap of ashes, he fell down in a swoon. Thereupon the Lord (magnified\nbe His Majesty!) bade Gabriel descend earthwards and save him ere the\nserpent should blow on him. So Gabriel descended without delay and,\nfinding Affan reduced to ashes and Bulukiya in a fit, aroused him from\nhis trance and saluting him asked, 'How camest thou hither?' Bulukiya\nrelated to him his history from first to last, adding, 'Know that I\ncame not hither but for the love of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and\nsave!), of whom Affan informed me that his mission would take place at\nthe End of Time; moreover that none should foregather with him but\nthose who endured to the latter days by drinking of the Water of Life\nthrough means of Solomon's seal. So I companied him hither and there\nbefell him what befell; but I escaped the fire and now it is my desire\nthat thou inform me where Mohammed is to be found.' Quoth Gabriel, 'O\nBulukiya, go thy ways, for the time of Mohammed's coming is yet far\ndistant.' Then he ascended up to heaven forthright, and Bulukiya wept\nwith sore weeping and repented of that which he had done, calling to\nmind my words, whenas I said to them, 'Far is it from man's power to\npossess himself of the ring.' Then he descended from the mountain and\nreturned in exceeding confusion to the sea shore and passed the night\nthere, marvelling at the mountains and seas and islands around him.\nWhen morning dawned, he anointed his feet with the herb-juice and\ndescending to the water, set out and fared on over the surface of the\nseas days and nights, astonied at the terrors of the main and the\nmarvels and wonders of the deep, till he came to an island as it were\nthe Garden of Eden. So he landed and, finding himself in a great and\npleasant island, paced about it and saw with admiration that its dust\nwas saffron and its gravel carnelian and precious minerals; its hedges\nwere of jessamine, its vegetation was of the goodliest of trees and of\nthe brightest of odoriferous shrubs; its brushwood was of Comorin and\nSumatran aloes-wood and its reeds were sugar-canes. Round about it were\nroses and narcissus and amaranths and gilly-flowers and chamomiles and\nwhite lilies and violets, and other flowers of all kinds and colours.\nOf a truth the island was the goodliest place, abounding in space, rich\nin grace, a compendium of beauty material and spiritual. The birds\nwarbled on the boughs with tones far sweeter than chaunt of Koran and\ntheir notes would console a lover whom longings unman. And therein the\ngazelle frisked free and fain and wild cattle roamed about the plain.\nIts trees were of tallest height; its streams flowed bright; its\nsprings welled with waters sweet and light; and all therein was a\ndelight to sight and sprite. Bulukiya marvelled at the charms of the\nisland but knew that he had strayed from the way he had first taken in\ncompany with Affan. He wandered about the place and solaced him with\nvarious spectacles until nightfall, when he climbed into a tree to\nsleep; but as he sat there, musing over the beauty of the site, behold,\nthe sea became troubled and there rose up to the surface a great beast,\nwhich cried out with a cry so terrible that every living thing upon the\nisle trembled. As Bulukiya gazed upon him from the tree and marvelled\nat the bigness of his bulk, he was presently followed unexpectedly by a\nmultitude of other sea beasts in kind manifolds, each holding in his\nfore-paw a jewel which shone like a lamp, so that the whole island\nbecame as light as day for the lustre of the gems. After awhile, there\nappeared, from the heart of the island, wild beasts of the land, none\nknoweth their number save Allah the Most High; amongst which Bulukiya\nnoted lions and panthers and lynxes and other ferals; and these land\nbeasts flocked down to the shore; and, foregathering with the sea\nbeasts, conversed with them till daybreak, when they separated and each\nwent his own way. Thereupon Bulukiya, terrified by what he had seen,\ncame down from the tree and, making the sea shore, anointed his feet\nwith the magical juice, and set out once more upon the surface of the\nwater. He fared on days and nights over the Second Sea, till he came to\na great mountain skirting which ran a Wady without end, the stones\nwhereof were magnetic iron and its beasts, lions and hares and\npanthers. He landed on the mountain foot and wandered from place to\nplace till nightfall, when he sat down sheltered by one of the base\nhills on the sea side, to eat of the dried fish thrown up by the sea.\nPresently, he turned from his meal and behold, a huge panther was\ncreeping up to rend and ravin him; so he anointed his feet in haste\nwith the juice and, descending to the surface of the water, fled\nwalking over the Third Sea, in the darkness, for the night was black\nand the wind blew stark. Nor did he stay his course till he reached\nanother island, whereon he landed and found there trees bearing fruits\nboth fresh and dry.[FN#522] So he took of these fruits and ate and\npraised Allah Almighty; after which he walked for solace; about the\nisland till eventide.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Bulukiya\n(continued the Queen) walked for solace about the island till eventide,\nwhen he lay down to sleep. As soon as day brake, he began to explore\nthe place and ceased not for ten days, after which he again made the\nshore and anointed his feet and, setting out over the Fourth Sea,\nwalked upon it many nights and days, till he came to a third island of\nfine white sand without sign of trees or grass. He walked about it\nawhile but, finding its only inhabitants sakers which nested in the\nsand, he again anointed his feet and trudged over the Fifth Sea,\nwalking night and day till he came to a little island, whose soil and\nhills were like crystal. Therein were the veins wherefrom gold is\nworked; and therein also were marvellous trees whose like he had never\nseen in his wanderings, for their blossoms were in hue as gold. He\nlanded and walked about for diversion till it was nightfall, when the\nflowers began to shine through the gloom like stars. Seeing this sight,\nhe marvelled and said, 'Assuredly, the flowers of this island are of\nthose which wither under the sun and fall to the earth, where the winds\nsmite them and they gather under the rocks and become the\nElixir[FN#523] which the folk collect and thereof make gold.' He slept\nthere all that night and at sunrise he again anointed his feet and,\ndescending to the shore, fared on over the Sixth Sea nights and days,\ntill he came to a fifth island. Here he landed and found, after walking\nan hour or so, two mountains covered with a multitude of trees, whose\nfruits were as men's heads hanging by the hair, and others whose fruits\nwere green birds hanging by the feet; also a third kind, whose fruits\nwere like aloes, if a drop of the juice fell on a man it burnt like\nfire; and others, whose fruits wept and laughed, besides many other\nmarvels which he saw there. Then he returned to the sea shore and,\nfinding there a tall tree, sat down beneath it till supper time when he\nclimbed up into the branches to sleep. As he sat considering the\nwonderful works of Allah behold, the waters became troubled, and there\nrose therefrom the daughters of the sea, each mermaid holding in her\nhand a jewel which shone like the morning. They came ashore and,\nforegathering under the trees, sat down and danced and sported and made\nmerry whilst Bulukiya amused himself with watching and wondering at\ntheir gambols, which were prolonged till the morning, when they\nreturned to the sea and disappeared. Then he came down and, anointing\nhis feet, set out on the surface of the Seventh Sea, over which he\njourneyed two whole months, without getting sight of highland or island\nor broadland or lowland or shoreland, till he came to the end thereof.\nAnd so doing he suffered exceeding hunger, so that he was forced to\nsnatch up fishes from the surface of the sea and devour them raw, for\nstress of famine. In such case he pushed on till in early forenoon he\ncame to the sixth island, with trees a-growing and rills a flowing,\nwhere he landed and walked about, looking right and left, till he came\nto an apple tree and put forth his hand to pluck of the fruit, when lo!\none cried out to him from the tree, saying, 'An thou draw near to this\ntree and cut of it aught, I will cut thee in twain.' So he looked and\nsaw a giant forty cubits high, being the cubit of the people of that\nday; whereat he feared with sore fear and refrained from that tree.\nThen said he to the giant, 'Why cost thou forbid me to eat of this\ntree?' Replied the other, 'Because thou art a son of Adam and thy\nfather Adam forgot the covenant of Allah and sinned against Him and ate\nof the tree.' Quoth Bulukiya, 'What thing art thou and to whom\nbelongeth this island, with its trees, and how art thou named?' Quoth\nthe tall one, 'My name is Shar\u03b1hiy\u03b1 and trees and island belong to King\nSakhr;[FN#524] I am one of his guards and in charge of his dominion,'\npresently adding, 'But who art thou and whence comest thou hither?'\nBulukiya told him his story from beginning to end and Sharahiya said,\n'Be of good cheer,' and brought him to eat. So he ate his fill and,\ntaking leave of the giant, set out again and ceased not faring on over\nthe mountains and sandy deserts for ten days; at the end of which time\nhe saw, in the distance, a dust cloud hanging like a canopy in air;\nand, making towards it, he heard a mighty clamour, cries and blows and\nsounds of mellay. Presently he reached a great Wady, two months'\njourney long; and, looking whence the shouts came, he saw a multitude\nof horse men engaged in fierce fight and the blood running from them\ntill it railed like a river. Their voices were thunderous and they were\narmed with lance and sword and iron mace and bow and arrow, and all\nfought with the utmost fury. At this sight he felt sore affright\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"When Bulukiya saw the host in fight, he felt sore affright\nand was perplexed about his case; but whilst he hesitated, behold, they\ncaught sight of him and held their hands one from other and left\nfighting. Then a troop of them came up to him, wondering at his make,\nand one of the horsemen said to him, 'What art thou and whence camest\nthou hither and whither art wending; and who showed thee the way that\nthou hast come to our country?' Quoth he, 'I am of the sons of Adam and\nam come out, distracted for the love of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and\npreserve!); but I have wandered from my way.' Quoth the horseman,\n'Never saw we a son of Adam till now, nor did any ever come to this\nland.' And all marvelled at him and at his speech. 'But what are ye, O\ncreatures?' asked Bulukiya; and the rider replied, 'We are of the\nJ\u03b1nn.' So he said, 'O Knight, what is the cause of the fighting amongst\nyou and where is your abiding place and what is the name of this valley\nand this land?' He replied, 'Our abiding- place is the White Country;\nand, every year, Allah Almighty commandeth us to come hither and wage\nwar upon the unbelieving Jann.' Asked Bulukiya, 'And where is the White\nCountry?' and the horseman answered, 'It is behind the mountain Kaf,\nand distant seventy-five years journey from this place which is termed\nthe Land of Shadd\u03b1d son of '\u0391d: we are here for Holy War; and we have\nno other business, when we are not doing battle, than to glorify God\nand hallow him. More over, we have a ruler, King Sakhr highs, and needs\nmust thou go with us to him, that he may look upon thee for his\nespecial delight.' Then they fared on (and he with them) till they came\nto their abiding place; where he saw a multitude of magnificent tents\nof green silk, none knoweth their number save Allah the Most High, and\nin their midst a pavilion of red satin, some thousand cubits in\ncompass, with cords of blue silk and pegs of gold and silver. Bulukiya\nmarvelled at the sight and accompanied them as they fared on and\nbehold, this was the royal pavilion. So they carried him into the\npresence of King Sakhr, whom he found seated upon a splendid throne of\nred gold, set with pearls and studded with gems; the Kings and Princes\nof the Jann being on his right hand, and on his left his Councillors\nand Emirs and Officers of state, and a multitude of others. The King\nseeing him bade introduce him, which they did; and Bulukiya went up to\nhim and saluted him after kissing the ground before him. The King\nreturned his salute and said, 'Draw near me, O mortal!' and Bulukiya\nwent close up to him. Hereupon the King, commanding a chair to be set\nfor him by his royal side, bade him sit down and asked him 'Who art\nthou?'; and Bulukiya answered, 'I am a man, and one of the Children of\nIsrael.' 'Tell me thy story,' cried King Sakhr, 'and acquaint me with\nall that hath befallen thee and how thou camest to this my land.' So\nBulukiya related to him all that had occurred in his wanderings from\nbeginning to end.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"When Bulukiya related to Sakhr what befell him in his\nwanderings, he marvelled thereat. Then he bade the servants bring food\nand they spread the tables and set on one thousand and five hundred\nplatters of red gold and silver and copper, some containing twenty and\nsome fifty boiled camels, and others some fifty head of sheep; at which\nBulukiya marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then they ate and he ate with\nthem, till he was satisfied and returned thanks to Allah Almighty;\nafter which they cleared the tables and set on fruits, and they ate\nthereof, glorifying the name of God and invoking blessings on His\nprophet Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!) When Bulukiya heard\nthem make mention of Mohammed, he wondered and said to King Sakhr, 'I\nam minded to ask thee some questions.' Rejoined the King, 'Ask what\nthou wilt,' and Bulukiya said, 'O King, what are ye and what is your\norigin and how came ye to know of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and\nsave!) that ye draw near to him and love him?' King Sakhr answered, 'O\nBulukiya, of very sooth Allah created the fire in seven stages, one\nabove the other, and each distant a thousand years journey from its\nneighbour. The first stage he named Jahannam[FN#525] and appointed the\nsame for the punishment of the transgressors of the True-believers, who\ndie unrepentant; the second he named Laz\u03b1 and appointed for\nUnbelievers: the name of the third is Jah\u03bdm and is appointed for Gog\nand Magog.[FN#526] The fourth is called Sa'\u03bdr and is appointed for the\nhost of Iblis. The fifth is called Sakar and is prepared for those who\nneglect prayer. The sixth is called Hatamah and is appointed for Jews\nand Christians. The seventh is named H\u03b1wiyah and is prepared for\nhypocrites. Such be the seven stages.' Quoth Bulukiya, 'Haply Jahannam\nhath least of torture for that it is the uppermost.' 'Yes,' quoth King\nSakhr, 'the most endurable of them all is Jahannam; natheless in it are\na thousand mountains of fire, in each mountain seventy thousand cities\nof fire, in each city seventy thousand castles of fire, in each castle\nseventy thousand houses of fire, in each house seventy thousand couches\nof fire and in each couch seventy thousand manners of torment. As for\nthe other hells, O Bulukiya, none knoweth the number of kinds of\ntorment that be therein save Allah Most Highest.' When Bulukiya heard\nthis, he fell down in a fainting-fit, and when he came to himself, he\nwept and said, 'O King what will be my case?' Quoth Sakhr, 'Fear not,\nand know thou that whoso loveth Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)\nthe fire shall not burn him, for he is made free therefrom for his\nsake; and whoso belongeth to his Faith the fire shall fly him. As for\nus, the Almighty Maker created us of the fire for the first that he\nmade in Jahannam were two of His host whom he called Khal\u03bdt and Mal\u03bdt.\nNow Khal\u03bdt was fashioned in the likeness of a lion, with a tail like a\ntortoise twenty years' journey in length and ending in a member\nmasculine; while Mal\u03bdt was like a pied wolf whose tail was furnished\nwith a member feminine. Then Almighty Allah commanded the tails to\ncouple and copulate and do the deed of kind, and of them were born\nserpents and scorpions, whose dwelling is in the fire, that Allah may\nthere with torment those whom He casteth therein; and these increased\nand multiplied. Then Allah commanded the tails of Khalit and Malit to\ncouple and copulate a second time, and the tail of Malit conceived by\nthe tail of Khalit and bore fourteen children, seven male and seven\nfemale, who grew up and intermarried one with the other. All were\nobedient to their sire, save one who disobeyed him and was changed into\na worm which is Iblis (the curse of Allah be upon him!). Now Iblis was\none of the Cherubim, for he had served Allah till he was raised to the\nheavens and cherished[FN#527] by the especial favour of the Merciful\nOne, who made him chief of the Cherubim.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"'Iblis served God and became chief of Cherubim. When,\nhowever, the Lord created Adam (with whom be peace!), He commanded\nIblis to prostrate himself to him, but he drew back; so Allah Almighty\nexpelled him from heaven and cursed him.[FN#528] This Iblis had issue\nand of his lineage are the devils; and as for the other six males, who\nwere his elders, they are the ancestors of the true believing Jann, and\nwe are their descendants. Such, O Bulukiya is our provenance.[FN#529]'\nBulukiya marvelled at the King's words and said, 'O King, I pray thee\nbid one of thy guards bear me back to my native land.' 'Naught of this\nmay we do,' answered Sakhr, 'save by commandment of Allah Almighty;\nhowever, an thou desire to leave us and return home, I will mount thee\non one of my mares and cause her carry thee to the farthest frontiers\nof my dominions, where thou wilt meet with the troops of another King,\nBar\u03b1khiy\u03b1 highs, who will recognize the mare at sight and take thee off\nher and send her back to us; and this is all we can do for thee, and no\nmore.' When Bulukiya heard these words he wept and said, 'Do whatso\nthou wilt.' So King Sakhr caused bring the mare and, setting Bulukiya\non her back, said to him, 'Beware lest thou alight from her or strike\nher or cry out in her face; for if thou do so she will slay thee; but\nabide quietly riding on her back till she stop with thee; then dismount\nand wend thy ways.' Quoth Bulukiya, 'I hear and I obey;' he then\nmounted and setting out, rode on a long while between the rows of\ntents; and stinted not riding till he came to the royal kitchens where\nhe saw the great cauldrons, each holding fifty camels, hung up over the\nfires which blazed fiercely under them. So he stopped there and gazed\nwith a marvel ever increasing till King Sakhr thinking him to be\nanhungered, bade bring him two roasted camels; and they carried them to\nhim and bound them behind him on the mare's crupper. Then he took leave\nof them and fared on, till he came to the end of King Sakhr's\ndominions, where the mare stood still and Bulukiya dismounted and began\nto shake the dust of the journey from his raiment. And behold, there\naccosted him a party of men who, recognising the mare, carried her and\nBulukiya before their King Barakhiya. So he saluted him, and the King\nreturned his greeting and seated him beside himself in a splendid\npavilion, in the midst of his troops and champions and vassal Princes\nof the Jann ranged to right and left; after which he called for food\nand they ate their fill and pronounced the Alhamdolillah. Then they set\non fruits, and when they had eaten thereof, King Barakhiya, whose\nestate was like that of King Sakhr, asked his guest, 'When didst thou\nleave King Sakhr?' And Bulukiya answered, 'Two days ago.' Quoth\nBarakhiya, 'Dost thou know, how many days' journey thou hast come in\nthese two days?' Quoth he, 'No,' and the King rejoined, 'Thou hast come\na journey of threescore and ten months.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"Barakhiya said to Bulukiya, 'In two days thou hast come a\njourney of threescore and ten months; moreover when thou mountedst the\nmare, she was affrighted at thee, knowing thee for a son of Adam, and\nwould have thrown thee; so they bound on her back these two camels by\nway of weight to steady her.' When Bulukiya heard this, he marvelled\nand thanked Allah Almighty for safety. Then said the King, 'Tell me thy\nadventures and what brought thee to this our land.' So he told him his\nstory from first to last, and the King marvelled at his words, and kept\nBulukiya with him two months.\" Upon this Hasib Karim al-Din after he\nhad marvelled at her story, again besought the Serpent-queen saying, \"I\npray thee of thy goodness and graciousness command one of thy subjects\nconduct me to the surface of the earth, that I may return to my\nfamily;\" but she answered, \"O Hasib, I know that the first thing thou\nwilt do, after seeing the face of the earth will be to greet thy family\nand then repair to the Hammam bath and bathe; and the moment thou\nendest thine ablutions will see the last of me, for it will be the\ncause of my death.\" Quoth Hasib, \"I swear that I will never again enter\nthe Hammam bath so long as I live, but when washing is incumbent on me,\nI will wash at home.\" Rejoined the Queen, \"I would not trust thee\nthough thou shouldst swear to me an hundred oaths; for such abstaining\nis not possible, and I know thee to be a son of Adam for whom no oath\nis sacred. Thy father Adam made a covenant with Allah the most High,\nwho kneaded the clay whereof He fashioned him forty mornings and made\nHis angels prostrate themselves to him; yet after all his promise did\nhe forget and his oath violate, disobeying the commandment of his\nLord.\" When Hasib heard this, he held his peace and burst into tears;\nnor did he leave weeping for the space of ten days, at the end of which\ntime he said to the Queen, \"Prithee acquaint me with the rest of\nBulukiya's adventures.\" Accordingly, she began again as follows: \"Know,\nO Hasib, that Bulukiya, after abiding two months with King Barakhiya,\nfarewelled him and fared on over wastes and deserts nights and days'\ntill he came to a high mountain which he ascended. On the summit he\nbeheld seated a great Angel glorifying the names of God and invoking\nblessings on Mohammed. Before him lay a tablet covered with characters,\nthese white and those black,[FN#530] whereon his eyes were fixed, and\nhis two wings were outspread to the full, one to the western and the\nother to the eastern horizon. Bulukiya approached and saluted the\nAngel, who returned his salam adding, 'Who art thou and whence comest\nthou and whither wendest thou and what is thy story?' Accordingly, he\nrepeated to him his history, from first to last, and the Angel\nmarvelled mightily thereat, whereupon Bulukiya said to him, 'I pray\nthee in return acquaint me with the meaning of this tablet and what is\nwrit thereon; and what may be thine occupation and thy name.' Replied\nthe Angel, 'My name is Michael, and I am charged with the shifts of\nnight and day; and this is my occupation till the Day of Doom.'\nBulukiya wondered at his words and at his aspect and the vastness of\nhis stature and, taking leave of him, fared onwards, night and day,\ntill he came to a vast meadow over which he walked observing that it\nwas traversed by seven streams and abounded in trees. He was struck by\nits beauty and in one corner thereof he saw a great tree and under it\nfour Angels. So he drew near to them and found the first in the\nlikeness of a man, the second in the likeness of a wild beast, the\nthird in the likeness of a bird and the fourth in the likeness of a\nbull, engaged in glorifying Almighty Allah, and saying, 'O my God and\nmy Master and my Lord, I conjure Thee, by Thy truth and by the decree\nof Thy Prophet Mohammed (on whom be blessings and peace!) to vouchsafe\nThy mercy and grant Thy forgiveness to all things created in my\nlikeness; for Thou over all things art Almighty!' Bulukiya marvelled at\nwhat he heard but continued his journey till he came to another\nmountain and ascending it, found there a great Angel seated on the\nsummit, glorifying God and hallowing Him and invoking blessings on\nMohammed (whom Allah assain and save!), and he saw that Angel\ncontinually opening and shutting his hands and bending and extending\nhis fingers. He accosted him and saluted him; whereupon the Angel\nreturned his salam and enquired who he was and how he came thither. So\nBulukiya acquainted him with his adventures including his having lost\nthe way; and besought him to tell him, in turn, who he was and what was\nhis function and what mountain was that. Quoth the Angel, 'Know, O\nBulukiya, that this is the mountain Kaf, which encompasseth the world;\nand all the countries the Creator hath made are in my grasp. When the\nAlmighty is minded to visit any land with earthquake or famine or\nplenty or slaughter or prosperity, He biddeth me carry out His commands\nand I carry them out without stirring from my place; for know thou that\nmy hands lay hold upon the roots of the earth,' \"\u2014And Shahrazed\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"When the angel said, 'And know thou that my hands lay hold\nupon the roots of the earth,' he asked, 'And hath Allah created other\nworlds than this within the mountain Kaf?' The Angel answered, 'Yes, He\nhath made a world white as silver, whose vastness none knoweth save\nHimself, and hath peopled it with Angels, whose meat and drink are His\npraise and hallowing and continual blessings upon His Prophet Mohammed\n(whom Allah bless and keep!). Every Thursday night[FN#531] they repair\nto this mountain and worship in congregation Allah until the morning,\nand they assign the future recompense of their lauds and litanies to\nthe sinners of the Faith of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!) and\nto all who make the Ghusl ablution of Friday; and this is their\nfunction until the Day of Resurrection.' Asked Bulukiya, 'And hath\nAllah created other mountains behind the mountain Kaf?'; whereto he\nanswered, 'Yes, behind this mountain is a range of mountains five\nhundred years' journey long, of snow and ice, and this it is that\nwardeth off the heat of Jahannam from the world, which verily would\nelse be consumed thereby. Moreover, behind the mountain Kaf are forty\nworlds, each one the bigness of this world forty times told, some of\ngold and some of silver and others of carnelian. Each of these worlds\nhath its own colour, and Allah hath peopled them with angels, that know\nnot Eve nor Adam nor night nor day, and have no other business than to\ncelebrate His praises and hallow Him and make profession of His Unity\nand proclaim His Omnipotence and supplicate Him on behalf of the\nfollowers of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!). And know, also, O\nBulukiya, that the earths were made in seven stages, one upon another,\nand that Allah hath created one of His Angels, whose stature and\nattributes none knoweth but Himself and who beareth the seven stages\nupon his shoulders. Under this Angel Almighty Allah hath created a\ngreat rock, and under the rock a bull, and under the bull a huge fish,\nand under the fish a mighty ocean.[FN#532] God once told Isa (with whom\nbe peace! ) of this fish, and he said, 'O Lord show me the fish, that I\nmay look upon it.' So the Almighty commanded an angel to take Isa and\nshow him the fish. Accordingly, he took him up and carried him (with\nwhom be peace!) to the sea, wherein the fish dwelt, and said, 'Look, O\nIsa, upon the fish.' He looked but at first saw nothing, when,\nsuddenly, the fish darted past like lightning. At this sight Isa fell\ndown aswoon, and when he came to himself, Allah spake to him by\ninspiration, saying, 'O Isa, hast thou seen the fish and comprehended\nits length and its breadth?' He replied, 'By Thy honour and glory, O\nLord, I saw no fish; but there passed me by a great bull, whose length\nwas three days' journey, and I know not what manner of thing this bull\nis.' Quoth Allah, 'O Isa, this that thou sawest and which was three\ndays in passing by thee, was but the head of the fish;[FN#533] and know\nthat every day I create forty fishes like unto this.' And Isa hearing\nthis marvelled at the power of Allah the Almighty. Asked Bulukiya,\n'What hath Allah made beneath this sea which containeth the fish?'; and\nthe Angel answered, 'Under the sea the Lord created a vast abyss of\nair, under the air fire, and under the fire a mighty serpent, by name\nFalak; and were it not for fear of the Most Highest, this serpent would\nassuredly swallow up all that is above it, air and fire and the Angel\nand his burden, without sensing it.'\"\u2014And Shahrazed perceived the dawn\nof day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the angel said to\nBulukiya when describing the serpent, \"'And were it not for fear of the\nMost Highest, this serpent would assuredly swallow up all that is above\nit, air and fire, and the Angel and his burden, without sensing it.\nWhen Allah created this serpent He said to it by inspiration, 'I will\ngive thee somewhat to keep for me, so open thy mouth.' The serpent\nreplied, 'Do whatso Thou wilt;' and opened his mouth and God placed\nHell into his maw, saying, 'Keep it until the Day of Resurrection. When\nthat time comes, the Almighty will send His angels with chains to bring\nHell and bind it until the Day when all men shall meet; and the Lord\nwill order Hell to go open its gates and there will issue therefrom\nsparks bigger than the mountains.' When Bulukiya heard these things he\nwept with sore weeping and, taking leave of the Angel, fared on\nwestwards, till he came in sight of two creatures sitting before a\ngreat shut gate. As he drew near, he saw that one of the gatekeepers\nhad the semblance of a lion and the other that of a bull; so he saluted\nthem and they returned his salam and enquired who and whence he was and\nwhither he was bound. Quoth he, 'I am of the sons of Adam, a wanderer\nfor the love of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!) and I have\nstrayed from my way.' Then he asked them what they were and what was\nthe gate before which they sat, and they answered, 'We are the\nguardians of this gate thou seest and we have no other business than\nthe praise and hallowing of Allah and the invocation of blessings on\nMohammed (whom may He bless and keep!).' Bulukiya wondered and asked\nthem, 'What is within the gate?'; and they answered, 'We wot not.' Then\nquoth he, 'I conjure you, by the truth of your glorious Lord, open to\nme the gate, that I may see that which is therein.' Quoth they, 'We\ncannot, and none may open this gate, of all created beings save\nGabriel, the Faithful One, with whom be peace!' Then Bulukiya lifted up\nhis voice in supplication to Allah, saying, 'O Lord, send me thy\nmessenger Gabriel, the Faithful One, to open for me this gate that I\nmay see what be therein;' and the Almighty gave ear unto his prayer and\ncommanded the Archangel to descend to earth and open to him the gate of\nthe Meeting-place of the Two Seas. So Gabriel descended and, saluting\nBulukiya, opened the gate to him, saying, 'Enter this door, for Allah\ncommandeth me to open to thee.' So he entered and Gabriel locked the\ngate behind him and flew back to heaven. When Bulukiya found himself\nwithin the gate, he looked and beheld a vast ocean, half salt and half\nfresh, bounded on every side by mountain ranges of red ruby whereon he\nsaw angels singing the praises of the Lord and hallowing Him. So he\nwent up to them and saluted them and having received a return of his\nsalam, questioned them of the sea and the mountains. Replied they,\n'This place is situate under the Arsh or empyreal heaven; and this\nOcean causeth the flux and flow of all the seas of the world; and we\nare appointed to distribute them and drive them to the various parts of\nthe earth, the salt to the salt and the fresh to the fresh,[FN#534] and\nthis is our employ until the Day of Doom. As for the mountain ranges\nthey serve to limit and to contain the waters. But thou, whence comest\nthou and whither art thou bound?' So he told them his story and asked\nthem of the road. They bade him traverse the surface of the ocean which\nlay before him: so he anointed his feet with the juice of the herb he\nhad with him, and taking leave of the angels, set out upon the face of\nthe sea and sped on over the water nights and days; and as he was\nfaring, behold, he met a handsome youth journeying along like himself,\nwhereupon he greeted him and he returned his greeting. After they\nparted he espied four great Angels wayfaring over the face of the sea,\nand their going was like the blinding lightning; so he stationed\nhimself in their road, and when they came up to him, he saluted them\nand said to them, 'I ask you by the Almighty, the Glorious, to tell me\nyour names and whither are ye bound?' Replied the first Angel, 'My name\nis Gabriel and these my companions are called Isr\u03b1f\u03bdl and M\u03bdk\u03b1'\u03bdl and\nAzr\u03b1'\u03bdl. There hath appeared in the East a mighty dragon, which hath\nlaid waste a thousand cities and devoured their inhabitants; wherefore\nAllah Almighty hath commanded us to go to him and seize him and cast\nhim into Jahannam.' Bulukiya marvelled at the vastness of their stature\nand fared on, as before, days and nights, till he came to an island\nwhere he landed and walked about for a while,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived\nthe dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Bulukiya landed\non the island and walked about for a while, till he saw a comely young\nman with light shining from his visage, sitting weeping and lamenting\nbetween two built tombs. So he saluted him and he returned his\nsalutation, and Bulukiya said to him, 'Who art thou and what are these\ntwo built tombs between which thou sittest, and wherefore this\nwailing?' He looked at him and wept with sore weeping, till he drenched\nhis clothes with his tears; then said, 'Know thou, O my brother, mine\nis a marvellous story and a wondrous; but I would have thee sit by me\nand first tell me thy name and thine adventures and who thou art and\nwhat brought thee hither; after which I will, in turn, relate to thee\nmy history.' So Bulukiya sat down by him and related to him all that\nhad befallen him from his father's death,[FN#535] adding, 'Such is my\nhistory, the whole of it, and Allah alone knoweth what will happen to\nme after this.' When the youth heard his story, he sighed and said, 'O\nthou unhappy! How few things thou hast seen in thy life compared with\nmine. Know, O Bulukiya, that unlike thyself I have looked upon our lord\nSolomon, in his life, and have seen things past count or reckoning.\nIndeed, my story is strange and my case out of range, and I would have\nthee abide with me, till I tell thee my history and acquaint thee how I\ncome to be sitting here.'\" Hearing this much Hasib again interrupted\nthe Queen of the Serpents and said to her, \"Allah upon thee, O Queen,\nrelease me and command one of thy servants carry me forth to the\nsurface of the earth, and I will swear an oath to thee that I will\nnever enter the Hammam-bath as long as I live.\" But she said, \"This is\na thing which may not be nor will I believe thee upon thine oath.\" When\nhe heard this, he wept and all the serpents wept on his account and\ntook to interceding for him with their Queen, saying, \"We beseech thee,\nbid one of us carry him forth to the surface of the earth, and he will\nswear thee an oath never to enter the bath his life long.\" Now when\nYamlaykh\u03b1 (for such was the Queen's name) heard their appeal, she\nturned to Hasib and made him swear to her an oath; after which she bade\na serpent carry him forth to the surface of the earth. The serpent made\nready, but as she was about to go away with him, he turned to Queen\nYamlaykha and said, \"I would fain have thee tell me the history of the\nyouth whom Bulukiya saw sitting between two tombs.\" So she said: \"Know,\nO Hasib, that when Bulukiya sat down by the youth and told him his\ntale, from first to last, in order that the other might also recount\nhis adventures and explain the cause of his sitting between the two\ntombs.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Four Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen\ncontinued: \"When Bulukiya ended his recount, the youth said, 'How few\nthings of marvel hast thou seen in thy life, O unhappy! Now I have\nlooked upon our lord Solomon while he was yet living and I have\nwitnessed wonders beyond compt and conception.' And he began to relate\n\n\n\n\nThe Story of Janshah.[FN#536]\n\n'Know, O my brother, that my sire was a King called Teghm\u03cas, who\nreigned over the land of Kabul and the Banu Shahl\u03b1n, ten thousand\nwarlike chiefs, each ruling over an hundred walled cities and a hundred\ncitadels; and he was suzerain also over seven vassal princes, and\ntribute was brought to him from the broad lands between East and West.\nHe was just and equitable in his rule and Allah Almighty had given him\nall this and had bestowed on him such mighty empire, yet had He not\nvouchsafed him a son (though this was his dearest wish) to inherit the\nkingdom after his decease. So one day it befell that he summoned the\nOlema and astrologers, the mathematicians and almanac-makers, and said,\n'Draw me my horoscope and look if Allah will grant me a son to succeed\nme.' Accordingly, they consulted their books and calculated his\ndominant star and the aspects thereof; after which they said to him,\n'Know, O King, that thou shalt be blessed with a son, but by none other\nthan the daughter of the King of Khor\u03b1s\u03b1n.' Hearing this Teghmus joyed\nwith exceeding joy and, bestowing on the astrologers and wizards\ntreasure beyond numbering or reckoning, dismissed them. His chief Wazir\nwas a renowned warrior, by name Ayn Z\u03b1r, who was equal to a thousand\ncavaliers in battle; so him he summoned and, repeating to him what the\nastrologers had predicted, he said, 'O Wazir, it is my will that thou\nequip thee for a march to Khorasan and demand for me the hand of its\nKing Bahrwan's daughter.' Receiving these orders the Wazir at once\nproceeded to get ready for the journey and encamped without the town\nwith his troops and braves and retinue, whilst King Teghmus made ready\nas presents for the King of Khorasan fifteen hundred loads of silks and\nprecious stones, pearls and rubies and other gems, besides gold and\nsilver; and he also prepared a prodigious quantity of all that goeth to\nthe equipment of a bride; then, loading them upon camels and mules,\ndelivered them to Ayn Zar, with a letter to the following purport.\n'After invoking the blessing of Heaven, King Teghmus to King Bahrwan,\ngreeting. Know that we have taken counsel with the astrologers and\nsages and mathematicians, and they tell us that we shall have boon of a\nboy child, and that by none other than thy daughter. Wherefore I have\ndespatched unto thee my Wazir Ayn Zar, with great store of bridal gear,\nand I have appointed him to stand in my stead and to enter into the\nmarriage-contract in my name. Furthermore I desire that of thy favour\nthou wilt grant him his request without stay or delay; for it is my\nown, and all graciousness thou showest him, I take for myself; but\nbeware of crossing me in this, for know, O King Bahrwan, that Allah\nhath bestowed upon me the Kingdom of Kabul, and hath given me dominion\nover the Banu Shahlan and vouchsafed me a mighty empire; and if I marry\nthy daughter, we will be, I and thou, as one thing in kingship; and I\nwill send thee every year as much treasure as will suffice thee. And\nthis is my desire of thee.' Then King Teghmus sealed the letter with\nhis own ring and gave it to the Wazir, who departed with a great\ncompany and journeyed till he drew near the capital of Khorasan. When\nKing Bahrwan heard of his approach, he despatched his principal Emirs\nto meet him,[FN#537] with a convoy of food and drink and other\nrequisites, including forage for the steeds. So they fared forth with\nthe train till they met the Wazir; then, alighting without the city,\nthey exchanged salutations and abode there, eating and drinking, ten\ndays; at the end of which time they mounted and rode on into the town,\nwhere they were met by King Bahrwan, who came out to greet the Wazir of\nKing Teghmus and alighting, embraced him and carried him to his\ncitadel. Then Ayn Zar brought out the presents and laid them before\nKing Bahrwan, together with the letter of King Teghmus, which when the\nKing read and understood, he joyed with joy exceeding and welcomed the\nWazir, saying, 'Rejoice in winning thy wish; and know that if King\nTeghmus sought of me my life, verily I would give it to him.' Then he\nwent in forthright to his daughter and her mother and his kinsfolk, and\nacquainting them with the King of Kabul's demand sought counsel of\nthem, and they said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee.'\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundredth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Bahrwan\nconsulted his daughter and her mother and his kinsfolk and they said,\n'Do what seemeth good to thee.' So he returned straightway to the\nMinister Ayn Zar and notified to him that his desire had been\nfulfilled; and the Wazir, abode with him two months, at the end of\nwhich time he said to him, 'We beseech thee to bestow upon us that\nwherefore we came, so we may depart to our own land.' 'I hear and\nobey,' answered the King. Then he prepared all the gear wanted for the\nwedding; and when this was done he assembled his Wazirs and all his\nEmirs and the Grandees of his realm and the monks and priests who tied\nthe knot of marriage between his daughter and King Teghmus by proxy.\nAnd King Bahrwan bade decorate the city after the goodliest fashion and\nspread the streets with carpets. Then he equipped his daughter for the\njourney and gave her all manner of presents and rarities and precious\nmetals, such as none may describe; and Ayn Zar departed with the\nPrincess to his own country. When the news of their approach reached\nKing Teghmus, he bade celebrate the wedding festivities and adorn the\ncity; after which he went in unto the Princess and abated her\nmaidenhead; nor was it long before she conceived by him and,\naccomplishing her months, bare a man-child like the moon on the night\nof its full. When King Teghmus knew that his wife had given birth to a\ngoodly son, he rejoiced with exceeding joy and, summoning the sages and\nastrologers and mathematicians, said to them, 'I would that ye draw the\nhoroscope of the newborn child with his ascendant and its aspects and\nacquaint me what shall befall him in his lifetime.' So they made their\ncalculations and found them favourable; but, that he would, in his\nfifteenth year, be exposed to perils and hardships, and that if he\nsurvived, he would be happy and fortunate and become a greater king\nthan his father and a more powerful. The King rejoiced greatly in this\nprediction and named the boy Janshah. Then he delivered him to the\nnurses, wet and dry, who reared him excellently well till he reached\nhis fifth year, when his father taught him to read the Evangel and\ninstructed him in the art of arms and lunge of lance and sway of sword,\nso that in less than seven years he was wont to ride a-hunting, and\na-chasing; he became a doughty champion, perfect in all the science of\nthe cavalarice and his father was delighted to hear of his knightly\nprowess. It chanced one day that King Teghmus and his son accompanied\nby the troops rode out for sport into the woods and wilds and hunted\ntill mid afternoon of the third day, when the Prince started a gazelle\nof a rare colour, which fled before him. So he gave chase to it,\nfollowed by seven of King Teghmus's white slaves all mounted on swift\nsteeds, and rode at speed after the gazelle, which fled before them\ntill she brought them to the sea shore. They all ran at her to take her\nas their quarry, but she escaped from them and, throwing herself into\nthe waves,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and First Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Janshah and\nthe Mamelukes ran at the gazelle, to take her as their quarry, she\nescaped from them and, throwing herself into the waves, swam out to a\nfishing bark, that was moored near the shore, and sprang on board.\nJanshah and his followers dismounted and, boarding the boat, made prize\nof the gazelle and were minded to return to shore with her, when the\nPrince espied a great island in the offing and said to his merry men,\n'I have a longing to visit yonder island.' They answered, 'We hear and\nobey,' and sailed on till they came to the island, where they landed\nand amused themselves with exploring the place. Then they again\nembarked and taking with them the gazelle, set out to return homeward,\nbut the murk of evening overtook them and they missed their way on the\nmain. Moreover a strong wind arose and crave the boat into mid-ocean,\nso that when they awoke in the morning, they found themselves lost at\nsea. Such was their case; but as regards King Teghmus, when he missed\nhis son, he commanded his troops to make search for him in separate\nbodies; so they dispersed on all sides and a company of them, coming to\nthe sea shore, found there the Prince's white slave whom he had left in\ncharge of the horses. They asked him what was become of his master and\nthe other six, and he told them what had passed whereupon they took him\nwith them and returned to the King and acquainted him with what they\nhad learnt. When Teghmus heard their report, he wept with sore weeping\nand cast the crown from his head, biting his hands for vexation. Then\nhe rose forthright and wrote letters and despatched them to all the\nislands of the sea. Moreover he got together an hundred ships and\nfilling them with troops, sent them to sail about in quest of Janshah,\nwhile he himself withdrew with his troops to his capital, where he\nabode in sore concern. As for Janshah's mother, when she heard of his\nloss she buffeted her face and began the mourning ceremonies for her\nson making sure that he was dead. Meanwhile, Janshah and his men ceased\nnot driving before the wind and those in search of them cruised about\nfor ten days till, finding no trace they returned and reported failure\nto the King. But a stiff gale caught the Prince's craft which went\nspooning till they made a second island, where they landed and walked\nabout. Presently they came upon a spring of running water in the midst\nof the island and saw from afar a man sitting hard by it. So they went\nup to him and saluted him, and he returned their salam, speaking in a\nvoice like the whistle[FN#538] of birds. Whilst Janshah stood\nmarvelling at the man's speech he looked right and left and suddenly\nsplit himself in twain, and each half went a different way.[FN#539]\nThen there came down from the hills a multitude of men of all kinds,\nbeyond count and reckoning; and they no sooner reached the spring, than\neach one divided into two halves and rushed on Janshah and his\nMamelukes to eat them. When the voyagers saw this, they turned and fled\nseawards; but the cannibals pursued them and caught and ate three of\nthe slaves, leaving only three slaves who with Janshah reached the boat\nin safety; then launching her made for the water and sailed nights and\ndays without knowing whither their ship went. They killed the gazelle,\nand lived on her flesh, till the winds drove them to a third island\nwhich was full of trees and waters and flower-gardens and orchards\nladen with all fashion of fruits: and streams strayed under the tree\nshade: brief, the place was a Garden of Eden. The island pleased the\nPrince and he said to his companions, 'Which of you will land and\nexplore?' Then said one of the slaves, 'That will I do'; but he\nreplied, 'This thing may not be; you must all land and explore the\nplace while I abide in the boat.' So he set them ashore,\"\u2014 And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the Prince set\nthem ashore, and they searched the island, East and West, but found no\none; then they fared on inland to the heart thereof, till they came to\na Castle compassed about with ramparts of white marble, within which\nwas a palace of the clearest crystal and, set in its centre a garden\ncontaining all manner fruits beyond description, both fresh and dry,\nand flowers of grateful odour and trees and birds singing upon the\nboughs. Amiddlemost the garden was a vast basin of water, and beside it\na great open hall with a raised dais whereon stood a number of stools\nsurrounding a throne of red gold, studded with all kinds of jewels and\nespecially rubies and seeing the beauty of the Castle and of the Garden\nthey entered and explored in all directions, but found no one there, so\nafter rummaging the Castle they returned to Janshah and told him what\nthey had seen. When he heard their report, he cried, 'Needs must I\nsolace myself with a sight of it;' so he landed and accompanied them to\nthe palace, which he entered marvelling at the goodliness of the place.\nThey then visited every part of the gardens and ate of the fruits and\ncontinued walking till it waxed dark, when they returned to the estrade\nand sat down, Janshah on the throne in the centre and the three others\non the stools ranged to the right and left. Then the Prince, there\nseated, called to mind his separation from his father's\nthrone-city[FN#540] and country and friends and kinsfolk; and fell\na-weeping and lamenting over their loss whilst his men wept around him.\nAnd as they were thus sorrowing behold, they heard a mighty clamour,\nthat came from seaward and looking in the direction of the clamour saw\na multitude of apes, as they were swarming locusts. Now the castle and\nthe island belonged to these apes, who, finding the strangers' boat\nmoored to the strand, had scuttled it and after repaired to the palace,\nwhere they came upon Janshah and his men seated.\" Here the Serpent-\nqueen again broke off her recital saying, \"All this, O Hasib, was told\nto Bulukiya by the young man sitting between the two tombs.\" Quoth\nHasib, \"And what did Janshah do with the apes?\"; so the Queen resumed\nher tale: \"He and his men were sore affrighted at the appearance of the\napes, but a company of them came up to the throne whereon he sat and,\nkissing the earth before him, stood awhile in his presence with their\npaws upon their breasts in posture of respect. Then another troop\nbrought to the castle gazelles which they slaughtered and skinned; and\nroasting pieces of the flesh till fit for food they laid them on\nplatters of gold and silver and spreading the table, made signs to\nJanshah and his men to eat. The Prince and his followers came down from\ntheir seats and ate, and the apes ate with them, till they were\nsatisfied, when the apes took away the meat and set on fruits of which\nthey partook and praised Allah the most Highest. Then Janshah asked the\napes by signs what they were and to whom the palace belonged, and they\nanswered him by signals, 'Know ye that this island belonged of yore to\nour lord Solomon, son of David (on both of whom be peace!), and he used\nto come hither once every year for his solace,'\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Janshah\nasked the apes by signs to whom the palace belonged, they answered him\nby signals, \"'Of a truth this place belonged of yore to our lord\nSolomon, son of David (on both of whom be peace!), who used to come\nhither once every year for his solace, and then wend his ways.'\nPresently the apes continued, 'And know, O King, that thou art become\nour Sultan and we are thy servants; so eat and drink, and whatso thou\never bid us, that will we do.' So saying, they severally kissed the\nearth between the hands of Janshah and all took their departure. The\nPrince slept that night on the throne and his men on the stools about\nhim, and on the morrow, at daybreak, the four Wazirs or Captains of the\napes presented themselves before him, attended by their troops, who\nranged themselves about him, rank after rank, until the place was\ncrowded. Then the Wazirs approached and exhorted him by signs to do\njustice amongst them and rule them righteously; after which the apes\ncried out to one another and went away, all save a small party which\nremained in presence to serve him. After awhile, there came up a\ncompany of apes with huge dogs in the semblance of horses, each wearing\nabout his head a massive chain; and signed to Janshah and his three\nfollowers to mount and go with them. So they mounted, marvelling at the\ngreatness of the dogs, and rode forth, attended by the four Wazirs and\na host of apes like swarming locusts, some riding on dogs and others\nafoot till they came to the sea-shore. Janshah looked for the boat\nwhich brought him and finding it scuttled turned to the Wazirs and\nasked how this had happened to it; whereto they answered, 'Know, O\nKing, that, when thou camest to our island, we kenned that thou wouldst\nbe Sultan over us and we feared lest ye all flee from us, in our\nabsence; and embark in the boat, so we sank it.' When Janshah heard\nthis, he turned to his Mamelukes and said to them, 'We have no means of\nescaping from these apes, and we must patiently await the ordinance of\nthe Almighty.' Then they fared on inland and ceased not faring till\nthey came to the banks of a river, on whose other side rose a high\nmountain, whereon Janshah saw a multitude of Ghuls. So he turned to the\napes and asked them, 'What are these Ghuls?' and they answered, 'Know,\nO King, that these Ghuls are our mortal foes and we come hither to do\nbattle with them.' Janshah marvelled to see them riding horses, and was\nstartled at the vastness of their bulk and the strangeness of their\nsemblance; for some of them had heads like bulls and others like\ncamels. As soon as the Ghuls espied the army of the apes, they charged\ndown to the river bank and standing there, fell to pelting them with\nstones as big as maces; and between them there befell a sore fight.\nPresently, Janshah, seeing that the Ghuls were getting the better of\nthe apes, cried out to his men, saying, 'Unease your bows and arrows\nand shoot at them your best shafts and keep them off from us.' They did\nso and slew of the Ghuls much people, when there fell upon them sore\ndismay and they turned to flee; but the apes, seeing Janshah's prowess,\nforded the river and headed by their Sultan chased the Ghuls, killing\nmany of them in the pursuit, till they reached the high mountain where\nthey disappeared. And while exploring the said mountain Janshah found a\ntablet of alabaster, whereon was written, 'O thou who enterest this\nland, know that thou wilt become Sultan over these apes and that from\nthem there is no escape for thee, except by the passes that run east\nand west through the mountains. If thou take the eastern pass, thou\nwilt fare through a country swarming with Ghuls and wild beasts, Marids\nand Ifrits, and thou wilt come, after three months' journeying, to the\nocean which encompasseth the earth; but, if thou travel by the western\npass, it will bring thee, after four months' journeying, to the head of\nthe Wady of Emmets.[FN#541] When thou hast followed the road, that\nleads through this mountain, ten days,' \"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Janshah read this\nmuch upon the tablet and found, at the end of the inscription, \"'Then\nthou wilt come to a great river, whose current is so swift that it\nblindeth the eyes. Now this river drieth up every Sabbath,[FN#542] and\non the opposite bank lies a city wholly inhabited by Jews, who the\nfaith of Mohammed refuse; there is not a Moslem among the band nor is\nthere other than this city in the land. Better therefore lord it over\nthe apes, for so long as thou shalt tarry amongst them they will be\nvictorious over the Ghuls. And know also that he who wrote this tablet\nwas the lord Solomon, son of David (on both be peace!).' When Janshah\nread these words, he wept sore and repeated them to his men. Then they\nmounted again and, surrounded by the army of the apes who were\nrejoicing in their victory, returned to the castle. Here Janshah abode,\nSultaning over them, for a year and a half. And at the end of this\ntime, he one day commanded the ape-army to mount and go forth a hunting\nwith him, and they rode out into the woods and wilds, and fared on from\nplace to place, till they approached the Wady of Emmets, which Janshah\nknew by the description of it upon the alabaster tablet. Here he bade\nthem dismount and they all abode there, eating and drinking a space of\nten days, after which Janshah took his men apart one night and said, 'I\npurpose we flee through the Valley of Emmets and make for the town of\nthe Jews; it may be Allah will deliver us from these apes and we will\ngo God's ways.' They replied, 'We hear and we obey:' so he waited till\nsome little of the night was spent then, donning his armour and girding\nhis sword and dagger and such like weapons, and his men doing likewise,\nthey set out and fared on westwards till morning. When the apes awoke\nand missed Janshah and his men, they knew that they had fled. So they\nmounted and pursued them, some taking the eastern pass and others that\nwhich led to the Wady of Emmets, nor was it long before the apes came\nin sight of the fugitives, as they were about to enter the valley, and\nhastened after them. When Janshah and his men saw them, they fled into\nthe Emmet-valley; but the apes soon overtook them and would have slain\nthem, when behold, there rose out of the earth a multitude of ants like\nswarming locusts, as big as dogs, and charged home upon the apes. They\ndevoured many of their foes, and these also slew many of the ants; but\nhelp came to the emmets: now an ant would go up to an ape and smite him\nand cut him in twain, whilst ten apes could hardly master one ant and\nbear him away and tear him in sunder. The sore battle lasted till the\nevening but the emmets were victorious. In the gloaming Janshah and his\nmen took to flight and fled along the sole of the Wady.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"in the gloaming\nJanshah and his men took to flight and fled along the sole of the Wady\ntill the morning. With the break of day, the apes were up and at them,\nwhich when the Prince saw, he shouted to his men, 'Smite with your\nswords.' So they bared their blades and laid on load right and left,\ntill there ran at them an ape, with tusks like an elephant, and smote\none of the Mamelukes and cut him in sunder. Then the apes redoubled\nupon Janshah and he fled with his followers into the lower levels of\nthe valley, where he saw a vast river and by its side a mighty army of\nants. When the emmets espied Janshah they pushed on and surrounded him,\nand one of the slaves fell to smiting them with his sword and cutting\nthem in twain; whereupon the whole host set upon him and slew him. At\nthis pass, behold, up came the apes from over the mountain and fell in\nnumbers upon Janshah; but he tore off his clothes and, plunging into\nthe river, with his remaining servant, struck out for the middle of the\nstream. Presently, he caught sight of a tree on the other bank; so he\nswam up to it and laying hold of one of its branches, hung to it and\nswung himself ashore, but as for the last Mameluke the current carried\nhim away and dashed him to pieces against the mountain. Thereupon\nJanshah fell to wringing his clothes and spreading them in the sun to\ndry, what while there befell a fierce fight between the apes and the\nants, until the apes gave up the pursuit and returned to their own\nland. Meanwhile, Janshah, who abode alone on the river-bank, could do\nnaught but shed tears till nightfall, when he took refuge in a cavern\nand there passed the dark hours, in great fear and feeling desolate for\nthe loss of his slaves. At daybreak awaking from his sleep he set out\nagain and fared on nights and days, eating of the herbs of the earth,\ntill he came to the mountain which burnt like fire, and thence he made\nthe river which dried up every Sabbath. Now it was a mighty stream and\non the opposite bank stood a great city, which was the capital of the\nJews mentioned in the tablet. Here he abode till the next Sabbath, when\nthe river dried up and he walked over to the other side and entered the\nJew city, but saw none in the streets. So he wandered about till he\ncame to the door of a homestead, which he opened and entering, espied\nwithin the people of the house sitting in silence and speaking not a\nsyllable. Quoth he, 'I am a stranger and anhungered;' and they signed\nto him, as to say, 'Eat and drink, but speak not.'[FN#543] So he ate\nand drank and slept that night and, when morning dawned, the master of\nthe house greeted him and bade him welcome and asked him, 'Whence\ncomest thou and whither art thou bound?' At these words Janshah wept\nsore and told him all that had befallen him and how his father was King\nof Kabul; whereat the Jew marvelled and said, 'Never heard we of that\ncity, but we have heard from the merchants of the caravans that in that\ndirection lieth a land called Al-Yaman.' 'How far is that land from\nthis place?' asked Janshah, and the Jew answered, 'The Cafilah\nmerchants pretend that it is a two years and three months' march from\ntheir land hither.' Quoth Janshah, 'And when doth the caravan come?'\nQuoth the Jew, 'Next year 'twill come.' \"\u2014And Shahrazed perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Jew was\nquestioned anent the coming of the caravan, he replied, \"'Next year\n'twill come.' At these words the Prince wept sore and fell a-sorrowing\nfor himself and his Mamelukes; and lamenting his separation from his\nmother and father and all which had befallen him in his wanderings.\nThen said the Jew, 'O young man, do not weep, but sojourn with us till\nthe caravan shall come, when we will send thee with it to thine own\ncountry.' So he tarried with the Jew two whole months and every day he\nwent out walking in the streets for his solace and diversion. Now it\nchanced one day, whilst he paced about the main thoroughfares, as of\nwont, and was bending his steps right and left, he heard a crier crying\naloud and saying, 'Who will earn a thousand gold pieces and a slave-\ngirl of surpassing beauty and loveliness by working for me between\nmorning and noontide?' But no one answered him and Janshah said in his\nmind, 'Were not this work dangerous and difficult, he would not offer a\nthousand diners and a fair girl for half a day's labour.' Then he\naccosted the crier and said, 'I will do the work;' so the man carried\nhim to a lofty mansion where they found one who was a Jew and a\nmerchant, seated on an ebony chair, to whom quoth the crier, standing\nrespectfully before him, 'O merchant, I have cried every day these\nthree months, and none hath answered, save this young man.' Hearing his\nspeech the Jew welcomed Janshah, led him into a magnificent\nsitting-room and signalled to bring food. So the servants spread the\ntable and set thereon all manner meats, of which the merchant and\nJanshah ate, and washed their hands. Then wine was served up and they\ndrank; after which the Jew rose and bringing Janshah a purse of a\nthousand diners and a slave-girl of rare beauty, said to him, 'Take\nmaid and money to thy hire.' Janshah took them and seated the girl by\nhis side when the trader resumed, 'To-morrow to the work!'; and so\nsaying he withdrew and Janshah slept with the damsel that night. As\nsoon as it was morning, the merchant bade his slaves clothe him in a\ncostly suit of silk whenas he came out of the Hammam-Bath. So they did\nas he bade them and brought him back to the house, whereupon the\nmerchant called for harp and lute and wine and they drank and played\nand made merry till the half of the night was past, when the Jew\nretired to his Harim and Janshah lay with his slave-girl till the dawn.\nThen he went to the bath and on his return, the merchant came to him\nand said, 'Now I wish thee to do the work for me.' 'I hear and obey,'\nreplied Janshah. So the merchant bade his slaves bring two she- mules\nand set Janshah on one, mounting the other himself. Then they rode\nforth from the city and fared on from morn till noon, when they made a\nlofty mountain, to whose height was no limit. Here the Jew dismounted,\nordering Janshah to do the same; and when he obeyed the merchant gave\nhim a knife and a cord, saying, 'I desire that thou slaughter this\nmule.' So Janshah tucked up his sleeves and skirts and going up to the\nmule, bound her legs with the cord, then threw her and cut her throat;\nafter which he skinned her and lopped off her head and legs and she\nbecame a mere heap of flesh. Then said the Jew, 'Slit open the mule's\nbelly and enter it and I will sew it up on thee. There must thou abide\nawhile and whatsoever thou seest in her belly, acquaint me therewith.'\nSo Janshah slit the mule's belly and crept into it, whereupon the\nmerchant sewed it up on him and withdrew to a distance,\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Seventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the merchant\nsewed up the mule's belly on Janshah and, withdrawing to a distance,\nhid himself in the skirts of the mountain. After a while a huge bird\nswooped down on the dead mule and snatching it up, flew up with it to\nthe top of the mountain, where it set down the quarry and would have\neaten it; but Janshah, feeling the bird begin to feed, slit the mule's\nbelly and came forth. When the bird saw him, it took fright at him and\nflew right away; whereupon he stood up and looking right and left, saw\nnothing but the carcasses of dead men, mummied by the sun, and\nexclaimed, 'There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah,\nthe Glorious, the Great!' Then he looked down the precipice and espied\nthe merchant standing at the mountain-foot, looking for him. As soon as\nthe Jew caught sight of him, he called out to him, 'Throw me down of\nthe stones which are about thee, that I may direct thee to a way\nwhereby thou mayst descend.' So Janshah threw him down some two hundred\nof the stones, which were all rubies,[FN#544] chrysolites and other\ngems of price; after which he called out to him, saying, 'Show me the\nway down and I will throw thee as many more.' But the Jew gathered up\nthe stones and, binding them on the back of the mule, went his way\nwithout answering a word and left Janshah alone on the mountain-top.\nWhen the Prince found himself deserted, he began to weep and implore\nhelp of Heaven, and thus he abode three days; after which he rose and\nfared on over the mountainous ground two month's space, feeding upon\nhill-herbs; and he ceased not faring till he came to its skirts and\nespied afar off a Wady full of fruitful trees and birds harmonious,\nsinging the praises of Allah, the One, the Victorious. At this sight he\njoyed with great joy and stayed not his steps till, after an hour or\nso, he came to a ravine in the rocks, through which the rain torrents\nfell into the valley. He made his way down the cleft till he reached\nthe Wady which he had seen from the mountain-top and walked on therein,\ngazing right and left, nor ceased so doing until he came in sight of a\ngreat castle, towering high in air. As he drew near the gates he saw an\nold man of comely aspect and face shining with light standing thereat\nwith a staff of carnelian in his hand, and going up to him, saluted\nhim. The Shaykh returned his salam and bade him welcome, saying, 'Sit\ndown, O my son.' So he sat down at the door of the castle and the old\nman said to him, 'How camest thou to this land, untrodden by son of\nAdam before thee, and whither art thou bound?' When Janshah heard his\nwords he wept bitterly at the thought of all the hardships he had\nsuffered and his tears choked his speech. Quoth the Shaykh, 'O my son,\nleave weeping; for indeed thou makest my heart ache.' So saying, he\nrose and set somewhat of food before him and said to him, 'Eat.' He ate\nand praised Allah Almighty; after which the old man besought him\nsaying, 'O my son, I would have thee tell me thy tale and acquaint me\nwith thine adventures.' So Janshah related to him all that had befallen\nhim, from first to last, whereat the Shaykh marvelled with exceeding\nmarvel. Then said the Prince, 'Prithee inform me who is the lord of\nthis valley and to whom doth this great castle belong?' Answered the\nold man, 'Know, O my son, this valley and all that is therein and this\ncastle with all it containeth belong to the lord Solomon, son of David\n(on both be peace!). As for me, my name is Shaykh Nasr,[FN#545] King of\nthe Birds; for thou must know that the lord Solomon committed this\ncastle to my charge,'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Shaykh Nasr\npursued, 'Thou must know that the lord Solomon com misted this castle\nto my charge and taught me the language of birds and made me ruler over\nall the fowls which be in the world; wherefore each and every come\nhither once in the twelvemonth, and I pass them in review: then they\ndepart; and this is why I dwell here.' When Janshah heard this, he wept\nsore and said to the Shaykh, 'O my father, how shall I do to get back\nto my native land?' Replied the old man, 'Know, O my son, that thou art\nnear to the mountain Kaf, and there is no departing for thee from this\nplace till the birds come, when I will give thee in charge to one of\nthem, and he will bear thee to thy native country. Meanwhile tarry with\nme here and eat and drink and divert thyself with viewing the\napartments of this castle.' So Janshah abode with Shaykh Nasr, taking\nhis pleasure in the Wady and eating of its fruits and laughing and\nmaking merry with the old man, and leading a right joyous life till the\nday appointed for the birds to pay their annual visit to the Governor.\nThereupon the Shaykh said to him, 'O Janshah, take the keys of the\ncastle and solace thyself with exploring all its apartments and viewing\nwhatever be therein, but as regards such a room, beware and again\nbeware of opening its door; and if thou gainsay me and open it and\nenter there, through nevermore shalt thou know fair fortune.' He\nrepeated this charge again and again with much instance; then he went\nforth to meet the birds, which came up, kind by kind, and kissed his\nhands. Such was his case; but as regards Janshah, he went round about\nthe castle, opening the various doors and viewing the apartments into\nwhich they led, till he came to the room which Shaykh Nasr had warned\nhim not to open or enter. He looked at the door and its fashion pleased\nhim, for it had on it a padlock of gold, and he said to himself, 'This\nroom must be goodlier than all the others; would Heaven I wist what is\nwithin it, that Shaykh Nasr should forbid me to open its door! There is\nno help but that I enter and see what is in this apartment; for whatso\nis decreed unto the creature perforce he must fulfil.' So he put out\nhis hand and unlocked the door and entering, found himself before a\ngreat basin; and hard by it stood a little pavilion, builded all of\ngold and silver and crystal, with lattice-windows of jacinth. The floor\nwas paved with green beryl and balas rubies and emeralds and other\njewels, set in the ground-work mosaic-fashion, and in the midmost of\nthe pavilion was a jetting fountain in a golden basin, full of water\nand girt about with figures of beasts and birds, cunningly wrought of\ngold and silver and casting water from their mouths. When the zephyr\nblew on them, it entered their ears and therewith the figures sang out\nwith birdlike song, each in its own tongue. Beside the fountain was a\ngreat open saloon with a high dais whereon stood a vast throne of\ncarnelian, inlaid with pearls and jewels, over which was spread a tent\nof green silk fifty cubits in width and embroidered with gems fit for\nseal rings and purfled with precious metals. Within this tent was a\ncloset containing the carpet of the lord Solomon (on whom be peace!);\nand the pavilion was compassed about with a vast garden full of fruit\ntrees and streams; while near the palace were beds of roses and basil\nand eglantine and all manner sweet-smelling herbs and flowers. And the\ntrees bore on the same boughs fruits fresh and dry and the branches\nswayed gracefully to the wooing of the wind. All this was in that one\napartment and Janshah wondered thereat till he was weary of wonderment;\nand he set out to solace himself in the palace and the garden and to\ndivert himself with the quaint and curious things they contained. And\nfirst looking at the basin he saw that the gravels of its bed were gems\nand jewels and noble metals; and many other strange things were in that\napartment.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Janshah saw many\nstrange things and admirable in that apartment. Then he entered the\npavilion and mounting the throne, fell asleep under the tent set up\nthereover. He slept for a time and, presently awaking, walked forth and\nsat down on a stool before the door. As he sat, marvelling at the\ngoodliness of that place, there flew up from mid sky three birds, in\ndove-form but big as eagles, and lighted on the brink of the basin,\nwhere they sported awhile. Then they put off their feathers and became\nthree maidens,[FN#546] as they were moons, that had not their like in\nthe whole world. They plunged into the basin and swam about and\ndisported themselves and laughed, while Janshah marvelled at their\nbeauty and loveliness and the grace and symmetry of their shapes.\nPresently, they came up out of the water and began walking about and\ntaking their solace in the garden; and Janshah seeing them land was\nlike to lose his wits. He rose and followed them, and when he overtook\nthem, he saluted them and they returned his salam; after which quoth\nhe, 'Who are ye, O illustrious Princesses, and whence come ye?' Replied\nthe youngest damsel, 'We are from the invisible world of Almighty Allah\nand we come hither to divert ourselves.' He marvelled at their beauty\nand said to the youngest, 'Have ruth on me and deign kindness to me and\ntake pity on my case and on all that hath befallen me in my life.'\nRejoined she, 'Leave this talk and wend thy ways'; whereat the tears\nstreamed from his eyes, and he sighed heavily and repeated these\ncouplets,\n\n'She shone out in the garden in garments all of green, * With\n\n\n     open vest and collars and flowing hair beseen:\n\n\n'What is thy name?' I asked her, and she replied, 'I'm she * Who\n\n\n     roasts the hearts of lovers on coals of love and teen.'\n\n\nOf passion and its anguish to her made my moan; * 'Upon a rock,'\n\n\n     she answered, 'thy plaints are wasted clean.'\n\n\n'Even if thy heart,' I told her, 'be rock in very deed, * Yet\n\n\n     hath God made fair water well from the rock, I\n\n\n     ween.'[FN#547]\n\n\n\nWhen the maidens heard his verses, they laughed and played and sang and\nmade merry. Then he brought them somewhat of fruit, and they ate and\ndrank and slept with him till the morning, when they donned their\nfeather-suits, and resuming dove shape flew off and went their way. But\nas he saw them disappearing from sight, his reason well nigh fled with\nthem, and he gave a great cry and fell down in a fainting fit and lay\na-swooning all that day. While he was in this case Shaykh Nasr returned\nfrom the Parliament of the Fowls and sought for Janshah, that he might\nsend him with them to his native land, but found him not and knew that\nhe had entered the forbidden room. Now he had already said to the\nbirds, 'With me is a young man, a mere youth, whom destiny brought\nhither from a distant land; and I desire of you that ye take him up and\ncarry him to his own country.' And all answered, 'We hear and we obey.'\nSo he ceased not searching for Janshah till he came to the forbidden\ndoor and seeing it open he entered and found the Prince lying a-swoon\nunder a tree. He fetched scented waters and sprinkled them on his face,\nwhereupon he revived and turned.\"\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Tenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Shaykh Nasr\nsaw Janshah lying a-swoon under the tree he fetched him somewhat of\nscented waters and sprinkled them on his face. Thereupon he revived and\nturned right and left, but seeing none by him save the Shaykh, sighed\nheavily and repeated these couplets,\n\n'Like fullest moon she shines on happiest night, * Soft sided\n\n\n     fair, with slender shape bedight.\n\n\nHer eye-babes charm the world with gramarye; * Her lips remind of\n\n\n     rose and ruby light.\n\n\nHer jetty locks make night upon her hips; * Ware, lovers, ware ye\n\n\n     of that curl's despight!\n\n\nYea, soft her sides are, but in love her heart * Outhardens\n\n\n     flint, surpasses syenite:\n\n\nAnd bows of eyebrows shower glancey shafts * Despite the distance\n\n\n     never fail to smite.\n\n\nThen, ah, her beauty! all the fair it passes; * Nor any rival her\n\n\n     who see the light.'\n\n\n\nWhen Shaykh Nasr heard these verses, he said, 'O my son, did I not warn\nthee not to open that door and enter that room? But now, O my son, tell\nme what thou sawest therein and acquaint me with all that betided\nthee.' So Janshah related to him all that had passed between him and\nthe three maidens, and Shaykh Nasr, who sat listening in silence said,\n'Know, O my son, that these three maidens are of the daughters of the\nJann and come hither every year for a day, to divert themselves and\nmake merry until mid afternoon, when they return to their own country.'\nJanshah asked, 'And where is their country?'; and the old man answered,\n'By Allah, O my son, I wot not:' presently adding, 'but now take heart\nand put away this love from thee and come with me, that I may send thee\nto thine own land with the birds.' When Janshah heard this, he gave a\ngreat cry and fell down in a trance; and presently he came to himself,\nand said, 'O my father indeed I care not to return to my native land:\nall I want is to foregather with these maidens and know, O my father,\nthat I will never again name my people, though I die before thee.' Then\nhe wept and cried, 'Enough for me that I look upon the face of her I\nlove, although it be only once in the year!' And he sighed deeply and\nrepeated these couplets,\n\n'Would Heaven the Phantom[FN#548] spared the friend at night *\n\n\n     And would this love for man were ever dight!\n\n\nWere not my heart afire for love of you, * Tears ne'er had\n\n\n     stained my cheeks nor dimmed my sight.\n\n\nBy night and day, I bid my heart to bear * Its griefs, while\n\n\n     fires of love my body blight.'\n\n\n\nThen he fell at Shaykh Nasr's feet and kissed them and wept sore,\ncrying, 'Have pity on me, so Allah take pity on thee and aid me in my\nstrait so Allah aid thee!' Replied the old man, 'By Allah O my son, I\nknow nothing of these maidens nor where may be their country; but, O my\nson, if thy heart be indeed set on one of them, tarry with me till this\ntime next year for they will assuredly reappear; and, when the day of\ntheir coming draweth near, hide thyself under a tree in the garden. As\nsoon as they have alighted and doffed their feather-robes and plunged\ninto the lake and are swimming about at a distance from their clothes,\nseize the vest of her whom thy soul desireth. When they see thee, they\nwill come a bank and she, whose coat thou hast taken, will accost thee\nand say to thee with the sweetest of speech and the most witching of\nsmiles, 'Give me my dress, O my brother, that I may don it and veil my\nnakedness withal.' But if thou yield to her prayer and give her back\nthe vest thou wilt never win thy wish: nay, she will don it and fly\naway to her folk and thou wilt nevermore see her again Now when thou\nhast gained the vest, clap it under thine armpit and hold it fast, till\nI return from the Parliament of the Fowls, when I will make accord\nbetween thee and her and send thee back to thy native land, and the\nmaiden with thee. And this, O my son, is all I can do for thee, nothing\nmore.' \"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Eleventh Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"quoth Shaykh\nNasr to Janshah, 'Hold fast the feather-robe of her thy soul desireth\nand give it not back to her till I return from the Parliament of the\nFowls. And this, O my son, is all I can do for thee, nothing more.'\nWhen Janshah heard this, his heart was solaced and he abode with Shaykh\nNasr yet another year, counting the days as they passed until the day\nof the coming of the birds. And when at last the appointed time arrived\nthe old man said to him, 'Do as I enjoined thee and charged thee with\nthe maidens in the matter of the feather-dress, for I go to meet the\nbirds;' and Janshah replied, 'I hear and I obey, O my father.' Then the\nShaykh departed whilst the Prince walked into the garden and hid\nhimself under a tree, where none could see him. Here he abode a first\nday and a second and a third, but the maidens came not; whereat he was\nsore troubled and wept and sighed from a heart hard tried; and he\nceased not weeping and wailing till he fainted away. When he came to\nhimself, he fell to looking now at the basin and now at the welkin, and\nanon at the earth and anon at the open country, whilst his heart\ngrieved for stress of love-longing. As he was in this case, behold, the\nthree doves appeared in the firmament, eagle-sized as before, and flew\ntill they reached the garden and lighted down beside the basin. They\nturned right and left; but saw no one, man or Jann; so they doffed\ntheir feather-suits and became three maidens. Then they plunged into\nthe basin and swam about, laughing and frolicking; and all were\nmother-naked and fair as bars of virgin silver. Quoth the eldest, 'O my\nsister, I fear lest there be some one lying ambushed for us in the\npavilion. Answered the second, 'O sister, since the days of King\nSolomon none hath entered the pavilion, be he man or Jann;' and the\nyoungest added, laughing, 'By Allah, O my sisters, if there be any\nhidden there, he will assuredly take none but me.' Then they continued\nsporting and laughing and Janshah's heart kept fluttering for stress of\npassion: but he hid behind the tree so that he saw without being seen.\nPresently they swam out to the middle of the basin leaving their\nclothes on the bank. Hereupon he sprang to his feet, and running like\nthe darting levee to the basin's brink, snatched up the feather-vest of\nthe youngest damsel, her on whom his heart was set and whose name was\nShamsah the Sun-maiden. At this the girls turned and seeing him, were\naffrighted and veiled their shame from him in the water. Then they swam\nnear the shore and looking on his favour saw that he was bright faced\nas the moon on the night of fullness and asked him, 'Who art thou and\nhow camest thou hither and why hast thou taken the clothes of the lady\nShamsah?'; and he answered, 'Come hither to me and I will tell you my\ntale.' Quoth Shamsah, 'What deed is this, and why hast thou taken my\nclothes, rather than those of my sisters?' Quoth he, 'O light of mine\neyes, come forth of the water, and I will recount thee my case and\nacquaint thee why I chose thee out.' Quoth she, 'O my lord and coolth\nof my eyes and fruit of my heart, give me my clothes, that I may put\nthem on and cover my nakedness withal; then will I come forth to thee.'\nBut he replied, 'O Princess of beautiful ones, how can I give thee back\nthy clothes and slay myself for love longing? Verily, I will not give\nthem to thee, till Shaykh Nasr, the king of the birds, shall return.'\nQuoth she, 'If thou wilt not give me my clothes withdraw a little apart\nfrom us, that my sisters may land and dress themselves and lend me\nsomewhat wherewithal to cover my shame.' 'I hear and obey,' answered\nhe, and walked away from them into the pavilion, whereupon the three\nPrincesses came out and the two elder, donning their dress, gave\nShamsah somewhat thereof, not enough to fly withal, and she put it on\nand came forth of the water, and stood before him, as she were the\nrising full moon or a browsing gazelle. Then Shamsah entered the\npavilion, where Janshah was still sitting on the throne; so she saluted\nhim and taking seat near him, said, 'O fair of face, thou hast undone\nthyself and me; but tell us thy adventures that we may ken how it is\nwith thee.' At these words he wept till he drenched his dress with his\ntears; and when she saw that he was distracted for love of her, she\nrose and taking him by the hand, made him sit by her side and wiped\naway the drops with her sleeve; and said she, 'O fair of face, leave\nthis weeping and tell us thy tale.' So he related to her all that had\nbefallen him and described to her all he had seen,\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twelfth Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the lady\nShamsah said to Janshah, 'Tell us thy tale;' so he related to her all\nthat had befallen him; and, after she had lent attentive ear she sighed\nand said, 'O my lord, since thou art so fondly in love with me, give me\nmy dress, that I may fly to my folk, I and my sisters, and tell them\nwhat affection thou hast conceived for me, and after I will come back\nto thee and carry thee to thine own country.' When he heard this, he\nwept sore and replied, 'Is it lawful to thee before Allah to slay me\nwrongfully?' She asked, 'O my lord, why should I do such wrongous\ndeed?'; and he answered, 'If I give thee thy gear thou wilt fly away\nfrom me, and I shall die forthright.' Princess Shamsah laughed at this\nand so did her sisters; then said she to him, 'Be of good cheer and\nkeep thine eyes cool and clear, for I must needs marry thee.' So\nsaying, she bent down to him and embraced him and pressing him to her\nbreast kissed him between the eyes and on his cheeks. They clipped and\nclasped each other awhile, after which they drew apart and sat down on\nthe throne. Then the eldest Princess went out into the garden and,\nplucking somewhat of fruits and flowers, brought them into the\npavilion; and they ate and drank and laughed and sported and made\nmerry. Now Janshah was singular in beauty and loveliness and slender\nshape and symmetry and grace, and the Princess Shamsah said to him, 'O\nmy beloved, by Allah, I love thee with exceeding love and will never\nleave thee!' When he heard her words, his breast broadened and he\nlaughed for joy till he showed his teeth; and they abode thus awhile in\nmirth and gladness and frolic. And when they were at the height of\ntheir pleasure and joyance, behold, Shaykh Nasr returned from the\nParliament of the Fowls and came in to them; whereupon they all rose to\nhim and saluted him and kissed his hands. He gave them welcome and bade\nthem be seated. So they sat down and he said to Princess Shamsah,\n'Verily this youth loveth thee with exceeding love; Allah upon thee,\ndeal kindly with him, for he is of the great ones of mankind and of the\nsons of the kings, and his father ruleth over the land of Kabul and his\nreign compasseth a mighty empire.' Quoth she, 'I hear and I obey thy\nbehest'; and, kissing the Shaykh's hands stood before him in respect.\nQuoth he, 'If thou say sooth, swear to me by Allah that thou wilt never\nbetray him, what while thou abidest in the bonds of life.' So she swore\na great oath that she would never betray Janshah, but would assuredly\nmarry him, and added, 'Know, O Shaykh Nasr, that I never will forsake\nhim.' The Shaykh believed in her oath and said to Janshah, 'Thanks be\nto Allah, who hath made you arrive at this understanding!' Hereupon the\nPrince rejoiced with exceeding joy, and he and Shamsah abode three\nmonths with Shaykh Nasr, feasting and toying and making merry.\"\u2014 And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, \"Janshah and the\nlady Shamsah abode three months with Shaykh Nasr, feasting and toying\nand making merry. And at the end of that time she said to Janshah, 'I\nwish to go with thee to thy mother land, where thou shalt marry me and\nwe will abide there.' 'To hear is to obey,' answered he and took\ncounsel with Shaykh Nasr who said to him, 'Go thou home, I commend her\nto thy care.' Then said she, 'O Shaykh Nasr, bid him render me my\nfeather-suit.' So the Shaykh bade Janshah give it to her, and he went\nstraightways into the pavilion and brought it out for her. There upon\nshe donned it and said to him, 'Mount my back and shut thine eyes and\nstop thine ears, so thou mayst not hear the roar of the revolving\nsphere; and keep fast hold of my feathers, lest thou fall off.' He did\nas she bade him and, as she stretched her wings to fly, Shaykh Nasr\nsaid, 'Wait a while till I describe to thee the land Kabul, lest you\ntwain miss your way.' So she delayed till he had said his say and had\nbidden them farewell, commending the Prince to her care. She took leave\nof her sisters and bade them return to her folk and tell them what had\nbefallen her with Janshah; then, rising into the air without stay or\ndelay she flew off, like the wafts of the wind or the ramping leven.\nHer sisters also took flight and returning home delivered her message\nto their people. And she stayed not her course from the forenoon till\nthe hour of mid- afternoon prayer (Janshah being still on her back),\nwhen she espied afar off a Wady abounding in trees and streams and she\nsaid to Janshah, 'I am thinking to alight in this valley, that we may\nsolace ourselves amongst its trees and herbage and here rest for the\nnight.' Quoth he, \"Do what seemeth meet to thee!' So she swooped down\nfrom the lift and alighted in the Wady, when Janshah dismounted and\nkissing her between the eyes,[FN#549] sat with her awhile on the bank\nof a river there; then they rose and wandered about the valley, taking\ntheir pleasure therein and eating of the fruits of the trees, until\nnightfall, when they lay down under a tree and slept till the morning\ndawned. As soon as it was day, the Princess arose and, bidding Janshah\nmount, flew on with him till noon, when she perceived by the appearance\nof the buildings which Shaykh Nasr had described to her, that they were\nnearing the city Kabul. So she swooped down from the welkin and\nalighted in a wide plain, a blooming champaign, wherein were gazelles\nstraying and springs playing and rivers flowing and ripe fruits\ngrowing. So Janshah dismounted and kissed her between the eyes; and she\nasked him, 'O my beloved and coolth of mine eyes, knowest thou how many\ndays' journey we have come since yesterday?'; and he answered, 'No,'\nwhen she said, 'We have come thirty months' journey.' Quoth he,\n'Praised be Allah for safety!' Then they sat down side by side and ate\nand drank and toyed and laughed. And whilst they were thus pleasantly\nengaged, behold, there came up to them two of the King's Mamelukes of\nthose who had been of the Prince's company, one of them was he whom he\nhad left with the horses, when he embarked in the fishing-boat and the\nother had been of his escort in the chase. As soon as they saw Janshah,\nboth knew him and saluted him; then said they, 'With thy leave, we will\ngo to thy sire and bear him the glad tidings of thy coming.' Replied\nthe Prince, 'Go ye to my father and acquaint him with my case, and\nfetch us tents, for we will tarry here seven days to rest ourselves\ntill he make ready his retinue to meet us, that we may enter in\nstateliest state.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nto say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Fourteenth Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Janshah\nsaid to the two Mamelukes, 'Go ye to my sire and acquaint him with my\ncase and fetch us tents, for we will abide here seven days to rest\nourselves, till he make ready his retinue to meet us that we may enter\nin the stateliest state.' So the officers hastened back to King Teghmus\nand said to him, 'Good news, O King of the age!' Asked he, 'What good\ntidings bring ye: is my son Janshah come back?'; and they answered,\n'Yes, thy son Janshah hath returned from his strangerhood and is now\nnear at hand in the Kir\u03b1n\u03bd mead.' Now when the King heard this, he\njoyed with great joy and fell down in a swoon for excess of gladness;\nthen, coming to himself, he bade his Wazir give each of the Mamelukes a\nsplendid suit of honour and a sum of money. The minister replied, 'I\nhear and obey,' and forthright did his bidding and said to them, 'Take\nthis in turn for the good tidings ye bring, whether ye lie or say\nsooth.' They replied, 'Indeed we lie not, for but now we sat with him\nand saluted him and kissed his hands and he bade us fetch him tents,\nfor that he would sojourn in the meadow seven days, till such time as\nthe Wazirs and Emirs and Grandees should come out to meet him.' Quoth\nthe King, 'How is it with my son?' and quoth they, 'He hath with him a\nHouri, as he had brought her out of Paradise.' At this, King Teghmus\nbade beat the kettledrums and sound the trumpets for gladness, and\ndespatched messengers to announce the good news to Janshah's mother and\nto the wives of the Emirs and Wazirs and Lords of the realm: so the\ncriers spread themselves about the city and acquainted the people with\nthe coming of Prince Janshah. Then the King made ready, and, setting\nout for the Kirani meadow with his horsemen and footmen, came upon\nJanshah who was sitting at rest with the lady Shamsah beside him and,\nbehold, all suddenly drew in sight. The Prince rose to his feet and\nwalked forward to meet them; and the troops knew him and dismounted, to\nsalute him and kiss his hands: after which he set out preceded by the\nmen in single file till he came to his sire, who, at sight of his son\nthrew himself from his horse's back and clasped him to his bosom and\nwept flooding tears of joy. Then they took horse again with the retinue\nriding to the right and left and fared forward till they came to the\nriver banks; when the troops alighted and pitched their tents and\npavilions and standards to the blare of trump and the piping of fife\nand the dub-a-dub of drum and tom-tom. Moreover the King bade the tent\npitchers set up a pavilion of red silk for the Princess Shamsah, who\nput off her scanty raiment of feathers for fine robes and, entering the\npavilion, there took seat. And as she sat in her beauty, behold, the\nKing and his son Janshah came in to her, and when she saw Teghmus, she\nrose and kissed the ground before him. The King sat down and seating\nJanshah on his right hand and Princess Shamsah on his left, bade her\nwelcome and said to his son, 'Tell me all that hath befallen thee in\nthis thy long strangerhood.' So Janshah related to him the whole of his\nadventures from first to last, whereat he marvelled with exceeding\nmarvel and turning to the Princess, said, 'Laud to Allah for that He\nhath caused thee to reunite me with my son! Verily this is of His\nexceeding bounty!'\"[FN#550]\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and\nceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Fifteenth Night,\n\nShe pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Teghmus\nsaid to the lady Shamsah, 'Laud to Allah for that He hath caused thee\nto reunite me with my son! Verily this is of His exceeding bounty.' And\nnow I would have thee ask of me what thou wilt, that I may do it in\nthine honour.' Quoth she, 'I ask of thee that thou build me a palace in\nthe midst of a flower garden, with water running under it.' And the\nKing answered, 'I hear and obey.' And behold, up came Janshah's mother,\nattended by all the wives of the Wazirs and Emirs and nobles and city\nnotables. When her son had sight of her, he rose and leaving the tent,\nwent forth to meet her and they embraced a long while, whilst the Queen\nwept for excess of joy and with tears trickling from her eyes repeated\nthe following verses,\n\n'Joy so o'ercometh me, for stress of joy * In that which\n\n\n     gladdeneth me I fain shed tears:\n\n\nTears are become your nature, O my eyes, * Who weep for joyance\n\n\n     as for griefs and fears.'\n\n\n\nAnd they complained to each other of all their hearts had suffered from\nthe long separation. Then the King departed to his pavilion and Janshah\ncarried his mother to his own tent, where they sat talking till there\ncame up some of the lady Shamsah's attendants who said, The Princess is\nnow walking hither in order to salute thee. When the Queen heard this,\nshe rose and going to meet Shamsah, saluted her and seated her awhile\nby her side. Presently the Queen and her retinue of noble women, the\nspouses of the Emirs and Grandees, returned with Princess Shamsah to\nthe tent occupied by her daughter-in-law and sat there. Meanwhile, King\nTeghmus gave great largesse to his levies and liege and rejoiced in his\nson with exceeding joy, and they tarried there ten days, feasting and\nmerry making and living a most joyous life. At the end of this time,\nthe King commanded a march and they all returned to the capital, so he\ntook horse surrounded by all the troops with the Wazirs and\nChamberlains to his right and left nor ceased they faring till they\nentered the city, which was decorated after the goodliest fashion; for\nthe folk had adorned the houses with precious stuffs and jewellery and\nspread costly bro cedes under the hoofs of the horses. The drums beat\nfor glad tidings and the Grandees of the kingdom rejoiced and brought\nrich gifts and the lookers-on were filled with amazement. Furthermore,\nthey fed the mendicants and Fakirs and held high festival for the space\nof ten days, and the lady Shamsah joyed with exceeding joy whenas she\nsaw this. Then King Teghmus summoned architects and builders and men of\nart and bade them build a palace in that garden. So they straightway\nproceeded to do his bidding; and, when Janshah knew of his sire's\ncommand he caused the artificers to fetch a block of white marble and\ncarve it and hollow it in the semblance of a chest; which being done he\ntook the feather- vest of Princess Shamsah wherewith she had flown with\nhim through the air: then, sealing the cover with melted lead, he\nordered them to bury the box in the foundations and build over it the\narches whereon the palace was to rest. They did as he bade them, nor\nwas it long before the palace was finished: then they furnished it and\nit was a magnificent edifice, standing in the midst of the garden, with\nstreams flowing under its walls.[FN#551] Upon this the King caused\nJanshah's wedding to be celebrated with the greatest splendour and they\nbrought the bride to the castle in state procession and went their\nways. When the lady Shamsah entered, she smelt the scent of her\nfeather-gear.\"\u2014 And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to\nsay her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Sixteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when the lady\nShamsah entered the new palace, she smelt the scent of her flying\nfeather-gear and knew where it was and determined to take it. So she\nwaited till midnight, when Janshah was drowned in sleep; then she rose\nand going straight to the place where the marble coffer was buried\nunder the arches she hollowed the ground alongside till she came upon\nit; when she removed the lead where with it was soldered and, taking\nout the feather-suit, put it on. Then she flew high in air and perching\non the pinnacle of the palace, cried out to those who were therein,\nsaying, 'I pray you fetch me Janshah, that I may bid him farewell.' So\nthey told him and he came out and, seeing her on the terrace roof of\nthe palace, clad in her feather-raiment, asked her, 'Why hast thou done\nthis deed?'; and she answered 'O my beloved and coolth of mine eyes and\nfruit of my heart, by Allah, I love thee passing dear and I rejoice\nwith exceeding joy in that I have restored thee to thy friends and\ncountry and thou hast seen thy mother and father. And now, if thou love\nme as I love thee, come to me at Takni, the Castle of Jewels.' So\nsaying, she flew away forthright to find her family and friends, and\nJanshah fell down fainting, being well-nigh dead for despair. They\ncarried the news to King Teghmus, who mounted at once and riding to the\npalace, found his son lying senseless on the ground; whereat he wept\nknowing that the swoon was caused by the loss of his love, and\nsprinkled rose- water on his face.[FN#552] When the Prince came to\nhimself and saw his sire sitting at his head, he wept at the thought of\nlosing his wife and the King asked what had befallen him. So he\nreplied, 'Know, O my father, that the lady Shamsah is of the daughters\nof the Jann and she hath done such and such' (telling him all that had\nhappened); and the King said, 'O my son, be not troubled and thus\nconcerned, for I will assemble all the merchants and wayfarers in the\nland and enquire of them anent that castle. If we can find out where it\nis, we will journey thither and demand the Princess Shamsah of her\npeople, and we hope in Allah the Almighty that He will give her back to\nthee and thou shalt consummate thy marriage.' Then he went out and,\ncalling his four Wazirs without stay or delay, bade them assemble all\nthe merchants and voyagers in the city and question them of Takni, the\nCastle of Jewels, adding, 'Whoso knoweth it and can guide us thither, I\nwill surely give him fifty thousand gold pieces.' The Wazirs\naccordingly went forth at once and did as the King bade them, but\nneither trader nor traveller could give them news of Takni, the Castle\nof Jewels; so they returned and told the King. Thereupon he bade bring\nbeautiful slave-girls and concubines and singers and players upon\ninstruments of music, whose like are not found but with the Kings: and\nsent them to Janshah, so haply they might divert him from the love of\nthe lady Shamsah. Moreover, he despatched couriers and spies to all the\nlands and islands and climes, to enquire for Takni, the Castle of\nJewels, and they made quest for it two months long, but none could give\nthem news thereof. So they returned and told the King, whereupon he\nwept bitter tears and going in to his son found Janshah sitting amidst\nthe concubines and singers and players on harp and zither and so forth,\nnot one of whom could console him for the lady Shamsah. Quoth Teghmus,\nO my son, I can find none who knoweth this Castle of Jewels; but I will\nbring thee a fairer one than she.' When Janshah heard this his eyes ran\nover with tears and he recited these two couplets,\n\n'Patience hath fled, but passion fareth not; * And all my frame\n\n\n     with pine is fever-hot:\n\n\nWhen will the days my lot with Shamsah join? * Lo, all my bones\n\n\n     with passion-lowe go rot!'\n\n\n\nNow there was a deadly feud between King Teghmus and a certain King of\nHind, by name Kaf\u03bdd, who had great plenty of troops and warriors and\nchampions; and under his hand were a thousand puissant chieftains, each\nruling over a thousand tribes whereof every one could muster four\nthousand cavaliers. He reigned over a thousand cities each guarded by a\nthousand forts and he had four Wazirs and under him ruled Emirs,\nPrinces and Sovereigns; and indeed he was a King of great might and\nprowess whose armies filled the whole earth. Now King Teghmus had made\nwar upon him and ravaged his reign and slain his men and of his\ntreasures had made gain. But when it came to King Kafid's knowledge\nthat King Teghmus was occupied with the love of his son, so that he\nneglected the affairs of the state and his troops were grown few and\nweak by reason of his care and concern for his son's state, he summoned\nhis Wazirs and Emirs and said to them, 'Ye all know that whilom King\nTeghmus invaded our dominions and plundered our possessions and slew my\nfather and brethren, nor indeed is there one of you, but he hath\nharried his lands and carried off his goods and made prize of his wives\nand slain some kinsmen of his. Now I have heard this day that he is\nabsorbed in the love of his son Janshah, and that his troops are grown\nfew and weak; and this is the time to take our blood revenge on him. So\nmake ready for the march and don ye your harness of battle; and let\nnothing stay or delay you, and we will go to him and fall upon him and\nslay him and his son, and possess ourselves of his reign.'\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Seventeenth Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Kafid, King\nof Hind, commanded his troops and armies to mount and make for the\ndominions of King Teghmus, saying, 'Get ye ready for the march and don\nye your harness of war; and let nothing stay or delay you; so we will\ngo to him and fall upon him and slay him and his son and possess\nourselves of his reign.' They all answered with one voice, saying, 'We\nhear and obey,' and fell at once to equipping themselves and levying\ntroops; and they ceased not their preparations for three months and,\nwhen all was in readiness, they beat the drums and sounded the trumps\nand flew the flags and banners: then King Kafid set out at the head of\nhis host and they fared on till they reached the frontiers of the land\nof Kabul, the dominions of King Teghmus, where they began to harry the\nland and do havoc among the folk, slaughtering the old and taking the\nyoung prisoners. When the news reached King Teghmus, he was wroth with\nexceeding wrath and assembling his Grandees and officers of state, said\nto them 'Know that Kafid hath come to our land and hath entered the\nrealm we command and is resolved to fight us hand to hand, and he\nleadeth troops and champions and warriors, whose number none knoweth\nsave Allah Almighty; what deme deem ye?' Replied they, 'O King of the\nage, let us go out to him and give him battle and drive him forth of\nour country; and thus deem we.' So he bade them prepare for battle and\nbrought forth to them hauberks and cuirasses and helmets and swords and\nall manner of warlike gear, such as lay low warriors and do to death\nthe champions of mankind. So the troops and braves and champions\nflocked together and they set up the standards and beat the drums and\nsounded the trumpets and clashed the cymbals and piped on the pipes;\nand King Teghmus marched out at the head of his army, to meet the hosts\nof Hind. And when he drew near the foe, he called a halt, and encamping\nwith his host in the Zahr\u03b1n Valley,[FN#553] hard by the frontier of\nKabul despatched to King Kafid by messenger the following letter: 'Know\nthat what thou hast done is of the doings of the villain rabble and\nwert thou indeed a King, the son of a King, thou hadst not done thus,\nnor hadst thou invaded my kingdom and slain my subjects and plundered\ntheir property and wrought upright upon them. Knowest thou not that all\nthis is the fashion of a tyrant! Verily, had I known that thou durst\nharry my dominions, I had come to thee before thy coming and had\nprevented thee this long while since. Yet, even now, if thou wilt\nretire and leave mischief between us and thee, well and good; but if\nthou return not, meet me in the listed field and measure thyself with\nme in cut and thrust.' Lastly he sealed his letter and committed to an\nofficer of his army and sent with him spies to spy him out news. The\nmessenger fared forth with the missive and, drawing near the enemy's\ncamp, he descried a multitude of tents of silk and satin, with pennons\nof blue sendal, and amongst them a great pavilion of red satin,\nsurrounded by a host of guards. He ceased not to advance till he made\nthis tent and found on asking that it was that of King Kafid, whom he\nsaw seated on a chair set with jewels, in the midst of his Wazirs and\nEmirs and Grandees. So he brought out the letter and straightway there\ncame up to him a company of guards, who took it from him and carried it\nto the King; and Kafid read it and wrote a reply to this purport:\n'After the usual invocations, We let King Teghmus know that we mean to\ntake our blood-revenge on thee and wash out our stain and waste thy\nreign and rend the curtain in twain and slay the old men and enslave\nthe young men. But to-morrow, come thou forth to combat in the open\nplain, and to show thee thrust and fight will I deign.' Then he sealed\nthe letter and delivered it to the messenger, who carried it to King\nTeghmus.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Eighteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Kafid\ndelivered the answering letter to the messenger who carried it to King\nTeghmus and delivered it, after kissing the ground between his hands.\nThen he reported all that he had seen, saying, 'O King of the age, I\nespied warriors and horsemen and footmen beyond count nor can I assist\nthee to the amount.' When Teghmus read the reply and comprehended its\ncontents, he was with furious rage enraged and bade his Wazir Ayn Zar\ntake horse and fall upon the army of Kafid with a thousand cavaliers,\nin the middle watch of the night when they would easily ride home and\nslay all before them. Ayn Zar replied, 'I hear and I obey,' and at once\nwent forth to do his bidding. Now King Kafid had a Wazir,\nGhatraf\u03b1n[FN#554] by name, whom he bade take five thousand horse and\nattack the host of King Teghmus in like manner. So Ghatrafan did his\nbidding and set out on his enterprise marching till midnight. Thus the\ntwo parties met halfway and the Wazir Ghatrafan fell upon the Wazir,\nAyn Zar. Then man cried out against man and there befell sore battle\nbetween them till break of day, when Kafid's men were routed and fled\nback to their King in confusion. As Kafid saw this, he was wroth beyond\nmeasure and said to the fugitives, 'Woe to you! What hath befallen you,\nthat ye have lost your captains?' and they replied, 'O King of the age,\nas the Wazir Ghatrafan rode forth to fall upon King Teghmus, there\nappeared to us halfway and when night was half over, the Wazir, Ayn\nZar, with cavaliers and champions, and we met on the slopes of Wady\nZahran; but ere we were where we found ourselves in the enemy's midst,\neye meeting eye; and we fought a fierce fight with them from midnight\ntill morning, many on either side being slain. Then the Wazir and his\nmen fell to shouting and smiting the elephants on the face till they\ntook fright at their furious blows, and turning tail to flee, trampled\ndown the horsemen, whilst none could see other for the clouds of dust.\nThe blood ran like a rain torrent and had we not fled, we had all been\ncut off to the last man.' When King Kafid heard this, he exclaimed,\n'May the sun not bless you and may he be wroth with you and sore be his\nwrath!' Meanwhile Ayn Zar, the Wazir, returned to King Teghmus and told\nhim what had happened. The King gave him joy of his safety and rejoiced\ngreatly and bade beat the drums and sound the trumpets, in honour of\nthe victory; after which he called the roll of his troops and behold,\ntwo hundred of his stoutest champions had fallen. Then King Kafid\nmarched his army into the field and drew them out ordered for battle in\nfifteen lines of ten thousand horses each, under the command of three\nhundred captains, mounted on elephants and chosen from amongst the\ndoughtiest of his warriors and his champions. So he set up his\nstandards and banners and beat the drums and blew the trumpets whilst\nthe braves sallied forth, offering battle. As for King Teghmus, he drew\nout his troops line after line and lo! there were ten of ten thousand\nhorses each, and with him were an hundred champions, riding on his\nright hand and on his left. Then fared forward to the fight each\nrenowned knight, and the hosts clashed together in their might, whilst\nthe earth for all its wideness was straitened because of the multitude\nof the cavaliers and ears were deafened by drums and cymbals beating\nand pipes and hautboys sounding and trumpets blaring and by the thunder\nof horse-tramp and the shouting of men. The dust arched in canopy over\ntheir heads and they fought a sore fight from the first of the day till\nthe fall of darkness, when they separated and each army drew off to its\nown camp.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Nineteenth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"each army drew\noff to its own camp. Then King Kafid called the roll of his troops and,\nfinding that he had lost five thousand men, raged with great rage; and\nKing Teghmus mustered his men and seeing that of them were slain three\nthousand riders, the bravest of his braves, was wroth with exceeding\nwrath. On the morrow King Kafid again pushed into the plain and did\nduty as before, while each man strove his best to snatch victory for\nhimself; and Kafid cried out to his men, saying, 'Is there any of you\nwill sally forth into the field and open us the chapter of fray and\nfight?' And behold came out from the ranks a warrior named Barkayk, a\nmighty man of war who, when he reached the King, alighted from his\nelephant and kissing the earth before him, sought of him leave to\nchallenge the foe to combat singular. Then he mounted his elephant and\ndriving into mid-field, cried out, 'Who is for duello, who is for\nderring do, who is for knightly devoir?' When King Teghmus heard this,\nhe said to his troops, 'Which of you will do single battle with this\nsworder?' And behold, a cavalier came out from the ranks, mounted on a\ncharger, mighty of make, and driving up to the King kissed the earth\nbefore him and craved his permission to engage Barkayk. Then he mounted\nagain and charged at Barkayk, who said to him, 'Who art thou and what\nart thou called, that thou makest mock of me by coming out against me\nand challenging me, alone?' 'My name is Ghazanfar[FN#555] son of\nKamkh\u03bdl,' replied the Kabul champion; and the other, 'I have heard tell\nof thee in my own country; so up and do battle between the ranks of the\nbraves!' Hearing these words Ghazanfar drew a mace of iron from under\nhis thigh and Barkayk took his good sword in hand, and they laid on\nload till Barkayk smote Ghazanfar on the head with his blade, but the\nmorion turned the blow and no hurt befell him therefrom; whereupon\nGhazanfar, in his turn, dealt Barkayk so terrible a stroke on the head\nwith his mace, that he levelled him down to his elephant's back and\nslew him. With this out sallied another and crying to Ghazanfar, 'Who\nbe thou that thou shouldst slay my brother?'; hurled a javelin at him\nwith such force that it pierced his thigh and nailed his coat of mail\nto his flesh. Then Ghazanfar, feeling his hurt, hent his sword in hand\nand smote at Barkayk's brother and cut him in sunder, and he fell to\nthe earth, wallowing in his life blood, whilst the challenger of Kabul\ngalloped back to King Teghmus. Now when Kafid saw the death of his\nchampions, he cried out to his troops, saying, 'Down with you to the\nplain and strike with might and main!' as also did King Teghmus, and\nthe two armies fought the fiercest of fights. Horse neighed against\nhorse and man cried out upon man and brands were bared, whilst the\ndrums beat and the trumpets blared; and horseman charged upon horseman\nand every brave of renown pushed forward, whilst the faint of heart\nfled from the lunge of lance and men heard nought but slogan-cry and\nthe clash and clang of armoury. Slain were the warriors that were\nslain[FN#556] and they stayed not from the mellay till the decline of\nthe sun in the heavenly dome, when the Kings drew off their armies and\nreturned each to its own camp.[FN#557] Then King Teghmus took tally of\nhis men and found that he had lost five thousand, and four standards\nhad been broken to bits, whereat he was sore an-angered; whilst King\nKafid in like manner counted his troops and found that he had lost six\nhundred, the bravest of his braves, and nine standards were wanting to\nthe full tale. The two armies ceased joining battle and rested on their\narms three days' space, after which Kafid wrote a letter and sent it by\nmessenger to a King called Fakun al-Kalb (with whom he claimed kinship\nby the spindle side): and this kinsman forthwith mustered his men and\nmarched to meet the King of Hind.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of\nday and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twentieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Fakun\nmustered his men and marched to meet the King of Hind: and whileas King\nTeghmus was sitting at his pleasance, there came one in to him and\nsaid, 'I see from afar a cloud of dust spireing high in air and\noverspreading the lift.' So he commanded a company to fare forth and\nlearn the meaning of this; and, crying, 'To hear is to obey,' they\nsallied out and presently returned and said to him, 'O King, when we\ndrew near the cloud of dust, the wind rent it and it lifted and showed\nseven standards and under each standard three thousand horse, making\nfor King Kafid's camp.' Then King Fakun joined himself to the King of\nHind and saluting him, asked, 'How is it with thee, and what be this\nwar in which thou arrest?'; and Kafid answered, 'Knowest thou not that\nKing Teghmus is my enemy and the murtherer of my father and brothers?\nWherefore I am come forth to do battle with him and take my brood wreak\non him.' Quoth Fakun, 'The blessing of the sun be upon thee!'; and the\nKing of Hind carried King Fakun al-Kalb to his tent and rejoiced in him\nwith exceeding joy. Such was the case of the two hostile Kings; but as\nregards King Janshah, he abode two months shut up in his palace,\nwithout seeing his father or allowing one of the damsels in his service\nto come in to him; at the end of which time he grew troubled and\nrestless and said to his attendants, 'What aileth my father that he\ncometh not to visit me?' They told him that he had gone forth to do\nbattle with King Kafid, whereupon quoth Janshah, 'Bring me my steed,\nthat I may go to my sire.' They replied, 'We hear and obey,' and\nbrought his horse; but he said in himself, 'I am taken up with the\nthought of myself and my love and I deem well to mount and ride for the\ncity of the Jews, where haply Allah shall grant me the boon to meet the\nmerchant who hired me for the ruby business and may be he will deal\nwith me as he dealt before, for none knoweth whence good cometh.' So he\ntook with him a thousand horse and set out, the folk saying, 'At last\nJanshah hath fared forth to join his father in the field, and to fight\nby his side;' and they stinted not pushing on till dusk, when they\nhalted for the night in a vast meadow. As soon as he knew that all his\nmen were asleep, the Prince rose privily and girding his waist, mounted\nhis horse and rode away intending to make Baghdad, because he had heard\nfrom the Jews that a caravan came thence to their city once in every\ntwo years and he made up his mind to journey thither with the next\ncafilah. When his men awoke and missed the Prince and his horse, they\nmounted and sought him right and left but, finding no trace of him,\nrejoined his father and told him what his son had done; whereat he was\nwroth beyond measure and cast the crown from his head, whilst the\nsparks were like to fly from his mouth, and he said 'There is no\nMajesty and there is no Might but in Allah! Verily I have lost my son,\nand the enemy is still before me.' But his Wazirs and vassals said to\nhim, 'Patience, O King of the age! Patience bringeth weal in wake.'\nMeanwhile Janshah, parted from his lover and pained for his father, was\nin sore sorrow and dismay, with heart seared and eyes tear-bleared and\nunable to sleep night or day. But when his father heard the loss his\nhost had endured, he declined battle, and fled before King Kafid, and\nretiring to his city, closed the gates and strengthened the walls.\nThereupon King Kafid followed him and sat down before the town;\noffering battle seven nights and eight days, after which he withdrew to\nhis tents, to tend his wounded while the citizens defended themselves\nas they best could, fortifying the place and setting up mangonels and\nother engines on the walls. Such was the condition of the two Kings,\nand war raged between them for a space of seven years.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Kings Teghmus\nand Kafid continued in this condition for seven years; but, as regards\nJanshah, he rode through wild and wold and when ever he came to a town\nhe asked anent Takni, the Castle of Jewels, but none knew of it and all\nanswered, 'Of a truth we never heard of such place, not even by name.'\nAt last he happened to enquire concerning the city of the Jews from a\nmerchant who told him that it was situated in the extreme Orient,\nadding, 'A caravan will start this very month for the city of Mizrak\u03b1n\nin Hind; whither do thou accompany us and we will fare on to Khorasan\nand thence to the city of Shima'\u03can and Khw\u03b1razm, from which latter\nplace the City of the Jews is distant a year and three months'\njourney.' So Janshah waited till the departure of the caravan, when he\njoined himself thereto and journeyed, till he reached the city of\nMizrakan whence, after vainly asking for Takni, the Castle of Jewels,\nhe set out and enduring on the way great hardships and perils galore\nand the extreme of hunger and thirst, he arrived at the town of\nShima'un. Here he made enquiry for the City of the Jews, and they\ndirected him to the road thither. So he fared forth and journeyed days\nand nights till he came to the place where he had given the apes the\nslip, and continued his journey thence to the river, on the opposite\nbank of which stood the City of the Jews. He sat down on the shore and\nwaited till the Sabbath came round and the river dried up by decree of\nAllah Almighty, when he crossed over to the opposite bank and, entering\nthe city, betook himself to the house wherein he had lodged on his\nformer journey. The Jew and his family saluted him and rejoiced in his\nreturn and, setting meat and drink before him, asked, 'Where hast thou\nbeen during thine absence?'; and he answered, 'In the kingdom of\nAlmighty Allah!'[FN#558] He lay with them that night and on the morrow\nhe went out to solace himself with a walk about the city and presently\nheard a crier crying aloud and saying, 'O folk, who will earn a\nthousand gold pieces and a fair slave-girl and do half a day's work for\nus?' So Janshah went up to him and said, 'I will do this work.'[FN#559]\nQuoth the crier, 'Follow me,' and carrying him to the house of the Jew\nmerchant, where he had been afore time, said, 'This young man will do\nthy need.' The merchant not recognising him gave him welcome and\ncarried him into the Harim, where he set meat and drink before him, and\nhe ate and drank. Then he brought him the money and formally made over\nto him the handsome slave-girl with whom he lay that night. As soon as\nmorning dawned, he took the diners and the damsel and, committing them\nto his Jew host with whom he had lodged afore time, returned to the\nmerchant, who mounted and rode out with him, till they came to the foot\nof the tall and towering mountain, where the merchant, bringing out a\nknife and cords, said to Janshah, 'Throw the mare.' So he threw her and\nbound her four legs with the cords and slaughtered her and cut off her\nhead and four limbs and slit her belly, as ordered by the Jew;\nwhereupon quoth he, 'Enter her belly, till I sew it up on thee; and\nwhatsoever thou seest therein, tell me of it, for this is the work\nwhose wage thou hast taken.' So Janshah entered the mare's belly and\nthe merchant sewed it up on him; then, withdrawing to a fair distance,\nhid himself. And after an hour a great bird swooped down from the lift\nand, snatching up the carcass in his pounces soared high toward the\nsky. Then he perched upon the mountain peak and would have eaten the\nprey, but Janshah sensing his intent took out his knife and slit the\nmare's belly and came forth. The bird was scared at his sight and flew\naway, and Janshah went up to a place whence he could see below, and\nlooking down, espied the merchant standing at the foot of the mountain,\nas he were a sparrow. So he cried out to him, 'What is thy will, O\nmerchant?' Replied the Jew, 'Throw me down of the stones that lie about\nthee, that I may direct thee in the way down.' Quoth Janshah, 'Thou art\nhe who didst with me thus and thus five years ago, and through thee I\nsuffered hunger and thirst and sore toil and much trouble; and now thou\nhast brought me hither once more and thinkest to destroy me. By Allah,\nI will not throw thee aught!' So saying, he turned from him and set out\nfor where lived Shaykh Nasr, the King of the Birds.\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Janshah took the\nway for where lived Shaykh Nasr, the King of the Birds. And he ceased\nnot faring on many days and nights, tearful-eyed and heavy-hearted;\neating, when he was anhungered, of the growth of the ground and\ndrinking, when he thirsted, of its streams, till he came in sight of\nthe Castle of the lord Solomon and saw Shaykh Nasr sitting at the gate.\nSo he hastened up to him and kissed his hands; and the Shaykh saluted\nhim and bade him welcome and said to him, 'O my son, what aileth thee\nthat thou returnest to this place, after I sent thee home with the\nPrincess Shamsah, cool of eyes and broad of breast?' Janshah wept and\ntold him all that had befallen him and how she had flown away from him,\nsaying, 'An thou love me, come to me in Takni, the Castle of Jewels;'\nat which the old man marvelled and said, 'By Allah, O my son, I know it\nnot, nor, by the virtue of our lord Solomon, have I ever in my life\nheard its name!' Quoth Janshah, 'What shall I do? I am dying of love\nand longing.' Quoth Shaykh Nasr, 'Take patience until the coming of the\nbirds, when we will enquire at them of Takni, the Castle of Jewels;\nhaply one of them shall wot thereof.' So Janshah's heart was comforted\nand, entering the Palace, he went straight to the chamber which gave\nupon the Lake in which he had seen the three maidens. After this he\nabode with Shaykh Nasr for a while and, one day as he was sitting with\nhim, the Shaykh said, 'O my son, rejoice for the time of the birds'\ncoming draweth nigh.' Janshah gladdened to hear the news; and after a\nfew days the birds began to come and Shaykh Nasr said to him, 'O my\nson, learn these names[FN#560] and address thyself with me to meet the\nbirds.' Presently, the fowls came flying up and saluted Shaykh Nasr,\nkind after kind, and he asked them of Takni, the Castle of Jewels, but\nthey all made answer, 'Never heard we of such a place.' At these words\nJanshah wept and lamented till he swooned away; whereupon Shaykh Nasr\ncalled a huge volatile and said to him, 'Carry this youth to the land\nof Kabul,' and described to him the country and the way thither. Then\nhe set Janshah on the bird's back, saying, 'Be careful to sit straight\nand beware of leaning to either side, else thou wilt be torn to pieces\nin the air; and stop thine ears from the wind, lest thou be dazed by\nthe noise of the revolving sphere and the roaring of the seas.' Janshah\nresolved to do his bidding and the bird took flight high in sky and\nflew with him a day and a night, till he set him down by the King of\nthe Beasts, whose name was Sh\u03b1h Badr\u03bd, and said to his rider, 'We have\ngone astray from the way directed by Shaykh Nasr.' And he would have\ntaken him up again and flown on with him; but Janshah said, 'Go thy\nways and leave me here; till I die on this spot or I find Takni, the\nCastle of Jewels, I will not return to my country.' So the fowl left\nhim with Shah Badri, King of the Beasts and flew away. The King\nthereupon said to him, 'O my son, who art thou and whence comest thou\nwith yonder great bird?' So Janshah told him his story from beginning\nto end, whereat Shah Badri marvelled and said, 'By the virtue of the\nlord Solomon, I know not of this castle; but if any one of the beasts\nmy subjects know it, we will reward him bountifully and send thee by\nhim thither.' Hereat Janshah wept bitterly but presently he took\npatience and abode with Shah Badri, and after a short time the King of\nthe Beasts said to him, 'O my son, take these tablets and commit to\nmemory that which is therein; and when the beasts come, we will\nquestion them of the Castle of Jewels.' \"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-third Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the King of\nthe Beasts said to Janshah, 'Commit to memory what is in these tablets;\nand whenas the beasts come, we will ask them anent that castle.' He did\nas the King bade him, and before long, up came the beasts, kind after\nkind, and saluted Shah Badri who questioned them of Takni, the Castle\nof Jewels, but they all replied, 'We know not this castle, nor ever\nheard we of it.' At this Janshah wept and lamented for that he had not\ngone with the bird that brought him from Shaykh Nasr's castle; but Shah\nBadri said to him, 'Grieve not, O my son, for I have a brother, King\nShim\u03b1kh highs, who is older than I; he was once a prisoner to King\nSolomon, for that he rebelled against him; nor is there among the Jinn\none elder than he and Shaykh Nasr. Belike he knoweth of this castle; at\nany rate he ruleth over all the Jinn in this country side.' So saying\nhe set Janshah on the back of a beast and gave him a letter to his\nbrother, commending him to his care. The beast set off with the Prince\nforthwith and fared on days and nights, till it came to King Shimakh's\nabiding place. And when it caught sight of the King it stood still afar\noff, whereupon Janshah alighted and walked on, till he found himself in\nthe presence. Then he kissed hands and presented his brother's letter.\nThe King read the missive and, having mastered the meaning, welcomed\nthe Prince, saying, 'By Allah, O my son, in all my born days I never\nsaw nor heard of this castle!' adding (as Janshah burst into tears),\n'but tell me thy story and who and whence thou art and whither thou art\nbound.' So Janshah related to him his history from beginning to end, at\nwhich Shimakh marvelled and said, 'O my son, I do not believe that even\nthe lord Solomon ever saw this castle or heard thereof; but O my\nson,[FN#561] I know a monk in the mountains, who is exceeding old and\nwhom all birds and beasts and Jann obey; for he ceased not his\nconjurations against the Kings of the Jann, till they submitted\nthemselves to him in their own despite, by reason of the might of his\noaths and his magic; and now all the birds and the beasts are his\nservants. I myself once rebelled against King Solomon and he sent\nagainst me this monk, the only being who could overcome me with his\ncraft and his conjurations and his gramarye; then he imprisoned me, and\nsince that time I have been his vassal. He hath travelled in all\ncountries and quarters and knoweth all ways and regions and places and\ncastles and cities; nor do I think there is any place hidden from his\nken. So needs must I send thee to him; haply he may direct thee to the\nCastle of Jewels; and, if he cannot do this, none can; for all things\nobey him, birds and beasts and the very mountains and come at his beck\nand call, by reason of his skill in magic. Moreover, by the might of\nhis egromancy he hath made a staff, in three pieces, and this he\nplanteth in the earth and conjureth over it; whereupon flesh and blood\nissue from the first piece, sweet milk from the second and wheat and\nbarley from the third; then he withdraweth the staff and returneth to\nhis place which is highs the Hermitage of Diamonds. And this magical\nmonk is a cunning inventor and artificer of all manner strange works;\nand he is a crafty warlock full of guiles and wiles, an arch deceiver\nof wondrous wickedness, who hath mastered every kind of magic and\nwitchcraft. His name is Yaghm\u03cas and to him I must needs send thee on\nthe back of a big bird with four wings,'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the\ndawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,\n\nShe pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"Shimakh said\nto Janshah, 'I must needs send thee to the monk Yaghmus on the back of\na big bird with four wings, each measuring thirty H\u03b1shimi[FN#562]\ncubits in length; and it hath feet like those of an elephant, but it\nflieth only twice a year.' And there was with King Shimakh an officer,\nby name Timshun, who used every day to carry off two Bactrian[FN#563]\ncamels from the land of Irak and cut them up for the bird that it might\neat them. So King Shimakh bade the fowl take up Janshah and bear him to\nthe cell of the hermit Yaghmus; and it rose into the air and flew on\ndays and nights, till it came to the Mountain of the Citadels and the\nHermitage of Diamonds where Janshah alighted and going up to the\nhermitage, found Yaghmus the Monk at his devotions. So he entered the\nchapel and, kissing the ground stood respectfully before the hermit.\nWhen Yaghmus saw him, he said, 'Welcome, O my son, O parted from thy\nhome and garred ferforth to roam! Tell me the cause of thy coming\nhither.' So Janshah wept and acquainted him with all that had befallen\nhim from beginning to end and that he was in quest of the Castle of\nJewels. The Monk marvelled greatly at his story and said, 'By Allah, O\nmy son, never in my life heard I of this castle, nor ever saw I one who\nhad heard of it or had seen it, for all I was alive in the days of\nNoah, Allah's Prophet (on whom be peace!),[FN#564] and I have ruled the\nbirds and beasts and Jinn ever since his time; nor do I believe that\nSolomon David son himself knew of it. But wait till the birds and\nbeasts and chiefs of the Jann come to do their homage to me and I will\nquestion them of it; peradventure, some one of them may be able to give\nus news of it and Allah Almighty shall make all things easy to thee.'\nSo Janshah homed with the hermit, until the day of the assembly, when\nall the birds and beasts and Jann came to swear fealty; and Yaghmus and\nhis guest questioned them anent Takni, the Castle of Jewels; but they\nall replied, 'We never saw or heard of such a place.' At this, Janshah\nfell a weeping and lamenting and humbled himself before the Most High;\nbut, as he was thus engaged, behold, there flew down from the heights\nof air another bird, big of bulk and black of blee, which had tarried\nbehind the rest, and kissed the hermit's hands. Yaghmus asked it of\nTakni, the Castle of Jewels, and it answered, saying 'O Monk, when I\nand my brothers were small chicks we abode behind the Mountain Kaf on a\nhill of crystal, in the midst of a great desert; and our father and\nmother used to set out for it every morning and in the evening come\nback with our food. They went out early one day, and were absent from\nus a sennight and hunger was sore upon us; but on the eighth day they\nreturned, both weeping, and we asked them the reason of their absence.\nQuoth they: 'A Marid swooped down on us and carried us off in his claws\nto Takni, the Castle of Jewels, and brought us before King Shahlan, who\nwould have slain us; but we told him that we had left behind us a brood\nof fledgelings; so he spared our lives and let us go. And were my\nparents yet in the bonds of life they would give thee news of the\ncastle.' When Janshah heard this, he wept bitter tears and said to the\nhermit, 'Prithee bid the bird carry me to his father and mother's nest\non the crystal hill, behind the Mountain Kaf.' So the hermit said, 'O\nbird, I desire thee to obey this youth in whatsoever he may command\nthee.' 'I hear and obey thy bidding,' replied the fowl; and, taking\nJanshah on its back, flew with him days and nights without ceasing till\nit set him down on the Hill of Crystal and there alighted. And having\ndelayed there a resting while, it again set him on its back and flew\noff and ceased not flying for two whole days till it reached the spot\nwhere the nest was.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the fowl ceased\nnot flying with Janshah two full days; till it reached the spot where\nthe nest was, and set him down there and said, 'O Janshah, this is\nwhere our nest was.' He wept sore and replied, 'I pray thee bear me\nfarther on to where thy parents used to forage for food.' The bird\nconsented; so it took him up again and flew on with him seven nights\nand eight days, till it set him down on the top of a high hill Karmus\nhighs and left him there saying, 'I know of no land behind this hill.'\nThen it flew away and Janshah sat down on the hill-top and fell asleep.\nWhen he awoke, he saw a something gleaming afar off as it were\nlightning and filling the firmament with its flashings; and he wondered\nwhat this sheen could be without wotting that it was the Castle he\nsought. So he descended the mountain and made towards the light, which\ncame from Takni, the Castle of Jewels, distant two months' journey from\nKarm\u03cas, the hill whereon he had alit, and its foundations were\nfashioned of red rubies and its buildings of yellow gold. Moreover, it\nhad a thousand turrets builded of precious metals, and stones of price\nstudded and set in the minerals brought from the Main of Murks, and on\nthis account it was named the Castle of Jewels, Takni. It was a vast\ngreat castle and the name of its king was King Shahlan, the father of\nthe lady Shamsah and her sisters. Such was the case with Janshah; but\nas regards Princess Shamsah, when she fled from Janshah, she made\nstraight for the Castle of Jewels and told her father and mother all\nthat had passed between the Prince and herself; how he had wandered the\nworld and seen its marvels and wonders and how fondly he loved her and\nhow dearly she loved him. Quoth they, 'Thou hast not dealt righteously\nwith him, as Allah would have thee deal.' Moreover King Shahlan\nrepeated the story to his guards and officers of the Marids of the Jinn\nand bade them bring him every mortal they should see. For the lady\nShamsah had said to her parents, 'Janshah loveth me with passionate\nlove and forsure he will follow me; for when flying from his father's\nroof I cried to him, 'An thou love me, seek me at Takni, the Castle of\nJewels!' Now when Janshah beheld that sheen and shine, he made straight\nfor it wishing to find out what it might be. And as chance would have\nit, Shamsah had that very day despatched a Marid on an occasion in the\ndirection of the hill Karmus, and on his way thither he caught sight of\na man, a mortal; so he hastened up to him and saluted him. Janshah was\nterrified at his sight, but returned his salam, and the Marid asked,\n'What is thy name?' and he answered, 'My name is Janshah, and I have\nfallen madly in love with a Jinniyah known as Princess Shamsah, who\ncaptivated me by her beauty and loveliness; but despite my dear love\nshe fled from the palace wherein I placed her and behold, I am here in\nquest of her.' Herewith he wept with bitter weeping. The Marid looked\nat him and his heart burned with pity on hearing the sad tale, and he\nsaid, 'Weep not, for surely thou art come to thy desire. Know that she\nloveth thee fondly and hath told her parents of thy love for her, and\nall in yonder castle love thee for her sake; so be of good cheer and\nkeep thine eyes cool of tear.' Then he took him on his shoulders and\nmade off with him to the Castle of Jewels, Takni. Thereupon the bearers\nof fair tidings hastened to report his coming and when the news reached\nShamsah and her father and mother, they all rejoiced with exceeding\njoy, and King Shahlan took horse and rode out, commanding all his\nguards and Ifrits and Marids honourably to meet the Prince.\"\u2014And\nShahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted\nsay.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Shahlan\ncommanded all his guards and Ifrits and Marids to meet the Prince; and,\nas soon as he came up with him, he dismounted and embraced him, and\nJanshah kissed his hand. Then Shahlan bade put on him a robe of honour\nof many coloured silk, laced with gold and set with jewels, and a\ncoronet such as man never saw, and, mounting him on a splendid mare of\nthe steeds of the Kings of the Jinn, took horse himself and, with an\nimmense retinue riding on the right hand and the left, brought him in\ngreat state to the Castle. Janshah marvelled at the splendour of this\nedifice, with its walls builded of rubies and other jewels and its\npavement of crystal and jasper and emerald, and fell a weeping at the\nmemory of his past miseries; but the King and Queen, Shamsah's mother,\nwiped away his tears and said, 'Now no more weeping and be of good\ncheer, for thou hast won to thy will.' Then Shahlan carried him into\nthe inner court of the Castle, where he was received by a multitude of\nbeautiful damsels and pages and black Jinn-slaves, who seated him in\nthe place of honour and stood to do him service, whilst he was lost in\namazement at the goodliness of the place, and its walls all edified of\nprecious metals and jewels of price. Presently King Shahlan repaired to\nhis hall of audience, where he sat down on his throne and, bidding the\nslave-girls and the pages introduce the Prince, rose to receive him and\nseated him by his side on the throne. Then he ordered the tables to be\nspread and they ate and drank and washed their hands; after which in\ncame the Queen Shamsah's mother, and saluting Janshah, bade him welcome\nin these words, 'Thou hast come to thy desire after weariness and thine\neyes shall now sleep after watching; so praised be Allah for thy\nsafety!' Thus saying, she went away and forthwith returned with the\nPrincess Shamsah, who saluted Janshah and kissed his hands, hanging her\nhead in shame and confusion before him and her parents, after which as\nmany of her sisters as were in the palace came up to him and greeted\nhim in like manner. Then quoth the Queen to him, 'Welcome, O my son,\nour daughter Shamsah hath indeed sinned against thee, but do thou\npardon her misdeed for our sakes.' When Janshah heard this, he cried\nout and fell down fainting, whereat the King marvelled and they\nsprinkled on his face rose water mingled with musk and civet, till he\ncame to himself and, looking at Princess Shamsah, said, 'Praised be\nAllah who hath brought me to my desire and hath quenched the fire of my\nheart!' Replied she, 'May He preserve thee from the Fire!, but now tell\nme, O Janshah, what hath befallen thee since our parting and how thou\nmadest thy way to this place; seeing that few even of the Jann ever\nheard of Takni, the Castle of Jewels; and we are independent of all the\nKings nor any wotteth the road hither.' Thereupon he related to her\nevery adventure and peril and hardship he had suffered and how he had\nleft his father at war with King Kafid, ending with these words, 'And\nall for thy sake, my lady Shamsah!' Quoth the Queen, 'Now hast thou thy\nheart's desire, for the Princess is thy handmaid, and we give her in\nfree gift to thee.' Janshah joyed exceedingly at these words and the\nQueen added, 'Next month, if it be the will of Almighty Allah, we will\nhave a brave wedding and celebrate the marriage festival and after the\nknot is tied we will send you both back to thy native land, with an\nescort of a thousand Marids of our body-guard, the least of whom, an\nthou bid him slay King Kafid and his folk, would surely destroy them to\nthe last man in the twinkling of an eye. Furthermore if it please thee\nwe will send thee, year after year, a company of which each and every\ncan so do with all thy foes.'\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the lady\nShamsah's mother ended with saying, 'And if it so please thee we will\nsend thee, year after year, a company of which each and every can\ndestroy thy foes to the last man.' Then King Shahlan sat down on his\nthrone and, summoning his Grandees and Officers of state, bade them\nmake ready for the marriage- festivities and decorate the city seven\ndays and nights. 'We hear and we obey,' answered they and busied\nthemselves two months in the preparations, after which they celebrated\nthe marriage of the Prince and Princess and held a mighty festival,\nnever was there its like. Then they brought Janshah in to his bride and\nhe abode with her in all solace of life and delight for two years, at\nthe end of which time he said to her, 'Thy father promised to send us\nto my native land, that we might pass one year there and the next\nhere.' Answered she, I hear and obey,' and going in to King Shahlan at\nnightfall told him what the Prince had said. Quoth he, 'I consent; but\nhave patience with me till the first of the month, that I may make\nready for your departure.' She repeated these words to her husband and\nthey waited till the appointed time, when the King bade his Marids\nbring out to them a great litter of red gold, set with pearls and\njewels and covered with a canopy of green silk, purfled in a profusion\nof colours and embroidered with precious stones, dazzling with its\ngoodliness the eyes of every beholder. He chose out four of his Marids\nto carry the litter in whichever of the four quarters the riders might\nchoose. Moreover, he gave his daughter three hundred beautiful damsels\nto wait upon her and bestowed on Janshah the like number of white\nslaves of the sons of the Jinn. Then the lady Shamsah took formal leave\nof her mother and sisters and all her kith and kin; and her father\nfared forth with them. So the four Marids took up the litter, each by\none corner, and rising under it like birds in air, flew onward with it\nbetween earth and heaven till mid-day, when the King bade them set it\ndown and all alighted. Then they took leave of one another and King\nShahlan commended Shamsah to the Prince's care, and giving them in\ncharge to the Marids, returned to the Castle of Jewels, whilst the\nPrince and Princess remounted the litter, and the Marids taking it up,\nflew on for ten whole days, in each of which they accomplished thirty\nmonths' journey, till they sighted the capital of King Teghmus. Now one\nof them knew the land of Kabul; so when he saw the city, he bade the\nothers let down the litter at that populous place which was the\ncapital.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"the Marid guards\nlet down the litter at the capital of King Teghmus who had been routed\nand had fled from his foes into the city, where he was in sore straits,\nKing Kafid having laid close siege to him. He sought to save himself by\nmaking peace with the King of Hind, but his enemy would give him no\nquarter; so seeing himself without resource or means of relief, he\ndetermined to strangle himself and to die and be at rest from this\ntrouble and misery. Accordingly he bade his Wazirs and Emirs farewell\nand entered his house to take leave of his Harim; and the whole realm\nwas full of weeping and wailing and lamentation and woe. And whilst\nthis rout and hurly-burly was enacting, behold, the Marids descended\nwith the litter upon the palace that was in the citadel, and Janshah\nbade them set it down in the midst of the Divan. They did his bidding\nand he alighted with his company of handmaids and Mamelukes; and,\nseeing all the folk of the city in straits and desolation and sore\ndistress, said to the Princess, 'O love of my heart and coolth of mine\neyes, look in what a piteous plight is my sire!' There upon she bade\nthe Marid guard fall upon the beleaguering host and slay them, saying,\n'Kill ye all, even to the last man;' and Janshah commanded one of them,\nby name Kar\u03b1tash,[FN#565] who was exceeding strong and valiant, to\nbring King Kafid to him in chains. So they set down the litter and\ncovered it with the canopy; then, having waited till midnight, they\nattacked the enemy's camp one of them being a match for ten; or at\nleast for eight. And while these smote the foes with iron maces, those\nmounted their magical elephants and soared high in the lift, and then\nswooping down and snatching up their opponents, tare them to pieces in\nmid air. But Karatash made straight for Kafid's tent where he found him\nlying in a couch; so he took him up, shrieking for fear, and flew with\nhim to Janshah, who bade the four Marids bind him on the litter and\nhang him high in the air over his camp, that he might witness the\nslaughter of his men. They did as the Prince commanded them and left\nKafid, who had swooned for fear, hanging between earth and air and\nbuffeting his face for grief. As for King Teghmus, when he saw his son,\nhe well-nigh died for excess of joy and, crying with a loud cry, fell\ndown in a swoon. They sprinkled rose-water on his face, till he came to\nhimself, when he and his son embraced and wept with sore weeping; for\nhe knew not that the Jinn guard were battling with King Kafid's men.\nThen Princess Shamsah accosted the King and kissing his hand, said to\nhim, 'Sire, be pleased to go up with me to the palace-roof and witness\nthe slaughter of thy foes by my father's Marids.' So he went up to the\nterrace-roof and sitting down there with his daughter-in-law, enjoyed\nwatching the Marids do havoc among the besiegers and break a way\nthrough the length and breadth of them. For one of them smote with his\niron mace upon the elephants and their riders and pounded them till man\nwas not to be distinguished from beast; whilst another shouted in the\nfaces of those who fled, so that they fell down dead; and the third\ncaught up a score of horsemen, beasts and all; and, towering with them\nhigh in air, cast them down on earth, so that they were torn in pieces.\nAnd this was high enjoyment for Janshah and his father and the lady\nShamsah.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Teghmus and\nhis son and daughter-in-law went up to the terrace roof and enjoyed a\nprospect of the Jinn-guards battling with the beleaguering host. And\nKing Kafid (still hanging between heaven and earth) also saw the\nslaughter of his troops and wept sore and buffeted his face; nor did\nthe carnage cease among the army of Hind for two whole days, till they\nwere cut off even to the last man. Then Janshah commanded a Marid, by\nname Shimw\u03b1l, chain up King Kafid with manacles and fetters, and\nimprison him in a tower called the Black Bulwark. And when his bidding\nwas done, King Teghmus bade beat the drums and despatched messengers to\nannounce the glad news to Janshah's mother, informing her of his\napproach; whereupon she mounted in great joy and she no sooner espied\nher son than she clasped him in her arms and swooned away for stress of\ngladness. They sprinkled rose-water on her face, till she came to\nherself, when she embraced him again and again wept for excess of joy.\nAnd when the lady Shamsah knew of her coming, she came to her and\nsaluted her; and they embraced each other and after remaining embraced\nfor an hour sat down to converse. Then King Teghmus threw open the city\ngates and despatched couriers to all parts of the kingdom, to spread\nthe tidings of his happy deliverance; whereupon all his princely\nVassals and Emirs and the Grandees of the realm flocked to salute him\nand give him joy of his victory and of the safe return of his son; and\nthey brought him great store of rich offerings and curious presents.\nThe visits and oblations continued for some time, after which the King\nmade a second and a more splendid bride-feast for the Princess Shamsah\nand bade decorate the city and held high festival. Lastly they unveiled\nand paraded the bride before Janshah, with apparel and ornaments of the\nutmost magnificence, and when her bridegroom went in to her he\npresented her with an hundred beautiful slave-girls to wait upon her.\nSome days after this, the Princess repaired to the King and interceded\nwith him for Kafid, saying, 'Suffer him return to his own land, and if\nhenceforward he be minded to do thee a hurt, I will bid one of the\nJinn-guard snatch him up and bring him to thee.' Replied Teghmus, 'I\nhear and I obey,' and bade Shimwal bring him the prisoner, who came\nmanacled and fettered and kissed earth between his hands. Then he\ncommanded to strike off his chains and, mounting him on a lame mare,\nsaid to him, 'Verily Princess Shamsah hath interceded for thee: so\nbegone to thy kingdom, but if thou fall again to thine old tricks, she\nwill send one of the Marids to seize thee and bring thee hither.'\nThereupon King Kafid set off home wards, in the sorriest of\nplights,\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirtieth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"King Kafid set\noff homewards in the sorriest of plights, whilst Janshah and his wife\nabode in all solace and delight of life, making the most of its joyance\nand happiness. All this recounted the youth sitting between the tombs\nunto Bulukiya, ending with, 'And behold, I am Janshah who witnessed all\nthese things, O my brother, O Bulukiya!' Then Bulukiya who was\nwandering the world in his love for Mohammed (whom Allah bless and\nkeep!) asked Janshah, 'O my brother, what be these two sepulchres and\nwhy sittest thou between them and what causeth thy weeping?' He\nanswered, 'Know, O Bulukiya, that we abode in all solace and delight of\nlife, passing one year at home and the next at Takni, the Castle of\nJewels, whither we betook not ourselves but in the litter borne by the\nMarids and flying between heaven and earth.' Quoth Bulukiya, 'O my\nbrother, O Janshah, what was the distance between the Castle and thy\nhome?' Quoth he, 'Every day we accomplished a journey of thirty months\nand the time we took was ten days. We abode on this wise a many of\nyears till, one year we set out for the Castle of Jewels, as was our\nwont, and on the way thither alighted from the litter in this island to\nrest and take our pleasure therein. We sat down on the riverbank and\nate and drank; after which the Lady Shamsah, having a mind to bathe,\nput off her clothes and plunged into the water. Her women did likewise\nand they swam about awhile, whilst I walked on along the bank of the\nstream leaving them to swim about and play with one another. And\nbehold, a huge shark of the monsters of the deep seized the Princess by\nthe leg, without touching any of the girls; and she cried out and died\nforthright, whilst the damsels fled out of the river to the pavilion,\nto escape from the shark. But after awhile they returned and taking up\nher corpse carried her to the litter. Now when I saw her dead, I fell\ndown fainting and they sprinkled water on my face, till I recovered and\nwept over her. Then I despatched the Jinn-guards to her parents and\nfamily, announcing what had befallen her; and in the shortest time they\ncame to the spot and washed her and shrouded her, after which they\nburied her by the river-side and made mourning for her. They would have\ncarried me with them to their own country; but I said to King Shahlan,\n'I beseech thee to dig me a grave beside her tomb, that, when I die, I\nmay be buried by her side in that grave.' Accordingly, the King\ncommanded one of his Marids to do as I wished, after which they\ndeparted and left me here to weep and mourn for her till I die. And\nthis is my story and the cause of my sojourn between these two tombs.'\nAnd he repeated these two couplets,[FN#566]\n\n'The house, sweet heart, is now no home to me * Since thou art\n\n\n     gone, nor neighbour neighbourly,\n\n\nThe friend whilom I took to heart, no more * Is friend, and\n\n\n     brightest lights lose brilliancy.'\n\n\n\nBut when Bulukiya heard out Janshah's tale he marvelled,\"\u2014And Shahrazad\nperceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-first Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Bulukiya\nheard out Janshah's tale he wondered and exclaimed, 'By Allah,\nmethought I had indeed wandered over the world and compassed it about;\nbut now I forget all I have seen after listening to these adventures of\nthine!' He was silent a while and then resumed, 'I beg thee, of thy\nfavour and courtesy, to direct me in the way of safety.' So Janshah\ndirected him into the right road, and Bulukiya farewelled him and went\nhis ways.\" All this the Serpent-queen related to Hasib Karim al-Din,\nand he asked her, \"But how knowest thou of these things?\"; and she\nanswered, \"O Hasib, thou must ken that I had occasion, some five-\nand-twenty years ago, to send one of my largest serpents to Egypt and\ngave her a letter for Bulukiya, saluting him. So she went there\nwillingly for she had a daughter in the land called Bint\nShumukh[FN#567]; and after asking anent Bulukiya she found him and gave\nhim my missive. He read it and replied to the messenger snake, 'Thou\ncomest from the Queen of the Serpents whom I am minded to visit for I\nhave an occasion to her.' She replied, 'I hear and obey.' Then she bore\nhim to her daughter of whom she took leave and said to her companion,\n'Close thine eyes.' So he closed them and opening them again, behold,\nhe found himself on the mountain where I now am. Then his guide carried\nhim to a great serpent, whom he saluted; whereupon quoth she, 'Didst\nthou deliver the missive to Bulukiya?'; and she replied, 'Even so; and\nhe hath accompanied me and here he standeth.' Presently Bulukiya asked\nafter me, the Serpent-queen, and the great serpent answered, 'She hath\ngone to the mountain Kaf with all her host, as is her wont in winter;\nbut next summer she will come hither again. As often as she goeth\nthither, she appointeth me to reign in her room, during her absence;\nand if thou have any occasion to her, I will accomplish it for thee.'\nSaid he, 'I beg thee to bring me the herb, which whoso crusheth and\ndrinketh the juice thereof, sickeneth not neither groweth grey nor\ndieth.' 'I will not bring it,' said the serpent, 'till thou tell me\nwhat befell thee since thou leftest the Queen of the Serpents, to go\nwith Affan in quest of King Solomon's tomb.' So he related to her all\nhis travels and adventures, together with the history of Janshah, and\nsaid at last, 'Grant me my request, that I may return to mine own\ncountry.' Replied the serpent, 'By the virtue of the lord Solomon, I\nknow not where is to be found the herb whereof thou speakest.' Then she\nbade the serpent which had brought him thither, carry him back to\nEgypt: so the messenger obeyed her and said to him, 'Shut thine eyes!'\nHe did so and, opening them again, found himself on the mountain\nMukattam.[FN#568] When I returned from the mountain Kaf (added the\nQueen) the serpent, my deputy, informed me of Bulukiya's visit and gave\nme his salutations and repeated to me his story and his meeting with\nJanshah. And this, O Hasib, is how I came to know the adventures of\nBulukiya and the history of Janshah.\" Thereupon Hasib said to her, \"O\nQueen, deign recount to me what befell Bulukiya as regards his return\nto Egypt.\" She replied, \"Know, O Hasib, that when he parted from\nJanshah he fared on nights and days till he came to a great sea; so he\nanointed his feet with the juice of the magical herb and, walking over\nthe face of the waters, sped onwards till he came to an island\nabounding in trees and springs and fruits, as it were the Garden of\nEden. He landed and walked about, till he saw an immense tree, with\nleaves as big as the sails of a ship. So he went up to the tree and\nfound under it a table spread with all manner meats, whilst on a branch\nof the branches sat a great bird, whose body was of pearls and leek-\ngreen emeralds, its feet of silver, its beak of red carnelian and its\nplumery of precious metals; and it was engaged in singing the praises\nof Allah the Most High and blessing Mohammed (on whom be benediction\nand peace!)\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-second Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Bulukiya\nlanded and walked about the island he found therein many marvels,\nespecially a bird whose body was of pearls and leek green emeralds and\nits plumery of precious metals; and it was engaged in singing the\npraises of Allah the Most High and blessing Mohammed (upon whom be\nbenediction and peace!). Seeing this he said, 'Who and what art thou?'\nQuoth the bird, 'I am one of the birds of Eden and followed Adam when\nAllah Almighty cast him out thence. And know, O my brother, that Allah\nalso cast out with him four leaves of the trees of the garden to cover\nhis nakedness withal, and they fell to the ground after awhile. One of\nthem was eaten by a worm, and of it came silk: the gazelles ate the\nsecond and thence proceeded musk, the third was eaten by bees and gave\nrise to honey, whilst the fourth fell in the land of Hind and from it\nsprang all manner of spices. As for me, I wandered over the face of\nearth till Allah deigned give me this island for a dwelling-place, and\nI took up my abode here. And every Friday from night till morning the\nSaints and Princes[FN#569] of the Faith flock to this place and make\npious visitation and eat from this table spread by Allah Almighty; and\nafter they have eaten, the table is taken up again to Heaven: nor doth\nthe food ever waste or corrupt.' So Bulukiya ate his fill of the meats\nand praised the Great Creator. And presently, behold, there came up\nAl-Khizr[FN#570] (with whom be peace!), at sight of whom Bulukiya rose\nand saluting him, was about to withdraw, when the bird said to him,\n'Sit, O Bulukiya, in the presence of Al-Khizr, on whom be peace!' So he\nsat down again, and Al-Khizr said to him, 'Let me know who thou art and\ntell me thy tale.' Thereupon Bulukiya related to him all his adventures\nfrom beginning to end and asked, 'O my lord, how far is it hence to\nCairo?' 'Five and ninety years' journey,' replied the Prophet;\nwhereupon Bulukiya burst into tears; then, falling at Al-Khizr's feet,\nkissed them and said to him, 'I beseech thee deliver me from this\nstrangerhood and thy reward be with Allah, for that I am nigh upon\ndeath and know not what to do.' Quoth Al-Khizr, 'Pray to Allah Almighty\nthat He permit me to carry thee to Cairo, ere thou perish.' So Bulukiya\nwept and humbled himself before Allah who granted his prayer, and by\ninspiration bade Al-Khizr bear him to his people. Then said the\nProphet, 'Lift thy head, for Allah hath heard thy prayer and hath\ninspired me to do what thou desires; so take fast hold of me with both\nthy hands and shut thine eyes.' The Prince did as he was bidden and\nAl-Khizr stepped a single step forwards, then said to him, 'Open thine\neyes!' So Bulukiya opened his eyes and found himself at the door of his\npalace at Cairo. He turned, to take leave of Al-Khizr, but found no\ntrace of him.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased\nsaying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-third Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that \"when Bulukiya,\nstanding at the gate of his palace, turned to take leave of Al-Khizr,\nhe found no trace of him and entered the palace. When his mother saw\nhim, she cried with a loud cry and swooned away for excess of joy, and\nthey sprinkled water upon her face. After awhile she came to herself\nand embraced her son and wept with sore weeping, whilst Bulukiya wept\nand laughed by turns. Then all his friends and kindred came and gave\nhim joy of his safe return, and the news was noised abroad in the land\nand there came to him presents from all parts. Moreover, they beat the\ndrums and blew the flutes and rejoiced mightily. Then Bulukiya related\nto them his adventures ending with recounting how Al-Khizr had set him\ndown at his palace door, whereat they marvelled exceedingly and wept,\ntill all were a-weary of weeping.\" Hasib wondered at the Queen's tale\nand shed many tears over it; then he again besought her to let him\nreturn to his family; but she said, \"I fear me, O Hasib, that when thou\ngettest back to thy country thou wilt fail of thy promise and prove\ntraitor to thine oath and enter the Hammam.\" But he swore to her\nanother solemn oath that he would never again enter the baths as long\nas he lived; whereupon she called a serpent and bade her carry him up\nto the surface of the earth. So the serpent took him and led him from\nplace to place, till she brought him out on the platform-edge of an\nabandoned cistern and there left him. Upon this he walked to the city\nand, coming to his house by the last of the day, at the yellowing of\nthe sun, knocked at the door. His mother opened it and seeing her son\nscreamed out and threw herself upon him and wept for excess of joy. His\nwife heard her mother-in-law weeping; so she came out to her and seeing\nher husband, saluted him and kissed his hands; and each rejoiced in\nother with exceeding joy of all three. Then they entered the house and\nsat down to converse and presently Hasib asked his mother of the\nwoodcutters, who had left him to perish in the cistern. Quoth she,\n\"They came and told me that a wolf had eaten thee in the Wady. As for\nthem, they are become merchants and own houses and shops, and the world\nis grown wide for them. But every day they bring me meat and drink, and\nthus have they done until the present time.\" Quoth Hasib, \"To-morrow do\nthou go to them and say, \"My son Hasib Karim al-Din hath returned from\nhis travels; so come ye to meet him and salute him.\" Accordingly, when\nmorning dawned, she repaired to the woodcutters' houses and delivered\nto them her son's message, which when they heard, they changed colour,\nand saying, \"We hear and obey,\" gave her each a suit of silk,\nembroidered with gold, adding, \"Present this to thy good son[FN#571]\nand tell him that we will be with him to-morrow.\" She assented and\nreturning to Hasib gave him their presents and message. Meanwhile, the\nwoodcutters called together a number of merchants and, acquainting them\nwith all that had passed between themselves and Hasib, took counsel\nwith them what they should do. Quoth the merchants, \"It behoveth each\none of you to give him half his monies and Mamelukes.\" And they all\nagreed to do this; so on the next day, each of them took half his\nwealth and, going in to Hasib, saluted him and kissed his hands. Then\nthey laid before him what they had brought, saying, \"This is of thy\nbounties, and we are in thy hands.\" He accepted their peace- offering\nand said, \"What is past is past: that which befell us was decreed of\nAllah, and destiny doeth away with dexterity.\" Quoth they, \"Come, let\nus walk about and take our solace in the city and visit the Hammam.\"\nQuoth he, \"Not so: I have taken an oath never again to enter the baths,\nso long as I live.\" Rejoined they, at least come to our homes that we\nmay entertain thee.\" He agreed to this, and went to their houses and\neach of them entertained him for a night and a day; nor did they cease\nto do thus for a whole sennight, being seven in number. And now Hasib\nwas master of monies and houses and shops, and the merchants of the\ncity foregathered with him and he told them all that had befallen him.\nHe became one of the chiefs of the guild and abode on this wise awhile,\ntill it happened one day, as he was walking about the streets, that he\npassed the door of a Hammam, whose keeper was one of his companions.\nWhen the bathman, who was standing without, caught his eye he ran up to\nhim and saluted him and embraced him, saying, \"Favour me by entering\nthe bath and there wash and be rubbed that I may show thee\nhospitality.\" Hasib refused, alleging that he had taken a solemn oath\nnever again to enter the Hammam; but the bathman was instant with him,\nsaying, \"Be my three wives triply divorced, can thou enter not and be\nwashed!\" When Hasib heard him thus conjure him, he was confounded and\nreplied, \"O my brother, hast thou a mind to ruin my house and make my\nchildren orphans and lay a load of sin upon my neck?\" But his friend\nthrew himself at his feet and kissed them, saying, \"My happiness\ndependeth upon thy entering, and be the sin on the neck of me!\" Then\nall the servants of the bath set upon Hasib and dragging him in pulled\noff his clothes. But hardly had he sat down against the wall and begun\nto pour water on his head when a score of men accosted him, saying,\n\"Rise, O man, and come with us to the Sultan, for thou art his debtor.\"\nThen they despatched one of them as messenger to the Sultan's Minister,\nwho straightway took horse and rode, attended by threescore Mamelukes,\nto the baths, where he alighted and going in to Hasib, saluted him and\nsaid, \"Welcome to thee!\" Then he gave the bathman an hundred diners\nand, mounting Hasib on a horse he had brought with him, returned with\nhim and all his men to the Sultan's palace. Here he bade them aid Hasib\nto dismount and, after seating him comfortably, set food before him;\nand when they had eaten and drunken and washed their hands, the Wazir\nclad him in two dresses of honour each worth five thousand diners and\nsaid to him, \"Know that Allah hath been merciful to us in sending thee;\nfor the Sultan is nigh upon death by leprosy, and the books tell us\nthat his life is in thy hands. Then, accompanied by a host of Grandees,\nhe took him wondering withal and carried him through the seven doorways\nof the palace, till they came to the King's chamber. Now the name of\nthis King was Karazd\u03b1n, King of Persia and of the Seven Countries, and\nunder his sway were an hundred sovereign princes sitting on chairs of\nred gold, and ten thousand valiant captains, under each one's hand an\nhundred deputies and as many headsmen armed with sword and axe. They\nfound the King lying on his bed with his face swathed in a napkin, and\ngroaning for excess of pain. When Hasib saw this ordinance, his wit was\ndazed for awe of the King; so he kissed the ground before him, and\nprayed a blessing on him. Then the Grand Wazir, whose name was Shamh\u03car,\nrose and welcoming Hasib, seated him on a high chair at the King's\nright hand.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say\nher permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Shamhur\nrose to Hasib and seated him on a chair at the right hand of King\nKarazdan; after which he called for food and the tables were laid. And\nwhen they had eaten and drunken and washed their hands, Shamhur stood\nup (while all present also stood to do him honour) and, approaching\nHasib said to him, \"We are all thy servants and will give thee\nwhatsoever thou askest, even were it one half the kingdom, so thou wilt\nbut cure the King.\" Saying this, he led him by the hand to the royal\ncouch, and Hasib, uncovering the King's face, saw that he was at last\nfatal stage of the disease; so he wondered at their hoping for a cure.\nBut the Wazir kissed his hand and repeated his offers and ended with\nsaying, \"All we want of thee is to heal our King:\" so he said to the\nWazir, \"True that I am the son of Allah's prophet, Daniel, but I know\nnothing of his art: for they put me thirty days in the school of\nmedicine and I learnt nothing of the craft. I would well I knew\nsomewhat thereof and might heal the King.\" Hearing this, the Grand\nWazir said, \"Do not multiply words upon us; for though we should gather\ntogether to us physicians from the East and from the West, none could\ncure the King save thou.\" Answered Hasib, \"How can I make him whole,\nseeing I know neither his case nor its cure?\" Quoth the Minister, \"His\nhealing is in thy hands,\" and quoth Hasib, \"If I knew the remedy of his\nsickness, I would heal him.\" Thereupon the Wazir rejoined, \"Thou\nkeenest a cure right well; the remedy of his sickness is the Queen of\nthe Serpents, and thou knowest her abiding-place and hast been with\nher.\" When Hasib heard this, he knew that all this came of his entering\nthe Baths, and repented whenas repentance availed him naught; then said\nhe, \"What is the Queen of the Serpents? I know her not nor ever in all\nmy life heard I of this name.\" Retorted the Wazir, \"Deny not the\nknowledge of her, for I have proof that thou knowest her and hast\npassed two years with her.\" Repeated Hasib, \"Verily, I never saw her\nnor even heard of her till this moment;\" upon which Shamhur opened a\nbook and, after making sundry calculations, raised his head and spake\nas follows. \"The Queen of the Serpents shall foregather with a man who\nshall abide with her two years; then shall he return from her and come\nforth to the surface of the earth, and when he entereth the Hammam bath\nhis belly will become black.\" Then said he, \"Look at thy belly.\" So\nHasib looked at his own belly and behold, it was black: but he\npersisted in his denial and said, \"My belly was black from the day my\nmother bare me.\" Said the Wazir, \"I had stationed three Mamelukes at\nthe door of every Hammam, bidding them note all who entered and let me\nknow when they found one whose belly was black: so, when thou\nenteredst, they looked at thy belly and, finding it black, sent and\ntold me, after we had well-nigh lost hope of coming upon thee. All we\nwant of thee is to show us the place whence thou camest out and after\ngo thy ways; for we have those with us who will take the Queen of the\nSerpents and fetch her to us.\" Then all the other Wazirs and Emirs and\nGrandees flocked about Hasib who sorely repented of his misdeed; and\nthey conjured him, till they were weary, to show them the abode of the\nQueen; but he ceased not saying, \"I never saw nor heard of the matter.\"\nThen the Grand Wazir called the hangman and bade him strip Hasib and\nbeat him a sore beating; and so they did till he saw death face to\nface, for excess of pain, and the Wazir said, \"We have proof that thou\nknowest the abiding-place of the Queen of the Serpents: why wilt thou\npersist in denial? Show us the place whence thou camest out and go from\nus; we have with us one who will take her, and no harm shall befall\nthee.\" Then he raised him and bade give him a dress of honour of cloth\nof red gold, embroidered with jewels, and spoke him fair till Hasib\nyielded and said, \"I will show you the place.\" At this the Wazir\nrejoiced with great joy and took horse with all his many and rode,\nguided by Hasib, and never drew rein till they came to the mountain\ncontaining the cavern wherein he had found the cistern full of honey.\nThere all dismounted and followed him as he entered, sighing and\nweeping, and showed them the well whence he had issued; whereupon the\nWazir sat down thereby and, sprinkling perfumes upon a chafing-dish,\nbegan to mutter charms and conjurations; for he was a crafty magician\nand diviner and skilled in spiritual arts. He repeated three several\nformulas of conjuration and between each threw fresh incense upon the\nfire, crying out and saying, \"Come forth, O Queen of the Serpents!;\"\nwhen behold, the water of the well sank down and a great door opened in\nthe side, from which came a mighty noise of crying like unto thunder,\nso terrible that they thought the well had caved in and all present\nfell down fainting; nay, some even died for fright. Presently, there\nissued from the well a serpent as big as an elephant, casting out\nsparks, like red hot coals, from its eyes and mouth and bearing on its\nback a charger of red gold, set with pearls and jewels, in the midst\nwhereof lay a serpent from whose body issued such splendour that the\nplace was illumined thereby; and her face was fair and young and she\nspoke with most eloquent tongue. The Serpent-queen turned right and\nleft, till her eyes fell upon Hasib, to whom said she \"Where is the\ncovenant thou madest with me, and the oath thou swearest to me, that\nthou wouldst never again enter the Hammam-bath? But there is no\nfighting against Fate nor hath any ever fled from that which is written\non his forehead. Allah hath appointed the end of my life for thy hand\nto hend, and it is His will that slain I be and King Karazdan be healed\nof his malady.\" So saying, she wept with sore weeping and Hasib wept to\nsee her weep. As for the abominable Wazir Shamhur; he put out his hand\nto lay hold of her; but she said to him, \"Hold thy hand, O accursed, or\nI will blow upon thee and reduce thee to a heap of black ashes.\" Then\nshe cried out to Hasib, saying, \"Draw near me and take me in thine hand\nand lay me in the dish that is with you: then set it on thy head, for\nmy death was fore-ordained, from Eternity without beginning,[FN#572] to\nbe at thy hand, and thou hast no power to avert it.\" So he took her and\nlaid her in the dish, and put it on his head, when the well returned to\nits former state. Then they set out on their return to the city, Hasib\ncarrying the dish on his head, and when they were half-way behold, the\nQueen of the Serpents said to him privily, \"Hearken, O Hasib, to my\nfriendly counsel, for all thou hast broken faith with me and been false\nto thine oath, and hast done this misdeed, but it was fore-ordained\nfrom all eternity.\" He replied \"To hear is to obey,\" and she continued,\n\"It is this: when thou comest to the Wazir's house, he will bid thee\nbehead me and cut me in three; but do thou refuse saying, 'I know not\nhow to slaughter[FN#473]' and leave him to do it with his own hand and\nto work his wicked will. When he hath cut my throat and divided my body\ninto three pieces there will come a messenger, to bid him to the King,\nso he will lay my flesh in a cauldron of brass and set it upon a\nbrasier before going to the presence and he will say to thee, 'Keep up\nthe fire under the cauldron till the scum rise; then skim it off and\npour it into a phial to cool. Wait till it cool and then drink it, so\nshall naught of malady or pain be left in all thy body. When the second\nscum riseth, skim it off and pour it into a phial against my return\nfrom the King, that I may drink it for an ailment I have in my loins.'\nThen will he give thee the phials and go to the King, and when he is\ngone, do thou light the fire and wait till the first scum rise and set\nit in a phial; keep it by thee but beware of drinking it, or no good\nwill befall thee. When the second scum riseth, skim it off and put it\nin a second phial and drink it down as soon as it cools. When the Wazir\nreturneth and asketh thee for the second phial, give him the first and\nnote what shall befall him;\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day\nand ceased saying her permitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,\n\nShe said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Serpent-queen\ncharged Hasib not to drink of the first scum and carefully to keep the\nsecond, saying, \"When the Wazir returneth from the King and asketh for\nthe second phial, give him the first and note what shall befall him;\nthen drink the contents of the second phial and thy heart will become\nthe home of wisdom. After this take up the flesh and, laying it in a\nbrazen platter, carry it to the King and give him to eat thereof. When\nhe hath eaten it and it hath settled in his stomach, veil his face with\na kerchief and wait by him till noontide, when he will have digested\nthe meat. Then give him somewhat of wine to drink and, by the decree of\nAllah Almighty, he will be healed of his unhealth and be made whole as\nhe was. And give thou ear to the charge wherewith I charge thee; and\nkeep it in thy memory with carefullest keeping.\" They ceased not faring\ntill they came to the Wazir's house, and he said to Hasib, \"Come in\nwith me!\" So he went in and the troops dispersed and fared each his own\nway; whereupon Hasib set down the platter and the Wazir bade him slay\nthe Queen of the Serpents; but he said, \"I know not how to slaughter\nand never in my born days killed I aught. An thou wilt have her throat\ncut, do it with thine own hand.\" So the Minister Shamhur took the Queen\nfrom the platter and slew her, seeing which Hasib wept bitter tears and\nthe Wazir laughed at him, saying, \"O weak of wits, how canst thou weep\nfor the killing of a worm?\" Then he cut her in three and, laying the\npieces in a brass cauldron, set it on the fire and sat down to await\nthe cooking of the flesh. And whilst he was sitting, lo! there came a\nslave from the King, who said to him, \"The King calls for thee without\nstay or delay,\" and he answered saying, \"I hear and I obey.\" So he gave\nHasib two phials and bade him drink the first scum and keep the second\nagainst his return,[FN#574] even as the Queen of the Serpents had\nforetold; after which he went away with repeated charges and\ninjunctions; and Hasib tended the fire under the cauldron till the\nfirst scum rose, when he skimmed it off and, setting it in one of the\nphials, kept it by him. He then fed the fire till the second scum rose;\nthen he skimmed it off and, putting it in the other phial kept it for\nhimself. And when the meat was done, he took the cauldron off the fire\nand sat awaiting the Wazir who asked him on return, \"What hast thou\ndone?\" and answered Hasib, \"I did thy bidding to the last word.\" Quoth\nthe Wazir, \"What hast thou done with the first phial?\" \"I drank its\ncontents but now,\" replied Hasib, and Shamhur asked, \"Thy body feeleth\nit no change?\"; whereto Hasib answered, \"Verily, I feel as I were on\nfire from front to foot.\" The villain Wazir made no reply hiding the\ntruth but said, \"Hand me the second phial, that I may drink what is\ntherein, so haply I may be made whole of this ailing in my loins.\" So\nHasib brought him the first phial and he drank it off, thinking it\ncontained the second scum; but hardly had he done drinking when the\nphial fell from his hand and he swelled up and dropped down dead; and\nthus was exemplified in him the saying; \"Whoso for his brother diggeth\na pit, he shall be the first to fall into it.\" Now when Hasib saw this,\nhe wondered and feared to drink of the second phial; but he remembered\nthe Serpent-queen's injunction and bethought him that the Wazir would\nnot have reserved the second scum for himself, had there been aught of\nhurt therein. So he said, \"I put my trust in Allah,'[FN#575] and drank\noff the contents of the phial. No sooner had he done so, than the Most\nHighest made the waters of wisdom to well up in his heart and opened to\nhim the fountains of knowledge, and joy and gladness overcame him. Then\nhe took the serpent's flesh from the cauldron and, laying it on a\nplatter of brass, went forth from the Wazir's house. On his way to the\npalace he raised his eyes and saw the seven Heavens and all that\ntherein is, even to the Lote-tree, beyond which there is no\npassing,[FN#576] and the manner of the revolution of the spheres.\nMoreover, Allah discovered to him the ordinance of the planets and the\nscheme of their movements and the fixed stars; and he saw the contour\nof the land and sea, whereby he became informed with geometry,\nastrology and astronomy and mathematics and all that hangeth thereby;\nand he understood the causes and consequences of eclipses of the sun\nand moon. Then he looked at the earth and saw all minerals and\nvegetables that are therein and thereon; and he learned their\nproperties, and their virtues, so that he became in an instant versed\nin medicine and chemistry and natural magic and the art of making gold\nand silver. And he ceased not carrying the flesh till he came to the\npalace, when he went in to King Karazdan, and kissing the ground before\nhim, said, \"May thy head survive thy Wazir Shamhur!\" The King was\nmightily angered at the news of the Grand Wazir's death and wept for\nhim, whilst his Emirs and his Grandees and officers also wept. Then\nsaid Karazdan, \"He was with me but now, in all health, and went away to\nfetch me the flesh of the Queen of the Serpents, if it should be\ncooked; what befell him that he is now dead, and what accident hath\nbetided him?\" So Hasib told him the whole truth how the Minister had\ndrunk the contents of the phial and had forthwith swelled out and died.\nThe King mourned for his loss with mourning sore and said to Hasib,\n\"What shall I do without Shamhur?\" and Hasib answered \"Grieve not, O\nKing of the age; for I will cure thee within three days and leave no\nwhit of disease in thy body.\" At this the King's breast waxed broad and\nhe said, \"I wish to be made whole of this affliction, though after a\nlong term of years.\" So Hasib set the platter before the King and made\nhim eat a slice of the flesh of the Serpent-queen. Then he covered him\nup and, spreading a kerchief over his face, bade him sleep and sat down\nby his side. He slept from noonday till sundown, while his stomach\ndigested the piece of flesh, and presently he awoke. Hasib gave him\nsomewhat of wine to drink and bade him sleep again; so he slept till\nthe morning and when dawn appeared, Hasib repeated the treatment making\nhim eat another piece of the flesh; and thus he did with him three days\nfollowing, till he had eaten the whole, when his skin began to shrink\nand scale off and he perspired, so that the sweat ran down from his\nhead to his heels. Therewith he became whole and there abode in him no\ntrace of the disease, which when Hasib saw, he said, \"There is no help\nfor it but thou go to the Hammam.\" So he carried him to the bath and\nwashed his body; and when he came forth, it was like a wand of silver\nand he was restored to health, nay, sounder than he was before he fell\nill. Thereupon he donned his richest robes and, seating himself on his\nthrone, deigned make Hasib sit beside him. Then he bade the tables be\nspread and they ate and washed their hands; after which he called for\nthe service of wine and both drank their fill. Upon this all his Wazirs\nand Emirs and Captains and the Grandees of his realm and the notables\nof the lieges came in to him and gave him joy of his recovery; and they\nbeat the drums and adorned the city in token of rejoicing. Then said\nthe King to the assembly, \"O Wazirs and Emirs and Grandees, this is\nHasim Karim al-Din, who hath healed me of my sickness, and know all\nhere present that I make him my Chief Wazir in the stead of the Wazir\nShamhur.\"\u2014And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her\npermitted say.\n\nWhen it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,\n\nShe continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth King\nKarazdan to his Ministers and high lords, \"He who healed me of my\nsickness is none other than Hasib Karim al-Din here present. Therefore\nI make him my Chief Wazir in the stead of the Wazir Shamhur; and whoso\nloveth him loveth me, and whoso honoureth him honoureth me, and he who\nobeyeth him obeyeth me.\" \"Hearkening and obedience,\" answered they and\nall rising flocked to kiss Hasib's hand and salute him and give him joy\nof the Wazirate. Then the King bestowed on him a splendid dress of gold\nbrocade, set with pearls and gems, the least of which was worth five\nthousand gold pieces. Moreover, he presented to him three hundred male\nwhite slaves and the like number of concubines, in loveliness like\nmoons, and three hundred Abyssinian[FN#577] slave-girls, beside five\nhundred mules laden with treasure and sheep and oxen and buffaloes and\nbulls and other cattle beyond count; and he commanded all his Wazirs\nand Emirs and Grandees and Notables and Mamelukes and his subjects in\ngeneral to bring him gifts. Presently Hasib took horse and rode,\nfollowed by the Wazirs and Emirs and lords and all the troops, to the\nhouse which the King had set apart for him, where he sat down on a\nchair; and the Wazirs and Emirs came up to him and kissed hands and\ngave him joy of his Ministership, vying with one another in suit and\nservice. When his mother and his household knew what had happened, they\nrejoiced with exceeding joy and congratulated him on his good fortune;\nand his quondam comrades the woodcutters also came and gave him joy.\nThen he mounted again and, riding to the house of the late Wazir\nShamhur, laid hands on all that was therein and transported it to his\nown abode. On this wise did Hasib, from a dunsical know-nothing,\nunskilled to read writing, become, by the decree of Allah Almighty, an\nadept in every science and versed in all manner of knowledge, so that\nthe fame of his learning was blazed abroad over the land and he became\nrenowned as an ocean of lore and skill in medicine and astronomy and\ngeometry and astrology and alchemy and natural magic and the Cabbala\nand Spiritualism and all other arts and sciences. One day, he said to\nhis mother, \"My father Daniel was exceeding wise and learned; tell me\nwhat he left by way of books or what not!\" So his mother brought him\nthe chest and, taking out the five leaves which had been saved when the\nlibrary was lost, gave them to him saying, \"These five scrolls are all\nthy father left thee.\" So he read them and said to her, \"O my mother,\nthese leaves are part of a book: where is the rest?\" Quoth she, \"Thy\nfather made a voyage taking with him all his library and, when he was\nshipwrecked, every book was lost save only these five leaves. And when\nhe was returned to me by Almighty Allah he found me with child and said\nto me: 'Haply thou wilt bear a boy; so take these scrolls and keep them\nby thee and whenas thy son shall grow up and ask what his father left\nhim, give these leaves to him and say, 'Thy father left these as thine\nonly heritance. And lo! here they are.' \" And Hasib, now the most\nlearned of his age, abode in all pleasure and solace, and delight of\nlife, till there came to him the Destroyer of delights and the Severer\nof societies.[FN#578] And yet, O King, is not this tale of Bulukiya and\nJanshah more wondrous than the adventures of\n\nEnd of Volume V.\n\n                   Arabian Nights, Volume 5\n\n\n                           Footnotes\n\n\n\n[FN#1] This tale (one of those translated by Galland) is best and\nfullest in the Bresl. Edit. iii. 329.\n\n[FN#2] Europe has degraded this autumnal festival, the Sun-f\u03bate Mihrg\u03b1n\n(which balanced the vernal Nau-roz) into Michaelmas and its\ngoose-massacre. It was so called because it began on the 16th of Mihr,\nthe seventh month; and lasted six days, with feasts, festivities and\ngreat rejoicings in honour of the Sun, who now begins his\nsouthing-course to gladden the other half of the world.\n\n[FN#3] \"Hind\u03bd\" is an Indian Moslem as opposed to \"Hind\u03ca,\" a pagan, or\nGentoo.\n\n[FN#4] The orig. Persian word is \"Sh\u03b1h-p\u03car\"=King's son: the Greeks (who\nhad no sh) (preferred ); the Romans turned it into Sapor and the Arabs\n(who lack the p) into S\u03b1b\u03car. See p. x. Hamz\u03b6 ispahanensis Annalium\nLibri x.: Gottwaldt, Lipsi\u03b6 mdcccxlviii.\n\n[FN#5] The magic horse may have originated with the Hindu tale of a\nwooden Garuda (the bird of Vishnu) built by a youth for the purpose of\na vehicle. It came with the \"Moors\" to Spain and appears in \"Le Cheval\nde Fust,\" a French poem of the thirteenth Century. Thence it passed\nover to England as shown by Chaucer's \"Half-told tale of Cambuscan\n(Jangh\u03bdz Khan?) bold,\" as\n\n     \"The wondrous steed of brass\n\n\n     On which the Tartar King did ride;\"\n\n\n\nAnd Leland (Itinerary) derives \"Rutlandshire\" from \"a man named Rutter\nwho rode round it on a wooden horse constructed by art magic.\" Lane\n(ii. 548) quotes the parallel story of Cleomades and Claremond which\nMr. Keightley (Tales and Popular Fictions, chapt. ii) dates from our\nthirteenth century. See Vol. i., p. 160.\n\n[FN#6] All Moslems, except those of the M\u03b1liki school, hold that the\nmaker of an image representing anything of life will be commanded on\nthe Judgment Day to animate it, and failing will be duly sent to the\nFire. This severity arose apparently from the necessity of putting down\nidol-worship and, perhaps, for the same reason the Greek Church admits\npictures but not statues. Of course the command has been honoured with\nextensive breaching: for instance all the Sultans of Stambul have had\ntheir portraits drawn and painted.\n\n[FN#7] This description of ugly old age is written with true\n\n\nArab verve.\n\n\n\n[FN#8] Arab. \"Badinj\u03b1n\": Hind. Bengan: Pers. B\u03b1ding\u03b1n or Badilj\u03b1n; the\nMala insana (Solanum pomiferum or S. Melongena) of the Romans, well\nknown in Southern Europe. It is of two kinds, the red (Solanum\nlycopersicum) and the black (S. Melongena). The Spaniards know it as\n\"berengeria\" and when Sancho Panza (Part ii. chapt. 2) says, \"The Moors\nare fond of egg-plants\" he means more than appears. The vegetable is\nheld to be exceedingly heating and thereby to breed melancholia and\nmadness; hence one says to a man that has done something eccentric,\n\"Thou hast been eating brinjalls.\"\n\n[FN#9] Again to be understood Hibernice \"kilt.\"\n\n[FN#10] i.e. for fear of the evil eye injuring the palace and, haply,\nhimself.\n\n[FN#11] The \"Sufrah\" before explained acting provision-bag and\ntable-cloth.\n\n[FN#12] Eastern women in hot weather, lie mother-nude under a sheet\nhere represented by the hair. The Greeks and Romans also slept stripped\nand in medi\u03b6val England the most modest women saw nothing indelicate in\nsleeping naked by their naked husbands. The \"night-cap\" and the\n\"night-gown\" are comparatively modern inventions.\n\n[FN#13] Hindu fable turns this simile into better poetry, \"She was like\na second and a more wondrous moon made by the Creator.\"\n\n[FN#14] \"Sun of the Day.\"\n\n[FN#15] Arab. \"Shirk\"=worshipping more than one God. A theological term\nhere most appropriately used.\n\n[FN#16] The Bul. Edit. as usual abridges (vol. i. 534). The Prince\nlands on the palace-roof where he leaves his horse, and finding no one\nin the building goes back to the terrace. Suddenly he sees a beautiful\ngirl approaching him with a party of her women, suggesting to him these\ncouplets,\n\n     \"She came without tryst in the darkest hour, *\n\n\n          Like full moon lighting horizon's night:\n\n\n     Slim-formed, there is not in the world her like *\n\n\n          For grace of form or for gifts of sprite:\n\n\n     'Praise him who made her from semen-drop,' *\n\n\n          I cried, when her beauty first struck my sight:\n\n\n     I guard her from eyes, seeking refuge with *\n\n\n          The Lord of mankind and of morning-light.\"\n\n\n\nThe two then made acquaintance and \"follows what follows.\"\n\n[FN#17] Arab. \"Ak\u03b1sirah,\" explained (vol. i., 75) as the plur. of\nKisr\u03b1.\n\n[FN#18] The dearest ambition of a slave is not liberty but to have a\nslave of his own. This was systematised by the servile rulers known in\nhistory as the Mameluke Beys and to the Egyptians as the Ghuzz. Each\nhad his household of servile pages and squires, who looked forward to\nfilling the master's place as knight or baron.\n\n[FN#19] The well-known capital of Al-Yaman, a true Arabia Felix, a\nParadise inhabited by demons in the shape of Turkish soldiery and Arab\ncaterans. According to Moslem writers Sana'a was founded by Shem son of\nNoah who, wandering southward with his posterity after his father's\ndeath, and finding the site delightful, dug a well and founded the\ncitadel, Ghamd\u03b1n, which afterwards contained a Mason Carr\u03b9e rivalling\n(or attempting to rival) the Meccan Ka'abah. The builder was Surahb\u03bdl\nwho, says M.C. de Perceval coloured its four faces red, white, golden\nand green; the central quadrangle had seven stories (the planets) each\nforty cubits high, and the lowest was a marble hall ceiling'd with a\nsingle slab. At the four corners stood hollow lions through whose\nmouths the winds roared. This palatial citadel-temple was destroyed by\norder of Caliph Omar. The city's ancient name was Azal or Uzal whom\nsome identify with one of the thirteen sons of Joktan (Genesis xi. 27):\nit took its present name from the Ethiopian conquerors (they say) who,\nseeing it for the first time, cried \"Haz\u03b1 Sana'ah!\" meaning in their\ntongue, this is commodious, etc. I may note that the word is Kisawahili\n(Zanzibarian) e.g. \"Y\u03b1mbo s\u03b1n\u03b1\u2014is the state good?\" Sana'a was the\ncapital of the Tab\u03b1bi'ah or Tobba Kings who judaized; and the\nAbyssinians with their Negush made it Christian while the Persians\nunder Anushirw\u03b1n converted it to Guebrism. It is now easily visited but\nto little purpose; excursions in the neighborhood being deadly\ndangerous. Moreover the Turkish garrison would probably murder a\nstranger who sympathised with the Arabs, and the Arabs kill one who\ntook part with their hated and hateful conquerors. The late Mr. Shapira\nof Jerusalem declared that he had visited it and Jews have great\nadvantages in such travel. But his friends doubted him.\n\n[FN#20] The Bresl. Edit. (iii. 347) prints three vile errors in four\nlines.\n\n[FN#21] Alcove is a corruption of the Arab. Al-Kubbah (the dome)\nthrough Span. and Port.\n\n[FN#22] Easterns as a rule sleep with head and body covered by a sheet\nor in cold weather a blanket. The practice is doubtless hygienic,\ndefending the body from draughts when the pores are open; but Europeans\nfind it hard to adopt; it seems to stop their breathing. Another\nexcellent practice in the East, and indeed amongst barbarians and\nsavages generally, is training children to sleep with mouths shut: in\nafter life they never snore and in malarious lands they do not require\nOutram's \"fever-guard,\" a swathe of muslin over the mouth. Mr. Catlin\nthought so highly of the \"shut mouth\" that he made it the subject of a\nbook.\n\n[FN#23] Arab. \"Hanzal\"=coloquintida, an article often mentioned by\nArabs in verse and prose; the bright coloured little gourd attracts\nevery eye by its golden glance when travelling through the brown-yellow\nwaste of sand and clay. A favourite purgative (enough for a horse) is\nmade by filling the inside with sour milk which is drunks after a\nnight's soaking: it is as active as the croton-nut of the Gold Coast.\n\n[FN#24] The Bresl. Edit. iii. 354 sends him to the \"land of S\u03bdn\"\n\n\n(China).\n\n\n\n[FN#25] Arab. \"Y\u03b1 Kisrawi!\"=O subject of the Kisr\u03b1 or Chosro\u03bb; the\nlatter explained in vol.i.,75.[Volume 1, Footnote # 128] \"Fars\" is the\norigin of \"Persia\"; and there is a hit at the prodigious lying of the\nmodern race, whose forefathers were so famous as truth-tellers. \"I am a\nPersian, but I am not lying now,\" is a phrase familiar to every\ntraveller.\n\n[FN#26] There is no such name: perhaps it is a clerical error\n\n\nfor \"Har j\u03b1h\"=(a man of) any place. I know an Englishman who in\n\n\nPersian called himself \"Mirza Abdullah-i-H\u03bdchmak\u03b1ni\"=Master\n\n\nAbdullah of Nowhere.\n\n\n\n[FN#27] The Bresl. Edit. (loc. cit.) gives a comical description of the\nPrince assuming the dress of an astrologer-doctor, clapping an old book\nunder his arm, fumbling a rosary of beads, enlarging his turband,\nlengthening his sleeves and blackening his eyelids with antimony. Here,\nhowever, it would be out of place. Very comical also is the way in\nwhich he pretends to cure the maniac by \"muttering unknown words,\nblowing in her face, biting her ear,\" etc.\n\n[FN#28] Arab. \"Sar'a\"=falling sickness. Here again we have in all its\nsimplicity the old nursery idea of \"possession\" by evil spirits.\n\n[FN#29] Arab. \"Nafah\u03b1t\"=breathings, benefits, the Heb. Neshamah opp. to\nNephesh (soul) and Ruach (spirit). Healing by the breath is a popular\nidea throughout the East and not unknown to Western Magnetists and\nMesmerists. The miraculous cures of the Messiah were, according to\nMoslems, mostly performed by aspiration. They hold that in the days of\nIsa, physic had reached its highest development, and thus his miracles\nwere mostly miracles of medicine; whereas, in Mohammed's time,\neloquence had attained its climax and accordingly his miracles were\nthose of eloquence, as shown in the Koran and Ah\u03b1d\u03bds.\n\n[FN#30] Lit. \"The rose in the sleeves or calyces.\" I take my English\nequivalent from Jeremy Taylor, \"So I have seen a rose newly springing\nfrom the clefts of its hood,\" etc.\n\n[FN#31] These lines are from the Bresl. Edit. (v. 35). The four\ncouplets in the Mac. Edit. are too irrelevant.\n\n[FN#32] Polo, which Lane calls \"Goff.\"\n\n[FN#33] Arab. \"Muffawak\"=well-notched, as its value depends upon the\nnotch. At the end of the third hemistitch Lane's Shaykh very properly\nreads \"baghtatan\" (suddenly) for \"burhatan\"=during a long time.\n\n[FN#34] \"Uns\" (which the vulgar pronounce Anas) \"al- Wujud\"=Delight of\nexisting things, of being, of the world. Uns wa jud is the normal\npun=love-intimacy and liberality; and the caranomasia (which cannot\nwell be rendered in English) re-appears again and again. The story is\nthroughout one of love; hence the quantity of verse.\n\n[FN#35] The allusion to a \"written N\" suggests the elongated not the\nrounded form of the letter as in Night cccxxiv.\n\n[FN#36] The fourteenth Arabic letter in its medial form resembling an\neye.\n\n[FN#37] This is done by the man passing his fingers over the brow as if\nto wipe off perspiration; the woman acknowledges it by adjusting her\nhead-veil with both hands. As a rule in the Moslem East women make the\nfirst advances; and it is truly absurd to see a great bearded fellow\nblushing at being ogled. During the Crimean war the fair sex of\nConstantinople began by these allurements but found them so readily\naccepted by the Giaours that they were obliged to desist.\n\n[FN#38] The greatest of all explorers and discoverers of the world will\nbe he who finds a woman confessing inability to keep a secret.\n\n[FN#39] The original is intensely prosaicand so am I.\n\n[FN#40] Arab. \"Sunnat,\" the practice of the Prophet. For this prayer\nand other silly and superstitious means of discovering the \"right\ndirection\" (which is often very wrongly directed) see Lane, M.E. chapt.\nxi.\n\n[FN#41] Arab. \"Bahr (sea or river) al-Kunuz\": Lane (ii. 576)\ningeniously identifies the site with the Upper Nile whose tribes,\nbetween Assouan (Syene) and Wady al-Subu'a are called the \"Kunuz\"lit.\nmeaning \"treasures\" or \"hoards.\" Philae is still known as the \"Islet of\nAnas (for Uns) al-Wujud;\" and the learned and accurate Burckhardt\n(Travels in Nubia p. 5) records the local legend that a mighty King\ncalled Al-Wujud built the Osirian temples. I can give no information\nconcerning Jabal al-Sakla (Thakla), the Mount of the woman bereft of\nchildren, beyond the legend contained in Night ccclxxix.\n\n[FN#42] A religious mendicant (lit. a pauper), of whom there are two\ngreat divisions. The Shara'i acts according to the faith: the others\n(La Shara'i, or irreligious) are bound by no such prejudices and are\npretty specimens of scoundrels. (Pilgrimage i.22.)\n\n[FN#43] Meaning his lips and palate were so swollen by drought.\n\n[FN#44] It is a pious act in time of mortal danger to face the\n\n\nKiblah or Meccan temple, as if standing in prayer.\n\n\n\n[FN#45] Still the belief of the Badawi who tries to work upon the\nbeast's compassion: \"O great King I am a poor man, with wife and\nfamily, so spare me that Allah spare thee!\" and so forth. If not\nfamished the lion will often stalk off looking behind him as he goes;\nbut the man will never return by the same path; \"for,\" says he, \"haply\nthe Father of Roaring may repent him of a wasted opportunity.\" These\nlion-tales are very common, witness that of Androcles at Rome and a\nhost of others. Una and her lion is another phase. It remained for M.\nJules Gerard, first the chasseur and then the tueur, du lion, to assail\nthe reputation of the lion and the honour of the lioness.\n\n[FN#46] Abu Haris=Father of spoils: one of the lion's hundred titles.\n\n[FN#47] \"They\" again for \"she.\"\n\n[FN#48] Jaxartes and Oxus. The latter (Jayhun or Amu, Oxus or\n\n\nBactros) is famous for dividing Iran from Turan, Persia from\n\n\nTartaria. The lands to its north are known as Ma wara al-Nahr\n\n\n(Mawerannahar) or \"What is behind the stream,\"=Transoxiana and\n\n\ntheir capitals were successively Samarcand and Bokhara.\n\n\n\n[FN#49] Arab. \"Dani was gharib\"=friend and foe. The lines are partly\nfrom the Mac. Edit. and partly from the Bresl. Edit., v. 55.\n\n[FN#50] Arab. \"Wa Rahmata-hu!\" a form now used only in books.\n\n[FN#51] Before noted. The relationship, like that of foster- brother,\nhas its rights, duties and privileges.\n\n[FN#52] Arab. \"Istikharah,\" before explained as praying for direction\nby omens of the rosary, opening the Koran and reading the first verse\nsighted, etc., etc. At Al-Medinah it is called Khirah and I have\nsuggested (Pilgrimage, ii. 287) that it is a relic of the Azlam or\nKidah (divining arrows) of paganism. But the superstition is not local:\nwe have the Sortes Virgilianae (Virgil being a magician) as well as\nCoranicae.\n\n[FN#53] Arab. \"Wujud al-Habib,\" a pun, also meaning, \"Wujud my\nbeloved.\"\n\n[FN#54] Arab. \"Khilal,\" as an emblem of attenuation occurring in\nAl-Hariri (Ass. of Alexandria, etc.); also thin as a spindle (Maghzal),\nas a reed, and dry as a pair of shears. In the Ass. of Barka'id the\ntoothpick is described as a beautiful girl. The use of this cleanly\narticle was enjoined by Mohammed:\u2014\"Cleanse your mouths with toothpicks;\nfor your mouths are the abode of the guardian angels; whose pens are\nthe tongues, and whose ink is the spittle of men; and to whom naught is\nmore unbearable than remains of food in the mouth.\" A mighty apparatus\nfor a small matter; but in very hot lands cleanliness must rank before\ngodliness.\n\n[FN#55] The sense is ambiguous. Lane renders the verse:\u2014\"Thou\nresemblest it (rose) not of my portion\" and gives two explanations\n\"because HE is of my portion,\" or, \"because HIS cheek cannot be rosy if\nMINE is not.\" Mr. Payne boldly translates\n\n\"If the rose ape his cheek, 'Now God forfend,' I say, 'That of my\nportion aught to pilfer thou shouldst try'.\"\n\n[FN#56] Arab. \"lif\" (not \"fibres which grow at the top of the trunk,\"\nLane ii. 577); but the fibre of the fronds worked like the cocoa-nut\nfibre which forms the now well-known Indian \"coir.\" This \"lif\" is also\ncalled \"filfil\" or \"fulfil\" which Dr. Jonathan Scott renders \"pepper\"\n(Lane i. 8) and it forms a clean succedaneum for one of the uncleanest\narticles of civilisation, the sponge. It is used in every Hammam and is\n(or should be) thrown away after use.\n\n[FN#57] Arab. \"Shinf;\" a course sack, a \"gunny-bag;\" a net compared\nwith such article.\n\n[FN#58] The eunuch tells him that he is not a \"Sandali\"=one whose penis\nand testes are removed; and consequently the highest valued. There are\nmany ways of making the castrato; in some (as here) only the penis is\nremoved, in other the testes are bruised or cut off; but in all cases\nthe animal passion remains, for in man, unlike other animals, the fons\nveneris is the brain. The story of Abelard proves this. Juvenal derided\nthe idea of married eunuchs and yet almost all of these neutrals have\nwives with whom they practise the manifold plaisirs de la petite oie\n(masturbation, tribadism, irrumation, tete-beche, feuille-de- rose,\netc.), till they induce the venereal orgasm. Such was the account once\ngiven to me by a eunuch's wife; and I need hardly say that she, like\nher confrerie, was to be pitied. At the critical moment she held up a\nlittle pillow for her husband to bite who otherwise would have torn her\ncheeks or breasts.\n\n[FN#59] In real life the eunuch, as a rule, avoids all allusion to his\nmisfortune, although the slave will often describe his being sold\nmerrily enough.\n\n[FN#60] The visits are in dreamland. The ringdove thanks the\n\n\nLord for her (his?) suffering in the holy martyrdom of love.\n\n\n\n[FN#61] Arab. \"Hazar;\" I have explained it as meaning \"(the bird of) a\nthousand (songs).\"\n\n[FN#62] The \"Bulbul\" had his day with us but he departed with Tommy\nMoore. We usually English the word by \"nightingale;\" but it is a kind\nof shrike or butcher-bird (Lanius Boulboul. Lath.).\n\n[FN#63] The \"Hamam\" is a lieu commun in Arabic poetry. I have noticed\nthe world-wide reverence for the pigeon and the incarnation of the\nThird Person of the Hindu Triad (Shiva), as Kapoteshwara\n(Kapota-ishwara)\"=pigeon or dove-god (Pilgrimage iii. 218).\n\n[FN#64] Arab. \"Hamam al-Ayk.\" Mr. Payne's rendering is so happy that we\nmust either take it from him or do worse.\n\n[FN#65] All primitive peoples translate the songs of birds with human\nlanguage; but, as I have noticed, the versions differ widely. The\npigeon cries, \"Allah! Allah!\" the dove \"Karim, Tawwa\" (Bountiful,\nPardoner!) the Kata or sand-grouse \"Man sakat salam\" (who is silent is\nsafe) yet always betrays itself by its lay of \"Kat-ta\" and lastly the\ncock \"Uzkuru 'llah ya ghafilun\" (Remember, or take the name of Allah,\nye careless!).\n\n[FN#66] \"Nay,\" the Dervish's reed pipe, symbol of the sighing absent\nlover (i.e. the soul parted from the Creator) so famed by the\nMullah-i-Rum and Sir William Jones.\n\n[FN#67] Ba'albak=Ba'al (the God)-city (bek in Coptic and ancient\nEgyptian.) Such, at least, is the popular derivation which awaits a\nbetter. No cloth has been made there since the Kurd tribe of gallant\nrobbers known as the \"Harfush\" (or blackguards) lorded it over old\n\"Heliopolis.\"\n\n[FN#68] Thinking her to be a Jinn or Ghul in the shape of a fair woman.\nThis Arab is a strange contrast to the English fisherman, and yet he is\ndrawn with truth.\n\n[FN#69] Arab. \"Habbaza!\" (good this!) or \"Habba\" (how good!): so\n\n\n\"Habba bihi,\" how dear he is to me.\n\n\n\n[FN#70] Arab. \"Zind,\" and \"Zindah\" the names of the two sticks, upper\nand lower, hard and soft, by which fire was kindled before flint and\nsteel were known. We find it in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Banu Haram) \"no one\nsought ire from my fire-stick (i.e. from me as a fire-stick) and\nfailed.\" See Night dccciii.\n\n[FN#71] Arab. \"Nazih\" i.e. travelled far and wide.\n\n[FN#72] \"Rajab,\" lit.=\"worshipping:\" it is the seventh lunar month and\nstill called \"Shahr-i-Khuda\" (God's month) by the Persians because in\npre-Islamitic times it formed with Muharram (or in its stead Safar), Zu\n'l-ka'adah and Zu-'l-Hijjah (Nos. 1 or 2; 7,11 and 12) the yearly\npeace, during which a man might not kill his father's murderer. The\nidea must have taken deep root, as Arab history records only six\n\"impious (or sacrilegious) wars,\" waged despite the law. Europeans\ncompare it with the Treuga Dei (truce of God) a seven-years peace\nestablished about A.D. 1032, by a Bishop of Aquitaine; and followed in\nA.D. 1245 by the Pax Regis (Royal Peace) under Louis VIII. of France.\nThis compelled the relations of a murdered man to keep the peace for\nforty days after the offence was committed.\n\n[FN#73] His Majesty wrote sad doggrel. He is better at finessing, and\nhis message was a trick because Rose-in-Hood had told him that at home\nthere were special obstacles to the marriage.\n\n[FN#74] Arab. \"Majzub\"=drawn, attracted (literally); the popular term\nfor one absorbed in the contemplation of the Deity. During this process\nthe soul is supposed to quit the body leaving the latter irresponsible\nfor its actions. I remember a scandal being caused in a village near\nTunis by one of these men who suddenly started up from his seat in a\ndusty corner and, in presence of a small crowd of people, had\nconnection with a she-donkey. The supporters of the holy man declared\nthat the deed was proof positive of his exceptional holiness; but there\nwere lewd fellows, Moslems Voltaireans, who had their doubts and held\nthat the reverend man had so acted \"for the gallery.\" A similar story\nis told with due reserve by the late Abbe Hamilton in his book on the\nCyrenaic. There are three grand divisions of the Sufis; (1) Mukiman,\nthe stationaries; (2) Salikan, the travellers, or progressives, and (3)\nWasilan, those who reach the desired end. And No. 2 has two classes:\nthe Salik-i-majzub, one progressing in Divine Love; and the other, who\nhas made greater progress, is the Majzub-i-Salik (Dabistan iii. 251).\n\n[FN#75] Arab. \"Sundus,\" a kind of brocade (low Lat. brocare to figure\ncloth), silk worked in high relief with gold and silver. The idea is\nfigurative meaning it was hung outside and inside with fine stuff, like\nthe Ka'abah, the \"Bride of Meccah.\" The \"lords\" means simply the lost\ngirl.\n\n[FN#76] Arab. \"Ayn\" lit. eye, also a fount, \"the eye of the landscape\"\n(a noble simile); and here a helper, guard, assistant.\n\n[FN#77] \"Lord\" for lady, i.e. she.\n\n[FN#78] Arab. \"Fi'l-khawafik\"=in the four quarters or among the\nflappers (standards) or amid palpitations of heart. The bride alludes\nto a festal reception in a town, with burning incense, drums, flags,\netc., etc.\n\n[FN#79] In Egypt the shorter \"honey-moon\" lasts a week; and on the\nseventh day (pop. called Al-Subu'a) bride and bridegroom receive visits\nwith all ceremony, of course in separate apartments. The seventh day\n(like the fortieth, the end of six months and the anniversary) is kept\nfor births and deaths with Khatmahs (perlections) of the Koran \"Saylah\"\nfamily gatherings and so forth. The fortieth day ends the real\nhoney-moon. See Night dccxcii.\n\n[FN#80] I have noted the popular practice, amongst men as well as\nwomen, of hiring the Hammam for private parties and picnicking in it\nduring the greater part of the day. In this tale the bath would belong\nto the public and it was a mere freak of the bride to bathe with her\nbridegroom. \"Respectable\" people do not.\n\n[FN#81] She speaks in the last line as the barber or the bathman.\n\n[FN#82] Here the \"Ana\" begin; and they mostly date themselves. Of the\nfollowing forty-nine, Lane (vol. Ii. P. 578 et seq.) gives only\ntwenty-two and transforms them to notes in chapt. xviii. He could\nhardly translate several of them in a work intended to be popular. Abu\nNow\u03b1s is a person carefully to be avoided; and all but anthropological\nstudents are advised to \"skip\" over anecdotes in which his name and\nabominations occur.\n\n[FN#83] Arab. \"Ghilm\u03b1n,\" the counter part, I have said, of the\nso-called \"Houris.\"\n\n[FN#84] Mosul boasts of never having been polluted with idolatrous\nworship, an exemption which it owes to being a comparatively modern\nplace.\n\n[FN#85] The Aleppines were once noted for debauchery; and the saying is\nstill \"Halabi Shelebi\" (for Chelebi)=the Aleppine is a fellow fine.\n\n[FN#86] Mr. Payne omits the last line. It refers to what Persian boys\ncall, in half-Turkish phrase, \"Alish Takish,\" each acting woman after\nhe has acted man. The best wine is still made in monasteries and the\nco-called Sinai convent is world-famous for its \"R\u03b1ki\" distilled from\nraisins.\n\n[FN#87] i.e. what a difference there is between them!\n\n[FN#88] Arab. \"Salli ala 'l-Nabi,\" a common phrase; meaning not only\npraise hm to avert the evil eye; but also used when one would impose\nsilence upon a babbler. The latter will shuffle off by ejaculating \"Al\"\nand continue his chatter. (Pilgrimage ii.279.)\n\n[FN#89] Arab. \"Suk\u03b1t\" (plur. of S\u03b1ki, cupbearer, our old \"skinker\"):\nthe pure gold (tibr) is the amber-coloured wine, like the Vino d'oro of\nthe Libanus.\n\n[FN#90] That is, fair, white and read: Turkish slaves then abounded at\nBaghdad.\n\n[FN#91] A Wady near Meccah where one of Mohammed's battles was fought.\nThe line means his waist is a thread connected broad breast and large\nhind quarters.\n\n[FN#92] Arab. \"Zaur\u03b1\" which may mean crooked, alluding to the\nwell-known rib.\n\n[FN#93] A pun. Bakr was the name of the eponymus chief and it also\nmeans virgin, as in Abu Bakr.\n\n[FN#94] Arab. \"J\u03b1mi'ayn\"=two cathedrals, any large (and consequently\nvicious) city.\n\n[FN#95] Arab. \"Alm\u03b1,\" before noticed: I cannot translate\n\"damask-lipped\" to suit European taste.\n\n[FN#96] Sherbet flavoured with musk or apple to cool the mouth of \"hot\ncoppers.\"\n\n[FN#97] Arab. \"In'\u03b1sh\" lit. raising from his bier. The whole tone is\nrollicking and slangy.\n\n[FN#98] i.e. In spite of himself: the phrase often occurs.\n\n[FN#99] Europeans usually write \"Beni\" for \"Banu;\" the oblique for the\nnominative. I prefer \"Odhrah\" or \"Ozrah\" to Udhrah; because the Ayn\nbefore the Z\u03b1l takes in pronunciation the more open sound.\n\n[FN#100] Possibly meaning that they were shrouded together; this would\nbe opposed to Moslem sense of decorum in modern days, but the ancient\nwere not so squeamish. See Night cccxi.\n\n[FN#101] This phase of passion in the \"varium et mutabile\" is often\ntreated of by Oriental storytellers, and not unoften seen in real\nEastern life.\n\n[FN#102] As has been said, \"S\u03b1hib\" (preceding the name not following it\nas in India) is a Wazirial title in medi\u03b6val Islam.\n\n[FN#103] This parapet was rendered obligatory by Moses (Deut. xxii. 8)\non account of the danger of leaving a flat roof without garde-fou.\nEastern Christians neglect the precaution and often lose their children\nby the neglect.\n\n[FN#104] Arab. \"Lauh.\" A bit of thin board washed white used for\nlessons as slates are amongst us, and as easily cleaned because the\ninks contain no minerals. It is a long parallelogram with triangular\nears at the short sides; and the shape must date from ages immemorial\nas it is found, throughout Syria and its adjoinings, in the oldest rock\ninscriptions to which the form serves as a frame. Hence the \"abacus\" or\ncounting table derived from the Gr. , a slab (or in Phenician \"sand\"),\ndust or sand in old days having been strewed on a table or tablet for\nschool- boys' writings and mathematical diagrams.\n\n[FN#105] A pre-Islamic bard and friend to Tarafah the poet of the\nSuspended or \"Prize Poem.\" The tale is familiar to all the Moslem East.\nTarafah's Laura was one Khaul\u03b1.\n\n[FN#106] King of Hirah in Chald\u03b6a, a drunken and bloodthirsty tyrant.\nWhen offended by the lampoons of the two poets he sent them with\nlitter\u03b6 Bellerophonti\u03b6 to the Governor of Al-Bahrayn. Al-Mutalammis\n\"smelt a rat\" and destroyed his charged, but Tarafah was mutilated and\nburied alive, the victim of a trick which is old as (and older than)\ngood King David and Uriah. Of course neither poet could read.\n\n[FN#107] On this occasion, and in presence of the women only, the groom\nfirst sees or is supposed to see the face of his wife. It is, I have\nsaid, the fashion for both to be greatly overcome and to appear as if\nabout to faint: the groom looks especially ridiculous when so\nattitudinising.\n\n[FN#108] This leisurely operation of the \"deed of kind\" was sure to be\nnoticed; but we do not find in The Nights any allusion to that\nsystematic prolongatio veneris which is so much cultivated by Moslems\nunder the name Ims\u03b1k = retention, withholding i.e. the semen. Yet\nEastern books on domestic medicine consist mostly of two parts; the\nfirst of general prescriptions and the second of aphrodisiacs\nespecially those qui prolongent le plaisir as did the Gaul by thinking\nof sa pauvre m\u03b8re. The Ananga-Ranga, by the Reverend Koka Pandit before\nquoted, gives a host of recipes which are used, either externally or\ninternally, to hasten the paroxysm of the woman and delay the orgasm of\nthe man (p. 27). Some of these are curious in the extreme. I heard of a\nHindi who made a candle of frogs' fat and fibre warranted to retain the\nseed till it burned out; it failed notably because, relying upon it, he\nworked too vigorously. The essence of the \"retaining art\" is to avoid\nover-tension of the muscles and to pre-occupy the brain: hence in\ncoition Hindus will drink sherbet, chew betel-nut and even smoke.\nEuropeans ignoring the science and practice, are contemptuously\ncompared with village-cocks by Hindu women who cannot be satisfied,\nsuch is their natural coldness, increased doubtless by vegetable diet\nand unuse of stimulants, with less than twenty minutes. Hence too while\nthousands of Europeans have cohabited for years with and have had\nfamilies by \"native women,\" they are never loved by them:\u2014at least I\nnever heard of a case.\n\n[FN#109] Abu 'l Abbas al-Rak\u03b1shi, a poet of the time. The saying became\nproverbial (Burckhardt's A. Proverbs No. 561) and there are variants,\ne.g. The night's promise is spread with butter that melteth when day\nariseth.\n\n[FN#110] Koran xxvi. 5,6 or \"And those who err (Arab. Al- gh\u03b1w\u03can)\nfollow the footsteps of the poets,\" etc.\n\n[FN#111] Half-brother of Abdullah bin al-Zubayr, the celebrated\npretender.\n\n[FN#112] Grand-daughter of the Caliph Abu Bakr and the most beautiful\nwoman of her day.\n\n[FN#113] The Calc. Edit. by mistake reads \"Izzah.\" Torrens (notes\ni.-xi.) remarks \"The word Ghoonj is applied to this sort of\nblandishment (i.e. an affected gait), and says Burckhardt (Prov. No.\n685), \"The women of Cairo flatter themselves that their Ghoonj is\nsuperior to that of all other females in the Levant.\" But Torrens did\nnot understand and Burckhardt would not explain \"Ghunj\" except by\n\"assumed airs\" (see No. 714). It here means the art of moving in\ncoition, which is especially affected, even by modest women, throughout\nthe East and they have many books teaching the genial art. In China\nthere are professors, mostly old women, who instruct young girls in\nthis branch of the gymnastic.\n\n[FN#114] When reciting the F\u03b1tihah (opening Koranic chapter), the hands\nare held in this position as if to receive a blessing falling from\nHeaven; after which both palms are passed down the face to distribute\nit over the eyes and other organs of sense.\n\n[FN#115] The word used is \"biz\u03b1'at\" = capital or a share in a\nmercantile business.\n\n[FN#116] This and the following names are those of noted traditionists\nof the eighth century, who derive back to Abdallah bin Mas'\u03cad, a\n\"Companion of the Apostle.\" The text shows the recognised formula of\nascription for quoting a \"Had\u03bds\" = saying of Mohammed; and sometimes it\nhas to pass through half a dozen mouths.\n\n[FN#117] Traditionists of the seventh and eighth centuries who refer\nback to the \"Father of the Kitten\" (Abu Horayrah), an uncle of the\nApostle.\n\n[FN#118] Eastern story-books abound in these instances. Pilpay says in\n\"Kalilah was Dimnah,\" \"I am the slave of what I have spoken and the\nlord of what I keep hidden.\" Sa'adi follows suit, \"When thou speakest\nnot a word, thou hast thy hand upon it; when it is once spoken it hath\nlaid its hand on thee.\" Caxton, in the \"Dyctes, or Sayings of\nPhilosophers\" (printed in 1477) uses almost the same words.\n\n[FN#119] i.e. for her husband's and her sin in using a man like a\nbeast.\n\n[FN#120] See the Second Lady's story (tant\u03c4t Kadi, tant\u03c4t bandit), pp.\n20-26 by my friend Yacoub Artin Pasha in the Bulletin before quoted,\nseries ii. No. 4 of 1883. The sharpers' trick is common in Eastern\nfolk-lore, and the idea that underlies is always metempsychosis or\nmetamorphosis. So, in the Kalilah wa Dimnah (new Syriac), the three\nrogues persuade the ascetic that he is leading a dog not a sheep.\n\n[FN#121] This is the popular prejudice and it has doubtless saved many\na reputation. The bat is known to Moslems as the Bird of Jesus, a\nlegend derived by the Koran from the Gospel of Infancy (1 chapt. xv.\nHone's Apocryphal New Testament), in which the boy Jesus amuses herself\nwith making birds of clay and commanding them to fly when (according to\nthe Moslems) they became bats. These Apocryphal Gospels must be\ncarefully read, if the student would understand a number of Moslem\nallusions to the Inj\u03bdl which no Evangel contains.\n\n[FN#122] Because it quibbled away out of every question, a truly\ndiplomatic art.\n\n[FN#123] This Caliph, the orthodox Abbaside of Egypt (A.D. 1261) must\nnot be confounded with the Druze-god, the heretical Fatimite (A.D.\n996-1021). D'Herbelot (Hakem\") gives details. Mr. S.L. Poole (The\nAcademy, April 26, '79) is very severe on the slip of Mr. Payne.\n\n[FN#124] The beautiful name is Persian \"An\u03cash\u03bdn-raw\u03b1n\" = Sweet of Soul;\nand the glorious title of this contemporary of Mohammed is \"Al-Malik\nal-Adil\" = the Just King. Kisra, the Chosro\u03bb per excellentiam, is also\napplied to the godly Guebre of whom every Eastern dictionary gives\ndetails.\n\n[FN#125] \"Sultan\" is here an anachronism: I have noted that the title\nwas first assumed independently by Mohammed of Ghazni after it had been\nconferred by the Caliph upon his father the Amir Al- Umar\u03b1 (Mayor of\nthe Palace), Sabuktagin A.D. 974.\n\n[FN#126] The \"Sakk\u03b1\" or water-carrier race is peculiar in Egypt and\nfamed for trickery and intrigue. Opportunity here as elsewhere makes\nthe thief.\n\n[FN#127] A famous saying of Mohammed is recorded when an indiscretion\nof his young wife Ayishah was reported to him, \"There be no adultress\nwithout an adulterer (of a husband).\" Fatimah the Apostle's daughter is\nsupposed to have remained a virgin after bearing many children: this\ncoarse symbolism of purity was known to the classics (Pausanias), who\nmade Juno recover her virginity by bathing in a certain river every\nyear. In the last phrase, \"Al-Salaf\" (ancestry) refers to Mohammed and\nhis family.\n\n[FN#128] Khusrau Parwiz, grandson of Anushirwan, the Guebre King who\ntore his kingdom by tearing Mohammed's letter married the beautiful\nMaria or Irene (in Persian \"Sh\u03bdr\u03bdn = the sweet) daughter of the Greek\nEmperor Maurice: their loves were sung by a host of poets; and likewise\nthe passion of the sculptor Farh\u03b1d for the same Shirin. Mr. Lyall\nwrites \"Parw\u03baz\" and holds \"Parw\u03bdz\" a modern form.\n\n[FN#129] he could afford it according to historians. His throne was\nsupported by 40,000 silver pillars; and 1,000 globes, hung in the dome,\nformed an orrery, showing the motion of the heavenly bodies; 30,000\npieces of embroidered tapestry overhung the walls below were vaults\nfull of silver, gold and gems.\n\n[FN#130] Arab. \"Khuns\u03b1,\" meaning also a catamite as I have explained.\nLane (ii. 586) has it; \"This fish is of a mixed kind.\" (!).\n\n[FN#131] So the model lovers became the ordinary married couple.\n\n[FN#132] Arab. \"Jamm.\" Heb. \"Yamm.\" Al-Har\u03bdri (Ass. Of Sinjar and\nS\u03b1wah) uses the rare form Yam for sea or ocean.\n\n[FN#133] Al-Hadi, immediate predecessor of Harun al-Rashid, called\n\"Al-Atbik\": his upper lip was contracted and his father placed a slave\nover him when in childhood, with orders to say, \"Musa! atbik!\" (draw\nthy lips together) when he opened his mouth.\n\n[FN#134] Immediate successor of Harun al-Rashid. Al-Amin is an imposing\nphysical figure, fair, tall, handsome and of immense strength;\naccording to Al-Mas'\u03cadi, he killed a lion with his own hands; but his\nmind and judgement were weak. He was fond of fishing; and his reply to\nthe courtier bringing important news, \"Confound thee! leave me! for\nKausar (an eunuch whom he loved) hath caught two fish and I none,\"\nreminds one of royal frivolity in France.\n\n[FN#135] Afterwards governor in Khorasan under Al-Maamun.\n\n[FN#136] Intendant of the palace under Harun al-Rashid.\n\n[FN#137] Moslem women have this advantage over their Western\nsisterhood: they can always leave the house of father or husband and,\nwithout asking permission, pay a week or ten days' visit to their\nfriends. But they are not expected to meet their lovers.\n\n[FN#138] The tale of \"Susannah and the Elders\" in Moslem form.\n\n\nD\u03b1niy\u03b1l is the Arab Daniel, supposed to have been buried at\n\n\nAlexandria. (Pilgrimage, i. 16.)\n\n\n\n[FN#139] According to Moslem law, laid down by Mohammed on a delicate\noccasion and evidently for a purpose, four credible witnesses are\nrequired to prove fornication, adultery, sodomy and so forth; and they\nmust swear that actually saw rem in re, the \"Kohl-needle in the\nKohl-\u03b9tui,\" as the Arabs have it. This practically prevents conviction\nand the sabre cuts the Gordian knot.\n\n[FN#140] Who, in such case, would represent our equerry.\n\n[FN#141] The Badawi not only always tells the truth, a perfect contrast\nwith the townsfolk; he is blunt in speech addressing his Sultan \"O\nSa'\u03bdd!\" and he has a hard rough humour which we may fairly describe as\n\"wut.\" When you chaff him look out for falls.\n\n[FN#142] The answer is as old as the hills, teste the tale of what\nhappened when Amasis (who on horseback) raised his leg, \"broke wind and\nbad the messenger carry it back to Apries.\" Herod. Ii. 162. But for the\nfull significance of the Badawi's most insulting reply see the Tale of\nAbu Hasan in Night ccccxi.\n\n[FN#143] Arab. \"Y\u03b1 s\u03b1ki\" al-Dakan\" meaning long bearded (foolish) as\nwell as frosty bearded.\n\n[FN#144] P. N. of the tribe, often mentioned in The Nights.\n\n[FN#145] Adnan, which whom Arab genealogy begins, is generally supposed\nto be the eighth (Al-Tabari says the fortieth) descendant from Ishmael\nand nine generations are placed between him and Fahr (Fihr) Kuraysh.\nThe Prophet cut all disputes short by saying, \"Beyond Adnan none save\nAllah wotteth and the genealogists lie.\" (Pilgrimage ii. 344) M.C. de\nPerceval dates Adnan about B.C. 130.\n\n[FN#146] Koran xxxiii., 38.\n\n[FN#147] Arab. \"Arab al-Arab\u03b1,\" as before noticed (vol. i. 12) the pure\nand genuine blood as opposed to the \"Musta'aribah,\" the \"Muta'arribah,\"\nthe \"Mosarabians\" and other Araboids; the first springing from Khatan\n(Yaktan?) and the others from Adnan. And note that \"Arabi\" = a man of\npure Arab race, either of the Desert or of the city, while A'ar\u03b1bi\napplies only to the Desert man, the Badawi.\n\n[FN#148] Koran xxxviii. 2, speaking of the Unbelievers (i.e.\nnon-Moslems) who are full of pride and contention.\n\n[FN#149] One of the Ash\u03b1b, or Companions of the Apostle, that is them\nwho knew him personally. (Pilgrimage ii. 80, etc.) The Ash\u03b1b al-Suffah\n(Companions of the bench or sofa) were certain houseless Believers\nlodged by the Prophet. (Pilgrimage ii. 143).\n\n[FN#150] Hence Omar is entitled \"Al-Adil = the Just.\" Readers will\nremember that by Moslem law and usage murder and homicide are offences\nto be punished by the family, not by society or its delegates. This\nsystem reappears in civilisation under the denomination of \"Lynch Law,\"\na process infinitely distasteful to lawyers (whom it abolishes) and\nmost valuable when administered with due discretion.\n\n[FN#151] Lane translates (ii. 592) \"from a desire of seeing the face of\nGod;\" but the general belief of Al-Islam is that the essence of Allah's\ncorporeal form is different from man's. The orthodox expect to \"see\ntheir Lord on Doom-day as they see the full moon\" (a tradition). But\nthe Mu'atazilites deny with the existence of matter the corporiety of\nAlah and hold that he will be seen only with the spiritual eyes, i.e.\nof reason.\n\n[FN#152] See Gesta Romanorum, Tale cviii., \"of Constancy in adhering to\nPromises,\" founded on Damon and Pythias or, perhaps, upon the Arabic.\n\n[FN#153] Arab. \"Al-Ahr\u03b1m,\" a word of unknown provenance. It has been\nsuggested that the singular form (Haram), preceded by the Coptic\narticle \"pi\" (= the) suggested to the Greeks \"Pyramis.\" But this word\nis still sub judice and every Egyptologist seems to propose his own\nderivation. Brugsch (Egypt i. 72) makes it Greek, the Egyptian being\n\"Abumir,\" while \"pir- am-us\" = the edge of the pyramid, the corners\nrunning from base to apex. The Egyptologist proves also what the\nAncients either ignored or forgot to mention, that each pyramid had its\nown name.\n\n[FN#154] Arab. \"Ahk\u03b1m,\" in this matter supporting the\n\n\n\"Pyramidologists.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#155] All imaginative.\n\n[FN#156] It has always been my opinion founded upon considerations too\nlong to detail, that the larger Pyramids contain many unopened\nchambers. Dr. Grant Bey of Cairo proposed boring through the blocks as\nArtesian wells are driven. I cannot divine why Lane (ii, 592) chose to\nomit this tale, which is founded on historic facts and interests us by\nsuggesting a comparison between Medi\u03b6val Moslem superstitions and those\nof our xixth Century, which to our descendants will appear as wild, if\nnot as picturesque, as those of The Nights. The \"inspired British inch\"\nand the building by Melchisedek (the Shaykh of some petty Syrian\nvillage) will compare not unaptly with the enchanted swords, flexible\nglass and guardian spirits. But the Pyramidennarren is a race which\nwill not speedily die out: it is based on Nature, the Pyramids\nthemselves.\n\n[FN#157] Arab. \"Rizm\"; hence, through the Italian Risma our ream (= 20\nquires of paper, etc.), which our dictionaries derive from (!). See\n\"frail\" in Night dcccxxxviii.\n\n[FN#158] Arab. \"Tar\u03bdkah\" = the path trodden by ascetics and mystics in\norder to attain true knowledge (Ma'rifat in Pers. D\u03b1nish). These are\nextensive subjects: for the present I must refer readers to the\nDabistan, iii. 35 and iii. 29, 36-7.\n\n[FN#159] Alluding to the Fish\u03b1r or \"Squeeze of the tomb.\" This is the\nJewish Hibbut hakkeber which all must endure, save those who lived in\nthe Holy Land or died on the Sabbath-eve (Friday night). Then comes the\nquestioning by the Angels Munkar and Nakir (vulgarly called N\u03b1kir and\nNak\u03bdr) for which see Lane (M.E. chapt. xviii.). In Egypt a \"Mulakkin\"\n(intelligencer) is hired to prompt and instruct the dead. Moslems are\nbeginning to question these facts of their faith: a Persian\nacquaintance of mine filled his dead father's mouth with flour and\nfinding it in loco on opening the grave, publicly derided the belief.\nBut the Mullahs had him on the hip, after the fashion of reverends,\ndeclaring that the answers were made through the whole body, not only\nby the mouth. At last the Voltairean had to quit Shiraz.\n\n[FN#160] Arab. \"Wal\u03bd\" = a saint, Santon (Ital. Form) also a slave. See\nin Richardson (Dissert. iii.), an illustration of the difference\nbetween Wali and W\u03b1li as exemplified by the Caliph al- K\u03b1dir and Mahm\u03cad\nof Ghazni.\n\n[FN#161] Arab. \"T\u03bdn\" = the tenacious clay puddled with chaff which\nserves as mortar for walls built of Adobe or sun dried brick. I made a\nmistake in my Pilgrimage (i.10) translating Ras al-T\u03bdn the old Pharos\nof Alexandria, by \"Headland of Figs.\" It is Headland of Clay, so called\nfrom the argile there found and which supported an old pottery.\n\n[FN#162] The danik (Pers. Dang) is the sixth of a dirham. Mr. S. L.\nPoole (The Acad. April 26, '79) prefers his uncle's translation \"a\nsixth\" (what of?) to Mr. Payne's \"farthing.\" The latter at any rate is\nintelligible.\n\n[FN#163] The devotee was \"S\u03b1im al-dahr\" i.e. he never ate nor drank\nfrom daylight to dark throughout the year.\n\n[FN#164] The ablution of a common man differs from that of an\n\n\neducated Moslem as much as the eating of a clown and a gentleman.\n\n\nMoreover there are important technical differences between the\n\n\nWuzu of the Sunni and the Shi'ah.\n\n\n\n[FN#165] i.e., by honouring his father.\n\n[FN#166] This young saint was as selfish and unnatural a sinner as\nSaint Alexius of the Gesta Romanorum (Tale xv.), to whom my friend, the\nlate Thomas Wright, administered just and due punishment.\n\n[FN#167] The verses are affecting enough, though by no means high\npoetry.\n\n[FN#168] The good young man cut his father for two reasons: secular\npower (an abomination to good Moslems) and defective title to the\nCaliphate. The latter is a trouble to Turkey in the present day and\nwith time will prove worse.\n\n[FN#169] Umm Amr\u03bd (written Amr\u03ca and pronounced Amr') a matronymic,\n\"mother of Amru.\" This story and its terminal verse is a regular Joe\nMiller.\n\n[FN#170] Abuse and derision of schoolmaster are staple subjects in the\nEast as in the West, (Quem Dii oderunt p\u03b6dagogum fecerunt).\nAnglo-Indians will remember:\n\n     \"Miy\u03b1n-ji ti-ti!\n\n\n     Bachche-k\u03bd g\u03b1nd men anguli k\u03bd thi!\"\n\n\n     (\"Schoolmaster hum!\n\n\n     Who fumbled and fingered the little boy's bum?\")\n\n\n\n[FN#171] Arab. \"Mujawirin\" = the lower servants, sweepers, etc. See\nPilgrimage ii. 161, where it is also applied to certain \"settlers\" at\nAl-Medinah. Burckhardt (No. 480) notices another meaning \"foreigners\nwho attend mosque-lectures\" and quotes the saying, \"A. pilgrimaged:\"\nquoth B. \"yes! and for his villanies resideth (Muj\u03b1wir) at Meccah.\"\n\n[FN#172] The custom (growing obsolete in Egypt) is preserved in\nAfghanistan where the learned wear turbans equal to the canoe- hats of\nthe Spanish cardinals.\n\n[FN#173] Arab. \"Makmarah,\" a metal cover for the usual brasier or pan\nof charcoal which acts as a fire-place. Lane (ii. 600) does not\ntranslate the word and seems to think it means a belt or girdle, thus\nblunting the point of the dominie's excuse.\n\n[FN#174] This story, a very old Joe Miller, was told to Lane as\nsomething new and he introduced it into his Modern Egyptians, end of\nchapt. ii.\n\n[FN#175] This tale is a mere abbreviation of \"The King and his\n\n\nWazir's Wife,\" in the Book of Sindibad or the Malice of Women,\n\n\nNight dcxxviii., {which see for annotations}.\n\n\n\n[FN#176] The older \"Roe\" which may be written \"Rukh\" or \"Rukhkh.\"\nColonel Yule, the learned translator of Marco Polo, has shown that\n\"Roc's\" feathers were not uncommon curiosities in medi\u03b6val ages; and\nholds that they were mostly fronds of the palm Raphia vinifera, which\nhas the largest leaf in the vegetable kingdom and which the Moslems of\nZanzibar call \"Satan's date-tree.\" I need hardly quote \"Frate Cipolla\nand the Angel Gabriel's Feather.\" (Decameron vi. 10.)\n\n[FN#177] The tale is told in a bald, disjointed style and will be\nrepeated in Sindbad the Seaman where I shall again notice the \"Roc.\"\nSee Night dxxxvii., etc.\n\n[FN#178] H\u03bdrah in Mesopotamia was a Christian city and\n\n\nprincipality subject to the Persian Monarchs; and a rival to the\n\n\nRoman kingdom of Ghass\u03b1n. It has a long history, for which see\n\n\nD'Herbelot.\n\n\n\n[FN#179] A pre-Islamite poet.\n\n[FN#180] Arab. \"Bik\u03b1'a,\" alluding to the pilgrimages made to\nmonasteries and here equivalent to, \"Address ye to the road,\" etc.\n\n[FN#181] Whose by name was Abu Ali, a poet under the Abbasides (eighth\nand ninth centuries).\n\n[FN#182] A well-known quarter of Baghdad, often mentioned in The\n\n\nNights.\n\n\n\n[FN#183] Another well-known poet of the time.\n\n[FN#184] Arab. \"Sard\u03b1b\": noticed before.\n\n[FN#185] A gigantic idol in the Ka'abah, destroyed by Mohammed: it gave\nname to a tribe.\n\n[FN#186] Arab. \"Ya Kaww\u03b1d:\" hence the Port. and Span.\n\n\nAlcoviteiro.\n\n\n\n[FN#187] Arab \"Tufayli,\" a term before noticed; the class was as\nwell-known in Baghdad and Cairo as in ancient Rome.\n\n[FN#188] Arab. \"Jauzar\"=a bubalus (Antilope defessa), also called \"Aye\"\nfrom the large black eyes. This bovine antelope is again termed Bakar\nal-Wahsh (wild cattle) or \"Bos Sylvestris\" (incerti generic, Forsk.).\nBut Janzar also signifies hart, so I render it by \"Ariel\" (the\nwell-known antelope).\n\n[FN#189] Arab. \"Tar\u03b1ib\" plur. of tar\u03bdbah. The allusion is to the heart,\nand \"the little him's a her.\"\n\n[FN#190] A well-known poet of the ninth century (A.D.).\n\n[FN#191] These easy deaths for love are a lieu common: See sundry of\nthem in the Decameron (iv. 7, etc.); and, in the Heptameron (Nouv.\nIxx.), the widow who lay down and died of love and sorrow that her\npassion had become known. For the fainting of lovers see Nouvelle xix.\n\n[FN#192] This is a favourite Badawi dish, but too expensive unless some\naccident happen to the animal. Old camel is much like bull-beef, but\nthe young meat is excellent, although not relished by Europeans\nbecause, like strange fish, it has no recognised flavour. I have\nnoticed it in my \"First Footsteps\" (p. 68, etc.). There is an old idea\nin Europe that the maniacal vengeance of the Arab is increased by\neating this flesh, the beast is certainly vindictive enough; but a\nfurious and frantic vengefulness characterises the North American\nIndian who never saw a camel. Mercy and pardon belong to the elect, not\nto the miserables who make up \" humanity.\"\n\n[FN#193] i.e. of the Province Hazramaut, the Biblical Hazarmaveth (Gen.\nx. 26). The people are the Swill of Arabia and noted for thrift and\nhard bargains; hence the saying, If you meet a serpent and a Hazrami,\nslay the Hazrami. To prove how ubiquitous they are it is related that a\nman, flying from their society, reached the uttermost parts of China\nwhere he thought himself safe. But, as he was about to pass the night\nin some ruin, he heard a voice bard by him exclaim, \"O Im\u03b1d al-Din!\"\n(the name of the patron-saint of Hazramaut). Thereupon he arose and\nfled and he is, they say, flying still.\n\n[FN#194] Arab. \"F\u03b1l\" alluding to the Sortes Coranic\u03b6 and other silly\npractices known to the English servant-girs when curious about her\nfuture and her futur.\n\n[FN#195] i.e., in Arab-land (where they eat dates) and Ajam, or lands\nnon-Arab (where bread is the staff of life); that is, all the world\nover.\n\n[FN#196] This story is curious and ethnologically valuable. The Badawi\nwho eructates as a civility, has a mortal hatred to a crepitus ventris;\nand were a by-stander to laugh at its accidental occurrence, he would\nat once be cut down as a \"pundonor.\" The same is the custom amongst the\nHighlanders of Afghanistan, and its artificial nature suggests direct\nderivation, for the two regions are separated by a host of tribes,\nPersians and Baloch, Sindis and Panj\u03b1bis who utterly ignore the point\nof honour and behave like Europeans. The raids of the pre-Islamitic\nArabs over the lands lying to the north-east of them are almost\nforgotten; still there are traces, and this may be one of them.\n\n[FN#197] Arab. \"Al-\u0391r.\" The Badawi saying is \"Al-n\u03b1r wa l\u03b1 l- \u03b1r\"\n(Hell-)fire, but not shame. The sentiment is noble. Hasan the Prophet's\ngrandson, a poor creature demoralised by over- marrying, chose the\nconverse, \"Shame is better than Hell-fire.\" An old Arabic poem has,\n\n     \"The Fire and not shame be the Lord of thee\n\n\n      And e'en to The Fire from shame go flee.\"\n\n\n\nAl-Hariri (Ass. of the Badawin) also has,\n\n     \"For rather would I die my death than shame,\u2014\n\n\n      On bier be borne than bear a caitiff's name.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#198] A grammarian and rhetorician of ninth century.\n\n[FN#199] Once existing in Syrian Ham\u03b1h (the Biblical Hamath); and so\ncalled because here died the Emperor Heraclius called by the Arabs\n\"Hirakl.\"\n\n[FN#200] Till lately it was the custom to confine madmen in Syrian\nmonasteries, hoping a cure from the patron Saint, and a terrible time\nthey had of it. Every guide book relates the healing process as\nformerly pursued at the Maronite Convent Koshaya not far from Bayrut.\nThe idiot or maniac was thrust headlong by the monks into a dismal\ncavern with a heavy chain round his neck, and was tied up within a span\nof the wall to await the arrival of Saint Anthony who especially\naffects this holy place. In very few weeks the patient was effectually\ncured or killed by cold, solitude and starvation.\n\n[FN#201] The Moslem Eve, much nearer the Hebrew \"Hawah\" = the\n\"manifester,\" because (Gen. iii. 20) she was (to be) the mother of all\nthat live (\"Kull hayy\").\n\n[FN#202] The mad lover says \"they\" for \"she,\" which would be too\nfamiliar in speaking to strangers.\n\n[FN#203] i.e. falsely to report the death.\n\n[FN#204] A famous grammarian, etc., of the tenth century.\n\n[FN#205] The classical Amorium in Phrygia now Anatolia: Anb\u03b1r is\n\n\na town (before mentioned) on the Euphrates; by the rules of\n\n\nArabic grammar the word is pronounced (though never written)\n\n\nAmb\u03b1r.\n\n\n\n[FN#206] \"Art thou not the slave of the Messiah, the R\u03b1hib (monk)?\"\n\"No! I am the slave of Allah, the R\u03b1ghib (desirous of mercy from the\nAlmighty). \" A fair specimen of the Saj'a or rhymed prose. Abdallah\n(properly \"Abdu'llah:\") is a kind of neutral name, neither Jewish,\nMoslem nor Christian; hence I adopted it, (Pilgrimage i. 20.)\n\n[FN#207] Arab. \"Hanut,\" prop. a tavern where liquors are sold, a term\napplied contemptuously to shops, inns, etc., kept by Christians.\n\n[FN#208] Arab. \"Shirk\" = syntheism of the \"Mushrik\" (one who makes\nother gods partners with God), a word pronounced \"Mushrit\" by the\nWahhabis and the Badawin.\n\n[FN#209] Koran vii. 195. The passage declaims against the idols of the\nArabs, sun, moon. stars, etc.\n\n[FN#210] This minor miracle is commonly reported, and is not, I\nbelieve, unknown to modern \"Spiritualism.\" The dead Wali or Waliyah\n(Saintess) often impels the bier-bearers to the spot where he would be\nburied: hence in Cairo the tombs scattered about the city. Lane notices\nit, Mod. E. chaps. xxviii.\n\n[FN#211] Koran x. 36, speaking of being turned aside from the true\nworship.\n\n[FN#212] One of the Wazirs of al-Maamun, Kurrat al-Ayn = \"coolness\n(i.e. delight) of the eyes\" Ali bin Hish\u03b1m surnamed Abu'l-Hasan, was\nprefect of Baghdad under the same reign.\n\n[FN#213] The Mac. Edit. (ii. 448) reads for Kaw\u03b1id (plur. of K\u03b1id =\nGovernors, Span. Alcayde) \"Faw\u03b1id\": hence Lane (ii. 606) translates \"\ntry thy heart.\"\n\n [FN#214] The mats of Sind were famous even in my day, but under\n\n\nEnglish rule native industries are killed out by Manchester and\n\n\nBirmingham.\n\n\n\n[FN#215] Saj\u03b1h was the name of a famous female impostor, a contemporary\nof \"Musaylimah the Liar.\"\n\n[FN#216] A poet of Mohammed's day.\n\n[FN#217] A singer and composer of the first century (A. H.).\n\n[FN#218] Arab = a roe, a doe; also the Yoni (of women, mares and\nbitches). It is the Heb. Tabitha and the Greek Dorcas.\n\n[FN#219] Within the Hud\u03cad al-Harem (bounds of the Holy Places), at\nAl-Medinah as well as Meccah, all \"Muharram\u03b1t\" (forbidden sins) are\ndoubly unlawful, such as drinking spirits, immoral life, etc. The Imam\nMalik forbids slaying animals without, however, specifying any penalty.\nThe felling of trees is a disputed point; and no man can be put to\ndeath except invaders, infidels and desecraters. (Pilgrimage ii. 167.)\n\n[FN#220] A poet of the first century (A.H.).\n\n[FN#221] In Arab. =a fawn beginning to walk, also the 28th lunar\nmansion or station, usually known as Batn al-Hut or Whale's belly.\nThese mansions or houses, the constellations through which the moon\npasses in her course along her orbit, are much used in Moslem astrology\nand meteorology.\n\n[FN#222] Arab. Kalla-m\u03b1 = it is seldom (rare) that etc. used in books.\n\n[FN#223] Dishonoured by his love being made public. So Hafiz,\n\n\nPetrarch and Camoens.\n\n\n\n[FN#224] Sixth Abbaside, A.D. 809-813.\n\n[FN#225] Ala'llah, tenth Abbaside, A. H. 232-47 (847-61), grandson of\nAl-Rashid who succeeded Al-W\u03b1sik. He was a fanatic Sunni, much opposed\nto the Shi'ahs and he ordered the Christians to wear round their necks\nthe Ghull (collar of wood, iron, or leather), to dress in yellow\nhead-gear and girdles, use wooden stirrups and place figures of devils\nin front of their dwelling-houses. He also gave distinct dresses to\ntheir women and slaves. The Ghull, or collar, was also used for a\npunishment and vermin gathered under it when riveted round the neck:\nhence Golius calls it \"pediculosum columbar.\"\n\n[FN#226] Wazir of the above. killed by al-Muntasir Billah A. H. 247 (=\n861).\n\n[FN#227] Easterns during purgation are most careful and deride the want\nof precaution in Europeans. They do not leave the house till all is\npassed off, and avoid baths, wine and women which they afterwards\nresume with double zest. Here \"breaking the seal\" is taking the girl's\nmaidenhead.\n\n[FN#228] Johannes, a Greek favoured by Al-Mutawakkil and other\n\n\nAbbaside Caliphs.\n\n\n\n[FN#229] Lady of Shaykhs, elders in the faith and men of learning\n\n\n[FN#230] = A.D. 1166.\n\n\n[FN#231] Koran iv. 38. I have before noted what the advantages are.\n\n[FN#232] Koran ii. 282, \"of those whom ye shall choose for witnesses.\"\n\n[FN#233] Koran iv. 175, \"Whereas if there be two sisters, they inherit\nonly two-thirds between them.\"\n\n[FN#234] The secondary meaning is \"F\u03b1'il\" = the active sodomite and\n\"Mafa'\u03cal\" = the passive, a catamite: the former is not an insulting\nword, the latter is a most injurious expression. \"Novimus et qui te!\"\n\n[FN#235] It is an unpleasant fact that almost all the poetry of H\u03b1fiz\nis addressed to youths, as we see by the occasional introduction of\nArabic (e.g., Af\u03b1ka'll\u03b1h). Persian has no genders properly so called,\nhence the effect is less striking. Sa'di, the \"Persian Moralist\" begins\none of the tales, \"A certain learned man fell in love with a beautiful\nson of a blacksmith,\" which Gladwin, translating for the general,\nnecessarily changed to \"daughter.\"\n\n[FN#236] The famous author of the Anthology called Al-Ham\u03b1sah.\n\n[FN#237] i.e., teeth under the young mustachio.\n\n[FN#238] The \"Silk man\" and the celebrated author of the Mak\u03b1m\u03b1t,\nassemblies or seances translated (or attempted) into all the languages\nof Europe. We have two in English, the first by Theodore Preston, M.A.\n(London, Madden, 1850); but it contains only twenty of the fifty\npieces. The second by the late Mr. Chenery (before alluded to) ends\nwith the twenty-sixth assembly: one volume in fact, the other never\nhaving been finished. English readers, therefore, are driven to the\ngrand edition of the Mak\u03b1m\u03b1t in folio by Baron Silvestre de Sacy.\n\n[FN#239] The sword of the eye has a Ham\u03b1il (baldrick worn over right\nshoulder, Pilgrimage i. 352) to support the \"Ghimd\" (vulg. Ghamad) or\nscabbard (of wood or leather): and this baldrick is the young whisker.\n\n[FN#240] The conceit of \"Sul\u03b1fat\" (ptisane, grape juice allowed to\ndrain on the slabs) and \"Saw\u03b1lif\" (tresses, locks) has been explained.\nThe newest wine is the most inebriating, a fact not much known in\nEngland, but familiar to the drinker of \"Vino novo.\"\n\n[FN#241] Koran xii. 51, this said by the nobleman's (Potiphar's) wife\nwho adds, \"I selected him to lie with me; and he (Joseph) is one of\nthose who speak truth.\"\n\n[FN#242] Here we have a specimen of the strained Saj'a or balanced\nprose: slave-girls (jaw\u03b1r\u03bd) are massed with flowing tears (dam'u j\u03b1ri)\non account of the K\u03b1fiyah or rhyme.\n\n[FN#243] The detected sodomite is punished with death according to\nMoslem law, but again comes the difficulty of proof. At Shiraz I have\nheard of a pious Moslem publicly executing his son.\n\n[FN#244] Koran xxvi. 165 et seq. The Lord speaks to the \"people of Lot\"\n(Sodomites). Mr. Payne renders \"Min al-\u03b1lam\u03bdma,\" \"from the four corners\nof the world.\"\n\n[FN#245] Meaning before and behind, a Moslemah \"Bet Balmanno.\"\n\n[FN#246] Arab. \" L\u03cati,\" (plur. Law\u03b1t\u03bd), much used in Persian as a\nbuffoon, a debauchee, a rascal. The orig. sig. is \"One of (the people\nof) Lot.\" The old English was Ingle or Yngle (a bardachio, a catamite,\na boy kept for sodomy), which Minsheu says is, \"Vox hispanica et\nsignificat Latin\u03b8 Inguen\" (the groin). Our vulgar modern word like the\nItalian bugiardo is pop. derived from Fr. Bougre, alias Bulgarus, a\nBulgarian, a heretic: hence Boulgrin (Rabelais i. chaps. ii.) is\npopularly applied to the Albigeois (Albigenses, whose persecution began\nshortly after A.D. 1200) and the Lutherans. I cannot but think that\n\"bougre\" took its especial modern signification after the French became\nacquainted with the Brazil, where the Huguenots (in A.D. 1555) were\nfounding a Nouvelle France, alias Equinoctiale, alias Antarctique, and\nwhence the savages were carried as curiosities to Paris. Their generic\nname was \"Bugre\" (properly a tribe in Southern Brazil, but applied to\nall the redskins) and they were all born Sodomites. More of this in the\nterminal Essay.\n\n[FN#247] His paper is the whiteness of his skin. I have quoted the\nPersian saying of a young beard: \"his cheeks don mourning for his\nbeauty's death.\"\n\n[FN#248] Arab. \"Khab\u03b1l,\" lit. the pus which flows from the bodies of\nthe damned.\n\n[FN#249] Most characteristic of Egypt is all this scene. Her reverence,\nit is true, sits behind a curtain; but her virtue uses language which\nwould shame the lowest European prostitute; and which is filthy almost\nas Dean Swift's.\n\n[FN#250] Arab. \"Niyat:\" the Moslem's idea of intentions quite runs with\nthe Christian's. There must be a \"Niyat\" or purpose of prayer or the\ndevotion is valueless. Lane tells a pleasant tale of a thief in the\nMosque, saying \"I purpose (before Prayer) to carry off this nice pair\nof new shoes!\"\n\n[FN#251] Arab. \"Ya 'l-Aj\u03caz\" (in Cairo \"Agooz\" pronounced \"Ago-o- oz\"):\nthe address is now insulting and would elicit \"The old woman in thine\neye\" (with fingers extended). In Egypt the polite address is \"O lady\n(Sitt), O pilgrimess, O bride, and O daughter\" (although she be the\nwrong side of fifty). In Arabia you may say \"O woman (Imraah)\" but in\nEgypt the reply would be \"The woman shall see Allah cut out thy heart!\"\nSo in Southern Italy you address \"bella f\u03b9\" (fair one) and cause a\nquarrel by \"vecchiarella.\"\n\n[FN#252] Governor of Egypt, Khorasan, etc. under Al-Maamun.\n\n[FN#253] i.e., a companion, a solacer: it is also a man's name (vol. i.\nxxiv.).\n\n[FN#254] At Baghdad; evidently written by a Baghdad or Mosul man.\n\n[FN#255] A blind traditionist of Bassorah (ninth century).\n\n[FN#256] Arab. \"Zaghab\"=the chick's down; the warts on the cucumber\nwhich sometimes develop into projections.\n\n[FN#257] The Persian saying is, A kiss without moustachio is bread\nwithout salt.\n\n[FN#258] \"And We will prove you with evil, and with good, for a trial\nof you; and unto Us shall ye return.\" (Koran xxi. 36.) The saying is\nalways in the Moslem's mouth.\n\n[FN#259] Arab. \"Sunnat,\" lit.=a law, especially applied to the habit\nand practice of the Apostle in religious and semi-religious matters,\ncompleting the \"Hadis,\" or his spoken words. Anything unknown is\nentitled \"Bida'ah\"=innovation. Hence the strict Moslem is a model\nConservative whose exemplar of life dates from the seventh century.\nThis fact may be casuistically explained away; but is not less an\nobstacle to all progress and it will be one of the principal dangers\nthreatening Al-Islam. Only fair to say that an \"innovation\" introduced\nby a perfect follower of the Prophet is held equal theoretically to a\nSunnat; but vulgarly it is said, \"The rabble will not take gold which\nis not coined.\"\n\n[FN#260] Arab. \"Arsh\"=the ninth Heaven, the Throne of the Deity, above\nthe Seven Heavens of the planets and the Primum Mobile which, in the\nPtolemaic system, sets them all in motion.\n\n[FN#261] This description of a good Moslem's death is at once concise,\npathetic and picturesque.\n\n[FN#262] This is the first mention of coffee; apparently\n\n\nintroduced by the scribe: the word rendered \"coffee-makers\" is\n\n\n\"Kahwajiyah\"; an Arab. plur. of a Turkish termination (-ji) to an\n\n\nArab. word \"Kahwah\" (before noticed).\n\n\n\n[FN#263] Picnics are still made to Rauzah (Rodah) island: I have\nenjoyed many a one, but the ground is all private property.\n\n[FN#264] Arab. \"Hosh,\" plur. H\u03bdsh\u03b1n, the low courts surrounded by mean\nlodgings which in \"native\" Cairo still contrast so strongly with the\n\"gingerbread\" of the new buildings.\n\n[FN#265] This is the Moslem equivalent of \"thank you.\" He looks upon\nthe donor as the channel through which Allah sends him what he wants\nand prays for more to come. Thus \"May your shadow never be less\" means,\nMay you increase in prosperity so that I may gain thereby! And if a\nbeggar is disposed to be insolent (a very common case), he will tell\nyou his mind pretty freely on the subject, and make it evident to you\nthat all you have is also his and that La propri\u03b9t\u03b9 (when not shared)\nest le vol.\n\n[FN#266] I have noticed in my Pilgrimage (i. 51-53) the kindly care\nwith which the stranger is treated by Moslems, a marvellous contrast to\nthe ways of \"civilization.\"\n\n[FN#267] Arab. \"Dimyat,\" vulg. pronounced \"Dum\u03bdyat.\"\n\n[FN#268] Where the door-keepers sit and receive their friends.\n\n[FN#269] This is a traveller's 'Kit' in the East.\n\n[FN#270] Arab. \"Takht-raw\u03b1n,\" from Persian meaning \"moveable throne.\"\n\n[FN#271] The use of the expression proved the speaker to be a\n\n\nMoslem Jinn\u03bd.\n\n\n\n[FN#272] The \"haunted\" house proper, known to the vulgar and to\nspiritualists becomes, I have said, amongst Moslems a place tenanted by\nJinns.\n\n[FN#273] Needless to say there never was a Sultan or a King of Baghdad\nnor a Duke of Athens. This story would seem not to have been written by\nthe author of \"the Emir bin Tahir,\" etc. Night ccccxxiv.\n\n[FN#274] Plur. of \u0391lim=one learned in the law, a D.D. Mohammed did his\nbest to abolish the priest and his craft by making each Moslem\npaterfamilias a pontifex in his own household and he severely condemned\nmonkery and celibacy. But human nature was too much for him: even\nbefore his death ascetic associations began to crop up. Presently the\nOlema in Al-Islam formed themselves into a kind of clergy; with the\nsingle but highly important difference that they must (or ought to)\nlive by some honest secular calling and not by the \"cure of souls\";\nhence Mahomet IV. of Turkey was solemnly deposed. So far and no farther\nMohammed was successful and his success has secured for him the lively\nand lasting hatred of the ecclesiastical caste which he so honestly and\nwisely attempted to abate. Even to the present day missionaries have a\ngood word for the Guebre and the Buddhist, the Brahmanist and the\nConfucian, but none for the Moslem: Dr. Livingstone, for one instance\nof many, evidently preferred the Fetichist, whom he could convert, to\nthe Unitarian Faithful whom he could not.\n\n[FN#275] i.e. they recited seven times (an unusual number), for greater\nsolemnity, the opening Chapter of the Koran which does general duty on\nsuch occasions as making covenants and swearing fealty. This\nproclaiming a King by acclamation suggests the origin of the old and\nvenerable Portuguese institution.\n\n[FN#276] By affixing his own seal and that of the King. This in later\ntimes was supplanted by the \"Tughr\u03b1,\" the imperial cypher or\ncounter-mark (much like a writing master's flourish), with which Europe\nhas now been made familiar through the agency of Turkish tobacco.\n\n[FN#277] Arab. \"Wird\"=the twenty-five last chapters of the Koran which\nare repeated, one or more at a time, after the end of the \"Farz,\" or\nobligatory prayers and ad libitum with the Sunnat or customary, and the\nN\u03b1filah or supererogatory.\n\n[FN#278] The sensible creed of Al-Islam freely allows anthropophagy\nwhen it saves life; a contrast to the sentimentalism of the West which\nbrings a \"charge of cannibalism\" against unfortunate expeditionists. I\nparticularly allude to the scandalous pulings of the English Press over\nthe gallant and unfortunate Greely voyage. (The Academy, Sept. 25,\n1884.)\n\n[FN#279] The story is mere \u0396sopic: the \"Two dogs\" contains it all. One\nof Mohammed's sensible sayings is recorded and deserves\nrepetition:\u2014\"Empire endureth with infidelity (idolatry, etc.), but not\nwith tyranny.\"\n\n[FN#280] This couplet occurs in Night xxi. (vol. i. 207); so I give\nTorrens (p.207) by way of variety.\n\n[FN#281] Lane (ii. 636) omits this tale, \"as it would not only require\na volume of commentary but be extremely tiresome to most readers.\"\nQuite true; but it is valuable to Oriental Students who are beginning\ntheir studies, as an excellent compendium of doctrine and practice\naccording to the Shafi'\u03bd School.\n\n[FN#282] Pronounced Aboo 'l-Husn = Father of Beauty, a fancy name.\n\n[FN#283] As in most hot climates so in Egypt the dead are buried at\nonce despite the risk of vivisepulture. This seems an instinct with the\nSemitic (Arabian) race teste Abraham, as with the Gypsy. Hence the\nMoslems have invoked religious aid. The Mishk\u03b1t al-Mas\u03b1bih (i. 387)\nmakes Mohammed say, \"When any one of you dieth you may not keep him in\nthe house but bear him quickly to his grave\"; and again, \"Be quick in\nraising up the bier: for if the dead have been a good man, it is good\nto bear him gravewards without delay; and if bad, it is frowardness ye\nput from your necks.\"\n\n[FN#284] This biting of the hand in Al-Har\u03bdri expresses bitterness of\nrepentance and he uses more than once the Koranic phrase (chapter vii.,\n148) \"Sukita f\u03bd ayd\u03bdhim,\" lit. where it (the biting) was fallen upon\ntheir hands; i.e. when it repented them; \"sukita\" being here not a\npassive verb as it appears, but an impersonal form uncommon in Arabic.\nThe action is instinctive, a survival of the days when man was a\nsnarling and snapping animal (physically) armed only with claws and\nteeth.\n\n[FN#285] Arab. \"'Alam,\" applied to many things, an \"old man\" of stones\n(K\u03b1k\u03car), a signpost with a rag on the top, etc.\n\n[FN#286] The moon of Ramazan was noticed in Night ix. That of Sha'aban\n(eighth month) begins the fighting month after the conclusion of the\nTreuga Dei in Rajab. See Night ccclxxviii.\n\n[FN#287] These lines have occurred in Night cccxix. I give Mr.\n\n\nPayne's version for variety.\n\n\n\n[FN#288] i.e. in her prime, at fourteen to fifteen.\n\n[FN#289] i.e. pale and yellow.\n\n[FN#290] The word means the wood; but it alludes to a preparation made\nby levigating it on a stone called in India \"Sandl\u03b1s\u03b1.\" The gruel-like\nstuff is applied with the right hand to the right side of the neck,\ndrawing the open fingers from behind forwards so as to leave four\ndistinct streaks, then down to the left side, and so on to the other\nparts of the body.\n\n[FN#291] Arab. \"Haykal\" which included the Porch, the Holy and\n\n\nthe Holy of Holies. The word is used as in a wider sense by\n\n\nJosephus A. J. v. v. 3. In Moslem writings it is applied to a\n\n\nChristian Church generally, on account of its images.\n\n\n\n[FN#292] These lines having occurred before, I here quote Mr.\n\n\nPayne.\n\n\n\n[FN#293] Arab writers often mention the smile of beauty, but rarely,\nafter European fashion, the laugh, which they look upon as undignified.\nA Moslem will say \"Don't guffaw (Kahkahah) in that way; leave giggling\nand grinning to monkeys and Christians.\" The Spaniards, a grave people,\nremark that Christ never laughed. I would draw the reader's attention\nto a theory of mine that the open-hearted laugh has the sound of the\nvowels a and o; while e, i, and u belong to what may be roughly classed\nas the rogue order.\n\n[FN#294] i.e. gaining the love of another, love.\n\n[FN#295] i.e. the abrogated passages and those by which they are\nabrogated. This division is necessary for \"inspired volumes,\" which\nalways abound in contradictions. But the charge of \"opportunism\"\nbrought against the Koran is truly absurd; as if \"revelation\" could\npossibly be aught save opportune.\n\n[FN#296] Koran iv. 160, the chapter \"Women.\"\n\n[FN#297] She unveiled, being a slave-girl and for sale. If a free woman\nshow her face to a Moslem, he breaks out into violent abuse, because\nthe act is intended to let him know that he is looked upon as a small\nboy or an eunuch or a Chriastian\u2014in fact not a man.\n\n[FN#298] Ilah=Heb. El, a most difficult root, meaning strength,\ninterposition, God (Numen) \"the\" (article) \"don't\" (do not), etc. etc.\n\n[FN#299] As far as I know Christians are the only worshippers who kneel\nas if their lower legs were cut off and who \"join hands\" like the\ncaptive offering his wrists to be bound (dare manus). The posture,\nhowever, is not so ignoble as that of the Moslem \"Sijdah\" (prostration)\nwhich made certain North African tribes reject Al-Islam saying, \"These\nmen show their hind parts to heaven.\"\n\n[FN#300] i.e. saying \"I intend (purpose) to pray (for instance) the\ntwo-bow prayer (ruka'tayn) of the day-break,\" etc.\n\n[FN#301] So called because it prohibits speaking with others till the\nprayer is ended.\n\n[FN#302] Lit. \"any thing opposite;\" here used for the Ka'abah towards\nwhich men turn in prayer; as Guebres face the sun or fire and idolators\ntheir images. \"Al-Kiblatayn\" (= the two Kiblahs) means Meccah and\nJerusalem, which was faced by Moslems as well as Jews and Christians\ntill Mohammed changed the direction. For the occasion of the change see\nmy Pilgrimage, ii. 320.\n\n[FN#303] Which includes Tayammum or washing with sand. This is a very\ncleanly practice in a hot, dry land and was adopted long before\nMohammed. Cedrenus tells of baptism with sand being administered to a\ndying traveller in the African desert.\n\n[FN#304] The Koranic order for Wuz\u03ca is concise and as usual obscure,\ngiving rise to a host of disputes and casuistical questions. Its text\nruns (chapt. v.), \"O true believers, when you prepare to pray, wash\n(Ghusl) your faces, and your hands unto the elbows; and rub (Mas-h)\nyour hands and your feet unto the ankles; and if ye be unclean by\nhaving lain with a woman, wash (Ghusl) yourselves all over.\" The\npurifications and ceremonious ablutions of the Jews originated this\ncommand; and the early Christians did very unwisely in not making the\nbath obligatory. St. Paul (Heb. xi. 22) says, \"Let us draw near with a\ntrue heart\u2026having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our\nbodies washed with clean (or pure) water.\" But this did not suffice.\nHence the Eastern Christian, in hot climates where cleanliness should\nrank before godliness, is distinguished by his dirt which as a holy or\nreverend man he makes still dirtier, and he offers an ugly comparison\nwith the Moslem and especially the Hindu. The neglect of commands to\nwash and prohibitions to drink strong waters are the two grand physical\nobjections of the Christian code of morality.\n\n[FN#305] Arab. \"Istinsh\u03b1k\"=snuffing up water from the palm of the right\nhand so as to clean thoroughly the nostrils. This \"function\" is\nunreasonably neglected in Europe, to the detriment of the mucous\nmembrane and the olfactory nerves.\n\n[FN#306] So as to wash between them. The thick beard is combed out with\nthe fingers.\n\n[FN#307] Poor human nature! How sad to compare ita pretensions with its\nactualities.\n\n[FN#308] Complete ablution is rendered necessary chiefly by the\nemission of semen either in copulation or in nocturnal pollution. The\nwater must be pure and not less than a certain quantity, and it must\ntouch every part of the skin beginning with the right half of the\nperson and ending with the left. Hence a plunge-bath is generally\npreferred.\n\n[FN#309] Arab. \"Ta'm\u03bdm,\" lit. crowning with turband, or tiara,\nhere=covering, i.e. wetting.\n\n[FN#310] This practice (saying \"I purpose to defer the washing of the\nfeet,\" etc.) is now somewhat obsolete.\n\n[FN#311] Arabs have a prejudice against the hydropathic treatment of\nwounds, holding that water poisons them: and, as the native produce\nusually contains salt, soda and magnesia, they are justified by many\ncases. I once tried water-bandages in Arabia and failed dismally.\n\n[FN#312] The sick man says his prayers lying in bed, etc., and as he\nbest can.\n\n[FN#313] i.e. saying, \"And peace be on us and on the worshippers of\nAllah which be pious.\"\n\n[FN#314] i.e. saying, \" I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the\n\n\nStoned.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#315] Certain parts should be recited aloud (jahr) and others sotto\nvoce (with mussitation=Khafi). No mistake must be made in this matter\nwhere a Moslem cannot err.\n\n[FN#316] Hence an interest of two-and-a-half percent is not held to be\n\"Rib\u03b1\" or unlawful gain of money by money, usury.\n\n[FN#317] The meal must be finished before the faster can plainly\ndistinguish the white thread from the black thread (Koran ii. 183);\nsome understand this literally, others apply it to the dark and silvery\nstreak of zodiacal light which appears over the Eastern horizon an hour\nor so before sunrise. The fast then begins and ends with the\ndisappearance of the sun. I have noticed its pains and penalties in my\nPilgrimage, i. 110, etc.\n\n[FN#318] For the \"Az\u03b1n\" or call to prayer see Lane, M. E., chapt.\nxviii. The chant, however, differs in every country, and a practical\near will know the land by its call.\n\n[FN#319] Arab. \"Had\u03bds\" or saying of the Apostle.\n\n[FN#320] \"Al-I'itikaf\" resembles the Christian \"retreat;\" but the\nworshipper generally retires to a mosque, especially in Meccah. The\nApostle practised it on Jabal Hira and other places.\n\n[FN#321] The word is the Heb. \"Hagg\" whose primary meaning is\ncircularity of form or movement. Hence it applied to religious\nfestivals in which dancing round the idol played a prime part; and\nLucian of \"saltation\" says, dancing was from the beginning and coeval\nwith the ancient god, Love. But man danced with joy before he\nworshipped, and, when he invented a systematic saltation, he made it\nrepresent two things, and only two things, love and war, in most\nprimitive form, courtship and fighting.\n\n[FN#322] Two adjoining ground-waves in Meccah. For these and for the\nplaces subsequently mentioned the curious will consult my Pilgrimage,\niii. 226, etc.\n\n[FN#323] The 'Umrah or lesser Pilgrimage, I have noted, is the ceremony\nperformed in Meccah at any time out of the pilgrim-season proper, i.e.\nbetween the eighth and tenth days of the twelfth lunar month Zu\n'l-Hijjah. It does not entitle the Moslem to be called H\u03b1jj (pilgrim)\nor H\u03b1j\u03bd as Persians and Indians corrupt the word.\n\n[FN#324] I need hardly note that Mohammed borrowed his\npilgrimage-practices from the pagan Arabs who, centuries before his\nday, danced around the Meccan Ka'abah. Nor can he be blamed for having\nperpetuated a Gentile rite, if indeed it be true that the Ka'abah\ncontained relics of Abraham and Ishmael.\n\n[FN#325] On first sighting Meccah. See Night xci.\n\n[FN#326] Arab. \"Taw\u03b1f:\" the place is called Mat\u03b1f and the guide\nMutawwif. (Pilgrimage, iii. 193, 205.) The seven courses are termed\nAshw\u03b1t.\n\n[FN#327] Stoning the Devil at Mina. (Pilgrimage, iii. 282.) Hence\n\n\nSatan's title \"the Stoned\" (lapidated not castrated).\n\n\n\n[FN#328] Koran viii. 66; in the chapter entided \"Spoil,\" and relating\nmainly to the \"day of Al-Bedr.\n\n[FN#329] Arab. \"AI-Ik\u03b1lah\"= cancelling: Mr. Payne uses the technical\nterm \"resiliation.\"\n\n[FN#330] Freedman of Abdallah, son of the Caliph Omar and noted as a\ntraditionist.\n\n[FN#331] i.e. at a profit: the exchange must be equal\u2014an ordinance\nintended to protect the poor. Arabs have strange prejudices in these\nmatters; for instance it disgraces a Badawi to take money for milk.\n\n[FN#332] Arab. \"Jam\u03b1'ah,\" which in theology means the Greek , our\n\"Church,\" the congregation of the Faithful under a lawful head. Hence\nthe Sunnis call themselves \"People of the Sunnat and Jam\u03b1'at.\" In the\ntext it is explained as \"Ulfat\" or intimacy.\n\n[FN#333] Arab. \"Al-Khal\u03bdl,\" i.e. of Allah=Abraham. Mohammed, following\nJewish tradition, made Abraham rank second amongst the Prophets,\ninferior only to himself and superior to Hazrat Isa=Jesus. I have noted\nthat Ishmael the elder son succeeded his father. He married Da'alah\nbint Muz\u03b1z bin Omar, a Jurhamite, and his progeny abandoning Hebrew\nbegan to speak Arabic (ta'arraba); hence called Muta'arribah or\nArabised Arabs. (Pilgrimage iii. 190.) He died at Meccah and was buried\nwith his mother in the space North of the Ka'abah called Al-Hijr which\nour writers continue to confuse with the city Al-Hijr. (Ibid. 165-66.)\n\n[FN#334] This ejaculation, \"In the name of Allah\" is, I have noted,\nequivalent to \"saying grace.\" If neglected it is a sin and entails a\ncurse.\n\n[FN#335] The ceremonious posture is sitting upon the shin-bones, not\ntailor-fashion; and \"bolting food\" is a sign of boorishness.\n\n[FN#336] Arab. \"Zidd,\" the word is a fair specimen of Arabic ambiguity\nmeaning primarily opposite or contrary (as virtue to vice), secondarily\nan enemy or a friend (as being opposite to an enemy).\n\n[FN#337] \"The whole earth (shall be) but His handful on the\nResurrection day and in His right hand shall the Heaven be rolled up\n(or folded together).\"-Koran xxxix. 67.\n\n[FN#338] See Night lxxxi.\n\n[FN#339] Koran lxxviii. 19.\n\n[FN#340] Arab. \"Al-Mun\u03b1fik,\" technically meaning one who outwardly\nprofesses Al-Islam while inwardly hating it. Thus the word is by no\nmeans synonymous with our \"hypocrite,\" hypocrisy being the homage vice\npays to virtue; a homage, I may observe, nowhere rendered more\nfulsomely than among the so-called Anglo-Saxon race.\n\n[FN#341] Arab. \"Tawakkul al\u03b1 'llah\": in the imperative the phrase is\nvulgarly used=\"Be off!\"\n\n[FN#342] i.e. ceremonial impurity which is sui generis, a very\ndifferent thing from general dirtiness.\n\n[FN#343] A thick beard is one which does not show the skin; otherwise\nthe wearer is a \"Kausaj;\" in Pers. \"K\u03caseh.\" See vol. iii., 246.\n\n[FN#344] Arab. \"Al-Khutnah.\" Nowhere commanded in the Koran and being\nonly a practice of the Prophet, the rite is not indispensable for\nconverts, especially the aged and the sick. Our ideas upon the subject\nare very hazy, for modern \"niceness\" allows a \"Feast of the\nCircumcision,\" but no discussion thereon. Moses (alias Osarsiph)\nborrowed the rite from the Egyptian hierophants who were all thus\n\"purified\"; the object being to counteract the over-sensibility of the\n\"sixth sense\" and to harden the glans against abrasions and infection\nby exposure to air and friction against the dress. Almost all African\ntribes practise it but the modes vary and some are exceedingly curious:\nI shall notice a peculiarly barbarous fashion called Al-Salkh (the\nflaying) still practised in the Arabian province Al-As\u03bdr. (Pilgrimage\niii. 80.) There is a difference too between the Hebrew and the Moslem\nrite. The Jewish operator, after snipping off the foreskin, rips up the\nprepuce with his sharp thumb-nails so that the external cutis does not\nretract far from the internal; and the wound, when healed, shows a\nnarrow ring of cicatrice. This ripping is not done by Moslems. They use\na stick as a probe passed round between glans and prepuce to ascertain\nthe extent of the frenum and that there is no abnormal adhesion. The\nforeskin is then drawn forward and fixed by the forceps, a fork of two\nbamboo splints, five or six inches long by a quarter thick, or in some\ncases an iron like our compasses. This is tied tightly over the\nforeskin so as to exclude about an inch and a half of the prepuce above\nand three quarters below. A single stroke of the razor drawn directly\ndownwards removes the skin. The slight bleeding is stopped by burnt\nrags or ashes and healed with cerates, pledgets and fumigations. Thus\nMoslem circumcision does not prevent the skin retracting.\n\n[FN#345] Of these 6336 versets only some 200 treat on law, civil and\nceremonial, fiscal and political, devotional and ceremonial, canonical\nand ecclesiastical.\n\n[FN#346] The learned young woman omitted Ukhn\u03cakh=Enoch, because not in\nKoran; and if she denoted him by \"Idr\u03bds,\" the latter is much out of\nplace.\n\n[FN#347] Some say grandson of Shem. (Koran vii. 71.)\n\n[FN#348] Koran vii. 63, etc.\n\n[FN#349] Father-in-law of Moses. (Koran vii. 83.)\n\n[FN#350] Who is the last and greatest of the twenty-five.\n\n[FN#351] See Night ccccxxxviii.\n\n[FN#352] Koran ii., whose 256th Ayah is the far-famed and sublime\nThrone-verse which begins \"Allah! there is no god but He, the Living,\nthe Eternal One, whom nor slumber nor sleep seizeth on!\" The trivial\nname is taken from the last line, \"His throne overstretcheth Heaven and\nEarth and to Him their preservation is no burden for He is the most\nHighest, the Supreme.\" The lines are often repeated in prayers and\nengraved on agates, etc., as portable talismans.\n\n[FN#353] Koran ii. 159.\n\n[FN#354] Koran xvi. 92. The verset ends with, \"He warneth you, so haply\nye may be mindful.\"\n\n[FN#355] Koran lxx. 38.\n\n[FN#356] Koran xxxix. 54.\n\n[FN#357] The Sunnis hold that the \"Anbiy\u03b1\" (=prophets, or rather\nannouncers of Allah's judgments) were not sinless. But this dogma is\nbranded as most irreverent and sinful by the Shi'ahs or Persian\n\"followers of Ali,\" who make capital out of this blasphemy and declare\nthat if any prophet sinned he sinned only against himself.\n\n[FN#358] Koran xii. 18.\n\n[FN#359] Koran ii. 107.\n\n[FN#360] Koran ii. 57. He (Allah) does not use the plurale majestatis.\n\n[FN#361] Koran ii. 28.\n\n[FN#362] Koran xvi. 100. Satan is stoned in the Min\u03b1 or Mun\u03b1 basin\n(Night ccccxlii.) because he tempted Abraham to disobey the command of\nAllah by refusing to sacrifice Ishmael. (Pilgrimage iii. 248.)\n\n[FN#363] It may also mean \"have recourse to God.\"\n\n[FN#364] Abdallah ibn Abbas, before noticed, first cousin of\n\n\nMohammed and the most learned of the Companions. See D'Herbelot.\n\n\n\n[FN#365] Koran xcvi., \"Blood-clots,\" 1 and 2. \"Read\" may mean \"peruse\nthe revelation\" (it was the first Koranic chapter communicated to\nMohammed), or \"recite, preach.\"\n\n[FN#366] Koran xxvii. 30. Mr. Rodwell (p.1) holds to the old idea that\nthe \"Basmalah\" is of Jewish origin, taught to the Kuraysh by Omayyah,\nof Taif, the poet and Han\u03bdf (convert).\n\n[FN#367] Koran ix.: this was the last chapter revealed and the only one\nrevealed entire except verse 110.\n\n[FN#368] Ali was despatched from Al-Medinah to Meccah by the Prophet on\nhis own slit-eared camel to promulgate this chapter; and meeting the\nassembly at Al-'Akabah he also acquainted them with four things; (1) No\nInfidel may approach the Meccah temple; (2) naked men must no longer\ncircut the Ka'abah; (3) only Moslems enter Paradise, and (4) public\nfaith must be kept.\n\n[FN#369] Dictionaries give the word \"Basmalah\" (=saying\n\n\nBismillah); but the common pronunciation is \"Bismalah.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#370] Koran xvii. 110, a passage revealed because the Infidels,\nhearing Mohammed calling upon The Compassionate, imagined that\nAl-Rahm\u03b1n was other deity but Allah. The \"names\" have two grand\ndivisions, Asm\u03b1 Jal\u03b1l\u03bd, the fiery or terrible attributes, and the Asm\u03b1\nJam\u03b1l\u03bd (airy, watery, earthy or) amiable. Together they form the Asm\u03b1\nal-Husna or glorious attributes, and do not include the Ism al-A'azam,\nthe ineffable name which is known only to a few.\n\n[FN#371] Koran ii. 158.\n\n[FN#372] Koran xcvi. before noticed.\n\n[FN#373] A man of Al-Medinah, one of the first of Mohammed's disciples.\n\n[FN#374] Koran lxxiv. 1, etc., supposed to have been addressed by\nGabriel to Mohammed when in the cave of Hira or Jabal N\u03car. He returned\nto his wife Khadijah in sore terror at the vision of one sitting on a\nthrone between heaven and earth, and bade her cover him up. Whereupon\nthe Archangel descended with this text, supposed to be the first\nrevealed. Mr. Rodwell (p. 3) renders it, \"O thou enwrapped in thy\nmantle!\" and makes it No. ii. after a Fatrah or silent interval of six\nmonths to three years.\n\n[FN#375] There are several versets on this subject (chapts. ii. and\nxxx.)\n\n[FN#376] Koran cx. 1.\n\n[FN#377] The third Caliph; the \"Writer of the Koran.\"\n\n[FN#378] Koran, v. 4. Sale translates \"idols.\" Mr. Rodwell, \"On the\nblocks (or shafts) of Stone,\" rude altars set by the pagan Arabs before\ntheir dwellings.\n\n[FN#379] Koran, v. 116. The words are put into the mouth of\n\n\nJesus.\n\n\n\n[FN#380] The end of the same verse.\n\n[FN#381] Koran, v. 89. Supposed to have been revealed when certain\nMoslems purposed to practise Christian asceticism, fasting, watching,\nabstaining from women and sleeping on hard beds. I have said Mohammed\nwould have \"no monkery in Al-Islam,\" but human nature willed otherwise.\nMr. Rodwell prefers \"Interdict the healthful viands.\"\n\n[FN#382] Koran, iv. 124.\n\n[FN#383] Arab. \"Mukri.\" \"K\u03b1ri\" is one who reads the Koran to pupils;\nthe Mukri corrects them. \"With the passage of the clouds\" = without a\nmoment's hesitation.\n\n[FN#384] The twenty-first, twenty-fourth and eighteenth Arabic letters.\n\n[FN#385] Arab. \"Hizb.\" The Koran is divided into sixty portions,\nanswering to \"Lessons\" for convenience of public worship.\n\n[FN#386] Arab. \"Jal\u03b1lah,\"=saying Jalla Jal\u03b1lu-hu=magnified be His\n\n\nMajesty!, or glorified be His Glory.\n\n\n\n[FN#387] Koran, xi. 50.\n\n[FN#388] The partition-wall between Heaven and Hell which others call\nAl-'Urf (in the sing. from the verb meaning he separated or parted).\nThe Jews borrowed from the Guebres the idea of a partition between\nHeaven and Hell and made it so thin that the blessed and damned can\nspeak together. There is much dispute about the population of\nAl-A'ar\u03b1f, the general idea being that they are men who do not deserve\nreward in Heaven or punishment in Hell. But it is not a \"Purgatory\" or\nplace of expiating sins.\n\n[FN#389] Koran, vii. 154.\n\n[FN#390] A play on the word ayn, which means \"eye\" or the eighteenth\nletter which in olden times had the form of a circle.\n\n[FN#391] From misreading these words comes the absurd popular belief of\nthe moon passing up and down Mohammed's sleeves. George B. Airy (The\nAthen\u03b6um, Nov.29, 1884) justly objects to Sale's translation \"The hour\nof judgment approacheth\" and translates \"The moon hath been\ndichotomised\" a well-known astronomical term when the light portion of\nthe moon is defined in a strait line: in other words when it is really\na half-moon at the first and third quarters of each lunation. Others\nunderstand, The moon shall be split on the Last Day, the preterite for\nthe future in prophetic style. \"Koran Moslems\" of course understand it\nliterally.\n\n[FN#392] Chapters liv., lv. and lvi.\n\n[FN#393] We should say, not to utter, etc.\n\n[FN#394] These well-known \"humours of Hippocrates,\" which reappear in\nthe form of temperaments of European phrenology, are still the base of\nEastern therapeutics.\n\n[FN#395] The doctrine of the three souls will be intelligible to\n\n\nSpiritualists.\n\n\n\n[FN#396] Arab. \"Al-l\u03b1mi\"=the l-shaped, curved, forked.\n\n[FN#397] Arab. \"Usus,\" our os sacrum because, being incorruptible, the\nbody will be built up thereon for Resurrection-time. Hence Hudibras\nsings (iii. 2),\n\n     \"The learned Rabbis of the Jews\n\n\n     Write there's a bone which they call leuz,\n\n\n     I' the rump of man, etc.\"\n\n\n\nIt is the Heb. \"Uz,\" whence older scholars derived os. Sale (sect. iv.)\ncalled it \"El Ajb, os coccygis or rump-bone.\"\n\n[FN#398] Arab physiologists had difficulties in procuring \"subjects\";\nand usually practised dissection on the simiads. Their illustrated\nbooks are droll; the figures have been copied and recopied till they\nhave lost all resemblance to the originals.\n\n[FN#399] The liver and spleen are held to be congealed blood.\n\n\nHence the couplet,\n\n\n\n    \"We are allowed two carrions (i.e. with throats uncut) and\n\n\n         two bloods,\n\n\n     The fish and the locust, the liver and the spleen.\"\n\n\n(Pilgrimage iii. 92.)\n\n\n\n[FN#400] This is perfectly true and yet little known to the general.\n\n[FN#401] Koran xvii. 39.\n\n[FN#402] Arab. \"Al-malikhul\u03bdya,\" proving that the Greeks then\npronounced the penultimate vowel according to the acute accent\u03bda; not\nas we slur it over. In old Hebrew we have the transliteration of four\nGreek words; in the languages of Hindostan many scores including names\nof places; and in Latin and Arabic as many hundreds. By a scholar-like\ncomparison of these remains we should find little difficulty in\nestablishing the true Greek pronunciation since the days of Alexander\nthe Great; and we shall prove that it was pronounced according to\naccent and emphatically not quantity. In the next century I presume\nEnglish boys will be taught to pronounce Greek as the Greeks do.\n\n[FN#403] Educated Arabs can quote many a verse bearing upon domestic\nmedicine and reminding us of the lines bequeathed to Europe by the\nSchool of Salerno. Such e.g. are;\n\n     \"After the noon-meal, sleep, although for moments twain;\n\n\n     After the night-meal, walk, though but two steps be ta'en;\n\n\n     And after swiving stale, though but two drops thou drain.\"\n\n\n\n[FN#404] Arab. \"Sar\u03bddah\" (Thar\u03bddah), also called \"ghaut\"=crumbled bread\nand hashed meat in broth; or bread, milk and meat. The Sar\u03bddah of\nGhass\u03b1n, cooked with eggs and marrow, was held a dainty dish: hence the\nProphet's dictum.\n\n[FN#405] Koran v. 92. \"Lots\"=games of chance and \"images\"=statues.\n\n[FN#406] Koran ii. 216. The word \"Maysar\" which I have rendered\n\"gambling\" or gaming (for such is the modern application of the word),\noriginally meant what St. Jerome calls and explains thereby the verse\n(Ezek. xxi. 22), \"The King held in his hand the lot of Jerusalem\" i.e.\nthe arrow whereon the city-name was written. The Arabs use it for\ncasting lots with ten azlam or headless arrows (for dice) three being\nblanks and the rest notched from one to seven. They were thrown by a\n\"Z\u03b1rib\" or punter and the stake was generally a camel. Amongst so\nexcitable a people as the Arabs, this game caused quarrels and\nbloodshed, hence its prohibition: and the theologians, who everywhere\nand at all times delight in burdening human nature, have extended the\ncommand, which is rather admonitory than prohibitive, to all games of\nchance. Tarafah is supposed to allude to this practice in his\nMu'allakah.\n\n[FN#407] Liberal Moslems observe that the Koranic prohibition is not\nabsolute, with threat of Hell for infraction. Yet Mohammed doubtless\nforbade all inebriatives and the occasion of his so doing is well\nknown. (Pilgrimage ii. 322.)\n\n[FN#408] I have noticed this soured milk in Pilgrimage i. 362.\n\n[FN#409] He does not say the \"Caliph\" or successor of his uncle\n\n\nMohammed.\n\n\n\n[FN#410] The Jewish Korah (Numbers xvi.) fabled by the Koran (xxviii.\n76), following a Talmudic tradition, to have been a man of immense\nwealth. The notion that lying with an old woman, after the menses have\nceased, is unwholesome, dates from great antiquity; and the benefits of\nthe reverse process were well known to good King David. The faces of\nchildren who sleep with their grandparents (a bad practice now waxing\nobsolete in England), of a young wife married to an old man and of a\nyoung man married to an old woman, show a peculiar wizened appearance,\na look of age overlaying youth which cannot be mistaken.\n\n[FN#411] Arab. \"Hindib\u03b1\"(=endubium): the modern term is\n\n\nShakur\u03bdyah=chicor\u03b9e. I believe it to be very hurtful to the eyes.\n\n\n\n[FN#412] Arab. \"Khuff\u03b1sh\" and \"Watw\u03b1t\": in Egypt a woman is called\n\"Watw\u03b1t\u03bdyah\" when the hair of her privities has been removed by\napplying bats' blood. I have often heard of this; but cannot understand\nhow such an application can act depilatory.\n\n[FN#413] Dictionaries render the word by \"dragon, cockatrice.\" The\nBadawin apply it to a variety of serpents mostly large and all\nconsidered venomous.\n\n[FN#414] Arab. \"Zarr wa 'urwah,\" 1it.=handle. The button-hole, I have\nsaid, is a modern invention; Urwah is also applied to the loopshaped\nhandle of the water-skin, for attachment of the All\u03b1kah or suspensory\nthong.\n\n[FN#415] Koran lxx. 40; see also the chapter following, v. 16.\n\n[FN#416] Koran x. 5; the \"her\" refers to the sun.\n\n[FN#417] Koran xxxvi. 40.\n\n[FN#418] Koran xxii. 60.\n\n[FN#419] Arab. \"Man\u03b1zil:\" these are the Hindu \"Nakshatra\"; extensively\nused in meteorology even by Europeans unconsciously: thus they will\nspeak of the Elephantina-storm without knowing anything of the lunar\nmansion so called. The names in the text are successively Sharat\u03b1n=two\nhorns of the Ram; (2) the Ram's belly; (3) the Pleiades; (4) Aldebaran;\n(5) three stars in Orion's head; (6) ditto in Orion's shoulder; (7) two\nstars above the Twins; (8) Lion's nose and first summer station; (9)\nLion's eye; (1O) Lion's forehead; (11) Lion's mane; (12) Lion's heart;\n(13) the Dog, two stars in Virgo; (14) Spica Virginis; (15) foot of\nVirgo; (16) horns of Scorpio; (17) the Crown; (18) heart of Scorpio;\n(19) tail of Scorpio; (2O) stars in Pegasus; (21) where no\nconstellation appears; (22) the Slaughterer's luck; (23) Glutton's\nluck; (24) Luck of Lucks, stars in Aquarius; (25) Luck of Tents, stars\nin Aquarius; (26) the fore-lip or spout of Urn; (27) hind lip of Urn;\nand (28) in navel of Fish's belly (Batn al-H\u03cat); of these 28, to each\nof the four seasons 7 are allotted.\n\n[FN#420] The Hebrew absey, still used by Moslems in chronograms. For\nmnemonic purposes the 28 letters are distributed into eight words of\nwhich the first and second are Abjad and Hawwaz. The last six letters\nin two words (Thakhiz and Zuzigh) are Arabian, unknown to the Jews and\nnot found in Syriac.\n\n[FN#421] Arab. \"Zind\u03bdk;\" properly, one who believes in two gods (the\nold Persian dualism); in books an atheist, i.e. one who does not\nbelieve in a god or gods; and, popularly, a free-thinker who denies the\nexistence of a Supreme Being, rejects revelation for the laws of Nature\nimprinted on the heart of man and for humanity in its widest sense.\nHence he is accused of permitting incestuous marriages and other\nabominations. We should now call him (for want of something better) an\nAgnostic.\n\n[FN#422] Koran xxxi. 34. The words may still be applied to\nmeteorologists especially of the scientific school. Even the\nexperienced (as the followers of the late Mathieu de la Dr\u03c4me) reckon\nfar more failures than successes. The Koranic passage enumerates five\nthings known only to Allah; Judgment-day; rain; sex of child in womb;\nwhat shall happen to-morrow and where a man shall die.\n\n[FN#423] The fifth and seventh months (January and March) of the Coptic\nyear which, being solar, is still used by Arab and Egyptian\nmeteorologists. Much information thereon will be found in the \"Egyptian\nCalendar\" by Mr. Mitchell, Alexandria, 1876. It bears the appropriate\nmotto \"Anni certus modus apud solos semper Egyptios fuit.\" (Macrobius.)\nSee also Lane M.E., chapt. ix.\n\n[FN#424] Vulg. Kiy\u03b1k; the fourth month, beginning 9th\u20141Oth\n\n\nDecember. The first month is T\u03cat, commencing 1Oth\u201411th\n\n\nSeptember.\n\n\n\n[FN#425] The 8th and 12th months partly corresponding with April and\nAugust: H\u03b1t\u03car is the 3rd (November) and AmshRr the 6th (February).\n\n[FN#426] Moslems have been compelled to adopt infidel names for the\nmonths because Mohammed's Koranic rejection of Nasy or intercalation\nmakes their lunar months describe the whole circle of the seasons in a\ncycle of about thirty-three and a half years. Yet they have retained\nthe terms which contain the original motive of the denomination. The\nfirst month is Muharram, the \"Holy,\" because war was forbidden; it was\nalso known as Safar No. 1. The second Safar=\"Emptiness,\" because during\nthe heats citizens left the towns and retired to T\u03b1if and other cool\nsites. Rab\u03bd'a (first and second) alluded to the spring-pasturages;\nJum\u03b1d\u03b1 (first and second) to the \"hardening\" of the dry ground and,\naccording to some, to the solidification, freezing, of the water in the\nhighlands. Rajab (No.7)=\"worshipping,\" especially by sacrifice, is also\nknown as Al-Asamm the deaf; because being sacred, the rattle of arms\nwas unheard. Sha'ab\u03b1n=\"collecting,\" dispersing, ruining, because the\ntribal wars recommenced: Ramazan (intensely hot) has been explained and\nShaww\u03b1l (No. 10) derives from Shaul (elevating) when the he-camels\nraise their tails in rut. Z\u03ca'l-Ka'adah, the sedentary, is the rest time\nof the year, when fighting is forbidden and Zu'l-Hijjah explains itself\nas the pilgrimage-month.\n\n[FN#427] The lowest of the seven.\n\n[FN#428] Koran xxxvii. 5.\n\n[FN#429] Arab. \"Faylas\u03caf,\" an evident corruption from the Greek.\nAmongst the vulgar it denotes a sceptic, an atheist; much the same a\n\"Framm\u03b1s\u03can\" or Freemason. The curious reader will consult the Dabistan,\nvol. iii. chapt. xi. p. 138 et seq. \"On the Religion of the Wise\"\n(philosophi), and, Beaconsfield's theft from Shaftesbury.\n\n[FN#430] Koran xxxvi. 37-38.\n\n[FN#431] Koran xxii. 7. The Hour i.e. of Judgment.\n\n[FN#432] Koran xx. 58. The Midrasch Tanchumah on Exod. vii. gives a\nsimilar dialogue between Pharaoh and Moses. (Rodwell, in loco.)\n\n[FN#433] Arab. \"Sham'\u03can\" or \"Shim'\u03can,\" usually applied to Simon\n\n\nPeter (as in Acts xv. 14). But the text alludes to Saint Simeon\n\n\n(Luke ii. 25-35). See Gospel of Infancy (ii. 8) and especially\n\n\nthe Gospel of Nicodemus (xii. 3) which makes him a High-Priest.\n\n\n\n[FN#434] S\u03b1lih the Patriarch's she-camel, miraculously produced from\nthe rock in order to convert the Tham\u03cad-tribe. (Koran vii.)\n\n[FN#435] When Abu Bakr was hiding with Mohammed in a cave on the Hill\nAl-Saur (Thaur or Th\u03car, Pilgrimage ii. 131) South of Meccah, which must\nnot be confounded with the cave on Jabal Hir\u03b1 now called Jabal N\u03car on\nthe way to Arafat (Pilgrimage iii. 246), the fugitives were protected\nby a bird which built her nest at the entrance (according to another\nlegend it was curtained by a spider's web), whilst another bird (the\ncrow of whom I shall presently speak) tried to betray them. The first\nbird is popularly supposed to have been a pigeon, and is referred to by\nHudibras,\n\n     \"Th' apostles of this fierce religion\n\n\n     Like Mahomet, were ass and widgeon.\"\n\n\n\nThe ass I presume alludes to the marvellous beast Al-Bur\u03b1k which the\nGreeks called from (Euthymius in Pocock, Spec. A.H. p.144) and which\nIndian Moslems picture with human face, ass's ears, equine body and\npeacock's wings and tail. The \"widgeon\" I presume to be a mistake or a\nmisprint for pigeon.\n\n[FN#436] The Arabs are not satisfied with the comparative moderation of\nthe Hebrew miracle, and have added all manner of absurdities.\n(Pilgrimage ii. 288.)\n\n[FN#437] Koran lxxxi. 18. Sale translates \"by the morning when it\nappeareth;\" and the word (tanaffus) will bear this meaning. Mr. Rodwell\nprefers, \"By the dawn when it clears away the darkness by its breath.\"\n\n[FN#438] As a rule Moslems are absurdly ignorant of arithmetic and\napparently cannot master it. Hence in Egypt they used Copts for\ncalculating-machines and further East Hindds. The mildest numerical\npuzzle, like the above, is sure of success.\n\n[FN#439] The paradiseal tree which supplied every want. Mohammed\nborrowed it from the Christians (Rev. xxi. 10-21 and xxii. 1-2) who\nplaced in their paradise the Tree of Life which bears twelve sorts of\nfruits and leaves of healing virtue. (See also the 3rd book of Hermas,\nhis Similitudes.) The Hebrews borrowed it from the Persians. Amongst\nthe Hindus it appears as \"Kalpavriksha;\" amongst the Scandinavians as\nYggdrasil. The curious reader will consult Mr. James Fergusson's\nlearned work, \"Tree and Serpent Worship,\" etc. London, 1873.\n\n[FN#440] Aaron's Rod becomes amongst Moslems (Koran vii. 110) Moses'\nStaff; the size being that of a top-mast. (Pilgrimage i. 300, 301.) In\nKoran xx. 18, 19, we find a notice of its uses; and during the Middle\nAges it reappeared in the Staff of Wamba the Goth (A.D.672-680) the\nwitch's broomstick was its latest development.\n\n[FN#441] Christ, say the Eutychians, had only one nature, the divine;\nso he was crucified in effigy.\n\n[FN#442] Jesus is compared with Adam in the Koran (chapt. iii.): his\ntitles are Kal\u03b1mu 'llah (word of God) because engendered without a\nfather, and R\u03cahu 'llah (breath of God) because conceived by Gabriel in\nthe shape of a beautifui youth breathing into the Virgin's vulva. Hence\nMoslems believe in a \"miraculous conception\" and consequently determine\nthat one so conceived was, like Elias and Khizr, not subject to death;\nthey also hold him born free from \"original sin\" (a most sinful\nsuperstition), a veil being placed before the Virgin and Child against\nthe Evil One who could not touch them. He spoke when a babe in cradle;\nhe performed miracles of physic; he was taken up to Heaven; he will\nappear as the forerunner of Mohammed on the White Tower of Damascus,\nand finally he will be buried at Al-Medinah. The Jews on the other hand\nspeak of him as \"that man:\" they hold that he was begotten by Joseph\nduring the menstrual period and therefore a born magician. Moreover he\nlearned the Sham ha-maphrash or Nomen tetragrammaton, wrote it on\nparchment and placed it in an incision in his thigh, which closed up on\nthe Name being mentioned (Buxtorf, Lex Talmud, 25-41). Other details\nare given in the Toldoth Jesu (Historia Joshu\u03b6 Nazareni). This note\nshould be read by the eminent English litt\u03b9rateur who discovered a\nfact, well known to Locke and Carlyle, that \"Mohammedans are\nChristians.\" So they are and something more.\n\n[FN#443] In the Kalamd\u03b1n, or pen-case, is a little inkstand of metal\noccupying the top of the long, narrow box.\n\n[FN#444] A fair specimen of the riddle known as the \"surprise.\"\n\n[FN#445] Koran xli. 10.\n\n[FN#446] Koran xxxvi. 82.\n\n[FN#447] Here we enter upon a series of disputed points. The Wahh\u03b1bis\ndeny the intercession of the Apostle (Pilgrimage ii. 76-77). The\nShi'ahs place Ali next in dignity to Mohammed and there is a sect\n(Ali-Il\u03b1hi) which believes him to be an Avatar or incarnation of the\nDeity. For the latter the curious reader will consult the \"Dabistan,\"\nii. 451. The Koran by its many contradictions seems to show that\nMohammed never could make up his own mind on the subject, thinking\nhimself at times an intercessor and then sharply denying all\nintercession.\n\n[FN#448] Arab. \"Kanjifah\"=a pack of cards; corrupted from the Persian\n\"Ganj\u03bdfah.\" We know little concerning the date or origin of this game\nin the East, where the packs are quite unlike ours.\n\n[FN#449] It is interesting to compare this account with the pseudo Ovid\nand with Tale clxvi. in Gesta \"Of the game of Schaci.\" Its Schacarium\nis the chess-board. Rochus (roccus, etc.) is not from the Germ. Rock (a\ncoat) but from Rukh (Pers. a hero, a knight-errant) Alphinus (Ital.\nAlfino) is Al-Firz\u03b1n (Pers. science, wise).\n\n[FN#450] Arab, \"Baydak\" or \"Bayzak\"; a corruption of the Persian\n\"Piy\u03b1dah\"=a footman, peon, pawn; and proving whence the Arabs derived\nthe game. The Persians are the readiest backgammon-players known to me,\nbetter even than the Greeks; they throw the dice from the hand and\ncontinue foully abusing the fathers and mothers of the \"bones\" whilst\nthe game lasts. It is often played in the intervals of dinner by the\nhigher classes in Persia.\n\n[FN#451] Metaphor from loading camels and mules. To \"eat\" a piece is to\ntake it.\n\n[FN#452] Arab. \"Bil\u03b1bil\"; a plural of \"Bulbul\" with a double entendre\nbal\u03b1bil (plur. of ballalah)=heart's troubles, and \"bal\u03b1, bul\"=a\ncalamity, nay, etc.\n\n[FN#453] The popular English idea of the Arab horse is founded upon\nutter unfact. Book after book tells us, \"There are three distinct\nbreeds of Arabians -the Attechi, a very superior breed; the Kadishi,\nmixed with these and of little value; and the Kochlani, highly prized\nand very difficult to procure.\" \"Attechi\" may be At-T\u03b1zi (the Arab\nhorse, or hound) or some confusion with \"At\" (Turk.) a horse. \"Kadish\"\n(Gadish or Kidish) is a nag; a gelding, a hackney, a \"pacer\" (generally\ncalled \"Rahw\u03b1n\"). \"Kochlani\" is evidently \"Kohl\u03b1ni,\" the Kohl-eyed,\nbecause the skin round the orbits is dark as if powdered. This is the\ntrue blue blood; and the bluest of all is \"Kohl\u03b1ni al-Aj\u03caz\" (of the old\nwoman) a name thus accounted for. An Arab mare dropped a filly when in\nflight; her rider perforce galloped on and presently saw the foal\nappear in camp, when it was given to an old woman for nursing and grew\nup to be famous. The home of the Arab horse is the vast plateau of\nAl-Najd: the Tah\u03b1mah or lower maritime regions of Arabia, like Malabar,\nwill not breed good beasts. The pure blood all descends from five\ncollateral lines called Al-Khamsah (the Cinque). Literary and pedantic\nArabs derive them from the mares of Mohammed, a native of the dry and\nrocky region, Al-Hijaz, whither horses are all imported. Others go back\n(with the Koran, chapt. xxviii.) to Solomon, possibly Salm\u03b1n, a\npatriarch fourth in descent from Ishmael and some 600 years older than\nthe Hebrew King. The Badawi derive the five from Rab\u03bd'at al-Faras (R.\nof the mare) fourth in descent from Adn\u03b1n, the fount of Arab genealogy.\nBut they differ about the names: those generally given are Kahilan\n(Kohaylat), Sakl\u03b1wi (which the Badawin pronounce Sagl\u03b1wi), Abay\u03b1n, and\nHamd\u03b1ni; others substitute Man\u03b1khi (the long-maned), Tan\u03bds and Jalf\u03can.\nThese require no certificate amongst Arabs; for strangers a simple\nstatement is considered enough. The Badawin despise all half-breeds\n(Arab sires and country mares), Syrian, Turkish, Kurdish and Egyptian.\nThey call these (first mentioned in the reign of Ahmes, B.C. 1600) the\n\"sons of horses\"; as opposed to \"sons of mares,\" or thorough-breds. Nor\ndo they believe in city-bred animals. I have great doubts concerning\nour old English sires, such as the Darley Arabian which looks like a\nKurdish half-bred, the descendant of those Cappadocians so much prized\nby the Romans: in Syria I rode a \"Harf\u03cash\u03bd\" (Kurd) the very image of\nit. There is no difficulty in buying Arab stallions except the price.\nOf course the tribe does not like to part with what may benefit the\nmembers generally; but offers of \u00a3500 to \u00a31,000 would overcome men's\nscruples. It is different with mares, which are almost always the joint\nproperty of several owners. The people too dislike to see a hat on a\nthorough-bred mare: \"What hast thou done that thou art ridden by that\nill-omened Kafir?\" the Badawin used to mutter when they saw a highly\nrespectable missionary at Damascus mounting a fine Ruwal\u03b1 mare. The\nfeeling easily explains the many wars about horses occurring in Arab\nannals, e.g. about D\u03b1his and Ghabr\u03b1. (C. de Perceval, Essas, vol.ii.)\n\n[FN#454] The stricter kind of Eastern Jew prefers to die on the floor,\nnot in bed, as was the case with the late Mr. Emmanuel Deutsch, who in\nhis well-known article on the Talmud had the courage to speak of \"Our\nSaviour.\" But as a rule the Israelite, though he mostly appears as a\nDeist, a Unitarian, has a fund of fanatical feelings which crop up in\nold age and near death. The \"converts\" in Syria and elsewhere, whose\nJudaism is intensified by \"conversion,\" when offers are made to them by\nthe missionaries repair to the Kh\u03b1kh\u03b1m (scribe) and, after abundant\nwrangling determine upon a modus vivendi. They are to pay a proportion\nof their wages, to keep careful watch in the cause of Israel and to die\northodox. In Istria there is a legend of a Jew Prior in a convent who\nwas not discovered till he announced himself most unpleasantly on his\ndeath-bed. For a contrary reason to Jewish humility, the Roman Emperors\npreferred to die standing.\n\n[FN#455] He wished to die in a state of ceremonial purity; as has\nbefore been mentioned.\n\n[FN#456] Arab. \"Badal\": in Sind (not to speak of other places) it was\ncustomary to hire a pauper \"badal\" to be hanged in stead of a rich man.\nSir Charles Napier signed many a death-warrant before he ever heard of\nthe practice.\n\n[FN#457] Arab. \"La'an\" = curse. The word is in every mouth though\nstrongly forbidden by religion. Even of the enemies of Al-Islam the\nlearned say, \"Ila'an Yez\u03bdd wa l\u03b1 taz\u03bdd\" = curse Yezid but do not exceed\n(i.e. refrain from cursing the others). This, however, is in the\nShafi'\u03bd school and the Hanaf\u03bds do not allow it (Pilgrimage i. 198).\nHence the Moslem when scrupulous uses na'al (shoe) for la'an (curse) as\nIna'al ab\u03cak (for Ila'an abu'-k) or, drat (instead of damn) your father.\nMen must hold Supreme Intelligence to be of feeble kind if put off by\nsuch miserable pretences.\n\n[FN#458] Koran vi. 44, speaking of the Infidels. It is a most unamiable\nchapter, with such assertions as \"Allah leadeth into error whom He\npleaseth,\" etc.\n\n[FN#459] Alluding to the \"formication\" which accompanies a stroke of\nparalysis.\n\n[FN#460] Pronounce Zool Karnayn.\n\n[FN#461] i.e. the Koranic and our medi\u03b6val Alexander, Lord of the two\nHorns (East and West) much \"Matagrobolized\" and very different from him\nof Macedon. The title is variously explained, from two protuberances on\nhis head or helm, from two long locks and, possibly, from the ram-horns\nof Jupiter Ammon. The anecdote in the text seems suggested by the\nfamous interview (probably a canard) with Diogenes: see in the Gesta,\nTale cxlvi., \"The answer of Diomedes the Pirate to Alexander.\" Iskandar\nwas originally called Marzb\u03b1n (Lord of the Marches), son of Marzabah;\nand, though descended from Yun\u03b1n, son of Japhet, the eponymus of the\nGreeks, was born obscure, the son of an old woman. According to the\nPersians he was the son of the Elder D\u03b1r\u03b1b (Darius Codomannus of the\nKayanian or Second dynasty), by a daughter of Philip of Macedon; and\nwas brought up by his grandfather. When Abraham and Isaac had rebuilt\nthe Ka'abah they foregathered with him and Allah sent him forth against\nthe four quarters of the earth to convert men to the faith of the\nFriend or to cut their throats; thus he became one of the four\nworld-conquerors with Nimrod, Solomon, Bukht al-Nasr (Nabochodonosor);\nand he lived down two generations of men. His Wazir was Arist\u03ca (the\nGreek Aristotle) and he carried a couple of flags, white and black,\nwhich made day and night for him and facilitated his conquests. At the\nend of Persia, where he was invited by the people, on account of the\ncruelty of his half brother Darab II., he came upon two huge mountains\non the same line, behind which dwelt a host of abominable pygmies, two\nspans high, with curious eyes, ears which served as mattresses and\ncoverlets, huge fanged mouths, lions' claws and hairy hind quarters.\nThey ate men, destroyed everything, copulated in public and had swarms\nof children. These were Y\u03b1j\u03caj and M\u03b1j\u03caj (Gog and Magog) descendants of\nJaphet. Sikandar built against them the famous wall with stones\ncemented and riveted by iron and copper. The \"Great Wall\" of China, the\nfamous bulwark against the Tartars, dates from B.C. 320 (Alexander of\nMacedon died B.C. 324); and as the Arabs knew Canton well before\nMohammed's day, they may have built their romance upon it. The Guebres\nconsigned Sikandar to hell for burning the Nusks or sections of the\nZendavesta.\n\n[FN#462] These terrific preachments to Eastern despots (who utterly\nignore them) are a staple produce of Oriental tale-literature and form\nthe chiaro-oscuro, as it were, of a picture whose lights are brilliant\ntouches of profanity and indelicate humour. It certainly has the charm\nof contrast. Much of the above is taken from the Sikandar-nameh\n(Alexander Book) of the great Persian poet, Niz\u03b1mi, who flourished A.H.\n515-597, between the days of Firdausi (ob. A.D.1021) and Sa'adi (ob.\nA.D. 1291). In that romance Sikandar builds, \"where the sun goes down,\"\na castle of glittering stone which kills men by causing excessive\nlaughter and surrounds it with yellow earth like gold. Hence the City\nof Brass. He also converts, instead of being converted by, the savages\nof the text. He finds a stone of special excellence which he calls\nAlm\u03b1s (diamond); and he obtains it from the Valley of Serpents by\nthrowing down flesh to the eagles. Lastly he is accompanied by\n\"Bil\u03bdnas\" or \"Bil\u03bdnus,\" who is apparently Apollonius of Tyana.\n\n[FN#463] I have explained the beautiful name in Night cclxxxix:\n\n\nHe is stil famous for having introduced into Persia the fables of\n\n\nPilpay (Bidyapati, the lord of lore) and a game which the genius\n\n\nof Persia developed into chess.\n\n\n\n[FN#464] Here we find an eternal truth, of which Malthusians ever want\nreminding; that the power of a nation simply consists in its numbers of\nfighting men and in their brute bodily force. The conquering race is\nthat which raises most foot-pounds: hence the North conquers the South\nin the Northern hemisphere and visa versa.\n\n[FN#465] Arab. \"Wayha,\" not so strong as \"Woe to,\" etc. Al-Hariri often\nuses it as a formula of affectionate remonstrance.\n\n[FN#466] As a rule (much disputed) the Sayyid is a descendant from\nMohammed through his grandchild Hasan, and is a man of the pen; whereas\nthe Sharif derives from Husayn and is a man of the sword. The Naj\u03bdb\nal-taraf is the son of a common Moslemah by a Sayyid, as opposed to the\n\"Najib al-tarafayn,\" when both parents are of Apostolic blood. The\ndistinction is not noticed in Lane's \"Modern Egyptians\". The Sharif is\na fanatic and often dangerous, as I have instanced in Pilgrimage iii.\n132.\n\n[FN#467] A theologian of Bassorah (eighth century): surnamed Ab\u03ca Yahy\u03b1.\nThe prayer for mercy denotes that he was dead when the tale was\nwritten.\n\n[FN#468] A theologian of Bassorah (eighth century).\n\n[FN#469] Arab. \"Musall\u03b1\"; lit. a place of prayer; an oratory, a chapel,\nopp. to \"J\u03b1mi'\" = a (cathedral) mosque.\n\n[FN#470] According to all races familiar with the negro, a calf like a\nshut fist planted close under the ham is, like the \"cucumber shin\" and\n\"lark heel\", a good sign in a slave. Shapely calves and well-made legs\ndenote the idle and the ne'er-do-well. I have often found this true\nalthough the rule is utterly empirical. Possibly it was suggested by\nthe contrast of the nervous and lymphatic temperaments.\n\n[FN#471] These devotees address Allah as a lover would his beloved. The\ncurious reader will consult for instances the Dabistan on Tasawwuf (ii.\n221; i.,iii. end, and passim).\n\n[FN#472] Arab. \"Ma'rifat,\" Pers. D\u03b1nish; the knowledge of the Truth.\nThe seven steps are (1) Shar\u03bd'at, external law like night; (2) Tar\u03bdkat,\nreligious rule like the stars; (3) Hak\u03bdkat, reality, truth like the\nmoon; (4) Ma'arifat like the sun; (5) Kurbat, proximity to Allah; (6)\nWas\u03bdlat, union with Allah, and (7) Suknat, dwelling in Allah. (Dabistan\niii.29.)\n\n[FN#473] Name of a fountain of Paradise: See Night xlix., vol. ii.,\np.100.\n\n[FN#474] Arab. \"Atb\u03b1k\"; these trays are made of rushes, and the fans of\npalm-leaves or tail-feathers.\n\n[FN#475] Except on the two great Festivals when fasting is forbidden.\nThe only religion which has shown common sense in this matter is that\nof the Guebres or Parsis: they consider fasting neither meritorious nor\nlawful; and they honour Hormuzd by good living \"because it keeps the\nsoul stronger.\" Yet even they have their food superstitions, e.g. in\nGate No. xxiv.: \"Beware of sin specially on the day thou eatest flesh,\nfor flesh is the diet of Ahriman.\" And in India the Guebres have copied\nthe Hindus in not slaughtering horned cattle for the table.\n\n[FN#476] Arab. \"Jall\u03b1biyah,\" a large-sleeved robe of coarse stuff worn\nby the poor.\n\n[FN#477] His fear was that his body might be mutilated by the fall.\n\n[FN#478] The phrase means \"offering up many and many a prayer.\"\n\n[FN#479] A saying of Mohammed is recorded \"Al-fakru fakhr\u03bd\" (poverty is\nmy pride!), intelligible in a man who never wanted for anything. Here\nhe is diametrically opposed to Ali who honestly abused poverty; and the\nProphet seems to have borrowed from Christendom, whose \"Lazarus and\nDives\" shows a man sent to Hell because he enjoyed a very modified\nHeaven in this life and which suggested that one of the man's greatest\nmiseries is an ecclesiastical virtue\u2014\"Holy Poverty\"\u2014represented in the\nChurch as a bride young and lovely. If a \"rich man can hardly enter the\nkingdom\" what must it be with a poor man whose conditions are far more\nunfavourable? Going to the other extreme we may say that Poverty is the\nroot of all evil and the more so as it curtails man's power of\nbenefiting others. Practically I observe that those who preach and\npraise it the most, practise it the least willingly: the ecclesiastic\nhas always some special reasons, a church or a school is wanted; but\nnot the less he wishes for more money. In Syria this Holy Poverty leads\nto strange abuses. At Bayrut I recognised in most impudent beggers\nwell-to-do peasants from the Kasraw\u03b1n district, and presently found out\nthat whilst their fields were under snow they came down to the coast,\nenjoyed a genial climate and lived on alms. When I asked them if they\nwere not ashamed to beg, they asked me if I was ashamed of following in\nthe footsteps of the Saviour and Apostles. How much wiser was Zoroaster\nwho found in the Supreme Paradise (Minuw\u03b1n-minu) \"many persons, rich in\ngold and silver who had worshipped the Lord and had been grateful to\nHim.\" (Dabistan i. 265.)\n\n[FN#480] Koran vii. 52.\n\n[FN#481] Arab. \"Al-bayt\" = the house. The Arabs had probably learned\nthis pleasant mode of confinement from the Chinese whose Kea or Cangue\nis well known. The Arabian form of it is \"Ghull,\" or portable pillory,\nwhich reprobates will wear on Judgment Day.\n\n[FN#482] This commonest conjuring trick in the West becomes a miracle\nin the credulous East.\n\n[FN#483] Arab. \"K\u03b1n\u03can\"; the usual term is Mankal (pron. Mangal) a pan\nof copper or brass. Some of these \"chafing-dishes\" stand four feet high\nand are works of art. Lane (M.E. chapt. iv) gives an illustration of\nthe simpler kind, together with the \"Azik\u03bd,\" a smaller pan for heating\ncoffee. See Night dxxxviii.\n\n[FN#484] See vol. iii., p.239. The system is that of the Roman As and\nUnciae. Here it would be the twenty-fourth part of a dinar or miskal;\nsomething under 5d. I have already noted that all Moslem rulers are\nreligiously bound to some handicraft, if it be only making toothpicks.\nMohammed abolished kingship proper as well as priestcraft.\n\n[FN#485] Al-Islam, where salvation is found under the shade of the\nswords.\n\n[FN#486] Moslems like the Classics (Aristotle and others) hold the\nclitoris (Zamb\u03car) to be the sedes et scaturigo veneris which, says\nSonnini, is mere profanity. In the babe it protrudes beyond the labi\u03b6\nand snipping off the head forms female circumcision. This rite is\nsupposed by Moslems to have been invented by Sarah who so mutilated\nHagar for jealousy and was afterwards ordered by Allah to have herself\ncircumcised at the same time as Abraham. It is now (or should be)\nuniversal in Al-Islam and no Arab would marry a girl \"unpurified\" by\nit. Son of an \"uncircumcised\" mother (Ibn al-bazr\u03b1) is a sore insult.\nAs regards the popular idea that Jewish women were circumcised till the\ndays of Rabbi Gershom (A.D.1000) who denounced it as a scandal to the\nGentiles, the learned Prof. H. Graetz informs me, with some\nindignation, that the rite was never practised and that the great Rabbi\ncontended only against polygamy. Female circumcision, however, is I\nbelieve the rule amongst some outlying tribes of Jews. The rite is the\nproper complement of male circumcision, evening the sensitiveness of\nthe genitories by reducing it equally in both sexes: an uncircumcised\nwoman has the venereal orgasm much sooner and oftener than a\ncircumcised man, and frequent coitus would injure her health; hence I\nbelieve, despite the learned historian, that it is practised by some\nEastern Jews. \"Excision\" is universal amongst the negroids of the Upper\nNile (Werne), the Som\u03b1l and other adjacent tribes. The operator, an old\nwoman, takes up the instrument, a knife or razor-blade fixed into a\nwooden handle, and with three sweeps cuts off the labia and the head of\nthe clitoris. The parts are then sewn up with a packneedle and a thread\nof sheepskin; and in Dar-For a tin tube is inserted for the passage of\nurine. Before marriage the bridegroom trains himself for a month on\nbeef, honey and milk; and, if he can open his bride with the natural\nweapon, he is a sworder to whom no woman in the tribe can deny herself.\nIf he fails, he tries penetration with his fingers and by way of last\nresort whips out his whittle and cuts the parts open. The sufferings of\nthe first few nights must be severe. The few Som\u03b1li prostitutes who\npractised at Aden always had the labi\u03b6 and clitoris excised and the\nskin showing the scars of coarse sewing. The moral effect of female\ncircumcision is peculiar. While it diminishes the heat of passion it\nincreases licentiousness, and breeds a debauchery of mind far worse\nthan bodily unchastity, because accompanied by a peculiar cold cruelty\nand a taste for artificial stimulants to \"luxury.\" It is the\nsexlessness of a spayed canine imitated by the suggestive brain of\nhumanity.\n\n[FN#487] Koran vi. So called because certain superstitions about\n\n\nCattle are therein mentioned.\n\n\n\n[FN#488] Koran iv. So called because it treats of marriages, divorces,\netc.\n\n[FN#489] S\u03bddi (contracted from Sayyid\u03bd = my lord) is a title still\napplied to holy men in Marocco and the Maghrib; on the East African\ncoast it is assumed by negro and negroid Moslems, e.g. Sidi Mub\u03b1rak\nBombay; and \"Seedy boy\" is the Anglo-Indian term for a Zanzibar-man.\n\"Khaww\u03b1s\" is one who weaves palm-leaves (Khos) into baskets, mats,\netc.: here, however, it may be an inherited name.\n\n[FN#490] i.e. in spirit; the \"strangers yet\" of poor dear Richard\n\n\nMonckton Milnes, Lord Houghton.\n\n\n\n[FN#491] Al-Hakk = the Truth, one of the ninety-nine names of\n\n\nAllah.\n\n\n\n[FN#492] The Moslem is still unwilling to address Sal\u03b1m (Peace be with\nyou) to the Christian, as it is obligatory (Farz) to a Moslem (Koran,\nchapt. iv. and lxviii.). He usually evades the difficulty by saluting\nthe nearest Moslem or by a change of words Allah Yahd\u03bd-k (Allah direct\nthee to the right way) or \"Peace be upon us and the righteous\nworshipers of Allah\" (not you) or Al-Samm (for Salam) alayka = poison\nto thee. The idea is old: Alexander of Alexandria in his circular\nletter describes the Arian heretics as \"men whom it is not lawful to\nsalute or to bid God-speed.\"\n\n[FN#493] Koran xxxvi. 82. I have before noted that this famous phrase\nwas borrowed from the Hebrews, who borrowed it from the Egyptians.\n\n[FN#494] The story of Moses and Khizr has been noticed before. See\nKoran chapt. xviii. 64 et seq. It is also related, says Lane (ii. 642),\nby Al-Kazw\u03bdni in the Aj\u03b1ib al-Makhl\u03cak\u03b1t. This must be \"The Angel and\nthe Hermit\" in the Gesta Romanorum, Tale lxxx. which possibly gave rise\nto Parnell's Hermit; and Tale cxxvii. \"Of Justice and Equity.\" The\nEditor says it \"contains a beautiful lesson:\" I can find only excellent\nexcuses for \"doing evil that good may come of it.\"\n\n[FN#495] Koran chapt. v.108.\n\n[FN#496] The doggrel is phenomenal.\n\n[FN#497] He went in wonder and softened heart to see the miracle of\nsaintly affection.\n\n[FN#498] In Sufistical parlance, the creature is the lover and the\nCreator the Beloved: worldly existence is Disunion, parting, severance;\nand the life to come is Reunion. The basis of the idea is the human\nsoul being a divin\u03b6 particula aur\u03b6, a disjoined molecule from the Great\nSpirit, imprisoned in a jail of flesh; and it is so far valuable that\nit has produced a grand and pathetic poetry; but Common Sense asks,\nWhere is the proof? And Reason wants to know, What does it all mean?\n\n[FN#499] Koran xiii. 41.\n\n[FN#500] Robinson Crusoe, with a touch of Arab prayerfulness.\n\n\nAlso the story of the Knight Placidus in the Gesta (cx.),\n\n\nBoccaccio, etc.\n\n\n\n[FN#501] Arabs note two kinds of leprosy, \"Bahak\" or \"Baras\" the common\nor white, and \"Juzam\" the black leprosy; the leprosy of the joints, mal\nrouge. Both are attributed to undue diet as eating fish and drinking\nmilk; and both are treated with tonics, especially arsenic. Leprosy is\nregarded by Moslems as a Scriptural malady on account of its prevalence\namongst the Israelites who, as Manetho tells us, were expelled from\nEgypt because they infected and polluted the population. In medi\u03b6val\nChristendom an idea prevailed that the Saviour was a leper; hence the\nterm \"morbus sacer\"; the honours paid to the sufferers by certain\nSaints and the Papal address (Clement III. A.D.1189) dilectis filiis\nleprosis. (Farrar's Life of Christ, i.149.) For the \"disgusting and\nimpetuous lust\" caused by leprosy, see Sonnini (p.560) who visited the\nlepers at Canea in Candia. He is one of many who describes this\nsymptom; but in the Brazil, where the foul malady still prevails, I\nnever heard of it.\n\n[FN#502] A city in Irak; famous for the three days' battle which caused\nthe death of Yezdegird, last Sassanian king.\n\n[FN#503] A mountain pass near Meccah famous for the \"First Fealty of\nthe Steep\" (Pilgrimage ii. 126). The mosque was built to commemorate\nthe event.\n\n[FN#504] To my surprise I read in Mr. Redhouse's \"Mesnevi\" (Trubner,\n1881), \"Arafat, the mount where the victims are slaughtered by the\npilgrims.\" (p.60). This ignorance is phenomenal. Did Mr. Redhouse never\nread Burckhardt or Burton?\n\n[FN#505] i.e. listening to the sermon.\n\n[FN#506] It is sad doggrel.\n\n[FN#507] This long story, containing sundry episodes and occupying\nfifty-three Nights, is wholly omitted by Lane (ii. 643) because \"it is\na compound of the most extravagant absurdities.\" He should have enabled\nhis readers to form their own judgment.\n\n[FN#508] Called Jamasp (brother and minister of the ancient Persian\nKing Gushtasp) in the translations of Trebutien and others from Von\nHammer.\n\n[FN#509] The usual term of lactation in the East, prolonged to two\nyears and a-half, which is considered the rule laid down by the Shara'\nor precepts of the Prophet. But it is not unusual to see children of\nthree and even four years hanging to their mothers' breasts. During\nthis period the mother does not cohabit with her husband; the\nseparation beginning with her pregnancy. Such is the habit, not only of\nthe \"lower animals,\" but of all ancient peoples, the Egyptians (from\nwhom the Hebrews borrowed it), the Assyrians and the Chinese. I have\ndiscussed its bearing upon pregnancy in my \"City of the Saints\": the\nMormons insist upon this law of purity being observed; and the beauty,\nstrength and good health of the younger generation are proofs of their\nwisdom.\n\n[FN#510] Thus distinguishing it from \"Asal-kasab,\" cane honey or sugar.\nSee vol. i., 271.\n\n[FN#511] The student of Hinduism will remember the N\u03b1ga-Kings and\n\n\nQueens (Melusines and Echidn\u03b6) who guard the earth-treasures in\n\n\nNaga-land. The first appearance of the snake in literature is in\n\n\nEgyptian hieroglyphs, where he forms the letters f and t, and\n\n\nacts as a determinative in the shape of a Cobra di Capello\n\n\n(Coluber Naja) with expanded hood.\n\n\n\n[FN#512] In token that he was safe.\n\n[FN#513] \"Akhir al-Zam\u03b1n.\" As old men praise past times, so prophets\nprefer to represent themselves as the last. The early Christians caused\nmuch scandal amongst the orderly law-loving Romans by their wild and\nmistaken predictions of the end of the world being at hand. The\ncatastrophe is a fact for each man under the form of death; but the\nworld has endured for untold ages and there is no apparent cause why it\nshould not endure as many more. The \"latter days,\" as the religious\ndicta of most \"revelations\" assure us, will be richer in sinners than\nin sanctity: hence \"End of Time\" is a facetious Arab title for a\nvillain of superior quality. My Somali escort applied it to one thus\ndistinguished: in 1875, I heard at Aden that he ended life by the spear\nas we had all predicted.\n\n[FN#514] Jahannam and the other six Hells are personified as feminine;\nand (woman-like) they are somewhat addicted to prolix speechification.\n\n[FN#515] These puerile exaggerations are fondly intended to act as\nnurses frighten naughty children.\n\n[FN#516] Alluding to an oft-quoted saying \"Lau l\u03b1-ka, etc. Without thee\n(O Mohammed) We (Allah) had not created the spheres,\" which may have\nbeen suggested by \"Before Abraham was, I am\" (John viii. 58); and by\nGate xci. of Zoroastrianism \"O Zardusht for thy sake I have created the\nworld\" (Dabistan i. 344). The sentiment is by no means \"Shi'ah,\" as my\nlearned friend Prof. Aloys Springer supposes. In his Mohammed (p. 220)\nwe find an extract from a sectarian poet, \"For thee we dispread the\nearth; for thee we caused the waters to flow; for thee we vaulted the\nheavens.\" As Baron Alfred von Kremer, another learned and experienced\nOrientalist, reminds me, the \"Shi'ahs\" have always shown a decided\ntendency to this kind of apotheosis and have deified or quasi-deified\nAli and the Imams. But the formula is first found in the highly\northodox Burdah poem of Al-Busiri:\u2014\n\n\"But for him (Lau l\u03b1-hu) the world had never come out of nothingness.\"\n\nHence it has been widely diffused. See Les Aventures de Kamrup (pp.\n146-7) and Les uvres de Wali (pp. 51-52), by M. Garcin de Tassy and the\nDabistan (vol. i. pp. 2-3).\n\n[FN#517] Arab. \"S\u03bdmiy\u03b1\" from the Pers., a word apparently built on the\nmodel of \"K\u03b1miy\u03b1\" = alchemy, and applied, I have said, to fascination,\nminor miracles and white magic generally like the Hindu \"Indrajal.\" The\ncommon term for Alchemy is Ilm al-K\u03b1f (the K-science) because it is not\nsafe to speak of it openly as Alchemy.\n\n[FN#518] Mare Tenebrarum = Sea of Darknesses; usually applied to the\n\"mournful and misty Atlantic.\"\n\n[FN#519] Some Moslems hold that Solomon and David were buried in\nJerusalem, others on the shore of Lake Tiberias. Mohammed, according to\nthe history of Al-Tabari (p. 56 vol. i. Duleux's \"Chronique de Tabari\")\ndeclares that the Jinni bore Solomon's corpse to a palace hewn in the\nrock upon an island surrounded by a branch of the \"Great Sea\" and set\nhim on a throne, with his ring still on his finger, under a guard of\ntwelve Jinns. \"None hath looked upon the tomb save only two, Affan who\ntook Bulukiya as his companion: with extreme pains they arrived at the\nspot, and Affan was about to carry off the ring when a thunderbolt\nconsumed him. So Bulukiya returned.\"\n\n[FN#520] Koran xxxviii. 34, or, \"art the liberal giver.\"\n\n[FN#521] i.e. of the last trumpet blown by the Archangel Israfil: an\nidea borrowed from the Christians. Hence the title of certain\nchurches\u2014ad Tubam.\n\n[FN#522] This may mean that the fruits were fresh and dried like dates\nor tamarinds (a notable wonder), or soft and hard of skin like grapes\nand pomegranates.\n\n[FN#523] Arab. \"Ai-lks\u03bdr\" meaning lit. an essence; also the\nphilosopher's stone.\n\n[FN#524] Name of the Jinni whom Solomon imprisoned in Lake\n\n\nTiberias (See vol. i., 41).\n\n\n\n[FN#525] Vulgarly pronounced \"Jahannum.\" The second hell is usually\nassigned to Christians. As there are seven Heavens (the planetary\norbits) so, to satisfy Moslem love of symmetry, there must be as many\nearths and hells under the earth. The Egyptians invented these grim\nabodes, and the marvellous Persian fancy worked them into poem.\n\n[FN#526] Arab. \"Y\u03b1j\u03caj and Majuj,\" first named in Gen. x. 2, which gives\nthe ethnology of Asia Minor, circ. B.C. 800. \"Gomer\" is the Gimri or\nCymmerians; \"Magog\" the original Magi, a division of the Medes, \"Javan\"\nthe Ionian Greeks, \"Meshesh\" the Moschi; and \"Tires\" the Turusha, or\nprimitive Cymmerians. In subsequent times, \"Magog\" was applied to the\nScythians, and modern Moslems determine from the Koran (chaps. xviii.\nand xxi.) that Yajuj and Majuj are the Russians, whom they call Moska\nor Moskoff from the Moskwa River,\n\n[FN#527] I attempt to preserve the original pun; \"Mukarrabin\" (those\nnear Allah) being the Cherubim, and the Creator causing Iblis to draw\nnear Him (karraba).\n\n[FN#528] A vulgar version of the Koran (chaps. vii.), which seems to\nhave borrowed from the Gospel of Barnabas. Hence Adam becomes a manner\nof God-man.\n\n[FN#529] These wild fables are caricatures of Rabbinical legends which\nbegan with \"Lilith,\" the Spirit-wife of Adam: Nature and her\ncounterpart, Physis and Antiphysis, supply a solid basis for folk-lore.\nAmongst the Hindus we have Brahma (the Creator) and Viswakarm\u03b1, the\nanti-Creator: the former makes a horse and a bull and the latter\ncaricatures them with an ass and a buffalo, and so forth.\n\n[FN#530] This is the \"Lauh al-Mahf\u03caz,\" the Preserved Tablet, upon which\nare written all Allah's decrees and the actions of mankind good (white)\nand evil (black). This is the \"perspicuous Book\" of the Koran, chaps.\nvi. 59. The idea again is Guebre.\n\n[FN#531] i.e. the night before Friday which in Moslem parlance would be\nFriday night.\n\n[FN#532] Again Persian \"G\u03b1w-i-Zam\u03bdn\" = the Bull of the Earth.\n\n\n\"The cosmogony of the world,\" etc., as we read in the Vicar of\n\n\nWakefield.\n\n\n\n[FN#533] The Calc. Edit. ii. 614. here reads by a clerical error\n\"bull.\"\n\n[FN#534] i.e. Lakes and rivers.\n\n[FN#535] Here some abridgement is necessary, for we have another\nrecital of what has been told more than once.\n\n[FN#536] This name, \"King of Life,\" is Persian: \"Tegh\" or \"Tigh\" means\na scimitar and \"Bahrw\u03b1n,\" is, I conceive, a mistake for \"Bihr\u03can,\" the\nPersian name of Alexander the Great.\n\n[FN#537] Arab. \"Mul\u03b1k\u03b1t\" or meeting the guest which, I have said, is an\nessential part of Eastern ceremony, the distance from the divan, room,\nhouse or town being proportioned to his rank or consideration.\n\n[FN#538] Arab. \"Sifr\": whistling is held by the Badawi to be the speech\nof devils; and the excellent explorer Burckhardt got a bad name by the\nugly habit.\n\n[FN#539] The Arabs call \"Shikk\" (split man) and the Persians\n\"N\u03bdmchahrah\" (half-face) a kind of demon like a man divided\nlongitudinally: this gruesome creature runs with amazing speed and is\nvery cruel and dangerous. For the celebrated soothsayers \"Shikk\" and\n\"S\u03b1tih\" see Chenery's Al-Hariri, p. 371.\n\n[FN#540] Arab. \"Takht\" (Persian) = a throne or a capital.\n\n[FN#541] Arab. \"Wady al-Naml\"; a reminiscence of the Koranic Wady\n(chaps. xxvii.), which some place in Syria and others in T\u03b1if.\n\n[FN#542] This is the old, old fable of the River Sabbation which\n\n\nPliny ((xxx). 18) reports as \"drying up every Sabbath-day\"\n\n\n(Saturday): and which Josephus reports as breaking the Sabbath by\n\n\nflowing only on the Day of Rest.\n\n\n\n[FN#543] They were keeping the Sabbath. When lodging with my Israelite\nfriends at Tiberias and Safet, I made a point of never speaking to them\n(after the morning salutation) till the Saturday was over.\n\n[FN#544] Arab. \"La'al\" and \"Y\u03b1k\u03cat,\" the latter also applied to the\ngarnet and to a variety of inferior stones. The ruby is supposed by\nMoslems to be a common mineral thoroughly \"cooked\" by the sun, and\nproduced only on the summits of mountains inaccessible even to\nAlpinists. The idea may have originated from exaggerated legends of the\nBadakhsh\u03b1n country (supposed to be the home of the ruby) and its\nterrors of break-neck foot-paths, jagged peaks and horrid ravines:\nhence our \"balas-ruby\" through the Spanish corruption \"Balaxe.\"\nEpiphanius, archbishop of Salamis in Cyprus, who died A.D. 403, gives,\nm a little treatise (De duodecim gemmis rationalis summi sacerdotis\nHebr\u03b6orum Liber, opera Fogginii, Romae, 1743, p. 30), a precisely\nsimilar description of the mode of finding jacinths in Scythia. \"In a\nwilderness in the interior of Great Scythia,\" he writes, \"there is a\nvalley begirt with stony mountains as with walls. It is inaccessible to\nman, and so excessively deep that the bottom of the valley is invisible\nfrom the top of the surrounding mountains. So great is the darkness\nthat it has the effect of a kind of chaos. To this place certain\ncriminals are condemned, whose task it is to throw down into the valley\nslaughtered lambs, from which the skin has been first taken off. The\nlittle stones adhere to these pieces of flesh. Thereupon the eagles,\nwhich live on the summits of the mountains, fly down following the\nscent of the flesh, and carry away the lambs with the stones adhering\nto them. They, then, who are condemned to this place watch until the\neagles have finished their meal, and run and take away the stones.\"\nEpiphanius, who wrote this, is spoken of in terms of great respect by\nmany ecclesiastical writers, and St. Jerome styles the treatise here\nquoted, \"Egregium volumen, quod si legere volueris, plenissimam\nscientiam consequeris ,\" and, indeed, it is by no means improbable that\nit was from the account of Epiphanius that this story was first\ntranslated into Arabic. A similar account is given by Marco Polo and by\nNicol\u03c2 de Conti, as of a usage which they had heard was practiced in\nIndia, and the position ascribed to the mountain by Conti, namely,\nfifteen days' journey north of Vijanagar, renders it highly probable\nthat Golconda was alluded to. He calls the mountain Albenigaras, and\nsays that it was infested with serpents. Marco Polo also speaks of\nthese serpents, and while his account agrees with that of Sindbad,\ninasmuch as the serpents, which are the prey of Sindbad's Rukh, are\ndevoured by the Venetian's eagles, that of Conti makes the vultures and\neagles fly away with the meat to places where they may be safe from the\nserpents. (Introd. p. xiii., India in the Fifteenth Century, etc., R.\nH. Major, London, Hakluyt Soc. MDCCCLVII.)\n\n[FN#545] Elder Victory: \"Nasr\" is a favourite name with Moslems.\n\n[FN#546] These are the \"Swan-maidens\" of whom Europe in late years has\nheard more than enough. It appears to me that we go much too far for an\nexplanation of the legend; a high-bred girl is so like a swan in many\npoints that the idea readily suggests itself. And it is also aided by\nthe old Egyptian (and Platonic) belief in pre-existence and by the\nRabbinic and Buddhistic doctrine of ante-natal sin, to say nothing of\nmetempsychosis. (Joseph Ant. xvii.. 153.)\n\n[FN#547] The lines have occurred before. I quote Mr. Payne for variety.\n\n[FN#548] Arab. \"Al-Khay\u03b1l\": it is a synonym of \"al-Tayf' and the\nnearest approach to our \"ghost,\" as has been explained. In poetry it is\nthe figure of the beloved seen when dreaming.\n\n[FN#549] He does not kiss her mouth because he intends to marry her.\n\n[FN#550] It should be \"manifest\" excellence. (Koran xxvii. 16.)\n\n[FN#551] The phrase is Koranic used to describe Paradise, and Damascus\nis a familiar specimen of a city under which a river, the Baradah,\npasses, distributed into a multitude of canals.\n\n[FN#552] It may be noted that rose-water is sprinkled on the faces of\nthe \"nobility and gentry, \" common water being good enough for the\ncommonalty. I have had to drink tea made in compliment with rose-water\nand did not enjoy it.\n\n[FN#553] The \"Valley Flowery:\" Zahr\u03b1n is the name of a place near\n\n\nAl-Medinah.\n\n\n\n[FN#554] The Proud or Petulant.\n\n[FN#555] i.e. Lion, Son of ( ?).\n\n[FN#556] i.e. Many were slain.\n\n[FN#557] I venture to draw attention to this battle-picture which is at\nonce simple and highly effective.\n\n[FN#558] Anglic\u03b8 a quibble, evidently evasive.\n\n[FN#559] In text \"An\u03b1 A'amil,\" etc., a true Egypto-Syrian vulgarism.\n\n[FN#560] i.e. magical formul\u03b6. The context is purposely left vague.\n\n[FN#561] The repetition is a condescension, a token of kindness.\n\n[FN#562] This is the common cubic of 18 inches: the modern vary from 22\nto 26.\n\n[FN#563] I have noticed the two-humped Bactrian camel which the Syrians\nand Egyptians compare with an elephant. See p. 221 (the neo-Syrian)\nBook of Kalilah and Dimnah.\n\n[FN#564] The Noachian dispensation revived the Islam or true religion\nfirst revealed to Adam and was itself revived and reformed by Moses.\n\n[FN#565] Probably a corruption of the Turkish \"Kara T\u03b1sh\" = black\nstone, in Arab. \"H\u03b1jar Jahannam\" (hell-stone), lava, basalt.\n\n[FN#566] A variant of lines in Night xx., vol. i., 211.\n\n[FN#567] i.e. Daughter of Pride: the proud.\n\n[FN#568] In the Calc. Edit. by misprint \"Maktab.\" Jabal Mukattam is the\nold sea-cliff where the Mediterranean once beat and upon whose\nNorth-Western slopes Cairo is built.\n\n[FN#569] Arab. \"Kutb\"; lie. an axle, a pole; next a prince; a high\norder or doyen in Sainthood especially amongst the Sufi-gnostics.\n\n[FN#570] Lit. \"The Green\" (Prophet), a mysterious personage confounded\nwith Elijah, St. George and others. He was a Moslem, i.e. a ewe\nbeliever in the Islam of his day and Wazir to Kaykobad, founder of the\nKayanian dynasty, sixth century B.C. We have before seen him as a\ncontemporary of Moses. My learned friend Ch. Clermone-Ganneau traces\nhim back, with a multitude of his similars (Proteus, Perseus, etc.), to\nthe son of Osiris (p. 45, Horus et Saint Georges).\n\n[FN#571] Arab. \"Waled,\" more ceremonious than \"ibn.\" It is, by the by,\nthe origin of our \"valet\" in its sense of boy or servant who is\npopularly addressed Y\u03b1 waled. Hence I have seen in a French book of\ntravels \"un petit Iavelet.\"\n\n[FN#572] Arab. \"Azal\" = Eternity (without beginning); \"Abad\" =\n\n\nInfinity (eternity without end).\n\n\n\n[FN#573] The Moslem ritual for slaughtering (by cutting the throat) is\nnot so strict as that of the Jews; but it requires some practice; and\nany failure in the conditions renders the meat impure, mere carrion\n(fat\u03bds).\n\n[FN#574] The Wazir repeats all the words spoken by the Queen\u2014but \"in\niteration there is no recreation.\"\n\n[FN#575] A phrase always in the Moslem's mouth: the slang meaning of\n\"we put our trust in Allah\" is \"let's cut our stick.\"\n\n[FN#576] Koran liii. 14. This \"Sidrat al-Muntah\u03b1\" (Zizyphus lotus)\nstands m the seventh heaven on the right hand of Allah's throne: and\neven the angels may not pass beyond it.\n\n[FN#577] Arab. \"Habash\" the word means more than \"Abyssinia\" as it\nincludes the Dankali Country and the sea-board, a fact unknown to the\nlate Lord Stratford de Redcliffe when he disputed with the Porte. I\nventured to set him right and suffered accordingly.\n\n[FN#578] Here ends vol. ii. of the Mac. Edit.","title":"The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night \u2014 Volume 05 (of 10)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":173251}